Birdwatching

Amber was a few steps behind Grey

Eyes flickering around the base as the captain talked with tge petty officer about  navel and security of the base, Amber mildy amused with grey showing his former navy roots, seeming at ease in his stance as he stepped with the petty officer.

Amber was second eyes for the sweep, of the base, its main purpose? designing ships to carve through the ocean, with speed and stealth.

"I'm sure the lieutenant would love to test that" Greys voice came through and Amber glanced at them with an eyebrow

"The weapons on board as precision, built to cripple targets, not eliminate" the petty officer smiled

"Means your targeting more of tye prepellas no?" Amber responded, making tge petty officer laugh

"Something along those lines, lieutenet" the officer smiled "think of it like a ship capture for submarines" 

"Huh..."

The petty officer paused taking out his phone "sorry...I have"

Grey waved him off with a half smile, Amber watched

"Your distracted"

He looked at the captain and sighed "I'm fine"

A slight tossle to his shoulder and he sighed "alright...working security, watching it incase of seeing a mysteron or something"

Grey sighed "were secure Amber trust me"

"I still want to check the perimeter grey...just incase alright?"

The older agent gave the blond a look, before giving In

"Alright, but I want you reporting in if you see anything and I mean anything" Grey stated "also want your eye on the weapons so be back in time alright?"

A grin came over Ambers face

"Course Grey, you keep taking to your other navy lads with your slang and banter and ill be actually doing the job-"

A long sigh from the captain, with a noticible eye roll "don't let the carpet trip you up snipes"

A laugh followed as he watched the lieutenant disapear around the cornor to do his sweep of the base

Grey sighed gearing the petty officers return

"Where did the lieutenant go?"

"A sweep, just normal spectrum business" Grey followed the officer "say how many knots can this ship do again?"

———

Amber walked the corridors silently, eyes flickering around the halls, just doing a sweep, he would smile to other crew mates, passing by who nodded back, leaving the lieutenant alone to sweep for anything suspicious

His mind wondering to the past few months, the tensenes around the world from the mysteron threat, colonel whites worry for him, before it settled on Black death, returning to them again...but not as Conrad they all once knew

he paused inhaling sharply

No, best not to think of that, not now, not here

Conrad is a threat and an enemy, but still a part of him still thought

If Scarlet could free himself from the Mysteron control, why not Scarlet?

He continued on his walk, pausing at the server room door, it would have been usually locked, but it appeared it is half a jar, latched almost, as if someone was propping it open

Raising an eyebrow hand going to the butt of his spectrum pistol

Opening the door steadily

stepping in checking the corners,

glancing over the servers, he closed the door behind him with a faint whisper of a click

Darkness enveloping the room, apart from the faint beeps and flickering lights of the rows of servers, and the low purr of fans within the room.

He stepped steadily, before pausing eyes falling on the slumped form against the work bench.

He rested a hand on their shoulder, giving a delicate shake

"Hello?"

No response, not even a flutter of their eyelids.

He checked for a pulse and stopped

Nothing-

His radio speaker dropped down "Grey- captain Grey come in?"

Static- must be the damn servers, maybe?

He spun heading back out, gripping his pistol tighter, ready to be jumped by an attack

But a chill caught him off guard, as it slivered up his spin, stealing his breath

His visioned swarmed suddenly making him stagger

Shaking his head to try and shift the growing feeling, but had little to no affect

His gun clattered to the floor, his suddenly hands numb

Sweat broke out from his brow, blurring his vision

His knees buckled under his fleeting strength

"h-how..."

He glanced towards the slumped form, who was now stood

Looming over his weakened form with a cruel smile

Amber breathed out falling onto his side as the numbness spread up his forarms, He gasped trying to catch his breath.

Vision blurry as the figure leant down into view, a cold hard cradling his jaw, which numbed with the simple touch

Ambers hair stood on end, seeing the faint green glow

"You-"

"Shhhh...just sleep now little lieutenant" the Mysteron smiled

And Amber was unable to fight off the wave of numbed sleep

———

Grey scowled "Captain Grey to Lieutenant Amber come in."

Nothing

He cursed leaving the American to sweep alone before sighing "Captain Grey to sky base"

"Captain, this is sky base" Green voice met him

"I've-" He sighed rubbing the bridge od his nose "I've lost Amber"

"Ha...again?" He heard the amusement in lieutenets tone, before a sigh "pinging his cap"

"Ah huh?"

"Looks like their in the server room"

Grey sighed, its never like Amber to get lost, he followed where Green stated the younger agent would be

Eyes on the server room before stepping in, hand resting cautionsly on his weapon seeing no sign of the Lieutenant

"You sure he's in here? I don't...-"

His eyes flickered to under the work bench, and froze, mouth going dry 

Leaning down grasping, Amber's fallen pistol

he swallowed the lump in his throat, gaze sweeping around the room

"Captain Green, spectrum is red, Amber's been taken"

———

Amber woke with a groan, groggy he tried to lift his head, everything felt so heavy

The effects of what ever the toxic still evident in his system, his still felt the same numbness on the base

He exhaled, swallowing thickly

How long was I out?  He thought

He breathed out, slowly, calming his panic,

No point in panicking, only lead to more issues

He trying to shift his arms again, feeling the mild strain up his arms, definitely bound

His gaze glancing down at himself

Just in his black under tunic and boots, Great

He rolled his jaw, forcing his head up

The room was dark, a light just above which hurt his eyes making it hard for him to see beyond the glare of the light, hard stone flooring under him which scraped against his boots

A shiver crept through Amber's body, alright breath focus

He closed his eyes trying to listen for anything that gave away his position

A low hum somwhere and that's all he got, he grunted, trying to shift his arms again feeling the faint tingles of pins and needles steadily settling in as feeling flooded into his joints

hearing footsteps

He stopped eyes scrunching up as the door opened, light hitting his eyes, the door closed

he opened his brown eyes again, staring up at his captures

———

Grey found Ambers cap shoved away in one of the server panels, the comlink damage, but its beacon still intact

Now he was just mapping out what could have possibly played out to catch the lieutenant so off guard.

He shifted his scanner around the room, he stopping at the scanners worrisome chirping showing an outline of a man leant againts the the work table, the outline pulsed with a worrying toxin signature, known to numb and make a target collapse with what it just seems to be a bad case of the flu

Must be how they managed to grab him with ease....

He mentally kicked himself for not keeping an eye on the younger agent

He backed out before he could get exposed any more standing oustide of the room

"Grey to colonel White..." He chewed his tongue

"Colonel White to Grey, go for?"

He resisted to rub his face "what I'm getting is that Amber got nosey, during his spot check route...they used a drug on him, believe it may have been the XS4"

"Are you positive captain?"

"Used scanner on it, chemically it links to it, but we have no further signs until we do further tests"

"SIG, get Scarlet and Blue to provide aid"

"SIG sir" He called off glancing at his hands he needed to wash them...

He pointed to the two guards

"No one gets in that room unless it's spectrum or the hazmat team, clear?" They nodded standing either side of the door

And Grey went to look for a bathroom to scrub his hands, just incase.

———

Amber spat blood his jaw ached as he bared his teeth at his kidnappers.

His face was grabbed, nails digging into his cheeks

"You will tell us where skybase is."

"Up your ass." He spat and a slap across the face made his head snap to the side

"No use boss, he's stubborn."

"Yet the stubborn can be broken." His hair was grabbed and he winced coming eye level with the capture

Amber glared, at the almost impossible to read eyes, likely because of these men were already dead.

"Mm...definitely has that fire in his eyes...."

He spat blood which splattered on the man's pale skin

His hair was let go, as the man laughed wiping his cheek smearing the blood

"Definitely fire."

He door opened and he was left alone in the silence, the cold settling in as Amber panted

Breath He thought, im still alive

He spat a thick glob of blood against the floor bowing his head as he was left with his thoughts

He exhaled slowly, wiggling his fingers, feeling the restraints against his bare wrists, lightly tugging, still locked tight...fuck

Footsteps returns, Amber looked up as the door opened

His jaw tensed ready for the next wave of pain.

———

"The hell you mean there's nothing?" Scarlet snapped eyes flickering over the recordings, scanning for the bright orange uniform, finding nothing.

"How the hell did they get him out?"

"Were going through as best we can-"

"He's bright orange. You can't miss him." Scarlet huffed

"Im sorry sir...we've went throigh twice, unless they had a cloak of invisibility...we don't know where they took him"

Scarelt rubbed his eyes, they've been at it for hours scanning through the video tapes and nothing was found, they saw Amber enter the server room, but nothing from then

No sign of anyone entering nor leaving

"I'll send the recordings to sky base." He sighed trying to ease the worry In his tone "Thank you."

