There's a better likelihood of a villain attack having shaken his bedroom than an earthquake to have caused it to be in such disarray. So, standing on his ceiling with his hands on his hips as he surveys the messy space, he decides that will be the story he goes with should his mom walk in before he finishes cleaning it up. At some point, the boy must've mistaken the waste bin for his hamper, since that's where a good portion of the dirty laundry takes residence. Ironically, things like crumpled paper and tissues or empty soda cans are distributed in the opposite container. All of his reading and writing material looks as though it was flung off his bookshelves to occupy his floor rather than his desk. Izuku huffs aloud to nobody in particular but himself. Kicking it all under his bed to hide it won't be enough this time around.

But that's where he starts. The small space makes for a good shadowy crevice to cover up a good margin of the junk. The drawers on his desk are already too filled with other stuff to cram anything else in there. The boy's closet is a maelstrom of pants and shirts that he'd just given up on hangers. The ol' bed technique is a reliable one. It's one he knows very well. So does his mom, but… He figures he'll cross that metaphorical bridge when he gets there. Izuku just has to make sure his Spider-Man stuff stays out of it, at the very least. He can't risk any accidental discoveries. So the boy grabs his spandex suit and web shooters to stuff some spot that they won't get found like everything else.

Izuku holds it all in his hands, feeling the weight of it. He winds up holding onto it in more ways than one, staring at the spider symbol etched in a webbing pattern. With U.A's Entrance Exam coming up, he figures he could now stand a chance to get into the hero course. But there's a hesitation to try. Not only because of the whole secret identity thing or the vigilantism charges he'd get but… Well, there's a certain responsibility to what he's decided to do with what he's been given and he might not be able to do anything until he gets a license if he goes down the U.A route. Izuku sighs, squeezing the hemming of his costume.

Fortunately – or unfortunately – he doesn't get to dwell on those thoughts for long. He doesn't need his Spider-Sense to pick up on the handle to his room starting to turn, but he does wish it had alerted him considering that could very much mean danger right about now. Quickly coming out of his rumination and acting on impulsive instinct, Izuku throws the suit up and webs it to the ceiling. His mother opens the door to just miss him hiding his web shooters behind his back.

"Izu-", she starts.

"Mom!", but he's too fueled by the sudden spike of adrenaline in his system to let her. He tries covering up his jumpy & fidgety behavior with a smile but it comes out forced. "What are you doing here?", his voice is just as strained.

Inko pauses in the doorway, noticing her son's strangeness straight away. She tries and fails to hide her concern that's coupled with confusion from showing on her face, an expression of scrunched proportions creasing her aged wrinkles. After a second, "I.. live here…", she treads carefully with her response while gauging the situation a bit more.

Izuku nervously laughs, backing away and turning his body to continue hiding the web shooters behind himself when his mom steps further into the room. "I meant what are you doing here right now – in my room – right now?", the boy winces when his mom gives him another troubled look, "Without … uh … knocking first?"

Inko's eyes hone themselves into perfect slithers, narrowing to such a finely squinted point that she should be able to find any discrepancies in her child. It's the type of critical glare she'd give him when he'd come home claiming to be fine while wearing a hoodie to hide bruises or burns from being bullied. Right now, strangely, she's having a hard time identifying the source of his strange behavior. He's gotten eerily good at hiding things from her lately. It admittedly makes her sad that he's trying to keep secrets from her. She's tried not to turn it into an issue but if he persists on– Inko's eyes widen when she finally finds something to zero in on.

A small speck of some sticky substance, liquid but elastic enough to not spread into a bigger puddle. It's a bit of the webbing fluid that was used to hide Izuku's Spider-Man suit; a part of the formulaic gossamer came apart and dropped to the floor. But Inko doesn't know that. She keeps looking down instead of up. And so, the woman comes to her own conclusions about what the white material is. To the mother, it suddenly makes sense why her son is acting so sweaty & weird right now. A teenage boy full of raging hormones with something to hide from his parent…

"I'll be sure to knock next time", Inko apologetically retreats from her son's bedroom. She closes the door enough to give him privacy but also doesn't fully shut it just yet so that she can quickly tell him, "Come downstairs when you're finished…" The greenette then hurriedly leaves the boy to his vices.

Izuku is left confused for a second, not completely comprehending what just happened, but ultimately accepts it as his chance to lower his guard. A relieved sigh escapes his mouth in the form of an exhale. He's had more close encounters than he'd like to have when it comes to guarding his secret identity. A little touching up to better hide his stuff before heading downstairs is definitely needed now more than ever if he bothered to doubt it.

When Izuku finishes hiding the last of his vigilantism materials, he heads for the living room. There, he falls back onto the couch where he can stretch out across it, and pulls out his phone to look through the latest scoops in Hero Feed. As expected, there's the digitization of Juko News blowing the whistle on Hawks being wrapped up in the criminal underworld. A court date has been set and the hero's license temporarily revoked. Obviously there's going to be arguments on the internet with people picking sides. But Izuku had an up close and personal experience firsthand to know the truth himself that he just closes the app and focuses on his mother entering the room.

"You gonna make room?", Inko pauses with her hands on her hips when she sees her son hogging up all of the couch space.

"Mhm", Izuku moves his legs so that his mom can sit next to him. He draws his knees up closer to his chest while shifting to be snuggled closer to her. The two lean on one another, Inko draping an arm across her son's shoulders to give him a half hug.

"Tomorrow is the big day", Inko holds him a little tighter than just a squeeze, "Are you sure you still wanna try for U.A?" She meets his eyes with an affectionate and tender look that appears as though it could water and spill over with tears at any moment.

Izuku smiles at her as he nods. "U.A is still good for their General Educations course", his reply somehow doesn't come out as confident as he had intended though. And a mother knows best, always taking notice of such things; especially Inko 'Mama' Midoriya. She must hear the lingering desire he has to try out for the Hero Course since the look in her eyes starts to change ever so slightly to something sterner.

"Oh? And is that the only department that you're interested in?", she prods him gently with a delicate tone but Izuku is able to pick up on her tells just as much as she can his. He starts to weasel out of her hold and shifts slightly apart from her on the couch. "You wouldn't also happen to be considering trying for another course, would you?"

"I mean… It doesn't hurt to try, right?" Izuku accidentally lets a bite of bitterness slip out and immediately regrets it. He knows that Inko is only being cautious because she cares, and for all she knows he's still quirkless – but that doesn't make it any easier to have these conversations reminding him of how she and the world constantly perceive him as a fragile being.

