Chapter Text
Jason had been doing his usual roundabout near one of Gotham’s more crime ridden docks, when he took note of some suspicious looking people walking towards one of the warehouses near the docks waters.
Watching as two men, one wearing a suit and the other a lab coat, made their way through the crummy docks like a walking beacon for trouble. Jason squinted his eyes and blended his way into the shadows around him before making his way closer and closer to the pair.
Landing on the warehouse's roof with a small grunt, he made his way over to one of the open sunroofs of the warehouse where he took in the pair entering through a back door. Making sure he was completely out of sight, he peaked over the cracked open corner of the sunroof and followed the two men with his helmet’s hub as it zoomed in on the pair. He listened as the conversation they were having became louder and louder while they made their way further into the warehouse.
“ - and you say that it’s training is almost complete? So soon?” The man in the suit grunted out questioningly as he took in the rundown surrounding of the warehouse.
“Yes! I mean yes.” The lab rat squeaked out before clearing his throat, hurrying to catch up with the other man who was making his way to a pile of crates near one of the darker corners of the warehouse. “Though, we’re still having some… problems with how it does in social settings - which I can assure you is being corrected as we speak! We’ve been gradually - ”
“And it’ll do anything I command of it?” Suits, as Jason decided to so graciously nickname him, interrupted with a bored look as he peered over his shoulder to glare at the other man which Jason had decided to dub ‘White Coat’. White coat scoffed as if he’d been told the most preposterous thing of the decade.
“Of course! The RK800 was made to follow the command of its handler and its current handler has seen to it that it be as obedient and optimal as possible. With the knowledge of over 15 different fighting styles and experience with over a hundred different weapons, it truly is one of our best - “
“I didn’t ask for its whole life story, just if it would do as I command.” Suits hissed out, coming to a stop in front of the pile of crates.
Perking up in interest at what happened next, Jason watched as Suits pulled out a card from his pocket before resting it against the surface of the crates. The surface of the crate glitched out before revealing what appeared to be a card scanner hidden under a holographic image of the crates surface.
Suits pulled back and put the card back into one of his suits pockets before taking a step back while the crates began to break apart down the middle and slid apart from one another.
“What the - “ Jason hissed out under his breath in a sharp inhale as he took in the glowing white doors that revealed themselves to be hidden behind the crates. The surface of the doors moved ever so slightly like a lake's surface. While a soft luminescent glow of blue pulsed along the surface with each movement the doors surface gave. In the center of the doors sat a circle that gently spun with a blue tracer.
Suits and White Coat made their way towards the doors before Suits moved aside to let White Coat bend forward to stare at what appeared to be a retina scanner. Taking a step back once more after the scanner finished its job, the tracer of the circle between the doors began to fade into yellow before turning a bright red. The doors slid apart at the center of the circle and opened to reveal what Jason had to guess was an elevator.
Stepping into the elevator, White Coat seemingly clicked a button before continuing their previous conversation. “Now, Dr. Stern would like you to know that the RK800 - “
The elevator doors clicked close before the circle in the middle faded back into its previous blue idle. The crates had then begun to shift back into their previous position ever so slowly causing Jason to step into action.
“Shit!” Jumping through the sunroof crack, he landed onto the nearest surface he could find - which happened to be a giant rusty intermodal container - before jumping from that to the warehouse's ground and running his way towards the shifting crates.
Grabbing a retractable staff he had stored in his utility belt, he clicked the retract button and threw it towards the middle of the crates. The crates came to a grinding halt as the staff kept them from closing any further.
Clicking one of the buttons built into the side of his helmet, he watched as the call screen showed itself on the hub in front of him while he continued to look around the crates for anything that may stop them from moving completely.
“Come on, come on! Babs, pick up!” Watching as the sound of a ringing phone rang out from the earpiece connected to his helmet, he let out a small growl in frustration before clicking the call button once more the end the connection and frantically began to make his way to where the crates' holographic covering was hidden.
