"Man, what are we gonna do now? You got us into a real mess, Karin!" a blonde boy complained as Karin and her friends were walking down a road.
They have just recently gotten into an argument against boys that were older than them, competing for who would get the football field.
"What are we gonna do? We're gonna win, that's what!" Karin exclaimed as she fiercely pumped her fist in the air.
"But if we lose, we're gonna have to eat grass on the field!" an afro haired boy whined.
"Well let's just make sure we win so we don't have to!" Karin replied.
"How can we?" asked the same blonde boy.
"I know! By having more team spirit than those guys!" a black haired boy who wore glasses cheerfully exclaimed.
"Team spirit can't kick a ball." the afro haired boy blankly pointed out.
"Well, what are we gonna do now guys?" the black haired boy asked.
"I know! How about we ask your brother to play for us?!" the afro boy suggested, making Karin stop her tracks, looking at them with a surprised look on her face. "Yeah! Karin's older brother probably plays better than all of us!"
"That's right, the other school students are middle school students! So let's get a high school student to play for us instead!"
Karin remembered how Ichigo left his room in his Soul Reaper uniform when she confronted him. "I'm… not sure if my brother can help us right now. I heard that he's gonna go on a trip… today." she told them, which made her friends lump their heads down in disappointment. Now she felt bad for lying. "But don't worry! I'll find someone else who's good at football!" she reassured them with a smile.
"Someone else?! There is no-one else!" one of her friends complained.
They continued walking down the road, trying to figure out if they could find anyone to play with them. On their way, they spotted someone nearby, who leaned his back to a wall. To their surprise, it was Ichigo standing there as he looked to be using a new phone he got. Karin widened her eyes before she started running towards her older brother with a smile. "Ichigo!" she called out to him, who looked over at her and was surprised to see his younger sibling.
"Oh hey, Karin." Ichigo greeted his sister. "Is there something you need?"
"Yeah, actually. Do you know how to play soccer by any chance?" Karin asked.
Ichigo was confused by the random question. "Uhm… kind of I guess. Why do you ask?"
"We have a big game coming up in a few days, do you wanna play with us?"
"A game? What for?" Ichigo didn't get why his sister was asking him something like this. If it was just to watch her game then he wouldn't really mind, but playing with her?
"Some jerks were taking over a football field where my friends and I play, and they didn't want to give it back to us! We tried to explain there wasn't any other place for us to practice, but they were just making fun of us!" Karin explained herself, but her brother didn't seem convinced. ''Those guys are older than me and my friends, somewhere close to your age. We got to an agreement that we were gonna play a match next week, except the problem is that we're short on players and those guys are bigger than us and play better."
"Well…" Ichigo thought about it as he scratched his hair. "I'll at least see if I can have enough free time, alright?"
"Hey, Karin! I thought you said your brother was just about to go on a trip?!" the black haired boy exclaimed as he and their friends walked toward where Karin was at.
'A trip?' Ichigo thought confusion, looking at his sister before deciding to go along with it. "Uh… yeah my trip isn't gonna last very long, I should be able to get back in time for your game to start, but I'm gonna be a little busy until then. Is that gonna be alright?"
"So you're joining?!" the blond boy asked in excitement.
"Sure, I guess." Ichigo answered as he shrugged his shoulders, and made the younger kids start celebrating in joy for gaining another player like him. 'I could ask Shinji to give me a break long enough to join Karin's game. And when I come back I can continue to train.'
Norman Osborn, the father of Harry Osborn, walked out of the elevator of the 20th floor of the Oscorp skyscraper he founded. Norman was a middle aged man with brown hair and attire that consisted of a grey dress shirt under a black vest, a red tie, and a pair of black pants. Norman was standing by Adrian Toomes holding a tablet on his hands as the two were standing side by side as in front of them they were protected by a massive glass window to observe below were some men working on a odd black glider
Adrian Toomes was a tall man with brown hair and green eyes wearing a white shirt under a white lab coat, brown pants and dark brown shoes. "How is the glider coming along, Toomes?" Norman asked as he looked over at Adrian, wanting to know how much progress was made.
"We — We were just about to call you sir to see the results, but it looks like you came in just in time." Adrian nervously replied to the man, being afraid of Norman. This job here was excessively more difficult than it was laid out to be, and it didn't help how much under pressure he has been. Lately he faced failures with one experiment after another, and his funding on the project had been decreased as well. Right now, this may as well be his last chance to impress Norman, and if he failed then he could kiss his job goodbye.
"Is that so? Proceed then..." Norman replied, looking at the balcony below.
Adrian looked over at his colleagues, and one of them spotted his look before giving a thumbs up, giving a sign that everything was ready to go. Adrian nodded his head before moving the screen tablet with his finger, clicking the blue circle. Everyone was backing away as the glider started slowly ascending in the air, and Adrian was controlling the glider with the keypads, performing basic controls over the glider as it moved in the air. This kept going on for a few minutes before Adrian stopped the glider.
