So Hoppy Easter, here is new chapter for the occasion! It's a long one!Disclaimer: I do not own the Thunderbirds, the Tracys, any of it. I only own the story line.
These next couple of chapters were written with some medical stuff in them… I hope I got everything right… Sorry if you are a doctor and I didn't.
"How are you doing back there Al?" Scott called from his pilot seat, smile plastered on his face. "Yo, Alan?"
"What? Oh yeah I'm good…" Alan trailed off. Scott knew what was bugging him, all he had to figure out was how to get his mind off what was bugging him until they got to the danger zone.
"How are your studies going?"
"Good. I haven't really done much in the past few days 'cause you know…" This was going to be hard. OK what could I talk about… Talk about his video games, but Gordon was the last one he played with. Ask what his plans were for when he went to the mainland next week… oh yeah, he was going with Virgil… Wow, our family is really intermingled, Scott thought. Time to tackle this head on.
"Look Alan, I know things are hard right now, no kid your age should have to go through what you are going through, but I need to know that your head is in the game. No one can know that we are compromised. If people get wind, associates of The Hood could come after us and make things even worse. But for now Gordon is ok, and Virgil is a big boy who can handle himself."
Even though Scott couldn't see him, he knew Alan was crying. But not full on tears. Those few tears that pain you because you are trying to hold them back, but no matter how hard you try some leak out. Staining your clothing with a single drop. A reminder of how upset you are, and a reminder that no matter how hard you try, you can't hide anything. His eyes watered as he leaned back, blinking trying to get rid of those threatening tears. Heavy breaths as one tear slid down his cheek, onto his chin and down the the floor. But he didn't wipe it away.
"Alan…" Scott said, sad and defeated. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't comfort his brother, he was piloting, he didn't know what to say, that was more Virgil's job.
"It's fine. Just forget about it. We are nearing the danger zone."
"FAB."
Once on the ground a tourist briefed Scott while Alan did an analysis of the area. "It looks like there are four people down there."
"Good, then they are all accounted for." Scott replied, "the tour guide and civilian both say that they were with four other people, two women, a man and a small child. Let's go get them out." The rescue took all of an hour and a half. First they needed to remove the debris from the entrance which took a little longer without the mole. In hindsight taking Thunderbird Three would have been better, but once they manually cleared the area Scott repelled into the cave and all four people climbed out of the hole relatively easily. The little girl was the only one that had any trouble. She had to be carried out by her father.
Even though he would never admit it, going on a mission helped. It took Alan's mind off of his troubles and it felt good to actually be able to help someone who needed help. While they were out, Scott received another distress call from someone near by and Alan was the first to offer to go and help since they were close anyway. It looks like in order for Alan to be able to keep himself together he needed to help people. He is a real Tracy.
"Look from what I can tell, he has radiation poisoning, and without the proper equipment I can't treat him." Virgil stated. He hated working in these conditions. Not necessarily the conditions of being held captive, but what irritated him most was how poor the working conditions were. Limited tools, nothing was sterile, it was horrendous.
"That doesn't sound like you helping him Mr. Tracy." The British man stood behind Virgil. Watching over his shoulder like a hawk making sure that Virgil didn't do anything he would regret.
"That's because I can't help him with what I have. Radiation exposure is treated with much more sophisticated equipment than I have available here!"
"Well what exactly do you need!"
"I either need surgical equipment to get rid of his radiation or Potassium Iodide to prevent the poisoning from going into his thyroid, but I don't know what poison was used or if it is even affecting his thyroid."
The man grabbed Virgil by the back of his uniform and threw him across the room, "THAT IS NOT THE ANSWER I WANT TO HEAR!" Virgil stumbled to his feet mentioning that it was the only answer he had which just made the mysterious man more and more frustrated. The man picked Virgil up by the collar and slammed him against the cement wall multiple times, then dropped him like a rock to the sat there. Taking deep breaths. He has a temper issue he thought. All of the sudden it was hard to breathe, air was no longer entering his lungs, his breaths shallow, unfulfilling. He couldn't breathe. The man was trying to kill him. It lasted for an eternity, the edges of his vision turning black, his hands swatting at the bear that was holding his neck.
"Sto...p…" Virgil pleaded his voice scratched, broken.
"MR. TURNER, UNHAND THE TRACY!" Who the hell was that, Virgil thought. It didn't matter, Mr. Turner, or so he's called released his hands allowing air to fill his lungs. Virgil coughed and sputtered as the sudden flow of blood and air was too much at once, although he would rather take more air than less.
"Hood," Mr. Turner responded. "He was telling me that he was unable to help you without further equipment."
"I don't care, I told you not to hurt him." Something was wrong about The Hood. He sounded tired, weak, it was the radiation. It was killing him from the inside out. "Bring the boy here," he said. Mr. Turner grabbed Virgil again who was now on his knees trying not to hurl. Once near the table, Turner grabbed Virgil by the back of the head so he was staring at The Hood. Right in his menacing eyes. "Virgil Tracy, I know you can do better than this…" The Hood grabbed Virgil's face by the cheeks, "don't let me down son. I hope you don't mind me calling you son. It just seems so right. Now, you are going to help me, or I will have Mr. Turner there kill your brothers, and you can wait and watch as each of them suffer. Or you can find another way to help me, then you can go back to your precious little island, save dear, dear Gordon, and live happily ever after."
