The City was still…
Right up until a loud boom cut through the silence!
Spider-Man: Whoa! Hey, dude, quit it! E.D.I.T.H, who the hell am I up against?
Spidey found himself dodging many bursts of compressed wind, swinging around the City. The camera zoomed in to see where these blasts were coming from.
The lenses of his mask scanned the city.
E.D.I.T.H: It is the legendary hero, Izuku Midoriya.
The camera swept across the skyline, following the path of the blasts until it found their source.
Clad in a reinforced armoured suit, Deku swung from the side of a building using electromagnetic cables. He released it, landed against the wall, and immediately broke into a full sprint across the vertical surface.
Then he launched himself through the air!
Spider-Man feels a tingle.
Spidey: What was that?
Deku: Manchester Smash!
He launched into Peter, carrying them both toward the street like a meteor. He carried Peter through the asphalt, carving a trench across the road before springing away from his body with a backflip.
Deku: You'll have to do better than that, Spider-Man!
Peter wretches his back and gets into a pose of his own.
Spidey: Better than that? That's a hard bargain.
FIGHT!
He opened with a rushing kick aimed at Peter's head. Spider-Man leaned back just far enough for the boot to slice past his mask.
A second kick came for his ribs.
Peter blocked it.
A third swept toward his legs.
He vaulted over it.
Deku continued advancing, chaining together a barrage of rapid Shoot Style kicks. Peter ducked, jumped and twisted around them, but each strike came faster than the last.
Deku suddenly sprang backward, then rocketed forward again with a two-footed kick.
Peter crossed both arms and met it head-on. The collision cracked the pavement beneath him. For a moment, the two strained against each other.
Deku: (Decent against pressure. Though, I wouldn't clash with a stronger opponent like that.)
Then Peter shoved Deku away. Deku flipped through the air and landed neatly on his feet. Instead of attacking again, he smiled and clapped.
Deku: Good showing so far!
Spidey: Thank you? I think?
Deku chuckled as Purple smoke secreted from his suit, rapidly swallowing the entire street. Within seconds, everything vanished except for the faint outline of his silhouette.
Peter glanced around as the view shifted inside his mask. Thermal readings, motion trackers and other tactical knick-knacks flickered across the lenses.
Spidey: Can't hide from me!
His Spider-Sense was practically screaming at him, forcing him to duck as Deku whipped over his head from behind.
Spidey: Whoa!
Peter leapt backward as another kick tore through the smoke. Deku vanished again, using compact propulsion and bursts of air pressure to rapidly circle him. But Peter was tracking each movement.
Spidey: Can't catch me by surprise, huh?
Deku attacked from above.
Peter slipped beneath the kick and drove an uppercut into his jaw in the same motion, sending Deku spiralling into the air.
Spidey: Whoa-ho ho! I just did a cool thing!
Then, something wrapped around Peter's ankle. He looked down.
Cables.
Spidey: I should've seen that comiiiiii-!!!!!
Deku had reeled him in with perfect precision.
Deku: Wyoming, SMASH!
Peter struck the street, bounced several feet into the air, and immediately fired a web toward a nearby building.
Peter: Aaa!
He swung away just as Deku crashed down where he had landed, obliterating the street in a massive crater.
Deku: Hey, wait up!
Spider-Man continued swinging away. Behind him, Deku fired a cable onto a rooftop and pulled himself forward. He released one cable, launched another, and very quickly closed the distance.
When he glanced back, he was only a few meters behind him
Spidey: E.D.I.T.H, how're the drones doing?
Deku's suit sent a warning. He looked around as walls of drones surrounded him from every position.
E.D.I.T.H: Target acquired.
Perspective switches to Spidey, still swinging, as he hears a massive crash in the background.
Deku: Shoot Style!
He turned.
Spidey: What the-
The resulting omnidirectional burst of wind ripped through the entire fleet, absolutely shredding through them.
Spidey: Oh, come on!
Deku landed on a nearby rooftop. He stamped against the concrete several times, compressing energy into the soles of his suit. Then he blasted across the skyline like a missile, flying directly after Spider-Man.
Peter's eyes widened, and he considered his options.
Spidey: Uh… uh… right!
He abruptly landed against the side of a building, crouched, and launched himself directly toward Deku, shocking him.
Deku: (Meeting me head-on? No. He's smarter than that. What is he…)
Peter raised one wrist and shot out a glowing web. It shimmered and shined as it sped through the sky.
Deku: (Interesting.)
In an instant, space folded, and Deku found himself teleported directly beneath Peter, already positioned for an axe kick
Spidey: Modified magic webs!
Deku: Cool…
Deku found himself hurtling downwards. Before he could recover, Peter fired webs onto both of his arms, then anchored them to opposite buildings. More strands wrapped around Deku's torso and legs, suspending him helplessly between the structures.
He strained against the restraints until an electric web was also shot at him, electrocuting him until he puffed smoke out of his mouth.
Spidey: You've seen this one before, right?
Spider-Man swung forward and kicked him through his webbing with all his might, carrying him further into the air. Then, he slammed another axe kick into his back.
