Chapter Five

"Tin-Tin," Gear said in his most soothing tone. "I told you yesterday it was just a unique reaction to the gas. If it is affecting him it would be quite normal for him to sleep for anything up to nearly two days. Metagas mutation places a great strain on the body and one method the body has of coping is to just sleep through it to minimise extra exertion. It's quite normal, don't worry."

Tin-Tin looked a little uncertain. She did trust Gear but at the same time she was very worried about her father, as it wasn't like him to sleep like that. Though she admitted to herself that Gear was probably right she remembered how Alan had slept for hours after his powers had appeared and how he'd slept for days when he was energy depleted.

She was about to open her mouth to reply when a sudden wave of pain accompanied by what felt almost like an internal power surge rippled through her head. Tin-Tin groaned in pain as she clutched at her head.

"Tin-Tin," Alan said concerned starting to walk over. Tin-Tin stumbled as another wave of pain rippled through her head; she would have collapsed if Gear hadn't quickly caught her.

Tin-Tin felt something happen inside her head and then abruptly she was aware of Gear's thoughts. They appeared to her as images and voices and they were going so fast that they were nothing more than a slipstream blur of colour and sound. A viscous headache began in her skull as her brain protested against the sudden information overload.

Tin-Tin pulled back from Gear crying out in pain at the sudden information overload. Stumbling backwards she lost her balance and crumpled to the floor like a marionette whose strings had just been cut. The impact seemed to break the link between her and Gear but the pain in her head got worse and Tin-Tin cried out in agony, closing her eyes reflexively as pain that felt like a million burning needles tore through her brain threatening to tear apart her sanity.

Everyone watched in sympathy and helplessness they knew what was most likely happening to Tin-Tin, that the metagas she'd been exposed to yesterday was affecting her now. Tin-Tin screamed again and everyone – but especially Alan – flinched.

And then Tin-Tin's eyes snapped open again and the iris of each eye was glowing gold like they did whenever she or Kyrano used their psi abilities. But the glow in Tin-Tin's eyes was slightly different now and much brighter so that it looked like her eyes were glowing with golden fire.

Before the shocked eyes of the people in the room Tin-Tin began to levitate off the ground rising into the air almost to waist level. Objects around the room began to lift into the air and the very air itself around Tin-Tin became a maelstrom of wind as her rouge power created an instant indoor tornado.

Struggling to maintain his footing despite the wind tearing at him Alan watched Tin-Tin in real concern and sympathy. He knew the pain she was experiencing would be enormous, he was also stunned by the sudden boosting of Tin-Tin's telekinetic powers he suspected that not even the Hood was capable of such a display of raw telekinetic power.

Tin-Tin fought desperately to contain and control her rampaging power falling back on every discipline she knew. Everything her father had ever taught her about how to control the various psi abilities that had been part of the Belagant family for hundreds of years. But no matter what she did it didn't work. The energy kept surging through her. In desperation she tried to call for help and there was only one person besides her father and mother who she would ever turn to for help.

"Alan help me," she thought desperately hoping that somehow Alan Tracy would be able to help her.

Tin-Tin's voice echoed in Alan's head and the youngest Tracy gritted his teeth and started towards Tin-Tin in response to her call.

"Alan what are you doing," Jeff demanded of his youngest son. Alan didn't answer his father but try as he might he couldn't reach her the vortex of air that started only a step or two away from Tin-Tin was too strong.

This isn't going to work, Alan thought and then an idea occurred to him. Taking a deep breath and holding it Alan concentrated on his phasing abilities. The energy inside him flared and he suddenly felt the by now familiar light insubstantial phasing sensation. Walking towards Tin-Tin again he penetrated the vortex of excited air molecules raging around her and entered the eye of the vortex. As soon as he was as close to Tin-Tin as he could get without walking through her Alan stopped phasing and released the breath he had been holding.

Tin-Tin reached out to him and Alan took her hand. And he felt some kind of force enter his mind, attaching itself to it. It felt warm and soothing, initially he was alarmed and uncertain but after a moment he relaxed and let whatever was happening happen. He felt it flow through his consciousness blending, merging with it. Although strange it was the most pleasant thing he had ever experienced in his life and he knew somehow that Tin-Tin was feeling the same thing. The world seemed to fade away all that mattered was him and Tin-Tin, they were all that existed in the universe. Somewhere on some fundamental level their souls touched and the universe rejoiced. And for a timeless moment there was no separate Alan Tracy or Tin-Tin Belagant, for that moment in time they existed as one.

