Chapter Text
The alarm had gone off early that morning, the sun was just starting to appear on the horizon giving the island a golden hue as Scott stumbled down to the sunken living room and looked blearily at John’s hologram. It was early, even for him, looks like he would be skipping today’s run, again. Virgil had been late back from the last rescue and would no doubt sleep through the end of the world unless someone woke him in person but Scott heard groans and mumbles from Gordon’s room as he had rushed past.
A high-rise apartment building in New York had caught fire and there had been a malfunction in the fire suppression systems. International rescue was required to help put out the blaze and assist with the location and rescue of the trapped inhabitants. Scott sighed and rubbed his hand over his eyes, trying to decide on the best course of action: Alan was due to take Three out to deal with space junk and Virgil was still catching up on sleep. Not for the first time Scott wondered if they should think about expanding their numbers. “Wake Gordon up, he can follow me in Two,” Scott stood up moving towards his portrait on the wall, “remind him to configure a pod with fire-fighting gear and pack me an extra heat-proof suit.”
“FAB Scott” replied John distractedly as he simultaneously replied to the first responders on the scene confirming their plans and filling Gordon in whilst turning off the house alarms. It always surprised him, he mused with a smile, how easily Virgil and Alan could sleep through the noise of an alarm blaring through the house and the launch of two thunderbirds. He checked on the progress of his brothers and gave an updated eta to his contact in the New York fire department whilst deciding whether he would have time to grab and eat a bagel before One landed and Scott would start demanding information.
Alan blinked several times and slowly moved his head to squint around the room trying to decide what had woken him up. Nothing seemed out of place and there wasn’t a brother sneaking about or hovering above him looking impatient so it was probably safe to go back to sleep. The unmistakable roar of Two taking off rumbled around his room and pushed him back into full consciousness. He hoped it wasn’t Virgil taking off, Alan had heard him returning only a few hours ago after a very long rescue. With worry and curiosity driving away the last pull of sleep Alan decided he might as well get up. Anyway, he was supposed to take Three out today so that was always worth getting up a little early for.
John brushed off the last of his bagel crumbs as One began her landing sequence, Scott had asked who was in charge of the incident and where on the ground they were. John decided to loop Gordon in to save himself answering the same questions twice and proceeded to brief his brothers on the current situation. He was surprised to see Alan’s hologram hovering in the background, the kid must be eager to take out Three is he was up this early. He gave Alan an overview of Scott and Gordon’s mission and confirmed that the space junk clear up was still planned for the day.
Three soared up above island and into the inky blackness of low orbit, it always gave Alan a small thrill watching the Earth drop away behind him and feeling the power of the engines vibrate through his ‘bird. “FAB John, starting the first sweep now” came Alan’s clipped reply as he started the computer to search for debris. It may only be a simple clean-up mission but it felt good to not have a babysitter in the co-pilot chair and Alan was determined to appear professional. He knew his brothers still thought of him as the baby, sometimes, and he wanted them (over-protective big brother Scott) to trust him with more solo missions.
Gordon landed Two a little bit heavier than Virgil would have liked and he felt the shock bounce him slightly in the pilot’s chair. It was always a bit disconcerting piloting Two without Virgil around, but better than piloting Two with Virgil watching his every move and grumbling under his breath. Not to mention if he was piloting Two with Virgil watching it was usually because his big brother was injured. No one let someone else fly their ‘bird if there was a choice. Gordon could see Scott walking over with a fire captain both of them talking quickly and looking back at the burning building in between sentences. Once Two was raised on her struts and the POD ready for deployment Gordon rushed down to meet Scott at the POD doors.