Ouch! My Spaceship!

31 May 2066 0900hrs, Gran Roca Ranch

Eighteen days - or seventeen, depending on which side of the Date Line you started counting on - whipped past in a blur of meetings, legalities, press statements, and discoveries as decades of secrets were brought to the light and lies were peeled off like the layers of a foul and rotten onion. John had shown Scott and Gordon what he and Virgil found in UnNamed’s office and it was only the follow up information - that the FBI and a whole alphabet soup of other organisations had been alerted and started moving the instant Thunderfall had been triggered - that had kept them both from shattering anew. 

As they worked to uncover all the hidden caches and documents, the world news headlines changed daily, sometimes hourly, as different names were uncovered, connections were made, and new secrets were dragged into the light. UnNamed had gathered up many people into his slipstream as he chased his dream; his ignoble end had also triggered the end of the dreams of many others. 

Everyone took a small measure of grim satisfaction in that. 

Lee Taylor, surprisingly, had remained untouched by most of UnNamed’s filth, to the point that the attempted assault in the boardroom was the only thing that could be pinned on him and that had earned him little more than a legal slap on the wrists. But despite that, he hadn’t escaped the fall out. Disgraced and shamed but still stridently asserting UnNamed’s innocence, the Helios Colony staunchly refused to allow him to come back (not that Spectrum would have permitted it anyway), very few of his friends returned his calls, and he’d been forced to move in with his sister. Lee was still trying to drum up support for UnNamed’s memory, but he didn’t have the charm or the cunning to turn that into a credible assault on the Tracys and EOS made a project out of keeping his voice in the public sphere as muted as possible.

Eighteen days had also provided more than enough time for the Mysterons to strike again, an attack in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand, offering the perfect cover story to close the literal and proverbial files for ‘Captain Cobalt’ and ‘Captain Xanthic’. 

That, Scott was honest enough to admit, was something he was still wrestling with. ‘Cobalt’ had been intended as an identity, a mask to cover himself with, but taking off that mask hadn’t been as simple or easy as packing up his room and taking off his uniform. He had to unlearn ‘Cobalt’ and relearn who ‘Scott Tracy’ was, and that was taking time. Gordon, he knew, was also stumbling a little with the transition, but overall it was easier for him; Gordon had let go of more identities than he had.

In those preceding eighteen days they’d also had the funeral, held at the small cemetery in Kansas where generations of Tracys had already been laid to rest. 

As per the instructions in his will, UnNamed had been cremated. There’d been a very polite question from the staff at Arlington if they wished to make use of a grave there, as was UnNamed’s right due to his military service, but they’d just as politely refused the offer and the box of ashes had been put into the ground next to Grant Tracy. The entire thing had been very small and very quiet by design: the online hordes of keyboard warriors had rallied by this point, declaiming all sorts of nonsense and rubbish about conspiracy theories and how ‘conveniently’ UnNamed had died so quickly after being arrested, and no one wanted to give them an opportunity to spread their lies and hate.

(There had been mutterings about shooting the box of ashes into space and getting rid of all traces of him, but Scott had quietly put a stop to that for Grandma’s sake. Yes, UnNamed had been a monster, but he’d also been her son. Those wounds were obscure, difficult, and they ran deep, and he knew the value of having a place to go to to grieve.) 

The ceremony - what little there was of it anyway - had been attended by himself, Grandma, and two of the cemetery staff, and the spot was being left unmarked for now; again, because of the die-hards and conspiracy theorists. 

Eighteen days was also how long it took until Scott felt safe enough - and strong enough - to leave the Island and go to Gran Roca Ranch. A Spectrum team had already gone through the outbuildings, the house, and the training facility, uncovering a small horde of information. They’d been made privy to a portion of it, and the number of deals, blackmail schemes, and plots UnNamed had been involved in was mind boggling.

Entering the house, Scott walked through the hall slowly, letting his thoughts drift. He'd always wondered why UnNamed hadn't sold the ranch. The will reading had revealed that he couldn't, it was set up in an ironclad trust for Scott, and Scott alone. There had been several tries to break the trust, but they hadn't worked. Thinking back, matching dates and events, Scott could trace those moments to points in his life when UnNamed had been especially callous.

