As we inch closer and closer to series three's explosive finale, our heroes take some time to count their blessings, take stock of what they have, and finally share their experiences, woes and joys with their friends and family...
All the while unaware of the war that is building on the horizon.
Introducing the latest arc: …As Dreams Are Made On...
In the aftermath of Rappa's funeral and the report of Overhaul's death in custody (ruled to be a suicide), the Spider-Gang move to pick up the pieces and try to rebuild their shattered lives.
Izuku and Keemia go to help Inko and Aunt May rebuild the Midoriya residence whilst Ochako and Black Cat help to set up Momo in a new home whilst she temporarily lives in the U.A. campus before it shuts down. Kendo returns to her family's dojo to mourn her uncle's passing, and is accompanied by Panda-Mania, Hippo, and Gibbon, the three ex-villains having adopted a strange form of sibling relationship. Ben Reily ends up going out into the world to try and find signs of Aizawa, who is still missing and in possession of the Mind Stone, whilst Mr. Compress, Gentle Criminal, and La Brava would work to help raise money with Spider-Man's various fans and supporters to help in the rebuilding efforts for all the chaos that has happened over the last several months.
Peter, meanwhile, would end up meeting up with the former Spider-Gang members that are now agents of S.I.L.K., that being Jessica Drew, Kirishima, Tetsutetsu, and Twice. The four of them greet him well, and Peter and Jessica get to talking about working with Adriana as part of S.I.L.K., or rather under her.
Here, Peter expresses his doubts as to working under Adriana, and shares what happened during the Second War of the Symbiotes and how Adriana had killed Toga right then and there. Peter understands that Toga had regained consciousness and tried to attack Ochako/She-Venom, probably with a lethal blow as well. He can at least acknowledge that. However, he's taken down people just like that in that exact same situation, and that there were very clearly ways that Toga could've been taken down nonlethally, especially with all the spider-people around with their spider-senses.
And honestly, it was a needless death. Toga shouldn't have had to die to see justice. As unrepentant a mass-murderer she was, it wasn't fair to the victims to see her go without seeing any sort of real comeuppance, without her being able to understand why what she did was wrong.
Jessica, however, discusses her own view on the subject, in that Adriana wasn't exactly wrong to take Toga's life. Like Peter said, Toga was an unrepentant mass-murderer. There was no changing that. She was an utterly unrepentant person who took joy in killing others and infecting them with the Carnage Symbiote. Not only that, but there probably wouldn't have ever been a prison that could hold her. Not when she was infected with the Carnage Symbiote. Jessica knows from Peter's memories (remember, she's a clone of Peter Parker in this story) how paper-thin the prisons back in his universe are, and she has no doubt that they would've been the same for a Carnage-empowered Toga as well. Peter points out that Izuku's Anti-Venom had destroyed the Carnage Symbiote, though Jessica retorts that Izuku had also developed his Anti-Venom Symbiote from seemingly out of nowhere. They had lucked out with Izuku being on their side, who knows what could've happened if Toga had developed her own as well.
But Peter retorts that people can change, even the worst of people. Black Cat, Panda-Mania, Gibbon, Hippo, Gentle Criminal and La Brava, they used to be criminals, now they're good people doing good things for others. Hell, look at Venom, once the monster perpetrating the First War of the Symbiotes, now bonded with Ochako and working as a hero, and while he didn't like or agree with their methods, he could at least see how they were helping people as long as they weren't going around killing anyone that they liked. People could change, as long as they were given the chance to do so.
Jessica then asked about those who didn't want to change. Peter replied that they would then do whatever they had to do, and Jessica responds that maybe that was what Adriana was doing as well.
Peter counters by reiterating that either way, no matter if Toga could change or not, it wasn't fair to her victims for her to die without real justice being doled out to her. Look at what happened to Iida before he died. He never got to see Stain being brought to justice, and it led him down the dark path to becoming the Punisher. Toga's victims would never see satisfaction in seeing the woman being brought to justice, and instead, they might start trying to take said justice into their own hands. Just like Iida had.
Jessica wants to ask about if those same people would take satisfaction in hearing of Toga's death, but stops herself, slightly alarmed. It's not a normal thought for her.
(A lot of this is my own take on the ageold conversation about the morality of heroes in comics, and if they should kill their villains, in that this is me trying to lay out both sides of the argument and give them mutual reasons for why they think the way they think, whether it be about one side of the argument or the other. Personally, I am on Peter's side of the argument in many ways, but I can understand why others would take the other side.)