The operator nodded, letting Scarlet send the videos towards sky base for more eyes on

He stepped out, eyes on Blue and Grey

"Anything?"

Blue shook his head

"Part from eye witnesses, they passed Amber doing a sweep" He sighed "other then that we have nothing scarlet"

Scarlet chewed the inside of his mouth, thinking

"We gotta inform the colonel, if They have Amber...its a security issue"

Scarlet glanced at the two other captains before his communicator flickered down

"Colonel-"

"We were just about to call captain. The recording was tempered with-"

He was already twisting towards the cctv room, Blue and Grey looking at eachother before following the storming Scarlet

He barged back into the room,  making the operator yelp

"Who has access to this room?'

"Wh-"

"Who has access." He snapped

"J-just security!"

"I want a list on who's on duty."

"S-sir?"

"Did I stutter?"

The operator fingers clicked and a list was brought up on monitor, of all the security officers on duty

5 names lit up red

"Uh...that's not-" the operator typed more

"They were supposed to be on duty..they haven't reported in..."

"Their the kidnappers..."  Grey huffed

"Any ideas where they could have gone?"

The operator swallowed shaking his head

"Least we got closer to people who grabbed him" Blue gave a half smile "send, base the photos we can look for em"

"SIG" 

———

Amber inhaled, humming low the pain thrombing up his likely broken arm, he swallowed down the taste of nausea  breathing out a slow steady breath.

Sweat dripping down his nose into his already blood stained lap

He was still alive...thats the best...least he was still alive...for who ever is coming to retrieve him...

He grunted slowly shifting feeling the pain blossom up his arm, biting his tongue to hide the whimper that tried to break through, he breathed out

Gotta get out

He breathed, slowly moving his good arm, steadily pushing his thumb, feeling the soft pop under his skin, as he dislocated his thumb

He panted before slowly inching his hand out of the restraints

They were tight, even with his thumb dislocated, using his sweat almost as a  way to ease his hand out of the restraints

He gasped as his hand came free

pain blossomed up from his broke arm,  nearly whitening out his vision

He stood stakely, knees giving out almost falling to the stone floor

He sucked in a lung full of air, steadying himself

Keeping his broken arm tucked close, he peaked out of the bars finding the door was-

unlocked??

What?

He thought staggering out keeping low, steadily collecting his bearings

His feet light as he moved keeping to shadows listening for anything that sounded like people coming his way

He saw light and moved towards it, the rush of trees, a forest

Fuck- where was he?

Just move gotta get out

He pulled what strength he had and bolted

Boots crunching the dirt underneath his steps, panting, pain ebbing up his shoulder, he slipped and let out muffled scream as he jarred his arm, laying sprawled on the...

Road?

He patted the tarmac with his good arm, trying to force himself up, a swarm of headlights met him and his eyes widened at the skidded, just a few meters away from him, hearing doors open, eyes on the blond and brunet who stepped out the car, his vision making it hard to see any details further, catching the red and blue uniform, could it be?

"B-blue? S...Scarlet?" He panted shaking eyes widening at the sight, his vision darkening as he tried to pick himself up, with no use

As the cold wet tarmac met his face

———

Amber layed in the medical bed, forcing himself to stay awake, the cast was a good weight around his arm, keeping him settled, cuts and bruises tended to, but the pain was still strong, he refused the morphine

He blinked hard, trying to get comfy, with the pain still flooding through his system.

His eyes flickered over the Grey uniform and half smile

"Hey buddy"

"Hey.." Amber croaked, trying to hide the pain

"Gave us a scare you know that right?'

He nodded exhaling

He watched as the senior officer settled beside his bed

"So..."

Amber chuckled "Ya gotta wait...still trying to process it myself with what happend"

"I know...I know...had us worried you know" Amber watched, Greys gaze,  before watching the captains gaze flicker to the morphine counter

"You aren-"

"No...I rather stay lucid Brad..."

"Amber-.."

"I aren't alright?"

"Your in pain."

Callum tensed his jaw, he never liked morphome due to its side affects on him.

"Amb..."

His brown eyes flickered to meet Greys own, brow furrowed seeing the captains hand wrapped around the button

Callum swallowed, licking his lips

"Brad..."

He knew this was a loosing battle, he swallowed the lump in his throat

He heard the delicate click, he inhaled softly head leaning back against the pillow as the medication flooded his system through his IV

Feeling something holding his hand, it felt colder, the guys probably been outside for a while...

"Still with us?"

Amber nodded eyes flickering, to Grey his heart monitor spiking

"Hey...gonna stay here alright...what ever your seeing aren't here...just me and you in this room, alright?"

Callum swallowed nodding silently

"I'm going to keep talking" Grey said softly "keep holding your hand too alright bud?"

"Y-yeah" He croaked

He closed his eyes breathing out, feeling the fuzziness slowly start sinking in, holding Greys hand tighter feeling him delicately stroke his knuckled

"Still hear buddy" his voice settled his mind "your safe bud"

He exhaled

"Th-"

"Yeah?"

"The naval base....how did weapons testing go?" The lieutenant smiled

"Weapons testing?" Grey questioned "we didn't run any"

Amber's stopped, eyes opening, looking slowly towards the captain

"We were running security only" Grey continued, the heart monitor spiked steadily

"Huh...must of really hit my head harder...." Amber licked his lips

"Say..." Amber started "what does...SIG mean again?"

Grey half laughed "wow, must of really hit your head hard, amb..." Grey smiled squeezing Amber's hand tighter"

"Connect to fire arms-"

Ambers heart monitor beside the bed spiked

Grey barley reacted to it, eyes locked onto Ambers own

Amber pulling his hand away from 'Greys' hold

"You can't leave Amber-"

He swung his legs out of bed

Nearly falling out of the bed with a clatter, Grey standing up smoothly, following the panicking lieutenet

Amber panted, yanking the IV out, wincing as blood oozed from the inside of his elbow, heart monitor cutting into a long beep as a green light flooded the room

"No-"

This had to be a dream, a fucked up fever dream

Amber backed up eyes wide, he staggered wincing as he slammed hus back into the wall, jarring his arm which sent pain up his arm

He was falling suddenly

Nothing around him

Before he slammed hard onto the ground

He gasped

Pain throbbing up his shoulder, gasping as bile rose in his throat at the pain, curling up almost onto himself, struggling to breath, his face scrunched up in the blinding hot pain

Mumbles around him, all felt too far away

Too much, too little, he curled up tighter feeling a wait on his shoulder, gasping

"S-st-op-"

A sharp pain in his hip

He whimpered feeling a hand cradle his head, running a hand throigh his hair soothing almost

"St..stop..."

He slurred before the darkness pulled him in again

———

Grey held his hands together, his palms sweaty with worry, as he glanced up at Gold, standing instantly

"He's stable, had to introduce a sedative"

Grey nodded

"This...this is my fault-"

"None of it is captain.." Gold voice soft "but right now he needs someone that he can trust"

Grey nodded "thanks doc.."

He was lead into the quiet room, eyes on the heart monitor, steady better then it was atleast

Eyes tracing over, sickly dark blues and purples painted over his pale skin around his face and his eyes, stitches marrying his skin back together, lip busted, arm casted up and that was just some of the wounds they noticable that the kidnappers  inflicted over Amber

Tox screen came back with a cocktail of fucked up drugs

When they did find him, He was barley coherent, and a state that no one has saw Callum in

Scared

Even in his scared state, he managed to land a hit into Blues jaw

Grey would have laughed under any other circumstances, but a heavily drugged hallucinating marine who's been held hostage, for nearly 5 weeks for information?

Not laughing matter

He sat beside the blond, just watching the rise and fall of his chest

Eyes on the restraints incase Callum woke up aggravated

Just a saftey precaution for himself and the medical staff

He inched his hand into holding Callums cracked nailed ones, feeling the fingers twitch around his hand

"I'm right here brother, all here"

Another finger twitch and he gave a small smile at it

"I'll keep watch"

———

Hours tick on by, and Grey found himself reading through the naval base report he wrote, beside Callums unconscious form, now just spot checking over what he wrote

The tablet laying propped up on callums bed, Greys other hand still holding the lieutenants hand as Grey read

He felt Amber's hand tighten around his own and his gaze flickered up, meeting the tired dark brown eyes

"Cal-"

"What-what does- SIG mean-" the man croaked

"Wha-"

A tight squeeze against his hand which made him winced slightly

"What. Does it mean" the lieutenant growled

"Spectrum is green"

He watched as the lieutenant, eyes widened, breathed out a wheeze, tears bubbled up and he felt the grip ease instantly

"Bra-"

He dropped the tablet "Hey hey hey-"

Crap-

"Gold!" He called back for the doctor

He cupped the lieutenants face

"Hey...on me. Eyes." He ordered

Amber's eyes locked onto Greys, tears falling down his face

"There we are...your safe. Your on skybase alright?"

