It's a fairly early Tuesday night, but by the way this place looked you'd think it was 11pm on a Saturday night. Elsa shifted uncomfortably in her seat. They'd been to plenty of clubs before, but usually it was far more commonplace than wherever this was. Jack had picked them up in a car that looked way too expensive to be legally purchased and drove in a speedy haphazard manner (Merida made incessant complaints about how dying in a car crash with some white-haired ninny wasn't worth a million bucks) through some back exits, past some warehouses that definitely looked like they had drug-making inhabitants, until they stopped in front of what was probably supposed to be a bar. Inside heavy rap music was playing and Elsa is wondered how Jack was even able to find their booth in the back corner given that the whole place only had 2 yellow-tinted lamps for lighting.
The four of them are sitting in silence while Jack stares back at them with this smug knowing little smile on his face.
Rapunzel breaks the silence. "Alright, I'll bite. Why'd you bring us here, Jack?"
"Yeah and are you actually planning on, you know, letting us in on the deal?" Anna pipes in.
He gets the most satisfied look on his face, like he just heard exactly what he was waiting to hear. Like he was crossing off another expected bullet point on a to do list. "Well wait just a minute, girls - why exactly should I tell you anything?"
"Oh I don't know, maybe because we know you need us? You can't pull whatever this is off without all four of us, can you?" Jack raises a perturbed brow at Elsa. She mirrors the satisfying smirk he made moments ago back at him.
"Fine, Ice Queen." His voice is short and impatient. "Tell you what. I'll be generous and let you meet the little team I've put together. Then I'll tell you whatever you want to know."
"Whatever we want to know that fits your terms, anyway." Rapunzel guesses, arms folded over her blood red sundress. She was sick of games, but she had a taste of what this guy was like. And she knew he was certainly a player when it came to games. Hell, so were the four of them. Rapunzel just wasn't used to being the one in the dark.
Jack makes eye contact with her and she freezes up again, just like that night at the bar. Shit. How does he do that? He flashes her an indiscernible smile, something between saccharine and seductive. "Oh come on, I know you have more faith in me than that, Luce."
Merida stares confused at Rapunzel for a second. "Punz…how does he know your con name?"
Rapunzel doesn't break eye contact with Jack, staring him down. No fucking way was he going to pull her around like this. "Forget about it, Mer." Her mouth is a straight line but she's keeping her demeanor calm and collected. "He's just trying to act like he knows more than we do."
"Oh wow, that's exactly right, princess, thank you. You know you guys are just so knowledgeable and I am just completely in the dark over here. Now tell me again, where are we? You four know how to get home without my help, right?"
They all sit silent. Rapunzel bites the inside of her cheek, resisting the urge to rip his stupid white hair out of his stupid cocky head.
None of them hear the footsteps approaching their table through all the tension.
"I thought this was a simple meeting, not a stand-off. These are the girls we want working with us, aren't they, Jack?"
This has an almost authoritative reaction on Jack, and he shuts his eyes and lets out a breath. When his eyes open again, he is back to being cool and collected. "Yep, these are the four and only girls I've been telling you about." The unknown man slides into the booth beside Jack and the girls get a better look at him.
This man looks like the last person you'd find in a place as dingy as this. His deep red hair is smooth and cut close to his ears. He's wearing a crisp blue shirt underneath a black blazer. Relaxed, but put together. Casual, but important-looking. It's as if every contrasting aspect furthered to compliment him even more. His whole appearance is so clean cut and suave, it's almost like the whole bar would be attracted to him. He had somewhat of a baby face, one of those new-looking, naive faces. But something in his green eyes told you that he was in the conning business. There was something behind all the sincerity that knew every little dark thing about you.
"Ladies, this is Hans. Hans, ladies." Jack shrugs as if this sufficed as an introduction.
"I'm sorry, what did you say your name was?" Elsa asks with knit eyebrows. He looks somehow familiar to her, but she assumes it's just his business to seem that way to anybody.
Jack chimes in for him. "It's Hans Wes—"
"Hans will do." He cuts Jack off. "It's lovely to meet you ladies. From what I hear you're all very talented." He goes down the line and offers his hand to each of them. Merida and Elsa find his eye contact unsettling, but Anna and Rapunzel find it charming. As if on cue, Hans kisses Anna and Rapunzel's hands respectively, successfully making Anna blush.
"We are." Elsa decidedly ends the moment, off-put by this new stranger. "Talented, I mean."
"Well, I know Jack certainly thinks so. He doesn't select just anybody's help, you know."
"Oh really?" Merida is wearing the smuggest grin as she leans in tauntingly towards Jack. She turns back to Hans. "So what 'talent' does he see in you then?"
