Disclaimer: I do not own Sky High or its characters, settings etc, all of which belong to Disney. Original characters and concepts belong to me.

A/N: I should mention that I've taken some liberties with the science of genetics in this story – so, apologies to the purists, and to those who know better, but this is science fiction after all….

Chapter 4: Changeling

Late one night, about ten weeks after the volcano incident, Layla woke to see Warren sitting on the edge of the bed with his back to her, taking his boots off. Evidently he'd just got home from bowling with Will.

"Hey, how did it go?" she greeted him sleepily.

"Cool," he replied without turning around. "I kicked his butt."

That was curious, she thought with a slight frown. Usually their scores were quite close. She was about to ask what was wrong with Will when one of his arms came into her view and she couldn't help noticing the pyro tattoo on his wrist.

He had got his powers back!

She gave a wry smile as she wondered what sort of catastrophe he'd walked into this time in order to power up again. To be fair, though, it wasn't like he'd spent the past six weeks looking for dangerous situations, something she'd been afraid of ever since she'd heard about Meredith's last-chance-life-or-death-scenario theory. It seemed that Warren had got quite a scare from his run-in with Incendiary when his powers didn't return automatically at a time he thought the situation demanded it, and the fact that he'd got hurt also helped to make him more cautious. So, actually there was a good chance that this had been a legitimate crisis.

"Anything else interesting happen?" she asked playfully.

"Uh, no." His reply was almost defensive.

Layla reached over to touch his tattooed wrist in order to make her point, and then suddenly pulled back as she realized that something wasn't quite right. Even without actually touching him she could tell that his body temperature was still normal human level, nowhere near high enough for a pyro.

And yet he had the tattoos. This was starting to get very odd.

Fortunately, with his back to her, he didn't see her aborted gesture. She slid out of bed and quickly pulled her robe over her nightgown.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Just going to the bathroom, lovey-dove," Layla replied lightly, trying to make her voice sound normal despite her growing concern. There was no reaction to being called something so sappy, which only added to her suspicion.

Staring at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, Layla tried to force herself to breathe normally as she mentally ran through the possibilities of what might be going on. She thought back to when she'd watched the security footage of herself under Hypnotic's control, and remembered what the others had suggested was wrong with her… alien parasite… shape-shifter… evil twin… and of course, there was always the possibility of more mind control drugs…

She took a deep breath and went back to the bedroom with a quick detour to fetch something from her purse. One of those options was quite easy to test, as Kate had pointed out at the time, and if her guess was wrong, at least he wouldn't be able to hurt her with his powers.

With her bedside plant under her control and ready to attack, she went straight up to him and snapped the neutralizing bracelet she'd fetched from her purse around his wrist. Before he could even finish morphing back into himself, she had him completely immobilized and strung upside down from the light fitting in honeysuckle.

Layla activated her alarm to call the rest of the Guardians and went into the living room to open the balcony door so that Will could fly right in. She took another slow breath and returned to the bedroom, glaring at the captive shape-shifter who was struggling to escape from the cocoon without success.

"Just be grateful it's not poison ivy," she snapped coldly. "What are you doing here and where is Warren?"

Jerry Holme, a.k.a. Carbon Copy Kid, gave her a leer as best he could from his current position. "So you finally figured it out after all these months. Well, you enjoyed it while it lasted, didn't you?"

Layla's breath caught in her throat as her brain briefly considered the possibility that he might be telling the truth, before completely discarding the notion. There was no way he could have been masquerading as her husband any longer than the past few minutes. He was just trying to mess with her head.

"I only did it because I'm in love with you," the shape-shifter continued, "It's the only way I would have had a chance with you."

She rolled her eyes and muttered one of Warren's favorite Chinese expletives. She wasn't entirely sure what it meant and her accent was probably horrible, but she was pretty sure it wasn't too bad, and besides it helped her to get her anger under control a bit. If she didn't calm down very soon she might just give in to the temptation to do nasty things to the intruder using the thorny rosebush on the windowsill…

Fortunately at that point the others arrived.

"Where's Will?" Layla asked as she let them in the door.

They looked confused. "I would have thought he'd be here first," said Ethan.


