Thank you once again for the fantastic support!

Despite Virgil catching Alan trying to get to Gordon at least three times in the following hour, the youngest members of the island departed without an incident. Scott and Virgil stood side by side on the edge of the landing strip, the former having offered a commentary the whole way through Alan's take off. But now their brother had gone, a heavy silence had fallen between the two of them. Both knew they needed to return to the house, but neither could quite bring themselves to do it. Whilst they were out here, everything was peaceful and at ease, exactly the way it should be. Returning to the house meant returning to the nightmare they had been forced into.

"We really should help Dad." Scott eventually muttered, and Virgil made some vague noise of confirmation. It wasn't that they didn't want to be in there fighting to save their brother, it was that they didn't know how. For Scott, nothing could feel worse. He had always sworn to protect them, and on most occasions, had succeeded. The amount of physical threats he had saved his brothers from over the years was beyond counting. But the pilot was out of his depth on this one. Much as he wanted to help Gordon, Scott hadn't the slightest idea how. That was why he was reluctant to go back in, he was hesitating about facing how much he had failed his brother. As if knowing what he was thinking, Virgil gave Scott a gentle nudge with his shoulder.

"There was nothing you could have done, so stop beating yourself up over it."

"But how did we not notice this had happened? When did it happen?" Scott protested, not believing a word of what Virgil had just said. Gordon had spent most of the rescue confined to Two, and on the one occasion he had then been let out, Scott had been so preoccupied making sure he was guiding Virgil with the Mole, he hadn't really considered what he had been sending his other little brother into, just trusting Gordon to get the job done.

Virgil rolled his eyes and started heading back to the house. Jeff had said a brief goodbye to his son in the hallway, but Alan had understood that he needed to stay with Gordon. The redhead hadn't been seen since he had fled from the scene earlier on by any of the brothers, despite Alan's efforts to locate him. But the now two remaining siblings knew that their father was with him, attempting to help Gordon regain some sort of control, or at least try and stop him if the Hood did re-emerge again.

"We'll get John to go over all the recordings and stuff from the rescue, but knowing what happened isn't going to change that it did. I doubt the Hood would have left us with a manual about how to get him out again. Right now, we have to help Dad with Gordon. If Gords was present, I know they were going to come up with a plan of him keeping control. And if he wasn't...then Dad will need our help. Besides, before you go into failure mode, you did save my life down in the silos, Scott."

"But..."

"John, come in." Virgil shot Scott a withering glare as his brother tried to protest about doing anything to help. There was a moment silence that seemed to stretch on for a lifetime before John finally answered. Judging by the tone of his voice and the paleness to his face, Virgil knew that he was already trying to find ways to help their brother.

"What's up, Virg?" He muttered quietly. Virgil winced, knowing that John must have been in the middle of something in order to sound like that. But he couldn't handle Scott on his own with this one, he needed his other big brother.

"Tell Scott it's not his fault?" Although it sounded like a childish request, John immediately softened. He should have known that their older brother would not be taking this well. Matters of the mind had never been Scott's strong point, and this was almost his worst nightmare. There was nothing he could do to help Gordon. The real problem was that he knew Gordon knew it as well as Scott. The redhead knew he had to fight this on his own, and whilst he may have accepted that, his big brother had not. Scott had sworn to protect them, and the Hood was making him break that promise.

"Scott. It's not your fault." John said simply, and Virgil smiled. John's voice might have been mirroring the same childish as his own request, but it was what was needed. There was no point in trying to soften anything, it would do no good. Scott just had to accept there was nothing he could have done.

"But..." Once again, the oldest brother was interrupted before he could get more than a word out.

"Go to the lounge," John ordered, signing off without another word. John hadn't necessarily realised that they were still out on the runway, meaning that he wouldn't know how long it would actually take them to get to the lounge. Virgil took a few steps towards the house, Scott falling into step with him. For a moment, there was silence. But then Virgil slowed, and finally stopped. When his older brother glanced back at him, Scott could see the artist chewing on his lip, his eyes locked on the part of the house they could see from here.

"What?"

Virgil jumped, almost as if he hadn't realised what he had been doing. He gave his brother a sheepish grin, but didn't take another step.

"I don't want to go back in there." He muttered quietly, and Scott smiled sympathetically. He walked back to Virgil and let his hand rest on his brother's shoulder for a moment.

