Gordon ran faster than he had ever run before. He ran through the corridors keeping his ears sharp for the enemy, hoping not to run into any of them as he hurried to get to the large fish tank that gave him passage to his Thunderbird. All the IR brothers had different entrance points to their birds, but mostly used the lifts in their fathers office for convenience. Not only did the lifts provide a more direct route to their ships, but for someone like Virgil who would have to enter his passageway upsidedown, it was easily the better route to take. The individual passageways became their backup chutes, and they had all hoped to never need to use them.
Skidding in front of his own, Gordon looked around one last time before placing his hand against the glass and allowing the lights to blink and take in the shape of his hand, verifying that he was the real Gordon Tracy. The ground started to move beneath him and quickly was replaced by another patch of ground that made the tank look like it had never been touched.
The lift descended and lights flashed past Gordon as he put on his wetsuit- this entrance to TB4 involved diving into water to enter it. And he had a feeling he would need to get wet anyway.
He dived and looked over his immobile submarine, at least The Hood had no idea that it was here. He knew he had very little time to start it up and get out of the tunnel, even though he would turn on anti-detection, nothing could stop the current invaders from hearing her engines if they happened to be close enough in that part of the villa.
'They will still be chasing the kids.' He thoughts as his heart jumped in his chest at the thought.
He started up the engines, making quick work of speeding up throught the narrow tunnel. While Jeff set a strict rule on the speed at which Gordon could leave the tunnel, Gordon had to throw that out the window in order to properly escape the very real danger. Besides, he could do this in his sleep.
"Thunderbird Four is go." Gordon murmered as he left the tunnel. He drove himself into the open waters and evaluated his options. The kids would have been chased into the silos by now, they would be fine with the machines to defend themselves with for a few moments but they would have to escape quickly. The question was where to? TB3 was absent, still stranded in space. Alan probably would have avoided going to any of the other ones anyway, out of caution that the bad guys could follow them into one. Thunderbird 2s silo was the best bet though, it was the bird that Virgil used and it carried every small emergency vehicle they had to rescues, TB4 especially. Somehow though, Gordon suspected that Alan wouldn't think that way, he would... he would... what would Alan do?
Gordon let out a yell of frustration, since when could he not know what Alan might do in this kind of situation? Oh right, when was he ever thrust into this kind of situation? He never had the training for it! Maybe that was a big mistake on their Dad's part. If they live to bring it up to him, then they will. Wait no. They WILL live to bring it up.
All of a sudden the radar picked up a Thunderbird engine starting up, was someone stealing TB1? Gordon raced to that side of the island, arriving just in time to see the three kids trying to swim to the surface of the water. Fermat couldn't swim and Gordon knew that, so he quickly got his helmet on and dived out of TB4 to assist him and get all the kids to dry land.
"Gordon!" Alan exclaimed as they all broke the surface.
"Get to land." Gordon commanded as just draped Fermat's arm over his shoulders.
"Alan, p-please warn me n-next time!" Fermat yelled.
"It's just a bit of water Fermat!" Alan insisted.
"I c-could have drowned!" Fermat shot back.
"Fermat, you mean you can't swim?!" Alan asked as they hit the beach.
"I repeat, I c-could have drowned!" Fermat said, hitting the sand with his knees as soon as Gordon let go of him.
"Drop it now guys." Gordon said, taking his helmet off and immediately scanning the surroundings with his eyes.
"Thank god you're still here Gordon. Did everyone else go to 5?" Alan said, hugging his immediate older brother who eagerly hugged him back tightly. Tin-Tin smiled at the interaction.
"Yeah." Gordon said, losing his smile.
"How's John?" Alan asked, not having seen very much from the vent.
"I couldn't see him on screen, sorry Allie, I just don't know." Gordon said, shaking his head.
"Alright." Alan sighed. "So what now?"
"We rendez-vous with Lady P. She'll be on her way here by now." Gordon said, standing up straight now that he was clearly in charge.
