Date: Fri,  9 Nov 2001 03:28:25 -0500
From: Shoma Shun Ukiya <dylan@celticwarrior.com>
Subject: Tales of a Superhero Band Chapter 1

This is the second time I'm writing a story series for Nifty, though I've
gone in a different direction from BSB Nsync Chronicles. This story is a
spin-off of the Tales of a Real Dark Knight series, started by James
Geckler. Tales of a Young Mutant in the celebrities section is also a
spin-off of the Dark Knight series, and is a good read too. Following the
tradition, I've also named this series with a starting of "Tales of ..." as
a beginning. Cool, huh? ;p

Special thanks to Rune, Aeoros and Mawsy for always being there, and for
being the first to read this story and giving it the thumbs up. Special
thanks to Mawsy for coming with the name Ocean Whispers, and for helping
with the singing positions too. And a special thanks to James for writing
his amazing series, which without it, this story would not exist. Comments,
questions and suggestions to be sent to dylan@celticwarrior.com or
ensstyenlc@hotmail.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclaimer: This story is fictional, and says nothing about the
orientations of any member of the boyband N Sync, or any other character,
celebrity or otherwise. If you are under 18 or 21, or live in a country
where it's illegal to read something like this, leave, though I seriously
doubt you will. If you don't like the idea of two guys in a relationship
with each other, or having sex with each other, what are you doing here in
the first place?

Though maybe none of the characters will be appearing, ideas taken from
these places will show up:

Buffy, Copyright 20th Century Fox, Created by Joss Whedon
X-Men, Copyright Marvel Comics, Created by Stan Lee
Charmed, Copyright WB, Created by Aaron Spelling

