Chapter 25: Investigating The Demon
Izuku wasn't sure how much time passed as he stayed crouched down in that vent. He knew he didn't move for some time, his eyes just blankly staring at the sight below him. He watched Li order the men around, seeing a few pack up some boxes filled with weapons before slowly making their way out of the room.
However, Izuku barely paid attention, his eyes just staring holes into Li. 'I don't understand. Why is...why is Mister Li a villain?' his mind said as he felt his body tense up at those thoughts, 'Was everything he told me a lie? Does he not care? I mean, these masked guys have done a lot of bad! I should know, I've fought them! Was...was it all a big fat lie?!'
He let out a silent sigh, his brain now shuffling through his memories of his time at FEAST. The encouragement Li would give him, the talk they had during that one car ride, how the man seemed to always smile and try to help others. And then he looked back at the Li below him, seeing a dull yet holier than thou look on his face. Expressions were harder to tell now that his body had changed colors, but this man was different. His voice, while Izuku was unable to understand the words, sounded off. Like there a strange small echo in them.
'It's like...he's a different person. I mean, I know that's Mister Li, but...but...that quirk. Is it something like an energy transfer quirk? But it looked like it was some kind of a brainwashing quirk too. How did he...but why is Mister Li-' his thoughts went back to his memories at this, only to shake his head, 'No. There must be something wrong here. I-I-I just know it!' He watched as Li gave a few more orders before leaving the room. 'That's not the Mister Li I know. But if he really is their leader...'
He glanced down at the masked men, only to see a spare mask sitting on one of the desks. The sight made the teen blink as his brain showed him the one thing that led him here. 'The secret room at FEAST!' His body began to move again at this, 'Yeah...yeah. I need to figure this out. Mister Li wouldn't just do this, and I bet that room will help me figure out what's going on.'
Izuku began to go backwards through the vent, and as he found the exit, he slipped out, only for another thought to enter his head, 'Wait. Maybe I should stop them first. I mean, they are doing weapon smuggling right now...' He glanced down, his eyes now seeing a few put some weapon crates into a semi. He pointed his wrist at the thugs, only to retract it. 'No. If I hop down there, I won't figure anything out. I still believe in Mister Li...but that doesn't mean I can't track these guys.'
With that, he turned invisible and crawled down to street level, soon slipping under the semi and placing a spider tracer in the vehicle's underbelly. 'There we go. No chance they find this.'
He then crawled out of from under the semi, only to see they were loading up two more vehicles, the teen soon crawling under them as well as he placed tracers in each one. The teen then took back the one he had put on Li's car, as it was pretty obvious on the car's bumper, and he didn't want to alert the masked men of his presence. And as soon as this was done, he invisibly crawled back up the building wall before firing a web line. He was ready for the next step.
It was when Izuku was about halfway to FEAST that he realized it was still the middle of the day. Knowing he couldn't just walk in and ask for Li's office key without raising suspicions, he knew he could only do one thing: Wait till nightfall and sneak in. Thankfully, he knew that FEAST also had a vent system, mainly due to him knowing he needed a way for him to sneak out if he had to switch to Spider-Man immediately, which he had found a few days ago. As such, he instead went home, quickly reaching the apartment while being invisible, crawling into his window like usual.
The teen spent the next hour at his desk, making some web fluid while also making a small door opener device, as he had a feeling he probably wouldn't find the key at FEAST with ease like last time, and breaking down the door was definitely not an option. Due to this, he created the tool before taking a short nap, his mother coming home a few hours later. And when he woke up, he told her the story, the woman frowning at every detail before Izuku declared what he was going to do.
"Are you sure?" She asked as he finished, "I mean...I still can't believe it, but-"
"Yeah." Izuku interrupted as he glanced away, "I uh...I still don't believe it myself, and I saw it."
"Oh Izuku..."
Izuku scratched the back of his head before replying, "I...I want to believe that that isn't Mister Li. That there's some kind of mix-up or evil twin or...or something." He looked back at his mother, tears beginning to appear in his eyes, "Is it wrong of me to think that?"
Inko shook her head as tears appeared in her eyes as well, "Not at all." She placed a hand on his shoulder, "Izuku, you have the kindest heart I know. That's why you still believe in him."
"But what if he's just an evil villain? What if...what if everything he's told me was a lie?"
Inko bit her lip at this, soon sighing, "I...don't know." She tensed her hand on his shoulder before staring directly into her son's eyes, "But what I do know is that you'll do the right thing when the time comes...and I'll be there to support you."
Izuku blinked at her, only to nod, "Okay." He leaned in next, hugging her as she embraced him back, "Thanks mom."
"Of course. That's why I'm here."
He chuckled at that as he ended the hug, "You're here to help convince me to investigate dangerous weapon smugglers?"
Inko giggled as she did a fake shrug, "Eh, it's a living."
Izuku took another small nap a little later, letting the sun vanish from the sky as the moon took its place. And when that was done, he woke up, did a quick routine and switched into being Spider-Man. He told his mom he'd be gone for a while, Inko telling him 'good luck' before invisibly crawling out and swinging away. It didn't take him long to reach FEAST, as he knew web-slinging route by heart now.
But as he landed on the building, he felt himself release a long breath he didn't know he was holding. He put his hands in his hoodie's pockets, checking to make sure he had everything he needed before crawling down the side of the building. There, he found the vent he was looking for, quickly opening it and crawling through.
It wasn't long till he found the exit vent, opening it and turning invisible as he crawled out. The vent spat him out on the second floor, the teen glancing down at the main floor and seeing several people all sleeping on the beds inside, a chorus of snores filling the place. The sight reminded him that the place was also a shelter, something he sometimes forgets as he slowly made his way to Li's office door.
