His phone slips through his fingers and out of the palm of his hand. It falls, its protective casing making it bounce when it lands on the table beneath him. Among several other cafeteria clatters of silverware and trays, it goes unnoticed by fellow students of the school. All but the one across from Izuku who stares at him more curiously than usual. Shinso pushes his food aside to get a good peek at what's on the cellphone's screen. Izuku doesn't try to hide it nor does he do anything to stop his friend from looking.
"Oh, Hawks' trial is over" Shinso dismisses what he sees in the open Hero Feed tab as no big deal; as a matter of fact, he appears more relieved than bothered by it like Izuku is. "Maybe now everyone will finally shut up about it", Shinso goes back to picking at his lunch with his fork.
Izuku, on the other hand, has lost his appetite. "I can't believe that he was cleared of charges", he retrieves his phone to reread the article in case there's something that he missed, "They're even letting him keep his hero license!"
Shinso shrugs, still not comprehending what there is to be upset about. "His alibi is that he was working undercover for the HPSC", there's a pause to chew and swallow a bite of food and then comes an additional justification, "underground heroes do things like that all the time."
Izuku opens his mouth to argue, but maintains an amount of self control to not say anything that would raise too many questions. It's not like he can share the fact that Hawks should have received a count for a murder charge when the only witness to Swarm's death was himself under the guise of Spider-Man. "I just think that they should have spent more time looking into it is all", Izuku has no choice but to let it go; he could instead accuse the HPSC of being corrupt but he has just about as much evidence to attest to that as he does U.A being corrupt.
Shinso hums, waiting to swallow the food that he's chewing before answering. "Hawks is not only ranked in the top ten, but the top five.. Why should anyone be surprised that he's getting a pass?", that in itself is a valid point too that Izuku will have to admit he should have seen coming by now; Uraraka had said something similar about the fragility of the public's view on heroes and how that image is being maintained even if it means hiding the less than heroic qualities of heroes.
Izuku puts his phone away as he gets serious about the conversational topic. "Heroes aren't any more above the law than villains", he feels that he needs to vent his frustrations a little.
"That's funny coming from a guy who takes pictures of someone outside the law", but the wind from that ventilation gets knocked right out of him when Shinso makes a good counterpoint.
Izuku's cheeks slowly turn a shade of red. "Spider-Man might be a vigilante but at least it's clear that he's trying to help", he tries not to sound too defensive or embarrassed when he thinks about the slight double standard.
Shinso doesn't dispute the matter but he doesn't support a side either. "I dunno, man, opinions are pretty split on em.." He mostly stays contemplatively neutral about it all. The enigmatic character does come from quite a pretty gray area within the black & white of it all afterall.
Regardless, "Same goes for Hawks lately", Izuku figures that it's best that he moves the topic away from Spider-Man and back to Vulture. He doesn't want another close call with anyone potentially linking him to his vigilante persona any more than he already is. "And I think someone needs to set the record straight if it's not going to be our court system", so he also takes this as an opportunity to try to slip away.
"Um.. And are you implying that someone is you?", Shinso notices his friend's body language has changed as he eyes Izuku up and down. It's not been that long they've known eachother and he's already caught on to the signs of when Izuku intends to run out.
"Well, I mean.." Izuku hesitates to stand up without an excuse for himself and so he first thinks of what to say before attempting to go, "This whole thing started with photo evidence", he figures his best bet is giving himself an alibi for it.
Shinso scoffs with disbelief, "So you're just gonna ditch class? AGAIN? On your second day after you already skipped the first?"
Izuku thinks about what his friend is pointing out. He was lucky the first time but skipping school two times in a row is a gamble. "I'll only miss one class this time and not the whole rest of the day", he decides to set a rule for himself that will make for a decent compromise between the responsibilities of his double life.
"Like that's any better", but Shinso is still skeptical about it all. It's easy for Izuku to imagine his friend is a little angel on one of his shoulders while Spidey is the devil on his other side.
Izuku forces down a groan, trying to keep his composure as he gets angsty about wanting to leave already. "Are you gonna vouch for me or not?", he skips the debate and asks Shinso directly if he's going to have help on this one or if he's going it alone.
And though Shinso looks torn on agreeing to support his friend in doing something ill-advised, the tired boy ultimately gives in. "I don't think the diarrhea alibi is gonna work again", he cups his chin like he's trying to think of an alternative excuse to use.
"Why is that your go-to?!", and Izuku has to wonder why it's so difficult to come up with something other than stomach issues.
Shinso just shrugs, unsure of it himself.
Izuku slaps a palm to his forehead. "Look.. Principal Nezu and I came to some kinda understanding the last time, so just tell them the truth" He drags the hand down his face until it slides off so that he can see Shinso is listening.
"Fine", and judging by Shinso's crossed arms, he unhappily is, "Just don't blame me if you wind up falling behind."
"Oh, don't worry.." Izuku turns to go, already pulling at the hem of his shirt to get at the web patterned spandex beneath it. "I only plan on getting ahead this time."
Grey glistens from sidewalk grounds to towers touching the sky, shimmering sunlight radiating right across it all. Pedestrians pass and cross traffic trimmed roads that blend red & green streetlights with the sun's natural glow. It's admittedly a perfect picture of a functioning city if crime or villains were of no concern. For the civilians casually going about their day, that may as well be the case; because, this is the district that the pro hero Hawks usually patrols. As Spider-Man surveys the scenery, he's impressed to find not a hint of graffiti or vandalism of any kind. And yet, the reason why he is there is to keep a close eye on the one responsible for that peacekeeping; it's at what comes a cost for this peace that worries the young vigilante.
