Master Control
Chapter 43
"Sparkplugs!" One Denki dressed in a construction outfit announced to the nine others in similar attire, standing in front of old boats resting along the side of a gentle lake. A table of construction tools and other varying equipment rested to the side. "We've got three hours to build ourselves the best cabin possible to withstand the incoming onslaught of the beautiful sirens! They may have enchanting voices, but that's why we have earmuffs! Our home will be the strongest! Able to withstand any storm hurled its way!"
"YEAH!" The other Denkis cried together.
Mandalay, standing nearby held up an air horn with Pixie-Bob beside her with a timer.
"Ok boys!" The blonde woman yelled out. "It's time to Destroy, Build, Destroy!"
The horn blared, each of the boys rushing to the lake to grab the hold fishing boats. They split off into multiple teams to carry three to four boats at a time. Sometimes they all had to come together to lift the bigger ones out, but once they had all their resources they went wild.
On the other side, was thirty copies of Kyoka in their own construction outfits tearing up an abandoned spring that was no longer flowing. They scavenged as many parts as they could while others were using small pulses of screams along the ground and listened carefully.
"We've got some durable pipes under here." One of the Kyoka's pointed under the path of stones covered in old moss, ten copies of herself ready to begin ripping up the walkway to get to the resource.
Both teams of teens raced to dismantle and salvage as much as they could on opposite ends of the lake, hoping to beat the others and win themselves the prize, which had yet to be announced.
"Where did you get this idea again?" Ragdoll turned towards her partner, Tiger continuing to watch as some of the Kyoka's managed to find a well of water underground to access.
"An old cartoon network."
"What, they had a cartoon about a gameshow?"
"It wasn't animated."
"Then why was it on a cartoon channel?"
"No idea."
A rat of strange proportions sat on a crate in an empty warehouse lighting a rather large cigar while wearing a dirtied suit, other men with noticeable mutation quirks gathered around a table with various needles and dangerous substances in the center. A single ceiling light hung over them with an old prequirk bulb barely hanging onto life.
"So I tells Joey this." The rat squeaked as he drew in a long breath of smoke. "If you wanna cut to the chase fine, but I get to cut the cheese."
"What?" A taller man with short pink fur and cat like features wearing a gold chain tried to understand. "What kind of cheese?"
"What other fakin cheese would he be talkin about?" The black and white striped humanoid skunk spat towards the cat.
"Gentlemen." A tall fox in a well cleaned pin striped suit and matching hat leaned on his golden cane, speaking in a royal british accent. "There will be plenty of cheese and crackers to go around, once our buyer arrives."
"Ah yeah?" The rat puffed some smoke towards the fox's direction. "And what about the doll over there?"
Gesturing with the soft orange glow of his cigar towards the incredibly tall woman reaching around nine feet with some resemblance to a fox but had aquamarine and white fur, blonde hair reaching down to her shoulders, and tied in several ropes with a gag in her mouth.
Her eyes widened when their attention was on her, the woman whimpering as she tried to scoot away.
"Don't go anywhere toots." The striped skunk warned, flashing a gun from inside his jacket.
"She's compensation." The fox explained with a sly smile. "For a customer that failed to pay on time. Don't concern yourself with her."
The bulb above began to flicker, the four men looking up briefly to watch it struggle to brighten. Finally, it cut out, leaving them in the dark.
"Rat, go check the power" Fox turned towards the smelly one who pulled out a small flashlight. "Go check the power Skunk."
"Fine." Rat scooted off his crate. "But next time, Panther goes."
The rat made his way through the dark, his vision struggling to adjust. His foot caught the corner of a metal box, making him curse to himself. "Great, just my luck."
Something let out an eerie squeak, making the rat pull out out a switch blade and quickly look around. "Who's there? I ain't no coward!"
There was nothing, only the wind whistling between the shattered panes in the windows above. Deciding it was his own paranoia, he inhaled his cigar deeply before letting out a long sigh to watch the cloud form in front of him.
What made him pause, was the way it seemed to move around something in front of him, like someone was standing right in front of him.
"What the fu-"
The fox tapped at his cane impatiently, Skunk breaking up another batch of his own supply as he lined up the white powder.
