Hey everyone! Back with a brand new chapter of The Nexus Hero! I am a little uncertain of this one, but I hop you all enjoy it as the individual scenes were really fun to write!

Anyways, standard disclaimer applies, and I hope you all like what you read!

Chapter 4

The All American Dream Plan was far from difficult. It wasn't hard, it wasn't painful. It wasn't the worst thing to ever happen to Izuku's body. It didn't leave him tired and sore every day, it didn't push him to every possible limit. Or at least, that was what the green haired boy thought every day as he fell asleep. He had to, or the crushing weight of the program would wreck him.

Almost every day he was up early, running to Dagobah Beach. He would work out there, dragging equipment and clearing trash. On his rest days he would stick to the little trash, things that could just be put in garbage bags. After that he was off to school, keeping up with the excessive amount of homework he was given by unsympathetic teachers. They didn't know what he was doing, and as the Izuku strained to stay awake in class he found himself glad that they didn't. Even Kacchan was leaving him alone for the most part. In fact, besides a loud confrontation where he declared he hadn't needed Izuku's help that day, he hadn't spoken to him at all. Not that Izuku would have time to talk even if Bakugo had tried. Right after school he was running for either his personal quirk training or an afternoon with All Might at the beach. It was exhausting work, but every day Izuku could feel it getting easier and easier. His muscles grew more defined, his strength increased, and he was much quicker. While he would never be "ripped", he could definitely appreciate the lean look he now had.

Overall the training was passing quickly, with only one major snag. Two months into the program, Izuku had woken one morning with no energy. He had been fitting more and more workouts into the times he had off, which in turn left his body no time to rest between workouts.

"Seriously kid?" All Might had said one day with a raised brow as he watched Izuku struggle to push a simple tire down the beach. "You can't push yourself past what's healthy."

Beyond that Izuku found himself improving drastically. It was an excruciating process some days, but it was all worth it to Izuku.

This was his origin story.

All Might was impressed, that much was sure. He hadn't realized it at the time, but choosing Midoriya was one of his most insightful choices yet! The young man was truly a thing to behold. Izuku trained without complaint, with a passion that even he hadn't had as a kid. All Might supressed a shiver as he opened the door of his car. The chilly morning air was nice, but he was hardly dressed for it today. He hadn't been to the beach as of late, trying to give Midoriya some variability in his training grounds. He was hoping to catch the boy this morning, as Izuku often came here around this time.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH" A yell broke through the serene quiet of the morning. All Might slammed the door and began running, reaching for the power of One for All as he did. That yell was obviously Midoriya, and if-

All thoughts of fighting sped from his mind as he took in the sight before him as he rounded the last corner. There, standing on a pile of trash, was none other than his successor to be. Midoriya was indeed screaming, oddly enough missing his shirt, but his yells were obviously that of victory as he yelled to the heavens with that green energy sparking off him as he did. He was covered in sweat and grime, but never had the hero seen the boy in a more positive light. He watched as Izuku relaxed before leaning forward and falling, flickering in midair and reappearing softly on the sand not far from the tower one which he had once stood. Chuckling, All Might approached.

"Well kid, call me impressed. You did it… more than I even expected," he noted, looking in either direction he could see no hint of trash along the entire beach. It was beautiful, restored to the state it had once been. "And it only took you 8 and a half months!" Izuku smiled tiredly as he stood up. It was a Saturday, so he was in no rush.

"T-thanks All Might." He said, rubbing the back of his head. He turned his head and smiled as he turned and looked at the job he had done. All Might chuckled and ruffled his hair. They had gotten fairly close these past few months, they were at the point where Izuku would only sometimes stutter when talking to the pro. Toshinori took a deep breath before letting the power of his quirk flow through him. With his now stronger body it was simple to turn the younger boy towards him.

