Chapter 14: Robin Hood

Amidst his exhausted and battered peers, Izuku stood at ease at the front of the class while All Might reviewed the class's performance for the day. Today had been the best day of school ever. Not only did he get to meet and even talk with All Might, but he'd aced the exercise too. The only thing preventing this from being a perfect day was the nagging fear he felt in the back of his mind concerning his scheme to steal an extra costume later. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more uncertain he became. Here he was practically standing in All Might's shadow, and he was planning a heist! When All Might lifted his head from his clipboard and smiled at the class he shivered. It wasn't just fear he felt, but an odd sense of excitement. For the past few months he'd been so locked up in being meek little Deku that he had forgotten the thrill of his more renegade alter-ego.

'Well everyone, you all put forth a strong effort for your first lesson. Well done!' All Might boomed. The class smiled weakly at his praise before he continued.

'Hiretsuna, Kiska, Midoriya, and Saigo, you managed to defeat the villain and rescue all the injured civilians, congratulations!'

Izuku managed to get over himself enough to share a grin with his teammates. They were the only group that managed to complete the exercise successfully. Around them, some of their fellow classmates exchanged sour looks. There had been a few incidents of miscommunication and friendly fire that had resulted in some unfortunate injuries.

'Of course, there is plenty of room for improvement, but don't worry! I'll whip you all into shape…with homework!' All Might said, grinning broadly. Izuku's classmates grumbled. Between their fresh injuries and their already existing mountain of homework, the glitz of being a superhero was starting to fade.

'Now I want you all to review the footage of your rescue attempt and come up with a personal strategy to improve your performance. There are proper protocols for these situations - which I want you to include in your report - but I am more interested in how you can integrate your unique capabilities into the rescue scenario!'

'When is this due?' asked a weak voice in the back.

'Tomorrow!' All Might said happily and the class groaned again.

As the rest of the day progressed Izuku's nerves got worse and worse. His lessons practically flew by and with each minute the after-school workshop period drew closer. His earlier feeling of adventure faded and was replaced with an increasing sense of impending doom. What was he thinking stealing from UA of all places? Not only was he surrounded by famous pro heroes, but Power Loader would be in the room with him when he did it!

His plan was stupid! Suicidally stupid! And yet, what other choice was there? Every day that Spider-Man was off the streets Shocker got stronger and the slums became worse. Like it or not, he had a made a commitment and risk or no he wasn't about to shirk his responsibility because he had butterflies in his stomach.

However, once his workshop period arrived and the time to act drew near, his will began to falter. His butterflies had progressed to the point where he was now sweating - much to his dismay. He hadn't even done anything yet and he already looked guilty as sin!

Lips locked tight, his eyes went from the clock, to the fabricator, to Power Loader, then back to the clock. Should he wait for a better time? Maybe he was being too reckless. Then again, he had given Power Loader a perfectly valid excuse earlier. What should he do?

I told Power Loader I might be making some early adjustments and everyone is so busy that they'll never notice. Argh, but what if I get caught?! Game over! Fuck! Each second I waste is another second that-

'Hey Izuku, are you talking to me or are you talking to yourself?' Moyashi asked from beside him.

'W-What?!' Izuku gasped, 'I didn't say anything.'

'Oh? Alright, whatever.'

Moyashi turned back to his work and Izuku wiped his forehead. His hand came back wet with sweat.

This is ridiculous. If I can't get one simple thing like this done, then I might as well throw in the towel now.

If he wanted to make his Spider-Man costume it was either now or never. The costume fabricator was free and all his classmates were hurrying to finish their design. Nobody would notice if he acted quickly enough.

He hoped.

Stiff-legged, he rose from his station and went over to the front of the development studio to Power Loader's desk. Power Loader was leaned over, examining a blueprint that one of Izuku's peers had submitted. Clearing the lump in his throat, Izuku spoke as confidently as he could.

'M-M-Mister Maijima, sir I-I was wondering if I could use the f-f-fabricator real quick. I need to make those costume adjustments…?'

Power Loader didn't look up as he continued to review the schematic.

'Hm. Okay. How much do you need to remake?'

'N-N-Not much.' Izuku said vaguely, 'Just some…odds and ends.'

'Very well. Just make sure you dispose of what you replace properly. We don't want any gear going missing and ending up in the wrong hands.'

