"They're on the move!" Kayo hissed the update to her brothers, showing them the projected map hovering over her wrist and the two coloured dots now leaving the room they'd been sheltering in.
"Good, John must have gotten through to Alan." Scott murmured back. "Keep moving, we have to catch up to them." He carefully checked the corner and waved them up to a stairwell. Their footsteps echoed more than he would have liked on the hard concrete, bouncing off the bare walls. The spot between his shoulder blades itched, every sense on high alert. They hadn't seen anyone else yet, and the absence was making him antsy.
Kayo frowned as she tweaked something on her communicator, eyes narrowed as she inspected the projection carefully. "I know what this is!" Their sister shook her head as if admonishing herself. "Remember the space pirates? This is almost exactly like their cloaking tech, it interferes with everything else as well as cloaking them from electronic detection. I should have seen it sooner!"
"Can we work around it?" Virgil asked. "A frequency change or something?"
"Not easily." Was her reply. "Aside from destroying the devices themselves the only other thing we could do is set off the EMP generator on Two, but that will knock out our comms and scanners too. But I know what to look for now, I can find them."
"We'll keep the EMP as an option." Scott ordered. "Kayo, keep watch for the attackers for us, Gordon, you take over navigation, EOS, tie into Kayo's scans and see what you can do to help."
A round of nods or acknowledgements answered him and they pressed forward.
At the top of the broad stairwell a long, wide, curving atrium spread out before them, generously proportioned and accessorised with large prints of space images, other displays and clusters of couches and other seating for visitors. In good weather it would have been a space filled with light, the panoramic windows to their right granting a spectacular view of the telescope and the surrounding rainforest. If the shutters had been open they would have seen Two crouched just below them. But with the shutters closed and the only lighting from the exit signs and the odd spotlight for the artwork and displays, it had the same eerie atmosphere as an empty shopping mall, a liminal space that should have been bustling with life and noise but wasn't.
"They're approaching the other end of the hall." Gordon pointed to where the curve of the building blocked their line of sight to the opposite end of the hall, flicking his glance up from the projection hovering over his wrist. "There's a door and foyer on the other side, they're on the stairs to the next floor."
Perhaps halfway through the atrium, Scott stopped and held his arm out to stop the others as Kayo paused, her head tilted in an almost birdlike fashion as she homed in on whatever had caught her attention. "...incoming!" She warned, pointing to an unlit hallway that connected the atrium to a lecture room. The split second of warning made all the difference as the attackers charged out of the dim hallway in ambush, two figures in black howling and yelling as they brandished wooden baseball bats.
Scott and Kayo met them head on, Scott roaring as his opponent lunged at him with the baseball bat held over their head for a punishing sledgehammer blow. Fighter pilot reflexes let Scott step in close to catch the descending bat on his crossed forearms, knee the masked person in the gut, and as they doubled over he swept the bat away and struck at the base of their neck in a disabling move, dropping them. In comparison Kayo was silent, dodging the bat swinging at her head and unleashing a punishing flurry of punches that let her fell her opponent in the space of a few heartbeats.
The entire exchange was over in seconds and Gordon darted forward to pull the masks from their faces. "Kayo, scan." He ordered as he roughly searched them for ID. Two men, middle aged and brown hair, blandly anonymous features and both of European extraction, as near as he could judge.
"Got it." Kayo leaned over his shoulder to use her communicator to scan their faces while Gordon, finding no ID or phones on them, used his dive knife to cut the shoelaces off one of them, tied them both up with Kayo's help and left them on their sides, shoved into a dark corner behind a couch. The cloaking tech he did find though- small devices slung on cords around their necks. He took one, Brains would need it to figure out a way for their equipment to get past something like this.
"Two down, at least four to go." Virgil observed, turning to watch their backs in case of any other surprises. "How close are Alan and John?"
"Still making their way down the stairs, going slowly." Gordon replied after a quick check. "EOS said they were in rough shape, it must be pretty bad."
"Let's go." Scott ordered impatiently, waving them forward.
The rest of the atrium was crossed without incident. The door at the end was locked with a deadbolt, but that wasn't an issue after Kayo picked it. Inside the square foyer, one end was blocked by a steel clad security door designed to keep the curious public out of the inner workings of the observatory. A second wall was occupied by more of the giant windows and a third was taken up by simple swinging double doors that led to the stairwell that, if their equipment was accurate, John and Alan were currently descending.
