THE LESS YOU'LL SEE
NOTES: The time has come for the final chapter! No words can express my gratitude to all reviewers, followers, those who have honored me with the click of the 'favorite' or the 'kudos' button. It has been a pleasure to escape to the wonderful world of Jack and Danny, and while we're waiting for the amazing heist that is NYSM 3 (!), keep the love burning for #AtlastJack. And because this is the last chapter, I cannot stress these points enough:
This is primarily a Lover's Death story.
I do not own anyone (i.e., characters, etc) or anything (i.e., lines, scenes, concepts, etc) from the Now You See Me series. Absolutely no copyright infringement intended.
Some events in this story are inspired by my own experiences, and should you see yourself in the story, then let me give you a high five, but that honestly was not my intention.
Again, THANK YOU. 😊
December 2008: For Times Gone By
December 25th
01:15
Walter Mabry was having a particularly bad day.
It didn't help that he had been on edge for more than a month now, and still no word from The Horsemen. The businesses suffered, and his investors were pulling out, one by one. Whatever little relationship he had worked to develop with his newly-discovered father had gotten increasingly tense and bitter, their small exchanges now limited to spats as to why Walter's team was too incompetent for them to pinpoint exactly where The Horsemen were keeping their heads low.
He didn't celebrate Christmas, but he hoped to whatever deity was listening to him that he could receive something good for this year, because his day couldn't possibly get any worse.
"Sir, sir!" one of his communications executive cried out as she ran to him in four-inch heels, with a tablet in hand. "This just came in, sir." she said as she handed him the tablet.
He looked up sharply. "What is this?"
She looked at him, part scared, part sympathetic. "The Horsemen, sir."
Walter Mabry was wrong: his day did just get worse.
The five magicians were standing in a single line, the screen carefully devoid of a backdrop and background noises that could give away their location.
Jack Wilder, at the left end of the line, spoke first, his arms crossed in front of his chest. "Not long ago, we were tricked. I was exposed and brought back from the dead," he drawled.
The dark-haired self-decapitator on Jack's left smirked. "So we thought it was only fitting to do the same to the person who did it to us," she said amusedly, her blue eyes twinkling.
Walter's heart pounded in his chest as he said in a tight voice, "Get my father."
"Midnight, New Year's Eve, London," Henley chimed in. "Mark your calendars, folks, and don't you miss our shows!"
Next to Henley, at the right end of the line, Daniel Atlas grinned, hands in his pocket. "We will be performing a series of shows that connect to our big finale, so pay close attention."
"RUN!" Walter shouted.
The mentalist, at the very center of the line, took a step forward and smiled toothily at the camera. "So, leave your kiddies at home and get ready for a wild night, because we too will bring someone back from the dead."
The camera pans to Atlas, who winked and snapped his fingers, screen instantly cutting to black.
In a very remote location in London, Christmas cheer was high with the said Horsemen.
December 28th
11:43
"We just broke our best record, guys," Henley said happily, waving her phone in the air. "Six million views in two days, Merry Christmas!"
Dylan smiled indulgently. "Not quite yet, Henley. We still have to make sure that everything goes as planned."
"Or everything does not go as planned, as planned," Merritt corrected impishly.
Lula shook her head. "Let's just say that everything goes as planned. Let's not jinx it."
"Hey, what's the worst that can happen?" Jack chimed in lazily from his corner in the room.
"Oh, I don't know," Lula retorted, voice dripping with sarcasm. "We get caught and jailed on national television?"
"That's only a problem if you look god-awful on camera," the sleight said playfully, standing up and striking a very sensual pose that made Danny's cheeks grow warm.
The showman blinked twice to clear his head before saying. "Dylan's right, guys. I know we're confident about the plan, and I know we're all pretty damn good," he smiled as Merritt gave a whoop of assent. "But we've got to keep our head in the game. We'll celebrate afterwards."
The sleight sprinted over and put his arm around his boyfriend, drawing him closer. "Your treat?" Jack said lightly.
"No, yours," Danny said easily, mischief sparkling in his blue eyes as he bumped their noses together.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Merritt protested, mock-shielding his eyes. "That's a little too much exhibition for me."
