A cute “Fuaah” escaped my mouth as I woke up. Having slept quite well after unlocking my psionic powers I felt completely refreshed.

Originally, I was supposed to have a full day of lessons, but considering the political manoeuvring I should deal with today that was put off until tomorrow.

I headed towards the bath. Along the way, I encountered two maids sweeping the hallways.

“Ah, perfect!” I said, catching their attention, “Later today I will be returning the favour to the Viper clan, we’ll be assimilating them rather forcefully so I want a suitable outfit for the occasion. Deliver it to the baths.”

The maids bowed and began to head off to perform the task delegated to them. I interrupted by grabbing a maid’s wrist before they had left.

“You’re with me.” I said seductively, adding a wink for good measure.

Both maids blushed, by now it was common knowledge that I was into girls. Some questions were circulating about my true sexuality, the maids are convenient and thus I’ve had fun with many of them but have yet to experiment with a man; the general speculation is that I’m lesbian but never once have I said anything against interacting with men. My personal answer is quite simply “I don’t know”.

Nothing particularly noteworthy happened during the bath. The maid sat in the bath with a blissful face and shallow breathing after I was done, but I didn’t find myself satisfied. Feeling the need to find someone who will reciprocate the act next time, I got out the bath slightly irritated but remembered the maid that made last night’s dress and cheered up.

Coincidentally, I found last night’s ‘battle dress’ waiting in the dressing room. It was indeed quite suitable for today’s agenda. After unfolding the outfit, I noticed it was not exactly what I was wearing last night, the main piece had been replaced but retained the style; this main piece was crimson and had golden tribal accents instead of a dragon, the front of the skirt was slightly shorter and the back was much longer. The leggings had also been modified, they now covered more of my outer thigh and less of the inner thigh while being supported by straps on the outer side and holding a whiter tint. The plated leather boots had also been upgraded into dark silver high-heel metal boots that looked like something a Valkyrie would wear. Finally, the gauntlets were recoloured to the same dark silver as the boots and the gloves matched the leggings.

Now wearing the remodelled battle dress I admired myself in the mirror while redoing my braids.

The sultriness had been upgraded and the outfit had much more personality than before, there was now a hint of profound power and defiance. I owe that pseudo-seamstress for this one, I should learn her name next time.

Satisfied with my appearance, I left to gather my troops before departing for Viper’s headquarters. Unfortunately, I must do this myself since Mr Wizard is no longer around to sort this mess out for me.

I walked to the barracks, or ‘dorms’ as the men call it. It wasn’t far and I reached it in a minute. Inside the room, I found four men lazing around and chatting nonchalantly, it was fine as they were off-duty anyway.

One of them noticed me in the door way and quickly stood up to greet me. He bowed respectfully and addressed me.

“Good morning Lady Cusith!”

The other three perked up, one leapt to his feet and gave me the same respectful bow as the first man but the other two were not quite as quick to show their obedience. One gave me a look of disdain while the other looked indecisive, eventually the last man gave a small bow to show acceptance. I accepted the gesture even though it lacked the level of respect that the previous two showed.

Wondering about the difference in attitudes I noticed that the first two men seemed oddly familiar; they were survivors of last night’s incident. That certainly explains their attitude.

As I was about to speak, I was rudely interrupted by the third man. The man was massive, muscles everywhere and ridiculously tall. His arms were as wide as my waist, which is less impressive than it sounds since I have a very lithe build. The man stood up and turned to me while releasing a deep and guttural laugh.

“HAHAHA! A little thing like you wants to tell me what to do? You must be really stupid to come to the men’s domain… girl. I’ll show you how a real gang works!”

“I’d like to see you try.” I said calmly, hiding my irritation.

The man gave a twisted grin and slowly walked up to me with a confident gait.

Glancing around the room I saw two men rubbing their temples and one man watching closely.

When the massive man reached me, he stopped for a moment and looked down at me with an intimidating glare as he said “Time to learn how a real gang works”.

He thrust an open hand towards my throat. I shifted sideways and avoided his grip with ease, following up with a gut punch before disturbing his stance by kicking the back of his knee. As he fell to his knee I grabbed his collar and threw him face-first into the floor. To finish off, I put a foot on his back with excess force as I drew my sidearm and aimed at his head.

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“Something like this?” I asked coyly as I disabled the safety.

He looked up at me in horror and started trembling. In my peripheral vision, I could see the third man nodding approvingly to himself, it seems I gained his approval.

“Back to my original goal,” I said while putting my weapon away and stepping off the man, “I want to take twenty men as an escort. I plan to return the favour to Viper, we leave in an hour. I want a fully armed group waiting for me in the hangar by then.”

Three men bowed as I left. Whether out of fear or respect, I know these men will do their best to deliver.

I walked off towards the hangar to find vehicles and drivers to take us.

The hangar was straight down the hallway from the barracks, or rather, one of the hangars was straight down the hallway. This hangar doubled as a maintenance bay and held all the clan’s ‘standard’ vehicles. ‘Standard’ in this case referred to all the armoured vehicles meant to carry the grunts around. The other hangar was on the other side of the mansion and held all the luxury cars reserved for the bosses.

