From Monaco With Love
May. 29th, 2008 08:48 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsRemy's team meets to discuss how they are going to crack the security and beat the tournament.
The Imperial Grace Casino in Monaco was a brand new hotel, built only with the finest materials and with the top security that money could buy. The room they were meeting in was five thousand a night, and it was considered a modest one by the standards of the hotel. It was not the most comfortable group. Instead of a normal X-Force mission, one of the leaders of the X-Men was across the table from them. Beside her was a former French superspy, who now looked like a country squire who spent a little too much time inside a bottle of wine and much too young for him local farm girls. Add to that a harassed looking administrator from the school, and the grinning jack o'lantern face of a criminal mastermind himself, and Remy was about ready to call the whole thing a toss up.
Still, the mad plan that they had come up with, only these people had a hope of pulling it off. Remy pulled himself together and leaned forward. "Alright, we've got three days and five hundred people in this tournament to roll, and at de same time, we need to bore a hole in de security of dis place in case something goes wrong. Batroc, you said you know de security chief in dis place?"
"Ah, oui, he is... comment dit-ons? An enfant terrible," the Frenchman said, absently lighting a slim cigarette. "A young champion at baccarat, roulette, cassino - when he became bored with beating the games, eh, he turned his coat and began running them. Alors, he knows every con, every ruse, and never forgets a face."
He blew a perfect ring of smoke into the air, then smiled. "Which is why we shall, how do you say, catch him with the pants down, n'est-ce pas?"
"I'm assuming that's where I come in?" Jubilee said, slouched in a rather overstuffed chair.
"Dat's right. A poker tournament isn't de same as fixing a table game in a casino. We need to manipulate five hundred players in such a way dat we can make sure that Remy make it all de way to de final table against... Radioactive Man, if you can believe dat. Batroc is going to need Dani on de floor to help manipulate de other top players into early outs, give us a better chance of making it to de end. Jubilee, you are now de property of 'ro and Arcade."
"Ohh, slick, really? Jacob, please. My father would turn over in his grave at the idea of his son being called Arcade." Lowenstein smiled and waved at Ororo. "And you, Miss Munroe. You know that el-Gibar spoke very highly of your skills. Made a lot of money in side bets against the others on you. Now, this place, the Imperial Grace, is top of the line. Some of the technology used in here is from my own companies. Now, what makes things a little easier is that security is based around protecting the vault, or preventing fraud at the tables. That leaves a hole that we can use."
Having pasted a pleasant expression on her face as Arcade spoke, Ororo looked away from him at her earliest opportunity, instead focusing on the more familiar faces around the table. "While some of you are focused on the tournament itself, others will be working behind the scenes to secure information about the prize itself. One way or another, we will have it by the end of the tournament." She nodded to Jubilee and Dani, and then to Doug. "It is a dangerous game, but one we have a good chance at winning, if things go as planned."
Sitting at a table with Arcade left a very bad taste in Doug's mouth, but if Remy and Ororo could work with the man, then he could as well. A small frown was all he allowed himself before leaning forward. "I've already started walking the floor, trying to find out as much as I can about the players. Tells, histories, levers we can use against them if it comes to it." He rubbed his temples slightly. Keeping everything straight and at instant recall was a mental strain, but he would manage.
"Just a clarification," Dani spoke up. She hadn't worked with - or against - Arcade before and didn't have the problem with him some of the others did, "I'm not a full-spectrum empath. I only sense fear. If someone has a winning hand, I won't know," she was also worried about looking like a wolf in sheeps clothing. This was all much more ritzy than she was used to or comfortable with, even having adjusted to Xavier's. This was...this was another stratosphere entirely. That was a worry for another time though.
"You will be working both with the process of elimination - you may not be able to sense a winning hand, but you can recognise different kinds of fear and work from there - as well as with both Ororo and myself." Sofia lifted her espresso to her lips as a pause before setting it back down on the saucer resting on her crossed knee with a china clink. She obviously still detested plane travel, as it was her third. "We'll mostly be with LeBeau and Doug, however, we will move within the tables and will work with you to come up with signals beforehand. It's not perfect, but it will do."
"Mademoiselle la detective is correct, oui," Batroc agreed with a nod. "The best players will not be afraid to lose a bet. But they are not the concern, you see. It is the amateurs, the dilletantes, oui? They are the backbone of the casino. Break
them, and, eh, tiens..." He waved his hand in the air, a thin trail of smoke following. "Le main gauche ne sait pas qu'il le droit sont faire. The left hand, it does not know what the right is doing. Security, they will look at the tables we wish, and allow Monsieur LeBeau..."
"... to do what Remy does best." LeBeau said, nodding. "Remember, we not here to beat de casino. Just dis Radioactive Man. He loses, and de device is ours. In case of a doublecross, Arcade, Jubilee and Ororo make sure we can still get to it. A tournament like dis is about a structure. By manipulating de tables to knock certain players out at certain times, we'll funnel de best players together, making dem take time taking each others chips, while Remy flush out de amateurs and build enough of a lead dat even de players dat are better den me won't have de bank to back dere skill."
He got up from the table and stretched. "Game starts tomorrow morning. Everybody get some rest, because you not going to have much chance for it over de next three days."
Batroc and Dani work the crowd to narrow the field.
It was amazing what a makeover could do. Tastefully understated makeup brought out her sharp cheekbones and large eyes, making Dani look more exotic than she felt, though in Europe she supposed she was the exotic. Her long black hair was free of its usual braids and cascaded down her back nearly to her butt. That pleased her immensely as the dress she wore was backless. A light blue sequined mini-dress clung to her, showing off long legs ending in matching blue stiletto heels. She'd had to practice wearing them before she wore them in public or else blow their cover and reveal herself as the backwards country girl she was. Out on the casino floor though, she blended right in, unique but not so much as to stand out in anyones eye that she didn't wish to. Idly she played the slots as she monitored the big money games going on nearby. She didn't miss the irony of an Indian playing the slots in a casino in Monaco.
"Ah, ma chere," the smooth voice came over Dani's shoulder,"you tempt an old man's heart with your beauty. Alors, it is time for our part in this grand game, oui?"
Batroc was dressed impeccably in a white suit, set off by a purple-and-orange tie. He smiled and offered his arm to Dani. "The table to our left, oui? The fat man in the cheap suit, he is betting heavily when he is nervous. A bit of, comment dit-ons? Influence? And I believe we have our distraction."
Was it wrong to want to wring his neck for speaking French? She didn't speak French. Some would argue she barely spoke decent English some days. She certainly didn't speak 'the Queen's Own' or anything resembling it. Taking his arm, she stood, abandoning both her untouched drink and winnings. Even for the Euro they didn't amount to much. Looking at the man he indicated for a moment, she nodded, "His brain is as disgusting as he is. He can be distracted easily."
Nodding, Batroc led Dani over to the craps table in question, making eye contact with the casino employee running the table before placing a stack of chips on the felt, directly opposite the fat man's bet. He turned his attention to the mark and smiled. "Bien, mon ami, it seems you are brave with your money, non?"
As he spoke, he subtly squeezed Dani's arm, giving her the signal.
The question with this particular man wasn't 'what did he fear' but 'which fear would be most effective'? He has so many. Dani's eyes glazed over slightly as she rifled through them before selecting one that looked appealing. It could be argued that she was a sociopath who enjoyed the fear in others, but when it was all you saw, you learned to like it. Causing it though was different. She did not enjoy that.
Everyone had the standard fears, drowning, fire, spiders, whatever. Those were not subtle though. For this, she needed subtle. Playing on his fear of losing everything, she changed his bets in his eyes, from something middle-of-the-road to extreme. Even if he won, he'd lose. Everything. And if his money weren't enough, he'd lose more. It all depended on how he reacted.
Sweat poured over the fat man's forehead as he began to shake imperceptibly. Impulsively, he pushed his entire stack of chips onto the table, betting everything on the odds of a 7, the most likely throw. He watched the dice intently as they were tossed through the air, bouncing on the green felt...
...to come up each showing one pip. Snake-eyes.
The table operator raked in the chips, redistributing them to the lucky souls who'd bet on the 2. Across from Batroc, the fat man began to shake with rage. "You bastard!" he shouted loudly. "I was cheated! I was cheated!"
"Sir," the table operator insisted, "calm down and step back from the table."
Batroc just smiled and adjusted his tie. "Perhaps you should try something less stressful, non? I believe they have the, how do you say, children's table in the restaurant outside?"
Eyes full of rage, the fat man attempted to leap over the table at Batroc, only to find a flock of casino employees and bouncers rushing the table as chips and dice flew everywhere. In the chaos, Batroc merely stepped back, escorting Dani away from the fracas.
"And we have our distraction, oui?" he asked with a smile.
"Oui," she agreed, smiling. That had been easy. Almost too easy. Disappearing with Batroc into the crowd she continued, "People shouldn't gamble if they can't handle losing."
Ororo and Jubilee make their first crack at the casino security.
