Title: V. T. Green

Part Eight

Author: Gumnut

20 - 25 Oct 2019

Fandom: Thunderbirds Are Go 2015/ Thunderbirds TOS

Rating: Teen

Summary: "Did you discover this, Brains?" He frowned. There was something familiar about this. Maybe they had discussed it recently.

"Oh, no, this is V. T. Green. The man is brilliant."

Word count: 3555

Spoilers & warnings: None.

Timeline: Standalone

Author's note: Here we are, the final chapter. I've been staring at this for far too long, so who knows what's in here. Thank you for all your wonderful support on this fic. I hope it lived up to expectations and I hope you enjoy this last bit.

Many thanks to scribbles97, vegetacide and thunderstorm-bay for all their wonderful help with this.

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

-o-o-o-

Virgil slammed the door to his rooms behind him. Okay, so he was being petty, but they should have known. Why didn't they know?

Whatever.

Now he was here, he had no idea what to do with himself. A glance around the room and he realised this was not where he wanted to be.

His 'bird.

He would go and work on his 'bird.

With one hand.

He stared down at the sling restricting the movement of his arm. A moment of thought, and he was sliding the offending piece of material off his arm.

Scott had force fed him his medication so there was only twinging. He tentatively stretched his arm out.

Ow.

Okay, respect needed.

At least he could shower and change his clothes.

His train of thought was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Virgil?"

Gordon.

A sigh. "Leave me alone."

"Not this time, bro." The sounds of fumbling and a second later Gordon waltzed through the door.

"What the hell did you do to that lock?"

Gordon held up the unit in one hand. "This one?" Wires hung loose from the half disassembled electronic device. Virgil stared at it.

"What? You didn't know I could do that? Hmm, you've underestimated me, bro. I should get angry and storm out."

Virgil's shoulders dropped and he sent his brother a flat-eyed glare. "Fine. Do that. At least I'll be left alone."

The lock landed on a side table and Gordon shut the door quietly behind him.

Virgil ignored him and began pulling off his shirt, prepping for his shower. His arm and shoulder protested loudly.

"Hey." Gentle hands pulled the sleeve of his flannel shirt off his arm. "You shouldn't have that sling off yet."

"Yeah, well, I stink and I want to shower."

His brother's hands didn't stop helping him. The flannel shirt landed on the couch, followed slowly by his grey undershirt.

"You're not pulling my pants off."

"Why not?" Gordon looked up at him, no trace of humour in his expression. "You've helped me with everything." That gaze intensified.

Virgil sighed. It felt wrong to have his little brother helping him like this. "That was different."

"Why? Because you're the older brother? I'm sorry, Virg, I can't change our birth order, but I'm still going to help you."

"Gordon..."

His brother darted in and undid his button and, before he knew it, he was standing there in his briefs.

No smart ass comment passed his brother's lips despite the green coffee cups on his underwear. The two men stood staring at each other for a moment.

Virgil's lips curled up slightly in a smile. "It must be killing you to hold it all in."

Gordon bit his lip, but his eyes sparkled. "Not saying a thing."

The smile became a grin and Gordon's expression became pinched with strain. Before he knew it, Virgil was laughing his ass off. He ended up holding his arm close and sitting down on the couch in order to not injure himself with his own humour.

His little's brother's face broke out in a grin and he sat down beside him. "That is so much better, Virg."

The laughter petered out into a fond smile and Virgil reached out to put an arm around Gordon's shoulders.

The aquanaut backed off immediately. "Hey, you're almost naked! A little too much skin, bro."

Virgil grinned and mussed his hair instead.

"Oh, man. Gettorf!" Gordon flailed at his fingers.

He let his brother off the hook and sank into the couch cushions. "Thanks, Gordon."

A brown gaze so similar to the one he so often saw in the mirror. "Virgil, do you think I'm smart?"

He froze, the question such an echo of what he had asked Scott the day before, his heart lurched.

"Sure, Gordon."

The gaze didn't blink. "No, you don't, Virgil."

"Gordon! Your achievements-"

But Gordon was shaking his head. "You don't, Virgil." He held up a hand. "I'm not angry, not hurt, don't worry, I'm happy with what I am."

"No! Gordon, you are smart."

"Not the same smart as you. Or John."

"Maybe not, but smart comes in many different forms."

His brother shrugged. "How did I get into this room, Virg?"

"You broke the lock." Another job to add to his list.

"I disassembled the locking mechanism." A pause. "Did you know I could do that?"

"Uh-"

"You didn't, did you?"

Virgil looked down at his hands. "No, I didn't."

"Virg, I have a whole array of skills I don't use day to day. Some of them I hope I never have to use again, ever."

