Disclaimer: I own nothing contained within.

A/N: As promised, a quick second chapter to balance out how short the first one was.

Chapter 2: Better Than Me

It's fairly common for quirks to be misunderstood. If a child doesn't train their quirk or go to a school for heroes they may never discover the truth of their ability. Such was the case for Izuku's mother, Inko.

Attracting small objects had never seemed like a grand feat, and she hadn't ever been the type for action and adventure. Thus, she had no problem going to a normal high school. Part of the problem was that she never trained her power, the other had been that she was simply a relaxed and easy going woman. That had all changed the night she decided to make sure her son become a hero.

After leaving her son to his quiet contemplation, she had returned to her cleaning with renewed vigor. Really, she had no clue what else to do. Having left the broom on the other side of the room she used her quirk on reflex to bring it over. However, she didn't just passively summon the broom to her side as she would have done all the times before. No, this time she had reached out with her power and demanded it come to her hand. The thing had flown at her with such force that she had to duck out of its way as it impaled itself in the wall.

Her son had come running out of his room and they both stared at the impaling object. He had asked her various questions that she wasn't sure how to answer. She had seen her young son get this obsessive over pro heroes, but never her own power, it was somewhat flattering. In the end, it was Izuku that had come to the conclusion that she didn't understand her own power. After all the specials and documentaries that the boy had watched he had an almost encyclopedic knowledge about quirks and the body. Without even a hint of self-pity, he had implored her to practice.

A month later the two had come to the conclusion that her ability to attract, and now repel, objects was centered around her mood. Were she the passive housewife or woman she had always been, her ability was rather weak. When she fueled said power with passion it became capable of feats far greater. Her five-year-old son had set about creating tests for her to do, testing the true limits of her power.

Her original practice had started out simple. She started with things that were slightly bigger than she'd ever pulled before. It had been her son that recommended she try and repel them. Neither of them could explain why she couldn't before but her son surmised that it had something do with her passive nature. Her training now, however, was something totally different.

They had actually gone out to an old junkyard. It wasn't exactly legal for her to use her quirk in public, but they figured this was safe enough. This is where she found out that her son could be a slave driver when it came to perk training. He would never let her defeat herself with assumptions of her own limits. It was his belief in her that pushed her forward and caused her to soar to new heights with her abilities.

He had pushed it too far once when he placed himself under the wreckage of an old car she was lifting. She had been on the verge of exhaustion already and told him she'd have to quit, that it was too heavy. It was then that he proved something to her, he could see the limits of her quirk that she could not. Even as passionate as she had become, she still had blocks up, part of her mind was still limiting her. But when she'd seen her baby in danger, all limits were off and she'd chucked the car to the other side of the dump.

That day her son had shown her just how powerful she could be. He had taught her the strength of a hero. He showed her that she was more than she had ever thought possible. And in the end, she had shown him how red his bottom could get when he scared her like that. She had nearly fallen to pieces in laughter as he had muttered "worth it" to himself as they walked home.

It was all these things that had led her to realize how truly amazing her son was. The boy was about to enter elementary school and his analytical mind outshined people ten times his age. He wasn't just bright either, no, he was clever and inventive as well. He had come up with methods and way to train her quirk that she would have thought of. It always made her giggle to think about it, her son was brilliant. It may not be conventional, but maybe her son wasn't so quirkless after all.

The Midoriya matriarch stood slightly straighter and was far more fit now. Discarded was the lonely housewife who had been forgotten and left behind by her estranged ex-husband. Her body was lean and she felt stronger, most of the credit for this belonged to her new training and mindset. A shudder would travel through her whenever she considered the depressed mess of a woman she would have been had she given up on her son's dream. After all, two years had passed and her son was now in second grade. It was late one night that she had found him asleep at his desk. Constant harassment from his peers, something that would have broken a lesser child, seemed to only drive him harder.

"They aren't better than me," he would shout adamantly, "I'll show them. I'll be the best hero ever!"

She would always support his beliefs. Again, most kids saying something like that were just boasting, but her son would do it. It was with these thoughts in mind that she began to put him to bed that night. As she cleaned up his workspace she noticed his notebook open. Pride filled her as she read his writing that was already far advanced beyond his peers. His subject matter is what set her mind going. He was designing something, she couldn't quite understand it but, as she flipped through the pages she understood something. This was it, this was what would take him beyond the limits of those with and without quirks.

There was only one problem. Whatever this was, while she was sure he could build it, there was no way he'd have the tools and materials to do so. For something like that he'd need access to top-tier hero resources, the latest technology, and the proper tools. All these were things she couldn't provide for him, or could she… As she set about moving him, his things, and cleaning his room all at once with her quirk she considered something.

Her mind pondered, 'I bet my quirk would do well at one of those hero support agencies.'

