10)

Fermat was concentrating on testing his and his dad's latest invention, a modified stun gun that both releases and absorbs electricity from any kind of electrical source. The stun gun would be considered non-lethal weapon since the charges of electricity were low, but if the power source was extremely high then it could be deadly. Still the weapon was made for mostly law enforcement, but also for some private agencies that worked in security management. However the stun gun only seemed to work in theory, not in practice. The voltage didn't seem to connect to the stun gun, so it wouldn't absorb the same voltage it released. Fermat was getting frustrated that it didn't work, especially when he tested it against frozen meat. None of the tests seemed to work and Fermat knew that Onaha wasn't going to be very happy when she found her meat patties were used to experiment on, but no matter what he tried to do nothing seemed to work.

"Having problems?" someone said, interrupting Fermat's train of thoughts. He turned around to see the newest guest on the island Luke Shepard, standing there in front of him with a cup in one hand and carrying a backpack on his shoulder. Fermat looked closely at the guy. He was tall around 6 feet 1 and his hair was scraggy and unkempt. His facial features were sharp and intense, almost like he could look into someone's soul. He was lean and muscular build, probably because what he does for a living, but Fermat wondered if there was something more to it than that.

"Y-yeah," Fermat stuttered as he turned of the stun gun and placed it on the metal table in front of him. "I-it seems t-that the v-voltage doesn't c-connect with t-the s-stun g-gun."

"Okay," Luke said, looking questionable at the stun gun on the table. Almost like he wanted to take a closer look at it, but wasn't sure if he should do it or not. "Would you mind if I took a look at it? I don't mean not to insult you or anything, but maybe you just missed something."

Strangely enough Fermat didn't feel like he was being insulted by his statement, but he had his doubts that this guy could figure out what was wrong with it especially since from what Mr. Tracy told them that he was a security tester and problem solver. That didn't mean that he could fix any mechanical or technical problems.

"S-s-s…okay," Fermat said, picked it up and handed Luke the stun gun, while Luke place his backpack on the floor next to the table and the mug on the table. Luke studied the stun gun closely, turned it over and then tested it on the meat patty. The result was the same as when he tested it, so Luke must have seen concluded the same as he did. However Luke didn't give up, instead he opened the compartment where the batteries were. When he looked at the batteries, he turned to look at him and said:

"It looks like the problem is the batteries. I think when you modified the stun gun; the modifications on the batteries weren't consistent with the stun gun. That's why the voltage doesn't connect with the stun gun. So the best way to fix it is to create a whole new set of batteries that can handle the voltage from the gun, but then again I'm not an expert."

Fermat was surprised. Even though he felt a little ashamed that he hadn't thought about the batteries, it was both weird and surprising that Luke even knew about this. Fermat assumed that he was more impulsive and impatient kind of person; then again looks can be deceiving.

"Thank you for the tip, b-but if you d-don't mind me a-asking how do y-you know this?" Fermat asked nervously, since he felt he was intruding on Luke's life. He always felt it was not in his place to ask personal questions no matter if it was family or friends, they had to be open up about it first before he would ask questions about it.

"Actually it's because it is part of my college education," Luke shrugged. Almost like it was no big deal.

"Really, I had no i-idea you went to college."

"Not many people are aware of it, mostly because what I do for a living," Luke said, while he rubbed his hand on his neck in embarrassment. "Also because I study mechanical engineering online college at University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth."

"Wow that's a-amazing" Fermat smiled. "I mean both working fulltime at the same time study such demanding subject. I c-could never work and study at the same time. B-besides studying e-engineering and c-computer science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology is quite d-demanding."

"That's so cool, tell me all about it while we work on fixing the stun gun."

"Y-y-y…that sounds g-great," Fermat said, as he and Luke began working on the stun gun.

It didn't take long before Alan, as Luke became friends with Fermat. They talked about school, engineering, inventions and everything else that seemed appropriate at the time. Though neither of them went into detail about their personal life, but they got along and had fun working on different inventions, together and alone. It didn't take long before Tin-Tin decided to join them and quickly became friends with Luke as well. She came and went to help Brains or her parents and hang out the guys, something she did more often than helping out. Of course Brains came in to check on them often to see if everything was alright between them, but was glad that his son was happy and had found someone else to really talk to except for him and Tin-Tin.

The Tracy family didn't appear at the lab for the entire morning and Alan didn't blame them for keeping a distance from him, since he didn't really wanted to be around them and be angry at his dad at the moment either. It wasn't that he hated them or anything, but he was still angry about what happened three years ago. No matter what he did back then it wasn't good enough and he felt that he was pushed into a corner with no escape. It was frustrating even now when they had no clue who he was, and they couldn't just trust him and let him be free. That's what Alan was thinking about when he was walking by the pool when he was returning back to his room with his stuff. He stopped when he saw Gordon and Virgil fooling around in the swimming pool meanwhile Scott was sitting on the edge of the pool with his feet in the water, watching his younger brothers mess around. Alan couldn't help, but think about those times when he used to play around with his brothers the same way Gordon and Virgil was doing right now with Scott watching them like a smoldering hen. Those were good times that he missed very much.

