Season 1, Episode 3: Remember
Me
Part 5 of 6
His
dark brown eyes penetrated the monitor.
Reflected in their depths, the scene played out before him: row upon row of contestants, doing the same
zombie-like choreography, singing in the same robotic drone. “Domo
arigato, Mr. Roboto…”
He
leaned forward and pushed a stray, black curl away from his face, the better to
see the screen. He couldn’t believe his
eyes.
His
plan was working.
A
smile spread like warm butter across his face, and his eye began to twitch with
mounting excitement.
It
was working; it was really working!
Everyone at “Global Idol” had been hypnotized… and soon, the hypnosis would
extend to the world. After all, “Global
Idol” was truly a global
phenomenon. It would be watched by
billions.
Billions
who would soon be brainwashed in support of him.
“We’ve
done it, Sexi,” he murmured, turning to his female companion. “The seed has been planted, and it’s already
starting to grow. Just watch… soon, the
entire planet will be in its tangles, and then… we will rule the world.”
Sexi
twirled a tendril of her long, black hair round her slender, taloned finger,
her motions seductive. “Sorry I ever
doubted you, Dr. Rough. I didn’t think
it would work, with all the security, but you were right. It’s working.” She smiled, her dark eyes alighting with
desire. “I can’t wait to be queen of the
world.”
His
eye twitched even more, much to his annoyance.
It always did that when he got nervous or excited, and both emotions
were going in overdrive within him now.
Excitement because his plan was working, despite Himitsu Takana’s
attempts to sabotage it. Nervousness
because… well, he always found himself nervous around Sexi.
She
made his heart race and his palms sweat, the way she sat so close, her
long-lashed eyes, as dark as onyx, flashing seductively, her sweet breath
fluttering against his neck, her long fingernails lightly scraping his skin as
she touched his arm or his thigh.
“I
can’t wait either,” he murmured, his eyes drinking in the sight of her,
quenched by her beauty.
He
knew, deep down, that she only flirted with him because he was in a place of
power, and she was hungry for some of it.
But he didn’t mind. No girl as
attractive as her had ever given him the time of day when he was just Howie
Dorough, a short kid with greasy hair and a lazy eye. But as Dr. Rough, he was someone to be
admired, someone to be feared. Someone
to be idolized. Someone to remember.
In
due time, they would all remember his name.
And some of them would remember the short guy with the twitching eye
they had let get away.
“Yeeeeesssss, Dr. Twitches,” he muttered, reaching down to
stroke the lithe body of his minion ferret, as Sexi retreated to spread the
word of their success to the rest of the agents at FANS headquarters. “Soon they’ll remember Howie Dorough… but not
as Howie Dorough. They’ll know me as…
Dr. Rough!”
He
rehearsed his evil alias with a roar, hoping to invoke terror in all. But Dr. Twitches, far from fearful, just
squeaked cheerfully and tried to burrow into his crotch.
Reddening,
Howie’s eye twitched some more, this time with embarrassment, as he pulled the
squirmy ferret out from between his legs and felt glad that Sexi had already
gone.
± ± ±
Agent K narrowed his eyes at the man standing in front of
his desk. "I don't care what anyone
else told you to do. This is an
international situation,; it's HimTak's jurisdiction."
"This situation is happening on
"I don't have time to waste arguing with your idiot of
a boss over at the CIA! The
A woman entered, her long brown hair pulled back into a
ponytail that swung against her shoulders as she walked over. The blonde man pulled down his sunglasses and
scanned her over with his deep blue eyes.
She was wearing a worn, black leather jacket, a black t-shirt that read
"LED ZEPPELIN" across the chest, and a pair of blue jeans that looked
as if they'd been ripped during several fights.
This was not at all the attire he'd expected to find a high-ranking
international agent wearing.
"You rang, K?" she asked as she stood next to him.
"O'Riley, this is Agent Littrell of the CIA." He motioned to her left. "He's going with you to back up 008 and
009 in
"You got it, boss." O'Riley – better known as Emerald Ecstasy to
her colleagues at HimTak – gave K a small wave and walked towards the door,
looking back when she saw she wasn't being followed. "You coming, CIA?"
"Fine," he answered, facing her after shooting a
glare at his cousin, "but if you're not going to address me as Agent
Littrell, call me The Rok."
Emerald rolled her eyes.
"If you say so..."
"Keep me posted!" K called to them as he got up
from his chair.
"Will do!" Emerald shouted from down the hall, The
Rok at her heels. K sighed as he headed
in the opposite direction, towards
"Just in time,"
"Well, keep trying..." K told her, peering over
her shoulder as she typed furiously on the keyboard in front of her.
"Why do you look so angry?" Jay asked,
appearing on
"I'm not angry..."
K scanned each of the monitor feeds for any sign of a disturbance, frowning
as he realized how loud the monotonic chanting had become. "
K and
Sure enough, moments later Jay had returned to his normal
state, a confused expression on his face as he found himself bent over with his
right arm up in the air. "That was
some trip..." He stood up and
stretched, returning to his place by
"That was strange even for you,"
"Wait," Jay said.
"Go back."
"Okay..." A
few keystrokes and, again, they were looking at the entire offstage area. "But why?"
