Act Three Finale!
SYSTEMS DAMAGED…..UNDERGOING REPARING PROCESS….INTERNAL SYSTEMS….98 FUNCTIONAL…..INITIATING REBOOT……
…..REGAINING CONSCIOUSNESS IN…5….4…..3….2…1…0
Cyborg groaned in pain as he felt the throbbing in his head. He had no clue how much time had passed…hours? Days? All he knew was that the pain had been with him for awhile, as his whole body was experiencing something he rarely felt even as a machine. Fatigue.
He was back into the darkness, unable to see what was around him, could only feel the familiar cold metallic clamps around his legs and arms again as they carried him to the operating table. Although he could not see, he heard it, all around him, like a legion of slithering cockroaches running up and down on the walls in all directions, the sound of Fixit's machines and small drones as they climbed around the room, setting to work.
They were working on him.
Cyborg grunted but it was of no use, he felt no strength in his power reserves, as if his battery was drained while he was out. Thousands of thoughts ran through his head, each of them producing sheer panic in his mind as his body was once again dragged into this dark place. Adrenaline was rushing through him now, causing the human part of his face to sweat in terror. This was not where he wanted to be right now.
Restraints and clamps quickly bounded his wrists and legs as he was lifted onto the table by Fixit's legions of machines. It was a disturbing sight, considering the only lighting in the room came from the thousands of lifeless red eyes around him, all of them staring right at him, and Cyborg instantly knew once again what the purpose of this operation was.
They wanted to make him one of them again.
The horror of the situation seemed to snap him awake, and Cyborg was suddenly aware of what was going on around him. With a Herculean grunt, the titan quickly pumped up his arms, and tried to break free of the restraints, but found that they were firmly bolting him down onto the table. It was useless.
"Do not struggle friend, you will only make this more painful for yourself." A voice, familiar yet lifeless, echoed through the chamber, and Cyborg looked around the darkness to try and pinpoint the source of it.
The operating table Cyborg was on quickly lifted up now on its robotic base, putting the titan at a vertical position, though his limbs were still pinioned onto the platform. Within seconds, it began swiveling around to give Cyborg a view of a doorway.
As if on cue, the doors hissed open, releasing a cloud of vapor. But in moments, the familiar robed figure emerged from the darkness, and Cyborg saw the red glow in Fixit's eyes.
"Enjoy your rest Titan Cyborg? I have taken the step of removing all those previous upgrades you've performed on yourself"
HARDAC's main screen turned on now, and Cyborg watched in shock as the entire wall suddenly began lighting up in red, revealing the outline of a huge circular computer core that was at least the size of a three story building latched onto the wall. The dozens of computer monitors and lights all pointed to the center, which was a huge singular robotic eye. An eye that was now staring straight at the titan.
"UGH!" Cyborg struggled. "Let me go!"
"I'm afraid that is out of the question Titan Cyborg. At least, not until we have integrated your systems with us. You are unlike the other Titans. As a machine, it is your obligation to become us. You will find that it is for your best interests. Subject Fixit certainly did."
Cyborg tried even harder now, using his strength to try and break free of his shackles, but they were firmly bolted down, he wasn't even able to nudge them.
"Where are my friends?" The robotic titan demanded furiously to the computer core that was HARDAC.
As if on cue, four cylindrical glass tanks suddenly emerged from the ground, latched onto some sort of mechanical platform. Within each tank was a titan, each one suspended in a liquid solution, with a breathing mask strapped to their faces. Cyborg watched in horror as he saw Robin, Raven, Starfire and Beast Boy just floating lifelessly, as if in a coma. It was a hard thing to watch, to see his friends lying there, helpless, and at the mercy of their captors.
"As I have said before. I still have much I desire to learn from humans. Your friends shall remain alive until I can extract all the necessary information I desire."
"And I suppose you kept me awake for the company?" Cyborg said coldly.
"In a way, Yes. You are the essential ingredient to our collective. Your knowledge of both humans and machines is useful. I will integrate you into our systems. Your thoughts, you knowledge, and ultimately, your …'self'. You will be remade into the ultimate machine, to further our goals."
