#building collapse

From his perch on the remains of Sub Level Two, he stared down into Sub Level Three, watching the man currently unaware of him. 

Below him in a little artificial cave, The Hood was frantically trying to dig his way out of the prison he’d created for himself when he attempted to break into Auckland University’s secure storage area, three levels below the street, but somehow brought most of the Chemistry Block down around his ears.

It would be so damn easy.

There were no cameras down here and all anyone knew about a rescue was what they told the world. He had what he needed to do it too: rubble lay around them like snowdrifts in winter. He could pick up a chunk, drop it on that bald head and crack it open like an egg. 

Recovery teams would find The Hood some time today or tomorrow and draw the conclusion that he wanted them to draw: killed during the building collapse. He’d be just another corpse, stuffed into a body bag and dragged to the surface for identification. No one would claim him and he’d go into a common grave as a John Doe.

This was the man responsible for so much pain, so much hurt, so many lives lost or irreparably shattered, and it would be so easy to pick up a chunk of concrete, launch it at him, and rid the world of his filth. 

Summoned by the warbling alert of an inbound medevac, Fawn stopped just inside the entrance to the surgical ward to get a look at the bigger picture before diving right in. The air still had a bite to it from the outside atmosphere, his patient freshly transferred from the helicopter stretcher to the main surgical bed, and the team was already at work.

Looking at Scarlet, laid out on the table like a slab of bloody meat, Edward felt his heart ache. Even from here he could see that Scarlet was a mess - and not just physically. 

The only acknowledgment of his presence were the dulled eyes that briefly slid in his direction, then returned to staring at a point above the bed. Edward swallowed hard. He’d never, ever seen Scarlet so… so broken. It was like he'd completely given up. 

Scarlet didn’t react or respond as James started stripping off his boots and socks while Kirimiko unzipped his ruined tunic. Wielding the specialised, heavy duty shears, she cut the tunic at the shoulders, avoiding the wiring by following the line of the clavicle so they could open it up and pull the remains out from under him. “Scarlet, any new weapons on you?” Kirimiko asked once it was removed. Asking that was a standard question for any captain before undressing them further. Finding new weapons on someone the hard way made life more interesting for Medical - and usually not in a fun way.

A faint shake of the head was the only answer.

James brought the shears out again and Scarlet’s undershirt was slit from hem to neck and wrist to shoulder, Kirimiko deftly removing his watch and the knife strapped to his left forearm as soon as the fabric was out of the way. Usually the touch of cold metal got a flinch out of Scarlet, but not this time. Nor did he react when the sticky dots for the auto-nurse were applied or the IV needle went into the crook of his elbow. Scarlet had to be in pain, there was no way that he couldn’t be, not with these injuries, but he just… lay there, staring at that invisible point above the bed.

Knowing his team had this under control, Edward turned to the one person who could answer the most pressing question, the one that hadn’t been answered by the radioed message alerting Medical to the return of its most frequent patient. “Blue?” Fawn gestured towards Scarlet, now half-hidden by the nurses as they started to tend to the wounds on his chest and arms. “What the hell happened down there?” 

Adam, dusty, dirty, and ignoring his torn sleeve and the ripped knees on his trousers, was standing to the back of the room and as out of the way he could be. He tore haunted eyes away from his friend. “I don’t know. All I do know is that the hall collapsed while Rhapsody was giving her first presentation at the University of Arizona. Scarlet was up on the second level for overwatch, and I was at the main entrance. I found him stuck under some rubble, halfway down a stairwell from the second level to the ground floor. The only thing I could get out of him was the roof came down on top of where Rhapsody was getting some students out.”

Fawn swore softly. “Is someone down there?” 

Blue nodded. “Cobalt, and Xanthic's enroute. If anyone can find her… it'll be them.”

0o0o0

Beside the ruins of what had once been a multipurpose arena and conference venue, Cobalt swore as another fingernail ripped as he pulled chunks of brick free. He was going to talk to the Colonel about decent gloves for the teams, and failing that, the quartermaster on the QT. He'd just heaved a large hunk of still intact window ledge when hands grabbed him by his shoulders. He jerked free, dusty hands curled into loose fists, before the now dull yellow registered. " - Xanthic!" His fellow captain changed grip to hold him by his wrists. "Neptune's dark waters! What are you doing?" He leaned in as close as he could. "This isn't our job anymore, let the firefighters and USAR handle it."

"I can't! Rhapsody was giving a talk in there." 'There' being the remains of the UoA’s McNally Center.

"Oh Hell." Xanthic still pulled him away from the wreckage. They hadn't questioned why, just where and how fast they could get there after the call of 'Spectrum is red' came over the comms. "Where's Scarlet and Blue?" Cobalt let himself be pulled away and seated near but not at the triage tents. "He was in with her. Blue pulled him out, but - "

Xanthic looked at the remains of the auditorium, partially built into a large sandstone hill. "OH Hell."