'Okay!' squeaked Izuku, his voice breaking.

Turning around he walked as nonchalantly as he could over to the fabricator. He would have felt less nervous about bursting into a room filled with Trigger crazed psychos then he did now. Quickly pulling out his USB drive, he uploaded his spider suit design and set the machine to run. It would finish just after class. Hopefully the room would have thinned out some by then.

Going back to his desk, he sat back down and scanned the room. Nobody seemed to have spared him a second glance.

Maybe I was worried for nothing. He thought. Letting out a sigh of relief he grabbed his tools and started working on more ammunition for his grappling gun.

Hours passed and everything was going smoothly until he heard a frustrated growl. Lifting his head, he saw Mei tapping away at the costume fabricator console. With a yelp, he leapt over his desk and rushed over to her.

'Mei! What're you doing?' he cried as Mei kept messing with the controls.

She looked over at him, a determined glint in her eye.

'You're hogging the fabricator. I need to make some adjustments of my own.'

'Well…I was here first!' Izuku said trying to move around to the controls but she blocked him, hands raised out at her sides.

'Mr. Maijima, Izuku won't share.' Mei called out.

With a sigh, Power Loader lifted his head from his work.

'Midoriya, how long do you have left on your costume?'

Izuku felt his pulse quicken as he read the countdown being displayed by the fabricator monitor. His spider suit was almost complete, but the final stages were crucial to the suit's integrity. If he pulled it out now, he'd have done all of this for nothing.

'Just a few minutes yet.' he said, fearing the response.

'Wait, It's still running?' Power Loader frowned, 'Didn't you start the machine over three hours ago?' Izuku gulped. 'I thought you only had to make a few adjustments. Are you reprinting your whole costume?'

Izuku noticed Mei smile devilishly and he felt a cold ball of ice drop into his stomach.

'W-Well you see, the, uh, the thing is that, um, I-I need to-to make the adjustments that, uh, All Might suggested. I-I want to make sure it's done right, so-'

'Hey!' Mei interrupted, 'All Might didn't say anything about our costumes! I think Izuku's lying!'

Izuku felt his breath get stuck in his throat. Power Loader was regarding him silently, patiently waiting for his response as few of the members of his class looked up at them curiously,

'What? That-that's crazy!' Izuku sputtered, 'I'm making my costume lighter! Everyone was saying it's too heavy, even you Mei! I just need to trim some material off, that's all.'

'But you said All Might told you to make it lighter, not me or anyone else. All Might. Isn't that what you said, Izuku?' Mei said, a tauntingly innocent expression on her face. Despite himself, Izuku felt a flush creep up on his cheeks.

'I meant that I got feedback during All Might's class. Didn't I say that?' he said in a low tone. Mei was making this much more difficult then she had any right to.

'Nope.' she said, carelessly tossing a braided lock of pink hair over her shoulder. 'You said All Might gave you feedback.' Izuku glared at the girl. 'It shouldn't take a few hours to make a costume lighter either. What're you making, I wonder, that you'd lie-'

'All right, all right, relax you two.'

Izuku and Mei turned. Power Loader had stood up from his desk.

'Hatsume there is no need to mince words. Please return to your project and wait until Izuku is finished; it's only a few minutes.' With a humph she haughtily marched past Izuku back to her work space while Power Loader continued, 'Midoriya, once your new costume is complete please bring it up to me. I'll look it over for you.'

Izuku felt his face go pale.

'Okay.' he said hoarsely.

Izuku felt like a nervous wreck. Now his spider-sense was sending him warning signals too. It was only a matter of time before the fabricator finished and he would have no chance to sneak his spider suit out now.

It wouldn't take much brain power for even a regular person to look at the costume and see that it was Spider-Man-esque. It had a giant spider on the back of it for Christ's sake. But his teacher was not a regular person. Power Loader was a support hero and probably loved costumes as much as he did. He had no doubt that Power Loader would recognize the colours and themes and put two and two together in a heart beat.

What I need is a distraction. As soon as the machine is finished, I need everyone to be looking elsewhere so I can stash my costume! Then I'll just need to hope and pray that Power Loader forgets about me. Maybe I can get my old costume from the lockers before he notices?

