Kendo's eyes trailed off, and then her head snapped over in surprise. Izuku turned to look as well and saw two girls at the counter. Both around their age, one of them having short brown hair underneath a Thirteen winter beanie as she inspected the menus while a girl with yellow eyes and blonde messy hair buns stood back with her arms crossed.
Suddenly, as though she had a sixth sense of her own, Toga snapped her head towards them. Her eyes gleamed in recognition of Itsuka, and when they landed on Izuku sitting across from her? She froze, visibly stiffening up for a moment until she saw him looking back at her and not showing any sort of fear.
And when she saw that it wasn't the boy she thought it was? Those yellow eyes shined with a predatory gleam while her lips curled into a smile.
Izuku felt the slightest tingle of danger before she rushed over and plopped down next to Itsuka and embraced her, "Kendo-Kohai! Good to see you!" She greeted The redhead warmly, yhe martial artist let out a grunt at the right embrace but was removed when she quickly let go. Only to blink as Toga leaned her elbows on the table and looked directly at Izuku who had to press back against the seat not to be face to face with her. "And who is this cutie?"
Izuku let out a noise that was between a whimper and a cry, meanwhile Itsuka's head turned to the back of Toga's head and glared at it. "I-er-I-I-I'm-" izuku sputtered out before a hand reached over, first with her hand which made a pink glow at where she touched and lifted Toga out of the seat, and with the thumb and forefinger, pulled on Toga's ear.
"Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow! Och-Chan why??!" Toga winced as she was pulled out of the booth seat by the other girl who was holding her coffee in the other hand with an unamused expression.
"Toga don't be rude." She said before giving Itsuka a smile, "Hi Kendo, sorry about that." She said with a bow to her and then turned to Izuku.
Before she could open her mouth, he gasped, "Is that the limited edition Thirteen beanie?!" He exclaimed.
Uraraka's eyes widened and let go of Toga, who upon realizing her childhood friend left her to the whims of no gravity, reached for the seat cushion by Kendo. "Yes! I was super lucky and got it as a prize for trivia!"
"I remember that! I couldn't enter but it was such a cool bit of merch!" He gushed over the beanie that had a white rim and matching eyes that matched the pro hero.
Uraraka took it off and showed it, "I know right? It's super fact so I don't take it out that much, but I do every once in a while. I always get compliments on it." She said happily.
Itsuka watched the exchange between Izuku and Uraraka, while she had felt a sting of jealousy when Toga had come over, this felt…..natural. And if she was being honest the way these two were nerding out over a hero was endearing. She looked over at Toga, "You uhh…..gonna come down soon?" She asked in amusement as Toga was doing a good job of imitating Felicia when she was clinging to something.
The blonde girl grumbled, "If my BEST FRIEND can remember I exist for a second."
"Erk! Right." She said, pressing her fingers together and returning Toga's gravity, she slipped into the seat beside Kendo.The redhead smirking a little as she fumbled into the seat.
"Midoriya, this is Toga. She works at F.E.A.S.T. with me, and this is Uraraka." She introduced. The latter greeted with a welcoming smile while Toga's was more flirty.
"Oh! It's nice to meet you both." Izuku said.
Toga nodded, looking him up and down blatantly much to Itsuka's irritation, his school uniform was a little baggy so it didn't exactly show off his physique well. "You too." She purred. "So how do you know Kendo?" She asked.
The two looked at one another and shared a smile, "It's….er…."
"Kind of complicated." Itsuka laughed, thinking about how exactly their first meeting had come about. In fact the more she thought about it? It was actually a pretty involved story that might not be best told in a brief conversation. "But we're friends, I had today off from training so I suggested we come here."
Uraraka smiled. "This place is great! Really Good affordable coffee." She said, the others nodding in agreement.
Itsuka nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I used to come here all the time but I've been kinda busy lately." She admitted sheepishly. She glanced over at Izuku, "This is Izuku's first time here."
Toga's eyes flashed in interest, "Izuku, huh?"
Itsuka felt her cheeks flush a little, but didn't hesitate, "Yeah."
Said boy was watching the two stare each other down, and though they both had polite smiles on their faces his spider sense was giving him a slight buzz of warning. It wasn't like he was in danger but…..something else. He figured the best way to resolve it was by breaking the tension, "Er….i mean….it could be worse, she could be calling me Deku."
Itsuka's eyes darted over him and frowned, before she could correct him for his self deprecation, Uraraka chimed in, "Deku? Oh that's a cute nickname!" She gushed. Both Izuku and Itsuka looked at her with half hearted smiles, there was no way she could know the negative connotation with that little nickname.
"It kinda says, 'you can do it!' Ya'know?" She said happily as she raised a fist.
Izuku paused, and his face scrunched up in emotion over the kindness while Kendo stared at Uraraka. "...that's incredibly sweet." She admitted, seriously how did a girl this nice and sweet even know Toga????
As they chatted, Izuku felt his phone vibrate. Pulling it out he saw a message from a….unknown number? Opening it up he read it.
\\Possible location of Maki. News report of electrical outage in area and police report a call about a struggle with lightning. Pros called but twenty minutes away, you are currently five.//
Izuku's expression shifted and Kendo noticed, "What's up?" She asked.
