A single streak of electricity, no thinner than a yellow string, stretches out for a fleeting second. It's a flicker faster than a flame, but just as uncontrollable of a dancing current. This is the means of which Denki Kaminari disrupts the mechanics of the Sports Festival's event randomizer machine. Or, rather, this is the means that the much more experienced villain alter ego Electro is capable of doing so. Another short spark flashes from his pointer finger as he points at the server like it's a touch screen that doesn't actually need touching.
In between events, he had received a call from his villainous colleagues. They want him to rig the randomizer so that it's not so random in its selection of who it will be pitting against eachother. The intended goal is to make it place him against Spider-Man so that they can have their much needed rematch; it'd also accomplish the goal of making the web creep look incompetent on live television. It's just no wonder that the randomizer rolls dials like a slot machine seeking a proper matchup. Considering the risks of getting caught doing this, he really may as well be taking a gamble.
Just as the traitor of the hero school manages to get one dial to land on Spider-Man, he's stopped shy of getting the other to land on himself. "Is there someone back here?", a distant voice that's accompanied by clacking of heeled footsteps lets him know that he's run out of time. He leaves the remaining dial as it clicks into place and shows some kid with purple hair and baggy eyes.
"Damn", Kaminari curses under his breath as he abandons the operation. He had been so close too. He'll just have to try again in between matches, he figures. In the meantime, he puts enough distance between the servers and himself to not appear too suspicious when the pro hero Midnight rounds the corner. His eyes trail down to her heels and then back up as he makes an excuse for being there, "Yeah.. I just, uh, got lost trying to find the bathroom."
"Other way", Midnight throws a thumb over her shoulder to point him in the right direction. When he thanks her and she smiles, he knows that she actually bought the lie.
So, Kaminari sneaks a quick glance back as he passes her by, feeling he can take the chance. He wants to commit the place to memory and see if the machine has returned to filtering its other contenders for the next event. He sees Midnight watching him leave as he does and hastens his pace. But when she smirks and winks, he quells his nerves; he figures the sultry woman just thought vainly that he was sneaking a glance at her ass. Well… Maybe he did do that too.
This is supposed to be the most momentous day of his life. A stepping stone equivalent to a mile stone. And yet, as he steps up onto the stage before him, he can't help but feel like his feet are going to fall out right from underneath him.
Hitoshi Shinso reflects upon his journey with each step up the short staircase in front of him. He had managed to get through the first event by brainwashing others into carrying him. Literally. They carried him over the crowds in the corridors and across a minefield. And again in the second event, a team based challenge in which the rules are for there to be a carried leader, made it all the easier to get by on the coattails of others again. But now… He's alone. He can't rely on anyone but himself this time around.
When Shinso looks up momentarily from his feet and to the stands surrounding him, he doesn't even find anybody there to support him emotionally. Not his parents. Not his friend Izuku Midoriya. No, the audience is instead cheering on his opponent. Someone so already guaranteed to be deemed a hero that they've already got a colorful costume.
"A matchup such as this is hardly fair, wouldn't you agree?" He has no problem acting petty when he already is. A big part of the strategy to using his quirk on others in a 'fight' relies more on how he uses his wits than his brawn; he tends to know just how to goad people into falling into his brainwashing. He figures a vigilante like Spider-Man must have something of an ego to pick and prod at.
Present Mic, the commentator of their little showdown, provides commentary alright. It goes along with just exactly what Shinso was saying. "Oof! Some Gen Ed nobody against a seasoned vigilante! Poor guy!", and it fuels the inflamed wound that has been opened mentally whilst also adding salt.
"See? They think I don't stand a chance", Shinso sneers at Spider-Man as though Mic's words came from the vigilante's masked mouth. Considering the situation, Shinso deems Spider-Man just about as much to blame anyways.
Which must strike a chord, finally, because Spider-Man takes the bait. "You–"
Even if he can't see the eyes behind those lenses glazing over, Shinso can see the tensing of his victim's muscles. Those are the telltale signs of his brainwashing quirk seizing control. Shinso's sneer fades and comes just shy of becoming a smile.
"Well, maybe an underdog showing them otherwise will put me ahead in the Hero Course afterall, so I really should instead be thanking you" He starts to gain some confidence in his own ability after having shocked the crowd. "Now do me one last favor and step out of bounds", all that's left to do is capitalize on that ability's advantage and order Spider-Man to give him the win.
And it looks to be happening just as easily. Until, Spider-Man stops. It's like the vigilante is hearing something else in his mind. A different chain in command that takes superiority in ordering his body to act of its own accord overrides Shino's brainwashing. A sense that knocks some sense back into Spider-Man's head.
