Chapter 106 - 19-20

Chapter 19: Tangling A Web

Two more days had passed since the incident with the masked men and Ryukyu. Izuku had mainly spent these days as Spider-Man, as Gloria had told his mom that FEAST didn't need him right now. As such, he spent every moment he could patrolling. Despite this, he didn't really find any villains to fight, only muggers, car thieves, and purse snatchers. However, he thought this was fine, as he received a ton of thank yous from all sorts of people. There were also no heroes trying to catch him or people calling him out for being a vigilante, which he was more than happy about.

And as this third day started, he found himself being asked to come to FEAST. Apparently, the second FEAST building was complete, and they were now starting to move stuff in. As such, he told them he would just get there by train, which was a total lie. Instead, he swung over as Spider-Man, stopping a mugging in the process. Thankfully, that one distraction was enough to make him get there right on time, making it so no one would question why he got there so fast.

This was followed with a full morning of moving truck after truck of things. Li had hired a moving company for this part, the Urarakas also helping as part of the paycheck. But as Izuku began to help, both companies began asking him to come be a part of their crew. He told them he was quirkless, thinking this would deter them since he found most applications he did online instantly cut him off due to that fact, but this situation was the perfect definition of 'seeing is believing'. All were shocked at his strength, which he saw coming, only for both companies to get into an argument on who should get him. This was followed by Izuku rejecting them both, saying it wasn't what he wanted to do.

As such, the morning passed, Izuku finding himself somewhat tired as he was now eating lunch, which was just a small sandwich. 'Guess I won't be Spider-Man much today. Eh, that's okay. I'm doing good here as well.'

And as he continued to eat, he looked up to see Mr. Uraraka walking up to him. "Hello there Midoriya. How you doing today?"

"I'm okay. Bit tired, but I'm good." Izuku replied, the man raising an eyebrow as he noticed Izuku wasn't stuttering.

"I'm honestly surprised you're not saying you're exhausted. I mean, you're a moving machine out there and you're just a bit tired?" The man chuckled next as he sat down beside the teen, "I know I already said it today, but thank you for helping us out."

Izuku shook his head, "Its nothing. I'm just glad I can help people."

"That's a good quality to have." the man laughed, "You're just like my daughter."

Izuku blinked at him, soon realizing who he meant. He felt his face get slightly hot before looking away, "I-I-I'm nothing like her. I mean...all I can do is this."

The man shook his head before patting Izuku's shoulder, "Don't think like that. You've done more than you think."

"B-b-but-"

He patted his shoulder again, "Don't. Just accept the compliment."

Izuku blinked at him again, his face going full red for a second. "Um...okay."

Mr. Uraraka laughed at this before smacking Izuku's back, the teen slightly flinching, "Good! Now, ready to finish up? We just have about two more loads to bring in."

"Uh...sure." Izuku replied as he ate the last bit of his food. He threw the rest away before following Mr. Uraraka as they began to unload the last few trucks. It ended up taking longer than they thought, afternoon coming and going as they finished the last bit of the second FEAST building.

And when it was done, Mr. Uraraka invited Izuku for supper. The teen tried to say no, saying he shouldn't, but the man then told him if he didn't come along, the other company would try to take him now. As such, he would have Izuku just eat and leave, as he knew Izuku was going to reject him as well. And so, Izuku found himself in a small café nearby, eating a small meal as Izuku found out that Mr. Uraraka liked to talk. A lot. The teen mainly just sat there and nodded or shook his head, barely responding to the man as he kept going and going.

That is, till he told Izuku that his daughter was coming over. Hearing this, Izuku froze up for a second as Mr. Uraraka asked, "What's wrong?"

"Um...uh...er..." Izuku stuttered out, the memory of what his mom told him to do the next time he meets Ochako now flowing through his head. 'I can't just tell him that my mom wants me to be friends with her...or can I? How do I do that?'

Mr. Uraraka watched Izuku fidget in his seat, wondering if steam was going to come out of the teen's ears next as it looked like he was going into brain overdrive. But after a minute, Izuku seemed to calm down, Mr. Uraraka then asking, "You okay? You don't have to tell me what's bothering you if you don't want to." He stated, only to lean down with a slight glare, "Unless its about my daugther being mean or something..."

"What?! No! S-s-she's done nothing like that!" Izuku exclaimed while waving his hands, glancing away for a second before saying, "Um...you see...my m-m-mom asked me t-t-to ask her t-t-to be...my f-f-friend."

"Oh? You're not already friends?" He replied with a raised eyebrow. "I thought for sure you were."

Izuku quickly shook his head, "N-n-no! I-I-I..." He shrunk back into his seat, "I...I...I don't have friends."

The man tilted his head at this, "You don't? Why not?"

"Um...people like me don't get to have friends." Izuku muttered out.

The man opened his mouth at this, only to close it. He wanted to say that was wrong, but as he stared at Izuku, he could tell that wouldn't help. Instead, he let out a sigh as he thought up something else to say, "Well...maybe its time to change that. You're a good kid, and you deserve it. I can tell."

Izuku blinked at this, only to glance away as he muttered out, "Thank you."

The man shined a big grin at this, "You're welcome."

As he said that, a ding rang out in the café, signifying a new customer. A second later, a certain brown-haired girl walked up to them, "Hey dad!"

"Ochako!" Mr. Uraraka replied as the two hugged before she turned to wave at Izuku.

"Hey Midoriya! How you doing?"

"F-f-fine. How are you?"

"Oh, I'm doing good." She waved a hand at this, only for her face to switch from a grin to a determined glare, "I'm super pumped for tomorrow!"

Izuku was taken back by her expression as he asked, "Oh? Why?"

"Cuz the UA sports festival is tomorrow!" she then pumped her fists, "I wanna go for the gold!"

Izuku flinched for a second, only to say, "Oh. Well, I hope you do well. I know me and the group at FEAST will be rooting for you."

She slightly blushed at that, "Thank you. And could you tell Gloria and the others I said thank you as well?"

"S-s-sure."

Mr. Uraraka chuckled at the two before standing up, "Ochako, let me go and get you something to eat. What would you like?"

"Eh, just get me a sandwich. You know what I like."

"Got it. I'll be right back." He said as the man left the two alone at the table.

Seeing this, the girl turned and grinned at Izuku, "So, why are you and dad eating here? He's not one to do something like this."

"Oh...uh..." Izuku looked away at this, "We're here b-b-because his company and the moving company both want to hire me, and he's helping me get away from them."

Uraraka blinked at this before giggling, "Well, that does make sense when it comes to him." She leaned back in the chair, "So, how you been? Anything new?"

Izuku shook his head, "Not really. Just...volunteering and trying to get through classes."

Uraraka nodded back, the girl noticing that he was stuttering a bit less as she replied, "Same. Classes have been pretty brutal. Aizawa-sensei is really rough."

"Aizawa-sensei? Who's that?"

"Oh, he's our homeroom teacher. He's..." Uraraka came to a stop for a second as she put a finger to her chin, "Uh...well, I think he's a pro hero. I actually don't know who he is as a hero really. I just know him as our teacher."

Izuku blinked at this, "So he's not a public hero?" Uraraka shook her head, "Oh...uh, is he an underground hero?"

"I...guess?"

"What's his quirk?"

"Um...I don't know the name. All I know is that he can make it so someone can't use their quirk."

Izuku's eyes lit up at that, "That's Eraserhead! Wait...your teacher is Eraserhead?! That's amazing!"

"Who?" Uraraka asked, surprised at how little Izuku was stuttering.

"Eraserhead! He's one of the best underground heroes in the country. He's infamous for the amount of villain takedowns, though there's not much on him." Izuku's eyes turned into stars at this, "He's known for his unique scarf weapon and goggles. That's so cool that you get to learn from him!"

"Yeah...that's him." Uraraka slowly said, trying to respond as she saw Izuku get more and more excited. She had never seen him be this active. It was like looking at someone entirely different, full of passion and fire.

"That's so cool! I never imagined UA would have underground heroes as their teachers. I thought they would just use spotlight heroes or maybe sidekicks. Guess UA has even crazier standards than I thought. Maybe..." Izuku ranted as his voice got lower, muttering as he put a finger to his mouth. But as he did this, he glanced up back up and saw a look of pure surprise on Uraraka's face, the look on her face making him shrink back into his seat, "Oh...s-s-sorry. I-I-I didn't m-m-mean to act l-l-like that. I'm so s-s-sorry, you probably think I'm creepy now or-"

"Wait!" She yelped, waving her hands, "I don't think you're creepy!"

"No, you do now." Izuku muttered as he looked away, "I'm just a worthless, creepy-"

"Now hang on! All you did is surprise me." She said, only to see the boy flinch, now looking like he was trying to shrink into his seat, "Please, I didn't mean anything like that. I'm sorry if I froze up there and-"

"No! No, its okay. I know you think I'm some creepy-"

"Stop that!" Uraraka yelled, making Izuku hop in his seat. He glanced back up to see the girl glaring at him, only for her to add, "Stop putting yourself down!"

"Wha...but..." Izuku stuttered out, only to close his mouth as he stared at her glare. However, this wasn't the glare he had seen so many times before. It wasn't the teacher who thought he was worthless. It wasn't the bully, who saw him as easy pickings. And it wasn't Katsuki, who saw him as nothing but a punching bag, something that existed only for him to torment.

