ARC 1 - NEW WORLD, NEW RULES
CHAPTER 1
EARTH-?
It's morning and the streets are loud today. The cause being a gigantic, muscular man with leather pants, and black jacket, wreaking havoc on the train tracks above the crossroad. Facing off against him is a man made of wood, dressed in a navy-blue suit. His name, Kamui Woods. Civilians gather around the sight, as if they're watching a super hero movie come to life.
The gigantic man swings his arm and knocks down a powerline. The falling structure is then caught by another muscular man with powerful arms, Death Arms. Next, a lone fire fighter with water taps for hands, Backdraft, manipulates the water from said hands to keep the civilians from entering the danger zone. Civilians take out their phones to catch the fight in front of them.
In the crowd, a green-haired high school boy tries to muzzle through the crowd to get a better view of the scene and take down notes. As the heroes try to restrain the rogue villain, the blue sky above them suddenly gets covered by dark clouds.
"Huh, was it supposed to rain today?"
"I don't think so. The forecast must be off today. Good thing I brought an umbrella though."
Says the civilians noticing the change in the sky.
High up, lightnings start gathering around one spot. Lightnings crackle, forming a circle, until a portal appears under the dark clouds. It's way too high for the people below to notice. Then, something comes out from it, falling fast. Oblivious to the falling object, the lone villain continues fighting the heroes surrounding him. Kamui Woods sees an opening and extends his branches from his arm to restrain the villain. But before he could do so, the gigantic villain is hit from the back by the falling object, making him crash into the concrete below. The watching civilians are clearly startled, as it happened so fast.
Everyone covered their faces to protect themselves from the dust smoke. Death Arms moves closer to try and get a visual. The smoke slowly clears, and he sees the knocked-out villain in a crater.
"Hey, Death Arms, you okay down there?" Kamui Woods asks from above.
"Yeah. Something must've crashed into the villain at high speeds. Whatever it was, it seems he got knocked out cold," the muscular hero responds.
Kamui Woods uses his branches to descend and assess the situation with his fellow hero, then they hear the villain groaning in pain, confirming he's still alive.
"I'm surprised the guy is still alive. Guess his Quirk made him a living crash mat," says the wooden hero.
"Hey, I see something, on the villain's body."
As the smoke continues to clear up, Death Arms notices something on top of the villain's unconscious body. It looks humanoid. As the view gets clearer, he sees that the falling object, was a man. Not just any man, he was wearing a sort of shiny skin-tight suit.
"Hey, what did I miss?" a voice says.
Behind them, a young woman runs up to them. She's wearing her own skin-tight suit and a sort of purple mask with horns. Her name, Mount Lady.
"I was just about make my grand debut. What a shame," the young hero complains out loud.
Death Arms and Kamui Woods turn around to face her.
"And you are?" Kamui Woods asks the young hero.
"Oh, right. I'm Mount Lady. I'm a newbie hero who was just about to make her grand debut. But then something came flying and beat me to taking down that villain. I was gonna kick him into next week with my quirk."
"And what exactly is your Quirk?" Death Arms asks.
"That's. A. Secret."
"Oh, man! I'm so sorry!"
The three turn their attention to the voice coming from the crater in the concrete road.
"I had no idea I would hit somebody! Thanks for stopping my fall, but I didn't mean to hit you! I swear, it was an accident!" the man screams out to the unconscious villain in a panic.
"Hey! Who the hell are you?" Death Arms shouts to the stranger.
He looks up to see the two heroes outside the crater looking down at him, then asks, "Where on Earth am I?"
The stranger in red and blue tights just stands in the crater, staring at the heroes before Mount Lady cuts in between them.
"Hey, you! Who the hell do you think you are?! Interfering with hero work and ruining my debut! I was about to make my dramatic entrance but you beat me to it!"
Her ranting is stopped by Death Arms before Kamui Woods speaks to him.
"Um, please excuse her rudeness. This is her first day on the field. Newbies can be a bit of a handful in their first line of work. If you don't mind, can you please introduce yourself?"
There was silence for a moment, then the stranger speaks his name.
"I am Spider-Man."
The crowd around them stare in awe, while some of them chatter and/or get on their phones to look for the name. The high school kid with green hair flips his notebook to fill a blank page with a drawing of his suit.
"Okay, Spider-Man, care to tell us exactly where you came from?" Kamui asks again.
"I guess that you guys really don't know me. I'm from New York."
"New York?! But that's on the other side of the world. How did you get all the way from there to Japan?" Mount Lady loudly asks him, flabbergasted.
The heroes and the crowd gasp in shock from his answer, clearly in disbelief. How could someone from a country on the other side of the world fall from the sky and end up in another country?
Spider-Man pauses for a moment and rubs his chin, thinking in silence.
"Wait, Japan? But I was at Latveria fighting Doctor Doom with the Avengers. The last thing I remember was jumping into that trans-dimensional gate. The next thing I knew, I was falling from the sky. I must be in a different reality then. It's still Earth, but different. But how different is it?"