And as he got there, he pulled out the small device, which he put in the crack of the door. 'Come on...' he mentally whispered to himself as he fiddled for a second, only to hear a tiny click. 'Got it!'
He glanced back at this, his hand slowly taking the door handle before twisting it. The frame was pushed back at this, Izuku silently tiptoeing into the room as he glanced back one last time before closing the door behind him. He then put the device away as he turned off his invisibility before taking out the small flashlight he would use for his notebook at night and made his way to the wardrobe. He pulled up his mask slightly, putting the light in his mouth as he opened the wardrobe.
'Now, I know I accidentally saw he had a hidden room last time, but I bet there's a way to move this. After all, if I just force the wardrobe and Mister Li comes back, he'll know someone's been here.' He patted around the wardrobe's frame, only to feel something push in. 'Hmm?'
A tiny bit of wood pushed in at this, Izuku hearing another tiny click. Izuku leaned back at this, grabbing the side of the wardrobe, only to find it could now easily be moved. He slowly pulled it back, the wardrobe smoothly moving as he pushed it aside. And as he glanced inside, he saw the mask from earlier on a desk, along with a whole room in semi darkness, only a lit bulb shining above the desk.
'That's not creepy.' he thought as he tiptoed inside, glancing back one last time before fully entering the room. He began to wave around his small flashlight, now seeing the full place around him. There wasn't much in the room, just the desk, a chair, and a board on all three walls around the desk. The only wall that didn't have a board was the entrance to the secret room, Izuku's eyes darting around.
The teen started by going over to the desk, his flashlight shining a light on the mask first. He then moved the light across the desk, now seeing a few folders. Izuku hovered his other hand over this, a feeling of hesitation embracing his body. 'If I move anything in here, he'll know someone's been in this room.' He glanced back to the secret door, 'I mean, I think I could close that and make sure its not suspicious, but moving anything will...shoot. I didn't think this through, did I? I keep jumping into things...but he did say he was gonna be gone for a few days. Maybe I can just take some pictures with my phone...but I won't have looked at the files here.'
He looked back at the folder again, those thoughts mixing through his head before putting his hand on the folder. 'I need to know. Even if its obvious someone's done something in this...secret room, I still need to know.' He took the folder and opened it, putting his flashlight over it as he began to read.
'This is...' he thought aloud as he eyes slightly widened, 'A list of properties in Musutafu. Does Mister Li own these?' He flipped to the second page, now seeing a list of people's names, but the very first one was missing. Instead, he saw one word for the top entry. 'Kingpin? Who's that?' He glanced down the list, not recognizing any of the names before flipping to the third page, now seeing another list of buildings and several graphs filled with numbers. 'What is...wait.'
Izuku's eyes stopped about halfway down the list, only to go wide-eyed. He recognized a certain building on the list. 'That's the bank where I first fought the masked guys!' he mentally gasped, only to see a description beside it, 'Says its...owned by the Kingpin? There's that name again. I don't know any hero called that. Is it a villain name?'
He began flipping through more pages, his eyes glancing around as he saw they were more papers on properties and money. And when he reached the end of the folder, he found himself having more questions than answers. 'What was all that? I mean, it's just lists of stuff.' He put the flashlight in his mouth next and pulled out his phone, 'Let's take some pictures first.'
Turning the sound down on the phone, he put the folder down on the desk and began to snap photos of every page as he held the flashlight over it. He didn't want to use the phone camera's flash, afraid he was already making too much noise and movement. And after he recorded the first folder, he began to go through the second and third, skimming each. 'This one has more people...property...money figures...and that Kingpin name keeps appearing on them. Is it the name of an operation?'
The teen switched to another folder, wide-eyed again as he saw the name on it. It was a logo of a company he was very familiar with. It was a corporation well known for a multitude of things. 'Oscorp. That's...why would Mister Li be interested in them?' he thought as starting taking pictures again while flipping through the pages, 'These are locations as well...and there's that name again: Kingpin. What is this all about?'
Izuku's mind paused at this, his brain going over the facts he knew about the corporation. Oscorp was the leading company in the world over quirk science. Famous for its support weapons as well, the corporation was something Izuku remembered looking into many times. It was the kind that made you think 'larger than life' to most. As such, he began taking pictures before putting the file down.
After this, he saw one final folder. Taking it in his hands, he saw another company's name he knew. It was one he had considered looking into if everything had gone wrong in terms of trying to be a support hero. It was a huge support company, though it was made for support lifestyles, something he wasn't interested in, but knew he could do if he had no other choice. 'Detnerat. This shows locations for them too. I don't see that Kingpin name though...just what is Mister Li doing?'
He then finished photographing the files, putting the folders back down on the desk and moving over to the boards. There, he saw they were maps of Musutafu, all three the same maps, but with different things marked. The first one had several buildings marked with red circles around them. 'Let's see, that's the bank where I first fought them. And that's...that's the warehouse that the Tombstone gang was at!' He slightly moved the flashlight down, seeing another building marked, 'What's that building? Says its another location they've hit.'
He pulled out his phone and took a picture of the map, only to go to the browser and look up the building. A few seconds later, a news feed popped up, one showing that a robbery had taken place a few days ago. 'Masked men rob jewelry store...' he mentally said before looking at the date, 'That's the day I fought them and Ryukyu showed up! Wait...how did they do that? I thought she stopped them. Was it a decoy?'
The teen let out a sigh before looking back at the map one last time, only to find nothing else interesting marked. Seeing this, he went to another wall, staring at the map there. This one was the same map of Musutafu, but the markings were much bigger this time, 'What is this? Everything that's marked is like...full blocks.' Izuku followed one of the markings, only to see a small name under it, 'It says Tombstone. Does he operate on this block?' He looked the map over with his flashlight again, 'Actually, its more like a small district. Maybe this is Mister Li saying he thinks Tombstone is somewhere around these markings?' He then looked over the other markings, only to see no names under them, but were in a different color compared to the Tombstone area. 'Hmm...I don't recognize any of these places. I must be missing something here. Guess I should take a photo and look at the other map.'
