Master Control

Chapter 7


Shoto sat by the counter at home after just finishing one of his at home classes. The old man didn't want him to be potentially distracted by those that might 'drag him down.' In other words Endeavor didn't want Shoto to have friends to hang out with when he could be training. It was stupid, only because it was his father's decision. He never had friends so he personally didn't know what he was missing, but he found the next best thing to one. Shoto ate a bite of his lunch as he pulled up the only thing he entertained himself with nowadays.

"-Doors stuck! Let me out LET ME OUT!" The image of Hawks spazzing out while his character was jammed between the door and the wall. Based on the lighting and the eerie music it must be a horror game this time. She seemed to like those, it got more views too.

It took a little bit of video skimming to find out it was even a she disguised as the heroes, but he did it. At first he thought it was a guy, given the room she played in with all the hero merchandise, the few articles of clothing spotted in the corners, but it became clear this was someone else's room.

The recurring person showed up every now and then, a boy around his own age with green hair and freckles came into view at least five times from the hundreds of hours of video. His voice was only captured sixteen times, and he spoke the streamer's name only twice.

Himiko.

It wasn't a boy's name, but just in case he reexamined the footage of their interactions. It was similar to the relationship Fuyumi and Natsuo had with each other. Casual, a little playful, and not holding anything back. They were family, and one time he said something in a whisper, barely caught by the mic. Shoto had to download a video editing app, learn how to use it, and isolate the sound to figure out what he said.

"If you're my sister, then you transform into a guy, does that turn you into my brother?"

Sister, she's female by default. He didn't know why that was important for him, but he noticed he felt differently about her when he discovered it. Shoto started to get mad when others asked her to transform into Midnight, or genderbend the male heroes and say something to turn them on.

Before he could finish typing anything into the chat they were blocked.

But, he wondered about her face, her real face. In his dreams he would imagine sitting in a chair next to her as she played games, no transformations but she was equally energetic as she spammed buttons on the keyboard.

His phone lit up with a green light, grabbing him from his day dreaming. Hawks/Himiko turned right to the source, briefly surprised by it.

"Izuku what are you-"

"Himiko, please get off the computer."

Whatever she saw made her on edge, and without even saying goodbye to the chat she signed off. Shoto's food hung in the air suspended by his chopsticks as he tried to piece together what had happened, and what was happening somewhere in the world.

His instincts told him to find her, protect her, and help in any way he could.

But he didn't know where she lived, or who she truly was. Worst of all she probably wouldn't know who he was besides a random name on the internet that gave her money. Somehow that thought hurt him, and it was confusing.


Eri kept still, hiding under the bed of the random room she found herself in. When she heard his voice, the arms around her disappeared in a warm green glow. Now she felt no warmth, but there was also no cold, no smells, no noise, everything was still and silent in the mysterious room. She peeked out and glanced up at the smiles of the same big man on the walls, on the little plastic people on shelves, and even on the bed.

After what felt like an hour waiting for something, anything to happen, she felt it ok to come out. Her eyes stayed on the door, expecting it to open or hear footsteps with the smallest movement she made.

Nothing happened.

Pulling her body out from her hiding spot she explored her new surroundings in childlike curiosity. None of the rooms in the tunnels looked like this. The bed looked really nice, she reached and felt the blanket resting on it.

"Soft." She muttered as she rubbed her hand back and forth across it. Her own blanket was scratchy, barely able to keep her warm. Resting on the foot of the bed was something weird. It reminded her of a pillow, but it was shaped like a little man, the same one on everything in the room.

Eri stretched up, going on her tippy toes to try and grab the unusual pillow. Her body pressed into the comfy bed as her tiny hands kept trying to grab it. With a little hop from her feet, she was able to achieve her goal and step away from the bed with her prize. Eri began to touch the bunny ears on his head. He had human ears from what the pictures showed, but hair didn't stick up like this.

They were obviously bunny ears.


"Izuku." Himiko tried to get his eyes on her, to focus on something that wasn't his hyperventilating. She changed back into her real form, so she wasn't wearing a stanger's face. He finally looked up, looking completely distraught.

"What happened?"

He barely talked, just muttered broken words under his breath. "She, there was this girl. I was somewhere away from the school because-but she never really. At lunch a pink girl came and-"

"Izuku." She knelt down and grabbed his hands as he sat on his bed. "Did it involve Tomo?"

