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K heard footsteps come from behind. Nick. Speak of the golden-haired devil. He looked sheepish and apologetic.

“K, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pressed, dawg. I’ve been there too, ya know? And-”

K shook his head and held up his hand to stop him. Something else, something more important, was capturing his attention. There. There was the leader of FANS, the one from the file, only now, he was Jafar. How ironic. The man looked panicked and seemed to be running from something. He tapped Nick and pointed in the enemy’s direction.

“Let’s get to work.”

“Right.”

The two quickly followed the character’s direction. At least they all happened to be characters from the same movie, so although this wouldn’t be a normal happening at Disney World, it wouldn’t look terribly strange either. They raced after him across the park, further in. Nick, fed up with the monkey suit, tossed off the oversized Abu head behind him.

“Nick!” K hissed at him with a well-aimed nudge. The stealthy pursuit became a full-blown chase within seconds.

“I can’t exactly breathe, and that’s the leader; I need my A-game,” Nick answered and only received annoyed muttering in response.


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“Jafar” shoved by the many people. Children were pushed to the ground with no regard. Parents could be heard shouting after him, but were completely ignored.

Dr. Rough stole a glance at the agents pursuing him, and he wanted to explode with rage. More agents of Himitsu Takana. Carter… that was someone he’d expected. But accompanying him… could that really be him? The man beside Carter was a man who had become legend. A man who had almost become myth within the underground villainous world he lived in. Agent K. There wasn’t any villain who didn’t know who he was. He couldn’t help but feel smug that he had caught such a feared agent’s attention. He reached for a small device within his ear; he knew just the one who could him help take them on.

“Yo, what up, dawg?”

What Dr. Rough wouldn’t give to rid his best agent of such hideous abuse of the English language. “I have Agent K and Carter on my tail. I’m headed to…” He glanced around for something to delay the other agents with. Something he could use to make it difficult. He smiled when he spotted it. “Thunder Mountain. I need assistance; send the others, and come to me as soon as possible.”

“Aight, I be on it.”

He clicked the communicator off as he changed direction. He threw the innocent bystanders behind him, knowing that Carter and K would never let civilians come to harm.

“You were taller in the movie!” one kid yelled.


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Nick had heard that and couldn’t help but laugh. The chase continued, and they saw their enemy race to the tall fake mountain before them and attempt to start climbing. He pulled out his gun as they grew closer to the ride and Dr. Rough seemed to decide to avoid the people. Kevin gave him a look as he also pulled out his gun and carefully kept it from view.

“Wait till we’re in a less crowded area.”

“I know that, K. I’m-” He stopped when bullets began to whiz by them angrily. “And now the groupies are here.”

K shook as head as he picked up speed. “Focus. Be careful, but remember, we want the leader. Cover me.” He began the climb up after Dr. Rough, who, for such a small man, was able to speedily get up the mountain. Nick slowed down, trying to distract the minions and give K the chance he needed. He leapt over the tracks as he heard the carts for the roller coaster come closer. Ducking down, he began shooting and chuckled when one collapsed immediately.

The rest of the minions froze when one of their own went down.

“He’s got a gun!”

Another, the one who seemed to be leading this almost embarrassing chase, rolled his eyes at his fellow FANS members. “You idiots – we’ve all got guns!”

Nick couldn’t help but laugh, despite the situation. “And HimTak thinks I’m a spaz.” He heard the coaster approaching and leapt inside one of the carts, which, to his joy, was almost empty except for two people too wrapped in each other to notice much else. He sat back, ready to take a breather till he grew close enough to jump off and climb up to K and Dr. Rough. That was, until he saw the minions realize what he’d done and jump in the very next cart.

Gunshots rang out around him as he ducked down, thankful for the protection of the roller coaster. He took his shots carefully, knowing that while he had many targets, they only had one. Nick carefully stayed crouched in the small seat, where they couldn’t get a good shot at him. He flipped open his watch, finally able to admit he needed backup.

“Pearl, you there?”

A frustrated face appeared on his tiny screen. “I’m here, whatcha need Nick?” She gave a small smile, happy to talk to him rather than JC.

“Send Shazam’s dumb ass up to Thunder Mountain. K and I have the FANS leader on the run, and we need backup.”

