As promised, the next chapter (out in under a week I must add).

Chapter 14

"NO!" Scott cried out, leaping forwards to push Wolf's aim away from his younger brothers. As Scott surged forwards, Wolf twisted his upper body purposely around towards him. Pheonix's eyes widened in shock as he heard a shot go off, followed instantly by his brother's gun. He felt the impact as the bullet hit him.

The momentum of his fall knocked both him and Wolf to the ground. As the pain spread over his body, he became oblivious to everything. As darkness finally took him, he heard the shattered silence surround him.

Snake watched gleefully as Wolf took aim, and enjoyed the look on both Scott's and his real brother's faces.

Revenge was sweet.

But then it all went wrong.

The Hero shouted out and made to push Wolf, who then swung his gun towards him.

Snake heard the shots, and was stunned that he felt a sting on his arm. An evil look settled on his face, when he realised he had been hit.

Wolf had shot him.

He used his other arm to pull out his knife, and then with a quick glance at his bewildered companions to check they were going to back him up he started forward towards the men on the floor.

He didn't even take three steps before he was stunned in the back by Gordon's gun. As his body crumpled to the ground, Gordon shot Rhino and Croc as well, and the three of them were left in a heap, forgotten, as the people remaining awake had other, more important concerns to attend to.

TBTBTB

"Damn!" Jeff Tracy swore, banging his fist down on the desk in front of him in frustration. All he could think about was the possibility he had now lost more than one son, maybe even four of them. Losing Lucy was bad enough. Then Scott going missing, now maybe permanently…. he didn't dare think about it. But to lose any of his sons, he felt his insides crumble as he tried to come to terms of what might have happened to them.

"Mister Tracy, sir, you must calm down." Kyrano started to say to try to comfort his angry and distraught master. "The boys will be fine. Right now, Alan needs you to tell him what to do."

Alan watched in dismay, as his father appeared to be having a break down in front of him, and he almost regretted reporting in the gunshots.

"Father, I'm going to keep trying them. All of them. They'll be fine, Kyrano's right, we have to look for hope. Gordon will save them."

Jeff looked into his youngest son's eyes, and saw a very grown-up young man looking compassionately back at him. "When did you grow to be so wise?" he whispered at his usually impatient son.

"From you, and Scott, and ….." His voice faltered and he couldn't go on.

"You're right son." Jeff closed his eyes briefly to compose himself, and then gave Alan his instructions. "Take a deep breath. This is just like any other rescue mission. Keep trying their communicators. Let me know of any, and I mean it Alan, any changes at all, okay?"

"Yes sir. Thunderbird Five out." He gave his father a brave smile before switching the screen to another channel. Opening up first John's, then Virgil's and Gordon's, in rotation, he began to call out for them to respond.

TBTBTB

John watched the whole scene unfold in front of him. It was like watching a movie in slow motion. He was ready to pull Virgil to the side at the last moment, but then his older brother made an unexpected move. Wolf had changed his target and John shouted out "NO!" thinking he would shoot Scott instead. In horror, he watched Wolf pull the trigger, and heard a blast, but his older brother was already moving.

Then time sped up for John, and he focused on the two bodies lying on the floor in front of him. Lady Penelope's voice startled him into action.

"Oh my!"

That was when he noticed Parker lowering his gun, a guilty/surprised look on his weathered face.

He felt Virgil moving away, and John followed him towards the two men on the floor. They were almost there when they noticed the blood seeping out from underneath the bodies tangled on the floor.

As they got closer, Virgil's knees gave out due to his dizziness, and he stumbled to the floor, taking John down with him. They knelt together, frozen to the spot as they watched Wolf, who had risen from the floor and was crouching over a very still Scott.

TBTBTB

Wolf knew he would only get one shot. One chance to get it right.

He hadn't expected Nix to move, therefore unbalancing him. His aim was out.

He had meant to kill Snake with a bullet through his heart, but had only succeeded in slightly injuring the brutal man. As he felt Nix fall towards him, he felt the other mans body jerk when he pulled the trigger. Then they hit the floor and the breath was knocked out of his body on impact.

As he lay there, he realised he was still alive. The room seemed to be quiet.

He smiled and thanked his guardian angel that was surely watching over him. Turning to look at Nix, his face fell as he noticed how pale and still the man next to him was.

Quickly he rolled over, putting his hands on the floor to push himself up, and accidentally put his hand in a sticky, warm liquid on the floor. "Shit!" He swore when he realised what it was.

Wolf crouched over Scott, his face close, almost touching. "Come on Nix, open your eyes, wake up, kiddo." He shook the still form and tapped his face with his clean hand.

His bloody hand held Scott's hand tightly, as if his grip alone would hold on to the young man, stopping his soul slipping away as he continued to bleed beneath him.

Pheonix's eyes fluttered open. They were full of pain. He stared at the man in front of him, his eyes not really focused. "I…I…can't breathe…anymore…" He whispered in agony "…tell me…who…where … am…. I?" Confusion had set in. Scott closed his eyes, but Wolf knew he should not close them, not now he was awake.

"Stay with me Nix," His voice desperate, "Keep your eyes open, bruv, come on Nix, please, look at me."

Tears began to pool in Wolfs eyes as Scott tried to open them again, the flickering of his lashes fading weakly, and finally hiding the dim cobalt blue eyes into nothingness.

