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"... sure that this will..?"

"No, but don't see what else..."

"Scott, don't move..."

"Wait! I think he might be waking up!"

The voices cut through Gordon's foggy subconscious, causing him to let out a long groan as he slowly became more and more aware of his surroundings. Every single inch of him hurt, feeling like hot irons were stabbing him in various places and causing another moan to slip past his lips. Gordon shifted, trying to relieve the sensation, and his breath hitched in panic. He couldn't move!

"Gordon? Gordon, listen to me. I need you to calm down, son, everything is okay. Listen to my voice, Gordon, let me explain."

He could hear his father, but it was as if it was muffled or that he was listening to the man underwater. He could hear the voice, but the words weren't making sense, weren't registering past the panic that he could feel building. Gordon twisted his arms, feeling cuffs around his wrists restricting the action, and then realised in panic that his legs were being held the same way. Immediately, he was taken back to when this had all started, being pinned down whilst the Hood approached him.

"Gordon! Stop panicking, everything is okay."

"Dad, don't really think you're helping."

That was Virgil's voice this time, and Gordon was vaguely aware of the bed dipping under someone else's weight. Bed? Right, infirmary, it had to be. Where else would they be able to strap someone down? But even with that small piece of knowledge wedging itself in his mind, Gordon was not able to calm down, twisting his arms in a desperate attempt to get out, small cries of pain coming from him as he did so.

"Shh..." There was a hand brushing back his hair, a thumb wiping away the tears that Gordon didn't even know were leaking from the corners of his eyes. The touch did something that the words did not, and eventually, Gordon opened his eyes. Virgil was sitting next to him, smiling softly down when he realised that his brother was looking back at him. Gordon tried to say something, tried to demand an explanation of what on earth was going on, but nothing came out other than a croak.

"Hang on a sec..." Virgil turned away and fiddled with something on the bed, allowing Gordon to sit up properly. The artist disappeared for a second, but when he was back, there was a plastic cup in his hand. He offered the straw to Gordon, and despite the humiliationof it, the redhead drank eagerly, relishing the feeling of the cool water rushing down his throat. It seemed like an age since he had last had anything to drink.

"Wha's happenin'?" he managed to croak, looking down at himself as he did so. His suspicions were confirmed when he caught sight of the strong leather restraints wrapped around his wrists and cuffing him to the bed. A wriggle of his legs had him pretty certain they had been subjected to the same treatment.

"What do you remember, son?" Jeff came to sit on Gordon's other side, pulling around a chair as he did so. Gordon frowned at him, trying to piece together what had happened. He wasn't sure, there was so much fogginess clouding his mind, something that he knew was from when the Hood was in control. What had happened in that time frame?

"I was in here..." he began slowly, frowning down at the bed as he tried to grab hold of the pieces and fit them together. Gordon had never liked doing puzzles, that was always John's idea of fun. So doing one with his own mind was definitely not something he wanted to be repeating any time soon. Jeff nodded encouragingly, not yet even sure what time Gordon was referring to, but not wanting to rush his son.

"And so was Virgil..." That still didn't clear up anything. "I think I snapped at him I was just so tired. Then... Scott!" Now the rest of the family knew precisely where Gordon was up to in his memories. The redhead jerked wildly, the cuffs doing their job and keeping him down, but causing Gordon to twist frantically. Why was it Virgil calming him down? That was never left to the artist, someone else always got there first. "Where's Scott? What did I do?"

"Gordon, calm..." Jeff didn't even get to finish the end of his sentence before he realised that it was doing nothing. Gordon was panicking, parts of the memories crashing back down on him: Scott lying motionless on the floor, the Hood goading him... Then he had been at the beach, yet the presence in his mind had wanted him to return to the house. Gordon had resisted, he knew he had, so how... Alan!

"Alan!"

"Alan?" John's voice came floating from the other side of the infirmary, and Virgil twisted on the bed to share a quizzical look with his two big brothers. Scott was awake and sitting up, although judging by the way John was perched on the edge of the bed and had his hand on his big brother's shoulder, he was having to act as a preventative to stop Scott getting out of bed.

"Virgil, move over."

Hearing the tone in his father's voice, Virgil slipped off the bed and automatically found himself sidling over to the two older ones. Jeff took his previous position, cupping Gordon's face in his hands and forcing his son to look at him.

"Listen to me." Unlike before, Jeff's voice seemed to get through to Gordon this time, and after sucking in a few erratic breaths, the son managed to look the father in the eye.

