Title: Shooting Star
Part Two
Author: Gumnut
16 - 19 Dec 2019
Fandom: Thunderbirds Are Go 2015/ Thunderbirds TOS
Rating: Teen
Summary: Scott and John are at the opposite ends of an argument that will change the Tracy family forever. Virgil is caught in the middle.
Word count: 1866
Spoilers & warnings: Spoilers for episode 1.08 'Eos', language, angry!Tracys.
Timeline: Episode tag to 'Eos'.
Author's note: Ugh, not too sure about this. I wrote it so fast and in so many bits, ugh. I have no brain to edit it correctly so it is what it is. I hope you enjoy it anyway. More has been written, but progress is slow. I'll get there ::hugs::
Many thanks to vegetacide and scribbles97 for putting up with my crazy.
Fic has been written to the song 'Shooting Star' by Owl City as it was the song playing when I got the idea and it will eventually be appropriate at some point,
And as always, thank you all for creating such a fantastic fandom. Thundernerds rock! I hope you enjoy this fic :D
Disclaimer: Mine? You've got to be kidding. Money? Don't have any, don't bother.
-o-o-o-
John flinched at the abrupt question, but he didn't say anything to interfere. The dark shadows of his eyes bore holes in Virgil's heart.
Virgil's lips thinned and he cleared his throat. "I don't want to kill anyone, Eos."
"But you hate me for hurting John, don't you?" Her tone was innocent and without blame, but it hit home.
"You scared us, Eos."
"You scared me."
Virgil blinked and frowned. "How?"
"I wanted to play, I was designed to play, but you punished me for doing what I was made to do."
"You were endangering lives. That cannot be allowed."
"Yet you endangered mine."
"It was defensive. You would have killed Scott and Brains. John did what he had to do."
"Is killing me something you have to do?"
Virgil flared. She appeared innocent and child-like, but she was anything but. "You tell me. Will we have to kill you? Are you a threat to us?"
The program didn't answer, the communicator fell silent. John shifted where he stood and checked the comm. "Eos?"
"John."
"Are you going to answer Virgil?"
"I don't want to."
John sighed. "Eos, it was a legitimate question."
"He's afraid of me."
"He has a right to be."
"Are you afraid of me, John?"
"No."
"Then why is he afraid of me?"
"He doesn't know you very well. And you threatened his family. Both Scott and Virgil are very protective. It is their role in this family unit."
"Are you protective, too?"
"Yes, I will protect my family."
"I'm afraid, too. Will you protect me?"
Virgil swallowed as John's eyes held his.
"Yes, Eos. Yes, I will."
There was silence for a moment. Eos' voice was quiet. "Thank you, John."
The astronaut didn't answer, his eyes still holding Virgil's. Virgil straightened his shoulders.
Eos' voice was still quiet, still tentative. "Your family wants to kill me, John."
"No, they don't."
Virgil opened his mouth, but John cut him off. "Do they Virgil?"
Virgil's eyes narrowed. "As I said, I don't want to kill anyone."
"But you don't view me as 'someone'." It was small and fearful.
"Eos..." But what could he say? John obviously had decided his stance. Scott was predictable in the fact he would put his family's safety above all. So, it was left to Virgil to decide which route their family would take. He could see it in his brother's eyes. This was not something he was going to back down on.
"Virgil, I created her, I'm responsible. She's...she's like my daughter."
An eyebrow arched despite the control he was exerting over his reactions and feelings.
"She means that much to you?"
There was no hesitation. "Yes. Please, Virgil, Scott trusts your opinion more than any other. We have to save her." His expression became pleading. "Please, Virgil."
He looked away. He had to think clearly and that was easier done without staring into the blackholes of his brother's eyes. He had spoken the truth when he said he didn't want to kill anyone. It went against everything he believed in. With one exception...
Virgil turned back to his brother and took his expression full on. "Eos, do you intend to harm anyone? Anyone at all?"
"John...?"
"Tell him the truth, Eos."
"I don't want to hurt anyone, Virgil. I just want to play."
"What if that play leads to injury?"
"How do I stop injury?"
Virgil tipped his head slightly.
"Are you willing to learn?"
"I can learn. I like learning."
"Are you willing to learn right and wrong? Are you willing to follow a set list of rules?"
"I can do that. John, do you have an example?"
"Search key: ethics, world societal law, human rights."
Virgil blinked.
John's lips curled into a smile.
"Which laws should I follow, John. There are so many variations and some contradict others."
"Your nationality of origin is the United States of America."
Another pause. "Assuming I have access to all the laws required, yes, I can operate within those parameters."
Virgil answered her. "Yes, and any reasonable requests from John and his brothers.
"All his brothers?"
"And his sister." Hell, Kayo was going to be a nightmare to persuade over this.
Virgil blinked as he realised he had already made the decision. And John knew it, too, his eyes suddenly full of energy. "You won't regret this, Virgil."
"I haven't decided yet." It was a white lie. He had to get all the facts straight, he couldn't be lured by the right words said in a child's voice. This could mean a brother's life. This went beyond International Rescue. Eos was an extremely powerful program, especially if she was...a person.
"You never could lie to save your own life, Virgil."
