Apologies for skipping the update on Saturday (and Sunday) but I wanted to take my time with this chapter. It's an important one, so I didn't want to mess it up. Oh, by the way, there's gonna be a shameless TASM reference in here. It's a great movie, fight me.
Also, ya'll, I got some good news and bad news. The good news is that I finally found out about season 5 of MHA coming out in March. Yes, I know I'm behind. The bad news is that there's apparently a studio in Japan planning to make a live-action version of MHA. Thankfully, I'm pretty sure it's just rumors so far.
...God I hope it's just rumors.
The USJ was chaos. Most of the small-time thugs had been dealt with, but now the dangerous villains had come out to play. Peter, Ojiro, and Aoyama were in the fire zone with the scarred man. Kaminari, Momo, and Jiro were in the mountain zone with the large woman. Todoroki was "alone" in the landslide zone with the lizard man and the magician. Bakugo and Kirishima were in the urban zone with black Deadpool. Midoriya, Tsuyu, and Sero were in the flood zone with the young girl. Finally, Mina, Shoji, and Mr. Aizawa were in the central plaza with the hand-man and the purple giant.
Needless to say, none of them were having a very good time.
"Agh! Damn kid!" The scarred man yelled in pain and rage as Peter smashed a manhole cover into his side. "Just burn already!" Again he shot blue fire towards Peter, and again Peter dodged it.
"Do we really need to do this? You could just surrender and we could skip the part where I knock you out. Come on, talk to me man." Peter chatted with the man as though he were enjoying a leisurely walk to school.
"SHUT UP! I've got nothing to say to you." The man was getting more and more frustrated with Peter.
"But this could be so much more rewarding if we connected on an emotional level." Peter yelled back as he dodged a fire blast. He webbed a lamppost near the man, pulling it down on top of him. The man sidestepped and continued to shoot fire.
"At least tell me your name." Peter continued. "What's the point of fighting a guy who can shoot fire from his hands if I can't call you anything? You better answer fast before I start calling you something really stupid."
"...You want something to call me? Fine, the name's Dabi kid."
"Dabi? Hey, hang on a second, this is important! Do you need a sock to borrow? Are you a free elf yet?" Peter quipped as he swung towards the man.
"What the hell are you talking about?!" The man was becoming angrier and his flame blasts grew larger.
As Dabi's fire blasts became indiscriminate, covering a large area, Peter twisted his body, spiraling forward. His suit protected him from the fire, but it was still very hot. Corkscrewing through the wall of fire, Peter delivered a spinning kick to the man's chest, knocking him away the same way he had done to Todoroki during battle training.
Unlike Todoroki though, the man was only down for a few seconds before he started climbing to his feet.
"Seriously?! Hey, shiny! Why aren't you shooting any lasers at this guy?" Peter called back to Aoyama, who was just standing around.
"You keep swinging around in my line of fire monsieur. I can't get a clear shot." Aoyama defended himself.
"For the love of- FINE!" Peter shot two webs behind him and pulled himself out of the way. "NOW SHOOT!"
Aoyama raised his hands behind his head and blasted a laser towards the man as he was struggling to get up. When he finally found his footing, he was met with a laser to the face and was sent flying backwards once again.
"Ojiro, come here!" Peter yelled to the tailed boy. "Now listen, this is gonna be really scary, but you'll just have to trust me. Divert your strongest nanobots onto your head and chest, and form a full helmet."
"But-"
"Just do what I said!" Ojiro relented, sending the nanobots on his tail to form a helmet while also reinforcing his upper body. "Great. Don't get scared now."
"What are you trying to- AGGHH!"
Peter grabbed Ojiro by the tail and spun him around a few times, picking up speed before throwing him. Ojiro felt his ears pop from the sudden increase in speed.
Dabi noticed the tailed boy streaking towards him and raised his arms to shoot fire at him. Thanks to Peter's instructions, Ojiro was safe underneath his suit, if a little hot. Continuing to fly forward, Ojiro raised his fist and tried to hit the scarred man. However, he dodged at the last second and Ojiro continued soaring down the street, almost out of sight of Peter and Aoyama.
"Shit!" Peter cursed under his breath. "I really thought that would work."
"You really are training to be heroes. How quick you are to throw away your allies for victory." Dabi taunted them.
"Really? I'm taking hero advice from a house elf wannabe? What has my life come to?" Peter groaned just loudly enough for the man to hear him.
"I'm short on time kid, so just stand still so I can kill you, alright?"
Peter moved towards the man, shooting a web out and once again charging him. The man tried his previous tactic of shooting Peter out of the air.
"Y'know Mr. Dabi, you really need to work on your aim. I'm one guy and you can't land a hit on me. It's just sad to be honest. Even Electro had better aim than you." Peter taunted the man as he continued to avoid his fire.
"SHUT UP!" Dabi roared as he created a massive wall of fire to shoot at Peter.
"Crap, if I dodge it'll hit Aoyama!"
Peter cut his web line and dashed backwards, running from the wall of fire. He grabbed Aoyama and tossed him far down the street before webbing the space between two buildings. A large web was formed between Peter and Aoyama. His job finished, he let the wall of fire wash over him. Once again, it was unpleasantly hot, but he was fine. The fire crashed into the web, dissipating on impact.
"Oh thank god."
Peter thanked the spider that bit him for giving him heat-resistant webs. He turned his attention back to the scarred man, who looked annoyed but not despairing. He still had fight left in him, and Peter was now alone. He had hurled Ojiro who knows how far down the street and Aoyama was stuck on the other side of his giant web. It would be a while before either of them got back here.
"Look at the little spider, all alone. No friends to sacrifice."
"What are you talking about? You think I'd sacrifice my friends?" Peter countered angrily.
"Of course. You threw your friend at me hoping he'd take me down for you. Though I must commend you for defending your friend with the lasers. That took guts." The man stopped, raising his palm towards Peter. No fire emerged.
"I watched you, you know. All those months ago on the news. Tell me something, how do you feel about our society? About the idea that any criminal is a villain and any pro hero is a hero? I liked what you said before, but what do you have to say now that you're in the shit, actually fighting?"
"What? Why is he asking me that?" Peter glared at the man suspiciously. He still hadn't fired his, well...fire, so Peter answered. He didn't drop his guard though.
