Before we go into the story, just to say I'm sorry about the long waiting time for the final chapter, life got frantic, but it's all sorted. I hope this chapter meets your expectations.

Until they weren't.

"How could this happen, how the hell has this happened!" Walter had been frantically yelling for five or so minutes, glaring into his tablet while pacing up and down the room.

Chase who had just come out from the bathroom wore a look of confusion, approaching the seething Walter just meters away from him.

Before he could even open his mouth to ask what was going on, the scraggly bearded British man hastily showed Chase a youtube video of the four Horsemen standing together, titled The Horsemen return.

Picking up on Walters obvious distress, Chase put his arm around him. "Look, Walter," he began, "I bet you anything that-"

"We don't have time for discussion Chase, we need to find my father, now!" Walter shouted, harshly shoving his hand away that sent instant twinges of regret down the curly haired man's spine.

To say he hadn't understood the cause of this sudden level of aggression would have been an understatement. I mean they had successfully tricked the Horsemen into thinking they were going to steal the stick and hand it over to the 'eye', shortly after following that success they had then personally handed over their arses to them, with the added bonus of capturing Dylan to relive certain childhood memories.

Which may he add was mostly down to his substantial skills in mentalism.

Then to top it all off, they had all the resources, technology on hand, including the stick itself needed for their long-standing mission to bring the Horsemen down, once and for all.

Now as far as Chase was concerned he, Walter and Arthur had the upper hand of the situation, so what danger could the Horsemen possibly convey in the form of a video towards them?

Seeing is believing, but is it the truth?

"You know they are just playing you right?" Chase asked, diverting his eye contact between Walter and Arthur Tressler once they had gotten on the plane and having seen the video for himself.

"Leading you into the trap?" He continued in an attempt to drop the positive vibe bumming topic.

"Yeah, but the threat is real," Walter interjected. "This card can hack into any system on the planet, including ours. They have it, why wouldn't they use it to expose us? Me, everything we've done?"

Chase did a double take.

Had he heard that right?

Surely not.

So, all this time he'd been confident in thinking that they were five steps ahead of the situation, when in fact they had allowed themselves to fall victim into one of the most crucial mistakes of all time. Letting their guard down.

Suddenly this threat became a whole lot more real. Maybe he had underestimated his brother's group of misfit magicians.

Nevertheless, this didn't mean they were going to come out as winners, not if he had anything to do with it! Besides, they had way more backup and reinforcements than the Horsemen could 'magic up' in a fortnight, all they had to do was play their cards right.

"Is it real, Mr. McKinney?" Came a canvassedly spoken inquiry from Arthur Tressler that shook him from his train of thought, his questioning tone along with his eyes piercing into Chases creating bubbly sensations within the latter.

Then it hit him.

He couldn't quite believe it. They were waiting on him, for his all-important answer that would conclude what their next step would be, and how they would go about it.

Both Arthur and Walter were now putting all their faith in him to lead them to glory, relying on the very words that were to come out from his mouth.

A huge responsibility that he was more than happy to take on.

Motioning for Walter to bring the laptop still displaying the Horsemen's latest video over to him, Chase then placed the laptop on his lap, pressing the enter button that zoomed in on Merritts' face. The way his carefree smirk proudly presented itself across the screen tweaked at every nerve in his system.

"Threat is real," Chase announced, looking up at Walter whose eyes were doing the talking for him, radiating the very question that was screaming to be released into the out and open.

"So, how do we stay ahead of them?"

Chase took a moment to think. This was the very moment he'd spent years rigorously fantasizing over, often spending every second of each daydreaming, planning, hoping that one day his long-desired wish would present itself before him. Now it was staring at him right in the face, so enough with the planning and dreaming, it was time for action.

"We need to get to London by midnight."

Depends on your point of view.

"Trust me, gentlemen, I know how these guys work now," Chase had declared as part of his newly devoted responsibility, out of reassurance more than anything else, though it was pretty obvious when putting the need to rush aside.

