Batman/Command & Conquer: Red Gotham

By Christopher W. Blaine

e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com

DISCLAIMER: Batman and related characters and situations are ©2003 by DC Comics Inc./Yuri and related characters and situations are ©2003 by Westwood Games. All are used here without permission for fan-related entertainment purposes only. All original content is ©2003 by Christopher W. Blaine.

CHAPTER 3

Mother, Father…I tried my best.

I have fought against evil and injustice using my mind and my body as weapons in a war I could never win. In the years since I first made my vow of revenge in front of your graves, I have learned that so long as more than one person lives upon this planet, there will always be the desire to covet. I can redirect the flow slightly, but the river of crime will always flow.

I was unprepared for a real war, a conflict where lives were nothing more than numbers placed on a casualty report. I tried to remain true to my ethics and morals, those life lessons you taught me. I refused to take a life, any life, even in the defense of my own. In my quest to remain morally superior, I have attracted a group of outstanding individuals whom I am proud to call family.

I will miss them.

The Soviet conscript leveled his AK-47 at the head of the Batman and hesitated for just a moment. The rumors and myths surrounding this man, if that was what he truly was, were numerous. The orders of their local commander, Major Disaster, however were very specific. The former super-villain, who was quick to accept his new Soviet masters during the initial invasion, knew that getting rid of the Batman was the very first step to total pacification of Gotham City.

The conscript, a young man from the Ukraine, had never thought he would ever be the person to bring down the great American mystery-man. In many parts of the world, the Batman had become a modern-day bogeyman. The warrior who was now holding the Caped Crusader at a disadvantage did not fully comprehend how close to making true history he was.

If he had been able to follow through on his mission and had placed a bullet into the head of the Batman, he would have been elevated to the highest echelons of the Soviet military. No doubt he would have been given the opportunity to apply for the Boris program where he would join the ranks of the new elite soldiers the Soviets were putting out. That would never be because the Batman seized upon the young man's hesitation and turned certain death into ultimate victory.

He kicked out by reflex, his scuffed and worn leather boot knocking the assault rifle up and out of the way. The soldier, startled, was unable to maintain his grip and the weapon flew from his ands to land several feet away. He never saw the gauntleted fist that threw him into darkness and he would never know just how close he had come to ending this story.

"Batgirl, report," Batman said as he dodged a hail of bullets from several conscripts holed up in portable toilets. There had been some construction going on in this area be carried out by those citizens of Gotham that had relented and finally accepted Soviet domination.

There was a pause and then came a cold reply. "Here."

Batman put his back against the wall he was hiding behind and checked his utility belt for smoke pellets. He didn't have enough to get away. It had been foolish for him to even come this far into the city but he had felt the need to see if the rumors were true. It was bad enough that someone like Major Disaster had been given command of the local garrison of Manchester, a section of Gotham City known for its multi-cultural flavor, but then there had been word that Yuri himself was now in town.

The Batman had sneaked in with the darkness but had not been prepared for the security that was now all about this part of town. It was obvious that something was going on; something major and it had turned out to be a building project. Several of the buildings had been torn down, replaced by the now familiar war factories and barracks of the Soviet occupation.

There was something else as well, something evil. Standing all about were citizens of Gotham City with blank looks on their faces, including Oliver Queen, the former Green Arrow. Batman had not known his old comrade had entered the city and was even more surprised by his apparent defection. Then the Atom, who had been sent out on reconnaissance, had returned with word that Queen was not the only former hero that was apparently inside the Soviet compound.

The Atom had managed to trip a Tesla generator, shutting down the base defenses and allowing his escape. Even at six inches high, there was a chance that the Tesla coils would detect his presence and fire. "Where are you?" Batman asked into the communicator.

"Near," was the reply. Batgirl had once been the daughter of one of the world's foremost assassins and had been trained to be a killer from birth. She had rejected her father eventually and joined with the Batman in his crusade to bring justice to Gotham City. The war, and seeing many of her friends and co-heroes killed, had changed her.

"I'm going to need extraction," the Batman admitted. In order to keep from killing in this war, he had come to rely on his partners more and more. Gone were the days of the solitary Dark Knight. Bruce Wayne, the man who chose to run about the war-torn city as the Batman, knew that if Gotham was to ever be free, he had to swallow his pride.

