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 11

Katana, clad in the samurai gear she wore when she had fought crime, pulled back on the yoke in time to avoid hitting was looked like a flying saucer. Goldstar was up and out of the co-pilot's seat and making her way back to the "Superman Door". Essentially it was the cargo door, which could be opened in flight if necessary. It had been named because it was usually the way Superman stepped out of the cargo jet back when it was part of the Justice League arsenal.

There had not even been time to work out a plan as Katana found herself in the middle of a full shooting war between naval assets of the Allies and what appeared to be a Martian invasion. Several Hornets flew by and some even circled around to get a second look. By all accounts, they should have shot her down, but thankfully they had more pressing matters to attend to.

Several Soviet vessels were steaming towards the besieged Allied fleet and there was nothing really she could do about it. The cargo jet had no weapons and even if it did, her cargo was far too precious to take into harm's way. Moonbow had died in the rescue of Einstein, who had been grabbed by a Soviet team only an hour before Katana had arrived. They had stopped the Soviet from making off with him, but in the process his time machine had taken some bullet damage. Even now he was in the back, cursing in German, telling Katana to flight more level.

Goldstar threw a wave to Katana as she flew by the cockpit, her special battle suit energized and ready for action. The woman in the costume did not like to use her powers very much because it tended to draw too much attention and it hampered her activities with the resistance. The Soviets seemed almost fanatical about hunting down metahumans. Except for Green Arrow and Black Canary (and Green Arrow wasn't a metahuman), the Russians were not employing the heroes as weapons.

Goldstar died not ten feet away from the cargo jet; a green laser from one of the flying discs simply turned her dancers body into red paste. Blood and gore flew against the windshield and Katana screamed. She prayed for the gods to provide a vengeance worthy of her burning hatred and turned the jet towards Gotham City.

Behind her, more Hornet fighters exploded in mid-air and crashed into the unforgiving sea.

The Batwing crashed into the sea.

Batman watched it all from his vantage point, in the grasp of Captain Marvel. The man who was known as the World's Mightiest Mortal had always been a gentle soul, a person of high moral character and values. In truth, he was one of the few metahumans that Batman had actually admired.

All of that was different now as he dangled hundreds of feet above the sea, his wrist in the iron hold of "Comrade Billy". "Billy! You bastard! Robin is still in the Batwing!"

Captain Marvel said nothing but instead stroked his dark beard with his free hand. A Harrier jet, undoubtedly from the Commander's base at Wayne Manor, came by too close and the former hero's attention was distracted. Batman used the opportunity to pull out a Batarang and attempt to plunge it deep into Marvel's hand.

The weapon broke at the wingtip and Batman dropped it from his hand. He tried swinging in order to get into a position to kick Marvel, but the traitor seemed to sense it and he threw Batman into the air. The Caped Crusader went about two hundred feet up before gravity caught hold of him and started to pull him back down.

He wanted to get away and fall into the sea, try to save his young friend, but a part of his mind told him that Robin was already dead. All he was trying to do was join him. By the time Marvel caught hold of him and started flying back towards Soviet-controlled Gotham City, there was no sign of the Batwing anywhere.

The radar operator grabbed the phone and started to press the number for the Commander. He would want to know immediately that the Batwing had gone off the radar. Except this time it didn't seem as if this were a case of stealth technology; something had hit it.

The woman next to him said nothing from behind her long dark bangs, but instead silently stared at the small dots, blips and cursors on the screen. The man spoke quietly into the phone, not wanting to alarm the strikingly beautiful, yet armed to the teeth, woman. After a brief conversation, he set the phone down.

Outside, a flight of Harrier VTOL fighters was taking off, heading towards the Soviet shipyard facilities erected in Gotham Harbor. A spy had discovered that two submarines were docked for repairs and taking down that part of the base would greatly cripple the Soviet's current sea supremacy.

He reached over and turned down the volume for the automated casualty system. It told commanders whenever a unit was lost or a new unit had arrived for battle. Some die-hard warriors found it to be a nice white-noise sort of thing to keep their mind numb. The operator was afraid it would upset the woman. Just before he could get it turned down enough to where they could not hear it, the computerized female voice announced, "Unit lost".

Batgirl did not move as she spoke. "The Batwing is lost."

The man swallowed hard. He was only an enlisted rating; why did he have to do this? He wanted his department leader here, but the man had been drafted for IVF detail. There was a shortage of officers at the moment. The Soviet assaults had been brutal, so brutal that the Commander had been forced to shut down all non-essential facilities to conserve power. Soviet spies in "sneak suits" had sabotaged two power stations. "It was taken down by what appeared to be a Surface-to-Air missile," the operator announced.

In reality, he didn't have a clue. For all he knew, there could have been a Soviet Sea Scorpion directly below the Batwing and its engines had gotten fouled with flak. He had seen something streak towards it, but then it had stopped in mid-air. That just wasn't possible!

"A destroyer was nearby and went to the area to look for survivors," he started.

Batgirl didn't listen to any more. She turned sharply and exited the radar building and stepped into the night. There were flashes of orange, yellow and red on the horizon, but she didn't pay attention. Her world was foggy as she realized, as she felt in her heart of hearts, that the man she loved was most likely dead.

Batman was the best pilot that Batgirl had ever seen. His plane was better equipped than anything the military was sporting these days. A simple missile did not just take down the Batwing. Only death itself would prevent the Batman from completing his mission.

And she started to consider that her mentor was gone now as well. She had resisted her inner urges, had tried to walk the straight path that he had laid out before her. In her times of difficulty she had relied on Tim to be her anchor, her emotional support. He was gone now.

There was nothing to hold her back.

