Alrighty y'all, before I get to the actual story, I just wanna say how thrilled I am with the positive feedback I've received so far on this! I just can't believe Out of the Inferno has already made its mark on Fanfic users like...

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Reviews: Blindluck92 (yeah I thought you'd enjoy that memorable little intro), AvidMovieFan16 (oh don't worry I would never rip apart Jember), janusscientes (the fact that you said you don't usually review makes this review even more flattering, but as to your point about Ember's reaction to Lula, I totally agree! Lula is an acquired taste, not an immediate bestie), AfterDaybreak (I hope this next chapter is just as great!), Kaitlyndelarosa (aww thank you :D), I LOVE YOU [well I like the way you review ;)], Storythriver123 (thank you for leaving that review because it reminded me how much I'd been dying to get back to my writing!), and Ruby Pen (I'm thrilled to hear that you've enjoyed both of my NYSM stories :D)

Next on today's itinerary is...GET TO THE ACTUAL STORY ALREADY!

Disclaimer: just because I worked for fifteen dollars an hour for forty hours a week for over twelve weeks this summer (and have yet to spend it on Christmas presents or an apartment in the city) does not mean I can afford the rights to this franchise

*September 17, New York City, New York*

"How much...stuff did...you bring?!" Ember grunted, her arm muscles straining from carrying Lula's giant black trunk up four flights of stairs.

"Let me do the math," Lula chirped before - without any warning - she plopped down her side of the trunk on the landing, narrowly missing Ember's foot and causing the Irish girl to huff in frustration.
"I've got another trunk of equipment, three suitcases of clothes, four boxes of personal belongings," the brunette rattled off as she used her fingers to keep count, "so I guess the answer to your question would be...everything I own."

"And of course fate would have it that you'd be moving in on the one day that the elevator breaks down," Ember muttered as she grabbed her end of the trunk and gestured for Lula to do the same so they could get this blasted prop-box upstairs before any of their neighbors got back from work.

"Are you sure this was really fate? What if it was...the Eye?" Lula asked in a dramatic whisper.

The blonde rolled her eyes with a scoff before opening the stairwell door with a backwards kick. "You're delusional."

"Think about it! What if this is, like, the Eye's way of helping us bond?"

Once they reached the end of the hallway, Ember lowered the trunk to the floor so she could dig her key out of her pocket. "Sorry to burst your bubble, newbie, but you're giving the Eye way too much credit."
Lula continued to ramble about 24/7 surveillance and secret tests hidden within ordinary tasks, but Ember did her best to block the babble out. After all, if the Eye was really as omnipotent as Lula believed, they never would've let Henley leave the Horsemen. Remembering how she felt when she returned to the apartment six months ago to find Henley's stuff completely gone and a letter waiting on the kitchen counter nearly brought Ember to tears.

"So do I need to do a drumroll or are you gonna open the door already?!" Lula piped up.

"Huh?" Ember replied dazedly. "Oh, right, sorry."
The blonde proceeded to unlock the door and open it up to her new roommate.

The apartment had a simple kitchen area attached to a small living room complete with a sofa, coffee table, television, and stereotypical décor for young women in their twenties (such as a copy of Van Gogh's "Starry Nights" and a "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster on the walls, a dead-ish houseplant sitting by the window, and a few items of clothing draped across the couch). There was a plain bedroom on each side of the living room and a little bathroom off to the side.

"Wow this place is..." Lula pressed her lips together as if trying to come up with the right words, "emptier than I expected. But hey, that just means there's lots of potential for decorating!"
All of a sudden, Lula squeezed her eyes shut, pinched up her face, and rubbed her fingers in tiny circles around her temples.

"Except Dylan said we're not allowed to leave anything personal lying around in case we have to run on the spot," Ember explained, her voice straining from physical exertion of dragging Lula's obscenely large trunk in from the hallway. "Besides, it protects us from any nosy neighbors or overly-eager government agents because the only thing they'll be able to prove is that female Millennials lived here."

