Risk It All: Going Bust (ch. 34) (Patreon)

"This is a bad idea, and you need to sit down," Robin told me as I stood with him, leaning on the top of my longsword, treating the gift from Wonder Woman like a cane. My regen ability was working its magic, but that didn't mean I was at a hundred percent. For starters, I was still missing an arm. My hearing was back, though. However I still felt lightheaded from the blood loss, which still hadn't entirely stopped. Blood still leaked out of me in a slow trickle where my stump was capping off with new skin.

Robin looked at Jin, who sat perched on the massive slabs of stone erected to protect the high school, like a venomous snake. She looked over the aftermath of our clan's actions, appearing completely unbothered by the sight. One of her feet was bouncing rapidly, impatient, as she listened to the sounds of chaos coming from the city. I frowned lightly, but I nodded all the same. "I know. We can't trust her, but killing these things is what she's good for. And the more she kills, the less that we have to kill ourselves, and the more people we can save."

It was clear that Robin didn't like the idea, but all the same, he nodded. This was not the time to let differences get in the way of what we had to do. And, as if the universe agreed, I heard Artemis' telepathic voice in my head. 'Could use some help over here! I'm running out of arrows!' she informed us, causing Jin to perk up when I went on the move.

'Coming,' I told Artemis, preparing to flash step towards her. I spared a glance at Jin, who offered me a sarcastic, but still submissive bow. I felt like I made a deal with the devil, but it was too late now. Jin would be helping us. I was certain that she would use the opportunity to escape at some point, but that was just something I had to deal with later. If it was a choice of saving lives or making sure that Jin was punished, I would choose saving lives every time. I wasn't a hero to punish evil no matter the cost.

But, hopefully, that choice wouldn't need to be made. I didn't think that it could be avoided, but it was good to have hope.

I said nothing as I flashed stepped towards a building across the street, half a block down from the high school, leaving Jin to catch up on her own or help somewhere else. I found Artemis down below, on the road, placing herself between a crowd of people and a downed wasp that was the size of a man. Gripping my blade, I flash stepped down, seemingly appearing from thin air as I beheaded the wasp, the longsword cutting through the exoskeleton with utter ease. Even without reinforcement. The wasp collapsed, its body twitching, but it was dead. Artemis looked at me with wide eyes.

'Your arm!' Artemis exclaimed as she eased the tension out of her bow, un-nocking the last arrow that she seemed to have. I hadn't thought of that -- Robin and Artemis didn't have infinite ammo. When they ran out of arrows or gadgets, then they would be in trouble.

'Yeah, it's bad, but it's getting better,' I reassured her with a shake of my head. Not just to dismiss her concerns, but to shake off my lightheadedness. Behind Artemis, the flow of people kept moving, the message that the high school was safe seemed to be spreading. 'Here,' I told Artemis, making some quick purchases from my market. Arrows of all kinds -- explosive, flashbangs, the works. Everything that I thought she might need to see this situation through.

'I love your power,' Artemis remarked, taking a few of the quivers, but… she would be weighed down with a dozen of them. To that end, I made a snap decision and urged Gluttony to coil around her -- I'm sure if she could see the demon, she would be freaking out, but she couldn't. She seemed momentarily surprised when her arrows began to vanish into Gluttony's maw. 'What-'

'When you need a quiver, just say what you need out loud. I'm letting you borrow my pocket dimension,' I told her, turning away when I heard trouble coming from down the street. From the looks of it, it was a royally pissed off squirrel the size of a sedan.

'Wait!' Artemis started, making me pause. "My mom's in Gotham. She's in a wheelchair. If things are like this here…" Artemis trailed off, and I understood exactly what she was asking. If Happy Harbor, a nice quiet suburban community was like this, then a densely populated city like Gotham would be infinitely worse. The entire city might as well fall headfirst into hell, because it was Gotham.

