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Icon lay amongst the wreckage of the fire trucks that he had crashed into. His head was ringing, his vision blurry. He had never, in all of his life been hit as hard as he had been by his assailant. After several moments, the initial shock of the ambush began to subside, and Icon started to move. He had gotten up on one knee shook his head in an attempt to clear the cobwebs from his head before climbing to his feet. However, he had barely gotten to his feet when his assailant was upon him. 

“I knew it wouldn’t be long before one of you freaks came along.” The attacker hummed wistfully as he grabbed Icon by the throat. “I’m just glad it was [b]you[/b].” He finished before hitting the hero with a hard right hand that knocked him off his feet.

“You see, I’ve been watching you.” The mysterious attacker told him. “Ever since I escaped from that underwater hell, I’ve kept myself hidden. I watched and waited.  I’ve been watching as you costumed freaks go to war with each other, and I found it absolutely fascinating. Sadly, not a single one of you gets it.” 

[b]“And what’s that?”[/b] Icon asked as he got to his feet, hoping to keep his attacker talking.

Instead, the macabre attacker held his right hand out in front of him, and Icon stood in a stunned silence as his fingers grew before his eyes. The stranger’s fingers grew several inches. They became long and slender, and each was adorned with a large, blade-like obsidian claw. His hand itself turned dark and scaly, taking on an appearance that could only be described as reptilian. The assailant took advantage of Icon’s surprise and swung at his head; however, the blue and silver clad hero was able to avoid the attack, blocking it and hitting the madman with a hard right hand of his own. The punch nearly took Icon’s attacker off of his feet, causing him to spin awkwardly before he regained his balance and turned to face Icon again, with a twisted smile etched across his face.

“Oh, that’s what I’m looking for. You’ve got spirit, kid, I can’t wait to take that from you.” 

[b]“I don’t know who, or what you are, but it’s over. I’m end this before you can hurt anyone else.”[/b] Icon told his attacker.

“They called me The Hybrid. To be honest, at first I wasn’t crazy about the name, but it grew on me.” He said with a sinister smile. “And I’m just getting started.” He told Icon as he turned and with a great leap that spanned several city blocks, bounded away with Icon, who was not willing to let the killer get away, right behind him.