Archive of Our Own ^beta

"Okay, we just have to think," said Daniel, frazzled. "We just have to think!"

The sand pouring into Veronika's glass cage like sand in an hourglass was already pooling around their ankles, and rising by the second.

"Jack!" Henley said, snapping her fingers. "Do you have your lock picking kit?"

"Of course, but there's no locks here." Jack slammed his hand against the glass in frustration as if to prove his point.

"It has a file though, right? Do you think you could cut through the bars with it?"

Jack stared at her in disbelief for a second then hurriedly tugged his kit out of his pocket. "Hen, you're a genius! I mean, it'll take a while. But maybe!"

He glanced up at the bars, gauging for a moment, then pulled out the file, placed it between his teeth and stuffed the kit back into his pocket. Then he jumped and grabbed onto the bars, swinging his legs up in one graceful motion and hooking them around the iron. He dangled like a kid on a jungle gym as he quickly got to work, sawing away at the thin metal bars.

The others paced below him anxiously, still searching the glass for cracks, crevices, any other way out in case this Hail Mary failed. All the time, Jack chiseled away at the bars, millimeter by millimeter. The sand rose higher, to the Horsemen’s knees, then their waists.

“Try to get on top of it,” Daniel commanded. “Climb it.”

Still Jack worked away feverishly, sweat dripping from his brow, his arms aching, his legs on fire as he hung from the ceiling. At last he felt a bit of give. With a triumphant crow he wrapped his hand around the bar and tugged. If he could just snap this one off, it would create a space big enough for them to squeeze through and escape. He pulled and pulled, hanging his whole weight off the bar. He heard it creak but it still wouldn’t come loose.

“Guys, help me, grab onto me!”

Daniel and Merritt wrapped their arms around Jack’s waist and pulled on him, adding to the weight. After a few tense moments the bar snapped and Jack tumbled down onto the other two men. With the sand as high as it was now, it wasn’t a very long fall. Jack was the first to scramble back to his feet and he quickly hooked his hands into stirrups.

“Alright, Henley, Lula, you two first, hurry, go.”

The girls wasted no time. The sand was now past their chests and everyone was struggling to keep from sinking.

“Danny, you next.”

Daniel frowned at him but put his foot into Jack’s cupped hands and allowed himself to be lifted through the hole. Merritt reached up and pulled himself up next. The girls were already carefully lowering themselves down to the floor below and he hopped down to help them.

“Alright Jack, you’re up,” Daniel said, reaching back down through the gap. Jack grinned in relief and reached his hand up. Then his smile faltered as the sand shifted beneath him. His eyes widened.

“Oh shi—”

He didn’t even have time to get the word out. Daniel reached down with a cry, watching helplessly as Jack floundered for a moment then slipped beneath the sand. He froze in shock, staring at the space Jack had been just a moment before.

“What’s going on up there you two?” Merritt hollered up. “Let’s get a move on!”

“He’s gone!” Daniel cried out.

“What?!” Henley and Lula shouted in unison.

“What does that mean Danny?” Merritt demanded.

Daniel ignored them. He laid down flat on his stomach and plunged his hand into the sand, which was nearly to the top of the cage now.

“Jack?” Daniel shouted. “Jack!”

He dug around helplessly, feeling for his friend in the course sand. This wasn’t going to work. He had to go back in.

“I have to go back in,” he called down to the others.

“What? No! Danny!” Henley cried out, panicked. “Merritt help him!”

“I’m…trying,” Merritt growled. He was trying to climb back up the side of the cage, but his feet kept slipping on the smooth glass.

“Break it, we need to break it!” Lula cried out. “Help me find something!” She raced around the room, searching for something to use to smash the glass.

Merritt grabbed a desk chair and threw it against the cage but it bounced off without leaving so much as a crack.

“You guys!” Daniel yelled from the top of the cage. “Hurry!”

Henley spotted a metal lamp, pointing with a shout, and Lula ran and grabbed it. She handed it to Merritt who gripped it like a baseball bat and swung it at the glass with all his might. It made a loud thunk, the noise reverberating around the room. And a hairline crack appeared in the glass.

“It’s working!” Lula shouted, jumping up and down. “Hurry, do it again!”

“Merritt!” Daniel called from above them. “Whatever you’re doing, you need to do it. Right! Now!”

Merritt swung again with all his might, hitting the same spot, and the glass fractured like a spiderweb. He smashed it again, and again. Until suddenly the glass exploded outwards, the sand pouring out in a deluge, knocking him off his feet. Danny leapt down from top of the cage, raced around the side and began digging frantically through the sand until he exposed Jack’s body at the bottom of the tank. He grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged his limp body out onto the floor, turning him over with a grunt. The others crowded around him, kneeling in the sand. Danny pressed his ear to Jack’s still chest.