She was being selfish, but I didn't blame her. I was worried about my own parents, but I knew my Dad could take care of himself and I knew he would protect Mom. If one of my parents was helpless…

"I understand. Go to the Zeta Tube and find your mom," I told her, giving her permission. It might be the wrong move. We were supposed to be heroes, but… what was the point if you couldn't protect the people that you loved?

"Thank you," Artemis whispered before she took off running, going to join the flow of foot traffic. I flashed stepped forward, sailing above the giant squirrel before double jumping to let me Focus Stomp on its head. The squirrel's head shattered on impact with my heel, and I threw myself back into the fray before its body even hit the ground. I traveled through the city as fast as I could manage, killing whatever beasts I found as quickly as I could.

There were times when I fought together with one of my teammates. I helped Superboy deal with a horned beetle. Miss Martian with a massive fly. I was surprised to find that Aqualad was fighting alongside Guppy, both using their aquakinesis to battle the seemingly never ending tide of monsters.

Beifong had a different priority, however. Massive slabs of stone were rising up and forming pathways through the city, reinforced by whatever metal was available. They closed off roads filled with mutated animals, protecting the people as they sprinted for cover, and that protection would lead them to the high school. The beasts tore at the fortifications to get at the people within, which led me and others working to make sure that they didn't get through.

An hour into the crisis, and there was almost something resembling order in Happy Harbor. The city was being bombarded with monsters of all kinds, but the evacuation to the high school, which modified now stretched out to engulf the block it was on, was almost complete. There were fewer people running in the roads, so it was less an orgy of violence and chaos where every second could determine life or death. Unfortunately, that wasn't because we had somehow managed to save everyone.

At some point, the torrential rainfall let up, and the dark clouds in the sky began to rapidly dissipate, until the skies were unnaturally cloudless given how thick the rain clouds had been. It was around two in the morning when the city started to feel abandoned. Traces of the prior mad chaos could be found throughout the city. Happy Harbor had a population about a hundred thousand or so -- not a big city, but it wasn't a small one either.

As I flash stepped through the streets, looking for stray survivors, I had to wonder what its population would be like after this.

'We need everyone back at the school!' I heard Robin telepathically call out at everyone, and I was reminded that just because the chaos wasn't as complete as it had been didn't mean that the situation had settled. There was still a lot of work to be done. In response to Robin's call for reinforcements, I flash stepped from the outer edge of Happy Harbor and arrived at the high school in just a moment.

Just in time to hear a sonic boom and the shattering of stone from somewhere out of sight. I darted toward the source, the night sky coiling around my blade as I sank as deep into the Black Heaven and Earth technique as I dared to. I rounded the edge and heard the loud clicking of a familiar insect. The dust cleared after a moment, revealing a praying mantis standing over the slumped form of Superboy.

Something was wrong. I felt an ice-cold chill race down my spine the moment I laid eyes on the praying mantis, because it had changed dramatically. For starters, in the past few hours after it blew off and ate my arm, it had grown another two sets of arms, giving it a grand total of six. The light green body had darkened into a full blackish red with thorn-like protrusion emerging from its exoskeleton. It's legs were thicker, muscle growing to the point that the exoskeleton had cracked from the inside-out.

I flashed stepped back and the action probably saved my life because the praying mantis just seemed to move. Even with my advanced perception and speed, even as I blurred away, I could see the praying mantis lunging for where I had been. I came to a stop half a hundred yards away in a fraction of a second, my heart thumping powerfully in my chest because the insect had watched me move with one of its eyes-- one of six, I realized because it had grown more to give it near 360 degree vision.

I could feel it deep in my gut. If that thing got inside of the high school then it would kill everyone inside.

"What the fuck is that thing!" Kid Flash yelped as he arrived. Jin had arrived with him in a bridal carry. Odd, but I didn't question it. Mostly because she looked incredibly excited, a gleam in her eyes that I recognized from when we fought. Pure excitement, like a child in a candy shop with a credit card that had no limit.

