Alan swore his heart was going to beat its way right out of his chest the sound was so loud. It seemed to echo in the still hallway, bouncing off barren walls and dissipating once it reached the highly sensitive ears of the five Chimeras currently holding a silent conversation outside a heavily locked door. Bret sent a concerned glance at his friend, most likely actually hearing the increase in his heart rate and wondering if he was getting cold feet or something. Not likely, Alan thought with an inward grin. He winked one cat-like blue eye at his fellow Chimera to reassure him and was satisfied when Bret gave a little nod and returned his concentration to the door they needed to get open.

Taking a somewhat shaky breath, Alan tried to calm his suddenly hyper nerves and prepare himself to not make any mistakes once they entered. This was going to go down fast and he didn't have time to let his mind catch up with his body in a situation that was going to take all his concentration. Now, Alan wasn't nervous in the sense one might have thought considering what they were about to do. No, Alan was a little frightened that he wasn't nervous at all. His nerves were acting up out of anticipation, excitement, and downright giddiness. He couldn't wait to glide through that doorway, find the object of his homicidal urges and leap straight for his throat, feeling the wetness as his claws slid through delicate flesh…

Another shaky breath calmed those thoughts somewhat, sending them back to that dark place in his mind that seemed to be shadowing more and more of his thoughts lately. That was what made Alan nervous, that want, need, to hurt Mikal, to kill him. His family rescued people for a living! How were they going to accept him when he would gladly tear pieces off of anyone that even thought of hurting any one of them? What if they couldn't? What if they didn't-

No, there was no time for such wonderings. He still had to get them out. After that, well, he'd have to see what happened.

"You figured out how to open it?" Alan looked questioningly to Sarah, who had been examining the rather impressive lock sealing the heavy door shut.

"Um, yeah. You don't really care if they know we're coming, right?"

"If they're even half as smart as I give them credit for, I think they'll have already figured that out." Alan stated dryly. Sarah flushed a little and looked away from their leader for a moment before her gaze darted back to the door.

"Right. Well I say we just rip this thing off. It should short out the door and it'll open right up, course that means it'll never close again but that really shouldn't be a problem…"

Kira looked at the two boys doubtfully, moving her glance from Sarah to the door and back again. "You're sure it won't just completely lock us out if we do that? You tear that off and there's no way for us to get in or anyone to get out if it doesn't work."

"Oh, it will definitely work. I was top of my computer and engineering classes back at…school." Sarah paused, the word sounding almost foreign to her now. Had they really only been there a few days? It seemed like an eternity. "But yes, just trust me. It will work."

Kira nodded, noticing the girls stutter at the mention of anything before the Chimera training. She knew the feeling. Life outside these walls seemed an eternity ago, not a reassuring thought when she was hoping to return to it shortly. The thought stopped her cold. What was there for her to return to? Her father's life was this project, and she hadn't seen him since her unwilling participation in it. For all she knew her father was dead and she'd have nowhere to go and no one to go to after this was over. Her throat seemed tighter, and she refused to acknowledge the difficulty she was having swallowing. She was a soldier now, for all intents and purposes; she wouldn't allow herself to break down before the mission was complete.

"You guys ready? Or are we just going to stand here for the rest of eternity?" Amanda rose from where she had been leaning against the far wall, watching as the other teenagers bickered and paced with tightly leashed energy. "As fun as this is, I'd rather like to be getting on with it sometime soon."

Sheepish expressions covered the majority of their faces, realizing they had been stalling quite a bit. All except for Kira, who seemed lost in her own thoughts. A pointed nudge from Alan and Kira had snapped out of it, nodding once sharply to show she was with them and ready to move.

"On the count of three then. One, two, three –"

oOo

The slight hiss of the door opening was the only warning any of the rooms' occupants had before all hell broke loose. No sooner had the guards reacted to the sight of the opening door than several of them were on the floor bleeding from mortal wounds. Mikal moved quickly towards the controls for the cells holding the Tracys captive, knowing that would be the first place his dear Alan would head for.

Sarah moved quickly, dodging the clumsy kicks and fists aimed at her by the guards while heading steadily towards her goal. She wouldnt let Alan down, after hed gotten them this close to freedom the least she could do was help him free his family. In her peripheral vision she saw Amanda take down another of the guards, leaving only three more completely functional while another five might possibly be able to drag themselves off the floor with their injuries to cause some trouble for them. She doubted it though; when they hit they hit hard and you were unlikely to be walking away afterwards.

Another quick dodge and step later, Sarah focused her complete attention on the control panel in front of her, many engineering and program courses flashing through her mind aided by the Chimera serum allowing her to quickly analyze the technology. A warning screamed in her head just soon enough to let her drop down to the floor as Mikal aimed a perfect shot where her head had been moments before. Shattered concrete and dust rained down on her, coating her arms lightly. A quick roll to the side, push to her feet, and another dodged bullet later Sarah noticed Alan tackle Mikal down to the floor with enough force to send them sliding several feet along the smooth surface. Danger removed, return to the mission. Fingers flying over keys, eyes scanning information scrolling across an illuminated screen, and seconds later the rush of success flooded her system.

Bret heard Alan snarl and saw the graceful lunge that brought both to the ground, smiling inwardly as he returned to guarding his friend's back. There was no way he was going to let some incompetent guard ruin Alans fun, what kind of friend would he be then? One of the still-standing soldiers rushed him and Bret prepared himself for a quick battle, balancing lightly on the balls of his feet while bending his knees in preparation of the attack. Blood rushing through his veins, breath shallow with excitement, he sprung.

Amanda stood with Sarah, shoving back the two men that had managed to pull themselves up only to be knocked back nearly instantaneously. The girls shared a quick grin and settled back to watch the finale between their leader and the mad man that was responsible for all their current problems.

