Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Gordon!?!"

Virgil had a sick feeling in his stomach as he fought to pull his 'bird out of her sudden dive. "Gordon! Talk to me!"

As Two started screaming her distress he risked a quick glance to his left, trying to see if his little brother was okay. Gordon had been settling into his seat when there had been a bang and Thunderbird Two slammed into thin air, throwing the aquanaut into the forward control panel then back onto the deck.

"Thunderbird Two, report!" John's voice cracked through their comms.

He grunted as he managed to force his craft into something approaching level, “I’ve got alarms all over. Main port thruster’s intermittent. Aft port VTOL unresponsive. Attempting to compensate. Gordon’s down.”

“Acknowledged.”

"Gordon! I need you to get up! Gordon!" There was a groan from the figure he couldn't quite see on the shuddering floor. "Hey, Gordon! You with me?"

There was a pained wheeze and he could sense reassuring movement on the deck.

"Did you fly into a wall?"

In spite of their predicament he couldn't help but grin as, out of the corner of his eye, he saw his fish brother struggle towards his seat. "Thanks for joining me, Gordo. I’m gonna need some help with this one."

"Gotcha, bro. Attempting to reroute power to port thruster."

There was another bang and Two pitched forward into a second uncontrolled dive. Her keening whine climbing until Virgil could feel it in his bones as the port thruster gave up entirely. He swore a blue streak as he once again fought to keep his ‘bird from ploughing nose-first into the ground.

“The hull is compromised!” Gordon shouted as a new set of alarms began wailing their complaints, “John! Did we get hit by a missile or something?”

“Negative. Scans show no craft in your vicinity. You need to bail out.”

“Not happening,” Virgil snarled, straining against Two's urge to spin and trying to hold to some kind of flight path.

“There’s an island coming up ten degrees starboard. You can ditch Two in the shallows.”

“I got it. Gordon, release the module. Let’s see if we can lighten the load.” The engineer grunted as he attempted to ease the enormous cargo plane into her new trajectory.

There was another bang and a screech of protesting metal, the great ‘bird lurching in the sky once more, “The module’s stuck, Virg. It’s going nowhere!”

“C’mon…Just a little longer…” Virgil gritted his teeth and all but hauled the stricken plane around with nothing but stubborn bloody mindedness. “Gordon, hit the manual overrides on the VTOL control. They’re not responding.”

"Done."

Virgil swore as any form of propulsion on the portside gave up entirely, leaving him to react to a craft that wanted to spin and flip at the same time. With a growl, he slapped the emergency engine cut-off on the control panel. "We're going to have to glide in."

Gordon squeaked.

"Don't worry, I've done it before."

"I know. London. But you weren't landing on water!"

"We've got this."

An almost preternatural calm settled over him. He knew his 'bird and she knew him. The others would sometimes tease him over it but he knew she talked to him. You just had to know how to listen.

Falling back on his training, Virgil extended the flaps to bring down their speed, gently coaxing the green behemoth lower.

"Two clicks to our landing site."

"I see it."

The part of his mind that wasn't devoted to keeping them in the air noted the ridiculously picturesque bay ahead of them. All graceful curve of sand, crystal clear waters, and framing cliffs that made the perfect spot for cliff diving into the darker blue depths.

"One and a half."

"FAB."

Another jolt and a banshee wail had both of them frantically working to keep them in the air.

"The module's partially dropped."

"See if you can retract it." Virgil acknowledged his brother, most of his attention focused on his beloved 'bird as she flew like a brick. "C'mon…you can do this. Just a bit further…"

"The module's jammed, Virg. And we've got five hundred metres."

"FAB."

This was going to be a tough one. But he clung on to the flimsy reassurance that they would hit the ground at some point. It was his job to make sure that happened as gently as possible.

"One hundred!"

"Brace for impact!"

Chapter Text

With her nose up, Two slammed into the water. She half crushed her partially deployed module with the impact before the first bounce threw her back into the air.

The second contact with the surface brought her down onto a particularly large chunk of granite which tore the hole in her calhelium hull wider. Her pilot frantically attempted to compensate for her lurch to port as the momentum sent her back up at an ungainly angle.

Her third landing saw her skipping across the pristine bay, debris trailing in her wake, like a particularly massive green stone. Her forward progress was steadily slowing and comparatively smooth, even if she kept hopping, until another upthrust of granite almost sent her wheeling end over end. Her pilot cursed loud and long as he put everything into stopping her bouncing, and now spinning, landing before she met those cliffs with force.

Her Tracy, always sensitive to her every vibration, was somehow able to prevent what would have been a catastrophic somersault and instead managed to bring her to a halt with her starboard wing half a meter away from the rocky bluffs that marked this end of the bay.

He let out a relieved groan, apparently unaware of the wailing alarms and lights flashing in oranges and reds across her consoles. Instead, he was talking at the copilot who was currently slumped in his seat, unconscious.

"Gordon?"

He didn't normally swear this much. Especially when there were others on board. And the swearing that did happen was usually the result of hurting himself during maintenance; a pinch here, a cut there…

When he was playing medic rather than pilot he never swore. Patients needed to hear a calm and soothing voice. Not one that threatened to hunt down any stray deities and tear them limb from hypothetical limb unless the patient responded NOW!

Fortunately for any gods in the vicinity, the copilot chose that moment to groan.

"Virg, will you knock it off? You're loud."

"Sorry, Gordon."

He paused for a moment.

"You okay?"

"Headache. Neck's sore. Can you turn off the alarms?"

That was when her pilot appeared to notice that the shrill beeping, buzzing, and background chirping was still clamouring throughout the cockpit. He shut down the warning signals and blinked at the sudden silence that replaced the claxons.

"Better?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

"Let's get out of here and see what we're dealing with."

Her pilot released his brother from his restraints and helped him to his feet, wrapping a supportive arm around his waist when there was another jolt.

"What the hell?!"

The copilot was clearly not happy at yet another unexpected movement but her Tracy shook his head reassuringly after he'd listened for a moment.

"Just settling."