"Ooh, I love a place that smells like money." Arcade said, grinning into his drink. The table he was sitting at in the bar was littered with magazines, electronic gadgets and his high end laptop, so slim profiled that he bragged you could slide it between the pages of the Bible without ruffling them. Some of his devices were looked down on most casinos, but the owners of the Royal Grace knew Jacob Lowenstein well, and his mere presence at the tournament meant they weren't worried about him trying to steal any innovations. Poker tournaments were the lowest tech on the planet, and more importantly, Lowenstein was worth too much money for anyone to even bother to think he might be trying to do anything illegal. Arcade loved that fact.
"Money and crime. It's a heady mix, isn't that right, China? I bet you got the same tingle when you were robbing my casino; that sense of getting away with something you were never supposed to do? Yeah, you did."
Arcade popped a couple of pills into his mouth and waved down the waitress. "Sweetheart, a club soda with a twist, just a touch of campari, and I mean just a hint. It should be blushing, not rubbing a slapped cheek kind of look, you know? Lots of ice? You're a peach. Now, China," He turned back to his cellphone, which was broadcasting into the earbuds Ororo and Jubilee wore. "First rule about casino security. You watch what is valuable the closest. So, Miss Munroe, what are the most valuable things on the floor of this casino right now, during this tournament?"
"Certainly not those shoes you are wearing," Ororo muttered, sitting at the other end of the bar, her back to Arcade. She was none too happy about working with the dealmaker again, and though she had agreed to do it, it didn't mean she had to play his games while she was at it.
"I figure he was going for some form of seventies allure and got lost in the kitch aisle." said Jubilee, voice being picked up by the wire she wore. She'd already started toward the other side of the casino, and was listening to this conversation through the earbud in her ear.
"Whoa, whoa, kids. Come on, a little professionalism. Because let me tell you both something. This is a top of the line casino security setup. One mistake, and they will have you. Believe me about this." Arcade collected his drink. "Now, China, because this is a poker tournament, the most valuable thing on the floor right now are the players. They will be focused on the tables and the people hanging about them. Normally, you would have the chip stations constantly monitored, but--- you guessed it. No chip stations in this part of the casino right now. So security is focused on preventing cheating from the players which is to our advantage. The
gentlemen ghosting to your left is one of the swing guards. They have back room and chip room access to bring chips in and out of the casino floor. We need his card."
"If we work together we will be able to divide his attention and the suspicion of anyone who may be watching," Ororo said, shifting so that she could see the guard Arcade had pointed out. "The card is on a chain around his neck; we need to cut that chain before the card is ours. Jubilee, you will do that while I get into position. If for some reason it does not work, I will still be on hand to try again."
"What, now?" Jubilee asked, watching the guy move past her. It wouldn't be hard to break the chain, a quick spark to the back of his neck should melt the links and bingo, the chain should slide off and the card would hopefully drop to the floor. The key was in distracting the guard enough that he didn't notice it.
"Now," Ororo confirmed, sliding out of her seat smoothly and beginning to cross the floor. "Quickly, carefully."
"I'm always careful, Ro." Jubilee said before she deliberately twisted the high-heel she was wearing and launched herself at the guard. Her hands instinctively went around his neck as she tried to catch herself. "Oh God, I'm like, I'm so sorry!" she breathed, spark popping softly against the back of his neck and melting links.
"Very good. Very American. I like that." Arcade said.
The guard looked startled, helping Jubilee up with a hand at her elbow. "Not a problem, miss," he told her, and continued on his way - only to nearly run straight into Ororo, who had wandered into his path while he was distracted with Jubilee's feint. "My apologies," Ororo purred, the keycard dropping neatly into her hand, and then disappearing into her purse.
"No, I'm sorry ma'am, I wasn't watching..." Ororo barely heard the rest, already heading off to the side of the casino floor to hand off the key. 'Ma'am'??
The keycard was palmed over to Arcade, who swiped it through a small reader without trying to hide his actions. The number of devices at his table all but obscured what his true actions were, and made even criminal ones look as innocuous as checking his phone. After a moment, he ran a new blank card through the reader, and put both into an envelope. Calling over one of the waitresses, she tracked down Ororo at one of the tables and passed over the package, again as innocently as delivering a message, but containing both keycards.
***
Jubilee had been surreptitiously watching from a table not far away, a rowdy game of roulette already in progress around her. She nodded at the game runner and pushed a set of $5 chips to black three.
As the wheel spun, she felt a hand at her pocket and grimaced as the ball rolled into a red slot. "Guess ya can't win 'em all." she noted to the people around her and left the table, pulling the key card out of her pocket and clutching it in her hand.
It didn't take her long to find the security guard and she rushed over to him, appearing flustered and slightly red with embarrassment. "Um, Sir! Hallo? I'm like, totally sorry ta bug you again, but I think maybe you dropped this?" she said as she held out the card in her hand. Her blush intensified and she smiled awkwardly. "It took me forever ta find you. Like, there are _so_ many people here in suits."
The guard looked vaguely concerned as Jubilee passed back the key card, but was reassured by her apparently ditzy manner. "Thanks," he said tersely, and moved off immediately, hoping that his supervisors hadn't noticed the snafu.
Ororo was waiting for Jubilee near the door to the security wing, having gotten rid of the envelope and palmed one of the key cards while she waited. When the girl arrived they tested Arcade's handiwork first-hand by swiping the key card through the lock - it opened without a problem. Quickly both women disappeared behind the door, finding themselves in a white, featureless hallway.
"You girls are good. Miss Munroe, you really should have been involved in robbing my casino. After watching this, if you've have been there, babycakes might have gotten away with it." Arcade took a sip from his drink. "Yeah, I know, I'm not supposed to remember that. When my staff telepath marked out those memories, she stored copies in her own brain, kind of like a psionic external hard drive, and once I got back, boom, right back in they went. I didn't want to say anything before, because I know you don't trust me, and then you'd get all nervous and wondering when I was going to get around to putting Wonderboy and China behind bars. Relax, a bet is a bet and you won."
Arcade tapped his computer for a moment, pulling up a map of the casino interior from his technicians who did some of the security installations. It was a shame that they'd gone with another company for site security like door locks and such. otherwise, Arcade would already have a back door waiting for him in their computer system.
"His office is the second on the left. There's a camera in the hall, but it's just outside of the field of view, since his room is going away from the vault. What cheap bastards." Arcade rubbed the bridge of his nose. "My therapist says that I need to express my frustration more, when it happens so bear with me. When I got my memories back, I think I also got some of her musical tastes implanted. Either of you know what a 'Wonderwall' is, because man, it's been ticking, ticking, ticking over and over in my head for months."
"You've had 'Wonderwall' stuck in your head for months?" Jubilee asked, taking the lead as the moved carefully down the hall. "That's frickin' hilarious. So sucks to be you. 'Ro, what do you think? I could take out the camera with a little zap, or we could get you to do the voodoo you do so well and just mist the lens up so they can't see a damn thing. That might be a little better, actually."
With a nod Ororo got to work, condensing the moisture in the air until a fine fog had formed in the pocket of warm air she had manipulated around the camera. She knew any sort of abnormality would be investigated, which means they didn't have much time, so without further ado she headed for the office. Once there, she reached into the calf of the high leather boots she was wearing and fished out a lockpick kit, bending on one knee and inserting the first needle and wrench into the lock.
Jubilee stood back a ways from Ororo as she picked the lock, her eyes and ears intent on either side of the corridor they stood in. If she heard or saw anything, they'd only have a moment to get out, although a quick fog in here should make identifying them difficult at the very least.
"So, what exactly are we looking at security wise once we're in, Oh great purveyor of information?" she murmured softly, trusting the sensitive mic to pick up what she'd said.
"It is doubtful that there is much on the inside - with so many precautions taken on the outside, they would not assume anyone would be able to get this far," Ororo replied quietly. "Though the sensitive information and the things we seek will be kept safe... perhaps in a vault."
"Hmm, maybe. I'm not sure we want to trust too much in what we expect them to do. Better to be careful then be sorry." Jubilee said, expression thoughtful for a moment before she shrugged her shoulders and grinned. "Stuff it, we'll deal with it if it's there. How much longer till you're through?"
"Not long now." And with a click to prove just that, they were in. Ororo stood and opened the door, motioning Jubilee inside and shutting the door and locking it behind them. The office was small and unremarkable; several shelves of books and binders lined one wall, while another was taken up with a large black and white photograph of the exterior view of the casino. The desk was neat, orderly - all and all there was nothing to indicate where their target might be located.
"Arcade? A little help would be fortuitous." Jubilee said, moving into the centre of the room as she let her eyes drift across the contents therein. Standard office, really. Nothing particularly remarkable, a few photos placed on the desk but for the most part it was fairly indistinguishable. It was a place that belonged to someone who didn't appear much concerned with individual touches. That might work to their advantage, since anything even remotely out of the ordinary could be a clue.
"No safe? You, China, get those snoops into the computer box." Lowenstein tapped his upper lip for a moment and then smiled. "You know the reason that the FBI basically wiped out the Mafia in the United States in the last two decades? Even in Las Vegas, which they built from the ground up? Gangster movies got to popular. Every one thinks they're in Goodfellas or the Godfather, and it makes them such obvious targets. Our boy? Too many films on what a casino boss should be. Miss Munroe, if there is a large picture, print, wall hanging, anything like that, please check the edge for a contact alarm that I know will be there, because stupid people like to think they're clever. Your safe will be behind it."