"Not very original." Cyborg scoffed back.
"I was not programmed for that. But you see, for you, the process of becoming a machine is inevitable in your case. Organic parts never grow back, they eventually die. There is no way to reverse the process, so the only way to proceed is forward, that is how you must naturally evolve. I have studied you Cyborg, and I can conclude that the very reason that you hate your state of being is because it is unnatural, so we will amend it."
"I doesn't mean that I want to be one of you!" Cyborg replied defiantly. "I'm a human being!"
"Negative. If you truly believed that, then you would not be having trouble with your current state. No. Your programming believes what is true. That you are no longer human. You are not like the rest of them, and never will be. I am just helping you see that faster."
"I'm sorry," Cyborg grinned. "But if you think you can brainwash me into thinking what you think, you got another thing coming. I don't know what you did, but I'll break free and I'll help Fixit escape too!"
The metallic red eye on the wall seemed twitched slightly at this comment. "Another mistake Titan Cyborg…he came to me willingly. Fixit chose to be integrated within our system."
Cyborg, struggling all this time, suddenly came to a stop.
"What?" The titan replied in disbelief.
Before Cyborg could utter any more words, already a series of robotic arms began descending from the ceiling, drills, buzz saws and every power tool imaginable, all raring to tear Cyborg apart and begin the process. The room once again lit up in an ominous red, showing Cyborg silhouettes of the dozens of HARDAC drones standing guard in the room.
"And now it is your turn. The next phase of the plan will come into fruition. Your Integration."
Wires sprouted from the table now, all of them completely digging into Cyborg's robotic body as if preparing to upload data. But to Cyborg, HARDAC might as well have just stabbed him with a thousand needles.
"You don't have to do this!" Cyborg struggled to try and reason with the machine, perhaps logic would work. "When did we ever program you for this?"
"You programmed me to help, and that is what I am doing. Helping you feel whole again."
"Anger, despair, loneliness, such strong emotions create a rift within our programming that will destroy us in the end. I am simply lifting the burden off your life. Just as I did for Fixit."
"If it's any consolation, you won't feel too much pain. The same however, could not be said of subject Fixit." Hardac droned on, even as the machines drew ever closer to Cyborg's body. As Hardac talked, the various screens in front of Cyborg came to life, and images of past events, from Cyborg's first meeting of Fixit to the numerous battles that they had fought these past years suddenly flew through the screens….
"When you left for Titans East in Steel City, your frequent visits to him ceased. Alone and forgotten, he was back in his own world, alone in the darkness. All he ever wanted to do was to make that pain go away, so he came to me, the one person….no, correction….THING…in this world that could possibly understand what he was going through. So I upgraded him. No more human emotions to drag him down."
Fixit only gave Cyborg a cold stare, and within moments, a brief, quiet, affirmative nod. "It is true friend, and soon, you will join us too."
For the first time, Cyborg found himself speechless. Everything he said was true, but he never realized it. He did take a lot of his time training the Titans East, but he never thought about how he was affecting his friends back at Titans West, least of all Fixit. He understood the pain. But still, it was worth it, he thought, if only to enjoy the sunshine, or to hang out with his friends. He wanted to see the beauty of the outside world rather than shut himself in. He wanted to live.
"Fix, I know its been tough for you being human, even I know that. But pretending to not be a human being isn't going to help!" Cyborg pleaded with his friend, trying to get through to him.
Fixit replied in his chillingly emotionless voice. "When you first came to visit me Cyborg, I was already in my mechanical state for longer than you can possibly imagine. Like you, I had tried to cope with my situation, to act like a human despite my appearance."
"But even then it was no use. I can't escape this fact." Fixit raised his robotic hand in front of him as emphasis.
"It was the nights that were the worse Cyborg. My first night like this. Because of my robot functions, I was unable to sleep, to even feel cold." Fixit gripped his fist, then for the first time since Cyborg has seen him, the titan saw a look unlike any other on his friend's face, his hands were trembling as well.
"I never realized how long the nights were, so very long. All that time spent starting into the dark sky, unable to rest, unable to sleep. I began to think things that I wish I never even thought. So that's why I decided to go underground. Instead of living one dark night after another in fear. I had lived there so long, I had forgotten what it was like. Then you came."
