Chapter 7: The Prelude to Something More
Izuku woke up a bit early the next day. He spent the morning making an extra bit of web fluid while also writing up some notes. They were mainly on his new Venom Powers, thinking on how all they could be used in his arsenal, only to keep going back to using it as a super move.
"I just don't know. I need to figure out just how powerful my Venom Power attacks are..." he sighed to himself as he filled another cartridge. "Eh, I'll figure it out later. I do need more experience in the fighting department."
He did a quick stretch as he began to put on the costume. "I got a good feeling about today. I can't wait to do some heroics!"
He then grabbed his phone and turned on the police scanner, waiting to hear something, only to get nothing but silence as he finished his setup. Humming at that, he declared to himself he would just go patrol today. Quickly crawling out his window while invisible, he soon swung off into the city.
And as he began that first hour of patrolling, Izuku's mind wandered, now realizing something. With the exception of when he tried out his web shooters, the heroes really hadn't tried to chase him. He didn't understand why, as he saw on multiple sites that heroes usually try to chase down vigilantes, but he wasn't complaining. Maybe the good he's done has made them realize he's on their side.
But as he thought that, a loud humming sound rang out. "Huh?" He glanced down, only to see a window suddenly shatter as what looked like a mid-air shockwave shot through it.
"Go go go!" yelled a voice, Izuku quickly swinging over to a nearby rooftop and seeing that the voice came from a jewelry store. There he saw a young man in a purple and gray vested outfit with two large metal gauntlets over his hands jump through the now shattered window, along with two other thugs.
"Shut up Shocker!" yelled one of the thugs as they began to scramble into a brown car, Izuku now seeing that the thugs had bags of jewels. The man called Shocker got into the car last, Izuku leaping off the rooftop at this. He fired two webs and slingshot himself right on top of the car, a loud thud ringing out as the car shook from the impact.
"What the-" one thug yelped before seeing a small hand tap the driver window. Spider-Man's upside-down head came down next for the thug, making the other one in the passenger seat gasp.
"Hey fellas!" Izuku chuckled, "So...robbing the jewelry store this early in the morning? Couldn't you have robbed a coffee shop instead? Its too early for this!" Izuku then snapped his fingers, "Oh, that's a good one. I'll need to write that down later."
"Aaaah! Shocker, get him!" the thug in the driver seat screamed.
"Shut up! Just give me a sec!" Shocker yelled from the backseat, rolling down the window and pointing his gauntlet at Spider-Man.
But as he did this, Izuku's spider-sense blared, making him turn and grab the gauntlet just as Shocker pointed it at him...and then surged some Venom Power into it. "Oooh! I can use it that way?" Izuku slightly whispered as the gauntlet began to spark.
"DIE!" Shocker roared as he fired the gauntlet...only for the device to let out a sputter. "Huh?"
"Hmm...looks like its not working. Guess that's what happens when you don't read the manual." Izuku laughed before tapping two fingers on Shocker's shoulder, "Let's try this now."
ZAP!
Shocker let out a yelp of pain, only to slump over in the car.
"Huh. So it works that way too. Guess I should only use a lot of power on the big villains."
It was here that Izuku looked back at the thugs in the driver and passenger seats, only to see they hadn't started driving yet. In fact, they were just frozen there, wide-eyed and speechless as they saw Spider-Man easily take out their muscle with just a poke.
"So...you two ready to go to jail now?" The thugs shared a glance at this, only to slowly nod back. "Okay! We'll just wait here and-oh!"
The sound of police sirens rang out as he spun around, now seeing two cars race up to them.
"Ah! They're here. Welp, its been fun fellas. I'll see you later!"
With that, he shot a web line and swung off, a smile on his face under the mask. "Well, that was easy. I wish all the fights were that simple. Still, that felt good." He then pulled out his phone, switching to the Midoriya Hero App, "Wonder if there's any-whoa!"
The teen quickly zipped over to a rooftop, his eyes now glued to his phone as it showed a video of the press at UA.
"Excuse me!" One of the press yelled at a student, "What's it like having All Might as a teacher?!"
