It's almost time. The good news is that we're getting into the sports festival. The bad news is that winter break ends in 3 days, so my updates will be less predictable and farther apart. I'll still try my best to get chapters out as often as possible though.

"WHY?!" Peter yelled at Mr. Aizawa. The shaggy man grumbled in annoyance at Peter's outburst, as did Snipe and Midnight, who were also in the room.

"Look, I don't make the rules. You placed first in the entrance exam, which means you have to give the opening speech at the sports festival. Along with that, it somehow got leaked that your score was better than All Might's, probably by one of your classmates. So now I've already got heroes sending you internship offers. It's annoying for me, but it'll be worse for you when you have to comb through all the emails."

Peter was having a pretty okay day up until a few minutes ago. Yesterday, he was able to make time for training his classmates and to go to Kurogiri's bar. After nearly a week of training, his friends were coming along pretty nicely.

Midoriya was much faster with his quirk activation and had named his new ability full cowling. Kaminari was far better at aiming, his electric bolts shooting from his fingertips in almost perfectly straight lines, along with getting better at using his quirk on specific parts of his body. Mina was able to produce acid from anywhere on her body, though it wasn't a very useful ability as her acid burned through her clothes. On top of that, Peter was right about the gel shield working, so she had a minor form of defense. Kirishima's unbreakable form was tough, even Peter couldn't make him feel pain. To be fair though, he was still holding back to avoid putting a hole through Kirishima, but there was no need to tell him that. Ojiro was much better at fighting, having learned some more advanced moves from Peter while coming up with creative ways to use his tail to assist him. All in all, they had improved nicely.

When he went to Kurogiri's bar, his other friends wished him luck at the sports festival. Most of them anyway. Shigaraki of course stayed quiet, sitting at the bar counter silently. Toga and Dabi said they'd be watching on Kurogiri's small TV and that Peter wasn't allowed to lose, or else they'd kick his ass.

Today was his rest day. His friends were taking the day off from training and he had plans to stop by the bar one last time before the festival. He hadn't had any tests or exams, and hero training was easy. Then he got called in by Mr. Aizawa and was told that he would have to give a speech.

Tomorrow.

At the sports festival.

In a stadium with thousands of people.

While the entire world watched the event on live television.

This would have been nerve wracking for anybody, but it was worse for Peter. He had trouble talking to more than 5 people at once. The only thing that ever gave him confidence was his mask. It helped him, made him feel brave. Even still, he had barely ever given speeches, or spoken to so many people, and he wouldn't have his mask to protect him.

"I'm gonna make a fool of myself and I just know that he'll be laughing at me." Peter eyed Mr. Aizawa, who looked bored. "Wait, forget the hobo, what about everybody else? Toga? Dabi? Eijirou and the others. Oh god...Mirko. If I screw this up, I'll never hear the end of it from any of them." Peter's mind went into overdrive thinking of all the things that could go wrong.

"That's all I needed to say. Now get out." Aizawa rudely dismissed Peter with a flick of his wrist. Peter nodded numbly and walked out of the room stiffly. He couldn't leave UA just yet though. He had to make a stop first before he could head to the bar.

He walked through the halls with dead eyes. He wasn't really paying attention to where he was going, and anybody who saw him coming stepped out of his way. Somehow, he found his way to the development studio. Walking inside, he found Mei and Power Loader working on something. It was a chip he'd given them from his suit a few weeks ago. The chip containing Karen.

"Hey guys." Peter shook the dead expression from his face, not wanting them to see how worried he was. Power Loader greeted him while Mei didn't even look up.

"So, how is she?"

"Well, we think we've finally figured out what went wrong." Peter perked up at Power Loader's news. "You see, it seems she was shorted out by some massive burst of energy. She was able to bring herself back online, but the energy damaged many of her systems and she needs our help fixing them. The only problem is, it's not so simple as swapping out a few parts. Some of the issues can be fixed like that, but she needs...a shock."

"What?" Peter asked, confused.

"Basically, she's leaking power." Mei explained. "The chip thinks it has too much power because it's systems are damaged, so it's shedding the power it has to get rid of the excess, excess it doesn't have. In reality, it has way too little power. But, if we can fix a few of the parts, then give her a massive shock of energy, it should temporarily bring her systems online long enough for them to realize the mistake and stop getting rid of the power it has."