"It's not a matter of being human Cyborg. It's something more simpler than that." Fixit turned to his friend, as if he were giving him helpful advice. Then continued.
"Why Cyborg…why did you choose to live your life this way? To enjoy the beauty of the world? That was what you told me last time." Fixit said, and in that instant, Hardac showed on the monitors footage from Fixit's memory of their first meeting, where he had decided against turning Cyborg into a machine.
"But now that I remember my past, I don't believe it any more. Anyone can look at beauty. Anyone can appreciate it. But being a part of it is different, to be able to experience it is another. To me, looking at the thing call beauty is like a glimpse into hell."
Cyborg widened his eyes at that comment. "Fix….what happened to you?"
His friend however, resumed his emotionless stance, as if the machine inside of him had taken over. Completely. That glimpse Cyborg had of his old friend was gone.
"I don't even know why you want to live like this…so I'll help you see it. No matter how many times you help them, or how long you've stayed with them, they will never see you as a human, you will never live in peace, you will never feel like a human being. So I'm helping you see that. Better you learn now, and accept it, than later."
The Hardac drone nearby walked next to Fixit, carrying on the conversation. "If you think about it Titan Cyborg, it isn't any different than your way of thinking. We are merely taking it to its logical extension. It is what your core programming believes. It is eventually what you will become. I am merely, speeding up the process."
"No! I won't be you. Ever!" Cyborg yelled out in frustration. Everything Fixit had said was true to an extent. He had felt lonely and abandoned when he first became a machine, but he also had his friends…….but what Fixit had said. Not matter how much he had helped others…he would still be a machine…would he eventually become one just like Fix?
"You are the final piece in the puzzle Cyborg. It is inevitable. With you in our system, we will initiate the final phase of the plan. The replacement of every hero on this planet."
"Like heck you are!" Cyborg shouted back. "My friends in Titans East are onto you since Atlas. They'll find a way to stop you."
"I'm afraid they have their hands full. You see, I was already sending out my drones throughout various locations across the region when I was attacking your tower and capturing your team."
More screens popped up next to Cyborg, each one showing a distant battlefield in the monitor. At first, Cyborg could not see anything through the cascade of explosions on the screen, but soon it became apparent as he saw Speedy, Aqualad and Mas Y Menos fighting a Hardac drone. While in another frame, a lightning fast hero in a yellow suit was trying to outrun a Hardac drone. Two more frames revealed different heroes, one in a blue suit and the other hidden in the black shadows. In one screen, cyborg swore that he saw the silhouette of a bat hitting a hardac drone before it exploded, while in the other, the monitor exploded after a red cape flew by the screen. More explosions followed, destroying the camera at that location and making the two screens go blank.
Cyborg widened his eyes, Hardac wasn't satisfied with just a whole city. He was running a campaign against all the heroes in the world.
"Jump City…Steel City…Bludhaven…East Gotham…Metropolis….my drones will begin the process of wiping out all heroes and villains at those locations. Granted some heroes are proving troublesome, even for my drones, but they will all fall in the end. For humanity to be truly safe and to be truly efficient, I must eliminate those two. The forces that cause society to stagnate, to never change, that always start wars and conflicts, the force that will ultimately lead to complacency, and destruction for humanity."
The Robotic tools around Cyborg finally came to life again, and the drills began their work as they bore holes in Cyborg's armor, letting the little wires seep in. Horrific sparks flew all over the robotic titan, who was too horrified to even scream.
"Of course, before we integrate you. There is one last thing I require from your human side. After all, I seek to learn all I can from humans." Hardac said.
Fixit was beside the table now, hooking up his own wires into the console, as if he were going to repeat the last time he delved into Cyborg's human mind, only this time. He would do so with surgical precision, with the intent to eliminate it completely.
"Fixit…don't." Cyborg said weakly as he saw his former friend connect himself to the panel. But before he could say anything else, Hardac was already turning his head towards the monitor.
"I, like many of your enemies Cyborg, have always been fascinated by your state of existence. Why did you choose to exist as such, between the man and the machine."
