The Perfect Weapon…

A/N: This is a little one-shot set during the events of The Bourne Ultimatum, right after Noah Vosen informs Dr. Albert Hirsch of Bourne's approach towards SRD. This fic delves into David Webb's reasons for joining Treadstone, from Hirsch's perspective. This is also the concluding part of a spiritual 'trilogy' of one-shots, each connected to one of the Bourne movies. Please check out the other ones, 'Playing with Fire' (for The Bourne Identity) and 'Remorse' (for The Bourne Supremacy).

Dr. Albert Hirsch put down the telephone and sighed. The conversation he had just had with his colleague, Noah Vosen, was portentous. He knew that he was in danger. Danger of being killed, naturally; but what was far worse for him, danger of being exposed, of being compromised...yes, that was what concerned him most of all. To a dedicated professional like Hirsch, his work was everything. He couldn't risk doing anything that would result in his work being undone; all the efforts, both on his part and on the part of others who had supported him in his endeavor being undone. No. He could not allow that to happen. If there was a threat to his work and his reputation, he would do his best to help the people who were responsible for eliminating that threat, just as he'd agreed to with Vosen. And yet, in spite of what was about to happen, he could not help but feel a perverse sense of…anticipation. Yes, that was it, anticipation…

Jason Bourne was coming home.

He had hardly believed it when Vosen had just informed him mere minutes ago. He wondered briefly whether he had been dreaming, imagining things he thought would never happened, anticipating events which he had been certain would never transpire. But now, the truth was beginning to dawn upon him, sink in, at long last. Jason Bourne, his greatest triumph, his finest creation, was coming back…coming back to him…alive!

It was something Hirsch had never expected to ever happen ever since Bourne deserted the program years ago. He always felt that when, or rather if, the Agency caught up with Bourne, he would come home in a body-bag…certainly never alive. There was no way he could have, if the rumors concerning his apparent memory loss were true…

Hirsch opened the drawer of the filing cabinet. He opened the dossier, a copy of the one stored in the archives at CIA Headquarters in Langley. For a brief moment, he stared at the photograph in the dossier of the man…his pupil…from back when it all started. His attention then turned towards what he had really been looking for; the dog-tags. The dog-tags belonging to a soldier named David Webb…

Captain David Webb. Hirsch remembered the day, so many years ago now, when he had first come across the name in a file. A dossier Neal Daniels had brought to him, of a potential candidate for the program. Hirsch hadn't been convinced when he first saw the photograph. The man he saw looked far too innocent, far too pure to have the makings of a born killer…but then, Hirsch realized that the whole point of the program was 'behavior modification'; bringing out the instincts of a killer within the mind and body of an innocent man. And when he actually leafed through the dossier, he was suitably impressed.

Webb, like most of his peers in the elite Special Forces, was a prodigy with languages, being able to fluently speak in French, German, Russian and Spanish among others. He was a perfect shot and well-versed in the basics of unarmed combat. Furthermore, he was already a specialist in unconventional warfare, especially guerilla warfare. He had a rudimentary knowledge of Intelligence operations, having already been part of two Joint CIA-Special Forces missions in the Middle East. And perhaps, most important of all, he had seldom hesitated, thus far, to kill an enemy in the line of duty. However, even with regards to that, Webb was well-known within his unit, to follow a strict code of conduct; he would never kill an unarmed, helpless man, or a subdued prisoner, no matter what the provocation, and he would never allow another man to do the same in his presence. This resulted in quite a lot of friction between Webb and some of the more hardened members of his unit, including a few commanding officers, but ultimately, Webb always ended up getting commendations for his exceptional ethical behavior in the field. Well, we'll wait and watch if that stands the test of time, Hirsch had thought wryly, as he leafed through the dossier and evaluation reports.

