Hello! Here's the next chapter. As ever I would like to hank you for your reviews and follows. I would also like to point out I do not own thunderbirds I just enjoy it a lot!

13

John was angry - hell! That didn't even cover it! He was livid to be back on Earth. Scott promised! Tears of frustration leaked from his eyes against his will as he quickly reached for the remote so he could see the latest newsfeed. He leant forward in horror at the images of fires and hurt civilians in New York. More tears came when he realised that this was his fault, he had his chance and yet he hadn't been good enough to save them from this attack.

A knock. Gentle but audible on John's door. 'Go away!' John shouted vehemently, not even taking his eyes off the news. 'John? its Virgil.' John looked at the door. He hadn't seen his brother since he had been hurt. He had spent many a night on five wondering how he might talk to Virgil, if Virgil would start to remember things or if he would always remain a stranger. 'Do I still need to go away?' John realised he had taken far too long deliberating. 'Err…No' John replied before opening the door. Virgil stood patiently as John took in his brother's features. Same kindly eyes, cleanly shaven face but Virgil now had a long thin scar that ran the length of his forehead to the top of his ear on the left-hand side but he still looked handsome with it.

Virgil walked in and took a seat at John's desk. He glanced at the news channel as he did so before turning to face John. John sat on his bed in his shirt and boxer shorts, sitting cross legged to warm his feet. 'How are you feeling? You look upset.' Virgil was concerned; his brother looked so different from the handsome imposing figure in the portrait he was familiar with in the lounge. The haughty confidence and groomed appearance had been replaced by young man ridden with exhaustion and guilt. The perfect shock of blonde hair lay haphazardly strewn in his red blotchy eyes rather than smoothly flipped backwards, he also had a 5 O'clock shadow. 'I'm angry Virgil. Thanks to Scott I'm stuck here on earth unable to do anything – I could have stopped this!' He hit the bed with his fist in frustration. 'John this is not your fault' – 'it was Scott's muttered John'. Virgil didn't rise to the bait and remained calm as he continued 'Or Scott's; John if the CIA, MI5, GDF and a whole host of other global agencies couldn't work it out then you were hardly going to achieve it by yourself. It's a miracle that Penelope and Rosie were able to get to the London target in time.' John looked surprised 'They stopped an attack in London?'

'Yes because of you! Thanks to your perseverance Alan was able to tri-angulate the message just as you left in three. Rosie and Penelope already had a suspect and that trace was able to confirm it. It was supposedly the guy that tried to kill Scott before my accident.

'The marksman?'

'Yes'

John sat in silence for a moment.

Virgil walked across the room and sat next to John on the bed and waited quietly. John was still upset but Virgil had always had a way of putting things into perspective and a naturally calming influence. John was happy to see that this element of his brother's personality remained. It also made him curious, John was a scientist and they could never leave questions unanswered even if he was still simmering about his current situation. He turned to face Virgil. 'Do you mind if I ask, do you remember your accident?' Virgil frowned. 'The funny thing is I don't. I just remember waking up in a military base hospital wing, with a ginger haired guy – who later turned out to be my brother. Then I was transported here and have been trying to get my memories back ever since.' Virgil clasped his hands in his lap, his gaze cast downwards.

'So, you don't remember anything prior to the accident at all?' John looked aghast.

'No but I've had a couple of flashbacks here and there. Scott and I as children, Gordon playing a prank on me one birthday and so on but there only snippets in time and that's what's frustrating. I want to have those family relationships again and I want to be part of IR like I was'. Virgil pulled out a notebook from his pocket and passed it to John. It was an A5 leather bound black note book with curved edges. John slowly turned the pages to see several of his brother's illustrations. Each one was like a little screenshot of Virgil's life. There were at least twenty of these in total.

'This is pretty impressive Virgil, to remember all these in such a short time some patients take years just to grab one memory.' John closed the book gently and carefully handed it back to Virgil. 'Have you been to thunderbird 2 since it happened? They sometimes say revisiting the location where you lost your memory can trigger a response. 'You've been reading up on this haven't you?' Virgil looked at John knowingly. 'Ok, ok I may have read a few journals on it once I discovered what had happened. I wanted to see if I could help.'

'and satisfy your own curiosity' Virgil laughed.

'How do you know?'

'Just because I don't remember you doesn't mean I can't make accurate assumptions about your personality. Your eyes have been lighting up the more we talk about it and your trying to not get excited but you've started fidgeting. That and the fact that Scott says you're like a dog with a bone when it comes to new subject matter that interests you.'

Wow he really was astute if anything else! 'Ok Sherlock you got me! You know who Sherlock is right?

'Famous fictional detective, I remember things just not direct memories of my personal life. I can still draw, fix things and it turns out I can play the piano pretty well.' Virgil laughed again at his brother's surprised face it was refreshing to have someone that was not treading on eggshells around him. Initially he would have hated to have to talk this frankly but it had been weeks now and everyone else was still trying to molly coddle and protect him.

'Right. It's been nice to meet you brother but I think that you need a shower and then probably some food?' Virgil straightened up. John sniffed himself in repulsion. He had not been keeping clean of late and he almost actually had a beard! 'Point taken and yes please to the food.'

'Meet you in the kitchen?' John wasn't sure he wanted to bump into the rest of the family yet but he was hungry so he nodded.

'ok, oh! and Virgil?' Virgil turned at the door.

'Thank you, I feel a bit better'.

'You're welcome.'

