Author's note: Thanks again for the replies! Got this chapter up quickly for me. Hopefully it will make up for all the ones I was a bit late with.

/

Virgil carried one of the crates over to Thunderbird 4. He was trying to work out in his head how many of these things he and Gordon would require during their underwater venture to the American continent, then the journey on land. He would also have to allow for them potentially having to lie low or wait for a couple of days and then the trip back with Scott and Kayo in tow. They had done the calculations half a dozen times, he just wanted to ensure that they were correct. None of them were much good when hungry and he couldn't bear the thought of being stuck in a confined space with his younger brother for days potentially if he was hungry. He could be hard enough to tolerate even on the best of days sometimes.

His brother was inside of his faithful yellow submarine ensuring that all of its systems were functioning correctly. Best not to disturb him. He needed a bit of space at the moment. Gordon didn't like all of this sitting around and waiting. Hence the need to keep him entertained or more accurately busy whilst the rest of them dealt with some of the more tedious aspects of planning ahead. No doubt he would already be on his way if it weren't for the rest of them cautioning him constantly.

The second eldest of the brothers understood. He really did.

Not knowing was in many ways had proved to be more painful than being in the loop. With no communications from their brother and semi-adopted sister, naturally they had begun to worry. Scott and Kayo were arguably the most vulnerable members of International Rescue at the moment. They had neither the luxury of seclusion on a desert island or the remoteness of space to protect them. They were trapped on mainland USA. That left them both at risk from the GDF and everyday civilians who might want to try and help out however they could. It wasn't an enviable position and one which the two brothers hoped to be able to remedy by mounting an impromptu rescue mission of their own.

It was a risk. They had debated it for the best part of a day on and off. Weighing up the pros and cons. This island had proved to be able to shield them well enough. Leaving it would automatically mean that they would be exposing themselves to the threats of the outside world which meant both the Mechanic and GDF. If Scott was to be trusted, neither would hesitate to shoot if they saw them. On the other hand, every moment that their family spent apart only multiplied the chances of something happening to them. That and they still had with them the data which Brains so desperately needed if they ever wanted to put an end to this madness. In short, they actually didn't have all that much choice. They had put it off for as long as possible, perhaps a little too long, hoping that they would contact them and say that everything was alright and they were trying to find their way to the safehouse. All they'd been treated to was silence. Now it was time to move.

Grandma and Brains were playing their part, although for safety reasons they planned to stay on the island near Thunderbird 2 and so that they could potentially greet Kayo and Scott should they turn up by some miracle. That was looking increasingly unlikely as time was marching on. There was a growing sense of foreboding amongst the group. None of them had dared to voice their doubts yet but there was no mistaking the look that his grandmother gave him. A pained and worried one which spoke silently for its owner. She was scared. They all were. This long without at least some very basic contact didn't bode well. The group was aware that something had probably happened. Whether that meant that the rest of their family was simply lying extremely low or that something far more terrible had happened to them.

The latter was most definitely not something which he felt that he could face right now. For the time being, he was simply going to presume that they were both alright. If they weren't, all of this would be for less than nothing…

A little hologram appeared next to him, broadcast curtsy of MAX. Virgil mustered the most reassuring and in control smile he could possibly muster. He suspected that the space monitor saw through him in a matter of moments - after all, John was used to dealing with his various siblings trying to play it cool during rescues – but he didn't react, only offering him a slight smile of his own which spoke of his weariness.

"Hey bro!" Virgil was first to speak, trying to re-inject some life into their conversation and take their minds off of what was happening. "How are things looking from space?"

"Still all quiet." The red haired brother assured him glancing away as he checked the map once more.

"Well. No news is good news." It was a lie and he knew it. "How's Alan doing?"

"Fine. He's helping Ridley scan all the wavelengths, we need to see if we can locate them before you two charge off anywhere."

"Hey, maybe I'm being dumb but can't we just activate Kayo's commicator's GPS?"

