Earth J-309
My name is Izuku Midoriya. I was born Quirkless in a society of superhumans, and I always dreamed of being a Hero.
My life was changed four years ago, when a spider bit me while hiding from my middle school bully. After the bite, I gained unique powers. But it was my encounter with Peter Parker, my teacher, that led me on the road to become Spider-Man.
After that, I fought Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin, and helped my teacher make his way home to his own universe. And for the last four years, I've protected Japan.
I'm Spider-Man, a Hero.
And there is nothing else I would rather be.
Izuku studied the wall of the seven-floor apartment complex that was really a cover-up for Volcano's new operation. He wasn't even trying to hide it that well, judging by the thugs that were guarding the roof. Two of them, armed with a rifle but keeping it well hidden under their clothes, pretending to just be taking a smoke on the roof.
'Not that it works when you have heat vision.' He commented. He didn't know what caused his spider bite to activate heat vision as one of his powers. In nature, there were no spiders that could do that, as far as he knew, but he wasn't about to look at a gift horse in the mouth. He could see the shape of the cooler rifles under the men's clothes, and that was enough to let him know he was in the right place.
"Everything ok Spidey?" The female voice asked in his ears.
"Yes Froppy, we can move in from the roof. Take out the guard on the western side, I'll take care of the one on the eastern." He replied and jumped the moment she acknowledged the plan, using a spider web to pull himself up to it and then pulled out a Web Grenade, pressing the button. Just as he appeared in front of the stunned guard, he released it and twirled to the side, smiling satisfied as the webs enveloped the guard before he could even fully process. Turning around, he saw Tsuyu's tongue pick up her own criminal and slam him on the ground, and he completed the work by throwing quickly a web to his face, closing his mouth.
"Nice work," Asui said.
"I thought you would use the Spider Shock." Mina's voice called from their communicator.
Izuku sighed. He knew she meant it as a joke, but the name his beloved Venom Strike was called by mass media really hurt. He never thought that not saying the name during the first Sport Festival would result in them calling it that. By the time he had realized, everyone knew him as the Spider-Man with the Spider Shock.
"It's the Venom Strike, and I can only use it a few times a day, so better keep it for Volcano and his stronger men." He answered, and heard a chuckle on the line, "You and Red Riot take the front entrance. Chargebolt, Sugarman, you two keep an eye open for any stragglers."
The four Pro Heroes acknowledged the order once more, and he nodded to Asui. The plan was simple. Him and her would go in from the top, Red Riot and Pinky from the bottom, trapping the Villain in the middle.
Following the stairs downward, they immediately noticed that any pretense of this being a normal apartment complex was thrown out of the equation on the inside. The top floor had been leveled, every single wall had been taken down to turn it into a single, large warehouse.
'Why at the top though…' He wondered, checking the various boxes. Chemical compounds, judging by the codes on them, and he recognized a few of them, not in a good way.
"It's more of Osborn's legacy." He commented, frowning. Osborn had come to his universe looking for a way to get rid of Spider-Man once and for all, a last 'fuck you' to the man that had, in his opinion, ruined his life. Of course, All for One had helped him, but had requested to know more on the various drugs from Osborn's world, in order to 'provide better research'. He doubted Norman had bought it, but it was a decent exchange for him, vengeance for drugs. The result was that now Izuku had to deal with busting drug smugglers and producers far too often. Diox-3, Trigger-Banshee, Rave, Thunderbolt, Wild Tiger… A true invasion of new drugs, many of which had the side effect of either boosting or mutating the user's Quirk. Some had not lasted on the market once the contact had been severed. Most had, either with the same composition or one similar enough to mimic the effects.
"Most of it is to make Trigger-Banshee." Asui replied.
Izuku nodded, bringing a hand to his earpiece. "Pinky, Red Riot, we have a problem."
"Is it about the enhancing drugs? Because in that case, you are a bit late." Mina replied, and Izuku frowned.
"What's the situation?"
