A Spider's Big Four
Chapter 01
Let's Do This One Last Time
The sound of the passing cars felt like music to his ears, the bits of moonlight that poked through the clouded night sky shone down on his spot sitting on the roof edge of a vacant office building as he dangled his feet freely in the air.
He loved night patrolling, too bad he could only do it when May took the night shift.
A thing which started to be more and more common since they lost the second income in their house.
This is Peter Benjamin Parker, a 14-year-old kid from queens now known as Spider-Man, one of Musutafu's newest vigilantes.
And while he would love to go into detail on how he got to where he was, you can guess how things went down.
Random spider bite, quirkless kid given the ability to do whatever a spider can, underground fighting...
Dead uncle.
Yeah... you know the rest.
There were some things he'd rather not go into.
What matters is that when... it happened, he was thrown headfirst into the life of a teenage vigilante in the most vigilante-hating country known to man.
Lucky him, huh?
He didn't care either way, it was his choice to put on the mask and go out swinging through town.
Things the past five months of doing this have been... eventful, to say the least.
He stopped drug deals, yakuza meetings, shootings and robberies, and everything that the more prominent heroes left to the underground heroes, met some quirkless guy in a mask and a dude in an All Might hoodie who became his vigilante friends and was on his way to graduate from Aldera Middle School.
In all honestly, Peter couldn't wait to leave that place, any school who let that blonde second-year bully that quirkless kid didn't deserve to still have kids attending it.
His gloved hand went through his messy brown hair, his hazel eyes looking down at what he currently wore.
Grey pants along with knee pads, a black undershirt that reached to just past his elbows, elbow pads, red fingerless gloves, red sneakers that had the soles replaced with those from ballerina slippers, a red and blue short-sleeved pullover hoodie with a black spider drawn on the front and a white one on the back, and an old one strap backpack over his shoulder.
Over his face was a red face mask that covered his nose and mouth, and over his eyes were his self-made goggles with expressive bug-like lenses. On his wrists were devices made out of scrap and different parts, his good old web-shooters.
Imagine what he could do with an actual budget instead of dumpster diving behind support companies.
His spider-sense rang softly as his ears picked up the sound of a soft landing, it was either someone trained to not make much noise or someone really tiny.
He was leaning towards the first option.
"Hey, kid." A tired voice spoke, Peter turned around and narrowed his lenses toward the man on the other side of the rooftop.
The man was the definition of disheveled, an entirely black suit along with a grey scarf-like object around his neck. His hair was black and hung over his bloodshot eyes, his face was unshaven along with a look of pure exhaustion.
Crawler told him about this guy one time, and Peter had a few run-ins with him a few months back.
Standing on the roof with him was the erasure hero, Eraser Head.
Or as Peter liked to call him, scarf man.
"Hey, scarf man! I was hoping the next time we saw each other, I'd be in UA but whatever." Peter greeted back, patting the spot next to him on the roof edge. The hero pondered it for a few seconds before sitting a couple feet away from the boy.
They sat in silence for a couple of seconds, simply watching the streets below from their spot 12 floors up.
"How have you been, man?" Peter asked, eyeing the man from behind his lenses.
"Fine." He responded, his tired eyes studied the masked teen.
"Good patrol? I stopped a couple purse-snatchers and an armed robbery earlier, decided to sit here and take a small break." The boy continued to make light conversation, mostly getting no result.
Crawler did say this guy wasn't too into talking.
"I came here to ask you to stop, kid. I let you operate this long hoping you'd quit sooner or later, but I guess that was completely irrational. Naomasa is willing to cut you a deal if you come quietly." Aizawa got straight to the point, Peter's body tensed in preparation as to run away if he needed to.
"Look... It's not like I don't trust you or anything, if anything you're probably one of my favorite heroes, but I can't stop. People out there need help, and sometimes heroes aren't there, so I will be."
"You don't even seem to be in high school yet. You'll get caught sooner or later, and whoever does won't go as easy as me." The man responded dryly, his hands slowly approaching his capture weapon. "Why do you even do this, kid? You know it's illegal"
Peter could only sigh and hope up into a crouch, Aizawa tightened the grip on the capture weapon at the sudden movement.
He would very much rather scarf man let him go quietly instead of playing cat and mouse all night, Peter had school tomorrow.
"I can help out, so I do help out, law's got nothing to do with it. Now, can I just go on my merry way and leave you to your brooding on rooftops? I got a math quiz tomorrow, and my aunt comes back from the night shift in like..." Peter pulled out a phone with an incredibly cracked screen, it was still visible enough for him. "three hours, can you just let me swing by?"