Inko reaches for one of his hands, placing hers over his. "It doesn't, dear, but…" She pauses to think about her phrasing of words before committing to anything she might regret saying. "I just don't want you to be disappointed if it doesn't work out is all."

Izuku slips his hand out from under his mother's before using it to push himself up from the couch. "You already have it in your head that I'm gonna fail?", the boy conveys his betrayal with an expression of disbelief.

Inko stands up with him, "No! Of course not!", trying to deny his claim. But then Izuku sees past her, at where a print of Juko News is sprawled out and sharing the article of Hawks' exposure; he sees that and understands where she's coming from, why she's so extra worried and why she especially doesn't want him getting into the hero profession now more than ever.

He hangs his head, his words coming out as a garbled grumble. "We didn't even specify which department for you to think that way…", but Inko hears through his mumbles nonetheless.

Inko's eyes widen as though she's seeing the truth in that, realizing that he's right, that they never defined that they were talking about him trying for the Hero Course in particular. He could have been expressing interest in the Support Department for all she knew. "Izuku…", she reaches out for him in an attempt to apologize.

But Izuku pulls away, not allowing her to have that opportunity. "I'm… I'm going out. I think I need to go for a walk and get some fresh air."

Inko is about to refuse, opening her mouth to tell him that he can't. But then she thinks better of herself and closes it. She simply nods, a sad but understanding gesture.

Izuku hesitates to turn on his heel and walk away. He feels bad seeing his mom's face look like that. But he does need the time to think and cool off. So he ultimately turns and leaves.

Hues of blue blend with the sandy beach bar. Sky and sea meet to cast a streak of white, sun spots shimmering until becoming one broad reflection. Grains glisten as a giant cluster occasionally sharing space with shells of faded pink shades. Izuku stands just outside of it all, taking it in like a painting brought to life. This is the handiwork of Itsuka Kendo and it never gets old to see.

He recalls that cleaning up the beach had been apart of her training to get into U.A. Her aspiration to join the Hero Course had spurred him on as Spider-Man, and now, it's motivating him to want to try and do more as Izuku Midoriya. The boy fishes his phone out of his pants pocket. He's still blocked by her. But he's starting to think there's a way to change that. It's a small chance but one he doesn't think is impossible.

A breeze brushes through Izuku's curly mess of green hair, locks blowing back as though the wind is an invisible comb. The reckless youth breathes in the air. His freckled face forms a smile. An idea has just become a plan. Izuku shoves his phone back into his pocket before turning and jogging off from the boardwalk. The smile he wears starts stretching into a grin when he picks up speed to run for his destination.

"Okay… On second thought, this might have been a bad idea…"

If Izuku's head were to crane itself back any further, it'd be prone to snapping off. But that's how high the wall to U.A's Entrance Exam field testing site goes. Not even Mt. Lady would be able to reach the top so easily. The boy makes an audible gulp when swallowing a harsh intake of air, feeling smaller than a spider in this situation.

He had thought to himself that he'd be able to easily sneak into U.A in order to gain a tactical advantage of the practical portion of the exam. If not for his own sake, then to give Itsuka the upper hand. It seemed simple enough to manage with spider powers; afterall, spiders go undetected all day every day. Seeing high tech scanners, turrets, motion detectors, and all other sorts of fancy security equipment advanced enough to make his Spider-Sense rattle his bones has made him rethink it a bit though.

Izuku is about to turn around and walk away, almost ashamed of himself for even considering cheating. Even if it's to impress and win back a girl's favor, he knows it's wrong. But his shoe sole kicks a pebble that bounces into a ventilation exhaust. And he takes note of it. It's such an easy way to bypass all of the pesky security, and since he's already made the trip over here… he backpedals his thinking to sneaking in.

Pretty soon, Spider-Man is infiltrating the most prestigious hero school in all of Japan. The red and blue figure scurries through the ventilation system, occasionally batting away a cobweb left behind from his kindred brethren. The bright side is that it's cool air flowing through the shaft and not heat. Which with this summer weather, is more of a blessing than one; he's glad there's no rain to wash this spider out of this particular spout.

Spider-Man breathes through his mask, glad that he kept a spare on him. A hero should never leave home without their uniform just like his mom taught him a man shouldn't go anywhere without their wallet. Especially if that hero is a vigilante and they need to keep their identity a secret. And especially ESPECIALLY if that already wanted 'fugitive' – Izuku likes to use that term loosely – is in the act of breaking and entering.

As the vigilante peels back a thin sheeting of galvanized duct, he prays that he isn't caught. It'd really suck to have to go up against the heroes who may be the ones teaching him. There's a brief moment where he wonders if that's what the practical exam is for the Hero Course and if this whole reconnaissance mission was for nothing. And then he sees the giant mechanized goliaths stationed at charging ports; it's like he walked – or crawled – into some sort of sci-fi military movie.

The expressionful eyes on Spider-Man's mask convey his awe. It makes sense to have examinees go up against disposable faux enemies of such design. And yet, there are so many. Not just in numbers but in that state of design. Spider-Man hops from the wall to the ceiling, moving deeper into the massive supply station. There are some robots that look like child's play and then there are others that are seriously no laughing matter to have to deal with.

Spider-Man lowers himself on a web line, viewing one of the bots up close and personal. It makes no difference that he performs his examination upside down. He can tell from a slight rapping of his knuckles on the bot's base that it's mostly hollow, which means it's very combustibly punchable. The vigilante alters his position on his string to view behind the machine. There, he finds a button on the robot's exposed back; it appears to be some sort of deactivation switch.

The one beside it is less forgiving. Spider-Man sways with his body on the web line that he dangles from until he gains enough momentum to pivot over. The robot he lands on is poised in a low crouch, with shields guarding its legs and two tail-like extensions covering its surface area akin to that of a scorpion. Spider-Man shivers, slightly scared of this one out of some strange instinct. It has three camera lenses for eyes on its front and a button on its belly for turnoff beneath it instead of on top.

Spider-Man's reflexes kick in, his body moving when his Spider-Sense shouts at him to move. For a second, he worries that the robots may have turned on. When he lands perpendicular to them though, he sees that they are still disabled. What he finds himself facing instead is the back snap of Eraserhead's capture cloth. The underground hero coils the fabric around his neck like it's a wearable scarf; it's a fashion statement as bold as web patterned spandex.

