AN – Here is another chapter and it's a long one I just couldn't find a good point to stop. I'm not sure if anyone read the last chapter as there were no reviews :( or if you did you didn't like it. After writing this one I'm finding writing the other characters quite hard now but I am determined to see this through to the end if not for my own sanity as I can't get the ideas out of my head until they are written down and then my muse dreams up more. Anyway if you are still reading enjoy Felicity's first day on Tracy Island.
I did a super speedy proof read so apologies if there are mistakes I am getting lazy in my old age.
I do not own Thunderbirds or Arrow just thought the two would play nice together.
CHAPTER 7
Felicity felt the warmth of the light falling into the room. She carefully opened her eyes letting them adjust to the bright light. The huge wall to wall, floor to ceiling windows and door gave Felicity a perfect view of the cloudless crystal blue sky. She felt her face break out into a smile she had actually flown to a tropical island with an almost complete stranger and had been asked to join International Rescue's Organisation. She couldn't believe it first Oliver Queen had asked for her help then he had asked as the vigilante and she had saved his life and now this. So much for being a boring IT girl, she thought.
Felicity rolled over and grabbed her glasses before looking at the clock on the wall in the lounge type area of the room, quarter to seven, it announced. Felicity decided to have a wander out onto the balcony and take a look at where she was, she had gotten used to five hours or less sleep a night and now was no different. She slid from the bed in her pink camisole top and matching shorts and headed for the door.
Outside the warmth of the morning air hit her, it was refreshing warmth this early in the morning. Her eyes were glued to the water and the dancing waves on its surface. She liked visiting the coast and sitting on the beach with her laptop or tablet but this was something else, the colour of the water was like John's eyes and it drew her in.
Eventually Felicity broke away from the hypnotic flow of the water and regarded the rest of the view, on either side of the balcony was greenery and rock faces. Underneath her she saw what must have been a roof and lower down past that a decking area with a large pool and sun loungers. After that the greenery and rocks continued leading to a white sandy beach. Felicity spotted five figures running along the beach towards the villa.
Felicity watched as they drew closer to the villa, the pace of the running slowed until they disappeared into the greenery. A few minutes later the group appeared out onto the deck and stopped alongside the pool, from the nearest sun lounger they took turns grabbing up bottles and taking huge gulps. Once they finished that the group started to do stretches. Leaning on the railing Felicity watched what she assumed was the morning tradition of the five, her focus kept slipping to the blonde haired one of the group who she assumed was John and she felt a blush creep across her cheeks.
The red head one of the group, Felicity assumed that it was Gordon, started hopping about like Zebedee until he toppled into John causing John to fall forward into the swimming pool. Laughter erupted amongst the group and as John surfaced she heard shouts which she assumed were curses from the waters surface. More laughter came from the group and she watched as the three brunettes of the group moved forward in unison and grabbed arms and legs of Gordon and threw him into the pool next to John.
When Gordon surfaced spluttering John waited a few moments before dunking him back under to the chorus of more laughter. Once the laughing died down and the two in the water moved to the edge, the taller brunettes lent forward to help the clambering siblings out but at the last moment all four tumbled backwards into the water. Felicity found herself giggling at the display she assumed the other two brunettes were Virgil and Scott. The remaining dry member of the group stood on the deck watching the other members in the water, he had glasses and Felicity wracked her mind wondering who it could be, she remembered Fermat who rescued her wore glasses and assumed it might be him.
As the four surfaced a splashing water fight broke out with each sibling trying to drown the other. Fermat vanished inside for a few minutes and the fighting continued with laughter and shouts of protest. When he returned the splashing had died down and the brothers were making a slow movement towards the side. Fermat had a pile of towels in his arms and he waited near the sun loungers away from the edge of the pool.
Dripping wet the boys each grabbed a towel and wrapped them around their shoulders before they all moved up towards the house. Felicity continued to watch them and her eyes met John's as he looked up towards her balcony, the smile grew on his face and she felt a matching smile on her own and her cheeks heat too. Then he was gone hidden by the roof of the villa.
Felicity took one last look about before she came back inside and dived back into bed. She kept the door open and listened to the ocean and birds before she knew it her eyes had grown heavy and she drifted back to sleep.
Knocking noise stirred Felicity from her dosing. Sitting up in bed she looked about confused as to where the noise had been coming from. More knocking sounded and Felicity realized it was the door. She jumped up out of the bed and sprinted to the door before opening it wide. John was stood on the other side now dry with a bright smile on his face.
"Morning, I saw you up so I thought I would come up early and offer you a stroll on the beach before breakfast. Only if you want to." John asked going a little shy at realizing Felicity was still in her nightclothes.
"I would love that." She started excitedly before realizing she was still in her pajamas. "Uh just let me get changed first." She left the door open and headed back into the room towards the bed and her suitcase. Digging about she pulled out some clothes and her toiletries bag before scurrying into the bathroom as fast as possible.
John moved into the room closing the door and took a seat on the sofa waiting for Felicity to get ready.