Uraraka shook her head before slumping down in her seat, "Sorry about that. I had a long day and you surprised me." She reached out a hand at this, "Could we please start over?"

"H-h-huh?"

"Could we please start over?" She repeated, her face changing into a pleading expression, "I'm sorry I reacted that way. I didn't know. Could we please start over?"

Izuku blinked at her, only to ask, "Wha...what do you mean? D-d-don't you think I'm a freak now?"

"Why would I think that?"

"Um...cuz I...you know...just did that." He replied as he squirmed in the chair.

Uraraka shook her head again, "I would never think that." She then reached out her hand and placed it on his shoulder. The gesture made Izuku's face go bright red, steam about to come out of him before his face settled down. He slowly looked at her face, now seeing nothing but kindness on it. "So, can we start over?"

"Uh...okay." Izuku muttered out, "S-s-sorry about that."

"Its fine. Now, what were we talking about?"

Izuku bit his lip at this, "Um...something about your teacher?"

"Oh yeah." Uraraka leaned back in her seat, "Yeah...he's a real slave driver."

"He's that bad?"

She waved her hand at this, "Not bad, just...I don't know. He constantly threatens to expel us for the tiniest of things. That and all he does is lecture about everything we do wrong...or hero ethics. It's like he doesn't want us to learn sometimes."

"Oh. Why do you say that?"

"Well, he lies about everything. He says its helps us 'figure things out on our own' or something like that. Tsu says the whole him 'pushing us to better by not telling us everything' is really just him withholding information to make things harder for no reason...and I agree with her. He also loves punishing us. Especially if you're at the bottom of the class. You have to be in the top three or he'll constantly tell you that you're not learning fast enough."

"Wow..." Izuku gulped, surprised at the sudden ranting and the now giant frown on her face.

"Yup. And he barely teaches anyways. He'd rather take a nap in class!"

"That sounds awful." Izuku muttered out, "I'm sorry."

"Eh, its fine. At least all the other teachers are nicer. None of them threaten us with expulsion, but actually try to help us be better students."

But as she began to talk about the other teachers, they went in one ear and out the other for Izuku. Instead, his mind went over everything else she had said, 'So even UA has mean teachers. And that means that they would treat someone like me even worse, even if I'm no longer quirkless. Figures. Guess there really isn't a good teacher for someone like me.'

"Yeah..." Uraraka added, only to see the big frown on Izuku's face, making her almost flinch before asking, "But enough about me. Anything else new with you?"

"Um...no." Izuku muttered out, his mind now kicking him, 'Now's the time to ask her to be your friend! Just do it!' He stared directly at her, his mouth opening for a second, only to close, 'Say it! Say it already!' Then his mouth opened again. Uraraka blinked at him, seeing he was trying to say something. As such, she stayed quiet as he slowly began to speak, "Uh...c-c-could I ask you a f-f-favor, Uraraka?"

"Sure. What is it?"

Izuku felt his whole body heat up at this, his form vibrating in the seat as he tried to form words, "W-w-would y-y-you be...my f-f-friend?"

Hearing this, Uraraka instantly shined a huge grin, "Sure!"

Izuku's brain almost fried at that, his eyes going wide as he said, "Y-y-you mean it?"

"Yup." She nodded back before presenting a hand to him, "I would love to be your friend!"

He stared at the hand for a second before shaking it, "T-t-thank you."

"About time!" yelled a third voice, making them both turn to see Mr. Uraraka. "I've been waiting on you two for forever now!"

Izuku went fully red again as he let go Ochako's hand and shrunk back into his seat. As he did this, Ochako blinked at her father, "What do you mean?"

Mr. Uraraka let out a cackle as he sat down and gave his daughter her food before pointing at Izuku, "Oh, just that this kiddo here told me he wanted to be friends with you but was scared of asking."

Ochako glanced back at Izuku, seeing him squirm in his seat. There was look of pure fear in his eyes, as if he expected Ochako to just reject him after hearing that. The sight made her heart clench up, sadness welling up in her as she saw the teen look away. 'Tsu really was right about him.' She thought, 'I wonder who did this to him? It couldn't have just been some normal bullying...'

She began to eat at this, watching Izuku slowly calm down. It was here that Mr. Uraraka began his usual talking stride, asking his daughter a bunch of questions. The girl answered most while watching Izuku, seeing him slowly calm down in his seat. And as she gulped down the last bit of her sandwich, she saw that Izuku was able to fully talk to her father, the sight making her smile, only for her dad to say, "Looks like its time to pack up and go home." He turned to Izuku, "Say, you need a ride?"

"No." Izuku shook his head, "I'll be fine."

Mr. Uraraka nodded back before getting up, the two teens slowly following. And as they walked out of the building, Ochako turned to Izuku, "Um...sorry about all that earlier."

"Oh, its fine. It was all my-"

"It wasn't your fault." She interrupted, "Don't apologize." She gave him a deadpan glare, making him flinch before she tapped his chest, "If we're gonna be friends, you gotta stop apologizing, okay?"

"Um...okay." He squeaked out.

"Good." She shined a big grin at this, only to snap her fingers, "Oh, right! Could I have your number?"

"H-h-huh?!" Izuku yelped.

"So we can keep in touch. I bet some more of my classmates would like to meet you at some point."

Izuku felt his brain stop again, only to slowly mutter out, "Sure."

A few minutes of stuttering later, he gave his number and she asked him to make sure to cheer her on at the festival. Mr. Uraraka asked Izuku if he was willing to work with him again as well, which he quickly said no. And as he walked off, the father and daughter stared at the sight before Mr. Uraraka said, "Poor kid. I really wish I could help him more."

"Yeah...me too." Ochako added, only to feel her dad pat her on the back, making her glance up at him and see a big grin.

"We'll just keep trying to help him out, eh?"

Ochako shined a giant smile at this, nodding, "Uh-huh!"

And as she said that, Izuku zipped into a nearby alleyway, quickly switching into Spider-Man as he crawled up a building, "That was so exhausting." He whispered to himself as he got onto the roof and fully changed, "I still can't believe that happened." He fired a webline at this before leaping off, 'Did that really happen? I don't believe it...' He put a hand to his face and rubbed it down as he started swinging, 'I'm such a mess. Maybe some web-swinging will help me.'

Turned out, web swinging was what he needed. He zipped through the city, flying past buildings with ease. As he did this, he pulled out the police scanner, waiting for anything as he kept swinging around. "Aaaahhh." He sighed to himself, "This feels so good."

He then did a wide swing around a tall building, wind pushing into him as he took the turn. He closed his eyes for a second, letting himself feel the air swirling past him. Even though he hadn't been Spider-Man for even a month, he knew this was his favorite part. This feeling of freedom as he swung past buildings with ease.

And as he did this, his phone began to vibrate, the teen pulling out the phone. He saw it was his mom, soon clicking it as she landed on a rooftop, "Hey mom. What's up?"

"Hey there. I was just calling to see how you were doing."

"Oh, I'm fine." Izuku replied as he sat down on the side of the roof, "I just...needed to go swinging for a bit."

"I figured." Inko chuckled.

Izuku blinked at this as he heard those words, his mom's tone slightly different than usual. As such, his mind went ahead and asked a question, "What do you mean?"

Inko let out a long sigh at this, Izuku knowing she was shaking her head as she replied, "Izuku, you know that I've been hesitant over the...vigilantism." He could hear a drop in her tone for a second before continuing, "But ever since you started being a vigilante, you've been happy. I've never seen you this happy. You put on that costume with the biggest grin on your face, one that well...I hate to say it, but I haven't seen you look like that for years."

As he heard this, he could hear slight tears begin to form in his mother's eyes. He then felt his own, realizing what she meant. Those years of quirklessness, the torment, the misery, the explosions...and the burns he had to hide every day when he came home. Hearing this, he muttered out, "I'm sorry."

Inko sounded surprised at this, "What? Why are you apologizing?"

"I'm...I'm sorry that this is what makes me happy." He replied, biting his lip at this.

"Oh Izuku. You shouldn't apologize for your happiness." Inko responded, "I...I know I didn't like this at first and I'm still adjusting, but...I just want to say...I'm proud of you."

Izuku blinked at this, feeling his eyes water. He slowly said his next words, "Thanks mom. I...I needed that."

"I know." Inko replied, "Mister Li told me you had problems with the construction companies and...I know you've had a hard time interacting with others, and I'm proud that you're trying."

Izuku sniffed at this, "Yeah...its uh...its different. But I'm glad I'm doing it. I'm...so happy that I can do this."

"I know." Inko chuckled, "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Well, I'll leave you alone and let you get back to your vigilanting."

"Thanks."

The call ended a second later, Izuku letting out a happy sigh. He laid back at this, putting away his phone as he did a small stretch. "I'm getting there...I can feel it." He stood back up, cricking his neck as he fired a web line, "Let's go find something to do."

Izuku wasn't sure how many hours passed as he swung around. If he was honest, he found the web swinging the best part of his life as a vigilante. The freedom it gave him, the ability to just go anywhere with ease. And the speed. He loved the speed, the agility, that feeling of going fast. What would take an hour for a car would take mere minutes for him, and he loved every second of it. It felt amazing.

