"So what are we looking at here?" Valentine asked when he came home to find his entire family poring over a map on the coffee table, with Odin keenly reading a page of notes nearby.
"Syndicate found something they shouldn't have." Tobias spoke up without taking his gaze away from the map. "Sir Spencer gave us this information himself, so it's accurate and reliable."
"What'd they find?" Valentine approached to get a better view of the map, with Kuro and Shiro flanking him to likewise study the large paper.
"The source plant of the virus that the T-Virus was created from back in the 60's by Sir Spencer and his colleagues back in the day." Yuuki replied. "Thing needs ridiculously specific growing conditions, so the place they're only known to exist is in this crazy underground cave system in Africa that's sacred to the area's indigenous tribes. Umbrella went in to get ahold of the flowers way back when, if I got the gist of what Sir Spencer explained to dad."
"So are we going in as BSAA or as the Family?" Valentine narrowed his eyes slightly at the information she'd given him.
"Not sure yet." Tobias sighed. "These plants are the base of the T-Virus, but I'm pretty sure only Sir Spencer and the other old guys he went there with are the ones that actually know the precise location of these caves, let alone the flowers themselves. And since his old documents are long gone, we have nothing material as references to go by for evidence."
"I smell a big 'but' coming..." Rachael turned to regard her father, who nodded at her comment.
"But..." He smirked slightly. "He did confirm to me that there is another, old, very abandoned research facility that they built to research and study those flowers. So here's my dilemna..." He tapped the map with his index finger. "Swampland and a fairly large lake are home to the natives, cave entrance is on one side of their lake. Bunch of their sacred ruins protect the grotto where the flowers grow. Seems pretty straightforward, doesn't it?"
"But the Syndicate are involved now. So the natives are on edge, the caves and ruins are compromised and the research facility is now their stronghold in the area." Valentine nodded in understanding. "We're using Sir Spencer's old intel for directions and maps, but the rest is up to us to deal with. Am I far off?"
"Sheva's already pissed that she can't join us until her leg heals. Unless you want to try convincing her to take a leaf from Stella's book to match her arm." Yuuki snickered slightly.
"I HEARD THAT!" Sheva's voice came from the kitchen.
"So what's our current course of action?" Odin asked, looking up from his reading.
"For now, we're gonna use Big J to at least get eyes on the area on the surface, see if the Syndicate are doing anything out in the open, or if they have any ships on that lake." Tobias replied. "Until we decide which means we're taking to deal with the caves - BSAA or Family, I mean - then all we can do is run recon from the shadows."
"Let me guess, Rico's already on it?" Valentine turned to see Sheva entering the living room with the distinct clacks of her crutches on the floor.
"Yeah, he's surveying the satellite feed right now." Sheva replied, giving him a quick kiss with a smirk tugging at her lips. "So far there's nothing on the lake, and only the natives are in the area."
"Expand his search area to survey the marshes and the other side of the mountain. See right here? Look how close it is to the coastline. Have him check for any ships in the ocean around this general area." Valentine indicated the map with one hand, indicating the proximity of the lake to the ocean.
"He heard." Sheva nodded. "So... I know that look in your eyes, what are you planning to do to make me say yes for the leg?" Her smirk grew into a cheeky grin as she raised an eyebrow in a taunting slowness.
"Haven't decided on anything definitive yet." Valentine replied as he gave her a kiss of his own. "But I might want to make sure Rico's up to scratch after what Sasha's missile did to him."
"I get a tune-up, and you get laid. Busy boy, ain't he?" Rico laughed in Sheva's DNI, earning a chuckle from her in reply.
Two weeks later...
"So... it's the second-best day of the week." Yuuki commented as she tapped at her phone while the family ate dinner. "Paycheque just came in, yours too?" Yuuki nudged Rachael's arm to show her their shared bank account's current balance.
"Looks like they both did." Rachael tilted her head to do the math since the last time they'd checked their finances. "You wanna divvy it up for the car and our pocket money while you got it open?"