"We took down a few idiots that tried to dose on nebulized Diox-3, but the rest upped the game by pulling out some enhancer drug to spike the Diox. It's going to take a while to control the situation."
"Got it. Sugarman, call for backup. I know Ingenium and Earphone Jack are in the area at least."
"Got it Spider-Man. Good luck." The voice closed communications, and Izuku felt a bit more encouraged. If Sato was still fully in control, it meant there wasn't any fighting going on from the back. They just had to keep pushing forward.
He moved to the elevator, listening in. No sound, so they weren't coming up from there. The door of the elevator was massive, three meters wide per three meters tall, but per se this wasn't unusual in newer buildings that were made with body variety in mind. And Volcano was over two meters tall, of course he was going to want a place like that.
There were two ramps of stairs. They probably just arrived on opposite sides of the lower floors, but it was better to go through both.
"Froppy, left one. Skip a floor and then make a quick swipe, we need to prioritize catching them." He said, and Asui nodded, using her mimetic ability to almost disappear. Izuku, knowing she was there, not to mention having heat vision, could notice the shift on the wall, but normal people would have missed it.
He jumped on the ceiling and followed it downstairs. It wasn't quite as large as the elevator, but the stairs and ceiling were still made to allow larger people to move, so he was quite up high. Which proved good when he found a guard on the floor below. The woman was awkwardly shifting from one leg to the other, her back turned to him as she kept her gun aimed at the stairs for the floor below. No doubt she had been left behind to guard the safehouse.
'Too bad Volcano, you should have checked with the sentries.' Izuku though, shaking his head, before he used his web to pull the woman up to the ceiling and cover her completely in a web cocoon, her gun clattering on the floor. He quickly jumped down and winked at her. "Don't worry, it's atoxic. Just stay put and don't try to inject something freaky in your body." The woman couldn't move a muscle, but she glared at him. "I know, I talk too much. I got it from my teacher." He said, before exploring the floor quickly. It was clearly where the dorms were, since every room had two bunk beds. 'Ten rooms with two bunk beds each means forty people, plus Volcano since he is not going to bunk with some thugs. It's a pretty large group.'
He had already taken out Dusty Ash and Gust Boy months ago, taking away Volcano's old lieutenants, but the thing with villains was that you never knew who would end up working for who. He had learned it when Vulture had showed up while he was busting Bearhead's little operation.
One of the rooms made him understand quickly that he was right. It had a single, large bed. It meant there were only thirty-seven people, but it also meant one of them was really big.
"Spider-Man." The radio called with Asui's familiar voice.
"I'm here."
"The floor below is the main lab. They have a hundred or so doses of Trigger-Banshee, and enough Diox-3 to enhance a small army."
"Put it under lock and key if you can, then continue downstairs. We need to make sure that they can't destroy them. Any guards?"
"Two. I think most of them are downstairs dealing with Pinky and Red Riot. Also, Ingenium just arrived and is joining them. Vine was with him when he got the call so she is joining us as well."
"Good." He commented dryly. Ibara's quirk was excellent for crowd control, so she would be an excellent boost, and Iida could take care of anyone that could break the vines. With Mina's Acid and Kirishima's Hardening, they were an excellent combination.
He followed the stairs down, ignoring the two men that Asui had already taken care of, and landed on the floor below. This one was made of regular rooms, and low enough he could now hear clearly the gunfire and shouts from the first floor. After all, unless there were secret extra floors unseen from outside, this was the fourth.
"Alright, if I was a guesser, Volcano would be…" His Spider-Sense ringing wildly was the only warning he got, but it was enough. Izuku jumped on the ceiling as the wall exploded and a man in armor, two horns protruding from the top his head, roared his challenge.
"Seriously Volcano?! Rhino of all people?!" He asked rhetorically, before throwing his webs toward Rhino's eyes.
