Disclaimer: see part one. Okay, this is nice and dark, different from what I normally write. I'm taking a few minor liberties, but you'll see why as the story progresses. Once again, Boomercat, hope it's okay to refer to happenings in Malfunction & Aftermath. Please, read and review.

Impossible Choices: A Brother's Anger

By Mouse

John just stood there, stunned for a moment. Then he moved, his instincts screaming at him to; he had to get his brothers out of there. The workers they had rescued were providing a screen from where they thought the shots were coming from and John was grateful. He hated to think what would happen if he was he was hit as well.

"Move up further, into the trees. He won't be able to see us!" John clamped down on the fear he was feeling for his brothers and they moved swiftly, deeper into the bush, towards the bikes. They reached the bikes after a few harrowing minutes and the two men carrying Gordon's stretcher placed it down on one of the bike.

"Here, hold this for me." One of the workers nodded and moved over to John's side, taking his place holding the pressure bandage against Gordon's back. Bruce had sat Scott down on one of the bikes and was holding a bandage against that wound. John lifted it and peered into it, breathing a small sigh of relief.

"Is it bad?" John shook his head.

"The bullet's gone straight through by the looks of it. We'll have to wait until we get to a hospital before seeing how bad it is. Hopefully, there's no major damage." John glanced around and then decided on his course of action. "Bruce, can you support him while we get back to base camp?"

"Sure can. Mick can drive us slowly." Mick was one of the workers.

"Good. Start heading back. Take it easy with him."

"Like he was my own boy." John smiled gratefully.

"Thank you." He moved back over to Gordon's side and within moments, Bruce was heading off with Scott, moving very carefully. Bill was on the radio, letting base know what was happening. He turned to John.

"Tom says they'll be a couple of ambulances waiting when we get back to base camp. The wind's too fierce to attempt any sort of aerial rescue." John frowned; he'd been so worried about his brother's he hadn't noticed the wind picking up.

"Right. Get him secure and ready to go. We'll head off in a moment." John stepped away from them for a moment and raised his watch.

"Mobile Control to Thunderbird two."

"John? Where's Scott? Is Gordon alright?" John braced himself; he knew how close Virgil and Scott where.

"Scott's been shot as well. Shoulder only, the bullet went straight through as far as I can tell, so hopefully he should be okay. He's on the way back to base camp and we're about to follow with Gordon. They've both lost a fair amount of blood." John's eyes never left those of his brothers still form. "Look Virgil, it's too windy to try and winch them to you and have you transport them to the hospital. We're going to transport them by ambulance – it's about twenty minutes by road. It'll be a lot safer that way. Now, I want you to go home, get Father and then get back here as quickly as you can."

"Why don't you take them in Thunderbird One?"

"Because it's too dam windy and I have no one here to monitor them both while I fly to the hospital, that's why! They need constant supervision; I can't do that if I'm flying. Now go Virgil, get home, get Dad and get back here." John's tone was hard and strong, not like him at all.

"You're going with Scott and Gordon aren't you John?" John paused, he hadn't thought that far ahead but then he took one look at the red stain on his brother's back and his next words were soft but strong, his eyes were as hard as ice however.

"Not straight away. I have a few things to fix up here first."

"John? What are you thinking?" John shook his head, impatient with the time being wasted on useless questions. He didn't know what he was thinking, let alone telling Virgil.

"Nothing. Look, get home, get Dad all right. I'll be here with Thunderbird One. I'll make sure Gordon and Scott are looked after and I'll meet you at the hospital." Virgil stared out his window down at the harsh thick bush below him. He hated to think what his brother was going through. John was a gentle soul, and to see two of his brothers gunned down like that must be hurting him greatly. Virgil pushed all worry for his brothers out of his mind for the moment, he had to get home.

"Alright John. I'm going now. Watch yourself."

"You to. Mobile Control out." John just stared up through the canopy of trees as the giant green Thunderbird moved away. He walked back over to the four wheeler and settled himself in to make the long trip back to base camp. The workers they had rescued where bringing the other four wheelers, the rescue gear left behind for the moment. John just spent the time holding the bandage on Gordon's back and staring at his younger brother. Worry for his brothers consumed his soul, as well as an extreme anger. The Hood had to pay, and he had to pay now. And John was going to finish the job his brother's had started.

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Jeff looked up to see Alan's portrait flashing again. He hit the switch.

