Gordon was not having a great time, he had to admit. Who would when they were bound and blindfolded, cursed not to see who was around him, where he was going, and what they were planning to do with a surprise hostage. All he could tell was that he had spent a significant amount of time in water, judging by the air pressure and movements of the vehicle they were in. The submarine that initially invaded Tracy Island? He hoped so, he not only placed a tracker on there in the initial invasion, but he was certain Alan had predicted that he'd do it. He would see rescue soon, and his baby brother. Gordon was furious, whatever the Hood had done to him, he hoped Alan was fine, he looked so exhausted by the time Gordon pulled him out of the Thames. He had a feeling that the Hood was being truthful about only amplifying what was already there, he just prayed it wasn't what he was dreading.
Time wearing a blindfold and clearly being stored unceremoniously in the cargo hold with no one to taunt him (thankfully), he had a lot of time to think about his escape and the Hood's words. He spent most of his time on how he had lost his bond with Alan over the years, specifically ever since IR began. Yeah, he was only training at the time and had two years to go until he graduated from that training to become a fully-fledged operative like his older brothers, but the cursed age gap saw him treated very differently to Alan anyway. The way he was pulled into IR at the age of sixteen by brothers who were only two, four and six years older was very different to the way Alan was currently being pushed out simply for being by far the youngest. eight years between him and Gordon, fourteen between him and Scott! No wonder Alan was having a tough time!
And on top of that, all the teasing.
Gordon had a sinking feeling in his stomach, Alan was a lot more depressed than he tried to let on. It didn't escape Gordon's notice how Alan began to dislike eating with his family, nor did it escape his notice how Alan found himself zoning out in the communal areas while his brothers engaged in games and good-natured arguments. Alan was pushed out years ago and it had consequences. Gordon knew that right now his family would be getting hit with them.
He grunted in frustration, his bounds were tight and he was losing his cool at not knowing what was around him. He had been blindfolded ever since he woke up, many many hours ago. Gordon lost track of time- was it day or night? The biggest giveaway about being underwater all this time was not feeling the sun on his face.
He heard a noise suddenly, and stilled.
"Have you really been trying to get out of those all this time? You never really give up do you?" Asked the Hood, mockingly.
"Where are we going and why am I here?" Gordon asked, growling slightly.
"My, my, aren't we curious? If you remember what I told you before, I clearly said that you are not in the position to make demands. That hasn't changed once has it?" The Hood asked, Gordon could hear the smug laugh in his voice.
"Laugh it up, you won't get away with kidnapping a member of International Rescue." Gordon said.
"Oh but I seem to have done just that. In the grand sceme of things, however, I don't intend to keep you long. I'll use you to force Jeff Tracy to surrender to me and give up all his precious Thunderbirds, then you'll be drowned in the ocean, never to be found again." The Hood snarked. Gordon felt shivers running down his spine, he knew the Hood wasn't kidding.
Better him than Allie though, a hundred times over.
The Hood walked away, Gordon could hear his footsteps receeding and he almost let out a sigh of relief when he heard heavier footsteps coming towards him. Mullion.
"Come to gloat?" Gordon couldn't help but ask. Always the sharp-tongued joker. Mullion simply delivered a swift kick to his chest with his metallic boots, and Gordon thought he heard a couple of cracks in his ribs. He doubled over, trying to ignore the pain.
"Mullion." The Hood said, with a hint of warning in his voice. The large man chuckled and then left, his heavy footsteps finally receeding down the corridor behind the Hood.
Gordon was alone again, alone to pull through the pain and alone to wait for a rescue he was no longer sure would ever come.
"Initiating landing sequence." Virgil said, as they landed in front of Lady Penelope's estate.
"No sign of 1 anywhere." Scott said, looking out the windows where he noted the sun beginning to peak above the horizon.
"They could have left already or just never came in the first place. Our priority is Lady Penelope right now Scott." Virgil gently reminded.
"FAB. Let's go." Scott said.
Unsure if there were any hostiles inside the estate, the boys settled into their stealth training, having had it drilled into them when it turned out IR wasn't going to operate smoothly without gaining its fair share of enemies. Bankrupt polititions starting up fires to cover their tracks, only to be foiled by the quick actions of IR, just to name one.
