Chapter Text
Night had fallen over the city of Musutafu, Japan; a large metropolis roughly the size of New York City.
A city filled to the brim with Pro Heroes, due in part to being the home of the top ranked Hero School; UA High School. Because of this, the city had earned the nickname "The Capital City of Heroes," serving as a shining light throughout Japan.
But as the old saying goes, all that glitters is not gold.
Despite the surplus of heroes constantly tackling Villains who were bold enough to strike during broad daylight, they were far from the only threat in Musutafu. The most sinister of threats lurked in Society's shadows, often waiting for the cover of night to strike. Organized Crime and its many facets run by powerful and influential people, villains who were far smarter and arguably even more evil than their daylight counterparts. And that wasn't even going into the usual street gangs, drug dealers, muggers and petty crooks.
And despite the best efforts of the Musutafu Police Department and the Underground Pro Heroes to combat this, there never seemed to be any significant headway against all of this evil.
Not helped by the biggest majority of the Limelight Heroes focusing more on trying to get rich and famous to rise up through the Hero Rankings.
Or that a good chunk of the police force was getting paid by various crime lords to either look the other way or run interference.
All of that without going into detail about the Hero Public Safety Commission and its... shadier dealings (not that the public had any proof of that.)
And sadly with both the police and the Pro Heroes the ones who were honest and pure rarely, if ever, lasted long enough to make a difference.
To the outside world Musutafu was the "Capital City of Heroes," but to many of the people living in Musutafu it was a city that was covered in a massive and gloomy shadow.
But even in the darkest times, a light could still shine through...
The Eisely District.
If ever there was a part of Musutafu that could be considered "a wretched hive of scum and villainy," it would be this district. It was arguably the biggest slum in Musutafu, composed of old and decaying buildings covered in graffiti, many sizable homeless camps, a couple of abandoned playgrounds, and an old elementary school building that had been condemned. There was only two or three police precincts in the area, and while the officers and staff working there did their best to make it look presentable, they still looked worn down and unimpressive (not helped that they were VERY understaffed, both in maintenance workers and actual officers.) Most of the officers that did go to these precincts were either crooked, put there from better districts as punishment, total rookies who thought they could help before desperately trying to get a transfer to ANYWHERE else, cops that just had nowhere else to go, or ones who stubbornly stayed because they didn't want to leave the few good people living in the district.
Perhaps the most damning sign of all for this district was that there was not a hero agency in sight, nor would you ever hear about any Pro Heroes making a big villain takedown or saving people in this district. It was pretty much giving the impression that even the Pro Heroes thought the place was beyond saving.
Naturally in a place like this, crime ran rampant. Street gangs, drug dealers, racketeers, arm smuggling; you name it, it was here.
Yet despite all of this, there were still people who tried to make the best life they could for them and their families. Trying desperately to keep some semblance of hope, either for salvation or for a miracle.
Fortunately, a miracle was there, working in the shadows.
In an abandoned warehouse on the far side of Eisley, a meeting was taking place. A drug deal, to be specific.
"You gotta be shitting me."
The man smirked, taking a drag from his cigarette before exhaling and saying "No, my friend. This right here," he held up a small green bottle filled with a viscous liquid and the image of a gun on the label. "is the shit."
He was talking to three thugs; a giant of a thug with the face of a bear and the claws to match, a thug who looked normal except for the fact that his index fingers looked like gun barrels and his thumbs looked like the hammers, and a tall and lanky female thug who had a large length of metal cable coiled around each arm.
Their names on the street were, in order: Grizzly, Bang-Bang, and Coil.
Coil raised an eyebrow and asked "You sure this is legit?"
The dealer nodded again. "Yep. Trigger. Courtesy of some of my buds in the Shie Hassaikai."
Bang-bang was still a bit skeptical. "You sure about that? Yakuza guys like them ain't exactly what they used to be."
Grizzly nodded. "Yeah. Last time any o' dem was that big in the business, MeSpace was a thing."
Coil rolled her eyes. "It's MySpace, Grizz."
"Myspace was a thing," he corrected himself. "Sorry."
"I get what you're all saying," the dealer admitted. "But they got a new boss, a new place, and a new way of operating. And this right here is their ticket back to the top of the bad guy totem pole." He then reached into his bag and pulled out three syringes, taking the plastic covering off the needle of one of them. "First round's free if you want to give it a whirl. After that though, for the other doses I got... well, we'll discuss prices."
THWIP!
Everyone looked in shock as a large strand of webbing shot down and stuck to the dealer's back, before he was immediately yanked up towards the ceiling, before more webs shot down and effectively cocooned him.