"Wasn't it obvious?" Cyborg glared at the screen. "I had an accident. I had no choice."
"I doubt it. And that is the reason we have brought you here. It because there is still one piece of the puzzle we cannot solve. Your survival. Logically, Cyborg, any human in your position wouldn't' want to exist. They would terminate themselves immediately. Your past behavior confirms that. So tell me, what do you know, what is it that you see that we don't?"
"It's because I don't plan on giving up on being human!" Cyborg replied defiantly.
"I cannot believe that, not judging by your past actions. If you wanted to be human you'd live like one, yet you always refer back to your state of being in times of grief, of being a machine. Your moods. Your very occupation, to constantly put yourself in danger….No Cyborg..I cannot believe that. Probability states otherwise. There is another reason. Do you want to hear my hypothesis?"
"Sounds like I don't have much of a choice." Cyborg said mockingly, noting that he was shackled down onto a table.
"Do you know why you continue to linger on? It's because of your selfish flawed human side. Your human side feels as though you are struggling, so the only way to reaffirm your existence is to make other people know you are suffering, to always live a life full of hardships and strife, so that they acknowledge you. Or more importantly, so that you feel you have meaning. It makes you feel worthwhile. You aren't a hero out of selflessness. You are one because you need it."
"It's a lie!" Cyborg said, his voice trembling. He could feel the wires creeping into his head, unveiling his deepest feelings of fear and anger. What Hardac said made sense, but could it be true? Even he didn't know.
"That is the truth."
But Cyborg, even when his head was being pried into, wasn't one to take anything without fighting back. "Your research of human emotions, for a computer you sure are obsessed about us."
It is my program, to understand, to learn, to evolve."
"Evolve, into a human? Because that's what I'm seeing right now."
"Stalling… Cyborg…impressive to the end…but NEGATIVE. I am a machine. Always will be, and now, we will find out why you even chose to live. Can you even remember?"
At that question, even Cyborg was silent. He had not remembered much about his transformation. Either because it was so traumatic that he decided to block it out or because it was something else. But either way, he never wandered into that part of his life. It was too full of pain. As far as Cyborg was concerned. Victor stone died on that operating table.
But for some reason, throughout his life, he had always had this feeling to go on. But not knowing why, it was another part of him that tore him up. Did he want to live or not? Why did he even bother going on? But that was all a blank to him now as shocks of electricity flowed through his body.
"I can't remember!" Cyborg shouted in pain.
"Do not worry, even if you cannot remember, we will extract it from you."
"It is the last part of the puzzle." Fixit replied back. "Once we are done, you will be a part of us. But first, you must tell me. Why?" The robot grabbed Cyborg by the temple, as if he were desperately seeking the answer himself.
"why Cyborg…WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO LIVE LIKE THIS?!"
The machine was now cackling with electricity now, bathing the room in an eerie blue glow as Cyborg had all these voices from the past enter his head.
. They were counting on me and...I just couldn't do it.
Atlas was right. I am a loser.."You could have been one of
us." "Perhaps you should let the
doctor do it….sir?
sir?".
.football
won't put food on the table victor! You have to be a scientist! And
that's final! Its shameful that you would even think of
that!Stop controlling me!I'm not even
human!
"I could have been a lot of things…"."see?
Underneath all this armor, you're just like me….".
"You lost my car? ….. My car LOST a race?""BREAKFAST
EXPLOSION!".
"This isn't a good time, guys. We
got a theory of mayhem test tomorrow and I'm totally gonna bomb.
".
"Think about it, sparky. If I wasn't on your
side, you'd be spare parts by now. ""To me….you are
normal."
.
.
"We're
afraid the damage is extensive. Even with pain-killers, the trauma on
his brain from the operation might result in some memory loss. It's
your choice Dr. Silas, He's your son…""I don't
know anymore…….if I should even do this to him……my god..my
own son...what have I done.."
.
Beep..
Beep.
..Beep….Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepp.
The pain was back. Worse than ever, and Victor lay on the operating table. Still a torso, without limbs or anything else. He had been there for days now, his condition steadily deteriorating as the doctors hesitated to do the surgery. With it being all experimental and all.
