Don't keep secrets from big brother
This is a prompt for Parimalik's friend who doesn't want to be named.
Ages:
Scott: 24
John: 23
Virgil: 21
Gordon: 19
Alan: 16
"Hurry up Gordon!" Alan shouted, running ahead of his brother.
"Shut up Alan! Scott will hear us!" Gordon snapped, trying to catch up to Alan as they reached the junk yard.
"How is he going to hear us? We're on the other side of the Island to the house." Alan replied as they started to dig through the scrap metal in the junk yard. It was more of a shelter where they put all of the old or broken equipment, along with any scrap metal.
"He has Vulcan hearing." Gordon muttered before jumping. "Shit!" He exclaimed, pain exploding in his foot.
"What?" Alan asked, looking up in concern.
"Umm, nothing. Just a rat running over my foot." He replied, trying not to wince as he put pressure on his foot.
"Ok." Alan said slowly, clearly not believing his brother. "Come on. We need to find the stuff for Virgil before Scott realises we're missing." Virgil had asked them to get him some scrap metal for a sculpture he was trying to do, but Scott had made it clear that he didn't want them going near the junk yard, so time was short. They quickly got what they wanted before making the slow, and painful in Gordon's case, walk back to the house.
Later that night, Gordon finally collapsed on his bed, taking the pressure off his aching foot. He lifted his foot and saw a rusty nail sticking through his shoe and into his foot. He slowly, and painfully, took the nail out, biting down on his pillow to muffle the scream, and to stop him from biting his tongue. When he finally had the nail out, tears and sweat was streaming down his face, which was twisted into a look of pain. He took his shoe off and saw the blood oozing from the hole in his foot. He grabbed some towels and wrapped them around his foot, before getting up and making his way to the infirmary, making sure no one was following him. He opened the cupboard and got some bandages out.
"What are you doing?" A voice asked, making Gordon spin to see Scott stood behind him, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed.
"Scott! What are you doing here?" Gordon asked, trying to slow his heartbeat.
"I heard a noise down here, so I came to investigate. Are you ok?" He asked, his Smother Hen instincts kicking in.
"Of course I am!" He replied immediately.
"What are the bandages for?" Scott asked, making Gordon panic. He had to come up with a lie, and fast.
"Oh, those." He said, looking down at the bandages in his hand. "They're for the first aid kit on 4. I realised that there were none left when I was doing inventory." He said, making Scott frown slightly.
"And you decided to get them now?" He asked, moving towards his brother.
"Never know when you're gonna need them." Gordon smiled, hoping that he fooled his brother.
"I guess so. Is there anything else you're missing?" He asked, smiling slightly.
"Nope. That's it. I'll put these away before I go to bed." He said, walking past his brother, trying his hardest not to limp.
"What's on your foot?" Scott asked, making Gordon freeze and look down.
"It's… An ice pack!" He said, turning to face Scott, thinking on his feet. "I accidently kicked the side of 4 when I was getting out. I wrapped an icepack in a towel to stop any swelling." He mentally cursed himself when he saw the worried look on Scott's face. You couldn't have said you ripped a nail? He asked himself.
"Maybe you should get Virgil to look at it. It may be broken, or sprained." He said, walking towards his younger brother.
"No, it's fine. It doesn't even hurt!" He said, turning and walking as fast as he could. "See you in the morning Scott!" He shouted over his shoulder as he rounded the corner. He got back into his room and breathed a sigh of relief. "That was close." He said to himself as he replaced the towel with a bandage. He looked at the nail that was lying on his desk and saw just how rusty it was. Damn. This could get infected. He thought. He saw just how big the nail was, not at all surprised that it hurt so much. He just had to keep it hidden from his brothers, knowing how smothering they would be.
He quickly got ready for bed and just pulled the covers around him, when the klaxon went off. He jumped up, immediately falling back on the bed when pain exploded in his foot. He almost forgot about that. He gently got up before running as fast as he could to the den, trying not to let his brother's see his limping.
"What's the situation John?" Scott asked as they all sat down on a chair. John's hologram was smiling too brightly for how late it was, giving Gordon the assumption that he took too much pleasure in sounding the klaxon at that time.
