The well thought out response had a calming effect on the doctor, and he composed himself significantly as he organized his thoughts before speaking. "My dear partner Cornelia was the one that recruited Dane for the K.R.I.S. project. I believe she thought the project was for space exploration. She was also an idealist. We normally recruited killers for the K.R.I.S. program, but he was handpicked by her and ultimately unusable because of his..." Doctor Dobson struggled with the word. "Morals."

The two of them left the glass window and began walking down the halls again. They passed onto a metal walkway and underneath them were hundreds of lab technicians scurrying this way and that to different projects that were underway below them. There was a wide array, and at a passing glance, one would see indoor greenhouses, robotics labs, and animals in cages being poked and prodded.

The hollow metal footsteps of the two resounded through the large open setting.

As they walked, Nolan placed his hands in his pockets and looked down at Doctor Dobson. "What was the K.R.I.S. program?"

Dobson ran his hands through his ratty white hair, then breathed in deeply before letting out a long hacking cough. Finally, when the fit was over, he responded. "K.R.I.S. stands for Kinetic Redirection and Interaction Suit. It can turn the user into an all-purpose soldier that can adapt to any typical situation and most nonconventional ones. The suit operates on multiple different levels. We started the K.R.I.S. program with 1000 candidates."

Nolan raised his eyebrow in response. "A thousand? I have not heard of an experiment of that magnitude in recent memory. What happened to them all?"

Dobson smirked derisively and laughed slightly to himself. "Most were too weak to survive." He shrugged a bit and raised his head, as if to say oh well, before continuing. "First we replaced the blood of every test subject with artificial blood that held oxygen more efficiently and was laced with numerous nanites per a blood vessel. This turned each subject's body into a living AI construct, while still allowing the user to maintain the original functioning capacity of their mind."

Nolan raised his eyebrows in amazement. "I am amazed. That sort of thing has never been done before. I am impressed that you were able to keep them alive during such a traumatic procedure."

Dobson started laughing. "Boy, if you believe that, you must be daft. 50% of all our candidates died from rejecting the blood. It quite literally oozed from their orifices in copious amounts. But those that survived gained heightened regeneration factors that were necessary for the next step." He stopped and looked into Nolan's eyes. "How does that make you feel, boy?"

Nolan's hand went to his mouth instinctively as he tried to stop bile from rising in his throat. The usually calm and demure assistant had to fight against his urge to vomit.

Dobson's sadistic smile only continued to grow. "If that is your reaction to what I said, then you will not be able to make it through the rest." His promise was laced with venom—a not-so-subtle challenge to Nolan. "And you should not work for our organization, Cerberus."

Dobson began walking again, and after a moment, Nolan started after the doctor as he tried to control himself, knowing there was more to come by the doctor's promise.

They passed into another hallway off the metal walkway, and it was once again clean white halls with the bright lights and beige walls.

Dobson ran his hand along the walls and continued his explanation. "The next step was even more traumatic." He paused for effect. "Each candidate had their skin completely removed, while their bodies were placed in a protein bath to stop infection. Their skin was laced with a silver sodium carbon weave that was treated with special chemicals to allow it to channel kinetic energy down pathways; then it was laced with a durable nano-carbon, monomolecular filament, a stronger version of an artificially replicated spider's thread. We called this the spider weave mesh”.

Nolan was silently horrified by the doctor's words, but he let the doctor continue while trying to contain his emotions.

The way that Dobson described the procedures made it seem as though he was lovingly crafting the story as he’d crafted the horrifying experience for the patients themselves. His hand slowly traced the air shakily as his eyes glazed over with the thoughts of his past work.

"Then,” the doctor continued, “while the skin was still displaced, we laced the muscles with a flexible, supportive set of four different subdermal layers of a tungsten-infused carbon nanoweave with holes every picometer for nerve endings to reattach." His voice was shaking. "The separate layers were designed to absorb the kinetic energy into electricity through separate chemical processes that are too difficult to explain to a layman. Once done, we reattached the skin—and through natural healing and a continuous battery of subtle radioactive treatment to encourage the skin to incorporate, the skin healed back onto the body."

Nolan inhaled a shaky breath and then exhaled slowly to control his voice for the next question, though he feared the answer. "How many died that time?"

Dobson was partially snapped from his reverie over his work by the question, but as if preprogrammed, he responded easily. "The pure trauma induced by removing the skin and subsequent infections, despite precautions, caused quite some deaths. 80%."

