The human brain governed everything.
Every conscious decision.
Every unconscious reflex.
Its commands traveled through the nervous system, carrying intent to every muscle in the body.
Machines weren’t so different.
The central processor served as a crude substitute for a brain.
Sensors and control circuits formed an artificial nervous system.
Hydraulics and actuators became muscles.
But no matter how sophisticated modern processors became, they remained poor imitations of the human brain.
They calculated.
They followed instructions.
They couldn’t truly think.
In every powered suit ever built, the process remained the same.
The pilot issued a command.
The computer interpreted it.
The processor translated it.
Only then did the machine move.
The control computer wasn’t the brain.
It was merely a bridge between the brain and the machine.
A bridge that introduced delay.
Engineers spent decades trying to shorten that bridge.
Faster processors.
Better algorithms.
More efficient operating systems.
Wider data pathways.
Everything aimed at shaving away fractions of a second.
The manuscript Sarah had handed Ivan proposed something entirely different.
Instead of improving the bridge...
It demolished it.
The design fused the human nervous system directly with the machine’s control network, allowing the brain to command the armor as naturally as it commanded a human arm.
No intermediary.
No translation.
No computational delay.
Just thought...
And movement.
Ivan immediately recognized the implications.
Even Tony Stark’s artificial intelligence still needed to interpret commands.
Even neural-wave interfaces required processing.
This design bypassed the entire chain.
His armor would react the instant he decided to move.
In combat, that advantage could mean everything.
It also raised a far more disturbing question.
Who could possibly have conceived such an idea?
The theories described throughout the manuscript contradicted much of modern neuroscience.
They weren’t simply revolutionary.
They formed an entirely separate scientific framework.
For one absurd moment, Ivan wondered whether the knowledge had originated somewhere beyond humanity itself.
Naturally...
Sarah had no intention of telling him the truth.
Even if she did, who would believe it?
Our boss had his car smashed, wandered into the Twisting Nether while brooding over the repair bill, met a demon super-scientist named Gnose, and traded part of his soul for forbidden knowledge.
That sounded less like a research history and more like the premise of a blockbuster fantasy trilogy.
Fortunately, she and Evenson had already prepared a far more believable story.
Or at least...
One they hoped sounded believable.
"Umbrella has always believed that humanity possesses limitless potential."
Sarah’s expression grew solemn.
"Every branch of our biotechnology exists to pursue that single truth."
"Our ultimate objective..."
"...is to unlock every ounce of human potential."
"So humanity may ascend."
"And become gods."
Ivan stared at her.
His toothpick slipped from his mouth and landed on the table.
He had asked where the manuscript came from.
He had not expected a manifesto about humanity ascending to godhood.
Sarah carefully observed his reaction.
She and Evenson had spent days refining this speech.
If Umbrella ever emerged into the public eye...
This would become part of its corporate philosophy.
Might as well test it now.
"On the sixth day," Sarah began, her voice taking on the cadence of a preacher, "God created mankind and placed Adam within Eden."
"There stood the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil."
"The Devil tempted Adam and Eve."
"They consumed the forbidden fruit."
"They inherited Original Sin."
"Humanity fell."
"We lost the glory of God’s first children."
"We lost divine power."
"We became weak."
"Flawed."
"Our mission is to purge that Original Sin from humanity’s very genes."
"So mankind may once again..."
"...become divine."
Ivan finally recovered enough to respond.
"...That’s not actually what happened."
He frowned.
"Neither the Old Testament nor the New Testament is a perfect historical record."
"They’re later compilations."
"Edited."
"Interpreted."
"Expanded."
"And simplified."
Sarah raised an eyebrow.
"The Dead Sea Scrolls?"
Ivan looked mildly surprised.
"You’ve read them?"
She smiled faintly.
"They describe creation rather differently."
"The world began as primordial unity."
"Adam represented the masculine principle."
"Lilith the feminine."
"Their forbidden union birthed countless forms of life."
"Unity fractured into multiplicity."
Compared to conventional scripture, the Dead Sea Scrolls painted a far stranger cosmology.
God was less a person than an eternal universal law.
An embodiment of Truth itself.
"But the conclusion remains the same."
Sarah shrugged.
"Humanity fell."
"Original Sin remains."
"Our souls are incomplete."
"Our minds are incomplete."
"Only by removing that corruption can humanity be redeemed."
She spread her arms.
"Everything Umbrella does serves that goal."
"We call it..."
"The Human Instrumentality Project."
Silence.
Ivan honestly wasn’t sure what expression to wear anymore.
