The Tangled Web We Weave

The life of highschooler Aaron Amamiya, turned vigilante by a twist of fate. An alternate version of the Phantom Thieves Joker (4 years of RP Experience, though not on Tumblr. Still learning how things are done here)

[webbedphantom]

DAREDEVIL

YOU'VE HIT THE WALL

DID YOU THINK YOU COULD GET AWAY?

YOU HAVE US TO REPAY

A Spider-Man AU of Persona 5's Joker

More Info Here | Confidants | Starter Call | Meme Tag | The Rest of the Team: @altered-personas

[webbedphantom]

Spider-Man Brand New Day's New Single

So I'm making a post about this because I found it the other day, but apparently much like Across the Spider-Verse, Sony is having a brand new song made for Brand New Day that'll be exclusive to the Japanese version of the film... or something like that? I honestly can't think of any other reason for these songs to exist, and it's not like I can watch those versions of the film to double check-

ANYWAYS, the song is called Brand New by Mrs. Green Apple

Which is AWESOME because I actually have a song or two of theirs on Aaron's Playlist already, so I was actually really hyped when I found this in my recommended feed.

I'd also highly recommend this edit of the film's trailers with the song to make a sort of anime opening. It's really well done.

Anyways, that's it from me. Back to doing replies!

[nijimx]

She had been thinking about it since he left, and since she'd gotten over what he'd said. Being his backup would ensure he'd potentially receive less injuries and it would be a little nice to get back on Johanna for a little bit. She hadn't actually bought a bike of her own yet and had missed riding on her persona as a result.

When his call came through she frowned a little running the situation in her head. "There's no real reliable way for me to get over there fast enough.. even if I somehow managed to enter the metaverse, wouldn't I end up in a different spot than wherever you'd take him?" She supposed if they somehow found themselves in mementos it would be somewhere she'd be familar with.

[webbedphantom]

... shoot. He did not think about that.

"Right, the train would be a little slow for this... Even if you had access to a motorcycle it'd take like 15 minutes. And Mementos is probably a no go..."

There was that surface layer, the one above the tunnels of Mementos that looked like a carbon copy of the city, except for all the people being missing. That might speed things up a bit as he knew from having a few fights there that the streets were completely empty, but even still who knows what Aleksei would get up to in the meantime.

"Maybe I can just hit him with a spider tracer? That way I can come pick you up and swing us over here. Webswinging is the fastest way to get around."

That would be rather reckless. If he notices the tracer, we could lose him again.

"Well, it's either that or I babysit him for the next... however long the train takes for you to get here, without getting spotted that whole time."

Somehow I doubt you'll last that long... but it might be our best option.

He mentally grumbled at his Persona's remark. Though he did have a point. He usually preferred the more direct approach these days, so his stealth skills had gotten a little rusty. Still, he did have that "invisible in darkness" thing, so that could be enough to make the difference... maybe-

"What do you think, Queen?"

[nijimx]

You think the fact that they were dating would make the simple act of him telling him he loved her something she'd be used to, but it was also something neither of them had actually done yet. Makoto was willing to believe he hadn't even realised he'd said it at all, but he was already gone now.

"I love you too." She mumbled staring at the rapidly shrinking image of him as he swung away.

[webbedphantom]

He... kinda hadn't. At least until he was a few blocks away.

'Wait, did I actually..?'

You did. And I assume you meant it?

'Course I meant it! It'd been on my mind lately and I'd been thinking of telling her eventually but just... man, I was really hoping to be more... romantic about it, and not just... blurt it out at random. GOD I suck.'

For once, I disagree. It was an honest mistake, even if it wasn't very gentlemanly of you.

'... what do you mean "for once??"'

You do have a tendency to get on my nerves.

'... Yeah, okay fair point.'

_______________________

A couple hours went by and patrol went on as normal. He stopped a couple of crimes, got a cat out of a tree, the whole shebang. He thought about calling Makoto a few times to talk about the whole "L Word" thing, but every time he got close to doing it, something else came up.

