The Jack of all Trades
An Epic Tale by moonlightbear
The youngest of this family of heroes is always left behind, until he is the only one left. What happens when the world falls into an endless sleep and only Alan, an old schoolmate, and their friends are awake to stop the coming destruction?
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the idea for the crossover.
Life, Brothers, and the Beginning of a Journey
"Alright Alan! Good timing, some more practice and you might beat your brother's record!" Coach Evans exclaimed after he passed the finish line.
"Damn!" Alan muttered as he came to a stop, and slowly walked away. Never! He thought to himself. I'll never beat them! Any of them… He was always second best to one or all of his brothers. They are all specialist at what they can do, where as he is only good at everything. Just once Alan wished he had a leg over his brothers at something, anything.
Alan is one of the best pilots and drivers at sixteen, but his brother Scott was at fourteen years old. He can swim a mile in 2.7 minutes, but his brother Gordon won the Olympic gold medal for swimming the mile in 1.9 minutes at sixteen. He can play the piano, drums, even a harp with great talent, but his brother, Virgil can do all that and more.
Today was the last straw, since he joined the Track and Field team at school he learn of yet another of his brothers' accomplishments. Alan has a vast knowledge of the stars and the mythology behind them, but not as much as his brother John does. Heck, John has two books published on the subjects. Alan thought that's all his older brother had over him until he ran his first lap in practice and the coach truly put him in his spot. Alan tried to quit, but Coach Evans wouldn't let him.
Alan finished his shower and dressed in the locker room. Seeing the youngest member of the varsity track and field team shoving his running short into his bag and tossing it onto his shoulder with obvious aggressiveness, Darren Dobber decided to ask, "You upset about something, Tracy?"
"Nah, just happy summer is finally here! See you next year!" Alan told him, putting on a fake smile and heading out the door. It was raining again. Something tugged at his stomach and a strange feeling came over; he paused, and looked around himself. Nothing, it was nothing. He continued on his way, hopping up the stairs to his dorm building and entering into the common room.
"Hey guys!" Alan called out to the rambunctious crowd of immature, teenage boys that filled the room. Music was playing loudly and one goof ball was dancing like a goober on the air-hockey table, while six or so of his roommates egged him on. Ten others were lounging in front of the TV, staring like a bunch of zombies, watching some kind of Wild Party Girls DVD. Louis Tambour always brings the best stuff. A few of the guys were playing a game of pool and just past them were three of the smaller kids in the dorm. Fermat and a couple of his science club buddies were talking about algorithms and going a mile a minute on their computers. The last group was sitting in the corner playing cards and shouting Bull-Shit loudly every few moments.
Alan waved at his best friend, Fermat, before joining the card game. He grabbed the pile of cards on the table and sat down, "Mind if I join?" He asked. A couple patted him on the back and they laughed. Nothing could bring any of them down because tomorrow everyone will be heading home. A couple of hours passed and he won several of the card games, maybe that's where he could surpass his brothers.
"I swear you cheat, Tracy!" One of the guys at the table exclaimed as he lost again.
"Wouldn't you like to know…" Alan replied with a crooked smile. Everyone laughed and a few eyed him suspiciously. They continued to play until it was so late one of the building monitor's came down and booted them out.
The next day Alan and Fermat waited in their dorm room until they heard a bunch of hormonal boys start making a bunch of obnoxious cat calls. Had they no respect? Unfortunately, it was a classic sign that their ride was here. Her name: Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward or just Lady P, for friends. Her friend, chauffeur, and butler: Aloysius Parker or rather, just Parker and in his older, shadier past Nosey was the name to use. Their ride: an awesome, custom, modified, bright pink Roll Royce; it can drive, fly and it's one of a kind! Its name: FAB1. This family friend says everything they need to by just showing up.
The two boys met her in the common room and said their last goodbyes to their friends. "Internet poker on Saturday okay, MacDarwin."
"Yeah yeah!" MacDarwin replied.
