Chapter 9: Surprise!
(Men weren't meant to ride with clouds between their knees)

"Fascinating."

Dr. Julian Brummel spoke quietly to himself as he peered through his microscope at a sample of his subject's blood. It appeared perfectly normal, but he had plans to test it in other ways. So far, the secrets of the radiation's effects were eluding him.

He looked up at the subject and frowned. He was still lying motionless on the table, a tiny smile on his face. Brummel couldn't imagine for the life of him why the boy would be smiling. He was naked and strapped to a table in a laboratory, for God's sake! Where was the fear, the begging and pleading for mercy?

Not that he wanted those things, of course. There was no need for unnecessary cruelty, after all. When it came time to perform the dissections, he would terminate the subjects painlessly and humanely. But the eerie calm—that knowing smile—made him nervous.

"I must say, I expected a lot more resistance from you," he said conversationally, pushing away from the microscope to prepare the sample for chemical tests. "You've been surprisingly docile."

The young man only hummed in response, his gaze remaining lazily on the tiled ceiling.

"Aren't you the least bit worried, or frightened, about what I have planned for you and your friends?"

The answer was infuriating in its simplicity. "No."

Brummel slammed the empty beaker to the table and stalked over to the boy, momentarily abandoning his work. "And why not?" he demanded, looming over him in what he hoped was a threatening manner.

The young man's eyes rolled slowly down and to the side to meet his, and the serene smile grew. "Death is only a doorway," he said calmly. "I have nothing to fear."

"And are you so certain I plan to kill you?"

"I choose not to speculate." The boy's eyes went back to the ceiling.

Brummel's eyes narrowed. "You sense something, that's why you're so calm. Your powers are based upon emotion, are they not? What are you feeling that reassures you?"

The boy hummed again, but didn't answer.

Brummel glared at him for a few more seconds and stalked back to his current experiment. The boy could sense his nervousness and confusion, obviously, and was gaining strength from them. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about that. Emotions could not be controlled by intellect—it was one of their inherent flaws. Even so, he worked to curb his anger and annoyance. He needed to be clear-headed and alert if he wished to learn anything from this subject.

"Did you hear that?" the boy asked suddenly after a few minutes of quiet work, breaking his concentration.

Brummel barely glanced up. "No, I did not. Now be quiet."

"Actually, Doc, the kid's right," interjected the man at the door. "Something's goin' on out there."

"Then get out there, take care of it, and leave me to work in peace!"

The young man on the table began to chuckle as the guard stepped outside. "Don't you hear it? Listen!"

Brummel slammed down his pen and prepared to give the boy a piece of his mind when he heard a distant explosion. His eyes widened. "What the—?"

Another explosion sounded, even closer. The walls of the lab shook, sending several items crashing off their shelves to the floor. "No, it can't be! How did they find me so quickly?"

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy," intoned his prisoner, his laughter growing.

Brummel pursed his lips and fought back his rage. "No matter. No matter, my men will take care of them. They did so before, they will do it again." He turned to finish his tests but a third explosion sounded, much too close. Brummel gasped, bracing himself against one of the counters. "Dammit!" He looked around wildly, his eyes falling on the closed door to the lab.

"It would be best if I took cover," he muttered reluctantly. "I will return when the threat is eliminated."

He hurried to the door and put his ear to it, listening for any movement outside. Hearing nothing but the subject's chuckles behind him, he pulled it open carefully and peered out, rushing out and down the hall when he saw no one approaching. Hopefully, the subject would still be alive when he returned.

He made it down several long hallways without encountering anyone, so it came as a great shock to him when he turned a corner and slammed into something solid. He bounced back, his eyes widening in disbelief and fear when they lit on the distinctive face of NSYNC's fire starter.

The young man gave a positively evil grin as a wall of flames sprang up around them. "Surprise," he sang cheerfully.

~*~

Howie was singing.

Nick hadn't noticed at first, he was doing it so quietly, but as his voice began to gain strength, the words of the song slowly became audible.

I can't stand to fly
I'm not that naïve
Men weren't meant to ride
With clouds between their knees

AJ and Kevin began to sing as well, adding their voices in harmony.