As such, he made quick time to try multiple prefectures around Musutafu, though he hadn't really tried this till today. And now, he was at the end of the day and was currently sitting at the Yamanashi prefecture. He had stopped multiple muggings along the way, along with stopping a jewelry store robbery that ended up happening while he was swinging by. And as he decided to come to a stop, he hopped onto a rooftop. He took out a protein bar and pulled out his notebook, staring at the contents.

'Hmmm...so, I think this is as far as I can go today.' He thought as he checked his web shooters, only seeing four cartridges left, in other words, two for each shooter. 'I made really good distance. I've never gone out this far and yet it felt like it took no time at all. Maybe I should figure out how fast I can go.'

He then finished the bar and pulled out his phone, 'Its getting late. I better get home, especially if I want to watch the UA sports festival tomorrow. But first...' He let out a low yawn at this before pulling out a pencil and began to write into the notebook, doing a few calculations, 'Okay...so, I think my average web slinging speed is this, and this is the distance I went...'

As he did this, a door on the building across the street opened. There, a small man walked out, letting out a yawn as he began walking down the front steps. The cane in his hand tapped the stairs, the man's eyes glancing around. As he did this, he began to waddle down the street, his eyes wandering before it saw something in the corner of his eyes. He glanced up and saw a dark green figure sitting on a rooftop.

He raised an eyebrow at this, scratching his chin as he stared the person. 'Who is that?' he thought before he saw the figure stand up and start doing some stretches. The sight made him shine a small grin before walking into the alleyway below the rooftop of the figure.

Izuku just stood there as he kept doing stretches before refilling his web cartridges. 'Time to go home.' Izuku thought before pointing his wrist at another rooftop-

Danger!

Izuku went wide-eyed at this, his body instantly turning invisible. And as he vanished, he glanced back at the rooftop before leaping to the next building over. But as he did this, he suddenly saw what looked like a giant yellow bullet coming for him. He quickly leapt to the side, dodging the thing as he hit the roof's floor, rolling for a second. He glanced down for a second, seeing he was still invisible, only for his spider sense to blare again. Izuku looked back up to see the yellow figure zip over to him again, Izuku firing a web to the other roof and yanking himself over there.

'What the heck is that?!' he thought as he landed on the roof and kept hopping back. As this happened, he tried to aim his wrist at the yellow bullet, but it just zipped around, seemingly changing random directions mid-air. His spider sense rang out again, feeling it coming from his right. The vigilante didn't turn right at this, instead ducking down to all fours just as the yellow figure flew over him. Spider sense then rang out in the back, making push everything he had into his hands and feet, the teen then leaping upward into a backflip, going straight over the yellow bullet as it tried to hit him in the back.

And as he began to land, he fired a line of webbing, which hit its mark as the yellow figure suddenly came to a stop. Izuku then landed, only to go slightly wide-eyed at the sight before him. It was small old bearded man with a long yellow cape and a black mask over his eyes. A hero. Izuku had recorded hundreds of heroes over the years, he had stacks of hero analysis books to prove it, but he didn't recognize this one. Granted, he didn't look too much into the older ones, but that's because he found them all early on. Despite this, he had never seen the person in front of him.

"Who are you?" He whispered as his invisibility disappeared, the teen keeping himself in a defensive stance as the old man looked down at his feet, seeing the webbing that now covered them.

"Not bad." the elderly man said as he stared at the webbing before looking back up at Izuku, "I was wondering what you were doing around here, but I didn't think you would have that kind of instincts. That turning invisible stuff is a nice trick, but you're too loud." He then jerked his feet, ripping the webbing off in a single motion. "You're also a little young to be prancing around as a would be hero. I can tell just by looking at ya."

"Uh...well...um..." Izuku muttered out, only for his spider sense to blare again. The old man vanished, Izuku flinching at the sudden disappearance. He felt his sense tell him the left this time, Izuku quickly turning and putting his arms up to guard himself. A split-second later, two feet slammed into him, almost pushing him off his feet. He felt the blow like it was a bag of bricks hitting him, making the teen clench before trying to throw a punch back. But the old man was already gone, spider sense blaring at his back now.

Izuku quickly spun around and thrust a leg upward, only to see the old man appear for a split second, his form changing directions right as the foot was about to hit him. Izuku's spider sense yelled at him again, Izuku spinning as he threw a punch at the air behind himself. As he did this, he felt the fist hit something, only to also feel a foot slam into the teen's face.

"Blaugh!" he yelped as he was knocked back, just barely able to keep his balance as the old man spun in the air before landing, his feet grinding into the rooftop. Air blasted out of his feet a second later, Izuku's spider sense screaming at this as he quickly aimed both wrists where the old man, firing two web lines. However, the elder zipped around both, appearing over Izuku as he was about to do an axe kick down on the vigilante. Seeing this, he fired a third line, yanking himself away just in time. And as the old man hit the roof, dirt flew everywhere around him as Izuku kept yanking on the webbing. He zipped over to another rooftop, only to cut into a sprint.

'I gotta get out of here!' he thought as he leapt off the roof and fired a web line. He went invisible at this, quickly trying to zip down the street. But as he did this, the old man turned and stared at the street, seeing thin lines of webbing coming out of something he couldn't see.

"Guess my old eyes haven't failed me yet." He chuckled as he hopped off the building and began blasting through the air. Within seconds, he was right behind the invisible figure.

Danger!

'Oh, come on!' Izuku mentally yelled as he glanced back and saw the yellow bullet coming for him again. He quickly fired a web line to the right, yanking himself away as the old man zipped past him. But as he did this, he saw the elderly man just spin around mid-air and fire himself right at Izuku. Seeing this, he fired a web line to the left, yanking himself again as he barely dodged the old man. But as he did this a second time, the elder just spun around and rocketed again, this time slamming both fists into Izuku's stomach.

"Augh!" He yelped as he was knocked out his web swing, the teen plummeting into a nearby alleyway. His invisibility cut off instantly as he hit the ground, his form rolling down the alley. A second later, the old man landed as Izuku tried to scramble back up.

"Give up kid. You're not escaping me." the old man commented as he watched Izuku get back into a crouching offensive stance, one hand on the ground while the other was in a motion to fire a batch of webbing. The two then stared each other down at this, the old man just presenting two balled up fists as Izuku stared at him.

Izuku wasn't sure how long time passed at this, his breath hitched as he stared at the elderly hero before him. And after a bit, he slowly got out of that stance, slightly standing up as he took a deep breath and asked, "Who are you? And why are you after me?"

The old man shined a small grin at this, "Well, to be honest, I don't really got a reason to be after ya. You just seemed like a good warm up for me."

"Huh?!" Izuku yelped, "Warm up?!"

"Yup." The man laughed before pointing at Izuku, "So, wanna tell me why someone like you is dressed up like that? I know you're no hero, so I could just capture you here and send you off to the station."

Izuku blinked at this, quickly realizing that the old man was right. The teen was definitely sure he couldn't escape this guy no matter how much he tried. As such, he took a deep breath as he answered, "Uh...well, its um...cuz I'm a vigilante."

The elder raised an eyebrow at this, "A vigilante? At your age?"

"Yeah." Izuku slowly nodded.

The old man just hummed at this, scratching his beard for a second, "Huh. Interesting. You're definitely too young to be a vigilante, but you're also too skilled to not get in a hero school..." He tilted his head for a second, "Let me guess: You're unlucky, ain't ya?"

Izuku flinched at this, eyes fully wide as he heard those words. No one had ever said that. All the heroes he met just kept asking why he wasn't a hero. No one actually got the answer, at least, now that Izuku thought about it. It was kind of the answer as to why he wasn't at a hero school. However, his silence was enough.

"I'm guessing I'm right." The old man laughed before pointing at him again, "Well, let me answer your earlier question. The name's Gran Torino. Who are you?"

"Um...Spider-Man." Izuku slowly replied, only to see Gran suddenly pull a cane out of nowhere.

"Not a bad name. Nice to meet ya Spider-Man." He spun around and gestured to the teen, "Follow me for a second." Izuku blinked at him, Gran glancing back at him as he added, "What? You wanna try and run away again? If you want to, go ahead. I won't follow ya."

"Wha...but..." Izuku tried to say, only to shake his head, "But what about trying to capture me and...you know, attacking me and all that?!"

"Eh, you're just a kid. I can tell you mean no harm." Gran responded while waving a hand, "You coming or not?"

"Um...well, what are we gonna do?"

Gran glared at him at this, "You ask too many questions. You coming or not?!"

The old man's tone raised at this, making Izuku flinch as he slowly replied, "Uh...okay. Sorry."

Izuku wasn't sure what was happening right now. One minute he was dodging what looked like a yellow flying bullet, now he was sitting at a table in a broken down building, eating a piece of taiyaki. He had never liked the dessert that much, but this one tasted pretty good. He was still in costume, the only thing removed was the bottom part of his mask showing just his mouth, letting him eat the treat. Gran had told him he could take it off, but Izuku told him he didn't think he should.

Seeing this, Gran ate two taiyakis before asking, "So, how long ya been a vigilante?"

"Uh...a little over two weeks." he replied as he finished his taiyaki.

"Oh? You got good instincts if you've only been doing this for two weeks. Especially at your age." Gran chuckled before taking out a glass of water and sipped it.

"Um...thanks."

Gran raised an eyebrow at this, "Not used to taking compliments?" Izuku slightly flinched at this, making the old man shake his head, "Thought so. I can tell just by looking at ya."

