Work Text:
It was inevitable, every time he ordered Alan to stay behind in case International Rescue was needed elsewhere, there was the chance that Alan would have to respond. Alone. But the call still made his adrenaline skyrocket in a way that had nothing to do with a very recent death-defying leap from a falling dish onto his bird. And, of course it would be in space where he couldn’t follow. It didn’t matter that Kayo would be there at the beginning or that John would be nearby in case of any problems. All that mattered was that Scott couldn’t be there and would have to wait, unable to help, and without his own rescue to distract him.
He settled himself back into the pilot’s chair of thunderbird one, checked in with Virgil, Gordon and John and activated the auto-pilot to go home. Gordon and Virgil looked at each other’s holograms and grinned, it was obvious from Scott’s check in that he was already fretting about Alan going on his first solo mission. Scott had had the same tone for each of their first rescues and John’s first time alone in space. Their type A personality over-protective, control-freak brother would be avidly listening to each word between John, Kayo and Alan. And so would both of them. They muted their communicators but left the open channel active so they could hear what was going on as two flew back home behind Scott.
Scott’s grip on his controls was making his knuckles go white. Kayo had her own mission and would be leaving Alan even more alone in space. If anything went wrong it would be up to John to get out there and recue Alan. Not that John wasn’t more than capable, in fact when Scott’s pride allowed him to admit it, John was hell of a lot more capable of pulling off any sort of space mission than he was, even if he could quickly get out there. Alan was leaving three and crossing over to the satellite, he’d be drifting through the cold emptiness of space with only his surfboard and communicator to keep him alive.
Virgil knew Brains was an amazing inventor, the best in the world really, and he gladly put his life in the hands of his friend and his machines over and over again. None of the kit Alan was using was even new or untested but Virgil still felt his breath hitch as Alan left the safety of three and floated over to the satellite. He didn’t really take another proper breath until he heard Alan confirming he had a secure hold on the satellite.
It couldn’t be helped, he loved all of his brothers, but they were all extra protective of Alan. He didn’t know if it was just because he was the youngest or because he seemed so innocent. Scott had been in the military, Virgil was undeniably strong and he had been in WASP, but Alan was too young to have had a life before IR and his scrawny figure was a constant reminder of just how young he was. Gordon had been there to see Scott pacing almost incessantly when Virgil was on his first solo mission, he had seen Scott’s sleepless nights during the first few days of John’s residence in space. He had heard from Virgil how Scott had nearly broken furniture when Virgil had had to leave four behind to deal with a tanker alone and rush off to an earthquake. He knew this had to be killing Scott and whilst he had some sympathy, he was also worried about Alan, he knew their littlest brother would be fine. As usual it was his bigger brothers who really needed watching over and being left alone in their birds whilst Alan was out of reach was not going to be pleasant for either of them.
Fortunately for everyone it was a quick mission, Alan was on a very short clock to get the relay in place in between pulses. He could almost feel Scott glaring into space from the cockpit of one as he spoke to Alan. He was well practised at keeping his voice calm but even he was struggling after Scott’s near miss minutes before as he walked Alan through the procedure to bypass the Hood’s signal to the satellite. He knew if there was any uncertainty or worry in his voice it could be picked up on by Alan, Virgil or Scott and add to their worries. In the end it was Kayo who provided the calm advice for Alan and got them through the mission and John sighed with relief as his controls confirmed Alan’s success.