PRAISE THE LAWD! HALLELUJAH! I come with good news my friends.
3 WEEKS! Just 3 more weeks before I'm on Summer vacation. No more tests. No more studying for AP class. No more school. After that, I'll have 3 straight months of no interruptions. I'll finally be able to get back to my regular update schedule.
Sadly, I probably won't post anymore until then. I've got back to back tests in all my classes, as well as my end of the year AP exam. But I'll definitely be back after that. I just need you to be patient a little longer. Thank you for understanding. Now let's get back to the recap.
You know, I'm really starting to think that Aren hates me. He brought me on to do these crappy recaps that nobody even laughs at and doesn't give me any other roles. For god's sake, he didn't even give me a name.
"Hey, screw you dude! I'm trying my best here."
Try harder. Or get me a partner. Anything to make this terrible job better.
"...You know what? Fine. You want a partner? I'll get you the best damn fourth wall breaker the world has ever known."
Oh yeah, I can't wait for that. I'm sure he'll be...wait, why do I hear boss music? Wait a minute…
Cue "Deadpool: Main Menu Song 1"
Oh god please no.
"OH YEAH BABY! I'M HERE TO MAKE THINGS WAY BETTER! I'm so excited to watch my most favoritest hero ever in the...7th greatest anime ever!" [1]
God...just...why? Why are you here?
"Well, it's come to my attention that you do a pretty bad job of making these recaps uh, what's the word? Oh yeah, funny. So the author called me in to help you make things better. You're welcome for making your day better."
I knew it. Aren does hate me. He only put you here to torture me.
"Aw, don't say that buddy. We'll have a lot of fun together! You can be the grumpy announcer nobody likes and I'll be the fun, loveable announcer who everybody likes to pretend they relate to so they can make their sad lives better. It works out for everybody."
I...No. I won't argue about this. That's exactly what that bastard Aren wants. YOU WANT TO SEE ME SUFFER!? WELL TOO BAD AREN! I'LL SUCK UP EVERYTHING YOU THROW AT ME AND BE HAPPY THROUGH IT ALL!
"Hey, isn't that what your wife says every night?"
...I'm gonna kill him. Oh god...unfortunately, we no longer have time for this chapter's recap. Until next time...WAIT, NO DEADPOOL, DON'T TOUCH THAT!
CRASH!
"...Not my fault. Tucker did it." [2]
...I hate all of you.
Back To That Story:
Peter didn't have any dreams that night. His mind was totally blank, not a single thought passing through it. It was a pretty weird feeling, considering he usually had the most bizarre dreams ever. Like that time he dreamed of that really buff high schooler beating people up with an invisible disco star.
To make it worse, he continued to wake up every 30 minutes or so. As if he simply weren't allowed to sleep, Peter constantly found himself being forced awake with barely any time to even rest.
Finally, he just gave up. He was alone in the bar, not a single other occupant in sight. The clock on the wall read 7:30.
"Figures. Even when I don't have to go to school I'm still waking up really early." Peter groaned as he lifted himself out of his chair. After his long night and lackluster attempt at sleeping, he was still feeling the weight of exhaustion. Peter's vision was a bit blurry and he felt sluggish in his movements.
So, when he settled down on one of the barstools, he failed to notice that nobody was on the other side of the counter.
"Hey Kurogiri. Do you have anything to help me feel more...awake? Like, coffee or something?"
Peter waited a few seconds but still received no response. Feeling a bit confused, he raised his head so he was no longer staring at the counter, only to be met with the sight of the bottle-filled wall. Kurogiri was nowhere in sight.
"Oh, right. They're gone." Peter sighed, remembering what occurred only hours ago.
It felt strange knowing Kurogiri and Shigaraki were gone. Sure, Peter hadn't interacted with either of them nearly as much as the other villains, but it still didn't feel right. They were just...supposed to be here. It would take some getting used to, now that they were no longer here.
Standing up, Peter walked around the counter in search of some coffee to help with his fatigue. He wasn't expecting to see a grown man fast asleep on the ground behind the bar shelf.
"Stain?"