One photograph later, he went to the final map, this one having buildings circled in blue. And as he looked it over, he soon realized what this one meant. 'That's the building I followed Mister Li to! These must be their hideouts! One is a few streets over from FEAST, and that other one...its not far from the second FEAST building.' He began to take pictures at this, grimacing at the sight. 'I think I found everything...well, not everything, but something close.'
And after a few more pics, he put his phone away, glancing back at the desk with the folders on it. He had tried to kinda put them back where they had been, but had a feeling it would be noticed anyways. 'What is Mister Li trying to do? It looks like he's using this...masked gang to rob some places, but that's it. Is it connected to this Kingpin? And who is that?' He glanced back at the room, only to feel a wave of frustration hit him, 'Darn it! I don't get it! I mean, it looks like Mister Li is a villain even more now...but at the same time, I don't really get what he's trying to do. Who is the Kingpin? And why is Mister Li after him? Or her.'
He pulled out his phone again and looked at all the photos he had taken. In particular, he stared at the pictures of the maps, 'I don't get it. Kingpin, Mister Li, and Tombstone. Oscorp and Detnerat.' He put a finger to his chin before sighing, 'I'm gonna go home. Maybe I can figure out more with my computer.'
The teen stared back up at the room for a bit longer before walking over and ruffling the folders a bit, trying to make them look neat like that had been before, and shuffled out of the room. He slowly closed the wardrobe, finding the hidden lock on it and making sure it fully shut off the place. And after this was done, he silently locked the office door and glanced out into the building, only to hear nothing but snores. The sound made him mentally chuckle before turning invisible, quickly sneaking back over to the vent and crawling right through.
Izuku wasn't sure how long it took him to get back home. His brain was on autopilot as he swung back to his house, crawled through the window, changed out of costume, and went straight for his desk. This was followed by him uploading the photos to his computer, the teen soon looking over everything he could. As such, he began to replicate every list from the photos, and pulled up images of maps that he began to edit in what the marked maps had shown.
It took a full night, something that Inko woke up to, which she admitted had been a long time since she had seen her son do an all-nighter. After telling him to go to bed, he slept for a few hours before getting back at it, several more hours replicating the information. And as he did this, he tried to look up the name Kingpin in multiple search engines and news outlets, only to find nothing. No files or anything...with the exception of one.
Izuku's eyes stared at a news article created a few months ago, its creator now deceased, article now redacted like crazy while also being part of an investigation. 'Ben Urich. Says here he wrote an article about the...'Kingpin of Crime'?!' Izuku blinked at the name, 'That sounds like a villain. It says that the reporter was later found dead.'
The teen leaned back in his desk chair, hand on his chin, 'There's nothing on an investigation after this. Was it covered up?' He then turned to the clock, going wide-eyed as he saw how late it was. 'Wow. Two days basically just passed with me doing this. The week's almost over.'
Izuku changed the screen back to everything he had replicated, only to see it looked like a muddled mess in his eyes. His brain couldn't make sense of anything. All he could see was just numbers and names, but his mind said only one thing: Mister Li was a villain. That fact kept repeating in his head. Martin Li was a villain that seemed to be...fighting this Kingpin, or was under him. Regardless, there was nothing on why Li was a villain, or why he was doing any of this. Instead, Izuku found himself more confused than when he first saw that mask in the crack in the office. That alone lead to one conclusion in his mind.
He switched the screen to the maps, staring at one in particular. 'I need to check the other hideouts. Maybe I can find something there.' he thought before looking back at the time. It was the middle of the day, the sight making him let out a sigh before getting out of his chair and go into the kitchen. And as he entered that room, he made himself supper as he thought up one last thing.
'I will find out why you're a villain, Mister Li.'
Chapter 26: Tracking The Demon
Izuku was eating a bit of katsudon as his mom walked into the room. She saw a semi-tired yet confused look on his face, the sight making her frown as she sat down beside him. "What's wrong?" She asked, the teen slowly glancing over at her.
"Just...thinking."
"What did you find out?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing?" Inko replied, her head slightly going back at the response, "But you said-"
"I know." Izuku sighed as he took a sip of water, "Its just...nothing makes sense. Everything I found in Mister Li's room is nothing but names, numbers and locations. I don't understand any of it."
Inko shook her head, "No, you understand it, Izuku." He glanced back up at her. "You just don't know what to do, do you?"
Izuku stared at her for a few seconds before sighing again, "Yeah. Anytime I think back to Mister Li, all I see is this kind man who's gone out of his way to help me so much. I mean, I no longer stutter around everyone at FEAST. I feel like I can do actual conversations...though its no one my age. But...but I still see that in him."
Inko shook her head at this, remembering what Izuku had told her about Aldera. She always knew something was wrong, seeing him come home with bruises and burns, but the boy never said anything. He was always silent, trying to hide it all, trying to not make himself a burden for her. She should have known better, seeing her son come home with a huge, pain-filled frown.
But he was different now. Izuku came home with a huge grin on his face, happy as he found something he truly loved doing, and no one telling him otherwise...with the exception of some newscasters.
However, the sight before her reminded her of the old Izuku, one that came home from Aldera every day, broken and miserable. Granted, he didn't really look broken this time, more confused than anything, but still miserable. It made her put her hand on his shoulder, her son turning to her as she said, "Izuku...I want you to do what you think is right. If you need to go confront him, do it. And if you don't want to confront him, that's fine too. We'll call the heroes and let them handle it."
Those words made her son flinch, the teen glancing down for a second before eating another bite. And as he did this, he let out a deep breath before saying, "No. I...I feel I need to do this."
