Summary: The fallout continues on the island and Skybase.
Notes: Yeah... So I have been busy with other things... Some swearing.
...Some revelations happen.
May 2099
Sophia Tracy gently kissed the foreheads of her sleeping twins, wishing that she had more time to spend with them, but she had her orders and she couldn't disobey them - Aunt Melody had already stuck her neck out far enough for her.
It wasn't as if she didn't want to do her duty to WASP and the world government, but there were other ways to serve, ways that didn't put her in the direct line of fire of enemy combatants - she was the only parent her babies had left, but the arsehole that was putting political pressure on her and Scout to serve in their units, had an axe to grind, and didn't care about Sophia's single mother status, stating that their were plenty of Tracy's that could look after her bastard brood if anything happened to her…
A statement that went down like a lead balloon on the island…
Kallen would have been spinning in his grave, if he had one, if he knew that the father of the idiot he and Simon beat the crap out off, because he wouldn't take no for an answer when Scout said she wasn't interested in him, was using that history against them now…
Simon had already called Senator Tobias Langley out publicly to why his precious Junior, hadn't signed up for duty, if it was so important that every family to their part for the war effort - Langley was still yet to respond to the accusation…
"How are you doing?" Scout asked from the doorway of the Twins bedroom.
"As fine as I ever will be," Sophia replied, as she turned to look at her cousin. "Shouldn't you be with Mike and your kids? We are meant to be leaving tomorrow."
"I'm going back to them in a minute, Harry's asleep, Carp is having a bath, and Mike's keeping and eye on them," Scout replied. "I came to see how you're doing, since Uncle Alan forgot to get the information we needed about Daniel from Colonel Blue."
Sophia frowned, her father had not been happy when he heard to Alan had forgotten to ask Blue about her late boyfriend, "Contrary to what my parents think," Sophia replied. "I'm glad Uncle Alan forgot."
Scout blinked in shock, as if that wasn't the answer she expecting, "May I ask why?" She asked, sceptically.
"When it comes to finding who Daniel and his family actually are, that is my problem, I don't want his family finding out about the twins through a third party if I can help it," Sophia growled. "Chances are pretty high that Colonel Blue is either Daniel's or Amber's father, and I'm the one that should be talking to his parents, and finding out about and informing them, not Mum, Dad, Uncle Alan or Uncle John," Sophia threw her hands up in the air in frustration, as she joined Scout in the hallway. "But I haven't been allowed to contact anyone at Spectrum, it's not that I would tell Mahogany or Coral anything about the twins, I would leave that part to Daniel's family, but I would ask them to pass on a message to his family that I needed to speak with them."
Scout frowned at Sophia's words, but the sound of another quiet argument cut off her response.
"Okay Shay," Kevin's voice echoed down the hall. "What is your problem? I can understand Keys having a problem with Mahogany being in the line of Aaron's friendly fire, considering she is somehow friends with the guy, but that doesn't explain you."
"Just because I want to give that Mysty Prick a well deserved knuckle sandwich the next time I see him," Shane snapped. "Doesn't mean I want that overprotective idiot dead, Kev."
Sophia and Scout exchanged a look, Kesha had been on a bit of an emotional roller coaster the last couple of days upon learning that Mahogany had possibly survived the missile attack, to learning that yes did he survive, but Aaron could have killed him, had left her very upset and angry - she wasn't currently talking to her younger brother at the moment, and Brains and Fermat were on thin ice…
Sophia herself was trying to not let her bitterness, about Mahogany surviving and Daniel not, show - for Kesha's sake.
Shane's reaction to the whole business had actually caught them all off guard.
Scout put a finger to her lips and gestured to Sophia to follow.
Sophia didn't have to be told twice, finding out what Shane's deal with Mahogany was, because her cousin had acting weird every time the Spectrum officer's name was mentioned, as well as being very protective/watchful of Kesha, ever since Spectrum saved his butt from the Mysterons a couple of years ago, sounded interesting and a good distraction from her own problems.
Kevin obviously didn't have a verbal response to Shane's statement, "Don't look so surprised, Kev," Shane continued. "I do owe Mahogany and his team my life after all, besides I do agree with Colonel Blue when he said that we would regret it if we killed those officers accidentally."
"How do you come to that conclusion?" Kevin replied.
"Isn't it obvious Kev?" Shane replied. "We know them, we know their actual names, but since Spectrum was never meant to tell us anything about the Mysterons, and that we are not meant to be able to identify their civilian identities, they haven't been able to speak to us directly because we would identify them."