Eraserhead raises an eyebrow, as though he himself is only getting to see who he's quarreling with for the first time. "You're the one breaking in here?", it's supposed to be a question but it's said matter of factly, "You're about the right height for an eight year old."

"I'm fourteen!", Izuku's instinctually offended shout of protest comes out whinier than he'd like for the provent point of his age to attest to.

Eraserhead seems unphased nevertheless, simply doing a onceover of the boy's height to reconfirm his estimation. "Well… Then you should be taller", the underground hero's drawl carries past his analytical eyes and Izuku finds himself ignoring the verbal assault in favor of paying attention for a physical advance.

"This isn't what it looks like", Spider-Man holds up his hands in an attempt of effort to show he's no threat.

"You aren't breaking into a highly secured facility?", Eraserhead's sarcastic retort is undoubtedly rhetorical but Izuku still feels a need to answer despite his reflexive flinch.

"Okay, maybe it is what it looks like… but I'm not doing anything wrong!" Spider-Man winces when he sees Eraserhead's skeptical stare. "I mean I'm not here for any nefarious reasons", Izuku is not entirely sure why he shrugs while saying that second part but he instantly regrets the nervous motion since it likely doesn't make him appear all that much more convincing.

Eraserhead pulls a pair of golden goggles over his eyes, the slits where glass windows should be proving to be more of an intimidating feature. Spider-Man swallows a lump in his throat, nearly choking on whatever other excuses he had on the tip of his tongue. The underground hero takes a stance, stepping further into a fighting position. The lazy drawl is gone; the nonchalance from earlier is replaced by a stern statement as he says, "Right. That's why you cut the power to the building."

Spider-Man stumbles, taken aback. "Wh- What? Huh?", he almost scratches the top of his head but is much too afraid to make any sudden movements that might trigger the underground hero to attack. The vigilante hadn't questioned why the room was so dark when he entered it. He had just assumed U.A wanted to save power and money by keeping the lights off. But if the power was cut, "That wasn't me…", then that must mean he's not the only one breaking and entering U.A currently.

Eraserhead catches on, noticing Spider-Man body language isn't aggressive. He keeps his stance but untenses his form. "You're telling me that you weren't the one to blow the breaker?", the underground takes a moment to contemplate; he starts considering what to do about one intruder while having to worry about the other.

And that singular moment of hesitation is all that Spider-Man needs as an opportunity to make his grand escape. The vigilante bounds to the ceiling, "Nope! I'm just the one blowing this popsicle stand!", and begins running along it with his two feet rather than crawling on all fours.

"Hey!", Eraserhead calls after the fleeing figure. Neither that short shout or the quick snap of his capture cloth manages to stop Spider-Man though. The vigilante evades getting his ankle snagged by the binding line with an acrobatic maneuver that simultaneously carries him over to the air duct in which he entered the room to begin with.

Izuku breathes several sighs of relief through a series of adrenaline high pants. Not only did he somehow manage to break into U.A but he also somehow managed to outwit a pro hero. A combination of disbelieving panic and exhilarated excitement accelerates his heartbeat. Hand over hand, he crawls through the ventilation shaft as at brisk a pace as he can. He knows that security will try meeting him at the exit so he needs to move fast. There's no time for celebration or complete & total relief just yet. He refuses to pat himself on the back – especially not when what he's doing is wrong.

Izuku stops crawling. It was a wrong knee-jerk decision for him to sneak into U.A to begin with. And now that he's discovered he isn't the only one breaking and entering, he's using that as a distraction to run away. Izuku recalls the last time that he looked the other way when he could have done something to prevent a possible problem. He knows full well what it means to take responsibility for one's actions. Rather than continuing to crawl for the exit, Spider-Man makes a sharp turn and uses the ventilation system to terrain deeper into U.A.

"I know I'm gonna regret this…", Izuku mumbles under his breath what he knows isn't true. His conscience would have regretted leaving Eraserhead alone much more. And so, the vigilante tunes out his thoughts in favor for the other tingling turnover at the back of his mind. Like he'd done with the Spider-Tracers, Spider-Man follows his Spider-Sense.

Wherever danger is closest, the boy's special sense increases in terms of signaling him. He'd like to think of it as searching for the vibration of his silent cellphone in order to find it but his Spider-Sense can prove to be much more obnoxious than that. Seriously. Izuku knows he'll need some ibuprofen later at this rate. But then Izuku feels the kinetic energy traveling through the duct and understands that those vibrations in the air aren't only coming from his heightened senses. Spider-Man's gloved fingertips receive tiny zaps as he nears the end of this shaft's filter.

In what must be another containment room for U.A's exam bots, is the source of that strange energy output. Spider-Man's eye lenses reflect a yellow hue that illuminates from the other person occupying the space. A suit the same shade of green as Izuku's hair beneath his mask conceals the person's body; golden bands & similarly vibrant strands of lightning etched embroidery crosses over that green in patterns that matches what radiates as an aura.

Izuku knows his hero trivia and he can confidently say this guy doesn't appear to be anyone other than a plausible villain. The supposed electrical villain turns his head when Spider-Man climbs into the room; Izuku can see now that U.A's second intruder has a face mask designed to look like a starfish bursting into a static shock. He wants to crack a joke about it but is at a loss for words over how dumb it is that he ultimately decides that it'd be too easy to make fun of.

The electrical villain speaks first, "Spider-Man!", unintelligently unable to exclaim anything more than the identification of his surprise guest-mate.

"Aaahh, there we go, finally a bad guy who understands the etiquette of these things!" Izuku throws the villain a bone and decides to run with that as a positive stall tactic instead of going in all gung ho. "I show up. You shout my name in disbelief. Then comes the butt kicking!", though not without a little action of extending his leg.

"It's you who will get their ass kicked!", the villain defends himself with the electrical current covering his body. Spider-Man barely hoists his outstretched leg back up before it can get caught in the current.

"Yeesh!", the vigilante flings himself down to where U.A's robots are so that he has better cover to hide himself from any residual electrical attacks, "Whatever happened to etiquette?!"

