Risk It All: Gambling Principle (ch. 38) (Patreon)

"You killed him," I heard myself say, my gaze looking beyond Klarion the Witch Boy to the fallen form of Kent Nelson. He laid on the street, his white shirt dyed red as his blood seeped out into the pavement. I couldn't see his face. I… I hadn't even really noticed the fight. I had just… I just assumed that he would be fine. Even with the warning, Dr. Fate seemed so powerful. Where we had been struggling to save a single city, Dr. Fate saved the entire world.

I didn't think he would die. Not because of any kind of logic or reason, but I just thought that he wouldn't. I assumed that he wouldn't. Because… heroes didn't die. Through a TV screen I watched members of the Justice League shake off incredibly close calls, but they made it through. They always did. Even with my own close calls, I managed to survive even if it was by the skin of my teeth. And I just assumed that Kent Nelson would be fine. That he would survive. That he would win.

Because of that, he was dead.

"That old dodder? Puh-lease, he was way past his expression date! What was he thinking going up against me with that old bag of bones?" Klarion dismissed the fallen hero as he lazily spun the golden helmet on his finger. His eyes were fixated upon me and I struggled to keep my expression even. Something dark and ugly welled up from somewhere deep inside of me, something that craved nothing but wiping that stupid fucking smirk off of Klarion's face. "Oh? Did I kill your grandpa? Or great grandpa in his case? Or is it just grandpa? He seemed pretty spry for an old guy-"

"Cero," I interjected, my mind zeroing in on one course of action. With every word he said, the blatant disrespect -- it was like my brain was entering a tunnel that completely blocked out any other thought beyond murdering this piece of shit. My Qi condensed into my palm in a fraction of a second before I thrust my palm forward, unleashing a torrent upon Klarion that washed over him like a tidal wave. The intense red and black energy swept over the street, obliterating houses and cars like someone took a massive eraser and swiped it over the suburban homes.

Klarion wasn't dead. With my other hand that clenched my sword, the night sky coiling around it like a snake waiting to lash out, I thrust it out over my shoulder while using Tsubame Gaeshi to thrust over my shoulder four separate times with a single strike, casting my net wide so to speak. It proved to be unneeded because Klarion was going to lean over my shoulder with a cocky grin on his lips, only to be stopped cold when four separate thrusts pierced his chest.

"Ouchie!" Klarion complained as I snarled, my blade skewering him in the chest. I sent the night sky and swirling moon along my blade into his chest, intent on ripping him apart from the inside out. If it did any damage, it was next to impossible to tell because Klarion just snapped his fingers and my sword turned into a snake that lunged at my throat.

"Egnahc kcab!" Zatanna shouted, the snake rippling like water before revealing that my sword had merely been concealed by an illusion. Letting it fall into the palm of my hand, I lashed out, kicking at Klarion's smug face, who simply leaned out of the way of my attack before following through and spinning to my feet while my sword arced out at his wrist. "Llaf ot em!"

Klarion avoided me taking off his hand, but with Zatanna's spell, the golden helmet of Dr. Fate fell from his finger tip. "Oh, no you don't!" Klarion snapped, his cat going for the helmet while he looked at me. My foot arched as I flash-stepped, kicking his cat in the ribs with all the strength that I could muster and that stole his attention enough to let Zatanna grab hold of the helmet. "What's wrong with you?! What kind of monster kicks a poor defenseless pussycat?! And you call yourself a hero?" Klarion snapped at me, taking his cat in his arms and petting it reassuringly.

My eyes narrowed. I just stabbed him four times in the chest, and I didn't even see an injury. He did seem more concerned with his cat, though. I liked cats, just not when they were attached to murderers. Zatanna stood next to me, the helmet in her palms while Superboy and Kid Flash prepared to help take Klarion down.

"I wouldn't put that on if I were you," Klarion remarked, making Zatanna scrunch up her nose as she glared at him.

"Knowing that you don't want me to makes me want to do it that much more," Zatanna informed, her tone absolutely scathing. Klarion smiled in response before his gaze slid to me.

"Unless you want to find yourself a new girlfriend, I'd suggest you stop her," Klarion continued, and despite herself, Zatanna did still when he said that, pausing mid motion to put on the helmet. "Nabu's gotten a bit crotchety. With the world being what it is and the poor showing of his last host… Nabu's not gonna let her go when she puts that helmet on."

"Or," I countered, "You're trying to stop us from bringing the one person that can kick your ass," I refuted.

Klarion tilted his head, "Oh, you're pretty dull, huh?" He remarked, the comment catching me off guard because that wasn't really a response to my accusation. I expected a denial, or with how big of a smug asshole Klarion was, a confirmation. An insult was a weird choice. "All that power and you're stuck at this level… that's pretty funny now that I think about it," Klarion remarked with a demented giggle.

