The crowd continued to stir and talk amongst themselves, although about half of them left the moment Vincent started to play against Hanzo. Both of them were seated at opposite ends of the table. Each of them had 3 marbles in their hands—Vincent's were black, while Hanzo’s were blue.
“So how are we gonna compete in this game?” Vincent asked Hanzo.
“You’ve never played against anyone and you still challenged me?”
“Yeah, so?”
Hanzo paused and fumbled the marbles around in his hand. “We take turns rolling marbles,” he began to explain, “until we are out. We don’t win or lose anything until the very end.”
“I’m followin’ you.”
“We decide on who the winner is by whoever ended up with the most money, adding up our total rolls. Whoever has the most wins all of the money earned, and that money does not come from the casino, but rather, the pocket of the loser.”
“But what if we both roll below zero?”
“I’ve never done that before, and,” he looked over at his servants, “I never will.”
Vincent furled his eyebrows and replied, “Alright then, Mr. Hotshot. Well, let’s get going.”
Hanzo then motioned towards Vincent and said, “Since you’re so confident, why don’t you go first?”
“Sounds good to me,” Vincent replied, immediately rolling his marble. It bounced off of 2 walls with an intense speed. With the momentum it carried from the second bounce, it should've had enough speed to make at least 2 more. However, the direction that it bounced off of was directly towards the other side of the table, which because of the wall’s weird shape, was extremely far away. Because of that, it stopped just shy of the wall, landing on a 400 square.
“Not too bad,” Vincent remarked.
“But not good,” Hanzo countered. He then rolled his marble. The way he rolled it was graceful, elegant, and efficient. The marble effortlessly glided across the table, beautifully intersecting with multiple walls, which seemed to gently push the marble in an optimal way. The marble finally rested on the 1000 square.
“That,” Hanzo stated, “is how it’s done.”
Vincent gave him a neutral smile and rolled his second marble. This time, the marble only bounced off of a single wall. It glided towards the middle and stopped on the 2500 square.
He then looked back up at Hanzo and gave a cocky, yet weirdly sincere smile. Hanzo’s expression remained the same, and with that same expression, he rolled his second marble.
Like the last one, his second marble rolled with a marvelous intent, with each turn reflecting the deep blue color of the marble itself. However, unlike the last roll, the result wasn’t nearly as great. The marble bounced off of 3 walls, only to land on a -200 square.
He didn’t move. He just stared at the marble as it rested in peace. Without any warning, his arm suddenly flung to his side, the back of his hand colliding with the nearest servant. The impact sounded like a wet towel plopping on the floor with extreme force.
The servant, even after taking such a blow, remained motionless and expressionless. Their cheeks began to turn red, and then bruised up just a little.
“Why the hell did ya do that?” Vincent asked, the concern in his voice somewhat showing through.
“Do what? I simply got angry,” Hanzo replied, his calmness eerily back.
The whiplash of emotions and actions that Vincent just witnessed caused him to evaluate what just happened. He shook his head, made a mental note of that, and continued to play.
Before he rolled his last marble, Hanzo piped up. “This is the roll that really matters, dirt boy.”
Vincent looked up, confused, and replied, “Ok?”
“The last roll is often referred to as ‘the roll of fate’ because of what it means.”
“You’re already losing me,” Vincent stated, impatiently rolling his last marble in his hand,
“It’s called this because it can drastically affect the fate of the game. You could be rolling so well, but if your very last roll is a horrible one, then all of that great work you did during the rest of the game was for nothing.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Vincent confidently replied, “I got a feeling that fate and I are pretty close.”
Vincent then licked his lips and rolled his last marble. The beauty in black glided across the table, bouncing off of 3 walls, before ultimately stopping on a -100 square. He frowned a bit and backed away from the table, deflated.
Hanzo, who was now smiling just a little, effortlessly rolled his last marble. As it was rolling, he commented, “Fate is a strange thing. It seems to always favor the most worthy. Tell me, do you believe in fate?”
“I don’t know,” Vincent answered. “I haven't given it any thought until recently.”
The marble ricocheted off a wall.
“Perhaps that's why your luck is so shitty,” Hanzo replied.
The marble bounced off of another wall.
“We don’t know that yet, the game isn’t over,” Vincent countered. “Besides, I always used to call luck something that you make, never somethin’ that’s given to you.”
“Oh really? And what changed that? Or has it not changed?”
The marble hit its 3rd wall.
Vincent thought for a second before replying, “I’m too sure, it just seems like I’m suddenly bound for great things. Ya know, I’ve been recently told that my fate is to save the world.”
“I’m sure that’s the case,” Hanzo stated. “Let’s first see if you can save yourself.”
The marble finally came to a complete stop, landing on the 2000 space. The moment it did Hanzo casually leaned back into his hair and rapidly grabbed the arm of one of his servants. He slammed it down to the table, causing a loud slamming sound to emanate. The servant’s arms cracked, and yet, they did not give any signs of pain.
