A Past Foe with a New Target: A Machine... and an Alien

"No-one defeats Atlas."

A golden/red Machine rose from the enlarged stool he sat upon, his opponent's arm left mangled disconfigured, mechanical bits poking out of places where they shouldn't be. Since his reactivation, Atlas had returned to what came natural to him: defeating the weak and adding to his flawless record. Victories in games, victories in battle, they were all the same to him, the machine having dominated at least 20 challengers other than the one crying out in agony before him, each one left in a very similar state... Atlas had taken an interest in what the humans refer to as "Arm-Wrestling", a challenge that tested the mechanical strength of one's limbs in a struggle of pure power! Something like this... it came naturally to someone as perfectly strong as Atlas himself, his foe... obviously existing in the contrary. Atlas observed his handiwork with a smile, his half-human foe clutching at his destroyed mechanical limb, joints twisted out of place and metal warped and compressed where the superior being had placed his grip...

There was a pleasure in seeing such an inferior being put in it's place, knowing that he, Atlas was the one to do it. Unlike some who crave the uncertainty of battle, the knowledge that they could lose, Atlas such things unworthy of him. No, it was far more attractive to maintain an unsullied position of power, fighting foes that would "make him sweat" (as humans say) but were ultimately of no threat to him. Proving his superiority was what made him feel ALIVE... and his handiwork was stimulating in that regard.

"Crawl back to your shoddy workman, human." Atlas decreed, making a brushing motion with his hand as if sweeping his has-been challenger aside. "I have no use for the presence of failures." As the cyborg crawled back to whatever run-down mechanic-shop that gave him his cybernetics and leaving his ruined limbs behind, Atlas sauntered back to his own dwellings, deep within the bowels of Jump Stadium. He had more victories to accumulate.

With a barrel of warm oil in one hand and the other cradling an oversized controller, Atlas laid WASTE to what passed for the human champions of his latest game: Champion-Fighters II, the sequel to a brawler which introduced him to the Teen Titans. Naturally, his avatar TOWERED over most of his smaller opponents, his superior strength and size making him a natural WALL that crushed his foes! Each flattened, empty barrel of oil indicated the humiliation of at least a dozen humans... and the gratification of a superior life-form. With a CPU that put the human mind to shame and a body that could end the BEST of them, Atlas was a GOD among the pathetic creatures he lived among...

...and just LOVED making a point of it.

"Machina-1031. You have been dominated!" Atlas grunted triumphantly before guzzling down a large barrel of oil! The slick, dark fluid running down his mechanized gullet, a few droplets rolling off his chin and slickening the floor at his feet. Ah... Even as he reveled in victories uncountable and drink most worthy, Atlas' thoughts couldn't help but dwell on one man...

Cyborg...

The good-mood Atlas had accumulated depleted slowly, his arrogant smirk slowly falling into a disgruntled frown. That man... he defeated Atlas more times that he should have been able, somehow able to surpass his limiter and grow strong enough to overcome him! That was a victory he intended to negate, something Atlas DESIRED to accomplish above all other goals! That half-human whelp...

Atlas nearly CRUSHED the controller in his grip, so quickly was his anger rising, his eyes locked firmly on his latest opponent... Imagining it as the man who had stained his flawless record.

Hugging the couch cushion, Starfire rarely let her negative emotions take a hold of her, it was not like her to stay in an upset mindset for too long, but the tower felt filled with too many questions as of late. We they going to be evicted from their home? Were they ever going to go back to the crime fighting?
“Yo whattup Star?” The heavy metal footsteps entered the living room and Cyborg came around the couch to join his tamaranean teammate. “Hey, you alright?”
Starfire averted her gaze for a second before looking up.
“We are being called criminals, all the villains we had captured have escaped, and Robin has not been seen outside of his room all day..” she stated, hugging the pillow tighter.

“We’ll get that all sorted out eventually Star, you’ll see.” Cyborg chimed, trying his best to cheer her up. “There hasn’t been anything we haven’t gotten through together.” He really was like an older brother to her always being patient with explaining situations with her. He reached over and grabbed two wireless game controllers, and waved one her way.
“Why don’t we just clear our minds with a little friendly yet violent gaming. I got a new game, wanna be the first to test it out with me?”
Starfire blinked as she reached and grabbed the controller. Video games was Cyborg’s and Beast boy’s favorite past time, and sometimes Robin would even compete in them. Starfire would play every now and then but would have trouble understanding the concept of them, how to win, what the point was, but maybe it would help as a distraction.
Cyborg set the game up, and they began choosing their characters. Starfire chose the one with most colors. As the stadium loaded, Cyborg began explaining the controls and how to win the game. Starfire would nod, but it was obvious only half of what he was saying would get through to her. “Aww Yeah, here we go!”
Suddenly the screen would flash a bright red and yellow ’FIGHT!’ and Star would begin mashing buttons. Literally all she was doing was pretty all the buttons in no particular order. She shifted her body with the movement of her character, leaning to the right, then the left, stretching out her arms and sticking out her tongue in the corner of her mouth as she focused.
Was she winning? Was she at least putting up a fight? She didn’t know, but she was having quite a bit of fun.
Suddenly the button mashing would cease as the big bold “Winner!!” would appear on screen, accompanied by a loud narrator voice.
“Woah! You won Star!” He put up a hand to give her a high-five, to which she gladly returned and even smiled triumphantly. “I have bested the Cyborg!!” She cheered throwing her arms up into the air.

Atlas was tearing through player after player online, their predictable strategies and substandard character-selections making it less-than-a-challenge for him... but whatever passed for a heart within that metal carapace... it wasn't in what he did. His mind was elsewhere while his eyes and thumbs absently followed the movement upon his screen, his thoughts falling back to his first true loss... How could he have lost...? He was a superior MACHINE! He had overwhelmed him AND his friends TWICE now and suddenly, when nothing obviously changed, he was able to win? The only way Atlas could justify his failure was that he had been slighted, cheated, hoodwinked! NOBODY defeats Atlas in a fair fight! His MIGHT was unrivaled, his body, unbreakable!

What in the...

WINNER!

Atlas blinked, confused, his senses returning to him as he bore witness to victory screen before him, his avatar kneeling in defeat behind it's opponent, a blue avatar shorter... weaker... Atlas had lost... and a familiar sensation began to surface... It was as if his wires were overheating in his cranial-plate, like power was FLOWING beneath his armor, flooding him with a mindless strength... One might call this outrage... Atlas would call this... a farce! Once he had recovered from his shock, Atlas used his controller to type out a message, meanwhile his new mechanic already searching the coordinates of the person who had shamed him!

NOBODY DEFEATS ATLAS!

I DEMAND A REMATCH!

Would appear on his opponent's screen... but it wasn't a gaming-fight he was looking for... NOR a brawl... But something much more simple... Something perhaps even more personal...