Yay chapter 20! Unfortunately, I've got no more pre-written chapters (though chapter 21 is nearly finished) so delays might start happening but I'm definitely going to finish this story so just bare with me! Thanks again to everyone who's reviewed and I hope you enjoy!

baao xo

Chapter 20:

Feet pounding along the floor, Gordon ran towards the only conceivable place the Hood could be in the decrepit building: the reactor room. It made perfect sense; there were no cameras available there, and the footage that the Hood posted definitely could pass as a reactor room. Gordon just had to hope that his gut instinct was right and he would get there in time, for Scott's and International Rescue's sake.

Dodging past rubble and through doorways, Gordon slowed as he approached the corridor in which Scott had last been seen, and where the bodies of the previous employees lay. Whilst fighting the urge to retch, he looked sadly at the corpses that littered the floor; the thought that these men and women died purely so the Hood could get revenge on his family made him feel sick, and he raised a hand to cover his mouth.

Taking a few deep breaths and one final glance at the bodies, Gordon took off again towards the reactor room. Slipping and skidding a few times on rocks in the way, Gordon only just caught himself in time as he tripped on a piece of wire which was unfortunately still showering the floor with white hot sparks. Cursing fluently as some of the sparks settled on his trouser leg, Gordon straightened to look ahead of him. The door to the reactor glared at him from the other side of the corridor and for a moment, Gordon was frozen in place. He'd been looking for this place for what seemed like forever but now he was finally here, fear made itself present in Gordon's mind.

What would he find on the other side of the door? What would he face? There was no denying that the Hood frightened him; the man was clearly some sort of psychopath and whilst Gordon knew the man was incredibly dangerous, he had yet to see it in person. Gordon swallowed his fear and stepped forward towards the eerie door that was separating him from his eldest brother...

Drumming his fingers on his desk, Jeff Tracy awaited another call from the Hood which he was sure was coming, though it didn't make the waiting any easier. This madman had his eldest son captive, had blown up his third-born and had one of his lackeys shoot his second youngest – all in the space of one day; it had to be some sort of record for the family.

The most frustrating thing of all was that Jeff could do nothing to aid his sons; the Hood clearly wouldn't listen to reason and Jeff truly believed that even if he gave the Hood what he wanted, the maniac wouldn't let his sons go. He didn't want to admit it, but Jeff Tracy had absolutely no idea how he was going to fix this disaster.

Deciding he ought to just do something, Jeff put in a call to his youngest.

"Reading you, Dad – any news?" answer Alan promptly.

"Nothing on my end, Allie. How about you?"

"Well, you might want to turn on the television..." Alan replied carefully "it's not bad but..." his voice faded out towards the end, and Jeff turned his focus from his son to the television in his office.

Grabbing the remote and turning it on, Jeff felt a wave of relief crash over him. Visible in the flashing lights of the cameras and the crowd of people was a very dusty and battered looking Virgil. He was trying to shield his face from the cameras, the sudden sunlight seemingly hurting his eyes though Jeff knew better; his son was trying to hide his identity though it was clearly too late. A sudden interviewer's voice cut through the noise and Jeff turned all his attention onto what they had to say.

"Virgil Tracy!" cried the interviewer, a small, ratty looking man who was shoving his way to the front of the crowd "are you okay? How is everything inside? Did you try and stop the bomb alone?"

Jeff could see his middle son pale further in the flashing lights as he tried to step away from the limelight, though the interviewer was having none of it. Grabbing Virgil's arm, he dragged him forward into the spotlight once again and thrust the microphone into his face.

"How are you, Virgil?" he persisted.

"Erm, fine, I guess." stammered Virgil, clearly uncomfortable.

"What exactly happened in there? Was everyone okay?"

"Just the bomb" Virgil replied bluntly, "it was dealt with."

"And what of your father, Virgil? What does he have to say about it? Has he contacted you? What do you think about this situation with your brother and the man with a vendetta against your family? Is it justified?"

Jeff could see his son trying to reign in his temper before replying curtly:

"I don't think I'm the right person to be answering your questions," he said, "you ought to contact our family's publicist."

"But what's your view on things? You just had a dangerous encounter with this man who's attacking your family, surely you must have an opinion of some sort!" the interviewer insisted.

"Nothing that you need to hear." replied Virgil curtly.

Jeff watched as his son managed to push his way out of the spotlight and leave the area, closely followed by the small group of people he'd apparently left the building with. Grabbing the remote, Jeff switched the television off and sighed before turning to his youngest once again.

"Now what?" asked Alan now he had his father's attention.

"I'm not sure there's anything we can do now, Allie, but wait." Jeff replied tiredly and reaching for his mug of coffee.

The heat from the reactor room was making Scott drowsy; the warmth almost felt comfortable and was a distraction from the horror within the four walls. The Hood had left him alone once again, and Scott was grateful for that. Everything hurt, and whilst he hated to admit it, he wasn't sure he could cope with another one of the Hood's conversations.

Shifting in his seat as much as the restraints would allow, his attention was drawn to what he assumed was the entrance. There was a shadow hovering just behind the reinforced glass and Scott squinted, trying to see it more clearly. It was most likely another guard but this figure seemed a little too small to be one of the Hood's henchmen. Leaning forward slightly, Scott peered at the door and then almost jumped from the chair (well, if he could've done) when what seemed to be Gordon's head popped up at the window.

Blinking and shaking his head slightly, Scott continued to stare in disbelief at what he was seeing. He couldn't believe Gordon was here of all places – he couldn't even fathom why he'd be here in the first place. Suddenly, it hit him; Gordon was going to attempt a rescue and Scott had to bite back a groan. Gordon couldn't be so stupid to think he could do this alone, could he?

Glancing towards the room where the Hood resided, Scott looked back to the door to see Gordon wave and mouth something to him before looking somewhere to Scott's right and disappearing from view. Scott followed his brother's previous gaze to see that the door to the Hood was now opening and it was only a matter of time until the Hood himself entered.

Barely seconds later, the Hood strode forward into the room and stood before Scott and spoke:

"So, Scott, your father will not give in to my demands, it seems so now I only have one choice to show him that I'm being one hundred percent serious about this whole plan."

"And what might that be?" asked Scott hoarsely.

"By revealing to the world who you really are, of course!" replied the Hood cheerily and raising his arms in a mock celebration, "Now, smile for the camera, Scotty, the whole entire world is about to meet International Rescue!"

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