Chapter Thirteen: War of the Machines
"Your head is mine Bellerophon!" Atalanta's seeming peaceful nature appeared to be all by a memory now, replaced only by a bloodlust-like rage as the fragmented memories of a violent and abusive Bellerophon ran through her mind. She couldn't recall exactly what Bellerophon did to her, all she could recall was the blinding rage she felt whenever she saw him and her desire to tear him apart. Atalanta was the first to finally make a move, charging forward at the four hoplites. Her wings folded inwards in front of her, shielding her from the barrage of gunfire the hoplites unleashed as she rapidly close the gap between them. Leaping into the air, Atalanta soared overhead and blasted the arm off of one of the hoplites with her sonic disruptor. A small panel rose out of her right backhand and a short blade of blue energy emerged out of the opening on her hand.
Dropping straight down onto one of the hoplites, Atalanta's blade cleaved down the center of the mechanical soldier, slicing it asunder. With a pirouette, the two nearest hoplites received a deep slash across the mid-section. It stunned them just long enough for Atalanta to close up her tri-cannon and shoot her liquid metal out as a trio of long tentacles. They pierced through the torso of one of the damaged hoplites, hooking onto his body allowing her to swing the warrior around and slam it hard into the other hoplite she had damaged, sending both of them off the edge of the balcony. The fourth and final hoplite was so distracted by Atalanta's fast and furious attack, that it didn't notice Cyborg's approach. A powerful, point-blank shot from his sonic cannon tore a hole the size of a beach ball through its chest, destroying the hoplite instantly.
"Dammit," Bellerophon quietly cursed to himself as he witnessed the swift annihilation of his troops. While his body language didn't convey it, he was terribly surprised by Atalanta's ferocity. Even still, Bellerophon considered the hoplites to be expendable and didn't falter in the slightest as Atalanta turned her sights on him and charged. There was a flash of light and a sound akin to discharging electricity as Atalanta passed Bellerophon and fell to the ground. Her left arm lay severed on the ground beside her in a pool of liquid metal with Bellerophon standing untouched nearby with a large, glowing red energy sword in hand.
"Atalanta stop!" Cyborg shouted, trying to talk his companion out of continuing the fight, which she seemed to ignore. Before Cyborg had even finished his, she was back on her feet with her wrist blade charged. Bellerophon gracefully parried her attack, countering with a stunning elbow strike to her face. His free hand crackled with electricity seconds before he drove it into her stomach, sending a surge of electricity through her systems and rendering her unconscious.
"Foolish little girl," Bellerophon scoffed before he turned to face Cyborg. "I suppose you'll want a piece of me now." He chuckled confidently to himself as he deactivated and holstered his sword into a small compartment in his forearm. "As you humans would say – bring it," Bellerophon goaded as he mockingly motioned for Cyborg to come at him.
"I'm gonna mess up that pretty little face of yours!" Cyborg shouted as he charged forth and punched as hard as he could at Bellerophon. Cyborg was playing right into Bellerophon's hand though, who narrowly sidestepped out of Cyborg's path. Bellerophon's arm swung low, taking Cyborg out at the legs and flipping him head over heels.
As Cyborg stared dizzily up at the sky for a moment, Bellerophon's metallic frame eclipsed the sunlight. The general hung in the air for an instant before a rocket booster fired and propelled the massive machine back towards the earth. Frantically rolling out of the way, Cyborg narrowly escaped being crushed as Bellerophon's feet impacted with tremendous force. The brute force of the landing left behind a large crater in the center of the balcony, knocked over the nearby tables and chairs, and sent pieces of concrete showering upon the combatants. Cyborg tried to scramble back to his feet but Bellerophon knocked him across the balcony with a swift kick to the gut. He bounced across the concrete twice before crashing through the balcony wall, just barely managing to stay on the balcony by grabbing the edge of the shattered wall.
"One should know their limits," Bellerophon taunted as he marched up to the edge of the balcony and grabbed hold of Cyborg. Effortlessly lifting Cyborg into the air, he was flung into the nearby wall of the pizza restaurant. "I am somewhat disappointed though. With everything you Titans have accomplished, I was expecting a bit more of a challenge. I mean is this really all there is to the mighty Cyborg? You defeated Brother Blood and I humbly doubt I'm stronger than Blood." Cyborg merely frowned before Bellerophon grabbed him by the neck and pressed him firmly against the wall. "Don't worry, I'll take good care of Atalanta for you."
