#jeff tracy x lady penelope

[hebuiltfive]

Hey, it’s Firstonthescene!! Can I request 2004 Jeff & Penny + Romance for the prompt game please 👉👈 hehe

Hello! Thanks for the request @firstonthescene (and sorry it's taken me so long!)

I've put it up on AO3 here for anyone who'd rather read it there, otherwise it's all below the cut!

The prompt given by the generator was: "Them accidentally (or purposefully) dozing off in a hammock together as the sun sets and the air cools down."

Given Penny's hatred for the hammock in the movie, I thought it was perfectly fitting! I hope that you enjoy it!

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Penelope had always been stubborn when it came to her opinions, most especially when she had been proven wrong. She wasn’t exactly sure where it came from. Perhaps it was a repurposed defence mechanism which she had developed as a child; unable to control some of her life choices after being born into a strict and rigid societal system, being obstinate had been rather appealing to a young Penelope, and old habits were hard to break. She was always right, with the rare occasion of being wrong, and that wasn’t about to change, no matter how hard Jeff Tracy tried his luck.

It had been her own fault for bringing up the topic. Letting sleeping dogs lie would have been the best approach, and one she would have normally taken, but the hideous thing had caught her eye and now she couldn’t stop thinking about it.

In her defence, the tattered old hammock did look like it had seen better days. Swaying limply between the two trees, it really did appear to be quite literally hanging on by a few threads. Not to mention the lack of cohesion between the design of it and the rest of the patio furniture. At this point it was practically begging for someone to replace it, if only to liven up the place a little.

On more than one occasion, Penelope had been tempted. With Parker’s help — which he would have given wholeheartedly, she was certain — they could have had the dreadful hammock replaced in a snap. No-one would have been any the wiser until it was too late. It would have been an easy switch, but it was something she would never dare do. Penelope had far too much respect for the owners of that ghastly hammock, even if their choice in poolside furnishings left much to be desired, and so she had left the eyesore alone, averting her eyes every time she visited the island and was forced to walk passed it.

For months now, since she had first seen the thing, Penelope had done well to ignore the intolerable hammock.

Until today.

After the family barbecue earlier, she and Jeff had spent the better half of their evening down on one of Tracy Island’s not-so-secret secret beaches. Weeks ago, Jeff had promised Penelope he’d finally teach her how to surf. Making good use of the last of the daylight, he had begun to show her the basics. Now, as the sun had threatened to dive behind the horizon, they had begrudgingly returned to the villa.

As they strolled up the last of the steps, passing the pool and the sun loungers, the hammock had once again caught Penelope’s eye.

“Don’t you think it’s time you replaced that old thing?”

Jeff lugged his surfboard up the last of the steps as Penelope examined the limp fabric critically, pointing towards the trees where it hung. Perplexed by her sudden question, he cast her a curious look. “What, that hammock?”

“It’s positively ghastly.”

“I’ve never really noticed. It just kind of… sits there. Out of the way.”

“It’s an eyesore. It’s barely hanging on there. It looks as thought it’s a relic from the 1980s. No, it needs replacing one of these days before someone gets injured. You know what they say, Jeff; prevention is better than a cure. Replacing that thing before it gives out will be better than waiting for someone to have an accident.

Jeff allowed Penelope to continue, his lips quirking upwards into an amused half-grin.

In her rambling, she hadn’t noticed his quietness until she’d finished. She turned to face him, half-expecting him to agree with her. After all, all her points made were made in truth— any others were based in fact, pending metaphorical certification.

But Jeff did not outwardly agree. He laid down his board, took two steps forward until her was standing in front of her, took her waving, accusing hands in his and then softly claimed, “Penny, it’s a hammock.”

Her eyebrows lowered into a frown. “A ghastly hammock that is a death trap if ever I saw one.”

“Do hammocks usually kill people?”

“That one will. I’m certain of it!”

“Well, it hasn’t yet.”

“One day, Jeff. You shouldn’t tempt fate.”

“Penny, you’re being dramatic. I assure you that hammock is as safe as it was the day we put it up.”

“And when was that exactly?”

“Not the 1980s.”

“Are you sure?”

He chuckled, letting her hands go free. “Positive. It may not look sturdy, but it holds.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it.”

Rarely did Penelope regret her words. She never spoke without first thinking through her sentiments. On this occasion, she did.

Taking her words as a challenge, Jeff burst into a jog. He leaped over Kyrano’s gardening, launched himself through the air and threw himself onto the wretched hammock before Penelope could even yell a word of warning. If anyone wanted to question Jeff’s physical health — something the ageist media found immensely interesting upon hearing of his brief return to space a few months back —they’d need only see him perform that stunt again to be convinced he was as fit as a fiddle. Most would probably have been impressed by his skills. Penelope was not one of them.

Her heart was in her mouth.

And he had the nerve to call her dramatic?

The trees creaked and groaned as they catered to the sudden weight of a grown man leaping onto the hammock, but the ropes holding the hammock up held fast and Jeff gently rocked to and fro with the momentum.

He grinned up at her. “See? Perfectly safe!”

Penelope marched over to him, batting leaves and bushes out of the way to reach him. She folded her arms, clearly irritated by his display. “You could have seriously injured yourself pulling a stunt like that!”

But Jeff, like Penny, knew that she wasn’t angry with his reckless behaviour. She’d seen him perform far worse in his line of work, and, likewise, he’d see her dance with death on more than one occasion.

This was about her being proved wrong.

“Penny…”

“You know what they say, Jeff.” She continued defiantly. “That you’re more likely to injure yourself as home, and with crazy antics like this, I can see why.”

He opened up his arms for her, inviting her to join him, but Penelope shook her head.

“Absolutely not! That thing is a death trap!”

“I just jumped into it to prove that isn’t the case.”

“No. No way.”

It wasn’t that Penny didn’t trust Jeff, because she did. Very much so, in fact. Penelope trusted that man with her life and, on many occasions now he had never failed to come through for her. The Grand Canyon, Marrakech, Ilha da Queimada Grande… The list went on. Jeff had never once let her down. He had never once betrayed that trust. She knew that streak wasn’t about to be broken with this hammock, and yet she still found herself hesitating.

Penelope’s gaze travelled the length of the lining, up to the knot that tied the structure off to the trunk. She frowned disapprovingly. “The ropes will snap under the extra weight. I don’t fancy sporting a broken limb. I’ve already used that one as an excuse to get out of obligations, Jeff, and I can’t use it again so soon.”

Determined to be undefeated in her claim regarding the hammock being unsafe, Penelope turned back towards the path. If she didn’t get on it, she couldn’t be proved entirely wrong.

She made it two steps before an arm wrapped around her waist.

Penelope would have easily batted off any assailant who tried that trick, but it hadn’t been an assailant who had grabbed her. Jeff pulled her backwards, back towards the waiting hammock. Knowing her fate was sealed, Penelope didn’t bother trying to fight free at all. In fact, the only fighting she was doing as Jeff dropped back down onto the hammock, dragging Penelope with him, was fighting off her laughter.

Only Jeff Tracy could make her feel like she was seventeen again.

A stray tendril of gold had fallen from her messy bun. He tucked it behind her ear, drawing her into his embrace. Now she was here, she wasn’t going to be able to get away easily.

Not that she necessarily wanted to get away.

Hammock be damned — Penny would use any excuse for a snuggle.

She glanced upwards to see Jeff’s smug grin. In this light, his eyes were more of a soft shade of grey than blue. Penelope was mesmerised by it.

“Ready to admit defeat?” Jeff asked, snapping out of her temporary trance.

“Defeat?”

“I think it’s safe to say the hammock won.”

“I think you’re mistaken.”

“It hasn’t collapsed. We haven’t died. You’re still laying in it.”

“I didn’t have much of a choice.”

“We can stay here all night if we have to.”

“And watch the beautiful sunset? I don’t see how that’s much of a threat, Jeff.”

In unison, they both glanced over to the horizon. The sun was breaching the horizon, rays reflecting off the waves in the distance. The sky was alight with deep oranges and soft toned pinks. Clouds interrupted the colour show and shadowed outlines of birds swooped and swarmed in clusters. The Pacific roared, crashing into the rocks of the island in a cacophony of sounds.

Jeff held Penelope tighter. His arm, still around her, drew her closer.

Penelope tore her gaze away from the glorious sunset and was met with a face full of grief. She had seen it on Jeff multiple times over the last couple of months, that faraway look, but Penelope never resented it. She did not like it, of course, for it signified the one thing she knew she would never be able to fully heal for him, but she could understand it, perhaps even better than most.

She raised her finger, booping him on the nose.

Jeff’s attention snapped back to her, apologetic and slightly startled, but Penelope merely grinned.

“I know you can hardly keep your eyes off the sky at the best of times, and tonight I must concede that it is exceptionally gorgeous, but you do have company, Jeff Tracy.”

“Sorry.” He chuckled, any thoughts and memories being pushed away to the recesses of his mind. He pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. “I wanted to give the sunset a moment of appreciation before I settled my gaze on the prettier sight.”

“Oh? Is there a meteor shower or something I don’t know about?” Penelope teased, knowing full well there was not. She enjoyed watching the roll of his eyes, hearing his fond, if a little exasperated, sigh.

As she rested back, her head finding a pillow in the safety of his shoulder, Jeff propped his cheek on the top of her head. He offered a gentle squeeze of her hand. “Fancy a vacation?”

“Is this not already one?”

“Not for me it isn’t.”

“Your life is one big vacation.”

“I think you’re underestimating all the work we do on this island, Penny.”

“Fair point. What were you thinking?”

Jeff idly traced circles on the back of her hand and Penelope knew, without having to look back up at him, that he was staring out at the great beyond again.

For a few moments, Jeff said nothing more. In his hold, and with the dying sunset on the horizon, Penelope’s eyelids began to feel heavy.

Then, after a deep inhale, Jeff softly suggested, “Somewhere far away. Maybe that new space hotel? That looks pretty interesting.”

Fighting off sleep a little longer, Penelope forced herself to reply in her normal tone. “The one Brains helped design, you mean? Yes, I was talking to Parker the other day about organising a visit.”

She bit back a yawn and she could feel Jeff’s smile through her hair.

“We can arrange something in the morning.” He continued his whispering. “If you’d like to go?”

“I would love to, but would the boys be okay with you being away for a few days?”

“I was thinking of it being more like a week or two.” He joked with a half-laugh. “But I’m sure they’ll do fine. Scott needs a little room to spread his wings, get used to some leadership without feeling like I’m watching over his shoulder. I won’t be here forever.”

The thought was a sobering one. If Penelope wasn’t on the verge of falling asleep, she would have tackled it more ferociously. Instead, trying to sound as stubborn as possible, she responded with, “No, but you’re going to be here for a long while yet, if I can help it.”

“Are you going to fight Death himself for me, Penny?”

“You know I’d fight anything for you, Jeff Tracy.”

He pressed another kiss to her forehead. “Do you want to move inside?”

“Absolutely not. I’m far too comfortable here now.”

“Ah, so you do admit defeat!”

Too tired to understand entirely what he meant, Penelope furrowed her brows. “What?”

“You admit defeat, regarding this hammock.”

In truth, Penelope had forgotten exactly where they had become so snug. The hideous hammock, for all its faults she tried to point out, was annoyingly cozy.

Stubborn to a fault, she grumbled. “We can talk about that in the morning too.”

Jeff chuckled. “Goodnight, Penny.”

[commandermac]

New on Sequential 21!

The first in a colossal 4-part retrospective of Thunderbirds' comic book adventures in TV Century 21. Solar dangers! African Missions! Eagle talons! It was all go in 1966 for International Rescue!

[edutainer2022]

I was confronted with the issue of adult friendships lately - how hard they are to maintain or to start from scratch. Or any relationship, really, in a full-time adulthood. And I'm really amused by Tycho Reeves befriending Scott Tracy. Or maybe it kinda going somewhere, sometime. So! Scott's mind, per usual, is telling him lots of angsty lies. Scott's family love him beyond measure. And on occasion real geniuses could be real idiots. @janetm74, that little headcanon of John being his brother's keeper and secret avenger gets to feature.

LEAN ON ME

This was stupid. It was nothing, but, mostly, it was stupid. He was stupid. He should have known better by now - people just... didn't choose him. If there was a choice at all, if they didn't need anything from him or didn't rely on him in some way, if they were not lumped together by circumstances or under his command - they cast a vote elsewhere. On particularly bad days he would wonder in passing if his brothers even would, were they not stranded with him from birth. Would they ever be friends? As adulthood course corrected, he saw his brothers, and Kayo, and Brains, develop social connections and loyalties of their own, or just quietly drift away to other alliances within the family, leaving him outside looking in. He certainly knew he needed to have been on his toes, above and beyond his best to earn merit with Dad. He still did. As much as he knew for a long, long time he wasn't Grandma's first choice. He was okay with that, mostly. He chose all of them, would ALWAYS choose them - nothing could ever change that. It was enough for him. Sort of. But this? He didn't know what he was thinking or expecting, really.

Friendships, beyond networking or acquaintances, stopped being effortless some time around university or basic. The brotherhood and camaraderie in his Airgroup was on par with his birth siblings and extended family, but not much went ahead that way after his stint in... THAT PLACE and early discharge, after Dad launched IR, after everything else happened, pulling him in a million different directions. Now, Gordon's mandatory jokes about a "boring old man" aside, he was self-aware enough to understand that beyond Thunderbird One or Mr. Tracy (no, not Jeff Tracy, sorry) of Tracy Industries, he was just Scott. Nothing special. Nothing particularly interesting. Certainly not enough time in his days (and nights) to accumulate catchy topics for conversation - a fact Lady Penelope never failed to reprimand him for over seemingly endless functions that somehow always ended up with him talking shop with World Council big wigs, financiers or investors, or even competitors. It was that or mind numbing chatter about yachts and villas, and resorts, or self-aggrandizing "endeavors". He left that to Lemaire. And he really should have known better than to earnestly hope to befriend a genius. Per his original point - John and Brains knew him since birth or childhood and didn't have a choice but to put up with him. Tycho Reeves did. And chose not to. Figures!

It seemed like a fairly straightforward arrangement. A Science and Industry Council was to start a session Monday in Geneva. Brains did not object to the opportunity to fly in earlier and stay at CERN over the weekend to go over something or other with Dr. Moffat. The sniggers of the Tinies were sternly dismissed, thus encouraged,  not suppressed. Tycho Reeves was on a secondment at CERN, working on something Scott strongly suspected was GDF funded particle acceleration research for another go at a T-drive, heretofore abandoned after the fateful day of the Zero-X launch. The whimsical scientist never quite failed to loose touch after their ordeal in the Hypercar, chatting away about the most wayward ideas and the most mundane things that caught his fancy - much to Scott's amusement - in messages or over occasional holocalls. Especially if a particularly dramatic rescue made it to the Global News. Since Scott was on the SIC board and expected in Geneva for the week, booked to capacity with panels, a quick and surprisingly pleasant plan was concocted: he volunteered to take Brains over in One (or, rather, volunteered Brains to take One with him, the engineer's greenish hue notwithstanding) on Friday, they'd grab a coffee with Dr. Reeves and see what Geneva scenic area had to offer for the weekend of some friendly catching up. Scott would have One on hand in case of a major emergency. He'd never seen John take him off roster faster. Yet here he was, back on the island that same Friday, making his way back to the lounge to busy himself with... anything, really, other than thoughts in his own head.

The sight greeting him, once he made it up from the hangars, would have been more than welcome on any other occasion. He truly never was NOT glad to see his brothers. And John planetside, down from Five early, acclimatizing to gravity before his own trip to Geneva with Virgil for the relevant panels next week, was a rare and precious treat. But right now Scott would have strongly preferred to be alone and dodge questions for as long as he could. Of course, John and, by extension, Virgil would have known the moment One took off from the CERN landing pad, so now his brothers were camping out in the lounge, waiting for him. Maybe he should have banked for Gran Roca and holed up there till Monday morning.

Virgil was seated on one of the sofas, reading. John was leaning on him sideways, his long legs hooked over the armrest at an angle that could have appeared uncomfortable to anyone who didn't know the Ginger Spaceman well. John was flicking through screens on his tablet and typing away, atmospheric glasses perched on the tip of his nose comically. They looked settled quite cosily for a quiet and (hopefully) uneventful evening. Kayo and the Tinies were probably out and about, soon to join them on the couches. Scott's heart ached. He really didn't want to be a distraction of his loved ones' priceless downtime with his moping. But it was probably too late to turn the corner and sneak into Dad's office or up to his rooms. It probably wouldn't help either, if he knew his family at all. Both John and Virgil looked up at him simultaneously. John sat up wordlessly, making room for Scott to insert himself between them. Virgil shifted his arm to the back of the couch, making a flannel bracket for Scott to lean into. As usual, Virgl's eyes and expression asked everything his voice didn't - he gave the eldest brother a soft and slightly concerned once over, leaving worry hang in the air should Scott choose to elaborate. Scott was grateful for that, settling himself into the slot on the couch, his eyes steadily trained on the carpet. If asked what went wrong, he probably wouldn't be able to explain anyway re: being stupid and unable to maintain meaningful adult relationships with acquaintances. John flopped back, using Scott's shoulder now as a headrest and making a little show of finding a comfortable spot, as Scott's was not as coushonie as Virgil's. Virgil reached around Scott's shoulder and gave the ginger head a light cuff. Scott found himself smiling a bit at that. God, he loved them so much!

The silence was comfortable and Scott let himself to just be wrapped up in it. John kept tapping at his tablet. At a certain point it pinged back and John seamlessly forwarded the message to Virgil's comm. Scott trained his eyes sideways to catch that it was from Dr. Moffat:

"Dr. Reeves invited his ex husband to assist in experiments for the weekend."

Scott could feel more than see Virgil's face fall with a stifled sigh. Yeah, that... He really hated being a spoilsport for his brothers, who had a thing going on about him needing enrichment and fulfillment. And an emotional burden. Now Virgil was visibly upset on his behalf on an otherwise perfectly nice Friday night. Scott felt the muscles in his neck and back tense and tried to deflect. Maybe they'll drop it all till Monday? Then he'll be safely gone for a week and after that this whole fiasco would be forgotten. He shifted a hand to tug at John's sweatpants lightly:

- How do you know Moffie, anyway?

- Oxford.

John shrugged noncommittaly, but, surprisingly, slipped a hand from his lap and linked with his. It had always been their thing - a silent gesture, usually offered by Scott, free for the taking if John was feeling overwhelmed or down, or didn't feel like more physical contact. His brother's palm was cold in his own. As if on queue, a stronger, warmer squeeze reached his shoulder. Virgil threw in a little headbutt too. Their own Morse code for "I'm here. Are you okay?" Truth be told, he was getting a lot better by the minute. Maybe it didn't gave to be a bad day, after all.

- So, do you want me to debunk his scientific credentials or to block funding of his next hyper-rail?