"YOUNG MIDORIYA, I AM UNBELIEVABLY IMPRESSED WITH YOUR WORK. PLEASE TAKE A LOOK AT YOURSELF NOW. YOU STARTED THIS JOURNEY AS A CHILD, TRYING TO FILL SHOES LARGER THAN YOUR OWN. BUT NOW? NOW YOU ARE A YOUNG MAN, IZUKU, A HERO IN TRAINING. I KNEW I HAD CHOSEN RIGHT ALL THOSE MONTHS AGO, AND YOU HAVE ONCE AGAIN REASSURED ME THAT I WAS NOT MISTAKEN. YOU, IZUKU MIDORIYA, ARE READY."

"Wait… do you mean?" Izuku stared wide eyed at his mentor, a smile beginning to break out. All Might nodded.

"YES I DO. YOU ARE READY FOR MY POWER. MY QUIRK. ONE FOR ALL. YOU WILL BE THE NEXT PILLAR OF JUSTICE, THE SYMBOL OF PEACE. TAKE THE WEEK OFF OKAY? I WILL SET UP A SAFE PLACE TO PRACTICE AND ON NEXT SATURDAY WE WILL TRANSFER THE POWER, OKAY?"

Izuku nodded vigorously, and All Might caught what sounded like a thank you in the stuttered mess that left his lips. With a sigh he deflated into his true form and put his hand on the curly haired stutterer to shut him up.

"All right kid, just take it easy okay? I'll text you about Saturday, alright?"

"Okay!" Izuku said, excitement more than obvious in his tone. All Might couldn't help the grin that was spreading to his own face and shook his head, going back to his car. As he walked away he heard the sounds of celebration from behind him, and from the corner of his eye he could see the tell-tale green sparks that signified the use of the boy's quirk. He quickly made his way out of the chilly air, and it wasn't until he was driving away that he a frown finally found its way onto his face.

Guess I've got to find a place for training him in One for All now…

Izuku sat in class, practically bouncing as the clock ticked away slowly. He could see multiple people glaring at him in annoyance, but he couldn't really bring himself to care. It was Thursday, only two days until he would see All Might again. Two days until he would receive a gift more wondrous than he had ever hoped. But before he could do that…

"Alright class, I hope you have all been paying attention. Tomorrow is the last day you have to hand in the Quirk of the Past assignment. Hopefully all you have left is to write your conclusions, so you should be able to finish it in time. As of now only Midoriya has handed it in, so the rest of you better hurry up."

Izuku glanced at the clock. He had finished that assignment a week ago. Aaaaand from the look of the students he could tell none of them appreciated that fact.

"Stupid Midoriya."

"What the hell, how did HE of all people finish."

"Does his family even have a history of quirks?"

"I bet he just lied about everything."

Sighing, Izuku stared forwards. This was common. The other students really didn't enjoy his success, no matter what he was succeeding at. And being singled out by the teacher usually meant one thing in particular.

RIIIIIIING!

"Oof!" Izuku gasped as the breath was forced out of his lungs forcefully, his back hitting a wall as he slid to the ground. Yup, just what he thought. He had been forced to talk to the teacher about his assignment right after class, which meant that by the time he had left the school the other students had been quite prepared for him. They had grabbed him before he could get away and here they were, behind the school taking turns wailing away at him. He didn't have training or anything, but he had been asked by his mom to go pick up some groceries.

"Take this you useless idiot!" Came the cry from somewhere, right before a foot impacted his shin. It was moments like these that made him regret not just coming out in the open with his quirk. This didn't happen very often anymore, but once every couple of months the other students got frustrated.

"This moron can't even fight back!"

"What a loser!"

Izuku closed his fist as a spark of green originated in his palm. He wasn't that loser anymore, he wasn't useless. He had faced a villain, he had seen what it was to be strong. In fact, he noticed that he barely felt most of the punches and kicks. He knew that he was stronger now, and that with the exception of Bakugo he was probably the strongest kid at the school. He had trained mercilessly these months (and yet Bakugo's natural ability to fight was just too much) and he was tired of still being treated like this.

"B-b-back off." He said quietly. The group stopped for a moment as he spoke, surprisingly hearing him despite the volume at which he spoke. The two that were leading it looked down at him as he got to his feet. Mustering all his courage he began walking, his steps taking him past the ones that had initially pushed him against the wall.

