Work Text:
Alan couldn’t understand why mum never came to pick him up anymore. One day Scott showed up instead, and Alan just followed him home from then on. Dad said that mum had gone away forever but will still be watching us from above, but all Alan wanted to do was see mum and he couldn’t. Apart from John who was always looking up at the sky, he always heard Scott talk of how the sky was so different when you were up so high. Alan loved hearing about how high dad and Scott would travel up in the air. He thought that they were meeting mum sometimes they were gone for so long. Alan wanted to do the same, he wanted to see mum too! He wanted to fly just like his Dad and Scott. Alan may have been young, but he knew what high meant. That’s why he started trying to get to all the high spots in the house. One day he found that the window in Johns room lead to a higher place on the house, a place outside that he’d never seen before. He was excited, thinking he might see mum again finally. But sadly, he couldn’t find her and once his dad found him, Johns room was always closed unless someone else was in the room with Alan. Wherever Alan went he always wanted to be high up, just in case, he saw a glimpse of mum. Having a day out in the park? Alan would climb the highest playing frame. Going shopping with Dad or grandma? Alan would race to the highest floor and press himself up against the window.
Alan, however, could never get high up when he walked home with Scott. He had to always hold Scott's hand when they walked home meaning Alan couldn’t climb anything and he wasn’t very happy about that.
“Alan please stop tugging you know you’re not allowed to climb when dad isn’t around,” Alan looked over to his older brother.
“But Scott! You climb all the time!” Alan said annoyed, slowly trying to get to a rather high looking wall.
“Alan no, you know the rules. Don’t climb anything now otherwise you won’t be allowed to climb in the park later,”
“But you are always so high up! Why can’t I be as high as you!” Alan pouted and he saw his older brother smile softly.
“You’ll get taller…. probably,”
“I want to be tall now!”
Alan saw Scott sigh and move in front of him before kneeling, hands behind him.
“If you want to be as tall as me then get on my back, I can show you how I see,” Alan saw Scott smile softly to him.
Alan couldn’t contain his excitement; he ran up and jumped onto his big brothers back. Alan moved his arms around Scott’s shoulders and held on as tight as he could, just like he did when holding onto the play bars in the park so he wouldn’t fall. When Scott stood up, Alan's eyes widened. It was amazing! The wall he tried to climb before was now below him. He could even see over the large bushes! Alan was so excited, maybe now he could see mum since he was as tall as his brother now. He moved his head forward, pressing it up against Scott's cheek, making sure to see exactly what his older brother was seeing. Maybe they would see mum together. Once they got home, Alan was a little upset that they couldn’t see mum. Alan so badly wanted to have piggybacks more often and Scott promised that he could get a piggyback every time they walked home. Some days, Scott would run and jump, sending Alan higher into the air. They both laughed and Scott would talk about mum whilst Alan looked for her. But in the end, he never did see her.
TBTBTBTBTBTBTB
Alan groaned as he came to, his head was pounding, and his left leg was killing him. Alan opened his eyes to the same pitch-black he was starring at under his eyelids
The world was black around him. He tried to move but that only sent a wave of pain shooting up from his left leg. He moved a hand up to his helmet and switched on the lights, looking around. Debris littered the immediate vicinity around him. He tilted his head down to light up his left leg. He found the source of his pain, his ankle was at a stomach-wrenching angle, no doubt broken. He blinked a few times, forcing himself to clear his head and remember the events beforehand. Soon information flooded back to him. Earthquakes, trapped civilians, helping Scott. Alan gasped as he looked around, causing his ankle to protest. Where was Scott? His brother was nowhere near him. Alan thought back to being he has been knocked unconscious. They had been making there way back up to the surface before they felt the second quake start. The already damaged building couldn’t have supported itself anymore and must have collapsed, with them still inside.
“Scott….Scott, do you read me? Come in Scott,” Alan said although he just got static as a response.
Alan again tried to move but it only caused him to swear quietly, god forbid Grandma ever finding out about that. Alan knew he had to move, this buildings structural integrity was already non-existent and could very likely again, he had to find Scott before he could high tail it out of there. But with his ankle the way it was, he doubted he’d get very far. He leant back against the wall, looking around taking in everything he could see, hoping to create an escape plan. He was halfway through thinking about hopping before the movement of rubble caught his attention.
“Alan? Alan you here?” Alan let out a sigh of relief when he heard Scott's voice.
“Scott! I’m over here!” he sat up straight again as he saw his brother run towards him.