This seemingly innocent thought would change everything. Inko had only gone job hunting for one day and received three offers from the top-rated support companies. She wouldn't be a top researcher or anything like that, but her quirk's delicate precision, combined with her range made her useful for transporting all sorts of harmful or dangerous materials. Apparently, her quirk was far more useful than she realized, real telekinetics were in short supply.

To the great surprise of many, she had passed over the top company in favor of the second place one, NextGen Industries. Not only had they offered her higher pay and a better position within the company, they gave her an apartment in the massive building itself to live in with her son. The thing was easily three times the size of there former home. The real thing that won her over though was the access she was granted and how easy going the staff was, once you were actually inside the facility anyways. The outside security was insane.

Several years later, the reputation she held within the company and tireless work ethic were more than enough for them to let Izuku, who they all agreed was brilliant, tinker with his own projects. Harmless, right?

While he was not able to legally work for the company as a middle school student. His mother was granted several 'bonuses' over time as new weapons and shielding research were 'donated' to the company from an anonymous source. His mother was greatly shocked when he began releasing his research. She was equally surprised and proud to find that it was all his prototypes and failed work, not good enough for the final project. A failure for him it may have been, but it had helped place her workplace as the number one support company.

It was during his last year in middle school that he showed it to her. It was some sort of suit made of metal. It looked to be his size but she was having trouble understanding anything about it, from the complicated parts of how it worked to the most basic things like how he put it on. He was all too happy to describe it to her.

As if her baby boy had been reborn a smile stretched from ear to ear as he explained it, "The armor is made of a special alloy created by Adamantine, the full metal hero. He can cover his body with it as well as create objects with it. Currently, it is the hardest metal known to man and I have fused it with our latest nanotech that just made us the number one hero support company. The nanotechnology helps it to self-replicate any damaged area, as well as gives me the ability to change its shape. I've got a full workup of weapons ready for it, but for now, it only has its sonic repulsors."

His mother had stopped him there, all she really heard was weapon, "Sonic blasters, what now?"

"Not blasters mom, repulsors," he corrected, like it was the simplest thing in the world, "theoretically they release enough energy to allow me to fly. However, that energy can be stored and used as a canon of sorts. Now, as I was saying. The suite is powered by something I just recently developed, it's called a Perpetual Drive, it's a combination of bio-electric matter contained within a stabilized mass that is ever growing. Now that's not to say that I can't run out of energy, just that the suit naturally replenishes it so I never have to create another energy source."

At some point, he'd begun to shift into what she called 'deep think' mode and muttered a bit. This made him very hard to understand, but not to his mother. She just smiled proudly. She figured this must be where the expression grinning like an idiot comes from.

"So here's my question," Inko jumped in when her son's body demanded he take a breath, "This looks like a major undertaking. How exactly did you make all this without me or one of the scientists noticing? If you haven't noticed, they take a heavy interest in your work."

He nodded, "I know, a few desperate ones who don't belong here have been trying to rip off my work since I was ten. That's why I had to come up with my own coded language for all of my notebooks. Besides, you've seen this every day for the past two years mom, come on."

The mother gave her son an incredulous look, "I think I'd remember seeing a billion dollar piece of technology."

"A billion, mom, please," Izuku walked up and pressed a small sphere in the waist area of the suit causing it to immediately shrink down, "Come on now, we're talking eight hundred million tops. Plus, if you consider that the nanotechnology is my design that cuts the cost way down."

His mother had actually quit listening as the armor she saw shrunk down in front of her. She just watched as he strapped the thing around his waist. That's when it hit her, she had seen this for the past couple of years. She'd just assumed it was some new belt that he'd picked up, some kind of fashion trend. Although, that's probably what he wanted people to think.

"How..." was all she managed.

Her quirkless son chuckled, "All nanotechnology and the study of the conversion of mass to energy."

"But you just turned all of that...into a belt," she muttered.

"And shades," he said as he slid on what she'd come to know as his favorite accessory, "You can't forget the shades mom. They are actually the helmet piece and all of my neural networking runs through them."

All she could do once again was nod, her ignorance clearly established, "So, why are you showing me this?"

"Well," he blushed, "Tonight is her maiden voyage. It's all thanks to you that I've come this far mom. None of this would have ever been possible without you. It seemed wrong that you wouldn't be here for the first flight."

Inko had to wipe a few tears away, "So this is your first flight...wait a second, you're going to fly that thing? It's safe, right? RIGHT?!"

Izuku had to back up a few steps as his mother advanced on him, "Yeah, it's as safe as could be. I mean, I've run tons of simulations. Plus you'll be right here."

"What can I do!?" she questioned somewhat erratically.

He smiled, "Remember the mobile workstation I gave you for your birthday?"

His mother held up her wrist, "You mean the watch?"

Izuku sighed, "Yes, I mean your watch. Now activate it."

