SPECTRE ➸ Daniel Atlas

~nine~

NINE

❝Love can sometimes be magic. But magic can sometimes... just be an illusion.❞

✧✧✧✧

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Savoy management welcomes you to tonight's special performance, The Five Horsemen, Act Two. Unlike traditional performances, The Four Horsemen encourage you to film, call your friends, upload, stream, and tweet the show freely. Thank you. The show will begin in a few minutes."

"You ready?" Gen asked to Danny who was standing nearest to her. 

"We're gonna do great." He assured her with a small smile. 

Gen smiled back at him, but when felt her cheeks grow hot she turned her gaze away from him. All the Five Horsemen walked on stage, getting in their position, eager and prepared as they waited for the announcer to continue. 

"Arthur Tressler presents Jack Wilder." The spotlight shone on Jack as he waved at the audience. 

"Henley Reeves." Another light landed on Henley, as she smiled at the crowd. 

"Merritt McKinney." Merritt grinned mischievously.

"Daniel Atlas." Danny's figure lit up as the light made him visible to the crowd. He smirked at the audience from Gen's side. 

"And Genevie Fern." Lastly the spotlight lit on Gen as she stood in the middle, all the attention raining down at her. "The Five Horsemen."

"Thank you. Before we begin, we'd like to single out two people in particular. A man and a woman to whom we'd like to dedicate tonight's performance." Danny said, his eyes drifting to the guests of honor.

"FBI Agent Dylan Rhodes, and the lovely, if somewhat inexperienced, Interpol Agent Alma Dray. Everyone." Gen declared, motioning toward the two agents sitting among the audience. The spotlight shone on the two and the crowd started boo on them.

"Glad to see you both again." Henley added with a mischievous grin. 

"Yeah, Agent Rhodes has personally vowed to "nail us." Jack said crossing his arms across his chest. 

"And we encourage him to do so if he has the brains and the fur." Merritt added, with a devilish glint in the eye as the people started to laugh, before the real show began.

"What is magic? Our argument, nothing but targeted deception." Gen started, beginning the performance.

"So we want you to look." Danny continued. "Look as closely as possible. Because the tricks you are about to see may not seem connected. But we assure you, they are."

"Is what follows 100 different tricks?" Gen asked the audience. "Or is it one giant illusion?"

The Five Horsemen stood side by side as the the crowd cheered for them. The lights flashed behind them, making the stage go completely dark. The audience screamed in excitement and the magicians got ready for the show. 

At the moment Daniel and Henley stood on the stage to debunk the disappearing bunny trick. Henley stood beside the box with a white bunny in her arms. 

"And now for one of the oldest tricks in the book." said Henley. "Danny, if you wouldn't mind opening up the box, and showing everybody that it's completely empty."

Daniel opened the box and showed it to the crowd. 

"I'm gonna take sweet little Fluffy here, and put her inside this mystery box." Henley placed the rabbit inside the box. 

Daniel closed it. "Now if you would say the magic word." Daniel asked her with a grin. 

"Abracadabra." Henley said waving her hands as she spoke the word. 

"Yes, and I will wave this magic wand, for absolutely no reason." He pulled out a white and black wand from his jacket before waving it on the box for a second, before he threw it away nonchalantly. 

"And then fluffy has magically vanished before your very own eyes." He said opening the box again to show it to the audience. 

"And now we're going to debunk a few magic myths this evening. We all know that Fluffy is in fact well and alive." Henley announced as Daniel pulled the mirror out of the box twirling it around. "And Fluffy had miraculously appeared."

The audience cheered enthusiastically. 

"And now, we will hand Gen this cute little fluffy here." Henley said as Gen walked on the stage towards Henley and she handled her the rabbit.

"Now," Gen started moving closer to the audience with fluffy in her arms. "Everyone had heard of taking a rabbit out of hat. But has anyone heard of taking a hat out of rabbit?"

Immediately, Gen flicked her hands out, making fluffy disappear in thin air and a black magician's hat was replaced in the place of the rabbit. The crowd gasped in surprise and cheered for her mesmerizing trick. Gen placed the hat on her head and bowed before leaving the stage. 

Jack stood on the stage after Gen completed her trick with deck of cards in his hands.

"There are two pencil's out there." Jack said shuffling the cards in his hands. "Hold'm up high, let me see them."

"Here." A women held her pencil up as she stood up with a grinning face. 

"Yeah." The other women did the same. 

Jack grinned at the two women. He made them count from three before throwing his deck of cards and made on stick through the pencil. 

Jack smirked before throwing another cards all the way to the other women's pencil, cutting her pencil in two. 

Next up was Merritt, and he gave the youngest magician a high five as they passed each other. 

"Now we gonna need 12 courageous volunteer." Merritt said and soon he was joined by 12 random people from the audience on the stage. 

"If you haven't experienced mass hypnotism, you're about to." He informed the crowd. 

"And sleep, down, down, sleep, sleep. down. Good, good. Sleep." He walked in front of the volunteers putting them in sleep one by one. "When you wake up again, you all are football players."

That made the crowd laugh. 

"And your job is to tackle, dismantle, crush, tear limb-for-limb the quarterback." He touched their shoulders, emphasizing each word clearly. "You will know who the quarterback is. He will be the one saying the word 'freeze'."

Now they all stood in circle. "Put your hand in the middle."

"One,"

"two,"

"Three."

"Kill Quarterback!" 

"I think I'm gonna see you soon." 

After Merritt was completed, it was Daniel and Gen's turn. Daniel was making bubbles from his hands and let them float around the room. Gen waited for Danny to make a bubble big enough for her. Gen took a running start going inside the bubble and then she was floating high above the crowd. The audience awed at the sight and cheered. Gen smiled at the crowd as she twirled and moved inside the bubble elegantly. 

Gen twisted around the chandelier and the bubble popped. It was all part of the show. The crowd gasped in fear as she fell screaming. Danny caught her right before she hit the ground. 

 Gen opened her eyes to see Danny grinning at her. 

"Told you I'd catch you." Danny spoke in her ear, as the crowd started cheering for them and fell into great applause. 

"Never doubted it."