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They had done it. The Zero-XL had made it to the Oort Cloud. They had found the wreckage of the Zero-X. When Thunderbird Four could go no further, Scott and Alan went in.
Kayo wanted to go with them, but she had to keep Three steady. Had to keep the planetoid from closing in on their only access point.
She heard Scott and Alan’s amazed voices when they found the shelter. Their disappointment when it proved to be empty. The resolve to find their father.
He had to be here somewhere. He just had to be.
The fragments of the planetoid shifted and moved, floating away. Just in time for a blue blur on a red astroboard to fly towards Thunderbird 2. Kayo joined him a few minutes later.
Whatever happened next, she wanted to be with her brothers.
It was a tense minute of quiet. Scott had yet to emerge, the gravity field was interfering with their comms. The blip of a life sign appeared on the scanners - then it split into two distinct blips as the sensors were able to get a better read on it.
Scott’s voice came over the comms, “I’ve got him.”
The reunion in Two’s bay was far too short for Kayo’s liking. One hug after eight years was nowhere near enough in her opinion. With the debris field creating a hazard, however, they had to separate.
There’d be all the time in the world for a proper reunion once they were back on Earth.
The Zero-XL locking them out and powering up was the first indication that something wasn’t right. Brains wouldn’t ditch them out here. When the ship was disabled by the EMP blast, Kayo was among the first to board.
Her and Scott led the charge down the Zero-XL’s corridor, Gordon close behind. They had to pry open the doors to the bridge.
“Brains!” Scott called. Silence answered him, the bridge appeared to be abandoned. “Brains!”
“I’m here Scott,” Brains answered, scrambling out from under his console. Typical Brains, trying to repair something.
Except there were no tools in his hands, and he didn’t have that frazzled look he got when he was rushing to fix something.
“Were you tryin’ to ditch us?” Gordon demanded.
“It was… er… engine trouble,” Brains answered. “It should be all fixed now.”
Before Kayo could ask just what kind of engine trouble it had been, Alan joined them.
“Hey, Brains, look who we found!” he declared, waving a hand to where Virgil and Jeff weren’t far behind him.
With what must have been a herculean effort, Virgil left Jeff’s side. If she weren’t so concerned with what was going on with the Zero-XL and Brains, Kayo might have asked if the velcro had finally worn off.
Not that she could blame her older brother. They hadn’t known what they were going to find out here or what condition Jeff would be in. He wasn’t exactly healthy, judging by his coughing earlier, though Kayo was sure only their resident field medic had an idea on what the specifics were.
“It’s good to see you, Jeff,” Brains said as they came face to face with each other. There was an underlying tension in his voice. One Kayo recognized but couldn’t place.
“It’s good t’ see you too, Brains,” Jeff replied, holding out a hand.
Brains hesitated, then reached out to shake his hand. The moment blue-clad fingers closed around orange, Jeff’s easy-going smile turned to a scowl. He tugged Brains forward sharply and spun him around, shoving him up against the wall. One hand pinned his shoulder in place while the other wretched his arm behind his back.
“Whoa, Dad! Easy!” Virgil reached out a placating hand. There were a thousand unsaid fears in his voice. He was likely thinking of the effects of prolonged isolation. No doubt worrying Jeff was acting out of isolation induced paranoia.
“This isn’t Brains, Virgil,” Jeff said what Kayo’s instincts had been screaming since they’d boarded the Zero-XL. He readjusted his grip, making sure he had both the impostor’s arms restrained.
John forced the bridge doors open a moment later. Behind him was a familiar orange-clad figure. “Guys Brains is- Oh.” He stopped, seeing they already had the situation under control.
Coming out from behind John, Brains observed the scene. Whatever he’d initially been about to say was abandoned entirely as he lifted his visor, staring wide-eyed. “M-M-Mister Tracy!”
“Hi, Brains,” Jeff grinned. He passed the prisoner to Gordon and Alan, making sure to look over at Virgil, “In all our years together, he’s never once called me ‘Jeff’ to m’ face.”
“He also wasn’t stuttering,” Kayo added quietly to Virgil. Though she felt bad it had taken hearing the real Brains speak for her to catch on to that small detail.
Virgil gave a little nod, visibly taking a deep, relieved breath.
“It’s good t’ see ya again, Partner,” Jeff said as he drew Brains into a hug.
Not generally one for physical contact, Brains seemed to freeze for a moment. Then, slowly, his arms wrapped around Jeff. His helmeted head pressing against his shoulder.
Brains actually accepted a hug instead of just tolerated it? That was something that could happen?! (Honestly, Jeff Tracy turning out to be alive seemed less shocking than that to Kayo.)
