Risk It All: High Card (ch. 23) (Patreon)

Not needing sleep was a hellish thing to inflict on another person, I learned. It wasn't until you went without that you really understood the value of it, but sleeping rebooted your brain. It was an important button used to put a pause on the worries of day to day life, a reprieve from all the stress. When you hit play and picked your life back up the next morning, you could look at things with a fresh perspective. All the additional hours in the day totally didn't make up for that loss.

Especially after a day as hectic as mine had been. I had dropped seventy thousand points on a handful of skills that were very much not hero-related, and I sure as hell wouldn't be using them to take in prestige. The benefits to my personal life aside, they were points that I had essentially thrown down the drain because I was horny and insecure.And then there's the fact that I had just had the first sexual experience of my life, and it put me in a situation that I knew deep down was going to bite me in the ass.

I could really use a reset right now. What I wouldn't give to be able to go to sleep and wake up bright-eyed and refreshed for the next day. The experiences of yesterday fading a little as they settled into memory. But, beyond all that, I had no regrets with my decisions. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Still, the sun had risen, the events of last night were behind me, and it was time to tackle whatever today had to throw at me. And pretty much first thing in the morning, I got a message from Wonder Woman, asking me to come in to train. That rang an alarm bell in the back of my mind -- so far, we hadn't don't a lot of student-mentor stuff. Part of that was because of the mission, and partly because she told me she wanted me to settle in after the illusion world fiasco.

Given the timing, I was naturally suspicious, but  Wonder Woman was my mentor, so when she said to jump, I jumped. I got dressed in some workout clothes, a different pair than I wore last night since I wasn't a savage, and I headed down to the Zeta Tube. In a bright flash of light, I vanished from the basement of my home and reappeared at the Mountain. The first thing I saw was Wonder Woman waiting for me at the other end.

"Ren," Wonder Woman greeted me, and as soon as she spoke, I knew I was in trouble. It wasn't quite a 'mom' voice, but there was a subtle edge there that told me that she wasn't exactly happy with me. Did the Mountain have cameras in the bathroom? Because that was messed up.

"Wonder Woman," I returned, trying to keep my caution from creeping into my voice. I could just be imagining it, after all. Best not to tip her off-

"I understand you had a late night last night?" Wonder Woman prodded, and… yeah. She knew. She absolutely knew. One hundred percent certainty. She absolutely, positively, knew. I was fucked. And not in the good way. I really hope that this didn't mess anything up for Zatanna -- I knew her dad was a bit of a helicopter parent. Shit. I should have just…

"Yeah, kinda. I don't need to sleep anymore, so I stopped by the Mountain to kill time," I said, and I used every trick that I had developed in my time as a gambler to maintain my poker face. I should have just come clean then -- spill my guts to get ahead of the situation and offer context before she came to her own conclusions. But… I was kinda dumb, and I was in too deep.

Wonder Woman let out a breath of amusement, "Batman will be jealous," she remarked. I was a little surprised that she wasn't ripping me a new one then and there, but I wasn't going to complain. "But, as much as you might wish to fill up that time with something  productive, remember that mental exhaustion is something that needs to be avoided as well. Every second of every day doesn’t need to be dedicated to self-improvement. A sword sharpened too often is that much easier to break."

That sounded like a lecture. Had I mistaken her lecturing tone for the tone of 'you're in such deep shit that you can't see the sun'? I'd rather get lectured about making sure that I take the time to goof off every now and then, rather than get lectured about Zatanna. I offered a curt nod in response, deciding to take the lesson to heart. I was feeling it already, sorta.

After coming back home, I tried to take my mind off of everything and mindlessly edited and recorded some videos. After yesterday, and that, my mind felt like mush. My focus was draining.

"I'll do my best to keep an eye on it," I promised as I approached, following Wonder Woman as she led us to the training room. "So, what are we doing today?" I asked her, my guard starting to slip. I'm still pretty sure that she knew, but she wasn't talking about it. Or, at the very least, she wasn't leading with it. For that, I was thankful.