Standard procedure would dictate that the boss would ride alone in a luxury vehicle – perhaps with an attendant or two – while surrounded by military vehicles, but I saw no need for such meaningless procedures; the luxury vehicle is an obvious giveaway to the leader’s position and is significantly more vulnerable. I simply planned to ride the transport with the troops.

I walked into the hangar and glanced around.

There were four transport vehicles, all the same outdated model. The general shape was that of a slightly flattened hexagonal prism with a cockpit at the front and four hover turbines on the prism. The vehicles could seat fourteen in total; six along each side of the prism and two drivers in the front. The back panelled opened to form a ramp to the ground for troop access. What made this old model so trusted all these years later was the features that came with it; the middle of the prism sides had small flaps that allowed troops to fire from inside and use the vehicle itself as a fortified position. The walls were thickly armoured with alloys that were resistant to both conventional projectile weapons and plasma. To emphasise its use a fortress, additional plates could fold down to protect the windows and turbines. All the extra plating did mean that it was hugely inefficient when it came to energy consumption, but it remained as an ageless reminder of sturdy engineering.

There were a few engineers working on other vehicles but the ones I decided to talk to were the guys playing poker off to the side.

I approached the five-man game of poker and discovered that two of them happened to be women. Three of them were smoking cigarettes and surprisingly both the women were included in the count. It was the man with a cigarette that noticed my approach.

“Ah! Whatta surprise t’ see the new head down here!” he called out, alerting the others to my presence.

“Yes, I’m going to need a couple of drivers soon… You playing for keeps?” I said with little tension.

“Nay, we’re just passin’ time, though we play for keeps to make it more interestin’ sometimes.” He returned with a neutral voice. “Ya wanna join a round?”

“Sure, why not.” I said as I took a seat.

The five all separated a small portion of their chips and handed them over to me.

“Ever played before?” asked the women to my right.

“No, I’m not particularly familiar with the rules, I only know enough to relate the table to the name.” I said, earning a few scowls. “Don’t worry, I’m a quick study, I’ve just never had a chance to learn the game.”

“Alright, we’ll do a quick practice round and explain exactly what happens at each moment.” Said the man opposite me as he made some hand signals to the rest of the table.

Everyone cleaned up and reset the table, keeping their chips near them and shuffling the deck.

“You understand the makeup of a deck of cards at the very least I presume?” said the man opposite me.

“Yes: A total of 54 cards separated into 4 houses of 13 cards and two jokers. Each house consists of an Ace, numbers 2 through 10, then Jack, Queen, and King – that being the ascending order. The houses come in 2 colours – two houses to each colour. This variety allows for a massive variety of rules and games.” I replied.

“A very detailed breakdown, but helpful for explanation. ‘Poker’ doesn’t use either of the jokers however, most games don’t.” Said the man opposite me.

I nodded in understanding as he finished shuffling.

“We’ll teach you through demonstration. First; the dealer rotates each round and I’m the current dealer. I start by dealing two cards to everyone.” He said as he dealt everyone two cards.

“Now, you must never let anyone know your cards in a proper game, but for the sake of teaching we will play this round with cards face up and play like we don’t know. No need to worry about house for now either.”

“Alright.” I accepted and turned my cards face up like everyone else. I had an ace and a jack.

“Now, we go left. Felsi here is first and must therefore pay the ‘small blind’.” The woman next to him submitted a single chip. “The ‘blinds’ are decided before the game, the amounts can differ between games.”

I nodded.

“Alright, next Andrea must pay the ‘big blind’. This is also the standard betting amount. It’s your turn; submit the same amount as the big blind.”

I did so and submitted two chips.

“Alright, now it’s the next person’s turn…”

I was taught the rules of poker by example. We finished the round and all reclaimed our chips before playing a proper round. Now that we had started in earnest I decided to speak.

“You guys the clan’s drivers?” I asked.

“Me and the both the ladies are drivers, the others are mechanics.” Said the man to my left.

The women nodded in confirmation.

“Good. In 45 minutes were heading to Viper Territory with a total of 20 troops. I need two drivers to take us there.”

One of the women, Felsi, frowned, “Two? Not three?”

“I see no need to ride in a luxury vehicle. It would only make me more vulnerable.” I said.

Felsi looked surprised.

The other woman spoke, “I get where you’re coming from, but it’s also important to show off…”

“Which is scarier, a vicious dog or a loaded gun?” I responded satirically.

“A loaded gun I suppose… so basically, effect beats looks? All that matters are that the opponent understands the effects?” asked the man to my left.

“More or less.” I responded nonchalantly.

“You’re… different… to say the least.” He said.

“I just don’t care about how others see me.” I said, “If they understand where they stand in comparison to me, I don’t have any problems. Those who feel the need to prove their position with gold do not belong in it.”

“… I can agree with you there. It’s quite an interesting piece of wisdom.” Said Felsi, newfound respect could be found in her eyes.

After convincing them to drive for me, we continued to play until the troops had gathered.