The Youngest
Alan had gone to bed that night quite happy—even with Braman's warning echoing through the house.
He had flown a mission with his biggest bro, gotten the crew and the data from the Calypso back to Earth safely, and had even had the opportunity to make a world-wide announcement—something he always loved doing.
While the loss of the Calypso and Braman into the ocean was a little sad, they had done what they could at the time and that was reason enough to consider the mission a success.
After they had returned home, Alan got to watch Gordon squirm under Scott's disapproval for taking TB1 to search for a dog that had not been lost. That had been fun, but it also meant that Gordon would be busy with Scott checking over One and manufacturing a new drone to replace the one he destroyed.
So, instead of hanging out with Gordon Alan had spent the evening in his room playing Cavern Quest and trying to unlock one of the legendary swords. His only break was when Braman had started transmitting his SOS again. Alan had gone looking for one of his brothers and found them in the lounge talking about it. However, Brains didn't think it was anything serious, it was just the same SOS he'd been sending out this whole time, so Alan went back to his room and put on some headphones and continued playing his game.
He wasn't sure when he had fallen asleep, but he had had the most awesome dream. He was in the Cavern Quest game again, only this time he wasn't a hologram. He had his armor on, his ax and shield ready and was only a few rooms away from the legendary sword.
The end of the dream had gotten a little weird—his brother's voices somehow coming out of a monster's mouth instead of a roar—but it had been forgotten by the time he had woken up.
He got up, changed into some clean clothes and then made his way down in search of some breakfast. However, when he heard his brothers talking in the lounge he took a detour to see what was going on.
"Why is everyone up so early?" Alan stretched and yawned as he made his way down to one of the couches.
"Gordon went to rescue Braman and the Hood beat him to it." Scott was standing nearby looking over the map that was displayed above the table.
"What?! Why didn't you wake me?" Alan took a seat on the couch Scott usually sat in a little annoyed—it wasn't any fun when stuff was happening with out him.
"We tried. Three times." Scott turned and flashed a small smile at Alan.
Alan just shrugged a little in reply. He couldn't help it if he was a heavy sleeper after all.
"I can't just let The Hood take him. It's a matter of principle." Gordon's hologram was floating on the other side of the map.
"Gordon, you're all alone down there. I'm not sure Braman is worth tangling with The Hood." Alan glanced over at Virgil who was standing on Scott's other side, his arms crossed.
"But I have one thing he doesn't. Braman's exact location. All I have to do is slip in, grab Mr. Chatterbox and I'm gone. Easy."
"What do you think Brains? Is there anything of value The Hood could find in Braman?" Scott looked up at the hologram of their master engineer and Alan followed his gaze.
"I agree with Gordon. We should not let The Hood take him."
"I'm not taking any chances either." Kayo's hologram popped up next to Gordon. "I've alerted Captain Rigby and the GDF. We'll be waiting as soon as The Hood reaches the surface."
"Alright, Gordon. Just be careful." Scott reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose.
Alan frowned a little at this. That motion usually meant that Scott was worried and Alan couldn't blame him. The last time Gordon had been at the bottom of the sea with one of The Hoods allies hadn't ended up well.
"You don't have to tell me twice." Gordon's hologram flickered and disappeared.
Alan watched as Scott started to pace a little.
"Can't we see what's going on down there? Surely we're not just going to wait in silence."
"John's scans won't reach. Even Gordon was having issues cause of the minerals in the water." Virgil took a step and caught Scott's shoulder and nodded to him. "Gordon's a good pilot—underwater at least."
Alan smiled at that. "I still wish I could have seen him flying One."
Scott turned and let a small chuckle out. "When he's not busy, ask John. It is quite amusing."
"Great! I can't wait!" Alan rubbed his hands together, already hoping there was something he could use for a ringtone on his phone—or you know, blackmail.
The room quieted down a bit as they waited for any news. Scott continued to pace a bit, while Virgil had his arms crossed lost in his own thoughts.
"Sailing, Sailing, Over the bounding main; For many a stormy wind shall blow, ere Jack comes home again!"
"That's Braman, you think Gordon's got him?" Alan jumped to his feet in excitement.
"I hope so. But if we're hearing him so is The Hood." Virgil tightened his jaw as they listened to Braman's song.
He had only sang the verse twice before going silent. Barely a minute passed and then the room turned red as alarms blasted to life.
"John! What's going on!" Scott had stopped pacing, his hands clenched into fists.
"Scott. It's Gordon."
"We're on our way."
Alan paused for a moment to take in his brother's face. John's jaw was clenched, his body ridged as he floated, this wasn't normal for him.
"Alan!"
Alan jumped. Scott was already disappearing behind the wall, so he took the steps up all at once and ran to the secondary entrance to get changed.