Wolf suddenly became angry. He was so scared, he just started shouting. "Nix, don't you dare close your eyes," he yelled at the pale man beneath him "Stay with me, Nix, I'm not going to lose you too!" He raised his hand to hit the dark haired man across the face. In the hope it would wake him up.

But before he could strike his target, Wolf found himself being pulled roughly away from him. Someone had grabbed his arms from behind. He fought to get back to Nix, but found a young ginger haired man standing in front of him, a grim and worried expression on his face. He was wearing an International Rescue uniform.

In the back of his mind, Wolf knew he had seen this man before, but right now, all that mattered to him was the man he had come to think of as his younger brother.

"Don't move." Gordon ordered harshly, pointing his stun gun at him. Wolf swallowed, the hands that held him were suddenly released and a pale blond wisp of hair flashed past him and knelt on the floor where he had been only seconds before. Wolf nodded his silent co-operation. His troubled eyes left the ginger haired man, and fell on Nix, who was now surrounded by his ex-team mates.

He had been forgotten.

But he couldn't move. He sat, as if frozen to the spot in a dream, a nightmare. History was repeating itself.

A fear beyond belief overtook him, and he suddenly could take no more as he watched the International Rescue men try to resuscitate his brother.

TBTBTB

When Gordon heard the shots he ran like mad to find himself in the silent hanger.

He quickly took in and his brain put together what he thought might have happened.

He saw a very bruised Virgil leaning against John, he had never seen either of his older brothers in such a state of shock.

He saw the man behind his brother's kidnapping, and as the tattooed man made to go forward, Gordon reacted without even thinking about it.

He whipped out his stun gun and fired at Snake, then took out Rhino and Croc as they turned towards him.

From where Gordon was standing, he could not see anyone else in the hangar, but as he walked towards his brothers he heard a voice cry out desperately. It stopped him in his tracks.

"Shit! Come on Nix, open your eyes, wake up, kiddo."

Gordon moved around the control panel to see Wolf hunched over another man, who seemed to be out cold on the floor. He tore his eyes away from the scene to check out his own brothers.

That was when Virgil began to move, followed closely by John, but suddenly Virgil took a fall and John tripped over him. They knelt in silent agony, just watching the other two men in front of them.

That's when it hit him. Gordon felt the breath steal away from his lungs. The man on the floor was Scott.

Wolf's voice penetrated his numb mind "Stay with me, Nix, I'm not going to lose you too!"

Then like lightning, John was up and pulling the man away from Scott, Gordon found himself covering the ground and placed his own body in between Scott and the conman.

He raised his stun gun. The temptation to fire it was strong, but the look on John's face stilled his finger, and instead he threatened the man "Don't move."

He had no other words to say. But the beaten man wasn't going to try anything. He could see it written on his battered face.

TBTBTB

After sorting Vixen out, and leaving her tied up and gagged in her Radio room, with the promise that they would return. Penny and Parker made their way back towards the hanger. They hoped to catch, or at least follow the Hood to see what was so important to him that he should not fight them properly himself.

Approaching the hanger, they heard a voice call out "Let me do it." And a few gasps of surprise.

When they snuck up to the entrance door, they could see Virgil and John looking worse for wear against the far wall, and Scott and another man whispering intently to each other.

Then Parker spotted the gun, and saw the look John gave the man holding it. It was as if he had accepted his fate.

Parker pulled out his own gun and as Wolf raised his, Parker knew he would only get one shot. He had to save the boys. They were his friends.

Parker realised his mistake a little too late.

As he pressed the trigger, Scott moved into the firing line to save his brothers.

The bullet hit, and Parker watched, mesmerised as Scott's body jerked once as it hit him, and he and the other man continued their descent to the ground.

Penny gasped out loud, grabbing his arm for support. "Oh my!" She knew what Parker had done. He had just shot Jeff Tracy's eldest son.

Then he noticed John looking at him. Parker closed his eyes, wishing they had stayed at home in England.

TBTBTB

For Scott, it was all a bad dream.

He was floating on a bed of nothingness. He was everything and nothing all at once. He was aware of people around him. He could hear their voices, sometimes calling to him, sometimes to each other.

He was falling into a void.

He felt himself fly upwards at one point, and then his world was filled with loud noises, and pain. He panicked and found his body jerking in response. But hands were suddenly upon him, holding him down. A voice tried to soothe him. But it did no good. He did not know who they were.

He tried to speak, but no words came. He tried to break free, but was immobilised. Then he felt a prick of a needle going into his arm, and he felt himself falling once again, back into that deep, dark void.

He couldn't help but think how much safer it was there. He didn't have to feel or think.

Nothing mattered.

He was free.

TBTBTB

"NOOO" !!! I hear you cry...don't worry, I ain't killed him...yet!!!

thanks to those of you who are so kind to review for me, it puts even more fun into writing this, and really spurs me on. I seem to be on a roll at the moment ...

Next chapter will not (hopefully) be so angsty. I hope this chapter read alright, but I wanted to get all the characters views across.

Just a small hint for the next chapter ... has anyone seen where Weasel and the Hood got too???

Hmmmm...

A.N. Bluegrass's story 'Road to Recovery' is AWESOME, read it and weep (I mean that literally, coz I did!!!)

Hob x