DISCLAIMER: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Taskmaster is owned by Marvel Comics.


Sins of the Taskmaster

Chapter One


Even Cinder had to admit that it wasn't every day that Neo, of all her subordinates, would suggest an idea for her plans.

Three days had passed since the Grimm incident in Vale. Though occurring a bit prematurely, all thanks to a persistent group of huntresses-in-training, Cinder believed that her plan to unleash a swarm of Grimm into the city was a success. Now fear held an iron grip all throughout the kingdom, it made it's leaders look like incompetent fools for allowing this to slip under their noses, and the best part was that Roman Torchwick's incarceration gave her a red haring that she needed, giving the people a false sense of relief that she would see come crashing down upon them.

However, there was still the matter of the team from Beacon Academy that continued to get in her way.

This was the fifth time that one or more of Team RWBY had attempted to put a stop to her plans. First, there was their leader, Ruby Rose, stopping a Dust shop robbery conducted by Torchwick himself, then her, the Faunus known as Blake Belladona and a mysterious, red-headed girl with a pink bow on her head getting in the way of a meeting between Torchwick and members of the White Fang at Vale's docks, followed by Ruby and Blake, now joined by Weiss Schnee and Yang Xiao Long, destroying a Paladin that Torchwick had stolen, then Ruby fighting a disguised Cinder as she infiltrated Beacon's CCT tower, and now what had transpired three days ago as the four of them attempted to stop a train full of explosives from blowing a hole in the streets of Vale and unleashing the Grimm unto the city.

It was clear that something needed to be done to prevent more of these annoyances, and that's when, much to Cinder's surprise, Neo sent her boss a text in her scroll that simply said 'I think I know someone that can help.'

So now, after sneaking out of Beacon in the middle of the night and hijacking an airship at the docks, the two of them found themselves traversing through the forests of Mountain Glenn, searching for this person that Neo was referring to. It took a few hours of fighting their way through the Grimm that overran the area, but they finally found themselves in what appeared to be an abandoned mansion in the middle of the forest.

"You had better not be wasting my time, Neo," Cinder warned Torchwick's former partner-in-crime.

Neo simply responded by sending her a message that said 'Wait here for now. They don't take too kindly to unexpected visitors.'

Before Cinder could question who 'they' were, Neo had already vanished in a streak of light, most likely, Cinder assumed, reappearing inside the building.

Sure enough, as Cinder had suspected, Neo had reappeared inside the dilapidated mansion's doorstep. Before her brown and pink eyes was the grand hall, coated with cobwebs, deteriorating walls, rusted metal railings on the stairs to the second floor and flickering lights on the chandelier above likely due to faulty wiring. One would normally react to a sight such as this with horror or disgust and promptly leave the second they stepped foot in here. Neo, however, have a small, almost nostalgic smile.

'No place like home,' she thought to herself as she started to walk forward. As she did so, however, the lights on the chandelier started to flicker at a much quicker pace until they dimmed completely, casting the room in total darkness and causing Neo to stop in her tracks, grabbing her umbrella in the process. Suddenly, hidden in the shadows, a figure lunged towards her, only for Neo to leap upwards into the air, spinning while doing so, resulting in her foot slamming against the assailant's head and sending him crashing against the wall.

A second attacker then charged towards her, a sword in his hands, only for the criminal's umbrella to open, blocking the attempt on her life before teleporting behind her opponent. She then pulled out her blade hidden inside her umbrella and lunged it at his back, only for him to swiftly turn around and deflect it with his sword. He then swung his free arm towards the side of Neo's head, only for her to dash backwards to evade it and throw her blade towards her hidden adversary. He proceeded to use his own weapon to knock it aside, only for Neo to dash back to him before delivering a roundhouse kick to his head, knocking him out cold.

The lights shot back on to reveal that she was now surrounded by about two dozen of her attackers, now revieled to be men and women in black and white suits of armor, helmets covering their faces with a paint job that gave them the appearance of skulls and a sword and shield in each of their hands. Each and every one of them prepped themselves to disembowel the intruder when...

"Wait," a slightly aged, somewhat guttural voice commanded.

In response, the armored assailants got out of their combat stances and stood to attention like soldiers among their commanding officer. Neo couldn't help but breath a sigh of relief.