The hero killer was indeed passed out on the ground, one arm under his head to act as a makeshift pillow while the other clutched an empty whiskey bottle.
Peter wasn't sure how to proceed. Should he wake him up? Should he just go around him?
Deciding it'd be better to not wake the tense, probably still drunk assassin, Peter lightly hopped on top of the counter and walked over Stain. His eyes scanned the shelf behind him, looking for the dark miracle elixir that would brighten his day.
"Vodka...Sake...Merlot? Who here drinks Merlot? Oh, wait, coffee!" Peter's eyes stopped on the large, brown bag, presumably full of coffee beans.
Taking special care to be as quiet as possible, Peter stretched his legs as far as they could go, reaching all the way out to grab the bag. One misstep, and he'd land directly on top of Stain.
His fingers brushed the edge of the bag, accidentally pushing it farther back. Groaning in frustration, Peter took a risk. He slowly moved his feet down and pressed them onto the side of the counter. He was now sideways, hoping he wouldn't lose his grip on the counter.
Stretching his arm out once more, Peter managed to close his fingers around the bag and pulled it closer to him. It was surprisingly light for its size, so Peter figured it saw a lot of use.
Clutching his treasure close to his chest, Peter very slowly leaned away from the rack of drinks and bags, trying to remain silent. After several tense seconds, he had made it back to the relative safety of the countertop, Stain no longer waiting beneath him like a landmine.
Sighing in relief, Peter stepped onto the ground and observed his bounty. It was then that he realized his new problem.
Though Peter had been in the bar plenty of times, he never actually left the main bar room. The layout of the building was unknown to him.
"Well...if I'm gonna be living here, I may as well get to know it better. Isn't that right Stain?" Peter whispered to himself. Stain merely snorted in his sleep at the mention of his name.
Quietly laughing to himself, Peter began walking in the direction of the only door in the room other than the door leading outside. Pushing it open carefully, he was met with the sight of a long hallway with 9 doors inside, 4 each on the right and left and one at the end of the hall.
Taking a chance, Peter went with the first door on the right.
"I'll slowly open the door…" Peter pressed his hand onto the door and pushed it lightly.
Inside the room was dark. There were no windows and none of the lamps were currently on. However, Peter could still faintly make out a few details. It was clearly somebody's bedroom. There was a dresser, a desk, and a bed. A bed with somebody on it.
"Huh? Who's there?" A groggy voice came from the bed. It sounded vaguely feminine, but it wasn't quite high enough to belong to Toga, which meant…
Acting quickly, Peter pressed himself against the hallway, out of sight of the room's occupant. There were a lot of possible ends to this situation running through Peter's mind, and most of them ended with Magne beating him up for "creeping into her room."
He heard footsteps approaching the doorway. Nobody emerged from the room, though this did nothing to calm Peter down.
Finally Magne grunted in annoyance before grabbing the doorknob and pulling the door shut behind her, followed by more footsteps leading back to her bed. Peter was sure he heard her mutter "Damn it Twice."
Now safe, Peter let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He had very narrowly avoided being mislabeled as a creeper.
"Would Magne really do that though? She's usually pretty chill."
"Shut up inner voice. I'm not risking it." Peter hissed. He considered just stopping here. It wouldn't hurt to hold off on his adventure through the hideout until later. But then…
What about the coffee?
What about the dark brown miracle brew that always gave him the energy he needed to get through the day?
The nervous teen took another deep breath. There was no turning back now. It didn't matter what happened from this point forward. He would gladly lay down his life in the pursuit of coffee, one of the great loves in his life.
The next few minutes were full of tension and scares. Every time Peter opened a door, he would mash himself against the hall and slowly peer in to make sure he didn't wake the inhabitant. Of course, his horrible luck wouldn't give him a break. Every door he opened belonged to one of his friends.
Dabi's room was actually brighter than the others, but that was only because of the unusual number of lava lamps positioned throughout the room. Besides that, the only real decoration in his room was the large poster of Endeavour hanging above his bed with several scorch marks adorning its surface.
Mr. Compress' room was highly decorated with pictures of magicians. There were decks of cards scattered all over the desk resting in the corner and multiple bookshelves completely filled with books and magic kits.
