"Alan, wait up!" Fermat said. He was struggling to keep up with Alan who was speedwalking away. Fermat had no idea where he was heading. "Where are you g-going?"
With that, Alan stopped suddenly, causing Fermat to crash into him in his haste to keep up.
"I don't know yet. Sorry Fermat, I just wanted to get away." Alan confessed.
"Just s-say so Alan, I g-get it." Fermat sighed.
"I didn't know anything about those missions. They never call me to tell me how it went, that they're fine. I find all this out on TV!" Alan said, exsasperated.
"I'm right th-there with you remember?" Fermat said. "At least my d-dad lets us know about their m-missions instead."
"Yeah." Alan replied simply. He started walking again, but at a pace easier for Fermat to keep up with. "Come on."
"Where are we going now." Fermat asked.
"You'll see." Alan said, a glint of mischief in his eyes. They came to a door, and Alan started to punch in a code.
"We're not suppose to g-go in there, we'll g-get in trouble!" Fermat said, realizing Alan was trying to access Thunderbird 1's silo. Not trying, succeeding.
"How'd you get the access c-code for Thunderbird One anyway?" Fermat asked as they entered.
"Fermat my friend, what you don't know can't hurt you." Alan replied mysteriously.
"Alan wait." Fermat hissed as Alan entered the cockpit of TB1.
"Come on Fermat, no one will notice!" Alan insisted.
Reluctantly, Fermat joined him, but purely to supervise, at least that's what he convinced himself of doing. In all truthfulness, Fermat also wanted to go into Thunderbird 1, just as long as they didn't get caught.
They got caught.
"Alan, my office. Now." Jeff demanded, turning up on the monitor inside of TB1.
"We're so busted." Fermat groaned. The two of them made quick work of getting out of TB1, and Fermat ran his hand along the outside of the ship in a defeated manner, until he brushed his fingers against something liquid and pulled away. He felt Alan stop behind him and look in his direction and his sudden stop, and showed him.
"What is that?" Alan asked.
"Some kind of gallium electrolyte compound." Fermat frowned. They exchanged a look, and decided to split up- Alan to confront his father and Fermat to tell his father about the compound.
Alan jogged into his fathers office, intent on getting the first word. "Dad, I know you're mad, I shouldn't have been in the ship, just give me a minute to explain-"
"Damn right you shouldn't have been in the ship." Jeff snapped.
"Nothing happened though Dad, I had it all under control!" Alan insisted.
"Under control? Do you know the importance of secrecy in our operation? You fired up a Thunderbird without the anti-detection shield activated. You out everyone in danger by acting selfishly. You wanna be part of the team? You play by the rules. Understand?" Jeff asked.
"Yeah I understand. You don't want me to be a Thunderbird! You don't want me to do anything and you won't even listen to me when I'm trying to tell you something importa-" Alan argued.
"That's enough. You're grounded for the rest of Spring Break." Jeff interrupted.
"But Dad-"
"No buts Alan. You need to grow up." Jeff said.
"Then let me." Alan moved to leave, but not before throwing out one last word. "Please."
Jeff sighed, letting a few silent seconds pass before his computer began to buzz displaying a call from John in TB5. He opened the channel and greeted his second eldest son.
"Hey John."
Thunderbird 5 was a satellite. Drifting in space and monitoring all frequencies, TB5's Tracy was the first to recieve all new calls and information regarding potential rescues, all of which were relayed back to Tracy Island.
John Tracy, the second brother, manned this station for about 80% of the time, only swapping for a couple of weeks every few months with a reluctant Gordon. It made sense, he supposed; whenever he had to spend time on Earth for his own health and mental health, so his family insisted, Gordon was the best choice to take over- Scott was Field Commander and was to be there on every rescue that was called in, and Virgil was the only one really fit to fly TB2 which was by far the heaviest and thus, hardest to fly. Virgil always had the most physical strenth out of all the brothers. Alan, obviously not a Thunderbird (yet, thinks John). Gordon was reluctant to agree that he was the best choice not only for driving TB4, but equally TB3, and pretty much any of the other Tracys could drive the little yellow submarine when Gordon was away, even John when it became his Thunderbird when he stayed on Earth.
John sighed. He had finished his Earth stay two days before Alan came home for Spring Break, so Gordon had the kid all to himself and John wouldn't see him again for a long while yet.
Now to hear that Alan had gotten himself grounded? And for trying to start up a Thunderbird no less! John was half thankful not to be there but half regretful that he couldn't do much about it. As much as Jeff did a great job raising four sons, the fifth turned out to be a different story altogether. John supposed it was the curse of being the youngest of five boys, as well as being the only one not yet a Thunderbird, but Alan was seriously underestimated by all of them and John knew that even being a million miles away. He tried to reason with his father and fight Alan's corner a little, but Jeff was adamant this time about following through with his punishment.
John turned off the gravity for a while, content to floating around and feeling light physically if not mentally. There were a few natural disasters to keep an eye on while his family slept, but he had a feeling Alan would remain awake for a while.
Now to decide whether or not to call him.
John knew he was setting himself up for the conversation to go either relatively well or horribly wrong, but he always felt a duty towards his three younger brothers, most especially his youngest who he practically raised alongside their dad and Scott.
Scott.
Perhaps John will check up on him first.
Pressing the call button after drifting back to the computer, he waited for Scott to pick up, which he did after a few seconds. Scott was currently in his room, in a plain white top and shorts, about to go to sleep.
"Hey Johnny, a strange time to call don't you think?" Scott asked, grinning a bit too falsely. He knew why John called.