The impostor’s holographic visage flickered and Kayo wasn’t surprised at all when it vanished revealing The Hood.
Jeff released Brains and turned at the sound of the hologram disabling. He looked thoroughly unimpressed. “Ya never give up, do ya, Hood?”
“Not as far as you’re concerned,” The Hood replied.
“What IS it with you?” Alan finally demanded. “Why do you hate my dad so much?”
“It may be hard to imagine, but we were friends a long time ago,” Hood replied, looking back at Alan. “The two of us were going to change the world.”
Kayo wanted to snap something about how unlikely that seemed, but Jeff didn’t correct him. He just remained silent, mouth pressed in a thin line.
“But my ways never suited the mighty Jeff Tracy,” Hood continued. He smirked that all too familiar cruel smirk. “He had this funny thing about ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. At every turn he was there to undermine my pursuits.”
Now he turned, looking directly at Jeff. Kayo could almost imagine the lighting bolt when they made eye contact.
“I finally had enough. If Jeff Tracy wanted to make me out to be the villain, then the villain I would be, and the best villain our world has ever seen.” There was a note of pride in his voice at the end there. “Tell me, what did my brother decide to do? Did he finally cave to your ideals? Or did he abandon you as well?”
Kayo felt a coldness seep into her back right between her shoulder blades.
“What Kyrano decided t’ do is his business,” Jeff answered. “He didn’t try t’ trick me int’ anythin’ an’ I didn’t interfere with his work.”
There was an unfathomable amount of history behind those words. Kayo had half a mind to ask for an explanation. She found herself drifting towards Jeff, preparing to break into the conversation. Though she wasn’t sure if she wanted to know what The Hood was talking about, or if she just wanted him to shut up.
“But you did take his daughter from him,” The Hood said smugly. He turned to look over at Kayo, “Didn’t you ever wonder about that, Kayo? Why he kept you from your father? Mercenary work isn’t exactly squeaky clean.”
“He never kept me from my father.” Kayo glared at him, angry he’d even try to suggest such an idea. “Father sent me to him to keep me safe. Because he knew he couldn’t trust you.”
She could remember so many times as a child, wondering why her father hadn’t wanted her. Why he’d abandoned her. Jeff had always been there. Reassuring her that Father did love her, that’s why she’d been sent somewhere she would be safe. That once it was safe for him too, he’d come back for her.
Father never did come for her. He’d withdrawn from the world and his work after the Zero-X incident. Either guilt or grief keeping him away from Tracy Island. Away from her.
She crossed her arms over her chest, meeting The Hood’s gaze evenly with her head held high. “Besides, he’s a better uncle than you ever were, anyway.”
The Hood snarled as he wretched his arms free of the boys and launched forward. Kayo prepared to meet him head on but a hand grabbed the back of her vest and all but threw her to the side. She crashed into Virgil - who had been surging forward.
Brains was shoved into John, meaning there was no one to stop Hood from ramming into Jeff. They grappled furiously, tumbling through zero gravity. Jeff kicked off the wall behind him, reversing their momentum.
Kayo felt Virgil’s hands on her shoulders, her big brother pulling her out of the way of flailing limbs. She wanted to shrug him off and dive into the fight, but she had to wait until she had a clear shot at The Hood.
John and Brains appeared at her side. Brains’ eyes wide behind his glasses while John’s were narrowed as though trying to calculate an opening.
She glanced across the bridge at where Gordon had pulled Alan out of the way and where Scott looked coiled tighter than a spring just waiting for the moment he could get a clear shot at Hood.
If any of them tried to intervene without an opening there was a chance they could hurt Jeff. Or accidentally end up taking one of his fists in the jaw. The pain would be worth it, the sheer guilt he’d feel was something they all wanted to avoid.
All of them seemed to migrate towards Scott as they gave the two battling men a wide berth. There wasn’t much else they could do, though with them all in one area it would let Jeff worry less about having to avoid them.
Then Hood grabbed Jeff by the shoulders and slammed him into one of the consoles - hard. Jeff’s head struck the edge, blood splattering across the pristine metal and floating through zero G in little globs.
Kayo launched, hitting The Hood before Scott even had the chance. She shoved him against the floor, pinning both his arms behind his back. Over the sound of his cackling and the cries of her brothers she could make out the shrill tone of the monitor Virgil had put on Jeff’s chest earlier.
Her head shot up to look over at where Jeff floated listlessly. Scott had an arm around his shoulders, the front of his uniform being stained a dark indigo. Virgil was right beside him, hands working to do something - anything - to get the monitor to stop its alarm. To get it to register a heartbeat.
