Gordon and the Technicolor surprise

by TigreMalabarista

Easter is a fun time to dye eggs and chat. For the Tracys, it's also a time to remember family. For Gordon, this year's egg coloring event couldn't come at a worse time - and his mood is affecting his entire family. That's where his family's humor and Brains' ingenuity come into play.

Thunderbirds are the work of Gerry Anderson.

This story has ties to "A Dinner with Danger," but can be read on its own. Thanks to crystalquirt for beta'ing.

888888888888

It was a nice, warm spring day on Tracy Island. The birds were singing, the tropical flowers were scenting the air with their warm scents and colors, the pool beckoned everyone to take a dip...

Except for the Tracy brothers, who were instead smelling harsh vinegar, hearing the clanking of ceramic mugs, and seeing a whole set of artificial colors - including a gaudy purple and pink track suit.

"C'mon Grandma... do we really have to do this?" whined Gordon. He was having a rough day from a tough water rescue. The victim survived, but his lower back was still protesting the minor blow it received. The pool was calling him to relax, let the stress off his aching muscles and get away from his annoying brothers.

Scott however broke those dreams by chuckling. "Yeah, you have to. We all are doing this for Alan and Grandma," he said. "Even John's come down to help out."

"He's probably just happy that he doesn't have to explain to EOS again why we - her words - 'pigment the ovular offspring of the avian species'," said the aquanaut, chuckling as he remembered the story.

John, standing nearby, rolled his eyes and did a faceplam. "Please don't remind me of that nearly three-hour lecture I gave her explaining the reproductive system of chickens," he groaned.

"Couldn't have been that bad bro," said Alan.

"Oh it could be - an hour alone was just the difference between a rooster and a hen," said the older astronaut. "I'm already dreading the day she wants me to give a lecture on other reproductive habits - particularly humans."

Gordon chuckled, imagining how John would try to tell the story of 'the birds and the bees' to an AI that - while very smart, had the intellect of a child when it came to human nature.

He then continued. "Still, Alan's 20 - he's not a kid anymore," he said, patting his youngest brother on the back.

"Bro - I have a friend in Texas who is 24 and still hunts them with her younger cousins," said Virgil, who guffawed. "She still grumbles that it always ends up 2:1 the younger one's favor."

Gordon snorted. "Still - do we REALLY have to dye Easter eggs? This is something a kid does..."

Just then Alan stood up and looked at Gordon almost eye-to-eye. "Who are you calling a kid - kid?" he said, smirking at the mere one-inch difference of height.

"I'm not the one who still hunts Easter eggs," said Gordon, who watched as the orange PAAS dye melted in the cup of vinegar.

Alan was going to say something when a bop on Gordon's head stopped the fight. "Now enough fish face. This was something you always did with Jeff right up until he disappeared," said Grandma Tracy, whose eyes were a lit with a bit of humor - and sadness. "We're going to continue that tradition until he comes back.

Sally then set a bowl of eggs on the table.

John leaned over and carefully picked one up to dye in purple dye. He paused when he thought they felt cold.

"What the?" he said, quirking an eyebrow. Then, as anyone with scientific curiosity would do, placed the egg on the table - and spun it.

When the egg sluggishly turned, he looked up. "Um, Grandma... did you cook the eggs?" he said.

The senior of the family nodded. "I did. Let the water boil and then set them in there for a couple of minutes," she said.

"Literally a couple?" said John, giving a soft smirk.

"Yes... why?"

He chuckled. "They're not cooked through Grandma. They should be able to spin fast if hard boiled," he said, spinning to egg again to prove his point.

John choose to not say they still felt cold to the touch. He had a feeling by boiling water, she saw the tiny bubbles and thought it was hot enough, not the rolling boil she should've had them at.

Gordon laughed and clapped his hands once. "Great! That means we don't have to dye eggs yet," he said, starting to stand up. "Time to take a dip of my own."

Scott and Virgil however sat him back down. "We can wait the few minutes for them to hard boil, then cool and dye," chided Scott, patting his brother's shoulder. He then went over to Grandma Tracy, helping her set the dials for a proper egg boil.

Gordon grumbled and did what he could to bide his time waiting for the eggs to cook. First he tried his hand at the wax crayon, drawing designs on paper before adding drops of the food coloring to create a pretty decent picture of a squid.

He then tried to quietly debate the merits of stickers on the eggs, to either use them properly or adorn Alan's face with them during the night.

