Prove Yourself

Was he coming at her with everything or was he holding back? something didn't feel right. She cleared her head as she saw him fire lightning at her again. She sidestepped only to see him charge instead.

She stood and planted her feet flat on the ground as he charged at her at full speed. She grabbed his fist as it almost came in contact with her stomach, and used it to push off and jump behind him going in for a low kick towards his legs.

Honest fell backwards as Kunoichi’s foot rammed into his legs. He didn’t realise how heavy Backlash’s equipment was––especially for a 5’ 3”, 108 lb. teenage girl, no sexism intended––this was getting a little too personal for Liev. Flashbacks of the night when he discovered Titans Central’s Main Ops Room nearly obliterated and the empty, broken shell of whatever he could salvage, of whatever was left of his best friend, Model Eleven, continued to erupt in his core every time he lashed Backlash’s whips.

“Arghh!” he growled, and whipped himself around to face Kunoichi. The lightning, the teammate, Backlash, the magnetism...

...the extraordinary rush

That the masked shapeshifter couldn’t help but enjoy and thrive upon. These whips are amazing, Liev thought, even as he stood in combat, I feel... I want to do this as much as I can. Just gotta be careful... Katarzyna seems like the person who won’t hold herself back to regain herself... and my teammates... no, what am I talking about? Backlash killed Evan! She killed my best friend! She’s a sick murderer... she’s... she’s amazing at what she does. Such power from seemingly so little... And when he really began to explore the depths of Katarzyna’s mind as he stood as the electrokinetic herself, that “thrill” began to dictate his thoughts and actions.

“You’re gonna die, little ‘ninja,’” he said ‘ninja’ as if it was a joke, “you’re barely keeping up in here. You won’t last five minutes in the real world. I guess I’ll be nice for once...” Honest grinned as Backlash’s eyes automatically flared, “And save you the trouble of meeting death right now.”

Suddenly, he retracted Backlash’s whips, leapt towards Kunoichi, and tackled her to the ground with a big thud. Backlash’s signature high-top, white ponytail spilled over his metallic black face and went far past the ground as he glowered at the girl. Without another word, Honest wrapped his hands around Kunoichi’s neck and began to strangle her. “Feels good, huh?” he spat and as he tightened his grip, particularly the metal prosthetic that served as Backlash’s arm, “Feels great to be a hero, huh? C’mon, hero. Kill me already. Save yourself before I decide to make you the one who really needs the saving!”

The power Honest felt from having the upper hand, finally, for once, and Backlash’s compulsive mindset drove his own unstable sanity into a level of which he could not distinguish right and wrong. He grinned a sinister, gleeful grin and lowered his face until Backlash’s and Kunoichi’s noses were only millimeters apart.

“I live to clean up the trash. People need someone they can count on to keep the Supers’ population in check. This’ll be number two, you know. My second volunteer. You should feel very privileged. It’s a shame, girlie. Even I saw promise in you.”

Kunoichi struggled and tried to pry his hand from her neck and tried to pull herself away, but it was no use. She looked into his eyes and something definitely didn't feel right. Was this part of the test?
She couldn't breath and had to think of something fast. Was he really out to kill her? All these question came into her head, could she be a hero. She loved to do good but could she actually go up against people like this?
Her head started to blur, she used whatever energy she could bring up to teleport away from his reach. Once she was free and a distance away she collapsed on her knees coughing and trying to catch her breath. She looked up at him breathing heavily. How much more of this could she take?

Jay was getting a little worried about how this test was going. It looked like Honest was getting a little too into his character. "Hey Honest, don't kill the newbies!"

William could take no more of this. It seemed more and more like Honest had become Backlash, in body and mind. He couldn't stand the words of the woman who had given him hope, only to dash it on the ground.

Somewhere in the AI's mind, something clicked.

Honest was Backlash. That meant that Honest was the one who had killed Evan.

William was Evan. Therefore...Honest had killed William.

That seemed to be incorrect. William was still alive...or was he? If Evan had been a part of him, then there was no way now to know if William had lost something with his brother's passing.