"Ooh yes...yes...and I got it!" the brunette exclaimed as her big green eyes snapped open. "I know exactly how to make this place pop!"

Despite the fact that Lula clearly hadn't heard a single thing said in the past two minutes, Ember chuckled softly. "Henley said the exact same thing when we..." Her voice trailed off and her expression darkened before she could finish her sentence.

"When you..." Lula prodded with a grin, clearly eager to hear more about the Eye's former escape artist.

Unfortunately, the Irish girl's nostalgic mood had been soured. "I'm gonna go get the rest of your bloody things before heading to the café."

"Café? But it's already, like, three in the afternoon."

"True, but since Dylan made me skip my morning shifts today so I could help you move, my manager is punishing me with the low-tipping 'hipster coffee date' shift and the 'post-clubbing binge' shift, complete with drunk customers trying to stick their hands up my skirt."

"Oh, why don't you just stick a mouse trap to the side of your underwear? That trick quite literally saved my butt when I worked in Atlantic City!"

Ember froze mid-step. "At-Atlantic City?"
The blonde remembered Dylan saying that Lula had worked the underground scene for ten years, but Ember had no idea that the same girl who was known for pulling a hat out of a rabbit over eight years ago would be able to score a gig in one of the top entertainment cities in the country. Even Ember wasn't able to get her magic act out of the Vegas strip club scene until the Eye had recruited her to join the Horsemen.

"I mean it wasn't exactly, like, a steady job, mostly just bartending with a couple shows a week for the late night crowd, which is why I came up with the mousetrap idea," Lula rambled, completely oblivious of the slight envy in Ember's eyes. "But hey, clearly it was enough to impress the Eye because here I am!"

"Yeah...here you are," Ember said with a forced grin and a nervous laugh as she began backing out the door. "And here I go, back to the van to get the rest of your stuff."

"Wait, what do you want me to do?" Lula called out after her new roommate.

Ember scoffed while she strode down the hallway back to the stairwell door. "Do you really want to hear my answer to that?" she muttered under her breath.

*October 31, New York City, New York*

"And boom! You all escape to the roof; go down the tube to the flatbed that'll take you to the rendezvous point; and by the time the police or the FBI get there, the only one they'll be able to arrest is Owen Case!" Dylan explained as he used his laser pointer on the three-dimensional model of the Octa theater. "Any questions?"
There were none...because all five Horsemen were either too bored or too tired to keep their eyes open.
"Seriously?! You guys have been hounding me for over a year and a half to give you a new mission, and when I finally get you one, you can't even bother to stay awake through the prep?!"

"No offense, Dilly, but we've already been over the exit plan a hundred times," Merritt complained as he tilted his fedora over his eyes and slouched in his chair like he was ready to take a nap...until Dylan snatched the fedora and flung it to the floor.

"And we'll go over it a hundred times more until every one of you can recite it in your sleep!"

"Um, I think some of us are already at that point," Lula observed hesitantly with a glance off to the side.

Dylan looked toward the end of row where he saw Jack sitting on the floor with his head resting up against Ember's knees. Fed up with his recruits' laziness, the double agent grabbed Merritt's hat off the ground and threw it straight at the pickpocket.

"Gah, go down the tube!" Jack repeated groggily.

"I don't even know why I'm wasting my valuable time trying to whip you five back into performing shape if you can't even bother to listen!"

"We have been listening! For weeks!" Ember groaned. "And honestly, Dylan, if you want us to pay more attention, maybe you should change up your script every once in a while."

"Or change up who reads the script," Daniel muttered under his breath.

"If you don't like the way I run this mission, why don't act like a real man and say it to my face instead of behind my back?!" Dylan called out angrily.

While the federal agent and the illusionist proceeded to argue over who deserved to lead the Horsemen for the umpteenth time, Ember decided it was the prime opportunity to carry out her own disappearing act.
"Come on, Yank!" Ember hissed as she scooped up her duffel bag and grabbed Jack's hand. "If we hurry we can still make it to-"

"And just where do you think you two are going?" Dylan asked, suddenly appearing in front of the door with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Um...out?" Jack responded cautiously, still confused how the undercover magician pulled off his 'teleportation' trick in the spur of the moment.

