Blood. Bodies. Bullets.
Three aspects always followed villainous endeavors, yet they were always unexpected. Hammerhead stood above piles of lifeless bodies, scoffing as he scrubbed droplets of blood clean off his suit. The Don leader meeting had gone poorly enough to warrant the usage of clean-up crews to dispose of the massacre on a short budget, Hammerhead loved efficient cheap labor to exploit.
[The Previous night]
With most of the city pre-occupied with the Billboard Awards, the heads of the city's crime families took this night to meet without the worry of heroes busting them at any given moment. Opting to meet up at an abandoned warehouse on the opposite side of town, only the top members of the hierarchy were allowed to attend. On the second floor, there were over a dozen criminals present while the round table in the center seated three highly influential bosses. Tensions ran within the dimly lit room, but no one present elected to show signs of it.
"I believe it is time to begin this summit." Spoken by a man with dark chalky grey skin. His white hair was slicked up naturally and made it easier to notice beedy yellow pupils staring back at you. The man in the subject was named Tombstone, at least to the common criminal, as very few actually knew his true name. Tombstone was the head boss in the criminal world, and no one dared stand against him. "Our third party has shown no sign of arriving."
"Now now... don't start getting angsty. I had something important to attend to." The door creaked open to reveal a man donning a stylish brown overcoat with a long line of purple feathers stretched on top of his shoulders. Each step forward brought the dim overhead light to better illustrate his pristine mask dropped around his mouth.
Behind him was a small entourage of uniformed members sharing black and purple attire, with smaller plague masks covering parts of their faces. Once the leader sat down the rest of the villains acknowledged his presence with stares and looks of disgust, as everyone believed that Kai Chisaki had died years ago.
"You're all acting like you've seen a ghost." Overhaul spoke. His voice was clearly weak and the trail end of his words croaked just loud enough to echo around the dusty space.
"Maybe we are." Hammerhead retorted, before twirling his toothpick around his mouth. He acted as Tombstone's right-hand and trusted bodyguard, with enough humbling and teachings to be loyal enough to devote complete servitude. He scowled at the former Shie Hissakai member, clearly not intimidated or too knowledgeable of who the old Yakuza leader was or what he's done. "You got some real steel calling us out here, so spill."
"So formal." Overhaul remarked. He snapped his fingers for one of his goons to scurry over and drop a case on the table. The rest of the crime bosses raised an eye, getting ready to fight or retreat if the contents inside were deadly. The locks clicked open and propped open the top half to reveal a large stack of cash alongside three gleaming red capsules of liquid. "I'll skip the filler. I'm sure you're all aware of what these are?"
"Quirk erasers." Tombstone spoke as his arm extended outward to inspect one. He did so after a reassuring nod from Overhaul. "Quite an interesting relic you've brought. I hope you didn't plan on buying over our services with this."
Quirk-erasing tools weren't as valuable or rare these days, seeing as counteracting cures were being readily developed.
"That and a little extra." Overhaul replied. "I'm getting back into this whole game after... my sudden absence. I know you're all claiming to hold power over scattered territories, but I can tell when disorganization and breakdown are near."
"You callin' us faulty?" Hammerhead snorted while cracking his knuckles.
"In many ways, yes. But with me helping guide you all, the underground world can become our new enterprise. You old timers think too small by wanting to control society, or at least that small social structure you wish to grip onto. There's no sustainability in taking over a world that believes in fighting back. Believe me, the rewards don't come out as fruitful as you'd believe."
"The underground criminal empire lacks longevity." Tombstone interrupted. Sharp teeth slashed across as words unknowingly annoyed Overhaul, but the latter contained it inside. "You come here a spout how you know the game well enough to run it, yet, what have you done before us? The Shie Hissakai failed. Your partnership with the Villain Federation was easily thwarted. And still, you come to us and request that we kneel to you. No, Chisaki. I have been on this board long before you were ever conceived, I know how to fill a power vacuum. We do not need you."
Once he Spoke, Tombstone and Hammerhead noticed the man begin to aggressively scratch his wrist. Immediately after the atmosphere began to change with the sounds of skin scraping against nails, playing a tune only a few knew to fight to. Overhaul took a short sigh as he stood up and stared down at the criminal leaders.
They were in his way.
[Local comic book store-The Next Day]
"Why am I doing this?"
