What's good, my people?

So I'd like to start by saying that this isn't exactly a full chapter, it's more of an update. I have good news for all of you. So far, I've finished revisions for the first 15 chapters, which only leaves 5 more chapters that need real revisions and not just spell checks and extended fights. I was gonna finish, but then I thought, "You know what? It's been a while since I've updated. Why not drop a quick little chapter I can finish in a few hours, just to keep the story going and give you all something to read?"

So, here we are. Like I said, this chapter is mostly just to say "Hey, I'm still alive!" so it'll be pretty short.

One last thing. If you're wondering why I haven't posted any updates, it's because I'll be doing them all at once. There are a few changes that, if posted now, would create some inconsistencies in the story. For example, I'm making the fight in chapter six longer, but if I posted that now, all the times the characters talk about Peter beating Mirko in one punch won't make any sense. I'll be writing all the revisions at once and then posting them at the same time once they're all finished.

Okay, that's everything. With that being said, let's get-

Back to That Story:

Iida sat a few feet away from the rest of the group. He was deep in thought, turning questions over in his mind as the others chatted about empty topics.

To put it simply, he was thinking about his future.

"I thought I had made my choice. I told myself that Peter was right, that if I wanted to be a true hero, I should follow him… but…"

Iida genuinely believed that Peter was correct, but fighting All Might threw a splash of reality in his face. It had been… terrifying. Not just the idea of fighting the number one hero, not just the concept of fighting an unwinnable battle…

But the idea of fighting society itself.

All Might was one thing. He was an immovable monster, an icon to the entire world. They had done the impossible by defeating him, yet that victory felt completely meaningless. It was a difficult thing to explain, but it almost seemed like it was only a fraction of what was to come.

"I don't know how we managed to escape All Might. I should be happy, but I can only see the negatives."

That was his life now. All Might was the beginning, a single hero who would come after them. It was only a matter of hours, maybe even minutes before he, along with everybody else, was put on the news. From that point, his entire future would be destroyed. The world would hear the name of Tenya Iida and immediately think of him as a criminal, a villain.

Heroes he hoped to work alongside would come after him, prisons he would have deposited criminals into would potentially be his home. His family, the people he tried so hard to be like, may even go after him themselves.

That was to say nothing of the impact that would come from All Might's defeat. There had to be somebody who witnessed the fight. Somebody who watched from a window, somebody whose curiosity got the better of them and forced them to come closer. What would happen if word got out that All Might lost a fight? Surely the world would be thrown into a state of panic over their undefeatable pillar of justice facing defeat. Their little group may have indirectly caused a global panic, along with a rise in criminals who believed All Might to have weakened.

Iida set out to be a hero, but no matter how he looked at it, he was the villain. Causing panic, being pursued by heroes… he was the very definition of an anarchist.

Even as these thoughts plagued his mind, Iida had one more thought running through his mind. The nearly-blind boy shot a glance at one of his disguised comrades.

The Hero Killer.

"He's a good ally. He provides a better chance at accomplishing our goal,of making the world better. And yet… can I truly trust him?"

Iida has tried, he really had tried to ignore his inner voices. But the more time he spent with Stain, the more he thought of his brother. Everytime the assassin crossed the young hero's field of vision, he could only think about how his brother's future was stolen, about all the other heroes Stain had murdered. Would he turn his blades on them too, if he deemed them unworthy allies?

Iida was prepared to fight if necessary. He would never go down easily. If the hero killer truly wanted to fight, then Iida wouldn't hesitate to battle the vill-

"..."

Hold on, that was wrong.

There couldn't be any more thoughts of "villains" in the group. As far as he was concerned, every one of them was in the same boat. If Stain was a villain, then so was Iida. Though he struggled with the concept, he couldn't admit that. No matter what, the young hero could never call himself a villain.

Besides that, what of his relationship with Stain? Did he truly believe Stain would pull something? Why kill them when he could just leave the group?

Once more, Iida glanced at the noseless man. His weak eyes provided only a blurry outline of the man, shifting every now and then like pixels on a TV screen. Just as before, Iida could swear the "pixels" formed a shape, an image that was clear despite his poor eyesight. He saw his brother sitting next to Satin, glaring coldly at the man who took his future.