Ten minutes later Felicity emerged from the bathroom dressed in a light blue sleeveless knee length summer dress with a belt around her middle. She then pulled out a pair of brown sandals from her suitcase and tied them onto her feet before turning towards John.
John stood when he heard the bathroom door open and watched Felicity finish getting ready. She looked beautiful in the dress. When she finally regarded him he said as much. "You look amazing."
"Thanks, I really didn't know what to pack for a tropical island I've never been anywhere classed as tropical." She felt herself blushing. "It's beautiful from what I could see on the balcony." She continued trying to change the subject. "You said if I had the door open I might hear the Thunderbirds take off but I didn't see a runway."
John's eyes seemed to brighten at the statement, "Yeah about that you won't see anything like that everything is hidden in plain sight, a bit like the basement you work out of." He said cryptically. "Do you want time to guess while we walk?" He asked seeing her brow furrow at his reply.
"So you have a basement." She replied with.
"Well of sorts yes but not in the typical sense you were in the traditional basement last night our 'public craft' are kept in there as well as Alan's and Virgil's workshops." John answered.
Felicity felt her mouth form an O as her brain whizzed through ideas. "Let's get outside and show you the island it might help." John suggested.
Felicity nodded and turned around to shut the balcony doors. "You can leave them open if you want to we don't get many robberies here." John joked.
Laughing Felicity continued to close the doors. "So you do get some? I bet the heat is a killer though." She replied.
"Yeah you do get used to it. I suppose were always indoors during the day working or off on a rescue mission to notice. Brain's designed the house with materials nonconductive so it keeps the heat out and means the air conditioning is almost redundant."
Joining John the pair left the room as the conversation continued. "That is brilliant. You should put it on the market it would help with the Global Warming problems and air conditioning units."
"Already in the process, the house is still new we renovated it six months ago with new materials and changed a few parts. Dad is working with the Natural Resources Defense Council so Tracy Engineering can make it affordable and regulation." John answered.
"Is there anything Tracy Engineering doesn't get involved with?" Felicity jokingly asked.
"Not really Dad has refused a lot of contracts in different areas because of safety but we cover anything really even medical. Brain's designed most of the equipment and some of the medical tools he created new ways to administer or carry and after modifying the originals Tracy Medical Engineering produced them. To protect the Organisation we always change the look of any equipment in case someone makes the connection and Brain's submits his public work in his professional name." John answered Felicity's question and guided them both through the house.
Felicity listened to John but her eyes wondered about the house taking in all she could and what she had missed from the previous night. The lounge area they had sat in the night before was now bright with the sunlight and it was a very open space. The only wall in the room had portraits of Scott, John, Virgil, Gordon and Alan. They looked much younger in the pictures than when Felicity had met them all.
They moved over to the outside facing wall that was completely made of glass like Felicity had in her room and John slid back the door and motioned for Felicity to go through. "Is Brain's a Thunderbird too I don't remember meeting him."
"No Brain's isn't a Thunderbird he has gone on some missions when we have needed technical help out in the field but since Fermat his son joined the ranks he took over that side. So you haven't met Brain's but you will you met his son in Starling City."
"He and Alan dug me out of the rubble. Was he the one running with you guys this morning?"
"Yeah he isn't a fan of swimming so we leave him on the poolside when Gordon pulls his tricks. Now watch out for the prankster of the family he loves his jokes especially on anyone new." John warned.
"Okay so keep both eyes on Gordon. He was very serious when I met him in uniform nothing like I saw this morning."
"As many eyes as possible on Gordon. He knows when to be professional as we all do but now and then he does push it. This morning was my welcome home. When I returned from rotation on five the others were out on a call and I left before they got back. It isn't always the pool, I've been feathered, creamed, syruped, handcuffed to the bed the list is endless."
They had arrived at the end of the deck where the tree line started. John placed his hands on Felicity's shoulders and gently turned her to face the villa. "This is home." He whispered as he watched Felicity's face wash with shock and then amazement.
Felicity allowed herself to be led by John and when she looked up at the villa she couldn't help her mouth drop in shock. Words were inadequate to describe what she saw. The villa had three levels with the outward facing walls all glass that reflected the sun so she was unable to see past the light. Above the house and off to the side was a semi-circle protruding building again with glass windows across the front of it. Higher still at the peak of the huge mountain was a round building raised above ground level by pillars and a ring of windows running around the outside from what Felicity could see.
"Your house is built on the side of a mountain." She blurted.
"Actually its an inactive volcano the inside is hollow. The bottom level we just came through is the communal areas, the next level up are the family living quarters, the smaller sections over to the left there." John pointed to smaller single layers of the main building. "They are the Hackenbacker's and Kyrano's homes. The top level has the guest rooms, that balcony in the middle is yours. The building further up on its own that is dad's office and the library is the building right on top, the view is amazing from up there and star gazing on the roof is the best part of a night at home."
"WOW." Felicity dumbly said. "There is one other building on the island but I will show you that later." John continued. He turned Felicity around to face the trees and guided her by the hand through the foliage along a well-used trail.
"The Thunderbird craft are inside the volcano aren't they?" She suddenly asked.
"Yeah they are." John replied.
