"So what are you going to do for Halloween Kayo," asked Virgil as he teasingly played "Phantom of the Opera" on the piano on Tracy Island the night before the annual event.

"Not be Christine to your Phantom," said Kayo in the same teasing manner, leading to Virgil switching to tunes to "Bye Bye Birdie."

Kayo laughed and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Not like that Virgil, I have other plans though. I promised to work in 'Horror Hotel' in Denver."

Virgil smiled, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Oh yes, I forgot. The haunted house in the ghost hotel - and one that raises money for the Harry Jamison Children's Hospital right?" he said, remembering. It was the hospital that helped save his life and foot after being injured in the same avalanche that took their mother so many years ago.

"Yes, and they have eyes on some new ambulances and hi-tech gel therapy equipment for burns. The hospital asked Tracy Industries if someone could represent them and work in the haunted house," said the young woman. "I asked Scott if I could be the representative and he agreed."

The pianist quirked an eyebrow. "I thought you had trouble with haunted houses," he said playfully. In years past, Kayo had seemed to always be frightened at the thought of even entering one.

"Nah - I've worked them for years. Going through them I pretend to be scared so I can sneak a hug or two from one of you guys," she said, giving a playful wink. "I'm heading out in an hour so I can acclimate to the time difference. Don't want to fall asleep working in a haunted house."

Both heard a choked sound and turned, seeing Gordon walk over with a glass of lemonade. "Seriously, you think people fall asleep in haunted houses?" he said, chuckling.

Kayo gave him an unamused look. "Yes - I had a friend at university who worked in them. One year, she had to play a tortured patient in an asylum," she said. "The beds apparently were so comfortable she dozed off. In fact, she slept a good 20 minutes in spite of the door banging by the evil physician and screams."

"Ah - nothing like relaxing to the comforting sounds of shrieks," the aquanaut said sarcastically, taking a sip. He then smiled. "Can we come?"

Virgil rolled his eyes. "If Scott and John give us clearance..."

"And we've already decided that as long as we took Thunderbird Two just in case we're called out, International Rescue is off for 24 hours," said Scott, coming in from the pool area. He received clearance from the GDF to land at an airbase near the town and they'd drive the rest of the way in a rental.

John's avatar popped up. "Not me - I hate haunted houses," he said bluntly.

"Why? It's a chance to spend time with all of us," said Alan between bites of a piece of MAX's homemade apple pie cookies.

"Yeah... but you don't remember the Spandex wall incident," said John, shuddering slightly.

Scott did a facepalm, groaning in memory. "Oh bro - I'm sorry, I forgot. You can stay up in Five if you'd like," he said.

Alan however looked at his fellow astronaut, confused. "Wait - he can stay? Why? John - what are you talking about Spandex walls?" he inquired. He thought that John would be happy to get a short break from Five, given that EOS was already pestering him to head to Earth a week before the end of this rotation. She did not want the second ever "Food Fight Five" due to exhaustion again.

John glanced at his older three brothers and Kayo, shrugging. "Short version - I was already scared from the other haunts, but then got a bit lightheaded caused by walking in a room full of broken mirrors, smoke and strobe lights," he said. "When you add someone suddenly coming out toward you from a wall, but not grab you, creating shape not unlike a wax monster... or worse ghost...."

Alan's eyes widened. "Your senses overloaded and then..." he said then frowned, crossing his eyes slightly.

"I passed out? Yeah - they still won't let me near that haunted mansion. Wasn't their fault, but I'm sure my spell wasn't good for business," added John. "Haven't been in one since."

"Oh man, I can see your point."

"It's OK Alan - besides, this is EOS' first Halloween and I need to help her learn the difference between a prank emergency call to IR and a real one," he said, then looked at Kayo. "Please don't take offense Kayo - I think you'll do well in your particular role."

Gordon's eyes lit up. "Role? You know what she's doing in the haunted hotel?" he said, leaning forward. "Come on, spill..."

"No way Gordon. I'm sworn to secrecy, under penalty of being dragged out of Five by my ear."

"Who said that?" the aquanaut started, only to yelp when someone grabbed his ear.

"I did Gordon. Only reason John knows is in case I'm needed for a rescue," said Kayo and then looked at her wrist com. She headed to the launch bay for Shadow. "Listen I'm heading to Denver. I'll see you tomorrow. Oh, and boys..."

"Yes," said the four.

"Happy Halloween," she said slyly and as the chair lowered, she gave a ghoulish laugh.

The five Tracys were silent watching the scene, only to jump when a loud crash of music startled them.

MAX raised his robotic hands up from the piano, playing innocent, but then gave a chuckling mechanical whirl at seeing his practical joke had - for once - worked.