“Alan!” Scott knelt next to him. “That ankle doesn’t look good. Are you hurt anywhere else?”
“Besides a slight headache, I’m okay. Just can’t walk very well…at all,”
Alan knew that wouldn’t stop Scott from worrying, he was proven right when Scott started to look him over, just to make sure Alan wasn’t hiding anything else from him.
“We need to move, my communicator got busted when the building collapsed. I couldn’t get hold of you so I started searching. I think we fell at least one floor. We need to walk out of the building before we can contact anyone,” Scott said, and Alan nodded in agreement.
Once Alan tried to move the lights on his helmet flickered before going out entirely. Just his luck, his helmet getting damaged in all this. Scott’s helmet was the only source of light now.
“Looks like that hit to the head did more damage to the helmet than you thankfully,” Scott said before moving in front of Alan, the light illuminating what was left of the room. “Alan shuffle forward and lean against my back, I’m going to have to carry you out.”
Alan went to protest but he knew Scott wasn’t going to leave him here to search for help, that wasn’t something Scott did. With some slow movements and pained groans, Alan was against Scott’s back, arms around his older brothers’ shoulders. When Scott slowly stood up, Alan swore he heard the faintest groan leave his brother's lips but thought of it to be nothing more than Alan being a little bigger compared to when they were younger. Once Scott moved his hands under Alan's thighs he started to move slowly over the debris, making sure to jolt Alan's ankle as little as possible. The floor would creak and cracks in the concrete could be heard. Sometimes Scott stopped so the floor would seemingly calm down before moving again. Other times he would stop to catch his breath, Alan would offer to get off his back, but Scott would simply shake his head and continue. They were both aware that another aftershock could happen at any time and without contact from Thunderbird five. they had no idea if or when that would happen. They had to move fast to avoid more injuries.
Alan could tell Scott was getting worn out, his movements over the debris were slower, almost as if it took more thinking power to know where Scott was placing his feet. He also heard Scotts breathing slowly get louder as this journey went on and yet the breaks did nothing to help. It then occurred to Alan that he hadn’t even asked if Scott was hurt.
“Scott, did you get hurt at all when we fell through the floor?” Alan asked frowning.
“Think I hit my head a little, no nausea though so I don’t think I have a concussion but didn’t really think about it. Was focused on trying to find you,” Scott replied with breaths between most words. “Besides, I can rest once we get home.”
“Plan on piggybacking me back to the island huh?” Alan said smiling getting a small chuckle from Scott below him.
“Maybe one day we can try doing that, you didn’t really get any taller so it might still work.”
“Hey! I’m not that short! You’re just…really tall that’s all,” Alan pouted and resorted to lightly banging his head against Scotts, it only made his older brother chuckle again.
“Al-an , Sc-tt come in!” Alan jumped as the new panicked voice of another brother. He moved an arm up to open his comms.
“John! I read you,” Alan replied
“Alan! Glad you hear your voice. Are you okay? We haven’t been able to contact Scott yet,” John said through comms.
“He’s with me right now, his comms got busted when the building fell on us,”
“Injuries?”
“My ankle’s killing me and we’ve both hit our heads but we’re okay. We’re almost at the edge of the building now,”
“And make sure Virgil is there waiting for us so he can get Alan sorted!” Scott butted in making Alan roll his eyes.
The prospect of seeing daylight again was most likely the reason why Scott upped his pace, that’s what Alan concluded anyway. Once they were approaching a collapsed wall, it began to crumble, revealing the midday sun shining bright. Virgil and Gordon were both there waiting, Virgil looking worried but Gordon looking almost amused at the predicament Alan was in. Something which Alan would have to get him back for eventually. Once they got near Thunderbird Two Alan slid down Scott’s back, keeping his focus on Virgil, mainly to make sure that Virgil got some comfort in the fact he wasn’t dying. Alan definitely wasn’t expecting both Gordon and Virgil to gasp in horror. Alan frowned looking down at himself and realised what they were worried about. His front section was covered red.
Virgil was the first to move, helping Alan onto a stretcher and into Thunderbird Two. It was strange, Alan didn’t feel any pain at all, not even on the journey to the edge of the building with Scott. That didn’t stop him worrying though, it was quite a bit of blood. Alan let Virgil work, placing a bio scanner on him, checking on the possible chest wound but Alan noticed his frown of worry turn into a frown of confusion.
“Alan undo your suit now,” Vigil demanded, and Alan complied,
‘don’t mess with medic mode Virgil,’ Alan thought to himself.