He punched at the surface of the hologram which gave under the pressure and shut down to reveal the card scanner hidden behind it. Grabbing what the family liked to call ‘a bat dud’ from his utility belt, he slammed it onto the surface of the scanner before a loading screen popped up on the hub in front of him.
Quickly looking over the scanner's coding as soon as it loaded in, he was pleased to see that whoever had designed the damn thing had done a pretty shitty job at making a secured firewall that could withstand one of Tim’s little trinkets.
Clicking the button that laid on the surface of the bat dud, he watched as the coding in front of him began to scramble before completely becoming unreadable. The hub then disappeared from his vision and he watched as the scanner tweaked out before shutting off completely. The crates let out one last creak before completely going dead silent as the mechanism moving them shut down.
Letting out a sigh in relief, Jason went to the middle of the crates and deactivated the staff to its pocket size form before pocketing it once more. He took in the almost blinding doors that now sat in front of him.
Like a moth to a flame, he made his way closer to the doors as he took in the slow pulsing of the circle in front of him. He stopped just a foot from the doors before slowly taking his gaze from the center of the doors to the retina scanner on the side.
Right… that was a problem.
Hesitant to go in front of the scanner's view knowing there was most likely a camera resting behind it, he peered at it from the side to see just what exactly he was dealing with while noting the model and manufacture.
Cyberlife, huh? Not exactly something he’s familiar with but since when has that stopped him?
A dud probably wouldn’t work given the nature of retina scanners. Maybe, he could hack into the security's main frame and steal a pair of eyes to borrow for his… visit.
Using the Bluetooth from his helmet, he began to connect to the scanners servers before going through files that had begun to load into his hub's feed.
Welcome to Cyberlife.
> About Cyberlife
Menu
Calendar
About Employees & Staff
Contacts
Help
.
.
.
> About Employees & Staff…
Welcome to Cyberlife’s Employee & Staff Homepage.
Please choose from the following selections:
> Cyberlife’s Employee & Staff Handbook - Nope.
Cyberlife’s Employee Rules and Guidelines - No.
Cyberlife: Partner Benefits & More - Yeah, definitely not what he’s looking for.
Cyberlife’s Current Employment & Staff - Ah-ha!
Using the controls on the side of his helmet to click on the current archive of employees and staff, he began to scroll through the thousands of files that popped up in his hub before clicking on some poor random bastard's unsuspecting face to use as an identity. Jason watched as the AI built into his hub began to hack into said persons employment records before pulling up their current in-file retina scan and loaded it’s information into the retina scanner.
Hearing the small click of the doors in front of him unlocking from each other, he watched as the circle in the middle began its earlier show of shifting into a dim yellow to an angry red before the doors proceeded to move away from each other to reveal the elevator from before.
Peering over his shoulder to make sure he was still in the clear, he turned back to look at the elevator before stepping in. Turning to take in the panel of floor numbers on the side, he scoffed at the absurd amount of floors to pick from. Bringing a hand up to lazily spin around in the air, he slammed a finger down onto one of the random numbers that adorned the panel - floor 51.
The metal doors slammed shut before the elevator shifted and began its descent down. Taking the moment of peace as an opportunity to reload his pistols, he changed out the magazines with pre-filled ones he had stored in his jacket pockets before something in the peripheral of his vision caught his attention.
The small flicker of a small red dot greeted him causing him to let out a small curse - a camera, a fucking camera was in the elevator. He’d forgotten to check the elevator for any cameras after his little escapade.
“Fucking great. Perfect. Good Job, Todd. You dumbass,” Jason scolded himself from under his breath while angrily slamming in the last magazine into his gun.
“So much for going in unnoticed,” he grunted out before taking in how much longer he had to prepare for a possible fight. He was currently on floor 47 and quickly reaching his destination at a speed that surely wouldn’t help him much in case of an ambush.
