Chapter 22: The Devil

Gwen sat on her living room sofa, watching the news that was playing on the TV as she clutched her smartphone, looking at the time that was displayed on the screen. She looked quite pissed, and justifiably so. It was now 8 p.m. in the evening. She was supposed to do her assignment with her lab partner, Duncan, but he had yet to show up.

Meanwhile, her father, George Stacy, was sitting right beside her, watching the news as it went by. The man was holding the TV remote control, tapping it slowly against his palm.

"So..." George spoke. "That boy didn't come, huh?"

"George…" A woman's voice quickly called from the kitchen. It was Gwen's mother, Helen. "He's just late; the boy said he needed to meet with one of his friends first."

"Doesn't justify him being late when he promised, Helen." George pointed out.

Helen couldn't say anything after that; she just sighed and continued washing the dishes.

Suddenly, a phone rang. Gwen was quickly disappointed when it was George's, not hers.

George looked at the person who called him and raised an eyebrow. He picked it up, and it connected to the caller.

"George here," he said. There was a slight pause as George listened to the caller, but then he grumbled. "There's tons of murder every day; just give it to the other detectives; I'm with my family right now."

But the caller continued to speak, and it made George quite surprised at the information he got from the call.

"What?" George said, trying to confirm what he just heard. "Tarot cards again? You think it's that guy? Okay, I'm on my way."

The man quickly stood up from the sofa, making the two females in his family turn towards him.

"A call from work, an emergency," he said as he kissed Gwen's forehead. "Give the boy a slap in the face when he arrives, okay?"

"I'm not gonna do that, dad…" Gwen rolled her eyes. The man then walked toward his wife and kissed her.

"Another murder?" the wife inquired casually.

"It might be the same killer from one month ago." answered George. "Anyway, Gwen, don't stay too late; Helen, keep an eye on those two; don't shut the door while he's in her room."

"Be careful," said Gwen, and George walked toward the front door of his house. Once he was there, however, as he opened it, he could see a boy standing in front of it, awkwardly smiling at George.

"Hi," he said. "I was supposed to do an assignment with Gwen."

"I know." George raised his brow. "You're late by about one and a half hours."

"Yeah, I had a thing that dragged on for too long..." Duncan chuckled, a bit anxious.

"Just come in, kid; she's been waiting." said George, exiting the house and leaving the boy at the front door.

Seeing this, Duncan just sighed in relief and quietly entered the place, not forgetting to close the door.

He looked around, photos of Gwen and her parents could be seen; the place was tidy enough, and it had this cozy feeling to it. When Duncan entered the living room, the two females of the house turned towards him.

Gwen just sat there, her eyebrows raised, seemingly quite mad.

"Sorry, Peter dragged it out..." Duncan murmured. "Yeah…"

The girl just sighed as she grabbed her laptop. "Come on, we have two hours."

Duncan just nodded. He looked at Gwen's mother and smiled at her. "Hi, Mrs. Stacy, nice to meet you."

The woman just smiled back, continuing to finish cleaning the dishes.

—

Officer George Stacy was marching through a swarm of people on the East River near the Bronx, New York, seeking to enter the murder scene that had occurred in this location. He passed through the police line before arriving at a certain area and was occasionally greeted by other policemen out of respect.

He spotted a bunch of forensic detectives, complete with their suit and gear, scrutinizing the area. Near them was his brother, Arthur Stacy, whom he had plainly known since he was a child.

"George." Arthur nodded to the man.

"What've we got?" George asked. He saw three bodies being hanged upside down from a pole, and all of them were facing Ryker's Island, right in the middle of the river.

"Only recently dead." Arthur explained. "All of them had trauma injuries as far as quick inspection goes, but two of them had a hole through their heads."

"Like a bullet hole?" questioned the officer again.

"No." Arthur shook his head. "It's just like last time with those two cops. Smooth, almost like a laser penetrating their heads."

"So our killer has some advanced-tech weapon?" George sighed.

"Possibly, but anything could happen here." Arthur hummed. He then took out an evidence bag, showing it to George. "We also found this."

"The tarot cards?" George took a look inside the bag; it contained three cards: one depicting a man hanging upside down from a tree, one depicting the literal devil, and one depicting an angel holding a trumpet.

"The Hanged Man, the Devil, and Judgement." Arthur said. "Three cards instead of one this time."

"The last one was justice, right?" George nodded. "What do you think it means?"

"Well, The Hanged Man is obvious," said Arthur. "The three victims are hanging upside down. As for the two, we don't know yet, but judging from the killer's previous records, they're most likely criminals or guilty of something. They are also facing Ryker's Island, which is quite convenient if we look at it, but maybe it is just a coincidence."

