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 13

Batgirl and Batman clashed like ancient Titans of old. The flurry of blows, kicks, slaps and punches were so fast and so furious that the Soviet observers could only stand in mute awe. Even with his mind occupied by the thoughts of Yuri, Batman was able to match Batgirl blow for blow. She realized she was slowing and tired because, she admitted only to herself, she was better than the Batman.

When the Batman managed a solid backhand slap to Batgirl's face, several of the conscripts and Tesla troopers raised a cheer and laughed. Someone moved into one of the guard shacks and turned on a spotlight while two Apocalypse tanks rolled up from inside the base and trained their own lights, normally used for spotting aircraft at night, onto the two combatants.

Unfortunately for the Soviets, their lights served as a perfect target for the British snipers that the Commander had dropped off within Gotham City. Britain was the only country to have a full-blown sniper training school, the United States having lost all of theirs within the first six months of the war. The British soldiers, known for being polite and efficient, opened up on the troops as they stood there. One after another fell, a single bullet ripping through their skulls.

Suddenly there was no longer a cheering crowd as Batgirl got up and took one sword and slashed Batman's thigh open. Chaos ensued as Soviets ran around, trying to avoid getting shot and falling down in the street. The tanks fired up their noisy diesel engines and moved through the gate and into the street. The battle between the two heroes was forgotten as even more vehicles started to pour out of the base.

"Attention, attention," a voice sang out in Russian over the intercom. "An Allied strike force is approaching, several Mammoth tanks under Allied control are approaching from the south!"

The Mammoth was a Soviet tank from the first war, the largest tank ever created. It was a massive construct, twice as large as the Apocalypse tank and nearly as powerful. They had been officially retired from Soviet service after the ending of hostilities.

The Commander, when he had sent his forces to attack the Soviet ore miners, had come across a large complex that had once been used by the local National Guard. It was not listed or marked on any of the maps of the area and he had sent Petty Officer Smith on his own to check it out. Inside he had found what had actually been an old Soviet staging base from the first war.

The base had contained not only the Mammoth tanks, but also several V-2 Rocket Launcher trucks and even now they were moving into a position to attack the base. Soviet patrols discovered the trucks moving up and at first thought that they were their own V-3 trucks. Some even went as far as to help guide them into parking spots.

Navy SEALs, a new group that had come in via the water, poured over the outer perimeter and started taking down the enemy soldiers, but then ran into trouble when they came upon a group of Yuri clones returning from an excursion into the populated areas.

None of that mattered to Batgirl, who was busy avoiding getting her face stepped on by Batman's massive booted foot. "You don't want to do this, Bruce," she said through gritted teeth, trying to find an opening. She was getting very tired and the slightest mistake would get her killed.

"Yuri's wish is my command," Batman replied in a monotone voice. He pulled out a batarang and threw it down, trying to split her skull. She replied by taking a sword and smacking him hard in the thigh with the flat of the blade.

"I thought you had more will than that," she said as she scrambled up. He reached out and grabbed her cape and yanked her back down onto her butt. A brick did more damage than she cared to let on and she rolled back to use her feet to plant a double-footed kick to the Batman's chest. He fell back onto his own pile of bricks as she got back up.

Three Mammoth tanks broke through a nearby building and opened fire on the two Soviet tanks sitting there. Armor-piercing shells clanged against the thick skin of the vehicles and Batgirl rolled to avoid several hot slivers of metal that had been blasted away. 

The Apocalypse tanks turned their turrets and fired back in return, their incendiary shells setting one of the Allied tanks ablaze. The noise was deafening and Batgirl wondered how it was that not all combat veterans were hard of hearing. So amazed by the wanton destruction the metal monsters were putting out that she almost did not hear the Batman approach. He was favoring his leg where she had cut him and it was obvious that the fall he had just taken did not do him any good either.

She rolled away and popped up, throwing a line up into the air and catching it on a flagpole sticking out of a nearby building. She hauled herself up just before a Soviet guard dog would have made a meal of her. The Batman used a batarang to dispatch the animal and then clambered up the rope after his protégé.

Below them all hell had broken loose as Allied soldiers poured over barricade. Behind them came the Chrono Miners that were used to extract raw materials from the soil. Though they did not have any weapons to wield against the Soviets, the drivers of Chrono Miners were fond of running over hapless troops, which is exactly what the did. A Soviet officer, noticing that several troops with jet packs were skirting the edge of the anti-aircraft perimeter, ordered a squad of flak troopers to pursue.

The Chrono Miners piled over them, reducing them to a pasty substance and them moved to bust down the gates to the Soviet compound. Two Prism tanks, firing their deadly blue beams of destructive energy came in on their tail, eliminating any conscript that dared to pop their head up. A Crazy Ivan bomber, who did not get far enough away from the blast, took one out. Once he exploded, there was a clear path inside to the base.