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Chapter 1

	"So Dylan, who's your victim?" Joy asked me, enjoying her choice of
words. I had somehow won a contest for two passes to meet Nsync at their
Meet and Greet session. I had problems finding someone to bring to the
session since my friends weren't exactly Nsync fans. I wasn't exactly a big
fan either, but I was a fan nonetheless. Okay, I was lying. I simply adored
Justin from Nsync, and the real reason why my friends wouldn't go with me
was because they didn't want to be seen in public with me looking like a
drooling idiot.
	I shrugged. "I really don't know. No one seems to want to
go. Unless you are volunteering."
	She made a face. "No thank you. I'll only go with you if you
really, really can't find anyone else to go with you."
	"Oh, thanks, that makes me feel so enthusiastic about going," I
said sarcastically. Joy grinned at me and patted my shoulder. She got up
and walked towards the kitchen.
	"You want a drink?" She asked.
	"No thanks," I replied, getting off the chair. "I have to start
getting ready for the meet anyway."
	I walked up the staircase and reached the second floor. I stay at
this house with my friends since it is a large house, and I mean LARGE
house. The entire second floor had eight bedrooms and a large lounge area
with no chairs, but plenty of bean bags and cushions for sitting. It even
had a baby grand piano, which was used often. With wall to wall carpeting
throughout the entire house, except bathrooms, everyone just walked around
barefoot. The layout was circular, the lounge being right in the
centre. Three of the four quarters of the house had bathrooms which split
the areas between them into sections of two bedrooms each. The fourth
quarter was obviously the staircase down, as well as to the third
floor. There were eight of us sharing the second floor, and the owners of
the house lived on the third floor. I assumed their room took the entire
third floor, but I cannot be certain as I have never been up there before.
	I was friendly towards most of my fellow housemates, though the
"three musketeers" were annoying as hell. The others were nice people, my
best friends being Joy, Reuben and Melvin. Joy is always cheerful, and is a
great musician. She plays the piano and the violin, and often does duets
with Reuben. Reuben is one of those people that you can't help but like. He
is very tall and lanky, and a very creative person. He plays the piano even
better than Joy does, and has a black belt in TaeKwonDo as well. Melvin is
a little more on the shy side, and more quiet, though he does have his
playful side too. His looks have caused many girls to turn towards him,
pointing and gushing about how cute he is, and he has a nicely muscled body
and is very sexy. Many were the times I could barely hold my own drool in
my mouth when he walked to his room from one of the bathrooms, wearing only
a towel. The four of us had formed an informal band called Ocean
Whispers. When the four of us were not singing acapella, then Reuben would
play the keyboard, and Joy the violin, while Melvin and I sang. We mostly
sang ballads and other dreamy songs, but were versatile.
	As I glanced around, I noticed that all three bathroom doors were
shut, indicating there were people inside. Diane's room door was open, so I
guessed she was one of the occupants. I could forget about one of the
bathrooms as Diane often takes hours in the bathroom, though none of us
have any idea why. I wondered who else could be in the bathrooms at this
time, so I decided to ask everyone again if they would go to the concert
with me, though I knew what their answers would be. I hoped that the
occupants would not be Brian, Edwin or Leon, as those three often got on my
nerves, though it was mostly Leon that was the mean one. I knocked on
Reuben's door, and opened it slowly. He was sitting in front of his
computer, his bed and his room a total mess. Something colorful was on his
screen because his normally black hair had blue highlights. He turned to
look at me.
	"Hey! Aren't you supposed to be getting ready for your concert?" He
asked, giving me a strange smile that puzzled me.
	"Yeah, but all the bathrooms are occupied. It's a meet and greet
session, actually," I replied, dropping onto his bed, after pushing a shirt
and his briefs off onto the floor.
	"I see," he said, turning back to his computer. "So why are you
here?"
	"Because I just need to ask if..."
	"No, I'm not going with you," he replied, interrupting. I sensed
something fishy, but his back was to me, and I couldn't read his
expressions.
	I got up and walked to the door. "I'll ask Melvin, then."
	"Melvin's out," Reuben replied, still using his computer.
	"Just great," I frowned. "Two of the three musketeers are occupying
the bathrooms."
	"Then tell Joy to hurry up," Reuben said while clicking his mouse.
	"Joy's in the kitchen. I think the third person is Diane," I
replied.
	"Diane's out too," Reuben shrugged.
	"Damn," I said as I left his room. "The musketeers are using all
three bathrooms."
	I walked to my room, which was next to Reuben's, and grabbed my
towel and my bottle of Tommy Hilfiger's Freedom. The closest bathroom was
at the eastern end of the house, between Leon's and my room. I put my ear
to the door and tried to listen for the shower running, or some splashes
from the bathtub. Nothing. I knocked on the door and waited, but there was
no response. I tried to turn the knob, but the door was locked. I was
irritated. I needed to use the bathroom, but all three were occupied, and
this one seemed to be empty but locked. I sighed, and walked through the
door. Yes, through the door. In addition to being gay, I also had
powers. The ability to walk through objects was one of them. I turned
invisible, in case it really was occupied, and I would not want to be
caught. I entered the bathroom and glanced around. The curtain separating
the bathtub from the rest of the bathroom was drawn back. The tub was empty
and dry.
	"Assholes," I growled, becoming visible again. "They locked the
doors on purpose."
	After my shower, I glanced at myself in the mirror, trying to comb
my unruly brown hair. My brown eyes looked back at me, frustration written
over them. I continued to dry myself, running over my lean body. Everyone
says I have a surfer's body, but I have not surfed before in my life. In
fact, I dislike swimming in the sea, uncomfortable with the idea of strange
creatures swimming between my legs, or beside me. Or creatures large enough
to bite my legs off without me knowing. I dried myself off, sprayed a bit
of the scent on me, and wrapped my towel around my waist. I opened the door
to the bathroom, and saw Leon's smug face looking at me. His black hair was
spiked up like some sort of porcupine, except that the spikes were facing
forwards.
	"I see you got in the bathroom after all," he sneered. I gave him
the finger, and walked to my room, and locked the door. I glanced on my bed
and saw a long black dress with a piece of paper on it. I picked up the
note and read: Hey, maybe you should wear this for your stupid concert,
fag. Signed, Leon. Crumpling the note, I tossed it into the wastepaper
basket and put on my boxers, then a dark blue Kappa t-shirt, and grey-brown
cargo pants. I picked up the dress and crumpled it into a ball, then opened
my door and tossed it in front of Leon's door, under his sign that said
"Property of Leon". I walked downstairs to see if Joy would go to the
concert with me. I walked to the kitchen to get a drink of water before I
left, and noticed a note left on the counter by Joy, telling me that she
had decided to go with me, and that she would meet me there in an hour.




