Title: The Fate of Thundersub Two

Author: Gumnut

5 Jan 2020

Fandom: Thunderbirds Are Go 2015/ Thunderbirds TOS

Rating: Teen

Summary: You can push it only so far. Episode tag to 3.19.

Word count: 1920

Spoilers & warnings: Spoilers for 3.19 and future episodes of season 3.

Timeline: Immediately after 3.19

Author's note: This was quickly written with no brain and reflects the quality of my lack of cerebral functioning at the time. I literally killed off sleep to write this because I'm supposed to be writing my other fic. But we have an episode tag :D And hopefully I can sleep in a little tomorrow since it is nearly 2.30am at the moment. I hope you enjoy this anyway :D

Many thanks to my wonderful supporters, you know who you are. ::extra big hugs::

Disclaimer: Mine? You've got to be kidding. Money? Don't have any, don't bother.

-o-o-o-

Hiram Hackerbacker was a patient man. Science requires patience so it was to his advantage to have as much of it as possible.

However, having co-existed with the Tracy family for many years, that patience had often been tested, and today was another one of those days.

He had been in the midst of fuel calculations for the Zero-X. They had hit a snag in the weight and energy expenditure ratio and he was reduced to having to create a lighter, more energy efficient fuel. This required molecular calculation and design, something which involved a great deal of concentration.

To have John interrupt him to say that Virgil had taken Thunderbird Two for a swim yet again was enough to throw all the calculations out of his head. "W-what?!"

"I'm sorry, Brains, but Virgil needs your help. Two is on approach and her systems are experiencing intermittent failures."

"Th-that's because she is n-not a submersible."

John shook his head. "Rescue called for it and you know Virgil. Whatever is necessary."

Brains sighed. "V-very well."

John smiled at him before switching the feed to Thunderbird Two.

"V-Virgil?"

"Hi, Brains." There was considerable guilt in his fellow engineer's expression. "I have VTOL failure in two out of four engines and I suspect her port rear thruster isn't going to last much longer. I may need to crash land."

Brains bit back on a curse. "Have you t-tried the auxiliary p-power relays?"

"Yeah, no go."

Switching the feed to his phone, Brains strode out of his lab and ignored the door that slammed behind him. "Where are Gordon and Thunderbird Four?"

"FAB2."

"Why?"

"Didn't want to risk him. And, well, he had other concerns."

Brains frowned as he stormed into the comms room. Scott was glaring at him and the duplicate hologram of Virgil hanging in the middle of the room. Brains ignored him and pulled up Thunderbird Two's status.

He groaned.

"Virgil, you know as m-much as I that you c-can't land her. Her secondary c-computer core is flooded, her p-primary core is well on the way to joining it. It is a m-miracle you are still air-borne. In fact, you should d-ditch her into the ocean as s-soon as p-possible before the decision is t-taken from you."

The hologram of the second eldest Tracy sagged. "Where?"

"T-two hundred m-metres from the island m-minimum. We will r-recover her." Virgil's expression was tragic. "I promise."

Beside Brains, Scott straightened. "Virgil, that's an order. We can't risk you. I'll launch Thunderbird One and assist."

Virgil glanced down before obviously steeling himself. "FAB."

Scott's lips tightened and he nodded at his brother before loping up the steps and disappearing into his chute.

Moments later, One erupted out of the pool deck and disappeared to the south in search of her crippled sister.

Brains shivered.

And waited.

-o-o-o-

Virgil Tracy knew how to swear and at this moment he was exercising every piece of profanity he could bring to mind.

Brains was right. Two was going to fall from the sky, it was only a matter of time. His dash was screaming at him, a new red light and alarm added every few minutes. This would make it the third time he would have to fish his 'bird out of the ocean.

She dropped suddenly as her port thruster sputtered, her flight path skewing as her forward thrust struck out of balance. Shit. Goddamnit.

"C'mon, Two only a hundred or so kilometres and we're home."

She sputtered again.

And her port thruster died completely.

"Shit!" His girl swung around in an unbalanced turn, weight and thrust completely out of sync.

It was a terminal spiral dive. There was not a damn thing he could do.

Didn't stop him from trying.

She ignored him.

The ocean and sky began to spin.

A solid thunk on her hull, a screaming roar, and her spiral slowed, her altitude and direction corrected...and the blue of auto took over her controls. "Thunderbird One to Thunderbird Two, I have your control...what little you have. Compensating for your thruster failure. Virgil, bail out."

"Scott-"

"Now, Thunderbird Two!" His brother's voice stood for no argument.

Defeated. "FAB."

He threw his chair back and yanked out his emergency jet pack from the overhead locker. He secured it to his baldric and harness, and with one last look at his beloved cockpit, stepped onto the platform and sent it up through the overhead hatch.

The roar of One assailed him through his helmet, the wind a buffeting aggravation.

"Virgil, move your ass, she's about to hit!"

And the ocean was far too close for comfort.

He triggered the jetpack and shot up into the sky.

Just as his 'bird hit the water.

It was spectacular.

And heart-breaking.

One disengaged before impact, accelerating out of harm's way. Scott had killed Two's remaining thruster, but her speed was too fast and as her nose caught the water, the momentum differential between forward and back, flipped her head over tail.

Virgil gasped as her belly was exposed to the sun and she hit the water like a breaching whale.

His heart attempted to beat itself to death against his ribcage.

With little more than a bubbling sigh, his girl began to sink below the waves.

