Saving Alan Chapter 6

Trigger Warning- This story deals with subjects of abuse by a teacher and self-harm/suicidal ideation. This chapter will be more limited on those themes than the other chapters.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Thunderbirds, I just like to play around with the characters sometimes. This chapter will follow much of the storyline of the 2004 movie.

The first Saturday of spring break started out as such a promising day. Okay, so Alan was grounded, but he couldn't help but feel the relief from his father's words the night before. And while life still felt as though it was spiraling out of control, he found his father's words to be a lighthouse in the midst of the raging storm. Plus, even grounded, and even with Dr. Smith's threats still looming in the back of his mind, Alan felt safer on the island. Maybe he could have some time to himself to just think and make out a plan for how to deal with his teacher.

A part of him didn't want to get out of bed, but another part of him realized that with school his time on the island was limited. He was secretly (and grudgingly) a little glad that he had been grounded, that way nobody would expect him to go off adventuring and exploring the island. He really was in too much pain to do much of that. And he already knew he'd be drawing unwanted attention to himself by wearing long sleeves on a hot tropical island. He did this to himself, how did he not take into account that hiding his arms on Tracy Island was going to be so difficult? Thinking about his predicaments put him on a dangerous path toward self-deprecation and morose thoughts. He had to try to stay positive; good moods were far and few between for him these days and he didn't want to lose the feeling.

He wanted to find a quiet place to think, he was banned from going near the Thunderbirds. He loved his family so much, but there were very few places one could consider private on their little island. He knew that Brains and Fermat wanted to spend some time on a new invention down in the lab this morning, so it would be no problem avoiding them. Now he just had to get past his own family and the Belagant's. He heard the thumps and bumps of his brothers goofing around in the family room. They were distracting each other, if he wanted to make and inconspicuous escape, that was the best time. Passing the dining room was more tricky, his father sat hunched over the paper while Onaha and TinTin gabbed away and prepared breakfast in the kitchen. Onaha would doggedly pursue anybody who looked as though they might be trying to skip a meal, and Alan had already forgone dinner the night before, so he had to be particularly stealthy. He ducked behind a wall just as he saw TinTin glance up at him, then back down quickly, a small smile tugging at her lips, but she didn't say a word.

And as though Alan didn't have enough on his mind, he couldn't help but think to himself that he wished he could watch her smile like that all the time. But he promptly dismissed that thought and dedicated himself to his quest for solitude. His final obstacle was passing Kyrano outside, his attention was fully devoted to the pruning of his prize rose bushes, and so did not notice as Alan beat a hasty retreat to the footpath that led to the beach.

Having finally achieved the quiet and solitude, Alan grabbed his rock skimmer. It was an invention of his own, and it improved the distance one could skim a rock by leaps and bounds. Perhaps his little invention wasn't as life changing as the things the rest of his family or Brains came up with, but it calmed him to see the rocks flying out into the sea. And today he needed it. He needed to be calm to just sort through his swirling thoughts.

The top priority should have been sorting out what to do about Dr. Smith, but he felt so lost there that it almost seemed an impossibility. So instead he found himself thinking about his family. It wasn't right, he knew, that he felt so much like a burden to them one minute and then smothered by their love and attention the next. He had always known that they loved him, and he loved them immensely in return. A few weeks ago, when his father made him take that appointment the school counselor, Mrs. Espinoza, she had talked to him briefly about catastrophic thinking patterns. This was one of them, he knew; thinking of himself as a burden or as the family failure. He didn't know where it came from, just that the thoughts were always present. And moments like the night before when he watched his father feeling so disappointed in him and so angry, well they only fueled the patterns. But then there were the good moments, like when his father tucked him in the night before, or the fact that whenever he was facing his worst nightmares he longed for his father's arms.

Alan never did get around to thinking of a plan for stopping Dr. Smith, his mind was wrenched violently from its wonderings when Thunderbird Three suddenly launched and Fermat and TinTin came sprinting over to him.

"Thunderbird 5 has been hit! Thunderbird 5 has been hit!"

Before Alan could fully process what was happening, a dark and looming vessel rose out of the ocean with its course set straight for Tracy Island. And with alarming speed, the puzzle pieces forced themselves into place and the clarity hit him all at once; John was in trouble, the rest of his family was headed into what was almost certainly a trap, they were basically alone, and they were under attack.

John had been enjoying an easy morning. There were a few natural disasters brewing, but so far all of them were pretty contained and the local authorities were able to handle everything. He'd decided to take some extra time looking after his experiments and writing the next chapter of his latest book while he had the chance. Being part of the Thunderbirds meant that quiet time was never to be taken for granted.

