For most of the game of poker, Zander had been dealing with a weird feeling in the back of his head. It was a feeling so miniscule that, in any other circumstance, he would ignore it. But this was no ordinary circumstance—he was playing poker in a casino in the middle of Egypt after traveling there because of the revelation of super-powered people. It was almost like the slightest and dullest throb that ever itched inside his head. It was too small to pinpoint where exactly in his head it was, but it was just large enough for him to notice.

The feeling in the back of his head was something that pestered him ever since he walked into the main room of the Stone Pillar. He had always been extremely in tune with his own head, almost to the point of complete control when trying to solve arithmetic. Because of that deep understanding of his own mind, he could always tell when something wasn’t quite right up there, and the feeling he was feeling was an example of that.

Ever since the first Resonator encounter, he knew that any and all circumstances that he encountered could potentially not be as they seem. With that in mind, instead of engaging with the game of poker, he chose to sit back and dig into both that itching feeling and the entirety of Venzo Mercury.

It wasn’t until Vincent started losing all of his money and his demeanor began to shift that Zander began to figure out what that feeling was. He knew that it felt oddly familiar, but he didn’t know why. However, seeing Vincent in distress reminded him of when Vincent’s attitude and demeanor changed to show his slight distress during the Resonator incident at the school. Right before the first explosion, he felt an inkling of that same feeling and it seemed that Vincent felt the same thing at that time too.

As soon as that comparison was made in his head, he knew immediately that the feeling in his head was somehow related to being in proximity to a Resonator. He didn’t understand the mechanics behind it, but that was something to be thought about later. What mattered was that there was definitely a Resonator in his vicinity, and that meant that the possibility that Venzo was cheating was completely plausible, if not guaranteed. Still, it both surprised and didn’t surprise him that it seemed like Vincent hadn’t picked up on the feeling, too. Although, there probably is a logical explanation as to why that was.

Another reason as to why Zander waited until Vincent left to play the game was because Vincent was too much of a wild card. While Zander can usually predict his moves, there are instances in which Vincent gets too lucky for even him to handle. If that were to happen during the poker game, any planning or strategies that Zander could come up with would be doomed to fail.

With everything working out for him so far, Zander’s plan for beating Venzo was almost complete. All that was left was to figure out Venzo’s power and how he was cheating. And he had to do that before he lost all of his money, which was guaranteed to happen if Venzo was cheating, no matter how well Zander played.

Raising his glass in the air, signaling for a refill, Venzo said, “You said you wanted to continue? I wasn’t aware you were even playing the game.”

Completely relaxed on the outside, Zander replied, “Better time than never to start.”

“Normally I would agree,” Venzo said, taking a drink of his newly filled glass, “but I don’t think that applies here. I would honestly advise you to just stop everything and leave with what you have.”

“That’s quite out of character for you—both being honest and not trying to swindle everything from me.”

“As much as I love winning, I can tell you aren’t as brash or easy to manipulate like your friend. And besides,” he said with a smirk, “you only have a measly 100 dollars left. It’s better to leave you with something, that way you can use it to earn more money that I can then take from you later.”

“Fair point,” Zander replied, casually throwing his hands up, a bit defensively. “Well, I still want to play, so let’s finish this game.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

***

[Again, for the sake of clarity, cards will be shown based on their number, followed by their suit. For example: a hand with a three of hearts and a queen of spades will be shown as 3H-QS]

***

With that, Venzo began to shuffle the deck and deal out the starting hands. Zander looked at his hand and saw that it was AS-KS, which was the 5th or 6th best opening hand he could get. That hand almost confirmed that one of his theories as to how Venzo was cheating was incorrect. If Venzo was stacking the hands, then he wouldn’t have given Zander a good hand; he would have dealt him a bad hand and just won right then and there. Even so, Zander had to play through this hand just to make sure.

Right before he put his hand down, he noticed that the lighting in the vicinity seemed a bit odd for a second. The entire time they had been playing cards, he noticed that the lighting in the room was not quite right at times. The shadows seemed a bit unnatural, and he could swear that for that second, the shadow cast from his hand disappeared, almost like it was flickering.

While it was a bit strange, he quickly dismissed any other thoughts about it, and chalked it up to the wiring being crappy there. After all, it was the bottom tier of the casino. He couldn't afford to have any of the resources in his mind thinking about the logistics of the casino’s wiring; he had to focus all his energy on figuring out how Venzo was cheating.

In Zander’s head, there are three different routes in which Venzo was cheating: he can stack the deck and hands, he can tell the strength of hand from something about the player, or he can just identify every card in everyone’s hand. No matter the situation, The common thread between each theory was that Venzo had to know something about the cards in everyone else’s hands—it was just a matter of to what extent and how.

Zander had to slowly widdle down each theory until there was only one remaining, and then and only then could he begin to figure out his powers. The problem was, he was essentially out of chips. He had to quickly cross out theories that were slightly less plausible. He didn’t have time to fully test each theory.

“Let’s cut to the chase,” Zander said, putting all his chips in the center before the flop was even revealed. “There’s no point in delaying it.”

Zander did this in order to see how Venzo would play without seeing the flop. If Venzo was stacking the deck, then he would already know what to expect from the cards, and therefore he would play very differently than if he didn’t know. If he continued to play, even knowing the kind of hand Zander had, and won, then that would almost certainly mean that he could stack the deck. If he chose to fold after the hands were dealt, then that would tell Zander that he doesn’t stack the deck, but he definitely knows what’s in his hand.

