11

Well it had only been twenty four hours and tensions were already high on the island. Penelope had (as was her custom) arrived with at least forty bits of luggage and Scott could see Kyrano having a mini fit behind her as he leant forwards over her shoulder for her to give him a peck on the cheek in greeting. Tin-Tin arrived back late from visiting grandma and briefly updated them on her current situation which was unchanged. By the time they had all caught up with each other it was very late.

One fitful sleep since and it had been non-stop call outs, one after the other which was just typical! Scott sat at his father's desk, running his hand through his hair whilst kyrano brought him his third coffee of the day. He currently had Virgil, Parker and Lady Penelope out on their second mission of the day and it wasn't even noon, John was somewhere above the outer reaches of earth attending to an urgent space rescue with Tin-Tin.

Virgil's eyes lit up on his portrait. Scott was quick to answer. "Go ahead Virgil, how's it going?"

"Well Scott, there are twenty civilians trapped in the building. The smoke is black and dense making visibility incredibly hard. To make matters worse the building has a separate annex where potentially there are another five casualties. The fire is spreading fast. My plan is to go in with Parker and start with the twenty casualties and then rescue the five."

"Where is Penelope?"

"Penelope will be maintaining communications with us and the emergency crews here."

Scott frowned. "Ok if the fire is spreading fast why can't you deal with the twenty with Penelope helping you and send Parker to go and get the five? We've enough equipment and that would improve your chances of saving everyone."

"We need someone to coordinate with the team and the emergency services." Virgil's tone indicated that he wasn't happy.

"I can do that from here, just like dad does. You need all the help you can get, there's not much time from what I can see from here."

"Scott it's too dangerous, I won't allow it."

Scott used his most authoritative tone.

"Virgil, you are wasting time. I know it's dangerous but Penelope is there to rescue people, not sit on the sidelines. She is aware of the risks. This is an order and you will follow it."

"Fine, but this isn't over".

"I'm sure its not" muttered Scott before hanging up on his brother. He always had the last word even as children. He could see John's portrait lighting up. He winced as he stretched his battered ribs trying to turn to face John's portrait.

"Go ahead John, I haven't got long, Virg is on another rescue."

"Scott we've reached the space station but its disintegrating quickly and it won't be long before it falls out of orbit. It seems that there were not enough escape pods for the amount of people on board. I'm going to have to report it to the authorities when we return. There are around 10 people left on board that we need to rescue, should be straight forward if we can do it in time."

"Great, keep me posted John."

"FAB; Are you ok? You look rattled."

"I'm fine Virgil is just giving me stick I don't need."

"Ah.." John smirked and hung up.

Scott called Virgil.

"Hello Scott" A sultry voice with the perfect accent answered.

Surprised Scott replied. "Penelope? Where's Virgil?"

"He is currently rescuing the twenty civilians, he's nearly finished."

"What's happening with the Five?" Scott was already clenching his fists in anticipation of the answer.

"They are still trapped Scott, the emergency services are containing the fire so that Parker and Virgil can get in there next to rescue them."

Scott was seething. Virgil was compromising the entire damn mission!

"Penelope, when he is done with ignoring me, could you please ask him to call me?"

"Of course Scott, is that with or with out the tone I perceive?"

"Definitely with."

"Ok Scott". Penelope signed off.

Scott was so annoyed, just because he was behind a desk and not out in the field didn't mean that Virgil could ignore him, he wouldn't dare ignore his father. Scott knew the moment that he had to pair Virgil with Penelope there would be trouble! He treated her like a glass ornament or one of his prized paintings. There to be admired and protected as a work of art and beauty. Did he think he wanted to risk Penny being in there? Of course not but what choice did they have! What part of short staffed secret rescue organisation did he not get! Virgil needed to learn to box up his affections and prioritise.

Scott asked Brains to patch him in to the news footage and CCTV around the area of the rescue in Philadelphia. He then got in to the communications between the emergency teams. It wasn't good they were losing control of the fire; it had already begun to seal off the only entry point to the people inside. Scott could see there was no windows to this single storey annex, it was listed as a store room on the blueprints on the screen in front of him. There were only two exits and Scott knew from earlier intel that one was blocked.

Scott called Virgil.

"Scott."

"Virgil, the fire crews have lost control of that fire, you've got to get to those people now."

"I know Scott; I'm going as quick as I can."

"If you had just followed orders" –

"Scott don't lecture me; I'm going now."

Another voice interrupted over the comms.

"Boys please stop bickering I am on the case."

"What do you mean?" both of them chorused.

"I mean that myself and this lovely fireman I met have already cut through the door with IR equipment and have just exited the building with all five civilians".

Virgil turned to Parker amidst the licking flames and the smoke. He had gone momentarily pale despite the unbearable heat.

"Please tell me you're out of there."

"I am."

"Good, wrap up and get back here." Scott finally losing all patience snapped, Virgil just nodded before signing off.

Tin-Tin was receiving the last of the passengers off of the disintegrating space station. She was attending to a dark haired, young gentleman with a head injury when there was a loud explosion over the comm. "John!" Tin-Tin held on to her head set awaiting a response, her patient temporarily forgotten about. Out of the portal window Tin-Tin could see the ship breaking up, the airlock that thunderbird three had docked onto was starting to strain and flex under the pressure. At this rate the station would be pulled out of orbit with TB3 attached. Tin-Tin ran to the controls upstairs, still shouting John's name as she started the thrusters to try and compensate the drag that the space station falling out of orbit was creating.

