Woooaaah! I'm an unpredictable mofo! Here's another chapter for you lovely people. I will be getting to the Avengers soon but this chapter will more be focusing on the Horsemen because we obviously have to address Jack sneaking out and then we can get on with some team heart to heart or maybe some fists or something, idk, and then we can get to the Avengers when the meeting day draws nearer.
WARNING: I use a bad word in this chapter. Not that probably any of you actually care. But I feel I need to tell you anyway.
I would like to thank our dearest Miss Emeralds for pointing out a horrible mistake in the last chapter. Luckily she caught the mistake only about an hour after the chapter went up and I was easily able to fix the issue. Thanks girl!
Disclaimer: I don't own.
Daniel, Henley, Merritt
"This is getting ridiculous," Daniel muttered as he walked beside Merritt down the fifth city block that night. It seemed like they had small but popular mom-and-pop bars on every street corner and churches on every other – it was crazy.
As soon as it was confirmed that Jack was definitely not in the house Henley had immediately started worrying and was halfway out the door before Merritt or Daniel could say a word.
Flashback!
"We have to look for him," Henley said as she rushed out the door, her red hair whipping behind her as she grabbed her hat off the coat rack in the corner.
"Now wait a minute."
Henley turned on Merritt and Daniel, a response ready on her lips to tear Daniel's comment to shreds only to be stopped short in surprise to realize it was Merritt who spoke, not Daniel. "What?" She hissed.
"He's a kid, Henley, he's probably just out for a little fun after being cooped up in here with us for the past few months," Merritt reasoned with her.
"Exactly, Merritt!" She exclaimed, "A kid! He's just a kid! Do you have any idea how old he is?"
Merritt threw his hands in the air and said, "I don't know, darlin', he's gotta be at least – what? – twenty-five? Twenty-six?"
Henley shook her head angrily and wrung her gloved hands, "He's not even old enough to be legally drinking."
"What?!" This time it was Daniel who had spoken. During the year they were under instruction of the Eye to pull all the bank heists and whatnot there had been plenty celebratory nights out on the town, plenty of congratulatory drinks and toasts. "Are you seriously telling me I've bought drinks for a bloody minor?"
Henley narrowed her eyes at Daniel and said, "He's not a minor: he's just not old enough to be drinking yet, you empty headed prick."
"I still say we just let him be: we'll see him tomorrow and I'll talk to him if it makes you feel better, petal," Merritt tried comforting Henley, putting a hand on her shoulder only for it to be shoved off.
"No. I want him home now," she growled dangerously. "He could be in trouble or could easily get into a lot of trouble. What if someone takes advantage of him?"
"Henley, he knows how to handle himself on the street –" Daniel started.
"I want him home, Daniel," Henley glared lasers. Henley gasped as she came to another realization, "What if he left for good, Daniel? What if he's gone?1"
"Alright, alright," Merritt placated, "Why don't you stay here in case he comes back and Daniel and I will go looking for him."
End flashback
Henley hadn't agreed easily to that but was eventually convinced it was for the best. Merritt and Daniel would go out and would be able to handle any situation that occurred if it did turn out Jack was in trouble – which Daniel highly doubted was the case, especially after an encounter with a young, beautiful girl in the first bar they had been in.
Another Flashback!
"I don't even know why we're looking for him," Daniel said as they walked towards the first bar they had spotted after driving into town. It was a small corner bar but looked completely full with the fluorescent lights outside spelling "SWOVY'S" glowing brightly. "He's probably just fine."
"I agree but we still should at least check on him," Merritt said as they walked into the bar.
As soon as they stepped foot into the small, crowded bar they could tell Jack wasn't there. Daniel turned to leave but Merritt grabbed his elbow and said, "We should ask around to see if he's been here."
Daniel nodded and said, "Do you have a picture of him or something?"
Merritt shook his head but walked up to a pretty, young blonde woman leaning against the bar talking to another young woman. "Excuse me miss," He said, sliding smoothly into the stool next to her.
"Sorry, I'm here with people," She replied shortly.
"Ah, don't worry, petal, this will just take a second," He said, making sure she turned to face him again before speaking again. "We were wondering if you have seen a young man who's about 5'7", brown hair, brown eyes? He was probably wearing a black leather jacket."
"Um, I'm sorry, I don't think so," She replied hesitantly.