Virgil didn't know what to do, he had never been so close to The Hood before. He wanted to hit him. Hit him hard, God knows The Hood wouldn't hit him back because he needed Virgil functioning. But he was just frozen in fear.
"Now, be a good boy, and give me some more sedative. My liver is probably eating itself and I am in a lot of pain." Virgil tentatively got up and looked behind him at Turner. His big intimidating features towering over Virgil's timid demeanor. Virgil placed the IV into The Hood's hand and shortly after he fell asleep.
"Well, now that you know what you need to do, do it."
"First I need to know where we are." Virgil said looking at The Hood.
"And why would I tell you?"
"Because I need to know what we are around. If you won't offer to get me the equipment I need, I have to find another way to save your boss!" Virgil was turned towards Turner, he started to breathe heavily. He was scared but sure as hell wasn't going to show it.
"You know I can only get limited basic resources without blowing my cover Mr. Tracy, so what you want better be a damn household item."
"That's exactly what it is but it still depend where we are. I need you to get something but that something has to be retrieved relatively quickly!" After a long staring contest between the two, Turner finally blinked.
"You are stalling!" The man accused.
"Why would I stall, I literally have everything to lose!"
"Very well then. We are in the middle of nowhere. All that is around us is an old abandoned house and a couple of empty sheds."
"Have you been in the house?"
"Why?"
"If there is any paint in the house or the sheds labelled Prussian Blue I need it."
"Are you trying to kill him? I will not tolerate this joking around boy!"
"Prussian blue has the ability to attach itself to any radioactive elements in the body like cesium and thallium. This will eliminate the radiative particles in his body and reduce the amount of radiation the cells absorb. He can then… poop it out." That last part wasn't weird to say in front of him at all…
"Fine, I'll go look for your paint." Mr. Turner turned and left making sure to lock the door behind him. Even though Virgil was in no condition to actually get away from his captors, it didn't stop the man from thinking he would try.
Turner made his way into the house. It was dark, dingy, the furniture was all covered with dusted white cloth. A layer of dust covered everything so when Turner opened the door there was a small swept pile of dust behind the door. Each step he made left footprints, every breath he took moved stale dust. He tried the light switch on the main panel in the front hall, nothing. Of course. He picked up a spider web covered magazine and swept off the cover, Life Magazine, June 2047. It was left on the table by the former resident so Turner could only assume that the house had been abandoned for close to 13 years. He walked into the main living room, nothing but furniture and books. The kitchen didn't looked touched either. Every pot and pan unmoved for God knows how long. After making his way back down the hall he turned and made his way upstairs to the master bedroom. The bed was still there covered in pillows with sheets on it. There was one dresser, a small bed side table that had a lamp and a photo frame on the top. An older woman and her husband were in the photo. There was another added detail in the room; on the bed lay the woman in the photo. She was wearing the same necklace as in the photo,but she was dead and was covered in a white sheet up to her neck. A 20 year difference, but nothing had changed; she was perfectly preserved. Even a sociopath like Turner still valued women, and as a sign of respect he moved the sheet to cover her face. He stood there momentarily before turning to leave. There was no paint.
After making his way through the cupboard and drawers in the upstairs bathroom and rifling through the linen closet he made his way through the house once more and began outside.
After he left the house Turner entered what would have been the garage. An old 2040's Toyota was sitting in the garage inhabited by mice. Turner turned his light on and began peeking in cupboards and under bags. He found stacks of cans with paint in them. Rose Red, Cauliflower White, Prussian Blue, Virgil had said it was a very common colour as it was cheap to buy, so the likelihood of the homeowner even having paint for portraits or other types of painting in Prussian Blue would be high. The can only had a small amount, but it should be enough.
Virgil was standing over The Hood, how could he be helping a man who has tried to kill his family? He thought it was unforgivable what he was doing. But at the same time he was doing it for his brother. Or was he just doing it for himself? He had no idea if what Turner was saying was even true. His thoughts were interrupted when the door lock turned and Turner came in carrying a bucket of paint.
Virgil took the paint and began pouring a small amount into a container. He then took a syringe and took 500mg of the paint. "This will have to be administered through the IV, it is usually taken orally, actually always taken orally, but because I had to sedate him, he don't really have another choice."
"As long as it works, I don't care."
"How long will he need to take this off the cuff medication?" Turner asked while Virgil administered The Hoods third dose.
"I would try about twenty to thirty days, then test him again for radiation levels. If you want you can get Prussian Blue pills by a doctor's prescription." By now Virgil didn't care that he was helping The Hood. He just wanted out as fast as possible.
"Well you can test him again when he wakes up and see if it is actually working."
"Whatever," Virgil mumbled.
"What did you say?"
"I said hopefully. I am not sure if these first treatments will work, but after this I will knock off the sedative medication so he can wake up and take it orally. He will have to take about three-five doses a day of 500mg and the IV has to be moved closer to his neck so it can start absorbing the toxins earlier on the path through his body." Turner just stood there. Arms crossed. Like he said, he didn't care.