DC Heroes: MechWarrior I
By: Christopher W. Blaine
e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com
DISCLAIMER: All characters and situations contained in this story are ©2002 by either DC Comics Inc. or WhizKids and are used without permission for fan-related entertainment purposes only. No profit is made from this story. This original story is ©2002 by Christopher W. Blaine and may not be reproduced either in part or as a whole without the express permission of the author.
Chapter 12 Romanus (Thanagarian Sector) Solaris Gotham Commonwealth January 26, 3032Bruce put back another beer, his third of the night and nodded to the MechWarrior that sat across from him. The man had a patch over one eye and several stitches in his face but seemed to be thrilled to be drinking with the man who had thrashed him earlier that morning. It had been a battle touted as "Assault Mech Pilots Engaging in Scout Mechs!"
It was actually a way that several of the stables made a little extra cash by putting their more popular warriors in smaller and more delicate BattleMechs. This provided time for technicians to repair the bigger machines and Bruce knew that his Batman was in serious need of major repairs.
The two, Bruce representing the Lazarus Pit and his opponent, Lobo, who hailed from a newer stable called Young Justice, had battled in two Spider 'mechs that had formerly been part of the Solaris Security Force. Bruce had won, but only barely. Though he had managed to shoot the legs out from under Lobo, the other MechWarrior had actually climbed out of his cockpit and assaulted Bruce's Spider with a wrench.
A lucky strike had nailed an exposed coolant line and Bruce's machine, already severely damaged from the fight, almost shut down. The judges had to call the fight in light of Lobo's refusal to give up and Bruce was awarded victory based upon points. Lobo considered that an honorably victory. "As long as them bastards don't say I freakin' gave up!" he said again as he polished off his twelfth brew. He wiped foam from his mustachio and grinned. "You got great big balls, you know that, Malone?"
Bruce inclined his head. "I wasn't the freak that attacked a 'mech with a wrench." He popped a wooden matchstick in his mouth and settled back. From behind his sunglasses, he was busy watching two GreenStar Corpsmen who were also watching him. He knew that they wanted to talk to him and he could guess why; they were ordered to take him to the nearest spaceport and put him on the first flight out.
It made sense that it was GreenStar; Bruce was pretty sure that Oracle still had not penetrated his disguise and he had no doubt that John Stewart would keep his secret until death. GreenStar desperately wanted to fix the broken relationship it had with the Gotham Commonwealth, a relationship soured by his father's attitude towards the religious group. Thomas Wayne distrusted anything that wasn't under his rule
By aiding Alfred as they had been, Bruce held no illusions about the type of payment Guardian Ganthet was hoping for: normalization of relations. Bruce didn't mind; unlike his father, he admired GreenStar's dedication to try and preserve not only technology, but also a more moral way of life. The GreenStar members were bound by their oaths to try and keep the ideals of the Justice League alive. Sometimes they did a great job at it, but sometimes they didn't. Like any powerful body, GreenStar had its share of corruption and scandal; it was those very things that had led Thomas Wayne to severely limit the power GreenStar had in the Commonwealth.
"Yeah, but I figured what the hell, ya know?" Lobo responded. He waited until the waitress had brought him another round before continuing. "It wasn't like you'd step on me, would ya, ya bastard!" He laughed, sounding like some beast of burden passing wind and then turned to slap one of the barmaids on the rump. He got a scowl for his trouble, but it only made him laugh more.
"Why do say that? Maybe I would have squashed you," Bruce said with a smile.
"Nah…everyone knows your rep by now, Malone; you're one of d'em honorable bastards," Lobo replied. "No'tin wrong with that so long as ya don't wimp out, ya know. You fight with balls man!" He stood up and pounded his chest. "Balls!" he screamed.
Bruce maintained an even expression even as the larger man stumbled slightly. "Gotta go drain the coolant from the Awesome, if ya know what I mean," Lobo mumbled before tripping away towards the men's room.
When he was out of sight, the two GreenStar men stood up and walked over. They didn't bother to ask to be seated. Bruce noted that they wore the expressions of professional soldiers and he was vaguely reminded of his time at the Gotham Academy. These were hardened veterans and he wondered where they would have gotten any battle experience. GreenStar had not been involved, militarily, in the Succession Wars. He noted the Magistracy of Thymerscia patch on one of them men's sleeve. "A long way from home, aren't you?" he asked.
"May the green flame shine about you," the man replied, catching the direction the sunglasses were facing. He looked at the patch. "Not my home, but someplace special nonetheless. Fought there in '25 when they tried to take over our HPG stations. I was with the 90th Darkstars at that time."
His partner leaned in. "I am Corpsman Kilowogg and this is Corpsman Sinestro; we have been ordered to escort you to the spaceport, your majesty."
Sinestro smiled and Bruce decided at once that he did not like the man. He was thin with a widow's peak of jet-black hair. His long, pointed nose and severe acne scarring made him look disheveled. Kilowogg, on the other hand, was a large brute of a man and Bruce reasoned that he could only fit in the largest of BattleMechs. "I'm not going," he said quietly.
