And here we are.
The arc that will no doubt define this part of the story, with the biggest change to it, at this point, that might determine the fate of an entire world!
I call this arc:
Back in Black!
Meanwhile, Peter is in excruciating agony from the torture that the Sinister Six has put him under. He's been poisoned by Scorpion, and sent into violent hallucination after hallucination, of his friends and family angry at him, berating him, mocking him for his failures. He's been electrocuted by Electro, burning his skin and almost giving him a heart attack several times. He's had his bones cracked and crushed from punch after punch from Rhino. He's had his skin stabbed, sliced, and cut open by Vulture. And now, he was recovering from the effects of Mysterio's illusions, of Harry, Gwen, and Uncle Ben standing above him, asking him over and over again why he had let them die.
Peter is left a sobbing mess, and is left in the company of Aunt May, who provides as much comfort as she can to him as he recovers from everything that he's been through, even as she is still overcome with confusion with the situation that she is in. May eventually reveals that she already knew that Peter was Spider-Man, and Peter is left to simply cry in both agony from the pain and relief that he didn't have to hide it from her anymore.
However, the monitor in their room would activate to reveal All for One, who would attempt to manipulate Peter into joining him via voicing all of Peter's problems and frustrations with hero society, and would express interest in taking his supposed quirk. Peter, despite being injured to the point of possible delirium, would begin to prob All for One himself, trying to figure out his plans and why he is doing all of this, but is horrified to realise that not only is All for One committing evil for nothing more than its own sake, but he is somehow psychologically incapable of understanding the basic concept of good. He's not a sociopath or even a psychopath, as they can at least feel, acknowledge or understand the concept of love and empathy. All for One is something entirely more twisted.
At least all the villains that he fought had some bigger motivation for wanting to commit villainy, many of which he could understand and even sympathise with at times if they weren't murdering people. All for One had murdered so many people and terrorised countless more for no other reason than just for its own sake, just because he felt like it, and that made him beyond any kind of redemption in Peter's mind.
All for One was a hollow, empty person who committed evil for nothing more than evil's sake, with not even a motivation or reason for him to do so beyond wanting to be evil, and that made him a bigger monster than any of the villains that Peter had ever faced.
However, a possible boon comes to Peter when All for One talks about the stones that Green Goblin has in his possession, and dismisses them as if they are nothing, despite having seen the nearly limitless power of the Space Stone and Reality Stone numerous times, including how they had allowed Goblin to pull people into different realities. Upon hearing this, Peter realises that not only is All for One was incapable of understanding good, but he is so absorbed in his quirks that he cannot acknowledge any power outside of them, meaning that he is psychologically incapable of recognising and accepting the Infinity Stones as a power equal or even greater than a quirk.
Soon enough, All for One disconnects from the call, leaving Peter and May on their own, just as the former is on the brink of death.
Meanwhile, Felicia would lead her group to the Sinister Six's hideout alongside the pro heroes in secret, grabbing them some disguises along the way, many of which would be reminiscent of different Spider-People in a meta sense. Ochako would dress herself up in something similar to Teresa Parker, whilst Kirishima and Tetsutetsu would take up hoodies and jeans similar to Ben Reily. Kendo, meanwhile, would wear something similar to Julia Carpenter, that being a red coat, tracksuits, and glasses, and Midoriya would end up wearing a black hoodie and trouser pair. Soon enough, they were on the move, and heading for Kamino.
Back in the League and Six's hideout, the two main factions would busy themselves with squabbling with each other. However, when Goblin looks to the TV and sees the interview taking place regarding U.A. and Peter's kidnapping (who they still refer to as Spider-Man in order to protect his identity), Goblin quickly realises that this is a ruse and orders Kurogiri to transport them all, including Peter and May, to their secondary hideout. Despite being subordinate to Shigaraki and not Goblin, Kurogiri is forced to obey. Worse yet, Scorpion discovers the first tracker on him and disregards it, leaving it in the bar for the heroes to find.
