Risk It All: Folding (ch. 27) (Patreon)

I bought a guitar. With actual money instead of just using Prestige.

My videos were gaining some traction -- the most popular of them had half a million hits. Part of that was the algorithm, and part of it was that the quality of the lessons had been confirmed, so now those that wanted to learn various language tutorials were recommending them. And given that I had tutorials for several languages, in total, I had a few million views.

While the prestige grind was rather slow, I also started to earn money from ads. I even got an offer to sell out for a product placement, which I did with little hesitation. Two thousand dollars was two thousand dollars. It let me pay for the apartment in Gotham so we could keep it, which I intended to use as a safe house in Gotham, and since the house was provided for by the Justice League, and dad was getting paid way more with his current job with Wayne Enterprises, the leftover cash went into my pocket instead of being needed for bills.

Which led to me buying a guitar.

"I have created a perpetual motion machine," I summarized, biting the bullet and purchasing a Basic Guitar skill for a measly five thousand points. As the guitar rested in my lap, I started tuning the guitar far more competently than I had a second ago. The purchase was barely a dent in my total. I adjusted the tightness of the strings, tuning the guitar by ear, before I strummed a riff. I fucked it up, but by the third attempt, I had the intro to Smells Like Teen Spirit sounding close enough to the original.

My genius was staggering sometimes. First, guitar tutorials and covers got a lot more traction than language tutorials. Which would mean more money and prestige. Which would enable me to refine the skill and purchase more skills and equipment, so I could then post videos for for more money and prestige. To top it all off, Zatanna had mentioned that she thought that people who could play an instrument were cool.

"I should get a Nobel Peace Prize for this," I muttered, suddenly able to understand tab tutorials as I sat in front of my laptop. I picked up the rest of the song pretty quick, my Dexterity helping me a great deal. Within a few minutes, I had a beat-for-beat rendition -- the timing was perfect, the flow was on point, and there weren't any mistakes. Honestly, it was so good that I could admit that my power was incredibly unfair.

All of my other skills had been things I had never tried before. I had never tried wielding a sword, or hacking, or teaching, or driving, or making coffee from scratch. I was always bilingual, I grew up speaking Chinese and English, so learning other languages came naturally.

But I had tried to learn the guitar before. When I was fourteen, I wanted to be a rockstar, so Dad bought me a guitar. And I sucked. Which was all it took for me to give up and never touch the guitar again. When I wasn't instantly Jimi Hendrix, when I had to actually put in the effort to master the skill, I gave up after a week.

And in a minute, I was already better than I had been. I was better than most novice players. All it took was a click of a button.

I continued to play, familiarizing myself with the instrument before I committed myself to the plan. Opening up my market, I looked through the camera section and picked one out. I also got soundproofing foam panels so I wouldn't bother my parents. I made the purchases…

Yet, even with the skill and the camera, my prestige total was soon higher than it had been prior to both purchases.

My gaze lingered on another tab of my internet browser. With a click, I refreshed the page. Twenty-five million hits. On one site alone.

The title? Mega-hottie Saves The Day. Dating Justice League Hero Zatarra's Daughter?

The video was of me dealing with the Yakuza, at an angle where you could clearly see my face when I approached and confronted them. Thankfully, Zatanna's appearance was cut off when whoever recorded the video with their phone focused on my kicking the gun away after knocking a Yakuza to the ground. So, they didn’t see us come out of the same alley, though it did follow us as we walked off. It was barely a minute and a half long, and it generated more hits than every video I made and put out together, times five.

The comments were an absolute cesspit. I never thought I would rather get ripped into by the public, than have thousands of comments drooling over me. A lot of them were frankly disturbing, and the fact that I was underage didn't seem to deter them in the slightest. The sheer amount of thirst in the comments, you’d think they were all dying of dehydration. But even that would have been fine if there weren't actual tabloids reporting on the story. Speculation about how we met, how long we’ve been dating, whether this was our first public outing, and if it was intended to publicly reveal the relationship.

Then there was the more worrying speculation that started to crop up about if I was secretly a superhero. No one seemed to think so, but the fact that the question was being asked was nerve-wracking when you actually had something to hide.