Towards the end of his usual patrol route, he spotted someone familiar in the Redlight District. He was pudgy, a bit on the shorter side, bald, and spoke with a distinct accent.

Aleksei Sytsevich. The man behind the Rhino.

If he was here, his suit couldn't be too far away. He could get him now, but who knew what automated destruction he'd programmed his suit to do if he didn't get back to it. The guy was a devious little genius.

'Emphasis on little.'

If there was ever a time to get backup, Rhino was IT. The last time the two of them fought didn't end particularly well for him, even if he did technically win that fight, so as he followed Aleksei from the rooftops, he called her.

"Hey-" He whispered, trying his best not to get caught by Rhino's pilot before he was ready. "-you ever make a decision on that backup idea?"

"Cuz I'm about to possibly need a hand here in Shinjuku. Just tracked down Rhino."

[caramialunaestelle]

"Don't say that," Makoto replied, reaching over to gently brush the hair out of his face. "I know you care about your reputation. You wouldn't work so hard to be a hero if you didn't."

Makoto leaned back against the pillows, wincing in pain slightly. She would have taken him up on the offer for a healing spell, but she knew the doctor would freak out if all of a sudden her broken bones were magically unbroken. Aaron would be exhausted trying to heal her, too, and she wasn't about to let him pass out over a broken bone or two.

"I'd say yes, but I don't want to cause suspicion. It'd be a little strange if the doctor stopped by and I told him nothing hurt anymore," she said with a small chuckle. "I think I can handle a little pain."

"How are you? I know you're upset, but don't be. I'm fine, I promise."

[webbedphantom]

"That's different."

He didn't do the whole hero thing to be liked, he did it because it was the right thing to do... and because the guilt would eat him alive if he didn't.

Even still, she was right. He did care about his reputation. He wouldn't get so bummed out every time the news slandered him if he didn't, but that was also part of why he didn't think it'd matter if he killed the guy. The news has already accused him of similar acts, what would it matter if this once it was true. Though he was trying not to think about it.

Because she was right about something else too. This would be needless and rash, and it'd be done entirely out of revenge. That wasn't him, and he shouldn't let it become him.

... so why did he keep thinking about it?

"It's more than a little pain, that dirtbag broke your shoulder." He retorted, clenching his fist at his side again. What made it worse is he knew how badly that hurt, having broken most of his bones at least once by this point due to his hero schtick, some of those times even being too tired to heal it until morning, forcing him to find a way to sleep through it. He vividly remembered each of those moments, how each injury felt and all the ways it made life harder for the night.

She couldn't get checked out of here soon enough. The more he thought about the pain, the more he wanted to heal her.

Her question did give him pause. He wasn't quite sure how to answer it.

"I'm... fine." He lied, though he only let it hang for a moment before giving her the truth.

"... I'm feeling guilty, and scared... and angry... at myself and the guy who did this to you. I should've been there to stop this but I was too busy playing hero to be there for the one person I care about most. And I'm scared because... because what if something worse happened? What if something worse happens the next time I'm not there?? I can't- I can't lose you, Makoto."

[nijimx]

"That's not a terrible idea." She hums, a hand coming to rest on her chin for a moment as she takes a moment to mull that idea over in her head. Making any sort of fight a two-versus-one definitely tipped the odds in his favour, and it wasn't like getting herself re-involved with the metaverse was a difficult thing to do. The number of times they'd found themselves back in it lent it enough credence on its own.

Plus, there was a small part of Makoto that did want to get back into action from time to time. As much as she liked to be the responsible and rational member of the group, she did like to blow off steam, and what better way to do it than beating some criminals up?

"I'll consider it."

[webbedphantom]

Oh boy. If he wasn't wearing the mask, the way his face lit up would've been priceless.

"Yes!!! I promise you won't regret it! We're going to kick some major ass together!! I just know it!!"

He was clearly more than a little excited, but he also had a patrol to get to. (There was a reason he was in costume after all) So he rolled up his mask, gave her a quick peck on the cheek, and headed for the window.

"I gotta get going, but if I run into anything major, you'll be the first to know! Love you!!"

