14,000,606 Outcomes

by GenericUsername3846

A future Doctor Strange didn't foresee. This is yet another story of Peter going to the world of My Hero Academia, with a few twists of my own. Lots of ups and downs, surprises, and changes to the story. Slight OOC for a lot of characters. "Slightly" OP Peter. Rated T for blood and lots of swearing. Sorry, but I like swearing. Early chapters will be rewritten someday.

54. Shifting Tides

I have been informed that you do not, in fact, heat up tuna, and are actually supposed to eat it cold. In my defense, the only time I ever eat tuna is when my grandpa makes it, and that man is so against wasting food, he will eat moldy strawberries out of the trash can. True story, my mom threw them out because they all had white fuzz on them. She came downstairs 5 minutes later and found my grandpa casually eating them with a cup of tea. He then proceeded to yell at her for wasting food. He always heats his tuna up, so that's my only experience with the stuff. Maybe that's why I hate it so much unless it's a tuna sandwich. Whatever, that's not important.

I've officially decide that this weekly schedule I keep trying to confine myself to is bullshit, and how it took me this long to notice, I don't know.

As I'm sure all of you noticed, the last chapter was way, way longer than any other chapter in this entire story. The reason for that is pretty simple. I tried.

I think the main reason the earliest chapters of this story are absolute dumpster fires is because I prioritized efficiency over quality. I promised to drop a chapter every week, and barely put any thought into what I was writing. The fact that I've sort of managed to make it connect is all just a coincidence. I didn't give class 1A nanosuits in the beginning just so Midoriya could use his to track down Peter and so they could hide their identities at the hospital, that was just me getting lucky and realizing my dumbass decision could be used in those parts of the story. It wasn't some pre-planned event, I just lucked out.

And so, I've decided there won't be a schedule anymore, at all. I want to move away from the garbage quality of my earliest chapters so badly, and the first step has to be me taking the time to make sure all my chapters are of good length, good quality, and actually work towards something, instead of just writing whatever I think of in the moment. Chapters like the last one.

I know the wait can be kind of frustrating, and I really am sorry about that, but I believe it's necessary to move on and bring this story from "just okay" to something really good, a story that stands out for being quality and not just another Spider-Man x MHA story.

Well, I guess this chapter will have to be an exception. Given the nature of what kind of has to happen, it's not exactly easy to make what will pretty much just be a lot of talking exciting. But my point stands.

Basically, what I'm saying is, I'd rather drop a bomb every now and then instead of dropping a mid chapter every week. I'm doing my best to keep the wait time down as I make sure these chapters are as good as they can be. I can't thank you all enough for being patient with me.

Anyway, it's time we finally put this section of the story to bed. After this, it'll be time to truly move on to something new.

Let's go.

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"Who are you?"

Peter stared over the fire at Dabi. The scarred man's eyes were narrowed, his lips set in a soft frown. He was tired of waiting for an answer to the question that had plagued him for far too long.

Toga, who was still leaning into Peter's chest, glared at her companion. She didn't appreciate how hostile he was being over something irrelevant. Why did it matter where Peter came from? Was "America" not a good enough answer?

"How… am I supposed to say I came from another world without sounding insane? If he thinks I'm just messing around, it might just make him angrier. There's no good way to…"

Just then, as Peter desperately searched for an answer, something struck him. He'd been in this situation before, many times, but those instances had been akin to playing on easy mode. He hadn't had any problems explaining to others that he had spontaneously crossed the dimensional barrier because it was made far easier by the fact he was talking to another version of himself. It had to be much easier to accept such a crazy reality when speaking with another you. Trying to convince completely different people of the same thing had to be the hard mode of explaining dimensional travel.

Even still, was there something he could use? Usually his reasons for dimension-hopping involved chasing a criminal, so it was even easier to convince alternate versions of himself he was the real deal once they noticed the giant monster tearing up their world. This, though, was different. He had no such conveniences.

Like it or not, stumbling through it all was the only option.

"... Can I just ask… that you'll take me seriously?"

Dabi raised an eyebrow at the strange question.

"... Sure, why not?" Tone filled with dry humor, he complied.

Somehow, the incessant sound of rain beating on the rusty metal of the warehouse made Peter feel even more uncomfortable about all of this. He knew it wasn't just Dabi. Todoroki, Iida, and Stain were also burning holes into his head with their expectant gazes. Compress, Magne, and Kirishima still seemed confused, and Midoriya and Kaminari just looked nervous, like they were expecting a fight. Twice apparently didn't care, because he had wandered off to another corner of the warehouse.

"U-um, is this really something we should be arguing about right now?" Midoriya shyly inserted himself into the conversation, hoping to defuse it. "Shouldn't our biggest focus right now be-"

"Shut up, kid." Dabi coldly destroyed the peacemaking attempt, not taking his eyes off Peter. The victim of his glare just flashed a smile at Midroya, wordlessly telling him it was fine.

"Thanks man, but it probably is better to just get this out of the way. But, I still can't figure out how to explain all this. Forget it, there is no good way, so let's just dive in."

Gently pushing Toga away from him, Peter rose to his feet and cleared his throat. He wasn't comfortable with this. Regardless, the sooner the secret came out, the better.

"..."

… The… secret?

"Where I come from, hero licenses aren't a thing. But there also aren't 'Quirks', or whatever you call them. It's a society of normal people."

"A few members of our hero team were totally powerless and were still hailed as heroes."

"We didn't have hero licenses, we didn't get paid to help people… We could do things other people couldn't and we used our gifts to help them."

… Secret…

Yeah, right. What secret?

Hadn't he been telling the truth right from the start? Hadn't he avoided keeping secrets right from the start? In a world like this one, it would have been incredibly easy to fact-check everything he said down to the letter.

He had given an exact date for his arrival in Japan, and they knew his face. It may have taken a while, but if the government was so desperate for an answer, they could have found it by combing through enough airport security footage.

No hero licenses? Quirkless society? Powerless heroes? Those would have been even easier to confirm as true or false. This world was aware of a single, obvious truth, and that was that there simply weren't enough quirkless people concentrated in one place for there to be an entire, isolated society of powerless people. The fact nobody had called him insane yet was, frankly, astounding.

And so… what "secret"? The entire world bore witness to his insane ramblings. Perhaps elaboration was long overdue. It wasn't as if he hadn't already run through all of this once before.

Now that he thought about it, why the hell had Nezu and the others actually believed him? At the time, he hadn't thought about whether or not he would be believed, he was only concerned with spilling out everything before his past experiences crushed him. The fact they hadn't shipped him off to a mental asylum right there… surely, they had to be desperate for answers and merely accepted the first one that was given out of nothing but impatience. There was no other explanation.

"... I'm not from here. I'm from far away. Like, really, really far away. Or, I guess I could only be from a few millimeters away, depending on your perspective on dimensional barriers." Peter unsteadily began his explanation, hoping he would do a good job breaking everything down. "I'm not just from across the ocean, it's more like… I'm from across a couple billion oceans."

Naturally, nobody had any idea what he was talking about. The vague explanation did not stir anything inside any of them, nor did it make anything click.

"What?" With gritted teeth, Dabi forced the word out, clearly forcing himself to not sound angry.

"Sorry, that doesn't make much sense, does it?" Well, it's more like… I kind of… hergh, screw it. Guys, I'm from another dimension."

Groaning in defeat, Peter physically deflated after blurting out his answer.

"..."

"..."

"..."

The silence was to be expected. Even if it was the truth, that didn't mean it made any sense at all. Peter totally expected silence to be the only response he would receive, but still, somehow, it hurt. The lack of voices made him feel pressured. Unconsciously, he began shrinking in on himself, refusing to look up to see any of the eyes he knew were boring holes into him.

"That was the worst explanation ever, of all time." It was difficult to suppress the urge to drag a hand down his face.

"... Did you get into Handjob's stash before you blew up the bar?" When the silence was at last broken by none other than Magne, the question she chose to ask managed to deal more damage than the silence. The thoroughly unimpressed, disappointed tone she used only made it hurt more, like an exasperated girl lecturing her younger sibling.

"Another dimension, is it? You always come up with the most intriguing stories, Peter. As a humble performer, I tip my hat to you. As a tired, curious companion, I cannot help but sigh." True to his word, Compress did, indeed, heave a deep sigh. He, too, sounded immensely disappointed.

"I know, okay!?" Suddenly feeling defensive, Peter accidentally raised his voice a bit and waved his hands all over. "Just give me a second, I'll… I'll make it make sense, I promise!"

"And how do you plan on doing that?"

It was a terrific question. The only thing he really had that could pass as evidence were the recordings stored in the Iron Spiders, which were gone. The original was still back at UA, and Spinner had seemingly lost the new one. Whatever Spinner had done with it, the beautiful suit wasn't likely to be found anytime soon. And, with its disappearance, so, to, did all of the displaced young man's evidence go down the drain. Even if he had Karen's data backed up on a drive within the newest suit, she couldn't actually pull up the data with the less advanced suit's technological capabilities. All she could do was speak up in his favor, but there was no way anybody would take a witness seriously when they were literally programmed to support the defendant.

He could see the displeasure in their eyes, all of them. Even the ones who didn't seem to care at all before had a troubled look to them. The problem was not that the statement was so unbelievably absurd, no, it was much more simple.

He was lying.

Well, no, he wasn't lying, but they had no way of knowing that. How gullible did a person have to be to just take somebody at face value after they proclaimed themselves a dimension-hopper?

And so, under the assumption that Peter simply did not want them to know his true origin point for some unknown reason, eyes began to narrow. Dabi was gritting his teeth hard enough for a cracking sound to be audible, Stain was palming the hilt to his last remaining knife, and even his classmates looked mildly troubled by the omission of truth.

Not even Toga could keep the conflicted emotions from showing on her face.

Even the ones who didn't care before were starting to feel ever-so-slightly suspicious. How else were they supposed to feel when their companion was acting so shady?

"Damn it, you're losing them. You better find a way out of this fast! Something, anything, it doesn't matter what, just give them some kind of explanation! Physical evidence, a phone call, anything at all as long as it-!"