It was the twenty-first century.
Science ruled the world.
The woman sitting across from him possessed biotechnology decades ahead of everyone else...
...yet somehow wrapped it inside religious doctrine.
He was religious himself.
He wore a cross.
Scripture covered his body in tattooed verses.
Faith had helped him survive Siberia.
But faith wasn’t an engineering manual.
Otherwise he’d have forgiven Tony Stark years ago.
"So..."
He tapped the manuscript.
"This research is part of your... Instrumentality Project?"
"Originally?"
"No."
"Our work focused entirely on enhancing the human body."
Sarah paused.
"Then one of our senior researchers proposed another path."
"Dr. William Birkin."
She continued.
"He argued that certain flaws couldn’t be corrected biologically."
"If a defective component couldn’t be purified..."
"...then remove it."
"Replace it with machinery."
"Fuse flesh and steel into a single organism."
Ivan blinked.
"We thought he’d gone insane."
Sarah sighed.
"He truly believed humanity could evolve through mechanical integration."
Compared to everything you’ve said so far...
That actually sounds relatively reasonable.
"So what happened?"
"The Board rejected his proposal immediately."
"He was suspended."
"Told to reconsider."
She smirked.
"If we’d possessed an Inquisition..."
"They probably would have burned him as a heretic."
Ivan quietly decided the entire Umbrella board belonged on the same bonfire.
"Then he proved them wrong?"
Sarah nodded.
"For three months he locked himself inside his villa."
"When the suspension ended..."
"We went to inspect his progress."
Her smile became unsettling.
"He had already performed the procedure."
"On himself."
Ivan stared.
"...He what?"
"He replaced his right arm with a massive mechanical claw."
"His left arm became a rotary saw."
"His right eye..."
"...an electronic optic."
Ivan involuntarily pictured the result.
It sounded less like a scientist...
And more like the final boss of a horror game.
"His mind had completely deteriorated."
"He became violently aggressive."
"We had no choice but to kill him."
"The autopsy revealed that most of his internal organs had already been replaced with machinery."
Ivan immediately caught the important part.
"His mind deteriorated."
"Because of this technology?"
"No."
Sarah shook her head.
"He’d already lost his sanity before beginning the operation."
She pointed toward the manuscript.
"Those notes were written beforehand."
"They’ve already been cleaned up considerably."
Ivan looked back down at the pages.
"...That’s cleaned up?"
"I could tell the author was unstable just from the formatting."
Boss...
Your handwriting has victims.
"And because he’d already gone insane..."
Sarah continued with complete seriousness.
"He performed the entire surgery without anesthesia."
Ivan felt his entire body ache in sympathy.
No anesthesia.
Anyone would lose their mind after that.
"The appearance he chose afterward also tells you something."
She shrugged.
"No mentally healthy person voluntarily replaces an arm with an industrial claw."
"So his madness came first."
"The technology wasn’t responsible."
That explanation...
Was surprisingly reasonable.
"Why me?"
Ivan finally asked.
"If these notes already exist..."
"Surely someone at Umbrella could reproduce them."
Sarah answered without hesitation.
"William Birkin was a genius."
"Having his notes isn’t enough."
"Very few people possess the engineering ability to complete his work."
"Umbrella specializes in biotechnology."
"We don’t have many researchers with expertise outside that field."
"And recruiting outsiders..."
"...creates unnecessary risks."
Ivan understood immediately.
Umbrella was an illegal organization.
Bringing in new scientists invited leaks.
A discovery like this would shake the world.
Still...
Why trust him?
Sarah seemed to read his thoughts.
"You’re different."
She smiled.
"After you’ve taken your revenge..."
"...who’s going to believe anything you say?"
She tilted her head.
"Assuming you’re still alive to say it."
Ivan fell silent.
She was right.
He fully expected to die.
If not during the battle...
Then afterward.
And even if he somehow survived...
Who would trust the claims of an international terrorist?
At last he nodded.
"I accept."
"I’ll complete everything three days before the Stark Expo."
"Good."
Sarah stood.
"One more suggestion."
"Finish early."
"You’ll need time to adapt to controlling the armor directly through your nervous system."
"And while you’re at it..."
She pointed toward the manuscript.
"Please reorganize those notes."
"Professionally."
"Preferably with an electronic copy."
Ivan snorted.
"I was planning to."
He looked down at the chaotic pages.
"To be honest..."
"I’d really like to punch whoever organized these notes the first time."
Sarah couldn’t help smiling.
"You’re not the first person to feel that way."
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