Back with Chapter 3 and thank you to our lovely first reviewer. What a lovely confidence boost to read. So it's Ellie and Gordon this time, will they make it out of the plane in time. As always Thunderbirds isn't mine and belongs to it's creators. Except Ellie and Lucia, they are mine.

One by one Ellie sent the passengers up to Lucia, and slowly the water level rose within the plane. She could see the ever growing panic on the face of the flight attendant who had been helping her, Michael it was if she had his name remembered. "Do you want to go up first?" Ellie queried as they passed up the last of the passengers, "ahh.. No. no you go. We are supposed to be last." he replied stuttering, eyes down watching the water. Judging by that expression Ellie had a feeling she knew why he was so nervous. "Can't swim?" she asked with a smile, reaching out she placed a hand on his shoulder when he nodded his head sadly. "It's alright, you go up first. Swimming is part of my job so I'll be fine. You've done well to make it this far." she reassured him before looking up to see Lucia again over the hole as the power went out. "I'm sending Michael up, says he can't swim. I'll go see if I can get to the pilots now the power is out." Ellie yelled up to Lucia, she had made up her mind the moment the power went out. Turning to Michael she joined her hands and lowered them to her knee, "Up you go. I'll see you soon" she gave him her brightest smile before she boosted him up to Lucia's waiting hands. As soon as Ellie knew she had him, she turned to break into a run down the aisle towards the pilot's cabin. She didn't hear Lucia's call behind her to be careful.

At the first groan that ran through the plane Ellie stopped and listened. There was a sound of twisting metal and the plane gave an almighty lurch to one side at the same time as a loud bang sounded. From within the plane Ellie braced herself against a seat, completely oblivious to the chaos going on above her. The plane went eerily quiet again, every movement Ellie made was amplified within the space. A quick look behind her and she could see the water level rising faster, she really didn't have that much time. Breathing in deeply she moved towards the cockpit again, this time keeping her hands on the seats in case another clamp came free. She breathed a sigh of relief when she made it to the cockpit before another clamp disengaged, at least now the power was out. If she recalled correctly from one of the attendants the cockpit could be opened manually when the power went out. Until then it was locked and this time none of the attendants knew the passcode to get in while the power was on. Reaching for the manual release she gave it a tug to the left, there was a creak and a thunk as it disengaged and with an almighty push the door opened.

Ellie braced herself against the door as her stomach heaved against the sight, she had seen dead bodies before but usually they were drowning victims and on the odd occasion ones that had resurfaced after bloating. But this, this was different. Blood was spattered to every crevice within the cockpit, both pilots unrecognisable. It appeared there had been a fight after the plane had crashed, none of them would have known. With the cockpit entirely soundproofed, Ellie was horrified to realise that while she and Lucia were tending the passengers that the pilots had likely been tearing each other apart. Now that her stomach had stopped rebelling and she had steeled herself, Ellie took a look around the cockpit. There on the dash sat a very out of place box, bright red numbers counting down. Ellie didn't need to think twice to know exactly what it was and how quickly she needed to get out, now she understood why there was so much blood.

"Hey there, ready to get out of here?"

The voice behind her in the eerie dark stillness of the cabin that was only broken up by the groaning of the plane as it destabilised startled her. Ellie screamed in horror, wheeling around to come face to face with Gordon. Her heart was hammering in her chest and by the look of concern on his face she was almost certain she had gone white as a sheet. "Ellie is it?" Gordon asked her tentatively, he had certainly not quite expected that response to him coming to her rescue. All Ellie could do was nod in response, hand on her chest as she tried to calm herself. "Alright now Ellie, I want you to take a few deep breaths while I go check on the pilots, then we can get out of here okay?" Gordon's voice was smooth and comforting, about the only time he didn't crack horrid jokes was when he was in the middle of rescuing someone. "I wouldn't, they're dead and there's a bomb." she replied, reaching out to grab his arm before he walked in there and saw the carnage. Gordon placed a hand over the one Ellie placed on his arm and squeezed it gently, before he moved past her to peer into the cockpit. The bomb caught his eyes first so he didn't get much of a look of anything else but on seeing the blood he could only guess that's why she was so white. Right now though they needed to get out of there, turning back around he found Ellie was already making her way towards the escape hatch. "This is Thunderbird 4, to Thunderbird 1. I've got the last passenger, she's okay…." before Gordon had the chance to tell Scott about the pilots and the bomb there was a tearing noise and a crack sending the plane lurching again. He reached for Ellie as she stumbled and pulled her back against him as one of the overhead compartments sprung open and the bags contained within them fell out, landing where she had been standing with a splash.

