There always comes a calm before a storm.
Or a low tide before a high tide.
Right now, as Izuku Midoriya sits as prim as any sailboat on a fine day, he can't help but feel the comfortability of his living room couch is as uncomfortable as the fear of buoyant sea waves tipping him over. Rolling cushions sink beneath his bottom as his head swims and he surfs television channels with a quick tap of his thumb on the TV's remote control.
If his head were any more in the clouds, those clouds would be gathering into a darkened cluster. Ever since the day that he had previously, he's been overly grouchy. Instead of going out as Spider-Man, he has been stewing in his anger at home. Thoughts of the HPSC being controlled from the shadows by a villain like U.A was by Kingpin continue nagging at his mind like an itch caused by sand irritatingly clinging all over his body.
To make matters worse, a reflection of his thoughts appear as clear as a sunlit sea through the television screen; news stations report on new legal transactions with the HPSC and court channels cover hero cases covered by that very same Commission company. It's like the airways have been taken over too. They're pushing an agenda in commercials and advertising. It's there in every show meant to suck in viewers like a strong current dragging someone out to drown in the ocean.
Izuku has to shut the television off. He can't take it anymore. But when he pulls out his cellphone, he sees the same sort of treatment on all of his social media apps. Hero Feed looks rebranded with a site update to better accommodate the HPSC's jurisdiction. It's all a massive reminder of the problem that Izuku is facing now as Spider-Man. And the main issue is that it's all being soaked in by the masses – consumed each and every day as an ordinary thing – it's no different from a beach day for those that are blissfully unaware of the truth.
When the doorbell chimes like a brief pang of his Spider-Sense, he's grateful to have his attention redirected, even if that should only be temporarily. Izuku throws a quick glance behind himself. He can't see from the couch who it is that may be at the door but he imagines it can't be anybody important. It's not like his mom invites much company over and he doesn't have a whole lot of friends that would be all that keen on paying him a visit. He figures it's probably just the mail delivery service or something along those lines.
"Sweetie, could you answer that?" His mother's voice carries into the living room from the kitchen, telling him that he's about to find out one way or another. She's too preoccupied dicing vegetables for this new 'meal prep' thing that she wants them to try to get the door herself. Since her son is home – a rarity – and since it's a slower paced day, she thinks it's no trouble to have him get the door for the two of them.
In reality, she's right that it's not all that much trouble for him to answer the door, but Izuku sure makes it seem like it's an issue. He slowly lifts himself up from the couch with a groan like it takes a tremendous amount of effort to do so. Then he additionally tacks on extra grumbles & growls all the way to the door. He's rolling his eyes but so is his mom while listening to all of his overly exaggerated complaining.
When Izuku pushes the front door to his home open, he's not paying all that much attention at first to fully grasp what it is that's waiting for him behind it. There's a set of luggage sitting on the steps that lead up to the entrance. And standing there with those bags, carrying even more bags, is the last person that he'd expect to come by his house – much less with a bunch of cargo to carry.
"Sh- Shinso… ?" Izuku has to blink a couple of times and rub at his eyes to make sure that they're seeing correctly. If he had Taneo Tokuda's glasses handy, he'd probably try putting those on as well.
Hitoshi Shinso stands there, hunched over with a slouched posture that could rival both Eraserhead & Stain in a contest of who hunches more. He waves while awkwardly trying to avoid making eye contact. "Hey.." The same hand that's raised up reaches behind his head to scratch at his mess of indigo hair.
Izuku's mouth must have become unhinged at some point without him realizing, because he has to close it and swallow some spit when it runs dry. Even after wetting his tongue, he finds it difficult to formulate the right words. "What– ?"
"I didn't know where else to go", Shinso fights back a frown from forming on his face and fails. He hangs his head, keeping it down as he tilts his chin to his chest with something that might be a show of shameful embarrassment.
Izuku tries blinking again, and shakes his head, but still can't quite shake the strangeness of Shinso's sudden appearance on his doorstep. He tries looking past Shinso and at the luggage that's there with the surprise visitor instead. He asks, "What's with the bags?"
It's Shinso's turn to swallow some spit – and maybe the last bit of whatever pride he may have had left. "My parents disowned me..", his voice breaks like his heart is breaking with it when he gives Izuku an explanation as to what this odd arrival is all about. Shinso's tone then turns into something harder when he elaborates further. "They threw me out after what your pal Spider-Man did– Nevermind.."
Izuku is taken aback a consecutive number of times. His eyes dart from Hitoshi Shinso to the pile of luggage that's there. He's used to getting a lot of the blame for things going wrong, especially lately, but he's also at a loss at how things could have gotten to this point or how it could possibly be his fault for happening. "..What Spider-Man did?", and he's hesitantly scared to ask about it since he's afraid of what he might discover when he does learn more.
Shinso sneers as he steps side to side. "What? He didn't tell you how he webbed me up and left me looking like I was a criminal when I was really just a victim?" Perhaps, Izuku was right to be worried about discovering the details behind this domino effect of events.
"No..", Izuku Midoriya looks down at the dark set of clothes that he's wearing when they suddenly start to feel like they don't fit, "He didn't.."
He starts to realize that something more DID happen when he blacked out during All Might's last stand against All For One. The symbiote must have done more than just controlled him. It did something to Shinso. Something awful. It crossed a line.
Izuku's pent up aggression builds into a ball if it's to have any shape at this point. Between what he feels towards the HPSC and now the symbiote's trudged up sense of betrayal, he starts to desire an outlet to throw that ball at.
What Shinso says next is what draws that anger out. "Well, it's still your responsibility–"
"What did you just say?!", Izuku steps out across the front deck so that he can grab onto Shinso with two hands – he clings to the fabric of the other boy's shirt with a strong vice grip.
Despite being surprised by the sudden show of aggressive treatment, Shinso doesn't back down – much to his credit – he actually instead doubles down with a growl and a glare back, "You heard me!"
Luckily, before anything can escalate further between the two tussling, Inko Midoriya comes out from the house to join them outside. She heard all the commotion and became naturally concerned. Fresh from washing vegetables, she dries her hands with a hand towel while leaving the kitchen. "Izuku? Sweetie? Who is it?"
Izuku quickly releases Shinso and shoves his hands in the pockets of his pants. He doesn't want her seeing something of that sort from him. "Nobody, mom, it was just–"
"Oh, Shinso, dear! I remember you!" Inko doesn't notice her son trying to dismiss her or his attempts to dispel the situation – she's noticed and become focused on the luggage like her son had initially done, "Are you here for another sleepover?"
Shinso dusts himself off while throwing a quick glance in Izuku's direction. He silently contemplates Inko not knowing about their falling out and hums before forcing a smile. "Actually, I was hoping to request more of an extended stay."
Izuku closes his hands into fists within the concealment of his pants pockets. The gritting of his teeth, on the other hand, is a little harder to hide. "Mom, it's really not–"
"Hush now, dear" Inko starts to put two and two together when hearing Shinso's request and giving the luggage another once over. Even so, she still asks, "What happened?"
"My parents threw me out of the house", Shinso reiterates what he told Izuku moments prior to Inko's arrival at the door, "I have nowhere else to go."