George just hummed at the theory. "That might be worth investigating. You know their identities?"

"They had criminal records, gang violence, and murder, but somehow escaped jail time." Arthur nodded.

George frowned deeply. "Gang violence? Fisk again?"

"Possibly. But that is a bit of a stretch."

"No, when you look at it, it kind of makes sense." George insisted. "The two previous cases were all related to Fisk. the hotel massacre, the cop murder in the alleyway..."

Arthur chuckled. "Yeah, well, let us just hope that that child from the two previous cases is not related. Otherwise, it would not be a coincidence anymore…"

"Ugh, that boy…" George massaged his head.

"Did something happen?" Arthur questioned curiously.

"No, Gwen has a study session with that boy right now."

"At your house?" Arthur raised his brow. "I didn't think you'd allow that."

"I didn't." George stated. "Helen 'convinced' me."

"It must have been nice to have family close by." Arthur said calmly. "Paul and Jill hate me because of my job. We were doing so well when I retired, but... they called me back."

"You should talk to them, Arthur." George patted his brother's shoulder. "Gwen hates it too, but she's starting to come along."

Arthur just hummed at the suggestion. Suddenly, a police officer walked towards them, phone in hand.

"Sirs," he said. "We've found a burned-out wrecked car in the loading area of the harbor."

George and Arthur just nodded, and both of them left the crime scene, traveling to the harbor.

—

Duncan was still sitting on the Stacys couch inside their living room. It was just him and Gwen in the place, the girl's mother had gone off to her room, not before offering Duncan a drink, though the boy just wanted some water. While he was doing his assignment, he could hear chains breaking as he did so, a sign of an Arcana ranking up, to which he guessed to be the Justice Arcana.

The boy looked at Gwen, she still looked quite moody after an hour of doing the assignment.

"You're still mad?" Duncan asked casually.

"What do you think?" Gwen asked back, her face never changing.

Duncan just sighed at Gwen's response. "I'm sorry, okay? Besides, the assignment's almost finished, and it's like 9 p.m. so technically I'm quite on time."

Gwen just raised her eyebrow towards Duncan, but she didn't say anything. She then quickly grabbed the TV remote, turning the television on.

As soon as the tv was turned on, the news was on. A late night news network was reporting live on a recent case where there were three men found dead, hanging upside down from the pole. The girl could see his father visible from the camera, standing beside her uncle, talking to each other.

"That's horrible…" Gwen murmured, her pupils widened at the news report.

"And that's your dad." said Duncan casually.

"He went out late in the evening for this?" Gwen questioned herself. "That murderer must've been psychotic."

"I… don't know about that…" Duncan responded.

Gwen frowned. "What did you say? Are you defending a killer?"

"The cops haven't even discovered the motive yet." Duncan shrugged. "Maybe the victims are some kind of criminals that deserve it. There's always at least two sides of the same story Gwen."

"Come on Duncan, they were found upside down." Gwen pointed out. "Sounds like a serial killer to me."

"Or, the killer's trying to send a message towards his real target." Duncan continued. "Maybe the killer is targeting a criminal syndicate or something, and he did that to taunt the leader of that crime syndicate."

"That's a bit of a stretch." Gwen chuckled. "Didn't know you were the conspiracy theorist kind of guy."

"Hey, it's not that big of a stretch." Duncan rolled his eyes. "I mean, with the rise of vigilantes like Daredevil this year, I'm sure that the killer is one of them."

"But Daredevil doesn't kill."

"Oh really?" Duncan said in amusement. "That means it's not Daredevil then. Maybe it's a new guy."

"Well clearly you're trying to defend the killer really hard." Gwen snorted. "Even if the killer is a vigilante that is trying to do something, it doesn't justify killing them."

"Why? Because killing is wrong?" Duncan said.

"He or she doesn't have any authority whatsoever on taking anyone's life." Gwen continued. "That vigilante then becomes the judge, the jury, and the executioner at the same time."

"Maybe he actually does have authority." Duncan shrugged.

Gwen just looked at Duncan weirdly. "Okay, now you're not making sense."

Duncan just shook his head in amusement. "This conversation is going out of hand, let's just stop talking about it."

Gwen sighed as she put her laptop on the table in front of her. "I'm done. I'll submit it tomorrow."

"Okay…" Duncan said as he tidied up his things. "I guess I'll get going."

"What? You're in the girl's house and you want to run away from it as quickly as possible?" Asked Gwen in amusement.

"Fine." Duncan chuckled. "So… How's it going?"

Gwen giggled hard at Duncan's words. "I can't tell if you're making fun of me or simply bad at this."