Finding out that the ranch was his, and his alone, made it even more precious to him.

The house was going to need a cleaning from attic to training facility, along with a redo of the decor. He had already decided that every hint of UnNamed was going to be excised from it. But there was one place Scott knew that UnNamed hadn't gone but once after his mother had died: her office.

Scott stood in front of the door, both gathering his courage and steeling his heart. The others had wanted to come. Kayo had argued with him about it, that he'd need the back up. Even Grandma had offered. But he'd refused them all, pointing out to his beloved that while yes, he didn't need to do this alone, it was something he wanted to do alone. Kayo had kissed him fiercely and told him she'd be no more than fifteen minutes away, if he required her. God, how he loved that woman.

He took a deep breath, and opened the door. The room was full of light, Lucy had always loved the light after the grey of England and had claimed a south facing bedroom as her office. Scott just stood there to take in the room. It hadn't changed since UnNamed had swept in, taking all her work, papers, and computer after her death. Scott had made sure to clean and dust the room whenever they came to the ranch, and after UnNamed had vanished, left instructions for the cleaning crew to do so. So there wasn't even the suggestion of her perfume, just a whiff of lemon and oil.

His eyes were drawn to the drafting table, a huge thing that his mom had found at some sale before he had even been conceived. She had taken it through every move she had until it had been sent here, after Gordon's birth. He'd spent a lot of the first four years of his life either next to or under that table. Finally leaving the doorway, he went first to that, and laid a hand on the back of the drafting stool that seemed much too short. He picked up a mechanical drafting pencil, an ancient thing, at least a century old and heavy enough to use as a weapon. He'd offer it to Virgil, and if Virgil didn't want it, he would keep it. Their mom had written so much of her work with this. All the other pencils and pens were the normal collection of an engineer, so he left those.

Scott moved to the desk and sat down,  the steel pencil flipping slowly through his fingers. The chair padding hadn't fared too well in the light and heat, it sounded - crunchy. He chuckled to himself. ‘Everything ages, even furniture.’ He tried to roll the pencil around his thumb, only to send it tumbling to the floor.

"Smooth move, dumbass." He sighed, slid off the chair and crawled into the footwell. He sneezed as his feeling around sent the dust bunnies running for cover. His questing fingers wrapped around the barrel of the pen. But it was on the vertical and not the horizontal. "Huh?"

He got his phone out to have some light. In the harsh photo light was the pencil, standing up in a hole in a floorboard. Which made him blink, none of the other boards were that rough. He plucked the pencil free, then wedged a finger into the hole and pulled. The board came up and revealed a dark space below. Curiosity well and fully engaged led him to reaching into the shadows, to have his hand brush something dusty and rough. He swallowed hard, and pulled out a brown envelope. An old fashioned one that was closed with string and a knot he recognized. Scott weighed the envelope in his hand. It was heavy, far heavier than the size made it out to be. He was also loathed to open it. This was something special, something important, something his mom hadn't wanted found, so opening it would almost be like betraying her trust. However, his mom was long gone and any betrayal couldn't hurt her now. If it was too personal - well, there was the firepit out back. He took a hard breath, undid the string, and slid the contents out onto his lap. 

What landed there made no sense to him, not at first. Papers, passports, several flash drives, two more envelopes with pre-paid credit cards in one and a thick stack of 100 dollar bills in the other. He fixated on her passport, the picture was horrible of course, but it was one more image of his mother. A piece of paper behind the passport caught his attention, only to lose it when he realized that there were two more passports, both his, one for America and the other for the United Kingdom. Lucy had never renounced her citizenship, so he had a dual one. Dear God, if he'd known that when he was younger. If he'd had this in those days - would he have run? Left his brothers behind, in the care of UnNamed? He was pretty sure he wouldn't have, but to know he had an out? That might have made the bad times more bearable. 

The paper between them was a list, with several things crossed off: passports, marriage license, birth certificates, residency proof for me, pictures, money - that had been circled and underlined. Other items hadn't been: clothes, one stuffie each, Scott Bernie Bear, books for John, crayons for Virgil, Blub the Fish for Gordon (need dumb hand held), baby ?, Val - phone.

