The emergency call logo on the console lit up and John punched the button to answer it, eager for something to do. "International Rescue, what's your emergency?"
Selene paused, unsure of how to continue since she hadn't really expected to get an answer after calling a random number on google. "... Erm... Hi?"
John's sigh could have been heard from Mars. "Are you in need of help... Miss?" He couldn't see who was calling, the video part of the call having been blocked.
"Yes, yes I am definitely in need of help!"
"And how may we assist? Is your life in immediate danger?"
She awkwardly lifted her head up to look. "If this branch snaps, then yes."
"Branch?" He could feel a headache coming on and pinched the bridge of his nose in an effort to relieve some of the tension . "Miss, have you been drinking?" Now that he thought about it her words did sound a little slurred.
Sel paused again as she started another slow rotation, looking all around her for a way to get down. "There may have been mead..."
"Mead?" Who did he have on the phone, a viking?
"Yes, mead, it's a honey wine made..."
"I know what mead is, Miss-"
"Selene, my names Selene, and yours is?"
"Erm..." he was pretty sure they weren't allowed to give names out willy-nilly to drunk girls on the phone.
"Nice to meet you, Mr Erm... Now, as I was saying, I need a bit of help here."
"What's your current situation? I can't help unless I know who and what to send."
"Promise you won't laugh?"
John's eyes slid to the button on his console that pulled up the feed to Tracy Island, debating. Were they too far away to help him, or could the woman fend for herself? He decided that he was a professional and will just have to cope.
"I don't make it a habit to laugh at people in trouble, it's not a nice thing to do with this job."
Sel scowled at her phone as if she could project it to him and he'd feel it full force. "That's not a promise..."
"I promise I won't laugh at you. What is the problem?"
"I'm counting on you, Mr Erm... OK, so, I was coming back from the summer solstice celebrations..."
John's eyes widened, was he was dealing with a drunk hippy... "And?"
"And there was this owl that I tried to avoid. My bristles hit a power line and sparked and I pitched sideways and the tree caught me."
"Bristles?" She was crazy. Pure, unmedicated lunatic.
"Yes, and now my broom is on the ground, the shaft snapped and I fear my knicker elastic is about to go the same way..."
His fingers flew over the console as he pulled up the locations of his brothers, one of them would have to take over, his brain couldn't cope. Scott was already out, Alan was on a job with Kayo and Brians, so that left Virgil and Gordon. Virgil could likely be counted on to be a professional but Gordon was another matter entirely. Her last words pulled him up short.
"Knicker elastic?"
"Yes!" Her tone was growing more desperate by the second. "I kinda slid down a branch and my underwear got caught on something and it's the only thing keeping me in the tree, I appear to be hanging with my head closer to the ground than my feet. I've managed to get my legs around a branch but I'm kinda in an atomic wedgie situation and can't move."
He couldn't help it and only just managed to stifle his snort of amusement.
"YOU PROMISED YOU WOULDN'T LAUGH!"
"I'm not laughing," he lied, fighting to control his shaking voice.
"Don't lie to me, Mr Erm! I can hear you you know!"
"My name isn't Erm," he corrected absently as he concentrated on tracking her phones location. She had to be pranking him, there was no way... He hacked into the nearest satellite to her location, the picture swinging around to show him... Shit! How the fuck was she still talking so calmly? She was indeed very much stuck, her skirt hanging down obscuring her face, just a shock of black hair streaked with purple hanging below the hem. Long legs were wrapped around a branch and her underwear was on full show. Below her on the ground was a broken broomstick, snapped in a couple of places, singed twigs scattered all around. There were a number of other items, including what looked to be a dagger of some kind and an old book that had fallen to join it.
"What is it then?" Her tone was conversational even though he could see she was still struggling, one arm bent at the elbow, obviously holding her phone while the other flailed uselessly.
"What's what?" he was too distracted by the scene before him to follow the weirdest conversation he'd ever had, and when you had four brothers you heard some random shit.
"Your name, or do I just start calling you Mr sexy voice?"
Selene grinned to herself as his choked cough reached her ears.
"Are you seriously trying to flirt while hanging from a 30ft high branch?" He'd tapped a button, patching him into the island where Gordon answered his call.