"Y-yeah" the smaller lieutenant hiccuped

"We found ya" Grey said calming down the lieutenet, who hiccuped

"Still with me?"

A quite nod ans he eased a breath out

"Glad ya still here Cal..."

He sat at the back of the restaurant, against the plush, orange banquettes, attention solely focused on the menu open in front of him. He looked... tired. Aged. The stubble around his chin and the messy curls of his chestnut hair were so unlike the Scott she had grown up with, Kayo began to doubt her judgement for a second, questioning whether that really was her brother.

Kayo could see he'd lost more light than when she'd last seen him, something she'd believed impossible until now, and for the first time since the Vanishing, she felt a small pang of guilt over his leaving twinge within her.

The villa was silent and dark. Not peaceful, nothing as comforting as peace. Just quiet. As if the building itself were exhausted from the act of housing people trying not to fall apart.

Out beyond the tall glass of the windows, the moonlight spilled onto a calm ocean, the waves rippling the surface. Scott’s gaze snagged there, then he deliberately looked away. He had spent enough time looking at the ocean recently and it was unbearable.

The tide rise and fell, the sun rose and set on the horizon just the same.

The darkness of the kitchen was broken by the filtering moonlight, all awash in pale light as he reached for the coffee machine. The familiar gurgling started up behind him, and somewhere beyond the windows, waves broke gently against the island's shore.

Somewhere, everywhere else, the world carried on as though nothing had changed and their indifference was infuriating.

As though it were just any other Monday incoming.

As though Scott hadn't stood through yet another funeral service, trying to remember how to breathe and resisting the disturbing temptation to label himself an expert at burying the people he loved most.

It was a skillset he truly despised, even if it had made the paperwork more straightforward. Even condolence, every pitiful gaze, every murmur of you’re coping so well.

Coping, what was coping? What does coping look like when the universe is content to continue to fray the edges of the very fabric of your world, and rip out another patch as you desperately try to hold the threads together?

He didn’t use the word coping. Functioning, he was functional. Just about. Functioning was familiar, functioning was status quo. Scott Tracy has spent a large part of his life functioning. What was new?

"For someone who lectures the rest of us on self care, this is a pretty terrible example, y’know.”

The voice slid through the silence so naturally that, for one impossible heartbeat, he didn't question it.

Then his brain caught up.

“Isn’t it a bit late for that, isn’t it?”

Scott went rigid and for one impossible second, he simply stood there. Heart racing, hands braced against the counter, breath trapped in his lungs.

No.

No.

He spun around, expecting to find nothing other than shadows and his own broken mind playing tricks.

“Or maybe it’s early, not late… either way.” Gordon sat on the kitchen counter, cheerfully swinging his legs, grinning at his elder brother like he had done a thousand times before. Blonde hair as unruly as it ever was in the wee hours prior to a swim, the very essence of carefree and comfortable. Warm brown eyes followed his gaze. “This is a new peak even for you, I’ll admit it.”

The dim light flickered across his face, casting shadows long, and leaving him pale and other-worldly, as if underwater. How fitting. Scott stared still, unable to pull his eyes from his brother’s face, still grasping the edge of the kitchen counter as though he needed to be reminded of the solidity of reality.

Because otherwise… otherwise, he truly had lost his mind.

After all, dead brothers didn't sit on kitchen counters at three-thirty-three in the morning, commenting on your caffeine habit and smiling at you like they had missed you too.

“This is impossible” Scott whispered, unsure if he was addressing anyone in particular, or merely commenting on the astronomically impossible chance that this was not some wild product of his grieving mind.

“Eh, I’ll take it.” There was that familiar grin once more, as if teasing him to believe it could be true. “I’ve been called worse.”

And then, as if to prove his point, Gordon pushed himself off of the counter, and the light caught the shimmering edges of his profile as if transparent, something strange, something not quite right, as he came to stand before his eldest brother.

They had caught the sepsis early thanks to Virgil’s keen eye and medical knowledge but it didn’t mean Scott had avoided all issues associated with it. It was like he was suffering with the worst case of flu he’d ever had. He was bone-tired, everything ached and he couldn’t stop having bouts of shivering.

Scott didn’t think he’d ever slept so much…

Eventually the worse of the flu-like symptoms wore off but the exhaustion remained. As did the inability to concentrate. By day four Scott realised that his brothers were deploying Alan ruthlessly to keep him occupied and he didn’t have the energy to be mad at them.

Sally smiled as she slipped into the room. Gordon, Alan and John were at the hotel enforcing some sleep-time on Virgil. Kayo was curled up in the chair beside Scott and both were fast asleep. They woke up as the door clicked closed and Sally waited for them to wake up a little more.

‘Gra’ma?’ ‘Hey Scotty. I have news.’ ‘Good news?’ ‘Yes. Today is your last day of antibiotics. If your progress continues you’ll be released into my care and allowed home tomorrow.’ ‘That’s great news!’

The news buoyed everyone up and by the next morning John had packed up the extra computer equipment while Gordon and Alan had cleared out the hotel and Virgil and their Grandma liaised with the doctor on further potential issues and treatments for them.

EOS had remote-piloted Thunderbird Two down onto the landing pad and they were all waiting as Kayo and Scott appeared. No one mentioned the fact that Scott still wasn’t moving under his own steam – the gunshot would have prevented him from walking out from the hospital anyway even without the added exhaustion from the sepsis. And Scott was grateful that no one had said anything.

He did ignore Alan and Gordon passing John some notes, and the grin on the ginger’s face that said everything.

The journey home was slow by everyone’s standards but Virgil wasn’t going to take any risks with blood clots now that Scott was coming home. No one mentioned it, not even Scott, but he did give Virgil’s arm a squeeze as they unloaded once home.

Scott looked around the infirmary. Yeah, he hated it here but there had been a moment, back when the sepsis had its claws deep into him, that he honestly thought he wouldn’t be back here.

He was home.

Usually a person would be encouraged to walk after a treated gunshot wound within the first couple of days but the sepsis had prevented the planned physio. But now there was nothing to hold Scott back other than the exhaustion he was still prone to.

He’d hoped that Virgil and Grandma would let him spend his first night home in his own room but Grandma had been gently adamant that they had tests to run, as they had promised, and by the time they’d finished he was practically asleep anyway.

So that first night they all slept in the infirmary.

It was the smell of pancakes that eventually roused the rest of the inhabitants. Kayo had been busy with MAX in the kitchen and between them brought down pancakes for everyone.

Even Scott had a plate, although his small pancake at first made him sigh when he saw the piles his brothers had. Yet even that small amount was too much for him to eat.

Still, the conversation was upbeat and food was eaten and plates taken away. And then Gordon, with a light slap to Scott’s shoulder, hopped onto the bed beside him.

‘You ready, bro?’ ‘Ready?’ ‘Yeah. Time for some action!’

Scott groaned and there was laughter. One by one his brothers disappeared to their various chosen tasks until it was just Scott and Gordon and Kayo. Scott looked at her and raised an eyebrow in question. She flashed him a grin. It was not a friendly one.

‘Once Gordon’s finished with you you’re all mine, Flyboy.’

She flexed her fingers at him and Scott let out a short bark of a laugh. If Gordon was going to be his demonic trainer then Kayo was going to be his angelic massage therapist. Between the two of them he was in good hands.

Of course the pair didn’t work alone. Between them all Scott was put on a strict regime of rest, exercise, food and drink. John and Virgil divided TI work between them, the GDF covered all but the most severe of rescues and everyone rallied for the rest.

Progress was slow going. Scott tired easily, he couldn’t hold on to the simplest of directions and as days turned to weeks and then to months his mood plummeted.

It wasn’t unexpected. They had been warned that depression and associated issues were common with sepsis and they were prepared for the possibility. But they had been there before, with both Scott and Gordon, and they banded together tighter, stronger.

One day at a time. One day at a time. One goddamn day at a time…

And then one day…Scott had completed his morning workout and was lounging on one of the poolside chairs, eyes closed and listening to Alan and Gordon messing around, when a shadow fell across him. He cracked open an eye.

John and Virgil were standing there, identical grins on their face. Scott had no idea why they were grinning like that but he found himself grinning back.

‘What’s up?’ ‘We have good news.’ ‘I kinda guessed. Are you going to tell me?’

Virgil and John exchanged glances and impossibly their grins got bigger.

‘You last set of bloods came back and you are back up to base level.’ ‘Really?’

Scott couldn’t help but sit up suddenly, eagerness clear across his face.

‘Really. And Gordon reports that you aced the last set of physio. Carry on like this and you’ll be back in the air in no time.’

Noticing that the pool had fallen quiet Scott glanced between John and Virgil to see both younger brothers leaning on the side of the pool. Their grins were equally as large.

