The Super NKOTB
by Kittie

Episode Six - Ray of Light

"Three point two seconds," Donnie announced with a whistle of admiration, as he clicked off the stopwatch. "Not bad, Jay."

Jordan didn't say anything, he merely grabbed for his bottle of ice water and downed over half of it in one gulp. Donnie watched him, growing a bit concerned. "You okay?"

Jordan sank down to the sidewalk and hung his face between his legs, waving a hand as if to say 'Hang on a second.' Donnie took a seat next to him and was shocked at the intense heat radiating from Jordan's body. He let out a low whistle.

"Damn, Jay, you're like... three hundred degrees!"

"More water," Jordan gasped, not lifting his head.

"Okay." Donnie jumped to his feet and hurried inside, grabbing another 20 oz. bottle of spring water from the refrigerator. He was glad they'd had the foresight to stock up before beginning these "tests" of their new strengths. Jordan had never run any farther than a couple of miles before today, and they hadn't thought to start him off slowly.

As Donnie handed Jordan the second bottle of water, he realized how lucky they were that Jonathan had stayed behind with Joe and Danny. He'd be nagging them like crazy about now.

"Thanks," Jordan finally said, as he downed the last of the water. "I needed that."

"You okay now?"

"Yeah. Man, what a rush."

"A rush? Jay, you looked like you were dying!"

"Stop exaggrating, I was just thirsty, that's all."

"You drank 40 ounces of water in less than two minutes, Jay. Thirsty is an understatement."

"Yeah, well...."

"So if you go too far too fast, you dehydrate. That makes sense. How far didja go?"

Jordan shrugged. "I dunno. The midwest, maybe?"

Donnie could only shake his head. "Wow."

"It's amazing Don," Jordan said, his eyes unfocusing and going off somewhere far away. "It's like everything slows down. The whole world just stops, and I'm the only one moving. It's... orgasmic."

"Orgasmic?" Donnie repeated slowly.

"And I feel/Like I just got home," Jordan sang softly, his eyes still up in the clouds. "And I feel/Quicker than a ray of light...."

"Yo, Jay, you with me man?" Donnie waved a hand in front of Jordan's face. "Hellooooo?"

"What?" Jordan startled, then smiled sheepishly. "Oh, sorry. Mr. Space-Case strikes again."

"Yeah, uh-huh, sure thing Flash."

Jordan grinned. "I like that nickname, D. Now why don't you exercise those eyes and ears of yours while I rest a bit." Jordan reached over and grabbed his backpack, taking out a pair of binoculars. "I'll use these things and we'll try to measure how far you can see."

"Okay." Donnie stood up and squinted into the distance. "What do you see?"

Jordan peered through the binoculars in the same general direction and harumphed a little. "That woman stripping off in front of an open window. Nice choice, D."

Donnie grinned. "Yeah, I know. She needs to pull the—" He stopped and frowned as she was abruptly removed from his view. "Shades," he finished, disappointed.

Jordan laughed. "She needed to, but you didn't want her to."

"Well...." Donnie redirected his gaze. "She was cute!"

~*~

"Okay Jon, try it again," Danny directed.

Jonathan sighed and gazed intently at Joe's coffee table. He felt like he'd been lifting things forever, and the fact that the objects got bigger and bigger didn't make it any less tendious. "Can we please take a break soon? I'm more worried about that invisibility thing."

"We'll work on that next," Danny promised.

"And what about me?" Joe asked as the coffee table wobbled and slowly floated into the air. "I still don't know how to get out of here." He pinched at his arm and looked surprised when it hurt. "I feel heavy."

"We have a while, Joe." Danny said, exasperated. "It's barely eleven o'clock!"

Joe pouted. "Well I'm bored."

"So try it by yourself! I don't know how you did it."

"I didn't do it, I got zapped!"

"Try jumping out," Jonathan contributed, still concentrating on keeping the table in the air.

"Try moving it now," Danny instructed him. "Pass it over to me."

Joe sighed as the table floated across the room. "Jump?"

"Yeah, why not?" Jonathan asked as he set the table down in front of Danny.

"I dunno." Joe jumped. "Oh wait, that was all of me jumping. I don't know how to jump without using my legs."

"Well, when I lift things, it's like lifting them with my head. Try jumping with your head."

Joe just gave him an odd look. "That doesn't help me in the slightest."

"Sorry," Jonathan shrugged. "That's the only way I know how to explain it."

"Maybe it has something to do with the thread," Danny hypothesized. "I mean, you used it to get back in, didn't you? Maybe that's how you get out. You have to release it somehow."

"So, Jon," Joe asked flippantly, "Do you see a 'release' switch?"

Jonathan rolled his eyes. "No."

"You didn't even look!"

"I don't have to look!"

"Try lifting the couch."

"The couch? I can't lift the couch!"

"How do you know?"

"I can't lift the couch normally—"

"That doesn't mean you can't lift it with your head, just try it."

"I'm BORED!"

"Joe, SHUT UP!" Jonathan and Danny snapped the words in unison, and Joe jumped back, startled.

"Well, ex-cuuuuse me!" He didn't hear the thud of his body hitting the floor. All he knew was that Jonathan was staring at him, wide-eyed. "What?"

"You did it, Joe," Danny said, looking nowhere near him.

"I'm over here, Danny."

"He can't see you," Jonathan told him. "Look down, Joe."

Joe did. And saw his body lying limp on the floor. "Oh! How did I do that?!"

"You jumped," Jonathan answered.

Joe yanked on the thread and was catapulted back into his body. He picked himself up off the floor, sneezing carpet particles out of his nose. "I gotta watch where I fall."

"How did you do that?" Danny asked him pointedly. "Think about it."

"I don't know," Joe answered frustratedly. "It was an accident!"

