Dark and dingy, light barely reached the little prison. Heavy metal bars, meant for a creature much larger than the man they held, crossed the front of the otherwise stone cell. The floor was slightly damp, never quite drying in the shade. The smell of mold lingered in the air. In the middle of it all, a man was curled up on his side in the center of the horrible little prison, his head sporting a strange piece of technology, and his eyes glowing a dull blue. The eyes that were barely just cracked open.

Across the dungeon, a door creaked open. The man in the cell sat up quickly, his eyes glowing brighter the more conscious he became. A man dressed in black military gear came waltzing in and opened the cell door, motioning for the man to leave. 
"Boss wants to see you," He said dully as the prisoner got to his feet and trudged out of the cell. The goon led the way as the prisoner trailed behind him, up the stairs and into the main area of the base. It was like walking through time; the dungeon the man had come from could have easily been Medieval, but the base was sleek, chrome, and modern. 

A man stood by a control bridge, watching several monitors at once. Each one depicted a different angle of the attack in Time Square. He turned as the two men approached. 
"Ah, Variant. You [i]are[/i] a sight for sore eyes." 

The man, Variant as he was called, stood stiffly, his expression blank. 

"There's been a rather large disturbance downtown, which is just what we needed to pull off our next goody run. I've gotten word that Sunbright Labs have been working on a new project, a project they took from [i]me[/i] five years ago. I want my cut. Take the team over there and show our friends a good time, won't you?" 

Variant's face turned into a snarl. His form began to shift until he had almost tripled his mass. He settled into the form of a very large canine, wolfish in appearance, with leathery armor plates running down its back. The wolf's muzzle was almost level with the man's face. His lips pulled back across his set of very sharp teeth, a growl rumbling from his throat. The villain looked unimpressed. 
"Are you trying to fight the mind control? How quaint. [i]Stupid[/i], but quaint." He reached into his pocket to pull out a small remote control. He messed with the setting on it until the device, still present on the shapeshifter's head, began to whir. The large wolf let out a cry and huddled down on the floor in pain. The device glowed brighter, as well as his eyes, until he finally stopped fighting it.

The creature straightened back up, no more menace in its posture. 
"That's better. Now go before the authorities get their wits about them. We don't have all night!"

The creature turned and trotted off, followed by the goon that had been standing off to the side the whole time. They would get their team and equipment together, and then the heist was on.