Welcome back to Season 1 of Musutafu's Spectacular Spider-Man!
Review Time!
Gamelover41592: excellent work on this chapter, surprised you are going to route with Aizawa
Thank you.
Well, if I haven't made it clear, I really don't like this guy. Plus, there's this wonderful fan idea that I WISH was Canon, but never did. But I'll go into more detail in the Author's Notes after the end of this chapter.
SuperSonicHeroes: This was a great chapter to start the next arc. I admit, I was a bit worried for a moment that Spider-Man and Prowler were going to end up fighting each other due to a misunderstanding. But it is nice to see that part of the usual superhero team-up subverted, skipping to the two of them working together almost perfectly to take down three criminals and then do some investigation together.
My favorite part of this chapter outside of them working together was seeing Kaina talk to her girlfriend Fuyumi. I liked the little shoutout to Hazbin Hotel with "Loser, Baby" being the ringtone and apparently the song they sang on their first date. Also, Midnight's little scene was great seeing how supportive she is.
We also got a glimpse into Bakugou's sick little mind here and see just how much it runs on bullshit. He's going to get one slice of humble pie after another.
Great job with this. Excited for more.
I hate that part of the trope, so I avoided it. Plus, Spidey knows who she is thanks to the Vigilante Forums (which you'll actually see in a future chapter) and is a fan. And as for Prowler, she did say she'd go easy on him.
I can't help it, I love Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss. And "Loser, Baby" is my favorite song in the series.
Oh, it runs on the highest grade of Liquid Bull Feces. And while he'll definitely get many slices of humble pie, the question is "Will he actually eat it?"
Guest: Awesome chapter. I was pleasantly surprised that Prowler,aka Nagant,decided to team up with our favorite web head instead of trying to bring him in. Also,you've done a godd job of making me hate Aizawa.
Eh, she's a fellow vigilante. Not really "honor among thieves" but it's a similar concept.
Honestly, Aizawa's character and actions in Canon were enough to make me hate him. But if I managed to write him as a convincing villainous scumbag, then clearly I did my job right.
Also fair warning (and spoilers): We're going to be seeing what happened to the kidnapped teens in this chapter and possibly the next one. While it's not going to be heavily gory or bloody (this is Rated-T, people) we are going to be going into serious Nightmare Fuel. Just wanted to give you guys fair warning.
And away we go.
Issue 5: Into The Abyss
A few minutes later Spider-Man and Prowler were sneaking into the abandoned auto shop through a broken skylight. Prowler went down first, slowly lowering herself using her grappling hook while she checked for traps, activating the cloaking device in her suit just in case there were any cameras.
Once she completed her sweep, she rose back up and deactivated her cloak. "Wow," Spider-Man said in awe. "Where the hell could I get one of those?"
"This one was a gift," she replied, climbing back onto the roof. "My scanners aren't picking up any traps, but there is a hidden camera down there."
"Where?"
She led him to poking his head through the skylight, before she pointed to a set of metal doors at the back of the building. "It's above that door, disguised as the odd-colored brick."
Zooming his lenses towards the door, he noticed to the right was a keypad. "Well, considering the keypad, I'm guessing that door is where we're supposed to go."
"Yeah, but if we try to go through it then whoever's down there will see us," Prowler replied. "And that's assuming there's not anymore cameras on the other side."
As she said that, Spider-Man flicked on his X-Ray Vision to try and peer around and behind the door. While he could see the power conduits running from the panel to the door and the hidden camera, he sadly couldn't see anything behind it as... "They've lead-lined everything behind the door and the wall," he stated. "So there's no way to know for sure. For all we know, we pop open the door and we could be met with about five or six guys with guns."
"Can't your Spider-Sense let you know about that?"
"Yeah," he admitted. "But I'm worried that if they see us moving through the place they'll either try to pack everything up and leave, or worse."
"By worse you mean they might try to 'get rid of' everyone who's been kidnapped?" Seeing him nod, she admits that he was right. "Okay."
"Maybe we can hack it?"
"Already tried. It's hardwired, so wireless is a no go. I don't suppose you have an EMP grenade or something?"
"Still in the development stages. I need to make sure that it won't short out the electronics in my suit." The proverbial lightbulb went off in his head and he asked "But maybe I can short it out with my Venom Blast?"
"Like you did with the breaker box lock," Prowler asked.
He nodded. "Yeah. Then when we put in the code you could go in through the door with your cloak on and see if there's any more surprises on the other side. Plus if they notice something's wrong, they'll just chalk it up to a technical issue."
Prowler thought about it for a minute, before nodding. "Okay. The thing isn't looking up at the ceiling, so you should be able to sneak over there without being seen. I'll cloak and tell you when to hit it."
"Wait, won't they hear you?"
She shook her head before readying her grappling hook. "Nah. It's video only. No audio sensors at all."
Once she cloaked she lowered herself to the ground, moving so silently that he probably wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't switched to his thermal vision to track her as he himself crawled on the ceiling to get to the camera. As soon as he was in position, he looked down at her and asked "You ready?"
Through his thermal vision, he saw her flash the thumbs up as she replied "Hit it."
As the red sparks traveled along his hand, he then focused it into one finger and moved it towards the camera. "Here goes nothing," he stated as he brought his finger down on the edge of the camera...
