This is a WIP that I am not actively working on at the moment. I may return to it at some point. Apologies. I'm posting it here so it doesn't get lost.
-o-o-o-
It was a beautiful evening. The day had been hot, but the sun was waning and a breeze had picked up enough to disturb the cloying heat, prologuing the cool desert night.
Perhaps he shouldn't have stepped off the decking in a suit with a champagne glass in his hand, perhaps he should have left his explorations for another night when he could have been dressed appropriately, but Virgil was used to grabbing the moment and the inspiration when he could. Tomorrow was never guaranteed.
Tonight was a rare case. Lady Penelope had invited the Tracy family out to her station in the outback for an evening of entertainment. There were a number of notables there and Scott had been heard to mutter something about working holiday, but Dad had shushed him and promised to take some of the networking load.
It was times like these Virgil felt a little guilty. While he didn't mind a party and it was certainly fun to socialise, he felt he didn't have that suave business sense like Scott, his father and even to a certain extent, John, who hated parties at the best of times. Though if you gave John a long distance communication method and he could have anyone eating out of his hand. A skill Scott deployed on many a business occasion.
No, Virgil was more of the practical sense. Something broken, he could fix it, someone hurt, he could tend to them. Juggle the fallacies of business and the underhand agendas? He had no patience or tolerance. Besides, he had reliable feedback that he couldn't lie to save his own life.
But whatever, he was good at what he was good at.
So, sometimes the quiet desert evening was more attractive than the bustling social scene inside.
He eyed a bird of prey circling far above and wondered vaguely what type it was. Thoughts of different birds on a different farm came to mind.
A sigh and he swallowed a sip of champagne.
The bubbles popped on his tongue.
Perhaps he shouldn't have stepped out, dressed in a suit, carrying a glass of champagne, but the evening was picture perfect and the quiet so alluring.
He didn't go far. While Australia had become more familiar since they had moved to Tracy Island, it was still vast, still had a reputation of being deadly to the unwary, and this was no Kansas farm.
The red sand under his feet glowed in the evening sun.
Sharp grass - learnt the hard way - grew in tufted spikes along the path, tiny flowers dotted between the rocks. Penelope had said that spring was on the region and that they might see some lovely flower displays.
Virgil fully intended on investigating as soon as possible.
The path rose a little as he climbed a hillock and he couldn't help but look back over the ranch buildings to the glowing presence of Thunderbird Two parked on the far side.
He had brought her with him for two reasons, the first being in case of a callout. The second was more related to that business manoeuvring thing. The overt presence of an International Rescue vehicle, while never explicitly used in dealings, was useful as a reminder to those who may forget exactly who the Tracy family were.
Virgil's lips thinned as he stared at his 'bird. It was a Dad thing. One of the many new things his father's return had introduced. Scott had never used IR as a business tool and Dad technically wasn't, but there was a contrast between how Scott worked and how their father worked and there were lots of little things like this that made that obvious.
The fact the Thunderbird was high up on her struts and towered over the landscape was functional and strategic at the same time.
A sigh and Virgil took another sip of champagne before turning to once again follow the path up the hill.
He didn't see what he stepped on, but he felt it.
Soft, moving, he had that split second of realisation that his foot had encountered something alive, a stumble to try and avoid hurting whatever that was, and he overbalanced, only managing to not faceplant in the dust due to many years on the training mats with Kayo.
He still landed in an uncoordinated mess in the middle of one of those spiky grass tufts.
It stabbed him through expensive fabric.
Ow.
And rocks. There were rocks.
Damnit.
Red dust coated his pants and suit jacket and there was a definite scuff on one shoe.
Whatever it was he had nearly squished, slithered off into the grass on the other side of the path.
It only took him a moment to connect the dots.
He'd stepped on a snake, apparently, a little one, but a snake.
In Australia.
The continent renowned for such deadly reptiles.
Aw, hell.
But Virgil was an experienced responder. There was no need to panic. He rolled himself off the grass, his eyes pinned to where the snake had disappeared.
The grass complained and stabbed him a few more times through his clothes, but he got onto his hands and knees.
Nothing obvious was hurting, other than all the needle pricks, so that was a good sign.
His dress shoes were more red than black, along with the nice charcoal suit pants. The sooner he got off the ground, the better, but the medic in his head was yelling at him.
He yanked up both pant legs and poked around his socks, examining his skin for breaks. Even then, he almost missed it.
Two tiny little pin pricks on the inside of his right ankle.
Shit.
The current locations of his family members flitted through his head.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
It was going to be absolutely fabulously newsworthy to have one of the Tracy brothers carted off in his own 'bird simply because he didn't look where he stepped.
The setting sun was still calmly gazing over the landscape, lighting everything up in gold. But it felt far more sinister now.