Gordon had a good chuckle at that idea - he'd tease his brother he had "Easter rabbit measles" and try to feed him some of the remaining Bertie Botts Beans from the mystery dinner. He had been saving the skunk spray and canned dog foods ones for a prank on Alan.

Then, totally bored by three and a half minutes, Gordon fiddled with a packet of powdered egg dye. He squeezed it in his frustration, popping it. The dye dispersed and adorned Virgil, John and especially Alan in pink dye.

The aquanaut, seeing the colorful trio, laughed. "Oh, I guess I dyed the chickens instead," he said, chuckling.

Alan was about to say something but coughed out a small puff of pink dye, making his immediate older brother laugh harder. "You think this is funny huh?" he said tauntingly, reaching for a pack of blue dye.

He was about to throw it on Gordon when a gentle hand stopped him. "Alan, I'm sure it was an accident," said Sally with a smile. Alan pursed his lips but nodded out of respect for his grandmother.

Gordon chuckled. "Yeah it was, but you should see the looks on your faces," he said. "Pink is definitely not the right color for any of you."

"Fine - we'll wash up and let you decorate our eggs as punishment," said Virgil, having enough of the aquanaut's antics and grumblins.

The trio of Lady Penelope wannabes narrowed their eyes and started to stand up to leave.

Sally however rolled her eyes. "Boys - it was an accident, even if Gordon thinks it's funny. You've been more colorful before dying Easter eggs," she chided. She handed the trio face wipes to clean their faces as she continued. "Now, the eggs are cooling down and it'll take maybe 10 minutes to decorate your batch."

Virgil and John in particular noticed a glint of humor in their grandmother's eye, as though she had something up her tracksuit sleeve. What it was they weren't sure of yet, but it was clear that Grandma Tracy wanted all of them together.

The medic nodded. "Yes, why don't we start decorating? The sooner we do, the sooner they can be put in the 'fridge so I can make deviled eggs this evening. I've thought those barbecued shrimp and chive ones everyone likes," Virgil said, knowing Sally would let him make the eggs.

Last time she tried, she confused horseradish with mayonnaise and - in as large of a dose she mixed, turned the eggs into near stink bombs.

Then again - Virgil had to admit the eggs proved some usefulness during a rescue.

They were as good as smelling salts reviving Francois Lemaire in Thunderbird Two after he fainted seeing his most recent luxury item melt in a volcano.

That said, he didn't understand why Lemaire then ate it and, after a moment, wanted the recipe for the "gourmet eggs."

He shook his head and chuckled at the memory as he started working on his eggs along with his brothers.

Alan dyed his eggs green and red, his two favorite colors. Sometimes he'd add purple and other colors, gradually adding layers of color to create two-toned or even triple toned eggs.

John was a bit more scientific on his and would use the wax crayon to draw constellations on the eggs before dipping them into the dye. The wax kept the dye from sticking, so pictures of Ursa Major, Orion, Cassiopeia and other favorite stood out against purple and blue dye.

Scott was swift and agile flying Thunderbird One, but coloring eggs was another story. He kept trying to copy some of Alan's techniques dying the eggs but he kept dropping the full eggs in the dye.

Several of his eggs were looking more like multi-colored masonry than proper Easter Eggs. They'd likely be the first used for Virgil's deviled eggs.

He conceded at least the shade of brown was more of a pretty russet brown instead of mud. After a few failures he chose to dye his eggs blue and add stickers.

Virgil, like the true artist he was, would draw ornate patterns on the eggs that would give Peter Carl Faberge's Imperial Easter Eggs, made in the early 20th century, a run for their money. He then carefully dyed the colors in precise intervals to produce jewel tones - including a delicate goldenrod yellow - that no one expected from a set of basic crayon color dyes.

Gordon however dyed all his eggs orange - no adornments, no stickers, nothing.

Plain - one note orange and even then just enough to show the eggs were artificially dyed and not as though laid by an Easter Egger chicken herself.

He then pushed his chair back and stood up. "Well, that was fun, but the pool calls me," he said.

The others looked at Gordon's half-dozen eggs and furrowed their brows. "C'mon Gordon that's cheating," chided John.

"You said to dye the eggs - I've dyed them," the aquanaut protested, rubbing his lower back in pain.

"Yeah - but couldn't you do a two-toned look like your Hawaiian shirt?" said Scott. "At least then they'd look like you."

Gordon chuckled and gestured to half of Scott's clutch of eggs. "Just like your mud-hen ones?"

Scott scoffed. "Hey, at least I was trying something new and failed..." he said, only to see his brother walk off to change. "Gordo, I was talking to -"

"Leave it be Scott, he did find a loophole," said John.