"What's taking those two so long?" He wondered aloud.
"Ay, don't worry about it." Before the Skunk could get his hit, the cane came forward and slapped the table.
"Hold on." The fox brought out a radio, clicking the button as he double checked. "Panther, update."
"No heroes, no cops, we're alone."
"Rat?"
The radio static filled the warehouse as he waited a reply, one that wasn't coming.
"That idiot couldn't tell the difference between wood and marble." The irritated skunk said, trying to set up for his line again.
"Then go help him." Fox commanded, pointing towards the direction the rodent went.
Grunting in distaste, Skunk complied and pulled out a light to go help the stupid furball.
"Panther." Fox said into the radio. "Come back inside. I wouldn't want to let you stray too far."
He waited for the radio silence to end, to here a quick 'yes sir' and see his muscle come back in. There wasn't any, just the static.
"Panther, come in." Fox raised his voice, trying to fill the silence that was growing around him.
Skunk muttered to himself, not having enough pay to deal with all of this. Kicking an empty can of spray paint across the floor, he followed it with his light as it rolled around the corner. He watched as it began to slow down, crawling until it rested against a shoe.
Tracing the shoe up, Skunk growled as he saw Rat just standing in the corner!
"Oi Rat!" Skunk shouted. "Quit jacking it and get back to work!"
Rat didn't move, he hadn't this entire time, he just kept facing the damn corner like he was in time out.
"Rat! Listen to me when I'm talking you, stinking mozzarella cheese stick!"
No reply, not even a twitch, and that always got Rat angry. The lack of a soul in his business partner began to make the Skunk cautious.
"Rat? You get your nose glued to the corner or something?"
The light began to flicker in his hand, Skunk shaking it and smacking it around until it worked correctly. With a steady beam, Skunk returned his attention to Rat.
He was gone, missing from the corner with only his still smoking cigar along the ground. Gone without a sound, without a hint he was even there besides the evidence on the ground. Skunk spun around, trying to see where Rat had somehow scuttled off to.
"Rat! What the hell are you playing at?!"
*SQREAK*
Skunk snapped towards the noise, seeing fresh claw marks cut into the concrete floor.
*CRACK*
He brought his light towards the next noise, his senses on high alert as the hairs along his body began to rise. "What the hell are you doing Rat! Get out here now!"
All he could make out was his own breath being caught in the light he carried, his own fear clouding his senses. It was choking him, literally he couldn't breathe!
He clawed at his neck, trying to fight the invisible force that was wrapping itself around his throat. Skunk felt it, the small hands gripping into him as his whole body began to freeze up.
The cold raw fear sank into his heart, and he couldn't even scream as everything went black.
"Skunk!" Fox yelled into the radio. "Come in! Rat, Panther! Where the hell have you idiots gone off to?!"
His radio was crackling, the static shifting as he listened closer to it. Breathing, someone was breathing on the other side.
"Are you ignoring me?!" Fox swiped his cane across the drugs, the only punishment he could deliver to his men at the moment. "Answer! Where are you?!"
A small whisper began to speak out from in front of him, Fox bringing the radio up to his ear to make out the voice. It was quiet, soft, in no way an adult or even a man.
"I'm here."
Just making out the words, Fox growled into his radio at the voice. "Who is this?! Some kind of child playing games with me?! I will find you and-"
"I see you."
He whipped around, his tail standing on edge as he tried to see where someone else was. The only other body in his site was the woman keeping still and silent. It didn't make him feel any better.
"Where are you?" He asked again in frustration, his eyes trying to locate someone else.
"I see you, I'm right here."
About to cut this game short, Fox reached for the knob along his radio to silence it until his men could return. But then he noticed it, the indicator light for the power….it wasn't on.
"I'm right here, can't you see me?"
His radio wasn't on.
Making slow movements, he turned his eyes towards the only place he could guess where the noise was. The darkest shadow just between two large crates, where none of them could fit between.
"You found me."
A deathly blue glowing eye appeared in the void, staring into him as he reflected on every sin he had committed.
He scrambled away, not caring for anymore deals and just wanting to escape the nightmare he was living. Rushing over to the woman, he grabbed the wrappings around her and began to shake her.