He reached into his utility belt and grabbed a couple smoke bombs with his left hand and switched off the safety of the gun that was currently resting in his right hand. Taking a small deep breath as he reached floor 50, he rolled his shoulders and neck before spreading his feet into a starting fighting stance.
The elevator dinged as it reached its destination before opening its doors, allowing Jason to take in the group waiting for him on the other side. Two on the left, three on the right - smaller welcoming party than he was expecting but hey, he wasn’t one to complain if it made his job easier.
Activating and throwing the smoke bombs onto the floor, he quickly turned on the infrared on his helmet and took in the heat signatures of the guards before planning his attack. Raising his gun, he shot at one of the two on his left, hitting them in the thigh before shooting the other guard next to them in the shoulder.
The three guards on the right began to shoot in Jason's direction causing him to drop and roll towards the two down guards. Stopping behind the one shot in the thigh, he slammed the blunt of his gun into the back of the guard's helmet causing a small ‘crunch’ as it broke through the helmet and rendered the guard unconscious.
Spinning to face the other neutralized guard, he slammed into them and hit them against the wall with all of his body weight. The guard fell like a limp rag doll onto the ground in front of Jason who quickly spun around once more to take in the group three now behind him. The smoke was starting to clear and he was starting to get clear outlines of his opponents without the infrared.
Dodging more bullets that were shot his way, he made his way towards the guard on the left of the group and slammed into them before spinning them around to use the now stunned figure as a shield against the other two. Shooting over the shoulder of his human shield, he hit one in the thigh and watched as they fell into a kneel before he pointed his gun to the center of their forehead and pulled the trigger.
Dodging one last bullet that was shot from the last guard's gun, he shot them swiftly in the forehead just like the other and watched them fall limply to the ground before bringing his gun up to rest against the temple of his human shield who had begun to beg for mercy and pulled the trigger.
Letting go of his hold on the now limp corpse, he let it fall to the ground with the others before taking in the mayhem he’d caused.
He huffed at the site of the sprawled out guards - for a place with such ‘high’ security systems, their guards sure are a lousy shot. That, and the helmet breaking so easily under his force? Jesus, it’s surprising this hellhole didn’t get broken into sooner.
Kneeling down to one of the sprawled out guards' bodies, he searched their persons for anything that may come to use for his investigation later down the line. Finally managing to find a key card on one of the corpses of the last three guards, he pocketed it and quickly continued his way further into the facility before more guards decided to show up.
Taking in the pearly white surfaces that seemed to adorn everything in the facility: the walls, the floors, the decor, the freaking doors. He watched the walls move with the same blue pulse as the elevator doors while all the doors seemed to have the same blue circle lock on the spot where a door handle would normally sit.
Slowing his steps as he began to hear the small sound of talking coming from one of the rooms, he looked around to pinpoint exactly where the sound was coming from before making his way to the door. Crouching next to the door, he turned on the ‘echolocation protocol’ on his helmet - which was still in its beta phase but if it worked properly, he should be able to hear and see what was going on in the other room by using the wavelengths of their voices and movements.
Taking out the outline of the scene in front of him in the other room, he noted that Suits and White Coat from earlier were both present in the room with a bunch of other people. They all seemed to be surrounding a coffin shaped object that sat in the center of the room. Next to the coffin shaped object appeared to be a middle aged woman that was addressing the group in front of her. Jason listened as the audio began to come through and a stern yet almost motherly voice rang through his earpiece.
“ - as you can see, me and Mr. Kamski have both made sure no expenses were spared in the making of the RK800. With how its creation was carried out, it is able to do more than what the average human could ever think was possible.”
Ah, this must be the Dr. Stern that was mentioned earlier in the warehouse.
Jason watched along with the group as Dr. Stern made her way around the coffin before clicking something on the tablet that laid in her hands. The coffin's surface hissed and began to part from each other before revealing what exactly the RK800 was…
Jason felt his blood run cold as he took in the child that laid in the middle of the group.