"Scott is just over there. He is hurt, I won't deny that..." Jeff ignored the noise of protest that came from said son, not to mention the way he could see John tensing out of the corner of his eye, clearly having to keep Scott down. "But he is fine."

The father paused for a long moment, letting his words sink into Gordon. Eventually, he saw the way his son's eyes flickered to the side and dropped his hands, letting Gordon look over to Scott. Seeing his three other brothers all sitting there watching him caused Gordon to finally let out a long breath, beginning to relax.

Jeff exchanged worried glances with John. "But what did you mean by Alan? Alan isn't here, he is safe from all of this."

"He's not," Gordon whispered, his voice cracking halfway. This time, he was sure it was nothing to do with the physical pain or the misuse it had had over the last few... however long it had been. It was the knowledge that the Hood had all the information he needed about them to destroy the whole family.

"Gordon?" There was a warning note in Jeff's voice now, and Gordon knew that his father was trying to work out what was going on. He needed his son to give him answers, some clue as to what was happening. "What do you mean, Alan is not safe?"

Gordon could see John beginning to stand up out of the corner of his eye, Virgil automatically moving in to take up his position in order to keep Scott down. But the redhead zoned his brothers out, eyes locked firmly on his father's face.

"He knows where he is," he whispered, remembering all too well the feeling of satisfaction coming from the maniac when he played his cards, showing Gordon that he had to do what he said or it was a risk to them all. "He has men around. I don't know how... he said he could make things happen... That they wouldn't let Alan come home, they'd kill him first..."

"What things could he make happen?" There was a forced calm in Jeff's voice now, but at a hand signal, John left. Gordon knew with nothing being said that the older blond brother was going to check on the younger. Gordon was sure that Alan was fine, though, he could just sense that the Hood had been using him as a threat. Gordon was in no doubt that he would carry out that threat if it meant getting what he wanted considering what had happened to Scott, but if he had already done something, he would have nothing left to threaten Gordon with.

"He was going to destroy everything if I didn't move back inside. It was come inside, hope Virg and John stayed out of the way or could at least fight back. Or lose Alan."

A heavy silence fell throughout the infirmary. To his shame, Gordon found that his eyes were filling with tears again, wanting to be able to fight the Hood off better, wanting to be able to protect his family the way they had always done for him. But with his hands strapped to the bed, he could do nothing to wipe them away again. He could hear Scott clearly attempting to get out of bed on the other side of the room, and just as clearly could hear Virgil trying to keep him down. But at the same time, it was like it was muffled, like nothing mattered apart from the look on his father's face. Gordon wasn't sure what he was expecting to see – disappointment? Anger, perhaps, that Gordon had had no choice but to do as the Hood said? What he certainly wasn't expecting was the soft, reassuring smile as the man leant forward, echoing Virgil's earlier actions by brushing the tears away. He didn't say a word, but let his hand come to rest on Gordon's shoulder, a comforting, grounding weight that immediately helped Gordon anchor himself.

"I'm sorry," the redhead whispered, once more studying the white sheet rather than look at the rest of them. He was sure they would have been able to do something in order to fight the man off; they wouldn't have been practically blackmailed into doing what he said. Maybe the man had been right, maybe he was the weakest out of all of them and that was why the Hood seemed to be winning right now. Deep inside him, Gordon could almost feel the creep stirring in satisfaction at the way his thoughts were going, but rather than realising he was just thinking what the Hood wanted him to, Gordon instead picked glumly at a stray thread.

"Gordon?" Jeff's voice was soft and caring, and when his son didn't look up, he reached forward a hand and cupped Gordon's chin until the man did look at him. "You're stronger than he is..."

Gordon shook his head before the man could continue, the tears once more back in his eyes. They were wrong, they were all wrong about him. He wasn't strong – the Hood could have so easily killed Scott and Gordon had done nothing to stop it until the very end. There was nothing about him that could offer the Hood a fight...

"M'not..."

"Gordon, listen to me." Despite his concern, Jeff's voice took on a firmer note. He could see in Gordon's eyes what he was thinking. His troublesome redhead had always been the most expressive of his sons, all you had to do was glance at his face and you could read him like an open book. Sitting this close to him and staring straight into his eyes was like Gordon's very thoughts being projected into Jeff's head. He could sense the self-doubt, the belief that the others would have done better. But he could also still hear Kyrano's voice ringing in his ears whilst they had secured Gordon. No one could fight this – even Kyrano, who knew how the Hood was doing this, would have no chance against something that strong. Gordon had put up far more of a fight than he had realised, but if he was doubting that, beginning to give up, then it would have all been for nothing.