I started to slip into the Black Heaven and Earth technique, feeling its strength flow into my body and push away the edge of my exhaustion. I would pay for it later, but at least I would be able to pay for it later. At the same time, Zatanna spoke up, "Aim for his cat! It's his familiar. Lords of Chaos can't stay in this realm without a familiar."

"What's wrong with heroes these days?!" Klarion shouted, flying up into the air and just narrowly managed to avoid Kid Flash snagging the orange cat from his hands. He looked down at all of us, his expression one of supreme distaste. His cat meowed, making Klarion nod in agreement. "You're right, Teekl -- the absolute worst! No wonder the world's so messed up with them running around! We…" a slow smile began to tug at his lips that spread to impossible lengths until it stretched from ear to ear, "should do something about that."

I swung my blade, sending a curtain of swirling moons up at Klarion, only for them to be met by red lightning that crashed right through it. A quick flash-step was the only thing that saved me. Above, Klarion laughed maniacally, throwing down bolts from his fingertips at me, Superboy, and Kid Flash. Zatanna, however, held the helmet tight. Despite the untrustworthy source, she was hesitant to put it on. Kent Nelson had alluded to the same thing.

Yet, all the same, Zatanna put the helmet on.

"Big mistake~!" Klarion remarked as Zatanna's body was covered in the same costume that Kent had worn -- a dark blue jumpsuit, golden belt, boots, and gloves with the golden helmet obscuring her face. I really didn't like how certain of that he sounded.

"Lord of Chaos," Dr. Fate spoke, Zatanna's voice overlapping with Nabu's. "You shall know defeat at my hands."

"Big talk from someone I killed like five minutes ago," Klarion dismissed while Dr. Fate held up a hand, forming a golden ankh and launching it at Klarion, who stopped it cold with a continuous blast of red lightning. Despite his confident words, I did see that his expression was a little more strained than it had been a second ago.

Dr. Fate's other hand summoned another ankh that floated its way down to me as the two Lords battled it out in a contest of wills, explosions of clashing energy lighting up the sky above. "This will guide you while I deal with the Witch Boy. I shall rejoin you shortly," Dr. Fate stated and I was already shaking my head, poised to strike at Klarion.

"Let's just take him down now-" I started, only to be cut off when I suddenly found myself falling. I reached out, trying to double jump out of the golden ankh that had appeared under my feet, but it sucked me down before I could escape it. I looked up at Dr. Fate, worry tying my guts into knots, but Dr. Fate was paying me no attention. "Zatanna!" I shouted, only for the ankh to close as I fell on my ass, looking at a red door.

"Okay, what was that?!" Kid Flash shouted, bringing my attention to him. We were in a hallway. A normal hallway. With Seismic Sense, I felt the structure of the house -- two stories, bedrooms, bathrooms, and so on. However, Seismic Sense was cut off at the frame of the house. Like it existed inside of a void.

Ignoring Superboy and Kid, I grabbed the knob to the red door and swung it open, and instead of seeing the outside and the fight, I saw an interconnected web of staircases and doors that would make M. C. Escher weep. There was one path directly in front of us, but beyond that there had to be hundreds more that acted as a ceiling, walls, and floor. It hurt my eyes just to look at.

However, that was secondary. Zatanna was fighting the guy that just killed the last Dr. Fate.

"Is this the guy we're looking for?" Superboy asked, taking a picture off of the wall to reveal a kid. Maybe around ten years old, give or take a year. Brown hair cut in an unfortunate bowl cut, thick square glasses, and a gap between his front teeth. A man and a woman stood behind him, but their faces were gone. Completely featureless.

"It's a kid," Kid Flash remarked, taking the picture from Superboy. "I… well, maybe it's just an old photo. Either way, we know what he looks like now. And we have the magic doohickey to find him." Kid continued, gesturing to the golden arch that pointed towards the open door. Kid Flash met my gaze as he set the photo down, his lips tightening. "She's gonna be fine. Zatanna is tough."

I tried to take a calming breath and struggled with it, "I thought the same thing about Kent." That's what shook my confidence so thoroughly. Zatanna was powerful in her own right, but Dr. Fate had saved billions with a single spell. I always considered Superman the strongest out of all the heroes growing up, but that single action had been enough to convince me that Dr. Fate was the most powerful.

And he fucking died.

"She'll be fine," Superboy added, giving me a serious nod. "The only way we can help her right now is to get to the kid before anyone else does." I hated how much sense that made. I really did. I also hated that I didn't know how to argue against it because I had no idea how to get back to where Zatanna was. And, because Conner was right. It was out of my hands.