"Go ahead Alan." Alan's face appeared and Jeff was shocked. Alan looked like he'd been crying. "Alan, what's wrong!"

"Father…. I don't know how to say this…"

"Go on son. What's happened?" Alan visibly swallowed hard and then spoke his voice soft. Alan now knew how John felt a few months ago during the encounter with The Hood in the outback of Australia. Never again would he take being in Thunderbird five for granted.

"Gordon and Scott have both been shot. Gordon in the back while crossing back over the river; Scott in the shoulder while moving Gordon out of there. John's ordered Virgil back to the island to pick you up Father, then return. The winds are too fierce to attempt to winch them to Thunderbird Two. John's not sure he'll even be able to safely lift Thunderbird One off the ground." Jeff heart almost stopped when he heard Alan's words. His mother had come in and heard the tail end of the call. She sat down heavily into her chair, her face white.

"What else Alan?" Jeff finally managed to get out, his voice strangled.

"They're taking them to the Royal Hobart Hospital, it's the closet hospital and it should take 20 minutes by road. The last contact I had from John was that they were heading back to base camp slowly on the four wheelers and that Scott thought it was The Hood. The dam workers said that there was an explosion, so it wasn't an natural disaster as far as they knew." Jeff banged his fist down in anger.

"I knew he'd come back again. Dam that Judge that let him go! Is John going to stay with his brothers?" Alan frowned, slightly confused.

"Virgil thinks so. He's about thirty minutes away from you Father."

"All right then. Are you okay Alan?" Alan swallowed again and nodded.

"I will be Father. At least now I know how Johnny feels all the time. I'm never going to take him for granted again." Jeff managed a weak smile.

"As if you would son. I'll be in touch, keep in touch with John."

"Yes Father. Thunderbird five out." The picture changed back and Jeff looked over at his mother.

"You heard?"

"Yes." Ruth Tracy swallowed hard and took a deep breath. She stood, smoothing out her dress. She had always been a strong woman, and now drew on that strength. "I'll go get a few things for the boys ready. Call John Jeff, he'll be in a bad way." And with that, she moved out of the room. Jeff watched her go, taking a deep breathe and pressed the button to call John.

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John raised the watch to his face, while holding on to Gordon.

"Go ahead." His eyes hadn't left Gordon's and every breath his younger brother took caused his heart to race.

"John, what's the situation." John started, he hadn't expected his father to call, but then again, he wasn't that surprised.

"Scott's just ahead of us, he's doing okay for the moment, still unconscious though. Shock, I think. Gordon's unconscious as well, I've managed to slow the bleeding as best I can. We should be back at base camp in ten or so minutes. Ambulances plus paramedics are waiting for us. It's blowing over gale force winds here, that's why I decided not to attempt to load them into Thunderbird Two." John felt that he had to justify his actions for some reason. Scott was always the one in charge, always. His father never, ever second guessed Scott, yet with the incident a few months back with the Hood then, he'd gone over a few things with Gordon. Gordon hadn't minded but John did. Perversely he felt it was like his father didn't trust the two youngest or himself with the responsibilities of being in charge.

"That's all right John, Alan's filled me in." Jeff paused, unsure how his next words would be taken. "I'll come straight away as soon as Virgil gets back, we're already prepping the plane. Stay with your brothers John, don't let them out of your sight." John managed to stop himself from wincing. He'd come up with another idea and he wanted to do that first.

"Yes sir. I'll be meeting them at the hospital. With The Hood in the area, I have to move Thunderbird One."

"All right son. I'll call ahead to the airport and organise something there."

"Yes father. I have to go, we're almost there and I need two hands to steady Gordon."

"All right. You're doing a good job John. Tracy Island out." The channel closed and John closed his eyes a moment.

"If I was doing a good job, Scott wouldn't have gotten shot." He muttered but then went back to watching Gordon again.

The paramedics had swarmed over to two injured brothers and worked quickly. John stood to one side, watching them, his heart in his mouth. His uniform top was covered in Gordon and Scott's blood, and it sickened him. But he stood there, watching. Finally, a paramedic came over as they loaded them into the two ambulances.

"The young man with the shoulder injury isn't too bad, as far as we can see, it missed the bone." John sighed softly.

"Thank you. And the other?" The paramedic frowned.

"I won't lie to you, a bullet in the back in a bad thing. It's missed his spine, but by what luck god only knows. Has he ever had any back injuries before? It looks like he has."

