CONSEQUENCES
BY SPENSE
Note: For all who are concerned that I was getting off track: All roads converge, and there is a method to my plot lines! Again, this is rougher than I like, and if I had done my job correctly, this would be broken into two chapters, but I couldn't find a good break point. Anyway, forgive the lack of polish, but I'll never get it up if I don't post it now.
Chapter Eleven
John tapped his fingers absently on the computer console in front of him, watching the status of TB1. Scott, Virgil and Gordon were almost there. They had everything planned out to the last detail, but there was something still bugging John.
They knew the Hood was powereful, but the range that he was able to use his powers was just amazing. It didn't seem possible that he could magnify everything so greatly. No matter what drug or enhancement he used, it just couldn't last that long.
The Kyranos' were dead certain there there was nothing he could be using to maintain that kind of range without burning himself out. There had to be something else. And frankly, it was right at the edge of John's mind, and he just couldn't grasp it, and it was making him crazy.
-- tb --
Scott activated a brand new cloaking device that Brains had been working on over TB 1 as he set her down. "This had better work," he muttered grimly. Otherwise they'd be attracting all the wrong kind of attention.
"Hell of a test run," Virgil commented quietly.
-- tb --
Alan sat on the Adirondack chair in the middle of the lawn that he'd come to think of as his. He had his I-pod on, which not only gave him music to listen too, but also the illusion of privacy. He'd found that both the staff and other kids would leave him alone if they thought he was occupied. He lost himself in the music. It was the best way to go.
-- TB --
John kept a wary eye on the progress of TB1 and his brother's as he lost himself in his research. The TB1 team had successfully landed with the cloaking device working well. They'd found the warehouse, and were silently working around the outside perimieter.
Normally, John would have been riveted, but the whole idea of how the Hood had been able to mask his escape for so long really bugged him. Still watching TB1, he scrolled through the list of herbs and nutrasuticals found when the Hood was last taken into custody, and something began to crystalize. Something about Alan, and his behavior . . .
Then, as he watched Scott and Gordon sneak up on and take out Transom and Mulion, it hit him exactly how the Hood had managed to effect his escape, and to keep it hidden for so long. And to John's horror, that realization blew everything wide open.
-- TB --
For Alan, the normal sunny afternoon suddenly spun on it's axis. The pain, when it hit, was excruciating and unbearable. It lanced through his head like a freight train, and passed just as quickly, leaving him bewildered and panting as he stared with unseeing wide eyes at the immaculate stretch of lawn in front of him, wondering what the hell had just happened.
-- TB --
The commanding 'stop' from above them made Scott,
Virgil and Gordon look up as they finished cuffing the Hood's guards to the wall.
"Listen to this," the Hood said in a relaxed tone. He closed his eyes momentarily, then opened them. All three Tracy's were surprised to see his irises were yellow.
A mental scream echoed inside their heads for a moment. Shocked, they looked at the oriental man.
"That was your brother Alan. I suggest you be careful. I hold his life in my hands right now."
All three froze as the screams echoed silently again.
-- TB --
John could hear through Scott's earpiece and understood what was happening.
A thought struck him, and he began typing madly on the keyboard, bringing up Alan's records at the clinic on one monitor while he continued scanning the list of herbs on the other, and listening to the ongoing conversation at the same time.
Then his attention was riveted onto the computer screen, as all the pieces fell together with a nearly audible snap, leaving him scrambling for the phone.
-- TB --
"Dad, get to Alan, NOW!" John's voice slicing through his computer had been terse, and commanding. "I don't have time to explain. Just go."
Jeff knew his son well enough to obey. He was out of New York and on the road as fast as he could, leaving his bewildered secretary wondering just what had taken place.
-- TB --
The second wave was worse, and just as quickly over. Alan removed his I-pod and got up shakily. This time he could have sworn he had heard a voice. Not what it was saying, but a voice never-the-less.
Making his way back to the massive stone house, Alan was met halfway by Mike, who'd seen the way he was moving and was concerned.
"Alan?" He looked closely at the teenager. He didn't look good. White and shaky. "Are you alright?" he asked gently, concerned.
Alan looked at Mike with dilated eyes. "I . . . don't know."
Mike looked at him carefully. If he didn't know better, he'd have said he was drugged. But that wasn't possible here. He put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "What's wrong?" He was almost more concerned that Alan didn't shrug it off, or ignore him, as was his usual want. Mike could have sworn the expression on Alan's face was one of worry.
"My head. I . .. don't know what happened. It hurt . . . then it was . . .gone." Alan didn't know how to describe the blinding, debilitating pain.
Confused, Mike lifted his other hand to Alan's other shoulder looking closely at his eyes. "Hurt? Headache?" But that didn't seem right. Alan wouldn't have been so disorientated by just a headache.
Alan opened his mouth to answer when it struck again. His face went whiter yet, and contorted with pain as his knees gave way.
Mike grabbed at him quickly, swing him up, and turning, moving back towards the house at the same time. He moved at a quick clip, calling tersely to another of the multiple staff members always present on the grounds. "Allison! Get Dr. Taylor and Dr. Masonn now!"