"How do you get them out? They were huge when I saw them, I was surprised they were able to be hidden but this explains a lot." She said.
They emerged out onto the beach, the sand was clean and it looked so soft. Felicity released her hand holding John and crouched down to unbuckle her sandals, she stood back up with them in her hand. John slid his feet out of his sandals and left them on the ground. "You can leave them here." He said.
"I keep forgetting there is no one else here, except for your family and friends. Its really strange being somewhere so isolated well in the physical world." She babbled as she put her sandals back down on the sand next to John's.
John looked at her puzzled, not at her babbling he found that quite cute even though he preferred quiet and being in solitude Felicity's bright bubbly personality made the quiet seem cold and lonely. What puzzled him was her choice of words to sum up his home. "What do you mean by physical world? Is it something to do with how you got into fives computer systems?" He asked.
Felicity froze on the spot at John's question, in the ease being with John created she had slipped up and started to talk more about herself. Even though he knew she hadn't properly explained her gift to him just enough to stop his questioning. She had refused to tell anyone since her parents had found out what she could do and what it had done to them as a family. John had been different her parents immediately had been terrible to her especially her dad, John had helped save her and then protected her secret. She had attempted flying maybe now she should test the boundaries of another fear.
John saw the panic cross Felicity's the same look that she had back at the conference when she believed her secret had been revealed. He wanted to avoid causing her stress and was about to tell her to forget about it when she started to speak.
"I guess I do owe you a full explanation, it's just really hard for me more so than flying and that was hard." She started.
"Do you want to walk along the beach and talk?" He kindly asked trying to break the sudden heavy tension that had descended onto their lovely morning.
"Sure." She replied. John offered his hand and she gratefully took it and clung on to the feeling of calm she received from the small contact. Both of them fell into a gentle stroll along the soft warm sand. John skillfully nudged Felicity over to the waters edge while she continued talking.
"When I was seven I found when I touched anything that was made of circuit boards and wires I could get inside and not the inside amongst the hardware but into the wires and circuit boards. I was in my IT lesson at school when it first happened it was a normal day but when I turned to use my computer as my hand touched the keyboard the classroom vanished. I found myself in a dark corridor with circuit boards on the walls, before I could do anything else I heard a scream and the classroom was back and the teacher was next to me screaming." Felicity stopped she felt a cold shudder run down her arms at remembering even the tropical heat couldn't chase away the feeling.
John listened silently as Felicity talked, when she stopped he felt a small tremor through their joined hands and he gently squeezed her hand trying to reassure her. He remained silent but he guessed what was coming next, Alan had confided in him that when he found Felicity in the basement she was unresponsive but her eyes were open and glowing with a static pattern.
Felicity felt John squeeze her hand and she took a deep breath, her eyes focusing on the waves that they were currently walking through, before continuing. "When the teacher finally finished screaming another teacher had stepped into the classroom. I was marched to the principal's office and made to stay there until my parents arrived. When they were there that's when I found out what had happened in the classroom. My eyes change colour while I'm gone from what I've been told its like watching static on an old TV. I told my teacher, principal and parent's the room I had gone too and they just stared at me like I'd grown two heads. My parents took me home after the meeting and argued all afternoon about what was wrong with me. I had the rest of the week off school and they took me to a clinic that's when I found out what had happened when I was a baby."
Felicity stopped walking and looked out into the ocean, it was so beautiful the sun was glistening off the waves making it sparkle. And the sky was still completely cloudless. She continued on, "I almost died as a baby, I had a rare blood disorder that I can't remember the name of and the regular treatments weren't working. A company offering gene therapy treatments approached my parents and as a last resort they took it, it worked but it had side effects. I remember the man calling me a new mutant but when I have tried to look into it the information is blocked or removed. I don't even know the company name to search for them to find out more."
Felicity started to walk again and John followed still keeping silent, he hadn't expected to hear that about Felicity and he was even more grateful to have met her.
"For the next few weeks I struggled to live. Whenever I touched anything electrical I went into spaces similar to that first time. I couldn't control it, the school stopped me from participating in my IT lessons and my parents argued all the time especially if I had 'had an episode' in front of them. I got so fed up I locked myself in my room for the weekend and I had snuck in a TV remote and screwdriver. I took it apart and kept touching it in different places until I worked out what parts affected me. Then I explored the place that I went to and what I could do inside. Eventually by the end of the weekend I had learnt to touch the parts and not go anywhere. I thought everything would go back to normal now that I could be normal again but my dad left a few months later and my mom blamed me for it. The school refused to let me do any IT lessons so I had to wait until I changed schools before I could try using a computer again. Since then you are the first person I've shown this too and Alan saw my eyes."
"Don't worry about Alan he will have forgotten about it now his attention span can be quite short at times. It explains why you wanted to leave so quickly you didn't want anyone to see did you?" John tried to reassure.
"Sorry I didn't wait around to say thanks and bye."
"It's okay I understand sorry you went through all that alone. My family wouldn't judge if they did find out but I won't tell them I promise."
They carried on walking in silence for a few more minutes. Both privately reflecting on what had been said.
