Hey, this is more explanation. This is what use to be chapters 2 and 3. I combined them as they seemed to go together much better then standing by themselves. This does, however, make this one of my longest chapters. Hope you enjoy. Again, there are minor changes, most again having to do with how things were done in the movie. Hope you enjoy. Katya and I are still trying to work on my newer chapters, so hopefully a new chapter will be posted sometime soon. Thanks again for reading this. Enjoy.
Chapter 2: Just a normal day
"Thank goodness it has been so quiet around here lately. The pressure and strain were really starting to get to us all, Dad." The young man stretched and moved to a more comfortable position in the chair. He looked over to the older man sitting across from him.
"I know, son; twenty rescues in two weeks is insane. I'm glad these last few days have been peaceful..." The two men jumped up quickly as what seemed like tons of freezing cold water spilled over their heads. Turning quickly to look behind them, they saw, respectively, their brother and son Gordon shaking with laughter with a water hose in his hands.
"Gordon, you..." Jeff Tracy was, unusually, at a loss for words. However, his oldest son Scott knew precisely what to do. Braving the spray of water still shooting from the hose, he rushed his younger brother. Years of training, both in the Air Force and later with International Rescue, came into play as he grabbed his brother and quickly rendered him incapable of further harm with a headlock. He then picked up his trickster brother and threw him unceremoniously into the large swimming pool. Comically brushing his hands together, Scott turned to his father.
"Well, as peaceful as possible with him," jerking his thumb over his shoulder, "around." Jeff chuckled, and moved to sit back down in the now drenched beach chair. As he moved towards the chair, music began coming from his side pocket. As Jeff pulled out his cell phone, he noticed peripherally that all of his terrestrial sons were glancing over, eager to know who the caller was.
Jeff quickly flipped open the small phone, and saw the caller was his middle son, John, who was serving his duty up on International Rescue's space station. As the cell phone's song continued, he paused briefly, thinking about his handsome son. John was home only a few months out of the year, because he served his duty aboard Thunderbird 5. Not that either one would complain. They both knew the whole Tracy family had to make sacrifices so International Rescue could function. Even though they did not mind too much, since it meant saving lives, sometimes selfishly, Jeff wished they could live the life of billionaires, as they pretended.
Mentally shaking himself, he said, "Hey, John." Immediately, he heard his son's voice, he sounded amused.
"Hello, Father. Just wanted to check in with all of you. Tried to contact you in the control room, but obviously you weren't in there. Just thought you might want to know that this lull looks to be around for a while. Nothing goin' on." Jeff nodded and smiled.
"Thanks John. Guess it must be kinda boring up there right now."
"It's not too bad, dad. My book is keeping me busy right now. I'm just choosing some photos the telescope Brains installed up here took the other day. I'll send some down to you later. They're fantastic." Jeff attempted to smother the smile that was trying to break free. Of his sons, only John and Alan had shown any inclination of sharing his love of space, though by necessity, Gordon was a pilot of THUNDERBIRD 3. Scott came close with his love of flying jets the fastest and wildest ways he could. However, none of the brothers would ever, tell another of their brothers they were not interested in what the other one was doing. Scott especially made sure he knew the interests of each of his brothers and took active interests in them.
"Thanks, son. I know the others will want to see the images as soon as possible. Anything else we need to know?" Both of them would have liked to talk for hours, but they all knew that John needed to constantly monitor the radio waves Thunderbird 5 picked up for potential rescues. Besides, communications with base needed to be kept strictly for business purposes. Jeff sighed internally. This was one of the problems with a secret family rescue organization. But the rewards far outweighed the problems, most of the time.
"No, Dad. Everything fine for now. See you later."
"Good-bye, son." John signed off, and Jeff snapped the phone cover down with more force then necessary. Scott glanced at him, then walked over and laid a hand on his father's shoulder. He gave him a slight squeeze, nothing more. In this family of all men, one gesture was usually all it took. They had been through the fire together and knew each other better then most families did. They all knew, and they all understood. And they all wanted to continue, despite the bad times.