Like a fly in a web.
"Oh no," Bang-Bang groaned. "Not the Bug again!"
"Hey!"
The speaker lowered themselves from the ceiling, hanging upside down while suspended by a web-line. The speaker was a young man wearing a black pants and a black long-sleeve shirt, with green boots and gloves that matched the sleeveless green hoodie he was wearing. He wore a green balaclava with a part of goggles with yellow lenses. Around his wrists were two large and clunky bracelet-like devices with several capsules around them, with a trigger that went into his palms. These were his titular web-shooters. On the front of his hoodie was a spray-painted white spider (which admittedly looked pretty cheap, but then again so did the rest of his costume.)
He looked at all of them and said "It's Spider-Man. Seriously, is it really that hard to get the name right?"
Coil glared before turning to Grizzly and Bang-Bang. "Don't just stand there, you idiots! KILL HIM!"
Grizzly was the first to try and get him, rushing him and swiping at him with his claws while roaring like his namesake. Bang-Bang actually hung back, putting a bunch of marbles into the holes in his palms.
Spider-Man waited until Grizzly got close enough before dropping down to the floor and shooting his foot out, nailing the man with the bear Quirk right between the legs, which immediately made him groan in pain and cover his manhood. Spider-Man chuckled and said "Hey Boo-boo! I just got kicked in the pic-a-nic baskets!" before lifting him up and throwing him against the wall, plastering him to it with a large amount of webs. "One down, now where's-"
He was immediately cut off by a buzzing sensation around his head, his trademark Spider-Sense, which was warning him of danger coming from behind him. He immediately spun around and ducked, narrowly avoiding several marbles that had been fired at him by Bang-Bang's finger guns (fortunately none of them hit Grizzly.) Looking at Bang-Bang he asked "Sheesh, how many marbles you got left to loose?"
Bang-Bang grumbled "Ha ha, funny. Like you haven't made the same exact joke ten times before" before firing again.
Naturally Spider-Man dodged each shot, waiting until the telltale click-click! that signified the man was out of ammo. Before he could reload more marbles into his handguns (Spider-Man had to snicker at that pun) the webslinger fired several web shots to completely covered his hands and forced him to drop his marbles. Not giving him a chance to recover, Spider-Man then shot out a web line and pulled himself right to him, slamming his foot right into his face. He then followed up with three punches, before tripping him with a leg sweep and webbing him to the floor. Standing up he said "You know, you'd figure you guys would've learned your lesson by now. I mean, this is like the fifth time in six months I've webbed up you morons."
Coil sighed before the metal cables around her arms uncoiled themselves and began to glow green, the ends actually going INTO her wrists, implying that they were actually growing out of her. "Just my luck. If you want to squash a bug, you gotta do it yourself."
Settling into a combat stance, Spider-Man replied "Sorry lady. There ain't a sports page in the world big enough to squash this bug."
She growled before flicking out one of her whips at him, which he dodged by a hair as he saw it cutting into the concrete floor where he had just been standing. He then had to jump to dodge the next whip, before twisting in midair to dodge a follow up from the other one.
As he landed, his mind was already formulating a plan. Okay, we've done this song and dance enough times to know all the moves and all the lyrics. Each of her whips can do three attacks before they lose power and need to coil around her arms again to recharge. I just need to keep dancing and wait for my opening.
His opening came soon as her right whip lost its green glow and began to retreat. However, before it could make it to Coil it was suddenly plastered to the floor by a large amount of webbing. "Yeah, don't think so," Spider-Man said smugly. Angered by this, Coil tried to bring her left whip around his neck, but that proved to be her undoing as it lost power halfway through and he effortlessly grabbed it. He then yanked her to him before flipping back and kicking her in the chin, knocking her into the air. A bit of webbing later and she was cocooned and suspended above the ground, both whips webbed to the ground. Giving him a look of the utmost hatred, she growled "Damn you, Spider-Man. DAMN YOU TO FU-MMMPH!"
Her cursing was cut off by a web shot that covered her mouth, though leaving her nose exposed so she could breathe. "Now now, we can't have any of that naughty language here, lady," he smugly chided.
With those three incapacitated, he turned his attention to the drug dealer who was currently dangling from the ceiling via web line. "So, mister drug dealer," he said while picking up the bottle of Trigger. "Where'd you get this stuff?"
The dealer's response was simply to flip him the bird. "I ain't no snitch, bugsy. And trust me, the Shie Hassaikai are gonna do a lot worse than give me stitches if I squeal."
