Hello! thank you for continuing to follow, and your reviews I hope you like it. As ever I do not own Thunderbirds or any of the rights, I am just one happy fan who likes to try and keep the magic of the series alive :-)
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"I'm approaching danger zone now, what's your ETA Virgil?"
"15 minutes".
"Ok see you soon".
Scott flicked the thrusters down and prepared to land in the area that had been cleared for him. The situation was pretty dire as he greeted the head of the fire department and city police.
"Thank god you're here".
"What's the situation captain?" Scott was poised ready to transmit the information.
"Well initially a small sink hole established itself in the street, we started to evacuate but people panicked and the roads became blocked. The hole expanded from 10 feet to 80ft in the first hour and it appears to still be increasing. We have a family trapped on a secondary level in their car here." the captain pointed at the map. We have identified them as the priority, we also have two civilians in the next street that have been trapped in an unstable building, every time we try to get the rescue equipment near it destabilises the property. It's likely to sink or collapse at any moment."
"Where was the epicentre?" Scott scrutinised the map.
"Here"
"Do we have a map of the underground structures?"
The fire chief produced another map and Scott viewed the likely places where they would get their equipment.
"Thank you gentleman, can you expand the evacuation area by another 100 feet to be safe, in the meantime I will get two drones on the go to access the civilians for injuries and to reassure them. I'll also contact my team".
Scott radioed John from mobile control and brought him up to speed. "Ok Scott I will notify Thunderbird 2 and base".
"F.A.B"
Scott scrambled the drones and sent them out to each location. He used the remote control to guide the first drone into the pit where the car was. He discovered that there were parents with their two young and terrified children, all trapped in their vehicle deep in the crevasse. With the drone he was able to lower some water as they had been down there for over four hours now. From what he could see in the dim light, their car had remained on a ledge just a stones throw from a drop that was god knows how deep. He promised that help was coming very soon and asked that the family try to remain as calm and still as possible so not to cause any unnecessary movement. They were a good 35 feet down; he could see why the emergency services were struggling to reach them.
By this point Virgil was on the scene with Alan and they started the tricky operation of Alan winching down from Thunderbird two to physically attach the grapplers onto the car. Brains had recently increased the grapplers range but in this tight space they would need additional guidance to be placed effectively. Scott and Virgil felt that this was the best way to safely rescue them as even the slightest change of weight in the car would be enough to send it further into the chasm. Scott didn't have time to continue to oversee his little brother repelling into the pit; he needed to plan how to get the trapped civilians out of the house two blocks away.
Virgil was concentrating on lowering Thunderbird 2 and Alan within reach of the car below, when the call came through. "Virgil you need to hurry up! This building is about to go down with these guys in it!"
"Scott this is a delicate operation Alan has had difficulty securing the grapplers…"
"Right – John? I'm patching you in, take over the comms for me I'm going to the house to get these guys out."
"Scott, I'd rather you wait for me to back you up" Virgil said in concern.
"Virgil I'll be fine just make sure this family get out ok."
"Scott? Scott? Damn it!" said John, "He's gone!"
"It's ok John, 10 minutes and I will be able to assist him". Virgil tried to sound more reassured than he felt, this was very unlike Scott to cut off communications and charge in to a situation. He had an awful sense of foreboding that his brother might actually do something foolish.
"Grapplers secured Virgil, take her up! The rocks above are about to fall any minute!"
As Thunderbird two rose skywards, Alan had prime view as the edge of the sinkhole began to crumble. The rocks cascaded downwards bouncing and rumbling off the side and shooting downwards.
"Whew! That was sure close!" The car had been just above the rock fall but had still swayed precariously from the dust cloud; Alan knew that they were out of immediate danger now though.
Scott had reached the house. It was a three storey town house, with pretty flower box windows and of Georgian design. Well it wasn't so pretty now that the front garden had marginally sunk under the front of the property and there was a huge crack that ran from the roof, across the top window ledge and shattered towards the ground like a black blot of lightning. The emergency crews couldn't get a ladder near for fear of it sinking into the ground. They had tried the fire truck and extending its crane at a distance but the ground had started to rumble and destabilise so they had to abandon it. It was now stuck half in and half out of the ground at the front of the property. Its front end suspended high in the air; the wheels clean off the ground.
With use of the drone Scott had established that the couple were trapped upstairs in the back room. Every time they moved the floor shook (they were already at a 90 degree angle where the house was literally splicing apart. The stairs had already been blocked with debris hence why they were trapped. He asked if they could manage to open the back window and they had done. Luckily Brains had been developing a new jet pack and Scott had been training to use it for the last two months, this was how he was going to save these people. Putting all thoughts about his brother's rescue to the back of his mind he strapped himself in.
He ascended smoothly and guided himself over to the building with the wireless control in his hand. The pack was small which allowed him to be more agile in comparison to the initial jet pack designs which were much larger and had the controls on metal poles in front of the user's arms.
As he entered the house there was another earth tremor and the ceiling started to crumble above him. His quick reactions allowed him to jerk violently out of the way, prime instinct for survival taking over his impulses. Scott heard screams to the left of him just as he turned and saw the women go down under a pile of plaster and beams. Her partner screamed her name in horror and agony as she disappeared from view in the aftermath of dust.
"Don't move! The floor is even more unstable now, let me get you out first and I will come back for her." Scott was still hovering above what remained of the floor; he daren't land on foot now. The gap below his feet gave him a clear view of where the wardrobe had just slid through and smashed into matchsticks in the centre of the kitchen, its final resting place on a pyramid of rubble. Scott could feel the breeze of fresh air tickle his face which suggested that the house was at the mercy of the heavens now.
"No! I won't leave her, save her first! The man pleaded tears streaming through the dirt on his face."
Scott looked back at where he last saw the woman; there was no movement and then back at her partner. Protocol was to prioritise the worst wounded or the causalities that could be saved. Scott suspected the woman had died or was likely to; digging her out would take time and was dangerous whereas this man had a chance. No injuries visible other than a hit to the head but he was upright and conscious. For the first time Scott froze. He hovered and tried to come to the right decision but what was right? At this point he could hear Virgil calling him on the comms but it was like hearing someone next to you in a crowded stadium, so close and yet so far away…
"Please! She's dying under there!" the man tried to scramble over the debris.
If Scott saved this man, the man would never forgive him if the house collapsed with his wife in it; he had made his choice to sacrifice his life for hers. Scott would be interfering. Scott knew that this man knew his partner could be dead but would die taking that chance. It was his choice. Yet if he saved the women first and she was dead, it would all be in vain and the man could die in the house, how could Scott live with himself? How can we chose to save a persons life but we won't allow them to die if they choose death themselves?
Scott was shaken violently from his dilemma as the house took a precarious lean to the right, the man yelled as he was dragged across the floor to the drop below, along with the bed, books and photo frames. Scott shot forwards falling through the furniture, clothes and memories of the house and its inhabitants. He caught the man just as he almost hit the floor. Scott felt something hit him from above and instinctively flipped him self around on his back as he realised the pack had been knocked off. He landed with a smash onto what was left of the mattress and wardrobe. The man landed heavily on him, winding Scott.
The women crawled and inched towards the edge of the floor she was left on, pushing rubble off of her. She dragged her broken and mangled leg behind her, whimpering, her breath was ragged as she peered over the edge, her limp dirty hair dangling over the drop. Down below she could see her husband sprawled like a ragdoll across a man in blue who was facing upwards but did not move. Fanned out around them was absolute carnage. Dust twinkled in the sunlight from above and a single feather glided down she watched in disbelief as her consciousness slipped away.