"I think that idea is something that has no place in the world. It's impossible to know the circumstances of every single person. A criminal can be a good person, but a villain is a selfish, evil person who only cares about themselves. Criminals and villains are not one and the same. A criminal might steal to help their friends or family or because they have no choice, but a villain will steal just because they can."
Dabi lowered his hand. Not entirely, but by a barely noticeable degree. Peter caught it with his enhanced vision, and he continued.
"Furthermore, I don't believe simply being a pro hero makes you a hero. I've been in this place for a while now, and I've gotten to know plenty of these 'heroes.' Let me tell you, they're nothing impressive. Almost all of them just want money, fame, or to prove they're the best. A real hero is a hero because they want to help people, because they're willing to put others before themselves, even if it means dying just to protect a single person. The heroes I know are selfish, and I can't see them ever making that sacrifice. There are a few good people out there, but for the most part, this is a society of false heroes. They don't even know what the word means at this point." Peter finished. He had gotten a bit worked up and began raising his voice in anger.
Dabi looked...very, very surprised. Truth be told, he wasn't expecting this. He knew the Spider-Man didn't like how their society was, but he didn't think his feelings were so similar to his.
"I...I can't fight him. I can't risk killing somebody who shares our principles, somebody so alike the great Stain."
Dabi lowered his hand. "Tell me then." He began. "If you were to fix this society, if you had absolute power to do whatever you wanted, where would you begin?"
Peter was taken aback. Just a minute ago, he had been fighting this man and now they were having a conversation. He always jokingly asked criminals to talk to him, but they rarely ever did so.
"Well...I'd implement a screening system. There's no point in having heroes if they're all selfish bastards who don't care about helping people as much as they care about making money. There would need to be some kind of system, some special training program where potential heroes were tested for their strength of will, for their drive to protect people. Secondly, I would destroy everything there is now. Every textbook, every vigilante law, anything at all that teaches people the only way to be heroes is to take after these fakes."
Peter paused to take a breath, having talked nonstop.
"People grow up being taught you can only be a hero if you have a plastic card that says 'hero' on it, that helping others without a license makes you just as much of a villain as a thief or a murderer. By definition, a hero is somebody who helps others even at the cost of their own lives. If you have the power to help somebody and you do it, regardless of the danger you put yourself in, you're a hero. Should you really be arrested for doing the right thing, yet praised for pretending not to see people around you who need your help, people you could keep from being robbed, or injured, or killed? All the lies people are taught about being heroes, the lie-filled textbooks, the biased news reports, and the false heroes...I'd get rid of all of them. Burn the textbooks, shut down the news stations, fire the heroes. A full purge of all the lies and half-truths. Even if I were seen as a villain for my actions, I'd make sure this generation does it right, that they grow up learning the truth about heroes, not what people want them to believe. That's what I'd do with absolute power."
Peter finally finished. Dabi still hadn't moved, his eyes slightly widened and his hands shaking.
"He...H-he's just like him. He's just like the great Stain."
"That's only half the problem. What about the so-called 'villains?' The people like us driven into the lives we lead by the rules of society? The petty thieves and vandals classified as heinous villains?" Dabi needed to know more. He had to find out what this boy thought, what he knew.
"I...I don't know." Peter admitted. "It's not right, obviously. A criminal and a villain are not one and the same. People should be fairly prosecuted, and they shouldn't be treated like murderers when they're guilty of stealing."
"That's not what I mean." Dabi told him. "I mean about the 'villain society' as a whole. Have you heard the term 'villainous quirk?" It's a term used when a child has a quirk others see as evil. The child will be ostracized, treated as a villain even without doing anything wrong. Bullied at school, beaten at home, and ignored by the world. Is it really a surprise that they turn out the way they do?"
Peter couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was he serious? Were people truly treated so horribly just because of their quirk?"
"But, but that's unfair!" Peter yelled at him. "How can that be true? People don't choose their quirks. How does somebody justify treating them like a villain because of something they can't control?"
"Simple. Because society told them to. Because people are taught from a young age that your quirk is either heroic, useless, or villainous. People like me, like my...allies...who were mistreated because of our curses. Not gifts, not blessings, curses." Dabi held his hand in front of him with his palm facing the sky. As he spoke, he created a small blue flame to dance across his hand. He clenched his hand, crushing out the fire as he spat out the word "curses."
"But, what if they're a good person? What if somebody with one of these 'villainous quirks' is a saint, somebody who only wants to help people? Are you saying there's never been a, a…" Peter searched for the word. "A villainous hero?"
"How could there be?" Dabi looked from his hand to Peter. His eyes were no longer filled with rage, but sadness. "First they have to be accepted into a hero school, which is unlikely to happen. If given the choice between somebody with a 'heroic quirk' and somebody with mind control or something like that, who do you think the hero course would accept? The only choice for those people is to become a vigilante. But of course, that in itself is a crime, so they'd be seen by society as a true villain in the end regardless."
Peter didn't say anything. He couldn't say anything. What the hell was wrong with this place? Why was this world like this? Discriminating against a person because of their quirk is no better than discriminating against somebody because their skin is a different color than yours or because they worship a different god than you.
"Listen kid, I don't want to fight you. You're not like the others. You have the heart of a true hero. If only others could be like you." Dabi sighed as he put his hands into his pockets and walked away. "I can't say my allies will feel the same about your friends though. If you want to help them, I suggest you hurry."
"Hey, stop! You can't just leave! You broke in and tried to kill me, to kill my friends!" Peter ran towards the man.
"I did, yes. And now I'm not. Want to keep your friends from dying? Then get out of here and help them Spider-Man." Dabi pulled a small device out of his pocket and put it in his ear. "Kurogiri, get me out of here."
A black mist appeared under Dabi's feet. Peter tried to shoot a web at him, but it shot over his head as the scarred man fell into the mist and disappeared.
Peter stared at the spot for a few minutes, not moving or shifting his gaze.
"That guy, was he just trying to get into my head? Was he lying? No. If he was, why didn't he do anything? He could have attacked me, or ran off while I was talking, but he stayed and listened. Who...who are these people?"
Peter was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't hear the footsteps approaching him.
"PETER!"
"MONSIEUR PETER!"
Ojiro and Aoyama's voices called out to him. Peter shook the thoughts from his mind and stared up at his friends. They had finally arrived and wore questioning looks.
