A/N: Another week, another chapter! Thank you everyone who is reading this and thank you to those who are leaving great reviews. It's because of you that I have re-discovered my love of writing! Enjoy!
An intense buzzing at the end of his arm made him jolt out of his half-dozing state. Slamming his other hand down on his watch Gordon shut up the silent alarm he had set up a few hours before. He double-checked the time. 2am, just as planned. Slowly easing himself into a sitting position, he listened intently for any sounds of movement from the adjacent rooms. All quiet. Perfect. Now all he had to do was keep it that way.
Heaving himself onto his feet, he limped towards the door. Waving a hand in front of the sensor, he poked his head through as soon as it slid open, checking carefully for anyone in the long curving corridor. Still all quiet. Even better. Leaning against the wall for support, he tiptoed along, past John's room, and then past Scott's until he reached the stairs leaning down to the lower levels of the villa. While he would love to be able to take the elevator straight from this floor, he knew that even the sound of the doors opening would be enough to wake his oldest brother, and right now that was the last thing that he needed, for it was his suspicions about Scott that meant he was sneaking around at such a stupid time in the first place.
Reaching the stairs, the aquanaut slowly descended, glad that there weren't any creaky floorboards in this house. He made it halfway down the first flight before he started to wobble, but he was determined to make it. Stumbling down the last few steps, he leant against the wall at the bottom, proud of the fact that he made it, something that a few days ago seemed like an impossibility. Massaging his back muscles which were starting to cramp up slightly, he continued along the corridor, eventually stopping in front of the elevator. At least from this floor there was less chance of waking up Scott. He input the access code and the doors immediately slid open. He stepped inside and pressed the button that would take him down to the silos.
As the lift descended, he thought back over the last few hours of the day. No-one had seen hide or hair of Alan since he left the infirmary, he hadn't even appeared for dinner. Whilst that wasn't unusual in itself, he was known to forget to eat when he was in the midst of a large project, it was more the fact that Scott had been very vague about the details of the rescue even when pressed, plus also hanging around with him for most of the evening instead of running back off to see John, had got Gordon thinking that maybe his suspicions from earlier weren't completely unfounded. Yes, he could see the logic in the reason given for Scott's nosebleed, and why they were late back of course, but deep in his gut there was still the feeling that something wasn't quite right. And it was that feeling of unease that meant that he was unable to sleep well. Hence why he had hatched the plan to sneak down to the silos in the middle of the night, when he was at least risk of getting caught. While he knew in his heart that he was most likely being paranoid, he had to see his Thunderbird, he had to make sure she hadn't suffered under Scott's hand. And once he had put his worries at ease, he knew he would sleep easy for the rest of the night.
Easing to a halt, the elevator doors pinged open, revealing the spacious silo of Thunderbird 2, the overhead lights flickering on as they sensed that he was there. Stepping out, he looked towards where the pods were stored, the fourth one of which was stored his Bird. He calculated the easiest way to get there. The quickest would be straight across the floor, passing underneath Two, but, as he had discovered a few days earlier, there weren't many things that could be used to support oneself on the way, there were no walls or handrails, and so he would be relying completely on his legs, which, while stronger than they had been, may not hold out for the whole journey. The other was along the curved silo wall, which was longer but offered more support, with the only bit he had to rely completely on his body would be getting around the Mole, currently in pieces thanks to Brains deciding to give the drill an upgrade, and across to the pod itself. Weighing up his options, he finally decided to take the second route. While he wanted to see his Bird as soon as possible, he also didn't want to collapse in the middle of the silo as it would most likely end up being Scott having to come and rescue him.