‘It will be good to see you back in the air, Scott.’ ‘It will be good to be back.’ ‘This calls for a celebration!’ ‘Barbeque!’ ‘You hear the Squid! Fire up the grill, oh Great Grill Master!’

Laughter filled the air and everyone – except for Scott – busied themselves getting the beach ready for the party. By the time Penny, Parker and Sherbert arrived the first round of steaks were ready.

Six weeks later Scott sat in the cockpit of One for the first time in almost a year. As he flew, looped and barrel-rolled there wasn’t a dry eye in the villa.

Now – now he was home.

It was fun! I like the layout. It's pretty sparse on decoration cos I'm running this on a pretty low-end machine and I don't want to kill my frame rate inside the building my Parafolk will be spending most of their time in 😅 but I'm sure I'll keep adding to it as I go.

Scott had refused food but accepted a jelly after managing to keep some water down, and they resettled around the room after eating. Gordon was humming a sea shanty, Alan playing his game and John was talking with Kayo and Penny while Virgil and Scott spoke together in quiet tones.

It went unnoticed at first, but then Scott shuddered. Virgil stopped talking immediately and reached out to touch his forehead, a move Scott adroitly avoided. But he couldn’t avoid the second shudder and Virgil reached out and hit the alarm button.

‘Virgil?’ ‘Scott…you’re sweating and shuddering. Something isn’t right.’

Scott sighed bitterly and deflated as the doctor and a nurse entered. Virgil moved aside as they busied themselves around the obs machines and everyone tried to not comment when the doctor frowned.

‘We need to draw bloods and get the lab to rush them.’ ‘Yes, Doctor.’ ‘And I’m sorry, Scott, but your family need to leave for a while.’ ‘Ah, ok. Can Virgil stay please?’ ‘Usually not, but due to his medical expertise I’ll allow it as long as you don’t get in the way, Virgil. Understood?’ ‘Totally understood and I promise.’ ‘I’ll hold you to that.’

Virgil moved to the back of the room, well out of the way, as bloods were drawn and two IVs applied – one a broad-spectrum antibiotic and one fluids to prevent his blood pressure from dropping any further. A nasal canula was fitted in case it was needed and the obs machine was tweaked to be more sensitive.

‘Scott, Virgil, we have a fair idea which bacteria is causing the septicaemia but we need to be sure, hence the bloods. Once we know we can use the appropriate antibiotics but until then this one will at least start fighting the infection. Until this is under control I’m afraid you’re stuck here.’ ‘Bottom line, Doc?’ ‘Bottom line is…we’ve caught this early and as long as you keep responding to treatment there should be no long-lasting complications. But Scott…you need to do what we say and rest. It is the best treatment for you now.’ ‘Ok, Doc. Ok.’

Time seemed to slow as they waited for the results but they came back quite quickly. A new IV was attached and Virgil fretted as Scott drifted off to sleep. So many things could go wrong…

He threw a small smile at John as he entered but he couldn’t keep the facade up when he was followed by their Grandma, and Sally came straight to him and rested a hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze for comfort.

Virgil patted her hand in thanks and moved aside for her, crossing the room to sit beside John. He couldn’t take his eyes off Scott, though, not until John gave him a not-so-subtle nudge. Virgil turned as John showed him the screen he’d been tapping away on and rolled his eyes.

Trust John to have been researching sepsis, treatments and outcomes and goodness knew what else…John always needed to know the ins and outs. But still Virgil leaned in and the two read together the details.

Potentially several weeks in hospital. Six to twelve months for recovery. Possibly longer. And that was only the physical effects! And only if there were no further complications…

The two shuddered in unison.

Six months of Scott confined to the island, being barely able to move let alone the potential brain fog and emotional fallout of Post-Sepsis Syndrome should he suffer that too. And knowing the Tracy Luck that’s exactly what Scott would get.

‘We better start making plans.’ ‘Yeah. Otherwise it’s going to be a long six months for us all.’

Virgil snorted and John looked at him.

‘Do you know what Gordon said when you first told us that Scott had been called out?’ ‘No?’ ‘That with the amount of callouts we have had in the last week…sigh…that it was just another one of those days. You know, where we were all on rescues around the globe and one of us gets into trouble and there’s no one around to help them.’ ‘Yeah. And it’s almost always Scott.’ ‘Yeah. We really need to do something about that.’ ‘That’s a task for me and Kayo and Penny to deal with. Right now let’s get Gordon and Alan up here and start organising Scott’s homecoming and the next few months.’

Sally, silently listening, smiled in approval. Her boys would rally around Scott as they always did and it was as always beautiful to behold.

It didn’t take long for the youngest two to join them and the four began making plans for Scott’s discharge. Gordon would, of course, take charge of his physio while Virgil would look after the medical side with herself. John would share Scott’s TI duties and help with anything he could and Alan…Alan would run distraction for the times when Scott’s inactivity would eat away at him.

"Lieutenet, I need you to run recon over the Icelandic ridge" Colonel White hung In the air the lieutenant nodded "this full recon with bike sir?"

"Of course-" He turned

"And captain blue is waiting for you in thr pelican to deposit you there"

Amber stopped pulling a face

"He is?"

"There an issue lieutenant?" The colonel raised an eyebrow

Amber swallowed "no sir."

"Good, I'll inform you more when you get into target location"

"S.I.G, sir" He turned on his heels leaving

———

Amber carried the collapsed motorbike into the aircraft, stood in his less flashy more tatical gear with thermals under-layer to make sure he wasnt affected by the colder weather

He placed his folded cloak on the back end with his rucksack, checking his rifle before  clambering into the copilot seat.

Mentally preparing himself for the flight

Clipping in almost immediately as Blue grinned beside him

"Ya ready?"

"Sad-"

He didn't get a word off as they dropped and Amber clamped his hand on the arm rest screwing his eyes up as Blue chuckled at Amber's displeasure of the drop

"This is Blue to skybase, cargo inbound to target location"

"S.I.G. Captain, safe flying"

"We better be flying safe." The lieutenant muttered

———

The flight was smooth, and Blue glanced over towards the lieutenet that still had a death grip on the arm

"You can ease up ya know"

"I'll ease up when we land Blue"

Blue half chuckled

"Flying aren't that-"

"Shhh...."

He turned away from the lieutenet with a chuckle

"This is Blue to sky base, about to deposit the cargo, over"

"Perfect timing Captain, lieutenant?"

"Here." The lieutenant voice hung in the air

"The op is to track down a group of soldiers, they've gone missing across the plains and no one knows where they've gone"

Amber exhaled nodding bringing up the map into his lap eyes on location

"What's there heading?"

"Originally heading north west, in radio contact with base, before a storm rolled in and base hasn't heard from them in a few hours and they haven't reached base camp either"

"aye sir..." Amber taking a pencil placing an two Xs on the map

"Does there militery know we are involved?"

"They called us Lieutenet, they were testing new gear, ...we need to know what happend to those men and the gear"

"Whats the gear?"

Blue started to land the plane, the ground coming into view

"We are still working on that information, but there response is classified"

Callum huffed

"Course" He stood

"Amber, over and out"

"S.I.G lieutenant, happy hunting"

The radio ended and Amber looked at Blue

"I'll radio in if I have anything"

He stood walking to the storage bay, unclipped his motorbike and clicking it into place rolling it out, his burgan on his back as he glanced at his compass

"Safe travels Amber!" Blue called out

Amber gave a small smile pulling his goggles on before staring the bike with a roar before speeding off to the urban plato

Blue exhaled glancing around at the open stretchs and the rift vallys, the dark rock

"Good luck indeed Amber"

———

A good few hours, crawl on by

Amber sat on his bike

Goggles on his head, slicking back his dirty blond hair, as he looked down at the map in hand, glancing up compass sat on the plastic sheet, before he glanced up again at his advantage point, scanning the vally below, multiple rivers connecting here, he tucked away his map into his thigh pocket, unclipped his binoculars, scanning the river ways for anything that could help locate where the team he was tracking,  has gotten too.

A mass, caught his attention laying on one of the channel beds.

He put away his scopes, pulled his goggles down settling down the embankment, water kicking up to meet him, the shallow water hit his bike, splashing him in the face as his bike roared, he stopped a distance away from the lump

Swinging his leg off

Steps splashing in the shallow water

"Amber to White" He clicked his radio getting closer

"Go for lieutenant" Whites voice came through his radio, tension just hinted at his tone at what Amber may have discovered, Amber stepped closer, and huffed

"Have a rucksack..."

He lifted it up checking through for a name tag

"we got...uhhh a Weir?"