"Where is he?" Ojiro asked. "Where'd the scarred guy go?"
"He...he got away. The black mist appeared and teleported him away." Peter answered honestly.
"Damn it." Ojiro cursed.
Then Peter remembered what Dabi told him.
"We need to go. NOW!" He yelled at his friends.
"Why?" Ojiro questioned Peter.
"WE NEED TO HELP THE OTHERS!" Peter yelled over his shoulder, already far away from the other two.
The Central Plaza
Aizawa was not having a good time.
When the hand-man stepped up, Aizawa had tried to restrain him with his capture scarf. But as soon as the scarf wrapped around his body, the man simply clasped his hand around it and the scarf disintegrated. His capture weapon now gone, Aizawa retreated slightly, wary of the man's abilities.
It only got worse when a scarred man dropped in from above, slowing his descent with his fire.
"Ah, Dabi. Did you kill the kids in your section?" The hand-man rasped.
"...No Shigaraki. I did not." Dabi responded.
"...WHAT?!" Shigaraki growled. "WHY NOT!?"
"The Spider-Man was with them. He...he's an interesting one. I can't kill him. It'd be a waste of a true hero." He turned his gaze towards Aizawa, Shoji, and Mina. "I've got no issues with killing a few random kids and some random old man though."
Dabi shot a large amount of fire towards the group. Shoving Mina and Aizawa behind him, Shoji spread his arms to protect them, his nanotech suit keeping them safe.
"Hm, annoying. Think we should send the Nomu?" Dabi questioned his partner.
"Not yet. We can handle this ourselves. Let him save his strength for All Might."
Aizawa turned towards the purple giant. Since they came through the portal, the large creature hadn't moved at all. Did it need commands to function?
"SIR!"
Hearing a voice, Aizawa glanced towards the fire zone. He saw Ojiro and Aoyama running towards him.
"What are you doing here?!" He demanded from the two boys.
"The scar guy disappeared, so Peter sent us back to the plaza. He said to wait here while he looked for the others.
"Hm. This 'Peter' is the Spider-Man you spoke of, yes?" The hand-man rasped.
"Yes. If he's not here, then the odds are in our favor. But I warn you, if he comes here, I'll stop fighting immediately. I will not risk injuring him." Dabi responded as his partner growled.
"He doesn't want to hurt Peter? Earlier he called him a true hero. Kid, what did you say to him? What did you do?" A thousand thoughts were racing through Aizawa's mind.
"Fine. But until then, you're helping me." Shigaraki raised his hands and charged the group.
The Mountain Zone
"SHIT, JIRO!" Kaminari yelled as Jiro was pulled towards the large woman. She couldn't stop herself as the woman took up a batter's stance. Closing her eyes and preparing for the impact, Jiro braced herself.
And then, she stopped.
Opening her eyes, she saw a large metal clamp around her waist. She turned behind her and saw that Kaminari had concentrated his nanobots onto his hand, sending out a large metal chain that wrapped around her.
The large woman wasn't expecting Jiro to stop so suddenly and swung her beam, hitting only air. She lost her balance and stumbled to the ground, and, as she did so, lost control of her quirk and Jiro felt her weight return to her. Kaminari retracted his nanobots, pulling her back to them.
"Thanks man." Jiro thanked him as she rejoined the two.
"Indeed that was quick thinking Kaminari." Momo praised him.
"Th-thanks, But what do we do about that?" Kaminari pointed at the large woman, who was picking herself off the ground.
"Her quirk seems to allow her to pull people or possibly objects towards her. None of us have a quirk that directly counters hers, so we need to outsmart her." Momo deduced.
"Okay. S-so how are we supposed to do that?"
"Okay, listen here idiot." Jiro broke in. "I'll fire sound blasts at her from long range. You try to get in close to shock her unconscious, and Momo can support us, creating items to help us out or to hurt her. Sound good?" Kaminari and Momo nodded their heads. "Great. Now go!"
Jiro retreated a short distance and plugged her jacks into her boots. Momo stayed where she was, creating heavy weights to drape around herself that would hopefully make it harder for the woman to pull her. As for Kaminari, he abandoned all sense of safety and charged forwards, heading straight towards the angry woman.
"Kids are so annoying nowadays." The woman growled."At least one of you listens well enough."
She hefted her beam and swung it at Kaminari. He tried to slide under the swing, but felt his body being pulled towards it. Acting fast, he sent most of his nanotech to his chest and face to absorb the blow. Even through his armor he could feel the impact. He was sent flying, pieces of his suit cracking and falling away.
"KAMINARI!" Jiro yelled in panic.
"I'M FINE! HIT HER!" Kaminari shouted back as he landed a few meters behind Jiro.
Facing the woman once again, Jiro activated her quirk and shot a sound blast towards her. Not knowing how to block it, she tanked the blast. Her ears were undoubtedly ringing, but she barely reacted otherwise.
"Really?" Jiro moaned.
"HEY!" Momo got the woman's attention. Next to her was a cannon loaded with a very special cannonball. It was made of a weak material, designed to break on impact, similar to a paintball. As for what was inside, it was Peter's artificial web formula.
Momo had deliberated on using it for a while. On the one hand, the contract he'd made with her parents stated they couldn't use it for combat. On the other, she was separate from her parents' company, and this was an emergency. He'd understand, wouldn't he?
As soon as the woman looked from Jiro to her, the cannon fired. Raising her beam to defend herself, the woman's weapon was sent flying from her hands before landing on the ground, a mass of webs keeping it stuck there.
"Goddamn kids! That was my favorite!" She roared as she sprinted towards Momo, deceptively fast for her size.
"Kaminari!" Momo shouted for her teammate.
The blonde boy jumped out from behind Momo, placing his hand on their opponent's shoulder. After making contact, he unleashed a huge electric blast. Sparks and electricity flew everywhere, knocking Momo away with a few burns on her body.
The light show persisted for nearly 10 seconds before the electricity subsided. Standing in the smoke, Kaminari was looking very...stupid. He had a moronic grin on his face and was thrusting his thumbs forward for some reason.
Jiro couldn't contain her laughter, not even in this tense situation.
"BA-HA-HA-HA! YOU...YOU LOOK SO STUPID!" She clutched her sides as she laughed uncontrollably at him.