"You majesty," Sinestro said with obviously fake respect, "you do not have a choice. Either you come with us or we'll drag you out of here."
Bruce pushed his sunglasses down his nose and eyed the Corpsman. "Who? You?"
Sinestro started to reply, but Kilowogg laid a giant hand on the man's forearm. It looked so fragile that Bruce imagined Kilowogg could snap the bones like twigs of he wanted. "Please forgive, Sinestro, he has a habit of being very frank. It has not served him well since he joined GreenStar."
Bruce noted once more the uniform of Sinestro and saw there were actually several campaign patches, while Chilidog had none. Yet, it was obvious who was the senior man among the two. No doubt Sinestro's mouth kept him from advancing. "I have not finished my business here, gentlemen, and I do not intend to leave until it is."
"We have very specific instructions…"
Bruce stood up. "I do not serve GreenStar and I do not care about your instructions."
"You won't be so smug when we tell Oracle where to find you," Sinestro threatened. It did not have the desired effect as Bruce was already expecting that particular ploy.
"So tell them, Corpsman Sinestro, and when I take the throne of the Commonwealth I will continue relations with GreenStar just as they are." He smiled and put his palms down on the table. He leaned in close enough to Sinestro that the smaller man began to sweat. "And when the Primus asks why I'll tell him about a mouthy little bastard named Sinestro who dared to threaten a House ruler."
Bruce did not wait for any sort of reply, instead walking directly over to the bar where Joe Chill stood washing a glass. He ordered another drink and Joe made conversation as the two Corpsmen exited the tavern. "You have some very interesting friends, Malone."
"Not my friends, green-loving freaks," Bruce said under the foam of his beer. He changed the subject. "I hear you'll be fighting for Ra's Al Ghul against the Legion."
Joe leaned in. "Keep it down, buddy; this isn't a sanctioned match. This is grudge fighting."
Bruce grabbed some nuts and popped a handful into his mouth. "What the hell? I thought I was gonna get paid!"
"You really are green aren't you? This is a death match…I thought you knew that," Chill said. He looked at Bruce's eyes but only saw his reflection in the lenses of the glasses. "Have you ever killed anyone before? Have you ever seen anyone die?"
Bruce swallowed hard and responded with a voice on the verge of freezing over. "Have you?"
Joe shook his head. "It ain't nothin' to brag about, kid. People get killed in the games; people get killed outside the games."
Bruce looked hard into Joe's eyes and now understood the depths of the sadness he saw displayed there. Joe hadn't gotten out of competing for the reasons he had stated before; Bruce was sure the man had never been afraid of dying. Joe Chill had killed someone and that had changed his life forever. In a way, they were kindred spirits. Both of them hated the killing that went on throughout the Inner Sphere, but it was just for different reasons.
"So, why this thing with the Legion, why are you joining up?" Bruce asked.
Joe sighed and put the glass under the bar. "Kid, sometimes when we're young, we want to prove to the whole world what a man we are. We do stupid things, like what you're doing now. When that happens, we start to create a past that we try to outrun. Let's just say I have a past I can't."
"It must have been quite a bit of hell-raising here in your day."
Joe smiled. "You don't know the half of it. The new gaming houses started up the new rules of combat in order to keep the riff-raff out. Man, did we have some of the dregs of society here."
"And there you were in the middle of it. You must have hung out with the baddest of the bad," Bruce said, trying to get Joe to open up more. He was sure he was on the verge of discovery. "Who was the worst?"
Joe's voice was monotone. "Me."
Something in the way he said made Bruce stop and his mind, hardly dulled despite the beer, began to line up all of the clues he had gathered over the many months. Every single one pointed to the man in front of him. Was it possible that his confident, that the man whom he had taken a liking to was the man who had murdered his parents?
It made perfect sense. Joe retired right after the death of the Archon and he was a top-rated Assault-Class 'mech pilot. But what reason would he have had to do it? If it were to generate a reputation, he obviously hadn't bothered to. Could it have been political?
Bruce looked around the bar at the pro-Commonwealth photos and posters, something you normally wouldn't find in the Thanagarian Sector. If anything, this was a man dedicated to the Commonwealth.
Unless, of course, he had murdered its leader!
"I have to go," Bruce said, stumbling away from bar. Joe said something, but Bruce's mind blocked it out as his brain poured into overdrive. Facts, dates, specifications and all other forms of data he had picked up were in a maelstrom within his head and he needed to get out of the confines of Warrior's.
He was out in the street before he knew it, looking so much like a typical drunk. His eyes were filling with tears as the sheer stupidity he felt for not recognizing what was clearly in his face all along. He had failed his parents by becoming a friend, worse yet, an ally to the man who had killed them! He stopped at an alleyway and threw up.
