To Play the Fool

Chapter Thirty-Six

Deadshot's job hadn't exactly been clear. He had been hired by Poison Ivy to kill Batman, and yet every time Batman came close to tracking down the Leaves of Three, a bullet would take off a chunk of his cowl or lightly graze his armor. Already he had gone through two cowls after repairing them about five times each. It was almost as if Deadshot was playing with his prey. For now, at least. A very wise woman had once said that when an assassin fails to kill you, they are not really trying. Come to think of it, that came straight from Sherlock, Jenny's favorite show. She was really rubbing off.

Interpol's files had quite a bit on the assassin known as Deadshot. His earliest kill was in 2010, although no one had any idea how he managed to pull it off. One of his favorite aliases was Floyd Lawton, among others. Witnesses described him as a charming man with a New Zealand/Australian/South African accent, clever brown eyes, dark hair, and olive toned skin. The scant photographs of his face showed their accounts to be accurate. He was a tall man at about 6' 3", with a lean frame and enough muscle to prove he was a threat without the gun. His targets were, as Tex had told him, very difficult to reach. Most of the expert snipers in the would couldn't have made his daring and complicated kills. The only time anyone stood a chance at stopping him was when Tex took three shots for a minor political leader from Cardiff, and even then, she had failed. Batman's odds were not looking good.

Nothing could be done about it. Batman needed more information from the person who knew him best. And she was currently being followed by half the police in the MCU. Well, if they could track her with an ankle monitor, so could Batman.

By 'borrowing' the signal, he traced Tex to the Narrows. It wasn't one of the areas she habitually patrolled, but not a surprising place for a vigilante to be. She was wearing her armor as usual, but with the helmet down and her hair in a twisted braid over her left shoulder. People recognized her as she passed, and backed off unconsciously. Batman kept to the rooftops, gliding soundlessly between them. Tex and her undercover tail – two cops in thick coats and baseball caps – didn't suspect a thing.

She was headed down a neighborhood, or what passed as one, like she had someplace to be and wasn't going to be stopping any crime on her way. Actually, her very presence seemed to be making criminals nervous in her wake. One man put away his knife and retreated from his would-be victim. Another pulled his hand away from a purse. A street magician and con artist shooed away his audience and hid his wares away. Tex didn't care either way.

A black cat jumped out from a side alley and hissed at her. Suddenly Tex snatched up the cat and darted into the alley behind the cover of a passing crowd headed to a bar. Batman was quick enough to see her pull off her ankle monitor, which she had somehow managed to detach without setting off an alarm, and put it around the cat's neck like a collar. Then she shooed it away down the alley and climbed up a nearby fire escape just as her tail sprinted around the corner. She pushed herself into the shadows and seemed to dissolve into them. Both Batman and Tex held their breaths as the two nondescript cops consulted a tracking device before taking off down the alley.

As soon as they were out of sight, Tex continued her climb up the fire escape, stopping when she was at the eighth floor. Then she knocked on the window three times. A hand in a brown leather glove unlocked the latch and opened it for her. She stepped inside and pulled the curtains closed. Batman glided across the street and attached himself next to the window on the other side of the apartment. This one was slightly ajar, and there was a gap in the curtains. Using a night-vision periscope, he could watch and listen to Tex and her friend.

She took a seat in one of the chairs that was more springs than upholstery, and he took the one facing her. Even sitting, Batman could tell the man was a good eight inches taller than her. He wore a dark gray woolen coat over a body suit similar to Tex's, except his top half was dark red and the lower half was black paired with a set of heavy combat boots. His dark hair was a mess, but it seemed to fit him. The gun in a holster on his hip spoke to his nature: assassin. Tex was in a friendly meeting with Deadshot.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" he asked, finally speaking. New Zealand accent, definitely.

"You're hunting a friend of mine," she replied simply. "I want you to stop."

He picked up a beer bottle sitting on an upended apple crate acting as a side table. "No can do, sweetheart. Batman's the most fun I've had in years."

"Don't call me that."

"What should I call you? Jackie? Jericho? Texas?"

"Around here, they call me Tex," she said confidently, crossing her legs. She was trying to show off, but there was an undercurrent of submissiveness that made the effort hollow.

He knocked back a swallow of the alcohol. "Tex. A remnant of the good times we had together?"

"They weren't good times. They were terrifying, you shot me, and you killed people."

