Mei Hatsume arrived at U.A. with one very important goal: to keep her impulses under control.

There were many beautiful quirks among the students. They shone like stars, so blindingly bright that Mei could barely make out anyone's faces. Her stomach growled, a mental hunger strong enough to manifest physically. Mei had been hungry every single day since she'd been born. It settled into the back of her mind, a constant ache. She learned to ignore the pain because she could do nothing to end it.

Mei had her father's ability to steal quirks, but even stronger. She could take the quirk of anyone who she looked at. Sometimes she suspected her urges were even stronger than his, too. But that was no excuse, according to her quirk counselor.

Putting her head down, Mei walked faster through the school gates, hoping to make it to her lab quickly. She chanted under her breath, "I don't need quirks. I can make babies. The babies I make with my own two hands are even cooler. I don't need to steal from other people. I'm a good person."

Then Mei saw the brightest, most blindingly brilliant quirk of all. It completely wrapped around the boy, obscuring his whole body in a mixture of colors: green, white, yellow, blue, red, orange, pink, and purple. The colors formed the wispy outlines of eight ghostly figures. The blazing power was so strong, it overwhelmed every other quirk in the area.

It was beautiful. Mei wanted. She needed. She bit her teeth deep into her lower lip. Her stomach twisted and moaned as if being tortured. In a moment of pure, raw, visceral desperation, she took.

Oh, no. Mei had stolen a quirk, and she'd barely even gotten to U.A. The principal would be furious.

Except…nothing happened. Somehow, impossibly, the beautiful quirk resisted her tug and remained firmly planted in the boy.

His head shot around. Green eyes looked straight at Mei, hard and alarmed. Then his expression melted into a sheepish look. "Sorry, I didn't mean to glare at you. I could have sworn I felt something strange."

"It's okay," Mei said, full of an overwhelming relief. What had just happened? A quirk had never resisted her before.

"I'm Izuku Midoriya, what's your name?"

"Mei Hatsume." The first name was true. The last one was a lie, a cover identity.

"Are you a hero student too?"

"Oh, no. I could never do that." Mei would never be able to stand being in close proximity to so many powerful, stealable abilities. "I'm a support student. But I do love everyone's quirks, especially yours…" Her voice trailed off as she realized she had no good way to explain why she liked a quirk she hadn't seen used yet.

Izuku beamed. "Thank you! I've been analyzing everyone's quirks, too." He drew closer, lowering his voice. "Do you think Toru Hagakure's ability is true invisibility or light refraction?"

Mei's eyes lit up. "Well, define invisibility. We can't see her food in her stomach, so I assume she's refracting light."

The two of them walked into school together, chattering about quirks. The wonderful intellectual conversation calmed Mei's need to steal. Izuku was the first person she'd ever met who shared her fascination with quirks. Since she couldn't steal his ability, she wondered if it would be safe to stay by his side. Maybe she could make her very first friend.

Mei loved being in her work room (or, as she called it, the Mad Scientist Laboratory.) The clank of machinery comforted her. The smell of oil turned off her stomach, helping her temporarily forget her hunger. The tight walls made her feel safe, because she'd grown up in a small metal room. When she reached for her tools, all carefully organized so that she didn't even need to look to grab one, the touch of metal calmed her. She remembered the short, round doctor who had taught her how to organize her tools back when she'd been so small, she'd needed to stand on a stool to reach the work bench. Then she pushed the memory away. He'd worked for her father, so he'd been a bad man. The heroes who had found her had told her so. They'd saved her and taken her away from the villainous lair. She was grateful, she truly was. Even though every single day since then, she felt so very, very hungry.

Since today was Mei's first day at U.A., she focused on small projects to get to know her laboratory. She tinkered with her tools in order to suit them to her preferences. This included adding death rays to every socket wrench large enough to fit one, because all tools needed death rays. Mei worked alone. Even though most new students required teacher supervision, it was an official quirk accommodation from U.A. If Mei had been forced to be around quirks she couldn't steal all day, she didn't know how her sanity would survive.

Building babies helped. Her inventions were her family. They belonged to her, she could own them. Everyone told her that it was wrong to own people. She did not know how to befriend people without wanting to own them. But at least she had her babies.

After lunch, Mei focused on drafting her plan to turn the entire U.A. school into a massive Gundam-style robot. True, Principal Nezu had already rejected her idea. But if she showed him how cool it would look, she felt certain she could convince him.

The sun set, and Mei continued to work in her laboratory. She grew frantic to find excuses to stay later, new projects that needed to be completed. She could not yet face going outside and being surrounded by quirks she couldn't take.

When the door opened, Mei jumped in the air. Power Loader entered, grim-faced. "Hatsume, you'll want to sit down for this news."

"I'm busy," Mei said, carefully sketching a robot arm into her notebook.

"Please. Sit down."

Mostly to make him go away, Mei sat.

Power Loader cleared his throat. "All for One sent an agent into the school to kidnap you. The agent has some sort of stealth quirk. Mr. Aizawa glimpsed him briefly in the hallway, but then lost him. Please follow me, we'll take you to a safe room under the school. If the villain attacks you, then you're authorized to fight back, even including stealing his quirk—"

Mei's squeal shook the room. "I can steal a quirk? I can steal a quirk and it doesn't make me a bad person? No, no, stealing makes me bad. But you said I wouldn't be bad. I wouldn't be bad. I wouldn't be bad. I can take, and rend, and rip—just a little, please, just one quirk." She vibrated in her seat. Tears streamed down her face, but she was smiling. Between alternating sobs and laughter, she choked out the words: "Quirk! Quirk! Quirk! Quirk!"

