A Spider's Big Four
Chapter 03
Back In The Swing Of Things
The feeling of the form-fitting metal on his wrist brought Peter a sense of calm, a sense of purpose. The boy rolled his wrist while playing with a web cartridge in between his fingers.
He'd been wearing his web-shooters 24/7 for the past few months, so it wasn't like the feeling of having them on was unfamiliar or anything.
But it was just different.
Before, when he wore them at home or the beach, it was just the feeling of having them own, but right now?
Having them on brought him comfort, it reminded him that they were on because he was gonna do something he hadn't done in a bit.
Be Spider-Man.
Then again, it was just robots made by a school instead of guys robbing ATMs, but the feeling was the same.
It made him feel like he was someone with a purpose.
It made him feel like he was Spider-Man again.
He guessed he never stopped being Spider-Man, but you get what he's saying.
After months of downtime, he was back in the swing of things.
Heh.
Swing? Get it?
He's so funny.
The feeling of someone nudging him with their elbow brought him out of his thoughts, Peter quickly remembering where he was.
The UA entrance exam.
His gaze turned to Hado, who was sitting next to him and motioning with her head to pay attention to what was going on in the front of the room.
Yeah, he should probably do that.
Present Mic was loudly explaining the basics of the practical portion of the exam, Peter having picked up the parts about being put in a fake city and fighting robots, then being graded on how many robots you destroyed.
You know, the important stuff.
As he looked around the room, he saw how many people started to nervously sweat at hearing the exam would be combat-related. They must have quirks that don't work well on robots.
UA did have the horrible habit of screwing over none combat quirks every year.
The room was bathed in bright light; Peter watched as the large screen above the leather-wearing hero started displaying different diagrams and animations explaining the finer details like rules and stuff.
This was so boring.
Even the written portion was more engaging than this!
The only thing that made him pay attention was when Present Mic tried to hype up the audience and failing miserably.
Peter made the web cartridge dance in his hand, flipping the small object in between his fingers and back while drumming his other hand on the table.
Incredibly enough, Hado seemed to be listening with 110% focus, although she seemed to be bouncing up and down at seeing a pro hero.
Ten minutes and Peter repeats, ten minutes passed before the dude finished talking and explaining the exam.
Maybe yelling would be a better word?
God, was this guy was loud.
"Alright! Now that we're done let's get started with the practical section of the UA entrance exam! Can I please get a plus ultra?!"
Silence.
Completely and utter silence, the only sound being Peter snorting before being elbowed by Hado.
"...That's cool, too! Please exit to the left, get changed and go to your assigned bus! I wish you luck, young heroes!" The man announced, the room uttering a quick thanks before everyone exited toward the buses.
Finally!
Present Mic stepped away from the desk and downed a water bottle in one go before starting to make his way toward the observation room.
"God knows they'll need it... That kid Shouta brought in most of all, there's no chance Kan gets him in 1-B..."
Peter rolled his shoulder as he stepped foot on the bus, he sat down and sighed at finally wearing something he was more comfortable using.
His old vigilante outfit, goggles and all.
It was a miracle Naomasa let him keep all of it instead of confiscating it as evidence.
Although it did help that the detective was just way too nice, Peter almost felt bad that him running around gave the guy so much more extra work.
He ran a gloved hand through his hair and took out his phone from his hoodie pocket, he went to open one of the playlists that he made while patrolling, only to see that they hadn't been played in more than six months.
Wow, has it been that long?
He guesses he must've lost track of time.
As he hit play and pocketed his cracked phone, the bus slowly started to move forward, the kids inside began cheering.
He placed an earbud in his right ear and checked that his goggles were still around his neck. The boy proceeded to lift up his hoodie a tiny bit and sighed at seeing that'd his belt was still there.
Nothing was missing, that was good.
All there was now was to wait.
Should he have a strategy when going into this? Like, avoid certain streets or do some specific stuff?
That did sound smart to do, but it didn't feel like him.
It didn't feel like Spider-Man.
Spider-Man felt like a thrill, like doing what you had to do and enjoying yourself. He was about going in without a moment of hesitation.
