Operation Overseas

Leo Skyfang looked at his opponent in the eyes. Bluffing. 

Ace.

King.

But the river was

2

3

A

7

9

He had pocket 9's. The Counter was instrumental in reading the weight of the cards, what had been used, the shuffle method, and the tells on the players. That's right. Why go through the extra step of using the Gambler when he could straight up employ the Counter.

The skinny man was Carl and every time he had high cards and a match, he would smirk. If it was a weak match, it was a smirk. If it was a good match, it would be a smile. 

So he had to have an Ace. Triple 9's would beat it out, but how much could he wring out of Carl? 

Susan, the pink girl, or maybe her hair was dyed purple, had nothing. Her tell was that she would play with her ears if she had nothing but wanted to appear strong. The Ace made people act in strange ways. The other 5 had bowed out, including the benefactor.

"Hey, you know, strong people don't leave their legs open like that"

The comment caused the girl to blush and she raise the pot even more. Carl, clearly infatuated with her, raised his bet a similar amount. Skyfang checked to match them. Then he put in a bet of 250,000 after a brief period of hesitation. They similarly hesitated before checking to match the raise.

"Carl, 5 star restaurants sound pretty nice, right?"

The skinny man took a look and back and repeated the action. Eventually he looked at the girl before going all in. She was shocked and folded, sad by how much money she lost. Carl only smiled.

"Enough talking kid. Show your hand"

"Why did you have to bet so much? I want to play a few more rounds, you know"

"Enough. Time for a kid like you to go home anyway. I got some things I want to show a nice girl"

The girl only blushed even more and stared at Skyfang instead. Carl grew red and stared at him. When the hands were finally revealed, Carl grew pale.

"Fuck. You tricked me"

"I only made conversation"

The way Carl became pale was interesting. The blood instantly drained from his face. He had a bet of more than 295 million coins, after all. As the manager of an investment fund, he was rich but not that rich. He gambled to earn a little on the side. He had just lost 9% of his entire savings.

The shaking of the hands indicated he was furious. A realization that everything that was said earlier was a plot to make him drop some more money.

Carl reluctantly handed the chips over, which when added to the pool and subtracting his share, meant he netted 500,000,000 coins. 

Then he swept the table and was even more vicious then he had been to Carl. His benefactor graciously allowed him to exchange the chips for 10,000,000,000 coins after clearing more than 10 tables. But the casino owner wasn't going to let it slide, no matter how much his rich patrons did. 

He hadn't walked more than 10 blocks from the casino when he was intercepted front and back by 4 WMRs. Two Warriors, 1 Magician, and 1 Rogue.

"Kid. I'm out 10 billion coins thanks to you. All the money that businessman was planning to give to me has been cleaned out by you"

"So speak to him"

"No. I'll speak to you"

"What a shame"

"For you"

Leo Syfang immediately disappeared on the spot, causing the other 4 WMRs expressions to change instantly. They were simultaneously slammed into moving semis, leaving the casino owner alone. Not only was his security leaving him, he had no combat skills himself.

"Dealing with that businessman is safer than messing with me. I kind of have all these crazy ideas in my head"

"What do you want?"

The ghostly whisper scared the casino owner to death. He was climbing up a pole even while begging for mercy from the invisible grim reaper.

"The question is what do you want? You were hounding me for 10 billion"

"I was mistaken. I've been following the wrong person"

"You sure you'll be safe out here? You brought 4 guards for a reason, right?"

The casino owner slid down the pole when realizing that his security was gone, carried away by semis that had disappeared somewhere.

"Please. Don't leave me alone"

"How much of what I won was your revenue anyways?"

The casino owner was honest for no real reason. 

"Maybe 1%. But it's the reputation of letting someone walk out with that much money"

"Is 1% a good trade for your life?"

"No… No"

The casino owner shook his head furiously. What was the point of money if he couldn't enjoy it. 

Skyfang smiled and opened his mouth. He roared without the sound. 

"Alright. You're safe now. Don't follow me"

Then he vanished, leaving the casino owner confused and deranged.

—

Why would the casino owner be in danger 10 blocks from his own business? But wrapping that tiny little brain around his fingers was entertaining. The man broke, predictably, but didn't break. The wealthy man would recover with time but be more generous with how much people won. Then his phone rang.

Dawn.

"Hey. I heard. You're going to go overseas with me?"

"Oh? I thought the missions would be domestic"

"Domestic is a waste for soldiers like me. The real danger is from the international competition"

"So overseas means coastline?"

"It's over the sea, right?"

"West coast or east coast?"

"East. Real danger is from the east. Beastmen live in the ocean, on land, in the sky, and the east is where the United States most precious assets are"

"Beastmen"

"Beasts who have evolved with humanity's best traits"

"What about the other way around?"

"Technically, WMRs"

"How did the Beastmen come to be?

"No clue"

"But they hate humanity?"

"They hate humans. Some of the human traits they've taken a liking to. Like the 5 senses"

"So there are pretty and tasty beasts?"

"I know what you're getting at. Gross"

"So they've enslaved other humans and used them to satisfy a pleasure"

"We're going not to save them. That's a job for the military. Our goal is to just kill them and maybe do some reconnaissance"

"Sounds pretty low level"

"Brass needs to know what you're capable of on the field"

"I heard you're higher rank then brass"

"Fools. Brass is made up of non-WMRs and WMRs so everyone's included"

"Departure time?"

"I already sent you the tickets"

With that, Dawn had hung up.

"Well. Let's see how the world has changed"

—

It was 6 in the morning and Dawn was hugging Skyfang's arm while they were waiting for the flight. She was blushing and her skin felt hot to the touch. Every time she looked up, he happened to be turning in her direction almost literally on the same beat so she looked away really quickly. 

He asked her more questions but it was like she wasn't listening. She was quite zoned out. The sound of her heartbeat drowned out everything else. Just earlier, a girl had come out to intercept them. He called her Cat. She stared at the girl with such competitive eyes that Cat ran away with curious eyes.

He didn't take much note of it and continued on his way, pleasing her. She decided never to let him out of her sight, lest something bad happened to happen.

They got on the flight at 9 and the plane lifted off at 9:25. A brilliant blue, the sky welcomed them with open arms. They flew above the clouds but well below the exosphere. There were many WMRs on the same flight as them, all in normal clothing. They were heading on assignments, to war, or to report somewhere for duty. 

An agitated boy in the front row began to scream for his teddy bear. The father also began to scream and accuse people of stealing his child's belongings. 

"Sigh. It's him again"

"He rides every week and causes the same problem!"

"Why can't we just report him?"

"Because he always causes a splash in the media. Makes us look bad"

"Couldn't the airline just do a media blackout"

"He'd complain after. He never tries to compromise. Just demands thousands of dollars in restitution. The bosses just capitulate to him and he keep asking for more. No one knows what to do"

Skyfang cared less for the troublemaker but Dawn had her eyebrows furrowed. 

"Unbelievable. Taking advantage of PR to leech off their revenue. I bet he doesn't even take care of him"

Almost at the same time, a loud bang was heard above. No one could tell where the sound was coming from until the pilot made an announcement.

"Dear passengers. If there are any WMRs on board, this captain would appreciate them lending a hand. We've been invaded by pirates and based on who it is, they've come to demand all the wealth you have"