Face concerned, Power Loader backed away. "You shouldn't need to fight the villain, we teachers will protect you—"

But Mei had already shot past him in a pink blur.

Swearing, Power Loader ran after her.

An unseen villain slipped out of the school building. Unfortunately, he'd been spotted by a teacher who could disable quirks. He needed to sneak into the support department from a different direction, perhaps using a window.

Yoshimune Nakanishi had always been a small-time villain. Then the great All for One had approached him and swapped out his weak ability for a powerful, near-invisible stealth. He'd been instructed to tell no one about this, not even his family. Yoshimune felt flattered beyond measure to have been chosen for a mission by the Symbol of Evil himself. All he had to do was kidnap a schoolgirl, and he'd be rewarded beyond his wildest dreams. How hard could it be?

As if in answer to his question, the tool shed outside groaned, then rose off the ground. The roof shingles fell off as it arranged itself into a giant robot. Glowing eyes fixed on Yoshimune, their heat-detection seeing through his quirk. Then the robot pounced, pinning him down with one massive hand.

A pink-haired girl leapt off the robot's back. "Excellent work, my baby. Together, we're unstoppable." She patted the robot's leg. Unholy glowing eyes fixed on Yoshimune. Her hair was a wild bird's nest. Fingers curled into claws. Her face had been streaked with old tears, but she grinned like a maniac. In a mad, rabid voice, she screamed, "QUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUIRK!"

He passed out from terror, barely even feeling his new power yanked away.

Mei Hatsume stood before the principal's desk with her head lowered.

Nezu said, "I told you not to turn the school into a Gundam robot."

Raising her eyes, she said, "But you never told me that I couldn't turn a tool shed into a robot."

"I believe that was implied."

She lowered her head again.

Nezu cleared his throat. "Still, you did well to capture the villain. I especially enjoyed how you gave Power Loader a mental breakdown. Your robot was delightfully chaotic and effective. As for your school blueprints…I'll consider them."

She pumped her fist in victory. "Is there someone for me to give the stealth quirk to?"

"I'll allow you to keep it. I did give permission, after all." Nezu felt concern over Mei's quirk urges. They'd yet to come up with a legal and ethical way for her to satisfy them. Surely one quirk would help at least a little. He did not understand why she hung her head and looked sad as she left.

Sitting on his demon king replica throne, All for One checked his messages. He chuckled at the entirely predictable news of Yoshimune Nakanishi's capture. He'd picked a Nakanishi because their family could always be counted on to screw up any mission. All for One's real purpose had been achieved—his dear daughter had stolen a quirk. His plan to take her back from her abductors was going perfectly.

All for One knew his daughter would not be able to play hero forever. Unlike Yoichi, she'd inherited his need to take and own. And the heroes were making it even worse, with their stupid policies centering around refusing to use quirks, not understanding them.

The heroes did not know the true nature of Mei's quirk urges. They believed she only had the urge to take, like All for One. But All for One's quirk had been bastardized from absorbing part of his twin brother's power in the womb, making the taking side stronger. Poor Yoichi had possessed giving urges, as All for One had later realized, which explained much of his foolishness in retrospect. Mei had both the need to take and the need to give.

Being unable to take any quirks would have already been a torment to Mei. But holding a quirk inside her while being unable to give it away would be even worse. Possessing a new power would keep her version of All for One constantly active. That would only make her urges even harder to control. Her coping mechanisms would no longer work. The quirk ghosts would appear. It would drive her mad. Madder.

The foolish, cruel heroes would not teach her anything except how to suppress herself. If she kept that up, sooner or later, she'd break. Then he'd be there to pick up the pieces.

OMAKE TIME!

Mei: MUHAHAHAHA! Giant robots and stealing quirks!

Aoyama: (Crying) Why did I receive secret orders to befriend this nutjob?

#

Mei: I've never heard of One for All. Well, my dad might have said something about that once, but I tuned him out whenever he started talking about fighting off rats as a baby.

All for One: Hey, how are babies surviving on the streets more unrealistic than your Gundam?

Mei: It's not about the realism, the story just didn't have enough death lasers to interest me.

#

All for One: I'm going to get my daughter back.

Garaki: I think of her as our daughter.

All for One: Why is this the only AU where you love my kid more than me?

Garaki: Because she was the most brilliant scientific mind I ever met! I felt honored to be her teacher. Please, little Mei, come back! Don't leave me stuck with this moron who can't even tell a capacitator from a conductor.

All for One: Hey! Isn't a conductor that guy who I murdered for trying to collect my train fare?

#

Mei: I love quirks!

Izuku: Me, too. They're beautiful and versatile and cool.

Mei: I could talk about them all day. On an unrelated note, my dad sucks.

Izuku: Me, too!

Shouto: Are you sure you're not siblings?

Mei: I wish I had a sibling.

Izuku: So did I, maybe—

Mei: Dad said if I had a sibling then I would be allowed to lock them up and steal their quirk. It's okay when it's family.

Izuku: Maybe Todoroki should stick to the dadmight theory.

#

Second: Mini-All for One keeps trying to steal One for All.

Yoichi: Hey! I resent that comparison. My adorable niece has a much stronger ability than stupid All for One. She deserves a few of our quirks. My hero, can't she at least borrow Gearshift? Please?

Second: Your nepotism has gotten out of control.