A/N: Thank you everyone who reviewed! I encourage you to do it again! LOL! The beginning is a little slow so I tried to get some humor into it. :) BUT to encourage you to read on, our evil nurse Kendra makes another appearance! What will happen? Read on! G (10 pages wahoo!)
Chapter Eight: Take Down
It was two weeks before the three friends found an opening to go to New York. A business trip, Scott was needed at the company to fill out and pick up some papers, Alan quickly ran up to his father upon hearing about it.
"Dad, I hear Scott is going to New York?" Jeff turned.
"He is."
"Can Tin Tin, Fermat and I go with him? We really need to get off this island for awhile...please?" Alan asked with a pleading look. Jeff sat back thinking about it.
"I don't know, you are still recovering and Kendra is still out there..."
"Dad, I am no longer on any medications, and the chances of Kendra being in New York is slim." Alan stated feeling guilty for the lie about Kendra. Jeff sighed, he knew the younger kids had been feeling a little closterphobic as of late, and with only two weeks before they would have to go back to school, they would probably not get another chance to go out and do something. With that thought he made his decision.
"Alright, I am giving you all a weeks vacation in New York. You are to be very careful and check in everyday." Jeff stated.
"YES!" Alan jumped, smiling. "Thanks Dad." Alan smiled before running out of the room to tell his friends. Scott stepped into the room.
"Did I hear correctly?" Scott asked. Jeff laughed and gave Scott a sympathetic look.
"Sorry Scott, a weeks vacation for you and the kids."
"You know there not really kids anymore." Scott smiled.
"I know, but your all my kids." Jeff smiled before sitting up straight.
"Alan has never been given a proper tour of the city, take them around, have some fun while your there. Oh an be careful." Jeff stated.
"When do we leave?" Scott asked.
"Bright and early tomorrow morning."
"FAB." Scott grinned before leaving Jeff alone once again.
Alan, ran over to his two friend who were watching a documentary on growing weeds, and stood in front of it.
"Go get packed, we leave with Scott to New York early tomorrow." Alan grinned. Tin Tin seemed to sag in relief.
"Oh good, I was afraid we were going to have to sneak off or something, I was not looking forward to the punishment THAT would have brought on." She mumbled.
"How long will we be g-g-gone?" Fermat asked standing up and stretching.
"A week." Alan smile grew and he left the room to go pack himself. He didn't get anything but a pair of pants and a shirt into his suet case before giving up to go on-line and talk to his school friends all of whom were very relived and apologetic to him.
Alan moaned as he opened his eyes to his incredibly annoying alarm clock at the un-Godly hour of the morning. (7am!) Rolling out of bed he grabbed some clothes and a towel before heading off towards the bathroom. For the first time in months he did not have to wait in line for the bathroom. For such a huge home, bathrooms seemed to be scares. After a quick shower he brushed his teeth, hair and got ready for the day. He smiled at his grumbling oldest brother who was leaning half asleep on the wall waiting for the bathroom. Tin Tin and Fermat appeared blurry eyed at the same time at the end of the hall. Alan now wide awake from the shower smiled and waved as he walked by. He ignored the glares that daggered there way at his back, as he headed for his room to do last minute packing. He is a man after all, it's in his genes to put things like packing off until mere minutes before he is due to leave.
Tin Tin however had all of her things minus the things she would need today packed and neatly ready to go. A check list of everything she had packed was typed and printed to make sure everything came back with her in a week.
Everyone stuffed there bags into the back of the plane in the storage hold as they began to call out the pre-flight checklist. Finally at exactly 8am they were all seated in the seats of the small speedy plane as the engin roared to life. Outside the rest of the family could be seen waving goodbye. Alan sighed and leaned back with a smile, it was like a giant weight had been lifted off his shoulders, to him the hard part was done, he was leaving the island for New York, exactly where he needed to be.
They touched down in a smooth landing at Tracy Airspace. An official looking man in a perfectly tailored suet, with not a spec of dust to be seen; met them when they got off the plane. The man introduced himself as Smith, as he pulled out a booklet of paper from his briefcase. He handed them each a small stack of the said papers.
