The Hands We're Dealt (Closed)

"Good afternoon Mr.White."
The beautiful receptionist spoke as Craig made his way through the foyer of his building.
After the rebuilding of the empire city Craig had constructed one of the largest skyscrapers New York had to offer.
"Good morning Candice. You're looking absolutely lovely today!" speaking through a large smile while his eyes squinted shut.
"Now if only that shirt wasn't three sizes to small and your tits weren't faker than my robotic dog, I'd pay more than thirty seconds of attention to you, slut."
Craig was doing an autograph signing after releasing his new social media site to make all the others looks like chalk boards.
He called it The Nav, and people between 13 and 30 were loving it. Which of course was his intended audience. They were so loose with their money it made him laugh.

"Mr.White, could I get a picture of you and my son."
"Abso-lutely, I'll even give an autograph"
Looking into the camera holding the boy by the shoulder Craig blinked and the camera began to spark and shocked the fathers hand.
"Oh no! Are you ok sir?" The villain asked containing his laughter.
"Yea yea, I'm fine. I just, ah it's cool."

"I got a laugh out of him. I guess I'll be generous, I do have a reputation to uphold while I'm not..."

"Here's a check for 10,000 dollars." Craig pulled his book out and handed it to the man,
"Looks like you ended up with my autograph anyways." he spoke with a smile once more.
"I can't accept this, I..."
A crowd now surrounded Craig.
"Sorry gotta go."

A few hours later Tek had finished the last of his signings. With a sigh of relief, he lit a cigarette.
He played with the smoke trailing off the end using his telekinesis, of course, no one was watching.
"What to do, what to do..."

Tek looked over at the radio and pointed at it.
"This just in, a bank is being robbed on 31st Street."
"That sounds fun."

Tek always made sure he had a set of gear underneath his building, and at home.
Taking the elevator the basement level, he pressed his hand to the generator and a door shot up from the floor.
Behind it was an armory of all his equipment as well as his costume.
As he slipped the helmet on, he walked out the door, and it went back into the floor.
Pressing a knob, a secret tunnel opened up, one that would lead to an ally way.
If anyone ever tried to press either button, the entire basement would explode, however the rest of the building would be safe, as would his identity.

As he moved with super speed to the scene of the crime, he dropped down to the bank.
"Excuse me officers."
Tek spoke as his voice changer activated.
Making his way inside the robbers pointed their guns at Tek, and a few at the hostages.
There were 9 men total.
"Did it really take a village to rob this place?"

"Who the hell are you?"
"Oh you must not recognize the new get up, and lack of Volt. The name is Tek."
As Tek pulled out one his laser pistols, he pointed it at the man apparently in charge.
"I'll kill you, I've heard about you."
Laughing maniacally Tek blasted the man through the head.
His body dropping limp on the floor as half his skull was missing and blood was filling the tile.
"That's no way to start a conversation."
One of the men shot a hostage through the heart.
Tek tilted his head to the side and pretended to scratch the top of his helm.
"You know I'm a villain...right? Or are you all fresh meat?"
This was going to get interesting, just then a strange figure appeared behind Tek, a playing card whizzing by the side of his head and sticking in the wall in front of him.
No one could see it but Tek was grinning ear to ear.
"It's no party without a surprise guest. Who do we have here?" He spoke as he turned around finger still on the trigger.

White, red and black flickered on the cards that were being shuffled at near-inhuman speed. Red gloves meshed the playing cards together before the moved upwards and sent the cards soaring into the air, blowing away on the wind. Solitaire stuck his fingers out to the side and caught one. He turned it towards the crowd. "And this ma'am, is your card." They clapped and gasped and he sat back onto his cheap, plastic seat and put his feet up on the cheap plastic table in this cheap New York alleyway. His boots like a cowboys with Spades for stirrups and he stroked his platinum blonde beard.

Now, Solitaire was not in New York to perform parlour tricks in back alleys. This was just something he did on the side. The way their eyes sparkled always made him laugh, if only she could see the strings. Like, the literal string he'd stuck to the card before he threw them all into the air. No, He was here because a little birdie told him that a bank in this city had an orb capable of finding magically adept people, or anyone with any magical talent. The league of wizards had left it in the bank while they prepared a space for it in their archives. He needed to get it before they moved it, because despite his talents there was no way he was getting into their archives. He was awaiting a tip off to tell him which bank had the Orb. He clapped twice.

"Show's over ladies and gentlemen! Come back tomorrow, I'm here all week." He wasn't going to be here for a week. If he was lucky he'd get out of here in a few hours. New York has always made him nervous after the Necrodium event. All the upped security made him feel uneasy. He heard a familiar songbird's song, and looked to see a small blue bird sat on a pipe running along the wall.

The crowd had dispersed and he moved over to the bird.

"Hey Charlie." he rubbed the bird's chin with his index finger.
"Ayy yo' hey Solli. How's tings?" It spoke with the thickest, deepest new york accent Solitaire had ever encountered.
"Things are well, bluebird. Did you find out where it is?"
The bird let out a beautiful chirping chorus before resuming it's incredibly butch voice.
"Yeah it's in the bank on thirty foist street. Although I'd get a move if I were you Solli: Some muggles are already robbin' tha' place!"