"We have to give control back to 5 as soon as possible, we have to get Dad and the others back home." Alan protested.
"I know but we can't go back to the control room, it's too dangerous." Gordon said.
"W-we don't have t-to go back there t-to do it. There's a satellite on t-the other side of the j-jungle where we can d-do it remotely." Fermat said.
"It's worth a shot." Gordon confessed, gaining a smile from the younger boy. "But through the jungle is too dangerous."
"It's the fastest way. We don't exactly have a lot of time on our hands." Tin-Tin admitted.
"I'm in." Alan said.
"I'm in too." Tin-Tin replied.
"I-I guess." Fermat said.
"Aww damn it guys, fine." Gordon groaned.
And with that, they headed into the jungle. The walk was intense, the paths were twisted, and the walk an uphill battle- at many times quite literally! Tin-Tin and Gordon were raring to go, but Fermat and Alan soon fell behind, just about managing to climb one especially steep hill.
As soon as Alan got to the top, Tin-Tin gasped. "Don't move."
"Wha- why?" Alan whispered, keeping absolutely still even as Fermat stood up next to him.
"Androctonus Scorpion." Tin-Tin said.
"Zero point two five of it's venom is fatal." Fermat said with a shake in his voice.
Gordon was contemplating using a stick off the floor to wack it off Alan's shoulder, but was beaten to it when it suddenly squirmed in pain and fell to the floor, the boys jumping away from it and staring at Tin-Tin who was obviously the cause of it.
She looked uneasy and shook slightly. "Let's go."
"Tin-Tin, what was that?" Gordon asked.
"She has the same powers as her uncle. The Hood." Alan explained, his eyes never leaving her as they followed her through the jungle.
"Just drop it okay?" Tin-Tin snapped.
Gordon shot Alan a glance that told him to drop it for the time being.
"The sooner we can get control back to 5, the sooner we can stop the Hood taking off for London." Gordon said. "By the time we're done here, Lady P should have arrived to give me back up."
"You mean us?" Alan said.
"No, you three aren't getting any more involved in this than you already are." Gordon said.
"Gords, we couldn't get even more involved if we tried! You need me, come on." Alan said.
"We'll discuss this later, we're at the satellite now." Gordon said, hoping that Alan would forget about trying to stay, but he knew Alan better than that.
"Do your thing Fermat." Alan said as Fermat began work in hacking the the satellite.
"Just d-don't rush me Alan. This is delicate work." Fermat said. A second later it blew up in their faces. "Ah, now it's b-broken."
"Can you fix it?" Alan asked.
"Maybe, but I need something to solder with." Fermat sighed.
"What do you need?" Gordon asked, not looking up from what he's doing on his watch.
"A wire or something similar." Fermat replied.
"Where are you going to find something like that in the middle of nowhere?" Alan asked, his retainer glinting in the light.
Fermat and Tin-Tin smiled at each other, unsettling Alan. Before he knew it, they grabbed him and used a pair of pliers that Fermat seems to be carrying for some reason to pull out Alan's retainer. He yelled as they got the wire out, glaring at Gordon for smirking in the background.
"Gee Alan, I never figured you for a crybaby." Tin-Tin teased, still holding the pliers in his mouth.
"I'm going to kill you." Alan said, his voice muffled slightly.
"What did he say?" Fermat asked as he got to work soldering.
"I think it was some sort of apology." She replied as she yanked the pliers out of his mouth. Alan glared at her as she smiled sweetly at him.
"I got it!" Fermat exclaimed. "Trying to establish a connection now."
"Alan, I hate to do this but I'm going to leave you here." Gordon said, pulling his little brother aside.
"What! Why?" Alan asked.
"I'm bringing 4 around now, I need to get ahead of them to the Bank of London. Which means leaving the three of you here to wait for Lady P." Gordon explained. On cue, TB4 pulled up to the surface.
"Gordon, wait-" Alan protested, only to stop when Gordon put his hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eyes with the most seriousness a joker could.