Wonder Woman smiled lightly, "Today, we will improve your swordsmanship," she answered as she drew her own sword which rested at her hip. It was a gladius, I think. It was a type of short sword. It had  a slender blade with a golden hilt, no real decoration beyond leather wrappings for a comfortable grip. "Unless you've spontaneously improved it already?"

I offered a smirk, "I've picked up some techniques," I admitted as I drew my katana. I could invest some more points into Katana Basics, but it could be a waste. I'd prefer an actual style, something that would work well with Water Streaming Smashing Rock Fist. To prove my words, I settled in a wide stance, my hand resting on the hilt of my sword as I prepared the Batto Drawing Technique and Reinforcement.

Wonder Woman looked unsurprised, "I suspected as much. Very well, let us begin." She said, and it was evident that she saw her victory as a foregone conclusion. And she should -- she had wiped the floor with the entire Team, myself included. I was a long way away from Wonder Woman considering me a threat.

I adopted the rhythm of the Moon Breathing style before I darted forward in a Flash Step. However, this time it was different. In every Flash Step before, the world passed by me too quickly to really perceive it. It was all just a blur as large distances were crossed in a single step. This time, however, I could see the world around me. It was still fast, almost too fast, but in the mess of blurry images and streaks of color, I could make out Wonder Woman's response.

Darting to the side, I avoided her counterattack, but I was forced to retreat when the downward slash became a sideways one in the blink of an eye. As fast as I was, she still had the reflexes to counter me. I came to a stop some distance away, and I saw Wonder Woman settle into a stance if her own, her sword leveled at me and her lasso clutched in her other  hand. "Your skill with the Flash Step has increased," she noted.

It had. Part of that was me upping the skill, but the skill said nothing about me being able to perceive my surroundings. It just made me faster, let me move further, and granted me more directions. Which meant that increasing my Perception was the key. That was very good to know.

In response, I just smirked before I flash stepped again. I darted to the side, circling Wonder Woman at high speeds. The momentum allowed me to go even faster until my surroundings were a complete blur of color and all I could see was Wonder Woman herself. She was ready for me, even when I tried a surprise attack from the front, thinking that she would expect it from the back.

As fast as lightning, my katana darted out as I raced towards her -- the Qi swirling in the blade made it as fast as a bullet as it shot out of the sheath like one. I came to an abrupt stop when my sword clashed against hers in a shower of sparks, my blade just barely holding up with the reinforcement.

Wonder woman gave me a fierce smile before she kicked me in the gut hard enough that I was sent flying, skidding away until I hit the wall.

"Ow," I muttered, a hand going up to my gut, feeling a foot-shaped bruise forming below my ribs.

"You're getting creative with your techniques," she praised. "But they only work on those that are slower and weaker than you. Which is many, but you should never go into battle believing you are the strongest." Wonder Woman lectured me as I got up. I glanced at my blade to see a nick in it. Already. And as it was a reverse-style blade, with the cutting edge on the inside and thus the thickest part of the blade facing outwards, it was even more irritating. Part of that was to be expected given that it was Wonder Woman's sword -- I had seen videos of her cutting cars in half with her sword like a knife through butter.

If anything, I should be impressed my sword held up at all. Still, it was annoying that I was just burning  through weapons.

"A reversed blade?" Wonder Woman questioned as I settled into my stance and fed the sword back into its sheath.

"I figured I should use it since I don't want to cut anything off of anyone on accident," I replied, earning an approving nod from the older woman.

"A wise precaution… but a misguided one. A blade like that, if you aren't careful, will crush bone and tear skin. I can't say for certain if it's more dangerous than a normal sword, but I can say that it's not less," Wonder Woman said, making me wince. "It's how you use it, Ren. Which is why we are here."

I nodded, "You're right," I conceded the point. Still, I'd rather break arms and legs rather than cut them off. I took in a fresh breath to deepen my breathing rhythm, and again, I reinforced the blade as I prepared the drawing technique. I felt a pull at my gut, a warning of sorts. I ignored it to flash step forward, darting into Wonder Woman's attack range.