As Spider-Man tries to grasp the situation he's in, he turns his attention to the heroes approaching him.
"Listen, before we go any further, may we see your Hero's License?" Death Arms asks as he extend his hand.
"Wait, a license?" Spider-Man, in disbelief asks the muscular hero.
"We need to see your license to confirm your identity, Quirk, and that you are an official registered Hero," Kamui Woods asks.
Spidey couldn't believe what he just heard. He's glad that this world has heroes, but he's flabbergasted to hear that they need to register and have a license. Since running away might invite more problems, he oughta just tell the truth.
"Sorry, but I have no license. I had no idea you need a license in this country."
"What kind of hero operates without a license? Even the heroes of America have licenses," the lady hero points out to him.
"If you don't have a license, then at least confirm your identity to us. We might be able to help you get a license if you just cooperate with us," says Kamui Woods.
"I can't do that. I can't just show my face to the public. I need this mask to protect myself and people I might meet in the near future from potential villains," Spider-Man points out to them all.
The crowd seems a little interested in him. A hero operating without a license seems unheard of in this world's society.
"While you make a good argument, it's still part of the law to have a license before you operate as a hero. And operating without a registration can get you in a lot of trouble, since it's illegal in itself. You don't have to worry about your connections to any one, there should be pros wherever you're from who can provide protection," Death Arms says stoically, his words making him bow as the thinks in his head.
Spider-Man finds it hard to believe that this world's laws restrict the use of powers in public. In other words, no matter how noble your intentions, if you use your power without proper registration, your actions are labelled illegal. While the law is still the law, he can't bring himself to just follow it on a whim. He might be stuck in this world, with possibly no potential means of getting back home.
"I can't… I get that it's the law, but I can't just unmask and turn myself in. I might be stuck here in this world, and revealing my identity can put innocent people in danger. You seem like good people who are just doing your jobs, but I'm sorry. I can't show you my face."
The crowd, plus the high school boy are stunned by his response. Some of them might understand that covering his face could potentially protect him from some villains, but by refusing to turn himself in quietly, the Pro Heroes might have no choice but to resort to using force.
"I'm sorry too pal, but if you refuse to come quietly, we might have to use force. This is your last chance."
Kamui, Death Arms, and Mount Lady prepare themselves for a potential fight against the web-headed vigilante. Meanwhile, Backdraft stays in sidelines, managing the crowd from getting involved. Since he can neither surrender, nor show his identity, the only out is to fight his way through them.
He dashes to the side and lands outside the crater. Kamui Woods follows and stretches his arms into branches, trying to grab him. Spider-Man easily dodges them with his superior speed.
"He's too fast, I can't get him!"
"Just keep him busy!"
With the branches keeping him occupied, Death Arms moves in to takes him down up close. Spider-Man continues jumping all over the place. As soon as he lands on the concrete, his Spider-sense fires. Death Arms stands behind him. He throws a powerful punch, but Spider-Man catches it, with ONE hand. The crowd is stunned to see a small, but agile person blocking a powerful punch that that has the power equal to a wrecking ball.
"No way, how could you…?"
Death Arms throws another punch, only to be blocked again. He continues throwing punch after punch, and Spider-Man blocks and dodges them all. And he's not even breaking a sweat. He then webs his eyes, and kicks him to the concrete wall, before webbing him up. Spider-sense tingling, he turns to Kamui Woods unleashing his special move, Lacquered Chain Prison. The moment the branches get close to him, Spider-Man effortlessly chops them all off. He earns yet another stunned expression from the Pro Hero and the spectators. The green-haired boy's eyes are so big, they almost look like plates on a table.
Kamui retracts his branches and reforms his arm.
"Not only is he fast, he's strong too. And that reaction time, there's no way a normal human can respond that quickly. It's almost like he knew what I was gonna do next. What kind of Quirk does he have?"
"Rrrgh! This is guys already getting in my nerves! I'm moving in!" Mount Lady shouts behind him.
"No, wait!"
Just as Kamui turns his head to her, Spider-Man moves in with frightening speed. Kamui extends his arms again, but Spider-Man jumps up and webs his face. Using his web, he pulls him in and slams down with great force, before webbing down too. Now, it's just Mount Lady.
After seeing him make quick work of Death Arms and Kamui Woods, she has no idea what could possibly take him down. But she has to try something, otherwise, the press won't let her live it down. With no other options, she uses her Quirk, Gigantification. Spider-Man watches as her height reaches above the surrounding buildings. Rasing her foot, she slams it back down to try and stomp him. But because of her increased size, her speed is greatly reduced, making it easy for him to dodge her. He keeps hopping around her hands and feet, dodging every single attack, then she punches down so hard, she made dust smoke – making it hard for her to see the wall-crawler.
"Do you know what your problem is, Miss?"
Mount Lady looks to her side and finds Spider-Man on the train tracks.
"You may outclass me in height, but in a real fight, the bigger you are, the slower you move. You did not just increase in size, you also increased in mass. Which in turn gives your smaller, and faster enemies the advantage to strike at your weak points," he says aloud to her.