Spider-Man was about following your gut.
Spider-Man was about being spectacular.
Yeah.
Yeah, that felt like him.
Peter felt his spider-sense buzz lightly as someone sat on the seat next to his just as the bus began picking up pace.
It was some shy-looking guy with long indigo hair and elf-like ears, he wore a white short-sleeved hoodie and purpose sweatpants. He looked to be in deep thought about something.
Should he say something?
Eh, sure.
Conversation is always nice.
"Hey, man! I'm Peter Parker, nice to meet you." Peter extended a hand while offering a friendly smile, the boy jumped as if startled.
The indigo-haired boy looked between his hand and his face quickly, a look of panic on his face. Reluctantly and nervously, he shook his hand before quickly letting go.
Alright... then?
"T-Tamaki Amajiki..." The teen, now known as Amajiki, quietly introduced himself while looking away. He turned back to see Peter still looking at him and got even more nervous, and hid his face behind his hood.
Oh.
This guy was shy.
"Oh, sorry if I made you uncomfortable or anything." Peter quickly apologized, trying to ease into starting a conversation with the guy.
This was a huge contrast to talking to Hado.
"No, it's f-fine. I-I'm not good with me-meeting new p-people, sorry about that."
"It's cool, I get it." Peter waved a hand, inwardly sighing at Amajiki seeming to relax. "You nervous? About the exam, I mean."
Amajiki seemed to think about his response for a second before sighing and giving a small nod.
"Y-Yeah... I wish Mirio were here..." The teen responded, muttering the last part under his breath.
Peter raised an eyebrow at the response, he guessed Amajiki mainly was talking to himself at that last bit. Should he try to ask about it? It may just be a close friend or something.
One of those extrovert and introvert type of things he had heard about, you know?
All he knew was that this guy needed some serious hyping up before the test, and Peter was gonna try to give it to him.
"You'll be fine, man! What's your quirk, anyway?" Giving a small smile, leaning forwards in his seat and propping his elbows on his knees.
Amajiki seemed to slightly relax at his friendly demeanor, at least he was less on edge now.
The bus kept moving as the teens inside rocked it back and forth in excitement, Peter looked out of the window to see the approaching city.
Almost time!
"I-It's called 'Manifest'." Amajiki started, Peter just listened. "It lets m-me get the p-properties of wh-what I eat."
That.
That was so freaking cool.
"Dude, that's amazing! Man, I can't even begin to think of how much stuff you could do! I wish I had such a versatile quirk like that, mine lets me do whatever a spider can, but it's not that bad." He laughed, rolling his shoulder as Amajiki nodded.
Sadly, that was the end of their talk. Amajiki seemed fo be trying to calm himself down with an anxious look on his face, Peter decided not to disturb him.
His hand reached into his belt and pulled out a web cartridge, he spun the small object between his fingers to try and relax as his 20th-21st century playlist cycled to a new song.
Fluidly, the cartridge danced in his hands as Peter made it spin around the gaps of his fingers. The boy sighed and put the cartridge back into his belt just as an intercom on the bus announced they had reached their destination, the kids inside the vehicle started to rock it back and forth in excitement.
Almost time.
Bouncing from foot to foot, Peter checked each web-shooter to make sure they were loaded with fresh cartridges, taking them out and putting them back in so they didn't jam on him.
His belt held enough to last him about a couple of days or so, so he didn't have to worry about running out mid-test.
Almost time.
That familiar buzzing in the back of his head came again, but it wasn't like it his Spider-Sense.
"Alright! Are ya'll ready?!"
Everyone around him tensed some flared up their quirks or got into traditional running stances.
Peter pulled up his goggles over his eyes, letting them widen and squint to adjust to being used suddenly. Quickly, he pulled up the red face mask over his nose and mouth, getting that familiar feeling of breathing through the cloth.
His lenses narrowed as his eyes landed on the edge of a building, his hand already hovering over the trigger as he took aim.
"Get ready!"
A breath escaped his lips as that buzzing continued, it was different from his spider-sense.
It wasn't warning him of danger, it felt like pure adrenaline.
