Author's note: Thank you for the support you're already showing me so early in my story! To answer a guest's question, I'm unsure of the number of chapters at this point, but I'm assuming around 10 chapters or so, depending on how the story develops.

The pleasant hum of the sleek Gulfstream failed to lull Caroline to sleep despite the majority of her team wisely taking advantage of the extensive flight to rest before having to face the aftermath of the attack at the Augustine lab. Vector series submachine guns. CornerShot anti-counterattack rifles. SIG P226 service pistols. Tactical and incendiary grenades. She tiredly rubbed her temples as she kept repeating the entire arsenal she and her team had pulled from their hidden weapons cache in a tiny fishing village along the Cape South coast. They prudently had hidden arsenals throughout the world, but South Africa's hideout had been the closest to the remote archipelago where Stefan's lab was located.

Which was still another 1700 miles. Her baby brother was still far beyond her reach and she had never felt so powerless in her life. Not even when her mother's death turned her world upside down at 18. Faced with raising her younger brothers, Stefan and Damon, she tossed out her carefully constructed plans for the future and immediately embraced a new way of life to ensure she could hold together her family.

She signed up for the National Guard so that she could draw a steady (if somewhat meager) paycheck that kept them afloat and allowed her to still be around to take care of her brothers. She knew her brothers were depending on her, and that motivated her to push harder than she thought possible so that she excelled at combat training and was recruited for HALO (free fall) training and then sniper school which opened up further career advancement for her. Once her brothers graduated high school, she was able to head the Hunters elite unit.

Caroline reclined in the soft gray leather seat, wishing she could go back and advise her younger self on how to better handle juggling the roles of sister and pseudo-mother with that of combat trainee. She'd made so many mistakes during the early years while raising her brothers, deciding to apply the discipline she learned in the military to running their household.

She allowed herself to be consumed by her training, mostly to avoid dealing with her own feelings of loss and anger, terrified that her brothers would realize she was just a scared kid too. While Stefan seemed to thrive under her iron-fisted method of ruling, Damon fought her every step of the way. At first, his bad behavior was limited to acting out at home or in class, but before long, he'd fallen in with a rough crowd and started shoplifting to score drugs.

Despite her best efforts, Damon drifted away from their family and she couldn't save him from himself. Even though her brother refused her help, she worked out a deal with one of his less-sleazy friends and paid his share of rent and utilities every month, forcing him to swear that he wouldn't let Damon know she was the reason he wasn't homeless.

And then Stefan called her a year ago. She'll never forget how broken he sounded when he told her that Damon had died of a drug overdose. She'd been on assignment in some remote, treacherous jungle taking on heavy guerilla fire with her team when it had happened; she hadn't been able to make it out in time for the funeral.

She had to get to Stefan. She refused to lose the only family she had left. One of her officers, Kol, interrupted her dark thoughts when he made his way out of a sleeper cabin to plop gracelessly on a bench seat across from her. His boyish face often bore an impish grin and he clearly wore his code name, mischief maker, as a badge of honor. "Commander," he addressed her with a small quaver in his voice, slinging one arm across his eyes as he grimaced.

Nodding at him, she said sympathetically, "The turbulence will pass soon. Bonnie has flown us through far worse conditions."

Groaning, he mumbled petulantly, "She flew us through a bloody hurricane last fall! And I don't care what she says — you know damn well she did it just to spite Enzo because he told her she couldn't."

"It was just the outer bands of the hurricane," she corrected him with a shrug, "It's not like anyone dared her to take us through the eye."

He snorted, "Only because you conveniently distracted Katherine with a weapons inventory. Loony bird never met a dare she wouldn't give. Or try. Remember that tomb in Indonesia?"

"It ended up being a close call," Caroline acknowledged, "but you have to admit that the way she managed to avoid that giant pit in the center of the cave tomb and still captured the target was impressive."

Shrugging, Kol answered, "Fine. But it still wasn't as impressive as when I plowed through the Ubud Monkey Forest just in time for her to stuff the deposed general in the back of the Jeep I sort of borrowed from the rebels." He squinted at her, his face suddenly serious as he changed the subject. "What are we walking into? Will we even get there in time?"

"That's not what you're really asking me," she murmured, staring out the window at the impossibly blue skies. It felt wrong that the world could hold so much beauty when her own world could possibly be ending.

"No?"

"No. You're asking if I think we're already too late," she said quietly, keeping her tone even despite the pain she felt every time she realized her brother could've been killed the moment his phone cut off. At Kol's silence, she continued, "I've been going over what I heard on the call and I honestly don't know. We can assume multiple hostiles hunting and attacking a small group of unarmed civilians in an underground facility full of narrow passageways with zero cover." Taking a breath, she added, "We should prepare for...causalities, Kol."

He sat up suddenly, his brown eyes hard. "Prepare? My whole childhood prepared me for casualties. Me and my siblings lived in constant terror in the house of that sadistic bastard who had the nerve to call himself our father. Nik got the worst of it, always purposely getting in the way of our father's fists to try to shield the rest of us." Mouth pulled into a grim smile, he told her, "Bloody IQ of 180. He even delayed going to college until he could get one of our aunts to take in our younger brother and sister just to make sure none of us were left behind with our father. My brother, the smartest bloody idiot in the world."

"Your brother was your protector," Caroline observed. "I was my brothers' protector. Or at least I was supposed to be," she amended. "Stefan was always easy; he was scary smart like your brother apparently, and he occupied himself with school. But Damon...Damon was another story altogether. Our dad ran out on us when I was 13 and then our mother died five years later. Shit, I was still a scared kid trying to take care of two more scared kids. Damon needed more attention than I could give him. He disappeared into drugs and all the trouble that goes with it. Died of an overdose."

