"Start showing me what you got, or else I'm seriously gonna kill you."

Stanton had had his life threatened a number of times before. Usually from long time enemies or entities his father would run across during their travels together. So he had learned to tell the difference between when someone was bluffing and just trying to scare, and when someone actually meant it.

This guy meant it.

His mind raced to find some kind of solution. Did he stand his ground and fight? The difference between them was pretty clear. When that punch landed it felt like his whole body had shattered. Honestly it was a miracle that nothing had broken and that all of his bones seemed to still be intact. But running away wasn't going to be an option either. At least not an easy one.

"So if I fight back, you won't kill me then?" Stanton asked.

The masked figure tilted their head. "Depends on how much of a fight you put up. This is a test after all. If I don't think you're worth keeping around, you're dead," he said.

"That doesn't seem like very fair odds to me whether I run or fight."

"Not my problem."

Stanton sighed and then scratched his head. "Okay then. The Emperor!" He created another barrier, this time around his fist, and then stepped forward towards him, looking ready to throw a punch. The masked figure braced himself, a chuckle escaping him as he prepared to catch his fist. "The Magician."

Right before he could however, Stanton vanished.

The figure stood there. Despite their face being hidden behind a mask, one could feel the annoyance and anger resonating off of them. "That little…"

Stanton had teleported down the street and was running as fast as he could. Teleporting too often with The Magician would tire him out quickly, so he would have to use it wisely and buy himself just a bit of time between each jump. If he used smaller distances he could reach one of the Vanguard's nearby patrol areas in just a few-

"Didn't I tell you running away is only going to tick me off?"

The masked figure was once again already beside him, and Stanton wondered just how he had tracked him down so quickly. Even if he could teleport, how had he been able to know exactly where to follow him? "The Magician!"

Stanton vanished again, going another few blocks. It looked like he was just going to have to keep teleporting and risk tiring out. It seemed like the only way to-

"Stop that."

He grew wide eyed as he reappeared, only to find the masked figure already waiting for him. He tried to teleport again, but the figure reached out and grabbed him by the face, putting a hand over his mouth. "You're so pathetic." There was a blur, and Stanton suddenly found himself on the top of a rooftop.

The masked man pushed him back, and he stumbled towards the edge, just baring catching himself. He looked back up to face the masked figure, only to feel a kick strike him from behind. Stanton fell to the ground, but quickly began scrambling back up to his feet. "The Emperor!"

He put up another barrier, but without missing a beat, the figure teleported inside and then kicked him in his side. He fell to the ground, clutching his side in pain. It was like every hit the guy threw had the force of a strike behind it. But still, somehow nothing seemed to be broken.

"Feeling the pain huh?" The figure asked as he circled around him, like a lion stalking its prey. "I'm tweaking your nervous system a bit, so even though I'm pulling my punches you're feeling it way worse. But you try running again, and I swear I'm gonna start breaking what I hit."

Stanton raised his hand towards him. "The High Priestess!"

He fired off a wave of blue flames towards the figure, who just stood there as he was swallowed up by the wave of heat. But when the flames cleared up, the figure stood there, not even a single sign of a scratch or burn on him. "There we go. Now you're getting it," he said amused. "Do you best to keep it up."

Stanton tried to fire again, but the figure raised their hands and sent him flying back. He stumbled near the edge of the room, and the figure rushed after him, fist raised and ready to swing. "The Hierophant!" The figure swung, but his entire body passed right through Stanton's.

He seemed surprised, but had little time to react before Stanton shoved him from behind, sending him off the edge. Stanton panted as he watched him fall. He had a feeling that even if they did hit the ground, it wouldn't kill him. Not that he could really afford to think about that. He was pretty much fighting for his life right now.

"Stanton, I would advise you not to use so many cards in such repetition. The toll this will take on your body will be quite taxing."

Stanton sighed. "I know…" Three a day. That's how many Arcana told him to stick to. And he'd just used four of them, in repetition. He already felt like he had just run a marathon. Though it was hard to tell how much of it was the cards, and how much of it was him getting beat up earlier.

"Not bad, you really caught me by surprise."