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The next evening - four Tracy men were waiting in line for their turn to enter the Horror Hotel, a former luxury four star hotel long since abandoned. Its history however kept it from being destroyed, and after it was saved, two floors were specially set aside for the haunted hotel.

Gordon sighed, and fidgeted with his costume. "What time is it? It's awfully cold here...?" he said, trying to adjust his sleeves again to keep from slipping over his hands.

Alan, who had dressed as Speed Racer, chuckled. "Five minutes since the last time you asked, and you're cold because insisted on wearing a fish pelt kilt," he said.

"Hey, I look exactly like Finnick Odair did in 'The Hunger Games', the most handsome man in the book," said the aquanaut, adjusting the sleeves of his open front shirt, complete with mother of pearl and conch shell necklaces.

"You do know that Finnick Odair also was eaten by lizards right," said Scott, who was dressed like a 1940s Air Force major.

Gordon quirked an eyebrow. "Yeah - but he still won his Games, was from the fishing District - so plenty of water to swim in, got the gal in the book - he was the only one who married," he said. "Too bad Penelope couldn't come. She'd made a lovely Annie."

Virgil, who was playing a lumberjack simply because he forgot to buy a costume and refused to wear the Technicolor nightmare that Gordon said was his finest Hawaiian shirt, shook his head. "Gordon - you really need to read the books again. Peeta also married Katniss," he said as they walked further down the wait line.

Seeing, based on the number in front of them, they would be next, he continued. "So guys, let's just understand one rule: If we do figure out who Kayo is playing, we do not go and yell out her name all right?" he said, looking pointedly at his two youngest brothers in attendance.

The duo started to say something when John's image appeared in Virgil's watch face. "Right Gordon and Alan?" he emphasized. Seeing the duo nod their head, John continued, this time smiling. "Have fun all of you. Everything looks quiet for once around the world. The local authorities are taking care of the minor incidents."

"FA- um, all right John. We'll let you know when have completed the tour," said Scott as the usher lowered the rope for the next group.

They paid their dues and, after going up in the elevator to the floors, entered the haunted hotel.

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While the five were touring through the haunted rooms of vampires, asylum patients, and other characters, Kayo lay on her back in a floor hallway. She was thankful the managers of Horror Hotel were kind enough to put her in a more inconspicuous place to do scares, away from fellow workers to allow her contact to International Rescue.

Still, she certainly wasn't expecting one that would be - confining.

"It's a good thing I'm not claustrophobic," she said, stretching her legs hidden behind a fake side wall while the top half of her showed underneath a ramp.

The ramp had an open hole, strengthened by crossbeams and Plexiglass, that with the added strobe light effect could make it appear someone was being electrocuted if they knew how act as though they were in agony and trying to escape.

And Kayo was good at pretending. So far, the scare had been successful, filled with shreaking women, and quite a few men, running away in horror.

Others had stopped and stared at the scene for longer than her throat would tolerate the screams, so she pretended to "pass out/die" and turned off the light so they'd move on.

She sighed and, not seeing or hearing any groups coming, turned on her watch. "Shadow to Five" she said quietly.

"Hello Kayo, how are things going at the hotel?" said John, smiling in the two dimensional hologram.

"For the most part well. I do however grow tired of 'Norman Bates in his mother's clothing' constantly walking over the ramp," she said.

John rolled his eyes. "Seriously, I thought you didn't have any workers crossing over to reset."

"I don't - I think he likes staying in character walking over 'a grave.' At least he's wearing denims underneath the dress," said Kayo, and hearing John's amused cough, continued. "So, can you tell me when my fellow brothers are supposed to arrive at my scare?"

John checked the scanner and nodded. "Yes, they will be coming to your location in a minute. Be sure to give them a scare of a lifetime."

The young woman chuckled. "FAB John... I'll contact you shortly after their scare," she said.

"Understood, Five out," and the holograph faded.

Kayo reached out to touch the switch to turn on the strobe lights when she heard a girly shriek from around the corner.

"Virgil!" said Gordon in a voice a half octave higher.

A bass voice chuckled. "Easy there bro - your fault for getting too close to the butcher," said the man as they rounded the corner. "And quit trying to climb on my back. I'm a lumberjack, not a tree."

Kayo's grin widened at the banter. "Showtime," she said, and when she heard a step and Scott's voice right at the ramp, she turned on the light.

She screamed and grabbed hold of the support beams to appear as though she was trying to get out. While she heard the four scream almost like little girls, she kept the illusion real and thrashed about, bouncing her head around.

The young woman was so into making the scene look real she barely had time to realize she may have taken it a bit too far...

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After their initial - and embarrassingly girly - screams, the brothers listened and realized their friend was the girl under the ramp.

"That's awesome," said Alan as the group watched her get into the act, thrashing her head around.

