For Sugar-Fiend who asked: Sending you Whump Dialogue Prompts (2, if that's okay?) of 53) "Your efforts to be the good guy have been so cute but it's time to face reality. You were born to be bad, you'll never be the hero. and 100) "When I finish patching you up I swear to god I'm gonna kick your ass for making me worry about you." 💙
Scott pressed himself against the wall, hoping against hope that he had been unnoticed. The likelihood of that, with this particular foe, was virtually non-existent, but he could hope. Hope was all he had left now.
He often wondered how he got himself into these messes. Surely there was some scientific reason as to why they kept happening to him. Why him, of all people? He gave himself a mental shake. He knew the reason. Or reasons. He had four of them, equally as bad as each other, and each one the cause of the messes he constantly found himself either in or clearing up.
This time it was John.
There was the sound of footfall, and Scott pressed harder into the wall and held his breath. A shadow and the person passed the doorway without stopping, and Scott carefully exhaled. He needed to get to his brother.
John was seated on a chair in the middle of the room. Two guards paced around him, while another two were outside, keeping watch. He was no fool, they were all waiting for his big brother.
But he was a fool. If he was no fool then he wouldn't have been caught, and he wouldn't be here waiting for a rescue that would almost certainly mean his big brother was going to be caught as well. He sighed.
It had seemed like such a simple idea. A nice and easy and quick in-and-out job. Gordon could have done it without getting caught. Hell, even Virgil probably would have managed. Alan, he wasn't too sure about Al's 'smash-n-grab' experience, although he probably had been helping Gordon since he was old enough to smile. Scott, Scott would never have fell for the trap in the first place.
Still, he was here now, and it was time he put his not inconsiderable intellect to good use. How could he get out of the trap, with the goods, before his brother got caught? For is there was one certainty in life, it was that his brother was coming for him, a fact that there were four guards proved that he was not the only one sure of this.
Time to think.
The time for thinking was over. Now was the time to act. Scott watched as one guard left the room. He had no idea what they were doing to John, but the room was suspiciously quiet. He hoped he was not too late, that they had not tortured John beyond what he could bear – which, bearing in mind he was a Tracy was a considerable amount – and there was something left that he could salvage.
He wasn't particularly hopeful in that area. The people who had his brother had a reputation of shooting first and shooting again and not asking questions at all. Something to do with being British, he thought abstractedly, something that had happened so many years ago that no-one really knew what had happened, they just knew the handed-down consequences.
Of course, while he was thinking about all of this his enemy made a move, and Scott found himself frozen as a muzzle was placed against the back of his neck. He closed his eyes and mentally cursed himself for getting distracted. His grip tightened on his gun, and the muzzle dug just that little bit deeper, forcing Scott to relax his grip enough for the gun to drop to the floor, and he raised his hands in surrender. At least he would be with his brother now.
John had thought hard and he had thought fast. There was actually little he could do, so he did the only thing he could think of. He asked for aa glass of water. That, if they agreed, would remove one person from the room, and depending on which one left, could actually give him a fighting chance.
'Could I have a glass of water please?' John tried his hardest to work a little fear into his voice – it wasn't as difficult as he would have liked. The two guards stared at him suspiciously before the bigger guard left the room. Part one of the mission accomplished. Now, how to tackle the smaller guard?
He didn't get the opportunity as the door opened again and his brother was matched in, gun to his head. The guard with John sighed. 'Thought that you wouldn't be too far behind.' A chair was pulled over and Scott sat down, looking over his brother to ensure that he was not hurt. John flashed a quick smile, and it was enough to reassure. The other two guards came back together.
'So. Let me get this straight. You' – here she pointed at John – 'thought that you could just sneak in and steal the treasure from us?' John nodded, no point denying it now. 'And you' – she pointed at Scott – 'decided that you needed to rescue your brother.' Scott nodded. The woman sighed deeply.
The other woman – for it was a woman who had got the drop on Scott – turned to the other three guards. Or rather, to the other two guards. The fourth guard was separated from them, with his back to them. He picked up something from the side, where the treasure was that John was after, and hid it behind his back while the others were conferring about what to do.
The man backed towards the two brothers, holding out behind his back some of the sought after treasure, and both boys accepted the bounty, squirreling it away in pockets. But they were not careful enough, one of the guards had seen what was going on and had drawn her gun, pointing it at the nice helpful guard.
'Your efforts to be the good guy have been so cute but it's time to face reality. You were born to be bad, you'll never be the hero.' So saying she shot the man through the heart. He gasped, clutching his chest before dropping onto the floor at the boys' feet. The woman looked worried for a moment, but then she advanced onto the boys.
'Now look what you made me do. I loved that man and you made me shoot him. Damn him and his conscience.' John shrank back a little, but Scott sat up straight. 'We didn't make you do anything. You could have let him go.' She snorted.
'If we let you go and steal the treasure we would have to let anyone steal the treasure every time we have some.' There was a groan from the man on the floor. John bent down to make sure he was alright and was awarded with a sly wink. The woman nudged the man with her foot.
'Enough.' It was the first woman, the one in charge. She spoke with authority that even Scott would listen to. 'What is the punishment for being caught trying to steal the treasure?' John and Scott exchanged glances. 'Please, Scott didn't know I was going to do it!' John blurted out. Scott furiously tried to deny it, but everyone knew John was honest and couldn't lie for toffee.
'I see. So I suppose you would like me to pardon your partner and just punish you instead?' John nodded furiously while Scott protested, loudly. 'Quiet!' The room fell quiet. The first woman helped her companion up, steadying him as it became apparent he might have hurt his hip on falling. The other guard, the one who had gone to get the water, cleared his throat.
'I think that no apple pie for dessert today will be punishment enough, Luce.' Lucy rolled her eyes. Her husband was such a soft touch when it came to their boys. But then she looked into almost identical blue eyes and her heart melted too. Grandma Ruth laughed, ruffled both boys hair and turned to her husband, Grant. 'You big softie. Sneaking them cookies when you thought we weren't looking.' Grant held up his hands 'I couldn't help it. Look at the pair of them!'
Wooden spoons - the 'guns' in the boys minds - had been set aside as the four adults turned to look at the two boys. They were now munching on their cookies like they hadn't a care in the world – or had not just been caught trying to steal Grandma's famous apple pie. John grinned and Grandpa returned it, and then grimaced in pain.
'Think I must have hit my hip when I "fell", Ruthie,' he said, and Ruth tutted, sending Jeff back to the kitchen for some ice while Scott hopped off his seat and helped his Grandpa move and sit down. 'When I finish patching you up I swear to god I'm gonna kick your ass for making me worry about you,' Ruth said, concern colouring her face again. Grant just grinned in reply.
Jeff came back into the room, a bemused expression on his face. 'What's the matter, Jeff?' Grant asked. Jeff broke out into a huge grin.
'While we have been "interrogating" these two, Virgil's run off with the pie.'
Scott and John high-fived. The plan worked!