"Hey, do you want to swim?" Gordon asked, when he noticed Alan standing there observing them from far away.

"Emm…." Alan said baffled. Alan was a little surprised they noticed him, but he was mostly surprised that Gordon had invited him into his precious swimming pool. Gordon saw the pool as his own personal property the same way as Scott saw Thunderbird 1 as his 'bird', meaning they were very possessive about it and not into sharing. "No thanks, but thank you for inviting me though. I should probably be on my way now." Alan walked pass the pool and was about to enter the house, when something stopped him.

"Probably because he doesn't want to feel guilty about lying in order to stay here," a voice muttered, but loud enough that made Alan turn around. It was Scott, who was glaring at him like he was this major threat.

"Excuse me?" Alan asked, though his tone held slight anger in it. He focusing on not getting angry like he used to be when he was younger, mostly because he didn't want to get recognized, but also he wasn't that guy. He wasn't the sixteen-year-old Alan anymore. "What did you just say?"

"I said you didn't want to swim because you wouldn't want to feel guilty over lying to everyone over why you are staying here," Scott said restrained, even though it wasn't hard to see his anger and over-protectiveness in his voice. He stood up and walked towards Alan. He was only a few centimeters taller than Alan, but he still able to look down at him like he was the boss around here. Alan wanted to laugh from that thought, but he didn't say anything and listened to Scott, who was talking about Alan, being a liar and a criminal.

"Listen Old Man," Alan interrupted Scott after getting tired of hearing all the allegations towards him. The nickname he came up with for Scott wasn't intentional, but he needed to make a point with his oldest brother, who was almost like a second-dad to him. The only difference between Scot and his dad was that Scott loved and mostly listened to whatever his brothers said unlike his dad, but he often judged opinions that weren't his own and was quick to argue about it. "Before you go and accuse me, go and look for evidence to support your theory. Otherwise keep your opinions to yourself, so no one else has to listen to this meaningless chitchat."

Scott looked shocked that he actually talked back, since Alan hadn't really said one word to him before now. And all of a sudden he talked back, and wasn't afraid to do it either especially towards his older brothers. However it didn't take long before the shock on Scott's face disappeared and was replaced with exasperation.

"What?!" Scott exclaimed. "I'm not an old man. I'm only twenty-nine, just ten years older than you. By the way you need to be polite and respectful towards your elders."

"Oh, like you Old Man," Alan taunted. "No I don't think so. Besides I don't tend to be polite and respectful towards people who judge me and accuse me of lying and for doing criminal activities."

"You lying fox!" Scott pounced at Alan and punched him in the face that made Alan lose his balance and staggered down on the floor. Alan was certainly taken by surprise, when he looked up to see Scott towering him. He could feel and taste the blood coming from his mouth and it didn't exactly help that his face felt numb.

"SCOTT!" Virgil yelled. He got out of the pool and went to help Alan up from the floor. Meanwhile Gordon got up next to Scott and yelled, "DUDE NOT COOL!"

Scott didn't feel even a little ashamed about it, but Alan was quick to retaliate when he used his foot to kick him on the temple, knocking down Scott's balance. The brawl continued between Scott and Alan with Virgil and Gordon as the audience until it eventually attracted everyone else in the household to see what was going on. Fermat, Tin-Tin, Brains, Kyrano and Onaha tried to break up the fight, but nothing seemed to work. It wasn't before Jeff walked out to see his oldest son fighting the boy; he managed to intervene between the two of them.

"That's enough!" Jeff shrieked as he separated them on each side. "From both of you!"

"Dad…" Scott attempted to apologize, but Jeff didn't want to hear it. He was not happy over his son's action towards

"I'm disappointed in you Scott, actually in both of you," Jeff glared at both Scott and Alan. "You both will get punished for this bad behavior and…"

Jeff didn't get to finish when the alarm went off, signaling that someone needed help from International Rescue. No one wasted time to get right to work except for Alan, who felt more than ever like an outcast when it involved the family business. It was always him that was left behind and always him who had to wait for them.

"Brains, go to the command center and prepare for the launch with Fermat," Jeff commanded, and Brains and Fermat hurried over to the command center to prep for the launch. "Scott, you will this one sit out and help out in Thunderbird 2 as punishment for your behavior. Virgil, you and Gordon make sure everything good to go. Also bring some packs of ice for Scott, so he doesn't look like another version of Rocky."