I'm only a man in a silly red sheet
Digging for kryptonite on this one-way street
Only a man in a funny red sheet
Looking for special things inside of me

"Oh, God...." Nick's throat began to choke with tears, and he buried his face in his arms. He had heard the song before, and even thought about how well it seemed to describe their lives as mega-celebrities. He remembered talking to Brian about it once, not too long ago, their discussion sprawling well into the early hours of the morning. "It's like... it's like...." He had stuttered and floundered for words, trying to explain what was on his mind, but Brian had seemed to understand anyway. He always did.

"We're just so big," Brian had said, somehow articulating everything that Nick couldn't. "We're up so high, and it seems wrong, somehow, that people look at us, and listen to what we way, and we're so important, when we're really not. We're just guys, like every other guy on the street."

"Yeah," Nick had said, nodding furiously in agreement. "We're not gods, but sometimes they make it seem like we are, and I just feel... I feel...."

"Trapped," Brian had finished.

Brian always knew exactly what he meant.

But Brian wasn't here, now. He was... somewhere else. Maybe even dead, for all they knew. And that damned song was suddenly more true than it had ever been before.

It's not easy to be me....

"Is he...." Nick choked on the words and cleared his throat, wiping angrily at his eyes before he tried again. "Is he okay, do you think?"

"Dunno, Nick." Kevin's voice was strained, his face weary. "I hope he is."

"They wanted us alive," Howie pointed out, somewhat desperately. His body flared up with a sudden burst of electricity, sending sparks shooting up into the air. "If they wanted to kill us, they would have done it at the hospital, instead of bringing us here, and just sticking us in a room together. I dunno what they want with us, but they're not gonna kill us. He's fine, I know he is."

AJ snorted rudely, but didn't say anything, merely glared balefully through the two-way mirror along one of the walls.

Nick started to pick at his fingernails, watching the bones, muscles, and tendons in his hands as they shifted and flexed. "We're not gonna get out of here, are we?"

Howie hesitated before answering. "Sure we are. We'll... sure we are."

"No, we're not." Nick refused to look up at him. "We've seen their faces, I watch enough TV to know they never let you live if you've seen their faces."

"They're just hired help," Howie argued, determined not to give up. "It doesn't matter if we've seen them, we still don't know who's in charge."

"Yeah, so they're just gonna let us go?" AJ finally spoke, spinning angrily away from the mirror. "They go through all this trouble, kidnap us not once, but twice, lock us in this room, do their business, and then just set us free. 'Oh, I hope we didn't inconvenience you, have a nice life.'"

"AJ—" Kevin began warningly, but was cut off.

"They're gonna fucking kill us, Howie, and you know it! And even if they didn't, what the hell kind of life would we have, huh? We're fucking freaks of nature—"

"AJ!" Kevin's voice came out just short of a roar as he shot up a foot and a half in height, his skin going green as canines lengthened to fangs.

AJ faced him unflinchingly, yanking off his sunglasses and staring straight into his eyes. "Okay, okay, that's enough!"

The creature froze, its reptilian eyes growing unfocussed and confused.

"AJ...." Nick placed a hand on his shoulder and pulled, flinching as AJ pulled away from him. "Don't...."

AJ kept his eyes on Kevin. "Sit down," he said firmly, and after a moment's hesitation, the creature obeyed, whimpering slightly.

"AJ, come on, man, you know he's not himself right now," Howie began nervously. "Just leave him alone."

"Fuck off," AJ replied simply, moving even closer to the creature. "I'm not gonna hurt him." He sounded much calmer, and Nick noted with relief that most of his anger seemed to have drained away. "Listen, I'm sorry, man," he said quietly. "I'm just pissed off, and you know how I get when I'm pissed."

The creature just stared curiously at him.

"Okay, well Kevin knows, but you obviously aren't him." AJ thought about that for a moment. "So, hey, what's your name?"

The creature cocked its head, confused. "Urgh?"

"You gotta have a name," AJ insisted, still moving toward it. "You're not Kevin, that's for sure."

The creature growled something unintelligible.

"Uh-huh. Right. Well, I can't pronounce that, so how 'bout we give you a name?"

"What's the point, AJ?" Nick asked tiredly, going back to his seat in one corner of the room. "We won't be alive long enough to use it."

"We're alive now, aren't we? And we can't call him 'hey you'."

"Why can't we just call him Kevin?" Howie wanted to know.

AJ rolled his eyes. "Look into his eyes and tell me you see Kevin in there."

