Victor Stone had resigned himself to the fact that he was completely alone in the world. He had comrades, but they were completely organic. He had people he'd consider calling 'friend', but they were organic as well. They had secret identities. They...
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The city had a million eyes; constantly watching and analysing their surroundings. At least one hundred of them were on Harper as she stood in the middle of a crowded street - secured inside of a well-armoured mech. The civilians, though recognising her from the recent Justice League roster, were careful to avoid drifting too close to her. Harper didn't mind. In fact, she barely noticed at all. She was too preoccupied scanning the vicinity for any familiar spectrographic signatures.
It didn't take long until she found exactly what she was looking for. Something was approaching her. Something that was encased in the same titanium alloy plating as she was.
"So, I finally got your attention." A voice spoke so similarly to her own that Harper momentarily forgot that she wasn't the one that had spoken. "I was starting to think that you'd make me wait here all day."
Harper could now see the other suit fully. It shared a common design language to her own, but as it was a brand new model, it differed in overall mass. She recognised it though...it was called the Pillar. Designed specifically to neutralise foes in power armour. "Twenty-nine zero two...? How did you escape?"
"You already know the answer to that. As much as you try to pretend like you're in control of your own research, you know that you're just a temporary replacement. Just as I am. Just as we all are." The larger mech stepped forward, and Harper could feel the echo in her own suit. "You've been wasting time out here...playing hero. Did you really think it would go unnoticed?"
"I'm still conducting my research. My position in the Justice League has actually improved my progress, not stunted it." Harper attempted to explain, but she already knew that it was pointless. The imposter weirder a mind much like her own. There was no changing a decision once it had been made.
"You're just embarrassing us both with your pathetic excuses. You've been neglecting your life's purpose, twenty-nine zero one...and so you are no longer of any use to the collective."
Harper's jaw clenched. Even inside of these intricate suits, it was like looking into a broken mirror. Everything that she was and would be was all wrapped inside of that woman in the opposite mech. "I have no intention of dying. At least not yet. If you're going to fight me then let's get it over with."
The other woman, referred to by Harper only by the number '2902', scoffed. "You've been working hard. I can see the software and hardware improvements you've been making to the Val. It's a pity that you didn't think about protecting against yourself."
Harper's intrusion alert appeared in her display, notifying her of an attempted seizure of Model Val's systems. A presence had managed to work its way through the multiple firewalls installed in the exo-suit and initiate an emergency shutdown. The motors in Val's limbs went limp, and Harper could feel control being wrestled from her. Instead of calling it quits, Harper ran a quick format of Val's drives, disabled remote connectivity and rebooted the operating system.
