Disclaimer: This was inspired from the fanfiction My Hero Academia: Plus Ultra! by Sora 101. I do not own anything from My Hero Academia, nor do I own concepts of any other manga, anime, videogame or tv shows used in this story.

Author's note: This story is simply written for fun, I expect I would make plenty of amateur mistakes.

Texts like this are Izuku's voluntary thoughts from his perspective.

[Texts like this] represents thoughts that comes from his subconscious, where the majority of his quirk manifests. Izuku's subconscious thoughts are not actually verbal. To Izuku, they are merely flashes of notions that happen in very short moments. After all, they come from his intuition.


Chapter 1: Activation

Izuku, age 4

"I'm afraid there's no hope for him," said the doctor. His patient, a young boy with green frizzy hair, felt all his hopes and dreams shatter in an instant.

That night, Midoriya Izuku watched the video of All Might's debut on repeat, over and over. Despite the tears streaming down his face, he gritted his teeth and told himself:

I'll never give up on being a hero...

I don't care what anyone tells me otherwise...

[System initialized; Sequencing system priorities...]

[Operator directive logged]

"Huh?" Izuku exclaimed, confused by the strange yet affirming flashes of thought that seemed to calm down his emotional state. He tried to recall that thought again, much to his confusion, but to no avail.

Maybe I'm just too tired, I should probably go to sleep...


A week later, at the neighbourhood playground

"Enough, Kacchan!" Izuku screamed with a trembling voice, as he imposed himself between three young bullies and their victim.

"Y… you already made him cry! Stop it!" The green-haired boy stuttered as he tried to muster up an imposing stance, but the tears on his face and his shaking knees were not helping.

Bakugou Katsuki, a boy about Izuku's age with spiky blonde hair, stood proud as the leader of the trio. He smacked his hands together to show off his Explosion quirk, producing a small burst of embers along with a puff of smoke. Two other young boys flanked beside him: Bulk, a bald chubby boy flaunting the red bat-like wings on his back by hovering a few inches above the ground; and Skull, a skinny boy wearing a cap, flexed his tendril-like fingers to unnatural lengths.

"So, the quirkless wonder Deku thinks he can play hero, eh?" mocked Bakugou, as the three bullies grinned and approached Izuku.

"Yeah, you don't even have a quirk, wimp! You think you can take on the three of us?" Bulk boasted as he flapped the wings on his back menacingly.

What do I do?! I don't even have a quirk!

I can't even protect myself, how am I supposed to protect someone else?! I can't do this!

[Assessing situation...]

[Assimilating memory data…]

[Constructing spatial and kinetic parameters…; Integrating kinaesthetic framework...]

In a literal blink of his eyes, Izuku felt a wave of calm and clarity wash over him. A new awareness of his own body in its entirety: the subtle breeze against his hair and skin, every pulse, every twitch, every shiver in his breath; from every tension between muscle and bone, to the shifting of his body's weight against the ground. His trembling ceased, and so did his tears. Then, Bakugou lunged towards him with his right arm cocked back.

[Analyzing target kinaesthetics...]

[Incoming threat vector; Redirect impact]

Izuku's left arm reflexively moved to slap Bakugou's right swing aside, causing the blond boy to lose his balance and stumble.

[Target imbalanced; Exploit opening]

Without skipping a beat, Izuku instinctively lowered his stance, extending a leg to trip Bakugou by his ankles.

The other two bullies merely saw Izuku make a few subtle movements, and then Bakugou was already on the ground.

The spiky blonde sat there in disbelief for a moment, as dumbfounded as the other kids who just saw what happened. Realizing what he had just done, Izuku anxiously extended a hand to Bakugou. "Ah! I-I didn't mean to do that, Kacchan! I'm so sorry!"

Infuriated at Izuku's apology, the blonde rose to his feet and shoved Izuku to the ground. "What the hell?! You're just a quirkless little shit!" The blonde raised his arms once again, ready to strike.

Ow! That hurt! Good thing this playground is covered in sand…

[Assessing situation...]

[Operator position vulnerable; Analyzing optimal course of action...]

[Tactical advantage found: Granular projectile, minute particles, adequate optical irritant, minimal trauma]

Automatically, Izuku's hand grabbed a fistful of sand beside him before another thought stopped him.

[Warning: Target outside range; Wait for target approach]

[…]

[Target within range]

"I'm so sorry, Kacchan!" Izuku proceeded to throw the handful of sand into Bakugou's eyes, right before the bully could stand over him. The blonde cried out in agony as he hunched over from the searing pain.

[Escape window available; Plotting optimum escape route…]

Immediately, Izuku went to grab the other crying boy's hand, and sprinted away from the playground. "Quick, now's our chance!"

Still bewildered by the turn of events, Bakugou's two lackeys simply stood with their mouths agape, and watched Izuku run away with their newest victim. And Bakugou, half-blind and incapacitated, could only frantically swing his arms around him while screaming aloud. "Get back here Deku! I'm gonna kill you!"


Evening

"Mom, I'm serious! I think just found my quirk!" Izuku said through a mouthful of rice at the dinner table.

Seeing her son smile again after a week of watching him being depressed was a great relief for Midoriya Inko.

"Alright, alright, Izuku dear. I'm just glad nobody got hurt, but are you really sure it's not just my baby boy being super smart?" Inko said with a giggle as she tickled Izuku's cheek.

"No, Mom! It doesn't feel the same as when I'm thinking about new ideas with hero quirks, you know? It felt different! It was, uhm, almost like I just knew what to do!" A few grains of rice spattered onto the table as Izuku babbled excitedly with his mouth full.

