AN – sorry for the slower update I had a job interview and I got the job yippee! and work over the weekend plus I had to do a bit of research for this. I am amazed how much I learnt about space stations and rockets as well as physics I should have used thunderbird when I sat my GCSEs lol. Hope you like this chapter.
I do not own Arrow or Thunderbirds just playing around with them
CHAPTER 14
It had been two months since John had left Starling City. Felicity visited most nights after she had finished her shift with the now named Arrow. She would tell John all about what was going on in the city and he would tell her about his day and any rescues they had been called out on. Then they would work a little on the holographic control unit together before Felicity would head back for sleep.
Presently Felicity was just settling herself down in front of the TV on the sofa. She had finally gotten home after the Cyrus Gold fiasco. A lot had gone on in the last few days and she hasn't been in touch with John since the theft from the Applied Science building.
Felicity held onto her locket and took a deep relaxing breath before she connected to the digital innards of the jewelry. Inside she followed the usual route of the orange signal band up to Thunderbird 5 and John. She went straight to the monitor and saw John hunched over the main console, he had a frown across his brow.
"Hey handsome are you busy?" Felicity called out, her voice sounded a little tinny from the speakers but it got the blonde Thunderbirds attention. As his head turned the frown dissipated into a huge smile that looked almost relieved.
"No everything is quiet tonight. You on the other hand have been keeping me busy."
"Oh?" Felicity replied shocked.
"Well since I received a notification about the mysterious theft from Queen Consolidated I kept a slightly closer eye on things. I then heard the SCPD radios. What has been going on?"
"Sorry, I uh it's been a long few days." Felicity thought back over the events and recalled where it had all started. "We went to the Applied Science warehouse to see what was stolen. I met a CSI who is clued up on the weird stuff, Barry Allen, he told us one person broke in and stole a centrifuge ripped it clean out of the floor." Felicity watched John's reaction, he appeared a little shocked but remained silent as he usually did so she continued.
"Oliver…" Felicity was cut off finishing what she was about to say as the control room of Thunderbird 5 suddenly became a frenzied chaos of explosions, sparks and flying debris.
It was like watching a program in slow motion, the sound didn't register through Felicity's shock and the unfolding scene. The buckle to keep John in his seat gave way and Felicity watched as he rose from the fixture and joined the masses of debris and parts of Thunderbird 5 being thrown about the room.
Finally a sound penetrated the silence of Felicity's mind and it was a scream, but not from John it sounded more high pitched and it was calling John's name. Then it hit her she was calling out to him, unable to do anything except watch as he resembled a rag doll being tossed about a toy box.
More sparking and explosions sounded this time Felicity heard them and she flinched back at the loudness. Then the lights died, the brightness of 5 extinguished to be replace with a menacing red dim glow. It provided enough light for Felicity to still see John and track his movements about the now disheveled control room. He himself was not moving that Felicity could see, he seemed to be lifeless. "JOHN!" She cried out but no response.
A large piece of metal collided with John turning him about and that's when Felicity saw a huge dark stain on his blue suit across his back, he was bleeding.
The commotion seemed to be calming down the explosions had ceased leaving behind some panels still sparking and a lot of debris floating about the room.
It felt like someone had just booted up her operating system as she came fully back to her senses and started to try and rectify the situation. John was not responding meaning he was hurt or worse, 'don't go there' she scolded herself. Next she tried to access Thunderbird 5's systems but they weren't responding, she tried to send a message to Tracy Island but everything was dead.
The only thing she was able to do was trace her own path back from 5 to her physical body. So she did just that, after one final look towards John's floating limp body she raced back to her home in Starling City.
Back in Starling City Felicity opened up her locket for the first time since Lady Penelope had given it to her, and she was met with a bright-eyed smiling John. Felicity almost broke down there and then, when had John added a picture of himself to her locket? She had been carrying him close all this time and she never knew it and at the moment he was so far away and in trouble.
