Chapter Six: The Gamblers are born

Chapter Six of The Gamblers

The next two weeks were spent developing the newly formed “team’s” powers, Isabelle however focussed on tech development programs and it seemed she had an even greater knowledge of technology than she let on, Ace’s telepathic abilities continued to skyrocket, only slowing in development after the first week, by now he had managed to master telekinesis with the playing cards and could do almost anything with them, including cutting things, as Doctor Hale found out. “Ow ow ow!” Hale hissed as one of the new nurses tended to the large cut on his shoulder, Ace had aimed the card for the darts board but a knock on the door threw his concentration and he hit Hale’s shoulder “it’s quite alright Ace, well done though, I think if we got some reinforced playing cards they’d be excellent themed weapons, have you given any thought to a name?” he asked, Jensen was sat with Adrianne in Hale’s office as the nurse finished tending to the doctor and left. “No, I’m still deciding whether or not to take combat training” he said, Adrianne hummed “well, you have tonight to make up your mind, combat training starts tomorrow after you pick out your equipment, we’ll be heading out to the National Hero’s outfitters first thing In the morning” she said, Jensen finished reading his medical report for that day “how are you feeling? Physically?” he asked, Ace had grown allot stronger very quickly, he found himself no longer aching whenever he moved and he could lift much heavier weights than before “I feel fine, I’m not having headaches when I read people anymore” he replied. Jensen nodded “can you tell what I’m thinking right now?” he asked with a grin, Ace smirked “you’re thinking about a Mexican song I don’t know, you first heard it when you were twelve” Jensen chuckled “that was my mental block, did you get past it?” he asked, Ace hummed “I never knew you liked cars that much” he winked, Jensen sat up right and cleared his thought “you weren’t supposed to get past the block” he covered a smile and Adrianne laughed “your good at that now, it’d take an actual telepath to keep you out” she said, “or someone with allot of practice” Hale added, Ace nodded “alright, I’ll think about it tonight, if I decide I want to, I’ll come along to the Outfitters” he said as he stood up, “I’ll come get you all at 9am on the dot, be dressed in casual clothing and be ready” Adrianne said.

Ace sat in the lounge with the other three as they discussed their equipment and fighting styles, Ben already knew how to fence, his dad taught him the basics before he moved to Ireland, Domino was a relatively good boxer and Penny’s skill with a gun was unquestionable now, she managed to get her hands on a Nerf gun and took every opportunity to dive and leap while scoring hits square between their eyes, Ace however, knew nothing of fighting, thus he had the toughest choice, figuring out exactly how he wanted to fight, if at all. “Come on Ace, you’d be great at martial arts, you could use cards like throwing stars, oh! And I could make special cards that exploded with telekinetic energy upon impact, or EMP cards, you could have whole decks for specific uses” Isabelle said as he lay on a pile of bean bags “fine! Whatever just give me some time to think, I’m still now sure if I want to-” suddenly there was a knock at the door and Adrianne stepped in “Ace, there’s someone who wants to see you” she said, Ace nodded and came to the door, stood outside was none other than Water Wally. Ace closed the door behind him and stepped out into the hall “Ace O'Connor?” he extended his hand, Ace stood in awe for a few seconds before he snapped back to reality and shook his hand “yes, I-It’s a pleasure to meet you Water Wally” he smiled, “I… I’m sorry for your loss” he said, Wally sighed “it’s alright; I came here to ask you a few questions, mind if we talk somewhere private?” Adrianne nodded and took them into a secure room; she left the two to talk. “What can I help you with? I’d be happy to lend a hand” Ace said as they sat down, Wally rubbed his brow; he was probably only 12 so Ace felt bad about having to look down at him. “I hear you had an encounter with Doctor Toxin?” Wally asked, Ace nodded “he’s the reason me and the others have powers now” he said, Wally nodded “I know, I want you to recall anything you can about the incident, if that’s ok” Ace rubbed his face “alright, well…” he explained what had happened, his affair with Maggi Drellora and how that ended him, his sister and two friends the subjects of super power experiments “and you can remember nothing else? Nothing about his plans?” Wally asked, Ace shook his head “no, I’m sorry, can I ask why you want to know?”.