Howie stared for a few moments. "Oh. Well, why don't we call him Thing?"

"Naw, he needs a real name," AJ argued. "How about—"

He never got to finish his sentence. An explosion sounded nearby, sending him stumbling backward, eye contact with the creature broken. Immediately, it surged to its feet with an enraged roar, screwing its eyes shut and covering its ears in pain.

"What's happening?" Howie asked frantically as another explosion sounded, sending water sloshing over the sides of the tank. His face paled all at once and he ducked beneath the surface, staring fearfully out through the glass.

"Oh man, what a time for him to turn into a fish," AJ lamented as he struggled to regain eye contact with the creature. "Hey, come on, you. Look at me! We gotta get out of here."

The creature cracked its eyes open and AJ seized its attention quickly. "Atta boy. Listen, we need to get out of here before this whole place goes up. Can you break down the door?"

It nodded, lurching for the door and slamming its whole body against it just as a third explosion shook the building. The creature's strength coupled with the concussion of the explosion was enough, and the door splintered and burst outward, sending the creature spilling out into the hallway.

"Great job," AJ yelled as it rushed back inside, its expression much like that of a puppy awaiting a reward. "Now, let's get Howie and get out of here!"

"Wait, what about Brian?" Nick cringed as there was another explosion, this time punctuated by the sound of machine gun fire.

"Hey, no problem," called a new voice, just outside the doorway. "We got you covered."

Nick turned to see Justin Timberlake grinning at him. "Justin?"

"We got him. Well, JC has him, he's fine. Now, come on, let's get you guys the hell out of here!"

"Alright!" AJ grinned back at him as he and the creature slowly pushed Howie's tank toward the hallway to freedom. "I was beginning to think you guys would never get here."

Justin shrugged. "Stuff came up. Listen, Joey oughta be here soon, he can help you guys with Howie and show you the way out. I'll meet you outside!" He waved and hurried away, shooting a laser beam at a startled mercenary who rounded the corner and raised his gun to shoot.

Nick stared enviously after him. "Man, I wish I had lasers."

~*~

"So... is this over?"

Kevin looked up at Howie, who was hanging over the side of his tank watching the FBI complete their arrests. He tucked JC a little closer to his body, rubbing behind his furry ears as the kitten purred in contentment. "Not really, Howie," he answered reluctantly. "We're still pretty messed up, here."

"Yeah, well obviously." Howie turned back to face him and smiled crookedly. "I'm all pruney from being in this water for so long. But, I mean, are we through with being kidnapped and stuff?"

"Man, I hope so." AJ adjusted his sunglasses and promptly vanished from view. "Getting kidnapped sucks."

"We'll be fine," Brian said quietly, his eyes focussed somewhere far away. "They have the answer."

"Who?" Nick eyed his friend nervously, not sure if he liked this new Brian, who spoke in riddles and laughed a lot at nothing.

Brian shook his head, seeming to come out of a trance. "Oh, sorry. Um... NSYNC. They know how to fix things."

"Oh, really?" AJ reappeared and stared down at JC, who looked guiltily up at him and meowed pitifully. He glanced over to the rest of NSYNC, deep in conversation with their bodyguards and Agents Chang and Welsh a few yards away. "Yo!" he called, gaining their attention. "Get over here, we gotta ask you somethin'!"

Kevin rolled his eyes. "Nice."

"Thanks."

"What?" Chris asked, not unkindly, as they approached.

"Brian says you guys know how to fix us," AJ said abruptly.

"Umm...." Chris suddenly found his shoes very interesting.

"Well, do you?"

"It's not that simple, AJ." Agent Chang answered patiently. "We have a theory, but it hasn't been proven yet—"

"So what's the theory?" Nick interrupted eagerly. "C'mon, if there's anything we can do—"

"Give 'em a chance, Nicky," Kevin admonished gently. "There's obviously more to this than they're sayin'."

"Don't call me Nicky," he muttered, chastened.

Chang smiled thinly. "Well... we think there's a possibility that the way you five were granted your powers was fundamentally incorrect. That's why you have so much trouble controlling them. If we're right about this, the only way to correct the error...." He trailed off, glancing over at his superior.

"What?" AJ asked, impatiently. "What's the only way?"

"We gotta blow you up," Joey blurted.

Howie's mouth fell open. "What?!"

