A/N: Events take place after 'Now You See Me'.
Only a portion of the story (in the future) is based on Katy Perry's song 'Dark Horse', so it's not really a song fic. However, this song greatly inspired me. (More on that in the A/N after this chapter.)
Thanks for clicking, and I hope you enjoy!
(*)
"Thank you! Thank you very much! We'll see you next week!" Henley Reeves tossed her long hair over her shoulder as she waved at the cheering crowd. Daniel Atlas nodded, and Merritt McKinney waved, as well. Jack Wilder just stared evenly out at the crowd, motionless, while his dark eyes twinkled.
The Four Horsemen, now part of The Eye, had now reduced themselves into little shows around Los Angeles. While they were still waiting for the excitement of their first Horsemen gig together to die down, they kept a low profile, though; and they continued to have regular shows in casinos; although, they changed their appearances every few days, in order to avoid getting caught by the police, more specifically, the FBI. Henley, for example, was sporting a long black wig and green contacts. The boys had dyed their hair different colors; Daniel had dyed his hair a bit browner, Merritt had grown his out, and Jack, you know, being 'wild'er, had dyed his hair black with a few streaks of red and blue.
Rhodes was still working on getting the FBI off of the Horsemen's hair, so they just decided to chill for awhile while Rhodes was working on finding someone else to take the blame. By now, they also went by another name, obviously, and they were simply known as The Hands of Death; Merritt had thought of it, and well, they were being as morbid as ever, so why not?
"You heading back to the hotel?"
Henley, who had realized that Jack had lingered backstage a bit, paused to ask him before they'd slip away. Jack shook his head and grinned. "Thought I'd do a few parlor tricks before heading in. It feels a bit like one of those nights."
The lone female horseman smiled at Jack. She had always felt like an older sister to him. In the five months since their big magic act, the four of them had gotten close; Merritt was like the alcoholic father, Daniel was the brother with the attitude, Henley was the sassy, yet caring, older sister, and Jack was the risk-taking younger brother. "'Kay, I'll tell Merritt and Daniel." She waved at him before whisking away. Jack turned around, and walked into the crowd.
(*)
"Alright, ladies, it's a simple trick! Just a simple trick," he emphasized, as he demonstrated to a crowd of busty Los Angeles ladies; two had long brown hair, one was blonde, one had a black pixie bob, and one had a crown of fiery red hair. All of them looked like their breasts were practically falling out of their tight halter tops, and Jack politely ignored that fact.
It wasn't that he didn't find them attractive, or that he wasn't interested, he just didn't think that a one night stand was justifiable. Especially when they were on the run. Now, Daniel and Merritt might have thought differently, but Jack just didn't want to go through all the trouble. He had faked his death, after all. What more trouble could there be?
He continued to amaze them with tricks Daniel considered to be childish and fit for the mind of a five-year-old, and was quickly starting to get bored. "Okay, so whoever gets to solve my next trick gets to spend the night with me," he said on a whim, and immediately regretted it when he saw each ladies eyes light up.
Why did he have to be such a gambler?
He decided, just to be safe, to perform a trick that Daniel had taught him. Simple enough, but unless you were a magician, it would be hard to catch the trick of deception and sleight of hand that was mixed into all of it.
And Jack was more than confident that these girls weren't magicians.
"Alright, ladies, let me show you the Ace of Spades." He withdrew from his inner jacket pocket a deck of cards, and shuffled through the deck until he reached the Ace of Spades. "I've always personally loved this card. Maybe it's just that every time a card company makes the Ace of Spades, they always manage to make it look so... Mysterious." He winked at them, and shuffled the cards. "I mean, it probably does have some magical qualities. It just jumps everywhere, doesn't it? Look, look, one time I turn around and it's here." He rolled up his sleeves, and the Ace of Spades slid down into his right hand. After shuffling it, he quickly shuffled it back into the deck.
"Sometimes, I can even find it behind my ear," he said, stopping suddenly, and procuring the card from behind his ear. He shuffled it back into the deck. "And sometimes it's even behind your ear," he said, picking the redhead, and making the Ace of Spades reappear behind her ear. The girls tittered. "My question now is..." he flipped over the deck, and showed them each card individually. The Ace of Spades was gone again. "Where is that troublesome Ace of Spades, now?"
"Maybe it's in your pants," the redhead said, grinning. The other girls tittered.
Jack tried to bite off a groan, and rose his eyebrows. "I'm not pulling down anything, but I'll swear on my life that the card isn't down there."
One of the brunettes was obviously trying to be clever as she smiled slowly. "Roll up your sleeves, won't you?"
He did so without delay, and tried not to laugh as the girl looked disappointed. "Any other guesses?"
"It's still in the deck."
Everyone turned as a new voice entered, and they saw a girl with long, wavy black hair and brown eyes, looking at Jack Wilder with an amused expression on her face.
