Gambling with 'Lady Fate'

Unfiltered Desires was frequented mostly at night. Regular traffic akin to a retail store at rush hour happened during non-regular business hours. They sold exclusively alcohol and anyone that asked for anything else was beaten and woke up in an abandoned house somewhere with no memory of where they were previously. As for food, no one needed that. You found your own, somehow. If you were willing to shell out thousands, then that was a different story. They had the best, premium grade luxury goods that the world was able to find. Originally millions, it was discounted to just thousands, pennies on the dollar.

It didn't own a front either. You couldn't find this place on floor level. It was multiple trapdoors hidden underneath each other in an abandoned warehouse in a maze of abandoned warehouses. The warehouses had entrances all over the city, typically fronted by shady businesses. 

It required exclusive membership, a reputation among the underground. You needed to have several clients, have a history of purchases, or be known by name with those who were important. Most importantly, you needed a Nefarious Nano-Suit with an awful reputation. 

You could get such a thing either by committing terrible acts or by subduing powerful bodyguards at the entrance to each store. This is exactly what Leo Skyfang chose to do. He didn't just beat them down though. He caused them to explode in a pool of blood and guts. He also seemed to not notice what he did as he walked deeper into the store. 

He had discovered that these bodyguards were illegally released prisoners with death sentences. They would either meet a horrific end inside, be transported to HQ and be deal with less harshly, or they could just randomly die at any point guarding the entrance. 

Since there were no consequences to dealing with them, and it was the easiest way to enter, that was the only path open to him.

The amount of guys they would send to deal with him depended on how severely he beat the previous guards. He continued for dozens of minutes with no reinforcements in sight. He guessed it wouldn't be financially logical to send men if they were going to die like that.

"Unscannable Nano-Suit. Not military. Not scientific. Not academic. Not anything we've heard of being cooked off the grid. You can enter. Try something funny and the government would be impressed"

He had never been here before. Only heard about it. Therefore, he paused and examined the young lady from head to toe. She was attractive and pretty. Asian. Blonde highlights on the bottom half of her hair. Stockings, a minidress, and a shirt and tie. Seemed like a secretary or assistant to the managers of the establishment somehow.

"What if I want to try something funny?"

"Straight to the point. Then, I'll teach you a lesson"

Several disk like objects emerged from inside her bra. They resembled Null. Actually, they were just floating in front of her, not attached to anything.

"We're just as smart as the military if not more so. They attach these things to a gun but it's not necessary"

He didn't say anything. Just went into Sharpshooter mode. The Magician cast a spell known as Chain Lightning and with the help of the Composer, seamlessly linked it into the Rogue who utilized Perception and fired into the dead spot of the seismic waves. All the disks were instantly fried, forcing the asian lady into complete disbelief and shock.

"Who.. Who are you?"

"Someone who wants to challenge 1-2, You Never Saw Me"

"That person?? He's invincible in the ring… but… maybe not for long"

"Yes. Can you set up a fight?"

The asian lady didn't respond but typed furiously with the smartphone. Then the phone went dead. It was dead for several moments before lighting up again. The asian lady continued to type, ignoring him.

After a while, the asian lady looked up again.

"The name you can call me is Penelope. Not real. My boss is interested in you. You're clearly a Double Archetype Operator. I'll set up the fight with 1-2, YNSM, but he won't be happy. Don't care, naturally"

"I'm not interested in being your meal ticket, nor can you make me"

"Never even thought about it. How about we offer contracts and if you're interested, we'll hype it up"

"I'm not giving you my name. I'm only interested in a single fight"

"Don't rush. You'll only have to fight occasionally. We'll offer minimum 100 million coins a fight"

That gave him pause.

"See. You're interested if the money's ok"

"I'm not making this a regular thing. I have other priorities"

"Yes. School. Military. Part time jobs. I can at least tell that much"

"Deductions?"

"Our most frequent patrons are students in debt or in need of cash. Those who do this casually or for the joy of it are few and rare"

"I don't necessarily need 100 millions coins"

"But you do. Even the most classified military assignments are dangerous but don't pay that much. They offer you connections. We're offering pure raw coins"

Silence.

"We have no way to coerce you even if we want to. We don't know who you are and all my methods are pointless in front of you"

"Fine… point me to your boss"

"Eh? He's up there… Hmm?"

The Sprinter gambled with lady fate, completely invisible to the myriad of detection systems designed to protect the establishment.

The asian lady returned to her smartphone, furiously warning her boss about something.

—

It was true that Unfiltered Desire was deep underground. The boss ruled from above. 5 stories up to be specific. It was a very technologically advanced office that was otherwise plain on the inside. A skinny man was staring at the Nano-Suit that just barged into the office.

"Let's get straight to the point. Give me the coins now and I'll beat your prized fighter right away"

"I don't suppose you've left me much of a choice… If you can beat some unfavorable odds for me, I'll be willing to give you 100 million coins a month even if you don't fight in the ring. Just do it as a side thing"

"You mean intimidation?"

"Your words. Not mine"

"I'm not going to get involved in criminal activities. I'm just here for a fight"

The man nodded 'fair enough'. 

"I've created a shell account for you. Coins are there. Now here are the instructions on where to go to fight the undefeated champion"

The skinny man picked up his smartphone and contracted the asian lady.

[Broke through top of the art technology in a second after he arrived. Don't bother alerting security. They're useless]

—

Unfiltered Desires was like a massive underground world. Whatever you found on the surface, you could find down here, except none of it was legal or traceable. Instead of tabs, there were security shots. Instead of prices, there was reputation and fights won. Instead of contracts, there was coercion and debt. Instead of bosses and lackeys, there were only eternally loyal foot soldiers.

There were no fight cages but there was a system of honor. A boxing ring with no referee because there was no point for one. The audience was the judge and the audience was unpredictable. The crowd only cared for excitement. The fight wasn't over when one person was down but when people were satisfied with the outcome.

Rules were enforced through death, mostly, and sometimes extreme pain.

He was scheduled to fight YNSM at 9:00 A.M. There were 3 fights before that.

Them Dirty Blue Rat, or TDBR vs This One Dude Who Brutalizes Everything, or TODWBE at 8:15 A.M.

Chickens Never Prosper, or CNP vs These Timid Students, or TTS at 8:30 A.M.

Who The Fu— Be I? Or WTFBI vs Who The Fu— Be You? Or WTFBY at 8:45 A.M.

Instead of watching the fights, he spent his familiarizing himself with the Nano-Suit. Earlier, he gambled with something called "Lady Fate". After analyzing it, he noticed it was nothing more than a YOLO move. The reason it worked was because the Counter stacked the favor in his odds. 

But to stack the favor in his odds, the Counter relied on the Magician and the Rogue. See, the Gambler and the Counter couldn't do anything on their own. They applied probability to situations, mostly the ones where the traits had not so favorable outcomes.

What the Gambler did was play with RNG. What the Counter did was guarantee RNG in favor of the Gambler. A terrible Gambler crippled a WMR. A good Gambler was invisible. Only fringe societies actively employed this method. He could utilize the Gambler as a staple in his bread and butter kit by way of the Counter. 

He couldn't help but compare himself to regular WMRs. They only had the Brawler. They were limited in what they could do. Could they use the other modes? They couldn't. This meant that he was an army in itself. Each Nano-Suit had a unique identity and function that when combined together, made him nearly indestructible in battle. 

There were definitely geniuses who could do something similar to him, and he was excited about the prospect of fighting them. What if he could transcend beyond them?