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"Virgil!" Gordon cried out. John also spoke over the coms. The building was coming down. Virgil tried to avoid it.
He tried his hardest to avoid it.
He heard and felt the clunking sounds.
Then panicked screaming over the coms.
A shattering sound.
Pain. So much pain. Too much pain. His mind slipped away.
“—il! Vi..—“ the voices were coming and going, like someone turned the volume up and down, but stuffed it with TV static and cotton and then threw it under water.
“Virgil!” Until it was clear as day. He whined at the sudden loudness of the voice.. The voices faded out again. He wanted the sounds to stop. His body was too numb to move. Sleep.. He wanted sleep..
“Virgil, you need to get up!” Something was pulling on him. Something was burning. So many sounds were going off at once. It was overwhelming. He wanted to shut it off, his head was killing him. “Virgil!”
He finally opened his eyes, groaning at the effort, to try to figure out why everything was so loud, and realized Gordon was in front of him, trying to pull him up out of his seat on Thunderbird Two. “Wha’d’ya doin’..?” His words slurred, but in his head they were coherent.
“Getting you out of here, come on. We need to go! Your 'bird might explode.” Gordon was pulling him up as gently but as quickly as possible. “Come on..”
“Thun’nerbir.. Two explo’..?” That’s when the realization hit him.. Emergency landing. After a very rough rescue against a collapsing and burning building, Thunderbird Two’s engines took a big hit when crashed against falling debris from the building. They had to land it in an emergency, but the landing was not smooth by any means. With more than one engine out, and the left afterburner out, steering messed up, Thunderbird Two crashed into another building — thankfully an abandoned one — and then plummeted 1,000 or so feet to the ground, nearly nose diving into the solid ground. Virgil remembered feeling the impact, hearing things break, feeling severe pain for a brief second, and then nothing.
As he thought, his consciousness was slipping from him more. He wanted to sleep..
“Virgil!” The tugging wouldn’t stop. He groaned in annoyance and pain again. “Virgil!” Gordon finally convinced him to stand, but when Virgil stood, he swayed and nearly fell, but Gordon had a tight grip on him. The blonde cursed at himself for how much heavier Virgil was than he realized. “Come on, easy does it.” Gordon was quick but gentle as he eased Virgil out of Thunderbird Two, one of his arms slung over his shoulder. Virgil wondered why his usually comedic and quick quip brother was so serious and concerned at the moment.. Virgil’s memory kept going hazy.
Each step took Virgil’s breath away as he felt searing pain in his abdomen. Vision was blurring and blackening around the edges. Coughing. If not for Gordon keeping him steady, he was sure he would’ve collapsed then and there. Virgil didn’t quite understand why he was so dizzy.. He didn’t get injured. Gordon was injured, so why was Gordon trying to carry him out? At least, he thought..
“Gord’n..? You’re bleed’n..—“ he finally saw the blood on Gordon’s head, his abdomen, and hands.
“Yeah, just a small concussion. You’ve got it worse though. I patched you up the best I could, but the med bay is on fire. Sorry, you can yell at my handiwork later.”
Virgil scowled, quite confused. He wanted to check his brother over. By the time they exited Thunderbird Two, Gordon kept walking until they made it to another building several feet away. He gently lowered Virgil into a sitting position against the wall of the building. “Handiwork..?”he mumbled as he thought to himself. Looking at Gordon, he realized Gordon didn’t look injured at all, outside of a head injury. Then what was all of that blood from..? Virgil deducted he himself may have received a concussion due to the current events, and that the blood may have been from him. The dizziness, the pain, the trouble speaking.. The coughing. He didn’t dare touch his head.
“On the impact, not only did you hit your head, but didn’t you notice part of the dash was broken, Virg? Your bird basically sent shrapnel at you.” Gordon started, kneeling by Virgil to run through the basic medical checks.
“Oh.. I thought our Thunderbirds were proofed?” he didn't remember what word he was trying to say.
“Not crash proof.” Gordon added, with a sigh.
“Hmm..” he looked down to his own uniform. His baldric was actually torn. The uniform around his abdomen was stained red, but had a bunch of gauze wrapped underneath. Oh.. His uniform was zipped open.. Since when..? He went to touch it with his fingers, but a slightly smaller gloved hand pulled his hand away.