Two anxious, highly underpaid cashiers stood with both arms up in the air while a woman donning a tight green and purple outfit resembling a beetle pointed a small handgun toward them. It was slowly veering into the evening, so it meant it was still sunny out and made this daylight robbery.
"I told you beetle-- we gotta pay for Jun's bail." Speed Demon replied, loudly chomping down on a packet of seaweed through the speakerphone.
"But why are we freeing him from prison? we hate Jean. Jean's a prick."
Beetle, aka Hana Nagata, was another member of the unofficial group of unknown villains. She was the token woman in the otherwise male group. Her Quirk gave her wings on her back, and the rest of her armor was built thanks to stolen tech and high intelligence.
"He's got a job for Hammerhead and he's gonna need a crew, so we're the first in line."
The two cashiers behind the counter began whispering to each other. One would think they were forging a plan to escape or fight back against the robber, however, their conversation was a bit more vulgar.
"Dude. She's so hot, right?"
"You know I can hear you!" Beetle retorted, stomping her foot to intimidate them, but all it did was reinforce their point. For some reason, they were both into women who showed aggression toward them. "I am a professional. I am robbing you at gunpoint right now. Can we maybe keep the topics of conversation to how terrified you are? Or how amazing this whole heist is?"
"Is it?" Questioned the worker, still raising his hands up.
"Ugh. Just hand me whatever's most valuable." Beetle sighed, lazily pointing to the records behind him.
"Well, that depends--what are you looking for? Variants? Low print run indie titles?"
Beetle's insectoid lenses scanned the array of unrecognizable comics in front of her. The more she looked and tried to understand, the more frustrated she became. None of the titles and overly vibrant colored covers showed value, at least in her eyes.
"Oh! What about this one!" The cashier beamed, now waving one comic book in front of her. "Between you and me, it's pretty hot on eBay right now."
"Yeah, but it sucks." The other cashier retorted, now playing games on his phone. He glanced over at the gun and didn't seem to mind anymore.
"You think everything sucks!"
"Because everything does!"
"Okay! Okay! You know what? Just put them all in a box for me." Beetle ordered. Once she was handed dozens of comics she exited the store to approach a rundown minivan illegally parked in the red-painted curb. "Let's go Overdrive."
Inside the van sat a man wearing all-black biker gear and a large helmet and visor covering his entire face. He sat inside and took the box of comics, admiring it as Beetle opened the passenger door with annoyance. He was the final member a part of the group and was the getaway driver, who rarely got away successfully.
"I didn't even know they still made these!" OVerdrive laughed while admiring the vintage comics in hand. His amazement was cut short once the sound of police sirens echoed closer and closer to them, forcing him to drive fast and accidentally breaking a few rear-view mirrors.
[Elsewhere]
Across Mustuafa, Hideo swung through past buildings without a destination in mind. All he wanted was to feel the wind brush against him while exhilaration coursed through his veins. Unlike Taeko, he was still in the honeymoon phase of web-swinging. To Hideo, it felt like the first few days of driving a car, it was fast and gave him confidence. However, at the same time, it was also something he needed to master and focus on at all times.
"Ahhh!"
A flock of pigeons unexpectedly flew in front of him, causing his focus to break and leading him to plummet. Luckily, he caught himself before crashing against the ground. People watched and took photos of his mess up, no doubt getting ready to post it online. Despite Hideo's many victories, he still fought to prove his public image.
The large majority highly favored Taeko over him, simply because he was the original. There was a stronger connection to the hero battling to save the city for years.
Hideo continued to swing until he got just beyond the security walls of UA high. He perched on top of a nearby roof and watched as hundreds of construction workers spent every second trying to rebuild the pillar of education. The reconstruction efforts began about a year ago and were projected to be completed by October, just in time for the application process to be complete. Much of the foundation had been completed and it resembled a lot of the initial design. For a moment, Hideo was lost in daydreaming as he imagined a future there for himself.
Similar to earlier years, UA would hold entrance exams to see who would be accepted or not. Only this year for the grand reopening they were allowing potential students a guaranteed acceptance if they could show evidence of early hero work. The details were left purposely vague, as that was the first test to see who held the heart of a hero. Hideo knew he needed to make a name for himself, not just as a vigilante, but as a future UA student.
"I can't do anything simple." Hideo thought, crossing off ideas written inside his notebook. A few names of high-level villains were written down, but he knew that none would be enough to impress the graders. "I need to take down someone big... I wish there were still some Nomu around."
