Using the exo-suit had been a mistake. Gordon struggled to reconcile what he was doing with what was best for his brother.
Virgil lay on his front snoring after Gordon had flown him back to the Island and helped him up here. The sounds Virgil had tried to smother on the way up just hurt.
Stubborn bastard.
Virgil had had to don his exo-suit to help Brains with the thruster assembly. Brains had no idea what he was asking his fellow engineer to do. The moment Gordon discovered what his brother was up to, he had dropped everything to do with his assigned task and done the best he could to help. But there was very little he could actually do other than watch his big brother hurt himself.
Usually the exo-suit interfaced with Virgil's uniform smoothly, protectively and effortlessly. With the bruising from a couple days previous, bruises that left an outline on his brother's body in an exo-suit shape, the pressure points had to be hell.
Virgil managed it for half an hour while Brains idly asked him to hold up the huge assembly and move it this way and that. Gordon, staring at his brother's face, saw the strain build, the shaking start...
He'd called it before his brother could fall on his face.
"Brains, Scott needs Virgil's help with Thunderbird One's interface. Can we borrow him a moment?"
"What? Oh, y-yes, certainly. V-Virgil, thank you for your h-help. C-could I ask for your assistance again in ab-bout three hours?"
"Sure, Brains." Virgil lowered the assembly, slowly and calmly to the decking.
The moment it was down, Gordon moved in, ushering Virgil back to his exo-suit station. The suit disengaged from Virgil's uniform and the man stepped away only to stagger to one side.
"Woah, Virg." Gordon grabbed him, steadying the engineer. "You need a break."
"I'm good. I need to help Scott." He turned towards where his brother was buried in the Zero-XL superstructure.
"Scott doesn't need you. I made up the excuse."
Virgil turned back. "What? Why?"
"Can you see yourself?"
Virgil looked down at his hands. "I'm fine. We need to get this done. Launch is tomorrow."
"You're not going anywhere looking like that, bro." A glance at his brother's hands. "Or shaking like that."
"I'm fine, Gordon." He turned to go back to his suit, but as if to prove the lie, stumbled and would have fallen if Gordon hadn't stepped in again.
"Virgil, I agreed to this only if you didn't endanger yourself or anyone else. You need to stop and rest, or I will get Scott to tell you to rest."
Vulnerable brown eyes flicked up at him. "You wouldn't."
"Only if I have to."
"We need to finish this tonight."
"We will, but you need to take some time out. You're shaking like a leaf."
"It was only the exo-suit. I'll work around it."
"Virgil! You are going back to the Island and you are resting."
His brother glared in defiance.
"How's the rib? You bust that and that's it. No trip. Not going." He hated the sudden fear that leached into his brother's eyes, but Gordon wasn't willing to risk a brother for this. His own life had been imperilled once already, no one else was going down. "C'mon, Virg. A rest and you'll be back at it. I promise."
Those eyes darted away from him, but he could see that the decision had been made. Quiet. "Okay. But only for an hour."
At this point, he'd grab at anything to get his brother resting. "Fine. Hop in your pod and I'll skip you over to the Island."
Flat-eyed stare. "I can fly myself."
For the love of- "Virg, just for once, can you trust me to make the right decision. This is on me, not you. I promised John I would look after you, and that is what I'm going to do. So, get your ass into the back of that pod and I will fly you home."
His brother blinked, but with a single nod backed down and did as he was told.
Okay, that worked. Gordon was a little shocked it did, but it did.
He tapped his comms. "Johnny, I'm taking Virg back to the Island for some downtime. Can you cover?"
"Gordon? What? How am I going to cover that?"
"Think of something."
"You want me to lie to Scott."
"Of course."
"What do you want me to say?"
"Nothing unless he asks. I need some personal time. Something, whatever. Virgil used the exo-suit and I need to check the idiot over."
"I'm still not happy with this arrangement."
"Yeah, well, no one is. We're doing our best. Just cover us."
"I'll try."
"Don't try, do."
"Yes, coach."
"Shut up, John."
The line cut out and Gordon wondered if he had gone too far. John was the weakest point in this equation. The man wanted to tell Scott. Hell, Gordon wanted to tell Scott, for Virgil's sake. But...
Goddamnit.
He hurried over to his pod where Virgil had crawled into the backseat. He wanted to comment, to make some smart-ass remark, but the expression of pain on his brother's face was enough to freeze the words in his throat. Instead he just climbed in and calmly launched off the platform and headed back to the Island.
He was ever so glad he did. Virgil was so obviously fighting himself in every movement he made - to get out of the pod, the walk to the elevator, the handful of stairs, hell, Gordon had to help him onto the examination table.
Fortunately, the scans revealed no further damage and Gordon was able to usher his big brother into his rooms. A gentle rub of salve onto the worst of the bruises and Virgil, whether he wanted to or not, slipped into sleep.
Gordon was packing up when John commed him quietly. "Scott's on his way back."
"He is? Why?"
"Wants to know why you and Virgil aren't working."
"Are you kidding me? What is this, a fucking dictatorship?"
John only grunted before signing off.
Virgil stirred where he lay, restless. Damn.
Gordon grabbed the remainder of his supplies and let himself quietly out of his brother's rooms. A run back to the infirmary and he dumped them all on the bed. A dash down to the kitchen and an attempt to look busy as his brother strode into the room.
-o-o-o-