ACT 3

ACCESSING MEMORY FILES……

PROCESSING….FILE 29329

DATE…..CONFIRMED

TYPE…….UNCLASSIFIED

PROCESSING….

FILE ONLINE….

So this was death. He thought. A pitch blackness. Different than what he would've imagined. Although he was not religious, he had expected something different than this, he expected maybe it would have been oblivious, a great nothing.

Yet this was undoubtedly something, a sensation in all the darkness.

It was pain, no, more than pain.

It was agony.

Then there was a scream.

His scream.

Of course. HELL. He was in hell. The place where he was condemned to, for there was no other word to describe this state. He only had to listen – another sense that came back – to the voices around him. Demonic voices grunted around him, as if they were discussing their hideous work, perhaps another torture they would prepare for him as he lay helpless on the rack, or was it a bed?

He struggled to open his eyes, if only he could force them open, no doubt he would see what these demons were doing to him, how they were inflicting such pain on him. He felt something crushing his lungs, with bands of metal squeezing his head, a jagged pain going through his neck and shoulder, but that was all he felt.

Oh my god…where are my legs….my hands.

"Son!! Son!! Can you hear me?"

He groaned again. A new sensation stabbed at his body now, a throbbing sensation, as if his heart was pumping thousands needles straight into his body.

This wasn't hell.

"Thank god! He's waking up!"

This wasn't death, or some form of oblivion.

This…This was real.

"Victor!"

"Dad?" Victor croaked weakly. He squinted his eyes, the light in the room blinding him completely. All he made out were shapes. And the pain.

He screamed, jerking his body upright as he felt the feeling surge through him, a thousand needles in every vein……he also heard the noises around him too, a machine that pumped air, and a little 'beep…beep..' sound, like the machines he saw on TV. But this time, they were for him.

"Son….." He saw his father now, Dr. Payton, world renowned scientist, and there was a huge amount of relief in his voice and face. Yet, there was something in his eyes, something about the old man's look that told victor that not everything was alright.

"Dad…where am i?" He said weakly, too tired even to register the next shot of pain.

"You're at the lab son. There was an accident….this was the only way we could save your life."

"Wha…" Victor said weakly, "what do you.."

Then he felt it. His arm. His legs. More like, he couldn't feel anything.

"I…I can't move my arms."

Then suddenly he remembered. As if his brain had just received a jolt. The picture was crystal clear now, burned into his mind like a haunting memento. The monster, the screams of a woman….

"Where's mom!?" Victor shouted, jerking his body up from the table to look around the room, but he couldn't push himself up, he couldn't feel his legs either.

He felt the strong arms around his shoulder, the arms of his father, as if begging him to stay down, but Victor didn't want to.

"I'm sorry son, I did everything I could for her. But….." He trailed off, as if burying that horrible memory into some dark place.

But Victor remembered it.

"The hospital wanted to declare you gone too, but I had to try…."

"Why……didn't you save mom?" Victor said, almost accusingly.

"It was what she would have wanted son…..please, believe me." Dr. Payton said weakly, as if trying to ask for forgiveness. But Victor was in no mood. At that moment in time, he realized what was going on around him, the buzzing of saws, assistants scurrying about the room, carrying cybernetic parts in their arms.

The words came instantly, the rage complete, flowing like molten rock.

"What have you done to me?"

He looked up now, and for the first time, he saw his body. Or what was left of it. And the sight almost made him scream in bloody agony. He was a torso now, strapped onto a table with thousands of cables plugged into him. Like a science project.

"I saved your life son…." He felt his father's hand on his shoulder now, or what's left of it. But it did nothing to sooth him. Everything he had wanted to do, all his dreams, his hopes, his aspirations. It was all dead now, like the cold unfeeling machinery that was being strapped to him. He felt the frustration now, as if all the feelings he had against his father were erupting into an uncontrollable rage. He wouldn't let him go into football, now, he wouldn't even let him die….

He didn't know what to do, in fact, he even let out a little chuckle. "I guess this worked out perfectly for you huh?……now I can't play football, I can't go pro. I guess I'm going to have to settle for being your science project."

"Son, please, you must under-"

"You're always telling me what I should do, I guess its fitting I end up like this!"

"That's not what it is son, I just want to save-"

"Well you finally got what you wanted! ARE YOU HAPPY? You're always controlling me, never letting me decide where to go or what I want to do with my life. You think I want this?! I'm not even human!" He screamed in outrage.

"Please victor," His father pleaded with him, " I know this will take a little adjusting to, but you're alive, that's all that matters."