John had one arm around Gordon’s shoulders and the other around Alan’s. Keeping both his younger brothers out of the way. Brains had turned away, gripping the chair of one of the front consoles tightly.
Kayo looked at each of her brothers. They all looked a combination of horrified and shocked. Then she looked at Jeff. His eyes were still open. Bloodshot from the blunt force trauma and staring through her glassy and unseeing.
No. Nononono…
“NO!” Kayo shot up with a gasp. Her hand was outstretched, reaching for something though she had no idea what. Even if she’d been able to reach Jeff she wouldn’t have been able to change the fact The Hood had cracked his skull open.
She sat there for a long moment, chest heaving as her eyes darted around the room. She was in her room. In her bed.
Home.
A nightmare, it had only been a nightmare.
She hadn’t even been on the Zero-XL when it had launched. She’d been forced to intercept the Chaos Crew instead. She hadn’t gotten to see Jeff until after he’d been brought back to Earth.
She had reviewed the footage from the Zero-XL though. How could she not? There wasn’t a universe out there where she wouldn’t want to see The Hood getting knocked down a few pegs. Especially when Jeff Tracy was the one who had seen through his disguise.
She hadn’t realized her brain would then use that footage to torture her.
She forced herself to take a few deep, calming breaths. It had only been a nightmare. Nothing more. Jeff was alive. The Hood was in custody. All was right in the world.
Yet when she closed her eyes, all she saw was Jeff’s blue-grey eyes staring through her lifelessly.
Kayo ran a hand through her hair with a groan. Was there anything she could do to erase that image from her mind?
Yes, but it was kind of stupid. She wasn’t going to do it.
She stubbornly laid down. She couldn’t didn’t close her eyes though. She knew better. Instead, she stared up at the ceiling.
She tried to focus on something other than the echo of the monitor’s shrill warning that it couldn’t detect a heartbeat. Something other than her brothers crying out for a father that would never answer again.
She tried to think of what had happened just that evening. Only a few short hours ago. They had all been sitting around the conversation pit. Just relaxing after a long hard day. Then EOS had popped up and oh-so-innocently asked John about his ‘date’ with Captain O’Bannon.
She had only been referring to the weekly meetings the two had. Though her wording had very clearly been chosen to imply something else. It was also obvious she hadn’t asked the question out of the blue. One of the brothers had put her up to it - Alan hadn’t been able to hide his smirk fast enough.
That had been game set.
Jeff had questioned who O’Bannon was, grinning at the implication that one of his sons might have a girlfriend after all. John had responded that she was a friend who he’d rescued when scrap traders had messed with a derelict vessel. The same scrap traders Alan had encountered when he let Thunderbird Three get stolen.
It had only gone on from there. Each brother throwing the other under the bus for some stupid or reckless stunt they had pulled or some dangerous situation they had been in. Jeff had looked increasingly concerned with each new incident that had been mentioned.
A few months after his return, Kayo was surprised the boys hadn’t gotten tired of it yet. Then again, they did have eight years worth of dirt on each other. It would be a long while yet before they ran out of material.
Grandma Tracy had finally broken in, telling them to all knock it off to give their father a chance to breathe.
“You kids are crazy,” he’d muttered after a long moment.
Grandma had snorted in response, “Of course they are. They’re yours.”
He’d sputtered in protest and Kayo hadn’t hesitated in joining the boys in ganging up on him Recounting every single crazy and reckless thing they could remember him doing. Both from before the Zero-X incident and in the first few months after he came home.
That was what Kayo preferred to think about. The way Jeff had cringed, only able to offer a sheepish grin in response to some of the things they had brought up.
She made the mistake of letting her eyes slide shut. The cacophony of her brothers recounting some incident or another shifted into horrified cries. Lifeless blue-grey eyes stared through her.
Kayo’s eyes flew open. She shoved herself upright with a growl. Alright. Fine.
Throwing the blanket aside, she swung her legs out of bed. She didn’t bother with her slippers. She silently left her room and crept down the hall.
This was stupid. She knew what she was going to find.
Jeff was going to be in his room, asleep. He was home. He was safe. He was alive.
Her nightmare had been just that, a nightmare. A stupid dream. Some random scenario her brain had cooked up because apparently it had decided she needed to be tortured.
She reached the door at the end of the hall and hesitated. This was stupid. This was SO stupid.
Yet she knew she wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep until she did it. Until she actually saw that Jeff was there. That he was alive.
She opened the door cautiously. Not that she had to worry too much. Given Scott’s habit of checking on them all in the middle of the night, Virgil had always made sure all the door hinges were well oiled. Less chance of someone being accidentally woken that way.