Soon enough, Felicia's group find that the second tracker recording Scorpion's location has changed from one side of Kamino to the other, and they move to intercept. Izuku, meanwhile, calls up All Might and reveals what has happened, speculating that the heroes may be walking into a trap, but whilst All Might takes this into consideration, Eraserhead, who has been listening to their conversation, expresses his disappointment at the young heroes for going after Peter, but they deny being with Felicia when he asks, explaining that she had escaped on her own.
Soon enough, the heroes raid the bar hideout where the first tracker was leading them, only for them to realise that it has been filled with bombs. Several heroes are wounded in the ensuing blast, and All Might realises that the children are heading right for an assembled fighting force that they will stand no chance against. Radioing Izuku once more, he tracks their signal right to the other end of the city, and moves to join them, an army of heroes behind them.
Meanwhile, Felicia's group makes it to the other hideout, and discover that it is a factory of Nomu, including the ones that would've been deployed to the forest if not for the Sinister Six being there. Nearby, the group find the Sinister Six and League of Villains, all with a captive Peter and May in tow, the latter of whom they plan to use as a hostage, and the former they plan to take away to finally kill a slow and painful death.
However, just before they can make a move, Iida, wearing a disguise resembling that of the Punisher, corners and stops them, preventing them from going any further, as to go against the villains now would be breaking the law, and would make them all villains as well. However, because of his previous vendetta against Peter, he poorly chooses his words, and makes the other students seem like he wanted to leave Peter to die.
This argument only serves to alert the villains to their location, and soon enough the students are forced to scatter and run as the Sinister Six and League of Villains split up to hunt them down, all the while Goblin and Shigaraki argue about what to do next, with Shigaraki wanting to just kill Peter and May and be done with them, and Goblin wanting to take them with, both as hostages and as playthings.
However, soon enough, All Might and the rest of the heroes arrive, and they begin to do battle with the Sinister Six and the League of Villains. However, this time, because All Might has received advanced warning that All for One has returned, he comes equipped with a special set of power armour that he had commissioned from I-Island before David was turned into the Lizard, which he names as the Villainbuster. Of course, soon enough, All for One arrives to do battle with All Might and drop his bombshell about Tomura being Nana's grandson, and the two of them to battle.
However, this battle is complicated by the Green Goblin joining the fight against All Might, and he begins to use the Infinity Gauntlet to beat down on the hero alongside All for One, turning the fight against the number one hero. At the same time, Shigaraki is left to babysit May and Peter, and decides that he has had enough of Goblin telling him what to do, and decides to do away with the two of them by just killing them.
However, before he can, Black Cat and Izuku are able to catch him and knock him out of the fight, allowing them to rescue May and Peter and pull them away.
Unfortunately, Peter is in no condition to move, as he is too wounded and losing way too much blood. Peter is on the verge of death from the constant torture that he has been under, and all that Felicia, Aunt May, and Izuku can do is beg for him to stay with them as he slowly begins to slip away, the life leaving his body.
And that is when One for All, the quirk inside of Izuku that had once been symbiotically linked to him, makes its move.
Finally rejecting Izuku as its holder and moving onto its preferred host, One for All ejects itself from the green-haired boy and emerges as a viscous black goo, transferring over to Peter and covering him in a black suit with white eyes and a white spider logo extending from his front to his back.
One for All is this universe's version of the Symbiote, and it has just bestowed onto Peter his iconic black suit.
Upon being covered in the black suit, which has symbiotically linked to him now (hence his nicknaming of it being a Symbiote) and is rapidly healing his wounds, Peter immediate gets up and ushers Felicia, May, and a depowered Izuku away, and jumps back into the fight.
Peter, now Spider-Man once again, would throw himself against most of the Sinister Six, with the only exclusion being Goblin, and with his new suit and the enhanced strength and powers that it gives him, he proceeds to completely wipe the floor with all five of them and leave them in the dirt, before zipping around to help the other students and heroes with taking down the villains, all of them, including himself, amazed at the strength and power of his new suit, before moving on to assist All Might in taking down All for One and the Green Goblin. In the ensuing battle, All for One would be defeated and captured by All Might, helped by his new Villainbuster suit in making sure that he didn't suffer from the same injuries as in canon, but not before All for One sent the rest of the League of Villains away, save for the Green Goblin and his Sinister Six as retribution for Goblin's previous betrayal. Soon enough, Goblin would be beaten by the new black suited Spider-Man and lose his Infinity Gauntlet, forced to go on the run and abandon his minions to the heroes.
