A tall, blonde guy in a black windsuit greeted them with a look of confusion. The boys exchanged looks quickly. Zac kicked the door shut with a bang. Taylor and Ike grabbed the blonde teen idol, knocking him to the floor as he let out an "oof".

"What the HELL are you DOING?" The man asked. "Do you KNOW who I am?" He was incredulous. "Get OFF me you little turds!"

"We're onto you, Mister Dirty Pop!" Zac yelled.

"Dude, that was N'SYNC..." Taylor corrected.

"Whatever!"

"We know you're a robot." Ike revealed.

"A robot? What the holy HELL??? Are you guys experimenting with drugs or something?" The man asked.

"We know Pearlman's using you to take over the world and ruin music!" Zac told.

"Dude, we severed our contracts with Pearlman YEARS ago, even before N'Sync did it!"

"What's your group called again?" Isaac asked, a vague memory of an MTV news story causing him to suddenly doubt the logic of their restraining the guy.

"The Backstreet Boys! You REALLY don't know who I am?" He couldn't believe it.

The three guys looked at each other and shrugged.

"I'm Nick CARTER, DAMMIT!" He wiggled free of their grasp and they let him sit up, still standing quite a bit away from him.

Taylor raised an eyebrow. "You don't look like you do on MTV."

"Yeah, well... neither do YOU." He rubbed his wrist where Taylor had grabbed it. He stood up.

"How do we KNOW you're not a robot?" Zac asked skeptically.

"How do I know YOU guys aren't?" Nick shot back.

Zac shrugged. "We never had anything to do with Pearlman. You DID."

"Yeah, but we don't now. And from all the robot questions, I'm assuming you know why." Nick ran a hand through his shaggy blonde hair.

"You talk like a redneck version of Eminem." Zac noticed outloud.

"Oh yeah?" Nick asked. "Well, at least my voice is done changin.'"

Zac gave him his Look of Death. "Yeah, it gets pretty stable once you hit forty, huh?"

"Yeah, whatever." Nick brushed off the insult.

"So, what are you doing in Otown's dressing room while they're doing their soundcheck?" Taylor questioned.

"I could ask you the same thing."

"Yeah, but we asked you first." Zac crossed his arms over his chest and stared Nick down.

"I'm here," Nick walked over to the fridge and opened the door. He began pulling out several bottles of red liquid, "to keep Otown out of commission during our set so we don't have to worry about any 'accidents' onstage. He began emptying the bottles into the sink and turned the water on to wash it all down.

"What's in those?" Ike asked.

"A mixture of tomato juice," he opened another bottle and poured it down the drain, tossing the bottle into the trash, "gasoline," he looked inside the fridge, found the last bottle, "citric acid," and poured it down the drain, "and Kao Pectate."

"Isn't that what they give constipated people?" Zac asked.

"Yeah."

"So why do robots need it?" Taylor asked.

"It's gourmet robot food." Nick answered matter-of-factly. "And they have to have some once every hour at exactly forty degrees Farenheit, or they're just lumps of talentless metal with skin."

"They have to replenish their fuel supply that often?" Isaac was intrigued.

"Yup. The technology's not perfect."

"How do you know all this?" Zac asked him, still glaring at him suspiciously.

"I know EVERYTHING." Nick grinned.

"But how?" Taylor was confused. "How do the Backstreet Boys fit into all this?"

"Well," Nick began, "as you said, we used to work with Pearlman. Much like N'Sync, we got sick of being his puppets." He said 'puppets' with more than a subtle hint of noticeable bitterness. "So we started slowly trying to break free, but there was all this legal red tape in the way, so we were gonna stick it out for a little while longer." He hopped up onto the counter next to the sink. "Then we found out what Pearlman was planning with Otown." He gestured with his hands as he talked. "It was more than enough for us to decide to slap the fat bastard with a lawsuit. And we won." He shrugged. "He's been after us ever since. This here," he pointed to the sink where he'd emptied the bottles of robot food, "is one of our only possible precautions."

Ike looked deep in thought. Nick put a hand to either side of his thighs, palm-down on the counter. He swung his feet in lazy little scissor kicks. "So, why are you guys here?" He smirked in Zac's direction. "Sneakin' in for autographs?"

"Yeah RIGHT!" Zac yelped indignantly.

"We're here for the same reason you are." Taylor informed him. "We have reason to believe they might pose a threat to us during our set."

"Why do you think that?" Nick stopped moving his feet.

"A fan tipped us off." Tay tugged at one of the necklaces he was wearing.

Nick nodded slowly, then looked up at him. "But how do you know about them being robots?"

Zac and Taylor looked at their feet, not knowing exactly where to begin their explanation, very aware that they could easily blow their cover.

"N'Sync told us." Ike piped up.

Nick nodded again without further questioning on the issue. "Aren't you up next?"

"Up next?" Taylor repeated.

"To play?" Nick elaborated.

"Oh hell!" Tay exclaimed. We better go report for last rehearsal." He reached the door and opened it. Ike and Zac exited the room. Taylor looked back at Nick, who was now busily throwing sofa cushions around and knocking over chairs. "You comin'?"

"Nah," Nick answered, "I've got a little time before the tardbots come back. I'm gonna have a little fun at Pearlman's expense." He turned on the water in the sink and wedged a cushion underneath it so that water sprayed everywhere. He grinned. "Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Okay..." Tay waved and shut the door.