Chapter Twenty-Nine:

Spy Time! Scare The Fat Italian!

The neon CASINO PAISANO sign gleamed radiantly above the entrance, just as the stars were glistening across the evening sky. A few spotlights rotated about, with their beams shooting into the air. SMG4 and SMG3 stepped forth onto the long red carpet that led towards the building, adjusting the cuffs of their sleeves on their spy suits, all set to begin their mission.

After hours of precise planning, there was no turning back, and both meme guardians had made an effort to appear stylish and less conspicuous as possible. As long as they were quick and clever, no casino guard or visitor would ever suspect the two SMGs.

Camera bulbs clicked as a handful of people snapped pictures of the casual-looking spies, and the two former enemies waved casually, giving off collected smiles to their "fellow casino guests".

"Just keep waving." SMG4 whispered to SMG3.

"Welcome to Casino Paisano." A Toad said to the two SMGs, "Enjoy your evening."

The sight of a statue with Marty's likeness next to the entrance sent a shiver up SMG4's back for a brief moment, but the YouTuber maintained his composure and SMG3 showed no signs of dropping the facade that he and SMG4 were keeping up. Their advanced spy utility watches rested upon their wrists, polished and ready for use at a moment's notice.

A special meter was on display on the watch's interface, programmed to tell the two SMGs how they did as spies. If they did well, and they'd made the correct choice, they would be in the green zone. If they chose poorly, they would be in red. As long as they were in green, success was likely.

However, their watches weren't the only thing SMG4 and SMG3 were carrying, especially as they'd made sure to bring radio earpieces, allowing contact with Meggy, and some of their other allies back at the Showgrounds.

Last but not least, hidden cameras were installed into their hats, which connected to SMG4's computer in his room at the Castle, enabling "Mission Control" to see what was happening at the casino.

SMG4 and SMG3 lightly elbowed one another, and walked through the doors into the entrance hall, which looked exactly like it did in the images and the footage. The two SMGs walked carefully, aware they weren't the only ones to have arrived, seeing a couple Toads, Inklings, and Bokoblins walking through the carpeted hallway towards the main room.

For a moment, SMG4 spotted Saiko, Belle, Whimpu, and Bowser with the arriving group, but made his decision to refrain from interacting with any of them. Luigi passed by the duo, following the crowd, and as the meme guardians moved further, they spotted Mario at the booth.

Both spies made themselves scarce for the moment, preparing for their plan to scare the fat Italian. They observed him from a distance, seeing that Mario was keeping his eye on the arriving guests in a cautious manner.

"I'm-a looking for a spy!" He said, "Don't make any strange moves!"

'Dang.' SMG4 thought, someone must have tipped him off about how there had been spies in the area, and Mario must have been taking a ton of precautions here. Luigi approached the desk, and Mario looked at him with an intense glare that made the timid green Italian yelp.

"What are you doing here, Luigi?!" Mario demanded, "Are you a spy?!"

"Mario, what are you doing, are you crazy!?" Luigi cried, "I'M YOUR BROTHER!"

The dim-witted, but somewhat intelligent Italian eyed his little brother suspiciously for a second longer, then he backed off, giving Luigi the space he needed, and apologized before inviting the green Italian into the casino. The timid plumber walked past Mario, but just when he was only four spaces away from the booth, Luigi gasped and let out a sneeze.

This caught Mario's attention and, in a state of paranoia, called in security on Luigi, believing his sneeze to be a spy act. It took some time, but the guards let him off the hook, even though Mario's little brother was shaken by the security guards attacking him.

'I think that's our cue.' 4 thought.

He and SMG3 nodded, deciding it was time to put their 'scare Mario' plan into action, and they got what they needed to do the job. Masks did help, and, despite his moments of heroism, the fat Italian was easily freaked out by many things as seen whenever Princess Peach unleashed her wrath on him in the past.

Mario studied the casino hall, prepared to greet more visitors while ensuring there were no spies causing havoc. He knew little that two of his friends, one being a former enemy, had made their way inside and were planning something at that moment.

Just then, two pudgy fellas in suits sporting spooky clown demon masks made their appearance on both sides of Mario and cried, "BOO!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Mario shrieked, "SCARY CLOWNS! MAMA MIA! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! GET AWAY FROM MARIO! GET AWAY FROM MARIO!"

And he was running from the booth, abandoning his post, making his way right to the monitoring station. SMG4 and SMG3 peeled off the masks, and high-fived each other, then they headed in the direction everyone else had gone, following the stairs towards the main casino area. Mission 1 was complete!

At the Showgrounds, Meggy sat back in her chair with a sigh of relief, having been filled with tension from the moment SMG4 and SMG3 had set foot in the casino, that little plan to scare off Mario could have easily failed and the two SMGs could've been busted quickly, resulting in the entire mission coming to an end in moments.

"So far, so good." Tari said, also observing the situation, "But, I have a feeling that the next phase isn't going to be as easy as the first one."

Meggy looked at the cyborg gamer in a comforting manner. "We'll be fine, Tari. SMG4 and SMG3 have been through way more tougher situations than this one..." She said, "I think we're going to be fine."

'Admittedly, I'm not quite sure if the guys have this in the bag. Mario's shown to be smart many times in the past, and we don't know what tricks Marty has up his sleeve. If they screw up, we'll both be in massive trouble, and I don't know if I want to find out what secrets SMG3 has in that notebook of his. Given that he's a pretty secretive, sensitive guy.'