Prove Yourself

Jay's words were partly correct, William decided. He was trying to kill Honest. Honest was the one who Evan had trusted the most, just as Kat had been the one who William trusted the both. Now Honest was Backlash, the symbol of that trust betrayed. William was certain that the only way to kill Backlash was to kill Honest. It was a sacrifice he was willing to make. He had to be willing to make it. It was the only way he could fulfill his programming.

What would Evan do in this situation? William had always thought of Evan as the weaker of the Codes, but he always seemed to have more...fun with life. Evan would know the best choice to make.

Wait...that was it! Why hadn't he thought of it before? William knew a possible solution for this entire mess. He needed Honest to...

But now Zack had gotten past his double and was running towards Backlash. He said that he was going to make an EMP. With his and Backlash's magnetism combined, William was certain that he would die from the ensuing blast.

It was time to leave. William had to live to fight another day. Ghosting out of the Training Room's control computer, he entered his personal orb that was waiting for him in the clouds above Titan's Tower. He set off in the orb at the speed of a jet, getting as far away from the tower before the blast. It was going to be close.

"If I could just talk to him again..."

OOC: ;~; I kind of feel bad for Kunoichi. Dang, what a crazy time for her to join the Teen Titans. *ahem* DON’T WORRY, LITTLE NINJA! HONEST WILL PROVIDE FOR YOU LOVE AND SUPPORT AND *unnecessary* TACKLE-GLOMPS!

BIC:
Honest had never hear of an “EMP,” and when he saw Zack charging at him, the deadening Titan thought, Good lord, what have I gotten myself into?

But that thought was literally knocked out of his mind when Zack collided seconds before Honest processed his words, pressed the white, round button on Backlash’s whips, turned throttled the small tiny switches, and literally went up in a white, electric, flame-esque bolt of lightning––the most powerful he had created yet, although far from what Backlash herself was capable of––and with Zack’s added magnetic charges and heavy mass, over 1,000,000 kilo-volts of electricity was propelled through Titans Tower, immediately frying every single electronic device, from calculators, to the TVs, to the security system itself, and most importantly, the Titans Tower training room. Everything around the Titans reverted back to the strange blue goo, including the construct Zack that had made Liev go even more ballistic with fear and overstimulation and the construct bracelets that held him captive.

And after the explosion had diffused, the “Backlash” went completely limp; however, there were no burns nor marks nor bruises or anything of the like that could have resulted from such awesome power. Luckily, no one had tried to help him take of Backlash’s mask... and that meant he still had her properties of electrical immunity. Unfortunately, however, the actor would still have to deal with the throbbing flashbacks and emotions that fueled the rebel-teen murderer and the unyielding impression that William Hauge had basically tattooed into his cranium.

That, and one hell of an experience where he felt that he had finally proved himself.

“Kuno... ichi?” Liev murmured, still nearly incapacitated, “Welcome... to the Teen Titans.”

Ooc: lol, thank you. All I can say is, wow I really had to prove myself, (bad pun) Lol


Bic: Kunoichi put her arms up to block the super bright light.*What the?* she thought to herself. When the light dimmed out she looked up to see the training covered in blue goo.
"Kuno...Ichi?"She turned as she heard Honest murmur."Welcome...to the Teen Titans."
She smiled, holding the rest of her excitement in.
"Really? Thank You!"

"Honest, what's wrong with you?" Zack's voice was weak and barely audible. While Backlash was indeed immune to electricity, Zack wasn't. In fact, it was still quite a serious weakness. The armor that protected him from physical blows and provided his magnetic abilities was also superconductive to heat, cold, and electricity. Thankfully, most of Backlash's energy output had been dispersed with the EMP. Most. Not all. What little electric power that had hit Zack was multiplied tenfold as it coursed through the plates beneath his skin, and the smell of cooked meat hung heavy in the air as smoke wafted off of his crumpled form. "That's... My job." Zack coughed, and blood spattered on the ground as he did so. He struggled to wipe some of it off of his chin. His movements were painfully slow and uncoordinated. In his current state, he was unable to use his magnetism to help move the heavy plates beneath his skin like he usually did. In fact, that he was conscious at all much less trying to roll over and look at Kunoichi was either an incredible feat of willpower or a small miracle. "How's my face, eh? I hope it isn't too screwed up. I rather like the way I look... Oh, and welcome aboard newbie." Zack gave up trying to move and simply laid where he was. After taking a moment to allow the pain to drop from piercing to merely agonizing, he chuckled weakly. "It seems my plan had a bit of a downside. Anyone got any Advil? Or some Band-Aids? Or maybe some Neosporin? Something tells me I could use some."