Forcing himself to look away, Iida rubbed at his eyes and quietly groaned.

"Stop it. Just stop. I need to trust him. Maybe our path is one of villainy. Maybe we truly do belong in a prison. But until I know for sure, I can't assume anything. For now, I'll believe we are doing the right thing. I may not like it, but he is my ally, and I must trust him."

The imaginary scenario of Stain turning on them, of being forced to fight back and turn him over to the heroes… those were excuses. Iida didn't truly believe it would happen, he was merely searching for excuses to fight.

The question wasn't how long it would be before Stain betrayed them…

It was whether or not Iida could keep himself from turning on him.

Peter and Toga:

Peter stood stock still in the doorway of the examination room. Toga continued to observe herself in the mirror, turning her body every now and then to see from a new angle. Peter blinked a few times, hoping his eyes were playing tricks on him. However, when he opened his eyes again, nothing changed.

Toga was still jacked.

She didn't exactly look like a female bodybuilder with muscles on top of muscles, but she was obviously far stronger than before, almost like she was in somebody else's body. There wasn't a single place on her body that didn't have toned muscle. Her biceps were easily as large as Peters, with abs and leg muscles to match. If you told Peter that she had been working every day her entire life, he would have to believe it.

"... P-Peter… what's happening to me?" Toga asked in a slightly high voice. Despite her fearful tone, she didn't look very bothered, only surprised. She gazed in fascination at her mirror reflection, like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Occasionally, she extended a finger and prodded one of her firm muscles, as if checking whether they were real or not.

"... Oh man, I was right." Peter muttered to himself.

"About what?" Toga asked, not looking away from her reflection.

Peter said nothing for a few seconds. He weighed his options, carefully deciding on what to do next.

"Well… I guess it's explanation time." At this point, there was no good reason to keep his powers a secret anymore. If Toga really was experiencing… that, she had the right to know. After all, the powers were hers now too. It wouldn't be fair to lie.

Ducking his head into the hallway, Peter looked around a few times to see if anybody was nearby. After confirming there wasn't, he stepped back into the room and shut the door.

"Toga, you might want to sit down." Peter stated cryptically. Toga tilted her head in confusion, but she didn't argue. Tearing herself away from the mirror, she sat down on the examination table, removed her nanobot helmet, and waited for Peter to continue.

"Okay, so here's the thing. You have my… uh, I mean that… what's going on is…"

"Oh man, how am I even supposed to explain this. 'Oh yeah, I got bit by a spider and got superpowers, nothing weird about that!'"

For some reason, Peter was getting nervous. He had no idea how to even begin to explain what was happening. His hands even began to lightly sweat.

"Come one man, deep breath! You've told this story before in a world where superpowers aren't exactly common. In a world like this one, at least it'll make some sense. Just go for it!"

"... So, here's the thing… I… wasn't born with powers." Peter began uncertainly.

"Well, yeah, obviously. Nobody is born with a quirk, they don't kick in until you're four." Toga responded, her face one of "are you serious?"

"No, no, that's not what I mean. I… I didn't even have powers when I was four. I guess I got them… just about 11 months ago, actually. Until then, I was just a normal guy. Actually, I wasn't even that. I was the scrawniest guy ever. I could barely even lift a twenty pound weight without straining myself. I didn't even-"

"Peter, you're rambling. Get to the point."

"Shut up inner thoughts, I'm getting there."

As Peter spoke, Toga tilted her head even further to the side like a confused puppy. Her eyes narrowed quizzically, seemingly trying to figure out if he was messing with her or not.

"You… were quirkless... until you were fifteen?" Toga didn't exactly sound mocking, just very, very disbelieving. "That's not possible. If you don't have a quirk by the time you turn 15, you won't have one at all."

"That's… that's the thing. It's not exactly a quirk." Peter admitted. Toga's eyes narrowed even further. She was almost totally convinced he was just screwing with her now.

"You're powers aren't a quirk?" Peter shook his head. "... Okay, let's say I believe you. What is it then? A mutation? A science experiment? Magic?"

"Well, maybe not magic, but I guess it kind of is the first two." Peter took a deep breath. He was this far in already, there wasn't much point in stopping now.