"I'm putting a lot of trust in you here Alan, keep those two safe, keep yourself safe. Don't do anything without those two BOTH giving their approval, if you trust me and you love me and you respect me, you'll promise me that. Promise." Gordon said.
"I-I promise." Alan said, suddenly looking nervous.
"I have so much faith in you. I always have. You're destined to be a great Thunderbird, even if you do still have a lot more growing to do before then." Gordon said, ruffling Alan's hair.
Alan frowned at that last statement and attempted to flatten down his ruffled hair.
"Let Dad know what's happening. Let him know I'm fine." Gordon said, before he slapped Alan's shoulder and ran off down to the edge of the cliff to get into TB4. He took off, leaving Tin-Tin to look at Alan questioningly.
"I-I'm through!" Fermat said. Alan immediately took the device from Fermat and held it up to get them all in the picture.
"Dad, can you read me?" Alan said.
"Alan? Is it really you? Alan! Are you okay?" Scott yelled as he ran towards the monitor. Jeff appeared next, having stood up from where he was crouching on the floor for some reason. Virgil soon appeared, looking over Alan's face as if to try and assess his health.
"We're fine, Fermat's going to give you back control of 5." Alan said, taking in the smiles of his family.
"Where is Gordon?"Jeff asked.
"He was with us for a while but just left in 4 for London, he's going to try and get ahead of the Hood and minimize damage." Alan said.
"He left you alone?" Virgil asked.
"Yeah. Anyway, Fermat?" Alan said, avoiding Virgil's gaze.
"Agh, they're onto us, we're b-being jammed!" Fermat exclaimed.
"Dad, we're losing you, but I'll sort it out, I promise." Alan said.
"Negative. It's too dangerous. Wait for Lady Penelope at the rendez-vous." Jeff insisted. "Al-n do - u copy?
"Dad! We're losing you! Dad!" Alan yelled. The transmission cut, and they found themselves all alone. He threw the communicator as far as he could.
"No!" Fermat cried.
"Useless!" Alan cursed.
"It is now!" Fermat groaned.
"Sorry Alan, this is hard on all of us." Tin-Tin said, sitting next to him as he sat on the rocks.
"No I'm fine, it's okay." Alan said.
"You don't have to be a tough guy Alan, we get it. I miss my dad too." Fermat sighed.
"I'd do anything to be with my parents right now." Tin-Tin said.
"The Hood knows we're alive now. We have to go." Alan said, standing up.
"Even worse- they know exactly-" Fermat began, before trucks rolled into view and men jumped out with guns. "Where we are!"
The three instantly took off running back into the jungle, immediately falling down a steep ledge and into shallow water.
Alan turned to Tin-Tin. "Tin-Tin, can you slow them down?"
"I'd be delighted!" Was her enthusiastic response. She split up with them, allowing Alan time to get Fermat out of the water and do somewhere specific he had in mind.
"Alan, do you copy?" Jeff yelled. The communication shut off, and he punched the broken console lightly in frustration. He hated not knowing what was happening and for his two youngest sons to be in immediate danger while they were all faring just the same stranded in a space station running out of oxygen quickly, was a bleak scenario.
While they were all contemplating the call they just had and feeling at least thankful that they knew now the Alan was okay.
"He's not going to listen is he? He's going to get into more trouble and Gordon is just going to allow it!" Scott said.
"Now that's not fair on either of them Scott, we don't know what's going on down there to push Gordon to make that decision." Virgil said.
"Besides the point. Gordon knows better than to leave Alan alone like that, especially in such a dangerous scenario." Scott argued.
They didn't notice John had undone the straps holding him down until he gasped sharply, drawing their attention. He was sat upright.
"John you idiot, stay down." Virgil hissed, crouching next to him.
"I'm fine, I feel better now, less pain." John insisted, although the pain was still evident in his eyes.
"John..." Scott warned.
