“This has transpired most dreadfully,” Lady Luck said. “But we shall make the best of it.”

“…Am I dead?”

Junior stood before the glowing woman, in the darkness of her inestimably sized throne room. His head wound was gone, but he was after all just an avatar of himself. The boy felt colder than he had the previous times in this place.

Lady Luck made a wide gesture. “You are here. What becomes of your physical form is for us to decide.”

“I have options? Wait, is Aron fighting the Shadow on his own right now?”

“Time is of no concern here,” the bright being said. “I fear the Shadow’s activities have widened the rift. It may even become possible for the Void to enter your universe in short order. While my kind cannot deter them long and can ourselves not enter this Ring fully, it is nonetheless easier now to transfer energy as the rift can be used as long as our kind does not concede all ground to the Void.”

“You can send energy? …Meaning?”

She bowed slightly. “My aid will be twofold. First, Junior, receive this insight we only just learned of: The Void technology is meant to help your species in tearing the fabric of your reality apart and allow their creators entrance . But it would be of no use if humankind was to destroy itself before this had occurred. I would have liked to see all Void technology banished from your realm, but we have discovered an additional option.”

“There’s a safety feature, isn’t there?” Junior said, as he realized the Void would not have dropped off super-tech if they didn’t have an off-switch. After the invasion, the occupiers would not want humans to keep their toys.

“I see you understand,” Lady Luck said. “Better yet, every device can be reconfigured to act in this manner – for every other device.”

Junior gasped, even though his avatar didn’t have to breathe in whatever abstract place they were. A universal kill-switch in every single eldritch thing. Through his super powered senses, he was fed schematics of Lady Luck’s species’ research. If only he would be able to touch the Shadow’s super-suit in the right places he could turn off every Void device in the universe.

“Th-thank you,” he said, recovering from the avalanche of technical knowledge. “And…you said you will help in two ways.”

“Correct,” Lady Luck answered. “The energy of which I spoke. It is how I imbued you and your companions. You must act as my agent. Truthfully, you were always supposed to be – if it came to pass – the prince of your kind’s days to come.” She opened her arms and her golden glow spread from her immediate area outward, illuminating the emptiness, making Junior feel comfortably warm.

She continued. “A prince. Not a King, holder of absolute power. Not a mere Sage, advising others only. Should you accept the burden of ‘noblesse oblige’ I will allow you to return. I was careful in my selection as much as the circumstances allowed when I imbued you. Can I trust you, Junior, not to misuse my gift? Will you usurp or guide – conquer or shepherd?”

Should he just answer the obvious thing? How would she tell if he said the truth? It wasn’t as if she had much of a choice. Then what did she mean? Unless, it was not a test. Perhaps it was a true choice.

The boy his dry lips. “I- I will make sure to do what gives us another day – whatever it may be. And if – no, when – tomorrow becomes today, I’ll do it all over again.”

Still the light grew brighter. “This will be difficult to comprehend,” she said. “It will be, I suppose, similar to what you refer to as ‘overdrive’.” The light became unbearable to look at. “Farewell, Junior. I have given you all I can.”

Even with eyes closed, it felt like looking at the sun.

“And…Junior,” she said cheerfully, “I wish you luck.”

***

The brightness didn’t cease upon his return, but now it was Junior who radiated.

It was the same light Minhyun produced when he healed injuries, only with ten times the intensity. Junior pushed himself off the pole stuck through his head and was immediately restored.

Some time had passed. Aron on the ground and the Shadow in the air had moved through the burning ruins of the base, exchanging debris in a senseless battle of attrition. Even if the enemy had noticed the light, there was no way to react without giving Aron an opening.

For some reason the layers of the realm of possibility were much thicker – no, more numerous.

Junior could predict events with a probability of below one percent. He was able to see the Shadow’s actions ahead of time as easily as if he the villain’s moves were pre-determined.

The overdriven-precog linked with Aron. It surprised himself that he could link now, but he had simply reached out with his mind, intending to shout and it had happened.

“Minhyun?” Aron sent.

“Guess again.”

“You’re alive!” The American almost forgot to vaporize the incoming steel beam.

“Listen closely, this is going to be a bit much at once. Met Lady Luck. Got more juice. Learned how to win.”

“How?” Aron sent, pulled a truck sized piece of mountain from the ground directly under the Shadow and made it shoot upward.

“Every eldritch device has a kill-switch. It can even turn off other devices. If I can get to his super-suit we can beat him.” Junior was running from cover to cover, closing in on the battle. His radiance had lowered to a level that didn't hurt to look at anymore.

“Why not get to a different one?” Aron sent.

“They’re too far away. We- oh! Never mind, my random information sense just told me there’s one around. The one that keeps Baekho locked out of reality. It’s not part of the suit.”

