Chapter Text
“Well kid, I don’t understand it.”
Izuku blinked at the doctor, lounging in his chair while they examined the medical results.
“What do you mean?” Inko asked worriedly. Fretting over her son’s hair while awaiting the news.
“I mean, it doesn’t make sense. From what you’ve described, he should have a perfect replica of your quirk. Yet your quirk factors are completely different. The results suggest a mutation unlike either of the parents quirks. Further more, given the specific makeup of the quirk factor, telekinesis shouldn’t be it’s expression. Yet it does anyway.”
“What do we do then? If it shouldn’t be his quirk, how is he attracting the objects?”
To punctuate her point, both Izuku and Inko raised their arms, a small book floated to Izuku whilst a teddy bear floated into Inko’s arms. The speed the objects traveled were identical.
“I have a theory. But to test it, I need to run an experimental procedure. It uses new technology to observe the quirk factor activating in real time. It’s useful for figuring out exactly how quirks are operating, it’s been making leaps and bounds in quirk science. I just need to get permission to utilise it and we can find out your son’s quirk.”
He quickly bustled over to his desk and typed away at his computer for a few minutes, before pacing over to the door.
“After you, this won’t take long. And don’t worry, this will be covered by your normal charge, no extra fee required.” The man assured, ushering a skipping Izuku and wobbly Inko out of the room.
____________
Izuku didn’t think he had ever been hooked up to so many wires. He was practically trussed up like a chicken with how many were poking into him.
The doctor was in an observation room of to the side with his mother. Some kind of reading being taken on the monitor in front of him.
“Can you hear me Izuku?” The doctor’s voice came over the loud speaker. He nodded and jumped up and down excitedly.
“Good, now in front of you, you’ll see a stool with a book sitting on top. Wait a moment while I finish these baseline readings.”
So Izuku waited, and waited, and waited some more. 10 minutes later, the voice crackled to life.
“Alright! Got them. Now, I want you to attract that book into your hand.”
Izuku happily complied, reaching out to his power. Mind flicking back to all the times he had seen his mother do the same and he pulled, causing the book to glide gently through the air into his hand.
“Fascinating” the voice breathed into the microphone.
“Stay there Izuku! I’ll unwire you in a moment! Then we have a very exciting development to discover.”
___________
They were now seated back in the office again, both Izuku and the doctor shaking with excitement.
“This is amazing! I’ve seen nothing like it!”
“Could you please explain what’s got you so worked up!” Inko asked exasperatedly.
“Oh yes, sorry…” the doctor mumbled. “The results showed the quirk factor mutating when he used attraction of small objects! I compared the feed to when you had your quirk factor scanned and found them identical! It shifted from it’s base form into yours and back again! The most probable theory is a quirk copying quirk!” The doctor rambled excitedly.
“Wowa! I can copy any quirk?” Izuku asked excitedly.
“Why yes! I do believe you could! Your limits remain to be seen. But first, we must find the activation requirements.” The doctor stated.
Inko groaned. “How many tests will there be for this?”
“As many as it takes! Trial and error is the only way!” The doctor retorted, before holding out his hand to Izuku.
“First, try contact, one finger, then five fingers. It may be a physical activation!”
Izuku pressed a finger against the mans hand but felt nothing, he put more fingers down but still came up with nothing.
“Not working hmm? Maybe you need an understanding of the ability. My quirk is called static, I can send small currents of static electricity at will! Try it!”
“Hmm, i don’t feel anything! With mama, I can always see how she does it when I use it!”
“Aha! You have to see the quirk in action! That makes sense!” He tapped Inko on the shoulder and she yelped from the static shock.
“Try now!” He asked.
Curious, Izuku tapped inko on the shoulder and she yelped again.
“Could you NOT use me as the practise dummy please!” She exclaimed.
“Yes, we’re about done anyways. Can you still use attraction of small objects?”
An eraser floated from the desk and into Izuku’s hand.
“So, there may be no upper limit on how many quirks you can copy. When you go home I want you to see if you can still use my quirk every day. And call me the day you can’t. For now, I believe it’s time to name your quirk. Think carefully, it’s gonna be a pain to change later in life.”