Warren's first thought on groggily returning to consciousness was that he was going to kill Stronghold for taking advantage of his lack of powers to get him drunk. Alcohol had a minimal effect on pyros because it just burned up thanks to their high body temperature, along with all kinds of germs, bacteria and viruses. However, without his powers, he had a pretty low tolerance, as they'd discovered on New Years' the previous year when his so-called friends had managed to get him, well, extremely mellow. The next morning, he'd felt a lot like he did at the moment, and it had taken almost a week for him to forgive Stronghold, the main instigator of his suffering.

But, as the memories came back to him in a hazy sequence, he remembered that he couldn't actually put the blame for his current misery on Will, who possibly felt as awful as he did.

Stronghold had phoned him in the afternoon, from a payphone for some reason, to invite him to go bowling after dinner. They'd met in the parking lot next to the bowling alley and were going in when they spotted a little girl on her own, crying. It was dark by then so, being the permanently-on-duty heroes that they were, they'd gone over to her to ask if she was lost or something, and could they take her home.

After that, his memories were a bit jumbled. As far as he could remember, they were jumped from behind by a group of super-strong ninjas armed with heavy power-neutralizing restraints and some sort of anesthetic drug. Actually, it was quite embarrassing how easily they'd been taken down. It was the old thing of being caught off-guard and without the backup they were so accustomed to.

"Warren?" groaned Will, sounding like he did feel as bad as him.

"Mmm?"

"Have you opened your eyes yet?"

"Can't face it."

"You'd better."

With a lot of effort he forced his eyes open. He could see straight away why Will thought he needed to see this.

They were in a huge room with a high ceiling and blank walls, possibly underground. There was a large mirror at one end which was almost definitely one-way glass, and there appeared to be a door in the perpendicular wall, not far from where they were. The two of them were surrounded by four octagonal pillars made of a dark metal, and there were more arranged in a uniform grid of about four yards apart, throughout the room.

Will got to his feet a little unsteadily and headed towards the door, but when he tried to walk between two of the columns, he abruptly came into contact with some sort of invisible wall and he jumped back in pain. For a moment they could see a shimmering in the air, like heat haze, between the columns. Will cautiously tested the spaces between the adjacent columns on either side while Warren did the same for the gap nearest him, which showed that the four nearest pillars were the corners of a cage around them. The invisible force fields made effective sidewalls, delivering a painful jolt, almost like an electric shock, on contact.

Rubbing his sore fingers, Warren caught sight of a broad metal bracelet around his right wrist, and he pushed up his jacket sleeve to take a closer look. At first he thought it might be some kind of neutralizing restraint, considering it was solid metal and evidently opened by biometric scanner only, but neutralizers weren't usually personalized. There was a raised panel which was engraved with his name and listed his powers, and next to each one on the list there was a small light which was off. He glanced over at Will and saw that he was wearing one too, and the lights on his were off too. So, evidently whatever it was, it wasn't able to tell that he didn't have his powers. There was also a keypad of sorts on the panel and some other button controls.

A man in a lab coat entered the door carrying a PC tablet on which he was making notes. He was probably in his fifties, with slightly graying hair and beard, and an air of intelligence.

"Don't worry, gentlemen, the effects of the drug will wear off shortly and you will soon be feeling your normal selves again."

"Actually, I'm feeling a lot better already, thanks," said Will sarcastically, pulling back his fist to punch out the nearest pillar. As he did so, a look of excited anticipation came over the face of their captor, and Warren grabbed Stronghold's arm before he could do anything. "What?"

"Don't do that. It's what he wants."

Will dropped his arm and looked at the man. "Who are you and what's going on here?"

"I am Dr. Percival Shelley," answered the scientist. "Welcome to the Prometheus Project, gentlemen."

"Prometheus?" Will asked.

"Ancient Greek guy, I think," said Warren.

Dr. Shelley gave a slight smile. "According to legend, Prometheus was the titan who stole fire from the gods and gave its secret to man, thus beginning man's enlightenment and civilization."

"Uh huh?" replied Will. "And how does this relate to us?"

"Like Prometheus, I intend to steal the secret of fire from you."

"How?" asked Warren suspiciously.