"Wait," he friend sitting next to her chimed in. "Is he really good at poker?"
"Yeah," Daniel said, supposing the boy had to be good considering he was a phenomenal sleight-of-hand magician, "Have you seen him?"
"I think they're talking about Jax," the second girl said to the blond girl.
"Oh my god!" the blond exclaimed, "Yeah," she said turning back to Merritt, "He comes here all the time but usually he's more downtown."
"He's so hot," the second girl breathed.
"Tell him Macy and Sophia say hey," the blond spoke again.
"Thanks," Daniel said with a quirk of his eyebrow as he dragged Merritt out of SWOVY'S back into the cold night. It was starting to snow now and Daniel just wanted to find the kid so they could head back to the nice, cozy, warm cabin.
As soon as they were out the door they started towards the car and Daniel said, "Correct me if I'm wrong, Merritt, but she just said, 'he comes here all the time' right?"
"I've never seen him leave the house," Merritt said but then sighed, frustrated. "Let's go."
End flashback
When Daniel finally spotted Jack in the seventh bar they had checked that night Henley had already called three times and they had also already searched a few parks they had come across to see if he had been performing in the park. There had been absolutely no luck until now and it was nearing midnight. Not a trace of the boy and Daniel was sure he was going to have to amputate his fingers from frostbite.
Daniel tapped Merritt's shoulder and pointed inside the next bar through a large window, glowing psychedelically. Through the window they could see Jack – or Jax, as everyone in town who had recognized the description had referred to him as – throw his head back and laugh as the pretty girl on his arm downed a shot. There was a little crowd gathered around the pair, telling Daniel and Merritt the boy was performing. "Well, we found him," Daniel said as he turned to walk back to the car.
"Hey, hey, hey," Merritt said, "Henley said she wanted him home."
"Aw, c'mon," Daniel said, motioning towards Jack, "He looks fine – better than fine. Just leave him. He obviously comes out here a lot more often than we thought and we didn't even have a clue. If you ask me that means he can handle himself."
"Well it's a good thing nobody asked you then," Merritt said as he stepped into the bar.
"Merritt!" Daniel called after him, "Merritt – c'mon! Fine! Fine. Let's just barge in here but," he said grabbing Merritt's arm and sitting him down at a table, rubbing his hands together, "Let the kid just finish his show, ok? It'll do no one any good to pull him out of a show suddenly, especially if he thinks we still don't know he frequents the town."
Merritt grumbled but stayed sitting down, signaling his agreement. The bar was thinning out from earlier, leaving only the hardcore party animals which still kept the bar impressively busy at this time. The crowd cheered and applauded along with Jack's tricks as Merritt and Daniel waited as patiently as the two men could in their chairs sipping water that had been on the table.
Eventually a waitress walked by the table and asked, "Is there something I can get you two gentlemen?"
Merritt waved her off but Daniel said, "I don't need anything but what can you tell me about that young man up there?"
"Jax?" The girl asked. "He's amazing, right? He's a magician – if you haven't figured that out yourself already. Well, he comes down here all the time, always attracting a crowd."
"Huh," Daniel said, "How long does he usually stay down here? I mean," he quickly added at seeing the face she was giving him, "I mean it just seems a little weird that he would perform this long."
The girl nodded as if understanding and said, "Well he doesn't always perform – at least not like that. Some nights he just comes in to get shitfaced like everyone else and some nights he's escorting."
Daniel looked questioningly at Merritt as if to say, 'he does what?'.
"Escorting?" Merritt asked for Daniel, finally speaking up.
The girl looked at the two men, confused, and then she seemed to make up her mind and said, "Yeah, but I've only ever seen him with woman so far so you guys are out of luck." With that she walked back to the bar leaving the two men confused.
…
About thirty minutes later the crowd gave the loudest cheer yet and then seemed to disperse. Daniel shot up quickly, scanning the crowd for Jack, and Merritt, who had been lightly dozing, jerked wide awake and searched the crowd as well.
At the same moment Daniel caught sight of Jack and directed Merritt's attention Jack had just taken yet another shot and had caught sight of them as well. His eyes widened for a fraction of a second before turning back to the cool, unreadable depths they usually were. Even though he had seen the men he turned his attention away from them, instead focusing on the girl who was nearly collapsed on his arm.
