Chapter Seven: Saving the Day

Chapter Seven of The Gamblers

Imagine being a soldier, then imagine that soldier being given a tank and told to use the cannon to knock tin cans off a billion pound wall, that’s what combat training is like, only worse, Ace’s three decks of cards did four things, one deck explodes on impact after the symbol in the centre is tapped twice and thrown, another was as hard a steel and could embed itself inches deep in a wall of pure titanium, and the other was electrically charged to give of EMP pulses which could short any computer, if you manage to get the decks mixed, well, let’s just say MI5’s project Gamblers was moved to a more open environment after Blackjack destroyed a wall leading into the offices. Domino spent most of her time studying advanced physics, mechanics and electrical systems, she learned how to hack any system, build almost any device, by now, she could probably build Blackjack’s cards given the right materials, Texas Hold ‘Em could teleport between four points in under a second, giving him a real edge in combat, his swords were sharp enough to cut through most things, besides the metal walls of their new training building, it took four people two hours to retrieve the sword embedded in the metal. Penny however, was storming ahead; she went up against the hardest training programs and managed to take out at least a dozen targets in one clip, by the end of each day however each member of The Gamblers was that little bit closer to completing their training and earning their first mission, however, in the first month already five villains have been reported off the grid, and a further eight have been sighted banding together, news of Doctor Toxin’s leaving the UK spread quickly and Captain Cutter was called to a Heroes conference in New Mexico, leaving The Gamblers and only a handful of other heroes to hold down the fort while the larger league heroes attended the conference. “Alright you sorry sods, on your feet!” Barked sergeant Bex, The Gamblers’ training supervisor, he had them working all day and night for the past four days, “not this time Becky, we need some god damn rest” Texas lay on the couch with his feet up on the arm, the others were sat too, in chairs or bean bags, they were in a large open room with most of their entertainment devices on one side and on the other taking up most of the space was practice dummies to train on in their free time.

“I said on your feet soldier!” Bex growled and Texas looked up just in time to teleport out of the way of a speeding bullet, the gunshot snapped everyone into action as Bex grinned “time you sorry bunch of prats learned to show me some respect!” he glared at them, Blackjack, despite everyone else’s surprise, kept his calm and sent his mind shooting into Bex’s, the sergeant shivered and fell to his knees “that ain’t gonna work on me kid” he thought, however Blackjack already had free run of Bex’s mind, once he saw what was really going on he brought himself back “he’s lost it!”. Blackjack stepped back “his mind space is shattered, everyone be ready, I want him subdued or knocked out, we can’t hurt him” he said, Texas drew his swords and planted them in the ground at his feet “fine with me” he rolled his neck as Bex let off four shots, the team scattered leaving Blackjack standing right In the line of fire, instead of running he held up his hand and five cards flew out and blocked the bullets, he spun and flicked his wrist, sending the cards flying flat side into Bex’s stomach. Roulette whipped out her guns and lay down a spread at the sergeant’s feet, giving Domino a chance to get close and land a right hook, Bex staggered back and he reached into his pocket, he pulled out a grenade and pulled the pin “burn in hell!” he roared, Blackjack jumped and flipped, he used his telekinesis to pull the grenade form Bex’s hand and sent it flying across the room, it exploded just in front of the training dummies, scorching them “c’mere cupcake!” Bex lunged for Domino but she struck him in the forehead with a left jab, then a right and a kick to the stomach sent him to the floor, he groaned and Texas blinked to his side, he grabbed his arms and pulled them back. Bex sneered and twisted like a snake, he tugged down and brought his knee up into Texas’ face, he grunted and groaned as he staggered away, Roulette holstered her guns and tackled him “little big soldier man must calm down!” she growled as she held him tight in a bear hug, Blackjack stepped over and lay two fingers on Bex’s forehead “well done everyone, we’ve passed the test” he smiled, Texas stood up and glared at them both, Roulette gingerly let go of Bex and he straightened himself out “well done indeed, a fine performance, but I assure you your enemies will be nothing like me or anyone else you’ve faced during training”.

