Chapter 40: Scorched Aftermath III
Looked like the heist had taken a backseat to the fight when it came to public attention.
Peter didn't like that.
Crap, he forgot to tell Aizawa about the big man!
Damn it, he'd have to do it tomorrow.
...
Just as Peter was about the turn off the TV, his spider senses buzzed again and made him look towards the door that led to his room.
Aizawa said something about having a meeting with Nezu and May had to leave quickly to run errands but would come back as soon as possible.
The door burst open, revealing Nejire, Togata, and Amajiki wearing casual clothes.
Wait, did school get canceled for them? No one told him that!
"Peter!" Togata and Nejire yelled simultaneously, running from the door and enveloping in a hug.
Awkwardly standing by the door and playing with the sleeves of his white hoodie, Amajiki jogged and joined in on the hug.
Huh, that was kinda unexpected.
But it was nice! Who knew group hugs were like this?
And painful, maybe group hugs weren't a good idea when you have burns all over your body.
"Hey, guys! This is really nice and all but could you let go? I'm kinda in a lot of pain right now." Peter laughed with a wince, hugging back for a moment before his friends let go.
Nejire was wearing a blue shirt with some cargo shorts, Amajiki wore a plain white hoodie and jeans while Togata wore an awful Hawaiian shirt with cargo pants.
Seriously, that shirt looked horrible.
Eh, he'd tell him later.
"So, how do I look?" Peter asked, showcasing his bandaged arms.
"Like y-you just fought Endeavor," Amajiki said, getting nods from both Nejire and Togata.
"Like I just beat Endeavor."
Nejire deadpanned at him, pulling out her phone and playing a clip of him getting slammed into the ground.
Yikes.
That looked bad.
"Whatever, how are you guys?" Peter leaned forward in the bed, watching as Nejire began to flail her arms around.
"We were worried! You nearly got killed and stuff, after we stopped a heist! It was crazy! Wait, have you seen the statement Endeavor did? I hea-"
The girl began to ramble on and on about the public backlash that Endeavor was getting or something like that, Peter having tuned her out quickly.
Besides, he could barely make out what she was saying.
Wait, when did Endeavor even make a statement?
Togata stood by and watched as Nejire rambled on and on about something entirely different than before, Peter wasn't even sure what it was, before grabbing the remote on the bed and changing the channel.
From a news report about some fight that Mirko had, the TV changed to Endeavor along with people that didn't seem like heroes wearing suits in a conference room while camera flashes went off.
"It happened like half an hour ago! Did you not know? We didn't watch it yet cause we wanted to be there with you an all!" Togata said, Amajiki nudged Nejire and got her back on track.
Hold up, they didn't watch it because they wanted to he there with him during it?
Aww!
That was so sweet!
Either way, he should get back on track.
Half an hour ago? Man, Peter needed to get better at keeping up with the news.
Wait, he should probably pay attention to what was going on.
Endeavor, now sporting a black eye that Peter didn't even remember giving him, cleared his throat to gain the attention of the conference room.
'Before we begin, I would like to say that I still stand by my actions and find them justifiable.'
… what?
There was no way, right?
There was absolutely no freaking way that Endeavor was gonna start with that!
No one would be so… Peter didn't even have the word for that!
It was as if the guy was trying to be a walking PR disaster!
'I arrived at the museum in response to the heist that was being conducted, and I assumed that when the prolific vigilante known as Spider-Man was on the scene that he was collaborating with the villains. I attempted to apprehend him peacefully but he refused, so I had to escalate the situation. While I did not know of his age, I still stand by what I did for it is a hero's job to apprehend threats to the public.'
The conference room was silent for a minute before people finally started to ask questions again, with the hero calling on someone with a reptilian-like face.
'Endeavor, in the video of the fight that a bystander took, it is clear that Spider-Man was trying to explain himself to you in an attempt to not have a physical altercation, attempts that you were shown to clearly disregard in favor of attacking this young man, what do you say to that?' The reporter asked, pushing his glasses back.
Silent for a moment, Endeavor scowled before answering.
'I disregarded his claims of being on a UA field trip since I believed that the staff of UA would be above allowing a lowly criminal to walk its prestigious halls; but I suppose that it has lost its values in recent times, for the UA I attended would never do such thing that clearly betrays everything it stands for.'
Lowly criminal? This guy was just trying to be hurtful at this point.
Also, did he really pull a 'back in my day'? Peter had expected many types of responses from him, but that wasn't one of them.
Maybe his joke about the midlife crisis during the fight wasn't too far off.
Calling on another reporter, this one seemingly having a second set of eyes on her forehead, Endeavor exhaled through his nose in a sign of clear annoyance.
Peter wholeheartedly believed that the guy didn't even wanna be there at this point, as if the HPSC or his PR team forced him to do the conference.
