Chapter 10: Gambler's of Fate

As they descended through the hole and the smoke surrounded them they continuously made their way down as best they could. The building continued to creak as they moved and it made them more and more anxious to leave. As they got to the lower floors, there was just fire and smoke everywhere, making it impossible to see. Angel took himself into what he deemed "The Matrix" and walked through the fire and out of the building before coming back out. On the outside looked terrible and ambulances and officers were moving quickly to put the fire out. Angel spotted the body of the pilot torn apart on the ground from the explosion and the impact from the Ship of Fools. The stand was gone and the plane had reverted back to its original form ad the private jet from before, it now lay in pieces everywhere.

Behind him, Angel heard one of the guards shouting and pointing at him, and he realized he was one of the ones from the lobby of the building. He began to make his way over from a distance and Angel quickly began using Glitch Mob to punch parts of the wall, glitching them out.

"Guys! C'mon, we gotta go. Those cops from earlier are still here and it seems like they're going to cause some trouble. We can't deal with an entire police force, and I'd like to get out of here before we start looking suspicious." Quickly the rest of the group made its way out of the building and they hurried away from it, the officer had begun chasing them and called attention to others but they were able to get away. When they were a safe distance away, they sighed with relief being graced with fresh unpolluted air, all except for William who was crouching over breathing heavily to himself.

"Everything…is gone…everything I worked for…it's all gone…" William wasn't crying but he was as close as you could get to it.

"That's not true, the building is still standing. It's highly unstable but it seems like it'll be fine. They should still have everything." Reid came over and put a hand on William's shoulder, "Don't worry, I know what it's like to lose everything as well." Suddenly, four cards flew by with great speed and away to what seemed to be towards the building. From various parts of the building, four separate explosions occurred and the building came down in a massive crash sending clouds of dust, ash and smoke flying into the air, forcing the group to take off and find cover in an alleyway. William looked at the building, his jaw dropped open in anguish. He saw his livelihood, everything he'd work to achieve, crumble before his very eyes.

"Well, that is very unfortunate." A man spoke from behind with a hint of satisfaction in his voice, "But after you guys survived and took out Airplanes, I needed to do what had to be done." They turned around and there stood Spades, dressed in his red and black suit and fedora, a cigarette lit in his mouth.

"Spades you bastard…" William got up and looked at him summoning 24 K.M.

"You know him??" Jacob looked at William in surprise.

"All too well…. You did this you bastard. Where's your band of thugs, or better yet, this elusive boss of yours…?" William took a step forward, "Or should I say 'Bosses'?" William stopped walking a few feet away from Spades and looked at him smugly.

"The fact that you know there are multiple bosses is enough information for you. You will never reach the boss, we'll make sure of it. Although we have different priorities tonight, so killing you will have to wait. As for my colleagues, they're all right here." From a brick wall off to their left, it seemed like the brick cracked and shattered and Joker came walking out, with his Aussie and all. An interesting blue vine lowered a very beautiful woman down from above them. She seemed to be dressed in the same shade of blue of the vine lowering her. She had a dress with diamonds embedded into it, her eyes were also an icy blue while her hair remained a nice blonde and it seemed to give off a silky texture. She was adorned with jewelry of all sorts, each gleamed the blue. The clomping of some nice, white dress shoes echoed behind Spades and a man dressed in a purple trench coat appeared behind. His hair was kind of let down and a bit long and just laid over on the side of his face obscuring part of it. His purple trench coat accented his purple eyes as well, and all over the trench coat were white symbols of what seemed to be a three leafed clover. His hair was a dark color with streaks of purple in them. His hands tucked nicely into his pockets and he stood leaning off to one side, flipping a poker chip in his hand. Finally, a somewhat timid yet upkept young man appeared in some of the railing above and jumping down to meet his friends. His sunset yellow eyes paired nicely to the black suit jacket and yellow button up shirt underneath. He wore a set of rings that were plated in gold and all the buttons on his shirt were shaped as hearts. He wore a very obvious belt as it was also golden yellow, with the buckle also being in the shape of a heart that was chrome black. He smiled at them and gave William an uncomfortable wink.