"When I got my powers, I had gone on a field trip with my class. We went to a research institute where the workers were researching spiders, you know, studying their abilities, their individual species', that kind of thing. I guess the short answer would be… I got bit by one and got spider powers? There's some more to it, but that's basically the simple version."

Toga didn't even last a second. She tried to keep looking at Peter with a serious expression, but when he said his powers came from a spider bite, she couldn't keep herself from laughing. The vampire girl even fell onto her back, unable to keep herself upright.

"Look, I know it sounds crazy, but just listen!" Peter quickly picked up, trying to make himself heard over Toga's raucous laughter. She obviously wasn't listening. Groaning lightly, Peter sat down next to her on the exam table and, gently grabbing her shoulders, sat her upright and looked her in the eyes with a serious expression.

"I'm serious. For once, I'm not just making a stupid joke. Please, just listen to me."

Toga continued to laugh for a few moments more. But, after getting a clear look at Peter's unusually serious expression, her laughter quickly died down. She looked back at him with a semi-serious look of her own, though there was still a smile tugging at her lips.

"... I know it makes no sense. Even I don't really get it myself. From what I understand, the scientists there were running experiments on the spiders and eventually they got around to testing the effects of radiation. The spider that bit me was already an irregularity because of its DNA structure, but when they added radiation to the mix, it got really screwed up. When it bit me, my entire body got messed with. Pieces of my DNA were altered, my muscle mass increased, and… all my symptoms were the same as yours."

Toga listened intently. The smile continued to tug at her lips as Peter told his story. The only thing keeping her from full-on laughing was the serious look on his face.

"... So, you got bit by a radioactive spider… and got superpowers?" Toga asked slowly.

"Yes. After I got bit, I went through all the same stuff you did. My head hurt like crazy, I was really hot and itchy, it was hard to even walk in a straight line, and I almost passed out a dozen times throughout the day. When I couldn't stay awake anymore, I ended up sleeping for almost 12 hours. Then, when I woke up…"

Peter's voice trailed off. He looked away slightly, prompting further confusion from Toga.

"Those… are the same symptoms, and he doesn't look like he's lying… but come on! A spider bite?! That's crazy! You… you don't just get superpowers from a spider, that's some comic book level logic. He's gotta be messing with me."

Despite her insistence that the whole thing was a poorly constructed prank, Toga couldn't help but be curious.

"... When you woke up?" Toga urged gently.

Peter returned his gaze to her face.

"R-right, sorry about that. When I woke up, I was… well, this." The young man gestured to himself, specifically his torso. "I had gone from being a skinny nerd to being super jacked. It was like I had gained 10 years worth of muscle in less than a day. I didn't even need my glasses anymore, I could hear everything going on around me, and I could swear I could see this one fly that was buzzing around my room. I felt better than I ever had, like… like I could take on the world and win."

Toga's eyes widened slightly. Random muscle appearing out of nowhere? Better hearing and vision? Unexplainable awareness?

"Now hold on! Just because that sounds familiar doesn't mean it was a spider bite! Maybe… maybe you just took his quirk when you drank his blood. Yeah, that's it! Drinking Peter's blood gave you some of his quirk. Yup. Peter's quirk. Yours. That's it, nothing else."

Though she tried to rationalize the situation in her mind, there was one thing Toga couldn't explain. Why did she get Peter's quirk, but not those of all the other people whose blood she had drank? If his powers truly did come from some kind of radioactive spider, then there could have been something special about his blood that transferred to her…

But that was crazy! Right?

"I know how I sound, but I swear I'm telling the truth. I started out as a nobody. No powers, no special abilities, nothing. Then, this happened. All of a sudden, I'm fighting criminals, stopping crime, and saving people. While all my classmates were worrying about passing their next math test, I was dressed in spandex fighting off a guy in a Rhino suit. It was just a really big mess, and-

"Dude, you're rambling again. Stay on topic."

"I don't need your input, me! Aw man, why didn't I just make up some story about how my quirk is blood related? That would have been way easier!"

Peter paused. This wasn't going anywhere. Nothing he said made his crazy story any more believable. He needed a new approach.

"... Toga, can I see your hand?"

"Hm? Sure, but why?" The blonde offered her right hand to Peter. He held it gently in his own and flipped it over to get a look at her wrist.

"I knew it."

