Fork In The Road

By Sapphire

Disclaimers are in chapter 1

Part 7 – Through the Looking Glass

Stepping through the gateway into the other dimension was strangely anticlimactic. Virgil had expected some kind of light show, the feeling as if his atoms would be disassembled and reassembled (not that he was too sure how this was supposed to feel, really), but in reality it was simply like walking through a doorway. One step he was with his family and the next he was in an empty cave.

He turned just in time to see 'Scott' appear. Virgil shook his head at the picture of him stepping through the apparently solid wall. This was too weird for words.

He took a deep breath. "Okay, you wait here, and I will come back with our Scott as soon as possible."

'Scott' nodded, then settled down on a convenient rock. "I should have brought something to read," he said with a grin. "Good luck to you."

"Thanks."

Climbing out of the cave wasn't too difficult and in no time he saw daylight. He took a second to orientate himself then he turned towards the house and started walking. It felt weird to be here, knowing that this wasn't the same Tracy Island he had lived on for more than ten years. It pretty much looked exactly like his home, and he had to tell himself to pay attention to any differences.

Tracy Island as he knew it was a small tropical island with an extinct volcano in the centre. Jeff Tracy had gone to extreme lengths to hide the fact that is was International Rescue's headquarters, so the house built against the Western flank of the volcano looked for all intents and purposes like the home of an -- albeit eccentric -- billionaire and his five sons. Only when one managed to break though the guise one could see the real Tracy Island: the hangars with their powerful crafts, the many passages and laboratories. Those wouldn't exist here, but from 'Scott's descriptions the house and everything in it pretty much looked the same in both dimensions.

After a few minutes, Virgil finally reached the house. His first order of business was to find out where everybody was, then locate Scott and get him out.

There was a raised boardwalk that led along underneath the windows of the private rooms of each of the brothers. Virgil climbed on it and moving stealthily, he took a peek in each room. All of them were empty.

He was about to head around the house, aiming for the open living room, when he suddenly heard gunfire. Instinctively he hunkered down, waiting.

When the gunfire wasn't repeated, he pulled his own gun and started to walk carefully towards the front of the house where the gunfire had come from. Reaching the corner, he stopped, looking around it quickly then pulling back again.

In the second he had looked, he had seen three dark-haired men surrounding a fourth man who was sitting on one of the sofas with his hands tied behind his back. This fourth man was his father. One of the other three held a gun to his head, while his companions also made threatening gestures with their weapons.

Virgil leaned against the wall, thinking furiously. His mission was to find Scott and bring him back home. He knew that, and he fully intended to do so. But seeing three men threatening his father – or more accurately the man who in this dimension would be his father – wasn't something he just could let go.

Who were these people? What did they want here?

Actually, the answer to that question wasn't too difficult. Jeff Tracy was a very rich man. This was the same in Virgil's home dimension and in this parallel dimension. So it stood to reason that they wanted money. Lots of it.

There was a good chance, that if 'Jeff' would do as those people wanted, no harm would come to him. Waving their guns and shooting a couple of warning shots was just part of the pattern people like this used to intimidate their victims so they would be more compliant to their wishes. Killing Jeff Tracy would gain them nothing.

'Jeff' should be relatively safe, really.

So logically, he should just let it be, try to locate Scott and get out of here as soon as possible.

Only it went against all of his principles.

He had to do something.

Before he was even really aware of it himself, he had picked up a stone and thrown it towards on of the bushes in the garden to the left. As the stone passed through the foliage it caused a noise almost as if somebody was passing through. It was one of the oldest tricks in the book, but then, hey, why not, it usually worked.

Virgil chanced another peek and saw how the leader gestured to one of his people to investigate.

With a feral grin, Virgil freed himself from the wall of the house and moved perpendicular to it towards the backside of the garden.

The man sent to investigate came from the other side, calling out as he went, "Come out or I'll shoot."

Not very original, but he didn't need to be with his gun held out. Virgil noted that the man had a Spanish accent.

He made, of course, no sound, as the man finally decided to come further into the garden, pushing leaves aside with his gun. The man called several times for him to give up, but Virgil had no intention to comply.

Virgil waited until the man was well out of sight of the house. He was hiding behind a tall tree when he saw the man enter a small clearing. Aiming quickly, he fired one of the knockout pellets. The man turned at the muted sound of the gun, but couldn't call out or bring his own gun to bear, as the pellet did its job. Like a puppet whose strings were cut, he crumpled to the ground, out cold.

Carefully, Virgil moved over to where the man lay and checked him over. As expected, the strong drug in the pellet had rendered him unconscious in a heartbeat. They were one of Brains' many developments, originally used only by International Rescue, but had now been filtered through Tracy Industries to be used in riot control. The man would sleep for twelve hours and wouldn't even have a headache when he woke up. With any luck, this would be in a nice cozy prison cell.

One down, at least two more to go.

This would be fun, Virgil grinned to himself.

He picked up the other man's gun and moved back towards the house.

Tbc

Short chapter, I know, but the next one will be longer.