His feet became less planted on the ground in preparation for what was about to come.
Almost time...
"Go!"
*TWHIP!*
Showtime!
Suddenly, he was off the ground and swinging several feet in the air. He could imagine people and cars passing below as he flew by.
"WOOOHOOO"
Peter whooped, reaching the apex of his swing and doing a flip before shooting another web.
That feeling wind of his face?
That feeling of gravity leaving him?
That feeling of being Spider-Man again?
Oh, he didn't realize how much he missed it.
God, it was magic!
Peter swung around a street corner, spotting a group of robots standing around in an intersection filled with nothing but a few cars and pulling himself down with a web.
The crunching of metal rang through the air as Peter landed on a 3-Pointer, crushing it under his weight.
Shooting a web at a 2-Pointer, he grinned and swung it around him like a flail, taking out what must've been at least seven 2-Pointers.
His spider-sense rang, Peter flipped backward and landed on a lamppost, narrowly avoiding the swipe of a 3-Pointer's tail.
"Hey, T-800! You missed!" Peter yelled to no one in particular, shooting webs at the building behind the green robot and slingshotting himself through it.
Peter stumbled the landing, rolling on the concrete as the sparks of the robots flew around him. Shaking his head, he jumped back up to his feet and stumbled before catching himself.
He may be a bit rusty on the whole landing thing, but can you blame him?
To be fair, he wasn't good at it to begin with.
His lenses scanned over the street, all the robots that were once looming over him now laid in pieces scattered around.
Counting the numbers painted on the prices of scrap around the street, Peter guessed he might have about 21-23 points so far, not bad but not good.
"Oh, I've missed this..." Peter said fondly to himself, already feeling the rush and adrenaline flow through his veins.
The only thing that would make this test better would be that the robots reacted to his jokes.
It would've been nice if they at least groaned in annoyance at his Terminator 2 reference.
Or was it Terminator 1? Man, it's really unprofessional to forget your own references like that!
The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as the sound of dozens of footsteps reached his ears, he jumped up to a lamppost to avoid the stampede of exam takers that flooded the street.
As he crouched up there, he couldn't help but be amazed at how cool and useful some of the quirks these guys had were, there was a guy who looked to have some sort of speed quirk! He never even sees those!
Although, it kinda bummed him out how most of them weren't even creative with using them, you know?
Part of being a hero is using your power to its full extent, and yet some of these people were just doing the most basic things with them.
Peter's quirk was straightforward, but he still found ways to be creative with it! He guessed he just wanted to see some cool powers today.
His eyes looked around the area, the lenses on his goggles widened at seeing robots lurking around inside the buildings of the testing site.
No one seemed to have noticed them, Peter watched as countless people just ran past the buildings filled with free points to try and fight over robots on the street.
This... felt weird.
From what he heard back in America and while he's been in Japan, UA was a place where only the best of the best could even apply!
Was this it? Just people running around shooting off quirks with no creativity?
The brunette couldn't help but feel a weird amount of... disappointment? Yeah, that was the word for it.
With a sigh, Peter flicked his wrist and launched into the air and through the glass window of an office building, kicking the head off of a 2-Pointer before he landed.
Four 1-Pointers dove for him while making low and metallic hums, Peter jumped up and stuck to the ceiling, watching as the robots crashed into each other.
"You guys really gotta work on your teamwork!"
With a small chuckle, he springboarded back onto the floor and crushed one of the 1-Pointers, he shot two webs at the heads of two others and smashed their heads together.
That familiar buzzing in the back of his skull blared in his ears, giving him just enough time to duck beneath a claw swipe from a 2-Pointer that crashed through the weak wall.
He spun around with a kick, his lenses widening when his leg was caught by a 3-Pointer that had also crashed through the wall.
Oh jeez.
Spinning itself a full 360 degrees, the robot swung Peter through the air and threw him through a wall and into the dim hallway.
Ow.
"Couldn't you have thrown me through the holes you guys already made?! I'm not invincible!" Peter yelled, groaning as he stood up and frowning at the robots not reacting to his comment.
