Disclaimer: We still don't own them. Just borrowing them a while.

A/N: Word of warning, there is some cussing/swearing in this update. Sam1

Chapter 13

Dark, cold shadows draped and slithered all around the chestnut haired man, desperate to keep him. Unconscious, he was defenseless and vulnerable to their slow approach. The only emotion felt was akin to excitement which doubled when another presence was felt. One that they knew well and had been deprived of more than once.

Pushing past his fear, he stumbled over uneven ground, searching. Searching for someone dear to him. Someone he'd done his best to protect over the years. Fear be damned, he was not going to let his brother be taken by the shadows. Even if it meant sacrificing himself. "Virgil, where are you?" Silence met his cries. "You'd better answer me or I'm helping Gordon prank you." He tripped over a vine, falling into a small clearing. A bright blast of light dropped him to his knees. His hands tried desperately to shield his eyes that had slammed shut. Pain ripped through his body, forcing him to curl in on himself. "Not real. Not my pain." Darkness descended on the clearing but not before he got a glimpse of the shadows surrounding not only the still form that appeared before him but all around him. "VIRGIL!" Clawing at the ground, he dragged himself to his brother.

"VIRGIL!" Bolting awake, his gaze darted wildly around him as he fought against the restraints holding him down. "LET ME GO! I'VE GOT TO GET HIM!" He raised his head, muscles in his neck cording as he screamed and fought to get free. "DAMN IT, LET ME GO!" Alarms started blaring as his heart rate and respirations increased.

Startled, Brains looked up at the set of monitors in his small lab just outside the infirmary. Each of them blared as he glanced over at the monitor that showed John struggling on his bed. His yells muted on the monitor yet clearly displaying his agitation and…fear? Not for himself but Virgil? Perplexed and more than a bit worried that his friend would hurt himself, Brains ran out of his lab. Hurrying through the storage room that connected the infirmary and small lab, he stopped long enough to grab a syringe and a mild sedative. "W-why do they al-always do this? Hor-horri-bad patients."

Distracted from his futile attempts to break free of the restraints, John stared at Brains as he rushed into the room. "Brains, let me go. I have to get to him. Save him. I can't let them get Virgil. I have to get him first." His thrashings continued a moment later when he saw the loaded syringe in the genius' hand. "NO, no…please, don't …no more. I can't help Virgil if you…put me to sleep."

"V-Virgil is on a re-res-rescue, John. They got c-called out while you were sl-sle-resting."

"No, he's hurt…I saw him…he was lying on the…he was lying on the ground." Jerking his arms again, he clenched his hands. Never noticing the blood running down his hand and onto the bed and floor. "He…I got to save him…the shadows. The shadows were there…can't let him be taken. I can't lose my brother." Oblivious to the tears trailing down his face unchecked, he pleaded with Brains.

Focused on the rescue, Jeff had his hands full listening to his sons over their mics. It took him several long moments to recognize the alarms sounding from the infirmary. Donning a headset that would allow him to remain in constant contact with his sons at the rescue site, he ran for the infirmary. He slid into the infirmary, worry etched on his face.

John heard the doors hiss open and turned his head to see his dad. "Dad…make him let me go. I have to…I have to get him before…before it's too late. Don't let them take him…please, I can't…I can't lose anyone else…not another person I love."

"Take who? Who is going to take someone?" Confused, Jeff looked at Brains. He noticed the syringe in his friend's hand and shook his head slightly.

"The shadows…they're going to…take Virgil. I saw them…he's hurt and they're going to take him. Take him from us…from me."

Realization dawned on the Tracy patriarch and he calmly brushed his son's hair back. "Virgil is fine, John. He's out on a rescue with your brothers." Pulling up a monitor, he was able to connect the various mics in use as well as Mobile Control so that John could hear for himself that Virgil was okay.

"John, listen. He's fine and…" Virgil's voice came over the mic and they could hear sounds from the rescue.

"Alright, Four, let's move it." A door clanged open, hitting a wall and sounds of people running. Then a deafening explosion rent the air. Several long moments later, Alan could be heard. "VIRGIL?" His voice tinged with panic. "LET GO! VIRGIL!"

Sudden silence came crashing down on the two Tracys on Tracy Island before John screamed. "VIRGIL!" Fighting one last time against the restraints, his eyes suddenly rolled back in his head and he flopped to the bed unconscious.

Tapping the side of the earpiece he wore, Jeff snapped, "Base to Mobile Control, what the hell is going on out there?"

"Not a good time, Base. Will get back with you when I can, Mobile Control out," Scott said, tersely. His attention was focused on the rescue and getting his younger brothers home safely.
Fighting against the arms holding him back, Alan screamed again for his brother. "VIRGIL!" Gordon suddenly appeared in front of him, giving him a brief shake. "Gordy, we have to go back. We can't leave him."