Wally reached into his super suit pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, it had a picture on it and some writing, “this is… Desmond Trill” Ace said, Wally nodded “Doctor Toxin was working with Trill before he died, taking Blackjack with him, I believe he and several other villains from around the world may be forming a team, for what purpose I have no idea, that’s why I’m here” he explained, Ace read the writing, it was a quote from Trill’s showdown with Blackjack “have you given any thought to using your powers for justice?” Wally asked. “Yes, but, I don’t think I can lad” Ace sat back and put the paper on the table “why not?” Wally asked “because, just because I have powers doesn’t mean I can be a super hero, what if I don’t have the guts to make the tough choices? And do I want to be a hero?” Wally raised an eyebrow “do you?” he asked, Ace sighed “yes, I do, but I have so much to figure out, who I would be as a hero, and what if I decide to be a hero just to take down Toxin, would I be expected to carry on?” he asked. Wally hummed “I can’t expect you to understand right now, but being a hero, it isn’t about bravery, or what we want, or even knowing how to be a hero, it’s about using your abilities, no matter how small or powerful, to do what’s right” the young American sat forward in his seat “don’t you owe it to yourself and your friends, to everyone Toxin has ever hurt to help put him behind bars?” he asked, Ace remained silent until Wally stood up “did you know Blackjack was a telepath too?” he asked, “I think the name would suit you, if you chose to take it up, I’m sure you’d do my father justice” Wally said before leaving the room, and a bewildered Ace.

Ace lay on his bed awake that night, unable to sleep, his mind was consumed by what Wally had said “I could be Blackjack…” Ace repeated in his head, he looked at the playing cards circling his hand and flying in formation above him, he froze them in the air before adding the rest of the deck to the flock and shuffling it all in the air, He put them all back into a deck and slipped them into their box on the bedside table, he rolled over and closed his eyes, he thought of all the videos he had seen of Blackjack fighting, his clothing and equipment all working in unison with one fluid fighting style, he drifted off the sleep with the image of the crater in new York, still fresh in his mind even now. Ace woke up early the next morning and dressed quickly, he stuffed the deck of cards into his back pocket and made breakfast for everyone, Penny was first up and she staggered into the kitchen still half asleep, “brother is early this morning, is brother deciding to come with us to outfit place?” she groaned, in an excited tone of course, Ace nodded “yeah, I’ve decided on a name too, but I’m not telling you yet, come on, eat some breakfast, I haven’t been standing here cooking for the good of my health lass”. “Yes! Alright, have you decided on a name?” Ben asked, “I’m sticking with Texas Hold ‘Em” he said proudly “I have” Ace bit into his toast and hummed with delight “I have indeed” he said with a mouthful “but I’m not telling you just yet, not until I’ve picked out a costume” he said, Isabelle smiled “alright, what about a hint then?” Ace shook his head, he was about to carry on teasing when Jensen walked into the lounge “you all ready? Ace, are you coming with us?” he asked, Ace nodded “yes, let’s go” he stood up and they followed Jensen out of the building. Today would be the first time they’ve set foot outside the MI5 building in in weeks, the cold crisp morning air nipped at their skin as they hurried into two cars waiting to take them into London, the trip was surprisingly short, the roads to the Leicester square were empty, most likely MI5’s work, they got out at the doors to the building where none other than Captain Cutter himself stood waiting for them, and Water Wally “good to see you made up your mind” he smiled, Captain Cutter took off his hat in respect to the four before proclaiming “welcome young heroes, today you will officially register yourselves as heroes in training, pick a uniform and sign for equipment and loans you may need” he said.

His voice was deep and rough, his skin slightly tanned and his hair grey and curled, just like a proper old timey navy sailor, Ace stepped forward and shook Cutter’s hand “It’s an honour sir” he said, Cutter smiled as he put his hat back on “the honour is mine young Mister O’Connor, I hear from Water Wally here you’ll be taking up the mantle of a hero since past?” he asked, Ace nodded and the others looked at him in confusion “well then, this way, we’ll get you outfitted first and registered later, after that you can pick out your equipment, only, know this, while we don’t condone killing in our profession, we have no rules against it or using lethal weaponry” he pointed out. Once inside the four were taken to separate rooms, there they spent a full hour using the holo-projectors to try on different outfits before they were dispensed them and changed, then Ben emerged from his room he found Penny and Isabelle sat on a bench, Ace was still changing “Whoa! You girls were serious about the whole themed outfit thing huh” he chuckled, Penny nodded “and so you were too” she smiled, Ben was wearing a black short sleeve shirt and a red neckerchief under a black cowboy jacket, cowboy boots and black jeans, he also wore his own Black hat steeped over his eyes and a black and white striped belt with a red buckle, his jacket had white patterns and his hat had a white ribbon too. Penny was wearing a white and light grey long sleeved corset/jacket, with red fasteners and laces, a pair of grey biker style gloves with red patterns, white and grey Slim spandex leggings, her face was covered by a white mask with a grey pattern which covered most of her head, except her hairline and from the bridge of the nose  to around her mouth and chin, she wore a grey and red clasped belt with two gun holsters on either side, she wore her hair in a ponytail with a red band, “You may call me Russian Roulette” Roulette grinned, her eyes were pure white under the grey patterns. Penny stood up and turned around, she pointed to the upper middle of her back “see? I has own logo!” she said as Ben saw a circular red crosshair symbol on her back, about as big as a 6 year olds open hand, Isabelle was wearing a black and white spotted one piece outfit that covered her entire body, except her hand, even that was only in part, her middle finger was covered by the suit as well, a loose black utility belt hung at her hips and her face split in two, the right side was white and the left was black, her eyes were covered as well and her hair hung down her back in one big braid, “I’m Domino, hopefully I’ll be able to get some blaster gauntlets or something, I could build my own…” her voice trailed off as the door to Ace’s room opened.