He easily made it to the Mole, and carefully picked his way around its various components littered across the floor. Having cleared that obstacle, he took a few deep breaths. He could feel himself getting sore now, but he could see back of pod 4 now, the finish line was not much further, he could do it. Composing himself, he pushed on. He stumbled slightly, but somehow managed to stay upright, instead using the extra momentum to clear the last few open metres, using the pod itself to stop himself from falling completely. He leant against the cool, green metal, catching his breath. He had made it, and as a bonus, no-one had caught him. All he had to do now was a quick once-over of Four and then get back to bed. Granted, getting back would be a bit difficult, but at least once he was out of the silo it wouldn't matter too much if he got caught, he had a few excuses up his sleeve.
Easing himself around to the front of the pod, he flipped open the cover of the control panel and tapped in another access code. He stood back as the door opened down, looking forward to seeing the familiar yellow sub within. So when the door opened enough to allow the light to penetrate, he was shocked to see that the pod was...EMPTY! Why was it empty? He stepped inside, a deep frown on his face, searching around in case Four was tucked away in a corner, even though that would be impossible. But as expected, there was nothing but the empty tracks and a couple of wetsuits hung up on the wall. He felt anger starting to bloom in his chest. What had Scott done to his Bird? He better not have sunk it. That idiot was going to have hell to pay if he had.
"Gords?"
So caught up in his anger, Gordon jumped at the voice behind him. Spinning around, his eyes widened as he saw the blond man standing in the open doorway. "Alan?"
"It's 2am Gords. What are you doing down here?" Alan asked.
"What are you doing down here?" Gordon snapped back. Judging by the fact that he was dressed in a pair of paint-splattered overalls, Alan had not yet been to bed. "And where the hell has my Bird got to?"
Alan shifted uncomfortably under the intense glare, one thing that Gordon had definitely inherited off their father.
"Alan..."
Yes, definitely like their father. Alan sighed. He had hoped this wouldn't happen, but it would seem he would have to come clean. "Ok, ok." He held out an arm, but Gordon batted it away, but not before he saw a streak of familiar yellow paint along it. "Fine, follow me."
Together they stepped out of the pod, Gordon a bit wobblier than Alan. Even though they knew it was a longer route, Alan lead way back to the wall, for which the aquanaut was grateful, not that he was going to show it at this very moment in time, his anger was building and nothing was going to stop him. Skirting the curved surface, they eventually made their way to a corridor leading off, down the end of which behind two large doors was situated Alan's workshop. As his brother leaned against the wall to catch his breath, Alan pulled back one of the doors, allowing Gordon to see inside. But the first thing he saw was not quite what he was expecting.
"Oh, so you did get yourself a Herald." Gordon said, casting an eye over the shabby vehicle.
"Course I did." Alan replied. "Needs a bit of work, but should be beautiful once it's done."
Gordon nodded. He had to admit that his brother was a miracle worker when it came to restoring cars, no matter how knackered. But he attention soon switched to the other occupant of the workshop and he felt his blood run cold. Sitting in the corner was his beloved sub, and while he was immensely glad to see that it hadn't been sunk, he could help but notice that it's top tail fin was hanging off at a very strange angle, held up by straps attached to pulleys on the ceiling.
"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?" He bellowed, shoving Alan out of the way and limping over as quickly as he could. He ran a loving hand along the side of it "Oh, you poor, poor thing. What has he done to you?" He soothed. This was his baby, and he couldn't bare to see her injured.
"Gords..."
He ignored his younger sibling, instead taking a closer look at the damage. It looked a bit, well, strange if truth be told. He had expected the tail to be ripped off, with that evident in the metal around it, but both edges were smooth, and now that he got a closer look, something else wasn't quite right.
"Hang on. There was a notch here." He pointed to a point on the edge of the tail, where he knew he had managed to take out a chunk of metal on a rescue a while ago. He had decided to not repair it as he thought it gave the sub character. But now, it was gone. Which would mean... He spun around to face the blond behind him. "This is a new tail isn't it?" He growled, his fists clenched.
"Er, yes." Alan admitted. "But I can explain..."
"I'LL KILL HIM!" Gordon bellowed. "I WILL! I'LL KILL HIM!"
