The Cheshire Cat- A Daniel Atlas Fanfic

Chapter 3

                        After meeting Dylan and him basically shutting her down like a sexist ass, she wondered if that was just part of the act he was playing or if he was actually that mean. She doubted it. Of course, she also knew that Dylan was Dylan Shrike and that he was part of The Eye, she was practically bursting with excitement at getting to go undercover multiple times- let alone go undercover with someone who's also undercover and he doesn't know she's undercover!! They walked past all the interrogation rooms and she saw all the horsemen. Henley seemed nice, not much she could tell from just looking but she knew she was probably sarcastic, witty, funny. 

Jack was sleeping, she rolled her eyes, He was the youngest of the group and she felt bad for him, the others probably thought he wasn't very experienced but she had discreetly watched him pickpocket a few people and he was pretty sly. 

McKinney seemed fun, he seemed like the fun uncle of the group- the kind that would try to ease tension with a joke. 

And last but not least- Daniel. Daniel was a control freak- he fiddled with cards that he had snuck into to room and twisted them around in his hands, occasionally shuffling. Alice wondered what he was thinking about. As if reading her mind he looked over at the glass, even though it was one way she still felt herself blushing at the way he somehow held eye contact with her. 

Finally, Dylan decided on McKinney first and they were off to the mentalist. She had prepared herself for this- learned how to build up a mask so that they couldn't see through it and yet she was still nervous. McKinney was one of the best mentalists she'd ever seen.

After a few minutes of useless interrogation McKinney finally looked over to her " Does he know this is your first time off the desk?" he asked. She flushed pretending to be slightly nervous and turned to Dylan who gave her a pointed stare. "Wow, there is some palpable tension in this room right now" McKinney chimed in and she felt her stomach drop

"Oh no definitely not I'm not- I'm just his partner for the case and he doesn't seem to like to work in pairs. I don't know maybe he had a partner and she left him for someone less judgmental" she half-joked and Merrit actually laughed at that

"I like you, you know that? You're funny"

" Thank you" Dylan's chair screeched

"now really isn't the time to make friendly banter we're trying to solve this case and he is one of the main suspects" obviously annoyed Dylan walked out of the room and she threw Meritt a quick 'Goodbye' before following after him.

"What was that in there"

"What do you mean"

"I mean joking around with the guy. Are you kidding!?"

"I was just trying to see if maybe I could get him to trust me and then get some information out of him" she lied, she really just wanted to make a good first impression for her possible future teammate.

Dylan sighed "whatever let's just go"

Next up was Daniel and that made her nervous. Daniel was attractive and when he got too cocky he wore a cute little smirk on his face. She wasn't afraid to outright admit her attraction to him and there was nothing wrong with it. She knew plenty of people in The Eye who were in relationships- she even went to a wedding. Still- when he smiled at her when she walked into the room the way her heart fluttered was not good because she had a persona to maintain.

" How did the playing card get into the vault," she asked feigning curiosity.

" I believe it's- oh what's the word kids use these days? Oh right. Magic." Dylan grabbed him by the back of the neck

"Just answer the question ok smartass?"

"ah ok alright- sorry, sorry" Alice just sighed and looked at Dylan with a glare

" Dylan he's not a dog don't grab him like that" Daniel just smirked at her defending him

"Oh so you're defending him now" Dylan argued. Daniel Handed Alice his pack of cards bumping the soda can whilst handing it to her.

"You can keep that. Don't share it with him" She smiled at the soda trick playing it off as a smile at his words which- in truth were funny and She could tell he was flirting.

"What do you know about the fifth horsemen," she asked, and that seemed to have gained his attention. His eyes now trained on her

"Well for starters they aren't a horsemen. They're not with us at least. I think everybody thinks the stunt they pulled at our show was part of the act but it wasn't. We don't know anything about them so I'm no help here, sorry" He gave her a half-smile.

Crossing her arms and tuning out what Dylan was saying she stared down at the table already bored of having to interrogate people. She tried not to smirk too much when Daniel would cut off Dylan but couldn't help it when he said "Like white on rice? Sorry that's not fair". His mini-speech made a blush rise to her cheeks especially when he said the FBI would look like idiots and then turned to her and said "Not you, but him right?".

She stood up in alarm ready to hold Dylan back when he jumped at Atlas only- she found herself not having to. Daniel had moved the handcuffs from his own wrists to Dylan's and Alice had to admit she was impressed. " Something wrong with that soda miss?" Daniel nodded in the direction of the can and Alice had to do everything in her power not to smirk right then and there. Picking it up and rattling it she heard the key inside.

 Opening it and pouring it out the key dropped onto the table, and as the soda neared Dylan's phone she saw Atlas grab it and switch it with a fake one of the corner of her eye. " Always be the smartest person in the room," Daniel told Dylan and Alice smiled at the irony, especially considering she was probably the smartest one in the room- or at least the sneakiest.