I went from being a complete nobody to a very, very, very minor celebrity as Ren Song. Zatanna already had a degree of fame because of who her dad was, and how she acted as his stage assistant for his magic shows.

However, that fame didn't stop Zatanna from getting grounded by her father. Apparently, she was out without permission, and I got the impression that Zatara very much did not approve of me. Which is why, days later, I still hadn't heard from Zatanna after our date. She hadn't stopped by the Mountain either.

A sigh escaped me, "I hope I don't get dumped," I muttered, playing a pointedly sad riff on the guitar to suit my melodramatic mood. If Zatara didn't want me to date Zatanna, I really wasn't sure what could be done. Sure, we could go behind his back, but I imagine that would be pretty tough to do given that he had literal magic at his disposal. And he was technically my boss given that he was a member of the Justice League. What if he pushed to boot me off the team?

My thoughts were starting to spiral like they had when I realized the reason for Zatanna's radio silence. My attempts to distract myself were a mixed bag at best. The only good thing to show for the mess was the prestige I got, which was enough to push me up to the Rank of 'Hey, It's You'. Which gave me access to more skills and abilities.

A random video taken by a complete stranger gave me a total of a hundred thousand points.

Really made me wonder if my approach to gathering fame was wrong, but I mollified myself with the certainty that the reason I generated so much more prestige was because there was no degree of separation between identities. Ren Song was gaining fame, not Koi or Beifong, or a voice on the internet. So, instead of lamenting, I put the points to use and bought skills to generate more Prestige.

"I have enough for Multiform," I remarked to myself. I could dump fifty thousand points into my stats, then buy Multiform. It would split my stats in half, but if I had five hundred in each stat, then I would have two versions of me with stats of two-fifty across the board. Which wasn't bad. And it wasn't like I couldn't dismiss the clone of myself with a thought to get the points back.

Part of me wanted to hold onto the prestige to build on it with a few bets, but… I had noticed some habits I had at this point. More than once I had dipped past my bottom line. And more than once I had bought skills on impulse. I think it might be best to treat the points as extra and make the most out of them. My track record said I wasn't good when it came to keeping prestige in my pocket for a rainy day. I tended to have a lot of rainy days.

I blew out another sigh, running my hand through my hair and pushing it back. I ran through the idea a few times in my head before I decided to bite the bullet.

Multiform

T1R1

The user evenly divides his stats and skills into a separate clone, which is a perfect copy of the user. Should either the original or clone perish, all stats and skills they had will be lost. The user can choose what skills are invested into the clone, and by purposely dismissing them, they will fully regain all invested skills.

The wording was a little weird. Because, by the sounds of it, if I died and the clone lived, then the clone would just become me. Which was… a theory I really had no interest in confirming. The one stipulation was that my skills had to be divided evenly between us, including my stats. A quick count told me that I needed to buy more skills. But, with a single purchase, I was down fifty thousand points.

It was a speed bump, but I did have a plan. Koi had too many skills that were integral to my fighting style. Beifong needed something to even things out.

Which led me to make a few more purchases.

Qi Blocking

T1R1

By targeting an enemy's qi flow, you can numb their body with precise strikes. Currently only works on bare skin.

Firebending.

T1R1

The art of producing and shaping fire. Unlike common pyrokinesis, the strength of the user's flames are determined by the passion that fuels them.

Seismic Sense

T1R1

Through the user's feet, he can sense all motion within a hundred feet around him. When wearing shoes, effectiveness is cut in half.

Basic stuff, but it was all good. It fleshed out Beifong's skill set. The rest of the balance could be made up by giving him a few other skills like Barista, or Basic Guitar Skills. Which left me a little light on points, but with the ten thousand points I had leftover, I dumped them into my stats. And when I was done, some stats were starting to pull ahead.

Strength: 350

Endurance: 550

Dexterity: 400

Intelligence: 300

Charisma: 400

Luck: 250

Not quite five hundreds across the board, but it was pretty close. My body tensed as the increase in stats hit me like a sack full of bricks, but I was prepared for it. My lips thinned as I felt the changes being done to my body, my muscles shifting under my skin as all my stats were doubled at least. It was a few minutes later before I opened my eyes and it was only then that I realized they had been close.