Peter added the last part with a small smile behind his mask and a semi pleading tone. While Peter wasn't a pushover in a fight, a part of him doubted his chances against a seasoned hero.
A small bit of panic began to set in as he realized that this may or may not be his last night as a vigilante, he couldn't let this end yet.
Not while there were still people in this city he could help.
Silently, the man stood up and adopted a small fighting stance, Peter's shoulders dropped at the implications of that.
"You know I can't do that, just come quietly, so I don't get dry eye. Sorry but we can't afford to have a child running around unchecked anymore, you need to understand this stuff is serious." He stated with a commanding voice, gone was the semi gentle tone from before that Peter guessed he used to convince him.
Peter stood up and quickly checked his web-shooters were loaded and narrowed his lenses at the black-haired man, a scoff escaping his lips.
"You think I don't know this stuff is serious? I've got scars because of what I do, you guys probably want me off the table cause I'm doing a better job than you." He couldn't help the remark at the end.
Aizawa simply stared the teen down and sighed, his eyes glowed a crimson red as his hair and scarf began to float in the air. In a swift motion, he shot out a strand of his scarf at Peter before the masked teen jumped to the side and landed back on the roof.
He smirked under the mask when he saw the man's eyes widened at his ability to still use his quirk.
Maybe it didn't count as a quirk now that he thought about it.
Now, Peter wasn't dumb in any way, shape, or form.
He knew that in a 1-1 with Eraser, he'd probably lose more times than not. The guy had experience and a good weapon on his side, so his best shot was just to run away.
And that's exactly what he did.
Without a second thought, the boy began to sprint across the rooftop before jumping to the adjacent rooftop to continue his escape. His spider-sense buzzed just in time to let him dodge another strand of cloth directed at his head.
"C'mon! I bet you never did this to crawler!" Peter yelled as he looked back, the man had pulled his goggles up while he wasn't looking and began to give chase.
He was pretty sure the spider made him faster than normal, but Aizawa still stayed on his heels.
Man, he wasn't getting out of this one easily, was he?
Whatever, that just made the night more interesting.
Peter leaped across another rooftop, nearly making it to the next one before his spider-sense rang loudly. Aizawa had sent another strand of the scarf at him, but this time, when he was in the air and couldn't dodge.
The scarf wrapped around his left foot before Peter could shoot a web to pull himself out of the way and yanked him back. The brunette flew backward and was thrown onto a fire escape with a loud clang.
He groaned at the impact, but quickly rolled out of the way of Aizawa dropping onto his previous spot. The boy shot a web at the man's eyes as he pulled his foot free of its binding, getting up and running just as Aizawa sidestepped the projectile.
Hopping from the fire escape and onto the rooftop he was trying to go on previously, the boy shot a web at a building across the street and began to swing away.
Now, Eraser could easily jump from the building and tackle him in midair, but who was crazy enough to do that?
A couple of people, but he hoped Eraser wasn't one.
"Stop resisting and come in quietly!" The voice of Aizawa yelled, Peter turned his head mid-swing and frowned at seeing him still giving chase and keeping up with his swinging.
Why couldn't he just look up the other way?
"Dude, just let me go, and we can all just forget about this!" Peter yelled back over the shouts of the crowd below at seeing what they thought was a villain chase.
He couldn't run away, Eraser wouldn't let him!
That only left one choice, didn't it?
Peter twisted his body at the apex of his swing and shot sideways toward the rooftops. He sent a dive kick toward the underground hero that missed its target and landed him on the rooftop.
"I don't wanna fight you." The man said, his scarf starting to float in the air just as Peter got up into a crouch.
He narrowed his lenses at the man and scoffed. "Clearly! It's not like you've been doing that for the past five minutes!"
Not wasting any time in further banter, Aizawa shot forward and launched several strands of his capture weapon. Peter weaved through the attack, quickly jumping high into the air and doing an axe kick which the hero dodged.
His spider-sense blared as Peter was met with a gut punch just before he landed. He rolled to a stop and shot two webs at the man's feet, and tripped him.
"C'mon, stay down!"
Instead of responding, Aizawa reached into a hidden pouch and threw a series of small black pellets that exploded into a thick cloud of smoke. The boy took a deep breath and closed his eyes, letting his spider-sense guide him to dodge the strands shot at him with ease before he ran out and toward the hero.
He threw a punch, with Aizawa narrowly sidestepping and kneeing the teen directly in the face.
Peter saw stars as his world spun, he barely dodged another punch to the gut before he backflipped across the room to get some distance.
Scarf man wasn't holding back, was he?
