It was pure chance Virgil was with John that day. He could have said it was unexpected, but it would have been a lie. It was only a matter of time before another attempt was made.
John cursed himself for failing to pay enough attention to the probability algorithm.
But it was John who was there when Virgil was attacked. And as it was the first time, it was John who protected his brother.
That first time when John had defended Virgil from the mechas high in the sky above a beached Two, John had lost his wings.
No, not lost, they had been torn from his body, stolen, and it had been Scott and Kayo who had caught both of them.
It had taken so long for John to not quite recover from that incident. Virgil and Brains had given him back the ability to fly, but his white pinions were forever gone, replaced with the finest technological art his brother could create.
John was different in both form and mind after that.
Virgil, whose injuries were less permanent in a physical sense, had not recovered mentally. Virgil was almost as changed as John, despite the healing of his midnight black wings. Something had snapped inside the gentle engineer. He smiled less and was more fragile of mood. John knew he felt guilt regarding what had happened, but no matter what John said, Virgil’s shoulders still bowed under a weight that hadn’t been there before.
So, to have that same brother attacked in the middle of the street by minions of the man who haunted them…
It was the last straw.
These people had hurt them so much, hurt Virgil, Gordon and John himself, and yet, here they were attempting to take even more as if it was simply sport.
John broke.
They were in New York on Tracy Industries business. John had found an error in the financials and needed to speak in-person to the persons responsible. Virgil offered to fly him out in Two and shorten the trip considerably in the process.
It was a good chance to spend some time together. Scott was obviously envious over comms, attending an incident in Colorado, and John was tempted to invite him and the rest of the family out for an evening when they got back. Perhaps they could fly over to Sydney and watch the sunset over the harbour bridge.
But then Virgil was lured by the scent of the local coffee shop. It wasn’t anything unusual. His brother often grabbed one from that particular café when in town.
Virgil jogged down the street as John turned to enter their building.
Again, it was chance. Perhaps if John had walked faster or Virgil a little slower…
The sudden surprise, pain and oblivion that washed over John in that moment was enough to cause him to stagger on the steps. A woman screamed. He looked over to find several men lifting his unconscious brother off the sidewalk.
A van sat with its door open, halting traffic.
John’s wings lifted without thought. Alarm spread to his younger brother thousands of kilometres away on Tracy Island and as one they moved.
John launched from the steps.
His flight was short and sharp and several thousand dollars’ worth of Berluti’s finest handmade shoes made a significant impact on the nearest assailant.
They went down with a yell as John dropped his full weight on the man. One wing stabilised his balance and the other, no longer vulnerable flesh and bone, now lightweight, cahelium-laced metal, impacted hard on a second man.
Another down.
John retracted that wing and lashed out with the other, taking out a third man, all before any of them could react.
Virgil was tumbling towards the ground, as the men carrying him joined him in unconsciousness, and John grabbed at his brother, drawing him close.
That moment of distraction was enough for a gun to appear.
Clutching Virgil to his chest, John spun, crouched and enveloped both himself and his brother in the circle of his wings. Seven and a half metres of wingspan wrapped around them both as that gun fired.
And ricocheted off cahelium spar.
Perhaps there was a reason he had his wings taken from him.
Perhaps there was a cahelium lining to it all.
The gun fired again and John, felt the sharp vibration sing through artificial bones.
Virgil’s hair caught in his nose.
Hurried footsteps.
Profanity.
Someone grabbed at his wings and screamed. No doubt as his hands started bleeding from the razor-sharp edges of those metal feathers.
He held his big brother just a little tighter for the briefest of seconds before curling him up gently on the ground.
A brief touch of fingertips to his temple. Unconscious, Virgil lacked his usual vibrancy and John didn’t even know what had been done to him yet.
Only that he had been hurt.
Again.
Gentle Virgil.
Sunshine Gordon.
His own pain.
And still they wanted more.
A gun cocked.
No.
John spun as he rose, wings spreading out sharp and horizontal forming no less than a lethal whirling blade.
Cahelium feathers met flesh as he moved. The equations for force, velocity and momentum subconsciously calculating exactly what he needed to do to get the result required.
That woman screamed again as the gun fell clattering to the pavement.
Four bodies of varying health joined it.
Both sound and silence communicated medical needs to the trained responder’s ears.
They were ignored as John straightened.
The van’s tyres squealed as it tore off down the street without its target.
Silence fell over everything. Shock freezing traffic and pedestrians alike. Only the groans of the injured and the out-of-sight rest of the city graced the soundscape.
Red dripped off the ends of John’s feathers as he crouched next to his prone brother. Virgil’s pulse was unsteady and he was sporting a bleeding wound on the back of his head. Whatever they had hit him with, they had hit him hard.
Curling him into his arms, John half-folded and gently scooped his wings under his brother. Lifting him smoothly off the ground, he carried him back towards the entrance to their building.
Just as the roar of Thunderbird One tore into the airspace above the street.
Gordon was buzzing at the back of John’s mind, desperate to know what was going on.
Scott’s aggravation was obvious as he dumped One blocking all traffic in front of Tracy Industries’ New York offices.
John turned and carried his big brother out towards the safety of the Thunderbird.
Her pilot seat lowered and Scott was there, concerned eyes, worried words and questions.
But the questions could wait and a hoverstretcher relieved John of his brother’s weight.
John folded his bloodied wings and let them go.
One’s engines roared as they lifted off, but they didn’t manage to drown out John’s heartbeat. The scanner in his hand told him that Virgil would be okay once he recovered consciousness and worked through the concussion that was brewing…
John’s shoulders dropped and he leant over his brother, his hands gripping the side of the docked stretcher enough to whiten his knuckles.
He screwed his eyes shut ever so tight.
The hand that landed on his arm was gentle, but insistent. “Talk to me, John.”
He didn’t open his eyes. “They tried to take Virgil.” A breath. “I didn’t let them.”
Scott shifted beside him, an arm reached around John and drew him close. His head was nudged to Scott’s shoulder and he let himself be pulled into a full embrace, grateful for the comfort.
Scott’s words were little more than breath. “Thank you.”
John opened his eyes at that and turned enough to set eyes on his unconscious brother. Virgil was ever so pale in the overhead lighting in such contrast to his usual animation.
An indrawn breath.
“Never again.” He let that breath out. “God, never again.”
-o-o-o-
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