"This is our itinerary for the week. As you see we have a packed schedule with no time to waste, let's get going you have a meeting in twenty minutes with the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Britain. Smith turned around sharply before he started to walk towards the waiting limousine. Alan stared at the itinerary in horror filled shock. Meetings, paperwork and museum hopping filled the sheets, information on the meeting topics and museum pamphlet made up the rest of the pile. The weight that had been lifted upon stepping on the plane fell back again and he had to run to catch up with Tin Tin and Fermat, who looked excited at the prospect of meeting such important people.
They climbed into the limo and were off towards Tracy Enterprises at the heart of New York, which also held on the top floor a large house sized apartment where they would be staying, with a pool and hot tub. Alan could only remember staying there once, but his older brothers had stayed there countless times. Alan did not have any time to look around though before being shoved a suet then dragged back through the door and into the waiting elevator. They went down ten stories, through very tight security that was the Advanced Secret Service, (A.S.S. for short); before being ushered into a large meeting room with a giant oval table surrounded by nice leather chairs. They were the first ones there, and were each placed in seats in the middle. Smith stepped up and cleared his throat.
"Go to page five, you will need to be briefed on the topics for this meeting." The group turned to the proper page, Alan could not help but notice that Scott looked angry. "We will start with a brief introduction, followed by refreshments and general talk. At precisely 11pm, we will begin by discussing the money issues and other things you young children are not to open your mouths for, we will end the meeting discussing Tracy Enterprises new jet Rocketfire. Being it may be the new AirForce One, and British Ministry One, they are going to need specs and will be asking you questions. You children are not to say anything. I was told last minute you were coming, but you are going to need to learn the workings of these meeting if you ever want to be part of the family business. Anyways, do not open you mouth unless spoken to first, got it?" Smith looked like pure evil right there, and the three late teens nodded wide eyed.
The door opened before they could go on, and three A.S.S. walked in followed by the President.
"President Gray, thank you for coming." Smith shook his hand, before turning to the Prime Minster.
"Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for coming." Smith shook his hand as well.
"What is this, Smith. I thought we were having a meeting not running a daycare." The president stated.
"Don't worry about them sir, they wont be in the way." Smith gave one last glare at Alan and his friends before turning back to the guests of honor. Alan, Fermat and Tin Tin sat silently as required as general talk was pursued. Alan had almost fallen asleep in complete boredom when a bell rand and Smith stood up.
"Attention!" The room went silent. "I now call this meeting to order." he sat down and shifted some papers. Alan sat silently as his mouth sealed shut through out the meeting, several time having to keep himself from blurting out something or another that did not make since. Finally they got to the last issue.
"Last on the list, the RocketFire One. The very latest design with safety in mind." Smith grinned finding his little rhyme quite amusing. The room went dark and a picture of the inside and outside of the plain appeared in a detailed holographic image in front of them. The middle of the plane looked to have a huge bulky wall surrounding it.
"As you can see, it has a very much up-graded luxurious status. Everything is the very latest. The plane is bullet proof, bomb proof, and impossible to bring down. Here in the middle is where the officials stay's for the entire trip. Should something happened the middle haul of the plane where the president and important officials will be staying will be protected even from the most severe of the damage. The minister nodded, but this time Alan could not keep his mouth shut.
"But what about the others on board, would not the officials families be important? Can you really judge who will live and die when you obviously have the power to include everyone on board with the shield. Do you honestly think an official is going to be any use to you after losing his wife and kids? Especially when they were right there in the very next room?" Alan exclaimed, going red in the face. Mr. Smith looked just as red but he also had the look that he might just strangle Alan on the spot. The President and Minister stood up staring at the plans harder.
"I am terribly sorry, Mr President, Minster. Mr Tracy you are excused from this meeting. Please leave." Mr Smith growled. Alan was half way out of the room when the ministers voice stopped him.
"Wait Mr. Tracy." Alan stopped and turned around. You didn't just ignore the head of a country after all...even Alan.
"You make a valid point. Though you know you just gave your own product a bad review not the best selling point.
"You should not have to settle for a flawed product. This is going to be your security in the air, you should make sure it's perfect." Alan shrugged. "Besides, I didn't design it...I didn't even know about it before a few hours ago."
The minister grinned. "If you are on the design team for the next prototype to be seen at this time in two months I will be proud to make it my new plane." The minister sat down. The president turned to Alan who's mouth was moving but nothing was coming out.
"I quite agree with Sam here. What else do you see when you look at the design?" Alan glanced at the plane and immediately saw several things wrong with the whole thing.
