Backlash Chapter 1, an astro boy fanfic

Back Lash

Part VI of Walkies Some More

Chapter One

By Dan Rush

Notes:

China and the United States attempt an attack to stop Mordred's plan and suffer a disastrous defeat with the American Pacific fleet destroyed and China now in danger from the huge Five Gorges Dam.

Atlas catches Reno escaping from the Diet building and is dragging him possibly to his death.

Friends of Takiuma Tenma are on their way with a captured sphere in an attempt to come up with a way to bring the sphere's down.

Livian has joined up with Kanada and his biker gang to build a resistance along Route 16 near Kamakura.

Doctor O'Shay and Zoran are prisoners of Mordred's supporters.

Inspector Towashi and Police Sargent Deutadi have escaped their detention in Tokyo.

Sparx and the Robot Revolutionary Front have joined forces with the Keep Earth Human League to fight Mordred.

Some where in Tokyo

"Get up!" Atlas snarled as he roughly picked Reno up off the ground and threw him ahead of him. "And you thought you were being cleaver? It wasn't hard to figure you out at all."

Reno was puzzled at first. Why weren't they going back to the Diet building? Instead Atlas brought him to this place under a train trestle overpass. Then it hit…

Reno turned around and gritted his teeth in Atlas's face. "Just get it done with! You're such a damned coward! You have to hide me so you can kill me?"

Atlas stepped back as Reno dropped to his knees. "DO IT! STOP TORTURING ME AND JUST GET IT OVER WITH!"

"Hmph! Will you stop with the melodramatic crap?" Atlas said as he walked up and tore the zip tie handcuffs off Reno's wrists. "You're too important to kill anyways."

Atlas grabbed Reno by an arm and jerked him along deeper into the passage under the train line above, his eyes shining lightly as he brought Reno through a door and into an electrical service room. He stood behind Reno and gently pushed him over to one of the walls where something lay atop a work table…

"You were the only one I could count on. Old O'Shay would have gotten too much attention."

Reno looked down and shuddered as Atlas moved to the table and rubbed a hand slowly over a still face.

"Astro?" Reno slowly walked up and reached for a hand. The dim light inside the room didn't hide the mess Astro was in. For the moment Atlas had backed away and watched as Reno looked Astro over.

"How did you? Everyone heard what happened, how did you?"

Atlas shrugged. "Slight of hand. I got lucky. So….wiz kid…you can fix him right?"

Reno pursed his lips as Atlas walked up. "You can fix him….right?"

"I…..I….I mean he's a mess…"

Atlas snorted back and gripped Reno's shirt. "Stop with the angst and do that… whatever thing you do. Don't make Astro a liar."

Reno frowned. "Who's leg are you trying to pull? Why should I trust you after all the crap you've been spouting! You're probably hoping I'll fix him up so you can kill us both well guess what creep….GO SCREW YOURSELF!"

Atlas wiped the spittle from his face. "He's the only chance you got! I'm not gonna explain myself to you right now!" He snatched Reno's collar and pushed him back over to the table. "Now look at him, tell me what you need and start working or I'll get really angry and bust your chops so bad? You'll be sucking your food through your butt!"

Reno gave Atlas a real hate filled look till the boy bot stomped out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

Upper Tier

Five Gorges Dam

People's Republic of China

Night supervisor Sing returned to a scene of chaos and hell. Fires were set upon buildings all over the site, the control building was gutted, riddled with holes and burning fiercely as he stopped at the foot of the stairs and grabbed an employee. "Where is Shift Supervisor Yu?"

"Dead Sir!' The man replied. "Most of the control staff are dead. We were attacked, they hit all the buildings, the power is gone, the fires are out of control and the dam…"

Sing walked to the edge of the walkway over the upper span and craned his head around. "Damage?"

"All the relief spillway gates are shut or blocked with debris, we have no available power to get them open. The water is rising slowly for now but the forecast calls for extreme monsoon rains in the high lands within the day."

Sing grabbed the man by his jacket. "Round up who ever you can find. We need divers, blowtorches, jack hammers, anything you can find. We must get these spillways open! We'll set up a control area at my car. And find me a phone, radio, anything to call Beijing."

The worker looked back stunned. "We heard the General Secretary and most of the Polit Bureau were killed."

"Someone's in charge by now. Get on with it man, we have no time to sit and cry."

Under the Shinkansen Line

Tokyo

Reno emerged from the room and slowly closed the door behind him. He saw Atlas sitting on the ground with his back to the wall, sleeping from the look of it till an eye opened up. "Well?" He asked. "What are you gonna need?"

Reno sat and looked dejected. "I can't…."

Atlas snorted and rolled jumped up. "Oh b.s. you can't!"

"He's too far gone!" Reno replied. "The fusion reactor's trashed, his computer spine is gone, his electrical circuits are toast…I can't do it!"

Atlas snarled. "I'm barely keeping his computer brain working down here! I almost lost it twice, had to rig it to my own power. If we lose power down here it's game over for him! Now do something!"

Reno jumped up and pushed Atlas hard enough to drop him back onto the floor. "I CAN'T YOU STUPID IDIOT! HE'S TOO FAR GONE!" Reno lost it, he jumped on Atlas and started whaling punches down on him till the robot grabbed his fists.

"STOP IT!" Atlas snapped. "Then…..then take my brain out and give him my body."

Reno gasped. "You're fricken crazy!"

"Do it or I'll go myself and kill that psycho robot but this has got to be stopped!"

