"Uh, Mei? Are you sure this is a good idea?" Peter asked as he looked through the bulletproof glass.
"Y-Yeah, this doesn't seem… safe at all." Izuku was the next to speak from his spot next to Peter, a lot more nervousness in his voice.
"Everything's a good idea for the sake of invention! Test #1, go!" The goggle-wearing girl exclaimed as she pressed a button while grinning.
A spout of concentrated flame was shot from the center of the room at a piece of cloth that hung from a heat resistant type of metal, Peter and Izuku shielded their eyes from the light.
Why hadn't she given them goggles?
The flame soon began to stop as a curtain of smoke soon appeared before the piece of cloth. Once the covering fell, the three were met with the sight of the smoking cloth which happened to be totally fine.
"Wait, it worked?" Peter was flabbergasted, he looked from the cloth to Mei.
"Of course it did! Now, let's get to work!" And just like that, she skipped away.
Peter looked to Izuku, who only gave a sheepish chuckle and a shrug before walking to an empty workbench.
It was the second day of the five-day break UA had given its students, and a little more information as to the future was finally given.
The dorms, which would be called 'Heights Alliance' were currently in construction for all the students of each course, and were expected to be completed at around the sports festival.
It still felt weird, seeing how UA handled the attack, he means.
Something just felt… off, for some reason. Was it really the only option to make it a boarding school? Why didn't they hire people like Endeavor for security against villains?
Well, it wasn't all bad.
UA had paid for any and all medical expenses that students needed for the attack, including therapy, mainly because they didn't want anyone to sue them.
And while their reputation would usually shield them from that type of thing, the outrage because of their failure was overwhelming.
To be honest, Peter wasn't too mad at UA.
He was just annoyed at All Might.
Now, he respects him for what he does, but… Peter always did believe he was a better symbol than a hero.
The guy showed up, punched someone, and just… left! What about first aid or anything? Nope! He just left.
And this time, seven people were gravely injured because the number one hero just wasn't there for 'Reasons they couldn't disclose.'
The guy was supposed to be a teacher, he was supposed to protect students, but he didn't even do that. Maybe he was still bitter about what Izuku said he told him, but whatever.
And not only that, but imagine what happens when he retires and just goes live in a cabin or something? Society would quite literally go through a withdrawal.
He couldn't blame him for it, but he created a society where the crime rate and public trust depended on him being there, whether he wanted to or not.
And when he's gone, people like Peter and his classmates would be the ones left to deal with it.
The man created an unreachable standard that society depended on, it was just frustrating.
Whatever, he wouldn't have to deal with that for a good couple years so he should just get to work.
Too bad it had to be in the blatant safety hazard known as Mei Hatsume's workshop.
He wanted to stay in bed, you know? Last night would've been the first time he'd slept for eight whole hours in about seven months, but sadly, his Mei had other plans today.
So, imagine Peter waking up at 8:00 AM to him being added in a group chat with Izuku and Mei in which Mei just told them they could work on the suit over break.
When he asked her why she couldn't just relax over the break, she literally said:
'My first client's baby is way more important than needing to relax! Now, c'mon! Let's get inventing!'
And the rest was history.
Izuku, being the emotional person he was, jumped at the idea of checking up on him to make sure he was alright, since news of the attack spread like wildfire.
At least his identity was still anonymous to the public.
So, Mei just brought him and Izuku to her house, which so happened to have a basement that she turned into a full-time workshop.
She lived alone since her parents ran a successful family owned hardware store in Tokyo or something.
When first seeing it, he was half impressed and half scared.
Impressed cause he's always wanted equipment like 3D printers and stuff just lying around so he could work on his gear.
Scared cause Mei had literal flamethrowers for testing, and the only protective measure was a box of bulletproof glass that she had clearly taped together… somehow.
It was amazing how that thing was still standing, it had scorch marks and dents all over.
Peter rubbed his tired eyes while taking a sip from the thermos filled with a mixture of 3 different energy drinks he found at the grocery store.