"Gords!NO!" Alan grabbed his brother by the shoulders. "It wasn't Scott! Scott didn't do this."
The aquanaut froze. "But...? Who?"
Alan took a deep breath, composing himself for what he was going to say next. "Look, it wasn't Scott, it was me."
"WHAT? WHAT DID YOU DO?" Gordon yelled, seeing red in the edges of his vision. "WHAT. DID. YOU. DO?"
Alan winced under the onslaught. Maybe it was a bad idea taking the blame after all. "I, er, well, Scott asked if I could, erm, take over on the last run. He was getting cramped up, and well, I surfaced a bit too soon and sliced the tail off on the rock face..."
At hearing that, the rage took over the aquanaut completely. Before either of them knew what was happening, Gordon had pulled back his fist and with a guttural roar had socked his brother in the face. Alan stumbled back, clutching his eye as Gordon leaned in close, forcing his brother awkwardly over the nose of Four.
"You better fix that." He hissed menacingly. "You better fix that and you better make a good job of it. Understand?" He spun on the spot and stormed as best he could out of the workshop, punching the door as he went, leaving it rattling in his wake.
Once he had left, Alan slid down until he was sitting on the floor, shaken up by his experience. That could have gone a lot better, he decided. It wasn't very often the other side of Gordon was revealed, but when it did rear its head, everything had the potential to turn ugly very, very quickly.
Blinking experimentally, which made his eye throb, Alan debated as to whether or not to contact somebody. He was really shaken up from his experience, and, truth be told, was in dire need of a hug. But then again, it would be unfair to wake any of them. His father, Scott and Virgil were exhausted after that rescue, and John was still recovering. It was a tough call.
Sighing deeply, Alan looked upwards at the sub he was leaning against, and using it as leverage, he hauled himself up onto his unsteady feet. He really didn't feel like continuing any more, plus he desperately needed some sleep, and while there was a chance that Four would be required on a rescue at any point, he knew he would do a better job of the repairs after a few hours rest anyway.
Unzipping his overalls, he wriggled out and dumped them in an untidy heap on top of his tools. Then he check over the ropes holding the tail in place, and once he was satisfied it would be going anywhere, he slowly made his way out of his workshop, and locking the door behind him, knowing that the lights would go off automatically. Gently prodding around his eye, he came to the conclusion that he was certainly going develop a lovely shiner for sure. That was going to be fun to explain to everyone. Perhaps an ice pack would help it slightly, but that would mean a diversion to the infirmary was going to be in order, and so a disturbance for either his father or Scott as it would be likely one of them would be spending the night in there with John.
He made his way down the corridor and into the silo. As the green bulk of the organisation's workhorse loomed over him, an idea formed in his head. Crossing to the access door in one of Two's legs, he started to key in his access code into the inset panel. However, due to the adrenaline in his system starting to wear off, his hands were shaking and it was quite difficult to hit the right buttons. He was doing so well until the last number, where his finger slipped and he accident keyed the wrong one. Muttering to himself, he tried again, this time taking care to hit the right digits. Success. The door slid open and he stepped through, disappearing into the bulk of the ship.
A few minutes later he emerged again, this time with the addition of an ice pack applied to his face, having raided the med-bay located inside. He mentally congratulated himself on his genius. He didn't have to disturb any of his brothers and so he had bought himself a few more hours to think up an excuse. He just hoped that by the time breakfast rolled around, he would have thought up a suitable one, he wasn't about to dump Gordon in it after all.
He took the stairs back up to the upper part of the house, deciding to be as quiet and stealthy as possible on the walk back to his room, for there still was a chance that Gordon was out for blood, mainly his.
Emerging onto the landing where their bedrooms were located, he spotted a sliver of light coming from under the door next to John's. Ah, so at least he now knew that Gordon wasn't on the prowl, instead opting to stew in his room instead.