"Do you want to head back? Breakfast will be about ready when we get there and I'm starving." John broke the silence and tried to brighten the glumness that had fallen between them.
"Yeah." At that moment Felicity's stomach decided to make itself known too with a loud rumbling noise.
"You sound as hungry as I feel." John replied laughing and Felicity started to laugh too as they turned around and started to walk back along the beach.
They walked back into the villa, the coolness hit Felicity after the heat outside and she shivered a little. "Are you cold?" John asked concerned.
"No just hadn't expected inside to be so cool." She replied as she rubbed her arms.
"Well Kyrano makes a good cup of coffee although from what I heard not as good as yours." John led the way into the kitchen and eating area. It was a large space almost as large as the lounge, it was connected to the lounge through a wide archway. One wall was made of glass and doors like the lounge and the other wall was like a rock face with cabinet's, countertop and cooker along it. In the centre of the room was a large white table with fifteen matching chairs around it. Between the table and the rock face wall was a large island counter with a sink at one end and five stools dotted along in front.
There were two women moving about the kitchen, chattering away. One of the ladies Felicity recognized as Mrs Tracy, Grandma, who she had met last night. The other lady was a little taller than Grandma Tracy with shoulder length dark hair and she looked of ethnic origins, she was just turning out pancakes from a pan. As she looked up she noticed the two new arrivals into the room.
"Good morning John. And this must be Felicity." The lady cheerfully greeted them. John moved forward towards the kitchen area with Felicity in tow.
"Morning Onaha." Turning to Felicity and guiding her in front her introduced her. "Felicity this is Onaha Kyrano Tin-Tin's mother and very good friend of the family."
Onaha placed the pan down on a rack and moved around the counter towards Felicity as John introduced Felicity. "Felicity is such a pretty name, it's lovely to meet you. Sit down and help yourself to breakfast."
"It's nice to meet you too Onaha." She replied as she sat down and stared wide eyed at the food. "Wow the food looks wonderful."
"Grandma and Onaha are the best cooks. It's the only reason I come back from five." John joked. Grandma had moved over to them from the sink and Onaha had gone back to the stove after retrieving her pan. Grandma Tracy flicked the tea towel she had been holding at John's shoulder.
"Morning dear." Grandma said to Felicity before turning on John. "John Tracy compliments like that will not get you any more pancakes." She scolded with a big smile on her face and a wink from behind her glasses.
John pouted as he replied, "Yes Grandma."
"Here's a coffee for you, Kyrano left a pot for you both. Felicity dear would you like some coffee?" Grandma Tracy asked.
"Yes please." She replied. Grandma poured a cup out and passed it over to Felicity's table set.
"Now help yourself, lunch will be at 1 so it's only a small breakfast." Grandma explained.
Felicity felt her mouth drop open. The pile of pancakes was about 20 high then there was a jar of granola and corn flakes along with a bowl of fruit and the coffee pot, jug of milk and fruit juice. Grandma began to chuckle while John laughed and leant forward for the plate of pancakes. "The boys in this house would eat an elephant each if given the chance. All they ever think about after their thunderbirds is food." Grandma explained as she moved back towards the sink.
John forked the top two pancakes, "Pancakes?" He asked.
"Yes please." Felicity answered. John dropped the two on her plate then repeated for two more and went back a third time. "That's fine John." Felicity stopped him before he could pile the next two on. He went to piling up his own plate he put ten pancakes on the plate and returned the leftovers back to their spot before picking up the syrup and offering it to Felicity.
"Or there is a pot of blueberry compote." John added.
"Oh blueberry please." Felicity replied.
John placed the syrup next to his plate before reaching to get the blueberry compote for Felicity and he poured it over her pancakes. Next he poured the syrup over his while watching Felicity out of the corner of his eye.
Felicity picked up the fork and cut into her pancakes then took a bite. It took all her will power not to fall off the stool in a gooey puddle. They tasted like sweet heaven exploding in her mouth. She had never had pancakes like it, she glanced at John and saw him looking and blushed. He had been right Grandma's and Oanha's cooking was amazing. She swallowed before speaking. "That is the best thing I have ever eaten, ever."
Everyone in the kitchen laughed they all knew the greatness of the Tracy household food and never tired to newcomers reactions. John dug into his pile mmmming in pleasure at the first few mouthfuls.
They sat quietly enjoying the food, and watching the two women bustling about the kitchen working on preparing lunch. Just as John lifted his last forkful to his mouth a loud blaring klaxon roared to life in the room.
Felicity had just been lifting her coffee to her mouth when an ear piercing klaxon noise rang through the room. She jumped at the noise and sloshed the coffee out of the cup and splashed her face. She looked at John and saw his relaxed face disappear to be replaced with a serious expression. Her mind supplied that it must be a call for International Rescue, she placed her cup down on the counter and grabbed the napkin to mop off the coffee from her face before it ended up on her dress.
John was stood and about to walk off when he paused and regarded Felicity. "Want to get your first introduction to our operations?" He asked.
Felicity hesitated for a heartbeat. She was worried about letting them down if she knew all about them but her wants of getting to know John more and her curiosity won out. "Yes." She replied.
