Heroes: Empathic Mimicry

Empathic mimicry is the ability to duplicate the abilities of other evolved humans within proximity and reproduce them at will.

Characters

 * Peter Petrelli originally possessed this ability, but it was stolen by Arthur Petrelli.
 * Arthur Petrelli stole this ability from Peter Petrelli.

Limits
Peter possessed an empathic ability that allowed him to duplicate or "absorb" the abilities of other evolved humans near him. As of Dying of the Light, his father Arthur has stolen this ability from him. Originally, Peter had to concentrate very hard to think about the person from whom he received his ability. Eventually, he was able to use this ability almost as second nature and occasionally without even knowing the person from whom he received the ability.

The exact range at which mimicry occurs is not known, but Peter could mimic Claude's ability from at least several meters away. He could duplicate Claude's ability almost immediately upon coming within range. Whether the maximum distance and minimum time is the same to mimic any ability is uncertain. Peter did not necessarily have to see other people's abilities in use to absorb them. In The Hard Part, Peter began to absorb Ted Sprague's ability even though Ted had not used it in his presence. Also, he abosrbed at least two abilities on Kirby Plaza during his fight with Sylar: Niki's enhanced strength and D.L.'s phasing. Niki was standing right next to him, but D.L. was much farther away. It has to be at this point that he absorbs D.L.'s ability, as Peter had never encountered D.L. before and never encountered D.L. again before his death. If this is so, he may also have absorbed Molly's clairvoyance and Micah's technopathy, but he has never displayed these abilities.