Photo Shoot
By Phoenix Sparrow
This story is set not long before the Hood first dragged International Rescue into action.
Chapter three: Visit To England
"Scott, are you done in that bathroom yet?" Alan said, hopping around outside. "You've been doing you're hair in there for about half an hour now!"
"Alan, there are other bathrooms on this island, use one of them!" Scott shouted through the closed door.
"Yeah, but the others are all in use too!"
"Well, go dance outside someone else's!"
Alan left, grumbling.
Virgil sat in the kitchen with Tin-Tin with his sleeve rolled up. "How did you manage to cut your arm so deep just chasing Alan?"
"He knocked one of the pictures off the side and I tried to catch it, but ended up landing on a piece of glass instead."
"Oh." She continued to dab at his arm with a cotton bud. He winced a couple of times, as she pressed too hard. "Sorry. Why were you chasing him?"
"He stole one of my CD's and I wanted it back," he replied as she put a dressing over it.
"Right. Go on, go get yourself sorted, we're leaving soon."
He rolled his sleeve back down and smiled at her. "Thanks, Tin-Tin."
"Anytime, but not too often, I don't want to be forever patching you guys up."
John sat in his room reading an astronomy book when Jeff put his head round the door, knocking on the frame as he spoke. "Knock, knock! Can I come in please?"
John looked up and smiled. "Sure. What's up?"
"Are you nearly ready to go? We'll be leaving in ten minutes."
"I was ready ages ago. I've been waiting for someone to tell me what to do for most of that time."
"Oh, well, uh, good. Take your bag down to the plane then, son."
"Bag?"
"Yes. One of those things you pack when you're staying somewhere over night."
"Oh." He looked a little embarrassed.
"Don't tell me you haven't packed one."
"No one told me we were going over night! Gordon only said we were going to visit Penny."
Jeff shook his head, chuckling. "Typical Gordon. I told him specifically we were going over night and to tell you the same thing. Ok, you pack a bag then. You've got about 5 minutes now."
John pulled a face that displayed his embarrassment and his annoyance with Gordon and pulled the suitcase from under his bed.
Finally, they were all ready to go. Their suitcases had been loaded into the plane; the plane itself had been fuelled and had the maintenance checks performed.
On the runway beside the cockpit ladder, Scott and Virgil were arguing.
"Scott, I'm flying!" Virgil said, grinning with his hands on his hips.
"No, Virgil, I am!" Scott answered, in a similar pose. They were both leaned forwards, heads meeting in the middle.
"Scott, it's my turn!"
"No, it's not! It's mine! You missed your turn!"
"I didn't, Alan took my turn!"
While the two brothers playfully argued, Jeff wandered behind them and climbed into the pilot's seat. The boys stopped their arguing and turned as one to glare at their father. Jeff smiled down at them. They narrowed their eyes.
"Dad, it's my turn!" they said in unison then turned to face each other again. "No, it's not, it's mine!" They grinned. "Stop that!"
Jeff watched them from the pilot's seat, amused at their impeccable timing. "Just get in; we don't have time to argue."
They arrived in English airspace and the five boys leaned towards the window to look out and looked at the countryside of Foxleyheath, very close to where Penny lived. Jeff spotted her massive mansion and circled the plane round to land it in a field near the house.
Penny was outside waiting for them with her butler, Parker.
Jeff landed the plane and jumped from the cockpit. The five boys climbed down and stood together in front of the house. They'd been to many places, but never a British stately home.
"Wow!" Alan whispered. He stood looking up at the building, his head tilted back and his mouth open. Gordon looked about amazed, too. The three eldest glanced at each other and smiled discreetly. They snuck up behind the two youngest and pulled on their shoulders, making them topple over. They fell to the floor and lay there stunned, looking up at the others.
"What was that for?" Gordon asked, sitting up and rubbing his head.
"Because you didn't give me the full message and I nearly got left behind!" John responded.
"No, you didn't! They wouldn't have left you!" Gordon said.
"And why did you knock me down?" Alan asked.
"Dunno, didn't want you to feel we'd left you out!" Scott said and Virgil chuckled.
"Thanks!" Alan said, sarcastically.
"You're welcome," Virgil said. "Isn't he polite?" Scott, John and Virgil all laughed and wandered off.
Jeff looked up in time to see Alan and Gordon tumble to the floor. "Oh dear, I hope they behave themselves!" Jeff said, watching them nervously.
"I'm sure they will, Jeff. They just need a change of scenery. Maybe you should stay here for a little while after the photo has been taken. The island is all very well for hiding a secret organisation…"
Jeff looked at her, wide-eyed and threw a glance at Parker who was emptying the bags from the plane.
"It's alright; Parker is in this with me. He knows everything."
"But, Penny, he was a criminal!" Jeff said, the shock registering clearly in his voice.
"Jeff, please don't be so judgemental. I've found him to be very trustworthy."
Jeff seemed clearly uncomfortable about this new revelation, but shut his mouth and let her finish.
"As I was saying, Jeff, the island is all very well for hiding a secret organisation, but there's very little for the boys to do and explore there. They're restless, they need something to do."
Neither of them had noticed that Virgil had snuck over to the plane and had climbed on nor that he had started rummaged through the bags. He found what he was looking for, a clean, white football and jumped back out.
