Funny story with this one ...
I was having a hard time coming up with a plot before I finally settled on one. Then when I started writing, Gordon went and threw a wrench into the works! (Isn't that just like him?) So halfway through, I start writing a completely different story. (Which was actually an earlier idea that I had scrapped because I wasn't sure how it would work, then Gordon got lazy ... which will make more sense when you read the chapter.)
To make this chapter even more messed up, I wrote is backwards. (The only thing that remained true to my original idea was how it ended, but that part had to be from Alan's POV to work best, so ... yeah.)
Anyway, this chapter is for TheFABFive2015 because Alan just had to go and use their challenge word. (Though it really was Gordon's fault for going and changing the story on me.)
Big thanks to my beta, 1monster2, who read this one and a half time to handle my ongoing rewrites. (And freakishly long length.)
Enjoy ...
Chapter 6: F is for Fire Hose
Gordon slapped his alarm and rolled out of bed, instantly greeted by his semi-new aquarium. While it was nice that Alan had been thinking of him when he got the fish, the kid had absolutely no imagination when naming anything. Gordon Black? Gordon-locks? He really needed to work on his creativity if he wanted to get anywhere in life.
"Hey," Virgil called, sticking his head in the doorway. "Scott wants us in the lounge."
"This early?" Gordon groaned, slipping his feet into a pair of flip-flops. "I haven't even gotten wet yet!"
Some people started their day with a cup of coffee – see Virgil – some started it with a swim. Others, who were completely insane, started their day with a run and business meeting. Too bad there was no cure for crazy – sorry, Scott.
"So whats with the boredom meeting?" the aquanaut asked, swiping Virgil's cup so he could at least have a little stimulant.
"You mean board meeting?"
"Aren't they the same thing?"
Apparently is was too early for Virgil too, because it took the entire trip down the hallway to figure out what he was talking about. Gordon handed him back his coffee with a look of sympathy. Their brother better have a good reason for this.
"Good, you're up," Scott said from a pile of schematics.
Gordon had a very bad feeling about this meeting.
"Dad had to go to London for at least a week, so he probably won't be back for New Years."
First bit of bad news. It was sad how much their work effected their family life, especially for Alan. Where they were usually distracted with the task of saving lives, the kid could only sit home and wait. Of course, it wasn't usually their father who was called out for the big holidays, which made it even harder on them when he was.
"So," Scott continued, "he told me to oversee the new upgrades to the Thunderbirds."
Aaaand, now the other shoe has dropped. The only thing worse than a bossy brother in the morning was a bossy brother with the blessing of Dad to be bossy. As Scott talked over all the schematics, and Virgil quietly sipped his coffee, Gordon was wondering how long it would take them to notice if he went back to bed. Probably before he made it out the door.
"Hi guys," Alan yawned, stumbling into the room. "Did I miss something?"
"Dad left Scott in charge," Virgil mumbled.
"Run while you can," Gordon added in a whisper.
"I heard that!"
Alan just laughed, but still joined them on the couch. Stupid kid! He wasn't an official part of the team yet, so he had a free pass to opt out of this sort of maintenance. Why doesn't he take it?
"Virgil, did Brains explain what upgrades he had for Thunderbird Two?"
"Yup."
"Okay, you'll handle that."
Gordon rolled his eyes, wanting desperately to point out that, unless Virgil was hospitalized, no one else would be allowed to touch Thunderbird Two without running the risk of being hospitalized themselves. Except Brains, of course, but he built the thing so he didn't count. Next Scott would be telling him that he would be put in charge of Thunderbird Four and he would take care of Thunderbird One-
"Gordon, you're on Thunderbird Three."
"Three?" he echoed. "Why not Thunderbird Four?"
"Because Brains doesn't have an upgrade for Thunderbird Four."
"What can I do?" Alan asked, eagerly.
"Your lessons," Scott answered dryly. "So, does everyone understand their assignment?"
No, Gordon didn't understand his at all. He didn't know anything about Thunderbird Three except that it was big and shot into space. If Thunderbird Four was fine, why was he even here?
"Come on Scott, I can help," Alan insisted. "I could take care of Thunderbird Three!"
"Yes!" Gordon half-shouted, making Virgil jump a little. "I mean, he knows the systems way better than I do."
"Which is exactly why you are handling it," Scott shot back. "We need to know each of the Thunderbirds, in case of emergency. You are already proficient on Thunderbird Two, so now you will work on Three."
"I'm not that proficient on Thunderbird One either," Gordon grumbled.
