Disclaimer: I do not own the Thunderbirds, the Tracys, any of it. I only own the story line.

Apologies for it being so long between updates! Anyway chapter Five!

By now it had been two and a half days after Virgil had gone missing. Gordon was still battling to stay alive. He laid sickly and green in his bed. The only indication of life were the occasional moans of pain that coursed through his body. He had an IV tube running from his left arm and an oxygen mask on his face. Scott had managed to remove most of the toxins from his body but in doing so he had to draw a lot of Gordon's blood. When the healthier blood started running through his body his cells would kill what was left over from the poison gas. It was risky, but without Brains, or Virgil, to do the procedure manually, it was the only option.

Alan had stayed with Gordon most of the last two days, only leaving to get lunch. Being the closest to Gordon both by age and brotherly bond, Alan hurt watching his brother suffer and he felt like he needed constant reassurance that Gordon was ok. The two young brothers shared a special bond. Alan, being Gordon's only younger, impressionable brother was Gordon only go-to prankster buddy. They played pranks that drove their brothers, their parents and everyone else in proximity nuts, but eventually all was forgiven. Like it always was.

The youngest Tracy sat recalling the last prank they had pulled together. It was before their father went missing because after that everyone had to change and commit to IR a lot earlier than expected. Gordon had had the idea to fill the pool with soap. Scott and Virgil were in the pool doing laps when Gordon came running out with the hose line that was attached to the cleaning module for the ships. "Alan, NOW!," he cried as Alan flipped the switch to unleash chaos. The most vivid part of the memory was Virgil crying out two days later that he "still smelled like lavender!"

Alan was brought back into the moment at the pronounced memory of his missing brother. Yesterday John had come back to say that Virgil's ship was hit with an EMP, causing his ship to crash, and the power in the town below to go out as well. That was the last thing that the black box had recorded. Not much help. After sitting and thinking for a few more minutes about different ways to help find Virgil, Alan got up and made his way to the kitchen to see an awaiting Scott.

"Hey".

"Hey, Al, how's Gordon?"

"Same old." Alan sounded defeated. He hadn't really recovered from finding out that his dad had gone missing just over four months ago, and now to find out his middle brother is missing and his directly other brother was sick. Was a lot to take in. "What happened to your hand?" When Alan had come in he had noticed Scott's right hand was wrapped in a tenser, cupped around his cup of coffee.

"I practiced a little hard with the punching bag." Alan could see right through that lame ass excuse. When Scott got frustrated sometimes he goes into overdrive. Working out 8 hours a day, going on as many missions as he can, doing anything to get his mind off of what was happening. Alan knew that the wrapped hand was a sign that Scott had either broken the punching bag, or in a moment of rage took his emotions about everything that was going on, out on the wall.

The brothers didn't know what to do. The GDF had taken over most of the rescue calls so the Tracy's could focus on helping their family. Grandma Tracy had spent most of the last few days in her room, unable to cope with two of her boys either missing or being a casualty. Lady Penelope and Parker had been made aware of the situation, and were doing what they could to help but so far nothing had come up. The brothers were running out of options. With no leads and even no idea as to either Virgil left the ship willingly or by someone else, not even a trace as to where he might be, the boys were becoming defeated. They were losing hope in finding Virgil. Even if they didn't want to admit it. There were no leads. None. All the technology in the world at their fingertips, and they couldn't find their brother.

"So," Virgil trailed off, "what exactly is it that you are going to do that I won't like?" Virgil groaned, "who knows I might come to like it." His sarcasm was clear, but not threatening when said it with his weak, tired and broken voice.

"You see these tools here Mr. Tracy" the unnamed man said directing his attention to a small paring knife. "You should be familiar with then after all, they are medical tools. Although being used as operation tools is not their only function." The man grabbed the knife and headed towards Virgil, dragging his left thumb against the sharpened edge of the blade. "They also work very well for cutting food, once sterilized of course, or" the man took the knife and pressed it against Virgil's left cheek. No fear crossed the middle child's eyes. The man gently pushed down on the blade, slowly cutting a small line into Virgil's face.

"Ah," Virgil slightly grimaced, it was like a paper cut, small, but it stung like crazy. "So…" He started, "if you are going to torture me, what haven't you started yet? And what could I possibly have that you want anyway?"

"Those are both very good questions. I am actually not to harm you, too much that is, for I need something from you. That something would be your medical expertise." The man's thick British accent rumbled through the empty room.

"And why do you think I would help a rat faced weasel like you?" Virgil shot back, the line on his face slowly dripping blood.

"Because," the man leaned in and grabbed near the cut on Virgil's face, "if you don't," the man began to squeeze his face, making the blood come out a little faster, "I'll just simply kill you." Than man forcefully dropped Virgil's head onto the table. "Or take the life of one of your brothers. Think of it as… motivation." Virgil's eyes had gone from fierce to slightly fearful. If it was just his life on the line it wouldn't matter, but the fact that this unknown madman was going to bring his brothers into this hit Virgil.

"What exactly is it that you want me to do, if I agreed to help?" Virgil tried to be strong, but with his injuries, it was hard.

"See turns out your little adventure of destroying The Hood's ship and getting him arrested caused him to have some resentment against you and your team." The man begun as he walked away from Virgil, twiddling the blade in his hands. "After I heard of this news of him being arrested, I had broken The Hood out of prison and left one of my men in his place, with the face replicator of course, that way no one would look for him. When I brought him back here, we started to devise plans to take down each Tracy, one by one. I guess you wouldn't know that Gordon is probably fighting for his life due to some radiation exposure on his most recent mission…"

"What?" Now Virgil was scared and tried hard not to show it. Although, to no avail, his anger started to build as he struggled against the restraints. "You dick!"

"Now, now Mr. Tracy, you will be happy to hear that in setting his trap, The Hood got exposed to the radiation himself and is now fighting for his life as well. I assessed his injuries and sadly, I found that his condition is to sever for my limited medical knowledge to fix. That Mr. Tracy is where you come in. After The Hood realized early on that he had been exposed, he contacted me to find you, luckily for me you were out on a little joy ride. A little directed EMP pulse at your ship and, well here we are. It is your advanced knowledge of the medical field that makes you the only one able to patch him up, make him whole again, without giving ourselves up of course."

"So what do you want me to do about it? I'm not about to help the man that tried to make my families life horrible, threatening them, putting others at risk. That, and I am not really in the current physical capability to help him."

"Well Mr. Tracy, like I said, you help us, your family with go unharmed. You don't, and you will watch every one of your beloved siblings and family members suffer, then your miserable little life will end, slowly."

Virgil only glared at the man in the shadows. He hated the spot he was in; help his enemy, or watch his family get hurt. His family would understand wouldn't they? He would help the Hood, help him for them. Although, if he did help him, then the brothers would have a big problem on their hands. Could he even trust this man? "If I were to help him, what would happen to me after?"

Silence.

"Well I guess as a deal would have it, you would go free and we would relocate of course. Secrecy and all that. That and you would know how to cure your brother, given if he lives that long."

Virgil pondered. Could he help the man that made the Tracy's work so much harder to keep the world safe against? Could he balance his brothers life like that? It wasn't a decision to be made lightly.

"What will your choice be Mr. Tracy?"

Silence once more struck the walls of the hollow room. Help his enemy, or put his family in danger, then die himself? "I'll do it." Virgil replied gritting his teeth, every fiber of his being angry, sore and defeated. He knew in his heart that it was the right choice, he only hoped that his brothers would find him before he could fully cure The Hood.

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