Aces Wild

Gavin Marks sat himself down calmly at the table in the Lady Luck casino. This was one of the hottest new casino nightclubs in St. Martial, said to be owned by Duvessa Darkmane; supposed the head of the Bayou Mafia, the largest mob group in the southern United States. Gavin Marks was an undercover operative for Longbow, his mission tonight was to figure out if the place really was run by Duvessa Darkmane, and if so; find out what she was doing out in the Rogue Isles rather than in Louisiana where she usually operated.

“Straight poker folks, best hand takes the pot.” The dealer announced as he dealt the cards out to the players.

There were two others with him at the table. Gavin eyed both of his opponents. The man to his left was muscular with pointed ears and eerie feline eyes, his body coated with sleek gray fur and marked by black stripes. Half-animal creatures like him weren’t so uncommon these days, with mutations, science experiments and even magic being blended by people odd results always occurred. In the ear piece hidden under his long blonde hair Gavin could hear Madison back at HQ talking to him.

“That’s Loki, AKA the Slick-Pawed Swindler, not a lot of information on him. He hopped the globe for a long time, wanted in several countries for gun running, smuggling and gambling charges. He has magical control over electricity. Don’t let your guard down around him; he’s closely connected to our main target, supposedly her lover.”

Gavin arched a brow ever so slightly as he gave Loki another glance over out of the corner of his eye before adjusting the glasses he was wearing, a pair that in reality served as a camera. It allowed his monitoring team back at headquarters to see whatever he saw. Loki’s over all air was one of confidence but relaxing disposition, he didn’t seem like a threat, which usually meant he was an extremely deadly one.

“Interesting…” Gavin murmured in reply, while admiring the form of the female player sitting across from him.

“That one is a bystander, Agent Marks. You can undress women with your mind on your own time, look sharp.” Madison curtly replied, though an amused tone slipped into her voice.

Gavin looked up as the dealer announced two new players who seated themselves in the empty chairs. “That’s her!” Madison said. “Duvessa Darkmane, A.K.A All Aces. Think of you, if you were a vicious, homicidal woman.”

“I’m guessing she’s not a bad card player either…” Gavin murmured in reply, glad now for the chiming of slot machines and rumble of voices in the casino to muffle his responses to the woman speaking through his ear piece.

“What was your first clue, the fact that she’s nick named All Aces or that you’re playing in HER casino?”

Gavin smirked faintly at that before replying, “Can we be sure this is the right woman? You said she uses doubles all the time…”

“We can’t. She’s cunning, she’s never been identified and all the females who impersonate her look so similar we’ve never pinpointed what the real McCoy looks like. Her father was Vincent Darkmane, linked to organized crime in dozens of ways, but to smart to ever get caught in anything until one of his underlings ratted him out. New Orleans D.A. came close to nailing him without help once, but that didn’t last long…” Madison answered.

“One way trip to the bottom of the bayou…?” Gavin asked, grinning faintly.

“The District Attorney’s sister and her children were kidnapped. The D.A. found his nieces finger in a jewelry box on his door step on the night before he planned to release the information on Darkmane to the public. He had to trade off the info in exchange for his sister and her children. However, we don’t think Vincent was really in charge at that time. We think Duvessa’s been playing her father as a front for herself for quite some time, she was probably the one who leaked the information about him that finally got him arrested.”

“I see… And who’s her friend…?” Gavin wondered, turning the glasses camera piece toward an elderly man sitting beside Duvessa.

“Dear lord…” Madison hissed with a gasp.

“Madison?” Gavin asked.

“Gavin, that’s Dorian Rayne. He escaped from the Virginia Asylum for the Criminally Insane a year ago. He’s an incredibly skilled warrior. He’s trained in the art of shadow combat, channeling the darkness around him to increase his power, he knows multiple forms of armed combat and armed disciplines. He’s more like a father to Duvessa than her own father has been, the two are very close. Don’t do anything that might make either of them feel threatened, and don’t give Rayne anything to suspect you of, he’s the most threatening one there.” Madison cautioned.

“I don’t know about that…” Gavin murmured, noticing that Duvessa had a .45 strapped to her thigh under the slit of her dress.

Despite the fact that he was now surrounded by career criminals Gavin couldn’t help admiring Duvessa’s beauty. Dark red hair that framed a perfectly tanned face centered by bright emerald eyes framed by black trimmed rose tinted glasses. Her dress with a plunging neckline to accentuate a rather large chest with none of that ‘too perfect, too round’ look of fakes, and an over all air of confidence and assurance around her. The mafia queen’s lips twitched into a little smirk as she looked over her hand. She cast in three of the cards, giving the dealer a charming smile as he returned three new cards to her. She glanced over her cards, her face completely unwavering now, that same casual smile but no way to truly read anything about her hand from her expression.