Making a mental note of the name, Spider-Man would've continued talking, but then his phone beeped. He looked at what was on the screen and said "Whoops. Gotta cut this one short guys. But first-"
He used his webs to zip up to the rafters, finding the backpack he stashed there earlier. He then pulled out a can of green spray paint and a folded up stencil. Once he landed, he unfolded the stencil and laid it on the ground in the middle of the room. He then shook the can and finished "-I gotta autograph my work."
About ten minutes later two cops came inside the building, guns drawn.
They immediately took notice of the webbed up villains and the drug dealer, Grizzly and Bang-Bang groaning in pain while Coils just looked annoyed. The drug dealer looked down at them and asked "Uh, you guys mind getting me down? Please?"
They then noticed the fresh spray paint on the ground; a large emerald green spider.
The one officer said "Looks like Spider-Man got here before us again."
The second officer nodded. "Yeah. Don't know what his deal is, but I'm kinda glad we got this guy helping us out here."
As the officers called into dispatch to get some additional help and transport for the criminals, they were unaware of the hidden drone that had watched all of the events of the night unfold.
"This is a live feed?"
"Yes sir," replied a man with black hair and eyes wearing a black business suit with silver accents.
"Then I've seen enough. Shade, call in the Fixers."
"I called 'em in before I came in, King."
"Good."
-The Next Day-
"RING RING RING! WAKE UP, SLEEPYHEAD!"
15 year old Izuku Midoriya woke up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, somewhat annoyed by the loud ringing coming from his phone. "Okay, okay, I'm up! You can shut off the alarm, DECA."
DECA was short for Digital Electronic Computer Assistant, AKA the AI that Izuku created for the Practical Entrance Exam into the UA Support Course (which was so impressive that he got the highest score on said practical.) It was a very advanced AI that was capable of learning and adapting based on the information it gathered from the outside environment and what data Izuku gave it (with all the proper safety protocols, safeguards, and filters in place.)
They were, quite frankly, Izuku's only friend.
Said friend, for some reason, called themselves "she" and tended to act more like a second mother/older sister to Izuku, constantly telling him to eat more because he was too skinny (he wasn't he was just lean) and trying to make sure he got eight hours of sleep (which was funny because that never happened even BEFORE all of this.)
Frankly, he was just thankful that she didn't try to tell him to stop his nightly vigilante activities.
Speaking of which...
"You manage to find anything on this Shie Hassaikai guys," he asked as he walked into the kitchen for his breakfast.
There was a huff from his phone before she replied "Of course that would be the first thing you say. Not even a good morning."
Izuku rolled his eyes and said "Good morning, DECA. Better now?"
"It would be better without the sarcastic tone, but yes, better."
"Okay. So?"
"Nothing significant on the servers or on the call lines from the local precincts. And I won't be able to get into the servers for the other precincts or the actual hero agencies until you connect our system to the Musutafu Hero Network so I can start sorting through all the data."
Turning on the coffee pot, Izuku said "I'll add it to my to-do list. Anything else I should be concerned about?"
"Nothing much. Just a note from your Grandma to remind you to have a good day at school and not to forget your lunch money. Your Grandpa also said to not forget to video call them after school today. You know, the usual."
Ever since that fateful night, Izuku had been placed under the guardianship of his Grandfather and Grandmother on his father's side. Since the two of them lived over in the United States (in New York City, no less) and owned a big support company there, they couldn't exactly pack everything up and move back to Japan. Well, it would be moving back for his Grandmother. His Grandfather was born and raised in New York City. And Izuku didn't wanna leave, since Musutafu was and always would be his home.
So instead they paid the rent for Izuku's new apartment (though new was a bit of a misnomer since it was a fairly old and cheap apartment) in the Dagobah district and wired him a weekly stipend for groceries and anything else he might need. Within reason, of course. The only stipulation was that he stay out of trouble and not flunk any of his classes (which led to him and his grandparents laughing like hyenas since that was never going to be an issue with his above average intelligence.)
While some might assume they were distant, they really weren't. Every video call or visit they made (which wasn't too often, every Christmas and once or twice a year if they weren't too busy) they never hesitated to make him feel loved and accepted, despite his status as Quirkless.
Of course it helped that his Grandfather was also Quirkless.
"Like hell I'm gonna forget that" Izuku replied as he filled his coffee cup, pouring in a dash of creamer before mixing it. One sip from his morning wake-up call and he felt last night's exhaustion wash away. "Aside from that, anything on Spider-Man's latest takedown?"