The villain tracks his newfound opponent's movement only for a moment but then Spider-Man manages to disappear within the assembly line. If Izuku were the patient type, he'd continue stalling and wait for Eraserhead or some of the other pros to arrive before trying to get closer. But he's learned from his solo vigilante experience that it's sometimes up to oneself to try and resolve things. So he twists under the legs of a faux villain to slide up close and personal with his enemy.

Spider-Man juts out with both of his legs this time. They connect with the villain's torso. Spider-Man feels the impact jarring up through his heels before he feels the defensive electrical shock barrier from the villain. First comes a crackle. Which is then followed by a pop. Spider-Man's teeth rattle as he shouts, and he's blown back like he's just made contact with a bug zapper.

The boy bounces three times, skipping harder than a stone tossed across a lake. Forget ibuprofen. He's gonna need something much better than that. But first, he needs to MOVE. Spider-Man forces himself to turn over and bounds away from a streak of electricity. Had he been a fraction of a second slower, he'd likely be fried to a crisp right about now.

His vision swims shallow while his mind swims deep. It becomes hard to think up a quip, "Just–", as hard as it is for him to dodge with his body still reeling from getting blasted so recently. The vigilante flips and falls away from a high voltage beam.

It's there that Spider-Man stumbles and lands on his backside. The shock to his system earlier is still reverberating throughout his body. He holds up his two hands, gesturing with a palm over fingers held vertically to form a T shape. It comes out a tad bit as a mumble but Spider-Man manages to say, "Timeout.."

"Huh? Timeout?", the villain falters for a moment. But only a moment. After that brief lapse of confusion, he shakes his head clear of it and rekindles the energy brimming from his body, "There's no calling timeouts!"

"I'm afraid I have to agree with Electro", a third voice interjects from above. Both vigilante and villain pivot their heads in the direction of the voice to see it belongs to Eraserhead. The underground hero jumps down to land between them, "There's no such thing as 'timeouts' or fairness in a real fight."

Electro pauses a second time, taking a step back when he sees that he's now outnumbered. "Oh, great, now there's two of you…" The villain glances left and right in search of something; it could be a check for additional reinforcements to the heroes or himself, a search for an exit route, or anything else for that matter.

To Spider-Man, it doesn't matter, he's just relieved to have backup. "Took you long enough to catch up", he forces himself to stand up beside Eraserhead. Now having recovered both physically and mentally enough, he processes what's going on at a pace that would mean he's finally caught up. "Wait – Electro? This guy's name is Electro?", which has him doing a doubletake.

"What's wrong with the name Electro?!", the villain sparks up with a flash of anger evident within the flash of electrical energy emitting from his form.

Spider-Man shrugs, using that movement of his shoulders to rotate and stretch them. "It's not that much better than Eraserhead, I'll give you that!" The vigilante jokingly gives his now temporary partner in crime fighting a quick glance.

Eraserhead growls, not returning the eye contact. Or maybe he does. It's kinda hard to tell with the goggles. All that Spider-Man knows is that the underground hero isn't trying to arrest him anymore. So he takes that as a sign of good faith and strikes a pose beside the man's stance. The two form a truce and team up against Electro.

The villain unleashes a blinding wave of amperage. Eraserhead instinctively shields his eyes with an arm, the light shining through the slits of his goggles more than enough to be blinding. Spider-Man squints but the lens of his mask are a reflective glass that he fairs a little better. The two part ways, ducking down in opposite directions to avoid getting caught in an electrical shockwave.

Spider-Man veers under the belly of a robot, starting low. Velocity and voltage strike the machine, causing it to combust. Spider-Man uses that as momentum to carry himself high, going over the next robot in his way. Electricity surges underneath the springing spider being and destroys another hunk of metal.

Eraserhead parkours on the opposite side of lined up robots. He dodges short and long bursts of controlled currents with as much agility as Spider-Man – or, he comes close to matching those acrobatic movements, at least. There's a few tricks that the underground hero isn't able to pull off and needs to compensate for. Eraserhead pushes off the leg of a robot for an extra boost to avoid getting electrocuted.

Electro switches his aim from the two gymnasts to the ground. He uses the beams that he's able to produce from his palms as a means to launch himself up and away. Which is what saves him from getting tangled up in either Eraserhead's capture cloth or Spider-Man's webbing. The villain cackles while landing atop one of the robots. It's on touchdown that he emits an electrical signal into the machine and all of the others.

Spider-Man wishes Eraserhead's goggles could have been made as expressive as the lens on his mask when he reacts to the robots turning on and the underground hero doesn't. Electro is no longer the one who is outnumbered. The vigilante and his temporary partner have found themselves surrounded by mechanized faux villains engineered to put up a fight.

Eraserhead locks onto Electro with a glare, the red glow passing through the slithers of his goggles indicating the activation of his quirk. "You're too late!", but the villain boasts when the erasure quirk has no effect on shutting down the already activated robots, "Good luck!"

Eraserhead grits his teeth to keep a frustrated grunt from becoming a shout as he's attacked by robots. The machines force him to look away from Electro in order to defend himself. Which allows for Electro to flee and escape. Eraserhead snags a bot's leg with his capture cloth to pull himself away from another bot. But that simply propels him into a situation where five more corner him off.

Eraserhead must admit his surprise when Spider-Man jumps in front of him to land a solid punch on one of the machines. The robot caves inward and goes crashing into one of its copies. Not only is that an impressive feat of strength but the underground hero had expected the vigilante to follow Electro's example and use this as a distraction to run away. He gives Spider-Man a small nod to express appreciation for the save before moving to hit the shutdown switch on a bot behind him.

"I always thought the robot uprising was gonna be the vending machines! Not this!", Spider-Man throws out a wisecrack while throwing out a faux villain's battery pack. He jumps onto another one's back where he punches a hole into it in order to rip out that machine's too.

"Take this seriously", Eraserhead warns the vigilante to be cautious while performing defensive maneuvers of his own, "It's not U.A controlling these. They aren't programmed for the Entrance Exam so they could very well be out to kill us."

As if on cue, a missile fired from one of the robot's back turrets comes rocketing towards them. Spider-Man snatches it mid air with a web line in order to redirect it into another of the automations. An explosion ensues, heaps of burning scrap metal bombarding the surrounding area. "You don't say?!", Spider-Man flips away from a second missile sent to do what the first couldn't.