"Hey, I was homeschooled!"

"Of course, the 'I was homeschooled' excuse." the girl rolled her eyes. "Classic."

"Well it's true, I never had any friends." Duncan shrugged. "Well, I had one."

But that one shot him in the head.

Gwen certainly quieted down after that, making the atmosphere awkward. The girl cleared her throat, trying to fix the atmosphere. "Sorry…"

"Nah, it's fine. That's a long time ago." Duncan hummed.

Gwen sighed. "Anyway, are you really not going to the dance?"

"I mean, from the looks of it Peter and Ned won't come." Duncan shrugged. "How about you?"

"Haven't been invited by anyone yet, though it's still monday." Gwen said. "If I'm not invited, then I'll go with MJ, Gloria, and Betty… assuming they were not asked by any boys or girls."

"Right…" Duncan hummed. "How about coming with me?"

"What?"

"Coming with me to the dance." Duncan said. "As friends. You told me to come, so I'll ask you."

"Really?" Gwen raised her brow.

"What? You don't want to? Alright, fine."

"I didn't say that." the girl rolled her eyes. "Okay, I'll go with you. But don't be late, my dad will probably kill you if that happens again."

"Hey, who do you think you're talking to?" Duncan scoffed. Suddenly, Duncan could hear the sound of breaking chains inside his head, a sign of ranking up.

Gwen raised her brow. "Are you sure you want me to answer that?"

Duncan chuckled. "Whatever."

—

In a maximum security prison cell, precisely at a rather lax solitary confinement place, a bald and large man was sitting inside a cell calmly with his orange jumper. He was sitting on the bed, staring at the ground below as he waited for something.

He could hear the sound of a clock outside. The repeated metronome sound repeatedly entered his ear, as if hypnotizing him.

Suddenly, the sound of cracking could be heard. It was the sound of the prison corridor, and a man wearing a guard suit walked towards the front of the cell.

"They failed." the guard said. "Murdered. Tarot cards again."

"Do you know who did it?"

"The same one as the previous three." answered the guard.

The big and bald man chuckled deeply at the news. "All three have the Plagmanns as the center of it, above all, the boy."

"What do you want us to do?" asked the guard. "We can't attract more attention right now boss, it'll be hard to release you if you try to do anything again."

The big and bald man didn't say anything for a second. He tapped his bed repeatedly with his fingers, before clenching the frame of the bed tightly, as if frustrated.

"Fine," he said. "We'll lay low for a bit. After that, try to hire more competent assassins, will you? Otherwise…"

The guard gulped at the threat. "Of course."

"Get out of here."

After that, the guard left again, leaving the big and bald man alone.

—

Duncan was now standing in front of Gwen's house, with Gwen also in front of him. They had finished their assignment and it is time to go home.

"Paul gonna pick you up or something?" Asked Gwen curiously.

"No." Answered Duncan.

"Then how will you go home?" Gwen asked, confused.

"Walk." The boy shrugged.

"What? Walk? You walk when you go here as well?"

"Yep, told you I had a thing with Peter, so I had to walk here."

"That's… Dangerous." Gwen said with a frown. "You want me to call my dad or something to send you home?"

"No, definitely not." Duncan chuckled. "I'll be fine. Maybe I'll grab a taxi."

"Alright…" Gwen murmured. "I don't want to see you in the news, so be careful."

"Sure."

As Duncan walks away from the house, the already dark night darkens even more, the temperature drops significantly, and time freezes.

Suddenly, a voice echoed in his mind.

[I am Thou, Thou Art I…]

[...Thou hast acquired a new vow…]

[...It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity…]

[...With the birth of the Devil Arcana, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall guide thee to freedom and new power…]

As the voice inside his head faded, the world returned to normal. He was confused as to who triggered that, but remembered that he had just taunted the Kingpin himself, so it must be him.

The boy just sighed, before walking towards the quiet place, and opened a portal towards his home.

—-

A/N: I'm too lazy to write Duncan reading the book every time he gets a rank up, so I'll just put it outside the story. Also, I haven't thought about the romance in this one, it's between two, I'll do a vote once both of them are at least rank 3.

===

NEW RANK UP!

Justice - [III] None

Hermit - [II] The Dweller in between: Able to use the energy of the Velvet Room.

Chariot - [II] Weaponmaster: You are able to learn how to use weapons more easily.

Temperance - [III] None

Temperance - [IV] None

The Fool - [II] None

The Devil - [I] The Chains of Restriction: grants the spell of Chains of Restriction

===

NEW SPELL!

The Chains of Restriction: Thy enemy will never escape their shadow self. (Restrict an enemy using their own shadow).