He had found it; the edge of the void, no longer endless. His hands pressed against an invisible wall which refused passage. He tried going over it, then under, but the wall extended in all directions. The further up and down he went, the more it curved. The barrier was shaped like a sphere.

Could someone have put him here? Perhaps something? If so, for what purpose? He was alive, but there was nothing here that could have created him; there was nothing here at all. Wherever he came from, it was beyond the barrier.

A barrier he was determined to shatter.

…

The police department was in disarray. Every cop, Pro Hero, and even the secretaries were running around like the building was aflame. An army of press stood outside the doors and demanded entry so they could gaslight those said to protect them. To them, all of this was their faults.

A camping trip for the students of U.A high school went horribly wrong. Only a few days in, a band of villains invaded a place thought to have been secret, and attacked the future heroes. As if the injuries weren't bad enough with piling lawsuits from parents, two of their own had been taken.

Already, they began to print the 'missing' fliers for the U.A student captured during the attack; Katsuki Bakugo, a member of class 1-A. They had snatched him during the confusion, and he hadn't been seen since.

The rescue of the other victim was being kept quieter, though. As a secondary objective— at least they assumed so— the villains had taken Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man. With tension already focused on the arachnid and the public's theory that he was a villain, the fact he was captured at all was being hushed.

That didn't stop people from talking.

One student had claimed to have seen him there, trying to help fight the villains. Any Pro that was asked this dodged the question with another question. The public wasn't ready for that information, and neither were they.

The Rabbit Hero, Mirko, stormed into the police precinct. Everyone stepped out of her way as not to be trampled. She found her way to the back meeting room, where the police chief and a few Pro's were already talking.

"Anything?" She asked, "Tell me they popped up!"

"Nothing," Said one of the Pro Heroes, Hawks, "They'll turn up. We've got a lead to where their base may be. Just chill."

She slammed her fist into the table, "I ain't chilln', bird man! They stole the kid!"

"The …kid?"

"Parker; Spider-Man, whatever! They took my kid and I'm getting him back!"

"Didn't know you had a sidekick."

"As if, but he was my responsibility and I ain't losing him. The second you have something, you call me first before anyone else."

A taller, more muscular figure entered the room behind her, puffing out his chest to show confidence. All Might, the number one Pro Hero, spoke with a booming voice, "I assure you, we'll find young Parker and young Bakugo."

"Sick whoever you want on the U.A brat," She spat, "Just keep me up to date on the kid."

"There's no need to-"

"Shut it. Shut it. Shut it. Just keep me in the loop."

Mirko stormed out quickly before any of them had a chance to speak up.

All Might was never close with the rabbit hero before recently, but even still, he had never seen her act like this. It wasn't often she would show such a protective nature for someone. Sure, her job was protecting people, but this felt so different.

"She'll be fine, I'm sure," Hawks waved it off, "We gotta focus."

"Of course," All Might agreed, "We have to find them, before something worse happens."

…

Consciousness was slippery. There wasn't much he could remember in-between the hazy dreams. His spider-sense had been going off constantly, which was the only reason he wasn't completely asleep. He had felt when they strapped his arms and legs to the wall with some kind of metal cuffs. Maybe he could have broken out if he wasn't still so weak.

Peter's mask had been removed and tossed to the side of the dark room he was placed in. For the moment, he was completely alone in the shadows. A single, hanging light swung back and forth above him and moved his shadow in rhythm. It was almost hypnotizing; he just couldn't keep his eyes open.

Time passes, but he wasn't sure how much. Hours? Days? With how often his eyes shuttered, it could have been either or. By now, the numbness in his muscles had faded, yet he still couldn't muster the strength to break free of his confinement.

The heavy metal door to his cell opened with a loud and intrusive creek. His eyes opened as his spider-sense cried. Standing in the open doorway was a young, blonde girl in a ruined school uniform. Her smile was sinister; lustful, though, not likely in the way he was thinking. She held a syringe in her hand, one that was tethered to a device on her back.

She entered with a twirl and approached him, laughing.

"Good morning, buggy!" She taunted, "How'd ya' sleep?"

"Like a God damn baby," he muttered weakly.

"Aw," she cooed, suddenly getting up in his face, "say, you're friends with Deku, right? You're like his brother or something? I bet you two must talk all the time! What's he like?"

"Not your type," he spat, "What's your beef with him?"

"Beef? No beef. I actually think he's kinda cute. The way his face was all bruised and bleeding was adorable!" she blushed, "I really wanna see him again! Maybe you could introduce us?"

"Let me look at my calendar. Oh! I have an opening next never-day."

The girl pouted, "Fiiiine. Maybe you could just pass on a message."