The bulky man with an elongated face turned around, his eyes shining brightly under the armor's visor as he used one hand to remove the web from it. Izuku looked at him and sighed. "Hello Kasai. You know, you would think a man with an Indian Rhinoceros Mutant Quirk wouldn't pick up the Rhino name too, but I guess originality isn't your forte. That, or you didn't want to remember two animals."
Kasai roared but didn't respond, and Izuku noticed that under his artificial armor he could recognize the telltale signs of his natural rhino hide, though it looked even thicker, more akin to a secondary armor. "Oh come on, Trigger too? You are better than that man."
The mutant Quirk user in response just barreled forward, before jumping to try and punch Spider-Man. Almost two meters tall, Kasai wasn't the tallest Rhino-armor user Izuku had fought, being the third to put it on since Osborn had sold the blueprints bought from Justin Hammer to All for One, but he was still tall enough to reach him with the punch. His Spider-Sense saved him, but he knew that the ceiling wasn't tall enough to keep him safe.
"Froppy, I have Rhino up here." He called, before dodging another punch and responding with launching to webs on two walls and catapulting himself forward legs first. Rhino staggered back at the impact, but Izuku had to admit that had probably hurt more his feet than it had hurt the man.
"Ah, so you do." She laconically commented, "I have found Volcano. He is on the third floor with six guards. Probably plans to intercept the others here."
"So right under me, uh? Did he notice us?"
"Yes, he has sent a man to keep an eye on you." She croaked, "I already took him out."
"Good job Froppy. I'll be there in a minute." He replied, and the heroine acknowledged it and didn't ask if she could help. Izuku knew Asui wasn't particularly gifted when it came to sturdiness, and Rhino was the kind of opponent that required you to be able to take a punch.
A punch he immediately received to the face. "Sorry, I know." He replied flipping midair to land on his feet, massaging his cheek, "It's rude to answer a call mid-conversation."
Kasai threw another punch, that Izuku caught with both hands. "That was unwarranted though." He freed one hand and launched a Web Grenade. The webs covered the hall, and although Rhino could break through them with enough time, he didn't have it. Izuku jumped forward and pressed both hands on his chest, releasing the Venom Strike. Rhino shouted in pain, before he fell to the ground.
Izuku sighed in relief. In the end, he had to use most of the charge of the Venom Strike to get this far. He probably had another shot worth throwing at most. Still, it had worked. He kicked in the face Kasai, who finally fell unconscious, then for good measure launched another Web Grenade to tie him up completely. "Stay here and be a good boy, and I might even grab you an autograph from Uwabami." He said, winking to the unconscious man before wall-crawling down the stairs.
"I know you are there, Spider-Man." The voice of Volcano rumbled as he landed on the floor. He had to admit, Volcano was always a rather intimidating villain. Over two meters tall, with long orange hair shaped like flames that made him look even taller. He was a fat man, but Izuku knew that underneath he was ripped, with muscles that would have been the envy of a body builder. His navy-blue body suit was so baggy for a reason. His arms, shoulders and feet were covered by gloves, one far bigger than the other, shoes and pauldrons the color of molten lava, with holes open on various points, and he had a mask with a thermometer on the front, currently stationed at room temperature. Izuku knew it wasn't going to stay like that for long.
"Hello Maguma. Looks like you put on some fat."
"It's Volcano." The man scoffed, "And don't worry, I have a feeling I'll be back to my usual size soon. He aimed his left arm at him and the Spider-Sense shouted. His men took cover as Volcano's Quirk, Eruption, generated a stream of a substance that looked like lava. Izuku jumped down from the ceiling, underneath the initial assault, and before Volcano could adjust his aim threw a web forward, pulling himself to the right and closer to the villain.
At the same time, two of Volcano's underlings were hit by an attack from Asui and fell down. Izuku rushed forward, running on the whole to move past Volcano as well and knock down one more with a good punch to the face. One of the three remaining ones looked at him, and the Spider-Sense saved Izuku's life when a laser beam shot from his eyes and narrowly missed the green Spider-Man. His hood wasn't as lucky, getting pierced cleanly through.