"They're gonna start with a tease," he began, looking at himself in the mirror as if that was whom he was addressing.

"A few little pop-ups, something to lure you in, like.. Well you know, like three card Monte where the guys goes looky here, no no looky here. Except when all these little tricks are done, the only thing your gonna be looking at is the inside of your own colon, with the words Horsemen written all over it, in blood."

"We get the picture, Mr. McKinney," Arthur Tressler bluntly stated, his response pinching underneath the core of his chest. The way he quickly dismissed his opinion of the matter sent that twinging feeling that was becoming a little too familiar for his liking down his spine.

"And get out of my chair."

Without hesitation, Chase did so.

Despite Arthur's rather offhand attitude towards Chase's theories, whatever pathetically thought out plan the Horsemen had devised Chase was confident that he'd got them all figured out.

Now all that was left to do was ensure they caught on to them first.

The eye, it may not lie. But don't think for a moment that it can't be lied to.

After checking up on the viewpoints and uh, surprises presented by their secret cameras, Chase found himself wondering the streets in search of his troublesome twat of a twin brother.

It was funny how this particular evening that happened to be providing one of the worst bouts of torrential rain on record, was to be the happiest day of his life. The rain that currently poured down over the city with a ferocious roar couldn't have been any more different to what was happening within his mind, filled with unstoppable rays of sunshine beaming down on the certain triumph of defeating the Horsemen, bringing true warmth to his very soul. And he owed it all to one little slip-up.

Dylan had survived.

Now if he was totally and utterly honest, the whole safe thing was shabby in itself, though he hadn't dared question it in front of Walter or Tressler. But really, give him long enough and he would have drawn up a long list of many ways Dylan could have escaped that safe.

On the other hand, because of all this, Chase now had the chance to catch Merritt unprotected, throw him off guard with his profound ability to pick at his mind like one pulls a rabbit out of a hat, and completely jeopardize the perfectly thought up plan he and his horsemen chums had come up with.

Chase chuckled at the very thought of it.

After scouting around the street for a minute or so, Chase spotted a Merritt like figure wearing a worn out raincoat and a tattered hat to match, his twinly instincts being all he needed as confirmation to make his move.

"Hey broski, what do ya knowski!" Chase said in a sing-song like voice, instantly capturing his brother's attention.

"Please bro, don't do this," was Merritts sorrowful attempt of a response, his quiet plea for Chase to stop went ignored.

"Where are you headed? North, south, east? East!" Chase exclaimed, already having figured out half of the whereabouts the Horsemen were going to have their big finale.

"Tower of London? Tower Bridge? Near Tower Bridge? The Thames! You're going to the Thamesy - Whemsey! You're so easy!"

Like taking candy from a baby.

But then something unforeseen happened.

"Bro, if there's any chance of us ever having a relationship."

He had to stop him there.

Was he kidding right now? Of course, there wasn't a chance of having a relationship, that's if you call it a relationship. Talk about lame, and just when he thought Merritt couldn't be any more pathetic.

If even the faintest hint of moisture built up within his eyes at how sad his brother truly was, he would have cried tears of pure pity.

"There's not," Chase bluntly told him, placing both hands on Merritts' shoulders, then grinning widely when they were shoved off as soon as he laid his hands on him.

"Where's your entry? South bank? Greenwich? Greenwich!" One blink and that was all it took to confirm everything he'd managed to pull out from beneath Merritts hat.

"I know where you're going!" Chase taunted, his adrenaline levels rising when seeing Merritts facial features grow increasingly intense in a mixture of irritation, and self-shame of having let his precious team down yet again.

Chase continued to provoke Merritt's anger button until he finally cracked and was pushed into some hobo, his devilish grin still intact as he watched his brother storm off into the distance.

He was going to enjoy this...

Come in closer, because the more you think you see...

Despite feeling a little drowsy, it hadn't taken long for Chase to dash back to Walter and Tressler with the required information on hand.