Then I backed out, waiting a millisecond for her to counter, and after her blade began to move, I darted back in. My sword darted out -- my blade was blocked by Wonder Woman's, but the second struck her abdomen, an arc of the night sky following the attack. The third and fourth strike struck in a tight triangle, all of them leaving trails of the night sky that all slammed into Wonder Woman as well.

I heard her grunt as she skidded back a half step, the spinning moons breaking on her body and armor. She started to counter, her sword darting toward me, only to stop when I fell to a knee and gasped for breath. My sword fell from my hand as I clawed at my heart, which was hammering away at my ribs like a sledge hammer. For  a painful few seconds, air refused to enter my lungs as I struggled to breathe. I felt Wonder Woman's hands on my shoulders, but her voice sounded different.

Every muscle in my sword arm felt like it was contracted, forcing my hand contort into a disfigured looking fist while my arm seemed to thrash and bend of its own free will. The pain was excruciating for those few seconds, but it lessened with each one. Ten seconds later, I could breathe again.

"Ren, what was that?" She questioned, taking my hand into hers and massaging the muscles to get them to loosen up.

That was an excellent question. "I think… some of my techniques… don't work well together," I rasped out. I recognized this pain. This was the backlash from the Moon Breathing style. It fought against everything that wasn't done as some kind of arc or crescent. And I guess the sword drawing technique didn't qualify since it was a thrust. But, more than that, I felt exhausted. The kind of exhaustion that I felt in my bones.

I had  tried to stack too many techniques on top of each other. I tried to use too many at once. The Tsubame Gaeshi was an endurance-intensive technique. I thought by strengthening my body with the breathing style, it would afford me more strikes, but when combined with reinforcement, flash step, and the new quickdraw style … it was just too much.

"I'm fine," I reassured, a bead of sweat rolling down my forehead. "I just need a second. Good thing I learned this lesson here instead of out in the field."

Wonder Woman frowned, "Yes, it is. This could have been fatal in the field." She fell silent for a moment longer, "Your power develops so quickly that it's difficult to find its limits, but we do need to find them. If you can continue, then we should find them now."

I swallowed thickly, "I can do that," I said as I stood up. I felt the familiar ache of exhaustion, but I pushed it to the side by taking in a deep breath. I felt warmth in my gut as I slipped into the Black Heaven and Earth Technique, restoring my strength and casting away my exhaustion. I only realized I had closed my eyes when I opened them and I found Wonder Woman giving me a concerned look. "I'm good."

I would be feeling it after practice, but if you weren't sore after a workout, then you weren't pushing yourself.

Picking up my sword, I gripped it with white knuckles before I had Gluttony eat the sheath, effectively sealing the Batto Drawing Technique for now. I settled in a basic stance as Wonder Woman returned to hers. She pinned a heavy look on me, telling me that she was ready to end this bout at a moment’s notice if she thought I was pushing myself past my limits instead of just finding them.

It was tempting to tap into Beifong's power set, but for now, I was sticking with Koi's. He was the one that used a sword, and that's what I needed to improve on.

My heel arched, a tell that I couldn't erase, before I flash stepped forward. I moved in a static pattern, and I felt each movement shave off a little of my remaining endurance. Wonder Woman, having experienced the tactic before, quickly responded by lashing out with the flat of her blade, only for it to turn out to be a faint to catch me as I dodged. I avoided the blow by going the direction she thought I couldn't -- above.

I double jumped to correct my trajectory as I lashed out with my blade. It came as  no surprise that Wonder Woman blocked it, using her bracelets to catch the blade. I sailed over her, skidding to a halt before I flash stepped back into striking range. Again, my blade was countered, diverted to the side, but I used that momentum to soon sharply to deliver a kick of my own.

I felt the lasso wrap around my ankle an instant later, but it was too late to do anything about it as I felt myself pulled into the air by my leg before I was whipped around. I double jumped to break the momentum, my hand going to the hoop around my ankle, only to feel myself hit the ground. I rolled across the floor until eventually coming to a stop, breathing hard. The difference between us was simply too great. Me at my best couldn't beat Wonder Woman at her worst.

