My hasting days fly on with full career [Joker]

[Tony "Taskmaster" Masters]

Gotham City.. a first, and that was saying something. Taskmaster had run, quite literally, all over the world.. or rather his world. Since this Dimensional Fusing or whatever, he had suddenly only seen half of it. Part of him felt like a child playing a video game; thinking he finally completed an Accomplishment, only then realizing it just unlocked a larger one. A somber feeling to say the least, but in the grand scheme of things this merger was only good for him. He had all but maxed out his client list, everyone knew him one way or another. He had trusted colleagues, people who'd always call him when they needed help. He had enemies, people who always wanted him dead.. good times.

Now though, quite suddenly, a whole new world had opened up to him. He let it be though, didn't whore himself out to the new guys, not yet anyway. Surely they had there own people like him in their world, which meant more competition too.. but that didn't matter. When the worlds united, and the heroes made their tentative pacts, so did every other aspect of society. The villains and the underworld, the criminals and the governments.. it all had to be sorted pretty quickly to make things stable. This new world was still a mess mind you, but messes and chaos only meant more business for Masters. Lo' and behold, his faith was not misplaced.. it didn't take long before the new guys came looking for him.

His personal cellphone and laptop, the two items he used to keep in touch with folks had both been hit by the same virus. It was annoying and troublesome.. but it wasn't the first time people had used this method to contact him. Villains are all crazy, and all have some weird ass calling card. It started off as an ordinary email, explaining (in quite a round about way) what the client wanted. This guy had to be off his rocker, the way he worded things.. the instructions he gave, none of them made any sense. Not long after he read the email, the virus got him. His cellphone had been taken over and the GPS setting had been locked onto a specific location and wouldn't change off of it. Any attempt to alter the location prompted a god awful smiley face that wouldn't stop laughing for at least twenty freakin' minutes. The damn thing nearly drove him crazy.

The plan worked though, he couldn't ignore the request.. if that's what you want to call it. Which brings us here.. to the outside of another creepy secluded place with very little lighting. Awesome. Masters always loved to walking into situations where the other guy had all the cards, was his favorite hobby actually. Making his way through the maze of rundown building and dodging who knows how many Hobos, he figured out roughly where he was. This had to be some old industrial district.. which only meant one thing..

Another abandoned warehouse.. superb, somethings never change, there was solace in that if nothing else. The door was huge, hell, the building was huge. This was easily the largest warehouse he'd ever seen, not a typical hiding spot.. so that earned the client some points. Before going any further, Taskmaster took inventory of all his gear, and secured it. He was trusting.. but this was a first meeting, and precautions had to be taken. Drawing his sword and readying his shield, the mercenary slammed the pommel of his weapon on the massive iron doors. His first new client.. his first job in this new world.

To say he was nervous would be an understatement.. this was like his first job all over again..

[Jack "The Joker" Napier]

Joker just wasn't having a very good day. In fact nothing seemed to be working in his favor lately and it was driving him farther up a wall then he already had been. The only thing he had left right now, was that the crystal was still safe and sound where he had left it, still in his possession, still all his. No one was getting that particular toy away from him, no no no. But he had been spending so much time with the pretty pretty crystal and trying to make his name bigger in this new world that he had created, that apparently Harley hadn't appreciated it much.

Which he didn't really care about, honestly, it was just that when she didn't appreciate certain things, Harley was very.......vocal about it. And Joker certainly didn't appreciate her when she got vocal like that, which inevitably lead to a fight that ended with him throwing her out of a moving vehicle when he realized he hadn't done that in particular yet. J would be lying if he said he hadn't found it utterly hilarious, but now she was mad at him and while he liked to think he didn't give a damn, somewhere deep down, it almost bothered him.

What did bother him was how close it came to actually.....distressing him that the obnoxious harlequin wasn't there. That and the fact that she was the only one that could get close enough to Bud and Lou without loosing a limb, he hated those damn hyenas and had already lost a few lackeys trying to feed the damn animals. Just to top it off, he had heard somewhere about his dear Harley getting together with that damned Poison Ivy again, he absolutely hated that obnoxious tree hugging overly preachy hippy. It made his hand twitch to think about her, he wanted nothing more then to take a blade and stab her repeatedly.