‘... it’s an escape plan.’ Scott found himself sitting on the floor without remembering how he’d gotten there. ‘Mom was going to escape with all of us… she saw what was going on… what he was doing… and she was going to save us…’  

He was crying, but he did not care. This was catharsis, the purging of long-hidden wounds and washing them clean. Yes, it would hurt, like any washing of a wound, but this was healing that he desperately needed. 

T H U N D E R F A L L 

Hours later, the night was warm as he came out onto the porch, the wooden planks creaking underfoot. He leaned on the railing and stared out, a thousand and one thoughts tumbling through his mind. If not for the avalanche, that cruel twist of fate, Mom would have done it. He knew that down to his bones. She’d have taken all of them, found a safe bolt hole, and she’d have fought UnNamed tooth and nail and forced him to concede. 

A shift of air, a faint smell of perfume, spices, and av-gas, and - just as he suspected would happen - Kayo was there, her arm around his waist and her head resting on his shoulder. He looped his arm around her, kissed the top of her head, and held her close. ‘I hadn’t called, but she still knew she needed to come. God I love her so much.’ 

“Big thoughts?” she asked him. 

“Yeah.” Scott let the comfortable silence wrap around them both. The smells of wet ground, creosote, sage, and cedarwood gave Scott a deep sense of nostalgia and comfort. There was also an edge of longing to it. The pain of his mom's death would always colour his life, but at this very moment it was the shadow that made the light even brighter. 

It wasn’t a conscious decision, a stringing together of thoughts into a logical order with a logical conclusion. It was, he knew, something that he’d already decided years ago, but he’d buried it under layer upon layer of secrets and shame and fear to keep her safe. If he’d let even a hint of it show, UnNamed would have turned it into another chain, another shackle, another way to control them all like puppets on strings. 

‘But now we’re free.’ It still felt like it was too good to be true, even though UnNamed was dead, cremated, and buried, even though he’d seen that box go into the ground, there was still some corner of his mind that was waiting for the other shoe to drop, for everything to get turned upside down again. ‘To hell with that. I’m not letting a dead man rule me any more.’

This wasn’t the moment he’d let himself fantasise about, he didn’t even have a ring, but it was the right moment, and that was what mattered more; to both of them. 

He turned so he could hold Kayo in both of his arms, brushed a kiss against her lips, then he got down on one knee, her hands in his and his heart in his eyes. “Kayo…Tanusha, will you marry me?” 

“Yes!” She was in his arms, crouched down on the old wooden planks, her arms around him and her head in the crook of his neck. “Yes.” Kayo murmured the word like a prayer. “Yes.”

He shot him

Adam had shot the man he most trusted

And he just watched the lifeless body of Captain Scarlet… the body of Paul falling to the ground. 

Wasn’t it strange that there was no guilt running through his mind? Has this Spectrum’s duty and training gotten into him so much so that he has even numbed out anything that Scarlet used to mean to him? 

So much of sacrificing his own interest for the greater good of the world, even though that interest was loyal to his best friend. 

Yet, there isn’t even time for him to reminisce about the action he just committed; another order just came to his transceiver to escort the president back to the security building before other Spectrum agents came to take care of Scarlet 

So, this is goodbye then… Paul. Goodbye without even getting to glance into your eyes for the last time. The last encounter with someone that not even you before I take away your life.

Captain Blue tightened his grip on the world president before pressing the button on his hover pack and flying off to the center of London 

—

It has been almost a day since it was reported that Captain Scarlet has recovered from the injury and claimed by Doctor Fawn and all Spectrum medical personnel that he is virtually indestructible.

Destiny had already come into the operating room to assist the doctor in the first hour before he arrived at the Cloudbase. Colonel White probably visited him before the official briefing hours ago. Green, Magenta, and Ohre said they would like to see him as soon as their shift ended, as well as the rest of the angels. Amidst all the seriousness of the situation, Blue could see the delight in their eyes.

It was expected. Everyone loved Paul. 

Adam would be the first one who could confirm the fact.

But now no longer claim anything about the man. He could not even turn his head to look past the sickbay window. 

“Captain Blue, would you like to come in to visit, Captain Scarlet? It is okay now to come and talk. He would be back on duty in a few days.” The calm voice distracted the blond-haired captain from the reading pad. Doctor Fawn gave him a soft smile before sitting beside him.