Tiptoeing to other side of the corridor, he made his way to the door between his father's and Virgil's, in other words, his. Tapping in his access code, this time getting it right first time, he unlocked his door and stepped into his bedroom. Temporarily placing the ice pack down on his desk, he stripped off the rest of his clothes and hopped into a pair of pyjama bottoms. He walked into his bathroom and was cleaning his teeth when he swore he heard a knock at his door. Oh no, maybe Gordon had heard him and was now deciding to dish out some more revenge. Spitting out his mouthful of foam, he made his way back into his bedroom.
"Hello?" He asked through the door, absently chewing on the end of his toothbrush he was still holding in his hand.
"Al, It's me." A hushed voice, Virgil's, came through the door, to which Alan frowned, confused. Virgil normally slept like the dead, and even the klaxon had trouble waking him at times. So why was he awake? And more importantly, what was he doing here?
"What do you want?" He asked, not keen on opening the door and revealing his injuries. Maybe his brother just wanted an update on the repairs.
"Al, let me in."
"No. I want to go to bed."
A sigh echoed through the door. "Alan... Just let me in."
"Not until you tell me what you want."
Another sigh, coupled with the sound of a hand slapping against the door in exasperation. "Fine. Care to tell me what exactly you were doing in Two at this time of night?"
Alan bit back a curse. Of course, he should have remembered. Not long ago Brains had decided to experiment with a feature that would mean if any of them put their access code in wrong on one of the Birds, it would automatically contact the pilot of that particular one. A good idea in theory, it would alert them to an unauthorised people getting in, The Hood was an excellent example, and so Virgil had offered to test it out. Well, at least now they could report back that it certainly worked.
Knowing he didn't have much choice in the matter, he waved his hand in front of the sensor next to him..
On the other side, a dishevelled looking Virgil straightened up as the door retracted into his frame. His jaw dropped slightly as he spotted his brother's puffy eye.
"Jeez." He whispered loudly, not wanting to wake any other members of their family. He scooted quickly into the room, letting the door slide shut behind him. "What happened to you?" He asked, cupping a hand around his brother's chin.
"Gords."
"Gordon did this?" The medic asked disbelievingly, turning his brother's head around in the light.. "That's not like him. Why?"
"He saw Four." Alan said bluntly as Virgil prodded him towards the chair by his desk, intending to get a better look at the injury.
"But, why did he hit you? You're the one fixing it aren't you."
"Well..." The blond scratched his cheek sheepishly. "I may have told him that I was the one who broke it in the first place."
"You idiot." Virgil chided, prodding the side of Alan's eye-socket, making him wince. "What did you do that for?"
"I just thought, between me and Scott, he's less likely to hold a grudge against me."
"You're not still feeling guilty about that nose thing, are you? I thought he said he had settled that once and for all when he brought you home."
"He told you about that?" Alan flushed slightly with embarrassment. That wasn't exactly his proudest moment.
"Mm-hmm."
"Great..."
"Never mind, I'd say you two are definitely equal now." Virgil grinned and picked up the ice pack from the desk. "Your eye doesn't look too bad, you'll have one hell of a shiner though. Just keep this on it for a while and it should reduce the swelling a bit." He applied the ice pack, letting his brother hold it in place. "Try not to be a hero anymore huh? Just let Scott take the beatings he deserves."
"Oh, next time I will." Alan agreed. He wasn't keen to be on the receiving end of any more fists.
"Good. Oh, and next time, just get an ice pack from the infirmary. Or contact me if you want to get into Two. Which ever way you look at it, I'm going to be woken up, so you may as well give me far warning before I get deafened by the alert on my watch."
"Yeah, ok..."
"Excellent." Virgil heartily slapped his brother's shoulder. "Now, I'm gonna go back to bed. Just, keep that eye on ice for a few more minutes, and then try to get some sleep."
"Ok, see you at breakfast."
"Nighty night Sprout."
"Yeah, night..."