"That's the thing that ate my arm," I replied, slowly walking to the side, my gaze fixed on the praying mantis. Superboy seemed like he was coming to, his shirt missing for the most part. There were two deep black, ugly bruises on his chest and his shirt looked like it had been burnt away. "It's fast. Almost as fast as me," I gave them a warning."

Jin let out a surprised laugh, "It's cultivating and it's using your Qi to do it!" she exclaimed with surprise, "It's acting like a real spirit beast!"

"Could you explain that in a way that makes sense for the rest of the class?" Kid Flash questioned, and I would like an explanation too. This thing looked wildly different than it had an hour ago. More than that, it wasn't acting like an insect. It was watching us in a manner that I could only describe as cautious.

"The bug ate Ren's arm for a shit ton of exp and power leveled," Jin gave a short and sweet explanation. Meaning that this was technically my fault. "Oh, boy -- I'm getting wet just thinking about the Qi pill I can make with this thing," Jin said, a hungry smile on her face as her jian glowed a brilliant white.

'Your cousin is actually insane,' Kid Flash remarked to me as I reinforced my legs and blade. I was starting to feel the tinge of exhaustion in my body. Even having several times peak human endurance didn't mean I had limitless stamina.

'I know,' I answered shortly, taking in a slow breath, deepening my breathing rhythm and feeling strength flow into my arms. 'It's fast, Kid, but you're faster.' I bought a flash bang and held it up for him to see. Kid Flash knew my old tricks and nodded with a faint smile. I reached up and tore my mask off of my face, using my teeth to pull the pin on the flashbang before hurling it at the praying mantis. This one is for my arm, asshole.

At that same second, all three of us moved. I flash stepped forward while the praying mantis lunged at me, intent on feasting on the rest of me for easy exp. I met the creature head on, the flashbang between us. Kid Flash went wide and a split second later, Jin jumped in to join the fight too.

The flash bang detonated, releasing a blinding flash of light. The creature recoiled as I lunged forward, the night sky erupting from my sword as the moon itself seemed to slam into the Mantis' chest. The exoskeleton shattered like glass hit with a hammer, but because of the flash of white, I only saw that the mantis had lashed out with two of its claws the same moment that I struck it.

Almost in slow motion, I saw the claws closing in on me, and while my brain felt it had all the time in the world to process that the mantis was determined to take me out with it my body wasn't fast enough to respond to my thoughts. Kid Flash blurred forward, moving faster than either of us could fully process, and grabbed hold of me. He tackled me out of the way, probably saving my life, but not my hearing as the powerful sonic boom slammed into my ear drums. More than that, I felt searing heat as fire suddenly erupted at the point of impact where the Mantis' claws struck the ground.

All I could hear was a sharp deafening ringing in my ears and I felt blood trickle out of my left ear. Kid Flash and I rolled uncontrollably for a moment before coming to an abrupt crash when we slammed into the wall of the high school. I grunted, my body feeling like one massive bruise, but nothing felt broken. And if it was, then my regeneration should take care of it.

However, there was no time to recover. The mantis moved, seemingly uncaring of it's pierced torso as it lunged for us. My body tensed but was unable to move. I felt it deep in my gut that Wally and I would have died if it wasn't for Superboy throwing himself between us, tanking another direct shot from its claws. Superboy grunted, slamming back into the stone, but he gave me just enough time to shift my position, letting me flash step towards the mantis. Like me, even if it could watch me coming, it wasn't fast enough to react. I raised my blade, catching the mantis at the joints of its thin legs, and sliced through them.

The mantis screeched, letting out an awful sound as I ended up throwing myself into an uncontrollable roll across the ground, my inner ear completely fucked. The mantis fell to the ground, writhing and trying to use two of its six arms to push itself up, only for Jin to dart in and cut two of the offending arms off. She pivoted, raising her sword high-

Then there was a flash of golden light. There was a slight pull in my stomach, making me wince, but when I opened my eyes, I instantly noticed that I wasn't where I had been prior to the golden flash.