"The US Navy has lost contact with their sub in the Atlantic, 300 people on board. They received a transmission saying that they were in danger, before they lost all contact with them." John replied, enjoying the dishevelled look of his brother's.
"Why does this concern us? We don't get involved in military operations. It suggests that we are choosing sides, and we want to remain impartial, for lack of a better word." Virgil said, his large form slumped on the sofa, almost slipping onto the floor.
"This is the sub's last transmission." John said, playing the recording that the Navy sent him.
"Mayday, Mayday. We are experiencing engine failure. Our water pumps are flooded. We have no way of surfacing. Please help!" A voice said, making Gordon frown, the pain in his foot forgotten.
"What do you think Gordo?" Scott asked, looking at their resident aquanaught.
"If the water pumps are flooded, then they have no way of controlling the ballast tanks and will take on more water than they need and will continue to sink until they hit the seabed. Engine failure can be a number of things, but the water pumps are the main worry." He said, leaning forward, only just remembering not to wince when he moved his foot.
"Can't they just empty the pumps? That's how you resurface, isn't it?" Alan asked. The Tracy brothers only had limited knowledge of submarines, all except Gordon who use to be a captain for the WASPs.
"No. When the tanks flood, it means that the water can't be released, which means they take in too much water and they sink." He replied.
"Ok. Gordon, Virgil, suit up. Get Thunderbird 4 down there and see if you can fix the problem. Alan, back to bed." Scott ordered, making Alan frown. "I'll stay here and track your progress."
"John, send us the sub's last known location." Virgil said as he ran to the painting that would take him to 2, while Gordon took the stairs down to the silo, wincing with every step. He struggled to get his boot on over the bandage, as all of their uniform had been designed to be like a second skin, but he was eventually sat in his seat in Thunderbird 2. The two of them spent the journey in relative silence, something Gordon was thankful for, as he went over the schematics of the sub.
"Any idea why this would happen?" Virgil asked, looking over at his unnaturally quiet brother.
"No. Unless someone sabotaged the sub after it left port, there is no reason why this would happen." He said, making Virgil frown.
"You think its sabotage?" He asked, looking at his brother, noticing the slight pain in his eyes.
"I won't know until I get a look at it." He replied, hyper aware of the pain in his foot that the too tight boot increased.
"You ok?" Virgil asked, looking back at the console in front of him.
"Yes. Why?" He asked, sounding defensive.
"You just don't seem like yourself." He said, looking out of the window and avoiding his younger brother's eyes.
"I'm tired. Leave me alone." Gordon snapped as they neared the last known co-ordinates of the sub. "I'm going down to 4." He got up and walked down to the pod, each step agony for his foot. He could feel a slight burn around where the nail went in and came to one conclusion. Infection.
"Great. Just to make this day any better." He mumbled sarcastically to himself, going into his 'bird and sealing the air lock. He sat down in his seat and encountered a problem he didn't think of. The foot rests on his 'bird. Normally, he would sit on a chair with his whole foot on the floor, meaning the wound from the nail wouldn't be touching the floor, but the footrests on his 'bird meant he would have to place the ark of his foot on them, and nothing else. Right where his wound is. "Perfect. Just prefect." He muttered, gritting his teeth against the pain.
"Thunderbird 4 from Thunderbird 2. We are over the danger zone. Prepare for pod release." Virgil said, moments before the pod dropped into the sea.
"Thanks Virge. Gordon said, hoping the pain in his voice was undetected. "You may as well land. I may be a while and there is nothing you can do right now."
"FAB. Call me when you need a lift." Virgil said, pretending he didn't hear the pain in his brother's voice. Once the pod had opened and Gordon was diving into the dark water, he finally let out a groan of pain, knowing that the comms was off and no one would hear him. He could feel a burning in his foot, and knew it was nothing good. He knew right then that he was being stupid by hiding it from his brothers, but there wasn't much he could do right now.
"I'm approaching the sub." He said into his comm when he saw the sub. "The ballast tanks are ruptured, that's why the pumps aren't working. This definitely looks like sabotage."
"What's the plan Gordon?" Scott asked, sitting on the sofa in the den, Alan sprawled across another, snoring lightly.