And Inko, being ever the kind hearted sympathizer, doesn't need to hear much more of any other explanation than that to show him pity. "Stay as long as you need", she welcomes Shinso into the Midoriya Household with a step to one side so that he has room to bring his luggage inside.
Shinso ducks his head down, bowing to express his appreciation. However, this small half of a curtsy is also so he can flash a smirk in Izuku's direction without her seeing. "Thank you for your hospitality", he throws a pinch of sarcasm into his tone just for his old unaccommodating friend.
Izuku becomes increasingly annoyed by what's transpiring. He can't imagine much of anything worse than if he had Katsuki Bakugo as a roommate instead. And so he tries to make it stop while he may still have a chance to oppose the proposition of giving Shinso room & board, "Mom.."
Inko helps Shinso lift some of the luggage up the steps and into the house though, not particularly paying her son's protests much of any mind. "Help yourself to the guest room", she welcomes Hitoshi Shinso into the house like he's apart of their family.
"Mom", Izuku tries to pull her aside as a different approach at getting her attention.
"I can't imagine ever abandoning you like that", but Inko is too occupied tutting while feeling sorry for the poor soul that she has taken in to fully notice her son's behavior, "How awful.."
"Mom!", Izuku finally snaps at long last over being basically ignored.
"Hm?", Inko looks at him and blinks when now noticing his frustrated frown. "Are you okay, Izuku? You appear more upset about this than me", she brings him into the house and shuts the door so that they can speak privately.
But Izuku isn't so sure that Shinso won't be able to overhear them or even go as far as eavesdropping. He insists with a nod towards a slightly more distant room that they speak elsewhere, "Can we talk in the kitchen for a bit?"
Inko is a bit surprised, "Of course", but she doesn't turn her son's suggestion down. She's actually rather keen to do so, "I've been waiting for a talk", she hurriedly heads with him to the kitchen before asking, "Whatever is the matter?"
Izuku takes a seat. He has to really think about how he's going to word this. He wrings his hands together and speaks slowly while sharing his thoughts in real time, "If something strange is going on with friends that makes the ability to trust them questionable.. and even after they get multiple chances.. is there a point where they're irredeemable?"
If Izuku Midoriya has Spider-Sense, then Inko Midoriya has Parent-Sense. "Is this about Shinso?", she isn't so foolish to not know her son has received mistreatment in the past and that it can't happen again, "Or did Katsuki do something– ?"
"It's not that serious", Izuku holds up his hands to stop her from going overboard so he's already done that plenty enough for the two of them already. "Well.. It is, but.." Then again, the situation IS a strange one regardless of being a little short on specifics.
In all honesty, Izuku isn't only trying to get advice on just his old friend returning now of all times. He's also stuck on Shinso's involvement with the symbiote and what led to this reunion of sorts. There's been plenty of times where the symbiote's influence as a separate entity caused him problems, and he's tried having talks with it, but clearly that's not working any better than his chats with Shinso.
Inko must get SOME semblance of sense to cue her in on what's going on though, since she does eventually manage to find the right thing to say in regards to her son's turmoil. She starts with a sigh, as tired and sad as Izuku seems. And then, she shares with him some words of wisdom.
"Hisashi and I always tried to teach you the importance of asking questions and we hardly ever needed to since you took it so well", Inko Midoriya looks at the boy that she raised with what was meant to be a healthy habit but what has clearly consumed him in a self destructive manner; she does her best to help guide him again as she did back then by redirecting him onto the correct path there, "You have such a gift for recognizing what you don't know and applying yourself to finding it out – you were never afraid to be wrong because you knew it was a condition you could change if you applied yourself."
She smiles, "I believe that's what makes you such a good tolerant young man", a shaky hand touches Izuku's cheek and steadies itself there. "Hisashi was very proud of that about you.. And I still am."
Izuku lowers his head, humbled by her words. After a moment of silence, she rises up from the table and squeezes his shoulder as she passes behind him while leaving the room.
Izuku sits there in his lonesome afterwards. He'd usually take the time to mull the conversation he just had over in his head. And he did take his mother's advice to heart even if he doesn't think hard on it. It's just that he doesn't feel in the right space to actually break it down properly yet.
Fortunately – or, perhaps UNfortunately – the distractions keep coming his way to disrupt each passing moment of angst with another. His phone chimes with a notification from something other than the Hero Feed app. When Izuku glances at his cell's screen, he sees the Wild Wild Pussycats are requesting an audience with Spider-Man. It seems that they have test results to share in regards to the symbiote sample that he provided to them.
Izuku pockets his phone before getting up to go. After the revelation he received about Shinso, maybe another piece of symbiote insight is what he needs to be able to fully process what his mom told him.
Music fills the air without effort, akin to waves filling holes sunken into beach sand; the sound rushes in and then recedes as though the tone is a tide that tingles the tips of her ears. The song's lyrics swim through the girl's cerebral cortex.
The music acts as an external heartbeat and the lyrics are her soul in sweet vibrations. With the power of her quirk, this can be a literal technique. With the power of the music, it's purely poetic.
There are times it feels as if the music is teaching the young girl's brain how to flow. How to be at her most peaceful. It's as if the slowly changing tone touches different parts of her mind – a sort of auditory massage for her head – it is also an invitation for slowness and to feel the presence of herself. She can come to know the ever patient version of herself who waits to be spoken to, and is content to do so.
So, when that soothing sound suddenly stops so abruptly, Kyoka Jirou is shaken and starts to lose that peaceful patience. The scritching sound of the pencil that she was using to write on her homework sheet with ceases when the led tip snaps. A frown's features form on her face.
It's annoying but not too uncommon for phones to occasionally glitch out. Jirou taps at the screen to resolve the problem and sound returns. The song that she was listening to resumes playing through the ear jacks that she has plugged in.
Jirou fixes her pencil next with a sharpener. Shavings litter her homework sheet momentarily before she swipes them all off with a single wave of her hand. Then she gets back to work. There are only a few questions left waiting to be answered.
Except, her study music stops AGAIN.
"Ugh", Jirou jabs the screen of her cell with her finger while trying to get it to function right, "Stupid phone!"
She thinks that it might be short on battery life or something and gets up to plug it in elsewhere. The charging dock she has replaces her ear jacks. When she makes that switch of cords, sparks spring from the port spot.
Jirou drops her phone and jumps back – startled – she's even more shocked when she sees a familiar face appear on the phone's screen. Denki Kaminari stares at her through the device as static crackles across a poor receptional service.
"Christ!", Jirou can't help the exclaimed audible reaction that she has. Her eyes are about to pop out of their sockets along with how hard her heart thumps against her chest.
"Jirou", Kaminari appears momentarily surprised on his own end but recovers quickly once he realizes that they are connected by the cellphone; the smile that comes across his face is one of both relief and worry somehow, "Hey.."
"Kaminari?!", Jirou picks her phone up off the ground so that she can examine it more closely – and more importantly, the boy that's on its screen – she's torn between wanting to keep her eyes locked on it and wanting to look around her room to check if this is some weird prank, "What the hell?!"
