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 5

Several of his clones were stalking about the main compound casting their gaze on the soldiers and controlled civilians that were working. They made good work captains and allowed the infantry officers to concentrate on pushing the conscripted troops outside the walls. Yuri was pleased with the security so far but he knew it needed to be upgraded.

A Soviet spy plane had taken pictures of an Allied prefabricated base that had been established in one of the southern sectors. A scouting patrol of three Rhino tanks had not returned and espionage activities in other parts of the city had increased over the last few days. It was almost as if the Batman had sensed Yuri's arrival.

The Russian mutant doubted that was so; all of his intelligence indicated that the Batman was nothing more than a very accomplished human. A perceptive one as well, he mused, since the Batman had refused to join the rest of the Justice League in their ill-fated attempt to wrest control of Moscow away from Premier Romanov. He had not come to the aid of the Justice Society when it finally fell before the might of the Soviet invasion. In fact, all he had done was remain in Gotham City causing havoc and costing the Kremlin plenty of rubbles.

Still, he was a rallying point, albeit a small one, in a city that control had to be kept over. This also provided him with an opportunity to have his personal scientists and technicians work on his pet projects. After all, Romanov was nothing more than a puppet that Yuri pulled the strings of and eventually he would have to cut those strings. One of the problems with that was that General Vladimir had suspicions and until Yuri had enough forces under his control, he remained a credible threat.

Yuri looked over to Comrade Billy. The man had the blank stare of someone possessed but fortunately it did not require much effort to keep him in line. Comrade Billy, for all of his power, was a simpleton.

They stopped in front of a special research lab and watched as a non-commissioned officer drilled his latest super-hero captures. They had called themselves a Justice League Task Force and had attacked a new base being established in Star City. They succeeded in halting the overall operation but not before several of Yuri's "children" had taken over their minds. A series of operations in Leningrad had assured permanent control.

If only it would be that simple with Comrade Billy. His invulnerability made such a procedure impractical and dangerous.

A Tesla Trooper officer approached and saluted. Yuri returned the gesture and asked about the training of the "People's Justice Comrades". The trooper removed his helmet to reveal pale Cossack features. "Many of them accept orders without question, but the one called Green Arrow…he rebels against everything."

Yuri laughed. "He is of strong will, but not strong enough. In time he will comply." He then regarded the pretty dark-haired woman, the Black Canary. He had been surprised to find out that the blonde hair she normally had sported was dyed. It did nothing to diminish her beauty but it did seem so superficial.

The others had been minor super-heroes, nobody of worth and whose skills were nothing to appreciate. These two, however, were something to hold on to. "Keep them marching, it will help make them more susceptible to taking orders, comrade." The Trooper saluted again and replaced his helmet. He marched over to the non-com and said something and soon the possessed heroes were running in place.

Yuri nodded and turned to Billy. "Come, comrade, we will go inspect the new war factory upgrades."

"Your will is my command," Billy replied.

The mutant liked the sound of that and together they crossed over what had been the parking lot of a high school to where several technicians were observing the automated construction of Kirov airships. Yuri had requested several of them for transfer to the New York base. It was merely a preventative measure. If, for some reason, he were to lose control of this area to the Allies, then he wanted to make double sure that New York was well defended. He knew that the Big Apple, the gateway to the United States on the Atlantic coast, was a symbol to the Americans. Retaining control of it was primary; Gotham City was secondary.

Unlike Vladimir, Yuri knew when to cut his losses. "Comrade Technician," Yuri said from behind the group. Immediately all of the assembled engineers jumped and turned. They threw up salutes, some smartly and others sloppily. "How go the operations?"

One of them men spoke up. "Comrade Yuri, we are progressing at 2% over the average rate. The power drain is high, though, and we feel that building another Tesla reactor would be prudent."

Yuri thought about it for a moment. All it would take is the sabotage of one reactor to shut the base down completely. That meant not just the Tesla coils and flak guns, but the automated processes in the construction yards and war factories would slow to a crawl. The Batman had not done very much damage to the bases established in the inner city, but on the outskirts he had damaged many ore refineries, Tesla reactors and various other buildings as well as several vehicles.

In fact, the Batman had become quite adept at anti-tank warfare.

There was also the option of flying in the materials needed to build a nuclear power plant. Not a large one to power the city, but one that would supply reliable electricity to the bases only. Yuri did not really care about the general populace of the city, except perhaps those females that would prove good breeding stock, and so there was generally not enough power available to them.

The only suitable area was north and there was the problem. The Huntress was known to operate up that way every once in awhile and intelligence indicated that she most likely would not hesitate to blow up a small nuclear reactor just to kill a few Russians.