Izuku quickly scanned the room. There were potential distractions all over the place. Power tools, engines, heavy components, batteries, he had no shortage of options but whatever he chose would have to cause a big enough scene to distract both the teacher AND Mei.

Turning his attention to Mei, he saw her busying around her rocket boots. She was currently fussing over a complex series of tubes and electrical readouts hooked up to her invention. Next to her device, he spotted a clear container of what appeared to be small amounts of rocket fuel being drip fed into one of the engines. Occasionally they would fire up and Mei would eagerly write down some measurements from the various sensors she had linked together. It all looked very complicated. And dangerous.

He couldn't help but notice that in the fume hood beside her workstation there was an intricate network of tubes all feeding into a central beaker. It seemed as though she was sequestering nitic acid from its organic solvent as a component in her rocket fuel mixture. A tricky operation to be sure. Just a few extra milliliters of solvent or acid could catalyze a reaction that would release a highly explosive gas.

In the quantities she's working with an explosion wouldn't be too big. That would certainly qualify as a distraction. The blast should be contained in the fume hood. But even so I don't want to risk injuring Mei. Maybe I could lure her away?

He glanced over at the fabricator and felt a tiny thrill of exhilaration. Once the machine was finished and she went over to investigate there was going to be a little accident…

Izuku grabbed a small, metal bolt from his tool drawer. Twirling it between his fingers he shifted his eyes between Mei and the fabricator. As soon as she was clear of her workstation, he would make his move.

He didn't have to wait long. A few minutes later the fabricator let out a loud, long beep. His spider suit was finished. At the sound, Mei immediately dropped her clipboard to her desk and sprang out of her chair.

'Alright Izuku! Let's go, chop-chop!' she said with false friendliness.

Izuku watched as she went across the room.

'Coming…' he said softly.

Stretching himself out languorously, Izuku reached for the ceiling and craned his neck. Letting out an exaggerated sigh of satisfaction, he dropped his hands back down to his sides and pushed himself off from his work space counter.

Unbeknownst to everyone else, in that split instant he had flicked his fingers and with incredible speed launched the metal nut he had been holding towards the glass beaker of nitric acid in Mei's fume hood. With a sharp ping, it impacted the hardened safety glass sending a rapidly expanding web of fractures across its surface. Slowly, the fluid within began to boil.

Izuku dragged his feet as he walked forward towards Mei, strategically placing himself between the nearest students and the glass beaker. He didn't have to wait long before his spider sense flared. Acting immediately, he dove forward and pinned his two nearest classmates to the ground, shielding them with his body just as the beaker exploded.

A massive blast followed by shouts of alarm filled the room. Lifting his head from the backs of his two shocked classmates, Izuku was amazed to see that his distraction was even more sensational than he had planned. Though the blast had been contained by the fume hood's safety glass, it seemed as though the explosion had disconnected whatever restraining harness Mei had used to secure her boots to the table and they were now flying around the studio!

The room filled with shouts and screams as everyone dove for cover from the pair of misfiring metal shoes whirling overhead. Mei, uncaring for her own safety, tried to leap and grab the speeding footwear but they were too fast and erratic. Izuku watched as one of the boots devastated the neatly arranged shelves of spare parts before finding the development studio exit and flying out into the hallway. The second boot soon followed, dragging with it the remains of Mei's electrical apparatus like a ghost rattling chains.

As Mei frantically gave chase, Power Loader commanded the class to stay put before he too went racing out after Mei. From the halls outside, it sounded as though Mei's shoes were smashing into everything they could. As they went further and further away, the banging sounds slowly became more distant until eventually everything was still. Nobody moved in the room for a few seconds as they processed what had just happened.

Wow! Talk about dramatic! Okay, now I just need to-

Izuku's thoughts were interrupted as he felt squirming beneath him.

'Uh, hey? Midoriya?' Hiretsuna said in a muffled voice, her face was pressed against the floor, 'Uh, I think it's safe now. If you don't mind…?'

'Oh! Right.'

Izuku quickly stood up before helping his two classmates up on their feet.

'I knew Mei's design was fucked.' Kiska growled as she dusted herself off.

'I don't think it was her design. It looks like her hillbilly fuel extraction setup blew up.' Hiretsuna said and Kiska's face darkened. Her nostrils flared as she let out a long, hissing breath.

'I'm going to kill her' she said before turning to him, 'That was some fast thinking Izuku. Thanks.'