Solitaire chuckled. Songbird Charlie was one of his favourite contacts. He called normal humans muggles, says he heard it in a movie. They probably had no idea that the orb was there, and if they did they wouldn't even know how to use it. In all honesty, he was that sure how you use it either.

"Thanks Charlie. Here."

Solitaire reached into his rather trampy looking black coat, and removed a small capsule of bird seed. Songbird Charlie began eating, singing beautiful melodies in between pecks. He stepped into the centre of the alleyway. No-one was watching, apart from maybe a hobo in the corner. He span on the spot and his clothes flew off his body, turning into various playing cards. However, he wasn't naked. When the swirl of cards fell to the floor he was wearing an admittedly much more flamboyant get up. A red trench coat, with white brims and a fancy red hat resided on his head. A card flung from his sleeve onto the ground. A red joker. His body turned into a small tornado of cards which fluttered through the air. His body was gone, all that remained was the joker card, sitting on the floor.

"Seeya. Watta Weirdo." The bird resumed eating.

Inside the bank, Solitaire appeared in a mass of cards just in time to watch a man in a red helmet shoot someone's brains out. He looked away, covering his eyes for a second. Yikes. Solitaire flicked an Ace of Spades from his sleeve in between his fingers, and threw it so that it scraped along the guys helmet and stabbed into the wall. He was usually one for letting people do what they want and he understood that killin' was an effective way to stop crime - but robbery aint' a death sentence. The figure turned around, gun in hand. Reacting fast, Solitaire flicked another Ace of Spades at the gun, intent on damaging the barrel to the point of being unusable.

"You seem awfully trigger happy." He looked up through his milky eyes from under his hat. "You'd make a terrible gambler." He wasn't here to specifically fight this guy, but from the looks of things he was one of the heroes running rampant in the world and he wasn't likely to take kindly to Solitaire's opportunistic robbery.

He was gonna get what he wanted and if that meant dealing with this guy he was more than willing to scrap.

Tek threw his gun n the air and looked at the incoming card.
"Do you think I'm some kind of hack?"
Using his telekinesis Tek made the card redirect into the skull of one of the bank robbers. Making it look like he dodged.
He then caught his gun.
"Good thing I don't gamble you cocky prick."
Tek fired 3 rounds at Solitaire. One towards his head, one chest, one arm.
"For the record I'm fantastic at blackjack."
He fired his gun at he cowboy 18 more times.
"21!"
Closing pointing at all the registers, they flew open and money came shooting out.
One wouldn't know if he was using his Telekinesis or Technokiesis at this point.
"Is that called a jack pot, cowboy?" he snarled arrogantly.

Tek laughed before making every camera shut down in the building.
Invisible to the naked eye, Tek basically sent out an emp and all electronics shut down at once.
If the cowboy survived his shots, Tek had a backup plan.
Reaching into his leather jacket, Craig grabbed one of his regular grenades.

"It's been real."
Tossing it on the floor in front of the card shark, he watched the floor cave in alone with all the hostages falling to the basement level.
Tek hovered above the hole.
"Ah I'm feeling generous today, one more for good luck."
Reaching into his coat once more he grabbed an incendiary grenade. Dropping it to the basement floor, it exploded sending flames in all directions.
"Boom."

As Tek made his way out the back door, he was half wishing the cowboy survived. He could have fun with this one.

Before his razor card hit the wrong target, he changed it into a harmless Ace of Hearts which smacked against the robber's head and plopped to the ground, confusing the man who ran from the bank and to the police outside. When the gun found it's way back to Tek's hand, Solitaire immediately lowered himself to a crouch, avoiding the bullets meant for his body. One went through his hat's brim. He stood up and raised an eyebrow when the gunslinger said he was 'fantastic at Blackjack'. It made Solitaire scoff. He saw him perk his guns up and quickly threw another card onto the floor. The King of Spades. A translucent black orb covered his body, the bullets smashing into it's reflective energy rather than his squishy flesh. The shield flickered away and Solitaire held onto his hat. Money started flying all around him, and he plucked a fifty out of the air, stuffing it into his jacket.

"You're 'fantastic' at Blackjack and you still can't Hit Me." He chuckled at his little joke, but raised a brow when he heard a light beep. Suddenly an explosion blew a hole in the floor. Solitaire was sent into a backflip and skidded along the floor. His hat was knocked back by the blast and when he landed on the ground, it somehow drifted back onto his head. He coughed, dust filling the air. Fuck. His ears were ringing but could still hear the man reveal his plans. Through the smoke he squinted, using a gambler's eye, usually used to spot twitches in facial features to spot the silhouette of the second grenade dropping through the air. He stood into a spin and threw another card into the dust, the Two of Diamonds.

