Jack didn’t like the hole in the ground. It reminded him of too many movies where spelunkers were trapped in a cave and picked off by cannibals. He took a moment to look around and steel himself. He had to do something if he wanted to stop the Dark Rider from emerging.

The Society wanted the thing destroyed. He didn’t know if he had the knowledge to do that, but he could put off anyone calling it for a while.

He had a feeling that was why the caravan of women had been dragged out here.

Guin would be happy his rival had been shown how to fly. That was one less thing making Hawk Ridge dangerous for the commoners spending money in his shops and gambling halls.

Josie would like it too. It meant one less person she would have to hunt down to fulfil the quest she had brought on herself.

He had thought about just filling in the hole until he had the women stowed away at the nearest town. Something called on him to try to deal with things tonight before something bad happened. The feeling nagged at him. He couldn’t tell if it was his own instinct or the urging of the quest list now that he was so close to where he had to work.

The last thing he wanted was to let something invade the city and overwhelm Josie and the girls.

So the first thing he had to do was gather information, and look for a way to deal with things in a permanent manner like they had with the lake portal ring.

They could get that piece of rock when they pried it out of his cold dead hands. Maybe not even then if he was running someone like Gravity, or Angel.

Then they would have to wait for it to fall out of orbit and find it and then bring it back to the lake after they had assembled the rest of the rock he had smashed as Thor before they could put that one piece back in place like a three dimensional jigsaw puzzle.

Hopefully Josie would have hunted them all down before that happened.

He decided that either Doctor Strange, or Druid, would be the way to gather

information. Their abilities seemed wide, but not as wide as Zatanna’s. The Scarlet Witch didn’t have any way to gather information, but was his go to fixer upper in close combat, but he was liking Gravity and Cap.

You couldn’t do better than yeeting someone into orbit.

Jack decided to try Druid first. Maybe it would give him the presence of lines to disrupt so the Dark Rider couldn’t ride any more. After that, the actual disruption should be easy enough to do.

Nothing said smash like Thor’s mighty magical hammer.

He triggered the watch to get the Falcon. He dropped down to the bottom of the hole and reverted to normal. He looked around in the dark. He should have brought a torch to set something on fire.

He turned into Druid and turned a rock into a glow stone so he could see what he was doing. He looked around. He didn’t like the fact that he was standing in a big circle of rocks again.

He let his senses roll outward as he moved out of the circle. He didn’t want to trigger it. He wasn’t quite ready to fight whatever was behind the tomb door on the other side of the chamber.

He wished Josie was on the scene. Her magic was better for this. He nodded as he saw the magic force flowing into the door. It was a trickle at the moment.

How did he want to do this? If he moved the rocks, that should cut off the flow of energy. Then he would okay on the job.

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He could switch to Gravity to handle that part of things.

The main problem would be the spirit on the other side of the door waiting for the knob to turn. What happened when the ring started vanishing? Would it come out to try to deal with him? Would it go after the women to expand its army? Would it try to recruit from the small towns from there to Hawk Ridge until it the hit the city itself?

He decided to put aside the questions. Either Druid could buy him enough time to switch to the Scarlet Witch and throw hexes around, or it couldn’t. He had to do something before the natural flow made his decision for him.

He decided that he would try out Gravity. If it worked, he would keep it up until he had to change into something else. How hard could it be to yeet some rocks out of a hole?

Was yeeting the rocks the right move? That was something he needed to know, but couldn’t until he tried. He could try to fix his mistake if the Rider manifested. He didn’t know how hard that was going to be, but he still had some things he could use if Druid wasn’t effective.

He wondered how many others had thought the same thing before their stupidity exploded around them.

Jack did one last check before switching bodies. Energy flowed from the rock to the tomb. He noticed that some of it came from him. He stepped away from the circle. It must be drawing a bit from him to help with its powering up.

He should start taking the circle apart before he was neck deep in monsters.

He called on the dark form of Gravity. He pointed at the nearest rock and activated his power. The giant stone started to move up so he could lift it out of the hole. White lines appeared to connect the stones. It struck his grip and let the marker drop back in place unharmed.

More magic? That would fit the rest of this. Maybe he should consult Josie before trying anything else.

A glow seeped through the tomb door. He decided that wasn’t good. Maybe he should get away from the opening as fast as possible before something bad happened.

The door opened as Jack headed for the top of the sink hole. He frowned as he considered that he might have woke up the Dark Rider ahead of time. How did he put him back to sleep?

He landed and looked at the names on his watch. Could he do anything with Druid. He didn’t know. He had to try. The women were in the road ahead of this monster. They would be snapped up if Josie was right.

He saw another name. He frowned at it. It was a mage. And he dealt with ghosts as part of his magical skill. He might be perfect for this if he worked close to his comic book version.

A spirit on a horse emerged from the sinkhole. It glared at the dark field in front of it. Then it seemed to see the wagons and started toward them with a yell.

Jack pushed the button to switch. He couldn’t let this thing have the women.

He had given his word was paramount in his mind, but other things supported that decision. He felt chains and ghosts wrap around as he stepped in the path of the ghost horse and held up his hands.

“You can’t pass,” Jack said. “Go back.”

“It is my duty to gather the levee to win the war,” said the ghost. “I can’t be stopped.”

Jack made note of the clothes, and simple looking knife at the belt. He didn’t seem to be dealing with a knight, or someone high up. How did he fix this for both of them?

“There isn’t any war,” said Jack. “There’s nothing to raise a levee against.”

“You are wrong,” said the ghost. “I have been given orders.”

“I am the one who called you, and I didn’t call you to do anything,” Jack said. “Matter of fact, I didn’t even know you would show up. I was trying to get rid of those stones because they were in the way.”

“You called me?,” said the Dark Rider. “Impossible. I am bound to the service of Sachuminou. There is no way you could call me.”

“I don’t think there is a Sachuminou,” said Jack. “I think you’re the only one who even remembers there was such a place.”

“You lie,” said the Dark Rider. “I can’t go to sleep until it falls, and it hasn’t fallen.”

“Hold on,” said Jack. He had the ability to learn things with Brother Voodoo. He sat down and concentrated, sending out his need. Something heard him and followed the call to the dirt road.

A spirit dressed in tabard and boots stumbled out of the ground. It looked around, pushing back the hat on its head. He saw the Dark Rider and the sitting Jack and smiled.

“Brother,” the ghost said. “Why are you here?”

“We would like to know about Sachuminou,” said Jack. His eyes glowed. His voice had an echo.

“Didn’t he tell you?,” asked the new ghost. “He destroyed it with his magic. Killed himself too.”

“You lie,” said the Dark Rider.

“Brother, don’t you know me?,” asked the ghost. “I was there when you rode down with your hounds. You sliced through both sides of the lines adding on to your forces. When you were done, there was nothing left of Sachuminou’s capital, and almost nothing left of our army. Goshawk took both countries and absorbed it into itself.”

“Classic third party move,” said Jack.