We'd just started another hand when the lights flickered on and off briefly. That didn't mean anything by itself, the Wallingford Hotel was a historic building, after all. The wiring in the place was a mishmash of modernized stuff from the turn of the century, all just barely up to code. That tended to happen when the Hotel stayed in operation for a century with only sporadic downtime for updates. This could just mean that someone had tripped a circuit somewhere that needed replacing down in the utility room. Even so, I still felt the need to speak up, the Force drawing my attention to the event.
"Anyone else get a bad feeling about that?" I questioned.
"Could be nothin'." Frowned the Thing.
"You believe that, Benji? Cuz if y'do, I gotta bridge t'sell ya." Huffed Logan.
"Verily, though it could be but happenstance, perhaps it might be wise to listen to the Young Sorcerer's Intuition. In the event it turns out to be an issue, better that we get a head start, lest it catch us unawares." Nodded Thor.
"Right, that bein' the case, ya wouldn't mind takin' a quick once 'round the outside, wouldja Goldilocks?" Queried the Thing.
"I shall make the rounds. What of you?" Asked Thor.
"I'm gonna check out the utility room. I should be able to Apparate to the Lobby all right, and can walk from there." I offered.
"Ya do that." Nodded the Thing.
"Yeah, Benji an' I'll catch up with y'afterward." Agreed Logan.
"Some folks gotta take the stairs after all." Grunted the Thing.
And with that game plan in place, Thor headed to the Window, spinning Mjolnir around by the strap with enough power to launch it, and himself, out into the night sky. Meanwhile, I summoned mystical power and apparated myself to the Lobby as the Thing and Logan headed for the door. As it happened, I reappeared twenty feet up next to the chandelier in the lobby, falling down toward the polished marble floor, much to the astonishment of some of the guests checking in. Fortunately, I had Aeromancy to be able to call up a cushion of air to avoid a hard fall, instead creating an updraft with a mystical gesture and a few mystic words that turned an uncontrolled fall to a hard stone floor into a gentle float downward to land on my feet.
Making my way over to the front desk, I reached into my bag of holding and pulled out my Avenger's ID Card, shoving it in the face of the stunned brunette working the concierge desk. Her eyes focused on the badge quickly enough, likely being desensitized to superhero shenanigans from working and living in New York City, at least enough to snap out of her daze when being addressed.
"I need to see your utility rooms. Avengers business." I insisted.
"Wait, you're that guy from the press conference Tony Stark gave a few weeks ago, the Sorcerer, right?" Questioned the Concierge.
"The name's a work in progress and I clearly need to talk to Tony about PR stuff, but yes, that's me. Now, take me to your Utility Rooms." I reiterated.
"Sure thing, though I gotta ask, can you get me Captain America's autograph?" Queried the Concierge.
"I don't know if he does that, but if it'll make this go faster, I promise I'll ask him." I agreed.
And just like that, I was being led out of the Lobby toward a steel security door with an employees-only sign on it. The Concierge swiped her keycard and the door opened. It was all pretty high-tech for what should essentially just be a laundry room and the boiler and whatnot. That impression wasn't helped by the security camera watching the stairwell leading down. No doubt that was linked to some sort of monitor somewhere in the building.
"Pretty high-security for a glorified laundry room, isn't it?" I asked.
"The Wallingford Hotel also has a vault where we store the profits from each month's operations down here. We only ship it out to the bank once a month. We used to do weekly, which is industry standard, but the Hotel changed owners a year ago. The New Owner doesn't believe in bank transfers more than once a month. Apparently, he thinks the money is safer here than in an armored car that could be hijacked en route to the bank." Answered the Concierge.
I couldn't help but agree with that. New York City was Supercrime Central just as much as it was Superhero Central, after all. Armored Cars got hijacked constantly, a lot more than on any other Earth that I knew of, at any rate. Still, doing it this way would likely just ensure that the Hotel became a target for Supercrime. Honestly, it was a miracle that it had lasted for a year without being robbed already. That was neither here nor there, though. Suffice it to say that it provided more than enough backing to my force-given instinct to check the utility room.
