Death Battle: Ladd Russo vs. Victor Zsasz

Question: The combatants are set and the arguments have been made.

Abe: Now, it's time to settle this debate on who's the more lethal of psychotic killers.

Steel: IT'S TIME FOR A PSYCHO DEATH BATTLE...y'know, I REALLY envy these guys.

Question: Shut up now, Steel.

--

New York, 1920's...

Victor Zsasz, renowned psychopath and regular at Arkham Asylum, was causing mayhem on the mean streets of Prohibition-era New York. How? Why? WHY ASK ME?! I COULDN'T EVEN FIGURE OUT HOW JOKER AND HARLEY GOT INTO THIS-happy place, happy place...okay, back on track.

Zsasz had a knife to the throat of a victim as policemen gathered, guns out as he held his knife at the bystander's throat.

"I WILL liberate this zombie!" he snarled.

A man clad in a white tuxedo walked up, handing the officer a wad of cash, "Hey, I'll look into this."

When the officer took the cash, the man pulled out a lupara and promptly blew his head off. He then shot the other officer before punching the other out cold. He stood up and loaded some fresh rounds into his shotgun, grinning like a child at Christmas.

"ALWAYS love that." He grinned, walking over to Victor. This was none other than the infamous enforcer for the Russo family, Ladd Russo.

Victor promptly cut the throat of his victim, spraying blood all over the streets before dropping the corpse. He took a second to carve a tally mark onto his chin.

"Well, guess I'm gonna have to kill ya now, baldie." Ladd grinned.

"You? A simple zombie kill ME?" Victor asked, clenching his knife.

"Ya wanna get nuts?" Ladd asked, pointing Blasty as Victor, "C'mon, let's get nuts!"

"I'll show you what crazy really is!" Victor yelled.

FIGHT!
Ladd fired his gun only to see Victor dodge the blast before slashing with his knife. Ladd evaded the slash before slamming his fist into Victor's gut.

"Nice try, shrimp!" he smirked. He brought the butt of his shotgun smashing into Victor's chest, sending the scarred man to the ground, "Was really expecting more of a fight. Guess I'll have to make do with-"

What Ladd would have to make do with was unknown as Victor sprung up, driving his knife into Ladd's leg. The boxing psychopath yelled in pain as he recoiled and blood covered his pant leg. Victor got to his feet and, with surprising agility, pulled the knife from Ladd's leg and crouched, knife grasped tightly in his hand. Ladd looked at his injury before a wide smile stretched across his face as he looked and saw Victor lick the blood off his knife. This was going to be fun!

The two lunged at each other, Ladd swinging Blasty around as a bludgeoning weapon, watching Zsasz dodge before slashing with his knife. Before his blade made contact with the energetic mobster, he side-stepped and thrust his foot out. Zsasz jumped back, hurling his knife at Ladd, who brought his lupara smashing into it, sending it hurling away.

"HOME RUN!" he whooped.

A good distance away...

"Hey, Isaac?"

"Oh, what is it, Miria?"

"What was up with that train thing earlier?"

"Well...let me see..." Isaac murmured, holding up a finger for each thing that happened earlier, "There was a train...and the rail tracer...and a lady clown..."

SPLAT!

The knife flew out of the sky and straight through Isaac's chest. With a loud clang, it buried itself, blade-first, into the ground. He and Miria simply stared at the knife, surprised at what just happened. A few moments passed by as they simply stared at the

"There IS an explanation for this."

Back in the fight...

Ladd tossed Blasty aside and rushed at Victor, who drew another knife from his belt. The two psychos collided, Victor ducking under a punch to make a slash, only for Ladd to grab his wrist and promptly twist it around, pulling the knife free. He grabbed it as it fell, slashing across Zsasz's chest, cutting across the tally mark on it.

"YOU RUINED MY COUNT!" he screamed, pulling out two more knives, clutching them firmly in his hands.

"Oh boy!" Ladd grinned, spinning the knife in hand.