Sure enough, once they'd scrambled down from her portside hatch, they could easily see the remnants of a block of granite which had finally crumbled under the pressure of an awkwardly perched Thunderbird Two.

With her nose mostly pointing inland, her pilot and the copilot had to get their feet wet to begin their inspection of her hull.

Given the sheer number of warning lights and diagnostic complaints, there should have been no surprise at the state of her hull but even so, there was a long low whistle of disbelief.

“Thunderbird Two to Thunderbird Five, come in?”

“Virgil! Report!”

Her pilot smiled at the relief in his brother’s voice.

“We’re okay. Gordon’s going to need a little R and R but he’ll live. Two is…” his voice faltered for a moment, “Thunderbird Two’s going to need some extensive repairs. Please tell me you’ve got recovery heading out to us.”

“Dad’s talking to Colonel Casey now and Scott and Brains are already on their way. They should be on site soon. What are we looking at?”

Her pilot took a deep breath and waded towards the jagged tear in her side, carefully sweeping the light of his shoulder-mounted torch over the area while trying to avoid razor-sharp edges. “Hull breach. Severe damage to the module. Looks like the aft port VTOL thruster's toast too."

"FAB," came the response from the space Tracy.

The copilot splashed out to join her Tracy in assessing the gaping wound in her side.

"Hey, Virg…"

There was a note of uncharacteristic uncertainty in the copilot's voice.

"Maybe I bumped my head too hard or something, but doesn't that damage look weird to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well…" the water Tracy gestured vaguely at the twisted mess of metal that seemed to have unfurled, almost like a flower, "doesn't it look like the hull was punched out from the inside?"

The glare her pilot levelled on the offending plating was almost enough to peel her paint.

"I really hope you're wrong, Gordon."

Chapter Text

Gordon lounged on the shaded sand under One’s wing with his hands under his head, enjoying the late afternoon sun while Brains and his two biggest brothers fussed around the downed Thunderbird. The cool of the shade and the gentle susurration of the waves as they broke on the beach soothing his headache and helping him relax.

He had a fleeting moment of regret at not helping them assess the crash, but who was he to argue when Virgil had ordered him, in no uncertain terms, to sit his butt down and rest. Something about potential concussion and strained neck muscles. Honestly, he'd stopped listening the moment he spotted the pod of common bottlenose dolphins cavorting just out of the bay.

Tursiops truncatus, found almost worldwide, were known for being smart and playful, and immortalised as one of Gordon's favourite plushies, Pebbles.

He must've dozed off because the next thing Gordon knew, Scott was gently kicking his foot to get him up and he could hear the engines of multiple GDF flyers coming in to land on the beach.

"Up you get, Squid. I'm taking you and Virgil home."

The aquanaut climbed to his feet, pleased that any lingering dizziness was gone, and hastily brushed the sand off his uniform.

Well, most of it, anyway.

"What about Brains?"

Scott shrugged, "He said he wanted to supervise getting Two back to Tracy Island. Can't say I blame him."

Gordon grinned. He knew that even now, nearly three years later, both Scott and Kayo still weren't too happy that the GDF knew the location of their Island home. Even if they had been instrumental in capturing the Chaos Crew.

He thought it made life a bit easier though. Plus it meant that Aunt Val came to visit sometimes, and that meant some pretty awesome stories about her and dad when they were younger. The last six months had been even better now that he was back to join in.

Gordon went ahead and boarded Thunderbird One while Scott was rounding up Virgil, and idly wondered how many GDF flyers it would take to lift Two. Assuming that was Brains' plan. Or maybe he was going to try out something new. He was sure he'd heard Brains muttering something about some kind of recovery system for if Two wasn't available.

His thoughts were interrupted as his brothers joined him on One and he could almost see the black cloud of Virgil's mood hanging over his head.

He definitely couldn't allow that to last. To begin with, Gordon took his reputation as the prankster of the family very seriously. And besides, an angry-upset-confused-hurt Virgil wasn't good for anyone. Especially not the punch bag in the gym.

Gordon still remembered the mess from last time.

"Hey, Virg, you wanna kill the punch bag when we get home?"

Well, there was nothing like grabbing a bull by its horns…

"Gordon…" He could easily read the lack of patience in his engineer brother's voice and ignored it anyway. After all, it was his duty as a little brother to be annoying.

"Or I'm sure Kayo would be willing to wipe the floor with you a few times to help you cheer up."

"Gordon, please."

"Pick one, Virg," he said with a smirk, "either the punch bag, Kayo, or I'll ask EOS to follow you around the house with show tunes until you're in a better mood."

His tank of a brother crossed his arms, sighed, and glowered at him. "Fine. I'll hit the punch bag a few times when we're back. Happy?"

Gordon grinned, entirely unrepentant. "For now."

He left Virgil to stew for a while, not needing to push him more until he was actually in the gym. He hadn't missed Scott's quiet snort of amusement though. Gordon always thought it was hilarious that Scott could tell when he was playing Virgil like a fiddle but never noticed when he was on the receiving end of the Gordon Tracy Sibling Mood Management System™.

G.T.S.M.M.S…

Nah…he was going to have to come up with a better acronym than that. Gordon’s Emotional Taming System? Gordon’s Inhibition of Temper Tantrums System? This was going to require some thought.

He blinked and chuckled quietly to himself as he realised that his thoughts were wandering even by his standards. To the point that he’d not paid any attention to the takeoff and they were already most way over the Indian Ocean.

"Hey Scott, are we there yet?" He said with a grin, knowing that his brothers both knew that he was just trying to lighten the mood.

He was pretty sure he could hear the eye rolls.

“What could have caused an explosion inside Two? It seemed like a bomb…” Gordon clapped both hands over his mouth and sent Virgil an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…”

“It’s okay, Gordon. We’re all thinking it.”

He could hear the barely contained fury in his engineer brother’s voice.

“John and EOS are already going through the surveillance footage.” Scott called back from the pilot seat, “And Brains said it’s going to be a few hours before Two’s back in her hangar. So there’s time for a debrief and some downtime.”

