Flashbacks and Memories (Part 1)
By Jenny Taylor
Scott just stands there, leaning against the white, clean wall in the waiting room of Sydney Hospital, New South Wales, Australia. With him in the waiting room was Gordon and Alan. All three brothers are filled with shock, worry, fear and despair.
They have been in the waiting room outside the operating theatre for 30 minutes, waiting and dreading for the outcome of Virgil's life-saving and emergency operations.
Gordon is sitting on a green couch hugging Alan, not just for the youngest benefit, but for his own as both of them are badly shaken by that rescue that went badly wrong.
Scott looks down at his younger brothers as they wait for their middle brother and adopted sister to arrive, shaking his head, his head full of questions as all three brothers silently relive the past events that had tragically led up to here and now.
Yesterday…
It started when Tracy Island received a call from John on Thunderbird 5, who received a call from International Rescue's parent company, Tracy Industries, that their branch in Sydney received a visit from the Australian Federal Police, who informed them that their artist brother Virgil, who was away on vacation, had been kidnapped by The Hood the day before.
This had led to a Code Red conference between the Tracy family and their friends Kayo and Brains (Who lives with them), Lady Penelope and Parker (Their IR Agents who are based in Great Britain) and their godmother, Commanding Chief of the Global Defence Force, long-time family friend and ally, Colonel Catherine Casey.
During the conference, they received a call from their nemesis, The Hood, with a holo-vid of their missing brother. He gave them his demands and particularly death threats to Virgil IF they didn't give him what he wanted, which is obvious on what he wants, International Rescue and her machines, the Thunderbirds.
He even given the family a taste of Virgil's fate in a form of water torture with ice, being performed in front of them! He had also given Scott a deadline to make a fateful decision between IR and his brother.
After the villain had signed off, the family was on the verge of panicking, when a call for help came through and distracted them for the time being.
The rescue had taken place in the Sydney Tower complex and with the help of the local emergency services and the GDF, the rescue was a success and everyone got out of the complex alive.
But, during that rescue, they met someone, whom they thought that she was dead, alive and well, working as a lone and famous rescue worker/doctor, who is having serious problems with the GDF, especially with their godmother Colonel Casey.
They also discovered that it was she, who had witnessed their brother, her boyfriend, being kidnapped by The Hood's henchman and reported the incident to the local police. With that knowledge and relief upon seeing their long-lost and treasured friend alive, they told her about the situation.
After receiving the info, she was able to make a fool-proof plan in how to rescue Virgil. After arriving home, the 4 brothers told everyone a slightly altered version of her rescue plan to save Virgil.
Earlier today…
After some rest they go through the altered rescue plan several times before the approaching deadline and prepare the required Thunderbirds/equipment for the task ahead.
They all followed the plan to the letter and everything fell into place as predicted by their old friend, that is until they reached the point of rescuing Virgil from the Pacific Ocean, when Mother Nature turned against them.
Instead of letting off an avalanche that killed their mother when Alan was a couple of years old, she released of her deadliest predators of the seven seas, a Great White Shark, and set it upon the bound and helpless Tracy brother.
It pounced and sunk its teeth into Virgil's legs, spilling lots of blood into the blue ocean. It tried to swim away with its meal, but something that was tied from Virgil's ankles to the Hood's ship, prevented it from doing so and in response to that, is to thrash its prey wildly in order to free its tethered meal.
As soon as the Hood ditched his prisoner and left him to his fate, as well as being chased by the approaching GDF Quad-planes, Gordon used Thunderbird 4 to ram the shark, hard, forcing it to abandon its meal and freeing Gordon to go out into the ocean to rescue his badly injured brother.
After getting Virgil on-board his 'Bird', Gordon had radioed to his brothers in Thunderbird 2 to pick him up, fast. Simply because Virgil was unresponsive, unconscious, losing lots of blood, broken legs and possibly suffered shock and drowning.
Scott rushed over to pick up his younger brothers, while Brains was talking to Gordon into life-saving medical procedures. As soon as Thunderbird 4 is back into its module and the module retrieved and connected with its mothership, Scott and Gordon transferred Virgil from the little yellow submarine to the med-bay of Thunderbird 2.
Alan had stayed in the cockpit, frozen in horror when he saw the horrifying images of the second born brother, while the first and fourth born brothers are performing the medical procedures under the instructions of Brains, who is watching them via the holo-vid.