"Sargent Peter Weirs, he was on the team" 

Amber nodded tucking a tracker into the pocket, fastening it to the strap, it beeped every few seconds with a red light

"Pinging location, if this is down here mean they are about 34 clicks off base camp..." Amber huffed standing turning towards his bike

"Head for higher ground...shelter maybe?" He sat on his bike "caves maybe...colder up those hills..." He muttered to himself

"What pushed them up there?"

"What ever it is, Lieutenant, you'll find them"

"S.I.G sir, Amber out"

The radio went silent as the lieutenant glanced around, taking in the rivers, raising an eyebrow at the prints, not an animal...but they were big for a human, a lot of weight in the prints too

Hair on the back od his neck stood as he steadily headed back to his bike, taking one last glance around, seeing not a single sign of life

"Fucking hell..."

He kicked off his bike and headed up for the hills

———

The way up was a little struggle, the bike kicking up loose debris from the mountain side, the bare rock a little slippery from the storm that rolled in a few hours ago, but Amber stayed on task, keeping a steady rev and plotting his route up coming to a mossy, grassy position

Amber bike skidded as he stopped, taking off his goggles and grunted

"Colonel. Got a camp here..." He bit his lip "we have bodies."

He got off his bike cutting the power, turning the lock on

He grabbed his rifle from his rucksack steadily walking over checking the outcrops of Rock

He rolled his jaw, eyes on the bullet casings, the small chard remains of a fire, he crouched hovering a hand over it, partially warmth from what remains of it.

The Body's were  torn apart or crushed, hard to tell which exactly, but they were cold

All signs offering all this happend in the early hours of the morning atleast...maybe?

But the climate is colder...could have happend on his way up and he wouldn't have known

Eyes flickering back to the prints, heavy just like the ones at the washed up rucksack

"Colo-"

THUNK-

He hit the floor hard, dazed from the strike, gun drawn on him and he lay sprawled looking up at the attacker

"WHO ARE YOU?!"

"breath! Easy now I'm with Spectrum" Amber raises his hands eyes on the mud soaked officer, eyes flickering to the name tag

"Sargent Weirs"

The sargent exhaled, tension evident in his body, before a hand was offered, Amber took it

"Nice to see a friendly face, Mr?..." the sargent voice was tight as he tried to get a name from the spectrum officer

"Lieutenet Amber,"

The sargent nodded, blue eyes flickering away

"Didn't mean ta..."

Amber shook his head "would have done the same...but we likely need to get out of here"

The Sargent nodded leading the way from the remains of the camp

"Lieutenet?" The colonels worried tone coming throigh his radio

"Here colonel, found Sargent Weirs, call hold on evac till I know about others of Weirs team" He grabbed his bike following after the sargent.

———

A cave entrance hidden behind tall bushs, he rolled his bike in, eyes on the two other soldiers weapons drawn as Weirs waves them to stand down.

All nursing there own wounds, as Amber watched

The brown hair, Glenn leg stretched out, in a makeshift leg brace, bandages around his head just giving away his head wound

The other Flynn holding his side, a slight wheeze to his breath, that Amber heard, even Weirs has his own wounds, but likely the better off from all two of his comrades.

"He's ally, spectrum" Weirs stated, resting his rifle down

"The hell Spectrum doing here?'

"Yall were playing with experimental gear"

They all looked at Amber 

"I still have to been informed what the gear is, your people keep saying its classified"

Amber took off his rucksack hunting for his medical kit to try and help the three wounded

"It's still in its testing phase" Glenn huffed

"Yet you brought it out to play with it in the wild?"

They all went silent and Amber rubbed the bridge of his nose

"Alright is anyone gonna tell me what I'm missing?"

"It's a machine." Weirs croaked out "there was 6 of us...it was working fine...them it just...killed them..."

Amber stopped

"Wait as in a robot" He looked at them all "the camp up top?"

They nodded

Explains the heavy prints, the thing must weigh a tonne or something....

"It tore through them" flynns voice cut through Amber's thoughts

"Just slaughtered...."

Amber watched all three soldiers and sighed

"So yall hiding from this thing?"

They looked at him as if he kicked them

"I'm calling evac for yall." He turned

———

"Yes, Colonel that's what I'm saying" Amber sat on his mother bike, glaring keeping an eye out if this robot showed up

"It's a state of the art, perfect soldier" the colonel huffed "likely why they didn't want us to know."

"Well it's gone rogue and killed soldiers." Amber rolled his jaw "if this thing is rouge, who knows what it'd capable of"

"You think Mysterons?"

"They want a machine to follow there whims they got it"

"You need to destroy it"

Amber smirked "aye sir"

"Alright...I'll keep you posted"

———

It took a little convising to get the sargent to be bait, he was the only one who was able to play bait after all

The night had rolled in, full moon giving them enough light to stop the perfect soldier machine, a steady breeze blew through the little vally, as Sargent Weirs glanced around, steadily turing around, watching the dark shadows for potential attacks.

Amber layed on the rocket outcrop just above the sargent, cloak masking his form, reflecting what was around him, pratically making him invisable and hiding him from both Weirs and likely keeping his position hidden from the robot.

He watched from his vantage point as the sargent called out the robot soldier.  waiting, Amber saw movement, curling his legs up to pounce

His hair on the back of his neck stood, and eyes flickered away from the sargent, almost felt like a breath against his ear, he swallowed thickly

SCREECH-

The noise cut through the night watching as the sargent was thrown into the rock wall with a thud.

Amber cursed and jumped landing on the robot, it twisted, he felt sharpness dig into his thigh, and was throw hard into the rock wall, stars blossomed behind his eyes as he layed there dazed from the throw

The other side of Amber, Wiers was scrambling for his fallen weapon

The machine screeched at him, Amber eyes widened at how humanoid it looked, its lenses a deep green which made goose bumps ripple over his flesh

Definitely a mysteron puppet

It twisted towards the Sargent, who fired a shot, but it bounced off its hull, the machine let a screech lurching towards Wiers who screamed

Amber grunted feeling the pain in his leg, and uneasy feeling hit him.

But he got a job to do

He pouncing again, this time wrapping his legs around the machines waist

Clinging on as it screeched trying to buck off the lieutenet

Amber held tighter, grunting as he staggered adound trying to dislodge the limpets lieutenet

He dug his fingers under its metal skull, and arched himself backwards

A screech, and liquid oozed out as a satisfying yet gruesome squelch met Amber's ears and he was falling backwards clutching the machines head in his hands 

He panted letting go as the body staggered and collapsed into the muck

Staring up at the cloudy sky, arms slick with what ever the machine fluids leaked over him

Hearing crunching of steps and Weirs came into view, one hand holding his head, his other hand offering down for tge spectrum agent

"Damn...never knew yall Spectrum officers are hard core like that"

Amber took his arm getting up with a stagger, leaning slightly into the sargent lookinh down at what remains of the robot

A slight smirk on his lips

"Ooorahh"

He watched as Weirs face fell with such a simple yet tired sound

"Oh fuck sake, your a marine"

———

The body's of Weirs team were taken, and a proper ceremony was held for them with there passing.

Glen, Flynn and Weirs shook Amber's hands thanking him for his aid, before they were getting treated by the medics, and shuttled off back to base

The remains of the robot soldier, was taken too

The program would be discontinued and anything of it destroyed

Much to Amber's relief

Amber limped, claw marks against his thigh and a headache pulsing behind his eyes, watching as there helicopter took off, he was tired and covered in muck.

He tracked back seeing Blue who raised an eyebrow at the lieutenant messy state

"Your not getting on the plane lik-"

"Shhhh" He pulled the struggling Captain into a hug smearing the muk over him his blue uniform

"You-" Blue shoved a hand in Amber's face "your a feind!"

Amber grinned smearing mud into Blues face before walking into the plane, hearing the string of curses follow after him

“Not piranhas?” Blue asked curiously as he put a splash of milk into his cup. 

“That one's an urban myth.” 

“So why's it cruel to the hagfish, they're scavengers, aren't they?” Blue asked as he came back with his coffee. “UnNamed would be a perfect meal for them.” 

“UnNamed is so toxic he might give ‘em food poisoning,” was Ochre's answer, delivered with a tight grin. 

“We know he’s in contact with Bereznik, a treasonous action. We could always go for a traditional punishment for treason,” was Scarlet’s chilling suggestion. “Hanged, drawn and quartered.” 

“...do I want to know?” was Magenta’s wary question. 

“Hang him until he's half dead, cut him down and open his belly to draw out his innards, which may or may not involve putting his intestines on a brazier while he's still alive, castration, and/or cutting his heart out in front of him. When he's dead, quartering - chopping his body into pieces for display. The head goes on a pike over the city gates, then the torso is cut into four parts and the limbs are dispatched for display elsewhere.” 

Magenta shuddered. “Nasty. I like it, but is it nasty enough?” 