Alan didn't really notice when the miniature tornado around him and Tin-Tin dissipated and the floating objects slowly lowered to the ground. Slowly Alan went to his knees as Tin-Tin also floated to the ground and pulled her into an embrace. He felt Tin-Tin returning the embrace and then he slowly felt her slip into unconsciousness and the feeling faded into the back of his mind. But it didn't vanish altogether it remained there on the edge of his awareness.

The world burst back in on him with breathtaking suddenness and Alan became aware that everyone was watching him and Tin-Tin. Yet surprising he wasn't embarrassed or anything. Gently he slipped both arms under Tin-Tin's sleeping body and gently lifted her as he got back to his feet.

"She needs to sleep," Alan said softly to his father, brothers, uncle and their two guests. "I'm going to take her up to a room."

Jeff nodded agreement and watched without comment as Alan gently carried Tin-Tin over to the spiral ramp that ran along the wall to the next level. As Alan left earshot Gordon finally found his voice.

"What was that?" Gordon wondered. "What just happened between them?"

"I don't know," Jeff replied. "I honestly don't know."

"Hmm," Gear mused thinking it over in his head his super brain already suggesting the most likely and most logical explanation for what they had just seen with Tin-Tin's telekinetic powers. Tin-Tin might not have been a metahuman to start with but the metagas released yesterday had affected the abilities that she had already had since the moment she was born. Abilities that he was sure had thrown off his scan yesterday.

"What?" Jeff asked.

"What can sometimes happen after a second exposure to metagas a metahuman can get a sudden massive boost of power, or develop new powers altogether. Sometimes this boosted power is so great and comes so suddenly that they basically just overload and the power rampages out of control until they can adapt to it," Gear explained. "I suspect that the metagas Tin-Tin was exposed to yesterday had the same effect on the psi abilities she inherited from her father."

"So could Alan get a power boost as well," Gordon asked. "What that explain why his hairs suddenly turned white?"

"It might," Gear replied. "But a power boost doesn't always happen as the physiology of every metahuman is different so power boosts don't always happen. Like with me for example my abilities arethe same and at the same level as they were before the second big bang. Whereas Virg here," he gestured to Static, "got a massive increase in power."

Before anyone else could speak Alan returned from upstairs.

"Tin-Tin will be okay," Alan said as he approached them. "She just needs to sleep for awhile. Don't ask me how I know I just do."

There was another pause before Jeff spoke.

"I think boys it's time for a training session. We need to get a handle on exactly what you can all do." They all nodded in agreement, still slightly freaked out by everything.

"So where do we go for this?" Virgil asked. "Thunderbirds Two's runway?"

"I guess that would probably be the best place." Jeff said.

"I'll s…s…stay h…h…here and keep an eye on T…T…Tin-Tin," Fermat stammered.

"I'll go to c…c…control," Brains stammered. "N…n…need to s…s…scan the u….u…underground c…c…complex for d…d…damage."

"We didn't see any but it would be a good idea," Peter said.

"Do it Brains," Jeff replied.

"F.A.B Mr Tracy," Brains replied.

Thunderbird Two's Runway

A Short Time Later

The five boys walked down the runway with Jeff, Static, Gear and Peter following. Static and Gear now in fully kited out in their uniforms.

"Okay," Jeff said. "Scott, we'll start with you."

"Okay dad," Scott replied. Scott stood a short way apart from the rest of his family as Gear approached to within range of backpacks scanning beam.

"This might be uncomfortable Scott," Gear told him. "But please try to hold still that way I will only have to scan you once." Scott nodded and Gear sent a mental command to backpack.

The faithful robots main sensor panel rose from above the level of Gear's shoulder on a flexible tendril and changed colour from its normal red to blue. A line across the middle glowed brighter than the rest of the panel and then the laser-fan like scanning beam leapt forth and began to scan Scott from head to toe.

