Chapter 92.
Ever the hero, Scott insisted on Kayo and Penelope staying inside FAB 1 while he and Gordon went to inspect and repair FAB 1's busted tyre.
Kayo had a sneaking suspicion that this insistence had nothing to do with chivalry, and everything to do with both brothers trying frantically to claw back the manhood points they'd lost by charging into battle in their pyjamas.
Curse words were uttered and jackets pulled over heads as brothers one and four left the safety of the pink Rolls Royce to fix the damage inflicted by Havoc and Fuse's little detonator. Kayo resisted the urge to roll her eyes when she realised that, in their state of rain-induced disgust, neither brother had remember to activate the car's hazard lights.
The scowl on Scott's face when he realised his blunder was tragically lethal. Apparently, Kayo's help was neither wanted, nor appreciated.
"He's going to give himself wrinkles if he doesn't learn to buck up," Kayo muttered, wincing as the rain increased in both intensity and ferocity.
Penelope shrugged and began to absently file her nails, "On the contrary, I reckon he rather suits the miffed look. Adds to the whole 'Commander of International Rescue' charisma so many women can't seem to get enough of. Besides, I thought you liked his serious attitude."
Green eyes went skyward as Kayo shifted her brain into storytelling mode, "I respect him as both a leader and as head of the family, but I can't help but worry that taking over from Jeff has consumed him over the years. He used to be so much more fun and carefree."
Penelope paused mid-file, her expression curious, "I've heard tales of him being a bit of a daredevil. Was he significantly different to the way he is now?"
"Oh yes," Kayo confirmed, bobbing her head up and down as Gordon began to loosen the blown tyre's lug nuts, "He was a real rule breaker. Never to the point of concern, but reckless and impulsive? Hell yes. He used to rope poor Virgil into all kinds of trouble. I remember one occasion many years ago where they took Thunderbird One out without clearance from Jeff, then used the heat from the rearward thrusters to trigger an avalanche on an uninhabited mountain in Southern China. Then, they used Thunderbird Three's astroboards to outrun said avalanche down to the base of the mountain. Brains hadn't finished field testing the boards at that point, so wasn't amused, but oh man you should have seen the look on Jeff's face when they got home. Needless to say, they were both moping fuel out of the hanger for a month afterwards."
"Why?" Penelope queried, her nail file poised in mid-air, "They must have been adults if they were able to pilot Thunderbird One unaided. Surely such a punishment was uncalled for?"
Kayo smiled indulgently, "They wasted precious fuel and deprived International Rescue of its quick response vehicle for two hours. Plus, they didn't even have the decency to warn Brains before they 'borrowed' two of his prototypes. The poor guy was convinced he'd misplaced them and almost had a nervous breakdown. Not a cool move if you ask me."
Outside, Gordon shrieked as a clap of thunder sounded.
"I suppose not," Penelope hummed, examining the job she'd done on her left ring finger, "I remember Scott being stubborn and bolshie, but never enough to aggravate anyone aside from his brothers. He definitely grew up quickly after Lucy died."
Kayo's face sagged slightly, "Then he had to do it all over again when Jeff had his accident. He became an orphan, a commander, and a father all in the space of an hour. I know he's not bitter about any of it, but sometimes I really miss the old Scott we used to have before everything went south. I feel for him, Penny. I really, really feel for him."
A pregnant pause followed as Scott and Gordon began to jack FAB 1 into the air, oblivious to the conversation going on between the two women inside.
"I'm glad Gordon hasn't allowed life to get him down," Penelope exclaimed, shooting the aquanaut a fond smile as he hoisted his jacket higher to protect his hair from the pounding rain, "He may be a little crass and immature at times, but he's the ray of sunshine we all need."
Kayo nodded in agreement, unaware of the difficulty Gordon was having with lifting the Rolls Royce into the air. After several seconds of unsuccessful heaving and hoing, the aquanaut rolled his sleeves up, discarded the jack and decided to use raw strength to hoist the car up long enough for Scott to remove both the lug nuts and the wrecked tyre. Unfortunately, three tonnes fell significantly short of Gordon's strength limit, and thus forced him to return to his argument with the jack.