The quirkless boy watched as his mother slid her hand from the watch face up her arm creating a virtual keyboard and screen. She looked at him curious about what to do next.

He smirked, "Initiate project DEKU."

Inko frowned at the name. It was a hateful term that a childhood friend of her son had coined. The meaning behind it basically was that he was a loser, a failure. She would never dredge up a bitter memory like that by choice, but since the day he asked her if he could be a hero, he'd never let anything slow him down. He certainly wasn't affected by the words of a hot headed little punk.

The screen in front of his mother flashed and changed. Her home screen changed into a page full of statistics and vitals. She was no scientist, but she'd been around them long enough to make sense of most of this. Especially the bit with her son's name, 3D rendering, and vitals readying across the screen.

"From there you'll be able to monitor me while I'm in the suit. I'll have all the same readings, but I figured this might make you feel better," he smiled at her.

His mother did her best to return a weak smile, "Izuku, is it safe?"

Whenever her voice sounded so lost he couldn't help but give her the cold hard truth, "No less or more dangerous than the hero work I'll be doing in it."

That didn't make her feel better, "I'm scared, you're my baby, and… I want to support you. I want you to surpass even your own dreams, it's just..."

Izuku smiled and wiped away the tears his mother had cried, "I'd like to say I'm not a baby anymore, but I'd always like for you to think of me as your baby boy. I have to do this mom. I can't stop here and I need you to be okay with that, I need you to believe in me."

She nodded, "I know I won't always be with you on your journey, but I'm glad I could start it with you. I love you Izuku, and I believe in you. Now go, be a hero."

Izuku tapped the belt. As the armor morphed, and he let it envelop his body, the last thing his mother saw was his smiling face. In return, as his suit booted up, the first thing her son saw was her smile.

"Niko, systems on," Izuku commanded.

Lights illuminated throughout the seams of the suit. Separate parts of the suit opened and closed, air was vented, and layers of the armor shifted as all of the systems booted up. He watched his mother stare in amazement, he actually felt pretty proud himself.

"Good evening Izuku, all systems are go," announced his AI, Niko.

"Thank you Niko," he replied.

His mother gave him a funny look, having already noticed the anagram, "Is that my voice?"

"Uhhh, I might have set up recording devices in the house for the past year. Not to be creepy or anything, just to get your audio patterns down. Although, there were things I wish I'd never heard," Izuku was glad at that moment that his mother couldn't see his blush.

"Izuku!" she shouted with her face growing redder by the moment, "I-I-I'm a grown woman. We've already had this talk Izuku."

"I know mom, I know," he shouted as he began activating the repulsors in his feet, hands, and back. He really wanted to get the hell out of there.

A hatch above them opened, revealing the night sky, and with a quick salute he took off with her shouting after him, "We're going to have a serious talk about boundaries when you come back, mister!"

As he faded off into the distance she clutched her arms to her chest, "Please come back."

Izuku couldn't hear his mother, even though communication devices were all open and operational. He could barely hear the wind as he traveled at 120 miles per hour. He had to circle the same area that was considered a no-fly zone and used for testing for the facility. Luckily he had all the clearance codes for the airspace so as long as he stayed within the ten-mile radius he was fine.

It had taken some time to get used to flying. Izuku was glad that all he had to do at first was go up. He had to do some mid-flight calculations, adjusting thrust output in the arms for turns, reducing unnecessary energy burn in the feet, and controlling the back thrust for proper speed. Even though he had an automatic gyroscopic adjuster he spent some time manually keeping himself level, strictly for emergency purposes.

"Mom are you seeing this," came Izuku's voice through her terminal causing her to jump a bit.

"I can see it baby. You've done it, you've taken your first steps to becoming a hero," her praise sounded both joyous and sad somehow.

His reply came confident and strong, "I couldn't have done any of this without you mom. You made it all possible. You're my hero."

The view she saw stretched out over the waves as two more screens popped up for her to view. He had shared his GPS location with her along with his optical camera view. All her fear melted away for a moment as she heard her son whoop and holler. This was it, this was the beginning.

A/N: So there we have it. Before any of you rip into me for the obvious Iron Man thing, yeah I know. Still, it just seemed to work for me, but I mean come on. IronDeku, you had to suspect something. I wouldn't just rip off a hardening quirk, that's Kirishima's shtick. Now, how do you like the change in Izuku and his mother? We all saw her transition from the quiet housewife to the neurotic mess she becomes. I mean, I understood her gaining weight, but I swear she got shorter too. Anyways, this mom came with her ass stompin' boots.

A couple more things. I am planning on going with the red/gold color scheme. Now, I'm set on gold, but if you'd prefer something other than red, let me know. Also, I want some original ideas for weapons, let me know what you come up with.

And just for my enthusiastic guest, RandomDude, I'm going to have a small Ochaco X Bakugo side romance. There will be no other main romances but if you all want to see something then let me know.