Virgil and Gordon nodded and hurried off together with Scott, even though you could hear that he was complaining that he wasn't going to get to fly his 'bird'.

"Tin-Tin, can you help Luke get some ice on those bruises?" Jeff turned his attention towards the two nineteen-year-olds that was left standing there.

"Yes, Mr. Tracy," Tin-Tin replied. She grabbed Alan's hand and began leading him towards the infirmary.

It was then Jeff realized that he had just exposed the family business in front of Luke, which could be very bad unless he didn't convince Luke to keep their secret. But now wasn't the time to do it. He would talk to Luke after the rescue; hopefully they could come to some agreement. Then he ran to the Thunderbird 2 silo.

"Thanks," Alan said as he took the ice pack Tin-Tin had handed over to him. Then he put the ice pack on his left side of the mouth, knowing that it already started to bruise around his face. Not that he cared about it really, he had been through worse punches than his brother, but it was still difficult to accept that his brother would punch him like that without no valid reason to. Besides Scott's face has very hard edges, Alan thought.

"Come on put the pack back on your face," Tin-Tin said, interrupting his thoughts. "Otherwise you will look like Mike Tyson tomorrow." She gently took the pack from his hands and put it on his face. The coldness from the pack sting, but not to painfully so Alan tried to focus on something else. Alan had noticed that Tin-Tin hadn't changed as dramatically as he had, but turned into an even more beautiful flower that was living in the wild. Her hair was black and curly while her brown eyes shined with warmth and strength. She had grown much in the three years apart, but she looked more grown up than before. But the one thing he loved the most about Tin-Tin was her angel smile that could light up the entire universe. Alan smiled thinking about the time when he almost confessed to her, but he quickly shook his head. Because it didn't matter anymore that he had those feelings for, since he was pretty sure she didn't have those feelings for him. Not before he left and especially not now that he was back as someone she didn't know.

"So tell me something," Alan said in order to think about something else. He gave a small smile despite the pain and turned to look at Tin-Tin. "Is it just me or does Scott Tracy beat up every guy that comes to stay at your island?"

"Well, he doesn't normally beat up people," Tin-Tin began thinking out loud. "I guess it is because of your situation, maybe also because you remind him of his little brother." She looked down at the floor, like she was ashamed over thinking about Alan. Alan himself couldn't understand why it mattered to them or not.

"Why? What happened?" Alan asked as leaned closer towards Tin-Tin to see what her reaction was. Tin-Tin was unsure if she should say something or not, since it wasn't really in her place to talk about it, but she decided that it might be the good idea to talk to a stranger about it.

"I don't know all the details, but Mr. Tracy's youngest son Alan Tracy ran away from home three years ago," Tin-Tin said sadly. "We all took it very hard when he left. Both Fermat and me was and still is one of Alan's best friends so we were of course sad that he left, but we could understand why he left. It was his family took it the hardest."

"How so?" Alan asked, waiting for her to continue telling about the events after he left the island. He had always wondered how the others reacted on his disappearing act.

"They were so scared and sad all the time that they almost couldn't function straight. The things they loved to do on their sparetime, their memories and it even the rescues became difficult for them to do from time to time because everything reminded them of Alan, who was their biggest supporter and had always wanted to be a part of the family business. They couldn't understand why Alan would leave, especially without saying anything to anyone. It was almost like he wanted to separate his life and begin a new one that didn't involve anyone of us who loved him," Tin-Tin said, while looking she was close to crying.

Alan wasn't sure what to say. He could understand his friends who were closest to him would miss him like Fermat, Tin-Tin, Parker, Lady Penelope, Brains, Onaha and Kyrano. His family on the other hand was an entirely different story. Alan thought they would maybe be sad at first, but quickly forget about him like they always did. Did they really miss him like Tin-Tin said?

Both of them were silent after that, since they didn't know what to say or do about this confession. Tin-Tin had never admitted the incident out loud because she was afraid it was far too painful to talk about, admitting her feeling for Alan, who she had no idea if he ever felt the same for her and if he still did. While Alan wasn't sure how he could give any of them the comfort they needed and deserved. Finally Alan managed to say something from the heart, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry about what?" Tin-Tin asked. She hadn't expected him to apologize, especially for something he didn't do.

"About your friend. It must have been tough."

Tin-Tin nodded and Alan gave her a small smile as a reassurance before standing up. He began walking out of the infirmary while Tin-Tin kept sitting on the chair she had been sitting on since they came in. Then Alan turned around and said the one thing he needed to make sure the Tracy household would understand about him. "In case you and everyone else here was wondering, I didn't want to come here."

"W-what?" Tin-Tin stuttered. Taken by surprise by his statement, but also totally irrelevant to what they had just talked about.