The heroes would come out of this day with an almost total win, save for the injured heroes and the League of Villains escaping. The Nomu warehouse would be raided and occupied, and all the Nomu inside incarcerated, alongside five of the Sinister Six who had been taken out by Spider-Man, that being Vulture, Electro, Mysterio, Rhino, and Scorpion. Spider-Man's injuries would be healed by the Symbiote suit, now having been fully bonded to him, and everyone would be amazed by his newfound strength and power thanks to it. Peter would thank Izuku for lending him his power, but Izuku would remain silent on the matter.
Before Peter can question Izuku further on the matter, though, Aizawa would approach the gathering of students, including Peter, and express his anger and disappointment at the students for running off to try and rescue Peter, for going against the heroes, acting as vigilantes, breaking the law, and going up against villains who would've killed them without any hesitation. All of this is enough for him to not only expel them, but have them all arrested as well, especially for working with a known criminal like Felicia Hardy.
And then he does. He expels them all.
However, before he can then hand them off to the police, a woman, just a few years older than Peter himself, would walk onto the field, flanked by the number two hero Endeavor, and two guards wearing the colours of the Japanese Diet, the ruling governmental body of Japan.
She is Adriana 'Ana' Soria, the youngest woman to ever work for the Japanese Diet.
Aizawa is about to say something to her, but Adriana ignores him and goes right for Peter, sending him a smile and shaking his hand, thanking the young hero for taking down the Sinister Six and saving many lives on this day. She says to him that she likes his new Black Suit, and would also encourage him to keep it, saying that it looks good on him.
However, Peter would only respond awkwardly to her, cautious of this strange woman who seemed way too young to be in politics of government offices of any kind.
Aizawa would demand to know why Adriana is here, and she simply replies that she wished to congratulate them on a job well done. U.A. must be teaching its students well. That must've been what Aizawa was talking to them about, of course. It would be the height of stupidity to punish them for simply acting like the heroes that they were. Aizawa recognises the jab, and responds that how he punishes his students, or rather, his ex-students, is up to him. Adriana retorts by asking if that was so, and commenting that teachers usually have to answer to a set of rules when doling out punishments to their students, and that it wasn't up to a teacher alone to decide that. She'd had to start consulting U.A. to find out if that was the truth.
But then again, if Aizawa didn't want them, then she could always just pick them up and take them under her wing instead.
Aizawa recognises the threat in both those comments and is forced to back off, and Adriana makes a comment about hoping to see them on their work studies soon enough. Another hidden threat, only this time Aizawa doesn't budge on his stance, and demands to know from the students where Felicia Hardy is.
Adriana simply asks 'Who?', and the students, recognising her cover, go along with it, as Felicia Hardy slipped away the moment that Peter and the heroes won the battle.
Angered, but forced to keep it to himself, Aizawa orders his former students home, promising that there would be consequences for this. Adriana smiles and directs that threat to their enemies (another veiled threat), and walks with the students off back to F.E.A.S.T., where they go to rest after a long night. Along the way, she congratulates them on their efforts, and says that even if U.A. expels them, they will always have a possible future in the Japanese Diet, and promises the wipe the black mark from their records, protecting their futures.
Peter and the students, however, are unsure of how to really process all of this, as they have all just been expelled from U.A., and their former teacher would've had them all arrested for trying to help their friend. This has left them all rattled and demoralised, Iida especially, and Peter apologises profusely for having forced them all to be kicked out.
But the students are quick to point out that it's their attempt to rescue Peter, their friend, that they don't regret. If they had been given the chance to do it all over again, they'd take it in a heartbeat, regardless of the consequences.
And yet, despite Adriana's support for them, the consequences of their actions are finally hitting them.
This will probably go down as one of the most controversial changes to MHA's plot for this story, in my opinion, and one that will no doubt demand explanation.
So, remember in the first arc of this story, where Spider-Man and Sandman were having their conversation and Flint mentioned All for One? And remember how All Might was overhearing that particular conversation, meaning that he now had forewarning that All for One is back in the game?