Inko's frown grew at that, "Why?"
"Because...because..." Izuku dropped his chopsticks at this, slightly shaking his head, "I don't know. I just-" He put his hand on face, slowly pulling it down before looking back at his mother, "Mom, if Mister Li really is a villain and I take him down...what do you think will happen to FEAST?"
Inko blinked at that, her frown trying to grow as she replied, "Well...I don't know." The response made Izuku grimace, only to see his mother's expression change, the frown staying, but her eyes now staring straight at him with a certain blaze, "But if Mister Li is a villain, I do know that if everyone in FEAST knew you were Spider-Man, they would accept you taking him down."
Izuku's eyes went wide at her statement, the teen wanting to say 'really?!' but unable too. Instead, he looked back down at his food. His mind went over everything that had just happened. The gang war right before the start of the week, Stain, Iida, and now this. The events flooded him, but his mind went back to everything he had been going over the past two days. The documents and maps, all showing some big thing happening between Li and someone called Kingpin.
As such, the teen grabbed and ate the last piece of food. A long gulp followed as Inko saw a new look appear on her son's face. It was one she knew all too well. It was that fire that would appear in Izuku's eyes when he talked about wanting to be a hero. To save anyone and everyone. A flame that scared her so much, but in recent days...it made her so proud.
He turned to her before doing a small nod, "Thanks mom."
"No problem. Though...what are you going to do?"
Izuku took a long swig of water before replying, "I'm gonna take a small nap and then sneak into one of the hideouts. I need to...well, I need to know everything."
Inko nodded back, "I understand." She patted his shoulder at this, "And Izuku?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm so proud of you." She shined a small smile at this, "I know I...don't say it enough, but I am."
Izuku blinked at her, small tears appearing in his eyes as he hugged her, the mother embracing him back, "Thanks mom. Love you."
"Love you too."
Izuku woke up a few hours later bright and ready. He checked the clock for a second, seeing there was still one day left of the week, though it was now nighttime, but that didn't matter in his mind. Instead, he quickly changed into his outfit, putting on the mask before going to the kitchen and making himself a small bento. He had asked his mom to get some supplies yesterday while he was replicating the pictures, having a feeling he needed to be extra prepared for this. Granted, it was also because he kept trying to tell himself to not just leap into everything.
After a few more minutes of preparation, the teen went invisible and snuck out of his room's window, inhaling a deep breath before web-swinging into the city. He had decided to go for the closest of the three hideouts, knowing it was just about 8 to 9 streets over from FEAST. He was a bit surprised, as it made it only a bit aways from UA, but still significantly far enough that heroes and police would take a bit to respond to such a location.
As such, he got there during a little over two hours before midnight, the darkness already settling in. The night cover made invisibility pointless, as he knew no one would be hunting him right now. And so, he landed on the hideout's rooftop, a four-story building, and took out his self-made bento. Putting it in a little bag along with a water bottle, he placed it on the roof before taking out his spider tracer tracker, only to find two signals from the tracers he used earlier were right below him.
'They brought two of them here.' he thought before seeing the tracker display a third and fourth signal that were together and far away, but also hadn't updated on the tracker due to distance, 'That must be Mister Li's car and the other tracer. I can't tell if those have been moved, but I'll get to that later. Hopefully, they're still at the other hideout. Still...maybe this place is where they stash all their cars and loot.'
Putting the tracker back in his hoodie, he started crawling down the side of the building, soon finding what he was looking for: An air duct. 'Nice! Time for some duct crawling.' He slithered into the vent, still surprised at how easy it was before clambering through the area. It wasn't long till he found a vent he could look out of, glancing down and seeing a room that's lights were off. But despite them being off, he could vaguely make the outlines of the room he was staring at.
'A garage? Well, they do seem to have an infinite amount of cars.' he thought before quietly grabbing the grate, slowly putting it aside before crawling out of the vent. He then began to crawl on the ceiling, mentally commenting to himself just how cool it was that he could do that. And as he did this, he went over to the wall and made his way down to the floor. He began to tiptoe around next, only to hear a door open. Turning invisible at this, the room's light suddenly turned on, making Izuku almost drop his invisibility. He quickly began to crawl back up the wall, only to glance down and see that a door from the opposite of the room had been opened, a masked man coming in and flicking another light switch.
"Is everything ready?" the thug asked another masked man that walked through the door, "The master will be coming here tomorrow."
"Everything is here. I have taken inventory." the second masked thug replied as they walked through the room.
"Good. The master wants to up the timetables."
"Because of the spider? He seems to interfere much more than the heroes."
"I do not know." the first masked man said as they got to the other side of the room, pulling out a key as he opened another door. Izuku was right above him, staring the duo as he invisibly crawled down to their level. And as they walked out of the room, Izuku got down the floor, slowly opening the door behind them.
And as he did this, he glanced inside and saw the room's lights were on. Several masked men were there, some moving crates while others were just standing around and talking. Izuku wanted to sigh as he still couldn't understand what they were saying, but instead just invisibly crawled up the wall. He felt his head start to hurt, cancelling the invisibility as he reached the ceiling. He then glanced down and started counting everyone in the room.
'Only ten. But I don't see any weapons on them...maybe their swords and guns are somewhere else in the building?' He took a deep breath, 'Should I go for it or see if there's more guys somewhere around here?'
He looked back at the door he had went through, only to feel a tingle in his head. He knew what it meant. He couldn't keep his invisibility much longer. The teen quickly crawled down, going through the top of the door's frame and back into the car room. Izuku turned visible a second later, putting a hand to his head. 'Urgh...gotta be more careful.'
The teen glanced around at this, not seeing anybody else in the room. He then crawled over to the other side of the room, going down to another door and grabbing the knob. However, it wouldn't move. 'Locked. Hmm...' He glanced back at the first door, 'The only way to get past it is to break it open, and that'll make a lot of noise. Looks like I'm just gonna have to go and beat those guys.'