"Oh, now that's not nice!" Izuku shouted, using a web to close the man's eyes and then hitting him in the face with his right knee. He moved to put down the last one but Tsuyu had already caught him in her tongue and thrown him against the wall.
"Thanks for cleaning the floor." Volcano shouted, then his right gauntlet, the oversized one, came crashing down toward his head in an open hand motion. Izuku jumped back to avoid the hit. Big mistake.
The Spider-Sense told him to do something, and his heat vision showed the gauntlet burn like a bright sun, but all he could do was shoot a web toward Asui to launch her out of danger before a veritable torrent of magma exploded in all directions from the gauntlet, sending him flying backward with far too many burns for his liking.
He groaned, pulling himself back up. The floor was largely destroyed, either burning or collapsed. The man in front of him had lost a lot of weight, and at this point his body looked more like that of a bodybuilder. The thermometer on his mask had shot up to two hundred degrees Celsius, and was not ticking down, both pauldrons smoking like chimneys. He coughed, "You need to do something for that hot temper of yours." He said, pointing at his own mouth, "Get it? Because you…"
Volcano roared and rushed forward, bringing down his right arm in a fist this time. Izuku could have caught it, but doing so would have meant putting himself right in the line of fire of the left arm. Instead he launched another web to the opponent's face and pulled, making him lose balance and at the same time dodging the blow. Then punched, a counter that broke through the mask and crashed in the opponent's face.
"You should watch out." Izuku commented, "Ingesting mercury is dangerous, better close your mouth!" He followed with an uppercut to the man's jaw, his teeth slamming together painfully as Volcano staggered back. A wild shot of lava escaped the right arm, but Izuku ignored it, instead focusing on punching once more, this time hitting the large man in the eye.
"You brat!"
"Brats." Izuku corrected, and Asui seemed to appear from nowhere, though he knew she had crawled the smoking ceiling with her mimetic ability active. She was the coolest thing in the room at this point. With a satisfying crunch, the kick hit the man on the shoulder, dislocating it, and Izuku gladly followed with a kick of his own, using a web to pull himself forward and delivering the finishing move on the man's face.
"And that's… Asui!" He shouted, and she jumped away just in time. His eyes had picked up the right gauntlet heating up once more, the explosion of lava strong enough to rock the entire building. Izuku pulled himself out of danger as much as he could, but chunks of molten rock still hit him, leaving painful burns splattered all over his body.
He looked forward. That move was powerful, and would have probably killed any normal person, but Volcano had to pay the consequences for it. He had lost at least a third of his initial weight by now, his body looking more and more skinny as he consumed his fat to create the lava.
The man stared at them both, and Izuku glanced at Asui. She had a rather big burn on her side, where a large burning rock had hit her, but she was still holding on.
"It's over Maguma. You can't use that move again without basically killing yourself. And I know you aren't stupid enough to do that."
"True." He said, before taking a deep breath. His body cooled down a bit, and the man smiled, "But that's the beauty of drugs."
Izuku threw a web but he was too late to stop the man from planting a needle in his leg. The liquid instantly pumped inside him and the man shook before his entire body was enveloped in lava. Izuku had to stop his heat vision, since it was like staring at the sun. "Run!" He called, and Asui nodded, using her tongue to carry out two of the thugs. Izuku, for his part, grabbed the two closest, pulled the last two to himself with his webs and jumped out of the window, a rain of lava and exploding debris following him. He awkwardly bent his arm around the man he was carrying on his right hand and planted his finger on the earpiece.
"Volcano has used some Trigger-Banshee! Evacuate immediately anyone you can and run!" He shouted, as he watched the third floor begin to melt. 'Wait, Kasai and the girl!' He thought, groaning loudly. He landed on the road, unceremoniously dropping all four men and then rushing back in through a window on the fourth floor. Rhino was on the ground, still unconscious. Izuku grabbed him with both hands and pulled, freeing him from the webs just as his feet and the man's armor both started to heat up. He looked at the heat coming up from both sides, and realized the magma was filling the third floor completely. The building now was creaking loudly, but he finally managed to free Rhino and bring him out of the house.
