#may 9th...

Six months, three weeks and four days after the email was sent, the TV ad spot flashed up at prime time viewing slots in the United States, nestled in with the Sunday evening baseball games, hockey, and basketball playoffs. At the same time a social media and internet campaign was launched too, designed to catch the attention of the rest of the world as they woke up or before they went to bed. 

'Kat Cavanaugh here with a special bulletin. 

Nearly three years ago, the commander of International Rescue and CEO of Tracy Industries Scott Tracy and his brother Gordon completely vanished from the public eye. This occurred shortly after they and their brothers John, Virgil, Alan, and International Rescue’s chief engineer ‘Brains’ rescued Jeff Tracy from his stranding in deep space after the Zero-X disaster. Repeated requests to both organisations about their abrupt disappearances have only resulted in statements that they are 'pursuing other interests'. A recent discovery of reports of child neglect and abuse dating from the '30s, combined with the now missing brothers and new faces at International Rescue made this reporter suspicious: exactly where were Scott and Gordon Tracy and why was their father being so coy about their actual whereabouts? 

After a private meeting with Scott Tracy, who is currently residing in an undisclosed location for his own safety, this reporter decided to move forward with this report- not as a full documentary, but in a series as facts are confirmed. My first instalment will be tomorrow night, on the Kat Cavanaugh Show.'

0o0o0

Thirty three minutes after the first ad hit the internet, Alan stood on the dock behind the house in New Haven, a duffle bag at his feet as he watched the sunset while waiting for his ride. 

This plan had been put together ages ago. Out of all of them, he was the most vulnerable and the most exposed, so this plan had been set up for three reasons.

The first reason was reporters: there’d already been some snooping around at college, trying to catch him in the library or the labs. He’d managed to slip past them without getting spotted and Scott had had the foresight to hide the ownership of the house behind a trust, so unless a friend or neighbour blabbed, he felt pretty safe waiting outside for the short time until he’d be picked up. 

The second reason was a group suspicion that S.D. might send people to ‘collect’ him so he could be ‘asked’ to play the part of a dutiful son and deny all of Kat’s report. 

Alan hated the idea of running and hiding. Backing down galled him and he’d have loved to have a chance to tell the world some of the things he’d seen S.D. do, but this time common sense overruled bravado. If he stayed out in the open he could be used as leverage against the others - that was the third reason - and that wasn’t acceptable. 

The ink-dark waters of the river parted and FAB 1 surfaced beside the dock, the window canopy opening. “Hello, Alan,” Lady Penelope’s voice floated out, accompanied by an excited yap from Sherbert. 

“Hi Lady P, thanks for coming to get me.” Alan gave her a smile as he carefully heaved the duffle bag in first, then climbed in after it and buckled up. 

“You’re very welcome,” was her warm response as she let Sherbert scamper over to him for some attention.

“H-any sign h'of reporters, Master Alan, sir?” Parker asked as the canopy sealed and the car submerged. 

“Just a couple on campus, but they didn’t see me,” was the response, accompanied by a half shrug as he absently petted Sherbert. “So…it begins, huh?” he asked, looking at the other occupants of the car. The day had finally arrived for S.D. crash to earth, but now that it was here, he really wasn’t sure how he was feeling about it. 

The vague thought of ‘be careful what you wish for because you just might get it’ was set aside for later contemplation, he had too much to think about right now.