'What the…GORDON COOPER TRACY YOU ARE SO DEAD. JUST YOU WAIT UNTIL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU. YOU ARE A DEAD GOT THAT? DEAD. DEAD, DEAD, DEAD!'

Feathers.

And not just any feathers.

Pink Feathers.

Pink.

PINK. WITH GOLD GLITTER.

Scott pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed deeply. Of all the times for Gordon to play a practical joke, the timing on this one could not be worse.

Gordon was so, so, so, so dead.

Scott's shoulders slumped as he knew what he would be doing for the foreseeable future: running interference to save his brother's life.

Sometimes Scott hated being the eldest. His youngest two brothers had death wishes they displayed at the most inopportune times, and Gordon was definitely the worst. He activated his comm.

'John?'

John appeared floating in front of him, EOS over his right shoulder.

'I heard. I think the world heard. What was our idiotic squid thinking?'

'I believe that it was meant for me.'

John's eyebrows shot up. It was so rare for Gordon to screw up on a prank. And this was probably the biggest cock-up in the history of cock-ups.

'Where are they?'

'They're on their way back.'

'ETA?'

'20 minutes.'

'Do they know?'

'No, not yet.'

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

It was Scott's fault.

Gordon was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, a befitting grin on his face as he imagined his big brother and the 'surprise' that awaited him in the shower. That would teach him to belittle Four.

Gordon had overheard Scott calling Four 'nice – for a bath-time sub.' It had stopped him in his tracks as his outraged ears heard even more. 'Probably would pick pink over gold though. Yeah, he'd really like that.' That last bit had sealed his brother's fate. Pink and gold, eh? He could do that.

He bided his time, waiting for Scott to go on a mission without Two, and finally his wish came true this morning. As soon as Scott had left Gordon had struck, planting his pranking materials carefully so as not to alert his hyper-aware military-trained brother.

Of course, exactly eight minutes after Gordon had made it back to his room and cleaned himself up, Virgil and he had been called out on a separate mission. Goodness knows what Alan and Kayo were doing, but Scott's mission should have been over and he should have been back about 15 minutes.

The perfect amount of time. He should just be hitting the shower in the locker room now. Gordon had not been stupid enough to try Scott's room. Now that he and Tin were sharing on occasion, there was no way he could successfully get past TWO hypervigilant individuals. But they used their own shower cubicles in the locker room. This was because Gordon was a slob.

Virgil was humming to himself. It had been a good rescue. No injuries, no deaths, no Chaos Crew, no Hood…just good, old-fashioned rescuing. He called John to let him know they were on approach. Glancing over to Gordon, Virgil gave a small frown. Gordon seemed inordinately happy. What was…oh no! That was Gordon's 'I've planned a great prank and I'm waiting for the pictures!' face.

He looked back to the front to see John with him, also staring at Gordon, but with a frown. Lowering his voice, Virgil asked, 'What did he do?' He wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.

'Scott wants to know if you can delay arriving for another 20 minutes or so.'

'Um, they can probably hear us from the island.'

'Err. I guess you better land. Just try and keep Gordon hidden.'

'You're joking, right? I'm guessing he pranked Scott?'

'Yes – and no.'

'Yes and no? You know what – I don't want to know.'

'Probably safer. Good luck, Virg. Scott's in the showers'

Virgil and John exchanged a glance before John disappeared and Virgil turned to see if Gordon had heard any of that conversation. Judging from the smirk still on his face he had not.

Normally, Virgil would have got on with the post-flight checks while Gordon left to prepare food for them both. But in the spirit of keeping his co-pilot alive, Vigil threw the stock list at Gordon and got him to go check the infirmary. Nothing actually needed stocking up, but it should keep Gordon busy – if he did it right – for the required 20 minutes.

Gordon was quite annoyed with Virg, and there was a small part of him that was already planning to get his own back. But he also recognised Virgil had Older Brother Status and Commander Of This Mission, so he begrudgingly took the list and slunk off to the infirmary.

As soon as Gordon had entered the infirmary, Virgil got EOS to quietly lock him in as he high-tailed it out to see Scott. Skidding around the corner he came face to face with the one vision he had not expected. Stopping suddenly before he barrelled into his big brother was not easy, but he managed. Keeping his mouth shut at the spectacle before him was much, much harder. As the two stood there standing, Alan came into the room. He took one look, turned on his heel and left, muttering something about the death-wishes of idiotic squids.

EOS chimed in. She had learnt not to just appear when someone was in the shower as this was considered rude, so she played a chime and waited for one of them to reply. It was Scott who answered.

'Yes, EOS?' he asked. 'Gordon is demanding to know why he has been locked in.' Scott looked at Virgil. Virgil shrugged. Scott sighed again. 'Let him out. He'll have to face the music at some point.'

Eight and a half minutes later a very angry Gordon stormed into the locker room. The first thing he saw was Scott and Virgil standing shoulder to shoulder, both with arms across their chests, identical frowns on their faces.

That should have been his first warning.

He took in Scott's remarkably un-feathered and un-glittered look, decided that Scott had not used his shower yet so he would have to wait for that privilege, and turned his attention on Virgil.

That should have been his second warning.

Launching into a tirade about being asked to do a pointless stocktake – yes, he'd noticed the date on the pad almost immediately – and finding himself locked in, Gordon was on a role.

Then two gold-glittered and pink-feathered hands appeared, one on each shoulder, and pulled Scott and Virgil apart.

Gordon gaped.

For there stood Kayo, in her shorts and tank top, covered with gold glitter and pink feathers. And her eyes were going to kill Gordon on the spot. Of course, it had not occurred to Gordon that Scott and Kayo may possibly share a shower (eww – not an image he wanted to think about right now).

He was so dead.

The next words out of his mouth would either rescue him or sentence him to certain death.

He bit his lip. He could do this. He could. He could! He couldn't…

'Hey, Kayo. That shade of pink really suits you!'

And Gordon bolted as if his life depended on it. Because it did.

To the intense amusement of his three older brothers, Kayo did not move. She would take her payback at a time more convenient to herself. When Gordon eventually let his guard down…

'What the hell did you do for Gordon to prank you?' Virgil asked. Scott shook his head. 'I have no idea. He's been acting funny for a couple of days.' Kayo's eyes narrowed. 'A couple of days? Do you think he overheard us discussing Penny's gift idea?' Scott sighed again. Of course he had overheard. Virgil asked with his eyebrow.

'Penny's found a shop selling replica Fours, but they only did pink or gold glitter.' Did they think Gordon would like one? Yes, they had thought it an excellent gift. Gordon, though, would only have heard one side of the conversation. The wrong side.

Kayo had left to clean off Gordon's prank in her own shower. Neither John, Virgil or Scott said anything about the shower arrangement, and Scott knew he'd be showering alone for a while…

Gordon would need to be extra vigilant, with TWO hypervigilant individuals out to get him, but that was the fun of being Gordon Tracy.