Legacy: Fragments of John Tracy; Starman (pt4) FIXED
FLASH BACK (original here)
It had taken the best part of thee weeks, but finally John and Gordon were free.
“Hang on Gordon, Please hang in there.” John panted out of breath. He had his younger and heavier brother slung across his shoulders and dragging his feet behind him in the dust and the sand.
“I’m sorry Johnny. It’s all my fault.” Gordon whispered, his voice cracked and dry.
“Cut it out Gordon. No one’s at fault.”
John stumbled and reached out the the nearest rock face to steady himself. He had been walking with Gordon like this for over an hour and still they were too close to the base where they had been held prisoners. He, Like Gordon had been losing a lot of blood, but unlike Gordon at least he could walk. He had to get them as far away as possible.
They had no communication to the outside world for those three whole weeks, other than the people who tortured them because they spoke English. John no longer had his suit wired to Thunderbird five and his suit was a mess of copper and shredded material anyway so any attempt to make a connection from his PDA device using his suit was defunct.
I hope they are still looking for us… and have not given up, he prayed silently in the back of his mind. Otherwise we are dead men… unless the desert swallows us first.
“If… If I didn’t crash the pod… That sand storm came out of -”
“They would have shot us down. Better we crashed. We’re still alive.” John interrupted his brother before he could make himself feel guilty for their predicament. If anything it was John’s fault for not paying attention to the sudden change in weather conditions and failing to let Gordon know to pull out in time.
Who knew this little side mission for the GDF would go so horribly wrong?
Ahead of them lay nothing but expansive desert and the sun bore down it’s blanket of heat, but still John kept walking. He had to. There was no going back.
Eventually John stumbled down the side of a dune, both brothers tumbled down and landed in a heap. Gordon tried to shake John awake, but exhaustion and heat stroke had taken their toll on his older brother. He dragged him with what little strength he had back into the shade the sand dune offered. It wasn’t much but John needed to rest as much as he did. He couldn't keep this up forever, Gordon was far too heavy for that. They needed help and needed it soon.
Being carried had given Gordon time to think about the events that had happened, or more importantly, the bits he could remember and was conscious for.
They were still in Iran… he suspected. He wasn’t sure anymore. They had been asked by the GDF to do some peacekeeping thingy… he couldn’t recall all the details other than that they got caught in a sudden sandstorm and it brought the hovering pod crashing nose down into the dirt. John had pulled Gordon free from the crash, luckily neither of them were seriously hurt. Unluckily their crash had been watched and they were set upon by a terrorist faction that was reported to still be active in the area.
Bound and gagged, they been taken to some facility deep in the heart of canyon country in the middle of the desert. Blindfolded, occasionally poked and prodded with the end of a gun and sworn at in arabic they were led inside and thrown into a cell, where they were to spend the next three weeks of suffering and pain at the hands of crazed mad men.
“John… hey… wake up.. Don’t go to sleep on me.” Gordon nudged his brother. John’s face reflected his- pale and ashen- the only difference was who had bruises and who was the one covered with bloody head injuries. Early on the captors learned that by torturing John mentally by hurting Gordon physically was a huge weakness in the taller Tracy and both of them suffered greatly for it. That didn’t mean they tried the reverse a few times, but John had a much higher pain threshold than Gordon and Gordon’s own mouth got him into serious trouble.
“Gords…”
“Yeah I’m here John. We are still in the desert, remember Johnny? We need to get out of the sun and into the shade.” Gordon tried talking to his brother the way Scott used to when John was sick and was supposed to be in bed instead of chasing off imaginary monsters for his little brothers. It wasn’t the nicest thing to do but it got results.
“Got to free Gordon…”
“Already did that Johnny… right now we are running away remember?”
“Gordon can’t… they broke his legs…”
Gordon rested his blood crusted forehead against his older brothers and held it there a minute. Physically Gordon knew he was going to be fine in a few months… maybe a year, long enough to forget about this whole incident because something else came up that was just as dangerous. He’d quite possibly be the same way mentally too. There wasn’t much they could do to John that would scar Gordon for life everytime he spoke to his sibling.
For John however… those mental scars may never fully heal. Parts of his fragile psyche was already damaged before hand years ago by their father and as far as Gordon was concerned, John was never fully the same after that. This could have broken him more than Gordon could imagine.
“It’s me you numbat. We have to keep going before they realise we’ve gone.” he said softly, trying to bring his brother back into the real and currently dangerous world of escaped prisoners.
“Hav...Have to keep going.” John struggled to sit up, but once achieved he seemed to look worse than he did lying in the sand. He looked at Gordon and tried to focus, and Gordon realised John was probably really dehydrated. They had withheld water from John the last two days before their escape and it really showed. Going without food was one thing, you can last at least a week…. But without water…
His brother was the only chance they had of getting out of the desert alive. Dehydrated and exhausted or not, Gordon had little choice about making his brother do all the hard work. There was one thing he could do, and that was annoy his sibling enough to get moving and prevent him from losing consciousness, at the very least for a few more hours. Hopefully they were somewhere safe by then.
Hopefully.
“Come on John, you can do it. Remember what you used to tell me when I felt like I was never going to make the Olympic team?”
His brother had to really concentrate to think before speaking, something that would have been funny if they were not about to die.
“Show them what you can do…” he mumbled.
Ok, so that’s not what he told Gordon, but he was willing to accept the fact his brother was completely mentally busted right about now and anything longer than ten words was going to be pushing it.
John rubbed his temples and then got up onto his feet and looked around. Desert for miles around but no sign of being pursued… at least for now. He leaned back down and lifted Gordon again like he had earlier and started picking his way through the sand dunes, the extra weight making each of his footsteps sink deep into it making it difficult to walk.
“Come on John… left…. Right foot.. Left foot… that’s it.”
“Shut up Gordon.”
Gordon found himself smiling. Sure being told to shut up isn’t something he should be smiling at but right now that lucid response was enough to make him happy. It meant his brother’s brain was getting it’s shit back together…. Or at least some form of coherent thought process.
“How… How about no?” Gordon snorted quietly. “If it keeps you going… then I will keep talking…”
John paused in his steps and Gordon could feel his sibling shake as he started to laugh. It was dry and really throaty, but nevertheless he was still doing it.
“F-Fine.” he said eventually, before picking up his slow and very methodical walking pace again.
The midday sun in the desert is an unforgiving mistress, even now Gordon was beginning to feel the effects of the heat. He could only guess how bad John was taking it. The sun sat directly overhead and there was nowhere that offered any sign of shade, even the dunes themselves didn’t cast shadows at this time of day. Every so often John would have to pause, reshuffle his brother into a more comfortable carrying position before continuing. Sweat was pouring off his brow and down his bare arms, the tight fitting thermal space suit forcing him to perspire faster and more intensely than he usually would. The sweat kept some of the heat off him as a slight breeze danced across the dunes, but without any fluids to replenish it it offered little to no relief.
Eventually he collapsed again, this time Gordon was ready and braced himself for the sudden drop to the ground. His whole body screamed in pain, but that was nothing in comparison to his brother passing out from the heat without anyway to re-hydrate. Gordon had no idea how thick the layers of the space suit was until he tried to peel it off to the waist. His brother should have collapsed hours ago when the sun had hit its full peak. Even Gordon’s wet suit which was thermo lined wasn’t as thick as that suit… not that it was full suit anymore. The sleeves were long gone and the legs were shredded, but the main problem had been the extra heat against his chest and lower body, almost roasting him alive from the inside.
“Have to rescue…. Gord… hav…” John mumbled as he struggled to breathe.
“You did rescue me John. I’m right here. I haven't left you.”
“H- have to rescue… re..res… they’re goin…. Going to hurt him…” John’s voice sounded distant and full of rising panic. Gordon realised he was going in and out of consciousness and the current activity of walking into the middle of the desert carrying him was completely overshadowed by whatever nightmares he had suffered for three long weeks.
He looked up blearily at Gordon and for a few minutes couldn’t place who he was. Gordon was ready and was able to block John’s swing with his good arm but hollered in pain when John grabbed the other and tried to throw Gordon out of the way.
“Let him go!” John tried to shout, however it was more of a horse grunt. “You bastards hurt… My Brother! I’ll kill you!” and with that he was now sitting on top of Gordon pinning him to the sand.
“OW! HEY! JOHNNY CALM DOWN!” Gordon cried out, his body screaming out as if it was being thrown around like a rag doll. He felt the grip on his shoulders relax as his brother registered what he was doing and tried to quickly get off him and help him sit upright. The fast reaction was not the smartest thing for him to do, as he almost collapsed against Gordon after brushing him down, the smaller Tracy catching him and resting him against his good shoulder.
“Sorry…. Gord...Gordon.”
John’s arms gently wrapped around his brother protectively and Gordon didn’t make any of his usual attempts to brush his sibling off. He knew he needed the reassurance as much as his brother did, and this time it also meant John wasn’t going to attack him again by mistake.
“It’s ok…. You’re really buggered so it’s ok.”
He didn't expect John’s grip to tighten around his waist and haul him over his shoulder. His older brother then stood up, stumbled a little under the uneven weight but righted himself and started to walk again.