"Oh...s-s-sorry." Izuku muttered out.

"Don't apologize. Its fine." Gran grumbled as he took out a third taiyaki. "So, I'm guessing you hear this a lot, but why are you a vigilante?"

Izuku blinked under his mask, knowing this was coming, and let out a sigh, "I um...I failed to be a hero."

"No you didn't." Gran instantly responded, making Izuku almost flinch. The elderly man glared at him, his eyes slightly squinting, "Did you forget what I said earlier? You're unlucky, aren't ya? Let me guess...something random happened to you in the hero exams and you got rejected?"

"Uh..." Izuku muttered out, twiddling his fingers under the table as he just stared at the old man. 'Who is this guy?! I don't remember him from any of my hero research, and yet he seemed more skilled than any hero I've seen. He figured me out instantly, and I'm sure he could beat me without trying!'

Gran let out a snort at this, the reaction alone confirming his theory. He hopped out of his chair as he finished his third taiyaki, waddling around the table. "So, you're a vigilante. And judging by how you were dodging me up there, you've already got some experience under your belt. But yer also a kid, which means its way too early for you to be doing something like this."

Izuku could feel a shiver slowly go down his spine, "Um...does that mean you're gonna try and arrest me or something?"

"Bah, I ain't doing anything like that." Gran spat, "For one, I'm retired. And two, I can tell that if you really tried, you could get away, though it would be tough for you and a hassle for me. Also, you look like you need help."

"Help?"

"Yeah." Gran walked up and poked him with his cane, "I know it just by looking at you. You're young, got no confidence and you acted desperate in every move you made out there. That tells me you're inexperienced, in over your head, but you're also a quick thinker. You tried to counter everything I did, and when you realized you couldn't, you took the right option and tried to flee. The only problem was that I can fly, making it hard for you to escape."

Izuku wanted to say he was stunned, his mind blown by hearing the old man easily figure everything out about him. However, his brain went to the one thing he adored most: quirks. "How did you do that? Is that your quirk? It looked like some kind of air shooting quirk that comes out of your feet!"

Gran smirked at this, unflinching at Izuku's reaction, "Not bad kid. That's my quirk, Jet. It basically lets me shoot air out of my feet." He pointed his cane at the teen, "But that's not the point. Point is, you need to training kid. If you keep hopping into stuff, you'll get killed."

Izuku stared at the old man for a minute, his mind going over those words before responding, "But...didn't you hear me? I didn't make it into hero school! I failed!"

"And that means you can't train?"

"Uh...yeah. I can't legally use my quirk. That's why I'm a vigilante!"

"Bah." Gran spat again, "Those laws don't matter. If you need to train, train. School doesn't matter."

"B-b-but it does!" Izuku almost yelled, "I failed to get into hero school! I can't pursue my dream of being a hero anymore!" He looked away at this, "I just...I just wanted to help people."

Gran glared at him at this, making Izuku bite his lip. The old man let out a long sigh, "You're just like that buffoon. Think you can just go and save the world like its nothing." He tapped his cane on the floor, "Wish he'd picked you. You're perfect."

Izuku glanced back at him. "Huh? Picked me?"

"Eh, don't worry about it." Gran waved his hand, "So, you want to be a hero. Is that all?"

"Yeah...that's all."

"Yeah, you're just like him." Gran grumbled before poking Izuku with his cane, "Listen here squirt, if you keep doing the vigilante stuff, you'll go way in over your head at some point." He then jabbed the cane up at Izuku's face, "But, I can tell you're not gonna quit. If that's the case, don't go jumping into everything you can get yourself into. If you do, you'll start something that you can't escape."

Izuku leaned back at this, "I'll start something I can't escape?"

"Yup." Gran let out a low grumble at this, "And when you go down that rabbit hole, you'll never get out of it. You'll keep going in over your head and it won't stop." Izuku just stared at him at this, unable to respond as his brain started to process what he just heard, only for Gran to add, "So don't do it. And train your quirk while you're at it. It shows that you barely understand it."

"Um...okay." Izuku squeaked out, the teen staring at the elderly man as he spun around. He then took a deep breath before asking, "Uh...Mister Torino?" The old man glanced back at him, "Why are you telling me all this?"

"Cuz you need help kid." Gran turned around at this, showing a firm glare, "I can tell you're lost, and you got potential to be something great. That and I'm bored. I got nothing to do these days."

"But didn't you say I was a warm up?"

"You are." Gran chuckled, "An old student of mine is about to bring his student to me, and I know its gonna be a pain. At least, I think he's found one. Anyways, I needed some exercise, and you gave me some. Granted, I was hoping for more, but you're smart, so it didn't last as long as I hoped."

"Oh..." Izuku muttered out. "So uh...I was just here to help your boredom?"

"Call it what you want." Gran laughed, "So, you wanna stick around or do you got somewhere to be?"

"Um...well..." Izuku pulled out his phone, seeing how much time had passed. "I gotta go." He hopped off the chair and said, "Uh...thank you Mister Torino. You gave me a lot of think about."

"Eh, I didn't do anything." He spun around and began to walk away, "See ya around, Spider-Man."

Izuku stared at the vanishing figure, his mind trying to go over everything that had just happened. In truth, he wasn't sure if it had just happened. It was like a train just slammed into him, and then sat him down for a lecture, reminding him why being a vigilante wasn't the best idea. It was as if when he had started to figure things out, something new came in to give him another perspective.

But he didn't feel discouraged. Usually when it came to heroes, he was too embarrassed around them, or they tried to capture him. It was frustrating, as he knew that it was his fault he was so jittery, but he also knew he couldn't help it. He had spent all his life being bullied, told to not talk to anyone because he was quirkless. The quirkless weren't allowed to have anything according to society. And even when people encouraged him, he couldn't help but think it was just pity.

However, Gran just lectured him and told him what he should do. But that was it, nothing else. It was blunt and to the point, no lies or deception. There was no softness either, but it showed caring in a certain way, like a trainer. And as Izuku left the building, he didn't think. He just fired a web line and started swinging away, soon landing on a train as he rode it to go home.

And as he laid back on the train's roof, he thought about Gran's words again, 'Go in over my head...does he mean I'll take on some villain I'm not ready for? Or is it something else?' He stared up at the stars above, letting out a small sigh, 'I hope I haven't already started what he was talking about.'

The bottom of a bottle slammed into a wooden table as a certain chalk-colored man walked into a garage. Inside was several animal-headed thugs, all turning and straightening up at the sight of the man. Seeing this, one of them squeaked out, "H-h-hey boss."

"Stop squirming." Tombstone growled as he made his way to a large motorcycle, wiping his lips with a swipe his hand before sitting down on a stool beside it. His eyes scanned it over, clicking his tongue before looking back at the still shivering thugs, "How are we on the shipment? I want a good joyride after we get it sent."

"Its uh...its almost done boss." another thug muttered out, "The boys almost have it ready, but um...uh..."

"What?!" Tombstone growled, his form slowly rising from the stool.

"Well..." the thug did a long gulp, "W-w-we got a challenge from the Inner Demons, boss."

Tombstone stared at him as he fully stood, a snort coming out his nostrils before walking up to the thug, "A challenge? What do they want?"

"Um..." the thug gulped again, "They uh...they want to fight us boss."

Tombstone leaned down in front of the thug's face, "And when did this happen?" The thug looked like he was about to shrink into the floor, only for Tombstone to add, "Stop being scared. I'm not gonna hurt you over this." He then grabbed the thug's jacket and pulled him up to his face, "Now...what did you say?"

The thug's lips quivered as he replied, "Uh...we said you weren't here to give a response."

The villain stared straight into the thug's eyes, the thug thinking he was staring at death itself, only for Tombstone to let him go, the thug falling to the floor a second later, "Good. Gimme the phone they called."

Another ran over with the device, the villain taking it with a jerk of the arm. He saw the most recent number and shined a small frown. And as he raised a finger over the phone, one of the thugs spoke up, "Um...boss?" Tombstone turned to him, "W-w-what are you gonna tell 'em?"

"What do you think?" Tombstone instantly responded, "They want to be our competition. That means we're gonna fight 'em...and kill 'em." He tapped the phone at this as he added, "Get the cycles ready, boys. We're gonna run these punks out of town and show the rest why we own this place." He put the phone up to his ear, "We just gotta make sure it happens nearby."

"Why's that boss?"

Tombstone let out a low growl as the phone started to ring, "Cuz we're not the only ones causing an uproar right now."

Meanwhile...

A long pulpy tongue slithered down a now blood-stained blade, a quirk activating the instant the tongue touched the red liquid. A second later, a scream followed as the blade went straight into a hero's heart. And standing above that now dead hero was a man. He had a torn mask over his eyes, black unruly hair and a long scarf.

"Fake." was all he said before walking away, putting his blade back into its sheath. "They're all fakes."

He then pulled out a phone, which showed a picture of a city map. Sniffing for a second, he whispered out his next words, "Hosu...you're next."

Chapter 20: While A Festival Roars, A City Goes to War

Izuku woke up earlier than usual. He had noticed recently that he had a lot more energy and didn't have to sleep as much, but he found he still needed to sleep. Despite this, he pulled out his phone and saw he had woken up two hours early, making him sigh. Last night, he had come home and crashed, which he had expected would make him sleep in, but that didn't happen. Shuffling over to his desk, he stared at the web cartridges he had made. Yesterday had drained out quite a few, which made him spend the next hour creating the fluid, only to go back to bed after checking his online classes and seeing he was a month ahead now.

