Alan sulked in the co-pilot seat as Virgil fired up the engines rather dolefully.

"You do know you completely just ruined my chances of a possible date?"

Alan barely looked up, "yeah."

"Yeah. Well. I guess I can't blame you entirely for that, but I can for the state of my Bird. You know the shade of green, you can fix her. I have a portrait to finish."

Alan sighed, "you're going to ruin that aren't you?"

"What, after spending so much time on it? Nah I'll do something else to it."

"Virg, please? I really am sorry."

Virgil sneered, "I'm sure you are."

Scott walked into the lounge where Brains was talking to Max in front of the portrait Virgil had left unfinished earlier that day.

"Hey, what's going on in here?"

"Max has defaced Virgil's work, I'm very annoyed at him," he sighed. "He'll be back any minute."

Scott laid eyes on the portrait and burst out laughing seeing the moustache painted above Alan's lips, "oh Max. I love it!"

Max squeaked and Brains scolded him, "it's not funny Max. Virgil is going to be so mad at you."

Scott shook his head, "oh he won't, he'll be fine."

Virgil jogged down the steps at that moment, "get me a brush, now."

"What's your hurry?"

Virgil joined them then gasped in horror, "what the hell happened here? That was a perfect shot!"

Scott scuffed the rug with his foot, "ouch."

"Who did this?" Virgil stared at the portrait.

Brains nudged Max, "something you'd like to own up to?"

Virgil's frown softened seeing it was Max who had committed the crime, "Max? Well, you have a good sense of humour."

"I thought you were about to kill someone?" Scott smirked.

"I would've done had it been you or Gordon. Speaking of Gordon, where is he?"

"He's still on a mission, a container ship capsized. He's alright and so are the crew. He should be home soon."

Virgil nodded as he picked up the edited canvas, "I need to start a new one. Alan has ruined my ship, so I'm going to ruin his."

"How?"

"He wanted a portrait of himself, so I'll do one of Thunderbird 3, with a little edit," Virgil ran a hand through his hair, spiking it out of its style.

Scott held his hands up, "I won't ask, just get on with it."

Virgil nodded. "See you later," he picked up his painting supplies and left the lounge to his room, he entered and closed the door behind him putting the stuff down gently with a hiss as his back twinged caused by the strain of holding up the elevator on his shoulders earlier that day. He removed his clothes to change into an outfit better suited for painting and examined the dark bruises forming over his shoulders. With a sigh, he slipped an old shirt over his chest and changed into a pair of faded jeans. Before hanging up his chequered shirt, he took out a piece of paper and smiled at the number written on it marked with an X.

Back in the lounge, after going over Scott's mission, Brains sighed, "I better go and see what Alan is having to uh do."

Scott chuckled, "umm, sounds interesting doesn't it?"

Brains pushed Max ahead of him slightly, "bring that portrait with you, Max, you can display it somewhere."

Scott went up to the desk but passed it to sit at the piano instead, "pass on the good luck to Alan for me." He began to play as the scientist smiled at him before leaving.

Alan sighed as he hung back on his harness and gazed up at the half black and green ship, "urgh this is so boring."

"Alan? What happened!" Brains called up.

"I got caught in a fireball, and Thunderbird 2 took the full blast! I just hope I haven't damaged Virgil's speakers, he paid a lot for them."

Brains smiled, "you're going to uh need a bigger spray can, Alan. You can't do all of this manually."

Alan rolled his eyes, "now you tell me."

"Max? Set the robotic arms on painting." He called back up, "Alan, focus on the uh smaller areas!"

"You've got it Brains!"

Later that afternoon, Virgil stood back from the canvas in his room and admired the painting with a laugh, he rubbed some red paint off his cheek and picked up the painting to take to the lounge where Kayo was singing with Scott at the piano, he grinned at them as he entered, and Scott looked up.

"All done Virg?"

Kayo raised an eyebrow, "what's been going on?"

"Alan damaged Thunderbird 2 in a fireball apparently, so Virgil wanted revenge. I think there's a little more to it too?"

"No, it's just that," Virgil smiled. "Anyway, here's the portrait. I'll put it up next to Alan's and see if he notices it."

Kayo giggled, "oh Virgil! You've completely girlied up Thunderbird 3!"

"Well he ruined my chances with a girl, he can have that guilt stare back at him."

"Wait, what?" Scott stood up from the stool. "A girl?"

"Cass McCready, chief firefighter. I think she was asking me out on a date, but Alan kinda got in the way as he proudly showed me my damaged bird," Virgil rolled his eyes. "So this is simple payback."

"What's simple payback?" Alan asked as he walked in wiping his hands on his jeans. "Is there money in...Hey, why are we gathered around the portraits?"

Scott smirked as he wrapped an arm around Kayo's shoulders, "what do you think Alan?"

Alan glared at the portrait Virgil was standing next to, "I suppose you all think this is funny?"

"Well not at all," Virgil tutted. "I'm rather proud of it. With a pair of lips on her, you can now kiss your 'bird."

"But Virg?"

"Yes?"

"It's pink! You've painted my bird, pink?"

"Yeah, it's only fair since you messed with my ship's shade."

"She matched your hair."

Kayo rolled her eyes, "fancy a drink, Scott? I don't see this argument ending anytime soon."

"With pleasure," Scott clapped Alan on the shoulder before walking down to the kitchen with Kayo.

"She doesn't match my hair!" Virgil snapped back. "Does my hair have green in it? No."

"This is cruel. I've just re-painted your bird," Alan whined.

"Thanks, but I'm sure you've missed spots."

The two voices carried themselves down the stairs, and from the kitchen, the couple shook their heads in dismay before clinking their glasses together.