Sophia glanced at Scout as Kevin asked the question that was on their mind, "If that's the case," he snapped back. "Who are they? Because you would think we would have noticed by now if anyone we knew worked for Spectrum."
"Would we though?" Shane replied. "Half the people our family is friends with, work for government agencies of some description, and not all of them are upfront about who they work for."
Scout sighed softly, "Shay has a point there," she muttered to Sophia softly. "And checking things like bank records don't tell us anything about who they work for, because many of the top secret government security agencies, like Spectrum, cover their tracks by stating that the GDF or some other private company are the ones that pays their employees."
Sophia's was about ask Scout how she knew that information when Kevin continued, "Okay since you're so knowledgeable who do you think the Mysteron officers are?" He asked.
Shane groaned, "To be perfectly honest with you, I haven't got a clue who Scarlet could be," he commented. "If I had an idea on which parent Coral took after, I could probably narrow down who he could possibly be… He would almost certainly be around the same age range as the elders, and the only person I can think of, without trying too hard, that fit's that category is Uncle Paul, but he's mostly likely someone from Aunt Penny's or Aunt Kayo's rosters, that I may not have met."
"I don't even remember if I have met Paul in person," Kevin replied. "He's a close friend to your parents in particular isn't he?"
"Yeah, from what I've heard, Dad and Paul used to pretty close friends back in the day," Shane confirmed. "Paul was one of the guys that saved dad when he was a POW in Bereznik, so they were pretty tight…"
"Does Paul even have a daughter?" Kevin asked.
"Yes, he does," Shane confirmed. "I think her name is Claire? Cara? Clara - ask Sky later she would most likely know it - anyway, last I heard she was married with a kid."
"Clara," Scout hissed to Sophia. "Paul's daughter's name is Clara, and, according to mom who's been talking with Aunt Carrie, she married a guy that goes by the name of Callum Evans, and they have a daughter, that is probably just a little bit younger than Harry, called Tian."
Sophia nodded, as she turned her attention back to the conversation between Shane and Kevin, "Do you think Paul might be Scarlet?" Kevin asked.
"Whoa there, Kev," Shane replied. "I only used Paul as an example, I don't actually think that he is Scarlet, if I did, I wouldn't have mentioned his name without solid evidence proving that he was."
"Okay then, Shay," Kevin replied. "Who do you think Mahogany is?"
"I have an educated guess," Shane replied. "But without solid undeniable proof, I'm not saying who I believe the annoying prick to be."
Sophia growled softly in frustration, as she looked at Scout, who rolled her eye's and shook her head.
Kevin obviously wasn't happy with Shane's evasiveness either, "Cut the crap, Shane," he growled. "What do you know?"
Shane sighed, "Think about it, Kev," he groaned. "Has anyone stopped and actually bothered to put a profile together on that guy, taking into account everything we know about him?"
Kevin was silent for a couple of moments, "Come to think about," he muttered. "I don't think we have."
"Well to boil things down, there are two main things that point to us knowing this guy," Shane pointed out. "The first thing is that he knows too much about us and IR, and when I say too much I mean he knows stuff that people that only that have or had Island Clearance knows…"
"Are you serious Shane!?!" Kevin exclaimed.
"Deadly," Shane replied. "Because that brings me to the other main thing that points to us knowing who Mahogany is, and that's Dianne."
Sophia's breath caught in her throat, as Kevin asked, "What about Dianne?"
"Don't you think, she would have tried to warn us, if she thought that Mahogany was a threat?" Shane replied. "Mahogany was almost certainly the one that exposed her as one of our agents to Spectrum, so why didn't she try to leave when he called her out?"
"I don't know," Kevin replied.
"Not only did she stay," Shane added. "She tried to re-establish contact between Kesha, Sophia, Mahogany and Turquoise, against the orders of the elders, willingly."
"Didn't Aunt Penny block that though?" Kevin pointed out.
"She did," Shane replied. "But who's to say if the Mysterons didn't kill Dianne before that fateful family get together she wouldn't have passed on information about Mahogany and Turquoise onto Phia? We all know Phia was going to use her to pass a message to her Turkey Baster."
Sophia growled softly, she was still angry with her mother and the Mysterons with what happened with Dianne.
"And the point you're making is?" Kevin asked.
"Dianne had the full story from both ours and Spectrum's perspective," Shane replied. "She chose to defy the orders of the elders, by trying to reconnect contact between the two organisations, knowing full and well Mahogany is a Mysteron… I highly doubt she would have taken that kind of action if she didn't think she was doing the right thing."
Sophia and Scout exchanged a look, "What?" Sophia hissed. "I was willing to trust Daniel's and Dianne's judgment on Spectrum Mysteron officers up to a point, because they were the ones signing their death warrants if they were wrong."