Slipping out of the noose, I rolled to my feet as Wonder Woman spun it to her side. "Your style relies on extreme speed and tricky maneuvers, but once you encounter someone fast or strong enough that those tricks don't work, your style completely falls apart. You have a foundation to build off of. It's why I'm teaching you through live combat instead of teaching you basic sword techniques. You have to build on that foundation. Not with techniques, but with skill. A style or methodology for how to deal with opponents like me that you can't  outspeed or catch off guard."

A Quest has been created!

Build on the Foundation!

Rewards: ,prestige.

"Yeah… yeah, I know," I agreed, lowering my sword as I took a seat on the ground. I don't think I was supposed to give up like that, but she gave me some serious food for thought. "What I have works good enough, but good enough isn't good enough."

"That it isn't. Is there a reason why your father hasn't taught you your family's martial arts?" She asked, and I offered a shrug as I opened up my Skill list. It was filling out nicely, but that wasn't what I was looking for. It felt like I had a lot of pieces for a puzzle, but I hadn't found a way to click them into place.

"He said that he would, but he's been dragging his feet. I think he's waiting for me to get stronger so when my family from the Mainland tries to kill us for him teaching it to me, we won't have anything to worry about," I offered my theory. I hadn't exactly been pushing to learn, but every time I brought it up, without fail, the topic would change before I got an estimation of when we would begin.

Wonder Woman opened her mouth to comment but decided against it. All the while, I took a moment to think about what I wanted my style to be. I had some sword techniques, and I had some hand-to-hand techniques -- I would like to use them both in combination with my high mobility. But, Wonder Woman was right. Right now, my style imploded when I encountered someone faster or stronger than me.

My one reliable trick was the Tsubame Gaeshi, and Dad said I should stop spamming it. And he had been right then and he was right now.

The core of my style as Koi was high mobility. I blitzed enemies. So, how did I take that philosophy to another level? What did I need to do?

"You don't have to come up with an answer now, Ren. It's something you should think about going forward," Wonder Woman offered a way out, but I wasn't taking it. That quest didn't come with a time limit, but I wanted an answer to this question. And, if I didn't mind not getting a reward for it, I had ten thousand points to spend.

"Rotation," I muttered to myself, getting lost in thought. Water Streaming Rock Smashing Fist, Moon Breathing… they both dealt with rotation. The former as a counter method, and the later to deliver attacks. Flash Step to bring me to my enemies… and Black Heaven and Earth to let me stay. I nodded to myself, knitting together the four techniques as the foundation of my style. No clue what I was going to call it, but that really didn't matter.

"I'm ready to go again," I decided, rising to my feet. Wonder Woman cocked an eyebrow but said nothing. She retreated a few steps, her lasso idly spinning next to her, and…

I flashed stepped directly at her, my blade swinging down as Wonder Woman went to block it. I flash stepped to the side, still continuing with the same swing. Wonder Woman still blocked it by adjusting her grip, just as she had before, causing my blade to bounce off of hers, and as it did so, I pivoted as I flash stepped once again, darting to the side while continuing to build up  my momentum to deliver another blow that she was out of position for.

It was a simple change, in the end. Wonder Woman was right, I already had a really solid foundation. I just had to build on it. And the first thing I had to do was shift away from the hit and run tactics. That had been born when I was far weaker. When I was the definition of a glass cannon. Things had changed. I could hold my own now.

Instead of dipping in and out, I used flash step and the rotational movements of my Water Streaming Rock Smashing Fist and Moon Breathing to continuously keep my momentum from diminishing, redirecting and utilizing the force from her counterattacks to relentlessly stay on the offensive.

Wonder Woman flicked the lasso out, intent on trapping me. I smacked the lasso away with my blade, completing the rotation that started to slam my blade against one of her bracers. The impact was jarring, but I used the rebound of metal bouncing off of metal to soon come back around, going from a high downward angled splash to a low upward slash that she blocked with her sword.