After this, he woke up an hour later, letting out a yawn as his mom came into his room. She told him she was going to FEAST today, and wanted him to come there too for the rest of the day. They were going to watch the UA sports festival with the rest of FEAST. As such, the two ate a semi-large breakfast before Izuku told her he was going to do a small patrol before heading to FEAST, his mom not liking this, but relented on the fact that he promised to come by FEAST afterward.

Another hour or so later, he was swinging through the city. His mom had called him, telling him she had just got to FEAST as he swung around, the teen telling her he'll be over there in a bit. 'The UA Sports Festival...' he thought as he did a backflip after a long-arced web swing, 'Man, could you imagine me in that festival with this quirk? That would be so cool...'

He then grimaced at his own thoughts, shaking his head as he fired another web line, 'Then again, I probably would die of embarrassment first. I still can't imagine myself on TV.' And as he thought that, he stared straight ahead and saw a certain series of buildings in the distance: UA.

The sight was something else to the teen, its size alone being beyond incredible in his mind. And as he swung over to it, he turned invisible and landed on a nearby rooftop, glancing down to see a few heroes walking around. 'So it is true. They do go all out with the security.' he thought, remembering that the only times he had seen the festival was on TV. This was the closest he had ever been to the event, and he had a feeling he shouldn't get any closer.

'Still, this is cool to see this many heroes together. I think every hero in Musutafu is here! Maybe I should change and go down and get a few autographs.' He then saw a group of police officers put up a small barrier, pushing out a growing crowd outside of the building. 'Or not. Better not push my luck.'

He walked back at this, turning visible but out of sight as he pulled out his phone at this, his fingers shaking as he went to his contacts and sent a text.

Midoriya Izuku: Hey Uraraka. I just wanted to say good luck!

He pressed the send button, his hand still shivering as he stared at the phone. 'I hope I did that right.' he thought, only to get a reply.

Uraraka Ochako: Thanks! If you don't mind, please root for my friends as well! Oh, I already talked to Gloria, so you don't have to tell everyone at FEAST to root for us.

Izuku blinked at the text, only to let out a hum. 'Huh. Guess I should get over to FEAST. The festival will be starting soon...' He sent a small text that just said 'ok' before spinning around, firing a web line and swinging away. As he did this, he took a few turns, zipping down a street or two as he stared ahead, 'Let's see...FEAST should be three streets over, and then-'

KA-BOOM!

The noise rang out, sounding like a bomb going off. Izuku turned to his right, only to see nothing but a row of buildings. Despite this, he quickly fired two web lines, soon slingshotting himself over a few buildings. And as he flung himself over, he went wide-eyed at the next sight. On the streets below at a four-way crossing was a gang of more than thirty masked men, most equipped with guns as they began firing shots across the crossing. On the other side of the crossing was a whole group of mutant quirk users, all of them leaping over cars as they charged at the masked men.

'The masked guys and Tombstone's gang! Wait...are they fighting right now?! They can't be serious!' he mentally gasped before swinging over to a nearby rooftop. As he landed and perched, he found himself looking at exactly what Gran Torino had warned him about. Before him was a full-on gang war battle, Tombstone's men grabbing cars and throwing them like baseballs while the masked men were firing guns off like everything was a target. Screams could be heard everywhere, Izuku seeing a bystander getting shot down by a stray bullet in the moment he had landed on the roof.

The sight made him freeze up, his eyes going back and forth as he watched these gangs just...attack each other. It was like two groups of wild animals going in a frenzy. And as another scream rang out, he returned to reality as he aimed both wrists at the battle below him. But as he did this, his mind told him one thing, 'Don't just jump in.'

He quickly switched his web cartridges at this before looking back at the ongoing battle, his eyes darting around. 'Assess the situation Izuku. Don't be stupid. Take out the worst stuff and then get in there. And then...I guess I'll have to improvise as much as I can until the heroes show up.'

There was hesitation after this. He turned invisible and fired a web line and swung down to a nearby traffic light. Landing on it, he pointed at the masked men and fired a volley of webbing, each one hitting the guns they were wielding. And in those next few seconds, he yanked every single one of them out of their hands. Before he had known it, he had grabbed over twenty guns, all quickly webbing them up into one single package that he plastered to the traffic light pole.

"The spider!" one of the masked men yelled, pointing at the light as Izuku felt his head start to hurt, making him turn off his invisibility. And as the masked man exclaimed this, the others that had their guns taken all started yelling. It was here that Izuku noticed a black van in the corner of the crossing, which opened up as a few masked men ran out of it, all of them holding a bunch of katanas.

'Oh, come on!' Izuku mentally growled as he saw the masked men began to replace their guns with swords. He then aimed his wrist at them, ready to yank those away as well-

Danger!

Izuku went slightly wide-eyed before leaping off the light, only to glance down to see a shark man hit the traffic light and rip it off with his teeth. He then spit it out as he turned to Izuku, the vigilante landing on a nearby overturned taxicab. "Nice teeth." He commented, only for a weasel man to leap at him, spider sense screaming at Izuku as he fired a blast of webbing at the thug's face. It instantly blinded him, making the weasel man collide with the car, shaking it slightly as Izuku looked back at the shark man.

"Here we go." Electricity sparked off his hands at this, "Let's do this."

The shark man leapt at him, spider sense blaring as Izuku charged at him. And as the shark man lunged his head forward, Izuku pushed his strength into his feet and jumped, hopping over the thug as he thrust both hands into the shark man's shoulders. Electricity surged through the villain, instantly falling over as Izuku spun around and fired a blast of webbing, sticking the thug into the street. And as he landed, two masked men charged, swinging their katanas wildly.

"I've said this like ten times already!" Izuku growled as he side-stepped one of the blades, the second thug thrusting a sword after that, Izuku leaping back to dodge this one. "No more sharp pointy weapons!" He fired a web line at the first thug's foot and yanked it, the masked man instantly flopping over. The second then tried to slash at Izuku again, his spider sense yelling as he ducked under it before doing a sweeping leg kick, knocking the thug down. He then fired two globs of webbing, sticking both to the street as his spider sense flared again.

Danger!

Izuku turned to see three more charging masked thugs, only for his spider sense to yell again, making him glance back to see a tiger man and a puma man now leaping over a car. Seeing this, Izuku fired two shots of webbing, hitting the mutant men's faces, blinding both. As this happened, Izuku glanced back at the masked thugs, dodging a katana swipe before thrusting a punch into the thug's chest. The blow knocked him off his feet as the other two thrust their swords at him. Izuku ducked under both, his spider sense screaming as he jabbed at one thug as electricity surged through the fist, zapping the masked man. As this happened, the other raised his blade up high and swung it down, Izuku spinning around before hopping back, only for it to nick his arm.

"Urgh!" he grunted before firing a glob of webbing into the thug's mask before yanking, pulling the thug into the street, shattering the mask. A second later, a blast of webbing struck him the thug into the street, Izuku spinning around to see the tiger man ripping the webbing off his face. He then leapt at Izuku, the teen quickly hopping to the side, barely dodging the animal man before grabbing the tiger's side. Electricity flew through his hand, shocking the beast man.

As this happened, Izuku glanced back to see the puma man leaping at him. But as he leapt, Izuku fired two shots of webbing, hitting the thug before Izuku yanked downward, slamming the puma man into the street before he could even get close to the vigilante. 'That was awesome.' Izuku thought, only for his spider sense to yell again, making him turn to now see seven charging masked men. 'And that's not awesome.'

He fired a web line upward, yanking himself onto a nearby building's wall. As he landed, the thugs all turned to stare at him, only to swing their swords, firing energy waves. Seeing this, Izuku leapt off the building and started web swinging around, dodging the attacks. 'This is crazy! Where are the heroes?!' he thought before swinging down, slamming his feet into one of the thugs, knocking the thug flying. He landed on a wall again, leaping off a second later as an energy wave hit the wall.

The teen landed on one of the thugs, grabbing his shoulders and zapping him before leaping over to another thug, swinging his foot into the masked man's chest. The blow knocked the thug across the street, only for two thugs with swords to charge at him. Spider sense blaring, Izuku spun around and fired two web lines at the thugs' legs, yanking at both. They were flung off their feet, only for a tiger man to leap at Izuku as his spider sense yelled at him again, the teen turning to the animal man. However, Izuku was too late, the tiger thug tackling him into the street. They both hit the dirt, the tiger man opening his mouth as he tilted his head to bite right into Izuku's neck.

"Bad kitty!" the vigilante yelled as he grabbed the tiger man and charged bio-electricity into him. The thug screamed as the electricity surged through him, Izuku then slamming his knees into the thug's chest before kicking him off. As he did this, a masked man stood over the still downed vigilante, thrusting a blade right at Izuku's head. He went wide-eyed before rolling to the right, dodging the sword before kicking the thug's feet, knocking him over.

"I'd like to keep my head, thank you!" Izuku yelled as he fired several shots of webbing, tying down both the tiger thug and the masked man. As he did this, his spider sense yelled again, only to feel a giant fist hit his side. "Blaugh!" Izuku yelped as he was sent flying across the crossing, slamming into a car. "Urgh..." he spat as he felt himself slump down the car, making him glance up and see that a walrus man had hit him. Three masked men then charged at the walrus man, only for him to knock them all away with a single punch.

