Cyber Joke 29: Retreat and Regroup

Batman, Arrow and Canary watched as the damaged mechs took off into the sky, paused, and then shot off to the North.

Batman looked around and saw the mech Tank staggering with the Joker in one hand and watched as the massive mech threw him against the wall leaving him still where he fell. It seemed Gordon's men had the crowd under control and had contained many, if not all of the hired mercs. It looks like they had some of Joker's goons too.

“Arrow, with me, Canary, see to J'onn.” Batman and Green Arrow ran to where the news van was as Black Canary went to J'onn who was now sitting up from where Arch Angel had tossed him aside. He was okay and was recovering quickly.

Batman approached the mech and could hear wheezing and gasping. His legs were collapsed and he was barely moving.

“Talk to me big guy. What's going on?” Batman asked.

In a labored and metallic voice Tank spoke. “I'm Tank. And I'm about to die, but that's okay as long as the Joker is dead.”

Batman looked to where the Joker was lying and there was just the slight twitch of motion in the hands and a faint moan. “Well he's not dead, but he's not going anywhere.”

“No!” The metal voice wheezed and the mech tried to struggle upwards, but barely moved. “NO! I will not let this be for nothing.” But he could not move.

“Whaddya think Bats.” Arrow asked. “Should we just take out the Joker now and blame the dead robot?”

Batman paused and seemed to actually consider this for a moment, but shook his head. “No. Secure the Joker and I'm gonna see if we can save this mech.”

“As you wish.” And Arrow went to the Joker and tied him up tight and called to the cops, then assisted in getting him to one of the arriving ambulances.

“Alfred?”

“Here sir.”

“Put Julia on.”

“I'm here Bruce.”

Bruce huffed and then whispered, “When were on the job, it's Batman.”

“Right. I'm here Batman.”

“I'm with the mech that took out Diana and me a few days ago, but it seems he's dying. Can we save him?”

“Tank is still part human, I think I mentioned.”

“Yes.” Batman understood.

“He needs life support for his remaining organs to work and something probably shut that off. It can be restarted manually. I added a short term back up battery to him for safety reasons. Of course I never told Dr. Cyber about that, but I felt Tank should have a safety net.”

“Good. How do I restart him?”

“Are you sure you want him around Batman?” Julia asked.

“If we can save a life, then yes. Besides, I have an idea. He stopped Wonder Woman, maybe he can stop Scorn. Now what do I do?”

“You need to remove his helmet and open up his torso armor. Below where his torso joins the cybernetic body you'll see the battery and a switch. He should have been able to restart it electronically, but maybe some kind of shock disabled the circuit's path.”

“Okay. Here we go.” And Batman set to work.

He looked quickly and found the locks for the helmet and released them. He pulled off the heavy metal and then undid the lock that was hidden by the helmet. This released the front and allowed Batman to remove the torso armor. He wasn't quite prepared for the site of a human who's body had not seen natural sunlight in years, but he ignored this and looked for the battery and switch. They were quite obvious. He looked it over, pressed an “on” button and moved a sliding switch to the “Engaged” position.

There was a whirring sound of fans, followed by some electronic beeps and then a pumping sound. Batman could see a small device pumping up and down at regular intervals and then a quiet steady beep started that sounded like a heart monitor.

“Alright I think I've got it. But if he gets better how do we keep him from getting up?”

“No problem.” Said Julia. “Keep his helmet and torso armor off and find the green lever behind him on his back. Flip it and that will disengage his legs.”

Batman did as instructed. By this time Arrow had returned, J'onn, Black Canary and Robin were all gathered around. Soon even commissioner Gordon was there. The gaunt and gray skinned body looked dead. The eyes were closed, but the chest could be seen rising and falling. In another few moments Tank's eyes snapped open. He struggled for a moment as his real arms flailed and his head twisted quickly left to right as he took in his predicament. It looked like he then tried to get up and realized he was without his helmet, armor, weapons and had no use of his legs.

“No! The Joker must die! Please! Do what you want with me, but he must DIE!!!” The last word he shouted and then he fainted.

Batman looked at Gordon and motioned for him to come closer and beckoned J'onn as well.

“Julia, what are Tank's most vital components?”

“Well...I guess his torso armor and helmet. The legs and guns are standard mechanical technologies. I guess the guns are special actually, but they don't keep him alive and his legs are only for walking.”

“Gordon, we need Tank to save Wonder Woman. For now he needs to be under my custody”

“Alright Batman, I can cover for seventy two hours, but not likely more and still keep my job.”

“If we don't stop Cyber in seventy two hours, none of us might have a job.” Batman replied. He stood up and moved away from the group then spoke into his comm. “Alfred.”

“I've been monitoring things sir. I've dispatched a truck from Wayne Tech and it should be arriving any minute.”

“Thanks.” And on cue, a black twenty foot moving truck with no insignia showed up. Gordon instructed his men to let it through and to the location of Tank. It turned and backed up, steady warning beeps indicating its progress until it stopped by the wrecked news van.

“Okay J'onn, It's up to you for the heavy lifting.”

“No problem Batman.”

Without blinking an eye, the recovering alien lifted the heavy legs of Tank and placed them in the truck. He then put in the torso armor, helmet and gently lifted Tank and the rest of his heavy metal body into the truck.

“J'onn, you stay in the back with Tank and I'll drive. Arrow, Canary, follow Robin and he'll bring you to where we need to meet.” Next he turned to the Commissioner. “Thanks Jim, I'll be in touch. I guess I don't need to emphasize to watch the Joker.”

“No you don't. He'll be going to Arkham straight away and they can patch him up there in a secure cell.”

“Good.”

“Okay Batman, good luck.” Gordon said as Batman went to the cab of the truck.

Batman dismissed the driver and drove to the Batcave with his precious cargo.

Thanks for stopping by.

Some characters owned by DC Comics, copyrights apply. Original story arc by me. Fanfiction and fanart

Special thanks to any of my readers. There will be a lull as I finish up the next segue and prepare the grand finale. Almost there. Thanks again.