"Well, Adrian, you actually did something right here. I'm rather impressed right now." Norman commented, as he seemed to be pleased with the results given to him.
Adrian was relieved, as things were starting to go his way now. "Thank you, sir." he said, being glad that he could get to keep his job.
Norman then sent a cruel gaze towards the man. "Unfortunately that does not change things, Adrian. You and your crew are still fired."
A look of shock was etched on Adrian's face, the sheer disbelief even made him take a step back. "W-what?! Why!?" He managed to choke out before clenching his fists. "We just saw how the glider was a success. It is able to maintain flight and even move to a speed up to Mach 3 with no collateral damage to the user thanks to the suit of armor made for it. And yet you're simply disregarding it?" A boiling anger tended through his body as Adrian felt like his life's work was being thrown into the garbage without even as much of a second glance.
"Yes, I am disregarding such a product due to how much of a waste it is. I funded your little project here in Japan for 2 years where you constantly gave excuse after excuse for why it's not ready. Meanwhile my adversaries, more specifically Tony Stark, have been able to produce technologies far more advanced for warfare!" Norman spat out, equally as angry.
"My glider is not a weapon!" Adrian almost felt disgusted at the idea of crew's technology to be used in such a manner. "My partners and I never designed the suit to be used in such a manner."
"Your glider, Toomes? I may be hearing things wrong but I think you meant… my glider." The cruel smirk seen before was now once again back on Osborn's face before it disappeared. "Pack your things and leave. Your crew is also to be put on the streets as well, I have no need for them."
Jaw slack, Adrian felt like he needed to put everything in his might to not punch Norman's teeth out. "You can't do that to them! If it is just that you will fire then so be it! But leave my crew be, they all have families to raise. You can't just do that to them…"
"I can and I will." And with that, Osborn left the room, leaving behind an angered and bitter Adrian Toomes.
He brought the news to his team, who were understandably unsatisfied with the result to say the least. Hours have gone by and the team found themselves outside the Oscorp building with most of their stuff being carried in boxes.
Night would soon fall as the sun set down, which mirrored how they felt at the exact moment. Toomes felt like a failure for the most part and as he walked home by himself with a case full of his notes and blueprints, the feeling worsened.
Just as he was about to take a turn for the district where his house was located, an SUV drove by and parked next to him. The window went down where a black haired man wearing business faced him, the man had a cold look on his face as he stared at Adrian's disheveled look.
"Adrian Toomes I believe?" The man began which didn't really surprise Adrian. The way he spoke it was clear the guy was native to America, and judging by his posture it was clear that it wasn't a random guy. Along with the fact Adrian wasn't a simple nobody at Oscorp either as his name usually would be attributed to other engineering and mechanical tasks at Oscorp. With that in mind he nodded in response. "Hard day I assume, you got expelled from your job by the big boss of the place, huh?"
A sigh left Adrian's mouth. Great, he got out a few hours ago and the news was already spreading. "Yes, that's me. Not sure why you would call me in the middle of the street when I'm heading home to just take in what happened."
A small chuckle came out from the man in the car who simply opened the door in response. "Get in, we'll give you a ride home and we can talk along the way."
Now it was Adrian's turn to laugh if anything. "Sorry, but I would have to be very gullible to simply enter a stranger's vehicle that I don't know if they would even keep their word."
"Well look at that. You do have common sense at least. Anyway, I am not trying to deceive you really. You got out of your job which means you're available, so all I am doing is giving you." He said as he pointed a finger to Adrian. "A job proposal to get back at what Norman Osborn did to you."
A few seconds went by as Adrian stared at the open door before entering in. "Very well… I'll hear what you have to say." And with that the vehicle took off.
Days passed relatively quickly where Adrian found himself working for a man that went by the nickname Kingpin. The name made him shudder as he recalled one of the reasons he first was relieved to be sent to Japan, which was that back in New York, crime was relatively relentless where mobs and mafias were involved. All that linked back to the big man of crime, The Kingpin. And to know that he just got employed by a guy like that…
He stood at the top of a hotel wearing a trench coat holding an envelope that had the Oscorp logo on it. "I'm sick with myself...But at least I can guarantee my team's work won't be in the wrong hands either way." He spat as he saw the Oscorp building at least 600 meters from where he was. It was a massive skyscraper that had a vague U shape at the top with large letters in the front saying 'Oscorp'.
Tapping the floor Toomes went over to a burning barrel and threw the stacks of paper into the flames, looking at the fire with a defeated look on his face. He then turned around and took off his trench coat revealing his new armored suit. While working for Kingpin was certainly sickening, he couldn't deny that there were a few positives. Like the fact that he and his team were able to properly finish their Glider technology and improve it to a new degree and with that an upgrade was made.