"What did you say nerd?" They seemed shocked at his response, the usually bitterness in their voices kept at a minimum. Izuku took a deep breath and continued walking. He just had to get out of sight, and then he would be long gone.

"I'm… I'm going. I have somewhere I need to go. I won't be your p-p-punching bag anymore. I'm b-better than that." When asked later, Izuku would admit that he probably shouldn't have said that last part. He had almost made it, he had a few more steps until he was out of sight, when the last word left his lips. And yet, due to the outraged shout that came from the kids behind him, he knew that his plan to use his quirk to escape was finished. Before they could catch him again he bolted, his new physique allowing him to actually stay ahead of even the more athletic bullies.

Thank goodness Kacchan isn't here right now. Izuku sprinted towards one of the more dense residential zones, intent on losing this pursuers in the winding streets and back alleys. He didn't pay much attention to the time, but he would guess that it took well over a half an hour to shake the most dedicated bullies. By the time the chase ended he sat down panting on the ground near the entrance to an alley. Somehow he had managed to make his way into the market district. He let himself catch his breath, pulling a water bottle from his bag and downing in. a few minutes later he felt his strength return to him.

"Well," he said to himself as he stood up, glancing around to double check that the bullies were gone, "I guess now is as good a time as anytime else to go get those groceries."

Shrugging his backpack onto his shoulder he turned towards the first shop.

"Oof" the breath was let loose as he fell backwards, his hand rubbing his head where it had collided with something. Or someone.

"Ow…" A voice echoed his pain. His eyes widened. He looked up. On the ground not a foot away from him was a girl about his age, her chocolate brown eyes looking upwards as she pushed aside her equally brown hair, her forehead red where it had collided with his own. Izuku's breath hitched.

O-o-of course. I r-ran into a-a-a girl. A v-v-v-very p-pretty girl.

His face lit up red as he felt the blush on his cheeks, a condition that was only worsened as she turned to look at him with a rueful smile.

"Oh, hey! Jeez, sorry about that! I can be a little clumsy sometimes! Are you okay?" her voice filled his ears, and he could swear his heart stopped.

"O-o-h yeah! I'm f-f-fine, haha!" He said, jumping to his feet and awkwardly standing there. Panic filled him for a moment before he quickly stuck his hand out to help her up. It was only fair, as he had been the one to knock her down. Still, as she grasped his hand he couldn't help but blush and look away. This was more positive contact with another person (besides All Might and his mother) than he'd had in years! With a slight pull she was on her feet. Before she could say anything though an older male voice called out.

"Ochako! Are you coming?" The girl, Ochako, turned and looked down the street, her hand leaving his (his eyes widened as he realized that he hadn't let go right away!) as she called back.

"Coming Daddy! Sorry, We're looking at apartments for me for school, so I gotta go! Maybe I'll see you around!" And with that she was gone, mixing into the crowd. Izuku blinked. Then again.

"Did I just have a conversation with a girl?!" He whispered (ignoring the fact he had said almost nothing during this "conversation"). Dazed, he turned and walked into the store. Well, the door of the store.

"Ugh," This was going to be a long afternoon.

It took some time, but a couple hours later he had collected all the various groceries from the stores in the area. It took much longer than he had hoped, as he wasn't very familiar with the stores in this area. The place he usually went for groceries had been destroyed by the sludge villain all those months ago, and they had yet to reopen fully. Besides, he honestly didn't do a lot of shopping, letting his mom get the food while he often cooked it.

He sighed as he looked up. It was a lot darker out than he had hoped. He supposed All Might did say to take it easy. Still, he had hoped to get a small workout in…

Giving it up he began the trek home, mind in the clouds as he walked.

"I wonder what it is going to be like to receive that power this weekend? Will it merge with my current power or will it be different? How will I access it? The UA entrance exam is in about a month and a half. That gives me roughly 45 days to master a quirk that is publicly known as the number 1 quirk in the world. Then again, I just need to be able to pass the test. Mastering One for All is going to take time, I just need to not explode when receiving it. Will I explode?"