"Calling International Rescue Control." Felicity was a little shocked at how strong her voice sounded. A few moments longer than Felicity wanted to wait she gave up and tried again. "Calling Lady Penelope." She tried a different line. Still nothing. Then she remembered that Thunderbird 5 received all transmissions and relayed them to Tracy Island. She needed to boost her signal to reach the island, but that would take too long.
Felicity leapt from the sofa and ran as fast as she could up to her office room. Once inside she grabbed onto her computer for dear life and jumped inside. She surfed along the internet until she found Jeff Tracy's email and followed its last accessed path into a server system. Suddenly she was in a jail cell again like the first time she reached Thunderbird 5, 'I hope someone finds me quick.'
Brains' was still working in his lab at 11pm when a security alarm started to sound. He looked up from his work while his mind caught up to what was going on, when it had he sprung up to her feet and raced to Command and Control.
Upstairs Brains accessed the security software and isolated the issue, an outside unknown was attempting access into their servers. He scanned the report and went to hit the terminate command but something caught is eye. The program coding was completely unusual, no computer code he had ever seen or written could exist like this. His curiosity peaked he opened the quarantine folder, what he saw was not possible.
On the screen stood Felicity Smoak, the latest Agent to be recruited. She looked panicked and as Brains stared unbelieving the figure on the screen moved waving frantically almost as though it knew Brains was watching. As Brains continued watching the screen he was fascinated how someone had created this type of virus His mind puzzled at how to isolate the program to study and reverse engineer the coding when the lips of the figure moved and mouthed 'HELP JOHN!' That threw Brains and he decided Mr Tracy needed to see this.
Five minutes later Jeff Tracy arrived in his office to a slightly flustered Brains. He had caught the jist of the problem a security breech but after that he was lost, but for Brains to be this worried Jeff knew he had to oversee the problem.
As he approached the desk Brains' was sat at he saw what could only be described as a perfect replica of Felicity Smoak on the screen. The blonde figure was screaming and waving arms about, she had what looked like tears streaming down her cheeks.
"M-M-Mr T-T-Tracy i-i-i the behaviour has e-e-escalated." Brains informed.
The figure suddenly stopped as if focusing for a moment before seemingly screaming harder and now jumping on the spot waving hands around. Jeff watched and lip-read as best as he could.
'HELP JOHN TROUBLE PLEASE HURT'
Jeff screwed up his face in concentration. "Brains can we give this virus access to the speakers so we can hear what it is saying?"
"Y-Y-Y sure." Brains typed some commands before sobbing and shouting filled the room. The two men listened.
"Please listen to me. HELP JOHN. Something's wrong with Thunderbird 5. He's in trouble and hurt. PLEASE!"
Jeff felt a cold shiver down his spine at the words, he learnt long ago to listen to his gut and it was telling him that something was terribly wrong.
He leant over brains and connected a call to Thunderbird 5. The screen remained blank with an error message flashing, communication signal lost.
"Brains I want to know what that is." Jeff pointed to the image of Felicity. Next he pressed a large red button on his desk. The villa burst into sound of the emergency klaxon. Jeff sat in his red chair and opened up a secret panel under the desk which contained a hand print lock. He set his hand down and once it confirmed his print the room began to transform into Command and Control.
Brains set to work on the computer, truthfully he didn't have a clue what it could be the coding resembled genetic coding or DNA not the typical 0 and 1's of computer code but he knew it was not possible.
"Please Jeff, Brains, I can see you I just can't hear you or even know if you can hear me. It's me Felicity I can explain everything but you need to get to John Please he needs you help." Felicity continued to plead, she had lost track of the time now but knew John didn't have that much time.
Jeff and Brains exchanged glances at the change of pleading from the Felicity type figure. "Brains can you make it so we can communicate back, something doesn't feel right."
"Y-Y-Yes Mr T-T-Tracy."
As Brains began typing away and the pleading continued through the speakers the boys started to arrive still clad in pajamas and bed hair.
"What's the situation?" Scott asked confused he could hear Felicity.
"M-M-Mr Tracy." Brains prompted. Pointing at the screen where Felicity still remained behind bars but her pleading had stopped abruptly and she was staring intently out into the room.