“Is he—?” Lula was afraid to finish the question, tears spilling down her cheeks against her will.

Daniel listened for a moment then leaned back on his heels. “He’s not breathing,” he said desperately, voice catching. “We took too long.” He wasn’t blaming anyone. Just stating a fact.

Henley gasped out a sob. “No, no, we can’t lose anyone else, please.”

Everyone was quiet for a moment. Then.

“Agreed,” Daniel said firmly.

He leaned over Jack, hooking a finger into his mouth and digging sand out to try to clear his airway. Then he hurriedly brushed sand away from Jack’s nostrils and started chest compressions. He tried to push away memories of the last time he’d done this, when they’d almost lost Dylan. Jack wasn’t Dylan and they wouldn’t let him down. Jack wasn’t Thaddeus and they wouldn’t lose him.

Daniel vigorously pressed up and down on Jack's sternum, watching his face desperately for any signs of life. But Jack lay still and pale on the floor, head lolling gently in reaction to Daniel's ministrations, but otherwise motionless.

"Come on Jack, come on," Daniel muttered irritably. He leaned over and pinched Jack's nose, breathing into his mouth, two short puffs. "Come on Jack," he said louder.

"Come on Jack," Merritt echoed from behind him. "Wake up Jackie."

"Wake up Jack," Lula whimpered, grabbing his limp hand off the floor and lacing her fingers through it. Henley put a comforting hand on her shoulder as they all watched Daniel's desperate attempts continue to fail.

Suddenly the sound of a door behind them, heels clicking on concrete. Veronika. Merritt, Henley and Lula stood and hurriedly crowded in front of their friends, blocking Veronika's view as best they could. She didn't get to see this. She didn't get to gloat.

"Well, I must say," Veronika began. "It is quite disappointing to see you've escaped my little trap." She craned her neck, trying to peer around Lula and Henley, who sidestepped and closed ranks even more. "Well, most of you." She raised her gun and aimed it at them. “No matter. One pesky rabbit down. Who’s next?"

Daniel stood and pushed past his friends, trying to hide the emotion playing on his face. "You're not going to win Veronika. You're a murderer and you'll face justice."

Veronika laughed mockingly. "Don't be ridiculous, little magician. I've already won. I got my diamond back. I killed your friend. And now I'm about to kill all of you. This all goes away and I continue to get everything I want. Let me say this in a way perhaps you'll understand. Ta-daaa!" She smirked, cocking the gun and leveling it at Daniel's face.

Suddenly someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around and was shocked to see Jack standing right behind her, a grim yet smug expression on his face.

"Abracadabra, bitch."

Jack punched her in the face and she dropped like a box of rocks, her gun flying from her hand.

Everyone froze for a split second then rushed to him, Merritt pausing to nudge Veronika's unconscious body none too gently with his foot. Daniel got to Jack first.

"Truly masterful," he said, impressed.

"You distracted her," Jack said with a shrug.

"That's true," Daniel agreed, never one to turn down a shot at the credit, then he grabbed Jack by the shoulders and pulled him into a tight hug. After releasing him, he ran his hands up and down Jack's arms, as if to convince himself the young man was safe and breathing. "Are you okay, you good?"

Jack grinned his signature shit-eating grin then sagged against Danny, his legs giving out beneath him.

"Mostly?" Jack said, huffing out a weak laugh.

Daniel wrapped a protective arm around him, holding him up. Merritt elbowed in beside Daniel and grabbed Jack's face with both hands. "Don't scare us like that man!"

Lula was next, wrapping her arms around him tightly while wiping away her tears. She stepped back and punched him on the shoulder, then pulled him in and kissed him, then ducked away to collect herself. Henley was last, giving him a quick squeeze before going to grab the gun off the floor.

"Let's get out of here," Lula demanded.

"Please," Jack said with a groan.

Daniel slung one of Jack's arms around his shoulder and Merritt grabbed the other and they all turned to head slowly out of the room that had almost been their end. Jack paused, allowing one glance back to the shattered glass box and the sand spilled out across the floor. That had been too close. If Danny hadn't brought him back seconds before Veronika had shown up... if she had noticed he was alive...if she'd been able to read Danny's face...if she hadn't been distracted by their ploy...

But none of that mattered because they were the Horsemen and they were the best. Of course their trick worked. Their tricks always worked.

Jack turned away from the death trap with a shudder and let his friends help him out of the room. It was nice to have that support again--figuratively and literally. He was so glad they were all back together--he'd missed them more than he'd ever say. And he didn't intend to let them go again.