"That always sucks," I muttered to myself, setting aside my guitar to roll my shoulders. Every muscle felt like it had cramped up, but when I worked the tension out, I felt a lot lighter on my feet. I looked down at my hands, feeling the strength in them now. Right now, I was officially four times as strong as peak human. With this update, I was firmly in super-human territory. I could feel the difference.

I was itching to test out my new limits, and almost as if the universe agreed with me, I got a message on my laptop. Logging into it, I saw it was from the mountain.

The Team had another mission.

…

Zatanna was absent from the lineup as we stood before Batman and Red Tornado, a hologram between them that detailed our next mission. I knew I should be focusing on the briefing, but her absence was a distraction that I couldn't quite ignore. It had been days since I last saw her, and it wasn't even the fact that I missed her that made it so distracting -- I mean, I did, but it was the concern that I somehow got her removed from the team or something.

"This mission was brought to the team by Koi," Batman started, making me blink as I suddenly realized why the details looked familiar. "Which is why the debriefing will be held by him." He decided, tossing me into the deep end with little warning, as if he could sense that I had been distracted.

Right. I stepped forward and looked at the team, all of whom had blank expressions except for Megan, who offered me a stealthy thumbs up. Okay. I took in a deep breath and wondered how this happened -- I just fed my findings into my computer, I didn't think that anyone would actually bother to read them. And looking at the briefing, I saw my own poorly kept notes.

Actually, I think the reason why they had me doing the briefing was because my notes were so bad and my shorthand was worse.

"About a month ago, with the fall of Black Mask, there was a power vacuum in Little Asia. It was expected that the Snake-Flower Triad and the Jin-Wa Mafia would take the throne back in Little China and Little Korea. Instead, the Akishino family had an explosion of growth. I knew of them even before going hero, and everyone in little Asia knew that they were small time. I don't even think they were actual Yakuza, little more than just a Japanese street gang." I said, glancing to Batman. When he gave a debriefing, it was pure facts, and I was letting my personal experience color my briefing.

Batman offered no hint whatsoever. Perfect.

"Yet, a month later, they're going toe to toe with the other gangs of Little Asia. With the windfall of resources and manpower they seemed to pull from thin air, there's a good chance they'll take the throne, too."

Aqualad raised a hand, and I nodded at him. "Seemingly? Are we unaware of how they're gaining their support?" He questioned, and I nodded.

"In essence, yes," I confirmed as I brought up my investigation into the Yakuza. A month of recorded conversations from the higher-ups of the organization -- a flow chart of who was bringing the most in, and the current amount that the Yakuza was spending. The discrepancy was clear. The Yakuza was spending roughly fifteen million dollars that they didn't have to purchase stores to use as fronts, weapons from people like the Penguin, and bait money to convince people to join. "Only the head of the family seems to know where the money is coming from, but as far as I can tell, it seems to be magically appearing in their offshore bank account once a month."

"Should you be on this mission?" Wally suddenly spoke up, catching me a bit flat-footed. "Your civilian identity was already caught busting the Yakuza's chops. What if you run into the same guys and they recognize your build, voice, and the fact that you have blue eyes and are half Asian? There aren't a lot of people that have that same list of descriptors."

I opened my mouth to respond, but then I thought about it. Should I be on the mission? I mean, I brought it to the table, and I spent a month of my life investigating, but if there was a risk of blowing my secret identity… however, I shook my head. "Colored contacts and a voice modulator will solve the issue. With Miss Martian's telepathy, I probably won't need to speak. To that end, Aqualad -- it might be best if there is a verbal confrontation that you take the lead."

Kaldur nodded, "Understood." There, the issue was resolved neatly. Though, Wally seemed to disagree based on the sour expression he quickly wiped off of his face.

"The mission…" Actually, what was the mission? We're we taking down the Yakuza? Or were we staring smaller? "Is to discover how exactly the Yakuza are funding themselves. I've reached the end of what I can do with my surveillance."

Robin spoke up, "Sounds like a stealth mission. Do we need the full team for this?"

That was a really good question, I thought, hoping that Batman would explain why Zatanna was missing in action. However, he met our questioning eyes with an unreadable gaze. "That is your decision."

I glanced at Robin, who crossed his arms over his chest. "I have a laundry list of safe houses and fronts -- I say we split the team-up. A stealth mission, to slip in and get the intel while another runs interference as a distraction." I was expecting a little more resistance, but Robin offered me a curt nod.

