DISCLAIMER: The penguins tell me I own them, though I doubt that would hold up in court, so we'll simply take the easy route and say I don't, shall we?

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Mikal vaguely wondered if he had, perhaps, made some sort of mistake along the way. He shook that thought right out of his head. No, he hadn't made any mistake; Alan was simply confused, that was all. He hadn't proven to Alan that he was worthy of commanding him; that he was the only one that Alan would ever follow. He intended to rectify that as soon as possible. This was a test for him, Alan was testing him to see if he was worthy of his respect and loyalty and he would not fail. Alan was his, and as soon as he realized that everything would get back on track and they could put Alan's little mistake behind them. As soon as he paid for it of course. Just because Mikal had failed to prove himself to his soldier was no reason for this type of disobedience. Alan would understand that; he would see the error of his actions and submit willingly to his punishment, just like the perfect soldier he was. Just as soon as Mikal passed this test. Nodding to himself, the Commander continued his jog up the stairs, only slightly out of breath as he reached the top and kept pace all the way to the doorway near the end of the hall. Pausing, he released the safety on his weapon and entered his personal code to gain access to the room. There was no doubt this was where his Chimera was headed, and he intended to be there to greet him and show him properly just how great of a Commander he was.

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To the guards looking nervously around themselves in the hallways of the main complex, it seemed as if the shadows suddenly sprung to life. One moment, they were worriedly wondering what the commotion outside had been, and the next they were faced with the vengeful demons that had come to drag them all to hell. It was over in forever and a moment, in a spray of blood like rain and the silenced cries of fear uttered at the moment when it was realized that this was the end. Seconds after the last body had fallen and only the dripping sound of blood flowing from a dead man's wound could be heard, all that was left in the cold, bare hallway were the forms of five teenagers. Long brown locks lifted and swayed gently as Kira moved to look at their appointed leader. Hazel eyes met her own steel grey across the bent blond head for a moment before Bret looked away and walked up to Alan, gently placing a hand on his shoulder to gain his attention.

"Alan?" Blue eyes looked up at his friend, a small twist of lips into something resembling a smile, and Alan nodded to the taller boy.

"I'm fine, let's keep moving, shall we?" Not waiting for a response, Sarah and Amanda followed after the two boys with no hesitation, Kira falling into step shortly after, only pausing to wipe a dripping blade on the uniform of a fallen guard as she passed.

The hallways were quiet, no footsteps echoed as the teenagers wandered the halls. Searching for all the resistance first before moving on to their main destination yielded six more dead guards and two deactivated alarm systems, that in all honest were fairly pathetic considering who they were protecting against. At last, the five Chimera's were stood silent as shadows at the base of the stairs Alan remembered climbing behind Mikal to meet his family. Just the thought of the circumstances that surrounded that night was enough to make his blood boil with rage and a low growl nearly escape his throat. What right did that man think he had to use his family as blackmail against him? To treat him as a prized and perfect soldier that would do all he commanded because he held all the cards. Mikal certainly had a lot to pay for, and Alan was going to make sure he paid, dearly, for all the hurt he had ever caused to his family. He would make sure that fool of a 'commander' was never able to hold someone against him again.

Alan shifted and turned his attention to those standing behind him, patiently waiting for him to sort out how this was going to go down and tell them what their jobs would be. Chimera's certainly took loyalty to a high level, that was for certain. Anything Alan told them to do they would do in a heartbeat, because to them he was their leader; unable to lead them wrong and someone they trusted to protect and make decisions for with their lives. It was humbling, in a terrifying sort of way. He vaguely wondered if his father or brothers ever felt this way when they were commanding a rescue, and knowing that all those people were depending on them to save them. He wondered if they were ever as scared as he was now.

Shaking off any of those depressing thoughts, Alan let the full effect of the Chimera X serum wash through him in a way that he had never done before. He supposed it was only natural to subconsciously fight something so invasive as the serum was, and had been doing that since the very first changes he had felt. He fought most of his instincts just for the sake of not letting something like that take over and control him. Fighting it would only hurt him now, when he had people depending on him to make the right choices. He would need all the instincts and knowledge he could get to pull this off. Not to mention the added benefit of realizing there really were a hundred ways to kill someone with just your fingers, and he was fairly eager to try some of them on some certain people waiting just up the stairs for him.