"Already got it." Yuukki tapped at the screen to split up the money where it was intended. "By the way... how much do you have in cash right now?"
"Sixty bucks. You?"
"I got forty on me, and some spare change. Y'wanna go hit up the new casino with me and see what we can get with a hundred bucks?"
"Why do I get the feeling you're angling to do something with whatever we manage to win?" Rachael raised an eyebrow as she turned towards her twin's evasive expression.
"I may or may not have been eyeballing a certain thing for a certain obnoxiously colourful assault rifle..." Yuuki laughed, which drew out a chuckle from Tobias at the other side of the table.
"You do know I can get you just about any parts you want for your guns, right?"
"My gun, yo." Yuuki laughed. "I mean, shit, you can get one of them in half an hour. But I want to test my luck and see if we can win enough to buy it directly."
"And match it to the existing colour scheme, I would presume?"
"You expect any less of me?" Yuuki grinned. "I mean, the angled handguard I've had on her is great, but I wanna get a new thing for her."
"And what is this 'new thing'? And what does it pertain to your angled grip?"
"She wants either a Masterkey or a grenade launcher." Valentine chuckled. "Even Dad has restrictions for the 40mm shells he uses for Executioner. I'd say go for the shotgun, 12 gauge shells are cheaper and more versatile."
"I could get both, and just swap them for the mission I'd be going into." Yuuki shrugged. "Masterkey or M203, either way, we'll need to win at least four grand to get them both."
"And how do you know those are the prices?" Rachael asked.
"Koko."
"And what about the colour?"
"Seven hundred bucks. Each."
"So let me get this straight... You two are planning to go to the casino, hoping to get at least fifty five hundred dollars out of a hundred?" Rize sat back in her chair with a suspicious stare at her daughters. "And how quickly, dare I say you two succeed, will Koko be able to get you the underbarrels, then have them coloured to match your rifle?"
"We might need a bit more for bribes to rush things. But to answer your question, a week, at the most, for everything. From entering the casino to mounting one of them onto Calyptica." Yuuki replied. "But now I think we're gonna need to aim for seven grand at the least."
"If you two manage to win ten grand, I'll personally get ahold of your first loadout of 40mm and 12 gauge shells. But only if you get ten thousand in winnings when you two get back. Deal?" Tobias challenged with a smirk at his daughters plans.
"Deal." Yuuki and Rachael both stood up and shoved their hands out towards their father, who shook both of their hands at the same time, smirking at the cocky challenging expressions on their faces.
Arriving at the casino, the twins parked their bikes together and were just about to turn around when a valet came up to them from behind and cleared his throat to get their attention.
"Pardon me, ladies, may I take your helmets to the coat check for safekeeping?"
"Sure." Both of them shrugged, and handed over their headgear to the man, who then handed them two slips of paper with a number on them.
"These are for when you come to retrieve them. If you lose them, just speak to the reception desk for a reissue."
With that, they separated, with him going to the services area, and the twins going to the front desk to get their money exchanged for chips.
"Good evening ladies, how may I help you?" The receptionist queried with a smile.
"We'd like to get some chips." Rachael handed over the hundred they planned to use, and it was swiftly exchanged for a short stack of five twenty-chips. "Thanks."
With that, they wandered into the casino floor and briefly blinked the spots of light from their eyes at the dazzling displays and flashing lights.
"Wanna pick the first game?" Yuuki asked as she fished a handful of quarters from her pocket. "I got three bucks in quarters for the slots."
"I'm tempted to play some Blackjack." Rachael shrugged. "So let's burn through the coins first, then go for the chip games until we're all out. Sound good?"
"Fine by me. Here." Yuuki split the pile of quarters in half and handed one portion to Rachael. "By the way..." Yuuki suddenly switched to speaking Russian. "Security's already noticed us. Let's try not to start anything for once."
"For once." Rachael laughed before they wandered over to the slot machines and slid their coins into the slots before yanking the levers.