Eraserhead lassos what would be a one pointer in the Hero Course exam with his capture cloth before using all of the strength he can muster as a means of winding it around to knock into its robotic brethren. The hunk of metal clumsily slams into its copies and they all crash into one giant pile. Eraserhead then uses that stack of steel as steps to carry himself into an overhead leap. After going airborne, the underground hero twists himself to land on a robot's back where he can hit it's deactivation button.

Spider-Man is in the midst of dispatching some of the other bots in their way when there comes a sudden shift to the environment. For a second, he thinks he's been electrocuted again or that a metal arm caught his skull. But he quickly realizes that it's his Spider-Sense going off; the alarm pounds harder than any headache, slamming into his skull as though someone is banging a garbage can lid behind his head. Spider-Man spins around to see why. And he sees why.

A robot, much MUCH bigger than all of the others, slowly lurches to life to join the others in their assault on him and Eraserhead. This one appears to be some type of excavation machine with tank tread tracks to wheel its massive mechanical body around. More robotical eyes than can be counted on a spider peer down at the vigilante and the underground hero.

"So… How many points is that one worth on the exam?", Izuku gestures towards the massive automation like it's something Eraserhead could have somehow missed noticing.

Eraserhead lifts his goggles up from his eyes to his forehead. He sees the colossal mechanism bearing down on them with no regard for its smaller compatriots, wheel belts crushing whatever gets in its way. Without tearing his gaze from it, he answers Spider-Man's question. Eraserhead says, "Zero."

Izuku looks between the man's stoic & serious expression and the Zero Pointer, dumbfounded. So this is what it means to try to get into U.A's Hero Course. All the boy can mutter in response to the ridiculously (and quite literally) high expectations of the school's students is, "Oh.."

Spider-Man flips backwards to gain distance on the incoming threat towards him and Eraserhead. He lands on a One Pointer where he applies all of his weight into that landing to bring it down. Across the way, Eraserhead uses his capture cloth as a grappling line to hoist himself towards the containment room's rafters. The underground hero secures himself there while looking for solutions from the newly acquired vantage point.

Spider-Man bounds from bot to bot, still staying out of range from the massive mechanism's belt crusher. But as he does so, he stretches web lines from automation to automation. The connected bands begin to pull the crowd together until there's a significant pebble in the path of the giant machine. One that gets run over carelessly, which results in a sticky surface beneath its rotating tread track like gum on the bottom of a shoe. "Yes!", Spider-Man pumps both of his hands into the air as celebratory sky punches. But the celebration is premature; the tread track winds forward and rips the floor free with it rather than remaining stationary.

"Ah, come on!" The spider themed vigilante springs away from the machine's footing before it can crush him. As he's falling back, the boy uses a web line to careen and carry himself to the rafters where Eraserhead resides. There, the underground hero has finished planting small charges to drop a few of those beams on the bot's head. If attacking from the bottom didn't work, then the man is hopeful that an assault from above might.

It doesn't work. Though heavy enough to pin the two humans down should the beams have fallen on them, the rafter supports aren't near enough to do anything other than disturb the mechanical goliath beneath them. In the words of Spider-Man, 'Ah! Come on!' seems appropriate, but Eraserhead only voices his disgruntlement with a low rough noise good enough to be a growl.

"Now what?", Spider-Man makes an inquisitive shrugging gesture with his arms spread out. Communicating with his body language comes easy when he's hiding his expressions behind a mask.

Eraserhead's face isn't fully covered though, and it takes on an expression of surprise that notifies Spider-Man of danger before the vigilante's Spider-Sense even does. "Move!", the underground hero shouts a warning for them to dodge an incoming mechanical fist.

Fortunately for Spider-Man, the giant metal arm isn't wielding a comically large newspaper to whack him with. He diverts his movement away from getting slammed and begins maneuvering through the rafters that still remain. Across the way, Eraserhead's jump turns into a dive that takes him down to ground level. The man isn't as nimble and young as the boy, and takes damage on his legs when landing.

Spider-Man hears a pained grunt, which causes him to look back. The eyes on his mask expand to cover his full face when he sees Eraserhead stuck in a compromised state directly in front of the Zero Pointer's warpath. "No!", the vigilante redirects himself to go back into that same field of danger.

Spider-Man's landing is with a little more grace when he puts himself between Eraserhead and the monstrous machine. "What are you doing?! Save yourself!", Eraserhead strains to get up when he sees someone younger than him putting themself in danger. But to no avail, the underground hero falls back, too injured to stand.

"Oh yeah? Then who's gonna save YOU?!", Spider-Man is quick with a retort as always. The vigilante snakes an arm behind Eraserhead to lift and support the man's weight. The other arm extends to spin a web line. Except, no string comes out. The nozzle fizzles out the remnants of what's left in an otherwise empty web shooter. "Oh no – Not now!"

Spider-Man swiftly switches Eraserhead to his other arm, opting to try and spin a web from that shooter. But the second nozzle has the same effect. He's all out. And with the Zero Pointer bearing down on them, Spider-Man is unable to replace the cartilages fast enough to swing him and Eraserhead to safety. He's left with one option; it's a desperate gamble but Spider-Man is able to think quicker than he moves currently.

Spider-Man plucks a cartilage from his spare supply. But instead of lodging it into one of his web shooters, he chucks it towards the Zero Pointer's tread tracks. It's the same idea as his first attempt to stop the massive machine, just on a larger scale. The web cartilage combusts under the bot's belt and explodes with webbing. Goop covers the wheels and messes with the functionality until the movement loses out.

Mere inches from getting rolled over, Spider-Man and Eraserhead stare straight ahead at what looks like a snow cushion collision. The vigilante releases a sigh of relief while simultaneously setting the underground hero back down. "I'm glad that worked…", Izuku can't imagine what it would have been like to get flattened. Judging by Eraserhead's hum of agreement, neither could he have.

"Your friend got away", the underground hero spares a tired glance in the direction that Electro fled before returning that tired stare back to Spider-Man.

To which the vigilante indignantly throws his arms up in the air to argue, "I told you that he's not my friend!", before backpedaling under the underground hero's gaze and more timidly answering, "I guess I was just at the right place at the right time.."

Eraserhead huffs something shy of a laugh. "Or the wrong place at the wrong time", but he otherwise displays no real amusement as he drags a calloused hand over his stubbled facial features. A moment later, he's waving that hand towards the room's ventilation as though he's shooing Spider-Man away. "Go on and get out of here before I change my mind –", he sees the vigilante about to speak and abruptly cuts the unlicensed hero off, "-this is only a one time offer. I won't ask what you were doing here but it's clear from your actions that you're telling the truth when you say you wanted to help. So go. Now."

