Sincere thanks to everyone who's read, favorited, followed, and/or reviewed. This chapter takes place later on in the same day as the first chapter.
I did get a request from a Guest asking me to have Alan talk to Kyrano about the Hood's abilities as well as any mental abilities that Kyrano may have. I've included this in the chapter.
Disclaimer: I still don't own the Thunderbirds, and I'm sure no one would like it so much if I did.
It was six o'clock on Tracy island – dinner time. Alan Tracy was sitting down near the pool watching his brothers play water volleyball when Onaha called them all to the table.
"Boys! Food!"
"Okay, Onaha, we'll be right there!" The call of food was not even enough to distract the boys from their volleyball game. Gordon and Scott were beating John and Virgil by two points, and the game was almost over.
"Let's go, Virge!" Alan cheered as his brother served the ball, letting out a whoop as Scott missed. "Yeah!"
"Hey!" Gordon protested, turning a glare on his only younger brother. "You're supposed to be rooting for Scott and me, not those two losers over there." Alan shrugged, eyes glinting in humor as Virgil splashed the water-obsessed Tracy.
"That was until you lost three points in a row," he explained, laughing when Virgil's next serve caught Gordon in the face.
"Boys!" Onaha's irritated voice called. "Dinner. Now!"
Heaving themselves from the pool with promises of completing their game later, the four oldest brothers hurried into the house, leaving Alan to follow along with a chuckle. Refreshed and relaxed after his six-hour nap earlier in the day, and feeling much closer to his brothers than he had in years, Alan let a content smile spread over his face. Surrounded by his brothers he'd had a peaceful, dreamless rest, and now he was in high spirits.
Open the door, Alan.
The teen recoiled as if he'd been slapped, freezing in his tracks halfway between the patio and the table where his family was already devouring their meal.
"Alan?" Scott asked, concern evident in his tone. Ever since this morning the oldest Tracy son had been keeping an annoyingly close guard over Alan, as if to make up for the mocking he'd subjected his youngest brother to. Alan was too happy with the newfound closeness of his siblings to complain, and for once in his life he even found himself feeling grateful that someone, at least, was watching him like a hawk. It was Scott's voice that pulled Alan back to reality.
"Sorry," Alan murmured. Making his way to the table and sitting once again between John and Virgil, Alan piled only enough food on his plate to satisfy the watching eyes of his family. He suddenly wasn't very hungry.
Tintin's gaze met his own for a brief moment before she quickly looked away, as if embarrassed or even afraid of what Alan's reaction might be. The boy frowned. Thinking back to the encounter with the Hood the day before (was it really only yesterday? It felt like a lifetime ago) Alan remembered Tintin's surprise upon discovering that the Hood was her uncle. Shifting his eyes towards Kyrano, Alan pondered the fact that he was the Hood's brother. Interesting. Maybe he'd know something about the Hood's mind control powers.
As if expecting the blonde's scrutiny, Kyrano glanced up at the teen. After a few seconds the man nodded once, and Alan took it as an invitation to talk to Kyrano about what had happened with the Hood. Not in front of his brothers, though. No way was he going to let Scott know that someone had tried to mess with his mind.
"Alan," Jeff Tracy's deep voice suddenly broke the silence. Alan turned to face his father, raising a questioning eyebrow when he registered the look of concern on the man's face. "Did you ever get down to the infirmary last night?" Alan flinched; he'd hoped to avoid this particular conversation.
"Um…" he thought about lying, but he knew that his father would merely turn to Brains or Virgil for confirmation and then he'd be in real trouble. "No, dad, I didn't." At his father's look, the teen hurried to clarify.
"Everyone was so worried about John," Alan spoke fast enough to trip over his words. "And then afterwards…"
"We all yelled at you for disobeying orders," his father sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face. Alan nodded, though his father wasn't watching. The older man sighed again. "Alan, that was a mistake. We never should have yelled at you. You did everything you could have done. You made the judgment call you thought you needed to make, and it turned out to be the only one that would have worked. I'm proud of you, son."
Hell must have just frozen over. Alan waited a beat for his father or one of his brothers to shout "April Fools", but no one did. Glowing with some unidentified emotion, Alan smiled.
"Thanks, dad," he said. Then he thought about Tintin and Fermat and how he'd almost killed them. "But it wasn't me. It was Tintin and Fermat. Without them I would have failed." Jeff Tracy turned to smile at the other two teens.