"Don't take that tone with me Scooter. I need you all to listen to me and listen to me good."John said. When it seemed he had all their undivided attention, he continued. "I think we all know how bleak it looks for us. But I trust that Gordon knows what he's doing by leaving Alan and the kids alone down there. I trust Gordon, and more importantly, I trust ALAN. He may be a kid but he is a lot smarter than any of you give him credit for. He does stupid stuff but don't all teenagers? Didn't we? The only difference is he is the youngest out of all of us and he's watching his four older brothers go out in the world and do the one thing he dreams of doing. There's an eight year age gap between Alan and Gordon, and between Scott and Gordon there are only six. Can you imagine how much of an outcast he already feels? The more you treat him like a kid, the more he is going to act like one."
"He is just a kid though John." Scott replied, earning a glare from John.
"Doesn't mean he can't make the right decisions and do what we can. Hell, he can do what we can with his eyes closed." John said, laughing for a couple of seconds before he started coughing violently. Virgil quickly pushed him to lay back down, minus the straps this time, and put the oxygen mask back over his face.
"Idiot." Virgil murmered.
"Proud to be." John boasted softly, grinning through his pain.
"All we can do is wait for Lady Penelope now. Continue trying to open the door Scott." Jeff said. Scott nodded and left them, and Jeff knew it was a good opportunity for Scott to think about what John just said. He was right, they did treat Alan differently, the age gap was the reason why. When Alan was three, an avalanche killed their mother, Scott was seventeen. He grew up quick to look after Alan, just like John at the age of fifteen. His two eldest sons fought through grief to raise a child who would grow up having no memories of his mother, having been too young to have them the way his brothers did.
Jeff knew he and Alan had drifted, and found himself to be too much of a coward to do much about it. If they all make it out of this, he will most certainly be doing something about it.
"Here we are." Alan said, presenting an old hoverbike to Fermat. He pulled up a sled and attempted a mishapen join at the hinges. Tin-Tin quickly joined them, smirking about one thing or another that the boys were afraid to ask about.
"What's this?" She asked.
"Our ride out of here." He replied.
"It doesn't look very sturdy Alan." She said.
"It's fine." He said. "Fermat?"
"Actually, I a-agree with Tin-Tin, this isn't s-s-safe." Fermat said.
"You don't think anything is s-s-safe." Alan said. Realizing he crossed a line, he stopped what he was doing and looked up at Fermat. He could see Tin-Tin looking at him disapproving out the corner of his eye.
"Look, just because I s-s-stutter doesn't mean I'm wrong." Fermat said. "Gordon left us b-believing we would m-make the right decisions between us. We ALL need to a-agree on things before he d-do them."
Alan bit his bottom lip and looked down. He remembered Gordon's parting words. Don't do anything without both their approval. He didn't understand then, but now he's getting an idea. He asked Tin-Tin to create a distraction, Fermat managed to connect them to 5 briefly. They all needed to be in it together to get through this. He took a deep breath.
"Fermat I'm sorry. I should never have- I mean-" Alan began.
"I know Alan. But we need to m-make decisions together, that's the Thunderbird way." Fermat said. "And so is th-thinking ahead."
Alan looked at him confused, as did Tin-Tin. Fermat smirked and took out a small chip.
"Is that-" Alan grinned.
"Thunderbird two's guidance processor?" Fermat said. "Yes."
"You genius Fermat!" Alan exclaimed.
"They need that to fly Two to London." Tin-Tin said cautiously.
"I know. So this is what we have to do; I'll get caught, face the Hood and bargain with him, the processor for your parents-" Alan began.
"No way Alan. We need to meet with Lady Penelope first." Tin-Tin interrupted.
"She should be here now." Fermat replied.
"Okay, we'll find her, tell her everything, and then face the Hood. If we give him the processor, he'll leave the island in 2, then we can gain back control for 5 and then go after them in 1 and back Gordon up." Alan said.
"Agreed." Tin-Tin said.
"A-agreed." Fermat said.
"Let's go." Alan said.
Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward loved visiting Tracy Island, but honestly, they had bad taste in scenery. That hammock? Tattered and very out of place in such a modern establishment that was the Tracy island home.
Never mind how such a large place was so quiet. How unsettling.
"I see no signs of life M'lady." Parker offered.
"The children are doing their job then. First we need to find the men behind all of this and have them surrender peacefully." Lady P said. "Then perhaps I can make that appointment at the Institution of the Blind in good time."
"Very good M'Lady." Parker said.
"Now what do we have here?"
Lady P and Parker looked up to see the Hood and his minions halfway down the staircase and approaching them.
"Ah, so you're the troublemakers that are responsible for the Thunderbirds disappearance I assume?" Lady P asked.
"In the flesh. Now it would seem it's time to vanish some more." The Hood said. "Mullion."
"That's rude, Parker?" Lady P said. The large man, Mullion, approached her threateningly.
"Allow me M'lady." Parker said. He promptly punched Mullion in the nose.
"You broke my nose!" He exclaimed in anger.
"That was the idea." Parker retorted. Mullion struck out, aiming to hit Parker who dodged and took a boxing stance.
Lady P found herself face to face with Transom.
"One tries so hard in life to sort things out on an intellectual-slash-conversational level, but sometimes it's just not possible." Lady P sighes as Transom attempted to attack her with a cue stick.
"Enough of this, take them out!" The Hood commanded impatiently.
"Oh honestly, this is getting to be quite ridiculous." Lady P said as she took higher ground standing on the sofa while she continued to deflect Transoms cue stick attacks. Aiming to catch it, and in succeeding, Lady P flinched and checked her nails, forlorn for a second to find that one had been broken. "Have you any idea how much a manicure costs these days?"
Lady P returned the favour of the cue stick, successfully pushing Transom into the pool and passing the stick to Parker who did just the same.
Parker pulled back to punch the Hood, but found himself stopped by a mysterious force. Lady P walked up being Parker.
"I suggest you let us pass."
"Don't try your parlour tricks on me you sad, little man. You committed a serious crime trespassing on this island and in about-" Parker places his watch in front of her face, "four seconds, I'm going to be quite cross with you."
She made to kick him in the face, only for his powers to suspend her foot in the air. She held onto Parker's shoulder to keep her balance as the Hood forced her foot down to the ground. He grimaced as if in pain but was apparently clearheaded enough to hear a small gasp from the trees. He grinned.
"Alan, how good of you to join us." The Hood said. "You have something of mine and I would like it back."
He pushed his powers onto Lady P and Parker, who suddenly gasped and held their heads in the hands.
"Don't give him anything sir!" Parker said, clutching his head. "I've taken more pulverising than this and it never did any harm, I- argh!"
"Stop it! Here!" Alan said as he ran out from the treeline and threw the guidance processor, only for the Hood to catch it with his powers and pull it into his hands.
"I knew you would see sense. Now tell me the whereabouts of your two little friends." The Hood demanded.
"Here." Fermat said, coming out from behind another tree to Alan, Tin-Tin coming out from another.
"Very good." The Hood replied, smiling as he released his hold on Lady P and Parker. His bodyguards came in at that moment and grabbed them all, intent on taking and locking them into the freezer before leaving in Thunderbird 2. "Everyone except- him."
Alan froze. This wasn't part of the plan. He was meant to get caught and locked up, then escape once the Hood left the island, and give control back to TB5. Glancing at Fermat told him what he needed to know though. 'I got this'. Alan looked back at the Hood defiantly, hearing as his friends were taken into the villa. Lady P had given him one last meaningful look that said "we'll be there as soon as we can."
"You're coming with me." The Hood said, his eyes glowing bright yellow.
Alan tried to look away, just really found the Hood's eyes mesmerising. Before he knew it, he had lost all sense of being and all sense of feeling.
"Shall we?" The Hood asked. Alan reluctantly followed, hoping that everything will go according to plan without him.