Disclaimer: Gerry Anderson owns them, I don't. This is TV Verse, not a huge movie verse fan. This is the first part to a nice angst filled John centric fic. Yes, it does bare a couple of minor similarities to Meercat's Phoenix Rising, but I in no way intend to rip off her excellent fic, so please don't think I am. Feedback always welcome and please remember I am Australian, we do use a different English Dictionary here. Angel Mouse February 2005.


A Hard Place

By Angel Mouse

"Move it Scott, I can't hold it much longer!" The strain in Gordon's voice cut through Scott like a knife as he scrambled over the debris that made up what was left of this construction site, Virgil on his heels. The supports and framework of a new high rise building had collapsed due to an earthquake, trapping seven workers underneath steel, iron and dirt. The on site rescue gear had been damaged by the falling equipment and it was unable to be used to get the men out, so the call had gone out to International Rescue as a last resort.

Scott had arrived promptly as per usual and had gotten details of the trapped men by the time Virgil arrived with Gordon and John in Thunderbird Two. They couldn't get to the men using the Mole, because of the ground being unstable, so they had decided to go in from the top and work their way down. The uninjured workers on the site had moved what debris they could, but now that International Rescue was here, they helped where they could but mostly stayed back.

Scott scrambled over the rubble, his heart racing, Virgil hot on his heels. While Virgil was getting out the cutting gear they would need, Scott had sent John and Gordon over to where the pit was to get further readings on exactly were the trapped men where. Gordon had anchored John while he climbed down into the pit, sensors in hand, when the unthinkable happened.

John had gotten snagged on some metal and while trying to free himself another aftershock had struck, flinging him against the metal and narrowly missing impaling him. But, his safety rope had gotten caught and begun to fray until it broke and Gordon had grabbed the frayed end only just. John had fallen a few feet, impacting a few times on the debris before coming to a jerking halt as Gordon had grabbed the rope that was flying past him. Gordon had immediately yelled for his two older brothers to come running and they did, fear in their stomachs and hearts racing.

The two of them skidded to a halt near Gordon and while Scott looked over the edge, Virgil began securing the rope as best he could with what little they had. The strain on Gordon's face said everything.

Even though John was the slightest of the brothers, he still wasn't light with all the gear he'd been carrying. Scott looked over the edge and gasped softly at the sight below him. John was hanging almost upside down, his uniform was torn in places and he was obviously struggling slightly to get upright.

"John! Don't move you're just making it harder for us." Scott pushed himself away from the edge and began to help Virgil secure Gordon and the rope, getting some more from where Gordon had dropped the rest of the gear.

John refrained from saying the inane and obviously profane answer he wanted to give his eldest brother. He was hanging upside down by a thread and below him was a mass of very sharp steel, iron and other various sharp objects. He reached out, trying as best he could to ignore the blood rushing to his head, and steadied himself on an out cropping of iron. It was almost like being weightless in space again and comparing it to his beloved past time helped him a bit.

"Okay John, we've got you secure now up here, try and turn yourself right way up."

"Easy for you to yell Scott, you try doing this." John muttered as he reached out with his free hand and grabbed the line attached to the belt at his waist. Grunting slightly with the effort he then let go of his other hand and made a grab for the rope. Getting both hands on it, he then pulled himself slowly, almost painfully, upright until he was finally the right way up and breathing slightly hard.

His arms trembled from the strain he had just put on them and he leaned his head against the rope, closing his eyes a moment at his narrow call, calming his racing heart. He knew that by now the rest of his brothers would have secured the rope to stop him falling any further.

Scott watched while John righted himself and let out a sigh of relief when John was upright again. Virgil and Gordon had secured the rope and joined him staring over the edge. After a moment the blonde head moved and looked up at the three expectant faces. Suddenly, a wicked grin appeared on his face through the dirt and dust covering it.

"And for my next trick I'll make the Gordon stop playing practical jokes." The four brothers shared a soft laugh at the close call that they had just had. John's smile faded and he turned all serious again, business before pleasure. "Scott, I can hear movement clearly down here. I think those workers are trapped in a pocket just below, you know, beneath those concrete slabs we saw on the scans."

Scott frowned. The underground scans they had taken showed large rectangular objects and upon quizzing the site manager what they could have been they had discovered that they were large concrete slabs that the workmen had been preparing to lay this very day.