...but instead of the simple shorting out he was expecting, the camera all-but exploded, a bunch of electronic parts and half-melted plastic shooting out and narrowly missing Prowler.
Coughing from the smoke, Spider-Man winced and said "Whoops. Was not expecting that."
Prowler's lenses narrowed at him. "Really?"
"Hey, in my defense I just got this part of my powers a few days ago. I'm still working on the fine control."
She sighed. "Fair enough."
"Plus, we got the camera offline, so I'm still calling it a win." Walking over to the keypad, he took note of the amount of numbers necessary. "Hey Prowler, what was the date on the back of that photograph?"
"6-09-2119."
The moment he clicked in the final number the metal doors beeped and slid open, revealing an elevator. Looking inside, Prowler said "No cameras."
As the two walked inside, Spider-Man looked around and noted "This elevator only goes to two places."
"Thinking there's still a chance we could go down into an ambush," Prowler asked.
"Or more cameras." Looking up and seeing there was no emergency exit, he clicked his tongue before jumping up and sticking to the ceiling. "Might wanna cloak, just in case."
She chuckled before clicking the down button. "I'll do it before the door opens. I don't wanna overheat the thing by keeping it on too long."
As the elevator started descending, the two stood in a few minutes of awkward silence before Spider-Man asked "So, you work closely with Nezu?"
Prowler nodded. "Yeah. I know people say he's always got an agenda, but he's earned my trust. Most of it, anyway." Looking up at him, she added "And before you ask, he was just as blindsided by what Aizawa was doing as any of the other teachers were. He's not involved."
Spider-Man nodded, accepting that. "Well, does he have or do you have any idea why he might have fallen this far?"
"Other than Oboro's death royally fucking him up?" She sighed. "Couldn't tell ya. I do remember that people were saying that he felt that Oboro was being illogical when he-"
"-used his Quirk to save those kids during the villain's attack?" Seeing her surprised look, he tapped the side of his mask and said "Internet access. I looked up the report. And honestly, I would've done the same thing in his shoes. It's a hero's job to save people, even if it may cost them their life."
"Tell that to the hobo bastard," she grumbled. "Everyone was telling me about the horrible things he said; about how 'Oboro should've been rational and prioritized his own safety,' and how 'if he were thinking logically he would've survived.'"
If it were possible and he weren't upside down, Spider-Man's jaw would've no doubt dropped to the floor. Finding his voice, he asked "Okay, how the flying ever-loving fuck did Aizawa even get his provisional license with THAT mentality? I get that sometimes you should be logical and rational, but we're not robots. If you don't have a shred of empathy in your heart then you have no business trying to be a hero!"
He punctuated that by angrily slamming his fist against the metal roof, leaving a nice indent against it.
Prowler couldn't help but feel her respect for the boy growing. "I couldn't agree more, Spidey." She laughed and said "In fact, we should tell him that when we run into him."
Spider-Man chuckled and asked "Before or after we kick his ass?"
"How about in-between punches?"
"That works."
Deciding to change the subject, Prowler asked "So, how come you decided to go vigilante instead of trying for a hero school?"
He scoffed at that. "Yeah, so I can go Pro, become famous, and then get held back by the inefficient and corrupt bureaucracy. And also be blocked from actually helping people by enough red tape to cover all of Musutafu."
She digested that for a moment before saying "Fair enough."
"Is that the reason you became the Prowler?"
She shrugged. "Similar thing, I guess. I got tired of the bad guys getting off scott-free because they either had friends who could help them get away with it, or because they're smart enough to know how to play the system."
"Like the rich, powerful, and/or influential people you went after?" He chuckled. "You know, before you singlehandedly took down Yakuza groups. Really impressive, btw. Hope to achieve that level of badassery one day."
"Eh, word on the street is you're well on your way," she replied honestly.
"Thanks. Though I have heard two different stories from the guys who would talk, so I gotta ask; Did you start off using stealth to pick them off one at a time before deciding to go full on brawl? Or did you just kick down the doors and say 'Judgement day has arrived, assholes!' I really wanna know."
She could help but smile at his earnestness, before replying "Technically, it's a bit of both. I-"
At that moment, the elevator started to slow down, prompting her to activate the cloak. "Ready for this?"
Pressing himself as tight against the ceiling as he could, he replied "As I'll ever be."
The door opened and Prowler stepped out, surveying their surroundings for a few seconds before de-cloaking and saying "All clear."
Dropping down and exiting the elevator, he looked around and said "Huh. Not quite what I was expecting."
They were standing in what looked like an old fashioned prison; faded cement and cinderblock walls with cells carved out and fitted with metal bars, three floors worth with metal catwalks and stairs. Fluorescent lights had been haphazardly installed, lighting up a good chunk of the place but also leaving plenty of sections left entirely in shadows. As he looked, Spider-Man could also see fans of various sizes on the walls and ceilings, with duct work that he guessed moved up to the surface to make sure that air could get moved into and out of the place.
There were no cameras that he could see, but at the same time he had to imagine the people behind this had to have some security somewhere, so he kept his scanners on while DECA checked around.
Doing her own looking around, Prowler explained "From what I could gather of the area's history, this actually used to be an old prison back in the Pre-Quirk Era. My best guess is that this place sunk into the ground. The city just built over top of it."
"Well clearly some people spent a whole lot of time excavating it out so that they could set this place up," he replied. "Whatever it is."
