Author's POV
The greatest problem David thought of when trying to copy Michael's power was how to get close to him, that was the biggest setback of his ability.
He had to get close to the target and be in close contact with him for a few minutes for him to be able to register his form permanently.
It might seem easy to just hold onto someone for a few minutes but it becomes different when the person actually starts feeling strange tingling sensation all over his hands.
The normal instinct would be to check his body to figure out what was wrong, the only reason it worked so well for both Emma and Dave was because they were focused on the match and were reluctant to withdraw since withdrawing would mean losing.
Since it could work for them, he decided to design situation similar to that for Michael as well.
A match that would enable contact between them for a period of time and something to stimulate him from withdrawing easily.
Besides, if he won the match he could use that as an excuse to refuse their request.
Basically, it was hitting two birds with a stone.
Starting the match, David intended to go along with the normal process he was already used to by now but when he held Michael's hand and the countdown was already starting he found out the cells tried to morph into Michael's form but they couldn't!
This time he started panicking for real and since he couldn't really control the form or movement of the balls and the only thing he could do was to control the area of change beyond a certain area he was absolutely clueless about what to do.
Deciding to not go down without trying his best he changed his entire body to rocky's form just before the match started.
Then he steadied himself and exerted all his strength but it seemed to be futile because he could barely hang on when the match started while Michael didn't even break a sweat and seemed to be toying around.
"Is that it? I thought you were much stronger when you came barging in here like you owned the place."
'Damn it, why is he so strong? It looks like he could take on five different people with Dave's ability or even more! And his body looks like it's made of steel instead of flesh!'
"Just so you know, rocky and others you've perhaps met have barely reached the limits of normal humans but I've long crossed that limit and there's a difference between someone whose power makes even himself feel like a human because he feels he is still among the norms."
"But this, this is different from the normal strength they struggle to exhibit kid, this level of power is one any human can never hope to achieve!"
At that moment, David knew one thing.
He messed up, he messed up real bad, he had thought he could copy anyone just because his cells could morph to look like the other cells without knowing that even his cells had a limit for their powers and he had reached that limit now.
His only option would be to fall into the pit he dug by himself and become a lackey of the gang or to risk everything in hope of some miracle.
He looked at his hand and although he had changed his form to look like rocky's the cells were still actively trying to change to Michael's form but every efforts they made were futile.
Then he thought back to how he had gained his power in the first place.
'I fell headfirst, hit my head so hard any normal human would have died, so if my conjecture is right then every time I get in danger of dying my power increases'
'Looks like I am really walking the path of a sadist then huh'
'Since my cells could disintegrate and recover then if I actively try to disintegrate them then just maybe, maybe a miracle could really happen.'
He tried to think of it, process the image in his mind but nothing seemed to happen, the more time went on the more he panicked.
'He's only toying with me for now the oment he's done I'm done for!'
'Just do something little guys, blast him reduce him, turn him to ashes, liquid anything'
Just then it seemed Michael was done playing as he clenched David's hand and exerted a bit of strength.
David's eyes widened as he thought of why he sought for strength and power in the first place, he didn't want to be powerless.
To depend on others or to pray to others or beg others for a chance in life. He would rather just face the consequences himself than to grovel in front of others.
His dream was to be independent, to be able to decide on what happened in his life by himself and right now he was about to be reduced to a lackey of someone else.
He could run away, sure but Michael definitely wouldn't let him go and without enough power he definitely wouldn't have any freedom.
The very situation he had been trying to prevent was brought to existene by his own hand.
This felt like him dying in itself and he decided.
'Even if I died I would never surrender, not now or ever even if I have to take you down with me'
'If I can't copy you then I would just devour you entirely just like the little cell took the little cluster.'
When the thought of devouring Michael came up the black cells all over his body began to hum and vibrate intensely then ran out of his body into Michael's hand and began wrapping his cells up entirely one after the other until he could see the cells all over Michael's body become totally black just like his.
David felt all the strength in Michael's hand gone and took that split moment to bring his hand down slamming it on the table.
He then hurriedly stood up and stepped back to look at Michael.
The big and muscular thug seemed stunned that he could lose that easily and was still wondering why his strength was suddenly gone without being aware of the changes in his body but David could see it.
Right now, his entire inner structure was a mess of black, blue and red all colliding against each other.
The blue colors had no chance of winning and were being devoured rapidly by the black colors while the red colors were fighting back but still they had no chance of winning.
As soon as the balls were devoured the black cells retained the blue and red colors then went back to normal inside Michael's body and even he didn't notice a single thing all throughout the process!
He was absolutely stunned then looked at his own body and found it entirely hollow, the only colors there were the blue and red cluster representing Emma, the blue, red and green cluster representing Dave and a new addition of blue and red cluster representing Michael.
But even they were covered and could only shine with a small ray of light!
In short, his entire body was devoid of everything yet he could still walk normally just like any other person.
Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice anything around him and when he looked up he saw Michael and Jarvis looking at him in astonishment or more precise at his legs and when he looked down he got the greatest shock of his life.
He was standing in the chair or more precisely his legs were sinking in yet he could still stand and his body seemed like they were fading just like a specter's.