“I wouldn’t. Now, hold still will you, squiggly worm? I’m trying to call John and Scott, but that’s hard to do when you keep getting touchy feely. Not to mention, I rather you not black out again while I’m trying to.”
“S’rry, Squid.” He murmured, realizing now how hard it was to breathe and how hoarse his voice was. He closed his eyes momentarily. He must’ve dozed off because when he opened his eyes, Gordon was in a different position, talking to someone on the communicator. Huh, he must’ve passed out for a few seconds or minutes.
“FAB. Yeah, he’s stable. I’m just a bit dizzy, but it’ll pass. Yeah. My uniform isn’t damaged but V’s is.” Gordon’s voice faded briefly but came back when Virgil felt himself being propped up against something again. When did he fall back on the ground..? Odd, he didn’t remember. Unless Gordon picked him up and moved him again.
The wind around them picked up as he finally heard Thunderbird One’s engines. The purring of any Thunderbird engine calmed anyone in trouble who heard it. Yet, Virgil also knew this meant Scott would get mad at him later for risking his life somehow. Scott was like a father more than a brother in most cases.. But Virgil didn’t mind, he just wished Scott would care for himself more. Huh, he was wondering when he and Scott would have another painting session together, or sing songs again. With a sigh — more of a gasp — he decided to look at Scott, or at least try to.
Managing open his half lidded eyes, he realized how hard it was to stay awake. Brief conversations between Scott and Gordon were had and heard by Virgil, but not before his world flipped sideways again and began to blur more. He saw a flash of blue racing towards him. Odd, why were they running to him? He was fine.. Right..? He was the medic, the Thunderbird Two pilot. He had to be fine.. He was important. His lungs burned, and a metallic taste lingered on the top of his tongue.
He felt brief shaking, followed by panicked voices that were muffled and fading in and out. Everything eventually died out for him. He heard one last voice..
“Shit.. Virg! Virgil! Gordon, get—.." the voice slowly faded away.
Nothing.
But then he opened his eyes and realized he was in a field of flowers of multiple colors. He was still in his IR uniform, but his memory was foggy.
“Virgil. Why are you here? It’s too early.” That voice..
“Mom?..” he looked up at her. Ethereal. Angelic. Mom. “Mom!” He ran to hug her, hugging her tight.
“Virgil..” she hugged him back, tears escaping her eyes. “You shouldn’t be here. You need to go back.”
“Go back..?” Virgil was confused. His memory was hazy. “Go back where?” He backed up to look at her.
“Home. Your brothers need you, Virgil. I’ll not let you cross over, not yet.. It is not your time.” A sad smile. "Your job isn't done. The uniform you have on a symbol of hope, Virgil. For everyone, even your brothers." She hugged him again, before she grabbed him by his shoulders and spun him around. “Now go!” She gave him a gentle shove.
“But mom..!” He started to remember. “I..” he turned around to look at her.
A sad smile on her face. “Go on. I’ll be here when it truly is your time, now go. Continue to be the best pilot there is, just don’t tell your brothers I said that.”
“I.. I love you, mom.” He managed. He was remembering now. Thunderbird Two.. Crash.. Gordon.. Scott..?
“I love you too, dear.” He saw her smile as his vision began to fade and flicker as it seemed the ground collapsed and faded below him. The world he was in faded slowly and melted away. He was now floating in a black abyss.. But then even that floating dissipated. A heavy numbness overtook and realized now his eyes were closed, but he didn’t have the energy to open them at the moment.
“—‘ave him. He’s stabilized again. En route to the island.” Scott’s voice. Virgil heard Scott’s voice and Thunderbird One’s engines.. He was so tired, yet he felt safe. He was lulled back into sleep by the sound of his brother’s Thunderbird engines. That precious purr of a machine capable of Mach 19.. The sign that everything will be okay. He smiled faintly as his consciousness was robbed once more.
The next time he came to, he managed to blink open his eyes, but his vision was heavily blurred. He blinked again, still blurred but not as bad. Eventually, it slowly cleared. Something was annoying him on his face.. He brought his hand to his face, but hissed when he felt pain. Oh, an IV and an oxygen mask. He looked it up and down, then to his hand. Grandma’s excellent handiwork. “Hmm..”