	I hailed a cab and reached the hall where the session would be
held. I spotted Joy, wearing a pale green shirt and light blue jeans. I
stopped the cab and paid the driver, then stepped out to meet Joy, holding
out her ticket.
	"Bet you can't wait to see Justin, huh?" she teased me as she took
the ticket.
	"Yeah, though all of them are good looking," I replied. "I wish
Melvin and Reuben could be here too, though. This would be more fun as a
group outing."
	"I agree," Joy said, her brown eyes sparkling. Suddenly, the world
went black as two large hands covered my eyes.
	"Hey!" I said, trying to pry the hands off my face.
	"Guess who?" I heard Reuben's voice behind me.
	"Melvin," I replied. The hands let go of my face and I turned
around.
	"How did you know?" Melvin asked in his low voice, amusement on his
face. His eyes sparkled as he smiled. He was really cute when he did that.
	"Well, duh, your hands are bigger than Reuben's," I replied. "And
more fleshy too."
	"Darn, smart ass," Reuben said, standing up behind Melvin. He was
lean enough to hide behind Melvin, but he must have been crouching because
he was a whole nine inches taller than Melvin. "We saw how desperate you
were to meet Nsync, so we got another two more tickets. Then we kept Melvin
away, otherwise you'd have seen through the whole plan."
	"How'd you manage to get the tickets?" I asked, smiling happily.
	"My sister," Reuben replied. "She has connections. That's not all,
she managed to arrange for Ocean Whispers to be the opening act for Nsync's
tour!"
	"No! Really?" I was shocked. Reuben's sister was a
singer/songwriter, and had been all over the country singing her brand of
music, which was a mixture of Jewel and Alanis Morisette, but not
quite. Her saccharine sweet voice had earned her a recording deal when she
had performed for a charity function for her school. Apparently she wanted
to help us out too, which was very nice of her.
	"Woah, dude. Are you alright?" he asked. My eyes were just opened
wide, and I was shivering, despite the hot atmosphere.
	"Oh my gosh, what if I faint when I meet them?" I asked, my eyes
still wide, and my heart thumping like a machine gun.
	"Cool down, man," Reuben said. "They're just people, like us."
	Melvin raised an eyebrow at Reuben, who caught his glance. "Okay,
maybe not like us, but they're people too. You know what I mean."
	Melvin, Joy and Reuben were all childhood friends of mine, and the
four of us were pretty close. That was how we found out about each
other. We tell each other almost everything. They were like me, with
special powers, though theirs differed from mine. Melvin's powers were not
much, he could just hit someone with his power and make them fall into a
daydream state. Reuben was superfast, and healed quickly. Joy was able to
reflect anything towards whoever sent it, whether it was an object of
energy blast.

	"Come on, let's go meet Justin and friends," Joy said, pulling me
towards the entrance. "We get to meet them before the other fans do."