Apparently, Peter had raised his arms and held them beside his face. So caught up in his thoughts he hadn't even noticed, he now dropped them down to his sides. A look of realization dawned on him. He felt… relief.

It was weak.

It was flimsy.

But he had a chance. One, singular card to play, about as valuable as the Joker. It could be the most useless thing in the world, or it could win the entire game instantly.

It all depended on how the others reacted.

Really, hadn't he told the truth right from the start?

"... Do you guys remember the first day of school?" The odd question was directed specifically at the ex-UA students, who all looked unsure. "Mr. Aizawa knew none of you would focus, so he told everybody to ask me a question before he got started. I think… that's right, Midoriya, you were the one who asked me about what I said in the news report, about being friends with Quirkless heroes. I told you all about my teammates. Remember them?"

The freckled boy wracked his brain for a moment, then, he, too, gained a look of realization.

"Black Widow, Hawkeye… and Ant Man. I… I stayed up all night trying to find information on them. I looked through old news reports, checked history textbooks, and even looked through every annual American Hero Registry published in the last fifty years."

Midoriya sounded strangely lost, almost as if he was in a trance. Sharing the information seemed to have an effect on him. His mind was turning over possibilities, considering the point Peter was trying to make, whatever that was.

And when he understood at last, he understood why his friend had started to smile for seemingly no reason.

"And?" Peter urged gently, still smiling.

"... Nothing. I tried for another week, but I didn't find a single thing. No news articles, no registered identities… no anything about Quirkless heroes, never mind anybody with the names you mentioned." Midoriya admitted shamefully that his search had failed. For a person who prided himself on being able to learn anything and everything there was to know about heroes, that fact that there were at least 3 incredible people he hadn't been able to find a scrap of info on made him feel a strange emotion he couldn't quite place. He only knew he didn't like it.

"I see. And, did any of you think I was lying back then?"

It was the others' turn to think. Todoroki thought back, Kirishima pondered, Kaminari used both hands to scratch his head, and Iida raised a hand to his chin in thought.

"... I cannot recall doubting your words." The first response came from the bespectacled teen.

"I dunno, it sounded pretty legit coming from you." Kaminari shrugged.

"I didn't have any reason to doubt my bro." Kirishima nodded confidently.

"... No." Todoroki grunted curtly.

"That's what I thought." Peter breathed deeply, not hiding how relieved he felt. He wasn't done yet, though. His case was not complete.

"And what about you guys? You remember the first day I came to your hideout? What about all the days after that, when I told you my stories? How about Flint Marko?"

The ex-villains had not expected to be pulled into their leader's pointless questioning. It still was not clear to them what this had to do with anything, but they still complied and dug through their memories.

"Sandman, right? The guy who turned into sand and died saving people?" Magne tilted her head thoughtfully. She received a thumbs up in response.

"Perfect answer!" Peter said with far too much enthusiasm. He was cooking now, and had no plans to halt his momentum. "You tried to find out about him, right? After everything I said, there's no way none of you tried to learn anything about him, or the other people I told you about. So, what'd you find?"

The final question was thrown in as if Peter already knew the answer to his first question. The discussion was going exactly where he wanted it too. Now was the time to capitalize.

"I do remember Shigaraki telling us to confirm what you said." Spinner raised a hand, pulling the room's attention to himself. "We couldn't find a thing. No matter how many internet searches and back-alley information deals we made, we couldn't find a single thing on anybody you mentioned. At the time, I just assumed there was an information wall between us and America, or that there were just some things the heroes over there didn't want to be made internationally available information."

"Awesome! And what about-"

"Will you shut up!?" The tiny fire suddenly turned blue and burst slightly, once again creating a small spray of flames that forced those gathered around it to lean back. A purple hand pulled away and was shoved inside a jacket pocket, its owner looking incredibly cross.

"I've had enough. Stop trying to deflect our attention with this pointless shit. I asked you a question, and I want an answer. Right. Now." Dabi glowered venomously at Peter. If that same look was directed at a child, they would probably burst into tears immediately.

And yet, Peter was still smiling.

"Dabi, that's exactly it. Don't you get it? I already answered your question. Now, I'm just proving it."

Confused, Dabi squinted a bit. Then, his eyes opened all the way, and a familiar cracking noise filled the warehouse as he grit his teeth again.

"You're still sticking with that other-dimension bullshit!? Do you want to die!?" Dabi jumped to his feet and shoved a hand into Peter's face, the palm glowing blue.

Still, Peter was smiling.

"Heroes that don't exist, criminals that never made headlines, disasters that never happened, people that were never born… don't you get it, Dabi? They're my people, my disasters, from my world."

"Bullshit." The burning man's hand glowed even brighter, a few blue sparks spraying out from it. That was enough to send some of the others over the edge.

Magne walked over and dropped a hand onto Dabi's shoulder, glaring at him pointedly. Kirishima and Midoriya activated their quirks and stood on either side of him, both grabbing onto the arm pointed at Peter. Toga, too, acted, and stood beside Peter, pointing a knife at Dabi. It was clenched so tightly in her grip, the handle was audibly bending.

Nobody actually pulled him away, they merely stood there.

"What the hell are you so worked up about? Do you need a nap?" Magne grunted tiredly like she was scolding a child.

"Idiots. It's such a simple question, 'where are you from'. So why can't he answer? What is he hiding? What doesn't he want us to know?" Dabi was not deterred in the slightest, despite Peter's numerous allies ready to jump in at a moment's notice.

"Proving it? You haven't proven a damn thing. How do I know you haven't been lying this whole time? Any half-decent liar knows that if they want to play the long game, they set up traps well in advance. I don't care if you dreamed up a few heroes and a couple dozen stories, none of that means anything."

At last, Peter's smile slipped away, replaced by a pained frown.

Naturally, he had considered that. It was the one, glaring weakness in the 'evidence' he provided. None of it could actually be confirmed.

So, he had only one thing to rely on.

"But why would I?" The brief question was thrown out with so much confidence, it actually caught Dabi off guard. The flame in his hand flickered out for a moment, only to quickly return and bathe Peter's face in blue light once more. It was close enough to make his face feel hot, but not quite close enough to make him sweat.

"What?"

"Why would I make them up? What did I gain from it? Back then, when I came to this country, what was the point of lying about all that? I was already public enemy number one, people already hated me, so what would it change if I said there were other people like me? That would just give everybody more people to hate. I was the only one actually there, so it's not like all that anger wouldn't be directed at me, anyway." Peter did not waver, staying as calm as possible and not budging an inch during his entire explanation. None of the others moved either, all firmly grasping Dabi and, in Toga's case, keeping her knife leveled at him.

"That doesn't prove-"

"What was the point!?" Still with a straight face, Peter raised his voice, forcing Dabi to be silent. "What was the point of 'lying' to my classmates, when they could all easily learn the heroes I told them about weren't real? What was the point of telling you guys all my stories, when it wouldn't even take ten minutes to find out they never happened? Where did all those 'lies' get me, Dabi? What benefits did I earn? Last I checked, we're all stuck in this warehouse together, with nobody to rely on but each other. So, what was the point?"

Dabi faltered. His fingers closed slightly, dipping into the fire pooling in the palm of his hand only a second before it went out entirely. Something about this situation was seriously throwing him off.

"Damn it, what… the hell!? None of it makes sense, so why… why…!?"

He hated this. Not a single thing about Peter ever made a single bit of sense. His caring attitude for scum-of-the-Earth like him, his unwillingness to abandon any of them, his mysterious origin, not one bit of it passed the rational thought test.

And those mysterious origins were what he hated the most.

He hadn't questioned it. The scarred man was lost in the positives. A powerful ally who had the same dreams, who supported him and the others, who didn't back out to protect his own reputation. There was so much good news, he had intentionally phased out the bad, the unknown.

Where did Peter really come from? Why did he refuse to share the information? Countless stories about catching criminals and pulling cats out of trees, and still, the boy barely ever shared anything about himself, personally. There were questions that had no answers, and Dabi could do nothing but seethe until he had enough and finally demanded those answers be given to him.

So why… even though none of it made sense… was he starting to accept the worst answer in history? There were so many holes in the lackluster explanation, it could put Swiss Cheese to shame.

Honestly, it was all so inane. In the first place, how did a random kid literally fall out of the sky and into…

… Fall… out of... the sky…

"... Let's say I believe you, and your story of being from another dimension. How did you get here?" Surprisingly, Dabi actually forced out the question meant to serve as a ruefully extended olive branch. His hand remained outstretched, but he did not spark up more flames.

The surprise was felt, not by Peter, but by those protecting him. Magne, not at all prepared for her seething companion to suddenly ask such a question, unconsciously loosened her grip on his shoulder. Midoriya and Kirishima's hands likewise slipped off his arm, uncertainty written on their faces. As for Toga, only she completely dropped her guard and lowered the knife in her grasp.

It was an inexplicable feeling that led her to do so. For some reason even she couldn't place, she no longer felt the need to point a blade at the scarred man.

"... Do you want the short version, or the long version?" Peter was met only with silence, so he silently decided to go with the short version. "A big purple alien named Thanos was going around the universe collecting these magic rocks so he could erase half of all life. We ended up going to space and I died on Thanos' planet, but then I came back to life and this wizard guy told me five years had passed, so he portaled us back to Earth, where this crazy battle was going on. At the end of it, I managed to get the stones away and use them to put everything back where it was supposed to be, but… I died again. I think. Next thing I know, I'm hurtling out of the atmosphere into the middle of Musutafu. That's about it. Any questions?"

Despite himself, Peter couldn't help but try to inject a touch of humor into his story.

Now, there was only one reason nobody said anything. It was quite simple really. Not one person in that condemned warehouse had a single clue how they were meant to respond.

"..."

"..."

"... So, you came back to life twice?" Spinner, seated behind Dabi, leaned around the man without standing up and looked Peter in the eyes while asking his question. He didn't even sound like he fully understood what he was asking, as if it was a pre-programmed phrase his mind wasn't ready to put into words.