"Wake up you bitch! We're leaving now!"
She was lighter than before, and didn't have any part of her exposed. It was a sack of rags he was grabbing, and it began to stand. Jumping back from the monster, the fox couldn't take his eyes away as it began to unravel itself, turning into a walking horror with the devil's eyes peering from its covered face.
The red and blue lights highlighted the crime scene, an officer escorting the shackled fox who gave no resistance, no words, just frozen in fear.
"Good work." Eraserhead and Reiko stood across from the scene, watching as the kidnapping victim was being checked over by a team of paramedics who used two shock blankets to cover her. "But when there's only one villain left and the hostage is secured, don't play with them."
"Hm." Reiko barely acknowledged his criticism with a hint of annoyance. Then another thought crossed her mind that made her pick herself up. "Do you think Izuku would like how I used my powers?"
"I don't strike him as a horror fan."
"I wasn't being scary."
The fact that she didn't recognize that is what made her terrifying.
A large scale shipping yard filled with cranes and massive containers was hit by an explosion, a winged menace emerging from the chaos as he cackled. The man was in his fifties, with a white fur collar, his feet sharp talons, and his arms replaced with large wings.
Along the ground one hero spotted a critical part of the support starting to give out, just under it a worker has his leg pinned. Fourth Kind rushed in, slamming himself under just as the braces gave out. With two arms he grunted as he strained to keep it up, and the other two to break the worker free of his restraints.
"I got this, catch that bird!" The man called out, a blur of red and blue swinging by him.
"Fools!" The villain yelled out with a bag full of technology under one of his claws. "No one has ever caught The Vulture before!"
*Thwip*
A webline hit the back in his grasp, also coating his ankle as something yanked hard.
"I don't think that belongs to you." Ojiro, standing along one of the arms of a crane crouched with two arms tugging the strand of webbing. His martial arts outfit was slimmed down to allow for greater acrobatics, littered with black trims as his blue arms stuck out of the sleeveless uniform alongside his tail.
He tugged harder, pulling the vulture towards himself. The villain quickly sliced with his other foot along the web, freeing himself as he dived under Ojiro's position. The boy leapt towards the flying man, swinging on a new webline as he slammed into the villain.
"Gah! Get off me!"
But the boy was already throwing a flurry of punches, pummeling his body with four arms as the man was knocked many directions. In a wild and blind swing he sung on of his clawed feet towards Ojiro. The spiderling leapt off, the man plummeting downwards.
Extending his tail out, Ojiro shout out a massive glob of web that unfurled itself between several containers. Vulture landed in the center, wounded and defeated with his mind reeling from the hits.
Ojiro landed amongst the side of one of the large scale equipments, his hands and feet sticking to the smooth surface easily. Holding up his two upper arms, Ojiro was ecstatic about how naturally it came to him and how strong he had become.
"This is something else."
The groaning of metal alerted Ojiro, the boy quickly eyeing everything around and saw one of the cranes that was carrying two shipping containers was starting to tilt over towards the work yard.
It then stopped, the cables loosening as the crates began to float into the air.
"Ojiro!" A floating girl called out, Ojiro leaping a great distance to land on one of the levitating containers.
"Uraraka! I'm happy you're here."
"I think I can get them back into position." Uraraka focused with her hands held out, twisting one of them carefully as the crane shifted to her will. "Could you make sure they stay there?"
"On it!" Leaping between steel boxes and beams, Ojiro began throwing out webbing wherever something wasn't attached.
Fourth Kind could feel the weight on his shoulders literally being lifted off from him, the man backing away to watch two kids do makeshift repairs to some heavy grade equipment like it was a personal jungle gym.
"Amazing, aren't they?" Thirteen came up beside the man, dragging the wrapped up Vulture behind with a strand of webbing.
"What are you feeding those kids?"
"Ask Lunch Rush, but I know they love Recovery Girl's vitamin gummies."
Within the chambers of secrecy, no one could hear you scream. Tomura rewatched that night over and over, flicking between channels as they reran the footage taken. Kurogiri expected outrage from the new nomu being defeated, or how Stain was captured before he could even kill someone.
