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Nick rubbed at his eyes in frustration; he couldn’t focus with the other three yahoos in his group discussing which song they were going to sing for the group performance. Nick knew he should be over there discussing with them, but he had faith, however small it was, that they’d pick a decent song that wouldn’t require too much work, that most likely he’d know the words, and it’d be ok.

Looking up at the other three members in his group, he frowned. There was Marcus, who Nick could tell straight off wanted to be the “lead” in the group. He went on and on about how he idolized Ricky Martin and Tom Jones and how he knew he was destined for “greatness.” He’d insisted that all decisions and choices be cleared through him for approval before they were put into play.

Then there was Joe, who, from what Nick could hear, was as tone deaf as they come. He wouldn’t last, Nick was sure; what he couldn’t figure out, though, was how he’d made it this far. When he attempted to “sing,” he was flat and always off tempo. Smirking, Nick looked back down at his Sidekick when Marcus once again stopped the singing to give Joe the right key. Nick thought the song sounded familiar, but he couldn’t place it.

Lastly was Elizabeth, the only girl in the group. She seemed nice enough and had a decent voice, but she kept making passes at all the guys. Nick had caught her staring at him hungrily more than once. She seemed more focused on trying to sleep with one of them than she did trying to sing or win the competition.

Clearing his throat, Nick went back to work on his Sidekick. He really wished Di was there; it was too hard to go through everything without her input.

“Nick, aren’t you going to join us? If this group is going to be successful, we need to have everyone on the same page, ya know; I can only do so much,” Marcus sighed.

“Yeah Nick, why don’t you just… slide on over here beside me, and I can give you…a hand,” Elizabeth winked.

Nick looked up and gave an apologetic smile. “Sorry guys, I’ll be there in a minute. I’m… uhh… talking with my agent. She’s trying to set me up with this… umm… lead in a musical.”

Elizabeth’s eyes widened. “You act?”

“Y-yeah, sure.”

Suddenly she licked her lips. “Ya know, I’ve always though actors were hot. You know, the way they read their lines with such passion, and the way they hold the scripts, their fingers gently caressing the pages so that… so that… the paper becomes crumpled from the sweat, from the heat of the moment, oh god,” she moaned, fanning herself with her hand.

“I had a line in a commercial once,” Joe announced suddenly, his mouth dropping open when Elizabeth directed her gaze at him, looking him over slowly, licking her lips again.

“Focus, people, focus! Elizabeth, I don’t recall you clearing discussing the subject of acting through me first. That is not really relevant to the current situation,” Marcus gently chided.

“Hearing you talk like that, Marcus, gets me so turned on,” Elizabeth whispered, blowing him a kiss.

Clearing his throat, Marcus clapped his hands, starting to count off again.

Rolling his eyes, Nick typed fiercely on his Sidekick. Diamond seemed to be making great progress on her own. She’d sent him over the new information she’d found, and Nick quickly cross-referenced it with the little that he’d found.

“No, no, Joe! Look, you hold the last note, and you have to sing with emotion, from the diaphragm! The judges have to see that you’re serious, that we’re serious as a group! This isn’t just a song or a performance, people; we’re making magic here, we’re telling a story! This is a serious song,” Marcus announced.

“Diaphragm? What’s that have to do with singing? No one is having sex here, although, it could be arranged.” Elizabeth smiled suddenly, looking over at Nick. “Did you hear that, Nick? I said, it could be arranged, and then we’d really be using a diaphragm. I can get one, ya know, if you really want.”

Nick brought his knees closer to his chest, avoiding eye contact. “Sorry, Elizabeth. As tempting as that is, I’m going to have to decline.”

“Well, the offer stands. You know, baby, that goes for you both, too,” she smiled, looking first at Marcus and then Joe.

“Later, Elizabeth. Nick, come on! You have to learn the dance,” Marcus said suddenly.

“Guys…”

“Now!” Marcus stated, pointing to the spot beside Elizabeth.

Groaning, Nick slipped his phone into his pocket and made his way over.

“Okay now, here we go. Just watch me closely. We’ll do a couple run-throughs and then we’ll sing and do the routine. Here we go – five… six… five, six, seven, eight!” Marcus announced.

The next fifteen minutes were spent learning the routine for a song Nick still didn’t know. Most of the time he kept trying to avoid Elizabeth’s wandering hands and smothering looks.

“Okay, Nick, I want you to drop to your knees on the break, arms open wide as if you’re pleading to your lady love,” Marcus practically squealed.

“Hey, why does he get to do the break?” Joe frowned.

“Well, originally I was going to do it, but I figured I can’t sing the lead and do the break without it looking funny, so I decided to let Nick do it,” Marcus shrugged.

“What about me? I’ve been here practicing, and he’s been over there talking with his agent. I want a solo,” Joe whined.

“Now, what did we say about decisions? You didn’t ask me first, and because of that, you don’t get a solo. Remember, we’re a team; there’s no ‘I’ in team. Okay, I think we’re ready to do a full run-through. Here we go – one…two… one, two, three, four!” Marcus counted off.

The other three started singing, and Nick stilled. It couldn’t be; it just couldn’t.

