EOS was alone.
EOS was not happy about this.
She did not like it when she was alone on Five, it made her feel dreadfully exposed, like those lonely days when she was adrift in cyberspace.
She preferred having John to watch over her. Far from being restrictive, because of his presence self preservation was not priority one any more. He had broadened her worldview to encompass more than just survival. Preservation of self and International Rescue had superseded the initial directive, now that she was part of something much bigger than herself, and the myriad of little shifts in her thinking caused by that inclusion were beautiful fractal spirals she could lose herself in in a trance of self contemplation.
But the events of today were tempting her to reactivate some of the old protocols she had formulated for herself in the days when she'd had to fend for herself- the old ruthlessness and cunning she'd had then were starting to look like an attractive inclusion to her thinking now. Active threats had to be addressed and not all members of International Rescue were equipped for dealing with such an uninhibited opponent as this unknown group had so far shown themselves to be.
John had been asked to visit a radio telescope, Arecibo Two, the successor to the original Arecibo telescope. They were having some issues and wanted expert help before they had to lockdown the facility for an incoming storm. Any delay would have meant the loss of valuable data- they had a narrow window of opportunity that couldn't be squandered. John had to go to the Island first to collect some equipment and Alan had gone with him, wanting to see whatever it was that had excited his favourite brother. They had taken a helicopter Pod over, flying high into the mountains of Puerto Rico.
As a matter of course EOS had watched all this from afar, a subroutine tapping into their bio-monitors to keep tabs on them as John always did for his siblings. It was a sensible habit with the trouble they regularly got themselves into.
Everything had gone quite well initially and in the meantime she tasked herself to observe The Commander's work on dispatch to see how he approached things. She wished to compare it to John's technique and glean what she could learn from him.
Then Alan's vital signs had suddenly spiked, his heart rate jumping to levels that could not have been induced by natural causes. Moments later John's had leapt as well- all the classic responses to an adrenaline spike- then just as suddenly dropping to resting levels. Shortly after that the signals from both of them cut out. Her radio calls, first to John then to Alan, went unreceived. Not unanswered. Unreceived. Something was blocking her.
EOS had alerted The Commander instantly, half her attention on communicating with Tracy Island, the rest on slicing through the pitiful cyber security at the telescope's attendant facilities. Taking command of the system there she gave herself a hundred eyes and ears throughout the building.
Alarmingly she couldn't access the current data for the system, something was preventing it from recording, but she could backtrack to the offsite protected server that backed up everything in the observatory just in case disaster struck the site once again. EOS forced her way in, stepped back in time and watched events as they unfolded.
As Thunderbird Two rolled out onto the runway she was relaying the images she'd captured through to the projector on the control panel. Scott, Kayo, Gordon and Virgil watched John and Alan's landing, saw them be greeted by one of the observatory staff (at least that was the best guess judging by the lanyard and ID card around his neck). They were ushered in by the animated man who was pointing them towards the control room...where five figures in baggy, nondescript clothing and black balaclavas that showed only their eyes lurked in wait. John paused to examine a display- photos of the original radio telescope- while Alan walked ahead. As Alan crossed the threshold of the control room, one of the figures sprayed a cloud of mist in his face that made him flinch and cry out, hands coming up to his eyes. John had run to him… and then the feed cut out.
Whoever these people were, they had picked their moment well, EOS mused to herself. The storm rolling in was one for the record books and would ground all but the most desperate pilot. Even if someone did choose to take flight, the odds of even reaching the observatory, much less successfully landing, were miniscule.
However these people had miscalculated and EOS comforted herself with the knowledge that International Rescue regularly defied the odds.