Risk It All: Gambit (ch. 26) (Patreon)

I hit the ground hard, landing in a heap, and as much as I would like to stay down, I couldn't. Even though the grass was so soft and I was so sore.

I flipped back up onto my feet, only to quickly throw myself back onto my back a second later to avoid a kick to the temple. I felt the wind brush against my face as the force of Dad's roundhouse kick passed me by. Seeing my chance, I swept out with my leg to sweep Dad's foot out from under him while he was still committed to his kick, but my kick hit nothing but air.

Dad kicked off the ground and spun in the air with the grace of an acrobat, but there was no time to admire it, at my head. With far less grace than my father, I threw myself out of the way before rolling to my feet a short distance away, turning in time to watch as Dad brought his foot down. His foot slammed into the ground with a thud, sinking into the dirt of our backyard. Dad leveled his gaze at me before he slid into a stance that was quickly becoming familiar.

I had absolutely no clue what my family's martial arts even was. Dad applied a bunch of flowery speech to it, but underneath it all, the style was weird and hard to grasp. Maybe it was just because it was different from my own style and that was coloring my view of it, but my opinion was that it was... weird. I couldn't really think of a better way to articulate it.

Case in point, when I flashed stepped forward and threw a high kick at Dad's head, he blocked it with a kick of his own. His leg pushed down on mine, diverting it down and using it as leverage to launch a kick at my chest with his other leg that I blocked with my forearms. Fighting Dad made me reevaluate how I fought Jin. Or, rather, how she fought.

I thought our attacks kept clashing together, but that wasn't the whole truth. With the Heavenly White Tiger Fist, attacks served as counters. They met the attack head-on, and if they couldn't break through it with superior force, then they leveraged it for their counterattack.

"You two better not destroy the lawn. We finally have a yard -- if you don't take care of it, you'll be the ones fixing it," Mom warned, lounging on a chair near the backdoor. Both me and Dad looked at her, then at the various indentations our attacks had made in the lawn, and at a few places where we had kicked up the grass.

I settled into a wide stance and stamped once while lifting my arms up, leveling out the soil underneath us with Earthbending. The grass was beyond me, though. Dad sighed before he left his stance. "I believe that will be all for today. It seems I have yard work to do," Dad said, and I didn't miss Mom's smirk. She had taken to the suburbs like a fish to water.

Though, I wasn't sure where she came down when it came to Dad's side of the family. She seemed fine with us sparring and Dad teaching me, but… if I had to put it in words, she didn't seem to want to hear about me fighting my cousin. Or even about the team. She was open to listening about it, but I got the feeling she was avoiding it. Mom never said much about my superhero career, and, like just now, she would say something to change the subject or give us a reason to stop sparring when she saw us fighting.

A knowing glance from Dad told me I wasn't the only one that had noticed. "Right. Well, I have a date, soo…" I said, dragging out the last few syllables, and I wasn't just saying that because I wanted to get out of doing yard work. Today was the day that me and Zatanna agreed on for our date. Our first date. My first date. Mom offered me a smile. It felt predatory.

"Know what you're going to do?" She asked, giving this conversation more attention than she had our spar.

No. I had some ideas, but I'm not sure how exactly feasible they are. Or if I should even follow through with them. "Yeah, I think so," I lied through my teeth.

"Aw, you're so in over your head!" Mom squeed, seeing right through me, but not seeing fit to throw me a lifeline. "Just be a gentleman. And yourself." She advised unhelpfully, and I carefully swallowed down the question that of what I was supposed to do if those two things weren't the same thing. I had put my foot in my mouth more than a few times, but I did know some things were better off not said. Especially to my parents. Even more so when they implied impure thoughts.

"You will be fine," Dad offered, his words about as helpful as Mom's. And I was fine with that. I didn't want dating advice from my parents. That would be really weird, and kind of sad. I'd get it from the internet like a normal person.

Heading inside I quickly hopped into the shower, and as I washed off the sweat and the grass stains from my skin, I looked through the Market for an outfit. I probably should have done so sooner, but I didn't know if I would be getting more stat points or not. It had been a few days since the last mission. I was getting a good workout with Dad and rebuilding my nest egg.

