"Draw or hold?"

Rena looked at her two cards in front of her. Thirteen was their sum. A five and an eight. Her eyes skimmed to the dealer's cards. The one showing was a three. She had finally calculated the pattern of the cards in the deck. It had taken her four games to figure it out. Two hundred dollars had been wasted just on those four. Her bid she had up for her winning the round now was for one and a half million dollars. It started out way lower, a quarter of a million. But after she figured out the pattern, betters were coming in from the left and right. Rena knew she was going to win this round of Blackjack, her eighth game. When she did, she'd collect all she'd won. Shaking her head and grinning slightly, she let out a thick British accent saying, "Hold please…"

Her eyes faintly saw the card dealer's eye twitch slightly. Some of the guys and gals behind her scoffed from her low sum. She mentally pictured one female, who was wearing a deep red cocktail dress that was ruffled up on the left side of her skirt part, roll her eyes and take a drag of her cigarette. She faintly heard a guy say, "I shouldn't have bet. She should've drawn so she could get at least up to a seventeen or eighteen."

The dealer flipped over his other card. It was a nine. "Twelve total, sir. I believe you must draw in order to beat my thirteen." Rena kept her accent nice and thick. She waved a gloved hand in front of her face, fanning the smoke away from her that was floating down from above her.

"Of course he'll beat you, dear." The lady in the cocktail dress sneered and blew a puff of smoke towards Rena. "Unless if you're better than what us viewers and betters think! But there is only one person that I know of who's that good."

Rena smiled sweetly at her as she saw the dealer's hand go towards the stack of cards. "Sir, you are supposed to take the top card, are you not?" Rena turned her attention to the dealer. He was slipping a card from the middle of the deck.

A gentleman behind Rena saw that and raised a brow as he grunted.

"Yes ma'am." The dealer said that bluntly, with a tinge of anger as he placed the card back and reached for the one on top.

Rena smiled, "That's a good lad… you wouldn't want those drunk men over there who're causing an uproar to find out you were cheating them out of their money now, would you?" She intertwined her finger into her long, blond hair and blinked innocently at the card dealer. He cringed at her sentence, "That's what I thought…" The card flipped and Rena smiled.

"WE HAVE A WINNER!" The gentleman behind her yelled, thoroughly impressed that she had won with the thirteen. The dealer glared as he placed down the queen of spades.

"I would like my winnings please." Rena then turned to the woman, who blew another puff of smoke at her, and said, "Actually Miss. I believe I have beaten him. Also, I would very much appreciate it if you would stop blowing smoke in my face. It is rather degrading on your part and it's putting my health more at risk than yours since I'm the one having to breath in your second hand smoke." She watched her winnings go towards her and she placed a protective hand on top of it.

The lady grinned slightly and flung her boa over her shoulder and took another drag. As she blew the smoke out of her mouth, she asked "And if I don't?" and glared slightly at Rena, her red hair slipped over her shoulder.

Rena smiled as she placed her winnings in her purse. Some betters grumbled and begged silently for her to stay. She'd won them a lot of money. She then looked at the lady, "I'll tell security you're holding a .41 caliber under that skirt of yours." Rena's expression became serious and deadly.

The lady froze and so did the gentleman next to her, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"First stage… denial." Rena held her purse close to her chest, her teal eyes stared at the woman intently.

The lady seemed offended and she took another drag, "I don't know what she's talking about. She's delusional and clearly has a gambling problem."

Rena stepped closer to the lady, "Stage two, blame."

Frustrated, the woman put her face up to Rena's, blowing a huge puff of smoke in her face, "So what if I do have one?"

Rena grinned, "Stage three. Acceptance." Rena suddenly snatched the cigarette out of the lady's hand and crushed the cigarette in her hand, burning her glove, "I asked you nicely to stop doing that."

The lady grinned, "It's good to see you again, Sheevah."

