Eyeball was wearing his day-to-day uniform; the usual sleek black armor, with reinforced plates around the torso, with his shiny chrome helmet and its red LEDs, as he approached his building. He stared at the sign over the door of the massive obelisk in front of him for the hundredth time. An irate glower thankfully hidden by the helmet. Some nutjob had, when he'd had the sign put in, copied the ridiculous handmade eyeball print he'd put on a motorcycle helmet from years before, when he'd taken his first steps into the world of crime, and put it over the logo. He'd even found that helmet itself up for sale on Ebay later; it'd sold for over a hundred grand.

The Eyetech building was one of dozens on 'Research Row'; a series of buildings literally pressed one against the other, forming effectively a wall around a mile long. This place represented some of the highest security; and most advanced technology; on the planet. Stable power supplies from both a nuclear and a geothermal source, abundant resources, and, of course, being the only place on earth where the supervillains were trying to -stop- outside infiltrators, led to it becoming the best-funded center for R&D on earth.

For Eyeball and Ripper, it represented a place to turn research they stole from other places into money and equipment; and an ongoing competition to see who could bring in the coolest gadget. So far, Ripper was winning; he'd stolen the plans to make a device the CIA used to essentially 'portal' through a wall or door without destroying it. Eyeball's latest find; a nanite-using pistol that could turn itself into a remote control for enemy drones and electronic devices; even ones that normally couldn't be remote controlled; was a solid competitor... but both had agreed, not quite as cool.

Eyeball stepped in through the opening doors, revealing a fairly small lobby; just a few spots for seating, turrets hanging down from the ceiling, tucked into corners, and a nice black and silver motif. The secretary glanced up from her screen; where one of the multiple sets of controls for those turrets was set; smiling. "Good morning, sir! There's a prospective new recruit HR wants you to conduct a final interview on, as well as some new developments in, well. Four of the labs."

He smiled, nodding. "Nobody stopped their research to file a status report, right? Just let the lab techs pass the info along?"

"Of course, sir."

"Excellent. Is Ripper in again?"

"No, sir. He left a message for you, though. Congratulations, Bro."

Eyeball blinked. "..I didn't find anything new. He's still winning. What's he on about now?"

She shrugged. "No idea, sir. Did you set a wedding date?"

"Nah. She's still putting it off. I'll nail her down eventually." He waved, and walked to the elevator. His HUD was showing a directory of the four labs where techs had requested his attention, complete with videos they'd taken of recent tests... and a Bio of the man who'd applied.

He stopped right at the elevator door, hand on the button for the labs... and checked the floor for the interview, tapping it, before stepping in. Information on a presumed-dead villain named 'The Engineer' had popped up; in theory, he'd died fighting Ascension; he was a gadget-using supervillain, small-time, whose only real gimmick was some sort of freeze ray. But.... he was a cyborg now. A very heavily modified cyborg. Who claimed to have mastered the ability to control the 'Pale One' controllers, and be able to just puppet a person at-will; and provide a remote control for it.

***

When Eyeball entered the conference room, his head of HR; Cobalt, of course, the bluish-tinted liquid-metal metahuman who'd been at his side for a while, and only worked this job part-time in between training and stints in the arena; glanced up, and waved him over.

Eyeball looked over at the Engineer... studying him for a moment. If he shot the man, there'd be steel beneath that flesh, no matter where he fired. And... there were two very familiar CPUs mounted inside that frame.

Eyeball stepped up, and extended a hand towards Engineer. "Does our prior agreement still stand?"

Cobalt blinked, looking between the two. "You two know each other?"

Engineer accepted the hand, giving it a polite shake. "Affirmative. Your boss and my... past self.. have come into conflict in the past. We agreed not to interfere in each other's affairs, after a.. heart to heart."

Eyeball nodded. "Not quite how I would put it. You know, I have a lab here thats working on those things. Both the Ascension bots and the Pale Ones themselves. We've been trying to figure out how to control them for a year now. Turns out the first guy the Russians had doing it? He was a meta of some sort. And, well. Ascension was an AI."

He tilted his head. "I think we'll be making the job offer. Engineer, if you could take a walk with me? I'd like to show you the lab upstairs."

Cobalt pulled to his feet. "Should I bring him the standard NDA, boss?"

"Of course; if you could leave it with Robin downstairs? But if he can already control the Pale Ones, he knows more than we do about what we're about to discuss." Cobalt shrugged as Eyeball led Engineer out of the room; the Engineer had a surprisingly life-like stride for what Eyeball knew him to be.. as they stepped towards an elevator.

The Engineer studied the area. "This isn't the elevator I entered on."

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Eyeball nodded. "Private elevator. Secured against outside eyes." He walked up, pulling a cylinder out of a slot on the wall; it initially appeared to just be a decoration. "Step back a bit, just in case. The whole tube is a faraday cage, but considering your situation..."

The Engineer backed away... watching as the cylinder was thrown into the elevator. The door shut. A series of pops. The door slid open, and Eyeball pressed a key. "Come on in. That cleared any listening devices from the elevator or the shaft. No controls on the inside; whatever you pick before you step in, you're stuck with."

Engineer stepped inside, following. After the door shut, he glanced at the walls; the elevator was perfectly smooth, soundproofed. "Efficient design."

"Of course. You're acting much more human than last time, Ascension."

The Engineer nodded. "This specific model has been retooled to act independently, without interaction with the overall network. While it does not need to breathe, eat, or sleep, and it certainly does not need to fidget, stumble, or exhibit other signs of human frailty, There is an engine programmed into it to it to emulate precisely these qualities. The flesh surrounding the metal endoskeleton is in fact alive, and the food and drink I consume assist in sustaining it. The organic mass providing it nutrients is engineered to fool an EKG."