He looked up at her, suddenly feeling guilty, "O-oh! Um, work just messaged me about something, I should check it out, some sort of blackout nearby." He said, making Itsuka's own face fall in disappointment. "I'm sorry Itsuka I-"
She shook her head, "No it's ok, I get it." She showed a smile.
Izuku gave her a grateful smile and got up from his seat, "It was nice meeting the both of you!" he said to Uraraka and Toga before rushing out the door. Kendo sighed a little as he left, a little bit disappointed that he had to leave but also understanding. She watched him out the window as he left, heading down the street until he was out of sight.
She turned back to Uraraka and Toga, the former giving her a sheepish expression, "Er-sorry about that kendo. We didn't-" she looked at Toga, "-I didn't mean to interrupt." She corrected. Toga pouted at her, but the eyebrow raise that Uraraka gave her made it disappear.
Kendo smiled and gestured to the other side of the booth, "It's ok. Honestly it's nice to see you again Uraraka, Toga." She said, she had met Ochako a few times after work, she would sometimes swing by to meet up with Toga "I was looking for an excuse to drive my new bike to be honest. Meeting up with Izuku was kind of just a bonus." She shrugged.
Toga tilted her head, "Your bike?" Kendo pointed out the window to where it was parked. Toga looked at it, "....huh. Ok, actually cool." She admitted.
"Um…kendo, can I ask something?" Uraraka posed. Kendo looked at her curiously but nodded, "What did he mean about Deku? I mean you both seemed kinda off put when I mentioned how it sounded. I thought it was one of those nicknames." She asked.
Kendo frowned a little, "Oh, that's…..hooboy. That's kind of a whole thing." Uraraka sat down and smiled patiently. "...ok, so his school? It Suuuuucks." She droned.
(Three Weeks ago.)
Uploading the AI to the suit thankfully didn't require any intrusive plug being slotted in, a wireless upload meant he didn't need to take off his suit and make a web mask to cover himself like he feared he would when it was completely, his picotech shifted from his costume's regular colors to the all black version it started out with, and then back to the red and blue suit. "Huh. Tingley."
Melissa giggled at the reaction, "Not the most flashy I know."
Otto smiled as well, "Ots mostly updating the software. We want to improve the picotech in phases. Right now we're using the established technology that Dr. Richards started with. For example, the ability to change its color." He says, gesturing to the vigilantes costume.
Izuku looked down at his hands, Reed had been the one to make the design of his costume based on his sketches. But he never really put much thought into the fact that the tiny machines were changing the color of the suit to match what he wanted.
Otto watched as he observed his gloves and smiled a tad, "Ah, I see…..speak up young man."
Spider-Man looked up at him, "Well…..I was thinking. If this picotech is able to change its color, is it possible for that to be used in a different way?" He asked.
Otto smiled, "That's the right question."
(Now)
When Izuku got a block away from the coffee shop, he found an alley to duck into. Looking over his shoulder, Izuku made sure no one saw him before leaping up the wall and clinging to it before pulling his school uniform open and tapped the center of his torso, from that point his black spider appeared and the white undershirt changed colors to l his suit he was wearing in semi-plain sight.
After the update to hos picotech Izuku quickly discovered that he could set his smart material to change colors at his will. It was nifty, it cut down on how long it took for him to change into his costume substantially. Pulling his mask and gloves on, he Leapt over the building and shot a webline ahead of himself and yanked himself forward, dropping the bundle of clothes in a sack of webbing onto a roof as he sped off with his camera draped over his shoulder with a new, sturdier strap.
Swinging in the direction that the notification from his suit said, he scanned for any signs of a disturbance. The message just said that a blackout was around here and a police report mentioned a-
"Waitaminute." Izuku suddenly said as he landed on a flagpole. "Suit?"
\\Yes?//
"Your message mentioned a police report." He remembered.
\\Yes.//
Izuku blinked, "…..how did you get that?"
\\I listened into Police and Pro Hero radio chatter.//
Izuku clapped the sides of his head, "You-was-That-That's illegal!" He exclaimed.
\\…..I fail to see the conflict. You engage in illegal activity regularly.//
Izuku let out a loud sigh. It might be legal to listen into police radio in some parts of the world like the United States but here in Japan those were ENCRYPTED channels. Not to mention the fact that the government was recovering a scandal involving the police and pros being duped using holes in their own transmission software.
.....but he also couldn't argue the results. Or the fact the suit was technically right. "Just....what did the report say?" He asked. An arrow appeared in his vision and pointed to a building. Swinging over, he arrived in time to see someone go flying out the window!
Swooping through the air he angled his arc to intercept the person, catching them in one arm with them grunting as Spider-Man swung them down to the street. "I got you, you ok?" he asked, setting the person down. They looked up at him, it was a man with a nasty bit. On his face that was still sizzling, izuku quickly gathered some snow and pressed it to the wound. The man hissed by holding it there.
"Trigger…..not worth this….." he wheezed out through the pain. Spider-Man's eyes narrowed and then looked up at the window, a bolt of golden electricity shooting out of it with smoke now bellowing out.
Inside the building, arcs of electricity shot off Maki in all directions as he stoked through the apartment turned drug lab. "Get out of here!" He yelled at them, swiping an arm wide and causing his static to burn through the wall as the chemical fire from the equipment spread behind him.