Hans and Jack exchange half-second glances. "She's really to-the-point." Jack explains.
Hans adjusts the cuffs on his blazer. "Fair enough. If I'm not mistaken, you wanted my services because of my persuasive skills, isn't that right, Jack?"
He shrugs. "Basically. As you can probably already tell, Hans is one of the most charming fuckers you'll ever meet. Just give him about five minutes and he can make you believe just about anything he wants."
"Hang on," Elsa stops meticulously. "You said you had a whole team put together. Where's the rest of them?"
"Patience, Elsie, patience."
"Don't call me that."
Hans interjects when he sees Elsa's tolerance fleeting. "Why don't I get in touch with Rider and we can find a more…elegant place to convene?"
Jack stops his taunting to shoot Hans a defensive look. "What's wrong with this place? This is classy!"
"Jack, this is about as classy as a dumpster. Ladies, I promise you that I can get you a place with far more ambiance." Hans stands and heads for the door. The four of them follow him, though mostly just to spite Jack.
"Classy as a dumpster," Jack mutters as he gets up and trails behind them. "A five-star dumpster, maybe."
Hans hits a button on his key and the headlights of a white mustang illuminate the grungy street. "I'll lead the way to the restaurant and contact F—"
Jack interrupts. "If you think for a second that Flynn Rider is gonna want to meet us in some snooty fancy pants restaurant, then you're mistaken my friend."
Hans purses his lips for a quarter of a second. "Right then. What do you suggest?"
Jack shrugs. "I dunno. Isn't there that bar he always goes to? The Ugly Duck or something?"
"Right, and there's a good chance he'd already be there anyway."
"Gee, while all this location talk is just riveting, how about we actually go somewhere?" Merida's arms are folded impatiently as she taps her black combat boot.
Jack rolls his eyes. "Fine, red. You and queenie hop in."
Anna and Rapunzel ride with Hans as he makes pleasant conversation with them on the way.
"So…Hans, how do you know Jack exactly?" Rapunzel is curious because she's not sure how someone so pleasant could ever be involved with someone as condescending as Jack.
A smile plays across his face so easily as his green eyes meet theirs through the rearview mirror of his car. "Excellent question. He can be sort of abrasive, can't he?" He shrugs lightly. "When you've been in the con business long enough, paths tend to cross, you know? I think we first met when we were both trying to con the same person. A spoiled heiress looking to spend money on the next man to give her the time of day. He chatted her up and wanted to take her out for drinks. Makes sense. It's far too easy to con a drunk person. But me, I went for the more formal approach. Invited her to dinner, a carriage ride, the whole shebang."
"Well who did she choose?" Anna presses.
Hans laughs and looks at her through the rearview mirror again. "Who do you think?" This successfully gets another blush out of Anna.
The Ugly Duck is definitely nicer than wherever Jack took them, but it's still a bar. Shady characters populate most of the tiny wooden tables. A mediocre piano player is trying to plunk out some indiscernible top 40 song.
"Ah, there's the man." Jack smiles and strolls up to an occupied barstool, leaning against the counter. "You know, they say the acclaimed thief Flynn Rider drinks here sometimes."
The man at the barstool turns slyly to face Jack, almost as if he was prepared for someone to say that. "I've heard that too. But only the lucky ones actually get a conversation out of him."
Jack puts a hand over his heart, looking touched. "Am-am I one of the lucky ones? I'm honored Rider, truly honored. Hans, take a picture. This one's going in the scrapbook."
Flynn tosses Jack a mock-sweet smile with the look of death in his eyes. "So, what brings you around these parts?"
Jack snorts at Flynn's terminology. "Well I'm actually 'round these parts' because I am just dying to be in your next western film, 'Lone Rider'. What do you say?"
Flynn rolls his eyes. "Yes, yes, you're hilarious. Now what do you want?"
Jack leans in a little closer towards Flynn and lowers his voice. "Do you remember that…operation I told you about a few months back?"
Flynn leans back. "You're not seriously still on that, are you Jack? I'm telling you, it wouldn't work. We just don't have enough people. It's a big plan, we can't do it with a team of three or four."
"What about a team of eight?"
He squints his eyes suspiciously at Jack. "What are you saying?"
Jack places a hand on Flynn's back and turns him to face the rest of the group. "Rider, meet the missing half to our dream team."
"Oh." He looks impressed and suddenly intrigued. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you ladies." He flashes them a dazzling smolder. Anna giggles, Rapunzel blushes, Elsa smirks and rolls her eyes, and Merida is more fascinated in her fingernails.