"The target room is up those stairs on the left side, near the end of the hall. It's hard to miss with the all the security measures around it." Alan stated, picturing the attack he was about to plan out in his head. He met Bret's eyes, noting the complete focus there, as well as the reflective sheen on those hazel orbs from the security lights that lined the stairway. "I want Sarah and Amanda to enter first, head straight for the control panel on the left wall and get those fields down. There's likely to be some kind of resistance in the way, I trust you'll take care of it," Alan knew that with the amount of guards they had put out of order, it wasn't nearly enough for a complex of this size, not to mention they had seen more than that in their daily training. Calculating the possibility that they had incapacitated more than he had thought outside, Alan still assumed Mikal had dragged quite a few with him on the way to the room his family was held in. He gave them a look and watched as they glanced at each other before turning back to him and giving a short nod to show their agreement. Their smiles were feral enough he thought they could give a real hunting cat a run for its money. "Kira, follow after them immediately and take out any retaliation they get, watch their backs and help them guard my family when they're free. Cover their exit and guard the door once all of the hostages are gone so none can follow. Bret and I will take care of the other's in the room. Bret I want you to make sure no one interferes while I take out Mikal." Alan nearly growled out the last bit and hell if that wasn't a hair-raising sound. If they had any sense, Bret thought they'd run as far from Alan as they could, screw their leader. This led to Bret picturing Mikal shrieking in front of a bloodthirsty Alan while all his little soldiers ran away in terror. The thought almost made him grin, but he curbed his amusement enough to nod at Alan when he noticed his friend was staring at him slightly strangely. Now was not the time to imagine amusing scenarios like that. Not when he could possibly see it live a few minutes from now. Bret looked to Kira and saw her idly flipping a knife around her fingers while Alan explained to Amanda and Sarah in more detail about what he remembered the controls for the prison looked like. Ah, photographic memory. The Chimera serum certainly did have its perks. Catching Kira's eye she smiled and Bret was certain she was showing more teeth than was strictly necessary.

"Ready for the party?" She asked, not pausing her motions with the knife for even a moment as she put all her concentration on him. Bret smirked, noticing that Alan and the others were done conversing and they were ready to move.

"Absolutely." The word and the rolling purr beneath it sent shivers of anticipation down Alan's spine and he smiled as big as any hunter as he turned to the stairs, walking only half a step ahead of Sarah and Amanda.

"Then let's dance."

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Jeff knew everything was going wrong the moment the Chimera's appeared on the field for their weapons training. He didn't know how he knew; maybe it came from all of the rescues he had been involved with or overseen, or just some sixth sense that had never appeared until this moment, but somehow, he just knew. As soon as he saw one of the teenagers get stabbed, and registered that the red suddenly staining the field was in fact her blood, he knew something was going to happen. Something more than a girl losing her life needlessly. His thoughts were proved correct when all hell suddenly broke lose and the Chimera's attacked.

"Christ…" Gordon breathed; eyes wide in a sort of fascinated horror as he watched guard after guard fall to the Chimeras. And his little brother was in the middle of it, surrounded by Kira and people he vaguely recognized from Alan's school. The youngest Tracy hadn't even batted an eyelash, a far cry from the little boy that had looked up to them as members of International Rescue. It was in that moment, as Alan and his friends were left alone on a dead training field, Gordon knew his little brother, his best friend, was not who he used to be.

"Dad," Jeff turned from the horrors outside their prison to look at his oldest son, and almost wished he hadn't. Scott looked scared. An emotion he hadn't seen on the young man's face in quite some time. "You know he'll come here. Do we have a plan?"

John, Gordon, and Virgil looked from their oldest sibling to the Tracy patriarch, something akin to anxiety on their faces. Plans were good; they meant strategic thinking and an idea of what was going to happen next, something they depended on when involved in a rescue. This was something they could all understand, and they clung to it like a lifeline in the dark confusion the past couple of days had nearly drowned them in.

Langstead watched the family curiously, wondering at their structure and how such young boys were holding up so well and seemed so focused even in these uncertain circumstances. But then, he thought wryly, the country's most elite soldiers were little more than adolescents, so who was he to judge age by appearance?

Jeff cleared his throat, meeting each of his sons' eyes before thinking carefully of what they could possibly do to help if Alan made it to their cells. He glanced out the window and gulped inwardly. What the hell could they do to help? He thought, if Alan makes it here I think I'd just get in his way! Of course, that thought was fleeting and instantly replaced by the far more deeply ingrained fatherly instincts telling him to protect his child, as well as the experience he had dealing with, although admittedly different, no less stressful situations as a member of the Thunderbirds. So, he did what any good leader could possibly do, he made up a plan that seemed the most logical and the least dangerous for all involved while giving everyone something to cling to in their uncertainty.