“How about… mimicry?” Izuku asked.
“Straight to the point, reasonable, and adult. Good choice, you will be registered with mimicry. Good day Midoriya’s!”
__________
Izuku followed through with what he promised the doctor. Much to Inko’s chagrin, he used static to wake her up every morning.
It never faded.
He found that watching video’s did not allow him to copy a quirk. It had to be an in person activation.
He got an idea, he focussed on all the times he had seen Kacchan’s quirk and tried to ignite sparks. He heard popping and looking down at his hand.
Just like at Kacchan’s quirk awakening, he was making small sparks as well! So he didn’t need to see the quirk after his awakening to copy it!
He focussed on the kid with bat wings quirk and felt an odd numb sensation it his back, then he heard ripping.
He turned around and two wings had sprouted! Right through the back of his shirt.
He liked that shirt.
Damn.
He flapped his wings a few times before retracting them. He could practically change his biology on the fly.
He was so excited to go into daycare tomorrow! His quirk was really cool! It was like every quirk at once!
____________
He never wanted to go to Daycare again.
People apparently liked feeling special, quirks were such an intrinsic part of who you were because they were unique to every individual. And they didn’t like it when someone who could use their quirk came along.
Especially when said person was able to use it better than them. Like Izuku, the quirk nerd who liked to break down quirks into how they worked and how they could be used to pass the time.
Even Kacchan had been distant. Not overly aggressive or vocal about his distaste like some others, but he seemed to be making an attempt to not let him see his quirk in action.
He didn’t even know why people thought it was weird. Sure, his quirk may let him use other people’s quirks, but it’s not like he took them! He also had to learn how to use every quirk he wanted to use. Each one had a different mental trigger to activate, alongside having to focus on the quirk to keep the mimic stable.
Not to mention quirk drawbacks! Quirk drawbacks seem to be intensified the more he uses a mimic quirk without rest.
Mimicry itself can give him powerful migraines if he holds a power for too long. So it wasn’t like he was a God!
He just hoped that when everyone calmed down, they would see all that his quirk would be useful for and talk about him like they talked about Kacchan!
His quirk was uniquely powerful, surely everyone would see how multipurpose a copy ability would be for heroes!
For now, he’d do what his quirk made him do best. Observe.
He was always frustrated before, how people never seemed to realise just what they could do with their quirks. Passing them off as useful or useless at a glance and leaving it at that.
Some quirks were relegated to just party tricks. When they could be so useful! Take Tomogiri’s quirk for example. It let him shine a beam of light from his palms. He literally called it flash light.
He was one of the one’s who didn’t mind it when he mimicked his quirk. After all he barely had a use for it besides not having to buy flashlights ever.
Then Izuku started practicing.
Izuku found that he could increase the intensity of the beam, while the size stayed the same. Heat was produced by the beam, which allowed Izuku to burn things, essentially getting laser palms for a quirk. Not to mention it could work as a flash bang in a pinch.
He tried to explain this to Tomogiri earlier, but was just told to buzz off, because he knew his quirk better then Izuku did. Well now, it seemed Izuku knew the quirk far better then he ever could.
Safe to say, Tomogiri didn’t like his mimicry after that.
He couldn’t activate more than one quirk at a time, so combining them was out. Much to his disappointment.
He loved his quirk, really he did. But some people were just being really angry about it.
Some people always told him his quirk would be perfect for a villain. Able to replicate what made someone special, what made someone who they were, and use it for themselves.
He was starting to think people were really dramatic about their quirks. He didn’t even take anything! He was like… a phantom thief! That would be a really good hero name!
He would work hard, and get into U.A! With a quirk like his, he could use any interesting quirks he saw in order to pass.
No one bothered him though, just talked behind his back. He heard one rumour that when he copied a quirk it made the original worse. That was probably just to justify how much better he was at their quirks.
If that were true, he could see the hesitancy in talking to him. But it had never been proved!
Honestly, the sheer creativity was impressive. He’d appreciate it much more if they used it constructively. Perhaps to figure out their quirks instead of blaming boogymen. But no matter.
He had a long few years ahead of him.