Chapter 14.
If Virgil's confidence had been sky high when he'd left Tracy island, it was now zooming past Mars and en route to Jupiter.
Kayo looked, in one word, completely and utterly besotted.
The engineer had taken his anticipation game one step further and requested that she put on the blindfold he'd stashed in one of Thunderbird Two's storage compartments shortly before landing. Upon seeing (and hearing) said request, Scott had quite predictably used it as an opportunity to smear mud all over his brother.
"A blindfold?" Scott exclaimed, planting his hands on his hips like a diva, "What on earth does he carry a blindfold around with him for? I am never getting in Thunderbird Two with him again."
"Should we be worried?" Gordon asked, looking equally rattled. Considering he relied on Virgil for lifts, his risk was considerably higher than Scott's.
Kayo meanwhile, was anything but worried.
In fact, she looked as if she might cry.
Or faint.
Or both.
There was no mistaking where Virgil had chosen for their date.
"Venice?" Kayo gasped, ogling shamelessly at the graceful bridges, elegant architecture, and narrow streets intersected by blue canals.
Alan was equally impressed, sighing dreamily as he stared at Virgil's hologram, "Is it legal for brothers to marry each other yet?"
John snickered at the suggestion, "Give it a few more years. You never know. I reckon the pair of you would make a downright cute couple."
"John!" Scott hissed, flapping his hands for silence, "Don't give him ideas!"
Ten thousand miles away, Kayo was gripping Virgil's arm like a vice, her green eyes twice their usual size. Virgil himself remained cool as a cucumber as he steered them down a narrow side street, smirking when several locals came outside to coo and point at the sight of Thunderbird Two parked in St Mark's Square.
Alan sighed, his expression star struck, "This is so romantic. Scott, hold me!"
The youngest draped himself across Scott's lap, the back of one hand flung across his forehead like a damsel in distress. John smiled in amusement as Scott roughly dumped the blond prima-donna onto the floor, his inner Prince Charming on temporary strike.
Alan sniffed in pain as he landed on his still throbbing backside, however swiftly plunged back into the depths of enthrallment when the livestream showed Virgil helping Kayo into a gondola.
"I'll take it from here, my good man," the engineer announced in a voice as smooth as gravy, smiling when the substantial tip he was offering the gondolier got swallowed up without an ounce of resistance.
John's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. As far as he was aware, Virgil had never piloted a gondola before. While the process looked fairly straightforward to the untrained eye, an aquatic rescue of Gordon's that had featured a gondola had shown John first-hand that considerable strength and stamina were required to successfully operate one.
Skills Gordon had failed to demonstrate. Cue an upside down gondola.
Virgil however, was built differently to his aquanaut brother.
"Right, that's it!" Scott seethed, grinding his molars together as Virgil took off his jacket, rolled up his sleeves, and accidentally-on-purpose flexed his biceps, "Two can play at this game. Gordon, come with me."
Scott stormed out of the lounge and off towards the stairs, an invisible trail of fire blazing in his wake. Gordon shared a confused look with Alan and John before shuffling off after his eldest brother, his mind already devising a long list of excuses as to why he was blameless for whatever had gotten Scott so riled.
'Alan made me do it. It's written in Grandma's will. Virgil said that jetpack makes you look fat. I was always dad's secret favourite. John threatened to cancel my subscription to Buddy and Ellie.'
Before the aquanaut could select the most appropriate excuse for the case in question, Scott seized him by the wrist and yanked him up the last couple of steps. The eldest waited until they were safely out of earshot before revealing his intentions, "Okay Gordo, we're going to rig Virgil's room. Booby trap the entire thing from top to bottom. I want everything you can give me; worms in his shoes, superglue in his shampoo, canned tuna in his pillowcase. I want the full Gordon Tracy treatment, no holds barred. The louder, messier, and more likely to give him a heart attack, the better. You with me?"
Gordon couldn't believe his ears. In the world of practical jokes, Scott came in dead last when it came to participation. Alan had once rigged all of their launch chutes with spray-tan machines, and Virgil had been known to switch the salt and sugar containers around on occasion. Even John rang down from Thunderbird Five with the odd prank phone call now and then, safe in the knowledge that he was well out of slapping range.
Scott's track record was found wanting, however. Granted, he had pranked before and could quite easily reprogram his mind to function at the level of a ten year old if he so desired, but he generally left the practical jokes to his littlest brothers.
Not today it seemed. Oh, no sir.