Her laughter quickly subsided when she saw the other person. That shock should have knocked her unconscious, but the woman was still standing. She was smoking, charred, and burnt all over, but she was standing. And she looked furious.
"As much as I love it when my prey fights back, I really hate it when they actually injure me." She glowered down at the idiot next to her. "You just made a mistake boy."
She grabbed him by the back of the neck and picked him up with one hand, making him face her.
"Now, how exactly should I-"
"You're open." The blonde boy dropped his stupid expression and placed both his hands on her face before releasing another large shock. Jiro and Momo could hear her scream in pain as the light show began again. When it subsided, Kaminari was the one standing while the woman, though still conscious, looked very dazed and out of it.
"Kaminari?! What the fu-"
"When I go over my wattage limit, my brain fries and I get really stupid for a while." Kaminari cut Jiro off, explaining. "So Peter put small tesla coils all over my suit. Instead of the electricity all going into my body, it gets absorbed by the suit and lets me keep going. I figured she wouldn't be out of the fight that quickly, so I played dumb just in case. It worked didn't it?"
Jiro stared at him incredulously. "You...you actually did something smart? YOU?!" She screamed in shock.
"HEY! I CAN BE SMART SOMETIMES!" Kaminari shouted back angrily.
"Enough!" Momo broke up their argument. She had just finished restraining the dazed woman with Peter's artificial webbing. She struggled against it but was unable to free herself.
"Don't bother. From what I hear, that stuff's made from the biggest science nerd in school. You're not getting out anytime soon." Kaminari taunted the woman.
"Not really trying to, though that'd be nice. You're an annoying little bastard, but you showed me a good time kid, so thanks for that." As she continued struggling, she managed to rip a hole through the webbing with her right arm. Before Momo could patch it, she shoved her hand into her pocket before bringing it back to her ear.
"KUROGIRI, NOW!" She yelled.
A familiar black mist appeared beneath her and she disappeared.
"DAMN IT! WHERE'D SHE GO!?" Jiro swore loudly.
"We can worry about it later. What do we do now?" Kaminari turned to Momo, the smart one in the group.
"Well...It's inconvenient to transport all these unconscious villains. I can web them up quickly, but that's about it. Afterwards, I suggest we go back to the central plaza. It'd be dangerous to look around when we don't know who's lurking where. Once there, we can wait for others to come and help."
Kaminari and Jiro nodded, agreeing with her plan. As Momo meticulously went about creating webbing to restrain the many criminals Kaminari knocked out, the blonde boy sat watching with the rocker girl.
"Be honest, did you actually know your plan was going to work?" Jiro asked him.
"No. I had no idea Peter put anything like that in my suit. I sent out a giant blast fully expecting to be out of the fight. I wasn't expecting to still be functional, but when I saw she was still standing, I played dumb, literally, and waited for an opportunity. I'm lucky she didn't just crack my skull right then and there."
Jiro deadpanned at the boy. "Are...are you kidding me?!" She yelled at him. "You did something that dangerous?! What's wrong with you?!" She started punching him in the shoulder over and over.
"OW! Hey, stop it! I did it for you two! Who knows what would have happened if I didn't take her out! Besides, aren't heroes supposed to risk their lives for others.?" Kaminari defended himself from the violent purple-haired girl.
She stopped hitting him, her hands falling to her sides. She sighed before continuing.
"Just don't do it again, all right? Stop making me worry."
"Um, what?" kaminari stared at her stupidly. Jiro, realizing her mistake, rushed to correct herself.
"US! Stop making us worry!" She shouted slightly. Her cheeks were faintly red.
"Heh, yeah, alright. Got it Jiro." Kaminari snickered a bit into his hand. His snickers disappeared when he felt a jack pierce his unprotected neck.
"Ow! Just...why!?"
"You really are an idiot, you know that?" Jiro muttered.
Kaminari mumbled a response, making sure Jiro couldn't hear him. "Yeah, but I got you to worry about me, so I'm doing something right."
The two sat in silence as Momo finished restraining the criminals.
(KamiJiro is my OTP and you can't change my mind. Fight me.)
Central Plaza
Things were going alright so far. Mina and Shoji were doing well enough on their own against the scarred man and Aizawa was busy with the hand-man. The man made of mist was nowhere to be seen, but he was likely nearby. And the purple giant was still standing in one spot, not budging at all.
Mina and Shoji had fallen into a pattern. Shoji slowly moved forward, using his body to protect Mina from the fire while his suit protected him, meanwhile Mina would throw acid over Shoji's head. The man usually dodged, but every now and then the acid hit its mark. There were small burns on his face and holes burnt into his clothes.
As for Aizawa, he had learned quickly enough that the blue-haired man he was fighting required physical contact to use his quirk. Using his superior agility, Aizawa landed several hits on his opponent. He had been too slow a few times however, and there were patches of skin missing from his hands and arms where the man had grabbed him.
He also had Ojiro supporting him, though he was given strict instructions to only attack from behind where the man couldn't see him. And Aoyama was standing behind everybody, shooting a laser at either opponent whenever there was an opening.
All and all, things were fairly evenly matched. As long as nobody else showed up, they would be fi-
Another mist portal opened overhead and a large woman crashed down, covered in webbing. After she hit the ground, Shigaraki backtracked to her and disintegrated the webs.
"So you also ran into the spider brat?" He growled.
"No, just some little bitch who knew how to make stuff like his. Wait, where's my...HEY, KUROGIRI! YOU FORGET SOMETHING?!" She yelled into the sky. A few seconds passed and a metal beam fell from the sky, also covered in webbing.
"Thank you!" She sarcastically shouted as she tore the webbing from her weapon. She then turned to face Aizawa and the group of students. "So, who do I get to kill?"
"Get laser-boy." Shigaraki growled in Aoyama's direction. "He's getting on my nerves."
She walked over to Aoyama, dodging his lasers as she picked her way forward.
"Shit! Ojiro, go help Aoyama!"
"ON IT SIR!"
Ojiro ran towards his classmate, leaving Aizawa to fight Shigaraki alone.
"This day just keeps getting better." He thought as he and Shigaraki charged towards each other again.
The Landslide Zone
Todoroki was having a pretty bad time. Every time he sent an ice wave forwards, the magician turned it into a green marble and hung it on his belt as if to taunt Todoroki. By now, there were over a dozen green marbles hanging from his belt. As for the lizard man, he kept running forward in an attempt to strike Todoroki with his weapon.
