Scott swore under his breath as another mighty gust hit Thunderbird One in the side. Below him the great green bulk of Thunderbird Two skewed suddenly before being corrected by her pilot. The magnetic clamps of the green bird were attached to the side of a tension bridge which swayed dramatically with each slam from the 90mph driving wind. Several of the support wires on bridge had severed under the pressure of the storm and now the only thing keeping it from plunging into the river below was Thunderbird Two and the skill of her pilot, and Virgil was losing.

"Thunderbird Two, how can I help?" Scott radioed across. He'd been manning mobile control but the desperate calls between his two brothers had forced him to move. Thunderbird One might not have the strength of Two, but it was better than nothing and Scott could no longer sit to one side and coordinate.

"I need to you get a clamp on this bridge, Scott." The strain was clear in Virgil's voice. "I'm running my engines into the red trying to keep this thing steady."

"I'm not sure how much help I'm going to be" Scott warned as he manoeuvred into position. He had to come under Thunderbird Two in order for his cable to reach anywhere useful and he was keenly aware that the wind could cause either ship to crash into the other. "I'm really getting thrown around in this wind."

"Tell me about it" came the grunted reply. "But we only need to buy Gordon a few more minutes. He said he had two more cares to clear."

Scott risked a glance below to see if he could pick out his younger brother but the driving rain made it impossible.

"Thunderbird Five to Thunderbird One," John's voice came through just as another blast of wind threw both ships sideways. The proximity alarm flared to life but Scott didn't have a free hand to turn it off as he wrestled his 'bird away from both Two and the bridge.

"Not now John!"

"Gordon I can't hold this much longer!" Came Virgil's voice, several warning alarms from his 'bird also echoing along the line.

"I've got the last people free!" Gordon had to shout to make himself heard over the force of the gale. "We're moving to the western exit of the bridge now but I have injured and fighting this rain is taking some doing!"

"How long, Gordon?"

"A couple of minutes, five at the most!"

Scott could hear Gordon's laboured breathing as he fought to get the survivors to safety. It was bad enough in the shelter of One but to be out in the driving rain and cold as well? Gordon really had drawn the short straw with this one. Then again he thought as his 'bird once again attempted to impale herself into Thunderbird Two maybe not.

"Virgil" he signalled "how're you holding up?"

A strangled grunt was all he got as an answer, Virgil clearly using everything he had to keep the larger craft airborne and holding the bulk of the weight from the bridge.

"Virgil when you release the bridge bank immediately up and to the right." The last thing they needed was to collide as the sudden release of tension pulled them together.

"FAB."

"Alright, we're clear!" Gordon sounded exhausted.

"Virgil, release the bridge in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1." As instructed, the great green craft released the clamps and moved to the right as Scott released his and pulled left. He was expecting resistance from his 'bird as she screamed at the release of the strain but that combined with another powerful blast from the storm almost had her following the bridge into the river below.

"Thunderbird Five to Thunderbird One" John called again.

"Go ahead Thunderbird Five" Scott replied craning his neck to see if Virgil had managed to stabilise Two.

"Scott, why have you left mobile control? And you've turned off your comm to Base? Dad's going nuts?"

"I can do more good out here than I could sitting in mobile control, John."

"Yeah well, judging by the proximity readings I was getting from One and Two Dad's going to have both your asses when you get back."

Scott winced. John was right, there was no way the two 'birds should have ever flown as close as they did just now. Especially not in such conditions. He also should never have left mobile control without permission, but he knew permission wasn't coming. As Field Commander of International Rescue, in theory he had the authority to make calls like that. In reality he would have to answer to the Commander in Chief.

"We have more calls coming in" John carried on. "There's a narrowboat jack-knifed a mile and half up river from you. The occupant is trapped inside and it's taking on water. It's also causing something of a dam, if you don't get it shifted the river will overflow again."

"FAB" Scott replied, then paused. "What else?"

"Sorry?"

"John, you said you had calls coming in. Plural. What else is going on that International Rescue can help with?"

"There's a powerline down on the outskirts of the town of Surbitton. It's still live, but no one can get to the junction box to turn it off. But-"

"Right" Scott opened a line to Two. "Virgil, pick up Gordon and head to the narrowboat." He quickly explained the details and received an affirmative from both men. "I'm heading to the powerline."

"Scott, you need to be back at mobile control. Who's coordinating with the locals?"

"John there's no reason you can't do it from up there" he responded as he pulled One perpendicular to the wind. "Hell, you can probably see more than I can at the moment. I can't just sit by dishing work out to Virgil and Gordon, they're already tired and we aren't anywhere near done. I'm relatively fresh and can get there faster."

"Dad's going to crucify you, you know that?"

"Yeah, I do" he said quietly. If he was honest, he'd been thinking for a while that they should ditch mobile control. It wasn't just that he wanted to get out into the action either. The fact was that John was simply better at coordination and information gathering than he was. With the latest round of upgrades to Five, John now had access to sensors and telemetry on a scale that mobile control didn't have the computing power to process. Add to that the various languages John spoke (last time Scott asked it was twelve but it could well be more by now) and his calm-in-the-face-of-everything voice and Scott knew that he had been surpassed as emergency coordinator. That didn't stop him being a damn good Field Commander though. The way Scott saw it, if John to present him all the relevant information and coordinate with local crews that freed Scott to make the best calls for International Rescue. If he got to stretch his own legs a bit, even better. He just hadn't got round to running this idea past the Commander yet. He definitely hadn't planned on putting it into action during such a challenging rescue.

"Wowzers" he said as he caught sight of the live power line. The high-capacity cable was whipping through the air, each time it hit the ground it sparked and was sent flying in another direction. Scott knew without having to be told that a whack from that would take a limb off, never mind the shock that would come with it.

"Alright John, I'm here. Where's the off switch?"

"You should see the junction box just to the south. It's surrounded by a seven-foot security fence but the storm has thrown a lot of debris at the gate. You need to clear it or navigate the fence before you can shut the power off to this section."

"FAB"