She suddenly jabbed the needle into his arm, piercing right through the costume. A mechanism on the device she wore started pumping small amounts of blood into a canister strapped to her back. She kept breathing heavily as she did so, as if she was getting some sick pleasure out of it. Peter winced from the pain and struggled, but was unable to do anything.

"Tell him," She got close to his ear, "Himiko Toga says hi."

After filling the canister, she removed the needle and brushed it against his cheek, letting the blood drip off and run down his face.

"Mm," she cooed again, "You look cute with blood on you, too. Must be genetic!"

She hopped away from him and danced back toward the door, giving him another blushing smile before shutting it tight, locking the cell.

Peter looked over to his arm; the costume held together thanks to the memory fabric, but now he felt even weaker. How much did she take? A pint? More? What did she need it for?

Again, he tried to break free of the metal. Even in his weakened state, he could feel enough of his strength had returned, so the problem wasn't him. The cuffs must have been made of some strong material. Vibranium, maybe? Adamantium?

Someone knocked on the metal door and waited for some kind of response. When there wasn't one, they knocked again.

"Please, come in," Peter sarcastically responded, "I can't get the door; I'm a little occupied!"

The door opened again as Jin Bubaigawara entered, his mask hanging in his hand. He stood rather awkwardly in the doorway, knowing his very presence there was problematic. "Hey, kid," he greeted. trying to be sincere.

Peter refused to answer again.

"Are they, uh …treating you okay?"

"Treating-?," Peter scoffed, "No, I can't say they are considering the walking hot topic vampire cosplay just took a pint of my blood! Not to mention that I'm cuffed to the wall like it's a medieval torture chamber!"

"… I see your point," He paced slowly around the room, "I really didn't want this to happen, I swear, but I was under orders."

"Orders from your new friends, right?" he said, spitefully.

"Keep in mind that you're the one who pushed me to join them."

"I didn't know it was the League of Villains!"

"Here with the League, I finally have a place that I belong."

"You really think this is you, Bubigawara? You were there in Hosu; you helped me save Jiro."

"And that makes me a hero? I helped one girl; that doesn't matter much to society."

"It mattered to her."

Bubigawara stopped pacing and crossed his arms, leaning against the wall. There was so much anger behind Peter's eyes that likely nothing Jin could say would do anything to calm those fires.

"Why am I here?" Peter asked, "What does the League want with me? You owe me at least that."

"It's not for me to say. I just came in to check on you."

"You could also let me out of here, too, friend."

Knowing he was getting nowhere, Jin moved for the door handle, right before Peter spoke up again.

"It's a pattern with me; with the people in my life. Norman Osborn, Otto Octavius, Eddie Brock; good men before I ruined their lives. Now, I have to add you to that list, too."

"You didn't ruin my life, Parker. You made it better; you showed me a better path."

"To where, exactly?"

He never answered, simply leaving the room with a loud metallic creaking.

…

Jin Bubigawara ascended the stairs into the hidden bar's main room, where a variety of villains drank and spoke with one another. He didn't quite feel like chatting away after what he just went through down there, so he just picked a booth and sat down.

"He say anything?" asked Eddie Brock as he approached the booth and leaned against it.

"Why not ask yourself?" Jin asked.

"We've been told to …distance ourselves from him, for now."

"Probably cuz' you'd kill 'em."

"We might, yes."

Himiko Toga jumped in—quite literally—and sat on the table, placing her body in view of them both as her legs swung up and down, "I think he's kinda cute! The way the blood was dripping down his face-!" she let out a sigh of ecstasy, "though, it's not as nice as that Deku boy. All those bruises; all those cuts! It's so exciting!"

"You're strange," Eddie stated.

Toga continued to fantasize about various heroes getting cuts, and how she had many different photo's of their battle damage saved on her phone for personal enjoyment. They couldn't quite tell if she enjoyed it because she liked when people suffered, or if it was some kind of strange fetish. Either one was enough to earn the villain title all by itself.

"Parker ain't gonna go for it," Eddie said, "we don't know what Tomura's thinking."

"He thinks we can get him on our side," Jin reminded him, "Parker has been through just as much abuse from society as the rest of us. Problem is that he's the only who doesn't see they won't change."

"And he never will. The kid is a hero, through and through."

Toga cooed, "I don't know~, everyone has a breaking point," She pulled out her knife to admire it, "And I look forward to being the one to personally find it!"

"If anyone is breaking the bug, it's us," Eddie aggressively stressed.

"We'll see~," She cooed again.

Jin watched as the two bickered back and forth. He rather liked Toga, despite her strange interests. It was Brock that concerned him. This was all too personal for the guy; too many comments about revenge for his liking. Jin didn't want to hurt Parker, so if he really did choose to join them, then some of his conscience could actually be salvaged.