Every time Todoroki created a bigger ice wave, it was merely compressed down, and if he stayed in one spot, the lizard man charged him.
"Am I going to need it? Will I have to use my fire?" Todoroki sweat-dropped. Not at the thought of his highly possibly death, but at the thought of using his fire side.
"Keep your eyes open!" Todoroki turned and saw the lizard man raising his weapon only a few inches from his face.
He jumped backwards and put up an ice wall, but it was easily smashed through as the man continued charging forwards.
"Shit, this is it! Can't be indecisive now." Todoroki's left arm began sparking as he raised it in front of him. Before he could do anything though, he heard a shout. A stupidly happy voice, a voice he knew.
"CROOOTCH!" Peter yelled as he flew in. The lizard man turned around and Peter landed on his shoulders, wrapping his legs around his head and throwing him behind him. Lizard-guy lost his grip on his giant weapon and, growling, pulled out a knife.
Peter dropped to his knees in mock fear.
"Is that a knife? Oh, is that a real knife?" He moaned dramatically as he put his hands above his head.
"Yes it's a real knife!" The lizard man barked as though it were obvious.
"You brought a real knife?" Peter sounded like he was about to cry.
"Of course I did!" The lizard guy sounded frustrated.
"My one weakness, small knives! Anything but knives!" Peter continued in "fear" as he shot a web out and stuck the reptilian man's hand to a nearby wall.
"What the hell is this!" The man demanded as he tried to free himself.
"Just some webbing that comes from my body. You don't want to know the details." Peter nonchalantly shrugged, totally ignoring the magician. As he spoke, he shot another web line to cover the man's other hand.
He then pretended to sneeze, shooting a third web onto the man's crotch. Ignoring the scaled man's angry yells to be set free, Peter continued spraying webs onto him, further restraining him to the wall. Peter was bent over laughing while the man was covered in webs, looking furious.
"Stop laughing! It's not funny!"
"It is kind of funny!" Peter insisted.
"COMPRESS! GET OFF YOUR ASS AND HELP!" The magician said nothing, but Todoroki was pretty sure he heard him chuckling lightly under his mask. Peter then shot a final web out, covering the man's mouth and keeping him from speaking. [1]
"What the actual hell is going on here?" Todoroki lowered his left arm, the sparks gone. He wasn't sure exactly what was happening, but he was sure of one thing. Peter was being an idiot. Again.
Todoroki was clearly the only adult here. Peter was bent over laughing, and he could hear the magician openly laughing as well beneath his mask.
"Peter, where did you come from?" Todoroki asked, trying to keep the annoyance from his voice.
"The fire zone. I got dropped there with Ojiro and Aoyama. We fought some guy who shot blue fire from his hands. He teleported away before I could capture him, so I sent the others back to the plaza while I looked for everybody else. So...found you! How you doing man!" Peter asked cheerfully, spreading his arms like he wanted a hug.
Todoroki only groaned. He was definitely going to have a headache later.
"In case you've forgotten, there's another villain here. Did you fail to notice him while you were playing around?"
"Ah, yes. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Mr. Compress and my colleague here is Spinner. It's a pleasure to finally meet you Spider-Man. I must say I like the new suit. May I ask what it's made of?"
"Thank you, it's nice to see my fans every now and then. As for the suit, it's nothing special, just some-"
Was this actually happening? Todoroki blocked out his idiot classmate's words, unable to trust his own ears. What kind of idiot had a conversation with a villain in the middle of a fight?
Not standing for this anymore, Todoroki shot a wave of ice towards the magician, hoping to catch him off guard. Unfortunately, the man hadn't dropped his guard at all and shrunk the wave just like all the others.
"Excuse me young man, but I'm trying to have a conversation here. Don't you know it's rude to interrupt?"
"Yeah Todoroki, come on man. I don't interrupt you when you try to...brood, in...silence." Peter struggled with the last part. Todoroki didn't talk much, so he couldn't think of anything to say.
"Is this for real? How stupid is he?" Todoroki was mentally screaming at the air-headed boy in front of him.
"Just head back to the plaza man. I'll handle this. Your quirk is a bad match for his."
Todoroki wanted to argue, but Peter was right. Any attack he sent out, the magician could simply counter. It was a bad match-up, plain and simple.
"Hey, why aren't you using the suit I made for you? I worked hard on it you know!" Peter sounded insulted as he stared at Todoroki's plain white shirt and pants.
"I am. I made it look like my hero costume." He stated flatly as he ran towards the plaza.
"...Man, he's really boring. Who wears a t-shirt for their hero costume?" Peter complained to the magician.
"I don't know. What happened to the days where children went overboard making their costumes as ridiculously over the top as possible? Some people just don't appreciate the finer things." Mr. Compress responded, mock sadness in his voice.
"Yeah. Anyway, look Tobi, as much as I really want to keep talking, I'm supposed to fight you now. Plus, I think your friend's about to give himself a heart attack."
"Tobi?"
"Just cause of the mask. You know, Tobi? Ah forget it." Even in another world, nobody got Peter's jokes.
The magician stared at his partner, still webbed to the wall, his scales glowing red from underneath as he continually shouted at Compress.
"Well, I suppose he doesn't need to be here any longer." He put his hand to his ear. "Kurogiri, come get Spinner. And don't forget his weapon."
The same black mist that appeared underneath Dabi appeared around Spinner, enveloping him and his weapon. They both disappeared, leaving only Peter and Compress.
"So, we gonna fight now?" Peter asked, jokingly putting his hands up as though he was about to start boxing."
"Unfortunately. I enjoyed our talk Spider-Man. Perhaps I'll capture you and bring you home with me."
"Sorry man, but I've already got a home, and auntie Mirko is gonna kill me if I miss curfew again."
Peter sprung into the air and swung around the magician. As he spun around him, he constantly shot webs with his free hand, sending the white material towards him from all directions. Mr. Compress turned as many of them as he could into marbles. Any of them that he couldn't touch in time stuck to his body. Even then, he compressed those as well.
"This isn't going in my favor. Time for a tactical retreat."
Seeing his chance, the magician sprinted away.
"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Peter swung after him, shouting at him to stop.