"Follow me." John said quite sharply before striding quickly from the room. Time was of the essence, he more than likely wouldn't be needed but it was better to be ready and waiting.
As they reached the elevator John pushed the button and the doors opened quite quickly Fermat was inside.
"H-hello John. H-hi Felicity." Fermat greeted the two as they stepped inside and the doors closed.
"Morning Fermat." John greeted with a nod of his head.
"Hello nice to meet you again." Felicity said.
Much faster than the previous trips the elevator doors opened into a different corridor, rock lined all the walls and it only led in one direction. Felicity moved into the corner to let the men leave first and she followed behind.
Felicity followed until an office opened up, the John and Fermat strode into the room and Felicity stopped just inside the entrance out of the way. The room was round and dark there were no windows that she could see. She had her back to a bright coloured wall and faced another wall that had eight portraits on it. The people in the portraits she recognized as the Thunderbirds she had met all in uniform and clean.
The room was full of people and a lot discussion was going on. She recognized Jeff's voice leading along with another voice that sounded like it was coming from speakers. The group was all huddled around the desk but before Felicity could pick out who was there they disbanded, Gordon suddenly ran into the room looking sodden and out of breathe.
"Scott go ahead and survey the situation. Gordon this one's for you. Container ship is taking on water too quickly for it to wait for conventional rescue crews. You go with Virgil and Alan will brief you on the details. Fermat do you want to go along in case evacuation is needed." Jeff instructed from his position in a red high backed swivel chair that was surrounded around two thirds of a circular desk with monitors dotted about the desk displaying different data screens. And one live feed Felicity recognized immediately as the same background she had seen behind John when she had contacted him. Only difference she saw with this video was a younger blonde haired man on the screen who looked like a cleaner version of Alan who had rescued her.
More movement around the room as Scott, Virgil, Gordon and Fermat moved to stand in front of their respective portraits. The pictures slid back to reveal alcoves behind. Felicity's mouth dropped open as she watched the men enter and turn on the spot to face outwards. Jeff's voice rang around the room again. "Good luck boys. Thunderbirds are GO!"
"FAB!" Was chorused back and the portraits slid back into place.
The silence in the office for a few moments was stifling but was broken by Alan's excited voice. "HEY FELICITY! Nice to see you, what do you think so far?" Jeff and John were reminded of Felicity's presence and they both turned to face her. Jeff smiled but it didn't reach his eyes before he turned back to the monitors and John stood next to him motioned her to come over.
Felicity moved forward and waved at Alan, "Hi again." She said. "It's amazing." She simply replied.
Alan grinned over the monitor. Then a transmission sounded into the room. "This is Thunderbird 1 to Control, over." Scott's neutral clipped voice was heard and his image appeared on another monitor next to Alan's.
Jeff turned to look at a monitor with a map image on it before regarding Scott. "Control to Thunderbird 1, you are cleared for take of."
"FAB Father." The reply came back and Felicity watched as Scott moved to flick controls before his image vanished.
Jeff spun slightly towards one of the outer monitors and started typing. Commands popped onto the screen before a metal grinding noise entered the room. Felicity looked up to see light pouring into the room and increasing as dark panels receded from across the windows. "You may want to watch this." Jeff replied.
John slid his hand into Felicity's and tugged her hand to follow him. He gently dragged her around the desk to stand in front of the windows. Felicity looked at the view below, it was similar to what she had from the balcony earlier in the morning only higher up and the swimming pool was missing. There was a huge dark hole in the decking. The room was quiet and as Felicity watched the gaping hole a red cone appeared followed by a silver section that blurred by before a flash of fire then smoke. Felicity followed the smoke trail and found Thunderbird 1 speeding away upwards. As Felicity watched Scott's voice rang out into the room. "Control this is Thunderbird 1, going into horizontal flight mode, over.
"FAB Thunderbird 1, over." Jeff replied.
Felicity kept her eyes on the craft that was a line in the sky and it moved from an upward direction to a flatter more away movement. Another few seconds and she couldn't see it anymore. She looked to John, "Wait for it." He said just in time for another voice to call out into the room.
"Control this is Thunderbird 2, over." The voice sounded like Virgil's.
"Control here Thunderbird 2, go ahead over." Jeff replied.
"Requesting clearance to launch, over." Virgil asked.
Jeff repeated his earlier checks on the monitor before replying. "Control to Thunderbird 2 you are cleared for take off."
"FAB Father." Virgil replied.
"Look down there." John pointed over to the right and down towards the water." Felicity couldn't see anything except rocks, bushes and rows of palm trees. A very long minute passed and suddenly the rows of palm trees fell over away from each other exposing a flat dirt area. A few more seconds passed before the nose of the craft appeared and crawled down the gap. Thunderbird 2 looked much smaller down there than it had in Starling City. Felicity watched it tip backwards and point towards the sky and the ground behind the craft moved. Then the engines at the back ignited and the Thunderbird launched into the sky following the direction of the silver one.
"Alan let me know when Scott arrives on scene." Jeff's voice broke the quiet in the room.