Blackjack levitated the five cards laying on the ground and spun them to shake off any dirty before putting them back with their deck, “you knew it was a test all this time? You could have just taken him out there and then!” Domino cried, Blackjack sighed “the test was to see how the whole group would react to someone whom I couldn’t simply turn off, most villains will be able to resist my mental probing, besides, where’s the fun in easy?” he asked, Texas punched him in the arm “there ain’t no fun in getting’ punched either, partner” he grumbled. “What was test for little big soldier man?” Roulette asked, Bex brushed some dirt off his shoulder “to determine whether or not you could handle a mission, a mission I just so happen to have for you” he said as he pulled a file out of his jacket “nice work with the grenade by the way, but in future, you should work on using your powers to stop it from exploding all together” he commented, “England’s heroes are spread thin, I got word from Vix Slix in Cardiff that Ranagast is hiding out in an abandoned warehouse, but he has too many goons for Vix to take out alone, he called us for help and we’re sending you in, one of you anyway, I need the other three to take care of Ranagast’s ongoing crime” Bex explained. Roulette “what crime? Is ghastly man robbing bank now?” she asked, Bex shook his head “he and his men are holding 20 civilians hostage in a hotel penthouse down the road from the warehouse, if Ranagast goes down the men have orders to kill the hostages” he replied, “I’ll go!” Texas said “I can be in and out of that warehouse in seconds and have Ranagast hanging from a bridge” he crunched his knuckles. “No, Blackjack should go” Domino said, Texas raised an eyebrow “why him? He’d be no use against a real villain if he can’t get into his head” Blackjack folded his arms yet remained silent, Roulette flicked him “Texas is wrong! With help Brother can do many things! Vix Six will help brother and they will beat up little ghastly man after we save hostages, besides” she grinned “saving life directly gives bigger fame no?” she suggested.

Bex looked to Blackjack “you’re this team’s leader, you make the call” he said handing him the folder, “I’ll decide on the way there, for now, Texas, you’ve been to Cardiff before? Can you teleport us there?” he asked, Texas stepped back “are you crazy?!” he yelled, Blackjack raised an eyebrow “you can’t?” “No! Well, yeah! Of course I can, but it’s your fault if I get a killer headache” he put out his palm “I want you to take some place quite, Bex, Inform Vix Slix we’re on our way, we’ll have to find our own way to the hotel and the warehouse” Blackjack said, “I want this discreet, we split up and take back alley routs to the hotel, if civilians see you, don’t worry, just try not to attract too much attention to yourselves” he explained, the group nodded as Texas held out his hand. The Gamblers arrived just outside the back entrance to a café half a mile from the hotel, Domino gave them all earpieces so they could stay in touch and they took separate routs to avoid alerting Ranagast, once at the hotel the group reassembled and were welcomed by the cops “how many little bad men are in pent house?” Roulette asked one of the cops “there are at least 25 armed goons along with Ranagast’s partner” Blackjack tuned to him and looked up from the folder containing info on the hotel and the villain. Ranagast was a ghost in a 1980s style suit, an invisible man by all accounts and a dangerous high level villain, thankfully Vix Slix was a high level hero, “I wasn’t aware Ranagast was working with someone else” Domino said as they gathered around the officer in charge “neither did we until we got a message from him, it’s Ball, from the Ball and Chain brothers” the officer said “Damnit, this changes everything, alright” Blackjack paced. “By now both Vix Slix and Ranagast must know we’re here, we should all enter the hotel together and Texas will teleport me out the back, Texas, go scout a good location, an alley way would be good” Blackjack said, Texas nodded “so you’re going in after Ranagast?” Domino asked, Blackjack sighed “I’d rather not, he’s a ghost, which means I would have the best chance at detecting him, I want you three to work with the police, Domino, I want you to make sure the goons can’t escape using the elevator, Russian Roulette, I’m giving you permission to shoot to injure, shoulders and legs only” he explained.