And John loved the quiet. He wasn't like his other brothers. He was an introvert who enjoyed serenity. While being up in space for more than a day was enough to drive Scott, Virgil, and Gordon to the brink of insanity, John reveled in the peace, quiet, and solitude that he could only seem to get in space. Of course, he did miss his family while he was up here, it's just that between 4 brothers and the Hackenbackers and the Belegants, life on Tracy Island got chaotic quickly. It may seem slightly ironic (considering the limited oxygen), but space was the only place John felt as though he could truly breathe.

As if to prove him wrong the alarms in Thunderbird 5 began blaring, mockingly shattering the serenity from moments before. He barely registered that his bird was about to be hit, and didn't even manage to fully deliver his distress message before he was violently launched through the air to the other side of the ship. He hit the back wall with a thud and a sickening crack of his collarbone. The impact his head had made with the metal was no joke, and he instantly became nauseous. This was no time for a concussion (was there ever a good time for a concussion).

The lights flickered in the space station a couple of times before giving out completely. The control panel was alarmingly still illuminated, and he realized the source of light was a fire in the cabin which was quickly growing. It gave him enough light to read the many warnings coming from the panel. He was losing power. Without power there would be no way to steer or control the ship and the air supply would soon stop circulating. To say he was in trouble was the understatement of the century. John was a calm, peaceful, and serene person by nature, but now it was time to panic.

He had to find a way to keep himself in control. His family was arriving with Thunderbird three to rescue him. But with the ship in as volatile a state as it was, disaster could strike in hours, or in mere seconds. It wasn't until his father and brothers stepped aboard that he began to think more sensibly. His father was always cool under pressure and his strong, unwavering confidence seemed to radiate off of him and sink into his sons' beings. They took their strength from his steadfast certainty.

His father immediately focused in on him, assessing his injuries in just a glance, helping him to sit upright so that Virgil could come and patch him up as much as possible. With the relief of seeing his family he started to comprehend the extent of the damage to Thunderbird Five. It wasn't pretty. They were going to assess the damage and maybe even try to salvage what they could, but ultimately John knew they were in for months of repairs.

He couldn't focus on the damage to his bird just now, he was just happy that their help had arrived in time, and he was anxious to get onto Thunderbird Three.

Gordon's was relieved to see his brother alive and relatively unscathed. The ship was in a bad way, but Thunderbirds could be repaired and even replaced, his brother could not. The ship was in bad shape and things were getting worse. There was a constant warning on the EBS system and there was nothing they could do about it. They didn't have time to worry about the ship, they were going to have to get out of there and come back at another time.

And that's when things went from terrible to worse. Much worse. The locking mechanism refused to work, they couldn't get to Thunderbird Three, they were trapped in a ticking time bomb.

And if the situation was dire then, it became futile when there comms system alerted them to the situation on Tracy Island. They'd been infiltrated, their systems overtaken. This whole thing had been a set up from the beginning, meant to spell their demise.

Gordon was usually able to make light of the worst situations. He liked to laugh and not take life too seriously. He didn't like the discomfort of negative emotions. But there was nothing he could make fun of here, he was honestly terrified. His whole family was about to die and there was nothing he could do about it.

And his baby brother, Alan…why hadn't he appeared with the rest of the island's residents when the creep had taken over the comms system? Had something already happened to the kids, would Alan have to face this psychopath without the help of his family? Would he live the rest of his young life alone, or worse, would he die alone? What Gordon wouldn't give for the whole family to be safe and free back on Tracy Island.

Gordon watched in growing trepidation as John's breathing became labored and he began to struggle with consciousness. He watched as Virgil faithfully tended to John's needs as best as he could without the convenience of a fully stocked med bay. He watched as Scott became manic, futilely trying to fix every single broken system on the ship singlehandedly. He watched his father's calm and steady presence as he gave orders and tried to think through all their options. But Gordon knew that unless Brains could break free from his own imprisonment and wrestle control of the island away from the psychopath and his goons, the Tracy family was sentenced to die in space. They could fiddle with systems and try to keep each other awake and comfortable, but they all knew that their only chance of survival was back on earth, and that was a slim chance, indeed. So Gordon waited.

It was impossible to tell how much time had passed when they heard a blessedly familiar voice break through the comms system. Alan was alive! Words could not begin to express the relief he felt as seeing his baby brother's face! Their own situation was still so dire, but at least Alan was alive.