Instead of creating a separate machine that the user had to stay on, it was now integrated with entries that allowed it to be connected to the suit. In short, he had made a jetpack with metal wings. Which allowed for more careful maneuver in skin and even combat if necessary. He then unfolded the wings into their full span, the engine slowly building up the necessary power for propulsion before stabilizing flight. He put on his helmet as he locked eyes into the top left roof of the Oscorp Building, Norman's personal working area.
A yawn left Ichigo's mouth as he walked by the bridge from Karakura to Tama. He had been on a spree non stop with his training with both the Vizards and Yoruichi, who suggested he should try going to nearby cities as an exercise. Which to her credit was actually a good idea, seeing as there were more Hollows in that region than he expected there to be. Sure he knew there should be Hollows all around the world, but so close as well? 'Then again... I might as well take a little bit of break.' he thought. 'After I'm done helping my sister, I'll just go back to my training.' He still didn't forget that he said he would join Karin on her football game. Sure it was a bit unfair to invite a 16 year old to play football with a bunch of 13 year olds, the difference was only 3 years but there sure was a lot of difference… besides it was more fair that way since he planned on being Goalkeeper.
He had until tomorrow before the game started. Just then, Ichigo spotted something off as he looked up to the sky. From his point of view on ground level he could spot the figure of a man with wings carrying another man. Due to how hard it was to see from the ground and the fading daylight, along with city's lights made it harder to see, it was very annoying and intrusive. Hard to see, hard to help. As if on cue, his pupils dilated before reducing back to their original size flashing gold before turning dark again. The effect was sudden, the once blurry image was now crystal clear. He could see that the flying man was wearing an armored suit with mechanical wings and the man he carried…
"Wait… is that the guy who owns the Oscorp company? Norbit — no — Norling — oh right — Norman!" Despite his tone Ichigo was not taking such a thing lightly, he had no idea even why such a thing was happening, was it staged? No, he could see clearly from those hundreds of meters between ground and air that both Norman and the flying man were having a heated argument with each other. Besides, he never even heard of something like this being staged.
"Be honest, Osborn. Do you really believe you are not to blame?!" Toomes shouted as his breath ragged due to stress, making sharp and swift turns through the air, diving between gaps in between buildings before ascending into the air again.
"What nonsense is this, Adrian? You attacked me in my office just days after you were fired!" Norman shouted back in indignation, how dare he insult him like this?
"And why did you?! The experiment worked, and as you see now first hand—" Toomes, in his rage, proceeded to throw Norman up to the sky before diving and rising to catch him in a roll. "It has been improved despite rustic equipment."
"Toomes, stop! What will any of this accomplish?!" Norman asked, feeling a sense of desperation, and tried to think of anything to convince Toomes to spare him. "If you kill me then you would just be chased by the police! You could have just gone home and forgotten that I fired you!"
"I don't plan on going back, going to jail or getting out of this alive, Norman." Adrian's face was completely devoid of anger, now filled with disgust and apathy. Norman's eyes widened, he really was going to die and Toomes would kill himself later. In a sick and twisted manner, it was a clever move. "After you splatter on the ground. Your office and my life will have vanished soon after." And with that, Adrian loosens hold of Norman and leaves him to fall for his death.
Which would have happened, had Ichigo not intervened by grabbing Norman and landing him on the rooftop of a nearby building close to the Oscorp building. "Get out." He ordered, lightly shoving Norman forward. The man was so confused by the sudden appearance that he took his time to see who it was.
It didn't take Ichigo any time at all to change into his vigilante outfit, dash up the 120 meter building and leap into action. As if he realized only now what was said to him, Norman took his chance and quickly made his escape towards the fire escape exit on the rooftop.
The sudden appearance of a hooded figure that managed to somehow save Osborn from quite certain death was a shock to Adrian, who slowly descended to the level where the hooded figure stood. "Who are you?" He asked as he landed, a metallic tap clinked with the steps Adrian would take. "Why did you save that man?"
"I just felt like it." Ichigo gave the honest answer. There was no real reason for him to save this stranger who he couldn't even bother to remember the name of. "Uh… what's his name again?"
Adrian was taken back by this, dumbfounded at the idea that someone didn't know who Norman Osborn was. "That man was Norman Osborn… The man who owns Oscorp industries?"
'Oh right, I think that's Harry's father… Or his uncle?' Ichigo thought to himself. "Well why would you want to kill him?"
"He destroyed the lives of his employees with constant harassment, threats and unfair judgement. Almost like he thinks of his employees as slaves…" Toomes stated as he slowly rose up with the engine running. "I can't just continue to do nothing now that he has fired both me and my team despite the successful work."
Damn. This just got a whole lot heavier. "Then shouldn't you, you know, sue him for misconduct and poor treatment?" Ichigo suggested as he raised his hands, and while there was no intention of hostility from either side, the tension was ever growing.