Disrupting the pinkish-white hue of Toga's skin was a small, pure white square-shaped mass resting just above her skin like a sticker. Toga herself looked shocked by the square.

"What is that?" She asked immediately, gazing questioningly at her body's newest addition.

Peter didn't respond. Instead, he got off the table and walked behind Toga, still holding her wrist. Wordlessly, he pushed her right arm straight forward so that she was "aiming" at the wall. Before Toga could ask any questions, Peter stretched his own hand forward and firmly pressed two fingers into the skin just behind the white square. As soon as pressure was applied, a strand of webbing shot out of the square, flying straight forward until it hit the wall of the exam room, where it stuck. Toga looked fascinated, her eyes switching between the web strand and her hand, the strand still attached.

"Look familiar?"

"I-I… Uh, I don't-" Toga stuttered a bit as she tried to form a sentence. Before she could form a cohesive sentence, a series of hurried knocks came from the door, followed by a polite yet slightly frantic "May I come in?"

Acting quickly, Peter grabbed hold of the web and ripped it from the wall, shoving the strand into his pocket. As he did that, he used his other hand to tap Toga's nanobot compartment, spreading the tiny devices over her body to form the same suit she entered the hospital in.

"Y-yeah, please do." He replied.

The door was pushed open by the same doctor who had diagnosed Toga before. His face was slightly pale and a grim expression was on his face.

"We've just received your blood test results and, well… I'm afraid this is no time for bedside manner, if you know what I mean." The doctor cleared his throat, seemingly readying himself to continue. "I'm… afraid I'll have to be blunt with you. Your blood is totally irradiated. I have no idea how it could have gotten like this, but, by all logical means you shouldn't even be alive right now. I have no idea how your body is even functioning."

While Toga's eyes widened under her helmet, Peter just nodded. Under any other circumstances, he would have been freaking out, but in this case, he knew exactly what was going on. Which was why he also knew there was absolutely nothing to worry about.

"Yeah, that sounds about right." He replied casually. This only seemed to freak the doctor out even more.

"Son, do you not understand what I'm saying?" The doctor placed a hand on Peter's shoulder and led him away from Toga. "Nothing about this makes sense. There's enough radiation in her blood to kill a hundred people. Forget being alive, the fact that her body is still in perfect condition isn't just a miracle, it defies the laws of science!" The middle-aged man tried to whisper, though Peter knew Toga could hear him anyway.

"Yeah, I got it. Hey, thanks for all the help doc, really. I don't know what we would have done without you, but we've gotta go now." Peter tried to sling the man's arm off his shoulder, but the doctor only tightened his grip.

"Are you insane?! You can't just leave! If you care about your friend at all, you need to allow her to stay here!"

"I get that you're trying to help, and I appreciate it. I really do. But we need to go as soon as possible. Don't worry about her." The doctor did not look even remotely convinced. "Look, if you ran tests on me, you'd see the exact same results as hers. I've lived like this for almost a year now and I'm still fine. I can promise you that she'll be just fine."

The black-haired doctor's eyes widened and his grip on Peter loosened.

"A… a year?" His eyes darted to his clipboard, shaking in his grasp. "Impossible. Not possible, not possible, not possible."

As the man continued to mutter to himself about "possibilities" and "special quirks," Peter took Toga by the hand and slipped out of the exam room.

"Come on, let's go meet up with the others and get out of here." Toga just nodded numbly. The blood test seemed to have finally convinced her that Peter was telling the truth. She knew he was right, but the reality didn't seem to have fully sunken in yet.

"I'm… irradiated?" She muttered.

"Uh, yeah. It's kind of a part of the deal of having spider powers. I'll explain everything better later, but we need to go now."

The mission was accomplished almost perfectly. Toga was safe and sound, albeit with a few new… abilities. Everybody else had been healed and the heroes weren't currently after them. All that was left was to escape the hospital before they showed up on the news.

Peter wanted to go straight to the waiting room, but he was abruptly jerked back when Toga stopped walking.

"Right, she's as strong as me now." Peter looked back at Toga, confused.

"... So you really did get bit by a spider." She didn't sound angry, nor scared, nor surprised. Her voice was simply empty. Whether that was because she was too freaked out to convey emotion or because she simply didn't know how to feel was unclear.

