Equilibrium (Vexxieverse Series - Part 5)

The Fun Kind of Stunts (L)

Louis
February

At least for the first half day, all five of the guys worked together on a big assassin scene. It was a green screen set, which none of them preferred over the real deal, but Louis got to pretend to be a stuntman and beat people up, so he was looking forward to it. They'd practiced the choreography of the big fight all week and Tommy would come out of it looking like a badass. Assassins had chased their characters out of a bank fault after completing a simple job to steal a one time use Scroll of Time Travel for a client. It had been kept in a lockbox with top security, but that was nothing for Tommy since he was a world class rogue. Easy.

Roxy was locked away in prison, but she still had her connections and she would stop at nothing to destroy them. It was the show's way of winding her plot down without her, instead of breaking it off abruptly (since the rumors of her behavior went public). Their three characters outran the assassins and lead them to a rooftop so Nate could use a spell to eliminate them without blowing up the building.

Nathan kneeled on the ground and hastily scraped chalk sigils on the ground to prepare his spell while Tommy and Nathan did their best to fight off the ten assassins circled around them. Tommy was trained for fights like this, but Phillip used to rely on his supernatural strength and endurance for centuries. Adapting to a fragile human body wasn't going so well for him, and the only tool he had was the Necklace of Mind Control. But that only helped him overtake one mind at a time, so all he could do was get one assassin to fight against his own team.

Nate slammed his palm that he'd bloodied into the magic circle and flashes of light, smoke, and wind blasted through the set and all ten stuntmen flew through the sky by wires (and the audience would see them fly off the building to their deaths).

Tommy bounced around with his black eye and blood drenched knuckles and grinned, looking for something else to punch. "That was fucking fun! Did you see my right hook? We didn't need the magic. I could have taken them all!" Tommy shadow boxed in place until he remembered he was supposed to help Nate bandage his hand up. "Oh shit, sorry."

Phillip spit out a mouthful of blood and wiped the back of his hand against his busted lip. "Speak for yourself." He scowled at the ground while he caught his breath.

Nate breathlessly packed up his spell ingredients and tools with his free hand while Tommy worked on the other. "There were only five last time. We need a plan."

With a grunt of pain and a bad limp, Phillip slowly stood and hissed when he put weight on his ankle. "I can't do this! I'm just fodder, I need power. There's a vampire in New Orleans... he owes me a favor. I don't know if that deal still will hold up now that I'm human. He may just kill me. But I'm going to make him change me back. I hate this. I need more." Phillip pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

"No! No, you can't!" Nate used a spell of telekinesis to blow the cell out of Phillip's hand. "It won't work. My ancestors... there's a fail-safe. You'd not only die instantly, but your soul would be damned. It was a part of the price we paid to bring you back. No power sourced from evil can flow through you, so don't bother making a deal with a demon, either. You'll die on the spot."

Phillip sat on a big exhaust vent cover to get the weight off his ankle and pulled down the collar of his shirt to look at a knife wound that was too deep to clot. "There has to be a way. I'm going to get us all killed with this... mortal meat suit."

Tommy brought the first aid kit to Phillip and doused the wound with saline solution. "If my meat suit can take out three assassins, then so can yours. You just need to train with me more. Hold still, this needs stitches."

"I've been training! It's not enough, I'm not like you. You were born for this. I wasn't. I need my power back. Nate, there has to be something..."

Nate assisted Tommy in patching Phillip up. The two of them had become amateur doctors over their seasons, since their injuries were hard to explain to hospitals. "There's.. I shouldn't even tell you this. There may be a way. But it's chaotic magic, which means it would be a risk on how things would turn out. Let me research, OK? I agree that in our line of work, you won't survive long as a mortal. Tommy is a savant, he's different. You're a sitting duck. So I'll try, but in the meantime, we have to deal with her and her goons. She won't stop on her own."

"Whatever it takes," Phillip said.

"Cut. Great work, guys. Wrap on the set for today, have a good night everyone," Niall turned to whoever had been tapping his shoulder throughout the scene. "I said to never disturb me while we're filming! I don't want to be harsh here, but this is unacceptable. You poked at me the entire scene!"

The young PA with a headset on looked terrified and muttered his apologies while he shoved a stack of post-its into Niall's hands and scampered away.

"What's that about?" Louis asked while he picked the rubbery fake scar from Harry's skin.

Niall crumpled the papers and threw them at the floor, and two of the newest PAs scrambled to the ground to pick them up and throw them away. Niall had a small fan club on the set. It was cute. "Nikki's agents are blowing up my phone, trying to get her job back. They are exhausting. 24/7 e-mails, texts, phone calls..."

Harry batted Louis away and jogged up to Niall and Louis followed because he was nosey. "You can't though..." he said in a hushed whisper. Liam was too busy staring at Zayn's butt while he worked to clean up the props to pay attention to their conversation.

Louis shook his head. "Absolutely fucking not. She can't keep her hands to herself and I think she's dangerous. She has no fear and will cross any line she needs to.. "

"I know. I'm not budging, but she's making my life difficult. There's not a moment of peace without her damn name in my ear. Not much different from her character." Niall flipped through his notebook. "Oh great. This day just keeps getting better."

Zayn put his hand on Niall's back and peeked over his shoulder to see what made him mad, then laughed. "Harry's scheduled with me for his face cast tonight, which means Harry can't cook dinner. Sorry, love, it was this or we sacrifice a day off all together to do it. I'm on a time crunch."

Niall groaned. "I was promised fajitas! I've been thinking about them all day! I hate today. I hate today so much." Niall slammed his notebook shut and gathered his things. "And don't say we can order them from our Mexican place because they don't do it right. Only Harry does it right."

Harry wrapped his arms around Niall's neck and glowed with pride. "Tomorrow baby, I promise, OK?" Harry was the best at finding pleasure in life and absorbing it with his entire body. But praise, bondage, fashion, glitter, boyfriends, included, nothing made Harry happier than hearing people loved his cooking. It was a whole thing.

Liam bounced and tapped Niall's and Louis's shoulders. "We can do it, guys! Let's cook dinner for everyone. It will be fun! Hazza's menu book... er.. recipe book has the fajita recipe in it! I've seen it!"

Niall rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger. "I made a really good grilled cheese once when I was 14 and my parents left me alone for the first time. It's probably not that much different, right? Lou, you didn't burn the popcorn last week, I'm sure between the three of us..."

Louis looked at Niall like he'd grown an extra nose. "Uh, no. Also, I'm staying here with Harry and Zayn. Not gonna let this monster to torture my baby unsupervised," Louis said, but kissed Zayn's cheek.

"You're so annoying." Zayn shoved Louis off him. Was smart enough to not argue, though. Besides, Zayn would probably like the company and maybe Louis didn't mind stealing some bestie time when he had the chance.

"Liam.... Neither of you have ever turned on our stove before. I don't know..." Harry frowned.

"We can handle it! You'll come home to a delicious home cooked meal. Let us take care of you, for once. It's not up for debate. Love you, see you soon! Bye!" Liam quickly kissed Harry, Louis, and Zayn (and waited for Niall to do the same) and then tugged Niall by the arm to the parking lot.

"Lou, they're going to burn my kitchen down!" Harry pouted his bottom lip out as they headed to Zayn's workstation.

"AND we're going to starve. Let's just go to the Thai place when you're done." Louis hung off Zayn's back while they walked because he was too tired to walk all by himself. He just fought ten assassins!