"We're not leaving him but rushing back in there half-cocked will get you hurt or killed. I need you to focus and stay with me. We're going back to get him but it's going to be hot and visibility is going to be limited."

Scott appeared beside them, handing over a collapsible stretcher. Signaling to his brothers to switch to private mics, he quietly gave them their orders. "Go get our brother. And be careful. I've got the victims and will get them to the triage area." The youngest Tracy brothers nodded and slipped off into the smoky haze that billowed around. The flames from the fires hissed angrily as firefighters pumped water around them.

"Look sharp, Al, he could be anywhere in…oomph." A slight thud followed by a curse, "Damn, that friggin hurt."

"Gords, are you okay?" Alan struggled to keep his fear for Virgil under wraps.

"Yeah, I tripped over…VIRGIL! Virg, can you hear me?" His questions were met with total silence. A gloved hand brushed over his protective suit. "Al, we're going to have to get him loaded up and out of here before we can check him over. He's already been down for about fifteen minutes." A semi-hysterical laugh bubbled up and out before he could control it. "The blast threw him off our path and this stupid, damn smoke hid him from us." Alan remained unusually quiet, listening to his next oldest brother's rant. He knew that it was only from nerves that he was rambling like this. "I've got the stretcher opened, help me get him loaded and secured." The two brothers worked together like the seasoned professionals they were. "Geez, Virgil, you need to lay off the desserts every once in a while. You're getting a bit heavy for us to be carrying you around when you go falling all over the place. Can't take you anywhere, can we?"

"Gordon, will you please focus on getting outta there?" Scott's authoritative voice cut through Gordon's idle chatter.

"Lay off, Scott. You know how he is when he's worried," Alan snapped. Worry and fear gave him more of an incentive to speak his mind and stand up for his closest brother. He and Gordon finished securing Virgil to the backboard and each grabbed an end. Working in tandem, they lifted their fallen brother and quickly yet cautiously walked out of the smoky area. Rescue workers and victims alike anxiously watched from the triage area for them to appear. A collective sigh could be heard as their figures were briefly seen before fading back into murkiness.

"Almost there, Al." Panting slightly, Gordon stared hard through the protective visor when something in his peripheral vision caught his attention. "Alan, we've got to run and I mean…MOVE YOUR ASS!" A hotspot had been hidden between the building and a small tank of some sort. Tendrils of flames lapped at the white coated tank, leaving black marks all over it. The sides of it heaved until another smaller yet no less destructive explosion pushed the three brothers up and away. Away from each other. Cries of horror sounded from those watching. But it was the oldest Tracy brother who watched in total terror as the bodies of his little brothers flew up in the air and then flop to the ground in three distinct heaps. Long moments stretched before anyone reacted only to stop again as two of the figures scrambled to their feet. In an almost panic, they glanced about for their fallen comrade. Several small fires enveloped the backboard that Virgil had been fastened on. Grabbing the small canisters of flame retardant from the utility belts they wore, Gordon and Alan quickly put out the fires. They carefully rolled the backboard over and breathed a sigh of relief to see Virgil still firmly secured. Picking up their precious cargo, they hightailed it out of the danger zone.

Scott met them as they fully emerged from the thick smoke. He looked them over as they all ran towards Thunderbird Two where a team of paramedics had run as soon as they saw Gordon and Alan emerge from the smoke. Gordon and Alan carefully set their back-boarded brother onto the gurney that the paramedics had had the foresight to bring with them. In shocked disbelief, they stared down at Virgil before the paramedics started snapping orders. "Get him to the ambulance now." One paramedic ran alongside the gurney, strapping Virgil to it. Another paramedic called into the hospital so that a team of doctors and nurses would be ready. "We're taking him to Sunnybrook Hospital. A top rated burn unit is located at that facility." Looking over at the three members of International Rescue, he asked, "Which one of you is riding with him?"

"Scott, you go. Alan can fly One and I can handle Two." With a quick nod, Scott ran towards the ambulance that Virgil had been loaded into.

Gordon quickly loaded and secured Firefly in Two while Alan broke down and loaded Mobile Control in the hold of Thunderbird One.

"Thunderbird One to Base, One and Two are leaving the rescue site. Virgil is enroute to a local hospital with a burn unit. Scott is with him," Alan said over the comm once they were heading home. Unable to talk, he cut communications and focused on flying. Not on the image in his head of the blood trailing down Virgil's face. Or the burns that showed through where his protective suit had been ripped and shredded from the two explosions. No, he couldn't think of that. He had to think of flying Thunderbird One and not the possibility that he could lose a brother.

Alone in Thunderbird Two, Gordon fought back the tears that threatened to fall as he flew his brother's 'bird home.