"Not good..." Izuku moaned, only to see two more masked men charge at him with blades in hand. He pointed his wrists upward, firing the webbing before slinging himself up again. As he did this, the masked men swung their blades, energy waves flying out as one of them hit Izuku's foot, an explosion happening next, "Augh!" Izuku lost grip with the two web lines, but shot another as his spider sense yelled again, yanking at the line as it pulled him upward again. He fired a second line, quickly getting into a swinging motion as he began dodging energy waves again, gasping under his mask.

'Gotta keep moving and stall these guys. The heroes have to show up eventually.'

Meanwhile...

Ochako Uraraka was doing a few stretches as the rest of class 1-A walked up to the starting line of the event. The first trial of the festival was going to be an obstacle course, the classes all staring at what was ahead. As she did this, Iida walked up to her, pushing his glasses up his face. "It seems we have quite the competition ahead of us today. Not only that, I saw the crowd of heroes they have here for security. Its a huge number! Three times more than usual!"

"Yup!" Uraraka replied, her face morphing to one filled with determination. "Let's win this thing!"

"Tch. You're better off just giving up." growled a voice beside her, the girl turning to see Katsuki Bakugo, "You worthless extras are all going to fail."

"Bakugo, please refrain from saying such things!" Iida yelled as he chopped the air with one of his hands.

"Oh yeah? And who beat all you worthless weak trash in all the combat exercises and the tests? Oh yeah, me!" Katsuki spat as he pointed at himself, "You're all garbage extras, so just stay out of my way."

Katsuki walked away at this, Uraraka and Iida both glaring at him, "Hmph! How rude! With that attitude, he is nothing like a hero!"

"I don't think he wants to be a hero." Uraraka added with crossed arms, "I think he just wants attention." She then turned to Iida, "Oh yeah, I just got a text from Midoriya and Gloria. They said everyone is rooting for us!"

"Oh? Wonderful!" Iida exclaimed, "If that is the case, we must show them that we are true heroes in training! Especially Midoriya!"

And as Iida yelled this, Katsuki stopped and glanced back, seeing the two continue to banter before growling, "Deku?!" He grit his teeth at this, tiny explosions popping off his hands as he let out a low growl. 'That quirkless loser?! How do those worthless extras know him?!' Another explosion went off in his hand, 'They said he was rooting for them...that means he's here. I told him to never step foot in UA or else!'

Smoke began to float off the teen as he growled, walking away as he hissed, "Where are you, you worthless pebble?"

"Web Swing Kick!" Izuku yelled as he swung down and slammed both feet into a masked man's stomach. The thug went flying into two more masked thugs as Izuku landed, dodging a katana swipe from another thug before exclaiming, "Venom Punch!"

ZAP!

The masked thug went flying at this, his back hitting an overturned car as Izuku fired another web line and swung back up into the air. 'There's no end to these guys!' he thought as he flipped over two energy waves before swinging down and punching another thug. He then leapt away just as the walrus man from earlier charged at him, quickly dodging him before seeing another tiger man jumping at him. Izuku spun and kicked him in the chin, knocking the thug back before firing another web and yanked himself up into the air. And as he started swinging, he felt himself panting, 'Gotta keep moving...gotta keep moving!'

Izuku then fired two web lines and slingshotted himself back down, slamming his feet into one of the masked thugs. As he did this, spider sense flared as he leapt off the thug, dodging two more swords before spinning around, firing two web lines at the masked men before yanking, knocking both off their feet. He fired several globs of webbing at this, sticking them to the street just as a shark man leapt at him. Spider sense yelling, Izuku turned to the thug and flicked his wrists, only to hear a small 'psst.'

'Oh no.' he thought before the shark man tackled him, punching the vigilante in the face a second later. And as he pinned Izuku down, the teen grunted as he put both hands on the shark man's shoulders, surging electricity through them. The shark man screamed at this, Izuku kicking him off. But as he did this, the teen tried to get back up just as he saw three more thugs charging at him.

'Oh, come on!' he mentally yelled before clenching his eyes for a second. He turned invisible at this, the masked men coming to a stop as they saw their prey vanish. Izuku then opened his eyes and began to walk away, slipping behind an overturned car as he fiddled with his web shooters, reloading both with new web cartridges. 'Gran Torino was right. I'm in way over my head. I need the heroes to get here now or-' His thoughts came to a stop as another scream could be heard behind him, making him go wide-eyed. He glanced back at the disaster around him, the two gangs still fighting each other as he saw one of Tombstone's gang grabbing a nearby woman, 'No!'

He turned visible and fired a web line, instantly yanking himself over to the thug. He tackled the villain, both slamming into the street before Izuku leapt off him and fired a glob of webbing. It instantly stuck the thug to the street before he fired another web line at the woman. He pulled her over to him, catching her as she let out an 'eep!'.

"Get out of here! Now!" He yelled, the woman flinching at this before nodding and running away.

"Thank you!" She exclaimed back as she cut into a sprint, Izuku looking back at the crossing.

The two gangs were still clashing as a pair of masked men charged at him. He let out a long sigh as electricity surged through his hands. 'Got no choice. Until the heroes get here, I'll knock out every villain I can!'

Back at UA...

"And that's it for the Preliminary Event!" Present Mic exclaimed in the commentor's box, his co-host Aizawa putting in ear plugs at this. "For first place, we have Katsuki Bakugo, along with second place Shoto Todoroki and third Ibara Shiozaki!" He turned to his co-host, "I noticed all of your class made it. Surprised?"

"A little." Aizawa grumbled, "But they're showing potential. Of course, that was nothing compared to what's next."

"Ain't that the truth!" Mic laughed before wildly gesturing to the microphone before him, "Anyways, we'll be going to the next event now! Midnight, take it away!"

He then tapped the mic mute button on the system, only for both to hear the door to the office open. The duo spun around to see Nezu walk in, "Hey boss! How's it going?"

"Not well." Nezu replied, "It seems there may be a problem outside of UA."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I've been watching all the news feeds that tune into our event and one of them is not showing us. I checked it and they seem to be doing a different story in Musutafu."

"Seriously?! What's bigger than us?!"

"I don't know. However, they're not showing footage yet, but say they're about to report it." Nezu replied, only to see a fierce glare from Aizawa, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"A villain is taking advantage of all the heroes being here along with other heroes watching this?" Aizawa asked, Nezu nodding back.

"Wait...I get that, as it happens all the time, but the heroes in other districts are still there. Why do it in Musutafu?! That's where we are!" Mic exclaimed, "There's a ton of heroes here! Who'd have the balls to do that?!"

"Doesn't matter." Aizawa grumbled before pointing to at Mic, "Send a message to all heroes here. Tell them they need to respond to whatever's going on."

"Uh...okay." Mic muttered out before turning back to the audio equipment, "I really hope its nothing too bad."

Nezu pulled out his phone at this, another news channel now showing footage, "I wouldn't be so sure. A second channel just switched away from UA to the other news story."

"What do you mean? What's the story?" Aizawa asked next, only for Nezu to show him the footage. "Oh no."

Mic then glanced over to see it, grimacing at the headline: Mini-Army of Villains attacking Musutafu, right at UA's doorstep! Spider-Man seemingly taking them all on alone! Where are the heroes?!

"That's bad for business." Mic gulped, Aziawa glaring back at him.

"Call the heroes and get someone over there now!"

"Venom Punch!" Izuku screamed as he slammed an electric fist into a Tombstone goon, sending them flying into two more, zapping them as well. As he did this, his spider sense yelled at him, making him duck as a blade just barely missed him. He then thrust a leg upward, smacking his foot into a masked thug's chin. The man went flying back as Izuku then fired a web line, yanking himself up and over the street.

The teen wasn't sure how many he had beaten now. It felt like this fight had been going on for hours, even though he knew it was nowhere near that long. He didn't even really react when a news helicopter suddenly appeared above the fighting. Instead, he just leapt at the enemies now, barely feeling the few blows they could land as he let his spider sense guide him. He had been trying to figure out a fighting style, writing page after page on how it would work, but found that in practice, all fighting styles didn't exactly work the way he wanted it to.

Improvising was everything. Plans were only good if everything worked out perfectly, and Izuku knew by now, even with just the two weeks of vigilantism he had on his belt, nothing went perfectly. Otherwise, he wouldn't have the injuries he kept getting. Instead, he found that his spider sense was everything when it came to fighting. It always gave him the idea on where to go next, the teen flipping, swinging and ducking around everything he could. It wasn't perfect, but it was all he had.

As such, he swung down at a group of three masked thugs, "Web Swing Kick!" He slammed both feet into one of the goons, knocking him flying before firing a glob of webbing at him, sticking him to the street as soon as he landed. And as Izuku landed, he quickly ducked under both masked thugs as they swung their katanas at him. He then tapped one on the side, zapping him with electricity before side-stepping around the other as he tried to stab Izuku. And as he dodged the blade, he thrusted a fist into the thug's face, the blow instantly knocking the goon off his feet before webbing covered him as well.

