Chapter Text
"He's the greatest, he's fantastic! Wherever there is danger, he'll be there! Danger Mouse, Danger Mouse, DANGER MO—!"
"Yaaaaawn!" He stretched and greeted the rising sun, one eye opening and sliding to the window of his bedroom in the Danger Agency as the morning light slanted in. Without a thought, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and got up. Hmmm, that's odd… His feet hit the ground harder than normal. I don't usually sleep in my shoes, but it's hard work being a secret agent!
No doubt, he was out late last night on some epic adventure, saving the world and stopping bad guys. The Professor called him careless, but in his opinion, getting sleep was more important than making sure his shoes were—
Wait a nib! His eye widened. I don't wear shoes! He wore a belt, and had something of a Danger Agency uniform, but he usually ran around on just his—"WAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
"Chief?!" The bedroom closest to his came alive with activity a second later. "Chief?! CHIIIEEEF!" It was a good thing they were some of the only agents to live onsite. Or perhaps the others had since learned to sleep on the opposite side of the building from them.
ooo
"Good gravy!" Danger—uhh, well, he wasn't a mouse anymore—rubbed his chin as he peered in ceiling-high mirror in the corner of his bedroom. After getting over the shock of looking down and not seeing his paws—and then nearly getting his ears blasted off by Penfold—the two collided with one another in the hallway. A brief tussle ensued, each one thinking the other was an intruder, but once they managed to get their heads on properly (or at least, slightly properly), they reconvened in Danger—uhh's—room.
"We're human!" Penfold gasped, cupping his now furless hands around his suddenly flat mouth.
"Hmm… I'm not sure how I feel about this…" Danger Man narrowed his eye. On the one hand, it was still handsome him. He even wiggled his eyebrows at himself, smirking. But on the other… Eeeuugh… I DON'T look good with THIS much hair loss… All he had now was a short, spiky shock of white hair. The rest of him, to his embarrassment, felt horribly naked and exposed, even though he retained his uniform. And Penfold retained his, thank Heavens! Danger Man sighed.
"I know! We can ask the Professor!" Like Danger Man, all of Penfold's fur was gone, save for a short, brown crop at the top of his head.
"Why would I need to ask her about how I should feel about this?" Danger Man pouted.
"Wha-? No, not about that, Chief! About why we're human, and how to change back!"
"You think she had something to do with this?" Danger Man's eye narrowed again.
"Wha-? No!" Penfold sighed. "I just mean that of the lot of us, she's the best-equipped to figure it out and change us back! Or build us an invention to do that!"
Danger Man heaved a sigh of his own. He wasn't delighted at the thought about that hen getting a laugh at him while he looked like this, but Penfold had a point. Thus far, they had no idea what happened to them—beyond being turned into humans, of course—and like Penfold said, among the lot of them, Professor Squawkencluck was the smartest and brainiest.
ooo
"Oh my! I didn't realize you three were still having growth spurts…" Colonel K blinked as three… furless, featherless creatures walked into the Danger Kitchen of the Danger Agency. He might not have recognized them at first, if it weren't for the fact that they all came in at the same time, and wore just enough identifying clothing for the leader of the Danger Agency to hazard a danger guess.
There's that lad, with the eyepatch. That must be DM! And the short, chubby fellow beside him, Men-hold! So of course, that means the third lass with the glasses, spiky orange hair that looks like feathers, and irritated expression—
"Colonel." Professor Squawkencluck's voice was unusually cold, as if she was just barely holding back her usual, fiery squawks and huffs. "We are homo sapiens."
"Oh, yes, yes, that's right! It's Pride Month!" The chinchilla snapped his furry fingers. "Pray tell, is this some new form of traditional celebration?" He stroked his whiskered face, his hologram leaning toward the trio interestedly.