“Go get it.”

“No,” Junior spoke out loud. “You go. The Shadow is mine.”

Stepping confidently into the open, the precog stared upward with a grim expression. His sudden appearance had made the Shadow stop throwing pipes and rocks. Aron had also stopped.

“It’s not too far,” Junior said, “but you have to find a vehicle. Don’t worry, I’ll hold my own.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“But,” Aron hesitated, looking back and forth between friend and foe, “how do I get there? I can’t drive the military trucks if any are left.”

“Hello?” a voice came from Junior’s pocket.

The boy pulled the headset out and held it up to his ear. “Jason?”

“Yes,” the assistant said. “I can bring Aron wherever he needs to go. Did I hear that right? And, by the way, congratulations on being alive. However you did that.”

“Thanks.”

Junior relayed the plan to Aron and just when the Shadow was about to begin his assault again, the boy pushed himself off the ground and ascended into the sky.

“So unfair,” Aron sent before the link ended.

Junior looked down. Being as high us as an apartment building's roof was pretty scary, superpower or not. The American stayed behind. One nod and Aron vanished into the ground, tunneling his way back to the bunker.

After reaching the villain’s height, Junior linked with his nemesis. “Ready to finish this?”

The Shadow flinched at the intrusion into his mind, to Junior’s great satisfaction. With them at the same level the boy was able to see the nooks and crannies of the super-suit with all its disgusting pseudo-organic outgrowths, which obscured the shape of the fully covered body.

“So you can fly now,” the Shadow sent slowly. If that was his best response, the usually eloquent man had to be taken by surprise like never before. Junior grinned maliciously and closed the distance between them so the villain would be able to see the boy’s face.

“Fly, heal, link. Oh and I learned something even better than all this. Wanna see?”

The Shadow raised his arm – the one carrying the heat beam device that was integrated into the suit. He shot one ray at Junior who evaded easily, by slipping behind the man. The Shadow turned around and readjusted, bringing distance between himself and the boy. He held his arm out as if about to fire. Nothing happened.

“W-what have you done?”

Junior chuckled. “Luck. I can see every possible timeline – and pick one.”

“What!”

“There was a chance of a component critically overheating and breaking your toy. Zero point zero one percent. More than enough for me.”

The probability-influence he could exert over reality did not extend to Void-technology directly, but at least he had taken the enemies strongest weapon. Getting close enough to flip the switch was definitely possible now.

Junior’s pocket hissed with static. “Can you hear me,” Jason’s voice came from the headset.

“Hold on a second, Shadow-boxer.” Junior terminated the link and established one to Aron and the assistant.

“Where do we go,” Aron sent immediately.

“Have you left the area yet?” Junior asked.

“No, we need to know if you can distract the guy with no fashion sense so he doesn’t shoot us down.”

Junior evaded a wall coming at him – the Shadow had dropped down to use the surrounding as projectiles.

“Shoot you down? Isn’t Jason driving you?”

“Nope,” Jason sent, “We’re going by helicopter. There’s one parked at the other side of the mountain. Aron tunneled us there.”

Junior evaded a shredded generator. “You can pilot?”

“Sure,” Jason sent.

“Fine, uh… Go east and I’ll tell you when to stop.”

“Understood, boss.”

“Hey,” Aron sent, “You’re okay out there?”

Junior wished his grin could be transferred over the link. “Couldn’t be better. The Shadow is having the worst day of his life.”

The cat and mouse game continued for a while. Even though Junior was the mouse, he was the one playing with the cat. As the Shadow threw pieces of rock and tried to hit the boy from far or near, the attacks became less and less focused as the villain tried to find another angle to approach his desperate situation.

Meanwhile, Junior poked the man’s mind every now and then to taunt him and break the link just when the villain found a retort.

Over the next few minutes Junior found opportunities to make every non-Void device on the Shadow’s body fail – down to the wrist watch. It turned out the suit didn’t do more than keep a force field around its owner and allowed for the power of flight. Even basic navigation must have been handled by a separate apparatus like a gyroscope, since the Shadow had trouble staying in a straight position after all his toys had failed.

Clearly the suit was a masterpiece of inter-universe engineering and might have held useful knowledge, but the option for pleasant exchanges was long gone.

Aron arrived at the location where Baekho’s trap was hidden. The duo landed and entered the short cave. There were no agents of the void left to guard it.

As soon as Junior got their report over link, the Shadow disengaged and rushed towards the hiding place at unprecedented swiftness.

“He’s coming your way,” Junior sent. “He must have figured out you’re there. I’m not fast enough to follow. I think he might be near the speed of sound. Can you get through before he’s at your location? I can tell you what to do.”

Aron took a moment before sending back. “Um, this thing has a force field, too.”