"FAB Dad."
Jeff initiated the command to close the shutters. Felicity took one last glance outside and saw the palm trees were in their upright rows and the swimming pool had returned. The shutters were back across the windows now and Felicity and John both turned to face the desk. Jeff was sat back in his chair regarding the two before him. Jeff could see a spark in John's eyes that he had never seen before and he guessed it was to do with the extraordinary blonde stood next to him.
"What do you think so far Felicity you still want to join us?" Jeff casually asked.
"You home is lovely, the island is beautiful and the secret hiding places are genius. And I love your control station although why isn't it hidden like everything else?" Felicity replied.
"It is camouflaged just at the moment we need it, the screens are in case of any air or sea traffic that may pass while we are in operation." Jeff replied.
"Is that what you were checking on the monitor? How do you detect and monitor the other traffic? CCTV would be pretty useless out here." Her curiosity peaked at talking about the technology being used.
"We have a stationary orbit satellite above the island that monitors 1000 miles around and movement at the 1000 mile marker, 500 mile marker and 100 mile marker sets off warning alarms for us so we don't have to manually monitor. Here and Thunderbird 5 get live feeds from the satellite." Jeff answered.
"You have your own satellites too. I feel a little bit like I'm in a movie." Felicity remarked.
There wasn't any time to comment as Alan's voice cut into the room again. "Thunderbird 5 to base, Thunderbird 1 is on final approach to the accident zone. ETA 1 minute, over."
"Receiving Thunderbird 5, over." Jeff replied. John pulled Felicity around the desk retracing their earlier steps and they joined Jeff looking at the monitors.
Next Scott's voice was heard. "Thunderbird 1 to Thunderbird 2, Thunderbird 4, Thunderbird 5 and control, over."
"Go ahead Scott." Jeff replied.
"I've arrived on scene and the ship is listing approximately 30 degrees on its starboard side. Based on what Alan reported Gordon you need to be in the water ASAP and Fermat I want you ready with the rescue platform. I have eyes on 20 grouped together on the port side of the main deck. Virgil what's your ETA." Scott reported. Felicity watched Scott on the screen, his face had worry lines across his brown and he was focusing on something past the camera.
Virgil appeared on another monitor and answered Scott. "ETA from your location 3 minutes. Gordon is on his way to Thunderbird 4 now."
"Drop 4 as close as you can but watch for the down draft we don't want to push it over." Scott added.
"FAB" Virgil bluntly replied.
Everyone waited silently for Thunderbird 2 to get into position. Eventually Virgil came back through on the comms. "Thunderbird 2 in position. Ready for deployment Thunderbird 4?"
Gordon's image appeared on a forth monitor. He had goggles on his forehead and a breather regulator mouthpiece around his neck and his hair was now hidden under a blue wet suit. "Ready Thunderbird 2." He replied. A few seconds passed and Gordon continued. "Clamps released, main door open and ramp extended. Thunderbird 4 is go." Gordon's image darkened.
"It's nice to know no matter what the business is those of us at base have the same agonizing wait for things to happen." Felicity found herself saying to fill the awkward silence. Everyone heard her but those out in the field remained silent. Jeff did pass comment. "It is the worst part of the job." Jeff agreed. John nodded his agreement.
Alan piped up too. "Yeah being stuck up here is a real drag." He pulled a pouty face. "Alan focus." Scott scolded.
"This is Thunderbird 4 to Thunderbird 1, 2, 5 and base, over." Gordon said.
"Thunderbird 4 this is Thunderbird 1 go ahead." Scott replied before anyone else had a chance.
"I have identified the crack in the hull its quite large but I think I can repair it." Gordon reported.
"Gordon in the time you've been down there the ship has moved another 5 degrees so make it fast." Scott replied.
"FAB. I'm leaving Thunderbird 4 now."
"Rescue platform is ready and waiting." Fermat's voice announced over the comms.
"FAB." Scott answered.
The comms went silent again. This time it stretched on for minutes, it felt like a lifetime for Felicity, she thought waiting for Oliver had been nail biting but this felt much worse. The expressions of Virgil, Scott and Alan on the monitors told Felicity they were waiting on tender hooks too. She couldn't see Jeff but she did glance over to John and saw a matching expression to his brothers, she gently squeezed his hand.
John watched the monitors intently, the waiting always bothered him when he is up on five but down on Tracy Island the waiting was agony, as he couldn't do anything to assist only watch. He felt Felicity's hand squeeze his and he averted his gaze away from the monitors for a moment and met her eyes. He gave a small smile before gluing his eyes back on the live feeds of his brothers.
"Thunderbird 4 here, we have success. Thunderbird 5 can you inform the crew the repairs are successful and to start pumping out procedure. Returning to Thunderbird 4, over."
"FAB Gordon." Alan replied. His image then vanished from the monitor. While Gordon appeared back in his video feed.
"Scott let me know when you see the ship's list lessen then I'll return to the pod." Gordon instructed.
"FAB." Scott acknowledged.
Alan's feed returned to the monitor. "Thunderbird 5 to Thunderbird 4. The captain has started the pump out operation. He also passes on his thanks."
