One Bad Night

Chapter 4: One Bad Night

"A true hero is one who overcomes life's misfortunes." - Present Mic quoting Napoleon

≈*≈

Safely back home, Peter changed out of his costume. The salvaged remains of Shocker's gauntlet was still webbed to his belt, so he chucked it into a corner of his closet next to his suit. He would love to reverse engineer anything he could learn from the device, but for now it was better that he took the time to apply some first aid to himself. He was pretty banged up, but Peter had found that he bounced back pretty quickly after getting his quirk. The bruising would leave him tender for a couple days, but the marks would be gone by morning, so he'd be able to fake it well enough to avoid most people's notice.

As he was wrapping himself in bandages, he saw the phone on the desk buzz out of the corner of his eye.

Missed messages? Harry and Aunt May called? What could be so important that they'd call me in the middle of the nigh- he slapped his forehead in realization.

Right, time zones. I promised to call them first chance I had, and evening for me is morning for them, of course they're trying to get ahold of me.

He quickly finished his first aid, hid his suit away, and changed into presentable clothing before typing away on his laptop to pull up a video call and invite Harry and Aunt May.

Harry was the first to pick up. "Hey Pete! How's Japan? How are all those cute Asian girls? I never did teach you how to get a date like I promised."

"Nice to see you too, Harry. Japan's been amazing so far, and there are no girls, I've only been here for one day, give me a break."

"Oh come on, you're telling me you haven't talked to one girl all day?"

"Well… I didn't say that." Peter admitted sheepishly.

Harry got a devilish grin. "My, don't you work fast. Not to worry, big bro Harry is here to help you get senpai to notice you."

"She's not my senpai! And you know senpai just means upperclassman! I never said I wanted to take her out, I barely know her."

"Man, you've got it bad. Listen, you don't have to know a girl to ask her out. You have it backwards. You get to know her by going on a date."

"How long are we gonna harp on this? It's been one day. I've got this entrance exam thing to worry about now."

"Please, we both know how desperate you are. Admit it, if you knew a girl would always say yes, you'd ask her out next time you saw her."

"Okay fine, but why does that matter? Of course no one's going to refuse the chance for a free date."

"Because I'm going to teach you a guaranteed method to get her to say yes, and now you have no excuse not to try."

"Yeah right, you're not Japanese. Whole 'nother ballgame over here. Besides, we're too busy preparing for the exams right now, bad timing."

"A study date then."

"I don't know, schedule's pretty full. I'd have to blow off my study date with my pal Harry, I hear he's really struggling."

"Low blow Pete. Now that you're not here, I'm one misstep away from failing. I was really relying on that field trip, fiasco that turned out to be."

"I'll email you all my old notes. But pretty soon all my school work's gonna be the Japanese curriculum, not American common core. So that's not a permanent solution. Hmm…" Peter furrowed his brow in thought. "You know Debra Whitman?"

"Your old geeky rival? What about her?"

"Take your own advice and ask her out on a few study dates. Should be no problem for Big Bro Harry to get senpai to notice him."

"Ooh, not pulling any punches I see. Alright, fair enough, you got me there. I really do have to get back to catch up on my homework, badly. But do tell me how those exams go."

"Of course buddy." A notification popped up asking permission to allow May Parker to join the call. "Aunt May's on the other line. Talk to you later, Harry."

"See ya, Pete."

A few clicks later and Aunt May's image replaced Harry's. "Hey Aunt May, I made it Japan safely and found a really nice place to stay, things are going well." Peter pre-ambled to avoid Aunt May fussing over him.

"That's wonderful dear. Oh! Are you alright, Peter? Your lip is all busted up, you didn't get into a fight your first day in a foreign country, did you?"

"Goodness no, Aunt May, nothing like that. I just tripped and fell. I'll be fine tomorrow, just a couple scrapes."

"Well alright then, but you be careful out there, all alone in a big city on the other side of the world, can't be too cautious."

"You don't have to worry so much Aunt May, I grew up in New York, remember? If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. Japan has the lowest crime rate in the world and I'm attending their top hero school, no safer place on earth, I swear."

"If you say so, but if you run into any trouble I want you to come right home, you hear?"

"Do I look like the kind of guy that would turn tail at the first sign of trouble, Aunt May? I'm going to give the rest of the support course students here a run for their money and leave this place with a good job secured." And hopefully some kind of quirk permit or provisional license in the meantime if I can hack it. Peter added in his head.

Aunt May smiled. "You sound just like your Uncle Ben." The expression quickly became mournful, "I really do miss him. But, Anna Watson has been keeping me good company, helps keep my mind off things."

"I miss him too Aunt May." Peter swallowed his guilt, it was his fault she was left all alone.

"I least I still have you, Peter. Not sure what I would do if something happened to you while I wasn't around to protect you. You're still so young. 15 and out living on your own."

Should I tell her? Tell her why Uncle Ben...

Peter's mouth went dry. "Aunt May… Now that I'm in Japan, there's… There's something I have to tell you."

"What is it, dear? You know you can tell me anything."

"I'm… I'm just feeling a little homesick is all, Aunt May" I can't tell her. Even now that she's safe in New York away from Spider-Man, I can't tell her about my quirk. No one can know. And that means I can't tell her the truth about Uncle Ben either.

"I miss you too, Peter. But, we're all still here, just promise you'll call often, and the distance won't feel so far."

"I promise Aunt May." No distance away from me could be far enough.

The call went on like that for a while longer. After some time he even called Harry back to catch up a bit more, as well as some other stray tasks.

Peter heaved a heavy sigh that quickly transitioned to a yawn as he stretched out and closed his laptop screen. Finished the day's work, did my superhero-ing, and caught up with everyone back home. Now, it's time for some well earned sleep.

Leaning his chair onto its back legs as he stretched, Peter was forced to squint his eyes as they were caught by a beam of light from the window. The sudden flash caused him to fall over in his chair and land in a heap on the floor. He scrambled to the window, pulled up the screen, and leaned out to see his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.

