Jelo clung desperately to the ladder as the mad scientist rushed at him with frightening speed, his body moving with a manic energy that seemed almost inhuman. The collision was violent and jarring—the scientist slammed into the ladder with his full weight, causing the entire metal structure to shake violently against the wall it was mounted to. The impact reverberated through Jelo's arms and shoulders, nearly breaking his grip on the rungs.

The scientist wasn't content with just destabilizing him. His hands shot out and gripped the ladder with unnatural strength, fingers clamping onto the metal with a force that made the structure groan audibly. He began pushing against it, trying to force Jelo down

Jelo's muscles strained as he tried to maintain his position, but the ladder was shaking so violently that holding on was becoming impossible. Besides, forcing the hatch open was completely pointless now.

Before he could lose his grip entirely and fall in an uncontrolled manner, Jelo made a tactical decision. He let go of the ladder deliberately, dropping to the metallic floor below with bent knees to absorb the impact. He rolled immediately upon landing, using his momentum to carry himself away from the base of the ladder and back to his feet behind the scientist's current position.

He barely had time to react, to set his stance properly, before the scientist spun around with inhuman quickness and attacked again. The man moved far faster than Jelo had expected from someone who looked so degraded and unstable.

Jelo raised his arms defensively, trying to block or deflect the blows, but the scientist's attacks kept finding gaps in his guard. Then Jelo noticed something, the scientist was wearing some kind of mechanical glove on his right hand, a device that hummed to life with a high-pitched whine as energy gathered within it.

The glove discharged suddenly, firing a concentrated laser blast directly at Jelo's chest. The impact was devastating, the energy striking him with tremendous force and lifting him completely off his feet. His body flew backward uncontrollably, smashing into the wall with bone-jarring impact that drove the air from his lungs and made his vision blur from the shock.

Jelo struggled back up, his body screaming in protest from the damage he'd just absorbed. He tried to fight back, to activate Dragon Claw and unleash a counterattack that would drive the scientist away and give him space to recover. But something felt wrong. Terribly wrong.

His body felt heavy, sluggish in a way that had nothing to do with fatigue or injury. It was like moving through thick syrup, every motion requiring far more effort than it should. And worse, his abilities were unresponsive. When he reached for his power, tried to summon the familiar surge of energy that should accompany Dragon Claw, there was nothing there. Just emptiness where his abilities should have been.

He attempted to use his power again, concentrating harder this time, trying to force the activation through sheer willpower. But it failed completely. The power simply wouldn't respond, wouldn't manifest no matter how hard he tried to access it.

Panic began mixing with confusion as Jelo realized he'd been weakened somehow, stripped of his abilities.

He quickly suspected a power dampening effect was at work, something that was suppressing or blocking his access to his abilities. But the critical question was whether it was a natural ability of the scientist, or a technology he'd invented.

The mad scientist smirked at Jelo's obvious confusion and distress, his wild eyes gleaming with satisfaction. Then he answered the unasked question without prompting, his voice rough from disuse but still articulate. "The dampening field is technological, one of my finest inventions, actually. Disrupts the neural pathways that ability users rely on to access their powers. Quite effective, as you're discovering."

Jelo snapped back immediately, his voice rough with pain and anger, "Shut up and fight, you psycho!"

He wasn't going to give the scientist the satisfaction of explaining his work, wasn't going to stand there and listen while the man gloated about his technological superiority. If Jelo couldn't use his abilities, then he'd fight without them. He'd survived before gaining these powers; he could survive without them now.

The scientist's smirk vanished, replaced by a snarl of rage at being dismissed so contemptuously. He charged again with that same unnatural speed, closing the distance between them in a heartbeat. And this time, there was absolutely nothing restrained about his assault. He was relentless, brutal, attacking with the clear intent to overwhelm and subdue rather than simply injure.

Without his powers to enhance his reactions, his speed, his defensive capabilities, Jelo found himself overwhelmed almost immediately. He tried to fight back using pure physical skill and technique, throwing punches and attempting blocks, but the scientist seemed to anticipate every move.

The mechanical glove discharged again, another laser blast catching Jelo in the shoulder and spinning him around from the impact.

Blow by blow, Jelo was systematically worn down. A strike to his ribs cracked something and made breathing agonizing. A hit to his leg nearly collapsed it beneath him. The laser glove fired repeatedly, each blast adding to the accumulating damage until Jelo could barely stand, could barely raise his arms to defend himself.

His vision was tunneling, consciousness threatening to slip away as blood loss and trauma took their toll. He tried one last desperate attack, lunging forward with all his remaining strength, but the scientist sidestepped easily and brought the mechanical glove down hard on the back of Jelo's head.

The world exploded into stars and darkness. Jelo felt himself falling, felt his body hit the cold metallic floor, but the impact seemed distant and unimportant. Consciousness was slipping away rapidly, his brain shutting down systems to preserve itself.

The last thing he was aware of before everything went dark was the sensation of being dragged across the lab floor, his body leaving a trail of blood behind as the mad scientist pulled him with surprising strength. The scientist was muttering to himself, words that Jelo couldn't quite process through the fog consuming his mind.

When awareness returned—how much later, he had no idea—Jelo found himself locked inside a reinforced cage. The bars were thick metal, probably steel or something stronger, and they hummed with a faint energy that suggested they were electrified or otherwise enhanced beyond simple physical strength.

His body ached everywhere, multiple injuries competing for his attention, and his head pounded with a vicious headache that had nothing to do with his usual hunger.

He was trapped, powerless, and at the mercy of a mad scientist in an underground lab with no one knowing where he was.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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