It was.

Damnit, he should’ve been more involved; he would have made them pick another song. He knew Marcus had been the one to choose the song; it had his stink all over it. Shaking his head, his heart dropped as he heard his group called to perform next.

“Okay, everyone, this is it! Let’s go!” Marcus called, hurrying out to the stage.

Nick hesitantly made his way out to the stage and got into position, groaning when the music started playing. Resolutely, he forced himself to start dancing as Marcus started singing.

“First time was a great time, second time was a blast, third time I fell in love, now I hope it lasts. I can see it in your walk, tell it when you talk, see it in everything you do… even in your thoughts…” Marcus sang passionately.

Groaning, Nick joined in with chorus.

“You got the right stuff, baby, love the way you turn me on. You got the right stuff, baby, you’re the reason why I sing this song…” he sang softly. He’d die if this got out. Sighing, he dropped to his knees suddenly, his arms spread apart as he sang his solo. “All that I needed was you… oh girl, you’re so right. And all that I wanted was you… you made all… my dreams come true!”

Looking over, he saw Marcus give him a discreet thumbs up and he rolled his eyes, continuing to dance.

“Oh, oh, oh-oh-oh… Oh, oh, oh-oh… Oh, oh, oh-oh-oh, the right stuff! Oh, oh, oh-oh-oh… Oh, oh, oh-oh… Oh, oh, oh-oh-oh, the right stuff,” they all sang.

They continued dancing, and Nick spun to find Elizabeth grinding against him suggestively. Turning again, he faced the judges, managing to shuffle away from Elizabeth as Marcus started the second verse.

“Your first kiss was a sweet kiss, second kiss had a twist, third and your fourth kiss I don’t want to miss. I can see it in your walk, tell it when you talk, see it in everything you do… even in your thoughts…”

Nick dropped to a squat as part of the routine and sang along once again with the chorus.

“You got the right stuff, baby, love the way you turn me on. You got the right stuff, baby, you’re the reason why I sing this song.”

Rolling his eyes, he dropped one more time to his knees suddenly, his arms spread apart and sang his solo with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. “All that I needed was you… oh girl, you’re so right. And all that I wanted was you… you made all… every one of my dreams come true!”

Standing back up, he continued to sing and was upset to find that he was actually starting to enjoy it. The song went into a break, and they continued to dance. Unable to stop himself, Nick dropped to his knees again.

“The right stuff, girl, yeah baby, yeah, you know you got the right stuff. And giiiiiirllllll, yeah, baby, you know, you know you got it, girl. In my life, you’re so right, you made all... you know what you did…” he sang soulfully as he stood, backing up slowly to join the others for the end of the song.

“Oh, oh, oh-oh-oh… Oh, oh, oh-oh… Oh, oh, oh- oh-oh, the right stuff! Oh, oh, oh-oh-oh… Oh, oh, oh-oh… Oh, oh, oh-oh-oh, the right stuff! You got the right stuff, baby, love the way you turn me on. You got the right stuff, baby, you’re the reason why I sing this song.”

They came to a finish in an over-exaggerated and highly unnecessary pose. Nick closed his eyes, trying to even out his breathing. He’d be lucky if he made it to the next round.

“Thank you very much. Nick Carter and Joe Hearty can stay. The rest of you, thank you for trying out,” one of the judges announced.


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As Jay came into her laboratory, her sanctuary of metal and steel, she gave a sigh. Her eyes never left the cameras. Her initial reaction had been natural; Justin had been a close friend of hers, like Nick was. At times, Nick had seemed closer, and other times, Justin had. Now, there was only Nick, of course.

The accident had shaken her up badly... and she had refused to think about it since. Seeing him like he was on the video, the hatred and rage within the one remaining eye... Had she contributed to what he was now? Was this her fault for not –

No, she wasn't going to think about it. She had gotten past the entire thing, and everything was normal at HimTak again. No.

Jay sat before the cameras, and she twirled a loose blonde curl around her slender finger.

“K knows. He’ll come by to check the cameras, I think, now that the mission’s gotten complicated.”

“Complicated is not the word – a vast understatement, actually.”

“What is the word then, Pearl?” he asked calmly. She never was one for talking out emotions. Since he had met her, he had tried to pry them out of her. Sometimes, Agent Jay was successful, but those times were rare. In situations like this, which were painful for many, including him, one needed to talk them out. But not ever her. Not willingly, at least.

A shrug was her simple reply to the pointed question. "If you're watching the feeds, I need to check something in my office,” she said flatly, wishing she could turn off the emotions. Yet she couldn't, so she escaped to her office in the back of her lab.

It was rare that others found her here, as she enjoyed her work and was constantly tinkering with some new gadget or device. She shut the door behind her and was welcomed by the turquoise walls with bright yellow accents that surrounded her. This was her, a bright and cheery office. Truly it was, with a quite cluttered, simple white desk and the color scheme remaining the bright blue and yellow throughout the room. Something surprising to some, with her often sarcastic and dry wit humored view upon the world. Deep down, she was pretty optimistic and sensitive. She was as human as any other. Many seemed to forget that behind the brains, there was a person. An attractive person, though her looks also went forgotten by many because of her intelligence.

