Soldier Boy landed hard on his back and winced. His back had been bugging him all day and this didn’t help. He planned to use the advice he often gave the Conquistadors when they got banged up during training, nut up and walk it off. He looked up at his assailant. Danny McClain looked down at him.

"You’re pretty good," Soldier Boy said. "Not the best I’ve ever seen mind you. That would be either Pit Viper or Jade Dragon, but still you got some moves." He hauled himself to his feet and paced a bit. Nut up and walk it off. "What else you got to show me?" Danny kept himself facing Soldier Boy, ready to react if need be. "I've got a really stellar bunch of memorabilia from the 70's ya might be keen ta see," Danny replied brightly, left hand circling just a bit. He was wearing a Smiths tshirt and jogging shorts, feet bare on the bright blue mat. "Emmm... there's also me new iPhone?"

"Smart ass."

Danny snickered. "Judo isn't really much fer leaping and karate choppin ya know. It's reactive. Defensive. Let's the other bloke make a right fool of himself and end up on his arse. If I were ta come at ya, ya'd probably put me down pretty damn fast."

Soldier Boy nodded. "It's a defense that most of the team should learn a little bit. Thanks for taking the ball on that. It'll help a lot."

Danny nodded. "If only ya could get my hard-headed cousin ta come learn a bit, I'd feel a lot better. Heatwave is provin' ta be an apt pupil, but I'd like ta teach everyone, especially the emm.... well. Ya know what I mean I'm thinkin." Danny began to circle around Soldier Boy slowly, keeping his body at an angle to not give the much larger and stronger man as good a target as he would were they facing each other straight on.

"So, you just know a bunch of ways to throw a guy to the ground? Is that about it? What if you had to really take someone down?" Soldier Boy spun around and kicked for Danny's crotch. Danny smacked it aside, but it wasn't done casually. While Soldier Boy may have been down a pretty rough road, he still had some moves of his own. "Sure, and I could do that were it needed." Danny replied, eyes narrowed as he watched for Soldier Boy's next attack. "But ya know, I'd rather..."

Smoke, black and thick leapt from his body, an indigo explosion that was quite startling for it being so unexpected. It filled the space that the young man had been standing in, boiling, an impenetrable soup of night.

Soldier Boy heard a sound then that raised all the hairs on the back of his neck. A basso snarl that snuck in around all his reason and experience, tapping into some older part of the brain. "Run," it said. "...run monkey. Run now, run for the trees..." The black smoke was gone.

So was Danny McClain.

In his place stood the biggest goddamn black wolf, or dog, or... or... something that Soldier Boy had ever seen. It was the size of a small horse, with finger length fangs and eyes that actually gleamed red, even in the well lit gymnasium. Slaver dripped from the creatures fangs onto the bright mat with audible plops, and it's black lips pulled back even further in a smile that would have sent Little Red Riding Hood running back home to mama, all thoughts of Grandma and baked goods fled. The creature was circling the way Danny had been, the growl liquid and warm, eyes burning.

"Jeezus!" Soldier Boy jumped back a few feet, a look of surprise on his face. Then he laughed. "Damn, son, that's a good one. Can you talk in that form? If you can it could make a brave man drop a turd. Seriously."

The dog snapped it's jaws together twice, thin ropes of spittle dripping from its lips. Soldier Boy got the impression, and God knows from where, that it was grinning at him.

"Okay, I got another question for you. What if..." Soldier Boy lunged for Danny, grabbed him around his canine torso and held on tight.

The dog let out a surprised yelp as Soldier Boy snatched it up off the mat with ease. It thrashed one or twice, and then there was that explosion of smoke, and it was gone in a flurry of wingbeats. A blue-black raven fluttered up and away, coming to rest upon one of the basketball hoops several yards across the room. It cocked it's head at Soldier Boy and let out a flustered "SKRAWK!!!"

"What's the matter? Puppy don't like to wrassle?" Soldier Boy laughed. He hadn't had this much fun in ages. "You're a weird one, ain't ya? That's good. Keeps the bad guys off balance. You got any other forms I should know about?"

The raven hopped off the hoop, dropping into and expanding cloud of ebon vapor. By the time it hit the floor, it was a man once more, but the vapor continued to writhe and twist about it's shape, twin acetylene bright specks of red flared where the eyes would be. "Oh sure, I'm the weird one," said Danny, the lilting voice contrasting sharply with the ominous appearance. "This from the guy with what, sixteen action figures now?" Danny took an arcing approach towards the old hero picking up speed as he  came. "And I know this because I've got every one of em." Danny's fist went back, trailing tendrils of black, then shot out and caught the older man square in the solar plexus.