Virgil grunted at that and Gordon pulled a face, "FAB."

He settled back into his seat and started picking the dirt out from under his nails. That was always the problem with land-based rescues - grubby fingernails.

The next thing he knew, Virgil was shaking him awake. "We're home, Gordon. Go clean up, eat, and rest. You're off the roster for the next few days at least."

Gordon blinked, confused at how he'd missed their landing. And the trundle back to the main hangar. And Scott's post-flight…

Maybe Virgil was right about the concussion thing…was he loopier than normal?

The thought bothered him for all of two seconds before he shrugged it off and grinned up at his second biggest brother. "You're off the roster too! We can be island buddies!"

The glare he received from Virgil would have flayed a lesser man. Gordon watched as his brother stepped back from him, exited One, and stalked across the hangar to the locker room.

Wanting to make sure that he'd pushed the right buttons so the resultant temper was only punch bag ending rather than a full extinction level event, Gordon hurried after him as quickly as he could. He grimaced as the world attempted to spin and he felt a little nauseated but he ignored it.

He managed a fast shower and changed into something comfy and was only a couple of minutes behind Virgil when he trotted through the labyrinthine tunnels to the gym. He hovered by the doorway and watched as his brother started beating the proverbial snot out of the bag.

It really was fun to see Virgil really go to town like this. Most of the time his brother was so conscious of how he was the big guy that he always overcompensated by being gentle to the extreme and Gordon had to admit that Virgil moved with a surprising lightness and precision. It was almost a shame that he didn't like to fight.

Probably a good thing though; they already had enough trouble on nights out when drunk idiots wanted to try earning their badass points by fighting the strongest looking guy in the immediate area.

Fortunately, this usually ended with them getting the patented Virgil Tracy Bear Hug and promising to call their family in the morning.

Seriously, Virgil was too nice for his own good.

A particularly loud thump pulled Gordon from his musings and back to watching the heavy lifter as he methodically worked his frustration and anger out on the synthleather. He was pretty sure he could see the taped centre mass showing signs of stress and…yes…that was definitely some of the sand trickling out of a seam…

“Virgil’s not happy.”

Gordon yelped and was pretty sure he’d lept three feet directly upwards as Kayo made herself known.

“We need to get you a bell.”

She smirked at his reaction and completely ignored his comment, “The explosion on Two?”

He nodded, “I told him to hit the punch bag or get you to spar with him.”

She nodded, “I’ll make sure we get a new one on the next supply run.”

He grinned at her and went back to watching Virgil literally knock the stuffing out of the thing until a quiet click just behind him made him spin to face their chief of security. And sit down abruptly.

He totally meant to do that…it wasn’t that his spin had just kept going and it was either sit down or fall down…

Nah, he wasn’t buying that. Not even just in his head.

He looked up at Kayo and her raised eyebrow and crossed arms, “I thought so. Concussion?”

“Virgil said ‘possible’,” Gordon grimaced at the whine of complaint in his tone.

“Right.”

She offered a hand to help him to his feet, “Either go lie down in your room or I’ll tell.”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

Kayo just smirked.

“Yeah…you would…I’m going, I’m going.”

Gordon took one last look at his brother then wandered off to his room and the safety of not having a ninja watching his every move. At least he’d be able to chill for a while.

Oh, wait! Buddy and Ellie were releasing new episodes today!

With a massive grin on his face, Gordon hurried off to his rooms to binge the entire new season.

And if he fell asleep within ten minutes that was between him, his spinning head, and Pebbles.

Chapter Text

John was watching a fast replay of the module surveillance for the third time when EOS broke through his concentration.

"Gordon has fallen asleep in his rooms. Shall I inform Scott?"

"No, if I know Scott he’s already aware."

"Very well."

If he didn't know better he'd think the AI was pouting. He decided to let her bring it up herself and until then he'd keep studying the surveillance.

It was awkward, of course. There was no angle that really caught the exact location of the explosion. It was enough to extrapolate though and once Brains was back on the island with Two they would be able to take a closer look. He was tempted to do so in person.

"EOS, how're the GDF doing?"

"Their expected ETA at Tracy Island is in approximately seven hours.”

He nodded. Thunderbird Two was no lightweight and transporting her over from the Mediterranean, even with the assistance of four of the GDF’s heavy-duty fliers, was no joke.

“John,” there was a questioning note in the AI’s voice.

“Yes, EOS?”

“Why would Gordon intentionally irritate Virgil when he knows he’s already in a bad mood?”

He had to laugh at that, “Because he was trying to help.”

There was a pause. “This does not sound sensible.”

“I know, but it usually works.”

“Gordon’s behaviour was illogical. Why would it work?”

John sighed, “It’s to do with sibling dynamics and personalities… Could we talk about this later? We need to find the cause of the explosion, EOS.”

There was another pause, "According to my calculations, there is nothing in that particular section of module two that would be capable of causing an explosion of that magnitude. A physical analysis of the module will confirm my conclusion that the explosion which crippled Thunderbird Two was caused by a foreign device."

John looked up at her camera with a grim expression, "I agree. It must've been some kind of bomb. Which means someone had to plant it, but I’ve seen no one but Virgil and Gordon go in and out since they deployed.”

He sighed, “Let’s go through the footage again. If we’re confident it was a bomb then it must have been put there while they were in Greece so at least that narrows down the time frame.”

"Yes, John."

The surveillance footage yielded nothing new. The module was deployed, Gordon assembled a pod to his specifications while Virgil donned his exosuit, and they left. There was a period of several hours where they returned sporadically (all genuinely them according to the locators on their uniforms), before they came back for the final time, stowed their equipment, then exited to the cockpit. Then within a few minutes there was the explosion and the camera cut out.

An hour later John let out a frustrated growl as he scrubbed his face with his hands, “I’ve got nothing!”

"Perhaps you should take this opportunity to go down to the surface?" EOS suggested, "It would give you the chance to get reacclimated to Earth gravity before you assist in the inspection of Thunderbird Two."