Our most recent mission had showed me that I wasn't there yet. I was under no illusions that I was the strongest, but I did expect more from myself. If Jin had been someone like Black Mask, then I wouldn't be here today, and that was a bucket of cold water strong enough to knock me right off of cloud nine. I wasn't even sure I should be spending the points on clothes, in all honesty.

My prestige was climbing back up, though. My videos on Metube were doing pretty well across the board, and I was starting to eye up the other profiles I had made and consider actually using some of them. My language videos were doing the best, oddly enough. Enough so that I had started to pick up additional languages so I could start making even more videos. I was already fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese, English, Korean and I was working on Japanese. Multilingual was a powerhouse of a skill I didn't utilize much in my daily life, but it paid dividends here.

I was starting to pick up Spanish and some European languages as well, like French and German. The first one would be the hardest, but once I got it down, I think the rest would come easy.

I'd kind of gotten off track there. The point being, I could afford to splurge on some nice clothes.

For a date. With Zatanna. Which was oddly more intimidating than the black ops missions. Like, I was actually getting cold feet when it came to picking an outfit. I had no clue what we were even doing, so I didn't know what would be over or underdressed. I'd feel really stupid if I turned up in a shirt and jeans and she had a nice dress or something.

I mulled it over while I was in the shower, and eventually settled on a mix of formal and casual. My sneakers, some blue jeans, and a white button-down shirt. About as safe a choice as you could get.

Drying off and making my purchases, I pushed my hair back to reveal the scars on my forehead after getting dressed. Stepping out of my bedroom, I was greeted by Mom holding a camera.

"Smile!" She demanded, catching me flatfooted, and I did so without really thinking about it. When I saw the flash, my smile promptly dropped.

"Have fun on your date!" Mom said, clearly pleased herself and her new picture. I swallowed the sigh that wanted to escape me before I walked into the study and went down into the basement. Typing in a command to the Zeta Tube, I picked a destination other than the Mountain.

In a blinding flash, I found myself standing in a phonebooth. Pushing the door open, I made sure the alleyway I had arrived in was empty before stepping out. I was greeted by the familiar sounds of Gotham City -- I had never noticed how much noise there was in the city until I moved to Happy Harbor. People talking, horns honking, the sound of music playing, and so many more sounds that I grew up with and had eventually just become background noise I didn't pay any attention to.

I had missed the city, I thought as I waited for Zatanna. I never thought I would say that about Gotham City. Actually, I thought I would be happy to leave it and never step foot in Gotham ever again, but part of me had missed it. It was my home city for so long, for all of its flaws. And it had a lot of flaws, I admitted, hearing gunshots in the distance.

Wait, no. That actually sounded really close to where I was.

I flash stepped to the end of the alley and poked my head out, quickly spotting the source. Yakuza were easy to identify with the golden pins on their lapels, even in the heart of Chinatown. Three of them were standing in front of a mobile kiosk at the corner of the street. Based on the deflated tire of the kiosk, it was easy to guess what had been the target. There was a pale vendor inside who quickly began opening the cash register.

The Yakuza were getting bold, I thought as I started to walk, not even bothering to look both ways as I crossed the street. This was the heart of Chinatown, meaning we were deep in Triad territory.

That was probably the point -- a show of force to show people that paid protection money to the Triad that the Triad couldn't protect them. And while I wasn't exactly happy to help out the triads, I wanted a gang war starting up in my home even less.

The lookout spotted me as I approached. A hand went into his coat as a warning, the look on his face telling me to back off. I wasn't sure exactly when I lost my fear of handguns, but I just stepped onto the sidewalk without missing a beat. I think it had to do with the fact that I had seen bigger guns in action. Which was dumb, when I thought about it. Smaller guns were still deadly, it was just that bigger guns were more intimidating. They just seemed less dangerous in comparison.

Regardless, I neared just as he started to yank is hand out, and he barked a warning, "Get lost before you get hurt, punk-" he managed to get out before I sprung into action.

As he yanked out his hand, revealing the pistol in his grip, I reached out and grabbed him by the wrist, simultaneously grabbing the barrel of the gun as I did. With a wrenching motion, I tore it free of his hand. The gun clattered to the ground about the same time he did when I followed the move up with an elbow strike to his nose while hooking my leg behind his, tripping him up so that he fell to the ground.