"Fermat, Tintin, I'm proud of you both, as well." Jeff turned back to his son. "Alan, you did just as much as your friends did, and for that I thank you." There was an appreciative whoop from Gordon as Alan grinned wider.
"Dad, did Alan get hurt yesterday?" Scott inquired when the impromptu celebration of the teens' success had died down a bit. Instantly the mood in the room sobered, and every member of the household turned to stare at Alan and Jeff. Jeff shot a worried look at his youngest and nodded.
"Alan, why didn't you say something?" Virgil, the medic of the family, questioned critically.
"John…" Alan began, but was cut off by his only blonde sibling.
"Is fine," the second oldest Tracy brother said. "Therefore, you had no reason to stand in the background."
"Well," Alan defended himself, "It wasn't a big deal. It doesn't even hurt that much." That last part was only a tiny lie. Really.
"Alan, after we eat, go down to the infirmary with Virgil." Their father's tone of voice left no room for argument and Alan sighed, picking at the rest of his meal in silence while Virgil and Gordon finished their third helpings.
"Ready to get this over with, Alan?" Virgil asked as Onaha began clearing the table. Gordon disappeared out to the pool and John retreated to his room. Only Scott remained, flanking Virgil. Alan wasn't stupid; he knew there would be no escaping. Still, he couldn't help but try.
"Can it wait, Virge? I'm fine."
"No, it very well cannot wait," Scott answered for Virgil.
"Scott," Kyrano cut in softly, appearing at Alan's elbow and scaring him half to death. "I was wondering if I could borrow Alan for a moment." Scott and Virgil exchanged looks before Scott turned to the family's butler.
"Sure, Kyrano," he agreed hesitantly. "We'll be in the infirmary."
"I'll see to it that your brother arrives there," Kyrano answered. Alan turned to Kyrano as Scott and Virgil disappeared.
"Kyrano," he started, but wasn't sure where to go from there. He didn't want to offend the man by bringing up the Hood, but he really needed answers. Kyrano hummed and turned to look out the window.
"You want to know about my brother's powers," the butler guessed.
"Well…" Alan sighed. "Yeah."
"The Hood is dangerous," Kyrano began. "He can control the mind of almost anyone. He gets people to do his bidding whether they want to do it or not."
"Why couldn't he control my mind like he could with everyone else?" Alan asked the question that was burdening him the most. He shivered as he remembered the feeling of the Hood's power. The Hood had tried to take over his mind; Alan had felt it. Even though he knew what was happening, there was nothing he could do to stop it.
"I suspect that's because he miscalculated, Alan," Kyrano sighed. "Desperate people are hard to control. You don't need telepathic powers to know that. You were desperate. Your family was in danger, your friends were in danger, and you were in danger. That's enough to make anyone feel like there's no hope, and yet it seems that when things are hopeless it makes us try all the harder."
"So you think he could control my mind if he wanted to?" Alan asked as goose bumps rose on his arms.
"I suspect so, yes, under normal circumstances," Kyrano agreed. "He can control almost everyone, as I said. He can control some people from far away, but most of the time he needs to be a fairly close distance away from his…victims. I believe that if the Hood had tried to control you before he endangered your family, or even if he tried to control you today, he'd be able to with less difficulty."
"Oh," Alan said faintly, sitting on the arm of the couch as he thought about this. Kyrano turned to face the teen.
"It's also possible that you are one of those rare people who cannot be touched by the Hood's mental powers; at least not to the extent of the average person."
Alan didn't answer for a while, but when he did it was to change the subject.
"Do you have those same powers?" he asked hesitantly. Kyrano's eyes slipped closed.
"No," he said. "It is a hereditary thing, and it has been in our family for many generations, though only a few receive it. I am, thankfully, not one of them. I had hoped that Tintin would not be burdened with the ability, either, but unfortunately that was not to be so." At this, Kryano almost glared at Alan, who shrank back from the man's gaze. "Alan, my Tintin feels that you will not want to maintain a friendship with her because of her powers. I ask that you reconsider this. The Hood is horrible, yes, but my Tintin is not. It isn't the powers that make the person. It's the person who makes the powers. Tintin will never use hers in the way the Hood has used his."
