"Angel In Disguise"

"We have a problem," Tammy scowled at Michelle, who just seconds before appeared before her via fourth density jump.

"What's the problem?" Michelle asked, sitting on Justin's bed. The guys had left to do a photo shoot, and Tammy, after lying about "feeling the inspiration wave approaching", stayed home to try to begin the bothersome script.

"Me," Tammy sighed, "I'm the problem." She plopped onto her own bed and scowled again.

"Care to expound a bit on that highly ambiguous statement?" Michelle arched an amused eyebrow.

"Don't joke," Tammy sat up, glaring at Michelle. "Some weird shit is going on with me and I don't know what it is. I need your help."

"Well," Michelle rolled her eyes, "if you'd stop beating around the bush and just tell me what's wrong, perhaps I can help you." She looked into Tammy's eyes, seeing the stress and worry that the past twenty-four hours had left her with. "Did something happen?" she pressed for information.

Tammy nodded. "I was play fighting with JuJu…"

"As usual," her friend cocked her head to the side.

"…and he pinned me," Tammy finished with another glare.

"So?" Michelle shrugged. "Big deal, he beat you in a fight once out of ten million times. Big deal."

"Oh god," Tammy sighed in frustration. "Wake up, Michelle! Don't you get it? Don't you see something wrong with him pinning me after my kicking his ass a bajillion times? Do I have to spell it out to you?"

"Spell out what?"

"That's something's wrong with me!" Tammy exploded, rising to her feet. "When Justin and I, or any of the guys for that matter, rough house like that, there's never any doubt that I can slam them, or pin them. But this time…" her voice took on a note of sheer confusion, "… this time, I couldn't even push back when he was fighting me. It was like he was the strongest thing in the world. Or I was the weakest," she added with a wry smile.

Her words caught Michelle's attention and curiosity. "Hold on," she said, brows wrinkled in worry, "you say Justin was actually stronger than you?" After Tammy nodded, she asked intensely, "How do you feel?"

"Fine," Tammy shrugged. "I'm not sick or anything, if that's what you wanna know."

"No," Michelle locked Tammy with a piercing stare. "I don't wanna know how you feel health-wise. I wanna know how you really feel."

After a long, tense pause, Tammy sighed and answered quietly, "I feel like I did before I died… I feel normal."

Later that day, Michelle and Tammy were lounged on 'NSync's tourbus debating a game plan. Lance and JC were asleep in their bunks as the others stayed in the back playing video games. From the sounds of it, Joey was winning for once and Chris was playfully accusing him of cheating. Just as Michelle was about to go tell them to put a sock in it, Isabella shimmered into her physical form.

"Isabella!" Michelle greeted her with a tinge of nervousness in her voice. "Hi!"

"Hey," Tammy said with surprise, masking her discomfort quite well. "What the fuck are you doin' here?" she asked with false good-nature.

"I just came to chill with some of my best friends," she smiled easily, but Michelle and Tammy could detect something sinister in her eyes.

"Oh?" Michelle questioned, her voice tinged with annoyance. "How are we gonna explain to the boys how you got here? That was really dumb of you to just transport to the bus of all places. And what if they had seen you materialize?"

"They didn't," Isabella snapped, her mood changing swiftly and drastically. She leaned in closer and whispered evilly, "Enough of this buddy-buddy bullshit. I'm sick of playin' nice. One false move from either of y'all and I'm spillin' all the beans of our little secret."

"You wouldn't," Michelle stated, repulsed by the blank, soulless eyes of one of her best friends.

"I would," Isabella smirked. "What do I have to lose?" She looked at Tammy, who glanced at her then quickly averted her eyes. "What's wrong, T?" Isabella mocked. "Scared? Yeah," she continued with a nod, "I had a dream about you, and if it's accurate, then all I have to say is, 'There's now a new sheriff in town'."

"What kind of dream did you have?" Tammy asked quietly, locking her eyes with Isabella's.

As she gazed into Tammy's eyes, a look of realization crossed Isabella's face. "Christ," she chuckled in astonishment, "it is true. I can see it in your eyes. You've lost your powers! You're handicapped now, and there's nothing you can do about it." She started to laugh loudly as she saw the look of shock appear on Tammy's face.

"Will you shut up?" Michelle hissed in a loud whisper. "Do you want the guys to hear you?"

"I can talk as loudly as I want to!" Isabella shouted obnoxiously, planting her hands on her hips. She grinned as the guys came to the front of the bus.