"Apologies my friend, but I have places to be." Mr. Compress grabbed all the marbles full of ice from his belt and tossed them into the air. Waiting a second or two, he released his quirk and all the marbles exploded outwards, huge amounts of ice bursting from them. Peter had to abruptly stop to avoid crashing into the mountain of ice that appeared in front of him.
"That's so cool! I can't wait to catch him so I can ask him about his quirk." Peter began running up the ice wall when he heard a yell. Stopping his climb, he turned in the direction of the shout. It was coming from the flood zone.
"Was that Sero?"
Glancing between the flood zone and the top of the ice wall, Peter groaned and leapt off the wall, swinging towards the water area to find whoever screamed.
The Urban Zone
"KNOCK IT OFF YOU DAMN BASTARD!"
To say Bakugo was furious would be the understatement of the century. As soon as the ninja-looking guy showed up, he made a bunch of clones of all the villains he and Kirishima had knocked out. Every time they defeated the clones, ninja-guy just made more. Right now, he wasn't even watching the fight. He just stood and stared out a nearby window, singing some weird song to himself.
"TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY YOU SON OF A BITCH! ARE YOU LOOKING DOWN ON ME!?" Bakugo screamed in fury, blowing up another clone. The guy only snapped his fingers upon hearing the explosion and another clone was formed.
"Man, I'm getting tired. Good thing I've got the suit, cause I'm gonna have to drop my hardening soon." Kirishima groaned. They had been fighting nonstop for nearly 20 minutes now. Kirishima was covered in sweat and breathing heavily. Bakugo wasn't doing any better, but he refused to admit his exhaustion.
"SHUT UP SPIKY HAIR!"
Bakugo was fed up with this crap. His arms were aching from all the explosions he let off. He either ended this soon or the fight would be his loss. And he couldn't accept that. Katsuki Bakugo was no loser, especially not when it came to freaks like this.
"KIRISHIMA!" He snarled behind him. "GET OVER HERE! WE'RE DOING THAT DAMN AMERICAN'S MOVE!"
Kirishima cleared a path to Bakugo, destroying any clone that jumped in front of him. Finally reaching him, he was about to ask what he meant when Bakugo grabbed his right arm and leg. He spun him around in a circle, groaning from his weight.
"Listen you damn ninja wannabe. You probably think you're awesome, with your shitty quirk and cheap costume." Bakugo ranted as he spun Kirishima around. "But the day you fucked with Katsuki Bakugo, is the day...THAT YOU MADE THE WORST MISTAKE OF YOUR LIFE! DIE!"
Bakugo released Kirishima, using his explosions to propel him forwards. The red-haired boy was a bit shocked, not ready for the sudden increase in velocity. But upon seeing the ninja, not prepared to move out of the way of the attack, he hardened his arms even further and crossed them in front of his face.
The next few seconds seemed to happen in slow motion. Kirishima blitzed into the ninja, knocking both of them through the window as they fell 4 stories to the ground. Losing his control over his quirk, all the clones melted and Bakugo exploded himself forward, diving out the window after the two. He grabbed Kirishima by the neck and kicked the man, shoving him away from the two boys and sending him towards the ground. Bakugo used his free hand to create small, sustained explosions, slowing their descent. As they neared the ground, his explosion began kicking up dirt and created a large, dark cloud. He thought he heard the villain say something, but he couldn't make it out over the sound of his explosions.
The two boys touched down, Bakugo dropping Kirishima like he couldn't wait to get his hands off him. They both assumed battle ready stances, waiting for the smoke to clear. When it finally dissipated, the man was gone, His body was nowhere to be found.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?! WHERE IS HE?!" Bakugo yelled at the ground, outraged.
"Chill Bakugo. If he's gone we can get moving. We should be looking for the others. I'm not worried about my bro, but everybody else could be in danger."
The two boys heard a shout and looked back at the building they had jumped out of. There was a crowd of villains up there, all of them people they had just fought.
"Oh great. He probably used his quirk one more time before he disappeared." The crowd jumped out of the building, descending quickly towards the boys. "Well, you ready Bakugo?"
Bakugo's hands crackled, his face one of fury. He was done. The bastard had spent 20 minutes sending his clones after them, and then the coward ran away without doing any fighting of his own?
"That bastard. Probably thinks I'm not worth his time. Is that what you think?! DON'T YOU DARE LOOK DOWN ON ME!"
Bakugo raised his hand, pointing it at the descending villains. Sparks crackled all the way up his arm before a massive explosion was created. It tore through the air, melting all the clones and colliding with the building. A large piece now missing, the final few floors of the large building collapsed to the side. Thankfully, it didn't land on the two boys.
"...Jesus man, was that really necessary." Kirishima sweatdropped, staring at the now collapsed building not 30 meters from where they stood.
"SHUT UP SPIKY HAIR! DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" Bakugo stormed off in the direction of the central plaza.
"Guess that means we're leaving then." Kirishima thought as he fell in line behind the blonde boy.
Neither of them noticed the faint wisps of black mist dissipating on the ground behind them.
The Flood Zone, 4 minutes earlier
The girl standing before Tsuyu, Midoriya, and Sero was nothing short of totally insane. When they met her, she had gone on about friendship and wanting to see blood. Then she started pulling out throwing knives and tossed them at their small group before charging in with large kitchen knives.
Right at the start she got Midoriya, He had jumped in front of Tsuyu, who was slow to react, and the throwing knife hit the one unarmored place on his body; his right hand.
Groaning in pain, the water around him turned red as the cut bled profusely. Tsuyu tried to grab the girl with her tongue, but she stepped to the side and slashed it with her knife. She would have cut the end off completely if Tsuyu hadn't changed direction at the last second. Even still, there was a large cut now on her tongue. The taste of iron flooded her mouth as she brought her tongue back.
Sero stuck some of his tape to her knife and tried to pull it from her hands, but she was stronger. She yanked her hand back and pulled him towards her. She tried to cut him, but he raised his arm and she only cut the tape strand from his elbow. Unsatisfied, she kicked him, hard, and Sero was sent flying away, groaning loudly.
The girl had been smiling this whole time, as though she were enjoying herself. Her expression then changed from delight to surprise and she knocked lightly on the side of her head.
"Duh, I can't believe I forgot! You're supposed to introduce yourself when you make new friends. Hello! My name is Himiko Toga. You can just call me Toga though, I don't think we're close enough for you to call me Himiko. Sorry, maybe someday. Anyway, what are your names?" She bounced happily, as though she were oblivious to the fact that she had just cut and kicked 3 people she had just met.
