Thanks, all, for reading and reviewing. =) Bow Echo, Tikatu, Creative Girl, Thunderbird Shadow and Whirl Girl, I appreciate your helpful comments. Edited!

12

Kyoto, Japan, late that same awful night-

Scott Tracy had pitched in with a will; both because rescues were his business, and because he needed not to think about relationship crap, for a while. Tough to focus on yourself, when people all around you were shrieking for help from drifting earthquake floaters, or beneath crushed buildings. He'd been doing this for years, now… since Dad first sprang the concept… and every situation was different.

This one was brief, but intense, filled with smoke and fire, the rumble and clop of heli-jets, and wildly stabbing floodlights. Waves of impeller distortion, too, from the growing crowd of star-liners parked overhead in low orbit.

Between jetpack flight and Thunderbird 1 (remotely piloted by Alan, because John was still MIA) he'd already saved a few dozen earthquake victims. Spotted hundreds more in just a few blocks, using his wrist-comm's scan feature.

Right. He wasn't a John- or Alan-level multitasker, but Scott Tracy still managed to deploy a swarm of "worms"; robot diggers capable of burrowing down through unstable rubble to reach those trapped, below. They didn't carry much… water, power bars, a small light, some Nu-Skin and Quick-Clot… but they'd at least let the victims know they'd been found. That help was on the way.

Then, quite suddenly, help was no longer needed. A green, strobe-like flash lit up the city and spaceport. The encircling mountains and Lake Biwa glowed with brilliant green light. Then, an eyeblink of nothingness followed, and the city was back in order. Shattered windows repaired, buckled streets smoothed out, fires doused and buildings intact. Like nothing had happened… almost.

Inside his helmet, Scott's jaw dropped. Even the earthquake escape floaters had been seen to; each one now resting safely on its own separate rooftop. Commander Hideko, with whom he'd been talking, gasped aloud. Over his helmet comm, Scott heard the man draw a deep breath and then say,

"What has happened? How is this possible, Rescuer Tracy?"

"I… don't know for sure, Commander," Scott answered, swooping low over a city street full of startled living people and serenely-repaired dead ones. Everywhere, families and friends clutched apparently unhurt loved ones, and begged them to wake.

"…but I intend to find out. My scans show some residual damage at the outskirts of the city, in Tokiwa and Hanazono. I'll have my brother concentrate his efforts there, and join him, once I've worked out what's going on."

"Very well," came the response, as Hideko's heli-jet lifted away. "I shall leave two units behind to assist in the transport of those who caused this. Report with your findings, as soon as you have the answer, Rescuer Tracy."

"I'm on it," Scott muttered, more to himself than Hideko. Switching channels, the pilot called, "Al, not sure how much of that you picked up…"

"All of it, Bro. Body-cam, remember?" his brother replied, sounding a little awed. "It's like… everything's back to normal, almost, for part of the city, centering right at Yamato Space Port. I'm scanning close to two-thousand dead people, Scott. No injuries, no damage, except out in the suburbs."

Scott nodded inside his helmet, as he swooped through the cool night air.

"Understood, Alan. Get Thunderbird 1 onsite, and do what you can to help. I've got the situation under control, over here."

"F.A.B, Scott. Stay safe."

The Yamato Space Port was directly ahead. A tower of reinforced steel, concrete and high technology, it was the city's proud centre… and once again whole. Rigby was in there, along with his ride-along "friend" and two very dangerous criminals. Doctor Reeves, too.

His helmet's heads-up display showed two heli-jets gliding along in his wake, politely allowing Scott to reach the danger zone, first. After all, he was their guest, and these things mattered. They'd be in like a shot right after him, though, knowing the Japanese local defense forces.

Using a GDF access code, Scott picked up his pace and triggered the tower's rooftop emergency entrance. It's protective shielding went down at once, allowing the pilot to zoom past a forest of giant antennas and docking clamps. The city below was stunned, mourning, and the reasons for that lay somewhere in here. Scott did a midair half-somersault as he cut his jetpack's power. Came down like a paratrooper; with a knee-jarring thump, running hard across the concrete roof. On the bright side, his chronic migraine had evaporated, and you had to be grateful for the small things.

The red-lit emergency entrance gaped wide open before him. Scott didn't hesitate. Had no weapon but his own determination, strength and cable-gun, but never broke stride as he raced back into that mostly deserted tower. The emergency entrance was not meant for show. Here, there were no cheerful posters or holo-views of Kyoto. Just concrete, steel and industrial lighting.

Last time he'd been inside it, the entire tower had been shaking; glass broken, power out, alarms wailing. This time, all was incredibly calm and orderly. Just some catchy background music, and his own thundering strides on those green metal stairs.

A holographic black cat appeared maybe half a minute after his entry, manifesting itself in the emergency access stairwell, with one paw upraised, and a little gold helmet perched between its sharp ears.

"Honored guest, misfortune has temporarily forbidden access to this region. Your safety is very important."

Scott paused in his descent, waiting for the cat to go on. Only… it didn't. So, he said,

"Assuming I'm speaking to the Yamato Space Port control system, here? Indicate 'yes' with one flicker, 'no' with two."

The black holo-cat blinked out and came back, once. So, yes.

"Okay," Scott replied. "And you know that I'm here to help?"

Another one-blink flicker. So far, so good.

"But, you have only a couple of pre-recorded messages?" Scott hazarded, working things out. Once again, he got a single-blink yes.

