The Hunt for a Bat III

(3rd Person POV)

Deathstroke and Batman are standing opposite each other and look each other in the 'eyes'. Or masks would be correct.

"That was impressive. So you're not all rumours and spooky trash. I was wondering what skills you have.", Deathstroke says.

"Stalling won't help you."

"... What?"

"You cracked your ankle."

"Quite perceptive aren't you.", Deathstroke says in a low voice.

"..."

Batman's silence annoyed Deathstroke. He hadn't expected to encounter such a worthy adversary. And he also didn't expect to be bested in this first encounter like this. In his line of business, this small mistake was equivalent to death. But Batman didn't take advantage of his mistake. He didn't press his advantage and just waited for Slade to heal. He called Deathstroke out on his stalling but didn't do anything. That was a disrespect in Deathstroke's eyes.

.

The two looked at each other and then at the same time attacked again. Deathstroke swung the staff at Batman, who ducked under it instead of blocking. He used this the time Deathstroke would need to swing it back to attack. Since he was already deep in his knees, he used this position to strike Deathstroke in his stomach. He hit him three times in quick succession before he had to block the staff again.

Deathstroke used this and brought his knee up. Batman dodged and was then met with a frontal kick by Deathstroke. Batman was pushed back and his back crashed into a container. Midflight he threw something towards Deathstroke. The Batarangs approached him but he skillfully dodged and blocked them with his staff.

Batman used this window and jumped at him with his legs outstretched. Slade managed to block with his staff but the force made him fall off the container they were standing on and fall in the gap in between.

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However, his meta human abilities showed themselves. As he was falling, Deathstroke positioned himself and his staff in the perfect position and managed to lock it between the containers. He then uses his momentum and swings himself upwards with his legs in front.

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Batman walks to the edge of the container sees the approaching feet and bends backwards to allow Deathstroke to fly past him. Deathstroke does a few flips in the air and then stands opposite Batman again. They observe each other again. Deathstroke is now concentrated to the max. He needs to, otherwise he will get owned by Batman. He narrows his eye and begins to walk forward. He unsheaths his sword and then attacks.

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He begins with a slash from the right. Batman blocks that with his spikes on the forearm. Deathstroke pulls back and attacks from the left. He tries to alternate and spins around. As he is attacking, Batman is blocking and looking for an opportunity that interests him. He blocks an overhead strike with both his forearms and then brings his arms to his left. As he does that, he slides his right arm to the guard of the sword to lock it in place. Very fast he then elbows Deathstroke and puts his hand on Deathstroke's right shoulder to hold him in place for a knee.

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But Deathstroke doesn't let that happen. He pushes the arm away and moves his upper body away. Then he slashes with his sword again which gets blocked once again. Deathstroke spins around and tries to confuse Batman and stabs while he has his back turned. He doesn't hit anything, so he turns again and stashes from above. This time, Batman blocks again with both his guards and pulls them in opposite directions, effectively breaking the sword.

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In one fluid motion, he spins around and uses his elbow to attack. Deathstroke blocks though and stabs with his left hand that is holding the broken sword. Batman blocks and grabs the arm with his left hand, pulling it towards him. He begins to twist it but Deathstroke is ready and does a front-flip to get out of the hold. Batman however doesn't let go as you would. No, he doesn't retreat and instead advances. This makes the flip from Deathstroke not fully complete as Batman grabs Deathstroke's leg. With the leg and arm in his hands, he slams the body of Deathstroke to the ground.

"Uff"

Deathstroke's back hits the container they are fighting on in an uncomfortable angle, which gives him no time to lessen the blow. Batman raises his leg and slams it down to where Deathstroke's head is. The latter manages to roll out of the way and then stands up again. The fight hasn't lasted more than three minutes but the speed at which these two exchange kicks, punches and any other attack is impressive. But the truth is ... Batman has been very passive this entire time. He wasn't really trying up to this point. Batman was a machine at this point. His skill in martial arts has exceeded all of his teachers. And he was still continuing to train.

.

Batman was watching Deathstroke as he watched the Dark Knight with new interest. He had never encountered someone who dealt with him as this man in front of him. He knew Ra's al Ghul of course and also Sensei who was also a member of the League of Assassins, but neither of the two could handle him as this man did. But he believed that this was all there was to him, all defence and making sure to not get hurt.

"Is that it?", Deathstroke asked.

"What?"

"Is that all you can do? Defend and drag the fight out."

"Has your ego suffered?"

"What was that?"

"..."

"You're one arrogant prick, aren't you? Well then let me- !!"

Deathstroke was about to say something 'threatening', but Batman didn't want to hear it. He thought it was time to end this farce. With faster speed than he had shown until now, he appeared in Deathstroke's guard and punched at his face. Using his immense reflexes, Deathstroke managed to dodge the strike but was immediately attacked in another location. As the fist was flying past his face, Batman bent his arm so that his elbow was now in front and this hit the Assassin square in the face.

