Disclaimer: I own nothing, all rights belong to their respective owners.
I'm ashamed to admit I sort of did a Scott in this one and managed to twinge something reaching down the side of a bed - don't try it! As a certain someone is stuck with a sore leg, thought I would give her something to read!
Enjoy!
Virgil hummed to himself as he walked from his room down towards the silos. International Rescue hadn't been operational for long and he still got something of a thrill whenever he thought about what was resting under their villa.
Of course, the machines had been there for years now: shells and parts, ready to be assembled into the world's finest technology. Virgil had never had to think about whether he had done the right thing or not turning down job offers to come and work here instead. People never did quite understand what he meant when he said that he worked for his father. Virgil knew they thought he was just attending board meetings now and again while living the playboy lifestyle. They had no idea he had spent most of the time covered in oil and who knows what else, crouched under a great machine and working with some of the most advanced technology.
It was every mechanic's dream.
That was why he didn't care who heard him humming. At least unlike the majority of his brothers, he wasn't threatening to deafen everyone in ear shot by letting the tune slide between his teeth. But he knew they would understand his enthusiasm for the same excitement was gleaming out of their eyes every morning.
Moving towards the lounge, Virgil found himself planning how he was going to spend his day. No real maintenance needed to be done yet; the 'birds had only been called out for a few rescues. But he had spent so long tinkering now that the idea of spending his time doing something else unnerved him – he wasn't used to having free time.
But even as he made it to the doors, something caught his ear. There was the sound of a commotion coming from down the hallway, but it wasn't the type that usually meant Gordon and Alan were squabbling. As Virgil paused, one hand still resting on the doorframe, he could have sworn it was coming from Brains' lab. Considering he had never heard the genius so much as raise his voice, Virgil found his attention caught. There was no way he could go down there now without finding out what was going on and seeing if he could help.
Leaving his hand resting on the wall, Virgil allowed his fingers to trail along it as he changed direction and instead headed towards the man's room. He hadn't been there many times despite the length of time Brains had lived on the island for. The man wasn't even in there often himself, he tended to be tinkering away down in the silos or crouched around his computer in his lab. He had been given the challenge of a lifetime, he wasn't about to spend it in his bedroom.
However, as he got closer, Virgil could hear that there was no doubt about where the noise was coming from. It wasn't the lab next to the room as Virgil first supposed, but his room itself. The door was ajar but Virgil knocked lightly before pushing it open. He didn't want for someone to notice him, for he could hear Scott and Brains talking anxiously amongst themselves, Scott's voice occasionally rising. Deciding that must have been what had drawn his attention – his big brother sounding annoyed – Virgil moved into the room and cleared his throat lightly.
Brains turned to face him, but Virgil found that he was looking at Scott. His brother's head had half twisted towards him in greeting, but the rest of his body was stuck in the awkward position that it was already in.
"What are you doing?" Virgil asked, feeling like it was a stupid question but not being really sure what else to say. Scott was kneeling on Brains' bed, his shoulder pressed against the wall and his arm down the side of Brains' bed. Virgil didn't even realise there had been a gap there, let alone one big enough to fit an arm down. But when he took a step closer, it was to see the bed seemed to be at a strange angle and he had his answer – the gap didn't normally exist.
"Scott?"
Scott shook his head, straining for a moment before yanking his arm out and spinning around to sit on the bed properly.
"It's no good, I can't reach far enough down."
"Reach what?" Virgil knew there was no mistaking the sheepish look to Brains' face. Scott didn't answer but lifted an eyebrow as he looked to their friend. Virgil knew that look too well – he had been on the receiving end of it more than once. It was Scott's way of telling someone – usually a younger sibling – that they had caused the trouble, they had to be the ones to own up to it. Virgil had never seen it being subjected to someone else, however, and he was interested to see the effect it had. Brains squirmed, his face flushing red before he mumbled something so quietly under his breath that Virgil had no chance of hearing.
"What?" he said bluntly, deciding that his interest had been sparked now and he really wanted to know what was going on. Brains didn't seem to be capable of saying it a second time though.
"You know the new circuit board that Dad had sent over?"
Virgil thought for a moment before nodding. "The tiny ones? The ones he thought would be lighter but give us more power?"
Scott also nodded before glancing at Brains.
"And you know how they were just going to send over one prototype because that's all they had ready because of the delicacies of the process?"
Virgil nodded again – there was so much uncertainty over whether it would work or not the company producing them had only taken one to the final stage, wanting results before they took it on to a mass production stage. Alarm bells began to ring in the back of Virgil's mind; Scott's positioning, the sheepish look on Brains' face…
"Where is it?"