"Felicity Smoak?" Jeff asked the screen.
The blonde figure on screen nodded. There was a shocked intake of breath from the occupants of the room.
"I need some proof that it is you and not an imposter." Jeff demanded.
"Uh." Felicity didn't know what to answer with but her mouth came to the rescue. "I brought you all coffee after the Undertaking. I met John at a conference at MIT and he invited me back to Tracy Island. Scott didn't know about the Vigilante's name in Starling City he thought I worked for your nemesis. You asked me to be an agent when I arrived. Do I need to go on? John's in trouble you need to help him NOW!" Felicity spoke so quickly everyone in the room struggled to keep up.
At the last sentence the room erupted into numerous questions. "John?" "What's wrong with John?" "What's happened?" "How is he in trouble?"
"Enough!" Jeff silenced the room.
"Something happened to Thunderbird 5. She's lost main power there is I think emergency power. John's hurt he wouldn't answer me and I saw blood on his suit." Felicity answered the silence.
"Alan, Scott, Virgil Thunderbird 3 NOW!" Jeff ordered.
The three in question sped into action racing towards their respective portraits that opened to chutes to take them to the silos. There were no further words once the boys were inside the pictures slid back and they were gone.
Felicity collapsed to the floor on the screen with the relief that came from hearing Jeff's order, he had believed her. Hopefully she had gotten the help in time.
Time seemed to slow as the room waited for the pilots to make into the craft.
"Thunderbird 3 to Control over." Alan's voice tore into the silence of the room.
Everyone moved closer to the desk and the video feed of Alan. "Control, you are cleared for take off." Jeff replied instantly. Not a second could be spared now his son was in danger and they needed to rescue him. Jeff watched the video as Alan launched Thunderbird 3.
It was tense silence as everyone waited for 3 to climb out of the atmosphere and reach 5. Brains had boosted the communication signal so they could keep in contact with 3 throughout the rescue.
40 minutes later Thunderbird 5 finally came into view, the pilot and co-pilot of Thunderbird 3 could not believe the damage it had sustained. Half of the craft looked like Swiss cheese, the outer ring of the craft was now a semi circle, the solar panels on top were shattered and most missing and the antenna underneath had been bent.
"What the hell happened?" Scott cursed forgetting the open comms line they had.
"Scott." Jeff scolded.
"Sorry Father. Five is a wreck, the living quarters side seems to be the worst hit. The hull is breached on half of the craft, it." Scott paused trying to think of the best way to describe it but he didn't really want to face it. "The docking hatch is still intact."
"We are in final approach." Alan interrupted.
"FAB." Jeff responded.
The wait was again silent and tense, no one had said a word in the time it had taken Thunderbird 3 to get to Thunderbird 5. Felicity was still trapped in the computer security listening to the reports now and worrying. She could see Brains every now and again looking and watching her with confusion, she guessed he knew something was different.
Another 5 minutes passed before Alan came through on the comms. "Thunderbird 3 is locked."
"Entering access codes." Scotts voice sounded distant. "The codes aren't working."
The occupants of the control room held their breaths waiting to hear more. "Looks like the door might be damaged or it's a computer error either way we can't get in. We need to cut through the door." Virgil reported.
"Do what you have to do." Jeff answered.
"Let me out. I can go up and if it's a computer error I might be able to gain access." Felicity demanded.
"H-H-How can you get a-a-access to T-T-Thunderbird 5 systems?" Brains asked.
"I have ways it's a long story, trust me please you said yourself I'm loyal and smart I won't do anything to jeopardize International Rescue and it could mean you get to John faster." She pleaded.
Jeff looked to his son's on the screen in space waiting for the order. He then looked to Gordon, Fermat and Tin-Tin waiting tensely in the control room, then he glanced at Brains who gave a subtle nod.
"Fine the access code is 28102041." Jeff reluctantly said he didn't want Miss Smoak out of his sight she had been lying and that didn't sit right with him.
Brains took his queue and released the security quarantine. "Thank you." Was heard from the speakers before the figure of Felicity was gone from the screen.