“Yeah. We have to get in there.” Cobalt wiped the sweat off his brow with the back of his wrist, leaving a smear of dirt on his forehead. “Anyone know how it collapsed yet?” 

“Officially? Nada. Unofficially?” He pointed to the freshly broken sandstone at the top of the hill above the university. “Yeah, the sandstone here's pretty friable, but for this much to fall away and land right there without an earthquake or a storm? That needs explosives.” 

Cobalt grunted his agreement with that assessment. 

Xanthic produced a bottle of water and gently started to clean Cobalt's hands. "We need to think though. There has to be more than one way into the building." "Huh?"

Xanthic rolled his eyes. "Your age is showing, bro. Do fire codes ring a bell or two in the hollows of your brain?"

Cobalt jerked with a hiss as the water pushed against several small cuts. "So, fire risers or maintenance corridors?"

"Let's start with maintenance, those are usually reinforced." Xanthic patted Cobalt's hands dry with a tissue. "We going to tell the base?" Cobalt shook his head. "We can't let them get their hopes up. We'll snag some gear from USAR and give it a look first." 

“F- S.I.G.” Xanthic nodded. “You go bat your eyelashes at the nice lady over at the supply truck, I'll scout and see if I can find an entrance.” He skipped out of range of the reflexive swat and grinned cheekily. 

Cobalt tried to glower, but he couldn't hold it for long. “Get going.” 

“Going!” 

Cobalt watched his brother pick his way over the rubble, then levered himself to his feet. He'd gotten on scene just as Blue half-dragged Scarlet out, the gravely wounded senior officer terrifyingly silent. One look at Blue confirmed that he hadn't been able to find the Angel, but they had to get Scarlet out of here before the arriving medics could get their hands on him. 

The spark had momentarily come back as they half carried, half dragged Scarlet to the helicopter.  When he realised they wanted to take him away from the scene he’d tried to fight them off, desperate to get back into the building. But between him, Blue, and the injuries, Scarlet didn't stand a chance and he'd been bundled into the Spectrum helicopter they’d initially arrived in so Blue could get him out. ‘By the looks of him, he'd been right in the thick of it’. Cobalt shook his head to shake off the memory of the despair he'd seen in Scarlet’s face. He knew that look very well: the agony of someone who'd tried their hardest to save a loved one, only to have them slip through their fingers.

Cobalt had twigged onto the relationships between the Captains and the Angels by the end of his first week on Cloudbase. He was sure that they thought they were being very circumspect, but the signs were all there if you knew how to look, and Cobalt did.

Reaching the equipment area, he endured having his hands fussed over by the pretty EMS and got a trauma kit, two pairs of heavy duty gloves, a flashlight, and a phone number. He tucked the number into his tunic pocket, hefted the kit and triggered his radio. "Cobalt to Xanthic, where are you?"

"Head to the south side, I think I've found a way in.""S.I.G." Cobalt headed over at a jog, borrowing a Halligan bar from one of the fire trucks along the way, and spotted the near glow-in-the-dark of his brother's chosen colour by a pair of doors. He hefted the bar. "Thought this might come in handy."

“Good idea, these are wedged shut.” Xanthic took a pair of gloves and the Halligan bar off him with a pointed look and an “I didn't wreck my hands moving rubble, bro.” 

That was a fair point so Cobalt didn't put up an argument for now. Standing back, he watched the rubble for movement while Xanthic attacked the doors. One solid hit from the spike end put a gap between the metal clad doors, then Xanthic levered it out and flipped it around to use the crowbar end. Here, Cobalt moved in to lend a shoulder and together they heaved until the hinges gave way to physics and the doors popped apart, leaving a gap just wide enough for them to squeeze through. 

Xanthic kept hold of the Halligan bar and grandly gestured to the entrance. “Age before beauty,” he teased. 

“I'll get you for that later.” Cobalt rolled his eyes and flicked on the torch. 

Xanthic mock-tsked. “You keep saying that but you never follow through.” 

“Oh, believe me, it's all going on your tab,” was Cobalt's answer before he got on hands and knees and crawled inside. 

The building was creaking and groaning eerily, but playing the narrow beam of the torch over the walls immediately told him that some smart architect had listened to the geotechnical engineers. The lights were out and there were some superficial cracks in the walls, but everything was intact. “This thing looks like it's bomb-proof!” 

"It might be." Xanthic tossed the bar in, which rang as it bounced down the tunnel, and he eeled his way inside. "This part of North America got hit pretty hard during the Conflict." "I remember." Cobalt swept the light down the corridor and reached up to tap his chest. "Thu -" he flushed slightly. 

Xanthic patted Cobalt on the shoulder. "Yeah, me too. Some scans or blueprints would be damn useful." He picked up the bar. "If this was an auditorium, this should lead to the backstage area." He pulled the trauma kit in. "Scott if we find other survivors…" "I'll call Green and get the other rescue teams in here asap. We aren't leaving anyone, Gordon." "Didn't think we were." He passed the bar to Scott and shouldered the kit. "'Once more unto the breach?'" "Yeah, I just hope we're not going to wall up our dead."