“I don’t want to disturb him, doctor. He should get all the rest he can.” Blue smiled back, gave a short answer, before turning his head back on the report. 

“As I said, Captain Scarlet is okay now, and you have been sitting in front of the sickbay since the first day we got him in. I can’t see any other reason why you would do so if you are not here for him,” Fawn continued and slowly moved his hand onto Blue’s shoulder. The taller man flinched at the touch 

Why indeed should he be here if he didn’t want to see Paul? Adam asked himself the exact same question, and he had no answer.

“I’m no psychiatrist, Adam, but it would be better for both of you to talk. It doesn’t have to be about yesterday.” Despite the silence, the doctor still kept on his attempt to reach the other man.

“What could I say to him, Doctor? I was ordered to kill you, and I didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger”

Blue took a deep breath before deciding to reply 

“He was asking for you, Captain. Since he regained his consciousness, it’s only you he actually calls to see.” 

The doctor’s words hit Blue again. It should be much easier if this new Scarlet had resented him or, better yet, completely forgotten everything. Still, he acted like the same old Paul he knew. The man who, on every mission, would come back to check if Adam was okay. The man who would always stand by his bed whenever there was an accident. 

Adam moved away from the man beside him and stiffened. He rubbed his hand nervously and took another sigh. “That sounds just like Paul I knew… If you think it best, doctor. I will go to see him”

“If you are ready, Adam. I’m not in any way forcing you to do any you uncomfortable with”

The blonde officer didn’t say anything else to the medic; he just nodded and turned to the door that divided him from the man he swore to fight alongside and the ghost of his ill responsibility that came back to life 

Blue walked to the recovery ward on the other side of the operation room and touched the scanned panel 

“Please, come in”

The familiar deep voice called to him as the door slowly slid to show the tall man sat on the bed, gazing upon him with gentle blue eyes. 

“Hi, Adam. I thought you wouldn’t come”

I thought the same thing, Paul. He said silently to himself while looking back at his friend, who still covered his blushes and some strain of blood. He was difficult to look at him with the overwhelming feeling fill in his l in his chest, so instead Adam wandered his eyes to the floor.

“Are you okay, Adam? I shouldn’t have called you in. You just finished the mission. You should have taken some rest.”  The words almost made Adam want to walk away from the room at that instant. Even now, lying hurt from the wound of Adam’s doing, this man still had the audacity to be a gentleman and worry about him 

“It’s okay, captain. As your partner, I should be here to check on you.” Blue said quietly

“Really, just as a partner? Or unless you mean other types of partners, I would forgive you” 

The man on the patient bed widened his smile, attempting to crack a joke at his friend and expecting the blushing reaction he often received from his field partner, but the only thing that came out of Adam was the uneasy look from the tired eyes.

The silence once again filled the room 

“Adam… the conversation required two people. I called for you because I want a friend.” Scarlet shifted his body to face Blue more directly, just as his weight came down on the side wound and the raspy voice came out of his mouth.

Blue startled in alarm before hurrying over to support his friend, easing him back down to lie against the bed once more. 

“Easy, captain. You should not move.” The blond hair frowned sternly, which called a grin on Scarlet’s face 

“Well, if my pain could call your attention, then it's worth it” 

Once again, the words from another man’s mouth made Adam want to tear himself apart. Was the Mysterons program this new Scarlet to cut deep into his psyche until he lost himself completely? 

If Paul would not state the obvious, he might take the duty to himself and follow Doctor Fawn’s suggestion and break the ice between them.

“The pain caused by my hand, Captain. Don’t you pretend as if nothing has happened. You died, you lived, and now I don’t even know who you are.” Blue finally blurted out all the thoughts that had been flowing in his head since he witnessed his friend fall down from the Sky Park Tower

“I don’t blame you, Adam. You got your order. I got mine, and I failed. You did what the best officer would do. I also don’t expect you to believe I am the Paul you knew,” Scarlet said quietly under his breath.

Adam released his hold on the man lying before him and blinked slowly.

“You are just saying things now, Captain. You really need more rest.” Blue replied, then stepped away as the strong hand seized his arm and held it fast.