He didn't answer, just started to tear up again. "She, she didn't really like me. She never loved me. Someone showed up with her at lunch and..put us on the spot. Both her and Eijiro talked about our relationship and then..why can't I just be allowed to be happy?!"

Himiko stretched her arms and wrapped them several times around him, giving him the best hug she could as he cried. He never, ever let the bullying get to him like this. But this was different, some bitch took her time, dragged it out, and got him to open his heart to them.

Then like the bitch she was took that heart and stabbed it. NO, stabbing was Himiko's thing, and she was never going to be some wicked person like that. Stabbing her sounded really good right now, she should check with Izuku to know where she lives.

The door opened, shit Mom was home and must have heard him.

"Izuku?! What's happ-"

"Some cunt played with Izuku's heart." Himiko summarized to her. Mom ignored her language, but she knew she was going to get talked to later about that. Her focus was rushing to Izuku's side and hugging him.

"I'm so sorry baby." Inko stroked Izuku's hair, pulling him into a side hug. "Is that why you came home?"

Izuku lifted his head out of their arms, more scared than sad. "No, I..I went to some different part of the city first."

Inko continued to pet his hair, gently probing but needing to know. "Was there a specific place?"

"No, just, somewhere random..But then this girl showed up."

Himiko's face twisted in a snarl thinking about the possibility of some other bitch messing with him. Izuku continued before the others could ask.

"She was hurt..and dirty. I think she ran away from a really bad place. Someone was looking for her and I hid her..I think he tried to kill me."

Woah, hold up. That was beyond what either of them expected to come from a break up story. Inko took it worse and immediately checked him for injuries. "Did he hurt you?! Did you call the police? Was there a hero to-"

"Mom, let him explain." Himiko poked Inko's forehead with a small tendril of her muddy self, then retracted it. Izuku took a couple breathes, trying to calm himself down. "His quirk, he tried using it on me but I don't know what it was. He said something about me losing an arm."

Well he must not have been able to do it, seeing as how he had both his arms.

"He was holding the omnitrix at the time, and it went off, throwing him with some concussive force. After that I came straight home."

As their Mom clutched her son with might, squeezing him and thanking every higher power that he was ok, Himiko pondered something. "So, what happened with the girl?"

Removing one of his arms from the hug Izuku held up his watch. "In here."

….He could do that? IS THAT WHERE HE HIDES WHEN THEY PLAYED HIDE AND SEEK THAT LITTLE CHEATER!

"Is she ok in there?" Inko asked, and Izuku nodded. "I think it's the safest place on earth. I sent her into a copy of my room. You don't need to eat in it, or sleep. Should I bring her out now?"

Himiko was about to scream yes, what kind of question is that?! But Inko said something else. "I'm going to talk to the detective and ask him to come over to help. You should take a shower first, you smell a little gross and she should have a good impression on us if we want to help her."

It was odd logic, but it was Mom logic and there was no arguing with it. Izuku nodded before grabbing a pair of clothes and heading to the bathroom. It left Himiko and Inko alone. The blond expected Inko to get up or start the call, but she remained there.

Ah crap Mom wanted to be alone with her. Without Izuku, and without the mysterious girl hidden in the watch.

*SKREEE*

Eri spun around, clutching the soft pillow man against her chest for some kind of safety as that same light appeared next to her. The boy came back, wearing something different.

He had on a white shirt with a black line on his chest leading up to his neck and wrapped around it. It went down his sleeves and wrapped around his arms. He had on dark green pants with big pockets on the sides and wore red slippers. His hair was wet and he rubbed a towl against it.

She stayed frozen, unsure of what he would do now. When Eri first saw him she just wanted to get away from the bad men, from Overhaul, but was this guy better or worse than the others?

He knelt down to be eye level with her and put on a small smile. "Hi, sorry I didn't come earlier. My family had a lot of questions."

Eri stood still as his eyes looked over her, a frown coming on his face. But he did smile when he saw the pillow in her arms.

"I see you found All Might, do you like him?"

Who was All Might, was it the name of the pillow man? She still felt nervous, but nodded. She liked the soft thing she had in her arms. He smiled a little more before sitting down next to his bed.

"My name is Izuku Midoriya. It's good to meet yo- you're bleeding!" He moved to get closer to her, but she backed away at his sudden movements and shivered. Izuku stopped when he saw her reaction, and stayed still but remained worried. His eyes stared a little harder at the bloody footprints in the room. She must have cut her feet when running barefoot so long in the streets.

"You're feet, they're bleeding. We should get you cleaned up."