"Received Thunderbird 5." Gordon replied.
Silence once again engulfed the room but this time the tension was less and the waiting didn't sit so heavy on everyone. After about 10 minutes Scott announced. "Thunderbird 1 reporting that the ship is righting its orientation. Well done Gordon." He congratulated.
"Of course didn't expect anything less did you?" Gordon replied.
"I never know with you Gord's you pull the crazy out of nowhere." Scott replied.
"I do try, hey speaking of which have you looked under your seat lately." Gordon teased.
"Boys." Jeff's commanding tone rang through the cockpit speakers of the offending culprits and also the innocent bystanders.
"Sorry father." Scott immediately replied.
"Sorry. Thunderbird 4 returning to pod ETA under a minute." Gordon announced.
"Thunderbird 4 from Thunderbird 2 we are standing by for docking sequence." Virgil added.
"Thunderbird 4 to Thunderbird 2 we are clamped in and pod secure ready for collection." Gordon announced.
"Thunderbird 4 we are descending over pod now." A short pause and Virgil continued. "Pod is locked and we are away. Thunderbird 2 returning to base, over."
"Thunderbird 1 to Thunderbird 5 how is the ship and crew?" Scott asked.
"The crew are all fine and the captain is happy with the progress of the pump out you are clear to return to base Thunderbird 1." Alan replied.
"FAB Thunderbird 5. Returning to base, over and out." Scott replied.
"FAB boys, safe flight home." Jeff finished and the monitors with Virgil and Scott turned black. The one Gordon had been on was also black Felicity hadn't noticed that one go off.
"Dad there is a strong weather front building over the Atlantic ocean, I've got it on constant monitoring so will keep you posted." Alan supplied.
"Okay Alan thanks. Jeff replied and the image of Alan blacked out.
"Scott and Virgil will call in when they are on the outskirts to check its clear to return." John explained the next part of the operations.
"Time to get back to work. Ready to see the camouflage Felicity?" Jeff asked.
"Yeah although I don't think it can beat the pool and palm trees."
John moved Felicity away from Jeff's chair and the desk and stood them both by the doorway. Jeff hit a large red button placed at the back of the desk. The center of the room began to spin and the desk dropped down into the floor from its raised platform and parts of the desk moved and altered to a different layout. The majority of monitors retracted into the back of the desk leaving only two. Panels slid back and raised small piles of paperwork. While this change took place the shutters on the windows also retracted as Felicity had seen before to reveal the beautiful view. The last change in the room were the portraits they had vanished and been replaced by a large black and white photograph of the front of the villa with the eight thunderbirds standing apart across the picture in similar locations to where their portraits had been a moment before. The room looked like a typical private study office.
"Totally cool." She fangirled at the technology used to make a room change so dramatically.
Jeff smirked at the compliment. "John why don't you show Felicity the library. There will be a good view from up there." He winked at his second oldest son.
John grinned he knew what his dad was referring to. "Sure great idea come on Felicity. See you at lunch Dad." John replied excited.
"Okay. Thank you Jeff." Felicity thanked the patriarch but she felt it wasn't a strong enough word for the gratitude she felt at seeing behind the scenes of International Rescue.
"Enjoy yourselves. See you later." Jeff replied as they left the office.
The elevator doors opened into a stairway. "Is everything accessible from the lift?" Felicity asked as they started to climb the stairs.
"No, it gets us around the house. The silo's are through a different elevator." John answered.
The staircase opened out into a long thin room. It was bright inside the room from the sunlight. There were rows of bookcases bisecting two thirds of the room at regular intervals.
"Welcome to the library, but we need to go up again. Are you okay with ladders?" John asked.
"Up, it only looked like it had one level." Felicity replied.
"Inside yes. Quick otherwise we will miss the view."
Felicity guessed now what might be happening, she swallowed her nerves and started to climb the ladder behind John. At the top the heat of the outside hit Felicity as she climbed the last few rungs of the ladder. She placed her feet on the ground and using John's offered arms to steady herself she looked around. All she could see was blue sparkling ocean and the white ring of the building she was now stood on top.
"This is our favorite spot to come and be alone, if the hatch is open we know one of us is here and we keep away. Or we gather and watch Scott showing off. Like now." John heard the engines of Thunderbird 1 as it overshot the island. The noise grew in volume and John looked about trying to spot his older brother.
"There." He said pointing to the growing size of the silver craft.
Within seconds the now large Thunderbird had flown over the library building that the two were stood on and gone into a loop. When the aircraft came back around it went into a spin and remained upside down. Felicity saw the pilot waving as he passed above their heads about 50ft high. Felicity lifted her hand to wave back but the plane was gone again. It took a wide arc around the island before hovering over the swimming pool.
Felicity moved toward the railing on the outer edge of the rooftop and looked across into the cockpit of Thunderbird 1. Scott flashed a huge white toothy smile before the nose of the plane began to rise and point up towards the sky. Felicity glanced down and saw the swimming pool retracting back.