After their rounds of slots, they were fortunate enough to have won at least a few of their rolls, so they gathered their fistful of change each and wandered over to the drinks bar and ordered their very needed water bottles. They knew some of the tricks that casinos would use to keep people playing longer, and one of those tricks was to vent oxygen into the gambling floor to help keep people awake. But for them, it had a slight affect on the humidity in the hall, so they were in need of the drink for the rest of their time playing cards.
So, with water in hand, they wandered over to the first available Blackjack table and took two of their five chips, placing their $20 bet on the first hand.
Waiting for the dealer to finish shuffling the deck, Yuuki idly scanned the gambling floor, noting the locations of the security installations, from the patrolling enforcers in suits, to the stationary uniformed rent-a-cops, and even the security cameras - including the ones hidden out of casual viewing areas - until she noticed something that made her smirk before leaning over to Rachael and whisper in more Russian.
"See the heavyweight cyborg over by the bar?"
"Hard not to." Rachael replied in kind.
"Notice something familiar about it?" Yuuki asked.
"Not really. Kinda reminds me of Dad's T-60f."
"It's got taser knuckles. And the rent-a-cop to our left has a stunrod on his hip. Do me a favour and shoot Dad a text and tell him 'Security here is a bit sparky'."
"Just in case our dear friend 'Trouble' decides to make a visit?"
"Yeah."
With that, Rachael retrieved her phone and sent their dad the warning about the security attention and the unknowingly dangerous non-lethal armaments they possessed, just as the dealer retrieved the chips from in front of them with a croupier and dealt their first cards.
Yuuki had a start of 13, Rachael had 9, so both of them tapped their knuckles on the table for the dealer to give them another card each.
Sliding their cards to them, he inwardly noted who they were, but said nothing. He knew their own rules about their Spiderling fans meeting them in public.
"Blackjack." Yuuki's new card was an eight, giving her the necessary 21 to win the hand. Rachael's was a ten, giving her 19.
The dealer smirked slightly and slid back the winnings for the hand, inwardly noticing that they'd only bet one chip each from their initial pile. They were playing for the long haul.
"So, ladies, I'm trying to resist it, but my willpower is fading fast. I'm a Spiderling." He finally spoke up as he received their next single chip bets, again, the single $20 chip from each of them despite Yuuki's $200 winnings from the first hand.
"Hi, how's the night been so far?" Rachael smiled as she accepted her new hand of 14. Beside her, Yuuki had a natural 20.
"So far so good, though I couldn't help but notice the security cyborg is out patrolling the floor. Big guy's pretty cool and all, but seeing him on duty gives me the chills sometimes."
"What's his story? Is he only let out for the fun stuff?" Yuuki asked. "I stand by the way."
"Usually, yeah. But I heard my manager mention that some high rollers are gonna be arriving in a little bit, so they deployed the big guy to put on a good image, like 'we take security very seriously here' and such." He slid Rachael a card when she tapped for a hit, which game her a seven for a perfect 21. "Beginner's luck, eh?"
"Yeah, I'm getting that impression too." An older gentleman beside them commented as he sat down and chuckled. "Mind if I join in, ladies?"
"More the merrier. Means the pot gets bigger for each hand." Yuuki grinned. "So, I've gathered that this table's winnings are for five times the total of the bets, is that right?"
"Yup, that's the multiplier for the winnings for this table. One to my left is triple, and the one to my right is actually reserved for those high rollers I mentioned a minute ago. It's usually the ten times table." The dealer replied as he slid over Rachael's $200 in chips before shuffling the deck and giving all three of them their cards. Yuuki had 10, Rachael had 15. The old guy peeked at his for a moment and tapped for a hit.
"So what's the story about those high rollers? Did they just reserve the table beside you for the evening or something?" The old guy asked while the girls received their cards, getting 20 each.
"Not sure, all I know is what I've already said." The dealer played the man one more card before he held up his hand to stand, as did the girls already. With that, he concluded his own hand with an 18, so the girls won the hand, and since they were technically playing together, the pot - which was $450 since the old man had bet a nice $50 chip to start - went right between them with a chuckle from the old man.