"Well it's too cramped for one, with the main doors right across from your office it doesn't present much safety on the ground. The way the engines are put in based on where the sound proofing is means the sound proofing will only muffle it a bit. If you moved the sound proofing you will virtually not hear anything outside." Alan said. He hadn't been studying this stuff to someday become a Thunderbird for nothing. The president smiled.
"Yes, as Sam said, as long as Alan is on the re-design team I too will put my money into this new plane. Why don't you come sit back down and we will conclude this meeting." The president sat down. Alan slowly walked back to his seat and sat down. Tin Tin and Scott were staring at him open mouthed. Alan shrugged at them before taking a shuddering breath. The meeting ended quickly after that. Alan missed most of the rest of it, later he would not even remember that he had shook everyone's hands as they left. The next thing he remembered was waking up the next day on the top floor with almost no memory of in between. Brief snaps of memory would pop up such as a pizza and some kind of old movie, but the rest was a complete blank.
Stretching Alan got out of bed wondering if yesterday had been a weird nightmare where ha had actually blew a deal for his father. With a shudder, Alan prayed it had not really happened as he grabbed some clothes and headed for the bathroom. Scott stood already waiting at the bathroom door. He stared down at his brother in deep thought, Alan shuddered at the deep look.
"I talked to dad this morning." Scott finally spoke, Alan tensed. "He wants to speak to you at 9am sharp." Alan nodded with a gulp, he felt like he was stepping up to his execution. At 9 am precisely, the video phone rang and Alan who had been staring at it hoping for some miracle that it would randomly blow up before he hit the TALK button. Jeff's face appeared on the screen.
"Hello Father." Alan hated that term, 'father' it was so formal.
"Alan, I want to talk to you about yesterdays meeting, one of which you were not supposed to even be at and I will find out how that happened later, however I am glad you were." Alan opened his mouth to apologize but stopped mid-sentence to look at his father in confusion.
"Glad? I messed up the whole deal." Alan stated.
"No you did exactly what I would have done had I seen the plain's plans before they were to be submitted. Upon hearing of yesterdays meeting I had the plans sent to me immediately. I was quite frankly appalled at the plans myself and was very lucky you were sent to that meeting. I will not hesitate sending you to those meeting again, as you have proved yourself mature enough to handle it and look at it objectively." Alan didn't know whether he should be happy or mortified that he was gaining more responsibility, but in the same token would have to endure more of those boring meetings.
"I heard you are to be on the re-design team, I will work it out with your schedule." Alan looked at his father questioningly. As far as he knew he was due back at school shortly after this little vacation was over.
"I have decided your ready to begin full IR training. At the end of your trip you, Fermat and Tin Tin will report for duty and begin a very intensive training session which will include all off your normal school work curriculum." Alan just stood there with his mouth hanging open. Jeff smiled.
"Good job, Alan. I'm proud of you. Don't worry about anymore meetings this week, just have some fun." Alan nodded and didn't even notice the screen turn off as he just stared off into space. This is how the rest of the apartment found him upon entering he livingroom.
"Alan, are you okay?" Tin Tin asked resting her hand on his back. Alan looked up into her eyes before smiling.
"Things are finally beginning to look up." That was all they got out of him before he half ran half walked out of the room to grab his bag so that they could leave. They opened the door to find one very red faced Smith standing there hand ready to knock. He looked loathing-ly over at Alan as if he was the cause of every problem in the universe and should be squished like the bug he was. This however did not faze the boy at all as he grinned a cheerful 'Hey Smith!' before stepping around the skinny man ready to get going. They had plans, after all. Scott shook his head in amusement not quite sure what his father had said, but happy to see Alan so happy again. The group followed the schedule to the letter much to everyone but Smith's annoyance.
"We have to escape Smith at some point." Alan mumbled at lunch that day. If this was going to work Smith could definitely NOT be part of the plan. Scott either but Smith had to go first.
"I will talk to dad tonight about asking him to let us tour the city ourselves." Scott mumbled tiredly. They had been run to the ground having already gone to three museums since breakfast.
"Swallow people! Lunch ends in exactly three minutes and nine, eight, seven..." Smith turned around his nose in the air. There was another roar of groans before Smith turned his head to give them a very nasty glare. The rest of the day went much like the first part with one exception. They managed to fit four museums and a trip up the tallest building before dinner. After dinner the small tired group crawled back to there room feeling as if they had just gone through hell. With a shudder they all fell into the couch not even having the energy to lift there fingers to turn on the tv. Later a call from Scott brought cheers as Jeff declared Smith fired and that left them free to really enjoy the rest of the vacation this time.
