#lover's fool

As the audience cheered and clapped, Dylan turned his attention to Merritt as the real magic began. Thirty years of planning and hiding behind a disguise and it had all led to this moment. He wasn’t sure where it would go once it was over, but he sure as hell was going to be enjoying the ride there.

The theatrics continued on the stage, each Horseman carrying with them sharp wit and blooming charisma that made them shine where so many other magicians had fallen by the wayside. They truly were deserving of this.

It was only an afterthought that Dylan remembered to play his part, instructing the others to be on standby and making sure everything was planned out as it should be. This was where it got hard and everything had to go just right in order for this to be pulled off.

Dylan wasn’t the only one Tressler had screwed over and judging by how packed the show was, he certainly hadn’t been the last. While a part of him had longed for this for selfish reasons, it was amazing to see all these people finally get what they were owed.

“Hey, is this for real?” Dylan spoke quickly to his team, fighting back a smile at the confusion on the other end. “Is this happening!” It was and it was utterly beautiful.

“We got confirmation, it’s really happening. They robbed him!”

“Do not let them get away!” Grin appearing for only a moment, Dylan quickly pushed himself up, Alma following his lead. Moving quickly, Dylan fell back into his role perfectly, running down the stairs and towards the stage.

“Stop! Stop! Nobody move!” Ah, this was going to hurt, wasn’t it? At Daniel’s cheeky little wave, Dylan increased his pace and took a bracing breath. “Freeze!”

“Quarterback!” Merritt and his mentalism were certainly something, Dylan would say that much for him. Thoughts tumbling, Dylan jumped up on stage, viciously proud when the four escaped with not an ounce of fear in their eyes as the hypnotized crowd rushed up to tackle him.

“We are The Four Horsemen. Good night!”

Now this is where the game really got fun.

Ordering everyone out of the security van, Dylan shouted orders and followed the tracer, shouting out directions that would have his own agents confused and turned around so the Horsemen would be able to get away but still be seen on occasion.

Running through the town, Dylan emerged into the crowd, jumping up on top of the police car and quickly taking stock of the scene. He could see police cars blocking off a few parts, another one vanishing into the crowd that he didn’t bother to track anymore- Ah, there was Alma chasing after Daniel. Remembering how vicious Alma had been in looking beneath the surface and digging into everything, Dylan mentally swore and quickly chased after them.

“He’s heading South on Exchange Place.” Following the two North, Dylan started to gain on them when Daniel climbed up onto the wall, Alma screaming just as he got to the top.

“Stop!” All three of them freezing, Dylan watched with baited breath as Daniel slowly looked back, hands raised in the air peacefully. Dylan saw the twitch in the man’s fingers and knew in a second that he would run the moment he saw weakness- Which he would. Alma Dray was fresh off the desk and seemed to always have her nose buried in a book or file. There was no way she would shoot.

Jogging to catch up with them, Dylan watched as Daniel took a step back and quickly began to turn, Dylan only stumbling to a halt as he heard the sharp crack of gunfire echoing throughout the alleway.

Dylan wasn’t sure which of them was more surprised of the three, and, okay, that had been- That had been a close one. Alma had been a glorified desk jockey, though, there was no way she had actually managed to hit him, even with the close shot.

Alma lowered her gun, eyes wide and face pale as Daniel stumbled off the top of the wall instead of jumping gracefully like he should have. Not sparing Alma more than a glance, Dylan quickly rushed over the wall after Daniel, shocked to see the man was right in front of him- No, shocked wasn’t the right word. Shocked was too weak of a word for what he saw.

Okay, ‘Rhodes’, time to play your part. They were too far in to lose now. Any of them. “Stop right there, Atlas! Hands up, nice and slow-”

“Or what? You’ll shoot me?” Wrong. Something was very wrong here. Daniel’s voice was cracked and shot through. Everything he knew said that he would be fine under pressure. “Afraid you’re a bit too late for that, Agent.” Oh… Oh, no.

Dylan rushed forward and caught Daniel just as the man collapsed, swearing up a storm as he saw Daniel clutch at a spot right beneath his left shoulder, the man’s breath going shallow and panicked. He was going into shock. “Hey- Hey, focus on me, Atlas. Come on, I need you to focus, now.” Daniel’s eyes were glazed and dilated, the man moving as if he was getting ready to take his chances and run away. “Don’t even think about it, you idiot.”