No! She hated when they cleaned her! But she couldn't say no, that meant more pain. As she waited for him to grab her, take her to wherever he chose, he didn't move. Izuku just gently reached out his hand. "Please? I promise the water in the tub is warm."

"T-tub?" She asked in a whisper. Izuku nodded, but tilted his head in confusion.

"Yeah, do you know what a bathtub is?"

Eri shook her head.

"Then how about showers?"

She shook her head again.

Izuku scratched his scalp trying to solve the puzzle in front of him. "Then how do you get cleaned up?"

"H-hoses."

He leaned in a little further to hear her. "Hm?"

"T-they clean me with hoses. It hurts."

Eri's eyes started to moisten, her clutch on the little man becoming tighter. "W-will you spray me with the hoses?"

She didn't notice the shock in Izuku, or the way he frowned further, but he did gently reach out a single finger. Eri watched it intensely, waiting for it to reach out and bite her. If she moved in a way he didn't like it would turn into a fist, but it didn't. He stroked the back of it against her hand in a slow steady motion. He was soft, just like the things in the room.

"There won't be any hoses, it will just be like a big puddle of warm water."

Eri rose her hand slowly, grabbing the soft finger. It was warm, gentle, probably the only time she rembremed actually liking someone touching her. She nodded slightly, deciding to trust the boy. Izuku smiled again weakly and held up the green thing on his wrist.

"Omnitrix, bring us out."

Both were engulfed by the light, proving to Eri once again that he had a warmth around him. She never wanted to leave him, ever.

He looked up from his notepad, at the little girl with clean bandages in Izuku's arms holding an All Might plushy, and back down to his notes that reviewed over the incident. Detective Tsukauchi let out a sigh. "Seriously, it's like you have a magnet for these things."

"Helping out random children?" Inko asked, sitting next to Izuku. Himiko on the other side of him.

"I was thinking danger but I guess that works too."

There were a couple things left out so far that he needed to know, example just where exactly it happened but Izuku couldn't recall only that it was far. It couldn't have been too far, given the time it takes to get from his school, to wherever he met the girl, and here.

If he ran the entire time it only left him with a minute of interaction with the girl and the unknown villain. "You must have great stamina to run with a kid all the way here."

Izuku looked away from the detective. "S-something like that."

He didn't like vague answers, but his sister piped up. "He runs with Eijiro every morning."

Truth.

Izuku must still be bashful under compliments. "Well, we'll look into Eri and see who her family is. If there really is a villain involved we might need to request the local heroes do more patrols around the neighborhood. Maybe request an underground hero to swing around from their normal routes at night."

The sketch artist beside him handed him a rough sketch of the villain. He had a useful quirk that let him visualise a single thing someone was thinking of when they were focusing hard enough. On it he had a clear image of the man with a strange mask. "So, this is the guy and not some villain you saw on tv?"

He handed the image above the little girl's head, that way she didn't see him in case she would go into a panic attack. Izuku held it briefly. "Yes."

Truth.

Izuku handed the detective back the image. "Thank you Midoriya, did he give any hints about what his quirk does?"

Izuku nodded. "Yes, after I hid Eri he questioned me if I saw her. When I told him no he didn't believe it. He mentioned something about talking after losing an arm and then reached out for me. It might be a destructive or dismembering quirk based off touchandthat'swhyhereachedoutthough-"

Tsukauchi got enough truth and held his hand up. It was clear that the boy was out of it, and he had already asked enough from him. He was hoping to ask Eri some questions but she was way too nervous to talk.

"Well, I think that is about everything I need. I'll call later and see when we see what turns up once we run those bandages through a couple of tests." He put the clipboard under his shoulder, the few officers inside joining him as he went to exit.

Inko got up to escort him out, leaving the kids to themselves at the couch. "Thank you so much for helping us."

The man waved her off. "It's my job, I literally get paid every time something comes up...not that I'm hoping for these things to-"

"I get it." Inko said opening the door for them. She bowed to each officer that was leaving, only the detective remaining as he put his shoes back on. He glanced back to the kids, seeing Himiko trying to get Eri's attention by waving a hand in front of her..

..that was replaced by a little duplicate of Eri.

" ?"

"Hm?"

"Did she, get her quirk back?" He pointed to the anomaly. The woman seemed to freeze, hesitant to answer. Several alarms blared in his head. She had lost her quirk, that was absolutely true. Not even a trace remained. Now here she was, a demonstration of a shapeshifting ability right in front of him.