"When Alan arrives here, we'll have to assume that he has some sort of plan and I don't want to interfere too much with that. As soon as we're released, we'll see what the situation is and help in any way that seems feasible. First priority will be to make sure everyone gets out of here safely. Help Alan, protect him and the others and make our way out of here and to a safe area where we can contact Tracy Island."

The boys all nodded their heads, agreeing that although the plan was incredibly vague and bound to change numeral times, it was all they had at the moment.

Langstead took everything in, coming to some rather interesting conclusions about his fellow cellmates, and settled back to wait for whatever happened next. He knew his daughter would be among those still with Alan, he suspected she knew that if Alan's family were captives, it was likely he would be there as well. The doctor drummed his fingers nervously on his bent knee, anxious to see Kira again face to face, instead of as a voyeur as he had for the past year.

There was silence in the windowed room for quite some time before the heavy tread of military boots echoed beyond the heavy door. Soon after, the whoosh of hydraulics as the security door was opened announced the arrival of their host, accompanied by fifteen tall, muscular, typical soldier-types. The musclemen spread throughout the room, four standing sentry near the heavy door, now locked, while four more held position in front of the electric-prison controls. The rest simply stood in pairs around the room, looking menacing but for that small glint of fear in their eyes that could be mistaken as a trick of the light. They had reason to be afraid, after all. They had overseen the Chimeras as they trained, and none of them had been any kind of gentle with them when they first arrived and throughout their stay. Mikal himself was smiling in a not quite-so-sane way to himself as he stood near Jeff's cell, looking down on the eldest Tracy with a manic gleam to his eyes, roving his gaze to each of his 'guests' in turn.

"My Alan will be here shortly, I'm sure. My lieutenant thinks he can disobey me. He'll learn. Though I admit, he has a right to test me; I haven't proven to him that he's mine to command. Not yet, thought after he finishes with my test, and receives his punishment for his actions, he'll know." Mikal nodded as he paced back and forth before his captive audience (literally), reaffirming that his statement was correct. "He'll know I deserve to command him. And the Elites will follow my Alan as their rightful leader, just as he follows me. I made them, after all, so it only fits that they shall be my soldiers, my prized ones. And the Elites will command all the rest, so that every Chimera knows their place in my army." A dreamy, insane smile spread across the harsh features of the Commander, eyes glazing slightly as they shifted from directly looking at Virgil (whom they had landed on while he paced) to a point slightly beyond the windowed-wall. "Oh, we'll raise such an army. An army of my children, bearers of the next generation to come. We'll bring for a new world! One only dreamed of until now, until my army, my Chimeras, my children. You'll be there to see it, of course. My lieutenant would surely be distraught if you were unable to see the world he brings. My world, and Alan will be by my side as it comes to pass. He'll always be with me. He'll be with me forever, because he's mine."

Mikal smiled sadistically at his hostages, staring at him with horrified eyes as he told them all his wonderful plans. They should feel privileged they held such high esteem with his Alan, they'd be able to see the New World his Elites would create for him, with him. Only the privileged held that honor.

Scott and his family could only watch in a terrified paralysis as Mikal spouted on about his 'world' and 'his' Alan. The sheer possessive tone he used whenever the man spoke of his little brother nearly made Scott physically ill. And the way he spoke of him…If there had ever been a doubt that this man was in any way mad it had been shredded to pieces and cast to the wind.

They had been captured, forced to watch as the youngest in their family was submitted to and altered by some new drug a government scientist (who was currently two cells down from them) had created, made to view Alan breaking into a building and incapacitating everyone within with ease and enthusiasm, stared on as a teenage girl was stabbed and killed in a training exercise, and now looked on helplessly as the man behind it all claimed ownership on one of their family and ranted on dreamily about his New World Order.

In all the rescues they had ever preformed, in all the situations their family had faced, none could prepare them for this reality. Insanity has no order; no strict reasoning or cause, no set cure or combatant, and nothing could sway the Insane from what they believed to be real and a part of their world. And with dread in their hearts and fear racing along their spines, every member of the Tracy family now knew that their lives were in the hands of the Insane.

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Heya! This is only part 1 of the chapter…it was complete, and I was very proud of myself for writing such a long chapter, until my computer ate half of it! So, since it's nearly midnight here, and I want to give you something, I'm posting this and it will have to tide you over until I can find all my written pages for the rest of this chapter and then type it up, again, and pray my computer does not eat it.

Hope you like! And you should tell me if you did…or even if you didn't (glares) aaaaaaaaaaaannnndddd…..

REVIEW! …pretty please?

…Pretty please with Alan on top? (hehehehe)

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Ta,

Nevair