𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐓 | 𝐍𝐘𝐒𝐌

v. the five horsemen

"Nikita Mikaelson, Merritt McKinney, Daniel Atlas, Henley Reeves and Jack Wilder. Arthur Tressler and the MGM Grand proudly presents:
The five horsemen!"

They were announced as the crowd cheered with unbridled enthusiasm.

"Thank you! Tonight, we would like to try something that will, well, set us a bit apart." Merritt started off.

"For our final trick, we're gonna do something never before seen on a Las Vegas stage." Henley continued

"Or any stage for that matter." Jack cut in.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are going to rob a bank." Daniel revealed with the audience cheered in the background at the news.

"That's a lot of excitement for a crime." Nikita commented.

"I'm getting excited!" Henley continued. "What about you people!" The crowd's intensified hurrahs confirmed their reply.

"One, two, three!" Jack and Merritt counted down to an unnecessary yet somewhat entertaining flying chest bump.

"Now, please, please, settle down. Now who here has a bank they would like us to rob?"  Various shouts were voiced.

"That's a lot of people with a vendetta. So we'll choose one at random then. My associates will ensure that they're random, yes?" Nikita announced as the audience clamoured.

"In Jack's bowl are ping pong balls with section numbers. Jack, can you hand me a section number?" Daniel requested. Jack acquired it from a well dressed Elvis Presley lookalike.

"Thank you, we are looking at section B. Where is section B?" Daniel asked, getting a response from said section. "Okay, there. It's gonna be one of you guys, get ready." The crowd cheered again.

"Alright, I don't know why everybody's happy, it's only them." Nikita chided with laughs from the audience.

"Merritt, can i get a row please?" Again, Daniel asked.

He thanked him while trying to grab the ball that bounced towards him from the latter's throw. "We are looking at row number 5, here we go."

"And uh, Henley, could I please have a random seat number?" He asked one last time. "Ah, lucky number 13." The magician exclaimed.

"B-5-13. Where are you?" Nikita tried locating the member of the audience as she asked. The spotlight came to a man with a grey suit. "Sir, please stand up." She requested." Ah, there you are. Hi! And can you just confirm for me that this is in fact your seat, B-5-13." The man confirmed and that was all Nikita needed to throw the balls away into the audience, earning a few scattered laughs.

"Great. Can you please tell us your name and the name of your bank?" Daniel cut in.

"Well, my name is Etienne Forcier and my bank, it's uh, Credit Republican de Paris."

"French. Okay uh, we were hoping for something a little more local, kind of a mom and pop credit union with no security, but uh that's fine.A promise is a promise. Could you please come up to the stage and we will rob your bank."

"And while he does that, there is someone here tonight, without whom, we would just be 5 magicians, working the circuit, trying to get, well actually trying to get here. You probably know this man, if not from one of the many, many companies he puts his name on. He is our friend, he is our benefactor, Mr. Arthur Tressler. Please stand up, Art." Daniel introduced.

"The only man here with the Queen's cell phone number." Merritt joked as Nikita chuckled knowingly in her head. Oh, the irony.

"Actually, please stay standing, Art. I wanna say that when we came to Mr. Tressler, we promised that as a unit, we could become the biggest name in magic." Nikita said.

"So we wanted to say thank you, and by the way, Art, you noticed on the sign out front, we made sure we put your name on top." Henley thanked.

"If you turn out to be as good as you think you are, dear girl, that won't be necessary much longer."

"We haven't done our closer yet, so when we've done it, you can decide for yourself." Henley says while Merritt activated Etienne's hypnosis with a brief hit to the chest. "Ladies and gentlemen, Arthur Tressler."

"Thank you, and once again, the cardinals of clairvoyance, Merritt McKinney and Nikita Mikaelson." Daniel announced for them.

"Etienne, what Jack is bringing to the stage now is what we, in the magic world call a teleportation helmet." Merritt stated.

"You will need to wear this to allow you to fold through space and time to your bank in the... 8th?" Etienne tilted his head and Nikita corrected her assumption. "9th arrondissement."

"Now, uh, once you are there, we will be able to speak with you through this helmet,"

Jack and Nikita put the helmet on the Parisian's head, her fingers slightly brushing his, which caused Jack's cheeks to heat up and Nikita to shamelessly wink at him while Merritt spoke up. "Now, oh my god, that's beautiful."

"It has the added attraction of being stylish. It's time the French learned on that subject. No, I'm kidding. Partially." Nikita countered. "Now isn't that a beautiful piece of headgear? It is. Thank you. Thank you very much." The spectators encouraged and the helmet lit up.

"Now before you go anywhere, could you please pick a card, any card." Daniel asked Etienne with the cliche magic trick. "Not that card, oop. No that's okay. It's an old American joke, you can take that one. Okay there you go, now show it to your friends in section B there, but not to me." Etienne proceeded to present his card to his fellow seatmates. "Okay great. Now if you could just sign your name there."

"In English, if possible." Nikita chimed in.

Merritt chuckles, "That's good."

"Thank you, I spent all night coming up with it." She replied wittingly.

"Put it in your pocket." instructed Daniel to Etienne.

"And now, for one tiny detail." Henley declared as both she and Nikita took out a handkerchief, Nikita actually always carrying one - something her younger brother acquired from her - and it expanded, flowing around through the air to reveal an odd machine.

Everyone, including the horsemen, applauded at the sudden appearance of the mechanism.

"Now, Etienne, step right onto this cockamamie contraption. And I'll step off of it. Bonne chance. It's 11:50pm here in Vegas. That's 8:50am in Paris. Your bank opens in less than ten minutes."

Nikita met the tense eye of a certain debunker and proceeded to nod at him and his assistant with a sly grin.

"One, two," Merritt counted down.

"Three." Henley finished for him as she pushed the button and the two ends of the vertical machine closed in on each other, seemingly crushing the French volunteer in the process.