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 15 Outside Romanus Solaris Gotham Commonwealth January 31, 3032The Batman rocked back slowly from the blast wave, but any damage done was purely in Bruce's mind. The Hatchetman piloted by Edward Nigma, one of Ra's Al Ghul's pilots, disappeared in crimson fireball as the fusion reactor consumed the metal, myomer and wiring that made up the BattleMech.
Bruce had seen the pilot eject earlier and actually found himself breathing a sigh of relief in the knowledge that Nigma had survived. They had spoken briefly, prior to the match, while the techs went over the machines. Bruce had found Nigma a mystery, a thin man who enjoyed riddles and dirty limericks, but who also got a flare in his eyes when he looked at his Hatchetman.
Very soon afterwards, the five 'mechs of the Lazarus Pit were marching out onto the field. Bruce had wanted to confront Joe Chill, but Dinah had strongly warned him against it. It had been the greatest test of his acting abilities so far in maintaining the façade of Matches Malone. He wanted to announce who he was and challenge Chill to a duel, but he knew deep in his heart he couldn't do that.
Not yet.
Now, he looked over to his left where Chill's Grasshopper was engaged with an older Legion 'mech that Bruce could not identify. That was no surprise considering that the Legion had several Justice League era machines. BattleMech history was not one of Bruce's best subjects.
The initial salvo had come from four of the Legion mech's and it became apparent from the beginning that Al Ghul was there intended target. Regardless of the rumors surrounding him, Bruce believed that Al Ghul was an honorable man and the Legion's problems with him were not something that should be settled with weapons of war. Surely they could have all sat down and discussed whatever their problem was?
The Black Vulcan that had taken down the Hatchetman turned towards Bruce's Batman. The 'mech was in pretty good condition, but it was far from being a match for the 90-ton machine Bruce was piloting. The Black Vulcan was a Keystone design, built for speed and lightning-fast attacks. As such, it was not heavily armed or armored. Bruce's readout told him the Legion 'mech was piloted by Commander Garth.
As Bruce fired his autocannon into the Black Vulcan's leg, he noted that there were still only four Legion BattleMechs engaged in the fight. A quick scan told him that Colonel Bloodspirit was still in low power mode, sitting beyond the rise. Commander Garth let loose a PPC blast and Bruce was shocked back into the here and now.
His paint job was smoking and there was a jagged scar along his left shoulder where armor had melted and ran like blood. Garth's 'mech was in far worse shape, however, as Bruce saw it was walking with a noticeable limp. His autocannon had damaged the knee of the other 'mech.
Switching to his large laser, he fired again at the same spot, but missed and was rewarded with a blast of hot air that evaporated the sweat on his body and left him feeling parched. Two spinning contrails shot from the other 'mech and Bruce braced himself for the coming impact.
Two Inferno rounds exploded on the Batman's chest and the heat spiked critical. Bruce slapped the automatic shutdown before the computer could get a word out. The Black Vulcan continued to try and put distance between them and Bruce could see he was moving for cover fire from the Legion Impulse that was trading shots with Talia's Manhunter.
The Batman moved sluggishly and Bruce hit the coolant flush controls. Suddenly, the Batman ejected hundreds of gallons of cooling fluid onto the ground and small pumps whirled to pull cooler liquid from the reservoirs. He had hoped to get close enough to nail the Black Vulcan with his flamer, but that would not happen now. His 'mech, however, was cool enough now that he could bring his own PPC online.
The giant capacitor hummed as it discharged its man-made lightning, and Bruce was hopeful when he saw the blast hit the weak rear armor of the Black Vulcan. Heat sinks burst on the Legion 'mech and Bruce had to wonder what the hell they were thinking bringing in a specialized 'mech to a brawl. Black Vulcan's were normally assigned in complete lances and were notorious for running behind the enemy for a backstab strike. Four PPC blasts into the ass would ruin even the most powerful assault BattleMech's day.
The Black Vulcan tipped over and fell face-first into the dirt that made up the field. It started to try to get up, Commander Garth working the foot pedals with a fury, but it was to no avail. The knee was too badly damaged and the 'mech was so hot that the air around it was hazy. Bruce flipped on the general broadcast channel. "I salute you, Commander Garth of the Legion! You fought well, but you are defeated. I offer you the opportunity to leave this battlefield with both your life and honor intact."
There was a pause and then a voice intermixed with heavy breathing responded. "A lucky shot is all that was, but you speak true! You also fight with honor and sense that there is more to you than meets the eye, pilot Malone."
"Lucky shot or not," Bruce said as he stopped the Batman over the still form of his enemy, "I am the victor."
Monel sat in his 'mech cockpit, calmly listening to the battle. So far, Ra's 100-ton Odin stood its ground, not moving, just like he was. This was the way true warriors fought he thought, but then admonished himself for ever thinking of any person from the Not-Named-Clan as a warrior.
The Odin was big, but it was simply no match for the Valor. His personal 'mech had won dozens of encounters in Clan space, but this would be its first time in real combat in the Inner Sphere. He likened his relationship to his 'mech as that between an ancient cowboy and his horse. The Clans frowned upon personal ownership; the Valor technically belonged to Clan Blood Spirit.