"It's hell."
They both turned to see someone sitting on the bed in one of the cells and looking through the bars at them; a fifteen year old girl with blonde hair and cat-like yellow eyes. The clothes she was wearing were reminiscent of a prison uniform, but a bleached white color as opposed to the usual highlighter orange.
Despite this, Spider-Man recognized her from the picture on Ochako's phone. "Himiko Toga?"
She looked at him in surprise. "H-how do you know my name?"
"Ochako Uraraka. She asked me to find you."
Her face immediately broke into a smile as tears of joy fell from her eyes. "Really?"
"Yeah," he reassured her. "She's been looking for you for the past seven months-"
"It's been seven months," she asked in disbelief. Seeing him nod she added "Sorry. It just feels like it's been years in here."
"It's alright," Prowler replied, placing a hand on Toga's shoulder. "Because tonight we're going to get you out of here. You and everyone else who's here."
"But it would really help if you could tell us what exactly has been going on down here," Spider-Man stated. "Anything you can tell us might be able to help."
She looked a bit unsure, before she began saying "Some guy captured me. One minute I was running an errand for my Gramma, next thing I know this weird metal thing wraps around me. Then I hear someone taking deep breathes and then I'm surrounded by this weird red gas."
"Weird how," Prowler asked.
"It was blood red, but it didn't smell like blood. It smelled like flowers. Really REALLY strong flowers. And the moment I smelled it I started getting lightheaded and sleepy, like I drank too much of the herbal tea my Gramma gives me when I have nightmares. And... those eyes." She shivered at the memory. "Those glowing, creepy-ass red eyes."
Spider-Man and Prowler exchanged a look, before Prowler pressed a few buttons on her gauntlet and a holographic photograph of Aizawa appeared. "This look like the guy who took you," she asked.
The look of fear on her face was enough to confirm that yes, it was him. But she nodded anyway, and said "Yeah. He's the guy. He's pretty much their head of security."
"Who's 'they,'" Spider-Man asked, having a feeling he already knew where this was going.
"The guys who are running this place. I don't know what they want us for, but they run us through all sorts of tests almost every week. I can't understand half the stuff they're talking about, but they've said about their boss wanting our Quirks for something. And they mentioned something about 'soldiers in winter' or something like that. They made us train with people who taught us how to fight, how to kill. And then they put us in arenas where we were forced to fight each other. And if we refused to follow their orders to kill, we'd go without food beyond just a few scraps of bread and a bottle of water. And..."
She seemed hesitant to go on, but then he remembered what Ochako told him about her Quirk. So he asked "When was the last time you actually had blood?"
Toga's eyes widened at his question, and he explained "Ochako told me. And it's perfectly fine. You're not a freak just because you need blood for your Quirk."
She was at a loss for words, but she eventually looked at Prowler, who nodded in agreement. "You're Quirk doesn't decide who or what you are. That's all up to you. We are who we choose to be."
She looked like she was about to cry again, but she swallowed and replied "About a month. I...I've been holding it the best I can, but-"
"Most people with Quirks like yours tend to experience intense hunger and thirst, mood swings, dissociative episodes-" Seeing them both look at him, he explained "I looked this stuff up in my freetime, just in case I came into a situation like this. Not every situation I'm in needs to end in a fight, and if I can help someone I will."
Oh, what I wouldn't give to have this kid in my class, Prowler mused.
She was jarred out of her musings when Spider-Man said "Well, I would offer you some of my blood. But... my blood's kinda mutated in more ways than one, and I'm sure you don't want to end up mutating into some sort of spider-mutant monster."
"Yeah, I'm desperate for blood, but I'm not THAT desperate," she immediately replied, even though her eyes seemed to be saying otherwise.
Click!
They both turned to see Prowler taking off her left gauntlet, revealing the bare flesh of her forearm. She then reached into her utility belt, pulling out and opening a pouch with syringes of various sizes. "How much would be enough to keep you going for a bit?"
Looking at the sizes, she seemed to hesitate before pointing towards the second one from the right. "That... would be enough. But..."
Before Toga could finish Prowler pulled the covering off the needle and pushed it into her exposed forearm. She then slowly began drawing the blood out, the tube filling up with the deep crimson liquid.
Once it was done she pulled the needle out of the syringe and handed it to Toga. "Drink up."
Gingerly, as if it would disappear if she grabbed it too hard, Toga took the tube in her hand. "A-are you sure?"
After cleaning the puncture wound with an alcohol wipe and putting a Band-Aid on it, she replied "Absolutely." As she put her gauntlet back on she continued "They're clearly starving you of blood in an attempt to try and break you. If I can help prevent that from happening, I'll gladly do so."
Finally accepting that it was real she said a quick "Thank you," before pulling off the top of the tube and draining the entire syringe in one gulp, acting as if she had just walked through several miles of desert without water. Which admittedly, they supposed in a way she had.
And the blood did seem to help, as Spider-Man noticed her eyes looked a bit less predatory, and her face seemed to get a little more color. She wiped the last bit of blood off of her lips and licked it off her fingers, and then bowed and said "Thank you so much. I'm feeling a lot better."
"You're welcome," Prowler replied, the eyes of her visor and her tone indicating that she was smiling under her mask. "Now, can you tell us how many other people are in here besides you?"
She nodded. "Almost 60. Somewhere around there."