"We are All In, the Boss's elite team. The fact that we all stand before you, means that whatever the boss has asked us to do tonight is for a great cause. There's rarely ever a time when we all get to be together." He looked at the girl who was also looking back, flashing Spades a dazzling smile. "We'd love to stay and chat, but like I said, business is business." He shrugged his shoulders and before William could react, they all took off in separate directions. As the team scattered, William started pointing at them.

"La'Rue go after the man in purple, he's Clubs, and Reid, go with him. Jacob, you take Joker, I believe you've met. Angel, as much as I hate to say it, you go take Spades. Careful though…his ability is quite powerful, I'll try to meet you later. I'll go after the girl, Diamonds. She's going to need someone who can stop her at long distance. And Mark, you'll need your resistance and strength to handle the last one, Hearts. Be on your guard everyone, and good luck. The separate groups took off in pursuit of their targets and the chase had begun.

La'Rue chased after the man who allegedly was Clubs. The man could surprisingly move swiftly even in his dress shoes, but it didn't matter as La'Rue was built well enough for the run. Reid on the other hand, straggled behind, his breath a bit harder.

"Don't…you…worry! I'll catch up…ahead." Reid bent over trying to catch his breath as La'Rue went on without him. Clubs turned a corner and as La'Rue followed him into what seemed to be like a mini basketball court, Clubs standing towards the back. The only exit was through the way they had come, which La'Rue was now blocking.

La'Rue summoned Champion and its sword dug into the ground, "Give it up, you're cornered. The only way out is through me, and I'm afraid I'm not going to let that happen." Champion let out a deep grunt as a knight might do when they know they've won. Clubs turned to face La'Rue and smiled.

"You act like I didn't pick this place on purpose, like this was an accident," La'Rue's face hardened as he looked for traps of any sort, but it was just them and a basketball hoop, a small dripping of water from a roof's drainage pipe, and the cracks on the black cement underneath their feet. "The only target here is me, and also you. There are no traps. You think I need to get past you, well you're wrong. YOU need to get past me!" He flipped up a poker chip that seemed to glow purple and he caught it and looked at it with a smile, "Tails, perfect." The poker chip duplicated into a separate one and Clubs threw it like skipping a stone over a pond and as he did, it vanished from sight and a click from it landing on the floor.

"That's it?" La'Rue looked at him unimpressed. Clubs flipped it again and caught it, his grin grew even wider,

"Yes, heads!" The chip duplicated again and then flew into the center of Club's chest filling him with the purple aura as well. From beside him a humanoid figure appeared, shrouded in the same color. It stood the man's height and was purple and white as well. It looked well built and powerful. It had a royal purple cloak that matched the style of something a king would wear. The back of it was randomly spotted with the symbol of the Club. It had a pure black helmet, like that of a knight but with two horns, one on each side, that curved forward like that of a devil. Only a pair of slits in the helmet revealed a pair of purple eyes that stared out. Like the symbols, its armor was pure white but this time the Clubs symbol was splattered all over in purple with a large one centered on the chest. Going down its arms and legs were metal spikes that protruded about an inch and seemed to be very sharp. At the end of its arms where hands should've been were perfect spheres and seemed to be able to rotate in any direction, while being attached. On each of the spheres were two blades that stuck out about a foot, facing opposite directions from each other. Near the top of its arms, and on its knees, were curved blades that stuck upwards about eight inches, black to match the helmet.

"Now, you will face my Ace of Clubs and die. I know Spades was in a hurry and didn't want to kill you guys yet, but this'll be so quick it won't matter." The spheres began to spin at high speeds, creating a whirring sound with the blades attached. They scraped the ground and Clubs continued to flip the poker chip between his knuckles...

Stand Name: Ace of Clubs

User: Ace O. Clubs

Ability: Part 1: Can spin its blades at high speeds to shred through objects with ease. The gyro balls that the blades are connected to can spin in any direction at will, whatever the user may require. Part 2; Poker Chip: ???