The pilot shook his head, but seeing his immediate younger brother's aqua eyes plead with him, relented and sat back down.

Virgil had quietly watched the scene and then looked at the group. "You know, I get he found a 'loophole,' but we should teach him a lesson," he said as he lifted his last egg out of the blue dye. He produced an egg in beautiful turquoise and purple shades.

John ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah. I mean, I get that this is getting a bit old to decorate them for Alan, but it's still an important family tradition," he said. "Plus, it isn't like we asked him to hunt for them."

"Even then, I'll agree I've gotten too old for an egg hunt. I just like to decorate them and see if the dye colors the white of the egg," admitted Alan as he set his last one out to dry. "Still you're right - he whined through the whole activity in a tone that puts mine to shame."

Scott scoffed. "Yeah - it's pretty bad when the resident whiner says you're worse," he said, and seeing Alan start to protest, wrapped an arm around his shoulder in a sideways hug. "I'm kidding, but you're right. It just he wants to go out swimming more than he normally does."

The medic then thought about how stiffly Gordon was moving earlier. "In fairness Scott, he did hurt his back earlier during the rescue," postulated Virgil. "Maybe it finally flared up to a point he just needed to lessen the tension on it."

The eldest rubbed a hand on the back of his hair. "True, but this is different. Lately he's been out in the pool so much I'm seriously considering checking him for gills," he said. "It's almost like he doesn't want to be with us as a family..."

Alan paused for thought as well and thought of the events of the past few weeks. "There's something else guys... have you noticed he's been like this a bit since you went to the Dynasty Mansion?" he said, shuddering slightly. Alan hadn't forgotten the night the Hood 'programmed' Gordon and tried to use their aquanaut brother to do his dirty work.

Scott frowned, flashing back to the pool attack in particular. "Do you think he's still flashing back to some of the memories he does remember while under the influence of the Hood's nanobots?" he said.

Grandma Tracy nodded and answered instead. "I think so, and the nightmares he's had only make me believe it more," she said, wincing in memory.

She still got chills when she remembered Gordon's screams from a nightmare the second night, thinking he had killed John. He was nearly inconsolable to the point the astronaut had to make a special trip in the space elevator to prove he was all right. Gordon was so distraught he kept insisted the holographic version of John was EOS in disguise.

She then shook her head to clear it. "Anyway, it's one reason I want you all to do this together this year. He needs to get over those nightmares," she said. "It isn't as though he's going to attack you again. Brains made sure of that with that procedure to remove the nanobots."

Virgil nodded, rubbing his throat slightly. "I agree with you and Scott. He's still hiding," he said. "We should do something to get him to talk to us instead. Any ideas?"

Sally politely coughed and raised her hand. "Well... I do know of a way to get him to stop swimming for a little bit, but it'll involve Brains' help and the pool," she said, eyes glinting in mirth.

"The pool? We're not going to just open Thunderbird One's launching pad and keep him stuck under the patio floor?" said John curiously.

He wasn't worried about Gordon if they did however - a large air chamber, complete with an emergency SCUBA breather, was installed under the patio in case someone was in the pool when the alarm sounded and couldn't get out in time for the Thunderbird to launch.

All the person had to do was use these for the few minutes to allow the TB1 to launch and hold on to a handle in the pool to pull them back out when the pool returned to its normal spot.

So far - Gordon had to use it 5 times, Virgil 4, Alan 4 and John 2.

Seeing her grandsons' bemused looks, she chuckled. "Not quite, but it'll definitely be a surprise," she said, as she motioned for them to gather around.

Hearing her plan, the four Tracy brothers inside chortled, laughed and even whooped at the idea. Gordon was definitely in for a surprise - and a colorful one at that.

888888888888

Gordon was in his version of heaven. The water was smooth, cool and crisp around him as he cut through the water doing the freestyle. He had spent a good 40 minutes going through the various strokes, and now was taking a cool down before he'd take a break to rehydrate.

He was still frustrated that everyone wanted him to dye Easter eggs. The aquanaut had outgrown the tradition some years ago, and really didn't care for the activity when there were other ways to bide his time.

He only really did it because it made Grandma Tracy happy he kept on with the family tradition started by his parents.

It was the only activity his dad never skipped, even the year their mom died.

Gordon admitted to himself he wasn't a huge fan of continuing the tradition, but he stuck through it simply because it was a way to honor his parents and grandmother.