The cooks took cover behind a couch, one of them using their quirk to fire a stone at Maki, his electricity vaporizing it, "Stay back man!! The Shie Hesaikai don't own the market on Trigger!"
Maki blasted the couch apart, "You think I give a shit?!? I just need you to leave!!" He roared as the three were knocked back.
"Hey." Maki turned to see a web connected to his chest, "There was a noise complaint." Spider-Man said before pulling him out the window. Maki yelled as he was yanked out and tumbled through the air for a few feet before landing in the middle of a large web. He looked over to either side and saw the webbing stretched across the street like a hammock. A moment later the three cookers from inside were thrown out into their own net of webbing.
From inside, Spider-Man looked down to make sure they were all safe before turning to fire and spraying a large glob of webbing at the base of it. His webs weren't fireproof by any means but when he had discovered that they could smother a fire. And thankfully it worked the same here. "Alright, Suit, contact the fire department and tell them about this." He said before leaping back out the window.
His Spider Sense wasn't even fast enough to warn him before a burst of electricity hit him square in the heat, knocking him back into the edge of the building and falling down to the ground with a grunt while the webbing holding Mali burned with currents running through it, its occupant dropping to the middle of the street. Maki glared at the webhead as he tried to push himself up, "What's wrong with you!? You threw me out a window!"
Spider-Man hissed as he got up to his feet, "You were...burning the apartment down. There's people here." he said, glancing over to the people who were flooding out the front door and out onto the road.
Maki looked over, guilt flashing across his face for the briefest of moments before shaking his head, "S-So what!? It's not my problem! He just told me to trash the lab and he can get me another….." he stopped himself. He shook his head, "Look doesn't matter, later." he said before he tried to strom off, only for the vigilante to leap in front of him.
"Listen to me Maki, I met your brother and he's out looking for you." he said. Maki's eyes, which until this point had been clouded by an artificial desire, cleared at the mention of his brother.
"D…Denki?" he asked.
Spider-Man nodded, holding his hands up at his sides slightly in a passive attempt to corral the electric user. "Yeah, he told me about….what your going through right now Maki." he said carefully. The young man looked away shamefully, his body tensing, "Listen I can call him, he's worried about you and wants to make sure your-"
"Spider-Man! On the ground now!!" the pair turned their heads to see a police car parked further down the road and two officers aiming their guns at the parole. A crowd of people recorded the event unfolding before their eyes on their phones. "You too junkie!"
Spider-Man grimaced under his mask at the cop, Maki on the other hand whirled around with fear in his eyes at the police, the seriousness of the situation dawning on him. He was just trashing some place for his dealer! And the cops were here, and all these witnesses! He'd…..he be arrested....
….and he didn't even get to enjoy the Trigger!
"NO!" he roared as electricity sparked out of his eyes and he threw his hands out, the deep well of power that had been growing with him bursting out in all directions! Spider-Man was zapped in the chest and sent flying down the street into the side of a bus as it drove by, the cops that had their guns trained on Maki tried to shield their eyes, before they could fire the electricity zapped their guns and caused them to explode in the officer's hands!
They both wailed in agony, clutching at their burned and broken hands, "You're not taking me! You won't take me!" Maki yelled.
Spider-Man picked himself up, holding onto the bus to steady himself, he looked up to make sure no one had been hurt, but his head swiveled at the cries of the officers. "No!" he shouted, shooting a web and swinging over Maki and landing in front of the officers, he felt his stomach drop when he saw their hands….or rather what remained of them.
What was worse was the innocent people, the bystanders who had been filming or watching were burned and stunned as well. He turned around to Maki, his lenses narrowed in anger. Maki ran, Izuku raised his hand and atop his suit a small black spider shape formed and launched at Maki, the projectile was small as a penny and hit the back of his pants as he ran off.
He turned back to the officers, "EMT's are on their way, I'm going to make a tourniquet to stop the bleeding…..this is going to hurt." he warned.
The one officer, the one who called out to him nodded with tears in his eyes, Spider-Man quickly wrapped the hand with broken fingers in a tight bundle of webbing. The police officer gritting his teeth as the vigilante did the same to the other officer. "That stuff will dissolve in about two hours, let the Paramedics know that. It's bio-degradable." he told them.
"T….thanks...god it hurts." he hissed.
Izuku gently led him towards his patrol car, he then rushed over to one of the bystanders who was convulsing on the ground slightly, "I-I-I can't st-stop shaking." the woman cried in fear as Spider-Man helped her up.
"Can you feel anything? Are you hurt? You might just be in shock." Spider-Man asked, he had seen something like this a few months ago when he rescued a service worker from a downed electrical wire.
"I-I'm n-numb." she said as Spider-Man sat her against the wall.
"Ok, listen, there's pros on their way here along with Paramedics. They'll make sure your ok, I need to make sure that no one else is hurt." he told her, not wanting to scare her by leaving. She nodded, or tried her best to in her condition, and he went about helping the others who had been wounded up. When everyone was either against the wall of the building, and he could see a colorful costumed pro approaching he made his move to leave.