But if you asked Monel, it was his and his alone.
Sitting there, he began to realize just how old he had gotten and how much he actually missed the Clan worlds. He may have been the cream of the crop compared to any Inner Sphere warrior, but it did not bring him the pleasure he always thought it would. Certainly he was honored to have been chosen to lead the Legion, but he longed for the days of ritual and rite that personified the Clan society.
This battle was nothing more than a bar room brawl on a 'mech field. His warriors were fighting valiantly, but so were the Lazarus Pit pilots. He had to admit that Matches Malone was exceeding his expectations in the way he was fighting. Normally, a warrior would have crushed a downed enemy, or at least most of the ones the Legion had encountered in the Inner Sphere. Not Malone, though; he fought with bravery and mercy, two very important Clan traits, which convinced Monel that their cause was right.
There was no doubt now that Shiva was training Inner Sphere warriors, but he could not imagine why. Perhaps she had resented being placed with a unit full of failed cadets? Maybe she lusted for power beyond her station? Either way, because she had willingly chosen to ally herself with the Wolverines (for she had not taken her own life!), her life was forfeit. Her reasons were immaterial; all that mattered was restoring the stained Clan honor.
That meant that Monel would have to kill all of the Lazarus Pit warriors, an action he did not relish. Murder was not something he enjoyed, and the Clans did not support such tactics, but in his mind, the ends justified the means.
Talia's Manhunter had lost an arm and the small autocannon that went with it, but she still had lasers and a PPC to bring to bear on the wildly moving Impulse. The Legion 'mech was the 2J model, which meant it had a rear firing large laser. That single piece of weaponry had succeeded in not only keeping the daughter of Ra's Al Ghul at bay, but had managed to slice off her arm as well.
She looked out to see her father's 'mech starting to move closer to the action. From the right torso of the massive machine came a puff of black smoke as the twenty-shot autocannon mounted there discharged depleted-uranium savagery. Major Val's Quickdraw expertly stepped out of the way and continued a slow march towards the Odin.
Her first instinct was to go to her father's aid, to throw caution to the wind. Her father, however, was a demanding taskmaster and failure to eliminate her foe first would draw his wrath. If she wanted to be useful, she needed to eliminate the Impulse immediately.
Smiling, she switched to her twin medium lasers and fired, nipping at the heels of the Legion 'mech. She grunted in admiration; the pilot of the Impulse was no fool and handled the 'mech with a practiced hand. Talia, on the other hand, had not been in a cockpit in nearly five years, not since she graduated from her sibko and left to join her father. Her failure to keep up with her skills was beginning to show.
Again, the rear large laser of the Impulse reached out to kiss Talia's 'mech and even more armor evaporated off of her frame. A light started blinking on her panel and she noted that the heat sink in her right torso was damaged. Her indicator was now hanging in the yellow. Her lessons from her 'mech training came back to her and she started reassigning weapons and firing modes.
"Talia," Bruce's voice called over her com unit. "Are you okay?"
"It is a little hot in here, beloved, but these dogs will not best us!" she replied. Another strike and her Guardian ECM Suite went dead.
Before Bruce could reply, the Impulse halted in its tracks and fired its medium lasers into the Manhunter, black scars etching into the ruined armor. Bruce saw the heat from the fusion engine pouring through the tears and his own sensors told him that the 'mech was in dire straits. The plan, as Ra's had explained it, was for the Lazarus Pit 'mechs to pair up with an opposing Legion 'mech. The Legion machines were in far better shape and the pilots were better trained, but the Lazarus Pit had the tonnage. Bruce had been assigned the Black Vulcan, but was not able to get to it before it scored the killing blow to Edward Nigma's machine.
The Hatchetman had to have defects that were not detected to have fallen so quickly and Bruce was reminded of the fate of his father's Batman. Fear started to creep up Bruce's spine as he suspected sabotage and the sight of Talia's smoking war machine did not help matters. His training from Lady Shiva then kicked in and her words came to him in a harsh tone. "A warrior does not have the luxury of worrying; you must trust that your equipment will work as it is intended. To do anything else causes hesitation, and hesitation is the path to defeat."
Joe was still in his battle with the other 'mech; the two machines had closed in and were now pummeling each other. It was a bloody fight as chunks of armor and myomer flew into the air with each blow. Bruce felt a tinge of sorrow for Joe, as he could imagine the echoing sounds resounding through the Grasshopper's cockpit. Then he remembered who Joe truly was.
Even as Bruce set up his LRM-15 to divert the attention of the Impulse, he had to wonder how angry he truly was at Joe Chill. He had become friends with the man and had come to understand him. He had noted the pain in the man's eyes and knew that the crimes of his past weighed heavily on his shoulders. Could even a murderer be worthy of redemption?
As fifteen missiles sailed out of his torso launcher, white sulfurous smoke briefly clouding his view, Bruce began to question his ability to seek the kind of vengeance he had at first desired. Could he really look Joe in the eye and execute him?