"Scott used to be just like Gordon," Kayo interposed, her eyes glazing over with the same dreamy look Penelope usually ascribed to pre-teen girls, "He rainbow dyed his hair one time when Jeff and Captain Taylor were away on a three month shift at Shadow Alpha base. Virgil wanted him to dye it red. Not like John's red, but the same shade as Thunderbird Three…. what would you call that colour?"
Penelope shrugged, "Letterbox red?"
"Exactly!" Kayo beamed and slapped her comrade's knee in elation, "Anyway, Virgil wanted him to go letterbox red, but Scott totally flipped him off and ended up going for five colours instead of just one. Grandma held his head over the sink and scrubbed his hair with baking soda for over an hour until it returned to its natural shade of brown."
Outside, Gordon wailed with exertion as FAB 1 continued to ignore his attempts at leverage. Ten tense seconds passed before Scott was finally rewarded with a two inch gap between the road and the infernal tyre he was becoming rather sick of looking at.
"Oh, the poor boy," Penelope clucked, her lifelong habit of referring to the brothers as 'the boys' earning her a good-natured eyeroll from Kayo. At least Alan still met the physical criteria for the socialite's favourite nickname.
"You and Gordon should try going on a date," Kayo suggested coyly, satisfaction coursing through her when Penelope's cheeks flushed, "Doesn't have to be fancy or anything. Me and Scott have settled on pizza and a movie. Why don't you go on a romantic walk along the beach? You could suggest it under the guise of exercising the dogs, though I highly doubt Gordon will need an excuse. If you're not enough of a lure, then the sea definitely will be. Oh! Why don't you ask if-"
SMASH.
Both women suffered adrenalin spikes of epic proportions as FAB 1 broke free of the jack and crashed back onto all four tyres, the force of the motion causing the body of the pink saloon to rock violently for a couple of seconds.
The scream of pure pain that followed was, in Kayo's words, 'bloody unexpected', and, in Penelope's words, 'rather distressing'.
"GORDON!" Scott bellowed, his face ashen as he gesticulated madly down at his foot…which was pancaked underneath 3 tonnes of pink aluminium, "HOLY SH-! GET IT OFF!"
Gordon flapped his hands in what could only be described as a very effeminate display of panic. Seizing the discarded jack off the floor, he wrenched it back underneath FAB 1's frame and, fuelled by hysteria, managed to generate enough force to elevate the damaged tyre off the ground just long enough for Scott to slide his crushed foot to safety…
…only to lose his grip (again) and re-drop the pink Heffalump onto his brother's other, uninjured foot.
"HOLY FU- GORDON!" Scott howled, groping madly for the aquanaut's arm as his second set of metatarsals began to splinter, "OH MY CRAP-! GET IT OFF! PLEASE!"
Both Kayo and Penelope shared a frown of concern as the commotion from outside penetrated through the reinforced glass of FAB 1's window. Upon rolling down the glass (enough for her voice to travel, but not enough for any rain to get inside), Kayo was flabbergasted to see Scott screaming at the top of his lungs, both hands slapped across his face as Gordon tried desperately to re-hoist the newly dubbed 'Pink Piece Of Shit' back into the air.
"What have you lost?" Penelope yelled, bum-shuffling her way closer to Kayo to see what was going on.
"TOES!" came the agonised reply.
Kayo frowned as Gordon re-secured the jack and began pumping the handle for all he was worth, "Have you done it yet?"
"I'LL DO YOU IN A MINUTE!" Scott roared, his voice promising death for everyone in a ten foot radius (including himself).
Thunderbird Shadow's pilot was saved from having to find out what exactly that threat entailed by Gordon's (rather fabulous) biceps. One quick heave and FAB 1 was back in the air, giving Scott the opportunity to drag yet another crippled foot clear of the health and safety hazard that was Lady Penelope's car.
Upon releasing the jack (and cringing as FAB 1 crashed back to the ground, yet again) Gordon whirled around threw himself down next to Scott, who was beached on his back and groaning like a woman in the final stage of labour.
"Hang tight bro, I'm gunna call for help," the aquanaut panted, digging in his pocket for his phone and speed-dialling the only brother that could possibly help in such a situation, "Virgil, I need you! Scott's busted both his feet and is in a bad way."