It was day three in New York before an opportunity finally presented it's self. The plan was perfect, an emergency meeting over a crashed plane was being held and Scott was going to have to attend in replacement of there father. He left at six that morning with a list of possibilities of where they could go and a credit card. By six-thirty the three teens found themselves in the local supermarket. The first plan of action, disguises.
"I really don't think where going to find any Halloween costumes in the middle of July." Alan stated after walking down just one isle. Tin Tin rolled her eyes.
"Were not looking for costumes, Alan. That would just catch peoples attention. Where looking for something..." She stopped as her sight caught a long row of products.
"Un-oh..." Fermat mumbled staring in the same direction.
"What? Wait...no way! I am NOT dying my hair!" Alan grumbled loudly. Tin Tin grinned as she ran over towards the long rows of different colored dyes. Two hours later Alan stared at himself in the bathroom mirror of there apartment. His hair was now longer, chin length and a dark auburn red. Green contacts and a pair of round glasses completed his change. Alan was speechless with his mouth hanging open. Tin Tin stood behind him grinning from ear to ear at the huge change. Alan turned to her an evil grin on his face as he picked up the two boxes of bleach blond hair dye. Her smile disappeared and she shuddered but did not complain.
It was a lot harder to get Tin Tin's very dark black hair to the proper color then they had expected. In the end Alan and Fermat had run back to the store to buy several more boxes and a bleaching kit. Tin Tin was in tears at the sight of it. Getting her hair back was going to take forever, that is if it all didn't just fall out from all of the chemicals. With another shudder she looked into the mirror for the first time, and sighed in relief. She did not look as bad as she thought she would. She didn't like it at all but she would get used to it. They would all have to get used to it, they would not be aloud to dye there hair back to it's original color for six weeks with the dye they used or risk there hair falling out or worse turning some strange color like green or purple. She grabbed the colored contacts that would make her eyes a deep dark blue. Finally it was Fermat's turn Alan and Tin Tin turned to him products in hand evil looks on there faces. Fermat gulped as he stepped back.
Fermat stared at himself in the mirror bug eyed with his mouth wide open. His dirty blond hair was strange but the light blue eyes were just wrong. It was like he was looking at someone else in the mirror. The contacts were to his prescription so he held his glasses in a small case in his bag. Not for the fifth time in the two minutes he had the contacts in, he lifted his hands to rub his itching eyes only to have them held down by Alan and Tin Tin whom were on either side of him.
"Don't mess with them, you'll get used to them." Tin Tin whispered. All that earned her was a watery eyed glare.
"Alright guys, we have a train and two buses to catch. We need to leave now if were going to make our first train though, so do we have everything? Alan asked with the schedules in one hand. Tin Tin nodded.
"Yeah, let me just grab our bag and we're off." Tin Tin stated as they filed out of the huge bathroom. Alan blushed at the thought of Scott coming in for a moment to find them all in the bathroom together, then could not help but laugh out loud at the mere idea of it. His friends looked at him as if he had lost his mind, he only laughed harder.
Alan stared silently at the small red, three story brick hospital, he had been half expecting to look as cheerless, scary and horrible as the nurse it recently employed. Instead it looked like any other building slightly worn but professional. Windows closed against the summer heat, were decorated with bright pictures such as suns and flowers for added cheerfulness in an otherwise dreary place of sickness and pain. Two stories up a child and his mother stared back down at Alan and his counterparts. Alan gave them a smile that didn't reach his worried eyes, before looking at his two best friends and nodding. It was time.