Twice's room was strangely bare. Aside from his bed, there was nothing inside. For some reason, there were cracks and holes in the walls, though it wasn't clear how they got there.
Spinner's room was full of posters and plastic models of Stain. Of course, things like that wouldn't be sold in stores, so Spinner most likely made them himself. Peter honestly wasn't sure how to feel about what he saw, so he just slowly closed the door and moved on.
Finally, there were only 4 doors left. Two on the right side, one on the left, and the final door at the end of the hall. The only room Peter hadn't wandered into was Toga's and he really didn't want to make the mistake of walking in on her.
Making his decision, he pulled open the first door on the right.
"...Oh my god." Peter uttered.
There's a special feeling you get when you're absolutely stumped. When you see something so odd, something so undeniably weird that you just don't even have a reaction. You don't feel disgusted or scared, or anything really. You just feel confused.
That's exactly how Peter felt.
The room was clearly Shigaraki's. This was made evident by the fact that there were pictures of...hands. Just...hands, everywhere. Pictures, posters, some of them framed, each one featuring a set of hands.
One display in particular caught Peter's sight. There was a pedestal in the corner of the room. On it rested 6 candles that were somehow still lit, and above the candles was…
"Is...is that the Mona Lisa?" Peter, still feeling extremely confused, walked over to the pedestal. There was indeed a picture of the Mona Lisa, resting above the candles as though it were a religious object. There was a bright red circle drawn on the paper, surrounding the hands in particular.
"Oh my god, I was right. He is Yoshikage Kira's son."
By now, the blank, confused feeling was wearing off. In its place came a feeling of unease. Peter felt genuinely disturbed being in here. Not wanting to spend any more time in the hand sanctuary, he quietly ran out of the room and shut the door behind him.
"Okay, forgetting I saw that. Let's think about this. If this was Shigraki's room, then Toga's room is probably…" Peter glanced at the only other door on the right of the hall. "That one."
Confident he'd made the right decision, Peter ignored the right door and walked to the final door on the left. He grasped the doorknob, a bit nervous about what could potentially be waiting for him.
"It's not a big deal. Even if it is Toga's room, she's probably asleep. Yeah, totally. Only demons and teachers wake up at 8 in the morning by choice. So...basically just teachers then."
Casting aside his doubt, Peter wrenched open the door, fully prepared to dive to the side if necessary.
Thankfully, it was not. Inside was the sanctuary he had been searching for. The beautiful kitchen, with it's pure white walls, black and brown cabinets and countertops and glowing silver appliances. There, waiting for him across the room was the glorious coffee pot, just waiting to be used.
Peter practically skipped inside, feeling happy that he had finally found the place he was looking for. The last 30 minutes had been oddly stressful, and coffee was sounding better every second.
There wasn't much left in the bag, so Peter just dumped the remainder into the pot and turned it on. While he waited for it to be ready, he allowed his mind to wander. Not towards Shigaraki and Kurogiri, since he didn't feel like thinking about depressing things at the moment, but about his current situation.
Obviously, it would be hard. On the one hand, he no longer had to go to school. On the other hand, he was practically on house arrest. He couldn't casually walk around or people would become suspicious, and he couldn't just pretend he freed himself, or the heroes would start asking for information on his kidnappers, and Peter didn't have enough confidence in his ability to lie to go down that road.
Besides the house arrest itself, he had to think about his new roommates. It would probably be rough living with so many people, especially in such a small space. There wasn't much to do for fun in a bar. Maybe he could take apart some random stuff and try building things. Still, that would only be entertaining for so long.
A loud ding caught Peter's attention. His coffee was ready.
Digging through the cabinets, Peter located a mug and filled it to the brim. Unfortunately, there was only enough in the pot to fill the one cup, so there was nothing left. The others would probably be angry about that, but Peter honestly didn't care much at the moment. Not minding the consequences, he downed the entire cup in one go. Instantly he felt energy flow through his body. The fatigue faded away, replaced by a feeling of comfort and warmth.