Which brought us to the elephant in the room. "What about Zatanna? Her magic would be useful for the stealth op," Robin said, looking at Batman. I'm glad he brought it up instead of me.

Batman looked at Robin, then at me. "For the foreseeable future, Zatanna will not be participating in any team-related missions or training." He said, and no matter how I looked at that, I couldn't help but feel that was directed at me specifically. I swallowed a wince even as I felt all eyes shift to me, and I knew everyone was thinking the exact same thing.

Fuck.

"In that case, Robin and Miss Martain should handle the stealth aspect of the mission. Teams of two to cover more ground," I said, and just as I was about to reveal that I could use the multiform technique, Red Tornado interrupted me with his synthesized voice.

"That would be a prudent measure. To replace Zatanna in her temporary absence, an additional member has been brought forth to aid the Team," Red Tornado informed us all, which was news to all of us. We were getting another member of the Team? Since when? Should that really be a thing you drop on us before a mission? The only saving grace was that it was a low-risk one.

On cue, a set of doors opened, revealing Green Arrow, and a girl dressed up in a similar get-up. She had olive-toned skin that contrasted with her blonde hair. She was wearing a dark green tank top, revealing her flat and faintly toned stomach, that seemed to be connected to her mask. There was a bow and arrow slung over her shoulder, more or less confirming that she was Green Arrow's sidekick.

"This is Artemis, she's my niece," Green Arrow introduced her, her eyes sweeping over all of us, only to widen a bit when she looked at me.

"Oh, you're… uhh," she started, then immediately cut herself off, seeming to realize that there was only one real reason why she would recognize me by sight. "Koi, right? And Robin. Nice to meet you all?" She tried, her skin darkening a bit with a blush.

At this point, it wasn't even a shock that Kid Flash instantly blurred over, reappearing a little too close to the new girl, "Hey there, beautiful. Green Arrow's niece, huh? It's a real shame that he kept someone like you hidden away," he remarked and I had to bite my tongue to swallow my words.

At this moment, I was the very last person that had any right to make remarks about flirting among the team, and the potential consequences of said flirting on team dynamics. As far as I could tell, Zatanna was removed from the team because of our date, and that rubbed me the wrong way.

Though it turned out, I didn't need to say anything. "Uh, no. Not interested," Artemis stated bluntly with an edge of disgust, leaning away from Kid Flash as she gave him a dirty look.

Kid Flash stilled for a second and, for the briefest of moments, I did feel for the guy. He absolutely had it coming, but whoever said that the worst thing a girl could do was reject you clearly never got rejected by someone with less than zero interest. But, by now, Kid Flash should be used to it since he flirted with everyone he met with a nice set of legs and boobs.

"Welcome to the team, Artemis," I tried to move the conversation along, and give Wally a moment to recover. "Ren Song, but Koi on the job. I'm team leader," I informed her, before Megan flew over.

"And I'm Megan!" Megan introduced herself with enough excitement that Artemis appeared equal parts endeared and put off. Megan quickly ran through the introductions for the rest of us. Finally finishing with Kid Flash, who crossed his arms when the two of them looked at each other again.

"Alright. Well, where do you need me? I'm pretty handy with a bow," Artemis informed, inciting Kid Flash to make a snide remark.

"Are you now?" he questioned snidely, and… please do not be that guy, Wally. For the love of fuck, do not be that guy. I stilled at the tone that he used, and I wasn't the only one that caught it. Artemis narrowed her eyes ever so slightly, while Kuldar was quick to speak up.

"I believe it would be best if you would accompany me," Kaldur spoke up, and that made sense, so I quickly agreed.

"So, I'm going solo?" Conner questioned, only to be answered with a smirk from me as I finally saw my chance to show off my new skill.

"Not exactly," I said, before I used the skill Multiform for the first time. It was really weird, I noted as I felt the clone of myself take shape. I imbued it with a few skills -- giving it Beifong's move set, and the knowledge of how to bend leaving my mind felt… weird. Like I had forgotten something, like a word on the tip of my tongue, but no matter how hard I tried to recall it, I just couldn't quite make the connection despite knowing that I knew it. I heard a noise of surprise from the others as they all eyed my clone, who stood across from me.