As we descended down, that feeling only got stronger as the Concierge led me down to another steel security door. She swiped her keycard one more time, the door buzzing as she did so. The second she moved to open it, however, the Force screamed at me to get her away from there. In that split second, I moved faster than humanly possible to place myself between the Concierge and the security door, gently bumping her out of the way, even as I erected a mystical shield between both of us and the door.
That proved to be a wise move, as there was an odd noise before suddenly, the tempered steel of the security door, along with the reinforced concrete of the wall on either side of it, was blasted apart by a burst of energy. The energy rattled my teeth, even through the shield, and I could feel the ground shake beneath my feet. If that wasn't enough to clue me into who I was facing, the costume sure as hell was.
A Man in a quilted, full-bodied, suit in a mix of yellow and brown, including a full face mask was on the other side of the blasted open door. His forearms and hands were clad in a pair of specialized gauntlets, humming with power, both outstretched in front of the Man as if he was ready to pull the trigger. Behind him, the blasted open wreck of a vault door lay smoking and partially demolished on the floor, near a hole that looked to have been blown into the floor leading down into the sewers. A series of black, nondescript, duffel bags lay on the ground next to the open vault, some of which were stuffed with cash that had clearly been taken from the piles in the vault. I'd clearly just interrupted the Shocker in the middle of a heist.
"Damn it. What gave me away?" Demanded the Shocker.
"Flickering lights in the rest of the building." I offered.
"Shit. I must've hit something important with my Vibra-Shock Charge getting out of the Sewer Tunnels." Muttered the Shocker.
"Look, I don't suppose you'd care to surrender?" I tried.
"Huh. Sounds like you're new at this. I can't make it that easy on you, though." Refused the Shocker.
"All right, fair warning, though. You interrupted a pretty fun night, so if you don't give up, I'm gonna have to make this quick so I can get back to my evening." I warned.
"You think you're hot shit, huh? Well, try this on for size!" Exclaimed the Shocker.
As he said that, he fired both gauntlets at my shield on full power. Much to my surprise, the blast not only cracked my Mystic Shield but completely shattered it, throwing me back into the rear wall of the bottom of the stairwell to boot, even as the Concierge shrieked in surprise and scrambled back up the stairs. Fortunately, even without my various Chi and Mystic Enhancements, the Bear Totem that was always on made me a lot more physically powerful than the average human. The reinforced concrete cracked as a me-shaped indent formed in the rear wall of the bottom of the stairwell, but I was just a bit bruised from the ordeal and able to pull myself out of the me-shaped hole.
"Damn, those things pack a hell of a punch." I mused.
"Damn straight! My Vibra-Shock Gauntlets are beyond bleeding edge!" Boasted the Shocker.
"It's a damn shame you chose crime instead of selling that tech to the Army or something. You could've been rich, but now you're just gonna wind up back in prison when I'm done with you." I remarked.
"Don't mock the Shocker!" Spat the Shocker as he fired off another blast.
This time, however, I was already moving away from the vibrational blast, only catching a glancing blow that bruised my shoulder slightly more than it already had been. Now, however, I was out into the wider Utility Room, calling upon my Chi and Mystical Enhancements. I blurred forward, Shocker aiming a punch for my face as I neared. His humming gauntlet smashed into my cheek, rocking my head back, but now I was in a similar weight class to Skurge the Executioner, though I didn't have the armor or other accessories that let me go beyond that to the level where I could bust up Omega Sentinels with just my physical capabilities. Suffice it to say, that Shocker's punch didn't do much.
"Thank you, sir, may I have another?" I quipped.
"Why is it always assholes who think they're funny I run into?" Questioned the Shocker. Before I could answer, however, the Thing appeared in the blasted open doorway behind me.
"It's Clobberin' Time!" He roared, rushing forward.
"Shit, no, I give!" Protested the Shocker, holding up his hands in surrender.
The Thing skidded to a halt, rocky feet drawing sparks across the concrete of the floor of the Utility Room from friction as he did so. He came to a stop right next to where I was standing in front of the Shocker, a confused look on his face. As he did so, Logan walked into the Utility Room at a much more sedate pace than the Thing's mad rush.
"Yer givin' in?" Queried the Thing.
"Yeah. I can handle the New Kid, but probably not the New Kid, you, and Wolverine at the same time. I know when I'm beat." Admitted the Shocker.