Well, as the saying goes, forewarned is forearmed, and All Might had something that Batman wishes that he had: Prep time.
(If you've watched any of Solid JJ's videos, you know.)
Remember, in canon, All Might had a suspicion that All for One was back because of the nomu that he'd fought against at the USJ, but that was just a suspicion. He only had proper confirmation of this by the time of the Kamino Incident, and that was when he had to fight against All for One and end his career.
However, this All Might has had time in advance to prepare for his inevitable confrontation with All for One, and, let me just remind you, in canon he fought against All for One again, in his weakened state, in a giant robot (still think that was an arse-pull just to force a confrontation between All Might and All for One without allowing All Might to show off his tactical smarts and general intelligence when it comes to being a hero, but oh well) made by Melissa from I-Island. I feel like if he had enough time to get a suit of armour for himself to counteract his own weaknesses and defeat All for One without ending his career, or at least formulate a strategy good enough to circumvent his time limit and come out against All for One with a win greater than the one in canon.
(By the way, his armour, which you know to be the Villainbuster, is obviously based on Iron Man's Hulkbuster armour, just in All Might's colours, that being red and yellow and blue.)
However, as a consequence of All Might winning this battle without his crippling injuries, that means that, in the aftermath of the battle, hero society does not go through its massive cultural shift from relying on All Might to not (which may or may not become a plot point later on), but it also means that Aizawa has no reason to keep the students who went off on their vigilante mission into Kamino in U.A..
Remember that in canon, Aizawa said that the only reason that he was allowing Midoriya and the others who went into U.A., as well as those who knew about it, was because of All Might's retirement and the chaos that it caused. Here, now, with All Might not suffering from his career-ending injuries and the peace that he has been holding up still holding strong, Aizawa has no such need to keep them around, hence the immediate expulsion.
Now, originally, I was planning on just keeping Peter and his lot in U.A. thanks to Adriana protecting them. However, that left a bad taste in my mouth, and it left me with the impression that if I did that, then that would just set the example to Peter and his friends that they are above consequences and can do whatever they want without repercussions. Here, while they are being kicked out of U.A., they are at least being protected from being thrown in prison. That's good enough for me.
Plus, I feel like the rest of the story wouldn't have worked well enough if Peter and the others had stayed in U.A.. Let's be honest, Peter probably wouldn't have stayed in U.A. for long, not when the Infinity Stones and his villains are still out there, wreaking havoc. At best, he'd only stay there for a month longer before going vigilante once more out of impatience and a need to write his self-imposed wrongs. I feel like this way, with him being forced out of U.A. and kept under the eyes of the heroes, it can make a much more interesting story, and with his friends being divided between being in and out of U.A., it could provide more exploration of the central themes of this story through the juxtaposition of these points of view and how many of these characters are forced to look at hero society and explore its pros and cons, and how they will have to operate in a world that has turned against them.
(I'm not kicking out the people who did know about the plan to go to Kamino, though. They were much fewer in canon, and I'd rather Momo and the others stay in U.A. as a point of narrative focus rather than out on their own and leaving the happenings of U.A. in the background.)
But with all that said and done, let's move on to: the Black Suit! That's right, in this universe, One for All is this story's version of the Symbiote, and has just given to Peter Parker one of his most iconic Spider-Man suits in existence!
…Ah ha ha.
Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
AH HA HA HA HA HA HA!
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
I'm having fun with this.
If any of you guessed from the previous chapters that One for All's differences from canon to this story would lead to this, then good job! You all get a cookie!
So yeah, One for All is this universe's Symbiote... oh, the plans I have for the future, my friends. The plans I have...
Also, third point: Adriana Soria!
Oh, I have such plans for her as well...
(Also, at this point, I want to add in a retcon that has Ochako meeting Izuku and Peter before U.A. and in F.E.A.S.T. due to her family's poor financial situation. Gives me an excuse to have her train a bit under Spider-Man and explain why she is stronger earlier on than in canon, and maybe a little bit snarkier too.)
But with all that said and done, thank you very much for reading, and I'll see you in the next arc!