"Okay, look," Chris explained hurriedly, "That's how we got our powers, they got blown into us. You know, heat and pressure. That's how we'd fix you guys up."

"And then what?" Kevin asked, surprisingly calm. "The powers get better? Or just go away completely?"

Chris looked down again. "We don't know."

"And if we're wrong," Agent Welsh added seriously, "or if it isn't done correctly, the explosion would kill you."

The five almost-superheroes looked at one another, their eyes in silent conversation. Finally, Kevin turned back to face Agent Welsh. "Alright," he nodded. "We'll take that chance."

"Wh–what? No way!" Justin stared at them with wide eyes. "Look, you guys, we don't even know if it'll work, how to do it, or—"

"Chris knows," Brian interrupted, his eyes on the man in question. "Don't you?"

Chris couldn't meet his eyes. "Well, I.... Kind of...."

"I have to advise against this," Agent Welsh said warningly. "It's too high a risk."

"Yeah, it's a risk, but what's the alternative?" Howie looked down at them from his water tank. "Look at us, man, we're screwed. I don't want to spend the rest of my life in a fish bowl, and Kevin can't cling to JC forever. What's Brian gonna do, avoid other people altogether? We don't want to be like this, man. I'd... I'd rather be dead."

The rest of them nodded in agreement. "Dude," AJ added, "I don't even know if I'm visible right now. I mean, these powers'd be cool if I could handle 'em, but like this?" He shook his head. "I could do without."

"Don't you understand what you're asking me to do?" Chris protested, somewhat desperately. "If I screw up, I kill you guys!"

"We've already said we're willing to take that risk," Kevin told him, his voice determined. "The burden would lie on us, not on you."

"Aargh!" Chris pulled at his hair and stomped away, muttering to himself.

AJ looked around at the rest of them innocently. "That went pretty well, didn't it?"

~*~

Chris stared down at the numbers on the screen, then back up through the two-way mirror into the room where the Backstreet Boys waited to be cured. Or killed.

The numbers looked right... everything looked right, but he was afraid to move forward. He still wasn't sure if he was willing to be the one who held their lives in his hand.

"Chris?" Lance put a hand down on his shoulder and squeezed gently. "You okay?"

"Tell me it turns out alright," he begged, still staring at the computer screen. "Tell me this is going to work, tell me—"

Lance sighed. "I can't."

"Lance, please...."

"I don't know. I'm sorry, Chris."

Chris lowered his head to the desk. "God...."

Everyone else had already been evacuated from the area. Only the members of NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys remained, so all that was left was to begin the countdown. His hand shook as he reached out to turn on the communication system. "You guys ready in there?"

The Backstreet Boys gathered themselves into a huddle in the center of the room, Howie glancing nervously at the tank of water standing unused in one corner of the room. AJ looked at the mirror and nodded. "Yup," he said, giving an encouraging grin. "Go for it."

Chris let out a shaky breath. "Okay, um.... I'm gonna start the countdown. You'll have two minutes before the place blows."

Nick nodded. "Okay."

"We'll be fine," Brian told him, his eyes somehow falling directly on Chris' through the glass.

Chris shuddered, and Joey shook his head sympathetically. "That boy is spooky."

Brian grinned. "Mic's still on, Joe."

Joey flushed.

"Well, um.... See you soon...." Chris hesitated, his finger hovering over the activation switch. His friends gathered around him, and he closed his eyes, leaning into them before he finally flicked it on.

An alarm immediately began to go off, and a mechanical voice began to speak. SELF DESTRUCT SEQUENCE ACTIVATED. DESTRUCTION IN TWO MINUTES.

Chris stood and headed for the door. "Let's go," he said brusquely. "We don't wanna be here when the radiation starts to leak out."

"Right." Joey grabbed both Justin and Lance, tucked them under his arms, and shot out of the room at top speed. JC turned himself into a small bird and flew out as quickly as he could. Chris remained for a moment more, watching the group of five men who stood calmly in the center of the laboratory, still huddled together, their lips moving silently in prayer.

"Good luck," he whispered, clenching his fists. He turned away and bolted from the room, the door slamming shut behind him.

Outside, the five of them watched together, in their own huddle of prayer, as the building exploded.

Note: The song the BSB were singing is Superman (It's Not Easy), by Five for Fighting, from their CD, "America Town."

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