Oh don't mind me, I'm just dying from the heat right now. I hate Summer, man...
But anyway, as we continue to approach the long-awaited finale to series three of this story, we come to another end, to one of this series' most prominent storylines within series three and the foundations for the beginning of a brand new one...
I present to you: Calling!
With Overhaul's bounty looming over the heads of every spider-person, from Peter to Momo all the way to Miles and Anya, all of them are forced to contend with bounty hunters, eager villains, and vengeful heroes alike as they find themselves under siege from all angles.
With Inko, she is unable to take back ownership of the warehouses for her F.E.A.S.T. project due to the current chaos in the government thanks to the Hearts and Minds party being exposed as corrupt and dissolving, followed by a series of withdraws, resignations, and purges of government officials, leaving much of the remaining Japanese Diet in a state of chaos and unable to prioritise her request due to the bureaucracy being strangled and mangled thanks to the purges. S.I.L.K. would step in to fill the power vacuum in an attempt to help stabilise the situation, but as it stood, right now the country has been left in a state of uncertainty, bordering on the brink of lawlessness, and no one has the time to look over a matter of real estate when the country needs to be lifted up from all the chaos. All Might is doing his best, but at this point, even his overwhelming presence and the cult of personality that has been formed around him can only do so much to heal the damage.
Worse yet, Inko and Aunt May are subject to harassment because of their connection to the Spider-Gang, with many aggressors seeking to use them as a way to draw out the Spider-Gang, resulting in the two women becoming the target of multiple attacks. As a result, Izuku and Keemia, along with the rest of the Spider-Gang, help relocate them to the old warehouses where F.E.A.S.T. was supposed to operate, abandoning the Midoriya apartment...
Which was subsequently raided by the last of Overhaul's loyal minions, Mimic and Chronostasis, looking for proof on where they might have gone.
Elsewhere, Peter continues to look over and protect the Morales family and friends, helping them to keep their heads down as bounty hunters and mercenaries of all sorts patrol Eradu, looking for any trace of a spider-person in the area and threatening to go door to door if they do. Once again, Eradu is in crisis, and the spiders must conceal themselves if they truly want to help, something that Peter, Miles, and Anya very much do not enjoy the possibility of.
But during this time, Peter talks with Miles and Anya, and they discuss what they are supposed to be doing with their lives and their powers. Miles and Anya still do not know, but begin to feel themselves drifting more to the vigilante route as their world begins to break down around them. They ask Peter to show them the ropes, and whilst Peter is unsure if he is comfortable training another round of spider-people, he decides to take them up on it.
So, the three of them find a derelict old building to use as a training base, and Peter begins to show Miles and Anya how to use their powers. Ganke and Mattie, the Spider-Man fanboy and girl respectively that they are, tag along with them to watch, with Mattie even learning some skills with how to use her spider mutations (the four arms on her back) to fight as well.
During this time, the lot of them talk as they train, with Peter sharing with Miles and Anya his story and how he became Spider-Man. The two of them are unsettled by how early Peter started his career as Spider-Man, that being twelve (Miles and Anya are both thirteen as of the present), and everything that he has had to go through and suffer throughout his years of vigilantism. Peter tells them that those events that he experienced made him the person that he is today, that they shaped him into the hero that he is now, but Miles and Anya are not so certain. The prospect of having to suffer to become a spider-person, to lose people close to them just to learn what it means to be a hero... it doesn't sit right with them. Peter tells them that he doesn't believe that, but they wonder if he believes it about himself.
There is a underlying theme in Peter's story throughout series three of this story: an underlying deconstruction about Peter's guilt complex, and how it affects him and the people around him. Peter has been running on guilt ever since Uncle Ben died, and his entire philosophy of 'With great power comes great responsibility' is centred around this guilt. A guilt that has been built upon with each tragedy that he goes through and each misery that he is put through.
But here, Peter lost Uncle Ben and got his spider powers when he was twelve years old. Twelve. He wasn't even a teen when he began taking on the mantle of Spider-Man, and instead of being portrayed as a cool thing for a child to do (something that you'd see in the usual cartoon or anime around high school children fighting to save the world), it is instead shown as a largely traumatising experience that has left tons of emotional and mental scars in Peter's psyche, which is only worsened by the typical horrors and suffering that anyone wearing the Spider-Man mantle has to go through.
As it turns out, a child acting as a superhero tends to lead to that child gaining severe issues as they grow up.