And man, did that hurt! He just hoped his nose wasn't broken.
Shaking out of his dizziness, Peter ran forward while shooting spurts of webbing to try and slow Aizawa down. "Can't we hug this out?"
The quip wasn't met with a response as Aizawa flipped through the air and landed with a kick to Peter's rib, knocking the wind out of his lungs.
Peter slid across the roof as he took in greedy breaths into his lungs, Aizawa simply walked forward and stood over him.
The teen simply stared up at him, the man's bloodshot eyes seemed to have the smallest bit of pity in them.
Just as he began to breathe normally again, he took out the man's feet from under him and brought him to the ground. Peter quickly shot a web at his right arm and pinned it to the ground.
"I'll be going now!" He smirked under his mask at the man as he began to stand back up, the hero simply cursing under his breath and glaring at him.
He jumped off the rooftop and shot a web, wincing at the pain in his... everywhere, and started to swing away.
He just wanted to lay in bed now, maybe he could convince May he was sick so he could just rest for the day.
His lenses widened at the deafening blaring of his spider-sense, he looked back to the roof to see Aizawa leaning up and throwing an object.
Peter swung forward to avoid whatever it was before the sound of his web line being cut reached his ears.
As if it happened in slow motion, Peter looked up to see a black knife cut directly through his lines as it flew through the air. He tried to shoot another web only for his web-shooters to give a small spurt noise.
Jammed.
Oh, this was gonna hurt.
Peter fell through the air and into the streets below, landing face-up on the hood of a parked car. Gasps rang out around him as a crowd began to circle around him
He looked around as his ears rang, his body ignoring him screaming at it to get up and run away. He saw how they murmured about his being some villain and recorded him, he even heard one guy talking about his car being ruined.
God, this sucked.
The boy began to wobbly get up only to fall back down with a grunt of pain, he grit his teeth and tried again before feeling something wrapping itself around him.
Oh no.
Eraser Head gracefully landed in front of him, a firm hold on his capture weapon as he lifted up his goggles.
"It didn't have to be this way, kid." The man dryly said, although Peter noticed an emotion he didn't recognize in his voice.
Peter didn't even bother to struggle against his bonds, he knew only people with All Might level strength could break out of the capture cloth currently around him.
"Please..." He said quietly, giving one last attempt at talking his way out of his current situation.
The man only gave a grim shake of his head as his hands reached out toward his mask.
You know? If anyone was gonna take him in, scarf man was the one he would be least mad at.
The hand pulled up his goggles up to his forehead, revealing his hazel eyes that were filled with a defeated look.
He just wished he could've done more before the end of the line, at least he did good.
His mask was pulled down, revealed his bruised face to the world.
Spider-Man no more.
Gasps rang out through the crowd as Aizawa's eyes widened, Peter only stares back at the man.
"He's just a kid!"
"No respect for the law..."
"He's so young!"
"Serves him right for being a good-for-nothing criminal!"
Aizawa seemed to ponder something inside his mind, the grip on the scarf tightened for a second before he breathed out a sigh.
"You're under arrest for vigilantism and illegal quirk use. Let's go, kid."
And with that, he began to drag Peter away while pulling out his phone as the crowd watched.
They sat there for a minute or two before a cop car came in, Aizawa putting Peter in the back and him sitting in the front before the car drove away.
It had to end sometime, right?
At least he was pretty spectacular with he lasted.
Alright.
Let it be known that he had expected many things when he eventually got arrested.
A couple of those expectations were met, mind you. Naomasa was in the corner of the interrogation room giving him a friendly look, scarf man was standing next to him to make sure he didn't do anything, and he was wrapped up in his scarf and tied to a chair in an interrogation room.
But that was a given, it was expected for this stuff to happen.
What wasn't expected was the weird-looking, white-furred animal with a scar that was wearing sneakers along with a suit and tie that was currently sitting in a booster seat across from him.
The creature stared him down with a calm and happy expression before it gave a silent nod and hopped up onto the table, walking up to his face.
"Why, hello! I've been waiting to meet you, mister Parker! You are quite the hard young man to contact! Why, I had to get Shouta to go get you!" The animal gave a high-pitched laugh and clapped its paws together.
Alright.
This was a joke, right?
There was no way that scarf man had to beat him up and all just to get him to a meeting with a build-a-bear.
Peter looked to his side and shot a question glance at Aizawa, surprisingly the man gave him a sympathetic look back.
"You must be quite confused, correct? Pardon me for getting ahead of myself there, it's just so exciting to meet such young talent! You must have questions, so ask away!"