“We could stake him out on a fire ant nest,” Blue suggested. “I’ve been bitten by those before, that was nasty.” 

“Bullet ants are worse,” Grey opinioned. 

“Wasn’t it army ants in that old Indiana Jones movie?” Magenta asked, getting up to make himself another cup of coffee. “We could toss him to some of them.”

“Army ants don’t have nests in the ground, they bivouac in clusters,” Blue replied, once again a font of obscure knowledge. “Indiana’s an archaeologist, not an entomologist, he got it wrong.”  

Grey listened for a bit as the debate turned into a revisit of their favourite group topic of movies and their inconsistencies and errors, (with a comment of ‘wait, we don’t want to give fish food poisoning but we’re okay to give ants food poisoning?’ from Ochre), well pleased to hear that everyone was well on their way through processing the initial shock of the broadcast. He lingered a little longer, just to be sure everyone was more or less okay, then finished his coffee and put the cup in the dishwasher. 

He had a Guppy to find.   

T H U N D E R F A L L 

When he woke up, it took Brains a moment to remember where he was. 

Sleeping in was very unusual, a deviation from his usual routine, ‘But evidently I required a longer rest than my norm,’ Brains realised as he fumbled for his glasses, put them on and sat up, feeling several muscles protest movement after the rigours of the previous day. ‘Yesterday was… eventful.’ 

MAX was at his side instantly, trilling happily as he gave a general update on things and that breakfast would be delivered and what would he like to have?

“B-bagles, please, M-Max, toasted, with butter, and tea, English Breakfast with milk,” Brains said as he carefully got up and assessed his surroundings. He hadn’t really cared too much about the room when he’d been shown to it by… Captain Grey, yes, that was the right name, but he could see that it was comfortable, even luxurious. 

He pottered about the room - that was the only accurate term for it really - examining fixtures and features that he hadn’t had time or inclination to investigate when he’d arrived. A shower was accomplished, and MAX had kindly stored a full change of clothes for him in his back pod so he was able to dress while waiting for his laundry to be cleaned and returned to him, then he sat himself at the small table and… stopped. For the first time in… an extended amount of time… he did not have a list of tasks to complete, objectives to achieve, KPIs to maintain, and targets to meet. There were no alarms, no emergencies requiring his input and analysis. He could simply… be. The sensation was… unfamiliar. 

A chime at the intercom startled him out of his reverie. “Sir, breakfast,” an unfamiliar but cheery voice floated through the speaker. 

MAX responded before he could, whipping the short distance across the room to open the door and claim the tray, bringing it across with a happy trill and placing it before him. 

“T-thank you, MAX.” Brains smiled as he examined the contents of the tray and decided to start with the tea. It seemed to be sufficiently brewed so he poured it into the heavy, white ceramic mug and added a splash of milk. Picking it up with both hands, he let the warmth seep into his fingers, a pleasant sensation that was remarkably grounding and soothing as he permitted his mind to continue to drift. He had nothing driving him to jump from task to task, the opportunity to rest was one he was going to take full advantage of. It was unfamiliar, and the feeling of ‘missing something’ was threatening to become quite disconcerting… and that was when revelation struck and shifted all of his parameters.

“...oh…” Brains almost dropped the mug as his thoughts linked up into a cohesive whole, data points and information neatly slotting into place alongside experiences and memories. He could hear EOS’ voice in his ear as clear as that day all those years ago when she uttered the words ‘I feel a lack of urgency’. 

Just as clear was John’s huffed laugh as he replied ‘Me too, it’s called ‘relief’.’ 

Relief. 

He was no longer keeping an ear or eye on his surroundings, constantly attentive and attuned to the chirp of an email or incoming comms call, the sound of footsteps, smell of cologne, or other signs particular to an approaching Mister Tracy. He was no longer spending mental and emotional energy on watching his back, prepared to leap up with the appropriate expressions and phrases to welcome Mister Tracy and respond to whatever Mister Tracy’s emotional state was this time. He was no longer anticipating the man, readying himself to bend himself into whatever format was required to appease him.

Oh. This was what Mark had tried to impress on him all those months ago. 

His Fight, Flight, Freeze and Fawn response, carefully programmed and shaped to optimise his own survival, as all instincts were, was currently unneeded. 

Brains set down the mug before he could drop it and sank into the embrace of the chair, letting the softness of the padding and upholstery hold him up because the rest of him was not fit for the task. 

Closing his eyes, Brains ignored the tears of relief that rolled down his cheeks and let MAX shove his head under his hand, the faithful robot warbling softly in comfort and reassurance. 

He was free.

He was safe.  

T H U N D E R F A L L

‘Well, guess this is a new one to add to the list.’ Brad kept his footsteps on the louder side of things, not loud enough to be disruptive, but just enough to let his quarry know he was coming. He’d either called ahead or hunted through all the usual spots - the pool, the starboard observation tube, the Amber Room, and Guppy’s quarters - to finally track him down here, to the Chapel. It was mid morning and the light was slanting up, through the windows. Gordon was in his civvies, seated on the floor on the left side of the room, half-hidden by a potted fern. “Hey Guppy.” He kept his voice down as he sat beside the younger man and offered him one of the insulated cups he carried: bulletproof coffee. The perfect thing when you needed fuel but eating was too difficult. 

"Hey Salt." Gordon took the cup. "Thanks." He sniffed at the cup. "Oh… yeah, food." 

"Drink." "Yes'sir." Several long swallows later, he brought the cup down and turned back to the stunning vista outside the window. Brad waited, words were hard right now.. But after draining his own cup, he knew he had to make the first move. "Talk to me, Guppy." 

"About what? That I'm the get of a man that nearly killed two brothers and - " Fingers flexed on the cup. "And?"

"Made my youngest brother, my little brother, kill." 

“Deep waters there, Guppy.” Brad slowly rolled the now empty cup between his palms. “His sins are his, you know that, right?” 

Silence that burned like acid was the only answer, and he could feel Gordon hunching, pulling in on himself like a neutron star collapsing under its own weight. 

‘Oh… yeah, I’ve seen this before.’ Brad picked his next words with care. The only thing more destructive than the Tracy Temper was the Tracy Guilt. All directed inwards, silent and vicious, it would consume a Tracy from the inside out unless someone went in and pulled him out of that pit of his own making. “Regretting listening to Scott two years ago?” was what he settled on. 

The quiet was very deep before a small ‘yes’ was uttered. It felt apologetic, almost guilty, and soaked with pain that was years deep. 

"It wouldn't have changed anything."

Gordon seemed to pull even more inward. "I know that, or at least my head knows that. My heart… " he shook his head. "It's the Squirt. We've tried to keep him from making that choice, of being in the situation that he needed to make the choice in."

“And you did the best you could. You exhausted every option you had.” He nudged Gordon with his shoulder, a gentle, barely there touch. “You and your family kept him from having to make that choice for, what, twenty years? Considering who you’ve been up against, that’s an achievement all of its own.”  

Gordon snorted. "Well, the first five were the hardest." He drank more of the coffee. "It's not just that. It's - John and Virgil too. He nearly worked them both to death. And I'm pretty sure it was deliberate. Wayne and Dosela got time off, his pet lapdog got time off, but not John and sure as hell not Virg." There was a deep breath. "I ran away. I went with Scott and Alan, and I left them behind with UnNamed. I - I should have done something." 

“You were under enemy fire.” Brad kept his voice clinical, almost but not quite the elocution of an officer in a briefing. “Your vessel was holed and critical systems were down, you had to retreat and regroup, and they chose to stay on the beach. It’s an ugly truth, but they chose to stay there. If you’d run an evac in that moment, they’d have fought you, and in yours’ and Scott’s condition, they’d have dragged you under.” Brad put down his cup and slung an arm around Gordon’s shoulders. “They had to be ready to be rescued.” 

"I know. Head-heart thing again. John likes to say the impossible is always optional with us, but this time…" he sighed, "this time impossible wasn't." He leaned on the older man. "I keep telling myself that if I stayed I could have done something, but I'd be just as bad off as they were - are."

“Yup.” Brad held him, closing his eyes and drawing in a deep breath to fend off his own moments when he could have - should have - made a different choice, acted a little faster, said something else, done something differently. “Does it help to remember we’ve all got those moments? That you’re not the only one to have decisions you regret?” 

A bitter laugh. “Yeah. Brain knows it, but not the rest of me.” 

“Noted.” Brad gave Gordon’s shoulder a little squeeze. “So, does iR have a time machine somewhere down in the guts of the island?” 

"With Brains, anything is possible, but I don't think he's gotten into temporal physics. At least not yet." Gordon freed a hand to scrub at his face. "I get your point. Can't change the past, we can only affect the future. But - it's hard sometimes. Hell, it's hard most of the time. But when it's family, it's even harder." 