As though stepping out of the ring is a dangerous thing to do, Spider-Man bounds back and snaps out of the brainwashing.
"...What?", Shinso's smile drops.
Spider-Man turns around and approaches Shinso. It seems to be happening in slow motion. And no matter how much Shinso shouts, trying to reclaim control, that slow steady pace towards what he knows to be a loss keeps coming. His same trick won't work twice. Spider-Man stays quiet.
When Spider-Man reaches Shinso, he isn't rough about removing him from the ring. It's almost sad and solemn, the continued slow movements. But Shinso sees the drawn out defeat as something more of an embarrassment. Anger begins crowding in more than the crowd at the seams of the stage, blurring the edges of the boy's vision.
Shinso sheds tears and keeps shouting. He's not sure himself what he's saying. Probably the most hurtful things he can come up with. Anything that might break through Spider-Man's silence and give him a second chance.
When that doesn't work, Shinso resorts to fighting back physically. He resists the pull towards the end of the ring by pounding against Spider-Man's chest. He goes from hits to full swinged punches. At one point, Spider-Man restrains Shinso's arms.
Spider-Man has to. Not for the sake of protecting himself, but to keep Shinso from breaking his own hands. The power difference is that staggering. And everyone sees it as Spider-Man gently sets Shinso out of bounds. It may be an act of mercy but it also comes off as condescending at the same time.
And thus, Shinso's shouts reach such an extreme high that he himself can start to hear them again. "Damn you! You were already guaranteed to join U.A! Now they'll NEVER give ME a chance!", Shinso seethes through his teeth after they gnash together, "You don't give people hope.. You take it away.. You're a fraud, Spider-Man!"
Still, Spider-Man stays silent. The expressionless eyes in the mask stare at Shinso. Until Shinso turns and leaves, briskly getting himself away from the spectators surrounding him. He decided that he's already been humiliated enough.
Izuku watches his friend go, unable to say anything to help. Because right now, he feels like the furthest thing from a friend. It's not the first time that he's found himself questioning his actions as Spider-Man. And worse yet, it's not the first time that those questions had to do with hurting his friends. He puts all of that on himself, because despite the crowd cheering him on, he doesn't very much feel like he's claimed victory over anything at all.
Deep down inside, he knows that Shinso is right. He could have quit while he was ahead. He already won both the race and the Cavalry Battle, having come in first place for both events no less. He's made his mark. He did more than enough to let the world know that he's capable of being a hero like the rest.
"What more do I have to prove now?", he asks himself. And the followup question… At what point is he just showing off?
He feels guilty. He knows how much this meant to Shinso. And then for him to come along and steal a chance to get into the Hero Course the way that he did… He should have probably taken a dive. And the worst part is that doing so now after that fact would only be a further insult. Now he needs to continue trying his hardest or it'll be for nothing.
Izuku curses Spider-Man for always hurting the people around him. Just once, he wants to do something good as Spidey for someone.
On his way back in from the stage to the stadium, he sees two people talking. A father and son. Not just any father and son, but Shoto Todoroki and the boy's father, Endeavor. Only, they don't seem to only be talking. They're arguing.
High on emotion, he believes this to be his chance at doing something right, and he strides towards them.
"You disgrace me, Shoto" Endeavor's gaze gives a harder glare than the orange radiance of flames that flicker from his form. And yet, Shoto spares only a single glance towards his father. The man has his arms crossed as he leans his back against the wall, still leaving room for the boy to pass.
"I don't care", Shoto takes that opportunity as a chance to walk by. Or so, he would have.
If his father's muscular mass didn't shift from the wall to stand in front of him and block that path. "You could have crushed that vigilante like the bug he is and won the first two competitions had you used your other side", Endeavor towers over Shoto with such a heated intensity that Shoto reflexively needs to take a step back.
But after taking that step away, he intends on from then on standing his ground. "He wasn't the only one who gave me trouble", he makes an attempt to argue against his father's point by mentioning Bakugo and the other contenders of the festival.
"All the more reason why you should use your fire!" But it winds up backfiring.
"YOUR fire", Shoto's fixed facial expression of a permanent frown deepens to a scowl, "NOT mine."
Endeavor's face forms a similar shape. "You're different from your siblings", but there's a falter in the flickering of his flaming beard when he mentions Shoto's brothers & sister. He seems to be hesitant for a moment. But only for a moment. "You have the power to surpass All Might", his embers of anger are quick to reignite, "Grow up and stop being a petulant child before you realize your responsibilities too late!"