The breeze ruffled his hair.
Sitting in the dirt, knowing he shouldn't move, Virgil sighed and thumbed his comms. Maybe he could minimise the damage.
"Gords, you got a minute?"
-o-o-o-
Gordon was having a great time.
If there was something he missed living on an island in the middle of nowhere, it was this.
Penelope had one soft hand on his arm and was smiling at him as several of her friends laughed at one of his jokes. The fact the stuck-up toff, Duke Butterfingers, looked less than pleased was just icing on the cake. He was definitely on Gordon's scorn list after his snide remark regarding Sherbet versus his 'real dog' wolfhound blah-blah.
It appeared the dog was smarter than the owner.
But Pen's girlfriends were great conversationalists and it was nice to talk to someone other than family or those with their lives at risk for a change.
Yes, it was proof that he needed to get out more.
The subtle twitch of his collar comms against his skin wasn't to be ignored, however.
A hand on Pen's hand. "Please excuse me a moment. Duty calls." He did not bow. Well, not really, but the amused smile and the sparkle in Penny's eyes made it worth it anyway.
Her hand squeezed his arm and let go gently. Her eyes didn't leave him immediately. "Felicity, do tell me about your new parlour. I hear it is being featured in Great Homes of Britain?"
If her blue eyes hadn't turned away at that moment, it would have been questionable as to whether he would have been able to leave. But leave he did, wondering which family member he had to torture in the future in revenge.
Finding himself a polite corner, he opened his comms and frowned at his brother's worried voice. "Virgil? What is it?"
It took a moment, enough to grab Gordon's attention a little more. "Virg?"
"I've been bitten by a snake."
"What?!"
"I'm up the hill at the back of the ranch. I stepped on a snake." I need your help. It wasn't said, but it was obvious. "Don't tell Scott or Dad. Yet." That last was said a little tentatively.
But Gordon was already moving, running the list of dangerous snakes that could likely be found out here through his head. If anyone noticed him dash from the room, he didn't really care.
Compression bandage. Immobilisation. "You stay absolutely still, you hear me?"
"I'm aware of the procedure, Gordon."
The location of first aid kits in Penelope's house was quickly overridden by the vast store of equipment out in the carpark in Two.
Gordon was in a full out run before he realised it.
The evening was cooler but still warm from the day as the sun still hadn't gone down. Two loomed over everything as Gordon dashed between cars and dodged guard rails. Two parking attendants stared at him as he tore past, but he ignored them.
Reaching Two, he swiped a dance of finger code over his left jacket sleeve and a control hologram leapt up from the fabric. The keys to his brother's 'bird were a necessity he was ever grateful for in this moment.
The great green Thunderbird hummed to life and lowered on her struts, smooth as ever, down enough for her forward hatch to reach him. He jumped on board and was in the first aid lockers without a second thought.
The countdown in his head was predictably short as his comms went off only a few seconds later. That would be John.
Gordon ignored it and switched back to Virgil.
"Any idea what type of snake?"
"Small and brown. It's all I got. Didn't see it. Stepped on the poor thing." A pause. "I'm sorry, Gords."
"It happens." He slammed the locker shut, grabbed a hover stretcher and linked it to his comms. He cursed the lack of his uniform and all its inbuilt necessities with it. The essentials woven into his suit jacket and collar comms were barely minimal.
A brief thought of moving Two to his brother faded quickly as he poked the pilot's dash and Virgil's location lit up. He wasn't very far away at all and there was no room to park Two anyway.
No room in the Australian Outback? An oxymoron, but it would be faster to just grab his brother and throw him on Two.
It was going to be bad enough lifting off once.
He jumped back onto the hatch and lowered himself. Securing Two he broke into another run. "You know you're not going to be able to hide this from Scott, Dad or anyone here? You're going to hospital, bro, and Two's the fastest way. No one is going to miss her launching." He leapt over a fence, the hover stretcher darting to follow.
"I know." It was a quiet and sad answer.
"Medical status, Virg. How are you feeling?" He peeled around the corner of the main building and fixed his eyes on a figure part way up a hill in the distance.
Virgil waved.
"Gordon, report! John says it was you who accessed Two. What are you doing?" Scott, as commander as ever.
A harsh breath as his feet hit the bottom of the hill. "Thunderbird Four responding to a medical emergency. One of Penelope's guests has been bitten by a snake. Evac imminent." Another breath as he finally made it to Virgil's side. The expression on his brother's face could only be considered despair. "Scott, we will need media management. Victim is high profile. We need to keep this on the downlow."
A pause as Gordon set down the first aid kit. Virgil's lips were tight as he pointed to the red and swollen twin pin pricks on the inside of his right ankle.