The other two members of his posse took notice of me, but to my surprise, they didn't move to attack. The leader of the trio, the one who I'm guessing shot the vendor's tire, base don the already drawn gun he was holding and a fist full of money in his other hand, leveled a look at me. "You don't want to do this, kid. Walk away."

"Thanks for the advice. Here's some for you -- give the guy back his cash, and pay him for the tire you shot," That was more of a threat than advice, I noted in hindsight. Oh well.

"You with the Triad?" He asked me, lowering his gun and making a show of putting it back into his coat. The guy I knocked over scrambled to his feet, a reaching out to the gun that I had pulled out of his hand, but I put an end to that by stepping on the gun with my foot.

"No. Just someone who doesn't care for thugs robbing people in broad daylight," I returned, but I don't think he believed me. "Batman's an inspiration."

I saw his eyes linger on the scars on my forehead, and it was obvious what they were. "You survived two to the head. What are the chances you can take a third?" The Yakuza questioned, an edge in his tone.

"Better than yours if you don't give him back his money," I replied, making his eyes narrow. There was a beat of silence as we stared each other down, neither of us willing to back down. Then, very pointedly, he slammed the hand holding the money on the stall, probably to get me to flinch. I didn't.

He straightened up, leaving the money on the counter. "Be seeing you," he said as a farewell, the implication clear. He walked away, the other two in tow, though the one with the busted nose shot me a dirty look over his shoulder as the three walked away.

The owner of the stall bowed to me as soon as they were gone, "Thank you, but you should not have gotten involved young man! You could have been injured," he said, torn between gratitude and chastising me for being reckless. I guess that was fair. It wasn't like he knew I had superpowers.

I glanced at him, tearing my eyes away from the backs of the retreating Yakuza. "What were Yakuza doing in Chinatown?" I asked -- I had been keeping my finger on the situation, but I hadn't expected this kind of boldness. My question caught the vendor off guard, and he openly displayed his distress.

"I don't know. What's the point of paying off the Triads for protection if they're never here when you need them?!" He bit, not ashamed of paying protection money. Most weren't. Everyone did in Gotham, sadly enough. And I guess that answered why the Yakuza left so easily. Money wasn't the goal, delivering a message was. The vendor sighed, "Please, allow me to offer you something for your efforts."

I smiled and accepted, "Thank you." I said. It would have been rude to not accept his offer.

"Ren?" I heard Zatanna ask me from behind, making me glance over in the direction of her voice to see that she had shown up while I was busy. She looked… fantastic in high black boots that were tucked over see-through stockings, a short black skirt, and a white blouse with a number of frills near the neckline. "What happened?"

The vendor's face lit up as he presented two Chinese burgers. "Your friend saved my livelihood. He's a true hero," he said, and I didn't know his name, but I did know that he was a true bro and a good wingman.

That got a smile out of Zatanna, who cocked an eyebrow at me. "I'm sure he is," she returned evenly. I bowed as I accepted the burgers, trading a sly smile with the vendor. I was going to come back, and not just because the Yakuza might be gunning for him. He was a solid guy. The food was pretty good too, I noted as I took a bite out of my burger -- it wasn't like an American one. The meat was shredded, and it was well mixed with various spices. Meat gravy and chili paste took the place of ketchup and mustard. It was closer to a pulled pork sandwich than what American's typically thought of when they thought of burgers.

"Heroics in and out of costume? Or were you trying to impress me?" Zatanna asked me as we ate and walked.

"The Yakuza have been planning something, and I have been keeping an eye on them. Wasn't expecting them to be in Chinatown, though. Either the Triads are weaker than I thought after Black Mask put his foot to their throat, or the Yakuza have reason to be bolder than expected. Impressing you is a nice coincidence," I said, offering a sly smirk. This… was easier than I thought it would be.