I found myself lying on asphalt. Jin was directly in front of me, a crazed smile on her face, her sword thrusting into empty air instead of the head of the mantis. Superboy and Kid Flash were off to the side… and beyond them were people. A lot of people.

"...What?" I muttered, pushing myself up with my arm and I saw that I wasn't the only one that was confused.

"Please remain calm -- you have been teleported to a safe location by Zatara, a member of the Justice League," I heard someone inform over a speaker. It was only now that I realized that I was at the top of a car park. "You have been brought to Jump City as it was the closest major city to Happy Harbor. If you have been separated from a family member, then please speak to the help station. If you are injured and are in need of medical attention then the Red Cross will help you." I heard, my heart pounding in my ears as I processed what I was hearing, wondering if my ears were still fucked up.

"What?" I heard Jin mutter, looking around in absolute bafflement. "What the fuck? I was about to kill that spirit beast? Send me the fuck back!" Jin demanded as the crowd -- the people that we had saved -- all immediately broke down. I saw members of the red cross sprint forward to help the injured. All the while, announcements played on the intercom -- basically asking anyone with medical or military experience to step forward.

I struggled to get to my feet before I felt a pair of hands on me, "Please- Ren Song?" I heard a woman question when she saw my face. She was wearing a lab coat and a stethoscope, which made her a doctor. "You… My daughter has a pretty big crush on you," she said, making small talk as she started to undo my bandage. She was trying to distract me, I think. "Won't stop gushing about you. I thought you were just another pretty face that she would pine over, but looks can be deceiving."

"What's going on? We…?" I trailed off, starting to stand up anyway when I saw Superboy getting carried off in a stretcher. I felt Beifong dismiss himself, decided that he was now unneeded and I could use the stats. He was right, but it didn't take the edge off how exhausted I was feeling

The doctor's lips thinned ever so slightly when she saw the capped-over stump, her eyes flickering back to my face. My exposed face. Shit, did I have a concussion? I just now realized that my face was exposed and she should have no idea that I was Ren Song. All the same, she started speaking, "The Justice League established safe zones with magic, and science that's practically magic. Zatara and some guy with a golden helmet used a spell that's been teleporting people to the nearest major city. Across the entire world, if you can believe it."

I was here, so I guess I had to. "Ren!" I heard just before I felt Zatanna tackling me. "Your arm," she breathed, pulling back after a quick hug. Her eyes were wide, as if she couldn't believe the state that I was in. I guess I must look quite the sight.

I was glad to see that she was okay, but now that the shock had worn off, my brain was shifting back into gear. "I'll be fine -- is there a member of the League nearby? Where do we go if we can help? I asked the doctor, making her open her mouth, only to close it when I pushed myself to my feet. I caught a glance from Robin and Kid Flash. Miss Martian had ended the mental connection between everyone when she left, following Superboy on the stretcher. Not great, but it could be worse.

Robin was the one that answered my question, "We need to find a Zeta Tube. Come on, there's one nearby," Robin said as I got up, only to stumble a bit. Zatanna threw herself under my arm, my sword still clutched in my hand. Gluttony was with Artemis and… I glanced around, my gaze finding Aqualad's. "Where's Guppy?"

Aqualad's lips thinned, "I suspect he would not have been brought with us. On account of being an animal. I'm sorry, Koi," he said as my lips tugged into a frown. Guppy got left behind? He was still in Happy Harbor? That was…

I took in a breath and let it out, shoving aside my worries, "Guppy can take care of himself." At least for a little bit. I would have to head back as soon as I could to pick him up. It was hard to get angry because I understood -- if people's families were getting split up, then this was a marco spell. I don't think exceptions could be made. Then again, I didn't know much about magic.