"Thank." came Ellie's words of gratitude, the plane had begun to get quite the lean on it and between the luggage now blocking their path and complicating their exit, the water was also rising again too. Together they manoeuvred themselves through the seats to the next aisle, it didn't look quite as blocked and right now they couldn't afford to waste any more time in getting out. "I heard you're quite the swimmer" Gordon broke the silence, he hated silence more than anything and preferred to keep his survivors talking. He didn't expect the laugh that Ellie graced him with, "Guess so, nothing fancy, just a beach lifeguard." she replied as they wiggled between the last few seats and began to move down the narrow aisle again. "That explains why you volunteered to stay back." Gordon replied as he tailed Ellie closely behind her. "Yeah well I couldn't let Michael stay, poor guy can't swim. Wasn't a hard choice to make" Ellie responded as they neared the exit. He didn't have a chance to answer as the plane jolted again and with a popping and ripping noise another clamp broke free. This time for a brief moment, Ellie and Gordon saw blue sky. As the plane began to roll on them and water began to gush into the cabin at high speed, Gordon grabbed Ellie and pulled her close to his body as the torrent of water hit them. Ellie held her breath as the wall of water hit them when it rushed in and the plane began to roll, she had no reason to feel scared with those arms wrapped around her. Their progress to escape thwarted as the water pushed them deeper back into the plane, slamming Gordon back first against the corner of the small hall that lead to the cockpit door. There was a scream in her ears and it took Ellie a moment to realise that it had not come from inside her head.

"Guys? I..I can't feel anything. I.. I can't feel my legs. Scott, I can't feel anything." Gordon stammered in a panic, there had been a blast of pain and in that moment all the memories of his crash came flooding back. Of course he couldn't remember the crash itself but he remembered it going dark and the pain. The pain was intense but it wasn't the worst. It was the feeling nothing that was scarier than any pain. Four long months he had spent in that hospital bed after his crash, been told he would never walk again. Well he showed them that but now he wasn't so sure. He couldn't feel anything, what if this time he really couldn't walk again, what if this time he really had paralysed himself. "Can't.. I can't breathe." the panic was escalating higher and no amount of training could have prepared any of them for this. "I can't feel anything Virge" his words were punctuated with gasping breaths as he literally felt like he couldn't breath. They were going to drown, after all he couldn't get them out if he was paralysed.

Tap. Tap. tap tap tap. Tap

The ocean water stung her eyes but Ellie forced them open as she heard Gordon behind her, thankfully the cabin had filled quickly with water and she was able to turn around to face him. If he really couldn't feel anything she couldn't shake him and squeezing his hand didn't seem to have an affect so she began tapping a rhythm on his helmet in front of his face. It seem to work as his panic stricken face turned to make eye contact with hers. 'Come on, let's get out of here. It'll be okay.' she spoke with her eyes, giving him her best underwater smile and a nod. She could hear the voices of whom she could only assume was Scott and Virge over his radio, a quick look around and she disengaged herself from his arms and swam behind him, using her own body to support him in the water as she swam towards the gaping big hole in the side of the plane. Well that was certainly easier to exit through than the hole that had been cut for them, lot easier to swim out too now that the obstacles had been cleared out. Swimming free of the wreckage she was glad for the clamps that were still there, would have been much harder then she reckoned to swim out when the plane had been sinking at the same time. She really didn't want to look down and think about it. Despite her blurry water filled vision she made out Thunderbird 4 attached to the side of the wreckage. Well that certainly explained why the tear from that last chunk of plane only went so far. Was certainly closer to them than the surface too, "Swim to 4" she heard the wheezy voice in her arms. Well she wasn't going to argue with that, but her lungs were beginning to burn from holding her breath so long. With one last spurt she propelled them to the read of 4 and marvelled as the rear hatch opened up. Slipping inside she pressed a few buttons she swore she heard Gordon say and was pleasantly surprised when a bed flipped out as the rear hatch closed and the water began to drain. She had him on the bed before the water had dropped too low for her to move him, taking in a nice deep breath the moment her head was out of the water. There were some things she didn't need directions for as she found the first aid kid and was pleased to find a neck collar within it. Easing off his helmet she fastened the collar around his neck and strapped him in. She stood beside him in silence for a long moment, she was stuck for what to say. She had remembered all her spinal training but gee she wished Lucia was here, she had far more expertise in this than her.