“Agreed.” 

The soft tread on their boots meant their footsteps didn’t announce their presence like their old uniforms would. At intervals Scott filled his lungs to bellow ‘Can anyone hear me?’ and they'd pause to listen. But each time only the echoes answered them. 

“Hey, Scott,” Gordon quietly asked as they passed a blacked out fire control panel, “what are we going to do if iR shows up?” 

“I don't think they will, the news said there was an apartment fire going off in Manila when the ‘red’ call came through,” was Scott's absent reply as he played the torchlight across the ceiling to check for any suspicious cracks. “But if they do…” he paused, remembering the run in with Jeff shortly before Gordon transferred up, “...we keep out of the way.” 

"S.I.G." Gordon narrowed his eyes. "Shine the light over there." He pointed to the right side of the tunnel. Scott obliged and revealed a crooked sign saying 'Zamboni Storage'. "They play ice hockey here?" His eyes widened with disbelief.

"The wonders of modern life." Gordon pulled on the door, which yielded slightly. "All I know for sure is that Zams need a straight line to the floor, they don't like running around on concrete." 

Scott set the light down so it would illuminate the area. "How the hell do you know that?" He took the Halligan bar off Xanthic, jammed it into the tiny gap and set to work with a will. "Swim meets get held in some damn weird places." 

“I'll say.” Scott was about to twist the Halligan and wrench the doors open when their epaulettes flashed green. 

“Cloudbase to Cobalt and Xanthic.” The signal was surprisingly good for how thick the walls had to be. 

“Xanthic receiving, go ahead,” Xanthic answered for both of them since Cobalt had his hands full. 

“Be alert,” Green cautioned them, “Fawn just reported they've pulled a number of bullet fragments out of Scarlet.” 

“Understood.” Xanthic's hand was already on his sidearm. “Has Scarlet said anything about who it was?” 

“Still working on that.” The grim note was eloquent about the battle between getting vital information vs the medical needs of the patient. “Your status?” 

“We've found a possible entrance into the auditorium itself through the south west fire exit, will update as soon as we have anything.” 

“Understood. Ochre and Grey are also enroute to you and the local SWAT team are five minutes out. Orders are to proceed with caution.” 

“S.I.G.” Xanthic flicked his mic up and glanced at Cobalt. “Well this just got interesting.” 

“Yep.” Cobalt adjusted his grip on the bar. “Ready?” 

“Go.” 

A grunt and a heave, the lock gave way and the door popped open with a whine of reluctant metal. It was noisier than they'd have liked, but it couldn't be helped. The building was still creaking its death throes though - both of them hoped that it would hide it. Some emergency exit lighting was still functioning, going by the sickly green light filtering through the half-open doors in front of the blocky shape of the Zamboni, and bits of debris crunched underfoot as the two captains slipped into the space and paused, waiting for any reactions.

The quiet was defined by the groan of concrete settling and the two men's breathing. Communicating with gestures, they split up to go around the ice machine. Gordon pulled himself into part of the driver's seat, something rattled, and then he dropped back down. "Xanthic?" The whisper was barely louder than breathing. "Keys." He held up something that glinted in the green light. "They like to let kids drive it around in the breaks, so they need something that's an instant stop."  He shoved them in his pants pocket. "It also keeps the bad guys from using it."

"Good point." They kept moving forward through the Zamboni tunnel, blissfully free of ice. But the silence was no longer defined by the two men. Now there were some small sounds of pain and murmurs of comfort. There were also a pair of deeper voices snapping angrily at each other.

Xanthic pulled down his mic. "Xanthic to Grey." He kept his voice as low as he could.

"Grey to Xanthic, what's the sitrep?""Unknown but shading to bad. We don't have eyes on, but it sounds like there are survivors and at least two unsubs."

" We're just at the entrance you found. Get eyes on if you can, but don't be stupid.""S.I.G." 

"Grey has met you, hasn't he?" Cobalt's grin was fleeting. Xanthic just rolled his eyes. "He was talking to you, not me."

“Uh huh.” 

The voices became more distinct as they slipped towards the sources of them. One was definitely Rhapsody, and she wasn't happy with the owners of the deeper voices. Some dividers, folding tables and free-standing walls had been stacked in the tunnel to keep them out of the way. Now toppled over, they provided cover as Cobalt switched the torch off and they crept as close as they could. 

Just outside the mouth of the tunnel, clustered around some half-deployed stadium seating and in the lee of what looked like a significant piece of the roof, they could see a knot of people, some standing, most sitting, and split into two very distinct groups: prisoners and their captors.

Cobalt peered through the gaps, squinting in the dim light to make out more than just shapes. Reaching out, he tapped ‘I count ten survivors, two hostiles’ on Xanthic's arm. 