This year however it wasn't just that - it was just being in a room with all his brothers at once. Gordon was indeed still having some issues with flashbacks of being under the Hood's control when he and his brothers went to that mystery dinner.

Too often, and even once was too much, he'd glance at one of his brothers and see himself attacking them, sometimes in his mind even successfully killing one.

Even Alan, who wasn't in Colorado with them because he was too young to attend, didn't escape his nightmares. Gordon had a couple of dreams where Alan swapped places with Scott whenever he dreamt of nearly drowning his oldest brother.

Thankfully the drowning nightmares had finally disappeared. Even though he didn't remember the actual assault on Scott specifically, he could picture the scene. It took nearly a week before he'd even swim in the shallow end, and even then only if his brothers were not in the pool.

Inwardly sighing, Gordon touched the edge of the pool and made a turn to go down one more length before break. He knew he needed to apologize to his brothers for his surliness earlier, but he knew why he was behaving this way - it was a defense.

The memories he did have were still easy to trigger when he was gathered together with his brothers. At the party, it seemed every time he got near them the Hood would use his nanaobots to force him away. Every time he was with all of them now, he was afraid Brains had missed a 'bot, it would turn on and he would become "squid zombie."

So, right now he needed the time to cool down and let his back heal before apologizing, and maybe chat about his troubles.

Halfway across the pool, he decided to swim a little bit deeper. He made a few strokes but paused when he saw a heavy ball, not unlike a cannonball, plunk into the water a foot in front of him.

"What on earth?" he thought and then grumbled. "They know better than to throw things at me when I'm swimming. They could accidentally knock me out..."

His rant ceased when he started to see a series of blues float in front of him.

Gordon's eyes widened under his swimming goggles. "That's not normal," he thought, and after a few moments' thought, quickly came to a conclusion.

"He's escaped!" the aquanaut thought and quickly turned away, worried that the coloring was some sort of sedative or poison the Hood could've dropped while flying over the Island.

Or worse, a new form of nanobots that even Brains couldn't filter out of his blood.

Turning the the other way, he was assaulted with color clouds of pink and yellow and green and other colors. Some were more muted colors while others were a glaring neon.

The result was a dizzying kaleidoscope, and Gordon chose to do the proper thing.

Darn the risks this was going to hurt him, swim through it and get to his brothers to warn them the Hood had escaped and apparently wanted revenge.

Gordon quickly finished the length of the pool and quickly shoved himself out of the water. He turned, and noticed it was now a churning mess of colors.

He started to panic and wonder what he needed to do. Did he feel any symptoms of being drugged or poisoned? What did he need to let Virgil know about the color's effects? Was he going to die... or worse, be used again as a weapon against his brothers?

The aquanaut then heard footsteps nearing. "Gordon are you OK?" said Virgil off to his left.

Gordon paled and shook his head. "I don't know Virg, but you've got to help me. I was swimming and these ... well ... bombs came down and turned the pool into a nightmare," he said.

"Bombs?" said the medic, fighting a grin as he looked at his brother. "How do you feel Gordo? A little blue?"

The younger brother looked up and seeing the glint of humor in the medic's eyes, narrowed his own. "Bro, I'm serious. I don't know what was in there. It could be the Hood trying to..."

His last comment faded when he heard uproarious laughter behind him.

Gordon turned and saw his brothers - and grandmother, nearly rolling on the floor in laughter.

He then realized he had been pranked. "Oh ha, ha... very funny, I think I'm going to die or be a 'squid zombie again' and you're laughing?" he said sarcastically. "What did you do?"

"Pool bombs. They're kind of like those bath bombs you see in stores, but sized for a much larger amount of water," said Scott. "Brains made up a batch for us."

"Brains created the Technicolor nightmare in the pool?!" said the aquanaut exasperated.

The engineer smiled in humor. He liked the idea of getting Gordon back as well, given the Easter egg dying event was the first activity he did with the family when he joined International Rescue.

"Yes, and I t-think it was also a rousing success," he said, smiling patting the robot next to him. "MAX d-did a great j-job lobbing them into the pool without risking hitting you."

MAX chirped at the compliment, getting ready to lob another one in. Brains however stopped him. "N-no, we've put in enough. We don't want to r-ruin the Ph levels completely," he said gently, and the robot complied.

Gordon rolled his eyes. "Thanks Brains, just what I needed - a color storm in the pool," he grumbled. "How long does it take the color to fade so I can swim again?"

"About eight hours," said Brains matter of factly.