Scott must have zoned out for a moment, as he nearly jumped at the non sequitur.

- Come again?!

John sighed and, Scott was sure, rolled his eyes:

- I can go over every one of his published papers with a comb and call every result into question. Hypercar had faulty calculations, for one. Or I can freeze his funding. Or both.

- What?! Why?!

Scott was not holding up a very intelligent end of this conversation, but he was shocked. He felt John shrug once more against his shoulder.

- Nobody hurts my brother. Nothing I haven't done before.

- Huh?!?

Scott was beyond coherent communication at this point and looked at Virgil for help. Virgil appeared a little bit too amused to his comfort. John perched the tablet on his lap and went on, like explaining to a five year old:

- I got Stacy Sims un-admitted to college after she dumped you two weeks before the prom. She lied about her extra-curriculars in the application, anyway.

Scott resigned himself to interjections and an appalled grunt. What he didn't expect was for the sweetest, kindest Virgil to chime in:

- Didn't you have Erin disbarred too?

His ex-fiancée of the ill-fated Big New Year's break-up Erin? The hot-shot corporate lawyer Erin? Scott felt his ears ring. Maybe he overdid it with Mach 19, hightailing from CERN? And here he thought she dropped out of the New York City scene having moved operations to Europe. John was speaking up again:

- That's right. Disbarred and prosecuted for corporate espionage.

- Seriously?! That bitch?! Cool!

There was a slap of bare feet on the floor. In a moment Gordon flopped backwards across both Scott's and Virgil's knees. Scott's feeble "Language!" was buried in the rustle of fabric and the crunch of a celery bar.

- Sorry, *the* Bitch! Allie and I were legit afraid the Evil Almost Stepmother was gonna Harry-Potter us into the broom closet.

- She wanted to send the Tinies away to a military boarding school, find a loophole in Dad's estate and strip Virgil and I of inheritance. And build a wellness resort at Gran Roca. I hacked her DMs.

John adjusted his glasses primly to sit higher on his nose and focused back on the tablet. Scott groaned out loud and turned to Virgil again, keeping his voice a whisper this time:

- Why didn't you tell me any of this?

Virgil's smile was genuinely contrite and Scott felt his heart crack once more.

- You seemed into her. We always want you happy.

He really shouldn't try and meet people again. Ever. This was too much. Scott let his eyes rest for five seconds, then tapped John's hand, still resting in his:

- Please, don't do anything now!

John tilted his head to look at Scott upside down. Turquoise eyes were serious.

- Noone hurts my brother. Not even said brother, if he's being an idiot. Let the record show I'm fully prepared to have you admitted for psych eval the next time you jump off a cliff with a jetpack on bingo fuel, or fall for a narcissistic egomaniac.

Gordon was snorting at that. Too stunned to approach the statement from any number of meaningful angles, Scott went for the tried and true Scandalized Big Brother.

- Awwww, Johnny, that's so thoughtful of you! If you wanted control of my assets, all you had to do was ask - I'd write everything off to you in a heartbeat!

John put the tablet down again - a paragon of composure.

- Let the record indicate further that I have no vested interest in your collection of rare mismatched socks, brother mine.

Gordon full on hollered at that, limbs flailing every which way. Scott reached his free arm out instinctively, stopping the Fish from rolling down on the floor. He couldn't help his own grin. An extra nudge of soft flannel from the other side sent a warm, fuzzy wave all over.

That was the moment Alan and Kayo stepped out of the elevator, hands full of stacks of pizza boxes. If Kayo raised a quizzical brow in the general direction of the couch and exchanged glances with John - it was lost in the ensuing mayhem of passing over pillows and blankets for a proper puppy pile, batting somebody's hand off the *perfect* slice of pizza, popcorn fights, tickle fights, untangling the Squid, poking the Bear, rock-paper-scissoring to choose the movies and the watching order, having Eos calculate the statistical average of Alan being sent to fetch drinks, the works. Scott let himself sink deep beneath the surface of the white noise of people he loved most in the world, and feel the coil in his gut unwind a bit. Maybe it didn't have to be a bad day at all.

TBTBTBTB

Dr. Tycho Reeves found a rubber glove blocking his vision. The large, heavy-duty one, usually used in the labs when working with hazardous substances. He looked up from the calculations. The glove didn't move away, just shook a little in a lightly trembling hand of his usually quiet colleague.

- What is that?

- I-it-t's a g-gauntlet.

Tych drew his eyes up to the sight of Dr. Hiram Hackenbacker pretty much reeling with fury and Dr. Moffat by his side, arms crossed in indignation.

- A gauntlet?

He didn't know what else to say.

- Ye-es. You up-pset m-my f-friend. I will h-hereb-by ch-challenge every d-disc-covery you m-make.

Tycho sagged, lowering his eyes back to the floor. That allowed Dr. Moffat to reach up on her tiptoes and cuff him up the head. That'd be the second one he got today. The first was from Simon, his erstwhile research partner and ex, as he left CERN to go back to enjoying the weekend with the new family before the start of the Science and Industry Council sessions. Moffie was not done yet.

- What the HELL were you thinking?!!! The most incredible guy on the planet is not opposed to having coffee with you and you sabotage it with inviting an ex over?!!!!

Well, about that... The truth of the matter was - Tycho Reeves had no idea how to deal with the most incredible guy on the planet being not opposed to remembering his name, let alone having an actual meet up, coffee and small talk, and all. How soon would it be till Tycho shot himself in the foot with some awkward eccentricity, or rambled on a mile an hour till Scott was barely following with polite boredom and checking his watch. Or, worse, invented an emergency to get out. Tycho knew he was a genius, but he was quite aware of being a nerd too. And there were only so many nerds someone like Scott Tracy could tolerate in his immediate company at any given time. Brains was a long-time partner of Scott's father and knew him, supposedly, since childhood. Tycho was passably familiar, and thoroughly impressed, with Scott's other brother's work on Astrophysics. Dr Reeves himself would be one nerd too many. Besides, he didn't fit the bill of familial affection. Or any other affection, for that matter. So, in pursuit of self-preservation, Tycho maybe overreacted, inviting a rather perplexed Simon over for the day at CERN. And now Dr. Hackenbacker was up in arms and the most incredible guy on the planet was upset or, more likely, outraged. Maybe he did shoot himself in the foot after all. Tycho dared to peek up at Brains, still staring daggers at him.

- What do I do now?

It was Dr. Moffat's turn to give him a Look and to throw her hands up in the air for an unvoiced "I can't believe you!". Brains furrowed his brow, actually thinking over some options.

- You c-can, AX-SID-DENTALLY c-come over to m-my p-panel M-monday and st-tay for c-coffee. Sc-cott always keeps m-me c-company after b-big p-presentations. He's a v-very g-good friend and b-boss.

A coffee-break after the first panel meeting of SIC Monday. Tycho Reeves could do that. He was sure he'd be watched like a hawk and would regret it if Scott as much as frowned. But it was worth a shot. The most incredible guy on the planet was worth a slim chance to make things right. Tycho Reeves had a feeling he was facing the longest two days and the most terrifying fifteen minutes of his life.

[scribbles97]

Left Behind - Where We Left Off

Oh look... after two years I've fixed that big old cliff hanger that I left lying around!

Thank you to those that have missed me and welcomed me back into the fandom after being absent for so long, the biggest of hugs to all of you... I hope I don't end up leaving you all on another cliff hanger!

For those that I haven't met yet, Hi!

I was here in the TAG fandom right at the very beginning and somewhere around the time the series finished I thought it'd be fun to imagine an AU in which Lucy was alive and well... this monstrosity of a fic is the outcome of that.

Looks like I was pretty rubbish at posting the last few chapters on here so check Ao3 for the fic in its entirety.

For those that don't want to re-read the entirety of what's already there... have a little recap under the cut.

Beware, there be spoilers ahead!

So... where were we?

Part One of this fic was basically about losing Jeff. That's right folks we hit off from the day the Zero-X blows up and Jeff vanishes.

This leaves Lucy, her brother Lee, and Val Casey as the main leads of International Rescue as we know it.

In this universe Lucy demanded that IR could not be run by their family alone and spearheaded what we call the IR academny, from where Scott is about to graduate. Kayo and Penelope are also about to graduate, but in a much quieter private ceremony for our two espoinage specialists. Both of these ladies have their fathers present and playing a big part in both International Rescue and Tracy Industries.

As for the rest of the family, John is working for NASA and about to shoot off into space. Virgil and Gordon are about to join the IR academy (which momma bear Lucy is absolutely having mixed feelings about). And Alan is being the kid that he should rightfully be at such a young age.

Part Two sees us skip forward four years.

We start to see a little more of IR as we know it here, though Virgil and Gordon are very much still learning, and Alan is barely getting away with being allowed to play on the simulators.

Lucy is afraid because of whisperings of Gaat (The Hood) returning and what this might mean for the safety of her family and IR as a world-wide organisation.

What nobody expects is that new camera angle from the Zero-X, leading to the suggestion that Jeff could still be alive.

Gaat tricks Lucy into thinking he has a new ship capable of the same flight, it's aboard this ship where she meets an engineer known as Michael and promises to free him from Gaat's grip. They then discover that Gaat has found his way onto the Island and is threatening the whole family (think Legacy).

Then the ship goes boom.

Part 3 starts out with the aftermath of Lucy being on a ship that exploded. She's in a coma and all of her boys are a little bit lost as to what to do now.

Scott takes over the business and the running of their IR team with John leaving Nasa to take his rightful place aboard TB5. Lee does an excellent vanishing act when it's decided to return Lucy to the island, and we haven't heard from him since.

We also discover that Lucy and Hugh Creighton-Ward might have been more than just friends at some point in the last four years.

Part 4 Lucy wakes up! Then promptly wonders what her place is in the family now that Scott and Hugh have taken so much of her role on for her. Their main concern is seeing her get stronger before they consider letting her take over some of the reins again.

Scott is quite happy to go on regular business meetings as it gives him an excuse to meet up with Tia, his off-island security that may also be turning into something more.

Speaking of which, Virgil and Kayo are also up to something and have a hilariously cute moment in telling Lucy as much.

Alan is also up to something, being the baby of the family and far too young to actually join the academy yet, he's trying hard to find a way to be involved in IR.

More importantly though, thanks to Eos, we find that Jeff is alive!

Part 5 is the most recent part posted... honestly? If you're not going to re-read the whole thing I'd at least read from here as a refresher.

Scott finally talks to people about his hopes and fears, but then his entire world comes crashing down around him is the most summary I can really say without spoiling what happens next. Val starts to question Lucy if they've done the right thing bringing the boys into IR, and Lucy starts to question her own relationships.

But Jeff is alive and there's a whole lot of figuring out how to get him home.

So... that's the fic in summary so far. Honestly, if you have the time and energy please please re-read the whole thing to refresh your memory. I did just that the other week and it opened my eyes as to how much there is that I left myself open to fix so you might find some interesting threads if you look hard enough!

[kaijuboarcreations]

Into the Andersonverse: A full timeline of events for the confirmed continuity of Gerry Anderson Supermarionation shows (Fireball XL5 to Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons)

(Disclaimer*: i actually opted to follow Thunderbirds are Go canon for ages *don't ask me why it's a process plus the actual ages and birth order for the boys is heavily debated in both the og series and are go so don't at me* Also yes I took a few creative liberties to fill in some blanks they are marked by ** so you know what isn't canon, and yes it doesn't always make sense *aka how Venus is a war orphan if the war ended before she was born* but you can't blame me for that, that's just how it was written)

Anyways yall better love me for this it took me three days to make

1988: Sally "Grandma" Tracy is born (maiden name unknown)

2012: Professor Mathew Matic is born in Britain -Aloysius "Nosey" Parker is born - Jeff Tracy is born in Kansas to Grant and Sally Tracy**

2015: Commander Sam Shore (real name Samuel Arthur)is born in Kansas

2017: Charles Grey (Colonel White) is born in England

2028: European Atomic War and Mass Riots in France

2029: Conrad Turner (Captain Black) is born in Manchester, England

2030: Steve Zodiac is born on Mars -Sam Shore leaves home to join the navy

2031: Edward Wilkie (Dr Fawn) is born in Yalumba, Australia

2033: Professor Matic graduates with 22 degrees in astrophysics, robotic, and astronomy, and becomes a navigator for Zero-X interplanetary missions -Sam Shore is given command of a World Security Service submarine -Bradley Holden (Captain Gray) is born in Chicago

2034: Sam Shore befriends Admiral Jack Denver -Patrick Donaghue (Captain Magenta) is born in Dublin Bay, Ireland -The European Atomic War ends (the war left Venus and Conrad Turner orphaned)

2035: Venus is born in Paris -George Lee "Phones" Sheridan is born in South Carolina -Adam Svenson (Captain Blue) is born in Boston -Richard Fraiser (Captain Ochre) is born in Detroit

2036: Paul Metcalfe (Captain Scarlet) is born in Hampshire, England

2037: Jeff Tracy becomes a Colonel for the US Air Force and later transfers to the Space Agency -Patrick Donaghue and his parents immigrate to the US, living in poverty in Manhattan

2038: Troy Tempest is born in New York City -Jeff Tracy marries Lucielle** -Charles Grey graduates from the University of East Angila -Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward is born to Sir Hugh and Lady Amelia**

2040: War damage fixed -Sam Shore marries Elaine MacDonald -Scott Tracy is born**

-"Brains" is born -The Southeast Asia revolts -Juliette Pontoin (Destiny Angel) is born in Paris

2041: Atlanta Shore is born from Elaine and Sam in California -Seymour Griffiths (Lieutenant Green) is born in Trinidad

2042: John Tracy is born** -The Iceland Dispute -The Panama-Ithsmus rebellion begins -Karen Wainwright (Symphony Angel) is born in Cedar Rapids -Chan Kwan (Harmony Angel) is born in Tokyo

2043: The Panama-Ithsmus rebellion ends -Magnolia Jones (Melody Angel) is born in Atlanta -Dianne Simms (Rhapsody Angel) is born in London

2044: Virgil Tracy is born**

2045: Professor Matic takes the role as a professor for Universe University -Conrad Turner joins the British Air Force

2046: Marina is born -Gordon Tracy is born** -Charles Grey moves up to the rank of 'Captain' -The British Civil War begins (during which Conrad Turner is badly wounded)

2047: Steve Zodiac joints WSP Academy -Tanusha "Kayo" Kyrano/Tintin Kyrano is born** -Britain joins the World Government -Charles Grey becomes Admiral while commanding the World Navy Destroyer fleet -Conrad Turner joins the World Air Force

2048: Charles Grey joins the Universal Secret Service and marries his field partner Elizabeth Sonmers -Edward Wilkie starts medical school in Brisbane

2049: the British sector of the USS is reorganized by Charles Grey

2050: Professor Matic designs and builds the world's first Nutomic Hyperdrive Motor and is given an honorary position as Major while heading the XL project -Alan Tracy is born** -Charles Grey is promoted to the head of the USS British sector

2051: Steve Zodiac becomes an astronaut and sub-lieutenant at Space City -Prototypes of the XL project are debuted including XL1 Alpha -Adam Svenson receives a full ride scholarship to Harvard University at age 16

2052: the Anti-Bereznik Riots (of which Patrick Donaghue was involved where he was later arrested and imprisoned for 90 days)

2053: Steve Zodiac befriends space explorer Jim Ireland who sets off on a 10 year voyage -Seymour Griffiths loses his parents in an air disaster

2054: Richard Fraiser joins the World Government Police Corps after being rejected from university and the Air Force -Bradley Holden graduates from the World Navy Academy in San Diego immediately enlisting in the World Navy submarine service

2055: Steve is promoted to captain and is assigned to co-pilot Fireball XL5 -Conrad Turner joins the World Space Patrol and mans Fireball XL3 -Adam Svenson joins the World Aeronautic Society as a test pilot -Patrick Donaghue finishes his studies and graduates from Yale University with degrees in physics, electrical engineering, and technology and he takes a job as a computer programmer for a firm in Brooklyn but soon quit for a life of crime -Edward Wilkie graduates from Brisbane with degrees in medicine and biology and joins the Australian sector of the World Medical Organization as assistant medical controler. Later that same year he is promoted to health controller of the Scandinavian sector.

2056: Venus joins the World Space Patrol -Colonel Grange suffers a mental breakdown while piloting Fireball XL5 leaving Steve to bring them to safety -Marina's mother dies -Troy Tempest joins the World Navy Academy in San Diego -Lucielle Tracy passes away

2057: All Fireball XL ships are outfitted with the Nutomic Hyperdrive Motor -Paul Metcalfe graduates from Winchester University with degrees in History, Technology, and Mathematics -Adam Svenson is promoted to active field agent for WAS -Patrick Donaghue becomes a kingpin for organized crime in New York due to his leadership over several gangs and hacking abilities -Edward Wilkie revolutionizes the WMO's medical technology through robots which places him in the position of Administrator for Advancements in Medicine and Medical Science -Juliette Pontoin attends University in Rome

2058: Elaine Shore suffers a heart attack and passes away -Phones takes on work as a mercenary -Karen Wainwright attends Yale University at age 16

-Lady Penelope becomes chief operative of the Federal Agents Beareu where she meets Jeff Tracy (wait...... F.A.B..... so that's what that stands for....)