"Mark McGrath isn't hypnotized." Jay pointed at Mark's robotic movements,
which didn't seem any different to K and
"Can you shut it down?" K asked, pulling out his
cell phone.
"Of course.
Might take me about a minute or so, but now that I know where to
look..." As
"Make sure he doesn't get away!" K emphasized to
his agent over the phone, hanging up after her reply. He knew that they needed
to get Mark back to HimTak and question him about FANS. The more they knew about this new
organization, the better.
± ± ±
Back
in the MGM Grand, Nick was tapping his finger on the face of his watch. “There must be some sort of interference,
“Nick,”
Nick
lifted his eyes across the stage just in time to see the show’s host put his
hand to a tiny earpiece. As he began
pushing buttons on the bottom of his microphone,
He
scanned the crowd of hypnotized wannabe pop stars and began to awkwardly
imitate their robotic dance as he slowly made his way across the stage. He’d nearly reached his target when the song
came to an end and Mark McGrath turned to the camera with a big smile. “Thank you, Sanjay, for that totally rockin’
performance. Up next, we have Nick
Carter returning to the stage.”
Nick
froze at the mention of his name. He
knew he would never get the chance to make his move if he blew his cover now,
so he joined Mark with stiff movements and lifeless eyes.
There
were so many people watching his every move.
Dr. Rough smirked with a deep satisfaction as he watched HimTak’s golden
boy fall victim to his evil scheme on the screen in front of him. The fact that it was his biggest threat who
would now help make the final phase of his brainwashing ploy complete was a
sweet taste of unexpected victory.
Justin
watched from the shadows above with his mind not focusing on the situation, but
rather drifting on a sea of painful, confusing memories.
And
agents Jay, K, and
“Turn
the sound back on. I want to hear what
they’re saying.”
Nick
gazed mindlessly into the camera. “Thank
you, Mr. McGrath.”
“Tonight
I will be singing ‘Mambo Number Five.’”
Again,
“You
okay, sweetie?”
Kevin
looked up from his phone. “What? What is
it?”
Kevin
looked at
K and
Jay turned their attention back to the monitor as Nick robotically took the
microphone from Mark. “One, two, three, four, five,” he
chanted.
Jay
cringed at the performance, but
The
longer Nick sang, the more he began to slip into the role and enjoy
himself. His voice began to hit the
notes perfectly, and his movements became playful and full of energy. “I like
Angela, Pamela, Sandra, and Rita! And as
I continue, you know they’re getting sweeter!”
Soon,
Nick was carried away in the moment and had all but forgotten the mission. Mark caught on to what was happening and dove
at him. The move took Nick by surprise
and allowed Mark to get the better of him for a split second. He knocked Nick to the ground and got the mic
in his hands long enough to turn the transmitter back on.
Nick
regained his heading and came at Mark with full force. The washed-up sellout was no match for the
highly-trained secret agent and quickly fell victim to Nick’s harsh blows. He was able to get in a shot here and there,
but as they struggled on the stage, it was clear who the victor would be.
Justin
swooped down from his place in the rafters on a rope the same way he’d managed
to climb into them, and he killed the power to the TV cameras.
Nick
scrambled to his feet, but when he reached the mic, he was met with a much more
worthy opponent. For a brief moment, he
looked into the eyes of his old friend and was overcome with guilt. Justin’s good eye narrowed, and he used
Nick’s hesitation to his advantage. He
hit Nick so hard that he fell to the ground, unable to breath.
Nick,
being trained to take a hit, rose to his feet in a stance that was unmistakable
- Nick Carter was pissed and about to kick some serious ass. Justin matched his
stance, and they stood there, daring the other to make the first move. Everyone watching knew their history and
could see that this fight, this showdown, was so much more than a battle for a
victory. In a flash, they were on top of
each other, hitting and kicking and flipping and choking. Anything they could do to prevent the other
from getting the transmitter.
Nick
managed to get a hand on the mic first, and he smashed it, sending a million
tiny pieces about the stage, but the fight didn’t end there. The two old comrades flew at one another in a
battle that would make Mohammad Ali nervous.
So much emotion was released with each punch and there was so much
emotional hurt that the two would have continued on forever if they could, but
eventually, they were too tired to throw any more blows.
As
they panted for breath and wiped the blood from their faces, they continued to
stare at one another. Nick saw the
hatred in Justin’s eyes. He could no longer stand it and had to ask the
question. “Why?”
Justin
was caught off-guard by the hurt in Nick’s voice. He couldn’t believe that Nick felt betrayed when
it was he that had been treated in
such a manner.
“How
could you do it? I’m sorry you had to leave the agency, but how could you go to
work for them? Can’t you see you’re on
the wrong side?”
There
was such urgency in Nick’s plea that Justin found himself questioning his own
actions.
Nick
looked into the cold, dead machinery that covered the scar from that awful
day. He barely seemed human anymore.
“Drums… Justin… Tell me who’s done this to you.”
At
his words, Justin’s hatred returned.
“You know damn well who did this to me!” he snarled. “And you deserve to die for it!”
Nick
felt so deeply guilty that he let his guard down, and Justin pounced on
him. He punched and punched until Nick
could barely see and would have killed him, had not a crowd of confused people
gathered around them.
“Nick!”
Justin
jumped up and vanished in the sea of bodies, just as Diamond burst through it
and fell to his side.
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