"Hey I know where they're going, they're gonna be at Greenwich near the Thames!" Chase yelled as he ran over to Walter and Tressler, who only stared blankly at him before ordering everyone to get going.

During their journey to locate the Horsemen for important business, Chase couldn't help but ponder on the fact that since they learned of the Horsemen's comeback, he hadn't been receiving quite as much appreciation for his work.

Perhaps they were just saving all the thank you's and good jobs for the celebration ceremony that was to commence once the Horsemen were defeated. Though it didn't entirely dispose of those nitpicking notions.

However, he was soon snapped out of his thoughts when the van screeched to a halt, seconds afterward poking his head round to get a glimpse of the action. His eyes trailing the scene as he watched several of the henchmen shooting at the Horsemen who were riding motorcycles in an attempt to escape the fight.

Chase had to stifle a large guffaw from in front of Tressler when seeing his brother practically wobbling on the motorcycle he was on, swerving in and out to avoid hitting anything until he idiotically flipped over a broken car door and landed near one of the henchmen's feet with a painful thud.

It was at that moment where the henchmen were successfully able to grab them one by one and drag them into the van, Merritt in particular riddled with chagrin.

Then within a matter of minutes, the van started up again, leaving Chase with five gloom filled faces to analyze.

"Okay, feeling fear," pointing a finger at Merritt who shot him a glare in response, "fear, anger, anger, oh full house-"

"That's enough!" Arthur interjected sharply, his abrupt interruption causing him to flinch at his scolding tone directed towards him.

"I was done."

"So nice to see you all again. But since we're such old friends, let's skip the formalities," Arthur began in a serious, don't you try to pull anything over on me tone.

"Now, one of you has something we require. So give it over."

A gleeful grin then crossed its way onto the younger McKinney brothers lips, in a mixture of how impressively threatening yet subtly spoken Arthurs request was, and how the quintet of misfit magicians had the guts to answer Tressler's demand with total silence.

"Nothing at all, really?" Walter intervened soon afterward, taking the time to look at each and every member of the Horsemen, fear radiating from their very bodies as they shook with sheer terror.

"Let's go, let's go!" Walter ordered once the van reached their destination, Chase being the first one to leave the van with a giant leap of rejoicing triumphantly at having been successful enough to get to this long-awaited, thrilling moment.

"Hurry up and move them, quickly, before they can do anything!" Walter commanded as Chase stood watching the Horsemen getting helplessly dragged towards the plane, their protests along the way triggering his warped sense of joy proudly gleaming through his facial features.

"Get on the plane!" Was then yelled out a couple of times before Chase could physically join in on the action, taking upon himself to shoving each member of the Horsemen inside, making sure to save the hardest hit for Merritt who was last to aboard the plane.

"Yeah uh, take off immediately," announced Walter once their prisoners were seated, the urge to inflict more pain onto his brother proving irresistible as his hand forcefully came into contact with Merritt's chest, making him go oomph in pain.

Giggling to himself like a little girl, Chase skipped past Walter knowing more fun-filled times was to come.

"You know, you make it too easy," Walter began after Chase had sat himself down on the seats just centimeters away, glancing through a magazine with Arthur Tressler being the main feature.

I mean, even your hilarious attempts to make yourselves unpredictable, just follow the same pattern each time. Set up, set up, set up. Oh, big reveal!" The British accented man continued, the way his words seemed to flow flawlessly from his mouth and into the out and open undeniably being one of the reasons he'd signed up for this.

"Which tonight was going to be at the stroke of midnight, middle of the Thames? Tell me if I'm warm?" His question was met with total silence of having been found out and outsmarted yet again.

"The stick dear boy," Arthur stated, his order not spoken in the form of a question. Chase watched in silence as his eyes trailed Arthur's whose were boring into Dylan's, the one he was demanding the stick from.

"No." The curly haired McKinney twins eyes widened at Dylan's ruthless refusal.