"Tin-Tin, I'm ok for now. I'm with the last passenger. We are unfortunately cut off from the air lock by debris." John was always calm and collected no matter how dire the situation, Tin-Tin had always admired that quality in him. "We think we can move it but you might have to undock before we can join you guys."

"But John! You will be left in space!"

"I know its ok Tin – Tin we will have our suits on and I can shoot the grappler at thunderbird three but I reckon we only have one shot." – John was now straining and yelled as the Debris suddenly became air born as the gravity regulators on the station finally gave up. Both he and the crew member were sent spiralling backwards into the abyss through flashing lights, broken pipes and frayed cables. There must now be a hole in the station. John could feel the velocity of the pull on his body and the fact he was being dragged. "Grab something!" John shouted at the other crew member even though she couldn't hear him. At this rate they would both be projected out into space. Tossed around like rag dolls. John sighed in relief as his hand grasped around an iron support. He was amazed he wasn't hit by anything as he ducked out of the way of a metal beam. He looked across just in time to see the female crew member scream, scrabbling past his right shoulder at thin air; desperate not to be dragged into the infinity and beyond. At great risk to himself John stretched out and grasped her foot as she rushed by. She quickly scrabbled and strained to grab his arm before working up his slim frame to also loop her arm around the support.

"Now Tin-Tin, undock – Brains has managed to override the air lock on the station so the door will stay open."

"Undocking commencing now John."

John watched as the thunderbird started to pull away, as it did so the space station air lock partially broke away and floated off into the abyss.

John licked his lips and prepared to shoot the magnetic grappler towards the thunderbird. He lined up his shot one eye shut and fired. He whooped in joy as it connected first time and he secured the metal line on a carabineer on his suit. He then used another to connect him and the crew member together. He pointed towards himself and then outside in a follow me gesture. She shook her head in obvious panic. John wanted to reassure her but they simply didn't have time, fragments of the station were burning up and lifting off all around them. He quickly prized her hand off (She was amazed by his sheer strength) and held her close to him before kicking off into space.

He felt the freedom and weightlessness take over; as usual he was overcome with a moment of awe as they precariously began to traverse the empty space to the relative safety of the body work of thunderbird three. The tiny wire line was the only thing that stopped them from floating away. The crew member's cold blue eyes lit up with wonder at the sheer size of the thunderbird. She had never seen another space ship/rocket like it; the design was just like the rockets you imagined in your childhood, big and red with the perfect rocket shape. It was never something you would think could work in reality and yet here it was saving her!

The air lock opened and John and the crew member entered it safely before the pressurized door sealed behind them. They then waited for the pressure to equalise before finally being permitted entry into the safe confines of thunderbird three.

John removed his helmet, pushing the long lock of blond hair out of his eyes before flashing his winning smile at Tin-Tin. "I've still got it".

John and Tin Tin were still flushed with the success of the rescue as the sofa rose up into the lounge from the silo. They didn't realise as they locked into place that they had just stumbled into world war three.

Scott and Virgil were squared up to each other, Scott trying to use his additional height to intimidate. They both looked furious and if looks could kill John wasn't sure which one would have died first. They were shouting even though they were right on top of each other and Penelope was trying to make herself heard but remained her usual calm and collected self. Parker and Kyrano had a complete look of loss as to what to do with the situation that had erupted. Kyrano was holding a tray with his mouth open in complete shock. Scott had his hands balled at his sides and was more rigid than a barge pole whilst Virgil was a raging tirade of passion gesticulating in the air with his hands like a mad man.

"Virgil you were completely out of line!"

"You weren't even there Scott you had no idea of the situation!"

"It not like I don't have field experience Virgil! and do I have to remind you that I was a commander and had more dangerous situations to manage than today!"

"Oh don't pull out the commander spiel! I could punch you, if you hadn't already busted yourself up!"

"Try it; you wouldn't get far, even with me at a quarter of my strength." Scott made a mocking gesture egging Virgil on.

"You should have listened to me instead of making Penelope feel guilty and take herself…"

By this point John and Tin-Tin watched in disbelief as Penelope went calmly over to the coffee table, took the flowers out of a large vase and gently drop them onto the table. Then she walked up to Scott and Virgil and chucked the whole contents of the vase in their faces like a person trying to break up a dog fight. They both spluttered as they were engulfed with water. John had to fight back the giggles that were trying to erupt from him at their shocked and somewhat indignant faces. It wouldn't do to laugh at them now.

"Boys as I said; that is enough. Vigil I can make my own decisions just like you chose to ignore Scott." Scott smirked until Penelope's dead shot stare focused on him. Her blue eyes were penetrating and mesmerising all at the same time.

"I know tensions are high because you are all trying to function with minimal staffing and you are worried for your grandmother but you need to work together, your father would be disappointed if he could see this." Both the boys averted eye contact from just about everyone in the room.

Scott blanched first. "I'm sorry Penelope, it's entirely unprofessional and it won't happen again."

"I'm sorry Penelope." Vigil still had his arms crossed glaring at Scott before marching off to his room. Virgil was embarrassed that Scott had managed to make him look like a child again in front of Penelope. Scott was just glad Penelope didn't make him apologise to Virgil, it should be Virg apologising to him! Now his bandages were all wet and visible through his pale blue wet shirt. "Please excuse me" Scott said curtly.

"Tea?" suggested Tin-Tin with a forced smile.

"What a good idea." Penelope settled onto the nearest sofa, she was still in her uniform, she quite liked it.

"I'll get it Milady"

"I will help you." added Kyrano.

John hoped his father would be back soon. Or that he could go back to space. Thunderbird five was heaven compared to here at present.