Taken aback, Alan jumped to his feet and hurriedly shook his head.
"Kyrano, I'd never think that about Tintin. I don't care what powers she has. I don't care about that at all. And I certainly know that she's nothing like the Hood. Anyone could see that. I never questioned her inner goodness, Kyrano. I promise." At this, Kyrano relaxed. There was silence for a few seconds.
"How do I make it go away, Kyrano?" Alan asked desperately. "I keep hearing his voice inside my head, like I did when he tried to control me. How do I make it stop?"
"To that, I have no answer," the butler shook his head. "It will fade with time, but I'm not aware of a way to speed up the process."
"Do you think…?" Alan swallowed. "Do you think he's still in my head, waiting to control me?"
"I do not know," Kyrano said after a weighted pause. "It is possible. However, I do not believe so. Distance is usually a key factor in these things. He had a hard time getting into your mind, Alan. It is likely that he cannot control you from long distances. The Hood is safely locked in a high-security prison somewhere in Europe. You should be safe."
Alan pondered that, feeling the anxious pounding of his heart. To the best of Kyrano's knowledge, Alan was safe – but there was doubt. As long as there was doubt, Alan knew that it would be a long, long time before he felt truly comfortable again.
"Thank you for your time, Kyrano," the teen finally nodded. "I guess I'd better go find my brothers now, before they come looking for me."
"It would be better for you to go to them than for them to have to seek you out," Kyrano agreed with a wry smile.
Alan made his way slowly toward the infirmary, casting a look at the butler following at his heels.
"I promised your brothers I would get you to the infirmary," Kyrano explained.
"I'm not going to run," Alan lied.
"Be that as it may, I made a promise," he said, though the expression on his face showed Alan that he hadn't fooled anyone.
With Kyrano following him there was no chance of avoiding the impending torture, so Alan resigned himself to his fate, picked up his pace to a normal walk, and in less time than he needed in order to prepare himself he was faced with the infirmary doors.
"I'll leave you to it, then," Kyrano nodded as he watched Alan sigh and step through the sliding door.
Scott and Virgil were sitting side by side on one of the beds, leaning over an electronic datapad. Both men looked up at the sound of the door sliding shut. There was a tense silence as the brothers surveyed each other; Alan watched Scott and Virgil warily, making his distaste for the current situation known in his body language.
"What did Kyrano want?" Scott asked, clearly trying to divert Alan's attention from the matter at hand in order to get him to relax. Alan, however, interpreted it as Scott trying to involve himself in Alan's personal business.
"Oh. That. Well, he just wanted to talk to me about something," Alan answered. He wasn't ready for his brothers to know about the Hood's mind control attempt. If they were going to find out, it would be on his terms, and not on theirs.
"Alan," Virgil sighed when Scott's attempted diversion didn't do a thing. "We can get this over with more quickly if you cooperate."
"I know," Alan stated, yet he made no effort to move. Out of all six total members of the Tracy family, Scott and Virgil were the most protective. That also tended to make them the bossiest of his brothers, especially when it came to Alan doing something that they thought would endanger his health. Together they made up what Alan, John, and Gordon referred to as the 'smother hens', and they seemed to be none too happy that Alan had neglected to tell them that he'd gotten hurt during the incident with the Hood.
"Alan, please?" Scott was making a visible effort not to become exasperated, but Alan knew a lecture was probably well on its way. Moving to stand in front of his brothers, Alan sighed.
"You could at least pretend to be patient, you know." The smother hens exchanged a look.
"Tell us where you're hurt, Alan, and let's just get this over with." Virgil, as always, was playing peacemaker.
"Ribs," Alan replied, taking off his shirt when Virgil gestured for him to do so. Both of his older brothers sucked in an audible breath and glared at him. Alan glanced down; the bruises covering his chest were truly spectacular. He'd never seen anything quite like it before.
"Alan, why didn't you tell us about this? Are you crazy? This could be serious!" Virgil began, leaving Scott to continue.
"Alan, you need to tell us about things like this! How can you expect us to trust you with…" A sudden tense, deadly silence filled the room.
"How can I expect you to trust me with the Thunderbirds, when I won't tell you when I'm hurt, right?" Alan filled in sarcastically as Scott swallowed and looked down at the floor. Virgil's eyes darted back and forth between the oldest and youngest brothers, trying to decide which one to intercede for first.