My breathing deepened as I sank deeper into the rhythm of the moon Breathing style and the Black Heaven and Earth Technique. The two went hand in hand with each other, perfectly complimenting each other. Both made me stronger, but the latter vastly increased by how much. And as my strength increased, the more momentum I built up, the faster my attacks rained down on Wonder Woman's near-impenetrable guard.

The night sky trailed after my blade, my slashes  lingering in the form of ephemeral crescent moons, still carrying their momentum and as I smoothly moved my blade to strike from other angles and forced Wonder Woman to block from elsewhere, they managed to strike her. They only managed to break themselves upon her body, but anyone else would have been cut to ribbons. I darted around her with flash step when I could, when my flowing movements left me in the right position to, constantly staying in close quarters, before I leaped up. Wonder Woman reacted, her lasso flicking upwards, wrapping around my sword and yanking it back.

She tried to rip it from my grip, but instead, all she did was give me more rotational force to work with, more momentum to add to my strikes. Using double jump, I spun sharply in the air, building on that momentum to deliver a powerful kick to her collarbone. I'm pretty sure that I did more damage to my leg than I did to her, but that didn't matter. It was the first clean hit that I had managed to land on her that didn't involve fucking with cluster universes.

I flipped back after delivering the blow, landing lightly on my feet. My body felt fine, but I noticed I was breathing hard. It was hard to tell how tired I was when I just felt the heat radiating from my core. I readied my sword to begin the next bout and-

The top half of it broke off. My jaw dropped as I looked at my brand new sword in absolute bewilderment.  I got the thing yesterday. What the hell was this? "Seriously?!" I protested, looking at the blade -- it looked battered to hell and back. Not only were there divets and chips in it, but parts of the blade were actually crumbling in on themselves. The deep crack that killed the sword wasn't even the only one.

"It fell apart rather quickly compared to the others," Wonder Woman remarked, falling out of her stance, wearing a slight smile on her face.

"I wasn't reinforcing it," I answered. And maybe that was a mistake. I was trying to lighten the load on my qi, so I had left the katana alone. Maybe it would work better if I did something like bursts of reinforcement rather than sustaining it? Maybe? I had no clue. But it couldn't be denied that I was chewing through weapons. "I guess I was asking too much of it."

She approached and picked up the tip of the weapon, "It seems to be serviceable steel, but steel wasn't made for superpowers. The blacksmiths of Themyscira shall forge you a worthy weapon. It's certain to last you much longer than anything the man's world will provide."

On second thought, I'm so glad that my sword broke. "Oh, thanks!" I agreed instantly as I fed the broken hilt to Gluttony. Wonder Woman watched it disappear with a small blink of her eyes, but she didn't question it.

"There is no need. You are my protege, Ren. It's my duty to not just teach you, but also to provide what you need to learn," Wonder Woman stated seriously. "You've made admirable progress today. I trust that you will continue to do so going forward."

I nodded, slowly easing up on the various techniques I was using, and I started to feel it. I had taken a big bite out of my endurance with the mistake earlier, but now I had pushed well beyond that. My muscles felt like they were being eaten by battery acid, and all my bones  felt like they were scraping against each other. My pain must have shown on my face because the next thing I knew, I had an arm wrapped around Wonder Woman's shoulders as she supported me.

"Another lesson to learn -- you need to learn when to stop while you're ahead," Wonder Woman noted as she brought me to the break room, gently hovering in the air so I wouldn't need to walk.

She was right. I recognized that flaw in myself, but I still did it every time I could -- I just kept going. As much as I would like to think otherwise, I still had a gambler in me.

She laid me down on a green couch, looking down with an expression of concern. Then it became pensive. "We are done for the day, but there is one thing I would like to speak to you about -- your relationship with Zatanna."

Ah, shoot. She absolutely had known and she lured me into a false sense of security. And she waited until I tired myself out so I couldn't run away. Clever. I wonder if I can get the Gluttony demon to eat me, too?

"I will ask you this once, Ren -- what skills did you develop?" She asked me, and I would be embarrassed, but there was a hard look in her eye. Not anger or anything like that. Just a hard look. In response, I raised up a hand towards her lasso, a gesture of intent that seemed to reassure her a little as I took the lasso in my hand.