Bare ass naked.

I sputtered as my clone, Beifong, thankfully took the proper response of exclaiming, "What the fuck?!" and covering himself. No sooner than he had, Batman's cape was thrown over him, preserving his -- my -- modesty. My face was burning with embarrassment as I faced palmed with both hands, perfectly alright with dying right on the spot.

"We should have tested that technique out before using it," Beifong said, poking his head out of the cape. I spared a glance at the others and saw that the only one willing to look at me was Conner, who tilted his head.

"You can make clones now?" he questioned, sounding rather ambivalent about the ability as he eyed Beifong.

I blew out a sigh while Beifong answered. "More like making a copy of myself. We're both equally as real, so there's no original and clone in this case," he answered as he looked at me, or rather, Gluttony. He poked out a hand expectantly, making Gluttony look up at me in confusion. I nodded, giving him permission, before Gluttony spat out Beifong's clothing.

"When did you develop this power?" Batman questioned as Beifong went to go get dressed.

"Today?" I sighed, sparing a glance at Artemis and Megan, who both looked away the moment they saw me looking at them. Right. Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Pretty much the entire team just saw me naked. I didn't know if I should be happy or mad that Zatanna wasn't here for that wardrobe malfunction.

Batman simply nodded, while Green Arrow coughed lightly, "Well, at least no one will be the odd man out. And we now know the importance of not testing abilities before a crowd." My face felt like it could replace the sun with how hot it was burning.

"Moving on," I said, trying to regain some semblance of control over the situation.

"Dude, you just flashed everyone," Kid Flash helpfully pointed out, looking and sounding like he needed trauma consoling.

"Moving. On," I repeated, more firmly this time, just as Beifong stepped out, now fully dressed. We got rid of the overcoat, which left him in a sky blue and white garb -- puffy pants, a folded section on his torso, with open sleeves, and a wide brim straw hat that covered his eyes, while his face was covered by a mask. "Beifong will be with Superboy while I'll stick with Kid Flash since we're the ones with the most mobility."

"Agreed?" I questioned, earning a thumbs up from Beifong and a round of nods all around.

Right. Now, if only the mission could go more smoothly than the briefing.

…

I stood on a rooftop in Little Asia -- a noodle place that I frequented a lot prior to getting shot in the head. Becoming a hero was a real eye-opening experience about just how many places I frequented had criminal connections. I had my controller in hand, and was having a bug scope out the place while Kid Flash impatiently tapped his foot at high speeds.

"Sooo, you and Zatanna are a thing?" he suddenly asked, sounding about as reluctant to ask the question as I was to answer. I spared Wally a quick look and saw he was pointedly not looking at me.

Honestly, I really didn't want to answer the question. "I have no clue," I replied, half being honest, and half brushing the question off. "We had a date, and her dad doesn’t seem to be my biggest fan."

"So, you got her kicked off the team?" he questioned and I sighed.

"You have something to say, so just say it, Kid Flash," I replied, knowing that it was coming. Yet, Kid Flash was determined to play stupid. He shrugged his shoulders, his lips thinning, but he didn't say anything. So, he wanted to make snide remarks, but he didn't actually want to discuss the issue. That was… annoying. More annoying than it should be.

I was already annoyed. No, I was already kind of pissed off that Zatanna got pulled from the team. My patience was already wearing thin with Robin and Kid Flash, so I was already getting fed up with it.

I shouldn't. I should be the mature one. I was the team leader. We were on a mission. I was the one who decided how I felt. I should be the bigger person.

"Yeah, I figured," I remarked under my breath, just loud enough that Kid Flash could hear. Predictably, his head snapped in my direction with an affronted expression on his face. I couldn't stop myself even if I wanted to. I knew it would start a fight, but the words left my lips anyway. "I have something to say -- you need to stop flirting with every girl on the team."

"You are going to say that to me?!" Kid Flash exclaimed, jumping to his feet, and there was nothing more irritating in this world than the fact that he had a valid point. "You got Zatanna kicked off the team because you were thinking with your dick. You don't get to say that to me."

"I have every right to, because look at this shit that happened because me and Zatanna went on one date," I shot back, trying to twist his point back around on him.

