My Hero Academia: From The Ground Up

Chapter 11: Being a Hero

Izuku tiptoed around following Nucleon as he climbed back into the same warehouse, through a broken door.

Nucleon marched back over and sat down next to a sickly skinny man with long messy blonde hair, two big strands dangled in front of his sunken face. His body was covered in chains and burns.

"Have I asked if you like reading?" Nucleon asked.

"Yes, you have when you first started reading that book yourself." He gestured to the same book Nucleon stole from the library he had picked up in his glowing hands.

"Ah yes yes. Well, this is a fine read! It's a Mythology book."

"I can't believe that one of the few villains to ever subdue me is a religious nutcase." The man sighed.

"Shush shush." Nucleon frowned. "You're not exactly in the best position to mock me."

"The Symbol of Peace gained inspiration from a land that celebrates freedom of speech. I think I'll say what I like." He smirked. But his smirk was quickly cut off as he began to cough up blood.

Izuku tiptoed from the door to behind a set of rotting boxes. "Well... I didn't find All Might but I did find that villain holding someone hostage."

"Just you wait until you're able to use your powers again." Nucleon frowned. "Then I can use mine."

"You'll get no where with me. I can only retain my powers for a few hours a day. Then I'm stuck like this the remainder." The chained man sighed. "You obviously need more time than that but you're too late with me."

Nucleon shook his head. "I can hold it. I only need the time you can give me. It should only take about an hour."

"You say that yet you keep losing the energy before you can finish your little Satanic ritual."

"There's nothing Satanic about it. I'm simply opening a doorway for my master." Nucleon stood and raised his hand in emphasis.

"That's what a Satanic cultist would say." The chained man rolled his blue eyes. "What even is so significant about your special god that you would need to open a portal to space for it?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Nucleon smiled.

"Neither did I." He sighed again.

Izuku took a deep breath. "You can do this. Be a hero. All Might....Ochaco.....Kacchan.....aren't here to see it but that doesn't matter. Do the right thing even when no one is watching!"

"I've heard enough!" The green haired boy shouted as he climbed on top of the boxes above the scene.

Nucleon immediately raised his hand to blast him stopped. "The brat from the library...?"

The skinny man in chains lowered his head as if in shame.

"My name is Deku! And I'm here to rescue that man from you!" Izuku proclaimed.

Nucleon chuckled loudly. "Y'know.... Nothing I did to you was personal, kid. If I attacked you or threatened you, I just had a job to do then. Grab a book and get out like there's no tomorrow!"

He took a step toward the boxes. "Don't make me change my mind. Get your little ass down from there and walk away. You saw nothing. You say nothing."

Midoriya looked him in the eyes. Fear built up in his gut but he swallowed and kept his gaze unwavered. "I am a hero. And no matter how weak people say I am, no matter how laughable I look, I will do everything in my power to stop you." His face wiggled as a small smile grew on his lips showing his teeth.

The sickly skinny man in chains looked up at Midoriya and smiled. "That brave brave stupid kid."

Nucleon sighed and nodded at the chained hero's comment. "Sorry bout this, kid." He quickly raised his hand and blasted the boxes.

Izuku instinctively dodged the attack, jumping down from the pile. Unfortunately, he landed too hard and injured his leg.

Nucleon pointed his other hand at Midoriya. "I warned ya, kid. I gave you a chance. But you're just like so many other brats blinded by false gods like these." He gestured to the chained man in the back.

Midoriya forced himself to stand up, if not straight, at least on his feet. He groaned loudly as he did so. "You are weak."

His hand glowed a bright green. The light reflected off Midoriya's watery eyes. Then the light died.

Nucleon looked at his hand puzzled. Then looked up again. "Ah shit."

Izuku clenched his hands into fists and threw himself with his good leg at the villain.

Nucleon glared and reacted, countering his tackle with his own strength. He held the boy like a toddler. But his face was quickly met with Izuku's knuckles. They broke as they pressed deep and hard into the villain's jaw.

He roared in pain as he swung the boy around and let go, launching him into the remainder of the box pile. They smashed under the force of his impact, too old to really harm him more than a good hit.

Midoriya coughed and pulled himself up.

Nucleon marched over to him with anger building up in his eyes. "Any minute now, our friend here is gonna have his strength back. And when he does, I'm gonna use it to rip your atoms apart!"

Izuku looked over to the mentioned hero in chains. "I'm gonna get you out of here, I promise!"

He raised his fists again to fight the villain but quickly noticed a flash by his head.

Nucleon's face turned to surprise as a figure dressed in black slammed into him. An explosion erupted from the figure's hands that sent the villain flying until he hit the other end of the near-empty warehouse.

As Nucleon quickly got himself up and brushed off the attack, he felt something was wrong and quickly looked up to see a set of metal and boxes land on his head and cover his body.

The figure, wearing a black hoodie up to cover their face turned to Midoriya. "You." They hissed.

"Kacchan?!" Izuku asked.

"Don't call me that! DAMMIT!" He yelled.

Ochaco appeared behind and hugged Izuku, making him jump. "IZUKU!"

"O-Ochaco?! Both of you guys?!"

"Don't get any ideas, you moron! We're here because you said you found All Might!" Bakugou frowned, keeping his hood still up.

"I actually came here by myself to look for you." Ochaco admitted. "We ran into each other outside and teamed up to take out that villain."

"Y-you had control of your quirk! Like back at the library!" Izuku smiled. He looked down at her hands and her gloves were gone.

"YOU STUPID BRATS!" Nucleon roared. He burst from the pile of debris and stared down the three.

"Thanks to that explosion quirk, I got a little juice in me again." He smirked. He then rushed the preteens laughing maniacally.