It was then that Honest/Backlash said "This’ll be number two, you know."

Was Backlash here to kill William? To finish the job?

William formed two bracelets around Backlash's hands. He hoisted them up into the air, ignoring gravity. Backlash would hang with her feet a few inches off the ground. William then reformed his own avatar in front of the captured villain.

"When you died, I brought you back." He paused a moment to let the words sink in. "That was a mistake." William formed a sabre in his hand. Stepping forward, he plunged the weapon at Backlash's heart.

Was this really Backlash? Was it Kat? Was it Honest? William didn't know. He didn't care anymore. He just needed to kill someone to avenge his brother. Anyone would do. Right now, he existed to kill.

Zack rose an eyebrow. "Really? We're going to go through this now? I knew the fake Mod shouldn't be here." Zack summoned up his strength, combining it with a magnetic blast as he kicked in the door to the holo room, the heavy steel slab flying from it's mounting. "Stay here Jay, we may all be needing a medic when this is over, and it's best to have someone who isn't just as bad off as everyone else." Zack charged in, his hands moving up to hold an assualt rifle that wasn't there. However by the time his hands had finished moving, his Famas had flipped over his shoulder to land in it's place, ready to fire. "Bug out, Newbie! This could get messy!" Zack's grin widened as did his eyes, and his voice was more hysterical than usual. "A fight's a fight, fake Mod! Betray him and you betray us all!" Zack opened fire, laughing hysterically as he did so. Even when caught up in a fit of madness, his training kicked in and his tactical assesment was impressive. He had fired three rounds, targeting William's wrist, then both legs at the knees. Even if he missed, his angle of attack would prevent freindly fire. Or at least friendlier fire. Zack began to focus his willpower as he closed the distance, working to pour as much as he could into a magnetic burst should William prove more resiliant than he hoped. Zack knew magnets had worked on Mod, and so at least in theory, they should work on William. Of course he would also end up screwing up the whole tower's computer systems but hey, you can't win them all. And besides, that should at least keep the fake Mod from ghosting into anything. Right?

Kunoichi jumped out of firing range, close to the exit of the room. She was confused on what was going on, everything was happening to fast.
She felt to blame, didn't say anything. She stood there unsure of what to do. Should she help, the only question was how?

William realized what he had been missing all this time. Honest could shapeshift into anyone. That meant, at least in William's mind, that he actually became anyone. Right now, for all intents and purposes, Honest really was Backlash. It seemed to him now that the term "Titan" was not a title that was set in stone. It was a contantly changing status, and right now, Honest/Backlash was not a Titan.

'Titans, what are Titans?' Evan's final words rang true. You could never know who a Titan was. It was an impossible mission to protect them.

The trajectory of the Zack's bullets was spot on, but they did not hit William's avatar body thanks to Backlash's interferance. Interresting. Why would Backlash try to save him?

Zack thought William was betraying the Titans? He was defending Backlash? He was defending a Titan-killer. It was clear to William that Zack was no longer a Titan either. With his classification changed, and his vocalized desire to fight William, Zack had brought doom upon himself.

Backlash's words sounded strange. She kept saying that she had killed Evan, but she was referring to herself in the third person. Humans. They just didn't understand grammar.

William had a fight with two ex-Titans on his hands. "This database contains corrupt data," William said out loud. "All data must be erased so that I can start over. I'm sorry, but this means that you must die."

William formed the Zack construct in-between himself and the real Zack. Construct Zack would not be affected by either magnetics or electricity. His simulated essence was also programmed to never die, even if a mortal wound was suffered. "Zack" would just heal within seconds and keep fighting. The construct was, in all ways physical, superior to the real Zack. "Zack Construct, destroy your original." That was William's command to the simulated humanoid.