Rena grinned as well, "You too, Jane." She immediately threw the torn up pieces of tobacco at Jane and took off running and yelled, "Too bad that name was an alias!" She made some tables fall over as she ran and ducked as bullets started to fly all around her, "Damn it… I could've gone one more round and had two million…"

"Blond looks good on you, as it did five years ago! I'm surprised you haven't gone with a different color! And those contacts, when did you get teal?" Jane laughed menacingly as she shot her gun at Rena. Screams echoed all around, but she didn't seem to care. Her blood red hair fell around her shoulders and mid back. "COME ON SHEEVAH! SHOW YOURSELF!" She shot again.

Rena danced around some more tables, knocking them over and throwing stuff in Jane's direction. She made it look like she was headed towards the front doors, but she side stepped and slipped through a small door and entered a hallway. The only mark on her was on her glove where she'd put Jane's cigarette out at. She passed a waiter and nodded at him, "Oh, sir. Could you direct me to the nearest restroom? I do believe I feel sick. There was a lady in the casino who kept blowing smoke at me and I have terrible smoke allergies…" she placed a hand on her head and fanned herself slightly with her heavy purse, "I got lost while looking for one."

"This way m'lady," the waiter eyed her suspiciously, but steered her through some halls to a bathroom.

Rena placed a hand on the door, "Thank you, you are very kind." She went through the door, locked it quietly behind her, and quickly took her wig off. She placed it in the sink closest to the window. She then took off her gloves and dress, revealing her black stealth suite. "Ugh…" she itched her head through her hair net, knowing she'd have to leave it in. She put on a pair of rubber gloves she pulled out of her fanny pack and took her high heels off. She put on these odd looking foot covers that looked like gloves. She was in nothing but black when she put the high heels in the sink as well. "Bag…" she pulled the bundles of money from her purse and put them in her fanny pack as well, zipping it and locking it. She pulled her hood up over her head, hiding her body even more. She then pulled out a black mask and slipped it on. She was nothing but a black thing standing in a bathroom now.

"And fire…" she removed the air vent that hovered in a corner, then went to the sink, setting the cloths on fire. She then opened the window a tad bit and slipped out, then shut it again. She could hear sirens and screams as she stood on the ledge, unseen by those below her. That's why she liked the darkness. She could hide more easily. Rena grinned and thought to herself, Under two minutes. Good job Rena., She then started to shimmy her way out onto the building. The ledge was very small, threatening her life if she stepped wrong. No fear escaped her as she made it to the corner of the building. Her eyes skimmed the area. She saw her escape option right as the window shattered open. Smoke billowed out and so did some flames. More screams were heard. "Shit…" someone had seen her. A gun fired in her direction.

"I WILL GET YOU SHEEVAH!" Jane started to climb out the window. "You ruined my gang… robbed us of all our money!"

Rena grinned under her mask, "On the contrary…" her accent was still British, "You gambled and I won. It's as easy as that." She realized the screams had been directed at Jane, not her.

Jane pointed the barrel at Rena, "Good bye, thief." She pulled the trigger.

Rena jumped right when the trigger was pulled. She felt the air in front of her swish by as the bullet just barely missed her, "Bye Jane, I will see you later… if you're not in jail!" Rena flipped in the air, her black suit blended in with the alley below her. The truck below her had stalled, giving her something to land on. She let her legs go limp as she landed on top of the truck, denting it.

"What the hell?"

Rena gently rolled off the top of the truck, landing quietly on her feet as the driver got out of the truck to survey it. She silently made her way to a trash can. Dogs were being brought out. They could get her scent still. Her back against the wall, she watched as the driver got back into his car, mumbling something about drunks under his breath. His truck started back up and he took off, but was stopped by a cop car. They were starting to go to the alley. Rena quietly took off, blending in with the darkness. After about a minute of running she stopped, "Shit… dead end…" That's when her mind went to work. She saw some old cloth on the ground.