"... Does that mean I'm a monster now? I mean, that's how it is in the movies. You get bit by some radioactive… thing, and then your body changes. Am I even still a human?" Toga continued blankly. Under the mask, her eyes were glazing over slightly as she spaced out, her mouth running on autopilot as she turned over thoughts in her mind.

"..."

"Ah, crap. I guess we've gotta finish this conversation now."

"I… can't answer that. I mean, I'd like to think of myself as a human, but I guess I never really thought about "what I am." I kind of just didn't let it bother me. All I was thinking about was how cool it was to have superpowers. That always kind of took priority over-... this isn't helping, is it?"

Toga mechanically shook her head.

"Oh. I… I don't know what to tell you, I really don't. I can't tell you what you are, that's for you to decide. But, if I can speak for myself here, I never once doubted what I was. The whole time I've had my powers, I can't think of a time where I didn't consider myself human. I always figured that as long as I didn't act like a monster, then I didn't have any reason to call myself one, and I think you should do the same."

Only then did Peter realize that he and Toga were still standing in the middle of the hallway. Taking hold of her hand once more, he led her to a nearby bathroom and ducked inside, locking the door behind them.

"Is this helping at all? Am I even doing anything helpful here?"

He couldn't see her face, but Peter was pretty sure she had a despondent look on her face. He wished he could relate and give some appropriate advice, but he truly didn't know what to say. There had been a couple of occasions where he had wondered what would happen if he somehow mutated into something inhuman, but he had never wondered about the humanity of his current state. Somehow, Toga being genuinely concerned about such a thing only served to make him feel awkward about how quickly he had accepted his powers.

"You're the idea man Peter. Use that big brain of yours and figure out what to say."

It took only about 10 seconds for him to come up with an idea. Slowly, gently, Peter reached out a hand and touched the nanobot compartment once again, deactivating Toga's helmet. Her eyes had gotten slightly watery.

"... My entire life, everybody always thought I was a monster. Now they're right. It's not just an opinion anymore, I really am a monster." She spoke, seemingly to herself, in a dejected tone.

Moving forward with his idea, Peter lightly cupped Toga's chin and tilted her face towards his.

"Toga, listen to me. You're not a monster. So you've got some radiation in your blood, who cares? You think that just because you've got a unique power, you're a monster? There's gotta be somebody out there with some type of radiation quirk, or people who are part animal. One of my classmates is part frog!"

"Tha-that's different. Those are quirks, this is a mutation. You said it yourself, the spider changed your entire DNA structure. This isn't some gene that was already there, just waiting to be activated, this is something totally different." Toga stubbornly disagreed.

"Well, I guess I can't argue with that." Peter conceded. "But, that doesn't really mean anything. At the end of the day, it's just another special power. Look at that mirror, what do you see?"

With a gesture to the bathroom mirror, both vampire and spider observed their reflections. They looked the same as they always had, not one single difference visible.

"Yeah, we're different from other people. Big deal. You always said that you were happy to be different, so what's changed now? As far as I'm concerned, you're still completely human, don't ever think otherwise or I'll get angry."

Toga observed herself in the mirror. Her face was the same, her eyes were the same, nothing was different. Even her fangs and slit irises were still there. Opening her mouth slightly, she rubbed one of her long fangs with a single finger. Firm as always.

"It's the same. Peter's been like this for almost a year and he's amazing. Nothing's gonna happen to me, right?" Toga's eyes switched from looking at her own reflection to Peter's. He had a kind smile, just like always, and comforting eyes, just like always.

"I don't really get what you're panicking so much over. I mean, you were already technically a mutant, so this seems pretty irrelevant, honestly."

"...Shut up, me. Why are you only smart after I freak myself out?" Toga pressed a hand to her forehead in an annoyed motion. She wasn't completely calm just yet, but if nothing else, she felt better. Plus, there was one particular thought in her mind that helped a lot.

"Everyone else either has a quirk or they're quirkless, but I've got a totally independent 'superpower.' And there's only one other person in the world like that." Despite herself, Toga's mouth stretched into a wide smile. "I'm the only one like him. Nobody else. We're two of a kind."

Seeing she felt better, Peter decided to use the opportunity to mess with Toga a little.