"Guys, we have company." Virgil warned, peering through the corner of a round window set in the door. "The other four, and this lot have machetes."
"Barricade the door, quietly." Scott pointed to a pair of long green couches. "Use that and anything else you can find. Gordon, help him."
"F.A.B." Gordon nodded and went to pick up a side table while Virgil picked up the nearest couch like it was made of balsa wood, thanks to the exo-suit. He wedged it against the doorway and went back for the second.
Scott waved Kayo over to the double doors, cracked one open and softly called out "John? Alan?", wary of a trap.
"...Sscott?" John's voice floated down to them, marked by a slur that the eldest Tracy was not happy to hear. "We're coming…"
Scott pushed the doors fully opened and reached out to take the hand that John extended to him. Leaning heavily on Alan, a blood soaked wad of cloth tied to his forehead and more blood crusting on his face and uniform, the second eldest Tracy looked a state in the dim light, and supporting him, Alan didn't look much better, slack mouthed and silent. His grip tightened on John when Scott moved to take his weight and he made a noise of protest that sounded more like a warning.
"Thunderbird Three, stand down, backup is here." John instructed in his radio cadence, but Alan didn't relinquish his grip just yet.
"What did they do to him?" Kayo asked, quiet horror in her voice as she took in the glazed blue eyes and expressionless face. It was like looking at a zombie.
"I don't know, he responds to his call sign but not his name." John shook his head, then winced at the movement, touching his brow. He went to say more, but the door to the atrium rattled and an angry shout interrupted them. A masked face peered in the window at them, then turned away and started yelling for assistance. Someone rammed their shoulder into the door, judging by the thud and the yelp of pain, then a second person yelled for someone to bring a bench over- a perfect improvised battering ram.
"Options." Scott barked.
"That barricade isn't going to hold for much longer." Kayo warned as the pile of furniture rattled under a heavy impact. "And the other exit is locked down, it's a security door, it'll take too long to cut through."
"Well, like Dad used to say, if the door's shut, go through the window." Gordon jerked his thumb at one of the massive windows and gave a wolvish smile. "Virg, that's your cue."
"F.A.B." Virgil smiled grimly as he brought the heavy Jaws of Life on his right arm to bear. The safety glass shattered with the first hit, he holed it on the second, then he ripped out enough of both it and the storm shutters to make a gap big enough for them to use the zip line that Scott set up with his grapple launcher. Rain and wind instantly filled the space, making them stagger under it's force.
Virgil went first, sliding down the line and positioning himself to catch the others as they came down. John held himself together long enough to patiently instruct Alan to connect to the zip line with the safety line and carabiner they all had built into their baldrics. Kayo went with Alan, holding him steady, then Gordon went down with John. Scott came last as the barricade shifted, retracting the line so they couldn't be followed.
"I'll take John, Kayo- Alan!" Scott ordered, ducking his head under John's arm and taking his weight off Gordon. "Get to Two, fast! We're leaving!"
0o0o0
Alan realised that he knew these people; a confused welter of emotions (happy, love, safe, admiration, trust, strong, protective, hope, kind) telling him so as they shepherded him and John through the howling storm.
Rain plastered his hair to his skull and made it hard to see. But despite the sheets of falling water he could see the massive form before them (big green bathtub? Why did that pop into his head?) and knew that it meant Safe and that person who was sound and colour and gentle eyes.
A person grabbed his baldric to steady him as they ran towards the ship who raised herself up on her legs to let them into her belly (big green bathtub can't be her name, can it?)- a cavernous space filled with light that chased away the dark storm. She swallowed them whole, sealing out the rest of the world and cutting off the wind that threatened to sweep them off their feet and the rain that doused them like a fire hose.
The person who had John was facing him now, taking the ragged bandage from John's head and touching his face carefully, eyes wide with shock as he saw the full extent of John's condition under the bright light.
Their hand was stained red when it came away from John's face.
John was hurt.
The thought burned in his brain like a match being struck… or a fuse being lit.
Protect John.
0o0o0
"DON'T HURT JOHN!"
Scott wasn't prepared for the howl as Alan ripped free of Kayo, knocked her to the deck with a surprise reverse elbow strike and charged at him. He stepped in front of John automatically, crouching with his left leg slightly forward and arms up in a boxer's guard to protect his face and torso from the wild attack. He couldn't help the grunts of pain as he caught the hits on his armoured shin and forearms, the kid was far stronger than he looked!