Scott took the lead, weilding a stun gun, Virgil behind and watching his back. The estate was silence, no sign of life anywhere and eventually Scott arrived at Lady P's secret passageway. It was designed to disguise her connection to IR and whenever Jeff had asked her to do any undercover work for them, she always kept it behind a secret wall of her study. Anything regarding Gordon's whereabouts were on the other side of the wall.
Funnily enough, there was a bookshelf on the opposing wall meant to throw off intruders who always went for the cliche'd hiding spots. Good old Lady Penelope for her sharp thinking.
Scott pushed in one of the decorations on a portrait frame, shifting the door to open and let them in. They entered and shut the door behind them. Lights flickered on by the motion sensors triggered by their arrival, and Virgil immediately noticed a blip on the large electronic map in front of them. Thunderbird 4.
"This is 4 Scott, with any luck we can find out where Gordon is by picking it up." Virgil said.
"I wouldn't be so sure Virgil." Scott said. He called into Tracy Island and John's now up and running Mobile Control, to see that everyone on the island were present. "The kids were here. They left already but left a few little notes for us. We found 4 on Lady P's map, but Alan strongly suspects it's a trap and armed with explosives meant to take us out if we try to pick it up. This note is definitely his handwriting."
"Lady Penelope?" Jeff asked, leaning on the pillows behind John.
"M.I.A." Scott sighed. Virgil looked around the room.
"Scott I found another note." He said, pulling it off the wall. He looked at the contents of the wall and saw a list of the Hood's associates, one in particular circled rigerously in red marker.
"What does it say Virge?" Scott asked.
"It's in Lady Penelope's handwriting. 'Find the Mechanic, he will explain'." Virgil said.
"Explain what? And where the hell do we find this guy?" Scott asked.
"Uh Scott, it literally tells us on the map." Virgil said, pointing out the symbol of a spanner.
"Should we go?" Scott asked.
"Kaeep looking around. Any trace of where they might have gone?" Jeff asked.
"Wait, yes. Tin-Tin's handwriting." Virgil said. Her parents in the infirmary leaned closer to hear.
"'Powerful is not without consequence. Ask my father.' Uh Kyrano?" Virgil asked.
"Tin-Tin has the same p-powers as her uncle, the H-Hood." Fermat said. John and Brains both looked at him in alarm, but Jeff seemed to already know. Scott and Virgil were silent but exchanging surprised looks.
"Kyrano?" Jeff asked.
"My daughter does have the same powers, yes. Manipulation of the mind and body, a cursed gift that pains the host to use. The Hood is weakened by his constant use of his power, perhaps to the point where my daughter could subdue him." Kyrano sighed.
"That's why Alan t-took Tin-Tin along." Fermat said.
"My daughter most likely refused to let young Alan leave without her." Kyrano chuckled.
"Alan knows about the Hood's weakness, I dread to know what he is planning to do to take him down." Scott said.
"Nothing he would do if he felt he had other options." John said.
"He had other options. Stay on Tracy Island, talk to us about this." Scott said.
"So no, he didn't have other options." John snapped. "Don't start Scott, we have a mission right now that needs full concentration."
"FAB." Scott replied reluctantly.
"What's this?" Virgil asked, having been observing the map for a couple of minutes. He pointed towards the centre of the ocean, noticing a very very faint blip that only the artist with a critical eye could see.
"Gordon's t-tracking device! Alan said th-that Gordon would have activated one! It's almost d-dead." Fermat exclaimed.
"Take the co-ordinates down now boys, find that submarine, find your brothers." Jeff ordered.
"What about Lady Penelope?" Virgil asked, looking around.
"Something tells me she is already on route, first things first, go to the Mechanic, then get to the co-ordinates." Jeff said.
"FAB!" The boys chorussed, setting out and sealing the room before dashing to TB2.
"Dad, where are you going?" John asked as Jeff stood up.
"Brains, is that new addition complete yet?" Jeff asked.
"Y-yes, she's ready for her m-maiden flight." Brains said.
"What is? Dad, you got a new Thunderbird built?" John asked in surprise.