Stanton looked up and was shocked to see the figure floating up from over the edge of the roof. He stepped back as the figure began floating towards him. "But you should have tried to knock my block off instead of just shoving me. This isn't the playground kid," he said aiming at him again.

Right before he was about to blast, Stanton used The Magician again and vanished. He appeared in the alleyway before, but rather than run and raised his other hand and began looking around quickly. The moment the figure appeared, he took at aim.

"What did I just say about-?!"

"The High Priestess!"

He shot another wave of flames, this time not bothering out hold back, but once again when it cleared he was unharmed. "A hit and run tactic? Well, I guess that's not technically running," the figure said rubbing their chin.

Stanton stepped forward and made a force field around his fist, swinging at him. But the figure ducked out of the way before swinging up and hitting him right in the chin. "God, have you ever thrown a real punch in your life?" the figure asked, shaking their head as they watched Stanton fall back onto the ground.

Stanton scrambled back up to his feet and swung again, but the figure waved out of the way and punched at him again. Stanton used the Hierophant and let the punch pass through him, then swung his other arm and tried to strike him. The figure caught his fist and then yanked him forward before kicking him in the chest.

Stanton hit the ground again, panting and holding his hand up. "Can… can I call a timeout?" he asked. He was running on fumes at this point. He wasn't even sure he could get back to his feet.

"You really have never been in a fight before, have you?" the figure asked crouching down in front of him. "There are no timeouts in a real fight loser."

Stanton sighed and then reached back into his backpack. "I know… I really didn't want to have to do this, but…" The figure looked at him confused as he pulled something out of his bag and then threw it down on the ground. A cloud of smoke suddenly shot up around them, quickly filling up the alleyway.

"What the hell?!"

"The Fool!"

The figure waved his hand, clearing the smoke away, and then growled as he saw Stanton running out of the alleyway. He sighed before quickly going after him. And once he left, the dumpster behind him suddenly opened. Stanton crawled out, looking completely exhausted as he leaned against the wall.

He had only made one copy of himself with The Fool, but if he had it keep away and avoid contact it could fool him long enough for him to get some distance. He had to get as far away as possible before-

"Did you really think that would fool me?" Stanton's eyes widened as he looked up and saw the figure standing over him. "I mean seriously. Even if you made a hundred of yourself, I could sense which one is the real one easily. Especially when you get too far from it," he said holding his hand up towards him.

Stanton leaned his head back and sighed. "I really hoped that would keep you busy for a lot longer," he said defeatedly. What was he supposed to do next? Phase through the wall behind him? Put a force field around himself? He couldn't think of anything that would end with him actually getting away.

Then he remembered something. The Lover card. He still hadn't used it yet. He looked down at the deck. He had no idea whether it would help or not, but it was better than doing nothing. "Any last words kid?"

Stanton stood up as he held onto the card. "The Lovers."

The card glowed brightly, and then… everything had blurred around him for a moment, and then Stanton realized he was in the air. He looked down and saw the alleyway and building he'd been surrounding by down before. For a moment he panicked, thinking he was about to fall. But just seemed to float there.

Was he… was he flying? Or just floating? It was a little hard to tell. Either way he away from the masked figure, which was good enough for-

"What the hell?!"

Stanton looked over and then panicked as he felt something crash into him. He fell back, but something grabbed the back of his shirt and held him up. He shook his head and then looked up to see Cayenne looking down at him. The girl was clearly confused to see the boy up here. "What are you doing up here kid?"

Stanton opened his mouth to answer her, but all of a sudden felt another wave of exhaustion hit him. "It appears you've reached your limit…"

His whole body felt heavy, and his eyelids started to droop. He heard Cayenne's voice as he slowly started to nod off.

"Kid…? Kid?!"

Down below, the figure cursed under their breath. So the little worm had managed to squirm away. There was no point in going after him now. He was out cold, and he didn't want the Vanguard sniffing around their business.

"Count yourself lucky loser. Next time you won't get off so easily…"

Stanton's eyes shot open, and he quickly sat up and looked around. For a few moments he was a bit too dazed to realize where he was, but as his senses slowly began to set in, he saw that he was inside of Renee's office. How had he gotten here? What had happened? He remembered the mask figure, then using The Lovers card, and…

"The agressive girl from the team of heroes found you and brought you here."