'Took him long enough,' she thought as she turned to the large staircase and the source of the voice, an individual who wore a similar looking suit of armor and helmet, abeit a suit that was mostly a dark shade of blue with orange highlights on the collar and the biceps. However, this man also wore a hooded, white cape, as well as a helmet that much more resembled a skull than even the other attackers, and had a bow, several archery arrows, a sword and a shield strapped to his back. Most striking of all though were his eyes, which appeared to simply be two piercing dots that glowed a hellish red and struck fear in the hearts of lesser men.

Upon seeing who had broken into his sanctuary, he proceeded to walk down the flight of stairs, chuckling in an amused, though somewhat sinister, tone as he did so.

"Neopolitan," he said. "Now this is quite the surprise."

Neo then proceeded to get out her scroll after retracting her blade back into her umbrella and texted a message to the man before him, all with the same smirk she had when she entered the building. The message read 'It's been a while, Professor Masters.'

"Please, no need for formalities," the man responded. "You may refer to me as 'Taskmaster.'"

"Professor, forgive my intrusion, but how do you know this woman?" one of the armored assailants asked.

"This, students, happens to be an old apprentice of mine just like the rest of you," Taskmaster answered as he motioned his hand towards Neo while stepping off the staircase and into the grand hall. "One of my top students many years ago...Which further perplexes me as to why you would return here so suddenly."

Just then, Taskmaster received yet another text from Neo. 'Let's just say that I have someone who wishes to see you.'

"And this 'someone' is...?" he questioned.

"Me," the voice of Cinder answered.

Quickly, Taskmaster's students turned to the entrance to the mansion to see Cinder walking into the building, clearly having grown tired of waiting for Neo to return. The students readied their weapons once more only for their teacher to raise his hand slightly upward to tell them to cease their actions, which they did.

"My name is Ci-" Cinder said, only for Taskmaster to interrupt her.

"I know who you are," he stated. "You're Salem's lapdog."

Hearing this response caused an ever so slight widening of Cinder's eyes, both out of surprise and offense.

"How do you-" Cinder was about to ask, only to again be interrupted.

"Let's just say that old witch is a business partner of mine and leave it at that," Taskmaster answered. "Now, state your business."

"I traveled here because Neo told me that you'd be able to handle a persistent problem of mine, but I must say, thus far, I'm not impressed," Cinder replied as she narrowed her eyes towards Taskmaster. "All I see before me is some lunatic in a ridiculous costume that clearly doesn't know when to remain silent."

In an attempt to both emphasize her point and intimidate the man before her, Cinder extended her right arm forward, the highlights of the sleeve of her dress lighting a bright orange before the ground in between the two of them lit on fire. Her attempt seemed to fail however as Taskmaster didn't move a muscle and was completely unimpressed.

"So tell me," Cinder continued as she lowered her arm. "What is it that makes you so special?"

Taskmaster couldn't help but chuckle slightly in response, causing one of Cinder's eyebrows to raise upward slightly.

"Sorry, it's just that that's what they all say," Taskmaster said before turning back to the staircase. "Please, follow me."

As he started to walk upward, Neo followed suite as Cinder continued to stand right where she was, wondering if she should continue to waste her time with what she now thought was a pointless endeavor. But, after giving it a few seconds of though, she too decided to follow this man further into the building.

The three of them started their trip down the halls by walking past a group of students sparing ferociously with one another with skill and speed the likes of which Cinder had never seen during her time infiltrating Beacon.

"So, you run an underground huntsman academy?" she deduced.

"You could say that," Taskmaster answered. "Difference is that, unlike fools like Ozpin and Lionheart, I don't keep my students sheltered in a safe, little bubble in a city like Vale. Here, the harsh realities of the real world are all around them. The outside is practically swarming with Grimm, and even inside this building you're not guaranteed to leave alive."

Almost on que, a student, a male Faunus with cat ears, slashed his sword towards the neck of the female human he was sparring with, decapitating her much to Cinder's slight shock.

"Helps to weed out the weak," Taskmaster finished before he continued onward down the hall with Neo and Cinder behind him. "Besides, I don't exactly train huntsmen. See, the purpose of my school is that various criminal organizations across Remnant send their underlings here to be turned from common thugs to polished professionals. Hell, I've become so famous in the criminal underworld that even the White Fang sent some of their own thugs here."

As the three of them continued, they suddenly noticed the body of a dead, male, rabbit eared Faunus slumped against the wall. One of his rabbit ears had been cut in half and the White Fang insignia had been carved onto his chest along with the word 'traitor.' Rather than react with even the slightest bit of pity or remorse, Taskmaster let out a sigh of irritation.

