As the night wore on and the hands got dealt, a few things became apparent with how everyone played Poker. Wolverine was probably the best all-around player at the table, probably because the man had been playing for centuries. The Thing was a bulldozer, but an effective one. He didn't bluff himself, and only generally tended to play hands where he knew he had a shot to win, but because of that, it was damn hard to bluff him or snake pots out from under him. If anything, Thor was even more difficult to bluff, owing to having Loki for a Brother, though he wasn't as good at bluffing himself. He had a tell, a prickle of static electricity that you could pick up on if you knew what to look for.
Jen was, somewhat shockingly, the weakest link. She wasn't as good a player as anyone else, though I figured she'd clean up at any other table. She was a little too easily bluffed. As for me, well, I was just as impossible to bluff as Thor. Even when I wasn't actively using it, the Force gave me a gut instinct whenever something was off with things, the same as it would for Force Sensitives who had no training. I was also decent at bluffing since I did have some level of acting capability from my previous life. Granted, I had only done Amateur stuff, but for an amateur, I'd been at least a little talented.
As the night wore on, Jen went bust first, the victim of a bad beat as Thor managed to pull off a win on the River. She'd had pocket sevens, with Thor having nine-ten suited in clubs. The flop had come out seven of spades, six of hearts, and queen of clubs, with the turn being the three of diamonds. Unfortunately, Thor managed to snag the eight of clubs on the River, giving him the Ten High Straight he'd been looking for.
"Bad beat." Grunted Logan.
"You can say that again." Huffed the Thing.
"Verily, it appears as though I have won the day." Grinned Thor.
"I can't believe it!" Exclaimed Jen.
"Twas a fair contest." Frowned Thor.
"Yeah, yeah. I guess I'll just grab a drink or something." Sighed Jen as Thor scooped all the chips over to his side of the table.
"It's all right, Babe. I can make a donation in your name to the Legal Aid Society." I offered.
"That's sweet, but it's not the point! I thought I had him!" Huffed Jen.
"You know, you look cute when you're frustrated." I chuckled.
"You know I could knock you through the wall, right?" Demanded Jen, face darkening into a dimmer shade of green as she blushed.
"Easy there. Y'don't wanna see Jen when she's angry." Chuckled Logan.
Jen ignored Logan's teasing to head over toward the small bar that had been set up for us, courtesy of Tony Stark's Money, and opened the fridge before letting out a groan of frustration.
"Damnit Logan, you drank all the beer!" Hissed Jen.
"Seems like we're gonna need someone ta go on a beer run. Who wants ta head down ta the bodega next door fer a sec?" Questioned the Thing.
"I am afraid I do not carry much in the way of Midgardian Currency. Certainly not the requisite amount to restock our stores of ale." Refused Thor.
"I can go." I offered.
"Yer still in th' game." Pointed out Logan.
"It's fine. I'll go. I could use some cooling off from that last hand anyway." Insisted Jen.
"Wouldja?" Queried the Thing.
"I just said so, didn't I? What sort of beer does everyone want?" Asked Jen.
"Molson fer me." Answered Logan.
"Figures. I'll take Guinness." I chuckled
"Him I get, he's a canuck, but yer not Irish." Pointed out the Thing.
"Doesn't mean I can't like their beer." I shrugged.
"Fair enuff. It's Miller Time fer me." Huffed the Thing.
"You drink that pisswater?" I questioned.
"Hey, we can't all shell out fer imported booze." Shrugged the Thing.
"Thor, what about you?" Queried Jen.
"I must confess to not being quite so familiar with Midgardian Beer. Usually, when drinking with you all, I simply accept drinks I am handed." Admitted Thor.
"You know what, grab a case of Rohrbach Scotch Ale if they have it. I think he'll like it. In fact, if they have it, grab two, since I'll drink that over Guinness." I suggested.
"Y'know yer beer. I can respect that." Grunted Logan nodding.
"Yeah, if ya don't mind fancy-pants craft beer." Scoffed the Thing.
"I shall trust your judgment, Friend Jan." Nodded Thor.
"Right, and if they don't have it?" Asked Jen.
"Two cases of Guinness ought to do the trick." I shrugged.
"All right, Everyone chip in." Insisted Jen.
"Nah, I got this." I refuted, pulling a few hundreds out of my wallet.
"Bein' a wizard must pay." Grunted the Thing.
"I mean, I have a bunch of really good investments, so it's not just sorcery." I protested.
"I knew there was a reason I liked you." Smirked Jen as she took the cash, giving me a peck on the cheek as she did.
Then she was gone and we went back to the game. The next hand saw me with pocket aces, and I decided to push it from the get-go, immediately raising three hundred. Thor and Logan called, while the Thing folded right away. The Flop came Ace of Hearts, King of Spades, and Jack of Diamonds. As we kept the hand going, Logan spoke up.
"So, you an' Jen, huh?" He questioned.
"What about it?" I queried.
"Jen's a good friend, Kid. Ya don't wanna mess around with her." Added the Thing.
"Wait, am I getting the shovel speech?" I blinked.
"Wut's th' shovel speech?" Asked Logan.
"You know, the whole be good to her or they'll never find the hole we dump your body in thing? I call it the shovel speech because it implies a grave." I responded.
"Verily, I suppose you are." Nodded Thor.
"You guys don't have to worry about that from me. I'm not the kind of guy to sleep around on someone or anything." I insisted.
"Yeah? Good. Jen's had a buncha guys not be great to her. She don't really do long-term relationships no more 'cause of it. When ya got that level o' heartbreak in yer past, it's hard ta trust again. She likes ya, though, so we're only gonna warn ya once." Rumbled the Thing.
"Still, ain't never heard it called th' shovel speech before. That's a good one. Gonna have t'remember that." Smirked Logan.