“Awake now, are we?”
“Hey grandma.”
“You gave us all quite a scare, you know. Trying to compete with Gordon?”
“Not really, no..” he must’ve seemed sad, because she looked at him with sad eyes.
“Virgil, what’s wrong?”
“I saw mom.”
Grandma’s eyes went wide, then softened. She made a small, sad smile. “I’m glad your mom didn’t keep you, for once. We lost you there for a few minutes.”
“What?” Virgil could feel the confusion on his own face.
“Gordon and Scott said you stopped breathing quite suddenly. They were panicked on the coms, begging me to set up the infirmary for you.” She held his hand in hers and gently ran her other hand through his hair. “You went into shock, and began convulsing. It was due in part by that nasty head injury you received, or the large amount of smoke you inhaled while unconscious.”
“I thought I wasn’t injured too badly..?”
“Too badly? Virgil, you had metal shards in your stomach from the dashboard, part of your skull cracked, you had much internal bleeding from blunt force trauma. And that was outside of the smoke inhalation.” Her grimaced face was enough for Virgil to feel guilty and look away.
“I see.. Where are those two now?”
“Taking a shower, I scolded them. They wanted to wait until you woke up.”
“How long was I asleep?”
“Asleep and stable, about 7 hours. Aside from that, unconscious for a total of 9. It took two hours to fully stabilize you.” Virgil looked down as he intertwined his fingers and thumbs together, riddled with anxiety. She put one hand over his, and he looked up at her. She smiled warmly at him. “Don’t worry, Thunderbird Two is being fixed.”
“How’d you know—?”
“I know you boys and your machines. You all love them like you want to marry them all.”
Virgil felt the smile tugging on his face. “If Thunderbird Two were a woman, I’d surely marry her.” He grinned.
Grandma just rolled her eyes and patted his shoulder gently. “Sometimes I wonder how I manage to handle all of you.” She grinned.
“Me too.”
Not too long later, Scott and Gordon raced each other to the infirmary. Scott had won.. “ha!”
“Hey! No fair, you know I have a bad back!”
“Yeah, you’re the one who wanted to race.”
“Boys.” Grandma said with a grin.
“Yes?” They both turned in unison. “Virgil!” They both ran to his bed. Scott was checking him over. Gordon sat down on the edge of the bed.
“Glad to you’re finally awake and coherent.” Gordon grinned. “Should’ve seen how worried Scott was.”
“Me? You were worried, too!“ Scott huffed.
Virgil just laughed and they both stared at him. “Love you both too.”
Soft smiles exchanged. Scott then sighed. "Not gonna lie though, I was scared you and Thunderbird Two both left us, more so you."
"Aww come on, how can I die? I'm important. I have the best Thunderbird." Virgil grinned when he saw the smirk on his face. He knew what was coming.
"Second best. It is number Two for a reason." Scott was grinning. He knew he had won.
"Hey. Not fair to use numbers against me." Virgil rolled his eyes. Gordon was just laughing.
Not too long later, Alan strode into the room, still in uniform. “You’re awake!” He ran to him, sitting beside Gordon on the bed.
“And you’re still in uniform. Alan.” Scott was about to scold him.
“What? I wanted to see him first!” The youngest whined. “John said it’d be okay” he pouted.
“I’m okay with it.” Virgil said.
“See!” Alan pointed to Virgil and looked at Scott, pouting again.
“Alright alright, but change soon. You stink.” Scott grinned. Gordon just snickered until Alan elbowed him in the gut.
“Hey! Ow—“ Gordon whined. "I'm still bruised you know."
Scott pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. Brothers.
A hologram projection appeared over the bed. “Glad to see you’re alright, Virgil.” John said softly.
“I’m surprised the whole family came to see me.” Virgil was happy about it.
“Well, it’s always a family event when a Tracy is down.” grandma grinned.
“Umm.. How long until Thunderbird Two is repaired?”
"Brains said roughly 2 months tops. He's going to get help from the Mechanic." Scott then sighed. He wasn't a big fan of the mechanic, but he was working on building a T-Drive to save their father right now. "But that should speed the process up."
"I'm okay with that. As long as I get my baby back." He leaned into the bed and closed his eyes. A small smile. "Thank you guys."