"Gordon, Gordon come in. You okay little brother?" It was Scott who broke the silence over the coms. Ellie could see the panic beginning to rise in Gordon's face again and she reached out and put a hand on his cheek. "It'll be okay, just take a few breaths first. I need you to stay calm for me." There was a strangled laugh from Gordon, great now his own words were being used on him. "Pretty sure my backs broken, but at least I've got the company of a pretty lady" he replied to Scott with a cough, "Don't you move an inch little brother, I'll come down to pilot 4 back." was Scott's overly concerned reply. Gordon noticed Ellie's eyes go wide with realisation as she looked at him, he saw her mouth the word 'bomb' as for a brief moment the pair had forgotten about it. "We don't have time for that Thunderbird 1, there's a bomb aboard the ship. As soon as we're clear of the wreck release the clamps, it won't be pretty if that thing goes off near the surface." Gordon shot back, hoping Scott had not gone and done something stupid like jump in yet. "I can try piloting if you tell me what to do?" Ellie suggested and judging by the silence between Scott's messages, it appeared he had likely been halfway through a plan to get to them. "Can Ellie pilot 4? Lucia has control of 2 for Virgil, I don't like it but it's our only option." Well now, Gordon had not been expecting that reply from their stern mama bear like older brother who was a stickler for rules and anonymity. "You must be a mind reader brother because Ellie just offered." he replied as he indicated to Ellie where the spare com set was and walked her through getting into the cockpit.

"Wow, this… this is amazing"

The admiration in Ellie's voice made Gordon smile, closing his eyes he began to walk her through how to operate 4 starting with disengaging the arms and turning around towards the pod. He liked the feel of the 4 when she moved through the water, as weird as it felt not being the one behind the console he found himself able to immerse himself in the feeling more. "Hey, you aren't going to sleep on me back there are you?" ah he had been quiet too long and could hear the concern in her voice. "Maybe, you sure you have no experience?" he shot back and was met with a laugh, "Unless you count a jet-ski and a DPV, absolutely none. Virgil got lucky with Lucia, at least she can fly." Well that thought was a relief, though he could only imagine the look on his big brothers face at someone other than him piloting his beloved Thunderbird 2. Oh man he was missing out being stuck here, he thought with a laugh. "What's so funny?" Ellie's voice again broke into his thoughts, "Ahh nothing, just the look on Virgil's face at someone other than him flying 2." he replied with another snicker. "Ahh, well the pod is in sight, what now?" Ellie queried and Gordon began to walk her through the docking procedures, the first time wasn't successful but at least she managed it on the second attempt and once they were safely ensconced within the pod again, Ellie returned to Gordon's side. "Guess we wait and hope they pick us up in time." she said as she sad on the floor beside him, "I know Virge can." Gordon tried to ignore the seed of doubt that had begun growing, "Lucia can, she's a rescue paramedic you know. Don't think any of us would have made it out without her." Sure Ellie could be calm in a crisis but even she had found herself panicking when the plane went down, Lucia had been another story. So calm and collected in how she took charge of the situation and calmed everyone down. "Takes a lot of bravery to be the one to stay behind you know. I think everyone was damn lucky to have you both aboard." Gordon consoled her best he could while they waited for Virgil and Lucia.