To say Alan was afraid was to say Pompeii had had a small volcano problem. True, yes, but a fairly large understatement.
Gordon always had a dark side, an angry and vengeful streak that turned him into a near monster, and it was that monster Alan was stuck with on the too-small plane. Something had happened, something that had turned his brother into that darkness, and part of him suspected it was him, but a bigger part, a more rational part knew that if it had been him, he would not be sitting here with him.
Every now and then he would risk a glance at him, the fingers locked about the yoke and arms ridged, muscles tight, and that fear would roll about his stomach and he would have to look away.
He could hear Brains muttering to himself, likely going through some overly complex numerical tables in a futile attempt to calm himself. Alan was torn. He wanted answers and he wanted to make sure Gordon was okay, but he also wanted to hide, to escape.
'Gordon, what… what happened?' The amount of effort those words took was hands shook and he could only look at him from the corner of his eyes, watching as his jaw worked, teeth clenched as he swallowed hard. He took a breath and sat himself up straight.
'We're going to visit Virgil.'
That was it, and Alan knew that was a lie.
The rest of the plane ride and then the short car journey from the airport to the hospital was awkward and stilted, while barely contained fury oozed from Gordon the entire two and a half hours. The closer they got to the hospital, the more agitated Gordon got. Pulling up outside the front of the building, he shoved open the door, slamming it behind him, taking the steps two at a time and barrelling through the throngs that milled about the corridors while Alan and Brains struggling to keep up. He rounded the corner and his eyes locked onto John. He growled and sprinted forward, ramming into the elder; the two fell to the floor, and Alan froze while Gordon went for blood.
'You fucking bastard!' he screamed, slamming his fist into John's face. The normally space-bound Tracy had little chance against the former Olympian. Bone crunched and John gasped around the now-broken nose, desperately trying to protect his face while Gordon screamed at him. 'You stupid fucking bastard!'