"You did stop yourself. I know what happened in the silos, son. You could have killed them both down there, but you didn't. The others told me what happened up here. The Hood could have killed Scott, but you stopped him. You're stronger than you think..."

Gordon swallowed hard, his breath hitching a little as he tried to hold back the tears. He was just so tired, tired of fighting, tired of having to be the strong one. All he wanted to do was give into it and sleep, hoping that it would all go away when he woke up again and this would be some crazy nightmare. But as his exhausted mind began to slowly give in, another presence began to slowly seep to the surface, ready to take its place in the void.

"... you can do this, you can fight him off. Listen to me, you can do this, I promise you. We all believe in you..."

"Shame he doesn't believe in himself."

Jeff gasped, scrambling backwards off the bed as he did so in order to put some distance between him and his son. It wasn't anything to do with not trusting Gordon, but the sight of Scott sprawled across the floor unconscious was not going to leave his mind any time soon. His eyes flicked across the infirmary and immediately caught Virgil's look. The young man nodded, heaviness in the set of his shoulders as he moved behind them. There was a reason why John had gone to check on Alan, Virgil was potentially needed.

"Why are you doing this?" Keeping the Hood's attention focused on him, Jeff frowned. Every time he had seen the Hood emerge before, Gordon's eyes had changed. This time, it seemed the redhead was clearly proving what they had been telling him. The Hood had enough power to use Gordon's voice, but the burning gaze lined with concentration was Gordon's. His hands were screwed into fists under the leather straps and every breath was controlled. He wasn't letting the man through, despite clearly wanting it to just all be over. It worked in their advantage more than Gordon could have possibly realised though. What with talking to Jeff and having to battle to even be there, the Hood had no idea what Virgil was doing.

"Because I can."

"Leave Gordon alone." If he was completely honest, Jeff wasn't truly paying that much attention to the Hood. His eyes were fixed on Virgil, watching as his son drew out a measure of a solution and began slowly approaching the bed from behind.

"Why would I want to do that? And why would you want to do this? Not very nice for your son, is it?"

"Virgil!" Jeff barely had time to gasp a warning before the yellow once more dominated Gordon's eyes. Jeff could have kicked himself for being lulled into a false sense of security. The Hood had known all along what they were doing, and had just been allowing them to relax before striking. Virgil gasped, the syringe torn from his hand.

"Dad!" His yell was barely needed as Jeff threw himself off the bed just in time. The needle came flying over his head before clattering harmlessly to the floor now that it had missed its target. It rolled back under the bed, the momentum carrying it out the other side and back towards Scott. Jeff wasn't sure if it was the Hood was making it move, or just their bad luck. Virgil lunged forward, only to be sent flying as the Hood once more flashed his eyes, causing him to go crashing into the wall opposite.

"Virgil, stay down!" Jeff shouted, crawling across the floor to where the needle was. If the Hood was fighting back, it meant that what they were doing was proving to be something of a threat. At least, Jeff was hoping so, he needed to hold onto some positive thinking.

"That's not going to stop me." the Hood practically snarled, and Jeff moved just in time to duck a metal bowl as it came flying

across the infirmary.

"Virg!" Jeff's head jerked up in horror at Scott's shout, and he realised the bowl had just been a distraction to stop him reaching his son. Virgil's eyes widened in horror, but he didn't have time to move before one of the cabinets came flying across the room.

"No!" How he managed it, Jeff had no idea, but he managed to half throw himself into the path of the rushing furniture. It collided with his hip, sending him spinning away in the opposite direction and landing with a curse back where he started, nursing a throbbing leg. But it had taken the force out of the still-travelling cabinet. The Hood may have forced it back onto its original collision course, but even he couldn't make it pick up its initial speed. Virgil had managed to climb to his feet and even almost move completely out of the way when the cabinet hit.

His cry of pain had Jeff jumping to his feet, any potential missiles ignored as he raced to his son's side. Virgil had his teeth gritted, his left ankle trapped between the cabinet and the wall.

"Virg?"

"Move it!" he practically yelled, his breathing coming in short, pained gasps as he strained against the metal, clearly trying to push it away from him. Jeff immediately grabbed hold, anchoring himself and pulling as hard as he could. Luckily, it was reasonably easy to move and fell away with a crash, causing Virgil to sink down the wall, face pale and clutching his ankle. Jeff rested one hand on the wall so that he could take the weight of his own leg and watched as Virgil slowly began feeling around the already swelling limb, teeth gritted.

"DAD!"

