Disclaimer: The Thunderbirds and its characters are property of the amazing Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. I'm just borrowing somebody else's toys for a bit. Power rangers on the other hand belongs to Saban, Bandai, and Disney.

Hey Guys! Welcome to my first attempt at writing "Thunderbirds" fanfiction! I've been lurking for a while, and decided to post something. It's a subtle blend of televsion-verse and movie-verse, along with a crossover from "Power Rangers- Lightspeed Rescue." Even if you don't watch LR you'll be able to follow this with great ease. I hope... Cannon -wise, this takes place in the summer following the movie, and for PRLR, it's after the episode "A Face From the Past". That said- I hope you enjoy it!

Power Play

Chapter One: Between A Rock and a Hard Place

a thunderbirds/lightspeed rescue crossover fanfiction

By-

Little Bat

It seemed like they had been searching for hours, combing every inch of the abandoned mine for a treasure that might not exist. Craig Townsend and his team, Julie Smith, Adam Dansforth, Ian Wyatt, and Chase Carter had been searching for weeks for this supposed 'treasure', and so far, it didn't seem like they were going to find anything for all their effort.

The flashlight's glow bounced eerily over the rocks, illuminating crevices, as it highlighted the shadows along the way. There were ten of them split into two teams, and paid good money to find the remnants of a treasure that was said to exist deep within the mine. Although the pay was as good as it was, the lack of success in finding anything was beginning to get to both teams, and bets were being placed that the venture would be a failure.

The walkie-talkie in his pocket crackled to life. "Hey - it's Julie. Come down to the Southwestern tunnel, I think I got something important for ya."

Craig couldn't help but hide a grin. "This is Craig. Excellent work Jules. I'll head over to your position now."

"Ian's already here- he was with me when we found it. You're going to love this."

The southwestern tunnel was located almost half of a mile from the entrance to the cave. So Craig found himself backtracking as he raced towards his teammates. Coming upon the entrance of the long tunnel, he reached for his walkie-talkie. "Jules- how far back are you? I'm at the southwest tunnel now and about to head in."

"We're around... oh, not even quite half a mile in. There's a small pocket, it's almost like a cave. I dunno how we missed it on our first run-through of this cave!"

Craig didn't care about the how's or the why's of the situation, only the fact that their effort was paying off. After close to two weeks of searching, they'd found something.

Then the world around him exploded. The mine was suddenly tilted on it's axis and Craig found himself skidding, trying to maintain footing on a sideways slant, he fell, his body rolling sideways to match the slant of the ground underneath him. The last thing he saw before his skull connected with the side of the tunnel was a slender figure of a woman, large bat-like wings protruding from her back. Her harsh laughter echoed around him as the world faded away to nothing.

Alan slid into the copilot seat for Thunderbird 2, his left hand beginning to anxiously tap against the console as he waited for Banshee Pass, California to come into view. He turned toward his brother, about to open his mouth so that he could ask a question.

"No Alan, we're not there yet."

"That's not what I was going to ask!"

Virgil chuckled, it was so easy to get his brother riled up, sometimes it was too easy. "Just kidding Sprout. What's up?"

" Have you ever realized we hardly ever have rescues in California. I mean. I'm pretty sure there have been a few, but none in the past few years. I mean, that place always has some kind of monster attack going on, so how come we never get called in?" Then, automatically he added, "and you know I hate it when you call me Sprout."

"Sorry Alan, you've heard of Lightspeed Rescue, right?"

The blond-haired Tracy boy nodded. "Who hasn't? They're on the news almost as much as we are... and don't some of Dad's friends work for them too?"

Virgil nodded. "Yeah- the Mitchells. Dana's been over a few times and Captain Mitchell is a good friend of Dads. Anyway, that's their jurisdiction. Between them and the Rangers there's really no real need for us to go there, since usually they have things covered. Since the Rangers are mostly local, that leaves us free to deal with rescues in other places."

"So how come we are going their now if that's the Ranger's territory?"

"Good question. I'm actually not that sure. Guess they're stretched pretty thin right now. There is some scary stuff going on with these monsters constantly attacking. It seems like California goes through a new Ranger team every year or so. Things are pretty crazy down there."

Alan nodded in understanding. They were stretched out thin too. There seemed to be a rescue every week and a half. Up on the newly repaired Thunderbird 5, John was kept busy monitoring disaster situation after disaster situation. Alan wasn't complaining, after all- it was good experience. He was allowed on some of the smaller rescues, and this would have been the first major rescue since the Hood's attack back during the spring. Now, he and Fermat were home for the summer and they were able to participate more actively on rescues, in addition to spending more time on training exercises with his brothers and Tin-Tin.

Turning his attention back to the windshield of Thunderbird 2 Alan noticed a large canyon that broke the monotony of the grassy fields and the rolling hills. "Hey Virge- is that it?"

The older boy nodded. "Got it in one- Hopefully Gordon's got the Thunderizer ready. We're going to needed it. John said that there were some miners trapped in an abandoned mine in the canyon."

A frown crossed Alan's face. "Why were they down there to start with? Aren't mines usually closed down for a reason?"

"You make a good point. John said that they're part of some sort of archaeological dig."

"In the middle of a mine? That's stupid."

"Yeah, he was pretty vague on the details. Supposedly there's some treasure that was hidden there. A few years ago, one of the miners actually found it, but the mine collapsed suddenly and was deemed unsafe. My guess is that the people who got trapped are treasure hunters."

Alan rolled his eyes. That made sense, after all people did stupid things when they got too greedy for their own good.