2059: Paul Metcalf begins study at West Point Military University in New York -Richard Fraiser transfers to Chicago and takes on one of the toughest crime syndicates in the country

2060: An attack on his vessel causes Sam Shore to lose use of his legs. He and Atlanta move to Marineville to command the World Aquanaut Security Patrol (which is newly established)

-Gordon Tracy interns with WASP** -Troy Tempest is captured on a failed mission and is rescued by Phones who he convinces to join the navy -Troy Tempest arrives at WASP Marineville -Juliette Pontoin joins the World Army Air Force and is transferred to the Intelligence Corps where she hones her skills as a pilot, leads the Woman's Fighter Squadron

2061: Magnolia Jones joins the World Army Airforce at age 18

-Gordon Tracy suffers an accident while working with a high speed hydrofoil**

2062: the start of the events of Fireball XL5 -Jeff Tracy establishes International Rescue -Seymour Griffiths graduates University in Kingston Jamaica with degrees in telecommunications, technology, and music and joins WASP as a junior hydrophone operator (his brothers followed but were killed in an accident which Seymour transferred as a telecommunications operator at Marineville) -Bradley Holden joins WASP as the Lieutenant commander security chief and takes the role of piloting Stingray in her prototype years -Karen Wainwright becomes a full fledged field agent for Universal Secret Service after several years of training -Magnolia Jones becomes lost while taking the XKF 115 aircraft on a test flight and loses contact with control -Chan Kwan graduates University and is determined to fly solo around the world

2063: Venus earns a degree in Space Psychology -Steve Zodiac is awarded Astronaut of the Year -Paul Metcalfe graduates from West Point and joins the World Air Force -Juliette Pontoin leaves WAAF to start her own pilot contracting firm -Magnolia Jones returns after being lost for almost a year after rebuilding her craft from the wreckage. She shortly leaves to focus on flying and setting up a freelance air taxi service -Dianne Simms meets Lady Penelope and is offered a position in the FAB to train as an agent

2064: Bradley Holden receives a severe back injury taking him out of the line to duty and landing him a desk job at Marineville -Troy Tempest becomes captain of Stingray and takes on Phones as his co-pilot -Chan Kwan attempts her voyage around the world but stops to answer a distress call to rescue a group of men from a burning tanker ship in the Pacific. Six months later she tries again and succeeds

2065: the events of Thunderbirds begins -the Spectrum Organization is established and Charles Grey turns down the position of Supreme Commander of the USS to take on his role as "Colonel White" for Spectrum under the Spectrum Selection Committee -Seymour Griffiths joins Spectrum under the codename "Lieutenant Green" -Conrad Turner joins Spectrum under the codename "Captain Black" and quickly climbs the ranks as Spectrum's top agent -Paul Metcalfe joins Spectrum under the code name "Captain Scarlet" (thanks to recommendation from Conrad) -Adam Svenson joins Spectrum under the code name "Captain Blue" -Patrick Donaghue is pardoned for his crimes and is offered a position as an agent of Spectrum under the code name "Captain Magenta" -Dr Edward Wilkie is approached by Spectrum to become the Supreme Medical Commander of Cloudbase and given the codename "Doctor Fawn" -Juliette Pontoin is approached to join Spectrum's squadron of fighter pilots and is given the codename "Destiny Angel" -Magnolia Jones is selected by Spectrum as a fighter pilot and is given the codename "Melody Angel" -Lady Penelope quits her role in the FAB to focus on her work with International Rescue. The FAB dissolves soon after. -Dianne Simms is forced to leave the FAB and becomes a chief security officer for the Euro-Charter Airline company -Chan Kwan's father dies and she takes over the family air taxi company 2066: Richard Fraiser fakes assassination and joins Spectrum under the code name "Captain Ochre" -Bradley Holden clears a health check under Spectrum and is recruited as an agent under the codename "Captain Gray"

-Karen Wainwright quits her work with the USS to become a pilot full time. Shortly after she passes her exam to join Spectrum and joins the Angel squadron under the codename "Symphony Angel" -Dianne Simms is approached by Spectrum to join the Angel squadron and is given the codename "Rhapsody Angel"

-Chan Kwan is approached by the Spectrum Selection Committee to become an Angel pilot, in which she is accepted and given the codename "Harmony Angel"

2068: the events of Thunderbirds end and the events of Captain Scarlet begin (the Mysterons declare war on Earth after the Zero X Mars expedition comes across their settlement and attacks)

[halorocks1214]

the law of compensation

Word Count: 10960

Summary: The Law of Compensation is the Law of Cause and Effect applied to blessings and abundance that are provided for us. The visible effects our deeds are given to us in gifts, money, inheritances, friendships, and blessings

Previous Parts (in order):  Alan | John | Virgil | Scott | Kayo | Gordon | You are here!

*heelies into view* sup, im not dead.

i wrote myself into a corner with this one with the ages and stuff, and right before i could figure it out to fix it, covid hit hard and writer's block even harder. however, recently, my brain went 'hey you know how you can fix your story' and welp now im here. i hope you like it! idk how i feel about it since my general emotions right now are pfsdppomdfgpomsd so feel free to fill in the blanks for me~

Penelope’s life has been upside down since day one.

Her parents were rich and influential in many circles, which meant they ran into more problems than most other families probably did. Penelope learned every trick in the book when it came to noticing spies, always making sure someone tasted her food for her if there was even the slightest amount of suspicion behind it, never unattended in unfamiliar places.

So when she walked into her bedroom on her 12th birthday alone and was met by the strange elderly man nearly crushed under her dresser, she had to admit she was quite perplexed by the sight, but not frightened.

Tilting her head as she walked over to be about three feet away, she squatted down to be on his level. Well, as much as she could, because he was pinned to be laying on his back, and she wasn’t going to place her cheek against the cold floor just to look him directly in the eyes, “Hi there, who are you?”

Despite being 12, she was keenly aware of how abrupt that sounded, but after a moment of struggling, he finally decided to give her the time of day, especially considering it looked like he wasn’t going anywhere for a while, “Someone who was just stopping by to-” he grunted as he tried wiggling out once more, “H-enjoy the view.”

Well, for the most part, that made sense, but, “Well you’re definitely in the wrong place for that. My room is rather cruddy compared to other views in my home.”

The trapped man blinked before realizing that he was in the presence of a literal child, “Oh? Well, where would the best view be h-in this place?”

Her brain said she was going against all her training, yet her heart refused to set off any alarm bells just yet, “Here, I can take you. Let’s get you free.”

Through lots of effort, the dresser was pushed off the man, and then the two of them were going somewhere, Penelope eagerly grabbing his hand and dragging him as much as she could as a small preteen. The man just stuck along for the confusing ride.

He was there to steal, of course, but the absolute willingness of this child to be his temporary best friend befuddled him, “Why h-are you doing this?”

She paused momentarily before looking up at him, “I don’t really know,” she shrugged her shoulders, “I guess I was lonely, and I could tell you were too.”

Stuck between being disheartened and offended, Parker prompted her to go on, “Oh?”

Penelope nodded her head, “Don’t get me wrong, I love my parents and family, and they love me, but I’m sure you know all the cliches about being a rich child from an even richer family. Especially a rich daughter of all things.”

Thinning his lips, the man looked back up to watch where they were going, “I suppose I he-ave.”

The two of them made their way over to Penelope’s favorite balcony. Quietly pushing open the door, the man widened his eyes at the sight. No wonder the girl liked this place more, it was breathtaking. The stars in the night sky shone beautifully over their garden-filled back yard, making the flowers and fountain sparkle like they were infused with magic.

Penelope proceeded to tug on his hand again to bring him out to the railing of the balcony. After standing there for a few minutes, she started to speak softly, almost startling the strange man, “See what I meant?”

It was so cold his puffs of air were condensing in front of him, “Yes, I do believe I see hu-what you are getting h-at.”

He almost got lost in the sight forever before noticing movement out of the corner of his eye. Behind them on the balcony very suddenly was a criminal clad in all black holding a knife. He appeared to be trying to sneak into the mansion but caught sight of what must have been his target. Before the man could tell Penelope to run, the criminal made his attack.

Penelope shrieked as her new friend lunged at the criminal before he could do any harm. As they both attempted to subdue the other, her friend knocked the knife out of his hand and pushed him over, but not before the criminal was able to trip him up.

Penelope watched pushed up against the railing as the two men struggled to stand amidst their fight. Before she could blink, the criminal found his weapon and glared at her while her friend was just about done catching his breathing

“Dammit!” The assailant swore before gripping the knife tighter, “I didn’t work this hard for some fuddy-duddy grandpa to steal my thunder!”

The criminal lunged at Penelope one more time, but that was even more fruitless than the last attempt. When he was about three feet away from the girl, her friend grabbed him by the scruff of his collar and pushed him straight into the ground, knocking the wind out of him before going even further and putting his knee on the small of his back.

As the criminal began to struggle, her friend looked up at Penelope with surprising concern, “H-are you h-okay, m’lady?”

Blinking a few times, Penelope stood up and wiped her dress off, “Uh, yes, I am. Thank you…”

Her friend finished her question for her, “Aloysius Parker, pleasure to meet you.”

With that, rapid footsteps came from inside the building before they burst out onto the terrace. A bunch of family-mandated bodyguards were being followed by Penelope’s parents. Once they took in the sight of Parker, Penelope, and the extra third, the action got even crazier.

Three bodyguards went and obtained the criminal from Aloysius’ grasp while two more went and held both his arms. He was slightly annoyed by the gesture, but he couldn’t say it was exactly unfair. Over on Penelope’s side of the ordeal, her parents were hugging and kissing her, reprimanding her for going off alone, especially while a ball was happening, do you know the kinds of people that can sneak in during them-

One of the bodyguards coughed, “Um, what would you like us to do, sir?”

The other bodyguard was way too excited, “Let’s throw them in the dark dark wine cellar.”

Another bodyguard groaned, “I said the newbie would get too big of a head chaperoning this event.”

The one right beside him scoffed, “Oh please, none of this shit would have happened if you just stayed on your post with the kid.”

The third one spoke again, “Oh shut your goddamn piehole you-”

The parents were finally standing up with their daughter behind them. The father proceeded to pinch his nose, “Gentlemen, for the love of God, please-”

Popping out from behind his leg, Penelope shouted to shut everyone up, “You’re not going to do anything because his name is Parker and he saved my life!”

The night air was even quieter than it was when it was just the two of them.

Penelope’s mother slowly looked over at Parker with shock, “You did?”

Parker looked once at Penelope’s rapidly nodding head before reluctantly admitting it, “H-yes, I did.”

Penelope shot out from her father’s side to Parker’s, “He sure did! So you can’t be too mad at him for whatever other reason he appeared tonight, okay?”

Penelope’s father gave Penelope a soft look before turning and giving Parker an inquisitive one, “You do appear to be a man of particular skills… I may have an idea of how to get you out of any jail time or trouble if you want to hear me out.”

‘Hear him out’ was exactly what Parker did, and they eventually agreed on the best outcome: all ill-will would be forgotten if Parker started working for the Creighton-Ward family, specifically as Lady Penelope’s chauffeur, servant, and everything in between. She was shocked Parker agreed to the deal. She thought he would hightail it as soon as he could, but alas, he was ready and willing to stay put. To this day, she still isn’t sure what glued him to her side…?

Regardless, she had a new servant, and not to brag, he was better than any other one she had before.

About a year into their little arrangement, everything was going swell. Parker was very talented at what he did and yet was always ready to listen to Penelope’s beck and call. They were becoming quite the pair, and one day while shopping for other kinds of pairs (a preteen girl needs to have all the best shoes, Parker!), they came across a peculiar situation.

Actually, she’ll be more specific, she’s not that rude: they came across a man seemingly being mugged, and since her parents raised her to be a kind lady, she ordered Parker like she always does, “Parker, do be a dear and help the poor fellow out.”

Parker hadn’t needed to be told twice, “Yes, m’lady.”

With that, the assailant was subdued rather quickly, and Penelope went over to the man, who was bent over and out of breath. He was putting up somewhat of a fight, but it didn’t hurt to give him a little help, “Are you okay, sir?”

The man turned to look at Penelope with a small, fatherly smile, “Why yes, I am. Thanks to you and your bodyguard, that ended up a lot less painful than it could have been. Do you mind me asking your names?”

Why not, Penelope thought, “My name is Penelope Creighton-Ward, and my bodyguard over there is named Parker.”

The man pondered over her answer for a moment, “Penelope, that’s very pretty. Nice to meet you, Penelope, my name’s Mr. Tracy, but you can call me Jeff if you’re comfortable with that.”

Jeff Tracy, that name sounded familiar, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Before she could ask what he did for a living, a gasp came front a few feet away, causing the three not-unconscious people to look in its direction.

Starstruck at the mouth of the alleyway was a brunette that looked so much like the man they just saved yet totally different at the same time, “Dad, what the hell-”

Mr. Tracy waved the boy off, “Scott, please, children are present.”

At that, ‘Scott’ grew sheepish, “Oh, sorry,” then he was back to his previous shocked state, “Dad, what the heck happened here?!”

With that, Mr. Tracy- Jeff, why not, stood up straight, “Don’t worry, Scooter, I just-”

Penelope stopped him there, “Parker over there is holding the incapacitated man that tried harming Mr. Tracy. I saw it happening and asked him to help out.”

Mr. Tracy quietly bit out, “Dammit.”

So much for children being present.

Scott wasn’t deterred, “Dad! I told you going out was a bad idea, or at the very least going off by yourself!”

Jeff pinched the bridge of his nose, “Well, forgive me for wanting to get some fresh air. Besides, it’s not your job to worry like this, you know.”

Scott threw his arms out in exasperation, “It is when you do dumb stuff like this!”

Penelope could definitely see how these two were father and son.

Rolling his eyes, Jeff placed his arm around his son and looked back somewhat at Penelope, but mainly at Parker, “If you don’t mind, sir, but I would love getting your contact information.”

Before Parker could even exhale, Penelope spoke for him, “Sorry, but anything you want of Parker is something you want of me.”

Scott started glaring, “Hey, how old are you-”

Jeff quickly placed his hand over Scott’s mouth to shut him up, “Sorry, he’s pretty understandably rattled.” He took his hand away, and while Scott didn’t start talking again, he did cross his arms. Considering it a victory, Jeff put his full attention on Penelope, “That’s quite alright, you clearly seem to be the one in charge. Does that mean I’ll be taking your contact information?”

After giving him the bare minimum of necessary information, she, Parker, and Jeff kept in touch (it was mainly Jeff trying to speak with Parker but her joining them anyway, but she digressed). She went on to remember that Tracy Industries was a thing, and she always thought you could never have enough friends in high places. Plus, Jeff was one of the nicer ones, so to speak. She genuinely enjoyed his thought processes, and Parker was even starting to warm up to him.

Almost a year later after that fateful encounter, Jeff Tracy was announced dead, and Penelope expected that to be the end of things. She was saddened by it, maybe even more than usual, but she was raised to keep living in the present.

Until just a few months after her 20th birthday. She and Parker were relaxing in the main room before they received a random phone call. Normally she would let Parker handle it, but today she was exceptionally bored and wanted to do something. Once she reached the phone, she recognized the number immediately, “Jeff?”

A man cleared his throat, “Um, no, unfortunately, this is his son, Scott. I think you maybe remember me? That day in the alleyway?”

Recalling her thoughts, that’s when it hit her, “Oh, right, you were the one ready to throw hands with a 13-year-old.”

“A 13-year-old with a wardrobe more expensive than most families’ salaries and her own trained bodyguard that she ordered to practically break the arm of the guy that was attacking my father.”

Fair, and if her instincts were correct, that was the exact reason he was calling, “I suppose you are technically correct, but remember you were the one that called me. Tread carefully.”

Penelope heard shuffling on the other side, as if Scott were unable to sit still, “I have a… proposition for you, more specifically, Parker, if you’ll let me talk to him.”

Penelope was too curious to let it go. She glanced at Parker, who was watching out of the corner of his eye but ultimately letting her handle it, before pushing Scott to continue explaining, “What are you getting at?

Scott cleared his throat again, this time more in an attempt to steel himself for what was about to come, “Well, you have every right to turn this offer down, so does he, but my father’s plans involved calling your bodyguard and asking for his assistance for some things. I thought it was completely unnecessary, but after about a year of doing this, I’m starting to realize he may have had a point.”

That was cryptic, “About what?”

She could practically see the look on his face. It screamed ‘well, you see…’ “Certain jobs can’t be handled through normal means if you know what I’m getting at.”

Ah, of course. Considering who she’s friends with, she knows all too well what he’s talking about. ‘Normal’ is a generous descriptor.

Looking back at Parker, she thought long and hard. It’s not like they’ve been doing much. Going to balls, representing the family name, carefully lording the right information in the shadows; outside of that last thing, she’s not exactly spending every night out in the town.

Besides… she's seen Jeff’s legacy in action. It is quite the feat, and it’s taken the world by storm. She was surprised it could keep up even though the man behind it was, well, dead.

With that in mind, she made her decision, “Okay.”

Scott’s blink was so hard she almost heard it, “Okay?”

She nodded despite the fact he couldn’t see him, “We’ll help you out.” Then she paused for dramatic effect, “On one condition: I get to help out too.”

The pin was dropped, and she was sure Scott heard a record scratch in his head, “Uh, I mean-”

“Those are the terms, Scott Tracy,” she interrupted, “And if you don’t want to follow them-”

“No!” He double interrupted, “That’s not what I was saying, hang on.” Penelope heard some shuffling papers before he began again, “I’m totally okay with that. You’re an adult, you are a very powerful adult, you can make your own decisions. I can handle it, I just want to make sure you can.”

Now it was her turn to blink, “Huh?”

Scott cleared his throat, “As long as your willing to put in the work and agree to other terms we may have, I can take on both of you. I just don’t want you to feel coerced into this because my dad offhandedly mentioned that your bodyguard might be a beneficial asset to his goals. You have to be absolutely sure, after all, there’s a lot more here than just a rescue operation.”

Well, Penelope had to admit he had a point there.

… Still, she was tired. Tired of the same repetitive, high-class bullshit she dealt with every day. She donated to charity and advocated for everything she believed in, but after over half a decade, it was getting repetitive. She still wanted to help, yes, but she also wanted to see more, offer more, be more.

She just wanted more, “Yes, Scott Tracy, I truly believe I want to do this.”

He didn’t miss a beat after her final answer, “Alright then, I’ll give you coordinates for the island. Would this weekend work for a meeting?”

Adrenaline raced through her veins, “That sounds perfect.”

The weekend came, and after being able to convince Parker of the idea (deep down he knew he needed to get out and do something just as much as she did), the island they ended up visiting was absolutely stunning. Forget her mansion, she was going to move to the Caribbean or something with weather like this.

“Hey! Get back here you jerk!”

Bringing her out of her thoughts was the sound of laughter between two guys. It got closer and closer until two blonde boys came sprinting out from behind the corner with the slightly taller one chasing the shorter one. A few seconds of being out in the open, the taller one eventually saw Penelope and froze.

Before either of them could say anything, he grew slightly red and ran back behind the wall he came from with the shorter one chasing after him, his voice getting quieter and quieter with distance, “Hey, what are you doing? What’s wrong?”

Well, that was slightly rude. Regardless, another voice grabbed her attention before she could think about it too much.

“Penelope Creighton-Ward!”

Turning to face the voice, she smiled, “Ah, the voice over the phone!”

Scott rolled his eyes, “Haha, glad to see we’re going to have another jokester in our midst.” Before she could ask what that meant, Scott beckoned her and Parker to follow, “Now then, please, follow me to the main attraction. I have a few ladies who are dying to meet you.”

After a few minutes of walking through the weirdest tunnel system she had seen in her entire life, she eventually came out into what was a humongous hanger holding various sized rockets and ships. On the giant green one was a black-haired man somewhere in his mid-twenties talking to an older lady. Penelope assumed they were family, considering the laughter that was scattered about them.

Along with the green ship, a giant red rocket sat still in the corner. Despite no direct light being shined on it at the moment, it glowed like the sun itself, even outshining the way smaller silver rocket placed directly under a spotlight. The lack of shininess could be the fact that a completely different pair was working on the silver one, an older man with a younger woman this time, but one would think the silver one would shine the brightest regardless?

Bringing her back to reality, Scott Tracy walked in between her and the giant vessels. He proceeded to hold out his hand, “Well, welcome to the Thunderbirds. We’re glad to have you.”

With a sly grin, Penelope took it with grace, “Well, I’m glad to be here.”