	We showed our passes to the bodyguards outside the backstage door,
who opened the door for us to enter. I could hear groans coming from the
many girls outside, obviously irritated that the four of us were let in
first. And that three of us four were guys. I could feel my legs trembling,
and I was taking very small steps. I was slightly relieved that we were
meeting them before the Meet and Greet session
	"Uh guys," I croaked. They turned back towards me. "I don't think I
can make it."
	"Hey, I'm nervous too, but not that nervous," Melvin said, messing
my hair.
	"I dunno, but I'm very nervous too," Joy said, her voice slightly
quivering. "And I'm not even a fan! But they are celebrities."
	Reuben rolled his eyes. "Sheesh... my sister is a celebrity, but
you guys don't get all wobbly kneed around her."
	"Well, that's different," Melvin retorted for me. "We grew up
knowing her."
	"Yeah well, minor problem." Reuben stuck his tongue out at Melvin
playfully.
	We walked towards an area in the back with a couch and a few
chairs. I sat on the couch, with Joy at the other end, while Melvin and
Reuben sat on chairs opposite each other.
	"Where are they?" Joy shifted in her seat.
	"Probably in make-up," Reuben said. "My sister always has to be in
Make-up for hours, and she hates it."
	"Really? Who's your sister? And I agree," I turned around to see
who was behind me. I stared at the man in awe. He gave me a smile, his blue
eyes sparkling.
	"Oh, my sister is Shimona, maybe you've heard of her," Reuben said,
standing up and holding his hand out. "Who are you?"
	"That's JC," I managed to say, as the singer shook Reuben's
hand. Reuben was withdrawing his hand when I suddenly blurted, "Don't wash
it. Don't wash it when you get home!"
	Reuben gave me a look and put his hand in his pocket. Melvin and
Joy stood and shook JC's hand as well.
	"We're Ocean Whispers, the group that's opening for you on your
tour," Melvin said. JC smiled. Then he put his hand out to me. I stared at
it for a while.
	"Sigh," Reuben said aloud. He got up and slapped the back of my
head. "Dude, snap out of it! He's trying to shake your hand."
	I blushed and grabbed JC's hand and shook it really hard. I barely
noticed him wince in a bit of pain.
	"Nice to meet you," he said, carefully extracting his hand from
mine.
	"Are these the fans?" a silky smooth voice spoke from behind JC. I
recognised it immediately.
	"No, they're Ocean Whispers," JC replied. "The band opening for us
on tour."
	"It's Justin," I breathed, my eyes opening even wider than
before. I gasped for breath as the world seemed to fade to black.
	"Hi there," he said, stepping out from behind JC, looking so damn
sexy. I had a major crush on him for the longest time, and seeing him
before me must have been too shocking for my system. The entire world
turned black.




	"Hey, wuss, you awake yet?" I could not make out who was speaking,
but I guessed it was Melvin. I could feel beads of water dripping down my
face. I slowly opened my eyes, and glanced up at a smirking face that I
vaguely recognised. As my vision cleared, I realised who it was.
	"Oh gosh, it's Justin," I exclaimed, sitting up, my eyes widening
again.
	"You know, usually it's the girls that faint in our presence,"
Justin said, grinning at me, revealing his perfect white teeth. "Judging by
your reactions, you're probably gay."
	"Well, I guess it is pretty obvious," I said as calmly as I could,
despite my heart acting like a machine gun again. "I'm sorry I passed
out. How long has it been?"
	"About half an hour," Melvin said from behind me. "The rest have
gone outside to the meet and greet. Just an update, we're going for dinner
with Nsync to get to know them better, since we'll be with them every day
for so many months."
	Dinner with Nsync? I must be dreaming, I thought. "Pinch me. On
second thought, no, don't."
	"Trust me, you're not dreaming," Melvin said. Coming from the
daydream guy, I had no choice but to believe him. But something still did
not seem quite right.
	"I can understand you staying behind to wake me up, but Justin?
Why'd he stay?" I asked Melvin.
	"I'm still in the room if you want to ask me," Justin said, raising
his hand a little, like a shy kid in class. I grinned at him.
	"So why did you stay?" I asked him, while Melvin just shook his
head and sighed.
	"Well, maybe because I'm totally flattered that a guy would pass
out at the sight of me. And it gives me an excuse to skip part of the meet
and make a grand entrance," Justin teased, holding his hand out to help me
off the couch. I took it, and trembled slightly as a tingle of energy
passed from his hand to mine. His hand shook a bit, and I knew that he felt
it too.
	"Woah, that's just too weird," he said, pulling me up to my feet. I
glanced at him, then at myself. I looked over at Melvin and caught his
eye. I directed my eyes to Justin, and Melvin's eyes followed. He looked
back at me, and his eyes opened slightly too.
	"You guys are freaky," he said, before turning away towards the
door.
	"What?" Justin asked, not understanding. I pointed at his clothes,
then at mine.
	"We're wearing exactly the same thing," I smiled. He laughed and
said, "Well, that's like someone's way of saying 'You two belong together',
with a little added 'duh!' factor to it."
	"Erm, okay," I said. "I don't think I caught what you said, but
what the heck. Why do I feel like it's not a coincidence that we're touring
with you guys?"
	"That's what I just said," Justin groaned.




