Fair Cheating

The deck is being automatically distributed in front of each player, while the two eye one another menacingly. 

As soon as it finished, a narrative voice asks them to pick up their cards and start the game! 

Zephyr quickly masses the cards while they're hidden to see them, but he is not taking his eyes off Heeba, something that she is not able to do! He's trying to find a way to sneak a look at her deck in case she mistakenly exposes it. 

However, she doesn't. Now, the first phase of the game starts. Players must remove the identical cards from their hand. 

Zephyr looks at his cards trying to see if the joker is in his disposal… And there it is!! 

'That is a scary design right there… No problem, better have it first than have it last. 

Let's take it slow, I'll keep analyzing her looks to understand what her facial expressions mean, it'll help later…' he says in his mind. 

The joker card has an image of a pretty but terrifying witch, her long messy black hair hides her chest while her big round eyes seem to have no pupils inside, her skin on the other is snow white as if there is no blood in her veins. 

Slowly, each player throws away the identical cards, pair by pair, manually. 

Zephyr barely moves his eyes from Heeba's face, and he notices something! 

'She has a smirk in her face, It looks as if she is quite pleased not to have the joker card for now. 

We'll see if that look changes soon!' 

Few moments later, the two players are done with the first phase of the game. Now, the real game begins! 

They set their cards in the order they wish for and place their decks about 50cm ahead of them! 

The narrative voice gives his orders once again, the player rated higher gets to make the first move first. It is Zephyr! 

'Since he already has the joker card, this in fact holds no advantage whatsoever.' She thinks to herself. 

He stretches his hand and picks up a random card from her deck, but it does not appear identical to any of the ones he has! So, he suspects something weird. 'Logically, if we got rid of all identical cards, the rest must all be identical to the ones I have! 

I'll keep that in my mind…'

Now is Heeba's turn to pick a card, she knows the stakes are higher in her case, it is no secret that her opponent has a bomb ready to detonate on her face. 

Zephyr makes no changes on his deck, the first try is one where he simply tests his opponent's reactions and tendencies, analysis comes before operation… That is the way of a scientist. 

She stretches her hand, slowly, and goes for the right side of his deck, particularly the one card before last. 

Luckily for her, it was not the joker card! 

However, Zephyr picked up three useful pieces of information. 

'… I could see it in her eyes and movement, that was hesitation! And thanks to doomsday, these ears can even hear the heartbeat of a person 2 meters away from me if there aren't any noises nearby. 

(Doomsday refers to the day where the global natural disaster occurred)

Next round, we'll try a simple trick.' It is Zephyr's turn to paint a slight smirk on his handsome face. 

Heeba spots that, and though she is relieved not to draw the joker card, she is pretty disturbed why would he smirk in such situation!! 

'He's crazy, but I shouldn't let him get to me with these antics.' She tells herself.

Now again, Zephyr does the same thing he did the first time, in the same exact manner and facial expression. He draws a card from the middle this time and looks at it. 

'This one is identical.' 

He gets rid of the two cards.

*Heartbeat sounds getting louder and louder* 

Due to his acute senses, he can hear his opponent's raising heartbeats sound and clear! It is arguable that these semi-supernatural powers are cheating codes for the players possessing the hybrid gene. Actually, it was always the case even in so called real-life! 

Life will never look fair if looked at through a microscope. 

Heeba's turn. She stretches her hand towards Zephyr's cards, particularly the middle. 

'…There is a slight difference in the speed in which she is reaching in. Either way, she can do nothing but pick it up this time.' 

What possibly could he mean by this? Well, more supernatural powers come into place once again. 

The hybrid kind of people enjoy a body capacitance of nearly 5 kilovolts, about 2 more KV than other normal human beings! This is the result of an increase in protons and electrons in their body due to the immersion of some unknown atoms with their genes, resulting in what is now known as the hybrid gene. 

Why is this relevant now? The simple answer is called static electricity. 

Everyone had a first experience with static electricity that struck them as having a supernatural ability. How an object can suddenly get attracted to you, or even something else you're holding, as if it was a magical stick. 

Well, for the likes of Levon and Hanx, this happens way more often and needs much less friction and movement for it to happen! 

Since the game began, he seamlessly rubbed his thumb with the joker card, making it quite stick just enough to where he is able to move it behind the other cards without anybody noticing from the other side. 

While Heeba is nervously reaching out to the middle, he can quickly move it to where her fingers end up at the very last second even if that is not where the joker card is originally placed, tricking her into believing this is the card she intends to draw! 

However, this plan would not be successful except for the third piece of information that was not mentioned earlier! It is the way Heeba picks the cards that plays a big role in succeeding. 

 '…If she were to pick the card through placing her fingers in the middle, it would not be possible to place the joker card right at the last second where she has her hand, because she might be touching the joker from the interior side, and another card from the exterior!' Zephyr goes on a monologue while everything is in motion, he continues. 'After seeing how she picks them from the top edge, It makes it easier to slide the joker from below at a lightning speed while nothing looks suspicious. After all, I must avoid being exposed because it is an automatic ejection.' 

Everything goes according to his plan, his very fast finger movement is magician-like and adds more potency to this cunning plan. 

Obliviously, Heeba returns with the bomb in her hand! 

Zephyr's smirk grew larger with how her eyes expressed a slight shock and fear. He throws another bomb at her. 

"That's a beautiful look you have on your face." 

Heeba clutches her teeth, as what she did not wish for has happened!