The camera turned to a girl with short brown hair and two blush marks on her cheeks. She began to talk about how cool All Might was, only for it to turn to another student, this one was wearing glasses and was shouting out a long rant over the hero. But Izuku didn't hear the words coming out of their mouths. Instead, his mind was racing with something else as he slumped over on that rooftop.
'All Might...is teaching at UA?!' He felt tears began to appear in his eyes, 'I...I lost my chance to get taught by All Might?!'
He felt his rear touch the roof's surface, weakly chuckling to himself as he reached into his mask and wiped his tears. "Figures...I start feeling good doing this, and then I'm reminded just how much of a failure I am."
He glanced back at his phone and turned off the app, sighing to himself before looking up at the sky. "I just can't win for losing, huh? Kacchan was right, I really am just a worthless Deku."
With that, he got back up and began to go swinging again, the teen's mind now muddled as he swung across the city. 'Guess I'll go and find out what that FEAST place is like.'
It only took a few minutes to find the FEAST building. It was a large structure, about three stories high, the size impressing Izuku as he landed on a rooftop a little bit aways. After seeing no one was looking, he switched into his civilian clothes, now sporting a shirt that said 'shirt' and walked across the street over to the building.
Despite the depression he felt swinging over here, that was now knocked away for nervousness. Izuku had never really interacted much with others, mainly due to his quirklessness. All his birthdays and Christmases were all spent alone with his mother, no friends or other family. Nothing.
As such, the building before him felt like a whole new world, as he knew there were tons of unknown faces inside. The teen took a deep breath at this, and slowly opened the front door.
Now, Izuku had never gone to place like this, and he was expecting a big version of a soup kitchen, or a giant homeless shelter. Turns out, it was kind of both, as he saw that the entrance was just a small lobby with a bland white colored wall that had the word FEAST on it. As he walked in here, he saw there was no one at the reception desk and went to the next door, only to go wide-eyed.
In front of him was basically a giant gym with beds, blankets and chairs placed everywhere. All the people inside looked to be at least ten to thirty years older than him, a few elderly in the very back. He saw that most had mutant quirks, a random assortment of creature faces, only for a girl with a snake face to walk up to him.
"Hello there. Are you new?"
The teen turned to the girl, his mouth instantly not working. She blinked at him, Izuku now shaking as he tried to form words, "U-u-um...h-h-hi." he stuttered out.
The girl giggled at this, a tiny forked tongue slightly vibrating out of her mouth. "Nervous little guy, aren't ya?"
"Uh...er..." Izuku muttered, his brain now kicking him as he tried to form words.
"Its okay. Take your time."
"Th-th-thank you." Izuku slowly said, taking a few deep breaths. "Sorry about that."
"No problem." The snake girl extended a hand at this, "I'm Gloria Davila. Who are you?"
"I'm Izuku Midoriya. N-n-nice to meet you, Davilla."
"Same. Just call me Gloria."
"Wha-I can't do that! I-I-I just m-m-met you and-"
"You can, and you will." Gloria chuckled before crossing her arms, "So, you look new. Are ya?"
"Y-y-yes." Izuku replied, doing a slight gulp. "Um...you see, I uh...wanted to volunteer."
She tilted her head at this, blinking for a second before responding, "Oh? Why?"
Izuku slightly flinched at the question, his eyes trying to stay on her as he said, "Well...I uh...this may sound s-s-stupid, but I want to be a hero and...I-I-I want to learn charity."
The girl's eyes narrowed at this, her eye slits almost hiding her pupils before gesturing to him with a single finger, "Follow me."
"Okay..." Izuku squeaked out, the teen slowly following her as they went back to the lobby and then up some stairs. It was here he saw that the gym had a slight second story, which seemed to be a place for two offices. One office had a glass wall showing the gym while the other was inside a wall, Gloria leading him into the wall version.
She opened the door at this, gesturing Izuku to walk in as she said, "Yo Mister Li! I need you to meet someone!"
Izuku looked inside the room and saw a clean brown colored office, a big desk in the middle with a man sitting behind it. The man looked middle-aged, with slick jet black hair and was wearing thick black suit. He showed her a small smile as he responded, "Hello Gloria. Who is this?"