"What's all the yelling about?" Justin asked, then looked at Isabella. "Izzy!" he screamed, holding out his arms.

"Hey J!" she screamed back, embracing him and laughing as the other guys scooped her up in a group hug. Michelle and Tammy merely exchanged scowls, noting how easily Isabella made the transition from preying enemy to loving friend.

"Where the hell'd you come from?" JC grinned at Isabella.

"Everywhere and nowhere," she answered mischievously. The ironic thing was that her statement carried nothing but truth in it, for she was actually relaying the dimensions of a fourth density jump. Tammy and Michelle exchanged looks again and sat back, deciding to play along with Isabella's game. They were determined to find out what her deal was, and regardless of Tammy's "handicap", they were going to get to the bottom of things.

As the night wore slowly on, Michelle and Tammy tried to "play nice" with Isabella, but it was obvious that they weren't dealing with the Isabella they knew; it was someone else. Someone evil and manipulative had taken over Isabella's character, exhibited through her newfound outrageous sexuality.

"Good God, she's worse than Christina Alguilera," Michelle frowned irritably as Isabella flirted with JC and rubbed noses with him, giggling like an airhead the entire time.

"Just smile and grin," Tammy replied, smiling widely as she muttered an expletive under her breath. She was sure that her and Michelle's act was convincing the guys, but she was wrong.

"Do you notice something weird about them?" Justin whispered in Lance's ear as they lounged in the back of the bus.

"Kind of," Lance answered. "They don't act like they usually do. All jokey and stuff. They seem kinda distant towards Belle."

"And speaking of Belle," Justin frowned in confusion, "what's her deal? She seems kind of, I don't know…"

"Flirty?" Lance offered helpfully.

"Oh yeah," Justin nodded matter-of-factly. "If anything, she's downright brazen. Michelle looks pissed."

"And what about T?" Lance wanted to know.

"She's the weirdest of them all," his younger friend answered. "She seems almost… scared of Isabella, ya know?"

"Scared?" Lance repeated, disbelieving. "No way. 'Scared' and 'Tammy' do not belong in the same sentence. Tammy is not scared of, for, or by anyone. Or anything," he added pointedly.

"I dunno," Justin muttered. "They're all actin' weird if you ask me. I just wanna know what's up." He glanced up towards the front of the bus where Joey had Isabella scooped up in his arms and was spinning her around as she laughed. "I think they're mad at each other."

Later that night, his suspicions were partially confirmed. The eight of them all were sitting in the lounge area of the bus, chatting idly. Or rather, the guys of 'NSync and Isabella were chatting and Michelle was reading a book as Tammy gazed sadly out the window. "Something wrong, T?" Lance called from his seat on the couch.

Tammy glanced at him, then rolled her eyes and looked away. Something about seeing her "innocent Lance" with Isabella perched on his lap annoyed her immensely. She couldn't believe that no one in the group noticed Isabella's drastic change of character. 'Are they that blind?' she thought to herself.

"Something I said?" Lance asked, still looking at Tammy, who went back to staring out the window, her dark brown eyes troubled.

"Don't mind her," Isabella said smoothly. "She's just pissed off about her handicap… Oops! I wasn’t supposed to say that, was I?"

Just as Chris was about to open his mouth to question Tammy about what her friend was referring to, Tammy glared at her and muttered loudly, "Bitch."

The atmosphere of the bus immediately dropped to below zero. "What was that?" Isabella asked with a deadly calm. "You think you wanna repeat that again, T?"

The boys of 'NSync stood perfectly still, not talking or moving, afraid that they would ignite a bigger scene than what was already forming. There was an ominous silence as Tammy looked out the window again, determined to ignore her.

"No words, Tammy?" Isabella taunted. "Maybe I should fill the silence by telling our friends more about your handicap. Or why you're handicapped by my standards."

"Cut it out, Isabella," Michelle glowered at her from her seat. She glanced at Tammy, then back at Isabella, determined to shift Isabella's attention to her, for she still had all of her powers and could take Isabella in a fight.

Isabella unfortunately, wasn't in the mood to deal with Michelle. She wanted to pick on Tammy a bit, relishing the fact that for once, she was stronger than her and could control the situation. She was determined to make sure Tammy knew how much of a disadvantage she was at with her "handicap". "There's so much to tell," she smirked.

"Like what?" Joey inquired quietly.