"Yeah, I get it, really. Five hundred to you, by the way." I agreed, before raising after the turn came up with the Ace of Spades.
After one more round of betting, the River Card came out the Jack of Clubs. We showed our cards after a bit more back and forth. Thor had come out with a full house, Jacks over Aces, having pocket jacks. Logan, meanwhile, had Kings over Aces, with pocket kings. When I flipped over my pocket aces, showing my four-of-a-kind, Logan let out a short bark of laughter.
"Damn, kid. Looks like y'got th' Devil's luck." He chuckled.
"It happens." I shrugged, before scooping the chips of the pot over to my side of the table.
We continued playing a few more hands, though our game would soon be interrupted by events occurring elsewhere in the hotel. . .
XXXX
As Jen Walters shopped for beer and snacks at the small bodega on the corner near the Hotel, and Jan, Thor, Logan, and the Thing played cards upstairs, a very different scene was unfolding in the basement of the Wallingford Hotel. Down here, there were all sorts of utility rooms, from the laundry room to storage for the Hotel's Bar. Most pressingly was the Hotel's Vault, where several million dollars was currently being kept behind tempered steel.
The thing about New York City was that it was largely built on top of dozens of tunnels going around and criss-crossing underneath the City. The Wallingford Hotel was no different, and the Vault in the basement sat right above a section of old utility tunnels from the Turn of the Century. It was this stretch of utility tunnel that had provided Herman Schultz, AKA the Criminal Known as the Shocker, with the path to his target.
"I dunno why I never tried this before. Beats walking in and holding the joint up, anyway. That shit draws way too much attention." Mused the Shocker, as he wandered through the steam-choked utility tunnel, using a glow light and a map of the tunnels to guide his way.
Of course, that wasn't, strictly speaking, true. He knew why he'd never tried the tunnels under the city before. All sorts of shit lurked in the undercroft of New York City, and not just the usual rats. Stretches of Tunnels were home to things like Doc Connors whenever he went full lizard, the tribe of Mutants known as the Morlocks, and even stranger shit. Shocker had even heard there was a small town down here populated entirely by the sort of shit you'd only see in Horror Movies like Vampires, Mummies, Werewolves, and shit.
Still, Shocker could dismiss some of the stranger stories, like the Monster Metropolis. It's not like he'd ever seen any evidence of it, and while he knew Doc Connors and the Morlocks existed, the former wasn't currently transformed into the Lizard, and the latter had been winnowed down to a handful of folks for years now. The Shocker had figured if there was any time to brave these tunnels, it was now.
"Beats taking the normal route and getting beat on by Spider-Man, anyway." Shrugged Shocker.
Eventually, he'd managed to make his way right under the Hotel Basement, grinning behind his quilted, yellow, mask. This should be the spot, right here. He just needed to take the Vibra-Charge he'd jury-rigged and place it on the ceiling. He'd made sure that the charge had just enough juice to collapse a hole in the tunnel he could use to enter the basement through and not enough to collapse the whole building. He wasn't Osborn or Doc Octavius, after all. He didn't want to cause a shitload of collateral damage. He was a thief, he just wanted his payday, for crying out loud. Really, the Shocker resented how he was constantly getting lumped in with those nutcases.
"I guess it comes with the territory. Costume and super-science tend to make folks think 'death laser' rather than thief. The Webhead still doesn't need to be such an asshole about it." Grumbled Shocker as he set up his Vibra-Charge.
That was the one thing he did have in common with guys like Octavius and Osborne. Shocker absolutely hated Spider-Man, though not cause he'd been foiled or something by him. He'd been a professional thief for years before he'd cobbled his first Vibra-Shock gauntlets together, after all. In his mind, everyone gets captured sometimes. There was just no real way to avoid that as a thief. Shocker had come to terms with that even while he was just plain old Herman Shultz, Safecracker.
No, what Shocker hated was how Spider-Man kicked his ass so hard, all while making those stupid fucking jokes. He wasn't Doc Connors or Osborne, who could take the hits. Shocker was literally just a guy in a suit, after all. There was something about the way the Webhead kicked his ass all while tossing off quips that rubbed him raw. If the guy was gonna break his ribs while capturing him, the least he could do was not be a smug prick about it. That was what really got Shocker's goat.
There was no Spider-Man in the sewers, though, and as Shocker set the charges, he sent out a prayer to any God who cared enough to hear him that he wouldn't show up after Shocker set the charges off to mock him while kicking his ass. Shocker stepped back around the tunnel corner and flicked the switch on the detonator for the Vibra-Charge. There was a rumbling as the vibrational forces did their thing, and then he had his entrance into the Vault Room. Little did Shocker know, his prayer would be answered, though not quite in the way he'd been hoping.
After all, it wouldn't be Spider-Man taking him down today. . .
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 next chapter. Jan gets the shovel speech from Jen's friends, while also doing pretty well at poker. Meanwhile, Herman Schulz, AKA the Shocker, is about to try to rob the Hotel where the Floating Super-hero Poker Game is being held tonight. Shocker's prayers to not be captured by Spider-Man are about to be answered in the worst way possible for him. He'll get Thor, The Thing, Wolverine, and Jan instead.
A note on the characterization of the Shocker. Herman Schulz has been continuously portrayed in the comics as a guy who just wants to be rich and uses his experience as a professional thief and his Vibra-Shock tech as the means to do it. I've tried to go with that here. He's not in the costumed villainy game for egotism or to conquer the world or anything. In fact, the main reason he still does the supervillain thing here instead of selling his Vibra-Shock Tech to the Military and raking in cash via government contracts or something is because he has personal beef with Spider-Man.
At any rate, the next chapter will involve the inevitable confrontation between Shocker and the Heroes at the Poker Game.
Stay tuned. . .