Disclaimer: Characters are not mine. All is the property of DC Comics. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Artificial Scion

Chapter Three: Orbiting Secret

Tim was fixing a light-fixture in a lab testing the effects of different sun lights on native Earth organisms. Perhaps replacing a lightbulb was a little below Alvin Draper's pay-grade but it was the task assigned to him and he didn't want to draw attention to himself by being an uppity little snot. Besides, the title of 'Uppity Little Snot' belonged to Damian. Far be it for Tim to try and usurp the crown prince's title.

But it was right after this job, as he was packing his tools away and trying to figure out if the intern that had been supervising him while he worked was just socially awkward or trying to flirt with him that his shift supervisor poked his head in the lab.

"Oy, Draper!" He said. "Big job in the core. All level 4 hands on deck. Grab your tool kit and lets go. Hope you can adapt to zero G as fast as you did low G."

And that was that.

It was the end of Tim's first week. The mission was half over. He had only just recently heard the rumor about the secret lab in the core cylinder and now here it was, the prefect opportunity to do a little snooping. It wasn't the main mission objective, but it was at least something. Since he hadn't made any progress in discovering what Cadmus was doing with the Kryptonian Ambassador's DNA, why not go ahead and investigate this? At least then he wouldn't go home empty handed at the end of his two weeks.

So, that was what brought him to floating in a zero G workroom with six other technicians, all trying to piece back together what had once been a hydraulic crusher.

They had sorted most of the larger pieces out. All divided into groups and tethered to the walls by nylon netting. But parts and pieces still floated around them, drifting on currents of the circulated air. Occasionally a screw or bolt would bean one of them in the head, eliciting laughter and jeers from everyone else.

One female tech snatched a screw out of the air and glared at it reproachfully as one might glare at a child who knows they've been bad. Then, her glare turned to confusion. "This screw's been stripped."

"That's what happens when you use the wrong caliber head." Scoffed the shift lead. "Chuck it in the scrap bin and get a new one."

"No, I mean the threading." She elaborated. "The screw threads are gone."

She passed it around so that everyone could see. It had clearly been a screw at some point. Not a bolt. But the threading was completely stripped. The shaft not exactly smooth, but not rough and pitted either, there were no striations like the screw had been manually stripped. It was more like the spiral had just unwound itself of its own accord.

"Sabotage, you think?" One of the other techs suggested.

"For what?" Asked the woman whom had gotten beaned by the screw. "This is an industrial crusher, its basically a giant trash compactor. What possible motive would someone have to sabotage it?"

"Obviously, they were trying to prevent Han and Luke from rescuing the Princess."

This elicited a chorus of laughter from the team. Trash compactors, space, and half a dozen nerds. For the first time since boarding the shuttle in Cape Canaveral one week ago, Tim started to think that maybe this mission wasn't so terrible after all. If there was one thing that Steph or Cassie never let him forget, it was that he was a giant nerd.

"If that were the case then this would still be in once piece and we wouldn't be here." He said. "If you wanna go with the Star Wars comparison, then you should say Luke used his Jedi powers to break the compactor in order to escape."

There was a beat of silence.

Then, "Whoo. Points to Draper!" The shift lead reached a hand out to ruffle Tim's hair with approval. "There's hope for you yet!"

"Thanks... I think." Tim said, because Alvin Draper was supposed to be a quiet and socially awkward technician who still wasn't comfortable in space. Not the confident and critically observant under-cover detective that Tim actually was.

"What I don't get," continued the woman who pointed out the screw, "is that we've been called in to fix this thing almost every month for the past six months. What are they doing in there that they keep breaking an industrial multi-mega-ton crusher every month."

"Ah, but this is the first time its been completely destroyed." Said another. "Usually they just call in one or two of us to fix a blown out fuse or broken gasket, stuff that can be easily caused by applying more pressure than the device was designed for."

"Which is also why, every time we fix it, they make us soup it up." The shift lead reminded them.

"So, this is new?" Tim asked, waving a hand at all the nylon nets holding all the parts they sorted.

The shift lead shrugged. "Far as I know."

"Then there's the times they want us to come and collect all the bent, broken and warped guns." Added another. "Really serious stuff too. Not just street guns like pistols and revolvers, but big things like shoulder rockets and mini-shells. Stuff I wouldn't want to be firing inside a space station. Gotta dispose of it carefully. Can't endanger the rest of the station."

Tim suddenly had a horrible vision of someone -the Joker maybe- firing a rocket-launcher at a wall and then everybody and every thing getting sucked out into space. Instant death. He would have nightmares after lights out. Damn. He hated space travel. Again, why hadn't Bruce just come himself? After all, this mission was for his friend!