“Hey Wait a second John! You need to stop and rest! You can’t keep carrying me around in the heat!” Gordon slapped his brother’s bareback which was now blistering red from sunburn, his pale skin unable to handle so much direct sun in one go. When that didn’t seem to stop him Gordon grabbed a hold of the suit John had stripped down to his waist with his good hand and just hung on tight, hoping John was not going to drop him all over again.
Gordon knew why John didn’t want to stop trying to get out of the desert. The thought had started to feel like cement in his guts, but there wasn’t much he could do about it in his condition.
Those three weeks John was tied down and forced to listen to his brother scream in pain. Those three weeks he had been forced to watch them beat his brother and throw him around like he was stuffed full of straw. Those three weeks they withheld food and water at intervals hoping that the thought of starvation would make him talk. When they tried the same to Gordon they kept holding his brother’s head under water, increasing the length of time each dunking. They didn’t break anything like they did to Gordon but looking down John's back under all that sunburn was marks, bruises and whiplash cuts, the blood dried from them days before…. He didn’t get out of it unharmed. Gordon also knew under the hair at the back of his brother’s head there was a patch that had been cut and then tattooed some strange symbol, possibly the mark that the terrorists used to represent themselves… carved into his skin.
He was angry…. Not just at what they had done to them, but at himself for not being able to stop it. Gordon knew his brother got very violent when something happened to any of them because he was fiercely protective. That’s why there was no fighting in the house at home…. They all learned long ago that John, while weaker than the rest of them, could fight really dirty and seriously hurt someone when the right motivation was presented. Gordon had been on the end of it more than enough times when they were kids and he shirked his responsibilities looking after Alan... it was always well deserved too. Then there was Virgil’s drinking problem…. Gordon didn’t see that happen, but the end result while, Virgil was the only person standing afterward was a sight to behold. The carnage in John’s little Florida apartment was something nightmares were made of after one big fist fight turned the place into something resembling the mess in Scott’s bedroom back at the island.. He couldn’t believe it when he and Scott both laid eyes on it. Alan said he had never seen John so mad before. Then there was the day their father phoned about Gordon’s hydrofoil crash…. Alan said the phone was torn clear from the wall and thrown out the window, and he had to stop John from doing the same to the kettle and the toaster when he couldn’t get them to work because he was still frustrated.
Gordon knew it took a lot for John to reach that level of pent up rage too. Usually it could be brushed aside as a minor annoyance, but there was times where he would snap, just like everyone else. Gordon liked teasing him before it got to that stage as he would let up and eventually talk about what was eating him up inside. He also knew it could be the exact opposite too. John never let on he had weaknesses and things but when Scott had to pull Gordon aside and talk about his college LSD habit he ran into the problem of the examples about him and Virgil involved John and when pressed for more details, Scott came clean.
Gordon learned his brother was human after all.
Gordon had more respect for John that he had for any of his brothers when it came to dealing with personal problems. He understood why Alan did too. This is why he understood John’s messed up mental state right now and why he was desperate to get Gordon out of the desert, even if it killed him.
He noticed his brother stopping again, this time to put Gordon down softly onto the sand. Gordon righted himself so he was sitting up but he couldn’t tell much from his brother’s expression.
“Maybe…. Ma… maybe some shade after...after all.”
“Shade?” Gordon looked at his brother as if John had finally gone a little more than just losing the plot.
“Can...on..” he murmured.
“Another one? Or have we gone in circles?” Gordon sounded worried when he realised they might have just been walking around back to where they escaped from.
“N-no…. Diff...ent. Looks…different.”
“Not really much choice regardless though is it?” Gordon gave John a reassuring smile.
“No….n..need shade.”
“How far?”
“Hour….ma..maybe half…”
“Can you walk that much longer?” Gordon sounded concerned. John as barley making sentences together and seemed to be swaying a little.
“Sick…” John rubbed his face with the balls of his hands harshly like a little child who was trying to fight sleep.
“Just a little bit longer John… I don’t know what we are going to do when it gets dark though. It can get really cold out here.” that was the other problem that had only just occurred to Gordon. Thermal suits aside, there was no way they were going to be able to last the night under the stars out here… at least he wouldn’t. Gordon was terrible when it came to the cold.
“Can’t...have…. Th..that..” John picked his brother up again a bit more carefully this time and started the long trek towards the distant promise of shelter from the weather.
Eventually, Gordon noticed his brother starting to stagger and started to encourage him to keep going. “Left foot…. Right foot… that’s it, left…”
This time John didn’t tell him to shut up and just let Gordon order him to move. He was struggling rather badly now and being told what he had to do meant he could mentally shut everything else out to concentrate.
“Right left… left.. Hey Johnny stop… STOP. We can’t go anywhere anymore.”
Gordon looked around at their new rocky surroundings. He was glad John did stop on command as otherwise he would have just walked right off the rock shelf they were standing on.
“Over there.” Gordon pointed with his good arm to another outcrop that looked pretty sable, out of the sun and the wind. “We can stop there… maybe wait it out a while.”
John slowly walked over to Gordon’s scouted spot and tucked Gordon under the outcrops shade and protection before flopping down in a heap beside him. Gordon didn’t let him fall asleep without leaning him onto his badly damaged lap as to keep a better eye on him and to also keep them both warm as the skies started going dark. He pulled John’s suit back over his shoulders then started trying to find the symbol buried under his brother’s hair. He didn’t recognise it and was pretty certain it wasn’t truly Arabic in origin. He would have to ask Scott, as long as John would agree to it it been seen.. As at least he could read it.
Gordon was used to his brothers looking out for him, only ever leaving Gordon to worry about himself and occasionally Alan. it wasn’t often he had to worry about any of the older three…. And even less so about John. That was Scott’s Job.
After all of this however, that view was going to change. Having his brother mindlessly relying on him to keep him going as he slowly fell to pieces Gordon was beginning to feel a sense of responsibility for looking after his older sibling as by doing so would help both of their survival.
Gordon woke up hours later shivering and wondering where his brother had gone. He didn’t need to look far, as his brother was crouching, listening to something in the dark.
An animal… hopefully Gordon felt himself holding his breath. But the way his brother was listening, watching… it was clear that it wasn’t going to be something that simple.
John seemed to be more alert with some sleep and Gordon was thankful for it as by now his body was starting to become a huge problem. The cold was not helping his broken bones and his other wounds had been weeping while he slept. If a fight broke out at any point Gordon knew that he was a sitting duck and if they took John down there was not alot he could do.
Gordon watched quietly as his brother slowly crept out from their hide, however the one thing that John lacked was the knowledge of how to stay within the shadows. In the dark it wouldn’t have made too much of a difference, but Gordon knew that John was now in the open and if there was anything hostile out there, made himself a very visible target. Gordon dragged himself across, keeping in the darkness, but getting close enough to his brother just to be able to keep an eye on him. John stared off into the dark mostly using his hearing to dictate where he could look. Gordon would have said it was like watching a cat but at least a cat could see in the dark. More like a rat… something that can hear really well, has poor eyesight but very twitchy and hyper aware that it was being watched.
John made a few steps forward as if to try and make out something in the darkness before gunshots rang out in the distance. He tried to duck back into the hide, but with Gordon in the way his route was blocked when the next lot of gunfire sounded. Gordon’s eyes were wide as his brother fell in front of him, bullet wound through his chest. Gordon grabbed his fallen sibling and attempted to drag him back into the safety of the overhang. He shook his brother and checked him over, breathing a little better that the shot didn’t hit anything vital and that his brother was still reasonably alright, just bleeding heavily from the wound. Gordon tried to put weight on it to stem the flow of blood as there was nothing at hand to do otherwise. There was more gunfire and a few bullets brushed the rock face over their heads.
Well, if they are hostile… they knew where they were now and they were pretty much dead. There wasn’t much else he could have done though. Gordon was in no condition to go anywhere and that wound John just acquired meant even if they were left alone they were going to die out here anyway. At least if it was their captors again they may be merciful and just take them back to be tortured…. But at least they’d be alive a little longer.
“International Rescue? Why would International Rescue be doing out here?”
Gordon paused. Their attackers spoke English… and knew about International Rescue.
That didn’t mean they were good guys by any means. As he heard footsteps getting closer, Gordon pulled his brother close and held him protectively although since it was one handed it looked more like he was using him as a shield.
Torches flickered into the crevice and Gordon winced as lights shone in his face, allowing whoever it was to see both him and John but unable to see who was holding the light. Well here goes nothing.
“Please… My brother was shot and I can’t walk. We had been held prisoner against our will till this morning… My brother managed to get us out and across the desert… but we won’t survive out here much longer…. No thanks to you.”
“Gords…”
“It’s alright John. if we are going to die, then someone should be held responsible.”
The lights were lowered or at the very least moved out of their faces when they realized who their new captors were. The leader indicated to one of his men, a young lady who wore the uniform of a medic to give them a hand while he turned and took the speaker for a radio com of a vox operator and made a call out.
“This is Lieutenant Gerfrik of squad 365; Tell the Commander of the GDF we have two people claiming to be International Rescue in our custody. Awaiting orders on what to do with them.”
Gordon tried hard to listen to the rest of the communications but the medic was pretty insistent to check him over the second she had stopped John from bleeding to death.