Okay, okay, he had to think this through carefully. Shit- Shit. This wasn’t supposed to happen. None of them were ever supposed to get hurt like this. Ignoring the radio constantly going off at his side, Dylan gritted his teeth and shifted Daniel to get him onto his feet as gently as he could, “C’mon, c’mon, it’s not ending here.”

They only had a limited amount of time before Alma got her feet back under her and started chasing after them again. If she radioed in for help then there wasn’t much that even Dylan could do. If they took too long here then everything could fall apart. Dylan could not let that happen. Not when he had four lives besides his own riding on the line.

“What… What’re you-” Daniel cut himself off with a noise that bordered on a sob, Dylan feeling guilt tear at his insides as he quickly half-carried and half-led Daniel over a split off of the alleway. The parties were still in full swing and Dylan was sure that any agents running by would quickly pass them over.

Guiding Daniel to sit down on the ground and lean up against the brick wall, Dylan knelt down in front of him, “Hey, hey, you’re okay, you’re gonna be okay, come on. You’re a magician, kid. You’re not allowed to die unless you’re on stage.” Tearing at the suit jacket the man was wearing, Dylan pulled and yanked at the shirt until he could see the wound. It… It wasn’t good. The angle Alma had shot at and the fact Daniel had already half-jumped at least made it so the bullet hadn’t lodged itself into the skin, but it was still bad enough that Dylan could understand the kid’s panic.

“‘S more escape artists kind of thing.” J. Daniel Atlas always with a clever quip and last one-liner. Usually that made Dylan pretty damn proud, but right now it was easy to tell Daniel was bluffing his way through everything.

“Yeah, well tough shit.” Jerking his tie off, Dylan bundled it up as best he could before pressing it tight against the wound, gritting his teeth at Daniel’s strangled scream that escaped before he could cut it off. “Hey, c’mon, Danny, focus for me, okay? I need you to hold this in place. Can you do that?”

Shaking like a leaf, Daniel pressed an already bloodied hand to the impromptu bandage, pressing down hard and giving another sob as his body jerked forward. Dylan was there in a second and cupped the back of the younger’s neck, carefully guiding Daniel to rest his forehead on Dylan’s shoulder. “Ssh, ssh, easy there, Danny, easy. That’s it, that’s it. Just breathe for me, alright? You’re gonna get out of this just fine, just breathe.”

He was giving away too much. If the Horseman found out too much too soon then they might try to approach him before the end of this and it could all come crashing down in flames. Daniel was too curious for his own damn good and if nothing else he would be the one to search for answers. Dylan was giving away everything, but… He couldn’t help it.

Noticing the shaking had barely even died down, Dylan clutched Daniel closer and quickly looked around the alleyway. Shifting just enough to grab Daniel’s phone, Dylan sent a quick text to the other three Horsemen before putting it back. How out of it was this kid that he didn’t even notice what Dylan had done?

Taking a breath, Dylan tightened his grip around Daniel for a moment. “Sorry about this, kid.” Letting him go suddenly, Dylan tried to ignore the sharp whimper of pain as he stood up and took a few steps back, drawing his gun and keeping it aimed at the ground at as he used another hand to grab his radio. “Where are you idiots! North on Exchange Place, I’ve got Atlas cornered but he’s been shot. Get me medical and back-up here now.”

There was a panicked gasp from one of the other Horsemen that Dylan pretended to not hear and then a scrambling of footsteps that he was hard pressed to not look up at. They needed to work a bit more on sneaking around, it seemed. Taking another moment to yell into his radio, Dylan glanced back up and cursed loudly and freely, pouring his frustration over what had just happened into his tone.

To anyone listening in it would just sound as if Agent Rhodes was pissed at the Horsemen once more getting away. Which was good. He had slipped enough in front of Daniel… God he hoped he would be okay. More than that, he hoped the pain had been bad enough to blur Daniel’s memories once he was patched up and healed. The last thing they needed was any complications. It was going to be bad enough to try and explain the blood that was literally on his hands. He would come up with something, though. He always did. After all…