"Your DNA. As your more intellectual colleagues may have told you, the gene responsible for superpowers has not yet been located, despite years of research. My theory is that the location varies from person to person, but that there must be an overall predictable pattern."

Warren cleared his throat. "Could we cut through the technobabble and get to the part about us?" he suggested quite sarcastically. "Sorry if that sounds a bit self-centered."

Shelley was unfazed by his tone, and continued calmly, "You are the final step in my experiment. I thought I had all I would need when I received a DNA sample for each of you from my protégé, who happens to be moonlighting as a superhero here in Metrocity. But after research on those samples failed, I came to the conclusion that it needs to be activated in order for the pattern to become clear. In other words, this can't be done on a microscope slide. I need my subjects to power up in order for me to see which genes are involved – a strange quirk that has never been recorded in genetic research to date, but there you have it. It would certainly explain why conventional science has not been able to locate the 'super' gene yet."

"So I'm guessing this is where the bracelets come in?" said Will, gesturing with his right wrist.

"Yes, I have spent the past two months designing those. They are highly advanced biosensors which will record exactly which genes are activated by which of your powers."

The two heroes exchanged a glance. The scientist evidently was under the impression that Warren had his powers. Apparently the lack of pyro tattoos hadn't tipped him off.

Will had a sudden thought. "You were the one who tried to break into the DNA Vault."

"Yes, that was another of my assistants. You see, some time ago I was banned from the Vault and the other official resources of this hospital on account of my methods being too … extreme. Fortunately, there are those among the National Council of Superheroes who, like me, believe that an overdose of morals and ethics can stand in the way of scientific progress, and so I was allowed to continue my work down here, in secret. But, whatever the powers that be might think of my practices, I am not cruel. I am willing to make a very fair deal: power up and give me the information I need, and you can go."

"Yeah, right," Warren muttered.

"Quick question, Doc," said Will. "What are you planning to do with the info? Somehow I don't think this is all for a Nobel Prize."

"Or for the good of mankind, like the original Prometheus," added Warren.

"Oh, this is for the good of mankind, ultimately," replied Shelley, getting quite excited now. "The human race is a mess; you can't deny that. The only solution to the madness of wars and greed is for there to be a higher authority governing the entire planet, and the only way that authority is going to be enforced is for their agents to be more powerful than everybody else, even the super-powered people. So once I know the genes for your powers I will be able to extrapolate for all kinds of powers and we will be able to engineer a league of super protectors who will make this world a safe place for all."

Will and Warren shared a concerned look as he carried on waxing lyrical about his grand scheme. For all Dr. Shelley had appeared at first to be perfectly lucid, he was now proving himself to be just as unhinged as the average mad scientist trying to take over the world, whatever his motivation.


They all looked out the open balcony door for a moment, as if expecting Will to come flying in. Kate took out her phone and dialed his number using the emergency ring tone. While she was waiting for a response, Ethan asked what was going on and Layla led them into the bedroom to see for themselves.

"What the hell's he doing here?" asked Magenta and then she realized what the shape-shifter had been up to and gave him a glare. "Bottom-feeding scumbag."

"Will's not answering," reported Kate, looking worried as she hung up. "Absolutely nothing keeps him from answering a distress call." She glared at Holme. "So, where are they?"

"Where are who?" he replied. "What makes you think Stronghold's got anything to do with this?"

"Don't bother," said Layla to Kate. "We're not going to get a straight answer out of him."

Holme made an extremely unpleasant comment about Layla that caused her to blush and Magenta to give him a hefty whack across the jaw. Ethan took a syringe out of his medical bag and sedated the shape-shifter before he could cause any more trouble. When he was safely unconscious Layla released him from the honeysuckle, dumping him less than gently on the floor.

Maj took out her PDA. "Neither of their location beacons is giving a signal, which means that they've either been destroyed or they're out of range."

Layla looked at the bedside clock. It read 12:53, much later than she'd realized. "He left soon after 8 to go bowling with Will. That's nearly five hours ago."

"They could be almost anywhere by now, even out of the country if their captors have got a fast enough aircraft," said Ethan.