“Have you any water?” Gordon asked her. “My brother is really badly dehydrated.”
“I’m surprised you’re still able to talk.” she said, pausing to rummage in her pack. “You look worse than he does.”
“I’ve been though a lot worse than he has more times than I can count… I can hold it together a lot more.” Gordon tried to smile. “But it’s really only stubbornness and adrenaline that’s kept me functional… that and the fact between the two of us, someone still had to have a stroke of sanity.”
She handed Gordon a canteen of water. “Knock your socks off. While you do that, I’ll strap those broken bones in your legs and that arm.
“Sounds like a plan.” Gordon smirked. He held the canteen to John's lips and forced some water into his brother, before taking a sip himself. Sweet heebie-jeebies, it felt like forever that he’d been thirsty…. He couldn’t imagine how bad John had been feeling without any for days.”Oh uh.. You might want to give my brother some sedative before you try and stick any IV fluids into him….” Gordon felt as if he needed to let the young lady know something very important. “Last thing you want is my brother waking up thinking we’ve been captured again. He’ll put up a really nasty fight as the only thing that’s been coherent the last few hours had been his urge to protect me and get me to safety. Don’t want anyone else getting hurt.”
The medic nodded and Gordon sat back a little more on the rock behind him feeling a little better that they were now reasonably safe. Safe enough to let his guard down and finally fall asleep.
***
Being laid up in bed with three plaster casts was not Gordon’s idea of a
fun recovery. He had not been home for longer than a few days before
Colonel Casey from the GDF was in asking both him and John questions
about what had happened to them on their simple peacekeeping mission.
Gordon found he couldn’t bring himself to tell her very much as it made
him feel sick to recall the bit he could remember…. And well from what
he heard from the sick bay where John still was… she wasn’t going to be
finding anything out from him until he spoke to someone about PTSD
syndrome as he was still very much ready to attack anyone who tried to
touch him without him being sedated. He was worried about his older
sibling, clearly something were still pretty livid in his memory and he
was having a hard time trying to separate it from current reality.
Gordon knew what could be done about that, except his other brothers were getting in the way. He knew John needed to talk but on his own terms and no one was better qualified to do that than Gordon… except no one would let him. There was only so long you could keep feeding John sedatives before he got either suicidal or too dependent on them just to function and Gordon didn’t want either to happen after all the shit they had been through.
Right now his brother needed a shoulder that was steady enough and also someone who wouldn’t judge due to knowing exactly how it felt. Sadly no one was going to let him offer it.
That… and Gordon himself needed the extra comfort to remind him that he was at home. Not having his older brother fuss over him and being an annoying pain in the arse was getting to him. He couldn’t believe himself when he realised he was missing that small piece of his brother’s usual affection as it always irked him how whenever someone got badly hurt John would spend his time trying to make them feel better to recover faster. Right now he could have really used it.
Sure Scott came in along with Virgil and Alan, but it wasn’t the same. They all had their moments too when it came to helping someone along with a recovery but it lacked the free meals and the general ability to just be straight with someone about shit hitting the fan.
He found himself asking Alan for books that his older brother would usually read to try and fill that gap. He figured Alan must have been having a go at him as he brought several books on comedic science fiction, but then again… Gordon never realised how much he and John were the same until recently. He sat up most nights now reading ‘Good Omens’ and ‘Hitchhikers Guide to the galaxy’ and felt a little bit better that he knew where he stood in the family as of now. Gordon always felt like the odd one out being the one obsessed with water and the ocean… but now that obsession seemed parallel to the one bis brother had for space and what might be beyond the stars. He started to feel a little like he belonged in the family.
It was pretty late, his other brothers had stopped doing their rounds checking on the invalids and had knocked off for the night and Gordon found himself looking out his bedroom window from the comfort of being sandwiched between several over stuffed pillows. The stars glittered over the ocean which reflected them back in kind. It was a beautiful sight. He really wished he could be out there to enjoy it.
“Gords?”
Gordon rolled over and could just make out someone slouching in the doorway to his bedroom. Slouching might not have been the exact word once Gordon realised who it was. Smiling, Gordon patted the side of his bed with his arm that was in plaster so it made a really good thumping sound. It took a few seconds for his visitor to stand upright and make their way over to the bed, almost dropping on the double mattress like a heavy stone.
“Hey careful, still in plaster!” Gordon grumbled, but the smile didn’t fade.
His brother cuddled into him tight and burned his head into the crook of his neck. “Sorry Gordie.” the apology was quiet and very childlike.
“It’s ok.” Gordon whispered back, letting himself just melt into his brothers warm embrace. Occasionally he could feel his brother shake and adjust his arms around him, sometimes tightening his grip which to Gordon meant his brother was reassuring himself that he was still there and still alive. In away, John was still a really big kid that had been forced to grow up far too fast, leaving certain parts of his personality deeply buried in a box marked ‘still a child.’ sometimes Gordon hated it, but right now he was happy to be smothered by his brother, the big terrified kid who just wanted his sibling to be safe.
Maybe one day they’ll sit and talk about this… but for now this was plenty.
PRESENT DAY
Virgil walked into the hanger and saw Holo-John running his virtual hands over the bottom of Thunderbird Four's hull. He looked extremely solemn.
"I remember when we found the missing sea base." It said quietly. "Gordon got hurt and I had to adhoc teach Alan how to resurface in this thing. The images they sent back of the place.." The hologram shook it's head. "Did you know the photos mum had were just like the ones dad used to take? You'd think they only had four sons."
"John, you know that's not -"
The hologram gave a resigned smile. "It was three of you till I was six. I guess for mum and dad it was easier to think that as I found alot of evidence in dad's digital diary logs that confirmed it. To him I was technically already dead."
The hologram spun on it's heel and attempted to touch Virgil and looked very hurt when it's hand went through his shoulder. It then looked away towards the open hanger doors.
"Do you know what it feels like to have someone look at you as if you're a ghost? To look through you and out the other side?"
Virgil hesitated. "Uh wrong thing to ask me when I currently can see through you, John."
Holo-John looked dejected. "Forget it Virgil. If this is how anyone will ever remember me - if they do at all - then its wasn’t worth it. Nothing more than a foot note."
It inhaled a deep breath. "Take me off life support and offline, Virgil. There's nothing for me to fight hard to come back too...and I -I can't do it myself, well I could but...that being the last thing I ever remember is pulling my own plug then my life hasn't really been worth anything to me or anyone else."
"I won't let you do that John."
The holgram looked up and so did Virgil to see Alan walking in through the hanger doors. Behind him, two young boys of roughly seven were walking into things, eyes alight with awe.
"You really did a number on Thunderbird One out there huh?" Alan said giving his older brother's both a warm hug, although in Holo-John's case he tried his best, stepping back awkwardly and laughing.
"Alan..."
"The boys got your message and when I heard your voice from our living room... I knew - I knew you were in trouble."
While Alan was talking, David had walked up to Thunderbird Two and just stood there staring with a big 'Wow' expression on his face. Andrew, the older one of the two by five minutes had walked around the other side of Thunderbird Four and was out of view.
"Well this wasn't exactly what I was -"
"It was one hundred percent what you had planned, John." Virgil crossed his arms.
"I did not plan on crashing Thunderbird One!" John hissed, his voice low. "Nor did I plan on having you both turn up here and Gordon decide to dig up things that should be buried with me when I die!"
"Are you really Uncle John?"
The hologram froze before slowly turning around. "Yeah...sort of. You're Andrew, right?"
The kid stood tall. "How can you tell? Me and David are Identical."
The hologram squatted infront of the kid, even at forty seven John was still a tower compared to everyone else. "You'd think so but that scar under your right eye is from when you fell off you BMX bike on your fourth birthday at the park trying to copy one of your dad's stunts. Also your brother David has a freckle just by the ear lobe here." The hologram reached out and pointed to the spot.
"Did you know we share a birthday?" David said as he trotted over.
"Indeed I do. With me." The hologram gave the boys a smug smile. "Hearing about it was the best present I ever had. Sorry I've never visited though I'm sure you boys understand why."
"Yeah! You fly the Thunderbirds! That's like SUPER AWESOME!" Andrew jumped up and down excitedly.
"He sent them the plans for the bottle rockets, didn’t he?" Alan whispered to Virgil. "It was either him or Gordon and I've always suspected someone was always still watching us."
Virgil chuckled. "Along with everything else Alan."
"How is he really?"
"Physically or mentally?"
"Both."
"You can see the physical for yourself while the boys are out here." Virgil indicated towards where the medical facilities were. "Mentally it was taking it's toll until you and the boys turned up."
"I always knew how how to fix him, Virgil. He just rarely let me." Alan winked, before excusing himself to go and see the injuries his brother had suffered in the crash.
FLASH BACK (original here)
When Alan was first shown the stars, it's wasn't because of their fathers old career, or their dead mother's fascination with them that made Alan want to fly spaceships and touch them. It was John.
Now, at seventeen, his eldest brother Scott had finally relented and let him spend more of his time in space with his older brother at the space station that orbited around the earth, provided he used Thunderbird three to get there instead of the dangerous lift system that the second eldest used to shoot up through orbit, because Scott never did like that contraption and was always dreading the day it would snap and send his closest aged sibling hurdling towards certain death.