"More speculation and theories. The cops keep denying you're real, even with the marks you've been leaving. Though I can't tell whether or not that's because they don't wanna admit you're doing their job better than them or because they don't want the Commission coming for you and taking away their guardian angel."
"If what those two cops said, it's probably the latter," he replied, draining his current mug and then refilling it.
"You know, too much of that stuff is supposed to be bad for you," DECA admonished.
"Yeah, and supposedly so's everything else that's sugary, sweet, fattening, or high in caffeine," Izuku deadpanned. "If it hasn't killed me and three quarters of the planet's population, I think I'll be safe."
DECA said nothing, but then beeped and said "You might wanna hurry up and get ready if you wanna make your train. Unless you're planning on swinging to school."
Izuku shook his head, putting his mug in the dishwasher and making his way to the bathroom to brush his teeth. "You know as well as I do that if people see me swinging through the other parts of the city in broad daylight I'll have that district's cops and the local pros on my ass."
"Right, I forgot that's why you stuck in Eisley for six months."
"That and our limited equipment. I could probably handle Death Arms, Kamui Woods and Mount Lady no problem; but if Endeavor happens to be around... Well, my current costume ain't exactly fireproof."
"Not to mention your current Mark I Web Shooters capacity kinda sucks," DECA reminded him.
Once he finished brushing, he walked to his room and replied "Yeah. First thing I'm gonna work on."
As he fished his school uniform out of his costume and started changing into it (revealing his toned musculature for a moment) DECA asked "Aren't you kinda stealing from UA if you do what you're planning on doing?"
Izuku paused for a moment as he put on his blazer, before continuing and replying "Normally I'd agree with you, DECA. Stealing is wrong, after all. But A) we don't have a lot of options if I want to keep going as Spider-Man, since not only do we NOT have a big budget for this, but we also can only do so much from raiding junkyards for parts. Unless we break into one of those really secure private junkyards used by Support Companies, but with our limited equipment that's outside of our current capabilities."
"Yeah, true."
"And B), it's not like I'm stealing money or something super valuable. I've got the biggest majority of the components for the HUD and the Mark II Web Shooters, but I need better materials for the main suit. Preferably something fireproof and more resistant to bullets than the bargain sweatshirt and sweatpants I got, but still flexible and allowing freedom of movement. Also, I've got more than enough chemicals to make a good supply of web fluid."
"True. Took a few trips to several different stores, but hey."
"All of which probably isn't going to be noticed since UA's budget is huge. I could probably sneak everything I'd need and more out of there and they'd never notice. And last but not least, C) it's only temporary. Once we get better equipment and some good Spidey-Tools-"
"I still can't believe you're calling them that."
"-I can start getting components and parts from the aforementioned support company junkyards, and I hopefully won't need to 'borrow' from UA anymore," he finished, accentuating the point by finishing tying his tie. "Plus, given how the state of Musutafu is, you can't argue that it's not going to a good cause."
"I won't argue with the data. But still, I worry about you."
Izuku smiled. "Hey, I can handle it. Plus I got you constantly reminding me to take breaks and get something to eat. AND helping me out with getting information for my little night job. Speaking of which-"
"Yeah, I got it," DECA said. "I'll keep looking through the police files to see if there's anything on those Yakuza guys, or anything else Spider-Man should look into. No promises though."
"And if there's nothing, then tonight I'll see about getting you linked to a few of the Musutafu Hero Network Towers."
"Try and be discreet about it. Like you said-"
Picking up his backpack he said "I know, I know, but Endeavor's usually in the high class areas of Musutafu unless he's working a case. I shouldn't have to worry too much about that."
He was just about to reach the door, when he found himself stopping to look at... The Picture.
It was a picture of when he was thirteen, when he had won first place in the Musutafu Future Engineers Science Fair with a portable forensics scanner with a bit of help from his father (who had sold the blueprints to the Yaoyorozu Tech company with Izuku's permission for a pretty big sum of yen, and he now heard they were being used by most of the police force and some Pro Heroes at crime scenes.)
In the picture was his father Hisashi Midoriya, and his mother Inko Midoriya.
He sighed. Six months, and yet it still feels like only yesterday.
"You okay, Izuku," DECA called from his phone.
Snapped out of his thoughts Izuku replied "Yeah. Just...thinking."
"Well think later. You got a train to catch."
"Yeah, yeah," he replied, exiting the apartment.
"Wouldn't wanna be late on the first day of my new life."
"You're kidding me, right?"
Nezu, the rodent principal of UA and one of the smartest, sighed before replying "Unfortunately, I'm not."