Much to Ororo's chagrin, Arcade was exactly right - the print was rigged with an alarm that thankfully wasn't too difficult to disable. Upon removing it from the wall, she found the small safe directly behind it, a numeric keypad offset to one side. "I do not suppose we have a try-out set of combinations for a... Cobalt ?" she asked.
"Cobalt? Maybe he's not as stupid as I thought. Cobalts are British custom jobs. No industry shortcuts on them." Arcade tapped out a few keys on his computer, and paused. "The good news is that it won't have an electronic lock out attached to the casino alarm, so you can make a mistake or two. Remember, he thinks he's clever, but he's also lazy."
"Does the guy have a wife, or kids?" Jubilee asked, voice muffled slightly from her position under the desk. She'd carefully removed the case on the desktop computer and was quickly hooking in small devices to empty slots. "Or heck, a God complex?"
"He won't make it a combination of something simple. Remember, this man made his living counting cards. He can handle remembering numbers." Arcade continued to type. "It'll be five digits."
By now Ororo had lightly dusted the surface of the keypad, revealing four smudged keys - the ones used in the combination. Pursing her lips, she looked around the office for any clue as to what the combination might be. Finally, her eyes alit on the frame that had been removed from the wall. The only thing to look at in this whole room...
"When was this casino opened?" she wondered aloud.
Jubilee's head peeked out from behind the desk, giving Ororo a quizzical look. "No idea. Arcade?"
She bent back over her task, finished now with setting up the devices and only needing to place the casing back on the computer and slot it back into its cubby hole under the desk.
"December 1st, 2006. See, that's not right. Who opens that close to the holidays?"
Ignoring Arcade's question, Ororo carefully pressed '1-2-1-0-6' into the combination keypad - and was rewarded by the sound of the lock smoothly clicking open. "We are in."
"And I am done." Jubilee replied, pulling herself up from under the desk with a grin. "So, we hit paydirt, Ro?"
Holding up several master keycards, Ororo gave a smile and a nod. "Now, let us get out as smoothly as we got in. That will be the true test."
Remy faces Lu across the tables finally, but things don't quite go as planned.
"Trip sevens plays." The dealer said, swiping the cards away from the table, and leaving Remy to stack the chips left behind by yet another busted player. Dani and Batroc had done a very good job. Remy's tables had been a wishlist of amateur players and rich dilettantes. Against his measured, skilled play, they had been leaving at an obscenely rapid rate and leaving their chips behind in Remy's stacks. That meant as the professional players finally made it out of Dani and Batroc's unspotted manipulation of the tables, they were at a severe disadvantage against the Cajun. Remy traded a look with Ororo, and her hand sign said that they had just broken the table she'd been watching like a hawk. That meant Radioactive Man was on his way.
If it wasn't for the greenish and iridescent sheen to his skin, he would have been unremarkable from any other Asian underworld figure. He had the same kind of arrogance that comes from being able to order death casually, and the utter lack of remorse for any of his actions. He was a killer, and Remy recognized the same quality in him as he'd once cultivated as Gambit. Remy flipped his chips idly as the stacks slid into the opposite side of the table, and he locked eyes with a man who'd once held countries hostage.
"Seems dat you been lucky, Monsieur." He said as Radioactive Man sat down.
Underworld criminal and malevolent bastard or not, Radioactive Man was one of the staff's favorite; well known for tipping a large amount at the end of a session. An aggressive player, he hardly lost a game. The tournament amused him. Chen Lu had every confidence that he would win the device.
He sat across from LeBeau and tilted his head in greeting, letting out a small, gracious smile; pleasantly indulgent, it screamed, 'you inferior!'. His gloved hand touched his chips, giving it one last brush; a quick caress, confident it would be in his clutches again soon; as would the device he was playing for.
Moving to stand behind Remy, Ororo slid a hand over his shoulders slowly. She was wearing a provocatively-cut black dress that had been attracting attention all night; hopefully it would do the same with Lu. Anything that would distract him even the minutest bit would serve to their advantage in the end.
The dealer shuffled and sent two cards to each player. Remy held his carefully flat to the table and checked his hand. Pocket tens. He had a good pre-flop hand, and it was time to push out the limpers and donkeys at the table. He shuffled his chips in one hand, and then pushed out his bet. One hundred thousand. It was a tenth of his stack, and easily enough to make those not confident in their hands to play out. During it all, he kept his red eyes locked on Lu.
Seated at a late position gave Radioactive Man a distinct advantage. The expression on his face remained stoic as he chose to raise the bet. He recognized LeBeau to be the one working for Arcade. These men, these women, he thought, glancing over at Remy and Ororo with only mild interest, should count themselves lucky he'd chosen to act honorably, in that he was willing to participate in the tournament and win the device in a fair manner.
The last raise was called and the round of betting stopped. Lu managed a small smile. Either way, whether luck was in his hand or not, he had every intention of taking the device home with him tonight.
Watching Lu closely, Ororo observed his every move, attempting to catalogue any behavior that might give insight into his hand, but the man was good. There was nothing in his expression that betrayed what he might be holding, and she knew that it would take many more hands before any sort of pattern could be recognized.
Raising his pre-raise. He either had a comparable pocket pair, an overcard with a strong kicker, or he was bluffing. Either way, the priority to Remy right now was less about winning and more about seeing the hands. He called the raise, leaned back, and watched as the flop came down.
A seven of clubs. A two of diamonds. A jack of spades. A flush draw was all but dead at this point. The jack presented an overcard to Remy's tens, but unless it was jacks Lu had hidden in the pocket, it was unlikely that he had one except as a kicker. Playing kickers was dangerous, especially since Remy's pre-flop hand represented tens or higher. Remy bet the minimum, pushing it back to Lu. Having Ororo's eyes was invaluable. Anything he missed, her skills would catch.
Lu sucked in a breath as he glanced down at his chips and contemplated his next move, deliberately taking some extra time before he doubled the bet. It was possible that he had the best hand and wanted to further narrow the field, feeling all the more pleased, though he didn't show it, when more players chose to fold, leaving with him a single opponent at the table.
When the dealer burned another card and dealt the fourth community card; the Turn, the corner of Lu's eyes crinkled slightly. It would be over soon. Very soon. He leaned forward in his seat and rested his arm on the edge of the table as he waited for LeBeau to make his move.
Remy checked on the play, not unsurprisingly. His tens were still overmatched by the jack, but otherwise, he was in strong position. Lu's body motion was eager, anticipatory. Did he hold the overcard, or was this a ruse to try and push him out of the hand. Either way, they were heads up until the river.
Lu hesitated, frowning slightly for show before he placed his bet on the table. "One million."
He was bluffing. The hesitation, the frowns; Lu was trying to play the obvious back on him. It was a trap, designed to make players over think that the man was being too forward, playing at trying to cover over-extending himself on the flop, meanwhile he had. Without the tens, and with a jack as the only overcard, a smart player sitting on an ace has got to wonder about low pairs out of a wired straight draw. Against the million, they'd play the man, and with the obvious nature of his supposed bluff, fold the hand and wait for better table position.
But they were running out of time, and Remy felt he had finally seen what he needed to. The Cajun pushed his stack forward. "All in."
A fine sheen of cold sweat broke out across his forehead and Lu pressed his gloved fingers to his lips. The reaction; stemmed from the excitement he was trying to hide was something he couldn't quite control right now. It was the effect of all that radiation he'd absorbed last night.
"Mr. Lu?"
Radioactive Man ignored the dealer, hating to be pushed around and allowed himself a few more seconds to think before he called, leaning back in his seat as he eyed LeBeau's cards.
Remy's tens slipped over, which received a polite smattering of applause until Lu's were turned as well; a seven and a two. Lu had pushed Remy's initial bet right back at him on a nothing hand. The turn dropped a queen, and the river seemed to make a slamming noise like it was carved from stone as it was turned.
Another two.
A cheer went up as Remy stood shakily from the table. He looked at Ororo, every inch the beaten player, and stepped away from the table, leaving Lu triumphantly collecting the stack. The Cajun took a deep breath, and then Ororo's hand as they turned away from the table, allowing the new player to take a seat.
Remy's look at her wasn't casual. It was a straight forward signal asking her whether or not she saw the tell.
The silver-haired woman had given a slight affirmative nod, already running through the pre-determined list of signs they had come up with in order to communicate with Doug what they had learned.
Fortunately, there is another solution for dealing with Radioactive Man.
Radioactive Man was playing the part of a loose aggressive player. With the German at the table, Chen Lu played a large variety of cards and bet them very aggressively, using his large stack to push around the other players at the table. They folded. All except the German, and this other Asian player.
It was easy to spot his tell. There was that crinkle in his eyes when he got excited and the frown he tried to fake whenever he wanted his opponent to raise the bet. Right now, his features were unreadable. He glanced over his shoulder before returning his attention to the table as the fourth card was dealt. He was losing. Only thing he could hope for right now was that the other players would fold once he placed his all in. But Lu would take his time with this one. He wanted to prolong the game. Losing at the final table was no longer a concern to him. A while ago, he'd signaled one of his men and knew they were on their way to collect the device. The player to his right checked and he made a show of thinking through his decision before finally doing the same. It was up to the German now.
