The morning passed in a strange kind of fog for Scott. His father excused himself right after breakfast – probably something about TI but Scott didn't really remember. A short time later he'd found himself outside wandering the grounds.
That voice…
It stuck in his head. It didn't claim messages of public liberation though. No, the words that voice shouted were something else entirely.
The crisp morning air was doing nothing to soothe his nerves. The wrought iron bench underneath him froze his legs through his trousers but Scott was just waiting for the heat of the day, knowing it would soon reach temperatures far too hot to be caught out in. The lush greens flicked to burnt sands at the edges of his vision and so he closed his eyes breathing deeply to both block out the visuals and welcome in the smells of the English countryside.
He listened carefully. Birdsong, sheep and silence. The silence sat under it all taunting him. The silence knew the sounds that would split it open and it promised Scott he would hear those sounds soon.
A window opened and gentle piano chords came to him on the breeze. Voices far enough away to be indecipherable followed which turned to song and then laughter. Scott didn't know the tune. Nor did Oracle, apparently.
A small smile ghosted over his lips as he heard Virgil laugh and then start a passage over. His brother sounded happy and he was… glad? Glad for his brother that he'd found someone to be happy with.
He was? Wasn't he?
It would be easier if she were-
He stopped himself right then and there. He didn't want the end of his own thought. It had so many options; if she were human, if she was just a civilian and finally, if she were not around.
Was Scott really that selfish that his main problem with Oracle was that she might get between him and his closest brother?
He leant forwards pressing the heels of his hands to his temples and resting his elbows on his knees.
No, that wasn't it. Before IR they'd each had girlfriends (with the exception of Alan who was too young even though he'd insisted his four-day playground girlfriend still counted.) For the most part it had never bothered Scott. Only the obvious gold diggers had.
Laughter again through the window.
Was that what she was? Was she just after Virgil as a way to pull herself out of her own situation?
Even the thought rang hollow to Scott.
He didn't want to be thinking like this. But it was better than thinking about... That.
He needed to stop thinking, just for a bit. The solution that struck him was as simple as it was stupid. But was it stupid? He wasn't on duty. Wouldn't be for a few days. Oracle wasn't threat or if she was now that the collar was off there'd be little he could do about it anyway. There'd be some, somewhere in a house like this, Parker wouldn't want to be caught out if guests came unexpectedly. Hell, Parker had known that Jeff was coming here, it would go against his morals not to be able to offer him a decent glass of something.
The voice and the piano finally got it together.
Virgil was fine, Gordon seemed fine, dad was working. Scott wasn't needed right now… He clamped down on the voice that told him he'd never been needed, never been worthy of being needed.
He needed to stop thinking!
Mind made up he braced his hands on his knees and pushed off the bench and jumped a mile as his watch beeped.
How did his father know?
"Assemble in the drawing room, now" came the order. Scott moved, that tone of voice was not to be ignored.
He was the last to arrive by mere seconds, the short run not enough to cause him to be out of breath. There was a repetitive buzzing in the room and, from behind the desk, Jeff held out Oracle's communicator.
"This is the second time it's rung. Caller ID says Steven."
Oracle took it from him.
"This would be a lot easier without an audience" she said.
"I can't allow that" Jeff replied levelly.
"Okay" she said with clear misgivings. "In which case, no one says a word and please don't take anything I say to heart." She scanned the room quickly before depositing herself in one of the corner armchairs and messing up her hair slightly only to go to hastily fixing it as she opened a line.
"Where are you?" came a calm, composed voice that instantly set chills down the spine of everyone in the room. The voice had an oily quality that slicked itself over the pleasant tone. It promised nightmares masked as your own desires. Oracle had called Steven a sociopath before and in one sentence Scott believed it.
"What do you care?"
"You look like you've just got out of bed."
"Do I?" she said sounding uninterested.
Did she? Her hair was still slightly out of place but here clothes were – rumpled. And slightly askew. Scott swung a look to Virgil who seemed confused for a moment before he started frantically shaking his head and sending furtive glanced at their father. Fortunately, the man's entire concentration was on Oracle.