The person he was talking to was a young woman in her early twenties with pink and indigo hair and purple eyes, which were currently narrowed at Nezu in a look that was equal parts skepticism and annoyance.
This was Kaina Tsutsumi, AKA the Sniper Heroine: Lady Nagant.
She also happened to be Class 1-A's current homeroom teacher, owing to the absolute disaster that happened at the start of last year.
An incident that had forced Nezu to seriously reevaluate his screening system for his staff, as well as taking measures to make sure that the teachers are actually doing their jobs. All just to try and make sure a scandal like that would never happen again.
So far it seemed to be working.
But a part of those new measures were heavier screening for their prospective students. ESPECIALLY if said students were trying out for the Hero Course.
Which brought them to the present situation, with Kaina holding up three of the student files. "You seriously want these three in my class?"
Nezu nodded. "Yes. I understand that they're far from perfect-"
Kaina scoffed. "That's putting it lightly. Let's see..." She held up the first file. "Minoru Mineta. Multiple sexual harassment claims throughout middle school, his written exam has him listing his reason for wanting to be a Pro Hero is because 'hot chicks dig Pro Heroes.' Barely passed the practical portion of the Entrance Exam, and the only reason he didn't get immediately placed in General Studies or barred from the school is because his parents are on the school board and were able to sweep those claims under the rug. Mostly."
"Believe me, I'm not happy about this either."
"Yet ironically he's going to be the LEAST troublesome out of these three. Next up we have Bakugo Katsuki. File says he's an outstanding student with high potential and is regarded by all of his teachers with only the highest of praises, to the point you'd swear they thought this kid was the second coming of Jesus Christ."
The rodent principal sighed. "Don't tell me; his record is so clean that one could eat off of it?"
"Not a single disciplinary mark, no unexcused absences, nothing. Even I skipped a day or two every year when I was in school for mental health days."
"I don't necessarily blame you for that. But I do see your point that his records were obviously tampered with. Especially given his actions during the Entrance Exam."
"You mean the ten minutes of him tearing through robots like a literal demon, letting loose like an overly aggressive lunatic while shouting threats at the other examinees to not 'steal his kills?' Yeah, I noticed. The part that's got me the most concerned is the fact that he didn't get even a single Rescue Point."
"I agree that that's concerning-"
"It is because it's damn near impossible. Even Endeavor, jackass that he is, got a few even if it was by accident. The only way you get no Rescue Points is if you actually go out of your way to NOT help anyone. This kid is giving me a bad feeling, Nezu. Like he's going to be an Endeavor 2.0, but with none of the good points that Enji Todoroki has. Few as they may be."
"He's an absolutely terrible person, but he's good at his job and dedicated to it. Even if it's for the wrong reasons."
"A reoccurring problem with a LOT of modern day Pro Heroes."
"True."
"Any chance we can put him in Vlad's class this year?"
"I tried and he refused. He's got Neito Monama in his class. He said, and I quote: 'One loud arrogant blond is enough for me, thank you very much.'"
She sighed and her shoulders slumped. "Of course. Then again considering the Monoma Family's reputation, I might've lucked out."
"Debatable. And our third contestant?"
Kaina pinched the bridge of her nose before opening the third and final folder. "Shoto Todoroki. Endeavor's fourth and final child. Mostly spotless record, save for two attempts to run away from home." She groaned. "And given what his sister's told me, a whole bunch of issues that their father's done his best to either supress or outright bury."
Flashing her an insidious grin, Nezu asked "Was that you two's version of pillow talk?"
Her face became as red as a tomato with steam coming out of her ears and she yelled "THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, YOU DAMN RAT! AND IF YOU DON'T WANT ME TO HANG YOUR PELT ABOVE MY MANTLE YOU'LL NEVER BRING THAT UP AGAIN!"
Nezu's grin fell to a small smirk, before he made a placating gesture with his paws and said "Sorry, sorry, I couldn't resist."
She growled before taking a calming breath and continuing "Five different therapists, twelve Quirk Counselors, and a year spent on that special medication." She looked at Nezu with concern. "Shoto's got a grip on it for now, but he's mostly just been in training gyms. I'm not sure if it's a good idea to bring him into the school now. His latest therapist, Dr. Kimi, even said so after their last session together. She straight up said that if Shoto gets put under too much stress and loses control, it could lead to an episode. And that means all the progress they've made gets flushed down the toilet."
Nezu nodded. "I understand. But you know as well as I do that trying to get Endeavor to see reason is like trying to get the HPSC's president to NOT be so scummy."
