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Four criminals, Ace, Kelly, Al, and Suzuki, are brought together under the enigmatic Hydra Roundtable. Driven by a shared motivation to rob the greedy, protect the innocent, and punish the guilty, they forge a friendship and carry out covert and high-risk jobs in disguise. Through their crimes, they perform honorable acts while climbing the ranks of the organization, all for the thrill of the game and the desire to do what's right.

Thieves Stealing from Thieves: Chapter 4 – Taking What is Stolen

Chapter 4 – Taking What is Stolen

“Come on, Byakko! You got this!” Kelly yells and jumps up from her seat as Al and I tell her to calm down.

“There’s no way he has anything better than what I have. There’s no way,” another gambler mutters.

Right now, the four of us are in a casino on the Golden Coast. It’s called Saul, and the job associated with it is an exclusive one that the Hydra Roundtable has given us because of our good work so far completing our jobs and the secondary objectives in them. From what their representative in a snake mask told us, we’re in the top five groups of the Hydra Roundtable and deserve to take on such a high-paying yet difficult job to undertake. With no better option, we took it, and all the help the Hydra Roundtable can give us, including this chance to get into the high-rollers club of Saul. Suzuki has been on a winning streak, and because of his unwavering confidence and stone-cold poker face, he’s on the verge of winning it all.

“Okay, okay! Fine! I fold! I ain’t got anything anyway,” the opposing gambler says.

It’s revealed that Suzuki’s opponent had two twos, but as for Suzuki, he only had one seven and won. With that, we get our ticket into the high-rollers club. Besides Suzuki’s poker face, it also helped that the Hydra Roundtable gave us an insider who gave Suzuki better cards and paid certain people to play in a certain way and bail out. The four of us are dressed up even more than usual, given where we are and where we’re going. I have my best black suit and outfit on, Al has a crimson suit and outfit, Suzuki is wearing a striking red and white suit and outfit, and Kelly is wearing a long sparkly pink dress with jewelry on her arms and red high heels. As for our weapons, they’re concealed in our outfits, so we couldn’t bring our usual guns to this job; however, this casino does have an armory that we have the key to thanks to the Hydra Roundtable.

Going into the high-rollers club, we see that it looks even more luxurious than the rest of the casino. The Saul casino is decorated partially inspired by the old Roman Empire and the other half is inspired by the old Israeli Empire. This is because the Campione brothers own this casino in conjunction with their Israeli backers, both of whom are suspected, if not confirmed, mobsters. The high-rollers club has more sparkly and colorful lights, has live music from recognizable singers, and the drinks here are more expensive and likely to get you drunk, all signs and lures to make the high-rollers give back the money they won. Despite everything we see, the four of us walk around calmly and act as if we’re falling for it all by playing the tables, machines, and going to the bar to get ourselves some drinks.

While walking around, we see one of our targets, Arnold “Joker” Ronaldo. The degenerate is drinking and fondling his women like he usually is, while blowing the casino’s money on high bets. The four of us sit at a nearby table to quietly talk and pretend to play.

“Didn’t he fix the World Series and casinos in Sin City?” Al asks.

“He did,” I say.

“He looks like a man of lost honor. There’s no soul in that body of his,” Suzuki says.

“He’s a creep. Don’t expect me to get on his good side to get anything out of him,” Kelly says.

“You won’t have to,” I say. “Our employers have given us everything we need. Speaking of them, I feel like they’re more involved here than in the previous jobs, given all the help they’ve managed to give us.”

“Are you still on about this? Does it matter who they are?” Al asks.

“Who do you think they are? The Campione brothers or someone associated with them?” Suzuki asks.

“Could be. Could also be people with ties to the Vorfahren, given how many Israelis we’ve been after. I mean, we’re supposed to get to other Israeli backers and writers who are influencing the movie scene here on the Golden Coast.”

“It couldn’t be the Vorfahren. Pushing the Israelis out of the Golden Coast means that the mob-backed Catholic studios get to have their way with the movies,” Kelly says.

“So there has to be mob involvement here. What do you think, Cappuccino?” I ask.

“People say the mob is everywhere in business and government. Who cares? Let’s get this job done and the degenerates out of the movie and casino business.”

Looking at Al, who isn’t looking at me, I say, “At this point, I’m assuming your family has a role in this.”

Al looks at me and says, “Is there a problem with that or what we’re doing?”

“No.”

“Then there’s no reason to keep talking about this. Let’s get to work.”

Looking to Kelly and Suzuki, they nod in agreement, and I shrug and nod.

“Let’s get this done,” I say.

We motion to Joker’s girls, who then pick him up and carry him away. Following them to an employee’s-only section, Joker complains about having one more game, but can’t resist the allure of his women and entirely shifts his focus to them. He holds his women, who are actually restraining him for Kelly, who walks through the crowd of women, cuts Joker’s throat, and stabs him in the chest. The women take the dying Joker away and thank us for ending his hold over them, and to make the other Israeli mafia suffer since they’ve had their perverted way with them as well.

“I promise you, they’ll suffer the same fate,” Kelly says.

A few of them come with us to show us where the armory is. We go in, arm up, and put on the clown masks left for us. I take two pistols loaded with rifle rounds; Suzuki takes the revolvers loaded with shotgun shells; Kelly takes the machine pistols; and Al takes the assault rifles with grenade launchers attached to the underbarrel and has their stocks removed so he can dual-wield them. Loaded up, we are led to where the Israeli mafia bosses are, a secret room that only one of them knows the code to unlock. Inside, we find strippers and prostitutes practicing their trade in front of everyone, people betting with their slaves, and playing a dangerous game of liar, where if you’re called out for a liar, you have to play Russian roulette with your life on the line. Everyone in the room has some kind of mask on, so we move around the room to get the best possible positions on our targets before striking.