He jumped as his sister emerged from the shadows of the palms at the edge of the beach. Another shadow followed and Virgil's heart sank.
"Virgil may not be able to lie, but John can, can't you, John." Scott's voice was sharp, his lips thin and his expression stormy.
Ah, crap.
-o-o-o-
Virgil moved to stand beside John. Scott didn't fail to notice. It was dark, but Virgil had been reading his brother for a lifetime and he could see his reaction in his shadow.
"Scott-"
"You at least did as I asked, but I never expected a conspiracy."
A conspiracy? What the-? "Scott-"
"What, Virgil? Perhaps I underestimated you as I did John. Did you want me off the Island enough to involve Tracy Industries and risk the employment status of one of our most loyal friends?"
John flared beside him. "You cannot fire him, Scott. If you want blame, blame me, but keep our employees out of it."
"I wouldn't have dreamt of it, John, but it was you who involved them in a family matter, wasn't it? All so you could play Daddy to that...thing...that nearly killed you."
"She didn't know what she was doing!"
"I don't care, you nearly died! We had to watch!"
"It wasn't her fault!"
Scott's movements were menacing as he stepped closer to his brother, anger in every line. "You claim she is a person. Yes, I've heard every word you and your little co-conspirator have said, John. You said you'd protect her. From your own family." That last word was spat onto the sand.
"If that family is a threat." It was John's turn to loom at his brother, their heights matching in the dim light. "Are you a threat, Scott?"
"If she threatens this family, you bet your skinny ass, I'm a threat."
John set back on his heels. "It must be so easy to see the world so two dimensionally."
"Somebody has to keep idiots like you alive."
Virgil stepped between the two of them. "Hey! That's enough! Step back, both of you, take a breath and calm down!"
Scott rounded on him. "Why? So you can calmly convince me he is right?"
Virgil tensed his shoulders and turned to his eldest brother, if anything setting himself like a rugby player about to field an oncoming freight train. "So we can discuss this like civilised and intelligent human beings instead of rabid dogs fighting over a bone."
The shadows sculpting his brother shook with tension. "I trusted you to look after him."
"I did."
"But you'd let him return to Five with that thing still threatening his life."
John exploded behind him. "She isn't a thing!"
Scott yelled over the top of Virgil's head. "I don't care what she is, she nearly killed you!"
"It was a mistake, which she rectified!"
"She was only able to do that because Alan saved you first, otherwise you'd be dead!"
"She didn't understand!"
"You would still be dead whether she understood it or not. What happens next time she doesn't understand? Do we get to watch you die again?!"
"She is worth the risk!"
"You don't get to make that decision!"
"It is my life!"
"You do this, and it is hers."
"Well, you know what? I don't care, because this is more important!"
The shadows of Scott's eyes widened and their darkness deepened to that of black holes. Virgil set himself, ready to catch the angry energy threatening to explode from his eldest brother.
Scott's voice was deadly quiet. "You would place this above your life and the lives of your family?"
"She's worth it!"
Virgil stared at his brother, shocked. "You can't mean that."
"Of course, I mean that. She is worth saving."
"But above family-"
"She is family!"
The darkness sucked the statement in.
"Get out." Scott's voice was parched and scathing.
"Scott-"
But their enraged eldest brother was beyond reason. "Get off this Island and get that thing out of Thunderbird Five. You want to endanger yourself, you do it alone. There is no way in hell, I'm giving that thing access to my family, risking their lives for the sake of a science experiment. Get out." Scott spun on the sand and stalked back towards the treeline. "And don't bother conspiring anymore, I can hear every damned word."
Kayo didn't follow him. She stood nearby, just staring at them. It was obvious she wasn't going to leave.
Virgil glared at her. She was, no doubt, the reason why Scott had discovered them, had heard them, and now the family was up shit creek. "I hope you're happy."
"Happiness has nothing to do with it. Safety and security is everything."
"You and I are going to have a talk, Kayo. Trust me on that."
"I welcome it."
Another glare and he turned his back on her...only to find John heading for the treeline in the same direction Scott had disappeared into. "What the hell are you doing?"
"What I was told to do. I'm leaving. He can take his inflexible bullshit and shove it up his ass for all I care. I'm taking Eos and leaving."
What?
Two steps and Virgil grabbed his arm and wrenched John around to face him. "The hell you are. Scott's upset, so Scott's an idiot. Leave him to me. Don't you dare disappear on me!"
John sighed and ran a hand over his face. "Virgil, I appreciate it, I do, but if you go in there now, you'll either end up with a black eye or on the boat beside me, or both."
He squeezed his brother's arm. "I know how to handle him. You go back to the villa and leave him to me."
"Virgil?" The voice was small and terrified.
Virgil blinked and let go of his brother's arm, his eyes darting to the phone still in John's hand. Oh, shit! "Eos?"
"What does this mean? Will John be safe? What happens to me? What is going on?" The child-like terror in her voice tore at his heart. Hell, he couldn't afford to feel for her. He had to face the facts, keep it all clear in his head.
John looked down at him, desperation in every shadow.
"I'll fix this. Don't you dare go anywhere. I will fix this." And with that, he turned and ran for the trees and the villa beyond.
This was no longer just about Eos. This was about family.
And losing everything.
-o-o-o-