Spider-Man anchors a web line to the building across from where he's perched. After a testing tug to make sure it holds, he uses the grappling system as a means to carry himself across the street from above it. He goes about doing this every so often to check on every block individually. With luck, he hopes to eventually come across Hawks. And while the licensed hero is typically aerial, the concealment of buildings is also an attribute to what the vigilante intends to be a stroke of luck too. With the Midoriya Misfortune, he probably shouldn't be gambling like that, but it's not like he has any alternative options.
Then again, if he's spotted, then a direct confrontation over trailing Hawks can be on the table too. At this point, the vigilante is willing to take anything. If the HPSC agent discovered his Spider Tracers before then it's not very likely to work a second time and that means he'll have to get creative about this. Truth be told, he isn't entirely sure what his plan is. He thought he'd just wing it with Hawks (pun intended). But that could also be why he needs to spend more time in school rather than doing this. There's still a lot that he needs to learn. And even if he's not in the Hero Course, he imagines the hero school will help in some areas.
Speaking of which, he made a promise to not miss more than one class and now it's looking like he might have to break that promise. He doesn't want to make this a waste of time by giving up already. He has half a mind to shoot Shinso a quick text that he'll need another vouching. But he knows better than to test the shakiness of their friendship after having already put the sleep deprived boy through enough of his Spider-Man shenanigans. He just has to let things play out naturally and so be it what happens with his classes, he figures.
In the meanwhile, he finds a way to occupy his time waiting for an answer. The vigilante hears a scream a few blocks back. With Hawks nowhere in sight, he takes up his friendly neighborhood duty to go lend a helping hand. Spider-Man swings the way that he came from to check out what all the commotion is about. When he gets there, it's just in the knick of time to catch the crime in progress. A typical run of the mill purse snatching reflects in the lenses of his mask.
But before Spidey can get involved, somebody else saves the day. Spider-Man pulls back, taking cover behind a billboard that advertises some perfume promotion with Uwabami. He watches as the man of the hour himself catches the criminal below. Hawks has arrived, swooping the thief up and returning the purse. It's odd to see the hero doing hero things again after having fought Hawks in the Vulture guise, but he recognizes the movements just the same.
After Hawks finishes up with the foiled theft, the hero takes to the sky again. Spider-Man pursues at a distance. Without being able to rely on his Spider Tracers, the vigilante relies on the ol fashioned way. Trailing bad guys for evidence is a lost art. What exactly it is that he's looking for or hoping to find, he doesn't really know, but he's sure he'll know when he sees it. So Spidey stays creeping on a creep.
Until, Hawks soars up and beyond just the skyline. The hero disappears within the clouds above. The vigilante is stuck staring upwards, unable to follow. His webs can't carry him anywhere without something to attach to. It's times like these that he wishes he had wings in his armpits or something. "Now what.. ?", Spider-Man mumbles aloud to himself what he's thinking since he's bound to lose Hawks' trail at this rate.
But as he's caught looking one way, he soon discovers that he should have been bird watching from another. A single crimson feather floats down from above, its sea sawing sway alerting him to a presence behind him. Spider-Man whirls, crouches low, and cocks one arm back. Only because his Spider-Sense didn't alert him does he not do anything rash. But there's still the fact of the matter that Hawks has turned the tables on him. The hero hovers directly over the vigilante.
Hawks folds his arms across his chest, crossing them like a disappointed senpai of some sort. "I thought I told you to give it up, kid" His hero uniform is a stark contrast to his Vulture armor; his wings aren't covered by green steel, red plumage flapping every so often to keep him airborne, and his face isn't concealed by a helmet but is much so exposed for everyone to see.
But Izuku has seen the hero's appearance as much as he has heard what the hero just said before. The boy thinks back to a particular doctor, the first time that he heard it. "You wouldn't be the first one to tell me that", he obviously never took that advice seriously from anyone.
Hawks hums, considering the vigilante's response. "So what do you think you're doing here then?", but he ultimately decides to just skip to the point.
Spider-Man stands up so that he can openly point an accusatory finger at the presumed hero. "You might have everyone else fooled but I know better", the boy's voice darkens to a deeper tone despite his youth as he growls lowly under his breath, "I saw what you did" He thinks back to the burning bees that had made up a hive minded being. "Killing is what separates the heroes from the villains", he puts it point blank and simple why he'll never let the straight up murder go.
Hawks holds a blank expression, hiding his emotions well if he feels any way bothered or disgruntled by getting called out. "Look.. I hate to shatter your perfect image of what being a hero is, and I know you're just a kid, so I don't expect you to understand – but there are some crimes that can't be stopped with a strong right hook…", even the man's voice is a monotone mystery that Spider-Man can't get a complete read on.
But Spider-Man has no problem showing his emotions for the both of them. "Why not? It seemed to have worked pretty good on you", his retort is meant to be a verbal blow as much as his physical swings hurt when they had previous confrontations over conversations.
"Cute", Hawks actually has enough gull to smirk with amusement. Though his smile drops just as quickly as it appeared. "But really, you aren't taking the time to consider what a worldwide network like the Yakuza truly is. Even if we were to lock away the whole lot of them, there's a next of kin in line to take their place, and that's not if they don't make bail or get off scot free in court."
"Oh, you mean like you did?" Spider-Man continues being a cheeky little shit. It's what he does best, afterall.
