Summary: Sophia tracks down Turquoise to 'warn' him about the Mysterons in Spectrum.
Notes: So, err, I've hinted about this in my other stories and I have only completed this just now...
Breaking the Rules
2097
Sophia Tracy looked across the road at Spectrum's London Headquarters.
While she knew the odds were slim, she was hoping to catch up with Lieutenant Turquoise, or even Coral at this stage… Heck, she would even settle for that Amber guy at this point… and if Mahogany spotted her she hoped that he would send someone to check on her, because she knew that he wouldn't approach her directly.
She shouldn't even be here, she knew if her parents and Uncle's knew what she was doing, she would be in the world of trouble.
It had been a couple of months since her cousin, Shane Tracy, had his run in with Spectrum, which resulted with the discovery that there was Mysteron agents in the organisation.
Alan and John banned all non essential communication with the organisation as a result, much to Kesha's and her own disgust, if there were Mysteron agents working at Spectrum, the officers that worked alongside them were in serious mortal danger.
Sophia and Kesha knew they couldn't sit idle on this, if their friends were hurt or killed because they failed to warn them of the danger, they would never forgive themselves.
She was about to give up - Kesha could only keep EOS off her trail for so long - when the person that she was looking for suddenly appeared.
He was with Amber and another woman in a rose pink uniform, no sign of Mahogany or Coral but she wasn't going to be picky, Turquoise would pass her warning on to them.
She quickly checked her Mysteron detector, to make sure they were still who they were born as, if one of them was a Mysteron, there would nothing she or Kesha could do, Thunderbird 5 would be alerted and she would have to retreat without talking to them.
Thankfully the scan came up clean, and Sophia ran to catch up to them, "Lieutenant Turquoise!" She called out.
Turquoise jumped as he spun around to face her, "Phia?" He asked, clearly shocked to see her. "What are you doing here?"
"I needed to talk to you about something," Sophia explained, as she walked up to Turquoise. "I couldn't call because Uncle John and Uncle Alan have restricted communication with Spectrum to official business only - they have taken the communicator you gave me, as well as the duplicates Kesha made away."
"Well that explains the radio silence," Turquoise replied. "We've been trying to get through to you guys for a while now and were concerned, even tried the official route and was blocked rather rudely by whoever you have filtering your organisation's calls."
Sophia growled softly, so they had been trying to make contact with them, EOS is lucky I'm already breaking the rules, otherwise I would be threatening her circuits right now, "I'm sorry about that," she replied.
"I know Spectrum isn't your family's favourite organisation," Turquoise continued. "But do you know what triggered the extra hostility?"
"It's because of what happened with Shane," Sophia answered.
"Is Shane okay?"
"Physically he's alright, but he was ranting about our cousin that was killed by your friends from Mars, for a while," Sophia told him. "But that is not the reason why contact has been restricted between our organisations," she took a deep breath. "You have been compromised by your Mars friends, Shane's detector picked up readings of at least two maybe three of them," she sighed. "They tried to cover it up by tampering with the device, but they missed the backup system that the device had."
Sophia watched Turquoise's face as a horrified expression formed on it, but it wasn't a oh shit we are in trouble expression.
It was a kid that got his hand caught in a cookie jar expression… Which was shared by Amber and the rose pink officer, "Wait!" She exclaimed. "You already knew!?!"
Turquoise held up a hand defensively, "It's not what you think," he replied. "But I can't discuss this out in the open, and I also need clearance from command before I say much more."
"Why do you need clearance?" Sophia snapped back.
"Because if we don't get it we could end up in front of a firing squad," Amber answered. "Considering the amount of spook work International Rescue does, you of all people should know that we have some secrets that we have got to do our best to keep… There is a reason why we tried to cover our tracks."
Turquoise reached for his communicator, as he gestured for Sophia to follow them, "Give us a chance to explain, Phia," he said. "But know that the ones that are with us, are not a threat to you or anyone else in International Rescue, if we thought they were, they would not be working with us," he sighed. "Trust me, they would sooner harm themselves than hurt innocent people."
"Your word is all I have to go on," Sophia replied. "But I will hear you out."
"That is all I ask," Turquoise replied, as he tapped his communicator. "Lieutenant Turquoise to Skybase, S.I.A."
"S.I.A.?" Sophia asked Amber.
"Spectrum is Amber," Amber answered. "It means, we have a situation that needs to be addressed, but it's not a drop everything emergency."