A darted stare at his brother. "WASP."

"Yep." A quirk of a smile. "I doubt my brothers are aware of half of the things I'm capable of." The smile became grim. "And I'd like to keep it that way." A shrug. "Okay, maybe Scott knows more than most, but..." He turned to face Virgil. "I don't want you to see how smart I am." He straightened and the smile came back. "I like being the goofball brother."

Virgil's smile was soft. "You'll always be the goofball brother. No contest."

"And you will always be the grumpy bear before his morning coffee no matter how many smarts you declare."

The smile became fond. "How did you know, when no one else did?"

Gordon shook his head. "Sorry, bro, I didn't. You told me with your reaction."

"At least you considered the possibility."

"Didn't I say that the first rule of International Rescue is if Virgil says it is, it is? That didn't come from me, you know. John passed that on in a lecture after I screwed up, and he heard it from Scott when he screwed up before me. Scott heard it from Dad. It is a rule that has been learnt the hard way by all of us. Except you. Because you are damn good at what you do, Virg. You may not realise it, but trust me, your brothers do."

Gordon drew a breath. "We didn't realise that you were V.T. Green because we have gotten so used to your expertise in action, we forgot the theory behind it all. We know you're smart and we rely on it every day. I've seen your head buried in so many engineering journals over the years, I should have realised it sooner, but don't you dare think that because we didn't connect the dots between you and a website, that we don't know our brother has whatever it takes." A small smile. "Because you always do. That brain of yours has saved our butts so many times, Virg."

"But, Brains-"

"What is this? A competition?" Gordon frowned at him. "Brains is smart, too. So are John, Alan, Scott, Tin, Grandma and even me. There is no shortage of genius on this island. It just comes in different forms, just like you said. It has to. Otherwise this crazy rescue organisation wouldn't work."

The room fell silent. Goosebumps rose on Virgil's arms, the air still a little cool at this time of the morning. Another reason to sleep in. Give the island some time to warm up.

"I'm sorry, Gordon. I shouldn't have exploded like that."

"What? Of course, you should have. It doesn't hurt to surprise everyone now and again. Keeps them on their toes. Well, all except for Tin."

Virgil snorted. "Nothing gets past her."

"I wouldn't be surprised if she bugged your underwear."

He stared at his brother. "What?"

Gordon just grinned at him.

"You are the goofball, aren't you." It wasn't a question.

"And you wouldn't have me any other way."

He reached out to tousle Gordon's hair again and the man ducked off the couch.

A fond grin. "No, I wouldn't."

-o-o-o-

Virgil managed his shower and Gordon left him to it. It gave him time to think. Time to look at it all from a different perspective. Kayo had dobbed him in for a reason. His sister never did anything without a reason and honestly, now the cat was out of the bag, it lifted the worry from his shoulders. Perhaps he should thank her. Maybe grab some of her favourite chocolate from that little shop in southern Australia.

But he still had to face Brains and for the first time in his life, he was hesitating in approaching his fellow engineer.

There had never been anything but a strong and honest friendship between himself and Hiram Hackenbacker. His friend was just that little bit older than him, just that little more experienced...

And so much smarter.

He had been inspirational when Virgil was younger. His studies had been both guided and assisted by the brilliant young engineer discovered by his father. Brains had been there at the start of his career and he had been a constant companion in his engineering endeavours ever since. He owed him so much.

He sighed.

It would be up to Virgil to approach Brains. The man's social skills were almost inversely proportional to his genius.

He should have spoken to him earlier.

Brothers were one thing, they would forgive him eventually. They were his brothers.

But friends...mentors...

He didn't want to lose Brains' trust.

He managed to get some pants on without too much trouble. He gave up on the undershirt and slipped the sling on over his bare chest before draping his flannel shirt over his injured shoulder and slipping his good arm through the sleeve. It wasn't the greatest solution and Grandma would likely frown at him, but he didn't care.

What he did care about was hunting down Brains and apologising.

He made it through the house without encountering anyone, oddly enough, and caught the elevator down to the labs.

Virgil had his workshop. Brains had his labs. Perhaps that illustrated the subtle differences to their individual approaches to engineering. Traditionally, Brains tackled the theories and experiments. Virgil's domain was more maintenance. His 'experiments' little more than finding solutions to mechanical problems encountered in the field or during repairs.

Brains designed and built Thunderbirds.

Virgil kept them in the sky, under the water and in space.

And it was there in the corridor between Labs One and Two that he realised exactly what his problem was.

He was in Brains' shadow and he hadn't even realised it.

The thought stopped him in his tracks.