"Who's flirting?" Gordon leapt straight onto his brothers last comment.
"Well I was before I realised how fucking high up I am! Will you bloody well help me? I swear, I'll love you forever if you don't let me fall and die with my head smashed in and my brains on the ground near StoneHenge! It's not much of a brain, but it's mine and I kinda need it!"
"No one's letting you die today. Just hang on for a minute."
"Is that a joke? What else can I fucking do!"
John muted the screaming woman and turned back to his brother, who was currently rolling around the couch, laughing so hard he could barely breathe. "John...she's...she'll love you forever..." he broke off, wheezing too hard to form words.
Thankfully for John's sanity, his second eldest brother chose that moment to wander in from the kitchen. Virgil looked from his coffee cup, full of freshly brewed dark goodness, to his middle brother's floating hologram, and then to his second youngest who was rocking in a heap on the floor, gasping for air. He was never going to get to drink his coffee now. Sadly, reverently, he placed the mug down on the coffee table and, against his better judgment, asked for more information.
John was quick to fill him in, flashing up the satellite footage that still showed the witch wiggling like a worm on a hook, trying to reach a nearby branch with her one free hand. The image sent Gordon off into a fresh burst of laughter that almost drowned out John's words.
"Tell her we're on our way," Virgil scooped up his brother, who was too weak from laughing, tears streaming down his face, and propelled him towards 2's hanger.
Taking a steadying breath, John unmuted the woman, wincing as her demanding screams for help reached his ears.
"Calm down, miss, I've dispatched a rescue team."
"You left me! How dare you! I thought we had a connection, I thought we had a thing going on! Don't you dare leave me again or I'll hunt you down!"
"I didn't leave you..."
"You ghosted me, you shit!"
"I promise I didn't ghost you..." What the hell even was ghosting? "I promise I won't leave you again."
Gordon's laughter could still be heard from his co-pilot seat on 2 and even Virgil's deep chuckle had joined it.
"Are they laughing at me! Don't make me curse you all, I'm a Witch, I can do it!"
"You needed help, and they are the only ones available."
Sele took a deep breath, trying to calm down, the panic was making things worse.
"Just…just tell them to hurry, because I'm losing feeling in my legs and my head is swimming and not in a good way."
The change in her tone allowed him to hear the fear there, and he remembered the fact that she really must be terrified to be stuck in such a situation, no matter how crazy she seemed.
"They will be there in less than ten minutes," he promised. "They are professionals and will have you safe in no time. Just keep talking to me, I'll stay on the line until they reach you."
"Aren't you coming? You promised you wouldn't leave me. Maybe it escaped your notice but I'm in a bit of a delicate situation here and I don't know them!"
"You don't know me!" Exasperation, thy name is John Tracy.
"But you sound nice! That's enough right now!"
"I can't really leave right now..."
"You totally could," Gordon piped up, and John wrote himself a reminder to punch his brother the next time he saw him. "If you leave now we'll probably get there around the same time..."
"No, I'm not-"
"It has been a while since you last came out with us..." Virgil helpfully added.
"This is not a family outing!"
"You're related?" Selene pounced on that bit of information, their argument amusing her immensely and helping to take her mind off her situation.
"Just get your ass down here, John," Gordon demanded, he had to see how his usually unflappable brother dealt with this mad woman when he wasn't miles away in orbit.
"I prefer the name Mr Sexy Voice, but John will do too," Selene commented, slowly blinking to try to clear her head.
John knew when he was beaten. He switched 5 to automated monitoring and headed towards the elevator, programing in her coordinates as he settled in the seat.
Ignoring his brothers, he spoke again to the woman.
"You doing OK there, Miss?"
Instead of answering she burst into song. "I need a hero. I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night..."
That sent his, soon to be disowned, brothers into fresh hysterics.
He was never going to live this down...
***
A thundering roar made the tree she was hanging from shake dangerously as something massive came in close to where she was doing her undignified dangling. She heard the sound of running footsteps and then a grinning face appeared below her.
"Hi, I'm Gordon, John didn't tell us your name."
She reached out her free hand as if to shake his but realised she was way too far away and tugged it back. "Selene, pleased to meet you."