"Shit, that's way more than I thought. How many of them are in their cells right now," Spider-Man asked.
"They divided us into three groups. Group A is in Training, Group B is in Testing, and Group C, my group, is resting. But..."
"But," Prowler asked.
"Every few weeks they take a few of the people here for 'special' testing. They don't come back. Ever. And they just took one of the girls my block; Miko. She's like two years younger than me and I-"
"Toga, relax," he cut her off, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We're getting everyone out of here. Now, which way did they take her?"
She pointed to the hallway to the right, and explained "That's the only way into and out of here. Besides the elevator, but none of us know the codes. Not that it matters, because every night they have the scarf-gas guy make sure everyone's asleep. And by that I mean he hits us with a dose of his flower breath and knocks us out."
"Well if we find him we're gonna knock his ass out," Prowler said with a growl. "Probably knock out his teeth too."
Noticing the electronic lock on the cell door, he followed the wires and saw they were heading down the same hallway. "There's probably some office in there or something where we can shut off these electronic locks and get everyone out."
"Well then let's get moving," Prowler stated. Looking at Toga she said "We'll come back for you. Promise."
Believing her, Toga said "Just watch out for the scarf guy. One whiff of that red gas and you're KO'd."
"Good thing I got a gas mask in my...well, mask. You got one too, Spidey?"
He nodded. "Doesn't do much for the smell, but it'll filter out the stuff that can put me to sleep."
"Good." Looking at Toga she said "Just hang on a little longer, okay?"
"Okay."
"And here." Spider-Man reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled out one of his Spider-Tracers. "Just in case something happens and they take you away, this'll let me track you."
Taking it carefully, she stuck it the collar of her jumpsuit. "Good luck."
As they headed down the hallway, Prowler asked "So, how do you think we should tackle this?"
"What do you mean," he asked in response.
"Well, should we find and beat up that hobo-looking bastard, or should we let everyone out first?"
Spider-Man shook his head. "Not sure yet. We've got at least 60 civillians who are more than likely too weak to help put up much of a fight. And while we know that Ass-zawa is here, we don't know how many more bad guys are in this place, what their Quirks are or how well they're armed."
She nodded, agreeing with what he said. "Go on."
"Hopefully, once we get to the control room we can get a better idea of those numbers. Maybe even get some of the data on what they're doing to give to the police when this is all over. Add on a few more life sentences to the ones they're already probably gonna get."
"On that, we agree."
As they followed the wires they soon saw the control room, a room with a large glass window and an automatic door. Not wanting to be seen by whoever might be inside, they stopped short of the window's edge and carefully peered in. They noted three people inside, none of them having obvious Quirks save for one guy whose fingers ended in USB plug-ins. That person was "plugged in" to a bank or computer screens that showed various video feeds throughout the whole compound (thankfully none of the feeds showed them, though they did see that one of the screens was just showing the words CAMERA OFFLINE. Probably the one at the entrance that Spider-Man had fried.)
As they pulled their heads back, Prowler noticed something on the door. "Looks like we need a keycard to get into that room. And sadly we don't have one."
Looking around the ceiling, he found what he was looking for. "That air vent probably goes into that room," he stated.
Prowler looked at the air vent and replied "Yeah, but that's a bit too small for me. Think you can..."
She turned back to him, only to see a line of webbing where he had once stood and the air vent hanging open.
She then turned to the window in time to see two of the guys yanked up and webbed to the ceiling. She then saw Spider-Man lower himself, hanging upside down on a web-line, and tap the last guy with his foot. Once the guy turned around, Spider-Man cocooned him in his webbing and yanked him up to the ceiling.
As he opened the door from the other side, she asked "You sure you're self-taught?"
He chuckled. "I did take a few self-defense classes. The stealth stuff is just as simple as taking advantage of the fact that people rarely look up."
Prowler couldn't deny that. "Fair point."
He then handed her a small metal card. "One of their keycards. You'll probably need it more than I will."
Before she could reply he went back the terminal and started looking through the screens. His fingers danced across the keyboards as he started combing through various feeds and tried to pull up some of the files. "Looks like whatever medical data and logs are in a separate room. I'll have to find that one and download what I can."
"Okay. What else can you get from that terminal?"
Spider-Man punched some keys before pulling up what looked like a list of personnel. "Okay: 15 scientists of various fields, about 75 guys for security-"
"Armed?"
"Nonlethals; mainly tasers and electric shots, stun nets, beanbag rounds, and tranquilizers. Though 5 of them are part of the "Clean Up Crew" and are armed with assault rifles and... flamethrowers? Overkill much? Their Quirks aren't really anything special. Also, there's Ass-zawa."
"Where?"
He motioned for her to join him and he quickly pulled up a feed on one monitor and a map on another, a bright red dot showing Aizawa's location. "Two hallways over, inside Training Area A."
They then looked at the feed for said area, and their blood began to boil.
Aizawa was standing with one foot pinning a young girl a little younger than Izuku by her throat, glaring at her with Erasure active and yelling... something at her (they had no audio so they couldn't hear it) but judging by her gasping and how purple her face looked she was clearly struggling to breathe.
Fortunately, one of the scientists came forward and tapped him on the shoulder, telling him something that made him pull his foot off of her throat. The girl then quickly and gratefully sucked in several gulps of air, massaging her sore throat.