His pen continued to cross off names until there was no one left. Hideo shut the book in frustration, knowing that he needed to come up with something big enough to prove himself. Many of the villains he crossed off were Taeko's and not his own.
"That's it!" Hideo gasped, quickly placing his book into his backpack and swinging away. "I need a nemesis! Someone who hates me and wants to take me down. I don't need a Green Goblin type of deal, but someone just dangerous enough to sell it. The question is who?"
Hideo now swung into the city and eagerly looked around for any threats or villains around. After swinging a few blocks he felt his senses tingle to warn him of danger. Hideo made a hard right to follow the sounds of what appeared to be fireworks. He made his way down the block to find a pirate-themed dressed villain with a large cannon built into his hand.
"Argg! Hand me thy riches and yer lives shall be spared." The villain demanded to his group of hostages. His cannon hand then shot out a barrage of fireworks in the air, which didn't damage anything, but they did make an impressive light show. "For me name be Cracker-Beard! The deadliest captain in all the seas!"
"Hey, I think you're a little far from the porthole pal?" Hideo quipped, landing on the fire hydrant a few feet away.
"Really? That be yer best joke lad?" Cracker-Beard questioned with hunts of disappointment in his voice. Hideo's lenses narrowed into an annoyed expression in response.
"Yeah I'm working on comedy-- Hey, do you want to be my nemesis?" Asked Hideo.
"Er... what?"
"My nemesis. I kinda need to make a big enemy with someone so I can get into UA next semester."
Cracker-Beard blinked twice as Hideo's promotion was still resonating and trying to make sense. He scanned the young vigilante to see if he fit his personal description for any enemy. Unfortunately, the prospect of Hideo's youth prevented the villain from viewing him as a viable threat.
"I would have to decline, but I'll still take yer rich-"
Before he could finish, Hideo opened the fire hydrant and blasted hum with a powerful stream. This effectively knocked Cracker-Beard out cold, but didn't do anything to advance Hideo's quest.
After a few more attempts, Hideo took a break to enjoy his lunch, still having found no one to claim as a mortal enemy. "How did Taeko do it? He has so many villains who HATE him, and I can't even get the pirate to take me seriously."
Hideo looked over a mirrored billboard across the street. He stared at the reflection of his black and red mask for a few seconds. "I'm Spider-Man, but why don't I feel like it?"
[County Jail]
"This guy right? One of Spider-man's big bads that he never talks about? that's me. No one ever asks "Hey where's Spot?" Nope. Everyone wants to see Spidey battle Scorpion or Shocker. Even though I'm his true nemesis. But I'm gonna prove everyone wrong, I'll prove to the world that the Spot can be the most deadly--"
"Mr. Spot?" One of the guards awoke the man inside his cell by shouting through the bars. The man inside quickly sat up in a brief panic, before smacking his forehead against the bunk bed above him. This caused him to stumble over and trip over his own feet, before smacking his face once against the floor.
Jun Nii, aka The Spot. One of Taeko's lesser-known and even lesser-cared-about villains. He was born with a Quirk that allowed him to create miniature portals with black trans-spacial spots that came off his body. Unfortunately, these portals worked entirely at random and almost never acted as intended. This led Nii down a path of endless humility and failure that usually ended with Taeko laughing and webbing him up.
"Thank you officer," Nii graciously thanked as he opened the cell door to leave. Nii was a very simple villain, many didn't even consider him one. All he did was unsuccessfully rob convenience stores, without hurting anyone but himself, albeit accidentally.
As Nii strolled through the detention center, he was mocked by other criminals inside. Nii learned to block out the taunts with time, and all they served to be were white noise. Before he could exit the building, Nii had his Quirk-inhibitor leg band removed. "Oh, I think you're supposed to keep that on." Spot nervously chirped. The guard simply snickered as he walked away, clearly not believing Spot could do anything dangerous.
Spot sighed and dropped his head low, but quickly bounced his shoulders to cheer himself up. "Today's a new day." He whispered to himself. "Call me nuts, call me an idiot, but I know in my heart of hearts what's going to happen. I'm going to get the drop on Spider-Man. I'll beat the rap. I'm going to become so much more than a villain of the week."
Nii pushed the doors open to find his crew waiting outside in a rundown minivan. They were gathered in their civilian clothes, so it was safe for them to be out in public.
"Hello, my friends! I didn't expect the old gang to all be here." Nii cheered, trying to embrace them into a hug, which proved unsuccessful.