Stats:

Power: A

Speed: B

Range: C

Durability: B

Precision: C

Potential: D

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As William ran, he heard the distinct sound of heels clicking against the road at a high speed and pursued it. He was coming up on who he associated as Diamonds as the heels and her high apparel slowed her down. When he finally caught up, she had stopped in a small dirt field, some vegetation growing in various places.

William breathed slowly and calmly. He did work out a bit, but he wasn't dressed to run. He didn't really know what he in for as he'd only met their crew once before, that's when he was still with dad. He shook the thought from his head and focused on his opponent in front of him, "You know, just because you're a woman, doesn't mean I'll take you lightly. You still work for a criminal organization that just took everything away from me. If anything, it's unfortunate for you to meet me, because I'm going to go off on you. Criminals like you, or in general, piss me off. I hope I can see the day where we don't have to deal with your filth anymore." He put a hand in his pocket with his thumb sticking out as he leaned off to one side.

Diamonds turned around, flashing a bright, white smile at him and winked, "I wouldn't have it any other way love. But my, my, that's quite a dirty mouth you've got…I wonder what it would be like to kiss it…" She giggled a little bit and popped a sucker into her mouth from who knows where. "No no…I have to remember the plan!" She got all flustered and looked at a small speck of dirt on her pristine blue nails and wiped it off vigorously and looked back at William who was standing there taken aback by her behavior and comments. "Anyway, I don't have much time, Salvatore wants me to set off some bombs or whatever, and I REALLY don't want to let him down!" She whined a little and pouted like a middle schooler.

"Wait, who…? You're setting off bombs!?" 24 Karat Magic appeared and put both fists on the dirt and it began to spread over in a perfect circle with the gold plaited roses embedding themselves.

Underneath the gold the roses and gold began to flake off and crack and a multitude of diamond whips appeared. Each link of the whip was shaped perfectly like a stretched-out rhombus that seemed to connect perfectly at the tips where the links touched. They flew out in a flurry of strikes which 24 K.M. parried, leaving the very tip of each whip covered in gold. Now, by Diamonds, there was a large floating slot machine with a giant lever and Diamonds pulled on it and the slots began spinning. A bunch of random symbols went flying by and two of the slots showed diamonds while one was simply blank. Another grouping of vines appeared from underneath William's legs and began to wrap around. The dirt seemed to be turning itself into diamond and growing up like a plant. As 24 K.M. tried to punch it and turn it into gold, nothing happened. In fact, while he was distracted some more of the whips attached themselves to 24 K.M.'s arms. As William tried to pry them off they got tighter and more and more came. Diamonds laughed at William as he looked helpless to the attack.

"Salvatore is one of the bosses…you know, the 'main one' who oversees most of everything. He wants us to cause some trouble by setting off random explosives." Diamonds looked around, "Holy crap, we're in Central Park! I hadn't even noticed. Such a pretty place. So much dirt…I guess I now know why Salvatore chose this location for me…" She smiled at the prospect of William pulling against the vines.

The slot machine appeared again and she pulled on the lever, letting the symbols fly…

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Stand Name: Ace of Diamonds

User: Ace O. Diamonds

Ability: Can transform dirt into long reaching whips made of diamond. The slot machine allows for various effects to take place that aid the use of the whips and maximize their use.

Stats:

Power: D

Speed: B

Range: B

Durability: A

Precision: D

Potential: E

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Mark went after the man dressed in gold and chrome black. The man with the heart on his buckle ran like a regular person but no stand could be seen. After running for a while, Mark looked around at what seemed to be a different style. Mark didn't know too much about New York, but he did know that they were a bit famous for their Broadway shows. So, as he looked around he saw the dazzling lights and different headings from Broadway shows above, he knew was he had to be in some sort of theater district. The man veered off to one side into a nice open area and there weren't many people walking through, most were looking at the different sights within the immediate area. Mark kicked up a rock and One Minute Till Midnight released a spring loaded punch and sent it flying into a tree near the man's head forcing him to stop.