Before she could do anything else, he breathed a jet of red gas at her, which knocked her out in seconds. Two guards then loaded her up onto a hover stretcher, wheeling her over to about sixteen more with more unconscious kids on them.
Aizawa then looked at the remaining three kids, motioning for one to step forward.
The kid did so...
...and in less than three seconds, he was in the same position as that girl had been, only with an additional black eye from one of Aizawa's punches.
Prowler growled, tearing her eyes away from the screen. "That bastard..."
Spider-Man took a deep breath, before saying "According to their timetable they'll be moving those kids back to their cells. Once they're gone, we'll..."
He trailed off, finding another camera feed and pulling it up. "Oh no."
Confused, Prowler looked at the feed to see a young girl with long blonde hair tied in pigtails. She was unconscious and being lead into a room...
...that happened to have a metal operating table and several surgical implements.
"Why do I got a feeling that's Miko," he asked, pulling up the blueprints for the facility.
"What are they going to do to her," Prowler asked, concerned.
"Based on the fact that she's in the 'Operating Room' it can't be anything good." Looking at Prowler he said "I'm gonna go rescue her. Think you can handle the Hobo-bastard until I get done?" Seeing her nod, he then said "Okay, you got a way to sync up our comms so that we can keep in contact?"
She nodded, keying in some commands on her right gauntlet and holding it near his mask. His mask's HUD lit up and showed that their comms were connected. "There you go. No prank calls though, okay," she joked.
"I'll try to resist," he replied, punching in a few more commands on his web shooter. "I just sent you a copy of the schematics for this place. Try not to get lost."
She gave him a playful punch to his arm. "I should be telling you that, rookie." Getting serious she said "Now go save that girl. I'll handle the asshole with the scarf."
He nodded, web-zipping to the nearby ceiling vent. Before he crawled in he said "Good luck. And give the asshole a few good shots for me, will ya?"
"Can do."
-A Few Minutes Later-
With the schematics and DECA helping to guide him, he made it to the Operating Room in only a few minutes.
Once he got to the right vent, he asked "DECA, you got access to the cameras in here?"
There was a light scoff, before DECA replied "Duh. Patching through to your HUD."
Once the camera feed showed up he immediately took note of the two scientists prepping for what he presumed to be a surgical operation (the scalpels and other surgical tools pretty much confirmed that) and a security guard standing by the door looking bored out of his mind. "Okay, take down the guard first and then the scientists."
"Want me to cut off their comms?"
"If you would be so kind," he replied, exiting the vent and crawling on the ceiling until he was right above the guard. As soon as he was above the guard (who was tapping his earpiece with a confused/concerned expression) he yanked him up to the ceiling with his web and plastered him to the ceiling, being sure to cover his mouth yet leaving his nose uncovered so he could breath. "You just stick around for a bit."
Moving on from him, Spider-Man crawled over until he was above the scientists, apparently not having heard their compatriot getting taken out. While part of him did think that he should wait a few seconds to see if they dropped any juicy intel, he didn't want to risk Miko's wellbeing.
So he quickly shot two web-lines and yanked the scientists up, webbing them up and cocooning them before leaving them to dangle from the ceiling, unable to move or speak due to the webs covering their mouths. "Pretty sure you guys are gonna lose your medical licenses for this," he growled. "Have fun explaining this to the police."
Dropping down, he sighed. "Okay. Time to free her and hopefully find-"
His Spider-Sense buzzed, causing him to turn in the direction of the danger...
...and saw the previously unconscious girl was now awake, and staring right at him.
But that wasn't what was causing his Spider-Sense to go off.
Rather, it was the fact that floating above Miko were all of the scalpels and other surgical implements that had been laying on the table, all of them pointing right at him.
Based on the look that she was giving him, one that was mostly fearful but had a hint of anger, she obviously thought he was one of the bad guys.
Which was understandable. The poor girl was only about 12-13 years old, and God only knew what kind of horrors she had been subjected to.
So he slowly raised his hands up, doing his best not to scare her anymore, he said "It's okay. I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to save you."
That statement seemed to confuse her, but the scalpels did start to lower a bit. Her eyes were still trained on him, and he noticed that her eyes were complete fields of black save for a silver pinprick where her pupils were. He also noticed that rather than traditional ears, she had two golden-blonde furred bear ears poking out through her hair. Meaning that she had a partial Mutant Quirk similar to Tokoyami, this one obviously some type of bear.[1]
Finally she asked "Why?"
"Because it's the right thing to do," he replied. "That's what heroes do. Or what they should do, anyway." Seeing that she was still a bit unconvinced, he asked "You're name's Miko, right?"
She blinked and then asked "Yes. How do you know that?"
"Himiko told me."
"Himi? Is she okay?!"
"Yeah. A friend and I ran into her when we snuck in here. My friend even gave her some blood so that she would feel better. She told us that you were in trouble, so here I am. We're going to rescue you and everyone else in this place."
She still seemed a bit hesitant, but she eventually asked "Promise?"
He nodded. "Promise."
That seemed to finally get her to trust him, so the scalpels all fell to the ground. He then noticed that once she did that her eyes changed to a more normal form; white sclera with blue eyes.
Walking to her, he undid her restraints and said "BTW, I'm Spider-Man."
"I kinda figured that from the webs," she replied, pointing up to the three people that he'd webbed up.