Once the water had vanished the now vertical plane started to sink lower in the air until it entered the hole in the decking. The roaring of the engines intensified from the echoing of the cavern and then slowly died. When the nose cone disappeared from view the engines went to a low rumble before a deafening silence ensued. Next the swimming pool started to reappear and creep its away across the wide expanse.
"Starling City is going to be boring compared to seeing all of this." She mused.
"Maybe you could show me around some more when I take you back?" John suggested.
Felicity turned around surprised. "You want to see more and stay?"
"Yeah I've read a bit about it following the vigilante stories after I met you. There seems like some nice parts to the city." John explained.
"Yeah okay I'd like that." Felicity replied. The low rumbling of Thunderbird 2's engines ended the conversation and two heads turned to the direction of where the sound came from.
The green ship slowly descended in the sky until it was just higher than where John and Felicity stood. The engine noise was much louder now. The mammoth ship cruised around the peak of the volcano before moving off and vertically landing into the cutting between the fallen palm trees. Slowly Thunderbirds 2 moved backwards and disappeared into the rock face.
"You probably won't get to see Thunderbird 3 as space rescues are a rare occurrence but we are stood on top of the launch area." John remarked.
Felicity looked down and then across to the other side of the circular ringed building, it didn't seem wide enough to fit a space rocket through. "The building splits into segments and pulls apart." John watched in amusement as Felicity's mouth dropped open once again.
When the shock passed Felicity returned to their earlier conversation. "So what stories did you find on the vigilante then?"
John moved and leaned his forearms on the railing looking out over the villa and the ocean, Felicity followed and stood close next to him holding the railing. "I read about his first appearance saving Oliver Queen and Thomas Merlyn. Oliver Queen was arrested under suspicion of being the vigilante which I suspected from that first report when I looked into Oliver Queen and his return to Starling City. The next news reports were of the vigilante appearing and all charges were dropped. Let's see there was a copy cat archer using black arrows."
"I had to trace the maker of the arrows. Never thought I'd find myself learning about archery but I did, who knew it was so technical." Felicity butted in.
"So you weren't involved from the beginning then?" John asked.
"No, I was approached to help with a few research tasks and then, Mr Steele, my boss went missing after I had been helping him follow a paper trail and not long after the vigilante turned up in my car bleeding out after being shot. I had to get him to the foundry for help. After we saved him I joined on full time until we could find Mr Steele. When we did find him I realized all the good that we were doing and I stayed on."
"Doesn't the killing he does bother you? Dad brought us all up to protect life, Scott joined the Air Force but it never sat right with him so when Dad started up International Rescue he was the first to join. Our motto is to never give up at any cost. When the Hood attacked us Alan was only 15 and not even a thunderbird yet but he had to save us and he saved the Hood even though he was the one that had hurt us. I know the vigilante has saved a lot of lives but he has taken them too."
"I thought that too, I really didn't like the killing but those he has killed were going to kill him or someone innocent first. He doesn't do it lightly and after a while you do look past it because you have saved all those other people who would have been hurt. If you knew a bridge was unsafe and you could save the people about to drive on it by knocking it down before they got there would you knock it down or wait and then rescue?"
"I'd take the shot." John didn't hesitate in his answer.
"Exactly I know it's not a life but its still destroying something to save something else. I don't agree with his methods but they do work and save lives."
"I read about the Vertigo drug and The Count Thea Queen was involved. The Queen family seem to like to be in the news."
"Yeah they attract the media. I had to get the drug analysed to locate The Count."
"He stopped a sought after jewel thief named the Dodger. Then there was a huge coverage about The Saviour, were you involved with that? I saw the footage." John asked his voice dropped low remembering what he had seen it had been horrific and he had seen and heard enough in his line of work.
Felicity felt a lump form in her throat. The Saviour had been a horrendous experience worse than wearing the bomb collar. If she had been able to use her skills she would have been faster and maybe saved the District Attorney. "Uh yeah." Her voice sounded wobbly, she tried to swallow the lump and steady her voice. "It was the toughest challenge and I failed to locate him before the second murder. We managed to save Roy and it gave us the first big clue to what the Undertaking was involving. It led us on to who was behind it and we found Mr Steele, it's another reason I stayed on to help stop the Undertaking. That didn't go so well as we planned as you know."
John looked over his shoulder at Felicity he felt for her. "You tried your best that's all that you can do. One of our calls was to a couple trapped in a cave in. The ground was too unstable to use the Mole and we tried to dig through but it was too slow. The cave was filling with water rapidly and I was on the phone with them the whole time until the water filled the cavern. It haunted me for months after, sometimes no matter how hard we try or what we do we don't save everyone." John gently placed his arm around Felicity's shoulders and shuffled a little closer.
Felicity felt the weight rest over her shoulders and felt calmer from it. She leaned into John as he moved closer and lent her head on his shoulder. There was no awkwardness as the two drew comfort from the other. They may not have known each other for all that long but they had a lot in common and seemed to connect with each other. They remained silent just staring out to the ocean and basking in the sun and company.
AN2 – Please please PLEASE review whether it's just to say it was good or that you didn't like it and if it was rubbish what bits I could improve