"You know, you've got the exact same condition as me. If you're a monster, then what am I? Wow, I'm hurt Toga. Really, that hurts." Peter stated dramatically, a hand pressed to his heart.

Toga's smile fell away, replaced by a panicking expression.

"W-wait, no! I didn't mean it like that! I was just-" Just like that, her hurried explanation was cut short when Peter began to laugh. "Oh, haha, very funny." Annoyed, Toga lightly punched the young man in the arm.

"Ow!" Peter clutched his shoulder, rubbing the spot where Toga hit him. The vampire girl herself took a glance at her hand, then sent an apologetic look at Peter.

"Oh, right. I guess I'm pretty strong now, huh?"

"... More than you know." Slinging a single arm over her shoulder, Peter pulled her into a sideways hug, his eyes directed once more at the mirror. It was a bit of a funny image, seeing as the top of Toga's head only came up to about his chin. Puffing her cheeks in slight embarrassment, she tried standing on the tips of her toes, though that only added a few inches, so she gave up. Peter couldn't help but smirk a little.

"If you ever start thinking like that, just remember that you and I are the same. We'll be weirdos together."

Toga just laughed at him. "Only you would think calling somebody a weirdo is comforting. Nice pep talk, Peter. And, uh…"

Standing on her toes once more, Toga turned her head to the side and planted a quick kiss on his cheek.

"Thanks. For… for everything." Not wanting to break apart just yet, Toga wrapped one arm of her own around Peter, holding him tightly. The two of them remained like that for a bit, simply holding each other in silence...

Silence that was soon interrupted by a *Knock, knock*

"Hey, is anybody in there? All the other bathrooms are occupied."

Startled by the sudden knock, Toga jerked her arm away from Peter. Instead of simply removing her arm, though, a loud ripping noise accompanied the jerking motion of her arm. A large piece of Peter's shirt had been torn off, revealing his lower back, and was now stuck to her hand. Peter, for his part, didn't really seem to care, instead focusing on Toga's hand.

"Oh, you've… already got those. Uh, we'll deal with that later." Pressing her nanobot compartment one last time, the two of them left the bathroom, the women who had been waiting on them shaking in head, muttering "Damn horny teenagers" as they walked by.

The Waiting Room:

Dabi perked up, noticing that the door to the waiting room had been pushed open. Through the open doorway, he saw Peter and Toga.

"Jeez, it took you guys long enough! We've been waiting for almost 30 minutes." Kaminari complained.

"Sorry man, blood test took a little longer than I thought it would.

As everybody greeted the two, minus Stain of course, Dabi watched with a critical look. There hadn't been any time to talk during the fight with All Might, and it would have been stupid to delay the trip to the hospital over this, but now seemed as good an opportunity as any.

"Before we fought, that jolly blonde jackass said something. It might have just been to screw with us, but it was way too specific to just be some random jab."

This whole time, all of Peter's classmates, along with Twice, had been having random conversations with each other. That one kid, Iido or whatever, had been off by himself thinking about whatever the fuck nerdy high school kids think about, and Stain had been brooding by himself as always. That left Dabi to himself, turning over what he had heard over and over again.

"Need I remind you that you do not belong here!? You came to our world, became a part of our society… why do you have the right to change our world so it suits you?"

That massive idiot knew something about Peter, something he didn't. Dabi's first semi-rational thought had been that All Might was secretly a racist and he was pissed off because Peter was an American, hence the "other world" jab. But that wouldn't make any sense. Not only had the guy willingly spent years in that shithole of a country, but who the hell referred to other countries as "worlds?"

No, there was definitely something more there.

As the others greeted Peter, Dabi finally stood up and walked over to him.

"Oh, hey Dabi. Did they fix you up alright?" Peter inquired in a friendly tone.

The scarred man lashed a hand forward, grabbing Peter by the shirt collar and pulling him closer.

"Whoa!"

"Hey, what're you doing dude?"

"Let him go!"

Dabi ignored the little brats who were screaming at him, focusing only on Peter.

"You know, you always seemed like the perfect guy. You showed up out of nowhere and helped the scum of the Earth when nobody else would, like some type of guardian angel. When we needed allies, you showed up. When we needed help with the heroes, you showed up. When we needed something real to follow and not just some pathetic man-child, you were there. Most people would consider that too good to be true."