'Don't mention it.' Izuku replied and he stepped away from the two girls. Now was the time to make his move.

As his classmates cautiously approached the smoldering remains of Mei's workstation, Izuku quietly backed over to the fabricator. Opening the delivery tray, he removed its contents and, after a hasty glance around the room, tucked the costume into his backpack. Nobody noticed his theft and upon returning to his desk, he calmly waited for Mei and Power Loader to return.

And return they did. Mei strode ahead of an exhausted looking Power Loader back into the room, an errant boot in each hand and a strained smile on her face.

'Got 'em!' she said raising the boots in triumph.

The class wasn't amused and they quickly swarmed around her. To her credit, she hardly blinked under their scolding.

'Are you trying to kill us?' Saigo cried.

'I was just working; it was an accident.'

'You shouldn't have been rushing, Hatsume! If you'd been standing by your workstation when it blew up you could've died.' interjected Bukimi.

'Or, maybe I could have stopped it.'

'I told you this would happen!' shouted Kiska.

'To be fair, my boots didn't blow up. It was the fuel. The boots worked great!'

As much as Izuku liked seeing Mei squirm, he did feel a slight pinch of guilt for blowing up her work. Not enough to admit he was responsible of course, but enough that he didn't join the class in criticizing her.

In the midst of all the drama and cleaning, both her and Power Loader seemed to have forgotten all about him and his costume and when class ended, he was able to quietly slip away with his classmates.

That evening after dinner, Izuku went into his room and rushed through as much homework as he could before his night out. He didn't finish all his assignments, but they could wait. Spider-Man had been missing for too long. Pulling out his new suit from his backpack he draped it over his bed. He had been in such a hurry to get home that he never got an opportunity to inspect it.

Compared to his bulky armoured school costume, the spider suit hardly looked like adequate protection for hero work in the roughest neighbourhood in town, but he knew better. The suit was thin and light, but it was composed of an extremely dense and tightly woven Kevlar fabric. Abnormally elastic, it would be difficult for someone without superhuman strength to move in, but it provided at least some protection. It wouldn't stop a bullet, but it was far superior to the easily scratched and torn spandex he had been wearing previously. Honestly the prospect of not ever having a split crotch again alone justified all the trouble he went through to get his new spider suit.

Changing out of his pajamas, Izuku put on his costume. Pulling the mask over his face, he turned and eagerly examined his reflection in the mirror. To his delight he looked exactly like the drawing in his notebook. The red and blue colour scheme really popped while his white eye patches really helped bring the whole suit together. Turning, he was happy to see that the large red spider on his back was clearly recognizable. He had been worried that it would look warped on an actual person, but on him it looked great.

Unfortunately, the form fitting costume was still a little too revealing for his taste, but at least now he looked like a professional and not some amateur weirdo.

It's still not complete. I'll need to build my web-shooters soon and augment my mask with some additional features, but it'll do for now.

Sliding open his bedroom window, Izuku grinned beneath his mask. Despite all the suffering and the horrors he had witnessed in his time patrolling, he had missed this. Jumping, he silently disappeared out and into the night.

'Get that twiggy armed bastard!'

The high collared, men surged forward, their dress shirt sleeves rolled up and their green visored caps pushed high.

'Twiggy armed?' Izuku scoffed as he dodged a slot machine that had been launched at his head, 'You nerds should talk. Is this where the bad boys of the math club end up?'

Running up wall to escape the army of clerks, he passed over a line of dead eyed gamblers who were too engrossed in their pachinko machines to spare him more than a quarter of their attention.

Jumping off from the wall, he landed behind the army of bookies and card dealers. Before they could react, Izuku sprang into action. With a quartet of punches, he sent four of them flying into their white shirted comrades, bowling the lot of them over.

'Strike!' Izuku cheered.

His spider sense flared. Ducking instantly, a roulette table went skipping over him, barely missing his head.

The table smashed against the wall, sending wooden splinters flying across the room. Apparently, this was enough to rouse a few of the patrons of Big Spin's Casino from their semi-comatose state and they began to nervously shuffle off towards the exit.

Seeing the exodus of the damned, the casino owner, Big Spin himself, suddenly ceased his ranged attack.