"Once, three years ago. A hydrofoil accident. He broke his back and had a lot of rehab before he was able to walk again." The paramedic made a note.

"Right, I'll let them know. Now, blood types?"

"They are both AB positive." If the paramedic was surprised at this, he didn't show it.

"Good, that will make things easier. Now, the doctors are going to need to get permission from next of kin." John swallowed a moment.

"Okay. I can give you that permission." The paramedic frowned.

"Um, no offence, but it has to be immediately family only." John gave him a ghost of a smile.

"That's all right. I'm their brother. I've arranged for our father to come to the hospital, so he'll be there shortly." The paramedic just raised his eyebrow and then said nothing. "I'll have to ask you to keep that quiet though." The paramedic nodded.

"Right you are then mate, I'll let the Doctor know the score. You want to ride with us?" John shook his head.

"No, I can't, not right now. I have to move Thunderbird one to a safe location. I'll be there soon. Just look after them for me, please." The paramedic closed his notebook and gently squeezed John's arm. The young blonde haired man looked so distraught.

"No worries mate, we'll treat them right." With that, he moved off and moments later the two ambulances were screaming off with a police escort. John took a deep breath and moved to Thunderbird one. Tom, the man in charge, intercepted him.

"Are you all right mate?" John nodded slightly.

"Yes, I am. Thank you for your help, with everything."

"I'm terrible sorry this has happened. I've alerted the police but the bush is just too thick to get in there." John frowned, thinking hard a moment.

"Okay. Look, do you have an accurate map of the area I can have please?" Tom frowned and then nodded.

"Yep, hang on a tic and I'll grab it for you." He moved away and John moved over to Thunderbird one. He entered his security code and unlocked the swift craft. The ladder lowered and Tom returned, handing him the map.

"Here you go mate. What do you want if for if I may ask?" John began studying it, ignoring the fact he was getting blood on the edges of it.

"I want to pinpoint where we were attacked. This is the dam right?" John pointed it out and Tom nodded.

"That's right."

"Now, which of the nearby hills would give you the best angle to shoot at someone?" Tom thought a moment and then pointed out three.

"Any of these three."

"Right, thank you." John took a deep breath and rolled up the map, smiling slightly. "Thank you for all your help. If you could arrange someone to stay here for a little while, that would be great. I'm going to take her up for a few moments, see if I can spot our attacker, and then come back down again. I'll need someone to guard Thunderbird One while I'm away." Tom had a sneaking suspicion what the young man was planning, but didn't say anything. He'd overheard him talking to the paramedic, so he knew what the young man was thinking. And to be honest, if he thought he could talk the young man in taking him with him, he'd go along.

"I'm sorry this has had to happen here, of all places. Please, watch your back, your family needs you." With that, Tom walked away. John watched him go his expression unreadable. After a moment he climbed into Thunderbird one, closing the hatch behind him.

The first thing John did was strip off his uniform and washed his hands. He scrubbed them until they were red and sore, but finally clean. He then changed into a spare pair of clothes that were always on board, just in case. Pair of dark blue heavy work trousers and a black t-shirt along with a pair of steady hiking boots made him feel a little better. He moved up to the cockpit and quickly put Thunderbird one through its pre-flight check. The wind was just at tolerance level for the sleek craft. John knew that they had been tested and had withstood hurricane conditions, so he wasn't too worried about it. John quickly fed the map into the on board computers and then with careful hands, lifted Thunderbird one high and began to scan the surrounding bush. He was checking for infrared, ultra-voliet, movement, anything that should show some human sized life form down below. After a few moments, the computer pinged a location. John grinned slightly and lowered the craft back down, not easy to do in these strong winds. Once he had it set down he quickly opened a channel to Alan.

"Thunderbird one to Thunderbird Five," Alan's face appeared on his watch.

"John, any news on the others?"

"They should be okay, they are on their way to hospital."

"Aren't you with them?"

"No. I have some unfinished business to attend to. Now, I'm sending you some co-ordinates, I want you to track this body for me. Once I leave Thunderbird One I'm going to have to rely on you Alan." John sent him the co-ordinates he just got. Alan looked at them and then up at John.

"John, what are you planning?"

"Nothing that you need to worry about. I have to go back and get our gear, I just want to make sure The Hood doesn't come near, that's all." John hated lying to Alan but he knew he couldn't tell his youngest brother what he was planning, he couldn't tell any of them. Alan just looked at him and then slowly nodded.