"Alan…"
"Forget it, Scott."
The silence dragged on and on until the tension reached an unbearable level. Still, Alan didn't give in, refusing to be the one to speak first.
"Alan," Scott finally sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."
"No, Scott, you're not sorry," Alan exploded. "You're not sorry. At least now I know what you're all thinking. Now I know that you all think I'm untrustworthy. Thanks for that. All these years I simply thought you didn't like me or you didn't want me on the team. That, I could have dealt with. I've spent so much time trying to prove that I can be on the team. I've spent so much time trying to get you to trust me to be on the team. And now I know. I'll never be on the team because you don't trust me despite what I've done. Well, fine. Whatever."
"Alan, that's not true," Scott argued, but Alan interrupted him.
"Of course it's true, Scott! You wouldn't have said it if it wasn't what you were thinking. I should've known your apology yesterday wasn't real."
"Alan," Virgil cut in. "Our apology was very real. You misunderstood what Scott's saying."
"Oh?" Alan questioned with a snort. "Sure. Well, then, explain it to me, because I'm clearly too stupid to understand."
"Virgil's not saying that, Al. Look. What I meant is, we go out on a lot of dangerous rescues. One of us is always getting knocked around. We have to be honest about it, Alan. Let's be honest here; you're usually the opposite of honest when it comes to things like this." Scott's reasonable tone only fueled Alan's anger.
"Because you're always making fun of me! Remember the last time? Everyone called me clumsy and laughed at me even though I was really in a lot of pain and it wasn't even my fault. You never laugh at John or Gordon… why is it always me? Why should I even want to tell you anything, when you're always using it to lecture me, and tell me what a fool I've made of myself?" Alan took a deep breath and continued, "The truth is, I don't trust you not to make me feel like dirt."
"Alan…" Scott trailed off helplessly, exchanging another look with Virgil, and in that moment Alan knew that they knew that he was right.
"Alan, you're right," Virgil confirmed, regret coloring his tone. "You're absolutely right. We've been cruel to you. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm making a promise to you right here and now: It will never happen again. But Scott's right, too, Al. In the field, I need to be able to trust you to tell me when something's wrong. I can't fix it if I don't know about it, and injuries in the field can be life threatening."
"Yeah, Virge. Okay… but everyone else will still make fun of me," Alan frowned.
"No, they won't," Scott disagreed, a dangerous glint in his eyes that, thankfully, was not aimed at Alan. "I'll make sure of that."
"Promise?"
"I promise. Not even Gordon will make fun of you over something like this."
"Okay," Alan said. There was no doubting the sincerity of his brothers' words, but only time would tell whether they'd be able to keep their promise. Conceding the point for now and hoping that this would never become an issue in the future, Alan relaxed his tense posture.
"So, Alan, what do you say we get those ribs x-rayed?" Virgil asked cheerfully. Alan rolled his eyes.
"How'd you do this, anyway, Sprout?" Scott asked curiously.
"Ah… the Hood threw me into a wall," Alan answered, pretending not to notice the way Scott's jaw clenched and his hands balled into fists. Alan would not want to be the Hood if Scott ever got his hands on him.
A few x-rays and a lot of uncomfortable prodding later, Alan was left holding an ice pack over his bruised ribs as he watched his brothers finish their game of volleyball. To his glee Gordon and Scott lost, and after Alan and Gordon spent a few moments teasing each other (on equal footing this time, instead of the usual teasing) the family settled into the living room to watch the news together. Alan sat between the smother hens, trying to ignore the memory of red eyes and a compelling voice in his mind.
Open the door, Alan.
Lil' beep: Thank you for reviewing. I had almost finished this chapter when I saw your review, and I agree with you. I didn't see how to fit anything more into the first chapter when I was writing it, so I wrote this chapter with a bit more tension, especially towards the end, and if the opportunity arises I'm going to add more in future chapters now that you've brought the issue to my attention. Thanks again.
Thanks, everyone, for reading. Reviews and constructive criticism are welcome as always. I'll be writing at least another two or three chapters, but I've got some stuff coming up for the next week so I'm not sure when I'll have time to write a full chapter and post it. I'll try for tomorrow or Thursday, but if it doesn't happen, it may be as late as Sunday or Monday before I can update this. I'll try to do it before then, though.