"No, no, no! The sun's rising? I was up all night?!"

"Ohayou! Good morning, Peter-kun!"

Peter looked down to see Setsuna waving to him from the street below, his dejected cries catching her attention. "Morning, Setsuna-chan." He replied forlorn, hanging his head as he began to turn back towards his bed in hopes of getting some sleep by procrastinating the morning.

"So what's the matter?"

Peter nearly jumped three feet up at the surprise voice behind him, but only managed to trip and fall instead.

He stood up and dusted himself off to see Setsuna leaning through his window, elbows propped up on the window sill. "Geez, don't scare me like that."

She tilted her head at him. "You doing well?"

"Yeah, just… earlier, than I expected. Thought I would have slept in later. What are you doing up and about so early?"

"My morning jog, helps wake me up, builds stamina. Gotta train hard if I wanna be a hero."

Peter nodded, noting for the first time the track suit she was wearing. "Smart, better than how I spend my mornings."

"You should join me. You seem tired."

Peter gave her a somewhat incredulous look. "I am tired. Truth be told I didn't get any sleep last night. Back in America, it's the evening right now, my circadian rhythm, my internal clock, is all messed up. Jet lag and all that"

She nodded in understanding. "In that case, I especially think you should come jog with me."

"And why's that?"

"One of the reasons I like jogging is because it doesn't just build stamina, but willpower, you see how long you can fight to keep going when you feel that stitch in your side. With you being so tired, you got a real opportunity to push your limits and learn to fight the urge to sleep and remain alert and productive regardless. If you fall asleep during a crisis situation, you're as good as dead, you know."

"You sure that's a healthy way to train?"

She shrugged her shoulders with a noncommittal mmph. "Anyway, it'll help wake you up and remove the temptation to go back to sleep once you get your blood pumping. That way, when you finally allow yourself to sleep, you'll be out like a light, and get a full night's rest. Just make sure to wake up on time the next morning, and voila, circadian rhythm reset. You take a week of jet lag, and condense it into just one bad night. training hard and resting hard go hand in hand. If you just take short naps throughout the day then you're sabotaging yourself in both areas."

"I suppose that makes sense. 'Early to bed early to rise,' as Ben Franklin said. Okay, I'm game. I'll be down in a second." With that, Setsuna's torso left the window and floated back down to her legs, which were doing basic stretches on the sidewalk.

≈*≈

Peter and Setsuna jogged down the road side by side making small talk.

"So, is this part of your training for the entrance exam?"

"Huh? Oh, no, I already did that. I got in on recommendations, so I took a different test a few days ago."

"What was the test like? Probably can't give me any tips for my practical, but it can't hurt. Bet it makes for a good story too."

"Sure thing! It was actually pretty simple, just this big race. Though it quickly just turned into a big grudge match between this guy with an ice quirk and this other guy who propelled himself with whirlwinds. So those two guys are definitely getting in. I don't know how many spots there are available, but I think I did pretty well compared to the rest of the people there, so fingers crossed." She flashed a shark toothed smile as her fingers formed a floating cross shape in mid air.

"That doesn't sound too bad- *wince*" Peter took in a sharp intake of breath and clutched his bruised ribs as they rounded a particularly sharp corner.

Setsuna let herself slow to a standstill. "You alright? Stitch in your side? Come to think of it, you actually look a little banged up. Something happen last night?"

"Yeah," Peter said through slightly grit teeth. "I was clearing out the cobwebs in the corners of my room. As I was wiping down the ceiling, I lost my balance and fell, got a little bruised."

Setsuna gave him a skeptical look, but didn't directly call him out either. "One of my favorite rest spots is coming up, we can stop there for awhile." Pretty soon they came up on a decorative boulder near the path they were taking through a public park.

Setsuna stretched out and leaned against the stone as it reflected the orange light of the morning sun. "Ahhh, nice and warm."

Peter chuckled. "Sun bathing, huh? You really are a lizard."

Setsuna happily accepted the accusation with a hum and instead inquired about Peter's injuries. "What were you doing shimmying up walls? Actually, come to think of it, I never asked about your quirk, you a climber?"

"That's part of it. It's called simian."

Setsuna got an excited look on her face like she had just figured out a mystery. "You're a code monkey! No wonder you're such a dork." She bent over arms folded across her stomach as she fought off a fit of giggles.

"Sure, says the skink," Peter retorted, but immediately regretted the implications. Such ribbing was normal between guys like Harry and him, but imagining how Setsuna might take it left his face flush with embarrassment.

Thankfully, Setsuna decided to take the prodding in good humor in order to snipe back with some revenge of her own. The malicious gleam in her eye in no wise helped by her mischievous shark toothed grin.

Setsuna shrugged, feigning indifference. "Hey, if boys like you wanna chase tail, I don't see why I shouldn't play my part. Can't blame a girl for her quirks now, can you?"

"Why do I get the sneaking suspicion that you'd just turn tail and run?"

"We're already running right now, aren't we?" With that, Setsuna ran right up into Peter's space, face inches away, before deftly slipping past and sprinting back the way they came. "Catch me if you can! Last one home is a rotten egg!"

"Wha-? Hey! W-wait up!" Peter nervously stammered as he quickly turned to run after her, but in the rush of the moment, he failed to notice the foot she left behind to trip him. Which ended with him almost face planting and giving Setsuna a comfortable head start.

Why didn't my spider-sense warn me about the trip? He thought as he caught up to her.

"You know monkey boy, when they say make like a banana and split, I don't think they mean make like a banana peel and slip."

I suppose it's because I'm so comfortable around her my spider-sense doesn't register her as a possible threat. "I think I'll defer to you as the authority on splitting."

"Smart," she replied as she picked up speed to take the lead.

Wait. Am I… flirting? No, that's crazy talk. Besides, I'm just some random geek. Harry's been getting to me, she's just a friend. Peter shook his head clear of the thought. A friend my spider-sense is totally at ease around…

≈*≈

"*huh* *huh*" Peter panted as he tried to catch his breath from the run, leaning over with his hands on his knees.