He fired a web line and swung across the room, silently landing on the wall before going over to the top of the door and slowly opened it. Izuku released himself from the wall and spun around, landing before quietly opening the door regularly. As he did this, he saw the masked men still didn't notice, the teen quickly crawling up the wall before surveying the area.
'They still don't have their weapons. Good. Let's do this.' He pointed his wrists at three that were all standing around each other, talking.
Thwip!
A big glob of webbing hit the trio, sticking them all together. "What the-" one of them yelped before another blast of webbing hit one of their feet, Izuku yanking it a second later.
They let out a yell as the rest turned to the webbed-up trio, only for Izuku land right beside another masked thug, electricity surging through a fist. "Venom Punch!" he exclaimed as the thug turned to him, only to feel an electrified punch to the gut, knocking him flying.
"The spider!" another yelled before energy poured out of his fists, the thug roaring as he charged at the vigilante. He then threw a punch at Izuku, the teen ducking under it before thrusting a jab into the thug's face, shattering the mask and knocking him off his feet.
"Get the spider!" two more thugs roared, only for Izuku to fire two web lines into their feet, yanking both a second later. Globs of webbing then hit their chests as their backs hit the floor, sticking both to the ground.
Danger!
Izuku spun around at this, only to see an energy wave to hit him, knocking Izuku off his feet. "Augh!" he yelped as his back hit the floor, only to quickly roll back onto his feet. But as he did this, two other thugs charged at him, both now wielding katanas. Energy poured out of them as they leapt at Izuku, thrusting both weapons down at him. Spider sense blaring, Izuku fired a web line to the right and pulled, yanking himself away just in time before landing. The two katana thugs charged at him again at this, Izuku then firing a web line at the ceiling and yanking himself upward. He flipped over them as the thugs tried to slash at him, only for Izuku to fire two more web lines, grabbing the thugs' backs and yanking them. As he did this, both were knocked off balance, Izuku then firing more webbing and sticking them into the floor.
But as this happened, the final thug ran out of the room. He grabbed a phone and began yell into it, "Master! The spider is here! He-"
Thwip!
Webbing covered the phone and was yanked out of his grasp, Izuku grabbing it, "So...who ya talking to?" Izuku then stared at the phone, only to see it was showing a restricted number.
"Give that back!" the final thug yelled as he pulled out a pistol. Spider sense began to yell at this, Izuku firing another shot of webbing, hitting the pistol before yanking it away as well. And as this happened, the thug began to charge at Izuku, the teen ducking under the punch before slamming a Venom Punch into him, knocking him flying. Webbing covered him next, sticking him to the floor.
"And...that's that. " Izuku commented as he looked back at the phone, now seeing the call had ended. "Darn. Well, I hope he doesn't know I'm coming, but I don't know what that guy said before I took the phone." He let out a sigh and put away the phone, "I'll use you later." He then walked back into the room full of knocked out thugs, Izuku's eyes glancing around, 'Dang. I think I'm getting pretty good at this.'
He walked around the room, seeing it seemed to be a break room, only to see another door. Izuku shuffled up to it, grabbing the knob and seeing it was also locked. 'Well, I don't need to be quiet anymore.' He pulled on the door, yanking it off its frames. He then put it to the side, walking into a small hallway, which had another door at the end. Going over there, he found he had to break this door as well, only to go into another room.
However, this room made him go wide-eyed. It was filled to the brim with money and jewels. All of them were on desks, stacks upon stacks of cash and bags of jewels on the floor. 'Is this from the banks they stole from?' He glanced back and forth at the money, putting a hand to his chin, 'Mister Li...did you really do all this? I mean, I know these masked guys did this, but if you're their boss...'
He closed his eyes next, his mind going through everything that he had just done over these past two days. Finding the mask, the secret room, and now this...it was almost too much for the teen. He took a deep breath before looking back at the hallway. 'No. I'm going to finish this. I will catch Mister Li and find out why he's doing this.' He pulled out the tracker again, seeing that the dots still hadn't moved. 'Here's hoping he still hasn't left that first hideout.
Izuku went back to the room with the knocked-out thugs, firing a web line into the ceiling before cricking his hands. 'But before I go get him, I wanna try something.'
Naomasa was not happy. It started with an anonymous phone call to the police station, which was obviously Spider-Man. It didn't help that he said he was Spider-Man, and he stated that he had found a hideout of the 'masked men', (Which surprised him that the vigilante didn't know what the gang was actually called) and they were all knocked out for the police. This was followed with him calling Aizawa and heading over to the building.
And as he entered the place, he found himself looking at a room with a giant web cocoon with all the masked thugs in it, along with a small card. Naomasa took it and read aloud, "Here's a wrapped-up present for you! I'm gonna go fight the big boss of these guys now. Also, here's the location of another one of their hideouts. Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man!"
Naomasa growled as he wanted to rip the card up, only to groan and put it into an evidence bag. As he did this, one of the officers ran in and yelled about a room full of money. He followed him and saw it, the sight making him facepalm just as he was then told Eraserhead was here.
A minute later, the two were now talking as the rest of the force there began to tape down the area. "So what do we got?" Aizawa asked as he took a sip of coffee.
"A lot that we definitely need to cover up."
"That bad?" Aizawa asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yup. There's a whole room back there with a ton of stolen money." Naomasa sighed, "Apparently, Spider-Man knows where the hideouts for the Inner Demons are." He held up the bag with the card in it, "He even gave us an address."
"Oh?" Aizawa took the bag, squinting his eyes. "He knows where their boss is?"
