Whumptober 2021 Day eighteen: "Now Smile For The Camera." With thanks to gumnut-logic for help with names.

'It's over, Scotty. I'm here. I'm here and I'm not leaving you again.'

He repeated the words over and over until Scott's breathing evened out and his eyes dropped. And Jeff sat back, sighing in relief.

It was over.

That was almost nine years ago now and it was very evident that it was not over. Jeff looked up into John's concerned turquoise eyes and sighed.

'Dad? What's going on, Dad?' Dad!'

He must have zoned out while his memories assaulted him. But now was the time for action, Scott needed him. Hell, all his boys needed him. He cleared his throat.

'John, sorry. Ok. I'm flying over with Alan and your Grandmother now. Do you need me to bring anything specific, or do you want to come and collect it yourself?'

John stared just a little longer before frowning and reeling of a list of equipment for his Dad to bring. Jeff didn't bat an eyelid, he'd get whatever was needed to find Scott, and he knew that John would do whatever – whatever – was needed too. As would his other children.

And there was a conversation he needed to have with them, about his past and their heritage.

Flying Tracy One over to New York took far more time than Jeff wanted, but it gave him time to get some searches of his own started. He needed to find out where the key players were now, what they had been doing all this time. Were they the ones who were behind this threat? So many questions. As the computer ran its' searches Jeff thought.

He'd promised Scott that it was over. But it wasn't. Not by a long shot.

Why didn't he foresee that something like this could happen? He should have kept a closer track on the men who had experimented on both him and his son rather than pushing the whole event from his mind and believing – hoping – that the USAF would have put that man away for life. Jeff had been complacent, and now his son was again paying the price.

John and Virgil were waiting at the airport and the four travelled to Tracy Towers and the apartment where Penny and Gordon were. Kayo and Parker were out, looking to find information.

Jeff embraced Gordon gently. He may have been all cleaned up, but he was still injured, and if Gordon stifled a small sob in his Dad's shoulder, well, Jeff wasn't going to say anything. John and Virgil unloaded all the equipment Jeff had brought with him, and the two got busy setting it all up and running searches.

Once all the equipment was set up Jeff called all his boys, his Mom, Kayo and Penny into the room. Everyone waited expectantly while jeff worked out what he was going to say. He took a moment to just breathe in his family's presence.

'I, um, there's some things you all need to know. About me, and Scott. But also, this is about all you boys.' He looked at the circle of frowns.

The explanation of the experiments that he and Scott had participated in was a shock to all his boys, and Jeff found it freeing to share the secret he'd held on to for longer than half his life.

'And that's why we heal much quicker?'

'Yes, Virgil.'

'Especially Scott?'

'Especially Scott. I'm sorry, boys. If I had known…'

'But you didn't know, Dad. And that's fine. It's worked out well for our job.'

'Thank you, Gordon. I'm still sorry.'

'So what do we do now, Dad?''

'Now – now we wait until either we find them or they contact us.'

Grandma, Penny and Kayo went to get coffee while Jeff ordered food and they settled to wait.

And the searches ran. And ran. They waited for answers. For contact. For news.

But there was nothing for almost a complete 48 hours. And then the vid came.

...

Scott was left waiting for hours. His legs and bottom were past numb and his arms were just pins and needles. The bullet wound had started as the sharpest pain, but it too had dulled to an ache. His mouth was dry from the cloth gag, tongue feeling rough and swollen. He was thirsty and hungry.

And still he waited. At least it wasn't too cold, considering he was only in his trousers. Scott used the time to get more sleep. He'd been here before, sleeping whilst in this position was nothing new, even if it had been a lifetime ago.

The sound of the door opening woke him, but he schooled his response to hopefully not give himself away. He watched through lidded eyes as shiny black shoes paced the floor in front of him. The bang on the bars didn't make him jump – far too used to that kind of torture, but the footsteps went around the cage and the cold of the needle against his neck was what eventually caused him to react.

'Thought you might be awake. Lessons you learnt well, Captain, thanks to me.'

The gag was removed and Scott licked his lips. It didn't help and having the man standing behind him still holding the needle against him unnerved him. He'd heard the taunt, but he wasn't going to react. Not yet. Scott already knew that information, he'd heard that taunt before, almost 9 years ago, and, like then, it was another piece of the puzzle.

'You know, you and your dad caused Dr Gardner and I so many problems. So, so many problems.'

He came around the front and unlocked the cage, crouching down beside Scott and holding a bottle of water to his lips. The memory it sparked caused Scott to try and move away, but with his hands still tied to the bar behind him he couldn't move far.

Scott's chin was grabbed and water tipped, but to his surprise it was poured slow enough to drink, not like last time, and Scott drank. Once the bottle was empty his captor sat back, cross-legged, and just watched. Scott stared back at him. Nothing was said for quite a while.

'You know, I owe you and your father so very much.'

He looked almost pleased as he watched Scott. Still Scott said nothing, wondering when the man would get to the point.

'Oh! Where are my manners? You and I have never been formally introduced, have we? All those weeks we were part of the same experiment, yet never introduced.' The man grinned. 'My name is Roger Deltane, Captain Tracy.'

'Don't call me that.'

'My, my. Touchy, Scott.'

'What do you want, Roger?'

'That's more like it!'

Deltane got up and strode the length of the cage and back again, before crouching back down beside Scott and pulling his chin up so that their eyes met.

'If you and your good ol' dad hadn't stopped Dr Gardner and got us arrested, we wouldn't have been whisked off later to a better lab, and we wouldn't have been able to speed up the serum into just three injections.' He let go of Scott's chin, but their eyes stayed locked, and he reached out to the bullet wound.

Scott couldn't flinch back, but the touch was light.

'See, a skin wound should heal in five to ten days. I shot you almost two days ago and already the skin wound is practically healed. You just need the final shot and you'll be everything that Dr Gardner wanted you to be.'

'No!' No, not that. Scott's heart raced and he stared in horror at Deltane. The man just laughed at him.

'Oh, don't worry, Scott. I won't be giving you that pleasure just yet. First of all, you and I have a date with your Dad tomorrow. I hope you practice your smile ready for the camera.' He reached forward and yanked the gag back into place and produced the syringe. He plunged it into Scott's neck.

'Sleep well, Captain. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day.'