I thought I would be fumbling to start a conversation. I even had a mental list of conversation starters. Part of that nervousness stemmed from the fact that me and Zatanna… well, we only had one on one time once, and… well, there hadn't been a lot of talking involved. I had no idea what I should do if all of a sudden, it turned out she was a massive bitch that kicked puppies whenever she saw them for fun. Not that that was likely to happen, but…

I knew going in that there were valid reasons why work places included a rule of no dating coworkers. And the more valid it seemed. But, despite being completely valid, I also wasn’t willing to break things off with Zatanna over what could happen.

"Black Mask left a power vacuum, right? He was a major gangster in Gotham, before…" she trailed off before she gestured to me. I fought back a wince at the reminder. I still didn't regret what I did to Black Mask, even with all the problems it gave me. It just wasn't something I liked talking about. That had been a darker time in my life.

Still, I nodded. Black Mask had been a Gotham local. It was only 'Batman' crippling him that brought him to international attention. Even as a local, Black Mask had some serious swinging power. He hadn't been the second coming of the Falcone family, but he was in the big leagues like Penguin or the Odessa Mob -- the two major Families that had experienced a windfall when Batman brought down Falcone.

"He had his thumb on East End, but he was moving into Little Asia when I got shot. Six months later, the Triads and Korean gangs were his whipping boys. Without him, Little Asia is on the market," I said, making Zatanna hum as she ate her burger.

"So, you're the hero of Little Asia?" She questioned, earning a shrug from me. "Dad doesn’t really do the whole patrolling an area thing. He hunts down cases across the world that have signs of magic, or something like a demon possessing someone. It's why he has me going to a Catholic school."

I hadn’t known that. "You’re Catholic?" I questioned -- I wasn't particularly religious, so it really didn't matter to me. But I knew my lack of religiousness could be a problem for her.

Zatanna nodded, "Yeah. It's something I grew up with, you know? And the iconography helps because demons and magic go hand in hand."

Huh. "So, the plan is to become a demon hunter?" I asked her, glancing at Gluttony. The demon was funny looking to start with, but I think he looked a little shifty-eyed at the mention of killing demons.

"Part-time," Zatanna said with a smile. "It'll be a side gig for my traveling magic show." After hearing that, I cocked an eyebrow. "Being a hero doesn’t pay the big bucks, but Hollywood does. I'll schedule my tours where I find cases, kinda like how my dad does. Plus, I'll get paid to travel the world. What girl doesn’t want to visit Paris or Venice?"

The capitals of romance, I noticed. "In that case, I might have something you'll like," I said, having Gluttony stealthily spit out the cross he was holding onto into my waiting hand. Zatanna eyed the cross that I held up for her to see for a moment, and I guess she was a little surprised by how shabby it looked. Then her eyes narrowed in confusion before she took the cross from me, coming to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk as we headed to our destination.

"This has magic. It's enchanted?" Zatanna questioned, looking over the cross like it was a puzzle.

"It's Saint Jeanne d'Arcs' cross. The one she was given before she was burnt at the stake. At least, that's what I'm told," I said, causing Zatanna's eyes widen to the point that I thought there was a very real risk that they could fall out. Her jaw dropped as she looked back down at the cross in her hands. "It says it helps ward off demons."

"I imagine it would!" Zatanna said with a disbelieving laugh in her voice. "When most boys give jewelry, it's not the holy relic of a saint!" she pointed out, and in doing so she set me up for a perfect oneliner.

"I'm not most boys," I said, absolutely nailing it.

Zatanna let out a small laugh as if she could see exactly how pleased I was with myself. "No, you aren't. How… your… I can't even imagine how you got this," Zatanna said, continuing to walk, though I did notice that she purposely reduced the distance between us as we kept walking.

"I don't really question it anymore. It does what it does," I said with a shrug of my shoulder. And that was more or less the truth. My power was just weird -- first, it created Guppy, who was a Spirit Beast with his own special brand of bullshit, and then it also either recreated an ancient cross belonging to one of the world's most famous saints before she got burnt alive at the stake for kicking the English's ass too hard or… somehow used time travel to get it? I'm not even sure.

It was just easier to not think about it because, try as I might, I wouldn't get any actual answers.

"So, what will we be doing?" Zatanna asked, taking my hand in hers.