Jeff noticed him at this point and watched him curiously. Curiously, that was, until he saw them start a game of football between them. He smiled and turned back to Penny. She had seen them too. "How often do they play football on your island?"
"Not very, they keep kicking the ball into the sea and only Gordon's ever willing to go get it back so they stopped."
"Precisely my point. This change of scenery is already doing them-"
A loud crash made them both jump. Behind them, the ball had gone through one of the downstairs windows, shattering it.
Jeff stared at them opened mouthed, while they stood there, looking as surprised at their action as their father. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry, Penny. I'll pay for it to be mended."
Penny smiled. "Boys will be boys. No worries, Jeff. At least it wasn't stained-glass."
They left the scene of the accident and went inside. Out of her many rooms, Penny had put one aside for each of them and Parker was taking them on a tour round the house, stopping at the various rooms to put down their luggage and inform the relevant person that this would be their room for the next day or so.
Leading the way, Parker was at the head of the group with as many bags as he could possibly carry on and under his arms and in his hands. He stopped outside a door and Scott stepped forwards and opened it for him.
"Thank you, sir," Parker replied. "H'if you'll follow me, h'I'll show you your room."
Scott looked at Virgil who glanced back. They dropped behind the group.
"You know, some of these English accents and dialects are so hard to understand!"
Virgil tutted and shook his head.
"What?"
"You never change, do you, Scott?"
"What d'you mean by that?"
"I mean that you said a similar thing about Brains when he first arrived. You complained that you didn't fully understand his stuttering."
Scott opened his mouth to reply but no noise came out. He closed it again.
"You know, they probably think the same thing about us, so don't worry about it, just stop going on about it."
Scott grinned at his brother and was about to say something to respond when someone jumped in.
"Come on, you two, don't wanna get left behind or you'll be sleeping on the couch! Sight seeing later!" Gordon shouted.
Scott and Virgil exchanged glances then, after rolling their eyes, ran to catch up.
They had each been shown to a room now, all on one corridor as well. There were four rooms on either side of the corridor with stairs leading to the kitchen at one end. Down one side of the corridor were the rooms occupied by Scott, Virgil, John and Gordon and down the other side were the rooms occupied by Jeff, Brains, Tin-Tin and Alan.
Penny's room was on another corridor, quite a distance from her guests' rooms. 'Presumably,' Jeff thought, 'because she knows what this lot are like.'
He settled down on his bed, looking up at the ceiling then glancing round at the luxurious décor. He had a four poster bed with curtains running between each post, various portraits dotted round the room, and many, many expensive looking ornaments. He worried about this. With all the extra energy the boys had, he could see something else getting damaged.
He sighed then settled down for a nap, which he'd just realised he desperately needed after such a long flight with them in the plane!
Alan was in his room, exploring all the cupboards, drawers and anywhere else he could have possibly poked his nose into. He also took time to look at the impressive collection in his room. His curiosity was getting the better of him as he wandered round and he picked up a small model of a very old car and looked it over carefully.
"What are you looking at, Alan?" came Tin-Tin's voice from the doorway. He hadn't heard her come in and jumped, dropping the model on the floor. He cringed as pieces of it fell off on impact. He looked up at Tin-Tin who smiled. "What were you looking at, Alan?"
He smiled back. "A model of a car."
"Ah, no surprises there then." She looked at the pieces on the floor and walked over. She crouched down on the floor, picking up a piece or two and looking at them. She looked up at him and held out her hand. He looked at her, momentarily confused as to what she wanted. Then it dawned on him and he handed her the model. She turned it this way and that. "Shouldn't be too hard to fix. Come on, it's nearly dinner time."
She got up, putting the remnants of the model and the loose pieces back on the mantelpiece.
Alan grinned at her then linked his arm through hers and led her out.
Scott was in his room, dozing soundly on his bed. Soundly, that is, until Virgil wandered in. He opened the door silently and peered in. Scott was lying on his side, snoring. Virgil grinned then crossed the room. Kneeling down silently beside him, he leaned close then pulled something out of his pocket. He grinned again then put it in his mouth and blew hard, making the streamer attached straighten out.
A loud noise ensued making Scott wake with a start. He sat bolt upright staring straight ahead then turned and saw Virgil smirking at him with a curled up party blower in his mouth.
"What the hell did you do that for?"
"It's nearly dinner time, come on, we gotta go downstairs."
Scott rolled his eyes. "And you couldn't have woken me by conventional means? Where'd you get that thing from anyway?"
"I kept it from Alan's last birthday. You know what he's like."
Scott knew all too well. The thought that the blower had something to do with Alan had crossed his mind due to the fact that Alan had once played a trick on him using a very similar item. He didn't like to think about that.
"Ok, ok, I'm coming. Just let me sort myself out."
"F.A.B." Virgil grinned widely. The phrase was new to them but they'd just got to grips with using it. Using it too often as Jeff had noticed. They seemed to say it whenever they would say all right, yes or ok. "I like that phrase."
"Mmm, I've noticed. You use it more than any of us and we haven't even started operations yet."
Virgil looked at him. "Hmm, I'll leave you know. You know you were right about having to sort yourself out first. Does someone drag you through a hedge while you're asleep?"
Scott looked up at him glaring, but Virgil had already left.