"John, you're not thinking of doing what I think you're thinking of doing." The grin on John's face wouldn't have looked out of place on Gordon's - the practical joker of the family. John's reply was calm and well thought out though.

"Yes I am Scott. I can see close up what it's like down here, trust me, none of you will be able to fit through here. Alan might have but none of you big clods of fellows would fit." John liked to tease his other, bigger brothers, as they liked to tease him about his slimmer figure.
"Comes from eating too much of Grandma's cooking John. What about me?" John shook his head, looking down and shining his torch down again. Lucky for him the torch had been attached to his belt so he hadn't lost it when he fell.

"No go Gordon. I'm the only one that stands a chance for getting through." John looked up at them, grinning. "Guess it pays off that I'm the skinny one in the family for once." John's eyes locked with Scott's. "But it's your call Scott. I can get down there, through this mess, see the situation and go from there." Scott saw the seriousness in John's expression and thought hard a moment.

"Are you sure John?" John nodded, knowing that this wasn't an easy decision for Scott to make.

"I can do this Scott." Scott took a deep breath, making his decision.

"Okay then John. But be careful and don't take any unnecessary risks." John nodded and smiled slightly.

"FAB Scott. And Scott," Scott looked at him, seeing the gratitude in his eyes, "Thanks." Scott nodded.

John took a deep breath and looked down, shining his torch below him.
"Okay, lower slowly." The rope gave a little jerk and then began to lower slowly as his brothers lowered him by hand. John pushed himself out of the way of the debris carefully until he settled finally on a fairly stable looking section of the debris. "Okay, that's enough, thanks." The rope went a little slack and John began shining his torch around, trying to spot an opening.

"Hello below! This is International Rescue. Can you hear me?" John waited a few tense moments and then a voice could be heard.
"Yes, we can hear you!" John grinned in relief. That was always a good sign.
"Great. How many of you are there and are you all okay?"
"There are seven of us. All a bit banged up but nothing too serious. Mike's got a busted arm and that's about it." John smiled in relief.
"Okay. Is your position stable for the moment?"
"Yeah, but we're not sure for how much longer."

John studied the area where he was standing; it was fairly stable for the moment, but he wasn't prepared to trust it for very long.
"Okay, can you move some of the debris to make a hole so I know where you are? Or tap on some metal or something so I can locate you?"
"Hang on."

John kept shining the torch around where he was standing. Even though it was a sunny day, it was dark down in the deep crater where they were. They were approximately 90 metres down, and all around the edges and all the way down, pieces of metal, iron and concrete were sticking out ready to impale the unwary.

John's watched beeped and he raised it to his lips, a tiny smile on his face as he knew who it would be. Five minutes had passed since Scott had talked to him and he knew that his big brother would worry without checking in with him every so often.

"Go ahead Scott."

"How did you know it'd be me?" John gave a soft laugh as his eyes spotted some slight movement in the debris to one side. He held the torch there as he spoke.

"I haven't been down here five minutes yet Scott; I knew you'd be checking up on me." John glanced down at his watch to see Scott blushing faintly. John grinned slightly and raised his eyes to the movement again. It wasn't often he got one over on his big brother.

"I don't mean to nag John but..." John nodded as he shone his torch on the debris he was standing on, trying to pick out a path.

"I know. I've made contact, they are all alive and okay, minor injuries including a broken arm. Their position is secure for the moment and they are currently trying to see if they can make a hole so that I can have a look for myself. I'll call when I know something more."

"Okay John." Having picked his path out John looked down at Scott.

"I'm going to have to unhook my safety line now Scott, it's going to just get in the way."

"No, that's not procedure John." Scott's face was worried.

"Yeah I know, but I have to. No other way." Scott frowned at him. John could see the worry in his eyes, also the conflict of knowing that he's sent his brother down into a possibly dangerous situation and wasn't there himself.

"Let me come down and give you a hand."

"No, not yet. Not until I've got the situation fully looked at and this whole mess stabilised." Scott opened his mouth to protest but stopped, shutting it again. He sighed and looked at John. He knew his brother was right, but it still was worrying. John was down there, he knew what he was doing. He had to trust his brother.

"Alright, be careful."

"I will. I'll call when I know what's going on."

"FAB." John lowered his watch and unclipped his safety rope. Time to back actions with words.

He began to pick his way carefully over the mess of steel and concrete towards the bit that was moving. Moments later, as he reached it, a hand was stuck through it. John crouched down and gently grabbed the hand.