And suddenly, he had this need to assert himself over that goddamn Poison Ivy all over again, and what better way to do that then get Harley a pretty pretty little gift that Ivy wouldn't be able to? Robin would make a perfect present, getting the bird brain out of the way once and for all in the process and even getting the old Batty to pay attention once again at the same time. It was perfect, except that Joker couldn't do it alone, so he took the opportunity to look through the new faces afforded to him after his little joke on the universe and found someone that he felt would suit his needs.

And here he thought he had a face only a mother could love! It made him laugh to think about, but he had more important matters now, the newest man on his payroll should have been there any minute now. Joker was literally sitting on a pile of money, swinging his feet as he waited, left over funds from when he took the Gotham elite and bent them all over his knee. He had no use for it, he was a dynamite sort of guy anyway, what a perfect way to grease the wheels though, "Ahh, well well well, glad to see you made it here safe!" Joker said with a cackle and stood, giving the other man a mock bow, "I'm the Joker, and I'll be the man throwing the money at you this evening, if you prove to be a good bird catcher," The grin on his face was stolen from the devil himself, grotesquely wide and with the illusion that it went all the way up to his ears, because of the haphazardly painted scars.

[Tony "Taskmaster" Masters]

What in the name of all things financially sound had he signed up for? This guy, from looks alone, was more than a few crayons short of box.. a part of him wanted to back out now. That part, however, was very small and quiet compared to the part of him that liked money; like that small hill the man was standing on. It had been years now since Tony had taken the sanity of his clients into account, it wouldn't be fair to new guys if he suddenly started to be picky again. And besides.. that was a lot of money.

The guy didn't seem like his goal was to hurt him, so keeping his sword out may come off as a little insulting. Sheathing his sword he nodded politely in return to the mans larger gesture. "Pleasures all mine, at ya service Joker." The guy had said something about being a bird catcher, but Masters had a feeling that was just a metaphor or something.. surely he wasn't going to be paid to catch a bird? None the less he proceeded as he usually would.. it was time to set up the ground rules and the contract, to familiarize himself with his first new contact from this other universe.

"I ain't much for formalities, so let's cut to the chase if ya don't mind. First, and pretty important for me, is that you fix my phone. I need it." having taken his phone from his pouch as he spoke he held it out to the lunatic employer he'd stumbled on. "Do that for me and we'll consider it the signature on the contract. As for the contract, I just need to know a few key details Joker." Closing the warehouses door behind him he leaned up against, the only lighting left in the room coming from the over head lamps.

"I need to know who or what I am after, how violent I can or can't be. I need to know when you want this done by, and most importantly, I need to know how much I'm being paid. Ya don't gotta pay me until I've done the deed though. Any more details or info ya can share will help me get this done quicker for ya, but ain't required."

Sorta straight forward, but he didn't want to beat around the bush here. He had a feeling being forward was the best way to handle this guy, besides the fact.. trying to play games wasn't what he was here for. Besides, the guys name was Joker.. he didn't know if that was a sarcastic title or not. Without asking, perhaps because of the tension or general forgetfulness, he pulled out a cigarette and placed it between the teeth of his skeletal mask. Lighting it up he took his first drag, a good long one, exhaling a cloud of smoke to his side afterward.

[Jack "The Joker" Napier]

His eyes rolled around a little, looking at the musky and generally abandoned warehouse he had set up shop in. Something that had become necessary since so many people kept stumbling into his now so called hide out. But he couldn't seem to pick a spot that he liked as much as he did the old fun factory that he had been so comfortable in, oh heads had rolled and rolled and rolled some more, literally. What good was having the guards posted everywhere watching the place if none of them could stop anyone from getting in? The decapitation rate had skyrocketed that night.

Bobbing his head in time with Taskmaster's words like he wasn't really paying attention to him, but just trying to get him to speed up the conversation, Joker licked his lips, tongue flicking out in that odd tick and snatched the phone, "Next time, weeeeelll, maybe you should just take the first invite," J tsked, like someone reprimanding a child, even waggling a finger as he pressed a few buttons and got the smilie face to stop. Tossing the phone back to the man rather uncaringly the clown prince turned on his heels, twirling as he did in a particularly show-offy sort of fashion and strode for one of the few tables in the warehouse.