Up on board the space station, John turned around to face his youngest brother. Alan came drifting over, whilst Ridley continued to work for a few moments. They had to give the youngest his credit, he had been working just as tirelessly as the rest of them these past few hours. Work kept the demons of boredom and to a lesser extent concern away, it prevented them from lingering for too long on the radio silence.

His younger brother, much to everyone's surprise, had somehow managed to stay remarkably calm throughout out everything. They had all been fretting about him. This was the first time he had been confronted to something like this. Jeff's disappearance, although both violent and dramatic, had had the advantage of being quick and over in a flash, even if its aftermath hadn't been. Scott had been keen to try and shield their youngest from some of the panic and the stress that the event had entailed. When it had come apparent that they had lost their father, the eldest had somewhat subconsciously stepped into the role as far as their littlest sibling was concerned. Now though, it was practically impossible to keep him distanced from what was going on. Despite that, he didn't seem to be taking it as badly as they had thought he might do. In his mind, it was obvious that the rest of their family were simply lying low. They were both simply too good to get caught out.

John let out a sigh. Whilst there was some merit in his brother's suggestion and ordinarily he would have agreed to going along with it without hesitation, the fact was right now it was simply too dangerous to try and contact them on anything other than a secure channel. It wasn't just their position which they risked giving away. The incident with the GDF ship, although seemingly simply a coincidence, had spooked him into being more cautious. They couldn't afford any mistakes right now. Shaking his head, he decided to remind his brother of that much:

"No. All it would take is for the GDF or the Mechanic to pick up on the signal and they'd be toast and so would we."

"Not if it was just a quick blip. Just so that we could pinpoint their location." Alan gave him his usual smirk when he knew that he had thought of something which hadn't occurred to one of his older brothers. "Not even the Mechanic could pick up on that."

The middle brother played the idea over a couple of times in his head trying to spot any flaws in his sibling's logic. It wouldn't take much, just one mistake, a single oversight and they would all be done for. As such, he contemplated the notion in depth. He could tell from the faces of those stuck on the island which were visible to him as small holograms that they were doing the same. John knew what could and couldn't be done as far as communications were concerned. Thunderbird 5 had practically been his life for some years now. As such, he was able to work out quite quickly that it was not only possible but potentially a very good idea. A smile crept over his face as he did so.

"Your brother's a smart one, isn't he?" Ridley's voice drew his attention as she floated over to him.

"Yes he is." The beaming look of joy and pride on Alan's face was almost enough to cause him to start laughing.

"John, I'm picking up a news broadcast on all major channels. The GDF seem to be involved..."

"Keep an eye on it EOS. Virg, you and Gordon might want to wait until we have at least a rough idea of where the others are."

"FAB." Came the reply from the island.

There was no sense the two brothers setting out anywhere until they knew just where their friends would be. It was unlikely but they could have skipped continents or even potentially be on their way to the island. Thunderbird 4 going in search of them was pointless without a destination or perhaps more accurately, a stab in the dark. If they waited a few minutes though – that was roughly the time which he estimated it would take to get everything set up – then they would at least have a rough destination.

He began entering the data into Thunderbird 5's systems. Ordinarily, he could have done it in a matter of seconds. Right now however, he was being triply cautious. His father had been wise enough to enable the space station to be almost undetectable out in space – sometimes, his son couldn't help but wonder if the man hadn't had some idea that this (or at least something similar) might happen – that didn't mean however that they could afford to be cavalier. It was a fair bet that after a little over a week with no news of International Rescue, the GDF would be getting quite desperate to be able to show that they had even the slightest lead. That would mean that they would be scanning almost everything for the slightest whisper of the Thunderbirds and their pilots.

They would have to be discrete.

Ridley and Alan helped him. The four of them formed a relatively good team. For a moment, he contemplated asking EOS about the broadcast but decided that it could wait. She would let them know if it was anything important. For the time being what counted was finding just where Scott and Kayo had gotten off to so that they could mount something resembling a recovery mission.