Jeff was in his office. Sat across the desk was his finest agent (Both in terms of skill and appearance) and a young woman he had never met before. She was petite and dressed conservatively, her arm was in a blue sling and she had handprints imprinted into her neck from her last altercation. This was the girl who had saved his son and had now helped prevent a terrorist attack. Jeff could see why Scott had been so taken with her, he would never admit it to his father but she was just his type and Jeff knew it.

'Thank you for coming Penny'.

'You're welcome Jeff, it's lovely to visit as ever.'

'Rose thank you for coming also, I know it's a long journey when you are not feeling yourself'. Rose nodded respectfully; she had to use her voice sparingly as it was no more than a harsh whisper after getting strangled.

'I invited you both here today not only to thank you for your services directly but to offer you a proposal. Now; Penny has been feeding back to me at regular intervals about your performance Rose and I have to say that you have some skills that we could utilise.' He paused and surveyed Rose who looked surprised and then it dawned on her. 'Allow me to answer your question. Yes, I am Jeff Tracy and I operate international rescue, you met one of my operatives at the London rescue? That was Scott one of my sons and I owe you a great debt for saving his life. I also owe you for helping capture the man who tried to kill him and stopping a terrorist plot. With all of this in mind I would like to offer you a place on our team as a secondary London agent to specifically deal with potential threats to international rescue and crime investigation in relation to IR business. Penelope will be your handler and trainer, should you choose to accept.'

She tried to respond but found she couldn't, so she swallowed painfully and brought out her notebook where she hastily scribbled a message and handed it over the desk.

Thank you! What a fantastic opportunity! I am honoured and want to commit to this fully so would you be so kind as to allow me 24 hours to respond? I need to think about logistics and how it would affect my family but I would love to work for such a worthy organisation. I also need to consider how I will feel getting back into the field after my recent injuries.

'That's not a problem, take all the time you need. I trust that you will stay here for a while whilst you make your decision, your welcome to stay and after the last couple of days he has had, I am sure Scott would be pleased to see you. I was hoping that you may like to rest and recover here. You will be quite safe'. She smiled and mouthed thank you. Penelope smiled at her; it was going to be fun to have another agent on board.

Scott, Gordon and Tin-Tin had finally returned to the island dirty and emotionally drained. Gordon had headed to the medical bay to be treated for whiplash again and Scott had headed straight for the shower. He noticed that their portraits had been flipped to the non-uniformed portraits so they must have a visitor. He quickly slipped through to his room.

With the silo clear Virgil had finally braved heading down to see thunderbird two. He was intrigued by John's idea so once he had made him a sandwich and got him settled, he had headed straight down here with his note book and pencil. He was hopeful it might work but also terrified he wouldn't remember anything. As the elevator door opened his mouth dropped in wonder. The sheer size of the thing was hard to believe when you were stood underneath it. It was a dark green with bright yellow stripes in places, underneath was a conveyor belt with a selection of differently numbered cabins that seemed to be interchangeable with the main body. He really must have been a great pilot to operate such a thing! He walked across the cavernous room, his footsteps echoing as he did so. Just to the left-hand side of the craft was a set of steps. Virgil jumped on and used the controls to steer it over to the visible hatch underneath the craft. After a few minutes of pushing the hatch and running his hands over it he detected a hand scanner. He tentatively pushed his palm and fingers on the scanner to be read and was surprised when the door pulled back with a whoosh. He stepped into the unknown.

Virgil appeared to be in the cockpit. There were two sets of double chairs immediately in front of him and in front of them was a co-pilot and pilot seat. Virgil started forwards slowly admiring the controls and running his hand slowly along the dash. There were soot marks here and there on the floor as well as the seats and a distinct smell of smoke tinged the air in the cockpit. The hairs on Virgil's neck began to stand up as if a breeze had passed him. As he drew closer to the pilot's seat he began to sweat, he though he better sit down. As he eased himself into the chair he realised the seat was a little more forward than he would like so he subconsciously operated the lever to push it back. How did he know to do that? He took a deep breath as he looked down and the controls and tried to imagine what it would be like to pilot this thing. His hands automatically rested on the wheel and that's when it hit him.

They were losing altitude fast. 'Mayday, Mayday! Scott we're going down'. Smoke caught at the back of his throat, he could taste ash as it choked him. He was sweating rivulets and trying not to panic but adrenaline was coursing and his heart felt frozen. This was bad and he knew it. He looked across at Gordon who glanced back just as panicked fighting the controls. Lights were flickering across the dash and several alarms were resounding in his ears. The vibrations from the controls were shaking him apart and he was straining against them to try and get her nose up. Then there was a deafening roar and a violent tug as an explosion rocketed through the ship, then it was black.

Virgil slumped back in the pilot's seat shocked at what he had seen, what he had remembered. He couldn't believe that that had been him but it was so real! He could still smell it, taste it. He still felt the gut wrenching fear when he realised they were going to crash. He felt sick and wanted to get out of the cockpit. He stumbled and leant against the seat as he got out of it. His head hurt terribly like he had been hit all over again. He shook it as if to try and shake the pain away but he still felt it. It felt like his mind had been muffled or dampened. He couldn't see clearly. He sat against the side of the chair and quickly brought out his book so he could write down what he had remembered. It was still clear as day replaying over and over in his head but a part of him panicked he would lose it again. After fifth teen minutes Virgil's heart rate and head pounding had slowed and he began to relax by taking deep breaths. Tears started to roll down his face, he remembered!