The blonde sneered. "What are you talking about? How dense can you-" She stopped as the newcomer approached them with slow, deliberate steps, and, after gently tugging the deck out of Jack's hands, leafed through it expertly.
"The Ace of Spades," she said, still plainly ignoring the females as her calm, even eyes, met Jack's. "A hard trick to pull, as long as you know the position of it in the deck." She shuffled through the deck, and pushed out the Ace of Spades with her thumb, placing it in between her index and middle fingers. Her eyes sparkled. "And if I'm not mistaken, it was one of the horsemen - Atlas, who formulated it and perfected it."
Jack, still reeling because there was in no way that that information had gone out to the public yet and holy shit this girl knows what she's talking about, could only raise his eyebrows in surprise. She smiled; catlike. "I guess I'm correct, then."
"Bitch," the redhead spat out. "You weren't even part of this conversation in the first place. Stop trying to bring him down."
"Bring him down?" she repeated, her eyes rounding with surprise. To Jack's surprise, she still hadn't so much spared a glance towards the group of girls, and was still training those brown orbs at him. "I'm not bringing him down. Oh. Look at that. A bartender's calling your attention. Is that a phone he has with him? Five phones?"
The girls immediately checked their pockets, and gasped. "Oh my fucking god," the blonde exclaimed. "My phone!"
"We have to get them," the brunette said, determined. And without a second glance at Jack, they left.
"Miss them already?" she asked him, and watched as his eyes refocused on her. Her face looked quite plain, actually; eyes accented by liquid eyeliner, and full lips on a round, yet pretty, face. She was wearing a black dress that just went up her mid thigh, and she was wearing flats, which made her about 3 inches shorter than him.
"I was just waiting for them to leave," he breathed out, his eyes back on hers.
"Good." Her eyes suddenly sparkled and caught him off guard; before this moment, her eyes had been smoky and steaming, and all of the sudden, she looked like she wanted to burst into laughs. "As for your offer... I won't take it."
"Wait... What?"
"Your offer. To 'spend the night with you' if I got the trick?" she asked, raising an eyebrow again.
He turned red, and stuttered out many different phrases and letters before she finally let out a laugh, and shook her head. "I'm kidding. Look. I don't want it. I was just pulling your leg. I think those lovely ladies, on the other hand, would want - "
"Oh, god please no." Jack said without thinking, and her amused expression became even more pronounced. "I meant - well, if they were friends of yours, I'd-"
She snorted, rolling her eyes. "Friends? I don't steal my friends phones."
It took awhile for the implication to hit him. "Wait... You-"
A smile spread across her face. "Look, I can't stay and chat, so, I'll see you some other time, I guess?" she shrugged her shoulders, and turned around to walk away. It was then that Jack realized that his wrist felt a little... Light.
"My watch!" he exclaimed, startled. His eyes shot towards the mystery girl, who merely stopped, and tossed his watch at him over her shoulder. Suddenly he felt suspicion take its roots, and he immediately patted down his pockets. "My wallet and phone!"
"Be more attentive next time," she drawled out, and tossed him the two items. He glared at the back of her head.
"Wait. How did you get them away from me?" he called out desperately. She turned around, an exasperated look on her face as she retraced her steps and he found himself staring back into her deep brown eyes.
"Dear Mister Wilder. You, among everyone in this goddamned place, should know that a magician never reveals her secrets." She winked at him, and whisked away into the crowd, a smirk on her face, as his face paled.
No one was supposed to know he was Jack Wilder.
(*)
"Look, all I'm saying is, there's nothing to worry about." Merritt tried to convince the trio, after Jack had burst into the room and finished telling them the story about the mysterious magician girl.
"How... How can it be nothing to worry about?" Daniel demanded. "She knows Jack's name, and she knows he's a magician, and she knows we're here-"
"I'm going to try and be humble here. Look, we were pretty famous. We still are. We already know that... What's her name?"
"I didn't get her name."
Three heads whirled in his direction. "You didn't get her name?" Henley repeated, eyebrows raising high on her forehead.
"Well, it wasn't a priority," Jack said, disgruntled. He motioned for Merritt to continue.
"Let's just call her Dark Horse," Merritt said, giving her a code name like it was nothing. "Okay, so like I was saying, we already know that Dark Horse is, so far, an adequately equipped magician-"
"Adequate?" Atlas rolled his eyes. "If she knows that Ace of Spades trick I made, then she's more than adequate. She's... She knows her stuff. Knows it well. Because I know that I've only performed that trick all of once in my lifetime. Probably twice."
"Then she's a fan!" Merritt exclaimed. Seeing the blank look on everyone's faces, he groaned. "Alright, look at it this way. Henley, who is your ultimate favorite celebrity?"
"What?"
"Just say it."
"Ugh, fine. Uh... Tom Cruise?"