That should get him through the day.
Or kill him.
Could go either way, in all honesty.
Well, nothing like good old tinkering to get the day going, right?
Since the attack, he only had one web-shooter left, so he'd start with the MK.5 models, then get to the webbing, goggles, anything else he needed to do.
One of the things Mei did when inviting them over was assign roles as to who did what.
Midoriya would sketch up designs and blueprints for the general suit, generally improving on the designs he and Peter made together.
Mei would focus on Materials and general testing, she was in the middle of blasting that poor piece of cloth with what looked like a softball cannon to see how it held up.
While Peter would take care of the 'Spider-y stuff', that's how she put it.
Which meant the support gear he made himself, like the web-shooters, webbing, and the goggles, along with being there so they knew if they were doing something wrong.
Or, in other words, making sure nothing burned the place down.
And also to third wheel Izuku and Mei, for whatever reason.
He pulled the backpack he had brought off and placed it on the wide workbench he sat at. Opening it, he took out a couple items that would help him out. The workshop already had tons of scrap, and God knows how many tools, but he would need a few more things.
His surviving MK.4 web-shooter, it was amazing how it was still in such a good condition.
His phone, in case he needed to call the fire department.
The old chemistry set he has used for the past three or so years to make more web-fluid, the thing was like an old friend by now.
His Venom suit mask, even though one lens was broken and the other shattered, he still needed a reference point when making the new goggles.
A box full of web cartridges, cause he might need to test some stuff.
Two more thermoses filled with both coffee and soda, respectively, just in case he needed more energy
And lastly, a small notebook he wrote down design ideas in when he tinkered.
Alright! Let's get to work!
...
10:42 AM, that's what the clock on the wall said as Peter looked at it. He inserted the webbing cartridges into the small metal orb and sealed them inside it with a small click.
Two hours.
That's how long it took him to sketch up, plan out, and create a prototype of his brand new web grenade.
A few weeks ago, Peter realized that his webbing would need to have more general versatility in both combat and capture work, so he wanted to get working on that.
The first idea was to make different webbing types like electric or acid or something like that, something different from what he had now.
But then, an idea hit him.
His regular webbing was pretty direct, right? Only affected a small spot while being precise?
So why didn't he just make the opposite of that?
A big explosion of webbing that affects a small area and targets groups of people! That sounded badass!
And so, the web-grenade was born!
The design was simple, right now, it was just a small grey ball made out of scraps with a small button that triggered a timer. Inside were three different web cartridges that would shoot out when the detonation was done!
Genius, Parker! After he tested it, he'd have to make it look somewhat good to go with his color scheme.
Wait, how was he gonna test it?
Peter took out the outdated earbuds he had and looked around the room, his hazel eyes landed on a freckled face.
Izuku was just pacing back and forth while muttering and cupping his chin.
Perfect.
"Hey, Izuku! Can you help me test something out?" The boy called, a smile appearing on his face as the boy perked up.
"Oh! S-Sure! What do you want to test?"
Oh, he was too innocent.
"Heads up!" Peter grabbed a hold of the web grenade, clicked the button to make the detonation short, and threw it toward his friend.
Izuku caught the ball in his bands and started panicking when he heard the ticking sound coming off of it.
Before he could even ask what it was, an explosion of webbing shot out of the orb, trapping everything in a two-foot radius in silk.
Peter only grinned and ran up to the blast zone. "Oh, hell yeah! Web grenade! It works!" He only laughed as he inspected the damage.
"Woah, you can capture large groups of villains with this stuff! It's super cool!"
"I know, right? I'm the best!"
"… Can you please get me out of this?"
"Oh! Uh, yeah, sure, let me make the dissolvent real quick." Peter gave an apology and jogged toward his chemistry set.
Maybe he should've brought a bottle of the dissolvent so Izuku wouldn't have been trapped in that spot for 15 minutes.
But whatever! All in the name of invention
...
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