If you have seen the tweets from International Rescue (atoffficialIR) on twitter you will know the source of my inspiration for this collection. It will come slowly, in part due to having to do actual research, but also due to the fact that not only do I have a 21 month old daughter but I'm also pregnant with small human number 2 (no idea on flavour yet but watch this space). I'm also in the process of buying a house, so I'm writing in between packing up my belongings (of which there is far too much) and chasing a bored toddler around the living room while she waves the tv remote screaming. The only time she is vaguely content is kids tv time, or when she's pointing at Scott while I watch classic episodes and calling him Daddy. The joys of motherhood. The house also means that I can't replace my near dead laptop, it takes about 20 minutes to start. So, yes, doomed I think is the word I'm looking for here.

Disclaimer: Although I contributed ideas for the tweets the vast majority of them are not mine, although I've been given permission to use them. The boys are most certainly not mine but that doesn't stop me from dreaming.

Mario Kart.

"People think that we're mature and competent adults because we rescue people, but clearly they haven't seen Scott lose at Mario Kart."

It was not unusual to find the four Earth bound Tracy boys gathered together in the games room, especially when a rare tropical storm blew over the island rendering them house bound unless there was a call out. All were active young men but there is only so much time that can be spent in the gym or on routine maintenance before one gets a little bored. This had led to Gordon suggesting a gaming tournament.

Really the older three brothers, Alan being safely hidden away on Thunderbird Five for his rotation, should have known better than to take Gordon up on any challenge. They had years of experience after all. Scott had opted for Call of Duty, Virgil for Halo and John for World of Warcraft raids. None of the choices was a surprise (although it was rare that any of the brothers would admit to playing Warcraft of all things) but it had been Gordon who had the final say, it being his idea. Typically of Gordon he had chosen Mario Kart (not a serious racing game so Alan was not overly enamoured of it). John and Virgil had agreed immediately, grins sharp on their faces and eyes alight with delight. Scott had put a little more effort into trying to talk them all into his choice.

He failed.

Which resulted in this scene: Gordon stretched out comfortably on the floor, a grin on his face and his entire posture more relaxed than it had a right to be. John was sat in an almost boneless position in a gaming chair with only his frown to show how hard he was concentrating and Virgil and Scott shared the sofa. The younger man's face was a mask of concentration and he was leaning forward as he stared intently at the screen. It was the older man who drew the most attention. Scott's controller was twisted almost the wrong way in his hands and he was leaning sharply to the left as though mimicking the movements that the driver of his little cart would be making. Streams of words that would make Grandma frown poured quietly from between his lips as his efforts to make the car turn that much harder failed and it shot off the edge of the road and into the abyss of space.

A muffled snort from the floor was the only indication that anyone had noticed this slip, although it was not the first, and as the lap continued Scott's control faltered all the more.

"It's like you're not even trying," Gordon commented as he lapped Scott for the first time. "I thought you were supposed to be one of the best pilots in the world."

"Shut up, Gordon," Scott replied from between gritted teeth as Virgil elbowed him in the ribs.

"Quit leaning into me," he hissed, his own moment of distraction causing him to nearly miss a corner himself. "You know that isn't going to help." Scott muttered at him again, his attention back on the screen and the little car that failed to cooperate.

John was the next to lap him, silent in his chair and only a small grin to show that he had noticed, and Gordon was well on his way to his third circuit. There was a small moment of triumph as Scott finally began his second lap, after dropping off three more corners in rapid succession, but it was squashed as Gordon passed him on his way to his final. Not even Virgil and John were going to catch him up now and clearly all those months in recovery after his accident had been spent playing more video games than the older boys had realised.

It was over before Scott made it to the start line a second time, too far behind the other three to catch them up, and he watched as his younger brother did a small victory dance.

"Next race?" The aquanaut asked. His other brothers nodded and for a moment Scott debated walking away, except that a Tracy does not quit in the face of abject failure.

"I need a different game pad," he groused, "this one's faulty."

"Here, I'll swap," Virgil said to save trying the find the fifth, rarely used, control pad and waiting for it to charge. Scott took it without a word and Virgil took a moment to remind himself that he now had a different character.

Even though they had moved on from Rainbow Road Gordon had chosen another track that was almost as challenging. John and Virgil made their way around this one with relative ease, first, second and third place achieved in rapid succession. After he had one false start watching the wrong cart and another where he had missed a turn Scott finally rolled over the finish in seventh place. The air turned blue.

"You can't blame the pad, Scott," Virgil pointed out reasonably, "and there's nothing wrong with this one either. I think you're just going to have to own up to the fact that you're rubbish at something."

"At least that something is Mario Kart," John also tried to console him. Gordon remained silent in the face of his brother's ire, for once not trusting himself to say anything that would not result in Scott tackling him and proving himself the superior wrestler.

"You three must have done something," Scott muttered. Virgil and John shared uneasy glances. Scott had always been a bad loser. "There's no way I could have lost that badly at a stupid game."

"It happens," Virgil reasoned, wondering why they had agreed to this when they all knew that Scott was fairly useless atMario Kart at the best of times. When his competitive streak got the better of him, however, it went from bad to ugly rapidly.

"Why don't we play something else," John offered, trying to change the subject and distract his increasingly irate brother.

"No," Scott shook his head. "Wouldn't want to take the risk that one of you might cheat again." He added as he dropped the control pad onto the sofa and stalked out. The remaining three glanced at each other.

"Another round?" Gordon asked and they all settled back into position, Scott's bad mood forgotten for the time being.

I hasten to add that I've never been a rubbish loser at Mario Kart. I'm just rubbish at it in general so I have a laugh.

Artemis