The other Asian was a nonentity to Doug, as it didn't matter whether or not he won, so long as Radioactive Man (and wasn't that a silly name in the grand scheme of things) was the loser. This gave Doug two advantages: first, the use of Remy as a stalking horse to find Lu's tell, and second, that he could play off the third player at the table, which gave him two chances in three to win compared to Lu's one.
He steepled his fingers and glanced at the other players. He didn't examine his cards repeatedly, which would have been the mark of a player unsure about his hand's strength. He pushed a pair of chips towards the dealer. Time to get some movement going.
Gently squeezing Doug's shoulder - the floor was clear for the moment, Dani's adjustment of the strap on her slingbacks told her that - Sofia took a sip of her leaving faint traces of golden pink lipstick behind on the glass. The cut of her dress, low and short, had helped keep distractions at a high, but it could only go so far, after all. She leaned down to kiss the back of Doug's ear in encouragement of his move.
The other player called and Radioactive placed his bet on the table. "One million." Lu was bluffing but he had no choice. He had a feeling the German would be a problem. The turn went back to his opponent and Radioactive Man paid close attention, watching for any sign of a tell.
Doug knew Lu was looking for a tell, so he neatly placed chips in a precise stack, doing his best to look impassive as he had throughout the tournament. "Call," he said curtly. The flop was met with a Teutonic grunt, as each before it had been, and he watched Lu with a steady gaze to see what he would do.
His skin had turned a darker shade of green. Even in a relaxed state, his body continued to emit small amounts of radiation. Now that he was slightly stressed however...
The player to his right folded. Lu eyed the fifth card and let out a casual shrug. "I am all in." He pushed his stack forward and leaned back with a small smile. He was itching to move. Itching to get away. The damn game was a lost cause. He hoped his men had better luck getting that safe open.
"Mr. Ritter?" the dealer called, and all eyes were once again on the German.
And this was the precise moment the entire team had been working toward for the entire tournament, where the information yielded by Remy's skillful play was about to come in handy. Doug did not hesitate at all. "Call," he said again, moving precisely the same number of chips as Lu towards the dealer without having to be told the count. The Radioactive Man was bluffing so hard it was coming out his ears. Possibly even literally, considering the whole radiation thing.
Radioactive Man let out a disgruntled snort and sent his two cards to the dealer, forfeiting his hand. "Fold." He gave out a slight nod of his head, forcing himself to acknowledge his worthy opponent before he left the table. A wasted effort, he thought. Or maybe not...
"We're in," one of his men informed him, joining Lu as he made his way through the casino and the corner of Lu's mouth lifted up in a smirk.
Doug didn't miss the movement, following Lu out of the corner of his eye even as the dealer shuffled up the cards for another hand. He flicked his eyes toward Sofia, who already had them in view. He had a bad feeling they weren't the only ones with a Plan B...
The team heads for the device, only to find someone is there first.
The duplicated keycards worked like a charm, and Remy eased the door shut behind him, cutting off the sounds of the casino, all eyes watching the final table where Doug was locked into headsup play against Radioactive Man. Remy hoped he'd caught Radioactive Man's tells when he beat Remy, a set-up against the superior player to give Doug the edge with his surprise appearance. Still, it didn't matter whether he won or lost if that could get to the device soon enough. LeBeau pinned the lock, to at least slow any casual wanderers and turned back to the team.
"Right, Storm, Jubilee, you both been here. Where do we go?"
"To the right, then down a long hallway, the device isn't far." Jubilee replied, moving to the front so she could lead them around the security. It was somewhat intense for a casino but it wasn't unexpected. "We shouldn't have any problems from here, far as I found out they don't change the safe codes for at least another day."
Following Jubilee down the long hallway, Ororo reached up to tap the earpiece that kept them connected to the rest of the team in the front of the house. "Dani, how is the mood?" Any suspicion or fear would need to be noted right away, so that they could avoid detection if necessary.
"Tense," she replied, "but nothing unexpected. They don't got a clue," she continued, discretely allowing her hair to block her face slightly as she watched the action at the tables intently like any of the other young money grubbers. Money-hungry floozy wasn't a role she liked much, but it was a useful one right now. A very useful one.
Batroc nudged Dani, indicating the sudden lack of casino guards around their designated door and rushing the two of them towards it. "Allons-y, chere," he murmured. "This is not a rendezvous that we should be late for, oui?"
The two of them slid through the door, and once it closed behind them, bolted down the corridor, falling into step behind Storm and Jubilee at the first intersection. A few quick nods of acknowledgement, then the attention was turned back to the young Asian. "Where from here, ma petite?" Batroc asked.
Jubilee thought for a moment, pulling up the mental map she'd made of the place from memory. They needed to go right again here, another corridor, this time with rooms branching off and some cameras they'd already put on loop. Then the room with the safe, and they were home free.
"We hang a right here, then it's the last room, straight ahead." she muttered softly, turning right. "We've taken care of the cameras, most of the security was on the safe room but we've got the codes and a key card."
Slipping her heels off easily, Dani carried them in one hand as they made their way down the hall. She could run in the dress, but not the heels. How women did that she would never understand. "Good," Dani replied, things were going according to plan. She wasnt an X-type really so that made her happy.
Remy turned the corner and paused. "Looks like we not de only ones wit' dis plan." The door to the safe room had been crowbarred off its hinges, and was swarming with orange jumpsuited men, all heavily armed. The group outside of the room spotted LeBeau, and leveled submachine guns at him. "Dat didn't take long."
"Move out of the way, you fools! The device is mine!" Coming to a full stop a good distance away from the X-Men, Radioactive Man held an arm out and pointed a finger at Remy. "So we meet again." He flicked his wrist and a glowing ball of energy formed in the palm of his hand, casting a bright glow in the hallway; the light, almost blinding. "A word of advice, my friend." He cocked his head to the side. "Don't bet on your life." Without waiting for the group to step back, he sent forth a concentrated blast of radiation toward them before he armed himself with a force field as he charged forward.
"Je m'excuse, ma chere," Batroc said softly, doffing his suit jacket and tossing it to Dani. "I believe these men need not only a lesson in la couture, but also in... la savate!"
As Batroc stepped forward, he let the Radioactive Man rush by him, interposing himself between the armed mercenaries and the rest of his group. "Maintenant, mes amis," he intoned, balling up his fists and sliding one foot forward. "Let us see if I have not lost a step, ne-c'est pas?"
Dani took the proffered jacket automatically catching it and straightening it so it would not wrinkle over one arm. They might be up to their waists in goons and sundry, but they had known this was a possibility. Not that running into them was reassuring, Dani was not a fighter like the others. She'd been in fights before and had certainly learned a little while at Xavier's, it was hard not to, but she was not specifically a fighter. Relaxing on the balls of her feet she prepared for the one thing she did know how to do - run. It seemed at least that Bartoc was a good at this sort of thing.
The group that had scattered from the doorway, away from the deadly rush of green energy, parted like the sea for Moses, leaving instead Sofia and Doug. The heels for her disguise had done nothing to hinder her, but she did curse quite loudly, unlike her purring alter ego, at the now decomposing potted hibiscus that stood in the line of fire she had entered only a breath after.
And then again when the lights went out.
"He's hit a circuit. Those who can see in the dark, get the men with guns. Those who can not, follow the glow-in-the-dark cliché," Sofia yelled, in the same movement tossing a solider who had tried to rush her in the confusion through the window on a particularly vicious breeze.
Not wanting to take a risk in the dark of making the melee worse, Ororo instead headed for Lu, who thus far was unhindered by any foes. She wasn't all that sure how she would hold up to a blast of radiation - just being near the man made her skin crawl - but hoped that the darkness would give her an advantage.
"Against my radioactivity, you stand no chance!" Having absorbed massive amounts of radiation from the night before, Radioactive Man was able to increase his physical strength at will. He punched his large fist through the safe box and snatched the device, slipping it into a steel case. "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Safely guarded within his protective shield, Lu turned, raised his arms upwards and clenched his hands into a fist, projecting hard radiation from his body, hoping to cause nausea, dizziness; enough to provide him with a means of escape.
Jubilee had stood back as the rest of the group moved about her, body limed in light from her powers. It created a small patch of light in the otherwise darkened corridor but it also made it hard for her to see any great distance.
So when the big glowing guy started soliloquising, she took it as a sign from on high that now was the time to trip him up. The shield would make it impossible to hit him head on, but she'd been in a fight once upon a time with someone else who could shield.
"Number one rule of bein' a villain, never stop to make a speech." she noted as she sent a wave of plasma at the floor under his feet, tearing into carpet and the concrete underneath.
Batroc's voice came from the darkness. "Mes braves!" he
shouted, "I regret only that I cannot see that we have defeated our
foe! Oui? Non?"
"Non." Remy said tightly. Jubilee's attack had pushed the Radioactive Man back, but even his cards simply dissipated once they reached the shield. Worse, he could set the who place on fire with it. Angry, Remy held up his hand. "Pull back. Let him go."
Bitterly, they watched Lu escape, taking the opportunity to blast a hole through the wall and flee into the night with the targeting computer they had needed to get. Remy snapped shut his staff and motioned for them to scatter. The police would be all over the casino soon enough. He could only hope the other teams had more luck.