A few minutes passed before the three faces on the monitor turned sharply to look in the direction of the door. "What's going on?" Jeff asked. He watched as Alan turned back to the monitor.
"Someone just input the access code and the door started to move, it's stopped again now." Alan answered.
Jeff watched the screen wishing he had gone up instead of Scott but he didn't want to repeat past mistakes.
He opened up another video link to Lady Penelope. On the thought of not repeating past mistakes he needed to get Felicity here and his top agent, something about Felicity Smoak had slipped past the checks and he needed to find out what and how. "International Rescue Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward speaking."
"Penny we have a situation, Thunderbird 5 is down with rescue operation currently ongoing I need you to collect Felicity Smoak from Starling City and bring her to the Island." Jeff briskly ordered.
"Oh Jeff right away. Is there any news on John?" Lady Penelope replied.
"Not yet Penny, when we have some news I will let you know."
"Okay Jeff. We will leave immediately."
"Thanks Penny." Jeff ended the call.
The room returned to silence as they waited for something to happen at the rescue site.
As soon as the security dropped Felicity shouted her thanks and left there was not a moment to lose. She skirted the system and found the communications transmission up to Thunderbird 3 and followed that up into the comms of the craft.
Next she worked her way around to the door lock panel. It was a strange place, a red room filled with numbers bouncing around. Felicity weaved in and out of the numbers until she found the join to Thunderbird 5. A large circle doorway kept her inside Thunderbird 3. She turned to face the numbers, she called out the numbers Jeff had just told her. "2. 8. 1. 0. 2. 0. 4. 1."
As each number rang out in the room it floated from the group and lay itself against the door. Once all of the numbers were in place the door spun 180 degrees and stopped. Felicity approached the door and pulled with all of her might and it budged slightly enough to see through to the other side only it was black.
She put herself against the gap and took a deep breath, she was digital matter able to move and go anywhere within wires, circuit boards and transmissions. Suddenly she was falling until something hard stopped her movement. It was black except where her skin touched the cold surface and a sliver of light from where she came from. Her energy was transferring into the locking system.
She grasped the problem instantly there was no power. The emergency power must have stopped. She jumped to her feet and reversed what she just did bringing herself back into Thunderbird 3. She navigated back to the comms system and into a monitor screen where she saw three anxious faces.
"I have found the problem, I can get the door open." She saw the relief flicker in their eyes and she felt dread fall heavily in her stomach at her next words. "The emergency power has failed." She saw the horror rest on their faces and her heart almost stopped. She didn't need to go there right now. "I will be a few minutes be ready." She ordered before leaving the monitor and rushing back to the locking unit.
This time she pulled some more at the door making the gap larger and she squeezed through. More light could filter through now and she could see it was identical to the room on the other side of the door. Concentrating on the door she placed her hands against it and watched as the panel glowed grey. The harder she pushed the more surface area that glowed and the door started to move. She pushed and pushed with every ounce of strength she could muster and then some. Eventually she gave in the door had moved more it was almost half way open but she couldn't push it anymore.
She needed to be smart not strong. When the door had power it moved easier and the more she touched it the more power it had. She turned around and lay her back against the door and then her arms outstretched. She pushed and the door started to move again. She ground her teeth and kept pushing and slowly inch-by-inch the door continued to move.
The movement stopped, Felicity slid down to the floor exhausted. The room was now flooded with light from the other lock room. She had done it, she hoped it had been enough to open the physical door between the two craft.
Felicity slowly dragged herself to her feet and sluggishly made her way back into Thunderbird 3's comms system. Looking out of the monitor she saw the cockpit empty she assumed what ever she had done had worked. She searched through the archive of call channels and found what she was after, Scott's watch. She followed the signal and slipped into the watch calling out once she could. "Scott?"
The three brothers looked to their Father on the monitor screen in Thunderbird 3. Felicity had just suggested she could help and he was hesitating, all three knew there was more going on than just John being in trouble.
When Jeff looked to them they all nodded agreeing that Felicity should help, anything to save their brother. They watched as their dad checked with those left on Tracy Island before he made his decision.