Peter and Jessica then depart, each one feeling unsatisfied with the conversation. Jessica has a brief talk with Adriana about it, and Adriana makes it clear that she'll have a word with Peter about it later. Jessica is uncertain about her own side of the conversation, but suddenly the air smells sweet like honey again, and she drops the thought.
Elsewhere, Ochako, Izuku, and Keemia help with running errands around Musufatu in helping to rebuild both the Midoriya apartment and the warehouses, and assisting the likes of Ryukyu and Gang Orca in the ongoing repairs to all the buildings that have been damaged during the continuous battles that have been taking place over the last year. During this time, the three would come across many people who have grown disillusioned with hero society and trying to come to terms with the chaos that has been raging over Japan for the last year. Worryingly, they also discover that those same people are utterly devoted to All Might and his legend, creating an utterly confusing sense of cognitive dissonance.
All Might's legend and reputation has grown to the point of mass delusion. So much of hero society has fractured and collapsed, so much corruption has been exposed, so much destruction has been wrought, and so many people have died. I-Island, Kraven's Last Hunt, the fall of the HPSC, the First and Second Wars of the Symbiotes, the purge of all of Tartarus, U.A.'s reputation being destroyed by Mister Negative, the exposure of the Shie Hassaikai, the recently concluded War of the Bounty Hunters and the mass exposure of corrupt heroes and the criminals and opportunists that hide within their ranks...
So much has happened and so many people's lives have been shattered and/or lost, and in such a short amount of time. People are clinging so desperately to the idea of All Might and the protection that he brings because it is the only thing that they still recognise as being stable and secure.
If that image was to shatter... then who knows what will happen?
But other concerns rattle the minds of Ochako, Izuku, and Keemia. That being their attraction to each other. Izuku is befuddled by how he feels for two women at the same time, Keemia is much more accepting about how she feels, and Ochako is confused by her feelings and how she can be in love with both a man and a woman. Venom, having no experience at all in the field of romance and relationships beyond mutual symbiosis, isn't of much help.
But then, she talks with Black Cat, who regals her own discovery and exploration of her own bisexuality, and compares it to Ochako's own struggles. Felicia encourages Ochako to embrace who she is and accept the parts of her that she is still unsure of, including her own sexuality. Don't let anyone tell her anything else. Ochako is still unsure of how she feels, but Black Cat simply tells her to explore and try.
And so, she decides to do just that. She meets up later with Izuku and Keemia. They talk. They laugh. They share stories and express themselves.
They express how they feel.
They confide with each other.
And then, Ochako kisses the two of them, both Izuku and Keemia, and then prompts them to kiss each other.
It all feels right.
Elsewhere, in the second U.A. grounds, the remaining teachers are discussing what to do with themselves and trying to figure out where to safely move the students still under their care, whilst Momo and Hatsume are embracing each other and watching S.I.L.K. agents cart away boxes of school utilities and equipment from their dorms in preparation for the academy's closure at the end of the month. Their friends have gathered around to watch the proceedings unfold.
Momo takes the time to destress, stepping away from her work on the Future Foundation, having been put on hold in the aftermath of the MLA's exposure to the world, to take in everything that has happened to her, to all of them. Aizawa turning into Mister Negative and taking over U.A. through his Inner Demons and two Wars of the Symbiotes, not to mention the Meta Liberation Army being exposed to the world and their efforts to sabotage her, the various bounty hunters that had gone after her and the other Spider-People, and then her family being revealed to have been major supporters of the MLA before their arrest and her own forsaking of the Yaoyorozu name, leaving her as just Momo.
Momo can hardly believe that all of this and so much more has happened in such a short amount of time. This is the first time that she's really been able to catch her breath and think over it all. And she has Hatsume to thank for that. She cannot thank Hatsume enough for what she has done for her.
Hatsume simply responds that she can start by kissing her, to which Momo obliges. Nearby, Mina swoons with glee at the sight, and Sero, Shinso, Maina, and Todoroki merely chuckle at the sight.