"I'm a sharpshooter. What did you expect? Besides, it was always in self-defense."

"Would you stop? You never needed to kill anyone, and you know it. You enjoyed every minute of it." She sat forward and attempted another tactic. "Look, Damascus -"

"Deadshot," he snapped. It was the first time true anger had shown on his face. "You may not be done being Texas, but I am no longer Beirut's stooge."

Fear flashed in Tex's eyes, but she didn't let her demeanor reveal her weakness. "Fine. Deadshot. I'm asking you to abandon this assignment. Batman's nothing you've ever fought before. You can't win."

The mercenary chuckled. "That's the point. He's the greatest challenge yet, and if I die in the process, so be it. At least I'll be remembered."

"You won't die, and that's the point. Either you'll kill him and there will be nothing left to challenge you, or he'll catch you and you'll live out the rest of your life with the humiliation of knowing you'll never be as good as him."

"Or we'll fight to a perfect standstill until we're both bleeding and exhausted and dying. I could go for that."

"I can't. This city needs Batman. What will it take to get you to leave Gotham and never come back?"

A smug grin spread across his face. "Already been paid."

"I'll freeze your accounts."

"It was in cash."

"I'll steal it."

"Spent it already."

"I'll break your gun."

"It's amazing how many guns $2.5 million can buy. Including these." He pulled back the sleeve on his right wrist to show her a gold toned set of wrist mounted pistols.

"Then I guess there's no appealing to your good nature," she sighed, knowing the answer was no.

"Don't have one. Want some?" He held up a second bottle of beer. When she shook her head, he cracked open the top and started drinking that one. "Remember when you used to do this for me? Bargain for my life, and then fight your way to save me?"

A rat crossed in front of the periscope, sniffing at the edges. From what Batman could tell, Tex was getting uncomfortable. "Were you contracted to kill both of us, or just Batman?" she asked, moving on.

"Just him."

"Then shooting me was just a lark." Tex's jaw clenched hard.

"Didn't have any other way to say hello."

"Haven't you killed me enough already?" She yanked herself out of her chair and started pacing around the living room. "This is why I hate you."

"You don't hate me. If you did, you wouldn't be trying to run me out of town without your new partner finding out. How is that going by the way? Does he know you're here?"

"That's none of your business. And no, I didn't tell him."

Deadshot was confused. "Why not? It would have been a perfect opportunity."

"Because I thought you might make a smart decision for once and take the chance I was giving you." Tex stopped in front of Deadshot, giving him a cold, pained look. "Will you take it?"

He took another long, slow swig of beer. "I have very few rules, Texas. One of those is when I get paid, I deliver."

"Gotham needs the Batman. If you hurt him, you'll start a chain reaction -"

"Hurt?" he snapped. "You don't think I can kill him." His sardonic expression was replaced by rage. "What what makes him so special. He's just one man, nothing more than that."

"So are we," she insisted.

Deadshot jumped to his feet and grabbed her left wrist, waving her hand in front of her face. "Is this human? Your hands aren't flesh and blood, half our brains are made of metal, and how many of our bones were replaced with titanium? We are better than human."

"We were not designed to kill!" Tex shouted, trying to pull her hand away. "Let go."

"Yes we were! You're an idiot, Texas. Always were."

She threw a punch with her right hand at his face, but he knocked it aside and kneed her in the stomach, catching her just under her corset. Despite having the wind knocked out of her, she swept a leg under his feet, toppling him. While she scrambled to her feet, Deadshot grabbed a handful of her hair, pulled her to her knees, and jabbed her hard in the throat. Gasping from a crushed larynx and bruised diaphragm, Tex had no choice but to listen.

He pulled her face close to his and spoke with a hushed intensity. "Here's my offer for you. You stay out of my way, or I shoot you. Right here." He poked her head right between her eyes. "No more warning shots."

The window burst in a flurry of shattered glass as a shadow forced its way inside. A black fist caught Deadshot by surprise, forcing him to drop Tex and sent him reeling back. Batman stood over Tex protectively as she put on her helmet and tried to catch her breath. "If this is between you and me," he growled, "then keep it between you and me."

"Should have known you'd be following her," the assassin grumbled as he pulled himself to his feet and brushed some dust off his coat. "I hate to take such an easy shot, though." He leveled his guns at Batman's head. "Ten second head start?"

"Better start running," Batman replied.