This very brief window was not wasted. Batman low-kicked Deathstroke's thigh and followed it up with a roundhouse to his midsection. He pulled his leg back and was upon Deathstroke again. He bent his knees and struck him with several lightning-fast strikes. The gentle gloves were off now. Utilising his personal variation of Wing Chun, Batman began a Gojo-like beatdown of the mercenary.

Strike to the face from the right, strike to the face from the left, two strikes to the thorax, three soft taps aimed at the joints between the armour of Deathstroke's armour and so on. The strikes rained down on the mercenary with brutality and were aimed to both hurt and disorient him as well as mask the soft taps Batman did to the weak spots between Deathstroke's armour.

.

However, Batman's opponent is not just anyone. Deathstroke manages to block one strike, effectively ending the series of attacks. Slade's healing factor is the reason why he is still fighting. Batman knows this of course. The Assassin launches a rapid series of kicks and punches, aiming to overwhelm Batman with speed and technique. Batman, however, maintains a calm and centred demeanour. He effortlessly dodges and redirects each strike, seamlessly moving like water in a stream. Deathstroke, surprised by Batman's ability to read and counter his movements, takes a step back.

"What a-"

His talk is interrupted however as his right arm suddenly becomes limp and hangs from his shoulder without strength. His right arm isn't the only limb this happens to, as his left leg also loses all its strength and Deathstroke only manages to keep standing due to his remarkable balance. The fight is effectively finished as tremendous amounts of pain assault his brain and he bites his teeth in a desperate attempt to keep conscious.

In an interesting and unlucky turn of events the good man's pain is still not over. Batman springs into action once again. He grabs Deathstroke's arm and pulls him towards him. Just as that happens a bullet pierces the mercenary and shoots a hole into him. This is the last straw in the fight and he exclaims his pain for the first time in the fight.

"ARGH"

Batman uses Deathstroke's body as a shield and takes something out of his utility belt. A special type of Batarang he designed to catch snipers off guard. He throws it into the night and it disappears from everyone's sight. Another shot is heard and he sees a container above falling down towards him. Without care, he jumps down between containers and to safety. He disappears into the darkness, just as an explosion happens where the container hits the other one.

.

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(Unknown POV)

"Not so fast Deathstroke, he's my ki- ... what the f*ck? What is going on?", I exclaim unknowingly.

- A few minutes before -

Here I am finding the perfect place to set up my sniper rifle. I wait for a moment and not even that long after that, an explosion shreds the building near the docks. Cool, I think to myself, now I don't have to look and wait too long for the vigilante who dresses as a bat. That is until I see who laid out this trap. It wasn't even so much of a trap as it was an invitation.

Yeah, he even said it was one. I know Deathstroke. I've known him for a while now. He is famous for this kind of business. His skills are legendary but I am the man who never misses. You don't get to kill him while I am here. So I take my time when I see that the Batman seems to be handling himself fairly well. His skills don't seem to be as exaggerated as I thought in the beginning. I thought he worked with fear and looking at his suit, that's indeed the case. That black suit with the red bat sign and small red lines and the shadow-like cape and that sword ... truly impressive.

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I focus on my task and watch the fight through the visor. You must admire their skills and the high-intensity fight where two men fight to the death. Although it doesn't look like Batman is doing that. He waits for Deathstroke to recover, three times now. I see the fight take a drastic turn, however. Suddenly the fight is no longer even, instead, it is a one-sided beatdown of Deathstroek. I have never seen something like this.

The speed at which Batman punches and kicks that man ... I have to use this chance. I aim my sniper rifle at Batman and try to get a clean shot, but his random movements make this hard. I wait for the right time. I am captured by the fight as it seems like Deathstroke makes a comeback for a moment. But then something strange happens. Deathstroke seems to lose all his strength, without Batman doing anything.

"What the f*ck is going on?", I exclaim. I stop thinking about it and aim at Batman. He might be standing very close to Deathstroke, but that is the risk you take in this job. I aim and shoot. I feel the recoil as the bullet shoots at massive speeds and just as it's about to hit Batman ... he pulls Deathstroke between him and the bullet and makes Deathstroke take the hit instead. My brain stops for a second before I aim at the chains holding a container in the air. I aim at those and see the container fall on top of the two.

However, I no longer see Batman when the container falls to the ground as an explosion occurs and blocks my sight.

"F*ck!"

I wait for the flames to die down when I am hit in the side by something and feel pain on my forehead.

"ARGH!!! WHAT THE F*CK?!"

I put a hand on my forehead and when I look at it, I see blood. I am bleeding. A long slash is on my forehead and I am bleeding like a waterfall. Headwounds are always those that bleed a lot. But what is going on here? How did this happen? I look around and find something stuck in the container next to me. I approach it and see ... a Batarang!!

Did that guy ... seriously ... argh what ... what is going ... on? My vision is ... getting all ... blurry ...

*Thud*

I fall to the ground and the last thing I see ... are black and red boots ...

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This was hard to write. While I did have an amazing trailer to help me with this, it isn't a carbon copy. Show some love please.