Setsuna was similarly winded. "*hah* I win, *hah* you did pretty good out there, for a nerd."

You mean I let you win. *wince* Then again, maybe exerting myself even this much had been a bad idea. "Thanks. *huh* You did pretty good yourself, for a girl."

"Oh, I am so gonna get you back for that one."

"Kidding, I was kidding, I kid. I knew I didn't have much chance against a hero course student."

The two sat down on a bench facing the block of tenements they now called home. Setsuna pulled out her phone, idly scrolling through her feed while catching her breath. "Hey, check it out, new pro hero made their debut last night. Spider-Man, they're calling themselves."

"Huh! Really? Let me see." Setsuna held her phone out so they could both read the article.

Spider-Man Makes Spectacular Debut in Collapsing Skyscraper.

Last night, a villain capable of producing powerful shockwaves, aptly designated Shocker, committed a high profile bank robbery, using his abilities to bust down the door to the vault and then blast his way back out with the money inside. However, no sooner had Shocker broken into the vault than had the new Pro-Hero Spider-Man arrived on the scene. Footage of the confrontation captured by civilian cellphones is quickly going viral online.

The robbery took place on one of the highest floors of a large bank in Musutafu, as such there were a large number of civilians present on the scene as well as on higher floors, all effectively being held hostage by the Shocker. In order to cover his escape, Shocker was able to target the building's support structure during his confrontation with Spider-Man, causing the entire building above them to collapse. However, Spider-Man was able to use a strong spider silk webbing to reinforce the building and prevent catastrophic collapse, as well as save all the people trapped inside, and prevent further destruction from falling debris. Building repairs are possible and now underway thanks to this quick action.

Of the 313 people inside the collapsed sections of the building, all but one escaped safely without serious injury, the last died in an ambulance shortly after being carried out of the building. Many people are comparing Spider-Man's heroic debut to—the man himself—All Might's debut. Who, as I'm sure we all remember, famously saved 1079 people from a collapsed building, with only 6 deaths resulting from the catastrophe. This sentiment began with All Might himself, who arrived on the scene shortly after the incident's conclusion to relieve Spider-Man and help hold up the building. He briefly expressed to the media his applause for Spider-Man's amazing handling of the situation.

Unfortunately, even heroes can't always do it all, and Shocker it seems is still at large after Spider-Man was forced to choose between the villains capture and the civilians safety.

We now go to eyewitness accounts of the incident:

"Spider-Man was incredible! Like watching a trapeze artist, I could hardly keep track of him."

"I was terrified when Shocker started busting down the vault, but Spider-Man came and put us all at ease."

"I've got a minor super strength quirk, but I got caught under heavy rubble and thought I was gonna be crushed, then Spider-Man lifted it off me no problem."

"With his webs he held the entire building up!"

"That Shocker was one tough customer, But Spidey held him off and quelled our fears so we could escape."

"You know, I guess one man can make a difference, 'nuff said."

Unfortunately, the Bugle was unable to contact Spider-Man's agency for comment.

Feb. 22, pub: Daily Bugle, rep: N. Leeds

Peter's smile nearly split his face, despite his attempts to hide it. "That's incredible! What do you think of it, Setsuna-chan?"

She shrugged. "He saved a lot of people. And it's neat to see a new hero in town, the costume's alright. It is what it is I suppose. But he let the villain get away, let himself get beat up a lot too. I think Kamui woods would have done a better job, his agency also patrols in Musutafu, right?"

"Uhh, I wouldn't know, not too familiar with the local scene and all." Peter feigned embarrassment to hide his disappointment.

"Well I'm going to make myself some breakfast, that running builds up an appetite." With that, she got off the bench and walked inside with a small wave goodbye. "Later, Peter-kun."

Peter sighed. It was about time he got down to business too. A couple more minutes of rest, before he placed his hands on his knees and pushed himself to his feet. A single step later, and he felt his legs seize up and knees buckle out from beneath him, leaving him with a mouthful of dirt and grass.

At least it was a soft landing. Peter hadn't realized just how dead his body was after all the exertion of the last 24 hours. Once he had allowed his legs a moment to rest from the run, his strength failed him and now they felt like lead. Don't quit on me now, I'm not done yet. Still have work to do today.

≈*≈

First order of business: a new batch of web fluid. Which ultimately boiled down to one of his least favorite things: shopping. Turns out DIY chemical concoctions were a major pain. He couldn't just pick up the ingredients themselves, no that would be too easy, and too suspicious. No, he had to buy an assortment of inconspicuous chemicals like bleach and baking soda just as a prerequisite to break down into their base elements so that he could compound the chemicals he actually wanted from scratch. This led to Peter pacing up and down the drug, cleaning, and cooking aisles until he just about went insane. How hard can it be to find something capable of making citric acid around here!? Don't tell me I'm going to have to go to the farmers' market to get it off the vine. Well, you know what they say, when life leaves you with lemons, shut up and make citric acid.

Ultimately his shopping list doubled in length and quadrupled in price. He didn't even need half these things for the finished product! He just needed them to induce the necessary chemical reaction to get a desirable byproduct from two other chemicals that wouldn't react on their own. And that was all so he could make it to step 1. I'm going to spend two hours compounding just to get the ingredients for the coagulant's oxidizer.

Things were so much easier when he could just raid the school chemistry lab for everything he needed. Thankfully, no one questioned him at the drug store, and the cashier on duty at the supermarket was too dimwitted to recognize the obvious assortment of chemical compounds in his cart. If push came to shove, he could say he was restocking cooking and cleaning supplies for a restaurant he worked at. The last thing he needed was people getting suspicious of him running a meth lab.

When all was said and done, he had spent the equivalent of $2,000 dollars of his remaining $2,800 on this one batch. He thought this would last him way longer, he barely had enough for one month of rent now. He was going to have to come up with another ¥50,000 yen for next month. He thought he would have a bit more time to get settled into his new school schedule before job hunting, a luxury he could no longer afford. Why did I have to waste all that web fluid against Shocker again? Right, hero, no complaints allowed.