Scott stiffened as the beam swept over his body. It made his whole body tingle and brought a very unpleasant inner warmth, he could feel his eyes start stinging and tearing as if he were peeling onions. He groaned softly and gritted his teeth as the beam scanned every part of his body. Scott sighed and his shoulders slumped in relief when the scanning beam cut off. That had not been pleasant at all. For a moment Gear was silent as he used a mixture of backpack's processors and his super fast, super smart brain to analyse the scan data on Scott.

"The scan reveals your powers are super speed and you have a variety of enhanced vision modes not just your ability to see in thermal, you also have night vision and telescopic vision."

"Telescopic. Like a camera?" Scott asked.

"Yes. You can zoom your vision in on objects up to a mile away from you. However I wouldn't recommend that you do that very often. The scan indicates that it will place immense strain on your eyes and overuse could result in temporary or even permanent blindness. Your other enhanced vision modes will also place stress on your eyes but to a lesser degree. Your skin, bones and muscles have altered to better withstand high speed impacts and your lungs air processing capability has substantially improved and your eyes won't tear when you run at full speed. But don't ask me what that is. You should also be able to hear perfectly well no mater how fast you are going."

"Wow," Scott replied amazed and quietly a little frightened by what the mutagenic gas had done to him. It was also amazing how his body had transformed and adapted to its new capabilities overnight. Though he was seriously going to have to watch himself with the enhanced vision thing.

"Now you Virgil," Jeff said calmly though inwardly he was still processing what Gear had said the mutagenic agent had done to Scott.

Virgil separated himself from his brothers and stood stock-still as Gear turned to him. The blue scanning beam snapped into existence again sweeping over Virgil. Like Scott before him Virgil stiffened as the scan progressed. It made his whole body tingle unpleasantly and brought a strange ache to his transformed and enlarged muscles. It felt almost like the lactic acid burning sensation deep in the muscle that you got after a hard workout. But the scan also did something else; he felt something react deep inside him sending waves of heat pulsing through his body.

The scan beam shut off after what seemed like an eternity and Virgil sighed in relief and bent over hands on his knees as shakes gripped his body for a few moments before passing as the burning in his muscles and the waves of heat faded away. He stood back upright. He hoped Gear didn't have to do that to him again. That had been really, really unpleasant.

After a moment Gear again spoke as he completed his analysis of the scan of Virgil.

"The scan has revealed that you have two abilities Virgil," he said. "There is a secondary ability inside you but I cannot identify it. The power signature is unfamiliar to me. What it is we will have to wait and see for it to manifest itself just like Gordon's ability to make himself invisible. I couldn't identify that one either when I scanned Gordon last night.

"Your primary ability is not surprisingly superhuman strength. In addition to increasing in size the structure and composition of the muscles in your body has undergone a considerable change. I can project your total strength. You should be able to move objects weighing up to a hundred tons."

"A hundred tons," Virgil repeated stunned almost beyond words as he heard his brothers, uncle, father and even Static give gasps of surprise. Yes he'd been feeling really strong since he'd woken up but he had absolutely no idea he was suddenly going to be that strong. True it didn't make him superman – superman still had greater strength than he would ever have – but it certainly made him stronger than any professional strong man could ever hope to be.

"Wow Virgil we could start using you in place of the heavy lifting gear," Alan commented. Virgil gave his youngest brother a look but had to admit that Alan had a point. Being as strong as he was now would probably come in really handy in the danger zone.

"John you're next," Jeff said already guessing what Gear was going to find. He'd seen John fly last night and they all knew about the force fields that he could generate.

"Okay dad," John said stepping forward and letting Gear scan him as well. He fought against the urge to fidget as the scan beam swept over him bringing with it an unpleasant tingling. He felt the power inside him start to surge and felt the same instinct he'd felt earlier when the invisible Gordon had thrown a cushion at him, the instinct to erect a force field to block the scan. John suppressed the instinct and he felt the energy within strain against the thin control he was putting around it trying to break through.

The scan beam cut off and John felt the energy within settle down again for which he was grateful he wasn't sure how much longer he would have been able to restrain it. He had along way to go before his control over the energy within was as good as Alan's.

"I already know I can fly and project force fields, is their anything else?" John said.

