"Are you sure this is gonna work?" Haylee asked. "I mean, I kinda feel like we ought to have planned something more... elaborate."

"Well, what's more distracting than small explosions?" Liz asked. She patted her purse gently.

"Well, yeah, but... what if it doesn't work?" Haylee lowered her voice as they reached the line. "Or what if we get caught and they say we had weapons?" Haylee looked slightly panicked.

"Haylee," Liz said comfortingly, "Black Cats are hardly deadly. And besides, we'd just end up looking like two crazed fans who'd do anything to see Hanson, which is what we are, really. Only now, our purpose is for them AND us because we're going to save their lives. And in his gratitude, Taylor will fall MADLY in love with us." She grinned.

Haylee smiled softly and took a deep breath. "Okay... Okay. Let's do this."

"Indeed." Liz nodded.

Both girls hunched down and began tunneling their way through the crowd at the back door.

"Yeah, and then Taylor put his hand up my shirt..." A rather skanky girl was saying to a group of annoyed fans.

Liz and Haylee shot each other "Oh BROTHER!" looks. Liz grinned. Haylee visually tried to tell her to let it go, but Liz had already untied the laces on the girl's Doc Martens and was tying the four laces together. She smiled an evil smile.

Seconds later, they looked back to see the girl fall into the girl in front of her.

Liz glowed with impish satisfaction. Haylee just smiled and shook her head.

The girls popped their heads up and stood slowly when they reached the door. A mass of teenage girls behind them, they looked around for a few minutes before putting their plan into action. There were two guards at the door. One of them opened the door a crack. The other guard widened the opening and stepped outside, closing the door behind him. He shooed the crowd away as a few members of it followed him, pleading with him to get them backstage. About thirty feet away, he lit a cigarette and grumbled to himself.

Haylee was standing so close to the door now, with Liz behind her. Liz opened her purse and unwrapped one end of the large string of Black Cats she'd saved from last year's 4th of July. She fumbled in the pocket of her flared jeans for her purple lighter and held it ready. She exposed the long fuse and tapped Haylee on the shoulder. Haylee turned around and gave Liz a questioning look. Liz nodded at her and Haylee nodded back and turned around again.

The door opened once more and the second guard let a roadie out into the crowd. When the guard moved to close the door again, Haylee stuck her foot out and the door bounced and stayed open.

Liz took her cue and lit the fuse, tossing her purse a few feet away into the mass of girls. The noise was loud, and with it, the girls added their startled screams and scattered as all five hundred Black Cats went off in a neverending choir of small explosions.

It all happened in only a few seconds and when the guard stepped out slightly to see what had stopped the door from closing, he heard the explosions and made the mistake of stepping out a little too far to inspect. Liz ducked, grabbed Haylee's hand, and dragged her through the door past the guard's leg. He turned around just in time for them to close the door. It clicked and they could hear several fists banging on it.

"Wow..." Haylee was shocked. "It actually worked..."

"I know." LIz said, taking a few soft steps down the hall. "We're gonna have to try that sometime when nobody's LIFE is in danger."

Haylee nodded in agreement as they reached a wall with another hallway leading left or right.

"Which way do you think?" Liz asked.

Haylee's face grew into a look of worry and she pointed toward a person coming down the left hallway on a cell phone. "The opposite direction of HIM." She whispered.

The girls headed right. Liz whispered. "Just stay calm and act like you're SUPPOSED to be here." She advised.

"Hey!" The man was saying.

The girls picked up pace and pretended not to hear him. "Hey YOU!" The man was shouting now. "Do you have passes? You're not AUTHORIZED to be here!"

Haylee and Liz ran as fast as they could and turned the corner, ducking inside a door just beyond the turn and closing it. They stared at the door without breathing until they heard his feet round the corner and run past them.

"Crap!" Haylee exclaimed. "I'm gonna have a heart attack at twenty!" She put a hand over her chest.

"Wow!" Liz sighed heavily and attempted to catch her breath.

"Um... Excuse me..." A voice from behind them said suddenly.

Haylee and Liz exchanged frightened looks and turned around.

"OH MY GOD!!!" Liz yelped. Haylee let out a scream.

"Um... How did you get... What are you doing here?" Isaac Hanson was asking them from a mere three feet away.

Liz's mouth was still open. Haylee was hyperventilating and fanning her face with both hands.

