Oooooh! Just one more episode to go! And didn't the end of Undercover set it up for an absolute doozie? That revelation we've all been waiting for is finally coming!
Of course, poor Parker was left in a bit of a pickle too, which set my plot bunnies to thinking on how Scott would try and stop it from happening again. So, then, here's what they've come up with.
As always, I hope you enjoy!
United, We Stand
As far as Scott knew, there was no connection at all between the Tracys and the Parkers. Nor was there any kind of distant relations with the Kyranos, or the Hackenbackers, or the Creighton Wards. But in his eyes, they were still family. His family, in all but name.
Parker. Kayo. Brains. Penelope. And the thought of losing any one of them was as unthinkable as the loss of any of his own flesh and blood. God knew, he'd suffered the anguish of two such losses already. He really couldn't face going through any more.
Today, though, like so many others before, he'd come damn close to it. Not to an act of courage that would make such an ultimate sacrifice that little bit easier to live with. No, the actions that had left Parker's life in such danger had been a near comedy of errors and accidents. An act of well meaning clumsiness that he'd look back on, eventually, and maybe even smile at its 'you've-gotta-be-kidding-me' lunacy. If Ned Tedford really had been sent to the Arctic... well, you had to feel sorry for those polar bears.
But there'd be no such levity tonight. For so many reasons, not least the question marks that still hung over the GDF's security, Scott Tracy was in no such mood for amusement. Instead, while Kayo saw through his orders, and delivered this Senor Banino into the custody of the GDF, he'd called the family into the den, for one of the most serious debriefs he was ever likely to give.
All of them. For the first time since another, life-changing night, every member of International Rescue sat together in the same room. Virgil, Gordon, Alan, Brains, and Grandma, all watching him from their respective couches, while John, Penny, and Parker did the same through their holographic counterparts.
On every face, he saw the same expression. Expectant curiosity, joining their relief for Parker's safe return. Amongst a cluster of puzzled glances, though, only two of those faces suggested any hint of the knowledge that they knew already. The troubling concerns that they could no longer keep to themselves.
Needing just the prompt of Virgil's eyes, and John's corresponding nod, Scott took a deep breath. He'd spent the best part of an hour trying to figure out what he was going to say, and... damn, he still wasn't sure where to start.
Right on cue, a calming voice ghosted through his mind - inspiring him as much as it pained him with its eternal poignancy.
'All they need to know, son... everything you need to tell them, from the very beginning... just take it from there, one step at a time.'
Another deep breath now, as his eyes were drawn back to his father's desk. Then, from one leader to another, the words finally came.
"I've, uh... had a call tonight from Colonel Casey... not just to discuss what happened today, but... well, the results of her investigations into Martin Janus..."
Against an expectant silence, one voice broke out of it. Alan's, of course, conveying all their unvoiced thoughts.
"That idiot who tried to arrest us? Well, I hope she's giving him the same hard time as he gave us!"
Smiling now, despite the interruption, Scott nodded as he sat down beside him, and tousled Alan's hair. Yes, trust the family baby to get straight to the point - and earn every kid brother's favourite reward.
"Oh, yes, Alan, she is... enough to make him fully co-operate, with everything he knows about The Hood, and how he managed to get past the GDF's security."
News that should have reassured them - but not quite enough to stop another, quiet question. From their grandmother this time, who couldn't just write a book on getting straight to the point, but more a whole library.
"How bad is it, Scott?"
Yes, there it was. The first and foremost issue for this family meeting's agenda, and... yeah. If he'd ever wondered who Alan had learned that straight talking trait from, he sure had his answer now.
So, then, one less thing for him to think about. Except, of course, that plenty of others were still lined up to take its place. And this lurking threat to his family came top of every list that he'd ever care to name.
"Pretty bad, Grandma, but not as bad as it could have been," he said at last, offering her a smile that conveyed the same reassurance around a circle of faces.
"Yes, it's still pretty worrying that Janus managed to get past the GDF's security checks, but Colonel Casey has assured me that won't happen again... with Brains' help, they've checked all their systems and equipment for any kind of sabotage, and everything looks to be clear... and the scanners that he and Virgil installed will pick up anyone who tries to use holography to hide their real identity."
All well and good, of course - except for the word that hung inside a still restless silence.
'But...'
The word that the family matriarch now felt honour bound to say out loud.
"But?"
Yes, whether he was sneaking out an extra slice of apple pie, or trying to convince her that he really, really, wasn't sick, Scott knew that tone of his grandmother's voice all too well. Saw the same message on her face, in her eyes. Through every word of what she said next.
"Just tell us what we're up against, Scott, so we can face it as we face everything else... together."
Together. Another reminder that only John and Virgil knew how seriously the GDF had been compromised. From everything that had happened over the past few weeks, Scott knew that had to change.
"But it's also known now that The Hood also breached the GDF's security... he took on the identity of a Lieutenant in charge of their vetting checks, which explains how Janus slipped through the net too."
He'd dropped it as gently as he could, but three stunned faces told him how deeply that bombshell's impact had still hit. God knew, it had caused him enough sleepless nights too, so... yes, what he said next was to reassure himself every bit as much as it was to reassure them.
"Yes, I know... this is as close to our worst nightmare as it could possibly get, but... well, like I said, there's no sign of any sabotage... and those scanners will stop him, or anyone else who tries to disguise themselves, from doing anything like this again."
He'd tried his best. Said everything he could possibly say, to try and rally the worried troops around him. All these still anxious glances, told him he hadn't quite managed it. But then, to both his relief and depthless pride, Alan squared his shoulders, and brought his shaken family back onto blessedly familiar ground.
