Misery, Company and Scott's Retaliation

People seemed to forget that before Gordon and Alan were the Terrible Twosome, the original bearers of the title had been Scott and John.

It had caused no end of dismay to their parents and teachers when it became apparent that Scott absolutely could not back down from a challenge and John was an enabler- if Scott wanted something to happen, John would make it so.

(Thankfully for the sanity of all involved one of the teachers had realised that Scott was a rule follower and John followed Scott, so whenever Scott found a challenge a rule was created to curb it. It was a pattern that worked until John discovered the fine art of uncovering the loopholes that allowed him to bridge the gap between what Scott wanted and what the ever growing list of rules allowed- "The rule is no climbing on the roof without climbing gear and an adult." "But we weren't on the roof, we were on the rafters inside the roof." had been one exchange shortly after that revelation.)

But in any case, people easily forgot about that side of Scott, eclipsed by the more recent antics of the youngest Tracys and camouflaged by the serious mein that his responsibilities had bestowed upon him.

What they also forgot was that while Scott didn't have the same level of formal engineering training that someone like Virgil did, he had learned a lot over the years- partially through association and partially because if you're going to quickly take apart something that's in your way you have to know how it all fits together in the first place so you don't cut the wrong line. It meant he had a pretty good idea of how to build things, even though he was normally breaking or patching stuff.

So it was that Scott was carefully assembling the last components of his retaliation to Kayo's opening volley in their nascent prank war. John had offered some suggestions and he'd been mulling over the delivery of his chosen weapon when a perfect opportunity had arisen- Kayo had made an order for Virgil to collect on the fortnightly mail run. A little research allowed him to replicate the packaging perfectly, right down to weight, and it was completely normal for him to help Virgil with unloading Tracy 2 after the mail run, which would let him switch out his package for the original.

He managed to complete it and seal up the packaging just before Tracy 2 roared in and taxied to a halt in the civilian hangar. Scott quickly tidied up and held the hand-long rectangular box carefully so it was shielded by his forearm as he carried it down with him to the hangar. He found the flat deck trolley used for deliveries and pushed it over to the plane.

"Hey Virgil, any problems on the mail run?" He asked as Virgil climbed down from the cockpit and popped open an inspection hatch on the fuselage.

"Mail run was fine, but I think something's come loose in here, the plane was making an odd rattle on final approach." Virgil glanced up at him, then turned his attention back to the guts of the plane. "I'm just taking a quick look, I'll give it a proper going over once it's cooled down."

"Good plan. Is it still safe to fly?" Scott asked as he opened the cargo compartment and started unloading the dozen-odd packages inside. Kayo's package was concealed between three shoeboxes and a box of art supplies as soon as Virgil's back was turned, his replacement placed on top in clear view.

"Emergencies only, I want to find what's broken first." Was the middle Tracy's reply. "You okay to drop off the deliveries?"

Scott did his best to hide his grin. That couldn't have been more perfect. "Yeah, sure. Anything for down here?"

"Just the big crate, that's for Brains."

"Got it." Scott nodded as he wrestled the last box into position, shut the door, made sure everything was stacked properly and started pushing the trolley away.

When he'd dropped off the delivery for Brains, he made his way up the lift and into the villa to deliver everyone else's orders. Whenever there was a mail run it was like magic- everyone just appeared out of nowhere to claim their packages as soon as whoever had the trolley reached the lounge. Scott had to be careful when handing everything out to make sure Kayo's actual delivery stayed hidden amidst his and Virgil's things. Finally, after the initial feeding frenzy had died down, Kayo appeared, claimed 'her' package with an absent 'Thanks' and jumped down into the conversation pit to open it.

Scott stepped back out of range as Kayo opened the box… and set off the confetti bomb inside. A puff of compressed air sent the wad of brightly coloured strips of paper fluttering into the air to shower down over her.

"Scott Tracy." Kayo began, a shower of paper drifting off her head and shoulders as she turned to look at him, fighting to keep her laughter under control. "You are a dead man."

Scott grinned broadly, set her actual package on the floor within her reach and collected the vacuum cleaner from where he'd placed it earlier in anticipation of the clean up. "Bring it."