Another head popped into her line of vision who introduced himself as Virgil.
"So, you guys with the government or something?" she tried to keep herself occupied as they busied themselves with figuring out how to get her down.
Virgil paused to frown. "Erm...No. You don't know us?"
She shook her head and almost passed out, spots dancing before her eyes. She'd periodically been lifting her head to relieve some of the pressure, but it made her neck hurt and it harder to breathe.
"You've not heard of us on the news?"
"I don't really keep up with current affairs..." she struggled to maintain her focus on the men below, wishing that the one with the nice voice was still talking to her.
"So how did you know who to call?" Gordon questioned, stunned that anyone could not have at least heard of them. That wasn't good for his ego.
She shrugged as best she could upside down. "I hit my google button and asked it to call for help. Talking of Google, can I drop my phone now, my hands starting to cramp?"
"Sure, you'll be able to hear John through our comms," Virgil assured her.
"Where is he?" she clicked off her phone and tucked it awkwardly back into her bra, hoping it would stay put and let her arms drop down to dangle above her head.
"I'm on my way." His smooth voice did a lot towards calming the panic that she was trying so hard to hide with jokes and good humour.
Gordon and Virgil were discussing a plan, something that involved a pulley system, a grappling hook and much praying, she didn't pay much attention to the details. She was more focused on the fact that she felt very sick and although she had now sobered up from adrenaline and shock, she was still upside down and the human body was not designed for such a thing. Her heart was pounding in her ears and she was feeling a tightness in her chest, struggling to keep breathing deeply and calmly.
The boys got to work, not waiting for their brother to touch down, not liking the redness to her face or the way her eyes kept drifting closed for longer periods before she roused herself. With a carefully calculated blast, an eye with a rope threaded through was fired at the top of the tree, giving them enough room to manoeuvre without hitting her.
They anchored the rope into the ground and attached a hand cranked winch and clamped on a small platform on which Gordon seated himself. Once he was secured he nodded to Virgil, who began to turn the handle of the winch, and Gordon began his assent.
She really was in a bad situation, a slender but sturdy branch had managed to rip itself through the fabric of her underwear while thankfully not embedding itself in her plump butt cheek, but there was no way she could have gotten herself free. She had managed to lock and loop her ankles around a branch higher up which had saved her from falling if the flimsy material had given out, which it inevitably would have. There were no branches close enough for her to hold with her arms and with the branch caught on her undercarriage there was no way she could sit herself upright enough to even attempt to pull herself up to the branch above. She knew because she had tried before she had thrown her dignity to the wind and called for help.
OK, this was not the sight he had expected earlier when the call had come in, he admitted to himself as he stared at the smaller branch that was wedged in against her left butt cheek, having grazed the skin enough to draw a little blood and leave the flesh tinged pink. He grinned, allowing himself a moment to enjoy the view...
"Are you staring at my arse?" she screeched.
"No!" He totally was. "I'm assessing the situation."
John strode into the woods, following the sound of his brothers and the screeching of the woman. His older brother was at the base of the tree, pulling on a rope that held his younger brother aloft. Gordon did not seem to be having an easy time dealing with her, something he could sympathise with. Nothing about her had been easy from the moment he answered the call.
As he neared the tree he clearly heard her accusing Gordon of staring at her butt. A surprising and uncontrollable spurt of jealousy shot through him at the thought of anyone else looking at her and he found himself raising his voice for the first time in years as he yelled at his brother.
"Stop staring at her ass!"
A new face appeared in her line of vision and she felt what little breath she had left in her lungs woosh out in a rush. He was... Wow.
"Damn, boy, you fine."
He glanced up as he reached the base of the tree and got his first, albeit upside down and quite far away, look at the woman.
She had a pale complexion, her skin almost silvery in the moonlight. Her eyes, from what he could see of them, were large and framed by carefully executed eyeliner that emphasised and elongated their natural shape. She was wearing a corset gown of some kind, almost medieval in appearance which was doing a valiant job of keeping her breasts in place, though he couldn't help the tiny prayer that he send up, hoping that it would lose its battle with gravity very soon.
