Heaven Needed You

By CaptainPhoenixSparrow

Inspired by B-Witched's "It Was Our Day". Set from the point of view of Virgil Tracy

Chapter 01

The rescue mission was supposed to be a simple one. It was one we had accomplished many times before. I guess maybe we got cocky, thinking that because we'd succeeded so many times, we were sure to again.

Scott and I sat in his room, playing cards. It had been so long since the two of us had been able to sit down and spend time just having a laugh. We were always busy testing something for Brains, running errands for our father's business, Tracy Enterprises, or - the task that took up the majority of our time - answering calls for help under the guise of International Rescue.

To be able to just sit and play cards with my older brother was real relaxation time.

"Darn it," I said, grinning. "How is it you keep winning?"

"Because I'm a better player than you, Virge," Scott said, gathering the cards and shuffling them. "Admit it."

"Don't need to, you've proven it right there. Six times."

Scott chuckled. "Want to play again?"

I sighed. "If I must," I said, smiling.

"There's no must, Virge. You don't have to."

"Well, how about we play something other than Rum?"

"Like what?" Scott asked.

"Snap?" I grinned.

"I hope you're not serious, Virge, we haven't played that since we were kids!"

I shook my head, chuckling. "Yeah, I know. Hated playing with Alan though. He'd always slap our hands 'til they were red and complain when he lost."

Scott smiled at the memory. "Sore loser. So, back to the present, what shall we play?"

"Chinese patience?"

Scott raised an eyebrow. "And how do you play that exactly?"

I took the cards off of him and started to deal them into two equal piles, creating a third smaller one of only four cards by placing one on that pile at random intervals. "This is your pile, this is mine," I told him, indicating the pile of cards in front of him and taking my own pile. I took the four random cards and turned them face up and laid them in a row. "Don't worry, it's a great game, gets kinda frustrating though," I warned. "You could think you're so close to the end, then bang! You've got a massive pile again."

We proceeded to play. The first game was spent explaining the rules, with Scott accusing me a few times of changing them to suit myself, then we played some more. As soon as Scott got the hang of it, he started winning at this game, too. We didn't even realise the time until he yawned widely.

I looked round at the clock and was surprised to see it was nearly four in the morning. "Think we should call it quits?" I asked.

Scott looked at his clock, rubbed his eyes and tried again. "Yeah, I think we should."

"All right then." I looked down at the deck. "Whose cards are they? Mine or yours?"

"Mine," Scott said. "Yours are yellow."

I shook my head. "Should have remembered. Must be early." I stood up, stretching. "Well, night, Scott."

"Night, Virge," Scott said, standing and putting his cards away in his bedside unit.

I left his room, shutting the door behind me, and headed into my own room, unaware that in about four hours time we'd be up answering another distress call.

The alarms went off throughout the house just before eight that morning, alerting us all of the incoming call.

I walked into the lounge to see my father already behind his desk, clad in his dressing gown and slippers, leaning on the table wearing a very serious expression, while Scott was sitting on the back of the sofa in front of the desk.

"All right, John," Father said. "Let them know we're on our way."

"F.A.B., Father," came John's reply from the space on the wall opposite the desk that held his portrait.

I watched as it changed from the video link with Thunderbird Five back to the portrait of my next younger brother.

"Off you go, Scott; you know what to do," Father instructed. Scott nodded and left without another word. Looked to me like the few hours of sleep we got was affecting him just as much as it was me.

I yawned, covering my mouth as Father looked over at me. "You okay?" he asked.

I nodded. "Fine, Dad. What do we need?"

Father sighed as he thought. "Mole, Firefly, oxyhydnite, and dicetylene are the best guesses. John will fill both you and Scott in as you go."

I nodded and went straight over to the entrance to my beloved Thunderbird Two.

We arrived at the danger zone, fully informed as to what we were going to find. A tower block full of offices that was in the process of emptying for the night as the evening shift ended - the time zone being later in the day than where we came from - was burning. An explosion caused by a fault in one of the gas heaters had sent the building into chaos as fire spread through it. A small group of workers who were finishing a project before leaving had been trapped in their ground floor workroom by falling debris as the building collapsed in on itself.

I touched down near Thunderbird One and contacted Scott.

"What's the plan of action then?"

"Remember the Thompson Tower?" Scott asked over the comm.

I nodded. "Yeah, I remember it. Firefly to get there and Mole to get in then?"

"Bingo," Scott said. "Think we're up to it?"

"We've done it before," I said.

"Okay, let's get to it. Get the Firefly going and I'll collect the Mole"

"F.A.B., Scott," I said, signing out and heading down to the pod to start up the Firefly.

It didn't take long to get through the burning debris round the building. Unlike the Thompson Tower incident, there was nowhere near as much blocking our route, though this did make me wonder if that meant more inside the building.

I completed my task of clearing a path as far as I could and returned to the pod where I joined Scott in the Mole.

We sat in silence as we burrowed under the foundations, and past the remaining blockages, breaking through into what remained of the main foyer.

Donning breathing masks, we climbed out through the door, Scott taking a tank of dicetylene for fighting off any fire while I picked up a tank of oxyhydnite to cut through any blockages that remained.

As always, Scott took the lead as we carefully made our way to where we knew they were, information we'd gathered by locking onto the radio signal of the unit they'd used to call us out. We found them in a room at the far end of a long corridor off the main foyer. The door was stuck fast by fallen masonry and metal girders used as supports for the floors above.

Removing the nozzle of the oxyhydnite from my pack, I ignited it and started to cut through the obstructions, while Scott worked on moving some of the smaller chunks out of the way.

"Not much further," I said to Scott as I cut.

Scott shook his head, concentrating on the task at hand.

I nodded at him. Throughout the cutting operation, I kept muttering, telling myself we were almost there, that we'd almost done it.

Finally the last cut was made and a safe tunnel through the blockage was made to get to the trapped people.

I'd made use of some of the girders that were already there by positioning and cutting them in strategic places to create an archway to hold off as much debris as possible. As soon as we were sure it was as safe as it was going to be, all things considered, we forced through the door and went in quickly to check them over. There were only minor injuries and they were all able to get themselves out with little or no help. For the most part, those who did need help took the aid of their co-workers to get back to the Mole and to freedom.

Scott hung back to make sure everyone was out while I led them all to our vehicle, opening its door and showing them in. I pointed out where they could sit and instructed them to strap themselves into the seats.

As they did, I went back to the door to see Scott coming with a young man who had an injured ankle. Scott had the lad's arm over his shoulder and was helping him forward.

"Come on, Scott, quickly," I urged him. I could feel the heat of the fire pressing in around us. We didn't have much longer left to get out.

That's when it happened. A sudden explosion, probably from one of the remaining gas heaters, caused the ceiling to shudder and shake under the pressure of so much of the building caving in on it.

My eyes went wide at the realisation of what this could mean. "Scott, hurry!"

A crack appeared in the ceiling right above him. Looking up briefly, Scott saw it and pushed the man in his company forward and away from him just as the crack split wide, sending a torrent of debris piling down on him.

"Scott!" I screamed, seeing him fall, engulfed under a pile of dirt, rubble and twisted metal.

Ok, so here's the first chapter. Please review and let me know what you think, it would mean a lot to me.

I would also like to add a few thank yous. I started this story sometime last year and despite help from a few friends I found myself grinding quickly into a brick wall and it was left gathering dust in the hard drive for months. After reading a couple of other stories later and chats with Juud18 I found enough inspiration to complete this story. So now here it is for you, chapter 1!

Thanks to all those people who helped get me through this story!