'Wait!' Big Spin shouted, lowering the blackjack table he had picked up, 'All tables are still open folks! The staff apologises for the disruption, complimentary drinks on the house!' The crowd looked at each other uncertainly. Evidently a free rum and coke wasn't worth getting brained by a baccarat table. They began to shuffle off again. Before they could take more than a few steps however, Big Spin snapped his fingers.

'I know, a new event, special for this evening only! House offers ten to one odds that I squish the Spider-Man flat, right here and now.'

The gamblers suddenly perked up and a few began rubbing their hands together eagerly. A few checked their purses and wallets while others quickly counted their chips.

'Wait, are you serious?' Izuku said, lowering his fists slightly.

Evidently though this wasn't such an absurd prospect to the patrons. Looking between the two, the spectators considered their options. Big Spin was a well-known brute to the people in the underground betting scene. A veritable man mountain, he had been a prize fighter himself in the illegal pit fighting rings before becoming an enforcer in the criminal underworld. He had even trounced a few pro heroes back in his day. That was a few years ago true, but he was still an impressive specimen. In comparison Spider-Man looked like a bug next to the behemoth. True he seemed to be a spry little bastard, but he was fighting someone who was maybe five or six times his weight. Could his punches even hurt Big Spin?

Soon there were several hollered bets to the bookies. To Izuku's chagrin, he didn't seem to be very popular. The cages were inundated with wagers against him. Amidst their frenzied shouts he heard a familiar voice call out:

'100,000 all on Spidey, baby!'

Looking over he saw a small, thin man in a cheap suit waving his cash clenched fist at the cashier behind the counter.

Weasel?

Izuku was shocked he remembered the man. It had been almost a year since he had saved him. It was nice to see him still kicking.

'Alright Spider-Man. You ready?' growled Big Spin, rolling up the sleeves on his massive forearms.

'Er, not yet!'

Big Spin watched on in confusion as Izuku quickly walked away. Approaching the cages, he flagged one of the cashier ladies behind the counter.

'500-er no wait.' Izuku fumbled around his pocket for his vending machine money. 'Make that, uh, 657 on me to win.'

The woman took his money before printing him out a ticket.

'Very well. Good luck, sir.' she said with a bemused expression.

'Thanks!'

Taking his ticket and tucking it in his pocket, he rejoined Big Spin in the centre of the room. As he neared the giant, he saw that the excitedly buzzing patrons quickly closed ranks behind him to form a large ring around the pair. They were all shouting and waving their tickets madly, free drinks raised high. The mountain of muscles that was Big Spin cracked his knuckles menacingly as Izuku drew near.

'You sure screwed up coming here looking for trouble, Spidey. Don't you know that the-'

'Don't I know that the house always wins? Yeah, Yeah, I saw that coming from a mile away large load. Why don't we have ourselves a little private wager?'

'What do have in mind?' Big Spin rumbled as he unbuttoned his smoking jacket.

'If I win you tell me all about your benefactor, Shocker.'

'Hah! Fine. I'll give you a freebie seeing as how after this you'll be collecting flies in the dumpster.'

'Deal!' Izuku said raising his fists. Big Spin did the same and the two fighters began to circle around each other. While Izuku danced lightly around his opponent, Big Spin lumbered forward slowly, his eyes never leaving him. He was taking the fight seriously.

I can't afford to get hit once by this guy. I need to dodge his attacks no matter what!

With a heave of breath, Big Spin charged. Throwing a mighty right hook, he swung out at Izuku's head. Ducking, Izuku dodged the first blow, only to be faced with a flying knee heading straight towards his chest. Springing backwards he again dodged, only to be faced with a flurry of fresh attacks. Twisting and turning, he evaded each strike as it came.

After dodging and pivoting around his blows, Izuku leapt backwards again to the other side of the ring. The crowds cheered wildly at the exchange. At least they were putting on a good show.

'Where you goin' Spidey? Getting scared?' Big Spin said, wiping his sweaty brow with the back of his hand.

'I'm just giving you room to breath, tubby. You can't squeal on Shocker if you die of a heart attack.'

Big Spin growled angrily as he charged forward again. Pulling his fist back, be prepared to lunch another ferocious assault however before he could throw his first punch Izuku leapt. Landing on his massive slab of a shoulder, Big Spin looked up in surprise just as Izuku delivered a swift kick to his face. The blow sent him careening down into the hardwood floor so fast his head crashed through the floorboards. Izuku flipped head over heels as he somersaulted backward before landing lightly on his toes.