Scott yet again didn't say anything, but just tilted his head down towards where his arm had been. Virgil grimaced even as his brother twisted in order to try and reach again. In Virgil's mind, it was obvious what was about to happen but Scott didn't change position, meaning he can't have known. But as he twisted in order to try and reach down, something gave a crack and he gave a shout of pain, pulling out again. Instantly, his other arm came up to rub at his neck and Virgil found himself crossing the room before he realised it.
Moving Scott onto the bed properly, he gently rested his palm over Scott's neck. The older man hissed and Virgil grimaced again, only this time in sympathy.
"You've jolted the muscle a little. It will be fine, you'll just need to give it a few hours to loosen up a bit. If it doesn't, ask Gordon for the exercises he does when his back goes."
"But…" Scott didn't look like he wanted to give up the effort to reach the circuit board, but Virgil simply pushed him back towards the bedroom door.
"Go and ease it, Scott. Before I tell Dad what you were doing to cause it."
Knowing the trouble Brains would get into, Scott practically fled. Virgil didn't know whether to be offended or not – he would never land his friend in trouble just to get Scott to help himself and wasn't sure how he felt about his closest brother believing he would. But then he figured that Scott would be dragged into it as well and his brother knew how stubborn Virgil could get when it came to making them look after themselves.
Rolling up his sleeve, Virgil moved across to the bed and made to look down where Scott had been trying to reach. He knew his arm was slimmer and his fingers longer – he might be able to reach where his brother had not. But before he could even try, a hand had landed on his shoulder, pulling him back. Virgil turned to see Brains shaking his head.
"I c-can't l-l-let you," the man stammered, looking even worse than he had done before. Virgil sighed. He knew why. Scott had hurt himself trying to reach, there was no way Brains was about to let Virgil do the same thing. Virgil also knew the man's stubbornness rivalled that of the Tracys – that was why he fitted in so well. He wasn't going to budge on this and it would turn into something of a fight if Virgil insisted. The last thing they needed was for the man to take offence and decide to leave.
Even the thought was enough to make Virgil sigh, turning to sit back on the bed and gazing around the room.
"What we need is something long and thin," he thought out loud. Brains nodded, moving to his desk and pulling out a ruler. Virgil grinned, taking it and turning back to the gap. Making sure he didn't let go, he gently slid the ruler down the side of the bed and began trying to flick it, seeing if it was catching on anything. But when it met nothing but air, Virgil realised it wasn't quite long enough.
Mentioning this to Brains, Virgil knew by one look at the man's face they were in for a challenge. Twenty minutes later and they had tried nearly everything in the room and Brains had even brought in things from his lab that seemed long and thin enough. Everything was either a fraction too fat or a touch too long – nothing was reaching the circuit board in order to ease it out of the side of the bed.
Brains looked as if he had given up as he slumped onto his chair, his hand covering his face. Virgil knew his father was an understanding man, but considering the board shouldn't have left the lab, he wasn't quite sure how they were going to play this one off. Nothing he thought of would be able to fit down the gap and have the length they needed.
But just as he flopped back on the bed, despondent himself, a thought entered his mind.
"The kitchen," he breathed, sitting back up again. Brains dropped his hand and stared at Virgil as if he had lost his mind. Virgil grinned.
"Think of all the different sized things that Grandma has in there. I bet there is a spoon or something that has a long enough handle to slide down there."
"B-but h-how?" Brains muttered and Virgil found his grin widening.
"Brains, my friend, you're about to learn the art of stealing from the kitchen." Scrambling off the bed, Virgil waited until Brains had also stood before leaving the room and heading towards the kitchen. Brains followed him but Virgil gestured for him to stop when they reached every corner. It was normally stealing food that had either him or his brothers acting like this, but if they didn't want any questions asked, then Virgil knew they couldn't be seen. The last he had seen of his grandmother, she had been accompanying their father to the pool with the hope to enjoy some sunshine before it got too hot.
Praying that she was still out there, Virgil darted around the last corner and breathed a sigh of relief at seeing the kitchen was empty. Brains continued to follow him but hovered nervously in the doorway rather than coming in.
"Keep watch," Virgil told him, opening the first drawer he came to and began rummaging around inside it. He had to move onto a second before implements made themselves known that might be up to the task and it didn't take him long before he had a selection of things out on the worktop next to him. Virgil had no idea if any of them would do the job or not, but they looked to his eye to be the right length and thickness.