No, Tomura was calm as he looked over the footage. The only reason the portal user knew was because he wasn't wearing the hand on his face that would normally ground the young man.
Was the boy really that far detached from reality now?
"It could have gone better." Tomura suddenly announced with a shrug, like his plan didn't just fail.
"Perhaps." Kurogiri poured himself a drink, needing something to keep himself from going overboard. "If you accepted a quirk, maybe you could have killed a hero or two."
"That was just a bonus quest." He corrected the man's thinking. "My real goal, was to get people's attention."
"Well you certainly succeeded."
"People saw, and now they're scrambling to find a story to piece together what happened."
Holding up his personal phone, Tomura clicked a button, and set it down. Kurogiri watched as he flipped through the news channels, looking for something that none of them showed yet. After only ten minutes, he had found one that captured his attention.
"Breaking News!"
Tomura stopped, setting down the remote as he stayed hunched over on the edge of the couch.
"Just now a video has been sent to us regarding the attack on Hosu, directly from the League of VIllains!"
Kurogiri stopped before the glass touched his lips, eyeing the screen curiously. An image of Tomura extending his hand towards Stain, the camera zooming in to only show the killer's face.
"No matter what you want to accomplish, it is necessary to have conviction and desire. Those without it and those who are weak will be weeded out. It's only natural. This society overgrown with fake heroes, where the word itself has lost its true meaning, and the criminals who wave their power around idly should all be purged."
"I agree." Tomura's voice replied through the screen, out of view. "This world is too fat on the 'heroes' that are just protecting their own interests."
"Being taken in by the hatred before you and trying to fulfill your own desires. This is the furthest from what a hero should be."
"We could never be seen as heroes, but someone needs to do the dirty work."
"I will reform this world. Hero is a title given only to those who have accomplished great deeds! There are too many who act like heroes, but are really money-worshippers. Until this world realizes its mistake, I will continue to appear."
The camera cut out, showing Tomura sitting lazily on a chair with one leg up on the seat and another arm hanging on the back of it. He wore his villain attire, hands littering his body and his face. "This is our goal, Stain joined my attack on the heroes today to start our mission to reshape the current world. We're not heroes, but we're not terrorists."
Taking off his mask, Tomura exposed his face to the world. "The society we fight against is quick to call us villains because we're exactly what they're worried of, that people can see them for what they really are."
Tomura clicked the power button of the television, Kurogiri stumped at what the one who could barely make it through an online shooter without destroying a controller, to a cold and calculative man who used others to further his own goals while lying to the world.
"Well done." All for One's voice cut through the screen, filling it with static.
"Sensei." The student humbled himself before his master. "I only did what I thought you'd want me to."
"You have learned much after your recent failures, and while I was worried about the loss of our recently acquired assets you invested well. I amassed great control not through collecting quirks and power, but from loyal followers such as yourself. I predict you will have many options in the coming days that will easily make up for what was spent in Hosu."
"Thank you Sensei."
"You have sowed the seeds of the future, and the harvest will be plentiful."
Izuku's leg wouldn't keep still, bouncing in place as he tried to keep his mind occupied. He didn't change, he didn't sleep, and he couldn't bring himself to eat anything. The only real things he had done was tell his mother that Pony was caught in the attack and he was at the hospital.
Right now he didn't want to go into any details, afraid of the guilt that might crush him if he began to explain. Cueball had come by to check up on him, same with Naomasa. Neither pressured him into explaining anything yet, knowing there was something more immediate on his mind.
Doctors wouldn't speak to him, only coming in and out as Izuku saw Pony's parents taking turns watching over her.
All he knew was that she was alive, and that she would stay that way. Any other details were private and only allowed to be shared with family, until they decided to talk to him about them.
He was tired of waiting. Izuku knew he could do so much and they wouldn't let him, he couldn't all because that would throw everything into chaos. He didn't want to bring that kind of attention on her, on any of his friends.
The door began to slide open, Izuku looking up to see not just one parent, but both of Pony's parents. They clearly weren't in the best of moods, but Pony's mother still managed to give him a weak smile of assurance.
"She wants to talk with you."