"Gords?" Virgil nodded, his eyes not moving from the house.

"The look in his eye." He admitted, trying to shrug off Scott's hand as if he was attempting to brush off the whole incident. Scott, however, merely tightened his grip, not fooled for an instant.

"You know it wasn't him, right? It was that creep."

"What if we can't get him back, Scott?" Virgil whispered, finally tearing his eyes away and looking at Scott in such anguish that it caused the older brother to switch his own gaze. Neck craning around, Scott glared at the house, furious with the Hood for putting his brothers through this. Gordon should be running around annoying everyone and Virgil should not have that look on his face.

"We will." He said firmly, hoping his overly confident tone would hide his real doubts. The look Virgil gave him indicated that it had failed, but his brother smiled nonetheless. Scott would not stop until he had done everything that was in his power to help Gordon, and more. Virgil appreciated the pretence, the need to act as if things were going to be okay, regardless of how out of their depth they were both feeling.

"Come on, John will be waiting for us." The artist eventually muttered, forcing his feet into moving. He still didn't particularly want to come face to face with the Hood again, especially as it would mean he would be seeing hate filled eyes gazing at him from his younger brother's face. The two brothers fell into step, silence once more stretching between them. Neither really knew what to say, but considering how in tune they were to each other's feelings, neither of them really had to say anything. The other already knew what would come out of their mouths.

Climbing up the hill, Scott hesitated for a moment before pushing open the sliding doors to the lounge, glancing once more back at Virgil.

"You okay?" He asked simply, needing to know whether his brother would be able to stay focused if Gordon was in the room. Virgil rolled his eyes and nodded. Scott knew that look. What had happened on the runway stayed there, for Virgil was not about to admit his insecurities to anyone other than Scott. Offering him a small smile, Scott pushed open the door.

Judging by the noise from the lounge, they weren't the only ones to have been summoned. Their father was in there, as was Brains. Scott glanced around.

"Where's Gordon?"

"With Kyrano." Jeff responded softly, smiling tightly in greeting. "They are in the infirmary, we were just about to call you in anyway, there is something we need to discuss. Alan get off okay?"

"Not if Scott's commentary was anything to go by," Virgil muttered, moving into the room and sitting himself down. John's portrait was already active, but the blond was facing away from the rest of the family. Whatever it was he wanted to tell them, he was clearly still sorting it out.

"He was fine, Dad." Scott said with an eye roll, moving past Virgil and throwing himself into his normal seat. "Is Gordon...?"

"Yes, he is okay." Jeff interrupted, knowing precisely what his son was going to ask. "Well, alright as can be expected considering the circumstances."

"It happened in the tunnels." John suddenly announced, cutting through his father's and brother's conversation. The blond finally turned to face the rest of the family, hitting a button. A larger version of the statistics from the rescue suddenly took over Virgil's portrait. "They took him out of them."

"But how was that possible? We would have picked up the reading, surely?" Virgil was leaning forward, his elbows on his knees and his chin resting in his hands as his eyes scanned the readings, trying to work out what it was that made John sound so certain. He knew that John had been looking into the rescue, trying to figure out what had happened, but he thought it would take his brother longer than this. Not that he was doubting John, not at all. But Virgil knew how often the Hood had managed to pull one over them. He thought the maniac would have covered his trackers deeper.

"I'm not sure, but I think the Hood knows about the watches. I got the idea when we couldn't find him earlier. His watch indicated that he was in his room, and no one thought to check because we never take them off. His watch spent the whole time in that tunnel, but that doesn't mean Gordon did." John continued, his eyes bouncing between the readings and the rest of his family. It was true, he was working on a hunch that involved their enemy knowing more about them than they thought possible. It was not an easy conversation to be having.

"How do you know though?" Virgil pushed. It wasn't that he didn't believe John, but looking at the readings, everything seemed stable. It wasn't the only time Gordon had been on his own during that rescue, and both him and Scott had been preoccupied by the potential danger of the Mole drilling through the unknown ground structure.

"This." John said simply, tapping away at something before enlarging the heat sensors. Both Scott and Virgil glanced at each other, not wanting to admit they had no idea what John was getting at. The readings seemed stable for the whole time Gordon had been in the tunnel. A single heat entering, joining four others. They had stayed in the tunnels for a while – Gordon had said that one of the men was injured – then all five signals had left again. There was no indication that their brother had been possessed in that time frame.