"Hey! You! Stop!" a young woman with blue skin called out to him, she had a darker shade of blue hair that was cut short. Her face, which was scrunched up in determination, was behind a transparent gas mask which allowed her entire face to be seen. Her hero costume was a skintight dark blue and white sweater that covered her upper body against the winter weather, with a pair of equally heavy pants.
Spider-Man spared her a glance, "Sorry but I gotta go! Um, call my agent! We'll talk!" he said as he pulled himself up with a webline and swung away.
The pro heroine slowed to a stop, watching as the vigilante left with a frown. "Damn it." she hissed to herself before tapping the earpiece. "Sir, this is Bubble Girl. I arrived at the scene but the Vigilante beat me here." she informed her superior.
'Nevermind him, what's the situation there?' Sir Nighteye's voice asked her. She looked around at the scene before her and frowned.
"Multiple wounded civilians, two officers with serious injuries. EMTs are on their way. I'm going to stay here and make sure they're stable." she said.
'Good. I'm still with the police at site one, we found out where their dealer is going so I sent Le Million to intercept. Stay there once your done, I'll pick you up and we'll rendezvous with him.'
Bubble Girl felt herself frown a little but nodded, "Understood sir." she said before rushing to the civilians. She had been a sidekick to Sir Nighteye for three years now, and she had quickly learned in that time that it really wasn't worthwhile questioning his tactical choices. Mostly due to the fact he was right with his tactics about 90% of the time. Le Million was Sir's intern from U.A. and she knew firsthand that he could handle whatever came his way when he met up with the dealer.
Her frustration was more at the fact that the vigilante had beaten her here after they got a police report about someone with an electrical quirk attacking the drug lab they had been investigating and waiting on a warrant to seize.
At least he seemed to tend to the injured...in fact he probably was doing that until she arrived.
As she was left with those thoughts, Spider-Man swung up over a building and shot a webline forward to pull himself on.
"Suit. Find him." Izuku growled out.
Izuku never minded taking a hit. When he was a kid, before he got his powers from the spider he had rushed to help other kids who were being bullied or hurt. Because that's what a hero does, they help others. But when he saw others get hurt? When he saw the Bakugo's of the world lash out and hurt others?
That ticked him off.
Maki wasn't entirely to blame, he knew that deep down, that he was someone who had been exploited. But he still was responsible for his actions. Snagging the camera he placed to capture what happened with a webline, he pulled it back to him and slung it over his shoulder.
\\Spider Tracer active.//
(Three weeks ago)
"Oh wow! These are like the tracers that the Pro Hero Hunter Gather uses!" Spider-Man said excitedly as he looked down at the small devices his picotech produced. Otto had explained that the picotech was capable of creating simple gadgets, this being one of the possibilities.
Melissa's eyes lit up, "Oh! Yeah! I was kind of going for something along that design, small and unnoticeable at first glance. But I added the little legs to keep it on theme." She explained happily as she leaned over and looked at them. "They're not as small as Hunter Gather, and the range is about the length of a few city blocks. But I'm working on improvements." She explained.
Izuku looked up at her, "Oh no this is perfect! I mean a few city blocks is a pretty wide area. And if I lose them it'll be easy to pick up if I swing around for a while." He explained.
Melissa blinked in surprise before smiling, Support Items were meant to help Pros in their profession but it was easy for them to become too reliant on them to do their job. Thankfully it seemed like Spider-Man wouldn't be one such case, "Alright then, I've taken to calling these Spider Tracers. However until the A.I. finishes it's acclimation period and activates you won't be able to use these. But they're really simple, just point and shoot, they'll stick to the target and the battery lasts a while." she said.
Spider-Man picked up one of the spider shaped tracers, they matched the logo on the back of his costume. Truth be told he would have LOVED to have something like this when he was tracking down the Kingpin's operations....in fact there was actually something else he thought of.
"Um. Melissa, is it possible that you could look into something for me with the way the Picotech changes colors?" he asked. Melissa tilted her head curiously, and when he told her what he had in mind? Her smile was one of excitement at the challenge.
"Give me a week."
(Now)
The Spider Tracer worked like a charm, Spider-Man had easily caught sight of Maki a few blocks away from where he encountered him. And while his first instinct was to attack and detain Maki for what he had done he instead stayed his hand. There were two reasons for this, the first being that Maki talked like someone told him to trash that apartment. Probably his dealer; which meant if he followed him then he would lead him straight to the source of his problems.
And taking down the Trigger dealer would be better for everyone.
And secondly…..he made a promise to Kaminari to help his brother. "He what?! Oh my god!!!" The young man's surprised voice said in Izuku's ear as he stuck to a wall, crawling along it and watching from above as Maki made his way through the streets. "I-is everyone-"
"I….I can't lie, some people were hurt." He said, Kaminari was quiet on the other end, processing what he had just heard, Izuku let him absorb it, knowing that this probably wasn't what he was prepared to hear.
"I…..I need to talk to my folks, please just...don't let him hurt anyone else." Kamanari's shaken voice asked.
"I'm following him now. But Kamanari…..he can't just go home after this...I'm sorry." He said, the brother hung up on him and izuku felt guilt swell inside him. He told Denki that he was going to help him, but he couldn't just let Maki go back home after hurting so many people AFTER he caught an apartment building on fire.