But ultimately, at some point, Webb had come to realize that fighting the good fight wasn't entirely worth the effort, especially when one had to contend almost daily the minefield of international law and diplomacy, not to mention the bureaucratic 'red tape' that was often applied on men in the field as a result. He had seen men die in the battle field, good honorable soldiers slaughtered by terrorists sanctioned by Middle Eastern regimes, and was aghast when he came to the realization that the Army was legally prevented from retaliating by 'any means necessary' due to the intricacies of international law and diplomacy; which they were compelled to abide by while their enemies didn't. This had understandably frustrated the young soldier, who now desperately sought a means to do 'whatever it takes' to 'save American lives'.

And he had chosen Treadstone as his path towards that goal.

All in all, Hirsch had concluded after reading and re-reading the dossier, David Webb was a highly promising candidate; he was almost everything they had wanted. He already had all the skills; they would just need to be developed further. But more importantly, he had the motivation. Not that motivation would matter much in the long run, since he would have to be broken down in any case; but motivation played a key role in his volunteering to submit to the procedure in the first place. Yes, he thought, they had indeed found the perfect soldier. The perfect soldier who could in time be broken down and reshaped into the perfect weapon…

When Hirsch first met David Webb, he was everything he had expected. A dedicated soldier; intensely patriotic and loyal to his country and its international interests and also a thorough professional; for whom no personal sacrifice would be too great if it accomplished his objectives. Hirsch also sensed a little bit of naiveté on Webb's part; the soldier clearly saw everything in black and white. To him, the world was divided into the 'good guys' and the 'bad guys'. Which made him an even greater asset, for Hirsch knew it wouldn't require too much manipulation to turn Webb's perception of the 'good guys' into 'handlers' and of 'bad guys' into 'targets'.

While he consented to the procedure without any hesitation, Webb demonstrated a considerable amount of resistance during his indoctrination; far more resistance in fact, than either Hirsch or Daniels had anticipated. The dosage of hallucinogenic drugs and the frequency of the 'Tank' treatments had to be increased almost every three days into the procedure. At one point, Hirsch actually began to doubt whether or not he would be successful. Webb was proving to be a too hard to break; his firm resistance no doubt a product of his strong morality. But Hirsch carried on nonetheless, struggling to retain confidence in his belief that every man can be broken…it was only a matter of time.

An finally, the day came when Webb did snap and prove his commitment to the program by killing an unarmed, subdued and completely defenseless prisoner, something he wouldn't have dreamt of doing mere weeks before. That moment when Webb turned towards him, a cold and emotionless blank expression on his face, after carrying out the 'execution' filled Hirsch with an almost paternal pride. He had finally given life to his finest creation and in that moment, he christened that creation…Jason Bourne.

Before long, Bourne was submitted to the capable hands of Alexander Conklin. Hirsch knew that Conklin had been one of the best men Langley had put out into the field during the Cold War and therefore had full confidence in his abilities to tutor his creation in the 'skills of death' as he liked to call them. Bourne was a fast learner…Conklin declared him operational within a mere two months of his training.

Hirsch never knew any of the specifics of Bourne's activities in the field, nor did he wish to, but he did receive frequent reports from both Conklin and from Nicky Parsons, who was Bourne's local handler in Paris and conducted frequent psychiatric evaluations on him and who was also, ironically enough, completely unaware of Hirsch's existence.

What he did learn, both formally and informally, was that Bourne was the perfect weapon he had been created to be…he had never failed to complete an assignment, had never, to their knowledge, hesitated before a kill and was displaying no signs of remorse or regret regarding his actions on the field. He was, in every respect a cold-blooded killing machine. Even when the side-effects did begin to manifest; headaches, anger, depression, compulsive behaviors and the like…they were not as serious as Hirsch had anticipated they would have been…they were the primarily the result of stress and physical and mental fatigue. Hirsch had recommended adequate periods of rest for Bourne, and for the other 'assets', in addition to the drugs Parsons had already prescribed. But Conklin did not entirely follow his instructions where Bourne was concerned…Bourne had become Conklin's most 'reliable asset' just as he was Hirsch's finest creation and so to him went the toughest, most stressful and demanding assignments. Hirsch occasionally feared that one day, Bourne would go over the edge…after all, even a machine could be pushed too far…but surprisingly, Bourne persevered in spite of the added 'work-load'…