"What...the hell...is wrong with you?" Sero wheezed. He was having trouble breathing.
"Sero, are you alright?"
"NO I'M NOT ALRIGHT! I JUST GOT '300' KICKED IN THE CHEST!" [2]
"What's wrong with me? Oh not much. I'm just a little crazy. That's what my therapists told me. Before I stabbed them anyway. Oh, their blood was beautiful." She sighed happily and got a far off look in her eyes, as though she were remembering a happy memory. "Anyway, I really need to hurry, so could you please show me your blood already?"
Toga charged towards Sero, who had yet to pick himself up out of the shallow water. He yelled in fright and raised his arms to defend himself. Toga raised her knives to stab the tape boy…
And stopped.
"Heeeey!" She whined. "I like looking at blood, but it's annoying when it stains my clothes."
Tsuyu had wrapped her tongue around the girl, the blood from her wound seeping into her shirt. Toga was then raised as Tsuyu twisted her body and flung her away. She landed a good 40 meters away, crashing into the water head first.
"Owie." She complained as she emerged clutching her head. "That really hurt, frog girl. Why would you do that to me?"
"Want me to get the list?" Tsuyu replied flatly.
"Ooh, yes please. Is it long? Is my name written in red?" The girl's smile returned as Tsuyu's question excited her.
The frog girl turned to Midoriya, who was grimacing as he clutched his hand. They both had the same thought; This girl was insane.
She even looked crazy, with her wild eyes, her sharp teeth, and her now heavily blood-stained shirt. The water covering her body only made it worse, making her look like some kind of banshee.
"What exactly do we do here, ribbit?"
"I-I'm not sure Asui."
"Tsu." Tsuyu cut him off.
"R-right. Anyway, I'm not sure what her quirk is yet, but she seems really good at fighting. We should try to keep her at range if we can. Otherwise, she could- Wait, where is she?"
The two had turned their attention away for only a split second and Toga disappeared. They turned to Sero, who only shrugged his shoulders. He didn't know either.
Midoriya then heard a voice whispering in his ear.
"Hey. I could hear you two whispering a second ago. What'cha talking about?"
Whipping their heads to the side, Midoriya and Tsuyu saw Toga, her face in between theirs as she bent forwards with her hands clasped behind her back. She was once again dripping with water, so she had likely swam towards them underwater.
Grabbing Tsuyu by the shoulder, Midoriya sprung away from the blonde girl. She didn't give chase merely straightening up as her smile widened.
"Not telling? That's alright. Secrets that aren't secret are no fun. Besides I can just find out later. For now, could you please tell me- Ooh, who's your friend?" Toga looked
behind them at the newcomer.
Midoriya turned around while Tsuyu remained focused on Toga. He saw...Peter?
The American boy was swinging towards them, dressed in the new suit he had revealed when they arrived at the USJ.
"You guys okay? I heard Sero screaming like a girl. Wait, that wasn't you, was it Tsu?"
"No, that was Sero, ribbit." She bluntly responded.
"I-I didn't scream like a girl." Sero huffed.
"Oh man, you guys are all hurt. Midoriya, did you already break the suit? Man, I told you not to go hard with it."
"I'm s-s-sorry Peter. It was an emergency." the greenette stuttered.
"Ah whatever. I can fix it later. You guys clear out. I've been sending anybody I find towards the central plaza. I can handle this.
"Are you sure Peter?" Sero sounded nervous.
"Yes. I've fought a Russian musclehead, my best friend, and my girlfriend's dad before, I think I can handle a girl my age."
There were a few...questionable things in the response, but the trio trusted Peter. They had seen first-hand how strong he was. He could definitely handle this.
"Be careful Peter." Tsuyu and Sero told him as they left. Midoriya, though, lingered behind.
"Peter, I-"
"Leave." Peter told him firmly. "Don't worry. I can handle myself against one person. But who knows what the people in the plaza are up against. There could be a dozen villains there tearing things up. They might need your help, so go."
Midoriya hesitated for a moment, then he nodded his head and slinked off after the others.
"Haven't really fought too much in water before. Nothing to swing on here either."
"Hello new friend! My name is Himiko Toga, just call me Toga! What's your name?"
"Peter Parker. Nice to meet you Toga."
"Yay! You told me your name! Nobody ever tells me their name!" The girl practically started dancing.
"She seems...strange."
"Uh, yeah, Listen Toga, do you understand what you're doing? You attacked the USJ, you hurt my classmates. This is a serious issue. How old even are you? You can't be any older than me."
"I'll be 16 in a few months." She responded brightly, raising one of her hands in the air.
"So you're 15? Well, you're hardly the youngest villain I've ever fought, but why? Why are you doing this?"
"Does it have something to do with all those questions Dabi asked me about quirks and villains and heroes?"
Toga's smile fell slightly.
"You ask a lot of questions for a new friend. Why don't you tell me something about yourself before I start talking?"
"Sure, I'm down. But only if we can talk while we fight."
"Sure!" Her bright smile returned as she dashed in with her knife. "First question, how old are you?" She asked as she lunged forward.
"I'm also 15." Peter responded as he dodged her attack. "My turn. Where'd you learn to fight?" He threw a punch towards her face.
"Oh, nowhere special. You learn a lot living by yourself. I picked up fighting sometime in my life. I think it was in an alley by the DVD store." She did a backwards cartwheel, avoiding Peter's punch. "Where did you learn to fight?"
"Same as you, nowhere special. I didn't have a teacher, so I taught myself." He fired a web line at her. "What's your quirk? Is it cool?"
"Oh, really cool!" She excitedly replied as she moved to the side and cut his web with her knife. For all their resistance to heat and force, they were very susceptible to sharp objects. "When I drink somebody's blood, I can turn into them. The amount of time I look like them depends on how much I drink. I can't use their quirks though, so that's a bit disappointing." She charged again with her knife before dropping her arm and swinging around to kick Peter. "What about yours?"
"Well I'm sure you've seen the news like your buddies from before, so as you know, I'm pretty strong, fast, and tough." He left out his spider sense, enhanced reflexes, and specialized endurance as he caught her kick and tossed her behind him. She quickly picked herself up, shaking the water from her eyes.
