Seven

"SCOTT!"

"No!"

"Scott! NO!"

The distraught cries were snatched away by the freshening breeze, joined by The Hood's triumphant laughter.

But Virgil knew exactly what to do- death wasn't always permanent if you were quick enough.

Virgil put on a burst of speed, dropped to his knees next to his eldest brother, yanked him over to lie flat on his back and pulled off Scott's baldric at the same time. Raising his clenched fist and putting all his power behind the strike, Virgil delivered a punishing hammer blow to Scott's sternum- the precordial thump, a poor man's defib if the conditions were just right.

Incredibly the desperate manoeuvre worked and a split second later Scott's eyes flicked open, the lingering adrenaline driving him to sit up and gasp, greedily sucking down air as his heart kicked back into action.

In his arrogance, The Hood's one mistake had been to stop to witness Scott's death and savour his victory, instead of hitting the button and continuing to sprint away. The rest of the family didn't break stride, letting Virgil do his job as they caught up and fanned out to encircle The Hood like so many wolves circling for the kill.

Trapped between them and the shuttle, The Hood had nowhere to go when Kayo snarled like a tigress and pounced before he could press that button again, sending the controller spinning from The Hood's grip with a roundhouse kick that shattered the bones of his long fingers, then her foot lashed out again for a second kick that broke the autoinjector and sent him staggering backwards- right into Jeff's range.

"Hood!" Jeff roared as he leapt down from the top hatch of the shuttle and attacked. One, two, three punches slammed into The Hood's face- flattening his nose, blackening one eye and splitting his lip, knocking him down to the torn up earth. Jeff reached down, crushed the silk lapels of The Hood's jacket in his fists and dragged him upright as he glared at the man that had been his friend once upon a time, then looked at the edge of the cliff, measuring the distance.

"Dad, don't!" Virgil called urgently from where he sat with a barely conscious Scott leaning heavily on him. He could see exactly where their father's train of thought was leading. "He's not worth dirtying your hands like that!"

"Listen to your son, Jeff." The Hood slurred, head lolling on his shoulders and blood streaming from his broken nose. "He's right, you know."

"I promised my family that you'd never hurt them again." Jeff snarled out the words, screwing the crimson fabric tighter in his grip. "You made me break that promise."

"GDF fliers inbound." John warned as he clambered down from the shuttle, looking east at the approaching wedge-shaped aircraft. "Rigby's asking if we have The Hood."

The moment stretched out into an eternity as Jeff locked eyes with his enemy.

The Hood was the one to look away first.

"I'm not gonna lie, it'll feel really good to send you on a one way trip off that cliff, but that's not my job." Jeff said at last, then looked at John. "Tell Rigby we've got him, but he'd better not let him get away again. John, give me a hand here. Everyone else, sit tight, we'll be back soon."

Half-carrying, half dragging him, John and Jeff frog-marched The Hood over to the nearest of the approaching GDF fliers.

0o0o0

As he slowly pulled himself up out of the darkness that had shielded his sanity, Scott was dimly aware of many people around him and gentle hands shifting him to lie on his side. His head was pillowed on Kayo's thigh and he could feel her fingers sifting through his hair. Virgil was behind him, supporting him and keeping him from rolling backwards on the slight slope they were on. Gordon and Alan were in front of him- the youngest two each had one of his hands and were brushing the dried blood from his fingers with twists of dry grass.

Then John was there. Scott couldn't see him but could feel it as the second son folded himself down next to Virgil and laid a hand on his side. It felt like John's long fingers were tapping out messages in Morse, but he just couldn't pull together the brain power to decipher them. Finally Dad crouched down in his line of sight, reaching out to hold his shoulder and squeezing it gently and reassuringly.

"It's okay now son, it's over." Jeff told him, seeing the Commander in him fighting to stay conscious for just a little bit longer, unable to lay down the burden until he was sure it was safe to do so. "We'll take it from here."

Utterly spent and his reserves burned through, but surrounded by his family and cocooned by their love and forgiveness, Scott nodded weakly and let the looming unconsciousness claim him.

A/N: I decided to be nice and post this early, epilogue coming tomorrow