Holding himself back from leaping out of his seat, Izuku bowed deeply before them, wanting to apologize but barely having enough of a functioning mind to know that would make things worse. "Thank you."
Bracing himself and running through thousands of scenarios through his mind on what he would see, Izuku opened the door to her room and let himself inside. It was very clean, the smells of various chemicals in the air that were supposed to make it cleaner but only clogged the room with a foreign odor. Various shades of light blue and whites covered everything, making the head of blonde hair stand out from it all.
Pony was laying in the bed on her back, her eyes half way shut as they were only half awake to watch Izuku through a hazy dream.
"Hiii." She softly called with a hint of joy, barely enough life in her to greet her friend.
Seeing her in such a drained state, hooked up to machines that were doing their best to refill her body with vital fluids and others to dull the pain, reminded Izuku that mortality was very real and very fragile.
"Pony." He quickly came to her side, sitting in the chair next to her propped up bed and grabbing her arm in his hands. "Are you ok? How can I help you?"
"Don't worry about that." She slowly got out, fighting the urge to fall back asleep. "I'm alive, and I'm happy you're not hurt."
"But you are." He pushed as he was desperate for an answer. "You got hurt because I was careless and-"
"I ran into danger, and I got hurt. That's my fault."
"No! You saw people in trouble and you immediately went to help them!"
"Who do you think I learned that from?"
Izuku lowered his head, knowing fully he was to blame for this. Pony's arm turned over, laying her fingers across Izuku's palm as he clung tightly to them.
"My mom says Japan is getting too dangerous, so she's taking me back to America."
"What?!" Izuku's head snapped up to her, and then he finally noticed her bed. It was too empty for one person.
Pony saw where he was staring, and as she carefully moved her arm not attached to wires and tubes to open the blanket Izuku stood up from the shock, knocking over his chair in the process.
Her leg was gone, the one he healed, now hardly half of her thigh remained. It was wrapped in thick bandages so it was hard to tell where it ended, but it was much higher than Izuku remembered the cut being.
"They didn't know what was going on." Pony began to explain, defending the actions taken when she was unconscious. "They couldn't find the man who helped, or a match in the quirk registry. The doctors couldn't tell what it was doing so they consulted my parents and-"
"They amputated the affected area." What had he done?
Pony's arm drifted from her side, desperately reaching out to him. "Please don't hate my parents."
"No." Izuku quickly took her hand, getting on his knees to be by her side. "It's ok, because I can still fix this. Omnitrix."
*beep*
"Izuku." She tried to get his attention, but he was too absorbed in trying to fix things.
"Save quirk and transfer-"
"Error. Quirk factor is currently being bound to base human through traces of Methanosian."
No, please don't tell him he made it worse than he could fix.
"Izuku." Pony tried again, Izuku scrambling for a solution.
"I can still use clockwork's powers, or I can have Eri come over. If she's busy watching the kids then I can just copy her quirk and-"
Pony's hand brushed against his wet cheek, Izuku finally looking her in the face again as he saw the consequence of his actions.
"Please let me save you." He begged.
"I'm not dead." Pony reminded him. "I'll be ok."
"But your leg, it's going to take months to heal over. Even if we got Recovery Girl to come by your body is constantly spending its own energy trying to heal itself and leaving nothing for her to-"
"I can't risk it." She interrupted, slowly rubbing her thumb over his face.
"What are you risking?"
Even if he was so smart, he could be forgetful at times. Doing her best to smile and not cry, Pony managed to squeak out the answer. "You. There's villains after you, aliens, and if I walk away on two legs the world is going to notice. I can't risk putting you in danger."
Izuku let out a short gasp as he nearly fell into a whirlpool of tears, the boy crushing his urge to fall apart under his sheer will. "I'm stronger now. I've learned how to fight from plumbers who saved the world dozens of times. Even Cueball let me take on a nomu, and I won. I can win this fight. There's no way I'll lose."
That was it, that was all he could get out before his lungs kept shaking his body, but his eyes remained fixed on Pony's.
"Do you remember that time when you fought all those heroes? Hawks, Mirko, Endeavor."