Spider-Man stalls, but only for a second. With a murmured, "Thanks", he bids an appreciative farewell. Eraserhead watches with fasciation as the boy leaves using an abnormal agility to move.

The door opens with a pop, one loud enough to inspire onomatopoeia and make Izuku believe the noise is coming from his back for a moment (crawling and crouching 24/7 has proven to have that kind of effect on him if he doesn't stretch in the morning). It's a sound also loud enough to be heard by the boy's mother. Inko arrives to greet her son at the household entrance as he kicks his signature red sneakers off. She doesn't see him wipe his brow with his web patterned mask like it's a handkerchief or the way he sneakily hides it in his coat jacket – which is already suspicious enough for him to be wearing all the way zipped up during such a sweltering summer – but she does note the way he's hunched over with a sour expression.

Inko tenderly treads towards him with outstretched hands; she hesitates to hug or console him, still cautious and careful because of the place they left off earlier. "The walk didn't help, huh?" So the anxious mother settles on wringing those two hands together, praying for him to not be as still sad or angry as he appears.

Izuku falters, seemingly startled by his mom and her question. She senses that he must have been deep in thought and waits for his mind to buffer. When it does, because Mama Midoriya's motherly instinct is always right, her son offers a somber smile to placate her concern. "Not the way that I thought it would.."

"Oh, Izuku.." Inko's heart clenches as tightly as she squeezes her hands together. She really doesn't want to say it, her mouth opening and shutting, but she eventually convinces herself to speak. She tells him, "I gave it some thought while you were gone and.. Sweetie, you can try for the Hero Course if you want–"

"No", Izuku's curt cutoff renders Inko speechless. So he continues talking instead of her, "You were right, mom. My ego got too big and I made – er – was going to make some poor decisions regarding U.A. I'll just stick with Gen Ed."

Inko blinks, but is unable to blink back her disbelief nor the tears starting to seep out of her sockets. "But.. But I don't understand… You seemed so sure?", she means to ask him what about his walk could have possibly changed his mind but is much too moved to do so.

Izuku swallows, choking down his own tears before they can join his mother's. "I just realized you were right is all", his shoulders give a small shrug, "There's no use trying for something that'll just wind up being a big waste of time."

Inko can hear the hurt in her son's voice to know that he hasn't fully let his dream go, and so she finally gives in to her need to hold him. But she doesn't try rekindling his passion to alleviate that hurt. "I just don't want to see you in danger is all", she can't bring herself to take that chance when he's quirkless and has no power to defend himself.

Izuku stiffens in her hold, eyes going wide. Inko worries that she said something wrong again. Until his body loosens, and he leans into hers. Slowly, Izuku's eyes slide shut and he returns her hug. He rests his chin atop her head as he whispers, "I know… I know, mom.."

When they finally break apart and end the embrace, Inko forces out a laugh to clear her throat. "I won't have to worry about that with you being in Gen Ed though! No villains and no potential explosions that you could get from being in Support either!", it's a poor attempt at humor but Izuku fakes a chuckle to avoid making the moment any more awkward.

"Yeah..", he mumbles something else under his breath but Inko is walking out of ear shot as he does. She likely expects him to follow so he raises his voice after that to call out and let her know, "I'm gonna head to my room for a bit! Alright?"

"That's fine! Just be back down for dinner!", she shouts back from the other end of the house a second later.

Izuku sighs. He didn't tell his mom the real reason that he changed his mind. Afterall, how could he? That'd be like telling her that he's Spider-Man. After the mess that he got mixed up in (and that he's wondering if he's partially to blame for even) he feels too responsible for the mishap at U.A to show his face at the Entrance Exam. Not to mention the way Eraserhead and the rest of the school's staff must feel about him now, even if they did let him go.

Izuku toys with the zipper at the top of his jacket, thumbing the metal pull tab. He has a secret identity to keep as a vigilante now more than ever. It's not like he can go using his powers at the exam to pass it without exposing himself. Slowly and ever-so-slightly, Izuku pulls the zipper down. Just by a bit. Just enough that the top part of his Spider-Man suit is exposed, right where the emblem resides. He's able to do what he always wanted without passing the Hero Course, which is helping people and saving lives. That's what the alter ego is all about. That's what Spider-Man is for.

And as for Izuku Midoriya… he pulls out his mask, the reflective lens on it staring into his eyes. He can do some good too. He has a responsibility to his mother. A responsibility to his studies. A responsibility to those in his life that he doesn't get them tangled up in Spider-Man's web; Izuku shoves the mask back into his pocket and pulls the zipper on his coat back up.

What he did, thinking that it was for Itsuka, was wrong. Even if it was some small part for her, he broke into U.A for himself and his own selfish reasons. She blocked him because of his responsibility as Spider-Man and he almost gave up that responsibility trying to win her back. He hangs his head, thinking that his father would probably be disappointed in him. He can't compromise himself and doing the right thing for anyone, not even cute girls. He thinks of that blonde girl that cut him across his chest; especially not the crazy ones either, no matter how attractive that craziness can be at times.

"Spider-Man really is just a kid. He thinks like a kid. Acts like a kid", Eraserhead ceases his pacing back and forth to whirl on Tsukauchi and give the detective a hard stare, "He talks like a kid."

There's a hard tone to go along with that stare too. Which makes Tsukauchi hold up his hands in a placating gesture. "Okay, just calm down, we expected as such that getting a confirmation shouldn't rile us up" Tsukauchi takes a second to let that suggestion hang in the air, hoping that it'll settle.

It does, as much as it will when it comes to quelling Eraserhead's attitude, at least. The underground hero heaves a heavy sigh up and out of his mouth. "He wouldn't stop talking. In all my years of teaching, not even any of my students come close to being as unserious as he was" The man continues his complainative critique with his hands on his hips. "But…", only lagging for a second with contemplation to correct himself, "What he did was still somehow effective nevertheless."

Tsukauchi raises a brow at that. Receiving any sort of praise from Eraserhead is uncommon, even if it's tacked on with criticism. "Luck?", he presumes that he must be mistaken.

But the underground hero shakes his head, denying that Spider-Man got this far as a vigilante solely on luck. "It was more than that", Eraserhead thinks back to what he saw, "It was more like an ingrained instinct or a third sense keeping him alive. What would have been otherwise reckless was turned into innovation."