Shoto is just grateful that Endeavor turns and leaves so that he himself doesn't have to. But even so, he pivots to go the other way. As he does, he finds himself facing one of the few mentions of conversational topic: Spider-Man.
"Nothing like a pep talk from dear ol' dad", the attempt at humor is met with silence. Spider-Man awkwardly shifts, betraying that his mask would otherwise hide that embarrassment.
Shoto looks back to see that his father has fully left before asking, "How much of that did you hear?"
"Enough", Spider-Man withholds any more of a response to the Todoroki family drama. That's not what he intends to tackle here. "Look, I know it's not my place to pry, but…" And he makes that known. Rather, he just wants to offer his two cents on the matter. He honestly opens up and tells Shoto, "I don't have my dad around .. so the things that he told me are things that I hold onto every day.." Though his two cents may not amount to much since Shoto's face doesn't soften in the slightest. "Maybe you should consider some of what your dad is saying?"
Especially not when that suggestion is made. Shoto is on the brink of flashing his teeth, anger rising up shy of a fire like his father's fury. "You wouldn't understand", Shoto snaps viciously with what's basically a bite at the space between himself and Spider-Man, "Like you said.." But it's the bark that hurts when he says, "You don't have a father."
Kyoka can hear the crowd's chants echoing through the tunnel that she's in. Part of her feels like a gladiator entering a coliseum. That may as well be the case with how this whole thing is being spun into essentially fighting for the sake of entertainment. It's this that should be at the forefront of her mind. She should be prepping herself mentally now at this pinnacle moment before her walk out of this long tunnel. But a different sound cuts in through all of those others.
It sounds like distress. A sound she's very familiar with. It's what she heard exuding from her own heart a great deal of times. When she felt incapable of doing anything. Whether it be writing songs or singing them. Though she imagines this is a much more serious matter. And she may be right, considering who this sound belongs to is the guy who won the first two events of the festival.
"Spider-Man?", Kyoka has to rub the blinking from her eyes to make sure that she's seeing correctly.
Spider-Man, from a very depressive disposition seated on the floor, raises his sullenly sunken head to acknowledge her. "Huh? What're YOU doing here?", he perks up a tiny bit when recognizing the girl.
She stops to face him, placing a hand on one hip. "I could be asking you the same thing", an eyebrow raises whilst she waits for an answer.
"I asked you first?", but Spider-Man doesn't give one. His demeanor is much too reclusive to show signs of him opening up any time soon.
So, despite rolling her eyes, Kyoka gives it a moment more. "I'm headed out for my match", she answers first with a gesture down the direction that she was going, "Duh."
"Has it been that long.. ?", Spider-Man follows her gesture with his gaze. But he still seems zoned out whilst doing so.
"You mean to tell me you've been sitting here sulking since your first match?", Kyoka looks that way too as though the end of the tunnel is where those answers lay, "Why? Didn't you win it?"
Spider-Man looks away, reminded of what those answers are. "Sometimes – well, more now lately than just sometimes – a lot of my wins don't feel very much like wins..", the expressional lenses of his mask shift to a sad style of shaping that there's no mistaking how he feels, "I'm worried that I'm doing more harm than good by being here."
Kyoka can kinda get it now. There's a lot of push and pull on opinion around his inclusion in the Sports Festival. "Oh, I wouldn't say that.." But even so. "Sure, some people might not see how amazing you are" She feels the need to share her personal opinion, "But you always find a way to encourage ME", at the very least.
Spider-Man looks up at her, as though this reminder of her support is what has made him only now realize her presence. "Then maybe that's enough", she can hear the smile in his voice and see the shift in his eye lens to confirm he's been successfully cheered up. And he's back to his old self around her, being that encouraging support system rather than receiving anymore, "Good luck with your match."
Kyoka grins and throws up the hand sign that they've somewhat established is their version of a thumbs up. "Rock on, dude!"
"Heh", to which Spidey reciprocates, "Yeah!" Only, he forgets that he has his web shooters on and winds up firing a glob up towards the ceiling. "..Whoops…"
Kyoka gets a good laugh out of it though, so it's worth the mishap. Spider-Man stands to wave and see her out. Just shy of exiting the tunnel, he himself can see what the stage looks like ahead of her. And who her opponent is.
MJ steps up onto the other side of the arena's staging. Itsuka Kendo looks just as determined.
Izuku whispers to himself, "Dammit..", not realizing that Kyoka can more than likely still hear him.
Itsuka inflates her hands at the start of the match, and brings them together in that same instant. The collisional clap causes a burst of air, but it's more the pitch of sound that she was aiming to get a result out of. Kyoka's enhanced sense of hearing makes it a critical blow in both regards.