To that, Kid Flash scoffed, "You mean because her dad has a problem with her dating a psychopath that's crippled over a dozen people? Nah -- Zatara doesn’t have a problem with Zatanna being on the team. It's you that he has a problem with." The words stung. More than they had any right to. Simply because I'm pretty sure he was right.

"So you have no clue that you're creeping on Megan," I said, restraining my temper as much as I could. And Kid Flash looked like he had exactly zero idea what I was talking about.

He scoffed, "Me and MM are tight. She's totally into me," he said with conviction.

And that's what pissed me off. With Robin, we bumped heads a bit but for the part, things had evened out and we had settled on avoiding each other. And even then, there was a clear root cause for our dislike of each other. But with Kid Flash… I just didn't like him. He was obnoxious, with absolutely zero self-awareness. He was someone I just couldn’t get along with, not now, and not before I became a hero.

"She's not, but, for a moment, let's pretend that she is," I said, keeping my tone as even as I could despite my growing frustration. "She's totally into you. You know that. And you yet still flirt with every girl you come across. Do you not see how that makes you a total scumbag?" I asked him, making his eyes narrow into slits in anger.

"I'm the scumbag?! You put a man in a coma!" Kid Flash shouted at me, jabbing a finger in my direction.

I glared right back at him, "Because I thought he was going to murder my family! What the fuck is your excuse for your bullshit behavior?" I shot right back, shoving my controller into Gluttony to fully face Kid Flash. "I'm sick and tired of you the gossiping behind my back like a bratty teenage girl -- if you have something you'd like to say, man up and say it to my face."

"Oh, you want me to man up, huh? Alright then, Mr. Man, try not to run off crying then. I have no clue what you are even doing on the Team! You're the source of all of our problems! If you'd got removed from the team instead of Zatanna, we'd be so much better off! But because of your bullshit power that makes you think you're so much better than everyone else, Zatanna got the boot instead." Kid Flash snapped at me before he shoved me. I glowered back at him before I shoved him right back, harder.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about!" I snapped right back, my hands clenching into fists.

"Stop lying! You can have any power that you want, it makes you look good, and the Justice League act like you can do no wrong! I bet that show during the briefing was staged, wasn't it?! Do you get off on flashing people? And you're calling me the creep?!" Kid Flash retorted, shoving me again.

Of all the fucking things. "What bullshit are you spewing now?" I demanded, shoving him hard enough he fell to his ass some feet away. "That was an accident. You know that it was."

"Was it? What is exactly beneath you? For all I know, you're lying about Megan because you want her for yourself." he accused, and I… what?

"Dude, you are so fucking pathetic I don't even know what to say," I told him as bluntly as I could. "I'm a playboy because girls actually respond to my flirting, instead of pretending it never happened?" I asked him, and that was when Kid Flash responded with real action instead of words and macho shoving matches. He moved in a blur, even with my enhanced stats. A second later it felt like a car had hit me and I was flung back, my back slamming into the door that led to the rooftop we were on hard enough my breath was knocked out of me.

I landed in a crouch, glaring at Kid Flash.

He sneered at me, "I am so done here," he said, before he disappeared with a blur of motion. In the low light, I couldn't even tell which direction he fled in.

I grit my teeth, "That absolute-" I said in a low hiss, getting up. Then I heard the sound of footsteps, making me snap my head in the direction of the source. I was about to throw a punch at Kid Flash, thinking he was sneaking up behind me, but I immediately faltered when I saw a familiar face.

Zatanna offered me a hesitant smile, "Bad time?"

...

I have published another story. It's called Fool's World, and it is set in F/SN during the fifth grail war. It does have some multicross elements, but no prior knowledge of additional settings is required since it's newcomer-friendly. So, if it sounds like it could be your cup of tea, then check it out!

Also, felt like I should mention this. I don't hate Wally or anything. His development into the second season is some of my favorite stuff from Young Justice. The issue is that for Wally to have that development, he had to have a pretty low starting point. Season 1 Wally was obnoxious in all the ways that most teenagers are with the added arrogance of the fact that he has superpowers -- honestly, don't blame him there. I would absolutely be insufferable in his position.

So, it's not bashing. I don't care for that in my stories. It's just me playing the character straight until he gets his much needed character development.