She greeted him with a wide smile and apparently she liked the look of him as much as he did her, although Gordon seemed to find the idea hilarious.
The body, currently suspended next to her, began to shake as Gordon dissolved into fresh fits of laughter. "Your head must really be messed up if you think he's the good looking one."
She couldn't turn around enough to glare, but she tried.
Gordon managed to pull himself together enough to reach out and test the strength of the branch her legs were clinging to.
"Just stay still for a minute, I'll try to snap this one that's trapped you and..."
"Hell no! You'll drop me!"
"I won't drop you."
"You're tiny and short! I'm huge, I'm 5ft 10, I'll crush you!" She flailed in a sudden panic, and he only just managed to close his legs in time before her fist hit something delicate.
"I am not tiny!" He was so insulted. "I'm trying to rescue you, you mad woman!" He reached towards her butt, intending to snap the branch but she screamed again.
"I'm gonna die with a someone groping me!"
The witch, being the awkward and obstinate thing she was, was refusing to let his brothers help her, on the verge of a blind panic that could be dangerous. If she lost her grip she would be seriously hurt.
The seat Gordon was sitting astride wobbled and dipped a few feet as Virgil briefly lost his grip on the rope, his shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.
Gordon yelped as he dropped, which didn't instill her with much confidence.
"I respectfully request another rescuer!" At Gordon's outraged "Hey!" she hurriedly tacked on, " no offence, I'm sure you're great and we can totally go get drinks after but you know..."
"No more drinks for you!" John bellowed up the tree.
"Is he always this grumpy?"
Gordon shrugged. "He hasn't gotten laid in like, a really long time."
It was John's turn to yell as Gordon suddenly dropped like a stone, Virgil only just managing to shove John aside, and away from the rope, to catch his younger brother before he hit the deck.
His brother was determined to drive him insane. The first woman that had looked his way in years, and the first one to actually catch his attention back, and Gordon was basically telling her that he was a sex starved monk. Perfect. The urge to kill still rode him as Virgil lowered Gordon to the ground.
Virgil dragged Gordon off the platform and made to strap in himself...
"Hell no! Have you seen your shoulders? How do you fit through doorways, dude? We won't both fit on there."
"Are you always this picky about being rescued?" Gordon sniped.
"Are you lot always such idiots?" a deep voice answered for her as Scott appeared, handing John one of their custom designed jet packs after giving their rope rigging a disbelieving stare. He had heard the exchanges over the comms on his way home and had thought the situation too funny to miss, diverting under the guise of helping. Looked like he had been right to do so.
"You're new!" The witch waved from her upside down perch, feeling more and more like a vampire bat than a Witch with every passing second and now slightly delirious.
Scott waved back, his eyes alight with amusement as his middle brother wrestled the pack's straps over his shoulders and bucked up around his waist.
"It's about time John did some of the heavy lifting," Gordon muttered under his breath but she heard him.
"Did you just call me heavy?"
"You called me tiny and short!" he shot back earning himself a whap around the head from John. But Selene just laughed, finally able to see an end to this horror night.
"Touché, my man. I'm sorry, you aren't short, you're compact and perfectly formed."
"You know, I kinda like her, " Scott grinned.
John rolled his eyes, checked the pack one last time and eased his thumb down on the trigger, controlling his assent as he went to rescue the witch, his head in that calm space they all adopted when someone needed them.
She flailed dangerously as he approached, but he caught her hands in his.
"I'm here, I've got you." She clung to his hands, refusing to let go, which would have been fine if he hadn't needed them to actually rescue her.
For want of a better idea he guided her hands around his waist. "Hold on to me, I'm not going anywhere, I promise. Just relax, hold still and I'll have you down before you know it."
She nodded and wrapped her arms so tightly around his waist he could barely feel his legs. Once he was sure she was calm he got to work.
Selene was eye to crotch with he of the sexy voice, her arms looped around his waist for stability so she could actually raise her head and give her brain some relief, her cheek resting against the smooth material of his suit that covered his toned abdomen.
Carefully he broke through the branch that had been holding her captive and slid it gently free from her, rather nice and now ruined, underwear. She didn't even complain when he absently rubbed at her abused skin for a second before he realised what he had done and cleared his throat, flipped down her skirt to cover her up and lowered himself enough that she could slide her arms around his neck.