Spider-Man chuckled. "Yeah, I guess it was a tad obvious. Anyway, we should-" It was then he noticed a small bit of blood coming from her right nostril. "Um, you okay? You've got a little-"
"It's fine," she nonchalantly replied, wiping it off with her sleeve. "This just happens when I use my Quirk."
Normally he'd be analyzing a Quirk like that, but now wasn't the time. "Um, is that gonna be a problem?"
"No, it only gets bad if I overuse it."
"Well, let's hope it doesn't get to that point. Anyway, we should get going before anyone comes in to check on these guys."
As they exited the room, checking to make sure the hallways were clear, he looked at Miko and said "Stay behind me. If I tell you to, run and find somewhere to hide. Okay?" She nodded, but before he could start moving down the hallway she grabbed his hand and started tugging him down the other hallway. "Um, is there a problem with the other way?"
"It takes us away from my little brother."
That definitely got his attention. "Your little brother?"
She nodded. "Yeah. Him, his friends and me were put in special cells because our Quirks were so powerful."
"That makes sense. Your telekinesis Quirk could be pretty powerful."
"That's why the cells they put us in were made so we couldn't use them. But I can't leave without them. They NEED me," she desperately pleaded with him.
Not that that was necessary.
"I assume you know the way." Seeing her nod he said "Lead the way."
As he followed her down the hall, he pulled up his comms and said "Hey, Prowler. I got Miko and we're rescuing some of her friends in the Special Projects Wing-God these guys need to come up with better names- so I might be a bit. How're you doing?"
"I'm face to face with Ass-Zawa right now."
-Minutes Earlier-
I really gotta remember to thank Majima for installing the cloaking device in my suit, she mused.
After leaving the security guard's office, she followed the map to where Training Area A was, making sure to activate her cloak whenever she had to get past a camera or any patrolling guards. Frankly without it, she probably would've been caught about fifteen different times.
Finally she came to Training Area A, helpfully marked with a white sign and red letters. Guess they wanted it to be idiot proof.
Seeing the doors starting to slide open, she activated her cloak and slipped inside, narrowly avoiding one of the guards as they wheeled out one of the kids on a gurney. He was soon followed by the rest of the guards, each pushing a gurney with an unconscious kid strapped to it. While she wanted to do nothing more than to start kicking ass and saving those kids, she knew better than to recklessly charge in like that. It was too much to hope that none of the kids would get hurt in the scuffle, and she wouldn't be surprised if any of the guards would try to use them as hostages.
Gotta be smart about this, Kaina. You and Spider-Man will save everyone later. Preferably after most of the guards are knocked out and the police are on their way. For right now, though...
She glared behind her mask as she locked onto Aizawa, who was just standing in the middle of the room while smoking a cigarette, apparently not having a care in the world.
Her fists clenched so hard that she was sure if she hadn't been wearing gloves, her nails would've pierced the skin of her palms and drawn blood.
Right now, this bastard needs his ass kicked. Hard.
At that moment, her comm beeped and Spider-Man said "Hey, Prowler. I got Miko and we're rescuing some of her friends in the Special Projects Wing-God these guys need to come up with better names- so I might be a bit. How're you doing?"
She quietly growled back and replied "I'm face to face with Ass-Zawa right now."
"Oh. Well, have fun. And give him a black eye for me, will ya?"
"Can do."
She only had to wait a few moments for the last of the guards to wheel out the last unconscious kid, the doors sliding shut behind him. Aizawa, having finished his cigarette, began to walk towards the doors to leave-
-only for Prowler to fire her wrist blaster at the door controls, the electric payload frying them and preventing them from opening.
Aizawa whirled around, his eyes glowing red and his mouth twisted into a snarl. "Who's there?!" Seeing no one there he yelled "Show yourself!"
There was a slight hum as Prowler de-cloaked, standing a good few feet away from Aizawa. "You know, everyone I talked to said you'd fallen from grace," she growled. "But I don't think anyone could've know you'd fallen this far."
Aizawa's glare intensified once he saw her. "Well, if it isn't the Amethyst Angel. What the hell are you doing here?"
"Investigating several missing persons reports. Found a few leads that pointed to you. And wouldn't you know it, I found my way down here and found this little operation." She cracked her knuckles and added "And when I saw what you did to those kids... yeah, I decided you needed an immediate ass-kicking."
Seemingly unbothered by her statements, Aizawa simply rolled his eyes and groaned "Great. Another bleeding heart vigilante."
"At least I have a heart, you hobo-looking motherfucker," she growled. "But before I strangle you with that ugly scarf of yours, I gotta ask; how the hell could you do this to these kids?"
"Quite easily. I've been working for these guys since before-"
"That's not what I'm asking. I'm asking how the hell you can sleep at night after what you've done?! You ruined kids' futures-"
"They don't deserve to have futures!" She blanched at that declaration, noticing Aizawa's whole demeanor having suddenly changed from annoyed and apathetic to angry and downright murderous. "I am so sick and tired of people going on and on and FUCKING ON ABOUT THESE BRATS! 'You're ruining their futures!' 'You're way too hard on them!' 'They weren't responsible for Oboro's death!' HE GAVE HIS LIFE FOR THESE LOUDMOUTHED, WHINY, SNOT-NOSED, ZIT-FARMING, OVERLY-EMOTIONAL BRATS WHO NEVER STOP GOING ON AND ON ABOUT THEIR STUPID DREAMS!" He took a deep breath before pulling his capture scarf off from around his neck and slowly shifting into a combat stance. "These useless brats should all be thankful that they get to serve some kind of a purpose down here, instead of just being a waste of money, time and resources that could go to far better places and people."
