A/N: hey there guys, i know that it has been many months since my last update. but no excuses, here is the next chapter of Grow Up: the Sequel. i hope that you all enjoy it, and the next chapter will be up in a couple of days, this time i really promise!!

oh, and they are still not mine

Chapter 10

Alan outfitted each of them with a headset and flashlight. Grabbing several extra oxygen tanks, the two of them headed towards the mole.

"Dad, this is Alan. Can you hear me?" There was nothing but silence on the other end. "Scott? John? Can anybody hear me?" Still, there was silence. "Brains, are you getting anything from them?"

"Negative, Alan. But I am still reading 5 life signals. The mineral deposits m-must be c-confusing the sh-short range c-c-communications as well as mine."

Alan pulled himself up into the big lumbering machine. "Fermat check the emergency medical supplies, back compartment." Alan started to bring the machine online. "Brains, what can you tell me about the structural stability of the tunnel?"

"The whole t-tunnel system seems to be unst-stable, but I believe that the best area to dr-dr-drill through is through the w-w-wall of the opposing tunnel. It sh-should lead you r-r-right into their ch-chamber."

"FAB Brains. Let me know when I get there." Alan flipped on the viewing monitor and took a sonar scan. Immediately the system of tunnels appeared on the screen. He could see where his family was trapped, and he quickly located the tunnel that Brains was referring to. "Alright Fermat, lets move."

They had almost reached the designated area of the tunnel when the call came in. It was patchy, but what Alan heard was enough to make his stomach drop to his ankles.

"Alan….Hood took….2….Switzerland ….U.N…..500 mil….bomb….1 hour to comply." His heart was pounding. He remembered talking about this in school. The U.N. leaders were having their conference in Switzerland, and unless he was drastically mistaken, Brains had just told him that the Hood was asking for 500 million dollars or a bomb would go off, presumably in or near the complex. Alan was starting to panic. His family needed him, but so did they. He couldn't just let them die, but saving them meant leaving his family. What the hell am I supposed to do?

"Fermat, take the mole and keep going, it's only a little further up. I'm going after the Hood."

"Wait! You want me to do this? By myself?" Fermat was starting to panic. Alan grabbed him by the shoulders and looked him in the eyes. "Fermat, you know this machine. Hell, you helped build it! So I have faith in you. The Thunderbirds need you Fermat. I need you. Please!" Fermat just stared at Alan, and then a smile broke out on his face. "FAB Alan!" He turned and climbed into position on the mole.

"Penny and Parker should be here soon!" Alan shouted over his shoulder as he ran towards the tunnels mouth. He boarded TB1 and began to power her up. "Brains, can you tell me where the Hood is?"

"Well, Th-Thunderbird 2 is 20 miles couth of the Conference building, but- wait, Alan, wh-what are you doing?"

"I have to stop him Brains. He's going to use my dad's dream to hurt thousands of people. He'll destroy everything that the Thunderbirds stand for. I have to at least try."

"B-But Alan, you should w-wait for-"

"Wait? Brains he gave them an hour. They are now down to 50 minutes. If I wait, they die. Now you can either work with me, or not, but either way I'm going."

There was a pause. "FAB Alan. You are c-cleared for take off." Alan lifted 1 of the ground and shot towards the coordinates that Brains was feeding him. As he was getting closer, he contacted Brains again. "Is there anything that you can tell me about the explosive the Hood plans on using?"

"I have done a complete s-scan of the ship, and I am g-g-getting a weird energy s-signature in the rear of the ship. It is d-definitely the bomb. But it does not h-h-have any kind of n-nuclear properties, and in fact it doesn't even seem t-t-to be that large. Certainly n-not large enough to c-c-carry out the threat that the H-Hood is using. There m-may be a second device th-that the scanners s-simply can't detect."

Alan thought that that was very unlikely. Thunderbird 5 had the most sophisticated technology on the planet. If they couldn't find it, then he didn't think that a second device actually existed. What was the Hood playing at? Confusion welled up inside of him, but he quickly pushed it aside. He had to concentrate on the mission at hand.

Meanwhile in the tunnel

The explosions and resulting cave-ins had shook Jeff and the boys up pretty good. Near as he could figure it, Virgil was suffering from a concussion, and Gordon had a broken arm. All 5 of them would be sporting a wide array of cuts and bruises for a while. Scott and John were trying to dig a way out through one of the collapsed walls, but the wall was proving to be unstable, and they didn't even know if it was the wall that would lead them further into the tunnels or back to the entrance.

Jeff had been trying to contact Alan or Brains since he had talked to Alan before, but all he got was silence. He trusted that Alan would try his best to get to them in time, but he was still worried. The thought of Alan piloting TB3 for the first time, along, sent his heart to his stomach. Alan may have mastered the simulations like he had told him, but simulations and the real thing were two very different things.

His sons seemed to be a little skeptical. "Dad, I know that you think that he's ready for this, but he really is still just a kid. He's not trained to handle rescues like this. Hell, he's not trained to handle rescues at all."

Jeff turned to face his four oldest sons. "He's a Tracy, and he's grown up with rescues all of his life." Alan's words came back to him. "You just have to have hope." He settled in to wait with his sons for the rescue that he hoped would be coming soon.

A half-hour later, Jeff was getting light headed, and he could tell that the rest of his sons were not any better off. The air would not last them mush longer. And that's when he felt it. The low, steady rumble coming from the left side of the chamber. It just kept getting louder and louder until suddenly, the metal claws broke through the rough rocky surface. As the machine retreated, the floodlights coming off the mole made it hard to see their rescuer.

"Alan?" He felt an oxygen mask being held to his face and suddenly Fermat was there in front of him, telling him to take deep breaths. Fermat left his side to go and distribute oxygen to the rest of the Tracy's and soon he was back with Jeff.

"Mr. Tracy, are you alright?" He nodded his head. "Fermat, where's Alan?" Fermat looked at him with worry as he helped Jeff to his feet. "He's g-gone! He w-went after the Hood! We h-have to help him!" Fermat told them what he knew as they made their way out of the tunnel. They were almost to the entrance when they got a message from Penny, telling them that she was 5 minutes out. "Penny, I'll need you to secure the mole and then meet us in Switzerland, contact Brains for the full update."

"FAB Jeff. And do be careful."

They made their way over to where TB3 sat waiting for them while Fermat and Brains filled them in on what was going on. Scott and John took the controls, getting ready to lift her up, but all Jeff could think about was the fact that his youngest son was off facing a mad-man by himself. The thought chilled him to his very core. Please look after him Lucy. I can't lose him too. They flew toward Switzerland and the coordinates that Brains had given them, all the while pushing the Bird to its known limits, and then some. They all felt it, the need to be there with Alan.

When they were just a couple of minutes out, they got the news from Brains that TB2 was on the move. They quickly made the course adjustment, and realized that they were heading towards the conference building. They were able to catch a glimpse of TB2 before everyone on board gasped in horror at what they were witnessing.

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