She took her mask off and her hat and gloves and the plastic that was covering her feet. She dug out a brick that was loose and shoved them in the hole and replaced the brick as she slipped the cloth around her. It was an old, torn up dress. She then saw some dirt and she rushed to it, rolling her whole body into it, getting herself as ratted up as she could in the little amount of time she had. She found a piece of wood lying on the ground and she shoved it in her hair, tangling it up. She then averted to her feet. Tears formed in her eyes as she started to rip up and dirty the soles of her feet. She heard the dogs coming and put her hand up her dress, pulling one more thing out of her fanny pack. A bottle of green perfume. She dabbed some of it on her, making her gag slightly. Then she curled up against the wall.

"What is it bud?" a voice asked as the sound of a whining dog came into ear shot. The dog was obviously pulling the cop further down the alley. Rena's heart started to beat faster than ever. For once, she was afraid she'd be caught. The police didn't scare her… in fact, they amused her. However, it was those behind the bars. The ones she'd secretly had thrown in there… they were the ones who scared her. Even though her actions were never illegal, Rena knew the police wouldn't hear of it and would lock her away.

"UGH! What's that smell?" the sound of foot steps stopped. The dog coughed and whined some more. It was confused. "Who's that?" Rena heard foot steps come towards her. "The smell's coming from her… Sheesh! I wonder if she got sprayed by a skunk.

Rena held back a grin as she thought, Bingo…

"Well let's go see if that girl in the golden dress went another way. She shouldn't have gotten that far. Plus, they said her perfume was sweet smelling." The two cops left, the dog still was whining.

Rena stayed where she was for a couple of minutes, and then stood. She looked at the wall and frowned, "I could've climbed that… ah well. Disguise was more fun." She grinned as she removed the gloves and plastic foot covers from their hiding place and shoved them down her stealth suite. She hoisted herself to the top of the wall and landed on the other side. A bigger smile spread across her face as she made her way to the street in front of her. The fanny pack was still hidden under her ragged dress. She entered the street. Lights flared into her eyes and she blinked them away as she made her way to the other side of the street, away from the casino and hotel, towards the motel she was staying in three miles away. Some people bumped into her, but most of them tried to avoid her because of the smell. Thunder echoed in the sky and lightly flashed as rain started to fall. She smiled again, "This was a fun night." Her familiar hum escaped her lips as she knew no one would be following her that night.

Near sighed, "Again?" he stared at the TV, obviously annoyed. "I can tell them who this mystery girl is. I have no doubt about it. There's nothing we can do about it though, because legally, she did win that money. She gambled for it, used her brain, won, and escaped death."

Nigel blinked. He was new to the crew and had no clue what Near was talking about, "Umm…"

"I will be in my room." Near stood and left the agents to their thoughts. He flung his door open and shut it quietly. Puzzle boxes and figurines littered his floor, but it was oddly organized. He passed each toy, ignoring them for the second time in his whole life he'd been with the government. The air in his room was thick with old stories as he sat down at his desk. Instinctively, his knee bent as he brought his left leg up to his chest. His fingers skimmed over a key lock that was located at one of the drawers. It clicked open and Near removed it, opening the drawer at the same time. He rummaged around and pulled out a small tin box. He frowned slightly as he opened it. Photos fell onto the top of the desk and a couple fell onto the floor. Placing the tin down, Near skimmed over the portraits. Suddenly, his eyes stopped at one photo. It was mostly hidden under three other photos, but he saw the one distinction that picture had that the others didn't. His fingers grasped at the photo and he held it up in front of him.

There were five figures in it. He had been very young when the photo was taken, maybe six or seven. Watari, L, and Mello were also in the photo. A small twitch appeared in the corner of Near's mouth, but disappeared quickly when his eyes settled on the last figure in the portrait. That photo was the last one he owned that had the young girl in it. Her hair was light brown, eyes a dark chocolate color. Her smile was genuine in the photo. It was before her life turned upside down. She and the young Near had been standing next to each other. That was until she decided at the last moment. Right before the photographer had taken that picture, she jumped into the air, releasing a hand full of rose petals into the air. Near saw the stem of the rose in his young hands. He sighed, "Rena… why is it you decided to live your life that way… what is the point you're trying to make?"