"Hey, this is International Rescue." The hand clutched at his in relief and John shone his torch back along it, looking down into the small hole. At the end of the small hole was a dirty and relieved looking face.

"Thank god!" John grinned down at him. No matter how long he did this job, the relief in people's voices when they knew that they were there was always a highlight of this job.
"Well, we'll see. Now, are you okay?"
"Yes."

John studied the area, not letting the man's hand go. He knew that sometimes the physical contact between a rescuer and the trapped made a lot of difference.
"How stable is the area you guys are in?" The man looked around.
"Not sure, we can't see anything down here. But not to stable I don't think." John thought a moment.

"Okay, I'm going to hand you my torch, you can have a look and tell me if she's going to hold a little while longer or not. By the way, what's your name?"
"Jack. And thanks." John gave the man's hand a squeeze and let it go, handing him the torch.
"Nice to meet you Jack. I'm John. Here you go." John watched as Jack's hand clutched the torch and began to go back into the debris.
"Won't be a sec mate. Glad you're here." John grinned.
"That's what we do."

The hand disappeared and John began to carefully shift bits and pieces, trying not to disturb the hole too much but hoping to expand it a little from the top. If he could do that and gradually strengthen the small hole, it would be perfect for getting the trapped men out of there. But he had to go slow and be careful. There were soft sounds coming up from the small hole as John could hear the trapped men moving around as he worked. The voice floated back up after a few moments.

"Looks pretty stable in this pocket where we are. Couple of the slabs have fallen against each other, leaning on one another like, forming a sort of a tent. That's how come we didn't get squashed." John grinned at the man's calm description.
"That's good to hear Jack that means we can..." What ever John was going to say was lost suddenly as his attention was suddenly diverted by a rumbling sound and a yell from his brother at the top of the hole.
"John! Watch out! Aftershock!"

The warning came seconds too late. A life time too late for the Tracey brothers up above.

The ground shook hard and fast, shifting the already unstable debris even more and before John could stand to go for his safety line, the debris that he had been standing on collapsed under him and with a yell he fell through it.

The others at the top of the hole were thrown to the ground and managed to scramble away from the edge, instinct for self preservation taking over for a moment. Scott had grabbed Virgil and dragged him backwards, while Virgil had grabbed Gordon. But all three of them were only thinking of John and hoping that he was okay.

John groaned as consciousness flared back to him with painful reality. He was sore all over, and just knew that he'd have bruises galore when he got home. He then realised what woke him was the gentle shaking of a hand on his shoulder. He blinked a few times as he opened his eyes. There was dim torchlight and he could see a figure leaning over him.

"John! John! Are you okay?" John groaned as he took stock of his situation and then he remembered. An aftershock had hit and he'd fallen. Oh boy was he going to get it from his brothers when he got home. Falling through a hole he was standing next to, his brother's were going to have a field day with this one.

"Yeah, I'll live." John pushed himself up slowly, hands from behind him helping him to sit up. John looked at the man next to him, thinking a moment. "Ah, Jack?" The man managed a tight smile.

"Yes. Hi, welcome to our humble home." This got a soft chuckle from John and a few others. John looked around at where they were.

They were trapped beneath two large concrete slabs that were leaning against each other, perfectly stable for the moment in a freak occurrence that had them balanced against each other. It was only a small area though, and it was cramped with seven men, eight, including himself, trapped in it.

There was now a solid wall of steel, rubble and iron at one end, the other was hard packed dirt, just like under neath them. John sighed as reality hit. There was no way any of them were getting out of here now without help. At least he was okay, bruised and battered but okay. He looked at Jack and managed a wry smile.

"Well, looks like you guys are stuck with me for a while. Anyone got a deck of cards?" His words broke the tension that had been in the air and they all gave a soft laugh. A couple of them ended up coughing though, as the latest aftershock had unsettled the dust. John took the torch and shined it on the rubble in front of him. There were little cracks here and there, so semi fresh air was getting through to them, not a lot, but enough so he didn't have to worry about that. Just then his watch began beeping and he raised it to his lips.
"Go ahead Scott."

Scott breathed a massive sigh of relief when John's face appeared. Dirty, smudged and a few minor cuts were apparent on his face, but he was awake and looked okay. The fear subsided slightly in his heart.

"Are you alright John?" John gave him a tired smile.