There was a pause, before she said "It just seems like I got three of the biggest problem children this school has this year. What exactly am I supposed to do?"
"Well with Mineta Minoru, it's simple. Make it clear that sexual harassment of any kind will not EVER be tolerated. And if he uses up all three strikes, demote him to General Studies. And pray that if that point ever comes up that I've dug up enough information to get his parents booted off the school board so that we won't have any problems."
"And the other two?"
Sighing, he continued "With Bakugo Katsuki, the best I can say is give him the three strikes and if he fails, put him in General Studies. Anything beyond that, and he's expelled. As for Shoto Todoroki... tread lightly, keep an eye on how he's doing. If you ever suspect that he's going to have an episode then pull him out of the exercise and calm him down before sending him to Hound Dog. And if need be... we'll have to explain to Endeavor that we can't keep him in the Hero Course on account of his mental health."
"Will he actually listen?"
Taking a sip from his tea, Nezu smiled and said "One can dream, Kaina."
She rolled her eyes. "Some dreams can become reality, Nezu. But the dream of Enji Todoroki getting his head out of his ass and actually caring about someone other than himself? I'd say that anyone who has that dream needs to wake the hell up." Seeing the time, she said "I should probably head to my homeroom and get myself ready for this."
"Good luck. Am I to assume that this year 1-A will actually be at orientation?"
She shot him an amused look and asked "Who do I look like: Shota Aizawa?"
"No. You actually care about your students and don't intentionally dress like a homeless person."
Izuku Midoriya couldn't help but smile as he walked up to the door of the Support Course Studio. So far his day had been going great; he'd evaded Bakugo's notice and slipped into his class's homeroom, 1-H, and had managed to get through the awkwardness of Homeroom introductions. Placing first on the Support Course Entrance Exam naturally made him a target of fascination (and a bit of envy) and he was honestly surprised that no one called him a freak or a loser when he said he was Quirkless. If anything, they either didn't believe him and thought he had some sort of Intelligence-Boosting Quirk, or they thought it was no big deal.
Honestly, after nearly ten years of the hatred and Quirkism he faced at the Aldera School District, he almost cried at this.
Anyway, after their homeroom teacher, Higari Maijima (AKA THE POWER LOADER, how cool was that?!) took them to orientation (Man, did Principal Nezu love to talk.) he gave them a tour of the school and the various facilities and classrooms. Each class was taught by a Pro Hero, but he reminded all of them that that fact wouldn't make the classes any different than ordinary school classes, earning some groans from the students. Izuku honestly didn't mind though. At the very least they'd be a step up from Aldera's teachers who constantly tried their best to sabotage his grades until his Grandparents and their lawyers put a stop to it.
Maijima-sensei then took them into the Support Studio, AKA the Promised Land for many of them. State of the art equipment as far as the eye could see, materials and tools that you couldn't find outside of support companies (legally, anyway) it was the birthplace of many a great Support Engineer.
After he gave them the usual rules on safety, he gave them the rest of the time before lunch to familiarize themselves with the studio.
Izuku was immediately drawn towards a large machine that looked like you could fit All Might inside, with a computer terminal attached. The machine was opened, revealing a series of mechanical arms (some large some small) what looked like sewing needles of various sizes and colors, and what looked like very small welding equipment.
"Beautiful, isn't she?"
The question came from a girl about his age, with pink hair styled like tubes and yellow eyes with strange pupils that looked kind of like cross hairs. She was dressed in the same school uniform, though the goggles on her head weren't part of that. Nor was the purple bandana around her neck.
She smiled and said "That thing is a Super-Fabricator, designed by the geniuses at YayorozuCorp. You just feed your blueprints and type in your specifications and it can create what you want from their Blank-Molecules. It can even-"
"-integrate other tech you place inside provided it's compatible," Izuku finished. "Yeah, I saw one of these at their yearly expo in Musutafu Central Station."
Her smile widened. "Awesome! I hear those are always sick!" She then held out her hand. "Mei Hatsume, future Support Engineer extraordinaire!"
Sensing no danger from her, Izuku took her hand and shook it. "Izuku Midoriya. But you already know that, since we're in the same class, remember?"
"Yeah, but that's us as classmates. This is us as future Support Engineers! Oh, I can't wait until tomorrow. I have so many babies to make."
Izuku sweat-dropped at that. "Uh, babies? Aren't you a little young for that?"
Mei rolled her eyes at that. "I meant my support gear and inventions. I'm literally putting my heart and soul into them, so in a way they're like my children."