The Imperial Grace Casino in Monaco was a brand new hotel, built only with the finest materials and with the top security that money could buy. The room they were meeting in was five thousand a night, and it was considered a modest one by the standards of the hotel. It was not the most comfortable group. Instead of a normal X-Force mission, one of the leaders of the X-Men was across the table from them. Beside her was a former French superspy, who now looked like a country squire who spent a little too much time inside a bottle of wine and much too young for him local farm girls. Add to that a harassed looking administrator from the school, and the grinning jack o'lantern face of a criminal mastermind himself, and Remy was about ready to call the whole thing a toss up.
Still, the mad plan that they had come up with, only these people had a hope of pulling it off. Remy pulled himself together and leaned forward. "Alright, we've got three days and five hundred people in this tournament to roll, and at de same time, we need to bore a hole in de security of dis place in case something goes wrong. Batroc, you said you know de security chief in dis place?"
"Ah, oui, he is... comment dit-ons? An enfant terrible," the Frenchman said, absently lighting a slim cigarette. "A young champion at baccarat, roulette, cassino - when he became bored with beating the games, eh, he turned his coat and began running them. Alors, he knows every con, every ruse, and never forgets a face."
He blew a perfect ring of smoke into the air, then smiled. "Which is why we shall, how do you say, catch him with the pants down, n'est-ce pas?"
"I'm assuming that's where I come in?" Jubilee said, slouched in a rather overstuffed chair.
"Dat's right. A poker tournament isn't de same as fixing a table game in a casino. We need to manipulate five hundred players in such a way dat we can make sure that Remy make it all de way to de final table against... Radioactive Man, if you can believe dat. Batroc is going to need Dani on de floor to help manipulate de other top players into early outs, give us a better chance of making it to de end. Jubilee, you are now de property of 'ro and Arcade."
"Ohh, slick, really? Jacob, please. My father would turn over in his grave at the idea of his son being called Arcade." Lowenstein smiled and waved at Ororo. "And you, Miss Munroe. You know that el-Gibar spoke very highly of your skills. Made a lot of money in side bets against the others on you. Now, this place, the Imperial Grace, is top of the line. Some of the technology used in here is from my own companies. Now, what makes things a little easier is that security is based around protecting the vault, or preventing fraud at the tables. That leaves a hole that we can use."
Having pasted a pleasant expression on her face as Arcade spoke, Ororo looked away from him at her earliest opportunity, instead focusing on the more familiar faces around the table. "While some of you are focused on the tournament itself, others will be working behind the scenes to secure information about the prize itself. One way or another, we will have it by the end of the tournament." She nodded to Jubilee and Dani, and then to Doug. "It is a dangerous game, but one we have a good chance at winning, if things go as planned."
Sitting at a table with Arcade left a very bad taste in Doug's mouth, but if Remy and Ororo could work with the man, then he could as well. A small frown was all he allowed himself before leaning forward. "I've already started walking the floor, trying to find out as much as I can about the players. Tells, histories, levers we can use against them if it comes to it." He rubbed his temples slightly. Keeping everything straight and at instant recall was a mental strain, but he would manage.
"Just a clarification," Dani spoke up. She hadn't worked with - or against - Arcade before and didn't have the problem with him some of the others did, "I'm not a full-spectrum empath. I only sense fear. If someone has a winning hand, I won't know," she was also worried about looking like a wolf in sheeps clothing. This was all much more ritzy than she was used to or comfortable with, even having adjusted to Xavier's. This was...this was another stratosphere entirely. That was a worry for another time though.
"You will be working both with the process of elimination - you may not be able to sense a winning hand, but you can recognise different kinds of fear and work from there - as well as with both Ororo and myself." Sofia lifted her espresso to her lips as a pause before setting it back down on the saucer resting on her crossed knee with a china clink. She obviously still detested plane travel, as it was her third. "We'll mostly be with LeBeau and Doug, however, we will move within the tables and will work with you to come up with signals beforehand. It's not perfect, but it will do."
"Mademoiselle la detective is correct, oui," Batroc agreed with a nod. "The best players will not be afraid to lose a bet. But they are not the concern, you see. It is the amateurs, the dilletantes, oui? They are the backbone of the casino. Break
them, and, eh, tiens..." He waved his hand in the air, a thin trail of smoke following. "Le main gauche ne sait pas qu'il le droit sont faire. The left hand, it does not know what the right is doing. Security, they will look at the tables we wish, and allow Monsieur LeBeau..."
"... to do what Remy does best." LeBeau said, nodding. "Remember, we not here to beat de casino. Just dis Radioactive Man. He loses, and de device is ours. In case of a doublecross, Arcade, Jubilee and Ororo make sure we can still get to it. A tournament like dis is about a structure. By manipulating de tables to knock certain players out at certain times, we'll funnel de best players together, making dem take time taking each others chips, while Remy flush out de amateurs and build enough of a lead dat even de players dat are better den me won't have de bank to back dere skill."
He got up from the table and stretched. "Game starts tomorrow morning. Everybody get some rest, because you not going to have much chance for it over de next three days."
Batroc and Dani work the crowd to narrow the field.
It was amazing what a makeover could do. Tastefully understated makeup brought out her sharp cheekbones and large eyes, making Dani look more exotic than she felt, though in Europe she supposed she was the exotic. Her long black hair was free of its usual braids and cascaded down her back nearly to her butt. That pleased her immensely as the dress she wore was backless. A light blue sequined mini-dress clung to her, showing off long legs ending in matching blue stiletto heels. She'd had to practice wearing them before she wore them in public or else blow their cover and reveal herself as the backwards country girl she was. Out on the casino floor though, she blended right in, unique but not so much as to stand out in anyones eye that she didn't wish to. Idly she played the slots as she monitored the big money games going on nearby. She didn't miss the irony of an Indian playing the slots in a casino in Monaco.
"Ah, ma chere," the smooth voice came over Dani's shoulder,"you tempt an old man's heart with your beauty. Alors, it is time for our part in this grand game, oui?"
Batroc was dressed impeccably in a white suit, set off by a purple-and-orange tie. He smiled and offered his arm to Dani. "The table to our left, oui? The fat man in the cheap suit, he is betting heavily when he is nervous. A bit of, comment dit-ons? Influence? And I believe we have our distraction."
Was it wrong to want to wring his neck for speaking French? She didn't speak French. Some would argue she barely spoke decent English some days. She certainly didn't speak 'the Queen's Own' or anything resembling it. Taking his arm, she stood, abandoning both her untouched drink and winnings. Even for the Euro they didn't amount to much. Looking at the man he indicated for a moment, she nodded, "His brain is as disgusting as he is. He can be distracted easily."
Nodding, Batroc led Dani over to the craps table in question, making eye contact with the casino employee running the table before placing a stack of chips on the felt, directly opposite the fat man's bet. He turned his attention to the mark and smiled. "Bien, mon ami, it seems you are brave with your money, non?"
As he spoke, he subtly squeezed Dani's arm, giving her the signal.
The question with this particular man wasn't 'what did he fear' but 'which fear would be most effective'? He has so many. Dani's eyes glazed over slightly as she rifled through them before selecting one that looked appealing. It could be argued that she was a sociopath who enjoyed the fear in others, but when it was all you saw, you learned to like it. Causing it though was different. She did not enjoy that.
Everyone had the standard fears, drowning, fire, spiders, whatever. Those were not subtle though. For this, she needed subtle. Playing on his fear of losing everything, she changed his bets in his eyes, from something middle-of-the-road to extreme. Even if he won, he'd lose. Everything. And if his money weren't enough, he'd lose more. It all depended on how he reacted.
Sweat poured over the fat man's forehead as he began to shake imperceptibly. Impulsively, he pushed his entire stack of chips onto the table, betting everything on the odds of a 7, the most likely throw. He watched the dice intently as they were tossed through the air, bouncing on the green felt...
...to come up each showing one pip. Snake-eyes.
The table operator raked in the chips, redistributing them to the lucky souls who'd bet on the 2. Across from Batroc, the fat man began to shake with rage. "You bastard!" he shouted loudly. "I was cheated! I was cheated!"
"Sir," the table operator insisted, "calm down and step back from the table."
Batroc just smiled and adjusted his tie. "Perhaps you should try something less stressful, non? I believe they have the, how do you say, children's table in the restaurant outside?"
Eyes full of rage, the fat man attempted to leap over the table at Batroc, only to find a flock of casino employees and bouncers rushing the table as chips and dice flew everywhere. In the chaos, Batroc merely stepped back, escorting Dani away from the fracas.
"And we have our distraction, oui?" he asked with a smile.
"Oui," she agreed, smiling. That had been easy. Almost too easy. Disappearing with Batroc into the crowd she continued, "People shouldn't gamble if they can't handle losing."
Ororo and Jubilee make their first crack at the casino security.
"Ooh, I love a place that smells like money." Arcade said, grinning into his drink. The table he was sitting at in the bar was littered with magazines, electronic gadgets and his high end laptop, so slim profiled that he bragged you could slide it between the pages of the Bible without ruffling them. Some of his devices were looked down on most casinos, but the owners of the Royal Grace knew Jacob Lowenstein well, and his mere presence at the tournament meant they weren't worried about him trying to steal any innovations. Poker tournaments were the lowest tech on the planet, and more importantly, Lowenstein was worth too much money for anyone to even bother to think he might be trying to do anything illegal. Arcade loved that fact.