"That's your first question!?" Kaminari immediately reprimanded the lizard man, sounding more lost than ever. "You fought an alien!? You went to space!? Wiping out half of all life!? Dude, what was your life!?"

The sentiment was mirrored by the others, suddenly finding their voices and making puzzled, frantic inquiries in the hopes of understanding the bizarre story.

Understanding.

The first thing Peter noticed, the first thing his mind processed, was not that the others were asking questions.

It was that they weren't calling him a liar.

In fact, that was what had shocked them the most as well. The strange boy had somehow managed to make an already crazy even more complicated and unbelievable. And yet, what they were questioning was not the sensibility of the story, but instead, what they wanted were more details.

It wasn't that the ridiculous concepts suddenly clicked in their minds in a way that left them unable to question the logic. No, it was far more simple than that, a very basic reaction that had caused them to go without questioning the logic of the similarly insane claims that had been made ever since the alleged dimension-hopper's arrival.

Peter… sounded absolutely, 100% confident. He did not waver, he did not stumble over his words, he did not pause to correct himself or think what to say next. Every word was clearly enunciated with an uncharacteristic amount of seriousness. More than that, it all rested on something else. Nobody would believe an insane man's ramblings just because he spoke confidently. If that were the case, every drug-addicted homeless man ranting about the deep state would never be questioned by anybody. Confidence was not the entire structure, it was merely the support. The frame was composed of something far more simple.

They believed his words, back then.

When the nonexistent heroes were shared with the class, even the ones who had done the research and found nothing did not rush to call Peter a liar. Instead, they made excuses for him.

"I... probably just didn't try hard enough."

"Maybe the Americans put a block on the information."

"I bet it's just my fault I couldn't find anything."

The same applied to the ex-villains, who made their own excuses for the lack of information they found on any of the people in Peter's stories.

Excuses, excuses that they never shared with the man himself.

They formed their own jumps in logic to justify the truths they had been told, without ever simply going to the one who told them such things and calling him on his "lies".

They had never even noticed, but nobody in the room had ever actually questioned anything the friendly boy had told them. Not once, not ever, for any longer than a few seconds, until today, when one man decided he'd had enough.

What… was that? Why? Why had they not questioned any of it? Anybody could lie with confidence, even a child could dream up imaginary heroes and wild tales and tell their parents all about them with the utmost confidence.

So why? What made Peter special? What cosmic entity intervened and screwed with their minds so they would unreasonably, unconditionally...

"... Oh, I see. I… he's somebody I felt I could…"

"..."

A purple hand slowly fell to its owner's side lifelessly, thumping quietly against a covered thigh. Dead eyes that had followed said hand traveled upwards until they were pointed directly at the young man before them.

"... I never have, and never will lie to you, Dabi." Peter spoke with conviction, clenching his hands into fists without noticing. "I never meant to keep anything from you, I just didn't know how to explain it all. I had no idea how I was supposed to tell you all that I came from another world without you thinking I was crazy. I really am so sorry that it took this long to tell you all."

Dabi's tired eyes drifted away from Peter. He had no words left. All his anger was gone, all his curiosity sated. He no longer cared that none of it made sense, nor did he care that the presumed "short version" had yet to be explained properly. He felt weird. Tired, uneasy, and… sad? Why? For what?

"... I'm sorry." The words slipped out in an unsteady manner, such that it was almost difficult to understand them, as if their speaker's mouth had grown numb.

Wordlessly, Dabi shook off Magne's hand and pulled his arm away from the UA students guarding it, then took his seat at the fireplace beside Stain. The Hero Killer had not said one word this entire time, and now was no exception. The man had also turned away from Peter and was staring into the fire, clearly thinking about something.

"..."

It was uncomfortable. As far as Peter could tell, he had been believed and the situation was defused. So then, why did the air still feel so heavy and oppressive? What was wrong? His skin felt itchy, and there were beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead.

The rapid-fire questions had stopped, and everybody except the two men at the fireside were looking right at him. He had no idea what they wanted. The questions had stopped, so what were they waiting for? Was he supposed to talk on his own? About what?

All of this was giving him an unreasonable amount of anxiety.

He almost wished somebody would call him a liar again so he could go back to defending himself. Having such a clear goal to focus on made him feel less uncomfortable.

The UA students remained close by, whispering to each other quietly enough that even Peter could not understand them. Magne remained standing with her arms crossed, seemingly waiting for something. The warehouse had once again fallen into a relative silence with the only sound coming from outside, courtesy of the torrential rain beating down on the world. Dabi alone looked completely despondent, as if he thought he had made a terrible mistake.

"Forget it. If they're all waiting for me, then I'll just pick a topic and roll with it."

Nodding to himself, Peter opened his mouth, already having selected what he wanted to talk about.

"Your world…" A gravelly voice cut him off before he could even begin. Turning his eyes to a figure at the fireside, he found the Hero Killer, still staring into the small blaze, had finally spoken up. "... is it a nice place?"

Peter didn't understand any of this. He did not know why everybody believed him so easily. He did not know why the air continued to feel so heavy. He did not know why Dabi looked so… lost.

So, in the face of a storm of swirling, uncertain variables, he latched onto the one thing he could say with confidence with a smile.

"It's beautiful. It… isn't perfect, like any world, but I still love it. The places I've been, the friends I've made, the people I've helped, all of it. It has its own problems, its own issues that even I don't know how to solve… but it's my home, and I love it more than anything."

"..."

Stain regarded Peter cautiously, looking him up and down as if searching for something. Evidently, he found it, grunting in something akin to satisfaction before at last resting his gaze on the boy's eyes.

"I see. Well then, this is quite an interesting situation. A visitor from another world, hmm? I never thought such a thing could be real."

Even Stain, the king of paranoia and overthinking, was not arguing. What was going on!? It was seriously starting to freak Peter out. Why did nobody question what he had said in the slightest!?

"Are there a lot of other cool heroes there!?" Midoriya shyly raised a hand and clicked a pen with barely contained excitement. He had raided the two useless crates for the packets of paper and pens within, ready to scribble down notes on all the incredible people he could only hope to meet.

"Have you been to other dimensions before!?" Beside the freckled boy, Kaminari, too, was possessed with excitement. It seemed Stain's sudden question had inspired the others to resume asking their own questions, excitedly scrambling for answers to their own personal inquiries.

"I noticed you mentioned a wizard gentleman."

"Were there other people with powers like yours!?"

"Do you have a plan to get back?"

"What's the food over there like!?"

Indeed, there was not one person in the room who questioned what they were told. They had no desire to challenge the truth behind the story. No, their desires rested squarely in the realm of elaboration. They did not wish to disprove the tale, they only wanted to get past the prologue and read the rest of it. Even Todoroki had cracked the tiniest ghost of a smile and raised a hand to ask his own questions.

It made no sense, and yet it made perfect sense. It wasn't that Peter was complaining, he just couldn't understand why he was believed so easily.

He had not answered any of the questions yet. His eyes darted around rapidly, searching for a clue to this strange situation he found himself in. When it became clear there was nothing to be found except for more questions from within and without, those eyes settled on the only person who had not asked anything yet.

Toga, standing a few feet to his left, waited patiently with her arms crossed behind her back, knife dangling from between her fingers. Speaking bluntly, she looked awful. Sweat and grime covered her face, dust coated her clothes, and the dark circles under her eyes were more pronounced than usual.

But, despite how objectively bad she looked, when her lips split open and turned upwards into a bright smile that revealed her fangs, the vampire girl looked so unnaturally beautiful.

"Do the people in your world appreciate you?"

She, too, did not question it.

It was so simple, a genius of Peter's caliber failed to consider the most obvious, plain-to-see explanation for all of this, until that moment. Impossibly, thoughts that did not belong to him filled his mind, as if he was peering into the psyches of his companions.

"You took care of us when we needed you."

"You helped us when we didn't know what to do."

"You gave us a home when we had nothing."

"You showed us what was wrong with our world."

"You… saved us."

They believed him because they trusted him.

The blindingly heroic boy did not truly understand just how important he was to those around him. He had never considered just how much he mattered to them, how much they cared for him, for his thoughts, for his feelings.

They listened… because they cared about him, and could not find one reason to doubt what the boy who had been there for all of them right from the very start told them.

Naivety was irrelevant. When there came a day that they could not believe Peter, the world itself may as well have been over.

"... Sorry, can you go back?" At some point, Peter had cracked a smile. He didn't notice until he pressed a hand to his face and felt his lips turned upwards. "I think I missed a few questions."

"Sure, kid. But remember, I'm looking for some answers of my own." Magne returned the smile, pressing a hand down on his dusty hair and rustling it around in a true sisterly act.

"No problem. I'll answer them all. I promise." The homeless hero chuckled lightly, gently pushing the hand off of him with feigned annoyance.

Two Hours Later:

It had been… strange, going over everything that led to this moment. Sure, actually being believed in the first place made it objectively easy, but that didn't mean Peter didn't feel like an idiot as he tried to explain to his friends that he died twice fighting over magical space rocks with space Grimace alongside a wizard, a talking raccoon, and a lady riding a pegasus.

He honestly didn't know if it made him feel better or worse that nobody questioned him as he recounted his final adventure in his home dimension. Still, it felt good. Insanity and slight trauma aside, it was difficult to pretend it wasn't the single most awesome thing to ever happen to him. To finally be able to sit down and tell the story of the craziest battle in history, a battle he was there for, felt pretty cool. Sue the man for getting a little too excited and going into far too much detail. Not that the others were complaining, considering they all raised their hands to ask questions and hungrily ate up all the information they were being fed. Even Stain couldn't hide his curiosity.

But that was irrelevant. Now that the long story was told, and all the many, many questions had been answered, there was still one more… issue… that had to be shared.

Toga.

When the final question had been asked and Midoriya had long since filled over fifty sheets of paper with notes and drawings, there was a new silence hanging over the room. Silence that was taken advantage of by a certain, muscular woman, who cleared her throat to grab everyone's attention.

