The shine from Nejire's quirk poked over the barrier, and he could hear what also sounded like occasional bonking sounds and pained grunts.
Yeah, maybe he should go over there.
Even if they probably had it handled, just to be safe.
...
Just as he turned around to start climbing over the wall, his spider-sense went off from behind him, causing him to instinctively dodge to the side.
A row of the same spikes that the barrier was made out of shot through the ground, rushing through where he was just standing before crashing into the barrier and stopping.
Yikes, man! That just looked unsafe.
Turning around cautiously and lowering himself to the ground, Peter narrowed his lenses at his new opponent.
It was a girl about Nejire's height, grey eyes, and silvery hair that was styled into a braided ponytail. Around her arms were a series of those same spikes acting like some sort of armor, and she had a white bandana around her neck.
Great, he had to 1v1 someone now? This was supposed to be a team thing!
"Uh, hey! I'm Peter Parker, by the way! Wanna… try talking this out?" He asked, gripping his sword as if it would actually help him.
It probably wouldn't, but it helped get him pumped up and all.
Instead of an actual response, the girl simply sent two more waves of jagged spikes in his way.
Spider-sense ringing, Peter flipped to the side and dodged the first wave, swinging his sword to smash the front of the second one charging at him.
Oh, they were like baseball bats! That was so much more useful!
Landing on the ground, Peter shot webs at the girl that were quickly blocked by a wall of metal spikes that disappeared just as suddenly as they showed up.
Now, imagine his face when the girl just decided to cover her sword in those spikes, coating it a shiny silver before riding a wave of spikes at him.
That was so unfair, man!
Peter jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding the charging girl but getting the fabric of his pants getting cut around his shins.
"Aw, c'mon! Not my threads! Not like I gotta fix them, but still!" He yelled, landing in a roll before charging at her while holding the sword in both hands.
He jumped into the air, swinging the sword down and destroying the spiky shield the girl created in front of her, sending shards of sharp steel everywhere.
She took a big swing at him as he touched the ground, Peter ducking over the incredibly telegraphed attack.
Alright, just get rid of her sword thingy and be done with it!
He couldn't just grab it out of her hand, given how it had a bunch of sharp-looking metal spikes coming out of it, so that option was out the window.
Good thing he had a tool that grabbed things, then!
Ducking under another swing of her spiked sword, Peter flipped backward and shot a web at her sword with his free hand before yanking it out of her hand.
Too easy! Why hadn't he done that earlier?
The swords flipped through the air as if in slow motion, the girl simply waved her hand in small panic before the spikes protruding from the sword grew and stabbed themselves into the ground.
"Aw, what!" Peter threw his hands in the air as the crowd roared behind him, he looked around until finally finding Midnight watching the fight from the stage.
He motioned to what had just happened, the woman only shrugging and giving a thumbs up.
That was alright? So not cool!
Out of nowhere, several jagged pillars of metal began to shoot out of the ground around him, Peter following his spider-sense and bashing any pillars he couldn't dodge with his sword.
Yeah, this thing was way better as a bat.
Even so, Dance Of Bats didn't exactly roll off the tongue.
He flipped off of the ground, sticking to the barrier of steel on the roof as he and the girl entered a small stare down.
Until a face popped out from beside him.
"Oh, hey! You alright over here?" Togata asked, smiling as his eyes went from him to the girl to the wreckage around them.
He stopped for a moment, looking over to the girl only to see she was in a state of pure confusion.
And he couldn't even blame her, you know? Togata's quirk still freaked him out sometimes.
"I mean, I guess? This girl kinda separated me from you guys so we've been fighting for a bit and stuff, how about you?" He swung the bat through the air, looking at Togata.
"Well, her teammates are the ones who we're fighting! Some metal guy, a girl with electricity, and one that can clone herself! Yeah, Tamaki and Hado and holding them off for a sec while I tell you this stuff."
Wait, what?
Two of those were the guys that Peter fought earlier!
Small world, huh?
Either that or he was starting his own rogue's gallery.
"Cool, cool, so… you guys good on that?" He asked, receiving a pretty confident nod. "Alright, I'll just… keep doing my thing and join you guys in a sec? I don't know, man."
Togata smiled, phasing a hand through the metal wall and patting him on the back before disappearing.
He stared at the spot where his friend once was for a second longer, turning back to the still very confused girl.
"Uh, sorry about that! He… yeah, he does that! Wanna get back to it? Don't wanna ruin the momentum we got going."
The girl looked at him for a moment, then walked over to her sword and grabbed it which made the spikes return to normal size.
"Sure thing, I guess? I just… never mind."
With that, she slammed her sword into the ground and began to unleash wave after wave of sharp metal his way.
Peter jumped off the wall as the waves of metal chased him through the air, he smashed the front of the wave with his sword before landing in a roll.
Shooting a web at the girl's hand, Peter cursed under his breath as the line was blocked by a wall of spikes that rose from the ground.
This was so not fair!
Guess he'll have to be up close and personal for this.