“On it; I need a break from the asshole.”

He flipped the watch off and, taking a breath, jumped off the cart and over to the mountain. A small cord shot from his watch and swung around a ledge, gripping it tightly. He smiled. Maybe it was a good thing the damn watch couldn’t tell time. Nick released the cord after he got a good grip and footing. Then, he began to quickly ascend the mountain to help his mentor.

“Hold on, K, I’m coming.”


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JC Chasez had never expected to see this day come. He nodded at Pearl, who informed him that Nick Carter was actually requesting back-up. He hated the annoying blondes, both Pearl and Nick. Still, he never would deny an opportunity to show up Nick. And he could, by being the one to finally capture Drums.

He was heading towards Thunder Mountain, where Pearl had said the showdown was taking place. But something made him pause. A familiar face caught his attention.

The head was missing from a man in the bright blue costume of Genie, and a small snicker came. Ironic – most of them had gone Aladdin-themed. Then he spotted the face. An eye was missing, replaced with a robotic one, attached to a long, metal headband that wrapped around the forehead. Kids scrambled away in fear from him. JC released a sigh. It was Justin.

Everyone at Himitsu Takana knew the story of Nick and Justin, what had once been a tight friendship gone sour in ways no one expected. Everyone knew the story of Pearl and Justin, too: they had been just as close, until she had decided not to operate on him because of the risks and controversy surrounding what she would have had to do. But many forgot about Drums and him. Shazam and Drums had also been quite close friends. In fact, JC was the only one who truly hadn’t betrayed Justin. But in their business, sides were set, lines were drawn, and Drums had crossed to the darker side, to enemy lines.

The entire idea of Shazam being the one to bring in Drums suddenly became bittersweet. And that was when Justin happened to turn his head, and stared directly at him. Rather than shoot at the easy target, however, he went for the quickest escape possible, and that was straight into Cinderella’s castle.

JC pursued him through the employee back ways, and shots were finally fired. It surprised him even more: why wait until the bullets were more likely to miss? JC fired none in return. It was pointless, anyway; they would simply bounce off of the metal rails and steps with no true hits.

Perhaps the man wasn’t beyond reach after all. Could that be why Justin hadn’t made a true attempt to kill him?

Soon they both reached the roof of Cinderella’s castle. That was when JC decided he’d try not to kill him. That was when he decided this man wasn’t beyond help.

The two circled each other, similar to cats about to fight. Neither spoke a word. Justin’s remaining eye was steely and cold, even compared to the robotic red eye that only emitted a blinking red light.

“Justin… we can talk about this.”

“Yo, we ain’t gonna rap like dat.”

He sighed. “Justin, you don’t want to kill me. I don’t want to kill you. You don’t have to do this. We’re friends.”

He wasn’t sure what he said that triggered it. And he was given no opportunity to think about it. Justin’s face had gone from fierce to emotionless, robotic, cold, deadly. His voice was flat and determined.

“You ain’t nevah had a friend like me.”


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She finally had gotten the bomb locked down enough to feel she could safely bring it out of Space Mountain. Once out, she had been able to neutralize it completely. The only reason she still carried it with her as she wandered the park (in the shoes she considered to be from hell) was because she wanted to see the technology of FANS, especially since she had suspicions this bomb had a real purpose, a source of some kind. She was hoping to see if she could find Emerald, Brian, or someone, since the aforementioned two weren’t responding to her pages.

Pearl gazed up to see Cinderella’s castle. At least she wouldn’t be out of place wandering around. She just wouldn’t have a clue as to how to explain the device in her hands, if asked, though it helped that it didn’t actually look like a bomb.

Voices shook her away from her thoughts.

“Oh my god, is that a new show?”

“Why does the genie not have his head on?”

“What is with the park today? First Cinderella was giving Princey a BJ, Mickey has been horrific, and now…”

She raised a brow, but a song of screams kept her from pursuing that last statement. She looked up, and there was JC and Drums. Within seconds, she saw why people were screaming. “Prince Charming” had been shoved off of the castle roof by Aladdin’s Genie.