…

Again; her partner had been taken from her, again. Just like before, all she could do was watch.

Itsuka Kendo sat in her bedroom, bathing in frustration and rage. She was supposed to be a hero, but she was helpless to save the person that mattered most to her. Now, everyone who was supposed to be in charge were arguing with themselves, trying to pin blame wherever they can. Maybe the blame was all on her and how useless she was.

Her phone had been going off on her bed, shaking the blanket ever slightly. The name of the messenger was Izuku Midoriya, but she didn't bother to check what he wanted. She thought about visiting him in the hospital but her parents refused to let her leave after what happened.

It was late now, and the parents were getting into bed, but she just couldn't sleep.

"Peter," She spoke aloud, "Where are you?"

She closed her eyes, trying to imagine where he was. Were they hurting him? Torturing him? Was he even still alive? He had to be; they must have taken him for a reason.

The image was clear now; Peter was captive, pinned to a wall by locked cuffs. His masked was tossed over into the corner. The villains visited him one at a time. He was alone, but not afraid; that was just like him. No matter how bad it got, he cut through the fear with jokes.

She saw a blonde man enter the room. It was strange as she wasn't trying to imagine this, but she could see them so clearly, somehow, as if her eyes weren't closed at all. The two of them spoke and she could make out some of the words.

"It's a pattern with me," said Peter, "with the people in my life. Norman Osborn, Otto Octavius, Eddie Brock; good men before I ruined their lives. Now, I have to add you to that list, too."

"You didn't ruin my life, Parker," Said the man, "You made it better; you showed me a better path."

"To where, exactly?"

The image blurs and zooms out, showing her a run down building. The street address is clear to her, pulling her focus toward it.

Then, it snaps away as her eyes are forced open.

She gasps, feeling a rush through her body. That was too real to have just been her imagination. She saw him; she saw Peter, wherever he was being held. Was this just her mind playing tricks on her? The desperation of a young girl who wanted her partner back?

No, not with Peter; there are never coincidences with him. This meant something, even if she didn't know what.

Quickly, she picked up her phone, swiped away the notifications blocking the screen and entered the address she saw. It was far; a few hours out by train, but accessible.

"Peter …" She spoke again, "Are you calling to me?"

She didn't understand what happened or why, but she knew what had to be done.

Hidden in the back of her closet was the same jacket and ripped fabric she wore back in the battle for Hosu. She didn't hesitate to put on the jacket, but hesitated at the rest. It didn't do much to hide her identity the last time, and it was pretty worn from the previous use.

Sitting in a box, however, was an old winder hat that was still too big for her. It was a dark color; perfect for the shadows. When she put it over her head, it covered her entire face. Now she just had to be able to see.

Kendo sneaked into the hall and carefully grabbed some scissors from the closet, being sure not to alert her parents. Using them, she cut eye holes into the mask that vaguely resembled the eye pieces on Spider-Mans mask.

With her outfit complete, she shut off her lights and stuffed her sheets with pillows and made for the window. Her eyes darted back to the room once more in hesitation. Was she really doing this; sneaking out on just a hunch? Nothing was a coincidence with Peter, but even so, this was a leap of faith.

She put a hand to her heart, and listened …

…

It was hard for Peter to stay awake, given how long he had been left in that room. He had given up on trying to break the cuffs and decided to memorize his surroundings, which were lacking in any identifiable detail.

The room was barren of anything he could use to figure out where he was. They continue to leave him alone for long periods, perhaps as some sort of scare tactic. That, or they just didn't know what to do with him. Professional villains would have some kind of plan, which meant these guys were clearly amateurs.

Sounds of shuffling came from the room across the hall. Annoyed grunts and groans soon followed. He couldn't see who it was, but at least he wasn't the only one there. Or, perhaps there being another prisoner was more a bad thing than good.

"You okay over there?" Peter called out.

"Who the hell …" The familiar voice scolded, "Where the hell am I?! What is this place? Show yourself you coward!"

Peter recognized the voice immediately, "Bakugo? Is that you?"

Katsuki Bakugo was struggling in the other room; his body tied up in a strong rope with his hands covered and locked together. As much as he tried, he could not use his quirk to escape. When hearing Peter's voice, he couldn't decide whether to be angry or not, until he chose anger as always.

"Parker?! The hell are you doing here?!" He scolded, "You got something to do with this?!"

"Wha-no!" He shouted back, "Pretty sure I'm in the same predicament as you! Are you okay?"

"Like you give a damn!"

"I give two damns! Did they hurt you?"

"The hell are you even doing here?!"