He was thinking of getting himself some proper chemistry equipment, but there was no way he could afford it now, not even if he spent all his remaining cash. Looks like he would have to jimmy rig something when he got home.

There was more than one occasion during the trip back home where he nearly fell asleep on his feet and spilled the several stuffed plastic bags he was hauling around in his arms, forcing him to quickly scavenge everything before any of his precious chemicals spilled out into the street, and then arduously stuff them back into the plastic bags. Not to mention that they were now all overflowing after one of the bags tore open and became useless. Only one trip was allowed when you don't have a car or a cart, so keeping a careful hold on his armfuls of supplies while walking down the street or riding the bus was essential, he was silently but overwhelming grateful for his spider-stick that allowed him to maintain his grip on everything. He was also begrudgingly thankful for his splitting headache, which was really the only thing serving to keep him awake. I probably have a concussion but I couldn't be more grateful because it's blessing me with insomnia. You're really on the up and up, aren't you Pete? He mocked himself.

Finally, he got home and was walking down the hall to his pad when he bumped into Doc Connors, literally. Peter's new teacher took an inquisitive look at Peter's groceries before giving a small chuckle. "Chemistry project already, Parker? You know, it's dangerous to mix chemicals at home. I don't suppose you've converted your kitchen into a chem lab?"

Peter could only give a sheepish (or was it sleepy?) look in return.

"No excuse? Not planning on learning home cooking or getting an early start on spring cleaning?"

"Sure, let's go with that," Peter said, trying to conserve energy and downplay the novelty of the situation as he took the last few steps to his door. "Oh, would you mind? My hands are a little, you know."

"My pleasure." Doc Connors opened the door for Peter and stood aside, allowing him to dump his bags onto the countertop. "You know, Peter, I can't help but notice you don't have any equipment. You're not planning on using a measuring cup or something are you?"

"Yeah, my microscope and beakers wouldn't fit in the carry-on. Not that they'd get past airport security. And if I left them in the cargo hold, I'd probably end up with a lot of broken glass. I need to figure something out, bit too tight on cash to buy any proper equipment."

Doc Connors had a sympathetic look on his face. "You know, I have my old lab equipment gathering dust in my closet, and I can get anything I need by using the school labs..."

The look Peter gave him was so wide-eyed he didn't think his Spidey mask could express it. "You serious?"

"Well, I'm reluctant. Those old Bunsen burners have sentimental value, can't give them away to just anyone."

"I can totally be that guy. Please, I'll do anything Dr. Connors. I'll scrub your bathroom for a month, I'll win you the Nobel quirk prize. Just say the word, and I am so there."

Doc Connors chuckled and raised his arm to ward off the excitement. "Settle down, no need to get so ahead of yourself. While those things would be nice, I had something a little different in mind. Allow me to let you in on a little inside baseball. First week of the school year, the class representative for the support course is elected after a contest where each student shows off a support item they made. Study hard, stay at the top of the class, and I'm sure you'll get the spot."

Peter gave a stiff salute. "Roger that Dr. Connors."

Connors returned a small smile. "I'll go grab that equipment and leave you to unpack your groceries. Good luck with your project, Mr. Parker."

Ten minutes later and Peter had everything set out, prepped and ready when Doc Connors came in with a box held under his one arm, and two more floating behind him. He realized Setsuna must have been using her quirk to help him carry the rest, and sure enough, he caught a glimpse of disembodied hands gripping the bottom edge of one of the boxes.

"Thanks Setsuna, it's a little hard to carry stacked boxes with one arm," Doc Connors called down the hall. He then placed his box down before taking the other boxes off her hands, literally, and setting them neatly on the kitchen counter. Setsuna's parts promptly retreated after being relieved of their burdens.

Peter ran over to inspect the equipment. "Thanks so much Dr. Connor's, this stuff really is incre-" he was interrupted by the thud of a large textbook being pressed into his chest. Stunned for only a moment before reflexively crossing his arms over his chest to stop the thick tome from falling to the floor, reflecting absentmindedly that before he got super strength he probably would have considered the book heavy.

"Get to studying Parker, the book's not gonna read itself and you're going to need the head start."

Peter nodded blankly as he felt the book's weight settle in his grip. "Uh, right, I'll get right on that Dr. Connors, thanks again, for everything."

"Well I suggest you quit thanking and start working." And with that, he gave a wave and exited the room.

Hero Support 101 the book title read in thick Japanese characters. It was just then that it fully dawned on Peter that he really was attending the school of his dreams. He smiled before putting the book aside. That could wait till later. For now, he had some web fluid to make.

≈*≈

The equipment was a massive boon, there was everything he could ask for, he even had a centrifuge! It really cut down on the time he needed. It was only a couple hours after lunch, and he was almost finished.

Still, no matter how much Doc Connors and his equipment helped, it was still exhausting work. Hours of math to balance chemical equations and make precise measurements. Keeping a steady hand when mixing the chemicals, and forcing himself to maintain a vigilant watch while he did nothing and waited for the compounds to develop.

By the end of it all, he was half asleep. Though considering he'd been half asleep for the last 12 hours straight, that was nothing new.

"Okay, now to just concoct the ossifier for tensile strength..." He muttered to himself as he began to pour some white powder into a beaker of clear liquid. "And we ar-"

BOOM!

Peter was flung across the room by the sudden explosion and found himself ingrained into the closet door on the opposite side of the room as he tried to regain his bearings through the blurry haze his vision had become. Thankfully, the explosion was small and he was relatively unharmed.

"Peter!" Doc Connors called as he appeared in the doorway. "I heard an explosion, are you alright, what happened?

Peter groaned and picked himself up, prying himself out of the splintered door in the process. "I'm alright, not sure what happened though."

Dr. Connors moved over to the desk that was the obvious source of the explosion and scanned the layout before picking up one of the containers and looking it over. "Calcium." He set it down and picked up an adjacent container. "Potassium." His eyes turned to the shattered beaker, now dripping with clear liquid. "Water."