"I… don't even know how I'm supposed to ask this, so screw it, I'll just dive right in." Magne rose to her feet and walked over to Toga. Before the blonde girl could protest, the taller woman grabbed her shirt and lifted it just enough to show her stomach, staring directly at Peter the entire time. "Peter, why the fuck does my sister have a six-pack?"

"..."

"..."

"Right, about that…" The young hero nervously scratched at his head, sweating slightly at the thought of discussing this matter. "So… remember how you guys all promised to trust me, no matter how crazy I sound?"

A dozen heads nodded in confirmation, earning nothing but a groan from the one receiving them.

"Great. Well, uh, it's probably better to get this out there, I guess. The best place to start is probably… I wasn't born with my powers. I sort of… stole them? Got infected with them? Erg, whatever the right term is, what I'm trying to say it that I only got my powers about a year ago"

As expected, the others took only a moment to digest the information before nodding again. Of course, none of them questioned that either.

"Okay. And?" Kaminari expectantly drew out his question, like he already knew there was something even crazier coming. After all they had been told, this alone wasn't enough to shock him anymore.

"Well, uh, I kind of got my powers from a spider bite." Silence. "... It was a radioactive spider." Empty blinks. "... It really hurt. And I passed out for like, thirteen hours."

"... You know what? That's not even the weirdest thing I've heard today." Magne pinched the bridge of her nose exasperatedly. It wasn't that she doubted his words, she was beyond that at this point. It was because she didn't doubt it that she could feel a headache coming. "And what does that have to do with Toga?"

The tall woman failed to see any sort of connection between her question and the answer she received. However, she was sure that she did not like how nervous and guilty Peter looked, like he had been caught trying to take the family car without permission.

"... Er, you know how I mentioned the spider that bit me was kind of, sort of… very, very radioactive? It… might have irradiated me after it bit me, so I'm sort of, technically, a walking radiation hazard. Every part of my body is at least a little radioactive, from my bones, to my muscles… to my blood." Peter couldn't even keep his eyes locked with his conversation partner's.

Suddenly, the headache grew exponentially, to the point that Magne's eyes hurt. She had a feeling she knew exactly where this was going.

"... Tell me you didn't." It wasn't so much pleading as it was the tone a teacher used when a student had just gotten a question so horrifically wrong, they couldn't help but temporarily drop the facade of a kind educator and give their poor student the emptiest look they would ever receive.

"... I kind of forgot… and let Toga drink my blood after you guys left."

This was the most painful silence yet. Somehow, it felt like the auditory void was emanating from Magne herself, like her "silence" was the only one that existed. Those who already knew this looked amused, while the others didn't even seem to know what they were supposed to say. Meanwhile, Toga herself was blushing for some reason, while also slowly pulling Magne's hand away from her shirt so it could cover her stomach again.

"You forgot that your blood is radioactive?" Slowly, one syllable at a time, the question came.

"... Yes." Peter felt his skin grow colder.

"You fed my sister radioactive blood?"

"... Yes."

"... Peter, hold still. I'm gonna punch you in the face now."

"... That's fair."

True to her word, the hulking woman walked straight over to Peter, calmly and slowly, like she was taking a leisurely stroll. With only a few inches separating them, she released a heavy, pained sigh, drew back a fist, and slugged her leader in the face. The action had been completed in a way that made it seem as though it was done out of obligation and not any actual malice.

The worst part was that the spider sense was still active. With his heightened senses, Peter could practically count the seconds as the fist drew closer, yet he forced himself to stay still. He couldn't exactly fault his friend for being upset. It would be like telling a mother whose child had been fed poison to act rationally after confronting the chef. He was still angry at himself, anyway, so he was perfectly happy to accept a single punch if that was what it took to make her feel better.

With a resounding crack, her fist smashed into his nose with enough force to launch him off his feet. He skidded along the floor of the warehouse until he ran out of momentum about ten feet away from the far wall. The punch hadn't done enough damage to make his nose bleed or anything, but it still kind of hurt.

Grunting noisily, he propped himself up with his arms so he could look back at Magne. Apparently, nobody else had moved to stop her, and even now, they all remained where they were. They must have understood that Peter himself was perfectly fine with it and held themselves back from intervening.

Hopping to his feet, Peter casually walked back to the fire and carelessly took his spot, like nothing had even happened.

"Feel better?" It was a genuine question, asked with nothing but concern.

"Shut up." Mange sighed again before worriedly reaching out to touch Peter's nose, just like a concerned big sister. "Sorry. How's your face?"

"I've had worse."

"I figured. So, let me see if I've got this right. You were powerless, you got bit by a radioactive spider, and then Toga drank your blood and bulked up?"

"Eh, sort of? It's not just muscle, it's more like she got… all… of my powers." Peter shrugged innocently.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Come again?" Spinner was the first to react, whipping his head in Toga's direction. Meeting his - and the others' - gaze with a nervous wave, unsure of what else to do, she simply stuck a hand out and, with a gesture she had watched her partner make a million times, shot a web line at the floor in front of her.

"... Okay, no, I have to question this one. What the fuck!?" Spinner practically flew over to Peter, pointing a finger at Toga with his mouth wide open. Kaminari was making a similar face right beside him, unable to find the words to describe his emotions.

It was now Peter's turn to feel a headache coming. He was not enjoying all these explanations, necessary or not.

"Erm, he already told me everything." A certain girl raised her hand hesitantly.

"Toga! Thank you!" Saved from having to do it all himself again, Peter couldn't stop himself from smiling gratefully at the angel who had come to his rescue.

"Whatever they put in that spider went into Peter and gave him his powers. But then I drank his blood and that same stuff went into me… so…" The vampire padded over to the closest wall and pressed her hand onto its surface. With her palm flat against the rusted metal, she disrespectfully defied the laws of physics and hung sideways off the surface, her body perpendicular with the ground.

Midoriya manifested a fresh sheet of paper out of absolutely nowhere and began writing. He looked like the only one excited by all this.

"Incredible! So a transfer of power is possible with Peter's powers given their unique nature! Of course, the process of getting them is incredibly dangerous, but the results speak for themselves! But, wait, if the chemicals are transferred to Toga, does Peter lose some of them, or has his body learned to make them on its own? Did giving his powers to somebody else make him weaker, or is he unaffected!? I don't have anything to compare this to, so-"

All of a sudden, without anybody interrupting him, the green-haired boy abruptly stopped his muttering and frantic writing. An odd emotion flashed in his eyes, then he hastily put the paper down, like he was afraid to write more.

"N-nevermind!"

"Yeah, I agree, never mind! Dude, don't you see!? This is awesome!" Kaminari excitedly pressed a hand into Spinner's cheek and shoved him away, leaving him as the only person in Peter's field of vision. "You can share your powers!? Dude, forget hiding, you can just amp us all up, and we won't even have to worry! We'll all be super strong, super fast, and we'll have that crazy super sense! Bro, I know this sounds weird, but can I suck your-"

"NO!" Peter shouted heatedly, shutting down the entire conversation. He could see the same questions forming in the others' minds, and he didn't like it. "Kaminari, didn't you see what was happening to Toga? She almost died! I almost died! Do you know how lucky the two of us were, surviving pure, concentrated radiation entering our bodies? There had to be a-... a one-in-a-million chance of us living through that. I'm sorry, but there's no way. If I just… wasn't so stupid, I wouldn't have even let Toga drink my blood."

Kaminari's excitement quietly killed itself, forced to submit to facts and logic. He did indeed remember how awful the vampire girl looked, and he distinctly recalled thinking he did not want to go through something similar.

But… awesome spider powers though…

"... Leave it, boy. He is right, it's too dangerous." Stain, arms still crossed over his chest, cut in with a huff. "There is little point in feeding your soldiers a performance enhancer with a 99% chance of total failure. The risks outweigh the benefits."

The others voiced their agreement. Todoroki and Iida both nodded curtly, Midoriya frantically waved his hands up and down, while Kirishima merely gave Stain a thumbs-up. Reluctantly, Kaminari pushed down his dreams of having cool spider powers to go with his electricity. He had already come up with an idea for electric webs, all for nothing!

"Well, that definitely explains how she lifted me over her shoulder, and how she was hopping buildings." Magne watched Toga gracefully push off the wall and land on her feet. Pleased with herself, the short girl walked right back to her spot and plopped down in front of Peter with a satisfied grin.

"I didn't fall off and land on my face!" Nobody understood why her smile was growing bigger, nor why she was attacking Peter's shoulder with the back of her head, like a cat asking to be pet. The reverse headbutting stopped when he gently pressed a hand on top of her head.

"... Still, I can't say I'm happy about this. I'm not really sure what happened, but it sounds like you almost got my sister killed." Magne wasn't able to totally suppress her anger, and vented those negative emotions by glaring at the boy who invoked such emotions in her.

"... Do you want to punch me in the face again?" Peter kindly offered as if he were asking if she wanted him to grab her something from the fridge.

"Tempting, but no." With a defeated look, Magne roughly plopped onto the ground and ran a hand through her hair, releasing the heaviest sigh of the night. "...Even if I ask you to stop making her life so dangerous, I'm sure some type of bullshit will happen anyway. Besides, if we're all serious about this, there's no way any of us can be safe anymore. So… just make me a promise, Peter."

For the first time since the American hero had known the woman, Magne took off her sunglasses so the two could lock eyes directly, no lenses or masks to obstruct either of their faces. She wanted him to know exactly how serious she was.

"No matter what, you keep her safe. If a hero comes along, protect her. If your blood makes her sick, you stay right there next to her until she gets better. If she feels lost or confused, you show her the way. This… is all I will ever ask of you. It's the only thing that matters. So, please, promise me."

Peter did not have a chance to answer her feelings.

"Hey! I can handle myself, Big Sis Mag! Give me some credit, I'm strong, too!" Toga indignantly sat up, mock-glaring at her "sister". For her attempt to look threatening, she received a carefree grin.