Hawks sighs and shakes his head. "Maybe if you took heroic studies to earn a license, you'd be better informed and less naive" But the verbal jabs must be working since the man loses enough of his composure to try firing back with his own.
"I dunno", Spider-Man shrugs and uses the gesture to spread those same arms out in a presentable format, "I seem to be doing pretty well for myself."
"Not for long", Hawks plucks a feather each from either side of his wings; Spider-Man's Spider-Sense starts to tingle when the quills elongate and sharpen into dual wielded swords. "Vulture or not, vigilantism is illegal" Hawks smirks again, this time not bothering to lose the smile, "And I'm permitted to take you down."
Spider-Man quickly tries to get the last word in before he can get attacked, "Are you sure that's not an excuse for some personal bias towards me?", his Spider-Sense letting him do so by helping him to dodge Hawks at the very last millisecond of attack.
But playing it close to the chest comes at a cost. Hawks returns with a two fisted uppercut. The blow rocks Spider-Man off the edge of a building's parapet. He plummets, trying to catch his wind while winding in the wind itself. Hawks gives chase and they're soon both dropping through the air.
With one massive blow from the hero to the vigilante, it's the hero that stops in the air; Hawks hovers with a sharp snap of his huge wings. "Happy landings", it's his turn to make a witty remark while having the advantage in combat.
Twisting around in midair, Spider-Man desperately tries to save himself by firing a web line. His shot misses, the string trailing uselessly behind him like the tail of a kite. Worse yet, he doesn't have time for another try. And even if he did and his webbing were to catch, it would not very likely be able to hold at this speed anymore.
Spider-Man braces his body before it crashes through the roof of an apartment complex. It doesn't help him very much to be prepared for the rough landing. It still hurts. A whole lot. But yet, he can't allow himself to lay there and complain either. Spider-Man forces himself to get back up, only making a compromise with his body's aching protest to audibly groan those same protests at moving.
He pauses when he hears a startled gasp. Spider-Man turns around to see a family of four crowding together in a corner. They're reasonably scared of him. Hoping to alleviate some of that fear, he tries cracking a joke to go along with what might be cracked ribs. "I swear I'm only dropping in for a second", Spider-Man holds true to that promise and vaults himself out from the hole that he entered.
Ready for round two, Spider-Man uses two sets of web strings to give himself a short slingshot burst up. He snags the end of a flagpole and loops himself up and over it. Once perched there, he poses a balancing act that allows for him to spring off at any given moment should he need to. And considering he's facing someone who earned placement as the third top hero, he'll likely need to.
Hawks swings one of his feather blades to make Spider-Man dismount from the flagpole. When that second specialized sword follows through, it's only Spidey's danger sense that lets him know the first was a feint to lure him in. The vigilante volleys over the hero in order to evade getting cut into.
"Resorting to underhanded tricks already?", Spider-Man taunts his opponent for trying out unhonorable tactics straight from the start. Considering who he's dealing with though, he's not all that surprised. An underworld operator is sure to fight dirty.
Hawks rebounds, kicking off from an invisible nonexistent springboard to somersault his body and get his wings to glide him forward. Seeing the aerial maneuver in action, Spider-Man swings back the other way in order to counter it with his own display of skill. The two perform an acrobatic dance suspended within the sky, their shadows choreographing every movement across buildings that the sun reflects through window panes.
Hawks takes a swipe at Spider-Man with his left quill blade. The right side carves down. Evasive movements from the vigilante eventually give way to the hero getting too hasty with those sword swings. Spider-Man webs one of the crimson cutters and yanks it from the swordsman's grip. "Yeet!", the boy bests the man in close combat by tossing the weapon.
Hawks is left with only one feather cutter now. He grips it with both hands so that he doesn't lose it and now leads his attacks with broader swings. The wide arcs make Spider-Man dodge further back, some of those dodges requiring web lines to pull himself far enough away. Hawks sees this and seizes the opportunity by hacking at one of the strings that keep Spider-Man suspended with him over the city.
The vigilante bounces out of range, trying to get his wind. And doesn't get it. Hawks chases Spider-Man, the hero slashing at air. Spidey spins a web line to catch himself, not on any of the buildings, but on Hawks. When Spider-Man pulls himself back up, he pulls Hawks down. The two collide and Spider-Man kicks off of his opponent to keep his momentum.
Down below, civilians watch with awe as the two duke it out above them. From their perspective, it seems that the menace Spider-Man is engaged with a pro hero. A few of the onlookers who aren't using their cellphones to record the battle took it upon themselves to dial 911. And thus, police arrive to aid Hawks and help capture the menace wanted for vigilantism. When cop cars cruise on scene, a few officers get out to clear away civilian traffic.
Amongst the police who responded to calls about Spider-Man, is Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa. He steps out of his own vehicle, but only partially, keeping one leg half out the open door and his other side in the car. He wants to be able to instantly give chase if the fight moves elsewhere. Attached at his hip are quirk suppressing handcuffs that he plans on using one way or another.
Spider-Man flips away from Hawks, noticing the commotion that the two of them are causing. It hadn't crossed his mind that reinforcements might arrive for what the public perceives as the good guy in this situation, and that's if he's fortunate enough to not have to fight an actual hero alongside Hawks. As much as he hates to think it, he starts to consider retreating. But not without first tagging Hawks with a Spider Tracer again; it might get discovered like the last one but it's worth the try.