Just as we go into action, one person playing liar is called out, spins the barrel of his revolver, and shoots himself in the head. It’s then that we start shooting the rest of them, except for the slaves, strippers, and prostitutes who don’t fight back. With all the Israeli mafia bosses and backers of films on the Golden Coast dead, the four of us head out of the room and take a secret staircase down to the furthest floor of the casino, where we find the casino’s vault of cash. Much of the cash is in crates, ready for transport, and on an elevator ready to be taken up.

“You think our employers would notice if we skimmed a little off the top?” Kelly asks.

“Given my suspicions of them, yes, they would, so don’t bother doing anything, Rosebud,” I say.

“Remember, we’re here for a greater reward,” Suzuki says.

“Yeah, I know. I was just saying what my temptations were thinking, Byakko.”

“Let’s get this cash out of here and into its rightful hands,” Al says.

“Let the real party begin!” Kelly says as she eagerly wheels the rest of the crates of cash onto the elevator.

Al, Suzuki, and I help her, and with all the cash on the elevator, we take it to the top floor of the casino. From the very top, which looks down on the main casino floor, we get all the crates of cash near them and open them all up.

I say, “May I have your attention, please? Everyone, turn your heads up, and behold, all the cash you’ve lost and that was stolen from you by this rigged casino. Take what was yours and take even more than that! Today, and today only, stealing is justified!”

Stacks of cash fall down the spiral hole onto the casino floor, where hundreds of people reach up to catch the falling cash and pick it up off the ground. In the frenzy, we go to a nearby elevator, take it to the ground floor, and use the chaos of the situation to find a place to get rid of our masks and weapons and then leave the casino, just as cops arrive to control the situation. By then, my friends and I are watching the situation from afar and sharing drinks.

“I feel for those people who the cops are taking the stolen cash from. I really do,” Kelly says.

“The greedy bastards let their lust for money weigh them down. They couldn’t take a fair amount and leave the casino a different way or before the police arrived as we did,” Suzuki says.

“For me, it was worth it just to bring justice to those degenerates and seeing everyone happy over getting as much cash as they can,” Al says.

“That’s the only reward for us besides a celebration at a high-rise bar restaurant that the Hydra Roundtable is inviting us to because of our good work. There’s no cash reward this time,” I say.

My friends and I stop watching the chaos we’ve caused and go to our celebration at the high-rise bar restaurant that the Hydra Roundtable has arranged for us. Going there, we find the food and drinks to be high quality, and the view of the Golden Coast from where we are is an amazing one, especially with the sun starting to set. All of a sudden, the lights go off for a few seconds, and the view of the sunset is blocked off by metal barriers. The four of us get up with our pistols drawn, and in the next instant, the lights come back on, and we see that everyone in the bar, from the patrons to the bartenders and waiters, is wearing different variations of snake masks, all of whom have their pistols drawn and pointed at us.

“Why didn’t I expect it to be a setup?” I ask myself.

“It’s not the bad kind of setup, Ace Argentum. It’s quite the opposite. Please, put down your guns,” the bartender with a snake mask says.

Looking at my friends, they nod, and we put away our pistols, and all the people in snake masks do the same.

The bartender walks over to us and continues, “You four did great work at the Saul casino today. Fine work, that took restraint to accomplish.”

“It wasn’t that difficult because of all the help you gave,” Kelly says.

“What I mean is accomplishing exactly what we told you. Lesser men and women would’ve taken off with the casino’s money, but you instead gave it to the people. That speaks volumes of the purity of your souls.” The bartender is now sitting with us. He folds his hands. “You may not have been rewarded monetarily, but you will be by entering our middle circle. Inside the middle circle of the Hydra Roundtable are the most secretive, well-paying, but also world-changing jobs.”

“World-changing in what sense?” I ask.

“In the sense that you already know. Given the jobs you’ve taken, you’ll do more of the sort, killing the scum of humanity, stealing from those with excess and ill-gotten wealth, protecting the innocent, and giving back to those who were taken advantage of. The jobs will merely be more dangerous and secretive. What do you think?”

“If it means sticking it to those who deserve an ass-kicking, then count me in,” Kelly says.

“I won’t turn down the opportunity to grow in virtue. I’m in as well,” Al says.

“The more difficult the task, the more honor, glory, and righteousness there is to gain. Of course, I’m in,” Suzuki says.

“Where my new friends go, I’ll go as well. Besides, I’d like to continue advancing in the ranks of the Hydra Roundtable if it means learning more about you shady people,” I say.

“You will, Ace. You’ll get the answers you want, in time,” the bartender says.

The lights flicker off again, and we hear the sound of people moving around. When the lights come back on again, the metal barriers recede, and everyone in the bar restaurant has disappeared without a trace.

“That was needlessly dramatic,” Kelly points out.

“It’s just their style. I kind of like it,” Al says.

“They do have a flair about them. I don’t care for it, but I do appreciate their want to change the world for the better,” Suzuki says.

“That honorable aspect is what is making me like them more. I think I’ve truly found my place to be,” I say.

“And that’s being with us? You’re crazy, man, but then again, so am I,” Kelly says.

“You’re among like-minded crazy saints in the making,” Al says.

“In the beginning, you said you wanted actually to help the poor, Ace. You’ve had a burning desire to make up for your previous work and make things right, and now you have it after proving yourself worthy of the task. Such is the grace of God,” Suzuki says.

“To the grace of God,” I say.

The four of us clink glasses and celebrate together as we move into a more dangerous but exciting future, where four people who are thieves and killers can change the world for the better through what we do best.

The End