Denki Kaminari's smile morphs into a smirk, "It's good to see you too", the screen becomes clearer and she sees his facial scars lifting with his face.
"What are– How are you doing this?", Jirou takes a few steps back so that she can sit back down at her desk.
"My quirk is a bit stronger than I let on in class", Kaminari shrugs to act modest and not like he's bragging; though he does additionally tack on, "It takes a lot of concentration to connect us like this though so I'd still like to meet up in person with you to talk more."
Jirou presses a hand against her forehead, "I-" She's short of becoming hysterical. What he gave her doesn't answer the questions that she has – if anything, she only has more things that she's wondering. "You've been missing for weeks and now–"
"That's why I'm asking you to meet with me", Kaminari loses his smile and starts to get serious – for that, she's mildly grateful – except, there's still something off about the suddenness of this and his behavior, "So I can explain things" He tries giving her a pleading look to appear more convincing, "Please."
Jirou is hesitant. In the back of her mind, she recalls what Spider-Man said about Kaminari. She worries about the worst case scenario and so she asks him, "Why not go to U.A or any of the teachers or– ?"
"It's complicated", Kaminari shakes his head like he's trying to shake off the questions that she keeps giving him, "I'll tell you more but it's gotta be like this because I know you're the only one who would be willing to hear me out."
Jirou falters. "Kaminari.." She knows better than to fully place her trust in him after his odd absence.
"Jirou", but he seems so sincere when he refers to her by her first name, "Kyoka.." His eyes almost seem watery even, "Please."
Jirou bites the end of an ear jack. This too, she knows not to do. Her mother lectured her about chewing on her jacks. "Okay.. Okay, Denki.." But she's prone to repeating mistakes just the same as anyone else is. "Where do you want to meet?"
He enters a room that is bleak, cold, and completely dark. It is quiet and somber in there. He feels a chill as the darkness engulfs him – CONSUMES him – with every step deeper into the room. It is quite possibly the most piercing darkness ever… Because it is not merely the darkness that comes out of absence of light… it is from something much more sinister.
The pitch black atmosphere is impenetrable and so he starts to stand rooted to one spot, trying to stretch his eyes as wide as possible but he can barely make out only feeble outlines of some distant objects. There is nothing warm about this place – certainly not the extinguished fireplace in the far corner, for which he knows is there only because he visited the cabin a few times before now.
He may not have been expecting a welcoming committee but he was the one who was invited here and he traveled quite a long way to accept that invitation. He glances about while trying to give his eyes more time to adjust to the darkness of the place. Perhaps there's a lightswitch on the wall behind him by the door but he doesn't make a move for it.
Instead, Spider-Man calls out to whoever might be occupying the dark cabin with him. "Hello?", he waits for a response and then tries again when not getting one… "Here, kitty kitties?"
Head buzzing. Brain throbbing. Throat tightened. Body ringing. Vertebrae electric. No idea why. Spider-Sense!
Don't dodge. But then there's some sort of … disruptive whisper? It contradicts his survival instincts.
Dodge!
A secondary whisper – more primal – comes much too late.
A strong fist slams into his side and sends him flying.
Tiger's voice comes from where the blow was delivered, "Been wanting to do that for a while now! I've gotta admit!"
Spider-Man sticks a landing when recovering from the pro hero's strike. When he gets up onto his feet, the symbiote stands up right along with him, all on end along the surface of his skin.
Spider-Man realizes… If that was Tiger that attacked him and spoke, then the voice that invaded his mind must have been Mandalay trying to dampen the effect of his Spider-Sense. The Wild Wild Pussycats are out to get him for some reason.
Naturally, he has to wonder what would lead the team of pros to this type of hostility towards him. A couple of possibilities cross his mind like they're being brainwashed by alien mind parasites (oh, the irony!). He starts to ask them about it aloud, "What the–"
Don't block or parry. But both his outer dialogue and inner monologue are cut off by an outside voice.
Spider-Man elects to ignore Mandalay this time around and trusts the movements that come with his reflexive nature. Never again will he doubt his survival instinct or allow that same trick to work more than once.
Ragdoll and Pixie Bob grunt when he throws off their advances. His feet move with his hands to bat them aside before he makes a break for the cabin's exit.
Since Spider-Man now knows that this was all an elaborate ambush of some sort, he now also realizes that's why the lights are off – the environment was meant to limit his defenses so that they could take him by surprise – so long as he can't see his surroundings, his Spider-Sense is all that he's got to rely on.
"Why are you doing this?!", the vigilante must deviate from his course when the exit is blocked off by Mandalay. Despite their efforts to subdue him, he wishes to refrain from returning the favor.
Mandalay must read that thought since she does him the courtesy of answering his question. "Nothing personal, Spider-Man; we have to get that suit off of you!"
"Well, for me it's a bit personal!" Tiger pounces from the darkness to try grabbing ahold of Spider-Man who is now blocked from behind by Pixie Bob and Ragdoll.
Izuku Midoriya might not be willing to harm the Wild Wild Pussycats in retaliation of their efforts to bring him down. But the symbiote on the other hand…
The slimy suit sprouts tendrils that latch onto Tiger to cease the pro hero's advance. It raises its host up from the ground with an added amount of height. And now, once towering over Tiger, the symbiote lurches forward with a face full of what seems like fangs that form along Spider-Man's face. It angrily displays a sign of intimidation.
The living costume's wearer shakes the suit into submission. "No!", he struggles to fight its influence on their shared body, "Behave–"
"You can't control it!" Pixie Bob tells him that it's no use trying to mentally resist what is happening. The Earth Beast she controls that comes crashing through the cabin's ceiling to snatch Spider-Man up tells him there's no use trying to physically resist this assault either. Finally, light is shed on the scene. A rock creature carries him in a strong grip as Pixie Bob shouts, "You have to let it go!"
The symbiote violently jerks in the Earth Beast's hold. It produces a hard shelled surface with spiked quills that may seem similar to that of a porcupine's defensive body. Except, these spiked protrusions are also tentacle-like extensions capable of twitching and swinging about. The Earth Beast breaks apart. Spider-Man comes loose from the creature's hold as it crumbles apart.
"No! We NEED eachother!", Spider-Man falls to the floor as the symbiote wraps him in an extra layering of slimy defense; he heaves heavily with all of the anger & adrenaline currently coursing through his system, "We're a better Spider-Man together!"
"That's not true!", Ragdoll yells at him while trying to get a kick in – he avoids both her shout and her outstretched leg.
In the back of his mind, Mandalay serves as a calmer callout to him to regain his senses. You know what we're saying is true.
SILENCE.
In the back of his mind, an aggressive shout overrides his sense of judgement yet again.
"You're better without it!", Pixie Bob sends forth a squadron of Earth Beasts that try to tear the symbiote off of him by force with sharpened stone claw-like limbs.
Beneath the continually piling on rock creatures, Spider-Man squirms and struggles. He resists. He protests. He fights. "We said..", he – THEY deny the Wild Wild Pussycats a chance to separate them, "SILENCE!"
They get stronger. A bulkier form, one that is harder to tear into, grows in muscular density. Like Tiger or even All Might, they enlarge their body to endure their enemies.
