From that point onwards, it was all about family.
Virgil threw himself into looking after his brothers with the same vigour he looked after his 'bird the five days previous.
There was guilt, so much guilt. He had put himself over his brothers, ignored them even and hid away nursing his own wounds.
Gordon yelled at him about it, but Virgil was focussed on Scott. He had never seen his big brother so down. It was almost as if his fire had been extinguished.
John refused to leave orbit, determined to deploy as much energy and equipment he could into fixing this mess. Virgil let him be. For now. He had plans to later climb up into orbit himself to check on his space brother. He had no doubt the astronaut was running himself into the ground.
Alan was recovering and for lack of a better description, reminded Virgil of a pissed off terrier. Angry as all hell and willing to take on the neighbourhood great dane.
There were words.
Emotional words.
Alan continued to snarl.
But his little brother was now mobile and buzzing around the house in a hover chair. Grandma was keeping an eye on him.
Grandma was keeping an eye on all of them.
Virgil got one hell of a talking to about looking after himself and received chicken soup as punishment. At least he thought it was chicken soup. The cucumber was confusing.
Kayo was simply gone. On the other side of the planet, most likely. Virgil didn't know exactly where. The few times she contacted the Island, he grilled her on her health status and was ignored for the most part.
Virgil worried.
About all of them.
It hit Scott the hardest. The commander saw it simply. He saw it as failure.
This was their father's dream and somehow it had all crashed and burned. Virgil regretted his absence in those first days more and more. If he had been there to support Scott...
But he wasn't.
He cursed himself in every language he knew.
Gordon was almost as much a concern as Scott. The aquanaut was fuming. No sorrow, no fear, just anger. He spent most of his time in contact with various people and Virgil had the urge to ask John to monitor his fish brother's communications in case he was planning a world coup of some kind.
But as the days wore on the picture of exactly what was happening did become clearer.
The scathing media continued. Jack reported in almost daily, apparently his entire practice had been mobilised across several attack fronts. They were winning several, but the battle appeared to be a long one.
One of the worst moments was when a hurricane hit the Bahamas and Florida. IR was refused deployment, no matter what angle John tried. The astronaut directed calls to emergency services as best he could, even called in a few Tracy favours from the Jacksonville plant of Tracy Industries, their machinery switching to emergency supplies and relief production to help the people in the beleaguered cities to the south, but even that received a rebuttal. The head of GDF communications cut into IR frequencies and demanded Thunderbird Five cease interference.
Virgil had never heard John so angry.
Scott was as cold as the Arctic. "Do as they ask."
"Scott-"
"Do as they ask!" Blue eyes like ice, Scott's expression was stone.
So, theoretically, Five stood down.
Virgil was on the elevator within the half hour.
Eos pummelled him with questions all the way through the stratosphere and into space. John had stopped answering apparently, so she was looking for another Tracy to help.
Virgil stepped onto a silent Five.
"Where is he, Eos?"
"Communications hub. I honestly don't understand, Virgil. Why would they do this? John is trying to help."
Virgil's lips thinned as he strode to the airlock that separated the gravity ring from the central hub. John had to know he was there, yet, there was no greeting, no acknowledgement.
Virgil drifted through the lock to find that Five had most certainly not shut down.
His brother floated in a sea of information. Aunt Val's picture cruised past. Another document with the GDF logo at the top darted over Virgil's head as his brother threw it across the room.
"Eos, I need the results from breach fifty-nine."
"Not until you rest." Eos' voice was determined. "And now I have Virgil to help me look after you."
Turquoise flickered in the engineer's direction. "Virgil." It was a greeting and a dare all rolled into one.
"What are you doing, John?"
His astronaut brother wove code with one hand while reaching for a document with the word 'classified' stamped across its header. "Exactly what you suspect I'm doing, no doubt."
"John, I thought we had an agreement."
"You thought you did. I'm only doing what needs to be done." The coding hand finished something off and with a swipe sent it on its way.
It was replaced with a scroll of information, rapidly accumulating in a simulated pile.
John smiled thinly at it before turning to face his brother.
"What do you want, Virgil?"
If Virgil had been in a gravity affected situation, he would have taken a step back. As it was, he hadn't gotten his space legs quite yet and was reduced to a half-strangled gasp.
John was ever so pale, his eyes little more than caverns, his usually perfect hair looked limp and straggly, hanging down over his face.
"Have you slept at all?!"
"I'm doing what needs to be done." His brother returned to juggling information.
A beat and an incoming comm flashed up. "Johnny, Brandy says the orders have come down. The launch is set for next week. We should tell Scott."
Virgil blinked.
A swipe of his hand and John answered. "No need, Gordon. You've just told Virgil." A pause. "And don't call me 'Johnny'."