Someone jostled his shoulder. "C'mon Draper, you know you wanna ask."

Tim blinked at him. Ask? Ask what? What were they doing in the secret lab? Yes. He wanted to know. But Tim was not about to ask about it. People who asked questions got noticed, got watched. If someone was trying to keep a secret, then they got a might anxious of people who were curious. So, he replied, "Boss says its where they're hiding JFK's remains."

"Yup!" Nodded the shift lead. "The gun that shot him, too."

"That's just BS!" Said the one that jostled Tim. "Its where they're hiding the evidence of the first faked moon landing."

Everyone else groaned.

"Look, man. We're in space right now. The moon landing happened! Get over it!"

"Sure. It eventually happened. Just not in 1969."

Everyone groaned again.

It was pretty obvious that no one knew what was going on in the secret lab. But if techs were called into the core to clean up after it on a semi-regular basis, Tim might get the opportunity to find out.

...

Hovering on the opposite side of the room was an assortment of objects.

A pencil tethered to a small note pad. A common generic calculator. A vintage game controller -not connected to anything. A strip of shirt buttons. A needle and thread. Experiment 13 was given each of these things to hand before the test. To get a feel for them. His telekinetic power was based in his tactile sense. He didn't need to be constantly touching them for it to work, but he did need to handle them with his bare skin at some point. After each item was handled, they were all taken away and arranged on the opposite side of the room.

This was a test of his TTK's fine motor ability.

"Whenever you're ready, Kid." Roquette said over the intercomm.

Experiment 13 nodded at the mirrored wall before turning his attention back to his test. He reached out with his TK field, brushing up against the pencil and pad. He wrapped a tendril of his field around the pencil and attempted to touch the tip to the pad.

The pad went drifting off until the string that tethered the pencil to it pulled it back.

So, he wrapped another tendril of TTK around the pad to hold it steady. He pressed the pencil to the pad and drew one rough semi-strait line down the page. He looked to the mirrored wall, wondering if Roquette was pleased or disappointed by this. But she said nothing, neither to him directly over the intercomm, or to anyone else behind the glass. So, he drew a second line, this one horizontal, but still just as rough and semi-strait. Then he attempted a circle, but came out with more of a lopsided oval.

That was when Roquette's voice crackled over the intercomm. "Try writing something." She suggested. "Write 'plain Jane sits in the rain'."

Turning his attention back to the pencil and pad, Experiment 13 flipped to a blank page and began again. Touching the pencil to paper and trying to write. The tail of his P went a little sideways to begin with and the loop curved in on itself slightly. The L didn't present much of a problem for him. But he found the A to be very difficult. By the time he finished the first word, Experiment 13 was already frustrated by how sloppy his TTK writing looked. Almost like his handwriting back when he was still newly conscious and still learning to write. 'A child's writing', the scientists would call it.

"You don't need to frustrate yourself, Kid." Roquette said when he was half-way through 'Jane'. "If its to hard, just move on to the next one. This is just to gauge how you're developing, not to push what you can already do."

Experiment 13 nodded and dropped his field from the pencil and pad. They hung in the air where they were as he moved onto the calculator. He typed in a simple problem: one plus one equals... The calculator came up with two. Easy. The buttons weren't to small and it wasn't very difficult to push one without disturbing the others. He tried a few other small problems. Had no issue with any of the buttons, then moved onto the next object without waiting for Roquette's OK.

The game controller was a easy as the calculator. Actually, it was easier since the buttons were spread father apart and chapped differently. It was easier to differentiate between them and press them. The START and SELECT buttons were a tad problematic because they were so small and closer together than any of the others on the device, but aside from that, easy.

Next were the shirt buttons.

Experiment 13 was not looking forward to them. They looked difficult. When he had felt them in his hands, unbuttoned and rebuttoned one, it had been easy for his dexterous fingers. But now, with his TTK, he wasn't sure. He once again extended his field, taking hold of either side of the strip of buttons with two separate tendrils of power. One tendril of his TK field shimmying between the fabric while the other tried to push the button through the hole. The fabric trained, but the button did not slip through. He tried pulling the fabric over the button instead, but that didn't work either. He tried three times, but his TTK just didn't have the dexterity to unbutton a shirt. Finally, he got so frustrated that he just lanced out with his power and ripped the string of buttons apart.

"If you get frustrated just move on." Roquette said over the intercomm.

Last one. The needle and thread.

Experiment 13 already knew he wouldn't be able to do it before he even tried. The needle was small and thin. A little to thin for a tendril of his TK field to grasp. The thread, even thinner. He couldn't even grasp them, never mind attempting to actually thread the needle. Eventually, he managed to get a hold of the thread by wrapping it around his TTK instead of the TTK around it. The needle, however, was not so malleable. No matter what he did or how finely he stretched his tendrils of telekinetic power, he just couldn't grab hold of the needle until he finally bend the smooth metal into a curly-cue.