Time continued to slip by, the ship continued to get hotter, oxygen continued to deplete. Gordon had well and truly lost hope, and was frankly annoyed at his father's insistence that Alan would come to their rescue. "Alan? He's just a kid!" Gordon was (for once) not fooling around or trying to get a rise out of anybody for saying it. He was worried for his younger brother's safety. For all of their safety. He didn't think it was right for Alan to have to shoulder this responsibility on his own, but what could they do about it.

"He's a Tracy." Their father's words were firm, unrelenting. And he was right, if anybody could pull this off, it would be the Sprout.

Alan didn't think he could pull this off. He had always been scrappy and crafty. He was a dab hand with robotics and anything that had a motor. He was fast (14 years of running from pranks and roughhousing with older brothers would do that). He had some skill, but he was up against a somebody who was obviously a mastermind dead set on revenge and his 4 sidekicks, some of which were trained assassins. Alan was tired of running. He had already been injured before the psychos showed up on the island, his body was positively screaming now.

Strangely, his physical pain paled in comparison to the guilt that was bubbling inside of him. He knew he was acting like a jerk to his friends, but he was worried out of his mind and he couldn't think straight. It was no excuse. He had to make it up to them, he had to save his friends and his family from this living Hell.

Alan thought back to all the times he had contemplated taking his life in the past few months. Now, in the face of his potential mortality, he knew he had to live. If for no other reason, he had to live through this so that he could save his family.

Everybody on the island had been captured; all of their parents went first, then TinTin and Fermat, Parker and Lady P had shown up only to be captured in short order after their initial fight, and Alan tried to sink down into the cover of the bushes to buy himself time to come up with a plan. But that backfired. The Hood had known he was there, had somehow sensed his presence.

They sat huddled together in the island's industrial sized refrigerator. It was Parker and Lady P who pulled off their escape. Things started to look up again, ever so slightly. With The Hood and his motley crew fleeing the island in Thunderbird Two so that they could wreak havoc and blame International Rescue for it, the island's inhabitants were able to gain control back of the island and of International Rescue.

At first it seemed as though they might be too late. They called, no they screamed for the Tracy men to wake up, but to no avail. It was when all hope seemed to be lost that Jeff's weak voice finally responded. And not a moment too soon. Nothing could have relieved Alan more than the moment when he heard his Dad's voice over the comm. His family was safe, but he couldn't relax yet. By the time his family got back to earth and made it to the Bank of London The Hood could have caused unthinkable chaos and devastation. He knew he wasn't the best choice for the Thunderbirds. He knew his family would have doubts, and why shouldn't they. But if there was any chance of stopping the Hood from destroying the world, it had to happen immediately and Alan, Fermat, and TinTin were the ones who were available. Plus, they had stood up to The Hood and his crew multiple times that day already, they could do this, they had to.

There was no time to bask in the relief of finally being able to evacuate his sons from Thunderbird Five to Thunderbird Three. All of them truly could do with some medical attention (especially John, whom Jeff grew increasingly worried about), but they still had a mission ahead of them. They set course for London and had barely hit the ground before they were off and running.

The first order of business was to assist with the monorail rescue, but they arrived at the scene just in time to watch the train surface. The kids had pulled it off, and Jeff really wasn't surprised, he knew they could do it. Nevertheless, Jeff felt the breath leave his body as his boy surfaced in Thunderbird 4. No matter how old his sons grew, they would always be his children and he would always worry for them. After the day that he had had, it was difficult to describe the feeling of peace that finally washed over him to see all five of his sons safe and in one place. All he wanted to do was stand there and hold his sons, all of them. He wanted to shelter them away from the pain and fear of the day, away from injury, away from The Hood, even away from International Rescue. And yet, still, there was no time to dwell in the feeling.

All that was left now was the Hood. But first, he wanted John to get home and get medical attention. He sent his sons off in appropriate directions and took Alan with himself in Thunderbird Two. It may have been a mistake to bring Alan to the Bank of London, where The Hood was. But he found he didn't want to let his youngest out of his sight.

He soon regrated that decision, of course. From the time Alan had been born, mischief had been like a close friend to him. Jeff should have known that Alan wouldn't stay put while other people were in danger. One thing he DID know, he was absolutely sick and tired of watching helplessly while his sons struggled for life, but that was exactly the position that he found himself in once again. He watched in agony as the Hood mocked and tortured Alan. But Alan was made of stronger stuff. It was really TinTin who came to Alan's rescue, and Jeff had to chide himself for underestimating each of these children. Together, TinTin and Alan were able to overtake The Hood and save the day. Day. That's right, it had only been one day. Somehow Jeff felt as though he'd aged a decade. It was time to go home.