He leapt to a shorter building, crouching on the roof and followed Maki who was on the opposite side of the street. He walked along the fenced off train yard where multiple railways converged. He watched as Maki reached the locked gate, looked around the steer, and with electricity shooting out the soles of his feet flew over the fence. "Huh. Train yard huh? Isolated enough." He muttered as he pulled himself over to a tall light post.
They littered the train yard for the night shift but it was still a ways off before the sun went down. So he kept a good distance from Maki so as not to be caught. Watching as he made his way through the yard towards the service building, which seemed to be completely automated by robots who were going about their routine, Spider-Man carefully swung over to the roof of the structure..
Maki stepped around trains that were parked for service and over the tracks towards the maintenance building, a structure that resembled a hanger one would see at an airport for aircraft but instead having train tracks that led to the mouth of it. Izuku crawled down the wall and inside the building onto the ceiling as Maki entered. Inside was a large lazy susan which was used to send various train cars along the tracks and lift them up for maintenance.
Towards the base of it, a man with a red scarf was pacing, Maki approached him, "Hey, it's done." he said to the man.
Shoyo turned to him with a cagey look in his eyes, "Were you followed?" he asked.
Maki blinked at the unexpected question, "Followed? Wha-no?"
Izuku couldn't help but smile with a hint of pride at his stealth skills, "That doesn't fucking reassure me! The lab I grab stuff from just got hit!" Shoyo hissed.
Maki felt his world tilt, "What?" he asked in a small voice.
"Yeah! A pro was keeping tabs on us for a while, turns out we were set up to take the fall while the main supplier moves the operation somewhere else-" the dealer began.
Maki shook his head, "I don't care about that! Do you have it?!" he asked, electricity sparking off him and his green hoodie. The dealer stepped back, "I did what you wanted, I already took the fix you gave me, I need another for when I get withdrawals again!" he frantically demanded.
"M-Maki just calm down!" the dealer said before hitting the base of the platform behind him, a spark just missing his face.
Spider-Man descended by a webline behind him, "Listen to him sparky, you really don't want to make things worse for yourself." he said, making Maki whirl around to face him. He raised his hand and shot a bolt towards him, Izuku dropped off his web, landed on his hands, and sprung over towards one of the tracks as Maki shot another bolt towards where he had been. "Look I was going easy on you before but I'm not going to let you hurt anyone else!" he declared.
Maki glared at him, "This doesn't concern you! Stay out of this!" he shouted as electricity sparked off him, the dealer behind him was inching his way around the metal pillar.
"Maki, I just want to help you." Spider-Man assured him.
"I DON'T WANT ANY HELP!" he roared before unleashing a torrent of lightning at the vigilante.Spider-Man pulled himself up over with a webline, "I JUST WANT MY GOD DAMN TRIGGER!" he shouted as he shot more lighting after the masked man. It was at that point the dealer, seeing the distraction as an opportunity, took off running for the mouth of the building.
Maki saw him take off and turned with a snarl, "No you don-ACK!" he said before Spider-Man swung into his side.
However, as his feet connected with Maki's side, Izuku felt the familiar sting of electricity ride up his feet as he was blasted off him! Slamming into a railing with a groan, he looked over to Maki, who was on the ground with electricity still sparking off him. "Right…..he's holding a current….so I can't touch him without getting zapped. Great." he muttered.
The dealer was still running towards the mouth, making an almost clean getaway when a blur of motion shot upwards right in front of him. The man wasn't hit, but the rudeness of it caused him to trip backwards over himself. "Heya pal, you might want to stay down there." a cherry voice said before the blur landed in between him and Maki, who was looking at the new arrival with equal disdain as Spider-Man.
The young man in front of him had a long spike of blonde hair that stuck up near the front but was more controlled and tame around his head. His blue eyes were behind a yellow visor that protected them. His build was muscular in contrast to Maki's own skinny body, and with a deep red cape behind him with matching gloves, his blue pants, white boots and torso were all vividly colored. The most noticeable thing however, was the number 'One Million' that reached across his chest in gold numbers.
"Oh wow! Spider-Man! You're here too?" he greeted the vigilante warmly.
Izuku blinked, not expecting the reception, "Um…..yeah...hi?"
"Heya man, sorry but I gotta arrest you both. But you seem really nice." Mirio said apologetically.
"Oh, ok that's more in line with what I expect." the vigilante said dejectedly.
Maki went on the offensive, blasting a bolt directly at the new arrival and striking him dead center in the chest...only for it to go straight through him???
".....what?" Maki and Spider-Man both said before the young man grinned and was seemingly swallowed up by the ground. Maki turned to Spider-Man and without any sign of the pro he shot another bolt towards him, neither noticing as a tuft of blonde hair and a head stuck out of the ground a few feet away and watched before sinking back into the earth.
Spider-Man dodged the electricity, leaping towards Maki but stopping short, remembering how the last time he touched him turned out. However his Spider-Sense blared, but before he could react a fist uppercutted him! He felt his teeth rattled by the blow as Mirio spun up from the ground before falling back into it. Maki blinked in surprise, "What the fu-" he began before Mirio popped up behind him and sent a jab into his back.
But like the wall crawler, it was a double edged sword as he felt a jolt of electricity run up his arm and shock him away, tumbling across the ground as Maki stumbled forward. "AHG! Motherfucker!" he shouted as Spider-Man got up. Maki aimed at Mirio and fired, Mirio reacted quickly, sinking into the ground once more.