Meanwhile Kate was on her phone again. "Hi Josie, sorry to wake you. Could you fly over here to Warren and Layla's place quickly? … Is he awake? … No, please don't wake him, rather just come by yourself … See you soon, bye." She hung up and asked Layla a bit hesitantly, "By the way, how did you work out he wasn't really Warren?"

"A couple of little things. Mostly because he had the tattoos, as if Warren had got his powers back, but not the body temperature for a pyro."

"But why did he have the tattoos when he morphed into Warren when the real Warren doesn't?" asked Ethan.

"Well, evidently he can't just mimic whoever he sees," said Magenta.

"Or touches, like the T-1000," put in Zach.

Maj continued, "It's more like he shifts into whatever he perceives the person to be. And Warren was no doubt wearing his jacket so he couldn't see that he didn't have the tattoos."

"Which means that whoever Holme is working for, they probably don't know that Warren doesn't have his powers," remarked Ethan.

Just then Josie flew in the open balcony door. "What's happened?"

They showed her their unconscious captive. "He's a shape-shifter," explained Ethan. "He tried to pretend he was Warren."

Josie went over to Layla and gave her a comforting hug. "Oh, honey, are you all right?"

"I'm fine, thanks. I worked it out quite quickly."

"So somebody's kidnapped Warren." Josie said and turned to Kate. "This is very serious. Why did you ask me to not bring Steve?"

"Because Will's missing too." Josie reacted with understandable shock, and Kate went on with her explanation. "Holme wasn't being very helpful and I'm afraid Steve might just rip him limb from limb to get him to talk."

"Tempting," commented Maj as an aside to Layla.

"You're right. He probably would," admitted Josie to Kate, and then she sighed, looking as worried as the rest of them. "Not that I'd really blame him for wanting to. Do you know anything about where Will and Warren might be?"

"At the moment, Holme is our only lead," Ethan replied.

"More like a dead end, man," said Zach gloomily, giving the unconscious shape-shifter a sharp nudge with his foot.

Ethan had to agree. "It's going to be very difficult getting any information out of him at all. It will be pointless trying to use any kind of threats because he's got no need to be afraid of us."

Josie nodded. "Because we're the good guys, we can't do anything to hurt him in any way."

"Yeah, and the trouble is, he knows that," said Magenta.


"Okay, so we know we're in Metrocity then," said Will. "What else?"

Dr. Shelley had left them soon after he'd finished his taking-over-the-world-for-its-own-good monologue, and they were trying to work out if they'd learnt anything useful from the conversation.

They were sitting with their backs to the one-way glass panel. As far as they could tell, there was no other surveillance equipment in the room, which sometimes happened in covert facilities where there was a danger of someone from outside tapping into the security camera network and finding evidence of what was going on.

Warren added, "From the sounds of things, somewhere underground beneath the hospital."

"I can't believe Brett Simmonds would sell out to the bad guys like this," commented Will with a frown.

"Look, the doc said his 'protégé' is a Metrocity superhero who was close enough to us to take a DNA sample a bit over two months ago, and there's only one other person who fits that description. You don't think it's her, do you?"

"Amber? No, of course not. I just meant that, you know, Simmonds is a real jerk but I wouldn't think he'd go that far."

"Guess he's more of a jerk than we realized. Alternatively he might also be delusional enough to think this plan is for the 'good of mankind'." He glanced over and noticed that Will seemed to be trying to get a hand-hold on his biosensor bracelet. "What are you doing?"

"Look, it'll only take a split second to rip this thing off and then – "

He was cut off mid-sentence by Warren pulling a neutralizer out of some hidden pocket of his jacket and snapping it around his left wrist.

"And in that split second, you could give him all the information he needs."

Will sighed and reluctantly agreed. He took the neutralizer off his wrist and put it around his ankle instead where it would be hidden from the scientist's view under his jeans.

"So, you just happened to be carrying one of these things around with you to go bowling?"

Warren shrugged. "Since the fight with Incendiary, I carry one everywhere these days." Not that it had helped much when they'd been attacked by Shelley's ninjas.

Will punched the nearest pillar in frustration and instantly regretted it. "Man, I hate this not being able to use my powers!" he exclaimed, rubbing his sore hand.

"Welcome to my world," replied Warren quietly.