My Hero Academia: From The Ground Up

Chapter 7: Planning Ahead

As soon as the Uraraka's saw the live news report on the television about an ongoing hostage situation at the local library, Ochaco had disappeared.

She was already running out of the apartment complex and down the road.

Despite the distance, her adrenaline pushed her far in a remarkably quick amount of time. But that didn't stop her from panting hard and slowing down reaching the corner that touched the library entrance. She couldn't get any closer seeing the amount of police cars and officers lining the street in front.

"I have to get Deku out of there." The zero gravity-quirked girl thought.

Ochaco then analyzed the library and went around the sides eyeing each of the windows, vents, and any other various openings she could see. Just as she spotted an old emergency escape ladder leading up to the roof, she heard a familiar booming voice.

"FEAR NOT! I am here now!"

She peeked back around the corner to see, and it definitely was, the hero All Might. He stood proudly with his chest puffed out and his fists on his hips.

"Alright, Nucleon! Time's up in there! Let the people inside go or I'll have to come in myself!" He warned loudly.

Ochaco looked down then hid back out of sight. "Hostage situations are tricky, even for heroes like All Might. Maybe if he challenges the villain, I can grab Deku in the process." She thought to herself out loud.

She didn't wait for that to happen, she was still worried about the current state of her friend inside. And so she ran to the ladder and began to climb it when she quickly felt it creak. Upon closer inspection revealed it was covered in rust and obviously hadn't been used in years, therefore the sudden weight thrown on was started to give in.

She tried to jump back but wasn't fast enough and fell with half of the out-of-commission ladder to the hard ground.

Ochaco gasped as she felt the air in her chest get thrown out. She continued to gasp and cough but fought herself as she rolled over and slowly got to her feet. "I really don't want to do this..."

Once she finally caught her breath again, she pulled her pink gloves off each of her hands and touched her side. Her body grew weightless and before she lifted off the ground completely, she used her legs to lift off with a greater speed up the side of the library.

"OH PLEASE WORK PLEASE WORK PLEASE WORK!" She shouted as she readied herself to release.

Just as she passed the rooftop, she pressed her fingers together and felt herself successfully regain the feeling of gravity. She fell and landed on her feet clumsily on the rough library roof.

Ochaco took a moment to celebrate her first time willingly controlling her quirk then ran to the roof access door. "Oh please be unlocked. Please!" She grabbed the doorknob and it swung open. "YES!" She cheered quietly.

Meanwhile still inside and still hidden, Midoriya sat still hugging his knees in the children's literature section surrounded by slightly shorter shelves but still good enough cover. Yet, he could still hear the villain russling around throughout the library. His groans and book tossing echoed everywhere. The acoustics gave off an eerie feeling, making it hard to discern where he was.

Thankfully, he gave up searching for Midoriya and any of the other few library guests and began his search for a book he was asking about.

"AHA! FOUND IT!" He shouted.

"Last warning, Nucleon! Come out now or I'm going in!" All Might's voice boomed from outside.

Izuku Midoriya sat up and widened his eyes. "What am I doing? Th-that's All Might's voice! I shouldn't be hiding! I should be doing my part to be a future hero and stopping Nucleon!"

He confidently stood up. "Nucleon! Stop what you're doing and listen to All Might before you regret it!"

"OH YEAH?! AND JUST WHAT WILL YOU DO IF I DON'T COMPLY?!" He shouted.

Midoriya remained silent and began to creep down one of the aisles. Just as he came across an opening in the bookshelves, he turned and bumped right into the villain.

"AHH!" He shouted.

Nucleon quickly planted his hand over Izuku's mouth.

"Shhhh." He said putting a finger to his mouth. "You're a fan of All Might, right? I figured you are since every teenage boy is. Well, you're gonna be my ticket outta here. The thing about a hostage situation is, you don't get your way unless you make legitimate threats to the innocent." His mouth curled into a wide, wicked smile.

Izuku saw his eyes. His irises were a fluorescent green, glowing with white pupils. His veins seemed to glow green when they popped out.

"But first. Let's see what kinda quirk you got here." His hand stayed on Midoriya's mouth while his other hand cupped the side of his head.

Midoriya could feel energy draining from his body, his head grew light and he almost passed out until Nucleon let go.

"Bah! Weak! I struck some bad luck with you. Quirkless."

Just when he thought his confidence about that topic couldn't be any more shattered. "No matter. You can still be use to me, kid."

Ochaco stood on an upper level from the stairway overlooking the open, echoing side of the library. She could see the damages and various people hiding in between the untouched shelves. Then she saw the villain holding Izuku by his arm and his mouth. "Oh no..." She whispered to herself.

Quickly, she looked around and crept to a lower level with a few bookcases still higher than the aisles. She then got an idea seeing how they weren't attached to the ground other than miniature wheels locked in place. She began tapping the heavy bookcases when after about two, she felt incredibly sick in her stomach.

Despite the aching feeling in her gut, she had to continue. She lifted the bookcases up and pushed them in the direction above Nucleon. But it felt the longer the bookcases stayed weightless, the more sick she became. "Just hold out a few minutes..." She assured herself.

At that moment, All Might burst through the front doors. "NUCLEON!"