Everyone moved away, panicking and fleeing the park that had gone bad. Pearl remained rooted in her spot, unable to move as JC crashed onto the hard pavement with a sickening thud only a few feet away from her. His skull was crushed immediately, blood splattering like rain, dotting the skin-tight blue dress she wore with dark red spots.

She stared in horror, unsure of how to react. This was worse than anything she had seen, including the Phoenix Suicide and the aliens. Her mind just couldn’t process that JC, like him or not, had been thrown to his death right before her eyes. She shifted her gaze and saw Justin running off from view, but she was still frozen, unable to give chase.

Slowly, she approached the still body, as blood pooled around his head and seeped into his dark, matted hair. His eyes were open, staring off into something no living person could see. Cautiously, she took in several breaths to calm herself.

“Pull it together, Kitana,” she commanded herself. She paged Brian in hopes of an answer, having hacked into his CIA line in her earlier attempts. “Rok, this is Pearl. I need you and Emerald to go after K and Nick. They’re on Thunder Mountain. I…” She choked on the words. “I have a man down.”


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Justin watched through one of the windows along the large, blue castle. No one came inside; too many were focused on the commotion just beyond the castle steps. The crowd around JC was massive, and it kept him from rushing off like he had planned. It forced him to only gaze upon the damage he had done, from a distance, as always, because of his robotic handicap. It made him think about something he wanted to just toss aside. He wanted a plea of forgiveness for what he had done.

He would never utter the words aloud, would never give them any thought after today, he knew; he would rationalize it later. Not that he could ever get such a thing. Forgiveness was forever out of his grasp. Because he was dead.

Because Joshua Scott Chasez was dead.

There was no question of that, and it had been a horrific scene. One that was guaranteed to scar the children at the park for a lifetime, promising future trips to therapists throughout their lives. But Justin didn't care about that. He only cared that JC had died. JC had died by his hands. There was no blood upon them, but he could swear he felt it dripping from his shaking fingers. He wasn't sure why he hadn't expected it to be so messy as he watched the man fall to his demise. But he hadn't. The head had been so fragile, had crushed so easily. It had hit the pavement and splattered upon it like a dropped watermelon. Better to compare it to something so ordinary and simple, better to think of it all as just ruined fruit. He'd much rather think of that than the fact that he’d killed a man, a man he’d once called friend.

JC, Josh, Shazam. He was dead, but he hadn't done to him what the others had. There’d been no stabbing betrayal between them. But he had fought alongside the traitors Justin loathed. That had been enough to set his tragic fate. He’d deserved what he’d gotten, Justin knew, not that he felt comfortable with it. Yet something inside settled. So that had to mean something had shifted for him. The bitterness that raged within seemed to simmer slightly with just one HimTak agent death. Such a thing proved to him that he was on the right path.

Though he had to wonder, why hadn’t JC tried to kill him? He’d had the open shot. Why hadn’t he taken it? Why had he tried to talk him down? Had he really been blind to the fact that Justin was luring him to a more painful death? Nick had done the same at Global Idol, tried to rationalize with him. He wasn't Justin anymore. Not the one they’d known. Couldn't they see that?

Justin was dead, and Nick had killed him. Jewel had presided over the death. Pearl had refused to resurrect him. K had buried him. Now, only Drums remained. And Drums cared nothing for those connected to Justin.

Though, if that were true, would he be doing more than watching Pearl's shocked, pained, and horrified face as she scrambled to move the body away from the crowds? He caught pieces of words, claims of it being practice for a show, that it wasn't a real body. He also caught the slight fear within her tone.

Pearl. He could kill her. It would be all too easy. She obviously thought he had left already; otherwise, she wouldn't leave herself for such an open shot. A ripe killing. But he knew then why he was only watching. She deserved more. A well-aimed shot to the head was far too casual for the likes of her. Yes, she had earned worse, far worse. As had the others who had stabbed him in the eye.

Like K, and Nick. The ones whom Dr. Rough was encountering at that moment. Dr. Rough, his savior. He needed him right now. He couldn't waste any more time now that the chaos had finally begun to die down.

As Pearl slowly slipped away from his view, he made his way down through the employee stairwells. A small eye patch was slipped over his robot eye for a slight chance of blending in. He made his way into the crowd, hurrying swiftly to his new destination.

Thunder Mountain.


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