"Oh, shut up, you," Henley laughed throatily as she put her arms around Merritt's neck and silenced him by pressing her lips over his for the longest period of time, possibly sending the mentalist into a shocked state, even as she took a step back minutes later, waving a gloved hand. "Earth to McKinney," she said loudly.
Merritt blinked twice. "I, uh…" his hands gestured uselessly. "Did you just… hmm."
"Problem?" the escape artist piped up.
"Not that I'm complaining, but what happened to 'we don't need to share whatever it is we have with the whole damn world'?" he asked, eyes twinkling.
Henley shrugged, her long red hair glinting in the sun as she planted a kiss on Merritt's nose. "Sometimes, we gotta share it if it's that good," she said simply.
"Oh, come on!" Lula said loudly, half-jokingly. "Can you four please stop being so cute? You just reminded me that I'm going to have to wait ten more days before I reunite with my own cuddle-bunny."
Danny's eyebrow quirked impishly. "Did you just call Connor Yates, your maybe-maybe-not boyfriend, your 'cuddle-bunny'?" he asked innocently.
"Hey, back off, Atlas," she said languidly. "I'm not about to make fun of whatever it is you call Jack when you think you're alone."
Both men visibly paled at her looming threat. Dylan chuckled, looking between Jack and Danny, who had suddenly gone very quiet. "My curiosity is now quite high as to what this nickname is," he said with a laugh.
"I'll tell you next time they make fun of me, Dylan," Lula promised.
Henley turned to Lula, her eyes shining. "And how is your gorgeous boyfriend, Lula? Is he watching the show?"
After only three weeks of dating, Lula had been given the clear to tell Connor Yates about their real identities, making him the only one on campus who knew about The Horsemen. Danny remembered the anxiety that had filled the room when Lula had Connor over for drinks, and they had peeled off their disguises one by one.
The artist had taken it in stride, going as far as to confess that while he heard of them, he never really followed what it is they did on national television. While it was a huge relief that their secret identities changed nothing for Connor and Lula, Danny had to admit that it stung his ego quite a bit to know that at least one person did not know or care much for whatever it is they had gone through in the last year.
While the others were busy bringing up Connor to speed as to what they had done in the last year, Jack had nudged him and quietly said, "It looks like your ego's getting a bit of a pounding there, Atlas."
Danny gave him a half-smile, amazed at how Jack seemed to just get him like that. "That obvious?"
"I gotta admit, I feel you, Danny," Jack confessed. "But hey – I think this is the start of our best shot into whatever the heck's normal. I think we've wanted that more than we know, just being… you know, you or me."
Danny said nothing, instead taking a long look at the newcomer, and how Lula glowed radiantly just looking at him – he never thought he would see her light up the way she did for anyone, and he realized now that there was nothing in the world he wouldn't give up for any of these people around him to be as happy as he was. He was gazing intently at Connor, with his messy dark hair, his shining brown eyes, his lean physique…
"You're looking at Connor Yates in a way that makes me feel like two inches high, Danny," Jack said jokingly, though his gaze was slightly worried. "You reconsidering us here?"
The showman scoffed. "Like that could happen. But… you have to admit, the resemblance is pretty uncanny."
Danny brought himself back from the memory of his boyfriend's indignant face and into reality as Lula gave a dreamy smile, her glow coming from within at the mention of her boyfriend's name.
"He said he'd stream it, but I actually saw the end of a boarding pass to London between his sketchbook the other day. So I'm thinking I—we might see him after the show," she grinned.
"Sounds fantastic, Lu," Henley said happily, clapping her hands excitedly. "Gosh, I just… I just can't wait for this show! Aren't you guys excited?"
"Sure, I am, love," Merritt said, holding Henley by the waist. "But honestly, I'm more excited to whoop my professors and classmates silly with good old psychology. I think I made a pretty good student before I became the best magician to walk this earth."
Danny snorted. "Still so modest, Merritt."
"Sorry," Merritt corrected himself. "When I became one of the six best magicians to walk this earth. Happy?"
The showman shrugged. "Mmm, okay, tell yourself that."
The mentalist laughed. "Asswipe."
Dylan looked at his team happily, and in that moment, he knew that absolutely nothing in this world could go wrong.