“Yup.” Brad paused to order his words. “So I’m betting you got the same spiel I did in the WASP spinal ward.” 

Gordon snorted. “Which spiel? There were like, six of them.” 

“At least.” Brad cracked a half-smile. “The ‘one at a time’ one.” 

“Oh yeah, that one.” Gordon let his head hang back and hit the wall with a muffled thud. “ ‘How do you eat an elephant seal? One bite at a time. How do you strengthen your body? One movement at a time. How do you move forward? One step at a time.’” 

“‘ How do you heal? One day at a time.’ ” Brad finished the litany they’d both heard time and again from the nurses, doctors, physios and specialists. “You’ve got lots of shoulders to lean on, you know that, right?” He reached over with his free hand to poke Gordon in the side. “That’s half the point of Koala, teaching a pack of half-wild, barely housebroken specialists from all across the world to lean on each other and to hold each other up.”

"Excuse you! Scott and I were fully housebroken." He straightened a little. "I know I've got shoulders, I'm talking to you, aren't I? It's still hard. Even if it's one bite at a time, some of those bites taste pretty bad." He let out a breath and seemed to uncurl without moving. "It's hard, it's nasty, but once it's done, it's done and you're on to the next bite and hopefully it's a better one." 

“Exactly.” Brad jerked a thumb to point behind them. “Like my Salt used to say, we can’t go back to fix the past. So we can either sit here and stew in it, or, ” he pointed in front of them, “we can go forwards. I’m not going to let you sit and stew in your misplaced Tracy Guilt, so I’m gonna drag you over that way until your family’s got things together enough to take over and keep dragging you along with them. Eventually, all of you dragging each other along will get you over this mountain and back into the sunlight.”

"Heh… It's more us dragging Scott, but yeah, we usually drag ourselves." He gave Brad a sideways look. "Sort of like all the Colour Captains. Yeah?"

“Exactly like that.” Brad sighed. “You weren’t here after the start of the War, but it was bad. If it wasn’t for the Old Man pointing us in the right direction and dragging us along with him, I think we might have imploded. But he got us moving and kept us moving until it became enough of a habit we were able to keep moving under our own steam. He’s good like that.” 

“Yeah, he is.” Gordon looked out at the clouds again. "So what's the course now?"

"We sit here, talk, and when you're ready, we go drag our brothers along with us." 

Gordon cracked a half-smile. It was weary and worn, but still a smile, and crucially it was one that touched his eyes. “That sounds like a good plan to me.” 

T H U N D E R F A L L 

Lying on the floor of their assigned guest quarters, Wayne stared at the ceiling and focused on his breathing as his phone buzzed for what seemed the millionth time. Beside him, Dosela was also sprawled on the floor and doing the same.

He and Dosela had watched the expose and spent a good half hour inventing swear words to distract themselves from the guilt of ‘how did we not see all of this?’. By mutual agreement they’d both put out the one message to their respective family/friends group chats to reassure the people who needed to know that they were okay. Dosela had been told about the ‘#IbelieveScottTracy’ tag by one of her cousins so they’d both reblogged it on their own, barely-used socials, then they hadn’t touched their phones since.   

“...so…” Dosela rolled her head over and looked at him. “Done enough moping?” 

“Yep.” Wayne had an idea of what was coming next and sat up with a grunt. “Phone calls?” 

“Phone calls, texts, emails, everything,” Dosela grinned as she lunged up and grabbed her phone before lying back down. “You’ve got the update for Colonel Casey?” 

“F.A.B.” Wayne had his phone in hand and was scrolling through the contact list, and he paused long enough to cant a sharp smile at Dosela. “Betcha the GDF gossip chain is worse than WASP’s.” 

Dosela was already typing up something and he could see enough to make out she was writing ‘#IbelieveScottTracy’ again. “Prove it, flyboy.” 

“Oh, I will.” 

T H U N D E R F A L L 

Alan woke up to the sound of two of his brothers' laughter. 

“Now that's one to remember!” Virgil chuckled. 

“I agree!” a woman answered him. 

Alan tensed and ran the numbers. He didn't recognise her voice, but they were on Cloudbase and Virgil and John were laughing. Odds were good she was on their side. 

“Three?” 

How on earth Virgil always knew when he wasn’t as asleep as he pretended to be, he’d never know. Since the jig was up, Alan cracked his eyes open, was glad the room was still pretty dim, and stretched as much as he could, squeezed in as he was between the space noodle and the family bear. He didn’t have as much room as last time, back at New Haven, but he still had too much room! A scrub of his face induced some wakefulness, and Alan quickly tallied up the contents of the room. Him, John and Virgil - who were still attached to IVs and ‘bot nurses - no Kayo, Scott or Gordon, and an older woman with a Gordon-esk fashion sense. 

“Hello,” she smiled at him. “I’m Doctor Orchid, the base psychologist.” 

“She’s been helping me with some stuff,” Virgil filled in the pertinent details. “She came to check in and learn some new swear words from Five. Xanthic, Shadow, and Cobalt should be back later.” 

“Hi.” Alan wormed his way up into a sitting position as he quickly tabulated the briefing and slotted Orchid into the web of people around them and where she fitted in the trust spectrum. Virgil trusted her enough to debrief with her, but she hadn’t been given names yet, so she was somewhere in the middle.  

Doctor Orchid, Cloud’s deep voice filled the room, there is an urgent call for you. 

“Thank you Cloud, I’ll take it in my office,” Orchid briskly nodded to the camera in the corner as she rose. “Two, when you are ready for a session, Cloud or one of the nurses can help you with a booking, but my schedule is very flexible - including zero-dark-thirty appointments - and the offer is open to all of you.”

“Will do, Doctor, thank you,” Virgil smiled back.  

“You’re welcome,” she replied, then opened the door and swept out with a rustle of her long skirt. 

“I like her,” was Alan’s softly voiced conclusion as he leaned into Virgil’s side. Both his brothers were still so underweight! ‘As soon as I get access to a kitchen, I’m making a feast,’ he decided. He was already planning the menu when the intercom chimed for attention.

“Hello, it’s Scarlet. I have nurse-approved contraband, may I come in?”   

John was the first to get to the intercom button on the wall beside his bed. “What’s the contraband?” 

“Whittaker’s specialty chocolate blocks, but not the coffee one sadly, that got taken off me and claimed as the nursing staff’s ‘cut’.” The captain mock t’sked. “I tell you, it’s downright criminal the percentage the nurses are taking to permit contraband for Medical’s inmates.”  

“Did you get the pear and honey one past them?” 

“I’ll have you know I had to wrestle James for it.” 

That got a soft laugh out of all three of them and a ‘come on in’. 

Scarlet was in uniform as he came inside and immediately handed a paper bag over to Virgil with the comment of “I’ll trust you with the distribution.” 

“Are you on duty?” Virgil asked as he rummaged around in the bag, found the pear and honey chocolate block and handed it over to John. 

“Yes, on standby,” Scarlet clarified. “The colonel prefers that we stay in our ready room, but as long as we can respond he doesn't mind us going for a little leg stretch.”

“Keeps you all from climbing the walls?” Alan guessed. 

“Indeed.” Scarlet gave him a quick smile. “Speaking of going for a leg stretch, Three, if you feel up to it, I can take you for a walk down to the Promenade garden after lunch. Five can attest to it being quite the lovely spot.” He looked at the older Tracy brothers. “If you two continue to behave and agree to hover chairs, I've secured permission to take you there after dinner, and you're welcome to come again as well, Three.” 

“How did you manage that?” John asked curiously. “Fawn's been pretty strict on keeping us here.” 

“I asked Burgundy, not Fawn,” Scarlet replied, then added, “I also traded three packets of speculaas biscuits and a promise of exemplary behaviour on my next stay. I know how the walls close in when you're stuck here.”

Alan glanced at his brothers, got their permission to venture out, then nodded to Scarlet. “Yeah, that'd be good,” he murmured in a quiet voice. “These okay to go outside in?” He plucked at his scrubs. 

“It will be fine, they’ve all seen me running around in the ugly scrubs Fawn puts me in when he thinks I’m going to be a flight risk.” Scarlet grinned, and the sheer impishness of the expression made Three’s mouth twitch in an involuntary flicker of a smile in return. 

There are suitable civilian clothes available at the base shop, if you prefer, Cloud helpfully suggested. 

“Perfect idea, Cloud,” Scarlet nodded to the camera in the corner. “Would you help Three with the order? It can go on my account, and I'll pick it up after lunch.” 

I will take care of the cost. I will also make the offer to the other Thunderbirds. Cloud declared. EOS, may I borrow your projector to assist Three with placing his order? 

Yes, you may, EOS replied, her icon blinking out to be replaced by an online order screen already set to ‘clothing’. 