But elsewhere, the Midoriya family and the rest of the Spider-Gang find themselves under siege from all angles, as bounty hunters of all kinds begin to attack anyone who wears the mask of a spider-person. Future operations against the MLA has meant that S.I.L.K. now has very few agents that they can spare to fend off the bounty hunters, even with Twice in their corner, and many people have engaged in vigilante action to try and stave off the bounty hunters. Peter is displeased by all this, wanting to take action, but Adriana has to force him to lay low. If he goes out into the public, it will only bring down even worse heat on him than they can manage, especially with Overhaul and his goons still running about. Right now, All Might is busy trying to suppress as many of the bounty hunters as he can, but a lot of them are former heroes that have been screwed over by the events that have been happening throughout the story, and they know how to work the system to their advantage to force All Might off their backs. There's only so much that even the number one hero can do, even with his Villain Buster suit and especially with his time being able to use One for All effectively less than an hour at this point.
Ever since Spider-Man arrived in MHA's world, things have only been getting worse and worse. It's not exactly Peter's fault that things are like this, but the unstable power of the Infinity Stones combined with his vast array of rogues, combined with a society that was inherently unstable due to how it was designed... it has led to a tinderbox of a situation that's only just started to catch alight.
Miles is left fearing for his family's safety, and whilst Anya tries to do her best to assure him, he is still left feeling unsure...
Meanwhile, Eri continues to talk with Zero, now with Katsuma alongside her. Katsuma has got better at controlling the Symbiote inside him, the benevolent personality known as Sleeper, which Katsuma realises must've been gifted to him by Venom all the way back on Nabu Island. Eri, however, is still having trouble interacting with, or even summoning her Symbiote, the splintered fragment of One for All still sheltering inside her and refusing to come out. Eri is unsure of what to do, but Zero assures her not to worry about it. The Symbiote will reveal itself to her, in time.
Possibly sooner than later...
Miles, meanwhile, confides to his family his worries, without revealing his own identity as the Spider-Man imposter, and also tells them of his uncertainty of what his life and his future is supposed to be. Both Jefferson and Rio tell him that they will be proud of him no matter what he chooses, and that he doesn't need to worry about what to do with his life just yet, but Miles is still uncertain...
However, he does find some help from Uncle Aaron, though it isn't what he expected. Aaron simply tells him that he can't spend his entire life wondering what will happen to him in the future, and he needs to just let things happen when they happen. Wherever it's for good or bad, he needs to just do what he feels is right. Miles can't help but find some comfort in that.
Elsewhere, the rest of the Spider-Gang hold up in the old warehouses at the docks, their allies in Koichi, Soga, and Black Cat helping to run them supplies as they weather out the storm. This time together allows them to talk with each other and express what they think and how they feel.
In particular, Inko finally finds the words to express how she feels about everything that has happened around her and her family, with the drama around F.E.A.S.T., Aunt May's plight, and Izuku gaining a quirk, only for that quirk becoming a monster and then starting a damn apocalypse, only for Izuku to end up gaining another quirk in the form of Anti-Venom, all the while that same quirk monster from before is now bonded to his best friend, and Keemia...
Well, Inko has no issue with Keemia.
All the same, it's too much. It's so much stress that Inko feels that she can't even breathe sometimes. Izuku and Ochako try to do their best to comfort her, but it is still incredibly tiring and anxiety-inducing for her, and she doesn't know what to do.
However, she does eventually talk to Aunt May about it, who confesses that she will always be worried about her Peter, especially now, but has to live with the fact that Peter has made his choice about what he wants to do with his life, and all she can do now is respect that choice and support him nonetheless. She will always be worried about him, yes, but she will support him no matter what.
This gives Inko a lot of think about.
Meanwhile, Izuku, Ochako, and Keemia talk with each other, and come clean about what they feel about each other. The three of them feel very unsure and uncertain about how they feel for each other, but it isn't a bad feeling, they conclude. Unsure of what to do, the three of them decide to wait until all the chaos and uncertainty has passed over before they can sort it out with each other.
But elsewhere, Overhaul learns of the location of the Spider-Gang, and begins to make his first move. At once, his remaining agents and bounty hunters, heroes and villains alike, move on the warehouses to begin their attack and claim the money on their heads (money that Chisaki has no intention on giving them, simply planning on killing them once their usefulness has expired), whilst he and his last lieutenants, Chronostasis and Mimic, go to Eradu and finally take back what belongs from him from the family that has cost him so much.
