Without Thought

Spider-Man, Captain Britain, and all associated characters, are property of Marvel. My Hero Academia and all related characters are property of Kohei Horikoshi

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Toshinori sighed, dropping the goons he carried on his shoulders into the dumpster (that he'd emptied, no sense in completely debasing their foes) along with their 'friends'. He shut the dumpster, locking it and wiping the dust off his hands. "There!" he exclaimed. "That should hold you until the police arrive!"

Ignoring the light groans emanating from the dumpster, Toshinori turned around, humming when Brian stepped out of the now goonless warehouse, holding a phone to the sky.

"Captain Britain," he waved, walking closer, "is everything alright?"

The British Hero nodded, turning to Toshinori, "Yeah. Spidey's inside, giving the place a once over while I call the police." Brian turned back to the phone with a grunt, "While I try to call the police, at least." Toshinori nodded, entering the building.

He found Peter quickly, the American Hero leaning over an open wooden crate. He moved closer, and without looking over his shoulder, his friend asked, "Everything alright on your end?"

Toshinori nodded, coming up beside Peter. "Yes—all the criminals have been rounded up and are waiting for the police to arrive." He looked into the box, cocking a brow at the weapons held within. "Anything interesting?"

"Eh, not really," Peter shrugged, closing the box. "Just your standard criminal warehouse. I mean," the Hero crossed his arms, "guns aren't the Owls usual game, but the man's insane, so what do I know?"

The Japanese Hero had yet to meet the Owl—he'd yet to meet the majority of New York's criminal bosses—but if he was anything like the Yakuza bosses back home, then it was only a matter of time before his greed forced him to overreach, and leave him ripe for the picking. Of course, the Yakuza always found a way to worm their way out of trouble, but that was another issue entirely.

"At any rate," Peter's voice brought Toshinori back to the present. "Our job here is done. I know some…less than reputable people that might have a better idea of what's going on." Toshinori did his best not to grimace; it never sat right with him, willingly associating with criminals for the sake of information—at least when the police used informants, there were rules and procedures, a mutual understanding. Here…they were pretty much flying blind, on the 'goodwill' of criminals. In Japan, such an act would, at best, get you labelled a pariah. "But that can wait till tomorrow. Now, I just want to get to bed and—!" Peter cut himself off with a gasp.

Before Toshinori could even think of asking what was wrong, Peter roughly grabbed him by the waist. Not one second later, Toshinori was thrown through a window. He barely had the time to right himself before the building blew up.

The blast knocked him further, sending him crashing into a wall. He landed with a harsh thud. He saw stars, until the heat of the burning building shocked him into the present. His heart skipped a beat, air rushing out of his lungs as he stared at the burning remains of the warehouse.

"No…" he whispered.

"To—All Might!" Toshinori looked up to see Brian landing beside him. "W-What happened?"

"P—Spider-Man," he managed to catch himself, "he…he must have seen or heard something. He…saved me over himself." All at once, Toshinori's mind flashed back to another great Hero, who also sacrificed her life for his own.

And what the hell did he have to show for it?

"H-Holy shit!" Toshinori froze, his enhanced hearing picking up a faint, disbelieving whisper far to his left. He turned, seeing a man—wearing a similar outfit to the ones in the dumpster—staring at the burning building a…a detonator held loosely in his hands. Toshinori's blood ran cold—he'd missed one…"I…I killed Spider-Man," A cruel grin spread across the man's face, "I killed Spider-Man!" he shouted gleefully.

In a flash, Toshinori burst forward, grabbing the murderer by his neck and slamming him against a pillar. "What have you done?!" he thundered.

The brute just sneered, "Earned the eternal gratitude of every crook from Staten Island to Brooklynn!" Toshinori snarled wordlessly, lifting him higher off the ground. "Do your worst," the man spat, "when I get to Ryker's, I'm gonna be treated like a king!"

Toshinori's mind was a whirlwind, and through it all…his vision changed. The man before him changed, turning into the sneering, laughing monster that haunted his nightmares.

Instinctively, Toshinori started to squeeze.

But no matter how much pressure he applied, the fiend wouldn't stop laughing.

Until he felt two powerful arms wrench him away and slam him against a wall.

"What the hell were you doing?!" Toshinori blinked, surprised to see Brian standing before him, eyes glassy behind his mask.

A harsh cough sounded to his left. Toshinori turned to see the thug, kneeling on the ground, face tomato red, wheezing roughly.

"I-I-I-I—" Toshinori stammered, unable to do anything else.

KRRR-CRSSSH

Toshinori whirled around at the sudden noise, determining that it came from the destroyed and burning building.

CRRR-WRIICK

And another. Slowly, rubble shifted around. Then, Toshinori could see a figure just barely visible within the flames.

"…No fucking way," the criminal hoarsely gasped. Toshinori held a similar sentiment, jaw dropping as Peter figure—costume tattered and stained in soot and blood— leapt out of the ruins, landing in front of them.

Toshinori was frozen—idly, he could see that Brian and the criminal were as well. Peter moved, walking forward and crouching down eye-level to the criminal. When the Hero spoke, his voice was raspy with smoke, "Now, I'm having a hard time—gack!" Peter turned his head, holding up his right hand as he coughed into his left. He cleared his throat, voice clearing up. "Ugh, don't ever take up smoking—anyway, I doubt you set that up to kill little old me." Peter leaned down, cracked lenses gleaming, "And I really doubt that Owl would risk blowing up his own gear. So, why'd you do it?"