"Jason, I'll e-mail you tomorrow with the finished product of that thing we were doing last night okay!"
"Sure, I'll double check it and have my dad get it patent for us before we send it to the National Science Bowl!"
"Great!"
"Boys, I'm afraid we're on a tight schedule today, and we must be going." Lady P announced courteously, in her heavy English accent.
They hurried to the car and headed for the cliff off the Eastern Coastline and took to the skies. Alan noticed they were taking a different route to their home, a private island in the South Pacific, and asked, "Why are we so far south? It seems odd…"
"Avoiding weather my dear, nothing to worry about." Lady P told him and then turned to Parker. "What is our ETA?"
"ETA twenty-three minutes, and I believe we'll have a show in three, M'lady."
A couple of minutes passed and a rocket sped past them at incomprehensible speeds and then it slowed down. The rocket did a barrel roll and a few other tricks as a giant green cargo ship grew level with the car and the men in the cockpit waved and gave the pink car a thumbs up before both flew off into the distance.
That was Alan's family. On top of books, records, awards, and metals his family is the anonymous International Rescue. Also known as the Thunderbirds (the name they gave their incredible machines) were created to help where basic rescue services can not. The idea came about after the death of Jefferson Tracy's wife and loving mother of their five wonderful sons. It was an avalanche on their winter vacation nearly twelve years ago; she didn't die in the original ambush of snow and nature, but rather waiting for the rescue that took too long. She froze to death and it devastated the family. After grieving for a long time, Jeff realized he didn't want anyone to go through what he did with his family and with time and patience the plans and development for International Rescue came and were finished. The Thunderbirds have been active for the last four and a half years.
They are considered visual heroes of the modern age and everyone wants to be them. Its taken time, practice, and technology beyond the years to keep their identities hidden, so Alan's family can live a normal life when they are not on missions saving lives. Unfortunately, sometimes even all of that doesn't work. A little more than a year ago their home, organization, and lives were threaten by a man who called himself The Hood. He tracked them to their home, took over the island, attempted to murder Alan's father and four older brothers, stole Thunderbird Two (the big green one), and created havoc in London. Alan and his two best friends, TinTin and Fermat, whose families also live on the island, stopped the Hood, saved Alan's family, and rescued a bunch of people the Hood endangered in England. Since then every school break the three youngest members of the island had, they trained and trained, and sat in on missions. They had the dream millions around the world wanted; they were official members of International Rescue and training to be the best rescuers ever.
But alas, his brothers were better than he was at all this; that never stopped him from trying though. He couldn't wait to get home and talk shop on the 'Birds and plans for their summer training. He also couldn't wait to see his girlfriend, TinTin, who was home schooled by her father.
Summer had gone by so fast and school was less than two and a half weeks away. Instead of training in simulators for the Thunderbirds, sitting in on the next mission, or relaxing on the beach with his best friends, Alan was sitting in a small stuffy office just outside his father's large office while his eldest brother, Scott, attended to some paper work. They were at his father's company, Tracy Industries, in New York City. It was supposed to be a Business Vacation, meaning while they are in the city for business they'll also go to Coney Island, the Statue of Liberty, and Jojo's Pizza on Eighth. Everything got cut short though because their father wants them to head home early, before the storm cell that's been moving slowly across the country hits the city.
The freaky weather all summer has caused numerous missions for International Rescue. Every two or three days they had another city to save. Flooding was worst than ever and mandatory evacuations were issued as the storm continued to get worst. It was like one hurricane slowly crossing the country, destroying everything in its path, and it was finally getting to the eastern coast.
Alan has been waiting patiently; he was playing online games, watching a movie, and listening to his IPod in his father's personal assistant's office. He looked down at the bottom of the computer screen and saw the time, it just after seven o'clock in the evening, and an hour after they were supposed to leave. "What the…?" Alan muttered to himself. As he muted everything and got up, he realized something else. It was unnaturally quiet, not like the bustling corporate office it always was. Something was wrong.
