Alt 7. Protective. Sineater asks for Alan over any family member or Brains.

Characters: Alan, Brains, Havoc, Fuse

Warnings: Fight

Alan looked at the man standing beside him and grinned.

The bespectacled scientist next to him was blushing furiously as the female reporter tried to get him to talk about his latest project, not giving Brains much time to get his sentences out. Alan took pity on his friend and helped him sketch out his project.

Once the reporter had left Brains thanked Alan profusely and tried to hide away from any more people wanting to talk to him. Alan, however, enjoyed the opportunity to talk to people who were neither family nor in need of rescuing.

He had been surprised when Brains had asked for his help on this project, but Alan's love of game theory was second only to John, and no way John was going to be here. Working with Brains on something not iR-related had been surprisingly enjoyable, and the best part was that Scott had forwarded his contribution as part of his final exams for high school.

Press conference over, Alan and Brains began to talk to the techs on the floor running the demonstrations while those less tech-minded ate and drunk the free food.

Eventually just the techs and Brains and Alan remained.

Alan collapsed onto the side of the stage while Brains sat beside him in a chair, supping a warm cup of tea. They listened to the sounds of the techs clearing up and just sat together in silence.

Until there was a bang.

Frowning, Alan stood up to investigate but he'd gone no further when a familiar pair of purple-suited people stood before them, smirking. They stood aside to allow the third person through.

Immediately Alan hit the hidden comm in his collar and took a stance before Brains. The action caused the Hood to grin broadly and clap. It was not pleasant.

'Well, well. I was not expecting a Tracy to be here, especially not the youngest, most protected one.'

'What do you want, Hood?'

'I want him. You, you are just a bonus.'

The Hood pointed at Brains as he spoke. The scientist shrank back in his chair while Alan stood firm in front of him.

Alan took a fighting stance as Kayo had taught him.

Fuse laughed.

Havoc took a similar pose.

'You want Brains? You'll have to go through me.'

'Oh Alan. We'd be delighted!'

Fuse charged.

Alan danced.

They danced and danced, Alan keeping both henchmen away from his friend.

He thanked Kayo for her lessons and his brothers for ensuring he learnt with them.

Brains helped too. When the chair he was sitting on had broken Brains had attempted to hit Fuse. He hadn't come close, but the attempt had surprised the big man enough that he had not defended himself when Alan swept his feet out from under him.

And suddenly Alan wasn't alone. The sound of Thunderbird One roared overhead, causing the Chaos Crew to pause in their attack.

Alan used the sudden pause to regroup himself in front of Brains. He knew that there would be one more push to get to Brains before help could get to them.

He crouched on the balls of his feet, Brains' chair leg held tightly.

Fuse cracked his knuckles.

Havoc smirked, playing with one of her holoballs.

The sound of breaking glass spurred them into action.

And then Alan wasn't alone. Scott stood to one side and Gordon on the other, and the three stood and watched as Havoc and Fuse backed away. The Hood had already disappeared, and they didn't take too much longer to follow him.

There were hugs all around and a lot of hair-ruffling that Alan endured with much eye-rolling.

And then there was a hand on his arm. Brains looked into his eyes and smiled.

'Y-y-you protected me, Al-Alan. Thank you.'