Deadshot gave a dramatic sigh and touched a button on his neck. "Don't say I didn't warn you." From his collar, polished steel ribbons slid out and covered his face, forming to the shape of his head. A small slit was open for his eyes and another for his mouth. The finishing touch was a circular sight made of red glass that he attached to his right eye. He raised a wrist-mounted gun. "Three, two, one."

Batman ducked in time for a bullet to graze over his left shoulder, and rushed towards the assassin. Deadshot reacted to stop him, but Batman knocked his hands away and punched him in the face. To protect himself, eh abandoned the idea of shooting Batman at close range and blocked his blows with quick darting fists. Batman caught one of Deadshot's returned blows and twisted his wrist until he was bent down and he could snake an arm around his neck and put him in a choke hold.

The problem with this hold was Deadshot's headpiece. It wouldn't allow him to put any pressure on his trachea. The mercenary gave a cold laugh. "That doesn't even work on Texas." He bend over, throwing the Dark Knight over his back. Batman landed on a weak crate, shattering it. He rolled away before Deadshot could shoot him, and leaped to his feet right when Tex hit him in the side in a tackle. While she wasn't big enough to knock him over, it was enough of a distraction for Batman to launch another barrage of blows.

Deadshot stumbled back in surprise at the force and number of shots Batman was delivering. He was knocked side to side, making his head ring in his helmet. Deadshot ducked under his fists and struck Batman lower, hitting a well armed solar plexus. It was enough of a pause for him to turn sideways and kick him in the knee. Batman's leg buckled and the mercenary landed another kick in his stomach. Then as he was sent rolling backwards, Deadshot grabbed one of his holstered sidearms and trained it on Batman.

Out of the corner of the room, Tex jumped in front of her partner just as Deadshot pulled the trigger. The bullet hit her in the shoulder, knocking her off balance. She stumbled backwards, tripped over Batman on the ground, and fell on her back, As Deadshot readied to shoot again, Batman threw his entire weight at him. His gun went off as they fell, the shot hitting the ceiling, and was knocked out of his hand when he hit the ground.

Before he could grab another gun or aim his wrist-mounted ones, Batman trapped Deadshot's hand under a knee and held up a fist with three batarangs between his fingers. "Stand down," he growled through clenched teeth.

"Really? Shuriken? I'm bulletproof, idiot." Using one of his legs as leverage, he threw Batman off and switched their positions, holding his gun up over his head. "Surrender."

Batman punched Deadshot's arm right between the bicep and the bone. Despite his body armor, the sharp blow made an impact and his arm went completely limp. Deadshot tried again with his left hand, but Batman knocked his arm aside and kicked him back into the wall. He hit it hard and sank into the ground as Batman regained his footing. The assassin scrambled backwards as he grabbed something out of his coat.

Just as Batman was about to apply the finishing touches, Tex blocked his path and pushed him towards a window. "Tex, what are you – "

That's when he noticed Deadshot was holding two small metal cylinders, had pulled out both pins and tossed them into the middle of the apartment. Tex gave Batman one final shove and he tumbled backwards out of the window. His reflexes whipped out a grappling gun and shot a cable at the roof. It slowed his descent for an instant before a bright orange-red plume of flames exploded from the apartment and severed his line.

He managed to roll with the fall when he hit the ground. Moments after the dizzying blast, a second one rocked the neighborhood and sent Tex flying out of the same window. She cleared the fire escape and landed squarely on the roof of a parked car, setting off its alarm. Metallic moans let him know that she survived the impact.

Above their heads, the apartment blazed and the flames threatened to spread. An entire corner of the building was blown off, but was found on the street fifty feet away. Smoke-darkened bricks littered the road. Batman pulled Tex off the roof of the car, shaking her a bit to bring her back to her senses. "We have to get everyone out!"

"Building's abandoned," she said. "We should go before the police get here."

With the obstacle of evacuating civilians out of the way, he could focus on more important things. He scanned the rooftops, hazy with blistering heat and acrid smoke. "Where is Deadshot going?"

"How would I know?" she said. Her voice was much quieter than usual, still recovering from Deadshot's blow.

He aimed a grappling gun at the buildings in the direction Deadshot had to have gone, then put it away when he remembered that the blast had ruined his last one. "He'll be long gone by now," he growled through his teeth.

"There's nothing you can do," she said, tugging on his cape. "We need to go!"