December 31st
16:03
"Everything is going to SHIT!" Walter cried out in frustration. "None of our teams can find even a hair of The Horsemen! What the hell is wrong with the teams?"
"Calm down, boy," Arthur Tressler snapped impatiently. "They love a show, but they aren't nearly as smart enough to keep things interesting. There is always, always a pattern. We just have to find it."
Walter took a calming breath, nodded, and picked up his phone. "Yes, use everything we have right now: texts, tweets, Instagrams. Anything that says "Horsemen," brags about seeing the Horsemen, tag them and bundle them. Dad, who do we have security-wise on this? Your guys?"
"Whoever you want, boy," Tressler replied.
"Well, we want all of them and all their friends. Anyone who wants to work stationed throughout the city, so they can be anywhere in 60 seconds," Walter said into the phone. "I want all eyes and ears on The Horsemen, everything and anything they're doing, and I want to nail them where they are!"
18:57
"Well, first show."
"You nervous?"
"Hell, no."
"Liar."
"Okay, then, a bit. But so are you."
"Obviously."
"Why the hell?"
"I lost you once."
"You won't this time."
A beat of silence. Then – "You promise?"
Another beat of silence, broken only by lips parting a few seconds later. "You better go."
There was a shuffling of feet, and the capped man walked towards the pounding rhythm of tin drums, feeling the ghost of another pair of lips on his with the back of his hand as he jumped up a makeshift stage, removing his cap and instantly earning the attention of the small crowd around him.
"Hello! Hey!" the sleight cried, the crowd screaming and whooping, recognizing him almost instantly. "My name's Jack Wilder. Goddamn, it feels good to be back."
And it really did, Jack thought to himself as he watched the crowd magically grow in size, people whipping out their smartphones, jostling to be close to him. It was an amazing high, one that he realized he really would miss, but looking at the alternative he had: a peaceful few years in college with Danny, and his best friends… well, it wasn't much of a competition, really.
"All right, gather around. Indulge me. I wanna talk to you about something real quick. You all know Three Card Monte, also known as "Find the Lady"? Trick performed by street hustlers all over the world. And why street hustlers? Because as soon as you walk up to the table, you lose. Every time. Let me demonstrate…"
19:55
How a large tank full of water was virtually unnoticed by hundreds of passersby could be attributed to the air of festivities surrounding London, but Henley knew it didn't matter. She was here to stop traffic and give this part of London a show they aren't about to forget.
"Whoo! Okay, London, are we ready to end this thing?" Henley screamed into the night as the lights turned to her and the large water tank. People stopped and gazed up at her, cheering and whooping as she took off her coat and stepped gingerly over her clothes.
"Yeah! When that timer hits zero, a tank full of flesh-eating piranhas will fall from above me. A lady has to have handcuffs. Right, girls?" A masked stagehand rushes to her and secures her wrists with handcuffs, stepping out of sight to the cheer of the crowd.
"Count with me, London! One! Two! Three!"
20:52
Much to Danny's relief, Jack's and Henley's respective shows went without a hitch, and he knew that both the FBI and Mabry's team were scrambling around like headless chickens trying to pin them down. So far, everything was going according to plan, and he intended to keep it that way.
He took his mark and started to remove his drenched hood just as the blue lights lit up the darkness. He waved to the applauding crowd sheepishly, rubbing his hands together, the incredible thrill of the show filling him up to the brim.
"Okay, I guess you found me!" Danny said with a smile as people took his photo, a video of J. Daniel Atlas in action, and in moments like this, he wouldn't deny how much of an egotist he was. "I have a confession to make. I've been told I have some control issues. I guess most of you have seen that little mess unfold in the last couple of months—"
"Atlas and Wilder for life!" an enthusiastic voice cried from the back of the crowd, earning a round of applause from everyone, and causing Danny's cheeks to color as he nodded, a smile on his face.
"Thank you, I hope so too," he said almost shyly. "But anyway, I've learned that it's really, really hard to control people – speaking of, by the way, it's just one of those things you learn and painfully accept if you decide you want to be with Jack Wilder for the rest of your life," he added peevishly, earning encouraging screams from the crowd.