"Oh, so you don't have enough energy to stay awake during rehearsal but you have enough to party all night?"

"Psh not all night!" Ember dismissed with a wave of her hand. "Just until dawn."

"And you plan to bring your boyfriend, who is supposed to be dead, to a place filled with lots of prying eyes, smartphones, and alcohol?!"

"Um, excuse me, but do I look like I was born yesterday?! That's why we'll be in costume!"

"So you're willing to ruin your covers, throw away years of work, and get yourselves - and potentially your teammates - tossed in prison just because you want to get wasted in a packed club, rub up next to each other and a bunch of sweaty strangers, and listen to deafening so-called music while dressing up as what?" Dylan spat out scornfully. "A skanky leprechaun and a pot of gold? A naughty nurse and a dead patient? Netflix and Chill?"

"None of the above!" Ember shut down with a derisive snort. "And not that it's any of your business, but we're going as-"

"I don't care!" the scruffy suit cut in. "What you're doing is reckless, dangerous, and purely selfish. Do you have anything to say for yourselves?!"

"We'll be wearing masks," Jack offered in a weak attempt at humor.

"Oh because that makes it all better!" Dylan exclaimed, his voice raising another octave and his face reddening another shade.

"Come on, Dylan! We haven't had a day off in weeks! Please just let us have Halloween and I promise I'll be a perfect angel until the show!"

"And if I say no?"

"I can make every single day a living hell!" Ember chirped with a big fake-innocent grin.

Realizing that he had no other choice, the Horsemen's handler threw up his hands in surrender. "Fine! Go out! Go party! But if you get busted, I'm not bailing you out!"

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Ember squealed excitedly as she flung her arms around Dylan and squeezed him tightly. However, before it could get awkward, Ember let go of the federal agent, grabbed Jack's hand and her duffel bag, and raced up the stairs of the warehouse.
"Let's go Yank! It's time for some midnight mischief!"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Merritt's voice echoed. "All this time I've been trying to use my potent powers of persuasion to get a little vacation time, but the only thing I needed to do was give you a hug?! Bring it in, Dilly!"

*{0}*

About an hour later, Ember and Jack were dancing and laughing together in a popular nightclub while dressed up to the nines as a Victorian style acrobat and ringmaster.

Ember had her curly dirty blonde hair styled in a high bun with a few little ringlets left loose to frame her face and graze the back of her neck. She was wearing a strapless satin scarlet corset with gold lace decorations, white thigh-high stockings with red bows at the top, and black stiletto pumps. As for makeup and accessories, Ember also added red lip-gloss that perfectly matched her leotard, white elbow-length gloves, pearl teardrop earrings, and a pearl choker. However, in order to protect her identity, she added a black filigree half-mask - with a matching black filigree hair ornament pinned to her bun - over her kohl-lined eyes and sparkly gold eyeshadow.
Her costume resembled her Demitria Ruby uniform from her days back at Three Rings (her uncle's strip club in Las Vegas), but this time Ember felt empowered because her body once again belonged to her instead of someone else.

Jack, on the other hand, dressed up in a scarlet satin blazer with gold embroidery and traditional coattails over a partially-unbuttoned white shirt. He also had on black fitted pants with a gold belt and knee-high black leather boots. The ensemble was topped off by a white filigree mask and a black top hat with a red and gold band around it.

While the masks, jacket, and corset certainly weren't cheap, Ember had spent the past year scraping together tips and forgoing bottles of wine and new clothes to pay for them because Halloween always had and always would be her favorite holiday. Strangely enough, even though the fire-dancer had heard about the party from her coworkers at the café (and she even recognized a few of them in crowd), Ember did her best to make sure that she and Jack stayed away from any familiar faces to ensure that they were not recognized as the most shipped couple of the famous Five Horsemen.

"I-I gotta say," Jack spoke up as he held Ember's hips in his hands and they swayed along to the loud music, "as well as those golden brown eyes accentuate your costume, I miss seeing those sparkly sapphires."