Scott shot him a look while Virgil lifted his mug to hide his smirk. Alan, on the other hand, shared his outrage. He may not be officially on the team yet, but Thunderbird Three was practically his baby! Still, when the cat was away the oldest mouse would become dictator, such was life. Though maybe there was a way around this … but it would have to be done very carefully.
"Save your breath, Al," Gordon advised loudly, slinging his arm around his only little brother and leading him to the door. "You know how he gets when he's on a power trip."
The kid opened his mouth to protest, but he quickly silenced him with a look. Understanding dawned on Alan's features and his eyes lit up with excitement … which made Gordon have to shush him again to keep their plan from being blown. Thunderbird Three needed upgrades and Gordon had to make sure they got done, but who was he to crush his brother's dream about taking care of his own Thunderbird?
*F*I*R*E*H*O*S*E*
Alan climbed the silo of Thunderbird Three, a bag of new parts slung over his shoulder and a roll of schematics clutched in his hand. He had never done an upgrade on his own before –he really hadn't done any upgrades before– but he couldn't wait to show Scott that he could do it just as well as any of them. With Gordon off tinkering in his sub, this was the perfect opportunity.
"Alright," he said as he slipped into the control room. "It's just you and me, Thunderbird Three. Now … where is that access panel?"
He checked the schematics he had brought with him, only to discover that they showed him what the panel looked like on the inside and not where to find it. The easiest way to figure that out would be to call up Brains or Virgil, but as he wasn't technically supposed to be here at all, Alan would just have to figure it out himself. Pulling out his screwdriver, he removed a panel near the main computer … and quickly realized that it was the wrong one. Reattaching the wires as best he could, the teen moved onto the next one. Still not right, but at least he didn't accidentally unplug anything.
"Third time's a charm," he murmured to himself, as he found the correct panel.
Now to find the correct piece for the upgrade. Alan pulled the bag over and started to compare each component to the one shown on the schematic. Apparently, two were needed at this point. Installing them took only a few minutes and the teen was soon screwing the panel back in place.
And his brothers thought he couldn't do upgrades.
The last two components went in the back. It took even less time to install those, since he found the right access hatch on the first try. Alan couldn't see why Gordon always grumbled about this type of work; this maintenance thing was a piece of cake! Speaking of which, there was still some cupcakes left from Lady Penelope's last visit. Since he was done with his work, he deserved a treat. Making his way to the main hatch, he pushed the button … and nothing happened.
"That's weird," Alan muttered to himself. "It was working a minute ago."
Still, try as he might, he could not get the hatch to budge. Desperate to find a way out that didn't include signaling John, Alan pried off the wires for the hatch. Everything looked fine, not that he really paid much attention to what it looked like normally. Maybe he could fine a way to hot-wire it-
"Yow!" the teen yelped, trying to shake the sting from his fingers. "Note to self, check if wires are live before touching them."
With that idea scrapped, Alan tried to think of another way out. Every Thunderbird was equipped with back-ups for everything else, why not doors? Suddenly, he remembered that the loading bay had a control panel on the inside. Quickly heading down to the large compartment, he pushed the button and- success!
"Yeah!" Alan cheered to himself, before remembering that it was an eighty foot drop to the ground. "Oh … yeah."
Still there was no need to panic. As a pending member of International Rescue, he should be able to figure out how to escape his own ship, especially when it was still in the hanger. Looking around the loading bay he spotted his salvation; a giant fire hose. Alan would never tease Brains about low-tech back-up systems ever again.
Uncoiling the heavy canvas tube, the teen dragged it over to the edge of the opening and dropped it down. As long as it was, it was no where near eighty feet. Still, some length was better than nothing. Maybe he could swing his way over to one of the silo's walkways …
"Here goes nothing," Alan murmured as he shimmed down the make-shift rope.
As it turned out, that was just what he got; nothing. Either the rope was too stiff or Alan was too light, because he couldn't move any farther than a few feet in either direction. To make matters worse, his shoes were starting to slip on the side of the hull- make that had slipped. He was now stuck, dangling from a hose, at least fifty feet over the cement floor of the hanger.
"Well, this can't get any worse."
"Alan! What do you think doing!
Scratch that, it could get a lot worse.
"Um .. hey Scott … uh … you don't happen to have a ladder by chance, would you?"
From his angle, he couldn't really see what he was doing, but he could faintly here Virgil joining the conversation … and calling him an idiot. Even so, Alan was willing to bet anything that his big brothers were working on getting him down. Sure enough, he could hear the echo of one of the pods opening up. He just hoped they hurried; his grip was starting to go.