Danny clapped his hands twice. "So tonight, I'm gonna try to control something that's a lot easier than people. I'm gonna try to control the weather."
A disbelieving but excited buzz filled his ears as people started to edge closer to him, not wanting to miss a trick. They never do learn – the closer you look, the less you'll see, after all – but he was never more grateful for their forgetfulness.
"Yeah, rain, um... It'd be a little difficult to make it rain, right? That would be something that only God can do, right? I'm gonna do something that God can't do. I'm not just gonna make it clear up. No, no, no. I'm gonna make it actually – stop."
21:58
Lula understood what role each of them had to play: they worked as a single organism, and what each of them did separately only made sense when you put it together.
Still, though, she did wish she had a better role to play in tonight's show: the crowd was increasingly disengaged, and even in her mind, she knew that her tricks weren't exactly the brightest or most exciting ones, especially compared to all the things that Jack, Henley, and Danny pulled off before her. But her role was pivotal, a distraction from the main show set-up, and she wanted to play her part of blundering magician well.
But not before she had a little fun.
"Wow, right? Look at that!" she cried as the pigeon from her coat flew away. "Aw. Come on, people. Tough crowd." Lula snapped her attention dramatically to an innocent bystander. "You, fly!"
"Me?" the man said innocently.
"Check your fly," she clarified as he did just that, sending a pigeon flying from his pants, earning her first delighted cheer from the crowd. She laughed incredulously. "You like that? You support that relationship? That guy had a bird in his pants. That's disgusting!"
22:57
Merritt grit his teeth, heart still pounding from the exchange he had with Chase.
"Hey, broski-whaddya-knowski? Where you headed?" Chase asked innocently, falling in step with him.
Merritt took a deep breath. "Please, bro, don't do this."
"Where are you headed?" Chase said playfully, forcing Merritt's gaze on his own. "North, south, east?" Merritt tried to keep himself from twitching. "East. Tower of London? Tower Bridge? Near Tower Bridge?" He allowed a bit of air to escape through his nostrils. "The Thames! You're going to the Thamesy-Whemsy! You're so easy!"
The mentalist made a last-ditch effort to reach out to his brother. He really didn't want to get into this if he could help it. "Bro, if there's any chance of us ever having a relationship..."
"There's not," his twin cut him off pleasantly before plowing on. "Where's your entry? South Bank? Greenwich?" Merritt blinked, cursing himself with every gesture he made as Chase's eyes widened. "Greenwich! I know where you're going!" he said gleefully as he started to walk away.
"Where are Merritt and Henley?" he heard Dylan's voice as he rounded the corner into view.
"I don't know," Danny said tersely.
"I'm here!" Merritt cried as he swung over a motorcycle, Jack silently strapping up next to him, still as sneaky as ever.
"Here!" Henley said somewhat breathlessly as she appeared from behind Merritt.
The sleight frowned and looked around. "Where's Lula?"
"I'm right here! What the hell happened?" Lula cried out in a panic.
"My goddamn brother happened," Merritt said angrily.
"Don't worry about it. We just gotta get to the destination," Dylan said in a reassuring voice, but Merritt detected the hint of nervousness in their leader's timbre.
"Come on, let's go!" Jack said impatiently, revving up his bike to catapult forward.
"Jack, no—!" Dylan cried out in alarm as Danny's eyes widened, following the sudden movement of the sleight.
Gunshots rang into the night as Jack nearly collided with an incoming van, sending him flying from his bike and on the ground. Danny's blue eyes turned dangerously steely as he rode straight into the incoming mob, his bike separating the guns of the goons from the recovering body of the sleight.
"Not my boyfriend, you shitheads," Danny said coldly as he revved his bike and drove into them, dispersing the small crowd in a panic.
"Jesus, that's hot," Jack huffed with a smile as he stumbled around the car to help his boyfriend take down a few more of the idiots spilling out of their cars.
In the next seconds, pandemonium broke, Horsemen against henchmen, and they almost got away, they really did, but Merritt went and lost control over his bike, never having ridden one in his life, and damn it, maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all—
"Those things are really dangerous!" Merritt said angrily, his hands up in the air.
23:38
Walter Mabry was positively glowing.