Jeff glanced at his two remaining earth bound sons, and had to admit a wave of relief hitting him at their blank faces. He had thought he had been the only one not seeing what John was getting out. Jeff opened his mouth to voice his confusion.

"John, I-,"

"Fine. This." Rolling his eyes at the fact the rest of the family couldn't see what he was getting at, John once again hit a couple of buttons and zoomed in on one reading in particular, not letting his father finish his sentence. "There was a flare. For a couple of moments, those readings doubled before they settled again."

"A fault?"

"A duplication." John counteracted, barely glancing at his father. "Don't you see it?" One look at the blank look on the rest of the family's face had John rolling his eyes with a sigh.

"The Hood knew how we monitored each other. It's true, Gordon did go down and help four people. And it is also true that all five of them left at the same time. But they didn't stay in the tunnels in the meantime. For a time frame of about five minutes, the readings doubled, one set fading out, before they remained steady again. In the long run of the rescue, five minutes is nothing, I would have never have noticed if I wasn't looking for it. But you look closely, this readings remain at a steady 37.5 degrees."

"So?"

"Typical body heat. But those tunnels were cold, Gordon's had dipped when he entered them."

"John..."

"For God's sake, how aren't you getting this? Gordon met the men, then was dragged off. They left his watch and some sort of heating system, making it look like all of them were still there. I would have only just glanced at the reading, I was too preoccupied with you two. It would have done enough. Then, almost an hour later, the same flare happens. When it settles, it's on roughly 37.4, and changes slightly as they move."

"They came back, deactivated the heaters and walked from the tunnels like normal." Scott muttered, meeting John's eye and receiving a relieved nod in response. John was just glad that someone understood where that whole thing had been going. Virgil saw the look, he too catching on to how they had done it, but bit his lip, frowning slightly.

"That's great, John. I mean, to pinpoint it, awesome and all that. But I don't get it – so we know that Gordon disappeared somewhere for about an hour and came back possessed. How does that help us?"

"It helps us because it tells us something." John may have been answering Virgil, but his eyes were locked on Scott. By the way his brother's hand was clenching slightly, Scott was thinking along the same lines.

"What?"

"Where the Hood is based." Scott muttered quietly, and as his father and brother glanced at him, it was obviously taking all of his self control to not jump up and start pacing. Or worse, fly out to the rescue zone.

"Scott?"

"They were gone for an hour, right?" John nodded, his eyes burning with the same gleam that Scott's were. If they had a base, they had a way of getting one over the Hood. Possibly enough to give them leverage over the maniac to make him relinquish his hold on Gordon.

"So say it took ten minutes for the Hood to do whatever he needed to in order to possess Gordon..." There was no stopping Scott now, he was up and pacing. Virgil and Jeff exchanged looks, but neither of them made a move to stop him. Brains' head was following Scott's every move.

"Meaning they were potentially about 15 minutes away from where Gordon met the so called victims. The Hood would have wanted to make sure it was far enough away that Virgil or I didn't stumble across it by accident."

"Make it twenty minutes away." John cut in, his overly bright eyes fixed on Scott. The two of them seemed to have zoned out the rest of the family, finally feeling like they were getting somewhere to help their brother now they had a potential location. A base made the Hood human. And someone human, they could defeat. When Scott frowned at John's new timing, the blond shrugged.

"Gordon wouldn't have gone willingly. They would have to have been forcing him, meaning it would have slowed them down." Scott nodded at John's quick thinking, moving over to the portraits and studying the readings closely. The image John had enhanced was almost like a map of the tunnels. There was a splodge of colour showing where the readings were coming from, the rest of the tunnels dark. The eldest brother was muttering to himself as his finger ran over the lines.

"There!" Scott suddenly shouted, causing everyone other than John to jump. He glanced at John's portrait, saw the small smile on his brother's face and knew the astronaut had come to the same conclusion as him.

"The large opening?"

"Big enough to be a cave. Big enough to be a hideout." Scott responded softly, blowing out a shaky breath. John ran his hand through his hair and began tapping away.

"I'll see if I can enhance anything, get a clearer read-out of what you are going to walk into."

"Excuse me?" Jeff had stayed quiet as he had watched his sons figuring out what had happened, proud that they still had their heads screwed on even after everything. Scott's smile slipped as he glanced over his shoulder at his father. "What makes you think you are going anywhere?"