"You do remember that they are now both dead, right?" Scout pointed out.
"Dianne was attacked by the Mysterons themselves in an airport carpark," Sophia retorted. "Daniel was killed in the same missile attack that killed Tim's father, they weren't killed by their own people."
Kevin found his voice before Scout could reply, "Shane, you do realise that there isn't a lot of people that could fit the profile that you just described," he told Shane. "In fact there's only one person that comes to mind, and that's impossible."
"How's it impossible?" Shane shot back. "It's highly possible that Spectrum haven't told us everything about how he died, considering we are not meant to know anything about Mysteron's."
"But if he is Mahogany," Kevin fired back. "Don't you think that he would have tried letting us know he was still alive?"
"Who's to say that he hasn't?" Shane growled. "Turquoise and now Colonel Blue have dropped massive hints that we probably should know who the Mysteron officers are, and that we would regret it if we attacked them."
Kevin was silent for a for a few moments, "Please tell me that you haven't brought this subject up with Keys," he growled.
"Give me some credit, Kev," Shane fired back. "I don't plan on mentioning anything to her, until I have solid proof or she herself asks the question - I'm kind of surprised that hasn't actually, because I think the twin bond that she shares with that idiot is still there, I mean she collapsed moments before word of the missile attack happening came through the system, and about day or two later she was expressing relief that the bond was back."
Sophia looked at Scout who had a thunderstruck expression on her face, "Not now, Phia," Scout mumbled. "After Shay and Kev finish."
The conversation between her cousins wrapped up pretty quickly after that, which wasn't a surprise, because the information shared was something Kevin needed time to process, but what was a surprise was when Shane got the drop on them when Scout and Sophia tried to sneak off to discuss what they heard, "How much of our conversation did you two snoops overhear?"
"Pretty much everything from when Kev asked what your problem was," Scout snapped, as she yanked Shane into a spare room, with Sophia following on behind the siblings and shutting the door behind them. "What the fuck Shay, how long have you carrying around this theory about Mahogany's identity?"
"Pretty much since I woke up after Phia's Turkey dropped me off to the Fairy Princess's tender loving care," Shane growled. "I thought I was going crazy at first, but then I noticed Keys trying to hide the fact that her twin bond with that prick still exists…" he grimaced. "Dianne's behaviour, after she reached Skybase, sealed it, you know full and well that she was trying to re-establish the contact between us and the Prick and the Turkey."
Sophia looked at Scout, "Dianne was starting to vent frustration at not being able to share information about Mahogany and Daniel with us, before she was attacked," she added. "She had actually let something slip about the elders not knowing who they were actually hurting with their communication ban - and I don't think she was referencing Daniel in that statement - when Keys and I asked her what she meant, she told us to forget it, because she wasn't allowed to discuss it in full detail."
Scout ran a hand down her face as she processed the information she had been given, "I can confirm that Keys still feels the connection with she shared with Kal," she muttered. "I became aware of it when coming back home on a space mission, I had originally thought it was a one off thing, but…" Scout frowned. "She must have gotten really good at hiding it over the years."
"You could have thought that she had an injury of her own, with some of them," Shane commented. "It's when the Prick really hurts himself you really do notice it."
"That's not a good thing, Shane," Scout snapped back.
"Never said it was," Shane fired back. "I'm not going to lie, I'm just as worried about the idiot as Keys is, Aaron did try to kill him today, and that is almost certainly going to be fucking with his head right now…"
The three of them were quiet as they processed the information, "What are we going to do?" Sophia asked. "Do we see if we can contact Spectrum and confirm Mahogany is him?"
"Spectrum is not going to confirm anything with us in regards to the Mysterons right now," Shane snarled. "Not after that glass jawed idiot's orders."
"And I don't think it would be a good idea to get Keys or Aunt Kayo and Uncle Alan's hopes up," Scout added. "In case Shane is wrong in his theory."
Shane nodded, "That too," he agreed.
Sophia frowned, she was uncomfortable with the idea of keeping quiet about their theory on Mahogany, "But if it is him…" she commented.
"We need to confirm it is him before we say anything to Keys and the others," Scout replied firmly. "To say anything and be wrong, will cause a lot of unnecessary heartache and confusion otherwise."
Sophia nodded reluctantly, as much as she disagreed, her cousin was right, and Keys and her parents would be furious whether or not Mahogany was actually Kallen, so it would better off them being angry about him being still alive and not telling them about it, then let them think that they pulled some kind of sick prank on them, "You better make sure Kevin knows that too," She replied.