"How can you call this being alive?" Victor grunted as another shot of pain flowed through his cybernetic body, this one worse than the others. "How can you?!"

Tears swelled his eyes now, not only from the pain, but from the grim realization of what he was right now, something else. Soon, another shot of pain erupted, this one worse from the rest. Victor found himself blanking out. Soon, the doctors around him were scrambling, and the image of his father was fading away. More people were running towards the table now and he saw his father shouting at him, a look of shock on his face.

"How could you….do this to me? I'm a monster!"

"I'm not even human!"

PRESENT DAY…….

There was an eerie calm on shores of Jump City bay. If an observer had stood there, they would have seen, on the little island in the centre, a series of small blasts and explosions erupt from the T-shaped building, as though an arsenal of rockets had exploded throughout the building.

It was quiet now however, and all that remained now were the smoking craters that littered the island.

Suddenly, a single blast erupted from the top floors, and from the tower, a small figure was blown straight into the sky, flying in a huge arc before finally landing on the beach with a loud explosion, creating an even bigger crater than before.

UNANTICI$ED…MANUVER…….SYSTEMS…(#($934934MAL…50. ...

The HARDAC bot got up slowly, and immediately in front of it, on the beach, was another android, only this one was armed to the teeth. The sound of jet engines quickly filled the air, and a spray of water was shot up from the bay as Cyborg floated down towards the Hardac drone. His back completely converted into a rocket pack. Cyborg himself, had undergone a huge transformation. Gun muzzles popped from his shoulder, while his chest plate and face reconfigured themselves, completely covering all the once human parts of his body and instead replacing them with cybernetic scopes for his eyes and titanium armor on the rest of his body.

Cyborg's arm itself was transformed into a huge cannon, with its muzzle being a long beam that extended several feet ahead, several circular rings framed the empty cylinder, which had moments ago, discharged a laser beam straight into the Hardac drone.

"Didn't see that coming did ya?" Cyborg said in his metallic voice.

"Impressive Titan Cyborg, you seem to have matched your system to anticipate my programming." Hardac droned on.

"I wouldn't be much of a techie if I didn't figure you out. Now where are my friends?" Cyborg demanded.

The Hardac bot got back on its feet now, ignoring the dozens of spectators who were running away in all directions. The battle at Titans Tower after all, had caught the attention of most of the city, and already police cars and most of jump city's finest were arriving on the beach, forming a semi-circle around the two combatants.

"They are currently with me now." The singular red eye gave Cyborg a menacing glare as the android prepared to fight again. "But do not worry, there is still much I can learn from humans, so I will be keeping your friends alive for now. Until I can extract all that I need to know."

"You won't be doing anything." Cyborg pointed to the android, landing right on the beach in front of his opponent.. "Because I'm shutting you down."

In that instant, Cyborg's other wrist suddenly reconfigured itself into a cannon, one that resembled a sawed-off shot gun.

ANALYZING BARREL TYPE……USAS-12….

"Interesting choice of weapon Titan Cyborg, but bullets do nothing against me." Hardac replied.

"Who said anything about bullets?" The Titan replied nonchalantly.

In that instant, a spout of flame completely engulfed the drone as Cyborg's wrist flamethrower went to work, forming a pillar of flame around the android

TEMPERATURE UNSTABLE …INTIATING FORM CHANGE…

Claws emerged from the flames, instantly revealing at least half a dozen mechanical serpent heads as HARDAC took the form of a hydra. The heads instantly lunged at Cyborg, who retracted both his weapons to stop the Hydra's mouth with his bare hands. Then, with an almost effortless motion, ripped the top part of the hydra's mouth from the lower jaw.

It only gave Cyborg a brief breathing space however, as two more Hydra heads flanked him, darting straight at him, fully intending to rip him in two.

INITIATING WEAPONS PROTOCOL, MANUVER…9393

The two heads instantly fell to the ground as Cyborg jumped straight through the attack, both his wrists suddenly sprouting arm chainsaws. More of Hardac's mechanical heads fell onto the ground, only to be reabsorbed into his body.

ACTIVATING MAGNETIC FIELDS……TARGET ….CYBORG

Police cars around the two combatants began levitating now, much to the distress of the police officers, who fired wildly at the gigantic monster, but to no avail.

The first police car that was levitated into the air quickly launched itself straight at Cyborg, but the Robotic titan was ready, and a simple punch had already deflected the car, and the next ones were quickly dispatched by the shoulder cannons of Cyborg, two cars simply exploded into a ball of flame in mid air, while the rest of the police officers were thrown back by the blast.