With bated breath they waited for something to happen, no one knew what Felicity intended to do or could even do. Thunderbird 5 was just a tin can if the emergency power was out.
The door control panel started to beep. Three heads spun around to watch as the access code was entered on the screen. Then the door juddered slightly for a moment.
"What's going on?" Jeff's voice came through into the cockpit.
Alan turned back to address his father while the two older brothers continued to watch the door.
"Someone just input the access code and the door started to move, it's stopped again now." Alan answered.
In the wait the boys on Thunderbird 3 listened to the call Jeff made to Lady Penelope. Scott and Virgil focused their attention back on the video feed and their father. They both knew something was amiss and they exchanged their own glance at the end of the call confirming to the other they both suspected something.
Before anymore could happen another monitor on the console sprung to life and they saw Felicity in the centre of the screen. She looked worried and flustered. "I have found the problem, I can get the door open." As a collective they relaxed slightly that would save them time and a relief that they didn't have to dig out all of the cutting equipment. What she said next however cut into their hearts like the cutting equipment would have the door. "The emergency power has failed." Now they understood why she looked so worried and flustered.
Scott started to alter the rescue plan, no emergency power meant no Oxygen or lighting. They needed their space suits and breathing equipment plus spare for John. God John if he was still alive he would need them, don't go there he threatened himself.
"I will be a few minutes be ready." Felicity ordered, it was a new side to her that they all saw and they obeyed as she vanished from the monitor leaving it blank once more.
Scott sprung straight into action. "We need space suits on and breathing apparatus. Virgil make sure we have thermal blankets spare O2 tank and helmet. Alan get the torches." Scott gave the orders, Virgil went to amend his already packed first aid kit and Alan went to ready the torches. Scott headed to the cabinet containing the space suits and got ready in his before organising the tethering ropes.
5 minutes later they were all ready, helmets secured and oxygen levels safe. They had hand torches as well as ones clipped to their helmets. The door started to slide open it was slow at first and at halfway it stopped. The pause was agonizing the three were poised ready to run into the airlock and to their fallen brothers aid.
Eventually the door started to move again, foot-by-foot it slid open until at last it was all the way. They moved into the air lock, thankfully this door had an override mechanical failsafe that they could open themselves.
As Scott finished pulling the inner airlock door open he heard his name being called. He looked to Alan and Virgil and both shrugged. He heard his name again and this time he realised where it was coming from his watch. With it being inside his suit he couldn't get to it to use it, he tried to tell Felicity to use the helmet comms line instead.
Activating the external speaker on his helmet he called out. "Felicity if you can hear me you need to find our helmet comms." Listening for a moment he heard a reply. "Okay."
As a unit the Tracy brothers moved into the dark, cold and lifeless husk of Thunderbird 5. Small and large bits of the station floated about the room and they weaved and dodged around them.
Using the larger torches they scanned the room from the floor to the ceiling looking for John.
"Have you got into Thunderbird 5?" Felicity's tired sounding voice came through the comm. in Scott's helmet, he didn't know if she was also transmitting in the others, he muted his comm. to respond.
"Yes we are in thanks, how did you do that?" Scott asked.
"It's a really long story. Have you found John?" Felicity quickly changed the topic.
"We are looking for him right…" Scott was interrupted by Virgil's cries through the comms.
"I've found him!"
Scott turned around to his right looking for Virgil and his light. "Did you hear that?" He asked Felicity.
"Yeah I." Felicity broke into a huge jaw splitting yawn before continuing. "Heard."
Scott approached Virgil and he felt the restrictive band of worry around his heart loosen as he saw John with his O2 helmet on. "Are you okay?" He asked Felicity worried about her.
"I'm fine, worry about John. How is he?" She asked concerned.
Scott opened the comm. "Virgil." he said as he drew along side his brunette brother.
Virgil heard all of the questions Scott needed answering in his name but he was concentrating on John. His pulse was weak and his temperature low, and the wound to his side had him worried. "We need a stretcher." Was his only response.
Alan had just joined them and he offered to fetch one leaving Scott to assist Virgil.