He hung his head and let out a long sigh, massaging the bridge of his nose between his fingers. "Peter, Peter, Peter, what am I going to do with you? You can't mix alkali compounds with water. You shouldn't even have them near each other, you should know this."

"Lesson learned, don't do chemistry while sleepy. But look on the bright side, at least I wasn't driving while drunk."

Connors wasn't amused. "It could have been much worse! You're lucky you didn't set off a chain reaction. You could've died, or burned down the building!" Doc Connors let out another long sigh, his shoulders relaxing somewhat as he lowered his voice. "I've made a mistake." He said softly while massaging the bridge of his nose. "You're still too young." He turned to Peter as the youth struggled to his feet. "I don't mean to hit you while you're down, but I'm going to have to take my equipment back."

"What? No! Dr. Connors please, I need that equipment. Just give me another chance. I won't let you down, I swear."

Curt put up a hand to signal Peter to stop while he looked down and away. "If you want another chance, make one. Until you can do that, any hand up I can offer will only be a hand out. If you want to make the grade, do the assignment first, and then I'll reward you. Do you understand?"

Peter nodded. "So if I can make class rep, you'll give me the equipment back?" He asked eagerly.

Doc Connors flinched and hesitated. "Maybe. I won't make promises but maybe. And if you can clean this all up and put it back in my room for me, that'd be a good first step." The stern way he said it made it sound more like an order than a suggestion.

"Of course, sir..."

Setsuna meanwhile stood leaning against the wall in the hallway right out of view of the doorway to her right, eyes downcast, as Uncle Curt walked past her towards their own door. I shouldn't have pushed Parker-san to wear himself out on that run this morning. He was already so tired. It's not his fault he made a mistake. And now Oji-san in a bad mood… This is my fault.

≈*≈

Peter glumly finished cleaning his place up. Thankfully, he was already mostly done concocting this batch of web fluid so he was able to finish the process quickly without the aid of specialized equipment, and then clean out all the beakers and vials before returning them to Dr. Connors.

Of course it wasn't long until Mr. Ditkovich came and demanded he pay to fix the door he crashed into. He demanded ¥50,000 yen or about $500 dollars of his remaining $800, which would leave Peter $350 short on next week's $650/¥65,000 rent payment. Peter reluctantly forked over the ¥50,000 yen, leaving him with only the equivalent of $300 dollars for food and other expenses.

And considering that he needed that door money for March's rent next week, that was really bad. Especially because something told Peter that while Mr. Ditkovich was insistent Peter be the one to pay to repair the door, that the landlord wouldn't be so eager to pick up Peter's medical bill in return had he cracked a rib or something in the process of being flung into it. Which was really rather unfortunate. Because Peter more than likely had cracked a rib from the shockwave of the blast. Just not the same shockwave Mr. Ditkovich would be thinking of. And if Mr. Ditkovich was going to insist Peter pay for that Doctor's visit too, then Peter was really out of luck, and much closer to being flat broke than he was comfortable admitting. He needed a job fast. As in, $350 bucks by next week fast.

Not being able to afford a doctor's visit didn't bother Peter too much. He wasn't planning on going even after he had a suitable excuse for his injuries. He healed fast enough on his own, though painful it may be.

But the insinuation that he didn't have even a dime to spare scared Peter. Maybe not now, but he wasn't fool enough to think there would never come a time in the future when an emergency fund would be needed.

He got on his laptop to look up job listings when an article caught his eye: "Spider-Man: Threat or Menace?" without a further second spent to stifle his shock, Spider-Man himself opened up the article to read.

≈*≈

What was once thought to be a darling debut has turned out to be duplicitous deceit. After many failed attempts to locate and contact his agency for comment, we at the Daily Bugle did a little investigative work to find out why, and what we found chilled us to the bone. Spider-Man, once thought to be a pro-hero making his debut in a fight against the new super villain Shocker, has been revealed to be a lawless vigilante at best, and a sinister co-conspirator at worst. You see it turns out that the Japan hero association, or any other hero association as far as we can tell, has never registered a hero under the name Spider-Man or anyone else fitting his description. The reason for his full face mask is now clear. He's a coward, unwilling to go through the proper channels and actually be a productive member of society. Spider-Man wishes only to dress up in a Halloween costume and let his quirk run rampant while us lowly ordinary people wait on him at his feet, despite doing nothing to deserve the status.

This arrogant behavior makes him no better than villains like Shocker. The difference being that Shocker is at least honest in his evil actions, and the revolting character of his motivations only go to further show our society the dreadful state that makes one resort to villainy. The two-faced mask of Spider-Man is a much more subtle form of evil, and therefore far more dangerous. He makes up an image of something desirable, admirable even. Encouraging others to disregard our peaceful society and turn again to the anarchy we have long since left behind, ruining their own lives, and the lives of many others in the process. Do you see? Spider-Man wishes to restore vigilantism from its status as a relic of the past. Certainly he represents a massive threat to our society.

Now if this was the extent of Spider-Man's delinquency, we here at the Bugle may have considered giving the benefit of the doubt, but the insinuations are far more damning than one might initially think. It is our professional opinion that Spider-Man was not merely acting as a vigilante, but actively impersonating a pro-hero. By giving the appearance that a pro was already on the scene and was keeping the villain under control, it discouraged the real heroes from being dispatched to deal with the issue, instead prioritizing tasks of lesser significance. This is true for at least one hero, backdraft, who quickly arrived on the scene, but once he found that another "hero" had already engaged, he opted to focus on containing collateral damage and reduce potential casualties instead of finding his way to the top of the tower. If Spider-Man had not shown up, it would doubtless have been the case that backdraft would have immediately and efficiently subdued Shocker, preventing any serious damage to the building and reducing casualties to near zero.

As if we needed to make this point any clearer, eyewitness testimony of the incident confirms our suspicions: "When Shocker started pounding down the vault door, I was terrified and immediately went to call in to the hero association to report the incident, but then Spider-Man swung in and put us all under a false sense of security. After his reassurances, I assumed a dispatch was already made, so I put my phone away and instead focused on escaping the building."