Bakugo wasn't going to answer any of his questions in his current mood. He was too much of a hot-head to comply with anything or anyone without good enough reason. "They nabbed me during a fight. Did they take you at the camp?"

"Yeah, played real dirty, too! The hell were you fighting for?! I thought you weren't supposed to do that stuff!"

It became clear Bakugo was a fan of referring to 'hell' in stressful situations, "It's kind of a long story. We'll talk about it later; do you see anything you can use to escape?"

Bakugo shuffled around, looking between the walls of the small, dark room. Besides himself and the restraints, there was nothing in the room for him to use. With his legs tied together as well, he wasn't able to walk around, much less kick the door down if that was even possible, considering it was metal. "Damn it! I got nothin'! Why don't you use your freakin' super strength or somethin'?!"

"I tried; The cuffs must be made of vibranium or something."

More cursing and agitation followed in the other cell as Bakugo kicked around, throwing a tantrum. Peter didn't bother trying to calm him down. The only way he would stop was by tiring himself out.

"Try not to use up your strength," Peter warned him.

"Don't tell me what to do!" he struggled again, "Why the hell did they nab us?"

"Best guess? You won the sports festival and I …have an infamous reputation. That's enough to catch anyone's eye."

"I didn't win squat."

That was the first time he didn't shout since awakening. He spoke so calmly and factually that it made Peter curious, "Pretty sure you did."

"Damn half-n-half threw the fight like a coward! So, I didn't win 'nothin!"

"Didn't know you had a sense of honor."

Bakugo only spat at him in response.

"What's your deal, man?" Peter asked, "Why you gotta be so angry all the time? I'm trying to give you a compliment and you're literally spitting at me."

"None of your business!"

"Now I know how Izuku feels."

"Who cares what that weakling feels?!"

Peter's expression snapped at his hurtful words, "I do, jackass! He's my brother, and your friend! The one that has been there for you even when you were punching him in the face and burning his books!"

Bakugo took a moment of pause, "You know 'bout that?"

"'Course I do! You're an ass to him! All he's ever done is offer his hand and every time, you bite it off!"

"I don't need his help, or yours!"

The hot-head was becoming defensive. What was it; A sense of pride, or masculinity? No, if anyone worried about their masculinity, it was Kirishima. This was something deeper than that, hidden by the breaths of rage. "You know what I think, Bakugo?"

"Don't care."

"I think you don't have any sense of self-worth."

The string of words tied themselves around Bakugo's neck and kept him from speaking out like he always did. He wanted to shout and cuss again but found he was unable to in the face of Peter's assessment.

"I think you're desperate to be the best, but not because you actually think you are. You make this image of yourself that everyone starts believing, and work desperately to live up to it. You want to be a hero; a good person, but you feel like no matter how hard you work, you aren't. So, when you meet someone who really does have the heart of a hero, like Izuku, you get jealous and lash out at them."

"I ain't jealous of Deku!"

"Then why bother with him? He's only ever looked up to you; wanted to be you, and you've only ever shot fire his way. You abused him; hated him. Despite all that, he still tries to be your friend. It's not him you hate, it's yourself. You can't stand that you might never be what he see's you as."

"Shut up! Shut up! You don't know a damn thing about me, bug! I'm going to be the number one hero and no one is gonna stop me! Not even a weakling like you!"

"You talking to me, or yourself?"

Bakugo had no actual words to retort with anymore and switched to rage-fueled grunts and growls. Peter knew he had him cornered, even if he wouldn't accept it. There was so much pride and shame inside of the hot-headed hero that he just couldn't face. In a way, it reminded Peter of himself; he couldn't face his flaws, either, without someone else to help him do it.

A set of footsteps came their way as Peter heard the sound of Bakugos cell opening. Bakugo shouted and struggled before his voice was muffled and silenced. He could hear them dragging him out of the room and through the hall.

"Hey!" Peter called out, "Where are you taking him?! Answer me!"

The lights quickly went out with a flicker as the air became cold and stiff. His spider-sense rang like an impatient visitor, before they flicked back on just as fast.

Before him now was a tall, powerful figure. It was a man in a clean business suit. He wore a mask over his head, resembling the shape of a skull, and angular tubes wrapping around and connecting to a large collar. The man tilted his head as some sort of greeting.

"It's about time the two of us met," he spoke politely, "You may call me … All For One."

…

… and her heart rate quickened. It was a feeling of surprise, like her body had just been put into fight or flight mode. There were feelings that weren't her own. She could feel their source, somewhere far away, drawing her toward the shadows of the night. She could feel him; she could feel Peter.

"I'm coming, tiger," Kendo said before jumping out, watched over by the stars of the sleeping sky.