Now buffed up, they overpower the Earth Beasts. They show their superior size while smashing the rock creatures into dust. Smaller tendrils of the symbiote whip and flicker along the shared surface of their new shaped muscle tone to hack and slice at whatever stone stands in their way.
The Wild Wild Pussycats are then outmatched by Spider-Man as well. The team of heroes are brought down with a mighty singular slam of the symbiote sprouting more appendages. The cabin collapses around them all.
With the team subdued, Spider-Man stomps over to the group's leader. Mandalay cowers underneath this new visage of the vigilante.
"We're trying to help you", Mandalay may be trapped beneath the bigger being but she doesn't let that stop her from still crying out to the small boy within it, "It's leeching off of you like a parasite!" She tells him what they discovered during their tests with the sample that he provided, "It's not simply trying to bond with you to co-inhabit your body.. It's trying to become ONE with you!"
The large white eyes on Spider-Man's mask widen. He hears that the symbiote is trying to assume and take total control over him. It wishes to override him in an effort to preserve him. It has confused giving security & safety with autocracy. "No.."
"I know it feels good", Mandalay can see that she's getting through to the boy within the symbiote and continues trying to make him see the truth about it, "The power.." She watches him return to his original physical form and size when she says, "But you'll lose yourself without the responsibility."
Spider-Man stands there, conflicted. Like many times today though, an interruption halts the intensity of this particular dilemma with the potential announcement of another. His cellphone starts to ring. He takes that as a cued excuse to depart from the hero team's resort while he still can and leaps away with haste.
"No! Wait!", Mandalay calls after him – but her voice recedes as he does – and he answers another call instead.
She holds the cellphone close to her ear, hand clamped over it to keep it firmly pressed there, despite her not needing to strain to hear at all. But, she doesn't want to risk missing a single word. Nor does she want any of what she says into the mobile device's speaker to be missed either.
Currently, Kyoka Jirou walks at a brisk pace out of her neighborhood. She threw on a big purple puffer jacket to fight the cool air that pushes back against her, but there's no forcing down the constant chills that cause her petite frame to tremor. She shivers and shakes as she hurries down the street.
All the while, her voice trembles too. After her frozen fingers dialed Izuku Midoriya's phone number, she wasted no time in telling him the purpose of her urgency. "I need to speak to Spider-Man", Jirou seeks the warm feeling that she misses having in her heart when it comes to the aspiring hero.
She isn't expecting Spider-Man's technical spokesperson to be so cold when it comes to that longed sense of familiarity. "Doesn't everyone these days.." He's more than despondent. He seems.. Irritated. It's a spike of frostbite that shocks her like Kaminari's painful sparks of whatever this odd feeling is.
Jirou knows that the boy she became acquainted with doesn't typically behave in such a way, even with an upbringing that involved Katsuki Bakugo as a neighbor. So, she has to double back and ask him outright, "What was that?"
"Nothing", he brushes off the question and the fleeting moment of – whatever that was – suddenly, she's able to somewhat hear recognition in the boy's voice again when his tone becomes laced with concern for her wellbeing. "Is there something wrong? Are you in any danger? Are you okay?"
Jirou bites her bottom lip. She chews on a piece of skin there, tearing a bit off as she does. It's at least better than nibbling on and damaging her ear jacks. "I'm not too sure", she shudders as she closes her jacket around her a little tighter.
Midoriya's mood is all over the place as he continues to inquire about her situation. "Jirou, what does that mean?" She hears his concern, but there's other emotions mingled in like annoyance and frustration – she chalks it off as him being impatient with the lack of details that she's giving him.
"He – um – he.." But it's admittedly hard for her to so easily and openly provide that information. She figures they're close enough to Spider-Man that the sensitivity of it all can be disregarded just this once, "He told me to get in touch with him if Kaminari ever returned."
"Kaminari's back?!", the shock that carries through the phone startles Jirou – she almost believes Kaminari has hacked the device again.
"He called me privately to arrange a meeting", she summarizes the situation for Midoriya so that it can get conveyed to Spider-Man quicker. Her own worries about everything come out of her mouth as well, "I didn't know what else to do but call you to tell Spider-Man.."
There's a pause from the other end of the phone line. Perhaps Midoriya is processing it all, which is fair. "Okay, we'll be there soon, just stay put–"
"I'm already on my way to meet him", Jirou winces since she didn't waste any time arranging the meetup that Kaminari requested; she thought she couldn't allow the opportunity to slip through her fingers, "He's expecting me–"
"NO!", the shout that carries over the phone is LOUD. Jirou jerks it away from her ear, nearly dropping the device.
She continues to hold it at an arm's length while whispering in response to the shout with a contrastingly low whisper, "..Huh?"
"Just.." Midoriya realizes how vocal he was being and slightly simmers down. "We're far away right now", but there IS still that high level of intensity there, "Call Hagakure in the meantime! She'll know what to do!"
Jirou blinks and just like that sees that the phone call has ended when her eyes reopen. Whatever is going on with Izuku Midoriya & Spider-Man, she'll just have to rely on them to get the issue resolved there so that they can help her here. But in the meantime, she'll take their advice and call in the rest of the calvary. She starts with Toru Hagakure as was suggested.
His legs dangle over the side of one of many steel support beams, swaying with the night's blowing breeze. From such a high height, he's able to view past the old power station to see the city's bright array of lights in the distance. The glowing skyline brightens as the sun sets behind it. The sight being beheld is one of a majestic nightlight.
He himself aspired to be a stunningly bright light at one period in time. Now, if he were to ever become so radiant, he would wish to blind all of those that see him. Denki Kaminari has long since abandoned any dreams of being a heroic beacon, having kept his eyes open to view the faint nightlight in the pitch black world that is his reality. If he were to dream at all, his dream would be for everyone to see the same darkness that he constantly does.
The damaged chain link fence that surrounds the perimeter of the abandoned power station has been rattling for hours now due to the windy atmosphere. What he hears next, however, is a more distinct crinkle of metal though. He hops down from the support beam that he was using as a place to sit so that he can turn around and face whoever has come to give him company.
"Kaminari?" He admittedly falters for a faint moment. He should have been expecting her to join him here since he did invite her. But there's still a second of shock that not even his quirk could give.
"Jirou", the blonde boy's smile doesn't quite match his face that is full of marred scar tissue; he draws nearer to his old classmate and keeps the smile nonetheless, "I was starting to think you weren't going to come."
Kyoka Jirou appears to be faltering in the other boy's presence just as he had. "I promised you I would", but she recuperates just as quickly as he had as well.
Kaminari hums when he stops at a distance of maybe ten feet or less. "That you did", he can see her up close now and fully comprehends that she actually listened to him and came.
For a while there, things get a little more awkward. There's a lapse of silence as they both acknowledge one another's presence. It's been some time since they last saw eachother and the set of circumstances aren't all that ordinary.
Kaminari glances down at himself, noting that he is wearing a yellow puffer jacket similar to Jirou's attire. "I see we had the same idea fashion wise", he makes light of the comparison in an effort to ease whatever tension might be remaining in the few feet of distance between them.
Jirou smiles despite herself knowing that she shouldn't. "It's getting chilly as it gets darker", she shrugs to try and act nonchalant about it all.