He noticed Sato and dropped the man to him, who caught the villain and promptly pinned him down, before realizing it wasn't an attack and awkwardly letting the unconscious man go. "You need to get further away! Evacuate the houses nearby! I think he is going to explode!"
"He is what?! Is he suicidal?!" Kaminari shouted.
"I don't know, maybe?!" Izuku replied, before diving back in through the window on the fifth floor and unceremoniously grabbing the woman he had captured before, to then jump out of the opposite window and landing on the next roof.
"Izuku, I recovered the men on the roof." Asui's voice called, and he noticed her on another roof nearby.
"Great job Asui, now we need to…"
The building erupted. There was no other way to describe the pillar of lava that fired upward, tearing the roof to pieces and then coming crashing down in a rain of burning debris.
"Pinky, are you out?!" He shouted in the earpiece."
"Yes, we are here! I think… I think we are all safe, we managed to take everyone out…"
Izuku took a deep breath in relief, but then collected himself. "Call the fire brigade and Todoroki, we need the fire back under control."
"Red Riot is already on it."
Izuku nodded, then started to shoot his webs. Maybe it was futile, but he would at least try to catch some of the burning pieces of concrete and make them land on the streets instead of the houses nearby.
Then he noticed a movement. His heat vision caught a single figure, still hot, rushing away from the scene.
"Volcano!" He shouted, and jumped down from the roof, swinging toward the man, releasing the Venom Strike and hitting him in the back. The two meters tall man was basically a skeleton, his body scorching hot even at this distance.
"Damn… It…" The man wheezed weekly, "How did you…"
"Little secret. What the hell was that? Do you have any idea how many people you could have killed?!" He shouted.
"Enough." He coldly replied, "But I didn't, right? All the chemicals and drugs are gone, and I didn't kill anyone thanks to you little heroes. My sentence will be for damaging private property, assault and obstruction of justice. Maybe arson if they want to chuck it in."
Midoriya growled. He knew he was right. The man would get away with a far lighter sentence than he would have if they had managed to bring in the drugs or at least the compounds. That was why he had placed both on higher floors, so he could pull this out if things went wrong.
"I'll make sure you get thrown into Tartarus."
"You can certainly try." He replied with a smile before he finally lost consciousness for the fatigue.
Izuku sighed. Sometimes, Spider-Man didn't get exactly a win.
-x-
"Come on Izuku, we captured Volcano and the Rhino at once! It's a success." Mina exclaimed, trying her best to smile.
"Not enough of one." He commented as they left the police station, "We could have taken him in if… Oh no…"
"We are here from the Police Station of Endoru, where today the hero known as Spider-Man has led an attack that has damaged many nearby houses, in the attempt of capturing the suspected Drug Lord Maguma Iwata, better known as Volcano, and his associate Kasai Saika, the Villain going by the name of Rhino. And here we have some of the Heroes, including Spider-Man himself." She turned around expertly, removing any doubt Izuku might have had that Ouka Oosawagi was here by coincidence. "Spider-Man, what do you have to say about today's operation? Rumors are you lost all proofs of Iwata's illegal affairs."
"Maguma Iwata is still going to jail over charges of assault, obstruction of justice, arson, damage of private property, attempted murder and a number of others." He explained, "It's a success, and we also captured Kasai Saika."
"It's a relief for sure, although that certainly won't help the families that had their houses destroyed by the debris of your attack. Some people wonder why you chose to not include useful heroes like Manual or Backdraft in an operation against a fire user."
"Manual and Backdraft were both busy with another mission to take out a base that produced White Tiger, led by a group of fire Quirks users. Volcano's power is usually limited, and we were not expecting him to use Trigger-Banshee to force himself to produce more, given the effects it had on his body."