He was familiar with the shadow cast by his high achieving eldest brother. Scott Tracy had always been a hard act to follow. But Virgil's focus was so different to Scott's he felt he had carved out his own niche and, to be honest, he was quite comfortable beside Scott. He fit well as his second and a small niggling voice at the back of his mind sometimes warned him that he was relying far too much on his brother for skills he had no wish to develop himself.

But Brains...Brains shared his interests, worked in the same field, was so much smarter...

Had he slipped into being Brains' second as well?

The thought felt wrong. Virgil wasn't competitive. He was happy where he was...wasn't he?

He still had those thousands of notifications in his inbox.

Shit.

"Virgil?"

He jumped. He had been completely lost in thought standing in the middle of the corridor. Brains was staring at him.

Virgil straightened. "Uh, hey, Brains."

"H-how are you feeling?"

A blink. "Um, okay." He was such an on-the-ball conversationalist this morning.

"I was h-hoping that while you are off r-rescues we could..." But Brains' voice petered off and a frown crumpled his brow. "I am s-sorry, V-Virgil, that I did not r-recognise you as V-V. T. G-Green."

Virgil shifted where he stood. "I didn't know you read my blog. Well, until the other day."

"Oh, your blog is amazing. That polymer is brilliant. I also enjoyed your discussion with O'Malley regarding tensile steel versus polysteel in bridge construction. Where did you get that idea for interweaving the two materials?"

"From that bridge in Mexico last year. The one that buckled due to uneven weight distribution on the secondary pylon grouping."

The engineer was running calculations, Virgil could tell. "Yes, I can see that now. Do you think that would have m-managed the harmonic wind factor as well?"

"Oh, definitely." And that led into a discussion of harmonic pressure and the properties of the new combination of materials. They slipped easily into engineering jargon and they ended up in one of Brains' labs deep in the most fascinating and satisfying discussion Virgil had ever had with his friend.

It was Scott standing in the doorway several hours later that finally snapped them out of the land of scientific imagination. By that time, the self-healing polymer was modelled and ready for initial experimental trials.

"Am I going to have to share him with you now, Brains?" Scott was smiling, obviously amused. Virgil wondered how long his brother had been standing there.

But Brains grew flustered. "Th-that's entirely u-up to V-Virgil."

Virgil held up a hand. "Hey, nothing's changed. I'm still the same wrench monkey I was yesterday."

Brown eyes caught his. "N-no, Virgil, you are so much more. I-I'm j-just s-sorry I didn't see it b-before." His friend's shoulders dropped.

"Hey." He walked over to the engineer and placed his good hand on Brains' shoulder. "I should have told you. Though, I honestly didn't realise...a lot of things." He squeezed gently. "But now we know and we can move forward." It was quite exciting really. Brains had experience Virgil could learn from and Brains saw possibilities in several of Virgil's theories.

"Wh-why did you shut d-down your website?" It came out in a rush, the worry on Brains' face obvious.

Virgil was very aware of his silent brother still standing just inside the door. And, no, he hadn't missed the bottle of pills in Scott's hand.

Voice quiet. "Abby Applegate. You made me realise the potential I was making public. I pulled it to give myself time to work out what I want to do with my theories."

"You want to keep them under the blanket of International Rescue?" It was Scott's commander voice asking the question and it had Virgil automatically straightening his posture in response.

He turned to his brother. "I haven't decided yet."

"But isn't this technology that the Hood could..."

Virgil held up a hand. "This technology could save thousands of lives and, yes, if it got into the wrong hands it could make our jobs harder, but..." And as he was saying it, the idea clarified in his mind. "It could save so many more lives than we ever could, if we release the technology so manufacturers can build it into their products to prevent us from needing to be called in, in the first place."

"Virgil-"

"No, Scott. I have to think on this further, but this polymer, at least, will be released in some form. Maybe we can release it through Tracy Industries, maybe some other way, But I don't want to deny the possibilities it could mean for sheer safety in areas like marine habitation or airships, for example."

His brother's glance immediately flicked to the other engineer in the room. "Brains?"

Virgil couldn't believe it. The rational part of his mind knew it was only reflex on Scott's part, but... "No! This isn't Brains' decision, it's mine!"

He saw the moment of realisation as to what he had done flicker across Scott's eyes. His mouth opened but Brains interrupted. "Th-this is V-Virgil's decision."

Virgil straightened his spine.

Scott echoed his stance, but his voice was soft. "Yes. Yes, it is."

"I need to remember that."

-o-o-o-

When Scott finally dragged him out of Brains' lab, Virgil discovered it was later than he expected. He and Brains had well and truly gotten lost in their discussion. It was lunch time, but a very late one. His eldest brother continued the dragging all the way to the kitchen. There was pill taking demanded, followed by a glare directed seat at the table.

