Bob walked up to a facility deep in the Alps, swiping his key-card and then pressing his hand against the card reader. He shivered as a gust of cold air blew across the mountains.

Seriously, calling him cliché for the Siberian base when 80% of Concordat bases were built into mountains?

Shadow organizations are so annoying.

He sighed as he waited for a response from the facility. Under normal circumstances he’d have just called the ILS or the Eternal Night Sect and let them handle it. But this particular facility required his personal attention.

And so he stood on a freezing mountain instead of sitting in his chair back home.

The doors finally opened up and a man in a suit walked forward to meet him.

“Director Ottosen.”

The man gave a bow.

“Hello, Sir Arbiter. I apologize for the slow welcome but we were not expecting your visit today.”

“That is the point.”

The edge of Bob’s mouth curled up behind his smooth, featureless mask. Seems there were some downsides to the Concordat’s compartmentalization. Particularly the fact that the surviving cells hadn’t realized the Concordat was compromised.

“Of course, of course, please come in. What can we do for you today?”

“What’s the progress on the Ultimate Weapon?”

“Ah, we’re about 90% there. Most of the systems are in place, but we are having some trouble with implementing command and control.”

“Is it operational?”

“...it could be but I would not recommend it. We cannot guarantee against slips in control at present. Pardon my insolence, Sir Arbiter, but I thought we still had some time before the deadline.”

“Things change. The Steward needs to know what’s available right now. He does not require excuses.”

“Yes, of course. We will redouble our efforts, for peace everlasting.”

“For peace everlasting.”

The two walked through the facility, coming to a glass overpass that stood over several factory lines. On innumerable belts, robotic arms worked upon cybernetic body parts and weapons.

“As you can see, we are still working at peak efficiency, despite the recent interruptions in our supply. We will slow down shortly though, if our next resupply is delayed any further. You wouldn’t happen to have any word from HQ on that?”

“It is being handled.”

“Glad to hear it.”

The overpass continued beyond the factory, now overlooking a large gymnasium. Within, humanoid robots battled each other, firing guns and blasters, leaping over obstacles and barricades, and engaging in hand to hand combat.

“Our testing facility. We’ve made some remarkable advances in AI combat protocols, our war-bots will soon approach human levels of combat effectiveness.”

Bob nodded.

“Most impressive. But it is not mere human soldiers you intend to surpass, is it not?”

Director Ottosen smiled.

“No, it is not.”

The overpass came to an end and two continued down another hallway. War-bots patrolled through these halls, and each door here was reinforced and locked. Mr Ottosen unlocked each door as they continued on their way, until they came to a massive vault door. Director Ottosen stepped forward, and a laser light moved over him, scanning his body. He then put his hand on a scanning pad, then leaned towards the eye scanner, then started putting in a ten digit code, then…

He turned back and smiled wryly.

“I apologize, Sir Arbiter, but we take security very seriously for our most valuable work.”

Bob simply nodded.

“Paranoia is preferable to negligence.”

“That it is.”

Fifteen minutes later and Director Ottosen passed the final measure, and the massive vault door rolled to the side.

“This way please.”

Bob followed the man inside. A simple hallway, with a number of rooms on either side. Each containing the Concordat’s most valuable…and dangerous…projects. The contents of a single room could revolutionize the world…or destroy it.

And finally they came to the end, the last door in the hallway.

“It is here.”

Director Ottosen opened the door. Bob followed him inside. And barely held in his curse.

Lying on a slanted table in the center of the room…was a teenage girl.

Or what was left of her.

Most of her body was covered in metal armor, only her head gave any indication of her humanity. Even that was not safe, metal covering the left half of it, including her left eye. Her right human eye was closed and Bob couldn’t tell if she was even breathing. She had numerous wires and cables hooked up to her body, including a large one into her skull.

Around the room were numerous tools, robotic arms, and computer monitors. Several scientists were working at their stations, most looking over the monitors.