The room fell silent for a second as Peter looked between the creature and the two men in the room, pure and utter confusion in his voice.
"Who- I mean, what are you?"
After a second of silence, the small animal laughed once again and threw its arms in the air.
The sound sent a chill down Peter's spine.
"Who knows! I may be a bear, a dog, or even a mouse! What really is important, is that I am Nezu! UA's very own principal, and Shouta, otherwise known as Eraserhead, is one of my staff members!"
Questions.
Just so many questions.
Scarf man was a teacher? That felt irresponsible.
A one-foot tall teddy bear ran UA? He didn't really have a problem with that at first, but this thing just scared the hell out of him for some reason.
Peter once again looked at Aizawa, prompting the man to sigh and run a free hand through his hair.
"Yes, the rat is the principal and my boss. He's also one of the most intelligent creatures on the planet, so let it be known that he doesn't come to personally talk to any random teen without reason."
"Shouta is correct! You see, you are quite an interesting individual, mister Parker!"
Wait, something just dawned on him.
How did Nezu even know his name?
"How do y-"
"Know your name? I know many things, young man! Things such as how you are Peter Benjamin Parker, son to Mary and Richard Parker but taken in by your uncle and aunt. Things such as how you three moved to Japan from New York after your uncle got a job offer and how you developed your quirk after a trip to a science expo and then used your newfound abilities to win underground fighting rings both in Musutafu and New York, along with doing occasional vigilantism on the side."
Alright, now he knew why that thing scared him.
He was about to speak, but Nezu wasn't done.
"I also know how your uncle was tragically murdered by a man robbing a convenience store, a man you later arrested and turned into the police, an act that kick-started your dive into full-time vigilantism for the past five months."
The boy stared at the chimera wide-eyed, promoting the creature to give a satisfied grin.
"I'm just... gonna ignore the fact that you knowing so much about me is super creepy and really scares me..." Peter started, earning a hearty laugh from Nezu. "Why do you even want to talk to me? Shouldn't I be in a jail cell somewhere?"
Also, was this whole thing legal?
It sure didn't feel like it.
"I want to get to know you, of course! As I said, you are quite an interesting individual!" Nezu responded, the animal gave a quick look at Naomasa, making the man nod back and place a couple of items on the table.
First were his web-shooters, second was his goggles, and third was his backpack.
"First things first, explain your quirk to me."
Peter flinched at the sudden change in Nezu's voice, it sounded calmer and way less... unhinged than before.
"I can uh, do whatever a spider can, stick to walls and stuff; you know how they lift 60 times their body weight?" Nezu nodded, smiling wide. "Yeah, I guess that makes me super strong, I'm a bit faster and more durable than normal, and I got... kinda like a sixth sense? It-"
"Alerts you of danger, correct? I've seen recordings of you in action, it seems nothing less than low-level pre-cognition! What do you call it, again? 'Spider-Sense'? Oh, I'll always love how humans name things!"
Peter paused for a second, then ultimately decided to ignore the creeping dread this thing was putting on him.
From a look around the room, scarf man and Naomasa were in the same boat as him.
How did anyone allow him to run a high school?
"Now, explain these devices on the table to me. Don't worry about the backpack, for I have already looked through it."
"Well, those are my goggles." Peter gestured to the goggles inside a plastic bag that laid on the table. "I used sensors and camera lenses to help them squint and widen so I don't get overwhelmed by visual input, my quirk kinda dialed up my senses a bit, so it gets annoying."
Nezu grinned wider, he paced back and forth on the table with his paws behind his back.
"Quite the interesting invention! Not only does it serve a practical purpose, but from what I heard, it has made you appear more approachable and friendly to people you have come by! Approachability is quite the good trait for a hero to have. Now, then! Explain these to me, they fascinate me the most."
The boy took a deep breath, then complied with the request.
"They're my web-shooters, I can do most things a spider can, but I can't make my own organic webbing." Peter looked around the room only to see Naomasa intently listening while holding a paper pad while scarf man listened with a less impressed look. "I made a chemical compound that would act like spider webs, along with having the same tensile strength. I made the web-shooters to shoot it and then used to swing around along for capture and combat."
Nezu nodded, the smiling animal looked to Naomasa and received a nod from the man.
"You said you made all of this yourself, correct? No one manufactured it for you or anything?"
"Uh, yeah, I made them myself." Peter felt even more on edge now for some reason, he watched Nezu's emotionless eyes for what felt like ages before the chimera spoke.
"I say, you are nothing less than a prodigy! Intelligence along with good instincts and a good quirk, very impressive! But, I do have to ask..."
The room grew still as Nezu walked up to Peter's face, his face showing a grin.