Deku twisted mid-air, and attempted to shoot out some more electromagnetic cables, only for Peter to answer with another glowing web, which teleports him closer to him instead.
Spidey punches him and grabs him as his Iron Spider suit materializes around him, with 4 mechanical legs unfolding across his back. He plants all four legs against Deku's chest and uses him as a springboard, launching him upwards as Deku is driven into the ground with an explosion of dust.
Deku: These teleporting webs are a problem.
Spidey hangs upside down from a lamppost.
Spidey: Strange, aren't they?
Deku: So. How many do you have left?
Deku slowly pushed himself out of the rubble.
Spidey: How… how many…
Inside his mask, a warning appeared.
MYSTIC WEB CARTRIDGES DEPLETED
Peter stared at the display.
Spidey: Man…
Deku: There's one more power I haven't shown you yet, Iron Spider!
The air suddenly became very dense and heavy, as a wave of pressure rolled through the street, shattering every nearby window.
Peter had to raise an arm as glass and debris blasted past him. Deku's suit's internal locks disengaged. Blue light flooded through its circuitry, spreading from the chest unit into Deku's arms and legs. Plates tightened around his joints. Cooling vents opened along his back, releasing streams of white vapour.
And then, he stanced himself, ready and waiting, and the ground beneath him suffered.
Spider-Man: Cool…
Deku: I call it, Core 100 percent! I got a few touch ups from Mei just recently!
Spidey: Yeah, I don't know who that is.
Deku: Right! Sorry.
He rubs the back of his head bashfully, before hopping in place again.
Deku: Regardless, this will be your final test, Spider-Man!
The street exploded behind him.
Peter's Spider-Sense erupted, but Deku was already standing in front of him as the shockwave blasted the surrounding cars away. He delivered what appeared to be a light punch into Peter's stomach, only for Peter to fold around his fist before being launched into the sky with a strangled shout.
Deku looked down at his hand.
Deku: Oops. I guess it still needs some work.
He crashes through the walls of multiple buildings. The Iron Spider armour absorbed the worst of the impacts, but he continued tumbling until the mechanical legs stabbed into the side of a skyscraper and brought him to a violent stop.
Spidey: What the hell was that?
Movement quickly flashed across the rooftops below. Deku sprinted from building to building, each footstep leaving fractured concrete behind him. He bounded over an alleyway, landed against the side of another tower, and propelled himself upward.
Deku: That's power!
He crossed another rooftop in a single step.
Deku: That's experience!
Blue light surged through the armour as he launched himself toward Peter.
Deku: And this suit carries the work of every hero who helped build it!
He drew back his fist.
Deku: This is what our one hundred percent looks like!
Instinctively, Spidey's four metallic legs snap forward, forming a jagged shield over his body as he braces for impact.
But Deku isn't aiming for him. He throws a devastating punch at the empty air, causing a slicing gale erupts from his fist, which shears clean through the top half of the adjacent skyscraper. The massive chunk of concrete and steel groans, sliding off its foundation to plummet toward the streets below.
Spidey: Huh? What is even going on here?
Then he fired several cables into the collapsing structure. They buried themselves deep within the concrete and tightened.
Deku: Hold. On!
He spins faster and faster, blurring into a localized tornado mid-air.
Spidey: Buildings… don't… do this!
Deku grunts, before finally releasing his grip, hurling the colossal debris with horrifying speed.
Then he calls out after it with his hands cupped around his mouth.
Deku: You can do it! Escape!
Mid-air, Spidey is forced to push off a barrage of falling rubble. He dashes through a crumbling hallway, vaulting off the collapsing debris, and launches himself back out through an exterior wall, leaving himself in a dead free-fall.
Spidey: Phew. Huh?
Spider-Sense tingles again. But he looks around, and he isn't present.
Spidey: That must mean… from below?
Deku: Nice job!
Deku blasts upward from the dust, grabbing Peter mid-air. He flips them both upside down, attempting a devastating falling suplex.
The four Iron Spider legs stabbed and prodded at his armour, desperately searching for leverage. Peter hammered Deku's sides with both fists, forcing one arm loose just before they reached the ground, firing a web line to swing away as Deku casually rights himself in the air and lands perfectly on the asphalt below.
Deku: Now give me everything!
Spidey: Man, you are really hyper!
Spider-Man defaults to his classic, low-to-the-ground crouch. The white lenses of his mask narrow before flashing a sharp, glowing red.
Spidey: Activate Instant Kill!
The arms turn pointed, thrusting and stabbing at Deku, who is forced to block multiple times over. One narrowly scraped across his cheek. Another drove him inches back. So Peter pressed his pressure on as they continued to attack from any direction!
He smiles.
Deku: I see now!
The next leg shot for his head.
Deku: A pattern.
Only for him to grab and crush it between his palms. This made Peter recoil.
With terrifying fluidity, Deku begins to perfectly weave through the razor-sharp strikes. He grabs and snaps the second arm. And while dodging two at once, he grabbed the third and full-on ripped it out.
Only one remained. It hesitated as he stared at it intently.
Then it slowly lowered.
Spidey: Yeah, that's probably fair.