Food appeared in front of him.

Brothers wandered into the room and found their own lunches. Soon there were conversations bouncing around.

Gordon clapped him around his good shoulder as he entered. "So, when is Four getting this groovy polymer upgrade?"

"It doesn't even exist yet. We're still a way off a workable application."

"Hey, just getting in first dibs. I read your blog entry on that you know. It was amazing."

Virgil stared at him. "You read my blog entry?"

"Sure. Brains was over the moon about it and I wanted to know more. Plus, it was great sport to see you put that colon-custard guy where he belonged." Gordon grinned.

Okay, that was an image. He held back a shudder. "Coloncous."

"Whatever. You scored big." His fish brother swiped a piece of carrot off Virgil's plate. "Let me know next time you want to take down another hot air balloon, I'd like to watch." He grinned and headed off into kitchen, likely to pilfer from other plates before finally throwing his own lunch together.

A glass of juice appeared at his elbow, Scott arching an eyebrow to match Virgil's query, the message obvious. Look after yourself.

Brains wandered in, distracted as usual. This time it was John who stopped him from colliding with the furniture and directed him to a chair before he collided with anything else.

Kayo slunk into a seat beside Virgil on his good side, nudging him with her elbow. "Forgive me?"

"For what?"

"Telling."

A one shoulder shrug. "I guess."

"They had to know."

"I guess."

She stared at him a moment, her expression assessing him. "Letting an opponent underestimate you makes good tactical sense. Just don't underestimate yourself."

"I..." But the words escaped him as her green gaze pierced him, pushing her point home.

Her hand rested on his shoulder and she leant in and whispered in his ear. "Though I must say it was great sport to see you get one over all of them." She smiled. "Never underestimate a Tracy."

And with those words she was gone from his side and delving into the refrigerator as if there was no physical space between him and the appliance.

A blink. Kayo was a law unto herself. He shook his head and couldn't help but smile.

A sudden exchange of words at the kitchen counter ended in an outraged squawk. "Gordon!"

Alan had raw egg in his hair and dripping into his eyebrows and onto his cheeks.

A second later, Gordon had flour in his hair.

As Virgil leapt out of his chair and Scott dove across the room, another egg sailed through the air and the butter dish made airborne. It got loud and there was yelling.

"What the hell are you two doing?!" Scott was answered by a cloud of flour.

"Hey, guys, cut it out!" Virgil reached into the fracas with his good arm and yanked, landing himself a furious Alan screaming profanities at Gordon and coated in what equated to omelette.

His eldest brother grabbed a glaring Gordon and restrained him. There was moment of stunned silence before an angry Scott broke it. "What the hell are you two doing?"

"Teaching the squirt a lesson."

"Screw you, Gordon!"

"What? Did you underestimate your dumb brother, genius boy?"

"I never said you were dumb!"

"You don't think I've got the brains to keep up with you."

Virgil had to pull Alan back again, his balance off due to one arm in a sling. His littlest brother was furious. "I never said that either!"

"But you thought it!"

"HEY!" It was Virgil's voice, not Scott's that brought the argument to a dead stop. "Gordon, what the hell?"

The aquanaut lost the glare and let his shoulders drop, shifting to a nonchalant stance as if he wasn't coated head to toe in flour and egg. He ignored Virgil and addressed his little brother. "Point made?"

Alan shook off Virgil's grip and straightened up, his shoulders squared. "Point made."

"We good?"

A stare at his next eldest brother before Alan once again shifted his stance, relaxing even further. "We're good." And to Virgil's astonishment, Alan's face split into a grin. "That was a smart move with that first egg. Did not see it coming."

"You shouldn't expect anything less, little bro."

"I know, I know, point made. You're smart, I'm smart. Now show me how you flipped your wrist like that."

Virgil stared as the two youngest brothers huddled together discussing how to slingshot an egg with a single wrist twist. Across the room, Scott appeared equally mystified as to what had actually happened.

Eventually the engineer just rolled his eyes and wandered over to the sink to wash the flour off his hand. Scott ended up beside him, the smother hen helping him clean his one hand.

Virgil rolled his eyes.

"We good?" Scott's voice was quiet almost tentative.

A frown. "Of course. Yes, we're good."

He was surprised at the smile that spread over Scott's face. A wet hand squeezed his shoulder and handed him a towel.

And dried his one hand.

Oh, for the love of...

Scott was grinning at him.

"God, you're an ass."

"Yeah, a smart one."

Virgil cuffed him up the back of his head.

-o-o-o-

FIN.