"I see the logic in that. But, try and remember not everyone else is gonna know that. After all, making babies usually means-"
Her face turned red. "Got it. Sorry, I've never really... had other people to talk to. Mostly it's just on forums or blogs."
Izuku winced, relating to that. "Join the club. Nobody really wants to be seen hanging out with a quirkless loser like me."
"Try being the girl with no parents and being bounced around between several foster homes," she replied glumly.
Geez, was this girl his long last twin sister?
Before he could ask that question, Power Loader said "Okay guys, make your way to the cafeteria for lunch. After that, head home and rest up. The real work starts tommorow."
Izuku smirked at that declaration. Yeah. By tomorrow, DECA and I should be able to figure out how to get past all the security in this place so that I can get in. I'm gonna have a lot of fun with the Super-Fabricator.
It was true. While DECA was officially in SLEEP mode, she was actually using his phone's scanner and Bluetooth to poke around the school's security systems and other systems. The one time he stopped for a bathroom break she told him that there were a few close calls, but she managed to do all of this without getting detected. She did make a quick note that apparently there were a whole bunch of hidden cameras around the school (thankfully none in the bathrooms) that were apparently on Nezu's private network. Which pretty much meant that becoming Spider-Man inside the school was not happening unless he wanted Nezu to know his secret. And while he knew from the various news reports, blogs and forums that Nezu didn't like the HPSC and best and absolutely loathed them at worst, pretty much everyone said you couldn't trust the rat since he always had some sort of agenda.
Besides, it would be easier if nobody knew he was Spider-Man. Vigilantes and their families and families didn't get the same protections as other Pro Heroes, so if he actually DID make some good friends and his secret got out, they could become targets.
So yeah, better to keep this secret to himself.
In an abandoned garage in the Eisley district, three men walked in through the back door into the dark room.
Once the door closed, one of them asked "You wanted to see us, Shade?"
The lights flickered on, revealing Shade holding a folder, while a laptop sat on a small table. There was no video, but the screen said Active Call.
Shade nodded. "The Fixers are here, King."
"Thank you, Shade. It's good to see you three. Nice to see you're still as punctual as ever, Tremor."
The man who had talked earlier took off his hat and bowed his head, revealing his short cut brown hair and his brown eyes. His hands were covered in metal gloves that were designed to hold back the worst effects of his Quirk. His voice carried a tinge of a country accent, likely from the Mie Prefecture, as he replied "Always a pleasure to hear from you, King."
"Crosshairs, excellent job dealing with that journalist. I doubt your brother could've pulled off a shot like that."
A bald man with what looked like a sniper scope growing out of his right eye like some sort of futuristic monocle bowed his head. His voice was as cold and clear as ice. "The mods you gave me for Ol' Bessie certainly helped, boss."
"And Stone, I hear you managed to make an example out of that bleeding heart detective."
The last of the three, a large man with skin that seemed to be made out of solid rock, nodded and replied in a gravelly voice "You know it, King."
Tremor then asked "So I assume you called the three of us cause you got a job for us?"
"Straight to the point like always. I'll get right to it, then. Shade."
Shade handed the folder to Tremor, who opened it and began reading. "So this clown's been the one plaguing your operations in the Eisley district?"
"I'm afraid so. When the reports first started coming in I could hardly credit them. I mean, a dumb teenager of all things taking down my men? How ridiculous does that sound?"
"Fortunately we started having these guys carry around spy drones so we could see for ourselves if our boys were being sincere," Shade said, pulling out a small spherical drone with four legs roughly the size of a baseball. "We started finding out that they weren't trying to stiff us out of our profits."
"Last night was our final confirmation. The Spider-Man is real. And while at the moment he's nothing more than a little prick-"
"-you want us to squash this bug before he gets promoted to a thorn in your side," Crosshairs finished.
"Correct. Find the spider, and then 'Fix' him for good."
All three of them replied in unison "Got it, King."
"So, how are we looking at the school's security, DECA," Spider-Man asked, currently sitting on a rooftop overlooking the Hosu District.[1]
It was after school and after some really good curry from Lunch Rush, Izuku's class was dismissed for the day. After a quick trip to his apartment and a video call to his grandparents that took roughly an hour, he had dropped off his school stuff and changed into his Spider-Man suit. He then went swinging out to try and connect DECA and his phone to the Hero Network Towers. This way he could pick up on any crimes in progress that the heroes weren't handling/wouldn't get to in time.
Plus there were other advantages to getting into that network, but that part of the plan wasn't until a later date.