"Oh, really?" One arm lashing out like a snake, Magne grabbed hold of Toga and wrapped her in a headlock from her seated position, ignoring the smaller girl's protests. "Y'sure about that? You can't even defend yourself from an old lady like me."

Naturally, with her enhanced strength, Toga could have easily broken free, but she chose not to. As if she still possessed the same amount of strength as she had all her life, she struggled vainly to free herself from the headlock, blatantly smiling the whole time.

It was a scene that spread infectious cheer to Peter himself, who already had his answer ready from the moment Magne had finished speaking to him.

"Of course. No matter what, I will keep her safe, even if I have to get hurt to do it. But, you know, you really shouldn't sell yourself short, Magne." With a sincere smile, such words were uttered.

"... Huh?" Magne paused her "fight" with Toga, staring dumbly at the boy who had caught her off guard.

"'Nothing else matters'? Give me a break. I know what you mean by that. If I ever have to make a choice between you or Toga, I'm supposed to choose Toga, right?" There was no denial from the ex-villain. "Yeah, well forget that. You're all important to me, every single one of you. No matter how bad the situation is, I'll definitely find a way out for all of us. If I have to choose between two of you, I'll make my own options and save you both. So, I have my own favor to ask you. If it comes down to it, you'd better let me save you."

Dabi, even in his half-despondent state, snorted humorously. He knew those words were directed at him and everybody else just as much as they were for Magne.

"... Cheeky brat. Demanding something from somebody older than you. What's happening to this country?" Reaching out with her free hand, Magne grabbed hold of Peter's neck and wrapped him in the same headlock she had Toga in. Both their faces were pressed into her chest, only a few inches away from each other, all while the woman rose to her feet and spun in a circle, forcing them to take rapid steps to avoid losing their footing. All the while, Magne laughed like a madwoman.

"Big Sis Mag, let go!" Toga still did not use her newfound strength to free herself, instead playing along with the rough game.

"Come on, it's a fair request! I'm not asking for anything crazy here!" Peter, too, was willingly along for the ride, not bothering to break out of the headlock.

Everybody else gave them a wide berth, not wanting to catch a foot to the face in the process of valiantly attempting to save the poor children.

"So, our dear Toga has gotten a boost of her own. Hm, even I could not have predicted a finale as grand as this one. Bravo, truly." Compress felt compelled to toss his hat to the laughing boy being swung around by their gorilla of a companion.

"Finale? I did not realize you were so shortsighted." Compress turned to look at Stain, who was laying down in one of the poorly-crafted sleeping bags. "This can barely even be considered the prologue. Our work has yet to begin." One of his eyes cracked open, scanning the three dancing fools swaying around a short distance away. "However… this will certainly be a tremendous boon. The false heroes could not even crush a single spider. Perhaps it will be fun watching their pitiful attempts to stamp out two."

Stain felt an odd desire to chuckle out loud as he closed his eyes and turned his back to the parading fools.

Iida and Spinner had finally worked up the courage to dive in and try to pull out the poor teenagers being held hostage by the rampaging criminal, only to somehow be pulled in as well. In a rusted, decrepit warehouse beaten by rain, nothing but a single fire to light the night, the ragged vigilantes running off half a can of tuna each did not make plans, they did not train, and they did not strategize.

Instead, they behaved like children, wrestling on the floor, arguing loudly, and laughing at each others' misfortune.

It was not until three hours had passed that they finally were too tired to go on. The few sleeping bags that had been prepared were claimed in seconds, forcing the majority of the group to sleep on the cold, hard floor. And yet, none of them seemed to mind, as they drifted off into sleep.

…

"Hey, nobody told me we were having a slumber party!"

Nobody was awake to hear the complaints of Twice, who had finally finished stumbling around in the corner of the warehouse.

"Did I miss anything important!?"

Three days later:

"""I don't want to talk about it."""

That was all that was said when Peter asked Magne, Spinner, and Mr. Compress what exactly happened during their first experience as vigilantes. All of them had previously looked relatively cheery and upbeat, only to grow visibly upset and angry after the question was asked.

There was something there under the surface, and it didn't take any investigative ability to recognize it as resentment, nor was it difficult to guess that it was directed at the heroes. The only question was why.

Not that any of them were willing to supply the answer. They had all clammed up immediately afterwards, making their unwillingness to go into detail clear.

That was fine. If it was anything important, it would probably show up on the news. They had more important things to worry about, anyway.

"You sure it's around here?"

"I'm absolutely positive. There's no way I could forget how relieved I was when I saw this place and realized I could use it."

Peter and Spinner had left the warehouse by themselves, leaving the space to the others while they ran a personal errand. They snuck through the city in the dead of night, hesitant to even take one step outside of their home base in broad daylight.

It was exactly as they feared. After the incident in Hosu, hero and criminal activity alike had skyrocketed. After it became clear just how many heroes were out of commission in the wake of the Nomu attack and the failed raid, swarms of criminals had come out. In response to this, dozens of heroes were called in to assist in general suppression. Almost overnight, most of the civilians had been evacuated from the hottest districts once it was obvious how dangerous the area was, leaving practically nothing but the two opposing forces. The city was absolutely packed, and every second they were out of cover brought tremendous risk with it.

Under any other circumstances, they would have been hunkered down in the warehouse, waiting for activity to die down. That was exactly what they had been doing for the past few days, but there was something that could not be left alone, one matter that absolutely had to be resolved, no matter what. Risks be damned, this had to be taken care of. The only reason they had even waited this long was because there were so many heroes running all over the place, it would have been practically impossible to move around without being spotted until now.

"This is definitely the place. I'm sure of it." Spinner repeated himself, his voice muffled by a simple mask made of cut-up black cloth. Peter himself was still wearing his newest, black-and-green suit. His original suit he brought from home was still locked up in the development studio at UA, leaving him with only the sparsely-equipped light suit. He honestly preferred the replica over the one he came to this world with, seeing as it was easier to charge. Wherever the suit he loaned to Spinner was, it couldn't possibly have more than 20% of its battery left, a problem he could solve easily. The suit was far less complicated than the one Tony gave him, so he could probably rig up a device capable of charging it with random electronic parts.

In any case, his original Iron Spider was still locked up at UA, beyond his reach. It wasn't a thought that made him comfortable.

But, that was exactly why they had left the safety of the warehouse. One suit was totally unreachable, and the second suit, the one Peter had given Spinner in the midst of the Nomu incident, was gone. Where it went, only Spinner knew, and they needed it back.

"After… that happened, the police were after the three of us. So, I told them to hide while I led the cops away. Once I was out of sight, I told Karen to disengage the suit and collapse it down. I didn't want to risk being caught with it, so…" Spinner made one final hop from the roof they were currently on to the roof of another building two stories down. "I hid it here."

That was the source of all of Peter's confusion. Karen insisted she was working properly, but her scanners must have been going haywire before, when they insisted the suit's signal led to a space it did not occupy. For that reason, he asked Spinner himself to show him exactly where he left the suit.

What disturbed him was how familiar it was.

All of it, from the disturbed beds of dead flowers he had personally torn up to the plastic lawn chairs with empty soda bottles resting in them. He had been led here by Karen not long ago, his AI companion insisting this was the place the Iron Spider signal was coming from.

"Spinner, please tell me I'm not going crazy. I'm not losing it again, am I? You're telling me this is where the suit is?" Peter spoke hurriedly while the lizard man looked weirdly proud of himself.

Spinner looked all around the rooftop, his obviously bloated ego swelling with every passing second as he took in the sight of the torn-up flower beds.

"Heh-heh, looks like I even managed to fool you." With a smug chuckle, Spinner trotted over to the door leading inside the building. "I knew I had to account for the possibility of one of the heroes seeing me flee this particular building and that they would search it later. Checking the flower beds is an obvious move, and so is breaking the lock on the door and searching inside. Indeed, at first glance, this place is so devoid of decent hiding places, it isn't even worth searching. After all, what moron would actually try to hide something here?"

Spinner's smug grin just kept growing further as he dramatically dragged out his explanation. Unwillingly, Peter hung on every word, just waiting for him to get to the point.

"But, that's exactly why it's perfect. Of course, if somebody actually did take the time to search around here, the matter of there being nowhere to hide anything still stands. The question wasn't where I could hide something that it wouldn't be found, the question was, 'what is the dumbest, worst, most awful hiding place that nobody would even want to check'?"

In an instant, it clicked in Peter's mind. Spinner wasn't walking over to the rusty door leading down into the building…

He was going for the dozen bags of manure-based fertilizer propped up next to it.

"... Please tell me you didn't." Peter's plea was met with yet another smug grin. The fact that he had managed to fool the genius hero was obviously giving Spinner some major ego points.

Disgust aside, it was admittedly a good strategy. Leaving aside the intention of diverting the heroes' attention through disgust, it was more like Peter hadn't even considered checking there.

After all, who would hide an incredibly advanced, high-tech suit with its own AI inside a literal bag of crap?

"Heh-heh, now then, let's get the suit and get out of here." Spinner was clearly going to be riding high on this for a long time to come. He was so ecstatic, he didn't even mind tearing open a specific bag of manure and shoving his hand straight inside. The bag had been resealed so perfectly, even Peter couldn't tell it had even been opened in the first place.

The pleased look in Spinner's eyes as he rifled through the bag made for a slightly disturbing image.

"..."

"... Spinner?"

"... One moment." The bag was tossed aside, spreading manure all over the roof. Grabbing another bag, Spinner shoved his hand straight through the material and dug around again. A few seconds passed and, with a dissatisfied grunt, he tossed that bag aside too, and grabbed another.

This one did not satisfy him either, nor did the next bag, nor the one after that. As more and more bags were emptied out, sweat began to leak out from between his green scales.

Eventually, there were no more bags.

"... It's not here." Defeated, Spinner had fallen to his knees, not bothering to wipe his dirty hand off.

"Huh!?"

"It isn't here! I definitely put it right here, but it's not where I left it."

Peter began to panic. If Spinner himself didn't know where the high-tech suit was…

"Karen, is the signal still coming from here!?"