Adrian snorted in response. "Tch, you're young aren't you?" He said as he narrowed his eyes with an inquisitive gaze which made Ichigo almost flinch in response, but he managed to keep it down. "You should be in school, learning that these things aren't that simple. Which let me tell you now, boy. That bastard is slippery, if I sue him he for sure has the best lawyers he can quickly afford in order to turn the case against me."
Ichigo just stood silently, unable to come up with a rebuttal as he didn't know the situation fully. "Even then...Can't just let you make him red paste on the floor." He said as he prepared a leaping stance.
"Fine." He then brandished his wings into full display. "Then that makes two of us."
In order to get to Norman, Adrian needed to get past Ichigo first, and that's exactly what he intended to do. With the engine working in order and his suit working in full functional capacity for actual combat, Adrian dived towards the young man, only for Ichigo to leap out of the way, making Adrain hit the rooftop instead. Ichigo twisted his body in mid air before he looked back at the armored man, and fired a strand of webbing on the edge of the building, propelling his body onwards and kicking Adrian hard enough to send him flying away from the building.
If it were not for the full body suit that Adrain wore, the kick just now would have broke the armor and knocked Toomes out for sure. But the fact the armor didn't break at all made Ichigo guess that this was not any normal armor. The teen in question went after Adrian as he leaped towards his direction, firing another web at the armor to pull himself closer and landed on top of Adrian's armor.
Adrian scoffed as he swung his right wing to slash Ichigo's face, but the young teen instinctively dodged out of the way as he jumped backwards and landed on the side of the building in all fours. Adrian went after Ichigo again as he dived towards him, but once more Ichigo reacted quickly enough to get out of the way. Adrian turned around to see that Ichigo was falling in mid air, and used that to his advantage to march towards him once more, but now Adrian used his feet to kick Ichigo, which worked as he sent Ichigo falling towards the ground.
Ichigo made a backflip in order to balance himself before firing off a web to stick to another building behind him, landing only on his feet as he stared at the flashing pair of green eyes that glared at him. "Can't you stop and think about this?!" he asked as he raised his tone for Adrian to hear him, wanting to see if he could change this man's mind, as clearly there wasn't enough context for him to know what was even going on.
"I already have!" Adrian exclaimed, his tone growing in agitation. He suspected it before, but now he was sure that this person he was fighting couldn't be any older than a teenager, ranging somewhere between 15 to 18 at most. After all, nobody would act naive like that. "Otherwise I wouldn't be going through with this!" The man then turned his head to look at Norman, who managed to get all the way down on the floor and continued to run. No doubt that Norman already called the police as well, and remained almost unaware that he made himself a sitting duck.
Ichigo looked over to where Adrian was looking, and widened his eyes when he saw what it was, and immediately figured out what the man would pull off next. Given the speed of the suit and the distance split between them, it would only take a second at most to capture Norman again. Adrian did not waste time and immediately went after Norman, but to Toomes' surprise Ichigo hadn't merely reacted but kept caught up even faster than what he did as he got pinned against a building.
"Nngh!" Ichigo used some of his strength to pin Adrian so that he wouldn't be able to move. It was then that Norman turned around to see what he heard and was surprised to see the sight before him, which made him lose his concentration and stopped running, as it dawned on him how easily he could have been captured again. Ichigo noticed this and turned his head to glare at the head of Oscorp industries. "What are you standing around there for?! Get out of here!" he yelled at him.
Norman flinched, realizing the mistake he made and began to run as far as possible to either stay out of range or find a safety spot. Around him were the people who resided in the town, staring at the two people with dumbstruck looks struck upon their faces. Adrian glared at his young opponent, struggling to overcome the sheer strength. "Get off!" Adrian made a rebuttal, using all the strength provided in his suit to overpower the mighty grip. "If you really wanted to help then you would stay out of this!"
"I never said that I wanted to help." Adrian looked at him with a hint of confusion that hid behind his helmet from the reply he was given with. "Now if I were you I'd focus more on the fighting."
Adrian scoffed as he still struggled to get the young man off of him. 'Shit, what can I do here? I can't take Norman and fight this kid at the same time.' He had to try something else, and he may have just the idea to do that. 'I'll have to focus all my attention on the kid. So if I can't take Norman, I'll just have to go after the next best thing.' his wings began to fly upwards, as his back tore through the walls of the building, taking Ichigo with him.
Ichigo widened his eyes in surprise from the unexpected maneuver before Adrian flew downwards diagonally so that he could slam Ichigo through a building, but the teen got off of Adrian in time, to which Adrian flew upwards in time before he flew to the direction of Oscorp Industries. 'There! That oughta shake him off for some—' Adrian turned his head to look back where Ichigo was at, only to be in shock when he saw and felt a webline being attached to his suit, and Ichigo was hanging onto his web. He was a persistent kid, that much was for sure.