‘Ditto’ was tapped back. ‘Red Hat has shotgun, Blue Vest has visible pistol, maybe more’. 

Cobalt checked over the two men standing over what he could now see was a huddle of women. ‘Agree’. He watched for a moment longer. Rhapsody had placed herself between the younger women and the two men. She looked hurt but mobile, and if looks could kill, the men would have been dead and buried already. 

‘Red Hat’ was the taller of the pair, dressed in ‘tacti-cool’ urban camo BDUs with combat webbing loaded with all sorts of junk, which included, to Cobalt's grim amusement, a spiral ‘tri-blade’ knife which had had a recent resurgence on the Internet as an ‘elite Black Ops weapon’ that couldn't be pulled out except by ‘a team of surgeons’. It was complete nonsense designed to separate the gullible from their money but ‘a sharp edge is still a sharp edge,’ he reminded himself. Turning his attention to ‘Blue Vest’, Cobalt found cause for worry. This guy was all muscle, and under the dust and dirt, carefully groomed. His shoes, clothes and belt with an outsized buckle were loudly branded, the pistol was nickel-plated, the ‘pig-sticker’ knife on his belt was lovingly polished, and when he looked at the terrified college freshmen, his lip curled in disdain. All up, he ticked almost all the boxes for one of those ‘Alpha Male’ online misogynists, and not only that, he was twitchy and restless in a way that got the alarm bells ringing. ‘Dollars to donuts, ‘roid rage. If anyone's going to be trouble, it's gonna be him.’  Another string of taps communicated his conclusions.

Xanthic had rolled his eyes but tapped out 'Falling back call Grey.' He slipped out of the strap holding the trauma kit and stealthed back into the green lit gloom.

Cobalt shook his head, Xanthic was nearly as good as Scarlet with that trick. He turned his attention back to the standoff in front of him. He slowly moved into a firing position, so as not to attract eyes, and braced his pistol on the pile of fallen tables. He sighted on Blue Vest's head. He was well within range and Blue Vest was the most dangerous.

Rhapsody snapped something and gestured at their surroundings with one arm, the other hanging at her side with blood streaking the white uniform. Whatever went with the motion wasn't to Red Hat's liking. He stepped in and swung the barrel of the shotgun at her head. Cobalt didn't hesitate. The moment Red Hat moved, he pulled the trigger on Blue Vest. 

He was in motion before the sharp retort of the pistol could fade, throwing himself to the left as what remained of Blue Vest dropped to the ground and Red Hat swung around to blast the area. Red Hat got one shot off, decimating the dividers with what had to be buck-shot at minimum, then all at once there were some terrified shrieks, a sickening wet snap, and a scream of agony. Cobalt rolled to his feet, pistol in hand as he ducked between the dividers, searching for Red Hat. 

He was very pleased to see Rhapsody already had the situation under control. Red Hat was howling and writhing on the floor with a clearly broken leg, one of the other women was standing over him and holding the shotgun with the confidence of someone used to weapons - he could make out a Marine JROTC uniform under the dust - and Rhapsody was on her feet and directing two other cadets to help pin Red Hat down and make sure Blue Vest was indeed dead.

“Rhapsody Angel, status?” Cobalt looked around, just in case there were any others. 

“Some injuries, but just these two louts,” she reported, pain clipping her words. 

“I can’t leave you unsupervised, can I?” Xanthic commented as he came back with the trauma kit in hand and was trailed by Grey, Ochre, and their SWAT team. 

"Who can't leave who unsupervised?" Cobalt said in a slightly offended tone.

Ochre and SWAT quickly took over from the students, Xanthic headed for the wounded women, and Grey made a beeline for Rhapsody with the words "I know you're hurt, but I need you to call Medical right now."

Blue eyes got big. "Scarlet! Is he all right?" Grey put his cap on Rhapsody's head. "Just call Medical." He gave her a once over. "Then we'll get you cleaned up."

“S.I.G.” She reached up and tapped the appropriate buttons on the inside of the ‘cap with her good hand, half-turning away to keep the conversation at least a little private. 

By now Cobalt had moved to help Xanthic with the wounded by this point, soothing rattled nerves with calm tones, confident smiles and gentle tending. His bedside manner wasn’t quite as good as Xanthic’s (he’d already gotten one patient to giggle) but he did get some watery smiles and two hugs. “Any idea what those two were after?” Cobalt asked one of the cadets as he carefully sluiced a nasty gravel rash on her leg. There’d be a proper debrief and after action report later, but with Rhapsody busy, Red Hat whimpering over his broken leg and Blue Vest not in a condition to talk anymore, it made sense to get some intel together for the colonel - it was his guess the Old Man would be wanting an update any minute now. 

The cadet drew herself up as best as she could to report. “Cadet Dezba Begay sir. ‘Putting women in their place’, sir.” She threw a hard look at Red Hat - one of the SWAT team was busy stabilising him. “According to them, we’ve forgotten where we belong.”

