Ultra Responsibility (My Hero Academia X Spider-Man Reader)

Issue 81 - Heroes Rising Part 1

The Quinjet cut across the ocean like a blade through dark silk, its engines low and steady against the endless black of the water below. Clouds rolled past the cockpit windows in pale streaks, moonlight catching the wings every so often before vanishing again.

Up front, the pilot adjusted their course with practiced ease, eyes flicking between the screens and the open night ahead. A few switches clicked into place. Green lights held steady.

He glanced over his shoulder and raised his voice just enough to carry.

"We're on schedule. Should be in Hong Kong within the hour. The ambassador will be expecting us."

From the back came a distracted answer.

"Uh huh. Thank you."

The pilot sat back with a faint smile, tapping the steering wheel in rhythm to some tune only he could hear. After another check of the instruments, he set the jet to autopilot and rose from his seat.

He made his way down the narrow aisle into the rear cabin.

Bruce Banner was hunched over a long metal table, glasses low on his nose, the whole surface covered in maps, photos, and sheets of data. Red circles and black crosses marked mountain ranges, villages, and roads that looked more like scars than routes. A half-drunk coffee sat forgotten near one elbow, long since gone cold.

The pilot stopped opposite him, eyeing the spread.

"You need anything, Mr. Banner?"

Bruce looked up, blinking once like he had only just remembered another person was on board. He slipped his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"No," he said. "I'm alright. Just... tired."

The pilot sat down across from him, careful not to nudge the maps. He glanced at one of the marked zones, then another, tracing the pattern Bruce had made without fully understanding it.

"What makes you so sure our guy's out here?"

Bruce looked down at the maps again, but it was clear he wasn't really seeing paper anymore. He was seeing trails. Echoes. Damage patterns.

"The readings," he said quietly. "And the witness statements."

He pulled one photograph free from the pile and slid it across the table. A blurred image. Broken trees. A deep gouge through frozen ground. Something huge had passed through there, and whatever it was had not cared what stood in its way.

"Stories from the alpine regions," Bruce continued. "Farmers. Hikers. A few border patrol reports that got buried before anyone could ask too many questions." He tapped the edge of the photo once. "A monster raging through the mountains."

The pilot studied the image and let out a low whistle. "Usually SHIELD doesn't go looking for monsters. They mostly come to us."

Bruce's expression tightened just a fraction.

"This one's different."

The pilot leaned back. "How so?"

Bruce hesitated. That was never a good sign.

"He's never gone this far out," he admitted. "Not on his own. Not this deep. Not this deliberately." His fingers brushed over one of the red circles near the Chinese border. "So either he's looking for something..."

He let the sentence hang.

"Or someone found him," the pilot finished.

Bruce gave the faintest nod.

The cabin fell quiet for a moment, save for the hum of the engines and the occasional creak of the Quinjet adjusting against the wind.

"So we start in Hong Kong," the pilot said eventually.