"That was a warning shot. Keep running and one will end up in your head." Mark was out of breath and slightly leaning on a stitch in his side. The man turned around his hands up, over his head, a single die in each hand.

"Alright…you caught me!" He flashed a teasing grin, "Aww…where's your cute friend who was also dressed in the gold? I got the scrawny one." He folded his arms and made a slightly disgusted face.

"Oh well, no incentive to keep you alive…"

"That's it you prick!" Mark lunged at him with OMTM winding up another punch. The man threw a die at him with incredible speed but Mark was able to side step it. The man grinned and the same palm that he threw the die with opened wide and from behind Mark, the die grew from a one-inch die to a 10ft die and slowed down in midair and came flying back straight towards the open palm even faster than it had been thrown. Mark caught a glimpse of this from behind and turned to use OMTM to use its arms to catch it and blunt the force. As he did, Mark was surprised by how much force the dice came at him with and was shoved back a foot or two before regaining his strength.

"Hmm…So at 10ft you can withstand the force, but just barely…" He threw the second die at Mark and Mark dropped down to the ground and as the second die flew, the first one shrank back down until the other one hit it. The both dropped to the floor landing on Snake Eyes, each die hat a chrome black heart to represent the number one. The man grinned and did a motion with his wrist and they grew again, but just right up to Mark's nose, as they landed close to his face. The dice both emitted a sort of yellowish gas and once Mark inhaled it he couldn't move. He was paralyzed in fear and in body as nothing he tried to do let him move. "Just as if you'd see a snake, you would be paralyzed in fear, so Snake Eyes does just that for you." He opened a palm and they flew back but shrank to their original sizes. "It was fun chatting with you but I got things the boss wants me to do, so this is goodbye."

The man smiled and threw one of the dies high into the air above Mark and as it hit its peak, the almost instantly grew to a 25-25 ft die that began to fall hard and fast to crush Mark under its force. As it descended upon him, an audible click could be heard and OMTM's fist plastered the ground, sending Mark flying where his back slammed into a tree and he got up a bit uneasy.

"I'm not going to die yet, you bastard," Mark wiped his attire off and OMTM looked more menacing with its silhouetted face as it stood facing the strange man.

The die slammed with a loud boom, shaking some trees around it before the man opened his hand and it returned to him in its original size, "It seems so. Perhaps you ARE worthy to challenge my Ace of Hearts…" The man flashed both dice at Mark and launched one into the air at him as he wound up another punch…

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Stand Name: Ace of Hearts

User: Ace O. Hearts

Ability: A pair of dice that can be thrown and grow up to 50ft. When the user opens their palm, they return and shrink into their original size. Certain rolls grant a certain effect to be triggered.

Snake Eyes: Paralyze opponents

3-6: ??

7-9: ??

10-12: ??

Stats:

Power: C

Speed: A

Range: C

Durability: B

Precision: D

Potential: E

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At one moment, the man identified as Spades was in one spot and then another, and then another. He seemed to vanish seamlessly within the shadows and out again. It seemed to be about 15 feet, but still enough to cover more ground than him. Little by little Angel fell further and further behind. Too many people were in the way and it was becoming progressively harder to keep track of him. Glitch Mob came out and Angel entered the Matrix and pursued at a higher speed, since everything moved a bit slower in the outside world when he was in here. Spades looked around and noticed he wasn't being tracked anymore so he casually began walking but at a brisk pace. A moment later Angel emerged from the Matrix and grabbed Spades by the collar and threw him against a wall by them.

"Finally, I don't know how you kept doing it but I finally caught up to you!" Glitch Mob pulled out and went for a flurry of blows but right before hand, a swarm of cards shot out from Spades' jacket pocket and flew around him. Angel felt empty space in his grip and then the cards vanished, and so had Spades.