This was going to be a very interesting business partnership.

---

“I thought you didn’t like to drink”

A scoff, “Contrary to popular belief, I can get quite hammered when I want to. It’s not my fault my brothers have such shit taste in their alcohol consumption.”

Snorting as she kneeled, Penelope gazed at the bottle in Gordon’s hand with a hint of concern, but hopefully, kept it well hidden, “Well, you’re not wrong there. I’ve had to request the weirdest things for John at my balls, you know. It takes a lot of effort to find Amazonian lemons. Can the rest of you even pronounce the brands he likes?”

Gordon shrugged, gripping his bottle a little tighter, “I think Scott was the one that created our betting game off of it. How many syllables we can get right. By the way, nice to see you didn’t immediately jump down my throat at the sight of my drunk ass,” another sip, making her wince, “At least I’m not the only one feeling this way.”

She placed her hands gently around his, bringing the bottle away and getting him to look her squarely in her eyes, “Well, anyone worth their weight in salt would be feeling shitty at the moment, but considering even Scott is relatively sober and not out here with you,” she squeezed his fists at little more, “What’s bothering you, Gordon?”

Another shrug, more broad and wide with the way both his exhaustion liquor were catching up to him. The grin he formed was anything but happy, “You said it yourself, everything?”

Penelope thinned her lips, “Both you and I know that you’re going to have to be more specific than that.”

Seeing as her words were cracking his shell, she quickly but quietly moved her hands away from his, leaving only one on his shoulder. It was the right decision, as following her movements, the first thing Gordon did was shake his hands in frustration and groan, “He’s still gone, Penn, two weeks, scared and alone and we might have well have sat around on our asses drooling at the walls with how far we’ve gotten in terms of finding out where he’s been taken.”

Ah, she figured it had to be that. Penelope had learned the hard way about what had befallen the Tracy family this time in the form of them not calling her when they got home, followed by the majority of them not picking up her calls either. She was about to call it a night and come over to the island herself when Mrs. Tracy was the first one to pick up. Penelope was a little grateful she didn’t video call. It might have been worse if she saw the state the older lady was in.

“Yeah, yeah, Jeffie is back safe and sound, and believe me, I’m eternally grateful, so are the boys, but…”

Penelope waited with bated breath. That breath was soon lost with what she heard next.

“Despite it all, we still don’t have the entire family back home, and-- dammit, Alan-”

Being the lady she was, she firmly yet gently let the grandmother know that it was okay if she didn’t want to say everything over a call. She and Parker would be over to the island first thing in the morning. With a terse goodnight, the ladies cut their lines with newfound senses of dread. Penelope got to the island with her escort just like she said, was given the long and short of it (was shown the damn note), and with aggressive clicking of her heels, she promised hell upon every one that wronged their family.

Which was only one, crazy, insane, bald madman.

It was a mess-and-a-half, and Penelope had been spending at least 80% of her time recently trying to help bring the youngest home. She hated how she hadn’t made it any further than the other Tracys, but it was a good starting argument, “Well, I don’t have much else to go off compared to you. Maybe I should be held just as accountable.”

It took him a second to register her words, but once he did, Gordon blinked and shook his head, “What, no, Penn, God no, you’re doing the best you can. Don’t you dare think you’re failing us, you’re not.”

Penelope sat up straighter, “And yet you are?”

Suddenly, Gordon was aggressive, but not at her, never at her, but always at himself, “Yes! Yes, I’ve already failed so much, goddammit, and the fact that we’re taking forever is the fucking cherry on top!”

Within the blink of an eye, she had her arms around his shoulders and was staring deeply into his amber eyes, a hint of faux-naivety behind hers, “Why’s that?”

This pattern was something they’ve done with each other many times by now. Not so much toying with one another’s emotions, but definitely playing with their heart so the things they couldn’t quite get to fumble out of their mouths gently left it instead after some careful prodding. Every single time they played this trick on one another they would only realize it in the morning. Yet, they wouldn’t even be mildly annoyed by it, they would be secretly grateful. Such is love.

Gazing into the gorgeous blue eyes of Penny, Gordon couldn’t stop the tears that leaked down his face, “John’s been beating himself up over missing the fact Alan was in trouble during our call, but that’s the thing, isn’t it? Our call. I was right fucking there, my chest was burning with that feeling Scott gets on a daily fucking basis and I did jack shit. I didn’t even have the excuse of needing to man my station like John did! I could have left at any time, and I should have, but I didn’t. I’m the only other family member that rivals Scott’s need to follow one’s gut, and I fucking blew it.”

Penelope knew she was expecting a tirade to come out of his mouth, but she would be lying if she said she was prepared for how much near self-hatred would be laden in it, “Gordon, that’s--”

Gordon’s crying started having some laughter behind it and it broke Penelope’s heart, “Alan has always appreciated me for being a different kind of older brother, but all I can think is that if Scott or Virgil were there, they would have gone to him. They would have saved him. I was so caught up in the excitement of seeing Dad again I couldn’t see anything else, but maybe… maybe they would have. They would have followed that feeling in their chest.”

Yes, she was quite aware of the connection the two youngest had. Both were experienced in being babied by the older members, and while they didn’t exactly hate it, they both shared the feeling that it could be taken too far. That’s not to say Gordon has never babied Alan, it’s a Tracy older brother rite of passage to baby anything younger than you-- Kayo notwithstanding because the boys would like to live to see tomorrow-- but he was the only one with enough balls to look Alan in the eyes when he was being stupid to just straight up say, Alan, you’re being stupid. Again, Kayo notwithstanding, but she’s always been an outlier in their habits. It drives Brains insane with how much he has to change his general character study of the family.

Right, the important issue at hand. Gordon was still going, not helping her already bruised heart in the slightest, “Alan’s going to come back and he’s going to realize just how shitty I am as an older broth--”

Gordon always thought of Penny in the same way he thought of the waves that propel him when he swam: always there, gentle as ever, but when he needed a kick, they aren’t afraid to give it to him straight. Penny, however, couldn’t exactly shoot water from her hands, so she settled with a surprise kiss from nowhere. Gordon’s lips were salty with tears, and despite her eyes being closed, she knew his expanded to the size of baseballs.

Leaning back, she sighed at the smeared lipstick on the corner of his lips, “Gordon, I think both you and I know that what you’re saying is absolutely rubbish.”

Gordon’s lips were still a little puckered, “Wha--”

She placed one of her fingers on his lips, shutting him up, “You are the one best older siblings on the planet alongside your brothers, and the fact that you would doubt that means you’re letting that bastard win,” Gordon’s gasp meant she was going in the right direction, “Alan is a very crafty boy when he wants to be, which he definitely got from you, so don’t you dare think him slipping out of your grasp was your fault. As backward as it is, you should be thinking that the reason he was able to so selflessly give himself was because of your undying love for him. He wouldn’t be willing to go through hell and back just for any group of people, no?”

His eyes were practically twinkling with awe. Was it really so hard to believe that these boys had nothing but adoration and respect for one another? At least he took her words into consideration in the form of swallowing down the spit in his mouth like he swallowing a large rock, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Her soft grin fell over her face once more, “Aren’t I usually though?”

A similar one fell over him, “Yeah.” Then, his face became somber once more, “Hey, Penelope, I’m real sorry you had to catch me like this. Despite it, you comforted me through it anyway. God, sometimes I wonder if I even deser--”

Another peck to his lips, “What did we just get finished talking about? Besides, you’ve helped me in similar circumstances, and over arguably less pressing matters too.”

Gordon found himself rolling his eyes for the first time in a while. This woman was truly incredible, “Nah, I wouldn’t say that. You really did have too many clothing options for that ball, you know. Who picks a theme as generic as “Color” and doesn’t expect for it ruin a couple of ladies’ weekends? C’mon.”

The laughter that rang out in the air was magical.

After their joy died down, she shoved herself in his arms like a needy cat and gently scraped her fingernails over his cheeks in that familiar comforting way, “Just you wait, Gordon Tracy. Alan’s going to come back and the first thing he’s going to do is smack all of you, especially you, silly for how dumb you’re all acting.”

With tear tracks still on his cheeks, Gordon let out a few wet chuckles, “Yeah, he would, wouldn’t he?”

Penelope turned around to lay her back on his chest, and with it, his arms snaked around her waist and his chin was placed on her shoulder in their special soft hug they like to do, the bottle of alcohol long forgotten, “He will, Gordon. He’s got an amazing father, a wonderful sister, a lovely grandma, and four absolutely stellar older brothers to make sure of it.”

She felt the rise and fall of Gordon’s chest as he took a shaky deep breath, “... Four handsome older brothers, I assume?”

She rolled her eyes. So they were going to play that game tonight, “Yes, Gordon, though, I would prefer to call one of them absolutely fetching instead.”

“Scott was always a ladies man.”

“I suppose, though his flirting skills leave much to be desired.”

“Those muscles on Virgil make quite the argument by themselves.”

“They do create the most wonderful hugs.”

“But I thought John wasn’t into this kind of stuff?”

“You’re insatiable, Gordon.”

“Kayo prefers to call it high maintenance.”

“Insatiable.”

“Hard to please?”

“A prick.”

“Wow, and Virgil said I was going to be the asshole of this relationship.”

“He was right.”

“Yet you’re not gunning for freedom away from me, so I must be doing something right.”

“Hmm. Yes, you are.”

---

“I didn’t know you could drive.”

She pulled the key out of the ignition of her familiar FAB 1, “As much as I enjoy Parker’s company, I do need some alone time every once in a while. I feel you feel a similar way about your older brothers, or am not I correct, Alan?”

The boy stepped out of the car and stretched his arms above his head, “Yeah yeah, but Parker not being bound to you would be like Captain Nightleaf not having his famous grappling hook in the sequel. You can’t have one without the other. I sometimes wonder if you summoned him or something, or have him bound by a blood contract.”

“He’s 80, not ancient.”

Alan was now on the other side of the car right next to her, grin prevalent as ever, “Could’a fooled me.”

Then, the grin he was sporting fell slightly off his face as he trailed over to look at the GDF compound he asked her to take him to. Currently, it was night, but before, it was a crisp afternoon only a few days ago. Penelope was chilling in a hotel room in Switzerland, waiting for Parker to pack the car down at the entrance and give the okay to leave when Alan called her by himself with a request she wasn’t expecting, least of all from him.

“Alan, I’m not saying no, but… you want to see him so soon after everything?”

The he did was left unspoken.

The boy fervently nodded his head anyway, “I want to get it out of the way and my family won’t let me get within 1000 feet of the guy for the next 150 years. I don’t exactly blame them, but… I dunno, I just want to get the last word in, or maybe some answers. It would give me some sense of relief. Isn’t that how it works in the movies?”

Penelope rolled her eyes, yet a small smile followed soon after, “That is also how it works in real life, you know. Not everything is a Hollywood flick. If you’re sure, let’s figure something out. I’ve got the feeling you don’t want Parker breathing down your neck, and your family will have eyes like hawks. We’ll need to be sneaky about this.”

She supposed it was immature, but she couldn’t help the laughter that escaped her at Alan’s, “Aha! Viva la revolution!”

With careful espionage, Alan was able to trick every single one of his family members that he was asleep (even John, who must have been exceptionally tired) for the night. After they all left to their respective rooms to pass out like the youngest, said youngest popped up and snuck out to the hangar where Lady Penelope was waiting with her ride.

After a few hours of mindlessly talking with the boy (who had some interesting conversation starters), they finally arrived at their destination, and Penelope wondered if Alan was starting to grasp what exactly he was in for. She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, “It’s quite alright if you want to turn back now. You’re not wrong if you want to leave just as much as you’re not wrong if you want to continue with this. It’s all about your comfort.”

Because it was true. Penelope has been through these types of situations numerous times. Even if Alan wasn’t going to see his personal hell personified, the environment of these places was undeniably spooky, even scary in some cases. She might have become somewhat numb to it, but little Alan, while had one of the worst forays into this kind of culture in the form of being literally tortured, was still adjusting to just how dark the world could be. She was sure the Tracys already understood a little bit of it with how casualty-heavy their jobs could get, but there were things even the older boys were sheltered about out of necessity.

She would absolutely be willing to turn back now if he wanted to leave it behind and shroud himself in the warmth and light of his family. Not many have the ability to do so in the first place.

Alan thinned his lips before his blue eyes became fire-filled with determination, “No, Penny, I want to do this. We’ve come this far, and I promised I would pay for gas money. I don’t want it to go to waste.”

Snorting, she gently squeezed on his shoulder before taking her hand away, “Just give the word, darling.”

Checking in and learning all the appropriate rules and whatnot, they gandered at the steel walls as they made their way to one of the deepest parts of the compound. Before they knew it, they were outside one cell in particular. Penelope gazed over at Alan, who was sweating ever so slightly more than before. She was about to make the offer to go home again, but Alan abruptly spoke, “Uh, are you going to unlock it?”

Oh, right, she had the key. Maybe she wasn’t the one ready for this.

Taking a deep breath, she unlocked the cell and the door swished open. Both blondes were hit with a rush of cold air, making them shiver. Penelope wasn’t entirely sure if she was seeing her breath due to the chilliness or if her mind was making her see things due to how unsettling it was. Regardless, the two IR operatives stepped into the dark room and gulped at the sight before them.

Shackled to a chair and behind a table was none other than The Hood, glaring at them like they murdered orphaned puppies.

Ha, like he would care if they did that. She knew exactly why he was angry, and it was sickening all the same. Even after all the atrocities he has committed, he felt he was right in feeling slighted at being put into custody. She had taken down many horrible people, and yet she would never understand how they could have such twisted egos, or as Gordon would put it, have their heads shoved so far up their asses they no longer could see the light of day.

And that was sugarcoating how Gordon said it.

At the sight of Alan, The Hood lost all of his fury. In fact, in the blink of an eye, his glare turned into a slimy smile. One straight from a creepy uncle, which described him better than any of them liked, “Alan, why, I didn’t expect to see you so soon! How has it been?”

The Tracy in question gulped at being addressed directly, “P-Pretty good. Just wanted to make sure you were enjoying your time in jail. You really earned it.”

Penelope grinned ever so slightly at Alan’s attempt as sass. It was subtle, but enough for The Hood to pick up on the hidden message. The guy’s eyebrow twitched, and before either blonde could continue their merciless roasting, “Well, I suppose I do. After all, I’ve clearly done everything I could ever dream of. Now I’m in one of the safest locations on the planet away from harm. Yes, I do deserve this.”

Alan’s grin became awkward, and he took a glance and Penelope before he could help himself, “Aha, what?”

Penelope secretly winced at the fact that Alan asked a question instead of doing anything else, because The Hood, seeing the hole in Alan’s bravado, sat up straighter and his grin got even more ear-to-ear (Gordon’s comparison to the Grinch hurt suddenly. At least the Grinch became nice), “You don’t think I’m not aware of all the damage that has come upon your family? The things that make them squirm? How they would feel if those same things befell the one object they desperately wanted to protect? Why did you come with the Missus over here instead of one of your amazing brothers? Could they not handle it? Or were you too scared to be alone with them? Either way, it’s still exactly what I wanted.”

Alan’s lips thinned, “H-Hey, you don’t know what you’re--”

Penelope was caught off guard by a large bang resonating throughout the tiny room. The Hood was standing, his hands slammed down on the tabletop and breathing heavily. His eyes had a dangerous gleam to them, one that spoke, I might be chained down, but clearly I’m still in control.

Throughout that series of events and before he could help it, Alan jumped back and gripped Penelope’s arm, eyes wide and filled with fear, just like The Hood probably wanted.

The Hood, watching Alan’s clear display submission, grinned evilly, “Don’t you understand, Alan? It’s just like I told your family, I win. No matter how much they want to do to me, they can’t when I’m sitting behind bars, and you on the verge of a panic attack like right now just makes them hurt even worse. I. Win.”

Seething with anger, Penelope was about to give that awful man a piece of her mind when she suddenly felt Alan let go and step forward with taut shoulders. She looked at him and saw a glare that could have even rivaled his eldest brother’s, “Yeah, you know what? You did win, I am scared of you, the world is a little darker. It’s taking all of my willpower right now not to pass out on the spot, but you also know what?” At The Hood’s shock and raised eyebrows (he must not have expected such a bite to the youngest’s words), Alan grinned and continued onward, “I’m not scared of my family like you desperately wanted me to become. Yeah, I’m not. Maybe sometimes I’ll forget it, and yes, you certainly didn’t help, but who needs to know when I’ll always feel their love and care for me till the end of their days? So, sure, you did win in some regards. My family now has even more shit to struggle through until we get back to some semblance of normal, but I still have them, unlike your sorry ass.”

Alan took a step back as to signify these are the last words we’re having, asshole, rot in hell, “All of your henchmen have been promised safety away from you, you growl and hiss at every scrap of help people somehow manage to want to throw your way despite everything you’ve done to them and you still think you’re the right one in this situation. The one on top of it all. Well, guess what? You’re not, and my family and I, together, are one day going to toast to this momentous occasion. You finally being left in a cell to rot. Alone. Have a good rest of your life, Hood, I hope it’s as dark as you wanted it to be.”

With that, the boy turned on his heel and walked out of the room, leaving Penelope to give one last glance to a flabbergasted Hood with a cheeky grin. Soon after, she left herself and locked the door just like she knew how to and followed Alan out. The boy had quite the lead on her, not that she was going to try and close any time soon. She was going to let him have some space after all of that.

She was pretty good at judging distances, and it was about two hundred and twenty-three feet away from The Hood’s cell door when Alan suddenly leaned against the wall and slid down it to bring his head between his knees. Not skipping a beat or becoming even slightly caught off guard, Penelope kneeled next to him and placed a gentle hand on his back, “You were very brave, Alan, and extremely right. I’ve known utter wackjobs who only have fantasies of being able to say or do something like that.”

Minutely trembling, Alan brought his head up to look at her. Unshed tears were in his eyes, yet he still grinned and laughed all the same, “You mean like Parker right?”

Blinking, Penelope had to grin too, “Well, I wasn’t going to be the one to say any names, but if we want to go there...”

Just like that, they were interrupted by the sounds of footsteps heading their way.

Both blondes looked up to see a GDF member walking in their direction who jumped at the sight of them, “Woah, hey… Uh, are you two alright? Do you need me to fetch someone?”

Shaking her head at the generous offer, Penelope declined, “No, but thank you. We had to make a necessary stop for the future that was draining, but it’s over now, and we just need to catch our breath. Isn’t that right, Alan?”

Penelope felt Alan’s breathing was a little more hectic than before, but his terse nods made her focus back on the man in front of them.

Also nodding, the man continued on his journey to wherever he was going, “If you’re sure then…”

As his footsteps became muffled due to distance, Penelope finally registered that it was panic that was swiftly overtaking Alan, and before she could ask what was wrong or comfort him, Alan roughly gripped the front of her shirt, “Penny, do you know if there are any other criminals being held down here?”