The criminal gulped, "I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I—"

Peter slapped him, "Keep it together."

"I got an email a week ago!" the man exclaimed. "Didn't recognize the sender—they offered me five-hundred thousand dollars to set up C4 in the warehouse."

Toshinori blinked, face scrunching in time with Brian's confused grunt.

Peter hummed disbelievingly, "Someone payed you five-hundred grand to blow up a warehouse?"

The crook shook his head vigorously, "No. At least, not just the warehouse. Owl's got this deal in the works with Silvermane."

"Silvermane?" Peter repeated. "Didn't know they were working together."

"It's pretty new—I only found out from one of the Owl's lieutenants a couple days ago. Supposed to go down this Friday." The crook cleard his throat, "The, uh, email told me to blow up the warehouse during the meeting."

"Probably starting a gang war between the Owl and Silvermane," Peter concluded. The American Hero clicked his tongue, rising to his feet, "Alright, here's what we're going to do." He shot his wrists out, webbing the criminal to the floor. "You're going to tell the cops everything you just told us." The man nodded—as little as he could with his head glued to the floor. "You're going to cooperate with their every demand." Another nod. "And peacefully live out whatever your sentence is going to be." More, frantic nods. Peter hummed appreciatively, bending down and patting the man's cheek, "Good."

Peter turned around, rolling his shoulders. "Let's roll, boys," he said, and leapt into the air, swinging away.

Toshinori exchanged a bewildered glance with Brian, and quickly followed their friend. Not that they travelled far—Peter landed on a rooftop a couple blocks inland, sitting down against an AC unit.

The American Hero nodded at them, "You guys alri—are you crying?" Toshinori blinked, bringing a hand to his face. Indeed, there were tears running down his face. Peter let out a breath, "Geez, man. Didn't think you'd get so worked up."

Brian made a chocking noise, "A building blew up, with you in it!"

"Bah," Peter dismissively waved his hand, "you know how many buildings I've had fall on top of me over the years?" He chuckled mirthlessly, "Explosions weren't fun, I'll admit."

"Y…You saved my life," Toshinori whispered, breathing raggedly.

Peter tilted his head languidly, "I mean…yeah? What else was I supposed to do?"

Toshinori let out a spluttering laugh, "I…I don't know."

He felt a hand gently fall on his shoulder. He looked over to see Brian, eyes shining with concern. "Are you alright?"

Toshinori took a deep breath, closing his eyes. Alas, all he saw was Nana's smiling, bruised face. "No," he admitted, hunching over, tears flowing with abandon. "I'm…remembering someone very important to me."

"Ah, that's never fun," Peter commiserated. Toshinori hummed lightly, Brian nodding slowly and gently rubbing his back.

"You, uh, want to talk about it?" The British Hero asked hesitantly, but not unkindly.

Toshinori quickly shook his head, "No!" He coughed into his hand, blushing lightly at his outburst, "Er, not now. The wound…it's still fresh."

"…Whaddya say we call it a night?" Peter said after a long moment of silence.

Brian nodded, "Sounds like a good idea. All Might?" Toshinori nodded quickly, not saying anything.

They returned to their dorms without incident, Peter even managing to beat both of them there, in spite of his injuries.

Brian bid them a quick good night, but Toshinori asked Peter to hang back for a second.

"What's up?" the arachnid Hero asked, perched on the wall next to the fire escape.

Toshinori bit his lip, looking down. "Peter, you saved my life tonight. Thank you."

"Eh, don't mention it."

"I'm serious," Toshinori intoned, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He snapped them open, straightening his back and bowing lowly, "If you ever need anything, please, let me know, and I shall repay you in full."

"Um…" Peter trailed off, but Toshinori didn't look up. "Listen…Toshi, it's fine." Toshinori took a breath, but Peter cut him off, grabbing his shoulders and forcing him upright, "You don't owe me anything. We're Heroes; we save people without expecting anything in return. I mean, we can hope to get something out of it, but more often than not—"

"Peter," the foreign Hero cut him off.

"Toshi," the native Hero jovially replied. He sighed, letting go of Toshinori's shoulders, "Look, it's been a long night—get some sleep." And without another word, Peter crawled along the wall, entering his dorm. Toshinori stared after him for a moment, before climbing down the fire escape and entering his own dorm.

He'd hope to enter silently and inconspicuously, but David was sitting at the kitchen table, working on something—Toshinori believed it was a paper on the difference between the X and Quirk genes.

The bespectacled American looked up from his table, smiling "Toshi!" he said. "Was wondering when you'd show up. Heard about this warehouse blowing up over the police radio…Are you alright?" he asked, face scrunching up in concern.

"Hm? Ah, yes," Toshinori said distractedly, "I'm fine."

"Really?"

Toshinori sighed deeply, "To be honest, David, I don't want to talk about it."

"…Alright then. But if you ever do…" the man trailed off.

Toshinori managed a small smile, "Thank you, my friend," and walked to his room.

He peeled off his costume, tossing it into his closet and slumping into bed. He fell into a fitful slumber, thoughts plagued by the nature of Heroes.

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A/N: This was supposed to be…something else entirely. Then Peter had a building dropped on him and things derailed. Be sure to leave a review. Later.