He grunted a reluctant acknowledgement, "You're right. I just hate giving up."

"But you are not giving up, John. You are simply looking from another perspective." He could hear the humour in her voice as she replied.

"You've been listening to Gordon, haven't you." He couldn't help but smile, "I'll head down. Let me know if you find anything."

"Of course, John. The space elevator is ready and waiting for you."

"Thank you, EOS."

With a sigh, John manoeuvred himself through his Thunderbird and strapped himself into his ride to the ground. Giving the go-ahead to the AI, he settled back to wait as the descent began, listening to her amusing chatter as the normal gravity of Earth reached out to bind him again.

The jolt as the clamps secured the elevator to its launch pad pulled him out of his thoughts and he made his way up to the main house. The spin on Five's gravity wheel was normally a pretty good approximation for Earth standard but he always felt a little…compressed, especially when he first returned.

He took the elevator straight up to the residential level for a quick change out of his uniform then headed back to the comms room.

"John, welcome home!"

"Dad!" The redhead grinned broadly and loped over to the commander's desk. Even after six months, it was a welcome jolt to see him sitting there again and though he wasn’t normally fond of physical contact, John wrapped his arms around his father. After all, he had eight years of missed hugs to make up for.

“You come down to help with Thunderbird Two when she’s back?”

He nodded, "EOS and I have been combing through the footage but…" he shrugged.

"Don't worry son, we'll get to the bottom of this. Scott's gone to pick up Mike and your Aunt Val's offered all the help she can give, " he grinned. "She was madder than a wet hen when she heard what happened."

John half smiled in response, "Virgil wasn't best pleased either."

Jeff snorted, "I heard. Virgil's lucky your grandma wasn't listening."

They shared a knowing look then turned to look outside as the approach klaxon sounded and the pool began its roll under the house.

"Thunderbird One to Tracy Island."

"This is Tracy Island, go ahead." Jeff's Midwestern drawl answered crisply.

"Dad, can you ask Virgil to meet us in the hangar with a med kit? There was an…incident just before we left."

"FAB."

Chapter Text

Scott held back his whistle of disbelief with difficulty.

Thunderbird Two was finally back in her hangar. The GDF had been thanked and, with Aunt Val's assistance, gently but firmly ushered out.

He'd already seen the damage, as much as the sand and waves had allowed anyway, but he hadn't truly understood the full scope of the carnage.

The gash at Two's rear port side was alarmingly close to the VTOL thruster. The calhelium plating was torn like tin foil. Jagged edges showing the violence that had caused them.

He sighed quietly, attracting the attention of the Mechanic next to him. He grimaced at the man who nodded in sympathy then turned back to his hologram readouts.

Mike was…interesting. It had taken a while to warm up to him after all he'd done but Scott had to admit that underneath it all there was a good man. Possibly even a good friend.

The Mechanic had certainly been more than willing to cut short his vacation time to come back and help out. Though Scott was certain he'd have preferred to stay off that magpie's radar.

Scott had heard of swooping but never actually seen it. And now Mike sported multiple scratches, some quite deep, across his forehead and scalp.

At least he wasn't badly hurt. Gordon was already down with a concussion and they didn't need any more injuries.

He chewed on his lower lip, mulling over the limited options available to International Rescue right now. Between the Squid and the state of Thunderbird Two they were at barely half strength. The GDF would help where they could, of course, but they just didn't have the kit, the training, or the experience to really pick up the slack.

When it came down to it, they were going to need Virgil, Brains, and The Mechanic working flat out to bring Two back online and that couldn't happen until they'd done a thorough investigation.

"You've got your frowny face on again."

Scott startled at his littlest brother's voice at his shoulder, "Alan! Where'd you come from?"

The boy, the young man now, smirked unrepentantly. "You were in your own head. Me and Mike've been talking for the last five minutes!"

A glance over at the engineer to see his mischievous grin confirmed Alan's comment. "Okay, guilty as charged. Just trying to work out logistics."

Alan wrinkled his nose, "You work too much, Scott. Let Dad help. You know he's still riding high on his heroic return."

Scott pulled a face, "He's supposed to be resting. He's only just over the last cold he caught. Eight years of isolation does a number on the immune system."

The blonde just rolled his eyes, "I'm not saying we send him to the mainland. Just let Dad make a few calls."

Scott was saved from responding as Virgil and Brains waved them over.

They had wedged a small stepladder into the hole and John was already climbing inside.

Scott raised his eyebrows in surprise at that. He'd assumed that they'd be using the normal route inside the big 'bird but if the module was still misaligned… It certainly explained why Mike wasn't elbow deep in grease like the other two engineers. Though how Virgil was going to fit in with those shoulders was anyone’s guess.

Brains followed John, then Alan. Scott slipped in behind the youngest Tracy and blinked at the darkness.

Fire blackened surfaces and debris were everywhere. The mangled remains of the pods and the twisted mass that used to be Virgil's Jaws of Life lay crumpled on the deck.

Virgil gently nudged him out of the way with his torch as he joined them in the broken module, “I know. It’s…”

“Bad.”

“Yeah…”

Scott couldn’t help but empathise with his closest sibling. When his Thunderbird had been down for repairs he’d felt like he was missing a limb. It was bad enough that it had been accidental damage during a rescue. This… This was deliberate.

He sighed and carefully moved over the warped decking, looking for any signs of the device that had caused all of this. It was slow going, picking through the debris while they waited for results on the samples Brains had passed to MAX, but eventually Scott found…something…

A small, misshapen fragment of metal with the remnants of a lurid purple coating on one side.

He cautiously picked it up, not wanting to damage it further, and brought it over to where Brains and Virgil had their heads all but pressed together over a readout.

“Guys, I think I’ve found something,” he said, holding his find out for inspection.

The reaction of the two engineers was not something he’d expected; Virgil paled, clearly upset, while Brains frowned, “I’m afraid th-that may confirm it.”

“Confirm what?”

“The explosive residue analysis suggested a cor-relation with d-devices used by the C-Chaos Crew. As that particular colour matches their p-prefered livery, I think we can assume the device is r-related to them somehow.”