I looked away, turning my attention back to the staircases and the golden ankh. My lips thinned and I forced myself to take the calming breath. "You're right. Let's go," I said, leading the charge. The red door closed behind Superboy, but we didn't look back as we followed the arch. And in no time at all, I found that wherever we were was weird. It felt like we were running in a straight line the entire time, but we curved back around, walking on the ceiling of the room we had been in before with the red door acting as a landmark.

I had seen a cartoon about something like this as a kid, so I paid it no mind. I just kept running straight ahead, deciding to trust the golden ankh as we were led back into the same room on a different staircase. At least, that's what I wanted to do.

But as the seconds ticked by, turning into minutes and those minutes turned into a half hour of running in a straight line with a whole lot of backtracking, that trust got a lot more strained. Kid was getting agitated by the pace, and worse, it was giving me time to think. Zatanna was strong. Dr. Fate was strong. But so was Klarion. A near constant nagging worry in the back of my head tugged at my focus, whispering dark thoughts in my ears -- Zatanna needed my help right now, and I wasn't there because I was stuck running in a stupid, endless loop.

"This," I growled out, "is getting us nowhere." One of us should have put on that helmet. I pulled out my Market to search for a skill that could help us because I was done running in circles. My patience just reached its absolute limit. I had an idea of what I was looking for, but the issue was that between training all of my friends, I was short on points. Leaving me stuck buying the base version.

Dispel

T1R1

An ancient spell designed to disrupt the processes of another spell, either canceling it out or nullifying an ongoing effect.

It used up the last of my points, putting me all the way down into the single digits, but I used it all the same. My Qi welled up in my gut before it seemed to erupt from my pores in every direction like an aura that went in every direction. And, the moment it reached the golden ankh in front of me, I came to such a sudden stop that Kid Flash and Superboy nearly slammed into me.

"What- oh," Kid started, looking at the golden compass that was pointed in the opposite direction.

We were running the wrong way.

"Fuck," I swore to myself, looking around at the staircase that we were on for the source of whatever had put the illusion on the ankh. I felt completely out of my depth. This wasn't my element. At all. A straight up fight is where I thrived. It's what I was geared towards. But the subtleties of magic and illusions and whatever the fuck this shit was? I was sinking here.

"Meow," I heard echoing down the hallway, bringing my attention to the orange cat. Teekl. Looks like Klarion had sent his cat to mess with us. The night sky coiled around my blade -- I was more of a cat person than a dog person, but I was more than willing to make an exception for this one. In response, Teekl began to grow in size, quickly surpassing the size of a dog, then a small horse, then a big horse, and settled on the size of an elephant until he more or less completely took up the entirety of the hallway.

I started to step forward, but a hand grabbed me by the back of my shirt and hurled me back. "What-" I started, only to see that it was Superboy who was forcing both me and Kid to run while Teekl was quick to give chase.

"Not here," Superboy snapped at the two of us. "Not when we don't know what we're fighting," he said, giving me a pointed look, like he expected better from me. He was right to, I could admit. When I saw the cat, I just thought of what Zatanna said -- that Teekl was Klarion's weakness and killing it would help her.

Teekl was hot on our heels as the golden ankh pointed itself in the correct direction. Hopefully. I cast Dispel again to make sure it didn't flip around on us. "Zatanna's going to be fine. Have a little faith, Koi," Superboy said, zeroing in on the source of my tension as we sprinted at high speeds.

He was right. Zatanna could take care of herself. I just needed to focus on salvaging this.

I nodded at him and he nodded back when I confirmed my head was in the game. And, almost on cue, the golden ankh began to drift from its position of straight ahead. My gaze landed on what it was pointing at, a yellow door at the head of one of the staircases.

"That one," I said, flash-stepping towards the door and ripping it open. The others joined me with Kid Flash picking up Superboy. Throwing ourselves through it, I slammed the door shut just in time to see Teekl's snarling face as we… fell?

The sound of air whistling as it passed my ears filled them as I righted myself, looking down to see that the ground was rapidly approaching. It was a suburb from what I could tell with a quick glance. One that was completely devastated, telling me that it wasn't in one of the Havens. Looking at the others, I saw that Kid Flash was spinning in circles while Superboy didn't look at all alarmed. They had their own landing methods, so I didn't need to worry about them.

Double jumping, I broke the momentum of my fall and landed lightly in the broken street. In contrast, Superboy landed like a meteor striking the earth, making the ground shake while a cloud of dust went up. That cloud was quickly dispersed when Kid used the mini tornado that he had formed beneath him to soften his landing. All three of us were fine.