“The RK800 is still growing and learning but using the advanced technology Cyberlife is known for, it should be fully grown and functional in a matter of months.”
“Months?” Suits scoffed, “I didn’t come here just to wait longer for something that won’t be ready in months.”
Dr. Stern smiled, causing both Suits and Jason to be taken aback. “Then, perhaps we can find a different buyer for our project. Great things take time, Mr. Alberrich. And if you’re not willing to wait for RK800 to be fully operating and working at its best, then you don’t need it.”
“Now listen here - “ Suits hissed and stepped closer to the doctor before he was stopped by one of the guards that was standing in the corner of the room earlier. Dr. Stern continued to smile before she stepped towards Suits.
“You see, Mr. Alberrich. You aren't the only partner we have that’s interested in the RK800’s services. In fact, you’re not the first one to contact us about having interest in its workings. Yet, beyond my understanding, Mr. Kamski felt like you would be the best fit for its services. This is the only reason you are here today, Mr. Alberrich. If it were up to me, my creation wouldn’t be going into the hands of such a… scoundrel.” Dr. Stern stood face to face with Suits who stared back in flabbergast. She sent one last look his way before turning around the walk next to the RK800 once more. Looking down at the resting child, her face softened ever so slightly as she brought a hand up to brush her fingers against their face.
Her voice cut through the air as she continued to talk with her back now turned from Suits.
“Now, either you wait a few months for us to finish preparing the RK800 for its purpose and you receive a finished product working at its greatest potential. Or, you can turn around and tell Mr. Kamski why you decided it fit to question his mentor on how she does her job.”
Suits stood there quietly for a few seconds, seemingly contemplating on which option he was more willing to take before clearing his throat.
“I’m sure a few more months won’t hurt.” Dr. Stern hummed happily and turned back to face Suits before she began to walk towards the door next to Jason.
“Wonderful. Now, why don't we talk to Elijah about price?” Dr. Stern stood by the door for a bit before Suits caught the hint and made his way to follow her out the door.
Jason quickly backed away and looked around into the other rooms. Finding one that was empty, he quickly scanned the card he snatched from the guard earlier and ran into the room before the pair decided to come out and make their way down the hall.
Watching as they disappeared around a corner before he turned his attention back to the room holding the kid. The rest of the group from before along with White Coat closed the lid to what had to be some sort of pod, before they messed with some of the electronics around them. Seeming satisfied with their work, they one by one began to leave the room until there was only White Coat left.
Leaving the room he was hiding in, he turned off the echolocation protocol and prepared his gun to stun. A gunshot would be too loud for what he was about to do. Scanning the card, the door opened causing White Coat to turn around.
“ What - “ Jason shot the taser on his gun and watched as the scientist fell to the ground with small convulsions. Closing the door behind him and setting what appeared to be a locking mechanism to lock. He grabbed the tablet from the now unconscious scientist's hold and scrolled through its contents.
Taking in the diagram of what appeared to be live stats of the kids body functions such as heart rate, heart beat, and breathing. He scrolled down a bit and came across what had to be information of whatever the kid was in front of him.
Current Files Open…
Serial Number: RK800 - #313 248 317 - 60
Name: Connor
Current Status: Alive
Psychical Description:
Species: Redacted
Sex: Male
Height: Redacted
Weight: Redacted
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color: Brown
Ethnicity: White
Age (Biological) : The RK800’s current build and appearance, along with tests, indicates it to be around what would typically be a 7 year old for humans.
Age (Chronological) : 3 months, 21 days, and 19 hours.
Biographical Information:
Date of Birth: August 13th, 20XX
Date of Death: -
Place of Birth: Cyberlife, redacted.
Notes: Redacted
…
Species… redacted?
Age.. biological and chronological?
3 months old?!