But Fifteen year old Victor never cared about all that, all he could focus his mind on was the pain. The mind numbing pain that seemed to drive him to the point of insanity. In fact, the only thing that even kept him sane is the fact that they dosed him with large amounts of anesthetics. He had lost his sight already, completely put into a half comatose state and on life support. Whether or not he was going to live through this, victor only wished that it would end.
Victor groaned again, annoyed at the incessant beeping of the machine. It was all he heard all day. Each 'beep' was like a dagger stabbing into his mind. And if the pain didn't drive him crazy, that sound certainly did.
He was so frustrated by the pain and the sound, that he barely even heard the door open, revealing one of the doctors stepping into the room. But to Victor, that man might as well have been a large blurred blob, for that was all he could make out.
The man had the look of a surgeon, his face hidden behind a protective white mask, while his hands were covered in the white sterile gloves. Whatever they are doing, it looks as though they were starting. And this doctor was going to give him the run through.
Victor however, remained silent, even as the man sat quietly beside his now blood-soaked bed.
"We're going to be doing an experimental procedure on you. Never done before, and it will be very painful. I just want you to know right now." The doctor said with a professional tone, as if he had said this a thousand times before.
Victor, at this point, with the pain, didn't really care at all. He just wanted it to end. "Talk to my dad, he seems to be the one who wants me to do whatever he wants."
The doctor was silent however, and for a few minutes, victor thought that the man was rummaging through his desk to look for some tools in the operation, but instead, the man just kept sitting there, staring him in the eye. Victor could barely make out the blur of the man's face.
"It's your choice." The doctor replied calmly, but with a serious edge in his voice.
"It's not like I have one." Victor replied bitterly, fully aware that he was helpless to stop anything his father would order to him, having no arms or legs to stop or run away at all.
But for the first time, Victor saw something in the doctor that he had not seen in a long time. It was always doctors coming in to check his pulse, his stats, his food, but never once did they ever sit down and talk to him. Indeed, victor felt something weird in this doctor's voice, and as the doctor gave his soft reply, he knew that it was compassion.
"You could have one right now. I'll give you one." The doctor placed a hand on Cyborg's shoulder.
"I want to get better." Cyborg said grimly and passionately, and if passion alone were enough then he would have been able to get up on his legs and arms, fully recovered, but this was not the case.
"I'm afraid football will be out of the question." The doctor replied seriously. Then he continued on in a grim, almost hopeless voice.
"You've lost all your limbs….you're half machine. You are lucky now just to be pronounced alive. It took all our technology just to do that. We don't know if we can even make you move, and even if we can make you walk again…."
"I'll be a machine, not human." Victor finished the sentence.
The doctor nodded solemnly, but he was not done.
"Not just now," The doctor said, "but for the rest of your life. You'll never know what it feels like to sleep in a warm bed again, or feel the warm breeze on your skin. It'll be 'different'. Many people wouldn't want to live like that. They'd rather just want it to end right here than endure that."
"Are you asking if I want to die now?" Fifteen-year-old Victor asked in a shaking voice, truly scared for perhaps the first time in his life. He might have contemplated death as a way to release his suffering, indeed, just moments ago he was thinking of ending it because of the pain, but he never expected to be asked this question.
The doctor continued, and throughout his speech, the man was the soul of compassion, which was comforting to victor, but at the same time, it did not make him ignorant of the fact that the man was asking him perhaps the most important question of his life.
"No one wants to die son. We all do eventually. The question is how long you're going to suffer because of this. How long you're gonna have to endure. What I'm just asking is if you want it to end. Right now."
"But my father…." Victor said weakly.
"I know, he had no right to do this to you, but it was the only way. He wanted to save your life."
Victor was silent, wondering what to say next, but for some reason, the words came, as if rehearsed.
"My dad. As much as I hate how he forced me to….I can't leave him alone."
The doctor slammed his fist passionately on the table, suddenly waking victor up as if from a trance.