He opened the door and the silence continued. A shiver ran down the teenager's spine. Slowly, he walked into the bigger office where his brother was supposed to be and he froze in the doorway. On the ground, was a pair of high-heeled clad feet sticking out from behind the desk. He took a deep breathe and moved farther into the room. On his right next to the filing cabinets, curled into the fetal position, and sucking his thumb was Peter Leon. Peter was new to the company, but had big dreams and so he was starting from the bottom up. He was an errand boy.
After Alan noticed Peter, he heard the noise that always drove him insane when he'd stay up late watching TV with his brothers. It was Scott's snoring. He tried desperately to wake him but he wouldn't budge, instead he just snored louder. Alan saw Loralynn too; she was snoozing on the ground on the far side of the desk, hence the lady feet. He soon realized it wasn't isolated to just the office, but the entire floor. All the cubicle style desk had people slumped over them or on the floor. He double checked several people; no one was dead, they were just simply sleeping and wouldn't wake.
The teenager paused as he passed a window, then grabbed his jacket, and ran to the roof to get a better look. He froze, standing on the edge of the roof with a city view below him. The sleeping spell wasn't just in the office, on the floor, or even just in the building… It was the whole city!
His hand shook as he brought his wrist to his face, clicked the open link, and said, "Alan to Thunderbird Five. Come in John." His words got a little lost as the wind blew hard around him, but he stood his ground.
"John here, what's up, Al? You and Scott almost home?" A man in his mid-twenties asked. Out of all his brothers Alan and John look the most a like. They both had blonde hair and blue eyes, much like their mother. Alan shook his head no, and John noticed the haunted look on his baby brother's face. "Alan, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost!"
Alan looked seriously into the face of his watch and told his brother, "Zoom into the City."
"Al, what… I don't-"
"Zoom into New York City and tell me what you see! Tell me it's not the whole world, please!"
John did as his brother asked. Clicking like a mad man on the keyboard of the massive computers onboard the space station. After a few minutes he froze, eyes dilating in fear. "What… What happened? Are they all-?"
"Asleep? Yes."
"They're not-?"
"Dead? No. I've checked a bunch, they're all sleeping like babies."
"And Scott is…?"
"I, I tried to wake him, but I can't! John, am I the only one awake?" Alan's voice was strained. He was trying with all his might not to panic.
"I've alerted base, and as far as I can tell it's only the Island of Manhattan that's asleep. Outside of there things are moving slowly; the farther away you are from the city, the more back to normal pace things are. There also seems to be crowds by the bridges and tunnels. That's weird…"
"Yeah," Alan mumbled.
"No, I mean by the Empire State Building. Lighting just keeps hitting it."
"I see it, too."
"And there's a person pacing by the front door… And a truck, or something moving."
"You think they might know what's going on?"
"I don't know little brother. Wait for dad and the-"
"I'm gonna find out!" Alan said deciding on a plan. There was no way he was just going to sit and do nothing.
"What?!" John exclaimed. "No, Alan stay at the company! Dad will be there soon!"
"I'm already on the scene, John. I'll find out what's going on and let them know when they arrive!" Alan cut the communications before his brother could reply. He went down in the elevator and once he hit the ground level, he pulled a couple of sleeping employees out. Elevators could be dangerous and when ever everyone wakes up they probably wouldn't like to find themselves stuck in an elevator. He couldn't do it for the whole city, but he figured while he was in the building he'd get everyone out of the elevators.
Once outside, he jogged down the street. Tracy Towers are only about fifteen blocks away from the Empire State Building. As he headed to his destination, Alan moved a woman and her baby on to the sidewalk, and away from the car which was an inch from running them over; turned off a taco stand that started to smoke; powered off a couple of cars that were getting over heated. The lone teenager passed dozens of fender benders and quite a few injuries. The only question that ran through his mind was: why am I awake?