	The whole session was not too bad, though the host made us
introduce ourselves. I felt it was a little dumb, standing in front of
everyone and saying my name. It was over at last, and we brought Nsync out
to dinner our treat. We chose to eat at the B-Street Club. We performed
there regularly, and got a twenty percent discount on all meals. It was
pretty much uneventful, except for Justin's flirting with me. At least it
seemed like flirting to me. I would blush every time he made any cute
comments, and look away. That gave Melvin a chance for revenge, because he
was usually the 'blusher' of the group, and I had often called him
tomato-head. Chris, JC and Joey seemed oblivious to the whole situation,
but Lance kept giving worried looks to Justin and furrowing his brow. Joy
was grinning like an idiot the whole time, and she barely ate. Everyone
danced for a while, except for Melvin and I.
	"So how's it going with Justin?" Melvin asked, smiling over his
coke.
	"What do you think?" I asked. I caught Justin staring at me from
the dance floor, and I gave him a small wave, then turned back to Melvin.
	"He was flirting with you during dinner, I see," he said. I
shrugged and grabbed his coke. I took a sip while he gave me a fake angry
stare.
	"I don't know," I said, giving him his coke back. I glanced at my
watch and frowned. As if they could read my mind, the whole group came
back, sweaty and tired from dancing.
	"It's getting late, we should sleep," JC said, wiping sweat from
his head with his sleeve.
	"So how are you guys going back?" Justin asked, putting his arm
around my waist. I jumped a little, but didn't say anything.
	"We'll probably take a cab back or something," I replied, slightly
uncomfortable. "Not a big deal."
	"Why don't we drop you guys off?" Lance asked. "We have a limo. And
it's just a phone call away."
	"Thanks," Reuben said. "We appreciate it."
	"No problem," Chris said. "After all, you did treat us to dinner."
	"Hey, we get a discount here," Reuben said. "And the bill was taken
out of our pay, so it's fine."
	Joey and Chris led the way up the stairs to the exit, the rest of
us following behind. Joey opened the door, and his face registered
shock. He slammed the door shut, but it did not block the sudden shout.
	"Oh my gosh, it's Joey from Nsync! He's in there!" I heard a girl
scream. She must have been a mutant or something with an extra powerful
voice because we could hear her over the club's loud music. It was soon
followed by a chorus of screaming of various girls.
	"We have a problem," Joey said. "I think I've been spotted."
	"You think?" Chris asked sarcastically. "Now how do we get out?"
	"We can use the back exit," I said. "We've been through this
before."
	Reuben caught the attention of one of the waiters, and pointed to
the doors. The waiter, familiar with the routine, motioned to us to follow
him. We followed the waiter through the kitchen at the back, then out the
back door into an alley. The guys smiled their thanks to the waiter, who
nodded, and closed the door. Even from the alley behind the diner, I could
still hear the screaming girls.
	"Does this happen a lot?" Joy asked Lance. He smiled and
nodded. "Unfortunately."
	"So how are we getting back to the limo, then?" I asked. Justin
shrugged. "I guess it's the alleys back, then. There are nine of us, so we
don't have to worry about being mugged."
	I heard slight noises from around us, near trash cans and
dumpsters. I stopped walking to listen more closely. Everyone noticed me
stop, and they stopped too.
	"What's wrong?" Melvin whispered. I held my finger up to my lips. I
sensed the movement around me with my power. I could sense Justin's heart
beating faster with anxiousness, and Reuben's breath slowly increasing in
speed.
	"Mosquitoes?" Reuben asked me. I nodded and held up all my fingers,
then pointed in front, then behind, and finally to our left.
	"That's all?" Melvin asked, smirking. "Easy pie."