"Sweetie, whether you have a quirk or not. I want you to know that I'll support you no matter what, okay?" Inko didn't want to give her son any false hope, not after what he just went through. Then, she turned her attention to the kitchen counter behind her, to grab a small vial of soy sauce with her Attraction of Small Objects quirk.

Izuku intently watched his mother's telekinetic quirk in action, her palm facing towards the vial, fingers repeating a gentle tugging motion; and the vial slowly floated towards her hand, bit by bit, almost like the swimming motion of a jellyfish.

[Analyzing event…]

[Insufficient data; Inquire more information]

"Hey Mom, can you explain your quirk to me again? Like, tell me more about it this time!" Izuku asked eagerly as he put down his empty bowl and chopsticks.

"What, again?" Inko chuckled at her son's enthusiasm, despite having recited the tale, or rather, explanation dozens of times before. Most children would have their mothers repeat their favourite bedtime stories to them, to Izuku, this was the equivalent of it.

"Pleasepleaseplease?"

"Oh sweetie, I don't know what else to tell you. As you know, I can drag items and make them float towards me. The size of the item is limited to anything that can fit in my palm and light enough for me to carry with one hand. I can always pull them to about the length of my hand. If something is farther away, then I have to pull multiple times for it to reach my grasp."

[Information: Multiple force application on target object required if exceeding reach]

[Assumption: Target object must have periods of acceleration and deceleration]

[Deduction: Target object must have zero velocity at arbitrary point in displacement vector]

"Mom, wouldn't that mean you can hold a small object in mid-air without it moving?" Izuku wondered.

"Oh? Now that you mention it, I've never thought of it that way. Let me try. Hmm…" Inko replied, as she focused on the soy sauce vial again that's now on the table. She reached out to pull it towards her, and then tried to hold it in the air before it reached her grasp.

The object stopped in mid-air, and for a split second it almost seemed like it would actually stay there, when Inko's outstretched palm started to tremble. She lost her grip on the vial and it fell onto the table, spilling some soy sauce.

"Oh dear, I almost thought that worked! Now I've made a mess..." Inko said as she started to get up from her chair.

[Preliminary analysis complete; Physical inspection required]

"Mom, let me see your hand." Izuku said, as he grabbed her hand and studied it intensely, tracing his fingers along it.

"Izuku? What is it?" The sudden movement surprised Inko, a rising concern in her voice. "Why are you staring at my hand like that? Are you alright, sweetie?"

[Data acquisition complete; Assimilating…; Optimizing…]

Whoa… what is this feeling? I feel like I know exactly how mother's quirk works now!

Wait, how is she not using it properly? Shouldn't she know better than-

Oh.

Inko watched her son anxiously as he stared at his empty rice bowl for a solid ten seconds or so. "Izuku, Izuku? Stop messing around, I'm starting to get worried…"

"I know how it works now!" Izuku yelled as he suddenly sprung to life from his blank stupor, making his mother yelp.

"Don't scare me like that! I was really worried that you're…"

Izuku stood up on his chair and stretched his palm towards the vial, and the vial flew straight into his palm in one single motion.

Both mother and son looked at each other with their jaws slack for a moment.

"Aaaah my baby has my quirk! I'm so proud of you!" exclaimed Inko as she started crying fountains of tears and pulled Izuku into a tight hug. "Your quirk's even better than mine too! Izuku, you're going to be such an amazing hero, I just know it!"

I knew it! I'm not quirkless at all! I can't wait to be a proper hero with this quirk I just learned!

Wait, 'learned'?

Is this how quirks are passed down from a parent? That doesn't make sense.

[Insufficient data]

"Uhm, Mom? I don't know how to explain it, but I feel like I just learned the quirk from you, it's not actually my own."

"Alright, how about we go to the clinic again next week, I'm sure the doctor would be able to help us figure this out." Inko cleaned up the dinner table while humming to herself. "And after I'm done with the dishes, let's give Daddy a call and give him the good news together!"

"Okay!"


The following day

Izuku was playing with his toys in the living room, as he tried to pull his favourite All Might action figure towards him from the sofa using his new quirk. This time he did it just slow enough that the item would not fall to the ground.

The All Might figure was pulled slowly, bit by bit towards Izuku. "Now, if I do it faster…"

The toy sped up even faster than before and flew into Izuku's grasp. It made Izuku flinch since he was unprepared for that speed. It then bounced off his palm and fell towards the ground.

No! All Might! It's going to break!

Izuku reached out with the quirk again and the toy briefly stopped a few inches above the floor.

Hey, that's funny, this feels like playing with a yo-yo.

What if I use the quirk at just the right timing when I'm pulling from above?

The All Might action figure simply wobbled in the same spot mid-air. As if dangling from an invisible string.

[Quirk: Puppet String, Assimilation: Complete]


Izuku won't be One For All's successor in this AU, I feel like the potential of his own quirk is already powerful enough on its own. His quirk is still just in its stages of infancy, so there will be more developments as the story progresses.

Izuku's quirk allows him to intuitively understand the structure and operation of complex systems without special education or training, including learning someone else's quirk, inherently 'teaching' it to his own body if given enough understanding of it. Basically, it's inspired by Sylar's ability from the Heroes TV series, but with some of my own changes, since I have no plans on making Izuku walk the villain path.

As of 27th October 2019, chapters 1 to 12 have been rewritten.

Feel free to leave a review. Thanks for reading!