Not wanting to acknowledge the small noise of commiseration Kol made because it would only make her break down, she instead focused on her anger. Fists clenched, she swore, "If Stefan dies, everyone who had a hand in it dies."

They both lapsed into an uneasy silence, each staring out the windows at the gray and white ribbons of clouds they passed. It reminded her of the thin layers of clouds that covered Mount Lykaion in Greece. She had convinced Stefan to go hiking there before she started HALO training. They'd both been fascinated by the region, the location of one of the earliest werewolf legends. King Lykaon had a score to settle with Zeus and tricked him into eating human flesh. Zeus retaliated by turning the king into a wolf, thus beginning the superstition of werewolves in the region.

When they'd neared the mountaintop, she'd taken in the breathtaking views of limestone and marble interspersed with the dark blue petals of the wild lupines and felt immeasurable joy at being able to enjoy such tranquil beauty with her brother. They were enchanted by the way the mist wound its way through the flowers, turning the mountain peak blue, and she even fashioned her phrase to keep focused on missions after that perfect moment: See the blue mist on the mountain peak.

The plane began its quiet descent, the change in altitude making their ears pop. It would be another 15 minutes before Katherine and Enzo needed to be woken up, so she resettled in her chair with a worried frown. Glancing over at Kol, who continued to blankly stare at the sky, she asked, "You and Klaus are still close?"

Turning from the window, Kol answered wryly, "As close as two brothers can be who have to lie about their occupations because of security clearance. Not that it matters much — the family hasn't all gotten together in years. We met up for a weekend two years ago after our team cleaned up that little skirmish in Argentina. We trade emails sometimes, but that's it." His voice more serious than she'd ever heard before, he told her, "I refuse to let that be the last time we see each other."

His voice suddenly tight, he abruptly left to go wake up Katherine and Enzo, but not before Caroline caught the gleam of moisture in his eyes. Resting her forehead against the cool glass of the window, she closed her eyes, hating that she couldn't shake the feeling that they were on a recovery mission, not a rescue.

Traipsing across the rocky landscape of one of the isolated islands of Tristan de Cunha, Caroline and her team moved silently, constantly surveying their environment for any sign of danger. The small ping of the satellite GPS tracker alerted them to the location of the underground research facility. Crouching down, Enzo brushed aside a thin layer of dirt, exposing a thick metal cover. Studying the material closely, he quietly asked Caroline, "Cutting torch or tactical explosives?"

Thinking carefully, she replied, "Plasma cutter to start. Only resort to explosives if it's absolutely necessary. No reason to announce our position just yet." While Enzo and Katherine began working on the hatch, the rest of the team backed away to set up a protective perimeter. Caroline watched the palm-dotted horizon, an albatross floating on the wind currents with a lazy caw. Standard lab protocol during an emergency would entail a quarantine lockdown, which meant the elevators would no longer be working to take them the two miles underground. With a sigh, she realized that they'd have to rappel most of the way.

Moving with the quiet precision and efficiency that was her team's trademark, the facility's outer level was breached and everyone used their emergency descent kits to slide down the open shaft. Other than the red emergency lights stationed at every 100 feet, they operated in the dark, not wanting to risk giving away their position with safety flares. The team worked almost silently, their immense training allowed them to move with an effortless fluidity as they secured anchor points at strategic areas along the concrete and steel beams.

Caroline let out a small sigh of relief as the rubber soles of her boots touched the concrete floor of the top level of the facility. Speaking quietly, she instructed her team, "There are five levels and 10 to 12 rooms per floor. We're splitting into two teams to do a thorough sweep of each floor. Priority one is securing civilians. Eliminate hostiles on sight." Everyone gave a brief nod and Katherine, Bonnie and Enzo disappeared down a steel staircase, leaving Caroline and Kol to explore the first level.

They carefully stepped around the jagged glass shards on the floor, the red glow from their shining surface twinkling sinisterly. Several metal work tables were overturned, splatters of blood smeared along the edges. Caroline set her jaw, her blue eyes cold and calculating as she observed the dented, twisted metal of what appeared to be a reinforced lab door barely hanging on its hinges. What the hell happened here? A loud thud echoed down a corridor, and both of them snapped to attention as they readied their firearms.

Moving swiftly down the dim hallway, they paused outside what appeared to be a small corner office, catching part of a loud argument. An accented voice growled, "...fucking idiot! This is all your bloody fault because you strutted about the goddamn lab like you were God! You only saw them as nothing but animals and now we're all paying the price!"

As she noticed the tense lines of Kol's shoulders relax, she realized that it must be his brother Klaus that was speaking. Her own relief was complete when she heard Stefan's familiar, cocky tone respond with, "You don't get to blame me when it was your completely irresponsible and misinformed hypothesis about their neural pathways that led to this fucking mess!"

Nodding at each other, Caroline and Kol forced the door open with well-placed kicks near the locking mechanism. Several flashlights shakily swept over them, allowing Caroline to register a small group of civilians huddled together on one side of the office while Stefan faced off with an attractive, curly-headed man who pulled back and neatly landed a powerful right jab.

As Stefan howled, cupping his right eye, Kol elbowed Caroline and murmured proudly, "I taught Klaus that, you know."

Klaus looked over his shoulder and yelled in surprise, "Kol! How the bloody hell did you get in here?" Not bothering to wait for an answer, he asked Caroline harshly, "And who the bloody hell are you?"

Leveling the barrel of her submachine gun at his chest, she told him with a wry smile, "I'm the commander of the special ops team here to rescue you. And that's my brother you just punched, you ungrateful asshat."