The Hydra's last head barely had time to reach as Cyborg punched it right in the jaw, sending the robotic beast flying into a SWAT truck, knocking it over as though it were a toy car.

The HARDAC drone quickly recovered itself, transforming into its humanoid form again.

Before it could go any further however, Cyborg was already running, body slamming HARDAC into the swat truck like a football player. The Titan did not stop running, even as he was pushing Hardac, the Swat car and rubble through the beach. The Hardac drone found itself getting crushed under the immense pressure

"You think I was gonna do some fancy computer tricks to stop you Hardac? I'm going to beat you into a bucket of scrap metal!"

"You can't react if my actions are too fast for you." Cyborg said as he punched Hardac again, sending the robot flying into a building, punching a hole in the wall that exploded into a cloud of rubble.

"Impressive Titan Cyborg, but I too, can adapt at your speed." HARDAC stretched out an arm, towards a nearby car, and as if on cue, the car went flying straight towards the android. To Cyborg's amazement, the car dismantled itself in mid air, a part of HARDAC's magnetic powers, and all the pieces quickly absorbed themselves into HARDAC's body, adding extra armor onto him, while the tail pipe and parts of the engine emerged on the android's fist, while the fuel tank emerged on the back of the android.

Cyborg suddenly realized what he was doing.

ACTIVATE SHIELD…

A shield was quickly thrown up over cyborg's body, protecting him from the pillar of flame that shot out of HARDAC's impromptu wrist flame thrower, cleverly improvised by taking apart the car and reconfiguring its gas tank and engine.

Before he could even land, the android was already rushing towards Cyborg, bo staff now formed in its hand, in a similar attack pose to Robin. The other hand was already charging a red star bolt.

"I'll admit Titan Cyborg, that you are different from your friends, but even if I cannot predict you, I will just have to beat you."

Cyborg reacted instantly, opening up his shoulders to reveal a salvo of half a dozen missiles, all of them aiming straight at the android. But with a robin-like reflex, Hardac simply planted his bo staff onto the ground, and pole vaulted towards Cyborg, easily evading the missiles that flew past him.

The arm chainsaw came up again, and Cyborg sliced through the bo staff. Hardac shot his star bolt at the titan, but a sonic blast from the other arm quickly cancelled that out.

The two robots exchanged a flurry of savage blows, but HARDAC, armed with Robin's fighting data, was gaining the upper hand, and it ended with Cyborg being knocked back into a building, blowing another hole into the wall. The street by now resembled something of a hurricane zone, with debris, rubble and cars littering all over the beach and street.

"Finished yet?" Hardac said in his mechanical voice, stopping just short of Cyborg.

"Barely even broke a sweat." The Robotic titan cracked his knuckles, then he leapt up and hit his opponent, sweeping the uppercut from waist to the android's chin and sending him flying through the air.

Before Hardac even landed however, his metallic body began to twist and contort, eventually transforming itself into a king cobra, only this one was at least three stories tall.

"Even as a machine, you are still partly human, you cannot keep this up forever Titan Cyborg, while I can." Hardac hissed as the mechanical snake coiled up and jumped straight at the titan.

"Then I'll finish this quick." Cyborg quickly converted both arms into sonic cannons.

"Indeed." Hardac hissed again, then attacked.

Cyborg fired his cannon, letting loose a giant blue ray that sliced through the air, but Hardac had tricks of his own too.

CREATING ARTIFICIAL SURFACE CONVERTING….MIRROR GLASS.

The cybernetic snake's skin suddenly took on a new form, and Hardac's entire body became covered in the surface of the glass on the mirror, so that Cyborg's laser bounced off harmlessly.

Before Cyborg could even react, the giant cobra had already wrapped itself around Cyborg's body with a deathly speed.

The Titan grunted as he tried to escape the vice grip of the snake, but he found himself tied down completely, unable to move.

"It is over Cyborg, your time of heroes, your era, has ended. It is time for the future, to move on to the next phase of protection. Me." Hardac said sinisterly as he crushed Cyborg's armor, sending sparks flying in all directions.

"And what makes you think you are so good?" Cyborg shouted back in defiance.

"Because I am not bound by your human imperfections." Hardac's snake form hissed again, this time, bringing its mouth straight in front of Cyborg's face.

"Heroes, you see, are selfish, flawed creatures. You allow your enemies to escape, knowing full well that one day they will recover and return to threaten you and your friends, the city you sought to protect. Logically, you should destroy them when you have the chance, to save future lives." Hardac said in his hal-like voice.