"All right John, I'll keep an eye on him and relay his position to you."

"Thanks Alan. Thunderbird One out." John sighed, still slightly unsure if this crazy half-baked idea of his would work. But he was determined to carry it out. No one hurt his brothers and got away with it. Any remorse he felt was soon gone when his eyes rested upon his bloodied uniform. No one hurt his family.

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Alan sat back in his chair; his eyes red with crying and taking a deep breath, he steadied himself. He had what they thought was The Hood on his scanners, so far, the body wasn't moving. But something about the way John said he had a few things to take care off worried Alan. Frowning, he opened a channel to Virgil. Normally he'd asked Gordon what was going on in John's head, as Gordon was closer to John than any of the brothers, but he couldn't. Pushing back the tears that threatened to over whelm him again, Alan hit the button.

"Thunderbird Five to Thunderbird Two,"

"Go ahead Alan. Has something happened to Scott and Gordon."

"No, nothing like that. Virgil, how was John when you left there?" Virgil frowned.

"What do you mean Alan?"

"Well, I think he just lied to me. He wants me to keep track of The Hood, well, at least he thinks it's the Hood while he goes and gathers up the rescue gear. But somehow I don't think that's what he meant." Virgil frowned harder, going over the couple of short conversation's he'd had with John since the attack. Something had struck him as not quite right with his middle brother; he normally wasn't this forceful or harsh, yet he was suddenly behaving like this.

"Well, he did seem pretty upset. It must have been hard for him to see what happened to the others. He's always such a quiet person, maybe this is just too much for him and he needs to gather himself. So he's using a connivent excuse." Alan shrugged.

"I don't know Virgil. Maybe I'm reading too much into it. It's just, well, it's not like him."

"I know Alan. But can you honestly say that you'd be reacting normally right now?"

"No. I don't think I would be."

"Okay then. Look, I'm about two minutes away from home. It shouldn't take us more than 40 minutes to get back to Tasmania with Dad and Grandma. Keep talking to John Alan, if he's behaving strangely, maybe that's what he needs right now."

"Great. Just great. What am I supposed to talk to him about Virgil. Oh John by the way, how about those nix? Sure, he'll buy that in a New York minute." Virgil couldn't help but smile at his youngest brother's sarcasm.

"Sure he will. I have to go Alan. I'll talk to you again once we're in the air. Don't say anything to Father, all right."

"All right. Thunderbird Five out."

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The Hood was crowing with success. Two agents already down, one defiantly for good, the other, maybe not. The third was still with Thunderbird One and that was his target, his ultimate prize. He decided he would capture the third agent, get the operating secrets from him, and then kill him. He would then take the craft and all his dreams would begin to come true.

Laughing softly he raised his binoculars again, watching the activity at the main sight. He knew it was only a matter of time before the third agent moved out again. The wind was too strong for him to fly off right now, and with him in the area, there would be no way that International Rescue would leave one of it's craft unguarded. He watched as all but a couple of policemen left the area. Just then, the hatch to Thunderbird One opened and the third agent, the other blonde haired man, climbed out. The Hood smiled quite grimly. This was the chance he had been waiting for. He stood and moved back to where he had set up his sniper position. It was almost two easy.

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John opened the bottom hatch and took out the hover bike. It would be a lot faster than the four by fours and also a lot quieter. He then scrambled back up into the main cockpit when his watch beeped.

"Go ahead Alan."

"John, he's moving. Back towards the rescue site I think."

"Okay. Thanks Alan. Thunderbird One out." Before Alan could reply, John closed the channel. Good, the Hood knew he was alone, and knew he was going back out there. But John was going to be prepared for him. For John wasn't only going to retrieve their equipment. John was going to finish a job that was started some months ago.

With that in mind, John keyed his personal code and palm print into the arms locker. It opened and he got out a rifle and side arm. A few clips of ammunition and a couple of other things he might need went into the satchel. He closed and locked it again. He pulled a jacket on, as the day was almost over and it was getting dark. Grabbing night vision goggles, John climbed down the ladder and secured the items on the hover bike. The last thing he did was close up Thunderbird One, locking her safely.

John sat on the hover bike, taking a deep breath. What he was about to attempt went against everything he believed in. But the sight of his brothers lying there, shot, was more than he could bare. Hitting the engines, he took off into the bush.

It was time for The Hood to die.

Tbc.