But between the distraction of what's happening beneath them and his close proximity to his enemy, Spider-Man's Spider-Sense can't save him from getting suddenly stabbed in the stomach. Hawks saw an opportunity and took it. The feather he's using may as well be an actual blade made of metal, the sharpened sword piercing right through its victim.
Izuku grabs at the hem of Hawks' coat, clinging for some type of support when he feels faint from the pain passing through his body. When he does, his wide eyes stare through broad mask lens into the eyes of the man who stabbed him; what Hawks sees is a scared boy despite the face covering and he finds himself faltering. As though pulling the feathered blade back out will undo the damage that it caused, he slides it free from Izuku's gut.
Izuku loses his grip on Hawks' coat at the same moment that he's no longer kept upright by his impalement. He falls backwards and plummets. The boy's body drops down into an alley, the course of where he lands altered only slightly by wind trajectory.
The crowd collectively gasps when they witness Spider-Man falling and not being caught by Hawks, but that's the only reaction of concern that they show for what they presume to be the bad guy in this matchup. The battle was too high above them for them to see what led to the vigilante suddenly plunging to the ground. So, they presume that the hero won without stabbing someone since that thought has no reason to cross their minds. And they begin to cheer and clap. Hawks receives an applause for what he's just done, what he's actually done unbeknownst to them.
Above the people, Hawks flaps his wings and flies off. He doesn't come down to showboat or sign autographs like he typically does; he doesn't even go to check on where Spider-Man landed. And so, Naomasa ignores the clapping civilians and pushes his way past the crowd to get at where he saw Spider-Man fall. Heroes are always leaving the police to clean up their messes for them. This particular instance is somehow both no different and also very different.
Because what Naomasa finds when he runs down an alley is not an unconscious criminal but a severely injured child. The underage vigilante lays in a pile of trash, where they landed hard enough in a dumpster to break it wide open, causing garbage to spill out across the ground. Spider-Man, who's just a young boy, holds his bleeding stomach like many fellow officers Naomasa has seen get shot in the field before.
"Christ… Kid, you need a doctor…" Naomasa's first instinct is to radio in for an ambulance. But when a glob of webbing covers the receiver on his belt, he's not able to contact anybody anymore.
"Oh, I'm sorry, is this OUR stab wound?" Spider-Man's sense of humor is misplaced as much as his footing when he tries to get himself to stand up. He staggers and stumbles but catches himself by bracing his shoulder against a wall.
Realizing that this is a delicate moment in which who he's dealing with most certainly has a flight or fight response going on currently, Naomasa draws back a bit. He raises his hands up away from his belt to show he isn't reaching for anything on it anymore and holds them steady. Just as cautiously gentle and careful, the detective speaks with a delicate tone. "You could die if you don't get medical attention…"
Spider-Man stops and looks down at where he's been keeping pressure applied to a wound that's currently leaking blood. "Yeah.. You got a point..", his voice is a little fainter as his shoulder slips and slides off the wall that he was using as a crutch.
Naomasa steps forward, prepared to catch the boy who he believes to be passing out. But the detective is surprised to find out that is not what's happening right now. Spider-Man leaps over Naomasa's head in a single bound; Naomasa spins around and watches as Spider-Man scuttles up the wall that had been behind them.
He allows himself only a single second longer to process what just happened. Then, he does away with his awe of the boy's resilience to evade capture with a severe injury, and gets to work on both trying to chase the kid down while simultaneously trying to save the kid's life. Naomasa rips the webbing off his walkie talkie and presses down on the receiver to speak into it, "Get me an APB on all hospitals that receive patients with stab wounds!"
When the door to the infirmary slides open, Chiyo Shuzenji fully expects yet another reckless student to come stumbling in from the Hero Course, the first day in which new years are introduced to Battle Trials conducted here often rough around the edges. What she sees stumbling into her nurse's station is a tad more extreme than that though. It's a wonder to her how the boy managed to get himself there all by himself.
Izuku offers a weak smile, neither he or the woman in front of him entirely sure whether it's supposed to be intended to soothe U.A's medical service or himself. He had long since ditched his Spider-Man garb, having taken a risk by stuffing it into his locker but also taking a lesser risk by keeping it on. Now, he's a U.A student seeking medical attention from the school nurse. "Hi, Recovery Girl… Can I have an autograph?", the blazer of his uniform has started to dampen from the blood still oozing out of his open wound and yet he finds a way to ignore it by keeping his spirits up.
"My word! What happened?!", the pro hero rushes to the boy's aid immediately. He's given the nearest bed gurney where she can better assess what to do.
Izuku has never been very good at covering for his Spider-Man persona before. He's even worse at it when it puts him in severely compromising states such as this one. He blanks on giving any plausible excuses and goes with the ol' faithful tale that he would give his mom any time that he came home with a black eye due to bullies, "I.. Uh.. Tripped.."
The old nurse applies pressure to the youth's injury, making her patient audibly hiss from pain. In all her years of experience, the woman knows all too well what the difference between an accident and an inflicted wound are. She's the pro hero Recovery Girl for crying out loud; she's saved lives from gunshot wounds to stab wounds many of times.
But yet, the foolish boy continues to give the same sorry excuse for a cover story. He digs himself a deeper ditch as those that lie tend to do, "It was down the stairs.. I fell into a – thing–"
"A 'thing' you say?", Recovery Girl throws her patient an incredulous glance. It's all that she can spare as she focuses on cleaning and bandaging his injury but it's enough to let him know that she isn't buying what he's trying to sell her. "Did this thing just so happen to be a dagger or a sword?"