"This here is Izuku Midoriya. Says he wants to volunteer."
"Oh?" the man replied before gesturing to the two, "Come in then, please."
The duo slowly walked in, Izuku seeing there was only one chair in front of the desk. He was about to sit in it, only for the man to flash a hand at Izuku, "Hello there. I'm Martin Li, owner of FEAST. Its nice to meet you."
"Oh! Um...i-i-its n-n-nice to meet you t-t-too, Li." Izuku responded while taking the hand. And as he shook, he felt a strong grip in the man before sitting down.
"Please, call me Mister Li. Everyone here does." Izuku opened his mouth at this, only for Li to continue, "So Midoriya, I'll just cut to the chase. Why do you want to volunteer here?"
Izuku felt a slight chill down his spine as he tried to speak, "Well...I uh..." his eyes slightly looked away as he twiddled his thumbs, "You see...I failed to become a hero and...well...I want to help people anyways."
"You failed to become a hero?" Martin replied while tilting his head, "Why?"
"I...uh..." Izuku stuttered out, his mind now locking up. His brain began to yell at him at this, telling him to just say anything, only for one lie to come to mind. One that used to not be a lie. "I'm quirkless."
The words came out instantly, the statement making Martin raise an eyebrow while Gloria was wide-eyed, as if she had never heard that before. But before Izuku could continue, Martin spoke up, "I see. I will admit, I've never met one your age." Izuku flinched at that, only for Li to add, "And you want to volunteer here? To help others?"
Izuku did a slow nod.
Li then shook his head. "No. You're not allowed to help."
"Huh?"
And before Izuku could ask if it was because of his quirklessness, Martin shook his head again and put a hand on Izuku's shoulder, "Kid, I mean no offense, but its obvious you're the one that needs help."
That made Izuku blink, his brain stopping as he muttered out, "Wha...w-w-what do you mean?"
Martin patted his shoulder before letting out a calm chuckle, "Let me show you something." He gestured to Izuku to follow, all three leaving the office, Martin making him go to the siding, which showed the entire gym, all of it filled with its beds and blankets. There, all the people were talking or laying down, Li pointing at them, "See that? I made this place to help people like that. To help those who are rejected in this quirk ruled society."
Izuku just stared at the sight before turning to Martin as he continued, "You said you're quirkless, right?" Izuku slowly nodded back, "You're definitely someone that we would help, but instead you came to do help. That's a good quality to have."
Martin pointed to Gloria at this, "See Gloria there? She's looked down on because of her appearance. However, I and others here have tried everyway to help her with that."
"And you have." Gloria replied while sticking out her tongue, "And you were way too forceful about it."
Martin let out a laugh, "Oh, I wouldn't say that." He then tapped Izuku's shoulder, making the teen look back at him, "Now, do you know why I was able to help her?"
"Um...y-y-you showed her people who accept her?" he guessed.
"That's one part. But there's another." Li pointed to himself, "You see, I obtained a fortune a long time ago. And instead of just wasting it like some rich slob, I created FEAST. Its a place to help others. Sure, some may call it a glorified homeless shelter or some giant soup kitchen, and it kinda is...but that's okay. Because those things help those in need. But, in order to do that, I had to help myself first."
"Y-y-you had to...help yourself?"
"Yeah. My quirk is what many would call a 'villain quirk'. And if you're wondering, I don't show it to anyone. Its dangerous." He put his hand back on Izuku's shoulder, "But I don't let it control me. Its obvious when looking at you that you let your quirklessness control you. That's why you need help."
"Oh..." Izuku barely whispered, his mind now yelling at him, 'But I'm no longer quirkless.'
"Seems you're thinking about it now, aren't ya?" Martin chuckled before crossing his arms, "Tell you what. I'll let Gloria introduce you to some of the other volunteers here and you can decide for yourself if this is the place for you, okay?"
Izuku blinked at him, his mind reeling at the conversation. He had never met someone like this, and his mindset sounded like a hero...but he wasn't one. The man just wanted to help without being a hero. The teen just nodded back as he said, "Okay. T-t-thank you Mister Li."
"No problem." Li nodded before pointing at Gloria, "Now, go follow Gloria. She'll help you out."