"EIGHT hours? You have to be kidding me!" said Gordon, who then paled as he felt slightly giddy. "Next thing you're going to tell me I'm about to pass out because it's also a sedative test..."

"No Gordon - the dye is h-harmless," said Brains adamantly, choosing to not remind him the lab version of the Golden Rule: The person had to agree to be the Guinea pig anytime he tested an experiment. That way, the person could properly prepare for the effects.

The aquanaut, remembering the rule, then sighed dramatically. "Well, at least I won't go into 'hibernation' or something..."

He then heard heard the brothers laugh and quirked an eyebrow. "OK... I'll bite - what does Brains' comment have to do with my response and you 'dying' in laughter?"

Alan finally caught his breath enough to speak. "Um - Gordon, it's because it isn't only the pool that's colorful..."

It was then Gordon looked at himself. He raised a hand to double check. "You've got to be kidding me," he said in equal portions of anger, digust and surprise.

His skin was in various shades of neon blue, magenta and green, almost looking like one of Virgil's perfectly marbled Easter eggs.

John chortled. "Gives the term 'blue and green marble' a whole new meaning," he said.

Gordon then looked up and narrowed his eyes, growling. "You dyed ME?!" he said angrily, turning slightly purple between the dye and his anger. "How could you turn me into a Snorkel?!"

"Snork," corrected John, remembering the old '80s cartoon.

The aquanaut just growled and started to storm up to John to pick him up.

Before Gordon could play "Dump the astronaut into the Dihydrogen Monoxide Nebula" when Sally stepped in between the two. "Now hold on there - if you're going to dunk someone for the prank, it's me you dunk," she said sternly.

Gordon stopped abruptly and dropped his jaw, anger deflated.

"You were the prankster," he said. Seeing her nod he conceded.

Gordon definitely wasn't going to dunk his grandmother - his stomach wouldn't be able to handle whatever food she concocted in return.

She smiled softly. "Yes, and for good reason. Gordon, I know Easter egg dying isn't your favorite thing, if only because it reminds you of your mom and Jeff," she said. "That said, it's their memory why I keep it going..."

"Even if I do agree Alan might be a little too old to hunt eggs," kidded Scott, which Alan also laughed at.

Sally continued. "But there's another reason this time Gordon," she said gently. "It's also because you and the boys need something that makes you stay together and talk for a while."

Gordon looked up, and the others admittedly were surprised as well. They knew why, but had thought it was just their aquanaut brother they needed to worry about.

"What do you mean Grandma?" the swimmer pipped up, though he was starting to suspect her reasons.

"Well, lately the five of you have been so busy with rescues you haven't had time to be together. When you are home, you go your separate ways," she continued. "Scott works on that model plane of his, Virgil paints, you swim, Alan will play Zombie Apocalypse and John - well, if he's not in Five all the time, he ends up sleeping a good portion of his visit if he's gotten space sickness or works on stuff for Global One."

"But we still get together Grandma," said Gordon.

"Briefly, then you walk away shortly afterward," Sally admonished. "And it's gotten worse after the events at Colorado I think."

The others paused for thought. Grandma Tracy's and Alan's comments really did make sense. It had been a rather busy few weeks for rescues to the point they didn't get to do much together. Sometimes they went on two separate rescues, so the only thing they could do was go home and decompress in their own ways.

Add to it the last time they were together in the past three weeks - the Dynasty Mansion, Alan couldn't attend due to being underage while the rest were injured in some way from the Hood's attacks. The one time all five of them were together was during the procedure Gordon underwent to remove the nanobots, and even then Gordon was out of it a good part of the day.

Grandma however was continuing her lecture. "It's gotten to the point I was about to tie you personally to the chair and make you paint all sorts of Easter egg items and enjoy chatting about everything with your brothers," she said. "But, I didn't think that would do any good given yours and John's occasional nightmares of your 'Squid Zombie' attack."

Gordon quirked an eyebrow. "John's nightmares?"

The astronaut shrugged. "Let's just say I hate fireplaces," quipped John. He didn't want to let Gordon know he had a few based on Edgar Allen Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado," only he was bricked up in the fireplace, not a wine cellar.

"We don't have a fireplaces though," said Gordon.

John hadn't forgotten his near dunking earlier, and smiled mischievously. "Good thing for you - I really do want you to experience what it's like to get stuffed in one."

Virgil and Scott looked at each other, chuckling. "Um... John, how do you know what it's like?" said Virgil. Seeing John tilt his head, perplexed, the medic continued. "Well, unless there's something we don't know, you were unconscious when we found you inside it."