Mount Lady stands back up, but somehow her legs won't move. Thanks to the dust smoke, and constantly dodging her hands and feet, Spider-Man was able to tie together her legs with his Super Webs. She struggles to get her legs free, but she can't. Spider-Man quickly makes his move. Zipping around the gigantic lady, he uses his webs to pull her arms back, cuffing and sticking them to her back. She feels like she's about to fall backwards, so she shrinks back to her original human size, but the Super Webs remain stuck on her legs and hands.
Spider-Man drops back down to the concrete road, looking at the Pro Heroes he effortlessly defeated. The crowd look on in shock, seeing that three heroes are beaten by a seemingly fast and powerful stranger. The only one who didn't participate is Backdraft, still using his Quirk to keep the civilians back. The two make eye contact, and a sweat drops from his face.
"Don't worry, I don't wanna fight you. I just couldn't risk revealing my identity, and knowing that any potential villains will see my face," he says to the water-bending hero, and the audience watching.
"Hey, you! Let me out of all this gross stuff, and fight fairly, you skinny creep!" Mount Lady says as she flails around in vain, trying to break free from the webs.
Ignoring the cocky heroine, he walks to Death Arms and Kamui Woods to remove the webs from their eyes.
"Why you little…! What the hell is this stuff?!" Death Arms loudly asks.
"Haven't you heard? Spider webs have a tensile strength the outclasses that of steel. You don't have to worry; they'll dissolve in just a couple of hours. But since you're all webbed up right now, I gotta get going."
Before he leaves, Kamui Woods shouts at him to wait.
"Just so you know, there will be other heroes who will come after you. You can't be allowed to roam the streets freely."
"I know. But that won't stop me from using my powers to help people. It's my responsibility."
"What kind of full-grown adult thinks it's responsible to do hero work without a license, and beat up on other heroes?!" Mount Lady shouts in the corner.
"You were gonna take me in by force. I had to protect my identity somehow. And by the way, I'm 17 years old."
With his last words given he jumps high up, and swings away from the scene. Everyone just stares in awe, trying to take in what just happened. Kamui and Death Arms look at each other.
"He's 17?!"
Meanwhile, the green-haired high school boy finished writing everything he knows so far about the new comer in red and blue, before he leaves the scene to go to school.
On top of a high glass building, Spider-Man takes a breath of fresh air as he surveys the view of the city around him. He reminisces about the events that just transpired between him and the super-powered trio. Also remembering that this world's law requires them to be registered before doing any hero work. It's probably because they want to keep the super-powered population in check, which is both good, and most likely, a bad thing. But it's not like he can just snap his fingers to change it all.
"I guess if I'm going to survive in this new world, I might as well learn about it while I can."
Then, his stomach starts grumbling.
"Maybe later, after I get something to eat."
POLICE FORCE HEADQUARTERS – 5:00 P.M.
On a TV screen, footage of Spider-Man is being played repeatedly for analysis. In front of the screen are a few police officers, and Pro Heroes. While this is the only time they've seen the wall-crawler in action, they still can't believe he single-handedly defeated three heroes, and in front of the public. One officer, Tsukauchi Naomasa, paused the video.
"So, what do you guys make of him?" he asks the people behind him.
"Well, he seems to be serious about keeping his identity a secret. And the way he fought those three, he was efficient at restraining them and kept the damage to a minimum. While the rest of the damage was mostly caused by that newbie lady," says one of the heroes.
"I agree on that. If we go back to what he said about revealing his face to the public, he stated that he's worried that it would endanger anyone who he's affiliated with. For him to go against three heroes because of that. My guess would be he saw a hero struggle fighting against a criminal because his friends and family were used as hostages," Hero No. 2 adds.
"We've had cases with scenarios involving hostages that are connected to some heroes in one way or another. If he's so disturbed by the thought, I can't say I blame him for defending himself." says one of the police sitting on the chair.
"Another thing I'd like to point out. The alias, 'Spider-Man,' was never mentioned anywhere in the USA – Registered or Vigilante. Which means, this guy is new. However, looking at the way he controls the fight, he's had combat experience and total awareness of his surroundings," adds Police No. 2.
"As impressive this new guy is, we can't ignore the fact that he's unregistered. Someone that skilled and powerful can't just be left roaming the streets," says Hero No. 3.
The rest in the room nod their heads in agreement, then turn their heads to Tsukauchi.
"I guess we're all in agreement. We now have a new mission, and a new target. His name, Spider-Man."
AND THAT'S IT FOLKS!
THE FIRST CHAPTER OF OUR FIRST ARC ABOUT SPIDER-MAN IN THE WORLD OF QUIRKS.
WITH A TARGET ON HIS BACK, AND THE POLICE AND OTHER PRO HEROES LOCKED ON HIM, HOW DO YOU THINK HE'LL SURVIVE IN THIS NEW WORLD?
STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER!
LATER!