But that also meant he had to accept that his unwillingness to take a life and operate as more of an annoyance to the Soviets would most likely cost him his life one day. After all, the Soviets had taken out Superman, Wonder Woman and the rest of the League at the beginning of the war. In the distance, in an area of Gotham known as Sommerset, there was still green glow in the air. It had been there that Alan Scott, the original and perhaps greatest Green Lantern, had died under a hail of V-3 rockets. His magic ring had exploded and radiated the entire area, turning it into a glowing green patch of nothing.

Soviet Desolators, troopers who specialized in radiological weapons, were said to be training there even now. "Understood. Wait one."

Batman put the communicator away in his utility belt and scanned the area. The Atom was long gone, no doubt hooked up with Commissioner Gordon and his partisans and fleeing back to the Batcave. That was good and the Batman was thankful for having such a resourceful hero on his side. He would have enjoyed fighting alongside Green Arrow as well, despite his liberal views, because he was a good man to have in a fight. It looked as if Green Arrow had defected, though, accepting his place in the new socialist order.

Batman peered over the broken wall and saw ten conscripts trying to move closer and at least four Tesla Troopers. Security was really tight and the Batman could not wait to get into the Batcave to discuss with the Atom everything he saw. He kneeled down behind the wall, out of sight and pulled out his batarang.

Then there was the sound of a razor cutting the wind itself and the Soviet troops cried out. There were a couple of shots and some electrical discharges from the Tesla Troopers and then the sound of bodies falling. Batman stood up and walked into the open.

Batgirl stood there, her head hung so that her long dark hair covered her beautiful Asian features. Despite the war and all of the battle she had been in, Cassandra had blossomed into a woman desirable by all. Her costume, a modified version of her original Batgirl uniform, was cut to show as much skin as it protected, giving her a feeling of almost being naked.

Around her lay the unconscious soldiers. "Ready?" she asked, just a hint of her eyes showing through her hair.

He nodded and the two of them started running. She easily kept up with him and he found himself slightly winded after ten blocks. The bad air from the smoke that always hung over the city was taking its toll on his lungs. He wasn't an old man yet, but he was not as young as his female companion and the strain of constantly fighting this war was getting to him.

They ended up in an abandoned parking garage. Since the Soviets had begun their occupation, private ownership of vehicles was strictly regulated to those who could afford to pay the appropriate bribes. So much for equal class distinction, the Batman thought grimly as they approached the burnt out hulk of an Allied IFV.

The United States Army, operating under the control of the Allies, had sent in a small force to try and regain Gotham City at the first part of the war. Gotham had been left relatively unscathed during the first war back in the 1950's, but that was mostly due to the high super-hero population.

That war, prosecuted by Josef Stalin, had been destructive to much of the world, but President Truman had insisted that the heroes remain out of the fight. The fear was that if American super-heroes invaded the Soviet Union, the reds would respond with nuclear weapons. In the end, the fighting was done by the grunts and normal troops and had there had been no clear winner.

When the second war had started, President Luthor had not been as worried. He had sent the heroes to Moscow and the troops into Gotham. Both actions resulted in tragedy and death.

Batgirl walked up the IFV and touched it. Special sensors read her bioelectric field and determined that she was who she appeared to be. Had it not come to that conclusion, then the IFV would have remained in its current form.

The military vehicle shimmered and then slowly morphed into a modified Hummer that was customized in the bat-motif. Inside at the wheel was a sleeping Robin. He opened one eye and looked at Batgirl and smiled. "Hard day at work, dear?"

Batman could not see the smile that formed on her face. Only Robin brought out the warmer emotions in Batgirl now. "It was fine," she said as she climbed into the back. Batman walked over and got in on the passengers side while Robin started the vehicle.

They were on a back road towards the Batcave within a few minutes and Batman pressed a button on the console between himself and Robin. A screen popped out with a keyboard and there was a whine as the satellite antenna erected at the rear of the vehicle. Batgirl was already asleep by the time her was able to get Oracle on the screen.

The image was that of a red-haired woman with thick glasses that did very little to hide her natural beauty. At one time, Barbara Gordon had been Batgirl, but that had been before she had been injured by the Joker a lifetime before. She had become a cyber-sleuth and the information arm of Batman's army of heroes before the war and now she served as his controller.

Because of her handicap, she had been moved to a secure location outside the war zone. The Soviets had no use for persons they saw as "defective". Oracle smiled. "You look like hell, Bruce."

Batman did not return the smile. "Has the Atom checked in?"

She typed a few keys and looked over at a secondary monitor. "He and the rest of your team checked into the Batcave five minutes ago. They've requested you get there as soon as possible."

"I'm sure," Batman replied.

