Find out how International Rescue was developed!
Disclaimer – I do not own the thunderbirds, I only own Marty. I do not own Dumb and Dumber either
People say that when you are dying your whole life flashes before your eyes. I never understood what that fully meant until it happened to me. I wouldn't say my whole life flashed before my eyes, just the highlights of my life.
As I lie here waiting for help to arrive, my mind wonders to what my family will say when they get the news of what has happened.
My father Jeff Tracy and my five brothers Scott, John, Virgil, Gordon and Alan will be on our family's private jet heading for LA as soon as they get the news of what has happened to me. At least that's what I hope they will do
Then as I think about my father Jeff Tracy, Billionaire ex-astronaut, my mind wonders back to the question he asked me 36 hours ago.
I look at my watch, wondering what time it is, since I've been sitting on this beach for what seems like hours. The time reads 3:45pm. I groan as I realise, my dad has called our family meeting for 4pm in his home office.
I had taken a week's holiday to come to the island for the big announcement and also have some family time.
For the past six days Scott, John, Virgil, myself, Gordon and Alan had been having a blast. Swimming in the pool for hours at a time, exploring in the jungle, watching movies and the occasional prank was pulled. Our dad had also joined in with the fun whenever he wasn't working.
Ever since we moved to the island, my dad seemed more content. Not happy, just content. He seemed to be almost recovered from mom's death and slowly going back to his usual mellow self. But then again, there is no definitely knowing when it comes to my father.
As I make my way up the path that leads back to the villa, I start brainstorming ideas of what my dad is going to tell us.
Getting re-married – Nah! He always said mom was his one and only true love.
He has a health problem. – Nope. He wouldn't have waited two weeks to tell us that.
Something happened to Grandma. – Wait I had lunch with her, before i came to the island.
One of my brothers is ill – No. They would have contacted me themselves
As I reach the villa, I am completely out of ideas as to what my father is going to tell us. All I know is that I have gut feeling, it will be something that none of us will expect.
"Hey Hot Fuzz! Wait for me." I turn around and see my younger twin running towards me.
"Where have you been? I have been looking everywhere for you." He says as he tries to catch his breath.
"Sorry fish. Was at the North beach. Just wanted some peace and quiet." I say as I gave him a weak smile, still thinking about the meeting we were heading to.
"Yeah, it can get quite loud when all six of us are together." Gordon says with a huge grin plastered on his face.
I smile at him and say "Yeah, I know what you mean."
I can tell by the huge grin on Gordon's face that he is thinking the same thing as me. What on earth is dad going to tell us?
As twins, Gordon and I have always been close. We shared a cot as twins in the hospital and done everything simultaneously as babies. If I cried, Gordon cried. If I was hungry, Gordon was hungry. According to dad when we could walk and talk, we still did everything together.
However he also says that the day Gordon and I started walking was the day that chaos arrived in the Tracy household. When the two of us started walking, there was no stopping us. Running all over the house, screaming at the top of our lungs, knocking furniture over, breaking furniture and going into our brother's rooms and stealing their toys and clothes.
I can help but smirk at those memories. I hope when I have children one day, they will be more like John or Virgil and not little hooligans like me and Gordon were.
As we approach dad's office, Gordon and I stare at each other in disbelief that the door is open. Normally if you approach dad's office you either have to knock or use the hand scanner to gain access.
The two of us just shrug and head inside. Once inside, we see dad sitting at his office chair. As we approach him, he turns round in his chair and gives a reassuring smile.
"Hey Dumb and Dumber! Take a seat on the couch while we wait for the rest of your brothers."
Gordon and I burst out laughing. Over the years, our pranks ranged from being stupid to the work of sheer geniuses – Although most of the time it was silly pranks. As a result of this, our dad gave us the nickname Dumb and Dumber. Soon the name spread and everyone was calling us it if we were up to no good.
"Dumb and dumber are at it again!" I heard that sentence at least once a week in my childhood.
Once Alan got bigger, he started joining us in our pranks and the three of us soon gained the name of the terrible trio.
But dad also said Dumb and dumber would be his special name for his twins.
Still laughing Gordon and I sat down on the couch and waited for our brothers to arrive.
