'Scott?'

'Yeah, John?'

'We may have a situation.'

'May?'

'Um, no, no, we do have a situation.'

'I can't exactly help from here.'

"Here" was the other side of the moon. Scott sighed and pinched his nose. What on earth was going on…on Earth? Even John seemed distracted in telling him. He sat up straight.

'Report Thunderbird Five.'

'It looks like Gordon and Virgil have been arrested.'

'Arrested?!'

'Bar fight.'

'On second thought, I don't think I want to know. Can you get Kayo or Penny onto it? We won't be free for quite a while yet.'

Scott looked over to where Alan was using his tin can opener to cut some debris free from the freighter they were helping. It was going to be a slow steady job so that there was minimal damage to the hull.

'Sure, I can do that.'

'And John?'

'Yes, Scott?'

'Find out what it was all about please.'

'Of course.'

Scott went back to carefully holding the bits so that Alan could get a clean cut in, but his mind was on his two earth-bound brothers and the roiling in his gut. This was bad.

Kayo was more than happy to go bail out the FishTank. It wasn't the first time and it sure wouldn't be the last time either, and she hummed a happy tune as she landed Shadow beside her sister and made her way into town.

She had to pass the bar first, and she popped her head around the door that was halfway off its hinges to see the damage. There was a lot of damage. Broken tables and chairs littered the floor alongside glass of all different hues. Many floor tiles were broken and Kayo couldn't help but feel sorry for the couple attempting to make some headway in clearing up the mess.

One of them called to her as she was about to retreat, so Kayo waited until they came over. Her hand was grasped in both of theirs and her arm pumped vigorously, chattering away to her in a language she couldn't understand.

The person must have seen the confusion on her face for they switched from what she realised must have been Nahuatl to Spanish and she smiled broadly as she began to understand what was being said.

International Rescue was being hailed as heroes, they were so grateful that the heroes came and visited their bar and were only sorry that the local idiot – or bully – had picked a fight with them. Some of the locals were not happy at being told to leave and it seemed that they used the excuse to start a fight.

Kayo, in turn, apologised and offered to help with repairing the cantina but the couple wouldn't hear of it. They gave her three of the Tamarind sodas Virgil had been drinking and pointed the way to the delegaciones and Kayo left with a promise to come back another time.

The walk to the delegaciones wasn't too far, but as an ambulance whizzed past her with sirens blaring she sped up her pace to a run.

She had a bad feeling about this.

Sure enough, she skidded to a halt just as a stretcher came out bearing a very put-out Virgil. He was cuffed to its side, and when he spied Kayo he blushed bright red. In any other circumstance it would have been picture-worthy.

They wouldn't let her into the bus, and Gordon was nowhere to be seen, but he could be heard and she made her way into the station, filling John in on what she knew as she waited at the desk to be seen.

The official behind the desk had taken one look at her face and then her uniform, asked her to sign a release form and all but threw Gordon at her. Surprise mingled with relief as the Squid lived up to his name and hugged her tightly but briefly.

He took over informing John what was going on while Kayo snagged a taxi and she listened in as they headed to the hospital.

Virgil had been stabbed in the side. Not badly, but he would need a few stitches. The man they believed guilty had been set upon by almost every person that had been arrested with them – which was pretty much the entire cantina bar about three people – and this was the noise she'd heard on entering the station, Gordon calling for calm.

The police had needed to put the four men into a separate cell, and a doctor was looking them over when Kayo had arrived and Gordon had been ushered out.

John divided his time between them, watching Virgil and running Scott and Alan's rescue, and Kayo once again marvelled at his ability to multitask. They were amused at his report of Virgil's grumbling that 'nothing's wrong – it's just a little stab wound', a phrase better suited to their oldest brother than the medic, but it turned out Virgil was right, of course.

The stab wound was quite shallow but it was jagged, one of the reasons that it had bled badly at first. Sixteen stitches and some moderate pain relief later Virgil was released. He'd be sore for a couple of weeks and would find twisting difficult, but it would heal nicely if he rested it.

Gordon tried really hard not to laugh at his wingman's predicament, but he failed miserably and ignored all threats issuing from Virgil as he flew Two home, explaining and exaggerating the event as was his way to everyone who was listening.

Kayo stayed behind to sort everything out with the locals, smoothing over the ruffled feathers, donating money and promising time to help fix the cantina and investigating the origin of the fight. It turned out a simple misunderstanding over dance partners had ignited a pre-existing anger and worry over the enforced evacuation, and fists had turned to the use of a piece of cut glass. The culprit, now very sober and face to face with Kayo, had been abject in his apologies and nothing further was done.

Alan had found the sight of battered and bruised older brothers hilarious and had beamed and giggled about it all the way home.

Scott, too, had been relieved, although he didn't laugh. But he and John had shared a knowing look and smiled indulgently at them all.

Younger brothers.

They may turn his hair grey but Scott wouldn't be without them.