Stanton reached up and rubbed his head. "Oh, right." That made sense. Where else would she have brought him besides home?

"You're awake."

Stanton looked over and saw Renee giving him a concerned look. The blonde got up from behind her desk and walked towards him. "Hey Renee," he greeted casually.

She sighed down towards the boy. She really shouldn't have been surprised that despite what Cayenne told her, Stanton didn't seem very panicked or surprised after waking up. "Hey… are you okay?" she asked worried. "Cayenne told me you looked pretty banged up when you found you… fifty feet in the air…"

Stanton hummed. "Oh, that. Yeah, I'm fine." That masked figure must have been telling the truth about him messing with his senses, because he didn't feel nearly as bad as he did before. A little sore, but otherwise fine. Most of his exhaustion seemed to be from overusing the cards.

Renee nodded. "That's good, that's good… and about the whole her finding you in the air thing? Did you want to explain that?" she asked.

He was quiet for a moment. "I… was getting bullied, and got thrown."

Renee just stared at him. "You… you got thrown… fifty feet in the air, by who I can only assume is Neville or one of his friends?" she asked. Dipper really wasn't exaggerating when he said Stanton was a terrible liar. "Do you want to try again?"

"Don't. Don't say anything. You're awful at this…"

Stanton blinked. "Uh… I don't want to talk about it."

Renee palmed her face. "Stanton, sweetie, I… I really don't want you to feel like I'm coming down on you or being pushy, but you're not giving me a lot to work with," she said before reaching forward and grabbing his hand. "I know that you and your dad got into all sorts of adventures, so you being in some weird situation doesn't surprise me. But if you're getting hurt, then I can't just ignore that. You know that, don't you?"

"I figured. Are you going to tell my dad?" he asked. Honestly at this point he couldn't have blamed her. He was considering going to his father himself.

Renne looked like she was in deep thought for a moment. Then she looked back at him. "I won't. But next time something like this happens, I have too Stanton," she said. She knew she really should have at this point, but she wanted to try something first. "And in return, I want you to do me a favor."

"A favor?" Stanton asked, tilting his head.

"I'm not sure if this really is some kind of bullying thing, or if it's something else. But either way, I'd feel a lot better if you actually learned how to defend yourself. So from now on, I'd like you to start taking a little time to learn self defense with Cayenne and the others when you come here."

Stanton was a little caught off guard by the request. She wanted him to learn how to fight? He… he wasn't a fighter. He didn't have the skill or the mind for it.

Which was probably why he should have done it…

If that guy came back and caught him by himself again, he very much doubted that a new card and random timing would bail him out again. "Okay."

Renee looked at him surprised. She hadn't expected him to agree so easily. "Oh… well, alright then," she said awkwardly. That had gone much more smoothly than expected. "I can take you home if you want. I really don't want you going by yourself after what-"

"I can just stay here," Stanton said, getting up. "I don't want to waste any time because of me. I'll just stay here until it's time to go… Is Ezra back yet?"

She shook her head. "He's still out on patrol. But if you want I could see if Micah or one of the others aren't busy," she said. "I have a lot of research to do, and I'm sure you don't want to sit around and watch me sort through it."

"What kind of research?" he asked.

"Oh, just on some ancient artifacts we think the Youngblood might have their eyes on."

"I think I can help with that," Stanton said. "I helped my dad research old artifacts."

Renee was surprised, but smiled. "If you're up to it, I'd be happy to have the extra help. I already sorted through the books stacked over there, I'm looking for any mentions of the Helmet of Omens," she said.

Stanton nodded and kept listening as she explained just what they were searching for. In the back of his mind however he couldn't help but think of that figure who had attacked him. Who in the world was that? Why had he come after him? Why was he testing him?

As of now he had literally nothing to go off of. Aside from the fact that it was likely connected to the cards anyway. It was a complete mystery. He knew that this wasn't going to be the last time he came across that guy. He was going to have to figure out something for the next time he showed up.

A/N: Stanton manages to survive his run in with the masked figure thanks to The Lovers card, but he still has no idea just how they are or what they want with him! The only thing he can do for now is try and hurry to master/unlock the secret of the cards! Will he be able to before they return to finish the job?