He sighed. Drifting over to the intercomm switch, Experiment 13 pressed the button and said into the mic, "Sorry, Doctor."

"That's okay, Kid." She replied. "This wasn't pass or fail. It was just an assessment."

...

Before returning to the ring and beloved gravity -artificial though it was- Tim took a moment to jack into one of the core cylinder's terminals. Hooking up his PDA via the USB slots, and pulling up a schematic of the station.

The Space Lab schematics were no different here than they were from the ones her pulled up on his room's terminal. But on his room's terminal he hadn't really given the secret lab much attention. It wasn't one of his mission priorities. But as long as he was here, why pass up an opportunity? Certain filed could only be accessed from terminals at certain locations in the station. It was a wild shot, but since the secret lab was in the core, why not try and access it from a core terminal. At least, that was his logic.

So, using his PDA as he had done the pervious night while searching for information on the Kryptonian Ambassador's DNA, Tim slipped past some rather sophisticated security protocols and found what he was looking for: A complete map of Space Lab that included hidden laboratories, access corridors, air ducts and equipment storage that was not featured on the publicly released blueprints.

There was a secret lab in the core.

Tim saved the real schematics to his PDA. Covered his tracks and disconnected from the terminal. Even if he didn't find out what Cadmus was doing with the Ambassador's DNA, he still wouldn't be going home empty handed. He uncovered proof that Cadmus was doing something shady up here in their high orbit station. That at least was worth something. Plus there was the copy and download he was running. Tim checked the status quickly to find that it was at forty-eight percent.

Almost half-way and his first week was over.

Tim still had one week left to complete the download, discover what they did with the kryptonian DNA sample, and get back to Earth without blowing his cover. In addition to all that, it seemed like he was orbiting a new secret. Literally. He also wanted to figure out what that was -if at all possible- before he left.

He tried another database search when he got back to his barracks. His roommates had gone for a late lunch in the mess, leaving Tim completely alone. He used a backdoor he'd left open for himself to slip more easily behind their defenses and find that odd file again.

'Experiment 13'.

A large file with no description, just a file name. Tim wanted to crack it. He wanted in. He had already ruled out everything else, if the knowledge of what Cadmus did with Kal-El's blood was anywhere in the central database, it would be in that file. Tim was sure of it.

...

After his assessment, Experiment 13 began doing little experiments of his own with his TTK.

There wasn't much he could do in his small, little world. But he tried anyway. Using his TTK to squeeze his food out of their plastic pouches and making the droplets of nutrient rish liquid bob and dance around him in the zero gravity. Running his hands over the walls of his cell, attempting to penetrate them with his telekinetic field, get a feel for what there might be beyond them.

There were air ducts on one wall. Experiment 13 followed them until his nose hit the adjoining wall and he could follow them no further. Beyond another wall was a wide empty space. Maybe a corridor or passage? He wasn't sure. He didn't know much about the world beyond his cell. He knew it was a space station. He knew it orbited a planet called Earth. And he knew that one of his genetic donors was an Earth-human.

Roquette thought it was good that he was finally trying to explore his abilities without having to be lead by her.

"Put your hand on the glass." He told her one day over the intercomm.

Experiment 13 waited for her to acknowledge over the intercomm that she had, indeed done so. Then he placed his own hand of the mirror. His own reflection stared back at him, crystal-blue eyes intense with concentration as he spread spread his TK field over the glass. Over it, then through it. Just like when he felt what was on the other side of the rest of the walls. He found Roquette's hand and moved his own hand to where it was over hers. He felt her palm and finger tips. The pulse in her thumb. Warm living skin. The glass was still between them, but it was the first 'human contact' he'd ever really had.

"This feels weird." She said over the intercomm. "What are you doing?"

"I can feel your hand." He told her. "Through the glass."

She was quiet a moment and he wondered what she was thinking. Was this a good thing? Was she pleased with him? After the silence began to drag on, Experiment 13 became uncomfortable. He knew she was still there. He could feel her hand on the glass still, hear her heart in the room on the other side of the mirror. He knew she hadn't left. That meant she was thinking. Making up her mind about what he was showing her.

"I think..." He said after a while. "I think I wanna touch hands with everyone. All the people who work with me. And visitors too!" He added, thinking of Westfield. He wasn't supposed to know about him. But he did. He was part of Experiment 13's world and so he wanted to know him.

Roquette was silent a moment longer before, "You know, out here on this side of the glass we have a gesture called a 'hand-shake' when we meet new people. I think this is an acceptable adaptation."