Another figure appeared from behind the sofa he'd presumably been sitting on as Liz turned to Haylee and grabbed her shoulders. "Deep breaths, Hay. You can handle this."

"Are you okay?" The boy asked with a look of concern on his beautiful face.

Liz turned around to see who was addressing her and this time both girls screamed. Haylee closed her eyes and began an almost chantlike repetition of "OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGodohmyGod..." Liz just stared with her mouth open.

"I'll get some water." The third brother sighed as he shook his long hair out of his eyes and headed for the small kitchen of their dressing room.

"Do you need to sit down?" Taylor was asking.

Haylee continued her chant, but opened her eyes really wide and gripped Liz's arms tightly. Liz looked at him, brought her jaw back to sea level, and timidly said. "I think that might be best."

They both took seats on the L-shaped sofa. Liz alternated between looking worriedly at her flabbergasted friend and staring openly at Taylor.

Zac returned with the cup of water. "Here, this might uh... bring her back to Earth." He handed it to Liz.

"Thanks." Liz dipped her hand in the chilled water and put a hand to Haylee's pale cheek. She shivered a little and looked at Liz. "It's THEM." She said. "It's REALLY them."

Liz nodded. "Drink some of this." She moved the cup toward Haylee's face and Haylee sipped it slowly and then gently pushed it away with both hands.

"Better?" Tay asked.

"Uh-huh." Haylee answered slowly. "Sorry." She apologized sheepishly and looked at her lap as she said it.

"No problem." Taylor assured her.

Haylee smiled timidly and looked up again with the light pink glow of a blush decorating her cheeks. "I'm okay now." She nodded her head.

Liz took her eyes off her friend again to stare at Taylor.

"So, um..." He didn't know how to begin, even though he'd done this SO many times now. "Did you want us to sign something... or..."

"Actually," Liz started." We uh... Well, we LOVE you guys, but we didn't come just for autographs..."

"Woah..." Zac put up a hand in a slightly alarmed gesture. "We... uh... We don't do that..."

Liz was confused. "Huh?"

"My brother here is... just a bit retarded from time to time - " Taylor explained.

"It comes and goes, kinda like Tourettes." Ike nodded.

"Well, what DID that mean then?" Zac asked.

"Oh!" Liz returned to her surreality suddenly. "We came to warn you."

Haylee nodded. "We have reason to believe that..." She stopped and looked at Liz. Liz gestured for her to go on. "We have reason to believe that your lives are in danger."

Zac grinned and supressed a giggle. "Really?"

Ike was curious. "How so?"

"Well, we overheard some... things." Liz said. "And someone's planning to cut the rigging above the stage so it will fall during your set."

"Hey! Isn't that how Marilyn Manson killed us on Celebrity Death Match?" Zac chuckled. "That was a good one."

"Shush." Tay snapped.

Zac frowned at him.

"Who's trying to kill us?" Ike asked them.

"You won't believe us." Haylee said, shaking her head.

"Try us." Tay said.

Neither of the girls could hold out on Taylor if he was looking into their eyes, and he was looking from face to face, sorting out in his head whether they were making it up or not.

Liz shrugged in a "What have I got to lose?" manner and sighed. "Otown." She prepared for their laughter, but as she said it, even Zac became straight-faced and quiet.

"You're not gonna like, have us arrested, are you?" Haylee asked.

"Look," Liz attempted to plead with them, "I know it sounds crazy, but I know what I heard and we couldn't let it happen. You CAN'T play tonight. You just CAN'T! PLEASE listen to us?"

"Well, the craziest thing of all is..." Zac said seriously. "I think I can pretty much speak for all of us when I say that we actually believe you."

"Really?" Haylee asked.

"Really really." Ike confirmed.

"Oh good." Liz laughed a little. "So we don't have to kill Otown..."

Tay laughed. "We have the most dedicated fans."

"You're talking to two girls who just set off five hundred Black Cats and locked out that poor guard to get here." Liz laughed.

Zac found this amusing too and laughed with Liz.

"So what're you gonna do?" Haylee asked.

Ike looked at the others. "Well, I don't think Otown will be making it to their set." He answered vaguely.

Haylee changed to a surprised expression once again. "So we ARE gonna kill Otown?"

"We'll see." Ike stood up from the sofa and began pacing the room.