"What the—? NO!" Squawkencluck slapped her face, then muttered under her breath. "Oh, for the love of…" It was a good thing the Colonel could be so oblivious! She did her best to explain, in layman's terms. "This is way beyond the usual "growth spurt"! We aren't even our native species anymore!" She gestured frantically to herself, Danger Mouse, and Penfold. How could Colonel K be so quick to identify that it was them, yet so slow to realize that this was a huge, huge problem?!
"So this wasn't one of your little experimentations either, hmmm?" The Colonel raised his bushy brows, genuinely surprised.
"Wha—? No, no!" Squawkencluck waved frantically, some of her irritation turning into fearful denial.
"Oh, then there goes that theory," Danger Man muttered under his breath.
"What?!" Squawkencluck whipped around on him, hissing under her breath.
"N-now, now, Professor!" Penfold smiled nervously, stepping in between the other two, holding out his hands as consolingly as he could. "I did try to tell the Chief that it wasn't like you to just experiment on us without permission!"
"Well, sometimes her inventions go haywire!" Danger Man gestured impatiently at the hen-turned-human.
"Don't talk about me like I'm not right here!" Squawkencluck interrupted. "And besides, they malfunction because of your interference!"
"I haven't touched anything this time!" Danger Mouse frowned, crossing his arms.
"I know! Because this wasn't one of my inventions!"
While Penfold wilted, Colonel K couldn't help but smile to himself. If there was ever any doubt before as to who these three animals turned humans were, that doubt was totally dispelled by now.
"Hmmm, do you think it might be a rogue case of the Twysty-verse?" Danger Man tapped his chin.
"Human-cluck" sighed tiredly. "I don't know. Has anyone tampered with, or mishandled, any mirrors lately?" The three gentlemen in the kitchen with her all shook their heads, and she sighed again. "We've got quite a laundry list of villains to go through, but I need my breakfast first…"
As if all the fight had suddenly gone out of her, the hen-turned-human yawned into her fingered-hands and pushed her way into the kitchen.
"Och!" she cursed under her breath a second later. "Me cup's too small!" Once, it was tall and thin to accommodate her beak better. But now she didn't have a beak.
"Hmm… this should be… interesting…" Penfold tapped the tips of his fingers together nervously as he trailed after her into the kitchen.
"Ha! Penfold! You're finally big enough to eat with the grownups!" Danger Man taunted. For the first time ever, the hamster (well, he wasn't a hamster anymore, now was he?) was able to get into his seat without a stepstool.
Squawkencluck narrowed her eyes, but before she could chastise the mouse—man—he tried to leap casually into his seat beside Penfold, but his newfound weight quickly caused the chair to collapse. She heard the wood creaking, but not even Danger Man had time to jump up again.
"Woah!" Crack-CRASH!
"Karma…" the Professor snickered under her breath. Well, I must admit, things feel… easier to grab and to hold with fingers! She was self-sufficient, even as a hen, but these were sensations she'd never even considered before. Her fingers, which once were feathers, just felt stronger.
"Hmph!" she heard Danger Man mutter under his breath. "These portions are insultingly small now!" Maybe they were good enough for a mouse, but for a man? She glanced over her shoulder to see him pouting like a child, arms crossed. She looked away again a second later to conceal a snicker, and spare him his feelings. Well, she could not deny that it was concerning, suddenly waking up in bodies that were not their own—whether it was the Twysty-verse or not—but at least for that moment, she could see the humor in the situation.
"Yeowch!" They both heard Penfold yelp. When they turned, he was gripping his wrist, shaking the hand violently. Then he smiled at them, sheepish and embarrassed. "Uhh, Chief, could I borrow a pair of your white gloves? I guess it didn't occur to me that with less fur…"
While Squawkencluck chuckled under her breath again, she heard Danger Mouse sigh quietly.
"Do be careful that you don't stain the white fabric…"
"Don't worry, Chief!" Penfold saluted, slapping himself in the face with the gloves Danger Mouse had just given him.
Colonel K's hologram lingered a moment longer as he watched his three favorite agents bumble their way through the kitchen in their newfound bodies.
Heheheh, some things never change, do they? New package, old content. Are you a mouse, or a man, Danger M?