✖️ Fate's Iron Fist - Wildcard's GM ✖️
Game Introduction
• • • He had always wondered when his thin string of luck would snap. Maybe it had happened as soon as his name was slipped into that little machine. Maybe it had happened as soon as he’d raised his paw and volunteered for Elytra. After all, heroes would destroy you for the world, a villain would destroy the world for you. And well… Wildcard was no hero. Picking up a stun rod, an electrified metal pole with a plastic handle, Wildcard turned to Imperium. “PUT ME AGAINST EVERY HOLOGRAM YOU’VE GOT!” He screamed against the roaring wind. “I’LL STUN IT.” Imperium’s eyes narrowed, and Wildcard barely registered that he had pressed the button before four holograms attacked him at once. Thinking fast, he whirled around and smacked two of the holos in the face, stunning them and dissolving them into millions of pixels. He ducked as a third one tried to get him from behind, hitting it squarely across the stomach and watching it disintegrate. The last one was more annoying… wait… where even was i- Wildcard was suddenly flung against the floor as the final hologram rammed into his side. He groaned in slight pain, the wind knocked out of his lungs. He staggered to his feet as the hologram dashed over to him. Wildcard reached for the stun rod, but the holo grabbed him and threw him to the ground again. Wildcard raked his claws across the hologram’s digital face, deciding to ditch the rod for the time being. The holo screeched in “pain,” seemingly blinded. Wildcard took this opportunity to kick it off with his hind legs, getting up and running to grab the stun rod. The hologram recovered and charged at him, jaws open wide- and Wildcard shoved the rod down the holo’s throat, sending shocks of electricity through its body until it shattered into digital particles. Now that it was over, Wildcard panted, a bit out of breath, before turning his head up to look at President Imperium with a smile on his face. “Agility, Speed, Climbing, Fighting- don’t let my little show go to waste,” Wildcard said calmly, starting to pad towards the door. He was almost at it when he said, “You know, Mr. President, I’d hate to offend you, so don’t take this personally.” Wildcard watched the blue eyes shining in the shadows narrow. Wildcard shrugged. “Wasn’t alive when you got elected, so I’m afraid I can’t speak as a witness, but I can guarantee you didn’t become president of Panem because of pure talent. Or maybe it was, maybe your spun-up web of clever tricks and lies was well disguised. After all, no sane person would willingly enter a death game.” “Which you may ask, what about me? I volunteered, right?” “Well, if there’s something you must know, it’s that, well, I am simply not sane,” Wildcard hissed with that unnerving smile of his. “Just like you. Just like everyone else. The hatter said it himself. We’re all mad here. All mortal, too.” The president narrowed his eyes again. At this point, Wildcard decided that Imperium probably liked narrowing his eyes a lot. “...which brings me to another point. You aren’t immortal, Mr. President. One of these days, time will run out for you. And then what’ll happen? The tick-tick-tick will finally stop.” Wildcard opened the door and slid out, leaving Imperium alone. A single ‘tink-tink’ of a coin hitting on the floor echoed through the room. Imperium walked over to the coin as it rolled to a stop. Heads. • • •
How To Play
• • • Wildcard stood outside of the Gamemaker room, calmly watching a District 11 cat slide out of the doors. Like most of the tributes here, they were trying to make a memorable session… something that wasn’t beneficial to Wildcard. He hoped that, at this point, they hadn’t seen everything. Something the clever tom knew was that many tributes didn’t know exactly /how/ to present nicely. Wildcard, however… Well, he knew how to set up quite a show. “Your turn,” a gruff voice said behind him, snapping him back to reality. “Yes, yes,” Wildcard answered. “Just thinking.” He picked up his props and watched the room turn dark as his assistants helped set up the next session… which happened to be his. He wasn’t worried, of course. He had some tricks up his sleeves for the panel of judges- “You realize Imperium’s in there, right?” A passing tribute told him, noticing his confident look. /Wh-what?/ Wildcard thought, taken off-guard. The president himself came to judge the tributes? Well… that was something that hadn’t been planned for. Whatever. He’d be fine. Taking a deep breath and smiling wide, he strode into the room. “Wildcard Jeden, District 3… or 12. Depends who you ask,” the mottled cat spoke into the silent room. He looked up into the shadows, where the gamemakers’ station usually was. Instead, a single seat lay, and two royal-blue-and-amber eyes pierced into his fur. The gaze was intense, but Wildcard didn’t even flinch, matching the president’s glare with own, his smile not faltering. An intermediate obstacle course was laid out in the room, which Wildcard easily made a mental path on how to get through. He climbed onto the first platform, which featured a climbing wall. He frowned, knowing his half-of-a-tail wouldn’t help with that. Still, he’d rather try than back down. He looked back at the president, whose gaze was unwavering. Wildcard eyed the dragon-like horns on Imperium’s head. Wildcard had heard of all the crazy body modifications the Capitol cats had, but never seen it in person. It looked ridiculous, in his opinion. He turned back around and started on the wall, looking down. It was quite a long drop. He surely wouldn’t die if he fell from this height, but he sure as heck wouldn’t be able to keep moving. He felt a small pang of regret for starting with the hardest thing, but that’d be okay. All’s well that ends well, right? As he climbed tediously up the wall, he began to speak. Maybe to distract his attention from the wall, maybe to make Imperium focus more on him. “No matter how hard we try, no matter what we do, it’ll all come down to fate, you realize that?” Wildcard watched the president’s eyes narrow. Fate was a silly topic to most, but to Wildcard it was special, a sacred thing. It was the flip of the coin, the roll of the dice, the pluck of the card. It was the blood that ran through his veins, waiting, waiting, until one day his heart would stop. If you decided to waste a day, hoping that it wouldn’t be your last; or if you made a dark joke, hoping that you wouldn’t be snapped at and told not to joke about. It was the “What If?” that Wildcard rejected, the “Hope, hoping, hoped,” that was chanted daily. Wildcard did not hope. Wildcard simply followed along with what the world told him. Fate was the fluid that ran through his veins, and Wildcard was the one holding the reins. Was fate taking him somewhere, or was he guiding fate along? The answer was unclear. Wildcard didn’t really notice that he’d been spewing these words out loud, until he did, but by then he didn’t really mind. He just laughed, seeing Imperium’s unamused gaze fixed on him. He pushed himself up another step, stifling a yelp as he felt a strange moisture coating the climbing rock, causing his paw to slip a bit. This would make things a bit more… interesting. It was okay, he was a little over past the halfway point. He decided to leap over the last part, tensing his back legs and making a neat leap to the top of the wall. However, then there was something he /hadn’t/ counted on. He was instantly buffeted by a sharp wind, nearly knocking him off the wet surface. He dug his claws into the platform and stopped, dangerously close to the edge. He was okay. Wildcard peeked down over the ramp and grinned. The president looked… small from way up here. Fascinating how that happened. He angled himself towards a row of hoops that slowly curved down. He may not have prided himself on his climbing or fighting skills, but his agility and speed? Those were his strengths. Whirling around in a move he liked to call the corkscrew spin, he went cleanly through the hoops, landing softly. Criminals had to learn to stay on their toes, after all. [ Cont. in Notes and Credits ]
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-shattered_mirror-
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