Ichigo scaled up his web, getting that much closer to his opponent. Adrian tried to shake him off as he kept flying in different directions, but nothing was working. He couldn't afford to keep letting this kid butting in, so to use this to his advantage Adrian lowered himself enough so that he would be flying above a building while Ichigo would go right through it. But then the unexpected occured. Ichigo used his strength to pull his webbing hard enough to throw Adrian off balance as he got thrown around in mid air. Toomes yelped in surprise, and Ichigo made his claws appear, tearing through his gloves as he sticked through the surface of the building before immediately leaping away to get back at Adrian.
He fired off another web and it tugged at Adrian's suit, pulling him closer until he pressed his body weight against his, pushing both of them back to hit the ground. Adrian thought quickly and used his wings to fly high in the air, taking Ichigo with him as he grabbed the boy by his throat in an attempt to choke him. They were soaring through the air, and in no time they were flying higher than what most of the buildings were structured.
Ichigo put both of his hands on Adrian's metal hands and pulled them away from his throat. While holding them, he twisted his body to pull off a backflip kick on Adrian's jaw, which worked as Adrian grunted from the pain, and Ichigo fell down in the air until he fired another web at Adrian's feet, to which Adrian began to fly away once more. "You won't pull off the same trick twice!" Ichigo exclaimed as he pulled himself up on his web to launch himself with the force of his own backlash.
They continued to soar through the sky until Adrian turned around to stop the teenager's momentum in track and incapate him as he dashed right at Ichigo, but the redhead's enhanced reflexes reacted quickly enough for him to make a flip in order to double kick Adrian in the face, which worked as it pushed him back, and Ichigo fired another web to land on top of Adrian before making a double ax handle on the helmet, making Adrian continue to grunt from the pain. Ichigo then swung a right hook, and a left hook after that, continuing to hit Toomes' helmet.
Adrian began to fly downwards, not paying attention as to where he was flying at, and he grabbed Ichigo by the collar to throw him off, but once again Ichigo reacted faster as he grabbed both of Adrian's wrists and kicked him in the gut, sending him backwards as they were on opposite ends now. Adrian dived right at Ichigo to make a proper blow, but Ichigo twisted his body to look properly at a right angle before he webbed Adrian's suit and made him flip downwards even further. Ichigo was still diving in mid air and came right at Adrian, who barely had time to balance himself as he tried to land a blow by kicking him, but Ichigo easily blocked the kick before he grabbed Adrian's right leg, performing a front flip before he kicked Adrian's stomach, making him spiral downwards faster than before.
The location they were at now seemed to take place in an industrial port that was close to the waters, and Adrian crashed through dozens of cargos as though they were made of paper before painfully landing against the concrete ground, making a crater that was at least 3 times larger than Adrian's entire body. "Uuuungh..." Adrian groaned in pain, as his helmet and suit of armor showed signs of extensive damage. The man tried to get up, but was too weak to do so as he clenched his stomach in pain, along with most of his body aching from just trying to move.
A loud crash echoed through the ground, dust spreading over like a cloud as Adrian coughed due to the dirt on his nostrils. As the dust settled the figure of Ichigo's cloaked in landing pose showed itself, he stood up as he realized the 1 meter deep crater he was in. He landed much more roughly compared to Adrian who had his fall broken numerous times while wearing the armor that finally reached its limit and broke down to pressure.
Looking over to said bird guy he got out of the crater to take a better look at the broken man. "So, wanna finally talk about this?" Ichigo asked as he opened his arms to the side.
The brown haired man coughed in pain, the armor took most of the damage but even then the remaining of it was enough that he was sure he broke certain bones. "You, why…" He groaned as forcing himself to say more would hurt him more for now. "You could have killed me like this…" He said as he coughed the next line.
Looking down Ichigo knew he wouldn't get enough answers this way with the man so hurt. "I figured that if your suit was able to withstand so much punishment in our fight, then it should have protected you enough from a crash. Besides, you wouldn't listen so I had to stop you somehow. "
Toomes laughed at what he got told before he started coughing profusely from the pain. "Kid, this crash would have killed any person regardless if there was a house of cushions and pillows to break the fall. But at least with my armor it helped me survive." He then looked up to the container cargos he had been shot through on his way to the crater he laid in. "I'd say this was a 7 Ton impact, likely twice as much in estimate seeing as I didn't lose speed as I broke through a dozen containers." He then whistled, almost impressed. "That is some leg strength indeed. Enough to tear apart entire buildings… or damage armored suits like mine."
"I don't really care for how impressed you are honestly… but what I do care is that you need help for sure." The hooded teen said as he took out his phone and prepared to call an ambulance.
However, Adrian merely raised, albeit painfully, a hand in response. "No need to. As far as I'm concerned Norman has likely informed the police of the attempt on his life I just committed." Toomes smirked in irony. "I may have designed this suit in the form of a bird, but that man is a true vulture…"
Fixing up his scarf to keep his face hidden, he took a step forward in question. "A vulture? Why call him that?" Remembering what Toomes said early before they fought he could see the resemblance now. "Wait, now I remember… is this why you attacked him?"