Aqualad nodded in agreement, "He can. You have nothing to worry about. And I trust the matter of Koi's secret identity shall remain a secret?" he questioned, turning his attention to the doctor that had checked me out. The woman paled ever so slightly before nodding.

With that taken care of, Zatanna helped me make our way down the car park ramps to the streets below. And there was no other way to describe the streets other than disorderly chaos. The streets were completely packed with people, cars parked where they had been left. The people were in a state of shock for the most part.

I saw a man sitting against a truck, his head cupped in his hands and sobbing uncontrollably. There were families clutching each other in silence, just holding onto each other as if their lives depended on it. There were also plenty of people that were angry. I heard shouting and cursing. I saw two men shoving each other over something, only for the budding fight to be ended hard by a patrol of soldiers slamming them into the ground.

Jump City hadn't gone unscathed either. There were entire streets that were sectioned off, buildings that had collapsed and were reduced to rubble. Military patrols routinely picked up the pieces of bodies, putting them in body bags and lining them up. And there were a lot of body bags. We walked in complete silence as we headed for the nearest available Zeta Tube. People gave us a wide berth, seeing our costumes and our injuries. I kept my head down and my hood up, making sure no one could see my face, but I still saw the faces of the people.

Some looked utterly heartbroken but other regarded us with anger. There were whispers and dark mutterings. They looked at us like we had betrayed them in some way. As if we had released that toxin into the air and kickstarted this whole mess. But we hadn't. Instead, they judged us guilty of another crime -- we had failed to stop this catastrophe. And in some of their minds, that was far worse.

"Things are bad," I muttered as we entered an overly full back alley, heading to an ordinary wall. Robin tapped on a few bricks and the ground started to open up. People muttered in surprise, rising up to walk with us down. I stopped them by stomping my foot, putting up a brief barrier of stone to let us get down and close the door behind us.

"That would be an understatement. How are over three hundred million people supposed to fit in a dozen major cities?" Robin questioned, earning a dark chuckle from Jin, who had followed along silently and without complaint.

"What makes you think there are still three hundred million people in America?" Jin questioned sharply, making every eye turn to her. Honestly, I thought she would have bolted the first opportunity that she had.

A sigh escaped me. One hour. It had roughly been one hour since this mess began. How many people would have died in that hour? I had seen the carnage and that was with a team of superheroes helping mitigate the worst of it. What would have happened in the towns and cities that didn't have heroes? Just normal people trying to survive that mess?

"Let's go," I ended the argument before it could begin. Zatanna nodded, backing me up. Robin frowned, glaring at Jin, who couldn't seem to have cared less, before activating the Zeta Tube. One by one, we were brought through in a bright flash of light. I quickly recognized our predetermined arrival point as the Watchtower since I had been here before. The others took a moment to be wowed, looking at the Earth through the massive window. I, however, spotted Batman standing in the middle of the room, completely surrounded by holograms.

I stumbled forward, bringing Zatanna’s attention to him. He hardly seemed to pay us any mind, and I let my vision drift to the holograms. On every single screen, I saw scenes of absolute destruction. Cities in complete ruin, one with thousands of ants crawling over the buildings. Of Wonder Woman who seemed to be fighting a giant cockroach in France. Demolished buildings, cities on fire, ruined streets.

The safe zones I saw honestly weren’t that much better. Cities that were meant to house a couple million now housed tens of millions. People were fighting in the streets. I saw what looked like military crackdowns, and my stomach clenched when I saw two groups trading fire with assault rifles. There were areas filled with injured people, and mass graves were already being made. I also saw that there were massive clouds rotating around the North and South poles. The places where the clouds carrying the venom had been pushed, was my guess.