With that, he opened the window and leaped out of it, firing a webline to carry him off into the city.

[myuzucompendium]

Yep, Kasumi had changed into her iconic phantom thieves outfit, and any nausea that she had left was gone at this point. She could feel the energy flowing through her. Though as she was feeling that, suddenly she was a bit concerned and confused. She could only transform into her phantom thieves outfit in the metaverse and she decidedly wasn't in the metaverse.

Yes, the metaverse of this world was leaking out but that surely wasn't enough to cause her to change, right?

Okay, don't think about it too hard Kasumi. The fact of the matter was that she was in her phantom thieves outfit now, and this world seemed to be used to costumed people so whilst there was some looks, it wasn't like the looks that she would get if she was in her world and somehow showed off as a phantom thief.

That would be tantamount to suicide. The government didn't exactly want them around after all. And were talking about the charges that could be applied to the thieves. Though what she didn't know yet was it was about to get very much worse in that regard, but that was for future Kasumi to figure out the hard way.

Take a deep breath Kasumi.

Everything was going to be fine.

Now that she was feeling at full strength, she put her hand up to her mask and effortlessly pulled her mask and summoned Anastasie. It had been quite a while since she used her main persona, but in this situation it was probably for the best to do that. "Well, when I'm in my phantom thieves form I go by Rose. Code name so we don't get identified."

With a lot more ability, agility and strength, and having some of her repertoire, she used her grappling hook to propel herself upwards getting closer to the rift. But was blocked by shadows trying to attack her. She used her gymnastics skills to beautifully dodge and then Anastasie used some of her skills, including bless attacks to take down some enemies.

As she was going through, she shifted between personas. That was the ability of the wildcard after all. She was indeed the wild card.

And she was going to get home.

[webbedphantom]

"Okay then Rose, here's the plan! We'll- wait, where's she going?"

She's heading for the rift-

"Yeah, I see that Arséne... But I guess she is the leader of her team. Makes sense she wouldn't wait for orders."

He sighed softly, before turning to Sumire.

"Okay, new-ish plan. Silk, you head up top to see if she needs backup. I'll meet you up there after I take care of the stragglers."

After all, there were already shadows on the ground, and it's not like they were going to disappear once the rift closed.

"Oh, and try to take some of them out on the way up there. You remember that trick I taught you?"

Silk nodded.

"Good! Then I'll see you at the top!"

The two rushed off towards the crowd of shadows, leaping into the air as they prepared their attacks. Sumire went for the ones on the left, firing a webline at the closest one, yanking hard to pull herself towards it and slamming it to the ground, before bouncing off and leaping to the next to repeat the cycle.

"Perfect! Excellent webstriking!!"

Meanwhile Aaron fired a webline not at the shadows, but the nearest building, swinging low to the ground towards the right of the group to knock them away like bowling pins, some even flying high into the air. Which Sumire would take advantage of.

She formed a massive hand out of webbing, bouncing up towards one of the airborne shadows to grab it, whipped it around as the hand stretched away from her body like it was attached to an arm made of rubber, and threw it down towards the group of Shadows attacking Kasumi. Then she formed herself a little wingsuit, and glided down to the rooftop before landing gracefully beside her sister.

Back on the ground, the Spider had his hands full with a bigger shadow, a Hecatoncheires that was lashing out with its many massive arms, charging right for a crowded cafe.

"Oh no you don't!!"

He summoned his Persona to the beast's front to slow it down, while he jumped on its back and fired as many webs as possible to its arms to try to keep them from thrashing before yanking hard to the left as Arséne strikes it the same way, barely managing to redirect the shadow before impact.

The creature thrashed and flailed, trying desperately to free its many arms from the crimson strands holding them back. One by one the webs began to snap, meaning Aaron had to act fast before the beast went back on its rampage.

'Arséne, return to sender!!' He thought to his Persona, pulling two ice cards from his belt and chucking them in front of the shadow as far as he could.

On it!!