"You do not, and your enemies return, and more lives are consequently threatened. This happens because you value your own morality above the greater good. Or worse, you do this because you enjoy being heroes, you enjoy the attention you receive. What better way to sustain it than to keep repeating the cycle? You put your own values before the safety of future victims. That in itself, is a crime."

Cyborg grunted under the strain, but still managed a reply.

"You're wrong! It's not our place to decide who dies or who doesn't Hardac! We don't have the right, we're not like that!" The titan replied back.

Hardac's response was to simply bring Cyborg closer to its face.

"Then I'm glad we finally understand our differences….Titan Cyborg." Hardac droned mechanically.

The cobra opened up its jaw, intending to swallow Cyborg whole, but the Titan already had other plans in mind.

The snake's body suddenly began to heat up drastically, and the coils around Cyborg soon became looser as the titan opened up his jetpack.

WARNING WARNING…HEAT SOURCE DETECTED…..INITIATING EMERGENCY PROCEDURES….

"Boo-yah"

The snakes body, and the jet pack on Cyborg's back, exploded completely into a cloud of flame and smoke. Hardac's body literally disappeared in the sea of flame, while Cyborg himself was tossed a good fifty yards away from his opponent.

DAMAGE…85...CRITICAL…….SYSTEMS…MAINTAINE289(#9… .DOWn..D#(92…REROUTE…

Hardac's drone was down now, the rest of the cobra head transforming back into its humanoid form, completely battered.

"I'm only gonna say this once." Cyborg walked towards the android, his sonic cannon already armed. "Where are my friends."
The Android did not answer...
"Why….they are safe with me….Friend."
Cyborg turned around, and to his shock and dismay, he saw his friend. Although this time, he was different. He still wore the same black flowing robe as before, but there was no hint of humanity in his voice anymore, just the monotonous droning of a machine.

"Fixit?"

His expression was ice cold, even as he was holding a large laser cannon sprouting from his shoulder, which was at least the size of a bazooka.

And it was aimed at him.

"Fixit….look man, I don't know what's going on here, but you're obviously being controlled. Hardac's done something to you." Cyborg retracted his sonic cannon, and held his hands up in front of fixit in a non-threatening gesture.

"Just take it easy, I'm your friend, you don't want to do this. You're not like this."

Fixit remained calm for awhile, as if not knowing what to say. Cyborg for a second, was relieved, thinking that maybe the human side of his old friend was taking over….

Fixit's eyes however, suddenly glowed a menacing red color. Meanwhile, next to him, another of Hardac's drone revealed himself, along with an army of slade bots. It suddenly dawned on Cyborg that they were watching the fight all along, as if testing him...

"It is over Titan Cyborg." Hardac stepped forward, and at that instant, all of the slade bots trained their rifles on the titan. "Surrender Now."

"As if I would! This fight isn't over!" Cyborg quickly converted his arms back to his patented laser cannons, but Hardac simply stepped forward, as if ignoring the threat.

"You are incorrect, this fight has been over before it has even begun."

Cyborg grunted, then prepared to blast Hardac straight into oblivion.

Except that...his sonic cannon didn't fire.

"What the-" The robotic Titan said in surprise.

"That arm..." Hardac pointed to Cyborg's newly repaired arm. "I had subject Atlas damage it for a reason, and that was so that you would come to us. By now, my virus has infected all your weapons systems."

Cyborg grunted in frustration, knowing he had been completely outsmarted.

"Don't feel so disappointed Titan Cyborg. After all, I am the ultimate machine. You on the other hand, are only human."

Cyborg, still defiant, even in defeat, ran straight towards the Hardac drone, intending to pummel its lights out.

Fixit however, stepped in between the two, his sonic cannon point menacingly at Cyborg.

At that instant, Cyborg froze, completely taken aback by fixit's action.

"Hesitation, Cyborg. Another human emotion I've gotten rid of." Fixit aimed his cannon straight at Cyborg.

"NO!" Cyborg shouted.

Before he could say anything else, Cyborg was knocked back by a gigantic sonic blast, this one completely peeling off the armor and wrecking half of cyborg's robotic face, revealing the human side of his face underneath. Sparks of electricity ran through his armor, which was already on its last legs since Cyborg's battle with the snake hardac.

Cyborg was on the ground now, and the image on his optical sensors was blurring now, the last thing he saw, was the image of Fixit, walking towards him.

"Do not worry friend……you will understand in time. For now, it is time for your integration."