mrmustachious asked: Day 7 - Only for Emergencies with Gordon?
Characters: Gordon, Scott, John
Warnings: Mention of a gun, brief fight
The first time Gordon had called the emergency services he'd been five years old and it had been the direst emergency a kid could think of.
Grandma had burnt the cookies. The special ones that she'd promised to bake just for him! He'd been watching something on the TV about how to call 911 in the event of an emergency and before his Grandma could stop him Gordon was chatting away to a very nice operator who had been kind enough to not just hang up on him.
Several hours and a rather pointed discussion with his mother later, the Sheriff had visited them and given him another talking to. Eli Winters might be a long-time friend, but explaining the dangers of calling Emergency Services without there being an emergency was one of his reasonably frequent jobs.
Jeff and Lucy had been embarrassed, but Eli had reassured them that it was quite normal, even if the three boys before him hadn't gone to such lengths.
And Gordon learnt his lesson.
The next time he called the emergency services was when he was ten and watching an avalanche swoop down and kill him Mom and Grandpa and almost his biggest and littlest brothers.
Of course, he hadn't known that at the time, he'd simply been one of a multitude of people who had called it in, using Virgil's phone as his immediately older brother and his Dad ran out of the café. Gordon had been busy playing a game on it after Virgil had given in to his incessant asking.
The woman on the line was polite but (an older Gordon would have realised) clearly stressed, and she took what little details he knew, thanked him and hung up quickly.
The emergency services didn't turn up for hours. By the time they made it through the snow a lot of people had died and Gordon's life was forever changed.
When he was training for WASP was the next time, but much as Gordon pleaded his innocence he had been charged with the crime of setting off the fire alarm in the barracks the cadets were sleeping in.
While adamant it hadn't been him, Gordon had seen who it was, and while there was a big part of him that wanted to come clean and say who, a small part of him reminded him that Gordon Tracy was no snitch.
He was fairly sure his commander knew it hadn't been him, but someone needed to be punished for the act and Gordon had been caught in the immediate vicinity, so he had suffered the punishment of being dropped and quarter-decked.
Being dropped meant three days of hard physical exercise, from dawn until lunchtime. And added to that, quarter-decked exercises were even more physical. They wore Gordon out so much that he literally exercised, ate and slept for three days.
At the end of his punishment Gordon was pulled aside and given a private word about if he ever pulled a stunt like that as a fully enlisted seaman…but he didn't need the warning. He might be a prankster, but even Gordon knew there were just some things you never did.
Pity not everyone learnt this lesson.
Standing on the deck of a luxury yacht, it took all his considerable self-control to not stand with his hands on his hips like Scott was currently doing. The Commander of International Rescue was letting rip after the owners of the yacht admitted calling iR simply because they wanted to see the ships up close…and Scotty could be loud when he wanted to. Neither of them had the time for idiot playboys who had more money than sense…
So when the same yacht called in an SOS not two hours later there was the temptation to ignore it as another hoax. Virgil, still sleeping off a mild concussion from their last real rescue, didn't react as his 'bird left the island without him again.
This time the atmosphere on deck was decidedly frigid. Gordon had persuaded Scott to stay on Two – something that the man was decidedly unhappy about doing, but Gordon had promised that he would let Scott know if there was anything he needed help with, fairly sure in his own mind that this was just another hoax. Maybe he could persuade John to charge them for the extra fuel…
The men they had encountered earlier were not on deck, in fact no one was on deck, something that made the sailor in Gordon suspicious. Still, these men had already proved that they had no idea about real sailing, so he pushed the thought aside and strode across the deck to the cabin.
They were all gathered in the cabin, sat at the frankly ridiculous couch that lined one side. They looked…sheepish, guilty even, and Gordon's anger flared for just a moment.
'Guys, we already spoke about this! International Rescue is for emergency use only! You're lucky Scott's not down here demanding you pay for our fuel…'
'But it is an emergency.'
The voice was gruff and came from behind him, but before Gordon could turn around the muzzle of a gun was pushed into his head from behind and an audible click told him he needed to be careful…
'We have an emergency. This boat has sprung a leak and you need to evacuate the occupants. Call your brother down to help.'
Gordon didn't move and the gun was pressed in harder until he was wincing with the pain.
'Don't make me ask you again, or you might end up being part of the emergency.'
Nodding slightly, Gordon slowly raised his hand to touch his comm.
'Hey Scott, John was right. I'm going to need your help with this one.'
'On my way, Gordon.'
'Well done. Now, why don't we make everyone comfortable for when your Commander arrives?'
He was pushed forward, passed the frightened owners and staff and down to the lowest part of the boat. They paused before the engine room and the man knocked four times. There was a corresponding knock before the door was opened and Gordon was shoved in.
Not expecting the person in front of him, Gordon just stood there gaping, until the man behind shoved him hard and sent him flying.
'Gordon Tracy, as I live and breathe I did not expect to see you here.'
'Really? It's been global knowledge that my brothers and I run International Rescue, or have you been in your natural habitat – hiding under a rock?'
The man laughed before punching Gordon hard enough that he doubled over, all ability to do anything but wheeze gone.
'You've had your turn, now it's mine.'
Raising his radio to his lips, the man's eyes never left Gordon's as he spoke.
'Calling International Rescue. This is the yacht Atlantica, there's been a further development. Engines have failed and look set to blow. Your man Gordon has gone down below and there is…'
An explosion sounding over the comms had John and Scott yelling.
'Gordon! Gordon! Report!'
But there was nothing.