"Apparently so." Naomasa sighed again, "I already told the force about the card and they're preparing a strike team. Granted, I would like more time to plan it, but-"
"I'm guessing you want to do it now because Spider-Man is going after their boss." Aizawa finished before taking another sip, "Did you tell the chief?"
Naomasa groaned at this, "First thing I did." He pulled out his phone as it suddenly rang, "Here we go..."
Li had his eyes closed as he sat behind a wooden desk. Energy began to sizzle around his fingers as he them crossed in front of his face, his elbows resting on the desk. He took a long, deep breath before opening his eyes, staring straight ahead. In front of him was a room full of masked men, all wielding guns and katanas.
"The spider has found our hideout." Li hissed, slightly gritting his teeth, "I can only assume he will now come for me."
"What do you want us to do, master?" the thug in front of the rest asked.
"Some of you will wait for the spider. The others will get the truck ready." Li then ascended from his chair, spinning around before taking a sheathed blade off the wall. He unsheathed the sword, revealing a thin, yet deadly katana. He rubbed his finger down its side, his shining white eyes staring at the blade as his mouth slightly contorted, showing pure white teeth. The man slowly turned back to the group of thugs at this, energy now surging around the blade, "And when the spider arrives, you will kill him."
"As you wish, master."
Chapter 27: Pursuing the The sound of pool balls hitting rang out as a certain purple-suited man stood over a billiards table. A thin trail of smoke went out of the cigarette in his mouth as he stared at the table before looking up at the man currently playing the game. The man was wearing a dark blue suit with black vertical lines and had a long frown on his face, his mouth being the only thing on his head visible under the low light hanging above the table.
"Hey there." the purple suited man chuckled as he took the cigarette out of his mouth.
"Get lost Giran." the other man replied, "I'm not dealing with you today."
Giran chuckled at this, tugging at his purple suit before doing a slight shrug, "Oh come now, there's no need for hostilities. I just want to talk."
"You can still forget it." the man responded, his eyes glaring at Giran as he just stood there, Giran grinning as he put the cigarette back in his mouth. A few seconds later, a long sigh escaped the man's breath, "What do you want Giran?"
"Knew you'd come around." Giran took a deep breath before letting out a puff of smoke, "My new employer wants me to do some recruitment, and I know you have some of the best around. I can offer you some serious cash if-"
"No." the other man interrupted.
Giran twirled the cigarette in his fingers, "Now hang on, this is a good deal."
"And I'll tell you again. Forget it." the man replied, "I don't have anything for you."
Giran raised an eyebrow at this, "Any reason for the hostility? I know you have plenty of guys right now, your boss-"
"Don't say his name."
"I know." Giran sighed, "I know not to say his name. Anyways, why is there no one for sale? Can I least get that?"
"Simple." The other man thrusted the cue stick, knocking the eight ball into a corner pocket. "Some competition is about to be knocked out, and we're gonna need all hands on deck."
"Competition?"
"The Inner Demons." The man put the cue stick on the table, "Our man on the inside says they're about to taken out." He then pulled out his phone at this, letting out a small hum, "And it looks like things are about to get busier."
And as the man walked out of the room, Giran watched him leave with a small frown, only for it to turn into a tiny grin, "Gotta say, that guy is too serious." He put a new cigarette in his mouth, "Shigaraki's gonna throw a fit."
"Sounds like he just wasn't interested." said a third voice, Giran turning to see another man walk into the bar's dim lighting. The man is in a black coat and covered in burn scars and piercings, in particular around his eyes and neck. "Got anymore places to check?"
"Just one more for the night." Giran replied as he let out a puff of smoke, "I figure Shigaraki won't approve of me just delivering you. No offense."
"None taken." the man responded while crossing his arms, "You need plenty of recruits to make a message these days."
"True." Giran chuckled before sighing. "At least, when it comes to villains. Too bad on the timing though. Sounds like the underworld is about to shift again. That's been happening a lot lately."
"How so?"
Giran twiddled with the cigarette as he stared at the man, "If what he says is true and the Demons are finished, it means two things. One, Tombstone's gang is gonna try and take over Musutafu. They'll probably fail, or get caught before they can take it all, which will make an even bigger mess."
"And the second?"
"Well, I'm a betting man...and I'm betting the one that's gonna take down the Demons is Spider-Man." Giran put the cigarette back in his mouth, "And that means only one thing: Spider-Man is gonna become top priority for the law and the underworld."
"Seriously? Can one vigilante really do that?"
Giran smirked at the question as he flicked his cigarette perfectly into a nearby ashtray, "Oh yeah. Heroes these days are a dime a dozen, which means in the grand scheme of things...they don't matter. Well, except the big ones, like All Might." The two began to walk away from the pool table, heading for the exit, "But vigilantes? If they make enough noise, everyone will dogpile..." Giran's grin grew at his next words as they left the building, "And when the real mess happens, we'll be there to pick up the scraps."
Police Chief Tsuragamae let out a sigh as he walked back into the police department. He had been called in after Naomasa had told him about Spider-Man taking out a building of villains, only to be going after another villain tonight. Now, he regularly didn't have too much of a problem with vigilantes. The dog man was a big pusher of underground heroes, which were considered the closest to vigilantes, but this case was different. Spider-Man had caught the attention of the hero commission, something that would usually take a lot to happen.
As such, he was now walking up to his office, letting out a low woof as another officer walked up to him.
"Chief!"
He turned to a cat headed man, "What is it Tamakawa?"
"I called in the heroes you wanted. Two of them are in the back, Death Arms will be here in a few minutes, and the full team of the Lurkers are on standby!"
"Good." the dog man replied, "Get an extra small force ready with Dewolff as a backup. Naomasa is already on route with Eraserhead to the address and we need to move fast. If Spider-Man really is going to do what he says he's going to do, we need to strike the Inner Demons now."
"Yes sir!"