The Persona dashed away from the creature, managing to snag the cards midair with a webline, before swinging them around and launching them back towards the shadow, with the Spider leaping clear as the cards connected, freezing the beast solid.

"Phew... that went better than expected."

Using Ice cards was always a risk given his weakness to the element. But it paid off here.

"Alright, that's enough dawdling. Let's get up to the roof and finish this!"

Arséne nodded, fading away as he returned to his host, before the Spider leaped into the air to join the girls at the rift.

[nijimx]

He's really not helping himself much here. Makoto understands there's going to be some damage here and there when he does the sort of things that he does, but it doesn't make it any easier on her.

"I'm not particularly fond of patching you up after these fights, you know? At the very least, just try to be a little more careful out there." Makoto knows the people he goes up against aren't exactly going to play nice or pull punches because their nemesis's girlfriend asked them to; it would be nice to not watch the news and see him getting hit with a car or into the side of a building at speeds that should shatter almost all of his bones instantly.

[webbedphantom]

Oh. She was worried about- and not the-

That makes way more sense.

"I- I know... And I don't like asking you to..."

He'd really prefer not to worry her at all, but that simply wasn't in the cards. Not when every battle he has makes it onto the news, and when he can't afford to heal every bruise he gets without passing out from exhaustion.

"I do try to be careful. I just... I get a little cocky sometimes."

Sometimes?

'Shut up, man! I'm trying my best!'

It was good his superpowers not only came with a healing spell, but also with the endurance needed to take some of the beatings his enemies could dish out. Especially the real heavy hitters...

"Y'know... we could do what we did for that Lizard guy? Bring 'em into the Metaverse so you could help me out? I'm a lot more careful with someone watching my back."

This was true. Though it mainly came from him not wanting his recklessness to get his teammates hurt. He didn't care if he got hurt, but if they did, if she did... he'd do just about anything to make sure that didn't happen.

"I know you couldn't be there for every fight, and I wouldn't want you to be. But some extra help for the bigger fights... would be rather nice."

As much as he didn't want to put her in danger, he did kinda miss fighting alongside her in the Metaverse. Especially given how badass she could be in there, and how well they always seemed to work together. Sure, he worked well with the entire team, it was why he was the leader after all, but there was something about her that lit a fire in him in the heat of battle. Like as long as they were together, there was nothing they couldn't beat.

It was certainly better than fighting on his own like he does now.

[webbedphantom]

@nijimx continued from here

"I uh... I wouldn't say... every time-"

You've meant it literally at least once.

"T-that was a condemned building! I did the city a favor!"

You also said it during the Skytree incident with the Beetle.

"That was a coincidence!"

And the last time you fought Rhino... and Shido... and that time you threw a car at that Vampire Dragon.

"... okay, so maybe there is a correlation here-"

"But! This time I promise things will be different! There'll be no needless destruction on my watch!"

... aren't we literally planning to fight the Rhino again since he just broke out of prison and stole his suit back?

"... starting tomorrow. There'll be no needless destruction starting tomorrow."

[roninsae]

Aaron will confess - that he's dating her sister-

@webbedphantom

"We KNOW. You and her are not exactly subtle."

Though, their spat sarcasm is laced with respect. And, perhaps, just a little affection. Though she will deny it to the public.

"Still. I'm...glad. She has someone who can keep up with her."

[webbedphantom]

"... saw right through us, huh?"

He supposed that was only reasonable. He was terrible at hiding things like this, to the point his entire team figured out his crush on Makoto before he'd even told her.

... excluding Makoto, of course. They were about as clueless as each other when it came to seeing the feeling was mutual.

"I... didn't expect that, honestly. B-but it's good to know you approve."

"With that out of the way, I've been meaning to ask... we should probably... get to know each other better right? I mean, there was that whole interrogation and everything, so you know plenty about me. But I know so little about you... or that suit of yours."

He didn't... entirely approve of the symbiote. Any of them if he was honest, something about the whole thing rubbed him the wrong way. But... if Makoto trusted hers, as well as Sae's, then he'd... make the effort to try to trust them too.

"So, whatddyasay? Wanna... have a little chat?"