"As science experiments for some shady as hell bastard who's more than likely gonna turn them into living weapons," she asked incredulously. "What the hell could they be offering you to get you to do something so inhumane?"
"Wouldn't you like to know," he sarcastically replied. "Not that it matters, because you're not leaving here alive!"
At that declaration he threw his scarf forward, no doubt attempting to bind her or wrap it around her neck to strangle her...
...only for Prowler to backflip out of his attempted snare, grabbing it with her left hand when she landed and pulling the thing taut, much to his shock.
She scoffed. "Please. Everyone on the Vigilante forums knows about your fighting style, your Erasure Quirk, and this damn scarf of yours." She then grinned behind her helmet and added "Fortunately, I learned a long time ago how to fight without my Quirk. And that despite how much our society tends to look down on them-"
Before Aizawa could react, she raised her right gauntlet up and fired her wrist-blaster. The energy blast nailed him dead center in the chest, staggering him and forcing him to let go of his scarf.
"-guns still tend to trump Quirks."
To her mild irritation the energy shot didn't knock him unconscious, which sadly made sense. Aizawa wasn't an idiot (not completely, anyway) so his costume more than likely had body armor incorporated into it. And given how a lot of body armor for Hero Costumes were insulated to help protect from tasers or shock rounds, the shots from her wrist-blasters weren't able to deliver the full effect.
Fortunately it still slowed him down, so she was quickly able to yank and throw away his capture scarf to the other end of the room. One less weapon for him to use.
Aizawa saw that and growled. "Lucky shot."
She smirked. "Not really. You just suck. Probably too used to beating up teenagers who never learned to actually fight."
The dig at his ego made him clench his teeth, but he simply reached into his costume and pulled out two knives, holding both of them in backhand grips. "I've got plenty more options."
Settling into a combat stance, she made a taunting gesture with her right hand and said "Then bring it, Ass-zawa."
He made to move like he was about to charge forward, only for him to rear back while inhaling deeply-
-before throwing his head forward and let it all out straight down onto the ground, unleashing a massive stream of the red gas. The sheer volume of the gas was so great that Prowler couldn't believe that his lungs could hold that much.
But it got even worse as the gas billowed out and began to spread across the entire room, filling it up until all she could see was red, except for Aizawa and the
She scoffed and said "Sorry to disappoint, but this mask has a filter that keeps toxins out, including whatever this sleep gas of yours is. Though I have to ask, how the hell did you get a second Quirk?"
Aizawa smirked and replied "Need to know basis, and you don't need to know. And this cloud wasn't to knock you out, though that would've made this a lot easier."
"Then what was it for," she asked, drawing a bead on the man with her wrist blasters.
His smirk turned into a sadistic grin as he took a few steps backwards into the red gas...
...and to her shock the smoke seemingly swallowed him, even his silhouette disappearing into it.
His voice mockingly echoed throughout the smoke, asking "Can you shoot something you can't see?"
She cursed internally. This might be harder than I thought.
-With Spider-Man and Miko-
Spider-Man had followed Miko through the facility, dodging the guards and staying out of sight. DECA had projected the map for him and helped point out guard patrols to help out, which did wonders because they really didn't want to draw attention to themselves. (Yet.)
She also pointed out that there was a computer terminal in the wing they were heading to that had the data they needed to put the people behind this facility behind bars for a long time. So that was added to his list.
Now the two of them were peering around the corner, looking right at the door to the Special Projects Wing.
And taking notice of the two Guards that were standing outside. They were armed with rifles, ones that bore bright blue clips with black lightning bolt decals on them. This indicated that their rifles were loaded with shock round; special rounds that delivered an electric payload that was equal to what you got from a taser, but without the wires and with a longer range.
"Looks like they're not moving anytime soon," he whispered to Miko. "And I take it that's the only way in?"
"Yeah," Miko admitted. "You also need a keycard to get through the door. And the guards don't have one, so they usually have to be let in by someone on the other side."
"So even if I knocked them out we couldn't get in." She nodded, and he continued "That definitely doesn't make things easier. But maybe there might be another way in."
He pulled up the map on his lenses and sure enough he found what he was looking for; an air duct on the ceiling that had several vents, one of which led right into the room that had the computer terminal that had the data they needed-
-and coincidentally was next to the controls for all the prisoner cages. "Lucky. Got us a way in."
"How," Miko asked. When he pointed up at the air vent above them, she chuckled. "Of course."
With a quick jump up to the ceiling he slowly pushed up the air vent cover and webbed it to the top of the duct. He then lowered himself down on a web-line and held out his hand to Miko. "You're not claustrophobic, are you?"
She shook her head. "Please. Me and my friends have slept in these before." Seeing Spider-Man's lenses widen, she bashfully rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah. I forgot to mention we're all orphans."
Taking a deep breath, Spider-Man replied "Yeah, let's unpack that later. For now, let's get your little family out of there."
She nodded and took his hand and he took her up the ceiling, letting her climb into the air duct first before following her inside. "Which way," she asked.