Just then, a man dressed in all black hazard material clothing came up to Blackjack “I presume you’re The Gamblers” Vix Slix asked, Blackjack nodded and shook his hand “Vix, we were just discussing a plan, what’s the situation like at the warehouse?” he asked , Vix sighed, his voice was muffled behind the faceless mask he wore to keep his radioactive goo body contained “not good, there are at least 60 goons protecting Ranagast, and Chain is in there too” he said, Blackjack hummed. “I’ll be accompanying you to the warehouse” Texas ran over “I’ve found a spot” he said, “good, alright, Vix, you come in to the hotel with us and Texas here will teleport us back out into an alley way, from there we’ll sneak back around to the warehouse and Texas and the other’s will work with the authorities to secure the hostages, are you alright with that?” he asked. Vix hummed “well, considering I didn’t really have a plan of my own, heck yeah! Alright, when do we start?” he said, Vix Slix was able to make any surface frictionless for a small amount of time, that and he could use black goo to help fight his foes, he was a black belt karate master and brilliant with a staff, his hazard material suit was slim enough to allow good mobility too, Blackjack sighed “officer, are your men ready?” he asked, “when you are Blackjack” he said readying his pistol. Blackjack turned to the hotel “everyone, stick to the plan and follow me!” he called out and made his way to the hotel doors As soon as the automatic doors opened a barrage of gunfire hailed down on them, Blackjack threw up a wall of playing cards to cover them until they got into cover and Roulette went to work taking out the goons in the lobby, Blackjack nodded to Vix and Texas teleported them out into a back street before re-joining the fight. “This way! I know Cardiff like the back of my hand Vix said Blackjack followed him through the city until eventually they reached the top of a roof overlooking the area around the warehouse, there were armed gunmen patrolling outside, “alright kid, what’s the plan?” Vix asked, Blackjack turned to him “don’t you have one?” he asked, Vix nodded “I do, but it’s probably not as good as yours” he said glumly “what is it?” Blackjack knelt and pulled out a playing card from his EMP deck, twirling it in his hand.

“We get down there, kick a*s, get inside, beat up Chain and Ranagast and save the day” Vix said enthusiastically , Blackjack sighed “yeah, I don’t think that will work in this instance, Ace had become a brilliant tactician over the course of the past few months, mostly because he spent so much time in soldier’s heads “alright, you get down to the gates and wait until I give the signal, I’ll drop in from above and take down as many as I can with mental attacks, when the fighting starts, that’s the signal for you to come in”. Vix nodded “aha, and what about getting inside and taking out Ranagast?” he asked, Blackjack rubbed his chin “the doors are new…” he mumbled, he looked down at the card in my hand “I’ll open to doors and you go in first and after that we’ll have to improvise” he stood up again “ok, two questions, why do I go in first and how are you gonna get above them, can you fly?” he asked. Blackjack unclipped his plain deck and let all the cards flutter out and form a square beneath him, he gingerly stepped  onto them and they held him afloat “question one, you go in first because you’re the veteran hero here, number two, I think I can fly, we’ll find out”, Vix nodded and rubbed his hands “ok, get down to the gate and wait for you to swoop in and start the fight, got it” he took off at a sprint and used the emergency ladder to slide off the roof and down to the concrete below. “Alright, time to see if I can fly” Blackjack said nervously as he lifted his other foot and stepped onto the square, the cards fluttered and moved to form new space around it and he hummed, he took a step forward and the cards did the same again, “alright,  I can walk on thin air” Blackjack shook himself loose before starting at a walking speed, slowly coming up to a run before angling himself down and bolting towards the guards, no one saw him yet, good, he waited till he was right on top of them and grabbed onto two cards which he used to balance himself as he leapt from the platform and sent a barrage of explosive cards raining down onto the guards.

Meanwhile, Russian Roulette shot the last goon in the lobby in his shoulder, that left 16 moaning and groaning criminals as the officers rushed in and cuffed them “Domino, the elevator, we’ll clear a path up the stairs, join us when you can” Texas said as they headed for the stairs, Domino nodded and got to work on disabling the elevator system, Roulette led the charge up the flights of stairs towards the pent house, however they ended on the floor just before that and they quietly sneaked out and found some cover. Roulette looked out to see a huge fat man carrying a minigun standing over five tied up men and women “big fat man has huge gun!” she hissed as she ducked back down and reloaded her gun, slapping a fresh clip into the grip Texas sighed “alright, I’ll teleport behind him and slash his back, you shoot his knees and I’ll teleport the hostages to safety, that sound right missy?” he asked, Roulette nodded “sound good, ok? Go!” Texas nodded and disappeared in a shimmer of light. Texas appeared behind Ball and slashed at his back, however his sword simply past right through the folds of flesh and Ball turned to him, he towered over Texas like a mountain “uh… howdy partner” he smiled, Ball growled and he disappeared, “yoo hoo! Big fat man with big fat gun!” Roulette taunted, Ball growled harder as he turned back just in time to catch two bullet’s to his right shoulder, which subsequently did nothing. Ball sneered and shoved the barrel of his gun into the back of a woman’s head, “no!” Texas put his swords down and Roulette did the same “this was stupid plan” she hissed, Texas growled as Ball lifted the now spinning barrel of the gun and aimed it as them “I didn’t place my chips on the guy being a big fat a*s blob of indestructible fat” Texas spat, “hey knucklehead!” Domino yelled, Ball looked just in time to see her flying out of the elevator and land an energy blast straight into his face, Roulette rolled and scooped up her guns, “Texas, the hostages!” Domino said as Ball wrestled with her, Texas nodded and sheathed his swords, he appeared by the hostages and took two at a time.