"You and I are gonna cause a lot of scenes in public," Jonathan complained, "If we don't figure out how to control ourselves. You'll be falling unconscious for no reason, and I'll be vanishing—"

"We'll figure this out, Jon, don't worry," Danny assured him.

"We have to figure it out by next week! I go back to work on Monday!"

~*~

"If you understanded that, then you are a good understander."

Donnie quickly dialed the cell phone and waited until Jordan answered. "If you understanded that, then you are a good understander," he repeated at Jordan's prompt. "A Joe classic."

"This is amazing," Jordan told him. "I'm over five blocks away!"

"Five blocks? Really?"

"Yeah!"

"No shit!"

"Yeah! You have got some amazing ears on you. I practically whispered it."

"Wow."

"Okay, I'm heading back," Jordan told him. "I'll be there in no time." Suddenly, Donnie found himself staring into Jordan's grinning face. "Literally."

Donnie made a face and clicked off the cell phone. "Show-off."

Jordan just laughed. "So should we head over to Joe's place? I wanna see how the others are doing."

"Sure," Donnie answered with a shrug. "I think we had a lot less to do than they did."

"Yeah, all we had to do was measure," Jordan mused as they climbed into his car. "D'you think Joe and Jon have figured out how to control their powers yet?"

"With Danny, helping them, sure. They'll be experts by now."

"I hope so," Jordan nodded. "Jon gets embarassed way too easily to vanish every time it happens."

"Totally. How many times during the recording session again?"

"God, it had to be at least 20 times! Every time he opened his mouth, he was gone."

"Yeah," Donnie giggled. "You were flippin' out, man."

"It's not funny," Jordan said with a glare. "It really freaks me out! I don't know why...."

"Fear of what you can't see. I wonder if there's a name for that?"

"Doubt it."

"There's a name for fear of fish, you know."

"Fish? Really? What is it?"

"I dunno, but if they have a name for that, why shouldn't they have a name for yours?"

"'Cause mine is stupid and irrational."

"And being afraid of fish isn't?"

"Well.... Okay, good point."

"Anyway, Danny'll probably know what it's called."

"What what's called?"

"Fear of fish."

"I don't care what it's called."

"Oh. Well I'm curious; I used to know."

"Why?"

"I have no idea."

~*~

"Jay and Donnie are here," Joe announced, seeing Jordan's black Porche pull up in front of the house.

"Great," Jonathan exclaimed, joining him at the window. "I can't wait to show them everything we learned."

"GO!" Danny yelled suddenly.

Joe's body collapsed bonelessly at the same time Jonathan vanished into thin air.

"Good job," Danny grinned. "Okay, at ease."

Jonathan reappeared with a grin. "I love those pop quizzes."

Joe picked himself off the floor and glared daggers at Danny. "I hate them. I keep hitting my funnybone when I fall."

Danny tried to hold back a laugh, but failed.

"Hi guys," Jordan greeted them as he walked in.

"Yo," Donnie added.

"Hi," Danny said. "How did things go?"

"Great," Donnie answered.

"I ran to Atlanta," Jordan announced proudly.

"Oh yeah? I lifted the couch," Jonathan bragged.

"So did I," Danny said, sticking out his tongue.

"Yeah, well I used my head, and you only used your muscles."

"How about you, Joe?" Donnie asked. "Can you control when you leave your body now?"

"Yeah," Joe answered. "Wait a second." He carefully positioned himself over the couch, leaned backward slightly, and then leapt out of his body and into the air. He sighed in relief as his body landed on the couch for the first time that day. "There!" he said in satisfaction as Jonathan burst out laughing.

"What?" Donnie asked, confused.

"He's tired of hitting the carpet face first," Jonathan explained through his giggles. "He's all proud of himself for landing on the couch!"

"Oh. Okay." Jordan nodded, trying to ignore the way his heart was beating a mile a minute. "So, umm... where is he, anyway?"

"Nowhere near you, don't worry," Jonathan answered. "He's over here, next to me."

"Okay." Jordan reached out with a shaking hand and found the wall, where he leaned heavily. "Okay, cool. That's just... fine."

"You're awfully pale, Jordan," Danny told him. "Do you want to sit down?"

"No, I'm... fine." He laughed nervously. "Funny, isn't it? Things you're... scared of...."

"Maybe I oughta wait before I show you my little trick," Jonathan said, biting his lip. "I don't know how much more of this you can take."

Joe's eyes opened and he sat up, straightening his shirt. "Sorry Jordan, you can relax now."

Jordan let out a long breath, amazed at how quickly his heart slowed down to its normal rhythm. "I don't understand it. Why am I so freaked out by that?"

"I have no idea," Jonathan told him, "But we'll watch ourselves, okay?"

"So... you can control it now? The invisibility?"

"Yeah. And I can lift some pretty heavy objects. I guess my brain is stronger than my arms."

"How heavy?"

"He lifted the couch with me and Joe sitting on it," Danny answered. "It was amazing."

"Well, you lifted it with us sitting on it," Jonathan countered.

"Yeah, but we expected that."

"I think he just called you a wimp, Jon," Donnie said mischieveously. "I don't think you should take that kind of insult from him." Everyone waited for Jordan to add in his two cents, as he almost always did, but they were met with only silence. "Jay?"

"What?" Jordan jumped, startled. "Oh, sorry, I was... thinking."

"The space case strikes again," Joe teased him.

Jordan didn't laugh. "This is really bothering me," he admitted. "I don't understand why I'm so freaked out by Jon and Joe...."

"You're afraid of things you can't see," Donnie said, for the second time that day.

"I know, but why? It doesn't make any sense."

"Things you can't see...?" Jonathan repeated slowly. "Maybe it does kind of make sense...."

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