As usual, his muttering filled the air, eventually just devolving into a stream of sound. This continued for some time, his muted voice filling the air, until his foot caught on the edge of a crack in the sidewalk, and gravity took over.

"Crap!" he shouted as he fell, followed by a wince as his groceries flew across the walk. Grumbling at his own clumsiness, Izuku began gathering his stuff from the ground, sadly noting that the eggs he had bought were now mostly cracked and leaking. Sighing, he looked around for the last item, a small melon. Seeing it over by the entrance to an alley, he reached out to grab it.

Only as he did, something happened that would change his life forever more.

A soft thump sounded across the alleyway as a small figure ran headfirst into Izuku, her obviously young and female voice crying out as she fell backwards. Blinking, Izuku looked down at the slight figure. She had been running at full speed, and yet he had barely felt a thing when she had hit him, such was her lack of weight. Sniffles were the next thing that he heard, small sobs coming from the girl who had yet to get up.

"Hey," Izuku intoned softly, dropping lightly to his knees beside her, "Are you okay?" His hand reached down and gently touched the girl's shoulder. Her reaction surprised him as she finally acknowledged his presence. Upon his contact she leapt back, scrambling away from him. Her startling red eyes contrasting her white hair as she stared at him with undisguised horror. On the right of her head a single horn poked through the dirty, matted hair, a soft glow emanating from it. After the initial glance she had dropped her gaze to the ground, shaking with barely contained terror. Startled at her lack of response, Izuku began moving forward to comfort her.

"There you are!" A man's voice called out. Izuku glanced up with relief as a figure called out. A man was walking down the alley way towards them, a smile on his face. Or rather, a smile in his eyes, as his actual mouth was covered by a strange… beak like mask. He shrugged internally, some people were self-conscious about physical quirks, so strange clothing like that wasn't entirely out of place. The rest of him seemed pretty average, brown hair, gold eyes, a coat on with an odd pair of white gloves. His gaze was focused on the little girl kneeling next to the green haired boy.

"Oh, h-hi there! Are you looking for her? Is she your daughter?" Izuku asked, gesturing to the little girl. His smile faltered as the young girl, previously frozen in spot, lunged for him, slipping behind him and using him as a shield. Shocked, Izuku stood and looked towards the man in confusion. The man seemed to shrug, and Izuku imagined a sheepish smile in place.

"Sorry bout this. Ya, she's my kid. She's quite upset though, one of her pets died earlier and when we told her she tried to run away. You know how kids are, she thought maybe it would help or something. C'mon Eri, we've got to get going now, otherwise everyone else will be worried." As he finished the man stopped walking forwards, and gestured for her to come. She, however, took no notice and instead hid even further behind Izuku. Izuku frowned and turned, lowering himself to her level once again.

"Hey, Eri right? My name is Izuku Midoriya. C'mon, let's go talk with your dad and get this all fixed up, okay? I promise that you're going to be okay." At that the little girl, Eri, finally looked up. Her eyes met his, and Izuku could practically see the various emotions swirling through her mind. Fear, sadness, despair. In that moment her eyes seemed similar to another pair he had once looked at every morning in the mirror for years on end, devoid of laughter and light.

"You promise?" her tiny voice came, whispered so softly for a moment Izuku didn't think she had spoken at all. She stared at him waiting for a response, and Izuku watched the tears welling in her eyes. She seemed so nervous, so small, fragile, and scared. Izuku nodded as the words caught in his throat, his thoughts going back to one of his many lessons with his mentor.

The smile? Well kid, I smile so that others feel like they can too. I smile to show them without a doubt that I am there to save them, that they can count on me. That even though they are terrified, everything is going to be alright. That's the reason I smile.

Taking All Might's words to heart, Izuku smiled down at Eri.

"I promise, you will be okay. I'll make sure of it." Out of the corner of his eye he could see the father standing, obviously annoyed with the time this was taking. Shooting him an apologetic look, he turned back to Eri and gave her a quick hug, ignoring the way she flinched as he did. For a moment she stood still, before he heard another small sob come from her before she fell into him. Feeling her relax a little he smiled and let loose a sigh of relief, hoping she had calmed down a bit.

