The room was a pristine and sterile white, made brighter by the single lamp embedded in the ceiling. A small titanium table was bolted to the floor in the center of the room with a simple folding chair on one side and a titanium amalgam of straps and restraints on the opposite. A drab brown folder rested on the table, opened to reveal numerous papers and photos and next to it sat an ominous black helmet, its reflective blast shield dark red in color.
A man stood in the corner, a cigarette clamped between his lips. He looked up into the video camera and nodded slightly. The metal door clanked open and a mountain of a man in a white uniform stepped in.
"Are you ready, Doc?" he asked. The doctor turned and nodded.
"Yes. Bring him in, Zeke." he replied, taking a seat in the folding chair and extinguishing the smoldering butt of his cigarette in the ashtray on the table. Zeke stepped out and gestured into the room with a stun baton.
"Orson, Doc says bring him in." Slowly another orderly walked into the room, pushing a dolly with a steel container resembling a coffin resting on it. The uniformed men wheeled it over to the restraint chair and looked back at the doctor one last time.
"Last chance Doc, once we open this all bets are off." Orson said. The 'Doc' nodded and pulled another cigarette from the pack tucked into his breast pocket.
"I know, but we need to do this. It's our job," he said as he lit the cigarette and took a long drag. "Open it."
The uniformed men hesitantly pressed a few small buttons on the console embedded into the container. With a hiss the container opened, like Dracula's coffin in the old movies, roiling fog spilled out. The uniformed men held their batons out nervously as the fog began to settle. A single thing stood inside. It stood over six feet tall and was clad in a dark red mesh with black armored pads resting on it. Its head was decidedly human, but his right eye was replaced with a cybernetic monocle and a respirator was affixed over his nose and mouth. His other eye was surrounded in a patchwork of surgical scars and gashes.
"Unit Six Sixty Six. Are you active?" the doctor asked. The container was eerily quiet. Slowly the cybernetic eye lit up, glowing a bright red as his remaining normal eye flicked open.
"Yes."
The orderlies flinched noticeably and took a step back; Zeke adjusted his grip on his Shock Baton nervously. The doctor set his cigarette down and gestured for him to come forward.
"Unit Six Sixty Six, step out of that container and take a seat." he commanded. The cyborg stepped forward and looked side to side at the two orderlies.
"Threat detected, level…insignificant." he said, his voice, dark and filtered through his breather, which rasped quietly. He stepped around the titanium chair and sat down, staring quietly forward. The orderlies moved in and tapped a few buttons and manacles wrapped around the Unit's wrists and ankles. The Doc adjusted his tie and cleared his throat.
"I am Doctor Carter Owens." he said. "I'm-"
"Unimportant." the Unit interrupted. Carter paused.
"Excuse me?"
"I do not understand your purpose. I do not have need for a doctor. I am already dead. And I seriously doubt you have a degree in advanced robotics." Carter coughed and adjusted his tie before taking up his cigarette again and dragging on it nervously.
"No... I'm a criminologist. I was simply going to ask you some questions. Is that alright?" he asked. The Unit sat silently for a moment.
"If you must." Carter nodded and thumbed through a small folder resting on the table.
"Unit designation Six Sixty Six, cybernetic construct built during the war as an expendable soldier under the top secret Advanced Cybernetic Weapon Program, one of twenty-three known remaining such Weapon Units. Status… extremely hostile." Carter read from the file. "You are declared rogue and dangerous in the extreme. You have hospitalized numerous heroes in the Siren's Call territory and robbed several banks in Paragon city."
Carter set his burning cigarette in the ashtray and looked forward at Weapon Six Sixty Six.
"You have done your homework." Weapon said smugly. He looked down at the restraints holding his arms down and then back up at Carter.
"You'll forgive me, but you are a murderer." he said, gesturing to the manacles. "Those are for our safety."
Weapon nodded.
"I do not blame you." he said darkly.
"Yes…moving on, you were built to protect these people, why do you attack them instead?" Carter asked, thumbing through the papers.
"You are mistaken." Weapon said. Carter looked up from the papers.
"I am?"
"I was built to kill. I am a weapon and nothing more." Carter sat quietly for a moment before looking back at the files.
"Says here, under the declassified Weapon Program files, that your body was appropriated for cybernetic modification. Your genetic structure was in a state of flux, which, for Paragon City, isn't uncommon, but they saw it as a chance to study how the enhancements took to mutant flesh. They removed your damaged tissue and organs and replaced them with cybernetic enhancements and clad you in lightweight mesh armor. In the process of activation you attacked and killed five research and three military personnel and escaped. The next reported sighting was on Mercy Island by a Longbow Recon team, which was shortly there after, killed." Weapon nodded.