"It was my friends that told me to come here in order to keep me safe, not to lie and expose what you do here. They honestly believed that you guys were capable keeping me safe from the Hood and I knew they were doing what they thought was best for me, which is why I never wanted to intrude into your life and pose as a threat to everyone," Alan said quietly and left the infirmary. Leaving Tin-Tin even more confused than what she had been before.

When Jeff got back from the rescue he hadn't expected to find Luke sitting in his office waiting for him, but at least he didn't have to search for him. Brains and Fermat had already left, leaving Jeff alone with this strange boy. He sat down on his chair looking intently at Luke before he finally said:

"I'm sure you know what we do here on this island."

"Yes," Luke said curtly. "I will keep it a secret even though I already had a feeling you were International Rescue."

"How?" Jeff asked, surprised that this boy had figured the big family secret. They hadn't done anything that could even remotely be considered a clue to who they were.

"Billionaire and ex-astronaut Jeff Tracy living on an private island together with his friends and family, totally isolated from any other close contact from the world. It's not hard to imagine what you are doing here."

"I see," Jeff agreed. He hadn't really considered that you could imagine why he lived the way he did and what he did here, but then again there wasn't many people he knew that dreamed and imagined the same way he did. "Alright then, let's talk about the incident between you and my son Scott."

"How about you'll give me your punishment and we don't talk about it," Luke suggested. Obviously he didn't want to go into detail about what happened, neither had Scott when Jeff had asked him about it. Sometimes he wondered if boys of the younger generation had an unwritten 'man code' about how to handle certain things, but he never asked one of his sons due to the fact that they most likely wouldn't tell him and deny everything.

"Fine by me," Jeff said. There is no use in forcing him to tell me, because it could only end with that Luke distanced himself even more than he already have. Jeff didn't want to take any chances. "You will help Kyrano in the gardens every morning for the next three days. Is that okay for you?

Luke nodded in agreement and the two of them stood up from their seats. Then Jeff noticed Luke hadn't left yet. Instead he was playing with his fingers, like he had something on his mind. They just stood there staring at each other, until Jeff had had enough.

"Was there something else?" Jeff asked.

"There was one other thing I wanted to talk to you about," Luke asked with a small grin on his face. Jeff wasn't sure if he should be curious or to be terrified about what was going on in that boy's head.

Alan couldn't stop grinning as he was sitting in front of his computer waiting for his friends to pick up the video call. He hadn't expected that his dad would allow him to call his friends making them sure he was alright and also making sure they hadn't killed each other, but his dad had allowed it only they kept track on his computer activity. Still keeping a close watch on him, but at least he could talk to his friends just a little bit instead of being isolated away from them.

"Hey guys," Alan said, when the screen finally showed Sarah and Danny. They looked sort of tired, but he assumed it was because of everything that had happened or because they had one of their fights again. Naturally Alan assumed the latter.

"OMG! A-A…" Sarah cheered happily until she looked around in case anyone could hear her say his name, even though she wasn't in the right place to check that. "Wait, are you alone?"

"Not alone enough for us to talk about our most private and personal secrets," Alan answered. "But close enough."

"At least we know that you are okay," Sarah said relieved until she finally noticed the bruises on Alan's face.

"Dude, what have happened to your face," Danny said, when he too had noticed the bruises on Alan's face that definitely hadn't been there before. "Did someone hit you with a baseball bat?"

"How did you get that horrible bruise on your face?" Sarah asked, with her doctor voice.

"Brotherly bonding," Alan answered sarcastically. "Scott wanted tell me his opinion about me staying here and let's just say he got through to me."

"Man," Danny looked actually worried, which is totally weird because he is such an easy-going guy. "He got his opinions though."

"Are you okay? Do you need us to pick you up?" Sarah asked frantically.

"I'm fine. I got everything sorted out," Alan shrugged. "Anyway how are things back home?"

Both of them became quiet, too quiet for Alan's taste. They turned to look at each other or somewhere else, but anywhere else except at him. Something had happened and whatever it was, it was not good.

"What happened?" Alan asked, but this time he wasn't giving them room to avoid the question.

"They came in here and searched the place," Sarah said dejected. Danny looked just as dejected as Sarah was, but this didn't explain anything.

"Who came and searched the place?" Alan already had a bad feeling of who it could be, but he hoped that he was wrong for once.

"It was the Hood."

.

.

.

Here's your new chapter and it's the longest I have written. So I hope you like it. Please review, follow and favorite and thank you everyone who has review, follow and favorite. Just a future reference I don't know a lot about engineering and high tech information, so I will probably improvise on it. Besides this is fanfic where you can make up anything. You guys are amazing, until next time...

xXrebelgirl07Xx