But Kaminari spent enough time in the Hero Course with her to know that he's getting through to her. His smile becomes a grin. "Let me warm you up", he closes the gap between them.
Before she even processes what is happening, Jirou begins to realize that he is coming in for a hug. Or, perhaps.. He's leaning in for a kiss. Either way, he's seeking some sign of affection from her.
She backs away. "Kaminari.. What's this all about?" She shies from his touch, not allowing him to make any sort of contact with her physically just yet.
Kaminari pauses. He's surprised by her slight rejection. "I felt lonely", his confidence diminishes when his voice lowers to more of a hushed whisper. Then he asks her in that same quiet tone, "Don't you feel that way sometimes?"
She admits just as quietly, "..I do."
He reaches out to her again. "Well, then let me make you feel differently."
And again from her end, she pulls away to deny him that kind of connection. "We have our friends in class to do that for us!", she shakes her head to get it straight so that she can remind herself & him what the point of this meeting is supposed to actually be about, "The same class that you abandoned!"
Kaminari grimaces at the mention of the other members of the Hero Course. "They're not my friends", he now backs away from her on his side.
Jirou has to withhold a gasp. "How could you say that?" As far as she's aware, this is coming out of nowhere. As far as she's meant to know, this doesn't make any sense with who Denki Kaminari is. "You're the one who just randomly left for no reason!"
Kaminari can't help but laugh. It comes out as a cross between a huff of laughter and a chuckle, but it's genuine amusement nevertheless. "The HPSC really did keep things under tabs", an ill humored smile replaces the sincere smile he had earlier, "Not that U.A doesn't love withholding truthful details about its students and employees either."
Jirou sees a new side to Kaminari as the sun sets on the horizon and he becomes a dark silhouette within the shroud of a small light. Slowly, she starts to back further away from him. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Come on, Jirou" Kaminari notices her gradually growing distance from him and starts to follow her just as steadily slow. "Why would I have hidden my true potential?"
Jirou doesn't need her enhanced sense of hearing to know that question was meant to be rhetorical. Still, she answers. Or, she does her best to answer him, at least. "I don't know–"
"You do know", Kaminari corners her at the chain link fence that is behind her, "You've known for awhile" She has nowhere to go as he gets much too close for her own comfort, "You just didn't ever fully want to accept it.."
Tears brim beneath the scared girl's triangular onyx set of eyes. She has to close them to keep the tears from spilling over and out. "Kaminari.. Please.."
"Not Kaminari", yellow sparks flicker around the form of the blonde boy as he cranes his jaggedly marked face forward, "Electro!"
Kyoka Jirou says aloud what has been suspected of Denki Kaminari all along, "You're a villain.."
"I'll give it to you straight the same way I tried to tell Shinso", Electro raises a hand that illuminates from flowing electricity and starts to hold it out to palm Jirou's cheek, "Hopefully you'll be more willing to listen with those lovely ears of yours."
Except, when Electro makes an attempt to touch her, he winds up touching another girl instead. Having protectively positioned herself in front of Kyoka Jirou, Toru Hagakure uses her quirk to reflect the light that streaks over from the villainous boy. Electricity bounces back upon the contact that is made and Electro is sent flying backwards from the two hero hopefuls.
Momentarily, Toru Hagakure's features are illuminated by a bright display of light that radiates all around them. "You stay away from her, you creep!" She strikes a stance as she defends Jirou.
And she's not alone in her defense. Itsuka Kendo creates a bigger hole in the chain link fence to the power plant to make way for herself, "You got one thing right", along with other members of Class 1-A that join her in their rescuing arrival. "We're no friends of any villain as fiendish and fowl as you are!"
Electro rises to his feet while taking in the additional company that has come to pay him a visit. His gaze then shifts and focuses back onto who he thought he could trust. "..You betrayed me.. ?"
Kyoka Jirou forces down her tears and puts on a brave face. "You betrayed us first", she makes herself stand up straight and strong.
Eijiro Kirishima steps forward to serve as a shield for the girl if he must. "You brought this on yourself, bro" He refrains from powering up into his solid state for the time being though, hoping to resolve this without too much conflict.
Tenya Iida is right there along with him. "Please come quietly", the law abiding hero hopeful offers his former friend and classmate a final chance to not make this any more difficult for any of them.
Denki Kaminari – Electro – gives them all a glare. Especially Kyoka Jirou who is currently being comforted & consoled by Mina Ashido and Tsuyu Asui.
"Quietly?", he sneers as he continues to stare at them all with absolute hatred. His hands draw in a charge before dispersing his energy into the power plant that had been previously shut down. "Nah.. Imma light up this whole grid!"
The station blows up, basically. Circuits come alive as a strong surge fuels the station with pure power. Electricity flies far as it is flung from poles and cable lines. It's a light show that screams for Kaminari to express his rage.
Jirou cries out in pain. She drops to her knees and has to cover her ears as the noise overwhelms her sense of hearing. She seals her eyes shut as well, unable to look at the searing light for very long either.
"Dark Shadow!" Fumikage Tokoyami is unable to call upon his quirk to aid him since there's no longer a single shadow within the vicinity of the power station's illuminated activation. He's helpless to defend himself when he is blasted by a volt of electricity. "Help– !", his cry for assistance falls upon deaf ears as he's rendered unconscious.
Itsuka Kendo shields her eyes with a supersized hand to keep from being blinded, all while using her other hand to lash out with the black whip aspect of OFA. "Don't let him get awa– !" But what she intended as a means to capture the villain backfires; she doesn't realize until it's too late that the black whips serve as cable lines for electricity to course through a current right into her.
Eijiro Kirishima is also struck by a beam of energy. He winds up taking the brunt of the blast force while trying to protectively position his hardened self in front of Mina Ashido. He's knocked backwards along with Kendo. Smoke rises from a sizzling spot smack dab in the center of his chest.
Out of everybody there, Tenya Iida is fortunately fast enough to fend for himself. He outmaneuvers several streaks of electricity with his running speed. That's all that he's capable of managing though. He's too busy avoiding the harmful energy current to be able to retaliate with an attack of his own.
Electro laughs in response to what Kendo had started to shout. "Why would I be the one that retreats when you're all clearly the ones who are outmatched?", he confidently overwhelms the forces of who came from Class 1-A to face him.
However, he's so focused on the group in front of him… that he forgets to check his blind spot. "Try counting the guy behind you!" Spider-Man arrives right in the knick of time with a flying kick to Electro's vulnerable backside.
The vigilante and the villain are met with a conductive discharge upon the impact. An electrical barrier around Electro zaps Spider-Man right as the force of the kick sends Electro flying.
Electro hits the ground, bouncing upon the dirt into a rough roll. When he shakes himself off and looks up to see what hit him, his hateful expression intensifies. "Ugh.. You.. It's always YOU!"
Contrasting that reaction to the vigilante's timed arrival, Kyoka Jirou is overcome with an expression of relief. She speaks for just about all of her fellow Hero Course companions when she cheers him on, "Spider-Man!"