She raised an eyebrow. "No…I don't think you do understand. What the hell?" She began to type furiously at her keyboard with one hand and moving a mouse with the other. Robin took his eyes off of the road for a second to glance at Batman's monitor.

"She's pissed," he offered before returning his attention to driving. "You hear that they left the French in charge of the defense of London?"

"No," Batman said, not really caring. He wasn't one for keeping up with the events in other countries. His only concern was forcing the Soviets to admit that maintaining a presence in his city was too expensive.

Oracle smacked the keyboard and tossed it to the side and then looked up at the camera. "We've been hacked."

Batman's brow furrowed. "How?" he asked. The network that they used was paid for by the money that Bruce Wayne possessed and was supposed to rival the extensive network used by both the Allied and Soviet militaries.

"Gonna lose England, wait and see," Robin said, oblivious to the current problem. It had been how he had handled the war so far. By keeping a sense of humor even in the worst situations he had managed to keep morale up and win the heart of Batgirl.

"I can't trace it but I do know it isn't the Soviets." Oracle cursed some more and threw her hands up. "That's it, I'm down. I'm going to have to re-link to the auxiliary network. I'm going to be down for a week, minimum."

"Does this mean our network is being used by the military?" Batman asked, impatient.

She nodded. "Makes sense. There's an Allied MCV sitting outside Wayne Manor."

"Yeah, baby!" Tanya cried out as she dropped another Soviet soldier. Her twin .45 caliber pistols were raining death and mayhem on the troops as the scrambled to get near her. Three Flak Troopers, armed with anti-aircraft weapons, had taken up a position behind the remains of the five Terror Drones that Tanya had dispatched at the beginning of the firefight. Next to her the Huntress loaded her crossbow again and fired, skewering a guard dog in the throat. In war, there were no victims in the enemy military, only targets.

"You seem to like doing this," the Huntress said with a wicked grin.

"Killing commies makes me horny!" The Huntress looked the woman over with her tight fitting tank top and shapely figure. "Then there must be a very happy man somewhere because you're racking 'em up today, honey!" was the response.

Several feet away Deathstroke slit the throat of a young conscript before pulling his own pistol to take out a Crazy Ivan trying to sneak in towards them. "If you two could quit the foreplay and get back to the mission, we could get more done!" he called out.

Tanya raised her pistols and fired a single shot from each one. The windows of a factory shattered and there were cries as she traced a line of shots across the entire floor. "So, what do you say?" Tanya asked as she dropped her weapons to reload.

The Huntress took down one of the Flak Troopers. "Bastards!" she cried out. She hated Flak Troopers most of all because their shots often took out innocent civilians. She then returned her attention to Tanya who was already firing again. "What about Batman? He's stayed out of my way for the most part, but if he finds out what I'm up to, he might change his mind."

"Batman is not a problem, baby," Tanya said, throwing back her light brown hair. She gave the Huntress a wink. "I have a special guy that can be very convincing!"

"Fine!" Deathstroke called out as he ran by and jumped high into the air. The mercenary came down on top of the two remaining Flak Troopers and ended their lives with two quick thrusts of his sword. "Take the damn offer, Helena!"

Tanya finished off the troops and holstered her guns. She put her hands on her slender hips and took a deep breath. "I love the smell of gunpowder in the morning," she said with a wink.

"It's four in the afternoon, dizzy," Deathstroke reminded her as he approached. His blue chain mail costume had seen better days but there was very little he could do about it. There were no armorers in Gotham City and he wasn't about to leave. He had been the highest paid mercenary in the world, but before that he had been a soldier in the United States Army. He didn't take kindly to his country being overrun by communists. "Cut the gun-bunny act, okay? I recognize your type…Special Forces…trained in everything from explosives to seduction. I'll bet Tanya isn't even your real name."

Tanya eyed the mercenary with a cold stare. "You have a big mouth, Colonel Wilson," she said, her tone suddenly very serious. "Let's not talk about me and instead talk about what I can offer." The trio quickly moved off of the street and headed into one of the buildings that they had just shot up. They had caught a cluster of Terror Drones on their way to the outer perimeter of the city.

Gotham City was surrounded with the little robotic creatures. Four-legged and programmed to kill any troop or vehicle they encountered that did not carry a special signal device, they were highly feared by the Allied military. The troops were a local patrol that responded to the sound of gunfire.

An hour later, after more troops had come in and examined the scene of carnage and then departed, three figures exited the building. Two of them headed further into the territory of the enemy while the third, obviously female by the silhouette, quickly made its way south.