The crowd grew quiet as their champion groaned. Pulling himself up, he stumbled to his feet. Spitting blood on the floor he swayed a little but then steadied as he stood.

'That all you got?' he growled.

The crowd once more cheered and shouted their encouragements to Big Spin. Spider-Man had just gotten in a lucky hit, that was all.

Izuku sighed. It was getting late, and he still had All Might's report to finish. As Big Spin's approaching shadow loomed over him, he thought about all the homework he had waiting for him.

I need to wrap this up. He thought as Big Spin's fist rocketed towards his head.

'Alright everybody, shows over.'

The crowd milled about in disappointment. Izuku was standing on top of Big Spin's heaving chest as the man struggled to breath past his broken ribs.

'Don't forget to tip the wait staff and have a goodnight!'

The crowd grumbled and tossed aside their now worthless tickets. Some flipped him off, while others simply shook their heads.

'Up yours spider freak! You cost my kids their lunch money this month you know.' shouted a woman in the crowd.

Izuku froze and looked up after the dispersing crowd. 'What? H-How's that on me? Hey!'

But they paid him no more mind. The tables were shut down for the evening and the bar was closing. They would have to go elsewhere for their illicit activities tonight.

'Geez, some people am I right?' Izuku said crouching down so he could be closer to Big Spin. 'So anyway, about Shocker…'

Big Spin coughed, spitting out some of the blood that had flowed past his lips from his smashed nose. After a moment his eyes refocused and he looked up at him.

'Shobber…Shobber's not gonna be too habby 'bout dis. He told all of his breadwibbers you were dead. Guess he's gob ta killb ya' a secomb time.'

'I'll worry about that. Now, you owe me answers so pay up. What's the deal with you and Shocker?'

Big Spin groaned again and lolled his head back against the floor. Izuku drummed his fingers against his knees and waited.

'Shobber…' Big Spin started before his eyes rolled back into his skull and he gasped.

Izuku sighed. Standing, he hopped down from the giant's chest and strode over to the bar. The barkeep looked at him warily as he approached.

'Hey, do you have one of those spray thingies?' Izuku asked, miming a spray bottle with his hands.

'What, you mean a seltzer bottle?'

'Yeah, one of those.'

The barkeep nodded as he leaned under the counter and grabbed something. Izuku's spider sense flared.

'Uh-uh. Not that. Careful now.'

The barkeep swallowed nervously and shifted his hand. Producing a bottle, he handed it over to Izuku.

'T-Take it.' the barkeep stammered.

'Hmm. Yeah, this'll do. Thanks.'

Walking back over to Big Spin, Izuku aimed the spout of the bottle at the man's flickering eyelids and he started to spray. Sputtering and coughing the man jostled back to wakefulness as the fizzing soda water poured down his face.

'Ah, fubb my nose! You miserable libble puck.'

'Oh, quit being such a baby. You shouldn't fall asleep with a concussion anyway. Now answer my questions, what kind of arrangement do you have with Shocker?'

Big Spin licked his lips and spat again.

'My arrangemen'? What'ou thib it id? I pay, he proteb. Thab all.'

'When do you pay, and who do you pay to?'

"I seb one of my guy's last Webday of ebery month. They meeb at a laundry on 77ifth. Lebomb Fresh.'

'Is Shocker there?'

'Nob, neber. Jus' one ob his goos.' He sputtered as he started hacking up blood again. Izuku leaned back up.

'Alright. This stays between you and me, understand? Now if you see Shocker you tell him I'm coming for him, you hear? I'm going to keep smashing up his little businesses until he man's up and fights me himself, understand?'

Big Spin nodded weakly, 'Fibe. I'll tell hibe.'

Izuku dropped the spray bottle and backed away. Turning, he started to walk towards the exit. Before he took more than a few steps he suddenly smacked his head. Rushing over to the teller at the cages he produced his ticket.

'Hey, I got a winner here. House odds were ten-to-one, right? Also, can I have a drink voucher? Before the fight I heard something about a free complimentary drink, that's still on too I assume? What do you mean ID?! I'm…over age! Plus, this is an illegal casino, what do you care?'