Chapter 79.

Havoc didn't think she'd ever felt more shocked in her life.

Never had she ever anticipated ending up pinned beneath Gordon Tracy of all people.

Gordon Squid Boy Tracy, who was a lot stronger than he looked.

Damn swimmer's arms.

Unfortunately for him, he was still a guy though, and, like all guys, possessed one main weakness.

An explosive shriek of pain followed by a water-themed expletive tore out of Gordon's throat as Havoc kneed him in the groin, cackling madly as she sprang back to her feet and continued on her mad dash to freedom.

She may have lost the DNA she'd been tasked with extracting, but the opportunity to cause physical, mental (and possibly spiritual) chaos for the Tracys more than made up for the disappointment brought about by her little blunder.

Coughing in pain and with tears rapidly clouding his vision, Gordon managed to stagger to his feet before giving chase, a scowl of agonised fury taking the place of his usual easy-going smile.

Like the loyal duckling that he was, Alan promptly bolted off after his immediate brother, leaving behind a tragically confused Virgil, a still traumatised Scott and a panicking John, who was glancing around in indecision, unsure which brother to direct his attention toward first.

Predictably, Scott won.

"You okay, Speedy?" John asked, hunkering down next to his pale-faced eldest brother, "She didn't bite you, did she?"

Scott managed to mutely shake his head, before twisting away and gagging loudly, "No, but she did eject half a litre of saliva down my throat."

Virgil cringed as Scott dragged a sleeve across his mouth in disgust, "I think she proper managed to French you there, bro. Small wonder you didn't choke on her tongue."

Scott's face creased in revulsion. Standing up, he stormed towards one of the railings encircling the terrace and peered over, his blue eyes locking onto Havoc's retreating backside, "You seriously need to work on your technique, woman! I'm a generous man, but even I'd struggle to give that more than a three out of ten! Most people don't appreciate the wet and slobbery approach!"

Before either Virgil or John could snicker at their brother's joke, a bottle of champagne flew overhead, missing Scott by mere inches before shattering on the patio directly beneath the terrace. A sharp yelp confirmed that Havoc had been the intended target.

A quick over the shoulder glance revealed an explosive looking Kayo standing beside a thoroughly shocked Penelope, her face the dictionary definition of livid. She was barefoot, her heels having been discarded, and was glowering at Scott as if she hated the marrow in his bones.

A second bottle of champagne hung from her left hand.

-x-

Havoc was, surprisingly, a rather proud woman.

She didn't beat about the bush when it came to self-promotion, and definitely didn't need a man or anyone to tell her how smart, savvy, athletic and attractive she was (bonus points went to to anyone who mentioned her name and 'kickass' in the same sentence though).

Naturally, Scott's tasteless comment about her kissing ability had left a somewhat sour taste in Havoc's mouth (no pun intended). She'd been half tempted to turn back and curtly inform the eldest Tracy that she'd been after his DNA, not his affection, but decided against it upon realising that Gordon was within gnawing distance behind her.

Havoc didn't scare easily, but the sight of the aquanaut's face as he zeroed in on her sent a shiver of unease up her spine. While those caramel eyes were probably the most beautiful sight in the world if you were being rescued by them, they were nothing short of terrifying if you were being pursued by them.

Any remaining confidence inside Havoc promptly jaywalked into the path of a metaphorical bus when Alan suddenly materialised behind Gordon, his little legs working like pistons. Taking on an enraged Gordon by himself was one thing, but messing with his younger brother was an entirely different ball game. It would be like walking into the lion's den, only the lion would be an extremely vexed Scott.

Havoc was no fool. She knew the boys had to have some combat training under their belts. They lived with Kayo crying out loud.

Unfortunately, publicly available accounts of any members of International Rescue using self-defence (excluding Kayo) were scarce, making it impossible to ascertain the true extent of any of the brother's abilities. Havoc's own preliminary research had revealed zilch on the fighting front; they could be ham-fisted nitwits or black belted experts for all she knew.

Now definitely wasn't the time to find out.

"Fuse! Get me out of here!"

-x-

Poor Scott's evening wasn't going to plan:

He'd been violated by a surprisingly slobbery and somewhat clumsy Havoc,

He was in the middle of a humdinger of a row with his wingman brother,

He was the not so proud owner of a soaked Armani suit,

He was also the not so proud owner of a ruined head of hair,

The gas company had just emailed him with a document that mentioned something about a 10% price hike,

And Kayo was threatening him with a bottle of champagne as if it were a cricket bat.

While he was quite content to admit that things could be going much worse, he was also quite content to admit that things could be going a hell of a lot better.

"Easy now, Kayo," Penelope soothed, raising her hands in a peaceful and placating gesture, "You've had a bit to drink and you're not thinking straight. Let's get you up to bed and we can talk about all of this in the morning over a cup of tea."

The scorn in Kayo's green eyes as she shrugged Penelope's helping hand away was tangible, "No, Penny! I want to talk about this right now. What, pray tell, is so special about old Speedy here that Havoc would target him over Virgil, huh? We all know Mr Land Cabbage is the biggest ninny of the group."

John's eyes narrowed in protective irritation. Virgil shrugged in indifference. He'd been called worse, and Kayo had been drinking.

"I don't think a lot of pre-planning went into the behaviour we just saw Havoc display," Penelope countered, choosing her words with care, "There was obviously a motive behind her actions, but we won't know for certain what it was until we gather more intel."

"Intel, schmintel," Kayo slurred, her face contorting in fury as she returned to glowering at Scott, "Three out of ten my ass. Are you seriously implying that you've enough lip action under your belt to warrant creating your own scoring system?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Scott smoothly replied, not tearing his eyes away from the weaponised bottle of bubbly Kayo was beginning to tighten her grip on.

"You sicken me," Kayo hissed, striding up to Thunderbird One's pilot and scowling when she remembered that she only came up to his shoulder, "You are an arrogant, conceited, cologne drenched peacock of a man!"

Scott's nostrils flared in response to the blatant insults. The eldest brother opened his mouth to suck in a breath in preparation the royal tongue-lashing he was about to give Kayo, however barely had time to inhale before Thunderbird Shadow's pilot grabbed the back of his head, yanked him down to eye level and smashed her face against his.

'Well, this feels familiar.'

It was a brief kiss, lasting only a couple of seconds before Kayo broke free. Poor Scott barely had time to process his second violation of the evening before Kayo promptly drew back her hand and slapped him clean across the face. Satisfied that she'd made her point (in a twisted kind of way), Thunderbird Shadow's pilot spun on her heel and tanked off in belated pursuit of Havoc, Gordon and Alan.

Poor Scott meanwhile, was doing a commendably bad job at masking the internal screams that were desperate to make themselves heard, "What the actual hell?!"

Penelope smothered a delicate cough and set about fussing over Scott's rapidly reddening cheek. John looked at a complete loss for what to say (Thunderbird Five had never felt further away). Virgil gave a low whistle and patted his abused brother on the shoulder, all arguments long forgotten.

"I don't know, but for the first time in my life, I'm glad I'm not you, bro."