Chapter 6.
Kayo met Scott as instructed in Thunderbird One's hanger at six on the dot. She'd followed his advice and was wearing some comfortable cargo trousers paired with flat boots.
Scott meanwhile, was wearing his usual casual ensemble. Blue, blue, and more blue. Kayo's eyes narrowed in suspicion. He'd lose points for that.
The eldest remained oblivious to Kayo's displeasure with his wardrobe choice, his attention occupied with lowering the shoulder restraints of One's pilot seat, "You look lovely."
Kayo grunted and fastened her seatbelt, memories of dragging an unconscious John home still fresh in her mind, "No drinking tonight. I've nothing nice to say about alcohol at the moment."
A lopsided grin was offered as Thunderbird One began to taxi underneath the pool, "Oh don't worry. Where I'm taking you, they don't have alcohol."
That piqued Kayo's interest.
-x-
Gordon shielded his eyes against the sun as Thunderbird One blasted away from Tracy Island, a devious grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"They're gone!" he sang, vaulting over one of the loungers as he scurried back into the villa, "Time to plug in!"
Virgil, who'd had his head stuck in the fridge, glanced up and frowned, "The mini cam is already wired in and good to go. Scott said their ETA should be around half six, so we've got a few minutes left to kill."
"Where are they going?" Alan asked, popping the top off a can of soda.
"Montana I think," Virgil replied, emerging with a plate of leftovers, "I wasn't really listening when Scott told me."
A pair of boat shoes disappeared up the stairs as Gordon retreated to the lounge. By the time Virgil and his leftovers arrived on scene, the aquanaut had managed to sync a small gadget of sorts with the holoprojector, punching a fist in the air when a connection was established. In his hands were five different remote controls of varying sizes.
"Virg, can you start streaming now please?" Gordon asked, chewing his lip, "I have something I wanna test out before they land."
The engineer frowned, but put his plate down with a sigh and did as ordered. Seconds later, the holographic forms of Scott and Kayo in the cockpit of Thunderbird One appeared.
"Patch in the sound as well, please," Gordon added, biting his tongue as a smile the size of Spain threatened to engulf his face.
Seconds later, their eldest brother's voice echoed around the lounge.
"So Kayo, I notice that you're quick to chastise us for our lack of dating activity, but tell me, when was the last time you yourself went on a date? I don't see you leave Tracy Island for anything other than work."
While Virgil and Alan were preoccupied with listening to Kayo's reply, Gordon took the opportunity to seize one of his remote controls and stab a random button on it.
*Fart*
Brothers two and five jumped in shock as a rather vulgar sound reverberated around the room. On the hologram, Scott shot Kayo a poorly masked look of horror before attempting to awkwardly gloss over what he'd just heard.
"So I heard the GDF have been having data breaches at their Tokyo branch and-"
*Faaaaaart*
"Geez woman, I get that you might be nervous, but I'm not that scary!" Scott snapped, twisting his head around to stare at Kayo in disgust.
Kayo herself looked equally outraged, "It's not me! I thought it was you!"
The eldest Tracy gave a splutter that lacked any sort of dignity, "Me? Who do you think I am? I'm not Gordon!"
At the mention of the aquanaut's name, Virgil sent Alan a shell-shocked glance. Their fish brother was sat on the opposing sofa, proudly brandishing his controller. As if to confirm their thoughts, he pressed one of the buttons with a flourish.
Another massive toot echoed around Thunderbird One's cockpit.
"Fart machine," Gordon announced with a grin, tossing the controller in the air and catching it, "Got four of 'em stashed all over Thunderbird One. Old Scotty won't be looking like such a pro by the time he lands."
Entranced by anything featuring crude humour, Alan snatched the remote off Gordon and excitedly stabbed one of the buttons several times.
*Fart Fart Faaaaart*
The youngest exploded into hysterics at the expression on Scott's face. The eldest looked on the verge of ejecting himself out the auxiliary hatch, "Kayo! Ease up on the ration bars, or whatever the hell it is you're eating back there!"
In a state of embarrassed fury, Kayo wrenched off one of her boots and lobbed it at Scott's head. Eyewitnesses on the ground blinked in surprise as Thunderbird One momentarily jerked off course, courtesy of her pilot getting clipped around the ear.
"For god's sake Scott, this has Gordon written all over it!" Shadow's pilot spat, unclipping her seatbelt, "I'm going to do a security sweep. He must have stashed away some whoopee cushions that he's activating remotely."