It was over, it was done, and he won: he couldn't believe how worried he was just mere hours ago, when he thought they could actually get away with it.
"You know, you make it almost too easy?" he said with a little laugh, eyeing the six magicians, glaring daggers at him: the clear and unwilling sign that they have been beaten. "I mean, even your hilarious attempts to make yourselves unpredictable, just follow the same pattern each time. Set up, set up, set up… big reveal. Which tonight was going to be stroke of midnight, middle of the Thames?"
He paused for dramatic effect, looking at all of them: Henley, Lula, and Merritt didn't even bother to contain their panic while Rhodes desperately tried to keep a straight face. Atlas and Wilder, the two little lovers, looked positively furious. "Tell me if I'm warm…?" Walter chimed in innocently. When no one said anything, he sighed. "Well, there will be a big reveal, and it will come now."
"The stick, dear boy," his father addressed Rhodes.
Rhodes said nothing for a few seconds before shaking his head. "No."
Walter looked at him blankly. "Fine." He looked at his henchman, gesturing to Lula. "Start with her."
"Jesus, Lula, no!" Henley cried out in panic as Wilder immediately sprung to his feet, the muscle next to Lula unsheathing a small dagger from his pocket. "Dylan, for Christ's sakes, it didn't go according to plan, just give the stick!" she said, tears filling her dark eyes.
The leader rubbed his face in frustration before turning to Atlas, who was suspiciously still in his seat. "Atlas, just… give it to him," Rhodes said resignedly.
Atlas' eyes widened slightly, but he otherwise remained still.
"Atlas, give him the card," Lula pressed, a desperate edge on her voice.
He looked at her blankly, then at Rhodes shaking his head, mumbling, "Just give it to him."
Nothing, however, seemed to reach the showman until Jack Wilder turned to him, his eyes wide. "Danny, come on," he said with a slight edge to his voice.
The showman glared at the sleight before clenching his jaw and flicking his wrist, revealing a black card case. Walter grinned and moved to take the card case, turning the chip in his hand as the muscle next to Jack Wilder forced him back on his seat. He looked alternately between Atlas and Wilder, who were decidedly avoiding each other's gaze like two high school students: it really was a shame he had to kill them, amusing as they were.
He nudged Atlas playfully. "You do like to show your hand, don't you, Danny?" he gloated as he walked away. "Let's have a closer look at this thing, shall we?"
A few moments of tense silence filled the plane, before—
"Okay, I owe you an apology," Dylan said suddenly.
Danny chuckled darkly. "Leader, you should have planned an escape, okay?"
Dylan shook his head. "This is the both of us."
The showman raised his manacled hands exasperatedly. "Okay, it's the both of us. Sure, it is."
"Guys, come on!" Henley interjected angrily. "This won't get us anywhere—"
"Henley, just please—"
Wilder huffed angrily. "Come on, guys, just stop!"
Danny turned to Jack, shaking in anger. "And you!" his voice breaking slightly as he addressed Jack.
"What?" Jack snapped.
"You, to save your little girlfriend!" the showman spat bitterly.
"To save my... what?!" Jack spluttered as his eyes widened angrily. "Jesus, he had a knife to her head, Danny, what was I—"
"I'm a Horseman, you dick!" Lula cut off Jack's angry retort. "Get over yourself, Atlas! How many damn times do I have to say that Jack and I are ancient fucking history—!"
"All right, you know what? This is not the time," Danny said dismissively, his eyes cold, but Lula wasn't done as she turned to Merritt.
"And you, what's your deal, man?" she ranted at the mentalist.
"Lula, calm down!" Henley said angrily, coming to Merritt's defense immediately. "Look, they're not gonna get blood all over the seats."
"Yeah, they're probably gonna throw us out of the plane," Merritt said dully.
"Really? That's supposed to make this better?" Lula snarled.
Amusing as the exchange was, Walter Mabry found one thing more important. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I just have to say congratulations. And thank you!" At the befuddled look at all six of the faces before him, he clarified, "It's real. The stick's real."
A disbelieving buzz rose from the magicians as Walter gestured to his guards. "Bring them through."