"Anyway- it's going to be our job to help find these people and get them out."

"Great... another fun rescue."

Virgil shook his head. He didn't want to break it to his younger brother that the likelihood of Scott letting Alan into the mine was slim to none. The two of them would probably wind up assisting people aboveground, with Alan helping to operate the Thunderizer if it were absolutely necessary. Despite being a beginner, Alan was already proving to be a valuable help to their organization. Sometimes though, it was hard to realize that he was almost fifteen, and more than capable in carrying out many of the difficult tasks that went along with being an agent of International Rescue.

With all the grace and speed of an entire team of professionals, Alan and Virgil steered Thunderbird 2.

"Alan, I almost forgot to ask you, Is the Thunderizer prepped for drilling?"

Alan nodded. "Yeah, I was just in there about ten minutes ago. Gordon says she's ready to roll. He's just getting the console cleaned up so he doesn't have to sit around and wait."

"FAB. I'm going to 'comm him now." He fiddled with the consoles switches for a moment, and quickly paged his brother form where he was working in Thunderbird 3's hanger bay. "Hey Gordon! We're coming up onto Banshee Pass now. Our ETA into the valley is three minutes and counting."

"Roger that Virge. I'm heading up into the console room now."

***

Both rescue vehicles arrived on the scene almost at the exact same time, and Scott Tracy stepped out, dressed in the familiar silver and blue uniform of International Rescue, and moments later he was joined by the rest of his siblings.

There was a slew of people running about trying to regroup after the Earthquake, people were putting back up tents of equipment and making frantic cell-phone cars. Although a large crowd had gathered around the Thunderbird vehicles, despite the worry that chocked the area.

A young woman shoved her way through the crowd, her face streaked with dirt and grime, and brown hair that had once hung up in a pony-tail now was almost totally down around her face. "Thank God you could come! I tried to get in contact with Lightspeed, but they seem to be in the middle of a crisis, and they couldn't spare any Rangers! Listen- there's six miners trapped in the cave. We can't get a hold of them. It's almost like the Earthquake knocked out all communications into the mines and Lightspeed told us not to go in after them."

"That's good advice. We don't know how stable they are. When was the last time you had any sort of contact with the missing?"

"A half-hour ago, just before the Earthquake. The second team had come in for lunch. But Julie- she's one of the miners – said that she found something in the southwestern tunnels, so the team stayed to try to figure out what it was."

"What are the names of the missing miners ma'am?"

" The missing are Craig Townsend and his team, Julie Smith, Adam Dansforth, Ian Wyatt, and Chase Carter. Nobody has heard from them since the Earthquake. There's a lot of rubble in the front of the cave. We're afraid they may be trapped somewhere."

Scott nodded in understanding. "Thanks for the information- we're going to try our best to get them out of there."

A look of relief spread across the young womans face. "Thank you so much."

Almost instantly, Scott turned to his brothers, and slipped into what Gordon had jokingly dubbed his "commander" mode. "Gordon and I'll will be going in ahead to see if we can't find the miners without the Thunderizer. The mine looks unstable, and I don't want either of you going in alone. Virgil- can you see if anybody on-site needs any medical assistance? Try to talk to people and get an account of what happened. We're going to need to so that we could debrief the Captain."

Alan and Gordon grinned at the 'nickname' for their Dad. He was more like a Commander than a Captain. But the nickname had stuck.

"Alan- you're going to stay with Virgil. Help him with first aid. We'll try to contact you if we need help."

"What!?" Alan exploded. "That's not fair!" He didn't want to be stuck above-ground while his brother's went on the rescue. Any other complaints he may have had were silenced instantly by a sharp glare from Scott, and he relented. A rescue-site wasn't the place for petty fights that much he knew. Though that still didn't change his feelings on the matter.

Virgil gave a resigned sigh. "Look- they said that the miners communication devices weren't working. You're going to be without a call. If you're not back in a half-hour we're coming in with the Thunderizer. Got it? If you need help, one of you is going to need to come back and get us."

"FAB Virge. We'll be careful."

"Good- or else I'll sic Dad on you once we get home."

"You know, you're hilarious – did anybody ever tell you that?"

***

"John said that the Southwest Tunnel was to the right, almost fifteen feet into the cave. The trapped miners are located in a pocket almost a half-mile in." Scott reiterated, shining his flashlight slowly around the mine – it's dark spaces shimmering into view before them.

"How come, if this this tunnel is so close to the entrance they didn't find it sooner?"

"I dunno... Maybe they thought it was too close to really hold anything valuable, so they overlooked it?"

"Possible. They must have been pretty stupid then, to miss something that big. Or they just wanted to get out quickly as possible." Gordon wasn't going to admit it, but the further into the mine they traveled, the greater his unease grew. It seemed like the stone walls were pressing in around him, the walls creaking and groaning from holding up the weight of the world above. The silence between him and Scott wasn't doing anything to settle his nerves. Gordon wasn't claustrophobic, but this place was giving him the creeps, and he was stating to wonder if it was getting to Scott as well.

He hated being without backup- and there was something... almost malicious about the way the tunnels enveloped them. He wanted to get this rescue done with as quickly as possible, so they could be back home.

"Oh my God."

Scott's hushed exclamation startled Gordon out of his train of thoughts. "What!? What's wrong?!" The copper-haired Tracy followed the beam of light, and took two sudden steps back.

Sprawled against the side of the tunnel like a discarded rag-doll was a human body. It was a man, brown hair plastered against his face. Eyes wide and staring unseeingly at the tunnel ceiling above him. There wasn't any question to either brother that he was dead.