Gordon felt panic grip his stomach as, one by one, his 'expertly' concealed fart devices fell victim to the keen eyes of his female colleague. Determined to go out on a high note, he seized four of the five remotes and began smashing the buttons in rapid succession, letting loose a long string of artificial flatulence as Kayo began to disable the machines she'd assembled.
*Fart Fart Fart Faaaaart Fart Fart Faaaaaaart*
Poor Scott looked as if he were hanging on by a thread as he brought Thunderbird One in to land, his regret over his decision to choose an activity that didn't feature alcohol as obvious as the hair on his head.
-x-
Any reservations Kayo had felt prior to leaving Tracy Island vanished in a flash as she gaped at her new surroundings.
Gordon's derailing attempt long forgotten, Shadow's pilot allowed her inner child to squeal in delight as her green eyes locked onto a corral full of horses, "A ranch? What are we doing at a ranch?"
"You'll see," Scott replied, his dimples giving rise to a suave smile.
Six thousand miles away, Gordon, Virgil, and Alan stared at the holofeed in stupefied silence.
"Wow…" Alan muttered, sinking onto the sofa in awe as a farmhand handed Scott the reins of two gorgeous black mustangs, "I never would have thought of something as cool as going horseback riding."
A low whistle forced its way between Virgil's teeth, "He's set the bar pretty high, that's for sure."
Gordon meanwhile was practically drooling, his love for animals temporarily overshadowing his rivalry with Scott, "Ah man, I'd have packed Thunderbird One full of apples instead of fart machines if I'd known that was where they were going."
Kayo looked similarly thrilled. As part of their extensive and ongoing training, every member of International Rescue knew how to ride, however it was Kayo who was the secret authority on all things equine. Scott was without a doubt the best rider of his brothers, and swung up onto his horse with effortless ease.
"Reckon she'll ditch him and go off with the horse instead?" Virgil asked, tittering at the thought. Gordon made a sound of humorous acknowledgement, his expression enigmatic as he stared at the holographic forms before them.
Alan remained silent. His blue eyes were wide and his chin was propped up on his hands as he drank in the dramatic Wild West views the mini camera was capturing. The fluid motion of Scott and Kayo's horses as they glided over the dramatic terrain served only to captivate the youngest further, sucking him into the romantic tension his eldest brother was expertly creating.
Without tearing his eyes from the scene in front of him, Alan hastily reengaged the audio feed and started to listen to Scott and Kayo's conversation with rapt interest.
Gordon grunted something about Scott being 'old fashioned', before changing his mind and dropping the 'fashioned' to just leave 'old'. Bored already with the horses and the scenery, the aquanaut shuffled off to the kitchen in search of food, the enigmatic look refusing to leave his face.
On the holofeed, Scott was pointing towards a rocky peak that he and Kayo were cantering towards, "That's Mount Grinnell, one of Glacier Park's most iconic mountains. People travel from far and wide for the beautiful sunset views its peak offers. The Nakota tribe used to perform sun dance rituals at the base of the mountain to pray for good health. Some people say being present at the peak when the sun just starts to set will grant good fortune. Fancy a look?"
Green eyes glowed with excitement, "Race you up there!"
As Kayo's horse exploded into a gallop and Scott's followed suit, Virgil sighed wistfully, "Man, he is smooth. I mean I'm thinking about going!"
The engineer's announcement was met with silence as Alan began frantically scribbling down every word that left Scott's mouth, his pencil straying occasionally to make notes on body posture and facial expressions in the margins.
"Nice topline, good flanks…" Scott called as he drew level with Kayo.
"Nice topline, good flanks…" Alan repeated, scrawling for all he was worth.
Virgil paused mid-chew and frowned, the plate of leftovers in his hand tilting precariously, "He's talking about the horse, Alan. Not Kayo."
Howls of laughter that could only belong to Gordon travelled up from the kitchen as Alan hastily crossed out half of his notes, his face the same colour as Thunderbird Three.
Five minutes into Scott and Kayo's ascent up Mount Grinnell, John materialised from the bathroom. A steaming hot shower and some comfy clothes had worked wonders for the redhead's mood, and he was finally starting to feel somewhat human again.
"What did I miss?" the middle brother asked, gliding down the stairs and squinting at the scene that was being broadcast in the middle of the lounge, "Is that Mount Grinnell? And are they on horseback?"
"Yes and yes," Gordon replied, dumping himself into Three's launch chair and slapping some slices of bread together, "Fancy a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? I can make extra if you're hungry."
