Again, Peter laughed at the coincidence as Mirko chuckled and widened her eyes.
"You did fight rings, too?" She laughed, Peter nodding. "No fucking way! Shit, we might have more in common than I thought!"
...
A few seconds passed, the two of them laughing a bit before settling down.
It was weird, you know? He knew Mirko was one of the more down-to-earth heroes, but it felt like she was a completely normal person when he talked to her.
You know, maybe it was for the best since he was stuck with her for 2 weeks.
"So, are you just gonna teach me how to fight? Is that how training is gonna go?" He asked, getting back on track as Mirko nodded.
"Gonna teach you how to actually throw a punch, for starters! Cringed every time you swung back in the sports festival." She chuckled, waving him over to the dummy.
Man, that was kinda hurtful.
"That's… kinda on purpose?" Peter said, Mirko scoffing. "I try not to punch people too hard, throwing my punches wrong helps with that."
Seriously, when you can lift ten tons it's better to not try to hit people harder.
"That's fucking stupid! I get holding back, but you don't gotta swing sloppily!" She said, tapping her foot on the floor. "Matter of fact? I want you to punch this dummy right here! Full strength, don't hold back!"
Wait, was she serious? Peter looked at the dummy, it just looked like a human torso with a head and no arms. Probably expensive, now that he thought about it.
"It's designed to take as much punishment as someone in peak physical condition. Basically, it's just a guy without all the inside bits but just as durable. It's stuck to the floor so don't worry about hitting it through the wall or anything." The woman informed, throwing a couple jabs at the dummy and making it bob back and forth.
Still, Peter couldn't help but hesitate.
He has thrown and lifted things with full strength before, but… he's almost never actually punched anything with full strength.
Seeing him hesitate, Mirko groaned and rolled her eyes at him.
"For fuck's sake, it's a dummy! Just hit the damn thing, will you?" The tapping of her foot filled the room as Peter sighed.
At least it wasn't like she'll charge him for it.
Hopefully.
Just as Peter pulled his arm back while standing in front of the dummy, the sound of Mirko groaning again made him pause.
"Fuck it, let's at least fix your form. Can't have you punching shit like you're All Might." She said, moving forward and changing his stance.
A few seconds passed, the shorter woman moving his body around until finally getting a stance that she was happy with.
"Keep your wrist straight, got it?" She said, Peter nodding. "Cool, now punch that fucking thing!"
Well… she did tell him to punch it full strength, so… he couldn't be blamed if he destroyed it, right?
Taking a deep breath, Peter firmly planted his feet on the ground and reared his arm back. Aiming directly at the dummy's chest, Peter narrowed his eyes at his target and punched.
And next thing he knew? He had his arm through it.
Peter cringed at the sound of his arm going through, accidentally picturing it as an actual person for a second before looking away.
God, he knew he could really hurt people at full strength… but punching through them?
That was just so fucked up.
"Huh, would you look at that shit!" Mirko chuckled, going around the dummy and inspecting the damage. "Hard to believe someone so short can pack this much of a punch! I'm impressed."
First of all, what did she mean impressed? This was terrifying to him! Now he'd know exactly how it'd look like if he threw a punch harder than necessary!
All he could do is hope he didn't have nightmares about this happening to a real person.
Also, short? Wasn't he like 5 inches taller than her?
Cringing again, Peter pulled his fist out of the dummy's chest and stared at the gaping hole with a small amount of fear in his eyes.
"Y-Yeah, I don't… like using my full strength. Sorry about the dummy." Peter muttered, taking a step back and flexing the fingers in his hand.
Again, Mirko chuckled and waved her hand before walking over to him and putting him on the back.
"Hey, I gotta know what I'm working with! It's better to know you can punch through people so I can help you avoid doing that." She said, Peter slowly nodding while still staring at the hole in the dummy's chest.
"I… yeah, guess you're right," Peter said, closing and opening his hand a few times before looking down at her. "So, now what?"
"Oh, next we spar!"
Spar? Wait, was sh-
Just as he thought that, his spider-sense tingled in the back of his head just in time for him to step back from a roundhouse kick.
So… this was all gonna be him learning to fight? Guess he should've expected that.