"Interesting", the detective makes a mental note of what could be a quirk effect or something else to follow as a lead in the investigation. Then asks, "Anything else you noticed?"

Eraserhead nods, still giving credit where credit is due. "His webbing isn't organic", that bit of news surprises Tsukauchi, "He's also smart enough to build himself support items."

"Or perhaps he's getting them from a supplier?", but the detective isn't so shocked that he can't rationalize that information; he stops the underground hero from jumping to any sort of conclusions, "It's not implausible to rule out that Spider-Man isn't working alone."

Eraserhead crosses his arms, not following that same line of thinking. "He didn't seem the type", the underground hero recalls the way that Spider-Man utilized the cartilages to stop the Zero Pointer, "I can tell that he knew what he was doing by the way that he handled his gear. Not even Pros familiarize themself enough with their items to be that comfortable with them; that only comes with knowing the insides and outs as an inventor."

"So then we're dealing with a boy genius who's abnormally aware of his surroundings", Tsukauchi chews on his bottom lip to bite down on a bitter laugh, "That should make catching him all the easier" He's unable to keep the sarcasm from coming out though.

Eraserhead hums instead of agreeing, which makes him sound like he's hiding something. It's no secret that the man has a soft spot for both vigilantes and kids that the detective can come up with a few theories as to what. But before Tsukauchi can ask about it, the underground hero is already moving on. "Since this incident happened on the grounds of U.A, I'm sure that Nezu is going to want to get his grubby paws on this too, so don't worry about cracking the case too much" He refers to the hero school's principal like he's referring to vermin (and he may as well be) before settling into the seat opposite to Tsukauchi's desk.

Tsukauchi sits down too, nodding along. "He's already emailed me with a formal request for copies of the Spider-Man investigation", the truth is that the detective has been blatantly ignoring that request and he knows he's safe in sharing such information with someone who understands exactly as to why he would, "That rat bastard likely already has his own case file built that he won't bother sharing with me or the rest of the precinct anyways."

Eraserhead hides his small smile of amusement within the crook of his capture cloth that doubles as a scarf. In doing so, he feels the brim of his goggles brush against the bristles under his chin. They remind him of something else that he can share with the detective. "Speaking of which… You might want to boot up your computer – or get a pen out – whichever is faster", he mimes jotting down notes so that the detective gets the message and Tsukauchi does just that.

"You mean to tell me that there's more?", Tsukauchi steels himself with a glance up at the underground hero. The tip of his pen presses into a blank page of his notepad, ink seeping into the paper already.

Eraserhead slides his goggles up over his head and sets them down on the desk between he and the detective. "I tried using my quirk during our encounter", there's an intake of breath between both of the investigators that leaves what comes next lingering in the air before it can even be said, "Erasure doesn't work on Spider-Man. You might want to consider altering the type of quirk suspects on your list."

Pink petals flutter about with applicants, covering the grounds that are overlooked by cherry blossom trees. A vast expanse of leveled stone sidewalk leads into the prestigious place the way a red carpet may get rolled out for guests to a major event. There are even camera flashes to enhance that environmental effect, several people snapping memorabilia photos at the widespread entry gates. Izuku gazes up at the arch of it as he walks under what's suspended overhead; he half expects torches to be on either side the way that American film Jurassic Park had its entry gate. Despite having broken into U.A prior to now, it's all awe inspiring new ground to tread; it's a stark contrast between cramped vent shafts and assembly warehouses.

The boy's eyes marvel at what's ahead of him. Built atop a forested hill, resides the hero school's student center. There are enough floors stacking the suspension of the facility that it could be a skyscraper. Glass panes radiate the sun on the horizon, only dimming where a connector bridge attaches the center with a second tower. From this far back, the architecture appears to deliberately mimic the letter 'H', undoubtedly standing for Hero if it is anything intentional. That's just one of the many impressive structures surrounding the campus as Izuku follows the flow of applicant traffic. Acres of land stretch beyond what the eye can see. Anxiety, excitement, eagerness, and many other emotions swell within the youth.

Izuku is so caught up in his fanboy fascination of it all that he winds up mis stepping. A pebble in his path catches the front of his foot, causing him to trip over himself. Naturally, Izuku's Spider-Sense warns him of the accident; his instinct is to catch himself so that he doesn't fall and scrape his knees or elbows. He's about to obey that bodily impulse. But on the way down, he can see the prying eyes of those around him. With an active audience watching, he can't boast his powers without risking exposure of his double life in vigilantism. Izuku fights his instinct, allowing gravity to take him instead of stopping it.

Except, midway through his descent, there's suddenly no gravity left at all. Izuku starts to levitate above the ground! The boy frantically flails his arms, grasping at air as he reaches for the surface beneath him. He knows that if he can just touch the floor that he'll be able to stick and keep himself from floating away; secret identity be damned now, he decides that he is not going to drift off into space before he even gets a chance to try out for U.A's Gen Ed department.

"Whoa, no need to freak out, I've gotcha!" A bubbly voice breaks through Izuku's panic and he realizes that he's just bobbing about in one place rather than soaring into the sky. It all makes sense to him what spared him a tumble when a brunette girl explains, "It's just my quirk", her hands pressing together with a whispered, "Release", being what returns gravity to him.

He breathes a sigh of relief, meaning to say thanks with it, but all the wind apparently leaving him in that sigh making it rather difficult. Izuku tries again. A wheeze comes out. Well, now this cute girl is only going to think he's weirder than she probably already does… The fact that she's cute doesn't help with his spiking anxiety either, by the way. If not for it being the tail end of a sweltering summer and his raging teenage hormones, he'd also like to imagine he wouldn't be so sweaty right now.

The girl scratches the back of her head, starting to feel awkward about the interaction too. "You look super nervous. Sorry if I startled or bothered you, I just didn't think it'd be good to trip right before your exam, bad luck and all" She waves over her shoulder while walking with the other candidates, "Well, anyway, we don't wanna be late either. Good luck on your exam!"