However, two more Tombstone thugs appeared at this, the walrus man from earlier along with a hippo man. Izuku leapt over both, only for a third thug to suddenly appear behind them, bodychecking into the vigilante. He felt the blow, pushing him back as the hippo and walrus men spun around, both then slamming fists into Izuku's back. The teen was knocked into the third thug at this, the thug grabbing him in a waist hold and tried to squeeze him. But as he did this, Izuku just grabbed his shoulders, zapping him with ease. The thug fell over at this, letting Izuku go as he turned back to the other two, both throwing punches. Izuku just side-stepped both before countering with a jab into the walrus man's face, making him stumble back before ducking under another punch from the hippo man.

And as he ducked under this, the teen bent down and did a leg sweep, knocking the hippo down with ease. He fired some webbing next, sticking the hippo to the pavement as the walrus charged at him. However, Izuku just charged a Venom Punch, slamming it into the walrus man's stomach, knocking him across the street.

'There's so many...' Izuku thought, his mind slowing down as he spun around and saw three more masked goons charging at him.

"Kill the spider! He must die!" One of them yelled, Izuku sighing at the sight.

"Come on guys." Izuku moaned as he fired two shots of webbing, grabbing two of the thugs' chests before being yanked, making both stumble and fall over. The third thrust his blade at Izuku, the teen backstepping before throwing a punch right in his face, breaking the mask. The blow knocked him over, Izuku firing globs of webbing, sticking them all to the pavement. But as he did this another masked man ran up to him, katana in hand. "Seriously?! Can't you just...you know, give up?! I've beaten like two million of you guys already!"

"Kill the spider!" he roared as he leapt at Izuku, the teen just side-stepping as the goon slashed downward, only for his sword to hit pavement instead.

"Nope." Izuku muttered as he kicked the thug's side, the blow flinging the goon into an overturned car. He hit it and slumped over, Izuku turning back to the crossing. The teen now saw most of the Tombstone gang knocked out, their numbers less than the masked men, and most were all webbed up. Seeing this, he turned to find three more masked thugs climbing over the car. Electricity sparking in his hands, Izuku charged at them, 'Come on Izuku, you got this! Just a few more till the heroes show up!'

"Dang, that was intense." Gloria commented as they watched the second event come to an end at the UA sports festival. It showed Katsuki Bakugo in first place, yelling profanities as he declared how great he was. Gloria's small tongue stuck out for a second before turning to Inko, the woman watching the television with a blank stare. "Hey, you okay?"

Inko didn't respond, prompting Gloria to poke her shoulder. "Hmm?" Inko asked as she turned to Gloria.

"You okay?"

"Huh? Oh uh..." Inko barely replied before glancing away, "Just worried about Izuku."

"Oh yeah." Gloria chimed before looking back at the rest of FEAST. Everyone was crowded around to the place's television, only one or two not watching. "Little guy still isn't here. Wonder why he's late."

"Knowing him, he's got himself into something..." Inko sighed, making Gloria glance back at her.

"What do you mean?"

Inko just waved a hand at her, "Oh, its nothing."

Gloria chuckled at this, "I wouldn't say that. I think that shows you really love your son."

Inko just let out a sigh, "I do." She glanced down at her phone, "Still, I hope he responds soon."

As she said this, one of the people watching the television said, "What the-what's going on?!" Inko and Gloria looked back up at the screen, only to see the UA sports festival disappear and show something else.

"Breaking news!" a reporter said as footage showed a battle happening in a street crossing. "For unknown reasons, two gangs of villains are fighting and tearing apart the crossing of Jelucan Drive and Umbara Street in Musutafu! However, it seems the vigilante known as Spider-Man has come in and is trying to shut the situation down, but for some reason, the heroes have not arrived!"

"Whoa." Gloria muttered out, "That's just a few streets over! I hope it doesn't end up here..."

And as she said that, she didn't see Inko's face now paling as she stared at the footage of her son taking out another masked thug. 'Oh Izuku...please be careful.'

"RAAAAH!" Izuku roared as he punched another masked thug, the man slamming into two more. Spider sense rang out next, a hyena man running up to him next, leaping at the vigilante. In response, Izuku sidestepped, dodging the thug as the hyena guy spun around and threw a punch. But as he did this, Izuku threw his own, his fist hitting first, causing the thug's punch to hit air as he felt the blow slam into his big nose.

"Kill the spider!" yelled a masked thug as they leapt over an overturned car, slashing a katana down right at the teen. Spider sense screaming again, Izuku leapt to the side, dodging the weapon before firing a webline at the masked man's weapon, pulling it a split second later. The thug kept his grip on the weapon as Izuku did this, only to feel the teen's foot slam into his face, knocking the thug off his feet. Webbing covered him next, Izuku then firing another web upward and yanking himself back into the air.

'There's no end to this.' the teen thought as he stared down at the street, seeing two masked men get beat up by an alligator man while another masked man punched a rat faced man. The sight made him sigh before he swung down and exclaim, "Web Swing Kick!"

Two feet slammed into two masked men's faces, flinging them across the crossway as Izuku fired a webline at a third masked thug before yanking, sending him straight into the man. "Hi-ya!" Izuku yelled as he zipped right up to the thug and thrust a kick into the man's stomach, sending the thug into a man with a weasel face.

'Gotta keep moving...gotta stop these guys!' Izuku thought as his spider sense rang out again, making him instinctively duck down, avoiding a katana slicing through the air. This was followed by an uppercut from the teen, smacking a masked thug off his feet. But as this happened, spider sense kept yelling at him, only to see two more masked men, these just throwing punches. The teen sidestepped the first one, only for another to slam a fist into his face. "Urgh!"

Three more punches smacked Izuku's face, the teen closing his eyes from the blows before blindly swinging a punch back, knocking away the one that had missed hitting Izuku. This allowed the other to keep punching Izuku, slamming a fist into Izuku's stomach before doing a side-jab into the teen's face. He felt the blow as his spider sense kept yelling at him, Izuku's eyes creaking back open as he saw another punch come for his face. Reflexes took over next, Izuku tilting his head to dodge the blow before throwing a punch back, slamming it into the thug's face. The man's mask broke instantly, the thug falling over a second later before Izuku fired a glob of webbing, sticking the thug to the concrete.

'Ugh...that hurt.' Izuku mentally groaned as he fired a webline upward, yanking himself back up into the air once again. But as he did this, his eyes scanned over the whole situation, his mind going over what just happened, 'Each time I beat one of these guys, two more pop up! Is there no end?!' He then swung down and kicked another thug off his feet before firing a glob of webbing over another, the teen leaping at a third and throwing a punch. And as the blow connected, one more thought went through his head, 'I keep beating them though...'

Spider sense rang out at this, Izuku jumping away as three more thugs leapt at him, the teen dodging them all. As he did this, he whispered to himself, "I think...I think I can do this." Electricity appeared around his arms at this, "No. I will do this. Like a real hero would." The masked thugs charged at him next, Izuku yelling back, "Bring it on!"

Katsuki Bakugo was angry. Granted, that was his normal mindset, he was rarely anything but angry, but he was really angry right now. The UA sports festival, something he had watched for years, imagining himself on that podium, being cheered on and worshipped like he deserved...only to finally be a part of the festival, and found it was filled with nothing but weaklings.

They were all trash! Worthless pebbles that weren't even worthy of being a piece of a stepping stone! The first round was a dumb obstacle course, the second round was a stupid calvary battle where he had to 'cooperate' with a bunch of pathetic losers...and this final round was the most worthless of them all.

He had just won his second fight of the final round, and it was a disappointment. It was another weakling, a piece of trash. It was that orange ponytail chick of the other class, who he beat without trying. All he had to do was push through her worthless giant hands, grab the top of her head and slam his explosive quirk in her face a few times. She was knocked out almost instantly, only for Midnight to say he had to stop or be disqualified for being 'too rough'. What a load of garbage! If she was that weak, she shouldn't be here!

Same goes for his first fight, which was Round Cheeks, the girl with gravity powers. What a pointless weak quirk. She doesn't deserve to be a hero. She thought she could trap him by levitating the pebbles around the arena. What a stupid plan. It was so easy to beat, and then she stood there...showing those defiant eyes. She could barely stand, her legs shaking as she charged at him after failing her trap, thinking she stood a chance. How pointless. How stupid. And her eyes...those defiant eyes. Eyes that reminded Katsuki of...him. Deku.

He was here. Deku had to be here. That made him so angry. He had spent years telling that quirkless loser he wasn't allowed to set foot, not even a toe, into UA. If he did, he would turn that piece of trash into ash. Its what Deku deserved. He believed he could be a hero. That thought made him want to explode. It made him so angry. Didn't Deku know that quirkless trash only exist to be put in the ground?! Didn't he spend years telling that piece of garbage that he'll never amount to anything?! Didn't Deku know he'll never become or deserve to be a hero?!

His palms kept crackling, popping every second as he stared out at the stadium. Each fight he did, they kept booing him after he won. Why are they booing?! He's the greatest! He's the best there is! They should be worshipping him, Katsuki Bakugo, the next Number One Hero! He was already better than All Might!

He let out a growl next, making him look down at the arena, only to see...was that bird head? Whatever. He's another pathetic pebble that was now walking out of the arena while some purple-haired gen-ed noodle-looking garbage just stood there. And everyone looked like they were confused about what that guy's quirk was. It was so obvious! It was a villain quirk! Why is everyone so stupid?!