Ladd hurled the knife at Victor, who deflected it. He then began slashing at Ladd, who dodged, delivering a series of swift punches to Victor's face, making him recoil before slashing, grazing the childish assassin on the cheek. Ladd growled, punching at Victor, only for the fist to hit empty air. Victor evaded and stabbed his knife into Ladd's shoulder. Ladd grit his teeth before grabbing Zsasz by the wrist, punching him in the face, making an audible crunch. The knife-wielding psycho's nose was broken, blood spurting out everywhere.

“YOU THINK YOU'RE SMARTER THAN ME!” Ladd roared, punching Zsasz's face over and over, “IS THAT IT?! YOU THINK YOU'RE SMARTER THAN ME?! WELL, LET'S SEE HOW SMART YOU ARE WITH A PILE OF HAMBURGER FOR A FACE!”

With a snarl, Zsasz bit down on Ladd's shoulder. The Russo's top assassin snarled before the tallied killer kicked him in the gut, sending him back before slashing at his shoulder, cutting through the white fabric. At this point, Ladd's clothes were stained with crimson blood, but he still seemed to be going strong. He quickly closed the distance, grabbing Victor's arm and twisting it, making an audible CRACK as he dislocated it. Ladd then began driving his fist into the gut.

“Kidney punch!” he exclaimed, laughing like a ten-year-old watching his favorite cartoon, “Kidney punch! Kidney punch! KIDNEY PUNCH!”

Through the blood and pain, Zsasz smirked. The stupid zombie had given him exactly what he wanted, his arm was dislocated, but he still clung to the knife. He swung his injured arm, his knife jamming itself right into Ladd's gut. As the childish assassin hunched over in pain, Zsasz ducked down, his knife flashing as it cut through his thigh. Unable to support his weight anymore, Ladd fell to his knees. With another explosion of pain, Zsasz shoved his knife into Ladd's back.

Victor then bolted over to the lupara, quickly checked to see if it was loaded. Seeing a round still inside it, he sprung right back to Ladd and put the barrel right at the back of his head.

“Consider this a favor from me.” he hissed.

BLAM!

The shotgun fired, promptly destroying Ladd's skull, leaving him with a bloody cavity in the middle on his head right where the upper half of his face used to be. It fell down, blood pouring from it as his heart pumped it out.

Zsasz looked at the lupara with a disdainful expression before tossing it to the ground, right at the newly-freed zombie's corpse. Guns. Couldn't stand them most of the time, but he could make an exception every now and then.

He pulled his knife out with his good hand and promptly carved a second tally mark into his chin. He then began limping away, despite the agonizing pain. There were MANY more zombies for him to save from their meaningless existence. Physical pain and discomfort meant nothing when compared to that noblest of causes.

K-O!

--

Steel: LADD, NO! FIRST REVY, THEN HIM! YOU GUYS TAKE EVERYTHING I LOVE AND YOU RIP MY HEART OUT!

Abe: (patting Steel on the back) There, there, Steel. It's okay, there are other psychopaths for you to idolize.

Question: DON'T encourage him. Anyway, the two were basically matched in terms of physicality. In fact, Ladd's fighting style and energy definitely made him a definite match for Zsasz. But there remains one deciding factor--technique.

Abe: Ladd, being more of a big, homicidal kid, wants fun while killing his opponents. Zsasz...not so much. As such, he's trying to end it while Ladd's wanting to make it as enjoyable as possible.

Question: And Zsasz is known for his cunning while Ladd pretty much makes it up as he goes. Not helping the fact is that Ladd can be tricked. That's how he lost his arm, after all.

Steel: (sniffles) In the end, a great man just didn't cut it...WAAAAAAAAAAA-HAAAA-HAAA!

Question: I work with a twenty-three-year-old child. The winner's Victor Zsasz.


VICTOR ZSASZ
+More weapon options
+Has dealt with armed adversaries
+Is used to dealing with people on Ladd's level
+Is used to dealing with better-trained people than Ladd
+More cunning mindset
-Inferior combat training


LADD RUSSO
+Lightning reflexes
+Superior hand-to-hand
+Shotgun gives him  ranged advantage
-Can be tricked
-Childish nature
-Not so good at long-term planning