And as the officer ran away, gesturing to a few to follow him, the chief let out a long sigh and another woof. "I have a bad feeling about this."
Izuku landed on the building he had followed Li to a few days ago, pulling out his tracker and seeing two dots right where he was. He had made sure to remove the tracers from the other cars before coming over here, and had eaten his bento on his way there. He pulled out his water bottle and took a swig before putting it away, checked his web shooters, and then crawled down to the duct he had used before.
'Here we go. I hope he's still here.' Izuku thought as he put his hands on the duct cover, taking a deep breath, 'Am I...really gonna do this? I mean, I want to find out why mister Li did this, but...but...' He took his hands off the cover, 'Maybe mom is right. Maybe I should just call for the heroes.'
He closed his eyes at this, taking another deep breath. His mind began to think back to everything that had happened recently, on how crazy these past three weeks had been. Every encounter went through his head before putting his hand to his nose, squeezing it. 'Mister Li...' he mentally said as he then remembered his time at FEAST, the smiling faces and how he felt helping others.
And as he opened his eyes, he put his hand back on the vent cover. 'No. I have to stop him. Even if I don't get any answers.'
He pushed the vent open, his form slithering into the air ducts. He zipped through the enclosed space, taking a few turns before going to the cover from before. And as he got there, he saw a room now filled with masked thugs. 'Whoa. Did he bring the entire gang here?!' he mentally commented before he saw a new person walk into the room, the man's body still showing that black skin while wearing a pure white suit. 'Mister Li...'
"Is the truck ready?" Li asked one of the thugs.
"Yes master. They are putting in the last of the supplies in it now."
"Good." Li replied before pulling out a phone, tapping it a few times. A call went through a second later, "Do it." He then ended the call before putting away the phone. Another masked man walked up to him, a sheathed katana in his hands, Li taking it. "Inner Demons...it is time. We will not fall here, but we will be moving to our new location."
"And the spider, master?"
Li closed his shining white eyes at this, taking a deep breath before opening his eyes, "He will come...and he will die. All of you in here, stay and welcome him."
"Yes master!" they all yelled, making Izuku flinch.
The teen had watched the scene unfold, wishing he could understand what they were saying. Despite this, he let out a long sigh before putting his hands on the cover and slowly pulled it upward, putting the vent cover to the side. He then gripped the open vent, taking a deep breath. 'You can do this Izuku. Granted, there's a ton of guys here, but you do have a main target compared to the usual...take everyone out alone plan.'
And as he thought this, he saw Li walk out of the room, two thugs opening a double door for him. Seeing this, Izuku began to crawl out of the vent, slithering his way up to the ceiling. As he did this, he glanced down and saw the masked men began to move around the room.
"Prepare yourself!" one of them said, "We must be ready for the spider!"
A few began to open some boxes, pulling out rifles and katanas. 'Great. This whole place is an armory for them.' Izuku mentally groaned as he then hopped off the ceiling and onto a catwalk. 'Guess I better get started.'
The vigilante pointed both web shooters down, aiming at two thugs that took rifles out before walking over to the double doors. And as they got close, Izuku fired the webbing at the feet, instantly yanking the lines. Both fell face first into the floor, letting out yelps of pain before two globs of webbing hit their backs, sticking them to the ground, nullifying both thugs and their guns.
"What the-the spider!" a thug yelled, only for a web line to hit his back before feeling himself now defy gravity as he pulled up to the catwalk.
"Howdy! Mind if I join the party?!" Izuku cackled as he kicked the yanked thug in the back, sending him flying into a stack of crates.
Danger!
"Uh-oh." Izuku muttered before leaping off the catwalk, a split second before a volley of bullets were shot right into the ceiling. He then fired a web line upward, turning into a swing as he did a wide arc across the room. As he did this, he glanced back at the thugs, quickly cutting his line before landing on the far wall before firing two web lines, each instantly hitting two rifles. He pulled on them next, yanking them out of the masked men's hands before jumping off the wall as a third thug swung his katana, firing an energy wave where Izuku had been.
And as Izuku landed in the middle of the room next, a thug roared, "Kill the spider!"
As that line was said, ten men instantly charged at the teen, his spider sense screaming at him. Two blades came for his face first, Izuku leaning back as both just went over him. This was followed by a third sword, only for Izuku to thrust a leg upward, his foot smacking the thug in the chin, knocking him over. Izuku then backflipped away, the first two thugs now thrusting their katanas at him. But as they did this, Izuku went down to all fours before doing a leg sweep, knocking both off their feet. A fourth thug came next, thrusting an energy punch that smacked Izuku in the face, making him stumble back. But as the thug tried to do a second jab, Izuku ducked under it before slamming a fist into the man's stomach, making him bend over before doing an uppercut into the thug.
Danger!
Three of the ten thugs that had charged suddenly switched their method of attack, instead going to the nearest crates and pulling out guns. Spider Sense screamed at Izuku at this, making him fire two web lines upward before yanking himself away. And as this happened, the thugs began lighting up the ceiling, the vigilante quickly swinging around. He felt a small bullet graze his shoulder, the teen flinching for a second before firing two globs of webbing, both covering two of the three guns. This was followed by Izuku doing a dive before firing another web line upward and yanking himself into a swing.
"Web Swing Kick!" Izuku yelled as he slammed two feet into the third armed thug, knocking him flying into two more masked men. Izuku then fired a glob of webbing at them, sticking all three to the floor. And as he did this, the two katana wielders from before got up and began to fire energy waves from their blades. Izuku began to swing around the room again at this, dodging each one as small explosions rocked the walls as the attacks missed the vigilante. And after a third round of dodging, Izuku fired a web line at a nearby stack of crates and pulled it, causing the tower to fall on the two.
"Augh!" the thugs yelled as the boxes collapsed on them.