"Yes, I do remember them. Unfortunately your information is wrong. I did not escape after slaughtering those scientists." he began. "They stabbed a neural dampener into the base of my skull and shorted out my cybernetic systems. I was stored in the Ziggurksy Maximum Security Penitentiary. You have Arachnos to thank for my release." Carter coughed and inked in the new information. Weapon tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair rhythmically.
"Okay, anything else you wish to add?" he asked. Weapon leaned forward as far as the restraints would allow.
"Yes. Why do you care?" Carter looked up from the notes and stared strangely at Weapon.
"Pardon?"
"What business do you have with me? You know I would just as soon kill you as answer you." he said, glancing down at the restraints with his human eye.
"I… I'm compiling data for Longbow." Carter said. "They want me to make sure they know everything about you."
"And where are we?" he asked.
"Well, we're in the Bloody Bay Longbow base." Carter mumbled.
Weapon sat silently for a moment before nodding. "Ah yes, Bloody Bay. I know it well. Continue…"
"My next question is simple. Why do you kill? There are numerous other surviving Units that work in unison with Longbow and the Paragon Police Department to ensure safety, but you, you slaughter for no reason."
"Ah, you are referring to my 'brothers' and 'sisters'. There is one major difference between them and myself." he said. Carter looked up from the files and looked Weapon in the eyes.
"And what's that?" he asked. Weapon looked left and right at the orderlies and then slowly craned his head back to look at Carter.
"I will show you…" he said darkly. He leaned back in the chair and stared forward silently. Carter watched him, chewing nervously on the filter of his smoldering cigarette. Slowly a low-pitched hum built up in the room. Carter looked up at the fluorescent lights questioningly.
"What is that?" he asked, standing up. The orderlies looked around the room nervously. Carter's eyes darted back to Weapon as an arc of coruscating green energy sparked of him and hit the table. Carter leapt back and pressed himself flat against the wall. A small patch of the table turned white hot and dripped bubbling metal onto the floor.
"Orderlies! Stop him!" Carter barked as another bolt of energy arced into the wall next to him, burning a hole through it into the hallway. Just as suddenly as it had begun, the arcing green electricity ceased and green energy flowed from his eyes like flame. The orderlies flicked on their stun batons and moved in. Weapon turned and looked at the nearest one as bright green energy seeped from his eyes. In a flash Weapon broke his arms free, the titanium cracking like porcelain and grabbed Zeke by the neck.
He raised him up into the air, laughing darkly as he did so. Orson swung and cracked his baton into the back of Weapon's head. The baton crackled and sent ten thousand volts surging through Weapon's body. He turned slowly to look at the frightened blonde orderly. His free hand lunged out suddenly and rammed into Orson's chest.
The orderly gasped and stumbled back a step as his white uniform slowly became red. Three black metal claws dripping with blood slowly retracted back into Weapon's hand. The orderly dropped to the floor, gurgling as blood flooded his lungs. Without returning his gaze to Zeke, Weapon flicked his wrist and snapped Zeke's neck, ending his struggling.
He dropped the body to the floor and slowly turned his burning gaze to Carter.
"You see…unlike my dear, deluded brothers, I know my purpose." he said, punctuating his words with menacing steps towards the frightened doctor.
The black claws slowly slid from the back of his hands once more, still slick with the orderly's blood, and locked into place. He reached out and grabbed Carter by the throat and lifted him from his feet.
"I embrace my reason for living." he said, stabbing the claws of his free hand into Carter's shoulder and twisting sharply, dislodging his shoulder from its place in a torrent of blood. Carter shrieked and clutched at it, feebly trying to stifle the blood oozing from his body. He dropped Carter on the floor and turned to the table and eyed the helmet resting on it. He reached out and took it in his hands, staring at his own reflection in the blast shield.
"I am what I was programmed to be." he said proudly, sliding the helmet on his head and sealing it to his suit. "What I was made to be. What your scientists wanted most."
"I… am a Weapon." he muttered, turning back to Carter. His form shifted and faded, as though suddenly he was no longer in sync with reality. The reality of the room break and wrapping around him as he stood there. He waved to Carter as he faded into nothingness.
"Goodbye, Doctor." he said, his voice fading. "You will hear from me again."
And with that, he was gone.