"... I cannot detect a tracking signal from the Iron Spider Mk. I. It appears the tracking chip has been disabled." Karen helpfully gave some very unhelpful information that made both men tense up.

""... Turned off?"" They asked at the same time.

"That doesn't just happen on its own. Somebody had to have found it, but who!? A hero? A criminal? Somebody else!? Who!? WHERE'S THE SUIT!?" Peter began pacing all around the roof, unconsciously throwing his hands around to emphasize his unspoken words.

What happened now? Did they stumble around until they somehow found the suit? Did they pay somebody to track it down for them? Did they just forget about the incredibly expensive suit filled with important data and technology?

What was the answer supposed to be!? Where was his suit!?

"..."

Peter stumbled over to the edge of the roof and dropped onto his butt, legs dangling over the side. Concerned, Spinner padded over to him and stood nearby, offering his presence.

"... Peter?"

"... Let's head back."

"What!? But what about-!?"

"What choice do we have?" Peter cut in as politely as possible, his voice soft. He was not looking at Spinner, instead looking out at the street down below. "We don't have any way to track the suit, and there's no way we'll find it just by stumbling around. I don't like it either, but… we have to let it go. Maybe… maybe we'll get lucky and it'll find it's way back to us."

When he calmed down and thought about it, this wasn't the absolute worst place in the world. Even if whoever took the suit somehow managed to disable Karen's link to the processing unit and gain access, there was barely any battery left, and they likely did not have the means to charge it, and that was assuming they understood how the battery worked in the first place. Worst case scenario, they used it to rampage around and rob a few places, only for the battery to die on them in a day or two.

It was a tiny bright spot in this horrible situation, but at least it was something. Though, it didn't help much with the tremendous sense of unease it filled Peter's body with, knowing Tony's final gift to him was out there somewhere.

Standing up, Peter stretched and threw on a pretend smile, not that it was visible through his mask. Stressing out about something he couldn't control wasn't going to help them at all. So, he tried his hardest to find something nice to think about. Like how clean this area was. It was a fairly uninhabited district given the low volume of shops and homes, so there were barely any fights there.

"... Hey, Spinner? You mind if I ask you something, while it's just the two of us?"

"Hm? Sure, what is it?"

"... I know you don't want to talk about what happened a few days ago, but can I at least ask why? Did somebody get hurt?"

This, however, was one thing Peter couldn't leave alone. His friends were totally unwilling to share any details on what had happened after they split up, and it was beginning to worry him. Anything could have happened in the few hours they were apart.

Spinner seemed to expect the question. Gritting his teeth, he took a few steps forward to stand beside Peter, casting his own gaze out to the street below, taking in empty, irrelevant details.

"... It was just disappointing, is all. Everything happened exactly as we knew all of it would, exactly as it always has… but it was still disappointing. The looks, the accusations, all of it. I think… living the life you do won't be as easy as I had hoped."

The incredibly vague description told Peter nothing, yet it told him all he needed to know. Despite not being told exactly what happened, a small part of him fit the pieces together and saw the full picture.

It was a picture he himself had been the focus of more times than he could count.

His response was simple. "I'm sorry."

"... It's not your fault." If Spinner was surprised that Peter actually understood what he was saying, he did not show it. He threw on his own fake smile and lightly punched his friend in the shoulder. "Besides, I already agreed to this, so I can't back out now. If we want people to hear our message, we'll have to see it through to the end. All of us."

"Of course."

Spinner held out a hand, which Peter readily grabbed. This day was a wash thus far. Their only mission was a total failure. But, at least nothing else had gone wrong.

The pair began making their way back to the warehouse, ready to go back to hiding away until the heat died down. Buildings were hopped casually, allowing them to make tremendous progress in very little time.

"-der-Man."

"Huh?" On the roof of a one-story flower shop, Peter abruptly came to a stop. Had somebody just called his name? As far as he could tell, there was nobody around for several blocks. So, who…

"-rently at large, unclear where…"

Curious, he leaned over the side of the building, peering at the storefronts he was unable to see from his perch. One in particular caught his attention, a full-glass storefront lit up by a faint glow coming from within.

Paying no mind to Spinner, he hopped off the roof and walked over to get a better look at whatever was creating the glow. Now able to see through the window, he could see TVs inside, display models playing randomly selected channels.

"As of now, there is still no information on Spider-Man, that is, Peter Parker's current location. He, along with the other rogue UA students, are suspected to have teamed up with the League of Villains. If you see any of these individuals, we urge you to report to the nearest hero immediately. They may be classified as highly dangerous individuals and are to be handled as quickly as possible."

When the one-horned news anchor finished his piece, several images took his place. The same images that had been shown in the news report at the hospital were used, but the resolution was much higher. They had been cleaned up and enhanced to reduce the blurriness, allowing a much clearer look at the faces of Midoriya, Kaminari, Iida, Todoroki, and Kirishima. They were shown with one picture each, while Peter had three, all taken at different times. One was a simple picture of his face, one was a picture that might have been taken shortly before his battle with All Might, in which he wore the black-and-green suit, and the final image was of his USJ suit, the red and gold variant he had given to Spinner.

Apparently, the news team didn't want to take any chances on him going unnoticed, so they covered all their bases.

"... That's it then. They really can't go back now." Peter truly felt horrible for his school friends. No doubt, they were all getting phone calls from their friends and families right this moment, calls they couldn't possibly be prepared for. He couldn't even blame them if they decided to mute their phones permanently.

Spinner grunted beside them, equally displeased with all of this.

There was no danger in standing on the sidewalk watching TV like everyday pedestrians. Because criminal activity was so concentrated in other districts, the odds of actually encountering another citizen, let alone a hero, were incredibly low. It was actually a little disturbing how empty it was. The evacuation of Hosu had been remarkably efficient, and very few citizens remained after just three days.

"I guess in a world like this one, they have plans set up for sudden increases in crime."

The news report continued. Apparently, it wasn't a live broadcast. Whoever was in charge of the station must have realized that they couldn't possibly have a bigger story than this one, so it was set to replay once it finished. Peter noticed only when the horned anchor began repeating himself before finally looping back to showing their pictures. With this much coverage, it probably wouldn't take a full day before all of Japan saw it.

"Well, not like this wasn't going to happen eventually." Peter openly sighed, feeling another headache coming.

Life was certainly going to be difficult from now on. Well, difficult for the others. Getting yelled at by the general population? Hunted down by law enforcement? Called a menace at every turn? That was an average Tuesday for both Peter and the ex-criminals. The coming days would be a test of courage, not for them, but for the bright UA students who had dived headfirst into this undesirable life.

Wordlessly, Peter and Spinner trudged away from the storefront and continued making their way home. They had a feeling it would be better if they were there to support the poor boys who may or may not have been sitting through the hardest conversations of their lives.

"I got you all into this, so I promise, I'll be there for you. No matter what."

The scale had to be insane. Given how much of a splash his sudden appearance had made, this story was already a big deal. Once you threw in the failed villain raid, as well as his alleged victory against the Symbol of Peace…

Peter wouldn't be surprised if this made the World News.

?.?.?.:

"Oh thank God, they're gone!"

A finger pulled away from a dirty set of blinds, allowing the bent plastic to return to its normal shape. A single person occupied a tiny apartment crammed into a medium-sized complex. Their room was about halfway up the building, giving it a decent overhead view of the street below, as well as allowing anybody inside to look straight across at the roof of the brick building on the other side of the road.

A building topped with torn-up beds of dead flowers and few bags of manure.

"I seriously thought I was screwed! Oh man, why did I take this!? What am I even gonna do with it!?"

They had been there on that day, when a lizard-like man crashed onto the building across from him and shoved some kind of metal orb into a bag of fertilizer, dozens of cops following close behind him.

Every nerve in their body told them to get far away but curiosity won out. As soon as the coast was clear, they had gone straight to the building, climbed the ladder attached to the back wall, and rifled through the fertilizer until they found the brown-stained red-and-gold sphere of metal.

They wasted no time taking it back home, but, in their excitement, they tripped and dropped it on the hard concrete street. They seriously hoped whatever made that cracking noise wasn't important.

They didn't know why they took the orb, nor did they know what they planned to do with it. Maybe they wanted to sell it, or give it to the cops and get some kind of reward for helping catch a criminal.

… No, that was a lie. It had been true at first, but as soon as they saw the black spider emblazoned onto the orb, they knew exactly what they wanted to do with it. The problem was that they still had no idea how to open the orb.

Countless tools were strewn around the messy apartment, some bent and broken from trying to force the machine open.

"Damn, I should have finished High School. Maybe they would have taught me something that would help me here." A greasy hand ran through burnt-red hair. This whole thing was seriously starting to grate on their nerves, and the sudden shock of seeing the orb's owners return had nearly given them a heart attack.

"... But man, that was so cool. Spider-Man was right outside! I could have opened the window and said hi to him! I could give him his stuff back and he would thank me! It would have been awesome!"

Arms that had excitedly been thrusted into the air dropped down limply, a sigh splitting the relative silence.

"But then, I wouldn't be able to… sorry, Spider-Man. If it wasn't important, I definitely would have returned it, but I really do need this."

When the heroes came through, they had been in a hurry to evacuate the civilians as fast as possible. However, given the nature of the public evacuation program, they couldn't actually force any civilians out of their homes. If they so desired to remain in spite of the danger, the heroes had to respect their wishes. Naturally, everybody else had evacuated, eager to get their families and possessions out of the dangerous city.

This apartment complex now only had one resident, one lonely individual who continued tinkering with the sealed orb, eager to crack it open and get to work.

"If the 'heroes' won't do their jobs, and Spider-Man is too busy cleaning up their messes, then… he'll need all the help he can get."

A wrench was picked up while another hand typed away at a keyboard connected to the orb with a cable. The lonely resident resumed their work on the metal sphere, unwilling to give up so easily. Sooner or later, they would find a way to open it.

"Wait for me, Spider-Man. I couldn't do anything before, but help is on the way. I just need more time."

Two Weeks Later:

Naturally, the world knew about Spider-Man.