But then, as Hatsume and Momo continue to embrace each other, the two comforting each other as they destressed, the rest of Class 1-A and B, or at least what is left of them, begin to talk about everything that has happened to them, including Bakugo and his transformation into a Symbiote, followed by his disappearance, before then talking about the other departures from U.A. and how many of their friends have left them now. Mina misses Hagakure and Kirishima's companionship, Ibara states that she misses Kodai and Reiko's presence, Sato states that he feels lost without Koda around, Tokoyami and Dark Shadow mourn Shoji's presence, Kaminari wishes that he had taken the time to actually ask out Jirou when he had the chance, and even Ojiro states that it feels so quiet without Kinoko and Mineta's loud presence. Even Pony and Aoyama have left to return to America and France respectively.
Over half of their friends in the hero course alone have left already. First with Peter Parker and his friends being kicked out of U.A. after the fracas at Kamino, and now with what Aizawa did to them and U.A. closing down. Even with 1-A and 1-B being merged together (something that Monoma isn't terribly pleased about to say the least), their classroom feels so empty and hollow. Not only that, but almost everyone in the other course, from support to management to general education, have run for the hills, performing a mass exodus after what happened with Aizawa to different schools, leaving the rest of U.A., even in its new, smaller grounds, quiet and solemn in its emptiness.
Then, the question arises of what they are supposed to do now. The last year has put their prospects of becoming a hero into question, and now with U.A. being shut down, their chances of graduating any hero school to become pros had dropped significantly. Even if they went to join another hero school, everything that had happened to them over the last year, as well as all the shortcomings and stops that had been made in their education during all of it, they would be seriously behind on what is being taught and what they are supposed to know...
Do they even want to be heroes anymore?
Originally, they would've all answered an unanimous yes, that they all wanted to be heroes. But now, with the fall of the HPSC and the exposure of just how much corruption was in the hero ranks, on top of Aizawa becoming Mister Negative and brainwashing them into his minions for a time, which has only served to traumatise them and leave them questioning themselves, now they are not so sure. Many of them begin considering following their former classmates out of heroics and into the civilian life.
Tsuyu, however, is desperate to cling to any sense of normalcy in her life, and their lives by extension, and tries to steer the conversation away from the subject and onto more simpler topics. The others, however, are not so eager to change the subject, and they question why Tsuyu wants to avoid it. Tsuyu simply says that she finds it uncomfortable, and the others retort that just because she finds it uncomfortable doesn't mean that she can avoid it. They need to think about their futures now, and what they can salvage from the mess that this year has been. Tsuyu simply tells them that All Might will sort something out for them, and that is instantly enough to please many of them. Not all of them, though. Not all of them.
Meanwhile, Momo and Hatsume continue to hold each other, and that is when Momo asks Hatsume what else she can do, to which the inventor tells her creator girlfriend that she can talk to Peter. An actual talk this time, not like last time they spoke, because she'd left on bad ground with bad words, so to speak. Momo is hesitant, but decides to agree, thanking her once more for everything that she has done for her, and Todoroki as well for his part in it all. Todoroki waves it off, declaring it to be nothing.
But it is this conversation that draws the attention of the rest of the group, and it gets them thinking.
Ever since his miraculous arrival in Japan over a year ago, every major battle and conflict within Japan has always involved Spider-Man in some shape or form. From his clash with Sandman to his enemies showing up in the USJ, to I-Island, Kamino, Kraven's Last Hunt, the fall of the HPSC, both Wars of the Symbiotes, and now the War of the Bounty Hunters and the exposure of all the corruption within hero society itself. Sure, he wasn't involved with every fight, not entirely. The battle in Hosu, Aizawa's madness, and the exposure of the MLA came to mind.
But...
Japan has seen more violence and chaos and shakeups to hero society in the last year than it has ever since All Might's return.
And almost all of it can be traced back to Spider-Man.
Momo, Hatsume, and the rest of their friends are quick to shoot that theory down. None of that is Peter Parker's fault. It's his enemies. All his friends in U.A. are also aware of his past as a dimension hopper and how he had been brought here, along with his enemies, by the Green Goblin, so it really was the fault of his enemies, not him.
But they don't tell the others that because they know that they won't believe it, and despite their words, half of their remaining classmates cannot help but stew in the aftermath of the chaos and how their worlds have been thrown into uncertainty by the madness that Spider-Man and his enemies have brought. They know that logically, it isn't Peter's fault. They can understand that. But emotionally? They have had their lives upturned and thrown into disarray, and they need someone to blame for it.