He admired her coldness. "Yes, comrade, send the request to my personal computer. I will detail an area for building later today."

The engineer smiled and started to turn when Yuri coughed. "Da, comrade Yuri?" he asked.

"Comrade engineer, had you submitted any requests for a nuclear weapon silo to your former commander?" Yuri asked. He already knew the answer. Of all of the military leaders in the Soviet command, only General Vladimir enjoyed using weapons of mass destruction like Yuri did. It was such a shame that Vladimir was so ambitious.

"No, we never…"

Yuri held up a gloved hand. "Comrade, do not worry yourself about it. The proper materials will be here next week. Prepare your work crews as required." The engineer nodded and turned back to discuss the latest developments with his coworkers. Yuri left them to their discussions and continued his walk.

He intended to inspect the V-3 rocket launcher platforms. They were an improvement over the V-2 design that Stalin had originally employed in his unsuccessful war against the Allies decades before.

He and Billy met up with the officer-in-charge as he was directing a group of four of the vehicles out of a gate and towards an outlying position. Several infantry followed the rockets; the trucks were lightly armored and were easy prey to Allied air and ground attacks.

Yuri informed the officer what he needed and then directed him to contact the officer in charge of tank deployments. "I want to see how strong the Allied defenses are right now. It will give me an idea of what sort of commander I face."

"You know that a small tank probe isn't the last we will hear from them," Smith said as he and the Commander walked down the stone steps behind the grandfather clock. They led down to the famous Batcave, which had served as the Batman's command and control area for his operations over the last two years. It was basically a complete base underground.

"I know, but I want to wait and see what they do so I can tell what sort of idiot I'm facing on the Soviet side," the Commander replied.

Smith chuckled. "Rumor mill is that they have a new commander; one of our spies got video of a general being executed by guard dog. You want to see it?'

"No, I think I'll pass on that." The Commander stopped at the bottom of the stairs and took in the activity. The cavern was wide and high and packed full of crates of food, clothing and medicine. Prefabricated offices were arranged everywhere and there was a giant penny over to one side. "He sure likes money, doesn't he?'

"I understand it's a trophy from a case…"

"Lovely." He looked over to a complete machine shop and saw Batgirl sharpening a knife. There were also several men in SWAT uniforms working on non-lethal weapons around her. Any time an Allied trooper got near her, the Commander noted that the expressions on the men's faces changed. They were a tight-knit group, which could be a good thing or a bad thing.

Robin was over in the corner, working out in a complex martial arts routine. He was quite good. At another table were several engineers talking with a man in a blue and red costume. The Commander knew that he was Ray Palmer, the Atom. He decided that it would be best to introduce himself before the Batman had a chance to poison the other hero's mind.

As he walked over, the Commander went over what he knew about the Atom in his head. Ray Palmer had been a brilliant physicist that had devoted his life to the study of white dwarf stars. Through his research he had developed the ability to reduce his body size and alter his weight and mass. As the Atom he had been a member of the Justice League of America and the Titans. His base of operations had been the New England city of Ivy Town.

Ivy Town had been one of the very first cities devastated by the Soviet war machine. The Commander seemed to remember something about a terrorist training camps being placed there as well.

Obviously, the Mighty Mite had moved here to Gotham to pull resources with the Batman. He stepped up to the smaller man and extended his hand. The Atom wiped some sweat from his brow and accepted. "Hi, I'm Ray Palmer, uh…Colonel?"

The Commander smiled. Often times when he met someone new they tried to figure out his rank from his insignia, but it would do them no good. "You can simply call me the Commander."

The Atom pulled his head away but kept the smile on his face. He seemed generally happy and the Commander could only guess it was because of all of the operatives under the Batman's command he was the most active. The files the Lieutenant hacked from the Oracle database showed that the Atom was on a mission nearly every hour of every day.

Activity had a tendency to keep the mind from dwelling on more painful subjects. The Atom's file had also stated he had an ex-wife, a lawyer, who had lived in Ivy Town. "I was surprised to see you guys here when I got back," the Atom said. "I can say that I'm glad for it, though."

"Really? That's quite a change from the attitudes of everyone else," the Commander replied.

Shrugging, the Atom explained. "Unlike big, dark and mean, I want to get help anywhere I can. I've lost a lot of friends in this war and I don't want to lose any more." He turned back to what he was working on and the Commander saw it was a toaster. "I like toast," the Atom explained.

The Commander patted him on the shoulder, happy to see he had at least one ally in Batman's camp. "So do I; maybe later you'll look at my electric toothbrush?"

The Atom laughed. "Sure, Commander, whatever you say."