Cyborg grit his teeth angrily as he watched Bellerophon wind up for a finishing haymaker. It was bad enough that he was getting his butt served to him upon a silver platter but Bellerophon made it painfully obvious that he was just toying with Cyborg. Cyborg, however, knew that would eventually make his enemy pay for their arrogance. . At the last moment, Cyborg grabbed the arm that was holding onto him and wrenched it enough that he could move his upper body enough to avoid the oncoming fist. The metal hand grazed past his face, grinding against the cybernetic part, before embedding in the wall. The tables quickly turned as Cyborg used his opponent for support and pressed both feet against his chest and blasted the rockets on his feet.
"Not out of this fight yet," Cyborg smirked confidently after the general landed hard on the ground. Cyborg closed in quickly and took hold of the mechanical warrior by his leg and swung him around several times before letting the general fly through the wall. Thankfully, the inside of the pizza restaurant became deserted when the fight broke out as Bellerophon crashed through half a dozen tables and booths before coming to a rest at the cashier's counter. Surprised, yet pleased, with Cyborg's resilience, Bellerophon was beginning to debate whether continuing with this fisticuffs was a smart idea. There was little time for contemplations though as a balcony table came flying towards the general. Reacting quickly, the table was batted aside easily by the general, which left him soon realizing the mistake he had made. The table was merely a distraction for Cyborg, who was already in Bellerophon's face by the time the table was knocked aside.
"Boo-yah!" His triumphant shout echoed through the pizzeria as Cyborg's haymaker blasted the arrogant general halfway through the kitchen, destroying several stoves and grills on the way. Both parties quickly realized that the resultant damage had broken several gas lines in the kitchen, which Cyborg did not hesitate to ignite with his sonic cannon. Between saving Atalanta and his favourite pizza joint, his friend took much higher priority. The leaking gas ignited in a powerful and fiery explosion that engulfed most of the pizzeria's backend.
"Knowing my luck, probably succeeded in pissing him off more," Cyborg muttered quietly to himself as he took a few steps from the raging inferno before him. Sure enough, seconds later the flames parted from the force of a concentrated energy beam. He knew it was coming yet there was nothing he could do except stare dumbly at the beam before it blasted him back out onto the balcony.
"You really are just full of surprises," Bellerophon chuckled in a surprising turn of events. The relentless general emerged from the flames, slightly blackened by the flames but otherwise relatively unharmed. It came as no surprise though. The gases in the kitchen simply didn't burn hot enough. "I wish more people were like you Cyborg, maybe humanity would be a more interesting opponent." With his energy cannon in hand, Bellerophon took aimed at the wounded Cyborg, taking a moment to let the cannon charge to full power. "Farewell Mr. Stone."
For a brief moment, Cyborg really thought that this might just be the end but when the sound of exploding blasts of energy filled the air it was not Cyborg who was the receiving end. A flurry of green energy bolts and black discs peppered the general, causing his energy cannon to discharge harmless into the ground.
"It's farewell all right but you're the one who's leaving!" The familiar voice of Robin called out from behind Cyborg. The Boy Wonder stood upon the wall of the balcony, flanked by the other members of the Teen Titans, all readied to take on the robot general.
"It would seem that you are correct Robin. A warrior knows his limit," Bellerophon remarked, still managing to maintain his air of arrogance despite the overwhelming odds. "Until we meet again Teen Titans!" With a quick salute of his hand, the general promptly retreated by rocketing into the sky at a great velocity. Though he wished they could've give pursuit, Bellerophon simply was too fast in the air for them to catch up without the use of the T-ship. Instead, the Titans focused on helping their friend as each one rushed to his side.
"What took you guys so long?" Cyborg groaned as he got back to his feet with Starfire's help.
"We got here as fast as we could," Robin answered, knowing that his friend wasn't making a complaint about their speed.
"Well you can help me load Atalanta into the T-car, she went and got herself trashed again…"
For the second time in two days, Atalanta found herself lying upon Cyborg's makeshift repair bed in the secluded tower storage room. Her exposed eye began to glow red as her systems finally came back online and the girl regain consciousness. Groaning softly, she sat upright and brushed back her messed-up hair out of her face. It took a few moments for her to realize that she was back in the Titans Tower and a few more to notice that her left arm was still missing. It lay on a nearby table while her 'mechanic' stood at his computer, toiling away with his work.