"C'mon kid, you're gonna have to be quicker than that." Angel looked up to see him sitting on a balcony. "Don't worry guys, I would NEVER let him hurt you." Spades seemed to be talking to the cards and they seemed to be twittering in response to him. Angel looked up and began to glitch up clumps of bricks to create hand and foot placements for Glitch Mob to climb up to where Spades was. A card flew from Spades' jacket and towards Angel. He tried to block it, but with his back turned from where the card was coming from and only being able to use one arm, he missed and got s somewhat deep cut, and then the card stuck into the wall and releases a dark black smoke that obscured Angel's vision and made it hard to breathe.

When the smoke had cleared, Spades had taken off running down the street. Angel dropped down and chased after him, entering the Matrix. As everyone slowed down, Angel took off after Spades. Spades glanced back for brief second to see the few times where Angel ran through a person and could see his outline coming for him. Spades looked around and lunged into a person's shadow near him. The cards spun around him instantly and Spades dissipated into a black smoke and vanished from existence.

"I gotta find somewhere within my range…15ft…another shadow…" From wherever in the void Spades existed, he looked for another shadow, all his cars on watch. A 6 of Spades caught his attention by notifying him of a shadow located behind a hot-dog stand. "Perfect…he'll never look behind there…" Somehow, without having any form or mass, Spades was able to smile to himself. The took shape and the cards spun back into existence as he appeared behind the hot-dog stand. Angel came out of the Matrix and looked around perplexed and tired. He didn't see Spades as he continued to crouch and hide.

"HeEeEey! Whada think yous' doin!?" The hot-dog vendor had spotted Spades behind the counter and was pointing at him, causing Angel to turn his head. The man had a heavy New Yorker accent and approached Spades, who now broke into a sweat. "Yous think ya slick, huh?? Tryin' ta steal thems hot-dogs?? Well, thems my hot-dogs!!" The man pulled Spades up by the collar and two cards flew out at an incredible speed, one flying on opposite side, and both sliced at the man's hand, slicing it off. The man screamed in agony as he fell back, his hand flying in the air. Spades looked up and locked eyes with Angel as he smiled. A number of cards flew up around Spades as he began to approach him,

"Fine, you want me? No more running then…"

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Stand Name: Ace of Spades

User: Ace O. Spades

Ability: Sentient razor-sharp cards that fly a relatively long distance. The cards can fly around the

user to let them teleport within shadows up to 15ft away. Each face card triggers a different ability:

Aces: ??

Kings: ??

Queens: ??

Jacks: Creates a large black cloud that obscures vision and makes it harder to breath

Stats:

Power: C

Speed: A

Range: B

Durability: D

Precision: B

Potential: C

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The thinner man seemed to have faded into a wall but Jacob was able to pin his location easily from his outrageous attire and pursue him. As he chased the man, he was surprised that with that Aussie and cloak he was able to keep a swift pace. He continued to pursue him until he saw the man identified as Joker, round a corner. As Jacob came upon it, he turned swiftly around it but gasped as he was now at the very top of a building and about to run off the ledge. Before it was to late, UDIO grabbed him by the collar and pulled him back from falling. As Jacob fell back from the sudden lurch, he landed hard on what seemed to be some dirt. Around him were now trees and ferns as if he had been transported to a forest.

"This is a dangerous stand…I don't know what's going on but be cautious…" UDIO spoke to Jacob within his mind as he got up.

"Do you like it…?" A calm voice from some direction and Jacob pursued after it. As he did, the ferns and grass pushed around him, but he felt no texture from them. It was as if they were weightless. As he kept running, the forest kept expanding endlessly in front of him as if he was getting nowhere. "I chose this because its more peaceful than the other place. That's where HE is!" The voice was now coming from Jacob's right. As he chased after it, the grass had gradually begun to shift into black stone. Each step he took emitted no sound until there was only stone and now it seemed to be bright red for a moment. So bright, that he had to look away for a second before his eyes could adjust. In front of Jacob was a large pit of magma and smoke rose all around. He had wandered up into a volcano but for some reason, he felt no heat. Not even the smoke bothered his lungs.

"Where am I?" Jacob looked around perplexed by the bubbling mixture in front of him.

