Inner Strengths

Disclaimer: I do not own Thunderbirds but my Grandma's neighbour does…-cheers!- I get free merchandise! W00t!

Summary: When a Rescue Mission goes horrifyingly wrong, its Jeff Tracy's Worst nightmare to find out his youngest son has disappeared from the Danger Zone on his first official 'Rescue.' What has become of the youngest Tracy? (-Movie Take-)

Warnings: Psychological references, prepare to be confused! XD, ok my mind has changed completely now…there will be a Rape Scene in this fic hence the rating…it is all written out and there will also be ancient powers, but not as ancient as it seems, again I will warn you on chapter heading so watch out for those…

Ok hopefully some explanations in this chapter…if it doesn't make sense email me a.s.a.p! I must know!

And yes I'm still using myP/C at work...still no internet at home so weekendsI will be unavailable...unless you know my phone numbers which I'm not posting here for obvious reasons...

Despite what you lot may think I'm not that dumb! XD

Anyways, here's Chapter Six...Enjoy!


Chapter Six: Survival…

"We are still unsure on the status of the two International Rescuers inside the BSI at this moment in time, everyone here is praying for their safe return…" The News Reporter said on the 17inch screen. Pei Xi-Lan clicked the Television set off and sighed. She'd always had a fairytale delusion that one day the man of her dreams would come to rescue her from her world of boredom and work…no such luck.

Hong Kong was 'supposed' to be a place of fun and excitement, and yet all she had found was work, work and more boring work. Being a Doctorate in Biology was her dream but the work she was doing was so mundane that she craved more excitement. She was beginning to regret taking up this job, and was thinking of returning to the USA with her family and friends.

But she needed the money. She snorted at the thought; nowadays everyone needed money. Without it you would starve and wither away until you became a corpse on the side of the road. Everyone's lives had been corrupted with the greed and need of money and yet no one had ever found a wealth to satisfy their needs. Well, all except one who just seemed to have a constant supply of wealth; Mr Jeff Tracy. The Famous Ex-Astronaut, the richest man in the World, or so rumour had it.

How she envied that man. How she wished to be so rich that not a care in the world would worry her ever again…But that would make her greedy. She didn't want that. She didn't want to be greedy and selfish; her Martial Arts training had given her the discipline to put others before herself. But then again Jeff Tracy wasn't a greedy or selfish man either. She'd seen him donate unanimous amounts of money to several charities around the globe, and all in the name of progress and new hope.

Xi-Lan sighed again; her life seemed so completely complicated. She didn't know which way she going, or what she was aiming for anymore and that frustrated her. All her life she'd had a goal, an aim to focus on, but with all this new age complications, all these directions to choose from. Her focus had been completely disrupted and she longed for something outrageous to happen in her life…She didn't know just how exciting her life was about to get.

She was in such a deep reverie that she didn't hear her front door open with a small creak. The footsteps that followed made no sound on her deep wool carpet as the intruder made his way over to her, as silent as the wind…

Before she knew it, two large hands grabbed her from behind; one pressed against her mouth, the other wrapping around her torso pinning her arms to her sides. Her training kicked in automatically as she was lifted from the plush settee. She wriggled violently and managed to twist her body around, allowing her to kick out and place a rather satisfying blow on her assailant's thigh. He grunted but his hold never faltered. Instead he pinned her down on the floor with his knees. She fought well but the assailant had the advantage of weight and build. He pulled out a wet handkerchief and pressed it against her nose and mouth.

The sickly sweet smell of Chloroform hit her delicate nostrils, slowly rendering her senseless. She struggled as best she could under the circumstances but the chloroform won out. The last thing she saw was the impeding snarl on her attackers face; a dark Asian face with a scar running down his neck, before she fell into a dark dreamless sleep.


"How are things doing Gordo?" Virgil asked through the communications link. He'd already spoken to the rescue teams down on the ocean's surface and found that they would work with whatever he had to do. So Virgil was just about ready to bring the Ship back to shore. He just needed a status report from Gordon first.

"Systems are back online, bu' I couldn' ge' a hold of Dad." Virgil frowned. He couldn't get a hold of Dad?

"Don't worry Gordo, he's probably busy, he and Fermat are on a rescue at the BSI. That's what John said. Can you get the third cable installed while I'm moving her?" he asked, putting the worry to the back of his mind. He needed to stay focussed.

"I can bu' try bro', I'll let ya know if there's a problem." Gordon replied. "Thun'erbird four ou'." Virgil nodded as the screen went blank. He then looked up to the control panel in front of him to see how far the ship was from the shore. It wasn't far but it would still take some time, even with all three cables attached. He sighed and fired up the forward thrusters.

