by Danny, Grimm and T5
Okay, Danny... you want to play hero? Danny Hearn thought to himself as he saw the powerful gang of metavillains rapidly approach. You want to pretend that you can do anything useful for this team? Now's the time.
Danny said, "Tiger claws," softly. Hal quickly complied, and Danny felt his hands stretch, contort, seize with pain, leaving him with deadly, razor-sharp tiger claws.
He quickly spun around, surveying the field. One of the competitors caught his eye. At first, he was a man, an ordinary man. The kind of man you wouldn't give a second glance to on the street. And he saw Danny look at him. He grinned a superior, threatening grin. And Dr. Zachary Knell started to change.
The doctor closed his eyes for a moment, savouring the rush of power, enjoying the fact that he could do this -- and most importantly, undo it -- whenever he wanted.
Scales shot up and down his body, covering his skin. He felt his muscles expand, pulsate, gaining strength, claws, teeth, eyes. Reptilian all over. And he grinned at Danny.
A moment ago, he looked human, Danny thought. But that was a moment ago, and this is now. A lot can happen in a moment. What is he now? Lizard? Man? I'll bet that not even HE knows. Man, animal, both, neither. Trapped in a state of non-being. Confusing those around him. Confused himself. Not man, not animal. Unsure of his place in the world. Unsure of his species. Unsure of his place in his team. Sounds familiar.
Danny started to run, launching himself forward at Knell, his claws outstretched, aiming for his opponent's eyes. He jumped.
And Knell swiped at him, swinging his huge forearm into Danny's chest. Danny felt all the air rush out of him, and quite possibly also one of his ribs snapping. He slumped to the ground and winced in pain.
In an effort to protect the wounded Danny, Grimm pounced on the reptilian scientist, battering him with repeated jackhammer blows, his anger at being constantly attacked coming out.
Dr. Knell was briefly stunned by the sheer ferocity of the attack, but his reptilian hide was proving more resilient than he had expected. He maneuvered his legs beneath the large being and flipped him over and off of him.
Grimm crashed into a rock formation. He quickly jumped up to his feet and removed his axe from its resting place. He screamed inarticulately and charged at Knell, who was momentarily taken back by the ferocity of this newcomer.
"What isss thisss?" Knell muttered. "I thought thessse men consssidered themssselvesss heroesss. He fightsss more like one of usss!"
Ma Kalunga saw Tobias Christopher starting to accelerate to help his friends, and so quickly put him in a giant rat wheel with thousands of little metal bells that clinged every time he took a step. The noise was deafening. But only within the wheel, and it was closed with a force field.
Pete "the Chimp" Glover stood helplessly nearby, wondering what he should do.
Danny, wounded and still on the ground, thought to himself, I'm never going to overpower any of these guys. I don't have enough control over my powers. I can't do enough things at once. I'll need to think... outsmart them... soon as I can get up... any second now... the world is going fuzzy. Why is the world going fuzzy...?