"Apart from a bunch of bruises I'm okay. But that last aftershock has really packed things in down here. We won't be able to dig through the debris to get out. I'm thinking that if that was the last aftershock, then our best bet of getting these men out of here is drilling another shaft alongside and then digging through to our position." Scott frowned. That had been originally discussed as a rescue option before they had started but with the risk of aftershocks, they had discarded it as a last resort.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea John. The area is very unstable." John frowned back at him and then ran a hand through his hair. His normally whitish blonde hair was covered in dust and dirt.

"I know Scott, but the situation's changed now. We have to risk it. It's the only way left to get these men out of here." Scott sighed.

"Okay, I guess it'll help having you there to watch over things. Okay, watch yourself while I get the guys moving." John gave him a grin.

"I'm not going anywhere Scott, don't worry about it."

Scott looked up to find Virgil and Gordon watching him, there expressions concerned.
"You heard him, he's fine." Virgil frowned and after a moment shook his head.
"What John's suggesting, tunnelling down, won't work. The area is too unstable and it would cause more problems than it would solve." Scott sighed. Virgil was right, he was the engineer and he should know.

"What else do you suggest? There's tons of debris down there that we have to shift to get those men, and John, out." Virgil smiled gently at Scott. The sort of smile someone older and wiser would give a young person for asking a silly question.

Scott just raised his eyebrow at Virgil and Gordon just looked back and forth between his two older brothers. He knew from long experience not to interfere when they got like this. Scott caught him looking and raised his eyebrow and flashed a grin at Gordon before looking at his brother.
"Okay Virgil, spill before Gordon sprains his neck."

"We use the magnetic grapples on Thunderbird Two to move that stuff out." Scott frowned, thinking hard. Virgil kept talking, explaining as he went. "You and Gordon guide them down the shaft from here, they grab the stuff down there, I raise them up and we dump it off to one side. It'll be slow, but it'll be a hell of a lot quicker than digging another shaft, and a hell of a lot safer." Scott nodded, going with Virgil's assessment of the situation.

They had been on every single rescue together and there was no one's judgement Scott trusted more than Virgil's. He trusted all his brothers implicitly, but the bond between him and Virgil was sometimes almost telepathic in nature.
"Okay, let's do it that way."

An hour later everything was ready to go with Virgil's plan. They had radioed back to Tracy Island and had filled them in. Brains had double checked everything and they had agreed, drilling another hole was too risky, so Virgil's plan was given the go ahead. Virgil was in Thunderbird Two hovering over the rescue site.

Scott and Gordon were securely anchored on either side of the open pit by safety lines, hands in thick gloves, ready to guide the steel ropes holding the electro magnets down into the pit. Scott lifted his arm and looked down at his watch.

"John, we're ready to go up here. You all set down there are you?" John's face appeared, in deep shadows and dirty, but a warm smile on his face. For an instant Scott was glad it was John down there, he wouldn't freak out as perhaps one of his other brothers might do. All that time alone in space he supposed. John's grin was rather wry as was his tone.

"Yes, we're all fine. Just wishing we had a pack of cards or something." Scott laughed softly at his brother's wry tone and he could see Gordon's grin from out of the corner of his eye. John had a very understated and often wry sense of humour that they didn't get to see very often under his quiet exterior. It was only in situations where any of his family where in danger that it came to the fore.

"We'll just see what we can do about that. We estimate it's going to take a few hours, probably at least three or four, to shift all this stuff using the electro magnets and Thunderbird Two. Are you guys going to be okay for that long?" Scott tried to keep the worry out of his voice but he could tell by John's expression that he wasn't that successful.

John was very adept at reading all of his brothers, it probably came from all that time he spent listening to his brothers, as they all tended to go to John when something was troubling them.

"We'll be fine. Two massive concrete slabs have formed a sort of a shelter, that's what saved these guys. So it's a bit of a squeeze, too warm and stuffy but we're okay. Some air is getting down here, so it's not too bad." Scott nodded, but he was still worried. The men had been trapped already for three hours before they had been called, and they had been on site an hour.

Eight hours in a dark, dingy place wasn't a good thing, but luckily now they had John with them. If anyone could keep them calm, it would be John.

"Okay then John." Just then the jets of Thunderbird Two roared as Virgil moved into position. "We're starting to move the debris now, so I won't be free for a little while. Call if you need anything." John laughed.