Gordon smiled and cracked his knuckles, his mind already working at a billion miles an hour, "Okay, I need three rolls of the toughest string you can find, two buckets of ice water, a hammer, some yellow paint, an airhorn, four celery crunch bars, and a poodle with one eye."
Scott, who was halfway out the door, paused mid-stride and turned around, "Will Alan and an eyepatch suffice?"
Like a poet having his work critiqued, Gordon sighed and pinched his forehead, "I'll make it work."
-x-
Meanwhile, ten thousand miles away, Virgil's muscles were most certainly at work.
More specifically, his triceps, biceps, and deltoids.
Not that Kayo was staring.
But man, did that boy have a good pair of shoulders on him…
The engineer was well aware of Kayo's wandering eyes, but decided to play it coy and focussed instead on propelling them down the waterway they were currently on. The water twinkled as it lapped at the sides of the gondola, illuminated by the soft glow of the street lamps on the paved street lining the canal.
Kayo smiled as she admired a trellis of bright pink bougainvillea enveloping the balcony of a house they were passing, "Wow, Virgil. Just…wow."
Virgil beamed, one eye on the mini cam that was resting on the risso of the gondola, "Yeah, I get that reaction a lot."
Shadow's pilot snorted and rolled her eyes, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say this is what you really do whenever you're supposedly down in the hanger doing maintenance on your 'Bird. Where on earth did you learn to pilot a glorified kayak?"
The mask of modesty was deployed as Virgil maneuvered the gondola around a rather sharp bend, "I'm a man of mystery, Kayo. My talents go way beyond heavy lifting and ferrying my brothers around in my big green people carrier."
Kayo tilted her head mischievously, "Okay, now you're starting to sound like Scott."
A caramel eye twitched slightly at the mention of the eldest Tracy's name. Virgil would never admit it, but he and Scott were like a pair of lions circling each other in this particular scenario. Both poised and ready to pounce, yet reluctant to get their perfectly groomed paws dirty.
After all, dirty paws could cost them valuable points.
Opting to ignore Kayo's hideously inaccurate comparison, Virgil seized the charm dial and cranked it up into the red zone, "Scott's a great guy, but he's married to his work. The only person in the family he really has time for anymore is Alan, and that's only because the poor kid is his responsibility in both the legal and moral sense. I admire him and greatly respect his work ethic, but we're completely different people when you take International Rescue out of the equation."
Kayo tore her eyes away from a fish that was darting beneath the gondola and frowned, "Really? I thought you were the milk to each other's coffee?"
Virgil shrugged, "Scott's a loner at heart, kind of like John. When mom and dad were still around he used to spend all of his time in his room doing schoolwork, or helping dad with whatever project he was working on at the time. He actually delayed going to the hospital with Grandma when Gordon was born because of an Air Force documentary he was in the middle of watching. When dad died, International Rescue became the centre focus of his life. I respect the decisions he's made, but I couldn't be like him. It's important to stop and smell the roses every now and then. None of us are machines and it's important to have creative outlets that don't involve work. That's why I taught myself to paint and play piano. On the days when things are rough, such pastimes can help to ground us and remind us that we're human too. I feel as if Scott doesn't quite understand that."
Kayo was silent for a minute, her expression softening, "I never realised your reasons for learning both of those things."
Internally, Virgil gave a yell of triumph and a bonus point to his tally. Externally, he gave a poetic sigh and raked a hand through his immaculately styled hair, "It's tough, Kayo. I won't lie to you. But I have to carry on, for Gordon and Alan's sake if nothing else. They've grown up with Scott as a father figure, but without a softer contrast to his rather brash nature, they'd struggle. I may be the 'tough guy' of the family, but I'm a firm believer in using honey instead of hatchets."
Kayo smiled and inclined her head in Virgil's direction, "It's not all bad, you know. I hear girls like sensitive guys."
Spying his chance, Virgil raised a playful eyebrow and leant on his oar in what he desperately hoped was a coquettish manner, "Which begs the question, are you one of them?"
Shadow's pilot could feel herself getting pulled into the chocolate whirlpools in Virgil's irises, her resistance and determination to keep the date within the realms of 'research' ebbing away as they drifted along to the sound of lapping water and a bell tower chiming in the distance.
Back on Tracy Island, John frowned as he glanced up from the bowl of tortillas he and Alan were enjoying without Gordon there to seagull them, "He wants to watch his angle of lean. The water in that canal will be freezing this time of year."
Unfortunately, Virgil's charm dial chose that precise moment to snap clean off.