Alan had been meaning to tell Brains to upgrade the pilot seats in the red rocket -amongst other things - because now he was too tall for the seats shoulder holds to keep him in place on lift off. He knew the engineer had other things to occupy his time, the biggest of the Thunderbirds needed some serious upgrades to some system or another due to a major malfunction on a previous rescue that left his brothers Virgil and Gordon trapped in a blizzard in Russia, both lucky not to have lost their lives to hypothermia.
Squished in his seat, he moved some screens around the holographic projection and created a link-up with Thunderbird five's communications.
“This is Thunderbird three contacting Thunderbird five, I'm ETA two hours from you current location and will be docking with you shortly.”
“F.A.B. Thunderbird three. How's she looking today Alan?”
Alan grinned back at the holographic picture of his older brother John, professional star-man on the monitor. “She's holding together nicely, bit shaky but she's an old girl.” Alan subconsciously ran his hand lovingly over the Thunderbird's controls as if she was his mistress. “I think this might be her last trip before asking Brains to give her an overhaul before coming up again. I'd like to be able to have my shoulders not scream in agony in the safety bars on launch.”
“Your fault for growing, baby brother.” his brother chuckled. Years of being the one doing all the communications in space, listing to distress calls and taking a back seat to all the action on the ground was showing on his features. Sure, John did spend time on earth now and then to starve off space illness – the unfortunate side affect of being alone in zero gravity for long periods could do a lot of damage to one's body mentally and physically – but it wasn't enough to take all the screams for help away.
“Yeah well I had to have a growth spurt sometime. There was no way I was going to be shorter than Gordon the rest of my life.” Alan laughed. Alan was now the second tallest of the Tracy clan, getting a very late growth spurt and now he was only several inches shorter than John, who also was the same in the height department and stood at a good six foot eighty five. He was also as skinny as John, but a little broader in the shoulders due to having more muscles from doing ground level rescues along with the rest of them. The differences between them were smaller now, the only way someone outside the family could tell was than now John's hair was more redder and Alan's more muted and that Alan's deep blues eyes were a striking contrast to John's hazel greens.
John shook his head. “I promise I won't tell him that.” Gordon, the second youngest in the family was the shortest and hated being reminded of it.
John's expression changed slightly as he seemed to divert his attention to something on the screen in front of him. Alan could see him swiping his hand across his holographic display on board the space station and then something flicked on the one in front of Alan.
“There seems to be an asteroid storm in your vicinity Thunderbird three, you might want to change course to avoid it.”
“F.A.B. Changing course now, sending thrusters to turn on a temporary fourteen degree angle.” Alan put his arms into the hand controls and carefully turned them, making the whole ship move.
“Alan, you're not moving out of reach fast enough, Change course now!”
“I'm trying, she seems to be stuck.” Alan tried turning the controls again and heard them click under the strain. They were refusing to budge. “Going to attempt to fire boosters, maybe I can out run it.”
He moved his left hand down over the booster rocket leaver and pulled it upward, the rockets extra power spluttering into life and propelling the rocket forward at a faster speed.
“I Think I might just miss it by a sm-”
Something big hit the rear engines of the ship, spinning it around wildly, shattering debris and sending it off into deep space. Thunderbird three had lost two out of it's three main engines, but was still mostly intact. Another meteor clipped it and sent it spinning wildly off course.
EOS, Thunderbird fives on board Artificial Intelligence and at times John's only friend outside of his family and International Rescue operatives, threw up any information it could find on the rockets last know status before everything went dead.
“I'm sorry to report John you're brother's dead in space. There's no power and no engines, the only thing I can find running is life support and I'm not sure if that's functioning as I have as much contact with the craft as you do.”
“Can you scan for life signs?” John felt the panic rise in his throat but held out by trying to concentrate on trying to match the stricken craft's current flight path. As a whole, they had decided as a family that despite all the dangerous things that they do, no one would be left behind, and even if everything was to go bad, they where at least responsible for bringing the body of the dead back home. It was a grizzly thought but a conversation they had to have numerous times. John hated the idea more than anyone else as no matter who it was he was always going to be the one listening to one of his brothers final moments clinging onto life. It was the one thing -besides Gordon's pranks- that kept him awake at night back on earth.
EOS's ever chirpy, childlike voice replied, “Only if I can get within range, we are too far out for me to run a scan.”
“That can be arranged.” John had managed to get a fix on the rocket's location. He grabbed the space stations console controls in front of him and pulled hard down on the engine leavers, which usually kept it in it's designated orbit and used the gravity ring to balance it out as it sling shot around the earth and into the same orbital location as the red Thunderbird.
EOS was quick to scan the second the craft came into view, and already John could see the damage. The rear end of the ship was mangled, however the middle and the front crew pit were still largely intact.
“Live signs detected, scan has also picked up that the back up life support is only operational.” EOS ran off the diagnostics, but John only listened to the main things he wanted to hear.
His little brother was still alive.
John turned and ran along the gravity ring, sliding along until he was in front of the space suits, oxygen tanks and other equipment and started grabbing gear that he knew he would need to get on board the stricken spacecraft. Grapple hooks, the grapple blaster, Alan's spare jet powered space board, extra helmet and extra air tank. One things was certain, John was happy that the gravity in space made a lot of the stuff he equipped about his person light to carry, otherwise he wouldn't be able to go anywhere with the extra weight.
“EOS, Patch a line down to base and get Brains on the line. I'm going to need the manual over ride codes for Thunderbird three.”
“You can't be serious John! I Like Alan as much as you and even I think you're about to commit suicide!” EOS sounded worried in her childlike way. She trusted John completely as her protector from the world down below where if anyone got their hands on her and her code she could be used to do very horrible things. It had taken time for her to get used to the idea of Alan coming on board of Thunderbird five, but warmed up to the younger sibling realising that the kid she almost killed with the grabbing claw years before when she was first on board the station was just as loveable as his brother was towards her.
“I'm dead serious.” John's face was grave. “I'd never ever leave Alan hanging, Dead or alive, I will always make sure I'm there to bring him back home safe. I promised at mum's funeral that that's what I'll do no matter what, My baby brother will never be alone.” John looked up at the camera that rotated around the space station that EOS now used as her own virtual eyes. “Grab the ship with the claw and hold her steady for me while I’m out there and keep an eye on those meteors as they are still in range. If they get too close and you can't deflect them with your blasters, then let us go and get back into normal orbit.”
“Without you?”
“Yes. Hopefully we'll be safe on the rocket and I have power functioning again.” he gave the camera a weak smile. He didn't want to leave EOS alone in space in the same way he didn't want to leave Alan. After all she was more than just a computer program now, his older brother Scott once saying she was like John's virtual daughter. She was – and always will be- John's happy little coding accident. “Don't worry, I still have links to you in my suit. You'll know if something is wrong.”
And with that, he stepped out into the air lock, and as soon as it de-pressurised, he was on the Jet board heading out towards the vessel, with EOS in control of the grabbing claw, grabbing onto the rocket to hold her steady.
He reached the cock pit portal of the craft and peered inside. Alan was still trapped in the pilot seat, drifting in and out of consciousness, a large wound to the side of his head. Something must have come off the walls inside and struck him in the impact, and the way the metal straps were holing him into the seat he also had to be suffering from whiplash as they didn't really offer much protection for a person his size.
Now, John had a problem. He had to get inside and do it without loosing as much air inside the ship as possible, however if he was going to use the manual override codes, those doors - once opened were never going to be shut, possibly tearing off with the sheer force of vacuum in space. He felt his way along the side of the ship, careful not to use the jet board encase he over shot the hatchway of the main body and got himself stuck too far out to come back. The suits, while amazing and streamlined were horrible at keeping a good supply for more than two hours. Visions of Gordon's talk about what happens to a person when you are under the sea and you suit de-pressurises from a lack of air inside were fighting to be heard, but John wasn't about to chicken out now, as the last thing he wanted to picture was the insides of his body all ending up inside his helmet as if it had skinned his whole carcass. Ok, so that happening in space without the pressure around you wasn't going to happen, but the very idea of it was enough to make you want to vomit.
He by passed the entrance hatch to the cock pit and went for the cargo hold door, figuring that if the door to the cockpit at the back of it on the inside might possibly close and seal off the vacuum keeping them alive long enough to get some power into the ship was a better alternative to killing them outright, clicked a cable from his suit to the side of the hatchway and opened the panel to access the manual override keys.
“Ok EOS, have you got a hold of Brains yet?”
“Patching him through to you now John.” these was a hesitant pause. “John?”
John knew he wasn't going to get the codes unless he responded. “Yes?”
“Your brother Scott is on the line and demanding to know what's happened to Thunderbird three.”
“Tell him I'm finding out right now and to keep his boxers from getting in a knot. Also tell him not to tell anyone else yet, I don't want them trying to get on my com feed while I’m trying to concentrate.” last thing he wanted was his other three brothers, their sister by accidental adoption and their grandmother on the line asking questions and getting in the way. It's not like they could do anything to help anyway, the rocket was the only way to get up out of the atmosphere for any of them to be of use.