It was only when she felt his surprisingly strong arms encircle her waist that she felt secure and safe enough to unhook her legs and let them drop, although there was much screaming, monkey clinging and pleas of "Please don't drop me, I'm too pretty to die!" before he took charge, wrapped her flailing legs around his waist and held her until she finally managed a breath and could take her first full look at her hero.
He had pale reddish hair and a pair of startling eyes that seemed to have all variants of the blue/green spectrum in them, like they couldn't decide which they wanted to be. He had a fine boned face but a strong jaw and cheekbones she would kill for. He looked slender but she could feel the muscles that corded his body, lean and powerful. She looked down at his chest, her eyes tracing the material of his uniform.
"Dude, that suit leaves zero to the imagination." Suddenly exhausted her head thumped down onto his shoulder, her body sagging with relief against his as she shifted to better secure her hold.
"Please don't wiggle," he hissed, a pained expression on his face as she realised they were so tightly pressed together a sheet of paper couldn't have slipped between them and she could feel every muscle and bump of his sleek form, including the parts that were rather happy to have her so close. Not that she cared right at that moment.
Never being one for boundaries, she nuzzled her nose against his neck, breathing in his intoxicating scent. "You smell like stardust and moonlight, Space Man."
He frowned in confusion, turning his head to look at her. How the hell would she know what any of that smelt like? How could she possibly know that only an hour before her call he had been required to venture out to replace an antenna that had been lost to a passing piece of space junk?
"Witch," she whispered in answer to his unspoken question.
He glanced at the ground, where her smashed broom still lay and suddenly he wasn't so sure that she really was just a crazy hippy who had engaged in a drunken prank. She was too high off the ground to have ever climbed or gotten a ladder without some kind of mechanical device and there was no tracks around the tree.
He was a man of science and prided himself on his rational mind, yet there was nothing rational about her. She felt chilled in his arms, her body shaking from fatigue and likely shock, but she also felt very very real. He'd heard stories about their enemy, known only as The Hood, speaking of such things as hypnosis, mind control and the weaving of illusions. If those were to be believed, then maybe, just maybe, this woman was as magical as she seemed. He for one knew there was more to the heavens and earth than they had ever imagined and that science could do some magical, impossible things. Who was he to dismiss the possibility?
The possibilities that she offered for study were endless, the conversations they could have… she fascinated him in a way that little had done in a long, long time. If she had any kind of magic at her fingertips, any way of harnessing the natural power of the earth to affect change, she could do so much good within their organisation. He wanted nothing more than to whisk her away and talk to her for hours.
"Are you two done staring into each other's eyes, because some of us would like to get home at some point tonight?" the newest brother yelled up at them, startling John into motion as he gently lowered them to the ground.
Virgil had carefully gathered her scattered tools while the others had been busy, stashing them back into the shoulder bag that had dropped from her broom.
John held her as she slowly, carefully unwrapped her legs from his waist and lowered them to the ground. Thankfully he hadn't moved too far away and was able to catch her as her tired, shaking legs buckled, refusing to hold her weight, having strained for the past half hour in a valiant effort to keep her from falling to her possible death.
She leant against him gratefully. He was a few inches taller than her but enough that she fit comfortably under his arm, one arm around his waist for support. John took her bag from his brother, carrying it for her.
"We'd better get you checked out before we take you home," Gordon commented, he being the only other person to have seen the damage the branch had done to her backside. "You might need a tetanus shot."
"Great, a prick in my arse, that'll round the night off nicely."
John ignored his brothers rather crude comments as he concentrated on getting her strapped into one of the seats in the back of 2.
"I guess this is goodbye," Sel pulled him in for a hug and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. "Thanks for the rescue, Space Man. I'll be sure to call you again next time I'm in need of help."
It was adorable the way he blushed and almost stumbled when she let him go, but his voice was its usual calm self after he cleared his throat. "I guess you have my number."
"Are we just going to ignore the fact that there's a broken broom on the floor and she's obviously cast a spell on our brother?" Gordon quipped over the comms as 2's engines roared into life.