"Money and crime. It's a heady mix, isn't that right, China? I bet you got the same tingle when you were robbing my casino; that sense of getting away with something you were never supposed to do? Yeah, you did."
Arcade popped a couple of pills into his mouth and waved down the waitress. "Sweetheart, a club soda with a twist, just a touch of campari, and I mean just a hint. It should be blushing, not rubbing a slapped cheek kind of look, you know? Lots of ice? You're a peach. Now, China," He turned back to his cellphone, which was broadcasting into the earbuds Ororo and Jubilee wore. "First rule about casino security. You watch what is valuable the closest. So, Miss Munroe, what are the most valuable things on the floor of this casino right now, during this tournament?"
"Certainly not those shoes you are wearing," Ororo muttered, sitting at the other end of the bar, her back to Arcade. She was none too happy about working with the dealmaker again, and though she had agreed to do it, it didn't mean she had to play his games while she was at it.
"I figure he was going for some form of seventies allure and got lost in the kitch aisle." said Jubilee, voice being picked up by the wire she wore. She'd already started toward the other side of the casino, and was listening to this conversation through the earbud in her ear.
"Whoa, whoa, kids. Come on, a little professionalism. Because let me tell you both something. This is a top of the line casino security setup. One mistake, and they will have you. Believe me about this." Arcade collected his drink. "Now, China, because this is a poker tournament, the most valuable thing on the floor right now are the players. They will be focused on the tables and the people hanging about them. Normally, you would have the chip stations constantly monitored, but--- you guessed it. No chip stations in this part of the casino right now. So security is focused on preventing cheating from the players which is to our advantage. The
gentlemen ghosting to your left is one of the swing guards. They have back room and chip room access to bring chips in and out of the casino floor. We need his card."
"If we work together we will be able to divide his attention and the suspicion of anyone who may be watching," Ororo said, shifting so that she could see the guard Arcade had pointed out. "The card is on a chain around his neck; we need to cut that chain before the card is ours. Jubilee, you will do that while I get into position. If for some reason it does not work, I will still be on hand to try again."
"What, now?" Jubilee asked, watching the guy move past her. It wouldn't be hard to break the chain, a quick spark to the back of his neck should melt the links and bingo, the chain should slide off and the card would hopefully drop to the floor. The key was in distracting the guard enough that he didn't notice it.
"Now," Ororo confirmed, sliding out of her seat smoothly and beginning to cross the floor. "Quickly, carefully."
"I'm always careful, Ro." Jubilee said before she deliberately twisted the high-heel she was wearing and launched herself at the guard. Her hands instinctively went around his neck as she tried to catch herself. "Oh God, I'm like, I'm so sorry!" she breathed, spark popping softly against the back of his neck and melting links.
"Very good. Very American. I like that." Arcade said.
The guard looked startled, helping Jubilee up with a hand at her elbow. "Not a problem, miss," he told her, and continued on his way - only to nearly run straight into Ororo, who had wandered into his path while he was distracted with Jubilee's feint. "My apologies," Ororo purred, the keycard dropping neatly into her hand, and then disappearing into her purse.
"No, I'm sorry ma'am, I wasn't watching..." Ororo barely heard the rest, already heading off to the side of the casino floor to hand off the key. 'Ma'am'??
The keycard was palmed over to Arcade, who swiped it through a small reader without trying to hide his actions. The number of devices at his table all but obscured what his true actions were, and made even criminal ones look as innocuous as checking his phone. After a moment, he ran a new blank card through the reader, and put both into an envelope. Calling over one of the waitresses, she tracked down Ororo at one of the tables and passed over the package, again as innocently as delivering a message, but containing both keycards.
***
Jubilee had been surreptitiously watching from a table not far away, a rowdy game of roulette already in progress around her. She nodded at the game runner and pushed a set of $5 chips to black three.
As the wheel spun, she felt a hand at her pocket and grimaced as the ball rolled into a red slot. "Guess ya can't win 'em all." she noted to the people around her and left the table, pulling the key card out of her pocket and clutching it in her hand.
It didn't take her long to find the security guard and she rushed over to him, appearing flustered and slightly red with embarrassment. "Um, Sir! Hallo? I'm like, totally sorry ta bug you again, but I think maybe you dropped this?" she said as she held out the card in her hand. Her blush intensified and she smiled awkwardly. "It took me forever ta find you. Like, there are _so_ many people here in suits."
The guard looked vaguely concerned as Jubilee passed back the key card, but was reassured by her apparently ditzy manner. "Thanks," he said tersely, and moved off immediately, hoping that his supervisors hadn't noticed the snafu.
Ororo was waiting for Jubilee near the door to the security wing, having gotten rid of the envelope and palmed one of the key cards while she waited. When the girl arrived they tested Arcade's handiwork first-hand by swiping the key card through the lock - it opened without a problem. Quickly both women disappeared behind the door, finding themselves in a white, featureless hallway.
"You girls are good. Miss Munroe, you really should have been involved in robbing my casino. After watching this, if you've have been there, babycakes might have gotten away with it." Arcade took a sip from his drink. "Yeah, I know, I'm not supposed to remember that. When my staff telepath marked out those memories, she stored copies in her own brain, kind of like a psionic external hard drive, and once I got back, boom, right back in they went. I didn't want to say anything before, because I know you don't trust me, and then you'd get all nervous and wondering when I was going to get around to putting Wonderboy and China behind bars. Relax, a bet is a bet and you won."
Arcade tapped his computer for a moment, pulling up a map of the casino interior from his technicians who did some of the security installations. It was a shame that they'd gone with another company for site security like door locks and such. otherwise, Arcade would already have a back door waiting for him in their computer system.
"His office is the second on the left. There's a camera in the hall, but it's just outside of the field of view, since his room is going away from the vault. What cheap bastards." Arcade rubbed the bridge of his nose. "My therapist says that I need to express my frustration more, when it happens so bear with me. When I got my memories back, I think I also got some of her musical tastes implanted. Either of you know what a 'Wonderwall' is, because man, it's been ticking, ticking, ticking over and over in my head for months."
"You've had 'Wonderwall' stuck in your head for months?" Jubilee asked, taking the lead as the moved carefully down the hall. "That's frickin' hilarious. So sucks to be you. 'Ro, what do you think? I could take out the camera with a little zap, or we could get you to do the voodoo you do so well and just mist the lens up so they can't see a damn thing. That might be a little better, actually."
With a nod Ororo got to work, condensing the moisture in the air until a fine fog had formed in the pocket of warm air she had manipulated around the camera. She knew any sort of abnormality would be investigated, which means they didn't have much time, so without further ado she headed for the office. Once there, she reached into the calf of the high leather boots she was wearing and fished out a lockpick kit, bending on one knee and inserting the first needle and wrench into the lock.
Jubilee stood back a ways from Ororo as she picked the lock, her eyes and ears intent on either side of the corridor they stood in. If she heard or saw anything, they'd only have a moment to get out, although a quick fog in here should make identifying them difficult at the very least.
"So, what exactly are we looking at security wise once we're in, Oh great purveyor of information?" she murmured softly, trusting the sensitive mic to pick up what she'd said.
"It is doubtful that there is much on the inside - with so many precautions taken on the outside, they would not assume anyone would be able to get this far," Ororo replied quietly. "Though the sensitive information and the things we seek will be kept safe... perhaps in a vault."
"Hmm, maybe. I'm not sure we want to trust too much in what we expect them to do. Better to be careful then be sorry." Jubilee said, expression thoughtful for a moment before she shrugged her shoulders and grinned. "Stuff it, we'll deal with it if it's there. How much longer till you're through?"
"Not long now." And with a click to prove just that, they were in. Ororo stood and opened the door, motioning Jubilee inside and shutting the door and locking it behind them. The office was small and unremarkable; several shelves of books and binders lined one wall, while another was taken up with a large black and white photograph of the exterior view of the casino. The desk was neat, orderly - all and all there was nothing to indicate where their target might be located.
"Arcade? A little help would be fortuitous." Jubilee said, moving into the centre of the room as she let her eyes drift across the contents therein. Standard office, really. Nothing particularly remarkable, a few photos placed on the desk but for the most part it was fairly indistinguishable. It was a place that belonged to someone who didn't appear much concerned with individual touches. That might work to their advantage, since anything even remotely out of the ordinary could be a clue.
"No safe? You, China, get those snoops into the computer box." Lowenstein tapped his upper lip for a moment and then smiled. "You know the reason that the FBI basically wiped out the Mafia in the United States in the last two decades? Even in Las Vegas, which they built from the ground up? Gangster movies got to popular. Every one thinks they're in Goodfellas or the Godfather, and it makes them such obvious targets. Our boy? Too many films on what a casino boss should be. Miss Munroe, if there is a large picture, print, wall hanging, anything like that, please check the edge for a contact alarm that I know will be there, because stupid people like to think they're clever. Your safe will be behind it."