“J-John I've got w-what you asked, but why?” Brain's voice came over the feed, loud and clear.
“I need to break into it, there's no power and Alan's stuck inside.” he kept the information to a minimum, he didn't want to make the engineer panic thinking something horrible happened to his specialty designed machine.
“Ok J-John, sending you them now.”
The glass on the suit's helm lit up with a tiny holographic LCD screen with a list of numbers and letters. John punched them into the key pad and the door began to hiss and unseal itself. The only downside to the manual override was that the cargo hold could not be de-pressurised first, so the suction of the air being sucked straight out into space was intense. Anything that was not bolted down was zooming past and blowing out into the abyss – boxes, spare suits, ration bars, extinguishers- the sheer power of the vacuum at work.
When he was certain he wasn't going to be hit by any flying debris, John leaned in the hatch way and aimed the grappling gun towards the door leading into the main cockpit, trying to find a place where a cord could get a good fix before firing. Changing the cord to clamp onto his suit, he struggled to pull himself inside against the vacuum, as if he was trying to walk in a hurricane.
He reached the door and anchored his suit again to the side of it, as this time the door was sealed with a turn wheel and he needed both hands free to do it. He swore as he tried putting his whole body weight into it, wishing that he had the strength of his younger brother Virgil and his 'jaws of life' power armour to get it to budge. That's why he was on the communications end, he just didn't have the physical build to do rescues of this nature.
He wouldn't let some stupid steel door stop him.
He growled as he struggled to get the door to budge, eventually it gave and flung open violently, throwing John backwards from the impact. Thank the stars he was still attached to the cable otherwise he'd have been sucked back out of the ship. He had to hurry, the air from the cock pit was sucking out rapidly and Alan could be asphyxiated if he couldn't get inside in time.
He had to drag himself along the cable and fire another one into the main cockpit, fighting with himself to change the cord over and then pull himself into the cockpit and up along side the seats. His brother was gasping for air, his lungs and throat burning as the air was being taken from them. The spare helm that John had strapped to his waist was quickly placed over his brother's head and the air tank was attached, filling the entire thing with a rush of oxygen.
Alan choked as the air filled his lungs and it took a few minutes for him to blearly focus his eyes on his brother. His vision was a mess, every few seconds he felt dizzy and like he was going to black out. He knew he must had taken a blow to the head, so he tried as hard as he could to keep his attention on his brother's worried face.
“Alan, are you ok?” sure it was the most obvious sentence in the world, but John was lucky to get any words out at all. “Come on Alan, speak to me.”
Alan tried to swallow and swore he was trying to eat a spoonful of cinnamon. “John?” he breathed out as if he was trying to force the words out of his lips.
“That's right, I'm here. I need you to stay with me..I have to close the hatch otherwise we will run out of breathable air from our tanks before we get sucked out into the vacuum.” John started fiddling with another grapple pack and attached one end to Alan's suit and the other back to the main console. “First I got to get you out of that thing. I saw the spare passenger chairs in the cargo bay get sucked out into the void and I don't doubt for a second this thing will be ripped free too.” the chairs for the pilot and co-pilot of Thunderbird three slid into place for launch and were locked into position, and the chance of them staying there long in a strong enough vacuum was millions to one. Already he could hear creaking of the seats trying to pull backward against the struts that held them in place.
“Right, F.A.B.” Alan choked out, squinting as his vision swam. He raised his arms and pushed at the secure metal that held him into the seat. He knew he wasn't strong enough to lift them on his own but with John pulling at them as well, they started to budge and rise, letting him free. It was like lifting several tons of bricks, his arms were screaming at him to stop pushing. He had to try otherwise if the seats did come loose he would be crushed against the back of the cockpit in them making this whole rescue a wasted effort on his behalf. John was quick to grab Alan's arm and pull him close till his brother steadied himself and was able to adjust to the sudden suction back towards the rear of the cockpit.
“I shouldn't have kept putting off asking Brains about those upgrades.” Alan mumbled, his voice sounding thick with tar. “She's far too old for this sort of thing.”
“It's ok Alan, it could have happened at any time.”
“Incoming meteors in approximately 10 minutes!” EOS's voice shrieked terrified into the coms of both their helmets.
“Disengage claw EOS and get out of here!” John barked back.
“I can't leave you both to die!” the AI shouted back, panic clearly in it's voice. EOS had been around both of them for so long she had picked up emotions of her own and was not ashamed of using them to try and guilt her human companions into seeing sense.
“And we can't risk another ship being damaged and obliterated in space!” John snapped.
Alan coughed a few times before adding, “Please EOS, if we managed to avoid being struck again you can come back an reel us in. But you need to listen, you can't help if your incapacitated too.” he choked a few more breaths before John had to grab him to stop him from letting go of the main console as his head decided it couldn't take the punishment. John braced himself hooking his right leg under the main chair's seat so he could hold onto both his brother, the console and not be sucked out the cabin hatchway at the same time.
“But boys! If I let go-”
“JUST DO IT EOS!” Both Tracy’s managed to shout.
They could feel the claw letting the ship go with a sudden jerk and the ship slightly spin, until the gravity vacuum started to change. For a brief moment it was pushing both of them against the view port of the ship and then back again, only this time the suction was harder, and more violent.
It didn't occur to either of them that the ship was being sucked into earth's orbit.
What was left of Thunderbird three shuddered and groaned, creaking as panelling from the inside and out was trying to tear itself apart. Without thinking, John held onto Alan even tighter hoping it was only just shrapnel hitting them from the meteor shower. Usually he would have loved to be sitting with his brother watching them pelt the sky, but being this dangerously near them filled the older sibling with dread. Something was wrong.
John really should have been paying attention to the noises coming from inside the cock pit. If he had he would have realised that the seats where being pulled by the stronger vacuum as the rocket began to plummet back towards the planet.
“Shi-” Alan started to say as he noticed through the view port how quick they where moving forwards, when the seat tore completely free from is fixtures.
John's right leg, never stood a chance.
“EOS, what's happening up there?” Scott demanded, leaning in at the hologram he had of the empty space station. He was in Jeff Tracy's old office having had the forthought of Brains to install a separate communications channel in there encase they got a call out that was too horrible to have any of his other brothers watch.
“It's a disaster!” the AI sulked. “They wouldn't let me pull them into safety! They didn't want to listen!”
“Calm down, what's the situation?” Scott tried to remain as calm as possible. He still didn't trust the AI after it attempted to kill a Tokyo skyrail driver and then attempt to murder both of his brothers years back.
“There was going to be an incoming meteor shower and they told me to get out as they didn't want to loose another ship and retrieve them if there was anything left.” the AI seemed to sob. “I tried to warn them if I let go they'd be taken back into earth's orbit! They haven’t even got the hatch shut on the cargo hold! They are going to fry on the way down!”
Scott wanted to swear and throw something, unleashing the frustration he felt. But what could he do? The only craft that could go up into space was the one that was already there and damaged so he had to rely on John, who had very little rescue experience hands on in the field and Alan who's experience was while not half bad, wasn't as extensive as the rest of them as he was usually used as a back up pilot and rescues didn't happen often in space. He had to trust them that they knew what they were doing. He knew they where both quite capable, but just how much?
“EOS, can you calculate their trajectory?” Scott asked. If they were not going to survive, at least he better know the location of where to find his younger sibling's bodies.
“Not far from Tracy Island, about 200 miles east of it, into the Pacific ocean.”
“Right, thank you.” Scott darted out of the office, bolted down the hall and into the living room where Virgil and Gordon were sitting, Gordon reading a book and Virgil sketching his brother.
“Get you gear on, we have an emergency, Hopefully we find something to bring back home.”
Both brother's exchanged glances. It was unusual for Scott to look so frazzled, and to also reel off a rescue as a recovery mission. Something was going on that he wasn't telling them.
“You heard me, MOVE! Virgil we need the pod for Thunderbird four, Gordon, have you got a spare scuba suit?”
Virgil had already made a run for the shaft that lead down to the bigger transport Thunderbird while Gordon tried to catch up with Scott to take the alternative elevator.
“I do, but it might be a tight squeeze.”
“Doesn't matter, I have to come with you in Thunderbird four. You are going to need serious help with this one.”
“That bad huh?”
Scott didn't say anything. Gordon didn't push it. He knew he had to keep his mind on the job, whatever the hell it might be.
***
Alan was fighting with his head. He wanted to be sick and pass out but he had to fight it. John had let go of the controls panel and was shaking, his body was starting to be affected by shock. He had lost all the colour in his already pale features, the only thing that had been a blessing was the way his leg tore happened so fast, he didn't even have time to register any pain. Alan couldn't quite see where the tear was, but his brother's leg was just no longer there below the knee. He was more than likely going to die from shock before blood loss. The chairs had wedged themselves in the hatchway completely blocking the opening, the saving grace of it keeping the flames that surrounded the rocket as it started to burn up on re-entry out of the cock pit and the whole cargo hold was now engulfed in a searing hot inferno.