Ace was wearing a black shirt, trousers, combat boots and white formal gloves, under a dark grey vest and a red and black diamond pattern tie, his hair was slicked back and his face covered by a sharp looking black mask that only covered his eyes, his eyes were red and he wore a belt with several pouches that looked perfect for storing decks of cards, the buckle was in the shape of a cube with four sections, clubs, diamonds, spades and hearts, on top of all of that Ace wore a black coat with an upturned collar and red patterns, it reached almost down to his heel as it swayed in the draft from the heating units. “Ace… you look, amazing!” Ben said, Wally stood by Captain Cutter as he clapped “You all certainly look themed, so, Texas Hold ‘Em, Russian Roulette and Domino” Cutter listed them off as he walked down the steps “I trust you’re sticking with your name Mr O’Connor?” he raised an eyebrow “yes sir, with permission I would like to instate myself as the new Blackjack” Ace said, Texas and Roulette were stunned, they sat on the bench. Domino however huffed “oh please you two, I saw this coming a mile off” she smiled, Wally took a deep breath “as the only one with the authority to do so, I grant you the hero title Blackjack, do my father proud” Wally said, “I need to go now, but I’ll be here in London should you need me, Blackjack” he called back as he turned and left, Wally himself wore a full body leotard like Domino, only this one was blue and dark blue patterned and he wore a white cape and mask. Water Wally left via the elevator as they were on the second floor up, Captain Cutter shook all their hands and lead them through into the rest of the building, where lots of heroes were gathered, most of them Blackjack recognised, some he didn’t but all had their eyes on them as they walked past and through into the registration room, “Alright, if you would state your hero names and if necessary team name, then we can get you photographed and added to the database” said the old man at the desk, the four sat ain chairs around it as one by one they stated their names, he didn’t seem to phased when Blackjack spoke his new name, he simply said “you have big boots to fill boy, I hope you’re up to the challenge” .

Once registered as a team under the name “The Gamblers” they were escorted to the equipment studios, where weapons, tools and gadgets of all sorts were on display, Texas took a duel back sheath and put in an order for two specially made swords to be crafted, Roulette took two Colt .45s and ordered them to be repainted in white with silver grips, Domino chose a pair of large armoured blaster gauntlets and ordered them painted half black half white and the knuckles reinforced, Blackjack however, had a rather strange request. “What can you do with playing cards?” he asked the vendor, she was a short woman about 6 inches smaller than he was, looked around 27-ish as she stood at the counter “well… we can treat them with chemicals or make them using different materials, I presume you’ll be throwing them?” she asked, Blackjack rubbed his chin “yes, but I also want to be able to use the cards for a whole range of purposes, such as, explode, electrify and bend to form different tools, these will be my only weapon” he said. The woman whistled “well then, we have been working on a new form of lightweight nano-mesh, we could make you a few decks or standard playing cards, maybe 3 to begin with, we could treat each deck with a different chemical or form of nanotechnology and see how you like them” the woman walked over to the computer terminal behind her and started typing up a special request order “thank you… these need to be durable too, I’m sure something as expensive as nano-fibre mesh would be a disgraceful thing to waste on simply throwing” Blackjack stated. “They would, which is why I’m ordering each card we make to be treated with gel to reinforce them, while you should be able to bend them with relative ease, they’ll hold their shape like metal plates on impact, we’ll make them sharp-ish too, if you like them we can have them made in a certain colour scheme or style the woman said “so, you want these delivering to the MI5 building like everyone else?” “Yes please, oh and if you can have them in a black and red colour scheme, that would be great”.

The Gamblers left the Outfitters building almost five hours after they went in, they learnt tips and morals from all sorts of heroes gathered there, they spent ages talking with veteran heroes and other new ones as well, Blackjack got a few awkward looks but overall everyone seemed really happy that someone has taken up the Blackjack mantle again, and in one Captain Cutter’s words “such a fine young man too, I’m looking forward to working with you all” he said as they left the building, Blackjack shook his hand again “hopefully one day soon we’ll be fighting Doctor Toxin side by side eh?” he smiled, Cutter returned the smile and they departed, Blackjack felt something was wrong though, he could feel it, sense it, something bad was going to happen very soon and that everyone would know it too, soon, very soon.