How did he go around getting through walls all the time for five months? This sucked!
He wasn't even getting that satisfaction of annoying anyone! That would've evened it out.
Shooting two webs, Peter pulled himself through the air and the chest of the 3-Pointer.
At least they were weak, but they still hurt!
This was probably Eraser's idea, wasn't it?
Backflipping, Peter dodged a swipe from the 2-Pointer and a tackle from the 1-Pointer he hadn't destroyed yet.
As the two robots fell to the floor after missing their attacks, Peter quickly rushed forward and stomped through the 1-Pointer's chest. Not wasting any time, he ripped one of the 1-Pointer's arms off and threw it at the 2-Pointer.
Surprisingly, the robot dodged, only getting its right arm ripped off by the projectile and dove at Peter, the boy simply rolling out of the way and catching his breath of a second.
God, his back hurt.
A lot of him hurt, now that he thought about it.
Did he still have those painkillers Knuckleduster gave him?
He kinda forgot being Spider-Man hurt so much.
At least the adrenaline was helping him out.
You know, for now at least.
As the two got up from the ground, they stared each other down.
Well, Peter stared the robot down while it just stood there waiting for him to move.
It was a lot less dramatic now that he thought about it, but whatever.
"Alright, good old Mexican standoff! You and me, robocop!" Peter yelled at the 2-Pointer, the metallic creature simply standing in front of the broken window that brought light into the room as its severed arm sparks.
Peter sighed at the silence.
Yeah, fighting robbers is way more engaging than robots.
Peter shot his hand forward as his fingers inched towards the trigger before the ringing at the back of his skull stopped him.
It was blaming in his ears, the boy nearly falling to his knees as the world began to be drowned out. The robot simply looked at him as Peter tried to listen to his surroundings.
"Hey, there's robots up there!" A deep voice rang out; the world seemed to stand still as Peter heard that voice seem to strain against something made of metal that creaked and groaned before he let out a huff.
His spider-sense screamed at him to run, to dodge, to do something against a threat that Peter knew nothing about.
A threat that presented itself soon enough.
With a thunderous crash that made Peter winced, an SUV crashed through the window the 2-Pointer was standing by, destroying it and taking out most of the wall along with it.
Usually, Peter would probably say it was cool that there was someone with a strength quirk good enough to throw around SUVs like it was nothing, Peter himself strained when trying to do that, or complain about that guy stealing his kill.
And he was about to.
That was until he realized something.
Most of the car was outside the building, with only the two front wheels actually making it inside.
Peter stared in horror at the vehicle, dreading what was about to come.
He prayed to whatever god there was for that car to stay there, for gravity to just not exist for that moment.
Whoever he prayed to must've not listened.
With the deafening groan of the metal, Peter watched as the car started to slip backward and listened as the people below screamed in terror.
Desperately, he started shooting webs that tethered the SUV to the floors, ceiling, and walls of the room, hoping, praying it would just stop.
Too bad he wasn't so lucky.
The webs around him snapped at the strain of gravity and the weight, he frantically began to shoot more and more as they continued to snap.
As he pressed the trigger to shoot more, he heard that clicking sound he always dread.
He looked down at his web-shooters, his lenses widening as he pressed the trigger a few more times only to hear that same sound
Empty.
Flicking his wrist, the now-empty cartridges were shot out as Peter dug into his belt and loaded in new ones, the lines that held the car continued to snap while Peter reloaded.
They weren't stopping it; if anything, they were just slowing it down.
Webs weren't enough, he worked on that formula for weeks, and yet they weren't enough.
Peter took a deep breath as he aimed his wrists at the car, a new plan in mind.
What he was gonna do next was gonna suck.
As the webs continued snapping, he shot two lines that stuck to the front of the car and gripped them tightly.
Just as he found his grip and stuck his feet to the floor, the last of the webs snapped under the strain.
Peter screamed.
Immediately, he yelled in pain as the full weight of both gravity and the car was placed on his body, he couldn't even let go to shoot more webs, or he'd risk letting the car fall.
Gritting his teeth, Peter pulled the car back as much as he could to little effect, his feet began sliding as the vehicle pulled him down.