The two continued like this for a while, trading blows as they asked questions. Neither of them gave in. Peter had a few tiny cuts from where Toga had grazed him and Toga had a few bruises from all the times Peter had tossed or shoved her away. The fighting didn't stop, so neither did the questions.
Peter hadn't gotten any response to questions such as "why are you a villain," or "what are you planning," and alternatively, Toga never got responses to questions like "what are your parents like," or "why do you want to be a hero?"
Some questions were so strange Peter didn't even know how to answer, like "how beautiful is your blood?"
Finally Peter had enough. He'd likely gotten all the answers he could, so he dashed forward extremely quickly and grabbed Toga, one hand around her throat and the other around her hand that held a knife. He forced her to the ground, pinning her down. Their fight had moved them to a shallower part of the water area, so only a tiny part of her body was underwater.
"As much as I'm enjoying talking to you, I really need to get to my friends."
"But I thought we were friends." Toga whined as she stared up at Peter.
"We are..."
"I think." Peter silently added.
"But I mean my other friends. See, your buddies want to hurt them and I really don't want that to happen, so I've got to go."
"Just like on the news. Such a nice boy. Alright, go do what you have to Spider-boy."
Peter was about to correct her when he noticed something. She had a small device in her ear, just like the one the scarred man had used before he disappeared. He moved to grab it, but…
"Oh Kurogiri" Toga sang before a black mist appeared and swallowed her. Toga now gone from underneath him, Peter collapsed into the shallow water.
"Damn it, that's the fourth one now!" Peter cursed. He then turned his head towards the center of the dome. He wasn't far from the central area, he just needed to walk a little bit longer.
Picking himself up, he began running the last leg of the journey. He had run all around the USJ to the different zones, and now it was time to return to the center.
The Central Plaza
Shit had gone from bad to worse to "fuck-my-life-this-sucks" in about 10 minutes.
After the large woman appeared, more students and villains appeared regularly. As villains fell from the sky, all except for the magician, who walked here, students had run in from different directions.
It was now an all-out war. There was no more order or control, just chaos. There were no spaces between fights, just a large area where people were clustered together, fighting. At random times, people switched fights completely. Ojiro, who had been fighting the ninja, saw an opening and leaped in to punch the big woman, trading places with Shoji, who now fought the ninja instead.
Aizawa tried to send them back, but nobody listened to him and he had no time to forcibly make them leave. He narrowly dodged a swipe from Shigaraki, kicking him away before using his quirk on the scarred man, who was seconds away from incinerating Mina.
Suddenly, a new portal opened up and a young blonde girl appeared. Alongside her was the mist man.
"Tomura, all league members have returned from their assignments. There is no longer any need for me to run overwatch, so I will be joining the battle."
"Very well Kurogiri."
Great, two more people to worry about. The only students who weren't here were Bakugo, Kirishima, Todoroki, Tooru, and Peter. Well, maybe not Tooru. Not like anybody would know if she were here anyway.
The students fought as hard as they could, but inexperienced students could only go so far. Several of them were covered in burns, cuts, and bruises. Jiro had been knocked unconscious by the lizard man, a large gash now on her forehead, and had to be dragged away by Kaminari. At least that meant they were out of the fight. Even the students who looked uninjured were clearly feeling the strain from overusing their quirks.
That wasn't to say that the villains weren't injured as well. They also had small injuries all over their bodies and were feeling the effects of using their quirks too much. Still, neither side gave in. The stupid part of Aizawa was proud of his students, but the rational part of him was screaming that they shouldn't be here in the first place. He needed a way to get them out, and fast. But how could he do that? He needed to think of something.
He wasn't thinking very long.
He noticed a long, white thread attach itself to Sero's back and pull him away from the battlefield, towards the staircase. Several other lines followed, pulling the students out one-by-one. Soon, they were all gone and Aizawa felt something attach to his back and pull him away. Then, Peter jumped in front of all of them, facing the villains.
"Peter! What do you think you're doing?!" Aizawa tried to return to battle, to his student, but he couldn't. None of them could. Peter had stuck all their thick web lines to the ground, preventing them from returning to battle.
He was trying to keep him out of it. Peter recalled his mask and faced his class.
"Relax Mr. Aizawa. I've soloed the Sinister Six plenty of times. I think I can handle the…" Peter paused to count the villains in front of him. "Hateful Eight over here." [3]
He turned away from them, his mask still down as he faced the villains. "Before we start, does anybody want to back out?"
Silence for a few seconds, then…
"I told you Shigaraki, I wouldn't fight him if he appeared. I won't risk killing him." Dabi spoke out, walking away from the group before stopping about 10 meters away. He put his hands in his pockets and watched the group, waiting to see what would happen.
"YOU!" Shigaraki growled at him. "We're going to talk about this later, Dabi." He then turned towards Peter. "So you're the Spider-Man I hear so much about. You know, our views aren't so different. We could be allies instead of enemies."
"Allies? With the people who broke into a school and tried to kill a bunch of students? Thanks handjob, but I think I'm good where I am."
Some of the villains snickered at the insult while Shigaraki growled.
"Fine. Then you can die with the rest of them."
Peter put his mask back up as the villains charged him. He raised his fists, his class shouting at him from behind as he prepared to fight.
…
Holy…
SHIT THAT WAS A LONG CHAPTER! Now do you see why it took so long to write? That, and I've been busy grinding levels in Cold War. Not much time to get to level 200 before season 2 you know.
[1]: The Amazing Spider-Man was a great movie and nobody can change my mind, especially since it gave us scenes like this. If you've never seen the movie and want to see what I was referencing, go on YouTube and type in "The Amazing Spider-Man taking down the car thief scene."
[2]: You know that "This is Sparta!" scene? Of course you do, everybody does, but nobody seems to know the movie it's from. It's from a movie called "The 300." That's what the "300" kick is.
[3]: I love the hateful 8, but nobody my age knows what it is. I really was born in the wrong generation.
There is one thing I keep forgetting to ask you guys. I plan to bring Karen back sometime during or after the hero killer arc, but do you care about the process? Do you want me to write some scenes every now and then where Peter, Mei, and Power Loader are working on her, or would you rather I just mention it every now and then before she gets fixed?
Next chapter will probably be MUCH shorter than this one, so it shouldn't take a full day to write. Thanks for reading and remember to leave a review.
Aren signing off.