Munching on his bagel, Jeff looked up from his newspaper as his youngest son walked into the kitchen, sporting an impressive black eye. He frowned. He was sure that hadn't been there the day before. His words from the rescue site echoed back to him: 'Please don't continue this trend...' and he rolled his eyes. No wonder Virgil and Alan refused to promise anything, it had only taken a few hours and another one of them had managed to get into mischief. Clumsiness was certainly something all his boys seemed to share. He looked towards Virgil on the other side of the table, who was engrossed in one of his magazines. Judging by the fact that he didn't seem surprised by his younger brother's appearance, Jeff came to the conclusion that he was one of the last to find out, as usual.
"Alan, what have you done?"
"Not now." Alan waved away the question and rushed into his seat, just as slightly irregular footsteps came down the corridor. He slid into his seat as the red-head of the family came limping into the room, clearly in a foul mood.
"Ah, Gordon!" Jeff beamed, unaware what had gone down in the middle of the night. "How's the back?"
"Fine." The aquanaut huffed, grabbing a the box of painkillers that Virgil had placed at his seat earlier as well as a glass of fruit juice, completely ignoring everyone. Popping out a couple of tablets, he knocked them and the juice back in one and slammed the empty glass back on the table. Grabbing a bagel, he ripped out a chunk of it with his teeth before storming back out of the kitchen and disappearing back into vast depths of the villa.
As the dust from the unusual outburst settled, something suddenly clicked in Jeff's head and he buried his face in his hands.
"Alan, why do I get the feeling you had something to do with this?"
Next to him, Alan shrugged nonchalantly as he poured himself a cup of strong coffee. "He sneaked down to my workshop last night and I hadn't finished the repairs. He took one look at Four and reacted. I just happened to be in the way at the time." Across the table, Virgil looked up sharply, and Alan quickly winked back. No point in telling their father the truth, it would only stress him even more than he was already.
"Hmmm..." Jeff didn't seem quite convinced but he knew he wouldn't find out any more, for he knew that when his boys decided to keep something from him, getting the truth out of them was harder than getting blood from a rock. "Anyhow, I want you to go down to the infirmary after breakfast and get that eye checked out."
"Already done. Bruising, nothing more." Virgil pointed out, licking a finger and flicking over his page. "No cognitive impairment, no damage to the eyeball itself, just a bashed ego and a lesson learned about ducking."
"Ok then..." Jeff said, processing the wave of information that had just been fired at him. "In that case, Alan, could you make sure Four is fixed and ready for service by lunch."
"Yes sir."
"And Virgil, what have you got job-wise today?"
"Erm, I was thinking I would help Brains out with that intruder system I'm testing out on Two. It needs a few tweaks before it's totally finished." Virgil closed his magazine and brushed away a few crumbs, preparing to leave the table
"I didn't realise that had been tested already."
"Yeah, it was a whim of the moment kind of thing." The medic glanced at Alan, who busied himself tipping sugar into his coffee. "It works, that's for sure, but there are a few tweaks I would like to try out."
"I'll leave you to it then. I, on the other hand, shall be relieving Scott. He's currently on John-duty."
"John-duty? You make it sound like a chore..." Virgil said. "I'll come down in a few hours and see how he's doing. Brains reckons he might be well enough to get back onto his feet today."
"Oh, that's good news." Jeff smiled. Things were starting to look up.
"He may not see it that way. Just because he's ready, doesn't mean it's not going to hurt like hell..."
"He'll be fine. He's tougher than we give him credit for sometimes is our Johnny."
"You may have a point there Dad. I'm not sure many of us could survive what he has through the years..."
"He's a Tracy." Alan cut in. "We're indestructible!"
Jeff laughed. "Don't go cursing it! Remember, indestructible is very much like unsinkable."
"What's wrong with unsinkable?"
"Well, do you remember what the iceberg said to the Titanic...?"
"Oh..Right..."