Izuku gives the lady helping him a meek shrug, unable to say anything in response to that. It's as Recovery Girl finishes tending to the immediate assistance needed to be provided that she starts to realize he isn't anybody that she recognizes from the Hero Course. Surely the boy does attend U.A but it's a wonder why a student from any of the other departments would have such a severe injury. Not even the shrapnel catching people from malfunctioned inventions within the Support Studio requires attention such as this.
"Well then…", she grabs a bag of vitamin gummies from her stocked stash and empties a handful into the mysterious boy's open palm, "I'd like to keep you here for the remainder of the day to ensure you don't happen to run into any other 'things'."
Izuku pops the gummies into his mouth, grateful for their fruity flavor and how it replaces what tasted like copper on his tongue. "Yeah, if you don't mind letting my teachers know so I don't get into any trouble" The truth is that thanks to his enhanced stamina he also has enhanced healing and could more than likely still attend the rest of his classes; however, he can't let anyone else know that or become more suspicious of him than they already have reason to be.
"You mean get into any more trouble than you already are", Recovery Girl scolds the boy when she sees him already getting rowdy just because he's now patched up. "Don't you worry", she crosses the room to grab a clipboard in order to fill out what she must, "I'll handle it while you get your bed rest."
"I'm honestly not all that sleepy–", he starts to protest to taking a nap but gets cut off by a wet kiss atop his forehead. His face scrunches up in confusion. Especially when his statement is disproven by a sudden feeling of fatigue more than he felt when having been stabbed.
"My quirk will help you to heal faster but it drains your energy in order to do so", Recovery Girl explains herself and her methods as the boy's eyelids slowly become heavy and droop down. It's not until he completely closes them and falls asleep that she adds, "It will also help me to perform tests on you without your protesting against them."
It's her duty to look into the mystery that just waltzed into her infirmary as much as it is her duty to have helped him regardless of his reason for needing help. The woman took two oaths. One as a medical professionist and one as a hero. She stands by them both. And so, when she pulls up the boy's school file on the system to identify him as Izuku Midoriya, she's even more baffled to find out he's quirkless while being in General Education. It becomes even stranger why he'd have a stab wound that he would want to keep the truth about it hidden.
Despite his quirkless status on his existing record, she decides to perform the telltale tests herself. An X Ray to see whether he has a missing toe joint or not is the first check on whether or not he has a quirk. It's an outdated method but usually the easiest and more direct way of knowing. But exceptions have been made in recent scientific studies that it's not an absolute decider if someone has a dormant quirk factor. It's through repetition in research that doctors discovered there's a reason why 'late bloomers' occur despite the toe joint method.
And so, she also plans on taking a swab of his DNA to study under a microscope. There's plenty of it to lift considering he was bleeding out only moments prior. There's ways of recognizing the quirk genome by studying samples such as this. And yet, when she does, still all signs point towards him not having a dormant quirk that he's hiding from everyone. His blood is as plain and ordinary as his genetics molded his facial appearance. Well… There IS something else floating around in his blood. But as fleetingly as she noticed its existence, she can no longer find it. Almost like a low radioactive wave, it's fizzled out. Or, perhaps she should chalk it up to her imagination.
It's nothing that a few other checks won't be able to determine the cause of.
What was a haze is kind enough to come softly and slowly into focus. Izuku blinks his bleary eyes, shedding sleep only when his mind & body synchronize to catch up with one another. He sits up in the cot of the school infirmary, remembering where he's at and why when his stomach strains to crunch upon moving himself.
He senses movement in his peripheral vision. Rather than turning his head to address the company, he lays back down and closes his eyes; assuming that it's just Recovery Girl still watching over him, he tries falling back into relaxation while asking, "How long was I out for?"
But the voice that responds is masculine and not feminine, "Long enough", Izuku opens his eyes and turns his head to see someone that he wished to not see again any time soon. Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa sits beside the boy's bed. "We meet again, Mister Midoriya."
Izuku forces himself to sit up, not caring anymore if his injury protests about it. "What – Uh – What are you doing here this time?", he has too many concerns & questions about the detective's presence to stay laying down.
The corner of Naomasa's mouth twitches, like he's hiding a reflexive smile or some other sort of expressive reaction. He instead speaks with his body language, gesturing towards Izuku's bandaged stab wound. "Yet another coincidental connection between you and Spider-Man", though a statement also helps to set the record straight.
Izuku had figured as much. He just hoped he was wrong. "Yeah?", posing his response as a question is a gamble he takes on trying to fool the detective's quirk should it be actively trying to get a confession out of him right now.
"Oh.. Yeah..", but Naomasa isn't deterred by the attempt to steer him off course at all; he doubles down and reiterates his statement, "You and Spider-Man sharing the same stab wound at the same time is pretty coincidental."
"It is", Izuku chuckles nervously while still posing his answers as something else by the means of the tone of his voice.
While the two could do that song and dance all afternoon, they fortunately don't have to. "Please, don't go giving my patient enough stress to cause another blood leak" Recovery Girl slides open the door to the infirmary upon her return, interjecting herself into their conversation. "Really, Naomasa, how would Spider-Man be able to do half of what he does without a quirk?"
She crosses the room with one hand on a cane to help her walk and the other hand holding a set of papers. It's when she passes the forms to Naomasa that the detective and Izuku realize they're medical records and test results regarding his quirkless nature. An X Ray is slipped between the pages, coupled with other professional procedures made evidence.
