Normal was a while away but it was inching closer now that John had been transferred to the island. He was under the watchful eye of a host of siblings, a concerned grandmother and a very pernickity AI who was closely monitoring every ounce of food and milligram of medication he consumed. It was smothering to someone who was used to commanding the schedules of others to suddenly be at their mercy, but he knew it came from a place of love and of worry so he bore it with good grace. And he did need their help: he was too physically weak and tired too quickly to dare be too far from a helping hand.
Brians spent as much time as possible working: drafting the plans that would secure Thunderbird Five – secure all the machines – against sabotage in the future, and then redrafting once EOS had given her input. For him days passed in a haze of work and sleep and more work, so he almost didn't notice that when he stumbled into the kitchen to refuel yet again everyone had congregated to meet him.
"Good, you're here Brains. We can get started." Scott said, interrupting his train of thought that involved double-insulation and would need a whole new manufacturing process. Scott gestured to one of the few unoccupied chairs which Brains slouched to, hesitantly.
"What's going on?" Brains asked, looking around with worry at the pensive faces of the Tracy family.
"I think we're all agreed." Scott started, looking around for approval from the room "that what happened has really shaken us. But now we're over the shock and John is on the mend we have to face that we were lax. We let our guard down and that was taken advantage of." He got his approval: solemn nods followed his gaze in a ripple. "If it's one thing we're good at it's learning from our mistakes, and it's time we made some changes to."
"I understand." Brains said, lump in his throat. He thought this day would come – it was surprising that it had taken this long. "I'll pack my bags straight away – I'll be ready to go in a few hours. I'll leave all my work, if you want a second opinion before you implement anything EOS will do a good job. I know it's not going to mean anything right now but I truly am very sorry, and I am so proud of what you have all managed to achieve, and I'll always be honoured to think that I had some small part to play and..." Brains stammered to a halt before he could completely lose his composure.
"What's he talking about?" Alan leaned to Gordon, and stage-whispered out the corner of his mouth.
"I think - " said Virgil, arms crossed and eyes rolling "-I think he thinks that we are kicking him off the island."
"Ohhhhhh" Alan said, drawing out the one letter to fill the tense atmosphere. "Why?"
"Like Scott said, I'm the weak kink that was taken advantage of and you can't afford to have that level of exposure." Brains explained.
Scott sighed, ran his hands through his hair and looked to the ceiling – for help, for inspiration, for patience – who knew. "That's not what I said Brains. Sit down will you. Virgil said you were spending too much time working and I should have dealt with this sooner."
Brains slid into the indicated chair, now completely at a loss about where this was going.
"Can we address the elephant in the room? Get it all out in the open?" John looked tired, but determined, blanket snug around his legs, bandages still up his arms, propped up on a multitude of pillows so he could rest his core. "The Hood tried to steal a Thunderbird and used you to do it. In the process he nearly destroyed Five, but we don't blame you for that."
Brains shook his head. "You don't understand. You nearly died. I nearly killed you, John." The words tore out of him, deep and despairing. "How can you stand to be around me?"
"I understand, I was there. But it doesn't matter because that wasn't you. I will say it again and again and again until it sinks in." John made a stabbing gesture at every other word, then let his hands rest in his lap with a wince. It must be difficult for a man so usually caught up in gestures to have to stop 'speaking' with his hands. "You are a part of this family and we are not letting that – man – destroy that."
It took a moment for that to sink in. He wasn't leaving? John might actually forgive him? That was so shocking that he missed the concerned eyebrow Virgil raised in John's direction, the dismissive shake of the head John gave him in return, the 'wrap it up' gesture Virgil made to Scott.
"That all aside, we do have to change. We've been waiting for the Hood to act and reacting to him, but that has to stop. I'm done sitting around while he thinks up ways to attack my family. We are going after him and for that we need information, and for that we need you Brains."
"Why me?"
"Because you're our edge. Because he wants something from you."