Jeff Tracy cleared his throat and nodded. Scott walked off and started a low conversation with Virgil.
Just another day in the life of the Tracys. So they thought.
Across the ocean, in the small town of Maryville, Tennessee, two young people were parked at the overlook above the town. Jason and Meredith had been "going out" for six months and both felt that they were finally in a relationship that was going somewhere. This was their favorite spot, because of its secluded location. In between kisses, Jason asked Meredith if she would be willing to wait until he finished college before marrying him.
"I just don't want to make the mistake my dad did and have to constantly worry if the plant will take my job or not. I want to be able to provide for you and our future children."
Meredith was about to answer him when they heard two muffled thuds. Suddenly, their world was turned upside down. Jason's head hit the steering wheel while Meredith hit the dashboard. Both were knocked instantly unconscious.
Two hours later.
"Calling International Rescue! Calling International Rescue!" John raced to the control board and switched on the microphone.
"International Rescue, what is the nature of the situation?"
"I'm the mayor of Maryville, Tennessee, and we have two of our young people trapped halfway up a cliff which overlooks the town. There was an overlook up there, and they seemed to have parked up there. For some reason we still don't know, the cliff just crumbled and sent them straight down. Luckily, a tree stopped them halfway down, but it looks like it will give way at any time. There has been no contact with the two victims. Can you help us? None of our rescue equipment can get near the area." John let a brief grin escape. Here was a supposed "hick" mayor who had just given out his information in the most orderly manner ever. John was very impressed: no screaming, no wailing, and no hyperventilating.
"Sir, International Rescue can help you. If you will stand by, I will contact base and let them know the situation."
"Yes, of course. Thank you! Thank you!"
"Thunderbird 5 to Base. Thunderbird 5 to Base."
Back on their tropical island hideaway, Jeff was seated behind his desk in his office while Alan, the youngest Tracy, was watching a small TV from the sofa in the corner. Jeff was so glad to have his whole family together for the summer, as Alan was at school for most of the year. The rest of the family was spread out at different jobs around the island. Jeff was about to go join his youngest when a small beep echoed through the room. Jeff and Alan's eyes instantly focused on the plasma screen on the desk. A quick push of a button brought John's face onscreen.
"Go ahead, John."
"Dad, the mayor of Maryville, Tennessee just called and requested our help."
Jeff leaned over and pushed another button on the desk. This was the klaxon, which could be heard in every corner of the house and let everyone know at once that International Rescue was again needed. While the three Tracys waited, John filled them in on the details. Thundering footsteps precluded the rest of the people Jeff Tracy called family.
Scott was the first one through the doorway. Not giving him a second to slow, Jeff said, "Scott, set out in Thunderbird 1. John will brief you on the way."
"F.A.B." As the rest moved to give him space, Scott hurried over to the wall behind the desk. Here was a huge picture showing each of the boys and Jeff in front of the house. Suddenly, the picture began to fade and six portraits took its place, Jeff and his sons in their IR uniforms. Scott's portrait swished to the side, revealing a platform. Stepping onto the platform, the portrait slid back into place and the platform dropped. Scott gripped the handrails tightly as he felt the platform's freefall begin to slow. When it came to a stop, he got out and ran to his ship, a large silver ship with the words "THUNDERBIRD 1" written vertically down it. Scott moved quickly to the pilot's chair, and started the preflight checks. Scott quickly changed into his off-white uniform with the blue piping. He was glad they had decided against implementing the bright blue uniforms with the sashes and the hats. Besides being less practical, he had felt the bright blue uniforms would be the same as having a sign on the back saying "Shoot me, I'm International Rescue." Walking back to the pilot seat, he buckled the safety belts and saw that the preflight check had showed everything was normal.
Flicking a switch, he asked, "Thunderbird 1 to base, do I have clearance to launch?"
His father's voice came over the speakers, "F. A. B." Scott pushed both of the levers forward and smiled briefly as he heard the engines power up. With a roar, the great ship raced upward through the swimming pool, which innocently hid the fastest jet the world had ever known.