Alan tried to concentrate on getting dressed, but his mind kept jumping to this brother. He had never heard the alarms like that, but he knew what they were. Gordon was in trouble.
He shook his head and finished pulling on his boot before taking off for Thunderbird Two. He was the last one there and Virgil was already pulling out of the hanger as he sat down and buckled his belt.
Alan had his hands clenched in his lap as he watched his brothers nod to each other. This was not good.
They were fully airborne when John's torso popped up on the dash of Thunderbird Two. "He got Braman, but the Chaos Crew found him. I don't know what happened after that. Sensor data died and then Gordon activated his emergency code. No response since."
"Are you getting anything from his suit?" Alan could see Scott tighten his hands on his knees.
"I'm watching his biometrics from the Island." Grandma popped up next to John. "There's a heartbeat and breathing, but it's weak—and seems to be getting weaker."
"I've alerted Lady P. She's going to meet you there."
"F.A.B. we'll be there in ten minutes." Virgil reached down and forced Two to go faster.
"John, you head down. I'll take over from here."
"Right." John's hologram disappeared quickly followed by Grandma's.
"Scott." Alan had started poking at the scanning equipment in front of him, hoping to get something though everything their brother had said seemed to be true, nothing but static. "You don't think—"
"Alan, keep your head clear. I know it's hard, but we've got to treat this like any other rescue."
"But it's not like any other rescue!" Alan couldn't help but snap back and he could tell Scott was struggling not to snap as well.
Scott pushed his seat back and turned around. "We have to keep our head in the game. There is no room for errors just like in any rescue." He stood up and put a hand on Alan's shoulder. "We'll get to him. I promise."
Alan took a deep breath and reached up and rubbed his face roughly. "Right. Sorry."
"Come on, we need to get the submarine pods assembled."
Alan nodded and stood, following his brother.
They made their way quickly down to the module and got to work silently. The machinery jumped to life and started to put together the pods. Alan jumped into his as soon as it was done, his helmet on, ready for whatever was to happen.
He heard Scott talking to Lady P and was glad for the help. A moment later he had the sense of weightlessness as the pod was dropped into the ocean. The module door swung open and they were off. Scott's pod entered the water a second before his own, and Alan pushed the pods engines as much as he could.
"Oh Man! Thunderbird Four is under that!" Alan could feel his heart simultaneously speed up and freeze at what he was seeing.
"This is a lot worse than I thought. Grandma! "
"Sensors are still picking up a pulse, but—it's weak…"
"We're going to have to work together on this. Alan you and I will have to carefully lift the chimney. Lady Penelope, the second Thunderbird Four is in the clear—"
"I'll get him."
Alan maneuvered the pod over to the side of the rock that was currently crushing his brother. He carefully attached the claws to the side making sure he had a good hold and then pulled the lever to force the pod and the rock up.
He kept his attention fully on the rock before him until he heard that Lady Penelope was clear then he let the rock fall. He moved back and looked at Thunderbird Four crushed almost beyond recognition before turning and following Scott back to the surface.
They pushed their pods to pass FAB1 and get to the module first. They backed up and the module arms picked them up from the ocean and pulled them into it. Alan jumped out while the pod was still moving and hit the button to send his pod to the ceiling and make room for FAB1 to pull into the module as well.
Scott had done the same thing and a moment later the pink car was between them.
Parker was out of the car and had the secondary side door opened before Scott could get around the car and too them.
Penelope was sitting in her car with Gordon in her lap. He didn't look good. Alan was frozen, unsure of what to do. Scott nudged him aside as he stepped into the car.
"Alan, come get his legs."
"Oh, right." Alan jumped into the car and over the driver's seat to get to his legs. With the two of them they lifted their brother from the car and onto the med bay bed Parker had released from the side of the module.
Once Gordon was down Alan took a step back and crossed his arms. There was nothing left for him to do but wait.
Scott scanned him, his vitals popped up and they did not look good. He tightened his grip around his torso at his Grandma's announcement that Gordon needed a hospital. It was not good at all.
The trip to the hospital seemed to take forever. Alan just stood and watched his brother. Lady P and Scott did much of the same. As they got closer Scott lowered the restraining harnesses along either side of Gordon before detaching the stretcher from its base.
"Alan, some help?"
Alan jumped at Scott's voice but immediately reached out and took the end of the stretcher pulling the end out of the base.
They felt the jar of Two landing and the rumble as the bird raised around them. The module door swung open again and they carried Gordon out to a group of people waiting with their own gurney. They turned him over and Alan stood there and watched his brother disappear into the nearby building.
Scott put his hand on Alan's shoulder and squeezed it. "We got him where he needs to be. He's going to be okay."