When he literally fell out of the sky, the world was informed.

When he revealed his face on a live broadcast and angrily tore into hero society as a whole, the world witnessed it.

When he renounced his vigilante lifestyle and became a student at the famous UA High, the world was amazed.

When he easily crushed the competition at the globally-broadcast UA Sports Festival, the world enjoyed the show.

And, when the controversial story of his alleged betrayal of hero society was released, when news of him turning his back on the heroes to join up with the infamous League of Villains reached the eyes and ears of the people of the world...

The people chose their sides.

It did not take long for things to get complicated.

.

.

"You're all sheep! When will you wake up and see the truth!? Don't you see what's going on!? It's all a big lie! We're being tricked by the heroes! It's a big propaganda campaign!"

The patrons of a mostly-empty bar in France all sighed deeply. Crazies like this one were starting to become more common after all the shit that went down in Japan two weeks ago. Something about a criminal who renounced his ways, only to go back to being a lawbreaker. It didn't sound like a big deal to this bar's patrons, but it had the entire Eastern hemisphere losing their minds. Then, of course, you had guys like this one, who seemed to be popping up everywhere.

.

.

"Why don't any of you see it!? It's so simple! Look at the suits! The suits!"

Nobody paid attention to the ramblings of the dirty woman shoving three different pictures in the faces of anybody who came near her. The streets of Morocco were usually packed and busy, yet her grating voice somehow managed to reach above all the noise around her as she made her case to anybody who was within earshot.

.

.

"Why are they different, huh!? We all saw Spider-Man when he first made big news! Do these look like the same guy to you!? They're just impostors! There's no way he would just become a villain like this!"

"That's right! Even if that really is him, he can't be a villain! There's definitely a reason for all of this! You idiots should be siding with him, not against him!"

A small group of men and women marched down a messy street in Paraguay, preaching to their annoyed neighbors who shut their windows to block out the sound. The crazies who had made it their mission to spread some kind of message were seriously beginning to piss them all off. Everybody had seen the news reports by now, the evidence was plain to see. Why couldn't they just shut up about Spider-Man being a hero?

.

.

"You take that back right now!"

"No way! He's just another stupid villain! The heroes should hurry up and catch him already!"

"Shut up! Spider-Man's not a villain!"

"What would you know, poolu!?"

"What did you call me, thevidiya!?" [1]

The overworked teachers were getting tired of breaking up fights between their students. Ever since a global news network picked up on Japan's latest incident, it was all anybody talked about, even way out in the middle of Pakistan. This was the third time today backup had to be called to pull a bunch of arguing twelve year-olds off of each other. Many of the teachers were seriously considering taking time off of work until everything calmed down.

.

.

"Two weeks! Two weeks of news reports, and what does Japan have to show for it!? Any attacks!? Robberies, assaults, property destruction, kidnapping!? No! They have nothing! All they have are even more reports of Spider-Man catching criminals! All they have are a few bullshit reports of him assaulting heroes! It's the same shit they said when he first showed up! We all know they attacked him first! Why don't any of you see it!?"

Right in the middle of Times Square, New York, a massive group of people had banded together, setting up right on top of the Red Stairs with megaphones, signs, and newspapers pinned onto cardboard stock.

"They can't pin anything on him! They're just looking for something to help their case!"

"Look at this! Just last week, he pulled a kid out of a burning house! What kind of villain does that!?"

It was impossible to ignore them. From their elevated position and megaphone-enhanced shouts, all of Times Square was subject to the citizen-organized protest. A few people had tried calling the police to shut it down, but it turned out they had gone through the proper procedures at city hall to legally set up a demonstration.

They had even arranged it to happen right when one particular news network was played on the largest electronic screen fixed to the skyscraper behind them. Naturally, given it was still the hottest topic around, there was yet another news report from Japan playing, this one being another puff piece about the horrible vigilante known as Spider-Man still being at large. Interestingly, they couldn't actually list any crimes he had committed aside from simply being a vigilante, along with a few phony hero assault charges.

This couldn't be where it ended. No matter what, they had to keep going until everybody around them understood what was going on.

This man, who put himself at risk, accepted everyone's hatred, and did what he believed in, all to help those around him, was not a villain. He was unquestionably, undoubtedly, undeniably, a hero.

They knew it, and they would make sure everybody else did too.

One Month Later:

Hosu was mostly cleared out by now. The upsurge in criminal activity was more or less taken care of, and the heroes had begun to escort everybody back to their homes. Life was mostly back to normal, at least in the sense the criminal activity was lowered. There was still a glaring issue, one that even the most uninformed people were aware of.

No, it was not simply a matter of Spider-Man anymore. It was not about the icon of reform going back to his old ways. It was not about the shock of several students of UA dropping out to become villains. It was not even about the hundreds of protests that supporters of Spider-Man all over the world had initiated.

In recent days, there was a… new development.

Every single TV in Japan was switched to the news, every citizen hanging on every word, desperately scanning every image they were shown.

"Another false Spider-Man was caught today. His self-proclaimed supporters have escalated far beyond simple protests. This marks the thirty-seventh appearance of an impersonator, and it appears the count will only climb higher as time passes."

A mugshot of a defiantly smiling man in his mid-thirties was shown beside a picture of somebody wearing a suit made from basic clothes with web designs poorly stitched onto them, a skewed spider printed onto the front of the chest. It was little more than thick snow pants and a bulky sweatshirt, while a ski mask and deeply tinted goggles covered the face.

Another set of images was shown onscreen as the news anchor continued speaking. It was another man, this one much older, probably in his fifties or early sixties. His suit was much more well-made, almost looking like an official hero costume, but it was still clearly not the real Spider-Man's suit.

More images followed. Men and women, young and old, cobbled together costumes and high-quality suits made from actual metal with well-emblazoned designs and patterns. The oldest looked like they were just starting to hit seventy, while the youngest looked like they hadn't even finished high school.

Some of the suits didn't even look anything like the actual Spider-Man suit, instead being crafted to suit their own purposes with unique designs and functions. The only thing tying them to Spider-Man was the fact that they all clearly had spider symbols and web motifs etched onto them.

In all of their mugshots, none of them looked disappointed, angry, or sad. They all smirked defiantly, like they were aiming to antagonize whoever was taking their picture, uncaring if their reputation was ruined.

"These individuals are not only breaking the law, but also putting themselves in an incredible amount of danger. We urge you all to not follow their example. What they are doing puts both themselves and those around them at risk. These supporters are to be considered public threats, officially declared by Prime Minister Kobayakawa. As of now, all public protests are to be disbanded and all who take place are to be arrested. Russia, Egypt, and China have declared similar measures are to be taken, and Venezuela and Germany claim to be nearing their final decisions on the matter."

More images were shown of pro-Spider-Man protests being disbanded by uniformed officers and a handful of heroes, some of the protestors even being carried into squad cars.

The screens switched again, showing off what looked to be snippets of citizen interviews.

"It's ridiculous, is what it is." A young woman with a little boy clinging to her side glared into the camera. Her voice was calm, but she couldn't hide the obvious anger she felt. "What has he done? Save people? You want to arrest him for keeping us safe!? My son was almost killed by a rampaging villain yesterday. The heroes didn't do a single thing, but Spider-Man saved his life while they were sitting around!"

The next person shown was an old man, easily in his eighties based on his lack of hair and the dark liver spots covering his skin.

"Is my memory better than yours? Don't you remember that news report from a few months back? We're talking about a kid here, a kid just trying to do the right thing. You should all be ashamed of yourselves! All this just to terrorize an innocent boy! Tell me what his crime is!"

The final "interview" shown was clearly unplanned. A man who was currently in the process of being forced into a police car had snatched a reporter's microphone, and as she tried to get it back, the camera followed him, all while the arresting officers struggled to get him into the vehicle.

"It's all a lie! Don't make me laugh with this 'villain' bullshit! What about you heroes!? You're so busy trying to catch this kid, when was the last time you did your jobs!? You're so busy trying to make his life hell, you haven't even noticed he's busy cleaning up your messes for y- GET OFF ME!"

The man kicked out at one of the officers grabbing his arm, dropping the microphone in the process. As soon as the reporter retrieved it, the camera feed cut out. Just before the screen blacked out, another citizen jumped in front of the camera, holding out a sign that read 'You Will Not Trick Us'.

UA:

"... This ain't a good look." Snipe was nursing the worst stress-induced headache of his entire hero career. He was exhausted beyond belief. With all the extra work being piled on him ever since Peter went rogue, he'd barely had time to even breathe for the past month. How Principal Nezu found the time to call him and the rest of UA's staff together for this meeting was beyond him.

He, along with all of his coworkers were gathered in one of UA's conference rooms to get some sort of status update from their boss.

"They're all completely ignoring the fact that acting as a vigilante is, in itself, a crime. They want us to be the villains of this story." Ectoplasm huffed in defeat, turning away from the projector screen Nezu was using to show them the news.

"Why are they even being allowed to show all this?" Midnight pressed her elbows on the table and leaned forward, confusion written all over her face. "I know they have the right to know the truth, but if they know this much, it will cause a panic, or worse. Shouldn't we be withholding some of this information, even just for a little while? We can just leave them enough to tell their stories. Just a bit is fine."

Nezu closed his eyes, gathering his thoughts. He stood at a lectern beside the projector screen, allowing him to look out at all of his employees from the front of the room.

"... This is 'just a bit'." He informed gravely. His staff members' eyes widened. "What you see here is what the Prime Minister has cleared. The only reason he has shown this much in the first place is to justify his decision to pass an order to arrest anybody who publicly protests in Peter's favor. Otherwise, some unsavory accusations may be thrown his way."

Nezu pointed a clicker at the screen, flipping through frames until he found the one he wanted.

"These impersonators are becoming a serious problem. I truly have no idea how none of them have gotten themselves killed yet, but this is not an isolated incident anymore. They've gone beyond Japan."

The screen showed a dark-skinned man with brown hair streaked with red dye, an image of an admittedly well-made Spider-Man suit beside him. If one did not take a close look, it actually looked very similar to the real thing.