As he got closer, he got stealthier. Watching where he stepped and listening for sounds. He ducked behind a news stand as a van swerved in and out of the line of stalled cars. Soon he was just around the corner when he began to hear people talk, "What?" A girl's voice asked. "You see invaders?"
"No, right there—Dylan's Candy Bar! Dude, it's open, and everyone is asleep! Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" A boy replied with the same mischievous voice Gordon always uses when you asked him if he's done something and he answers no. Another girl responded sourly to the boy's question, which made it all the more funny.
Alan couldn't help but laugh. It was a small noise compared to his watch, which choose that moment to sing. It was the classic Thunderbirds jingle his brother, Virgil created. Alan stumbled backwards, stopped the tune from playing, and listened to the other people, but they were no longer talking regular. They were whispering.
"What?!" Alan hissed into his watch, as he turned away from the Empire State Building.
"Excuse me young man, but you are already treading on thin ice! Go back to my office now!" Jeff Tracy said over the watch giving his son a stern look.
"No! I'm right here; I was about to find out what's going on!" Alan whispered urgently.
"It's not safe, you're alone and the 'Birds won't get there for at least an hour. We're coming as fast as possible, son!"
"I know and I'm being care… ful." Alan hesitated on the last word because he just turned around and found himself at knife, sword and arrow point. He swallowed hard.
"I don't care, Alan. I want to know you're safe. Please do as I ask…" Jeff pressed again, apparently not noticing anything was wrong.
The boy with a bow and arrow in his hands gestured toward the watch, telling Alan silently to answer. "Okay…"
"I'm proud of you, Alan." Jeff replied, thinking his son had grown up from the hyperactive, overly confident, slightly self-absorbed boy he had been before the Hood incident, a year before. The truth was he was still hyperactive, but he's always been that way; it was a natural thing for him. Confidence is just part of the Tracy family persona; although, it has been toned down in the youngest Tracy and he no longer fakes the attitude either. As for the self-absorbedness, that is long gone; all he wants is to help people. "Head back to the office. The Thunderbirds are on their way!"
Alan closed his eyes at the mention of the 'Birds, and sighed. "FAB."
The connection was cut and the kids who had Alan at weapon point started talking. Two of them were muttering to each other about the Thunderbirds, while the third stepped forward. "You're coming with us!" And he pushed Alan forward toward the front of the Empire State Building.
A few minutes later Alan and his capturers walked up to a group of at least forty or so kids and teenagers. The oldest person there might have been twenty. A blonde boy with watery eyes was near a sleeping policeman was saying something. The only thing Alan heard was, "Why just the mortals?"
"This is a huge spell." A really pretty girl with a solemn look said. "The bigger the spell, the easier it is to resist. If you want to sleep millions of mortals, you've got to cast a very thin layer of magic. Sleeping demigods is much harder."
Alan was at a lost for words and he stopped in his tracks. One of the guards that was pushing him toward the group didn't notice he stopped and accidently scratched him with his knife. "Ow!" Alan said loudly.
Two of the guards started muttering to each other, saying stuff like he's not mortal. The third exclaimed he already knew that.
"Mortal?" Alan asked. "And you're not? Demigods? Magic? What are you guys talking about?! What did you do to the city?!"
Everyone jumped at the presence of this new, seemingly clueless person. The leader stepped forward, slowly looking up at the newcomer and said, "We didn't do thi--… Alan?! Alan Tracy?!"
"Huh," Alan replied, and then he looked into the face of who seemed to be the leader. The one who called him by name had the same sea-green eyes and black hair, as a boy he befriended five years ago. Both were blamed for a science lab fire and expelled. "No way! Percy, Percy Jackson!"
End chapter…
Wow what a chapter!!! This is the longest chapter I've ever written… the following might not be so long but the will some length to them…
Most of the length was due to explaining the thunderbirds… in a future chapter full explaination of the Percy Jackson series will occur so both parties understand every thing… thank you and please review!!