Late, again. :') Sorry... Life, you know? As always, many thanks to Creative Girl, Bow Echo, Tikatu, Whirl Girl, Guest and Akimakel, and to you, for reading. Hugs!

Edited. Please forgive the sloppy, earlier version. Never good to post in a hurry...

8

Space, between Earth and Mars, inside the Chaos Cruiser-

Balked in his scheme, the Hood had become a raging terror; snarling threats and spittle-flung curses. Worse, Havok could feel a growing, headache-like pressure in her skull, as though the wild-eyed madman was trying to batter his way inside. She could feel her implants buzzing and crackling, trying to compensate, while her armour's protective forcefield sparked up.

Fuse lurched out of his seat. A problem, because her brother rarely thought through his actions, and was like as not to punch a hole in the hull, trying to swat the d*mn Hood.

"Imbecile!" hissed the old sod. "Moron! Are you completely incapable of comprehending the simplest instruction?!"

There were flashing lights in her vision, and a sharp, blazing pain in her head, like someone 'd set to work in there with acid and knives. A nosebleed sprang up, spraying droplets of red like a firehose. These didn't fall, but spread.

"Oy!" shouted Fuse, wind-milling his way across the cabin like a ruddy great zero-G bear. "Leave off!"

As it was only his second time in space, though, he wasn't much of a threat; swinging at the Hood with big, armoured fists, while the bald lunatic fended him off with that collared and whimpering time-bender.

Meanwhile, the Interceptor fleet had picked up the Cruiser's exhaust, and was closing in fast. Their sweeping target lock scans sliced past the Cruiser again and again, setting off contact alarms, every time.

"Cloaked vessel, you have entered a Global Defense Force no-fly zone. You are hereby ordered to reveal yourself, and reverse course. If this directive is not obeyed, by order of Mars Command, we will open fire. Acknowledge, cloaked vessel! You have entered…"

Up ahead, something truly gigantic… huge, dark and lifeless… tumbled slowly through space; packed with invisible death. Havok's brain felt ready to melt and run out through her ears. Couldn't bloody well see, much less fly their ship. Behind her, Fuse bellowed like a mired ox and swung hard for the Hood, who pushed his frail human shield up between them.

Her brother's metal-clad fist struck the child's face, splitting his lip, then shooting on past to bash the Hood. Havok was strapped down. The other three ricocheted wildly around the cabin as screaming alarms tore the air, and…

Everything stopped. A sudden flare of terror-fed power shot from that small, collared boy. And, all at once, everything around him froze; locked up in time. He could not know that his outburst had caught and paralyzed another Interceptor, or that the Chaos Cruiser was on a collision course with a giant, alien derelict. All he knew was pain and fear. All he could do was cry, and reach out for help.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Tracy Island, hangar 3-

Scott struggled to calm himself. To accept John's word that the 'catastrophic failure' alert from Thunderbird 5 had been only a false alarm.

"You… bumped something," he repeated carefully, while Penny and Kayo ran scan after scan of the station, and Lee got his gear together for a hurry-up rescue mission.

"Yeah," said his brother's glowing holo, with a slight, rueful smile. "I was in a hurry, and I accidentally triggered the code-red evac drill. Sorry. That one's a little too realistic, maybe."

Scott's gem-blue eyes narrowed. Captain Taylor was already halfway to the elevator pad with Kane, who had been summoning metal and drones from all over the hangar, building himself a powerful space shuttle. John looked alright, but…

"How would you like some of Grandma's cookies?" Scott asked him, craftily.

His brother's image blinked sea-green eyes. Then, seeming to look around himself,

"Is that a trick question, Scott? I mean, if she's there with you… sure I'd love some. If not, I'd rather have brain surgery with a pickax."

"I heard that!"

Caught, John winced.

"Sorry, Grandma. Hope there's fifty in the next care package."

Scott felt himself relax a little. Even chuckled, as some of the tension drained out of him, and Grandma stomped off to join Lee.

"Better stay upstairs for a while, Buddy," he joked, giving the all clear. "You've gone and upset the cook."

John cocked a red-golden eyebrow.

"What? No chocolate-char cookies or vegetable whip? My life has no meaning."

"Smart-ass. Did you accomplish what you needed to, up there?" Scott asked him, putting an arm around Lady Penelope. She'd closed her eyes and was rubbing her lovely face against his chest.

"Yeah. All sorted. Sending the elevator back down for my passengers."

For just a moment, Scott wanted to ask more questions… only, it wouldn't have done any good. When forced to explain himself, John would just shift into techno-speak so dense that even Brains had trouble keeping up.

Glancing over at Kayo, who was still at the scan station with their 'onsite liaison', Scott mouthed, "Everything okay?"

His sister nodded; eyes bright, cheeks flushed, lips sort of full-bitten red. Not a look he was accustomed to seeing from a girl who'd bench-pressed and head-locked more men than she'd kissed.

"He's fine, Scott," she said, very quietly, "and the station looks better than new. You know John. He probably ran a secret refit, or something, and forgot to turn off the alarms."

"Okay," said Scott, trying to simultaneously smile at his little sister, and transfix Rigby with icy daggers of 'touch her and die'.

Turning to regard the group at large, he said,

"Right. Let's do this. Kay, go topside with Captain Taylor, and get to the station. If our joyriders make it past the GDF and us, if they trigger that death ship, you guys 'll be Earth's first line of defense. Brains, Moffy, Grandma and Caleb will back you up, from here. Pen… you can do the most good from London. I mean, I wish I could keep you here with me, but…"

She smiled at him; golden blonde and porcelain-fair.

"I comprehend perfectly, Dearest," Penny whispered, tiptoeing up to kiss him. "And I will do my bit for the cause, by keeping the World Council out of your way."

Scott snuggled her close for a moment, kissing the top of her head. Just for the h*ll of it, he said,

"Find out from your dad when we can come in and see him, Penny. I'd, um… like to ask him a very important question."

Then, leaving her doe-eyed and startled, Scott turned to his brothers and said,

"Saddle up, you three. Find Machine-man, too, while you're at it. I mean to launch in the next five minutes."

Given their marching orders, everyone started to hustle, except for…

"You okay, Gordon?"

The aquanaut was just sort of standing there, staring off into space. Scott reached over to grab his brother's muscular shoulder and give him a friendly shake. "Hey, Tadpole… snap out of it!"

"Huh?" the swimmer gave a sudden, shocked start, as though Scott had ejected him from some sort of unpleasant day-mare.

"We've got to get moving, Gordon. Shake it off, and let's go."

Gordon was the shortest of his brothers, and nearly the youngest, but he had muscles to rival Virge, and a scruffy-looking, reddish-blond beard just coming in. His wide hazel eyes looked… pained. Haunted, or something. Headache? Scott certainly understood those. Nothing that being up in the sky wouldn't fix. As if thinking the same thing, Gordon half-whispered,

"Right. Sorry, Scott. I'm… it's fine."

The pilot gave him a hearty, encouraging backslap, then followed his brother across the noisy hangar to Thunderbird 3's boarding gantry.

"That's what I like to hear," he said, unconsciously echoing dad.

Shortly afterward, Alan and Scott strapped into their seats, and triggered the space ship's launch sequence. Over their heads, the silo's wide metal hatch spiraled open, letting in dayshine and mist. Alarms and warning lights blared. Maintenance bots scuttled into their bolt holes. Then, 3's engines howled to life, as she roared from her launch pad and out through the ring house; vaulting to space on a wild-orange column of flame.