"W-well, she started to..be able to change any part of her on command..about a year after we took her in."

Truth, but it was vague, and he hated vague answers, especially when it came to those who knew what his quirk was. The Midoriya family were a good bunch though, today proving how they go out of their way to take care of someone who needed it.

A deep fear rose in his stomach. If that man was involved, Tsukauchi wanted him to be as far as possible from this family. He should look into everything around them, just to make sure.

"Ok...well thank you again, but are you sure you want to keep Eri here as we investigate?"

Whatever feeling around her vanished, replaced by that motherly charm. "Of course, she has refused to leave Izuku's side this entire time, even in the bathroom. I'm wondering if I should have him homeschooled like Himiko.."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out, but if you don't mind I'd like to swing by and check up on things every now and then."

She smiled fondly. "We have special meals on Friday nights, you could join us then."

This family was too pure for the world. "I'll let you know if I'm available."

After their farewells, the Midoriya family was left with the mystery girl who watched Himiko do her impromptu puppet show featuring one hand as Izuku, and the other as All Might with Himiko making her little Izuku act like the fanboy he is in exaggerated ways.

"You are so cool All Might! That's why I decide to have every single inch of my room covered in pictures of you! That way I can see your smile and think about how cool you are as I build another shrine to worship you."

Himiko said in a perfect copy of Izuku's voice.

"Himiko, I don't make her think that I treat him as a god."

She pouted at him. "What else am I supposed to think, you think he's the strongest?"

"Of course!"

"And that he could do no wrong?"

"He's All Might, the best hero ever, no one has seen him do anything remotely bad."

"Do you also think he can save everyone?"

"He's never not saved someone when he's there. Every single instance he has shown up has had no recorded injuries with his intervention besides the villain. That's what's so great about him, he saves everyone."

A small whisper in his arms interrupted their sibling bickery. "But, you saved me."

Inko, Himiko, and Izuku all looked at the little girl as she stared at Izuku's face. "You saved me, but you're not the pillow man."

She held up the plushy in her arms.

The mother of the house smiled brightly, rubbing her hand on Izuku's shoulder. Himiko let out a giggle at the little girl's words.

"You mean the All Might plushie?" Izuku asked her.

She nodded. "He's made out of pillows, but how does he save people if he's made out of pillows?"

"...Do you know who All Might is Eri?" He asked, bewildered that someone didn't know the number one hero.

Eri felt embarrassed, feeling she said something weird and retreated further into his arms. "Are you All Might then?"

"Oh my gosh, you're turning into an All Might junior!" Himiko laughed breaking the tension. She was remembering the onesie that he wears in his sleep and referencing what he called himself during their games when they were kids.

Izuku grumbled. "I'm not.."

"You are!" She countered sitting up.

"You saved her." Himiko pointed at Eri.

"You saved me." She pointed at herself.

"You even saved Eijiro from cancer!"

"..who?" Eri asked from Izuku's arms,

"Eijiro, he's...Izuku have you checked your phone?" Himiko asked, looking for her own device.

"No, I...haven't looked at it since school." He said growing a little more reserved recalling what happened earlier.

"You should." Himiko held up her own phone, the notifications filled with messages from the redhead.

Izuku looked at the time, it was just after the final bell. Instead of reading over the multitude of texts he would just call him and talk. Eijiro answered the phone immediately.

"DUDE! Are you ok?! Wait, stupid question, of course you're not. But where are you?! Ashido and I have been checking everywhere since you ran off during lunch. I thought I would give you some time but you didn't come back to class and never answered your phone. We're worried si-"

Izuku had to turn the volume down on his phone to not go deaf. "I'm home with Mom and Himiko. I just, had to get away."

"Bro, we totally get it. Ashido said she never heard of a break up that bad, if you could consider your relationship real."

Izuku's stomach began to twist at the mention of his relationship, he didn't want to think about it and took his mind away from it.

"Who's Ashido?" He asked in monotone, suppressing the tidal wave that would have taken over him again. Eri was here, she needed more help than him, his problems were a speck of sand compared to her's.

"Oh dude she's awesome. Some people gave her crap for helping you out but she wasn't having it. She's actually with me right now listening."

"Hi Midoriya! Super sorry about what happened, but don't worry, I promise to make sure nothing like that happens again. Eijiro might get in big trouble for hitting a girl but I won't!"