Dabi fiddled with his free hand, carelessly creating a few stray blue embers between his fingers.

"And then, that douchebag All Might said something pretty interesting. I gotta wonder, why oh why would anybody say that you're from a different world? I mean, you're from here, right? That's what you said, isn't it?" Dabi's tone was extremely sarcastic, even by his standards.

"So now I'm thinking, there's gotta be a lot you've never told us. There are plenty of things I've always wondered about, stuff that still doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Now, I'm only gonna ask you this once"

Instead of embers, Dabi formed an entire fireball in his palm.

"Who the hell are you?"

Everybody present shot Peter a confused look. Though his face wasn't visible, Stain too had an inquisitive look on his face. He had also noticed All Might's "unique" word choice, and, like Dabi, he had been waiting for the proper time to mention it.

For his part, Peter made no effort to free himself from Dabi's grasp. His fireball was hidden by the group standing around the two of them, and starting a fight would only draw attention to them.

"Man, I just got finished with one crazy explanation. I've gotta do another one already?"

Peter had planned to tell them eventually, he just didn't exactly know how. Like the story of how he received his powers, it just didn't seem likely that they would believe him.

Thinking for a minute, Peter opened his mouth to speak, but stopped when he noticed something on the waiting room TV.

"... Guys… look over there." Raising a hand, the young hero pointed a finger at the large monitor.

"Breaking News! It's a shocking day for the world. Earlier today, a large-scale raid was made on a known villain base, thought to be the headquarters of the self-proclaimed League of Villains. The raid itself was unsuccessful, but reports from heroes who took part in the raid reveal shocking news. The known vigilante Spider-Man, thought to have become a student at UA High, was seen actively fighting against the heroes! We have reached out to the principal of UA High, but he refused to comment. Furthermore, eyewitnesses saw Spider-Man fleeing with the League of Villains and several other students of UA High, before being confronted by All Might. However, he seems to have also been unsuccessful in detaining them. Their current whereabouts are unknown. If you see any of these people, report them to the nearest hero immediately."

The news reported ended their segment, followed by them being replaced on screen by several low-quality images, likely taken on a phone, of Peter, Midoriya, Kirishima, Kaminari, Iida, and Todoroki.

Everybody in the lobby froze. Not a single person there was unable to keep themselves from breaking out in a cold sweat. Slowly, Peter twisted his neck to the reception desk. All the receptionists there were staring, wide-eyed at the group. A gang of teenagers that had just walked into the waiting room likewise had shocked expressions and wide eyes.

"... Talk about this later?" Peter asked nervously.

" The fuck do you think?!" Dabi dropped Peter and immediately booked it toward the door. The group of teenagers ducked out of the way, allowing him to pass. He was followed closely by the others. Though they were already out of the way, Twice unnecessarily went out of his way to push every one of the teenagers away from him, delaying him by several seconds.

"OUT 'A THE WAY! I'M WALKING HERE! NO TIME TO STOP!" HE shouted as he pushed them away.

"How many goddamn hospitals am I going to have to escape today?" Todoroki muttered in exasperation.

Unknown Location:

A massive man rested in a dark room. Countless machines were hooked up to him, nearly a dozen different monitors displaying his vital signs. He watched the latest news report with great interest.

"So, the Spider-Man is not the savior he seems." The eyeless man grinned wickedly. "What an interesting development."

Outside a Random TV Store:

"- Report them to the nearest hero immediately."

A small crowd had huddled around a TV store window to observe the news report.

"He's a villain?"

"I thought he changed."
"What do you expect? I knew it was only a matter of time before that scum went back to his old ways."

Amid the crowd of bustling civilians, 3 hooded figures observed the images on screen carefully.

"What the fuck happened back at base?"

"Man, and I was having such a good day too."

"In any case, I do believe our break time is over. We should return with all haste."

The 3 figures slipped away from the TV store, unnoticed by any of the civilians.

Well, like I said at the start, I wrote this chapter all at once, in like, 6 hours, so I apologize if the quality is a bit off.

Rewrites should be done pretty soon, then I'll be able to update a little more often.

Until then, thanks for reading and remember to leave a review.

Aren signing off.