"What's the situation, John?" Jeff asked as his sons entered the room.
"It's a construction project in Azerbaijan. Three teenagers broke into the site and have somehow ended up beneath the half built high rise. The local fire department say there has been some subsidence under the building, the teenagers have fallen into it and debris has covered their access. They've been working for a couple of hours to free the kids but their equipment just can't handle the weight of debris."
"Alright. Scott, take Thunderbird One and rendezvous with the locals. Virgil, Gordon you'll follow in Thunderbird Two, take pod 3 with the DOMO. Thunderbirds Are Go."
Once in the air Scott wasn't surprised to receive a direct call from John.
"Scott, keep an eye on Virgil" the space monitor implored.
"Always do" Scott said. "Gordon too."
"Yes but," John hesitated. "Given the current situation-"
"Father doesn't think there is a current situation and, at the moment, I'm inclined to agree. Either Oracle is the problem, in which case you have her position on tracker" John nodded a confirmation "or she's trying to help and there's been no further movement on a plan against Thunderbird Two."
"Against Thunderbird Two?"
Scott rolled his eyes at himself.
"Gordon's got me doing it too."
"He's worried about Virgil."
"We all are" Scott agreed.
"How's Virgil taking the call out?"
"You'd never know something was wrong. He also hasn't said anything about the threat to him over the last few days."
John gave him a pointed look. They both knew Virgil wouldn't say anything if he thought it'd bring more stress down on his family. Out of all of them he generally dealt with stress the best, often by using music or art as an outlet. But it was always something he worked though by himself, unless a brother dragged it out of him.
Come to think of it.
"Now you mention it John, he's been spending more time than usual holed up in his studio. I should have noticed sooner" he sighed, annoyed with himself.
"Well, you've noticed now. Besides, he'll be focused during the rescue."
"He will" Scott nodded. "Anything new to tell me?"
"It seems the kids are well known to the locals. I think that might have hindered them getting help – one too many false alarms if you know what I mean."
"But not this time?" Scott checked his ETA; he was only 20 minutes out.
"No, not this time. The local fire chief, Mr Vidadi, has given you clearance to land. I'm sending you the coordinates now."
It looked as though a large section of the city was undergoing a gentrification project. Flying slowly overhead Scott could see a large amount of scaffolding surrounding numerous buildings as well as large sections where buildings had been demolished. The new high-rises going up in their place were the very picture of modern architecture. Scott thought a lot of it was quite ugly. But, he reminded himself, it isn't done yet.
The landing site for Thunderbird One came into view and Scott set her down and unloaded mobile control. He was just finishing set up when he was approached by Mr Vidadi.
"You got here fast" he said.
"The quicker the better when people are trapped. Can you explain the situation to me?"
"The three kids got unlucky. This section of the rebuild has been on hold for weeks as we tested for subsidence. The area has been a no-go zone. But it seems that makes great material for their YouTube channel so they decided to camp the night. They even uploaded some of the footage." Scott flipped a switch on mobile control.
"Thunderbird Five, stand by" he called.
"FAB."
"Please can you give us the name of that You Tube channel Mr Vidadi?"
"Of course, its Urban Wandering Trio, but why would you want it?"
"Thunderbird Five can use the footage to get an accurate picture of what happened" Scott explained whilst readying the aerial drone. Vidadi looked up at the unexpected buzzing emanating from Thunderbird One then stepped sharply back as the drone exited the craft and shot off towards the trapped boys.
"Have you had any contact with them?" Scott asked. His eyes on the camera for the drone as he manoeuvred it through the building and down to what would eventually be the basement carpark.
"Yes, they seem in relatively good spirits. But then their channel is getting thousands of views."
"No injuries?"
"None they're reporting."
Scott nodded.
"And they're still streaming?"
"Yes."
"We'll they're about to be a bit less happy." He toggled the control that connected him back to John. "Anything useful from their feed Thunderbird Five?"
"Negative. No serious injuries apparent but no clear view of the blockage either." Excited shrieking could be heard via John's connection. He sighed "they don't seem to realise the danger they're in. Shall I cut the stream now?"
"Yes."
"FAB."
"I was informed that you know the boys?" Scott enquired but his attention was diverted by the drone as it found the depression in the carpark that the kids had fallen into.
"Yes" Vidadi was saying. "Tunar and his friends are a regular menace."
Scott flew the drone directly over what turned out to be a sinkhole, it wasn't overly deep, maybe two stories or so. The major problem was the floor above which, Scott could see, was now unsupported. A large concrete block, probably designed to be an up ramp for cars, was left dangling above the sinkhole. If it fell it would either cover the hole completely or cave it in, crushing the boys below. He toggled another switch.
"Thunderbird One to Thunderbird Two."
"Thunderbird Two, ETA 6 minutes."
Scott smiled at his brother's response. They'd been doing this for long enough now that some things just happened automatically.
"You'll need the DOMO to brace a section of the building above the victims and the winch to extract them."
"Injuries?"
"None apparent, all 3 victims are conscious and responding."
Well, that's one way of putting it Scott thought as two of the three boys tried to attract the drone's attention by pulling faces at it. He decided to let his brother find out he was dealing with juveniles by himself. Bracing himself he turned on the communication equipment in the drone.
"This is International Rescue" he started and quickly dialled down his own speakers as cheers sounded from the hole. "We will be sending you assistance shortly. Is there are reason you won't be able to get yourselves into a safety harness?"
Scott didn't understand the exited babble that followed and figured it must be Azerbaijani.
"They say that won't be a problem" Mr Vidadi translated. Though by the way they were still carrying on Scott guessed they were saying a lot more than that. One word started to get chanted again and again by the older of the boys. Another shushed him and looked at the drone.
"Tunar would like interview for our channel" he said.
"International Rescue do not give interviews" Scott replied. He was relieved to hear Thunderbird Two's VTOL a moment later and even more so when he was joined by his two brothers and a loaded DOMO.
"Sheesh" Gordon said at the noise emanating from the drone's speakers. "Talkative, aren't they?"
"I think only one of them speaks English" Scott replied. He then ran through the situation and ordered Virgil to stabilise the ramp with the DOMO so that Gordon could move in with the winching gear. "Try to get the one who speaks English out last, then he can translate for the other two."
"Doesn't Thunderbird Five speak Azerbaijani?" Gordon asked jokingly.
"No, but I bet he will by the end of next week" Scott grinned back. He then caught Vidadi's face caught between disbelief and amazement and slipped back into professional mode. "I'll follow you with the drone from here. I'm also going to send out secondary and tertiary units to gets scans of the area, just in case of further complications."
"FAB." Virgil and Gordon climbed back into the DOMO and Scott turned to Mr Vidadi ready to organise his people for taking the victims after their recovery. Usually this was for the victim's sake but, given they seemed unharmed and the amount of excited noise they were making, he thought this time that handover might be more for the benefit of his brothers.