"That's three hands you two have won in a row, you must have some really good beginner's luck going for you tonight."
"What can I say? Lucky Lady." Yuuki smirked knowingly as she turned to Rachael and asked in Russian. "Wanna give another game a taste of my sarcastic bolt-action?"
"One more hand, use this last twenty dollar chip." Rachael indicated the last $20 chip they had in the pile of winnings. "You want to do the honours?" She asked in English, and Yuuki shrugged.
"Luck and honour, Lady. Do me dirty." Yuuki joked in Russian as she kissed the chip before sliding the single chip across the table, which was quick to earn a chuckle from the old man again.
"Tell you what, I'll toss in eighty for this hand. See if that luck of yours is still going strong." He slid four of his own $20 chips forward, and the dealer chuckled too before dealing the cards for Yuuki and him.
Yuuki slid one card, still facedown, over to Rachael, who peeked at it, finding a 10. She nodded slightly in approval, then turned to Yuuki, who had already peeked at hers and gave no reaction.
The old man had already checked his cards and tapped for a hit, and when he received his card, he licked his lip slightly before glancing at the dealer, who was looking to Yuuki to see if she wanted another card or to stand.
"I stand." Yuuki replied without even blinking.
"Hit me." The old guy sighed in preparation for his card, he had 19 now, and if his card counting was correct, the next card would be a 2.
The dealer slid the card forward, and with a grin, the old man simply said. "I stand."
"Confident, are we?" Rachael noted how he didn't look at the card, and guessed that he was counting the cards since they'd first sat down. She and Yuuki both knew the theory, but weren't bothering to count the cards at all.
"I feel it in my gut on this one." He chuckled, and with that, they flipped their respective hands to reveal that Yuuki had an ace to go with Rachael's 10.
"Blackjack." Yuuki spoke before taking a sip of her water bottle, while the old man heaved a sigh of defeat at getting a 4 instead of the 2 he'd counted for.
"Here you go, you two off to play another game?" The dealer smiled as he handed over their $500 winnings to go with their existing $850 in chips. "Want me to give you different chip denominations to cut down the size of your stack?"
"Sure, thanks." Yuuki handed over the pile of chips, and after some sorting, got back the same value of $1350 in a more manageable stack of chips. "Take care."
After playing a mix of Poker, Roulette and another set of slots, Yuuki and Rachael decided to take a break and grab more water when two of the suited enforcers approached them with a rent-a-cop by their side.
"Excuse me, ladies, we've been monitoring your gaming since you've arrived, could you please come with us."
"Okay?" Yuuki and Rachael shared a glance, very confused. They hadn't cheated, and they hadn't caused any scenes, so why were they being singled out by security like this?
"Right this way." The enforcers gestured for them to follow, and they did, carrying their currently uncounted stack of winnings in a drawstring bag they'd been given by an attendant on the floor earlier.
Walking in silence all the way across the hall, they were surprised - and not very pleased - to find themselves standing back at the Blackjack tables... or more specifically, face to face with the now present high rollers that had reserved the ten times table...
Albert and Alex Wesker.
"Care to join us for a round of Blackjack, ladies?" Alex asked in such a smoothly casual way that it almost sounded genuine.
"Sure, just one quick question..." Yuuki reached into her Holster Bag and retrieved her folding drone. "Do you mind if I fire up a livestream? Me and my sister are internet celebrities, we haven't done our usual broadcast for the day."
"Oh, by all means, go ahead. I'm sure the management will understand, after all..." Albert was keeping up the friendly act too, so he nodded at the request for the camera drone to broadcast the game.
"I'll post the announcement, you do the drone." Rachael retrieved her phone and tapped at a brisk pace. "May I ask your names for the viewers?"
"Alexandra, and this is my husband, Albert." Alex indicated the man with the sunglasses he was so known for wearing.