Daniel watched Jack mouth something in the girls' ear and then help her up. Jack walked right past the two men, grabbing the young woman's coat and draping it over her, and out into the night. Daniel got up and motioned for Merritt to follow, sending a quick text to Henley to tell her they were on their way.
Once outside Jack passed the girl off to another girl who appeared to be her friend and turned to face the two men saying hesitantly, "Hey guys."
"Damn right, boy," Merritt grumbled, running his hand through his hair.
"Henley's going to give you an earful as soon as we get back," Daniel commented offhandedly as they started towards the car.
"Yeah, I thought she would," Jack replied neutrally.
The three men walked in silence the whole way back towards the car a few blocks away. Jack was staring silently at the ground, almost sullenly, holding himself stiffly. About a block into the short walk Jack stumbled on the curb and Daniel quickly remembered the numerous drinks the boy had consumed throughout the night – not including the ones he had no doubt had before Merritt and himself had shown up, and reached out an arm to steady the kid only to be roughly shaken off.
"I don't need your help," Jack mumbled plowing on down the sidewalk. Now that Daniel and Merritt noticed it they saw Jack's wavering walk and occasional stumble.
"Hey," Daniel said, catching up with the boy and turning him around with a hand on his shoulder. "Stop being such a diva and –" He wasn't even sure what he had wanted to accomplish with that starter as he was focused solely on the fist flying quickly toward his face. The first punch turned him a good 180 degrees and he skidded a bit on the ice on the sidewalk.
"Kid!" Merritt exclaimed, stepping in to calm him down. Unfortunately Jack knew Merritt's tricks and refused to look the hypnotist in the eye as he continued his way toward Daniel. A well placed kick to Daniel's midsection had him bending over in pain with a hand out to feebly ward off coming blows.
"What the fuck, kid?" Daniel gasped.
Jack ignored the question and instead grasped Daniel's arm that was still thrown in front of him and twisted, flipping him on his back. By this time they were attracting attention. Merritt glanced around, eyes flitting from face to face but eventually settled back on the kid pounding Daniel into the sidewalk hissing, "I. Am not. A kid."
Merritt groaned but threw himself into the fight as well, snagging Jack's arm before he could land another blow. "Get up Daniel, quickly," Merritt commanded. Jesus the kid was skilled – he was drunk and had easily overpowered Daniel. "Hold him."
Daniel scrambled to his feet and grabbed Jack's other arm giving Merritt the opportunity to grasp Jack's chin and force him to look into Merritt's eyes as he said softly, "Sleep."
Jack fell limply into Daniels arms, head rolling back onto his chest. "Get him into the car," Merritt commanded quietly as he turned to face the small crowd that had gathered. "Everything's fine here ladies and gentlemen – no need to worry."
Back at the home front
Henley paced the driveway once again, slapping her hands on her thighs absently, and pulling on her hat. Daniel had said they were on their way. After hearing they had found Jack and he was still in one piece she was no long worried – just furious. Why would Jack feel the need to sneak out like that? He could have just said he wanted to go out for once. She would have easily agreed: they had all been cooped up here for way too long. Sure they all had gone wandering and hiking in the woods behind the cabin and had all been down to the little creek once or twice but they were getting really stir crazy. Henley would have understood. He didn't have to sneak around the rest of the Horsemen.
Finally – finally! – at two o'clock in the morning she saw the headlights winding their way up the driveway. She was going to give Jack a piece of her mind.
As the car pulled to a stop in front of her she walked quickly to the backseat where she knew they would make Jack sit and opened the door, speech ready, only to be stopped short at the sight of an apparently sleeping Jack. She looked up in confusion to see Merritt waving an exasperated hand tiredly at them and trudging into the house. She turned to Daniel for an explanation to see the man leaning against the car, bruises already forming on his face. "What the hell happened here?" She screeched.
I would like to thank WolfDarkfur and katewolf2000 for following this story - thanks guys!
Meow: Thanks once again for sticking with this story! I probably will end up watching that movie and just to be clear - you want a NYSM and Anubis crossover? I probably can do that...
MEEVA E: ok, so he got whumped in this chapter but we won't actually deal with that until the next chapter :) I love anybody getting whumped XD Thanks for the review, love!
Aha! Told you guys I update weirdly! Alright I hope you guys like this chapter! Please review that would be awesome! Thanks a lot!
Soldier