Isabella's only response was to smirk at Tammy, challenge written all over her face. 'I dare you to say something,' her eyes seemed to say.

Tammy narrowed her eyes at Isabella and smiled gently at her, trying to look as menacing as possible despite the overwhelming fear in her heart. "It won't last long," Tammy promised.

The entire time the guys sat there, mesmerized by the feeling of dread that hung in the air. They'd never seen Tammy and Isabella, seemingly the closest out of all five of the girls, speak to each other in such a manner. They also wondered what in the world they were hiding, and why Michelle and Tammy seemed so hesitant to tell them.

Later that night as the rest of the group was asleep in their bunks, Michelle and Tammy sat in the front of the bus and conversed about their volatile situation. "This shit is gonna blow up in our faces," Michelle groaned. "I guarantee it."

"I know," Tammy sighed. "This is all my fault, anyway. I should've never wished to know what it was like to just be normal once."

"Are you sure that's what happened?" Michelle asked. "Maybe it's just something you ate. Or maybe you need to meditate."

"Nope," Tammy shook her head, "I'm totally sure that's what happened."

"How do you know?" her friend challenged.

"Because," she answered, "the morning after I passed out, I woke up and my vision was blurry, only it wasn't, ya know? I then realized that I had the sight of a regular person. Plus, after running down the hall I was almost completely out of breath. Usually I can run up to four miles before I start to pant like that. Not to mention this," Tammy pointed to the tattoo of the snake on her arm.

"Lemme see," Michelle said, leaning closer for a better look. After a quick examination of it, she realized what was wrong with her tattoo and drew back in astonishment. "It's eyes…" she stammered.

"Ya, I know," Tammy sighed again. "It's eyes are closed. It looks like it's sleeping. Or dead. As long as the snake looks like this, I get the feeling that I'm gonna stay handicapped. Probably forever."

"Don't think like that, T," Michelle pleaded earnestly.

"Maybe you should," a familiar voice from behind them taunted. The two girls turned and saw Isabella standing there, her evil smirk still etched on her face.

"What do you want?" Michelle scowled.

"Nothing," Isabella shrugged. "But I'm gonna need some money so I'm planning on leaving for a while."

"What do you need money for?" Tammy frowned. "You don't have any expenses."

"That's what you think," Isabella chuckled. "I got a project that I need to carry out in three days and I need the proper materials."

"And where do you plan on getting this money?" Michelle asked, the disgust apparent in her voice. "You plan on trickin' for it? Pimps up, hoes down, huh?"

"Very funny," Isabella rolled her eyes sarcastically. "I have a way to get the money. It's not like you guys can stop me anyway. Let's just say I'm gonna 'Set It Off'." She laughed as she disappeared into a hyper jump, leaving Tammy and Michelle with a sense of inevitable defeat.

"She's gonna rob a bank," Tammy said quietly. "That's what they did in the movie 'Set It Off'. Robbed a bank. It's not like she's gonna get caught, anyway."

"So there's no stopping her," Michelle punched her fist into her open palm.

"There is," she replied, already deep in thought, "but it's gonna involve me having to leave for a couple of days, maybe even only one."

"Where would you go?" Michelle wanted to know.

"Back to where it all started. We go back to square one to solve this problem. Not just for us and the child, but for Isabella's sake. The black widow has consumed her completely and we have to bring her back before she does something stupid."

Michelle arched a brow. "We have to find out what she even wants to do first."

Tammy nodded. "You do that. I'm gonna catch a flight outta here and I want you to stay with the guys. It'll only be for a day. While I'm gone, call Serena and Yasmine and clue them in on everything that's going on. Take a meeting with the Elders and see what they have to say about it, and if we can somehow solve this problem."

"Wow," Michelle whistled, "even with a handicap you're on top of everything. Everything'll be done by the time you get back, O Fearless Leader."

Tammy sent her a watery grin. "Whatever. One last thing…"

"Yeah?" Michelle asked.

"Hyper jump me to the airport, will ya?" Tammy asked with a sheepish grin.

Ten minutes later, Tammy was walking through the gate at which her flight was departing. "It's eleven o' clock now," Tammy called. "By this time tomorrow night I'll be back."

"You'll meet up with us in Vegas, right?" Michelle asked her friend. Tammy nodded and waved farewell.

As Michelle watched her friend board the plane, she realized then that if they failed in this assignment, they would all wind up dead, including Isabella. The child's life, and the entire world's, would then be doomed.