The room was empty.
Kayo threw the door open the rest of the way and stepped inside. No. She hadn’t been seeing things. A shaft of moonlight came in through the window, landing across the empty bed.
The perfectly made, hadn’t-been-touched-at-all-tonight bed.
Kayo’s heart began to hammer in her chest as she spun in place. The armchair in the corner by the bookshelf was equally empty. The door to the en-suite bathroom ajar and the room beyond dark.
Was this some sort of dream-within-a-dream? Had the entire journey to bring Jeff home been something she dreamed, then had a nightmare about it going wrong, only to finally wake?
No. No, surely not!
Yet how many times had she stood in the empty room? How many times had she come here after a nightmare about the Zero-X only to be faced with the cold cruel reality that she wouldn’t find him here. That Jeff was dead and gone.
Except he wasn’t. He wasn’t. They had brought him home!
Her gaze darted around the room, looking for any sign of him. A few knickknacks on the shelf had moved. That pillow in the armchair was new - Alan had stolen the old one - and he’d left his compression gloves on the armrest.
Across the room, on the wall, was a small gallery of paintings Virgil had gifted him over the years. Including a new one, featuring them all as they looked in the present day standing together. It had taken him months to finish that painting. He’d only just managed to varnish it two days before Christmas.
All the little differences pointed to the fact the room was not untouched. Someone had been here. Jeff had been here.
So where was he now?
Kayo left the room and all but darted down the hall towards the stairs. She kept her footsteps light, not wanting to wake her brothers. Luckily stealth was her specialty.
Making it down the stairs, she wasn’t surprised to find the light on in the main room. There was Jeff, sitting at his desk. He had his reading glasses on as he reviewed some sort of design document displayed on the holoscreen.
Kayo let out a sigh, her shoulders slumping with relief.
Jeff heard her and glanced over. He frowned, hardly looking at the holoscreen as he dismissed it with a gesture. “What’s wrong, Kayo?”
“Nothing,” she tried to sound casual. “I just…” Needed to check on you. Needed to see actual evidence that you are home safe and not dead. “…Came down to get a glass of water.”
“Uh-huh…” He didn’t sound convinced in the slightest as he took off his reading glasses and set them on the desk. “Probably a good idea. Don’t want t’ end up with a headache.”
“What?” She gave him a confused look. Where had that come from?
“I may need readin’ glasses, but that doesn’t mean my eyes are so bad I can’t see those tear tracks,” he answered.
Kayo raised a hand to her face, fingers trailing lightly across her cheek. How had she not realized she’d been crying? She groaned, scrubbing at her eyes with the hem of her sleeve.
“It was just a stupid nightmare,” she confessed as she crossed the room. With a practiced motion she hopped up to perch on the edge of his desk. As she had so often as a teenager.
“You wanna talk about it?” Jeff asked. Opening a drawer, he pulled out a bottle of water from the stash he kept on hand. Just for when they got home from a long rescue and were on the verge of dehydration.
Or when they came downstairs in the middle of the night crying over some stupid dream, apparently.
Kayo shook her head as she accepted the water. She twisted open the cap and took a sip. “What’re you doing up so late?”
“Can’t sleep, may as well work.” As he said the words, Kayo was struck by countless memories of hearing that exact sentiment from him. All those times when nightmares or doubts had sent her wandering from her bed and she’d come down here, only to find him still up working. No matter how late it was.
Honestly she should have checked his desk from the get-go instead of going to his room.
“Why’d I even bother asking?” she deadpanned. She nodded towards where the holoscreen had been. “What were you working on?”
Jeff brought the screen back online. With a swipe the document gave way to a schematic of some sort. “Brains an’ I have been workin’ on designing a new Thunderbird.”
“Why?” They had a Thunderbird for every scenario. Each one specialized but also versatile enough to cover all sorts of situations. If a Thunderbird couldn’t do it, then a Pod could. She couldn’t even imagine what a seventh Thunderbird would even be.
Besides that, they didn’t have a pilot to spare. Scott had One, Virgil had Two, Alan had Three, Gordon had Four. John resided on Five and Kayo had Shadow. Brains never went out into the field unless he absolutely had to.
Jeff stayed here, observing and coordinating things alongside John.
He wasn’t… He wasn’t going to go back into the field was he? He’d rarely done so Before, once enough of them had been old enough to handle the Thunderbirds. His place had always been at his desk.
“What happens if Thunderbird Three goes down?” Jeff asked. “Or if we lose Two fer a time?”
“Then we’re without them,” Kayo answered. Ah. Yeah, that made sense. “You want a redundant Thunderbird to counteract that.”