Adrian nods. "Yeah, a monster… but I guess it takes one to kill another or at least prevent it from harming more people." He then looked up as his vision became somewhat hazy.
Ichigo's eyes zone back to his face, confusion written over them. "What do you mean?" What does he mean by monster?
His conscience becoming hazier by the second, Toomes tried his best to stay awake. "I was weak… I ended up joining a very foul person in order to finish this suit you see and honestly… I think there may be a link between both that guy and Osborn. It's why I was tasked with killing him and why I wanted to kill myself for doing so."
"But why?"
"To be sincere, why I did it doesn't matter, what matters is that the Big Man cannot be allowed to get his hands on either my technology or Oscorp's. It would be chaos even worse than the rival mobs around the state…"
'The mobs? What do they have to do with this?' Ichigo was becoming more confused. ''Can you tell me more? Does this have to do with some thugs getting more gear these past weeks?" No response was given at the moment, but as soon as Ichigo was going to repeat himself he realized Adrian was unconscious. "Fuck… looks I have that to worry about now…"
Soon police sirens could be heard in the distance. Ichigo blinked, realizing how much time passed just now. Turning away, Ichigo bolted off as he leaped to a nearby crane, and in the distance outside the port he could already spot the police cars, it was weird. The port entrance was more than a mile away from here and he could spot it with no difficulty, even being able to catch some details.
With that in mind Ichigo hopped off the crane, landing on top of a container as he freely ran his way around efficiently and rapidly got away from the port without being seen. Sure he was still making noise, but honestly he was impressed with how much freedom of movement he had. As he got out of the port through its entrance, he leaped towards a building and crawled up its side until he was out of sight enough to fire off his webs for easier transport. But one thing was for certain, this event from today would surely make it big in the news.
"What is the report of the mission?" A menacing voice boomed across the room as the owner of the voice stood in his chair turned facing towards the turned off TV.
It was a large well composed room that seemed to belong to a very wealthy man. Statues were the obvious attraction along with the paintings hanging on the wall.
There was another figure with him, and he nodded his head as he stood next to the first large figure. "A failure. An utter disaster if I may say..." he asked his boss, wanting to know what they could do next. The long reigning silence meant that he was demanded to keep elaborating upon it "For starters...Toomes made us a fool, his technology and blueprints given to our personnel were mostly duds and we don't have enough professionals to transcript what he did. Those blueprints were all rewritten into codes. Not only that but we found out that he took the original blueprints as well and burned them."
The first figure sighed. "I should have known… Adrian Toomes was for all intents and purposes, nothing more than a regular man, a brilliant man for sure, but still just that. His integrity made him shatter, did it not?"
The second figure seemed to nod in response. "From the reports of my squad, after he got taken down it seems that he was going to attempt suicide after completing his operation."
"And with that so would any chance of me taking advantage of both his technology and Oscorp's resources in that town go to waste. But… it seems not all went to waste."
"The hooded man that appeared around a week ago… he has been taking away affiliated gang members from the groups we stationed in Karakura… And now he attacks someone we just hired?" The figure then reaches for his phone as he looks over blurry photos of Ichigo jumping over buildings in the night. "Too fast for our cameras to catch, as though he's able to teleport sometimes. Not just that, but hw possess an irregularly high level of strength with the seeming ability to spin moth or spider silk like substances to tie up and glue members of our force." He stated as he zoomed on an image of several gang members rendered immobile as they had been almost completely engulfed by the webbing, not only that but there were immense spider web fashion cracks on the wall.
"Which would make it a good idea if we had the technology to empower our crew. But now that makes it harder."
"Should I call our intermediaries?" The man commented as he leaned on the wall, light shining forth revealing a small patch of white spiky hair. "They should be able to handle him if they do it together."
The man in the chair then rose from his seat, displaying his humongous size. "No. He hasn't intervened in our base of operations yet and the current gang war that's about to aspire. If he does get involved in this, we'll eliminate him. I don't need a freak in black to deal with."
"Understood."
Entering through the window with a flip, the dark hooded vigilante landed on the floor with a crawling pose. He slowly looked around before sighing, the room was still empty and likely so were the other upstairs rooms.
As he stood up he took off his hood, letting his spiky orange hair free. The clothes were made surely for winter or nights, so it was no surprise that he felt like he was sweating a lot because of his daytime fight. He grabbed some fresh clothes and headed to the bathroom. Twenty minutes later he then went back to his room before taking out the new phone.
Dialing a number he takes the phone up to his left ear as the call gets accepted. "Hey, uhm, Yoruichi…" He started as he held the bundle of clothing that Yoruichi had given to him before setting them down. "So the clothes got dirty and sweaty… how exactly do I clean them? Do I just put them on the washing machine or is there a more special method to it?" He asked as he opened up a Pepsi can.