'Seriously? Even their cries are in that other language of theirs?' Izuku thought before his spider sense went off again. It was here he saw four more thugs appear, all pulling out katanas.
"Aw, come on guys! Enough with the sharp deadly weapons!" Izuku moaned before landing on another stack of crates and fired two web lines. Both hit the swords of two of the thugs before being yanked away, Izuku then leaping from the crate as the other two fired energy waves. And as he did this, Izuku landed between the duo and fired two more web lines, this time grabbing their masks. He then pulled the lines in a criss-cross shape, both thugs being slung into each other as they hit, a clang ringing out before both fell over. This was followed by several blasts of webbing, sticking all four to the floor.
Izuku then glanced up and saw five more thugs, all pulling out katanas as well. 'Darn it. I need to get to Li! I can't be wasting time-'
Danger!
As his spider sense warned him of something, the sound of doors opening behind him made him glance back. And as he did this, his eyes went wide when he saw the double doors from before open...and reveal Martin Li.
"Uh-oh."
"The spider. We finally meet..." Li proclaimed as two masked men appeared by his sides. He grabbed both on the shoulders as energy flowed out of his hands, the two thugs then contorting, looking like their life was now being sucked out of them, both soon flopping over.
The sight made Izuku's already wide eyes begin to widen even further. He almost felt like he was gonna throw up. "What did...what did you just do to them?!" He yelled, only to see Li shine a small smile.
"They served their purpose." Li remarked, Izuku surprised he could understand him. He then raised one hand upward, black and white energy pouring out of it, "Inner Demons, step aside."
The thugs behind Izuku quickly ran around the teen, the vigilante just now remembering they were there. And before he could react, his spider sense began to scream at him. Feeling this, Izuku reflexively flicked his wrist at Li at this, firing a web line straight for the man's face. And as the line of webbing began to exit out of the shooter, Li pointed his hand at Izuku.
THOOM!
An energy wave burst out of Li's hand, Izuku unable to even flinch as the wave covered half the room. The attack instantly hit Izuku's entire body, thrusting him into a full stack of crates. "AUGH!" Izuku screamed as his back went through box after box before hitting a brick wall, the blow making the teen cry out. A second later, the teen slumped down as a pile of crates covered the vigilante.
"No...Li..." Izuku muttered out, pain surging over his entire body as he felt more and more boxes begin to weigh down on his body.
And as Izuku's eyes began to close, Li fell to his knees, panting and shaking his head. A second later, he began to stand up and pointed at the mess he had now created. "Make sure the spider is finished."
"Yes master. And you?"
Li replied as he tugged at his suit, "I will now take my leave. Kill the spider and destroy this place. Leave no trace behind."
"Yes master."
Meanwhile...
"Take 'em down!" Death Arms roared as he swung his giant arms, knocking three masked thugs off their feet. Two more then appeared and pointed their rifles at him, soon opening fire.
"Hang on!" yelled another hero as he landed in front of Death Arms, creating a shield that blocked every bullet.
"Thanks Crust!" Arms replied as Crust threw a shield next, smacking the guns away from the two criminals. This was followed by Death Arms charging at them, quickly thrusting fists into their stomachs as both thugs cried out in pain.
"The heroes are here!" screamed another masked thug, "Destroy everything and flee! We must-"
ZAP!
A laser shot straight up at the thug, hitting his back before he slumped over instantly. Two more thugs turned to the laser's origin, only to see the Pro Hero X-Less. "You're done here." he remarked before firing his laser at the other, striking both in the stomach. The blows knocked them off their feet, the trio of heroes then glaring up at the building before them. It was a gigantic warehouse, which was currently closed off except for a giant shutter that was barely moving. The three had been called to rout out the villains here, only to find themselves fighting a constant wave of thugs as suddenly tons of masked men ran out from under the slowly opening shutter.
"We need to get in there." Death Arms commented as he charged ahead, smacking two more thugs away with giant swipes of his huge arms.
"Agreed!" Crust responded as he created a wall of shields as three more gun-wielding thugs came out next, bullets already flying out of their weapons. This was followed by X-Less firing his laser at each gun, knocking each one of the thugs' hands.
And as they kept pushing the masked criminals back, several police cars arrived on the scene. Officer after officer ran onto the scene, only for another car to arrive. It was Naomasa, a pistol in his hand as Eraserhead walked out of the passenger side of his car.
"Seems Spider-Man was right."
"Ya think?!" Aizawa grumbled before pulling on his scarf. "Wanna bet Spider-Man isn't even here?"
"No." Naomasa replied as the two ran up beside the other officers, soon taking cover behind one of the cars, "But you're probably right. I'm just hoping whatever he's doing won't be an even bigger mess than what this is gonna be."
"I wouldn't bet on that." Aizawa moaned as he began to stand up, his fingers fiddling with his capture weapon, "I got a feeling this night is just getting started."
The sounds of boxes being moved rang out, several masked thugs pushing aside everything they could as quickly as possible. And as they did this, Li left the room, gesturing to two men to follow him. They went into the next room, where he saw a line of masked men all carrying boxes into what looked like a modified semi. On the sides were shielded metal plating, and the inside was much longer than a usual truck of his size, showing the load he had used was custom.
"Is everything ready?" he asked as he saw the last box be put into the vehicle.
"Yes master. The driver should be in the front now."
"Good. I will be riding in this one. The rest of you, help out the others to destroy this place and then flee. If you know you are not followed, meet up at the new hideout."
"Yes master."
And as Li walked around the semi, the thugs all gathered around some crates they had left behind. Opening one, they found exactly what they needed: Cans of gasoline. Each took one, all taking off the caps before they began to pour it all over the room.
But as they did this, in the other room, a final box was lifted up to reveal a slumped over Spider-Man. And as the thugs around him saw this, one lifted a blade upward...and swung it down on the vigilante's head.