"Save it, Spot. I'm only here because you've promised us a job." Hana replied, seated on top of the minivan, not looking his way as she texted away.
"Yeah! And a lot of alcohol. You very specifically stated that would be something you treat us all to." Speed demon blurted.
"Doi... I just got out of jail... I'm broke." Nii sighed, pulling at where his pockets would be if wore any. "But yes! I've got a heist of the century planned to put our names on the map, but we can't discuss it here."
The group all gathered in the minivan and began to merge into the busy street. Fumes of exhaust sputtered out of the car as they tried to maintain a steady speed on the right lane, but even that simple feat proved challenging for the rundown vehicle. After a few miles, they parked in front of an old toy factory that was long since shut down that now served as their secret lair. Once inside they took some time to split off and gather off and get adjusted before reconceiving at the Serious War Table, as Shocker and Speed Demon liked to call it.
"Alright, with a unanimous vote of 1-4, the bathroom will remain Unisex," Nii stated as he read from a notepad containing the tally marks. "Any other business or can we please start drinking?"
"Never stopped!" Burped Speed Demon.
"Uh, yeah, I have something," Overdrive spoke. In his hands, he held onto a miniature toy car that was spent his free time painting. "Can we talk about the empty chair?"
"Overdrive's right-- we're supposed to be the Sinister Six." Beetle agreed.
"Yeah, so?" Speed Demon retorted, downing another bottle of beer.
"So-- there's five of us." Beetle replied with a raised brow as she held up five fingers to visualize her point.
"Look, what's a better deal than being the Sinister Six, but only splitting the money five ways? Huh? Huh?" Spot raised. Despite the heist being not entirely true, he knew how the prospect of money could buy his teammates.
Speed Demon frantically nodded his head, displaying the alcohol was kicking in. "Plus, Obama care, you go six employees-- it's tricky."
"People are--wait, we're not even IN America??" Beetle sighed. She punched her eyebrows before looking back at Spot. "People are going to be confused."
"No, they're not! Did we not talk about the whole "Air of Mystery" Thing? People see us, and they'll just think, "Who's the secret sixth guy," Right?" Spot chuckled, clearly the only one excited about the whole idea. "I mean, then it could be anybody! It could be Stain!"
"Again with Stain..."
"Always with Stain. He's never going to join us! Because he's dead!"
"We could always go with "The Sinister Syndicate"?" Shocker questioned. He received a few boos from his teammates as a result.
"Those guys were lame! They were amateurs who got beaten by Spider-Man once and disbanded immediately after." Spot groaned, bringing back old and very humiliating memories to rush back to his mind.
"Wait... Nii, weren't you on the Sinister Syndicate?" Overdrive questioned.
Immediately hearing, Spot became flustered and annoyed. Crimson flares ignited across his extremely pale body, showing his embarrassment that he couldn't hide. "Well, yeah, right, sure-- but now we're the Sinister Six! How do you people not get this?-- whatever... let's just get to the plan."
Spot opened a portal that spilled a bunch of maps onto the table. He nervously laughed as he quickly searched for the correct map in front of an unimpressed crew. After a few seconds, he found the correct one and rolled it out across the table. This blueprint displayed a large penthouse with dozens of underground layers.
"Nice house." Overdrive commented, reaching for a green paintbrush.
"Yeah-- wait... isn't this the old Shie Hissakai building?" Shocker questioned, already having a bad feeling about what was coming next.
"Indeed it is gentlemen and Beetle." Spot beamed, raising his finger into the air. "We're going to rob the hell out of Overhaul and then kick Spider-man's ass."
-----------
The door to the Bi-Han household opened abruptly, prompting those nearby to grow temporarily alarmed. Hideo stomped his way past the living room covered in bits of trash and all sorts of other pungent items stuck to his costume.
He didn't say a word to anyone, and instead journey upstairs to his room without even looking at them. Taeko and Kaina were seated on the couch watching over Katori, with all three watching Hideo stomp away with worry. They all winced at the sound of his door shutting and understood the indication that something bad had occurred today.
"Should we...?" Taeko asked, slowly placing his web shooters onto the glass table.
"We should." Kaina nodded, standing up and taking charge to talk with Hideo. Katori began crawling toward them and crawled onto Taeko's back, which became a habit of hers. The trio made their way upstairs and stood in front of a wooden door painted black and red.
They knocked twice and waited for an answer, but didn't recieve anything. Parental instincts kicked in and directed them to open the door hastily, fearing countless amount of possibilities to encounter in his room. However, silence filling an empty room was all that greeted them.