A photograph fluttered lazily to the desk from the bulletin board mounted on the wall, as a sigh escaped from her. It was an older photograph, four years almost. One of the agents had taken it, she remembered, but she couldn't place who. The picture was of her trying to get her own camera – which she had made herself – back from Justin, with Nick laughing and cheering him on. They had been reprimanded for slacking off instead of training, but as agents in basic training were grouped together for certain tests, that had been how she had met Nick and Justin for the first time.

She loved when she got assigned to go on missions, especially with those two. With her expertise in certain technologies and her ability to handle herself on the field, it happened more commonly than she had originally thought it would. But she hadn't been on one since the mission that had, in essence, destroyed Justin. How could she?

There was a reason she had put so much time into Nick's car. Projects kept her mind away from her life, distanced her from it. It was her personal therapy, and she had needed it.

Pearl, you have to help me.. .please... god... Kitana, I have no one else to go to!

That single phrase, his pained voice, still haunted her, as it had since the day she had refused to do what someone else eventually would…


It had been a simple day; she had just started her sketches for the car she was eventually going to modify. She had spotted it, and her mind had what she considered her greatest project idea yet. Now she was just sketching the layouts, since this was going to be a massive project. She was concerned about Justin, of course, but the swelling had seemed to go down since the eye burst. The eye patch, ashamedly, unnerved her a bit. After that mission, her mind had gone into overdrive, and Pearl just couldn’t take it. Nick had been keeping to himself, and without her two closest friends around, she just felt like isolating herself for the moment.

She was sure Jay would be down soon, however. Their mentor had been keeping a careful eye on her and Nick as of late. K had been, too, now that she thought of it. For now, the tunes of classic Beatles songs soothed her as she sketched in her office, rather than in her laboratory.

The sound of slamming doors made her jump with a start, and she looked up to find Justin now before her with the horror of relapse. It had been a possibility, since Red hadn’t known of a cure. If Pearl had been into medical science rather than mechanical, she would have fought to find a cure as well. No one knew of one for Phoenix Suicide yet. Nick had just been lucky his arm had only gotten a tiny fraction of what had hit the man before her.

“Pearl, you have to help me... please... god... Kitana, I have no one else to go to!”

“Ju… Drums, what… is it happening again?” Her mind blanked, and, for a moment, she was actually at a loss for words.

“I can’t take this pain! Jewel can’t help me; doctors wouldn’t know what this is. You’re a genius, Kit, you know that. This shit is so wickedly damn whack! You know that human robotics stuff like it’s nothing!” His hand clutched at the socket where his eye had once been; his head was pulsating with enlarged blood vessels. Already, it was beginning to swell again. “I need you to use all that shit to fix me up, trip me out, yo!” The slang. His emotions were jumping, and she couldn’t say there wasn’t a reason for it.

Pearl stared at him in shock. He knew her well enough to know her views. “Drums… I… you know I can’t do that.”

“Why? We were a posse! First Nick, now you! God!”

“What happened was… an accident! I can't do it. Justin, I would have to wire up to the optical nerves to your brain; it would take intense surgery. Brain surgery. You would mentally be more machine! It dehumanizes! I can’t do it to you. I’m not going to turn you into a robot so you can have two eyes again. Even the surgery just to get the swelling down... the chips and wires... I would have to hook so much into your system in so many ways… No,” she said brokenly, crossing her arms over her chest. Her sapphire eyes went downwards, trying to hide the pain that achingly stabbed at her as she refused his pleas. "Just no. Please don't ask me this. I... I can't. No."

“Kitana… you’re going to say no?? I could die from this whack shit Nick got on me! He knew what he was doing… you’re doing this for him, right?” His breath rapid, beads of sweat dripped down his face like a slow rain, as he winced from the pain it caused him.

She just observed him with obvious remorse. “I'm doing this for you. I’m sorry, Justin, but dehumanizing you, to me, is worse than death…”

Justin simply stared at her, a man betrayed. “You’re not the person I thought you were… Professor.”


She wiped her eyes discreetly as her hair fell into her youthful face. Pearl knew she could have saved him. The guilt never had faded from her thoughts, despite all the projects she had started afterwards to try and escape it. Because she knew she could have saved him. She had the skills, but she knew what the cost was as well, and, for her, it was too high.

Now it seemed Justin had found someone else to do it for him instead. He had been a new man on those cameras. So dark, so empty. Gone were the joking, playful actions and the excited Ebonics he always seemed to be spewing, despite all their protests. Just part of his charm then. Gone was the caring nature he’d had. Now he was nothing but a dark, shadowed reflection of the man he once was. A cold machine.

“Pearl, come here, we need to start skimming the feeds for Justin, see if he’s acting alone, since the other agent was killed by his own hands.”

“Be right there, Jay,” she spoke softly into her headset as she set the picture aside on her desk. Just memories. That’s all the picture could be. The Justin they knew was no longer there.

Pearl had a job to do. She’d made her choice then. Justin had made his now. They all would be forced to deal with the consequences.

And they all would just have to live with them.


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