Uh, that was weird, “Not yet, or at least, none that I know of.”

If Alan wasn’t careful his breathing would become hyperventilation, “And who did you say was allowed access to The Hood’s cell?”

She didn’t like where this was going, “Well, there’s myself, I believe your father and Scott, Colonel Casey, and about one other well-trusted higher-up in the GDF. Why?”

Alan looked at her with the widest eyes imaginable, essentially saying she held the world in her palms at that very moment, “Then why did that random employee, who definitely was not a high rank in the slightest, have a keycard like ours?”

Oh, damn, why the hell didn’t she notice immediately that a random member being down here at this time of night was suspicious? Regardless, Alan picked up the slack for her- must have seen the key in his pocket somehow- and before he could utter another word out, she reluctantly left him behind to go chase after the man.

She wasn’t sure how the man got the keycard, but those details were to be left for the GDF to find out. It was their spy problem, after all.

Coming around the corner, her eyes laid upon the man about two inches away from unlocking the door. Before she even thought, she tackled him in a very unladylike manner, which led to a rather brutal scuffle on the ground. She was still winning it, however, like she always does. At some point, she managed to grab his key from him and escape the weird tango they were doing on the floor, and right as she stood up, a young voice called out to her, “Penny!”

Looking up, it seemed Alan had finally found his feet. She saw the man had also found his as well and was coming at her once more, “Alan! Take these and run!”

Chucking two identical keycards over the man who returned her tackle from earlier, Penelope was barely able to watch as Alan caught them and did as he was told. Boy, didn’t Gordon once mention he was in track at some point? It clearly showed. She blinked, the man stood up and Alan was gone. Too bad the man was very insistent that he freed The Hood tonight, as he started booking it as soon as Penelope stood up as well.

God, how did this night go to shit so quickly. She wasn’t even wearing the right heels to run in!

She eventually caught up to the two men as they made their way into the lobby. The person who was seated at the desk and who Penelope got her key from was swiftly knocked out, most likely due to their little intruder. So that at least explained why the intruder was able to get the key. Well, Penelope would need to wake them up somehow. She couldn’t run out and get help herself because she didn’t want to leave Alan alone with that man; if they both left he would just go and break The Hood out; and something about radio communication was jammed down here for safety reasons. The only thing that could call the rest of the GDF was that desk.

As she was thinking of a way to get that person to wake up, she watched out of the corner of her eye as Alan dodged a tackle thrown his way. Penelope thought she could sigh in relief, but then the man, while still on his stomach, shot his arm out and grabbed Alan by the ankle and yanked him down. Alan had no other choice but to fall right directly on his tailbone, which fell directly on the cold, hard, metallic floor, causing him to yelp out a high pitched “OW!” in the process.

Oh, so that must be how Scott felt during these moments. Interesting.

Getting over to the commotion, Penny jabbed the sharp part of her heel right into the spy’s side, making him wheeze and release Alan’s ankle, allowing the boy to scoot away. The man growled, and Penelope kneeled to try and pin him. She might not have been physically strong enough to completely hold him, but it was enough to significantly slow him down. Meanwhile, Alan scooted so far back his actual back knocked against the desk. Taking a deep breath to calm his erratic chest, he reached behind and above himself to place the cards on the desk and rejoined the fray.

Right before the man could break out of Penelope’s grip, Alan was there pinning him down from the other side. It stopped him for just a bit, but the momentum he had from before was enough to throw them off. They both landed on their butts, and Penelope watched as the man focused his anger on Alan once more. Leaping off her bottom, her arms wrapped around his chest right as Alan jerked one of his legs out in front of him to nail the man right in the stomach, making him huff due to the sudden loss of air in his diaphragm.

This brawl was going in circles. Penelope had to wake that person up, but how? Looking around the room, quickly losing her grip on the spy once more, she saw she had a clear shot of the knocked out receptionist. Closing her eyes in pain (these shoes were limited quantity) for what she was about to do, she moved her arms to have one still wrapped around the man’s neck and used the other to reach down and grab one of her heels.

Hopefully, with more grace than she thought she had, she closed one of her eyes to aim and chucked the heel right at the head of the sleeping GDF member. It hit the target right on, and before she could feel elated at her momentary victory, the man gripped her arm and chucked her right at Alan. They collided at let out two groans right at the moment of impact.

She usually was more refined in the way she kicked ass. Tonight, she hoped it would be okay to make an exception.

Her Deus-Ex-Heel must have worked because outside of her peripheral vision, she heard the noises of someone groaning after being knocked out, followed by a, “What the- HOLY-”

That was good enough for her, and now her focus was 100% back on the man in front of her, as well as Alan beneath her. Both she and the youngest Tracy looked up to see the man standing threateningly over them like a dark shadow, most likely casting one over them in the process as well. She wasn’t sure if it was her or him that growled, but only feeling partially sorry as she sprang off of Alan like he was a trampoline, she tangled with the spy once more. At some point, Alan joined the dance as well, and it was a blur of limbs. The receptionist was fearfully crouching behind the desk, mainly because you had to be insane to join in on that twister of a fight.

After a little bit more scuffling, Penelope was only reminded of the fact that she was wearing one heel when she tripped like an absolute buffoon over her own two feet. Regardless, the spy wasn’t expecting it either, and with a yell of shock, the two of them tumbled down, taking Alan with them, onto the ground for the last time, and in the process, the man smacked his head directly on the steel floor. While he wasn’t completely knocked out, the guttural noise he made after the fact signified he was down for the count.

Suddenly, they were in the weirdest triangle formation ever conceived, with Penny laying atop his chest with her nose against the ground and Alan laying over the man’s legs as his knees jutted uncomfortably into the boy’s gut, Alan’s face only a few inches away from hers. The man was finally done fighting and he was staying that way, however, which was more than enough. She only wished she had more grace during it all, especially at this moment. It was embarrassing as hell how they ended up, and she couldn’t even begin to make herself more presentable because the help she desperately wanted showed up at the exact wrong time.

“This is the GDF! Put your hands- Alan?!”

With the grace of a newborn angel, Alan popped his head up above the chaotic knot to see what the new commotion was about. It was kind of hard to be mad at the scene when his hair was so unkempt in that way baby animals get after lick-baths from their mothers, as well as the dopey smile he was sporting with such an adrenaline rush, “Oh! Hi Aunt Casey! Glad to see you again!”

Penelope groaned into the ground, Well, poop. This was not how she wanted this to go.

After being held in a cell for about an hour or so (it was regulation, they knew that, didn’t make it suck any less), the Colonel herself came and brought them out. It was very obvious they didn’t do anything wrong, honestly, they did more than right, but the GDF had rules. Causing such a commotion, especially in such a facility, had to be looked into, and what she found was exactly what she expected. Nothing less of a Tracy, or Miss Creighton-Ward.

Didn’t stop her from gripping the boy’s arm like a tired mother, however, “Now then, another part of our regulations is to call the family of anyone we incarcerate, so the past half hour of my job has been more hectic than I can bear. Please, Alan, don’t make this worse for anyone, or yourself.”

As soon as the word ‘family’ left Casey’s mouth, both Penelope and Alan winced. They both subconsciously figured that the rest of the Tracys would find out about their little mission, they just hoped it would be in the morning a few hours after everything was said and done. Not right in the middle of it, and especially not right after they essentially took down an enemy cell.

Casey let the boy go with a fond smile. Penelope watched as the boy gave one back, albeit a little bit more awkwardly. It said please don’t feed me to the starving lions. Casey only eye-rolled. You were the one that thought it was okay to steal their food. Alan eye-rolled right back. Yeah, fine, fair enough. The two women stood and watched as Alan took a deep breath and descended the stairs to his frantic family.

Penelope took a moment to look at said family. Jeff and John were off to the side talking to two officers while Gordon and Virgil were steaming and sitting with their arms on a seemingly even more steaming Scott, all three glaring at the spy currently in handcuffs. Oof, they probably got a brief rundown about what happened, and that most likely didn’t put them in a good mood. Which was to be expected. How else should one feel when you’re abruptly woken up to a call from the GDF saying your younger brother is in our captivity. Please come pick him up before he makes even more of a mess. It didn’t help that they had to wait to see the younger brother when they knew Alan was right inside and could have been let go at any time.

Penelope was brought out of her thoughts at the sound of Alan speaking rather loudly. The rest of the Tracy family jumped at the voice too. Everyone looked at the middle of the stairs to see the freckled boy slowly bound down them, careful as to not set off any more metaphorical explosions, “Heeeeeeey guys. So, uh, funny story, would you believe me if I said getting into a brawl with an enemy spy was not on my agenda? Like, we were supposed to be in and out in less than an hour, I swear, but--”

His foot barely tapped the ground at the bottom of the stairs when Scott, in a typhoon of brotherly fury and care, was suddenly upon him and picking him up into the biggest, most smothery hug he had gotten in a while. And he had been getting a lot of those lately. Barely being able to breathe, both due to the tightness of the hold and the fact that Scott was subconsciously suffocating him in his shoulder, Alan could only bring his head up, gently set his chin down on said shoulder and wrap his arms around his older brother, “Yeah, okay.”

Penelope continued to watch as Gordon followed suit and proceeded to hug Alan from behind, making Scott move his arms to hold both tinies. Virgil and John sauntered up to the group hug but instead of joining, they simply waited for the storm to calm so they could get their versions in. Virgil even slung an arm around John’s shoulder, which the astronaut surprisingly leaned into.

Huh, maybe tonight went a little off schedule, but maybe it was also for the best.

Casey, who had been watching everything the whole time as well, grabbed her hands around the middle of her back as she tended to do, “Well, as unorthodox as it was, thank you for your help tonight. After The Hood’s big scheme came to fruition, our little spy went under the radar. After The Hood was taken in, he dug himself even further. We were worried we were going to have to shut down operations in that sector for a little bit to catch him.”

Penelope relaxed at the small conversation. Tonight seemed to take a little bit more out of her than she realized, “Glad to be of service. Just count this as another thing checked off on our long-ass checklists.”

Casey chuckled, “It is indeed. Now then,” Casey suddenly looked up, and before Penelope could follow her line of sight, “Jeff Tracy, you have just as much right to be in that hug as the rest of your sons.”

Oh. Finally looking up herself, Penelope was met with the sight of the ex-astronaut coming up the stairs to the two ladies to join their conversation. His hands were in his pockets, and while his eyes looked tired, his smile said he was quite at ease, “Cool your jets, Colonel. I’ll get my due when there aren’t 50 of your men and women watching my every move. Besides, I need to speak with my old friend for a moment. My other one, obviously.”

Casey scoffed and threw her hands into the air, though Penelope could tell it came from a place of fondness. From years of working together that couldn’t be taken away no matter the circumstances, “You always say that, but you still owe me that 50 bucks from 25 years ago.”

Jeff waved her off, “Please, can you even remember what it was over?”

“Maybe I won’t, but that Singing Tiger Ale House sure will,” she stated with a grin. Penelope had to giggle at the way Jeff started meekly blushing, “Speaking of getting things done in a timely manner, unlike certain oafs I know, I suddenly have some new reports I need to file tonight,” even though that statement had the potential for it, there was no malice laced in it whatsoever, “I bid you goodnight, friends, you’ve earned it.”

As the Colonel walked away, Penelope gave a small wave as Jeff made a small salute with two of his fingers. Then, the two adults were alone in comfortable silence. Now, Penelope was never a patient person, “You said you wished to speak to me?”

Jeff blinked before registering her words, “Ah, yes, I did. I was just wondering what inclined you to kidnap my son and take him for a joy ride. Did he bribe you with something? I have to know, I’ve never figured out what I could get you to maybe make you more malleable to certain decisions, and I’ve had a near-decade to ruminate over it.”

Penelope rolled her eyes, “First of all, never in a million years would I tell you what you can get under my skin with, you would have to physically interrogate me for such valuable secrets, and second of all, Alan came to me with an offer I had no argument against. I had to concede and help him out.”

Jeff raised an eyebrow, “Do you mind explaining that a little more or?...”

Penelope sighed, “He wanted to talk to The Hood in captivity. For closure.”

Jeff flinched, “Jesus, Penny, that’s-”

The London Agent in question wagged her finger in his direction, “Ah ah ah, Mr. Tracy, do not finish that sentence. You are not a bad person, nor is your family a bad family for not wanting Alan near that man. It was the logical feeling you should feel after everything. However, Alan’s needs are similar yet different, which he knew, which is why he came to me for this. He was ready for something you weren’t, nor were your sons, and he wanted to respect that. I was worried if I told him no he would never get the courage to ask again.”

As Jeff listened to Penny’s semi-tirade, he continued to watch his sons mindlessly chatter with one another. Penelope’s words washed over him like a cool shower, relaxing his mind and his body. He was suddenly aware that Alan’s face was even more relaxed than before, his smile more natural. Whatever happened between him and The Hood during that awful month of hell would be a dark spot on the rest of their family for years to come, but every day it grew smaller and smaller.

Jeff really was becoming a sentimental old fart, “He’s grown up to be a fine young man, hasn’t he.”

Penelope heard Jeff phrase that as a matter of fact, and she was glad he did. He was right, “He sure has.” And it’s thanks to you. You were always there in spirit for those boys, and they relished every minute of it.

Jeff rolled his shoulders and started stepping down the steps to go see his family. Right before Penny could walk away, Jeff stopped about three steps down, brought one of his hands out of his pockets, and pointed to the sky in that familiar way that said, wait, I forgot this one thing, “Parker called me right before the GDF hit Scott up. I’m just warning you ahead of time. He seemed pretty worried he was suddenly out of a job, or that he was somehow the only person left on the planet Earth. Maybe you should address those fears of his?”

Penelope grimaced, “Thank you for the warning, Jeff.” That was going to be a fun conversation. Even so, she knew it was technically her fault. There was a note she forgot to write and leave for him in there somewhere.

Giving her a thumbs up with the same hand he made the previous movement with, he continued to not look at her as he put the hand back in his pocket and started walking towards his family once more. Penelope waited only for a moment, wanting to make sure Jeff didn’t evaporate the moment he got near his family. As she watched him wrap Alan in yet another hug, she finally let go and figured everything was going to be alright.

An hour or so later, FAB 1 was pulled into her garage and she was drinking tea alongside Parker in her living room. After explaining what went down and why she went alone, Parker simply grumbled, “First that family warps your romantic standards, and now they’re h-affecting your common sense! Next, they’ll make you think you’re H-Australian or something! What h-am I supposed to do then, m’lady?”

Grinning with the teacup still touching her lips, she brought it down, set it on the tiny plate in her lap, and relished in her long time friend’s antics, “Well, we’ll learn to adapt just like we always have, Parker. Just like we always have.”

Her world has been upside down since day one.

But maybe those crazy boys and their endless love are the things she needs to keep it right side up.

[fey-changeling]

Signals: Part 2

Spoilers

Sorry

I absolutely love their relationship. And Penny on a rescue like this.

There hasn't been enough John so far. Or EOS.

Season 1 throwback.

Not saying anything...

Stuff I thought would 100% not be waterproof but actually is. 2 underwater is epic.

Ah accurate sibling relationships.

We're going to REBUILD ZERO X!!!!!

Which means...

THESE GUYS ARE STILL A POSSIBILITY!

[tsarisfanfiction]

Independent

Fandom: Thunderbirds Rating: Teen Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Family Characters: Jeff, Scott, Brains, Mechanic

His eldest son’s worked himself to exhaustion, and after eight years in the Oort Cloud, Jeff can’t handle that alone.

I’m getting there with @whumptober-archive!  Day 27 “I’m fine, I prom...” using the prompts passing out and collapse.  Originally I was going to do something completely different for today, but I kinda wanted to do something with Mechanic, and that somehow morphed into Jeff pov and I don’t even know, but have a father and two engineers who aren’t that great with human interactions looking after this idiot.

Jeff should have gone to bed hours ago.  He knew that, and his mother would have dragged him there by the ear if she’d been on the island, but Lady Penelope had insisted that she have some time away from home – and more importantly, from running herself ragged over him as he found his Earth legs again – so she was off in England receiving some much-deserved pampering.

His sons were supposed to be keeping an eye on him instead, and there had been pointed comments from all of them at some point or other during the evening and into the early hours, especially from John, but a rescue had come in that needed all hands on deck, and Tracy Island had emptied.  Tanusha – Kayo, as he was still getting used to – had gone on Thunderbird Two as well, leaving Jeff for all intents and purposes alone.

The two engineers were deep in the bowels of the island, and Jeff had quickly learnt that the Mechanic was as scatter-brained as Brains when it came to maintaining humans rather than machines.  Neither of them would even think about him, still up in the den with a dratted walker – he hadn’t even graduated to a stick yet – by his chair.

Jeff wasn’t going to bed until his sons were home safe and sound.  They were done with the rescue, finally – a mudslide that had buried villages that had taken the entire day and most of the night – and Thunderbird One, at least, would be home soon.  He’d come to learn that Scott usually hung back with his brothers rather than tearing off ahead, but sometimes his eldest made an exception.  Today was one of those, and Jeff suspected it was because Scott intended on attempting to chivvy him to bed.

His eldest son had tried several times over the comms during the rescue, but Jeff had held firm and over the other side of the world, Scott had been unable to do anything in person.  That was clearly something he was looking to rectify.

Jeff honestly didn’t care; the faster his boys were home again, the happier he’d be.  Before the Zero-X, most of them hadn’t been old enough to help out with IR, and he’d been out there with them, not waiting impatiently at home.  It wasn’t an easy position to be in.

Even after eight years, the Thunderbird’s engines were familiar songs.  The distinctive raw power and speed of Thunderbird One roared into earshot, streaks of fire crossing the sky to announce her arrival.  The blast shutters slid across smoothly as the pool retracted out of her way, and the high speed rocket plane seamlessly settled back into her bay below.

One son home.  Three to go, and his best friend’s daughter with them.  Maybe four, if John decided to descend, but he hadn’t so far, so Jeff suspected that he’d fallen asleep where he floated as soon as the rescue was over.

He watched the lamps, counting the minutes until they swivelled around.  It was almost six minutes, Scott too good a pilot to neglect his post-flights, but when he did appear it was clear that was all he hadn’t neglected.

Still in uniform, more brown than blue, most of his skin and also his hair was plastered with sludge in various stages of drying.

“You’re not traipsing that through the house or your grandmother will murder us both,” Jeff scolded as Scott took a single step forward.  He was ignored, another step taking Scott entirely off of the rotating platform, and Jeff frowned; that was extremely unlike Scott.  “Scott Carpenter Tra…”

He trailed off in horror as a third step, halting and unsteady, went awry and the mud-coated young man face-planted the floor.  Mud splattered around him, catching the top of the closest sofa as well as the skirting of the wall.

Scott didn’t move.

“Scott!”

Dismissing the walker, Jeff lunged across the den, ending up on his hands and knees and dragging himself on trembling arms until he was getting his jeans muddy.