"Hold on guys…"


The Hood walked into the laboratory with an air of commanding authority. Well he did own the facility; after all it was he who bought/stole the equipment. Not that he knew what the things were used for, that was what Transom was for. Speaking of which…

He spied said criminal scientist bent over a large desk surrounded by several 'doo-hickeys' as Mullion quite technically put it. He gave her a small mental nudge and watched with an amused smile while she straightened and turned to face her superior.

"Sir. Is there anything I can help you with?" She asked politely. He could feel her eagerness to get back to work but he needed some assurances and a progress report.

"Yes Transom as a matter of fact there is something you can tell me. How are things coming?" he asked dropping his smile and becoming deadly serious. She flinched slightly before replying.

"Swiftly Sir. I have isolated the programming that Dr Gossburr designed and I was just working out the kinks before you came in, Sir. I believe I will have it ready for production in mere minutes." An excited smile graced her unfortunate features and The Hood inwardly winced at the sight.

"Good, how long until the finished project is completed?" He asked. His impatience was beginning to impede his thoughts but he held it in, grudgingly. Now was not the time to vent his frustrations. He would save that for the enemy.

"Not long Sir, another day or possibly two to be safe. I want to make sure each and every one of them is functioning as they should be." She smiled again and this time The Hood couldn't hold his cringe. He saw Transom's smile fade. "Something wrong Sir?"

"Just do me a favour Transom. Stop wearing those ridiculous outfits, stop trying to seduce all the men on my base and most of all, stop smiling. Or at least find a dental surgeon before you do." He replied hotly before turning his back and walking out of the room.

Transom stood in a shocked silence.


He hung his head in defeat, he didn't know why, or when, or even how, but his brother just wasn't here. He'd tried to use the communications system inside but the entire mainframe was fried so he stood in front of the gaping hole in Thunderbird One's bodywork feeling quite lost, trying to figure out what happened after the machine fell.

He'd heard an explosion; that explained the hole in the belly of the machine. But what happened after that? He'd heard voices, but those were the miners…what about that rumble he felt? He sighed as he stared at his shadow. The miners had decided to set up a small camp fire behind him but he was too restless to sit by its warmth. He wanted to think, to figure it all out, to suddenly click and know where Alan was but try as he might, he just couldn't work out where his brother had disappeared to and he shivered at the thought.

Charlotte, the daughter of the two miners, came over to him with a small blanket and wrapped it round his shoulders in a comforting manner. She was around about his age and was a fairly pretty young woman taking after her mother, Rosie, more so than her father, Pete. She and her parents were three of the miners (or rather Rock Climbers come Cave Explorers as they put it) while that last one was a family friend called Jonno.

He accepted the blanket quietly and turned to the dying dusk above. The first few stars had already begun to shine brightly in the sky and he knew that the search would have to be postponed until morning. Tears began to defy his orders; Alan was out there on his own, no doubt in pain, and would remain so for a whole night. His eyes watered at the thought and Charlotte, or Charlie as she liked to be called, didn't fail to notice.

"He means a lot to you, doesn't he?" She asked as she rubbed his back in small soothing circles. He nodded numbly still unable to admit that Alan wasn't there; unable to admit to himself that he had failed his little brother.

"Tell me about him." She asked following his heavenward gaze. He glanced down at her, wondering whether or not to tell her. She was a beautiful young woman with a fire burning deep behind those enchanting eyes of hers and Scott could feel himself falling prey to her curiosity.

"He's my brother." He admitted; he had to give some sort of explanation for his ferocious intent to search for Alan, and it didn't mean that all members of International Rescue were related. He never was one to lie, so he told the truth…just not all of it.

He saw Charlotte's eyes widen in shock and pity. She, like so many others, never stopped to think that some of International Rescue's members were related. The image of five brave yet totally unidentifiable men who possessed all the know-how on how to deal with major and minor catastrophes, along with the bravado and courage to carry out those actions was all that the public saw. Even in their curious discussions and debates on who and what they were, they'd never considered the five men to be related.

But he didn't blame them; he couldn't for it was he and his brothers who fought to make it that way. If anyone was to blame for that, it was him and his family; the rescuers of International Rescue.

"Your brother! I had no idea, I never thought International Res-…" a sideways glance at her was all she needed to shut up in embarrassment. She wasn't helping his mood any with her anxiety and pity. "I'm sorry, I tend to ramble sometimes." She muttered weakly whilst turning away slightly. Scott gave a small smile.