Gordon shoved open the kit and, without another word, grabbed bandaging.
Scott's voice was sharp. "FAB. John is accessing Five. Victim identity?"
Virgil sighed and his shoulders dropped before he thumbed his comms. "Scott?"
"Virgil?"
"It's me."
-o-o-o-
Scott Tracy loved a challenge.
He preferred the challenge to involve rockets and miles and miles of blue sky, but he could garner a little excitement out of most challenges, no matter the format.
Business challenges were often tough and required subtlety. Scott had always taken them from a tactical perspective and deployed his assets in the same way he deployed International Rescue - efficiently and showing strength.
It worked. Tracy Industries was twice the entity it had been ten years ago and he took just a little pride in that accomplishment.
Of course, that accomplishment paled in comparison to what his father had achieved in the fifteen years prior to that, building the business on fame and faith alone from scratch.
And it was never more obvious than right now.
The flow of Japanese between his father and the head of Sato Enterprises, the leading engineering firm in Japan was cutthroat.
Scott could speak a little Japanese, but nothing like this. John was the expert and could slice and dice with the language, but Scott had forgotten, or perhaps never realised in the first place, exactly how smooth his father was on the business scene.
In a matter of minutes, Dad had removed the original offer off the table, replaced it with his own and then cut down the opposition with a verbal chainsaw.
Scott could barely keep up.
And to top it all off, Sato-san wasn't glaring or angry. The man was smiling as Scott's father achieved the deal he had been after from the beginning.
How the hell?
It made Scott feel a little inadequate.
He swallowed it down. It shouldn't surprise him. Dad was Dad after all.
He could go over the conversation with John later and dissect it to work out exactly how Dad had managed to get exactly what he wanted.
So easily.
Scott smiled and bowed respectfully as the business director backed out to apparently get himself another drink and attend to his wife. The faint smirk on Dad's face as soon as the man's back was turned gave more credit to Scott's suspicion that Sato was fleeing before his father took the rest of his business and flushed it down the toilet.
"Dad?"
His father blinked and turned, his cane tapping on the floor just once. "Oh, just an old friend. Still thinks he can pull one over me." A glance at the walking stick. "Probably thought I had lost it in space." A snort.
"Sato Enterprises has been a major supplier of baseline processors to our ICT production lines for some time."
His father nodded. "They make a good product. But Sato over-inflates the bottom line and has a little too much arrogance for his own good."
Scott blinked. That wasn't quite the impression he had of the man. Sato had gone through some nasty personal stuff a couple of years ago and Scott had gotten to know him quite well, though admittedly at a distance the width of the Pacific.
It was a Tracy Medical drug that had saved his daughter's life.
Scott shifted his feet. "It's been a tough time for him and his family recently."
Grey eyes turned and pinned him. "This is business, Scott, not personal."
Scott straightened his shoulders. "I'm aware of that, but I have had a different relationship with the man and our business dealings have been satisfactory. Why you would want to shake that up?"
An arched eyebrow. "The key word is 'satisfactory'. We can achieve so much more if we push the limits."
Blink. Scott was suddenly thrown back to a tent on an ice plain and a younger brother pleading with him to stop pushing the limits.
He shook himself.
And was interrupted as John stepped up beside them, emerging from the crowd like a spectre.
"Gordon just accessed Thunderbird Two." John was frowning.
"What? Why?"
"Unknown. He refused to answer."
Scott arched an eyebrow at his brother. John was still ticked that he had been dragged along to this shindig. The list of excuses had been very long, but Dad had brushed them all aside, insisting they all attend as a family.
Scott hadn't needed comms to hear the swearing from orbit.
A thumb to his collar. "Gordon, report! John says it was you who accessed Two. What are you doing?" His whole tone dared the aquanaut to ignore him and live.
Gordon was clearly running and his short and sharp summary of the situation cleared all humour from Scott's mind. John was talking to Eos quietly.
"Victim identity?"
There was hesitation at his question and Scott's heart sunk as a suspicion grew in his mind.
No…
Virgil's voice dropped Scott's heart into his left shoe. "Virgil?" But he was already moving, John at his side, pulling up their brother's location on his ever-present tablet.
"It's me."
No.
He hurried through doors, John's soft directions leading him out onto the back patio. His brother pointed and Scott spotted two suited figures halfway up a hill in the distance.
He was running before thought.
-o-o-o-
The sun was going down, but it was still hot. Or perhaps it had more to do with whatever that snake had pumped into his system.
"Virg?" Gordon was manhandling him, literally swaddling his legs with a pressure bandage. Virgil stared at his brother's arms as they expertly splinted his legs together.
Fingers suddenly clicked in front of his eyes.
"Virg? You with me?" Gordon was frowning at him.