Much to Ororo's chagrin, Arcade was exactly right - the print was rigged with an alarm that thankfully wasn't too difficult to disable. Upon removing it from the wall, she found the small safe directly behind it, a numeric keypad offset to one side. "I do not suppose we have a try-out set of combinations for a... Cobalt ?" she asked.
"Cobalt? Maybe he's not as stupid as I thought. Cobalts are British custom jobs. No industry shortcuts on them." Arcade tapped out a few keys on his computer, and paused. "The good news is that it won't have an electronic lock out attached to the casino alarm, so you can make a mistake or two. Remember, he thinks he's clever, but he's also lazy."
"Does the guy have a wife, or kids?" Jubilee asked, voice muffled slightly from her position under the desk. She'd carefully removed the case on the desktop computer and was quickly hooking in small devices to empty slots. "Or heck, a God complex?"
"He won't make it a combination of something simple. Remember, this man made his living counting cards. He can handle remembering numbers." Arcade continued to type. "It'll be five digits."
By now Ororo had lightly dusted the surface of the keypad, revealing four smudged keys - the ones used in the combination. Pursing her lips, she looked around the office for any clue as to what the combination might be. Finally, her eyes alit on the frame that had been removed from the wall. The only thing to look at in this whole room...
"When was this casino opened?" she wondered aloud.
Jubilee's head peeked out from behind the desk, giving Ororo a quizzical look. "No idea. Arcade?"
She bent back over her task, finished now with setting up the devices and only needing to place the casing back on the computer and slot it back into its cubby hole under the desk.
"December 1st, 2006. See, that's not right. Who opens that close to the holidays?"
Ignoring Arcade's question, Ororo carefully pressed '1-2-1-0-6' into the combination keypad - and was rewarded by the sound of the lock smoothly clicking open. "We are in."
"And I am done." Jubilee replied, pulling herself up from under the desk with a grin. "So, we hit paydirt, Ro?"
Holding up several master keycards, Ororo gave a smile and a nod. "Now, let us get out as smoothly as we got in. That will be the true test."
Remy faces Lu across the tables finally, but things don't quite go as planned.
"Trip sevens plays." The dealer said, swiping the cards away from the table, and leaving Remy to stack the chips left behind by yet another busted player. Dani and Batroc had done a very good job. Remy's tables had been a wishlist of amateur players and rich dilettantes. Against his measured, skilled play, they had been leaving at an obscenely rapid rate and leaving their chips behind in Remy's stacks. That meant as the professional players finally made it out of Dani and Batroc's unspotted manipulation of the tables, they were at a severe disadvantage against the Cajun. Remy traded a look with Ororo, and her hand sign said that they had just broken the table she'd been watching like a hawk. That meant Radioactive Man was on his way.
If it wasn't for the greenish and iridescent sheen to his skin, he would have been unremarkable from any other Asian underworld figure. He had the same kind of arrogance that comes from being able to order death casually, and the utter lack of remorse for any of his actions. He was a killer, and Remy recognized the same quality in him as he'd once cultivated as Gambit. Remy flipped his chips idly as the stacks slid into the opposite side of the table, and he locked eyes with a man who'd once held countries hostage.
"Seems dat you been lucky, Monsieur." He said as Radioactive Man sat down.
Underworld criminal and malevolent bastard or not, Radioactive Man was one of the staff's favorite; well known for tipping a large amount at the end of a session. An aggressive player, he hardly lost a game. The tournament amused him. Chen Lu had every confidence that he would win the device.
He sat across from LeBeau and tilted his head in greeting, letting out a small, gracious smile; pleasantly indulgent, it screamed, 'you inferior!'. His gloved hand touched his chips, giving it one last brush; a quick caress, confident it would be in his clutches again soon; as would the device he was playing for.
Moving to stand behind Remy, Ororo slid a hand over his shoulders slowly. She was wearing a provocatively-cut black dress that had been attracting attention all night; hopefully it would do the same with Lu. Anything that would distract him even the minutest bit would serve to their advantage in the end.
The dealer shuffled and sent two cards to each player. Remy held his carefully flat to the table and checked his hand. Pocket tens. He had a good pre-flop hand, and it was time to push out the limpers and donkeys at the table. He shuffled his chips in one hand, and then pushed out his bet. One hundred thousand. It was a tenth of his stack, and easily enough to make those not confident in their hands to play out. During it all, he kept his red eyes locked on Lu.
Seated at a late position gave Radioactive Man a distinct advantage. The expression on his face remained stoic as he chose to raise the bet. He recognized LeBeau to be the one working for Arcade. These men, these women, he thought, glancing over at Remy and Ororo with only mild interest, should count themselves lucky he'd chosen to act honorably, in that he was willing to participate in the tournament and win the device in a fair manner.
The last raise was called and the round of betting stopped. Lu managed a small smile. Either way, whether luck was in his hand or not, he had every intention of taking the device home with him tonight.
Watching Lu closely, Ororo observed his every move, attempting to catalogue any behavior that might give insight into his hand, but the man was good. There was nothing in his expression that betrayed what he might be holding, and she knew that it would take many more hands before any sort of pattern could be recognized.
Raising his pre-raise. He either had a comparable pocket pair, an overcard with a strong kicker, or he was bluffing. Either way, the priority to Remy right now was less about winning and more about seeing the hands. He called the raise, leaned back, and watched as the flop came down.
A seven of clubs. A two of diamonds. A jack of spades. A flush draw was all but dead at this point. The jack presented an overcard to Remy's tens, but unless it was jacks Lu had hidden in the pocket, it was unlikely that he had one except as a kicker. Playing kickers was dangerous, especially since Remy's pre-flop hand represented tens or higher. Remy bet the minimum, pushing it back to Lu. Having Ororo's eyes was invaluable. Anything he missed, her skills would catch.
Lu sucked in a breath as he glanced down at his chips and contemplated his next move, deliberately taking some extra time before he doubled the bet. It was possible that he had the best hand and wanted to further narrow the field, feeling all the more pleased, though he didn't show it, when more players chose to fold, leaving with him a single opponent at the table.
When the dealer burned another card and dealt the fourth community card; the Turn, the corner of Lu's eyes crinkled slightly. It would be over soon. Very soon. He leaned forward in his seat and rested his arm on the edge of the table as he waited for LeBeau to make his move.
Remy checked on the play, not unsurprisingly. His tens were still overmatched by the jack, but otherwise, he was in strong position. Lu's body motion was eager, anticipatory. Did he hold the overcard, or was this a ruse to try and push him out of the hand. Either way, they were heads up until the river.
Lu hesitated, frowning slightly for show before he placed his bet on the table. "One million."
He was bluffing. The hesitation, the frowns; Lu was trying to play the obvious back on him. It was a trap, designed to make players over think that the man was being too forward, playing at trying to cover over-extending himself on the flop, meanwhile he had. Without the tens, and with a jack as the only overcard, a smart player sitting on an ace has got to wonder about low pairs out of a wired straight draw. Against the million, they'd play the man, and with the obvious nature of his supposed bluff, fold the hand and wait for better table position.
But they were running out of time, and Remy felt he had finally seen what he needed to. The Cajun pushed his stack forward. "All in."
A fine sheen of cold sweat broke out across his forehead and Lu pressed his gloved fingers to his lips. The reaction; stemmed from the excitement he was trying to hide was something he couldn't quite control right now. It was the effect of all that radiation he'd absorbed last night.
"Mr. Lu?"
Radioactive Man ignored the dealer, hating to be pushed around and allowed himself a few more seconds to think before he called, leaning back in his seat as he eyed LeBeau's cards.
Remy's tens slipped over, which received a polite smattering of applause until Lu's were turned as well; a seven and a two. Lu had pushed Remy's initial bet right back at him on a nothing hand. The turn dropped a queen, and the river seemed to make a slamming noise like it was carved from stone as it was turned.
Another two.
A cheer went up as Remy stood shakily from the table. He looked at Ororo, every inch the beaten player, and stepped away from the table, leaving Lu triumphantly collecting the stack. The Cajun took a deep breath, and then Ororo's hand as they turned away from the table, allowing the new player to take a seat.
Remy's look at her wasn't casual. It was a straight forward signal asking her whether or not she saw the tell.
The silver-haired woman had given a slight affirmative nod, already running through the pre-determined list of signs they had come up with in order to communicate with Doug what they had learned.
Fortunately, there is another solution for dealing with Radioactive Man.
Radioactive Man was playing the part of a loose aggressive player. With the German at the table, Chen Lu played a large variety of cards and bet them very aggressively, using his large stack to push around the other players at the table. They folded. All except the German, and this other Asian player.
It was easy to spot his tell. There was that crinkle in his eyes when he got excited and the frown he tried to fake whenever he wanted his opponent to raise the bet. Right now, his features were unreadable. He glanced over his shoulder before returning his attention to the table as the fourth card was dealt. He was losing. Only thing he could hope for right now was that the other players would fold once he placed his all in. But Lu would take his time with this one. He wanted to prolong the game. Losing at the final table was no longer a concern to him. A while ago, he'd signaled one of his men and knew they were on their way to collect the device. The player to his right checked and he made a show of thinking through his decision before finally doing the same. It was up to the German now.