"I dunno..", Naomasa holds a pensive frown on his face when being forced to admit that he's stumped there. But then he remembers what Eraserhead said about Spider-Man's webbing being non organic. He says more than asks it, "Support equipment?"
Izuku is quick to defend his alter ego, "Spider-Man doesn't use support equipment" But in doing so, he winds up telling a technical lie.
Naomasa doesn't fight down a smile this time. He believes he has Izuku Midoriya right where he wants him with this one. "You want to stick with that answer?", the detective leans forward now that he's got a solid lead to bring about a confession, "Speaking of sticking.. How'd you do the wall climbing? Suction cups?"
Izuku backpedals, realizing his mistake. He shakes his head, simultaneously scared that he screwed up but also grateful that he can clarify himself with the truth. "No, I meant Spider-Man doesn't use any gear to climb walls – I mean, maybe he uses tools here and there, but the wall crawling is authentic" He quickly explains himself with what he knows will register as the truth and will be able to clear him of the quirk questioning.
Naomasa's pensive frown returns. His quirk tells him that Izuku Midoriya isn't lying about that. He draws out his next question while trying to determine how that's possible, "And you know that .. because you're close enough to him to know who he is?"
Izuku takes in a sharp inhale. He can't lie that he does or doesn't know who Spider-Man is. So he'll have to be coy about his answer again. His exhale is a little slower. Then, he gestures to himself, around where his bandaged injury resides. "You see where being that close to Spider-Man got me."
Brought back to the original mystery surrounding Izuku Midoriya's current predicament, Naomasa leans back and crosses his arms. "So you were there?", he asks a direct question that Izuku can't dodge.
"Yes sir", Izuku nods as he answers; he doesn't have to clarify the difference between himself and Spider-Man being present, afterall. He then looks to Recovery Girl in order to cover his tracks from his 'tripping' lie, "Sorry that I lied to you."
The old nurse huffs out something short of a laugh. "You couldn't fool me even if you wanted to try, dear!" The woman is amused to say the least.
But while those two are getting all chummy, Naomasa is still stewing in his mystery as a detective. "I was there as well, you know" He reinserts himself to steal Izuku's attention back, "I saw Spider-Man leave and you were nowhere around."
Izuku shrugs, "We must have just missed one another" In the boy's carelessness to respond that time, Naomasa registers the response as a lie. The detective's mind is sent further into a spiral of confusion as to what that possibly means.
Naomasa stares down at the quirk documents that he's still holding onto. The only reasonable explanation to all of this is that Izuku Midoriya and Spider-Man are one and the same but that's impossible if the boy is without a quirk and Spider-Man is without support equipment for abilities that require a quirk. He sets the papers aside and looks back up at the odd boy in front of him.
"I want to perform my own quirk test", he's forced to reach into his overcoat pocket in order to produce what essentially operates like an alcohol breathalyzer but is more-so geared towards detecting quirks within a person's body, "If you don't mind that this.." It's a device to test the quirk genome that Recovery Girl would have been unable to use without the boy being consciously aware to cooperate.
"Naomasa Tsukauchi", Recovery Girl uses a harsh tone to hiss the man's name; she isn't pleased with his lack of confidence in her findings nor is she okay with his treatment of the child, "There's no need to add insult to injury when I've already violated the boy enough."
But Naomasa isn't all that bothered or phased. Not like he'd usually be. He's too invested in this mystery to waver now. "If he has nothing to hide, then it shouldn't be a problem…" The detective keeps his eyes on Izuku as he motions for them to do the test.
"I- It's fine..", Izuku takes the device in his hand; he would rather cooperate than cause any more trouble than he already has, "I've tried using these before and I already know the result … so if I need to prove it again, then.."
Izuku breathes into the tiny machine. It comes up negative.
Naomasa is stumped. He isn't quite sure of what to say or do.
"If that's all..", Recovery Girl glowers at the man who pressured the boy into taking the test. One glance each between her and the kid is enough for him to know that he took it too far.
Naomasa stands up, swallows his pride, and bows in order to ask for forgiveness. "Sorry for questioning your integrity, Midoriya, I meant no harm."
While apart of him is most definitely relieved to be cleared of the law enforcer's suspicion, there is another side to Izuku that makes him feel guilty for fooling the poor guy. He isn't sure of what to do, his conflicted feelings making him trip up. The detective and the nurse take that as a sign that they should give him the room. And so, Recovery Girl makes Naomasa leave at once.
"Don't you worry any more than you already are, dearie" Recovery Girl puts away the papers that she produced per his quirk results and replaces his bedside with a bag of vitamin gummies. "Principal Nezu filled me in about your photography activities so that you have no need to explain yourself", she tries putting his mind at ease since she can see how much of a spin that it's in through his facial expressions.
"I mean, it makes sense why you'd assume things the way you did.." Izuku shrugs and sighs, "I don't blame either of you.." He knows that he didn't have much of a choice but to get help if he was going to survive his fight with Hawks but he also knows how much of a problem this has caused. He wracks his brain as he wonders if there was some other solution than nearly outing his secret identity to get medical attention.
Seeing that the boy still has a lot on his mind, Recovery Girl decides to let the subject finally rest. And a good way to do that is to also make the overthinker rest. "Even so, we'll leave you the room to finish recuperating" She kisses his forehead to activate her quirk on him again, "It shouldn't take no more than these two sessions to finish your treatment and then you can go home."
