Quirks and magic

Chapter 21: From Peter to Izuku

First the exposition, then Project Pegasus's labs, and now this, Stark thought grimly as he scanned what remained of Washington Square Park. What was visible was illuminated by flickering, fading flames. What wasn't was obscured by the darkness of encroaching night and plumes of smoke. Not even the twinkling of stars could be seen through the haze; not that Manhattan was a great place for stargazing, anyway. This evening has been one giant clusterfuck from start to finish.

And then there's these two, Stark's visor settled on the boy and girl he'd given Peter the a-okay to restrain. Being that they were the only ones visible in the park, it was safe to at least consider the possibility they were involved in this attack somehow, although now...looking between the girl's dumbstruck face and the boy's awestruck face, he was beginning to think he'd made his judgment a bit prematurely.

"O-oh my gosh!" Izuku said, positively star-struck. "It's the United States' Number Two Pro Hero Iron Man! And his protégé, the Number Ten Pro Hero Spider-Man! I can't believe I'm actually meeting them face-to-face!"

"This isn't how I wanted to meet Mr. Stark, though..." Mei quietly muttered, weakly tugging at the webbing adhering to her backside and jet pack.

Great, Stark mentally sighed. I asked for a perp and fate throws me a fanboy...

"Spider-Man used his own special webbing on me!" Izuku muttered furiously. "A shear-thinning long-chain polymer formula with a consistency far tougher than that of nylon!"

Yep. Fanboy.

"I hope I never have to wash the back of this cloak ever again!" Izuku whispered as he glanced over his webbed cloak in adoration. The bottom tips of the cloak bunched up into fibrous fists and gave the boy a quick thump over the head. "Hey!"

"Alright, time to get to the bottom of this," Stark sighed. He glanced over at Peter, who seemed just as confused as he was. "Alright kid, get them to their feet so we can ask some questions before the authorities arrive."

"Right away Mr. Stark—uh, Iron Man!" Peter corrected himself. It was difficult sticking with hero aliases when you knew so many heroes on a first-name basis. He approached Izuku first to bring the boy to his feet—

"Cease and desist, gentleman," Strange sounded out as he stepped into view of the two heroes. "Those two are not the cause for the destruction you see before you."

"Doctor Strange?" Peter asked with widened eyes after the three heroes stared at each other in silence for a moment.

"Strange?" Stark's visor concealed his face, but the surprise was evident in his voice. "Well I'll be damned, this must be serious if Stephen Strange himself crawled out of that cave you call a brownstone."

"What took you so long, Stark?" Stephen said sternly, pushing through the snark.

"Geez, you're grumpier than usual," Stark replied, his visor lifting up and revealing his face underneath. "You been watching reruns of House again?"

"Such childishness—"

"Relax, Chandu!" Stark retorted, earning a scowl from Strange. "I was already dealing with another incident before I got called out to the Project Pegasus labs!"

"Another incident?" Strange's face paled considerably, wondering if Ikiji had committed even more malicious mischief than he previously thought. "Was it related to what occurred here?"

"That's what we're here to find out," Stark said. "And given the severity of the situation here, I'm tempted to say that they are."

"How severe are we talking?" Strange asked as he strode forward. "Stark?"