“As of right now,” Batman began, his voice cold and devoid of all emotion, bringing all of our attention to him. “Three and a half billion people have been killed in what is the single greatest disaster in human history.” He spoke calmly even as he delivered a punch to the gut. Three and a half billion people? Dead? In an hour? Any trace of moisture in my mouth vanished at the number-

“Only three and a half billion, huh? I was hoping for more than that,” Jin remarked, crossing her arms as she looked at Earth with a dismissive expression. Everyone looked at her, even Batman seemingly caught off guard with her complete disregard for human life. “The Justice League does good work. I mean, given the circumstances.” She tacked on with a shrug, looking back at us.

Batman worked his jaw for a moment, turning to me, “She’s not restrained.”

Jin tsked, “If the first thing you do after giving your word about something is to immediately try to worm your way out of the deal, you’re an honorless piece of shit. I told my cousin that I’d help kill spirit beasts, so I will.” Batman looked to me for confirmation and I offered a curt nod.

He accepted that without missing a beat. Leaving me to ask my own question, “What are we doing here? I know people were being teleported to major cities, but what’s protecting them?” How in the hell could there be safe zones in this hell?

“Magic and science, at the moment,” Batman answered, bringing forth a hologram. “Charms or spells meant to repel insects and vermin, and sonic disruptors to repel animals and birds. However, these are proving to be stop-gap measures at best,” he admitted. “In the coming weeks, walls two hundred feet tall and fifty thick shall be erected around every major city. Further developments for repelling the creature will be implemented as we learn why some are proving more resistant to repellents than others.”

That was insane. I wasn’t the only one that thought so either. “What about magic?” Robin questioned, looking at Zatanna, who could only look at him helpless because she didn’t have the answer.

“A possibility that we are looking into, but it seems unlikely. This event has stirred primordial forces known as the Red and the Clear which claim dominion over all animals and water-based species. With their rise in power, the Green and the Gray, which rule over all plants and fungi, have essentially declared war.” Batman said with such a straight face that I couldn’t even laugh at how ludicrous that explanation was. I didn’t even know how to process that. But, from the sounds of it, it sounded like we couldn’t magically undo what had been done to the animals and insects. He looked at all of us for a moment, seemingly searching for the words.

“As of right now, we are facing an extinction-level event,” he said, making ice form in my veins. “However, it will not come to that. Given the circumstances, the Green Lanterns on the Justice League have been given approval to give vital technology and processes so humanity can survive the coming days. Food production will be essential now that most of the world can no longer be used for farming. We were not allowed to have mineral and metal fabrication, but we have been given schematics for space flight to mine the asteroid belt.” He spoke calmly and in a way, it was reassuring.

Batman felt like an unshakeable rock, that even the world facing what could be the end didn’t cause him to so much as a flinch. He was calm. Collected. Rational.

“All of you will be busy in the coming days, but there is something that you need to understand -- as of eleven o’clock yesterday, the world has officially changed. There will be no going back to the way things were. The change that we face will be harsh. It will be painful. We stand in uncertain times, but it is our jobs to ensure that every tomorrow starting today is a little less painful than the day before.” I could feel a heavy weight settling on my shoulders as Batman stepped forward, placing a hand on Robin’s shoulder.

“What do you want us to do?” I asked him, and Batman very pointedly looked at my missing arm. “I’m fine.”

He made a noise deep in his throat as if he expected nothing less. “All of you will be given individual tasks, but for now, you will stay here and rest. You will be with your families.” He spoke, leaving no room for argument. With timing that was a little too perfect to be chance, I heard a door open. “The Flash prioritized recovering our families and brought them to the Watchtower.”

That wasn’t fair, I thought, seeing an ashamed Artemis with her mom, pushing the woman in her wheelchair. I saw a bunch of faces that I didn’t recognize that had to belong to the other members of the Team, but my arguments died in my throat when I saw my Mom who came out running the moment that she saw me. Zatanna let go of me just in time for my Mom to sweep me up in a hug, giving me a squeeze that would have broken my fractured ribs if they hadn’t already healed over.

My Dad walked behind her, his eyes concerned, but he looked relieved as he approached, embracing me.

We were going to have long days in the future. But, for now? I savored the moment while I could.