"Oh yeah. That's the stuff." Peter smiled at the now empty mug before setting it in the sink. Now the question was what he should do next. He couldn't leave and there wasn't anything to do in the bar. Should he try his luck with the other doors? He knew Kurogiri didn't have a room, so one of the remaining two had to be something else.
Stepping back into the hallway, Peter looked at the door closest to him. If his theory was correct, that was the unknown room. It was a gamble, but surely it would be better than waiting around for the others to wake up.
Walking the short distance to the end of the dark hallway, Peter opened the final door. Inside, there was…
"Oh my god." Peter gasped, amazed at what he was seeing.
The room could only be described as a man cave. There was a huge TV that took up half of one of the walls. Nearly a dozen ceiling-height shelves filled with movies and video games were arranged in a neat line. To top it off, there were 5 giant couches in the center of the room, along with 3 separate coffee tables, 2 bean bags, and 2 recliners.
The room was the absolute definition of "man cave."
"Wait, hold up. This was here all this time but they always had me wait in the bar? Why didn't we ever come here?" Peter complained to nobody in particular. The room was clearly a relaxation area for the group, so why didn't they ever hang out here?
Deciding to hold his complaints till later, Peter shut the door behind him and walked over to one of the shelves.
"Wait, I know these movies. Jurassic Park, Pacific Rim, even Jason Bourne? How do they have the same...wait, THEY HAVE ZOMBIELAND!?" Peter lunged forward and grabbed one of the movies off the shelf. Written in big, orange letters was "Zombieland," followed by the names of the main cast.
"Even in another universe the actors are the same. What do you know? Woody Harrelson really is a gift from god. Wait, they have the second one too, and...3?! Hold up, THIS UNIVERSE HAS A ZOMBIELAND 3!? I AM SO ON THIS!" Peter half-screamed in happiness, forgetting all about being quiet. This place really had a 3rd Zombieland movie. For a brief second, Peter totally forgot about all the worries in his life.
He didn't know what would happen going forward. For all Peter knew, he could be dead or in jail by tomorrow. But right now, in this exact moment, all he cared about was forgetting his worries over a good viewing of some of the best movies ever made. [3]
Taking all 3 cases from their resting place, Peter walked over to the giant TV and put in the first disk. He plopped down on one of the couches and prepared to let his cares fade away.
"Peter? What's happening? Why are you yelling?" Peter stiffened when he heard the voice in the doorway. Turning his head he saw the door was wide open and both Toga and Spinner were standing there staring at him.
"How long have they been there? Wait, they didn't hear me talk about the universe, did they?" Peter was beginning to sweat nervously. He opened his mouth and attempted to stutter out a response, but he was saved by the sudden audio from the TV. The very familiar music of the menu came on behind him, helping to calm him down with the good memories it brought.
Apparently, Toga had similar memories, because the instant the music came on, her eyes brightened and her posture noticeably straightened.
"You're watching Zombieland!?" She shouted excitedly.
"Y-yeah. Do you like this movie?"
"Of course! The comedy, the characters, and the blood! There's so much blood in it!" Toga was so excited her face was turning red. In spite of himself, Peter couldn't help but laugh at her. She was just too cute sometimes.
While Toga was extremely happy, Spinner looked a bit annoyed.
"You're this excited over a movie? How good can it even be?"
Peter and Toga both shot him horrified looks.
""How can you say that!?" They both shouted at the same time.
"This movie is a cinematic masterpiece!" Toga exclaimed. "The writing is glorious, the makeup is great, and the characters are absolutely perfect!"
"Since when are you this passionate about anything besides blood?"
While Toga continued to be upset about Spinner's heretical statement, Peter took notice of his attire.
"Spinner, you're still wearing the Iron Spider?" Peter inquired.
Spinner somehow appeared to pale, his scales growing a slightly brighter shade of green.
"Um, y-yes. I'm sorry. I was going to give it back, but I was really tired when we got back last night and I forgot."
"It's cool man. I don't really care if you keep it. It's not like I need it right now anyway. For now, why don't you just relax? Come on, sit down and watch some movies." Peter patted the couch cushion next to him. Spinner still looked skeptical, though Toga had no such issues. She shoved past him and practically dove into the couch. She burrowed into the cushion, pressing herself against Peter's side. Her eyes were already focused on the screen.