Spider-Man aimed at Maki and fired a web shot at him, a condensed ball of webbing which was like a steel projectile. Unfortunately before it could hit its target, Mirio rose up between them and got hit in the side of the head with it.
"Ow!" He yelped, alerting Maki as Izuku winced sympathetically.
Maki turned, and before the intern could sink into the ground, a webbed hand grabbed him by the cape and swung him up and away.
"Oh woah this is awesome!" the young man exclaimed as Spider-Man swung him out and overtop the mouth of the building as the villain hired bolt after bolt at them.
Below them, the dealer ran for his life, heading in the direction of the gate, one of the bolts whizzing by him a little too close. He felt something hit the back of his jacket, probably some debris. Still, he looked back over his shoulder and saw Maki rushing out of the building, his eyes trained on his targets on the roof. And as his head craned up to look, he saw Spider-Man's lenses focused on him.
Izuku looked back at Mirio as he waved his hand, "Yeow, that's smarts!"
"Yeah, I know right? Listen, I get that you have a job to do but this guy isn't really a bad guy." he said, pointing a thumb over his shoulder to where another bolt was shot up from. "He's an addict, and the guy who was selling him trigger was the one who set him off." he explained.
Mirio frowned sympathetically, "That's rough....and I'm sorry that happened, but I can't just let this guy go."
Spider-Man shook his head, "I know, but…..look, his brother is out there looking for him. He's got a family who cares about him, I just want the record to be straight, you know?" he asked, rubbing the back of his head unsurely.
The blonde young man smiled, remembering how his girlfriend had told him and their boyfriend all about how her encounter with Spider-Man a few months ago. "I get it man. And I'll put a good word in and see what can be done, but I still got to bring you both in." he said, the pair jolted as a blast of electricity tore through a section of the roof beside them. "...but he's the more pressing issue."
"Right. And if you touch him-" Spider-Man clasped his hands together, "Bzzzzzt!" they both jolted as a blast of electricity flew up over the side of the roof. "I talked to his brother and the way he described it, he only has a certain amount of electricity stored within him. Trigger boosts that, and since he took it he's probably full up right now. But I figure between the two of us, we can make him use it all up."
Mirio smiled, Sir might like this guy if he wasn't a vigilante. "Right...look, I can distract him, he can't hurt me. Can those webs of yours keep him trapped?" he asked.
"One way to find out." Spider-Man agreed.
Mirio slipped through the roof and down towards Maki while Spider-Man leapt off the roof with a twirl, attaching a web back towards the roof and swinging overhead as he watched Mirio tank the bolts from Maki, the lightning going through his body harmlessly. That's such a cool quirk! It's like he's...turning intangible? No, that doesn't make sense, if that was what it was, light would be going through him and he wouldn't be visible. Hmmm. Spider-Man pondered before landing behind Maki and aiming his wrists, "Psst! Hey, Electro!" he shouted before spraying a large dose of webbing.
The villain turned in time to have a dose of the webbing hit him, the substance encasing his arms, then his chest, hips, and legs as he wobbled. "Stop! Stop this!" he shouted as he struggled. He was almost completely-
Pfft!!!
Spider-Man's lenses widened, Oh crap I'm out! He realized, Maki's eyes sparked with electricity before his body unleashed a large wave of it! The webs burned as sparks danced off his now smoking body, the light causing both Spider-Man and Miro to raise their hands to shield their eyes.
"Electro huh?" Maki asked, gathering all the energy into his hand and rushing towards the vigilante, "I like it. Thanks!" he shouted before uppercutting the webhead as his Spider Sense blared, the force of the blast sending him flying! Up, up, and into the air over the trainyard!
Spider-Man limply shot up into the air, the electrical shock didn't so much knock him out as much as it shocked him hard enough to cause a numbing sensation followed by stinging pain that went from his head down to his toes. He finally managed to say something just as he reached the apex of his arc, "....ow….."
And then he fell.
The wind rushing around his head shook him back to the here and now, the vigilante letting out a gasp as he spun around in midair so he was looking down to the rapidly approaching ground. "Crap, crap, crap!!!" he shouted, he turned and tried to weave together a web parachute but his spinnerets didn't produce any silk. He spun around towards the approaching ground and groaned, "Ok, really, really, REALLY hope Melissa put that little upgrade in that I asked for!" he said as he slapped his hands down to the sides of his waist.
He felt something lock into place, just as Melissa described it would, and then he spread his arms out on either side of him, between his hip and wrists were large wings made of webs that caught the air beneath him just as he nearly reached ten feet above the ground!
He flew up.
"WHOOOOOHOOOO YES!!!" Spider-Man cheered as he glided towards the maintenance building, watching as Maki was now focused on Mirio who was going through the ground like a swimmer, launching up and diving down to avoid the electrical blasts while he searched for an opening. As the intern had a bolt of lightning go through him, he spotted the shape of the red and blue vigilante flying down towards Maki.
A grin appeared on his face as he dove down into the ground, disappearing from Maki's view. He turned around, expecting him to be behind him, and his eyes widened in surprise as he saw Spider-Man flying down towards him at great speed. "Oh will you just stop!?" he shouted as he cast another bolt towards the vigilante who barrel rolled out of the way of each one.