He headed towards the infirmary wing with an unresponsive Alan as Allison bolted for the house phone.
-- TB --
Jeff drove as though the minions of hell were after him. "John! What's happening?"
"In a minute Dad," came John's grim voice, clearly otherwise occupied.
Jeff knew better than to bother him and concentrated on picking up speed, skidding around the corners of the two lane country road.
-- TB --
Alan came back to himself as he was laid on an exam table in one of the rooms in the medical ward. He could hear Mike's tense voice explaining briefly, and an answering voice.
The absence of pain was almost palpable as he opened his eyes, wincing at the bright light overhead.
"Alan?" Dr. Taylor's voice inquired.
He turned towards her, eyes feeling twice the size of normal, and very sensitive to the light.
She looked at him in concern as she shown her pen light into his eyes. "What happened?"
He winced and blinked. "I don't know," he said shakily.
Then it struck again. With the same unexpected ferocity and the same blinding agony. Alan heard himself scream as he turned on his side and curled unknowingly into a fetal position. He could barely hear the cacophony of sounds around him as the medical personnel went into action.
-- TB --
Scott, Virgil and Gordon were ranged in front of the hood. They didn't dare move in on their nemesis. He held Alan in his hands, and they knew it.
The Hood tilted his head knowingly, and smiled slightly, as he sand down onto an upholstered chair easily.
"A bit at a loss as to how to proceed, humm?" He said, again with that slight smile.
Scott's eyes narrowed.
"What are you doing?"
"Breaking you from within, of course," the Hood answered calmly. Then smiled as the mental screams echoed again, building with intensity.
-- TB --
"Make it stop!" Alan wailed in desperation, hardly coherent. He was hearing the voice again. Both the people around him, and worse yet, the one inside his head, underlying the pain. It was clearer than the medical staff now, and horrible. He was alone, he was worthless, his family just wanted to send him away because he was useless to them. "Make it stop!" he cried again as the pain and mental voice intensified.
He began to retch as his body reacted to the intense pain.
-- TB --
With the screaming echoing in their minds, the Hood's move caught them off guard. Scott, Virgil and Gordon were caught off guard by the sudden flurry of movement, objects thrown at them and then the disappearance of the Hood altogether.
As they scrambled after him, the moments hesitation costing them dearly, John's voice was hear clearly by all three in their earpieces.
"Scott," John said grimly, "He's controlling Alan."
"I gathered that," Scott answered dourly, as he moved fast.
"You have to stop the Hood. He's triggering it mentally, but he's got some kind of drug in Alan to amplify it. I checked Alan's blood samples from the clinic. There's something unknown. But the chemial components match something that was with the Hood when we originally captured him. It wasn't toxicological so it won't show up on a tox screen. You wouldn't find it unless you looked for it specifically.
"F.A.B." Scott replied grimly as he ran. "We'll get him."
-- TB --
The pain cut out abruptly again. And the voice telling him so clearly what he'd been feeling lately stopped as well. Alan lay back disoriented, panting, finding it hard to catch his breath.
As he relaxed, the hands that had been restraining him, now went to work. As somebody stripped his clothes off down to his boxers, Dr. Masonn leaned in with a stethoscope, and somebody else put an oxygen mask over his face.
Over the voices, he could hear Dr. Taylor ordering grimly, "Somebody get Jeff Tracy on the phone."
As Alan panted, he latched onto that thought. Dad. His Dad would be here. He'd fix it.
-- TB --
Scott, Virgil and Gordon fanned out as they entered the large room. Working with hand signals, they worked a search pattern carefully, every aware of the risks. The faint echoing screaming was gone for now, but they were under no illusions of how fast it could return.
-- TB --
Jeff answered the voice activated phone as he kept both hands on the wheel. Listening grimly for a moment, he answered tersely. "I'm five minutes away. Have the gate open for me, because I'm not stopping," and he disconnected.
"Dr. Masonn, Mr. Tracy is on his way now," a confused voice informed. "He says he's five minutes away."
As he bent over a limp, but now coherent Alan, fingers on his wrist checking his pulse, he muttered, "Good. Get him up here as soon as he hits the door."
The first voice continued, puzzled. "But how did he know?"
"I don't know," Dr. Masonn muttered, "but we'll deal with it later. Alan, look at me," he commanded.
Alan focused on the doctor, still breathing hard. He could feel the sweat pouring off of him and smell the sour smell of vomit. That made him begin to gag slightly again.
"Deep breathes, Alan," Dr. Masonn instructed as he looked in Alan's eyes.
Then the pain hit again. And the voice, telling him again how much everybody hated him.
-- TB --
The screams heard mentally echoed louder, but the audible mocking laughter was clearer. The three Tracy sons hunting the Hood forced themselves to be patient as they worked their careful search pattern, trying not to think about what was at stake.
"Hurry guys," John's grim voice said as he eyed the computer readouts with trepidation. "I've logged into the clinic's medical system and Alan's vitals are going through the roof. You've got to wrap this up."
A low growl from Virgil's direction was the only thing he heard other than the quick verbal signals of the search grid.