“C’mon, son,” he muttered, putting a hand on his shoulder and shaking it lightly.  “Scott, wake up.”

He didn’t, and Jeff ran through his options.  There had been no reports of injury; suit telemetry hadn’t flagged anything up, and Virgil would never have let his eldest brother pilot home if he thought he was hurt.  No sign of anything that Jeff could see through the mud, either.  It had, however, been a long, gruelling, day, and Jeff had yet to manage to get his erstwhile son to hand over the paperwork rather than staying up late to do it all himself.  There was a high chance that Scott hadn’t slept the previous night at all.

That definitely needed rectifying sooner rather than later.  Jeff hoped his son’s collapse was just exhaustion, but he didn’t want any sons collapsing at all.

In the meantime, Jeff had a problem: Scott couldn’t be left on the floor, but Jeff could barely walk himself unaided.  There was no way he could carry his tall, athletic son with his atrophied muscles. John was presumably asleep, and the others were still an hour out.  When it came to people on the island, it was just him and two engineers.  One was no better at lifting people, and the other…

Jeff had no issues with the Mechanic as a person.  He’d heard the stories, but comparing those to what he knew of Belah’s cruelty and the clear remorse the man demonstrated, he was content to trust Brains, Kayo and his mother.  Even his four younger sons seemed more or less at ease around the man from what he’d seen.

Scott still hated the man. Or at least, that was what he projected, and likely what he told himself.  Jeff knew his son well enough to know that if he truly didn’t trust the man, he’d have kicked him off the island regardless of anyone else’s stance, and Scott had aggressive, guard dog tendencies, but he rarely hated. His eldest son’s hate was reserved for the worst people – people like Belah, people who put money before lives, people who willingly and unrepentantly put other people in danger.

Not for desperate victims like the Mechanic, and Jeff made a decision.

He didn’t even know for certain that the engineers were still up and working, but he had nowhere else to turn; Scott still wasn’t stirring despite his best efforts to rouse him.

“Brains?” he fumbled his comm with one hand while the other wormed its way to a mud-splattered throat to check Scott’s pulse.  It was slow, but steady and strong as though he was just sleeping. “Brains, are you awake?”

“M-Mr Tracy?”  His friend never had listened to requests to call him Jeff.  “W-what is it?”

“Is the Mechanic with you?” he asked, moving his fingers from Scott’s throat to instead start clearing mud from what he could reach of Scott’s face.  At a stuttered confirmation, he continued, “I need both of you up here with a medscanner and a stretcher.”

“A-are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he promised, although he wasn’t really fine when one of his sons was collapsed on the floor next to him.  “But Scott just collapsed.”

��O-oh.  We’ll be r-right up, Mr Tracy.”

The call dropped, and Jeff exhaled somewhat shakily.  Asking for help felt wrong, somehow, like he’d failed his duty as a father to look after his son, but he knew that he didn’t have a hope of getting Scott to the infirmary alone.

“Scotty,” he coaxed, shaking his shoulder again gently.  “Wake up, Scott.”  Still no response, and Jeff let out another shaky sigh before threading his hair through mud-matted hair, stiff with old gel beneath the gunk.

MAX was first to arrive, quiet whistles accompanying the sound of wheels on wood and the muffled murmur of machinery.  In his hands he was clutching the requested hoverstretcher, currently with hoverjets turned off, and his carapace opened to offer a medscanner as soon as he was in Jeff’s reach.

Jeff had just grasped hold of it when hurried footsteps announced the arrival of the engineers.

“S-Scott!”  Brains was at his side immediately, adjusting his glasses with one hand.  “H-has he stirred at a-all?”

Jeff shook his head as the light of the scanner flickered over the prone body.  “Not at all.”

The scanner came up with no serious injuries, just some bruises that made sense considering his son was fresh off a rescue, so he turned his head to look at the man lingering on his periphery, hanging back as though unsure why he was wanted.

“Can you get him on the stretcher?” he asked, although it came out as more of a plea, his own helplessness bleeding through.  “He can’t stay here until his brothers get back.”

For such a big man, the Mechanic was very good at tentative moments.  Dark brown eyes took in the sight in front of him for several moments, leaving Jeff with the slowly growing fear that the man would say no, before he nodded and stepped forwards.

“Give me room,” he ordered – it was probably supposed to be a request, but like Brains, the Mechanic wasn’t always the best at communicating with other humans.  Jeff didn’t argue, hauling himself back with arms that could equally have been trembling from the sight of his collapsed son or the space-atrophied muscles he hadn’t yet regained.

Brains helped him, pulling him to his feet as MAX appeared with the walker for him to cling to.  His grip was white-knuckled as he watched the Mechanic kneel down beside his son’s limp body.

He’d only asked the man to shift Scott onto the stretcher, assuming that the awkward air between the two men would mean the Mechanic wanted minimal interaction with his son.  He wasn’t expecting the gentle manipulation of the mud-covered figure until he was rolled over onto his back, long limbs akimbo and lax like a ragdoll’s, and he certainly wasn’t expecting for the Mechanic to spend a moment assessing the mud smeared across his face, barring the flash of skin where Jeff had been able to reach, before wiping it away from his mouth and nose.

Muscles flexed as bulging arms finally slipped beneath Scott’s shoulders and thighs, and then his son was being cautiously lifted as though he weighed nothing, near-enough cradled in the grip of a man he claimed to hate.

From the look of intense concentration on the Mechanic’s face, not particularly unlike any of Jeff’s sons when they were carrying something they really didn’t want to drop, it certainly wasn’t a mutual feeling.

The hoverstretcher whirred into life, courtesy of Brains’ prodding, and Jeff watched the Mechanic carefully settle Scott onto it as it floated up to waist height.

His task done, the Mechanic stepped back, out of Jeff’s line of sight in a clear assumption that he wasn’t needed any more.  Strictly speaking, that was true, but Jeff still sought him out to thank him before edging forwards on shaking legs to where Scott was still refusing to resurface.

“Let’s get him to the infirmary,” he said to Brains, who nodded in agreement.

With Jeff slowed by his traitorous body, it took them some time to get to the room.  The Mechanic continued to follow them, hanging back more or less out of sight but clearly unwilling to leave entirely, although Jeff noticed that he slipped back out of the infirmary once Brains directed the hoverstretcher to a halt and rummaged around in the cupboard of pyjamas all of them kept in the infirmary.

International Rescue uniforms were not the easiest clothes to remove, and less so when Jeff couldn’t stand unaided.  He resorted to perching on the bed that would soon hold his son so he had both hands free to help Brains strip the mud-concealed blue away and swap it out for dark grey flannel.

A washcloth and basin was then deployed to get rid of the worst of the mud on his skin and hair, until Scott looked more or less like he was just sleeping.

In a way, he was, although Jeff could have done without the dramatic collapse that had heralded it.

MAX re-summoned the Mechanic to help shift him onto the bed, Jeff shuffling out of the way and feeling more than a little jealous that someone else was carrying his son around for him, before he reclaimed his fatherly duties and tucked the layered sheets over the gentle rise and fall of Scott’s chest.

One arm was left out, sleeve pushed up to bare the skin, and Jeff blinked as Brains inserted a drip into the crook of Scott’s elbow.

“His fluid levels a-are low,” the engineer pointed out, highlighting the respective section of the scan’s results.  It wasn’t a dramatic dip, but considering Scott’s collapse, Jeff was willing to accept anything that would help him and indicated for him to proceed.

He was going to need to put his foot down about Scott’s workload.  Once upon a time, just a word would have done, but it seemed like in the last eight years, Scott’s stubbornness had increased – or at least was now also applied against parental figures with the same fervour as it had once been to just peers.

But Scott was far from the only Tracy with a head for strategy, and Jeff was already putting together a plan of attack.  He’d need to get his mother on board, and probably John and Virgil as well. Gordon, Alan, and Kayo were also options; the more concerned voices against Scott, the more weight they’d have.

Jeff was also well aware that he wasn’t – yet – fit to take on all of the paperwork Scott needed to lose by himself, either.  That would need to be divvied up and delegated as appropriate, although he couldn’t let any of his other sons take on too much, either, or the problem would just shift.

It would take careful organising, but it needed to be done.

For the moment, however, Jeff accepted the chair that Brains pulled over for him and sank heavily into it. The rest of the boys and Kayo would be back in another half hour or so, all ready for bed themselves, and once they were he’d have to convince them to go to their own beds rather than piling in with Scott, all the while fighting off arguments that he, too, needed to go to bed.

As the two engineers and MAX slipped out of the room to presumably either return to what they were doing or go to bed themselves, he checked the monitor Brains had also attached alongside the drip to confirm that Scott’s vitals were consistent with exhaustion and nothing more sinister.  To his relief, that was the case and Jeff reached out to brush Scott’s hair back from his face a few times before lightly holding onto his son’s hand.

He wasn’t going to leave until Scott stirred.

[mrmustachious]

AU April

I saw others doing this and it seemed fun. I’ll never turn down an opportunity to talk about my AUs! This list is just gonna be my Thunderbirds aus to keep it short, but just know I’ve got many others

Adoption AU - All the bros are adopted! Very huge found family feels with this one

Among Us AU - Based off the game Among Us, but in a way that doesn’t involve them having to betray each other

Childhood Friends AU - Penelope moved to the US when she was little, and her father and Jeff are very close friends, which leads to her becoming best friends with Gordon

Elemental AU - The boys are all elemental spirits. Would love to explore this one further at some point

Farm AU - Lady P’s father owns a farm in Kansas, which is where Jeff and his sons work as ranch hands instead of starting up IR

Luca AU - Based off the movie Luca. Lots of fishiness and Pen&Ink

Royalty AU - Lady P is a princess whilst the boys are training to be soldiers. Gordon is determined to become her personal guard.

Social Media AU - A story told entirely through text messages and social media posts. Lots of bro drama told in a different style

Superhero AU - Everyone has superpowers! And they use them to save lives and fight evil villians

Supernatural AU - IR is now an organisation that hunts down supernatural and mythical creatures, to research them and protect the world

Villain!Penelope - In which Penelope works for the Hood, with the assignment to take down the Tracys

Zombie Apocalypse AU [X] & [X] - Something born out of whumptober last year. The boys are trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world

[eirabach]

Savages [7/?]

In years to come they’ll all agree; it was over the day Jeff Tracy came home.(A post-canon tale of be careful what you wish for.)

Prologue: Acts of Providence

Out of Eden (I)

The First Day

Requiescant in Pace

Idolatry

The Wages of Sin

Interregnum [missing scene]

To the Slaughter

AO3 [M, 6.3k]

[A wild plot appears. This has been a slog and honestly I don’t know how I feel about it anymore, but I’m superbly grateful to @hodgehegposts for the red pen and to everyone who’s reading along!]

---

Heavenly Bodies

---

One Million Years or Maybe a Week Later. 

Hampshire is a long way from the ocean.

It's beautiful, so beautiful, the late summer sun makes the grounds glow green-gold, burnishes the long drive, the gates just a faint metallic gleam through the trees that line the estate and god he's lucky, isn't he?

So lucky.

It's a long way from the ocean, though. And lucky doesn't quite make up for the ache behind his breastbone, the constant, irritating twitch of muscles waiting, waiting. 

He does a lot of waiting.

Penelope is -- well, busy doesn't seem like a big enough word for what Penelope is. Frantic, maybe, but that suggests a panic, an unease, that just doesn't apply. She segues seamlessly from Lady of the Manor to hostess to campaigner to politico to lover and he's constantly impressed -- impressed and jealous. Because Gordon is stuck.

There are things Gordon should have been. Would have been, had the world worked out that way. Olympian. WASP officer. Dreams that had been shattered in a cloud of smoke and flame, the Zero X whipping them just as far out of reach as they had his Dad. But he's adapted. Had adapted. He’d become Thunderbird Four. It's more than a callsign that, far more, it’s a constant steady reminder of his place in the world, in his family. Fourth of five. 

Because no matter what he's become, what he hasn't, that's one absolute he's never had to doubt.

Four is a Thunderbird. But Gordon is a brother. He doesn't know how to be anything else.

But.

READ MORE

[vicky82gargoylesfan]

My Thoughts on The Long Reach Part 1

Oh My God!!! Wow!!! that episode was amazing and it's only part 1. The visuals/animation, the score were just breathtaking. It was so intense and had some emotional moments

I'm glad this is a 2 part episode and not aired in one go, because it makes it feel longer.

Spoilers

Well done Alan for graduating high school (I guess he’s age between 16 - 18) but the feels when he said it's not important. his main focus was to help find his Dad. I just love that moment between him and Kayo, saying he was nervous and Kayo saying everything will be alright.

Finally EOS gets a mention, so John didn't kick her out then.

Love the slo mo walk, and laughed when it was Max that had the music on.

LOL Alan "I always wanted to be a real astronaut” Scott “You are a real astronaut” Alan “oh yeah”

So Kayo was going to go with them but due to the threat from the Chaos Crew she stayed behind to stop them. She got back to island fast though. I wonder if there is a underground tunnel between the launchpad and Tracy Island.

LOL at Gordon asking if there was a movie on this flight and Alan looked at him like “Are you serious”

Lol at Parker going down Scott's Launch Tube. I wonder if anyone else went down the stairs or went down other Launch tubes

When TB5 joined Zero XL and John says assembly complete but then Gordon says "lets hope they stay that way" Are they foreshadowing something bad is going to happen to one of the Thunderbirds. is one or two of them not going to make it back to earth.

Loved Grandma's Speech to her Grandson's and even though we already heard it in the trailer, it was still emotional.

Loved the countdown moment when it cuts to the brothers.

Awww!!! poor Grandma, she looks so sad and probably fears losing her Grandsons.

Wow!!! that was a very fast trip, loved seeing there reactions in that hyperspeed moment and then when they stopped, that trip looked like it affected John and Virgil more than the others did.

So Fuse possible redemption is still continuing, he clearly didn't want Havok attacking Lady Penelope and Parker.

Damn, The Hood is hiding on Zero X and Max hasn't detected him.

WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! John is finally in Thunderbird 2.

Damn!!!! i'm worried about Brains, he's alone on Zero XL and doesn't know the Hood is there.

Amazing to see TB1, TB2 and TB3 flying together in space.

I always wondered what TB4 was going to be used for.

I loved that moment when TB4 couldn't get any closer, so Alan went straight down there, he's so determined  to find his Dad.

Loved the Drawing of Tracy Island, so Virgil got his artistic skills from his Father.

Damn my heart!!! loved the bro feels in this moment. Alan was starting to get a little upset that Jeff wasn't in the Zero X and then Scott telling him that they will find him.

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! Jeff is here!!!!!! and he saved Scott from falling. Love Scott’s reaction when he realised it was his Dad.

I can't wait for next week but it's going to be emotional and i'm not going to be ready for that.

[its-lovelyhappycollection]

thunderbirds: endgame

@godsliltippy here’s the full story

so the ages for this story are: (before the snap); Scott: 28, Virgil: 26, Kayo: 23, John: 22, Gordon 20, Alan 18

after the snap: Scott: 28, Virgil: 26 Kayo: 23, John: 22, Gordon: 25, Alan: 23

                                                       ...

"Scott, there's few people trapped under some debris approximately 20 feet left from your location"

"FAB John," Scott said and walked in the direction, it was a relatively simple rescue, there had been an attack in New York and International rescue had gone and rescue survivors, Scott along with Alan were on one side and Virgil with Gordon one the other, and with John motoring them in space and with no danger of aftershocks or flooding...what could go wrong?

"Hey, John? how many more people are trapped?" Alan asked his space-bound brother, he was currently attending to a woman that had broken her leg and had just finished bandaging it up

"Scott's rescuing the last lot now," John said and Alan turned towards to where his brother was lifting a piece of wood, allowing the trapped people to climb out, suddenly Alan yet out a yell as he watched Scott's arm turn to dust, hearing a scream from behind him, he turned and saw that the same thing was happening to other people, he quickly turned back to Scott's direction, only to find him gone.

"John, what's going on?!"

"ALAN! JOHN'S MISSING!" EOS's voice greeted him instead of John's calming voice and Alan instantly panicked

"EOS, came down, what happened?"

ff.net

A03

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Gordon was helping out Virgil free some people that were trapped in a cafe, Gordon was currently digging through the debris with a pod while chatting to Virgil, suddenly he had reached the trapped victims and had cut communications so he could concentrate, once he had loaded them into the pod he made his way out, luckily no one was injured. Just before he reached the surface he heard a cry behind him, he looked about and saw that several people were turning to dust and completely disappeared, he focused on getting to the surface before comforting the victims the best he could.

"Hey Virgil, something weird just happened" he spoke into his sash, but got no response, he tried again, panic beginning to sink in "Virgil? Virgil? can you hear me? Scott? John? Alan?"

"Gordon?"

"Alan, thank god. some of the victims just turned into dust"

"Gordon listen to me, the same thing happened to Scott and John"

"what?! and I can't get a hold of Virgil, that means..."

"I'm coming towards you" Alan cut off communications and Gordon waited for his little brother to come, he didn't have to wait long as he saw the familiar red and blue coming towards him and tackling him to the ground, clinging onto him. similar to when they were kids and Alan had a nightmare, he would cling on to to the closest brother, and at the moment that brother was Gordon." what do you think happened?" Alan asked pulling away

"I'm not sure, let's head back to the island for now. think you can fly one?" Gordon said and Alan nodded

"but Scott said..."

"Alan, at the moment we don't have a choice, I'll load up the pod and follow you back in two"

"but what if you disappear?" Gordon pulled his brother in for another hug "Allie, if I was to disappear, I would have done so already" Gordon did his best to comfort his brother, but to be honest, he was also comforting himself.

"alright" Alan nodded and made his way back to one while Gordon climbed back in the pod and loaded it in, he was just doing the pre-flight checks when he heard one's engines roar past him, he then took off and contacted EOS, to meet them in the lounge as he knew the AI was more than capable of doing that.

Meanwhile, Alan tried to focus on flying one, but he couldn't. It felt weird flying one, sure he had done it before, but only with Scott's permission, he landed one back in its hanger and made his way to the lounge, expecting everyone to be there, but to his surprise, he only found Brains and MAX.

"Brains? where is everyone?" Alan asked with fear, he knew but he wanted to confirm it

"oh, A-Alan, w-well we were l-listening on your rescue w-when suddenly K-Kayo's arm s-started to d-disappear, soon more o-of her disappeared a-along with Grandma T-Tracy" Brains said, adjusting his glasses, next to him MAX beeped sadly

Alan sighed "oh man, the same thing happened to Scott, Virgil, and John!"

"o-oh my" Brains stuttered and Gordon entered the room, still clad in his uniform he took one look around the lounge and turned towards Alan

"the same thing happened to Grandma and Kayo?" Alan nodded and Gordon collapsed on the couch, pinching his nose "how the hell did this happen?"