As Electro was distracted by the incoming threat, Mirio popped up in the hanger, running towards a toolbox and grabbing it before dipping down into the ground to his waist and speeding along the surface.
Mirio's quirk was….tricky. Officially it was called Permeation, which allowed himself to pass through solid matter. However, as amazing as this quirk was, it didn't overwrite physics, meaning no two things could occupy the same space at one time, so with careful precision he could use his quirk to shoot through the ground at high speed. Which was what he was doing now, running around through the ground of the hanger's pillar to gain more and more momentum.
As he built up speed, Spider-Man continued to dodge bolts of lightning thrown at him. He could see Mirio in the building going faster and faster. He was planning something, and he needed a little time. So he did what he could only do, he talked.
"Missed me! Missed me! Now you-er-actually nevermind that!" He called out, twisting around to dodge another bolt.
Mirio took the opportunity, shooting off from the hanger towards Electro, the tool box trailing behind him by his arm before launching it at Electro. "God will you just shut-!"
WHAM!
The toolbox struck him in the head, the electric user stumbling from the bow as he turned and wildly fired a large bolt of Lightning towards the intern, only for it to fizzle out before Spider-Men flew down and with both feet, and kicked him down into the ground. Knocking the trigger user out from the double sided attack.
Stepping off and back from Maki, Spider-Man looked down at him, his lenses not conveying the dejection his eyes held as he regarded the misguided young man.
This didn't feel like a victory.
Maki was the victim here, someone who was taken advantage of. He wasn't some criminal Shocker who was doing this for money, for Mysterio who wanted fame and glory. Or Fisk who was doing this for control.
No. Maki was someone who was in a desperate situation because someone pushed this Trigger junk onto him. He wasn't a villain, but a victim...and he just beat him down to submission.
"Maki....I'm sorry." he said quietly.
Mirio watched the vigilante as he looked down at the electric user, he frowned as he looked down at the skinny young adult. But then went back to Spider-Man, "Listen, thanks for the help, but I really do need to bring you in as well." he said, taking a step forward.
Spider-Man looked up at him, his angled eyes reflecting Mirio in them, ".....hey look over there it's All Might!"
Mirio looked at him blankly for a brief second before a laugh burst out of him, "HAHA! Oh man! Oh boy that's a good one, but no, my girlfriend told me and my boyfriend about that trick you used." he told him, recalling how fumed Nejire was over how 'tricky' Spider-Man turned out to be. And while either him or Tamaki could have pointed out that she was the one who fell for it...they both knew better than to make their girlfriend mad at them.
Spider-Man snapped his fingers, "Darn. Thought that'd work a second time." he lamented before looking down at himself and muttering, "Please work." he said before tapping the spider in the center of his suit.
Before Mirio's eyes, Spider-Man shimmered like the air above a road during a heatwave, and suddenly the red and blue costumed hero vanished! "Wha-Hey! What?!" Mirio balked as he looked around, searching for any sign of the area around being disturbed from his now invisible foe. Mirio suddenly groaned, "Oh of course I'm not going to find anything, not when he can jump the length of a soccer field." he muttered, not noticing the soft 'ting' of one of the nearby lights.
Izuku leapt off his perch and over towards one of the trains, and then leap frogged his way out of the train yard and onto the side of the building opposite of a the trainyard. Scurrying up the side of the building quickly as he began to shimmer once again, reaching the lip of the structure and pulling himself up the side of it and onto the roof safely as he reappeared.
Spider-Man huffed in relief, "Oh man, that was close. Thank goodness Melissa's upgrades worked." he said thankfully. He had come up with the ideas for the web wings and his 'camouflage' a while ago.
The wings came from back when he was studying what spiders could do and learned that when spiders that made webs hatched from their eggs they would climb up and spin a strand of webbing to be caught by the wind and be carried away. He first tested this out with the web parachute idea he had used, and it worked in some tests he did but he couldn't very well spray his sides with his own webbing, it could be caught on something during a fight.
So Melissa made the configuration and Otto programmed the Picotech to deploy the web wings when he made the gesture of spreading wings out from his sides. The camouflage option, well that was something Otto had taken upon himself when he floated the idea and found it inspiring. "But of course! Spiders have developed camouflage to hide themselves better as predators and prey, very inspired choice young man." he had told him.
Sitting up, Izuku looked out to the train yard and frowned, he could hear police sirens in the distance. "Hey suit…..call Denki....I need to tell him what happened."
(Three Weeks Later)
Shoyo heard about Maki by now, how Sir Nighteye, the same Pro who had led the raid on their Trigger development operation, had been the one to bring him in with the help of his sidekick. Spider-Man was also involved but the news didn't really put much emphasis on him. But Shoyo didn't care, his name didn't come up and the Shie Hassaikai's involvement was kept under wraps as well. He had been laying low at the compound for the last few weeks, ensuring that the police weren't looking around for him.
He was finally given the all clear from Rappa to leave, after collecting his supply of course.
So he walked down the street, the snow finally having melted and spring starting to come around the corner after the winter. He still wore his scarf though, as he walked he pulled out his phone and checked the messages that had accumulated for the last month. He was so absorbed in his phone he nearly bumped into someone, "Oh, shit." was his response, taking a step back as the person he nearly ran into turned.