“Bro,” Vincent exclaimed, “what the fuck are you doing?”
“What?” Hanzo casually replied. “I’m just celebrating my win. Am I not allowed to celebrate?”
“You’re literally abusing your servants. So no, you’re not.”
Hanzo straightened his posture and clasped his arms together. He released his servant's arm and stared right back at Vincent. “And why not?”
“Are you dumb?” Vincent asked.
The crowd that he had forgotten that surrounded them started to murmur amongst themselves. Some of the ‘oooo’-ed when Vincent threw out the insult, but most of them remained in their tense atmosphere.
Vincent continued his thought. “It’s wrong. Blatantly doin’ shit like that is wrong on so many levels.”
“Not in here,” Hanzo quickly retaliated.
“What do you mean?”
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“This servant isn’t a person, you naive child, they are my property. The only rules of this place protect gamblers from violence. I can do whatever I want with what I own. Have you forgotten what kind of paradise this place is?”
Vincent tensed up his fist. His muscles flexed with anger, but before they could move on their own, he calmed them down. He took a deep breath and said, “This place is hell and you know it, especially for your servants. So I’m going to demand that you stop hitting them.”
“What do you wager?” Hanzo calmly asked.
“Wager?”
“You want to stop expressing my emotions, right? Put up an equal price to bet. If you win, then I’ll stop. If I win, then I take everything you wagered.”
“Fine,” Vincent replied. He then pressed a button on the display screen, showing what he was willing to bet.
Hanzo barely glanced down and replied, “That’s a good chunk of what you have. Are you sure you would like to bet that?”
“Just play the damn game,” Vincent said, his voice showing how annoyed he was.
“Very well. I accept,” Hanzo agreed. He then motioned towards one of his servants, calling, “Baako, come here.”
The familiar child stepped forward and sat in a chair directly between Vincent and Hanzo. He took a quick look at Vincent, but he kept a neutral expression on his face. He then placed his hands underneath the table and looked straight forward.
“What’s going on?” Vincent reasonably asked.
“This little child is my good luck charm—I always bring him over when I play for real at my table.”
Vincent glanced over at Baako and then back at Hanzo. “Whatever. Same thing, right? Whoever gets the most money from three rolls is the winner?”
“Precisely. And if you don’t mind, I would like to roll first.”
Vincent wordless crossed his arms and leaned back. Hanzo leaned forwards, twirled his ocean-blue marble between his fingers, and then glided across the table. It finally rested on the 500 space after bouncing off of 2 walls.
Hanzo then looked up and gestured for him to take his turn. Vincent rolled his eyes and threw his marble onto the table. It rolled around, only bouncing off of 1 wall. It stopped on the 800 space.
Hazo didn’t react. He simply and wordlessly let his second marble fly. This one didn’t even touch a single wall and it landed on a -2000 space.
“Sucks for you,” Vincent teased.
“Well, actually, nothing happens, seeing as I didn’t hit a single wall,” Hanzo argued.
“Oh, right,” Vincent said. He then cracked his neck and let his second marble loose. It rolled around, colliding with 4 walls, before landing on the 200 space. “Seems I still got that luck, huh?”
Hanzo didn’t react to his words, he simply glanced over at Baako, and rolled his last marble. Unlike every other time, this one rolled with some force behind it. It bounced off of 4 walls before approaching the -300 square. However, before it came to a complete stop, it seemed to slightly curve its trajectory away from that space, instead, stopping on the 1500 space.
The slightest smile crept across his wretched face as he looked up at Vincent, expectantly. Vincent answered this look with his own look of confidence. He wound his arm back and launched his last marble. He knew that he had to wrack up some major points if he had any shot at beating Hanzo.
The ball ricocheted off of 6 different walls, and its course was heading straight for the jackpot. Unfortunately, the smile that started to find purchase on his face started to fade as quickly as it came. Just as the marble was making its way towards the center, it curved ever so slightly, causing it to end up on a 0 space.
Vincent stared at it in slight disbelief. As he did, he heard another smacking sound. Looking up, he saw Hanzo’s fist connected to the stomach of one of his female servants.
Vincent stood up and started to says, “Hey what are—”
“What?” Hanzo immediately answered. “I’m just showing how happy I am with that win.”
Vincent licked the inside of his lips and then said, “Again.”
“Excuse me?”
“Let’s run it back; let’s play again.”
Hanzo brought his hands back to his own side and answered, “Sure, for the same price.”
And so they played again. They were each given three more marbles to roll. Each one took turns rolling their marbles, and just like last game, Vincent ended up losing.
“Again,” Vincent said.
“You really want to lose even more of your money?” Hanzo slyly asked.