Izuku yawns as he tries to get out a show of his appreciation for that, "Thanks", but he's already falling fast asleep.
Something softly stirs Izuku's slumber; a drawn out sussurus that's followed by a pop but without a plosive P. Only when the boy parts his eyelids enough to see through just what his dreams wrought, does he identify the sound as the bending of paper when pulled across to fold over another page. Someone has been wheeled partially beside him in a gurney much like his own, and that someone is reading a book. Izuku shifts his gaze from the novel to the reader; he has to blink his eyes to open them wider when he sees who occupies the same space as him.
"Kendo?", he voices his surprise upon crossing paths with Itsuka again. At first, he thinks she came to visit him. But he sees and recalls that she's in a bed like his own instead of a chair. She's an admitted patient like him for one reason or another. That makes sense to him as some sense returns in his now awakened state of mind.
But Itsuka doesn't bother to glance his way, much less answer any queries he may have for her. Either she didn't hear him or she's completely ignoring him. Either way, the redhead is invested in her book as she turns another page to continue reading it.
"Uh", Izuku clears his throat and tries talking a little louder this time so that there's no mistaking that he's noticed her, "How are you?" He reconsiders what he's asking and doubles back though since they ARE sharing a med bay together, "I mean.. Are you okay?" Though, then again, it's been a while since they last talked and it's not like they ended on the best of terms for him to be so casually prying into her affairs. He tries again yet another time but with honesty, "I don't know what to say – this is kinda awkward.."
Itsuka doesn't respond; she simply turns over another page of the book that she's reading from. Izuku tries to be more observant of her, checking to see if she has earplugs in or something of the sort; when he sees that she's got nothing covering her ears, he frowns, since that means she is absolutely just ignoring him.
"So.. This probably isn't the best way for us to meet up again and have this talk, but…" He broaches the topic of discussion that he knows must be the reason for her silent treatment towards him. It's oddly more intimidating than confronting Hawks was.
Itsuka still doesn't spare him any pity. She has zero mercy. She turns over another page of her book.
"I'm sorry?", Izuku comes right out and apologizes; but realizes that he sounded more like he was asking if that's what he should do and says it again more meaningfully, "I mean – I'm sorry" He adds, "I didn't mean to stand you up", and tries to give her a basis for his reasoning as best as he can without lying or telling her he's Spider-Man, "I was preoccupied with some stuff that.. There's no excuse but I really did wanna come to see you."
Izuku pauses and waits for Itsuka to answer. When she doesn't and only flips another page of her novel, he knows that she's still waiting for him to say more first. The problem is … he has nothing more to say for himself.
"Can we just.. I dunno.. Start over?", he basically begs for her to forgive him since there's not much else he can do. He would even bow at the waist if not for his wound still healing over his stomach.
Itsuka flips the next page of her book over, still disregarding Izuku completely.
Izuku folds his arms across his chest, unable to resist calling her out. "There's no way you're reading that fast", he huffs.
Much to the boy's surprise, that's somehow what gets her to respond. "I just look at the pictures", her answer is enough to draw him in.
He peers over at the pages and sees nothing but paragraphs of kanji, "There's no pictures in that book."
"Takes less time that way", Itsuka turns another page over as though to emphasize her point. It's then that Izuku realizes that she's still not turned her head his way to bother looking at him even if she's speaking now.
"Okay, I screwed up! I get it! I didn't order my responsibilities properly and it's my irresponsibility that ruined our chance at a good friendship before it even had the chance to get started", Izuku falls back onto his cot as he fully surrenders himself to her guilt trip.
It must have been dramatic enough of a movement since Itsuka finally bothers glancing in his direction, "Friendship?"
Izuku stiffens when he realizes what the implications of her pointing out his choice of wording means. He blushes and stammers to explain himself, "I mean.."
Itsuka closes her book shut, the collision making a noise that cuts Izuku off. She sighs and sets it aside before fully facing him, "Fine..", her closed off demeanor slackens slightly, "Maybe I was a little too forward."
But Izuku recognizes the lowering of her guard as the kind that he would have himself during his submissive stage of middle school. He hurriedly tries to correct her that he misspoke, "Th- That's not–"
"It's fine, Midoriya" But she stops him before he can say anything. Her downtrodden demeanor goes away and the straightforward girl that he's come to know returns as she says, "You might be a jerk for not being brave about it but I can tell you don't have much experience with girls either, so, I'll forgive you for it."
He opens his mouth. He's prepared to correct her on her assumption that he wouldn't want to be more than friends with her. But a sharp pain from his gut reminds him of the injury that he sustained due to his double life, and the reminder of Spider-Man is a reminder that he can't give her much of an alternative reason for why he stood her up. It's not like his secret identity would do well for any type of love life if it's already damaging his friendships. So, he submits to the misunderstanding. "...Thanks…", and forces himself to go along with it.
"Mhm", Itsuka looks away from him as she murmurs, "Don't mention it…" And then, much louder, she says, "As a matter of fact … let's forget it ever even happened."
The room holds a tense atmosphere after that. Izuku isn't entirely sure of how he should respond. Nor does Itsuka know what to say next. So the two sit in uncomfortable silence for a while. Izuku looks away, ashamed with himself. When he does, Itsuka starts to sneak small glances over at him.
Eventually, Izuku takes notice. He looks down at his wrapped mid section and then back up at her. "You're wondering why I'm here, aren't you?" He smiles faintly.