"What happened?" she groaned groggily as she looked over to Cyborg.
"You mean before or after you went ballistic and nearly got yourself killed?" he replied rhetorically. "Cause afterwards I was left to handle Bellerophon on my own until my friends showed up and forced him to retreat."
Atalanta fell silent for a while, nervously rubbing the stump of her left arm. "I…lost my temper. I'm sorry." she finally spoke, though very softly. She felt bad about letting her anger get the better of her judgment – she rushed into a fight and, instead of heeding her friend's advice, continued vainly and endangered both her and her friend's life. "I don't know what came over me. I just…saw his face and felt something out of my control just break lose."
"It's okay Atalanta – we all lose our cool at one point or another," Cyborg reassured her as he stepped over to her side and took a close look at her damage arm.
"On the bright side, at least I remember my name now."
"Anything else?"
"Just bits and pieces; none of which make sense. Faces and places that I can't quite put a name or location to." Her tone conveyed her usual sense of confusion and frustration at the emptiness that was her memory. "So…do you think you can fix me?"
"Shouldn't be too hard, I just need to reattach the major circuits and supports then your nanomachines should take care of the rest," Cyborg once more reassured her as he stepped over to the severed arm and began examining it closely. He might have been exaggerating it slightly when he said it 'shouldn't be too hard'. While reattaching his own limbs were easy, they were designed to come on and off with little difficulty. Atalanta's, on the other hand, weren't designed to come off and Cyborg hoped that Bellerophon's blade didn't burn off too much of her arm, or she'd wind up with one arm being slightly shorter than the other. Though his words and actions were on Atalanta, his mind was preoccupied with Bellerophon. It went without saying that Cyborg did not appreciate getting beaten by the general and a rematch was going to happen in the near future.
"Cyborg, why did Bellerophon call you Stone?"
"It's my real name – Victor Stone."
"So, how did he know that?"
"He…uh, that's a very good question." With the chaotic battle, Cyborg didn't give much thought to those little words uttered to him. "Farewell Mr. Stone." How would a machine he had never met know his name? It didn't make any sense since it was extremely rare for anybody outside of the tower to know that information. "I wish more people were like you…" Bellerophon's words kept running over and over in his mind like a skipping vinyl record. "You really are just full of surprises." Why did those words leave such a lingering impression on his mind?
"Um, Cyborg?"
"We need to go, now," Cyborg abruptly announced as he shut down the computers and headed for the door. Atalanta was left in disbelief for a brief moment before she frantically raced after Cyborg, carrying her severed arm with her. He moved surprisingly quick as Atalanta wasn't able to catch up to him until he had stopped in the living for a brief moment to talk with Robin. The other Titans weren't certain which was more puzzling – Cyborg barging into the living talking about having to leave or Atalanta standing in the corner dumbfounded with a severed arm tucked her good arm.
"You're leaving? Cyborg you just barely got out of that last fight alive and you want to leave?"
"I'll be fine, they won't be expecting me to leave so soon. I'm taking the T-car and I probably won't be back for a few days."
"You can't just go off on your own," Beast Boy interrupted, trying to talk his friend out of a risky move.
"I'll be going with him," Atalanta answered.
"Oh yeah, you're really in fighting condition," Raven's sarcasm poked in for a moment.
"You guys need to stay here and watch the city. Trust me, we'll be fine." Cyborg did have a point. Even Cyborg leaving put the city at a slightly greater risk so he couldn't risk having more than one Titan going. "Listen Robin, I have a strong lead and I need to take a look into it before it slips away."
Once again, Robin was faced with the difficult decision of weighing Cyborg's needs with the needs of the team. Cyborg didn't ask for something from the team very often but when he did they were usually quite substantial. Eventually, Robin agreed to let Cyborg continue his investigation – Atalanta was the only lead to Slade and the Legion that they had and until her memory could be properly restored, it was just a lock treasure chest. "Just be careful, okay? And call us the moment you find anything."