Peter wasn't sure how to respond. That was the calmest he'd ever seen Mei. She went from 60 to 600 at the tiniest thing, but now she looked reserved, calm even.

"Is something wrong Mei?"

"Well...this is it. The parts can be fixed easily, it might take some time to build something capable of delivering the power surge, but that's it. After that, it's back to the same boring projects from before. This was the most advanced piece of tech I've ever worked on, the first in a long time to give me a genuine challenge. After this, it's back to the same easy stuff. No more challenge." Mei stared at the chip sadly. "This is the last interesting thing."

"Well...then make your own interesting thing." Peter retorted. Mei stared at him in confusion. "When my mentor created Karen, he didn't have somebody else's help. He built her from scratch all by himself. What's stopping you from doing the same? You've got the tools, the resources, the enthusiasm, and the intelligence. You just have to get excited and go for it. An inventor that never stops coming up with ideas is an inventor that never stops growing."

Mei's smile gradually came back as she listened to Peter. "You're right! I can make my own super babies! Mr. Power Loader, I'm spending more overtime here." She announced.

"Oh no. Nonono!" Power Loader groaned. "You already never go home. You don't shower, you don't sleep, you barely ever eat. Spend any more time in here and you'll die!"

"A small price to pay for the march of progress. There are babies to be made and Peter is going to help me."

Peter chuckled as they continued arguing before walking out. They wouldn't finish with Karen anytime soon and he had somewhere to be.

2 Hours Later

Toga wasn't the best at cheering people up. Whenever she saw a sad person, they were either one of her victims, whom she quickly killed, or somebody who was sad over the death of a hero, somebody she also would kill. So when Peter came into the bar looking like he was ready to break down in tears, she was completely clueless about what she should do.

"Do I stab him? No, wait, that'd make it worse. Do I...ask him what's wrong?"

"Um, so, Peter...wh-what's wrong with you?" She tried her best to give what she felt was a supportive smile. To Peter though, it looked like a hungry lioness was baring her fangs at him.

"Ugh. I have to give a speech at the sports festival tomorrow. It's going to be broadcast internationally too. The whole world is going to be watching me. I can barely talk to all of you without losing my head."

"Are...are you serious? You came in here looking like your family was murdered and the only issue is that you have to give a speech?" Magne spoke slowly, sounding like she was trying to keep the anger out of her voice.

"Don't be mean big sis Mag, this is scary!"

"Of course you would think that crazy girl." Shigraki sneered under his hand mask at Toga.

She had never been great with crowds. That was one of the main reasons she preferred sneaky kills. With her abilities, she was confident she could kill at least 10 people and slip away before any pro heroes showed up. But she didn't because that would mean being faced with a large crowd. She hated crowds, they scared her. It felt like every single person was staring at her, judging her, silently thinking she was some wretched animal.

She had the same issues as Peter, just for very different reasons.

"So what then? You want us to help you write a speech?"

"N-no Dabi. I can write the speech, I just don't know if I can recite it without making a fool of myself."

"Ah. I guess that would be pretty embarrassing. Screwing up a speech in front of the entire world while all your friends watch you fail. If I did something like that, I'd lock myself in my room and never come out."

""DABI!"" Peter and Toga shrieked at the same time. The scarred man only chuckled, fully aware of what he was doing. Peter sank to the ground, groaning as he put his head in his hands.

"Have you changed your mind on if I can come to the festival? It's not too late for me to go get some blood. If I was there, I could support you from the stands." Toga offered.

"No Toga." Peter said firmly. "If I agreed to that, I'd be telling you it's okay to attack somebody to benefit me. I'll figure something out. I've had to give speeches before, just...not to the whole world."

"Well, that isn't exactly true." All eyes were now on Mr. Compress, deep in thought. "You gave your little speech after you fought that group of heroes with no hesitation or signs of nervousness. What was different then?"

Peter thought for a moment, trying to remember. "Well, I was angry. I was tired of what I'd seen the past few weeks, angry that the heroes tried to jump me, and annoyed at the reporters for acting like I was a villain and for talking like Mirko failed. I was angry so I just spoke without thinking."

"Then maybe all you need is a little bit of anger. Make yourself angry before the speech."

"I don't think that'd work very well Spinner. I'd have to get angry about the thing I'll be giving my speech about. And if I sound angry, it might put off the crowd."