"I don't exactly know. All I know is that this is where HE lives…"

"Who?" Jacob surveyed the area for any odd creatures or things that might represent a stand. He was definitely not in New York anymore, and he was a twitchy as ever, ready to jump at moment's notice. The magma began to bubble and a large fin rose out of it and began to circle around the lake slowly. One by one, more fins began to rise up until a large head showed itself. It was everything that seemed to resemble a dragon. It had dark red eyes that stared right into Jacob's. It bared its large fangs and mouth full of pointed teeth.

"My stand…I cannot control what he does, only guide those to him…he seems to be upset at the moment, which does not bode well for you." The large creature rose up even higher from the lake and lunged at Jacob, its mouth agape. As it went to swallow him whole and darkness closed around him, a fist flew out from the air and decked UDIO in the chest, setting off a giant flash of bright light that stunned Jacob. As he was blinded, he felt his body get riddled with punches by some outside force. When his eyes cleared, Jacob appeared to be in the middle of outer space. He looked down to see where he had been punched and noticed that were he had been hit looked almost solid and crystallized, like glass, He tapped his skin and it seemed that his skin had actually turned to glass.

"What the hell-!?" He began to speak before Joker appeared. Next to the man was another figure that stood about Joker's height. It matched his style with an aussie and a navy-blue cloak and blue plume going back. It wore a white theater mask, half of it smiling, half of it frowning. It had a giant hole in the center of its chest shaped into the letter J. In the hole, there was a sphere within the J that looked like a perfect ball of glass, a small light flickered within it. Its arms were a bit scrawny, but speckled with navy-blue J's rising slightly out. Its fists were perfectly clear and looked like melted glass, constantly flowing. Its legs were smooth and its kneecaps had gold sparkling J's sticking out. In its cloak had small tears in it, but nothing that took away from the overall effect. It had a wide chest that contracted from its slim waist and legs.

"You actually thought I had such a destructive stand!? You're such a fool, and I'm a Joker. My stand, Joker's Wild, freely controls light, while also manipulating the landscapes created with the actual environment. The space which we inhabit at the moment, allows me to select which objects from the real world can enter in here and those help me create what I do. You'll never know what is real, and what is fake. For example…" The world around them changed again and Joker was now higher up on a rocky hill when Jacob stood below him. "Come approach me…" As Jacob tried to run up the hill, he put a foot in the air, expecting the floor to catch him, but his foot fell through and he was still at the bottom. "Now if I add stairs from the real world…try again." Jacob took a step and the rocky floor held him.

"Now's my chance…" Jacob ran up the rocky slope to attack Joker and he smirked,

"What if I get rid of some of the top stairs?" Jacob suddenly stepped up and then fell again, through the landscape, but then it suddenly changed to some sort of canyon where he was falling off the edge of a cliff. He grabbed one of what he assumed were steps from the real world but appeared to be part of a cliff within this world. "Goodbye stair." The part Jacob was holding suddenly broke and he began to fall. The floor seemed so far away as he braced himself, but the floor suddenly changed its distance as if he was falling sooner than he thought in the real world and he smacked his face on the ground, unprepared for the sudden change. Joker stood above him and seemed to float down towards him. "The Joker is a card that can represent anything, and just like light, it can take any form and represent anything in itself. Welcome to the Joker's Wild; Nothing is what it seems…"

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Stand Name: Joker's Wild

User: Joker

Ability: Can freely manipulate light within a certain area known as the Joker's Wild. Any objects may be allowed to enter from the real world or be excluded, allowing victims or Joker to pass through them. Light can take any shape and create an infinite number of effects. Whenever Joker's Wild lands a hit, wherever its fist hit slowly turns that space into glass, a sub ability is that the glass changing ability only works while the opponent is blinded, which is why the bright light can emit from Joker's Wild's chest.