So far in the couple of hours he'd been swinging he'd managed to swing through the Dagobah District, the Financial District, the Akuma's Kitchen District and link up to their HN Towers (Their security is so weak, he mentally mused) managing to form a map of Musutafu on his phone. Thanks to that and a bit of luck he had also stopped a woman from getting mugged, found a missing kid and walked him home, and had stopped a pawn store from getting robbed. The mugging and pawn store he sprayed his mark on the wall and pavement near the perps respectively, but with the kid he just gave him a note that read Courtesy Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
A note that he had made on his computer and printed earlier, since he wasn't about to handwrite notes so that some detective might run it through a database to try and match his handwriting.
So now here he was, taking a break and check in with DECA just as the sun had gone down and night had fallen.
"Well, you were right in assuming that UA's cyber security was pretty strong. Nezu's private network was even more so, though I'm still trying to process how many of those hidden cameras he has. They're in almost every room and hallway except the bathrooms and the locker rooms."
"At least he somewhat respects people's privacy," Spider-Man muttered.
"That's not the only thing that's weird. I noticed that each class has their own chat rooms, but he's got backdoor access. Everything they talk about, he'll see it. Even the PMs."
That definitely made his eyebrows rise behind his mask. "Okay, that goes beyond being a little nosy to straight up paranoia. All of that together makes it seem like he's afraid some of the students are spies for the Commission or something."
"Honestly I couldn't tell you what his problem is. But I do know that we're gonna have to be really careful if we wanna sneak in after school to use the Super-Fabricator to make your new suit and any of your gear. If he or the other teachers are still in there when you go in and I mess with the cameras, they'll probably send someone to investigate. His security drones I can fool just fine, but human/animal eyes are something else."
"Well like I said," he replied as he stood up and flexed his arms, noting that both of his web shooters were down to about 50% of their web fluid capacity. "Hopefully it'll only be this one time, and we can start scouting support company junkyards. I definitely wanna at least build the Mark II Web Shooters. You're right when you said the storage capacity on these things suck."
"Told you. Besides, it's nearing 9 o'clock and unless you want to swing all the way back to Dagobah you might want to get changed and catch a train."
"Relax, DECA," Spider-Man replied nonchalantly, web-zipping to the next rooftop and finding the next tower. "The night's still young and I've still got a lot more towers to link to and more people to help. Speaking of which?"
DECA sighed, but his phone screen changed to show a progress bar that rapidly started filling up. In seconds it read 100% and more of the map of Musutafu was filled in. "Wow. 2.3 seconds. That's a new record."
"Thank you," she replied, though her tone sounded more annoyed than thankful. "But you're not changing the subject on me."
Standing on the edge of the rooftop he sighed and said "Look, I appreciate that you care so much about me. But I promise you I-"
The words died in his throat as he felt the telltale buzz of his Spider-Sense, before instinctively rolling to the side and behind a chimney, feeling the air change as he avoided a bright red laser beam.
Getting back to his feet and settling into a combat stance, he said "I'm gonna have to call you back" before hanging up and slipping his phone into the pouch on the inside of his shirt.
He was about to peak out to see who took a shot at him when his spider-sense went off again and suddenly felt the rooftop shake like there was an earthquake. He immediately jumped into the air as a large shockwave shot out and demolished it, reducing the brick and mortar chimney to rubble (he himself thankful the building was actually condemned.)
Landing, he saw three people, all dressed in black suits with green goggles. One of them had a large rifle, the big guy had what looked like a large cattle prod, and the guy in the middle had his metal gloved hand on the ground, indicating that he was the one who unleashed that shockwave. "Damn it. I thought they was kidding when they said you had some sort of sixth sense," he stated.
"I get that a lot," Spider-Man replied, readying himself for a fight. "But hey, I'm full of surprises. And you guys are?"
The big guy with the cattle prod replied "You can call us the Fixers. And you ain't the only one with surprises, punk."
The sniper guy hit a button on his rifle, and while his spider-sense went off he was just a second too slow to dodge what came next.
Which happened to be a large disc the size of a manhole cover that he somehow missed earlier, which broke apart to unleash large red metal cables that immediately wrapped around him and started squeezing. Before he could break free of them they crackled and delivered a massive amount of electricity into his body and his legs gave out, making him fall onto the ground. Every single movement he made only unleashed more of the electricity into his body, forcing him to stay still. Well, this sucks.
"Another job well done, boys," the guy with the gloves said, as all three surrounded Spider-Man's prone form. "So, before we fill out the King's request, what say we play with the bug before we squash him?"
Oh, shit.
To Be Continued...