“See tha current bet, raise fifteh.” Darkmane stated in a sultry southern dialect, tossing in a 50 chip onto the pile already on the table.

The blonde woman sitting across the table gave Duvessa a once over and shook her head, folding and slid from her stool. Gavin was now sitting at a table with three people who were all connected to each other, all members of the mafia. He had to play his cards just right, literally and figuratively.

“See fifty, raise seventy-five.” Loki said, with a low gravel to his voice tossing in two chips.

“See seventy-five.” Rayne replied in a soft voice.

Gavin lifted his gaze and tossed in his own chips, moving the pot up to 80. Another few hands went round, Rayne eventually folded, moving from his stool to stand behind Duvessa watching her from over her shoulder.

Gavin reordered his cards while taking a moment to look between Loki and Duvessa, then he noticed an odd twitch to Loki’s hand before Duvessa suddenly turned her head towards the cat-man.

“Ai do hope, Sugah; that you aren’t about to trai and cheat yer way through this?” She queried, smirking at the grey furred being.

Loki flashed a fanged grin at that. “Not when you’re at the table, lucky. Just not to pleased with how this turned out.” He huffed faintly before folding his own hand.

“Well now, Ai guess that means it’s down ta just you and me,” Duvessa looked to Gavin, “Mister…?”

“The name’s Marks, Gavin Marks.” The grey suited agent replied with a smile. “And to whom do I have the honor of sharing my game with…?”

“Well aren’t you tha charmer… Tha names Duvessa.”

“Duvessa…? Gaelic I believe… It means Dark Warrior correct?”

“Tha’s raiht... You’re an intelligent man mister Marks… Ai hope you know when ta hold and when ta fold…” She smirked faintly.

He didn’t like the way she said it. On the outside it sounded like a simple suggestion that he fold before he lost, but he could sense the undercurrent to it.
“Well, my mother always said I never could do my own laundry.” He replied, covering the sense of apprehension with a corny joke.

“Well then Ai guess that leaves me ta do tha dirteh work.” She looked to the dealer and then cast all of her remaining chips to the table, smiling at Gavin in sweet and almost innocent manner. “Ai'll call… What’ll it be mister Marks? Hold…? Or fold..?”

“Well, normally I’d step down now, but I never could resist a good challenge.” He grinned at Duvessa as he saw her bet, though he was forced to toss in a few real bills before he revealed his hand. “Flush.”

Duvessa’s face fell, her eyes showing surprise. She shook her said slowly, giving a hissing intake of breath. “Yer good Mister Marks…” The surprised look back flipped into a triumphant smile. “But Ai’m afraid yer just not good enough…” She lowered her hands so that the row of cards she held could be seen. “Ya see… Ai’m iAll Aces./i” In the snap of a wrist she’d throne the cards, they obviously weren’t the same cards from the deck the dealer had been using, these cards were lined with a metal alloy, thin as paper but sharp as a knife blade.

The cards whisked through the air between the woman and her opponent, slicing through the undercover agent’s throat like razors, severing arteries and veins. Blood shot in fountain like bursts from the lacerations in his throat as he gave a groaning gurgle of pain, his hands wrapping around his own neck to try and stop the blood flow before he fell forward onto the poker table, the crimson fluid staining the surface under his body and slowly dripping over the edge of the table to the floor.

Sometimes reconnaissance doesn’t work to well. In the case of Longbow undercover agent Gavin Marks he had been sent to a casino run by a Mafia crime boss. He had been sent on a night when the entire place had been cleared of civilians to make room for major players in the underworld. When Agent Marks’ body fell to the table even the dealer seemed unphased. All Aces reached under the body and pulled a wallet from the inside pocket of Gavin’s blazer, flipping it open and pulling a second ID from behind the driver’s license.

Dorian Rayne plucked the comm piece from Gavin’s ear. There was no voice on the other end now, no response at all as Rayne dropped the small device to the floor and crushed it under the bottom of his walking cane. Gavin Marks was an undercover agent, he knew the risks; he had gambled with the hope that Lady Luck would stay on his side, and he had lost.

“They call you Lady Luck… But there is room for doubt… Sometimes you have, a very un-lady like way… Of running out!”