I cannot tell you all how much your support of my writing means to me. I’m so sorry this took so long. If I’m being honest, the next part might take even longer (just because I’m busy with college exams and uni applications… the stress levels are REAL high right now) but I want you to know I love reading your comments and I smile every time someone reacts to my posts.
Anyway, here we go!
Pairing: Daniel Atlas x Reader
Warnings: some swearing, read at your own discretion.
“Can’t we all — just once — stay in the same place for more than a few weeks at a time?” you sighed, climbing in the back of the car with Merritt and Danny.
“I agree that that would be nice, but currently we have no control over where we go and when. Literally, considering we entered the tube in New York and were spat out in Macau,” Danny said, letting you rest your head on his shoulder tiredly.
“It’s all about blind spots,” Merritt’s brother said once the car began moving through the streets of Macau, “When you’re staring straight at something and not see it. Why? Blind spots! We learnt that together, didn’t we, bro?”
Merritt grunted, staring blankly at the floor. You nudged his foot with yours gently, trying to comfort him. He flashed a small, grateful smile.
“Did he tell you that we were partners, once?” Chase continued, “No? I didn’t think so. The ‘Mini-McKinneys’.”
“Cool,” Lula said flatly.
“And then one day, we were 12, and Virginia von Welsheim had a very nice party down the street. I had a little tum-tum, couldn’t go. Mer-Bear did it on his own and got a taste of the solo thing, and uh… and kicked me to the curb.”
“Oh god,” Danny muttered. You nudged him in the side for insensitivity.
Merritt sighed, “Chase, you win! I concede. Just tell me how you did it.”
Chase grinned, “Delivery came to your door about a month ago… a little za?”
“Pizza,” Merritt told him, then addressing his brother, “Huh?”
“Yeah, so what he did, my little womb-mate, is he downloaded all of your private information and my employer had all he needed.”
You could feel Danny glaring at Merritt for accusing him of being the leak. You rolled your eyes at his ability to hold a grudge.
“Thanks,” Danny said to Merritt sarcastically, then turning to Chase, “How did you know how to find him?”
“That’s a very good question, Atlas,” Chase said, miming locking his mouth closed and throwing away the key.
“Okay,” Danny said, frustration bleeding from his tone.
“Danny, I swear to god, don’t make Merritt feel worse about this than he already does,” you whispered so only he could hear.
“He’s a hypocrite, Y/n,” Danny hissed.
You just took your head off his shoulder and shifted away from him, too angry to care about how tired you were in that moment. Why couldn’t he just let it go?
The car pulled in to what looked like a casino and stopped at the front door. The Horsemen got out, flanked by more armed guards.
“Just follow the guards, they’ll take you to my boss,” Chase said with a grin, “Been fun playing this cat-and-mouse with you, broski. Meow.”
Merritt rubbed his eyes with his middle fingers. You found a grim sort of satisfaction in that.
“Have fun at the Sands,” Chase called as the car pulled away again and you were escorted into the casino.
“I am so, so, so sorry,” Merritt said to Danny. You watched wearily from behind them, hoping Danny swallowed his pride for once.
“Yeah, you should be.” Of course not. “Don’t ever accuse me of betraying us again, okay?”
You scoffed, quickening your steps to walk past him and get him out of your eyesight. Unfortunately, the guards led you to an elevator where you were forced to stand in the back and watch as Danny walked in and caught your eye, cocking his head at your glare, and resting his hand against the wall. Your heart thumped loudly at the sight, adding to your frustration. God dammit, he was not allowed to look that good when you were angry with him!
“Do you guys ever think that the Eye is watching this?” Lula asked next to you, breaking the sullen silence, “You know, that maybe this is even what they want? And at the exact right moment they’re going to swoop in, and we’ll be like, ‘Yes! Thank God you’re here! Thank God! Just in the nick of time, Eye!’ And then we’ll just celebrate, and it was all worth it in the end?”
Silence. You swallowed, still gazing at Danny.
“I don’t even really think that either, so… It’s cool.”
The elevator door pinged, and opened up behind you. Some sort of rock music blared as the five of you turned around. A man stood in front of huge, floor-length windows looking out on Macau. His leg jerked in time with the music as he flicked a playing card back and forth between his hands.
You were shoved out of the elevator by the guards as the man turned around and exclaimed, “Ah! Ta-da! So happy to be working with you! Please, come in, come in!”
The guards shoved you further, and you winced as one of them elbowed you in the ribs, a soft huff leaving your mouth.
“Hey! Hands off her, buddy,” Danny said, stepping between you and the guard. You swallowed down the warmth blooming in your chest at his words, desperately trying to cling to the anger you had held for him just moments earlier. It was a pointless exercise, but damn you if you didn’t try.
“Wait, sorry, how are you working with us?” he asked, still standing in front of you which forced you to peer at the stranger over his shoulder.
“Oh, well, as much as a magician who pulls a rabbit from a hat is working with that rabbit,” the man explained, pulling on a pair of very expensive looking slippers and walking over his koi-pond floor, “We'll be working together. Yes. Allow me to introduce myself.”
“Yeah, you’re Walter Mabry,” you stated, stepping out from behind Danny.
“You died a year ago,” Jack clarified.
“Yes!” Mabry exclaimed, “An idea I got from you, Mr Wilder! Fake your death and the world puts its guard down.”