"Okay. Lets see where they are..."

He launched the scan. It was only a couple of seconds, a brief wavelength which would leave no trace. At most, it would be a blip. That was all that they needed. If they knew where the rest of their family was, then they might be able to do some more in depth searching to try and pinpoint them. Right now, it was just so that they had a vague idea of just where they should have been looking. Whilst being able to go unnoticed was by any standards an asset, it had proved to be troublesome in its own way. It was impossible for them to work out if their family was safe or not if they didn't even know where on Earth to start looking. Thunderbird 5's systems, as sophisticated as they were were of little to no use to them.

There it was, a single blip. The screen scrolled out to reveal just where they were. John found his eyes widening considerably. He had to look twice to confirm that he wasn't imagining things and that was their position. It could only mean one of a few things and knowing Scott and Kayo, he was fairly sure that they wouldn't have decided to go for a sudden swim. He could barely contain his own excitement as he turned to the others on the island:

"You're not going to believe this but they're heading straight for you!"

"What?"

Instantly, Virgil turned around and ran over to Thunderbird 4. Gordon was still inside. He remained blissfully unaware of the development still checking all of his trusty submarine's systems. They had decided against notifying him about the scan not because they didn't think it was any of his business but rather that nobody had been expecting them to get such a result. His brother practically tore off the airlock as he ran in to inform him. The aquanaut jumped slightly, instinctively fearing the worse. He got to his feet, panic stricken before he noticed the beaming smile on his elder sibling's face.

"They're coming this way squid! Come on!"

Both quickly clambered out of Thunderbird 4 to rejoin the rest of their family on the beach. Gordon was naturally still trying to piece some things together in his mind. It didn't matter how or why they were coming, he told himself. All that was important was that very soon, they would be together again and hopefully would stand a chance of being able to stand up to the Mechanic. Better yet, the prospect of a reunion abruptly brought back the second youngest brother's fighting spirit as he found himself longing to bring the fight to their enemy. Excitement began to build in the pit of his stomach as he stood there and waited for John and the others on Thunderbird 5 to get a little more information for them.

In the back of the Space Monitor's mind there was the very real eventuality that they could have been prisoners on board of a GDF flyer in which case it was evacuation and not celebration which was called for. As he scanned though, he found no trace of anything to do with their allies turned enemies. They seemed to be looking elsewhere for International Rescue right now. There was quite a lot of chatter on the line concerning the Mechanic but he discarded that as nothing usual. The world's governments were still trying to find their feet as far as the man who was holding them all to ransom was concerned. Right now, almost 80% of what was being said on official channels was about the villain. They could filter the information later to see if they could find anything useful. For the time being however, Kayo and Scott both took priority.

"I don't believe it..."

The words slipped out of his mouth as he completed yet another scan. The two of them (they were assuming that they were still travelling together) were moving quite quickly. Too slowly for Thunderbird 1 or Thunderbird S, at least if they were travelling at their regular speed. The shape he was looking at on the screen wasn't that of either of the mighty Thunderbirds either. That being said, it most definitely wasn't a motorboat. There weren't many which would have been happy at those speeds on the open seas. It took him a second to recognise the signature of the craft he found himself to be looking at and a little longer to actually be able to believe what he was seeing.

He could see the anxious looks on the rest of his family's face as they waited to hear just what he had to say. They could tell from his expression that it wasn't anything serious or to be feared. Still, they were anxious to discover just what could possibly have the usually stoic and reserved space monitor struck dumb:

"What? What is it?" Gordon's voice could barely contain its excitement.

"You're not going to believe it but they're in FAB1!"

It was impossible not to notice the aquanaut's face light up. Even after they had been able to make contact with the others, not knowing about Lady Penelope and Parker seemed to have weighed far heavily on his mind than anyone else's. They all assumed that the aristocrat was more than capable of looking after herself and either lying low until it all blew over or working on a plan of her own. Largely because of the fact that there was Earth's atmosphere between him and the rest of his family, John had only been able to pick up bits and pieces from Virgil. What had been made clear to him though was that their resident Squid boy hadn't been taking any of this very well. It was good to see a smile back on his face.