Soviet engineers were racing to repair the damaged Tesla generators, but were being picked off by the snipers in a hail of death. On the other side, Allied engineers were making for the same type of buildings, hoping to set charges that would eliminate the buildings or, which would be even better, to override the central processing unit of the buildings and put them under Allied control. Engineers were susceptible to enemy sappers, machine gun nests hidden throughout the rubble and the conscripts made short work of the unarmed men.

In his command IFV, the Commander raced to the front line. While Smith, tired from running here, running there and reporting on it all, wanted to just lay down in a bunk and sleep for a week, he was not about to let his commanding officer go out alone. "Do you think Wayne knew about that base being so near his property?"

The Commander checked his gun sight and then coughed. "Maybe. Records indicate that his grandfather served as a spy for the government during the first Soviet invasion. I can't believe that it wasn't on any lists or in any files. Three tanks and associated weapons? It's incredible."

"Uh-huh," Smith replied, taking a hard turn. The highway leading into Gotham City had seen some recent hard fighting. The tanks had successfully taken out the Soviet Ore Miners, but the price had been heavy. None of the Allied tanks survived, though many of the tank crews were even now mustering at Wayne Manor to be issued weapons for an infantry assault.

The Mammoth tanks had been just what the Commander needed to take out the heavy weapons that Yuri had in his command base and he was going to see to it that Smith got a promotion to Chief Petty Officer. "What's the status, sir?"

The Commander checked his portable screen and saw it was too early to tell. The Soviets simply had too many men and the satellite feed had picked up a cloning chamber in the back section of the base. That meant they could produce a new conscript, Tesla trooper or whatever every fifteen minutes. Cloning technology had been banned in the United States a decade before the war started; though certain government agencies were known to employ it. The Soviets had never had such reservations.

The vehicle situation was better. For some reason, the Soviets seemed to be lacking in mechanized forces. There should have been more tanks, trucks and other such equipment but he couldn't find any. It was puzzling. "He couldn't be pulling out could he?"

"Damn it, sir, if he's pulling his forces back…"

The Commander was one step ahead of his bodyguard. He typed in a command and a small window appeared on his monitor. The angelic face of the Lieutenant appeared. "Good afternoon, sir; reports indicate you're in the thick of it."

"You can say that again," the Commander said with a smile. "Lieutenant, can you run a scan for WMD?" he asked. The satellite could normally detect weapons of mass destruction unless some sort of stealth field was activated. The Soviets were not known to employ very much stealth technology, but it was possible they were "borrowing" some.

"Nothing I can pick up, but it is possible it isn't on-line yet," the Lieutenant answered. "He could be waiting, bring it up at the last minute."

The IFV took a hard left and the Commander had to take the time out to man the machine gun. A Desolator was blocking the road. Trained in Iraq to use special weapons that fired radioactive charges, they were known for being the ones responsible for the Soviet's "scorched earth" policy. He squeezed the trigger and walked the fire up to the Desolator. A tracer round exploded in the Iraqi's chest and he burst into flames, screaming and waving his arms as the IFV roared by him.

"Nuclear missile detected," the Lieutenant said. At the north end of Gotham. It just came up. Estimated time to launch is one hour."

"Damn it! He's got Batman and he's going to nuke the whole city!"

"Bastard!" Smith said, flooring the gas pedal. "He knows he's lost and so he's picking up his toys and leaving!"

The Commander didn't reply but instead ordered the Lieutenant to patch the information through to the Justice League jet sitting on the Wayne Estate. "They might be able to get there ahead of us and take down that missile," he said. "I've got one Harrier left and my jet troopers are busy getting shot out of the sky over Yuri's base!"

Batgirl had managed to get three buildings ahead of Batman, his wounded leg slowing him down as they skirted the rooftops. She was now at the rear of the base where she saw three hovercrafts from the Soviet navy loading troops and equipment. A few hundred feet away, several conscripts were busy filling V-2 rocket launcher with hot lead, destroying the hydraulic lifts and exploding the electronics needed to ignite the missiles.

She saw the battle lab that had to be Yuri's headquarters and she wondered if Captain Marvel was in there. Her answer came as the red and gold costumed former hero burst through the top of the lab. She went for her batarang but was disappointed to see that he was going after the Mammoth tanks at the front of the base. "Damn," she whispered.

The sound of boot on rooftop caused her to jump to the side, narrowly missing getting a batarang in the back. She turned in mid-air and tossed her own weapon, but Batman caught it and tossed it to the side. "Yuri's will shall be yours," he said. Batgirl suppressed as shiver as she danced back and assumed a fighting stance. "There is no escape."

Batgirl said nothing. It was time to speak the way her father had taught her. As a child, she was shown to express herself through actions, never words. Her father had been one of the world's foremost assassins and he trained her to be a killer from the first day she could walk.