His lenses narrowed at her, the boy quickly beginning to run at the girl while dodging the incoming waves of sharp metal spikes.
"Hey, can you relax with the whole trying to skewer me thing? It's really not cool!" He joked, flipping over a few barriers of spikes before landing next to her.
He swung his sword to sweep her legs out from under her but a wall of duller spikes blocked his attack.
She can control how dull and sharp the spikes are? Man, Peter would think her quirk was cool if he wasn't fighting her!
The girl attacked him with a barrage of spikes from behind his back, Peter sidestepping and breaking them with his sword.
God, this was getting tedious!
The silver-haired girl began an overhead swing at him, Peter moving out of the way before trying to swing at her with his own sword.
Instead of blocking the attack, a series of dull spikes rose from the ground and wrapped themselves around the hand that was holding his sword. They tightened around his wrist before quite literally picking him up and throwing him away.
That was so not cool!
Twisting his body in mid-air, Peter used the barrier blocking him off from the rest of the roof as a springboard before jumping back at the girl.
"You're not getting rid of me like that!"
Clawlike spikes rose from the ground beneath him, Peter pulling himself away from the grasp with his single web-shooter as best he could.
Even so, a few of the protruding pieces of metal grazed his already scarred skin, creating small cuts on his legs and arms that drew blood.
Ow.
Hopefully those don't scar.
Wait, can he get scars on his scars? Eh, he'd figure that out later.
Peter frantically twisted his body around the claws trying to grab at him, getting more and more cut up in the process.
Just as he was about to be grabbed, he shot a web behind him that hit the spike barrier, the boy using all his strength to pull himself back towards it.
Which was part of what happened.
As he flew back, his ears quickly picked up the sound of several pieces of metal hitting the ground, having come loose thanks to his tug.
He slid across the ground, keeping his focus solely on his fingers sticking to the hilt of his sword until he finally rolled to a stop.
Wait, there was a hole in the wall that separated him from his team.
Finally! He got back up!
With a small grunt of pain, Peter propped himself off of the ground on his elbows and looked into his friends' fight.
Nejire was currently flying around and having a sword fight with the electricity girl, neither of them using their quirks to actually attack for whatever reason.
Looking down, he saw Amajiki fighting off a girl but… twice? She must be the one who can clone herself.
And then there was Togata, in the middle of a heated sword battle with the metal dude, him phasing through several wild swings along the way.
As he looked into the fight, Peter's lenses narrowed at how loosely the golden guy was actually holding his sword, seeming to be more focused on attacking Togata than keeping track of it.
Midnight said that if someone's sword touches the ground without you holding it you get eliminated, right?
So what if he just…
Aiming with his free hand, Peter shot a web that connected to the boy's ankle, making him freeze before Peter yanked on the line.
And then, Peter watched what he had caused.
It was as if it was in slow motion, everyone watching the golden boy fall to the ground as his sword aimlessly flailed through the air.
The sword hit the ground with a small thud, proceeding to roll for a second longer before coming to a complete stop.
"What the f-"
A deafening horn echoed across the stadium, the roars, and cheers from the spectators in the crowd only adding to the noise.
Wait, what?
"And we have our 16 students who pass on, ladies and gentlemen! What an outstanding performance from our very own 1st years!" Mic announced, Peter simply looking around and seeing everyone around him in the same state of confusion.
There's no way that was it, right?
They were in the middle of a battle! Like, a huge showdown! There's no way that guy was the last one that needed to get out!
As Peter slowly rose from the ground, dusting off his damaged pants, he looked up at the screen to see the faces of the 16 people going to the final round.
No way, that was it!
Well, whatever. At least now he can rest up a little bit more.
God, he was so tired.
Peter dropped his sword to the ground, lifting his goggles to rub his eyes before getting that familiar buzzing at the back of his head.
And next thing he knew, he was wrapped up in a hug.
"We passed, man! Good job with that last-minute elimination!" Togata congratulated him, hugging him right as Nejire did the same from his other side.
"Yeah, Peter! That was super cool! Man, I really wanna see how your fight went! Wait, can you tell me about that girl's quirk?" She said rapidly, Peter didn't even know how to respond right now.
Why were they hugging him? On live TV?
And man, did the cuts on his body hurt right now!
There was just so much to process right now, and his brain was too tired to begin to do any of that.
As the crowds cheered, Amajiki jogged up to them and only gave Peter a small smile before his face went back to being nervous in front of everyone there.
They stayed like that for a moment, the stadium cheering before Peter cracked a small smile beneath his mask.
This… this was really nice.
"Uh, guys? I'm enjoying this whole group hug a lot but could you get me to Recovery Girl? I have cuts all over my body and they really hurt."
After they apologized, Midnight spoke into the mic to ask for the students to go back inside the stadium and wait for the 3rd round.
Peter's eyes wandered over the cheering and smiling crowds, smiling softly under the mask before the expression was wiped off his face.
Up in his booth, Tony Stark stood by what Peter thought to be one-way glass, clapping and smiling down at him.
...
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