Parker Luck strikes back as the aftermath of the Clone Saga continues to rear its ugly head, and new faces and foes make themselves known, in this arc known as: Itsy Bitsy!
At the same time as Momo, Izuku, and Ochako's troubles, Spider-Man continues to swing through the streets, covered in his living black suit, tracking down rumours of a person supposedly wearing his old colours and murdering villains in his name, which angers him greatly.
During this time, Spider-Man would run into Kazuho once more, who has used her vigilante contacts to track him down and had dawned the identity of Pop Step once again to try and catch his attention. Pop Step would demand to know what is going on with Peter, why he's running around as Spider-Man again, and why he was still wearing the Symbiote Suit, which he was supposed to give back to Izuku. Peter would only reply that he had had grown sick of being kept down from doing good by the heroes and was finally reclaiming his roots but wouldn't answer any questions that Kazuho had about the black suit.
Kazuho, deciding that Peter shouldn't be left on his own, would tag along with Spider-Man on his new vigilante crusade against this supposed Spider-Man cosplay killer. During this arc, we would get a lot of insight into Kazuho's life after ending her career as a vigilante, exploring how she deals with a long-distance relationship with Koichi, how her idol group operates both in and out of the Future Foundation, and also her current mindset and her own lingering traumas from being possessed by Queen Bee and turned into Bee-Pop.
Soon enough, the two of them would encounter the one who had been attacking and killing villains across the city, whom the media had labeled as 'The Villain Killer'.
Another mutated clone of Peter Parker, a six-armed, blue-skinned woman by the name of Itsy Bitsy. She had survived for so long because she had stolen as much of the anti-degradation medication as she could during the mass breakout from before, and had gone on a murderous crusade against villainy by executing them all.
Peter and Kazuho would battle against Itsy Bitsy, the former continuously giving in more to his anger at his clone, who was murdering people in his name, and thereby giving the Symbiote more power over him, all the while Itsy Bitsy would try to goad Spider-Man into killing her, hoping to drive him over the edge and accept his growing murderous instincts, and Peter would only be able to keep himself away from those instincts with the help of Kazuho, who is finally beginning to draw connections between Peter's growing aggression and the Black Suit that he is wearing, and fears what might happen if they give it back to Izuku.
One night, whilst the two are sleeping, Kazuho would be woken up by Peter leaving, his Black Suit formed around him, and follows him out to see him moving around like an animal and beating down any thug and villain that he comes across. Soon enough, he comes across Itsy Bitsy once again, and the two battle, almost ending with Peter crushing and killing the villainous clone before Kazuho pulling him away from doing so, realising that the suit, the Symbiote, One for All, is controlling his body whilst he slept. Rationalizing Kazuho as a threat, the Symbiote disregards a beaten Itsy Bitsy and attacks Pop-Step, forcing her to flee from the enraged living quirk as Itsy Bitsy slinks away and the possessed Spider-Man flees into the night.
The next morning, Peter would wake up on a park bench, confused as to why he was there and feeling tired and exhausted. Soon enough, he would swing away into the city, and come across news of his being active last night, despite him not remembering it. And although he would freak out about it for a moment, the Symbiote would suppress this fear through their bond and manipulate him into brushing it off like it was nothing.
Meanwhile, Kazuho would end up arriving at one of the local hospitals to treat the wounds that she had gathered during the chase, and would come across Melissa Shield, who had moved into All Might's apartment and was visiting her father David Shield, who was still stuck in his massive Lizard form, yet was also beginning to recover his mental faculties. During this visit, Kazuko would regale to the two of them her encounter with Peter and how she believed the Black Suit, Izuku's quirk, was beginning to corrupt him.
And that is when David, as best as he can, reveals that he has always felt nervous about All Might's quirk, and had warned him about its symbiotic nature. This is where we get the first in-universe mention of the word 'Symbiote', as that is what David calls One for All. A Symbiotic quirk. A Symbiote. A power that David believes is dangerous.
However, that is when the television activates, and Itsy Bitsy comes onto the air, revealing that she has taken a child, a Hispanic immigrant by the name of Miles Morales, hostage, and will kill him unless Spider-Man arrives and kills her first. Realising what Itsy Bitsy is planning to do, to push Peter to the extremes and goad him into surrendering to his bloodlust, Kazuho leaves, hoping to beat Peter to the fight there.
She doesn't. Spider-Man arrives first and goes to town on Itsy Bitsy, intent on breaking every bone in her body and leaving her for dead. During this fight, however, there is a moment where Itsy Bitsy slams down hard into a piece of metal, creating a high-pitched ringing noise that causes Spider-Man's black suit to shriek in pain and agony, revealing the Symbiote's weakness to loud noises.
Kazuho, meanwhile, is able to arrive and free the young Miles, attempting to flee with him, but upon seeing Peter just about to kill her, does something that she never wanted to do…
She attacks Peter, stopping him from murdering Itsy Bitsy, but allowing the villainous clone to escape. However, upon seeing Peter turn his aggression to her, Kazuho instead takes Miles into her arms and runs, leaving Spider-Man, consumed by his Black Suit, to roar in anger…
And then, upon running down an alleyway for cover, she would come across Overhaul, who is a pro hero in this universe. And upon handing Miles over to him…
Overhaul would use his quirk on her and kill her, turning her into a splatter on the wall and taking Miles away to serve as a caretaker for the younger Eri.
So, this decision is certainly going to be very controversial, but yes, Kazuho is dead, and Overhaul killed her (Overhaul who, in this universe, is a pro hero. That fact is going to become very important later on, so keep that in mind).
Now, please keep in mind that I haven't had Kazuho killed for the sake of simply killing her. Believe me, part of myself was debating between simply killing her or having her survive, but be crippled by Overhaul's attack. However, I decided that, in the long run, Kazuho's death would serve the narrative more than simply keeping her alive, and would give Peter's actions under the Black Suit and his general way of life some narrative consequence. Plus, it's going to be important in the future as both a motivation and a plot point for certain characters and narrative decisions, so don't think that Kazuho's death is simply for shock value. It will serve the plot in one way or another.
Also, Miles Morales! Yep, that's Miles Morales now in the story! Trust me, he'll be very important in future story arcs...!