John stomach's squirmed uncomfortably at the thought of food, "No thanks. I've not eaten since yesterday, so probably shouldn't overdo the carbs."
"Guys!" Alan catapulted up and stabbed a finger at the livestream, "They've stopped and dismounted!"
John frowned and selected a banana from the fruit bowl, "They can't have summitted that quickly. They must have stopped to rest the horses."
The youngest couldn't have cared less, his attention back on watching Scott's every move.
A plate was hastily deposited on top of the piano as Virgil scurried over and retook his seat on one of the sofas, miming for silence when Gordon chose that precise moment to choke on a mouthful of PB & J. Plonking himself down next to Alan, the aquanaut managed to regain his composure with a thump to the chest, his lips twitching as he continued to watch the feed through watery eyes.
"Reckon he'll go for some lip action?" Virgil asked, sighing like the romantic softie everyone knew he was.
"Maybe," John replied, "You know how competitive he is."
Alan cringed, visibly disturbed, "Eww! You don't think he'd do that knowing we're watching, do you?"
"I'm afraid it wouldn't be below him to treat us to some PG 18 content," John confessed, polishing off his banana before pointing at the staircase, "Alan, this might not be suitable for your young eyes. Kindly go to your room."
Gordon barked a laugh at Alan's outraged expression, only to be quickly hushed by Virgil, "Guys, I think it's going to happen!"
Four pairs of eyes returned to the holofeed, which was showing a sunset almost as beautiful as the ones seen from Tracy Island. Scott had an arm around Kayo, who was looking every inch like a besotted teenager. The horses were tethered to a nearby tree, their tails swishing calmly.
John, Virgil, and Alan all held their breath as Kayo scooted her face closer to Scott's, their respective blood pressures skyrocketing at their eldest brother's brazenness.
Three…
Two…
One…
*Fart*
For a second, nobody dared to move. After quickly sweeping the room and concluding that none of them had been the source of the, ahem, noise, brothers two, three, and five returned their attention to their canoodling comrades.
Who certainly weren't canoodling anymore.
On the livestream a frantic whinny sounded, closely followed by the distinct sound of something splintering. Before Scott could locate the fart machine that had somehow been stowed in his back pocket, both his and Kayo's mounts reared up in fright, the sudden motion causing the branch that they'd been tethered to to snap. Fuelled by panic brought about by the alien (and rather loud) sounding fart, both horses wasted no time in abandoning their riders and scarpering.
Alan rounded on Gordon, who was predictably clutching another remote control. John, who'd been absent for the first round of flatulence-induced drama, hastily connected the dots inside his head before slapping a palm over his face, "Gordon…explain."
The aquanaut smiled cockily, "I stashed an emergency one in Scott's pocket in case things started going too well. Survival of the smartest, not the smoothest."
A string of exotic profanities began to echo around the lounge as Scott and Kayo watched their mounts recede into the distance.
"How are they going to get home?" John asked, tapping the holoscreen, "My aerial scans show that they're four and a half miles away from the ranch."
"They could bring in Thunderbird One remotely," Virgil suggested, ignoring the high-five Gordon was exchanging with Alan.
John shook his head, "Neither of them are wearing any of their gear. They've no way of activating the engines or the GPS system."
"Looks like they're walking then!" Alan sang, his expression gleeful as the language Scott and Kayo were throwing travelled even further south.
"I could take Thunderbird Two and go and pick them up?" Virgil offered, pausing suddenly when Gordon clamped a hand onto his shoulder.
"You undo my work, and you'll be next," the aquanaut warned, motioning to Scott and Kayo's horseless holographic forms, "Don't underestimate me, Virg. I can be dangerous when I want to be."
It took less than five seconds for the engineer to weigh up the risks in his mind and reach a conclusion. Wordlessly, a jean-clad butt was lowered back onto the cushions it had just left.
"I don't want to be anywhere near here when they eventually get back," John announced, heading back towards the stairs, "I'm off to enjoy a sleep in a proper bed. 'Night guys."
"Night," Alan and Gordon chorused, not tearing their eyes (or ears) away from the livestream for a second. Scott was shooting the hovering mini-camera (and by extension, them) a glare that could have stripped the paint clean off Thunderbird's Three and Four, while Kayo remained blissfully unaware of its presence.
"At least they'll have a good tale to tell when they eventually get home," Virgil commented, cringing when Kayo nearly put her foot down a marmot burrow.
"Yeah?" Gordon asked, absently stuffing the remainder of his sandwich into his mouth.
"A tail of 'whoa'!"