Izuku nodded, sniffling as he nodded his head. "Yeah, and I beat them."
"Not all of them, Gang Orca. I watched as you did your best. Trying to find a way but it was too much for you until you had to sneak off. I found you in that building, really hurt. You could barely move."
Now she was starting to cry, her body barely having enough water to spare for a single tear. "I wanted to protect you, but I didn't know how. Now for once in my life I have a chance to keep you safe after you helped me so many times. So don't you dare waste it."
He gave up, Izuku placing his forehead against her arm as he let out a thousand apologies for what he had done, and a thousand more for what he would do. It wasn't fair, she always knew she would be a hero, she worked hard for it all her life and the only reason he had a shot was because he got lucky.
Before he could deny her request, Pony's hand found just enough strength to make him look at her once more.
"I said something to you that night." She started, her hand trembling as it threatened to fall. "Something you probably don't remember but I want you to know. I love you. So please, don't put someone I love so much in that much danger."
He couldn't, but he would if only for her. "I love you too." He barely got out before pressing himself against her side, crying over his uselessness as she rested her hand in his hair to run through his curls.
The hardest lesson for any hero to learn, is that you can't save everyone, no matter how much you want to.
:)
Happy Lunar New Year ya filthy animals.
More wrap ups and slice of life to come next chapter, along with leading up to more plot points. I don't know how and I don't know why I'm so motivated to burn through this story, but as long as the quality is still good I don't mind. I'm not pushing or forcing myself, I'm just super hyperfocused because I'm starting to see the light at the tunnel. This has happened for a couple of my other stories I finished, when I get close enough to the end that I sprint for the finish line.
Let's see how far I go.
List of Hybrids (In order of splicing):
Eijiro Kirishima & Petrosapien/Diamondhead
Himiko Midoriya & Lenopan/Sludgepuppy
Kyoka Jiro & Sonorosian/Echo Echo
Reiko Yanagi & Ectonurite/Ghostfreak
Shota Aizawa/Eraserhead & Thep Khufan/Snare-oh
Denki Kaminari & Nosedeenian/Buzzshock
Tensei Ida & Citrakayah/Fasttrack
Ochaco Uraraka & Galilean/Gravattack (Alien Generated Quirk)
Yuga Aoyama & Crystalsapien/Chromastone
Mashirao Ojiro & Arachnichimp/Spidermonkey
Any grammar errors please point it out.
Credit for helping me make this story goes to Animeguy1101
SebasDemon: Yes
Witherstorm101: Yes, that's what I stated when I revealed that power a couple of chapters ago.
lidhedmans: Glad people are picking up on those context clues, I'm tired of having to write out things that should be fairly obvious.
Colossus Bridger: Here ya go, more perspectives.
AnimeFan13579: So far, All for One can take Alien generated quirks. I'm sure he's going to have some plans in the near future about those.
Bear295: I never really thought about that, but I guess after looking through some options Ashly Burch would work great.
Guest: As for Back Before Bedtime, I tried writing a chapter recently but I just couldn't get that far into it. Maybe it's because I never planned on anything as far as it is at the moment. Right now Master Control is calling for my attention.
AnimeFan13579: If the experiment is stable, then I would say yes the omnitrix can scan them.
Mashot Tito: The nomu, while more genetically modified instead of made to handle a few more quirks, are derived from animal hosts instead. This was an intentional callback to Dr. Animo.
Harleking31: Unfortunately the omnitrix is unable to obtain an Anodite sample. Otherwise Ben would have gotten one in Alien Force season 1.
Blaze1992: You did indeed see Cobra Bubbles.
Whywouldidothat2230: I'm glad you see just how different Izuku is using his aliens compared to Ben. Even though Izuku has learned basic combat with them, he's much smarter about using the right power set for the right job.
Probably because he's such a NERD
That is a cool design for NRG. I might use it or at least take inspiration from it.
Chronosign: The who in the what now?
Guesting: We will see him again in the future, but he won't appear as often as side characters such as Cueball. I love reading long reviews, it makes it feel like there's a lot of content in my work that's worth talking about!
No fight between Pony and Izuku, but still drama.
Not a sonic reference, just how I imagined a speedster would handle that.