“Isn’t that a bit of a leap in logic?”

“P-perhaps,” Brians acknowledged, “but the explosive residue p-profile is a 99.3 per cent match with Chaos Crew m-munitions.”

“They’re in prison. Both of them. And the Hood. How could they be involved?” Scott all but snarled.

“I think we should confirm that,” John said, coming over to join them. “Until then, could we analyse that fragment to confirm its origin?”

Brains nodded, “I shall pass this on to MAX.”

Scott nodded to Brians then gave his communications expert brother a grim smile, “Want to make a few calls?”

Chapter Text

Kayo smiled grimly as the recording came to an end and looped back to replay.

"Good work, Detective Sideris. Copy it to me?"

The local man gave her a broad smile that probably normally drove the ladies wild, "Anything for you, Miss Kyrano. Is there something else I can help you with?"

She mentally rolled her eyes as his tone slipped into I'll-be-your-holiday-fling mode and gave him a professional smile. "Just the copy, thank you."

Then she left the police station, got on her bike and drove to where she stashed Thunderbird Shadow.

Once she was back in the air she allowed herself to go through the evidence.

Fact number one: Thunderbird Two had been blown out of the sky.

Fact number two: the evidence found in the remains of the module matched explosive devices used by the Chaos Crew in the past.

Fact number three: Colonel Casey had confirmed that Havoc had escaped three months ago. Something that they should have been informed of and weren't.

Kayo chewed on her lower lip as she made for England and a meeting with their London agent.

She opened a channel to Thunderbird Five, "EOS, have you been able to look at the surveillance video yet?"

"Yes, Kayo. I agree with your assessment." There was a pause as the AI displayed two images over Shadow's controls; one was Havoc, former member of the Chaos Crew, and the other was an unknown redhead. "Visual comparison of height, build, and movements match. The cloaking technology used by our target also bares striking similarities to that used by Havoc on previous occasions."

"Thank you EOS. Please forward the information to both Lady Penelope and Tracy Island."

"Done." The cheerful voice of the AI chirped at her, "I have also informed Parker of your ETA. Thunderbird Five out."

The covert operative grimaced. The evidence was pretty clear that either Havoc, or someone very much like her, had orchestrated the attack on Thunderbird Two.

Hopefully Penny and Parker would be able to find information on the woman from the video. Something that her own sources couldn't turn up so easily.

Dipping below the clouds, Kayo could see the famous white cliffs of Dover and knew that it wouldn't be long before she would touch down at the Creighton-Ward country estate.

Sure enough, as she gently set Thunderbird Shadow down on the estate helipad she saw Lady Penelope and Parker coming to meet her. She nimbly jumped out of her cockpit and strode over to them with a smile.

“Kayo, welcome. How is everyone?”

The security specialist pulled a face, “About as well as can be expected given the circumstances.”

“And Gordon?” Penny blushed then quickly carried on as she led them on a stroll through the gardens. “I heard he was hurt.”

She smiled gently, "Gordon was sleeping when I left the island. He'll be fine. Honestly, I'm more concerned about Scott and Virgil."

"Oh?" Penelope gave her a curious look, the careful veneer of aristocratic socialite slipping to reveal a fiercely intelligent mind.

"John contacted me in-flight. The signature of the device that caused all of this matches those that the Chaos Crew used."

“And with Havoc missing…”

“Exactly.”

“So the footage you forwarded to us…you think that might be her?”

Kayo grimaced, “I can’t be sure, of course; it was filmed by a shop security camera that just happened to be pointing in the right direction. EOS has confirmed that the woman shares physical characteristics with Havoc even if they look different.”

“Prob'ly changed ‘er h’apperance,” Parker chimed in, “Most sensible thing to do when you’re h’on the run.”

“Which is where you come in, Parker.” Kayo smiled at the old rascal, “I was hoping you could get in touch with your old acquaintances to see if there’s any leads on where she’s hiding.”

“Hmm… I reckon I can ‘ave a word or two. Back in a jiffy.”

The two women smiled at each other as they watched the butler hurry back to the house while they continued their walk.

“Tea? While we wait?” Penny offered brightly, “I’m sure you could do with a rest.”

“I…probably could, actually,” Kayo admitted. “Things have been rather tense.”

“Of course.” The blonde steered them back to the house and into the sitting room, gathering the tea things for them both.

Kayo gratefully took a seat and sighed gustily.

“So, what did you mean about being more worried about Scott and Virgil?” Lady Penelope asked as she passed her a cup and saucer.

She took a sip, smiling happily before she answered. “Virgil you can probably understand; you know how he gets when his Thunderbird is damaged.”

Penny sat gracefully in the adjacent chair and nodded to her to continue while Sherbert curled up at her feet.

“Scott…” Kayo sighed again, “Scott is worried. About everyone and everything. I know that’s his default state but it’s worse than normal. I know it’s not a surprise with the attack on Two, but even with Jeff back Scott just can’t stop working.”

Penny put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, “I don’t suppose he’s open to taking some time off…”

She couldn’t help but laugh at that, short, sharp, and mirthless, “Scott Tracy? Willingly taking time off? He wouldn’t know what a holiday was if it walked up and slapped him!”

They both half smiled at each other, the tension dissipating now that Kayo’s main concern was out in the open.

“I just need to deal with this threat as soon as possible.”

Penny nodded reassuringly, “Parker and I will do everything we can to help track this woman down.”

The blonde paused, giving her friend an assessing look, "Kayo, it's three in the morning on Tracy Island. Why don't you get some sleep while we see what Parker can come up with? Your room is always ready for you."

Kayo opened her mouth to protest, then thought better of it. She had been up for over a day so far, chasing down information and leads. "I guess a nap wouldn't hurt."

She rose with a smile to Penny and made her way up to the room she was normally given in her visits.

In contrast to the grand Edwardian architecture of the house, Kayo's room was sleek and modern with a small but luxurious en suite.