"Worthless extras." He growled as he saw his future opponent be declared worthy of going to the next round. An extra with an obvious brainwashing quirk was next. "Tch. At least I'll win the next round easily. Here's hoping Half-and-half will give me a good fight in the final round."

And as he said this, he glanced out at the stadium, only to see a ton of people staring at their phones. Like, half the stadium weren't paying attention to the festival. Eh, whatever. As long as they watch him, it didn't matter. His eyes darted around next, searching for a certain green-haired teen...but found nothing. "Where are you, Deku?! I know you're here, mocking me!" He let out a low hiss, "Where are you?!"

"Venom Smash!" Izuku roared as he slammed his fist into the ground, electricity surging out of him, knocking four more masked goons back. He had just taken out the last Tombstone thug before using that Venom Smash, and now his ears heard the sounds of screeching tires, making him turn to see two black vans drive up to crossing.

'Seriously?!' He mentally yelled before his spider sense screamed at him, making him duck down just as a blade swung over his head. He spun around to see another masked thug thrusting a sword at the teen, only for Izuku to swing his leg upward, kicking the goon right in the face. The thug hit the pavement a second later, Izuku firing another glob of webbing, sticking him into the street.

He glanced back at the black vans, now seeing a few thugs walk out of vehicles, along with two bulky masked men. "Oh great, so you're all...sextuplets? Or is it septuplets? Eh, I give up." Izuku fired two web lines at this, yanking at them as he threw himself at the thugs, "Venom Punch!"

He thrust an electric fist into one of them, slamming it into the thug's chest. The blow knocked the guy flying, only for two goons to charge in with blades, Izuku quickly leaping onto one of the black vans before they could get close. "You know, I'm gonna declare this as another no sharp deadly weapons zone."

"Die spider!" the other bulky thug yelled as energy poured out of his fists. He then swung his fist at the van Izuku was on, the teen's spider sense yelling as he quickly leapt off the vehicle just as the fist hit it. The blow made the car go flying, slamming it into a nearby building as Izuku landed across the rest of the masked men, Izuku seeing there was only five left beside the bulky thug.

"Kill the spider!" the masked thugs roared as they charged at Izuku, the teen just pointing his wrists at them, firing a round of webbing at their faces. Blinding four of them, they began tripping into objects that were scattered across the street, the four falling over as Izuku ran in and punched the remaining one in the face, shattering his mask and knocking him out. As this happened, he fired webbing over the other four, sticking them all to the pavement.

But as he did this, his spider sense yelled before looking back up and seeing a giant fist slam into his chest. "Blaugh!" Izuku yelped as the bulky thug's fist knocked the vigilante across the street, his back hitting a building. "Urgh!" Izuku moaned before hitting the pavement, almost slumping over.

"Ow." Izuku muttered out, clutching his chest as he tried to stay standing.

"You will die today, spider." the bulky thug said as he slowly stomped over to him.

"And I still can't understand you." Izuku replied as he pointed his wrist at the thug and pressed the web shooter trigger, only to hear a 'psst'. "Oh, great."

"Die!" the thug roared as he pulled back a fist before thrusting it. Seeing this, Izuku just ducked under the jab before slamming his own fist into the thug's stomach. The blow made the thug slightly stumble back, only to swing another punch, but Izuku caught it with his own hand.

"Gotcha!" Izuku laughed as electricity charged into the hand, zapping the thug. Izuku then pushed forward, knocking the thug off his feet. The teen glanced up at this, now seeing no more villains charging at him. Nothing but a bunch of webbed up thugs, several overturned cars and a small fire coming from two vans. Scorch marks littered the crossing, and parts of nearby buildings had giant burn marks on them.

"I...I did it. I won. I...I beat them all." Izuku muttered out as he leaned on the building behind him. He then grabbed a web cartridge out of his hoodie and switched it out of his web shooter, only to hear a new noise. It was the sound of police sirens, making him turn and see several police cars, along with a certain giant hero walking up to the crossing. It was Mount Lady, Kamui Woods on her shoulder as they got ahead of the police cars.

'There they are. What took them so long?' he thought before a surge of pain hit his entire body, adrenaline now wearing off as he grabbed his chest and slumped down, 'No...hurts...everywhere. Gotta...get...outta...here.'

He took a deep breath before turning invisible, the teen then crawling up the building he was leaning on. And when he reached the top, he fired a web line and began to invisibly swing away.

The UA sports festival was over. Katsuki Bakugo stood on the top podium, roaring at the crowd as he was tied down in chains. In second place was Shoto Todoroki, whose face was covered in burns, his non-scarred eye closed while leaning on a crutch. Third was Shinso Hitoshi, who was also covered in burns and had an arm in a sling. All Might had appeared next, giving the medals out as the crowd mainly cheered for the number one hero.

But as this happened, Nezu was now in his office. He usually was part of the entire UA festival every year, but this one was different. This was because he found himself getting multiple calls from news outlets, all complaining that the winner of the sports festival looked like some violent thug rather than a hero. Granted, he agreed to an extent, but Aizawa told him that was what Endeavor was, and Katsuki had only been a student for two weeks, not enough to change personalities.

However, that wasn't the main topic of the phone call he was on right now. It was the hero commission president, who was chewing him out for taking all the heroes of Musutafu to the UA sports festival, only for half of the news outlets that covered the festival to suddenly switch to the Spider-Man story, and then no heroes showed up until Spider-Man had already saved the day.

"This is unacceptable!" the president screamed, Nezu just sighing at her reaction.

"Listen, we can not help it when villains attack. What happened-"

"I don't care about what happened! I care that there weren't heroes there to deal with it as soon as it started because they were at your festival! You have All Might at your disposal! Use him!"

"All Might is not a tool-"

"All Might can beat any villain two seconds flat!" the president roared, the sound of a fist hitting a table ringing out through the phone, "He's the greatest hero this world has ever seen, so don't tell me he couldn't have gone in there and handled that!"

Nezu let out another sigh, "I understand your frustration, but we did send heroes to the situation. It is not our fault how long it took them to get there."

He could hear the president grinding her teeth before letting out a hiss, "Listen here rat, I have already told that dog Tsuragamae that Spider-Man must be arrested! We can not allow a vigilante to do a hero's job, especially not after this! Do you understand?!"

"Listen-"

"Do you understand?!" She screeched, making Nezu pause for a second.

"Understood."

"Good. I'm hanging up now because I now have to talk to every news outlet that decided that a vigilante is more important than the UA sports festival!"

A click could be heard before Nezu leaned back in his chair, sighing yet again. He rubbed his face with his hand as he muttered out, "It seems this could be a problem." He then pulled out a cigarette and lit it, taking a quick smoke, "Perhaps Aizawa will now allow me to be part of his investigation with Naomasa."

Izuku wasn't sure when he got home. He knew it took him a bit longer, mainly cuz he swung one-handed due to his injuries. It had actually only took him a few minutes after beating all the thugs to get home, but it felt like hours to him. As such, he crawled into his room's window, opened and closed it, and crashed onto his bed. He tried to do a text on his phone, only to fall asleep before he could even tap out a word.

An hour or so later, his mom came home. She found him knocked out, sighing at the sight before stripping and bandaging him up. She was so glad he had that healing factor, even if it was super slow. She then put his costume in the wash and just shook her head at the sight of her sleeping son.

"You're going to be the end of me, aren't you?" she whispered to herself before walking into the living room and turning on the television. There, it showed the footage she had seen earlier. It was her son fighting a giant group of villains, the sight of him flipping around, kicking and punching made her go wide-eyed.

'He really was born to be hero, wasn't he?' she thought as she leaned back into the couch, 'I can't stop worrying about him...and yet I feel so proud.'

But as she did this, she glanced back at the television, only to see it turn to another news piece. One that made her go wide-eyed as she whispered, "Oh dear. I hope Izuku doesn't see this."

Tombstone took a swig of whiskey as he walked into a stained blue-colored warehouse on the edge of town. It was a perfect place to hide things away, as it had a long old wire fence around it and broken street lights. And as he walked in, he saw the lights inside were on, showing several piles of boxes...and a group of masked men laying out on the floor, the villain staring at the sight.

"So...were we right?" he grumbled as he walked up to one of the masked men. "Was the whole point of the street fight was so they could try to rob this place?"

"Yeah boss."

"I figured." Tombstone sighed as he picked up one of the masked men like a ragdoll, the thug not responding to even the slightest touch. "And they're still doing that weird not moving thing." He dropped the thug before putting his foot over the thug's face and slammed it down, the sound of crunching bones ringing out next.

It made his men in the warehouse flinch at the sound, only to see Tombstone take another swig of whiskey, "So much for war. And it looks like that spider-whatever is gonna be a pain now."

And as he smacked his lips at this, he put his drink down on a nearby table before taking out a phone, which showed a news feed of Spider-Man fighting his gang on television. "Guess we'll need to do some more recruiting. The heroes will actually start trying to find us now." He then saw the feed change to show another message:

Breaking news! Pro Hero Ingenium severely injured by Hero Killer!

Tombstone's mouth slowly formed a tiny smile, "Then again, maybe not." He turned to one of the thugs, "Call the boys. I want the shipment done asap."

"Sure boss."

And as the thug took out his own phone, Tombstone grabbed his whiskey and took another swig, "Looks like Lady Luck's on my side. Time to get rich while the heroes stay distracted." He wiped his lips at this, "And maybe that spider guy will get caught in the mess as well."