Just what the hell did he get himself into?!
Looking up from the tablet to stare at the pod in dismay, he glanced down once more at the tablet before noticing a small lock icon on the side.
No… they wouldn’t make it that easy… would they?
Peering up at the pod to ponder, he stared at it for a few seconds before making up his mind and clicked the lock icon on the tablet. The pod opened with a small click and hiss to reveal the unconscious child from before.
Setting the tablet down on the side of the pod, he took in the boy’s features as he… slept? Noting the moles and freckles that adorned his face, Jason could see just how young the boy was. His features smoothed and peaceful, completely oblivious to what was happening in the world around him.
God, he was small. He couldn't be heavier than 50 lbs soaking wet. He’d probably just barely meet Jason’s hip if he stood up straight enough. He made Damian look like a giant in comparison, which was saying a lot given that Damian was clearly small for his age.
Taking in the small breaths the boy gave as he rested, Jason clenched his fist against the railings of the pod - which creaked under the force of his grip - as he remembered what had just conspired a few moments ago. This thing - child - because that’s what this boy was, a child - was being sold like some product to be used by some big shot corporation.
God knows what sick and twisted stuff they would put this boy through. He’s 3 months old, and given what White Coat had said back at the warehouse about him, had spent those first three months of his life doing nothing but learning and training to be a weapon. A by-product to be used and taken advantage of, never knowing anything else but violence.
He has a handler.
He’s touched weapons, used them, trained with them.
Jason gritted his teeth the more he thought about it. They were going to use this boy, and work him until he died. Fuck, he’d get stabbed, beaten, shot, or worse - killed.
Jason sucked in air at the last revelation. The sound of manic laughter could be heard ever so slightly in the air around him as he stared at the child. His grip now deathly tight on the railings as he shook ever so slightly. His breath is sharp and shaky with each exhale.
Sweat began to bead against his forehead, his vision blurring around the edges before he slammed his eyes shut. Shit, now is not the time, Jason. He leaned against the railing, taking deep, slow breaths as he chanted the same monologue over and over in his head.
He’s not here.
He’s not here.
He’s not here.
His head flew up in surprise as the sound of banging came from the locked door of the lab.
“Hey - unlock the door! What the hell!” A voice yelled from the other side as they continued to bang against the door. More and more yelling could be heard from the other side as it seemed more people were trying to get in.
“Fuck.” His gazing flickering from the door to the kid. He hesitated for a moment before reaching over to rip what wiring and tubing was attached to the kid. Sliding his arm under the unconscious kid's head and legs, he hoisted him up until his head rested in the crook of Jason’s neck and his legs lay limply around Jason hips.
Grabbing his gun and flicking the safety off, the sound of machines screeching filled the room as an alarm system triggered and everything lit up red. Looking around, he noted that the doors now had a metal covering over them and more yelling could be heard from the other side.
Cursing a mantra under his breath, he continued looking around for any sign of an escape route before his eyes landed on the locked icon on the door once more. Surely, the crappy security system wouldn’t apply to the whole facility, right?
Turning on the echolocation system on his helmet once more, he was pleasantly surprised to note: yes, the crappy security system did in fact apply to the whole facility.
“Huh, would you look at that…” Jason raised his leg to begin kicking at the plaster of the facilities walls. It slowly gave in with each hit from his boot until he finally saw the wiring that sat behind it. Reaching in to rip the wiring out with his armed hand, the metal covering of the door slid back to reveal the door itself.
Pointing his gun towards the lock, he shot at it which caused the door to slide open revealing the crowd waiting on the other side. Immediately shooting at the people on the other side, he watched as they ducked out of the way giving him a clear path to run through.
Yelling filled the halls as he sprinted, trying to remember just exactly which way led to the elevator. A bullet went flying past him causing him to jerk to the side at the unexpected attack. He looked behind him to note the group of guards that had begun to follow him.