When Alan got the front of his suit lowered, he looked to his chest and frowned as well. His chest was clean, apart from some bruising that was probably from the fall. No cuts, there wasn’t a wound on his chest so where did all the blood come from? Alan thought back to the rescue, wondering if it was any of them who might have been bleeding, but he couldn’t recall any of the public injured that badly. Alan paled and looked up to Virgil. No words were needed before Virgil got the hint and bolted out of Thunderbird Two over to Thunderbird One. Alan was putting the upper half of his suit back on and following his older brothers. By the time he got outside Thunderbird Two, he already saw Virgil leaning over a very still Scott on the floor, he hadn’t even made it back to his thunderbird. He was lying on his front and Alan saw what the cause for the blood loss was. There was a massive gash cutting through his suit going halfway down his back. Now everything that happened in the building made sense. Scott’s slowing movements, the struggle to draw breath in properly. Scott was struggling and Alan didn’t even realise.
“Come on Scott, don’t give up on me. You held on this long you idiot,” Alan heard Virgil mumble as he saw him trying to stem the flow. “Let us get him to Thunderbird two Now,”
TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB
Scott groaned softly as he moved his head slightly. As he opened his eyes, he was rudely greeted by the blinding light of the islands infirmary. Scott brought his mind to a halt. Island infirmary, what was he doing here?
“Try not to sit up too quickly Scott, you’re going to collapse again,” Virgil said to Scott’s right, making Scott turn to face him as his eyes got accustomed to the light.
In true Scott fashion, he didn’t listen to Virgil but the pulling on his back soon made him freeze. It was a very uncommon sensation. Something was pulling his back, that’s how Scott could describe it anyway.
“Ah, didn’t think the pain killers would get rid of it completely. But now I’m glad so I can have a proper scalding at you. I mean what were you thinking! Carrying Alan on your back for almost an hour knowing full well you were in this state!” Scott physically winced when Virgil shouted.
Medic mode Virgil was not someone you wanted to mess with because it normally ended with the patient spending the journey back in Two asleep. The fact that Virgil was absolutely fuming meant he’d done something, but Scott was sure he wasn’t that bad. He knew he hit his head but there was only a slight headache nothing else. The tugging sensation from his back then made him think.
“I guess I got more banged up than I thought huh….” Scott said absent-mindedly.
“A little more banged up? Scott, you hardly breathing when we got to you outside One! Your back needed stitches and we still aren’t sure if an infection won’t settle in yet! You are grounded until you can walk without ripping your wound open again,”
Grounded? No, he couldn’t be grounded. It wasn’t long ago that brains had decoded the message sent from Dad. Everyone needed to be at their best to make sure they could find a way to get to him in time. If Scott was grounded, then he couldn’t help getting to dad.
“Virgil, I know you’re angry I really do but I genuinely thought I was okay. I didn’t feel a thing! I was worried about Alan and I even told him I banged my head. But I felt fine I swear!” Scott looked up to Virgil, hoping to show how sincere he was. There was a moment of silence.
“Your version of fine is much different to actually being fine you know that?” Virgil said, his voice instantly calmer making Scott sigh mentally the unspoken words clearly getting through to him.
“Speaking of fine. Can I go now? Since I’m grounded, I’ve got game time to squeeze in,” Scott looked over to his right seeing Alan fashioning a bright red cast around his left ankle.
“Alan! You’re okay?” Scott asked worried getting a nod from Alan.
“Well Virgil said it was a clean break which is better at healing so only a few weeks off, I guess. Meaning more game time,” Alan said smiling.
“More like more revision time, I’m pretty sure I heard Grandma talking about getting some more lessons online for you to complete whilst you are at home,” Virgil said making Alans smile drop immediately.
“Aw man, you’ve got to be kidding me! The new instalment of crime racers came out yesterday!” Alan slumped back into his bed sulking, causing the two older Tracy’s in the room to chuckle.
“He seems fine to me…” Scott smiled looking back to Virgil who sat down on his bed and spoke in a quieter tone, no doubt so Alan couldn’t hear.
“I know you’ve got dad on your mind and believe me; we want to get him back as much as you do. This injury isn’t going to be a setback okay? We can do just as much on the island sitting in one position as we can in the hanger, give or take a few things. But it isn’t just up to you to help get him back. Lean on us for a bit. We can take it, even the squirt over there can,” Virgil’s comment made Scott chuckle quietly again.
“Thanks Virgil…. we’ll get him back, together.”