The Impulse was wounded by the missile strike and Bruce did not hesitate to press the firing stud again as soon as he heard the launcher rearm. The Batman rocked slightly with the salvo and Bruce watched in satisfaction as the damaged right side of the Impulse began to lose piece of armor and other precious materials. The Legion 'mech was staggering now and Bruce keyed Talia's channel. "She's softened up now," he told her.
Talia responded with red lances of coherent light that bit deeply into the wounds caused by Bruce's missiles. "My thanks, beloved, but now you must pursue the leader and keep him from my father!"
Bruce nodded as Talia's machine slowly walked a little closer towards the Impulse. Both machines exchanged laser fire, neither having enough heat sinks left to allow for use of their heavier weapons, and bit-by-bit, they were eating each other away. Bruce was torn between his heart and his duty. He wanted to continue to aid her, but she was also correct in pointing out that with Monel Bloodspirit still out there, Ra's was in trouble.
Ra's watched in interest as Major Val continued his slow march towards him. He understood exactly what was going on; it was why he insisted that his Lazarus Pit warriors engage a single Legion 'mech. The first salvo from the four Legion 'mechs had spelled out exactly what the plan was for the legion members.
When he had taken Shiva as his bondsman (in a contest he surely should not have won so he always wondered if she didn't have some previous ulterior motive), she had spent several days recounting to him the history of the Clans after the annihilation of the Wolverines. Ra's knew it was only a matter of time before the Clans came, but he also knew that it would not be every Clan. The Clans prided themselves on only allowing the very strongest the honor of doing anything, so it made sense that there would be several trials to determine which Clans would come to conquer the Inner Sphere.
If he hoped to survive, then he needed to ensure that he was in a position to mount a proper defense. This small trial was nothing more than a test of his abilities. The Legion was made up of not the best the Clans had to offer, but the absolute worst. These were the failures, the underachievers and the wishful thinkers. If he could not get trained killers to eliminate the bottom of the Clan barrel, what chance would he have against the real deal?
"Major Val, I am impressed your skill in avoiding my harassing fire," Ra's said as he switched over to his LRM-5 launcher. The missiles roared away from the 100-ton Odin, an original design by Ra's, and he waited to see how Val would react. As he predicted, the Quickdraw moved to the left. Two of the five missiles struck home, but did little more than superficial damage.
"A very weak attempt, dog!" Val responded. "I will carry your black heart still beating to the Grand Council! The glory I will bring to Clan Smoke Jaguar will be recounted in the Remembrance!" The epic poem he indicated was meant to detail the life of the Clans. Each individual Clan maintained their own version. Even Ra's Wolverines had one.
"I doubt very much that any member of the Smoke Jaguar warrior caste can even read the Remembrance," Ra's said as he increased his speed. The Odin began to slowly close the distance between them. At 100 yards, the Quickdraw fired its four Omnicron 4000 medium lasers. Ra's could hear the armor heating up and slagging; it was a most unusual sound and her looked down at his status screen to seen that Major Val had scored a direct hit with three of the beams on his left arm. The armor schematic showed yellow in his arm, but he still had plenty of armor to offer to the Legion MechWarrior.
Four spinning contrails told Ra's that he was being fired upon by Val's SRM-4 launcher even before the warning klaxon went off in the cockpit. The short-range missiles impacted on the Odin's chest, but again no real damage was done. "You have a loud bark, little cat," he said with a smirk, "but it appears that you have no bite!"
Ra's twenty shot autocannon slammed into the Quickdraw's right leg, just above the black and yellow Legion symbol. An entire armor plate buckled and then snapped off, flying away from the battle as if it were scared of what was coming. The last few rounds of the shot tore away the myomer muscle and nearly snapped the titanium bone underneath.
The four lasers tried to strike a counter blow, but Val's machine was already starting to topple. The ruby lances cleared the head of the Odin by several meters and Ra's slowed his 'mech down to watch as Val fell. Val's cry of rage over the communications circuit drowned out the thunder of his BattleMech crashing to the ground.
Val managed to get his 'mech's arms out to try and stop his fall, and he succeeded until Ra's raised both arms and fired the Particle Projection Cannons located on each one. The Quickdraw seemed to explode in blue-white light as the Odin let loose at point-blank range. The temperature in Val's cockpit reminded him of the stories he had heard of Hades. Fluids rolled off his entire body as if he were a holiday turkey being slowly cooked.
The Quickdraw faltered and fell completely, patches of armor plating glowing red hot from the man-made lightning. Val refused to give up, despite the taunts of his foe. The beginning of the Honor Road was before him and he would not be denied simply because he was operating in inferior Inner Sphere equipment.
Major Val of the Legion, formerly of Clan Smoke Jaguar, never got the chance to realize his dream. Knowing that giving up any advantage he had, and considering Val's reputation for getting out of tight situations, Ra's quickly approached the struggling 'mech and raised a massive foot.
It actually took two strikes to cave in the cockpit and kill Val, but it didn't matter to Ra's. All that mattered was victory.