"And they thought bringing down the building was going to change that?" Cobalt shook his head and picked a couple of pieces of gravel out of the wound.

Cadet Begay snorted. "They were supposed to blow the charges for the 15:00 talk. We were here early to listen to Rhapsody Angel talk about the troubles she'd had moving up the ranks." She pointed with her chin at Red Hat. "That sheep thief got confused and thought the ten of us were all that was showing up and set the charges off early." She winced a little as Cobalt probed higher up her leg to her knee. "There was a third one, but the other Spectrum officer tackled him up there." Again she pointed with her chin up towards the other side of the arena, just visible through the gaps in the fallen debris. "I think he was supposed to be overwatch. But as to what they wanted to prove by killing all of us, I've got no idea."

“We’ll find out, don’t you worry about that,” Xanthic piped up. “The officer who grabbed the third one, did you see what happened?” 

“I heard gunfire and shouting, but I didn’t see much after he tackled number three, we were dodging the ceiling.” She nodded over to Rhapsody, still talking to someone on the loaned ‘cap. “Rhapsody Angel got us together and we were on the way out when the roof came down and we were intercepted.” 

“Did they say anything about a plan?” Satisfied there weren’t any other injuries, Cobalt reached for a dressing. 

Begay shook her head. “Not a thing, just a lot of arguing about whose fault it was and what they were going to do now. Sir, the other Spectrum officer, is he okay?” 

“He will be.” Cobalt smoothed the dressing down. “There, that should hold. They’ll want to take another look at it at the triage station.”

The grin she sent him was a brilliant white. "Thank you sir. I think we got to see first hand some of what Rhapsody Angel had to deal with." "The men trying to blow me up to put me in my 'place' came a lot later, Cadet." The woman in question said as she came over. She looked odd with Grey's cap on her head.

"Yes, ma'am." Xanthic waved over a couple members of SWAT to take Begay out to the triage station and Cobalt made Rhapsody sit down on one of the intact seats. "Let's see how bad it is." Even as tough as Spectrum flight suits were, they were no match for EMS scissors. Cobalt touched the skin just the side of the wound. "What happened? Did you get through to Scarlet?"

She shook her head. "They said he was down for a procedure. As for this,” she nodded to the cut, “I got blindsided and the dead oaf over there thought his knives were 'scary'. Sharp I'll give him, but not 'scary'. Scarlet is going to have my hide for that."

Cobalt started to clean the wounds. "I don't think so. Not right away."

She raised an eyebrow at him.

“I got here when Blue was dragging him out,” Cobalt told her, then, softly enough that his voice wouldn’t carry, he murmured “he thinks you’re dead.” 

“Oh.” There was a whole world inside the quietly uttered word. She winced a little at the sting of iodine being dabbed over the ragged cut. “Will it need stitches?” The topic change was blatant, but it had to be done. Right now was not the time nor place. 

“I don’t think so, but that’ll be the doc’s call to make.” Satisfied it was clean and wasn’t going to start bleeding without encouragement, he tied a dressing on next. “We should get you back upstairs.” 

“Uh, sirs,” one of the SWAT team was looking between them all, not quite sure who to address. “We’re going to need some statements.” 

“Our people will call your people with Rhapsody Angel’s and the captains’ statements, Captain Dyer,” Ochre smoothly interjected. “You can pass on any questions to me since I’ll be coming along with this guy to the hospital,” he nodded at the now quiet Red Hat, “and Captain Grey will be helping get statements from the folks here. Right now we need to get our people back to base.”

The SWAT captain didn’t look overly pleased by that, but he couldn’t really argue. In the delicate dance of inter-agency politics, Spectrum automatically had the upper hand.  “Yessir.” 

"Think you can walk, Rhapsody Angel?" Cobalt was going to make sure to give her title every time he could. It wouldn't hurt to reinforce that Spectrum had been attacked as well. 

"I can, Captain Cobalt." She easily stood up and an impish grin crossed her face. "Don't tell Medical, but I'm looking forward to seeing them."

"Promise," Xanthic chirped as he took her good arm. She took off the RadioCap and handed it to Cobalt. "Please tell Grey that he was unconscious when I called."

Cobalt gave her a short nod and hurried over to Grey, leaving Ochre to deal with a sulky SWAT captain that didn't get to play with his toys and still had to do the paperwork. His errand completed, he jogged after Xanthic and Rhapsody, triggering his ‘cap as he did so. "Cobalt to Cloudbase."

"Cloudbase, go ahead Cobalt." Green's voice was his usual calm but there was a thread of concern in there as well. "We're going to need medical transport. One patient, status three, conscious, and I'll have stats as soon as we're out of here." "Understood Cobalt. Medical heli already inbound. Harmony Angel is the pilot."

"Thank you, Cloudbase. See you back at the ranch." Cobalt winced, he hadn't meant to say that, but it felt so natural. "Cloudbase out." Green's smile was broad in those two words. There was going to be such a ragging over that. 