"Don't worry, I do too. Too many a time I remember sticking my foot in it real good." He replied, hoping to make her feel better without realising he was subtly flirting with her. She smiled also, unaware of the unconscious advances he was unwittingly making.

"I just seem to mess up all the time. I know what I want to say but when I say it…" She began but trailed off. Scott quickly jumped in.

"It doesn't sound like it did up here…" He finished for her pointing to his head. She turned and smiled, "Yeah." They both fell silent for a few moments, letting the sounds of the forest nightlife wash over them. The Rainforest was almost as alive as it was during the day, if not more so, but Scott just couldn't appreciate it to its full extent right now. His brother needed him…

"Will he be ok on his own out there?" Charlotte asked, echoing his thoughts. She'd been climbing in these mountains for years with her parents and had seen a lot of things she'd wished she hadn't. People went missing all the time in the Rainforest, and a search nearly always came up fruitless.

"He's a survivor." He replied smiling, remembering the first time Alan had proven his worth to The Thunderbirds; when he, Fermat and Tin-Tin had taken on The Hood and come out victorious. "He's definitely a survivor…" he repeated, trying to reassure himself more than the young woman beside him…

Charlotte saw his smile and knew he was deep in his own thoughts again. He seemed to do that a lot, and she suddenly realised that these men were more mysterious than they were made out to be. What could drive a man to do what they do? What crimes were they trying to pay off? What debts did they owe this Planet?

...Who were they protecting?


The first thing Jeff became aware of was the heat. He snapped awake and sat up right rapidly, remembering what had happened. The fire had reached the congress room in which they'd rolled into and was rapidly spreading and becoming hotter. He could only have been out for a few minutes considering the fire was still finding new fuel to feed from.

Fermat stirred beside him and Jeff quickly checked to make sure he was ok. Both were slightly over heated due to their heat proof suits doing an excellent job, but Jeff knew he'd strained if not broken his ankle in some way. It was painful even to think about it but he put the pain out of his mind.

"Fermat, you ok?" He asked hoarsely. He helped the young lad to sit up and waited for his thoughts to clear. He watched as Fermat shook his head clear and assessed what his body was reporting in.

"I'm o-o, fine. Are you?" He replied taking a look around at the situation. Jeff nodded telling Fermat that he'd live whilst quickly searching for an exit. The doorway in which they'd come through was almost completely blocked, but there was a small opening. Small enough for a certain young genius to squeeze through and operate The Firefly in order to open up the hole a bit bigger.

"Can you squeeze through that hole and widen it for me?" He asked. Fermat looked to the small hole and quickly decided that it would be a tight fit. Afraid as he was about small spaces, he was more afraid of the raging inferno that was quickly spreading to their position.

"I can t-t, have a go." He offered, moving to stand. Jeff followed suit and stood awkwardly in his left foot. Fermat noticed this and filed it away for future reference. He moved over to the small hole and cautiously surveyed its diameter.

Definitely a tight squeeze.

He swallowed hard, and then breathed in attempting to make himself as small as was humanly possible. He crawled into the hole arms first and began to pull himself to the other side. It was more difficult than he first thought; his suit kept getting caught in the small points sticking out, and twice he had to stop and wriggled back to free himself from a severe tangle. But he managed it.

Seven agonising minutes later he was through and clambouring into the Firefly, working its mechanical arms to free Jeff. Rubble began to dislodge from above but Fermat was careful to keep the structure of the opening stable. Several minutes later, a slightly charred Jeff crawled stiffly through the opening.

Fermat helped him into the Firefly's hose compartment and drove the vehicle back to the exit they'd created.

Another explosion quivered through the ground as the onlookers watched the building collapse before them. Smoke and dust surrounded the building and many cried out to the two rescuers still inside.

Then there was silence…

Shock and devastation paralysed the entire crowd as the unbelievable filtered through the hope in each mind. A stifled sob, a respectful silence and the crowd bowed their heads in remorseful remembrance of the heroes.

But as the dust cleared, and the smoke fanned away, the unmistakable silhouette of The Firefly could be made. Gasps filled the air and shrieks of joy and disbelief resounded through the air as the two rescuers slowly pulled to a stop outside the artificial fog.

The cheers could be heard from the moon as the ecstatic crowd jumped and whooped for their favourite heroes. The Thunderbirds had done it again; they'd achieved the impossible.

"Now to get Alan and Scott." Jeff said quietly through their in house inter-communication system. Fermat looked up, the fear evident in his eyes.

"I a-ag, concur."