The massive EMP blash barely caught up with William's orb, causing minor damage. For a second, the orb was in freefall until it was repaired.

Good. William had survived.

He thought about returning to the Tower to finish the fight, but he didn't want to risk any more damage from EMP's. It seemed that the Titans were now willing and able to kill him in code form. He needed a human form that would be capable of surviving an encounter with them. It was time for some research and planning.

The Tower was quite beaten-up, William realized. All of his work updating the security system had gone to waste. He immediately wired 10 million dollars to the Titan's bank account to cover the damages, as he had been partially responsible for them.

He still wanted to kill Backlash and the rest of the 'ex-Titans.' Honest was now a copy of Backlash in his mind, but he needed Honest. If Honest could become anybody, then that meant...that he could become Evan. William needed to talk to his brother one last time to figure out what to do in this situation. The universe wasn't allowing his programming to be fulfilled, and only Evan would know how to fix it.

The silver orb flew up into the clouds and disappeared from sight. He would return oneday soon.

Kunoichi thought for a moment, now that she was a Titan, her life was going to take a turn. She was now part of a team. All of her life she had been alone. She looked at Zack, Honest and Jay, and couldn't help but smile.
She looked around at the blue covered room and was eager to know how the rest of the tower looked like. But right now the best thing would probably be to help clean up and rest, seeing how everyone looked worn out.

OOC: Verrrrrry prolonged. :U I'm hoping that this compensates, and again, I'm so sorry for taking so freaking long.

BIC:
“Oh, just shut the hell up, Zack, and find yourself a freaking wrench,” Liev spat, then gave a strange, sharp hiccup and got to his feet as if the EMP hadn’t even occurred. He shook Backlash’s blinding white ponytail and metallic black face, brushed a bit of charred ash from her power orb, and stared in wonder at the little red words glowing in the center of the humming white generator.


Then he cringed. “Can you imagine,” he began, “that by the time this girl teleported back to wherever she was hiding, she was right and ready to go as ever could be...plenty enough juice to go and kill again. It’s just...maddening.”

Then Honest looked around at everything. He grimaced. Then, right before he was about to take the Backlash mask off, he decided against it and trudged over to Zack, bent down beside him, and hurled one of Backlash’s signature metal-packed punches straight across Zack’s beaten face. “You tried to kill him, you bastard! You almost killed a god-forsaken Titan!” Liev exclaimed as tears began to stream down Backlash’s face. He punched Zack again, knowing that he probably too weak to fight back or at least punch the actor in return. “What the hell were you thinking? He wasn’t trying to kill me, you *ss! He thought I was really Backlash! He thought I was actually the person who murdered his brother! Didn’t that ever occur to you? Don’t you ever use your freaking brain!? He’s Model Eleven, Zack. He’s just the same as our own Evan whether you can accept that or not. Evan was my best friend, you jerk! William was the closest thing I had to getting that part of myself back!”

Suddenly, red sparks began fizzling from Backlash’s power disc, hair, arm, and eyes. Now, the red letters flashed:


“Don’t ever pull some stupid crap like that, Silent! Don’t you ever try to murder another person–––ever. We’re supposed to be teaching Kunoichi to not kill an enemy...any enemy! You said that yourself the other night, jerk! You were wondering when the next time you’d slip up and have more blood on your hands! If it weren’t for me, you’d already be there. You’d already be back to freaking hell!”


There was something visibly different with Honest. Just the way he scowled at Silent Night, just the way he yelled and cried and breathed with heavy disgust. Along with that, Backlash’s eyes were starting to flicker red. Now he scowled with an almost sarcastic, wicked, pleased demeanour.

“You think you can go killing off what I started, huh? He was the only guy I could even start to trust. He... he... he...” Honest shook his head as if to shake something uncomfortable from his conscience. “He was my kill, you stupid punk. I’m disappointed to see the sort of coward this supposedly ‘perfect’ version of his incompetent predecessor just pulled. I gave him purpose, Titan. I brought him to this world so I could have the satisfaction of showing him what emotions are really like. The first Model Eleven––Evan, I think you call him––had some surprisingly legit programming for me to pry from that robotic shell that he inhabited like a parasite. It was great to see genuine fear and horror and sadness coming from his pathetic core of a being when I got a hold of him. It was so easy that even I was surprised when he fell apart and clattered to the floor.”