"You mind if we come and check up on you?" Eijiro asked a little more gently. Izuku was about to say no, to let him know not to worry. It was his own miniscule problem that he had to deal with, no need to-

"Get your butts over here!" Himiko said, her head stretched over from her body and behind Izuku. How did he not notice her listening in?! She was sitting right in front of him.

"Copy that. We'll be over soon."

He hung up before Izuku could protest. Now Izuku was left with his family, and a little girl. This day was exhausting.


It's been a little while since I updated this story, but I have been writing a lot for "My Iron Giant." We'll probably have two more chapters, maybe three until we get to UA. I'm saving the big fight with Overhaul for later, there's some cool plans involving him and some twists along the way to build up suspension.

Credit for helping me make this story goes to Animeguy1101

Let me know what you think about it and if you want to see more! With the large amount of reviews on the last chapter I'll only be replying to ones that are asking questions or are pitching ideas.

duskrider:

Izuku won't discover the transformation feature for a while, but if Overhaul comes along when he figures it out I guarantee you it will be an asswhooping. It's not the Ben 10 earth in the omnitrix, but there is a copy of it in it.

D3lph0xL0v3r:

Tomo was an OC submitted for me to use. I didn't really want the potential for Izuku to see her again so that eliminated pretty much all characters at UA.

Endeavor would be pissed to discover her videos, and that his son is using his money to support them! It's something I will touch on in the future.

XxGargantuaxX:

Good question, I did Izuku dirty like that because later on his issues and his past will be brought up when something similar happens. It will create some initial divide, but help build lots of trust. As for his omnitrix model it's the one seen in alien force.

Za Warudo:

While it does seem off for him to go through that hardship, I haven't seen anything like it done before. We always see his bullying as physical or verbal abuse, but never toying with his heart like this. Like I've told others, it's to help strengthen his bonds with others in the future further. We won't be seeing much Midoriya abuse now that we've established the types of things in his life, and now can focus on him keeping secrets and trying to discover more of what he can do with the omnitrix.

DocMcDuck:

I'm glad you spotted the red flags! Unfortunately Izuku didn't given his lack of experience.

Guest:

Don't worry, he'll get his chance to face Overhaul again when he has better control. That man is guaranteed to be on a hunt for her and Izuku won't stand for it.

crazybeebee:

I'm sorry, I don't think I understand what you're referring to. What do you mean by "first"?

ShiroaFubuki:

Ah! Now I get it, kinda frustrated I didn't get it now. I don't think I'll involve anything like the omniverse time war, but I will be involving some characters seen in the show to cause some conflict in Izuku's world.

23:

I've changed that part, everything involving Eri has happened earlier in this fic's timeline than canon. I've written it so she's around five right now, and will be aged up by the time we hit the main events of MHA.

Animeguy1101:

It's a real thing, but I like to think of it as a star wars reference as well.

Interesting theory about Ochaco's parents, it would be unique given how close she is with Izuku and his past.

I was originally thinking about not having the option for Izuku to teleport as much as he wishes and simply use it for traveling long distances on semi rare occasions. While I could go back and make my previous statement be fact instead of estimate, I'm too lazy to do that. So, for now the plan will be for Izuku to take up roughly a sixth of the omnitrix's overall battery when he teleports all of a sudden. If he builds up the charge before hand, like how it does so when prepping self destruct, he can use the teleport and have full battery. If he uses it soon after without building up the charge it will start to drain the battery.

Thunderstrike16:

We will be getting a side arc revolving around HImiko's hero impersonation. Glad you caught on to Tokoyami and Dark Shadow's comments. I feel like they'd be the type to watch streams a lot.

Eh, I wasn't planning on Izu/Mina but we'll see how I feel about it over time.

I don't plan on Izuku taking away Eri's quirk unless something BIG happens. Ex. she starts rewinding him or someone else super bad. But yeah, don't plan on it.

Wintas:

It was!

CCSakuraforever:

Thanks! Though I have to ask out of curiosity. Do you translate the story to spanish first? Or are you able to read it as is?

Reishin Amara:

Were you thinking that Overhaul is going to turn into something like Kevin? Man that would drive him CRAZY!

That Guy:

Thanks! When Izuku discovers transformation yeah, he will end up being OP as hell with master control, but not for a while. For now he is going to have to be clever, and never able to punch his way through a problem. While I enjoy most ben ten MHA crossovers yeah, I get tired of seeing the same story told in slightly different ways. I want this to focus less on the main story of MHA, and do something different, something new that hasn't been done before. As far as I know no other story involving Ben 10 has the omnitrix being used like this.