He continued for several minutes until there was nothing more to come out. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen," a voice said from behind him.
Bruce turned to see a tall, blonde-haired woman in a blue and black jumpsuit. Her hand rested on a needler pistol. "This is Lance, I've got him," she said and Bruce noted the throat mike.
Undoubtedly she was an Oracle agent. Sinestro was quick to keep his word. "You don't have sh…"
"Watch the mouth, your highness," she said with a smile as she offered her hand. "I am a lady after all."
Bruce stood up and looked around. The street seemed to have become immediately deserted. "We're lucky to be all alone," he said.
"Don't get your hopes up, I'm happily married," was the response followed by a wink. "I've got a daughter getting close to become a woman. You two would make a cute couple."
"Are you here to take me home or marry me off," Bruce asked as he looked around for a way out.
She shrugged. "Figured if I found someone decent I should try. She's got this dream about following in her mom's footsteps." Bruce eyed her but could not swear to her age. She had to be at least his own mother's age but she looked younger than him. Maybe it was the exercise program in Oracle training. "You do realize you are coming home?"
"No, I'm not," Bruce answered flatly.
"Aw, c'mon…she's not ugly…think of me with bigger boobs," she joked. There was a smile on her face but the look in her eyes told Bruce that she would kick his tail if he tried to get away.
A thought came to his head, a desperate one that men often got in times of dire straits. "I order you to go back to New Gotham."
She kept the smile and rubbed the butt of her pistol. "Nice try, but you haven't assumed the throne yet and therefore have no direct authority over Oracle. You do so remind me of your father, you know that?"
Bruce rubbed his forehead. "Do you even know why I'm here?"
She nodded. "Yes, you're in hiding because of the assassination attempt."
Shaking his head, he reached out for her free hand and pulled her into the alleyway. He half-expected her to just knock him out, but she was a professional. She understood that all he wanted to do was talk.
To any passerby's they would look like two people engaged in a secret conversation in a darkened alley. Extremely common on Solaris; it was the stuff that took place out in the open you had to worry about. "I was here long before that and you know it!"
"The official story is going to be…"
"Damn the official story! I am this close to finding my parents' killer!" He leaned in close to her and she backed away. He realized his breath must have been horrible. He kicked at a garbage can. Everything was falling apart. "I know who did it, but I don't know why. I can't believe they worked alone!"
The agent shut off the throat mike. There would be hell to pay, she knew, but she somehow knew that this was the right thing to do. "You're father was an inspiration to me; in fact, I had a crush on him. Hell, most of the girls in my school did. There have been some changes going on back home as well; I'm not sure what but I do know several highly-placed officials are being put out of office by the Archon-General."
She sighed. "I've been trying to find you for three months; they rotate us out every six. The last two agents just plain gave up and I was about to when I got an anonymous tip of who you were pretending to be. I have orders from James Gordon himself to get you out of here."
"I'll just come back the first chance I get," Bruce pleaded. "Look, all I need is a week at the most."
She shook her head. "I just told them I found you!"
"So…lie and tell them you made a mistake," he begged. "I need this! I can't rule knowing that I let that killer get away."
She looked at him and looked inside herself. If she had the chance to bring Thomas Wayne's murderer to justice, wouldn't she risk it all to do it? Wasn't that why she joined Oracle, to protect the royal family and the Commonwealth? She hated to admit it, but she liked this man, this soon-to-be Archon. He wasn't a whining, snot-nosed royal who expected everyone to wait hand and foot on him. This was a guy who was risking his life to see justice done.
It was inspiring.
"And when I lose my job?" she asked, tapping a foot on the ground. Bruce noted that she was wearing three-inch heels. On Solaris of all places!
"I'll get you another one," he offered.
"And my daughter?"
He shrugged. "I'll get her a date. She can't be that homely can she?"
"I never said she was homely! I just said I wanted her married and pregnant before she started getting into trouble," was the response.
"Fine! Whatever, Agent…"
She held out her hand. ""Lance, Dinah Drake Lance." She started thinking about what she was going to report to the station chief, but then remembered she was married to him so it didn't matter. She just had to convince him to lie to his superiors. "I guess we'll be working together, highness."
"Call me Matches, okay?"
"Oh, I get it, and I'm supposed to be some oversexed MechBunny that follows you around…"
"I've got a girlfriend, okay?" he was quick to respond.
"Oh, yes, I forgot…but then I guess you did as well," Dinah said with a smirk.
"What do you mean?"
"Selina Kyle? The girl you left back on New Gotham," Dinah said as she recalled the intelligence briefing on the Archon-Prince. "Your file indicates you two were rather close."
"Not that close," Bruce pointed out.
"I guess not considering she got married last week."
Bruce wanted to reply, but the words never came from his mouth. What had he expected, running off and disappearing as he did. Certainly he hadn't been celibate; certainly he now thought of Talia as his girlfriend now…her "beloved".
So why did he feel so bad that his good friend was finding happiness?