"I am going to speak with him as soon as we wrap up here," Scout replied. "But considering the fact that we are not going as tightly monitored by our own security for the foreseeable future, I'm giving you full permission to try and tree any Skybase officer you may come across in your duties, if Mahogany is who we think he is, we need to know, as well as the fact that Daniel's family needs to know about his children."
Shane snorted, "You probably won't have to do much," he replied. "As soon as that prick catches wind that you're trying to get in contact, he's probably going send a messenger."
"He'd better," Scout snapped, as she moved to leave the room. "He's going to have a lot explaining to do."
"It's not entirely his fault though," Sophia pointed out. "We have been blocking communications with them."
"That's more to do with the elders than it has to do with us though," Shane pointed out. "If my theory is right, there is going to a massive argument between both our organisations when the truth comes out."
"Well if Colonel Blue is Adam, aka Daniel's father," Sophia commented. "You're probably not going to be wrong there."
"Whoa," Shane commented. "Are you saying that you may have banged the Colonel's son!?!"
Scout facepalmed, as Sophia punched Shane in the shoulder, "Don't be crass, Shane," she snapped. "You know full and well Daniel was the son of at least one of Skybase's senior officers…"
"I just don't know which ones," Sophia continued. "His parents could have even retired at this point…"
Shane held up his hands in surrender, "I give," he replied, as he pushed past his sister, who also slugged him in the shoulder. "But I think we all can agree that it is going to be a massive clusterfuck when all this finally goes down."
With that Shane took off down the hall, "I'm going to find Kevin," Scout muttered. "If I don't see you again tonight, I'll see you in the morning before we leave."
Scout walked away in the other direction, in search of their youngest cousin and Sophia was left alone with her own thoughts.
She sighed, as she started walking back to her quarters, the need for her to contact Spectrum weighing heavily on her mind.
Scout was honestly going be the one more likely to get in contact with the organisation first, with her being a pilot and all, chances were high that she might meet one of the famous Angel pilots, before she encountered anyone from Spectrum from her position in WASP.
She sighed again, as she opened the door to her quarters, and went to check on her children again, feeling a prang of guilt about her feelings about Mahogany surviving, if everything Daniel had told her about Spectrum's Mysteron officers were true, and Mahogany was Kallen, then she knew that Kallen would have everything he could have done to save his life, if anything could have been done.
She sat down in the rocking chair across from her twin's bed, a sob escaping her, as she wished that she could have the answers to her questions…
0o0o0
Kallen Tracy stared at the information, his father had given Colonel Blue, about the weapons that his younger brother used to save all their lives from the Mysterons, the day prior, feeling numb.
Brains and Fermat had not only turned the defence system designed to stop a Mysteron from attacking their ships and homes into a fireable weapon, in the time after his death and Mysteronization, but increased the range of said defence's effectiveness - an increase that happened within six months of his "death."
Meaning had the weapon actually effective against him, he could have gotten himself and Clara killed, every single time he had worked with International Rescue since his "death."
Clara sensing his distress, was doing her best to try and calm him down, but her own distress at almost losing him was making it difficult.
"Kallen, I know you're beating yourself up, over not knowing about this," Edward Wilkie, aka Dr. Fawn, growled, at him from the other side of his desk in his office on Skybase. "But you're not a mind reader, short of someone from someone from the island mentioning something about this, you would of had no idea about the changes to the security system."
"Ed's right, Kal," Dianne Simms Metcalfe, aka Rhapsody Angel, who was standing behind her husband's chair, with her hand on Paul's shoulder, agreed. "It's has been the better part of ten years since you were last on the island, and things change, you're not expected to know everything about International Rescue anymore."
"I know," Kallen replied. "But -"
"But what?" Karen Wainwright, aka Symphony Angel, who was currently giving Edward a shoulder massage, butted in. "The way I see it, if the IR Mysteron defence system actually worked on you, you wouldn't be here complaining about not knowing about not knowing about it's exact range, because correct me if I'm wrong, you would have been the first one to approach one of the Thunderbird craft to get an idea of a safe distance to stay away from them," she jerked her head towards Clara. "I highly doubt you would have let Clara anywhere near unless you were fairly sure it was safe."
"She's got you there, Kal," Daniel, who was sitting on the arm rest of the couch, Kallen and Clara were sitting on, replied. "It was the first thing you did check, when we worked with them that first time, and none of us here are sitting around wondering how you got yourself fried, like Johnson did."
Kallen shuddered, as he remembered what happened to the vindictive Captain, "Half melted would have better term," he muttered.