"Fine," Walter said, "start with her," pointing a finger towards Lula whose eyes widened in shock.

Then it all descended into chaos amongst the bewildered bunch, and he loved it! Just a simple wrong move and everyone would suffer the consequences, he hoped for the sake of the plane that not too much blood was to be shed.

As if things couldn't get more exciting, Chase was proved wrong when the control freak Atlas pulled out the stick from his pocket and reluctantly handed it over.

"We'll have a closer look," Walter stated as he took the stick from Atlas, only for this to cause further arguments between the hindered Horsemen.

Amongst the squabbling, Chase focused on Merritt who was attempting to be the voice of reason although, he soon became involved in the heated argument when Lula decided to question him.

He really hadn't changed.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Walter said, instantly breaking up the argument. "But I just have to say congratulations and thank you. It's real."

After a few astonished remarks from the stick retrievers, Walter motioned for the henchmen to bring them through, Chase clapping with enthusiasm to add a passionate jist to the heat of the moment.

"Well done my boy," Arthur praised as he walked over to join Walter who smiled in return, the very gesture sending a warm fuzzy feeling to Chase's heart.

This feeling was soon replaced with intense delight when he caught sight of the Horsemen being gathered around Walter and Tressler.

"Cote Du Marisule champagne, it's the most expensive bottle on earth," Arthur proudly announced while holding the bottle within the palms of his hands, "$1.2 million dollars, and I saved it just for this occasion."

Chase licked his lips, already able to taste its luxurious flavor streaming down his throat.

"Honestly, same bottle, liquor shack, 700K."

He had to ruin the moment.

Ignoring Merritts foolish attempt to jump in on the discussion, the topic of conversation abruptly changed when the question of allowing the Horsemen to escape arose.

"Knowing what you know about us? No." Walter answered for them, seconds later doing the unthinkably unexpected thing yet. The five words that were to be spoken ringing in Chase's ears.

"Chase, what shall we do?"

Then all heads turned to him. This was it, the finishing act and he was the one to decide the fate of it. Turning to address the group awaiting his answer, Chase let out a heart grin as the perfect idea displayed itself right in front of his very nose.

"Toss them out."

"Get your last words in quickly everybody!" Walter chimed, a gloriously fiendish smile entering his lips as the doors slid open to assist with the farewells.

Making his way further towards the open exit that was to see to the Horseman's demise, Chase gleefully rubbed his hands together with major excitement as the five misfit magicians came struggling towards the exit, his eyes beaming with joy when the first to christen the farewell ceremony was to be Merritt.

"Wait! I just wanna say… I came into the world with the wrong family, but I'm leaving with the right one. I love you guys!"

Chase had to lift a hand to his mouth to prevent himself from gagging at how horrendously juvenile Merritts choice of last words were.

"This is how I kicked you out of the womb!" Were his own last words to his brother before remorselessly kicking him out of the plane, adrenaline levels at their very maximum as he blissfully listened to Merritts screams of terror fading, until they could no longer be heard.

The rest of the Horsemen soon followed suit, kicking and screaming their final minutes on earth away before coming face to face with their well-deserved demise.

"That was fun!" Chase exclaimed while playfully rubbing his hands, mentally congratulating himself on a job well done.

"Cheers," Arthur congratulated, pouring Walter a glass of the champagne. "Well done my boy."

However, the beverage clearly was anything but luxurious when both Walter and Arthur spat what they had sipped back into the glass in utter disgust, bad vibes suddenly formulating within the back of Chase's mind.

"Is it supposed to taste like that?" Walter questioned which Arthur replied to with a simple, "no it is not."

Picking up the bottle to examine it, Arthur Tressler began to peel away the front label to find a card with the words fool written on the top. Before Chase could process what was happening, all of a sudden the Champagnes color quickly transformed into a dark moldy shade of green just as the lights went out, leaving the plane pitch black.