They were going to die, there was nothing anyone could do. Alan's hand curled around his brother tight. It was rather ironic in a way, they were always together and now looks as if they were going to die together too. Alan didn't believe in any religion, he didn't think anyone who'd take his mother away before he even got to know her was an entity to put faith in, but John... was always there, fighting off invisible monsters, reading him stories, showing him how pretty the stars were, helping him prank his brothers... Alan was never sure if he ever once said 'thank you.' he had heard his brother say it numerous times to him, but he was certain he had never in return.
A lot of what he said came out as chest shaking sobs, but it didn't matter. He needed to keep talking for both of them, even to the very end.
***
“Do you see anything Virgil?”
“I'm sorry Scott. It would help if I knew what I was looking for.”
Scott couldn’t sit in his seat and it was making his brother's nervous about what they were doing around the middle of the ocean. Something was clearly up they we're not privy too and it was starting to get on their nerves.
“What exactly ARE we looking for?” Gordon folded his arms, growing ever more frustrated with the lack of information exchange.
“If you must know, Thunderbird three...” Scott's voice snapped angrily. “What's left of it.”
“What the hell do you mean, 'what's left of it?'” Gordon sat to attention, completely horrified. “What the hell happened?”
“Are you sure it's Thunderbird three Scott? Alan would have made contact with John at the station by now. You know what they are like, they won't call till it's late just to drive you crazy.” Virgil's brow furrowed, puzzled. Alan and John both pulled pranks like Gordon every now and again just to see how far they could push Scott's temper. Surely they are joking around this time and sending him on a wild goose chase.
“I'm sure.”
“What's that?” Gordon had gotten out of his own seat and was leaning to see out the front glass. Something had streaked across and crashed into the ocean.
“That's it!” Scott shouted. “Come on Gordon, we have some cargo to retrieve.”
“They were not on board, were they Scott?” Virgil's voice wavered.
“If they are? What would you have done? There was no way any of us could get to them in space.”
Virgil punched the console of Thunderbird two. “Damn it Scott! Why wouldn't you tell us?”
“It wouldn't have made any difference.” Scott looked dark in his expression, as if he didn't like the situation any more than his brothers did. “But we have a promise to keep regardless.”
“Bring them home, or not at all.” Gordon hung his head as he said it, trying not to look at anyone. He was also pretty close to both Alan and John and the news hit him pretty hard.
“Right, let's go see if we can.”
***
Grandma Tracy was trying her best to answer all of the incoming rescue calls. With no one on board Thunderbird five the default setting on the calls were re-directed back to Tracy Island. Kayo was doing her best to help and was wondering why Thunderbird two wasn't taking calls, or Thunderbird five being communicationally unfunctional.
“What are those darn grandsons of mine playing at?” Grandma Tracy scowled.
“I don't know but I bet it's something serious.” Kayo sounded a little concerned herself. She hated when she got left out of the loop and today was no different. Her job had gotten more interesting these days, doing a lot more undercover work along side Lady Penelope and the Global Defence force, but she was still ever faithful to International Rescue. “It’s not like John to shirk his duties, even with Alan there. The last time he was showing him what to do, so something has got to be wrong.”
“Gang way coming through! Grandma get Brains down to the med bay we've got an emergency!” Gordon came running through the living room at high speed, still in his wet scuba gear.
“What is the meaning of this Gordon Tracy?” Grandma Tracy growled, he voice could have peeled wall paper. “We have calls for rescues coming out of our ears and your running around like a headless chicken!” Gordon ignored her and grabbed Kayo by the arm, “Call the Global Defence force and redirect any emergency calls we have gotten, we have a crisis of our own!”
“What for Gordon? You're back so you can go out on them- oh my word!” Kayo covered her mouth to stop herself from shouting. Scott had come in trying to make head way as fast as he could with Alan being piggy backed against him, completely unconscious and still wearing his helmet.
“Get the med bay ready now!” Scott hissed at Gordon. “Virgil's on his way up and John's lost too much blood already!” Scott started to move again, towards a hidden panel in the wall which was the doorway down to the hidden medical facility their father built for them to use in an emergency if it ever arose.
“Sorry Kayo, this blood banks got a job to do.” Gordon gave a heartfelt smile. He had given up chasing after Lady Penelope for her affections, realising she only had eyes for the two eldest in the family, and had started to try his luck with Kayo who had gotten rather pretty the older she had got. He had stiff competition though, she seemed to have eyes for all of them at one point or another.
“Blood bank?”
“Best bit about having a crew that's all related, never have a problem finding a emergency blood supply.” Gordon joked to try and make the idea of his donation easier. He hated it when it was his turn, needles made him faint. He scurried after Scott, leaving Kayo and Grandma Tracy all alone to face what came through the living room next.
Virgil had really tried. He had treated his older brother for shock on board his Thunderbird and had done his best to stop the bleeding he had not expected to have to pin his brother down while Scott had to use the laser cutter to cleanly remove any skin that didn't correctly tear and in essence cauterise the wound. They couldn't even find the rest of his leg, putting it down to having it completely sucked out into space on the way down. He couldn't be certain until there was an x-ray, but it felt like the bone had been torn from the knee socket and the rest was just a complete mess. Truth be told he was amazed when they had been brought on board alive at all, Gordon excitedly talking about how much he couldn't believe how good their spacesuits and equipment was. If it wasn't for those they would have drowned on impact, though the little air that was left in the tanks meant it was very close thing.
He was careful carrying his brother through, trying to keep the missing limb hidden though people were going to notice that they could only see one foot dangling over his arms. He was navigating doorways with care, John's height making it hard to get through them as he held him. He didn't expect the expressions of horror he got when his Grandmother and Kayo saw him.
He had hoped he would never have to do this with his brother again. Sure, John was accident prone as hell back on earth but he was usually the only one who never got into a situation like this, the few rescuses he ever had preformed had always placed him in a position where he couldn't be injured. Scott made sure of it after the night when the whole deal about Internationl Rescuse had been sprung on them, as they had almost lost John that same evening. They couldn't aford to loose most of the brains behind the whole operation now either. Virgil knew that between himself and his sibling, it was the two of them that managed to keep the whole rabble together.
He didn't look up as Kayo grabbed their grandmother to stop her from rushing over. Thank you whatever god had been listening, he thought as he walked through the living room towards the med bay.
“Grandma,” Kayo said quietly. “I need your help to send out the call to the GDF. The boys can handle the emergency for now. We have to let someone know that we are currently un-operational due to an accident involving our own crew. They'll understand.” she gave her adoptive grandmother a hug. “They'll be fine, I promise.”
**
Alan struggled to open his eyes. His head was thumping like he had been drinking whatever had been left to ferment in their father's drink cabneit over the years. The light stung like hell but he managed, as now the rest of his body was writing out checks he just couldn't cash.
He couldn't remember how they survived, but they must have. It wasn't his first time waking up in the infirmary afterall. Usually it was because he was assisting Gordon on some dangerous rescue or another and his brother had forgotten his little brother didn't have the same amount of knowledge as he did and didn't give Alan enough of a warning to get out of the way.
Alan never minded, it was one of the few occasions Scott wasn't allowed to harrass John for not being up in space taking calls – because John would get Virgil and Gordon to beat him up for it if he tried. Without fail he would be sitting on the end of the bed, reading something like Douglas Adams or Neil Gaiman and would be more than happy to read out parts if Alan asked. He always did so, as he knew he was too old to ask his brother to sing songs for him to make him feel better. He wasn't five years old anymore, but his brother's voice always made him feel that everything was ok.
Speaking of which... where was he? Alan could barely remember the whole incident let alone ever letting go of his brother. He was certain somewhere along the line he had him in a one handed death grip.
He moved his headslowly, the splitting headache threating to spill his brain all over the floor. He frowned, trying to focus.
“Enjoy your nap Space man?”
“John?”
“That's my name,” his brother chuckled, his voice sounding rather horse. “Don't wear it out.”
“I promise I won't Star man.” Alan smiled weakly. It had taken a little longer than he liked to finally make out his brother sitting in a comfy arm chair beside him, holding his usual 'I'm just minding my own business but I'm happy to read it out' book for the day. It was the big hard back edition of H.G.Wells collected stories that Alan had gotten for him from an op shop near his university a few years ago. Like himself, John couldn't resist a hard cover copy of a book as the weight of something real in your hands was much more satisfying than reading off a tablet screen.
He started to take in other details, the strikingly obvious from the IV and blood drips going into John's left arm and the set or crutches leaning against the wall, to the least, like bruising around his wrists from where Alan had grabbed him when he started going into shock on re-entry.
“Don't push yourself.” John said queitly as Alan shifted in an atempt to sit up. “Wait till Virgil comes back. He's been hovering around here worse than a UFO around a farm, mostly to keep everyone else out.”
“You couldn't keep everyone out of here huh?” Alan found the energy to laugh a little.
“No. But I have tried.” John smirked. “If I can't leave this room without an armed escort, neither can you.”
“Fair deal.” Alan stared at the ceiling. “I'm sorry, if it wasn't for me...”
“Wasn't for what? You don't control the meteors in space. Gravity does that. Granted, Thunderbird three should have gone through it's scheduled maintenance, but the old girl hadn't failed till now.” John gave his brother a reassuring smile.