But what could possibly be the motive, I hear you ask. Shocking though it may sound, the evidence suggests that Spider-Man was almost certainly in league with Shocker and the whole confrontation was an act. I know many of you may be hesitant to believe anyone could knowingly participate in such an abhorrent plot, but we must come to terms with the fact that our judgment has been clouded. Spider-Man with his quick quips and bright colored costume has taken advantage of the faith we put in our beloved pro-heroes to protect and inspire us, so that he could dupe us. He thought he could make you blind to his true intentions. It is only natural you feel betrayed at this notion, but we must ask you to please look past the bravado and examine the results of Spider-Man's actions. Make solemn your hearts and guard your hopes, forget for a moment the beloved image of a hero he irreverently appropriated, and realize that Spider-Man is not a hero. Look at the situation again objectively.

Spider-Man arrives on the scene mere moments after Shocker begins his heist. Just so happened to be in the right place at the right time. He places everyone under a false sense of security. He and Shocker then pretend to battle, but really they are efficiently cooperating, causing the collapse of the building much faster than either could do individually, and ensuring the collateral damage of their "altercation" prevents any hostages from escaping. Ultimately, Spider-Man's efforts are fruitless. Shocker escapes almost completely unscathed, the building collapse providing a far more perfect escape than he could have managed had he operated alone; Spider-Man, meanwhile, ingratiates himself to the public, by pretending to save the victims by telling them TO JUMP OFF OF A BUILDING IN COLLAPSE, giving himself the perfect alibi.

He knew we would eventually discover his vigilante identity, but was banking that this built up goodwill would cause us to overlook that measly little detail and allow him and Shocker to pull off bigger crimes now that the good hearted Japanese people had put their trust in Spider-Man, and would overlook any suspicious activity he might perform for the purposes of a heist. Even All Might, our symbol of peace, who teaches us to look for the good in those who don't deserve it, and who brings out the best in us all, had his common courtesy taken advantage of by the wall crawling menace of Spider-Man.

Require any more proof? What about the fact that Spider-Man only pretended to secure the structure of the building? While many have been all too quick to praise Spider-Man for the professional architectural support his webbing provided, they acted prematurely. In reality, Spider-Man's stunt almost cost the lives of the people working on site to secure the building from further collapse. Because what they didn't know was that they'd have been better off trusting the building's integrity to a web of duct tape. You see it turns out that Spider-Man's webbing only lasts a couple hours before dissolving. It was merely a band-aid solution that allowed Spider-Man to get away without properly securing the building. And once that webbing dissolved, the building would have immediately collapsed onto the heads of the unsuspecting construction workers. At least that's what would have happened if All Might had not had the foresight to correctly adjust the support pillars holding up the building, allowing the workers to salvage the situation before it progressed to that point.

Imagine, if you will, what would have happened if Shocker's robbery went uninterrupted. If this situation has revealed anything of his character it's that—unlike his comrade Spider-Man's flippant disregard for consequences—Shocker's a cold and ruthless pragmatist. Not the type to complicate matters by unnecessarily attacking bystanders. Without Spider-Man, he would have broken in, taken the money, and left with no casualties or collateral damage, the only problem was that he knew that if he had done this, he would have been captured by the arriving pro-heroes as he left the building, so he enlisted the aid of his friend Spider-Man instead.

Instead we are left with millions in damages (far more than Shocker stole), dozens of casualties, and even the death of an innocent little girl. One Gisei Tsumi to be exact. She would have entered her third year of primary school this spring if not for Spider-Man. A true tragedy. Her legacy stands as a testament to any would be vigilante of the arrogance of such actions. We at the Daily Bugle have chosen to offer our own condolences by sponsoring a commemorative service tonight at a local shrine in Musutafu not far from where the incident occurred. We invite everyone to attend and pay their respects.

And if, by any chance, Spider-Man is listening to this report, we have one question for you: are you happy now? Is this what you wanted? Was it all worth it for the chance to play hero? Enjoying the payday you split with your pal Shocker?

I want you to know, Spider-Man, that this is your fault. You have the blood of a little girl on your hands, and hopefully on your conscience. Now I invite you to tell the people of Japan just who you really are. Are you a vigilante threat that undermines obedience and faith in our institutions, or a villainous menace that actively works against it? Don't think that's fair? Then prove it to us. If there was anything really heroic about Spider-Man he'd turn himself into the police and confess his crime. But I'm afraid Spider-Man isn't just a threat, he's a menace, and I expect he's going to keep meddling in the affairs of true heroes.

Well suffice to say, the minds of these villains are foreign to us. But you can rely on us here at the Daily Bugle to keep them accountable and maybe elicit even a shred of remorse so they think twice before continuing with their destructive actions. I'll tell ya folks, How Spider-Man can sleep at night knowing what he's done is beyond me. This has been the Daily Bugle, signing off.

Feb. 22, pub: Daily Bugle, rep: B. Urich/J.J. Jameson

Peter clenched his fists in fury after reading through the transcript of the report. For your information, I haven't slept. But that anger quickly melted away into grief. They had made a valid point. Peter himself had expressed to All Might that it would have been better had he not gotten involved in the first place. Now, his anxieties had been confirmed. First Uncle Ben and now a little girl? He dragged his hands down his face. He was coming to understand just how much power he had over whether people lived or died, and just how irresponsibly he was using it.

He was going to make things right, he was going to clear his name and bring Shocker to justice. He was just about ready to march out the door, only… he didn't have any leads or any idea of what to do. Rushing in headfirst was what got him into this mess in the first place. Reluctantly, he plopped back down in his seat. Be responsible, take these things one at a time. Shocker can wait, they'll be another chance, just be patient.

With that, Peter continued his search for job listings.

≈*≈

Sorry kid, just don't have the quirk for the job.

≈*≈

Beat it, Gaijin!

≈*≈

Are you even eligible to work in Japan?