As a teenager, the Batman and his extended family had demonstrated to her the beauty of words and the fulfillment of not killing. Then the war came and the life she could have led was left behind. For two years now she had tried to live up to his example, the Batman, but she was living a lie. This war was where she thrived; she was an instrument for killing and now she had a reason for doing it.

She did not want to kill the Batman, but she was fully aware that he could kill her no problem. "Join Yuri and know peace," Batman said as he limped up.

"Commander, this is Sniper Two," a distinctly English accent said. The Commander was proud to have the snipers, especially given the fact that most of them wanted to get back to England. After surrendering London, the French commander had ordered troops all the way to the Scottish line to lay down their arms. The Scots, however, had refused to listen to the "sissy French bastard" and were now forming a defensive line.

"Go ahead, Two," the Commander replied. The IFV was now in Gotham City proper, racing over broken streets and bursting through the burned out hulks of buildings.

"It appears the Batman bloke has been compromised," came the report. "He's fighting the little bat lass and she's doing her best not to kill him."

The Commander paused. If Yuri had compromised Batman, he could not be allowed to live. He was a weapon that could really do some harm against the Allies. He had no choice. "Do you have a target?"

"He's in my crosshairs."

"Take him."

"One shot, one kill, aye."

The Kevlar lining of Batman's cowl slowed the high-velocity bullet, but the round had been designed to go through body armor. There was a spurt of blood and the Batman shuddered before going down. Batgirl had him in her arms before he hit the rooftop.

She quickly pulled off the cowl to reveal glassy eyes and blood-soaked hair. "It's best this way," he whispered in a far away voice. The blood was starting to pool around them and he managed to smile slightly. Yuri's hold on him was lifted. As he paled and then sagged, Batgirl could not help but catch her breath.

She slowly laid him down and was surprised to find that she was not angry. She understood why he had been killed and it seemed he had known as well. And he had approved, she noted. Better to be dead then a slave she thought to herself as her eyes watered. She had lost everyone she loved in one day.

"My God, is that him?" Tanya said as she clambered up the fire escape. Her shoulder still had a green shaft sticking out of it and her tank top was red with blood. She looked pale as well.

"I have to get Yuri," Batgirl said, remembering that she now had another reason for revenge.

Tanya nodded and said she was calling for an airlift out. "It will be here in a half hour. Be here," she said as she dropped down on her butt.

Batgirl nodded but did not really expect to be back. Even if she were able to kill Yuri, there was still Captain Marvel. The chances were he wasn't just under telepathic control, but he most likely had been surgically altered to be more compliant.

She attached a line to a protruding pipe and dropped over the side of the building.

Inside the compound, it was a madhouse. Troops were scrambling to get away from snipers and the Prism tanks that were destroying all of the Tesla generators and coils, leaving the other prefabricated buildings for possible capture. One conscript got too close to Batgirl and she kicked him in the stomach. With a quick move, she turned his head completely around before moving towards the battle lab.

The hovercrafts were moving out, but Batgirl could see more moving in under the watchful eye of several flying saucers. It was a full-scale evacuation and she couldn't imagine why. Though this base was now lost, there were still at least two other bases within Gotham County for the Soviets to move to.

A shadow seemed to fall over her and she looked up to see the crimson bulk of a mangled Mammoth tank flying overhead. It sailed in an arc and crashed into a building three blocks away. That wasn't a very good sign and she picked up her pace.

A Crazy Ivan, missing his bombs, but armed with a spoon and a dead squirrel hopped out at her from behind a stack of missile reloads. "Here!" he cried out, a wild look in his eyes as he pushed out the squirrel. "I have a present for you!"

Batgirl dropped and spun, using a foot-sweep to knock the Russian off of his feet. "Squirrels like nuts," she said as she put her boot down hard into his groin.

She smiled behind her mask and turned to make the final ten feet to the battle lab door when it burst open. Two large men in overcoats and armed with nasty looking submachine guns stepped out. Batgirl knew that had to be Boris agents, the Soviet answer to the Allied Tanya program. Behind them was the slightly hunched form of Yuri. "Batgirl, so nice of you to join us."

The Boris agents aimed at her but fell when she threw her short swords, hitting both in the chest. They went down hard, one of them whimpering like a child. "You killed my mentor, my family and the man I loved," she said. She pushed back the hair out of her face so that Yuri could see her rage.

"Amazing, your anger is so great I cannot penetrate it," Yuri said with a smile. He showed no fear at all and that unnerved Batgirl slightly. Then she remembered Captain Marvel. She looked around but did not see him. "And, your boyfriend is not dead, he has joined with us," Yuri announced as a new figure emerged from the lab.

Batgirl stifled a gasp as she watched Robin, in a torn costume, step into the light. "Must serve Yuri," he said and she felt her heart break into a million pieces.