He's stopped cars before, but this SUV was one of the biggest cars he's ever seen! It looked like a model especially made for people with some sort of mutation quirk that made them giants, It must be like 12 tons, and his max was at most 10 tons! Even then, the cars he's stopped were normally going at decently low speed and still made him break a sweat.
But he's never had to stop one from falling out of a 6th story floor!
Well, he might as well try it out now.
Groaning, Peter gripped his lines tighter as the car slowly but surely went off the edge. His muscles and bones screamed in pain, he felt as if he was on fire!
Gasps and screams sounded off from the street, which meant that people still haven't run away yet.
Why couldn't they just leave so he could finally let this thing go!?
God, he was so tired.
"C'mon, Parker! C'mon Parker!" He screamed in English through gritted teeth as his hands burned.
He was hurt and annoyed at the people just watching him instead of doing anything.
He was just so tired right now.
Suddenly, the vehicle finally slid past the edge and outside the building, yanking Peter and bits of the floor he was standing on with it.
That wasn't good.
Not at all.
Peter let go of one hand and shot a web at the side of the building, stopping the car mid-fall and letting it hang from his one arm.
Again, Peter screamed in pain.
He felt like he was being ripped apart.
As the masked boy looked down to the streets below, he could see the random exam takers just standing there and watching as if nothing was happening.
His heart dropped when his lenses landed on some who were recording.
This was UA?
Painfully, Peter swung on the line he had shot and landed on the side of the building; with a grunt, he let go of the web just as his feet stuck to the concrete and grabbed the sole line that held the car up.
Everything hurt; blood pumped in his ears as his spider-sense blared to try and get him to let go.
"C'mon, Spider-Man! C'mon, Spider-Man!" He screamed in English louder this time, his vision began to swim.
Why couldn't someone just help him out? Just this once?
He was so damn tired.
"Move!" A familiar voice yelled; Peter opened his eyes as much as his body allowed and watched as none other than that Amajiki guy he met on the bus rushing forward while his hands were replaced with tentacles.
Amajiki wrapped up the people standing below the car with his tentacles and pulled them a few dozen feet away to a safe distance, quickly doing the same to the few that still remained.
The area now clear of people, Peter watched as Amajiki gave him a confident nod and a small smile, a smile that Peter returned under his mask before finally letting go.
A cloud of dust was kicked up as the vehicle crashed into the street below, the thunderous impact echoing across the fake city.
Peter saw the car now flattened on the sidewalk, he couldn't help but simply sigh in relief at his arms finally being free of the weight.
Even if he couldn't feel them, it was an improvement.
Just as Peter closed his eyes for a second, the focus on sticking to the wall was broken, and he started to fall to the streets below.
Before he could even shoot a web to catch himself or even brace for the impact, he felt something wrap around his waist and slow his descent before it gently placed him on the ground.
Amajiki really was the MVP of the day, wasn't he?
Peter lay on the ground next to the car, simply staring at the sky with a sense of satisfaction mixed with pain and exhaustion.
At least no one got hurt, right?
Well, except him.
Suddenly, Amajiki appeared before him and knelt down, his tentacles transforming back into regular hands.
"U-Uh, are you a-alright?" He nervously asked, visibly trying to figure out what to do.
"Never better!" Peter weakly responded, quickly wincing at the pain all over his body. "Can you, like, bring me over to the starting area? I need to take a quick nap, and I don't wanna be in the middle of all of this..."
He would've waved his hand around to emphasize what he said, but he legitimately couldn't feel anything from the shoulder down.
Eh, he'd walk it off.
After a nap.
The taller teen gave a silent nod just as his right hand transformed into a tentacle that wrapped around Peter's waist and gently lifted him up into the air, Peter already starting to lose consciousness as Amajiki began to make his way to the entrance.
"Thanks, buddy..."
As his vision darkened and they reached the starting area, they heard the voice of Present Mic announced that the 0-Pointer had been released.
Peter never got to see it before his exhaustion finally overwhelmed him.
What a day, right?