	"No," I whispered. "Ten in each direction."
	"Thirty? Now that could be a problem," Joy said, looking
around. "Let's just try to move away as quickly as possible."
	We walked forwards, the guys of Nsync still confused to our
whispering, but keeping as silent as possible. We were nearing the end of
the alley when a group of ten people stepped in front of us.
	"What do you want?" I asked, stepping forward. One of the men, the
largest one there, stepped forward, and I assumed he was the leader of the
group.
	"We're hungry," he said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Care to treat us
to dinner?"
	I stood my ground and looked him straight in the eye. "I suggest
you leave us alone."
	"I don't think so. You don't know who you're dealing with," the guy
said. His face changed, and became bumpy and fierce. Fangs appeared at the
edges of his mouth. The rest of the vampires behind him transformed to
their demonic faces. I could sense the rest of his hidden gang changing
too.
	"And you don't know who you're dealing with either," I said
calmly. This obviously frustrated him, and he rushed towards me, which I
totally expected. He lunged at me, and fell right through me, right onto a
wooden stake Melvin held up from behind me. He snarled, and crumbled into
dust. I solidified as I drew a stake from one of my cargo pants pockets
(hey, that's what they're there for, right?).
	"Anyone else?" I said. I sense movement to my left, and tossed my
stake towards there, catching the vampire by surprise and dusting it. The
vampires slowly began closing in on us. There was a blur of movement as
Reuben rushed out suddenly at a female vampire. He staked her, then twisted
and staked another vampire next to her in the blink of an eye. One of the
vampires hiding behind the trashcans jumped out, leaping towards Joy. She
held her hand out and deflected him back into the wall, knocking him out. I
ran towards the trashcans, trying to retrieve my stake. A vampire leapt
through me, hitting the wall. I picked up my stake and stabbed him through
the heart.
	"Behind you!" I heard Melvin shout. I turned around as quickly as
possible, and staked a vampire trying to reach me. I noticed a vampire at
the corner of my eye edging closer and closer towards the guys of Nsync.
	"Melvin, cover the guys," I shouted. Melvin turned and flung his
hand outward. Immediately, the vampire was stunned, and Melvin stabbed him
easily. A vampire knocked me from behind, catching me by surprise. I fell
to the ground, my stake skittering away from me. The vampire reached to
bite my neck, but instead flew through the air. I turned to see Reuben
there, standing in a cool punch pose. He gave a little laugh, and turned to
beat up a few more vampires. The vampires were getting more organised
without their leader, and they stopped leaping suddenly, making Joy's power
useless. Melvin was getting exhausted, trying to protect everyone else by
stunning the vampires. A vampire grabbed a trash bin, and raised it over
his head, and slammed it down onto Melvin's skull, knocking him out.
	"No!" Justin shouted. There was a strange tingling in the area, and
the vampires around us were suddenly thrown back. They tried to rush at us
again, but were stopped by an invisible barrier.
	"Joy! Deflect my stake back to me," Reuben shouted, as he flung his
stake at a vampire. The stake went through the shield and pierced its
target, before flying back towards Reuben, who instantly caught it. I
caught on to the idea, and grabbed my stake, then realised that Joy might
not be able to deflect both stakes at once. And I did not have Reuben's
super reflexes to catch my own stake, and someone could get hurt if I let
it fly through me. I focused on turning invisible, then rushed at a vampire
and placed my stake through his heart. He crumbled to dust, and I quickly
went to work on the next one. I was getting tired, and I began to