"How bad?" came the curt, well-rehearsed response.
Gordon cupped his hand over the microphone and peered down at Scott, his big amber eyes shining with worry, "Scale of one to ten, bro?"
"Twenty," Scott moaned, writhing in discomfort on the drenched tarmac.
"Twenty," Gordon repeated, blinking rainwater out of his eyes.
Back in the safety (and dryness) of their grandmother's penthouse suite, Virgil was shifting into full medic mode, "Can he move any of his toes, or is the pain in his ankles?"
"Can you move any of your toes, or is the pain in your ankles?" Gordon parroted. It was a pointless question, really. He'd witnessed (and been the cause of) both 'accidents' and had seen the angle of impact. Ankles had nothing to do with it.
Scott merely looked at his brother.
"Uh, toes are the main casualties," Gordon fed back, yanking his jacket up so that eighty percent of his hair was shielded from the rain.
"Is he conscious?" Virgil carried on.
"Are you conscious?" Gordon relayed, clocking the stupidity of his question when it was, unfortunately, too late.
"Can you identify what type of fracture it is?" Virgil asked, his voice a soothing contrast to the lashing rain and Scott's raspy requests for gerberas and lilies at his funeral.
"Uh," Gordon bit his lip and knelt down, removing his brothers shoes and socks with the same amount of care as if we were disarming a bomb, "Definitely a metatarsal fracture. Not open, thankfully. Possibly comminuted."
"Noted," Virgil replied, "Keep him warm and calm and ask Kayo or Lady Penelope to call an ambulance. I'm on my way, but it'll be safer if we get him checked into a hospital. Call me if you need anything in the meantime, okay?"
"F.A.B," Gordon breathed, hanging up and cradling his brother's sodden head in his lap, "Scotty, do you remember what the emergency code for Argentina is?"
"Nine, one, one," Scott stammered, his blurry gaze locking onto Kayo as she splashed over, Penelope on her heels.
"Oh, for crying out loud!" Kayo huffed, scooting up next to the eldest brother and wrapping an arm around his shaking shoulders, "You boys don't like to make things simple, do you?"
"The emergency services are five minutes out," Penelope reported, flipping her compact mirror shut and extending the umbrella in her hand out so that Scott, Gordon and Kayo were sheltered from the elements, "Really Scott, you won't make it to forty if you carry on at this rate…"
Gordon snorted, but swallowed his quip about Scott barely making it to thirty upon spying the frown (no, glare) being shot at him from the glowing blue eyes of his target.
"Can you weight-bear at all?" Kayo asked, lowering her arm so that it was looped under Scott's ribcage. Without waiting for an answer, she hoisted all six foot and three inches of Tracy Numero Uno off the wet concrete he'd previously been sat on. A gasp of pain tore out of the eldest brother's throat, closely followed by a gasp of shock from Kayo as her right shoulder suddenly found itself the unwilling recipient of thirteen stone of deadweight Tracy.
"You could have just said no," Kayo spluttered, staggering slightly beneath Scott's mass, "Gordon, say something positive, quick!"
The aquanaut's ears pricked like a dog on postman duty, "Don't worry, bro! I'm right behind you, and from this angle, you look great!"
Alarm bells began to sound inside Kayo's head as she felt Scott tense up. The eldest brother had always been the 'iffy' one of the family. While he was certainly the boldest and most decisive, he lacked Virgil's sensitivity, John's patience, and Gordon's humour. In many ways, his mood was like a lottery; catch him on a good day, and you'd get the jackpot. Catch him on a bad day, and you'd have to buy a ticket and wait another week.
"Good thing it was just your foot it landed on," Kayo commented, her attempt at rediverting the eldest brother's attention obvious, "Things could have gotten super ugly if you'd been working directly underneath the old girl when the jack failed."
A bob of a blond head as Penelope nodded her agreement, "We would have had some serious internal bleeding on our hands had that of occurred. Lucky for us it was just the tyre that got damaged."
Gordon cocked his head in mock confusion as FAB 1's wet bodywork began to reflect the blue lights of an approaching ambulance, "I've never understood the significance of internal bleeding. Isn't that where blood's supposed to be?"
Three deadpan stares were offered in lieu of laughter.