"Hurry up and play it!" She yelled, now latching onto Peter's left arm. She was really beginning to remind him of a little kid. Still, he didn't mind. It was nice seeing her act like this.
"Come on Spinner. I promise you'll enjoy it." Peter swore.
"Hm. Fine. I'll give it a try." Spinner conceded, padding over and sitting to Peter's right.
"Are you ready to experience greatness?" Peter asked, not waiting for an answer before he hit play.
U.A.:
Nezu was not happy. He had called the entire staff of U.A. in, along with detective Tsukauchi, Ms. Joke and any other hero who was present at last night's disaster.
"I trust you all know why I called you here?" Nezu asked the room, receiving nods in response. "Good. Then you understand the severity of the situation. Last night, one of my students was captured and 3 others were put in the hospital. The kidnapped student in question was Spider-Man, which brings with it its own set of problems."
"Between his message on the news all those months ago and his speech and performance at the sports festival, he's become something of an icon. There will be a large commotion if it gets out that he was captured." Tsukauchi clarified.
"And so we ask that you keep the information in this meeting a secret, as it is a matter of security." Nezu requested, once again receiving nods.
"I say we start at the crime scene. There may be clues there that will help us track them down." Vlad King put in.
"We could talk to the other 3 students and Native to see if they saw something we didn't." Snipe suggested.
While the other heroes all began talking about ways to find Peter, Nezu noticed one person in particular who was staring intensely at the table, not saying a word.
"Is there something on your mind Mr. Aizawa?" The mousy principal asked, creeping up to his employee.
"...Nothing about this seems right to me. There are just too many variables that don't add up."
"I agree. There have been several things I found suspicious, though I wasn't quite sure at the time. Now, however, it becomes more apparent that there may be something else going on."
"What do you mean sir?" Tsukauchi joined the two, having slipped away from the main group.
"Allow me to explain." Aizawa spoke up. "I first started having suspicions after the USJ incident. One of the villains there outright refused to attack Peter, and another claimed to have had a conversation with him instead of trying to fight him." Tsukauchi brought out a notepad and wrote down what Aizawa told him.
"It gets more suspicious from there. After the USJ, he refused to tell me anything of use regarding the incident. He even tried to lie to me about it, to assure nme nothing major happened. Then, I get a call an hour later that he snuck out of the hospital, yet he returned to school just fine later." Aizawa continued, his voice growing harder every second.
"That's when the sports festival rolled around. I'm sure you saw it on TV, that girl he was with at the end. Peter has always been an outspoken person. He tells everybody in my class stories a;; the time, so I don't see any reasonable explanation for him hiding the fact that he has a girlfriend. This girl herself was a mystery, a mystery that became a full anomaly when I learned that she had been dead for 3 months."
"I remember that case." Tsukauchi looked up from his notes. "I worked it with my partner. There's not a chance that girl was still alive. Not only did she have 28 stab wounds, she was also completely drained of her blood."
"I know the details. I meant to question Peter about her, but my students left for their internships before I got the chance. Of course, none of this is exactly grounds to launch a full-scale investigation or to accuse Peter of anything. Or at least, it wasn't. And then the events of last night happened, and more pieces fell into place." Once again, Tsukauchi readied his notes.
"For one thing, my students reported that one of the villains who showed up was not only one of those present at the USJ incident, but he was wearing Peter's first suit. Peter is childish, but he's not careless. There's no way some low-level street thug stole that suit from him, and no way would they go back to him later. That's just asking for trouble."
"Anything else?" Nezu asked, paying close attention to everything being said.
"Yes actually. My students also told me that the hero killer apparently possesses the ability to freeze people by ingesting their blood. Not a speed or strength enhancer, but a quirk that relies on his ability to draw blood. Even if the other villain was helping him, I find it hard to believe Peter was knocked around as much as Midoriya claims he was. It seems more likely he chose to lose. The question is why?" Aizawa finished, all his information put out there.