Deku surged forward and grabbed him by the throat. Peter clawed at his wrist as his feet left the ground.
Deku: Very good! But against a varied opponent, you might need something bigger.
Spidey (struggling): Yeah… yeah… I'll workshop it…
Deku: I'm sure you will!
His suit crackles with Electricity.
Deku: Detroit-
Spidey manages to raise one finger
Spider-Man: You're a big fan of the States, huh?
Deku: SMASH!
The point-blank blow shatters through the majority of the Iron Spider armour. Ripping through the plating, frying the circuits and nanotech scattered from his body in a red-and-gold cloud.
Peter crashed through the street and rolled across the pavement until his back struck the curb.
Warning messages flooded his vision.
NANITE RESERVES CRITICAL
STRUCTURAL FAILURE
MOBILITY SYSTEMS OFFLINE
Spidey: Not enough nanobots to regenerate. I'm stuck!
He struggles to stand, but his legs refuse to cooperate. Desperate for air, he retracts his ruined mask. He slumps against the edge of the pavement, one leg stretched awkwardly out in front of him. His lone surviving mechanical leg twitches erratically behind him before sparking and collapsing dead onto the street.
Spidey: I… can still… E.D.I.T.H.!
He tapped the side of his damaged mask.
A glitchy, static-laced voice replies in his earpiece.
E.D.I.T.H.: Systems failing!
Spidey: I know, I know! Do me a favour. Hack into his suit. Find an emergency shutdown, lock the joints, put it in airplane mode, anything!
Inside his HUD, frantic streams of code crawl across his vision, right until some well needed text pops up.
E.D.I.T.H.: FOREIGN SYSTEM CONNECTION ESTABLISHED.
Peter coughs, dragging himself slightly more upright against the curb.
Spidey: Come on… come on…
Several blocks away, Deku stood alone in the centre of the ruined street.
His suit flickered. It was beginning to tweak out. For the first time, his smile faded into mild surprise. Meanwhile, Peter saw the armour's systems opening one layer at a time.
E.D.I.T.H: ACCESSING CORE CONTROL
Spidey: Yes, yes!
Deku looked down at the glowing lines running across his gauntlet. Then back toward Peter.
Deku: Oh! You're hacking it!
Peter's head snapped up.
Spidey: You're not supposed to sound excited about that!
Deku grinned.
Deku: That's a really smart approach!
Spidey: Thank you! Please stop me less enthusiastically!
Peter returned to the interface.
CORE ACCESS: 76%
Deku planted his feet.
The pavement cracked beneath his boots.
Peter froze. At that distance, Deku appeared almost tiny, framed between the buildings and the smoke.
Yet Peter's Spider-Sense exploded so violently that every limb locked at once.
Spidey E.D.I.T.H.?
E.D.I.T.H: Extreme atmospheric displacement detected.
Peter stared down the empty street. Deku drew back one fist.
Spidey: Wait. He's a mile away.
E.D.I.T.H: Correct.
Spidey: There's no way he's aiming for me then, right?
Deku punched.
And just like his mentor before him…
The shockwave filled the entire avenue.
It tears the street apart as it travels. Peeling pavement upward in massive sheets, folding streetlights like aluminum foil. Lifting abandoned cars off the road and swallowing them into a rapidly expanding, roaring wall of dust and debris.
Peter can only sit and watch it approach. In the corner of his eye, the hacking display continues its agonizing climb.
CORE ACCESS: 91%
The wall of pressure consumed another intersection.
96%
Peter's eyes widen as the towering wave of debris shadows over him.
Spidey Aw huh-huh man…
The shockwave engulfed him.
White.
Silence.
Peter tore the simulation helmet from his head with a panicked gasp.
He nearly threw himself out of the chair, grasping at his chest as though expecting to find the Iron Spider armour still wrapped around him.
Across the room, Deku calmly removed his own headset.
He was smiling.
Peter: Mr Stark…Mr Stark… did you cheat?
Stark: No I didn't cheat. The hell? These things calculate your power to a tee.
Deku: It's alright Mr Stark, I thought he was terrific!
Peter: Mr Stark, he punched a street at me.
Stark: Yeah. I saw.
Deku: But you nearly accessed the suit's controls, even during core overdrive! No one has ever tried that against me before. The independent armour, the precognitive danger detection, no, more like an involuntary-
Stark: Alright Professor. You're going off-track here.
Deku: Ah. Don't mind me.
Stark: It's good, it's good. Uh, Happy should be out there to escort you to one of the cars. We'll be heading to the restaurant downtown?
Deku: Oh, you don't have to. I'm just happy to be here.
Stark: No, no. I treat my guests. We'll catch up, yeah?
Deku: Yeah.
Deku leaves the room, as Spidey slumps to the ground.
Stark: So. Still think you can hang with the big guns?
Peter: Where did you even get him from?
Stark: I called up a favour. He gets really excited about these things honestly.
Peter: Yeah, yeah, I know, but like…
Stark: See, this is why you need to watch the news more often. If you think he's good now…
The camera lingers on Deku, holding his suit/suitcase.
Stark: You should've seen him in his prime.
KO!