Backlash leaned in reeeeal close to Silent Night.

“You wanna know what his last words were?” Backlash’s mind waited for no reply. “The coward asked, ‘Titans? What are Titans?’ ...that was the icing on the cake, Mr. Silent Night. That was when I realised for myself what the Teen Titans were...”

Honest, virtually now Backlash paused, grinned, and cracked his neck.

”...weak.”

“Their own stupid pasts rule everything they do, everything they say. Model Eleven’s ‘past’ made him vulnerable to the most basic of human nature. I left the Titans, Zack, and I live and breath and bathe in that fact every day. It made me stronger. They were holding me back. Your weakness? You’re holding what’s left of your team back. One bad seed infests the good seeds just to drag them all down to futile misery and, before long, the final failure that will make them all snap and whither along with you and this bloody, corrupted world.”

No––Honest certainly didn’t have that groggy headache from trying to free himself from Backlash’s exuberant power drive. A part of him honestly wanted to stop, but most of himself was unaware that he had been completely warped, and the remaining consciousness of whatever could compensate from Liev’s natural mindframe––

...well, it liked being the strong one
...it liked to have the upper hand, especially over Silent Night.
...it liked to prove itself and its owner’s worth

...and yes, it liked being Backlash.

Zack chuckled, a hacking coughlike motion that spattered blood all over BackHonest's face. His chuckle grew, slowly and painfully growing into hysteric laughter. As he spasmsd in hysteric agony, Zack reached up and gripped BackHonest's collar. "First off... Get your facts straight, Honest." Zack's voice dripped with mocking sarcasm, as if the actor's name was some bad joke. "I wasn't killing anybody. Wrist. Knees. Last I checked, even a weakling like you would survive what I shot at, and the FAKE Mod is far more durable than you. Even a fatal blow would have simply made the traitor ghost into something else. However if this is how you react when a friend tries to save your life, then I won't try again." Zack coughed again, shaking his head. When he spoke again, rage fueled his words where hysteria once ruled. "And speaking of... That imposter is NOT Mod. Mod, our friend, is dead. And that thing thinks it can just waltz in and replace him? You might as well dump your sewage on our friends grave. Is that what you want? Though now that I see what you really wanted from him, it wouldn't surprise me." Zack spat, raw contempt now dripping from his mouth, mingled with the blood. "It seems you've inherited my curse... I told you it gets harder to come back. It always gets harder to come back." Zaxk looked up into BackHonest's eyes. "You said something to me the other night. Do you remember? You compared me to your brother. You're right. We're both monsters. The only real difference between us is that I've grasped the illusion of freedom... I've people I care about. People still living. And you know what? I'm quite glad were alike. I know what I am. We all know what I am. And I'm going to make the most of what they did to me." Zack chuckled again. "You know something, brother? I think your mother got your names mixed up. Must not have been feeling well, eh? Kaiser? That bastard's the Honest one. He doesn't hide what he is. Look at you. Gaining our trust? Pretending to care? Then you sh*t on Mod's grave, beat the guy who tried to save you after be fries himself saving the whole team, yourself included, you're right. For you there are no Titans. They only exist for those who can be saved. Go join your kin, Fake."

OOC: ^ Ouch. DX

Ooc: Hey, you said Zack had no soul! XP I had to get Liev back somehow! Which reminds me, sorry about the delay over there. And here. Things have been crazy what with work and college and military... Ugh...

Ooc: if I'm a teen Titan and part of this team, what happens now? O.o

(Jay's not good with in team fights, and is even worse at breaking them up... *hides*)

ic: Jay looked between Zack and Honest, she really didn't like were this was going. And she felt even worse knowing there wasn't anything she could do about it.
"Uhm, I'm gonna go... some where," Jay slunk off to the living room, not wanting to be pulled into having to choose sides. She got outside the training room and started to head towards the living room, then changed her mind and headed for her room. wanting to hide from this mess.

OOC: I suppose you can start posting as Kitsune, the Teen Titan! As for this thread, it pretty much at a close; however, I'm going to reply with my personal ending-of-sorts. It'll involve Kunoichi, BTW, so don't leave quite yet!

My post will come shortly; I'm kind of busy right now.

Alrighty^_^ I understand. *sits and waits*

OOC: Yeah, you're a Titan now. Congrats! We hereby release you on the world.