A thousand questions seemed to come from everyone at once. He tried his best to note them down in his head whilst he continued to run a few more scans. There was no denying it was the world's pinkest Rolls Royce. The craft was thundering across the ocean heading straight for the safe house. At the rate it was travelling at they wouldn't have to wait all that long for it to arrive. Making an effort to maintain a cool head, he reminded himself that a lot of things could have happened. There was no guaranteeing that his brother and semi-adopted sister hadn't split up at some point… They would likely have to wait until they had reached dry land before getting the full story. In the meantime, he could at least try and let his brothers, grandma and Brains know what they could expect or rather who:

"One. Two. Three..." He counted out loud so that all might be able to hear him. "Four human lifeforms on board!"

"Human?" Alan chuckled curious as to why he would point it out.

"I'm guessing the dog is Sherbert!"

They were there! They were all there! Hope began to form up inside of him like an unstoppable force. For a moment, his hands hung less than half an inch above the commands as he prepared to attempt to contact the others to let them know that they knew they were coming and also perhaps to give them a row for scaring them. Something stopped him however. Grandma would get to do that much herself when they arrived. At this rate, they would be at the island in a matter of moments anyhow. Calling wouldn't make much sense. No point in opening up yet another radio channel which could potentially be intercepted. They would just have to hang tight and be patient. Given how long they had waited already, it shouldn't be too much of a challenge in theory.

On the island, they all waited anxiously looking out to sea for the faintest glimpse of pink. On a perfectly blue ocean, it shouldn't be a very difficult colour to spot. Strangely, none of them spoke. The excitement and anticipation seemed to remove the need for words. They were all thinking the same thing. The optimism had returned as well as a mighty sense of hope. With all of International Rescue united they might actually stand a chance. Kayo was carrying with her the data which Brains desperately needed to be able to locate the Mechanic. If they could just get that much, then they would be able to come up with some sort of a plan.

There was a literal scream of excitement from Gordon as just on the horizon, the pink car came into view. They were indeed travelling on the water as opposed to flying. Apparently, they had considered it to be a safer and more discrete way to travel. Well… As discrete as you could be in a bright pink Rolls Royce. The second youngest brother would probably have run into the waves if it weren't for a mixture of Grandma and Virgil stopping him, laughing and teasing him slightly as they did so. In Thunderbird 5 they listened. Deprived of their eyes, they were having to rely on the others for a rough description of what was going on. Still, from the general merry atmosphere, they were able to make out that the miracle car was slowly but surely coming closer. They waved to it enthusiastically signalling them.

Up on board the space station, John let out a content sigh as he watched the little dot slowly closing in on the safe house. He felt a familiar hand take a hold of his, fingers intertwining. He couldn't hold back a smile as he turned to face Ridley. The look on her face was one of knowing reassurance, as if she had somehow suspected that it would all work out somehow. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Alan. His youngest brother still seemed to be confused by the captain's presence. He didn't quite know where to stand on the matter and so floated there, starring at them. The space monitor smiled and reached out, he managed to slip an arm around his sibling's shoulders and pull him closer. The lad tensed up, evidently surprised before finally given in to the affection and giving his brother a hug of his own.

In those few moments of bliss as he realized that FAB 1 had reached the island, he allowed himself to relax and momentarily tell himself that everything was okay. Granted, they were far from out of the woods yet but give it a while and it felt as if they might just be able to break free from this nightmare. He allowed himself to get lost in the dream to an extent that he no longer registered the fact that although the car had reached the island, there was nothing but silence from the other end. It was only when Virgil spoke that the spell was broken:

"John… Something's wrong. Kayo and Scott they're-"

"John!" EOS's voice cut right across Virgil harshly. "You need to see this!"