They are left in a state of exhausted frustration, bitter over their lot in life and how it has fallen apart so quickly, and desperately searching for a way to salvage it all...
Including Tsuyu, who contacts Adriana in private to give her an update on U.A.'s remaining population. Tsuyu, who is so tired of the chaos and the uncertainty and just wants things to go back to normal. Tsuyu, who just wants her family, her little siblings, to be safe.
Tsuyu, who believes Adriana when she says that she will keep them all safe.
Elsewhere, All Might sits in his tower in contemplation, looking over the world and all that it has become. He is disquieted by all that has happened, and discomforted by how cultish his reputation has become in the eyes of the people, how much of a deity he has become to the desperate and the needy in hero society, especially after the troubles of the last year.
He is soon joined by Ben Reily, the Scarlet Spider, and the quirkier clone of Peter Parker with a few screws loose in the head. Ben tells him that he can't find Aizawa or the Mind Stone, he's gone deep underground with it since his transformation into Mister Negative, but All Might thanks him for his efforts and asks him to sit and talk with him for a while, to which Ben agrees.
Ever since the battle on Nabu Island against Nine and his crew, the Scarlet Spider has become something of a confidante to All Might, giving the number one hero someone to talk to about his worries and concerns, free of judgement.
And here, in this conversation, All Might expresses his displeasure in how so many people have begun to see him as something close to a deity nowadays.
When he started out his hero career, he had wanted to always be there for people, to save them with a smile and deliver peace to any warring soul. That was why he wanted to be a Symbol of Peace; because he didn't want anyone to suffer in fear anymore.
The world that he had grown up in was rife with death and chaos. He had wanted to deliver the world into a new age of peace by saving everyone that he could and becoming a symbol that everyone could look up to and emulate. That he had become the number one hero hadn't meant nearly as much to him as being the Symbol of Peace.
But now, as he looks back on his life and sees all that he has done, he cannot help but feel like everything that he has worked for ultimately means nothing now.
All throughout his career, he had been focused on upholding this era of peace that he never considered the world around him. He never took the time to stop and see the world, the hero society, that was being built around him and all the ways it was both blindingly bright and suffocatingly dark. He spent so long looking at the shine and polish of hero society that he couldn't see the grime underneath.
But now, after decades of service to hero society, he is only just beginning to look, and is tormented by what he sees. Mass amounts of corruption, profit and glory over helping others, a global obsession with rankings over plain heroics, quirk discrimination and quirkless purges, an emphasis on the flashiest and most violent quirks over everything else, a general emphasis on quirks over everything else, and a growing viewpoint in society that saw himself as not just a Symbol of Peace, but a living pillar of society itself, someone, something, so important that it was worth devotion and worship, to the point of seeing him as the closest thing to a god in a sort of mass delusion and putting so much faith in him that were he to fall then the whole world would slip into despair and chaos...
All Might never wanted to be a god. He never wanted his reputation to be twisted in such a way that it made it so the world believed him to be the centre of the world itself. He always just wanted to help people, to give them something that they can take hope in, not adulation.
All Might looks over the world and despairs, wishing that he could've done more to stop it all from happening.
Ben doesn't know how to respond, partially because he's never been anywhere near All Might's situation at all, neither in his life or in Peter's. However, what he does know is that Peter doesn't like the spotlight for a reason. It's why he wears the mask. All he can say to All Might is that the fact that he's looking back on the things that he's done in the past and sees where he's gone wrong is proof that there is still time for him to make up for them.
Ben would leave, and All Might would begin to consider his time in the sun. One for All was fading from him, he couldn't keep up his big form for hardly any time at all nowadays, and even then, All for One was dead now. Gone.
He begins to consider his retirement.
In the S.I.L.K. headquarters where the old HPSC used to be housed, Peter is called up to Adriana's office. The two of them greet each other again, and Adriana notes that the last time that they spoke, it hadn't exactly been on good terms. Peter remarks that that was because Adriana had killed someone right in front of his eyes, and Adriana makes clear that that is what they are there to talk about at the moment.
The two sit down and discuss, and their conversation very much echoes the one that he had with Jessica as well. Peter points out how Toga was killed without any trial or justice, and Adriana retorts that sometimes people deserve what's coming to them, justice or not.
The conversation eventually shifts to why Adriana has such a vested interest in Peter, in Spider-Man, and Adriana replies that she took an interest in him because she saw in him a kindred spirit. She saw in him someone who was, and is, disenfranchised by the corruption in hero society and their focus on fame and profit over pure alturism, and wanted to do something about it.