"Think it was the Hood?" Alan asked and joined his brother

"I'm afraid not Alan" E0S's voice joined them, "I just found this video, I think you should watch it" she brought up a video where a man with a beard wearing dark blue clothes appeared.

"Hey, it's Captain America!" Alan exclaimed as they watched the video

"Hi everyone, most of you know me as Captain America, and by now I'm sure you've noticed that some people have turned to dust and there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for that. Today, the avengers fought against an alien named Thanos, who wanted to wipe out half of existence, thinking that the universe would be more peaceful..."

"half of existence?! is he crazy" Gordon whispered

"...the Avengers, fought their hardest and we thought we won because we destroyed the mind stone that was inside Vision's head, but he used the time stone to go back in time and grab it, thus allowing him to have all 6 stones; mind, soul, time, reality, power and space. combined these 6 stones allowed Thanos to wipe out half of existence, we have all lost people and we will honor them for now, for we must stick together and the Avengers will find Thanos. That's a promise"

The lounge was silent after watching the video, even MAX was silent until EOS broke it "I am currently receiving dozens of distress calls, people saying that their friends and family have disappeared"

"dismiss them EOS, there's nothing we can do," Gordon said leaning back, suddenly Penelope's portrait started to beep and her hologram appeared

"Gordon, Alan, nice to see you," she said in what appeared to be relief

"What can we help you with Lady P?"

"well, I'm afraid it's rather distressing but..."

"...Parker disappeared? we know, Scott, Virgil, John, Kayo, and Grandma have also disappeared" Alan cut her off and she frowned

"it's rather distressing, isn't it? I was wondering if sherbet and I could stay with you? at least until the avengers find Thanos and get everyone back"

"of course, I'll pick you up in a pod!" Gordon said and ran down to the hangers as Penelope hang up. Later once Penelope had arrived and Gordon and Alan had freshened up, they gathered in the lounge to discuss their next plan.

"so, what do we do now?" Alan wondered

"We keep dad's dream alive, we continue international rescue!" Gordon declared, he had given this a lot of thought on his way to Penelope's house, now that he was the oldest Tracy he knew that he was now in charge of international rescue

"with just the two of us?"

"I have a few people in mind that could help" Penelope offered with sherbet in her arms

"that would be a great help, but let's take a break, to recover" Gordon suggested and the others nodded and Gordon went to his dad's desk and contacted Col. Casey, but to their surprise, a man with a brown beard and who appeared to be in his late 30's answered instead

"Hello? this is Lieutenant Johnson, who is this?"

"This is Gordon of international rescue. where's Col. Casey ?"

"nice to meet you International rescue, unfortunately, Col. Casey disappeared along with a few hundred GDF soldiers"

"oh, do you know who else is missing?"

"No, we are currently organizing a census so we can get an idea of who's gone, how about you?"

"there's about 4 of us here, Lady Penelope, Brains our engineer, and Alan Tracy"

"I see, anyway what are your plans?"

"we're continuing international rescue, it's what our dad would have wanted," Alan said, looking down and Lit. Johnson looked at him with sympathy

"just the two of you?"

"no, I have a few people in mind that would be perfect for the job," Penelope said, and Lit. Johnson nodded

"we were wondering if you could use the rescue drone to handle any rescues while we get our crew sorted," Gordon said and Lit. Johnson looked thoughtful

"I'll see what I can do, but yes. I think we can do that" with that he signed off and Gordon looked at Alan and smiled

"well, I guess that's a start"

*5 YEARS LATER*

It had been 5 years since the 'snap' happened and people had slowly started to move on with their lives but never forgetting those that were lost. International Rescue had changed a lot since then. Captain Ridley O'Brannon had taken over residence in thunderbird 5 since she was the only other person EOS could tolerate, meanwhile Penelope had found two other people to pilot Thunderbird 1 &2 their names were Shawn Porter and Blake Adams; both were exceptional pilots and had great instincts in the air and worked well together too, they had both know each other since grade school and had joined the Airforce together and had both lost their families in the 'Snap' and decided they wanted to help people. They had them have a go in the simulators to see which bird they would pilot, Shawn, piloted Thunderbird one, and Blake piloted Thunderbird 2, and together all 5 of them made a great team. She had also invited her niece Sophie to be their covert-ops and pilot Shadow.

But the biggest change was that their father Jeff Tracy had returned, apparently, the rocket he was saving 'the Zero-X' had shot him into space, and while Captain Marvel had flown off to save the Avengers that were stuck in space, she made managed to find their father in the Oort cloud and brought him home. Over the past 5 years, Alan had managed to graduate high school and had gotten a degree in Astrophysics and had grown significantly taller and the 23-year-old had matured a lot and was now currently engaged to Sophie and were currently deciding on the date.

Meanwhile, Gordon had gotten a degree in Hydrology along his degree in Oceanography and the 25-year-old was now one of the world's experts about water, both on land and the sea. While he had not grown in height he had grown in muscle, with Virgil no longer around he decided to become stronger so when his brothers returned he had some sort of advantage over them. But the biggest change was that he and Penelope decided to get married 3 years ago, they had a small wedding with only the island's residents and a few close friends where Jeff officiated and Alan was his best man, Sherbet was the ring bearer and both Shawn and Blake were there as they were now family. They had a daughter two years later, a beautiful baby girl that they named 'Michelle Lucy Tracy' where she had her mother's long wavy blond here, but had her father's mischievous amber eyes and everyone on the island adored her and Penelope was currently pregnant with their son.

One day, everyone was relaxing while Brains was fixing Thunderbird 2's engines after a Bush fire rescue and even Ridley decided to joined them, wanting to spend some time on the island and was currently having an arm wrestle with Shawn while Alan stared at Scott's portrait, it was a smaller version of the larger one as they had to replace them with new portraits, as it turned out; Blake was a fantastic painter, not as good as Virgil but he had the talent, he had painted new portraits of him, Shawn, Sophie and Ridley to replace Scott, Virgil, Kayo and John's. He was reluctant but Jeff, Gordon, and Alan had encouraged it as it symbolized their place in the team and the family. Blake came in from his morning run when he suddenly yelled in surprise, everyone turned and saw that Kayo was currently sitting on his back with his pins pinned behind him and Grandma Tracy standing over him.

"Kayo?" Alan choaked out, both women turned and did a double-take

"Alan? is that you?" Kayo whispered

"yeah"

"what are you doing here? aren't you meant to be on a rescue?"

"well, you see-"

"can you get off me please?" Blake demanded and Kayo blinked down at him as if she forgot he was there

"Kayo, get off him. you can trust him"

"How can you be sure?"

"Kayo, trust us" Alan pleaded and Kayo reluctantly got off Blake who then joined them on the couch

"Hello?" everyone gasped silently when they heard Scott's vice and his hologram appeared, he looked exactly the same when he disappeared "Tracy island? Thunderbird 5? can anyone hear me?"

"we-we read you Scott," Gordon said, his voice shaking from his spot on the floor where he was playing with Michelle, giving Penelope a break so she could take a nap

"Gordon?" Virgil asked, his hologram also appearing "where are you guys? weren't we in the middle of a rescue?"

"it's a long story," Alan said and both brother's turned in his direction

"Alan?"

"What happened with your voice?"

"we'll explain later, is John with you?" Alan asked but he was suddenly cut off by John"s hologram appearing

"Gordon, what have you done with my bird?" John demanded and Alan understood his confusion, over the past 5 years both brains and Ridley had found a way to modify Thunderbird 5 so it could pick up distress calls easier and show more detail when scanning underground, so they had built a new one and left the old one still orbiting space where it could be used if something went wrong with the new Thunderbird 5.

"John come down in the space elevator, Scott, Virgil hang tight. Alan will pick you up" Gordon said and cut off the transmission before they could ask any more questions, Alan shot off towards thunderbird one's launch tube and soon took off, he then turned towards black and Shawn "I hope you understand why I told Alan to go"

"It's fine, it because we would have made them suspicious, we get it" Shawn reassured him

"hey, if my family's, that could mean..." immediately realization dawned upon their faces and they took out their phones and called their families, going into the kitchen for some privacy, Kayo, and Grandma who was still suspicious of them followed; meanwhile, Gordon turned on the news to see if any others had come back

"...and today, the Avengers fought bravely against Thanos and managed to bring everyone who disappeared back during the snap, however, Tony Stark aka Iron Man made a great sacrifice so that we could have a peaceful future, many close friends are wishing him off if you would like to pay tribute go to this website..." Gordon turned the news off and contacted Col. Johnson, he had been a huge help over the past 5 years and had been promoted to Col. last year

"Gordon Tracy, I was waiting to hear from you" the man greeted him

"Good to see you too, I'm guessing you heard the news?"

"oh yeah, it's amazing now that everyone is back, your father's on his way back right now, in fact, he practically left the meeting even though it was only halfway through! unfortunately, this is my last day in this office, now that Col. Casey is back I'm going back to my base in Europe, but the good news is that I'm now second in command of the GDF!"

"congrats! you deserve it!" Gordon cheered

"thanks, call you another time" with that he signed off and Gordon sighed, Michelle waved a block in front of his face and he smiled and picked her up.

"Gordon?" Penelope's voice snapped I'm out of his thoughts, he turned around to see his beautiful wife with her huge tummy along with Sophie, according to Brains the baby was due to come any day now and they were both very excited "what's going on?"

"my brothers are back" was all he could say before Penelope enveloped him in a hug, suddenly her compactor chimed and Parker appeared when she opened it

"there you are m'lady, I was wondering where you were" Parker said, his blue eyes staring into hers

"I'm on Tracy island parker, come here immediately" she ordered him nicely

"right away m'lady" Parker said before signing off, soon they heard the roar of one's engines and both Shawn and Blake re-entered the room, looking very happy with Kayo and Grandma following but their eyes widened when they saw Penelope

"Penelope...are you..."

"Hey, you two" Gordon greeted the two males that just sat down "so are your families..."

"they"re back," Shawn said, still smiling

"you know, if you want to take a break to see your families again, you can," Gordon told them

"thanks, we will. but we'll wait until the introductions are over" Blake told him

"what about after?" Shawn asked "I mean, we only took over temporarily"

"depends, do you want to stay?" Penelope asked them, Grandma and Kayo stayed silent, still confused at what was going on

"maybe, we both really enjoyed being part of International Rescue, but we also want to get back into the airforce."

"well whatever you choose, just remember, you will always have a place in International Rescue" Gordon told them and they smiled in response, soon Alan along with Scott, Virgil, John, and Brains emerged who was still gaping at him as he was about the same height as Scott, they turned and did a double-take when they saw Gordon with Michelle and Penelope

"uhh, Gordon, who is that?" Virgil asked pointing at Michelle, Gordon stood up and walked towards them

"Michelle, this is your uncle Scott, uncle Virgil, and uncle John. say hi" Gordon used his hand and made Michelle wave at them while she giggled happily.

"you-you-we-we-uh-uh" Scott made random words, unable to get them out at which the two Tracy's laughed, suddenly Parker emerged and also started at Alan and Gordon.

"well, now that everyone is here. Let's talk" Gordon said and made his way to the couch followed by Alan and Brains, the remaining four looked at each other before dashing after them. Once everyone was settled, questions started to fly through the air

"what's going on?"

"Who are these people?"

"how do you know them?"

"this that your daughter Gordon?"

"ENOUGH!" Gordon yelled ceasing all questions and the lounge became silent once more, he then turned towards his two older and now one younger brother "what's the last thing you guys remember?"

"I remember us in New York, helping people who were trapped because of some attack, and then the world going black and waking up in the same spot but everything was fixed," Scott said, leaning one hand on his knee

"Scott, that was 5 years ago," Alan said quietly

"What?!" Virgil exclaimed

"it's true"

"you're playing a trick on us, aren't you?" Kayo accused

"look around you" Gordon said and the others looked around the room and noticed that the portraits had changed and Gordon and Alan both looked older than they remembered, they sighed in defeat

"ok, what happened for the past 5 years?" Scott asked

"well, after you disappeared, Penelope contacted Shawn and Blake and offered them a place on the team" both of them waved from where they were sitting on the couch "and they fitted perfectly into the role, I took over International Rescue and directed most of the missions and they went pretty well. We haven't heard from the Hood which means that he probably disappeared which means he's back (yay), the GDF got a temporary boss who did a fantastic job, Penelope and I got married, we had Michelle and have another one on the way..."

"Woah, Woah Woah, back up. So if what your saying is true, that means you're 25 now right?" John asked and Gordon nodded, he then turned towards Alan "that means you're now 23?" Alan also nodded "aaaarrrrggghhh! that means I'm the youngest now!" John moaned and Alan and Gordon laughed at their now youngest brother

"HA! I finally get to be an older brother!" Alan cheered while John wept and Scott and Virgil looked at them with disbelief

"what do you mean John?" Scott asked his sobbing brother

"well, since we weren't around for the past 5 years and ended up where we were before we disappeared looking exactly the same, it means we didn't age!"

"wait, that means...I'm younger than Gordon?!" Kayo said in disbelief, and everyone laughed at her reaction

"boys" a voice called out and they all stopped, staring at the stairs, meanwhile Gordon and Alan smirked

"we're up here dad!" Gordon called, and Jeff appeared looking rather amused at his other sons' reactions, meanwhile, they continued to stare at him, no even blinking. Scott was the first to move, he shakily stood up and walked towards the man who stood there patiently, he reached out a hand as if to test if he was really there and then wrapped his arms around his dad, tears falling down his face, he was soon joined by Virgil, John, Kayo and Grandma.

"How is this possible?" Virgil asked once they sat down again

"well, as it turns out that the Zero-x didn't explode, instead it shot dad into space" Alan explained while Gordon took Penelope to the infirmary because the baby was restless and Brains followed them, "but Captain Marvel found him while searching for the other Avengers and brought him here"

"Wow," John said in amazement, suddenly they heard Gordon shouting "the baby"s here!" they all ran towards the infirmary where Penelope was holding a crying baby wrapped in a cloth from what they could tell he had blonde hair but his mother's sapphire blue eyes.

"dad, meet your new grandson, Anderson Jefferson Tracy" Gordon introduced them to the newest member of the Tracy clan and they awwed at how adorable he was, at this point, Blake and Shawn decided to leave.

"uhh, Gordon, we would like to leave now. see our families" Shawn said and Gordon nodded

"ok, thanks for all your help for the past 5 years"

"no problem, is it really alright if we come back?" Blake asked

"of course," Jeff said, "you'll always have a place on this team" they nodded their thanks and Parker offered to drive them home in FAB1, once they left the remaining Tracy's decided what to do next.

"so, what now?" alan wondered

"we continue what we do best Allie, save people," Gordon said as it was obvious

"I know, but Scott, Virgil, Kayo, and John have been missing for 5 years and technology has improved a lot since then"

"oh yeah, that reminds me. who changed 5?" John demanded

"that would be me" Ridley raised her hand and John stared at her "EOS gave me permission once she heard about the new upgrades Brains had, we've built a new Thunderbird 5 and the old one or the first one is used as a backup in case anything goes wrong with the first one. They've really helped us in rescues as we get more detail when scanning underground"

"oh" was all John could say before EOS's avatar appeared

"John, I'm very glad to see that you're back," EOS's voice said

"EOS? how did you get here?"

"easy, she simply moved her main process here so she can help both here and up in Thunderbird 5, she's also much more social now" Alan explained

"oh"

"Hey, how about we go see your birds? Brains has upgraded them over the past few years" Gordon suggested

"ok, sure" Scott agreed and followed Alan to the silos while Gordon, Jeff and Grandma stayed behind, Alan was currently holding hands with Sophie which his brothers' immediately noticed "hey Alan, is that your girlfriend?"

"no, this is my fiancee, Sophie. She's Penelope's niece" Alan responded with a smug look while his brothers' stared at him with wide mouths

"so wait, if Penelope married Gordon, does that mean she's now Penelope Tracy?" Virgil asked as they went down the elevator

"Nah, she decided on a hyphen, so she's now 'Penelope Creighton-ward Tracy" they finally arrived at the silos and walked towards the thunderbirds, although they had already seen Thunderbird 1 they were too busy focusing on how alan changed that they didn't pay too much attention to any changes. Thunderbird 1 was now much sleeker and had engines that could reach up to Mach 20. Thunderbird 2 hadn't changed much but was now a bit less bulky and could now carry loads up to 80 tonnes, Thunderbird shadow was now thinner and her engines were much more silent. The brothers' stared at their birds while Alan brought up the design for the new Thunderbird 5 which had the same design as the old one but had much more powerful cameras and was shorter than the last.

"wow" was all they could say and Alan got a kick at their expression "come on, let's head up back. You can reunite with your birds later" they followed him back to the lounge where the others were waiting

"so, what you think of your birds?"Gordon asked holding his newborn son in his arms while grandma was holding Michelle

"they're amazing," Virgil said as they gathered around their father's desk

"I just finished talking to Col. Casey, she's agreed to put out the rescue bots until you four get caught up with technology," Jeff told them

"Are you sure? I mean we can get back out there, we may have been gone for 5 years but it only feels like a minute" Scott protested

"relax Scott, brains fixed up the bots so that they're much more efficient now, but there's only so much technology can do," Gordon told him

"he's right, besides don't you want more time with your old man?" Jeff asked teasingly

"well, yeah. but I mean..." Scott rubbed the back of his head

"Scott" John cut in "it may not be the worst idea to have a break, I mean we've been gone for five years and Gordon and Alan have changed a lot since then"

"John's right" Virgil added, "besides, when was the last time we had some family time?"

Scott eventually nodded and smiled "alright, what should we do first?"

                                                 ...

I'm ending this here because I don't really know how to continue this, plus I think it ends happily here unless you have an idea then go ahead and add to it. also, this is the most I've ever I've only ever written more than 2k per chapter and this is my first time writing 4k in just one shot. yay!

And if you're wondering why I decided to have a second thunderbird 5 well because I thought that since I decided this takes place in season 3 and season 1 takes place in 2060 or around there, and each season is 3 years and all that crap, so I figured that technology in 2060 or 2070 would have improved a lot and it would be too complicated to put these new upgrades in Thunderbird 5 while it was operational so thus why there is a second Thunderbird 5.

[vegetacide]

Cloak and Dagger

Veg●notable: Okay, I had a little fun with this and took a few liberties with one of the boys… It worked for I wanted but I am not sure how it will be received... ::ducks behind a Tracy so she doesn’t get hit with anything...::

Also I am kinda being a pantser with this chapter.. I have a general idea of where I want it to go but I didn’t suss it out like I have in other chapters so please excuse if the pacing if off. I kinda let the Boys tell me where they wanted to go and what sort of interactions they wanted to have….and they may have gone a bit off course..

As per the norm.. All errors and such are my own.

Read, review, like, reblog.. Whatever the platform, it is very, very much appreciated and it all acts as my motivational fuel.