Tempting though a bath was, she stuck with a quick but thorough shower and wrapped herself in the ridiculously big and fluffy towels before sitting at the vanity to dry and brush her hair. Feeling human again, Kayo gave EOS a quick update on her plans and curled up under the covers of the massive bed.

Several hours later, feeling refreshed, Kayo made her way downstairs where she was intercepted by Sherbet and led to Lady Penelope's office. The blonde smiled at her and she followed the pug in, "How are you feeling?"

She smiled in response, "Much better, thank you. Any news?"

Penny nodded, "Parker may have something. We're just trying to verify it before we're sent on a wild goose chase."

Kayo raised her eyebrow in query, "Oh?"

"Yes, a possible sighting in Australia."

“That’s…worryingly close to home.”

“Quite.”

Chapter Text

She grumbled to herself as the sensors she'd carefully arranged pinged a contact. She spun around to the old monitoring station and called up the location.

A single motorbike on the road that passed the "abandoned" farmhouse she was currently using as her base.

If she were an optimist she would think the rider was just a traveller passing on their way to somewhere else. But life had gone to great lengths to show Havoc that optimism was for fools and idiots.

Sure enough, as the rider came closer she recognised their vehicle. International Rescue's very own security chief coming to pay her a visit.

Havoc smiled wolfishly. There was a reason she'd chosen this particular place. One of the Hood's old hideouts that even he had abandoned years ago.

It was obscure, suitably defended, and most importantly; expendable. A perfect place to lay low while she waited for the fallout of her attack to be over. While she waited to see if there had been enough evidence to track her down.

And the Hood had said she was stupid. That she was a simpleton. Well, she’d learned. Sure, it had been the hard way, but she had learned well.

There were plans now. Contingencies, fail safes, preparation for the unexpected. All so that she could achieve her goal of making the Tracy’s pay.

With an unpleasant grin, Havoc withdrew into the tunnels the Hood had carved beneath the house long ago. Leaving just enough behind her to guide Miss Kyrano into the trap.

Patience was another thing she'd learnt from her former boss. She exercised it now, feeling the pleasant thrill of anticipation running along her nerves as she watched her quarry on the screen in her chosen ambush site.

Kayo parked her bike outside and cautiously pushed on the front door. It opened easily, letting the IR operative into the entrance hallway.

Ever the consummate professional, the woman cleared each room for enemies, pausing at the slightly open hidden door, before she quickly checked upstairs, just to be certain that there was no one who could sneak up behind her. Seeing signs of a hasty exit that Havoc had specifically left for her, Kayo reported in, pulled a face, then cut the connection and headed for the hidden door.

The redhead hadn't bothered running sound on her surveillance but could just imagine the conversation: The report, the instruction to wait for backup, the refusal…

She couldn't help the nasty grin on her face as her enemy followed the breadcrumbs right to where she was supposed to go. A simple flick of a switch enough to make sure that black haired witch was trapped and her do-gooder friends wouldn't hear her cry for help.

Kayo entered the large room cautiously, taking in the stacked creates grouped around the edges and the metal walkways crisscrossing overhead, still unaware that the way behind her was sealed.

Havoc couldn't help but laugh.

Kayo turned sharply, searching the shadows for the source of the amusement.

Feeling that was the perfect time for her grand entrance, Havoc stepped forward and leapt lightly over the metal railing, landing in front of her.

"Hello, Kayo. Fancy seeing you 'ere." She smirked, not caring that she'd instantly dropped the accent she'd worked hard to acquire.

Her enemy frowned slightly, "Havoc?"

"In the flesh! I've had a makeover. You should try it some time." She grinned and threw a punch without warning, "Might improve that face of yours!"

It was mildly annoying that Kayo still managed to duck in time but it was no matter. This was just the beginning and she had waited months for this chance.

Havoc danced out of range as her opponent retaliated with a series of blows that were easily avoided. Then closed again, catching Kayo across the face with her shock gloves.

She giggled, sounding slightly unhinged even to herself, "Do you like my new toys? Made them myself just to test out on you!"

Taking advantage of Kayo's disorientation, she landed a solid kick to the woman's solar plexus, knocking her back and to the floor, leaving her gasping painfully for breath.

Feeling playful, she allowed her enemy to regain her feet and beckoned her forward. Daring her to attack.

She smiled when Kayo fought back. Havoc defended, letting her opponent tire herself out and taking a few glancing blows.

She felt almost euphoric.

This is what she trained for. This is who she wanted to beat. The boys were all very heroic but they weren't fighters. Not really.

Kayo, though…Kayo knew what it meant to fight for your life. To not be sure that you'd win. To be scared that…

Havoc felt Kayo's elbow drive into her stomach before the pain of a fist connecting hard bloomed across her jaw. She tasted blood as her teeth cut into her cheek.

She retreated a few steps and they carefully circled one another.

Time to end it.

Never taking her eyes off the covert operative, Havoc feinted right then lashed out with a left cross immediately following up with a knee aimed for the gut. Kayo was fast, managing to keep up in spite of the earlier hits she'd received.

It was mildly annoying that the woman wasn't entirely on the defensive but Havoc could change that. After all, she was the bad guy here.

She let Kayo land a punch then grabbed her arm, letting the charge in her shock gloves lock up the muscles and make her enemy cry out in pain. A quick tug forwards while still suffering from the electrocution and a simple judo throw sent her crashing into a stack of boxes, leaving her in a heap on the floor.

Havoc followed up with a kick to the chest that she was certain broke some ribs, then grabbed her ponytail and started dragging Kayo away from the broken stack.

A leg came swinging towards the back of her knee but she dodged easily and slammed her captive into a metal support strut in retaliation.

Kayo, battered and bruised, picked herself up and threw a wild punch. Havoc caught her arm and zapped her again. Then she broke it.

Her opponent's scream of pain as she twisted the broken limb made her smile with satisfaction.

Levering the same arm behind Kayo's back, Havoc wrapped her other hand around the woman's neck and brought her lips to her ear, "Those boys are going to be so upset when they find you."