Flynn Rider has russet brown hair and deep brown eyes that any naive girl would be dying to fall in love with. The light beard and goatee just make him seem even sexier. But there's a certain cockiness about him that welcomes instant eye-rolling.
"So you're the breaking and entering guy?" Anna asks.
"That's right. Best damn thief around. But I am far more curious as to what you four can do. What've you got?"
On cue, Merida rolls her eyes. "We don't have to prove ourselves to you."
Jack takes this one. "Well actually, if you want in on the heist, then yes you do."
The Scottish redhead huffs, then makes her way to the abused-looking dartboard at the back of the bar. She grabs a handful of darts and from the farthest point away from the board, she tosses them one by one. Thunk. Bullseye. Thunk. Another bullseye. Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk. Six darts all squished into the red dot at the center of the board. She spins around to face the boys. "If you wanna empty your pockets by the end of the night play me at a round of poker. That proof enough?"
The three boys look both impressed and a little intimidated. "Yeah, yeah I'd say that's good." Flynn cracks.
Jack points at Elsa. "Alright Elsie, you're up next. Show us what you got?"
She rolls her eyes. "Let me get this straight. You stalk us at a bar, come all the way back to our hotel room to find us, practically beg us to be in your little team, and now all of the sudden we're doing auditions for you boys?"
Jack nods matter-of-factly. "Pretty much, yeah."
She shoots him the meanest death glare before waltzing up to the bar to get a better look at the place. She scans the room, analyzing each person in the joint.
"You see that guy arm wrestling with the guy in the beanie back there? They're wrestling for money. I can guarantee you that he's a horrible gambler. Only he's too proud to admit it, or even know it himself, so he'll take any bet so long as you can just barely convince him that he'll win. And you see the guy that's had at least three too many who's coming on to the entire room? Yeah, just get a girl to give him the time of day for about ten seconds and you can strip his pockets clean. And based on his age, I'd say you'd get a decent amount of money out of him. Aaand in about ten seconds, those three idiots are going to act like they want to start a fight, but they're so drunk that they'll eventually just start crying to each other, probably about how their wives know about the hookers or something of that nature." A few moments later, a commotion from that end of the bar starts, fulfilling Elsa's prediction.
Jack, Hans, and Flynn are staring bug-eyed at Elsa when she finishes her analysis.
"Okay yeah, we need her on our team." Hans finally says.
"What about you, princess?" Jack nods to Rapunzel.
The brunette just smirks. "Oh, I'm really not all that great. But, I guess I'm pretty good at finding things." She already has her wide and innocent puppy eyes played. "I mean, weren't you boys looking for these?" She holds up two expensive-looking watches, a huge wad of cash, a pair of sunglasses worth at least $100, and a three sets of car keys.
Suddenly, the guys are patting their pockets, looking baffled. Rapunzel bites her finger, looking naive and confused. "I mean, it's no bus pass, but it's something, right?"
Jack squints at her, impressed. "Well played, 'Lucy', well played."
She rolls her eyes as she hands the men back their things. "You boys are way too easily distracted."
He's eager to change the subject, so he turns to Anna. "And what about you, what can you do?"
She giggles flirtatiously. "I can distract you long enough to take whatever I want." She says the whole thing in a bubblegum pink voice while twirling a strand of orange hair, head cocked to the side.
"Well we need plenty of distractions to pull this thing off." Flynn offers.
Jack is rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I think I'm gonna need a little more convincing than that."
"Sure." Anna hops onto the bar and crosses her legs. "Just give me a guy and tell me what you want."
Jack scans the room as if he's looking for a challenge. He points to the self-conscious looking college boy who's glued to his phone and has one of those wallets that's chained to his pants. "He's been on his phone this entire time. Grab the Samsung and you're in."
The redhead shrugs. "Fine." And with that she hops of the counter and slides next to the guy. It's hard to hear exactly what she's saying. Something about how she loves that app. Then he mutters something and she giggles, touching his shoulder. They go on like this for a couple minutes, he says something, she touches him flirtatiously. Just as she starts drawing little circles with her finger on the hand that's holding the phone, she suddenly looks confused and excuses herself.
As Anna walks back to their side of the bar she tosses Jack the phone.
Jack nods, feigning only slight interest when really he's trying to figure out how he hell she took the phone when he was literally holding it in his hand.
Elsa is losing patience with these tediously menial games. "Fine, so now you know why you want us. Now would you mind telling us why we should want you?"
Hans laughs amiably at the intimidating up front tactic. Flynn squints at her in disbelief.
"How about you'll get a cut in the scam and make millions? What, that's not enough?"