-- TB --
Jeff bolted into the medical room just in time to see his son convulse. Mike grabbed him and held him back from the table giving the staff room to work as they worked to keep him from convulsing off the table and jamming a depressor in his mouth to keep him from choking on his own tongue. As Alan went into another seizure, the heart and blood pressure monitors spiked and began to blare alarms as his rates soared.
-- TB --
"Ha! Having some trouble with your little brother?" The Hood's voice was gloating as the screaming echoed in their minds. "I don't know how much more he can survive."
Gordon did his best to block it out and concentrate. He focused on the sound and gestured to Virgil.
There! A flash of the gaudy red satin robes the Malaysian man wore could be seen from the corner.
-- TB --
Alan came back to himself, shaking like a leaf. He was on his back again, with something in his mouth. As that was withdrawn and the oxygen mask was replaced, he followed instructions on trying to breath normally. Familiar and unfamiliar staff faces were all around him, strained and intense. Somebody was starting an IV, somebody else was getting more vital readings, and Alan couldn't keep track. The absence of pain was almost as bad as the pain itself. But the absence of the voice was a godsend.
"Alan!" At the sound of the familiar voice, Alan looked with desperate longing towards his father.
Jeff muscled his way in between the working people, ignoring all orders to stay back, grabbing Alan's hand and placing another on his son's overheated forehead and sweat soaked hair.
Alan's eyes were dilated to an alarming degree, and all Jeff could see was fear.
Jeff ignored all the personnel trying to muscle him out of the way, and leaned down to gather his son to his chest in desperation.
Still breathing too hard to say anything, Alan clutched desperately at his father, the movement finally sparking returning feeling in the rest of his body. He alternately burned hot and then freezing cold. He stomach was cramping from the vomiting, and he felt the clammy sweat all over his body. And before he could process anything else further, the pain returned with a vengeance, and now the voice was screaming at him.
Jeff was ripped forcibly away from his son as Alan began to convulse again, right there in his arms.
"Mr. Tracy. Mr. Tracy! You have to give them room to work!" Mike literally manhandled him back against the far wall as Jeff watched in horror as Alan went into cardiac arrest. They had a pulse again within moments, but Alan continued to convulse.
"Mr. Tracy, a John Tracy is demanding to speak with you," another technician jammed a phone into Jeff's hand and moved his hand to his ear for him, when Jeff showed no inclination to do it himself.
"Dad! Are you there? Dad!!" John's voice made Jeff pay attention, although his eyes were riveted on his youngest son.
"Yes John."
"Dad, I need you to get the doctors to look at the information I'm going to download onto the screen. It's the magnifying agent. They have to counter it. That will take the pain down to more tolerable levels before it kills him. Dad!"
"I'm doing it now, John!" And Jeff broke away and literally grabbed Dr. Taylor and shoved her to the readout, grabbing her chin and forcing her to read.
Her resistance ceased as she realized what she was looking at, and then she was shouting orders. She didn't even resist or ask questions. What she saw made sense, and she knew that if it didn't work, it wouldn't matter, since they were losing Alan anyway.
-- TB --
Scott, Virgil and Gordon showed remarkable patience as they worked their way silently towards the Hood's hiding place. His mocking laughter told them that he still didn't know they'd spotted him.
-- TB --
Suddenly, the pain diminished. It didn't go away, and it was still bad, but now Alan could hear the voice clearly now – the comments about his weakness, his uselessness, the insidious muttering about the fact that his father just sent him away to get him out of the way. But Alan could fight back against it now, try to push it mentally away, realizing that it wasn't true. And he did so, anger helping to fuel his fight.
To the medical staff, the change was nearly instantaneous. Alan's convulsions stopped, and although still screaming weakly, and clearly in nearly unbearable pain, he began to stabilize. His vitals began to drop to still very high, but now no longer life threatening levels.
Jeff turned towards the phones receiver and said in relief, "It worked John. He still in bad shape, but it won't kill him. Tell them to get the bastard."
-- TB --
"Now Scott," John said in grim satisfaction. "They found the blocker. He can't kill Alan now. Get him."
And the three brothers went into action with clear satisfaction.
The Hood's surprise was manifest when the three Tracy's descended on him.
"I'll kill him!" He shouted angrily, and with a smile began the process.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but your magnifier is blocked!" Scott said as he pulled back his fist and Virgil and Gordon latched onto to the villain.
Seeing the truth in Scott's face, the Hood yelled "Noooo!!" in disappointment and rage, only to be cut off as Scott hit him hard in the face, knocking him senseless.
-- TB --
Alan came to with a whimper as John said to Jeff, "It's done. They've got him. He's unconscious now."
Jeff moved to Alan's side. Alan was so weak, he couldn't even move. He just looked blankly at his father. In a brief, private bubble within the chaos, Jeff said quietly, "It's over Alan. It's done. It won't happen again. We got him."
Alan just whimpered weakly again, and let his eyes slide slowly shut in complete exhaustion, ignoring the medical personnel still working feverishly on him. He wasn't really sure what his father meant, but if Jeff had said it would be okay, then that was enough for him. His father was here, and he'd deal with it. With that complete confidence in his parent, Alan let go of the fight, and slid out of reality with a grateful sigh.