His footsteps echoed through the empty floor of his apartment complex as Peter walked towards his door.
After losing conciseness, he had been put into the UA infirmary. Some old lady named Recovery Girl had woken him up half an hour and smacked him with a cane after healing him to the best of her ability.
Thank God he healed slightly faster.
It still left him with his right arm on a sling since he had torn a decent amount of muscles in his arms, torso, and legs, along with nearly dislocated one of his arms.
Hado had freaked out at his injuries and at how he was able to hold up a car with his bare hands before she started asking question after question of what had happened.
Amajiki bashfully accepted Peter thanking him for helping out when no one did before some buff blonde guy in desperate need of a haircut showed up, gushed over how cool Amajiki and Peter were for preventing people from getting hurt, yelled something about power, and walked off with Amajiki in tow.
That must've been the Mirio that Amajiki mentioned on the bus.
Also, Peter couldn't help but notice the slight blush on the indigo-haired boy's face when Mirio showed up.
Once he reached his door, Peter fished his keys out of his pocket and stepped into his dark and silent apartment with a sigh.
Looking around, his eyes landed on a note on the kitchen table. With his good hand, Peter picked it up and frowned at what was written.
"I am so sorry for this, but work transferred me over to the new location in Tokyo a few weeks earlier than expected at higher pay. I am already at the apartment I rented in the city, so you'll be alone in the house for a bit. I promise I will try to visit as much as I can, please tell me how the exam went when you get back! Love you!
-May
Great.
He was actually looking forward to seeing May today, but he guessed he couldn't complain.
They needed the money, and May had worked for this promotion for months by now, Peter could handle being alone for a bit.
That didn't mean it wasn't gonna suck, though.
It was fine, he guessed.
Peter wasn't meaning to stick around too long.
He had someone to visit, anyway.
The boy went to his room and grabbed his old red scarf, he wrapped the cloth around his neck before walking out the door.
The cemetery was silent aside from the breezes that blew by and the crunching of dead leaves beneath his feet.
Peter walked through the seemingly endless rows of gravestones before finally reaching his destination. With a sigh, Peter sat down on the soft ground and placed his backpack next to him.
A simple headstone that seemed to be cleaned regularly, a familiar name was written on it with letters that looked as if they were carved yesterday. Yet, you could see bits of dirt if you looked closely.
"Hey, Ben." He said softly, to no one in particular.
At least no one who would listen.
Reaching into his backpack, the boy pulled out a spray bottle of water along with a white rag. He sprayed the stone with the water before wiping it down.
He continued the action a few more times before he placed the objects back in his bag, content with the newly cleaned stone.
"You wouldn't believe how my day went."
Woah! New chapter! Nice! We didn't get to see too much Nejire, but we did get to see Peter take the exam and Tamaki helping him out! Man, this chapter took me a bit, but I like how it turned out and was fun!
Oh, and sorry for reusing the chapter title from the rabbit and the spider but like, it's probably my favorite chapter title I've ever made, you know? It was too good to not use again.
And speaking of the rabbit and the spider, I gotta tell you guys what's going on with that. I'm not abandoning it, don't worry!
The thing is, I have been dreading to write the sports festival since the start, and I was 1k words into the race before realizing something.
That was the first chapter that I didn't enjoy writing.
Crazy, right? Kinda crazy it didn't happen sooner but whatever.
Tbh, if I could just get someone else to write that arc for me or just skip to the internships, I would, but I can't for obvious reasons.
So, I got annoyed at that and wrote this one instead and I actually enjoyed it! So, here's the plan.
I'll probably slow down updates to the rabbit and the spider while figuring out what to do with the sports festival while writing this to keep me sane and productive, sound good?
I'm really sorry that I gotta do that to you guys' favorite story, but please understand.
Anyway, enough of that! What did you guys think of this chapter? I really enjoyed it, so I hope you guys did too!
Next time we finally get the main cast in one place and have the quirk test! I hope you guys are looking forward to that! That's when we'll finally start seeing some major butterfly effect!
Might need to add a trigger warning for that one, so watch out.
Like always, thanks for reading reading and see ya next time!