He had a pair of green eyes the same color as his wild hair, and he was looking right at him. His expression didn't really have any malice in it, normally Shoyo would have brushed him aside but the way the young man's eyes bored into him, almost with accusation? Like he somehow knew what he was doing, made him just dip around him. He walked for a few more blocks, unaware that he was being followed from the rooftops, the Spider Tracer that had been planted on the dealer's coat during his escape from the train yard went off while he was out shopping for a new notebook.
And given that he had to hear from Hodo how the Kaminari family was still reeling from what happened to their oldest son? He wasn't in a very nice mood.
And so he watched, and waited, until the dealer tried to take a shortcut through a brief alleyway. That was when a web shot down to his back and pulled him up like one of the rides at an amusement park into a large web. "AHAHAHHAHHHHHHHH!!!! WHAT IS THIS?" he yelled, his back sticking to the webbing so that he was forced to look down at the ground that was five stories below him.
Looking around, he let out another yell at the vigilante who was on the underside of the web with him, but his mouth was covered with a glob of webbing, cutting him off. "Heya. I'm Spider-Man. Friendly Neighborhood vigilante." The teen greeted. "Now, usually I'd just web you to the wall down there and leave you for the cops. Because I'm pretty sure they're looking for you. At least I know some newspapers were asked to circulate an image fitting your description." he said knowingly, having provided the pictures of the scene he had taken to the paper himself which had Shoyo's face on it.
"But then I thought about Maki. And not just him, I thought about all the other people who you've exploited." he said in a low voice. "So I decided to string you up here so you can have a nice, good look at the neighborhood." he gestured up, which in this case was down, towards the streets and lower buildings around the area. "Now, I want you to take a good long look. Because this is MY Neighborhood. And when you eventually tell the people who are making Trigger what happened? I want you to tell them that, and I don't tolerate dealers in my neighborhood. You got me?" he asked. Shoyo's head bobbed up and down rapidly. "Good. Now sit tight, don't struggle or the webs might come undone." he said before dropping from the webbing and casting a line out to swing away on.
Catapulting himself over a few buildings, he caught himself on a webline and swung around a corner before snorting to himself. That should make these jerks think twice about selling Trigger. At least for a while. And the fire department should be there soon to get him down. He thought to himself as he launched off the webbing, his trajectory taking him into an alley where he landed on a fire escape, flipped backwards off onto the wall and then backflipped down to the streets in an enclosed space by the dumpsters of a building.
Pulling the web sack off his back, he tore it open and pulled his clothes out and changed out of his costume into them. From what Hodo told him, Maki was going to be tried for the damage and injuries he caused but their lawyer was looking into getting a reduced sentence due to the circumstances. As he stuffed his gloves into his pocket, he paused, and frowned to himself.
When he was younger, before the spider bite, and desperate to have a quirk, he was willing to try anything to have one. He even ordered some bogus 'quirk supplements' online with his mom's credit card. A monumental feat for a six year old which he to this day felt bad about.
So he knew...he knew that drive that Maki had. Wanting to be….more.
In his case it was to fit in, to be like everyone else, for Maki however it was more of a shortcut to get his dream as opposed to working at it. And while the initial response for some might have been to scoff, Izuku sympathized.
How was letting the Spider his dad had bite him any more different then someone doing something like Trigger?
It wasn't a simple comparison he knew, but if some random stranger had offered him something one day that would be able to give him a quirk? Could he honestly say he wouldn't be at least tempted?
He shook the thought aside, he wouldn't have. He became Spider-Man because his dad wanted him to have a choice, to be the hero that he wanted to be since he was a kid. To save people. And while he was doing that, Maki's situation was definitely a sore spot but he was glad that the dealer was at least taken care of. So….cased closed he supposed. It still didn't feel like much of a victory...he wished he could have saved Maki.
The green haired young man finished stuffing his mask and gloves into his pockets and walked out into the alley with his hoodie and pants covering his costume underneath.
As he walked out of the alcove and turned, something small, but very precious and important collided with his lower half.
"Ugh!" a small voice said as it fell back onto it's rear on the ground. Izuku jumped slightly and looked down, his eyes widened and he knelt down onto one knee.
He softly asked, "Oh hey, are you ok?" his hand reaching out.
A pair of scared, red eyes looked into his green ones.
It was a little girl, wearing nothing besides a gown that looked like something one would wear in a hospital, her arms and legs wrapped with bandages. Her long, messy, bluish white hair that went down her back, and near her hairline on her brow was a….horn? Her appearance, alarming as it was, wasn't the first thing he noticed, it was how she flinched as his hand neared her and he abruptly stopped, "It-it's alright…..I'm not going to-" he began before his Spider Sense rang down his spine.
"Now. Now." a muffled voice from behind the girl said. Izuku looked up to see an adult man approaching them, he had a pair of black pants with a matching dress shirt, a white tie standing out against it. Over his shirt was a puffy green jacket with a purple fur lining to it. But the most distinct thing about the man was the mask he wore, covering his lower face which resembled that of what a plague doctor back in the dark ages would wear. "....you can't go around causing trouble for people, Eri."