Stats:

Power: C

Speed: A

Range: C

Durability: C

Precision: B

Potential: B

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Some Minutes Prior…

A man sat in the corner of the airplane, in the shadows of the seats. He watched the four Aces and Joker prepare themselves for the drop which was relatively soon and kept thinking. He knew that they knew he was there, but he wanted to keep his face obscured for as long as possible.

"So, what's your job?" Spades turned and looked into the darkness expecting the man to respond.

"I'm here to make sure that even if you guys fail, one of us will be able to salvage the operation. It was a collective decision. They'll be monitoring it all, just sent me because I was available from the Jazz Act. No one should notice." His voice was gruff, not as deep and serious and the man in the casino, but his voice portrayed annoyance and weariness, as if he was always tired and expecting something. When he looked at Spades, his eyes shifted from the colors red, blue and purple.

"So, if I'm correct, you all share the same Stand?" The others held their breath for a moment and turned to look at Spades while also glancing at the man in the darkness.

"Lately, you've been asking questions that are out of line with the position you hold Spades. Eventually it WILL cost you, but to answer your ridiculous question, no. We all share a variation of the Stand. Our abilities, while identical, are triggered quite differently."

"Apologies, I just figured that trip-" The eves vanished and a heavy hand grasped Spades' shoulder, nearly shattering it,

"If you continue to speak of us in this irreverent manner, you will die. So, I suggest you bite your tongue, unless you'd like The House to do it for you?" Spades was paralyzed in a state of fear and closed his mouth. Unlike the former who sat in the large office and behind a desk, this one always seemed ready to handle a problem without thinking. Sure, the other one lost his anger at the drop of a hat, but at least he was an expert strategist. This one, the man behind him, would simply kill off anyone who rubbed him the wrong way. The man did not smile, nor chuckle, he simply let go and pushed past Spades. As he walked back to his seat, a faint light revealed blue wavy hair that slicked back, with a green zigzag down the middle.

As they prepared for the drop, Spades rubbed his shoulder. It felt sore but pressure alleviated some of the pain. Airplanes opened the hatch and one by one the crew fell out, all except the man in the back who got up and moved his way to the cockpit.

"So you're not dropping?" Emilio looked at the man shocked.

"Someone had to stay behind to make sure the explosives were set correctly, and I don't trust the likes of them doing it. I don't know why Salvatore cares for them so…"

"Well, just so you know when we get close, I'm jumping out. Not waiting around to die. I'll undo my ability and let the plane do its job."

"Well I'll be joining you as well. Everything is to go as planned. And for the greater good, we will succeed."

"Just like you guys did with meteor all those years ago?" Emilio gave a small chuckle

The man looked at him from behind, his face went pale in confusion, "How do you know about that?"

"Well I mean I figured, you guys came out about the time the meteor was found and stolen…"

"No one…is supposed to know about that…except for a few individuals…you know too much for your own good. Our research is supposed to be hidden…"

"Woah, what are you saying??" Just then massive holes punctured through the wings of the plane and a massive ship could be seen descending from the sky. Emilio's body split in multiple areas causing blood to shoot out. He fell back out of him seat and the man looked up at the scene retreating back into the cabin of the plane. "H-help me!"

The man looked back coldly at Emilio and turned his head away. A pair of massive arms protruded from his back and blasted through the side door of the plane and the man was sucked out. As he fell, he saw the door he had pounded flying around in the distance. One of the arms appeared again and on the back of its hand was a noticeable white sphere that stuck out about three inches. It shot up out of place and the hand caught it in midair and threw it with great force. As it flew, small horizontal blades stuck out the sides of the ball, directly opposite from each other and it spun fiercely toward the door. The ball nicked the corner of the door sending both itself and the door spinning off in different directions. The moment the sphere hit the door, the world once again stopped. Everything fading away and all that remained was the man and the door.

"What are the odds the door makes its way towards me by some event of fate?" A face appeared behind the man, its mouth held in a slight frown like of this man's. Its eyes were a pair of dice that began to spin wildly and create a noise of dice hitting a table. Its face was blue like the color of the man's hair, and it had different colored triangles that were raised a bit, patterned diagonally. Some were yellow, others were red, and some were purple. At the top of its head were 8 cards, larger than standard size, that formed a fan across its head and then angled back across its head. Each one displayed a Spade, Diamond, Club or Heart. As the dice finished rolling the man nodded to himself.