"Should be the next three vents. If you see a white computer terminal with a green screen, that's where we wanna get out at," he replied calmly.
A few more minutes of careful and slow crawling, Miko whispered "We're here."
Sliding around to look through the vent cover, he could see the white terminal with the green screen. "Nice job," he said, the two exchanging a fist bump.
Slowly lifting up the vent cover, he poked his head out and surveyed the room. Seeing no one he lowered Miko down to the floor before dropping down.
The room itself had two large windows serving as the walls, giving whoever was in the room a view over the entire wing.
The wing itself consisted of a chamber with several cells, a checkerboard tiled floor, and cameras and automated sentry guns in the ceiling.
Only four of the cells were occupied, each with one occupant. One was a boy who looked similar to Miko, even having his own blue eyes and bear ears sticking out of his short blonde hair. But his hands were also bear claws, and all of his bear parts had brown fur instead of gold.
In the cell next to his was a large boy with an obvious bunny mutation Quirk, with rabbit legs and feet, and two large rabbit ears. The fur covering those parts were a blue-purple, which stood out from his black hair that he had in a buzz cut. He could also see that that boy's eyes were bright red.
The third cell had a girl who looked like a hybrid of some sort of baby chick, with yellow feathers all over her body and an orange beak. Her pink eyes were looking at an empty tray, her downcast look telling him that she was clearly hungry and they weren't feeding her enough.
The last occupied cell had a very thin looking boy with a fox mutation Quirk, and Spider-Man's jaw dropped at the state of the kid. His right hand and eye were missing, replaced with a metal hook and covered up with an eyepatch respectively. But just above his knees down his natural legs had been replaced with mechanical prosthetics that looked like they'd been cobbled together out of the cheapest parts they could find. His red hair that matched his fur was unkempt and fell down past his shoulders, and his lone yellow eye was filled with fury as he scratched a tally into the wall with his hook. One of nearly a hundred, he noted.
Miko smiled as she looked through the window, pointing them out from right to left for Spider-Man. "Those are them! Meitaru, Kenji, Chikako, and Danji!"
He nodded. "Alright. Let's get them out of there."
Moving to the terminal, he took out a green USB flash drive with a red spider logo on it and plugged it in. A small blue light lit up at the end, showing that DECA was connect through it and was now in the system. In moments the terminal lit up with lines of code as DECA went to work, breaking through the firewalls and looking for all the data they were looking for.
While that was going on, Spider-Man walked to the control panel and looked at the various buttons and switches. Finding the controls for the cameras and sentry guns, he immediately switched them to inactive. And then for good measure, he busted off the switches.
He then saw a switch that was labeled "Floor Pacification System?"
Miko cringed at that. "Yeah. They activate that and it sends electricity through the whole floor."
"You're kidding, right?"
"I wish I was. It's for those who are fast enough or agile enough to dodge the sentries and the guards. That's how they stopped Danji when he tried to get out. But apparently they had it cranked up way too high because..."
She trailed off, and he could guess what happened based on his prosthetic legs.
Especially since none of them were wearing any kind of footwear, let alone the insulated kind.
So yeah, that switch ended up being broken.
Just as he was about to open up their cages an alarm started blaring throughout the facility. The PA system came on and a man's voice said "Attention all personnel! We have intruders in the facility. Route guards to Training Area A and to the Special Projects Wing, and make sure all of our subjects are in their cells. STAT!"
His Spider-Sense started buzzing, and he instinctively fired an Impact Web at the door into the office. Just in time as the two guards from earlier were trying to get inside, along with another man in a lab coat who he assumed was supposed to be in here.
And from what he saw on the camera feeds, more were coming. A lot more.
Miko looked up at him and asked "You can get us out of here, right?"
Spider-Man nodded. "Yeah, I can."
'But it's definitely going to be a lot harder than I thought it would."
-Meanwhile-
In a hidden room in the facility, a pudgy and bald man wearing glasses laughed as he watched the events unfold, a wicked smile stretched across his face.
"Well now, isn't this getting interesting..."
A phone started going off, which the man answered and said "This is the Doctor." The person on the other end talked a bit, and the Doctor replied "Not to worry, Master. I have all the back up plans ready in case they manage to defeat the security teams and Aizawa." He stopped as the other man continued talking and smiled. "Good. I've been wanting to get rid of that scruffy looking liability for the longest time. And..."
He reached into a small case, pulling out a dart loaded with a purple liquid. The label read CROSS-SPECIES NOMU FORMULA: CAT.
"...this will be the perfect chance to test my newest formula," he happily exclaimed, the light gleaming off of his glasses...
To Be Continued...
[1]: Miko and her little family are OCs of mine. They're also based off of characters from a certain indie horror franchise that I love. Can you guess which one it is, and who they're based off of?
So yeah, a lot of set up for the rest of the arc. We got Prowler vs Aizawa, Spider-Izuku doing his best to rescue some very special kids, and a hint at what's coming next for Aizawa and the story (a tad obvious given the end of last chapter, but still.)
Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. Turns out my original plan would've had this chapter be even LONGER! So I decided to cut it in half. Hope this'll tide you over until the next one. Also, my mental health was constantly hitting rock bottom, so I took some time off to play some video games (especially Persona 5 Royal, so I can finally get to work on THAT eventual crossover story.) Hopefully the next chapter won't take near as long.
Until next time, EXCELSIOR!