Taking a deep breath they stepped into the front doors looking as if they knew exactly where they were going. The elderly receptionist sitting near the door behind a giant old desk was reading a romance novel the cover of which would make anyone blush; did not even look up as the three walked by. The three walked into a quiet recently abandoned for remodeling wing of the first floor. Tin Tin walked swiftly ahead until she found a closet thankfully still filled with supplies. The three looked around before walking into it and shutting the door behind them. A pile of hospital gowns and two set's of small medical scrubs sat on a shelf, Alan groaned at the site, unlike his two friend he was definitely NOT a small. This of course meant he was not going as staff but as a patient, at least he had some practice. Glaring at his friends, he took off his shirt and put on two hospital gowns, one on the front, and the other on the back. Thankful for the for site to wear shorts, he did not have to strip down to his boxers to look real. Meanwhile Fermat and Tin Tin changed into there scrubs. Tin Tim pulled her giant black back pack bag out and opened it. Quickly she pulled out two fake name badges, and a hospital bracelet. Then handed them out. Alan needed a little help getting the bracelet on to his wrist; then with that out of the way Tin Tin found the IV set up and motioned for Alan to sit down in a wheel chair. But Alan was to busy looking stricken at the site of the IV. Tin Tin rolled her eyes and Fermat laughed nervously.
"Sit down, you idiot, I am going to tape the needle then tape it on top of your arm. You will still need to be careful as it can still peirce you, but we need it to look real." Tin Tin mumbled. Alan sighed before sitting down. Fermat took the bag of saline and hooked it to the hook at the top of the wheelchair while Tin Tin taped the tubing to Alan's arm. Tin Tin had taken her EMT Basic classes and knew how to set an IV. Peaking out into the hall they were relieved to find it still empty. Tin Tin dropped her backpack into a corner behind some crutches before leading the way out and back down the hall way. They were half way out when a ghost suddenly appeared in front of Alan. Alan gasped in surprise.
"Hide, you have company!" The young girl in pigtails yelled.
"Someone is coming, hide!" Alan stated.
"What about you?" Tin Tin stated pushing him faster.
"I'm a patient remember, hide!" Tin Tin and Fermat jumped into a closet just as someone turned into the hall.
"Well, what are you doing here, young man?" Alan sighed in relief as he realized it was not THE nurse.
"I think I'm lost." Alan whispered before coughing. The nurse gave him a sympathetic look before nodding.
"Well it happens, every ward it seems looks the same. Let me see your bracelet?" Alan showed it to her hoping she would not look to closely at the fake thing.
"Ah, quite a bit going on with you. Let's get you back up to pediatrics shall we?" Alan nodded looking sleepy. She pushed him back out into the front then into an elevator. They stopped on the second floor before being pushed towards the front. Alan knew he could not let her take him to the front desk and looked desperately for an escape.
"Hey!" Alan exclaimed. The nurse stopped. "There playing X-Box. Can I go play?" He asked, wide puppy dog eyes." She smiled and pushed him into the play room. Alan thanked her before wheeling himself further into the room. He waited for the nurse to leave before wheeling himself near the window to wait for his friends. He didn't have to wait to long. Everyone looked relieve to see each other as Alan wheeled his way out and they moved off out of site to observe the children's staff. After an hour they gathered either she was not working now or was on another floor.
"Okay, it's eleven am and we have one more floor to check, since the bottom floor is under renovation. We will spend an hour there then break for a meal and come back for the next staff change." Tin Tin stated reading the schedule she had at some point stole from who knows where. They walked/wheeled down to the cafeteria board to death an hour later.
"Will they let me eat down here? It's customary for patients to eat in there room." Alan stated.
"Yeah, I printed up a doctors note while I was in the restroom." Tin Tin produced a new sheet of paper. Alan and Fermat laughed. They had very little trouble getting food before Alan stated he had to use the restroom. Wheeling down the hall he was shocked when a doctor appeared in front of him.
"Mr Rain! There you are! You are do for a Colonoscopy in ten minutes! Let's go!" The doctor grabbed Alan's chair and took off.
"But, I'm not Mr. Rain!" Alan exclaimed.
"Nice try. Where not falling for that one again." Alan began to panic.
"No, really. I'm not him!" But he was being wheeled into a room full of monitors.
"Alright, Mr. Rain. Up into the bed."
"No! I am not him!" Alan sat stubbornly looking for any escape. Two orderly's appeared and lifted him up onto the bed.
"Alright, you scheduled for a new IV, so let me just...Mr RAIN!" Alan groaned, the two orderlies were holding him down so that he could not get up. He felt a prick and knew a new IV had just been set up much to his horror.
"Now, Mr. Rain. I am just going to sedate you with some Demerol..." Alan glared still yelling that they were making a mistake, then he blinked and he saw his worst nightmare nurse above him then he was out like a light as the medication took effect.
A/N 2: MWAHAHAHA! R/R! One more chapter and a short prologue left! Happy New Year everyone!