And thus, when Hirsch was informed that Bourne had failed to execute a mission in Marseilles and had disappeared, he was shocked to say the least. Had his creation been lost to the stormy depths of the Mediterranean? It certainly seemed so. And yet, as everyone at the Agency soon found out, that simply wasn't the case. Bourne had survived, but he was no longer an asset. In fact, he had become a massive liability instead. Something had happened to him in Marseilles…no one knew precisely what, but it was clear to all that Bourne had finally snapped in some way…

Conklin was quick to issue the kill-order and Hirsch simply could not fault him for it. Though he would have preferred it if Bourne was brought in alive so he could examine him and possibly find some way to salvage the remains of the perfect weapon and rebuild it…after all, any machine could be repaired, given time and patience…even killing machines! But deep down inside, Hirsch knew that Bourne was simply too dangerous, too skilled to be taken alive…and it seemed like it would be impossible to take him down as well.

After an encounter with Bourne in Paris, Nicky Parsons had claimed that Bourne suffered from amnesia. Most Agency officials disproved this theory, though Hirsch admitted to Ward Abbott that is was a possibility. Memory loss could be triggered by post-traumatic stress, which was clearly what Bourne was suffering from. And being shot twice in the back and drowning in the Mediterranean Sea was a traumatic enough event. Of course, the amnesia meant that any chance of salvaging Bourne and re-converting him into an asset was now negligible…his conditioning had failed at any rate since he'd failed to execute the target, his operational value as an assassin was now practically nil…he couldn't be captured or killed without collateral damage which the CIA and Interpol could do well without…it was thus the unspoken but unanimous decision of Agency officials to let Bourne 'fade away'.

Treadstone was officially terminated…but within less than a year, it was secretly incorporated into the surveillance program 'Blackbriar', which had become the umbrella program for all of the CIA's black ops. Hirsch carried on with his work…he screened the dossiers of numerous candidates, put them through the 'procedure' and handed them over to the new executive assigned to take charge of their training. He created many more assets, but none which Hirsch felt could ever match Jason Bourne.

And now, as it transpired, they clearly were no match for Jason Bourne. Bourne had showed up on the CIA's radar again. Once again, they pursued him relentlessly across the globe. And once again, they failed. But now, Bourne had done what Nicky had said he'd threatened to do…bring the fight to their doorstep. But even then, Hirsch could never have believed that Bourne would come all the way to SRD itself, let alone New York City.

But he was clearly on his way. He had proven himself and had surpassed the expectations of his former superiors. Hirsch wondered whether Conklin would be proud or livid at how well Bourne was doing in the field against the Agency. Maybe a strange mixture of both. Bourne had killed an asset, one of the best in the program; he had evaded the police forces of numerous countries, neutralized whole task forces of CIA operatives and hitmen and had come to the Big Apple…he had broken into the all but impregnable CRI itself and had stolen the incriminating evidence of the CIA's excesses in the name of national security…and at this moment he was out there somewhere…the perfect weapon Hirsch had created, no doubt concocting an elaborate strategy to storm into the building and literally meet his maker…

Well, Hirsch though, he would grant Bourne his wish. Creator and creation would be reunited in the place where the former had created the latter, and they would talk…if only to keep Bourne in place for Vosen and his squad of executioners…but they would talk. And though he was aware of the danger to his life, to his reputation, Hirsch needed to know…He needed to know what went wrong…and why his perfect weapon had gone astray…

And when they met, Hirsch wondered what he would see in that face he knew so well…his creation; broken down, a killing machine who refused to kill, but still a killing machine …or the naïve moralistic soldier he once knew so long ago…or perhaps a bit of both…He would soon find out…The alarms echoed throughout the building and Hirsch knew that Jason Bourne has arrived…