Chapter Text
The hospital visit really didn't do much. A nice doctor checked the bite, did a check of his body, and took blood samples. With a quirk that can tell what's in your blood, it also made the hospital visit infinitely shorter. And she told him that he didn't have any coagulation or venom, which was such a relief thank god. Probably the spider didn't have big enough fangs, she said. Hanta really didn't think to care enough about the details. All he cared about was that he was spider free, venom free, and had to deal with going home and not at risk of angering (or worse, worry) their mom.
"Common losers, time to go home," He called back to the two as they made their way back to the hospital parking lot. This time, he made sure to check for unwanted arachnid attacks.
"You have no right to call me that since you're the reason we're here" He turned to his little sister, an exaggerated look of offense on his face. His big sister ignored them, in favor of her phone. And by the loud shouts at the other end, he already knew who she was talking too.
'Oop, time to run away from that convo.'
Which he did, unlocking the car and sitting next to Terry.
"Is that how you treat your beloved brother who could have DIED-"
"But did you die?"
Hanta just stared at his bratty, brave, bold, rude little sister who raised her eyebrow in a "you goinna challenge me bitch?" expression. Hanta wasn't known to deal with stress well. Or deal with it at all. He liked being chill. So he'd rather not fight and instead deal with it maturely.
He stuck his tongue out, which his little sister retaliated with a middle finger salute. He was about to do the most appropriate big brother response of tackling her, but a slap to the head had him turn. Said head slapper was Rita with a loudly screeching phone in hand.
"Uhh," he replied, like an intellectual, "is there a reason why your phone sounds like mom but angry?"
"Because it's mom on the other end but angry and worried."
Hanta winced. Oh no, this ain't good. And she was speaking in Spanish, Japanese, AND Tagalog. Which meant she was SUPER PISSED.
He gingerly took the phone, watched his big sister's shoulders sag in relief, and mentally and spiritually prepared himself for a difficult battle.
"Hi mom," he said as he brought the phone to his ears. He quickly pulled it away as his eardrums were threatened to be blown.
"HANTA SERO WHAT DID YOUR SISTER MEAN YOU GOT BIT BY A SISTER AND YOU HAD TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL?"
Well this was gonna be fun.
After getting home, he had to undergo the extensive and grueling session of his mother and father’s fussing. Since it was part pat down for injuries, part hugs and kisses of relief, and part extended lecture on the dangers of walking alone at night and "That's why you have a phone, use the flashlight idiot!", he was fit to be sent up, brought down to "Eat son, you are gonna be hungry from all that stress", sent up again, and finally clean up.
He was brushing his teeth in front of the mirror when he remembered the bite mark. He took his shirt off and tried to check it out on the mirror, and realized he didn't have a flexibility quirk to allow him to twist his neck 360 degrees. So he took out his phone and let technology do the work.
Hopefully Rita or Terry didn't come in or else he'd have a hard time explaining why he was taking a shirtless pic of his back.
After some maneuvering, and utilizing the fantastic timer function (honestly it's such a genius feature), he could finally take a look at the source of his source of stress for tonight.
On the picture was the clearest and closest picture of his back he could take on his own. He could see a small, red to pinkish bump that broke the singular color of light pale brown of his back. It didn't look as bad as he thought. It was definitely inflamed, but not like a bleeding wound of pain and sorrow he thought. Spiders were evil and that’s what they do after all, Spider-man be damned.
But it barely looked like a bite. It looked like he got pinched really hard and nothing more. Honestly, it was a miracle it wasn't itching. That would have been a nightmare to reach.
Hanta, 1; spider, 0 it seems. Heh.
"Still annoying though. Ugh," he complained. He could have been home 2 hours ago, and with less hearing damage from parental reprimanding, but stupid spider ruined it.
'Whatever, time to sleep'
He had hero class after all. And despite going through the Battle Trial and the horror of Shouta Aizawa, he still couldn’t help the giddy feeling in his chest.
He was a UA Hero student.
He loved his life so much.
Scratch that, he hated his life.
“Ugh...” he moaned pitifully, face down on his bed. His entire body felt like it was on fire and he tried desperately to cool down. The cotton sheets felt like torture, and the thin tank top he wore was too stuffy. He was in his underwear already and it still wasn’t enough.
“Fan... is the fan even on?”
Looking to the night stand beside him showed that yes it was on and directed right at him. Ugh, it wasn’t enough.
“Fuck...” he whimpered. Great, now he had to deal with the splitting headache. What time is it? Where did he put his phone again?
Sitting up, he felt his limbs bend awkwardly. Great, he was so sick he was losing motor control. After a lot of cursing and patting his surroundings, he finally grabbed his phone. And burned his eyes at how high the brightness was.
“Ow...”
Quickly salvaging his eyesight and lowering the brightness (though, still too bright), he checked the time. Blinked, and checked it again.
“3 am?” he whispered out loud. “What the hell. Ugh...”
Ok it was way too early for this. And he was way too sick to move. And everyone would probably be asleep. And while he could try to go down and take some paracetamol for the fever, he didn’t want to risk his falling down the stairs and breaking his neck. He’ll just sleep it off.
“Not the most medically sound choice. Then again, I’m not a doctor.”