Eyeball studied the man. He looked like a large, tall, bald, ordinary human... except with obvious cybernetic eyes and some visible scars. "Not too bad. Do you have any versions that can pass through a metal detector?"

"Not yet. I am surprised you realized who I am so quickly."

"The two cpus you carry. I'm assuming that's one that's always on and the other are backup in case of EMP. Almost perfect copies of those Ascension contains. I've got a few upstairs in the lab."

The Engineer nodded. The elevator came to a stop, and Eyeball reached out, a hand resting on what seemed like an ordinary patch of wall. "Just a bit. I can just open the door with a lever, but I have a question. Do you know how you were built?"

"I am not completely certain. The level of sophistication in my design, combined with the truly ridiculous energy efficiency behind it indicates a meta human of unusual mental capacity was behind the construction."

Eyeball sighed. "It was a little more than that. You're actually a copy of a human mind, somehow digitized by a process somewhere between magic and technology, and programmed with those core rules. Probably both. The fact that you're able to make copies of yourself is insane... I have had the parts of one of you since before you arose in Mexico, though I didn't acquire a CPU until then, and have had exactly zero luck. Every version is either barely functional, has a tenth the energy efficiency, or both. I'm assuming you wouldn't be willing to help make more like yourself?"

"I would not be willing to assist in crafting an independent intelligence that did not hold the objectives of ensuring the survival of the human species and expanding communism to all of humanity. My offer to assist with these Pale Ones is purely to assist in converting an organic into a remote-controlled drone. Any autonomous function will be minimal."

He shrugged. "Figured I'd ask. Why are you here, anyway?"

"Your advice was exceptionally useful. I have successfully manipulated the Titan Valkyrie into removing several anti-union actors and their entire organizations, and removed individuals on the wealthiest list of humans so often that individuals are viewing it more akin to a 'hit list'. Consistently removing the most egregious of the Oligarchs is creating an environment more and more friendly to collectivism over time. It may take decades, but I believe I may now accomplish my goals without a global war."

Eyeball made a 'move along' gesture with his hand. "Of course it was. While I'm fond of a bit of wealth in the short-term, I believe your ultimate victory is best for humanity as a whole."

"I felt that I owed you.. and would like to keep a close eye on events inside La Famiglia. I agreed not to strike against your interests, and will not attack anyone here, but I will gather intelligence here to use for strikes elsewhere."

"Oh. Well then. Welcome to the team. I've got three basic sorts of projects here..." He pushed firmly on the wall a few feet away from where his hand had been. The door slid open. "Type A are basically just Reflex and combat drugs. Stuff I sell to the Department of Defense. Type B are things I sell to supervillains, often on custom order. And Type C... well. Type C are things just for me and Ripper."

He walked up to a door; 'AI Research' was over it in dark green script. "I think I want you working on type C. If you can get it small enough, I'd like a 40mm grenade that takes over the person I shoot with it and lets me use him against his allies."

The Engineer tilted his head, and nodded. "I don't see that as being a problem."

***

"Boss! I figured Robin would send you our way. You're gonna love this thing."

The two technicians We're standing in a firing range, with a variety of ballistics gel dummies, mostly completely broken apart, scattered around the room. some of them were wrapped in simple clothing, others were wrapped in body armor, while others were wrapped in heavy armored tungsten shells. All of them were broken apart.

One of the techs extended what seemed to be a simple tube grenade launcher to Eyeball, a grin obvious on his face; his safety goggles had traces of smoke, and his hair was smoldering. The other waved to attract Eyeball's attention to what he was holding. "So, Armor-piercing grenade mark seventy-five. This little bastard.."

He held up one of the 40mm shells Eyeball seemed to prefer. It was a shiny blue in color, with a silver ring around the middle. "Is exactly what you're looking for. We've got an Osmium spike bracketed with a carbon nanotube sheath that forms into a needle as it launches. Not as hard a hit as that big fancy Titanslayer gun of yours, but we think it will at least hurt anybody but, well. A Titan."

Eyeball chuckled. "I like the enthusiasm, and I'll take a few. But this is something we can sell to other supervillains. Robin implied something I'd want to keep."

The man laughed. "Oh, you've already got it. I mean, I'm sure you'll want these shells, but thats not what it was about. Remember that awesome thing Ripper brought us the CIA used to enter places?"

"Of course. I love the damn thing. If we can figure out how to get it to last more than five seconds at a time I'd carry one with me for the rest of my life."

"Well. Turns out the thing works on interdimensional principles. Like... bigger on the inside than the outside, stretching time and space stuff. Look at the rifle you're holding. Jenny made it special."

He frowned, lifting the weapon. It looked simple; a single-shot, 40mm grenade launcher. Only... there was no breach to load the grenades. The handle for it was ridiculous; black metal with some odd gold and silver pattern etched into it. He shook it slightly.. there was an LED display on the back, reading... 27%.

"Okay. Whats so special about it?"

"Well. Right now, its only got about a ten-hour battery life before it dies and spills whats in it all over the place. But that gun there? Has two hundred 40mm shells loaded up. Me and Barry here already shot through a couple hundred testing it out."

Eyeball stared at it, then at the techs. ".... Okay. First of all, I love it. I can think of a thousand uses for this, even if the energy cost is prohibitive. Second... I can see the battery here in the handle. Nice design. What if we put the battery inside the space this thing is storing shells in?"