NEVER GIVE UP by GILLYLEE RATED FRPT

Virgil and Gordon are on a mission without backup from Base or Mobile Control. Will they succeed?

"I hate this part of our duties," said Gordon.

"Hmm," answered Virgil.

"I'd rather wallow up to my neck in mud."

"Yeah."

"Or crawl around in a burning, collapsed building."

"Ah, yes."

"Or hand feed a shark."

"Sure, sure."

Virgil sighed and wiped his forehead with his arm. The place they were in was warm and stuffy. Putting his hands at the small of his back, he stretched.

"I'm beginning to wonder if we're going to make it," he said to his younger brother.

Gordon snorted. "I would prefer doing time in the space station."

"Gordon, you're not being very helpful."

"I found the place, didn't I? It has to be here somewhere."

"Mmm, yes, listen, we need to divide this place up between us. You do the right-hand side and I'll do the left-hand side."

Gordon scratched behind his ear. "I guess so, yeah."

The younger man looked tired and had a strained smile on his face.

"Back giving you trouble?" asked Virgil.

"No...yes, a bit." Gordon sighed deeply.

"Maybe we should do it another way then," said Virgil looking worried. "You search the top half and I'll do everything underneath that."

He looked with irritation at the ceiling. "I wish that someone would kill that PA. Why do places like this always have to have these blasted things blaring?"

"To help you relax. To make you feel at home," said Gordon. "It has been tested, you know."

"Gordo, I can tell you that I'm not relaxed or feeling at home at the moment," answered Virgil.

"Me neither."

Virgil looked around him, taking in the amount of space they had to search. 'A hopeless task,' he thought, stifling a yawn. 'So hot, so very, very hot.'

"It would help if I knew what I was looking for," complained Gordon. "And we should've brought some oxygen with us. I'm suffocating in here."

"Small, pencil like, but thicker," answered Virgil.

Gordon grinned. "You're very knowledgeable about these things."

"That's because I do more than wallowing in mud, or crawling around in buildings, or, or, whatever," said Virgil.

"Shark feeding," said Gordon, "Sooo, if you're not doing that you're familiarizing yourself with..."

Suddenly Virgil dived down.

"I found it!" he said, holding the item they had been searching for up in the air.

Triumphantly, he and Gordon exchanged smiles.

"International Rescue did it again," whispered Virgil.

"And in record time." Gordon beamed. "I'd like to see Scott and Alan do this in such a short time."

His face suddenly clouded over.

"You sure it's the right one?" asked Gordon, eyeing it with warily, "The one Tin-Tin wanted?"

Virgil checked the sweat soaked, crumpled piece of paper he held in his hand.

"L'Oreal Intensifique, waterproof mascara, noir," recited Virgil in a fake French accent, "It's precisely what it says on the shopping list."

Adding the package to the shopping cart, the two men hastily left for another section of the supermarket.

"I hate this part of our duties," said Gordon again.

"Me too," said Virgil.