"What the hell is going on?" Walter asked. But before anyone could make up a rational explanation behind it all, the engines of the plane ceased along with the rain previously covering the widows dribbling downwards, revealing a platform full of people erupting in applauding cheers.

A knocking sound pulled their attention away from the crowd roaring outside when the very people they believed to have successfully gotten rid of were looking right back at them.

For Chase, in particular, it was the fact that not only had Merritt survived, but the dreadful suspicion that he was never to be rid of him in the first place sent nauseating chills down his spine.

"Come on out, come on," all five of the Horsemen offered, motioning for Walter, Tressler, and Chase to abide by their request. Chase had been about to prevent that from happening when Walter had already made his way right into what was to be their very own big reveal.

The easier it will be to fool you.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Horsemen!" A voice announced just as Walter, Tressler, and Chase made their way to see what was going on before them.

"No, you should feel pretty good about yourself, man." Danny continued as the three men absorbed the sights of thousands of people watching their every move. " You predicted it correctly, the Thames, stroke of midnight. New year's eve, happy new year!

Walter gingerly nodded, still stunned as to what was happening.

"Thank you very much, London!" Dylan shouted in appreciation. " We would like to acknowledge not just our old friend, Arthur Tressler, but his young and very brilliant son, Walter Mabry. Who has performed one of the greatest feats of illusion even we have ever seen. He has, amazingly, brought himself back from the dead!"

The crowd erupted with a series of boos.

"But before he did that, he revealed someone. And we think it only right to give him a proper introduction, he is our friend and he is our leader. Dylan Shrike!"

In the middle of all this Chase kept himself focused on what was happening rather than the impact it would have later on, his bewildered gaze fixed on Merritt the entire time whose triumphant grin grated at every nerve in his body.

So, normally only the magician, his assistant, and a few trusted stagehands know the secret of a trick. But tonight, however, in this effect, all of you people around the Thames here. And since we're streaming live, everyone around the world already knows everything."

"And it's these fellows here who are left in the dark," Dylan said, pointing towards the trio. Although, Chase could sense an explanation was to follow.

"Remember when we were playing 'Find the lady,' and I said that we used a Barry trap, some classic switches, and a few duplicates?" Jack asked, taking over where Dylan had left off.

"Well that's how we switched the driver of the truck, that took us to a duplicate hanger where we used your need to rush and fear of being seen to do the work for us."

Now it was beginning to make sense.

"So, the airplane, how did we get it to fly?" Lula perked up, making air quotation marks at the word fly.

"Well we used fans, lights and rain machines," Daniel added, directing a smirk towards Jack who happily stepped up to play his next part.

"Obviously, all of this was reliant on us getting caught. But we needed to make sure that you would do exactly what we needed you to do once you did catch us."

An abrupt twisting sensation invaded the curly haired McKinney brothers stomach

"My brother Chase, who was technical advisor to the losing team taught us that it's all about blind spots."

Chase cocked his head to one side in desperation to figure out what was meant by his statement.

"And uh surprises."

Then it hit him.

"Watch it hobo."

"Why don't you watch the watch I'm wearing, the where of where you are watching and sleep!"

"It's going to be your idea to throw the Horsemen out of the plane."

That little toerag Jack had hypnotized him, with the aid of Merritt! His own unique gift of magic used against him to their advantage, and so shamefully at that.

"If all of this is kind of confusing to you, I could maybe catch you up on it later. Probably see you, what three to five?" Merritt smugly suggested, making Chase jump at his sudden confrontation.

"Come on, put it there," Merritt added, the carefree laugh accompanying his comment causing Chase to hesitate before carefully putting his hand up to high five Merritts.

"Hey, tit for tat bro!" Merritt exclaimed just before punching Chase in the gut.

But as he was recovering from the unexpected blow, both Walter and Arthur Tressler looked up at him. Anger boiling within their narrowed rigid eyes, their cold hard glares contemplating the most brutally agonizing punishment they could afflict on him. His entire face the most likely preferable target.

It was at that moment when it all came pouring down on him.