"A pizza and a few six packs of beer wouldn't go astray, but we'll make do." Scott laughed.
"All right. Talk to you soon." Scott ended the call and gave thumbs up to Gordon. He looked up and waved at Virgil and the two steel cables began to lower the electro magnets down to them. Time to get to work.

John lowered his watch and looked around at the seven men that were trapped down here with him. They were sitting down as best they could, considering they had very little room especially since the small cave in that had brought John tumbling down to join them.

The area they were in was cramped and uncomfortable, but they made the best of their situation. At least they had light from John's torch, although he'd turned it down a bit so that it wasn't too bright. John had turned the torch down to save its batteries, even though they were special long life one's Brains had designed. He looked around, a warm smile on his face.

"Well, looks like it'll be a few more hours down here. Just wish I could do something more to make the accommodations more pleasant for us." A few of the men smiled slightly as they looked nervously above them and over at the pile of steel, iron and concrete. John knew that the men would be feeling nervous and anxious and he smiled reassuringly at them all. "Don't worry; we'll be out of here soon. My colleges up top have gotten everything under control. As long as there are no more aftershocks, nothing else will go wrong and we should be out of here in time to go home for tea." One of the men - Roger - laughed softly and grinned at John

"I hope so. My wife's cooking me pork chops tonight and there my favourite." Mark, who was a bricklayer, grinned as well.
"Mine's doing lasagne."
"Sweet and Sour Pork"
" Steak and chips for me tonight."
"Taking the wife and kids to Pizza Hut, it's my youngest birthday." Mason looked at John, a smile on his face. "He's going to be over the moon when I told him I meet you guys from International Rescue." John grinned at him.

"Well I'm sure I can find something hanging around Thunderbird Two for him as a birthday present. Every little kid needs a present from his dad on his birthday." Mason smiled at John.

"Thank you so much John." Mason gave a soft sigh. "That makes me feel really bad about having to do this." With that he reached behind his back and took out a gun. Moments later six soft shots rang out and he gave John a soft regretful smile. "Now, you're going to come with me."

Scott looked as the last load was finally moved away by Thunderbird Two. He sighed, wiping the sweat from his face. Gordon walked around the pit and joined him, smiling slightly.

"Man that was hot work." Scott nodded.

"Yes, I can't wait to get John out of there and get home." Gordon grinned as they both stripped off the heavy work gloves they had been wearing.

"Well shall we?"

"FAB." Scott lifted his watch and spoke quickly. "John, this is Scott. Are you still there?" Scott had a half smile on his face, expecting John to come on the line and come back with some smart-alecky remark. But there was no answer to his call. Scott shared a concerned glance with Gordon. Gordon looked at him and began to move over to where the abseiling equipment was.

"John, John answer me please!" Gordon began quickly climbing into the gear, worry quickly replacing the smile on his face. Scott began to walk over to him. "Virgil, hurry up and land. We can't raise John." Virgil's face looked worried and he nodded.

"Right, I'm on it." Thunderbird two began to roar away to the landing site and Scott reached Gordon's side.

"Ready Gordon?"

"Ready."

Scott got ready to anchor Gordon and Gordon stepped out over the edge. He quickly pushed himself off, gliding quickly down into the pit. There was practically no debris left down in the bottom of the pit and there were two large concrete slabs that were leaning against each other. Scott was pushing the worry he was feeling to the back of his mind. John should have been out of the limited cover that the concrete provided them, and should have definitely answered him by now.

Something had happened.

And Scott was worried it wasn't good. Gordon reached the bottom and quickly unhooked himself. He turned and took a few steps towards the concrete slabs. Scott looked down, joined moments later by Virgil. He flashed his brother a quick look and then looked back down at Gordon. Moments later Gordon ducked under the slabs and they watched him go, concern on their faces. Literally seconds later Gordon had run back out and to one side, leaning over and holding his stomach. Scott looked at Virgil, alarm on both of their faces.

"Gordon, what happened? What's going on?" It took quite a few long moments but finally Gordon straightened up and raised his watch to his face. In his other hand he was clutching something.

"Scott, you better get down here. There's…" Gordon swallowed and they could see his freckles standing out on his pale face. "There are seven dead bodies down here… the workers..."

"What? Where's John?"

"I don't know Scott. All I found was his watch." Gordon's eyes were full of worry and were wide open with what he'd just seen. "Seven bodies and his watch Scott. Something bad has happened Scott. Something really bad."

Tbc…