[caramialunaestelle]

Oh. Oh dear.

She didn't realize he and Makoto had broken up. Perhaps it had been a bit too long since she last patrolled. It seemed like she had missed out on quite a few major events in his life.

"Oh... I'm s-so sorry," she replied sympathetically. "I d-didn't know. I shouldn't have b-brought it up..."

There was an awkward pause for a moment. More people started to file into the lecture hall, taking their seats around them. Class would be starting soon, and Mikan felt awful for reminding Aaron about his heartbreak. She had to do something to fix it. She owed it to him.

"Well, I h-have no plans after this class. M-Maybe we could get a coffee and talk?" She suggested, giving him a small smile. "Or y-you could put cig--"

She cut herself off and shook her head. Old habits die hard, and she had almost suggested he hurt her to earn his forgiveness. But she wasn't like that anymore. She'd grown from that.

"S-Sorry... Habit..."

The professor arrived, and the drone of voices fell silent. Class had officially begun, and Mikan focused on the lesson. Though she nervously fidgeted the entire lecture, she desperately wanted to talk to Aaron more.

Maybe - if he wasn't having fun being a hero all on his own - she could take up the mantle of Mourning Dove once more? Not all the time, of course, but when she had some free time between classes, papers, work and social meetups.

She didn't have any plans tonight...

[webbedphantom]

He raised a hand to try to stop her, but it was too little too late. "It's okay." He replied. "Like you said, you didn't know. So I can hardly blame you for it."

It was admittedly a bit unpleasant to be reminded of his breakup, but he had... well, he hadn't entirely moved on (he was still terrified of getting into a relationship with someone else after how things ended with Makoto), but he had at least accepted it. He knew he screwed up and that if he were to ever get with someone else, he'd need to be better... the key word there being if.

He smiled a bit from her offer, though it did falter a bit as she briefly fell into her old ways. It really showed how much she'd grown, and he was proud of her for it.

"Coffee would be nice." He said. "Been a while since I've had a nice break outside of classes. Just don't blame me if it gets cut short by... outside factors."

As class began, he paid as close attention as possible, as he never knew what random factoid the teacher would drop could potentially be the key to his research. Still, his mind couldn't help but wander on occasion.

Mikan had changed so much since they last spoke... yet he had been stuck in the same rut for almost a year now. Why couldn't he get over this? Why couldn't he just stop with the hero act and focus on his own life like everyone else had? It had already ruined one relationship, and if he kept it up, it'd likely ruin more. Sure being Phantom Spider was fun for a time, but now it was just... work.

Did the city even need him anymore? Surely he could afford to take some time off... if the guilt didn't kill him first. Why did he have to feel responsible for everything?

He did his best to push those thoughts aside and focus on taking notes until class was over. Once it was, he turned to face Mikan with a smile.

"Now, about that coffee? You got a place in mind?"

[tvstarkuma]

"....!"

"....Does that mean I lost the ticket I prepaid for...?"

[webbedphantom]

"I uh... um... p-probably, yes-"

"But... they might give you a refund?"

He was... not prepared for that question to say the least. Not like he worked at the Skytree to know for sure what they were planning on doing.

"L-Look I'm not... really the person to ask about this. I'm just... your friendly neighborhood superhero... y'know?"

[webbedphantom]

"Okay, you're probably going to hear some stories, so I'm just going to come out and say it-"

"Yes, the Tokyo Skytree has been a tad... blown up. But! It's not my fault, despite what the news... and the police commissioner, are saying!!"

[webbedphantom]

Welp, I have now seen... the ending of Morbius.

Somehow despite only coming in at the ending, I was just as confused as the two other people in call who'd never seen it before that had been there the whole time. And really, I think that sums up the movie better than anything else.

That or "It's Morbin' Time"

[chibitantei]

One of the monsters had been absorbed by the other, which would have relieved Naoto, if not for the fact that it increased in size. She clicked her tongue, fired again, and encountered the same results as last time. It rocked the train car while others tried to climb, both front and the back. Her heart dug against her rib cage as she juggled maintaining balance and keeping a steady aim.