"How is Mr Dailey?" Steven asked in that same composed tone. The eyes of every male in the room widened but only Gordon had the sense to point at Virgil. Oracle smiled sweetly, her own gaze never leaving the holo.
"He's fine, thank you. How is Nick?" she returned in the same tone.
There was a brief chuckle from Steven.
"Touché" the man said inclining his head slightly. Scott was at a loss as, it seemed, was Gordon. Virgil looked thoughtful but their father gave away nothing at all.
"What do you want, Steven?"
"Well get to that" Steven said. "I assume you are staying in one of Mr Dailey's residences? Nicholas tells me he has several round the world. You are still in the country." It wasn't a question and Oracle didn't take it as one.
Scott's palms were sweating. There were only a few short connections between Brian Dailey and Virgil Tracy, the main one being Tracy Industries, of course, where both were meant to work. From there the line between Virgil and Thunderbird Two suddenly seemed far short and obvious. They knew the gang were digging up everything they could on International Rescue and Thunderbird Two in particular and here IR was, sitting in a room listening to biomechanoid and a sociopath discuss a family member. Scott wanted that drink even more.
"I'm still in the country" she placated. "South coast. I can be back in London in a few hours."
"What are you doing down there?" Steven asked and Oracle momentarily looked confused.
"I thought we'd covered that already?" There was clearly some kind of silent exchange between the two before Oracle shrugged casually. "What? Everyone needs a hobby. He likes a bit of rough and, well, you haven't seen him but trust me, there's a lot to like." That last comment came with a very specific look and a quirk of her eyebrows.
"I'm sure the colour of his money is very appealing."
"Sure" she replied. "That too."
In the corner Gordon was fighting silent laughter as Virgil face flamed up and he sank into the chair looking like he wished for nothing more than for it to swallow him whole. Jeff still hadn't moved, his elbows on the desk, hands steepled. He was watching the exchange with laser focus.
Steven hummed appreciatively and Gordon's laughter immediately stopped.
"You do have good taste" he said. "Perhaps we can share in the future?"
"Our hobbies don't align" she said, like she was talking about the weather. "Besides, you do not share."
Again, something passed between them. It was impossible for Scott to determine what was he could only see Oracle's impassive mask and the back of Steven's head. Whatever it was though caused Steven's voice to come out cold and hard.
"I do not" he said. "What's mine is mine."
"I quite agree" she replied leaning forwards slightly. "I have no interest in changing that."
Silence again. Deafening, deafening silence. Scott fought against it feeling for the first time in his whole life like Gordon, who couldn't keep quiet even when you paid him. John had tried. He fought against it using his grip on the arms of his chair to stop himself from physically moving. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath but all Scott could hear was the silence and the threat it promised to him.
"I think we may have gotten off on the wrong foot" Steven suddenly said pleasantly shattering the silence and the tension in most of the people present. "You must understand that your match was necessary to prove your loyalty and it seems you been receiving appropriate care in the interim."
There was an odd emphasis on the word care that suggested something else entirely but Scott's head was too full to work out what it was.
"You put my man in the hospital, you know" Steven said conversationally. "You fractured his skull."
"Shame" she replied uncaring.
"Very skilfully done" Steven complimented her. "A blow like that should have killed a man."
"Only if you're an amateur."
That comment stuck out to Scott. A lot of what she'd said had either gone over his head or had been simple posturing and, on the surface, this sounded the same. Maybe it was because he knew something of her past but those few words rang true. Oracle knew the difference between killing and injuring and possibly everything else in between. Scott was unsure whether to be comforted by that or concerned by it.
"Quite" Steven agreed nodding. "Perhaps we do have more in common than I had initially thought. There's a ticket waiting for you at Heathrow" he carried on, his voice changing to pure business. "Your plane leaves at 2pm tomorrow bound for Shannon. A car will take you the rest of the way."
"We've relocated?"
The figure nodded.