Batgirl checked her weapons and adjusted her utility belt. There was a knock at her door but she did not bother to respond. Whoever it was, if they decided it was important enough, would enter regardless of whether or not she gave permission. She turned away and looked at the mirror on the wall. For a brief moment she lifted the long hair out of her face to reveal her eyes, swollen red from the last tears she would ever cry. She had made a vow that she would never love again, but she would have revenge. The Soviets were about to pay a heavy price for her sadness.

The door opened and Batgirl dropped the hair back into its normal place and reached down for her modified mask. She put it on and then took a look at her costume, making sure the yellow bat was just at the beginning of her cleavage. Satisfied, she turned to see Tanya standing there. "I heard about Batman and Robin. I'm sorry about your boyfriend."

Batgirl reviewed her words. "What about Batman?"

"He's still alive. Comrade Billy turned out to be Captain Marvel under Yuri's control, as reported by one of our Harrier pilots," the military woman reported. She noted that Batgirl was in full battledress. "He took Batman to Yuri."

"And allowed Robin to die," Batgirl said, finishing the report. "And?"

"Batman is an essential part of Yuri's plan for conquest. He believes that if he can eliminate the entire Justice League he will demoralize all of the rest of the country's super-heroes." Batgirl snorted at the comment and bent over to adjust the straps on her boots. "I agree, he doesn't realize that the heroes have more to worry about than the Batman, but Yuri is a metahuman and he thinks his kind is all people worry about."

Batgirl stood back up. "I'll get him back," she said. She held no illusions about actually rescuing the Caped Crusader, but it gave her a good enough reason to bust into the middle of Yuri's encampment. She started to wonder if she might be able to hook up with the Huntress and Deathstroke.

"I'm going with you," Tanya said.

Batgirl wanted to tell her no, tell her that what she was going to do was akin to suicide, but she also knew that Tanya would follow her anyway. It would be better if she went along with her; the two of them could do some serious damage to the Soviets together.

"There is one condition; we've gotten a radio signal from a hero named Katana; she's requested permission to set down here with a Justice League cargo jet. Oracle is with her as well." Batgirl nodded and Tanya continued, getting the impression she was informing the hero of something she already knew. "They claim to have a special cargo that the Batman requested and will only open up the plane for him."

Batgirl shrugged. "Then I guess we need Batman."

"We also have a report that a Justice League craft intercepted a Soviet convoy that had kidnapped a very high level Allied scientist," Tanya continued as Batgirl walked out the door. She fell into step behind the hero, keeping her eyes on the swishing cape. "A very interesting coincidence."

The started down the main stairs to the first floor, Batgirl getting a free pass as soldiers immediately stepped out of her way. Outside the whup-whup-whup of helicopter blades could be heard as several troop transports landed, depositing score after score of Guardian troopers. Batgirl looked outside the window. "Can you fly a helicopter?"

"Miss Oracle, please, I really don't have time for this," the Commander said as he looked outside. Petty Officer Smith had whispered in his ear that Tanya and Batgirl were taking a chopper into the heart of downtown in order to find Batman. He needed him not only to get the women on the cargo jet which had landed at the far edge of the property to open up the plane, but because he felt sort of responsible for him. They had come in and over several days, with massive reinforcements from various bases, had taken Wayne Manor and the estate grounds and transformed it into Fort Gotham. They had invaded his Batcave and now two of his children were dead. "I've got a major battle going on."

"We know, we flew over the ships fighting it out," she replied. She did not know yet that the navy had been defeated, the remaining vessels turning tail and heading south. The Soviets had taken a major butt-kicking as well, but that was no excuse. The Commander had requested several more destroyers, but they had been diverted to the invasion of England.

Not that it did any good. After sustaining fifteen casualties and the loss of a single power generating plant, the French officer that had replaced the Commander had surrendered London to the Soviets. He had already received orders to return to England as soon as Gotham City was secured.

"Then you can appreciate the gravity of my situation," he said as he glanced at the tactical map. He moved his hand over the built-in track ball and highlighted several missile IFV's. Four Kirov airships were heading towards a set of bunkers on the seaward edge of the property. That was his primary coastal observation post and he could not afford to lose it right now. He needed to know what ships were moving back to the shipyard, which had not yet been attacked.

"I have superiors that want to know what happened to Einstein. I think it's too much of a coincidence that he's picked up by a Justice League jet and then a similar jet lands here."

"As I said, I will open it for the Batman only," was the stern response.

The Commander didn't bother to reply and instead turned to the SEAL commander that had showed up with his squad on an amphibious transport. "I had hoped to have you guys go in and blow up a few buildings, give me some room to put some tanks at the edge of the city…"

"But…."

"I've got a cargo jet that I need guarding and that's what you guys do best," the Commander said.

"Actually, we find blowing things up is what we do best," one of the SEAL's said. The others started chuckling, knowing that they really had no choice but to comply with the orders. As the squad moved off with Smith to find out where they were supposed to go, the Commander returned to his battle screen.

The Soviets had a very strong line of infantry and Tesla troops, but they were lacking in heavy armor except for the battle lab that the Commander knew that Yuri was using as his base of operations. There were six Apocalypse tanks sitting at the only entrance as well as robotic sentry guns and quite a few battle bunkers.

If Tanya and Batgirl were going to get in there, he needed to draw those tanks out. There was another problem as well; Yuri had ten Rhino main battle tanks in reserve as well and the Commander was down to only three Harrier bombers. What he wouldn't give to have a couple of Korean Black Eagle fighters! They were the top pilots in the world, training night and day in all conditions for any situation. If he had that kind of air power, he could take out the Rhino tanks.

He had seven Grizzly main battle tanks left in his arsenal, with four being built as quickly as the automated plant could manage. He glanced down and shook his head and then saw vulnerability.

He used his track ball again to issue orders, sending his tanks after a Soviet ore minor that had strayed away from the safety of the defensive line.