"I think you know why I'm calling you, I hear Sprout got grounded for Spring Break." John said, causiously.
Scott frowned in response. "Bad idea of his to go and start up a Thunderbird. What the hell was he thinking?"
"He probably wasn't thinking Scott, you know that. What happened since he came home?" John asked.
"Nothing out of the ordinary, just we got back from the rescue same time as Alan arrived in time for dinner and he decided to skip for some reason-"
"Wait he skipped dinner? Why?" John interrupted.
"No idea, we were just talking about the mission from earlier." Scott said.
"By any chance did he say anything about it?" John asked.
"Yeah, asked if I readjusted the flaps on 1, as if I haven't been in IR for years." Scott muttered. John sighed and started to realize what happened. He knew his brothers better than to think they were just discussing the mission.
Normal discussions which involved teasing Alan whenever he tried to contribute to them.
"Scott, you know how much Alan wants to join International Rescue, it's all he has ever wanted and knowing all of you, you probably all said something that made him feel bad about it." John explained. Before Scott could say anything in response, John continued. "He was wrong to meddle with 1, yes, but you would have to be stupid to not understand why he did it in the first place. Don't be too mad at him, you'll only push him away even more."
"Push him away? What- who's pushing him out?" Scott asked, flabbergasted.
"Who isn't? Do you guys even call him after rescues to assure him that you're fine? I saw 1 get blown away earlier by the explosion, had I not been in the loop, I wouldn't know if you were okay or not." John confessed.
"He knows us better than that, come on." Scott said.
"Does he? If I were in his place, I'd believe my family just doesn't want to take me seriously, that my family don't want me in the Thunderbirds purely because I would happen to be the youngest and just a little bit accident prone. Oh wait, I am accident prone anyway. Moving on." John said.
"John, you're up in 5 almost all the time, you don't know what goes on down here." Scott reasoned.
"Yet somehow I still know more than you do." John replied, unblinking as he registered a flash of hurt across his brothers face. "Get some sleep, that mission was harsh."
And with that, John hung up.
Scott fell back in his chair, wondering what the hell just happened to put the two of them into an argument like that. They never argued, even though they were very different people and had very little in common. Being the two eldest, it was their duty to not fight when it came to the younger ones, though truth be told if anyone was going to change that, it was Alan.
Damn that kid.
Scott turned the lights off and was asleep before he even hit the bed.
The next morning, Alan skipped breakfast. It didn't go unnoticed by his family, and Gordon had set out to go find his partner in crime. Scott spared a glance at his father who was stone faced, it wasn't unusual for the man- Gordon and Alan always joked that he gained his fortune by playing Poker.
Gordon soon came back looking forlorn at not having been able to find Alan, though Scott suspected the kid was on one of the beaches and Gordon wasn't sure how to talk to him yet. Gordon settled at the bar for a drink, non-alcoholic of course, they were always on duty. Their father had already retreated back to his study by the time Gordon returned, so it was just the two of them, ready to relax and-
The alarms blared.
But not the usual ones.
It took Gordon a moment to place which alarm had been triggered, but Scott was on his feet instantly and Gordon was sure that he was about to beat a record at how quick he can get to Dad's office which meant one thing.
Something was terribly wrong.
Hot on Scott's heels, Gordon followed and Virgil soon found them and went with them. Entering their fathers office, Jeff immediately started giving orders. Thunderbird 5 had been hit, most likely by a meteor but it had sustained heavy damage and they receieved no further word from John since his 'mayday'.
"Scott, Virgil, Thunderbird 3, we're going to 5. Gordon stay here, monitor frequencies, let me know as soon as you hear anything from John." Jeff ordered.
"FAB." Scott and Virgil chorussed.
"Uh FAB Dad but you sure you don't need me to pilot?" Gordon asked.
"I'm certain, we need you here in case International Rescue is needed elsewhere." Jeff replied, leaving no more room for argument. Gordon nodded.
"Thunderbirds are go." Scott announced, as they all disappeared into the lifts in their fathers office. Gordon sank into the chair, leaning forward to try and reach John, he was worried as hell about his brother.
"Thunderbird 5 from Tracy Island, come in. John, are you there? Answer me damn it." Gordon said. No answer.
Gordon swore under his breath.
Alan watched as the rocket launched out of the mountain. He always loved TB3 more than the other ships. It was beautiful and he had always had interest in space exploration. He hoped that when he was older, he would get to rotate with John on 5. Not that that was going to happen now he knew how his father felt about him. He had a bad taste in his mouth since yesterday.
But to see 3 launch out of the mountain right after hearing the one siren they all dreaded to ever hear, it was clear to Alan that something happened to Thunderbird 5.
He felt a presence come up behind him, Tin-Tin, a girl who lived on the island along with her parents and didn't get along with Alan very well. They exchanged a glance before continuing to watch the fading rocket. Not long after, Fermat came running out from the trees.
"Alan! Thunderbird Five's been hit! Thunderb- Thunderbird Five-" Fermat gasped.
"Fermat hey, calm down, breathe, it'll be okay!" Alan said as he grabbed Fermat's shoulders. They then heard the water disturb, and looked out to the ocean to see a dark submarine surface.
"On second thoughts-"
"RUN!" They all screamed, racing to the trees for cover before the submarine could notice them. They ran as fast as they could back to the villa, they needed to contact 3 and tell them the island was under attack.
They just emerged on a cliff and saw the strangers from the submarine had beaten them to it, and thus a new plan formed in Alan's mind- go through the vents, stay hidden, find out what these strangers wanted, get help.