“Things happen Alan, I don't regret nothing about it.” John brushed it all aside and then grinned like a bit of a fool. “It may not have been an official rescue, but it was a nice reminder of why I don't get to do any of the physical labour on a mission and left in reserve if we are desperate. However I can't lie and say it wasn't an adrenaline rush, something that has been lacking for sometime being up on that station.” It was the truth, John, like the rest of them was a self confessed adrenaline junkie.
“But your leg..”
“What about it? It's a badge of honour, something that makes me feel like a belong to this stupid organisation which, let's face it, hasn't really happened since we started. Ok sure, I've flown thunderbirds one and three before on the rare off chance that you guys needed an extra set of hands, but it's still far removed form the action.” he stretched himself out. “Think of it like this, it's a reminder for me the lengths I would go to make sure you're safe Alan. For anyone of us. I don't regret any of it.”
“You always were a weird one John.”
“Hopefully I still am.”
“That's good, I wouldn't have you any other way.” Alan joked. “You wouldn't be my favourite brother otherwise.”
“You're just saying that.” John went red. He knew that it was true. It had always been that way ever since Alan was small. Sure he played with his other brothers, but it was always John he came back to. If he didn't John was always going out of his way to find him. John's shadow? Nah... More like Alan's keeper.
***
“What are you doing down here Brains? Shouldn’t you be packing?”
John hobbled his way into a spare chair that was gratefully free of clutter in the engineer's laboratory. The crutches were starting to hurt his armpits and it was a great relief to be able to put them down. He would have had a prosthetic limb by now if Brains had not insisted he had a better idea. It had been three months now since the incident in space and while Alan was nice enough to take John’s position onboard Thunderbird Five for the time being, they still really need him up there to do his job as Alan was still learning the ropes.
“I-I left MAX to do that.” Brains said, not looking up from his current project on his workbench. There was wires and cables everywhere, nuts and screws and occasionally Brains was welding something together.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? Last time you left it to MAX he didn’t pack you any pants.”
“I-It won’t happen this time I-I assure you John.”
“No because this time he’ll fail to pack you some underwear. You don’t want to buy any on board the boat cruise, it will cost a fortune just for a pair of boxers.”
“I-I’m sure you guys could spare the cash.”
“I’m sure we could Brains. Your friends with billionaires after all.” John chuckled.
“T-True, but I-I also have my own fortune tucked away. I-I still earn a lot of money despite working e-exclusively for you fellers these days.” Brains stood back to admire his work before leaning back towards it to continue.
“What are you working on?” John asked out of interest. Curiosity got the better of him, something he didn’t get much of these days. There was times being a part of International Rescue sapped the fun out of things.
“S-Scott’s been on my back about that leg of yours. He said that whatever I-I’m planning to do to hurry up as y-your not going on the cruise with crutches. A-Apparently people would notice. He’s got a thing against n-newspapers thinking something is wrong with your family.”
“Do you blame him? If the press starts poking their nose into our lives the very secrets we keep will be out in the open and there’s too much at stake now to let that happen. Dad tried really hard to keep us out of the limelight and well, we didn’t do very much to prevent a lot of the press we ended up getting to begin with other than have jobs that put us in the spotlight for time to time. It’s only natural for people to be curious about the world's most reclusive rich people.” John poked the floor with one of his crutches.
“Personally I don’t care whether or not they think I lopped off my own leg because I’m an eccentric rich bastard. They might leave me alone, as you can’t go anywhere these days without someone trying to find out some exclusive about us.” He sighed. “They really are trying to work out who’s behind International Rescue and to a lot of the press it seems rather strange we all gave up great careers to live out here as bachelors on an island… people get ideas.”
“T-That’s why we are going on this cruise is it? T-To appear normal?”
“That wasn’t my idea. You can blame Lady Penelope for that.” John looked at his watch. “Alan should be coming home soon, I just hope we can all cope not being all wired up for a whole week and let the Global Defence Force take the strain while we try and relax. Afterall, sometimes the world's best rescue organization needs to take a holiday.”
“Y-You don’t sound too e-excited.”
“Brains, I’ve been out of the loop for three months. It’s not exactly been a picnic. There’s only so many books you can read to stay entertained. Without Alan around there’s little point playing any video games or watching the latest movies, watching Gordon swim laps in the pool isn’t the slightest bit as interesting as it used to be either.” He sighed. “Not having anything to do gets to you after awhile and being on a cruise ship doing exactly that for another week might just drive me crazy.”
“Y-You did help me with the suit upgrades, w-wasn’t that enough?”
“No offence Brains but my idea of helping you didn’t include you trying to electrocute me in the process.” John winced when he thought about the tweaks the engineer had tried to make to his space suit so he could do the same upgrades for Alan’s. The electrical wires in the suit had been connected wrong and John got a lovely burn all the way down his arms and his remaining leg. That had not been a fun day. The upside was he had an excuse as to why he didn’t have to sit in the sunshine on the cruise ship.
“B-Be that as it may, I-I was glad for the help. I-I wouldn’t have known otherwise.” Brains finally stopped working and held up what he had been working on. As far as John could tell it was a mess of wires and metal.
“I-I have yet to put a casing on it, b-but for the moment… I-I need you to test it.”
“What exactly is that?” John couldn’t help but look worried. There is only so many times one person can stand to be electrocuted.
“J-Just put your right knee in that part there,” Brains pointed to a place at the top of the bizarre contraption. “A-And then I can wire it up and switch it on.”
“Hey what? Wire it up? What do you mean, ‘wire it up’?”
“I-I’m going to wire it up to your nerves. D-Don’t worry there is not operation involved, b-but you will feel a slight stinging sensation as the first pulses connect themselves.”
“Brains, I don’t think this is safe.”
“O-Of course it is, y-you just need to trust me.”
John took a deep breath. “Alright fine. Let’s get this over with.” John rolled up the leg of his shorts that hid the scars from where he lost his right leg. He wasn’t ashamed of it but it didn’t look right to show it off in polite company. It wasn't his only major battle scar though it made him feel like he was a member of the team, even his brothers would have happily said that he always had been as without his skills in communications they would have been in some serious situations which could have cost them their lives.
Brains helped him fit the hunk of metal and wires to the remaining knee joint, adjusting things as he went, then he steadied the taller man and said, “T-This won’t hurt a bit.” He grabbed a few of the loose wires that seemed to have needle like tips on them and using a little device to scan for nerve endings, he jabbed them into John’s skin.
John was pretty good at hiding pain. He prided himself on that. However it was hard to hide it completely, as Brains noted the flexing of John’s fingers into the arms of the chair. Admittedly losing a limb didn’t mean you lost sensation in that area and three months on, John was still acting as if it was still there because his body had not accepted the visual evidence and continued to give the sensation that it was very much attached. Eventually he relaxed when his whole knee had gone numb from the tingling sensation of pain in the nerves.
“A-Almost done, just got to switch it on.” Brains stood up and walked back over to the bench and came back with another little device. He hooked it over John’s left ear hiding another nasty scar and secured it under his reddish gold hair towards where the neck connected with the spine. “T-This will keep it fully powered and allow y-you to control its movement. I-It’s got inbuilt sensors that pick up brainwave patterns and eletrical n-nerve pulses.”
“And here was me thinking you were going to stick those wires directly into my head.” John exhaled with relief. Last thing he needed was Gordon to make fun of him for becoming a cyberman, already he copped enough flack off his younger sibling about the high tech space suit calling him a ‘David Bowie reject.’
“W-Well I-I could have, but if this doesn’t work I-I’d be panicking that I-I’d have fried your brain alive, k-killing you outright.”
John tried to look around to see the engineer, who was standing behind him. “Fry me alive? What they hell!? Wait, Brains can we rethink this whole -”
John didn’t get a chance to finish that sentence. Brains pressed a switch on the head device which activated the power and the wires that were connected into his knee all came to life at once, sending his system into shock and his body into seizures.
***
“Is he alright?”
“I-I hope so. I-I shut the power off immediately after I-I realised I-I had the pulse voltage t-too high. S-Seventy MV was what it should have been set at but I had it at s-seventy four. N-not enough to kill him but enough to give his heart a v-violent shock.”
“I honestly don’t know why he lets you use him as a guinea pig Brains. One of these days you’re going to kill my brother and I will make you live to regret that.”
“N-Noted Alan. I-I have seen what you do to Gordon when he tries to prank you.”
“Trust me, that will be a picnic to what I can really do.”
“Don’t even consider it Alan.” John mumbled. He could taste metal in his mouth and it was foul. He was struggling to wake up on the steel floor and had been listening to his brother and the engineer for the past few minutes with his eyes closed. “Brains could find ways to hurt you that are far worse.”
He tried to pull himself up but only got as far as resting on his elbows. His muscles were on fire just from a tiny little bit of movement. Just what had Brains done to him this time?
“Ok so that clearly backfired. What now?” John looked at Brains and took a second to register he wasn’t listening to him. His attention was at John’s legs.
“That is so cool!” Alan exclaimed.
John had moved his knees up as he tried to sit up and the weird bunch of metal and wires Brains had connected up were also sitting up as if it was always a part of his body.
“Holy crap.” Was all he could say.
“You could say, ‘Why thankyou Brains for making something so awesome for me.’” Alan grinned like an idiot.