"Why?" Reno asked. "Why stop it? This is everything you wanted! To see humans grovel at the boots of a robot, to be humbled and subjugated to a robots whims, To finally have a sense of power in your hands!"

Atlas snapped back. "I never wanted to see humans brutally murdered! Tortured! Shot like cattle in a slaughter house! This isn't my dream…it's a nightmare!"

"So flying off and getting yourself chewed up will stop it? You can't fight Mordred any more than Astro could, you're both the same class. Mordred will chew you up and toss you in a dumpster…it's suicide!"

Atlas slackened and shook his head. "Better I die trying than live another day watching this. I can't take it! If there's no other way then I'll go. I don't want Astro thinking I was a coward."

Reno leaned against the wall. "There is another way…I don't know if it's still around, by now Mordred's destroyed Astro's back-up archive and he's probably found out the body exists."

Atlas pursed his lips. "Body? You mean there's another body, for Astro?"

"Wouldn't it be kinda logical? After all he has been abused a lot. Parts get harder to replace and you've beaten him up sometimes worse than a rubber ball at a squash court. He couldn't be repaired indefinitely."

Reno looked back at the door. "So…one day Doctor O'Shay took out the Atom weapons Project blue prints and revamped them, made a new body design for Astro. Of course we never told him."

Atlas beamed. "So? You had a hand in it right? Is it strong?"

Reno smirked. "To be blunt? You'd be in for quite a serious bitch slapping."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Atlas said exited. "Let's go get it!"

Reno crossed his arms. "I'm supposed to trust you? What are you smoking?"

Atlas shook his head. "Not good enough huh?"

"Your reputation isn't stellar remember?" Reno said as he walked back into the room.

"Look…if you could hear it from Astro? Would you trust me?" Atlas asked.

Reno gave him a sarcastic look as Atlas walked up to Astro, snatched a pair of wires from his chest and affixed them to his own chest plate. "Now this is gonna get a little weird, more for me than you…"

As Atlas hooked up the last wire, he suddenly froze stiff and almost tumbled to the ground had Reno not caught him. His eyes flipped open suddenly when Reno sat him down against a table leg…

"You spied on Livian in the bathroom? You pervert!" Astro's voice suddenly came from Atlas's mouth.

"Shut up!" Atlas said back. "Gee…Miss Myoki? Look who's the dog now!"

"Hey! That's private!"

Reno shook his head. "Could you both stop and let me talk?"

Atlas looked at Reno and smiled warmly. "Hi Reno…I'm really messed up huh?"

"A little." Reno replied. "I got a plan but Atlas thinks I can trust him."

Atlas's face turned questionable. "Who's he kidding?"

"Oh great! Goody boots just shot himself in the foot, way to go dork!"

"You're the dork!"

"Dufus!"

"Stupid pile of rusty bolts!"

"HEY!" Reno snapped. "We don't have time for this!"

Reno grabbed Atlas's shoulders. "Astro…we have a plan ok but I need to trust Atlas. Can I trust him or not?"

Atlas face contorted for a moment. "Yeah…he's real deal. But he's gonna owe me when this is over."

"In your dreams."

"Then forget it."

"You blackmailing piece of crap!"

"Take it or leave it goof ball."

Reno huffed. "Just be serious Astro! You're sitting on a loose wire and you could end up frying if we don't do something….get it?"

"Ok! Yes you can trust Atlas." Astro said just before Atlas ripped the wires from his chest.

"That's enough of that! Pervert? Hope I don't tell anyone about those "special" love letters to your teacher!" Atlas snorted as he wagged a finger in Astro's face. "It's not a pleasant experience sharing my brain with this drippy, good all the time, love and kissy dork, let me tell you!"

Reno sighed. "Let's just get on with this Atlas?"

"Yeah." Atlas replied pursing his lips. "First thing you need to tell me is where this new body is."

USS Snark

50 miles off Tokyo Bay

The radioman turned from his station. "Captain? Gidion's asking why we ran."

The Executive officer leaned against the Captain's chair. "I think the crew might want an answer too Sir. We left the fleet…crews in the water…"

The Captain gave the XO a scowl. "Anyone here felt like joining them? The first priority of a sub commander is to know when the survival of his crew and his weapons takes precedent over needless sacrifice. We couldn't help those men less we all end up dead."

The Captain stood up and walked around the control room. "We have our weapons, we have the freedom of movement and we have our silence, the advantage is ours gentlemen and when the time comes? I intend to ram our advantages right down the throat of that murdering scumbag."

"Gidion says it's clear enough Sir if you want to start moving again?" The radioman said. "Also? I have no replies from SEAL team 3."

The Captain stood thinking for a moment. "Helm? All ahead 1/3rd. Ask Gidion if he'll range out a bit? Have em float around Tokyo Bay and see what's going on?"

"Aye, aye."

Gidion

The return static was depressing. Reno was still keeping his radio off which did Gidion no good. It was one thing to swim around the bay and see what was going on around the water but eyes on the streets was what Gidion really needed…besides just for once the happy voice he expected every morning bringing him oil or a treat.

"Buzzzzz…Gidion?" Came Reno's voice suddenly which made Gidion flip in the air with joyful relief. "Where have you been?! Things have been so crazy out here!"

"Sorry Giddy." Reno replied. "I'm working something out so I'll have to ask you to sit tight just a little longer. So what have you been doing?"

Gidion suddenly saw some spheres arcing towards him. "Shoot! Sorry to cut and run but it seems we can't chat by radio any more, I'll call you when I really need you!" He rolled about and swam as fast as he could for the bay floor as several spheres splashed in behind him!"