After doing as much as they can and consulting with their resident scientist, it was then decided that they don't have the life-saving equipment back at base, which left them with no choice but to take Virgil to a mainstream hospital.
The choice of hospital was a bit unusual in the sight of the scientist, because they would normally send their brother with life-threating injuries to a mainstream hospital in New Zealand, as it is the nearest mainland to home.
But Scott had decided to take Virgil to a mainstream hospital in Australia, Brains didn't question why verbally, but after Brains was offline, Scott told Gordon his reasons, which he understood and stayed with Virgil while Scott heads off to the cockpit and steers Thunderbird 2 towards Australia.
Alan had joined Gordon and they had both spoken to John, to update him with the latest developments, while Scott updated Colonel Casey and then gave John some orders for him to perform.
Thunderbird 2 had met up with the local ambulance in the Royal Botanic Gardens, as it is the nearest and biggest area for the great green machine to land to the hospital, Scott and Gordon, with some help from the paramedics, transferred Virgil from the med-bay to the waiting ambulance.
The local police had offered to take the brothers to the hospital, after they relocate a landing spot for the Thunderbird. Scott informed the head officer that there will be a second Thunderbird arriving with the rest of the family, which the officer acknowledged him and alerted his colleagues at Sydney Airport.
Gordon stayed with Virgil in the ambulance, while Scott and Alan took-off in Thunderbird 2 and headed towards the airport. When they arrived at the airport, there were security sanctioning of an area specifically for the Thunderbirds.
After doing the post-flight checks and switching the security and defence protocols on, Scott and Alan left the craft and joined an airport security officer and AFP who escorted the 2 brothers out of the airport in a Heli-jet, towards the hospital.
Upon landing in the courtyard, they were greeted by hospital staff, who led them inside to the Emergency Department where they met Gordon, standing outside a curtained room where various doctors and nurses are flooding in and out for various and essential equipment and medical supplies for the tasks ahead.
It was clear that Gordon had informed the medical personal the details of what happened to the medical member of the team and family and was told to wait outside the area. As soon as Scott and Alan joined him, the curtain had swung open and the medics are pushing the gurney containing their lifeless brother, towards another part of the hospital as fast and as safely as they can.
The trio wanted to follow, but were stopped by a senior doctor. He introduced himself as Doctor Irwin and informed them of their brother's condition. As they stood and listened, it was clear that although his chances of survival are 50/50, his chances to walk again was much, much lower and a high possibility that he might lose one or both legs, but it all depends on the results with X-Rays, MRI and Ultra-Sound Scan.
Then they followed the doctor, who showed them to a waiting room outside the operating theatre which is being prepared for their brother's immediate arrival from the scans. This had the trio worried as Dr. Irwin explained to them that Virgil needs immediate, life-saving and life-changing surgery as him and his colleagues will try their upmost best to save Virgil and his legs.
Scott had asked him how long would the operations take, by which the doctor answered with an estimate of 4 to 12 hours, depending on the severity of the injuries. By this time, the gurney, surrounded and pushed by the nurses, appeared down corridor and up towards the theatre carrying its precious cargo.
The entourage by-passed the worried brothers and entered the theatre's double doors, followed by various surgeons and doctors and then Dr. Irwin left the boys in the waiting room to join his colleagues.
The trio remained in their places, waiting to be joined by their space-bound, ginger-haired brother and their adopted sister, their faces remained the same, apart from Alan and Gordon who are starting to cry as the reality of the past events is sinking in.
Scott looks up towards the Terrible Two and was about to join them, so he can comfort them, when a pair of running feet coming from the corridor stops him in his track. He turns to look for the owners of the noise and saw the duo that they were waiting for, John and Kayo.
"Hello Space-Case, Tanusha." He smiled faintly, his blue eyes filled with worry and the duo stops near the group to catch their breath.
"Hello Scooter, any news about Virgil?" John replied quietly, his green-eyes filled with concern for his siblings as Kayo first looked at the youngest two and then towards the eldest. Scott shook his head slowly before he informs the newly arrived pair about their musical brother.
John and Kayo listened, their faces filled with worry as they then decided to sit on the adjacent couch to the one that the youngest two currently occupied until Scott decides to join them and sat next to Alan and then places his arm around him.