"As you can see Mr. Tsukauchi, all of this is extremely suspicious. Right from the start, Mr. Parker has been an anomaly. He quite literally dropped out of the sky, immediately started trouble with the local heroes, has shown he possesses views more becoming of vigilantes or villains than those of heroes, and certain villains seem to be somewhat friendly with him, to a certain degree at least. I have looked at this from many different angles, yet I can find very few where Mr. Parker is on the right side of the law." Nezu summarized, his voice grave.
"I see. How do you want to handle this then?" Tsukauchi flipped his notepad shut.
"I'll investigate on my own. Just like Nezu said, there are still a few possibilities where Peter is on the right side of the law. Instead of immediately turning this into a scene, I'd prefer to investigate by myself and see if I can't find out what's really going on."
"Mr. Aizawa, I must protest. I cannot in good conscience send you off on your own. Even if Mr. Parker isn't working with them, it is unknown how many villains we may be dealing with here." Nezu protested.
"You know you can't stop me, and you won't find me once I leave. You know the drill. I'll call in and report every night. If two days pass and I still don't contact you, assume I'm captured or dead and send a team to my previous location." Not allowing time for an argument, Aizawa stood up and walked out of the room, leaving the other heroes behind,
The Hospital:
Midoriya was thinking. He had been thinking for a while. Was Peter his fault? Could he have done more? What was there to do now that he was in the hospital, along with Todoroki and Iida?
They were set to be released the next day, but it still felt like he hadn't healed. It was like a part of him was still trapped in that alleyway, replaying Peter's kidnapping over and over while he did nothing.
"Midoriya, stop it." Iida ordered. "I know what you're thinking. Peter was not your fault. We were simply overpowered. It's only to be expected considering our limited experience. It's best to just leave the situation to the pros now."
Midoriya said nothing. He didn't even look at his friend. He knew Iida was right, but it still hurt. It hurt knowing that he was there. It would be different if he were far away, if there was nothing he could have done for Peter, but that wasn't the case. He had been right there!
He was supposed to be a hero, no, the hero. The one to be the next All Might, the symbol of peace himself. How could he call himself a hero if he couldn't protect a single one of his friends?
"That may not be accurate Iida." Todoroki stated from his bed.
"What? Of course it is! This is now an official case. If not the pros, then who do you expect to look for Peter?"
Todoroki set his gaze on Iida. His cold, unflinching, unyielding gaze made the bespectacled boy feel a bit uncomfortable.
"Us." Todoroki stated simply.
"...What!?" Iida shouted in disbelief.
"Keep your voice down. Think about it. We were there. We probably know more about this situation than most of the heroes who were on the scene. It's loose evidence, but we know the direction they went, and that if the hero killer is part of their group, they must be based in or near Hosu. It's not much, but we could at least be doing something."
"What you are suggesting is vigilantism, and I hope you-"
"Iida, do you want to be a hero?" Todoroki cut off his classmate, drawing a questioning look not only from Iida, but also from Midoriya.
"I...of course I do! What does that have to do with-"
"Then you know what to do. Do you think a hero would sit around and do nothing, knowing that their friend has been captured by villains. The longer we wait, the greater the chance that he could be killed. If you want to be a hero, you wouldn't even hesitate to agree with me."
Iida gaped, unsure of how to respond. Thankfully, he didn't have to. Midoriya did it for him.
"I'll go."
"What!? Midoriya, you can't be serious!" Iida yelled in disbelief.
"Todoroki is right. We came to U.A. to be heroes. Heroes protect everybody, no matter what it costs. We didn't protect Peter and even now we aren't taking any chances trying to get him back. We're not heroes, we're cowards. We...we have a responsibility to help him." Midoriya boldly stated.
Iida saw he was outnumbered, his gaze swapping between Midoriya and Todoroki. They were clearly in agreement, so what should he do? Obviously he should tell a teacher, get them to stop before they did something illegal. But...would that really stop them?
If they were really serious about this, why would they just quit after a single setback? Surely they would just go right back out and put themselves at risk anyway, with not a single difference.
If doing the responsible thing wouldn't change a single thing either way…
Should he do the reckless thing?
Would it be better to go with them? At least then, they'd have one more person that could watch their backs. If nothing else, they'd be safer.