Typically, at times such as this, the neighborhood webslinger would probably be throwing around all sorts of wisecracks with his webbing. But currently, he doesn't say very much. He's too preoccupied with dodging Electro's violently virulent attacks. The power station bursts and explodes from overloaded outputs of intense energy. Toru Hagakure watches with her hands over her heart, hoping & praying for him to come out of the battle okay.
"Can't tell the difference between what's Spider-Sense and what's from that hit just now", Spider-Man registers danger all around him – the symbiote shrivels and shrieks the way it would react to fire – he has to periodically use his web lines to deviate from the power station as to not be affected by the electricity too badly. As he uses his environment to his advantage, he starts to think about how he can further do so. "Well, it's better than having zero danger detection like Kaminari.."
Spider-Man uses the next web connection as a pulley string system and yanks hard on the steel support beams. Since the station was already old and unstable, coupled with Electro's energy blasts increasingly damaging it, the beams come loose & undone rather effortlessly. Metal crashes down around Electro who blasts & burns through the falling debris with powerful defensive force.
"You think I'll fall for little tricks like that?!", Electro sneers while shooting more streams of electricity at Spider-Man. When he realizes what the webhead was going for and that his own attacks aren't faring any better, he switches tactics. "If you wanna bring the place down around us, then THIS is how you do it!" He destroys the power station with an overload of power emittance.
"Yeah, you REALLY know how to party" Spider-Man flings himself away from the exploding power plant. If it had a roof to be raised, that roof would be coming down instead.
As debris and fire rains down from the destructive display of power on Electro's part, Class 1-A scrambles to evacuate from the blast zone. Iida whisks away as many people as possible that he can carry. Kendo lassos whoever is left with her black whips to serve as extra limbs.
Spider-Man sees that he's not the only one in danger here. The Hero Course students are getting caught in the crossfire of his fight with Electro. "Gotta end this quickly", the symbiote stops corrugating so that it can clamp tighter to its host as a suitable costume, "No time to hold back."
Spider-Man throws himself down into the deteriorating power plant. He goes through a storm of sparks and breaches past crumbling circuit channels. The symbiote supports him with cast off patterns of short tendril bursts. And then, he pounces on Electro like a spider catching its prey.
The tackle brings them down into the dirt of the ground. Spider-Man uses that as a barrier to block himself from the body shield that Electro emits. They glide along the earth, scorching grass, until they reach the perimeter fence line that also melts down. All over Spider-Man, the symbiote stands on end – irritated by the electricity that the villain is giving off – but it returns to its host for a secured form of comfort & control.
Kill.
Spider-Man keeps Electro pinned under one hand, pressed firmly against the villain's chest, while raising the other hand.
Kill him.
"There's something tingling.. Saying – TELLING – to take you out.. Before you become a bigger threat.." The hand that's poised produces pointed ends along its fingertips. The jutted out claw-like spikes extend into five jagged knife shaped digits. "And it's not Spider-Sense.."
Spider-Man holds his hand with the sharpened appendages up high, prepared to bring it down low in a striking slash of a swing. But right as his arm twitches to make that fatal movement, he's halted by a voice shouting behind him.
"Don't!" Toru Hagakure screams with terror over what she was about to witness, desperate to prevent Spider-Man from crossing a line that there is no coming back from.
The darkened vigilante silently shifts to one side, only bending his back a bit, before tilting his head as a minute turn to look in Hagakure's direction. He winds up seeing the collected horrified expressions on the faces of all of Class 1-A, along with Hagakure's invisible face that undoubtedly must be the same as theirs.
Itsuka Kendo slowly raises her hands up, reaching out to him without actually reaching. "Please don't do it.." She pleads with the darkened vigilante not to kill the U.A traitor.
With his emotions feeling muted now and the world made black & white, Spider-Man doesn't shift or show any change in his deadly demeanor. Instead, he challenges her with a growl. "Why not?", he asks.
Tenya Iida answers for her. He steps forward, his glasses gleaning against the glow of Electro's light emittance. "You yourself once told me that this isn't the way we should do things", he tries reminding Spider-Man of the important lesson that he was taught when they fought Stain together.
Spider-Man seems to take that into mind. He silently considers what he was told, his head lowering. "It's the way things have to be done now", but his eyes tighten into an intense narrowed focus of something fearsome when his head raises back up.
Kyoka Jirou pushes past the others of Class 1-A, putting herself at the forefront of the interventional group. She has her hands tightly wrung against her chest as her heart thumps there excessively fast & hard. "You're not yourself! The person that I– that I.. that I fell in love with would never act this way!" She blushes while confessing her feelings, all while hoping that they're enough.
A moment of shock overcomes Spider-Man more than an actual shock from Electro would have. He stalls, standing still and staring with his eyes extremely wide. Everyone silently stares back at him, their eyes just as wide.
And then, his eyes narrow into thin spine-tingling slithers.
"Then maybe what you see now is no longer that same person anymore", Spider-Man responds with a cold and tight tone before turning back towards his captured prey.
Spider-Man twiddles his clawed fingertips, preparing to stab them into Electro. "NO!" But Itsuka Kendo prevents them from cutting into the villain by catching the vigilante's arm with her black whips quirk ability.
The symbiote responds to the tendrils by secreting stringlines of its own. Like a mess of snakes, the tentacles wrestle with eachother in a knotted mess of coiling and curling around eachother.
Toru Hagakure runs around Spider-Man, using her invisibility to sneak past the side of him that is being bound so that she can try to grab him from the other end. But his head whips back, tracking her movement as though he can see her more clearly than she actually is. She skids to a stop when he swings his arm out towards her. "Don't let this be a repeat of your mistake with Ojiro!", she attempts to get through to him mentally rather than physically since that's the only option that remains for her.
Spider-Man flinches, as though the verbal blow is more of a powerful assault than if she were to land a hit on him physically. He winces like he's in pain. Through that agony, he shakes his head in an effort to deny it having an actual effect on him. "This isn't the same as that!"
During this distraction that has temporarily overcome the darkened vigilante, Eijiro Kirishima gets the jump on him from behind. Kirishima hardens into a heavy state of solid stone while tucking an arm under each of Spider-Man's, making himself into a weighted human backpack of sorts. He secures Spider-Man to limit the vigilante's mobility even more. "We don't wanna fight you, bro!"
Except, speed and agility has never been all that Spider-Man has had in his arsenal of abilities. With an amazing feat of strength, he chucks Kirishima off of his back and tosses the hero hopeful over his head. "Wouldn't wanna fight us either.."
Unable to watch her friends fight the boy that she has long since developed feelings for any longer, Kyoka Jirou injects herself into the battle – quite literally, by injecting her ear jacks into the ground – and she screams at them, "STOP THIS!", while sending a powerful pulse of her pained heartbeat through the surface as a loud vibrational shockwave.
Whereas the entire vicinity of people gets sent reeling by the blast, it is Spider-Man who takes the brunt of the blow. Or rather, the symbiotic suit that represents Spider-Man. It reacts to the vibrational wave like it's been set ablaze. Frenzied & frantic, it flails about with wild whipping and lashing tendrils; these tendrils are the type that have torn from the costume, broken down as the foreign fabric it tried sewing itself together with via those slimy stitches.