The aquanaut startled as, no doubt, Virgil's image appeared in his office alongside John. "Oh." A shrug. "Hey, Virg. Whatcha doin' up there?"
"What are you doing, Gordon?"
"What needs to be done."
"And what exactly is that?"
"Saving International Rescue. After all, 'saving' is what we do, isn't it, Virgil? We don't sit on the side-lines while people die." The aquanaut poked at something out of transmission range. "Johnny, you gonna brief our big brother or let him dob us into Scott and tackle both explosions at once?"
"Gordon…" John's voice spoke of exhaustion. "I will handle this."
"FAB. Sending you Brandy's report." Another document flashed up, this one with the WASP logo at the top.
Hell.
Gordon's hologram held his stare for a moment before blinking out.
"John?" Virgil put every bit of big brother he had into the name. He wasn't Scott, but he hoped he was enough.
The astronaut sighed.
"General Strom has commissioned a new rescue force for the GDF." John waved a hand and an array of aircraft and equipment appeared, floating in the recycled air. "They've called it 'World Rescue' and on the surface it appears legitimate. Brains is even impressed with some of the technology."
Brains? Brains was in on this as well?
Virgil eyed the largest ship in the list. It was no Thunderbird Two, but it appeared formidable. "They don't have our technology."
John frowned. "No, they don't…yet."
Virgil mirrored his brother's expression. "What?"
Another sigh and John flicked through a series of documents. "Lady Amelia traced the source of the equipment to a project initiated about the same time we lost Dad. It appears that even then, these people had their eyes on us."
"But why? Running a rescue organisation is not a money-making exercise. We both know that from experience."
"It is if you are the only one."
"But-"
A hand caught his shoulder and Virgil's eyes widened. John was definitely tired if he was reaching out. "Even if they don't charge for the service, the GDF will gain popularity. Our popularity, Virgil. We have a huge fan following. You know this."
"But that is just for fun!"
"Virgil, popularity is the key. That list of our weaknesses is also a list of our strengths. The GDF's popularity has been inversely proportional to ours. We're stealing their thunder, literally. This has led to budget cuts and a drop in recruitment. They've lost money because of us."
Virgil blinked.
"They want it back." As Virgil continued to stare, John swallowed. "But that is only part of the equation." John let go of Virgil's shoulder. "The call for expressions of interest is a farce. They have a launch planned for the first fleet next week."
"Next week?"
"To capitalise on our negative press. The world is calling for a replacement service and they are answering."
"We're being replaced."
"By Jim Lucas and Robotics Industries. Eos has found connections between Lucas and Wainwright. Lucas went to college with her. Strond is the only part of this equation we haven't been able to fully clarify. His is the position responsible for the project funding. Lady Amelia is working on it." John's shoulders dropped.
"You need sleep."
"Virgil, this is important. Aunt Val is in the firing line because of us." A frustrated sound. "Because of me."
Virgil drew in a breath. He knew that their Aunt had turned a blind eye for them on several occasions, particularly where John's fingers had poked into certain pies that perhaps they shouldn't have. But John only did that to save lives. Aunt Val knew that. She was their support within the GDF and she took that position seriously.
Even Virgil knew enough to know that was why she had been removed from the picture.
Scott had been in contact. Had thrown Jack at her. Tracy money was doing its best to dig her out of the hole they had dug for her.
"She wouldn't want you killing yourself over this." Virgil kicked off the wall gently and caught his brother by his arm. "C'mon, John."
"Virgil, get off me." John wriggled in his grip.
The holographic display suddenly shut off, leaving the hub a bleak grey. "You're not doing any more work, John. I have Five under control. Attend to your bodily needs."
John pushed him away and Virgil let him. A turquoise glare hit him between the eyes.
"I can look after myself." He glanced at the camera beside the airlock. "Just let me be. Both of you."
"I tried that and look what happened." The AI was defiant.
"Eos, turn the hub back on."
"No."
"Eos!"
"No! Listen to your brother, if you won't listen to me. You need sleep and food. Your vitals are a mess."
Virgil set himself. John could be as stubborn as the rest of them, and as slippery as an eel. "It can wait, John. You either sleep up here, or I drag you downstairs and you can deal with Scott." Who was just as bad, but John didn't need to know that.
"Virgil-"
"No, John. Food, then sleep. If Scott isn't enough of a threat, I have a direct line to Grandma. Don't think for one second that twenty-two thousand kilometres is enough to keep her out of your hair."
Turquoise lit on fire. "Fine."
Virgil wrapped an arm around his brother. "And after we will look at what we can do."
John just grunted at him.
Virgil drew him closer and led him from the hub.
-o-o-o-