Work Text:
“What did you do?”
“Hi, Scott. Good to see you too.” John replied mildly, eyes never leaving the screen in front of him.
“Nope! You’re not getting out of this.” Scott narrowed his eyes at his brother, staring him down with the full force of the Tracy glare. “What did you do?”
“You’re going to have to be more specific. I’ve done a lot of things today. I brushed my teeth, ate breakfast, worked on-“
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
“He deserved it, Scott. His foolish incompetence put you and Alan in danger, and injured Virgil. If he can’t be wise with his money, he doesn’t deserve to have it.”
“No, John. We can’t do that. We don’t decide who deserves it or not. That’s a betrayal of everything that International Rescue stands for. We’re the ones who save people, not arbitrate justice.”
“Betrayal? I’m the one betraying the family? No, Scott. It’s not me. The only one betraying the family is the one who continues to send his brothers into danger because he refuses to make a hard choice. I’m making things safer for our brothers, for the world. He doesn’t deserve that money. I left him enough to live off of, assuming he doesn’t waste it, but most of it went to people who needed it. People who won’t actively make our lives harder with their own stupidity.”
“Put it back, John. We can’t do that. We cannot stand as judge, jury and executioner.”
“I will not. I refuse to continue to stand by and allow him to endanger our family. I thought you would understand, Scott, but I should have known you wouldn’t. You never did like to make the hard choices. At least this family has someone willing to.”
John cut the call abruptly, leaving Scott to stew. As soon as the hologram flickered out, he turned to look at the figure floating in the corner.
“Was that sufficient?”
“We’ll see. If that wasn’t enough to get your big brother to come up here, I’m not sure what will. You’d better hope he’s mad enough to come up here and yell at you, or we’ll test just how long you can last floating out in space without oxygen.”
****************************************
Scott was furious, storming through the house down to the hangers. John had completely lost it. Sure, they had all thought about it a time or two, but thinking was as far as it got. It was as far as they could let it get.
They were not the law. They were not the deciders of right and wrong. They couldn’t be. It would destroy any credibility IR had. They saved everyone they could. They didn’t pick and choose who was worthy of their help. That betrayed the very idea of International Rescue.
A quick change into his uniform, and he was firing up the engines on Three. The elevator would have been faster, but he knew John wasn’t going to send that down for him right now. The rocket launched, pushing him back into his seat as it accelerated though the atmosphere and into space.
Thunderbird Five floated serenely, the calm showing no sign of the storm approaching. The commander was coming, and he was not happy.
He docked Three onto Five’s access port, waiting impatiently for the seal to pressurize before storming onto the space station.
“Hello, Scott.” His brother greeted him, seeming unsurprised to see him. “How can I help you?”
“You know exactly what-” Scott shot back angrily, before cutting off abruptly upon realizing that they weren’t alone.
“Hello, Mr. Tracy.” The Hood greeted him, the gun in his hand shifting to Scott. “So nice of you to join us. Your brother knew just how to get you to come.”
The betrayal in Scott’s eyes cut John deeply, but he stood firm. He had his reasons, even if his brother couldn’t understand. “It wasn’t hard.” He said, his voice as smug as he could make it. “You’re quite predictable, Scott. Always going on about responsibility and honor and watch-“ John stumbled over his words for a moment before resuming. “And all that. It doesn’t take much work to outthink you.”
Scott swallowed heavily. John’s words hurt, as he knew they were intended to. His brother was too smart to say something he hadn’t thought through. John was the best communicator in the family, which meant that he could cut someone to ribbons with only his words without even breaking a sweat.
Wait a second! John never misspoke. He thought about every word that came out of his mouth, which means…
Scott turned back to his brother, watching more closely. “Maybe I am predictable. Maybe I am just as stupid as you seem to think I am.” He forced the cutting words out of his mouth, trying to distract the Hood from the brisk tapping of John’s finger against his leg. Morse code! “Even if I am stupid, at least I’m not taking the law into my own hands.”
H-O-L-D. H-E-L-M-E-T. O-N.