From the other side of the line Yoruichi just put on a jacket. "Well for starters, don't mix it with other clothes otherwise the colors mix. Unless you want pink boxers then go ahead…" She replied with a small joke, to which she was absolutely sure Ichigo had a trembling brow now, oh the boy was so fun to mess around with. "Anyway, I'll get there and teach you how to do it."
Ichigo nearly choked on his drink "W-what?! No way, my sisters may arrive from school, I-I can't…"
The purple haired beauty takes in her breath at what she knew would be a conversation that wouldn't be as fun. "How about it if I simply take the clothes, clean them and then bring them back to you?"
"But what about the next time I end up dirtying them?" Ichigo asks an obvious answer.
"For a bright kid you're dumb sometimes…" Yoruichi says plainly which makes the teen wince. "Then I will have to teach you. Ichigo, this isn't negotiable."
"Ok, fine...Just pick them up and we'll do this some other time." Ichigo spoke as he relents to what Yoruichi said. It really wouldn't do any good for him to be stubborn in this scenario. Setting the phone down on his desk, he went over to the spider's cage. "I think I should have already retrieved this little guy from Connors. It has been almost a week and it's still alive…" He said, as he peeks onto the cage and saw the Spider sitting down on a web-nest made by it. It was something he saw the Spider working on this morning. "Huh… so you're already preparing for your babies then?" He rhetorically asked as he recalled looking up on his computer that some spiders would prepare a nest in order to shelter their young.
Ichigo then picked up the cage before setting his way to the school just to finish his project at last. As he descended the stairs and made his way to the door, he was suddenly taken aback by the appearance of Yoruichi who had zapped in on the Living room. Despite almost stumbling, he was able to hold the cage properly. "Yoruichi, what are you doing here?!" He asked her in surprise.
"I literally just told you over the phone I was here to get your clothes…" The answer was so simple that it made him feel stupid. Flustered, he led her back to his room where he pointed to her where the clothing was, to which she nodded and thanked him.
Ichigo nodded as he made his way out of the house. Taking the usual path he took until the sun began to set as he knew it would now take him just 30 minutes to get to his sister's school to walk them home after giving his project over to the teacher. Once he saw the school gates he could see a bunch of students walking home due to recovery classes that had been set on Saturday, including biology.
Once he got to the classroom, he knocked on the door which was followed by permission granted by the teacher to enter. Inside, he saw that the room was already empty and that Connors was already finishing up his notes on the table before he could put them back on his bag.
"Mr. Connors...? It's me." Ichigo announced, and Connors looked up in surprise to see that Ichigo had been in school, with the Spider cage in hands no less, did he plan on delivering his project already? "I came here to deliver this little guy to you." Ichigo said, as he set the cage on the table.
With a frown on his lips the brown haired man stared at the cage through its window where he could see the Spider nest formed as the Spider slept on it. "It's already preparing to either birth her eggs or… something more intimate with another. Well at least you chose a good time to deliver it." The man said as Ichigo blinked in silence, which could be summed up with a "what"
"So...I won't get in trouble?" The teenage student asked as he scratched the back of his head in worry. "Like—"
The man then waved his hand in assurance to the young man. "No, it's fine really." He then laid a hand on the cage as he looked at the arachnid safely sleeping in it. "You don't have to worry about it, Ichigo. Just go home and wait for the results to be delivered."
Nodding, the teen then left the room, leaving the man alone with only an arachnid for company. The doctor turned his head to the spider with a smile on his face. After all, one of his students managed to do their tasks on time at least. And he could sit back and wait for the others. However, his joy was briefly interrupted by the Spider that began to tremble, was it afraid? And then… Crack, as if it's body were simply a shell, cracks formed around its body as something viscous inside protruded out of the gaps before breaking through it. It was…
An Iguana… twice the size of the already big spider, it seemed to still be young as well which seemed odd as the Spider looked to be an older relative to the age of an iguana. Whereas most men and women would flee from such an occurrence ever happening. "Curious…" But unlike anyone else, the smile that was present before seemed to become even brighter. "Very curious…"
The next day arrived and Ichigo brought Karin to her game. An hour or so passed by, and Ichigo joined up with Karin and her friends. And after that, the group of older boys joined up as well.
Ichigo checked out on them, and he could guess that those guys were still in middle school, most likely in their last year as well. 'Just some average middle schoolers. This shouldn't last very long, and it's a good thing that Hiyori or somebody else hasn't lost their patience to pick me up too early. I'd say this might last around 15 minutes or less.' he thought to himself.