The three men groaned. "Seriously?" Jack asked. "He's up to your shoulder!"
"He's hot!" Henley protested. "Look, forget that, what is the point, Merritt?"
"Would you know Tom Cruise if he was blond, had a 'stache like Joaquin Phoenix, and was, god forbid, 5'11?"
"Of course I would - oh."
"So Dark Horse is a fan. She's a magician. Likes following us and stuff. So when she sees us performing, she sees it as a chance to get noticed by her 'ultimate favorite celebrity', Jack Wilder -"
"I'm not a celebrity."
"Let me finish, damn it," Merritt said. "And then she just goes and fangirls about it right in front of you."
"No, see, you don't get it! She wasn't fangirling! She was just this... Amazing... Cool, calm and collected person that didn't even give me a second glance once she walked away. She might be a fan but she definitely didn't fangirl. It was like she was just... Showing me how it was done." He bit his lip. He hadn't told them that she was able to lift something from him. He was the Sleight, damn it, and just admitting that a girl batting her eyelashes at him was able to outsmart him like that was plain infuriating.
"Oh, that means she likes you," Henley said, grinning.
"And it would seem like you like her back," Merritt said, saluting him. "I need to see her."
"Look, guys, I refuse to disregard her as a threat. We are on the run from the FBI, and you remember what Rhodes said. He said that it'd take a while for things to cool down."
"Danny, chill out. Rhodes didn't say we couldn't have friends!"
Daniel glared at Henley. "If this 'friend' turns out to be an undercover FBI agent, you better hope we can escape from this one."
Being on the run was hard. Even if they did have Rhodes on their side, he made it clear to them that he was still trying to convince the FBI to give the Horsemen a rest, but apparently it wasn't happening for some time.
And especially with a supposedly-dead Jack Wilder on their hands, it was going to get a tad tricky. Especially if someone did recognize them.
"So she just called you Mr. Wilder and didn't faint or anything because you were still alive?"
It took Jack a while to respond to Daniel's question, leaving him open-mouthed and searching for an answer. "You have a point."
"Find her. And talk to her."
Jack rolled his eyes. "You're not the boss of me."
(*)
And so Jack looked. And looked. And looked. But for what seemed like a thousand years of going back and forth to that same hotel lobby and performing the damn Ace of Spades trick over and over again for girls that just got dumber and dumber, Jack was ready to give up. He wasn't even sure if he was still looking for her for Danny's sake... Or his own sake.
It had been a while since he met an equal.
"Maybe she's a ghost," Jack suggested to the other horsemen after their show. It was one of their late-night ones, so they finished up at about 12 midnight, leaving everyone more than a bit tired.
"Oh, come on," Henley said, grinning. "You've only been looking for two weeks. The year is young!"
Jack made a frustrated noise from his throat. "Look, I'm just going to get a coffee. I am not looking for her tonight. You guys want anything?"
"I'm good," Merritt said. "But can you get me a cookie or something?" Everyone looked at him. "What? Can't a guy still love chocolate chip cookies?"
(*)
The Starbucks in the hotel was packed, and the line, even though there were three different ones, had at least ten people in line, and he would not wait that long for a coffee.
And a cookie.
Which is how he found himself in a quiet little coffee shop about three blocks away, with only two people in front of him, as he tried to decide if he was in the mood for a latte, or something else.
"Yeah, I'll have a Cappuccino, grande size. Oh, and can you add some whipped cream and chocolate sauce?"
The girl in front of him had just given her order, but it wasn't that that was grabbing his attention. It was her voice.
"I'll just sip it here. Ooh, and include one of those double fudge brownies. I'm in the mood to indulge myself."
Calm, cool, collected with just a hint of sass. He leaned forward a little bit, just to see if his hunch was correct, and saw wisps of dark hair underneath her beanie.
No way. On the one day he decided to give up looking for her... She showed up. Ordering a double fudge brownie and a cappuccino, no less.
"Thanks," she chirped, and turned away from the cashier, a steaming mug in one hand, and a little plate with her brownie in it in the other. The minute she turned around, their eyes met, and her eyes widened just a little bit.
"Oh. Hi...?"
(*)
Hello, everyone! It is le author here. And I am going to answer a few questions before moving on to anything else. :D
So if you don't know me, I've mostly been writing Naruto and Teen Titans fanfictions, along with other random fandoms that you will find in my profile. This story is one of the two stories I am writing that were only meant for my personal fulfillment (a.k.a I just wrote them to feel good about myself), but then I realized that hey, I think this idea is actually okay enough to put on fanfiction.
And here I am. So basically, I thought I'd just continue the events from Now You See me.
If y'all have any questions, feel free to say so in a review, or PM me! :) I'll be glad to answer, or solve these questions of yours in future chapters.
Thanks for clicking here! Byeee!