"This is Christopher Drake. He was arrested in America, specifically Flagstaff, Arizona, after impersonating Peter for at least two weeks. In that time, he successfully managed to capture and arrest seven villains and turn them into his local police station before making his escape. He was finally apprehended outside his home when a police detail followed him back from the station. What intrigues me is that he did not try to escape. Instead, he immediately surrendered and allowed himself to be taken in."

"He didn't use his own quirk to get out of there?" Snipe cut in, unable to understand the lawbreaker's actions.

"That, too, intrigues me." Nezu changed the screen to what looked like a medical report. "According to the statement from Christopher himself, as well as the results from a doctor's examination, he is a Quirkless individual. His suit, homemade it may be, is actually deceptively well-crafted. He managed to create his own compound that produces a material similar to Peter's webbing, albeit much, much weaker, and was able to climb walls by swapping out disposable pads of an adhesive he created himself. It appears he also has a background training in Systema, which explains how he was able to detain so many criminals by himself."

The UA staff took in all this information, scanning through the blown-up medical report themselves. It was as Nezu said. The written statement from Christopher claimed he was a Quirkless man, and the follow up from his assigned doctor confirmed this.

"I've noticed this is a pattern." Nezu continued, now flipping through images much faster than before. "While there are a few noteworthy exceptions, nearly 92% of all the impersonators up to now have been quirkless. Additionally, none of them are confirmed to have killed anybody, instead restraining them and handing them to the police. Finally, not one of them has fought back after being cornered. There are several conclusions to be drawn from this, but I believe I have identified the most important one."

"They're baiting us." Aizawa didn't need his boss to spell out the obvious for him. "They want everybody to think we're the big, bad villains, while Peter is the glorious hero. They surrender hoping some hotheaded hero will attack them anyway. It'd make some great publicity… in their favor, anyway."

"Indeed." Nezu nodded to show Aizawa had perfectly described his thoughts. "These are not simple lawbreakers charging in with no plan. Every one of them has thought their actions through, to the point I hesitate to say we can predict their actions. They may well have plans on top of plans."

"That's great and all, but I have another concern." Power Loader interjected, sliding a sheet of paper across the table to Nezu's lectern. The mousy principal picked it up, quickly reading through the data. "Some of these suits are actually suspiciously well-made. Christopher Drake isn't an outlier, most of these people have pretty high-tech suits that would make professional heroes jealous. Obviously, none of them have onboard AIs or function with nanotech, but the quality is still unreal. Thing is, without a proper development studio, this ain't the kind of thing you can just throw together in a short amount of time. Throw in people like Christopher, who made their own chemical compounds to help them out, and it just... anyway, the point is, Peter went rogue a month ago. I promise you that's not long enough to make some of these suits with everyday stuff civilians have on hand."

"You're saying they've been acting even before then?!" Present Mic, slammed his hands down on the table, accidentally making his glasses go askew. "How long, then!?"

"... In my professional opinion, the most advanced suits that I've personally seen the specs on, assuming they were made in somebody's garage with basic tools... even I would struggle to finish them in less than four or five months." Power Loader paused to allow the others to think on what he had said. "That is... right around the time Peter showed his face on the news for the first time."

"Is it possible Peter planned all of this? Could he have coordinated with these people so they would be ready when he-"

"I do not believe that is the case." All Might cut off Ectoplasm as politely as possible. His skinny form was not much to look at, but he still managed to garner enough respect for everybody to remain silent and listen to him. "Knowing Peter, even he is not happy with the risk these people are putting themselves in. I believe they are all misguided individuals. They truly see Peter as a hero and wish to do all they can to support him. But… to be honest, I do not think these impersonators are our biggest problem."

"Hah!?" Present Mic shouted again, earning him an annoyed growl from Aizawa.

Something had bothered All Might ever since the start of all this. There was a certain fear he'd held onto, and so far, only half of it had been realized.

"That is what Principal Nezu meant when he said that the news has been restricted. They aren't showing everything, because they aren't allowed to."

"Please allow me to take over, Mr. All Might." Nezu politely reclaimed the room's attention, flicking the screen to one final image. "You see, this is our biggest problem. It isn't only the impersonators. Whether by accident or by design, Peter seems to have sparked something in the people, and now, we have a new wave to deal with."

Costumes. Street fights. Quirks going wild.

All Might feared that Peter's actions would create a vacuum, one that would be filled with both villains seeking to take advantage of the chaos…

And good-hearted individuals who wished to follow his example.

Half of his fears were realized.

By some miracle, major criminal activity was relatively unchanged. On the other hand, vigilantes were popping up everywhere. Spider-Man impersonators were one thing, but these were entirely different people, becoming their own heroes in spite of the law. Untrained civilians were following Peter's example and donning homemade costumes to protect their neighborhoods and stores from villain activity. The amount of calls coming in to the hero hotline had noticeably fallen in the past month due to so many people taking matters into their own hands.

Ever since the very first days of Quirks, when vigilantes were the only heroes that existed, no vigilante had ever garnered this much attention. Generally, they were well-meaning but weak individuals who were apprehended by law-enforcement before too long. Peter was such an extraordinarily special case, it was only natural for the world to take notice. And, with every passing day, more and more people seemed to be following his example, supposedly inspired by his good-hearted nature.

"I'm sure you didn't intend for this to happen, Peter. But surely… surely you realized it was a possibility!"

The only saving grace was that this was still an incredible minority. The number of confirmed impersonators had yet to reach triple digits, and the few civilians who had become vigilantes themselves were openly being denounced by their neighbors, who did not hesitate to label them as dangerous or call the heroes on them.

But how long would they remain the minority? And what measures would have to be taken as their numbers continued to grow?

"As I said before, this is no longer solely Japan's problem." Nezu shut off the projector, resting both hands on the sides of his lectern. "This has become a global issue, and the world leaders are all making their own decisions on how to handle matters within their own countries. I truly hope these are just rumors, but I've heard tell that the leaders of Mongolia and Argentina are beginning to consider lethal force as a solution. Thus far, they are nothing but whispers passed around due to paranoia, but… it is still cause for concern."

Straightening his back, Nezu cleared his throat and addressed his employees with an incredibly stern look.

"The times ahead of us will undoubtedly be difficult. We have no way of knowing what will happen, but I'm sure you all understand what we must do. Peter is the center of all of this. We absolutely must detain him as soon as possible."

"And what about the others, sir? The villains he banded together with? And our students?" Midnight nervously threw out her final questions, the ones she most desperately wanted to be answered.

"... Our students… have consistently broken the law, acting as vigilantes for an entire month. I know some of you may have conflicting feelings, but…" Nezu took a deep breath, like he felt pained by what he was about to say. "... They are to be officially considered as criminals, and shall be arrested the same as any other lawbreaker. As for the others…"

That was the other bit of information that had been kept out of the news reports. The League of Villains was incredibly well-known and heavily talked about before Peter's incident, only to fade out of existence afterward. Nobody talked about them anymore, and nobody seemed to notice that they had not committed any more large-scale crimes. The same could be said about the Hero Killer, Stain, who also had not committed any more major crimes. He, once a man who was talked about every day, was utterly forgotten alongside the L.O.V.…

Because they helped Peter.

For reasons they did not know yet, they were helping Peter. It was such an unfeasible 180, even Nezu couldn't fully wrap his head around it. To so suddenly go from being villains to helping Peter save people, he simply could not understand their angle in all this. Regardless, if anything was going to cause a panic, Spider-Man putting together a team of incredibly dangerous villains to assist him in his endeavors would certainly do it.

In any case, they too were part of his group. Which meant there was only one measure that had to be taken.

"Peter, our students, and the former League of Villains, along with the Hero Killer, Stain… every one of them is to be detained as soon as possible. It is certainly no small task, but we have no choice. More and more incidents are popping up every day, and the threat of arrest is beginning to lose its power. More civilians are openly protesting in Peter's favor, regardless of the punishments they face. Moreover, our image is getting worse by the day."

Nezu gripped his lectern tightly. The mousy principal had never looked so serious in all his life, and his employees made sure to take in every little detail of his words.

"Before this entire situation spirals out of control, we must put an end to it." A white paw lifted up a sheet of paper displaying a line graph of criminal/vigilante activity. It was clearly raising, and at an alarming rate. "Before this age of vigilantes runs completely out of control."

.

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This just might be the most important chapter I'll ever write for this story.

To be clear, I will be elaborating more on all this stuff that happened in the last little chunk of the story, this is just meant to serve as a quick little look at how things are going to go. But, there will be a timeskip coming. A super short one, they'll just be picking up at this one-month mark because there really is no need to start right at the beginning. The early days are pretty much just "Hide until the heat dies down, then start helping people and avoid the heroes".

It just works better for the purposes of entertainment to skip to a point where everything actually gets serious. That's the same reason I skipped over Peter's first two weeks in this world.

But yeah, I will be going into more detail on this final segment, so don't worry about that. I know it seems kind of random, but just follow me here. I promise, I'm cooking something good here.

Also, Christopher Drake is not based on anybody. It wasn't until I was almost done that I got curious and wondered if this random name I came up with is shared with somebody else. Apparently, there's a film composer named Christopher Drake. The more you know. I just picked it 'cause it sounded cool.

[1]: In absolutely no way, shape, or form, am I fluent in Urdu, I just figured that if I've got a bunch of kids fighting, I should throw in some insults. Assuming Google hasn't lied to me, "Poolu" means "dick" and "Thevidiya" means "whore".

Anyway, I do apologize that these recent chapters have pretty much just been talking. Ever since the big fight with All Might, it's pretty much only been dialogue. In any case, things will be more exciting from here on out.

Are y'all ready for the leap? This… this is where shit's really gonna get crazy. The time for me to port the rewrite's ideas in is here. Now I just have to make sure I don't mess it up. The whole info dump I promised will be dumped in its own chapter that I'll release like, 5 minutes after this one.

Thank you for reading and please consider leaving a review.

Aren signing off.