≈*≈

Scram!

≈*≈

Scram, kid!

≈*≈

Get out of my office in two-point-three seconds or I'll staple you to a flagpole!

≈*≈

Peter collapsed down on a bench as he let out a long exasperated sigh. No luck job hunting. Apparently, when someone asks for a resume and proof of identity, no one's impressed with "American middle school graduate with a student visa." He didn't expect it to be such a hurdle, idiot!

He was walking home when a large crowd drew his attention. Drawing closer, he realized this was the commemoration the article was talking about. He pushed to the front and a picture of the little girl in question amid a sea of candles and flowers, Tsumi, her name was. Now that name was all that was left of her. He listened to the eulogy and couldn't help but think how pathetic he was. He was powerless his whole life, and got nowhere. Now, he had power and he couldn't even save a little girl. Forget that, he couldn't even get a job!

In spite of himself, it was his conversation with Shocker that next came to mind as he flashed back to last night.

"while others glided through life with their quirks, I was left behind by society… unlike you, I couldn't succeed in life off my quirk alone, had to keep my wits about me to survive."

"You know, if you're smart enough to design something like that, you shouldn't need to rob banks. So what's the hold up? Why turn to crime?"

"YOU WOULD THINK THAT, WOULDN'T YOU!? Even after I clawed my way to the top, even after I gained this power, everyone still only saw me as someone beneath them, desperately trying to over-compensate. Do you finally get it, Spider-Man? I already tried that! But this superpowered society is a caste system impossible to escape. Nobody was willing to see me as an equal partner."

Shocker and I, we're not so different really. Is that… how ｴ would have turned out if it wasn't for these powers? Is that how I still might turn out? Thinking back on it, even that recommendation from Oscorp only happened because of the spider bite. Everything good that's happened to me has happened because of these powers I don't deserve. U.A., Setsuna, Connors. He's already mad at me because of my chemistry stunt back there. What would they all think of me if I had been quirkless? I thought coming to Japan where you need a quirk permit to use your quirk in public would have made things different, but Shocker's from Japan, he has a quirk, and he still knows what it's like for people like us. 

No, can't allow myself to think like that. I'm nothing like that crook, I won't let myself become like that. And I'm not giving up either! Peter took another look at the picture and clenched his fists. I swear I won't let your death be in vain, Tsumi. I'll find Shocker, I'll bring him to justice. I'll work myself to the bone until I do, until I can be a proper hero that helps more than hurts. I've had a rough start, and I'm sorry you paid the price, but that's all the more reason why I need to work extra hard starting now to make up the deficit. I have an incredible power, I can't go squandering that potential just because Peter Parker couldn't figure out how to use it right on his first try. Spider-Man can help people, I can make a difference, I just need some experience in the field. This is the real deal Pete, get serious, take matters into your own hands.

His conviction found, Peter made his way back home.

≈*≈

Lost in his thoughts, Peter was knocked out of his rumination when he bumped into Setsuna carrying a load of laundry down to the washers.

"Oh, sorry Setsuna-chan, guess I wasn't paying attention."

She waved him off. "Don't worry about it." She detached her hands carrying the basket and moved it to the side so they could face each other directly, folding her arms to hide her missing hands. "Hey, about Uncle Curt, you shouldn't take it too hard."

"No, he was right. I really would rather work to earn his trust so he didn't feel like I was imposing on him or anything. I don't like feeling indebted, and I don't want to give him cause for regret."

She nodded. "I think he'd appreciate hearing that. Just, don't beat yourself up over it. You really are smart, even if you can't run to save your life."

"Thanks." Peter's worries faded slightly at the jest as he allowed himself to feel a little sheepish in response. "I really do need to whip myself into shape if I'm going to be attending a hero school."

Setsuna, seemingly satisfied with the conversation, turned away to grab her floating laundry basket. Oh what the heck, I might as well see if I can get at least one thing to go right today, even if it does mean risking an 'I told you so' from Harry. "Hey, Setsuna-chan."

She twisted her head back, "Huh?"

"While on the topic, seeing as you're a hero course student that got in on recommendations and all, you're probably really good at all this physical stuff. And, well, I've got the entrance exam coming up this week, so I was thinking you could help me prepare like you did this morning. Like a study date, but more active."

It's for hero training, Peter justified to himself. Having a hero course training partner will help me be a better Spider-Man, it's not selfish. And that was true, but Peter was also starved for good news, and a rendezvous with an admittedly pretty girl, even for something as diplomatic as coaching, would be far better than everything else he had endured today.

Setsuna opened her mouth, closed it, and looked down and away. "I… don't think that's a very good idea Parker-san. You already have a lot on your plate. I don't want to wear you out any further with distractions."

"I can handle it if that's all you're worried about. No rest for the weary and all that. Gotta stay on top of things somehow. Plus Ultra, you know?"

"But you still need to rest! That's not efficient, or sustainable. If you keep pushing things it's all gonna blow up in your face again." And it'll be my fault for enabling it. Setsuna let the last part go unsaid. Truth be told, she'd enjoyed spending time with Peter so far. But she knew better than most how easy it was to let yourself get swept up into things, and how it always came back to bite you. She didn't wish that fate on either of them. Her quirk let her separate into a swarm of flying parts, but if she got careless, she would reassemble to find a chunk of her flesh missing, and would have to painstakingly regenerate it like a lizard regrowing its tail. And that was always more trouble than it was worth.

"Sorry, Parker-san. I think it's best we each go at our own pace for now." Setsuna knew it was for the best. Still, it wasn't easy to just say no. (Though she was still very much not happy with what he called her earlier that morning, even if she had played along at the time. So maybe a bit easier than expected.)

"I understand. You're right, I've already got more than enough to focus on. Goodnight, Setsuna-san." And with that Peter shuffled off to his room. Guess I really can't do anything right.

≈*≈

Peter leaned his shoulder into the busted closet door to wrest it open and stuff his jacket inside when he caught a glimpse of the salvaged remains of the gauntlet he had taken from Shocker during their fight. All of a sudden he was hit with a flash of inspiration.