He had a folder resting there, one he picked up and shoved unceremoniously into Taskmasters hands, he really didn't seem to have a care in the world today, "All you need to know," It had pictures of the little bird brain in question, the side streets that he seemed to appear on most often, as insane, as scattered as people liked to think the clown was, the man didn't actually leave things half done. And that was probably the worst part, that someone so unbalanced, someone people loved to consider so clearly insane could be so focused, so precise when it came to anything. It made some people think twice about calling him insane, but to think about calling a man so disturbed anything else was....troublesome. It scared people that they couldn't figure him out.

"This little pigeon here, he shouldn't be....toooo hard, not for a man of your, ahhhh stature," His tongue flicked out across his scarred lips, "Beat him, break something if you want," Joker waved a hand, as blasie as someone talking about the weather, grinning madly at the thought, "Just! Justjustjuuuuust don't kill him," That was a present for Harley to do what she wanted with, and he wouldn't be any good if he was dead. Again he was waving a finger around, leaning in a bit closer then most would probably like to ever get to him, "Get it done by the end of the week, and ah, you get this fabulous prize!" J twirled again, pushing his coat tails back and bowing as he pointed to the pile of money in a grand sort of gesture, "All of it. Every. Last. Dollar," He had no use for it, granted he wasn't sure if he was going to pay this skull faced man or just kill him when the job was done, "And watch out for the Batman, that one.....oooooooh that one, that one is mine," His. All his.

[style=padding: 0px 10px; font-size: smaller;]
Tag: Tasky!
Words: 572
Music: Not listening to any!
Notes: There it is!

[/div][/style][/style][/td][/tr][/table][/center]

[Tony "Taskmaster" Masters]

This mans mannerisms.. they were repulsive. It's not as if Tony was disgusted by him, or even scared, in the conventional sense of the term. Something about the way he moved, the way he spoke, it was unsettling in the a way foreign to even Taskmaster, the experienced mercenary he was. Catching the carelessly tossed cellphone, the contractor smiled behind his mask, the lunatic was forward if nothing else. "Yea.. I'll be sure to keep that in mind." he replied, shadowing the clients movements through the warehouse. It was funny, there had been a table there this whole time.. but he hadn't noticed it. Had to be some sort of magic trick, put a giant pile of money in a room, everything else vanishes.

His inner comedian was abruptly halted when the folder was pressed rather unceremoniously into his chest. Flipping the file open he thumbed through it briefly to get a generally idea of what he was after. It was a younger kid, probably still in his teens.. but the guy was one of the typical caped crusaders apparently. Tony had learned long ago not to let age get in the way of his job if they were heroes, a standard kid on the street was one thing.. a kid in a mask fighting crime was different. The file had a lot of information in it, more than he had expected.. the way the kid fought was summarized, he had no powers, the locations he'd most likely appear at during the night.. good stuff.

His attention was brought back to the present when the Joker began to talk again, explaining a little more about the job. Following the clowns movements around the warehouse, he tucked the folder in under his shield and arm, keeping it pinned snugly between the two. That tongue licking thing this guy did was the worst, it was the most perverse trait the guy had of all his.. oddities. This mask was a brilliant move of his, really, he got to pay homage to one of his personal heroes for one; but more importantly, it helped terrorize his enemies and hide his face from his clientele. Letting them see when he cracked a smile, or showed genuine worry for whatever reason, things like that weren't good for business. Not to mention how stylish it was, that much was a natural given.

Then the grand finale, the moment he'd been waiting for! The payment! To think the whole pile, that had distracted him since he walked in, was going to be his if he could pull this off. That had to be.. a good 100k easy depending on the bills in the stack. He hadn't given it a good look yet, but this Joker made a great business proposition in the long run. The skeletal mask chattered with the laughter of the man behind it in conclusion of the discussion. "So, I can hurt him, but not kill him.. I got a week to do it and all the info I could hope for? Ya cut a sweet deal Joker, I'm already starting to like ya!" his laughter subsided a bit, the last note turning back to one of the other capes in the city..

"So.. if I run into one of this 'Batman', I just gotta nab the bird and bail right?" He paced a bit, thinking over the whole situation at hand here, it really was a sweet gig. Running his index finger along the jawline of his mask he turned, an answer in mind. "I'll agree to this Joker; if anyone wearing cape gets in the way, I won't kill em'.. but I ain't gonna roll over for nobody. With that, I can promise you the bird, and all this is more than acceptable on my end.." extending his free hand forward, the mercenary offered it to the clown "..Boss?"