Soldier Boy could tell a good old fashioned punch when he saw one, and that's what he saw. No Judo at work here, just the power of whatever lay in the younger man, channeled into raw strength. The blow had been guided enough to land, and land well, but that was all. And damned if it didn't take a bit of the wind out of the old hero at that. He found himself lifted off the floor and tumbling to the mat a dozen feet away, catching himself as he did so and rolling up out of it with practiced ease (and a twinge from his left leg).

"Ya know," Danny said, standing there like his own personal forest fire. "I've never hit anythin' that hard in my life. And yet there ya stand bold as brass." The smoky head shook back and forth, crimson eyes burning like tiny stars. "Amazin'."

"Damned right, amazing." Soldier Boy figured Danny didn't need to know that he threw up in his mouth a little, and he tried not to pant. Nut up, walk it off. "Okay, a question... a real question this time. Your code name. What the fuck is a Paladin?" Soldier Boy leapt toward Danny, pivoted around on the heel of his hand and kicked Danny's feet out from under him.

The smoky figure tumbled to the ground, the sound of something going 'snap' plainly audible to both men. "Christ Jesus on the fuckin cross!" Danny snarled, rolling away and up onto one unsteady leg, both hands holding the other down at the knee. "Ya cheap bastard," he pant-laughed. "Ya broke me leg ya pillock." He continued to hop back, panting.

"Are you fucking kidding me? I didn't even hit you that hard." Soldier Boy looked around nervously. "Are we going to have to call JACE down here, or can you handle it?" The black smoke around Danny McClain seemed to roil a bit faster. "It's handled," Danny replied, releasing his grip on his leg and dropping his foot back to the floor. "There's a lot I can do," he continued, head tilted to one side as he regarded the older man. 'But I can't do it all once. I can get tough, or strong, or fast. I can poison ya, leech yer stamina or blind ya. Aye, sure and I can. Or take one of those love taps of yours and shrug it off. I just need a wee bit of time ta figure out the best thing ta do." The amused lilt was back in his voice, and from out of the smoke that surrounded him, wicked looking barbs and thorns could now be seen covering his whole body. He made a beckoning gesture with one barbed hand as he relaxed into a fighting stance.

"And I think I've got you right sussed boyo." he laughed.

"Ooh, scary with the... porcupine thing." Soldier Boy was getting winded. He tried not to let it show. Maybe he could buy a moment to catch his breath. "What kind of thing you got going on there? You a mutant? This some kind of family curse? What's up?" Danny began walking towards the sweating hero. "I have no idea," he said again picking up speed in that looping sort of run-up he'd done earlier, ribbons of smoke trailing after. There was a blur of hands and feet, and then the younger man was wrapped around the older, a coolness seeping into Soldier Boys limbs wherever there was contact.

When he was younger, Soldier Boy could rely on his strength to break from such holds. Now, with his strength diminished, that wasn't such a sure thing. He tested Danny's strength and skill, but was unable to break free. Whatever Danny was doing to him was draining his stamina. He felt tired and he despaired. Then he remembered he was Soldier Boy. "Fuckity fuck, fuck, fuck!" He burst from Danny's hold, stumbled forward a few feet and then fell to his hands and knees.

Danny leapt back, wary, shaking out his arms. The spike things faded away, blending with the smoke pouring from his body and vanishing as though never there. "It's a kinda anesthetic-y thing." He said by way of explanation, keeping his eye on Soldier Boy in case this was a trick. The man had lifted tanks, one in each hand; breaking free from Danny's mundane skill at Judo couldn't have proven that big a challenge, could it? The burning, unblinking mini-nova eyes were watchful, waiting.

Worthless old man. Back in his youth Soldier Boy once battled Armageddon for nearly an hour. Now he couldn't endure a brief training session. Worthless. He probably should have laid there until his strength was fully back, but he stumbled to his feet as quickly as he could. He said nothing to Danny and refused to face him. He knew that if he saw a trace of pity on Danny's face he'd have to murder the Lucky Charms son of a bitch.

"So what's yer verdict, Mr. trainer-man?" Danny asked finally. After Soldier Boys breathing sounded less laboured. Sure and he was glad that the team trainer couldn't see through the black of his power. "I await yer wisdom."

Once his breathing had returned to normal, Soldier Boy said, "You'll do." Then he left. Danny stood there a moment, the black smoke steaming off and vanishing at the sound of the door to the gym closing. "Ya know," he said to no one in particular as he tested his leg a bit, putting some weight on it and seeming pleased with the results. "They say that a lot around here." He snorted, then headed towards the showers, wondering when all the martyrs that inhabited this team would come to their senses and let him help them.

Probably never.