"I'm going to anchor 4 to their outer railings and attempt to board. I just hope that their inner air lock is closed." He replied, trying to ignore the pain in his foot. He managed to anchor himself to the sub before donning his helmet and flipping backwards into the cold waters. "Damn it's cold." He muttered as he reached the sub's airlock. He got inside and let the water drain before taking off his helmet and opening the inner airlock. "Hello? International rescue. Call out if you can hear me!" He shouted, only to be answered by the sounds of running as people in Navy uniform ran around the corner and saw him.
"Oh thank God!" One of them said, at the front of the crowd when they stopped in front of him. "I'm the pilot of this sub. How did you find us?"
"The Navy sent us your last transmission and we followed it." He said, almost jumping when someone knocked his foot. "Ok, I had a look at the outside of the sub and half of your ballast tanks are ruptured, which is why the pumps are flooded. I need to have a look at your engines and see what I can do from this end."
"Why can't you just lift us out?" Someone asked, making Gordon sigh.
"Because this sub is too heavy for Thunderbird 4 to lift out, and Thunderbird 2 doesn't have a cable long enough to reach us. If I can get the engines started, even with half of the pumps flooded, I should be able to lift us enough for Thunderbird 2 to send a line down to us." He replied, before looking at the pilot. "Can you show me the way to the engine room?"
Once he was in the engine room, he started to work. He found the point of the sabotage quite easily, only to from. He pressed the IR logo on his sash to contact his brothers. "Hey John, I think we have a problem."
"What is it?" John asked, making Virgil and Scott frown as well.
"I think that the Hood is behind this." He replied, making Scott's eyes widen.
"What makes you think that?" Virgil asked, detecting a change in Gordon's voice.
"This is his MO." Gordon said, before stopping, grabbing onto the wall next to his as the burn in his foot flared.
"Gordon?" Scott asked, frowning at his brother's hologram. The pain in Gordon's eyes was clear. "What's wrong?" He didn't get an answer though, as they watched Gordon fall to the floor.
"GORDON!" Scott, John and Virgil shouted, all 3 of them jumping up and waking Alan up.
"Oh my God. Your guy's unconscious." The pilot of the sub said, kneeling next to Gordon.
"Right. I know enough about this sub to know the problem." John said, instructing the on board engineers on how to fix the sub. "Once you get high enough, Thunderbird 2 will get a line to you and pull you the rest of the way out and to land."
"What about your man?" Someone asked.
"Get him on a bed, and elevate his legs. Don't do anything else." Virgil ordered.
Xxx
6 hours later, Gordon opened his eyes to see Virgil stood over him, looking down at his foot. "Virgil?" He asked, looking at him through heavy eyelids.
"Morning sunshine." Virgil replied, looking at his brother with raise eyebrows. "When were you going to tell me that you stood on a rusty nail?" He asked, making Gordon frown.
"How did you know it was a rust nail?" He asked.
"I saw the hole in your foot, including the infection that was setting in. So, I got Alan to look around your room and he found this." He said, holding up the rusty nail in question in a plastic bag. "Good news is, the infection is going down, which means the antibiotics are working."
"What antibiotics?" Gordon asked, looking down at the plaster on the back of his hand with a frown.
"I put an IV in you once we got you back. Took it out when you started to stir." Virgil replied, smiling at Scott and Alan as they walked into the infirmary.
"What's the bad news?" Gordon asked, knowing there would be some.
"You are really gonna hate me after this." Virgil said, before Scott and Alan grabbed Gordon's arms and legs, pinning him down.
"WHAT THE HELL?" He shouted, eyes widening when he saw what was in Virgil's hand.
"I'm sorry Gordon. I was hoping to give you this before you woke up. I know you hate needles." He said, the needle in his hand full of liquid.
"What is it?" He asked, fighting against Scott and Alan more.
"A tetanus shot. I need to give you one because of the nail. I'm sorry." Virgil said, grabbing his arm and emptying the contents of the needle into it before he could do anything.
"I hate you Virgil." Gordon muttered as Scott and Alan let go of him.
"I know Gordo. Next time, don't keep secrets from big brother. Then you might not need a shot." Virgil said with a smile as Gordon fell back to sleep.