Kira checked her surroundings quickly, noting that everything was under control and that the captives had successfully been freed. With a quick hitch in her breath, she moved towards the five unrecognized men standing with her father. Her father. Just the thought of it sent her stomach jumping with emotion. She hadn't seen him since that day...god she couldn't even remember how long ago that was. What would the others do when they realized that he was responsible for creating the serum that now flooded their bodies? Would they hunt him, kill him, bleed him for the terrible things his work had been used for? No...Please no. It wasn't his fault he didn't have a choice he didn't know what it was used for please don't hurt him don't blame him please –

Such thoughts were no help to her now; if it came down to it she would fight to protect him. At the moment, her mission was to protect Alan's family and her father.

The rush felt heady, nearly intoxicating, filling his head and body with uncontrolled currents of energy that had to be used in some way or another. Alan felt the need to fight, to shed this horrible man's blood on the scuffed cold floor of the prison room he had trapped his family in. Just the thought set an animalistic snarl loose from the depths of his soul. How dare he touch the people so precious to him? What right did he think he had to hold them against their will? To hold him against his will? Warm crimson covered his hands, coating them with the life of one who so dearly deserved to die. Another strike, the feeling of bone shattering under his fist and he danced away from the retaliation. Didn't he know that humans were not meant to play God?

Mikal cradled his broken ribs with his good arm, furiously blinking the foreign red fluid from his eyes. What was Alan thinking, to make him bleed, to attack him in such a manner? His favoured Chimera moved to strike again and the forced roll to the side cause agony to flare up his body from the many injuries inflicted by this wrathful predator stalking his prey with such grace. He didn't understand why Alan would turn on him like this. Mikal felt the sticky wetness on the side of his head, noticed the slow darkening in his vision and saw the beautiful fire that burned within Alan's eyes as he stalked closer, closer, closer, and the hellish pain that lit up his world before sending him into darkness and he knew, somewhere, that he had made a mistake.

oOo

Harsh breaths panted through him, filling the silent air with sound as his heartbeat calmed slowly and the rush receded slightly back into the new dark corners of his mind where things like bloodlust and hunt now resided. Alan chanced a quick scan around the room, noting the bodies scattered across the floor and his fellow Chimeras standing calmly and waiting for instruction. His father and brothers standing near the window and accompanied by an unfamiliar man that was hugging the daylights out of Kira. He tried not to look at their faces, not wanting to see that something –hate- in their eyes that would shatter what was left of his heart and mind after the last few days. He couldn't not look though, wasn't capable of denying that ingrained need to look up at the people he had adored and worshipped in those sunny days before he had felt such pleasure in taking a life. He met his father's eyes first, saw that shiny wet look to them that he had never seen before, only to tense slightly as Jeff moved forward one step slowly, and then ran to his youngest son to take him in his arms and shield him from the crippled form lying at his feet, the blood on his hands, the everything that had occurred in the past few days.

Something like a sob choked up into the stifling silence in the room, and it seemed a signal to the rest of the Tracy boys to move forward and surround their eldest and youngest in a protective circle. Relief scorched through each of them, the feeling of just maybe, possibly, perhaps this could be over and they could go back to their paradise home and never need to think on it again.

"Oh, Alan Alan Alan." A litany of just his name over and over fell from his father's lips and into his heart, warming that cold dread that had begun to grow and spread like a plague at the first thoughts and imaginings of their disappointment, scorn, hate. Lies now dispersed and vanquished by the love and relief and –oh thank god he's okay, we're okay- that surrounded him in a treasured embrace.

Sweet hugs and reassurances that he was okay and that no they hadn't been harmed, and after Alan had been passed around to all of his brothers for their own assurances until he made it back to his father, and he was finally released. Sarah and Amanda shared small smiles before sending their one-time leader a nod of respect and thankyous and goodbyes all rolled into one before sliding out the door and disappearing with the hateful grace that haunted their every step now back into their lives outside. Bret stood with Alan; somehow managing to find his way through the protective wall of Tracy's that surrounded him. Kira stood with her father, Dr. Langstead as he was introduced moments later, seeming oddly protective and unsure of Alan's reaction to him.

Once the feelings of anger and resentment and acceptance and relief that chased themselves in a continuous whirlwind through his mind and heart calmed somewhat and allowed him to breathe easy without the constant crushing presence they provided, the weight of everything that had happened took their places and a different kind of tired enveloped his being. Eyes sliding closed to the outside world, head leaning on an assuring, friendly shoulder conveniently placed beside him and at the perfect height-Bret, thank you, my friend, we made it, we're free- and the comforting presence of his family around him holding the nightmares at bay, Alan felt his age for once.

"Scotty, Dad, I want to go home." He appealed to his two constant protectors, his elders and caregivers; His anchor in John, his confidant in Virgil, his best friend and closest brother in Gordon. They moved with him, never leaving his side as they travelled the many miles towards familiar faces and a beloved home and in the presence of his saviours, his rescuers, the people that would never let those dark places in his mind consume him utterly, his thunderbirds, he was safe.

oOo

A.N: I apologize for the delay but the past month or so has literally been hell. I won't go into it, but there were some deaths I had to deal with and so I'm kind of in an odd mood lately (can you tell by the odd and depressing ending?). Hope you guys liked it if you're still with me and reading, and I should probably mention that this is the end of the first part, however I've got ideas for a sequel (which is where the pairings I asked you to vote for are going to show up...you can still vote by the way, just let me know what you want!) so you can look forward to that.

Thanks for all of your great reviews and for sticking with my horribly slow updates:sheepish grin:

Nevair