When Kayo went limp moments later, they realized she was supposed to be "dead" and chose to move on with the haunts.

Gordon chuckled. "Wow, I thought I've seen some scares tonight, but that one sure was creepy," he said, giving a yelp when a skeleton Grim Reaper skeleton "statue" turned and waved at him.

Scott laughed at the silly reaction. "You think everything is creepy," he said as they rounded the corner to a crypt full of mummies and monsters.

Before any of them could find out what scares lay in wait, Scott's watch vibrated. The four looked at each other and found a quieter place to speak. "What's the situation John?" he asked.

John's visage appeared in the watch. "Guys, I think Kayo's hurt," he said.

Virgil's eyes widened. "Hurt? How?"

"I don't know. She was supposed to call me after scaring you, but when she didn't, I tried to contact her on her watch. No answer and the screen is facing the floor," John said.

"Understood, we're on our way," said the medic as the four then rushed back to the scare.

What they saw concerned them. "The ramp's strobe is still on. It wasn't when we started to go through the hallway," said Gordon as they walked to the scene.

After allowing some tourists to walk by them - under the embarassing claim they had to head to the exit being "too scared," they peered through the ramp.

Underneath was Kayo, unmoving in the flickering flash of the strobes.

Virgil kneeled down, hitting the Plexiglass hard enough to be heard over the scary music in the house. "Kayo, can you hear me. It's Virgil - give a wave if you hear my voice," he said, hoping that she'd do anything, even flip them off for calling her name out.

There was no reaction.

Virgil quickly removed a scanner from his pocket and ran it over the Plexiglass to scan through to Kayo. "John, I think Kayo's out cold. I'm sending you a medi-scan," he said.

Scott turned to the younger two. "Alan, do what you can to stall the next touring group. Gordon, find the security guard and let them know there's a possible medical emergency."

"FAB," said Gordon and Alan, heading to their duties.

John's voice filtered over the monitor. "Analysis complete. Confirmed - she's unconscious, but her vitals are stable," he said. "It looks like she may have a concussion. Get her out from under the ramp, and keep watch over her vitals. I will alert management as well you will have to remove parts of the wall."

"FAB John," said Virgil as the lights turned on and the music cut out. "Guess they got Gordon's message."

"Yeah, at least it'll make removing Kayo easier," Scott said as the duo started working on freeing their friend.

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"I don't believe this - I have jumped out of planes and cars, dodged all sorts of dangerous obstacles, survived a trip around the sun with Alan... and yet I manage to get concussed banging my head on the floor of a haunted house," grumbled Kayo.

The young woman had regained consciousness not too long after the eldest two brothers removed her from the ramp. They were thankful there was enough space to lay the woman fully on the ground after removing one wall.

They were also thankful the medics allowed Kayo to be released in their care after finding out Virgil was a paramedic and would do concussion checks.

They were not grateful for her rant shortly afterward.

"Easy Kayo - it could've been worse..." said Scott, who was checking her eye response.

"How?"

"You could've pulled a Mellark, been electrocuted and given artificial respiration courtesy of Mr. Finnick Odair there" said Scott, tilting his head to Gordon.

"Oh... so that's why you had me go to find the guard," said Gordon rolling his eyes at "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" parody.

Seeing Kayo chuckle however at the banter, he continued. "I'm glad to see you awake Kayo. You gave John - well all of us - a fright."

She gave a half smile. "I know - he's already told me this is all the more reason he's not going to a haunted house again," Kayo added as she was helped to sit up by the two oldest brothers. "So what's the verdict Virgil?"

"You'll live - but you're grounded for a week or so until the concussion clears up," said the medic in sympathy. "Plus, you also get to enjoy the neurochecks for the next few hours."

Kayo sighed. "Of course - just don't let Gordon or Alan fly my ride," she said, then grinned at the duo's outraged looks.

"I'm flying Shadow," said Scott as he and Virgil helped Kayo into a wheelchair to take them to the rental car.

Once they got her settled in the vehicle, John's hologram lit up. "Hey Kayo. Sorry I couldn't speak earlier while the paramedics were taking care of you, but I'm glad to see you're awake," he said gently.

"Thank you John for that, and for letting the guys know I was knocked out," she said. "I don't want to know what could've happened if any of the tourists had found me injured instead."

"They'd probably did what we did Kayo: contact security and turned on the lights. You just wouldn't have the Five Star service we can give you," said John, smiling briefly before sobering slightly. "Just one thing though."

"Yes John?"

"Please don't scare me Kayo by kayo'ing yourself in a haunted house again," he said. "I'd rather go through them again."

Kayo smiled. "Oh really? Well just for that..." she said, then seeing John cringe, laughed in spite of the headache it caused. "I'll make sure to next time have a pillow under my head."