"I developed Kiss, Foreplay, and Sex," I answered and it was kinda weird. I didn't intend to lie, but the truth forced itself past my lips almost before my brain could register that I was talking. Now the blush was coming in full force. "I… don't really have any excuses. I didn't want to be a bad kisser, and then when things escalated -- well, I've heard that girls are hard to please, and I wanted Zatanna to enjoy herself."

The look in Wonder Woman's eyes softened, though now she wore an expression that told me that she thought I was an idiot. "Did you have sex?" She questioned directly, and I shook my head.

"No, I didn't want our first time to be in a bathroom," I answered instantly.

She nodded slowly, "And your intentions towards Zatanna?" Wonder Woman asked, and that was a weird question. With the others, there had been a clear-cut answer that the lasso could rip from me. This one… if the other questions compelled me to tell the truth, then this question compelled me to be honest.

"I have absolutely no idea. I like her, and I think she kicks ass, but I don't know if we're dating or anything. I mean, we have a date. We might be boyfriend and girlfriend? I don't really know. We haven't talked about it and I don't know if I should bring it up because I think it would be really bad if I ask. Either she thinks we're already dating, and in that case, I come across as a total asshole, or she doesn't think we're dating, then I look desperate and clingy. And I'm not sure if we should date since I'm team leader and I've heard bad things about relationships when there's an imbalance of power. And-"

In a very telling move, Wonder Woman yanked the lasso of truth from my hand, looking unimpressed at the word vomit that just came four my mouth. "Sorry," I finished.

"You have nothing to apologize for. I didn't believe you would, but with your powers, it could be easy to abuse them even without intention to do so. I wanted to double-check to ensure that wasn't the case," She said, and she was holding the lasso, so I guess that was the truth. "As for Zatanna… I cannot tell you what to do. But, I can tell you this-"

Wonder Woman reached down to pinch my chin, forcing me to look up at her. "We do not expect perfection from you, Ren. You are able to make mistakes."

My lips thinned ever so slightly, "Not with half the Justice League hating my guts," I pointed out.

"The League does not hate you. Some had reservations, but you have proven yourself," she said, but I still had doubts. It hadn't been that long since my position on the Team was up for debate. "So, yes, you can make mistakes. As for whether  this relationship you're developing with Zatanna is a mistake, that is something that can only be answered in time."

She let go of my chin, "Treat the relationship and her with respect, and learn from each other. Communicate your desires, needs, and wants. It may not be smooth sailing, but with those things, and the blessing of Aphrodite, your relationship shall endure. Even against Zatara," Wonder Woman finished, neither giving me her blessing nor warning off the relationship. Just some advice about how to avoid mistakes while encouraging me to make them.

That was not helpful at all.

"Thanks. I think," I muttered as Wonder Woman chuckled.

"I shall let you rest for now-" Wonder Woman began, before she pressed a hand to her ear. The warm look she had faded into a mask of resolve. "I'm on my way," she said before she cast a final look at me. "Rest, Ren. I will be back later."

I had no clue what the emergency could be, but I felt pretty useless strung out as I was on the couch. "Be careful," I called out to her as she left the rec room. She didn't respond with anything other than a nod before she flew out of the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

I had Gluttony eat the remote and then spit it out in my hand, letting me turn on the TV without having to get up. I wasn't actually sure if I could get up just yet. Turns out it did get more than just static. On the screen was a broadcast, shaky camera footage of a fight taking place. A singular figure fighting Superman blow for blow, each one making the ground shake from the explosive force. The figure was tall, with green pants with no shirt. Or rather, on closer inspection it was his legs that were green.

It wasn't human. An android or robot or something.

I watched the broadcast in silence, saying nothing even as Wonder Woman joined the fray, as the figure did battle with half of the Justice League at once.

The taste of triumph and progress vanished, replaced with the taste of ash.

I took a step forward today… but the path ahead of me was a long one.

...

This is one of those chapters that just got away from me -- The training section was meant to be only a thousand or so words long, but when I started the ball just kept rolling. So, it's not really what I intended, but it was a fun chapter.