Scott's shout made Jeff whip around, and he felt the roof of his mouth go dry. All the instruments in the room were beginning to shake violently, trembling as they slowly lifted into the air. One glance at Virgil, and Jeff knew they would never be able to move in time. Not that that was going to stop him trying, however, reaching down and grabbing Virgil's upper arm in an attempt to drag the man back to his feet.

"You know you aren't going to be quick enough." There was a gloating tone in the Hood's voice, and Jeff refused to think about how he was using Gordon to utter such hate-filled words. He had to get Virgil out of the way somehow, or at least get himself in front of his son. But Virgil had as strong a grip on his father as Jeff had on him, clearly trying to stop him doing what he was planning. Father and son stayed locked together as a few implements began to slowly rotate in the air, Virgil swallowing audibly next to him.

"Leave my boys out of this!" Jeff yelled, moving his gaze from the instruments back to the Hood. "Kill me if you must, but you let them go!" He ignored Virgil's shout of protest, still trying to force the young man behind him as he took an unsteady step forward, focused only on the Hood.

"Dad..." It was nothing more than a whisper that had Jeff turning back to Virgil, and following his son's gaze, he swallowed hard. The things were moving, scalpels and surgical equipment that Jeff knew would be able to kill them if they picked up enough speed and struck in the right place. Considering how much the Hood seemed to want them dead, the father knew they weren't going to stand a chance. Virgil tried to force his way forward, but Jeff managed to stay in front. He didn't even seem to feel his son's struggles to get past him.

Jeff grimaced, glancing away as he watched everything start to fly across the room towards him. He turned, making sure that he was shielding Virgil, and smiled reassuringly at his son. Virgil's eyes were wide and horrified, but Jeff had managed to pin him against the wall, not giving him a choice now that he was finally in a reasonably safe position. He watched the horror take over Virgil's expression, before the young man's face suddenly changed, confusion seeping into the look instead. Jeff didn't have time to question it though, he could almost hear the weapons flying across the room behind him and knew that they were almost about to hit.

Bracing himself, the father certainly didn't expect to hear a loud clatter. For a long moment, there was only the sound of everything that had been floating hitting the floor. Jeff slowly turned. One of the scalpels was on the floor directly behind him, a few more seconds and it would have hit.

"Scott?" Virgil's hoarse voice had Jeff looking towards where his eldest son had previously been lying. Needless to say, the bed was empty. Jeff pushed himself away from the wall, making sure Virgil was alright as his gaze flickering back to Gordon. In a way, he knew what he was about to see. He had known ever since he had heard the first thing drop to the floor, but he still had to swallow hard. Scott was half on Gordon's bed, half still managing to stand up, the needle in his hand plunged into Gordon's arm.

The effect had been almost instantaneous, the Hood losing control over his powers the second the drug had hit him. Even as Scott finally pulled the needle back out again and slumped to the floor, one hand resting against his ribs and his face ashen, the yellow faded from Gordon's eyes and he blinked at them for a long second.

"Sorry..." It may have come out as a whisper, but everyone heard it. Jeff limped across the infirmary, vaguely aware of Virgil doing the same. Whilst his son pulled his brother off the bed and began to steer Scott back towards his own bed, Jeff sat down heavily on Gordon's. Leaning forward, he could already see the drug taking effect as Gordon's eyes flickered.

"Dad..."

"Shh, son. Everything's okay. Give into it, Gords, we'll be right here when you wake up again." Leaning forward, Jeff gently brushed his hand through Gordon's hair. It was an action that was familiar to the two of them, the way Jeff had always been able to get Gordon to relax when that was the only part of his body that wasn't covered in bandages. Sure enough, Gordon's eyes flickered again, but Jeff saw his arm twist out of the corner of his eye. Glancing down, he saw Gordon's hand had moved, and smiling softly, Jeff took hold of his son's hand.

"We'll be right here, just sleep..." he whispered, his voice soothing and soft.

"Sorry..."

"Shh..." Unable to fight off the drug, Gordon finally shut his eyes. It still took another moment before his body sagged completely and Jeff let out a shaky breath.

"Virg?"

"Coming." Jeff winced when he heard how pain-filled Virgil's voice was as he limped across the infirmary again, but the set to his son's jaw meant that he wouldn't stand for Brains being summoned to do something he was quite capable of doing himself. Resting one hand on the bed to keep himself upright, Virgil quickly set about taking readings from the machinery Gordon hadn't even noticed. Eventually, he sat down on the bed, eyes shutting briefly even as he nodded.

"He's under. Will be for at least four hours. When he wakes up though..."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Jeff said firmly, climbing to his feet and wincing as his hip throbbed in protest. Pulling the covers up around his now sleeping son fondly, Jeff leant over and kissed Gordon's forehead.

