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

Issue 109 - Mina Ashido: Origin Part 2

By the time I reached the next cellblock, I had stopped counting how many inmates I'd put down.

Counting made it feel like a game.

It wasn't.

It was a delay.

Every second wasted down here was another second Chameleon had out there. Another second Mina was stuck in the visiting hall. Another second Peni was lying in a hospital bed with monsters wearing nurse uniforms creeping closer.

So when another inmate came at me with a broken restraint bar, I didn't dodge.

I walked through the swing, let it crack against my shoulder, and punched him through a row of lockers.

The metal caved around him.

He stayed there.

I kept moving.

Ahead, the elevator shaft rose toward the upper levels. The lift itself was supposed to be my way up. Nice. Clean. Convenient.

The universe hated convenient.

A scream of snapping cables echoed from above.

I looked up.

The elevator came down like a dropped coffin.

It smashed into the bottom of the shaft with a thunderous crash, shattering into twisted metal and sparks. Dust blasted out across the corridor, washing over my suit.

I stared at the wreckage.

"Wasn't looking to use that anyway."

A tendril lashed upward, ready to climb.

Then my spider-sense screamed.

I tilted my head.

The bullet cut past my cheek.

A tendril caught it midair.

For one impossible little second, the round sat between black fingers, still spinning, still hot.

Then the tendril snapped it in two.

I turned.

Through the smoke, standing on an upper walkway with a sniper rifle braced against his shoulder, was Frank Castle.

The Punisher.

Of course.

Of course it was him.

"What are the chances?" I called.

He pulled the bolt back.

A fresh round clicked into place.

"Parker."

I spread my arms. "You know, villains always say the same thing when I show up at the worst possible time. 'Not you again.' Never understood it. Always thought it was kind of rude."

My fingers curled.

"But I'm starting to get the bigger picture, Frankie."

His eye narrowed down the scope.

"You just can't read the room."

"I ain't letting you go."

I almost laughed.

Almost.

I had a joke ready too. Something about stalkers. Something about boundaries. Maybe a restraining order with a skull sticker on it.

But then my blood boiled too hot for jokes.

People were being hurt upstairs.

Mina was in danger.