"This place," Kid noted, earning a nod from me.

"Yeah," I agreed, confirming that he wasn't seeing things. This neighborhood was identical to the one we had just been in. The one that had been an illusion. This one wasn't sporting the damage that had been caused by the battle, though. So, I was reasonably sure that this wasn't another illusion. I became certain of it when I walked forward, spotting a familiar house. Though, mostly because it was flanked by two houses that had identical damage to the one in the illusion.

Unlike the illusion, the modest two story building wasn't perfectly intact. The grass was in desperate need of a mowing, the roof had caved in, looking like something heavy had landed on it, and dust clung to the windows. The house looked utterly abandoned. Yet, the ankh was pointing towards it.

"Keep an eye out for more tricks," I ordered, cautiously approaching the front door. Superboy nodded, keeping an eye out for Teekl. I reached out a hand to the door handle of the door, only to pause. Frowning, I raised my hand and knocked at the front door while keeping a close eye on the arch. We were close, I saw when the end of the ankh jumped and seemed to be moving ever so slightly. There was a long second of nothing, but I heard the sound of footsteps coming from the other side of the door.

"Mom, Dad!" I heard as the red door was thrown open, revealing the child we saw in the photo. A recent photo, it would seem. He looked filthy -- greasy hair, stains on his cartoon themed shirt, but his thick rimmed glasses were polished to a shine. The moment his eyes landed on me, the joyous expression on his face crumpled like paper into bitter disappointment. "You aren't my mom and dad," he voiced, sounding like he was on the verge of tears.

"I'm not," I agreed, dropping to a knee in front of him. "But, maybe I could help you find them. I'm a hero." I told him, making his face scrunch up in pure disbelief. He didn't buy it. Yet, when his eyes darted to Superboy, and then Kid Flash, it was only when he saw the latter that his entire face lit up.

"You're Kid Flash!" The kid gasped, his jaw falling and he was practically vibrating from pure excitement. "You're really here!"

Kid Flash smiled kindly, taking over the conversation since he was a known quantity with the kid. "You bet I am," he started, holding out a fist for the kid to bump. You'd think he just came face to face with God with how reverently the kid returned the gesture. "That over there is Superboy, and he's Koi -- they're my friends and we're here to rescue you."

The kid lit up, exuding joy out of every pore, "Really?! You found out where that weird light took everyone?!" He questioned, catching my attention.

Kid Flash's too. "Golden light?"

"Yeah, I was stuck here with my babysitter and this really weird light came and took her! It tried to take me too, but I really didn't want to go because my mom and dad said that they were going to be right back and I didn't want to go anywhere without them," the kid explained, sounding like he was trying to give the entire explanation in a single breath. His expression wilted a bit, "But they haven't come back yet. And I really miss May, even if I don't need a babysitter."

That was… so, he battled it out with Dr. Fate's spell to stay where he was instead of getting teleported? I could see how that made sense to him, even if it did leave him stranded here alone for a month. But… I'm not quite sure about something. He seemed like a powerful wizard or whatever if he could overcome Dr. Fate's spell, but that didn't explain that weird labyrinth or the hoops that we had to jump through to get here.

Maybe that was part of his… counter spell or something, to stay where he was. Or, possibly… that labyrinth hadn't been him at all. It was someone else that put it there.

Then it became a very pressing question of who?

"Well, if you can make it out here, I'll vouch for you to your parents that you don't need a babysitter," Kid Flash voiced, "Can you tell me their names so I can help you find them?"

The joy and hope was back in full force, "My dad's name is John and my mom's Alice. I'm Timothy! Timothy Hunter," Timothy introduced himself, puffing out his chest to make himself look older. It made him look younger. I'd put him at around nine or so. Maybe younger, honestly. He was a child. A young one.

And Dr. Fate named him his host.

My jaw tightened behind my mask. That didn't sit well with me. At all. The only saving grace was the fact that Dr. Fate had seemed ignorant of who Timothy was, so he likely didn't know that he named a young child to be his host. Still, that did leave one pointed question -- if Timothy wasn't going to be Dr. Fate, then who would be?

That question made me reflect on what Klarion had said. And not in a good way.

"Alrighty, don't you worry 'bout a thing, Timothy," Kid said, reaching out and picking Timothy up, "I'll do whatever I can to find your parents," he told me, looking at me. Despite the friendly and reassuring tone, there was concern on his face. Simply put, there was a fifty-fifty shot that his parents were dead. Even if they were alive, it was going to be an issue of finding them. Everyone was looking for lost family. But, I imagine that his parents would be a priority.