Class 1-A watches in horror as Spider-Man screams and suffers the same as the symbiote's suffering. Patches of exposed skin appear along the careening costume in random places as it tries not to fall apart under Jirou's vibrational blast. It's as though someone is trapped inside a powerful riptide that keeps trying to pull them under while they drown in it.
Iida shakily steadies his glasses, unsure if they're letting him see this thing that is transpiring correctly. When he's sure that his eyes do not deceive him, he swallows the saliva that had started to secrete in his mouth along with the sweat that rolled down onto his lips. "S- Something is controlling him", he checks with the others if they're witnessing it too nevertheless.
Hagakure, who had spoken with the alter ego of Spider-Man and understands what is happening here better than any of the others, hurriedly heads over to the only one who can continue to keep this up. "Get it off of him!", she shakes her classmate to get the urgency across when she shouts what is basically an order, "Jirou! Hit him again!"
A singular emerald green eye peers out through the peeling place in Spider-Man's melting mask. It's a panicked gaze that greets Kyoka Jirou. She sees straight into Izuku Midoriya's soul then and sees how much pain he is in.
"I'm sorry", she whispers an apology since she knows what she's about to do is only going to hurt him more before he's able to get any better.
Her heavy heart makes for heavier hits when she sends several more soundwaves the symbiote's way. The suit thrashes with its host, trying to take itself somewhere away from the loud vibrational assault. What is a living costume starts coming apart and winds up floundering as it falls around the form of its wearer. Everybody watches as the symbiote writhes around its covered host.
Jirou's eyes stay locked on the singular pained emerald eye that continues to stare out through the symbiotic storm at her all the while. Her own onyx eyes widen when she sees that one eye start to close. The symbiote begins sealing over the shutting eyelid as its wearer falls unconscious.
Spider-Man utters one final word before he goes silent. "Run."
Hagakure notices the same thing Jirou does. She opens her mouth to warn everybody of what she knows will happen next. She witnessed it firsthand at the Wild Wild Pussycats training camp when the symbiote first took control. However… she's too late to speak, and nobody is able to see the invisible girl's opened mouth or her panicked expression that comes with it.
However, the symbiote knows exactly where she is and what she must look like currently. It effortlessly swats her across the lawn outside of the destroyed power plant. Jirou looks back at where her ally was launched, taking her eyes off of her target and temporarily ceasing her attack on him.
That's when Spider-Man begins to stride forward. The symbiote remolds itself around his muscularly lean form. The large white spider emblem on his chest increases in thickness and size; the long legs that wrap around either side of him become sharper & jagged. His eyes narrow into sharper shapes as well.
Seeing this altercation from the sidelines, Electro pushes himself backwards from the scene to go unnoticed. He has been temporarily forgotten. He takes that as a rare opportunity and seizes this as his chance to slip away.
"I didn't want to do this!" Tenya Iida plants his feet, having a standoff against the zombie-like stance of Spider-Man. Iida doesn't stand in place for long though. The engines that protrude from his calf muscles rev to life. He accelerates forward at optimum speed.
But the slow stagger of the symbiote controlled character suddenly swerves aside with a purpose. Spider-Man sidesteps his incoming opponent and snags the speedster's legs with a pseudo web line. Binding lengths trip up Iida and send the hero hopeful crashing into the undergrowth outside of the electrical station's fenceline.
Mina Ashido watches with a wince as her classmate is launched outside of the power plant's perimeter. When she returns her gaze to Spider-Man, she sees his marionetted movements being manipulated by secondary strings like what was shot out seconds ago. "I told you he was freaky!" She tries stopping him with a spray of acid. What lands on the dark costume causes the symbiote to sizzle, but it quickly regrows what gets burnt. "..So freaky.."
Alongside the pinkette, Tsuyu Asui lends support by trying to snare Spider-Man with her elongated tongue. However, the symbiote steered figure has a fast enough reaction time to snatch the stretched out tongue before it can rope around. Spider-Man grabs the frog-like oral appendage and gives it a good tug. Asui is yanked forward, where she gets close lined and knocked out.
"Tsu!" Jirou watches as each of her friends fall. Spurred on to rejoin the fight, she sends a series of vibrations towards the symbiote to try and get it to come off of its controlled host.
The symbiote screeches but stays stuck to its host. The thinly focused eyes that it sees from lock onto her. The symbiote starts to target Jirou, decisively seeking to berid of her as a prioritized threat.
Fortunately for her, Kirishima jumps in the way of the symbiote's rushed attack. "You want her? You gotta get through ME first!" He hardens himself, along with his resolve.
But the symbiote isn't swayed or deterred by this obstacle. Spider-Man primes a fist – that fist then SLAMS into Kirishima's stomach – the shelled exterior of the hero hopeful shatters upon impact. Spider-Man punches his way right through what was meant to be a sturdy shield and blows the opposing boy backwards.
Spider-Man is so focused on trying to take down the girl in front of him that he neglects his Spider-Sense that provides a warning about the girl behind him. It's during this moment that Itsuka Kendo grabs the symbiote's controlled body with two large hands. "Jirou! I'll hold him in place!"
Having been in similar situations before, the symbiote knows exactly how to respond. A porcupine quilled defense stabs Kendo's hands. She reflexively slackens her grip. Which is enough. The symbiote spins around its host so that it can slam a fist into her next.
With the dangerous individual engaging her from then on, Kendo secretly wants to hide herself away. She thinks about any way she can escape Spider-Man's warpath. Or, at the very least, she wishes she knew how to do that for Jirou and her friends. It's during this passionate arisal of emotion that she activates the smokescreen aspect of OFA.
It's a dispersal of gaseous smoke that blinds both her and the dark figure that was darting towards her. She's surprised by the colored fumes – she worries it's something that she shouldn't be breathing in – but then she realizes that she isn't coughing. Kendo quickly adapts to the situational development with an understanding that it's another gift from OFA.
Right now, she's not just Itsuka Kendo. She's the successor of All Might. She is Mighty Jab. MJ moves about scarcely. She only spins herself while searching for Spider-Man. The hero hopeful watches for a shadowy silhouette that may be hiding somewhere with the smokescreen.
She doesn't think to look down. A tendril tags her by the ankle and pulls her down from underneath her feet. It drags MJ through the dirt with vicious speed, like a snake that has caught a snack that it's now dragging back to a den to devour.
Thinking fast about how she might be able to get out of the dire situation, Mighty Jab activates the float aspect of her quirk. She ascends over the smokescreen with the tendril tailing behind her as it stays attached to her ankle. It becomes a game of tug o' war over who is dragging who. But her goal wasn't to simply escape the symbiote's snare. She would rather it stay clung to her since she's now in the direct line of sight for her ally to lend an assisting strike. "JIROU!"
"GOT IT!" Jirou hears the callout and knows exactly what to do. She sends a vibrational blast through the fog from where the tendril trails down. Smoke blows away as sound slices through the air.
Both girls look on with wide eyes as they are overcome with a horrific revelation. There's no body where Jirou directed her heartbeat blast. Only a small sliver of the symbiote squirms about. It too was strategizing against them. It separated itself into two parts.