In a show of a phenomenally quick response, the police and firefighter lights and sirens were lighting up the street from the south. The authorities were the last thing on his mind, but their arrival would prove a problem for the both of them. The neighbors, attracted by the noise, started to leave their homes and flock around the burning building. They would have to provide enough of a cover for Tex and Batman to slip past and avoid notice. The two started running in a full on sprint away from the heat and the action.

Batman followed Tex's path as she seemed to have one already chosen. Left, right, over a wall, left again, through a hole in a rickety old fence covered in torn advertisements – he opted to leap over it – up a fire escape to get over a dead end, and down another trash strewn alley. Along the way the only people they encountered were homeless men and women, who didn't even react as they ran past. One even waved at them as they leaped over his legs.

Tex slowed to a stop at the end of one particular alley. Batman did the same, but held back to see what she was doing. Lying in the corner was a woman so old her skin was tissue paper thin. She was bundled up in brown woolen clothing that had seen a couple decades of use. Her gray hair had scattered remains of garbage tangled in it from her bedroll sheltered by a few cardboard boxes. A tabby cat poked its head under her am, and she scratched its head. It was only one of a few that huddled around her for warmth. Tex picked up one of the cats, a black one with her tracking device attached.

"Othello's been having quite the night," the woman said with a mouth completely void of teeth.

"Did the mean police chase you?" she cooed as she removed the collar. The cat jumped out of her arms and returned to its mommy. Tex then pressed a sizable bill into the woman's hand. "Thank you."

"Just tell your friend to stop by once in a while if he wants to help us out too." She sent a glare in Batman's direction.

Hopping on one foot, Tex managed to get her anklet back on. "Well, I think I've had enough fun for one day."

With a jerk of his head, Batman let her know they were not finished and they would be speaking one on one. He took to the fire escape, wishing he had carried a spare grappling gun, and started climbing for the roof. Echoing footsteps of Tex's boots hitting the ladder told him she was following close behind. When he reached the roof, he crouched at the edge to look back across the city blocks where the fire was still blazing. The heavy black clouds of smoke were rolling along the streets and choking the sky.

"I've never seen grenades do that."

Tex stood behind him, her arms crossed. "They're high incendiary explosives. Not his favorite toy as they tend to get out of control."

"I take it you've had some experience with them."

"I've survived a few, yes. He prefers to be more precise."

They watched as the firefighters fought to take control of the blaze. First the fire seemed like a trick candle, going down a bit with the water, but then another blast would reignite everything. The crew was persistent, however, and the flames eventually yielded to their ministrations. "You could have taken him," said Batman, breaking the silence.

Tex gave him a long look before she replied. "You don't mean that in a complimentary sense, do you."

"No."

"You think I just let him get away because we were friends at one point." The bitterness in her voice was hard not to miss.

"I don't know what to think because you have been deliberately hiding information from me." He stood and faced her. "You could have mentioned that Deadshot was your partner."

"He was never my partner. Damascus was my partner. We did good things together."

"What was the nature of your relationship? Romantic?"

It took Tex a few seconds to come up with an answer. "Professional. You don't know me that well, do you."

"You don't exactly make that easy. I can barely account for half of your movements in the last three years. I don't know if I should even trust you!"

"Oh, come on, you've never trusted me."

"I trusted you to do the right thing. Now I catch you trying to help a sniper escape the authorities."

"It's not like that."

"You were trying to coerce him into skipping town! That's aiding and abetting!"

"He is going to kill you!" she screamed, throwing her hands up in the air. "How can you not see this? Deadshot will not stop until you are dead, and he won't just stop with killing me or Gordon to get you out into the open. He didn't care if that building was abandoned or not; I picked it. The sooner I cut him off an obsession, the fewer people will die."

"That's why he has to be stopped," Batman said, taking a step closer. "He has to face justice for crimes."

"I don't care. This is where you and I have differing philosophies. I keep people from getting hurt. You put crooks in jail."

"The two goals aren't mutually exclusive."

"Look, I can take care of Deadshot."

"You've made it clear that you can't. We've got two terrorists in Gotham: Deadshot and The Leaves of Three. I'll allow you to investigate Poison Ivy."

"Allow me?" she said incredulously.

"Start with Pamela Isley. And stay out of my way." He took a few steps to the edge of the roof and activated his cape's gliding abilities.

"For the record," she said as he stretched out his 'wings,' "I told you so." Then Batman dived into the night sky and glided away.