"We have a security breach," Turquoise continued. "International Rescue knows about the not so human status of some of our officers."
Sophia heard the soft explosion of chatter that came out of Turquoise's earwig, but it was too quiet for her to make out the actual words, but she could tell someone was irritated, that was for sure.
"Thunderbird Four paid a visit to our London headquarters," Turquoise continued. "She is with us now."
The chatter that came back was slightly louder than it was before.
"Yes, she did, Mahogany-"
Sophia wished she could hear the other side of the conversation, it was obvious that Amber and the rose pink officer were listening in with their own comm units.
"Because you missed something, Swine," Turquoise snapped at his absent partner.
Mahogany obviously didn't appreciate Turquoise's tone, judging by the volume of the chatter that came back in response.
"The detector had a back up system," Turquoise growled.
Mahogany's response was rather explosive, judging from the nervous expressions on the faces of Amber and Rose pink.
"Mahogany's pissed," Amber muttered. "You know it's bad when he starts swearing in several different languages."
"I need to talk to the Colonels," Turquoise continued. "I need clearance to talk about this with Four."
There was more chatter across the comm's that Sophia couldn't make out.
"S.I.G." Turquoise replied, and cut the call, as he turned to face Sophia. "Colonel Blue wants to talk with you via video conference," he explained. "We are to escort you into headquarters so no one over hears."
"Okay," Sophia replied. "Lead the way."
0o0o0
Sophia stared at the memory drive that she held in her hands, mulling over the information that she had just been given by Colonel Blue, with extra input from Colonel Scarlet, Captain Mahogany, one of the Doctors on Skybase, Fawn, and Lieutenant's Turquoise, Coral, Amber and Rose, the Spectrum officer who's colour and rank she had previously been unsure of.
She didn't know what piece of information shocked her the most, that the war of nerves was started by accident, caused by fight or flight instincts going haywire, the fact that some people had managed to break free of the Mysteron's control or the fact that Spectrum had three such officers under their command, two officers that had been Mysteronized and broke free from the Mysteron's control and the daughter of the older Mysteronized officer that had been sired and born after her father's attack.
Considering what Sophia already knew about the children that had grew up on Skybase, she was pretty sure Coral was the daughter, and would have been one of the officers that set off Shane's detector.
She also had a fair idea on who the younger Mysteronized officer was… Not that Turquoise was about to intentionally confirm that theory anytime soon - Mahogany had always been a bit of an enigma anyway.
Kesha had been a little bit misleading to her parents about the amount of contact she actually had with the Spectrum officer, she actually texted Mahogany on the regular, and it was if she was using him to fill the void in her life her twin brother had left when…
Which wasn't surprising considering at lot of Mahogany's mannerisms were very similar to Kallen's, combined with with the fact that he knew a scary amount of information about International Rescue operations, he could have been easily mistaken for her deceased cousin.
To say Kesha didn't take cutting off of communication well, would have been an understatement… She started going back to the old habit of trying to find her brother, and having a panic attack when she couldn't find him.
Sophia didn't know how Kesha would react if her hunch was true and Mahogany was a Mysteron, considering her brother was dead because of them.
It was a bittersweet feeling knowing that some people could break free of the Mysteron's control, but before she could ask if Kallen could have been saved, Mahogany shut that line of thought down, stating every person that had been Mysteronized had to be killed for the Mysteron's to do so, so it was a mercy for the people that couldn't break free to be put out of their misery.
When it was put that way, Sophia was glad that Kallen didn't survive, especially after hearing that the Mysterons were using the officer that fired the shots against them as their point man.
While some would call it poetic justice, considering the circumstances, it didn't change the fact that the senior Spectrum officers had been forced to deal with the fact that the enemy was wearing the face of a former friend.
It also didn't escape Sophia, that Black had been the Mysterons second choice for the role of agent of destruction… And that they had no problem in killing innocent people to use in their plans…
Turquoise sat down in a chair next to Sophia and put a hand on her shoulder, "I know it's a lot to take in," he replied. "And I'm probably not the best person to go through this with you, since I grew up with this along with the rest of the Skybase kids -"
"It's normal for you," Sophia cut him off. "Surprisingly enough I do understand, up to a certain point," she grimaced. "As you already know, I'm also a reserve officer in WASP and there is some things in regards to their operations that I can only discuss with my father for security reasons."