Despite her actions, Adriana deeply admires Peter and his ideals, seeing them as something pure and untainted by hero society's vanity and greed. To her, Spider-Man is a paragon, a symbol of in himself.
Peter retorts that he never wanted to be a symbol. He just wanted to help others. Adriana simply says that is what makes his message so much more powerful. Peter tells her that he doesn't have a message.
"'With great power comes great responsibility'," Adriana shoots back. "Does that not seem like a message to you?"
Peter doesn't have a reply, and Adriana sighs with a smile. Peter is mad at her for killing Toga, and honestly, she can understand why, even if she doesn't quite feel the same. And despite what she says or feels, she does care about Peter. She genuinely does.
In a way, she loves Peter, if not for what he represents, then for the fact that he is one of the few people that she can genuinely call a friend.
And that's honestly the saddest part. Peter loves her in the same way that he loves everyone. It wouldn't have mattered if it was Toga, or the Green Goblin, or even All for One himself at the end of Adriana's bloodied claws. Peter still would've wanted to save them, wanted to see the light in their souls, even if they didn't have any left.
It is his greatest strength... but it is also his greatest weakness.
Peter is confused by this, and Adriana explains. They know where the MLA is based. Deika City. All the MLA moderates have either surrendered, gone into hiding, or fled the country. Everyone else, their most radical elements, have gathered in the city, and are currently turning it into a fortress. In a few days time, her army of S.I.L.K. agents and aligned heroes will attack the city and bring the entirety of the MLA and their leadership to justice.
It won't just be a battle. It will be a war.
Peter is angst at this and wants to find a way to prevent the bloodshed, but Adriana makes clear that this is why she can't allow Peter onto that battlefield. Peter is a hero, not a soldier. The enemy that they will face are vast, numerous, armed to the teeth and willing to kill, and after their attempted coup on the Japanese government - a government now essentially under her and S.I.L.K's control - they will be fanatical and fighting as if they have nothing less to lose. She needs people who are willing to act in kind, because if not, then a lot of people are going to die.
And that is why she can't allow Peter into the battlefield. It's not that he can't kill, but because he won't. Because he loves everyone so much that the thought of killing his enemies will not even cross his mind.
Peter says that she's thinking too highly of him, but Adriana doesn't back down. Peter refuses to kill. It goes against his code. And in the warzone that would soon become Deika City, she needs people who are willing to bloody their hands to achieve victory.
It was an ugly truth, but it was true nonetheless.
Peter doesn't want to think of the idea of having to kill people, and Adriana tells him not to try and think about it. It's not his concern. The air in the room suddenly smells a little sweeter, and he cools down. Adriana tells him that even if he could go onto the battlefield tomorrow, she wouldn't want him to. Besides the fact that even after all the good that he has done, he is still seventeen years old. He is way too young to go onto the battlefield.
And either way, she would rather he stay here, where it is safe. He's her friend, and she cares about him too much to let him out onto that killing field.
Peter says that he isn't seventeen yet, and Adriana comments that she'll need to get him something for his birthday then. It should be, when? In a couple of days? Peter nods yes, and then admits that, even if he doesn't like her methods, he does still like her as well.
But then, he asks her if she regrets having to kill Toga.
Adriana gives Peter a sad smile, and then kisses him on the cheek. She regrets having to kill anyone.
She exits the room, leaving Peter sitting on his own, rubbing his cheek and left with conflicting feelings in his gut as the effects of the sweetened smell in the room begin to fade.
In Deika City, All for One, newly risen, is consolidating his gains. Once merely being a vestige of the original All for One's power, now he has been given form in Shigaraki's body, and power in the fragment of the Carnage Symbiote, that splinter of One for All that is now his once again.
He is the Demon King of his dreams, sitting atop a throne made from the bones of the former leaders of the MLA, their quirks absorbed into his being, their lives ended, and their army now under his control. He has a new body (Shigaraki's voice is gone now, torn apart before being permanently silenced) and a kingdom all to call his own, and One for All back under his thrall...
And he is utterly devoid of meaning and purpose.
His brother, Yoichi, no longer lingers within One for All. That quirk has rendered the consciousnesses within them into a single mangled, deformed mind. The fragment that he held now was even less than that, just a braindead source of power with no means to communicate with his brother within.