Iida felt his shoulders shaking. This would go against everything he had been taught. Vigilantism was a crime. Using your quirk without a license was a crime. Actively seeking criminals before becoming a pro was...illegal.
...Wait a minute.
Iida didn't disagree with what his friends were saying. A hero's duty is to protect everybody no matter the cost, no matter their situation. The more Iida thought about it, the more the law seemed...against heroism itself.
That couldn't be right. There was no way it was true.
He could worry about his...problematic thoughts later. For now, there was one thing on Iida's mind.
They were right.
Even as he was thinking about how he would be breaking the law, he continually found himself thinking that his friends were correct. If that was truly how he felt, then…
He knew what he had to do, didn't he?
"It's fine if you don't want to come Iida. I understand if you won't-"
"No." Iida shut down Todoroki mid-sentence. "If you want to save Peter, then I shall come too." Iida turned his attention to Midoriya. "When do we leave?"
The Bar:
""Well?"" Peter and Toga asked at the same time.
"I'm capable of admitting when I'm wrong. You two were right, these movies are great." Spinner happily nodded, now fully converted to the Zombieland religion.
Peter completely agreed. He wasn't sure about Zombieland 3 at first, but it was great in the end. The movie achieved legendary status as soon as Tallahassee found a legit golden chainsaw and used it to cut through the fourth wall and beat up the kill of the week announcer.
Speaking of which, the movies were exactly the same as they were back home. The actors, the lines, the setting, all of it. That was weird, right? How was it that even in another there were the exact same people? There weren't any Avengers in this world, or another Peter for that matter, so what was going on here?
There was another issue of major concern though. As the movie went on, Toga had gone from simply excited and happy to excited, happy, and...crazed. Her eyes became noticeably bigger and her pupils became thinner. Her breathing had turned more erratic and she had begun lightly scratching her arm.
Several times, Peter had asked her what was wrong and she always waved him off, though each time, she sounded more impatient, more angry. She might not like it, but it was obvious something was wrong, and Peter didn't want to just ignore her.
"Toga?" He said gently.
"What!?" Toga snapped in response, her eyes slightly red now.
"I know you want to keep telling me it's nothing, but you're clearly not alright. If something's wrong, you know you can tell me."
"I'm fine, alright!? Just leave me alone!" Toga let go of Peter's arm and stormed out of the room.
"Toga?!" Peter stood up, ready to go after her, but Spinner held him back.
"There's nothing you can do here, so you may as well sit down."
"What? You know what's wrong with her?" Peter demanded.
"Of course. You see this kind of thing all the time on the streets, though usually drugs are involved." Spinner explained.
Peter slowly sat back down, fully interested now.
"What do you mean?"
"They're withdrawal symptoms Peter."
"WIthdrawal?"
"Yup. As you know, her quirk requires her to drink blood. The fact that she's ingested so much over the years has only made it worse. Once you showed up, she's tried to stop. Believe it or not, she's barely ingested any blood since you showed up. As far as I know, there were only a few random attacks, with her most recent meal being the time she transformed and went to the sports festival. She's been fine for a while, but she most likely started feeling off when she saw all the blood in the movie, like a junky watching somebody else take a hit." Spinner carefully explained.
Peter took in everything he'd just heard. He knew she required blood, he knew she knew it, but she was trying to stop using it?
"Why would she do that? What happens if she doesn't get enough blood?" Peter asked in a shaky voice.
"No idea, she's never gone this long without it. I doubt she'll die, but she'll definitely be miserable. This isn't as simple as a drug addiction, her quirk makes it a biological need. She can't just go to rehab and kick her addiction, she's stuck with it. At best, she'll be in a constant state of exhaustion and become aggressive regularly. At worst, she'll need some kind of life support at all times. It's not pretty, but she really does need blood. I definitely don't envy her situation."
Peter sank into the couch. Toga had to know this. There was no way she didn't. It was her quirk after all, she had more knowledge about it than anybody on the planet.
"Hold on, you said...you said that she tried to stop after I showed up?"