The other Asian was a nonentity to Doug, as it didn't matter whether or not he won, so long as Radioactive Man (and wasn't that a silly name in the grand scheme of things) was the loser. This gave Doug two advantages: first, the use of Remy as a stalking horse to find Lu's tell, and second, that he could play off the third player at the table, which gave him two chances in three to win compared to Lu's one.
He steepled his fingers and glanced at the other players. He didn't examine his cards repeatedly, which would have been the mark of a player unsure about his hand's strength. He pushed a pair of chips towards the dealer. Time to get some movement going.
Gently squeezing Doug's shoulder - the floor was clear for the moment, Dani's adjustment of the strap on her slingbacks told her that - Sofia took a sip of her leaving faint traces of golden pink lipstick behind on the glass. The cut of her dress, low and short, had helped keep distractions at a high, but it could only go so far, after all. She leaned down to kiss the back of Doug's ear in encouragement of his move.
The other player called and Radioactive placed his bet on the table. "One million." Lu was bluffing but he had no choice. He had a feeling the German would be a problem. The turn went back to his opponent and Radioactive Man paid close attention, watching for any sign of a tell.
Doug knew Lu was looking for a tell, so he neatly placed chips in a precise stack, doing his best to look impassive as he had throughout the tournament. "Call," he said curtly. The flop was met with a Teutonic grunt, as each before it had been, and he watched Lu with a steady gaze to see what he would do.
His skin had turned a darker shade of green. Even in a relaxed state, his body continued to emit small amounts of radiation. Now that he was slightly stressed however...
The player to his right folded. Lu eyed the fifth card and let out a casual shrug. "I am all in." He pushed his stack forward and leaned back with a small smile. He was itching to move. Itching to get away. The damn game was a lost cause. He hoped his men had better luck getting that safe open.
"Mr. Ritter?" the dealer called, and all eyes were once again on the German.
And this was the precise moment the entire team had been working toward for the entire tournament, where the information yielded by Remy's skillful play was about to come in handy. Doug did not hesitate at all. "Call," he said again, moving precisely the same number of chips as Lu towards the dealer without having to be told the count. The Radioactive Man was bluffing so hard it was coming out his ears. Possibly even literally, considering the whole radiation thing.
Radioactive Man let out a disgruntled snort and sent his two cards to the dealer, forfeiting his hand. "Fold." He gave out a slight nod of his head, forcing himself to acknowledge his worthy opponent before he left the table. A wasted effort, he thought. Or maybe not...
"We're in," one of his men informed him, joining Lu as he made his way through the casino and the corner of Lu's mouth lifted up in a smirk.
Doug didn't miss the movement, following Lu out of the corner of his eye even as the dealer shuffled up the cards for another hand. He flicked his eyes toward Sofia, who already had them in view. He had a bad feeling they weren't the only ones with a Plan B...
The team heads for the device, only to find someone is there first.
The duplicated keycards worked like a charm, and Remy eased the door shut behind him, cutting off the sounds of the casino, all eyes watching the final table where Doug was locked into headsup play against Radioactive Man. Remy hoped he'd caught Radioactive Man's tells when he beat Remy, a set-up against the superior player to give Doug the edge with his surprise appearance. Still, it didn't matter whether he won or lost if that could get to the device soon enough. LeBeau pinned the lock, to at least slow any casual wanderers and turned back to the team.
"Right, Storm, Jubilee, you both been here. Where do we go?"
"To the right, then down a long hallway, the device isn't far." Jubilee replied, moving to the front so she could lead them around the security. It was somewhat intense for a casino but it wasn't unexpected. "We shouldn't have any problems from here, far as I found out they don't change the safe codes for at least another day."
Following Jubilee down the long hallway, Ororo reached up to tap the earpiece that kept them connected to the rest of the team in the front of the house. "Dani, how is the mood?" Any suspicion or fear would need to be noted right away, so that they could avoid detection if necessary.
"Tense," she replied, "but nothing unexpected. They don't got a clue," she continued, discretely allowing her hair to block her face slightly as she watched the action at the tables intently like any of the other young money grubbers. Money-hungry floozy wasn't a role she liked much, but it was a useful one right now. A very useful one.
Batroc nudged Dani, indicating the sudden lack of casino guards around their designated door and rushing the two of them towards it. "Allons-y, chere," he murmured. "This is not a rendezvous that we should be late for, oui?"
The two of them slid through the door, and once it closed behind them, bolted down the corridor, falling into step behind Storm and Jubilee at the first intersection. A few quick nods of acknowledgement, then the attention was turned back to the young Asian. "Where from here, ma petite?" Batroc asked.
Jubilee thought for a moment, pulling up the mental map she'd made of the place from memory. They needed to go right again here, another corridor, this time with rooms branching off and some cameras they'd already put on loop. Then the room with the safe, and they were home free.
"We hang a right here, then it's the last room, straight ahead." she muttered softly, turning right. "We've taken care of the cameras, most of the security was on the safe room but we've got the codes and a key card."
Slipping her heels off easily, Dani carried them in one hand as they made their way down the hall. She could run in the dress, but not the heels. How women did that she would never understand. "Good," Dani replied, things were going according to plan. She wasnt an X-type really so that made her happy.
Remy turned the corner and paused. "Looks like we not de only ones wit' dis plan." The door to the safe room had been crowbarred off its hinges, and was swarming with orange jumpsuited men, all heavily armed. The group outside of the room spotted LeBeau, and leveled submachine guns at him. "Dat didn't take long."
"Move out of the way, you fools! The device is mine!" Coming to a full stop a good distance away from the X-Men, Radioactive Man held an arm out and pointed a finger at Remy. "So we meet again." He flicked his wrist and a glowing ball of energy formed in the palm of his hand, casting a bright glow in the hallway; the light, almost blinding. "A word of advice, my friend." He cocked his head to the side. "Don't bet on your life." Without waiting for the group to step back, he sent forth a concentrated blast of radiation toward them before he armed himself with a force field as he charged forward.
"Je m'excuse, ma chere," Batroc said softly, doffing his suit jacket and tossing it to Dani. "I believe these men need not only a lesson in la couture, but also in... la savate!"
As Batroc stepped forward, he let the Radioactive Man rush by him, interposing himself between the armed mercenaries and the rest of his group. "Maintenant, mes amis," he intoned, balling up his fists and sliding one foot forward. "Let us see if I have not lost a step, ne-c'est pas?"
Dani took the proffered jacket automatically catching it and straightening it so it would not wrinkle over one arm. They might be up to their waists in goons and sundry, but they had known this was a possibility. Not that running into them was reassuring, Dani was not a fighter like the others. She'd been in fights before and had certainly learned a little while at Xavier's, it was hard not to, but she was not specifically a fighter. Relaxing on the balls of her feet she prepared for the one thing she did know how to do - run. It seemed at least that Bartoc was a good at this sort of thing.
The group that had scattered from the doorway, away from the deadly rush of green energy, parted like the sea for Moses, leaving instead Sofia and Doug. The heels for her disguise had done nothing to hinder her, but she did curse quite loudly, unlike her purring alter ego, at the now decomposing potted hibiscus that stood in the line of fire she had entered only a breath after.
And then again when the lights went out.
"He's hit a circuit. Those who can see in the dark, get the men with guns. Those who can not, follow the glow-in-the-dark cliché," Sofia yelled, in the same movement tossing a solider who had tried to rush her in the confusion through the window on a particularly vicious breeze.
Not wanting to take a risk in the dark of making the melee worse, Ororo instead headed for Lu, who thus far was unhindered by any foes. She wasn't all that sure how she would hold up to a blast of radiation - just being near the man made her skin crawl - but hoped that the darkness would give her an advantage.
"Against my radioactivity, you stand no chance!" Having absorbed massive amounts of radiation from the night before, Radioactive Man was able to increase his physical strength at will. He punched his large fist through the safe box and snatched the device, slipping it into a steel case. "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Safely guarded within his protective shield, Lu turned, raised his arms upwards and clenched his hands into a fist, projecting hard radiation from his body, hoping to cause nausea, dizziness; enough to provide him with a means of escape.
Jubilee had stood back as the rest of the group moved about her, body limed in light from her powers. It created a small patch of light in the otherwise darkened corridor but it also made it hard for her to see any great distance.
So when the big glowing guy started soliloquising, she took it as a sign from on high that now was the time to trip him up. The shield would make it impossible to hit him head on, but she'd been in a fight once upon a time with someone else who could shield.
"Number one rule of bein' a villain, never stop to make a speech." she noted as she sent a wave of plasma at the floor under his feet, tearing into carpet and the concrete underneath.
Batroc's voice came from the darkness. "Mes braves!" he
shouted, "I regret only that I cannot see that we have defeated our
foe! Oui? Non?"
"Non." Remy said tightly. Jubilee's attack had pushed the Radioactive Man back, but even his cards simply dissipated once they reached the shield. Worse, he could set the who place on fire with it. Angry, Remy held up his hand. "Pull back. Let him go."
Bitterly, they watched Lu escape, taking the opportunity to blast a hole through the wall and flee into the night with the targeting computer they had needed to get. Remy snapped shut his staff and motioned for them to scatter. The police would be all over the casino soon enough. He could only hope the other teams had more luck.
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