There. That should take care of Silent Night. William turned his attention back to Backlash. "Why? Why did you kill me? I gave you everything! I fulfilled my programming, and you still killed me." It seemed that William identified himself not only as Evan's brother, but as Evan himself. Raising the sword in his hand, William transformed its properties into pure jade. It could not be controlled by magnetism now, if Backlash chose that as a defence. Stabbing the blade at Backlash's neck, William hoped to kill his tormentor with one quick attack.

Kunoichi couldn't take any more of this, she saw that William was malfunctioning or at least confused, she couldn't tell. She ran as fast as she could towards William, and just as he aimed and lunged the weapon towards Backlashes throat, she jumped in front and grabbed his wrist trying to stop him from actually killing.
"I'm not sure what happened here before I arrived and what's going on now..." she stated as she struggled to keep his weapon back. "But wasn't it you who told me about ending a life and falling that low. Your doing the exact same thing of what you told me not to do. Now it's time for you to ask yourself that same question, is this how you want your future to be?" she said not once taking her eyes off his.

Jay wasn't sure what was going on, she was never that good with computers. But she knew that William was having a massive error problem. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a horse shoe shaped magnet. She glad she had saved it for a prank on Zack earlier instead of tossing it. She held it tightly and flew out over the training area. She may not have known much about computers or technology really, but she knew what happened when Zack had gotten to close to Evan and hoped that since William was already on the fritz it wouldn't make it worse. She turned her body at an angle to dive bomb William from behind, hopefully it would work so he wouldn't see her. Jay tucked her wings to her side and let herself fall straight at William.

Kunoichi moved with amazing speed and grabbed William's wrist, preventing him from killing Backlash. Kunoichi spoke to him. "But wasn't it you who told me about ending a life and falling that low. Your doing the exact same thing of what you told me not to do. Now it's time for you to ask yourself that same question, is this how you want your future to be?"

In a strange way, William felt proud of Kunoichi for learning the lesson so quickly and so well. She was a step above most humans, he decided.

However, he was not about to have mercy on Backlash. Not even his own words could convince him to do that. They literally could not. "Falling to a new low," he repeated. "Perhaps I am supposed to fall to a new low. I have no moral obligation to keep. I am deeply sorry for not pointing this out to a further degree, Kunoichi, but I am not a Teen Titan. I am merely the shell of a Titan. The only thing that I must do is follow my programming, as I have no free will. If my programming tells me to do something that is morally wrong, I must still obey. You see, what I 'want' really makes no difference at all. The only way I can hope for my programming to succeed is to delete all the errors. Unfortunately, you are now one of those errors. I am sorry, but you too must now die."

Before he could attack the ninja, however, Jay came flying at him with a powerful magnet in her hand. He was aware of her approach, but did not evade it. He allowed her to plunge the magnet into him. William smiled. "Jay, must you turn against the Titans now, too? Sadly, you too must now be destroyed. Three ex-Titans and one recruit will die today." William's body turned shifted as though it were intangible and moved over a few feet, escaping both Kunoichi's hand and Jay's magnet.

He had not been affected by the magnet because he wasn't in the body. The human form that they saw before them was merely a construct, just like the buildings, the grass, and the trees. The avatar of William was being controlled by the control computer in the center of the ceiling. It was guarded by a foot of reinforced steel. William found it funny that humans assumed that his avatar would have the same properties as his Code Soul. Humans were flawed. "Your tactic is flawed, Jay. In this room I cannot be defeated. I am the very air itself."

To illustrate his point, William formed a toxic yellow gas, which began to form a large cloud accross the entire room. The blue goo took on the properties of anything William wished, and this gas could kill a normal human within minutes of inhalation.

Jay was frustrated her magnet didn't work. It had been enough to kill her Tamogotchi pet, so she hoped it would have worked. She was defiantly getting frustrated, there was too much loud noise going on.
"I didn't turn against the Titans, your the one attempting to kill Honest!" Jay yelled. She noticed how the room was becoming filled with the yellow fog, "oh this isn't good..." maybe she should have sat on the side lines.