"Thank you! Could… do you think I could meet the Flash? He's my favorite," Timothy requested, completely oblivious.

"I see you have good taste in heroes, and don't you worry, I'll set you up," Kid continued. However, a second later, our attention was stolen by the sound of a meteor striking the earth. The dust settled quickly, but I already knew what we would see. My grip tightened on the hilt of my sword as Teekl emerged from the cloud of dust, seemingly larger than he had been moments before. He was more of a small house than an animal.

"Kid, get Timothy out of here," I instructed, breathing deeply while me and Superboy went to intercept. Teekl broke into a dead sprint at us, and each time his massive body landed the entire neighborhood seemed to shake. Kid seemed to freeze, torn between following the order and staying to fight.

Because of that, the decision was taken out of his hands. "Kitty!" Timothy exclaimed, twisting in Kid's grip to see the rapidly approaching familiar for a Lord of Chaos. He sounded elated, not so much as a hint of fear in his voice. The same could not be said for Teekl as the massive cat's eyes widened, a strangled meow escaping it.

Then Teekl began to shrink.

I didn't let my guard down but I watched with dull awe as the massive house sized cat got smaller and smaller and smaller as it approached. The ground stopped shaking when it leapt forward, shrinking down to the size of a normal house cat before going even smaller to that of a kitten. Teekl ran right past us, neither me or Superboy really sure what to do. I stilled when Teekl jumped up at Timothy but instead of tearing the boy's throat out, the cat began to brush it's face against his, earning a giggle from the young wizard.

"O… okay," I murmured, not really sure what to do now. Timothy pet the kitten that was curled up in his arms like it was the most natural thing to do. Was that an option this entire time? I looked to Superboy to see that he could only offer a shrug, just as lost as I was.

Wait, did…

A bright flash of light blinded me for a moment before I recognized it as an ankh that Dr. Fate emerged from. A tension that had been slowly strangling my heart lost its grip when I saw that Zatanna was unharmed. She seemed completely fine, even if that's not who I would be speaking to. "The Witch Boy has lost his familiar, I see," Dr. Fate remarked, the golden light fading.

"So, he's defeated?" Superboy questioned, earning a small shake of Dr. Fate's head.

"For a time. His familiar still exists, even if the connection has been severed. He will be back to claim what is his," Dr. Fate earned, and I guess I shouldn't have expected it would be so simple. "You three have done well. Klarion sending Teekl to follow was an unexpected development on my part, but you performed satisfactorily."

Dr. Fate floated to Kid and Timothy, who was looking up at Dr. Fate with a puzzled look. "Who are you? Are you a hero too?" He questioned, his voice shy as he clung to Teekl for comfort.

"I am Nabu, a Lord of Order. And you are my intended host," Dr. Fate informed, making my lips thin as I shared a look with Superboy. He didn't like the sound of that any more than I did. Neither did Kid Flash because I didn't miss how Kid held onto Timothy a little tighter.

"In a couple of years, yeah?" Kid tried, but Dr. Fate shook his head.

"No. Chaos has been left unrestrained, and my absence has already gone on for too long," Dr. Fate informed, speaking the words like a death sentence. "This child holds the potential to undo what was done -- what the Song family unleashed upon the world."

"Why," I asked, my voice slow and deliberate, "was your absence so drawn out?" Dr. Fate was his most active during WWII. His appearances slowed to a crawl in the years after until they stopped entirely in the mid fifties.

Dr. Fate bristled and I saw it. It was exactly how Zatanna tensed when she was getting mad. "It is because Kent Nelson put me on a shelf for more than fifty years," there was a snarl in Dr. Fate's voice. "For fifty years, I wasted away, impotent, as the forces of Chaos reigned free across the world. Now worse than ever. I require a powerful host to undo what was done and to bring these petty Parliaments in line."

My grip tightened on my sword as Klarion's words rang out with the sound of an undeniable truth, "And why… would he put you on a shelf?" I asked him, and it was then that Dr. Fate noticed my tone. He turned around to face me, my girlfriend's eyes staring at me through the holes of the golden helmet.

"Because he chose distractions over our calling," Dr. Fate answered, his tone unrepentant. "I see you are considering a very dangerous course of action."

Superboy tensed and Kid Flash looked ready to bolt while Timothy seemed increasingly confused. "I am," I spoke, deepening my breathing, "I hear what you're saying -- he's the golden ticket to unfuck the world. I hear you. I do. But I will stop you unless you can tell me that you're not going to bodysnatch a child's life from him. Can you tell me that?" I questioned, sending the answer before it was uttered.

"No. I can not."

Well then.

"Then you're going down, Fate."