"You're trying to warn me about something?"

Yes.

On a sudden hunch, he asked,

"Havok and Fuse are back in action? Threatening the others?"

This time, there was a brief pause, as though neither yes or no was quite the right answer. Then,

Yes.

The assent-flicker was followed by a projected image of Fuse, wide awake and clearly pissed-off. The huge, armoured youth stood facing down Rigby, while Dr. Reeves moved to cover Havok, who seemed to be frozen, still. Scott nodded.

"Right. Thanks. I'll be very careful, and take the back way in. Can you show me a route that'll get me to Rigby and the Doctor, without alerting anyone else?" Because the Yamato tower bristled with cameras, and the demonstration chamber was lined with floating view screens.

A holographic map formed in the still air before Scott, showing his present location, and the few floors between himself and all of that 'misfortune'. There was a route marked out in red, which he guessed would avoid the space port's omnipresent security cams. Scott memorized it. Then, glancing across the stairwell at his friendly neighborhood guard-cat, he said,

"Any distractions you can provide would be really welcome, Yamato. Better keep the Defense Force at bay, too. Until I get Havok and Fuse back under control, the fewer potential victims, the better."

The black holo-cat flickered once more, and then vanished, leaving Scott Tracy to resume his trek, this time following a memorized, back-access route.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Down below, in the big, circular demo chamber-

Their situation wasn't just bad. It had plunged straight through to red-hot critical, and Rigby wasn't sure what to do. All around him, floating holo-screens showed images from inside the tower, and out in the city. He never noticed when those scenes shifted into a constant, five-minute loop. Too busy.

The Survivor was out of the fight, reduced to no more than an olive-drab wrist tattoo. Captain Rigby was still suffering the disorientation of being brought back to life, meanwhile. He was wobbly, yet; as though his brain had to re-learn its new body, every single darn time. Doctor Reeves was in better shape, but just a regular, skinny, smart guy. The one you wanted behind the meat-wall, not out in front, catching flak.

Fuse could've finished them off with a punch and a half, maybe, but he was too worried for Havok to just start swinging.

"Wot's wrong wiv 'er?!" he bellowed, starting forward; fists clenched and chest heaving.

Tycho blinked and took a step backward, but stayed between the behemoth and his stasis-locked sister.

"Nothing," he insisted. "It's just a medical stasis-patch, meant to arrest the progress of injury, death or disease."

In retrospect, perhaps "arrest" was the wrong choice of words. Fuse's dark eyes narrowed. There was something very different about him. As if being reconstructed had undone some kind of damage.

"Get out o' my way, Pretty, or I'll break you in 'alf," he snarled, inching forward. Rigby was moving, too, circling Fuse for a better angle; one that risked less harm to Reeves's device. The Channeler lifted one metal-clad foot, slightly.

"I c'n bring this 'ole buildin' down on top of us," he threatened. "Me an' 'Avok 'll walk away. You two 'll trickle out from the rubble, like used-ta-be-hero strawberry jam."

But he didn't stomp that foot. Didn't summon the power that damaged his brain like electrical bullets and psionic booze.

"You're not just walking away from this," Rigby snapped in response. "You've killed thousands of people, Fuse. You and your sister are known associates of the Hood. You're going to face justice, once and for all."

The big-muscled youth shrugged, setting his purple armour to rattling.

"'Ard way it is, then," he grunted, pivoting suddenly to lunge at that slow-stalking blond Marine. "I'll find out 'ow many times you c'n be brung back, before ya stays dead, Boy Scout."

In the swift meantime, Tycho had ripped a fire extinguisher off of his newly repaired apparatus. Now he unlocked, aimed and fired the thing. A long stream of ultra-cold, expanding white foam shot forth, striking Fuse right on the side of his grimacing face. Half blinded, the young giant howled a string of blistering curses, and clawed at his eyes. Reeves fired again, this time aiming the foam-stream down at his booted feet. Fuse staggered and slipped on the stuff, flailing wildly. He fell to the tiled floor an instant later, crashing down with a noise like a dump-truck unloading.

Rigby leapt away, as Tycho's control of that hissing extinguisher jet was pretty shaky. Quick thinking, though, for a civilian. Lunging halfway across the room, Wayne slapped the blinking red "summon security" wall button.

The tower's public-safety bots reacted at once, rolling up into balls to race for the demonstration chamber. Then, the entire room filled with holographic cats, each of them verbally anxious to lead a guest safely away. It was impossible to see clearly through that glowing fog of light-sculpted felines.

For several long minutes, Rigby, Reeves and Fuse could only guess at each other's location by listening for curses, grunts and jetting foam. Not easy to hear, through that chorus of chiming guide-cats and suddenly blasting music.

Fuse… did the smart thing. Heart pounding, feeling more like himself that he had since they'd got those bloody implants, the Channeler fell silent, turning inward and scanning the room for his frozen sister. Found her, stayed low, and made his scrabbling way over. The giant's eyes stung, half-closed by chemical foam, but his implants showed him a sort of fuzzy, sound-echo picture of what lay around him. Heartbeat and a half, maybe, before Fuse reached Havok. Like a statue she was, hard and cold to the touch. Fuse clamped a big, armoured hand over her mouth, then tore off that stasis patch (which were right on her face).

Scott Tracy raced into the big, chaotic room from a maintenance access door, seconds later; just in time for Havok's first bomb.