Until next time (Open to Titans West)

Alex arrived at the front door of Titan's Tower once again, his hand searched through his pockets until he found his old communicator. He looked over it once more before returning his attention on the giant doors before him. One whole year had passed since Alex's brief stay in the Tower as a Teen Titan had abruptly ended just as soon as it began. Having felt a bit shameful and embarrassed about picking up and leaving without a word hadn't sat well with him the entire time and it brought him back for the closure he needed and most importantly to apologize to the Team. Alex may have realized, even in his brief stay, that joining up with the Titans wasn't what he had hoped it to be originally, but in his mind that was still no excuse to bail on them with little to no warning. While on his "Pilgrimage" he learned a lot about himself, but more importantly he'd learned a better way to deal with the unchecked crime that had infected this city. He came to the realization that being part of the Titans would only hinder his goals and most likely put himself at odds with them and the various heroic entities that spanned across Jump, Steel and beyond. However, there would be plenty of time to dwell on that after he had finished at the tower. The Tower recognized him as an Honorary Titan and opened for him to enter.

Zack looked over as the door whooshed open. He had been training all night again, though he refused to let his exaustion show. Training or not, he wouldn't have slept anyways. He had discarded his shirt, and hadn't been wearing socks or his combat boots in the training room, so his scarred chest was visable beneath his open jacket and the hem of his jeans brushed against the floor. "Ah! Newbie! How've ya been, eh?" Zack's usual enthusiasm masked his internal struggle. "Been a bit since I last saw you! Coming to check in? If you've anything to report, let me know. Unless it's boring. Then let Mod know." Zack proceeded to wander into the kitchen where the sound of his rummaging through the fridge could be heard, absently humming to himself.

A television screen in the entry way lit up and the face of Model Eleven appeared on it. His body was still being repaired at the moment, so he was confined to a virtual existence.

"Push? We have not known your location for quite some time. I would like to know what you have been doing all this time."

" I've been acquiring resources around the globe, some even beyond that." Alex replied to his two former teammates. " I just need one last thing and it's right here in Titans Tower." Alex said as he put his old communicator on a nearby terminal. A program in the communicator suddenly sprang to life as it began to hack into the Titan's files, namely the extensive dossiers it had on every Titan and villain the city ever had. Alex was sure Eleven would be able to detect it within fractions of a second, but was confident enough in the software that he was sure it would be challenging for him to stop. He would have to buy time for the data retrieval to complete and keep the two Titans preoccupied. " I'd really rather not fight either of you at such an early stage, but I don't see the two of you letting me walk out of here scott free either." Alex said as he laid his hand on a nearby wall.

Evan detected an attempt to hack into the Tower's database. It was coming from Push's communicator. This didn't make any sense. Why would a Titan try to hack into his own database?

"Push? What are you doing? Why are you hacking into the database?"

Zack raised an eyebrow as he exited the kitchen, glancing at Evan, then back at Alex, realizing what was going on, at least at the surface. "You don't want to fight me eh? Then why say it? You know how much I love a fight." Zack's grin widened a s a cruel light flickered in his eyes. He stepped forward, the madness that consumed him in combat already welling to the surface despite his attempts to control it. "Perhaps you should sit and talk a bit." Zack gave Evan an almost imperceptible nod, hoping he got the message to seal the doors. Taking annother step forward, Zack kept talking, his combat knife sliding up his back underneath his jacket to rest under his forearm, hidden from view and ready to use. "Have you made any new friends? I would love to meet them, perhaps you could introduce us..." Zack was a mere five feet away, his head tilted to one side as he eyed Alex hungrily, aching for a fight.

Evan got the message and locked all exits to the tower. Zack was definitely acting in a violent fashion. A fight seemed inevitable at this point. Evan's fingertips began glowing slightly as he prepared for battle.

" Trust me, you don't want this fight."

Alex announced, unfazed by Zack's frenzied advance. He would have to keep an eye on Zack, but in the back of his mind he saw Evan as the bigger threat. The entire Tower could very well become his opponent if he allowed Evan to go unchecked. He hoped to keep him busy with the hack and a few of the traps it had waiting within it's firewalls and subroutines. Alex's only hope was keeping Evan spread thin fighting on different fronts and keeping Zack at a distance because it would prove fatal to get in close quarters with him.

Alex dropped to a knee and made contact with the floor of the Tower and forced a large swell of concrete and steel towards Zack and Evan while his other hand began to be covered by the Tower wall as it stretched it's way across his body to form a makeshift protective shell.







OOC: I'm not aware of the rules for grave digging on this site, but I realized I left yall hanging on this one. I'm still game for wrapping this up, but it may take me a while to respond. However, I don't plan on it taking me two months to respond again.

Zack laughed as rebar laced concrete rose from the floor to attack him. Zack focused his magnetic ability on the rebar, leaping as he repelled himself away from it, pushing himself over the oncoming wave to land on his shoulder, using his momentum to roll to his feet and dive towards Grin's left, launching his knife to the traitor's right, the blade spinning like a saw. With a bit of luck, Grin would dodge one way or the other. Even if he didn't Zack would land behind his opponent, ready to parry a counterattack or remain on the offensive.

ooc: Meh, I'm no one to complain about taking forever to reply. I'm pretty busy here and usually only have time for one reply at at time when I can get on at all. I've no problem wrapping this up.

Evan was hit by the concrete, but was able to keep his body intact. A few minor systems were down, but his body should still be opperational.

With Zack running in to fight close-quarters, Evan decided to let him deal with Push. Evan ghosted his code soul into the Tower's mainframe and headed for the device that Push had introduced to the system. It was fairly advanced, but Evan should be able to control it in under a minute.

A firewall stood in his path. Evan engaged the firewall and began hacking into it.

Alex noticed Evan's body was still online, but had ceased it's attack. Tch...The initial attack wasn't enough, he's ghosted. He'll be through with that hack in minutes. If I haven't dealt with Zack before he comes back to the fight I'll be forced to retreat with what little data has been transmitted. Alex had made a grave mistake when his attention should have been focused elsewhere, Silent Night. He finally made contact when Zack had already cleared over half the distance between them, so much speed in such a heavy form. Alex would go on the offensive as his armor finally finished materializing around himself. Normally he wouldn't last long going blow for blow with Zack, but now with armor from the Tower's dense structure and it's movement fueled by his power he'd be quite formidable. He rushed forward, leaving pieces of the Tower floor shredded in his wake to meet Zack head on.

OOC: Dude, where've you been? It's great to have you back, but you can't just leave us hanging for months at a time. Model Eleven isn't even alive anymore.

OOC: I have no excuses. I'm sorry. I've been on and off of here since my last post so I'm well aware that Model Eleven had passed. I was hoping to finish it without any continuity errors by just retreating when Model Eleven was finished with the hack.

OOC: I don't know if Silent Night is going to post again. Let's just say that you got away and do some other threads. On a side note, would you like Push to work for Seth? He's an NPC villain who will be needing to reshape his ranks of underlings really soon.

OOC: I could see him working for Seth but with some kind of ulterior motive or other drive and not just as recurring lapdog #3. I'll read up on Seth, but what kind of story did you have in mind?