"Thanks," Cyborg sighed in relief before heading off for the garage. Atalanta followed shortly behind him, leaving every curious as to what this lead was, Atalanta most curious of all. From the living room to the garage, Atalanta repeatedly asked Cyborg what his theory was but every answer fell upon deaf ears – he was simply too engrossed in his own train of thought for anything else.
Atalanta had sat quietly in the passenger seat of the T-car, trying desperately to get her severed arm reattached. However, reattaching a lost part would've been easier if she had a second hand to hold the severed part in place while the tools in her attached arm did the work. She was carefully trying to keep her severed arm steady by holding it between her knees but the speed of the car and the constant veering through highway traffic wasn't making it easy.
"Almost…almost…ow!" The car jostled upon hitting a pothole, causing her careful welding to clip one of her nerves, sending an artificial jolt of simulated pain to her central nervous system. "Hey, could you drive a little bit more carefully? I'm trying to do a DIY surgery here."
"I'll fix you when we stop, you don't have to do it yourself."
"You're not the one getting weird looks from people in passing cars," Atalanta retorted, waving her severed arm at Cyborg. Every person who caught a glimpse of the one-armed teenager gave her the weirdest look. It was sort of unnerving, especially for a teenage android who had been programmed to be somewhat self-conscious.
"I got weird looks all the time, just don't pay attention to it and you won't even notice it. They're just not used to it," Cyborg suggested, relating to his own experiences the months following his 'transformation'. Atalanta frowned slightly before surrendering to Cyborg's recommendations and stashing the damaged limb underneath her seat. At least now when people looked in through the window they'd just see a one-armed girl with a bandage over one eye – weird, but at least not freakish.
"So where are we heading? We've been driving eastbound for almost three hours now."
"We're going to Steel City. I have some friends there and I think a lead might be there," Cyborg answered at long last. "I…have to confess though, this really doesn't have much to do with you. I just…if I told Robin the truth he wouldn't have let me go. I'm sorry if I got your hopes up but if I this lead comes through, there's still a chance we may find more about your past."
"You…lied to us?"
"It's uh…I think there might be more than just Slade involved with this Legion. There might be another person, which would explain the more advance technology at Slade's disposal. His name is Brother Blood and he and I are sort of…"
"Nemeses?"
"He hacked into my mind and stole my blueprints. He tried to destroy Jump City using my technology, built an army of robotic copies of me, used my cybernetic components on himself, tried to use them on my friends, and the list goes on."
"So this is a vendetta? Blood is your nemesis and you think he might be involved with this Legion? How does this involve Steel City?"
"Cause that's where he was imprisoned. If he got loose, then my friends in Steel City would know about it."
"Couldn't you have just called them?"
"Blood is a manipulative individual. I need to confirm this with my own eyes. If Blood is involved, then the Legion has just become a whole lot more dangerous – Blood is incredibly intelligent and with my blueprints memorized he could've given Slade access to unimaginable amounts of technology. Combined both of their immense resources, intelligence, and power at the head of a mechanized army and we've got a world of trouble."
Atalanta nodded her head slowly, understanding Cyborg's personal mission against this Blood fellow. The name did sort of ring a bell in her mind though she couldn't put anything to that name. "Do you think…Blood could've had something to do with my creation? I have a sonic disruptor – it could be an upgraded version to your sonic cannon."
"It's entirely possible too and, to be honest, I don't want Robin to find that out. If he does…he'd probably have you scrapped...or used against Blood. You don't deserve either of those."
"Why do you think that? I am a machine after all – like this car. A tool to be used and, eventually, scrapped." Cyborg wasn't at all surprised to see this side of Atalanta. She was already a somewhat self-conscious girl; having a low self-image wasn't too far off. Atalanta really did have a wide emotional spectrum at her disposal. It sort of reminded him of his own mindset when he first became Cyborg. He saw himself more as a machine than a human being…an experiment of his father like so many others.
"You're not just a machine Atalanta. A machine doesn't have philosophical conversations. They don't laugh and blush like a school girl. There's more to you than just circuits and metal…just like this car."
A bashful smile curled upon her lips and there were hints of a faint blush in her cheeks as her negative thoughts left her mind. Cyborg was right…she was lucky to have a guy like him in her life. "Thank you…"
"I'll introduce you to my friends when we reach Steel City, you'll like them."