"Oh Jack..." Ember gushed dazedly. Unfortunately, before she could display her affection, she felt a hard slap to her butt and a rough hand around her wrist.
"Oi, what the hell?!" the Irish girl exclaimed as she whipped around to face the Neanderthal who had the bollocks to grab her like a piece of meat.

"Come on, you sexy thang! Time for you to learn what a real man feels like!" a disheveled pirate slurred, his grip strong for a man whose breath reeked of cheap vodka.

Never one to let herself feel like a damsel-in-distress, Ember began to flip through her mental catalogue of comebacks she had prepared years ago in her previous line of work. However, before she could let loose a dagger-like retort, Jack stepped in to defend the fire-dancer.
"Hey, leave my girlfriend alone!"

"Your girlfriend?! Any man who wears that much lace doesn't deserve a piece of tail like that!"

"Come on, dude, just back off!" Jack tried again.

"For a guy dressed like a butler, you sure need to learn some manners," the drunkard sputtered before swinging back his fist a attempting to punch Jack in the face.
Luckily, because of the jerk's alcohol-impaired motor skills, Jack had enough time to dodge the brunt of the attack...but that actually pissed them both off even more. In fact, the ringmaster was so busy shoving the pirate away that he didn't notice that his mask had gotten knocked off in the scuffle.

Ember, however, knew that the most important thing to protect was their identities. "That's enough!" she cried out as she pulled the two men apart.
Ember grabbed Jack's mask off the ground and refastened it on his face in case the brawl had drawn the attention of the club security guards or other clubgoers with cell phones and social media accounts.

"But Em-"

"Let me handle this!" the Irish girl responded in a tight and deliberate voice, which Jack recognized as her scheming tone. Ember then took a deep breath, donned her flirty face, and turned her attention toward the inebriated scoundrel.
"Look, handsome, how about you go buy us some drinks while I clear things up with my, uh, soon-to-be ex here?" Ember proposed as she trailed her hands down the pirate's chest. "And then when you get back, you and I can discuss whose room to wake up in."

The drunkard laughed obnoxiously in Jack's direction. "You got it, sexy!" He began to strut in the direction of the bar...however he lost his swagger after about two steps when his baggy pirate pants suddenly dropped to the ground and revealed his speedo-like underwear. His already-red face got even redder as the laughter of clubgoers around him drowned out the deejay's tunes. The buccaneer tried to flee to the bathroom, but he kept tripping over his fallen pants and falling to the sticky club floor while getting blinded by flashing phone cameras.

"Ooh, a saggy banana hammock! Now that's what I call karma!" Jack jeered with a huge grin on his face.

Even in the darkness of the club, anyone could see Ember's foxlike smirk. "Trust me, karma had nothing to do with it," the fire-dancer purred mysteriously before pulling the pirate's belt out from behind her back and snapping it to the ground like a whip.

"You little minx!"

Ember chuckled mischievously and leaned in so her breath tickled Jack's ear "Baby, you have no idea!"

"Maybe not yet..." Jack suddenly spun Ember in a circle and dipped her in his arms. "But I have a feeling I will in about twenty minutes once I get you back into your bed."

Whether it was Jack's husky voice or the blood rushing to her head from being dipped, Ember could feel her cheeks flushing underneath her mask and her lovestruck smile growing even wider.
Jack took that speechlessness as a yes, so he helped the blonde regain her footing and kept his hand on the small of her back as he escorted her through the crowd to make sure that every other clubber they passed knew Ember was already taken.
However, right before they reached the exit, Ember stopped in her tracks.
"Actually, would you mind if we make that twenty five minutes? I have a little extra business to attend to in the ladies' room." With that, the Irish girl twirled a random wallet between her fingers and winked playfully.

Jack laughed in disbelief. "Did you pick that from that jerk's pocket?!"

Ember shrugged noncommittally, but her Cheshire grin gave her away. "What can I say, I had a very...very good teacher." The blonde pivoted and strutted off toward the bathroom to inevitably flush the drunkard's wallet down the club toilet.