He'd been used for their own benefit, just as Merritt had done all those years ago.

They were never his friends. Real friends don't point fingers at each other.

The rest of the Horsemen's speech of how they had tricked and exposed the trio went in a blur, soon ending in the heroically thought of magicians making their escape, whereas he, Walter and Tressler weren't to be granted the same privilege.

For a split, second Chase couldn't comprehend what was happening as the world began to spin around him, his mind a mess of tangled thoughts, with only one marking its presence by repeating itself over and over like a broken record.

Revenge is a dish best served cold...

Unless you're the one being served.

It had only been a few days since the arrest, but he could still feel that firm grip on his arm as a police officer and an FBI agent dragged him from where he stood, shoved him into a police van and tossed him into a prison cell as if he was the enemy in all this.

When in reality, he was nothing but a Patsy.

All his life he'd been taken advantage of in one agonizing way or another. Yet he was the one portrayed to be the bad guy.

His father, the official inauguration of what lead him to where he is now, used him and Merritt as doormats to cover up his deceitful behavior behind their mom's back.

Next, their mother took a leaf out of his book, by choosing to frequently vent out her frustration of getting hurt on them for her own personal comfort.

Then there was Merritt who was a different story altogether.

"I want to make a pact, that we are to always have each other no matter what happens, and as long as we have one another, whatever life hurls at us good or bad, we can guarantee we will get through it just the two of us."

That single memory from their youth which to this day continued to haunt him, the spirit where those words lay attacked him like in a horror movie, except they had left scars that no one but him could see.

Now last but not least, Walter, Arthur Tressler, and Merritt rolled together all in one.

All that time he'd spend by Walters side, convinced he was a wanted valuable member of Tressler's team, doing everything he could to please them, to avoid being thrown out for not being good enough, yet now he realized nothing he'd said or done would have prevented history repeating itself.

He was as Walter had said a couple of times, a button that when pushed makes a person go blind, Chase's being acceptance.

What was worse that Merritt could sense this.

The moment where the words, 'bro, if there's any chance of ever having a relationship' were said dug deeper than he imagined. If he was truly honest with himself a part of him couldn't deny wanting those words to be true, for them to actually mean something.

However, it was just another way for Merritt to stamp on him.

And now he was currently running freely with his chums, laughing and ridiculing his actions and reasons behind them at his expense.

While Chase was left playing the long game.

In fact, his current situation reminded him of his little speech to do with three card Monte. Like the game itself, Chase always ended up being cheated, swindled as no matter where he turned he couldn't win. He was always told to looky here, no looky there, but in the end, it got him nowhere.

Though not anymore.

He would get the last say in the matter, to prove he wasn't the bad guy everyone made him out to be. To show the world that Merritt wasn't the saint the public domain believed him to be, to blast in black and white that he was nothing more than a common thief. A thief that robbed him of his future, his right to justice and to claim back what he'd destroyed.

The day will come where he would drag Merritt into the light, a light where every fault, fuck up, and every bit of pain Merritt had forced Chase to endure would illuminate the entire world of the two-faced twat his brother truly was.

Looking up at the ceiling that seemed to be on the brink of caving in, Chase let out a huge deep breath as he thought to himself,

So Merritt, if you can mind read this, I just want you to know that you will get what's coming to you, in ways you can't imagine, but very much deserve. As I will be waiting to pounce when you least expect it.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS FAVED, FOLLOWED AND REVIEWED THIS STORY, IT HAS MEANT THE WORLD TO ME! I CANT EVEN EXPRESS HOW MUCH I HAVE APPRECIATED ALL YOUR SUPPORT TOWARDS THIS STORY :)

Now it may be the end of THIS story, but I just want to say that I have two other stories planned for this fandom. They shall be called Cut to the Chase which is set straight after this story and The hermits way which both focus on Merritt, as he needs more love on this fandom!

So I'm not exactly sure when, but remember I shall be back in ways you can't expect :D

Farewell, for now!