Hideo's room was small compared to everyone else's since he usually spent his days out as Spider-Man. It contained typical things a teenage boy would own and was kept just as messy as any typical teenage boy would. His Spider gear and gadgets were scattered all over his bed. Torn suits were pressed on top of his desk, showing no signs of seeing the light of day ever again.
His window was open to reveal him seated on the edge of the roof. There wasn't much to overlook aside from the community street and the velvet sky above. They both approached the window cell and lightly knocked it and instantly got his attention.
"Oh... hey, sorry for not saying anything. I'm just tired." Hideo quietly spoke, slightly muffled due to his head laying on his arms.
"It's alright, but do we need to talk about anything?" Kaina rhetorically asked.
"No, I'm fine." Hideo lied. Luckily, his parents were once teenage vigilantes who constantly tried to hide their emotions, so they saw through his words immediately.
The trio joined him on the roof and sat down with Hideo seated in the middle. For a few moments, they sat in silence and waited for him to open up when he was ready. While they did so, Taeko and Katori played peek-a-boo. For another family having their three-year-old daughter on the roof would be petrifying, however, the Bi-han's were not any other family.
Katori was already crawling on walls and ceilings since she was two. Naturally, she was a daredevil and didn't fear anything aside from having toys and candy taken away from her.
"Did things with the pirate not go well?" Taeko asked, looking over as Hideo tried to rub the stain off his elbow.
"You guys saw??" Hideo Exclaimed, allowing his embarrassment to rush and cause him to fluster. They all nodded and thought back to when they tuned into the news and saw the whole ordeal. "No... and nothing went well with the other guys I fought too! They all think I'm a kid."
"But you are Hideo, and there's nothing wrong with that." Taeko replied.
"Well, yeah, but I'm a kid with a Quirk that can lift cars and turn invisible... I'm Spider-Man and yet everyone thinks I'm just a joke." Hideo sighed, leaning his head against his hand and staring the grass below. "It's just... hard to have to prove to everyone, even villains that I'm capable. That I'm good enough to be like you."
"Whoa, Hideo. You're more than good. You're amazing." Kaina Interjected, carefully holding onto his shoulder to bring him to look up at them. "Say it with me, I am amazing."
"I am amazing." Hideo repeated, but, still not entries feeling a boost in confidence or moral. "They don't hate me but they don't like me either... it's hard to explain."
"No no, I understand." Taeko refuted. "When I was your age the entire city hated me. Like, I was dragged through the mud every day by reporters, police, villains, and heroes. It's tough and sometimes it pushes to the edge of just hanging up the webs. But I've learned that not everyone is going to appreciate the work we do. All we can do is reassure ourselves what we're doing is necessary."
"Yeah... you're right. We're not gonna quit now." Hideo briefly smiled. Within his heart, a storm of insecurities continued to fester through breaking gates and cloud his emotions. He wanted to take Taeko's words to heart, but his recent inflections prevented the gloom from completely dispersing. "I also can't find a nemesis! No one wants to fight me! But you've got hundreds!"
Hideo threw his hands in the air out of frustration. Compared to other pro heroes, Spider-Man held one of the largest recorded rogues galleries, which wasn't too surprising, given how he loved to taunt his foes. Once again, the Bi-han parents gave each another look, trying to find a way to combat the unfolding issues.
"I'm going to say something embarrassing..." Taeko inhaled, giving everyone a brief moment of anticipation. "I didn't have a nemesis until I was in my twenties."
Hideo's eyes widened at the news. He was speechless and his bafflement made Kaina and Katori giggle as Taeko shook his head.
"You're not serious..."
"Yup. It wasn't until I came out of retirement when I fought... when I fought the Goblin." Taeko replied, momentarily feeling his throat becomes hoarse at the mere mention of that name. He tried to block his smile and laughter from his mind ever since their last battle. Kaina caught onto this and knew she should try and steer it away.
"I still don't even have a nemesis or a bad guy. But trust us Hideo, there's no shortage of villains who'll devote their entire existence to try and beat you." Kaina beamed.
"And you want your first to be special... someone you can see being your nemesis for the rest of your life... or theirs. Accidents happen." Taeko continued. His mind played back the memory of when the Goblin nearly killed himself with his own weapons. "So don't lose hope. The right villain is out there for you, you'll hit the spot soon enough."
[Next Chapter: Superior Foes P.1]