“Sorry I didn’t expect it to work. I mean, sure you're a great inventor Brains but you are not a doctor and I’m… quite impressed actually.”
“I-I expected nothing less.” Brains seemed pretty satisfied with the result. He looked really smug behind his big blue-rimmed glasses. “G-Give me a minute to lock the waterproof casing around it a-and then we can try and get you s-standing upright on it and go from there.”
“Waterproof huh? So this thing can’t come off to be able to take a shower?”
“T-Technically it can, b-but the reattachment of all the wires into your n-nerves is a fiddly process and y-you’d have to do it right to prevent accidental electrocution.”
“I see.” John found himself trying to get used to the idea. In space it didn’t matter as there was no showers on board the space station but back down on earth he realised that it would become an issue. It was already hard to keep stable on one leg in the shower as it was. “And this thing you stuck to the back of my head?”
“T-Totally waterproof and c-chemical proof. Y-you can still use shampoo.”
“Thank hell for that.”
“J-Just don’t jump into the pool or anything. I-It’s not that waterproof.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. No hanging around Gordon and big bodies of water. That shouldn’t be too hard.”
“Try impossible.” Said Alan. “We’re going on a cruise remember?”
“I forgot about that.”
“I wonder what lady Penelope is going to say when she sees you walking around without crutches?” Alan teased. It wasn’t that big a secret that John had spent a bit of time with her now that he was stuck pottering around the house, Penelope taking time out of her busy secret agent life to check on him and to help relieve him of his boredom. It wasn’t as if they were dating but Alan carried on as if they may as well have been. He had been having a ball with it, rubbing salt into Gordon’s wounds as it was a well known fact Gordon really had the eyes for her, admittedly eyes for anything pretty in a skirt.
John blushed slightly and Alan smiled as if to say, ‘Gotcha.’ personally Alan liked the idea of his older brother being sweet on their undercover agent. She was deadly and very beautiful, a combination of which any man would want to spend time with. She was also highly smart and very skilled, also very gentle. If anything, John’s personality complimented hers far better than Gordon’s but you never know, Alan had been wrong before. His brother had plenty of failed dates with ladies that seemed perfect at the time for him, it wasn’t that John was a hard person to get along with, he was just frustrating to get to know in the first place.
“Maybe I’m better off staying here… I have to learn how to use this thing afterall.”
“Hell no, I’m not being stuck on a ocean liner with noone but Scott and Virgil for company. Besides, they are mostly likely going to ditch me and leave me stranded tagging along with Gordon there is no way I want to be doing that. When he’s trying to show off he’s the biggest perv around and it’s embarrassing!”
“No, Gordon’s just embarassing full stop. He was born that way remember?” John couldn’t help himself, picking on ‘fish for brains’ was infectious. " I do agree with you, he’s a damn perv. No wonder he can’t get any dates.”
“See? I need you to be there otherwise I’d be stuck with him.”
“Alright I get the picture Alan… but on one condition.”
“Anything John.”
“You don’t leave me stuck with him either.”
“Deal.”
“Help me up will you? The steel floor is starting to make my bum fall asleep.”
“J-Just one second.” Brains had walked off while they had been talking and making fun of Gordon to grab the coverings. Once in place you couldn’t tell it from any other standard prosthetic he had for his robot MAX. Brains and Alan both helped John get to his feet and Alan let him lean onto him for a couple of attempts at walking around the room.
“I could really get the hang of this. I like how the foot moves so naturally.”
“It looks like you never lost it in the first place.”
“You wish Alan, but it’s pretty awesome to think a part of me is mechanical.”
“W-Worth waiting three months?” Brains asked.
“Heck yes.”
“Y-You’ll love this bit.” Brains grinned. “I-It can also store backup data and s-systems into Thunderbird Five. E-Even when you’re not in space, y-you’re a walking communications hub.”
Jon looked a little concerned. “I don’t think that’s a good thing Brains…”
“O-Of course it is!” Brains handed him a new wrist communicator that he had been working on to install onto all the suits. “That little device that controls your leg can also control lots of other things wirelessly, including all communications to all the other Thunderbird’s suits, also from you own you can control holographic projections of all sorts of things from the back of your hand.”
“I’m essentially a walking computer, is that what you're telling me?”
“W-Well, if you put it that way..”
“Alright, look I’m sorry Brains but I think you might have gone too far.” John didn’t look impressed. “What’s going to happen if I kicked the bucket? You going to upload my brain into a supercomputer?”
“T-The thought hadn't crossed my mind, b-but now that you mentioned it.”
John raised both hands up and shook his head. “Don’t… just… don’t go there.”
“Brains, you do realise you’ve just turned John into a walking target for anyone who wants to get their hands on International Rescue right?”
“I-I didn’t think of that. I-I only thought it would be more h-helpful to you guys.”
“That’s quite alright, Brains…” John sighed. “As long as only us three know about it we should be fine, right Alan?”
“Yeah I guess so. I couldn’t imagine Scott finding out about it.”
“Find out about what?”
All three of them froze. They had been too worried about the whole ‘supercomputer’ thing to not notice Scott had entered the laboratory.
“No seriously, what am I not suppose to find out about? I know practically everything that goes on around here sooner or later.”
“Oh, nothing, nothing Scott, we were just discussing your birthday.” Alan said without skipping a beat.
The eldest sibling frowned. “That’s not for another month or so.”
“Exactly, we were discussing presents.”
“Yeah we know how much you hate it when we give you gift cards.” John chimed in.
Scott rolled his eyes. “Whatever. I see Brains has finally gotten around to getting you mobile.” Scott smiled giving his tallest sibling a brotherly nudge. “Ready to test it out around the house before we get going for this trip? I’ve been looking forward to this cruise around Europe, I especially can’t wait to see Budapest.”
“Hey maybe I can try out my Hungarian while I’m at it!” Alan said excitedly. “I’ve been practicing really hard!”
“That’s great little brother!” Scott reached up and ruffled Alan’s hair. There was a time where he didn’t like being shorter than his younger siblings but then all things considered, he never had to deal with finding clothing hard to buy or door ways and ceilings not high enough so he saw it as an upside.
“As for you John, Lady Penelope was asking after you. She said something about a new novel or something you asked her for.”
“Ah, I almost forgot about that.”
“Well come on then, she’s waiting in the living room.”
“Bloody hell Scott, that’s not fair!”
Scott smiled. “It’s totally fair, you get to look like a fool in front of her and I get to sit and watch.”
“Sometimes you can be an arsehole.” John punched his older brother in the arm.
“Yeah, but you still love me for it.” Scott slapped him on the back. “You did a great job Brains, how about you join us?”
“I-I will, just got a few things to t-tidy up around here first.”
“Brains, you will never clean this mess. Just forget about it for now.”
“I agree, besides, Penelope rather likes you.”
“Y-You’re just saying that.”
Scott put his arms around the engineer and walked him out of the laboratory, otherwise Brains wouldn’t have ever left it on his own accord.
“This vacation is going to be the best ever!” Alan couldn’t contain his bouncing excitement anymore. He was hopping from one foot to the other.
“I hope so. We need it to be.”
Alan jumped around a few more times before settling back down at John’s side to give him some added support for the walk out of the laboratory. After all the things that their home had hidden away, an elevator was not one of them and the only way back to the living room was via a long trek up the stairs.
“Want your crutches?”
John thought about it. “No. Let’s see how we go first.”
PRESENT DAY
Alan sat by his brother's bedside, reaching out and running his fingers through the blood mattered red gold locks. "Guess the temptation of Brain's suggestion got taken to heart huh? You know you could have just spoken to me before you went ahead and did that, I would have helped."
He let out a dry laugh as at thirty eight while still young, his humor had matured into something a little darker with age.
"Why John? Was it really because of Scott we stopped talking or because of the incident with you know who and the basement? As frankly I've seen you in worse states before. Actually you were always the one with the worst luck out of the five of us but it's not as if it didn't get spread around."
He sat back in the chair and folded his arms thoughtfully. "You know I always hoped after Kayo ditched that sorry arsehole she and you would get back together. Sure you tried to keep stuff a secret but we all knew you guys were worse than rabbits after that night. I don't doubt her suddenly breaking it off was why you got married to the first nutjob who by the way, Gordon of all people thought she was using you as a punching bag. Turns out he was right too. I think Kayo left a huge hole in that heart of yours and none of us saw it for how bad it was."
Alan let out a snort and then a huge sigh. "I just hope after this mess you could at least make up with Scott. Cancer has left him in the worst shape imaginable and despite his recovery I don't see him hanging around longer than a few more years. He once told me he regretted that fight though I think it was after I had to tell him about what your second wife did to you and that wasn't fun as by then it was too late."
"You know what's weird though? After ghosting me for years I still hold some respect for you. Unsure why as Gordon and Scott certainly don't anymore but I'm curious if that's because they replay those fights over and over in their heads. You are a complicated brother John at the best of times, proof of that is right here with you running dad's organization when you hated his guts.... but it's not because of dad you're doing it. It's because you miss us and how we always worked together. Got to be as stubborn as Gordon staying married to Penny to not see that."
Alan sat in silence beside his sibling wondering if there was someway to fix things between them. There had to be if the hologram out in the hanger was anything to go by.
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