Itsuka blushes, having been caught staring. She hurriedly redirects her gaze, "No! I mean–"
"It's okay", Izuku can't contain a chuckle after seeing her get flustered. But he's able to quickly sober up when he starts to speak, "I-" He has to stop short. After all of their troubles having been caused because of secrets and now this chance to come for him to gain forgiveness, he really doesn't want to lie to her. And yet… He hangs his head low to avoid making eye contact accidentally. And he lies, "I tripped.."
Itsuka notices his demeanor immediately. She asks slowly, "You.. Tripped?"
Izuku doesn't dare risk raising his head yet. He just nods it, bobbing his skull at a leisurely pace.
After a brief pause, the short silence is broken by Itsuka bursting with laughter. Izuku looks up at her, startled and confused. "Are you telling me that you didn't get into the Hero Course because you're clumsy?", Itsuka can hardly explain herself through her giggle fit.
Izuku's mouth morphs into the shape of a sheepish grin, "Something like that.."
Itsuka laughs some more, unable to fathom how someone could injure themselves so badly by tripping. "You know, I was kinda surprised to see you here" She unties her hair from a ponytail in order to lay back in her bed.
Izuku also allows himself to seep into the soft cushioning of his own cot. "I wasn't all that surprised to see you", he keeps a smile on his face as his eyes remind him of what her face looks like.
Charmed by his words and his stare, Itsuka has to look away for the both of them to break that contact. "Yeah.. Well…", she fiddles with her bed sheets to distract herself.
And Izuku is reminded of the status he wound up giving himself when seeing her get so embarrassed. He has to backtrack a bit and make it seem like he's interested in something other than being flirty. "So, how's the Hero Course so far?"
Itsuka gestures around the infirmary and then towards herself. Izuku gets a full comprehension of what she means when she gives him a verbal answer, "Explosive."
Izuku doesn't have to ask it to know, "Kacchan?", but he asks anyways.
"Who?", Itsuka's eyebrows knit together when her face makes an expression of confusion.
And Izuku is reminded that not everyone is familiar with his old friend & bully by that title. "Sorry – force of habit – Is there someone in your class named Katsuki Bakugo?", he asks it again with the presumed culprit's full legal name.
"Yeah", Izuku isn't all that surprised when he gets confirmation. He's more than familiar with the burns that he sees healing across Itsuka now that he looks at her injuries more closely. "Real pain in the–", she stops herself short from swearing but he's more than familiar with that description for Katsuki as well. "Well.. everywhere", Itsuka turns her complaint into a joke per her wounds but drops it as she does a doubletake and asks, "Wait – How do you know him?!"
Izuku thinks back to the full history he has with good ol' Kacchan. But it's probably for the best to make a long story short and just provide Itsuka with the cliff notes version. "He used to bully me when – Uh, he still might actually…", he keeps it relatively simple since not much has changed.
"He seems like the type", Itsuka frowns when she hears about Katsuki mistreating Izuku. At her sides, her hands form into fists. "I'll have to take him down a peg or two", she's already coming up with ways of how to get revenge on the jerk; she wants vengeance for both Izuku and herself after today.
"No!", but Izuku surprises her by trying to alleviate that anger, "I mean.. He's just.. Difficult.."
She stares at him, shocked that he'd defend someone like Katsuki Bakugo. After a moment more, she lets it go with an exhale of a sigh. "You can say that again", she shakes her head in an attempt to get rid of the memories she has from earlier that day, "We were doing mock villain and hero Battle Trials and he totally lost his cool."
Izuku snorts, humored by her short description of what he can already picture in his mind. "Sounds like classic Kacchan", he nearly sounds mistakenly fond of some misplaced nostalgia over the imaginative scene in his head.
Sensing that there's definitely more to the story there, Itsuka chooses not to pry. Instead, she smiles and makes light of it. "Do you go around giving nicknames to everybody?", her joke gets him to smile too.
"Like I said", Izuku shrugs, "It's a force of habit."
"Well, in that case, try not to break it any time soon" Itsuka inflates her fist with her quirk, just enough to reach across the gap of their two beds, and holds it out for him.
Izuku meets her halfway, fist bumping the girl as they fully make up now. "You got it, MJ!"
And listening to the entire exchange from outside the room, is the girl's mentor. Toshinori Yagi leans against the wall to the right of the doorframe, a smile on his face not quite as broad as when he's All Might but coming close. "Good for you, Young Kendo…" He whispers words of encouragement for the next wielder of One For All, "My successor… Mighty Jab!"
AUTHOR NOTES
I felt like the Homelander meme where he's like "haha alrriiight" while reading all of your mostly positive responses to Uraraka's narrative. Glad that you're all on board!
Per this chapter, I figured it was about time to reincorporate Itsuka 'MJ' Kendo back into the story and to follow up on the Hawks / Vulture storyline as well. And what's crazy is that there's more to be done with both very much still!
That all being the case, I hope it continues to be an excellent story for you Spider-Bro HalfQuetzalcoatHunter!
Happy that you're also still enjoying the story, UzumakiRamen! As for Deadpool being mixed with Stain, I'll admit that one actually somehow hadn't crossed my mind even though you make a great point for how that'd work - the mystery for who I went with instead will be revealed NEXT CHAPTER though, so keep guessing!
Wow, thank you Guest, that's one heck of a compliment! Really means a lot! I'll do my best to keep living up to expectations!
Spidey & Izuku are all about rehabilitation, so you may be onto something Wynnt'r!
Hope to see you all again next time for the Deadpool chapter!
-Courtesy of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Bro!