And maybe they'll get to kill a few spiders along the way.
Back in Eradu, Spider-Man talks to Kendo and Rappa, who have stayed in the district to help protect the people living there from Overhaul's bounty hunters and mercenaries. Kendo informs Peter of the Shie Hassaikai's movements in the criminal underworld, and makes it clear that things are escalating really quickly. Overhaul is beyond desperate at this point, and likely planning on making one last move to capture Eri. Whatever is going on, it will happen very soon.
And then, it happens.
Overhaul gives the command, and an army of pro hero bounty hunters march on the warehouses, while he and his two remaining minions made their move on Eradu, sending in the remaining villain bounty hunters under their control to do so.
At the warehouse, the Spider-Gang suddenly find themselves surrounded by an army of pro heroes, demanding that they surrender themselves to be arrested. The Spider-Gang easily guess what they are really here to do, and the pro hero bounty hunters quickly put the warehouse to siege, forcing the spider-people and assorted associates to defend themselves from the money-greedy fighters.
Meanwhile, in Eradu, Spider-Man, Kendo, and Rappa find the streets suddenly swarming with villains, searching for them and threatening to start knocking heads together if the spiders are not found. Realising that the villains weren't going to stop until they were found, the three decide to break their cover and begin taking down the villains, working alongside Officer Jefferson and Eradu's police to help stop them, and even receiving assistance from the Prowler as they go.
However, back at the Morales household, Miles and Anya find their home being attacked by Mimic and Chronostasis, and are forced to take up their masks once more to try and fight back against the two corrupt pro heroes...
And inside the Morales homestead, Eri is cornered by Overhaul, demanding that she return to him, to where she belongs.
Spider-Man and the Prowler, meanwhile, are almost overwhelmed by the numbers and the violent eagerness of the bounty hunters, though they quickly realise what is going on and give Kendo and Rappa the chance that they need to break away and head to the Morales household to protect Eri and the Morales family from Overhaul. However, Rappa, too blinded by his need for battle and the effects of his own quirk, goes barrelling off to chase down the big fight, with Kendo having to pursue him to try and get him to calm down.
At the Morales home, Miles and Anya continue to battle against Mimic and Chronostasis, with even Mattie landing in a good hit on them with what she learnt from Spider-Man, but they find themselves being overwhelmed by the two corrupt pro heroes due to their quirks and experience. Meanwhile, Eri finds herself at the mercy of Overhaul, who plans on dragging her back to his base to be made into quirk-erasing bullets, kicking and screaming. Rio is able to land a hit on Overhaul with a kitchen knife, but she is swatted aside by Overhaul, which in of itself prompts a reaction of rage, not from Eri...
But from Katsuma, whom transforms into Sleeper and attacks Overhaul.
Miles and Anya see this, and move to try and protect Eri and Rio as Sleeper fights the head of the Shie Hassaikai, only for Chronostasis to hit them with his quirk and pull out a six shooter, nailing them both in the stomach, and moves to kill Rio for interfering with their plans-
Only for Rappa to run up and land a punch on Chronostasis, his quirk overriding his logic and senses and causing him to attack everyone around him, friend and foe alike. Kendo arrives to try and stop him, but even she isn't enough to calm him down. Not this time.
Not until Overhaul defeats Sleeper and tosses him aside like cheap trash. Not until the corrupt pro hero, the head of the Shie Hassaikai, reaches for Eri, and not until Rappa finally finds the strength within himself to overcome the mental effects of his quirk and throw himself in the way of the young girl...
And Overhaul disassembles him, murdering his former minion.
Back at the warehouse, the Spider-Gang find themselves surrounded by an increasing number of bounty hunters, slowly being pushed back into the warehouses and on the verge of being overwhelmed by their opponents...
But then, reinforcements arrive. Koichi, Soga, and Black Cat arrive, accompanied by all the former patrons of F.E.A.S.T., all the people that Inko and the others have sheltered and saved for so long, now ready to return the favour.
Suddenly, it is no longer a battle between the Spider-Gang and the bounty hunters.
It is a battle between villains and heroes, good guys and bad guys.
And this time, it is the good guys that come out on top.