The professional pickpocket growled under his breath, just as turned on by Ember's spirit and spunk as he was by her flawless figure and skimpy costume. In fact, thinking about how eager he was to get back to the apartment kept him occupied until Ember returned from her little business trip and looped her arm through the crook of Jack's elbow.
"Ready to go home, gorgeous?"

The Irish girl nodded with her million dollar smile and the two magicians walked out of the club hand-in-hand...completely unaware of the man in a ninja costume who was recording their departure on his cell phone.

*November 7, New York City, New York*

"Are you listening, Horsemen? When you emerge, and you will, I will be there...waiting," Thaddeus Bradley's velvety voice echoed. "Because mark my words, you will get what's coming to you...in ways you can't expect, but very much deserve. Because one thing I believe in is an eye...for an eye."

"Gee, Emmy, I know you used to be a stripper, but I had no idea you were a masochist!" Merritt teased, jarring the pyrotechnician out of her daze by breathing over her shoulder. "Take notes, Jackie boy, maybe you can get yourself a new roommate who doesn't mind letting you, hehe, bunk on top."

Ember glowered at the hypnotist as she yanked out her earbuds. "Really, Merr? Two and a half years later and you're still making stripper jokes?"

"You're right, I'm sorry, I promise I'll stop...as soon as it stops being funny!" Merritt exclaimed before laughing obnoxiously.
Ember didn't say a word, but the way she jerked the earbuds out of the laptop port and snapped the cord tightly before wrapping it around her fingers was warning enough that she was not in the mood for low blows.
"So," Merritt cleared his throat awkwardly, "why are you watching 'The Nutty Ramblings of a Bitter Jealous Patsy' anyway?"

Ember propped her elbows on the table and groaned as she pressed her face into her hands. "Because, unfortunately, some of his ramblings aren't so nutty. Thaddeus Bradley has had twenty months with nothing to do but eat, sleep, and think about who duped him...and how to get revenge on them."

Merritt pursed his lips as if he was weighing the logic behind Ember's argument. "Okay...better question, why aren't you watching it at your place?"

"Because I refuse to spend any more time with that psycho shock artist than is absolutely necessary!" the Irish girl blurted in frustration.

Both Merritt and Jack froze in place, both of them rendered speechless by the disgust dripping from Ember's unexpected outburst. Fortunately, the universe chose this moment to send a distraction.

Ding dong!

"I'll get it!" Merritt announced a little too chipperly, eager to escape the electric atmosphere in the living room.

At this point, Jack abandoned his card-throwing and knelt beside Ember, who was busy burying her head in her arms on the table. "Em, do you not like Lula because y-you think she's trying to replace Henley...o-or because you're afraid she's trying to replace you?"

Ember's head shot up from the table and she snorted dismissively, but based on the redness of her eyes, she was probably just using the snort to cover up her teary sniffle. "That is complete rubbish! My reluctance to work with Lula is entirely from a professional perspective that has nothing to do with my personal feelings!"

"Yeah, calling her a psycho was completely professional," Jack teased.

"Alright I admit that was harsh, but ignore that for a second and focus on the big picture!" Ember insisted. "If Thaddeus Bradley is able to produce a vlog from a posh jail cell, I wouldn't be surprised if he also had people on the outside just waiting for us to slip up so they can do his dirty work for him!"

"Okay, clearly you've been watching too much of this show," the pickpocket responded with an amused yet concerned chuckle as he closed down Thaddeus' website and shut the laptop.
At that moment, Merritt walked - actually more like glided - back into the room.
"Hey Merr, Ember and I need a few more minutes alone, so would you mind going back outside? A-And while you're at it, keep this away from her for a while."
Jack passed the laptop off to the hypnotist, who exited the front door without a word or even a mischievous expression.

"Is it just me or was Merritt a little...not Merritty?" Ember questioned.

"Uh-uh, no changing the subject this time, Em," Jack replied knowingly. "The only one who's acting out of character right now is you and I wanna know why."