Wordlessly and calmly, Venzo looked at his watch, looked at Zander, looked at his hand, looked back at Zander, and just matched Zander’s bet.

Crap, Zander thought. He didn’t play overly aggressive nor did he fold. This man is obviously skilled in deception and he knows what information I was trying to get from that hand. No matter, I have an almost guaranteed method to rule out one theory next hand.

Not only was the flop then revealed, but the turn and the river were, too. The cards on the table were AH-JC-9D-10D-KC. The best hand that Zander could make was a hand with two pairs.

At the same time, both Zander and Venzo laid down their hands. If Venzo had the better hand, then it was almost guaranteed that he could stack the deck. Venzo’s hand was 4S-5D—his hand was complete garbage, with the only hope for it being a straight.

Zander won the minuscule pot and went back up to 300 dollars worth of chips. Him winning the hand almost confirmed for him that Venzo was not stacking the deck. However, just to be safe, Zander had one more plan in case that hand was just a bluff.

“Can I suggest something?” Zander asked.

“And what would that be?” Venzo replied, raising an eyebrow.

“I would like to have someone else be the dealer from here on out.”

After a second or two of silence, Venzo nodded and called over one of the casino workers that was nearby. “Deal the rest of the hands,” he said rather plainly to the worker.

“Actually,” Zander interjected, “I would like Livia to deal.”

“Fine,” Venzo quickly replied, rolling his eyes.

Livia then quickly made her way over and began to shuffle a new deck of cards, ruling out the possibility of marked cards, as well. Even though it wasn’t completely out of the question, Zander had to rule out the possibility of him stacking the deck from there on out.

Now it was time to test another theory.

Livia dealt both players their starting hand and the betting started. However, Zander elected to not look at his hand. He kept the cards face down and never once flipped them over. He then continued to bet and play the game like normal.

“You aren’t going to look at your hand?” Venzo asked. “Leaving it up to luck?”

“I never leave things up to luck,” Zander replied.

“Then look at your hand and play the game.” Venzo’s face showed a slight bit of anger and annoyance. It was slight, but Zander caught it.

“I think I’m good.”

After a long and drawn-out breath, Venzo sighed and said, “Fine, have it your way.”

The rest of the hand went by pretty normally. Both players occasionally added to the pot and slowly the flop, the turn, and the river were revealed. After some final betting, with the pot totaling around 400 dollars worth of chips, both players revealed their hands.

The winner of the hand was quite obvious—it was Venzo. He had a three of a kind, while Zander only held a pair of 3’s. With that loss, Zander’s theories became more clear and his answer to how Venzo was cheating was becoming more defined. He still needed to play one more hand to be sure.

Another hand was then dealt and Zander once again refused to look at his cards. Unlike last time, Venzo did something quite unexpected: he folded. The moment that Zander began to bet without looking at his cards, Venzo immediately folded and asked to go on to the next hand.

“It’s cute what you’re trying to do,” Venzo started, “but statistically speaking I am more likely to win.”

He was right, and Zander knew it. However, playing that way was the only way Zander had any remote chance at winning hands enough times to keep him in the game. He had to play for as long as possible in order to figure out what kind of Resonator Venzo was.

Zander’s head sped through dozens of different scenarios for what the answer could be. He knew that the way Venzo was cheating was by gleaning information about the opponent’s hand from the opponent, but he couldn’t figure out the method behind how he was doing it.

His mind began to grow a bit dark and hope began to slowly fade away. There was not a single solution that was concrete enough for Zander to act on. Nothing seemed more plausible than anything else. Even so, he continued to play without looking at his hand.

Just like Venzo stated, the hands slowly started to favor him more, seeing as he had money to throw in. Obviously, the one with the most resources would eventually win a game of luck, which is what the game of poker became after Zander refused to look at his hand.

Eventually, it got to the point where Zander only had fifty dollars worth of chips left—enough to barely buy his way into the game. He began to lose all hope.

“I see you’re searching for a way out, searching for the light at the end of the tunnel,” Venzo said with a condescending attitude. “But unfortunately, sometimes that light is just a train. A train that is inevitably barreling towards you, on its way to end you, not save you.”

That was it. There was nothing left that Zander could do except give into that train. He had no other means of testing any of his theories. He knew that the powers of a Resonator were at play, and he even managed to figure out what part of the game allowed Venzo to cheat. But the possibilities as to how he could use Resonator powers to accomplish it were too many for Zander to test with the time that he had.

At the very least, Zander could narrow down that Venzo was a Resonator who controlled things, not other creatures, like the pirate. After all, how would controlling a creature help? People could just see it and then he would get caught immediately. The only one at the table was Venzo, and Zander knew that he was a Resonator. He felt in his mind that there was a Resonator near, and the only one visibly anywhere near them was Livia...unless…

“It seems you’re out of time,” Venzo laughed, looking at his watch. “I would say that I’m sorry, but I’m not.”

There’s no way, Zander thought. That is the most convoluted and ridiculous way to cheat. There’s no way I think that it’s correct. Statistically speaking—

He stopped himself right then and there and decided to take a note from Vincent’s book—don’t think about anything and just trust your gut. He decided to stop thinking so deeply about everything and just test the gut feeling and idea that he just came up with, no matter how stupid it seemed.

He then flipped over and looked at his hand. He saw the shadows flicker around him like normal, he saw that Venzo was still looking at his watch, and then he smiled to himself. He couldn’t believe it, but the proof was there. Zander knew exactly how he was cheating.