The villains fell silent, out of ideas.

"You know what, that's enough. I didn't come here to beg you guys for help, so that's not what I'm going to do. Anything new happen with you guys?" Peter tried to smile at his friends.

"OOH! Yesterday some guy with weird feathers on his arms tried to rob me, so I stabbed him a lot!" Peter raised an eyebrow at Toga. "Oh come on. I didn't kill him, promise. And after he passed out, I called an ambulance for him. I swear!"

Okay, that was...sort of justifiable. She fought back in self defense, and she did make sure the guy got help. That was progress, right?

The other villains had things to do, so most of them left. When Peter asked, they simply said they were either meeting some friends or taking care of business. One by one, they all left the bar until the only ones left were Peter, Toga, Magne, and Kurogiri.

"In my defense, I didn't make the first move. I was just minding my own business, and this idiot comes up and starts making trouble. I meant to just knock him out and take his wallet to teach him a lesson, but I guess I was angry 'cause I hit him a little too hard and ended up breaking his neck. Yeah I killed him, but it's not like I did it on purpose. And besides, after he died, I decided NOT to take his wallet. Doesn't that count for something?" Magne had just finished her story about a street thug and his gang that troubled her a few years back.

"Well...you murdered somebody. But, it was self defense, and yeah, I guess it's good that you didn't rob him after you...well, killed him." Peter spoke slowly, a bit perturbed. He knew almost every one of the villains killed people, but it still felt odd to hear them talk about it so casually. Toga and Magne had been taking turns telling Peter about some of their experiences to make up for all the stories he had told them. There were plenty of times they had killed just because, but there were plenty more where it was somewhat justifiable.

For Magne, trouble just seemed to follow her everywhere. Peter had seen firsthand how many thugs were in this city, so he wasn't very surprised to hear about all the times Magne had been jumped and ended up forgetting to hold back. Accidental murder in the process of self defense, something Peter had unfortunately done a few too many times in his career as Spider-Man, mostly when he wasn't used to his strength yet and didn't know how to hold back.

In Toga's case, she had also been jumped a lot, though she had many more cases of murder than Magne. However, that could be chalked up to her quirk. Apparently, Toga didn't just drink blood because she liked it, but because she needed it. Blood was a necessity for her, just like water. She couldn't very well stroll into a blood bank due to being a villain, so she turned to killing. A bit extreme, as even in the worst case scenario she could just knock somebody out and bite them like a vampire, but for all Peter knew, the greater her bloodthirst, the less control over herself she had. Maybe killing wasn't the goal, but rather the end result of somebody starved for blood.

That was a possibility...right? Honestly, Peter was trying his best to find ways to excuse these two for what they had done. The 90% of him that was like uncle Ben kept telling him to see the good in them, to find possible reasons for what they'd done. But the small practical part of him was saying that they were simply bad people. He was able to shove those feelings away though, thanks to the fact that he still didn't know what led them to the lives they currently led.

He still wasn't sure about Kurogiri, as he'd said nothing this whole time. While the three talked with each other, he quietly cleaned the glasses behind the bar counter.

"What about you kid? You ever kill somebody?" Magne asked, her story finished.

"I...well...yes." Not just Toga and Magne, but even Kurogiri's eyes snapped up in surprise. Magne had been half joking, expecting him to answer no. It came as a shock to hear that such a sweet boy had killed somebody. "When I didn't understand my powers yet, I didn't know how to hold back. I didn't know I had to hold back. There were a few times where I killed somebody by hitting them too hard or by accidentally suffocating them with my webs. I eventually learned to control my strength and to hold back, but by that point I'd already killed about 4 people." [1]

Toga was more surprised than anybody. She knew Peter better than any of them. While the others sometimes had to leave for business or to see friends, she had no business, and, unfortunately, no friends outside of the other villains and Peter. Whenever he came to visit, she was the only one who was always there. It was shocking to hear that Peter had killed, but it honestly made her a bit happy. She always felt that there would be some unbreakable barrier between him and all of them since they had killed people. But Peter had done the same, though he clearly hated that he had. Even so, it tore down the imaginary barrier she had created, so it made her feel better knowing that Peter was a little bit like them.

"Why so down? Worried you're like us now? Some horrible villain who kills people for no reason?" Magne stared down at the boy.