"Oh my god." Nolan was unable to hide his disgust at the loss of human life done so callously. "Was there more?"

They walked out of a set of doors and found themselves on a balcony that looked out over a scenic meadow that whistled in the wind with the scent of spring.

Dobson breathed in the crisp air and exhaled slowly, causing a small puff of the cool mountain air to go white with steam. His eyes glazed over as he fell back into his memories. "We were not done. There’s still the final step in the process.

“To control the spider weave mesh's kinetic absorption properties properly, we had to incorporate a direct form of user input. The quickest way to do this was to replace the majority of the nervous system. We replace the entire spinal column with a synthetic silver-laced bio-organic relay system that feeds into a titanium spinal column that spikes directly into the brainstem. The new spinal column has a built-in storage matrix designed to hold the influx of kinetic energy, giving the user the ability to 'feel' the suit as if it was an extension of their own body." Dobson smiled. "And the next part was the most difficult, delicate, and traumatic for the host's body. We had to keep the user alive by simulating a nervous system with specialized electric pulses. The work is lifted by the nanites already infused into the blood, which were preprogrammed to feed the new nervous system through and keep the body alive without any input from the original nervous system. They also were designed to incorporate the new spinal column and the brain together efficiently, to ensure that rejection did not take place."

"And how many died?"

"No experiment is perfect. Most user's bodies still rejected the physical adaptations. The rejections were painful, destructive, and in some cases, explosive. 95% of remaining applicants died from an innumerable amount of causes — infection, rejection, trauma, pain, malfunctions of different bodily organs, and more. One user's brain exploded. But the successes... ah, the successes. They were worth all the effort I put in."

The final statement by Dobson only served to reinforce his complete lack of compassion for the human condition.

After a moment of absorption of the information provided by his superior, Nolan coughed to clear his throat and looked up into the clear blue sky as the silence fell between the two. "How does Dane fit into the picture, though?"

The name brought a smile to the doctor's face. "Ah, Dane." He said it almost lovingly. "Now there was a man that was remarkable. It seems that Dane was once part of a black operations unit out of Fort Bragg. I never really knew why my dear sweet Doctor Isaacson handpicked him among the many thousands of possible applicants until it was too late. Her intuition was not wrong, however. His body was rather amazing. Not only was he the first to survive the full process, but he was also the prototype for the other four survivors. Among all the surviving applicants, Dane showed the most promise. He outperformed on his practical examinations and even seemed to show a… hmmm… the term seems oddly appropriate… natural talent, if you will."

Nolan was pensive. "So, what happened? Why was he sent to Orbital Prison Outlook 6? I would assume if Doctor Isaacson handpicked him that he would be an ideal candidate."

"We wanted him to act as one of our arms, to carry out the missions that no one else would, much like his military days. But Dane had quit his special ops unit before joining us. Something about ethical conflicts or some such problem. Once the procedure completed, he  was not willing to work with us.."

Nolan cocked his head to the side out of curiosity and shook his head. Then he cleared his throat. "Is that why Cornelia chose him?"

Doctor Dobson shrugged. "I dare not speculate as to why my dear sweet chose him. Though if I were to dare a guess, it would be his moral fiber. When asked to become our puppet, he less than politely declined." Dobson motioned to the area around them to demonstrate his next point. "He destroyed a good majority of the research lab that we are standing in right now."

The two watched as a bird flew by and keened into the clear sky.

Nolan placed his hands on the railing and turned his head to Dobson. "After all of this, how do you expect me to handle him alone? I am not a soldier."

Dobson's eyes snapped quickly to Nolan's own, quick to show his annoyance at the comment. "Of course, I do not expect you to 'handle' him, as you say. No. You will take a few that can handle him." He emphasized the word 'can.' "He has given himself up to the military personnel of the base, and whether it is a ruse, or he is simply tired of running is not my concern. I operate off the assumption that his suit is fully functioning, and as such, I want you to take an armored compliment with you to ensure your success in his capture. If all else fails, I want you to use his brother as a bargaining chip to get our dear Dane O'Breine to submit."

Nolan bowed quickly. "When next we talk, Dane O'Breine will either be dead or in custody."

Doctor Dobson nodded and then used his hand to shoo Nolan away to his task.

Nolan quickly left, walking purposefully away to contact the necessary Cerberus personnel.

Just as Nolan was leaving, he thought he heard the doctor say,” Cornelia, are you behind this?"

- End of Episode -

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