Texas finished taking care of the hostages, leaving them In the care of the police before re-joining Roulette and Domino, by now Roulette had given up on her guns and holstered them in favour of Domino’s dropped gauntlet, she picked it up and aimed it at Ball’s head “how do fire?” she said shaking it, Domino grunted as she took a punch to the gut “hold it up and splay your palm” she replied, “oh” Roulette opened her hand and a beam of pure energy shot from the gauntlet and his Ball square in the face, his eyes rolled back as he fell to his knees and to the floor with an almighty thud, Texas appeared beside him and poked him with a sword “he’s out. Back at the warehouse Blackjack spun to avoid an incoming shot, he flicked an EMP card into the gun and it exploded in the guard’s hands, “that’s the last of them, come on!” Vix said as they bolted for the door, Blackjack made to levitate another EMP card however the pouch was gone “my cards!” he looked down to find all his pouches missing, something tapped on his shoulder and he turned just as a fist sent him flying backwards into the door, Vix ducked and swung but there was nothing there “Ranagast, show yourself!” he growled. Blackjack groaned as he sat up, the door behind him slid open and hands grabbed him from everywhere, they tied back his arms and poured past him as Vix fought Ranagast, he was invisible save for the moments when his body connected with Vix’s in a mad sprawl of fists and kicks, “Vix, close your mind!” Blackjack roared, Vix looked up and backed away as Blackjack closed his eyes, he felt out for the minds around him, he flooded their mindscapes with his memories of Doctor Toxin’s torture. The guards dropped like flies around him and he broke free, Ranagast hissed with pain as he and Vix blocked him out, Blackjack drew back his mind and spotted his card pouches a few yards away. He rolled to avoid a gunshot from Ranagast as he picked up a gun and fired at Blackjack and Vix.

Blackjack huffed “Vix, distract him, I’ll see if I can reach his mind” he called over, Vix grunted “what does it look like I’m doing!?” he growled, Blackjack retrieved his card pouches and took out all his normal cards again, this time he formed a shape with them, a long pole “Vix, catch!” he tossed the Pole over and vex caught it just in time to land a hit on Ranagast’s shoulder, Ranagast staggered and he struck again, Blackjack slipped out an EMP card and tackled the ghost, tangible for whatever reason and pushed all his psychic concentration into the EMP card as he slapped it against Ranagast’s head, the air was filled with a blood churning scream as the suit fell slack and Blackjack stood up. “what… what did you do to him?” Vix knelt “sent him on to the next life, I hope, he’s a ghost Vix, a wandering soul” Blackjack tapped his ear “Roulette, update on the hotel situation?” when there was no response Blackjack signalled them again “Texas here, Roulette got knocked out, Domino and I managed to take care of the goons, the hostages are safe” he said, Blackjack sighed “good work, we’re on our way back, have the authorities come and collect the-” a camera flash cut him off and Blackjack turned to see the news crew filming him “and here we have the heroes of the day, Vix Slix and the new Blackjack, thanks to these two there’s one less ghoul to haunt England’s streets” said reporter Polly Day. Vix relished the attention while Blackjack hated cameras “I’m not much for cameras I’m afraid” he said, Vix turned to him as he stepped onto his platform of cards and rose into the air “your loss, thanks for your help today kid, you did good” he waved, Blackjack nodded and the platform sped away. It wasn’t long before the whole nation was buzzing over the new super hero’s first day saved, Blackjack hated being on camera but the others loved it, he spent the rest of the day training, thinking, he worked well as a team, but he was beginning to imagine what it would have been like if he hadn’t given everyone a plan, what if he didn’t have to, he could have planned things on the go, but instead he had to account for everyone else, it kept him awake that night, that and the horribly feeling that something bad was about to happen, it was getting worse every day, soon now, soon.