"Alan!" Virgil twisted out of his exo-suit and seized Alan from behind in a bear hug, taking advantage of his height to lift Alan up off the ground and start carrying him towards the medical bay at the back of the module. "Gordon! Get into the cockpit and take off! John, go with him and clean up! The blood is setting off Alan!" Virgil grunted out the order, fighting to keep his grip on the ferociously struggling teenager. "You two, help me hold him down!" He winced as Alan bit down on his upper arm, there was no way his teeth would get through the uniform but there'd be bruises later.
From the corner of his eye he saw Gordon shepherd John away to the interior door leading up into Two's airframe. Alan must have seen it too as he desperately screamed John's name and redoubled his efforts to break free.
Between the three of them they hauled Alan over to the stretcher and hoisted him up onto the padded bed. "We'll hold him down!" Virgil ordered, jerking his head at Scott for him to pin down Alan's feet. "Kayo, sedate him!"
"F.A.B." Kayo nodded grimly as she reached for the supplies
It took Virgil almost lying on top of Alan to use his weight to pin him so Kayo could slit his uniform sleeve open for an IV. All around them Two rumbled into life, backing off the platform and smoothly turning to flee from both the observatory and the storm.
"Virgil, this isn't working! He's just getting more agitated!" Scott grunted with the effort of holding their littlest brother down as Alan screamed at them and thrashed. "Maybe if we get John back he'll calm down."
"We need the extra hands!" Kayo added, having only just gotten the tourniquet in place.
Virgil frowned as he turned it over in his head, weighing up the risks even as he planted one hand on Alan's chest and used the other to hold down his wrist. "Okay. We'll try it." He hit the insignia on his shoulder with his chin. "John! Get down here!" Almost as if in response, Alan suddenly ripped his feet free of Scott's grip and kicked him square in the chest.
0o0o0
Present
The storm lashed Two's skin like a living creature. It pelted her with debris and sheets of rain while the wind howled about her and clawed with icy fingers at every seam and crevice, searching for a way into her hull. But she sat firm on the old landing strip, immovable, and her green carapace was strong and sealed- nothing would enter and nothing would move her unless her pilot willed it and her pilot had decreed they would rest here until it was safe to carry her precious cargo home.
Inside, Scott paced the length of the module with long-legged strides. His fury matched the storm outside and no one felt brave enough to attempt to quell his anger just yet. It had been deemed wiser to let him spend his rage on endless pacing and half-snarled invectives until they had a target to point him at or a mission to send him on. The only guaranteed way to defuse him would be if Alan woke up and needed him, but Alan was a long way from waking. Virgil, after consulting with Grandma, had decided it safer to keep the teen under sedation until he was clear of the drugs he'd been exposed to, considering the sheer violence of his reaction to them. They all hoped he could be woken soon, once his body purged the drugs in his system with the aid of the chemical cocktail that Virgil was preparing.
Right now Alan was lying on his side on the stretcher, an oxygen mask over his face and a blanket pulled up to his shoulders. Gordon had tended to the youngest Tracy while Virgil was talking to Grandma, removing Alan's armour and baldric to make him more comfortable and placing a monitor on his chest. Gordon now leaned against the stretcher, held one limp hand in his and rubbed his other hand over Alan's back in a soothing pattern they all remembered from feverish nights when their parents tended to their childhood illnesses.
Kayo had tasked herself to watch over John. The second eldest had lapsed back into non-verbal communication, his head injury making talking hard. He had a blooming concussion, that was for sure, but the equipment for treating that was back home in their infirmary. All they could do at the moment was painkillers, bruise cream and a cold pack for the swelling. At least he'd finally been able to shower and change his uniform, the lack of bloodstains was a great improvement. Normally Gordon would have cracked a quip at how John had simply slicked back his wet hair in an approximation of Scott's look rather than his usual swept over style, but no one was in the mood for that right now. That he had accepted Kayo's arm around his shoulders, tugging him to lean against her and use her shoulder as a pillow, spoke volumes about the second eldest's condition- mentally, physically and emotionally.
A chime on everyone's communicators broke the tense atmosphere in the module.
"I believe I have identified the attackers." EOS announced.