0o0o0

His prediction was absolutely correct as their flight was welcomed back ‘to the ranch’ - which Green said in a pretty decent ‘cowboy ‘Murican’ accent - then they were following the path that Scarlet had taken only hours before: descending into the dedicated medical hangar,  through the connecting corridor, and into the receiving surgery room to deliver Rhapsody into the hands of the medical team. 

Well, their intention was to deliver her, but either someone had tattled or the medics were mind readers because once Fawn had Rhapsody, the nurses had homed in on the two of them for a check over and tutting at too. 

Directing Cobalt over to a chair and making him sit, Kirimiko had tried to remove the gloves he was still wearing, only to discover that he'd bled enough inside them for them to be glued to his hands. He gave her his most charming smile and she just tsked at him as she set about carefully cutting the gloves off. 

Scott might have been annoyed about being fussed over like this, but being in Medical gave him a front-row seat for the moment Scarlet somehow found out that Rhapsody had been brought back alive and mostly whole.

Fawn had just finished re-dressing her arm when Scarlet literally exploded out of his 'special ward', his head swinging around like a wild animal looking for a way out and the auto-nurse leads trailing behind him. Later, Scott would remember the mess the other man's chest was and how it clashed with the Daffy Duck pyjama pants that he’d been stuffed into.

Spying his beloved, Scarlet made a sound that shouldn't come out of any human throat; a mix of terror, joy, and hope, and made for Rhapsody at a run. Fawn, having more self preservation than any Captain, ducked out of the way. Scarlet rocked to a stop in front of her, brought a hand up and hovered it over the side of her face, obviously terrified that if he touched her, she'd vanish like the morning mist.

"Yes, I'm real. I'll be alright in a couple of weeks. Fawn says it shouldn't even scar." She caught the hovering hand with her good one and pressed it against her cheek. 

Scarlet's eyes slid shut and he took a shuddering breath, then another one, and finally a third. He leaned forward and touched her forehead with his. Rhapsody sighed a little and leaned in herself.

Fawn stood back and let the small tableau be for nearly a minute. But when neither of the pair moved, he cleared his throat. "It's not according to regulations, but if you want to, tonight you can sleep in the visitor's chair in Scarlet's suite." His lip turned into a wry grin at  Scarlet's eyes snapping open and promising horrible death.

"Please Scarlet?" She let go of his hand and cupped the back of his neck. "You're still recovering and I'll be healing for a bit yet. Please let us get some rest?"

Scarlet nodded and pulled away from her with great reluctance, curling an arm around her good side as an acceptable substitute. Fawn flapped his hands at the couple. "Good, now shoo! The both of you. And don't think that I'm not going to reattach all those leads and drips, Captain." Scarlet merely nodded, his gaze locked on Rhapsody as they went back to his room. Kirimiko shook her head. "And to think they thought they could hide the relationship from us." She looked at Cobalt's hands. "Well, it looks worse than it is. Let's get these cleaned up and I'll see how many bandages you'll need." Scott pointed with his head at the departing couple. "They thought they could hide that?" 

Kirimiko grinned. "We knew about it before they did. James, the rat, won the pool for when they finally realised it."

The aforementioned nurse, tidying up after treating some grazes that Xanthic had picked up somewhere, gave them a cheeky grin. “Won it fair and square too.”

Scott proverbially bit his tongue. He really, really wanted to ask how Medical knew before Scarlet and Rhapsody did - and not only that, how they knew to the point they had a betting pool on it. He couldn't ask that question though. It was too personal! He didn't know either of their names, he couldn't ask about their love lives!

Luckily for him and his curiosity, Gordon didn't have anything near his level of restraint. 

"Really?" Gordon chirped as he came over to them. He was as innocent as a newly-hatched squid as he asked "howdja pick those two?" 

The two nurses communicated with their eyes for a moment. James nodded, then Kirimiko flicked a glance in the direction the couple had gone in -  Scarlet still with an arm around Rhapsody and showing no signs of letting go - and smiled. It was a gentle smile, one that transformed her face from a no-nonsense nurse to someone admiring something rare and beautiful. Her next glance was to them as she weighed up if this was something that she could reveal. "We knew because if he was asleep and she went into his room, he wouldn't even twitch. Blue is the only other person who can do that. Anyone else, even one of us, and he'll wake up. And that was even before the Car-Vu happened." A pause and she looked like she was about to say more, her wise eyes lingering on them both, then she clearly decided to not say something. "That's how we knew.” Her eyes conveyed the seriousness as she warned them “and not a word about it to anyone." 

Cobalt dutifully raised his (now bandaged) right hand. "Scout's honour." 

A poke to the ribs got a cheeky  'Squid's honour' out of Xanthic. 