...

Well, this was interesting.

The data on the file was fixed with its own set of encryptions separate from those of the rest of the database. Tim was still trying to decode it all. He wasn't sure what Experiment 13 was just yet. But it seemed like whatever the experiment was, was taking place in the secret lab in the core. That certainly explained why the file was so difficult to crack. Secret lab. Secret experiment. Secret file.

But Tim didn't need to wait to decrypt the file to find out what Experiment 13 was. He had the schematics for the whole station -the real schematics. He could find a way into the lab and see what it was all about first hand. That was why he was here, after all. To investigate.

Tim had been playing the part of Alvin Draper for well over a week. His mission was almost over. It was about time Red Robin got a chance to prowl.

He closed out of his hacking program and disconnected his PdA from the terminal. The download was at sixty-four percent.

Tim opened his locker, hidden behind the level 4 maintenance technician uniforms was what looked like an ordinary and unassuming laundry bag. Heavy green canvas. Draw-string closed. Sitting in the back of the locker, hidden in plain sight. Tim pulled the bag out and, opening it, withdrew a black and red body suit. Leather and kevlar. Tight and form fitting. Tim usually used dishwashing soap to help him slip it on. He had no such luxury here.

After several minuets of pulling and tugging and grunting and sighing -anyone listening to him would probably assume he was yanking the chain- Tim finally had the Red Robin suit on. All its complicated zippers and clasps and snaps fastened. Then, out came the boot and the glove. The belt -arguably most important of all. Finally the cowl. It covered his head and face. Leaving only his mouth and chin exposed. It very much resembled Batman's cowl only without the iconic bat-ears that made even his shadow terrifying.

But no cape.

Capes were impractical for zero gravity missions. They did not fall, and swish, and sway the same way they did on Earth. Their dramatic effect was lost in zero G and they became more of a liability than an asset. So no cape. Just the suit, cowl and belt. Most importantly the belt.

But Red Robin couldn't be seen walking out of Alvin Draper's barracks. So over the Red Robin suit, Tim slipped on one of his maintenance tech uniforms. With the cowl off, it just looked like he was wearing a turtleneck undershirt with just the high collar of the Robin suit sticking out from under the folded blue collar of the main-tech uniform.

Tim navigated his way to the nearest passage that connected the ring to the core cylinder. He could see the slope of the corridor, the floor curving up in front of and behind him as he walked. Like he was walking in a giant spoon. It was lucky, since he could see the feet of anyone approaching before they could see his face. It gave Tim ample warning before anybody could run into him by innocent happen-chance.

He did not leave the corridor for an air duct until he was at the passage to the core.

Climbing into the duct, just big enough for a leanly build adult to fit through. Inside the narrow space, he stripped out of the tech uniform and left it there. He would need it when he came back. Until then, it would just be in his way. He pulled the cowl back over his face and began pulling himself through the duct towards the core cylinder.

It became easier to pull himself along when he finally reached the core. The gravity left. There was no other force pulling on him but his own strength propelling him along. Tim checked the map he'd saved to his PDA at every turn and switchback to make sure he was headed in the right direction.

Finally, he reached what he thought was the secret lab.

Double checking, peering through the grating on the ventilation panel, Tim saw that it did, in fact, look like a lab of some kind.

A wide chamber that seemed to bubble out from a central holding tank. He was at the wrong angle to see what was in the tank, but he recognized a two-way mirror when he saw one. The scientists could see what was inside it, but whatever was inside could not see them. Computers, monitors, terminals, and consoles lined the walls, ceiling and floor of the chamber. Of course, if there was no gravity pulling you in a given direction, there was no need to follow such two-dimensional ideas when it came to design.

The frustrating thing was that the lab was full of people. Red Robin couldn't just burst out of the air ducts and jump on a computer. He would need to find a different way into the lab.

Looks like he would be orbiting Cadmus' secret a bit longer.

...

Experiment 13 lifted his head slightly at the sound of a new heartbeat.

He told Roquette that he wanted to start meeting everyone who worked with him. Thus far, she had acquiesced to his request. Each scientist in the lab had come up, introduced themselves over the intercom and placed their hand on the glass for Experiment 13 to feel with his TTK. When he heard this new heartbeat approaching, he expected the same thing. Approach the glass, an introduction over the intercomm and his own adaptation of what Roquette called a 'handshake'.

But then, the pulse stopped. Paused right outside the range that Experiment 13 had come to recognize as the boarders of 'the lab'. The heartbeat remained there for several minutes before finally retreating back the way it had come.

Experiment 13's curiosity was piqued. He wanted to meet the person that belonged to that pulse and find out what they were up to and why.

...