The remaining amount of the symbiote stays attached to its host, who traveled around through the smoke to get behind Jirou. Before she can even whirl herself around to see the dark visage coming for her, a shadowy being brings itself out from the fog. Spider-Man slams her into the ground, knocking her out cold in one single strike.
Itsuka Kendo releases a choked gasp. She's still up in the air with no means to defend herself. She left herself exposed and vulnerable without the smokescreen or even a ground under her feet to run upon. The symbiote lurches from the floor to take her down too. It slams Kendo into the earth, rendering her unconscious.
It may not have been the entirety of the class, but the symbiote form of Spider-Man managed to defeat U.A's top Hero Course. The darkened vigilante looks around at his handiwork. Unconscious bodies are strewn about like corpses.
But it was a pointless battle. The symbiote sees that Denki Kaminari got away. Since this whole predicament had to do with Electro and he's now gone, it no longer deems there any reasonable need to stick around. Just like the situation back at the resort assault with the Wild Wild Pussycats, there's only one thing left for it to do.
The symbiote retreats to a place of comfort called home for it and its host to rest.
When Izuku Midoriya awakens, he doesn't do so with a renewed kind of restfulness. He doesn't find comfort in his shortly supplied napping period.
Neither does the symbiote find the place called home that is naturally made and meant to supply that type of supportful feeling of recovery. It finds the opposite of that.
The house is burning.
"MOM!", Izuku Midoriya's first thought is that his mother could still be trapped inside.
Instantaneously, he manages to override the symbiote. He does so by willing himself to run towards the inferno rather than from it. His legs are moving on their own to save his mother should she need his rescuing.
Here he is directly outside of his childhood home, and it has somehow been set ablaze. He doesn't stop to consider the possibilities of how this scenario has happened. He doesn't even pause to think about what the symbiote may have done while controlling his body and breaking their established rule again. On his mind is one thing and one thing only.
"I'm here!", he recalls shouting those same words when he was younger – he would always play a game with his mother as a kid where she'd hide under a blanket and wait for him to arrive as her savior – that pretended rescue was always in their house, "I'm com–"
No.
Izuku feels an opposition. Suddenly, his feet become rooted to the ground – literally – seams stem from his soles to burrow and plant his foot placement in a held state.
"W- W-" Izuku glances down as though he's just stepped into a puddle of quicksand. Even if he had, he doesn't allow his legs to be weighed down. Not now. He pulls one foot free from the floor – cement sticking to his heel and dirt dripping as it gets drudged up – he forces himself to take a step forward despite the resistance of strings that the symbiote secretes.
Fire. No.
The symbiote supplies extra anchor lines from the boy's back. Leashing Izuku Midoriya, several hawsers hold him from behind. One attaches to a streetpost. Another clings to a mailbin. Thirdly, a fire hydrant. Anything that might keep him secure to the spot he's in so that he doesn't recklessly go into the fiery building.
"L- Let me please–", he desperately tries to make himself trudge forward. He feels as though he is still in a state of slumber. It's what he imagines being overcome with sleep paralysis is like. This demon has trapped him in a nightmare.
Cannot.
It is prioritizing their safety. No. No. It is prioritizing its own safety. He NEEDS his mother. He can't live without her. He WON'T live without her.
"If you won't save her..", Izuku Midoriya remembers that he is Spider-Man exactly as Akatani Mikumo told him and not the symbiote, "...THEN I WILL!"
Despite the symbiote's insistent protests and how much his body aches as he strives to overpower it, he manages to work his way into the burning building
Do. Not.
"Mom! MOM!" Izuku ignores the symbiote and cries out for the part of him that will always remind him of who he is.
After he lost his father, and he began to blame himself, Inko Midoriya told her son that Hisashi Midoriya didn't actually die. She said her husband lives on through them. More prominently, Izuku Midoriya. Not just by his blood as a son with the same genetic features, but more importantly through the moral code that was implemented & instilled through Hisashi's teachings.
He nearly let his father fully die. He was nearly the cause of Hisashi Midoriya dying a second time. He won't allow that to happen. Nor will he let his mother down. He won't lose her too. HE WON'T.
Do. Not.
Will. Not.
Due to Izuku Midoriya's perseverance through the hell that surrounds him, the symbiote has no choice but to separate from the bravehearted boy. It quite literally can't handle the heat. It slithers off of Izuku's form, dripping as it melts. Slimy puddles are placed behind Izuku's path as a trail of footprints.
He spares only a single glance back at it. Just to make sure that it gets enveloped in the fire as his home burns down. The symbiote slinks away, pitifully pulling itself along just as desperately as he had been before.
Izuku Midoriya turns his back on the symbiote. He departs from it. The two go in opposite directions.
The coughs continue climbing up and out of his throat, making him heave as they're all drawn straight from the depths of his upper chest. With an open mouth, it's difficult to keep from swallowing smog or smoke. Dark fumes creep into his nostrils and cause his lungs to burn. Hitoshi Shinso clings to his sides, fingers digging into them to get at the pain that's burrowed inside of him.
A spike of pain flares up in his shoulder as well, after he tries ramming it into the door that blocks his only exit. When he bounces back and realizes that he doesn't have the strength to force his way out, his coughs become labored laughs. Shinso never physically trained himself to do the things a hero would have to do, but rather than realizing his weaknesses & failures are partially his own, he only blames his lack of having a 'better' quirk … like Spider-Man's.
"Help!", he pleads for somebody to give him a second chance anyways. If he could just have the same opportunity that fortunate people like Spider-Man were given… "Can anybody hear me?!" All his life, he just wanted to be seen & heard, and here he is in what he presumes will be his death feeling the same way.
He is getting faint now. He falls to the floor. Shinso feels too weak to stand any longer. He can't stay on his own two feet anymore. He requires support.
His hand reaches out for anyone to take it. "Please.. Don't leave me here alone.." Black creeps at the corners of his vision. The only one coming for him now may be death itself.
Something seeps in through the crack beneath the door. It looks as black as the rest of his surroundings. Except, it too appears to somehow be lost in this place. It searches for a sense of direction as Shinso does. The strange substance reaches out with what looks like the shape of hand to take Shinso's.
As darkness overtakes Hitoshi Shinso, he doesn't realize that there is a darkness crawling his way that will overtake him as well.
AUTHOR NOTES
Shit went from 0 to 100 real fucking quick lolz
Sorry for being a little late with this chapter per my unofficial posting schedule! I got to take a brief vacation for a break, and though I didn't really utilize my time how I probably should have, still wanted some additional time to work on this particular chapter anyway. Hope it was worth the wait, at least!
I'm sure you were expecting things to go a bit differently with the symbiote removal (like the good ol' classic church bell setting) but something I always admired about the Spectacular Spider-Man animated series was how they did resolutions to Venom without relying on sound too much as a way to defeat him - plus there was a lot of focus & more foreshadowing on fire as one of the symbiote's weaknesses anyways.
That all being said and done, I'm glad you were all on board last chapter with Lady Deadpool's return and look forward to getting your thoughts moving forward! It's finally going to be time for me to have my fun adapting & implementing Venom into the story!
~Courtesy of your not so friendly neighborhood author