"Good." 'Nurse Kirimiko' was back as she scooped up the bits of rubbish. "Stop by the pharmacy on your way out for more dressings and topical antiseptic. I know you know your wound care," she gave them both a look, "so come back at the first sign of infection. Clear?" 

"Spectrum is green." 

Cobalt's dutiful acknowledgement got an amused smile in response. 

"Good. Shoo. I'm sure you've got reports to write.”

“I am not writing your reports for you,” Xanthic said, giving Cobalt’s hands a sharp look. “Voice to text exists for a reason.” 

“But…!” Cobalt tried. 

“No buts!” Xanthic pointed at the door. “Your own fault for going in bare handed! Now git!” 

Kirimiko smiled as the two brothers meandered their way out of Medical with much banter and ragging each other. Of course she and the rest of Medical didn’t know officially, but you couldn’t share a room with the two of them and not see how they worked together like a matched set. ‘But pieces of that set are missing… or more accurately they’re the pieces missing from their own set,’ she reflected as she finished setting her workstation to rights. 

That Cobalt and Xanthic were brothers wasn’t the only secret that Medical knew about the pair. Though their medical reports were redacted in several places, they all knew what lay between the lines, truths revealed by the language of scars written on their bodies and the lists of prescription medications that came with the reports. She and the other nurses had also been there to hear heavily-medicated confessions, the snatches of nightmares, and whispers of conversations between the different doctors. 

They found the professor and his son also up, already making steaming mugs of tea and coffee, which they gratefully took. Blue took extra for his two people and Parker took a cup up for M’Lady, sure in his own mind that Penny would be up.

She was up and already in conference, giving Parker a nod of thanks and a wave of her hand in dismissal. Parker smirked. His charge had already filled him in on what was going on and he knew that this morning was going to be all about confrontation…he nodded to the holo of Jeff Tracy and returned to the infirmary at the same time Blue arrived.

Sam Loover was the last one to get up, a fact he was not happy about in the slightest. He was surprised to see only Mac and Joe in the kitchen, but understood when Mac told him the others were with their injured colleague.

There was an uneasy atmosphere about the place, and Sam was tempted to put it down to the Mysteron threat hanging over them, but there was more going on - he could feel it.

He accepted tea and sat with Mac on the red floral couch as Joe sat on the wingback opposite them, the fire between them gently crackling.

They drank in silence, each one lost in thought and waiting for the other to start talking.

The barn occupants had the opposite problem.

Scarlet had noticed the small satellite dish that had been pointing at his head during the night and had promptly moved it. Something about it felt wrong, and it had felt like an invasion of his privacy somehow, he just didn’t know what it was.

Parker too had misgivings about the contraption, and he was a little more vocal about it.

Eventually Penny finished her discussion and joined them, and got the ball rolling on the discussion they all wanted to have.

‘Nice to see you’re fully recovered, Captain Scarlet.’

No one was surprised at Penny’s surmise of the situation. She had been the one to train Dianne after all, and both Colour Captains knew you underestimated the ladies at your peril.

‘Thank you Lady Penelope, I am quite well, although for reasons I’m sure you understand I shall not be parading that information about.’ ‘Quite right. Now, has any thought been given to what to do going forward?’ ‘Our CIC and team are still deciphering the threat to see if anything more definitive can be gleaned. In particular a date. We can’t keep personal tabs on the boy forever, after all.’ ‘What we do have on our side is the knowledge that the Mysterons always act quickly after a threat. Usually within a week.’ ‘Is the plan still to get Joe and his father to a safe house?’ ‘Yes. Captains Magenta and Ochre are going to be arriving soon in a new SPJ and take over relocating the family. Orders came in this morning for the change of guard after Captain Blue reported I’d been injured.’ ‘Makes sense. Dianne and I will accompany Mr Loover back to his office and have a chat with Mr Weston. Something rotten is going on at WIN, we all know it and now we have the chance to get to the bottom of it once and for all.’ ‘Agreed.’ ‘And about Joe?’ ‘That’s a confrontation for after the threat has passed. But don’t worry, our CIC has that all in hand.’ ‘Well that’s good. Now, since we should be in the move quite quickly I think breakfast is the order of the day. If you’ll all excuse me.’

They watched Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward leave with her chauffeur with some bemusement. Blue turned to Dianne.

‘I know she’s your friend, Dianne, but I sure am glad she’s on our side. I don’t even Shane Weston at all!’ ‘I agree! She looks harmless but she might just be the deadliest person here!’

Dianne just laughed.

There was a knock on the door and Scarlet quickly slid back into bed while Blue went to open it. Mac and Joe were waiting outside with plates of breakfast.

‘I brought one for your injured friend just in case he was awake.’ ‘Thank you, Professor.’ ‘What’s it like being a Spectrum agent?’

Both Blue and Dianne laughed at Joe’s question, one that he’d obviously been dying to ask, but Mac frowned at the eagerness in his son’s voice. He’d been worried that Spectrum would turn Joe’s head and it looked like he was right - he needed to rein that in immediately…

‘Joe, let them eat first. We can ask questions later.’ ‘That’s alright, Professor. I don’t mind answering if Joe doesn’t mind me eating while we talk.’