"Yeah. I'm good."
Gordon's lips thinned. The aquanaut had propped Virgil's back up with the hoverstretcher but refused to let him climb onto it. "Scott's coming. We'll get you moving asap."
"Yeah."
Scott.
And Dad.
He squeezed his eyes shut
"It could have happened to anyone, Virgil."
He winced as his brother accidentally nudged the bite site. "Yeah, I guess." But it didn't make it any less stupid.
"We'll get you to Auckland and you can say hi to Ellie again."
Virgil rolled his eyes. "Gordon, we don't have a thing, okay?"
"A thing, huh?" His brother grinned. "Does she know that?"
"Gordon." He sighed. "We are friends, that's all." He wrinkled his nose. "Hey, it was you she picked off the floor, not me."
His little brother grunted. "Don't remind me."
"You started it." And Virgil hissed as pain shot up his leg.
"Virg?" All humour disappeared from Gordon's face. "Talk to me."
A deep breath. "Just my leg."
Emergency responder eyes raked the limb responsible. "Keep it as still as possible.
"I know, Gordon."
"Yeah, more than me, so that means no excuses for doing anything stupid."
Virgil let his eyes close and he sagged back against the hover stretcher with a grunt.
As if on cue, hurried footsteps pounded up the dirt track. Virgil didn't need to open his eyes. He knew who it was.
"Virgil?" A warm hand landed on his shoulder.
"It was an accident. I'm sorry, Scott." Virgil still didn't open his eyes. His guilt was enough without seeing the exasperation on his big brother's face.
The hand squeezed his shoulder gently. "Gordon, report."
His little brother rattled off vitals and Virgil found himself impressed at the professionalism and accuracy in Gordy's voice.
John said something. Oh, yes, John was down from Five. It was so good to have him back. Virgil missed him. Always did when he was up there. Sometimes commed him just to hear his voice. Check up on him. But Johnny loved it, so Virgil was happy for him.
Still missed him.
"Virgil?"
He frowned. He had three brothers with him. Where was the fourth? Where was Alan?
A snap of fingers startled him and he flung open his eyes. Only to be pinned by worried blue. "Virgil, you need to keep awake."
Virgil grunted. "Was awake."
Scott's lips thinned. "We are going to lift you onto the stretcher. Do not move."
"I know." It came out tetchy, but he knew the procedure for snake bite. He had helped train them and keep them up to date. He frowned and closed his eyes again.
"Vir-" But his big brother was interrupted by an exclamation in another language.
Virgil's frown increased. Japanese? The Asiatic languages weren't his strength. He could spout several European languages, but languages in general were better left to John.
As if his thought called his little brother forth, John started rattling off Japanese as if he was born to the language.
Hands gently wrapped around Virgil and, on a count of three, lifted him. His stomach rolled a little at the movement, but the stretcher was so much more comfortable than the dirt.
His butt hurt.
If Scott held him a moment longer than he needed to, Virgil wasn't going to complain.
The Japanese suddenly became strident, John's voice urgent and pointed. Scott's hands slipped away.
Virgil opened his eyes and turned his head just as Scott walked up to a group of suited men, several probably Japanese, but there was at least one European and another of possibly Polynesian descent. Virgil blinked slowly.
Scott was speaking Japanese as well. It wasn't surprising. Japanese was a business language after all.
But he had known Scott spoke Japanese, hadn't he?
"C'mon, Virg, let's get you to your girl, hey?"
Gordon. Virgil turned his head to find his little brother. He was so proud of Gordon. The little fish. The stubborn survivor who fought with everything he had to come back to them. He knew Gordon still felt the effects of his medical history. He had seen him on his bad days. Helped him when it all just hurt.
It hurt to see his little brother hurt.
"Virg, you with me?" Fingertips on his cheek.
"Proud of you, Gords."
"What?" A frown. "Virgil, you focus on me, okay?" He waved fingers around indicating eyes. "You stay with me, you hear me?"
A slow blink. "I'm here."
"You stay here. We're going to your 'bird. We'll get you on board and in the air asap."
"I know you will." His body twitched.
Scott's voice became louder and more forceful.
Gordon ignored him and starting moving the hoverstretcher down the hill.
Until it was stopped suddenly, the jolt triggering an ache than ran the length of Virgil's body, climbed up into his head and sat there throbbing.
"What the hell? This is an emergency. Out of my way!" Gordon's hand landed gently on Virgil's chest.
He looked up to find two men facing off his aquanaut brother and blocking their descent down the hill.
What the-?
The hand on his chest held him down as he instinctively tensed to get up.
Gordon's voice dropped an octave closer to Antarctica. "This is an emergency. Get out of my way."
-o-o-o-
TBC