Log entry 5

Agent: UNKNOWN

Western Market district, Halcyon city, Time: 2300 hours, Date: 19/04/2144

Status: Standby

If you were a tourist, then Halcyon city's market district would've caught your eyes so tightly that you would've had to have them surgically removed from the scene. Buildings of all kinds lined the streets as the bright neon lights pulsated like lava lamps. It was pure eye-candy for people with loose pockets who didn't know their way around, but if you'd lived in this city long enough, then you'd know that the real attractions were things that you had to find through whispers and a few bribes.

The room was located right underneath a simple butcher shop, nothing special about it, but carefully hidden from any wandering eyes and the occasional health inspector. A crowd of spectators had gathered in shadow, as a single white lightbulb hung from the ceiling to illuminate a small table with eight occupied chairs positioned in a circle.

Jason hid underneath his hood to shield himself from the crowd, but the other occupants of the table could clearly see his face as he held his cards close, making sure that no one else could peek at them. He smirked in triumph, but in all honesty, he was cursing his luck on the inside. A three of clubs, a seven and ten of hearts, an ace of spades and finally Mister joker. The odds of him winning: quite low,

The other occupants (In all honesty, in underground poker, it was never really a good idea to give your name, unless of course you were prepared to face an unhappy player who wanted their salary returned) wore similar faces, all except for one; a man who wore a simple white vest, revealing muscular arms and a green dragon tattoo that ran down his left bicep. His shaven head reflected the light like a mirror and in his left hand, gripped by the dragon’s mouth, were his cards. His pencil strip goatee stretched as he grinned. To Jason, it made him look like some villain from stories that the old folks told.

He'd won most of the previous hands last hands and was celebrating with a few tankards of alcohol. He'd even called ahead to be greeted at home with a girl. He was probably an enforcer for some gang, either that or a dealer of some sort.

Under normal (Or rather, casino) circumstances, there would've been nearly ten thousand credits worth of scrips on the table, but in these underground arenas, no one at these tables ever betted with credits. Instead, it was all top quality gadgets and gizmos. Tablets, radios, semiconductors, hell, he'd once seen an entire arm augmentation get wagered on.

"Let's see what you still got in those pockets of yours," Jason thought to himself, as a smirk crossed his face.

This was the last hand of the night and the stakes were pretty high. Almost a thousand credits worth of equipment was collected on the center of the table and every eye in the room was solely focused on the thought of walking out of here with it. Perfect.

The man started the bidding and threw down a chrome ignition coil, worth around three hundred credits.

"Lady luck's my girl tonight!" his boast, slurred by the alcohol.

Two players, a man, and women folded at once, and after a few more moments another man folded as well.

"Too rich for my blood"

With a triumphant laugh, the man drowned another tankard, as if the two remaining players didn't even exist. Poker was a game of calculation, advanced psychology and pure dumb luck.

"I'm in," the almost stern voice said from a side of the table. The words held a touch of a proper accent that was elegant and refined, much like their speaker. The woman was beautiful, to say the least. Her face was delicate yet fierce, with a perfectly sculpted jawline, a slender nose, creamy skin, and voluminous ice blue hair and eyes. Her body, buff yet at the same time curvey and supple with well endowed 'assets'. She wore an expensive-looking white jacket and sausage pants combo and as she folded her left leg onto her right knee revealed black leather heeled boots that looked like they were worth around how much was on the table.

Every eye in the room was now shifted to this woman and to be frank, it was a mystery why all eyes hadn't been on her before. The drunk, finally managing to settle his eyes, looked at her with the lust of a predator eyeing its prey

"Tell you what darling," His breath reaching even Jason who was at the opposite end of the table "Put everything you have down and we'll call it even"

The woman smirked "Funny, because I was about to say the same thing to you" Theatrically, she produced a golden chip from her breast pocket and gave the man a sinister smile and probably a rise in heart rate. It landed on the table with a smack. It was a flat golden square with fluorescent green lines running along with its faces. A Titan corp high-end terabyte processer, made for the top of the line computers and military-grade equipment. It seemed almost out of place among the pile, but it was worth far more than anything there. Heck, it was probably worth more than the pile itself

The man's eyes were wide for a moment but he chuckled to himself and proceeded to place all his loot on the table

"Your turn" the woman turned to Jason

He snapped back to reality "Uh, pardon"

"Are you in or out?" she asked, with a tone that felt a bit condescending

"Oh," he replied, glancing at the money on the table. He'd taken three hundred dollars from Arcemedes and of that he'd already lost about half. Then again, there was always the chance that he could make it back up in one hand. Matching the woman's smirk with one of his own, he bet the remainder of his money

"All right then boys. Let's see what you have"

The drunk smiled, the swagger he'd lost returning as he flipped his cards to reveal all four kings accompanied by an almost out of place four of diamonds; a four of a kind hand

A few gasped in surprise while others (more specifically the players who had folded) groaned in spite and frustration- which was to be expected. Not all bets were played on the table. Sometime the audience themselves would bet on who would win and losing a bet was never a good feeling. After all, it would only take a few losses and a bit of alcohol to have people punching the walls and/or others.

