Continued

Time to pick up where I left off last time.

"Why do you need my help?" I asked.
"The Mistress has sent me here on a mission," He explained. "I'm supposed to rally any remaining competitors I can find in order to form an army to destroy the Game Master."
"So the Wooden Girl wants him dead too, huh?" I asked.
"She has her reasons," He said. "How much do you know about him?"
"Not much," I admitted. "Anything you can tell me?"
"Sadly, no," He confessed. "She has kept me in the dark on his history. So, would you be willing to join me?"
"Let's get something straight, Hiroshi," I began. "You lied to me, betrayed me, and tried to kill me. I saved your sorry ass on more than one occasion, and you still tried to take my life. And to top it of, you serve what might be the most malicious Fear of them all. However, this Game Master guy is ten times worse than you'll ever be. I'm willing to side with you this once, but after that, we go back to being enemies. Got it?"
"Yes," He said. "And there's something else you should know. I never thought of you as my enemy. When I fought you that day in the Path of Black Leaves, I was given no other choice then to try and kill you. The Mistress has ways to get people to do what she wants."
That brought up a question that had been bugging me for a while. "Where's Reika?" I asked.

He said nothing. He just closed his eyes and shook his head. He didn't need to speak. I could tell what happened. He was assigned to kill me, O'Zalia, and Ren. He had failed, and the Wooden Girl had punished him for it.

"I have one more question," I said.
"And what would that be?" He asked.
"Do you and your Mistress honestly believe that a rag-tag team of servants and Demi-God's are a match for a Fear?" I asked.
He started laughing at that. "Have you honestly been led to believe that the Game Master is a full-fledged Fear?" He asked.
"What are you implying?" I demanded.
"I don't know all the details about him, but I can guarantee that the Game Master is not a Fear," Hiroshi replied. "As I matter of fact, there's a good chance his origin's are similar to yours."
"Then all the more reason for me to confront him," I said, putting on my mask. "There's an Enhanced nearby here. He would make a valuable ally, except for the fact that we kind of hate each others guts."
"Quan?" He asked.
"Quan," I confirmed.

So we agreed that we should at least try to get Quan on our side. If things went down hill, we could probably take him.

Unfortunately, we ran into someone else before we could find him.

She was a young woman wearing (very) tight clothing with long purple hair pulled into a braid. A black mask which displayed a backwards red question mark. She was shuffling a deck of cards and speaking to a figure I recognized to be the Ace of Spades.

I wanted to stay hidden, but then I heard her yell "I know you're there, Benjamin. Why don't you come out here. And bring your puppet friend with you."

She had a really annoying, taunting voice. We stepped out to meet the two of them.

"Hello," She said. "I believe you've already met the Ace of Spades, correct?"
I nodded.
"My name is the Red Joker," She said. "I'm sure you want to know why I want to speak with-"
"I can see your nipples," I interrupted.
"W-well then avert your X-ray vision!" She demanded.
"I'm not even using my vision," I informed her. "There right there! Why are your clothes so tight? And why are they hard?"
"My patience is growing thin with you, boy!" She hissed angrily.
"I'm sorry," I said. "Did I give the impression that I give a damn about your patience?"
"Enough!" She shouted. "I know that the two of you are plotting to destroy my master. Ace of Spades, kill them!"

Then she vanished and the Ace of Spades attacked us. That guy was ridiculously fast. Hiroshi and I would've died if HELLFIRE hadn't saved us.

Allow me to repeat that last part; HELLFIRE, the mother fucking Dying Man, saved us. He appeared before the Ace of Spades and stopped his attack with his flaming cutlass.

"Brother?" the Ace of Spades asked. "Is that you?"
"I'm sorry," HELLFIRE replied. "The Eight of Clubs isn't in right now. Can I take a message?"
"Y-you bastard!" the Ace of Spades yelled.
"Hasn't your mother ever washed your mouth with soap before?" HELLFIRE asked. "You need to put a nickel in the swear jar young man."

Their fight lasted long enough for us to fade the fuck out of there. So now the two of us had the Deck of 54 to worry about.

Well, I'm gonna wrap this up here for tonight. I'll continue later.