“At least I haven’t decided that I can chose what’s right and wrong.”
Scott leaned back against the wall behind him, subtly looping his arm through the handle behind his back, and gripping his helmet tightly, ready to move. He could see John doing the same.
“At least I haven’t spent so long in space that I’ve forgotten my humanity.” He was shouting now, keeping the focus on him as much as possible. “At least I still act like a Tracy.”
His voice drowned out John’s whispered commands, and they both jammed their helmets on simultaneously. Then the only thing he could hear was the rushing of wind as the wall suddenly retracted, sending the Hood hurtling off into space.
The force tried to pull him out too, and he could see John fighting to hold on as well. He gripped tightly, watching as the Hood drifted off, before his ship suddenly appeared in front of him and he pulled himself into the airlock. The ship quickly disappeared out of sight.
The wall of the space station slid back into place, and the room quickly filled with oxygen again. At EOS signal, both brothers removed their helmets, looking guiltily toward each other.
“I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t mean any of it.”
They reached towards each other, clasping each other in a rare hug. “We need to talk.”
“Yeah.” Scott agreed. “But not here. Let’s go home.”
John followed him back onto Three, settling himself into the copilot’s seat as they pulled away from the space station. The ride home was silent, both of them retreating deep into the safety of their own minds, neither ready to talk yet.
****************************************
A short time later, both of them were sitting on the deck outside Scott’s bedroom, glasses in hand. They sat in silence for a while, trying to process the day.
John broke the silence first. “I’m sorry.” He said quietly. “I didn’t know what to do, so I made a call, and it was the wrong one. I should have figured it out on my own. I should never have upset you like that.”
“You did nothing wrong.” Scott shot back promptly. “You were put in an impossible situation, and you managed to get everyone involved out safely. I won’t lie and say what you said didn’t hurt, but I understand why you did it. I did the same thing to you. And some of what I said I don’t have any excuse for. I was angry at you, and I said horrible things I didn’t mean.”
“I know. I understand why you said it. I understand why you were mad. I was trying to make you mad, so I can’t really blame you.” John took a long drink, draining his glass in an attempt to regain his composure. “I think I’m going to turn in. It’s been a long day.” He set his glass down, unfolding his long legs as he pushed himself to his feet. “Goodnight, Scott.”
Scott set his glass down next to his brother’s, following him into the room. “Stay?” He asked softly. “It’s been a long day for both is us, and I think we could both use the company.”
John thought for a moment, before dropping down heavily on the bed. “Okay.”
He conceded. He threw back the comforter and climbed in, saving room for his big brother to climb in after him. They settled in the dark, neither truly ready for sleep despite what they had claimed.
“Was there any truth in it?” John asked, so quietly that Scott almost didn’t hear him.
“In what?”
“In what you said about me. That I’ve spent so much time in space that I’ve lost my humanity. That I’m not really a Tracy anymore.”
Scott sat up, dragging his brother up to look at him. “There was not a word of truth in any of it. I said what the Hood wanted to hear, but I didn’t mean a word of it. You are the best of us, John. You hear the worst the world has to offer every day, and you still remain strong. You know just how to help, how to keep people calm and focused. You have not lost your humanity, John. You help the rest of us keep ours.”
There were tears dripping from John’s eyes by the time Scott was finished speaking. Scott wrapped his brother in a hug, holding him close until John calmed somewhat. “I’m sorry for everything I said. Humanity doesn’t deserve you. I’m so proud of all that you’ve done, John. Nothing you could ever do would change that.”
They settled back down into the bed, Scott keeping his arms wrapped around his brother. They weren’t okay, not really. They had both said such hurtful things that they would remember in the dead of night. When the adrenaline wore off, they would feel the effects of their near-death experience. But for now, the assurance that they were together, alive, was good enough.
****************************************
Scott shot awake in the middle of the night, startling his brother from his sleep next to him. “We have to give Fishler his money back!” He cried.
John settled back down, closing his eyes again. “I never took it.” He said smugly. “I set it up so it would look like I did, but I didn’t touch it.” He assured his brother, already back asleep.