"Sure enuff. Ya'd been beaten so damn many times I'd be more worried if'n ya didn't know when y'were beat." Scoffed Logan, pulling a cigar from somewhere before popping a single, bone, claw, and slicing the tip off.
"That's not really my fault. It just seems like some days, the Universe has got it out for me." Huffed the Shocker.
"Makes no nevermind t'me. Caught is caught." Grunted Logan, lighting up from a matchbook he'd picked up from somewhere.
"Look, just think about what I said, all right? Selling your tech to the Army or Shield or something has a lot less risk than trying to be a thief." I sighed.
"I've thought about going legit." Shrugged the Shocker.
"What's stoppin' ya?" Asked the Thing.
"You White Hats wouldn't understand." Scoffed the Shocker.
"Well, either way, you're headed to jail. Just think about when you're out again." I intoned.
And with that, Logan, the Thing, and I effectively stripped the Shocker of any other pieces of dangerous gear, including his gauntlets and a few pieces of tech that might have been mines or grenades or something, and frog marched him up to the lobby. Five minutes later, the police showed up to take the Shocker into custody. As they were pulling away from the Wallingford Hotel, with the Shocker in the back of a police van, Jen made her way back, packs of beer in her arms, looking bewildered.
"Did I miss something good?" She questioned.
"We'll tell you back upstairs over beers." I promised.
"Yeah, still gotta game ta finish." Agreed the Thing.
In the end, I wound up winning the game, managing to beat out Logan with a king-high flush to his jack-high straight and cinch the victory. Since I promised Jen I'd donate to the Legal Aid Society, that's who I wanted the pot tonight to go to. The Thing said he'd take care of it, and all that was left was to drink and tell stories. By the end of the night, my head was practically swimming in beer. I don't know how we managed, but Jen and I made it back to her apartment. She pulled me over to her bed and pressed her lips against mine, and then I blacked out.
The next thing I remember was waking up twelve hours later with a splitting headache in Jen's bed. There were two aspirin on the nightstand next to a glass of water and a handwritten note from Jen. She apparently had to go into work on one of her precious few days off to handle something about the ongoing case against Roxxon she was working on. I grumbled at that, swallowing the aspirin and downing the water. It would do until I could get back to my tower to brew up an alchemical hangover cure. I swung out of Jen's bed, which had gotten even creakier since the last time I'd been here. That may or may not have had something to do with the heavier use that Jen and I had put it through these past couple dates.
Standing up, I looked around the room but was unable to spot one crucial thing before I could leave. My shirt, shoes, underwear, socks, and bag of holding were strewn about Jen's Bedroom in various places, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out what happened to my pants. I looked for a few more moments before deciding to give it up as part of the cost of dating She-Hulk. A girl like that could literally rip the pants off you if she wanted, after all. Besides, it wasn't as if I would be going anywhere except my tower. Gathering up what possessions I could find, I tugged on my Mystical Energy and apparated away to my tower, landing only ten feet from the entrance and five feet in the air.
Nodding to Bartholomew as I entered my tower, I headed for my workshop to brew up a proper hangover cure to get my day started. Two hours later, I was ensconced in my Library, figuring out some new spells, the pounding in my head having subsided substantially. These I was learning from the Ninth Sacred Scroll of Atlantis, hoping to learn a bit of the Logomancer's Art before inevitably being called back into action again. When I was eventually called back into action, it would be because of a Phone Call from Jubilee.
It seemed she'd looked into my tip about Hunter Brawn and was actually ready to do something about it. . .
XXXX
AN: The next chapter is already up on my Patreon, so check the link in the threadmarked post if you guys feel like throwing me a couple bucks to get chapters in advance. Everyone who does is super appreciated and I can't thank my patrons enough.
All right, so here we have the end of Poker Night. This was a fun little breather to write. I always did like Shocker as a Character, and this gave me an excuse to write him while also allowing for an effective cooldown period between arcs. The next one isn't so much going to be difficult in terms of action as it is going to be difficult emotionally. After all, Hunter Brawn is a normal, if rich, criminal scumbag. His hired help, Legault, isn't anything special in terms of his own superpowers or fighting ability either. The emotional stakes are going to effectively be higher than the physical ones.
At any rate, that's coming up next and is going to be followed up by more Avengers work before Jan heads to another universe again.
Stay tuned. . .