"So it was your miscalculation that led to the seventeen injured and three burned down apartment complex, is that correct?" She asked, with a smug smile that was expertly hidden thanks to her back turned from the camera.
"That's not fair." Mina shouted next to him, "Izuku prepared this operation carefully. He almost didn't sleep for days to make sure…"
"You heard it here from the mouth of the Hero Pinky herself, Izuku Midoriya didn't sleep properly before the mission. Shouldn't a Hero make sure to always be in top shape before a mission of such entity? Spider-Man seems to not care if he is in good health, and that will certainly cause him to act sluggishly."
'Now that's just reaching…' Izuku thought, but he didn't voice it. He didn't need to. Ouka Oosawagi had spent months blaming his teacher for Osborn's criminal spree, and once he had disappeared she had just picked another Spider-Man. It didn't seem to matter that he was a licensed Hero, after all, despite her crusade starting under the premise Peter Parker was a Vigilante. He wondered if she just didn't like spiders or something.
"Spider-Man, one more question."
"I'm sorry, but it was a long day. I wouldn't want to act sluggishly." He quickly stepped away, with Pinky behind. While he didn't look at the camera, the Acid Hero couldn't help but blow a raspberry towards the camera.
"You know, you shouldn't do that. It might affect your rating, and it's not worth it for her."
Mina smiled, "Izu, everyone hates Ouka, people watch her to laugh at her theories! You should make it a comedy skit too."
Izuku couldn't help but disagree with her. He knew for a fact people listened to her and agreed with her. He had met a few people during patrol that 'subtly' or openly suggested he chose another career instead of endangering people.
Izuku sighed. Not much he could do about the bad press. Hopefully, the good one would outweigh it. "Maybe you are right." He finally said, "I'm going home for real. Asui is probably worried. Or laughing at the interview, if she is watching it."
Mina chuckled, "Well, I won't keep you. Bye-bye Izuku!" They reached the intersection a moment later, taking different routes.
Izuku decided to walk home. Web swinging would have been nice, but keeping a low profile was probably for the best for a bit. Swinging around lazily right after so many people had lost their homes didn't seem right.
He turned a corner, taking a less used road, and reflecting on what he could have done better that day. Well, for one he should have been able to react to the Trigger-Banshee injection. Maybe he would visit UA. Principal Nezu might have had an antidote. If the stuff was going to be on the market for far longer, investing his money into some anti-Trigger compound might have been a good idea.
"Long day, friend?" A voice asked from behind.
Izuku turned around slowly. His Spider-Sense hadn't called him, but he wasn't about to let himself get mugged because it somehow hadn't worked. He glanced at the man behind him, and stared.
He looked like him. The same green hair, the same freckles, the same eyes. The differences, however, were also evident. Starting from the outfit, a long brown coat and a green hat that seemed to mix with the hair. The man smiled, and Izuku was reminded of All Might. On his forehead, he noticed the sign of a large scar, like the claw marks of some beast.
"Hello." The man said, extending his hand. "My name is Isaac Midoriya. I think we have a lot to talk about."
Izuku mechanically shook his hand.
(XX)
So yeah, a bit of Edge of the Spiderverse, a lot of Insomniac's Spider-Man, and a clear link with Amazing Fantasy's Spider-Man origins. Once again, big thanks to The Infamous Man, I'm really happy to be able to include Spider-Man in our story and his awesome fic, which I encourage everyone to read, offers an excellent frame for it, including giving us The Prowler we have met in my fic.
Since I like to mention it with lesser-known characters, Maguma Iwata/Volcano is a character from the Japan-only Arcade game My Hero Academia: Clash! Heroes Battle (much like Isana, Dusty Ash, Bearhead and Zookeeper in The Imprisoners), while Kasai/Rhino is based on the character of the same name from Horikoshi's Oumagadoki Zoo and of course Marvel's Rhino.