One moment, he was watching Kayo swoon under the heat of his caramel gaze. The next, he was headbutting a passing halibut in water that was a lot colder than it looked.
Kayo's eyes widened in alarm as the gondola rocked violently in response to Virgil's rather sudden departure. In fact, the only evidence he'd even been onboard in the first place was the huge splash he'd left in his wake.
Alarm evolved into panic when Virgil failed to surface after a few seconds. Careful to not rock the boat (quite literally), Kayo peered into the canal, only to be met with murky oblivion thanks to the silt the engineer had disturbed after getting dumped in.
As soon as the seconds hit double digits, Kayo made the mental shift from date mode to rescue mode. Throwing her jacket off with practised ease she dove in after her date, hissing as the cold stabbed at her skin.
Back on Tracy Island, Alan and John were reacting in ways that differed almost as much as their hair colour.
"Oh man!" Alan hollered, doubled over with laughter, "Smooth one, Virg! Real smooth!"
John meanwhile, looked rather distressed, "This isn't a laughing matter, Alan. Those canals are ridiculously shallow in places. He could have quite easily hit his head on something."
Alan didn't seem overly worried. He'd always coveted Thunderbird Two and the thought of prematurely inheriting her was appealing to say the least. Plus, green and red paired well together.
"Relax," the youngest drawled, tapping and swiping at the holoscreen until Virgil's vitals sprang up, "See? All his numbers are within the normal range. Well, except for his core temperature and heartrate, but that's to be expected if the water is as cold as you say."
While the numbers did bring John a smidgen of relief, the fact that his brother still hadn't surfaced was concerning to say the least. The redhead steeled himself and opened his mouth to summon Scott, however stopped when the livefeed shifted to show Kayo hauling herself out of the water and up onto a jetty, an unmoving Virgil slung over her shoulder.
"That's odd," Alan muttered, staring at the engineer's stats, "His respiratory rate has suddenly dropped to zero. It was normal a second ago when he first surfaced. What's changed?"
John frowned as he watched Kayo position Virgil on his back. She held a hand against his mouth for a few seconds before pressing her ear against his chest. When she detected the same lack of lung activity that Alan had just pointed out, she sprang into action.
"Dude!" Alan gasped, his tone scarily similar to Gordon's, "He's faking it!"
Turquoise eyes narrowed to slits as John continued to monitor the scene, "I think you're right. And I don't think we need to ask why, either."
Alan was predictably a few seconds behind his brother, but made up for his tardiness with his reaction, "Not the kiss of life! Oh man…Kayo? Can you hear me? For goodness sake, don't kiss the fake!"
Oblivious to Alan's rhyme warning, Kayo shifted so that she was kneeling right next to Virgil's head. Quick and efficient as ever, she lowered her face towards his…
3…
2…
1…
…before drawing her hand back and slapping him clean across the face.
Alan whooped and punched a fist in the air as Virgil promptly sprang back to life. Whether his glee came from his brother's reincarnation or Kayo's failure to smooch him, John couldn't tell.
All he could tell was that Virgil was not amused.
Two continents away, the second Tracy cringed in pain. It had taken every ounce of hypoxic training he possessed to hold his breath for as long as he just had, and he had zilch to show for it aside from the imprint Kayo's hand had no doubt left on his cheek.
The worst part was he couldn't even do what he usually did and blame Gordon. Or Alan. Or Scott. Or John.
As much as Virgil hated to admit it, the very cockiness he'd warned Alan against was his only available culprit.
"At least they haven't got far to walk," John reasoned, glancing away awkwardly as Virgil hauled himself to his feet and stormed off in the direction of St Mark's Square. He could tell his brother was peeved by the way he didn't even bother to thank or wait for Kayo.
"Far to walk where?" a new voice asked.
Brothers three and five pivoted their heads and were rewarded with the sight of Scott and Gordon trotting down the staircase, both looking as thrilled as if they'd just slashed the Hood's tyres.
John didn't reply, opting instead to stand up with a sigh, "Alan, fill them in would you? I'm off to bed. I can't take much more of this insanity."
"Make sure to avoid the creaky floorboard outside Virgil's room!" Gordon warned as the redhead vanished upstairs, "And whatever you do, don't touch the eyepatch hanging from his doorknob!"
Scott rolled his eyes and sank onto the sofa next to Alan, "Alright, what did we miss? Are they engaged yet?"
Alan cast a dubious glace towards the holoprojector, motioning for Scott and Gordon to do the same.
"Well…I'd say it was a bit of a slap in the face overall."