Ember sighed, stood up from her chair, and began pacing around the living room. "Lula May isn't a real Horseman. We're fugitives, trying to live clean off the grid so that Thaddeus Bradley and the FBI can't find us, but little Miss Lula has all the subtlety of a hurricane, leaving a mess everywhere she goes!"

"Ember, d-don't you think that's a little extreme?"

"Extreme?!" the blue-eyed girl spat out. "Do you know what's extreme?! Freaking out the plumber by getting a fake finger caught in the disposal! Traumatizing the delivery boy by waiting to clean up a synthetic bloodbath until after he showed up?! I've been dyeing and frying my hair, wearing colored contacts, talking in an American accent, and living as barista Emily Jacobs for months! I can barely remember who I really am when I look in the mirror and yet I've learned to put up with all of this so I don't draw unnecessary attention, but then she moves in and practically puts up a big flashing sign that says 'Magicians living here!' It just makes me wanna..."
And with that, Ember grabbed a pillow off the couch and shoved her face into it so she could muffle her screams.

Jack got to his feet, but he waited patiently until Ember's tantrum was over before he said anything. "You finished?" he asked calmly.
Ember nodded, the pillow still covering her face.
"Good," Jack chirped as he plucked the pillow from the pyrotechnician's hands and dropped it back on the couch, "because it's time for you to listen. Dylan has been playing the desperate obsessive at the FBI ever since the Five Pointz show so the Feds stay off our trail. And yes Lula is a bit, uh, e-excitable, but I honestly believe it's because she wants to prove herself not just to the Eye, but to you."

"And to you, in case you haven't noticed," Ember grumbled.

Jack brushed back a loose strand of straightened strawberry blonde hair that had fallen loose from Ember's messy bun. "I love you for you Ember, no matter the color of your hair or the name you call yourself. I promise, le mo chroí go léir, that I will never let anything or anyone tear us apart."

The Irish girl's heart fluttered at the sound of Jack speaking her native tongue. "I love you too, baby."
Ember closed the space between them and pressed her lips up against his. For the first time in weeks, she felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. In fact, Ember was so focused on enjoying their kiss that she didn't notice Jack's hand fiddling around in his pocket.

When Jack pulled back to take a breath, his hazel eyes had a beautiful glow in them that Ember had never seen before. "Emmy, I-"

Bang bang bang!

"Yo Jack! Have you finished taming the wild leprechaun yet?!" Merritt hollered through the door. "I'm bored, I'm hungry, and I really gotta pee!"

Ember couldn't help but laugh. "I'll go let him in on my way out. See you at rehearsal."

With that, Ember gave Jack a quick peck on the lips, grabbed her purse and her coat, and headed toward the front door. Jack sighed as he pulled his empty hand out of his pocket and went back to his playing cards before Merritt strolled back into the apartment. The mind-reader returned the laptop to its spot on the table, and yet he had a confused look on his face as if he forgot why he had it with him in the first place.

"Man, how long was I out there?" Merritt griped, but he grinned as soon as he caught a glimpse of Ember's lip-gloss smudged on Jack's lips. "Clearly long enough for you two to make up. Guess it's a good thing my bladder got the better of me or else somebody would've had to answer the door half-dressed. And speaking of which…"
Without another word, the oldest Horseman scooted down the hall into the bathroom, leaving Jack with only his thoughts to keep him company.

*{0}*

Happy Thanksgiving y'all! And boy am I grateful to have such a patient crew of readers or else y'all would've run me outta this virtual town with pitchforks and torches months ago for not updating (but I hope this 5100+ word chapter will compensate for that)! Luckily, I had both the time and the creative inspiration to sit down and write over 2500 words (primarily the club scene) on the day before and day of Turkey Day. Double luckily, I'll be wrapping up my second-to-last semester of college in the next month and I plan on spending a significant chunk of my Christmas break in front of both a television screen and a computer screen so I can work on both of my Fanfics!

P.S. In case y'all forgot from the original, "le mo chroí go léir" is Gaelic for "with all my heart".