Alan nodded but had his arms around his torso again.
"Come on, let's get changed and then we can go and wait."
Alan felt Scott wrap his arm around his shoulders and let him lead him back to the module.
They had only waited a half hour before they got their first update. Gordon was stable, and was going to be okay. He had woken up and as soon as they got his cast on and a couple of braces they would do one last scan and then they could see him.
Scott was pacing, Virgil was standing off to the side, and Penelope was sitting on a couch next to Parker who had her hand in his patting it occasionally as she dabbed at her eyes.
Alan hadn't noticed John and Grandma come in until John sat down next to him.
"You okay?"
Alan jerked his head up. "Hm? Ah, yeah. You got here fast."
"Well, I think Gordon may have flown One better than me, but at least we're here in one piece."
"They said he's going to be fine."
"I know." John wrapped an arm around Alan's shoulders. "Are you okay? A lot's happened today."
"I don't know. I'm relieved of course, but still worried I guess."
"That's normal. Hospitals don't really give off positive vibes."
"No, that's for sure." Alan let a small grin grace his lips.
"It'll be better once we get him home."
"I hope. I don't know—it hurts to know he's hurting."
"That's part of being a family. We feel for each other, just shows how much we care."
Alan nodded. He wasn't quite sure it worked like that, but then none of his brothers had ever been this badly injured before.
It was only a minute later that a nurse came in and said they could go and see Gordon.
Alan jumped to is feet, but it took a small nudge from John to get him moving.
He followed everyone through a couple of doors and into a strange white room. There was a large machine in the middle of it and Gordon was laying on a bed at its entrance.
"Gordon!" Virgil was the first to greet him and walked right up next to his bed, Grandma took the other side as John moved toward Scott and started talking to him.
"Hey." Gordon's voice was soft and raspy which made Alan hug himself more.
"How are you feeling?" It was Grandma who reached out to him and touched his cheek—one of the few parts of him not covered in one way or another.
"Could be better." He chuckled softly and then moaned. "Allie? You okay?"
Alan jumped a little and forced a smile onto his face. "Hey. Yeah, I'm fine. Just glad to see you in one piece." Alan chuckled a little but it faded fast.
"Hey, it'll take a more than this to do me in—not too much more however—"
"How's he doing?"
Alan didn't acknowledge Kayo as she walked in, his mind elsewhere, and soon he felt Virgil's hand on his arm and he snapped back to the room and everyone was leaving.
They walked out of the room and down the hall.
"We need to get Four out of the ocean and back to Tracy Island."
"You and Alan can take Two and retrieve it. I'll take Tracy 1 and come back and stay with Grandma and Gordon."
"And I'll go and get a hotel room set up. We'll probably be here for a few days at least."
"I can help you guys out. EOS can take care of Five for a bit."
"I need to get Braman to Brains. I'll let you know if he finds anything interesting."
"Sounds like we all have our duties."
"Scott, you guys go on ahead. Alan and I will be there in a second."
Alan looked up at the sound of his name. Virgil had stopped in front of him motioning the rest of them to go ahead.
"What's up, Virgil?"
Virgil didn't say anything until they had lost sight of their family. Then he turned to Alan and maneuvered him into a nearby room. It was a consultation room. Small, with a table and a few chairs. Virgil didn't sit down though but turned to face Alan.
"How are you doing?"
"Huh? I-I'm fine."
"Alan." It as like Virgil knew, that tone of voice could get anyone to talk. It wasn't menacing or anything, quite the opposite. It was as if he sensed whatever it was you were feeling and called you out on it.
"I-I don't know." Alan found his arms around his torso again, his eyes looking everywhere but at his brother. "Scared I guess. It's stupid, I mean he's safe. He's going to be—"
Virgil was there, his arms wrapped around Alan holding him tight. Alan wrapped his arms around his brother and buried his face in the soft flannel. It only took a second before the tears started to fall, and then a few sobs escaped.
Virgil didn't say anything but kept him in the hug and leaned down and kissed the top of Alan's head.
Alan wasn't sure how long they had stayed like that, but after awhile he finally pulled away and wiped at his eyes. "S-sorry."
"Don't be. It's natural."
"But nobody else is crying."
"I'm sure by tonight, they will be. When the pressure of the situation has finally dissipated and they have a moment to think about it."
Alan nodded and sniffed, rubbing his arm across his nose.
"How are you feeling now?"
"Heh, better, actually."
"I figured, but if you need another good cry, you know where to find me." Virgil reached over and ruffled Alan's hair. "Come on, they're waiting on us."
Alan found his smile coming a little easier now and he led his brother from the room and the building.
"Let's get this bird in the air and get Thunderbird Four back home."