"Follow me squirt." She said as she stuck out her forked tongue. Izuku slowly followed behind her as they went back down to the first floor.
It turned out, there wasn't many volunteers. Mainly, there was a pair of helpers that had dog quirks, one having a poodle face while the other had a pug face. There was also another snake mutant quirk, a girl named Steff, and the final helper was their cook, Wanze, who says he's an inspired follower of Lunch Rush.
After this, he met most of the people on the gym floor. He found they were mostly elderly, three of them being retired heroes that ended up down on their luck, along with several mutant quirks, all adults who were rejected for theirs looks. He found none were quirkless, but once it was revealed, most said they understood his pain.
Despite this, Izuku found himself stuttering at every introduction, but he also found that everyone was patient with him. The teen was utterly shocked at this, finding it made it even harder to respond. And as he talked to everyone, an hour or so passed before he took his leave.
"Wow..." Izuku whispered as he left the FEAST building, now walking down a few streets. "I've never met so many...nice people." He looked down at the street as he continued to walk, "And they didn't mind me saying I'm quirkless, even though that's a lie now."
'I didn't know people like that existed.' He glanced back at this, FEAST now not even visible. 'Mister Li is amazing.'
And as he looked back to the road ahead, he felt something boil in him. A spark of determination before his eyes shifted to a nearby alleyway. He quickly zipped into it, turning invisible before crawling up the building's wall. "Mister Li is right." Izuku commented to himself as he got to the rooftop, soon taking out his costume. "If I want to help others, I need to help myself first."
He checked his web shooters before leaping off a rooftop, feeling a burst of wind in his face. Taking a deep breath, he fired a web line and shot across a street. He wasn't sure how long he swung, his mind wandering as he continued to zip across the city.
'Maybe I'm thinking about this too hard. I mean, I'm a vigilante, I'm Spider-Man...and I've done some good. Maybe I could do more, but...I think I'm doing well.' He let out a long inward sigh, 'I guess...I guess I'm still hoping to just have some miracle happen that gets me into UA.'
Izuku shook his head at this as he whispered, "Guess that's not in the cards for a worthless Deku like me."
And as he swung down another street, he zipped up to a rooftop and checked his web shooters, "Need to change 'em." he commented to himself as he switched the fluid. But as he did this, he heard a series of grunts and yells, "Hmm?"
He leapt over to the next rooftop, soon glancing down an alleyway and going wide-eyed. A gang of ten thugs, all in biker outfits were all ganging up on a round man in a large yellowish hoodie. "Fat Gum? What's he doing here? Isn't he based in Esuha City?"
The teen blinked at the sight, only for his brain to catch up as he saw one thug, a guy with what looked like a bear mutant quirk, continue to push the hero back into a dead end in the alleyway with a series of punches. 'Stop staring and help Izuku!' he mentally told himself before going invisible.
He hopped off the rooftop, firing a web to slow his descent before almost silently landing behind the gang. He looked down at his hands as he began to charge his Venom Power, only to see his invisibility glitch. 'What the-can I not do both?' He saw the invisibility continue to glitch, making him grimace. 'Not quite. But that's okay. I'll figure around that later.'
He then tiptoed up to two of the thugs, both hands now sparking as he tapped the back of their necks. "Huh?" they both said as they slapped their necks before turning around.
ZAP!
Electricity covered them for a split-second before slumping over, the sound of them hitting the ground making three others spin around. They all went wide-eyed as they saw their comrades on the floor as Izuku materialized as his invisibility wore off. "Hey fellas. Why don't you pick on someone less your size?"
"What the heck?! Get him!" One roared before the other two charged. One of them hands turned into a brick while the other, which had a shark for a head, pulled out a syringe and injected himself. Izuku ducked under a jab from the brick quirk user before uppercutting him, sending him flying off his feet. But as he did this, his spider sense flared, making him to turn to see the shark man now screaming as he charged at Izuku.
"Holy-" Izuku tried to say just as the shark man tilted his head to try and bite Izuku's head, the teen quickly leaping back. The shark man chomped nothing but air before Izuku fired a burst of webbing at his face, closing the fish's mouth shut. "No Spider-Man flesh for you!"