“You haven’t said a word to me except a bitter reply, captain.” The look from those pale blue eyes always took the better of him, making it hard for the blond-haired man to refuse.

Adam responded by merely laying his free hand over Paul's and stroking it.

“Come to see me at breakfast tomorrow. We will talk then. It’s late now, and the indestructible man still needs some sleep, I reckon.” Adam could feel the other hand letting him go. His wounded partner didn’t say anything further, just watching the man walk out of the ward door.

—

Hot Darjeeling tea with a spoon of honey. 

Paul always asked for it after their mission, when he was hurt, when he was under the weather, or when he was perfectly fine and simply just wanted to be spoiled by Adam on a lazy morning.

Adam himself was never a sweet tea man and was more into black coffee with no sugar, yet this specific morning he probably just made two for them both just to see the reaction from the other man.

So much for the guilt… somehow he has this twisted idea that if this complex feeling between both of them would continue, I might as well test the man for who he claimed to be.

Just as Blue reached the bread and jam on the side of the kitchen, the shadow of another figure appeared on the door.

“You woke up before me again. I thought this new power I get was gonna stop me from oversleeping, but it sure didn’t”

“Good morning, Captain. For a day without a scheduled mission, you did great,” Adam greeted the other man. Scarlet’s face had now been removed from all the scratches, and his body seemed to be as steady and strong as ever, as if yesterday he wasn’t just hurting himself from rolling over his own wound. 

“Not as good as you, I suppose. I thought I could come here to make some coffee for us.” Scarlet leaned against the door and looked at the two cups and a teapot awaiting them on the tray. Still, the dark-haired man inserted himself between the taller man and the counter to reach the coffee maker before making himself a cup of black coffee anyway.

“So no Darjeeling tea, them.” The blond in blue pajamas mumbled 

“I could if you want me to.” Scarlet stopped, then looked back into another man’s eyes. “I just find myself too fancy for a cup of coffee now, and you probably do yourself”

“But you never,” Blue replied in a stern voice 

His first test was completed. This man knew Paul enough to recall their routines and his preference, yet was a different man enough to refuse. It should make it clear to him that there is no pretense for them, but it also scared Adam to the core that the new Scarlet just came in and changed the thing he thought he knew about his best friend, even the most subtle things such as the choice of morning drink…

“Doesn’t mean I didn't want to try it today.” Scarlet grabbed a cup for the brewing coffee that was slowly coming off of the machine as he gave a mischievous smile to the man beside him. “Also, doesn’t mean I won’t drink your Darjeeling tea ever again”

He then put the teacup up and took a big sip from it. “That is not a spoonful of honey, Adam. And too much lemon.” Scarlet immediately reacted to the taste of the drink, pulling a disapproving face, wrinkling his nose at the cup 

“And you still drink all of it.” Blue rolled his eyes at the criticism 

“I’m not going to waste a good cup of tea made with heart just because I happen to fancy a cup of coffee today,” Scarlet said as he drank the rest until the cup was empty. 

“Hm, Adam, look at the arrangement.” He took a short glance at the bottom of the cup before showing it to the man in front of him 

“What do you mean?” Blue answered, feeling puzzled by whatever the other man tried to convey

“Tasseography- what do you see”

“Tea leaves and the empty cup from a man who said the tea wasn’t to his liking,” The blonde sarcastically commented.

“You don’t even entertain me with a snarky answer, captain.” Scarlet lightly shuckled. Not a playful laugh Blue expected from the man he knew, but it reminded him enough of his Paul that he knew that he wasn’t dealing with a complete stranger.

“What do you want me to see then?”

“The two leaves that entwined… One is notched, and the other fills the gap.” Scarlet lifted his head to meet with Blue. “The broken leaf is not completely ripped, but he still needs the other one to hold on to him”

He can see that Adam went quiet after hearing that sentence for a long second.

“That's..." The taller man finally said, "That's a lot of meaning from one wet leaf, captain."

“I’m a person with a lot of vision then” 

“Of course you are; now go sit down. The bread would not toast itself." Adam brushed past the other man to resume his business with the bread, pretending not to see the little smile that hadn’t left his partner’s face