"Well done, my boy," Tressler smiled down at him, and Walter felt an unbelievable surge of affection and pride at having made his father proud. It really was his one reason for getting into all this in the first place, and as he watched his father pick up a bottle from the chiller, he knew it was definitely all worth it.
Tressler caressed the bottle lovingly. "Cote Du Marisule champagne. It's the most expensive bottle on Earth. $1.2 million. And I saved it just for this occasion."
"Honestly, same bottle, Liquor Shack, 700K," Merritt said lightly. Walter rolled his eyes at the inane attempt at light talk.
"Hey. You got what you wanted. So, does this mean you're letting us go?" Rhodes demanded.
Walter frowned at him. "Knowing what you know about us? No."
Rhodes quirked an eyebrow at him, calmly saying, "You sure?"
Walter tried to swallow down the feeling of unease he got at the agent's calmness: an old trick, just a last-ditch attempt to distract them. He turned to the mentalist's brother. "Chase, what shall we do?"
A heartbeat of silence, then Chase smiled. "Toss them out," he said simply, pressing a button that opened the door.
"Get your last words in quickly, everybody!" Walter said cheerfully as the struggle exploded, stopping in front of the furiously straining Atlas and Wilder. "You best better tell each other where you're going to meet in the afterlife, yeah?"
He heard Merritt's last sentimental words about leaving the world with the right family before he was thrown out of the plane, Chase gloating about how he kicked Merritt out of their mother's womb. Walter rolled his eyes at the drama unfolding before him.
"Merritt!" Henley screeched, sobbing angrily as she doubled her efforts to struggle. "You—goddamn—AHH!"
"No!" Dylan gasped angrily, trying to take down his captors, but too many overpowered him, and he was thrown out almost immediately after Henley.
Lula struggled to hold on to every inch she could find, determined to go down with a fight, and Walter watched as she gazed at Jack with dead eyes, even as he struggled to reach her. She mouthed a small 'thank you' as the muscle yanked her away and threw her out of the door.
"NO!" Jack Wilder cried like an angry bull. "JESUS, LULA—"
"Time to hit the road, Jack!" Chase said cheerfully as the other men held down and overpowered Jack.
"Make those last words count, boys!" Walter said cheerfully, giving the signal for the guards to force the two to face each other.
"Jesus, Walter, don't—not Jack, please—" Atlas was practically sobbing, furiously straining against his captors. "Not again, please, not again, I'll do anything—"
"Don't you dare, Danny," Jack shouted furiously, looking at Atlas with hard eyes. "Don't you—AHH!"
There was a moment of dead silence, and Daniel Atlas went limp in his captor's arms for a split second, before unshed tears and rage leaked from his eyes, his struggles renewed and stronger than ever. "NO! JACK! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, PLEASE—!"
"A lot of brain, but not enough brawn!" Chase said in a singsong voice. "Time to go follow lover boy into oblivion!" he said happily as the final Horseman was thrown out of the door. He turned to Walter and Tressler with a satisfied smirk on his face. "Oh, that was fun!"
His father turned to Walter with a fond look on his face, holding up a full glass of champagne. "Cheers! Well done, my boy," he said warmly before taking a generous sip from the drink… and promptly spitting it back out.
Walter Mabry, cultured as he was, never quite tasted anything as repulsive as the stuff he was drinking now. But out of deference to his father, he took another careful sip, asking timidly, "Is it… um… is it supposed to taste like that?"
Tressler's eyes darkened. "No, it is not."
A heavy feeling lodged itself inside Walter's chest as his father tore off the label from the bottle, revealing a tarot card just as the lights inside their plane dimmed. He heard the sound of voices, gloating, gleeful voices that haunted his nightmares, just as their disembodied heads from the window would forever follow him.
Shit.
23:50
"Ladies and gentlemen... The Horsemen!" the announcer cried excitedly as the walls around them broke down to allow the sound of the screaming crowd to fill the night air.
As he clung to the most important people in his life, Danny never felt better, watching as Tressler and his son peeked out of the aircraft door fearfully.
"No, no, you should feel pretty good about yourself, man. You predicted it correctly. The Thames, stroke of midnight. New Year's Eve. Happy New Year!" he said mockingly as comprehension dawned on the father/son duo's faces. The Thames burst into applause and cheers as Tressler and Walter tried to make a run for it, only to be blocked by the waiting guards in their way.