"It's not that," Rapunzel starts politely. "It's just that—"
Merida cuts in. "How do we know any of you can actually pull this off?"
Jack smiles in his obnoxiously smug knowing way. "I guess you'll just have to trust us, red."
This gets a sudden laugh out of all four women.
"Don't you know anything about the con game?" Rapunzel giggles patronizingly, evidently still determined to beat Jack at his own game.
"First rule of any self-respecting con artist…" Anna starts.
"Trust no one." Elsa's voice lowers and her expression is stone serious.
Hans coughs nervously and adjusts his coat. "Ladies, I can assure you that we know what we're doing. We've been planning this heist for a couple of years now, it's a very thorough procedure. You're in very experienced hands, here." His voice is smooth and coaxing, very convincing. But there's still a hint of doubt between the four of them.
"But on the other hand," Flynn sighs, turning to the other two men. "They might have a point here, gentlemen. We really don't know what we're doing. I mean, look at us! We're just now looking for extra help. And let's be honest here, we don't even really need it. I say we cut these girls loose, relieve them of working with us, let 'em stick to their bar tricks. Besides, we'll be making more money between the four of us without them." His voice is in a partial whisper, but Elsa recognizes the slight raise that ensures the rest of them can still hear him. She smiles endearingly at his little trick, only slightly impressed.
Merida turns to her three partners. "What do you lasses say, should we humor 'em?"
Rapunzel bites her lip in hesitation. "It could be a risky deal, guys…"
"Yeah, or we could make millions of dollars and end up filthy rich." Anna argues enthusiastically. To say she's intrigued by the idea would be an understatement.
Merida shrugs. "They don't seem like anything we can't handle. I say we've got nothing to lose. What do you think, Elsa?"
The blonde is still eyeing the three men, trying to figure out anything else she can. Most of what she'd gathered they had already made pretty obvious — Jack is cocky but for good reason, Hans is a charmer who never drops the act, and Flynn is confident and suave, but not as sure of himself as Jack is. They still haven't met the fourth member, that left room for concern… Elsa weighed the pros and cons of the situation. They seemed capable enough, although without knowing precisely what their plan was, she couldn't say whether or not they'd likely succeed. They were putting a lot on the line if they chose to get involved. Elsa glanced over at her sister, too experienced in conning for her age, too prepared to jump into danger for the sake of adventure. A thought crossed her mind — this could be their end-all. The con that could set them free. Her little sister could live in a real home, have the normal life she deserves. Elsa reminded herself to be careful not to make any rash decisions. This was a risky situation, she couldn't let her personal wishes for her sister influence something this important. She took a breath, making a decision.
"It's definitely risky. There's no telling what would happen if we agreed. But I think it might be worth a shot. We should learn more about that fourth guy before we agree to anything, though."
The other three murmur and nod in agreement, then turn around to face the boys.
Anna squints at them, lifting her chin as if she knows something they don't. Elsa finds it endearing, but for their sake also hopes it's enough to intimidate these half-strangers. "Let us talk to this 'fourth guy' and we'll see." She used air quotations around 'fourth guy', which gets an endeared smile out of Hans.
He gives a sidelong glance at Jack before nodding. "Fair enough. Shall we call in the computer genius?"
"Oh, so we don't get the 'pleasure' of his company face to face like we do with you boys?" Merida asks flatly. She may be intrigued, but her patience is running lower than anyone's here.
Flynn snickers to himself.
"See, the dragon doesn't really talk to anyone in person." Jack explains.
Flynn has to bite his lip to keep from howling with laughter.
"He's called 'the dragon'? Are you kidding me?" Rapunzel raises a doubtful brow. Now she understands why Flynn is cracking up in his bar stool. Whoever 'the dragon' was, it was clear he was some geeky never-leaves-his-basement computer coding guy. Elsa had a point about meeting this person before getting too involved.
Jack can clearly sense the hesitation within the group. "Alright, make whatever assumptions you want, but if you have any other ideas on breaking into high level security systems, then be my guest." He smiles successfully at the silence that follows.
Elsa cuts the victory short. "Okay then, so how are we supposed to talk to this guy then? Are we relying on some shady phone call?"
Flynn snorts. "You expect something as simple as a phone call from a techno geek? He'll probably be most comfortable with video chat, that's what we always do."
"Okay, so let's video chat him." Merida urges impatiently.
The three boys look at each other. "Not here." Jack says.
"I suggest a more…discreet location. Jack, is it safe to say your place is a viable option?" Hans asks it as though it's a polite suggestion instead of order. Jack doesn't seem to care.
"Sure." He shrugs, digging his car keys from his pocket.