As we waited for our brothers to arrive, my mind drifts back to the open office door. I can count on one hand the amount of times I have gone to my dad's office and found the door open. The only way to open it from the outside is by hand scan, which is programmed to accept all eight of our hand prints – the seven of us plus Brains.
My mind started going into over-drive. The cop instinct coming out of me.
I looked around dad's office and spotted not one, not two but three security cameras all pointing in opposite directions. One at the entrance to the office, one looking down directly to the chair that dad was sitting in and the other one was pointing to the wall, where there was a big family picture of us all.
As I stared at the cameras, I realised I had seen many more camera's just like these around the island. There was one in the kitchen, the hallway that lead to our bedrooms, the living area, pool area and strangely a camera down the pathway to the beach.
Why did dad need all this new security? He lived on a tropical island that no one knew of with one of his sons and five other people.
Maybe that was the secret! He was going to tell the world where he had been hiding all years?
"Hello! Marty! Anyone Home!"
I had been so lost in my thoughts that I hadn't noticed Scott, John or Virgil walk in the room. Now Virgil was waving his hand furiously in front of my face to get my attention.
"Oh, sorry I was miles away there." I replied
"Lost in space, like Johnny boy over here." Gordon joked, giving john a slight nudge in the ribs.
"Like I've never heard that before!" was all John replied.
Before an argument could start, dad started his meeting.
"Ok now that everyone is here..." Dad began before I interrupted him.
"Wait what about Alan?" I blurted out.
"It's ok Marty. I have already discussed this announcement with Alan. It does not quiet concern him yet.
"Aww ok." I replied. That last part confused me even more.
"Ok as I was saying, we are all here so let's start." Dad continues.
Me and my brothers all glance at each other, all knowing this news will be huge. Dad is currently not Jeff Tracy, our loving father, but Jeff Tracy the business man.
We all watch as dad takes a big breath and starts his long speech.
"As you all know, when your mother was sadly taken away from us, one of the reasons she did not survive was because the emergency services couldn't respond very quickly."
We all look down at the floor at the mention of our mother's name. Even though she died 11 years ago, it still feels like yesterday she was taken from us.
"Ever since the accident, one question that always goes through my mind is "If the emergency services were quicker, would your mother still be with us?" Not a day passes when I don't think about that question."
At this point my father has 100% of my attention. What could his announcement have to do with mom?
I sneak a glance at my brothers and can tell they are thinking the same thing.
"Six years after your mother's death, I meet Brains. While we were having coffee, he told me about his idea to built and engineer rescue vehicles, capable of helping anyone, anywhere, and anytime in the world. My mind immediately went back to the question that had been on my mind, since your mother passed away."
Looking at dad, I could see he was choking up from remembering mom. He took a moment to compose himself and then continued.
"After further discussion with Brains, I made him an offer he could not refuse. Come and live on my island and I will provide you with all the resources you need to build these machines. Without hesitation he agreed."
"Explains why he moved here for no apparent reason." Gordon whispered.
I gave him a nudge in the ribs and pretended not to hear him. As did everyone else who clearly did hear him.
"So for the past five years, Brains and I have been building these machines here on the island. Now they are ready to be put into action."
For a moment, the five of us just sat there; taking in everything we had been told. I wanted to ask questions to my dad, but I couldn't find the words.
"So you built fire trucks, police cars and ambulances that can go as fast as Lamborghini's." Replied Gordon.
I couldn't help but smile at my twin. Trust Gordon to lighten the mood at such a serious time.
"Thank you for your enthusiasm Gordon but no. I did not build superfast emergency service vehicles. Instead I built these." Replies dad, with a very small smile on his face.
Dad then turns around in his chair, presses two buttons and then turns to face us all again.
As dad pushed the two buttons, the shutters on the windows closed, all the lights in the room went out, the door closed and a projection screen was lowered from ceiling.
Once the screen was fully lowered, an image appeared on the screen. A small silver circle with the words "IR" in red writing in the middle. One the right hand side of the circle, were five colours beaming off the circle. Blue, green, red, yellow and gold.
"Team, let me introduce my new business to you."
Dad then pushed another button beside him and the following words appeared.
"INTERNATIONAL RESCUE"
If I was confused earlier, I was so much more confused now.
To be continued
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