re-appear. A vampire rushed towards me and knocked me to the ground. I was
too tired to use my power, and could do nothing to stop the vampire from
biting my neck. Once again, this vampire went flying, this time by an
invisible force as Reuben was nowhere near me. I turned to look, and saw
Justin with fear in his eyes, his arm outstretched and his eyes closed.
	"So he has power too," I thought to myself. The remaining vampires
turned and ran off into the night. I slowly got to my feet, shaking my head
to clear it. I must have knocked it when I hit the floor. Reuben was lying
on the ground sweating heavily, his shirt lying next to him.
	"I'm pooped," he said, sitting up. "There were so many of them."
	"How's Melvin?" I asked, rubbing my arm where I had fallen. Joy
looked up at us and smiled. "He's fine, just a little sore. They hit his
head, so it's not something important that we have to worry about or
anything."
	"Hey!" Melvin complained. I turned to look at the guys from Nsync,
worried about their reactions to being confronted with vampires and
supernatural powers. I found the response surprising.
	"This is getting sickening," Chris was complaining. "I mean, we've
already been through Turic, and then Lance gets attacked near his own
home. And now this. Are the vampires increasing or something?"
	I noticed Justin cringing slightly at the mention of that Turic
guy, who I assumed was a vampire. Lance gave him a worried look again.
	"How did you guys know about vampires?" I asked, still slightly
shocked at their knowledge of the darker forces.
	"We've run into them a few times," Joey said. "Batman has helped us
out all those times, too."
	I tried to hold down a chuckle. "Batman? He's just a rumour, I
doubt that he really does exist. There are rumours of him and Batgirl, and
even Robin running around and fighting crime. It's a little unreal, if you
ask me."
	"Unreal?" Justin spoke unexpectedly. "You can become intangible and
invisible, and you're calling Batman unreal?"
	"Hey, speak for yourself," Reuben defended. "You just created an
invisible shield, and tossed a vampire twenty feet away with a blink."
	"Well, trust me, Batman is very real," Lance said seriously.  I
tried to see if he was holding a joke back, but his expression was dead
serious.
	"Maybe you're Batman," Joy laughed. "And you're dating
Batgirl. Wouldn't that be such a cute couple?"
	"I'm not Batman," Lance said, looking slightly irritated. "And he's
not dating Batgirl either."
	"Okay, I'll take your word for it," I said quickly, strongly
hinting to my friends to let the matter drop. "So Justin, how long have you
had your powers, then?"
	"I really don't know," Justin said, puzzled. "I never knew I had
them. I didn't know I was a mutant."
	"You're not," I replied. "You're one of us. And we're not
mutants. We just have these powers."
	"How did you get them?" Lance asked.
	"I don't know," I replied, shrugging. "I really don't know."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To be continued...

How did you like it? Good, bad? Comments to be sent to
dylan@celticwarrior.com or ensstyenlc@hotmail.com

Okay, for those of you who don't know who Turic is, check out Tales of a
Real Dark Knight. Everything happens throughout the first 50 chapters. That
gives the full history there. For those who came from Tales of a Real Dark
Knight, welcome aboard for the ride! :) Also, don't forget to check out the
other spin-offs from Tales of a Real Dark Knight, which are Tales of a
Young Mutant (Celebrities section, not boybands) and Tales of the
Protectors.

There are many of really good stories on Nifty. When I'm more sure of the
titles (I just blindly click the purple links because then I know I'm
reading that story currently), I'll advertise them here. Especially read
Nsync Saga and Shadows of the Past, both written by my friend Rune. They're
of the fantasy/sci-fi genre, and they're very well done. That should be
about it... Ciao for now! :)