"C'mon now," he said as he started to end the contact, "let's go see your dad okay?" Before he could pull away though, Eri leaned forward and whispered something in his ear.

"He isn't my dad."

Izuku froze. A million thoughts raced through his mind as he leaned back, taking in the image of Eri with a finer eye for detail. Her dress, if you could call the rags that adorned her that, were ripped and dirty. Her arms had bandages all around them, her skin was pale and she looked both starving and exhausted. All of a sudden the fear, the horror, took on an entirely different meaning, and as Izuku turned to face the man (who was now staring at him with a raised brow) he felt panic rising in his chest.

This is a kidnapping… or more likely a retrieval. It looks like Eri is pretty badly hurt already, so it wouldn't be crazy to think that they already had a hold of her. Also, he seems very familiar with her, and vice versa. What should I do?! I have no idea what his quirk is, all I know is that he might have a quirk related to his mouth. That's not enough information to fight him with, for all I know he could kill me without blinking an eye. What do I do? I need to stall.

"S-s-so, do you guys live nearby? I could help walk her home if you want."

"Oh no, I wouldn't want to be a bother." The man's eyes narrowed as he stared at Eri, and Izuku could feel his irritation rising. He took a step forward, and reached out a hand, as if to grab at the girl. As Eri flinched beside him, Izuku felt a dread feeling seep into his spine and his mind went into overdrive.

It's in his hands! Whatever his quirk is, he must be able to activate it through touch, otherwise Eri wouldn't have flinched so much at his hand moving closer. Crap, crap, crap! This won't work, can't work! If all he needs to do is touch us then I don't know if it's safe to touch him! He's glancing around a lot, probably looking out for heroes or cops, which means he's getting impatient. If I don't do something soon, he'll take Eri or kill me first, then take her. Oh man, what would a hero do in this situation? What would All Might do?

All Might! Izuku's eyes widened as he looked down at his hands. All Might told him he would spending the week at UA, and that if he needed him he could call the school! If he could get there, then All Might (not to mention all the other pro heroes there), could help! Only…

UA is a long ways away though. I don't know if I can flicker that far, let alone with another person with me. But if I don't… I'll have to try, and if I can't maybe I can aim for a hospital. There's no way I am going to be standing after this. It needs to be a surprise though, I can't let him touch us!

"Hey kid, you listening?" Izuku looked back towards the man, who was now openly frowning (or at least glaring), "I said that we need to go. If we're late then I'm going to be upset." Eri, who until this moment had been still as a statue, flinched at the final word, before slowly moving towards the man.

It's now or never! Izuku thought, and without another moment spared grabbed Eri by the arm, stopping her from moving forwards. He tried to smile as fearlessly as he could, but internally he screamed.

I hope this works.

Green energy began sparking off his skin as he pulled Eri behind him, facing the now obviously angered man. Making sure Eri's arm was still grasped in his hand, he crouched slightly. He could practically hear his own heartbeat as his terror grew. The man quirked an eyebrow before snarling.

"Drop her kid, I don't appreciate it when people mess around with my business."

"A-a-and I don't a-appreciate it when people l-lie." Izuku replied, trying to sound as intimidating as possible, and cursing his stutter as he did. He just needed time, he needed to charge as much energy as he could otherwise they would never make it.

"So she told you? I was wondering what tipped you off. I was certain my acting had gotten much better. Oh well. You can't possibly think you can win this fight."

Izuku frowned as the man's entire persona seemed to shift. His body didn't change, but now instead of a relieved father before him, a dangerous predator was present instead. The way he talked, stood, Izuku was pretty sure he was even breathing differently! Izuku felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight up, and he was fairly positive it had nothing to do with his quirk. Coughing, he felt his nexus straining as Tesseract continued to gather energy. The man took a step forward. Izuku spun and pulled Eri into a hug, gripping her tightly.

I hope this is enough!

"I promise Eri, I will protect you." For the first time in that conversation, no waver was present in his voice, and as Eri looked up at him in shock he was pleased to see just a tiny glimmer of hope sparkle in her eyes. The man's mocking laugh came from behind him, too close for comfort, and shocked him back into reality.