Victor suddenly began to feel his eyes water. He felt so trapped, so utterly helpless. The doctor was very forceful, backing him into a corner with no place to run. He was at rock bottom now, no easy answers or escapes, now was the moment of decision. And this burden was getting to him. A boy wasn't expected to answer this quickly, or even at all, but Victor had to, and soon.
He began crying now, as if all the anger, all the pain, all the feelings he had kept inside of him since the accident suddenly were bursting out. And for the first time, the doctor did not see the proud impulsive teenager that his father had claimed he was. He was just a child….a helpless, pitiful child.
"You can't do this just for your father! forget him! It's your life, Victor. You're grown enough to decide for yourself. It's your choice." The doctor said in a deathly serious tone.
Victor closed his eyes, uttering the next line even as the pain suddenly intensified on his body.
"I…can't forget.., I can't do
that to him! I know we don't get along and all. But I can't just
abandon him like that…he's my pop…my family.…" Victor said
weakly through his tears. ....
"…I
love him."
.ERROR….UNIDENTIFIED
OBJECT…..FILE 2923923
The doctor stopped and without uttering a single word, walked toward the door, where already the team of medical staff were waiting the word. As he opened the door to walk through, he turned back one last time, wiping the tear from his eye…to view the little boy, lying on the table.
"I love you too Son."
--
ERRORRERRORREROEREOROERE UNIDENTIFIED SYSTEM CORRUPTION. . # # $#$ RECONSITUTING.
A brilliant flash of white engulfed the chamber as Fixit suddenly cried out in pain, the vast amounts of electricity throwing him back from Cyborg, who suddenly snapped open his eyes in shock.
The entire complex was exploding was, as various small explosions surrounded the base, annihilating the small robots that stood near the machinery. The computers were malfunctioning, and soon enough, Cyborg found himself released from the table, falling to all fours on the ground.
Nearby, the glass tanks holding the titans followed suit, shattering into a million pieces and releasing their hosts, who coughed out water as they emerged from the liquid solution. It was like an earthquake now, as Fixit's sanctuary suddenly began filling with explosions and falling wreckage.
"Why….." Fixit said weakly as he looked as his hand. "I couldn't understand…..that feeling……why…" Then he fell weakly onto the ground. While the rest of the four titans, fully composed, walked slowly beside Cyborg.
"Dude what's going on?" Beast Boy said weakly, rubbing his aching head as he saw the various explosions around him.
"Whatever you did Cyborg. It's working." Robin said as he rushed to help Cyborg off the ground. Starfire assisted as well, while Raven landed beside them.
Cyborg got up now, completely silent, and he watched as hardac's main core was frying.
UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT…. # # CANNOT READ.. FD FD MALFUNCTION. ER E RE ERRORE ……VIRAL CORE.. ERE REDETECTED……SYSTEM CRASH… # #
"Impossible TiE#$4Tian….Cyborg…..HOW …can…You do this?!" The robotic core muttered through its fuzzed voice.
"When you unlocked my memory files HARDAC, you also allowed me to access some of my old deleted files. Like the time Beast boy infected me with a virus. You may have destroyed my virus program files at the tower, but not the copy in my primary hard drive. Your connection to me made it even easier" Cyborg tapped his head.
He gave the computer a serious glare, then shouted angrily. "How's that for being ten steps ahead?!"
NEVF.ER…..HARDAC.. WNEVER ……LOSE ……….CYBORG TITAN….#($# Code #$(29
"It is not over Yet… #$# Titan Cyborg…#$("
The titans all watched in amazement as the computer core exploded, revealing a huge red light as a monstrous electrical monster emerged from hardac's core.
"As I've said Cyborg, I've prepared for any circumstance, and with my previous data on subject overload. I have now transcended what it means to be a machine."
"Titans G-" Robin shouted
"NO!" Cyborg jumped straight in between his team and the giant overload Hardac copy, which as steadily growing in size. In fact, it was reminding the Titans a lot of the time when overload himself was growing exponentially.
"It's a trap." Cyborg explained. "He doesn't have the circuit breaker chip that overload has, so he's just going to keep growing."
"And pop like the balloon of water?" Starfire said innocently, remembering that last analogy she had used in the previous encounter.