The woman chuckled "My, my. Impressive hand," she feigned a look of sadness as he flipped her cards, causing nearly everyone to awed in disbelief "But I think I've won this."

The man stared at the cards in pure shock and the cards stared back at him. An eight, then a nine, followed by a ten, then came to the prince, before finally the blood-red queen of hearts; a straight flush.

The woman rose from her seat and prepared to claim her winnings, but the man also rose to stop her, anger and bloodlust boiling behind his eyes

"Chea-" was the only thing he could say before the woman's foot slammed into his stomach, sending him to the floor.

Nobody said a word, and while Jason himself had seen a few of these violent outbreaks happen a few times before, it never lost that sudden shock that went through your system whenever it did go down

"Oh, I almost forgot," the woman's voice, taking his focus away from the man struggling to breathe on the floor. Jason looked up to find her gaze on him, a bit of curiosity on her face "What's your hand?"

Now there are times in life where being a smart ass can get you in a lot of trouble. Unfortunately for Jason, being a smart ass wasn't exactly something a guy like him could simply switch off. After all, if his mouth ever got him in trouble, he could just rewind.

He flicked his cards up and to the utter astonishment of everyone in the room (even the guy on the ground), gave the woman an arrogant smile. The ace of hearts, then spades, then diamonds, then clubs, before finally, the court jester himself, the Joker. The Joker was the wild card and whenever he was in play, absolutely nothing could beat all the aces and the Joker; the legendary five of a kind.

"I think that stack of gizmos belongs to me," He said, folding his arms.

The woman blinked, then blinked again, before closing her eyes and giving him a small chuckle "I suppose it is, I suppose it is," she reopened them and stared at him with something that looked between malice and interest.

But before they could say or do anything further, the man on the floor finally rose to his feet. To say he looked mad would've been an understatement, his head was practically a tomato, red with rage. He snapped his fingers and two brutish looking men stepped out from the crowd.

"This doesn't look good," Jason thought to himself, as he eyed the men. In all honesty, he was rather fit and athletic, and he could even hold his own in a few street fights, but these guys looked as if they were only given protein packs as food. It was a safe assumption that these two would be able to easily snap a few bones, and Jason was the kind of guy who preferred to keep his bones together as much as he could. He slipped his hand into his pants pocket and held his thumb over his phone's screen

"The two of you cheated!" the man growled

The woman sniggered and turned to him "Why aren't you a sore loser." she waved a hand towards Jason "Claiming that two people cheated when there's only one winner"

Jason suppressed the urge to look at her in disbelief. "What are you doing lady?" he said to himself

The man gave his two bodyguards a glance and they nodded in response. One stepped forward to grab the lady while the other went for Jason

"Okay, time to go!" Jason thought to himself as he tapped the screen of his phone with his thumb

"POLICE!" the single word screamed loud enough to echo in the enclosed room, but by who, no one knew, and nobody cared.

For a moment, everything had paused and a deathly silence fell over the entire room. It's in the rare moments like these, that the people who act come out on top. It takes a sharp eye, but you'd often see the small details that could save you skin. From a tiny moth flying into a lightbulb to a rat skittering about in the background. Or, maybe even a door that you'd failed to realize was hidden away in the darkness.

"Oh duh," Jason thought to himself as a plan of action popped into his head.

With as much force as he could manage, he kicked the bottom of the table up, sending the pile up in a hail of tech. The effect was nearly instantaneous as the crowd jumped from the shadows and in a wild frenzy, hands started snatching whatever they could.

Jason swiped his own hand through the falling metal and grabbed the golden processer, then, without a single glance back, he dashed for the door and threw open the door. Once through he slammed it shut to ensure that at least no one followed, though, in all that chaos, he highly doubted that anyone would. The threat of a police bust would scatter those still down there in just a few minutes so it was best that he made himself scarce

He navigated his way through the basement until he found a flight of stairs and as quickly as he could, made his way back up to the main shop. Once there, he exited through the backdoor and smiled. The rush you got when you did something risky like that never got old, but it never got easier either.

"Seems like you enjoyed yourself" Cyclop's robotic voice came from behind

Jason turned to his robotic companion and showed him his prize "Well I walked in there with a few simple power coils and I walk away with a processer that'll give one heck of a boost to your CPU, so yes it was rather enjoyable,"

"I thought you humans felt regret when you cheated?" The sarcasm practically dripped from Cyclop's artificial voice

Jason smirked and adjusted the sleeve of his jacket, letting four simple playing cards fall out onto the ground

"Cheater's just a fancy word the people from the Elysium district use for the winner."