You glanced at Lula who stood to your left — she seemed just as overwhelmed as you felt.
“I’m able to control quite a few companies, including my old partner Owen’s, as a consortium of so-called anonymous shareholders,” Mabry continued.
“And that violates how many SEC laws?” Lula asked.
“I believe it breaks all of them,” Mabry answered casually.
“All of them,” Lula repeated dryly.
How could everything have gone so wrong, you thought, dread curling in your gut. This man was obviously unstable, and had no qualms with breaking laws and risking going to jail. Who knew what he was really capable of when pushed?
“You see, you all want an audience. Need one, desperately. It’s quite sad really,” he directed this at Danny who’s jaw twitched in irritation. You gripped his wrist gently, silently begging him to keep his cool, “I, on the other hand, want the opposite of that. I just want to be, and I am, one hundred percent off the grid. You know why?”
“Yeah, because the grid is for actual human beings,” Danny quipped, making you grip his wrist tighter. He sent an apologetic glance your way, twisting his hand to grab yours.
Mabry was infuriated for a total of zero point five seconds before giving Danny a chillingly calm smile, “No, because in a world of total surveillance, the only true freedom lies in not being seen. You can’t control the grid from within the grid. Follow me.”
He began walking off. When you didn’t follow him he repeated, “Follow me!”
The guards pushed you forward and the five of you followed Mabry as he spoke.
“You pulled a hat out of a rabbit,” he said, turning to Lula, “That was very colourful.”
She sighed, “Almost eight and a half years ago, so, no need to bring that up.”
You yourself winced at the memory. Mabry was wrong, there had been an abundance of one colour in particular — red.
Mabry grinned and instead turned to Danny, “We can’t all be held accountable for our adolescent personas, can we, Magicolio?”
Your eyes widened and you whirled on Danny who’s jaw ticked in irritation, “Magicolio… that was fifteen years ago.”
Oh, you were definitely going to use this. It was gold.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Mabry continued, very obviously enjoying his main character moment, “Like you, and many others I suppose, who were not getting any sex in high school, I dabbled with it.” Merritt pointed at Danny who shook his head. “But, uh, unlike you, I was able to transition upward towards actual magic.”
He gestured to the side where there stood what looked like a giant, shiny server, “Science, you may have heard it called. So would you like to know, my friends, just how I got you here?”
“We know how you did it,” you stated, having figured that out on the ride here.
“No you don’t,” Mabry said sharply.
“Yeah, you stole our files from the show,” Merritt drawled, “then obviously hypnotised us.”
“The strobe was a combo of binaural beats, as well as…”
“I said stop!” Mabry yelled, grabbing the sides of Merritt’s neck. The mentalist looked down at the shorter man, a little disturbed. Danny gripped your hand tighter, “You might not be having fun, but I am.”
“You have an unusual way of showing it,” Merritt mused.
Mabry ignored his comment and stepped back, clapping his hands together and grinning excitedly,” So... How did I do it? Easy. You see, magicians like to control other people's perceptions. In your heightened state of agitation, you saw the simplest cues — Black tube, roof — and your minds filled in the rest.”
“Shit,” you muttered, mentally kicking yourself for not keeping your head during the chaos.
“But the tube you meant to go down was 20 feet to your right,” Mabry finished smugly, “Go on, sit down. There's no one
“Don’t mind if I do,” Merritt quipped, settling onto the couch.
With slight caution, you followed his lead, Danny plopping down next to you. To your dismay, Mabry squeezed in between you and Lula.
“Anyway, once in the tube, yes you’re right. Blah blah blah, the strobe contained UV letters pulsing the word ‘sleep’, and this combined with the sound put you into an instant alpha pattern.”
The image of the flashing lights in the tube resurfaced in your mind’s eye and you tried not to wince at the reality of it. You had been tricked. All of you. Dylan too, probably. Not to mention you were now at the mercy of this clearly unhinged not-dead billionaire with a god complex.
“And from then on,” Mabry continued, “it really was just fun, and I can assure you, you don’t know what happened.”
With that he clicked the remote and a power point was displayed on the screen in front of you. The opening slide was black with the words ‘Our trip to Macau’ in white typing. The next slide cleared everything up.
“That’s really creepy,” You stated, cautiously eyeing the photograph of your unconscious self lying with your head in Danny’s lap as he leaned on Mabry who was giving the camera the finger.
“Really, really creepy,” Lula agreed.
“That’s not cool,” you said, shaking your head.
“Yep, easy stuff, magic, if you put your mind to it,” Mabry said cheerfully. You wanted to claw his eyes out. This urge was heightened when the next photo showed draped over Mabry’s lap, your head resting on his shoulder.
Danny tensed next to you.
“Alright, that’s enough,” he interjected, “So why are we here then? You know, besides you getting to show off how adorably clever you are?”
“Well to start with, the man you stole from last year. Turns out I had invested a lot of money in some of his companies so a lot of what you stole, was in fact mine.” Mabry said, his cheerful tone completely at odds with the accusation.
“It’s a small world,” you muttered, rolling your eyes. It figured this lunatic was after money. Or revenge. Either was enough to satisfy people like him.
“Good news is, it’s very easy for you to pay me back! I just need your… skills.”
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