It smacked into the grenade and coated it in Diamond. He heard it clink against the floor in the basement and let out a greatly dampened explosion, saving whichever hostages remained. Solitaire took a moment to breathe, dust clinging onto his coat. Terrible Gambler. Gave away his next move. Needs to work on a Poker face. He could feel a cut on his head. It took a few seconds but eventually he stood. The man had... flown away? He was either busy or a coward. Dusting off his shoulders, Solitaire turned around and walked further into the bank. Three Ace of Spades and a vault door broke down. Stepping inside, his red glove lifted the small blue orb.

"B-e-a-utiful." He kissed it before stuffing it into his pocket. Now he needed to move. Stealing from the league of wizards was dangerous enough but he was also technically stealing from the American government. He didn't know who he feared most in all honesty. Solitaire moved back to the Lobby, and looked to the sky. He was hopeful he'd spot the man.

He wanted to teach him how you really play Blackjack.

Tek cackled as he had made his exit out the door. "This cowboy is a joker!" he laughed amused with his own pun.
As he prepared to take off and cause more trouble, his helmet gave him a heads up to enemies approaching from the rear.
Turning he caught another glimpse of this glorified magician.
"I tell you what pal." Tek said as he began to hover higher and higher.
"Walk away now and I won't kill you. Continue to be a thorn in my ass and I'll end your slight of hand days quick. I'm no Vexus or Marie. However I am not a fucking joke."

The cowboy didn't seem to head his warning.
"Very well. Can't say I didn't try. For the record that's much more than anyone else gets. I just like your hat so I figured I'd let your ignorance go."

If it wasn't clear to Solitaire before that Tek was no hero, it must have been so now.
As Tek's grin grew inside his helm once more, he activated his metal band around his arm.
In a moment, his entire left arm appeared to be robotic.
"I don't have the raw strength some do, but I do have brains my new friend."
The cannon on his hand began to charge.
"And brains is something I have in spades."

Tek fired at least 20 shots down at the cowboy as fast as he could. There was no way that at least one or two wouldn't hit.
He only had the cannon set to 5 out of 10 however that would be enough to show him that Tek meant business.

Following up with his attack, Tek tossed another grenade down in the area of the cowboy, detonating it immediately, just incase the card shark pulled anything out of his ass.

Dust flew up all over the place, Tek flew another 10 feet higher, now at least 40 feet in the air.
"You done yet?"
The villain asked as he yawned.

Solitaire walked out the front doors of the bank, shuffling his cards. He had his hat pulled over his eyes and his red trench coat blew around in the wind. He sang a song quietly, but loud enough to hear if you were close. "I wanna hold 'em like they do in Texas plays... Fold 'Em, Let 'Em, Hit me, Raise it baby stay with me..." He continued humming the tune, before he looked up to the sky. He could hear the villain yelling about Vexus and Marie. Solitaire raised an eyebrow and muttered. "Who the fuck are they?" He scoffed lightly, continuing to shuffle his cards.

Not a joke? He looked like a joke. Thought the Flamboyant Red Cowboy.

The gun slinger made a reference about liking his hat, which made Solitaire smile. "I like it too. Pity you shot it." He continued walking down the bank's steps, shuffling his cards. He kept both his eyes on his target, who's arm became engulfed by a metallic sleeve. He made a pun about cards, which caused Solitaires brows to furrow slightly. I make the card jokes.

The man quickly launched a barrage of lazer beams at Solitaire, who quickly pulled a Red Joker from his sleeve and disappeared into a swirl of cards. He reappeared on a rooftop, still below Tek but behind him. He could tell before he even looked. He'd been hit. Blood ran down his shoulder, and he grasped it, hissing. Another card slipped from his sleeve and he placed the Queen of Hearts on the wound. It attached to his shoulder like magnets to a fridge and began glowing a pinkish red. He could feel it soothing him already. An explosion detonated. This asshole brought grenades to a card game.  


He had that damn song stuck in his head, so continued singing it quietly.

"Luck and intuition play the cards with spades to start...'

Holding up three Aces of Spades, he threw them all through the air at his target. One aiming at his gauntlet, another at his leg and the final one was moving to stab right between his shoulder blades and through his chest.

"And after he's been hooked I'll play the one that's on his heart!"

"Woah cowboy, settle dow-"
As he tired to dodge the cards one sliced right through the center of the villains leg.

"Son of a mothers lover. Ouch."
He pretended to hobble around the air like he was limping.

"What's your fucking problem? Those really hurt y'know. Mine at least cauterize the wound when they hit you. Well besides the grenades. And the knives. And the ok I get your point. Still not cool man."


The hole in Tek's leg closed up and he dropped back down to street level. It's a good thing I heel, but you've left a hole in my pants look. It seemed he had caught Solitaire off guard. With insane speed her pulled out one of his blasters, and fired 5 times near point blank at the cowboy.

"You really shouldn't make me angry. You won't like it. It's not like I'll turn into a green monster or anything but, I'll totally shoot you a bunch." Tek was playing the fool. It seemed to be working. reaching into his coat he dropped a grenade between the two of them, and he flew backwards a little.
"Baboom" the crazed man shouted.