When he realised he couldn't carry anymore if he wanted to, Virgil scooped up everything and fled from the kitchen, gesturing for Brains to lead the way this time. They made it back to his room without any mishaps and Virgil dumped the whole of his hoard onto the bed. Without wasting any time, he grabbed the first spoon his hand touched and angled himself back onto the bed, convinced that he had solved their problems and it would soon be like it had never happened.
But he was wrong.
The spoon was the wrong angle, the curve meaning that it wouldn't reach down the bed at all. Unperturbed, Virgil began working his way through the pile, convinced that something would reach. But while he thought he had been visualising the gap when he had been in the kitchen, nothing seemed to be the right width, angle or length. Half an hour later and his massive stash that he thought he had managed to filch seemed nothing more than random objects now – none of them were doing the trick.
Flopping back onto the bed, Virgil stared at Brains in dismay. He was out of ideas. They had already decided nothing they used to work on the 'birds would be slender enough to fit down the gap.
"I could try raiding Gordon's room…" Virgil murmured slowly, knowing that his brother had all sorts of junk that he used for pranks. If anyone had anything, it would be him. But Virgil knew he couldn't just ask – while Gordon would want to help out Brains, he would see it as a blackmail chance over Virgil too much and there would be a price to pay for his help. He would have to do it stealthily, but the last time Virgil had seen the younger man, Gordon had been sprawled on his bed. There would be no getting around him.
Before his thoughts could go any further, however, there was a soft knock on the door. Brains looked alarmed and Virgil couldn't blame him. The brothers had a tendency to just burst in. The only people who would knock would be his father, his grandmother and Kyrano. Desperately hoping it was the latter – knowing that Kyrano wouldn't sell them out – Virgil moved to the door. He knew it would instantly cause questions to be asked – he barely ever came in here – but Brains looked too terrified to move.
All of his fears, however, seemed to be in vain. There was no one there. Confused, Virgil made to close the door again, deciding if it was Gordon playing jokes, he would rig the sound system up to play classical music into his brother's room for days on end in retaliation. But just as he turned, something caught his eye. Resting against the wall, looking bizarrely out of place, was a chopping board.
Virgil stared at it, his stunned mind slowly kicking in to realise it looked to be about the right width to slide down the gap and even looked to be slightly longer than anything else they had tried so far. Glancing around, Virgil snatched it up in case it disappeared again and quickly shut the door behind him. Ignoring Brains' look of disbelief, he hurried across the room, practically jumped on the bed and slid the board down.
It fitted perfectly. Making sure he didn't let go, Virgil gently lowered it towards the floor and sucked in a sharp breath when he felt it touch the floor. For the first time that morning, he had found something that might just do the job. Barely daring to breathe, he very gently began edging the board along, making sure not to use too much pressure or he could damage the circuit board and it would all be for nothing.
But when he suddenly ran out of bed, Virgil closed his eyes. He wasn't sure he dared to look. Yet he couldn't just sit here holding a chopping board, so he eventually rested it to one side and stared down at the floor. Sitting next to the bed innocently, was the circuit board.
Reaching down, Virgil snatched it up victoriously, holding it out to Brains. The man shakily plucked it from Virgil's outstretched palm before bustling from the room. Virgil knew not to be offended; Brains was putting it back where it should be before anything else happened. Knowing it must be nearly lunchtime and his grandmother would not only be back in the kitchen but realising she was missing several implements, Virgil balanced most of it on the chopping board and sped from the room in the opposite direction.
He managed to get most of it away in the right places (and a few guesses) before he was left holding just the chopping board. Staring around, Virgil realised he had no idea where it was supposed to go.
"Can I help?" The quiet voice sounded behind him and Virgil turned to see Kyrano standing there, a faintly amused smile on his face. Virgil held out the chopping board helplessly, thankful that Kyrano didn't ask any more questions as he took it. Virgil watched as Kyrano crossed the kitchen and slid it into a gap that Virgil hadn't even noticed existed.
"It's incredible, really," the man said, not turning back to Virgil. "The uses such ordinary objects can have."
Virgil knew in that second that Kyrano had been the one to place it outside Brains' room. Something told him that their previous kitchen visit hadn't been as undetected as he had thought.
"What are you two doing?" Grandma sounded suspicious as she moved back into the kitchen and Virgil realised that Kyrano had once again saved him in just the nick of time. Mouthing a thank you to the man as Kyrano turned, Virgil hurried across the kitchen to reassure his grandmother that everything was well. He just hoped the old lady didn't see the wink Kyrano tipped his way as the man left the kitchen.
But he was right, Virgil reflected. It was amazing what an ordinary object could do when there was no other choice.