Sorry for the wait, but here's another chapter.

Chapter Fifteen – I Could Have Danced All Night

"Hello world," Lady Penelope's voice came through the camera, although she wasn't in sight. In fact, the view was that of an elegant ballroom, filled with people in fancy clothing. "I'm here tonight at the World Charity Fundraiser. It's a ball for all the rich and famous to come and donate money to help those affected by natural disasters."

She wandered through the crowd, able to weave in and out without colliding with anyone. "The Tracy brothers are here with me. It's a rare occasion for all five of them to be at one of these at once." She rounded a small group of people and focused the camera on the boys.

They were definitely a sight to behold, in their fancy tuxes. Scott and Gordon were both in dark blue, Virgil and Alan in black, and John in white. Each of them wore a tie that was the color of their IR sashes, and the tuxes were tailored to fit them perfectly. As fancy as they looked, however, they were utterly bored.

"Hello boys," Penelope said, and she caught their answering smiles on camera. "The world would like to know what you think of the party."

Scott rolled his eyes and waved an absent hand. Virgil huffed and Alan and Gordon both groaned. John gave a small sigh. "Honestly, it's an excuse for the top one percent of the world to get together and brag about how rich they are and pretend to actually care about everyone else that they normally think are below them," he answered, running a hand through his red hair.

Penelope paused. "That's a rather cynical outlook," she commented softly.

"But not a wrong one," Scott muttered. He gave a deep sigh, relaxing his shoulders. "The cause is a good one, I'm not going to deny that. But the people involved…" he shrugged. "I'd rather just go home."

"We would all rather go home," Alan grumbled. "I'd rather be doing homework, and I hate homework."

"You can't leave until after the dancing," Penelope pointed out. All five boys groaned, and she laughed. "Yes, dears, there's dancing. And our boys don't like to dance."

"That's not true," Scott refuted. "We just don't like dancing with people that are only trying to suck up to us cause we're richer than they are."

Virgil crossed his arms across his chest, just short of glaring at the camera. "They don't seem to realize that we aren't interested in anything other than a single dance. And some don't take no for an answer." There was a story there, but judging from his scowl, and the sudden dark look John and Gordon both shot him, they weren't going to be getting that story.

"Speaking of," Scott said, turning to his brothers. "Alan—"

"I'm sticking with Moffie," Alan spoke up, motioning to where Moffie could just barely be seen near the bar.

"Moffie was invited at Alan's Plus-One," Penelope explained. "Mostly as a favor to keep everyone from trying to take advantage of the Tracy Baby." Alan rolled his eyes again, flipping the bird towards Penelope, who laughed at the crassness of it.

There was waltz music starting in the background, and the boys all shuffled for a moment. Moffie appeared at Alan's shoulder, smiling at the camera and Penelope. Kayo was suddenly taking Scott's arm, and Penny was handing the camera off to Virgil as she took Gordon's hand. "Hello world," Virgil murmured, moving to the side of the room, training the camera on his brothers and their dancing partners. "Seems I'm the only one without a date tonight." He didn't sound particularly upset by the fact, instead his voice had a rather fond tilt to it. "My 'snuggle-bunny', as Moffie puts it, doesn't like these kinds of get-togethers."

He focused the camera on Scott and Kayo, who were waltzing circles around others dressed in fancy clothes and jewels that probably cost as much as a normal family's car. Kayo's dress was a dark green, and she wore some fiery red rubies that had once belonged to their mother. The two were smiling at each other, and Scott raised one hand to gently brush some stray hair from Kayo's face, tucking it back into her elaborate bun. "They look like they're having fun," Virgil said happily. "That's good. They've been working a lot lately. Been under a lot of stress."

The camera moved to where Moffie and Alan were dancing a jig, despite the waltz music, and Virgil laughed. The two were bumping into people and causing a bit of a scene, but Scott upon noticing them just smiled and let them continue. People were grumbling, but no one was going to outright complain about the baby of the richest family in the world, were they?

Virgil moved on to where Gordon and Penelope were dancing a waltz, perhaps a bit closer than strictly necessary. They were talking quietly, and Gordon looked happier and more serious than he'd ever looked on camera. Penelope was looking gorgeous in her slinky pink dress and diamonds, and she looked soft and happy dancing with Gordon. Virgil didn't say anything, moving the camera on to pan amongst the other guests. No one looked as happy has his brothers did with their partners. In fact, it looked a lot like they were all putting on a show of some sort.

Virgil took a breath, clearly about to say something to the camera when there was a sudden crashing and a lot of screaming. Virgil let out a vicious swear and the camera went dark.

When the screen came back up, Penelope was in focus. Her hair was a mess, her dress dirty and slightly torn and one of her diamond earrings was missing. Gordon was beside her, his face a bit bruised, and he looked angry. "Hello again," Penelope said softly. "We're all alive." There was chaos going on behind them, people squealing and crying and police sirens.

"No thanks to anyone else," Gordon grumbled. He was watching something past the camera, frowning darkly.

Penelope nudged him, keeping the camera focused on her. "Some low-lives tried to hold up the ball," she explained. "They didn't think it through."

"Clearly not," Alan said as he came into focus. His hair was mussed and he was missing his tie, but overall looked unharmed. "Scott was in the Air Force, Gordon was in Special Forces in WASP, Virgil's a tank and John's a secret ninja."

"Not to mention your own ninja-ness," Gordon said, shooting Alan an impressed look. "Seriously kid, where'd you learn that?"

Alan shrugged. "Kayo." Gordon nodded and Penelope gave a soft 'oh'. That, obviously, explained it all.

Penelope turned back to the camera. "Apparently these jokers heard that all five Tracys were going to be here tonight and decided that not only were they going to rob everyone here, but they were going to kidnap the boys and hold them for ransom."

"Fifteen against five—six, if you include Kayo, and you should really include Kayo," Gordon said.

"It wasn't really a fair fight for them," Alan continued, shrugging again. "You know, once we got the weapons away from them."

Penelope turned the camera around then, focusing on where Scott, Virgil and John were talking to the police. There were still a lot of fancy-dressed people milling about in various states of disarray and distress. They had, apparently, not been much help and still weren't much help.

John's tux was torn along his arm, and blood stained the white material. He didn't seem too concerned, although Virgil was gripping his upper arm and whispering to him every once and a while. Scott's knuckles were torn and bruised, and Virgil himself was looking a little harried, but they were all standing. Kayo and Moffie stood off to the side, both looking overall okay, even though Kayo's dress had been torn and Moffie was missing her glasses.

"I was enjoying my dance, too," Penelope said, her voice just a little short of being sad.

Gordon gave a sigh. "Next time, we'll go dancing without the added drama," he promised.

Penelope laughed. "Oh Gordon, dear. There's always drama where you boys are concerned."

"Ain't that the truth," Alan grumbled.

And the camera went black.

CandySays555 8 hours ago
Holy crap. All they probably wanted was a nice night out! This doesn't seem remotely fair!
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MisterMoJo87 7 hours ago
Okay, note to everyone out there: Don't make the Tracys mad. They can and will take you down.
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HoneyLemonTea 6 hours ago
Wait, wait, wait. Focus on the beginning. When they were dancing. Are Scott and Kayo dating? And Gordon and Lady Penelope? They certainly looked close!
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Robert Dawson 5 hours ago
Dang I wish someone had filmed the fight.
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