“Marvelous, isn’t it? The culmination of all our efforts, the ultimate weapon. We call it the Non-Standard Leashed-Intelligence Cybernetic Enforcer”

“I’m assuming that’s no mere armor.”

“Nothing so simple. A full on cybernetic warrior, bonded to our most advanced AI. The full flexibility and creativity of an organic, but with the loyalty and efficiency of a machine.”

The man shook his head.

“Once we work out the final kinks of the control structure, that is.”

“What kinks?”

“We used a terminal subject with barely any consciousness, so wiping the extraneous data was fairly simple. The organic mind should not be capable of active resistance at this point. But the brain is proving remarkably adaptive and resilient, and we are having trouble fully subordinating it to the cybernetic. The AI continues to give way to the organic mind in several cases, but we are confident we can work it out in time.”

“...why use an organic mind in the first place?”

“Part of the control scheme. An AI simple enough to be controlled cannot match an organic mind in creativity and initiative, limiting combat effectiveness. But if we could use an AI as an interface to subordinate an organic mind, we could achieve the best of both with none of the downsides. Plus, it improves the available resources of the AI if we rely on the organic brain for instinctive tasks such as movement. No point teaching a computer how to walk, right?”

“I see. What are its capabilities?”

“Only the very best we could produce! The bionic prosthetics are noticeably more powerful and efficient than any organic body part, and can match even a Non-Standard in hand to hand combat! To support this, we have run countless simulations on martial arts and combat footage to produce the most efficient combat protocols in existence.”

Director Ottosen motioned Bob to a computer monitor at the wall and tapped the shoulder of the scientist working there. The scientist nodded and pressed a key, bringing up a readout of the girl’s systems.

“As you can see, we’ve also packed her with as much weaponry as we could fit. From the latest and greatest, to archaic firearms and blades, just in case we need backups.”

Bob pointed to one system in particular.

“What is this…Mass Manipulation Array?”

Director Ottosen smiled.

“Ah, we are most proud of that one. Director Green has been most cagey with her anti-gravity technology, which we find to be quite the shame. Such a technology could revolutionize the world, yet she hordes it just to bling out her shoes. Despicable. Naturally, once we got a hold of it, we were able to make substantial improvements. We are not as…conservative as the director.”

The monitor swapped to an experiment recording. A large polyhedron floated in the air, a scientist working on a monitor next to it. The device glowed purple, and a large crate in front of it was surrounded by purple light. The crate slowly began to rise into the air, wobbling as it went.

“An incredibly complex piece of machinery that can create and manipulate gravitational fields. It is entirely impractical for a human operator due to its sheer complexity. But with a bonded AI that can calculate the most complex physics equations in seconds? Well, any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

Suddenly an alarm started blaring and red lights began flashing. Director Ottosen pulled out his phone, glancing at the screen. Bob turned to him.

“What’s happening?”

Director Ottosen sighed.

“I suspect what the Steward sent you for. It seems we’ve been discovered by the ILS.”

Director Ottosen nodded to the scientist at the monitor.

“Activate the war-bots, all of them.”

“Sir, our projections for a fight with supers…”

“They just need to buy us time.”

Director Ottosen turned back towards the center of the room. The scientist followed his trail of vision and started shaking his head.

“Sir, it’s not ready! We still haven’t figured out the control scheme!”

“It’s 90% complete, is it not?”

“Sir, I strong advise against…”

“Noted, and overruled. Activate the weapon.”

The scientist let out a sigh and started directing the others. They began typing away at keyboards as some started removing the cables from the girl. Director Ottosen turned to Bob and smiled.

“Well, Sir Arbiter, you’re in luck. How would you like a live demonstration?”

Bob nodded.

“I look forward to it.”

And swore internally.

How had the ILS arrived this quickly? He hadn’t even told them about this facility yet.

And now he had to improvise a plan in a few minutes.

As well as figure out what he was going to do about the girl.

Heroes are so annoying.