Summary: Alan on one his first rescues after his accident.

Notes: In which the author realises that this is another case of the muse wanting to write the events that happened after the event this story is based on, before I get to writing down the story the event I am referring to.

But if you have read Escape Attempt you would have a fair idea to what I am alluding to...

Disability

2065

When it came to being questioned about his ability to do his job, Alan Tracy was almost used to it.

Which was fair enough, he had been fifteen at the time International Rescue relaunched, and while for most of his first rescues he was usually with Scott or one of his other older brothers, the question of his capabilities always seemed to come up when he was alone or with, his now wife, Kayo.

Alan knew it had everything to do with his age, and there was very little he could do about that, only time would reduce the questioning on that front, at least until he reached his father's age and then the question on whether or not he was to old for the job, would be his main criticism.

At least that's what he thought before the accident that caused him to lose his left foot and lower ankle, ten months earlier…

Now, Alan realised, the questioning would never stop, as soon as people saw his prosthetic the question would almost certainly be asked…

Along with what happened…

Fuck Fischler.

Last Alan had heard about that jackass, he had been placed into protective custody, out of fear that Alan or his family/friends would try and do him in for what had happened.

Alan snorted quietly to himself, like any form protective custody would be effective against John in a pissed off mood, Fischler would not be breathing any free air anytime soon

Especially with the threat of disappearing faster than a dropped hot chip on a beach full of seagulls if he was ever released into the free world again, Fischler would not be allowed invent anything that could cause any type of havoc again, that was for sure…

"Hey gimp boy," the man, that Alan was supposed to be helping, snapped at him. "Are you even listening to me?"

Alan shot the man a nasty glare, the man was a guest at a space hotel that had started to lose its orbit after a space freighter collided with the station, destroying it's escape pods in the process.

He didn't know the man's name, as the first word out of the man's mouth, when Alan came across him and his group equally dense friends, was: "Is International Rescue that understaffed that they would send disabled children to save us?"

Any response Alan might have had said to the man was cut by his asshole of a wingman, "Aww don't be mean," the wingman snickered. "The poor kid must be cosplaying as a member of the organisation, considering it's the closest he will ever to being a member of such a group."

The party then refused to cooperate with Alan's instructions, claiming that they would wait for the real rescuers to turn up.

Now Alan wasn't alone, Scott and his father were also on the rescue with him, his father watching over the people on Thunderbird 3 and Scott rescuing another group of people in another part of the hotel, and they had heard everything over the open comm.

Both Jeff and John had snapped over the comm telling these idiots to stop putting their lives at risk, and obey Alan's directions, but the fools had laughed them off, claiming it was just some of his friends playing along with the ruse.

Scott had then snapped that once he had gotten his group back to Three, he was coming back to give Alan a hand.

The fact that Scott had gone almost completely silent and was only quietly giving instructions to his group of people, did not bode well for the group of Jackasses in front of him.

"The only thing I want to hear from you," Alan snarled, at the man in front of him. "Is yes sir, I will cooperate, with your instructions."

"You do have any idea who you are talking to!?!" The man fired back.

"Someone that going get himself and his friends killed, because he won't follow instructions," Alan growled. "I don't care if you're a movie star or the King of England, if you and your friends don't put on your emergency suits right now, I will not be able to do anything to help you if this place depressurises."

The man lunged at Alan, grabbing his baldric as if he was about to punch Alan…

"Unhand my brother right now!" Scott roared, as he entered the room. "And do as he ordered, or we can leave you and your friends here, and tell your friends and family that you refused to be rescued."

The man looked like was about to argue with Scott when a loud ominous creaking sound passed through the station, "Scott, Alan," John's voice came through the comm. "You guys need to hurry it up, the station is rapidly losing orbit and I don't know how long it's going to be before it loses gravity and pressure."

"FAB," Scott replied, as he nailed the man with a pointed glare. "Well? What's it going to be?"

Alan gave a mini sigh of relief as the man and his buddies scrambled for their suits.

They had just managed to get them on when the station lost power and depressurised.

Scott swore loudly, as the gravity shut off and the people that they were meant to be rescuing started to realise that Alan hadn't been kidding around about the danger that they were in.

Which meant that they were now starting to panic.

Knowing that they couldn't hang around, Alan pulled a rope from his belt and began to string the men together with Scott on the other end to make sure none of them did anything stupid, as he guided them out - because he was the one that had the manoeuvring jets that could work in the confined spaces that Scott's jet pack couldn't.

The doors that protected them from being sucked out into space were now a hindrance to get around, but thankfully they were not engineered to Brains's standards, which could be seen as a blessing or a curse, so their equipment made short work of them.

But the space station wasn't done making life difficult for them, because it was soon to become obvious that whatever caused the power to fail, had also blocked their escape route to Thunderbird 3.

"John is there another way out of here?" Alan asked his brother.

"We are going to die, aren't we?" The ring leader, bemoaned.

"Nobody's going to die here today," Alan growled. "Not if we can help it… John?"

"There appears to be a way out near you," John answered. "But you are not going to be able to make it back to Thunderbird 3 if you stay inside the station, you are going to have to go EV, and meet Three on the outside, I have already told Dad to disconnect from the station."

"FAB," Alan acknowledged, as he received new instructions. "Have Dad send out the space boards as soon as we clear."

"FAB." John replied. "Good luck."

0o0o0

When Alan and Scott got to the airlock of the Space Station, the jackasses that they were trying to rescue, decided that they were going to put up another fight, "You are not expecting us to go outside into open space do you?" The man complained.

"Yes, we do," Alan snapped back.

"But what if we float away?" The man complained.

Alan fought the urge to facepalm, "You are not going to float away," he growled. "You and your buddies are attached to a rope that is tied to both me and Scott, and we have equipment that can help us manoeuvre outside."

"Why do we even need to go outside?" The man's buddy complained. "Couldn't you bring your ship up to the airlock, and we board that way?"

Alan groaned, as he and Scott started working on the hatch, "For your information," he snapped. "This is a maintenance hatch, not a docking one, so even if Three could get close enough to dock with it, she would have nothing to attach to."

"And you wouldn't have had to do a spacewalk," Scott added, a with a snarl. "If you listened to Alan's instructions in the first place, instead of making fun of his prosthetic and age."

That comment shut the man and his friends up, and Alan and Scott were able to get the airlock open.

The men were completely silent as Alan and Scott grabbed the space boards, that their father sent, and made their way to Thunderbird 3.

0o0o0

Later that evening, a five months pregnant, Kayo, found her husband sitting in the roundhouse looking out the window.

She had heard about the events earlier that day, and she was worried about him.

Jeff, as soon as Scott and Alan gotten those three idiots secure in Three, read them the riot act, with Scott chiming in when Jeff ran out of breath.

But the real kicker came from the fact that the main idiot was actually the younger son of a man that in the process of brokering a muti-million dollar contract with Tracy Industries, a contract that was now on shaky ground, so the man's father was furious with his son.

The fact that a high level of drugs and alcohol were found in the man's and his friends systems, during their post rescue medical check ups, was just the cherry on top of the shit sundae, that man had just got served.

And while Kayo was very aware that Alan knew this, she was also aware that what happened today would be bothering him.

"People are always going question my ability to do my job, aren't they?" Alan asked quietly, as Kayo approached him.

"Probably," Kayo replied, as she slid her arm around his shoulder. "But then that gives you the opportunity to do what you do best."

"Proving them wrong."