“Or if we need a ‘bird in two places at once,” he added. “The one we’re workin’ on now will be an auxiliary space craft.”
He switched to another schematic, this one showing the craft’s shape better. It looked like some combination of the Zero-X and Zero-XL. She tried not to feel uneasy at the sight of it.
With another swipe the schematics changed to a prototype model. That made its similarities to the two Zero crafts even clearer.
“We’re plannin’ on using some elements from the Zero-XL. Seems a shame to let all that work go to waste,” Jeff continued. He rotated the model and shook his head. “This one isn’t quite right yet though.”
Kayo observed the model. She could see nothing wrong with it. Then again, Jeff and Brains both had always been so particular when it came to the Thunderbirds’ designs. “Who do you think will be the primary pilot?”
“Well, we’ve only got one pilot that doesn’t have a ‘bird of his own,” Jeff answered, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back in his chair.
“But you’re our mission control,” Kayo pointed out. She took another drink of water and tried to tamp down the irrational feeling of unease. He wasn’t going to disappear just because he went out in the field again.
“John’s experienced enough now that he doesn’t need my help guiding missions. Hell, he’s had eight years to perfect his own style of guidance. This role’s become redundant. I’ll be of better use in the field - especially now that International Rescue is takin’ more calls than ever before.” Jeff paused. “That said, I am hopin’ I’ll be able to bribe Alan int’ givin’ me Three back.”
She snorted, “Good luck with that.”
“Well, he seemed t’ enjoy piloting the Zero-XL,” Jeff shrugged. “Speakin’ of, Brains noticed someone accessed the cameras. Any idea who that was?” The glance he gave her said he already had a suspicion.
“Guilty as charged.” Kayo saw no reason to deny it. “Couldn’t resist watching Hood get knocked down a few pegs then stuffed in a locker.”
She wished she could have been there to see it in person. Though it was probably for the best that she hadn’t been.
She hadn’t realized she’d still been talking out loud until Jeff frowned at her and asked, “Why’s that?”
She shrugged uncomfortably and set the bottle of water down. “I have a habit of running my mouth where he’s concerned and pissing him off. Who knows what could have happened?”
“That wouldn’t have anythin’ to do with your nightmare, would it?” he asked gently.
“Maybe,” she mumbled, glaring at the floor. “I… I said something smug and pissed him off. He got free and lunged. I was thrown out of the way and you two fought…” She trailed off, unsure how to put what had happened into words.
The sharp crack of his head against the edge of the console. The monitor’s shrill alarm. Her brothers crying out in horror.
Bloodshot glassy blue-grey eyes staring through her listlessly.
“And I take it didn’t end well fer me?” he finally asked, when the silence had stretched for a minute or two.
She nodded. A few tears escaped and she wiped them away roughly. “Y-yeah.”
She heard wheels rolling across the floor, then footsteps. A moment later she felt a hand on her shoulder. His other hand cupped her cheek, thumb wiping away another tear that had fallen.“Hey, Tin-Tin, look at me.”
She did. Somehow the sight of his eyes focused and alert and alive finally broke her entirely. She lunged forward as a sob tore from her throat, hugging him tightly.
She felt his arms wrap around her, one hand stroking her hair. He began to murmur words of comfort. What exactly he was saying escaped her, but she registered the gentle cadence of his words and felt the way his voice reverberated through his chest.
She didn’t know how long she sat there, sobbing against him. Eventually, though, her sobs turned to the occasional hiccup, then weak sniffles. She stayed where she was, slumped against Jeff’s chest. She only readjusted slightly, pressing her ear against his sternum. She shut her eyes, just listening.
Ba-bmp. Ba-bmp. Ba-bmp. Still here. Still here. Still here.
Kayo hadn’t even realized she’d fallen asleep until she was waking up. She was… being lifted? Yes. Someone was carrying her. Her arms instinctively tightened around his neck.
“Yer okay,” Jeff murmured, “I gotcha.”
Distantly, she thought she recalled that he still wasn’t supposed to be doing any heavy lifting. Right…?
Before it occurred to her sluggish brain that perhaps she should say something, she was being set down again. Huh. How had he managed to cross from the desk to the couch in less than a minute?
She wasn’t sure. Kayo also wasn’t sure when Jeff had pulled away or when she had laid down. Yet she was lying on the couch. The green one if she had to guess. She really couldn’t be bothered to open her eyes and check at the moment.
She felt a heavy knit blanket drape over her. Darkness was starting to claim her again. The last thing she was aware of was a kiss being pressed to her temple then quiet and gentle words, “Sweet dreams, Kayo.”