"Dad, we have the guy's base, we can take him down."

"How?" Jeff pressed softly. "He's not there, Scott. He's here, on the island, in your brother."

Scott suddenly stopped pacing, the colour draining from his face slightly. It was only Virgil jumping up and forcing him back into his seat that stopped Scott's legs giving out. The pilot swore, and Jeff didn't have the heart to reprimand him. He knew precisely what was going through Scott's head. With a location, he could fight. He could fly out there and do something that would make him feel like he is helping. He had just overlooked the fact that there was nothing there for him to fight, the threat was here, on the island. And it had manifested in such a way there was nothing Scott could physically do. Something the oldest brother was not taking too well. John too had fallen silent, staring at the controls in front of him as if wishing they would suddenly come up with a solution.

"You said you wanted to talk to us about Gordon?" Virgil couldn't deny the need to break the silence, it was unnerving him how silent and tense Scott had suddenly gone. He knew that if he didn't turn the conversation to the fact there was nothing they could do by knowing what had happened, his brother was going to explode.

"Not here," Jeff responded softly, worried eyes watching Scott. It was if the young man had managed to get himself all fired up for a fight, only to have someone pull the plug on his adrenaline. "We need to do this in the infirmary, with Gordon. John?"

"Meet you there," the blond muttered, reaching out and disconnecting. It wasn't just Scott whose thoughts Jeff could almost read. He knew John felt bad for giving Scott that hope there was something they could do, only to have it all taken away from them again.

The rest of the family made their way to the infirmary. Jeff walked in without so much as a blink, but Virgil found himself hesitating again, his words from outside running through his mind. Scott froze from where he too was about to step through the door and glanced back at his brother. Taking a step backwards, he gripped Virgil's elbow, forcing him forward a pace.

"Nothing can happen, Virg. Not with Dad in there. Not with Kyrano there." Scott knew better than anyone the quiet strength the Malaysian possessed, and if anyone understood what was going on with Gordon, it would be him. It was just grating on Scott that it was their loyal friend who was the one with the answers, not him. He had been the one to swear to protect Gordon, and yet had to watch from the sidelines. Virgil nodded, allowing Scott to steer him through the door.

Gordon was sitting on one of the beds, his legs swinging freely over the side, Kyrano by his side. The action made Virgil relax. His brother may have been pale, and almost seemed to jump violently when the rest of the family stepped through the door, but the action was so typically Gordon, Virgil knew the Hood had been pushed back for now.

"How are you feeling, kid?" Scott took a seat on the bed opposite, a frown on his face as his eyes roamed Gordon's face intently. The redhead just shrugged, and both of his brothers grimaced sympathetically. Normally when sick or injured, Gordon was as bad as the rest of them at voicing his protests that he was fine. The fact that he clearly couldn't lie about this showed just how bad things were. His hands were gripping the side of the bed anxiously, and he seemed to be making a visible effort to keep his breathing under control.

"Gordon." Kyrano's soft word had Gordon's head jerking up, and then he sighed, smiling slightly at his friend and forcing his body to relax. Virgil glanced between the two of them and then back to Scott. Luckily, his brother had calmed down slightly. Whilst it may be annoying Scott that he couldn't be the one to help, there was no way he was about to stop Kyrano aiding their brother.

For a long moment, silence filled the room. To Virgil, that was just a sign of how wrong things were. It would have normally been Gordon who would have broken it, but the redhead was studying the floor. His hands were slowly beginning to tighten their grip on the edge of the bed once more.

"So...Dad said you had something to say?" The artist eventually said, grimacing at how falsely light-hearted he had managed to make his voice sound. John had reconnected to the conversation via Jeff's watch, and they all knew he was listening hard. Gordon nodded, then glanced at Kyrano.

"Can you..?" he whispered, eyes pleading with the man to be the one to outline their plan. Virgil felt something clench in him. Even lying there half-dead after his hydrofoil accident, Gordon hadn't sounded this scared. As much as it might be frustrating Scott there was nothing he could do to help, it was obvious that it was scaring Gordon more. Kyrano nodded, resting a gentle hand on Gordon's shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze.

"We need to do a rota of who is going to stay with him." He spoke quietly, but Virgil got the feeling he was starting in the middle of their plan. Scott looked up sharply.

