The Hanging Man • JW

The finale

The Horsemen had came back onto stage, greeted by the roars of the crowd. Athena  took a bow, waving cheerfully to the crowd. Danny stepped forward, enjoying the attention from the crowd. He introduced the final act before Merritt stepped forward, beginning his mentalist tricks. 

"Clemons Frannick?" He spoke, looking around the room expectantly.

"Yeah, up here!" Someone waved from the stands, standing up with a beaming smile on their face. 

Merritt thought of two more names, equalling to two more people waving down at the horsemen excitedly. They gave out how much money they had in their bank accounts, but Merritt told them they were all wrong. Uncertain chatter had rumbled through the crowd as he finished his little act. 

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot- this evening would not be possible if it weren't for our great benefactor, Arthur Tressler," Danny explained as the spotlight shone  down on their unsuspecting boss. "Big applause! Art, actually why don't you come on stage for the finale?"

Once he had gotten onto stage, Athena approached him with a slight cheesy smile. Jack's eyes were on Athena as he tried to hold back his own grin. 

"Now, Art, did you fill out your envelope?" Athena asked. He shook his head response. "Well no need, we've done it for you!"

Danny and Henley brought out a massive cheque which had the amount which Arthur thought he had in his bank. "Now, Art," Merritt began, "I took a guess. North of 140 am I right?" Arthur chuckled. "That's 140 million by the way." 

The crowd ooed as Arthur smiled. Jack had went off backstage to get the prop for the next part of the act. 

"Oh i'm sorry Merritt, but how can Arty be right, and everyone else be wrong?" Athena asked, tilting her head to the older man who grinned back at her.

"That's because he too, is wrong," Merritt watched as Arthur furrowed his eyebrows. "Everybody, take out your paper, and using the flashlight under the seat start to warm up the paper. I think your correct balance will start to appear." And as told, the crowd began to warm up their paper. "Don't worry, Art, we have a flashlight for you." 

Jack came onto stage, heaving a large spot light in his hand. The crowd chuckled, as did Arthur. A enticing smirk was on his lips as he began to warm up the huge cheque. Athena grinned happily at him, which was returned. 

"What's going on there, Danny?" Athena asked, tilting her head as she pretending to be confused. 

"This is strange. A second ago it said $144,579,651. But now it says $70,000 less.." Daniel explained, flicking his eyes to the confused Arthur. 

"Josepha, can you stand up?" Merritt asked, nodding as she stood. "Now, what is your new number?"

Her expression immediately turned into a mixture of excitement and shock as she stared down at the paper in front of her. "$70,562, now in my account!" She told them, a obvious happy tone in her voice. 

"Merritt, is it possible for Josepha's balance to go down the exact same amount that Arthur's went down?" Henley asked. Before anyone could reply, Jack spoke up. 

"Hey, check it out. It's happening again!" 

Arthurs balance went down once again, and someone elses in the crowd rose causing excitement in the crowd. Jack had abandoned the spotlight, and stood with the horsemen whilst everybody stared at their paper in disbelief. 

"We have a confession to make!" Henley announced, and the crowd quietened down to listen to what they had to say. 

"She's right," Jack admitted, casting a quick side-ways glance to Athena who was holding back a grin at the crowd. "We lied about something."

"Yes, none of you were chosen at random," Athena continued, nodding at the boy besides her. 

Merritt looked at the crowd with a serious stare. "All of you have one thing in common." 

The crowd waited in anticipation whilst Henley spoke up. "And that one thing was that you're all a victim! A victim of the hard times that hit one of America's most treasured cities.." 

"Some of you lost your houses, your cars!"

"Your businesses."

"Your loved ones.." 

Athena looked at the crowd, a sincere expression on her face. "And do you know which company insurance screwed you all over?" She questioned, making the crowd go silent. "Tressler insurance." 

The horsemen pointed over to Arthur who looked shocked. The crowd roared in anger, even the horsemen were glaring at him angrily. His own moneymakers were betraying him. 

"You were abandoned!" 

"You were loop-holed!" 

"Out of your settlements!"

Henley muttered a cheeky comment to Arthur, making him flush red in rage. Athena smirked as his eyes flicked over at her. "Sucks to be you," she mouthed, flicking her hair over her shoulder as she turned away from him. 

A man in the crowd stood up, his phone held in his hand. He announced that his balance had actually went up on his phone, and the crowd literally roared. Phones were pulled out from every pocket as everyone checked their balance, cheering happily. 

Athena couldn't help a wide smile on her lips. They had done it again. Stole from the rich to give to the deserving. It was emotional watch the crowd hug one another, cheering wildly and some even shouting thank you to the Horsemen. All they had been through when Katrina hit, they were finally getting the care they need. 

"You!" Arthur yelled, pointing at Merritt. "Did you do this?"

Jack walked in front of Arthur, a cocky grin appearing. "How could we? We don't have your password," Jack shrugged calmly, glancing at Arthur who was fuming. Athena chuckled at Jack who came to stand besides her. 

"We'd need information we'd never be able to get our hands on," Athena said in the same calm way. 

"Ah yes, security questions for instance." Danny nodded. "Like I don't know. Your mothers maiden name for example, or the name of your first pet."

Merritt had the most smug smile on his face as he walked towards Arthur. "Where we could find that information, Art?" He asked. "Cause there's no way in hell you'd tell us those things." 

Arthur tried to leap forward to grab Merritt, but was held back by a chain around his ankle. Daniel grinned at his handy work, waving his hand to Arthur as the five stood in place. 

They noticed Agent Dylan Rhodes charging down the aisle, heading towards the stage. "Freeze!" He roared at them. Even though Athena wasn't looking at him, she knew Merritt had a evil grin on his face. 

"We are the five horsemen. Goodnight!" The yelled together. The crowd applauded louder than they ever had done, cheering and screaming. 

As the five were pulled up by a zip wire as they saw Rhodes being tackled by 12 hypnotised volunteers.  Athena laughed cheerily as they were pulled up to the top of the stage. The five hugged each other, before unclipping themselves and heading out of the arena.

If they thought the stage work had been hard, they had no idea what was to come next...