With that in mind, he decided to go back to sleep, and hope that he was well enough to go to class. Mr. Aizawa had something planned for their class today.
‘Hopefully not another fight. I’d rather not deal with Todorki’s ice thank you very much.’
He stood on the edge of the building, feet planted on the stone railing made to keep people from falling off the edge. Not a lot of help though if you were on the railing itself.
But he didn’t mind. He liked it there. He liked the feeling of being one step from danger. Just one push to falling from the sky. It sent a thrill up his spine that only falling can create.
Besides, it’s not like he couldn’t catch himself if he did.
His phone rang, and he opened a special pouch on his belt, a hidden seem that seemed to disappear into his suit. He always like how villains thought he had no gear with him, before getting shocked by, well, getting tazed if they didn’t stop attacking.
He had brains and brawns, despite what the two brats would say.
The phone kept ringing, which brought him back to the present.
“Did you feel that?” the voice on the other end asked immediately. They sounded breathless, gasping. Like they just ran a mile. Or found something that shocked them.
“I did,” he replied. That was why he stopped in the first place. In the middle of patrol, he felt it in the air. The tingle of the hairs on his body, the way the world started slowing and speeding up. The greater awareness that filled him. Except, this time, directed at a specific source entirely.
“Could you tell where it came from?” the younger asked. Their sense was strong, but not as developed as his. They wouldn’t have detected it immediately like him, but he could have parsed it with enough effort. Maybe he should teach that once they figured out how not to overreact to everything.
“Yep,” he replied. “Or like a general sense. We’ll definitely know if we’re close though.”
“Okay. Can you believe it? Another one of us!”
He chuckled at the enthusiasm of the younger one. He couldn’t deny there was something exciting here. Another one of them. Another protector.
But that also meant ‘it’ intervened. ‘It’ decided that another warrior was needed. But why? Was there something he missed? Another threat?
He would only know once he met the new member of their web. For now though...
“I’ll start prepping the agency. You and the rest can take care of the city for me while I’m gone. Ask Susan for help if ever.”
“Wait I’m not coming?! And you don’t trust me to take care of New York on my own?!”
“You’re 15 years old, of course I’m not letting you run on your own. You don’t even have your hero license yet.”
“Well someone decided to not sponsor my early admission exam.”
“You mean I acted like a mature adult for once?”
“If it involves me not getting to swing freely, then it isn’t mature.”
“Yeah, definitely. Like being a concerned adult is totally immature.”
“I hate you.”
“Love you too Miles.”
“Ew, emotions.”
“Anyways, I’ll send more details later. I’ll finish patrol and start packing. Gotta find that kid and explain things before it gets complicated.”
“Why are you so sure it’s a kid?”
“It had the same potential energy for pubescent chaos like yours.”
“Hey!”
Peter laughed, and cut off the rant from his protégé before it had the chance to devolve further. Putting the phone back in his pouch, he stood up and admired the view.
New York Prime was a such a lively place. The new glass buildings mixed with the old classics and ruins. He often wondered what it would have looked like if quirks didn’t exist and the city wasn’t destroyed. A thought for a different time, he guessed.
With a small hop, he was falling from the ledge and down unto the streets below. He managed to catch a gasp from a passing window, sent the little kid looking out of it a small salute, before swiftly sending a piece of web to a nearby building.
And he swung up and back into the sky.
God, he couldn’t wait to show web swinging to the new spider.
Energy buzzed and hissed, and beams collided in an array of spectrums and colors. The scientists behind the glass sat in fidgeting, excitement or fear, she wasn’t sure. Nonetheless, they sat and watched, not leaving their seats. Some were busy watching numbers change, rising and falling on their screens. It was a gaggle of brilliant minds, potential future science bubbling every which way she looked.
It both excited her with each new breakthrough, and annoyed her when these adult men couldn’t seem to remember their basic quantum physics.
Still, despite their bumbling, they were so close to success. She could already taste it.
The beams stayed stable, rushing like two rivers of light. Waves and spectrums and shapes that didn’t seem possible were sprouting. Their mumbles of worry around her, numbers becoming erratic, stability slowly fading. But she didn’t care. Because it was working. It had to be.
The beams, once steadily growing, started changing. Sprouting more and more lights and energy and streams of color. And the building was rumbling.
Screams of fear surrounded her, but she wasn’t deterred. Nothing ever happened. Because if it was already doing that at this point, then the outcome was already known.
As expected, the beams disappeared, all the energy coalescing into a single point, before flying up and away into a chaotic stream of energy, burning a hole through the just repaired wall.
The sounds of alarms and warnings were still blaring, but she took no notice. She was too busy stewing in her frustration.
Because they failed. Again. Again and again and again.
“Fuck!” she shouted. The nearby researchers jumped and gave her a wide birth. She took no notice. She was more concerned with the failure.
How could she present this? This failure?
“Fucking hell, back to the drawing board. And someone detect where that stray particle packet is going! I don’t want another cover up on our hands!”
Underlings and researchers scrambled to follow her orders, and she find wicked satisfaction in their fear.
At least he wasn’t there. Wouldn’t do to let her failure be seen by that creature. He would revel in her failure like the sadist he was.
She let out a quiet sigh and ordered another clean up.
She was going to figure this out or die trying.