"While I wouldn't wish Mysteronization on anyone," Paul commented. "At least we know she and Kennedy are not going to be a problem anymore."
"Until the next Asshole comes along at least," Adam, who was sitting on the corner of Edward's desk, agreed. "But focusing on the task at hand, Kallen, what do you want to happen in regards to this information your father gave us?"
"Don't you have hand it straight over to research and development?" Kallen murmured. "That wannabe comedian, would probably have a few things to say if you don't."
"I do," Adam replied. "But I have a few reservations about handing it over to them, the biggest one being, if R and D do figure out the kink in IR's research…"
"In other words, you're worried that if they figure a way to kill us using their research," Paul commented. "And word about our identities gets back to IR…"
"Which is one of the reasons why I want IR on the same page," Adam snarled. "The Mysteron threat has been directly affecting them for years now, I don't want them accidentally finding out that they had a hand in killing one or more of you guys if shit goes sideways with R and D."
Kallen sighed softly, "While I agree it would destroy my family if the worst was to happen, and I thank you for your concern," he cut in. "The information needs to be handed to R and D, not doing so could bring more harm to us in the long run, and I don't even know how much longer that technology would be even be affective against the Mysterons anyway."
"You think the Mysterons would look for a way to counter it?" Edward asked.
"I would if I was them," Kallen replied. "What's to stop us from loading up and launching a few of these things in their Mars base otherwise?"
"He has a point there," Paul agreed. "The few times that we have actually been able to tag their actual assets, they had repaired the damage almost instantly, we never been able to do actual damage to them."
"Does this mean IR is vulnerable to attacks from the Mysterons now?" Clara asked, in a concerned voice. "Considering that they exposed the system to the public?"
"If they change up their frequencies or find a way to shield themselves against the pulse?" Kallen replied darkly. "Yes it does."
"So this might not be the silver bullet we are looking for," Karen commented. "In regards to the Mysterons."
"That would make thing's almost too easy, Sis," Daniel replied.
"But it is a start," Dianne muttered. "It supports the theory that the Mysterons were originally created by someone and are more of a technologically based race."
"Like AI's gone rogue?" Karen snorted. "Kinda makes me glad that human technology hasn't reached the point where AI can think freely for itself."
Kallen winced, as he caught a look from both Dianne and Edward, as they all knew that Karen's statement was incorrect and had been for years.
He knew Clara felt his, and he was pretty sure Paul felt Dianne's, disagreement with Karen, but now wasn't the time or place to have a discussion about his Uncle John's literal brain child.
Besides John would have their collective arses in a sling if they exposed EOS to the world.
But thankfully Adam moved the conversation on before Paul or Clara could call them out, "Thank god for small miracles," he commented, as he turned his attention back to Kallen. "So I have your blessing to pass this information onto R and D?"
"People are going to ask questions if you don't," Kallen replied.
Adam nodded, "I have requested that Mason not be allowed on base," he added.
"We don't want him busting a couple of rib's laughing at his own jokes do we sir?" Kallen replied dryly.
"They would go well with that broken jaw of his," Dianne snarled. "Bastard deserves worse for making a suggestion like that, does he think any of us chose to have this happen to us?"
Paul reached up and patted his wife's hand, in silent comfort/agreement.
The comm on Edward's desk beeped, "Sorry to disturb your meeting, Adam," Green cut in. "But President Ronalds is wanting an update on the potential replacement for Colonel Kennedy."
"S.I.G." Blue replied. "Paul and myself will be up there shortly," he turned to the rest of the group as Green cut the call. "Return to your duties," he ordered, as Paul stood up and kissed his wife on the cheek. "We better let the good doctor return to his rounds."
"S.I.G." The group acknowledged as the Colonel's and Angel pilots left Fawn's office, leaving only Mahogany, Coral, Turquoise and Fawn.
"You're worried about the Island's security aren't you?" Fawn commented to Mahogany.
"I'm always worried about my family's safety and security," Mahogany replied. "Just because I was Mysteronized doesn't mean that's changed, but I am more worried now than I was before, and not just because this new global conflict…"
"IR has now proven that they are a threat to Mysterons, and I highly doubt the Mysterons are going to take that lying down…"
Notes: So Shane has come clean, at least to Scout, Sophia and Kevin about the possibility that Kallen is still alive…
They don't know it for sure, that's why they're not pushing the issue with their parents and aunts and uncles - aka the Elder Tracy's.
Because Adam is still happily married to Serena, I have changed Karen's relationship with Adam making her his daughter (who he didn't know anything about until she was an adult) from a relationship he had from just before he joined Spectrum, so she is an older half sister to Daniel.