Testing Your Mettle (Wanda)

[Jason "Red Hood" Todd]

Jason’s newest plot in his vendetta against the Joker was, sadly, in the early stages of unfolding. Pre-production was such a drag. But none the less, Jason viewed it as a necessary step to succeeding in killing the Joker. But it was more than just killing him he wanted. Killing him was not the revenge. Subjecting him to horrendous torture and beating him with a crowbar . . . now that was his revenge for what the Joker had done. No . . . killing him wouldn’t suffice. He wanted Batman himself to kill the Joker. And not by accident. He wanted Batman to choose to kill the Joker, even if he was going to try to force Batman’s hand a bit. But hey, the man obviously needed a push and apparently having one Batgirl in a wheelchair and one Robin murdered wasn’t enough.

Nothing angered Jason more than the fact that Batman hadn’t killed this scum years ago for his crimes. He was the Hitler of this generation in Jason’s opinion. No . . . Joker would kill anyone and anything and didn’t care about anyone’s life, not even his own. He was a mad man. Nevertheless, he had to die whether Batman chose to or not. And if Batman wouldn’t kill him, he would. The problem was making sure the Joker stayed put while getting Batman to the Joker’s location, that was, after he caught the Joker of course. It was only just getting dark out, however, it was enough for Jason to stay hidden. After all, he was trained in many things and not being seen was one of them. He was perched on a rooftop with a shadow casted over it from another building.

He looked down as his eyes stared at the back of the one known as Lady Deadpool. He had been reading up on the newer people from the new world. Particularly assassins and/or anti-heroes. Lady Deadpool had been one to fit the match. But he had to first test her mettle. Was she as good as he had been informed? Jason had thought about maybe hiring Deathstroke as he knew Deathstroke’s skill, but he was worried that Batman would get a little too suspicious if it were Deathstroke. After all, Batman was familiar with him. He would already know his moves and he certainly would’ve thought up counters against him. But how would he know Lady Deadpool’s moves? Not to mention if he was correctly informed . . . Lady Deadpool had some special . . . ‘talents’ that were rather perfect for his plan.

All questions he needed answering and Jason preferred to figure things out his own special way. He lifted up the sniper rifle he had brought with him and pointed it at the kidneys of his target. He pulled the trigger without any any hesitation. He had to go all out. He had to be try to kill her to the best of his abilities, because if he wanted her to play a game of cat and mouse with Batman, well, he knew very well Batman wasn’t going to make it easy. He knew Batman would go all out trying to subdue any foe. So he had to make sure that whoever he was hiring to lure him in would be able to live up to the task. After the shot went off he dropped his sniper rifle and took out two automatic handguns. He was dressed in black kevlar armor with a pair of jeans and a brown leather jacket over it. He had black gloves on and covering his head was none other than his metallic red helmet or ‘hood’.

[Wanda "Lady Deadpool" Wilson]

Gotham was an intense city! At least killing people seemed to be a nightly hobby for some villains. At least from what she read in the local paper. But what can you tell from them? They tend to botch stories all the time to dumb them down for the citizens to understand or get fearful from a simple story that could involve kittens and puppies. Wanda hated them for putting down the wrong words. It made her feel like she could do their jobs blindfolded!

'Maybe we should try that.' 'Our stories would so be better than this garbage and hold the truth!' “That's if we don't end up turning into an action story that features the Hemsworth brothers,” she said to herself as she dumped the newspaper in the trash. “Half naked brothers at that! Unless it goes X-rated but then that would be something I wouldn't share.” Wanda felt her cheeks heating up at the steamy thought under her mask and placed her hands on her cheeks to try to calm herself down.

Completely unaware that a sniper was taking aim at her precious kidneys a building away. So the shot that got squeezed off hit the intended target. 'We've been hit!' 'From the back even. The coward.' She fell down to her knees and watched the blood drip from the front side, feeling it ooze down her back. If there were people around then they would be panicking. Luckily not many were near to notice something was wrong.

“Very clever, Mr. Sniper,” she said to herself. “Not to cause a mass panic. Although I'm not that nice of a lady at times. This just happens to be one of those times.” Her healing factor was already working on the wound as she readied her gun. Duel welding was not going to happen just this second as she was still going to play damsel in distress until the sap came closer to investigate. 'Maybe we should stop coming here at night.' 'For reals. No need to keep ruining outfits.'

[Jason "Red Hood" Todd]

Red Hood watched Lady Deadpool take the shot to her kidney. He watched her fall to her knees as the blood dripped from the wound. He noted that there were practically no people around. That was good news. No mass panic. There would be no Birdboy's or Bat's rushing into this battle. Not tonight. He saw her taking out her gun, only one. He wondered why. Perhaps she was just a better shot with one gun.