"That's easy, I'll do it."

"Around the clock. Without resting. For however long this takes?" It was Jeff who spoke now. He had come up on the other side of Gordon, his own hand resting on his son's shoulder. It had been an awkward conversation to have whilst the other two had seen Alan off. But Kyrano had done something...something that seemed to force the Hood to back away for a while at least. If Gordon could keep this control, they had a fighting chance. But the father could see the way his redhead's hands were scrunched up and how he was visibly forcing himself to keep calm. It was draining him staying in control.

"What's the plan?"

"Gordon can't sleep." Kyrano said gently, causing Jeff's hand to tighten in reassurance as Gordon sucked in a sharp breath.

"How does that help?"

"You may have realised what happens to Gordon physically doesn't affect the Hood?" Kyrano continued, his gaze flickering between Scott and Virgil as he willed them to understand this first time. The more they had to explain what was happening to Gordon, the harder it would be on all of them. "But tiredness does not just affect the body. It will drain him as much as Gordon. Yet he has to be maintaining his concentration to stay in control..."

"So the plan is to simply wear him out?" Virgil asked, eyebrows raised in disbelief. He didn't like the talk of it draining Gordon as much as the Hood.

"Basically." Kyrano picked up from where he left off. "But we can assist Gordon. The Hood may not feel any negative repercussions on Gordon's body, but he doesn't feel the positive ones either. We can keep stimulation going, adrenaline, caffeine for example. We can keep Gordon's body going through exhaustion, but the Hood will not be able to maintain his grip for long."

"How long do you think it will take?" Scott's voice was quiet and he was gripping the bed with almost the same intensity as Gordon.

"He has already helped by keeping Gordon awake last night," Jeff said, concern burning in his eyes as he watched his oldest son. "But..."

"We don't know." Gordon cut in, and it was only then that Virgil realised how much this was affecting his brother. Gordon's voice was trembling, and he sounded exhausted already. He was also refusing to meet their eyes.

"No." Scott had climbed to his feet again, crossing over to the window and staring out, his arms folded across his chest.

"Scott..."

"He's already nearly killed Gords. And Virg. We can't just wait for this one to be ridden out."

"He's almost killed you too." It was Gordon who answered, his eyes fixed on his big brother's back. "I was there, Scott, I felt it. But Kyrano knows what he is doing, and trust me when I say there is no other way."

As he spoke, Gordon glanced at Jeff, who smiled reassuringly. Scott hadn't been the only one who didn't like the sound of the plan when Kyrano had outlined it to Jeff and Gordon. The latter was terrified he was going to kill someone before he exhausted the Hood enough to kick him out of his mind.

"But..." Scott turned, and his own pain was written all over his face.

"I can do this, Scott. You know I can." Gordon didn't so much as glance at anyone else, finally letting his eyes meet Scott's. Seeing that it was his brother who was looking back at him rather than some maniac who wanted them all dead made Scott's resolve crumble. He needed to have more faith in his little brother, and mutely nodded. Jeff practically beamed. He knew that Virgil and John would follow Scott, and if his eldest accepted the plan, the rest of the family would be on board also.

"I know you can." Scott said softly, finally allowing Virgil to tug him back down onto the bed.

"Scott, Brains, start pre-flight checks for Thunderbird Three."

"Dad?" It was John's voice echoing around the room now, spiralling out from Jeff's wrist. The father glanced down and smiled, seeing the hope in John's eyes. His son would have never have asked, but Jeff knew where John wanted to be. Right now, that was not stuck in space.

"Someone has to be with Gordon at all times. With Alan, Tin-Tin and your grandmother away, we need all the hands here. Five can cope on automatic for a while. If they don't come up now, tiredness might stop them from coming."

John let out a noise of excitement and disconnected, clearly beginning to pack. Scott stood up, taking Brains by the arm and practically marching the man out of the room.

"I need a coffee..." Jeff muttered, getting to the door before remembering his previous words about not being able to leave Gordon alone. Virgil caught his hesitation, and grinned.

"Good job I've got nothing else to do. I'll stay." He said softly. Despite his teasing tone, it was obvious that he was more than happy to stay and feel like he was doing something to help his brother. He smiled at Gordon, and ever so slowly, the aquanaut smiled back.

Maybe they could get through this after all?