She activated her shock gloves again, making sure that this time her victim lost consciousness, then bounced her head off the metal strut just to make sure. She let Kayo drop to the ground like a ragdoll and sauntered over to the exit to the hidden hangar where she'd stashed her stealth plane.

Minutes passed.

Kayo groaned and began to stir.

There was the sound of an engine then a series of muffled bangs.

The ground rumbled.

Then the world fell in.

Chapter Text

Scott paced the comms room like a caged tiger.

He knew Kayo was perfectly capable of looking after herself. Could do so better than the rest of them combined! But he was still nervous. Something was going to go wrong. He was certain of it.

Others would dismiss it as paranoia or too much belief in Tracy "luck", but none of that could stop the little voice in the back of his mind nagging that Something Was Wrong.

He'd been ready to jump into his deployment chute the moment that John reported that there was interference preventing him from getting a clear read on Kayo's signal but he got talked down.

And it wasn't that he didn't have complete faith in her. He'd always thought she was amazing. He admired how she was so strong and fast and dedicated, but also how she was soft and gentle and sweet too.

And he was always on edge when she went to investigate something in a potentially hostile environment.

"Scott!"

The distress in his space-bound brother's voice had him spinning on the spot to stare daggers at the holographic projection.

"There's been a subsurface explosion at Kayo's location! I'm sending Virgil with you."

He was already part way through his chute entrance before John had finished his sentence. He plummeted down his deployment shaft and, suited up, was onto his extending platform just as quickly as usual but it still felt too slow.

Kayo was in danger.

Scott couldn't contain the impatient jiggling of his leg as Virgil, with the help of MAX, stowed essential equipment that One wouldn't normally carry.

"Ready?"

"Ready!" Virgil confirmed as he strapped into the passenger seat.

They launched.

Thunderbird One leapt into the sky and hurtled towards the coordinates John had provided.

It was a short flight and the longest few minutes that Scott had ever experienced.

Upon arrival Scott all but slammed One onto the ground and was out of his seat before the engine had even cycled down.

He raced to the farmhouse, his brother at his heels in his exosuit.

Together they burst through the door of the building, scanning through the clouds of dusty air.

Even without the help of their equipment their eyes were almost immediately drawn to what seemed to be a hidden door. Or what would have been a hidden door if it hadn't been left open.

They carefully descended the dirt-covered wooden steps down to a metal-lined tunnel that led away from the house.

Scott strode forward, grimly determined, as he contacted their space monitor. "John, do you have anything?"

"Sc…t, do you r…? …interf…m in?"

He looked at his younger brother, "That can't be good. The interference John lost Kayo in before must still be causing problems."

Virgil grimaced, "There could be any number of reasons for that, Scott. We're just going to have to keep going while John and EOS try to break through."

He nodded and motioned for them to continue forward. Virgil muttered something under his breath and the place was suddenly bathed in the light from his shoulder-mounted torch.

No more than thirty feet in front of them, the grey metal panelling that lined the walls had partially collapsed, revealing the red-brown earth and rocks behind.

They managed to squeeze past the first obstruction and the second, but the third would be a tight fit for Scott and impossible for Virgil to get past even if he stripped off all of his gear.

There was something tickling at the back of his mind, refusing to be identified but setting him on edge. Well, more on edge. It wasn't just that so far the blockages had been a regular ten metres apart. "These collapses are worryingly methodical," he growled as he watched his brother analyse the disposition of the rubble.

All he got was a hum of agreement before the engineer's mind clearly found a solution.

"How much am I going to hate this?"

Virgil gave him a wry smile, "More than some plans, less than others. We're going to use some of the intact panelling to create a support and dig around it."

His eyebrows nearly joined with his hairline. "Won't that risk collapsing more of the tunnel?"

The engineer shrugged, "Maybe, maybe not. We don't really have a choice."

With a frown, Scott pulled out his laser cutter and started carving out panels as Virgil directed, then passed them over to his brother and stood back. Virgil, using his suit-enhanced strength, essentially just pushed the thin metal sheet into the collapsed dirt and rock at a forty-five degree angle before digging out the lower section.

"That going to hold?"

Virgil grunted an affirmative and led the way through the gap, awkwardly crawling in his exosuit.

Scott decided it was fortunate that this section of tunnel seemed to be the last as he crawled through the dug-out gap and saw the larger space with the suggestion of daylight opening out a few metres ahead.

"Do you hear that?" Virgil asked, frowning at him.

"Hear what?" Though now his brother had pointed it out he was aware of something. A high pitched whine just on the edge of hearing.

"Something electronic…I think it's going to overload."

That made sense, now that Virgil had pointed it out, Scott could recognise that uneasy feeling he's been having as a reaction to the not quite ultrasonic scream of electronics in their final death throes.

"Where's it coming from?"

The question was unnecessary as a boxy unit half buried under the rubble in the larger room chose that moment to explode.

Bits of shrapnel rained down along with stones and dirt, but thankfully the supersonic whine was gone.

"...ott! Virgil! Come in!"

They both yelped as their space-bound brother's voice rang in their ears.
"Yes! We're here! Stop shouting!" Scott shook his head, wanting to ease his aching ears.

"Whatever was causing the interference is gone now." There was a pause which the brothers knew indicated that John was juggling information from at least five sources at once. "I have Kayo's location. Her bio readings are…bad. You've got to be fast!"

As one, Scott and Virgil checked the information beamed to their bracer units from Thunderbird Five.

Scott swallowed back the horror he felt at seeing the flashing red of Kayo's vital signs and moved to support his exosuit-clad brother in finding the fastest way to her.

"Virgil, I'm reading a void to your right. Break through that and you should be able to get to Kayo."

Never had Scott been so happy to hear those words from John. He stood back out of the way and watched as Virgil directed his claw and grasping arm to a particular rock that, to him, looked no different than the others.

Servos whined and stone scraped and then there was a black hole almost big enough for Scott to scramble through. Virgil's shoulder-mounted torch shone into the darkness, revealing messy stacks of wooden crates and a metal walkway above which seemed to be holding its own for now.