But back in Eradu, Eri is shocked by her former captor's sacrifice, and Kendo is enraged at her uncle's death, lashing out at Overhaul only to be swatted aside, leaving Miles and Anya bleeding on the ground as Rio tries to tend to them.
Overhaul is at his limit at this point and absorbs Rappa's biomass into himself, and then kills ad absorbs Mimic and Chronostasis as well, out of blind anger and as punishment for their failure to capture Eri and kill the Spiders. Now transformed into a hulking monster, Overhaul declares that he is going to put the entire Morales family, and every single spider-person, to death for standing against him, and reaches down to claim Eri in his massive hand-
Only for Eri to swat it aside with a giant fist made of Symbiote ooze.
Eri is angry. Angry at what happened to her in the past, angry at Rappa sacrificing himself, angry at her adoptive family being attacked again and again, and enraged at Overhaul for trying to hurt her and the people that she loved over and over and over again...
And it is this anger that allows her to call forth the Symbiote inside her, the black goo covering her and transforming her from a young girl into a fully-grown woman with a muscular obsidian body, a spiky head, sharpened claws, spiked elbows and kneecaps, boots and gloves covering her feet and hands, and a bright white spider logo covering her chest.
Eri looks up at Overhaul and snarls, feeling mania spreading through her.
And that is what Eri calls herself.
Mania.
Mania leaps up and attacks the ginormous Overhaul amalgamation, throwing enlarged punches and kicks and wildly crashing into the monster, sending the villain reeling back as she continued to attack her former captor. At the same time, both Miles and Anya find the strength to get back up, their stomach wounds patched over by Rio, and the two, alongside Kendo and Sleeper, help Mania in beating the snot out of Overhaul, taking him apart piece by piece, tearing off all the biomass that he had pulled onto himself, and then throwing him down into the ground, hard enough to leave a crater and Overhaul bloody and broken.
And then, as Mania stands over Overhaul with sharpened fingers like claws, ready to deliver the finishing blow and end this whelp's life-
She feels a hand on her shoulder, and looks back to see Rio, Katsuma, and Miles under his suit, silently begging her to save herself.
And then she looks down at the barely conscious Overhaul, muttering to himself how he wants to see his boss and how he wants to make him proud.
Not that he regrets anything, not that he apologises. Just that he wants to see his boss again. The boss that he himself put into a coma.
Mania drops him, finally letting go of her fear of him and realises that he wasn't worth it.
And then she shrinks back down, from Mania to Eri, and allows herself to fall into the arms of her mother and friends, just as Spider-Man, the Prowler, and Jefferson finally arrive.
("I really need to stop showing up late to these things," Peter mutters to himself, "It's becoming a habit.")
Later, the Spider-Gang, after having cleared off and beaten up the last of the bounty hunters to be carted off by S.I.L.K., eventually get together in the old warehouses, helping to repair the buildings alongside the many former residents of F.E.A.S.T., bringing them back up to operating capacity. At the same time, the group continues to bond and share their experiences with each other, especially when Peter eventually joins them, bringing Miles and Anya along with them, as well as Kendo, Eri, and Katsuma.
Days later, the gang join Kendo in attending her uncle's funeral, doing their best to comfort her as Eri plants flowers on the man's grave, mourning for him and the sacrifice he was forced to make, whilst Miles thinks back to this sacrifice and promises that he won't let anyone in his family won't be force to make the same decision...
Just as Adriana talks with Doctor Octopus about how she was able to kill Overhaul to get his quirk, and to begin putting the plan into motion. Once the MLA are dealt with, there will be nothing that can stand in their way.
You know, Eri becoming Mania was something that I've been wanting to get to since this fic summary's beginning. From the start, ever since I started exploring the Symbiotes and their origins, I've always pictured Eri not just gaining a Symbiote, but also becoming this universe's version of Mania as much as I did Katsuma becoming Sleeper.
And now we're here, having finally reached that point, and I feel like I've just accomplished something massive when the real big turning point in this story is barely the blink of an eye away!
But anyway, here's to the conclusion to Overhaul's storyline and the final downfall of the Shie Hassaikai, and now, as we approach the final endgame of series three, we move onto the S.I.L.K. storyline and all the revelations that will come with it.
Next time, we deal with the fallout from both the end of Momo's storyline and the fall of the Shie Hassaikai as our heroes catch their breath and take a breather to collect themselves, all whilst warnings of the coming calamity begin to loom tall over them...
But until then, Titanmaster 117 out!