"No," Gear answered. "Your powers are just what you said. However I am detecting evidence that your force field generation abilities are for more versatile than you currently know. I would not be surprised if you could generate shaped force fields or throw shields around other things."

"Wow," John said. "I'll have to practice see if I can do that."

"Do you want to scan me," Gordon asked.

"No I scanned you last night Gordon I already know your powers. Alan do you mind if I scan you though? I would like to check for additional powers or for an increase in the strength of your existing abilities." Alan made a face remembering from before how uncomfortable the scanning beam could be.

"Okay." Alan sighed. "Go ahead."

Backpack's laser scanning beam shot forward once again and began to pass over Alan. Alan groaned, he didn't remember the scanning beam being this uncomfortable. Suddenly a horrendous burning sensation tore through him and he felt something happen to the energy within him. The energy churned, surged and pulsed like it had done since his powers had first appeared, only this time it was worse a lot worse.

"Arrggh! Turn it off!" He yelled as he felt his hands tingle. Gear shut backpack off but it was too late. Alan felt his powers surge breaking through the barriers that contained them. His hands began tingling and the silver ice glow appeared around them and in his eyes. But looking at him everyone knew that something was wrong. The glow in his eyes was pulsing brightly, as was the shimmering silver nimbus around his hands.

Alan felt his powers doing something different, something other than what they normally did. He tried to stop them but he couldn't there was just too much power, he felt it tearing through every barrier he tried to put around it.

"Everyone down!" he yelled. "I can't stop this!" He felt the energy that created his ice powers change slightly. The glow around his hands expanded into spheres and solidified into solid ice for a moment before literally exploding sending forth a lethal hail of icicles that were sharper that razor blades.

Thinking quickly Static created an electrical force field, which protected him, Jeff and Peter. John stared in horror as the icicles shot towards him and then felt the energy inside him pulse and he went with the instinct, a force field sprang into existence around him and it was just large enough to protect Gear as well.

"Thank you John," Gear said.

"Your welcome," John replied as icicles disintegrated into fragments that fell to the ground where they encountered his force field.

To Scott the icicles that were coming seemed to slow down dramatically and he found himself easily dodging them feeling as though he was moving at great speed though from his perspective he was moving at his normal speed.

Gordon dodged the first few icicles that came his way but more kept coming off Alan all the time and the barrage was getting more intense. He knew he would not be able to dodge many more. He saw several icicles coming straight at him and knew he would never evade them. Remembering what Alan had said before about phasing and ability control Gordon took a deep breath and held it before imagining the icicles passing harmlessly through him. Almost instantly he felt the energy inside him surge and suddenly he felt himself become light and insubstantial he looked down to see the icicles passing harmlessly through him, his body having become transparent. Guess I got the basics of this phase thing licked already, he thought.

Virgil watched amazed as his brothers instinctively started using their powers to protect themselves from the barrage of icicles. John with a force field, Gordon by phasing and Scott by moving at super speed, a number of icicles were coming towards him and he was too far away from either John or Static to hide behind their force fields. He closed his eyes and waited for the icicles to hit him. He abruptly felt energy well up from somewhere deep inside him and for a moment he felt as though something was flowing over him. When he felt nothing hit him he opened his eyes again.

Working frantically Alan finally managed to bring his rogue ice powers back under control stopping the energy flow with effort. The silver glow faded from his eyes and hands then vanished altogether and he crumpled to his knees exhausted from the effort.

"Sorry," he said to his family Static and Gear. As he got his breath back and stood up again though he was a little wobbly on his feet. He was relieved that everyone seemed to be all right. And then he saw Virgil and his jaw dropped open in amazement.

"It's okay Alan," Jeff said reassuringly to his youngest son as Static dissolved his force field. John did the same and out the corner of his eyes he saw Scott stop moving at super speed and Gordon stopped phasing. "What are you looking at Alan?" he asked as he followed his sons gaze and stared in disbelief at Virgil.

"What are you all looking at me for?" Virgil asked.

"Ah, Virgil look down at yourself," Peter said.

Virgil did as his uncle instructed and gasped in shock and disbelief. His shirt and sweat pants had been torn here and there where icicles had obviously struck him. But that wasn't what astonished him. His skin was completely covered in seamless metal that was polished like chrome.