"Okay Scott, I'm going to move two more rocks out of the way then you can climb through and see if you can get to Kayo."

"FAB."

It was hard, so hard, to wait until he got a nod to proceed, but he managed it somehow and was clambering through the widened gap before the quiet patter of displaced pebbles stopped.

It was almost complete darkness inside. He retrieved a couple of glow sticks from a thigh pocket and cracked them to life, the eerie green light washing over a largish pocket in the otherwise buried store room.

"Kayo? Can you hear me?"

Silence.

"Kayo, respond."

He looked back at Virgil, his eyes full of worry, "We're going to need the hover stretcher."

Chapter Text

With an "FAB." thrown over his shoulder, Virgil hurried back along the tunnel to Thunderbird One and the emergency medical station MAX had helped him load just before they left. He touched a button to activate the hover stretcher and undocked it from the station before deftly guiding it back down the half-collapsed tunnel.

He climbed back through the hole he’d made to access the pocket and paused to get his bearings as his shoulder-mounted torch drowned the chemical green light of Scott’s glow sticks. He’d just reached his big brother’s crouched form when Scott turned to him, worry writ plain on his face.

"Virgil! Can you lift that?"

He took a moment to assess the situation; victim trapped beneath multiple tons of rock and earth, but the matrix seemed to be loosely packed so it should be doable with just his exosuit. He nodded. "I'll lift, you pull."

Scott gave a sharp nod then cleared out of the way to let him get into position.

Virgil gave the count and put everything into lifting the main slab up enough for Scott to haul the unconscious woman free before quickly placing her on the hover stretcher.

There was an ominous rattle of falling dirt and stones as Virgil released his load, something that could easily indicate a full collapse if something key had shifted as they released Kayo. "We should get out of here. Quickly."

Scott nodded an acknowledgement and carefully manoeuvred the stretcher to follow behind as Virgil led the way out. It was something they did automatically by this point. One would lead, the other would follow. The pathfinder and the rearguard. The roles themselves were flexible but if he wasn't leading the way to safety, his big brother was.

They swiftly wove their way around the stacks then through the hole he’d made, just in time for Scott to get a shower of earth over his head.

He grimaced, "I don't like this. I think something shifted when we got Kayo out."

Scott nodded and opened the comms, "John, prep Thunderbird One for immediate launch and get us a straight route to the closest trauma centre."

"FAB."

Another rattle of falling dirt attracted his attention. He looked up at what was left of the roof and its suggestion of daylight, his eyes widening as he saw a large section crack and start to tilt, almost falling in slow motion as it gradually lost its battle with gravity. He grabbed the other end of Kayo's stretcher and they all but sprinted their way to the tunnel.

Virgil wasn't entirely sure how they made it through the collapsed sections so quickly, especially the part they had to crawl through, but they were pounding up the stairs to the house with a cloud of billowing dust following.

They raced back to One and he shrugged off his exosuit and stowed it safely before rushing to secure himself, while Scott shoved the hover stretcher into its locks and threw himself into his pilot's seat.

"Virgil, are you secure?"

"FAB."

Scott threw Thunderbird One into the sky as fast as safely possible leaving Virgil to hang on and monitor his patient.

"Where am I going, John?"

“Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. I’ve forwarded you the coordinates and notified them of your ETA. Land on the rooftop helipad. They’ll be waiting.”

Virgil ignored his two brothers and focused on his patient as soon as the lift-off acceleration eased enough to move safely.

Kayo was not doing well. Apart from the obviously broken arm, which Virgil was certain would require surgery to repair, the scanners were showing multiple contusions, fractured ribs, tibia, ankle, and what looked like electrical burns around her neck.

He did what he could to stabilise her, paying particular attention to the cut across her forehead. He flashed his penlight at her eyes and was intensely relieved when they constricted in reaction. Especially when Kayo whimpered quietly and flinched at the brightness of the light.

“Hey, Kayo. You’re safe. We’ve got you. Just rest.”

He didn’t have the chance to say any more as Scott announced that they’d be landing in fifteen seconds. Virgil threw himself back to his seat and secured his harness just in time for his brother to haul One to a stop and set her gently on the landing pad.

Virgil released himself from the restraints and undocked the stretcher while Scott cycled down One’s engines. He’d barely started offloading their sister when the oldest Tracy joined him to help guide Kayo over to the medics who’d just appeared at the roof entrance. He rattled off her medical status and transferred the readings to the hospital staff then stepped back as they took over.

He sighed and looked at his brother, “Scott, I’ll drop you at a hotel. Someone should be here.”

There was no response.

“Scott?”

His big brother was pale and had that haunted look in his eyes that he got when he was second-guessing his decisions after a rescue gone bad. Knowing Scott as well as he did, Virgil knew that if he didn’t break him out of that spiral quickly it wouldn’t be good for anyone.

“She’ll be fine. We saved her.”

He put a hand on his big brother’s shoulder and shook gently. It took a moment, but Scott’s eyes refocused and saw him for the first time since Kayo was taken inside.

“What?”

“I said she’ll be fine. I’ll drop you off at the hotel. You can shower and eat something and be back here within half an hour.” He gave Scott a gentle smile and held up his hand to forestall the inevitable protest. “She’s going in for emergency surgery. It’s going to be hours before she’s out. If you insist on staying in the waiting room I won’t stop you, but you should at least clean up.”

He had to bite back a smile when Scott looked down and pulled a face at the state of his uniform. They were both more outback brown than iR blue now and he knew he was desperate to get clean and Scott, ever fastidious, almost certainly felt the same.

Scott nodded. “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”

Taking the opportunity while Scott wasn’t running at full tilt, he put his arm around his big brother’s shoulders and gently steered him back to Thunderbird One. He took the pilot’s seat and, after a quiet conversation with John, received clearance and guided the ship into the sky.

Barely a minute later, they landed at a nearby park and a now fully functioning Scott grabbed the emergency go bag from a storage locker and disembarked.

As soon as he was clear, Virgil lifted again and set a course for home, knowing that he’d be back within a few hours too. Probably with multiple Tracys in tow.