...
Flipping away from another ax kick, Peter shoots a few webs at Mirko with the woman effortlessly dodging before leaping above him and trying to kick him in the back of the head.
Spider-sense tingling, Peter pulled himself out of the way on a web, flipping and landing on the ceiling."
Narrowing his eyes, Peter used the ceiling as a springboard and launched himself at Mirko, the woman quickly sidestepping and sending a kick that Peter barely dodged by twisting his body.
God, did his body hurt right now.
As he landed on all fours, Peter tried to sweep her legs out from under her but failed due to the woman jumping over his attempt.
Crap.
His spider-sense buzzed, making him roll out of the way of Mirko stomping him.
Just as he was about to flip up, his spider-sense blared just in time for Mirko to run over and kick him in the back of the head.
Ow.
Peter crashed to the ground, about to roll away before feeling Mirko plant her boot on his chest, pinning him in place.
Crap.
"That's… 6-0? No offense, but you're getting fucked!" Mirko laughed above him while wiping some sweat from her forehead.
Quickly, the woman removed her foot and helped him back up to his feet.
Man, this was the worst .
He mumbled his thanks, cracking his neck as Mirko tapped her foot idly.
That's how it's been for the past… wait, how long has it been? You lose track of time when you're getting kicked around.
"Hey, isn't it better to do some actual training before we jump into fighting? Cause this kinda sucks for me." His eyes fell on the already forming bruises on his body, the boy walking over to a bench and grabbing a bottle of water.
Seriously, this sucked! He kinda understood what Mirko was going for, but it still sucked.
"Kid, this is the training! Sorry to say, but I don't much care about teaching you shit slowly. I'm more of a sink or swim type of girl, you know? Besides! Each time you're getting better!" She laughed, walking over and sitting down next to him.
Silently, Peter let out a small sigh as he brought air back onto his lungs. Rubbing his chest, he could already guess it was gonna bruise.
"So, is this a trial by fire type thing then?" He asked, watching as Mirko drank from her water bottle.
Looking closely, Peter could notice the scars on her tanner skin. Kinds reminded him of him, now that he thought about it.
"Basically, yeah. You got the strength and smarts, this is how you put 'em together! If you haven't guessed, this is how the next two weeks are gonna go for 'ya." She said, grabbing a towel and wiping the sweat off her face.
Oh, right! He had two weeks of this!
Oh, man. He had two weeks of this.
Well, at least his bones weren't fractured or anything. His better healing should take care of things.
"Gotta ask, how the fuck does your quirk work? It's called 'Spider', right?" Mirko asked, making Peter nod and put his water bottle down.
"Yeah, it's kinda… different from yours, I guess. Instead of giving me a bunch of eyes, it just gives me the proportional abilities of a spider. I can stick to walls and I'm proportionally as strong as a spider." He answered, watching as the woman nodded.
She didn't need to know about that whole mutate thing, and Peter was more than happy to not talk about it.
"You need those wrist things to shoot webs, right? Can't make 'em yourself?"
"Nah, can't make webs myself so I made these." Lifting his arm, Peter rotated his wrist and showcased the black device. "Helps with the whole spider motif, you know?"
Awfully nice of her to let him use his web-shooters, by the way! Always felt like something was missing when he fought without them.
"Fuck, I bet Hawks like 55,000 yen you could make webs yourself." She muttered, Peter couldn't help but wince at how much money that was before remembering he was in Japan.
So that should be about 800 bucks, which was still a lot but Peter guessed she could afford that.
When you're in the top ten, you can probably afford a lot of things.
Humming, Mirko tapped her foot on the ground rapidly before suddenly remembering something and turning to him.
"Oh, by the way." She began, making Peter turn to her. "Do your eyes in the back of your head or some shit? You always seem to know what's going on around you, how does that shit work?"
Oh, she was talking about his spider-sense! That part was kinda hard to explain sometimes but he always managed.
"That? It's my spider-sense!" Peter answered, watching as Mirko furrowed her brow in confusion. "Uh, it's like a sixth sense? I get a buzzing in my skull when something dangerous is about to happen, most of the time I use it to see if someone is sneaking up on me."
...
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