Izuku raises his hand to wave back to her, the shaky appendage giving her a thumbs up that she can't even see from behind. It feels like going for a fist bump when the other person wanted a high five, especially when he keeps the gesture poised for way too long after the matter of her having left awhile ago. But, he still beams with some pride anyways. Afterall, he did just talk to a girl. Well, he didn't actually do any speaking, but that's a lot easier to do when wearing a mask so he has some anonymity to hide his embarrassment. Which he doesn't have now. And Itsuka was a special case, their meeting behind a dumpster much less romantic than U.A. Whatever. The point is that he technically talked (not really) to a girl, and that's a good omen to balance out the tripping as a bad one.

Having recovered well enough, Izuku puts one foot forward and takes another step to replace the one that he screwed up. Which promptly leads him into a person's back. "Oop! Sorry!", he staggers a bit to put some space between himself and the other U.A applicant. Only to see when the person turns around that it's somebody he recognizes. How his Spider-Sense didn't warn him of his childhood friend turned bully is beyond him.

Katsuki Bakugo whirls around to glower at the person that dares brush shoulders with him, "Hah?!", his spark of anger only kindling into a more burning fire of fury when he too recognizes who bumped into him, "Deku?!" The boy's ashen blonde hair bristles like pines on a porcupine.

"H- Hey Kacchan", Izuku reflexively recluses from his irritable neighbor. Past experience has proven that getting too close can result in some burns, which sucks when they practically live right next door to one another.

"What the fuck are YOU doing here?!", Katsuki closes the gap between he and Izuku. The angry blonde's hand grabs a clumpful of the other boy's shirt, the blonde's quirk singing the material as it dares to detonate. "Are you trying to apply to be a hero when I distinctly remember telling you to back off and not even bother?!", spit flings itself at Izuku as the other boy barks at him like a pomeranian.

"N- No! I'm not!", Izuku holds his hands up while wildly waving them to display himself as submissive and not willing to fight. They've gained themselves a few onlookers. Izuku tries laughing it off to deescalate the situation, playing up his act so that the spectators will go back to their business. "U.A has general studies too", he explains himself to the bully as best as he can, "I wouldn't even dream of trying out for the Hero Course!"

Katsuki bares his teeth, his resemblance to a pomeranian now looking like one prepared to bite. But he too takes notice of the passerbyers. And not even he is willing to start a problem in public that might hurt his chances at getting into U.A. "Tch", he releases Izuku's shirt – but not without a shove – and lets Izuku go free, "So long as you know your place!"

Izuku deflates with his second sigh of the day. He expected U.A to be an eventful place but this is unbelievably unprecedented luck. The kid who rearranged his name's kanji to mean useless and got all the other children at his school growing up to call him 'Deku' just so happens to run into him amongst all these other examinees… What are the odds? But it is a firm reminder that he must maintain his unassuming appearance if he's to survive. He was only treated that way because of his quirkless nature, the switch up from his friend coming after that diagnosis. And so long as Spider-Man is a secret, it'll have to stay that way.

Izuku gets back on track, following the flow of examinees towards the exam center. They start splitting at a fork in the path, various trails leading to different exam halls. It's not so hard to know which one is for the Support Department, lots of those candidates carrying heavy machinery with them. As for which path is the correct one to follow for Gen Ed, that's a little tougher to figure out. Izuku slowly walks closer to the buildings where people file into separate auditoriums, hoping it might get easier to know who goes where from there.

While browsing the exam halls, he becomes distracted by a familiar tingling sensation in the back of his mind. Izuku's face twitches and then scrunches up in confusion; why his Spider-Sense would be ringing here of all places is a strange occurrence. So, he turns around and tries to find the source of its cause. Some scanning of the potentially future students sea takes his eyes to a blonde boy with a black lightning streak dyed into his hair. He's on the phone, appearing nervous while talking to whoever is on the other end. But the guy is heading for the Hero Course, so he can't be all that bad.

Izuku looks around some more. He gasps. Who he spots next also sees him. Itsuka Kendo stares from across the way, people putting them apart, but the two making direct eye contact nevertheless. She seems surprised to see him too for a second before frowning and joining her group in loading into the auditorium she belongs to. Izuku shudders, believing his Spider-Sense to have warned him about the girl's animosity from what she thinks is him ghosting her. That's not how he hoped to see her again, especially that she'd make his danger sense go off.

Little does he know, that's not the case at all. He had been right the first time when taking notice of the Hero Course applicant beside Itsuka. The boy with a lightning streak design in his mess of electric blonde hair tugs at the collar around his neck. He's holding a burner phone close to his ear while listening to the modulated voice on the other end of it. The mysterious caller that he's in contact with gives him a command, "Pass that exam and do your job as our spy, Electro, or it's lights out for you."

The unmasked villain who opposed Eraserhead and Spider-Man clutches the phone tighter in his hand while pressing it closer to his ear. "Yes, Sensei" The boy's name tag reads Denki Kaminari and he's the one that sabotaged the exam bots so that he can pass the exam.

AUTHOR NOTES

Back when there was speculation over who the U.A traitor could be, I always sorta liked the Kaminari theories (plus it makes sense in this context with Electro, I felt) so I'll be opting for Denki over Yuga Aoyama. This chapter also hopefully helped address everyone's questions about Izuku's schooling status a little more.

I'd additionally like to backtrack to the previous chapter to explain a few things about Vulture & Swarm since I got some comments about them on ArchiveOfOurOwn. To clarify, Hawks was using Vulture as an alter ego to perform undercover operations for The Commission; the HPSC is known for shady under the table stuff like Lady Nagant being an assassin so it seemed feasible. As for Swarm's character, she is the 'bee villain' from the Vigilantes MHA spinoff manga; it was briefly brushed upon with a name drop but maybe it was missed.

It might be worth noting that 95% of the characters I use are always within the existing content and not OCs unless absolutely necessary. For instance, the group of ATM Robbers in Chapter One was Team Reservoir Dogs (the villain team that got merc'd by Overhaul). So always be on the prowl to pinpoint familiar faces!

Lastly, I'd like to address Guest W's questions as well. Per Izuku's interference with The Commission, there will definitely be consequences; in typical Spider-Man fashion, sometimes he meddles in affairs and misconceptions arise that make him & everyone question his choices as a hero. As for Itsuka or anyone learning about Izuku's double life, secrets may eventually come out but it won't be any time soon. I'm more-so leaning towards the 'up to interpretation' for characters like Tokuda knowing currently since I always found those dynamics fun with characters like Robbie Robertson.

Hope this chapter was able to still maintain the spark that the first few did!

-Courtesy of your friendly neighborhood author!