No.

"Deploying inflater bags." Scott's voice was protocol. Over comms specifically for Virgil, it was reassurance.

Yellow appeared in the water below and the bags rose, somewhat awkwardly as they were deployed from the now underside of the upside down Thunderbird.

But his girl was floating and not disappearing into the depths.

He let his breath go.

-o-o-o-

"Thunderb-bird T-Two is not a s-submersible!"

Gordon jumped as Brains' angry voice hit him. He had hurried back the moment John had told him that Virgil had crashed his 'bird. Of course, the Indian Ocean was a fair way away by sub, so it had taken him quite some time to make it back to the Island without the assistance of his cargo carrying brother.

After docking Four, Gordon had the unpleasant experience of discovering Two in her hanger. The puddle around her and behind her where she had been dragged in by the heavy duty pods punctuated her condition loudly.

Thunderbird Two wasn't going anywhere for quite some time.

"Lives were at stake." Virgil's voice was strained.

"Yes, including yours." Oh great, Scott was in on this. Though, to be honest, where else would Scott be in this situation? "You could have killed yourself, Virgil. Either in the water with the freighter or when you crashed your own ship."

"You ordered me to ditch her!"

"She was going down anyway! You would have been killed!"

Great. There it was. Scott had had the shit scared out of him again. How many times had his eldest brother been faced with Virgil crashing his 'bird?

Too many times.

Gordon sighed and took that last step into the comms room.

Someone had to save his brother from his big brother and the resident genius engineer.

"Hey, guys." All three turned to stare at him. "Virg, you okay?"

A single nod. Well, as okay as a Tracy brother could be when their 'bird is in pieces.

Brains' turned back to Virgil. "R-repairs are going to t-take some time. Time we do not have l-leading up to the Zero-X p-project."

"I will work on repairs."

"V-Virgil, you d-do not understand. Th-thunderbird Two's frame was w-warped in the collision. She is s-tructurally unsound. She n-needs a new hull. The plane in the hangar is only g-good for sp-spare parts."

Gordon's heart sank as Virgil stared at Brains.

"I-I'm s-sorry, V-Virgil. Thunderbird T-Two needs to b-be rebuilt entirely."

Virgil was still staring.

Gordon was doing a little staring of his own. "How can International Rescue operate without Thunderbird Two?"

"I'm a-afraid, it will h-have to m-make do."

Virgil was still staring at Brains, his expression caught in shock.

Scott looked a little stunned himself, but his eyes kept darting between the two engineers.

Until Virgil sat down hard on the couch behind his heels.

"Virgil?"

But Virgil had buried his face in his hands.

It was a matter of strides before Gordon was sitting beside his brother. "Hey, Virg. We will rebuild her." His hand landed on a tense shoulder.

Virgil didn't respond.

-o-o-o-

The next few days were quiet for Brains. Mostly because he was tackling the fuel design problem and not having much luck, so consequently had locked himself in his lab in order to focus on the problem.

It was the fourth day after the demise of their cargo carrier before he saw Virgil again. The pilot had disappeared into the villa and the few times Brains had surfaced for food or been physically dragged out of his lab by Sally Tracy, Virgil hadn't be anywhere to be seen.

He did know that John arrived down from Five on the second day and late one night as he was stumbling to his rooms, Scott and John could be heard having a very loud 'discussion' in the comms room. Brains knew better than to interrupt that. When the Tracy's argued, there was usually enough passion in the room to set the furniture alight, not to mention random engineers who might accidentally get in the way. So he went to bed and ignored it.

But on the fourth day, Virgil appeared in Brains' lab, eyes a little bloodshot and demeanour tired. Brains didn't realise he was there at first. It wasn't until Virgil reached around him and asked him about the fourth variable in his equation, that he realised he was being watched.

"Oh, V-Virgil. H-how are you?"

"Fine. Just on the hunt for some J-12 threads for Four." A frown. "What are you doing? Is that praeline oxide? Are you trying to bind it with neutrozine?"

"Yes. W-we need an increase in fuel energy with a r-reduction in mass."

"Why?"

"The Zero-X fuselage is too large to b-be launched at current r-ratios." He threw up the design hologram for his fellow engineer.

Those bloodshot eyes frowned. "You've based the design on the original Zero-X."

"M-most certainly. It was the m-most efficient d-design."

"But it is not working."

"No. We have d-different mass require-ments to the original d-design and, so far, I have been unable to compensate."

Virgil spun the hologram around on its axis. A slight frown and he pulled out his phone, stabbing it with his finger.

"Cahelium would lighten the load, perhaps enough to stick with the current fuel."

"We do not have enough p-processed cahelium in store and n-not enough t-time to refine more."

Virgil pursed his lips and stabbed his fingers at his phone again.

An undefined expression flickered across his face. Voice quiet. "Yes, you do." A swallow and he held up his phone. "Cannibalise Two."

Brains stared at the hurried calculations and his eyes widened. "Yes. That is perfect!" He scribbled down the numbers into his tablet. Within moments he had cross referenced the resources and added up exactly what he needed. Two would tip the scales. He could also possibly use her structure as it was. It would speed up production. Of course, with her damage, he would need to check her integrity thoroughly.

If only he could use Three as well, he could incorporate her strength here. That would require extra thrust there, but then Three had that strength already.

The calculations piled up in his head. By the time he had come up with a feasible design, Virgil was long gone.

-o-o-o-

FIN.