"Wow! Thank you very much, London! We would like to acknowledge not just our old friend, Arthur Tressler," Henley said happily, pausing after his name to allow the crowd to express their displeasure at his presence. "But we also want to acknowledge his young and very brilliant son, Walter Mabry."
"Walter has performed one of the greatest feats of illusion even we have ever seen. He has, amazingly, brought himself back from the dead!" Lula said in mock amazement and reverence.
"But before he did that, he revealed someone, and we thought that it was only fitting to give this someone a proper introduction," Merritt said empathically.
Jack grinned cheekily as he stepped up next to Danny, taking the showman's hand in his, and the crowd grew positively wild. "We were both forced back into the public's eye, but this man is our friend, and our leader – Dylan Shrike, everyone!"
Deafening applause greeted Dylan as he shyly stepped up, and the rest of them discreetly stepped back: this was his first show, after all, and his big reveal. He walked through the tricks artfully, calling on each of them when needed: the switches from Jack, the flight from Lula and Danny, the disappearances from Henley, the deception from Merritt.
When it was Jack's cue again, Danny squeezed his hand and reluctantly let his hand go. "Basically, we showed them everything. How you kidnapped us to steal the very thing that is in your pocket right now." He looked at Walter, who seemed to realize too late that even that part of the plan was amiss.
Jack grinned at him and nudged his boyfriend, who promptly winked as he said, "Whoops!" before flicking his wrist, revealing the card that had been so carelessly stowed in Walter Mabry's pocket mere minutes before.
Henley gave a disapproving cluck of her tongue as she looked at the disgraced father and son. "You know, this thing here, which you said you could use to adjust markets, manipulate governments, and spy on whomever you choose."
"Also, you could, as you said, control the public from outside the grid," Lula said scathingly.
"These men destroy people's lives. Spying on the world, robbing you of your right to privacy!" Dylan said empathically, the crowd falling silent to his statement. "And they do that by hiding in the dark. So, in the Horsemen tradition, we're here to expose them. Tonight, they, like all of us, are finally stepping into the light!"
"Thank you, everybody!" Henley cried out.
"We are the Horsemen and we will be back very soon!" Danny closed off their show excitedly as sirens started wailing in the distance and the din of the crowd threatened to split the very skies above them.
"FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!"
The sky lit up as fireworks exploded, the deep tolling of Big Ben sang in perfect harmony with the high-pitched screams of the crowd, and the sirens were drawing ever-closer. It was a perfect, perfect, absolutely perfect feeling, but really, as he surveyed the crowd, the strangers around them, his family, and finally the one person who meant more to him than everything else combined, none of it mattered as much as Danny thought it would.
Jack's brown eyes were positively blown with excitement, adrenaline, and – dare Danny say it – desire as he boldly took the steps forward to meet Danny halfway, both seizing each other – one by the shoulders, one by the waist – and roughly pressing their lips together. The screams seemed to intensify, but Danny honestly paid it no mind, all his senses working on overdrive just to feel the man in his arms, to breathe in the familiar musk that he had grown to associate with home, to taste the sweetness of Jack's lips on his tongue, to close his eyes and lose himself in the oblivion of the fantasy that is Jack Wilder.
He was vaguely aware of the other four crowding against them good-naturedly. "Hey, we're on the clock!" Merritt's playful voice broke into their reverie.
"Get a move on and get a room, you two!" Lula said in mock irritation.
Danny felt Jack's lips curl into a smile underneath his lips. "They're right, though, we do have to move," he hummed.
"Mmm," Danny said contentedly, though still not removing his lips from Jack's.
"Atlas," Jack said in a low voice, instantly getting the desired reaction from Danny, who took a careful step back to survey the man he loved, though never letting go of his hands. "We'll wrap this up later, yeah? We've got time." His dark eyes twinkled dangerously. "I know you've got the plans in place, Atlas."
Danny's face broke into a grin. "All the plans, and all the time in the world," he agreed as they broke into a manic run for the rest of their lives. "Let's go, then, Wilder."