"Mmmrrrgh!" The shark man growled as he tried to open his mouth, his flipper hands now clawing at his face. Seeing this, Izuku fired more webbing, now sticking the shark's hands to his face. Izuku's fingers sparked next as he quickly ran up and tapped the thug's shoulder.
"Good night!" Izuku declared as electricity surged through the fish man, making him flop over.
"You little-guys!" yelled the third thug, making three more glance back. "I need some help here!" He added as he injected a syringe into himself. His hand turned into a long claw at this, Izuku glancing up to see the thug's face. It was that of a weasel, his nose slightly stretching out as he showed both hands as they became super long claws.
"Uh-oh." Izuku whispered as the weasel man charged at him, quickly doing a horizontal claw swipe. Izuku leaned back at this, dodging the first attack before backpedaling, evading two more swipes before pulling a fist back, "Sorry, this is a no claw zone."
He swung a direct punch at the weasel man, the thug ducking under it before trying to slash at Izuku again. Spider-Man quickly backpedaled again, dodging the attack as he then heard two thunderous growls. His spider sense yelling at him again, he glanced up and saw the three thugs from before were now on the alley's walls, each one showing a different animal head. One was a puma, another a leopard, and the final one being a tiger.
"Oh great. The one day I forgot the catnip at home." Izuku quipped before firing two webs up the side walls, quickly yanking himself over the weasel man. As he did this, the puma lunged at him, grabbing Izuku out of mid-air.
"Ack!" he yelped as the puma man slammed him into the concrete, a jolt of pain hitting Izuku's back.
"You're gonna regret ever fighting us, the Tombstone Gang!" The puma man hissed as he showed his giant fangs. "Now I'm gonna tear you to shreds!"
"Nice...breath." Izuku moaned out before lifting his hand and poking the side of the thug, sparks flying out of his fingers.
ZAP!
"Augh!" The puma man yelped as he felt electricity surge through him. And as he began to slump over, Izuku raised his knees and then legs, kicking him off.
"Bad kitty!" Izuku yelled before the tiger and leopard leapt at him, Izuku quickly firing webbing at the leopard's mouth. The two quickly tackled him, the tiger punching him in the face before the leopard tried to bite him, only to let out a mumble as the webbing kept the leopard from chomping him. And as they did this, Izuku grabbed both, electricity surging as he zapped them. The leopard man slumped over instantly, but the tiger man just let out a roar, shaking off the pain before punching Izuku again.
He proceeded with three more punches, Izuku feeling his face scream in pain. "Urgh...forgot your claws today?" Izuku groaned as he lifted his arms up to protect his face from another punch.
"No. Just like toying with my prey!" the tiger man hissed before grabbing Izuku's arms and pulling them apart, his mouth now wide open as drool dripped out, "Now, let's have a bite."
"No, let me shred him first!" The weasel man declared as he appeared above Izuku, "Let me cut him a-Oomph!"
Suddenly, another thug slammed into the weasel man, knocking him over. The tiger man glanced up at this before looking back in the alley, only to see the other thugs all knocked out. Standing above them was Fat Gum, a glare on his face. "Get off him! Now!"
"Make us, hero!" Weasel man spat before charging at the hero, Fat Gum bracing himself.
As this happened, Izuku thrusted a knee upward, slamming the distracted tiger's man chest. The thug clenched at this, Izuku taking this chance to slip his arms away from the tiger man's hands before slamming them into the sides of the tiger's head. He yelped in pain before Izuku thrusted his knee up again, this time knocking the thug off him before stretching his legs back and thrusting them into the tiger man's chin.
THWACK!
The tiger man went flying, falling back first in front of Fat Gum as he knocked out the weasel man. The hero blinked at the sight before staring at the alleyway, now seeing all ten thugs knocked out as Izuku got back up.
"You okay?" The hero asked as he saw Spider-Man get up, his legs slightly shaking.
"I'm good." Izuku moaned as he flashed a weak thumbs up.
"Good." Fat Gum chuckled as he walked up to Izuku, "I remember you. You're Spider-Man, aren't ya? The new vigilante?"