John, for all his genius intellect, was admittedly stumped to answer beyond the simple one. "Well - he still should learn," he muttered.

Gordon however laughed and started to see her point. He was realizing a lot of this stemmed more from what his mind would imagine he did while under the Hood's control.

The aquanaut was indeed having the nightmares, but the flashbacks were harder to deal with when he saw his brothers. This was especially true as Virgil still had faint green bruise marks on his throat from where "zombie Gordon" strangled him.

He really needed to talk to them and stop being paranoid about the Hood gaining control of him again if he stayed with all his brothers in one space for any period of time.

The man then chuckled before sobering up a bit. "OK, OK... I see your point. You wanted us to not only dye the eggs for Alan - and Mom and Dad, but also to talk about those events right?" he said. "A way to get rid of the nightmares?"

Grandma Tracy nodded and looked at her grandsons. "All of yours in fact," she said. "Now, I have another dozen eggs that I can boil, plus the ones already made we can shell so Virgil can make his famous deviled eggs. What do you say to dying the eggs correctly?"

The aquanaut looked at his brothers and smiled. "Of course... one condition," he said.

"Name it."

"My dear brothers have to jump into the pool and get tie-dyed Easter egg colors as well," he said, grinning mischieviously.

The other brothers stepped warily back.

"Um... no bro. You look great in those colors - we don't," said Alan hastily backing away.

"Oh come on. It's not like I'm telling you to eat a bag of canned dog food and skunk spray flavored jelly beans," said Gordon, smiling broadly as his eyes glinted wickedly.

Virgil, Scott and John were also quickly backing away, but getting dangerously close to the edge of the pool.

However, the sweetest sound flitted the air.

"International Rescue, we have a situation," said EOS as her avatar lit up.

"Saved by the rescue," muttered Scott.

Gordon took a look at his skin again and groaned. "Well, if I'm called out to the rescue, at least I match my uniform," he sighed.

They all raced to the living room so they could sit down and get the information. "All right EOS, what's the situation?" said John.

EOS' light circle lit fully and she chuckled. "The 'emergency' was rescuing John and the 'not John's' from Gordon Tracy's egg dip," she said light-heartedly. "I'm also rescuing all of you from loneliness and nightmares like Grandma Tracy... even if it means you continue your ritual of coloring more avian unhatched offspring."

John rolled his eyes. "Well, that's better than her earlier descriptions," he said smiling.

EOS continued. "However, if Gordon does not conform to this rescue, I give permission for the Tracys to use restraints and pelt him with confetti eggs laid by a cascarón."

"EOS we've been over this... there is no such thing as a Confetti Chicken that lays confetti eggs," said John, doing a face palm. He really had to do an update on some of her Earth study programs. She had read the Spanish name for the item and thought it was a type of bird.

Besides - they didn't buy any confetti eggs at the store they could use to back up EOS' "threat."

Gordon however laughed. "All right - no need to tie me up - I surrender. I'll dye the whole dozen eggs if it will make you happy" he said.

The AI's lights light up halfway. "It will, as will chatting with your brothers and me as to why you thought it was fun to stuff a chloroformed John in the mansion fireplace," said EOS seriously.

The other brothers turned and looked at him. "Yeah, seriously... why did you do that?" said Scott.

"I thought I told you - Squid Zombie," said Gordon.

John shook his head. "I don't think so... I'm starting to think you've always wanted to do that and had the chance," he said.

Gordon then paused for thought. He studied his childhood and started remembering a time he actually did think about something along those lines.

He then looked at each of his brothers and ran a hand through his Colgate toothpaste blue hair, chuckling. "You know something, you're right - years ago. I guess the Hood just brought it back. In fact, I think I have one crazy idea for all of you," he said, standing up to walk over to the kitchen table full of Easter Egg decorations. "Why don't we sit down and chat about them while we decorate the eggs?"

The others laughed and headed back over to the dining room. Long after the rest of the eggs were dyed and Virgil made the deviled eggs, they spent the next few hours sharing tales of childhood prank dreams, tougher ones about nightmares from rescues and their recent brush with the Hood, and other tales.

Gordon eventually glanced at his skin and noticed the color was gone, as was in the pool, but didn't care as he admired a blue, orange and yellow ombre easter egg patterned like his shirt with a couple of scribbled white fish left from the wax drawn.

"Who knew something as fragile as eggs would strengthen a family," he thought as he put the egg in a paper standing ring. Gordon then got up and walked over to the lounge, ready to enjoy more time with his brothers.