All too soon the 'birds had taken off, taking the delightfully random witch with them and leaving him alone next to 5's elevator.
***
As he stepped out of the airlock and back into the floating calm of his' bird he waited for the sense of accomplishment he usually felt after one of his rare rescues, even if that one had been less dramatic than others, but it never came.
He felt like he'd forgotten to do something, neglected his duty somehow or left something behind, though he knew he hadn't.
The temperature controlled inside of 5, combined with his suit should have meant that his body stayed at the perfect degree of warmth, yet his body felt cold after having the witches warm self wrapped around him. Sometimes he forgot what it was like to have human contact and just how much one could miss it.
The comm blared into life as Alan reported their safe arrival back at base, snapping him out of his unhealthy thoughts. It wouldn't be too long before Virgil and the others docked and told Alan, Kayo and Brains all about their night. He could just imagine the teasing that would be coming his way in the not so distant future.
Deciding he couldn't deal with them right at that moment, he muted the comm to anything but an emergency and headed for his shower, the thought of hot water and bed calling to him.
***
Three days had passed, three days of teasing comments from his brothers, a whole hour of Alan on the comm demanding to know everything that had happened and another 4 hours with Brains as he tried to examine the remains of the witches broom that Scott had gathered up and brought home. Apparently there were some elements to it that he had never seen before and it had him stumped, which was never a good thing.
Three days and more than a dozen times he had stopped his finger from hitting a button to call the number he had saved. It was standard procedure whenever they got a call in case they got cut off or had to call back, but usually they wiped it as soon as the job was over.
Three days of trying to convince himself that it was better this way. They all knew that what grateful people said and what they actually meant were two completely different things. With that thought he called up the saved data and with a simple flick of his finger, deleted it.
Six days and the teasing had died down, six days and Brains has stopped babbling on about the broom, six days and John had gotten used to the silence of space again. Six days and John was back in full swing, concentrating on nothing but the emergencies coming in (thankfully fewer than normal) and coordinating their combined efforts.
Seven days later found him floating peacefully on his back as if he were in a pool of water, his eyes closed. He was jerked out of his light doze by the buzzing of the emergency line.
Sighing at his once again interrupted peace, he flipped over onto his front and hit the button.
"International Rescue, what's your emergency?"
"Hey, Space Man."
John grinned, he couldn't help it. "Are you in need of rescue, miss?"
"I am indeed."
He ignored the way his heart dropped to meet his stomach, the crushing disappointment that she had only called because she needed help. He fought to keep his voice from betraying him as he forced out a joking tone.
"What's involved this time? Dracula got you trapped in a crypt , Godzila kidnapped you atop the Empire State Building or has the Loch Ness Monster capsized your boat? Because if so, thats Gordon's territory again and I'm sure he'd love to see you wet in a bikini."
"Hell no, too cold in Scotland for a bikini and much as I love your brother, he's not the one who can save me now."
"No?" Shit, that sounded serious, his mind was already racing as he worried what situation she had gotten herself into this time. That woman was a walking disaster zone and the thought of her being in danger filled him with dread.
"No. You see, I want to go and see this new movie that's out, but I don't want to go alone." The video call clicked on, showing her smiling face and a hand waving at him.
"Movie?" Great going, John, you've descended into one word answers. Smooth as fuck.
"Yeah, movie. So, how about it, he of the sexy voice, wanna be my date?"
"I..." his mind whirled. Could he do that? Could he just up and leave his post for a date? They weren't forbidden from dating or spending time with people, but their need for secrecy often made it harder and more effort than it was worth and John, for one, had never really seen the point. Known for being antisocial at the best of times and a hermit at worst, he found his side of the operation gave him the perfect excuse not to bother.
"I'll buy popcorn..." her tone was the same one Alan used to use when he wanted his brother to take him stargazing in the middle of winter, it was impossible to resist.
Switching the controls to automated observation he send a private message to Scott, the only brother he could trust not to make his life a misery about it, and made his way back to the elevator.
"I'm dispatching help to your current location."
He could almost feel her remembered warmth and hear the smile in her voice. "See you soon, Star Boy."
This time, when she hung up he knew he wouldn't be deleting that contact.