"What?! N-NO, that's not-"

"Calm down boy, I know. Listen, you don't need to feel bad. Killing is a big deal. We may have some red in our ledgers, but even we understand how big a deal killing is. It's just that we don't care all that much. You do though. The fact that you show remorse proves you're a good person and not a heartless villain. Besides, they were accidents, right? In that case, you've got nothing to worry about. You didn't choose to kill those people, so you shouldn't feel bad for it." Magne finished.

"I...I know. But it feels wrong to just pretend it didn't happen. Even if it was an accident, even if they were bad people, killing is killing. Regardless of the circumstances, I can't just forget I did it. How can I forget it? It's unforgivable to kill somebody."

"Especially...that one." Peter remembered that one criminal. The warehouse, the sirens, the gunshot. It brought back more memories than Peter wanted and he started crying.

Toga looked at Magne, concerned. Neither of them had experience with a crying person that they didn't soon kill, so they didn't know what to do. Then Toga got an idea.

"If it worked for me, it should work for him right?"

Toga left her seat and hugged Peter. It felt strange. Being hugged felt warm, safe even. Being the one doing it felt uncomfortable. She wasn't sure if what she was doing was actually helping or making it worse.

"Please be making it better. He helped me before, I should do the same."

Magne simply watched, leaning back in her chair. If anybody could make the kid feel better, it would be Toga. She wasn't needed here.

"Kurogiri, something strong." Kurogiri poured her a glass of dark liquid, which she took gratefully.

Peter recovered very quickly, thanking Toga, which made her smile.

"Yay, I helped!" She silently cheered.

"I'm uh, I'm sorry about that. Just, remembered something unpleasant is all."

"Would it help to talk about it?" Toga offered.

"NO!" Peter said a bit too quickly. "I-I mean, no, thank you. Maybe another time, but not right now. It's just not something I'm ready to tell you about." The three villains were a bit surprised by Peter's sudden shout, but they could understand. They had some things they didn't want him knowing about just yet, it only made sense for the same to be true of him.

Another hour or two went by before it became dark out and Peter had to leave. Toga wished him luck at the festival and waved him out of the bar, as did Magne and Kurogiri. Toga stood in the center of the bar for a while before turning and going to her room. Reaching under her bed, she pulled out a metal briefcase.

"Toga, what is that?" Toga froze and turned around slowly. Magne was in the doorway, a questioning look on her face.

"I, uh, nothing big sis Mag! Just a few random things I've saved." Toga was a fairly good liar most of the time, but when she was surprised and put on the spot, she was worse at it than Peter.

"...Toga." Magne said sternly. Toga sighed.

"Fine. Follow me." She carried the briefcase back to the main bar and set it down on the countertop. Kurogiri looked a bit annoyed, as he had just finished wiping the counter off, but his annoyance turned to curiosity as Toga began opening the briefcase. She undid the clamps and locks and opened it, showing Magne and Kurogiri the contents. Inside were about two dozen small vials filled with dark red liquid, a name under each one.

"Toga…" Magne sounded frustrated, already seeing where this was going.

"They're from past 'friends,' people who had blood so pretty or delicious I couldn't just leave it. Peter told me I couldn't attack somebody to go to the festival, but he didn't say I couldn't use blood from people who are already dead." Toga explained quickly, all in one breath.

"He also said no because it'd be dangerous. What if you're caught Toga? Then he'd have to defend you, which would out him as a villain collaborator in front of everybody watching."

"I know that!" Toga said desperately. "But look at him! He clearly needs help. He's stressed, he's sad, and he's scared. I know what that's like! It hurts! He said that a hero is somebody who helps anybody, no matter what, especially their friends. I'm no hero. I never was and I never intend to be. But Peter is my friend, and he's yours as well. If I have a way to help him and I don't just so I can protect myself, what does that make me?"

Magne listened to Toga, regarding her in silence.

"I should be able to help my friends. I've helped all of you and you've all helped me. I have a chance to do the same for Peter, and I won't run away from helping him just because it's a little dangerous. The USJ was dangerous, and that wasn't for anybody but myself. I don't care about being a hero to the people, and I don't care if I'm a villain to the people either. I do care if I'm a hero to Peter, even if he doesn't know it. He's my friend, and one way or another, I'm going to that festival to support him." Toga finished her rant, breathing deeply to recover all the air she'd lost.