No matter. Red Hood was just as good a shot with two guns as he was with one. In fact, he could use any gun you put in his hand with expert proficiency and master marksmanship. He had done nothing but train and hone his skills under the greatest martial artists and marksmen the world had to offer. Not to mention all of the training he had under Batman during his Robin days. Yes. Jason Todd . . . the Red Hood . . . whatever name you wanted to call him . . . he was a force to be reckoned with.

Red Hood frowned from behind his Red Hood mask as he watched Lady Deadpool from above. Surely she knew he was up there. She was no amateur that was for sure. She knew who had the higher ground . . . the better the vantage point . . . in this situation Jason had the advantage. It was clear to him that she wasn't coming up there. Which meant that he would have to go down there. But that'd be walking straight into a trap. She'd have the advantage the moment he went down there because she would be ready to attack before he was.

Nevertheless, Jason had ways to deal with these situations. He put one gun back on his belt before he slipped out three explosive devises. He tossed them down towards her. Two exploded while the other covered the area in smoke. Red Hood turned on his metallic red helmets thermal vision as he slipped out a knife and replaced his other gun with a grappling gun. He shot it and swung down practically all but silent. He held the knife in his other hand and when he got close enough he slashed it towards her before doing a front roll while exchanging his grappling gun for one of his several automatic handguns and turned towards her, knife and gun in hand. The knife itself was specialized and ten inches long. It could cut through almost anything and there were few things that could break it. The smoke began to clear. He took two shots at her while he was still at the least partially covered by the smoke.

[Wanda "Lady Deadpool" Wilson]

'Can we just leave? What if we break a nail next?!' 'Shut up, pansy! They took a shot first so we need to attack back.' Wanda sometimes liked the voices in her head but not all the time. As she continued to bide her time (something she had hardly any patience for) and her wound healed up, she tried to calculate where they would come from. “Well continuing from behind would be the easiest route. Such a cowards move, really! Gosh, can't anyone stab someone from the front from time to time to spice things up?” she mused to herself.

As soon as she heard the first metal on concrete happen, she got up and ran just as chunks of concrete and the deafening BOOM! happened. Ears ringing, she began to cough as thick smoke filled the air. Having no time to find out if she was hit by flying shrapnel, she tried to pinpoint in the darkened air where the assassin was coming from. “This smoke was such a cop out, buddy!” she shouted. “Like I'd waste my ammo on this trick.” 'Duck!' 'Why?'

The whizzing of something flying through the air caught her attention at the last second. Quickly dropping to the ground, she rolled a few feet before getting up. Just barely missing the slash attack from the Red Hood! 'That's why!' “Oh snap, if you ruined my hair, you're so paying for it,” said the female mercenary while quickly checking her locks of blonde hair. So far nothing seemed out of place. She stood up and raised the gun at chest point, squeezing off a few rounds as the smoke started to dissipate and a form can be seen.

“Seriously, do not touch my hair. You don't even have permission to touch any other part of my body since you shot me!” she stated with anger in her voice. The wound practically healed now.

[Jason "Red Hood" Todd]

Jason could hear her shouting about the smoke, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t going to reciprocate the comment and give away his location as he was still coming down at this point. He wasn’t hear to talk to Lady Deadpool. He was here to test her mettle. Jason calmly landed. She was doing good. She had evaded his slashing attack. He noted that the smoke was disappearing more and more. She could probably see even more of him now. Which meant he was losing his edge. He switched off his thermal vision and could see her as she rolled.

He heard her comment. Bad move. Giving away you’re position even more. He heard the gun go off, but he was far away enough to dodge them while sending a few off in her direction. Jason noted that Lady Deadpool seemed rather attached to her hair being this was the second time she mentioned it. Perhaps he should try and trim it a bit. She how angry she got. If he provoked her even more he could note how her anger affected her fighting. That was always something that you needed to check.

A hothead was not someone you wanted to hire if you were sending them after Batman. Jason scoffed at her comment. “I didn’t ask for your permission. And I certainly don’t need it.” Jason finished before he slipped into an alley way and jumped up with a flip and landed himself on the fire escape of an old building. He quickly made it to the second floor part of the fire escape without making a commotion. It didn’t take long. Only a couple of seconds and he was thankfully hidden in the shadow of the building. He watched and waited for the angry Lady Deadpool to come into the alleyway. If the information he had gotten about her was true, which seemed it did being she wasn’t dead yet, it wouldn’t be wise to attack her head on. Guerilla tactics would be best. Use the darkness as his ally. He could practically hear Batman’s voice in his head shouting out tips and giving him suggestions.