One shot, then another, only one bullet was left in the cylinder.

She thought about jumping down and bolting for the next rusted train but the gap was too large without a running start and by the time she quickly turned around, one of the monsters had managed to crawl its way up.

She swallowed and aimed, prepared to fire her final bullet, but just then, Naoto thought she heard something zip by. She looked up and saw nothing, but heard a voice commanding a-

Another monster, for lack of a better word, swooped down, but this one was... benevolent—for the time being, she quickly decided.

Instinct told her to switch gears towards the front, so Naoto did and saw a costumed figure reaching towards her. She took a deep breath and ran towards him and his outstretched hand and grabbed it tightly. Her other hand quickly clamped down on her hat while still holding on to her revolver. It was clipped to her belt via its lanyard but Naoto was in no mood to test fate and let go of it just yet.

As she hung there, she was positive there was something she could have said, such as a thank you and other things, but she was too busy catching her breath and internalizing what could have been a fact if the costumed figure hadn’t arrived in time.

That and having a revolver pressed against her head wasn’t doing her many favors.

[webbedphantom]

"YES!!!"

He held tight to her hand, pulling her up closer to his chest to avoid any of the shadows from grabbing at her ankles as they swung high into the air.

"We're not out of the woods yet!!" Arséne shouted as he continued slashing through the hoards, trying to keep all their attention on him. "You've still got to get her out of here!!"

"I know that, genius!!" He retorted, flipping around midair to get a more secure hold on her, wrapping an arm around her to hold her to his chest, before firing another webline towards swing them around back towards where he came from, albeit at a much higher altitude.

He quickly noted her silence, assuming she must be in shock from everything going on, which was not uncommon among those unfortunate enough to get stuck down here. So he did his best to try and calm her down.

"Hey, look at me. Everything's going to be alright. They can't get us up here."

Unfortunately, for both of them, he wasn't entirely right about that. For among the pack of shadows arriving to the scene were quite a few capable of flight. Namely... a flock of Anzu and Andras taking to the skies after them.

"Spider! Behind you!!"

"OH SHOCKING HELL!!"

He yanked hard on his line, narrowly avoiding a gust of razor-like wind before firing another to continue swinging as fast as he could.

"This is fine! This is fine! I've got this!!" He continued, trying and failing not to sound panicked. "Arséne! Slow them down!!"

His Persona leaped after them, firing webs of his own to try to get ahead of the swarm of shadows flying after them. He managed to swing up into the crowd, snaring about half of them with a massive web before disappearing.

That's all we have in us for now. If I stayed out any longer, you'd not have the stamina to swing us all out of here.

'You did great, partner! Now I've just gotta slow down the rest.'

He did have something that could help with this, but his hands were a bit preoccupied at the moment. If only-

"Hey lady... I know you're probably scared out of your mind right now, but I need a favor."

"You see those colorful pockets on my belt? I need you to grab all the metal cards out of the red pocket and throw it at the birdmen chasing us. You don't have to throw 'em far, just in their general direction. Can you do that?"

[caramialunaestelle]

"I never understood why men think swimwear is attractive. It's nice to get some sun, though."

[webbedphantom]

... yeah, he's not going to answer that. That'd probably be awkward-

"It sure is... I just wish it wasn't so hot out. I've been cooler in literal furnaces."

Why do villains keep setting up their bases in old steel mills anyway? If he had a yen for every time that happened he'd have at least... three. Which isn't a lot, but... y'know-

"Might be time to hit the water. You wanna join in?"

[webbedphantom]

As I hinted at a while ago, I've been replaying P3Reload on PC hoping to actually beat it this time before Revival comes out.

And doing so has given me serious muse for my P3 Verse, where Aaron is time displaced back to their time to stop another time traveler from killing the P3 Protag... unfortunately the trip gave him a bit of amnesia, so he doesn't quite remember why he's been sent back (for reasons that will be explained at some point)

So like... any P3 muses you guys wanna throw my way? I'd love to get to flesh this verse out some more.