"Oh yeah. She used to be way more obsessed with blood. She never went more than 10 minutes without mentioning it, and she used to just sing the word 'blood' to herself over and over again for no reason. If I had to guess, she still has the urge to do those things, but she actively tries not to. She probably doesn't want to disappoint you since you don't want her attacking people. Unfortunately, not attacking people means no blood. She does have some vials saved though. I'm not sure why she hasn't used those."
Peter felt...angry, mostly. Was Toga his fault? He came in here out of nowhere, preached his views, and all of a sudden she was denying herself what she needs to survive, apparently in an effort to keep him happy.
No matter how you looked at it, she was Peter's fault.
"What do I do then? I can't just tell her to attack people, but if I don't what happens to her?"
"I'll be honest with you Peter, I have no idea. I really don't. But you're a lot smarter than I am, so I'm sure you'll come up with something. I can give you some advice though. It's not always possible to keep everybody happy. You can reduce their displeasure, you can play the doormat and let them walk over you so everybody else is happy, but not every solution ends well for everybody. There's a good chance this situation won't end well for one of you no matter what you decide to do. Just do whatever you think is best." Spinner sat up and left the room, leaving Peter alone on the couch.
Peter sat alone in the room. He didn't know what to do. There were a few ideas in his mind, but most of them were terrible.
In all fairness, the situation was rigged against him.
He could convince Toga it was okay to attack people, but how many people would that kill or injure? But if continued to say that it wasn't okay, she would only hurt herself more. His options were let innocent people he didn't know get hurt, or watch somebody he cared deeply for suffer.
If only she weren't a known criminal. Then she could just go to a blood bank for help. Surely she would be allowed to take blood if she explained the nature of her quirk.
But...that was impossible. Her face had been plastered on the news already and everybody knew who she was.
After nearly 10 minutes of thinking, Peter came up with a solution. It was a...flawed solution. It had limited use, that's if it could even be put into practice, which would largely depend on Toga's feelings. Still, it was the best he could come up with.
Peter finally rose from the sofa and left the room. He walked only a short distance before stopping in front of one of the many doors in the hallway.
Steeling himself as he had done several hours ago, Peter took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
"Toga? Can I come in?"
Unknown Location:
"Tomura, are you sure about this?"
"Of course Kurogiri. We lost our entire party and are now vulnerable. We need more manpower and simply street-level villains won't do." Shigaraki rasped.
"I understand that, but is this really the best solution? We passed over this man precisely because of how volatile he is. There is a very good chance he will turn on us at the drop of a hat."
"Yeah, but we're out of options. We need people, and he's all we've got. Now get ready, he's here."
The two were waiting in a warehouse in the middle of the city. There was nobody else nearby, making it a great meeting point.
A car could be heard driving around outside before coming to a stop. Large, heavy footfalls came from outside, approaching the warehouse door.
The large metal door creaked open, followed by more footsteps. A large shape could be seen in the relative darkness of the warehouse.
"So," a gruff voice sounded before it's owner stepped into the light. It was a huge blonde man with a scar surrounding his left eye, which was clearly fake.
"I hear you're looking for some muscle."
There was a lot going on in this chapter. Sorry for the Toga angst, but that's kind of the point of this arc. Before we get into the serious action, Peter's going to be learning more about his new roommates, which means a lot more angst in the coming chapters.
[1]: Believe it or not, Deadpool is canonically a huge fan of Spider-Man. He looks up to him, he thinks he's really cool, and is just a general fanboy. For the most part, they're pretty good friends in the comics, strangely enough.
[2]: Reference anyone?
[3]: I watch the Zombieland movies religiously. Once every month, I get together with my friends at one of our houses and we watch both movies. They're some of my favorite movies ever. I remember first watching it when I was 7 and I wasn't even scared of the zombies because I was too busy laughing nearly every scene. Seriously though, I would kill for a 3rd movie. I don't care how well the 2nd ended, there's no possible way another one could be bad.
Oh, and by the way, Deadpool will be here consistently for the recaps. It'll be kind of a Wiz and Boomstick type relationship, plus it makes sense for Deadpool to be watching something featuring Peter considering he's a huge Spider-Man fanboy.
Thanks for reading and remember to leave a review.
Aren signing off.