"Why do you want to be a hero, mister Parker?" He asked, paws behind his back.
What?
What was he supposed to say?
Alright, Parker, calm down!
Just tell the truth.
"I've messed up in the past, you know? I lost my uncle because I messed up, and I have to live with that. He told me that with the ability to help someone comes the responsibility to do that, and I only understood that after he died." Peter paused, he saw how Eraser was not gripping the capture weapon as tight or with as much caution anymore.
"I'm not a hero because I want to, in all honesty. I am so tired and burnt out of this gig you wouldn't believe! But the thing is that people are better off cause I went out there every day, that means I have to keep going out there and continue to do what I do. I want to show people they can be better, I want to show them they don't have to make the same mistakes I made to do better."
Nezu watched the boy intently, the creature gave a soft hum and allowed him to continue.
"And I don't even know if I'm doing this right, or if what I'm doing is better than just letting pros do what they do, but I guess I'll never know until I actually do it, right? Being a hero is just a leap of faith, I guess. But seeing old ladies smile when I help them cross the street or how people sigh in relief when I come in and knock out a robber at least gives me the small solace that I'm doing something right even if people call me a criminal or a menace, cause at least I know there's someone out there helping out the little guy."
He paused once again, breathing out a sigh as the three people in the room watched on.
"I want to be a hero because I want to do the good that these abilities let me do, cause I know that I can help someone out there, that means I have to."
The room fell silent as the boy finished talking, Peter saw how Eraser had a more thoughtful look in his eyes than before.
As the group sat in the deafening silence, the quiet was broken by the small, high-pitched chuckles turned giggles that Nezu gave off.
Before anyone could ask, the animal gained a fond smile as he looked from the boy to Naomasa. The man perked up as he saw the creature's gaze.
"My quirk didn't go off once, he didn't lie." The black-haired man responded, pocketing the paper pad into his coat.
Nezu turned back to Aizawa and waved a paw, the man standing there for a second before Peter was suddenly unwrapped as Aizawa pulled his scarf back with a hit of reluctance.
The boy's eyes widened at his sudden freedom, he rolled his wrist while missing the sensation of having his web-shooter on. He looked at Nezu after a second of getting comfortable with a questioning glance.
"Just as I expected, young man. Here's what's going to happen, you will be put on parole and be forced to do 400 hundred hours of community service as long as you agree to attend UA, or else you'll be fully convicted of your charges. What do you say, young man?" Nezu smiled, extending his small paw toward the boy for what Peter guessed was a handshake.
Peter hesitated for a second before he captured the small paw with his own hand. The creature smiled brightly and shook his hand with incredible enthusiasm. Noamasa smiled a small smile and exited the room.
"Excellent! There are six months until the entrance exam, so you will have time to get settled with your new situation and the conditions of our deal." He walked to the other side of the table and hopped onto Eraser's shoulder, the man reluctantly letting him stay there as the animal hid inside his scarf.
Eraser gave a small nod and started to walk to the door before Nezu turned his head to give Peter one last look.
"I expect great things from you, young man! See you at UA, Spider-Man. Your aunt will come in shortly" With that, the two walked out of the room and left Peter in silence.
The boy ran a hand through his hair as a small smile graced his face.
That teddy bear hadn't only given him one of the best opportunities of his life, but he even remembered the hyphen.
Alright, brand new story! Wooo!
I was bored the other day and randomly had the idea of writing Peter being arrested one year before canon and meeting the big three as first years, so we'll just follow Peter becoming a hero in a different environment than usual. This story was mainly inspired by 'Midoriya, Plus Three-Sixty-Five', which is something you guys should totally read.
I'll have to de-age them by one year but whatever, we'll get there when we get there.
First things first, this story isn't replacing 'The Rabbit and The Spider.', not in any way, shape or form. I'll probably juggle both stories, since I'm pretty good at multitasking and since I'm inspired to actually write both of these out.
Besides, I can just drop a story that you guys like so much out of nowhere, right?
Anyway, we'll just be following this brand new 'Big Four' learning to be heroes in their first year, then probably getting to their second year and see how 1-A does with Peter being their upperclassman.
Also, there is gonna be some huge butterfly effect shenanigans going on later. Some darker than others, but that's not for a while.
Anyway, I'll be switching from writing 'The Rabbit and The Spider' to this one and giving them equal amounts of love.
And this is probably gonna be Peter/Nejire but that will come later, cause relationships take time and stuff.
Well, that's it for now! When will I update this again? who knows! It probably won't be too long so don't worry! Thanks for reading and see ya next time!