"Despite the obvious problems that causes," he continued before grabbing his scroll and dialing a number onto it. "Got another one in Hall H."

And with that, the three of them once again continued on their way, this time reaching a large combat arena similar to the one in Beacon.

"Well now, I'm sure this is all quite impressive to you, but you still have yet to answer my question," Cinder stated.

"I was just getting to that," Taskmaster responded in an almost annoyed tone while he got his scroll out once again. With a few types, he managed to pull up a video feed of a White Fang attack on a dust shipment in Vale. One lead by Adam Taurus himself. However, Taskmaster specifically focused on a bit of footage of Adam slashing his way through various Atlesian soldiers. After but a few seconds of observation, he tossed his scroll into Cinder's hands.

"Now I want you to closely observe the fighting style Adam is displaying," he said, all while Cinder wondered just why the hell footage of a White Fang attack will prove to her that he was a worthy candidate for the task she wanted done.

Suddenly, a door opened to reveal four of General Ironwood's Atlas drones, reconfigured for Taskmaster's needs, marching towards him with their weapons drawn. The second they did so, however, Taskmaster suddenly dashed towards them and cut one of them in half with his sword. He then lept upward and landed behind the second before thrusting his weapon backwards, jabbing it in the drone's back. The remaining two drones proceeded to point their weapons at Taskmaster, only for him to swing his sword and sliced them in two before swiftly decapitating both of them at once.

As Cinder observed this demonstration, her eyes got wider every second. Not because he was able to destroy four military grade drones in mere seconds, but because he was doing so with the exact same moves Adam did to take down the Atlesian soldiers. Beat for beat, blow for blow and in the exact amount of time.

"How?" she wondered.

"That's the beauty of my semblance, sweetheart," Taskmaster answered as he put his sword back into the harness on his back with his other weapons. "It allows mimic the movements of someone just by looking at them. To put it simply, I have a photographic memory when it comes to fighting. What takes years of training for even the most experienced huntsman only takes seconds for me."

"Well, I must admit, I have severely underestimated you," an impressed Cinder said with a devious smirk. "I believe you'll be more than qualified to carry out the task I had in mind for you."

"Then let's cut to the chase," Taskmaster replied as he advanced towards both her and Neo. "Who do you want me to kill?"

"Four huntresses-in-training from Beacon," Cinder answered. "We-"

"Children?" Taskmaster interrupted. "You came all this way to hire me so I can kill a couple of children?"

"Is there a problem with that?" Cinder asked.

"Oh, not at all," Taskmaster answered. "Just thought that four huntresses-in-training wouldn't be a problem for someone like you."

"Well, we're currently in the middle of something to where we can't risk revealing our position in Beacon," Cinder stated.

"Ah, I see," Taskmaster responded. "But I am still gonna need information on these girls before I say 'yes' to this."

"Neo is providing that for you as we speak," Cinder replied.

And sure enough, Taskmaster received a message on his scroll with multiple files on each member of Team RWBY. However, as he was about to start, he noticed a picture of the four of them fighting the Grimm attack on Vale. Specifically, he noticed one of them and his red eyes practically flared with shock...before turning anger. So much anger that he started to squeeze on his scroll before it suddenly cracked, causing the screen to start flickering. He then swiftly turned to Cinder and Neo, the look of rage never leaving his eyes.

"Five million Lien, not a penny less," he practically snarled.

"That didn't take long," Cinder pointed out.

"Oh, believe me, I'm not gonna pass this opportunity you just gave me," Taskmaster replied as he turned and walked towards the door out of the arena so he could ready himself for the mission he had just accepted.

"And what might that be?" Cinder asked.

Hearing Cinder's question caused Taskmaster to stop, however he didn't turn to face her when he finally responded.

"To kill a Schnee."


This is going to be the first in a series I intend on making that is basically cartoon characters fighting Marvel villains. Myself and my friend have thought of many match ups that are gonna be a real treat to write and I hope you enjoy them as well.

Also, I feel like I should inform you now that just because this is filed under 'Deadpool,' no, he won't be in this. I had to file it under that because 'Marvel' didn't have Taskmaster listed under their characters. There may be a few references to the Marvel universe if I think of something, but Taskmaster will be the main focus.