If anything, that answer made the man frown even more, and Dianne saw a chance and took it.

‘While the boys are talking shop why done you fill me in on what exactly you do here? Lady Penelope and I are so very interested in the work you and Joe do for WIN.’

Torn between keeping an eye on Joe and showing off his work Mac paused and then deflated a little. And then cheered up when he caught sight of the little satellite dish he’d placed on the bedside cabinet.

‘Why don’t Joe and I leave you in peace to have breakfast and then, once everyone’s eaten, we can show you rather than just tell you?’ ‘Excellent!’

So a much happier Mac left with Joe and the Spectrum officers looked at each other.

‘The Professor isn’t happy about Joe talking to us.’ ‘I noticed. Should make for an interesting guard duty.’ ‘Agreed. He looked positively thunderous at leaving Joe with you, but he certainly perked up at the idea of showing us what he does.’ ‘I admit I’m quite keen to know what turns a normal nine-year-old into a Very Special Agent, if only to work out what kind of long-term effects it could have on the child. Weston wasn’t forthcoming on that at all.’ ‘Yeah. To say I’m concerned would be an understatement…’

They pondered the ‘how’ while they ate, the Blue and Dianne returned to the farmhouse as Parker returned to “look after the h’invalid”…only to walk into what appeared to be a full blow confrontation.

‘Mr Loover, you and Mr Weston have put a target on Master Joe’s back. Allowing a nine-year-old to do intelligence work is irresponsible at best and downright illegal at worst!’ ‘I don’t mind, Lady Penelope!’ ‘I’m sure you don’t, Joe. It’s a grand adventure for any child, but there is a reason intelligent networks only hire adults. First and foremost because child labour is against the law in any country that’s signed up to the Geneva Convention and the World Government, which Britain has. And a close second is that it’s put your life in danger.’ ‘I’m not frightened! I’ve had men shoot at me before.’ ‘Darling, you are the bravest boy I’ve ever known, but that just isn’t normal, nor something to be proud of.’ ‘This is all mute, Lady Penelope. Once I show you my invention and you see how Joe can do what he does you’ll understand. With the BIG RAT Joe will be able to look after himself. You’ll see.’ ‘I shall reserve judgment on that.’

Blue and Dianne exchanged glances. They knew this discussion needed to happen, and neither were really surprised it had happened now, but the Professor’s attitude was flippant and Sam, who had remained quiet throughout, had a smirk on his face.

Whatever this BIG RAT was, it must be something…

‘In fact, since everyone has eaten, why don’t Joe and I show you what I mean?’

Without waiting for a reply Mac swept from the room, trusting the others would follow. Inside he was seething from the accusations, and once this was over he was going to insist that Mr Weston do something about the Lady. How dare she call him to account like that? What did she know about children or spying?

He’d soon show her, and the others.

Loover brought up the rear of the procession. His thoughts were not the same as his friends. He’d never worked with either Lady Creighton-Ward or Lady Simms, but both were legends in WIN. Lady Simms herself had picked Weston to succeed her, and that meant a lot to his boss, it was one of the reasons the two women were present.

And Lady Penelope had raised some good points. However…Sam might be the only person in the room to know that she herself had been trained from a very young age to enter the diplomatic corps, and she’d taken on her first solo mission at fourteen, also below the legal age of working.

It would be interesting if he confronted her with those facts…

‘Welcome to my laboratory.’

Mac swept his arm around the large room and grinned. There were stunned looks on his visitors’ faces.

‘This is the BIG RAT. It stands for Brain Impulse Galvanoscope Record And Transfer. I won’t bore you with the technical details, but this is the machine that allows Joe to become anyone in the world.’

He gestured to Joe who sat in the chair.

‘Sam, why don’t you open the door so our other guests can hear and see this.’ ‘Sure thing, Mac.’

Sam opened the door, giving Scarlet a direct view of the large machine. Parker sat forward to see, missing how Scarlet immediately turned pale.

‘While your Captain was asleep I took the liberty of recording his brainwaves. Now I’m going to implant them into Joe so you can see how this works.’

He ignored the shouts of outrage from the others and put the machine in motion.

Several things happened at once.

Blue charged at the Professor, attempting to stop the machine. Both Dianne and Penny reached for Joe, trying to pull him out of the chair. Sam moved to intercept the Captain. Mac looked astonished at what was going on.

But then Scarlet practically vaulted into the room, pushing Joe into Dianne’s arms as the chair carried him into the machine instead.

‘GET OUT,’ he bellowed. ‘The machine has been Mysteronised!’

And they watched in horror as the machine became charged with electricity, arcs of lightning firing off it into the room.

Dianne held Joe close, covering his ears so he couldn’t hear Scarlet’s screams.