"What sort of things?" Amber asked, curiously.
"Yes, what sort of things, Phia?" The electronically disguised voice of Mahogany's echoed through the speakers of the communicator that had been set up on the desk.
Sophia jumped, she had forgotten that Mahogany, Coral and Fawn had stayed on the line when the Colonel's went back to their business… And even though his voice sounded nothing like Kallen's, Mahogany was really giving her similar vibes, "Say we make a deal," she replied, in a snarky tone. "You let me hear your actual voice, I tell you what WASP's hiding."
Mahogany snorted, as the Lieutenant's and the Doctor, whose voice was also disguised, she noted, cracked up laughing, "Touché," he replied. "As much as I would like to, you know I can't," he sighed. "My hands are tied just as much as yours."
Sophia sighed, "Well, it was worth a try," she muttered. "I can't guarantee Keys and I will be able to get in contact with you guys for personal reasons any time soon… Even with this information…"
"I know," Mahogany replied, sadness seeping into his voice. "Without being able to tell your uncle's and aunt the full uncensored story, they have no reason to trust us."
Turquoise looked upset, "This is bullshit," he snapped. "You know full and well, if International Rescue knew the truth of situation, they wouldn't have cut us off like they did."
Sophia looked at Turquoise sadly, she understood why he was upset, quite frankly she was too, knowing that Spectrum's Mysteron Officers were not a direct threat to her family was one thing, but convincing everyone else in the family, other than Kesha, of that fact was going to be next to impossible without solid proof to Spectrum's claims, "I have to get going," she said softly. "If I don't report in soon, my brother or Aaron are probably going to come looking for me, and no offence, I don't want to be anywhere near here when I do."
"How long have you got until you have to report in?" Turquoise asked. "Maybe I can take you to a place where it's safe for you to check in, and then we could spend some more time together afterward?"
"Hey Turkey," Amber growled. "Are you forgetting that we have got to be making our back to Skybase as soon as this meeting is finished?"
"I'm actually on a weeks leave," Sophia commented. "So, I do have some free time for the next few days…"
Turquoise looked back at the communicator, "I do have some personal time on the books," he replied. "Do you guys think I could convince the Colonel that I can take it now?"
Sophia's eyes widened, "You want to spend the week with me?" She asked. "I honestly didn't have much planned because I was going to spend the week trying to track you down."
"Then we are both flying by the seat of our pants then," Turquoise replied. "I haven't seen or spoken to you in months, Sophia, and once we part ways it could be a while before we see or speak to each other again," he took her hand. "If you don't mind I would like it if we could spend more time together, if possible, considering…"
"I'll go find Blue," the disguised voice of Dr Fawn, came from the comm unit. "And relay your request, Turquoise."
0o0o0
It was surprisingly easy for Turquoise to gain permission, once Colonel Blue came back on the line, and after Mahogany's teasing warning ("If Gordon or Si catch you out, I know nothing about this, do you hear me, Turkey? NOTHING. If they catch you, you're on your own…") or at least she thought Mahogany was joking, they parted ways with Amber and Rose.
After Sophia reported in to Kesha, and stated that her mission had been a success of sorts, and that she would give her the full rundown of what happened after spending the rest of the week with her 'friend,' she turned to Turquoise, "While I understand the reason why Spectrum officers don't use their real names in the field," she commented. "It's going to look a bit strange if I call you Turquoise in a civilian setting…"
Turquoise laughed, "I suppose it would," he replied. "Daniel."
"My name is Daniel."
Notes: There is a couple of reasons why Sophia only found out Turquoise's first name now, even though she has known him for years at this point…
The first reason is the nature of Spectrum itself, if you are not part of the organisation or next of kin, nobody is meant to know you're part of Spectrum - The Tracy's don't even know Paul is part of Spectrum.
The second is if Turquoise told Sophia his name previously, she (and Kesha) would ask Mahogany and Coral for their names too.
Mahogany can't give his without being exposed or lying and the Tracy's know Paul has a daughter named Clara…
The third is quite simply, understanding the first point, Sophia and Kesha didn't push the issue, figuring that Turquoise, Mahogany and Coral would tell them their names in time…
As for suspecting Mahogany and Coral being the Mysteron Officers, Sophia (and Kesha) aren't stupid, given what they already know and just been told they have made an (correct) educated guess, on who they were.