But that would imply that he did have a PR team, which would, in turn, imply that he cared at all.
Yikes, how has this guy been so high up in the rankings for 20 years straight?
The woman sat up from her seat, displaying the pin on her shirt that said 'Daily Bugle' before beginning.
'Excuse me, but how do you respond to those that say you did more harm than you did good when you responded to the incident at the museum? Reports state that the UA students along with their teacher have already apprehended all villains and evacuated all civilians except one, a civilian that Spider-Man was in the middle of rescuing before you arrived on the scene and proceeded to endanger her life with reckless use of your quirk and caused millions of Yen's worth of property damage.'
Huh, Jonah sent the good reporter out for this one, huh?
Endeavor snarled, a few flames appearing on his face seemingly unconsciously.
'Collateral. Damage. I prioritize the apprehension of the immediate threat in all cases I am involved in, this one is no different. Were I in the same situation I'd repeat the course of action I took to handle the situation.' The conference room was stunned silent at the hero's declaration, with Peter being no different.
Jesus Christ.
Endeavor wasn't even a PR disaster at this point, it was like a PR dumpster fire.
At first, Peter would make jokes about it, you know?
But now?
He just didn't even have words to describe it.
Sharing his current state, the men in suits sitting next to Endeavor looked at him with wide eyes, faces displayed how horrified they were; A few covered their mics and began to try and talk with the man, their attempts being ignored.
As the men sitting next to him kept trying to tell him something, Endeavor simply called on some woman in the crowd that had an antenna coming out of her forehead.
'E-Endeavor, sir, what do you have to say to Spider-Man and his family? I-I am sure they would like some sort of comment.'
The flames on his face burst into his full fire beard at the question, burning brighter than before as Endeavor glared at every single camera.
'I want him to know that he still is and always will be good for nothing criminal that always got in the way of real heroes like myself, and I hope that his family is ashamed of raising such an individual. That a-'
Just as his friends let out a gasp in reaction to the statement, Endeavor's mic was cut mid-sentence.
The man looked around at the people sitting next to him in confusion and anger, with one of them standing up and grabbing his mic.
'We would like to apologize deeply to both the young man and his family for what has happened today; As a HPSC representative, I'd like to announce that Endeavour shall be suspended from active hero work for the next six months due to his actions, that will be all and thank you for coming.'
Both the conference room and the hospital room was silent as Endeavor attempted to protest this seemingly last-minute decision before everyone except him bowed and ushered him out of the room, reporters bombarding them with questions as the cameras were cut.
Holy shit.
Holy fucking shit.
After a moment of silence, his friends looked at him in astonishment, with Togata being the first to break the silence.
"… Did you just get the number 2 hero suspended?" He asked, eyes wide.
"I… think I did…" Was all he could see as he stared blankly at the screen.
...
A lone man sat in his office with his chair facing the window, overlooking the bustling Tokyo streets from several stories up.
He laced his hands together, deep in thought of today's events just as the door to the room swung open, in walking a man of Italian descent with a scarred forehead.
Spinning around in his chair to face him, the man placed his elbows on the desk and looked at his employee.
"Boss, I-" The scarred man began, trying to explain before being cut off by a raised pale hand.
"I already know of the outcome of the job, Hammerhead." His voice was deep, echoing across the office. "Given the incident with Endeavor, the heist has taken a backseat in the public eye and saved it from getting too much unwanted attention."
Hammerhead raised an eyebrow, watching as his boss straightened the black tie of his suit.
"This is but a minor setback, we already have several operations in motion all over both Musutafu and Tokyo. A small dent in income is nothing to worry about."
"Are you sure, boss? There were heroes there, what if one of our guys talked?" Hammerhead man asked, only getting a low chuckle in response.
"Even then, they would have no way to connect it back to me, I am wise enough as to not disclose my real identity to the petty thugs I employ in my empire."
Nodding, Hammerhead looked at the sitting man one last time before starting to make his way out of the room.
"Sure thing, big man."
With that, he exited the room, leaving the pale man to sit alone as he watched the city below.
===================
AN: Yeah, it was obvious that Endeavor was gonna be facing a pretty big amount of backlash, but who knew it would've been getting suspended from hero work for a whole six months?
Well, I did but that doesn't matter!
Oh, and we also got a tiny bit of butterfly effect! Now that UA will not accept recommendations from Endeavor, Todoroki will have to take the regular exam!
And who knows? Maybe a certain someone will stay at UA now that Todoroki won't be a part of recommendations!
We got to see May and Aizawa finally meet, I had fun writing their interactions so I hope you had fun reading them! The idea of her embarrassing Peter in front of Aizawa was going to happen eventually, it was just a matter of when.
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If you like the story, please throw some power stones to elevate the ranking
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