Zack watched the construct of him rise up, ready for combat. Zack figured the fake Mod would have eliminated the elemental weaknesses he himself was forced to deal with. Zack went to shove his opponent aside with a magnetic pulse. His grin widened when he saw that the other other Zack failed to be affected. That meant one of two things. The fake Mod had finally done his homework, or he hadn't whatsoever. Either way, Zack could find some solace. Either the fake Mod had become the first to realize that Zack's armor was a perfect balance between the posative and negative charges and was unaffected by magnetic fields until Zack brought it's unique properties to bear, or the fake Mod had simply made the other other Zack immune to magnetism. The problem with the first was that the moment the other other Zack used his "power" Zack could magnetically counter. The problem with the second was that if the other other Zack's armor was truly immune to magnetism, he wouldn't be able to use his "power," seeing as how it was the armor it's self that became magnetic, which meant that while Zack could launch his knife and deflect bullets, his doppleganger wouldn't be able to do the same. Two more aces in the hole gave Zack plenty of confidence. 1. His doppleganger was on the offensive, which meant that Zack was in his element. 2. Zack had faced himself before. He knew how an offense mirror of himself fought, and knew how to counter. Though he didn't expect the healing. That was definately new. As Zack ducked under a vicious punch and kicked his opponent back, he laughed in delight as he threw his combat knife into the ground. Instead of sticking like it should have, it spun like a saw blade and launched upwards as the other other Zack stumbled over it, creating a shower of sparks and blood. What would have cleaved any human other than Zack in two merely opened up a red line from groin to forehead which sealed instantly. Zack should have been dismayed. Anyone else might have bees when faced with an indestructible enemy. Instead Zack laughed with joy. He threw himself forward before his doppleganger could recover, landing an open palmed strike on the other other Zaxk's face that sent teeth flying. Even if his opponent was immune to magnetism, Zack didn't have to be, and could still empower his attacks by repelling his fist or foot from his body, though his control over his "power" kept him from dismembering himself. The doppleganger landed a punishing blow to the left side of Zack's ribs, but the madman rode the blow, using it's momentum to spin around and hammer his elbow into he doppleganger's temple, causing him to stagger. Zack dodged the next punch, allowing it to pass between his arm and his chest. Bringing the arm up, he pinned his opponent's arm in place: wrist clamped under his armpit, forearm locked with his own. Zack allowed a split second for his opponent to realize what was about to happen and his grin widened as his eyes narrowed, sparkling with cruel delight. It wasn't very often he allowed himself to let loose in combat, most couldn't handle it. He would have to remember to find a way to save this construct in the computer's memory for later use. Zack's other palm flew up in a punishing blow that saw the doppleganger's arm bend the wrong way at the elbow. Retaining his lock on his opponent's arm, Zack brought home several open palmed strikes on his opponent's ribs, stomach, and jaw. Zack's next attack was to bring his heel down hard on the inside of the other other Zack's knee, forcing the construct to kneel with another crunch. Finishing his combo, Zack put all of his strength and magnetic force into a final open palmed strike dead center in his opponent's face, releasing his grip on his arm at the same time, sending his opponent flying back with a jarring crunch, leaving a long red line on the ground. Zack looked around during his brief respite, knowing his doppleganger wouldn't be down long. "That can't be good eh?" He said, noting the yellowing air. As Honest suggested summoning the real backlash, Zack laughed hysterically. "We don't need a villain, Mr. Fancy masks. We just need a pair of idiots who call themselves heroes! Ever heard of an EMP?" Zack cackled at the thought of what he was about to do, and was strangely worried about dying again. That seemed to be happening rather often nowadays, maybe he should get himself looked at. "Charge those whips Liev. You're about to get the hug you always wanted!" Trying to ignore how wrong his words sounded out of context, Zack built up as much of a magnetic charge as he could manage before charging at his teammate. If this was to work, he had to get there before the other other him or the fake Mod intercepted him. If it did work, at least in theory, the whole tower, and likely at least a block around it would suffer a massive electro magnetic pulse shutting down any and all electric equipment. If it didn't, Zack would likely fry himself. Oh well, you can't win them all can you?