He has everything he could've ever wanted, and he has nothing left to achieve...
Except the hollow, empty dream of world domination, as is the role of the Demon Lord.
…But.
There is a way for him to get what he wants.
Those stones.
His previous self, his proper form, had been incapable of understanding the power that they held. He psychologically couldn't. The only form of power that he recognised - could recognise - was the power of quirks.
But those gems... the Infinity Stones, as the Green Goblin had called them... the power that they held.
Perhaps they could help him to accomplish his dreams.
Perhaps they could bring back One for All... and his brother... to him.
But in the meantime, All for One, renewed, but empty of purpose, sits on his empty throne, wallowing in his lack of desire and planning to accomplish what the Demon Lords of his favourite comics is always destined to do...
All the while Carnage lingers in the back of his mind. Watching. Waiting.
Carnage has learnt the art of patience.
But on the other side of the country, the Spider-Gang and their allies and friends, from U.A. to F.E.A.S.T.'s former clientele to vigilantes like Soga, former villains like Panda-Mania and Gentle Criminal, and even pro heroes like Kokichi, Ryukyu, and Gang Orca and his sidekicks, have gathered in the old warehouses down in the docks for one specific reason.
To have a party, a celebration of them making it this far in their lives.
Because god knows these guys need a break.
So, the gathering celebrate all that they have accomplished over the last year and more, a celebration of all the good that they have done, and also a quiet remembrance of all the things and people that they have lost over the year, with the gang cheering to the bad guys that they've stopped and all the lives that they have saved, whilst also paying respect to the people that have had their lives taken away by the monsters, with a small memorial being made for Kazuho and the people who died in the Wars of the Symbiotes, with Rappa's name being added to the memorial as well.
During this party, all of the various friends and family have some much needed talks. Aunt May and Inko thank each other for their company and support, truly establishing the friendship that they have. Izuku, Ochako, and Keemia dance together with Momo and Hatsume, before the latter watches and laughs as her two Symbiote-wielding lovers fight over a cooked chicken as their Symbiotes require a lot of protein to properly function. Inspired by Izuku, Ochako, and Keemia, Maina shyly asks Sero to dance with her, which is reciprocated, whilst Todoroki takes up Shinso's offer from a dance as well. Kokichi and Black Cat share stories with each other about their vigilante days whilst Ryukyu and Gang Orca share notes on both the remains of the Shie Hassaikai that have gone into hiding and the neighbourhoods that are going to be under their protection when S.I.L.K. pull their forces to confront the MLA in Deika City. Eri adds Rappa's name on the memorial, before she and Katsuma, accompanied by Kota and Mahoro, introduce themselves to Izuku and Ochako, and display their Mania and Sleeper Symbiotes, gaining some insight from both Anti-Venom and She-Venom on how to control them, only to be surprised when they ask about Zero, whom both Izuku and Ochako have no knowledge of.
As the night continues, Peter talks once more with Miles and Anya, the former revealing that Jefferson has changed his last name from Davis to Morales, and that he's actually thinking about letting Uncle Aaron move in with them again after his help in taking down the Shie Hassaikai during the War of the Bounty Hunters. Miles and Anya are still uncertain of what they want to do with themselves and their futures, but they do know now that they want to help people, however that may be. Peter tells them that regardless, he's proud of them, no matter what they want to be or what they want to do with themselves in the future.
They have more of a choice for their futures than he ever did. That's what matters the most.
Meanwhile, Mattie and Ganke are just fanboying/girling about how many Spider-People they're meeting in the same night.
Later, as the night begins to quieten down and people began to leave, Momo and Peter have their talk, where Momo says that the last time that they spoke, she wasn't exactly being fair to him. Peter doesn't hold it against her, but Momo apologises for it regardless. Back then, she had made it seem like his trauma was his fault, and his fault alone, as if it was just a hurdle for him to get over without any fuss, as if his feelings didn't matter.
She then comments that it's pretty hypocritical of her to turn him down and say that neither of them are ready for a relationship only for her to start dating Hatsume after that. She was a very different person in the past, and only after everything that she has been through can she see how wrong she was back then, and how full of herself she had been.
So... she's sorry. For everything. She can't date Peter, not anymore. Not while she's dating Hatsume. But still... they could've worked, she thinks. They could've worked well.