"Get the foil blankets out, wrap him and then strap him to the stretcher and get him back on 3. I can't do anything in here. At the minute he's alive." Virgil finally answered some more of Scott's unspoken questions. The transmission went through to Alan and also Base.
"Thank god." Alan remarked."
"Bring him home." Jeff's deep voice came through.
In Scott's helmet he heard Felicity choke back a sob. He flicked the mute again before speaking. "It's alright he's alive and in safe hands thanks to you."
"It's been a really long few days." She replied with a half yawn half sob.
Scott had taken the foil blankets out of the bag and started to open them while Virgil kept monitoring John. As Scott started to wrap the blankets about John he saw the large blood drenched patch of suit and as he got closer he could see the tear through the material. Scott made sure to pull the foil tight over this area to help stem the bleeding until Virgil could attend to it.
"City." The mumble from John caught the attention of the two dark haired brothers instantly.
"John." Virgil called trying to get his attention.
John's eyelids flickered open for a second before closing.
Virgil firmly shook John's shoulders. "John stay awake, talk to me, its Virgil and Scott's here too."
"Irg, ot." The mumble barely made it past John's lips before he slipped into unconsciousness again.
"John." Scott pleaded but it fell of deaf ears.
Felicity heard the plea in Scott's voice and she tried to bite back another sob.
Alan at this point arrived back with the stretcher. As a team they took up different positions about John and strapped him to the stretcher. Virgil took the head, he could monitor John best during the move from there and he secured John's head in place to prevent any spinal damage.
Scott was already at John's side so he took that area, strapping John's shoulders and waist to the board. Alan took the bottom of the stretcher and secured John's feet before they made their way back towards 3.
"Felicity we are moving back into 3. Can you close the door? We can't disengage otherwise." Scott asked Felicity, he didn't want to she sounded exhausted but being the only one who could it was his only option.
"Yeah tell me as soon as your clear and I will sort it out." She replied.
A few minutes passed as the group traverse the zero gravity and filed into the cockpit of 3. "We're in." Scott announced.
"Don't disengage until you see me on the monitor." Felicity instructed.
"FAB." Scott replied.
As soon as Felicity heard Scott's "FAB" She raced from the helmet comm. and back to the door code room. She didn't feel she had the strength to go through this again but she knew it was the only way to get John and the rest of the Tracy's back to the Island.
Unfortunately for her the only way to close the door was to pull it and that meant only her hands would be on the door providing energy. Taking a deep breath steeling herself for this.
She gripped the door and felt the energy enter the door, she tugged with all of her might and the door moved towards her. She stepped backwards and tugged again with the door following.
She continued for what felt like a life time, step backwards, tug and pull, repeat. Eventually the light faded until the last sliver was left. As she released the door her legs gave out on her and she collapsed to the floor exhausted and breathing heavily.
Felicity remained on the floor until her breathing slowed then she attempted to move towards the gap she had left. Her legs couldn't bear her weight so she crawled until she reached the gap and she slipped through.
Now on Thunderbird 3's side of the lock she had to push the door to close it completely. She pulled herself to her feet and leaning her whole body against the door she pushed hard one last time. As the door moved and clicked into place she stepped forward allowing the door to revolve 180 degrees back into place. The numbers that Felicity had used in the access code removed themselves from the door and returned to the group.
Slowly Felicity trudged back towards the communication system and found the monitor she had used before. Appearing on the screen she saw Alan sat in the pilot seat already buckled in. He looked pale and worried.
"All clear." Felicity whispered.
"FAB." Alan replied before addressing the console. "We are disengaged. Returning to base."
Scott's voice replied first. "FAB Alan. Fast as you can."
"FAB Son." Jeff's voice followed.
Felicity remembered meeting Alan's eyes and seeing the worry in his baby blue eyes before everything went black.
AN – so I hope this was all okay. I apologise if the whole 5 being destroyed is repetitive but its what I liked about the movie and I wish there had been more of it well more of John. Anyway please leave me a review good or bad on what you think I love reading them and they inspire me to keep writing.