Magne and Kurogiri shared a look before turning back to the girl.

"Even if we destroy these, you've got another case, don't you?" Kurogiri asked.

"Of course. They're hidden everywhere." Toga smiled.

"Then we can't stop you. You'll be gone before we can do anything to slow you down. Just promise me you'll be safe. Look after yourself, and if your time limit starts running out, you get out of there, or you hide. I'm not joking here. Do you understand me little sis?" Magne spoke firmly, making it clear that she would start fighting if Toga didn't agree to her conditions.

"I know big sis Mag. Don't worry, you know how good I am at getting in and out of places. I'll be safe, I promise."

"Good." Kurogiri turned away, going back to cleaning the drinking glasses.

"No chance at all I can talk you out of this?" Toga shook her head, causing Magne to sigh. "Great. Good luck then little sis. Now go help your boyfriend."

Toga barely paid attention to what Magne was saying. She pulled out a vial with the name "Kana" underneath it before returning the briefcase to her room. She returned a moment later to wave goodbye to them before leaving the bar.

"...She'll be fine, won't she?" Magne asked Kurogiri, concern evident in her voice.

"She has proved herself capable of impressive feats of stealth many times over. And besides, the event is televised. Should trouble occur, we'll all see it. I could simply open a warp gate and transport her back here. Even if something goes wrong, as long as I can pull her back before Peter acts like a hero, all will be fine."

"I sure hope so Kurogiri." Magne stared at the door Toga had gone through only a minute earlier. "Damn it Peter, you better appreciate the hell out of her for what she's doing for you."

"Kurogiri, something strong. Really strong. At least 4 glasses of it." Kurogiri poured her 4 glasses of very dark liquid. Magne accepted all of them, drinking them quickly. Kurogiri knew she wouldn't be able to stop until she blacked out completely, so he continued refilling the glasses.

20 minutes and nearly 50 shot glasses of Scottish Whiskey later, Magne was passed out on the counter while Kurogiri washed all the dirty glasses.

"She's worried about both of them, as am I. Peter, Toga, please don't do anything dangerous." Kurogiri continued to quietly clean the glasses as the night grew darker, the sports festival drawing closer all the while.

Okay, so I lied. Sports Festival is next chapter. By this point, you all should have realized the pairing I've gone with. I'm sure lots of you will be unhappy, but if that's the case, just leave. I'm not forcing you to stay. Come back in a month or so when I do my first "sequel" where I'll have a different pairing. I'll explain why I chose this pairing next chapter, because this note is already going to be super long.

First of all, I sadly only got sports festival ideas from 3 of you. So, to you, Phantomgreninja12, Jaeker , and Earl John Diawatan, thank you. I loved all of your ideas. But which ones to choose? Well, your ideas were all fairly similar, and I actually found a way to implement elements from all of them into a game I think is pretty damn cool. It should be...interesting, to say the least. I hope you all like it. Also, poor Peter is going to have a heart attack before he even gets a word of his speech out.

[1]: I know most of you are probably thinking "What the fuck is this guy on about? Peter hasn't killed people!" Well, you're right. In most cases anyway. There are a lot of universes in Marvel and in some of them, Peter has killed people. When he started out, he didn't know how to hold back or that he even had to. I can't remember the exact number, but I'm pretty sure he killed around 4 people because he wasn't holding himself back.

On a very unrelated note, I've got a question for you all. This has nothing to do with the story, I'm just curious. Have any of you ever watched an anime/read a manga/read a light novel called "Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls In a Dungeon?" I love the books and the anime, though I've never read the manga. I keep trying to get my friends to watch it, but every time they hear the name, they think I'm trying to get them to watch some kind of hentai. It's not. It's actually a really good story with good characters, a decent plot, it isn't overly tropey, and both the main character and nearly all the love interests are actually likeable. It's one of my favorite anime/light novel series out there, and I'm curious as to whether any of you know what it is. If not, try it. The anime is amazing, and the books are super cheap. I got all 14 volumes for like 8 dollars each on Amazon.

Anyway, sports festival next chapter along with my explanation on why I chose this ship. As always, thank you for reading and remember to leave a review.

Aren signing off.

(Next chapter should be up within the next 4 hours, though I might be a little later than that.)