"Tell Mr Dailey you're leaving. You will be out of contact until further notice. Destroy this device immediately; a new one will be issued on arrival."
"Understood" she replied and Steven cut the line. Oracle dropped to communicator on the floor and went to crush it under her boot.
"Wait!" Jeff called out and she stopped, one foot poised above the device.
"The word 'immediately' in that last volley was a test" she said.
"I know" Jeff replied rounding the desk and retrieving the device. "However, with these old HK42's you need to snap the motherboard or they can still be remotely connected." Sitting back down he swiftly had the unit in pieces and started snapping parts as he pulled them out.
"Well played" Jeff said and Scott could swear Oracle beamed under the praise, her smile transforming her back to girl Scott had met at the door hardly more than twenty-four hours ago.
"Okay, what just happened here?" Gordon demanded proving once again that subtly and deception were not his strong points. There was one thing Scott had picked up on though.
"He knows about Virgil" Scott said, dread pooling within him.
"No, he doesn't" Oracle said dispelling the notion. "Nick must have followed me to the hotel-"
"Nick?"
"My match fixer and general information salesman. It wouldn't have taken long to get the name the room was booked under and he would have traded the name the second he felt it was to his advantage. Steven has never set eyes on Virgil, or Mr Dailey or whoever. If he had then he wouldn't be asking me to share."
"Yeah" Virgil said slowly pulling himself up from the protective slouch. "What was that about?"
"That was Oracle-"
"Jasmine" both Gordon and Virgil corrected simultaneously.
"That was Jasmine building bridges within the organisation" Jeff said looking impressed.
"By saying she wouldn't share… me?"
"Exactly" she said with no sign whatsoever of the awkwardness clearly plaguing Scott's middle brother. "Steven started to turn on me when Salvatore showed a paternal interest. For the moment he believes that I am completely uninterested in a new father figure and we have an agreement."
"If you show any interest in Salvatore, he'll come for Virgil?" Scott said appalled.
"Yes, but Mr Dailey will have vanished without a trace and you'll all be wherever your hidden base is, so it won't be a problem. Where is Shannon, by the way?"
"Ireland" Jeff replied. "West coast. Do you have any idea what they're planning yet?"
"Only very vaguely" she shook her head. "They have a demolitions expert on board and my role is bait so I'd say I'm going to be stuck somewhere and require rescuing. Though quite how they're going to do that in a convincing way, I'm not sure. It's not like you can pull a building down without someone wondering why it fell. They have a great deal of respect for your abilities" she said looking round at the various figures in the room. "They know you'd ask question like that, so whatever the plan is, they would build in contingencies to make it look as 'accidental' as possible."
The conversation carried on like that for a while with Scott's father and brothers spit-balling scenarios. At some point Kyrano bought in coffee which both he and Jasmine refused.
Huh he thought. Now she's Jasmine again. Does she like living under two names? Does she care? I cared…
No. No, no, no, he wasn't going down this road again. The meeting had been a good distraction from the swirling thoughts of earlier but now they were back. It was too much. The voice rang again, clear and proud in his victory, offing peace and liberation for his people. Such lies. Scott knew what the cost was. What he'd been forced to pay…
Trading a life for another.
Jasmine offered Virgil in a trade.
No, no she didn't he reigned himself back in.
"Don't you think, Scott?" Gordon said.
"Could be" he replied on autopilot. The conversation resumed around him.
Jasmine didn't offer a trade at all and she knew Virgil would be safe even before it was suggested.
He hadn't had that opportunity.
He needed to stop thinking.
Around him the meeting drew to a close. He had no idea what the others were drifting off to do, he just needed to get out.
It took him minutes to find what he was looking for. It wasn't like Parker tried to hide it. He took the bottle and a glass and retreated to his room. Sitting on the bed he didn't notice how his hands shook as he poured the glass. He knocked it down in one and poured another resting the cool crystal against his screaming skull as he waited for the burn to die down. In his left hand the amber liquid sloshed in the bottle calmly telling him it would take all the pain away.
He believed it.