"Okay, so we've got these scanners set up, that'll detect him trying to impersonate anyone else... and I bet Janus is singing like a canary now, to save his own hide, but... jeez, Scott, how did he do it? How did The Hood get into the GDF to start with? I mean, they're the biggest security organization in the world, and... well, it's not like you can just walk through the front gate, without half a dozen guards howling after you..."
Ah, yes. The first time an overly curious Tracy had bounded just a bit too fast through the GDF's security gates. Now, as then, it made all of them smile, at a moment when every one of them needed it.
"Yeah, kiddo, you'd know all about that," Scott grinned, snugging his gem of a baby brother against him, before answering his question with the greater seriousness that it deserved.
"Well, Lieutenant Meddings went under hypnosis, and he remembered coming face to face with an 'Inspector' from the World Council... so my guess is, The Hood needs face to face contact before he can use someone else's identity... probably a retinal scan, that he can encode into the device that Professor Moffatt saw when he impersonated her."
Ah. Another reminder, of a far more serious kind. One of their civilian allies, coming face to face with her perfect twin. The timeless clash between good and evil, played out in the corridor of a sabotaged train. More reason than ever, now, for them to ask how they could possibly defeat an enemy who could take on the identity of anyone he chose.
Little wonder, then, that Scott now stood up again - using every inch of his height to catch the attention of every pair of eyes. Yes, they had every right to fear the madman who seemed hell bent on wrecking their lives, but was he going to let that fear get the better of them? Was he hell.
"Look, we all know who, and what, we're up against... for whatever sick reason he has, The Hood's made it his mission to destroy us... well, I have a mission too... with Dad gone, it's up to me to keep every single one of you safe... to do everything I can to protect you, and keep us together, because... well, as you said yourself, Grandma, that's how we're at our strongest to fight him... as a family... together."
Oh, yes, he had their attention now. Every single pair of eyes were trained upon him. Just the show of solidarity he'd hoped for. Yet beyond all the admiration, and pride, and fresh sense of purpose that he could see on their faces, Scott knew a silent ghost still haunted every heart. The man whose duty to inspire and protect his family now rested on his shoulders.
As they'd done for several times that night, Scott's eyes strayed to the desk behind him. As it had done through so many times in the past, his father's voice brought him all the strength he needed to fight past the bitter pain of his loss.
"And he knows it, too... that's why The Hood took Dad away from us, because he knew how much it would hurt us... but that will never, ever, stop us from searching this whole damn planet to find him, and bring him home... but more than ever before now, we need to keep ourselves safe... we've got to do everything we can to protect ourselves, by whatever means necessary, and... well, that's why Virgil and Brains have come up with this."
Studying the 'this' in question, three pairs of eyes then threw the same, startled glance towards him. This time, though, it was Gordon who just managed to beat the family's other technofreak to the pinch.
"Is - Is that a nanobug?!"
Okay, so hardly the most flattering description, but... well, pretty accurate nonetheless. A silvery bead, about the size of a pumpkin seed, with four tiny hooks set around it. Very much like the robots that helped to clean and maintain the house, but smaller. Much smaller. And, as Scott quietly explained, built for a far more vital role than just waxing the floorboards.
"Yes, Gordon, it is... a specially adapted nannite that also has a transmitter beacon built into it. A way to keep track of us, so if... well, if the worst happens, and any of us do go missing too, we can still be found."
"Yes, it's an implant that gives out a constant signal... anywhere in the world, to the depths of every ocean," Virgil cut in, the enthusiasm in his voice for this brilliant feat of engineering then fading slightly, as he explained how it had to work.
"The only thing is... well, for obvious reasons, we can't just swallow it... the only way to make sure it stays put is to inject it, into a muscle that's thick enough to keep it secure, and hidden."
Uh oh. Those nervous glances were back again. And... yes, this was a desperate measure. But as Scott then softly reminded them, these were equally desperate times.
"Look, this isn't to scare you, because... well, that's just what The Hood wants us to feel... but we've all seen how dangerous and ruthless he is... for whatever reason, he's determined to try and hurt us, and he's willing to do it by all means that he can find... he caused Dad's crash, and took him away from us... and there's every chance he'll try to do the same to us... and after what happened to Parker today... well, I think we need to implement it, now, before..."
'...any more of us vanish off the face of the Earth...'
He'd left that last part unvoiced, because... well, right now, actions really did speak louder than words. Because they were all looking at it now - the only visible representation of a missing father, and friend, and son, that they had left. So yes, as they all rose from their seats and headed for the stairs beyond it, every one of them touched it. Every one of them made the same, silent promise.
'Wherever you are, we're going to find you... we're going to bring you home.'
A day they all prayed for. A day that still felt as far from them as ever.
More immediately, though, would come the 'needs must' measure that would protect them from the same, awful fate. For those in the house, it meant an unplanned visit to the Infirmary. For John, an equally unplanned trip home, while at Creighton Ward Manor, FAB1 rose gently into the skies above it, and set an instantly shielded course for the south Pacific.
Leading as always by example, Scott went first - forcing himself not to wince as the implant invaded his arm, and latched itself into layers of shielding muscle. Even with that numbing hit of Novocaine... damn, it still stung like hell, and... God, he hated himself right now. Hated himself, that he was inflicting the same discomfort on those that he'd die to protect.
So yes, for every nervous glance, and bravely borne wince, and stoic nod of acceptance, there was a reassuring smile. A comforting hand, and hugs for anyone who needed it. Anything and everything he could do to soak up those stings of pain, and the guilt of his own conscience.
Once they'd recovered, it was outside onto the obs deck, to let the calm of a tropical morning soothe away those lingering twinges. A new day that, God willing, they'd all see through together.
Then it happened. That telltale click in his earpiece. A voice that roused a gloating ghost in Scott Tracy's mind, and turned his blood into tortured ice.
"Scott, as soon as everyone is together, there's something I need to tell you all..."