"Don't run to the bedroom all at once, ladies." Four synchronized groans shortly follow. Rapunzel's reluctant to admit that Jack's apartment is nicer than she thought it would be. No, strike that, this kind of ritzy over-the-top apartment is perfect for a self-important ass like him. It's one of those high-end places that takes up the entire floor of the building, where the elevator actually opens up onto the living room. Despite her surprise when the metal doors open up to a floor of white gold and velvet blue decorated luxuries, Rapunzel makes sure to keep her face appear disinterested and bored, just to make sure Jack doesn't get the upper hand. She glances over at her friends to see their reactions, and she notices Merida's eyes widen in what is either shock or annoyance, and Anna's entire face lights up, clearly impressed. She looks over at Jack and immediately wants to smack that smug little grin right off his face.
Everyone new wants to meander around in the living room for a little while — admittedly Rapunzel does too, if for any reason just to see what kind of dirt she can dig up, yes she's still bitter that he read her so easily that night — but the guys walk right through with an obnoxious swagger and beeline through the apartment, girls following behind, until they reach what looks like a coat closet. The door opens and inside is a dark room with lots of unidentifiable shiny objects. At the center sits a comfy desk chair in front of an immense computer screen. Rapunzel thinks she catches an eye roll from Merida as she resists the urge to mock Jack for having such a cliched secret room.
Flynn and Hans mumble something quietly to Jack as he spins around in the chair and turns the screen on. The room fills with blue light and Jack starts pulling up random unfamiliar programs. Some kind of window that looks like a more advanced version of Skype pops up while Flynn is doing something on his phone. There's a ringing that comes out from the speakers and a square with an elaborately designed dragon icon appears on the screen. Flynn stifles a snort as Jack hits answer.
The light behind "dragon" is dark, and you can barely make out his figure until he leans in towards the camera. The person who appears isn't what any of the four girls were expecting. Anyone would imagine that a shut-in geek who's a master at computer codes would be some gross-looking pizza-faced guy. But "dragon" is actually somewhat attractive. Shaggy chestnut hair falls just above a pair of startlingly green eyes. Despite the round nose and freckles dotted all over his face, he comes across as unconventionally handsome, smiling a charmingly lopsided grin. He's wearing a gray sweatshirt and an earthy green beanie. Between the bags under his eyes and the coffee mug he sips out of it's easy to guess that this guy doesn't get a lot of sleep.
"Sup, Hic?"
The boy rubs his eyes and blinks a couple times. "I get a few cryptic texts from Flynn telling me to call you and the first thing you wanna know is 'sup'."
Jack shrugs. "Well, that and whether or not you're interested in meeting our new 'business' associates."
"And thank you for making me crawl out of bed to bring up that pointless venture again. We've talked about this, there's no way-"
"Hiccup, meet—"
"Wait, his name is Hiccup?" Merida snorts at this realization and is holding her sides from laughing so hard.
Hiccup's eyes widen slightly as he realizes that Jack isn't the only one in the room. "Okay, well, hi, apparently every single person on the planet." He directed this passive aggressive comment mostly at Jack, and to be fair there were seven people in the room, after all.
Flynn salutes the sleep-deprived hacker and Hans nods politely. Meanwhile Merida is still trying to keep it together at the fact that someone who would elusively refer to himself as "the dragon" has a real name as ridiculous as Hiccup, while Elsa eyes this new member of Jack's "crew" and wonders if he'll be as useful as the others say.
"Hiccarino," Flynn leans over Jack's shoulder. "We're in agreement that Jack's plan is a stupid one."
"Hey!" Jack pipes in.
"Regardless," Flynn interrupts, continuing. "Really the only problem with the plan was that we needed more hands. Jack thinks he's gathered up the right hands for the job."
"Not a good enough excuse to use job and hand in the same sentence." Hiccup winces at Flynn's no doubt intentional dirty wording. "Can they do what we'd need them to do?"
Jack shrugs again. "Eh, more or less."
"Gee, thanks." Anna places a sarcastic hand on her hip.
Hiccup eyes Jack for a moment, as if studying him. "You're serious about this?"
Jack crosses his hands behind his head and props his feet up on the desk. "I'm a determined man, Hic."
The realization of what he's suggesting sets in and Hiccup rubs his tired face. "Shit."
"It's the real deal, kid." Flynn crosses his arms and glances over at the four women.
"This better be a bullet-proof plan, Jack."
Jack nods. "It might as well be made from Kevlar." He swivels his chair around to face the six other people in the room. "Gather round, children." There's this fire in his eyes that none of the girls have seen before. "Because we've got ourselves a master heist on our hands."