"Don't make promises you can't keep. Now fight or die. The result is the same either way." Izuku turned and felt the blood rush from his face as he stared directly up into the golden eyes of the man. A now familiar tugging came from inside him, much stronger than any time before. The man took a white glove off one of his hands Izuku snarled, letting the pure power of Tesseract fill him.

"I was never going to fight. And you will never touch her again." The man's eyes widened as he realized his mistake, but before he could grab the pair they disappeared into thin air with a small burst of emerald energy, leaving but a few sparks lingering in the air. The man stood in shock for a second before a rage unlike any before filled him.

"AAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!" He screamed, slamming his fist into the wall and watching as it deconstructed itself. Slowly, his breathing calmed, and he slowly wiped his hand clean and put his glove back on.

As he walked away, Kai Chisaki snarled under his mask. He would find Eri again, and when he did, that green haired hero wannabe would be cleansed.

All was quiet that afternoon at UA. The sun was still barely in the sky, the birds were chirping away, and a crack of energy filled the air.

Wait… what?

Indeed, near the entrance to the main building, the only thing Izuku had ever seen in person before, a flash of emerald energy lit up the air as two figures fell to the ground. The smaller one standing first.

This… this was it. She was… free? Free from pain, from all the needles and knives? Free from the bird people? Free?

Eri felt more tears well up in her eyes, but for some reason these didn't see, like the tears she usually cried. Normally tears happened when she was lonely or hurt, but she wasn't either of those now. She was free. FREE!

Letting the tears of joy run down her face, Eri turned back to the one that had saved her. When she had run into him she had been so scared, terrified he would turn her over to the bird people again. But he had been nice, and when he had hugged her… she had never felt so safe before. She hadn't realized that people could touch without hurting, but he had not only made her feel good, but saved her with a hug. The bird people often talked about heroes, about how they were a-a-a sickness or something terrible. She shook her head. He wasn't bad, he saved her, and made her feel safe. He was her hero.

Her hero.

A wet cough drew her attention as the older boy began to move. Eye's wide, Eri ran over to him. She stopped in shock, however, when he proceeded to scream in pain before coughing, a red liquid flowing from his mouth as he did. Turning so he was on his back she saw tracks of red flowing down his cheeks, red like the stuff from his mouth. As the smell hit her, Eri felt tears of a different kind come to her eyes. She knew this smell. Blood.

Frantically she kneeled beside him, shaking his arm.

"No! No no! Please be alright, please! You saved me, you saved me! Please, please get up…" She called out, tears of fear flowing freely as she tried to shake the boy awake. He gasped and opened his unfocused eyes, struggling for a moment before looking at her.

"We made it." Came his dazed words. Eri nodded quickly and leaned forwards, hugging him. He had made her feel better with a hug, so maybe she could make him feel better too?

"You saved me." She muttered into his shirt, squeezing as hard as she could. Izuku let his head fall back to the ground as she did. She wasn't doing much damage, but it was stinging quite a bit. He was sore to the point he could barely feel though, so he didn't say anything. His head though, that he could feel. Every sound was too loud, sending waves of fresh pain directly into his brain. He tried to move, get up, anything, and gasped as his body violently protested with a sharp and serious stab of pain the likes of which he hadn't felt in a long time. His breath was loosed sharply, and the black on the edge of his vision began creeping in on his sight. Dimly he was aware of Eri calling his name in fear, but nothing he did could stop the wave of darkness that overcame him, pulling him into unconsciousness. The last thing he saw before slipping away was a flash of bright light, Eri sobbing, and an unknown voice calling out for help.

Soooo, cliffhanger! Who found him? What comes next? In advance I apologize if anyone thought that the Eri scene wasn't original enough. I wanted to stay true to how I thought Izuku would react, especially with his quirk Tesseract. Next chapter we move forward! What will happen to Izuku and Eri now? What does the future have in store? I suppose you'll just have to wait until next chapter to see! Until then, Glitch out!