Peter thanks her for this, and they leave on a better note than before, as genuine friends once again. Momo leaves, and Ochako joins Peter in looking out over the night sky above them. The brother and sister duo spend their time counting the stars in the sky before they look at each other, and Peter asks his figurative sibling how her life is going. Ochako replies that things are going pretty well now. She's finally developed a real mutual bond with Venom (who says hi), and she's become a successful vigilante with her new friend at her side.
Oh, and she's got a boyfriend now.
And a girlfriend.
A boyfriend and a girlfriend.
Peter smiles, telling her that he is happy for her. The mood sobers a bit when Ochako says that she is going to be taking them to her parents' grave the next day, but comments that she's coming to peace with their demise, even if she still misses them. She asks Peter if it is like this with him, having to deal with loss, and Peter responds that it isn't the same for different people. Everyone deals with trauma and loss in different ways.
"Meanwhile, some people just don't."
Peter looks at Ochako, and the girl realises that she had said that out loud. But she doesn't rescind her point. How is Peter feeling? He asks about what, and she replies with everything.
Peter is silent for a long time, before he says that he is fine. Ochako gives him a look, and Peter finally relates his talks with Jessica and Adriana earlier to her, expressing his own doubts and concerns to the battle that is about to come, and the death that will no doubt come from it. He wishes that it wouldn't come to this, that the two sides of this argument would just sit down and talk it out without having to resort to killing each other, and Ochako simply says that sometimes there are people that just want to hurt other people. Look at Toga and Bakugo and so many of the villains that they'd fought over the last year. Sometimes people just wanted to hurt others, and they needed to be dealt with as such.
It was a harsh lesson, but it was one that she had to learn, even if she didn't like it.
Peter mutters that she sounds like Jessica. Ochako then asks what does he say? About everything? Peter isn't sure.
Ochako asks about how he feels about everything that has happened in his life so far, and Peter suddenly understands what she means.
Peter doesn't want to talk about it, but Ochako isn't so willing to let it go, even if she isn't going to say anything. She's still dealing with the loss of her parents, but after what happened with the Tinkerer and her bonding with Venom, she is finally letting the pain of that loss go.
Is Peter willing to do the same?
Up above, watching from the top of a skyscraper, Spider-Zero looks over them and asks the same question. Is Peter willing to let go of the past, of all the pain and guilt that comes with it? Uncle Ben, Harry, Gwen, and Kazuho. Is he finally willing to let go of the guilt and move on?
Soon enough, he will have to face that question, whether he wants to or not...
As just after Peter has finished asking Ochako where Kendo is, as she was supposed to be here as well, to which Ochako responds that she's been quiet for the last week since Rappa died, and that it didn't feel right to invite her here after such a personal loss, the two spot something in the darkness crawling over to them.
It is Kaine, the one who calls himself the Other, covered in scars and blood and carrying a crippled and bloodied Bakugo with him.
Well, that's one hell of a cliffhanger to end it on, isn't it?
Besides the shocking ending, there was always supposed to be a time around this point in series three where the main characters of our story stop for a moment to catch their breaths and take stock of the world around them. I just decided to make it into an entire arc...
…Which ended up becoming this arc, immediately after the conclusions of the MLA and Shie Hassaikai storylines. Think of it as a wrap-up for those stories, a sort of epilogue for the main characters to just have a break for once in their lives, because god knows I've been wailing on them for a long time.
Anyway, with that part done, I dare say that this is probably one of the best arcs that I've written, if not for the fact that it doesn't revolve around a completely immediate conflict, then just that it serves as a real point in which to display the development of many characters and their arcs, how far they have come in this story, and how much further they have to go.
It's also a way for me to explore my own viewpoints in a few common discussions within comic book fans, and for me to throw my own hat into the ring as well. The whole 'heroes sparing their enemies' argument is something that I've been over with one of my readers, and it is a fairly nuanced argument that I feel a lot of people are trying to unjustly simplify in order to reach an easy conclusion, so I'll just leave it as this: if you can't imagine Peter Parker sparing an enemy just as you can't imagine Batman comforting a small child after a traumatic experience, then you're not thinking about Spider-Man, you're thinking about Deadpool with arachnid powers.
But if you have your own thoughts on the subject, then feel free to leave them in the reviews/comments, and as always, I shall see you all next time, as we finally begin series three's endgame and its dramatic conclusion!
Titanmaster 117 out!