"Sleep, my little troublemaker," he whispered under his breath, Virgil glancing in the opposite direction in order to give his father a moment of privacy.

"I was only gone a moment!" John's voice cut through the tension in the room and Virgil let out a muffled snort of amusement even as he began to hobble back towards Scott. His older brother was sitting sideways on the bed, legs hanging off the side and clutching at his midriff, his movement clearly having caused him some trouble.

"Lie back," Virgil muttered, prodding his brother's shoulder, but Scott stubbornly shook his head.

"Check your ankle and Dad first, m'fine..."

The slur at the end of his brother's voice made Virgil roll his eyes, but ever the peacemaker, John stepped forward. He didn't need to ask what had happened. They had planned the sedative as an emergency, knowing how strong the drug was but hoping that it would be enough to take the Hood under as well as Gordon if needs must. Considering he could see the needle on the floor, Gordon asleep and the room in a chaotic mess with both his father and younger brother nursing injuries that hadn't been there when he left, John didn't need to be a genius to figure it out.

Crossing the room, he almost forcibly pushed Virgil into the chair he had been sitting in whilst Scott was still asleep. Keeping one hand on Virgil's shoulder to stop him from getting up, he used the other hand and a pointed look that even Scott couldn't ignore to make his older brother sit back as well. As soon as Scott had moved, John lifted Virgil's leg onto the bed, making sure it was elevated as he worked his brother's shoe off, gentle fingers feeling around the swelling.

"Not broken," he confirmed after a moment, causing Virgil to roll his eyes.

"I could have told you that."

"You could have. But you would have been too busy informing Scott that his ribs were broken to bother, so thought I would do it for you. Stay there." A forcible tone to his voice had Virgil doing as he was told as John crossed the room. A few moments later he was back again, arms full of bandages. Virgil looked like he was going to protest, a worried frown making its way onto his face as he tried to move away, but found himself subjected to the same look that had Scott still lying still, so let his brother strap the ankle up.

"Dad?" Scott hadn't been paying any attention to his two younger brothers even despite the fact that they were at his side. Instead, his gaze was focused across the room, looking at the defeated slump of his father's posture, almost being able to tell the expression on the man's face even with Jeff having his back to his other boys. John and Virgil immediately fell still at the quiet note in Scott's voice and they too looked over towards the man. John stood up, making as if to go over there, but Scott's hand closed around his wrist. When his younger brother glanced at him, the pilot shook his head ever so slightly. John didn't need to ask, but instead sat back down again, giving his father some space.

"What do we do now?" Jeff's voice was hollow and sounded so lost that Virgil and John exchanged looks, the former swallowing hard and causing the latter to squeeze his shoulder reassuringly. Scott, however, lifted his chin.

"We keep trying."

"How?" It was Virgil who spoke this time though, wincing as he jolted his leg slightly. Hearing his father sound so lost seemed to have driven something home in the young man – they didn't know how to get out of this. "Gordon fell asleep and he took over. We kept him awake and it nearly killed you. We tied him to the bed and it could have killed Dad."

"And you."

"And... not the point." Ignoring John's interruption, Virgil focused his gaze on Scott. "What do we do? Should a sedated sleep keep him down?"

"We keep trying. We've got four hours before we have to deal with anything, we have to hope this keeps him under. And who knows, the rest might allow Gordon to fight back again, the way he did at the beginning. "

"But..."

"Are you that prepared to give up on him?" Scott practically yelled, finally causing his father to look round. If he thought the man would look defeated, it was an understatement for the expression on his face. But Scott felt the flare of Tracy stubbornness and anger spring into life. "I swore to him after his hydrofoil accident, when he was lying there, broken, that he couldn't give up on himself because I was never going to give up on him. If you guys are prepared to do so, fine, but I will not lose him." So saying, Scott began to swivel his legs towards the side of the bed again, determined to get to his brother. John, however, placed a hand on his shoulder after Jeff shot him a look.

"No one is giving up on him, Scotty," Jeff said softly, standing up and limping over to where his conscious sons sat. He rested one hand on the top of John's back, the other on Virgil's shoulder. Scott swallowed hard, but met Jeff's eyes, nodding softly.

"So what do we do next?"

"I have absolutely no idea," the father admitted, glancing back towards his motionless son. Virgil was right, everything they were trying was backfiring and just getting them hurt. But sensing Scott watching him, he forced a reassuring smile onto his face. His eldest son was not the only one to have promised to never give up on Gordon, and Jeff intended to make good on that promise, no matter what it took.