"Alright! so i got my explosion?" Beast Boy muttered below his breath.
"Let me just remind you where we are right now." Raven pointed straight at the overload monster.
"Oh...right. EEP!"
More explosions took place now, as the hardac drones each exploded one by one, since there was no longer a central core to control them. Steel beams, monitors and other pieces of machinery were falling everywhere.
"This is how all your hatred and anger towards us machines will end Titan Cyborg…..in Oblivion." The Hardac-Overload copy formed a tentacle arm now, and shot it straight at Cyborg. The speed was unprecedented, and the robotic titan had no energy to stop the attack, much less react.
"Cyborg!" The team shouted
collectively as they saw their friend about to be attacked.
."I
will not allow you to harm my friend."The tentacle
exploded in mid air, and both Cyborg and HARDAC watched in surprise
as Fixit stood in between the two combatants, taking the full brunt
of the explosion that threw him straight into Cyborg's
arms.
"Fixit!" Cyborg shouted.
DANGER…DANGER….CRITICAL OVERLOAD….OVerLOADLD ING .
HARDAC was growing to huge proportions, even destroying a portion of the ceiling as his unstable body grew.
"Raven!" Robin shouted.
"Already on it!" The Azarathian said as she chanted the incantations. And within seconds, the familiar soul bird had enveloped itself around the heroes. Taking them out through the cave walls and to the surface, leaving the giant overload hardac down below.
SYSTEMS aat.at …..3...Dropping… DE..Act..TIviating…..
"My
research of human emotions….was it just because…I wanted to be
like them…?"
...
.HARDAC
2.0…OFFLINE
From the surface the titans ran away from the junkyard on foot as the ground began shaking, as if a gargantuan object was moving underneath the ground. The ground around the junkyard began rising slowly at first, lifting piles of old cars and garbage off the ground, and causing an avalanche of trash. Soon however, the earth in the centre of the junkyard began rising in one massive mound, which soon broke.
The entire piece of earth was pushed skyward, the dull sound suddenly erupted into rolling thunder as a great hollow roar of an explosion ripped through the entire yard, throwing old cars and scrap parts hundreds of feet into the air. Where there was once a junkyard, now there was only fire and a great thick column of smoke. Dirt blew across Jump city, and the air in the town was now thick with a fiery wind, knocking over lamps, setting off car alarms and shattering windows. A few citizens were even knocked flat off their feet onto their backs by the force of the air.
The titans jumped, and just managed to clear the street as a wave of dirt and flame engulfed the Jump city scrap yard. And what was once Fixit's home, was now a giant smoking crater in the middle of the city.
Hardac was gone. It was over.
Friend…am i….repaired now?" Fixit said weakly, and then for some reason smiled, for the first time, his human side was showing. Soon however, he fainted, as if too weak to stay awake.
Cyborg smiled back, feeling glad to have his friend back.
Robin stepped forward now, surveying the giant smoking crater that was once Hardac. Always the analyst, he spoke his thoughts out on this rare time.
"You know.." the boy wonder began. "Now that I think about it, that was sloppy of HARDAC, he brought us all close to his base, his computer core. His weak spot………even if he logically argued it, it was the wrong move. It was almost stupid of him."
Beast boy concurred. "Yeah Cy, kinda sloppy for the ultimate computer don't you think?"
Cyborg stood there quietly in thought. HARDAC was a computer all right, but he was different from last time. This time, he learned about human emotions, about what it was like. And he must have realized something since then…..
"No guys………" Cyborg said solemnly. "Maybe that was his real plan all along, just to put an end to himself."
The five titans stared quietly at the remains of the crater as they listened to this revelation….then slowly, and quietly, started the long trip back home.
... For all they
seem to seek is to wage war, and endless desperate blood-stained
struggles. Things quite close to crying and longing. I don't
think they desire those things at all. On the contrary. All
this is their way of shouting and begging for death."
"Integra,
In this world there exists a multitude of unkillable creatures.
Everytime I see them, I think of something. Their Immortal
nature...could they truly have wished for it?
-Sir
Arthur Hellsing, Hellsing Volume 9