"they were more than willing to take my designs, but were shocked when I asked for more than spare change in return. Well, I'll show them a real shocker. I just need the funding"

A smile crept onto Peter's face. I may not have any leads on where Shocker is now, but I can certainly create some leads on where he will be. If I can reverse engineer this gauntlet, see what makes it tick, I can deduce what parts Shocker will need to replace it and any other tech he plans on using that money to build.

But the thought of spending hours hunched over a desk as he meticulously took apart and fiddled around with the complex components sent a whole new wave of exhaustion over him.

I'm way too tired and beat up to do something like that now. I'll sleep for tonight and get to work in the morning. 

He turned to close the closet door when another thought niggled at him:

But if I wait that long the trail might run cold. I haven't been able to do anything right, and now a chance for some real progress comes along and I'm just going to sleep it off? This is your responsibility, your obligation! You made a promise, two of them, to each of the two people who paid the price the last time you took the easy way out. Just an hour ago you said you'd work yourself to the bone until you found Shocker. Is one hour all it takes for you to lose your nerve? Peter chastised himself.

He reached back into the closet and placed the gauntlet onto his workbench. To make space for the new project, he pushed aside the thick textbook from earlier. Hero Support 101. The book he'd practically have to memorize over the next month if he wanted to keep his promise to Dr. Connors.

Peter was stretched far too thin to resist the flash of frustration that caused him to throw the book across the room. Who am I kidding? I can't do it all. I can't be Spider-Man, well rested, have a social life, and be a star student. Back before the spider bite, I spent all my energy just trying to do the last one alone and I still barely got into U.A. and even that was only because of the spider bite and Mr. Osborn's recommendation.

At that moment, as if forcing him to make a decision, his phone rang. Aunt May. That's right, it was that time of night again. He stared at the screen for a long moment as it continued to buzz at regular intervals. Answer or decline. So simple but it represented all the day's struggles and forced them back in his face. Ultimately, he pressed decline and let his hand hang at his side as he stuffed his phone back in his pocket.

Setsuna's right. This isn't sustainable, I need to rest eventually—man, she's really starting to sound like Harry now. It's annoying how they're always right about this stuff.

*huh* Just one bad night. Forgive yourself, let it all become one big bad dream and wake up tomorrow with a fresh start.

With his course of action decided, Peter collapsed on his bed. His aching bones euphoric at the relief as his muscles relaxed and Peter, for the first time in over 50 hours, caught up on some much needed and well deserved sleep.

Just one bad night.

A/N: Wooh, this chapter was a doozy. 11k words though, that's something. Wanted to start off by saying that I'm always welcoming of criticism, so feel free to drop a review giving your two cents, it won't make me sad if you decide to take the piss out of my horrible writing. I'm notoriously difficult to offend.

Some people may be concerned about how Peter's spider-sense works seeing as it didn't warn him about Setsuna. Here's how I see it. The spider-sense pre-cognitively warns Peter about things he perceives to be dangerous. Peter doesn't consider Aunt May or his friends to be dangerous, so it wouldn't warn him if she snuck up on him, but it would warn him if he and Shocker passed by each other in a crowd, even if they were both in street clothes, wouldn't have recognized each other, and didn't even see each other. Their proximity would still cause his spider-sense to go off, but Peter wouldn't know why. That doesn't mean Peter's friends are immune to his spider-sense. It depends on the context. Venom might be able to get the drop on Peter initially, but once they fight and Peter is focused on anticipating Venom's attacks, his spider-sense is still going to guide his reflexes. When Peter is changing in and out of his Spider-Man suit, he's intensely focused and not letting anyone see him, especially people who would recognize him. So in that case, his spider-sense would go off more if Aunt May was nearby than it would for a stranger or someone who already knows his secret identity, like Venom, as Peter's spider-sense wouldn't be worried about them discovering him changing. We also know the spider-sense warns him about more abstract things. Like when someone is bluffing in a game of poker, even when it's a casual game between friends with no risk involved. (The avengers actually stopped inviting him to poker night because of this.) This even works when Peter is unconscious like when his body played keep away with Dr. Strange in no way home, even after Peter's soul left his body. There have been times where Spider-Man has fallen asleep during a fight and his spider-sense kept fighting, and then used web-slinging to take him back home to bed, like sleep walking to an extreme. TL;DR the spider-sense is weird and broken.

A batch of web fluid costing 2,000 dollars is actually the canon number according to the wiki. No wonder Peter's always strapped for cash and misses the Symbiote's organic webbing.

By the way if anyone is having trouble with the yen/dollar conversion, a yen is about a penny, so just add or subtract the two zeroes. Everything is probably going to be in yen for the most part from now on.

Concerning romance in the story. This is going to come up eventually, might as well talk about it now. First, teenage romantic angst is like a 1/3 of the Spider-Man formula, so it'll be part of the story, but it won't take over the story. It'll be slow and organic, and no fan-service either. And by slow and organic I don't mean things will be stuck in will they/won't they forever. Because everyone knows that eventually, yes, they will. There's no real tension or conflict, it's just procrastinating. And I don't think being shy and non-committal fits Spider-Man's character. He's not the kind to slowly develop a crush, and then slowly realize he has a crush, and then slowly decide to make a move on his crush, and then slowly decide to get serious. That's more like what Deku and Ochako have going on. Spider-Man's always been much more the type to be in on and off relationships. Things are going well, and then he fumbles it and it's over, forcing him to move on and try again with another girl. This allows the audience to get a feel for different pairings without it feeling like fake drama, like Peter's cheating, or building a harem. And then you can have real tension as Peter tries to resolve conflicting emotions and has to decide which path to take, risking ruining some relationships while trying to patch up others. That's much more true to the tragedy of the character. Anyway, thanks for listening to my rant.

oh yeah, in case anyone was wondering, the name of the little girl, Tsumi Gisei, means "guilt trip scapegoat." Horrible pun I know, but I can think of several far less original names across anime and manga.