"Yup." Izuku coughed before standing up straight. "Are you okay, Mister Fat Gum sir?"
"Mister Fat Gum sir? Ahaha!" The hero laughed before patting Izuku's shoulder, "Don't worry, it'll take more than that to take me down."
"Oh..." Izuku muttered out, "S-s-sorry for interfering sir."
"Sorry?" The hero shook his head, "You helped me, boy! Thank you. Though...why are you here?"
"Uh...I just wanted to try and help. You looked like you were overwhelmed." Izuku answered, blushing under the mask. "Though um...are you gonna try to arrest me now?"
Fat Gum just chuckled at that, "No, I don't have problems with vigilantes. Besides, you saved me. Though..." He then tilted his head at this, "Why are you a vigilante? You showed some considerable skill there, especially against triggered villains."
"Triggered...villains?"
Fat Gum nodded. "Trigger. That drug you saw them shoot up with. It makes quirks get stronger, but also makes the person go wild. I've been hunting this gang for a bit. Calls themselves the Tombstone gang, and they've been making the drug." He turned back to the alley of knocked out thugs, "Though...they didn't go as wild. Might be a new version of it."
"Huh. Well, sorry for interrupting your investigation."
"Nah, this fight was part of it." Fat Gum laughed before pointing at the vigilante, "But enough about that. You wouldn't mind answering my first question, would ya? Why are you vigilante?"
"Well...that's...uh..." Izuku muttered out before pointing his hand upward and firing a web line. He quickly leapt and yanked himself away, "Sorry Mister Fat Gum!"
"Hey, wait!" The hero yelled, but Spider-Man was already a half a block away, "Shoot..." Fat Gum sighed as Spider-Man vanished into the city. Shaking his head at this, he looked back at the thugs and pulled out a phone, "Better get these guys settled away. Still...poor kid. Reminds me of my intern, tons of skill but no self-confidence." As he tapped a few buttons, he put the phone to his ear as he added, "Hope you get some help Spider-Man."
'Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!' Izuku thought as he swung back to his house, growling as he landed on his rooftop before crawling through his window. 'Why?! First time meeting a hero that will actually talk to you and you just run?! WHY?!'
Izuku threw his mask off, facepalming as he landed on his desk chair. "Why?! Why do I keep messing up?!" And then smacked himself again, "And you didn't even ask for an autograph! Augh!"
He slumped over at this, slowly moving his hand down his face. 'You gotta stop doing this Izuku...' he mentally told himself before sighing. 'I mean, to be fair, you've barely been able to interact with anyone for all your life before all this and...and...and you're Spider-Man now! You need to be better Izuku!'
And after a minute of just sitting there, he took off the rest of his costume, took a shower, and went back to his desk. 'Just...figure out what to do next Izuku.' He slumped down in a chair at that thought, 'Need to get my mind off of this.' That thought made him hum, now remembering what had just happened before turning to his computer, "What did those guys say they were? Tombstone's gang?"
He began to typing away at his computer at this, "Tombstone...Tombstone..." He whispered as he pulled up the public villain database. And after a bit of searching, he found what he was looking for.
And it didn't look pretty.
Izuku crossed his arms as he read aloud the villain's profile, "Tombstone, A-rank villain. Quirk is Unyielding Wall, which is a mutant quirk. It allows him to have an almost invulnerable body. Considered highly dangerous." He scrolled down the page for a bit, "Was last seen being beaten by All Might two years ago, but escaped from the police van taking him to prison. Hasn't been seen since."
The teen scratched his chin at this, now reading that Tombstone was originally a drug lord, and liked hiring mutant quirks like himself, which explained why Izuku was fighting so many animal quirks earlier, Tombstone saying they follow him better, but nothing else to note. Seeing this, he looked up Trigger, only to find nothing but warnings or obvious spam links to dangerous sites. The rest was redacted, and after another hour, he turned off the computer and laid down on his bed.
"I need...to help myself." He slowly said to himself as he stared at the ceiling. "I need...to want to help myself."
His eyes began to close, his mind beginning to swim as he started to go to sleep. 'I gotta be better. And I will be better. I have to.'