Previous Chapters

Intro  | One  |  Two 

Chapter 3: Games 

Enjoy!

o0o

Scott drummed his fingers along the careworn surface of his father’s desk, his gaze lost to the middle distance as he thought over the information that had just been brought to him. Not that there was much, which was the problem in and of itself.

Kayo and Lady Penelope had had very little to tell him. After Fuse’s botched attempt at the old, disused power plant to obtain nuclear material he’d just up and disappeared. Their security expert and London agent had been traipsing around the globe trying to track down leads for weeks now but there was no sign of the Chaos member, his sister or for that matter the Hood… anywhere..at all.

For the Hood on his own, it wasn’t that unusual. The criminal would go quiet for a spell and not resurface for months. Now that he was with the Crew, that was an entirely different story.

Normal some tidbit of information would crop up of a sighting in some far corner of the world, or a rumour of some heist or another would drift about on the dark web. Either Lady P would poke at it to figure out if it was worth further effort or Kayo would get a call from the GDF to check with some contacts but everything had gone silent. There was nothing, no where.

Scott looked up at the muted holo-cast. A variation of the same headline scrolled along under the chrome anchors’ desk and something in the pit of his stomach tightened. This eerie feeling of foreboding had been dogging him since the plant and he just knew this wasn’t going to end well.

Picking up an old school stylus that for some reason his father had kept even with the advent of modern computer interfaces, Scott examined its length. His father had owned it for as long as he could remember. He’d once asked Jeff why he insisted on keeping it and his father had smiled in that way he did and had said that ‘somethings were just worth keeping.’ He hadn’t elaborated in any other way or given any other hint to his reasoning after that. It left Scott scratching his head in confusion.

Even now all these years later he still didn’t understand though as he looked at the smooth finish and felt the weight of it between his fingers, he could understand its appeal. It provided something tangible to hold on to, tactile.

In his case not only physically but it also provided him with a psychologically connection to the man they all missed so much. A man he truly wished was with them right now.

Maybe the great Jeff Tracy would be able to wrap his head around all this, come out with a master plan so at the end of the day the world was a better, safer place. Scott certainly didn’t think he had the chops to do it himself. Self doubt was a bitch especially when there was no supporting hand to guide you.

His father was going to come home, Scott knew that for sure. WIth Brains basically locked away working on the zero-x engine it was only a matter of time. Scott just hoped that when they got their father back…. Why was he even thinking about this? Setting the stylus back down, he rubbed at the back of his head in hopes of dispelling the direction of his thoughts. This was not helping.

Snagging his forgotten cup of coffee, he took a swig and grimaced. Cold and it was the good stuff from Virgil’s hidden stash behind the lima bean in the pantry. Eyeballing the drink with its thin layer of cream film on top, he sighed and tossed the rest back. It was too much effort to haul his ass downstairs for a fresh cup, besides his brother would kick his butt if he were to find out he knew of the existence of the rich, smoky ground beans and had wasted it. Better to just suck it up and deal with the cold brew then risk the engineer’s wrath.

“Thunderbird 5 to base.”

“Hey John,” Scott greeted with the raise of his now empty coffee mug. “What’s up?”

“Just letting you know Grandma is on approach. Will be there in t-minus 5”

“Thanks for the heads up.”

John nodded in return and they sat in silence for a moment. By the controlled look on John’s face Scott could tell that the monitor was working up to say something more. Leaning back in his chair, he cocked a foot over one knee and steepled his fingers as his brother processed whatever it was that was on his mind.

Scott didn’t want to push but time was ticking. “Johnny….?” He knew the use of his brother’s childhood nickname would get the ball rolling.

John’s eyes narrowed in annoyance at the moniker but the redhead let it slide. “How’s it going down there?”

Scott dropped his hands, pushed up to his feet and walked the short distance to the sunken seating area. “As well as can be expected.” Taking the steps down he parked on his usually couch with a heavy sigh. Sinking into the cushions with a slouch and tossing an arm up and over the back.

“That sounds...” John paused as he searched for the appropriate word, “to steal a phrase from Alan.. craptastic.”

One shoulder went up in a shrug and Scott dragged in a deep breathe. “Ya, well. Shitty situation but you know how these things go. Time and space and all that.”

“Time and space?” A smirk settled on John’s face. “This coming from you. Eos mark down the time and date. Scott is being reasonable”

“Time and date noted, John.” Came the young voice of the A.I. “I have also taken the liberty of recording this interaction for posterity in the likelihood that you want to revisit the momentous occasion.”

John chuckled as the light ring came into the view field of the camera. The array of little lights flashing in what Scott could only conclude as amusement at his cost. The A.I was learning and learning fast and Scott didn’t know how to feel about that.

“Hardy har.” A dry sound, accompanied by an eye roll. “Am I really that bad?”

The stare and awestruck look he received by way of answer should have been enough.”Aw, come on…”

“If smother hen was in the dictionary, Scott. You would be the picture beside it.” It was said rather frankly and that irked Scott into yet another eyeroll. “Matter of fact, it might actually already be in Urban Dictionary..”

“Okay. Okay..I get it. Enough already.” Scott’s boredom and disdain at the direction of the conversation wasn’t hard to miss. “I can’t help it. I worry about all of you.”

John took pity on his elder brother, the smile leaving his face. “I know you do, Scott. Especially when it’s Virgil.”

Scott sagged further into the couch.

“We all need to fall apart every now and again. The same applies to Virgil.” John spoke, his voice carrying across the distance. “As much as we rely on him to be the family rock, even a rock wears down over time when enough stress is applied.”

“Ya, I know. You’re right.” Scott leaned forward, his elbows coming to rest on his knees as he looked at the floor. “I just wish…” He didn’t finish his train of thought.

“Scott, he’ll be fine. Just give him the room to breath and in a day or two he will be right as rain again. He needs to stew this over a bit.” John shifted his gaze away from the cam, his projected hand skimming over something off screen.

“Well from what Brain’s has told me, Virgil has him doing system checks on all the wash-bays. Maybe an answer will be there for him.”

“You talked to Brain?”

“Yes, just before calling you. He wanted me to look at some computations. Double check his math and he didn’t want to bother Virgil with it” Floating about the space station some 22,000 kilomitres above them, John glaced backup a moment. “Why? Haven’t you talked to him?”

Scott sat up a bit straighter, sheepishly ashamed that the yelling the night before had sent the mousy genus into hiding in the bowels of the island. “Not since we got back..”

“Oh,” John failed to hide the nonplussed expression that flashed across the screen. “Glad I was off world last night than..:”

“Jay, you’re always off world”

John couldn’t say anything to counter that and Scott knew it. The star obsessed Tracy rarely made landfall and Scott tried to think back on how long it had been since the astronaut had been forced to submit to some down time.

“Scott, you’re getting that look in your eyes again.”

“What look?”

“The ‘I need to smother’ look that comes with the forehead wrinkles of the elderly.. Don’t you dare set your sights on me. I am needed up here with full access to all of 5’s systems and you know it.”

Scott put his hands up in surrender, not wanting to have another sibling forcibly shutting him out. “Message received and watched the old person jokes. They are laugh lines not stress.. The hair though, that’s all from you guys.”

John looked off camera again and his expression changed from brotherly bemusement to curious. “Aunt Val is reaching out. I’ll patch her though.”

Scott cursed under his breath and ignored the admonishing glare from space. Seemed he hadn’t sworn as quietly as he thought, good thing Gran….

“Scott Bartholomew Carpenter Tracy!”

Scott flinched at the sudden loud bark of reproach directed his way as his Grandmother marched into the room, fire and brimstone in her wake. “You were not raised in a barn, young man.” Crap, his diminutive elder was not impressed, especially if she broke out the little known and seldom used ‘Bartholomew.’

He was the only brother out of the five to be graced with the additionally middle name, gifted to him as the first born from his great, great Grandfather. A Tribute to a war vet that his father had been blessed with as well and one that made Scott shudder every time he heard it.

“Well technically… “John piped up earning him a warning glare from Scott.

“Gee John, thanks for the warning.. “ Scott grumbled with little enthusiasm and dripping with sarcastic annoyance.

“I did,” John blinked.

Scott contemplated several ways to seek revenge over the tirade of the fierce and feisty Sally Tracy and most of them involved airlocks and a module full of moldy bagels.

John did his level best to hide his smile at the misfortune of the eldest. “I told you she was on approach and you know she has the ears of a bat, Scooter.”

Scott glared at the space nut but all he got in return was a very large grin before the monitor disappeared and the 3D rendition of his Godmother materialized.

“Colonel Casey” Scott acknowledges, his Grandmother patted his knee in greeting and settled down on the couch beside him, the vexed look still sparking in her cerulean gaze.

“Valerie,” His Grandma piped up. “You’re a sight for sore eyes”

“Scott. Sally.” A crisp, formal acknowledgement. Definitely a business call.

The tone made Scott straighten his spine, posture ramrodding as his years of military training kicked in. Pushing to his feet, the Commander of International Rescue took up the forefront of his mind. The dilemma of the current Tracy drama brushed aside as the call to arms; so to speak, was issued by his honorary Aunt’s projected persona.

“What can I do for you, Colonel Casey?”

“Orders come down the pipe, Scott. General Abner informed me this afternoon that World Council has declared Kazakhstan a no fly zone. All personnel, both combative and civilian are on evac orders effective immediately. As of 23:00, anything in or outbound found crossing restrictive airspace will be termed hostile and dealt with accordingly.”

“And as our liaison..?” Scott asked, bracing for the answer that he feared.

“I’ve been advised to inform you that the restriction extends to International Rescue as well. Under no circumstance is International; Rescue to enter that airspace. Any action will be seen as an act of aggression against the WC and those perpetrating said act are to be shot down.”

“Noted.”

“Scott, you need to abide by this ruling. This is from way up the food chain. There will be nothing I can do to help you if these orders are disregarded. “ Casey stressed. “You will be on your own.I’ve also been instructed that anyone aiding and abetting is to be brought in and prosecuted under the full force of the law.”

Meaning, the whole family would be under threat and the whole might of the GDF would be pointed in their direction. Even though they claimed no allegiance to any known entity, International Rescue and by turn the Tracy’s would be marked as traitors “I understand Colonel.”

Essentially the country has been walled off and Scott wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He just hoped that there would be no call out for iR in the vicinity of the damned country but he knew from experience hopes and wishes were very seldom taken into consideration.

-o-o-

Some 6,500km away, tucked under a remote mountain village on the furthest edge of Kazakhstan a display monitor beeped to life with the flow of garish, green text. Servos hummed, fans ticked on and a smile crept across the harshly angled face with amber eyes.

Piece by piece plans that had taken months to arrange were finally starting to come together. Money had passed hands, people had been bought, information exchanged and like pawns on a chessboard, the players were shifting into their places.

Looking at the board, the queen slipped into place and unbeknownst to all but one, the king now sat vulnerable. The end was in sight.

Let the games begin.

TBC

[the-fiction-witch]

Whoa! Okay!

TV SHOW: TAG COUPLE: JOHN TRACY X READER RATING: CUTE + KINDA SWEARING AND SUCH

John’s Pov:

I sighed having just hung up with the last recuse mission gordon was just heading home now after fixing up some people who got stuck in a underground flooded cave. I grabbed my bagel at last having a few seconds to myself

“I’m sorry to interrupt John but there is a priority call coming in from Tracy island” Eos says 

“There is? if its so urgent why didn’t they just call me on the normal channel?” i ask “Ohh well. Wonder what’s going on down there?” I sigh answering it

“Yes Tracy Island this is Thunderbird 5 what’s the matter?” he asks

“JOHN TRACY YOU GET YOUR SPACE ASS DOWN HERE THIS MINUET!” I heard a very familiar voice scream at the top of her lungs

“Y/n? what’s going on is something wrong?” I ask her

“WRONG! WHAT DID i JUST SAY GET DOWN HERE!” she orders

“Y/n I can’t just leave Thunderbird five for no reason? just tell me what’s wrong?” I laugh 

“GET DOWN HERE!” she screams before hanging up

“I wonder what’s wrong with her?” Eos laughs

“I don’t know. but i think I better do what she says, she’s never good when she goes like this” I sigh going to the space elevator and going down to tracy Island.

“Where is she and what’s wrong?” I ask Scott

“No idea” he shrugs “haven’t seen her all morning” he says so I sighed heading to my room where she will likely be 

“Your dead” Gordon coughs as he walks past me but I grabbed his shirt so he couldn’t move

“Why? what’s wrong with her?” i ask him

“Sorry big Bro, Find out for yourself” He laughs running off as I got closer to my room I could hear little tears 

“Y/n?” I ask tapping on the door but no answer so I went inside and she was sat on my bed hugging a pillow crying “y/n? sweetheart what’s the matter?” I ask her sitting beside her she didn’t reply she just kept crying “I man you call me all he way down here and your crying y/n what’s the matter-” I began

“shut up!” she yells still very teary

“Whoa! okay!” I laugh as she hugged me tightly “Please sweetheart...what’s the matter?” I ask her 

“You knocked me up you arsehole!” she complains moving away from me

“I did!” I yell in shock “so... your pregnant?” I ask and she nods “are you sure?” I ask her

“YES!” she yells 

“Okay...sorry,” I sigh I did feel kinda happy I was going to be a daddy it was kinda nice so  i gave her a little cuddle and a kiss “you know you could have just said that you needed to talk to me or even just told me on the phone you know” I laugh

“I didn’t want to I wanted you to be here with me” she smiles cuddling into my chest tightly 

“Umm, okay how far along are you?” I ask her

“Two months, that’s what the doctor says” she smiles “well what brains says” she giggles

“he is not a doctor sweetheart, I’m not sure i trust him when it comes to our little baby” I smile giving her a little kiss and she giggles

“You boys trust him building space ships and things that can literally kill you if they go wrong” I laugh

“Doesn’t mean I trust him with this” I laugh giving her another kiss “I love you y/n” I tell her

“aww I love you too” she giggles

Timeskip:

I was more nervous then i have ever been in my whole life passing up here... well not sure I could call it passing in space but... yeah space passing as I got a call and quickly answered it

“How is she! is she okay!” I ask in panic

“she’s doing fine john” My grandma answered as I heard a violent screaming in the background 

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Is that john?” she asks in pain

“Yes dear, anything you want to tell him?” My grandma asked her

“Yeah! If you where not a thousand miles up in space I WOULD DRAG YOU DOWN HERE JUST TO SHOVE THE WORLDS SHARPEST AND LONGEST KNIFE UP YOUR ARSE YOU BASTARD!” she screams “I AM NEVER LETTING YOU HAVE SEX WITH ME AGAIN!” she screams 

“Okay....okay sweetheart, understood” I laugh as they rang off I did do a bit of my work eos handling most of it I was to stressed to think I know i need to be space monitoring up here but I just want to be down there with her, I know they need me but couldn’t then just send Alan up or something to keep eos company. I should be down there with y/n.  just as I got another call

“What’s happen! is she okay! has something gone wrong?” I ask in panic

“calm down John-” Scott began

“You calm down! your not the ones who’s girlfriend is in there giving birth to your child!” I complain

“Whoa! Okay john calm down” he laughs “and not giving birth, has given” he laughs “Get your ass down here before she ills us all” He laughs

Wait- is she okay?” I ask 

“she seems fine, I don’t know she kicked most of us out only kayo, grandma and lady P where allowed in for most of it” he laughs hanging up 

“Eos your in charge till I get back” I said going to the elevator

“Ohh I assumed i already was” she says

“Don’t get cocky with me Eos!” I warn her the trip felt like forever before I finally got down to tracy island the boys all sat around the kitchen table all looking about half as worried as i was just as the girls came out without y/n “what’s wrong? is she okay-” i began

“John she’s fine, a little stressed but that’s normal” My grandma laughed

“i wanna break it to him!” Kayo laughed

“no, y/n should tell him herself” my grandma told her

“But she said we could” Kayo complained 

“If we are then someone with a little nouanse will do it” lady Penelope said as she came closer to me

“What? what do you need to break to me? is something the matter ?” I ask in panic

“There is nothing wrong with y/n or with the baby john relax, she just wanted us to tell you that-” she began

““It’s a boy!” Kayo blurted out and lady P glared at her 

“I- its a boy?” I ask and they all nodded I quickly ran off to go find her and I saw my bedroom door open and y/n sat up in my bed looking very tired cradling a little baby wrapped up in blankets and cloths she looked so happy “You still going to kill me?” i ask her

“Yes, violently and horribly. but I can wait to kill you” she smiles “Come here” she smiles so I went and sat beside her “Say hello” she smiles showing me our little baby

“hello Little guy” i laugh almost crying to see our little baby boy “Have you picked a name for him yet?” i ask her

“No, but I have a idea that I think you’ll agree with” she smiles

“ohh? what?” i ask

“jeff, After your dad” she smiles

“Jeff, yeah I like that Little Jeff Tracy” I laugh giving her head a kiss and he smiled handing him to me and he giggled playing with my fingers giving his tiny little head a kiss y/n smiled resting her head on my shoulder 

“International rescue we have an adorable Situation” I heard Scott laugh from my door

“Shut up” i laugh as everyone came in to have a look at our little baby

[shirubie]

The Measure of a Man by Phoenix_Sparrow is a very good fic about this concept, with slightly different superpowers. It hasn’t been updated in a while but I highly recommand it.

What about Lady Penelope and Parker? I can see Lady Penelope as a kind of telepath, or simply being able to tell when someone is lying. As for Parker, well he’s pretty agile for someone his age. Or I’d give him X-ray vision, that’s how he’s so good at safe cracking.

Brains? if his super engineering skills aren’t enough to be considered superhuman, I’d make him a technopath, being able to control machines and computers with his mind

Super Powers

Currently watching Disneys Hercules (and trying to ignore the massive amount of inaccuracies) and thought of our Tracy brothers.

Not sure if this has been broached before but I've devised a list of each Tracy brother and their 'super power'

Scott: Speed

John: Fast thinker/problem solver (before EOS)

Virgil: Super strength/healing powers

Gordon: Amphibious

Alan: still growing but I'm leaning towards quick reflexes

Kayo: turns invisible

[fey-changeling]

Signals: Part 1

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Sorry.

That's not a crash Scott. It's an explosion. I was not prepared!

So Zero X never made it to Mars and therefore never met the Martian Rock Snakes. I'm not very, very disappointed or anything.

Nice to see everyone together. But under the circumstances...

Let Penny fly Two! Let Penny fly Two! Let Penny fly Two! Let Penny fly Two! Also I love that jacket.

Love Parker.

Can you ship it? Yes you can!

I'm so sorry Colonel Casey, but your multi million dollar space laser was blown up by the Chaos Crew when we were very suspiciously poking around the junkyard for reasons that we can't tell you.

Plot twist: Colonel Casey was working for the Hood all along.

She stole Three. What a bitch. She stole Three.

Revelation of the episode: Kayo's dad isn't dead, he just retired for nearly 8 years with a complete comms blackout.