The Super NKOTB
by Kittie

Episode Five - Kung Pao

Unnerved by his encounter with "Spooky-Guy," Joe burst into the house and slammed the door behind him, only to run smack into Jordan in the entryway. He let out a startled "Oh!" and dropped his box of crackers on Jordan's foot.

Joe stepped back slightly and glared at Jordan, opening his mouth to tell him off, but was stopped when Jordan softly uttered two words—"I'm sorry."

Joe froze. "What?"

Jordan sighed as he bent to pick up the crackers and handed them back to Joe. "I said I was sorry. For what I said."

The glare slowly returned to Joe's face. "Oh, and what would that be?"

Jordan rolled his eyes. "Please don't make this difficult, Joe, I'm trying to—"

"Apologize, yeah, but for what? For talking trash about me behind my back, for acting like an ass, for saying you don't need me in your little 'group reunion', or all of the above?"

In the living room, Donnie and Danny glanced at one another with mutual concern. "Maybe we should go check on Jon, huh?" Danny suggested, nodding pointedly toward the back of the house.

"Yeah, uh... good idea." The two men quickly left Joe and Jordan alone.

Jordan felt another wave of anger rising up inside, but squelched it down. "Okay... when did I talk trash about you behind your back?"

"You said I always end up unconscious in your dreams," Joe snapped at him.

"That was just a joke!"

"Yeah well I didn't find it funny!"

"Well I didn't find your little stunt earlier very funny—"

"What stunt?"

"Walking through me and shit."

"I was just fooling around!"

"Well, don't!"

The two men glared at one another for a moment, then Jordan gave an angry sigh and turned away. "Alright.... Look, I'm sorry I hurt your feelings with that crack, it was just a joke, it didn't mean anything. And I'm sorry for acting the way I did a few minutes ago. You really freaked me out and I was in a bad mood."

Despite his lingering anger, Joe was curious. "Why were you freaked out?"

"I don't know, I just was. I don't like the idea of you being... there... and not there." He shrugged. "Jon freaked me out too when he disappeared."

"That's true," Joe muttered, "You did kinda go to pieces when he did that. D'you think it's a phobia?"

"I dunno. Just don't mess with me like that anymore, okay?"

Joe nodded, the anger dissipating into nothing. "Okay. Are we cool?"

Jordan smiled and held out a hand. "We're cool."

They shook on it.

~*~

Donnie turned back toward Danny and Jonathan. "They made up. I don't believe it."

"I believe it," Danny smiled. "No way those two could stay mad for long."

"What I can't believe is that you can hear them from here," Jonathan said.

Donnie shrugged. "Another power, I guess. I had to listen for them, though.... It wasn't completely natural."

"If it was," Danny pointed out, "You wouldn't be able to stand loud noises."

"That's true." Donnie shrugged. "So let's go out there and pretend we don't know!"

"You feel well enough to get up, Jon?" Danny asked, feeling slightly guilty. He and Donnie had tiptoed into the room very carefully but still managed to wake Jonathan up.

Jon smiled. "I feel fine. Great, actually. Let's go!"

The next day....
"Kung Pao."

Jonathan nodded to show he'd heard, and finished giving the phone order. The five had decided to relax a bit before heading to the studio to finish the recording. They'd chosen a movie and were ordering food, and planned to just hang out until time to leave.

"$46.98 is our total," Jonathan told them as he re-entered the living room. "Add in tip, and what do we each owe?"

"$10.80," Danny told him without hesitation. Everyone turned to look at him, amazed. "What?" he asked, with a shrug.

"How did you... I mean-" Jordan stuttered.

"Fifteen percent of $46.98 for the tip is $7.04," Danny said calmly, "Which makes a new total of about $56.00. Divide that by five and get $10.80."

"But— but you just—"

"In your head?!" Donnie finished.

Danny blinked, then his eyes opened wide. "Oh! I guess.... Well, that was odd."

"Man, Danny's Mr. Math now!" Joe marvelled.

"You're like crazy intelligent, man," Donnie said with admiration. "I wondered why you were making so much sense lately."

"Lately?"

Jonathan let out one of his famous horse-laughs. "Guess you were just a babbling idiot before, Danny!"

"That's not what I meant," Donnie protested as Danny gave him a dirty look. "Honest!"

Danny pretended to be hurt, and he gave an exaggerated pout. "If that's how you feel about me...." he sniffled pitifully.

"Aww Danny, don't cry," Joe said, getting into the act by putting an arm around Danny's broad shoulders, "We all love you, man!"

Danny pretended to wipe tears from his eyes. "Really?"

"Yes, really," Jonathan joined in. "Donnie's the babbling idiot."

"Hey!" Donnie protested, but his yelp was lost in an outburst of laughter from the others. Their mirth was catching and soon they were all in a hysterical heap on the floor.

When they finally calmed down, Jordan had tears running down his cheeks. "Oh man," he chuckled, wiping at his cheeks, "This is too much. The pressure's gotten to us."

"Guys," Joe said, suddenly serious, "Speaking of pressure... I think someone knows about us!"

"What?" Danny's voice was sharp. "What do you mean?"

"When I went outside earlier," Joe told them, his voice hushed, "I ran into this guy... He was really tall... really spooky. He said he'd been watching us!"

"What do you mean, he was spooky?"

"There was something weird about him." Joe shuddered, remembering the black emptiness of the man's eyes. "It was like... like he didn't have a soul."

Donnie laughed nervously. "No soul? Get real, Joe. You're wiggin' out!"

Joe shook his head. "No way. This guy is seriously whacked, Donnie! He was standing right outside, it was like he was waiting for me!"

"He didn't try to hurt you, did he?" Jonathan asked, always the concerned big brother.

"No, not exactly...." Joe answered reluctantly. "He just gave me the creeps, is all. If he knows about what happened to us...."

"What's he gonna do, tell the press?" Jordan hypothesized. "And who'd believe him? Super-speed? Yeah, right."

"Well, if he made Joe that nervous, I'd say we'd better watch out for him," Danny put in solemnly. "I'm inclined to trust Joe's judgement on this one."

As four pairs of eyes lit on him in nervous silence, Danny started to wonder exactly how much trouble their newfound powers would get them into.

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6
Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12