TEMPERANCE | jack wilder

iii. the first act

"Merritt McKinney, Daniel Atlas, Henley Reeves, Jack Wilder, Evelynn Park, Arthur Tressler, and the MGM Grand proudly presents, The Five Horsemen!" The intro to their act had just been announced and every one of them walked out onto the stage. For the body of their show, Henley, Jack, and Daniel did stage tricks that were pretty big. McKinney and Evelynn stuck with the mentalism and guessing games, awing the audience.

As their show was nearing the end, their true act was only just beginning. "Thank you. Tonight we would like to try something that will, well, set us a bit apart." Merritt said, starting their next act.

"Very, apart." piped in Evelynn, chucking. Evelynn, like everyone else, was merely walking around their round stage.

"Four our final trick, we're gonna do something never before seen on a Las Vegas Stage."

"Or any stage, for that matter."

"Ladies and gentlemen," Daniel called for attention as he stepped up the higher center stage. "Tonight, we are going to rob a bank." As he said that the audience went wild, you can barely hear yourself think over the crowd's screams. "That's a lot of excitement for a crime." Everyone laughed at that.

"I'm getting excited. What about you people?" The audience was about as riled up as you could get them.

"One, two, three," Jack and Merritt jumped and high-fived each other. Idiots, Evelynn thought as she watched them. Granted, they did get the crowd more riled up, so it couldn't be that bad.

"Now, now. Please, please. Settle down. Now, who here has a bank they would like us to rob?" If Evelynn thought the audience went wild before they absolutely went berserk now. "Okay, wow. That's a lot of people with a vendetta, so we'll choose one at random. My associates will make sure it's random, right?"

Henley, Jack, and Merritt went to grab the containers filled with ping-pong balls and started picking out a random person to grab a ball. Evelynn wasn't needed so she went to the stage and sat down on the corner of the stairs that lead to the higher stage. "In Jack's bowl are ping pongs with section numbers. Jack, could you hand me a section number?" Jack threw Daniel a ping pong ball. "Thank you. We are looking at Section B. Where is Section B? Okay. There. It's gonna be one of you guys, get ready."

"Oh, I don't know why any of you are happy," commented Evelynn. "It's only them."

"Merritt, can I get a row please?" A ball was thrown towards Daniel. "Thank you, Merritt. We are looking at row number 5. Where is that? Henley, could I get a random seat number? Oh! Lucky number 13. B-5-13, where are you? Sir, please, stand up. Ah! There you are. Hi. Sir, could you just confirm for me that this is, in fact, your seat? B-5-13."

"Yes," The man with a french accent agreed with Daniel's statement.

"Okay, wonderful," Daniel said throwing away the pin pong balls. "Now, could you please tell us your name and the name of your bank?"

"Well, my name is Etienne Forcier and my bank is Cred Republicain de Paris."

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

Evelynn got up and began speaking. "While he does that. There is someone here tonight without whom we would just be five 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 put his name on. He is our friend. He is our benefactor. Mr. Arthur Tressler." Evelynn ended that facing said man and holding her hand towards him with a grateful smile adorning her face. "Please, stand up, Art."