Soon enough the game started, and at first the game was dragged to a stalemate, as while the middle schoolers had the advantage they weren't able to score a goal against Ichigo's. But that changed as Karin's team became mostly dominant in the field thanks to Ichigo being switched as a player. They continuously kept scoring one goal after another, and it was mostly by Ichigo's efforts. 10 minutes have passed by, and the score showed the result of 4-2 already, as Ichigo let the other team score goals of their own at times as an attempt to not show off too much.
The next round would be the last one. One of the kids passed the ball to Ichigo, and there were already a few opponents coming by as one of them slid under the ground to take the ball away from him, but Ichigo jumped over him and managed to dribble past the other player before running towards the goal.
"Put it in again!" Karin exclaimed as she was running by Ichigo's side. Ichigo glanced at his sister, and he gained an idea as he passed the ball to her, to which Karin was confused by this.
"No, you do it this time. This is your team, not mine." Ichigo remarked to his sister.
Karin was confused, but nonetheless she nodded her head before she sprinted closer to the goal. Once she got close enough, Karin shot the ball with all her strength, and just barely managed to score the last goal from the goalkeeper. When this happened, the kids started celebrating, making Karin smile before she walked over to her brother. "It's all thanks to you, Ichigo." she said.
"Hey, anything to help my little sister. If you do need my help like this again, just make sure to call me, alright?" Ichigo remarked, showing a small smile. Truth be told, it did feel great to bond over with his sister like this again.
That was then interrupted, as Ichigo heard his Combat Pass ringing, turning his head to the side in surprise to see a rather large Hollow appear out from the Garganta. The Hollow jumped over and landed on the ground, knocking everybody over backwards in doing so. "Run guys!" Karin yelled over in worry, wanting her friends to get out of the field now, despite the fact they couldn't see the Hollow they listened to Karin as they ran away in fear.
"That goes for you too." Ichigo pulled Karin, bringing out his Combat Pass to do his work as a Soul Reaper. "Just stay back."
"I can't! Not while my friends are in danger!" Karin exclaimed as she ran over to her soccer ball.
"No wait—" Ichigo tried to warn her, but Karin didn't listen to him as she kicked the ball at the huge Hollow, but the mere contact made the ball explode as the Hollow was scratching its head in confusion.
This made Karin step back in shock. "He didn't even feel it!" She couldn't believe her kick was ineffective.
The Hollow saw Karin before it brought his fist and hurled it at Karin but Ichigo managed to switch over to his Reishi form, stopping the Hollow's fist by cutting its hand off. This made the Hollow screech from the pain it felt. "You sure picked the wrong day to invade right now." Ichigo said, pointing his massive blade at the creature. The Hollow then charged a Cero on its mouth, but Ichigo scoffed at this as he used Flash Step to appear above the Hollow before cutting it in half. The Hollow roars in anguish as its body breaks down into spirit particles once purified by the Zanpakutou.
"Amazing…" Karin was in awe at the performance her brother gave, being amazed at the strength he possessed.
Ichigo then appeared in front of her, wanting to make sure if his sibling was fine. "Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah… I am." Karin murmured in response. "Wait, how is everyone?" She asked, and both of them made their way over the street to see no-one nearby
"They seem to be fine." Ichigo commented before he got back in his human body and was ready to go back with the Vizards. "It was fun today, Karin, but I'm gonna have to go now."
He then felt Karin grab him by his shirt, and Ichigo turned his head to look at Karin. "Wait… where are you going?" Karin wanted to know, not wanting her brother to go somewhere and leave her again with no explanation.
"Uh… well..." Ichigo struggled to form words within himself, not being sure of just what he could say.
"Ever since you left you never explained where you ran off to. Be honest with me, there's something a lot bigger going on that I don't know about, is there? It's why you keep disappearing somewhere, isn't it? "
Ichigo frowned when he saw the look his sister gave him. At least this wasn't with Yuzu, it would make him feel more guilty than he already was. He kneeled down on the ground and put his hands on Karin's shoulders. He wasn't going to tell her the whole thing, but he would give her a rough idea as to what's happening. ''Ok... you're right… something a lot bigger is going on that you don't understand. Something really bad is going to happen, and your big brother has to get involved in it." This only made Karin look down on the ground, and then Ichigo pulled her close to him as he gave her a hug, letting her lean on his shoulder. "I can't tell you everything that's going on, and it's more than those monsters you saw just now. I'll tell you this, I'll stay with you guys as much as I can, so I won't be somewhere else all the time. I can only tell you that I'm working on gaining more strength."
Karin made a muffled sigh on his shoulder before she began to pull away. ''Well at least you were being honest, so I don't have to ask where you go off so much. And you are gonna stay with us so something. Just one question… by the time this big event or whatever is gonna happen, how long will you be gone?"
Ichigo nodded his head. "I... I honestly don't know. As long as it's going to take. But right now I gotta go somewhere else, so I'll see you later." he gave her a genuine smile before he walked away from the field.
"Yeah…" Karin gave off a small smile. ''See ya later."