“I’ll be back at 1330,” Scarlet told them, and ducked out to leave them to it. 

True to his word, he was back at half past one to deliver a paper shopping bag. The captain was off duty this time, wearing comfortably broken-in jeans, a red tee shirt with ‘In my defence I was left unsupervised’ across the front, and black gym shoes. After ducking into a patient bathroom with the bag, Alan came out in tan cargo pants, a black tee shirt, and blue sneakers. 

“Not my most fashionable outfit,” Alan tried to joke as he dumped the scrubs into a dirty linens bag, “but it's better than scrubs.” 

“Much better,” Paul nodded. “This way.” 

He shepherded Alan past the nurses’ station, had a quick word with them and promised to bring him back, then after picking up cups of hot chocolate from Medical's kitchen they were into the maze of hallways that threaded the base. 

When they approached the wide doors to the Promenade, Alan wasn't quite sure what to expect, this was a military base after all, and those weren't really known for their interior decorating. Headquarters yes, where all the higher-ups did their thing, but not the bases where the work got done.

He absolutely did not expect a lush, sun-drenched, sub-tropical garden.  

Flowering bromeliads were having a colouring competition with hibiscus bushes, the little white stars of jasmine perfumed the air, spindly yucca plants and snake plants stretched up to the high ceiling, climbing roses wove through trellis walls, and a dozen other plants spilled from planters, pots and garden beds. Clusters of chairs, loungers and benches were here and there, and the floor to ceiling windows gave him a perspective on the world that he hadn't seen in… far too long. 

“Quite the view, isn't it?” Paul asked, sounding well pleased with having pleasantly surprised him. 

“...it is.” The expanse outside pulled on him like a magnet and he leaned against the window frame to drink it in, slowly sipping from the warm cup in his hands as he let the drifting clouds draw his eyes and soothe the turmoil in his soul.

Alan was aware of Paul moving to sit on a chair between him and the door, guarding his back. It was something he appreciated in a way that he couldn't put into words just yet. His family would have been all over him - talking to him, fussing over him, holding him - but Paul was giving him space - both physical and emotional - and time to try and come to grips with things inside his own head. 

The mug was empty and the dregs were stone cold by the time he felt sort-of ready to talk to the older man, and a glance told Alan that Paul was still sitting there, his own empty cup in his hands, quietly waiting for him to make the next move.

Turning to face him, Alan gathered his words and the courage to use them. “Paul… can… can I talk to you about what happened at the Manor? Confidentially?” 

“Of course. Let’s go over here, it’s a good spot for confidential conversations.” Paul got up and waved him towards an out of the way spot in a corner, behind a trellis wall thick with yellow and white climbing roses. 

Once they were both settled on some floor cushions, Alan drew in a deep breath and began to speak. In halting words he made his report, describing the kitchen, the attack, and his own actions, and waited for judgement to be pronounced. Yeah, Scott said he'd keep loving him, but that was Scott. This was someone with a different perspective, someone who wasn't a brother, wasn’t family, and didn’t have an obligation to like him, much less love him. Paul was way more objective than his kin and not someone to beat around the bush. Whatever he’d say, whatever judgement he pronounced… Alan knew he could trust it.

Scarlet put his cup down and sat up straight, giving his answer due consideration. “I think,” he said at last, “you made the only choice you could live with. Don't forget, everyone else had made their choices as well. UnNamed decided to put out the job. The mercenary boss accepted the job. The first wave of mercenaries chose to make their attack, and they chose to kick Sherbet along the way. The second wave of mercenaries chose to press on despite two of their number being disabled, and they chose to keep advancing on you and Lillian when they should have retreated.”  

“When you were in the hallway behind the kitchen, you had four choices available to you: flee and leave Lillian behind, evade, surrender, and fight. To flee and abandon a friend is something you are constitutionally incapable of. If it had just been yourself, I think you would have led them on a merry chase and escaped, but Lillian would not have been able to keep up with you and the two of you would have eventually been cornered, so evasion was not an option, especially as they had already stated what they would do to Lillian, which also made surrender an untenable option. The only choice you had left was to fight. They kept choosing to continue that fight, to press on instead of falling back, and because losing would have cost Lillian’s life and most likely the lives of Sherbet, Parker, Lady Penelope and Miss Kayo, you not only had to fight, you had to win. You were the only one in that house that the mercenaries could not kill, which gave you a tactical advantage that you used to save your friends and family.” Alan fiddled with the cup as he absorbed what Paul had said. It would seem that the habit of needing something to do their hands while thinking or talking over hard subjects was a family trait.

The cup stilled and Alan looked up. "So, I made the best of bad choices?"

"Yes." There was no doubt in Paul's reply. "If those had been my options, I would have made the same decision."

Alan went back to playing with the cup and Paul shifted his attention to the clouds outside the windows. He knew all too well how hard it was to find the right words and have the courage to use them. He wasn't sure how much time had passed before Alan spoke again. "How do you live with it?"

Paul hid the wince at the grief in that question. "In my case, training. Lots and lots of training. Special Operations soldiers need to have a very specific mindset and world view. In yours, having someone you can talk to that's trained and not family I think would help the most. As for living with it..." It was Paul's turn to look for the right words. "It's also the cost I pay to keep my friends, family, and the rest of the world safe, which helps. But it's never an easy choice, nor should it be. Your choices were taken from you by others, so you made the best one you could in the moment."

Alan nodded without looking up. "Is there someone here you could suggest? Not Juniper, he's got Scott to deal with and that's more than enough Tracy for one person." 

Paul gave a small chuckle. "I'll agree with that." He thought for a moment. "If you don't mind talking to a woman, I suggest Rabbi Azure. I think she would understand the most." 

"I don't mind a woman." Alan's head came back up. "Why would she understand the most?"

"Because before she took her twenty and out, she was a sniper in the WAAF. She understands choices and making the best of bad options." 

“I'd like that.” 

Without seeming to think about it, Alan leaned his shoulder up against Paul's. Recognising the behaviour from Scott and Gordon, Paul immediately answered the unspoken question and slung his arm around the younger man’s shoulders. Simple repetition and the tactile nature of the Tracys had made him a lot more comfortable with offering comfort like this. 

“You are a good man, Alan Tracy,” Paul found himself saying. “And these questions you're asking prove it.” 

The ‘thank you’ was so soft he was almost sure he’d imagined it. 

They stayed there for at least an hour before an apologetic Cloud informed them that Alan’s presence was requested back at Medical: Fawn wanted to check on him and Scarlet had promised to bring him back. 

If anyone noticed the protective arm that Paul kept around the young man’s shoulders as he returned him to his brothers, no one mentioned it. 

T H U N D E R F A L L 

Hours later the doors to the Promenade swished open once again to reveal a different, but still glorious vista.

“Oh wow….” 

From his hover chair, John smiled as he saw Virgil's hands do the ‘Artist wanna Art’ twitch, as Gordon had once called it. 

He didn't blame him one bit. 

Scarlet and Alan parked the two of them within arm's reach of the Promenade windows and the view was spectacular. The sun was sinking towards the sea, and the towering pillars of clouds were being dyed all the shades of pink and gold, slowly bleeding into reds and oranges as night crept in to draw its blue-black blanket over the world. 

“The Old Man never admits it,” Paul revealed, “but if he can, he likes to point the Promenade in the direction that gets the best view.” 

“I can see why!” Virgil already had his notebook open on his knee, setting to work with his crayons and the packet of colouring pencils that Scarlet had slipped him as soon as they were out of Medical. 

The swish of the door opening again caught John's attention. 

“Great minds think alike!” Gordon chirped as he, Lillian, Parker and Penelope came in to join them, Parker pushing Penny’s hoverchair and Sherbert in Penny's lap. 

“What an astounding view!” Penelope exclaimed. Sherbert squirmed to be put down and as soon as Penny obliged him he was off like a shot, sniffing everything. 

The door had barely shut when it opened again to admit more familiar faces: Scott, Kayo, Brains, MAX, Rigby and Dosela. 

Paul quietly removed himself from the immediate area as the reunion started - and especially as Gordon and Scott took special care to talk to Brains and reassure the engineer that he was still part of their family. 

A little touch at his leg made him look down to see Sherbet, the pug looking up at him with the same soulful expression that Bos used when he wanted some attention. 

“Hullo there,” Paul crouched and let Bertie sniff his hand, then scooped him up for some fussing. “I'm told you are a very good boy, Sherbert,” he said as he found the right spot behind Sherbert's ears and gave him a good scratch, resulting in an ecstatic dog immediately demanding more. (He ignored the mutter of ‘maybe we can leave th’ mutt ‘ere’ from Parker and the immediate swat and ‘now you take that back!’ from Lillian.)