"Thunderbird Shadow, designed to be a stealth jet undetected by most radar systems. I'm heading out to those co-ordinates." Jeff said.
"C-can I come, sir?" Fermat asked. Of course, he was worried about his friends.
"Sorry son, no, I need you here with John to man the communications." Jeff said?placing a hand on the small boys shoulder. He nodded, forlorn.
"Wait for my call John." Jeff said, walking out the room. He heard john call out "FAB!" as he walked through the corridor.
He entered the hanger to where TB1 usually sat, but was now looking too empty, and walked up to a platform where a dark and sleek two-seater fighter jet sat, shiny and new. In all honesty this jet for made for Tin-Tin, she was growing up to prove herself one hell of an asset to IR, these recent events only helped Jeff understand he was making the right decision. For Tin-Tin anyway. He shook his head and got into the pilot seat, he watched as a runway opened up in front of him, and set about the flight proceedures.
"Thunderbird Shadow is go." Jeff announced, over the comm system where everyone was waiting in the infirmary. The Jet shot off straight away, alarming everyone as to how quick it was- Jeff would arrive first on the scene and that was just the way he wanted it.
'I'm coming Gordon.' He thought, as he followed the set flight path.
"Are you sure we're in the right place?" Scott asked his brother as Virgil set down TB2 in a remote collection of abandoned warehouses.
"That's what it said on the scanner." Virgil said. They set out, not before Virgil put on the Jaws of Life exosuit- much of the surrounded warehouse structures were flimsy at best.
They followed Scott's handheld radar towards one warehouse, filled quite heavily with empty crates and other miscalleneous items. They heard the sound of grating metal and took cover just as a large twisted piece of metal came flying towards their heads.
"This is International Rescue, lay down your weapons, we are not military." Scott called out. He was hiding behind one crate while Virgil was behind another on the other side of a large clearing.
"I know who you are." The strangers menacing voice called out.
"Then you know we aren't your enemies, Mechanic." Virgil said.
"The lady in pink sent you to me for help, you wasted a journey. I can't help you." The Mechanic said.
Scott took the opportunity to come out slowly, despite Virgils daggers of protest, and held his hands up. "She said you would be able to tell us about the Hood."
Mentioning the Hood seemed to be the wrong move because the Mechanic, in a fit of rage at hearing the name, threw a large and rather heavy looking crate at Scott. The man flinched as he awaited the inevitable, then looked back up when nothing hit him to see that Virgil had caught the crate in his claws.
"Enough. We're well aware that you hate the guy with a passion, but he has our brother hostage and another brother is about to fly into a trap to rescue him. We need to know how to stop the Hood once and for all." Virgil said.
"You and your brothers are fools to get tangled up in the Hood." The Mechanic sneered.
Scott was about to protest about the Hood starting it in the first place but a nudge from Virgil stopped him.
"Then fools we are. There is no going back, all we can do now is try to stop the Hood putting any more people in danger and get on with our lives and jobs as soon as he's behind bars." Virgil said. "You don't havr to put yourself on the line to help us, just tell us as much as we need to know to take that guy down."
The Mechanic watched them warily. He knew who Inrernational Rescue really were, Jeff Tracy and four of his five sons. He knew of Alan and knew he was just a kid. Why wouldn't he? Many of the natural disasters they had to respond to were caused by him, whether or not they knew it, though looking at their expressions, they were close to making the connection.
"The Hood had you under his control for some time right? We know of his powers but not the full extent. If you did anything under his power against your will then we don't care about that. We just need to find our brothers." Scott said, coming out from behind Virgil but not fully in case he needed protection from more flying objects.
"You know nothing of his capabilities!" The Mechanic yelled, using his technology to lift yet a few more crates, ready to throw.
"Then tell us and we can help you." Scott said. "If you're still under some degree of his control then let us help you break free of it, we know a brilliant scientist who would be more than eager to help."
The Mechanic narrowed his eyes at Scott, deciding he was telling the truth. "I help you save your baby brothers, you help me escape the Hood."
Virgil nodded, while Scott walked up to the Mechanic daringly.
"We have a deal." He said as he held his hand out.
The Mechanic returned the gesture.