"Well, I can show you around Chinatown if you feel like staying in Gotham," I started. "Or, if you feel like taking a risk, we could use the Zeta Tube to have our date somewhere a little more exotic," I said with a smile. It was a risk, but Wonder Woman, and I'm guessing the rest of the League, knew about me and Zatanna. The risk was that we would get yelled at after the fact, but it would be completely worth it if it meant she had a good time on our first date.

"Are you sure you want to outdo yourself like this on our first date?" Zatanna said, sounding faintly impressed by my confidence, which I was taking as a good sign. "How are you going to top yourself later?"

I smiled, "I have a few ideas. So, I'm hearing that I've already gotten the second date locked in?" I questioned, earning a light shoulder bump from Zatanna. She bit her lip in an attempt to fight off her growing smile.

Then she apparently gave up and leaned her head against my shoulder, "Yeah, you got it locked in." She said, and that was a relief. Now, we just had to go on the actual date and hope I didn't somehow make her regret that decision.

…

"So, this is it?" Jin questioned, draped across a couch as she held a blue vial in her hands and looked up at it. She didn't sound impressed. As if to prove her point, she gave the vial a quick shake back and forth, causing the agent of the Light that had delivered it to make a strangled sound in the back of his throat as he and Lady Shiva watched the belligerent teenager toy with a priceless serum like it was nothing. "Doesn't look like much."

Lady Shiva knelt near the door, her legs tucked underneath her. She appeared to be looking straight ahead, but she was actually keeping a very close eye on her surroundings. They were in a traditional Chinese study, but its antiquated charm had been tainted by modern conveniences. Facing the other end of the door, directly across from her, was Laohu Song, the current heir to the Song dynasty and the inheritor of the Heavenly White Tiger Fist.

He knelt at a low table that served as his desk, wearing a traditional Chinese garb, which made the fountain pen in his hand stand out so much more.

"Don't shake that, Jin. It's a very delicate formula, and it's the only one that we have," Laohu said, not looking at Jin as she sighed. There was a loveseat tucked into the corner of the room, next to a sliding door. Bookshelves lined the room, some containing ancient scrolls that looked so fragile they'd crumble with a touch. Others contained modern literature -- books of science, nature, biology, and more than a few that seemed out of place. Sci-fi, science fiction, and outright fantasy books. Not at all what she expected.

Jin stopped shaking the vial, "Are you sure it's what you're making it out to be? It looks like a tube shot to me." Jin remarked, deftly flipping to her feet and walking over to her father, pressing the vial into an expectant and outstretched hand. "The League of Shadows is filled with idiots. They probably grabbed the wrong thing by mistake."

Shiva didn't react to the slight. Jin was… arrogant, but more than that, every conversation with her was a sparing of words, and nothing would make her happier than for that spar of words to become a spar of fists. The only way you could win was to not let her words affect you.

Which Shiva proved when, a short moment later, Jin blew out a sigh that betrayed the depth of her boredom.

"Perhaps, but even fools can be useful," Laohu remarked, tucking the vial away. "And I imagine they say the same about us with our failure to retrieve that scientist and his machine."

Jin winced. "He was there. What was I supposed to do?" Jin asked, arguing her case, but was chastised with a single look from her father.

The answer was to show restraint, but Shiva doubted that Jin had ever done so once in her young entire life.

"It was too early for you to fight your cousin. He has yet to adapt to our ways," Laohu said, setting his pen down. "Nor does it benefit us for the head of the family to know of his rapid progress."

Jin sighed, "Sorry." She muttered, sounding like the young girl that she was rather than an almost crazed killer.

"I am not upset, Jin. We did learn that your cousin is progressing much faster than anticipated. That is valuable information, and it will be a useful argument against my father," Laohu said, admonishing her and soothing her wounded pride in the same breath. "It is proof that the era of renewal is upon us."

Laohu held up the vial, smiling softly as light streamed through the blue fluid inside. A fluid that was stolen from Star Labs at the same time as they hit the convoy carrying the Amazo android. Shiva had already reported the theft to Ras Al Ghul, given that it had been done without the Light's knowledge while using its agents, but she knew that the Songs would not care.

"They wait for the return of Spirit Beasts that will never come. But, where nature has failed… science shall prevail."