Vincent didn’t say a word, instead, he rolled his first marble. Hanzo replied by rolling his first marble, and so they played another game...and Vincent lost another chunk of money.
The moment the game ended, Vincent said, “Again.”
Hanzo looked over at Baako, who shot him a quick glance, and then wordlessly picked up his 3 marbles. He smacked one of his servants and rolled a marble. Vincent didn’t flinch.
Vincent lost.
“Again,” Vincent said.
Again, he lost.
“Again.”
Again, he lost.
“Again.”
Again, he lost.
“Again.”
The crowd around them grew with each passing game. More noise was added to the sea of voices that surrounded the space. The neutral talking soon turned into slight cheers for Vincent whenever his marble landed on a good space and boos whenever Hanzo won.
“There’s no way you have anything left,” Hanzo replied, cracking his fingers. “So it seems like there is nothing else that you can bet. With that being the case, I’m going to take my leave now.”
Vincent looked down at his total amount of money left, and saw that it was pitifully low. There wasn’t even close to enough to play another game. He then looked up at Hanzo with determination still in his eyes.
“I’ll bet myself,” he stated.
Hanzo stopped dead in his tracks. He was already walking away from the table when Vincent said that. He turned around and looked at Vincent.
“Don’t say things you don’t mean,” Hanzo replied.
“Let’s play again,” was all Vincent said in reply. As he said that, he looked at Baako and that child’s face broke just for a second. A single worried tear floated down Baako’s cheek, but he quickly wiped it.
Hanzo looked at Baako and then back at Vincent. “Fine, but we’ll only roll one marble—I’m getting quite bored of this game.”
Vincent nodded his head in agreement. The energy around the crowd was electric, yet still. It was like watching a fuse make its way to a bomb that could explode at any second. The crowd held in their potential energy as every tensed eye was solely focused on the table.
Vincent smiled, threw his marble in the air, and rolled it harder than he had ever rolled a marble. After hitting 5 or 6 walls, it still continued to move. It collided with a few more walls, bashing them with an intent unlike any other. It was as if the marble was trying with all its might to break free from what was holding it captive.
After a few more collisions, the marble finally began to slow. It slowly approached the -1000 square, which was directly in its path. This would be the final nail in Vincent’s coffin…
...or it would’ve been if the marble didn’t change direction last second. Just narrowly avoiding that punishing space, it instead came to a stop on the 800 square.
The moment it stopped, Hanzo shot Baako the darkest look he had given all day. His hands twitched and instinctually lounged out in Baako’s direction. But the moment they reached his throat, he pulled them back and nervously looked around.
He took a few deep breaths, continued to glare at Baako, and then shook his whole body. His composure was back to the way it was and he calmly grabbed his blue marble. He took one last commanding look at Baako, and rolled his marble.
The marble casually made its way around the table, as if it knew that it had already won. It only bounced off 1 wall, but that was all it needed. The cocky marble waltzed its way directly towards the center of the table—towards the jackpot.
It crossed the threshold of the black circle in the middle and began to make itself home there, assured of its victory. But just as it became comfortable, it continued to roll. Its trajectory was altered in the slightest bit, causing it to continue to roll outside of the jackpot area, and into the -3000 square, where it came to a complete halt.
The crowd let loose its stored energy, cheering Vincent’s name. As the positive energy of Vincent’s side continued to grow, Hanzo slammed his fist into the table. His face showed anger and emotion unlike anything he had displayed so far.
ARgghgHHHGHgh!!” he yelled as he charged in Baako’s direction.
He rocketed his fist directly towards the face of the child, but it was intercepted by another force. Vincent stood directly in between them and grabbed Hanzo’s oncoming fist.
“You’re not allowed to do that anymore, remember?” Vincent stoically said.
The mad Diadem withdrew his arm and wound it back for another attack. “Said who?” he spouted. “I can do whatever I want, I don’t give a damn about—’ but he stopped his thought short when he looked around at the hundreds of people in the crowd that surrounded him. There was not a single one of them whose eyes looked at him with anything but hate.
He then slammed the table one more time, huffed, and stormed away. “Let’s go, slaves!” he called out as he marched.
Baako worriedly looked back at Vincent and Vincent replied to his look by saying, “Don’t worry, I’ll be back for you.”
As the rest of Hanzo’s entourage left, the crowd erupted in cheer. The sheer volume almost caused Vincent’s ears to burst, but he didn’t care. He was hoisted on top of the shoulders by a couple of the people in the crowd and the energy continued to grow.
As he looked around at the hundreds of people in the crowd that surrounded him, there was not a single one of them whose eyes looked at him with anything but reverence and admiration. He could even see the construction workers on the scaffolding cheering.
While he was enjoying the attention and love, that victory meant more to Vincent in other ways. It was true that he was able to beat a Diadem in a game, he earned something else much more important by winning that game: an idea of what his distraction would be during the raid and how he would do it.