But Kyoka, to her credit, manages to stay in the fight. Afterall, it's just getting started. She plants her ear jacks into the ground, both to secure her stability on the flat surface and to counter attack with a sound wave of her own.
Itsuka blocks the blast with her still inflated hands, shielding herself. Those back facing palms serve as walls when she charges in to enter a range of close combat. With her background in mixed martial arts, Kyoka will be at a disadvantage.
And Kyoka knows that. She fires off another sound wave before unplugging and running along the perimeter of the ring that they're in. The two girls steer clear of eachother as they shift sides, for sake of entering their striking zones.
But Itsuka has other ranged attacks up her sleeve to also use. She slams a hand down to fracture the floor and leave Kyoka without a surface to plug into. The cracks also shake things up with the other girl's footing.
Itsuka seizes that moment to leap forward with a burst of One For All and lands a punch. Kyoka is sent tumbling along the already damaged arena grounds, each bodily slam leaving more damage along the way. First blood is drawn. Kyoka coughs up a good amount of red bodily fluid.
Itsuka winces, regretting going in so hard on her friend like that. She had just gotten so caught up in the moment that she forgot to hold back a bit. "Come on, Jirou.." She tries settling things more civilly instead, "It's not worth dragging this out just to prove a point."
Kyoka wipes away the blood that's still oozing out from her mouth, smearing it like lipstick across her lips. "And what point would that be?", she speaks with a labored breath but still manages to pull herself together enough to break off into another sprint along the ring's rim.
The mad dash shocks Itsuka, enough that she isn't able to react in time to stop her opponent and their sides get swapped. Now Kyoka has a smooth surface to re-plug her jacks into. She does. And next comes a signature sound wave.
Itsuka blocks the blast with her hands, being pushed back only by mere centimeters. "You're trying to impress Spider-Man, right? You've already got him fawning over you! I can tell! It's me who needs to win to impress Midoriya!", she continues trying to win the match without making this into another exchange of fighting.
"Really?! You think he's into me?!", Kyoka is thrown off by her friend's opinion. But only momentarily. She quickly recovers, getting her head back in the game. "No! You're just trying to make me slip up! Nice try!"
Itsuka groans, unable to deny or admit to either telling the truth or not. In all honesty, she may not be the most credible source when it comes to boys. "I guess we're doing this the hard way then", energy crackles around her as she taps into her power, "May the winner win their gentleman's favor!"
"Bring it!", Kyoka braces for the charged up attack with a charged up strike of her own.
The ensuing collision between both girls destroys the rest of the arena. Both girls are blown back by their hits. But only one is blasted away farther than the other.
Midnight waves her whip, the tail end of it cracking to indicate she's about to make the announcement of what happened before the dust can even settle on the battlegrounds. "Kyoka Jirou is out of bounds!", she motions from the loser of the match to the winner, "Itsuka Kendo will be moving on!"
Tenya Iida, frozen in a frame of laughter, is fragmented by a cracked cellphone screen. The contact indicates a call is coming through. Yet, the damaged device does not ring. And nobody answers.
Tensei Iida, the older brother of Tenya, doesn't even notice. He's too intently focused on the man in front of him who's responsible for the damage done to the phone. "I will not allow you to trample on the good names of those that you hunt", his sights are set on Stain.
The Hero Hunter levels a katana to point towards the licensed hero's heart. "The way that you parade yourself like the other fakes suggests otherwise", Stain speaks coolly.
"I'm not a fake!" Tensei raises his voice, not accustomed to having his word doubted by anyone – especially by a shadowy murderer in a mask. The very idea offends him.
After a long, tense pause, Stain speaks again. "Then why do you intend on facing me alone and not calling for backup? You wish to claim the credit for yourself!" He has not wavered in his stance, figuratively speaking or literally, his steel plated shoes spread evenly.
Tensei squares his shoulders and takes a step closer, not intimidated by Stain or his reputation. "All it will take is me to stop a good for nothing villain like yourself!"
"A villain, huh?" Stain smirks. It's a title like hero that gets easily tossed around. Vigilantes are considered criminals too. Where that line gets drawn is to be determined. What that line will be drawn with… is blood.
AUTHOR NOTES
Sorry that this chapter took a little while longer than the others to get out, I haven't had as much time to write as lately as I'd have liked. Nevertheless, I appreciate everyone's continued support and will keep working at it!
I'd like to address everyone's reviews individually per the usual, but it's a little late and I mostly just wanted to try and get this posted for you all. Maybe next time!
-Courtesy of your tired author