Scott leveled her off horizontally and checked his instruments. John had sent enough info into the computer to tell him where to head. He pointed his plane towards the California coast and pushed the speed up to 7,500 mph. The radio crackled to life.
"Thunderbird 5 to Thunderbird 1."
"Thunderbird 1 to Thunderbird 5, go ahead John."
The bushes moved ever so slightly as if a wind had rustled them. The firemen and police, who were standing around waiting for the famed International Rescue to show up, didn't notice. If they had, at least one would have wondered, since there was no wind.
"Thunderbird 2 to Thunderbird 1. Scott, do you read me?"
"Reading you strength 5, Virg. John brief you on the situation?"
"Yeah. I'm 25 minutes from danger zone."
"F.A.B. I'm landing now."
Scott landed his plane as close to the cliff as he felt was safe. He didn't want his VTOL rockets to cause the car to move anymore. As he stepped out, he saw a few people hurrying to greet him. He began unloading the Mobile Control unit.
"International Rescue? I am the mayor of Maryville. We are so grateful you have come."
"Well, it's our job, to give help where it is needed. My name is Scott, and I have some buddies right behind me. I need some place big for them to land."
"They can land in my field mister. Right over there. It's close by. I'm Mr. Robertson, Jason's dad."
"The young man trapped up there? Right. Thanks. That helps a lot. Could some of you help me set up my Mobile Control unit?" Within minutes, it was ready.
"Mobile Control calling Thunderbird 2."
"Go ahead Mobile Control."
"Virg, I have your landing coordinates. Land quickly, then get over here. We need to talk about how to affect this rescue." Alan glanced at Gordon. That did not sound good.
Thunderbird 2 landed and began raising itself so that the pod door could lower. Scott already had the police chief assign men to guard both vehicles because the Tracys knew from experience that there were several evil people-the Hood being the first to come to mind-that wanted nothing so much as the Thunderbird craft and International Rescue's secrets. Virgil, Alan, and Gordon ran over to where Scott was seated.
"Alright, here's the situation. Two teenagers, Jason Robertson and Meredith Baker, are trapped in that car." Scott pointed above them to where a blue car swayed slightly in the branches of a tree. "The Police Chief tells me that they believe the car was parked on the overhang above," he pointed still higher, "and it seems the area where the car was parked crumbled."
Gordon's attention was held by the still crumbling cliff face. "Why did the overlook collapse now? Did they have any reason to believe that it was unstable?" Scott shook his head.
"I don't know, and right now that's not our concern. Out concern is getting those two people out of the car and to safety."
Alan spoke up, "Scott, how are we going to get to the people?" Scott smiled at him.
"We're going to winch down one of us to the car. They will ascertain the stability of the car and the shape the passengers are in. Then we will use the winch to lift them up one at a time. Any questions?" Virgil nodded.
"Who's the lucky one?" Scott winked.
"Well, since we need someone to operate Thunderbird 2 and keep her steady while they are being winched down, you're out. You're the best pilot of her, and we will need your expertise. I'm out because I have to man Mobile Control. Gordon's out because he has the greatest experience with winch control. I guess that leaves..."
"Me! It leaves me," Alan fumed. "I knew it. I'm the smallest and weigh the least. It had to be me!"
Gordon winked and said, "'Sides, these two are too old. They wouldn't be able to do it." Scott and Virgil rolled their eyes. The "old" jokes were getting... well...old. As everyone moved to his assigned positions, Scott grabbed Alan's arm.
Lowering his voice he said, "Be careful Al, ok? This is tricky, and...well we sure wouldn't want to lose you. Who else would we torment?" Alan gave Scott a warm grin.
"I'll be careful. After all, who else do you have besides Gordon to crack old jokes at you?" Scott sighed as Alan walked toward Thunderbird 2 to get into his harness. It was so hard as field leader to send your own brothers into harm's way. But as he had said, this was their job. What was that line..."with great power, comes great responsibility."