Picking up the pace, he skidded through the turn of one of the halls, cursing as he turned at the last minute so his back was the one to hit the wall instead of the kid in his arms.
Raising an arm to shield him and the kid from the on coming fire, he quickly continued down the hall before the elevator came into sight.
“Shut it!” One of the guards chasing him yelled. Jason watched as the elevator doors started to close at the command.
“Oh, come on!” Jason yelled. He continued to dodge the bullets that flew their way before one scraped by his neck and slid past the kid's cheek to hit the wall next to them.
Dropping to his knees to slide into the elevator just before the doors slammed close, he frantically pushed the button for surface level before it began to move upwards.
Oh, thank god they didn’t get the bright idea of stopping the elevator services during an attack.
Slamming the back of his helmet against the elevator’s wall, he stared up at the fluorescent lighting on its ceiling while he caught his breath. Feeling something warm run down the back of his neck, he swiped his gloved fingers through the area before pulling them back to reveal scarlet red now adorning the glove.
Limply sighing his head forward at the idea of yet another injury to bandage up, he opened his eyes to peer down at the still unconscious kid in his arms.
“Damn, what I wouldn’t do to sleep like you, kid,” Jason murmured under his breath. He took in the kids still slow breathing before he noticed something sliding down the kids cheek. Bringing his still armed hand to move the kids head to face him a bit more, he took in the sight of a blue liquid running down the kids cheek.
“Oh.” So that’s what they meant by species redacted - the kid was bleeding blue blood.
Watching the liquid slowly pour out of the cut on the kid's cheek, Jason was pulled out of his daze by the sound of the elevator dinging. Immediately stiffing up for another fight, the doors opened to reveal… nothing, nothing was waiting on the other side except the same warehouse he’d come through from before.
Taking a slow step out of the elevator, he turned on the thermals on his helmet to take in the surrounding area only to find that the whole warehouse was empty.
“Huh,” Jason huffed out before he shrugged and made his way out of the warehouse. Calling his bike over with the auto drive feature in his hub, he swung his legs over to straddle it before laying the kid to rest in his lap.
Holstering his gun now that they were in the safety of getting the hell out of dodge, he pulled back the throttle and they were off. Weaving his way through the crates and buildings of the docks, he thought about exactly what the hell just happened.
He took a kid.
He took a kid that apparently knew how to fight.
He took a non-human kid that apparently knew how to fight.
…
Where and who does he go to with this?
Jason pulled back the throttle some more as they finally exited the docks and entered the streets of Gotham. Making sure to stay in the back roads where he’d stay unnoticed, he found a nice, dark alleyway to park his bike in for a moment before shutting off the engine so they remained unseen while he collected his thoughts.
Sitting there and taking in the kid once more, specifically watching the small cut he could see under the alleyways' bad lighting, he realized just how much of a pickle he’d gotten himself into.
“... Motherfu- ” Inhaling sharply to stop himself from finishing that word, he took a deep breath in and out before looking up at the cloudy Gotham sky to scoff.
He did it again.
He acted first and asked questions later.
Now, here he was, reaping the rewards.
Huffing at the realization, he continued to stare up at the sky.
“Nice going, Todd…” Jason whispered under his breath.
He can’t go to Bruce, that’s for sure.
He can’t go to Dick cause then he’d just tell Bruce.
He can’t go to Tim 'cause then he’d tell Stephanie who’d then tell Barbara who’d eventually tell Alfred who would definitely tell Bruce.
Roy was out of town.
Anyone else he knows would either not know to take care of a kid, make fun of him for his ever growing stupidity, or would ask the league who would eventually inform Bruce.
“... Fuck.”
Glancing down at the boy in his arms, he clicked his tongue before turning the engine back on to his bike as he made up his mind.
“Guess it’s just gonna be me and you for a while, kid.”
Pulling back the throttle once more, he exited the alleyway and made his way towards his apartment in Crime Alley.