"Not as high as I'd like, but good enough." Before the face retreated a 5 and a 4 could be seen on each die and the world came back into play. "I won't delay the event so I may save myself as soon as possible…" The ball flew off somewhere yet it seemed as if the man could keep track of where it was in the air.

The plane crashed causing a huge explosion and the force of the blow shot the door towards the man as he fell. The arm reached up and grabbed the door, tucking it underneath the man's legs. The extra force had drifted him flying forward toward some smaller areas as he fell rapidly. Out of nowhere the ball seemed to appear and struck the roof of a building as the ability seemed to trigger again.

"You will succumb to my will. By the miracle that is The House, you will uphold yourself upon our impact and not break. The House always wins…" Once again, it seemed that the sphere rebounded off at an odd angle and flew away into the city, the assumption of never being seen again would be natural to anyone else, yet this man seemed to pay no heed as it flew off. As he descended with the door, using it as a sled, he slammed onto the roof of some low building and as he had used his ability, the roof did not shatter upon his landing. At the same moment he touched down, an arm slammed on the door shooting off the roof to the side of the building. The new force of him slamming the door did end up shooting it through the roof and crashing inside. An elbow from the arm wen into a backwards hammer arm crashing into the brick of the house so it slowed his descent as he fell. When he was about 3ft from the bottom he let himself drop and landed smoothly. He brushed off his jacket and his eyes began to shift again from red to blue to purple. He held up the hand that was missing its sphere from the back of it and heard some clinking and crashing nearby and from some random pipe, it slammed off and flew quickly towards the man. The arm from The House flew up with graceful speed and the sphere entered perfectly into the indentation and refastened itself before he unsummoned his arm.

A moment later a phone began to ring and he picked it out of his pocket and answered an untraceable number, "You did well Gianluca. Quite an impressing landing, I must say…" A gravelly voice spoke over the line.

"Don't patronize me Salvatore. Stop trying to act like you're better than us. We're the same. There may be some variations, but The House is same in each. Treat me like this again, and when the day comes that you need me for your…experiment, I won't be there to help."

"N-now now guys, c'mon. Don't argue like this. Probability of succession without all three of us is a depressing 36%. Even with a single The House, according to the odds and chances, a good estimate is only 42%." From the other end a slightly higher pitched tone spoke, a more nervous one. Gianluca's eyes stopped shifting colors and locked onto a solid red. He spoke but it seemed like he was looking somewhere else,

"Well I'll be damned…you and Alessandro are both in the office." Gianluca chuckled to himself and his eyes flashed back to a solid blue and then back to the shifting colors.

"D-don't do that Luca! Just because we can see through each other's eyes doesn't mean we should. It freaks me out!" Gianluca's eyes flashed purple and he taunted Alessandro,

"Like this?" His eyes kept flipping back from purple to blue, as if someone was resisting him. It got to the point where one eye was blue and another was purple. Eventually they settled back to their original blue and an annoyed tone could be heard over the phone.

"I d-didn't say you could look through me!" Alessandro slammed his fist on something over the line before Salvatore cut in,

"Alright, let's get serious. We sent you because you're the long-range version. From what we've heard from All In, these abilities shouldn't all be handled with medium or short-range attacks. Just make sure they get triggered and the jobs get done, we'll be watching from this side. Good luck." The phone cut out and Gianluca put it away. A few moments later, Gianluca heard some shouting in the distance,

"YOU need to get past me!"

"Ahh Clubs…I'm on my way…" With that, Gianluca began to casually walk through the Big Apple.

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Stand Name: The House; Replanted

User: Gianluca -----

Ability: The ability to change fate and control the odds in their favor. How this is done is unknown and few have ever witnessed this power.

Stats:

Power: B

Speed: S

Range: C

Durability: B

Precision: A

Potential: C