"Um, guys?" he called down. "I don't mean to rush you, but could you hurry?"
"Just hang on, Alan."
"Nice choice of words, Scott," he grunted, moving one hand to get a better grip. "Did Gordon teach you that one?"
His brother ignored his question, but Alan was too focused on not falling to really care. He knew he had only seconds left and Two's rescue platform was raising way too slow. Any minute now he was gonna-
"ALAN!"
The twin yells nearly drowned out the pop he both heard and felt when his shoulder slammed into the platform. The pain was intense, but not in the right spot for a dislocated shoulder. Great, what did he break this time?!
"Alan, can you hear me?" Virgil asked, his face hovering inches away.
"Ow."
"Try not to move too much," the medic advised, shifting his attention to the controls. "I'll have us down in a minute."
It was the longest minute of his life, but soon he was back at ground level being helped off the platform by two extremely worried brothers. Alan really wasn't paying attention to where they were going and the next thing he knew Scott had been replaced by an x-ray machine. It seemed the fall was just high enough to break his collarbone. Wonderful.
"Alan, what were you doing in there?" Scott demanded, as Virgil fitted his arm into an elaborate sling. "And where's Gordon?"
"I … uh … Gordon … well …" he stammered, trying to come up with something that would leave the rest of his body, not to mention his other brother, intact.
He had nothing.
"Alan!" Gordon came racing in, stopping only to catch his breath. "Are you okay?"
"Nothing six or eight weeks of rest won't cure," Virgil answered for him. "So, you want to tell us why he was in Thunderbird Three and not you?"
The aquanaut dropped his eyes to the ground, rubbing one arm nervously. Scott narrowed his eyes, looking from one to the other before dropping his gaze to the ground and letting out a heavy sigh. Alan didn't know what was worse; an angry Scott or a quiet one.
"Gordon, you and I will talk later. Alan, you better do exactly as Virgil tells you. If I hear anything about you going somewhere or doing something you aren't supposed to-"
"I, uh, think I learned my lesson with that, Scott."
He gave him a small smile and the teen could see the tension beginning to lessen, in all his brothers. Of course, that didn't stop Virgil from keeping him in the infirmary the rest of the night for 'observation.' Please! 'Power trip' was more like it. And Gordon thought Scott was bad.
"Hey," his domineering nursemaid greeted, coming into the room. "How are you feeling?"
"The same as I was when you asked me an hour ago," Alan grumbled. "Can I at least rest in my own room?"
"Are you kidding? You don't even use the bed in there," he scoffed. "Beside, you should have thought of that before you disabled the door controls."
"How was I supposed to know that was what those wires were for?!"
Virgil just grinned and turned back to his notes. Yup, he was definitely on a power trip. Luckily, Alan's last hope for rescue from tyrannical older brothers chose that moment to come through the door. Despite the state he was in last time he saw him, and the fact he'd been forced into a sit-down with their reigning tyrant, Gordon came in with a smile … what was he up to?
"Hey, Al, I hear your feeling better."
"Yeah," he answered, shifting slightly. "You too."
"Ah, there's not much a trip down under won't cure."
"You went all the way Australia to escape Scott?" Virgil smirked, raising an eyebrow.
"Actually, that was my punishment. But, believe it or not, fessing up to Dad in person is a lot less scary then getting a lecture from Scott the Great and Powerful. Besides, it gave me the chance to get you a present, Alan. You know, to make it up to you."
Something about the way he said that made Alan wish his tyrannical brother was present to protect him from … whatever it was. At least he still had Virgil, though the medic was standing several feet away and looked too amused to be of much help. Gordon stepped back into the corridor and returned with a large rectangular object covered in a sheet. Setting it down on a table, he pulled the fabric away with a flourish to reveal … a bunch of turtles?
"I was so impressed with those fish you gave me, I thought I would do something for you. And since you'll be a little slow for a while, these little guys should make perfect company."
Alan chose to ignore the snickering that was coming from the general direction of Virgil and sent a glare at Gordon. If he could move without pain, he would punch him … especially the next time he opened his mouth.
"This one here is Alan Jr, and the one with the stripe is Alan Brown. These are Allie One and Allie Two, you can tell the difference because Alley Two has a spot on his shell. This last one is Little Red Alan Hood; she's a girl."
Well played, Gordon. Well played.
So, do you like when Gordon hijacks my chapter?
Let me know if you like this backwards format, I may include it in future chapters.
As always, feedback and challenge words are eagerly awaited. (Please try to stick with nouns as other types words are hard to incorporate into an injury.)
