Disclaimer - see chapter 1

Thank you to everyone who reviewed!

Megz McGizzle - Nothing wrong with making sure - enjoy!

shadowwolf919 - I don't like deathfics that much either and Scott is my favourtie so don't worry. Thanks for the review.

criminally charmed - thanks for the review, here's the update.

Sorceress-Phoenix - I'm so happy that you liked it that much. I hope you enjoy the rest too!

Guilt gripped Virgil with an icy cold hand. What would he do when he reached the surface? How could he possibly look Gordon and Alan in the eyes knowing that he had left their older brother behind? And what about Dad? Could he ever forgive him for leaving his eldest son in the hands of enemies? No, get a grip He told himself Think of what Scott would want you to do Virgil breathed out slowly and gently, dropping his shoulders and tried to find a sense of calm that would help him think.

He had to get the other two out. Whoever those men were they were after all of them. They had caused this. They had been waiting for them. Virgil almost smirked. Yet again, Scott's instincts were right. He had known something was wrong. Virgil had suspected he knew there was something dangerous going on when he sent the two youngest off somewhere safe when they could have been better use where he and Scott were. He now realised how lucky they were that Gordon and Alan had gone without argument. If the four of them were down there at once he knew the guy with the gun would have started shooting without delay if they had tried to escape.

Scott had thought all of this through. Virgil knew that he and the others didn't appreciate as much as they should how good a leader Scott was. And now he could be dying because he didn't think of himself, only about me getting out of there alive Virgil felt suddenly overwhelmed with love for his big brother, a love that had always been there but he didn't think he'd ever properly expressed.

As soon has he was roughly forty seconds away from the surface he contacted Gordon. The second youngest responded immediately.

"What's up Virg?"

"Is Alan with you?" Virgil asked urgently.

"Yeah he is…what's going on?" Gordon noted the urgency in Virgil's usually calm voice.

"I don't have time to explain now but you get back to Thunderbird 2 and get ready to leave, tell Alan he's taking Thunderbird 1 back to base and both of you hurry!" Virgil was now just reaching the surface.

"Alan? But what about Scott? – " Gordon questioned but Virgil furiously cut him off.

"Gordon I said I don't have time to explain! Just do it!" he cut off the communication link and began to drive the Mole back to Thunderbird 2. The guys from the basement wouldn't take long to get to the surface and he knew Scott would never forgive him if he hadn't got the two others out of danger by then. Besides, if this entire incident was a trap, then he doubted it was just the four guys out to get them and Virgil guessed that Scott was thinking that too. They had to get out of there. He didn't want to leave Scott behind but he knew that his big brother expected and wanted him to. He just prayed that the brave and selfless leader of the Tracey boys would be alright.

……………………………………………

"Ok Virgil, tell me what's going on right now!" Gordon sat on the co-pilot seat next to his older brother. Suddenly ordering them to return from a disaster zone where people needed their help was one thing but leaving Scott behind in a situation where it was apparently too dangerous for the rest of them to stay was another. He glared at his brother with a mixture of anger, fear, confusion and frustration until Virgil finally answered him. Gordon was shocked to see Virgil on the brink of tears while desperately trying to keep his voice steady.

"We dug down into one of the basements where the supervisor said there were still people unaccounted for" he began, trying to stay calm "but when we got down there Scott could tell there was something wrong…he found the door to the upper levels completely locked…he told me to get back to the Mole but before I could four muscled men appeared…watching us………one of them had a gun" Gordon swallowed, his nerves nearly getting the better of him.

"Scott whispered to me to run as soon as he gave the signal…he insisted "don't stop, don't look back, just run" I wanted to tell him to come too but there was a look in his eyes…almost as if he suspected what was going to happen……so when he gave the signal…I ran" he could hear his voice breaking and knew there was nothing he could do to stop it "when I reached the Mole there was a gunshot…I called out his name but he yelled back for me to get out………I left him there…I didn't think…I…just……" he stopped and realised Gordon had put his arm firmly around his shoulders. Relief and gratitude briefly lifted Virgil with this small action that showed Gordon didn't blame him. And the younger brother made sure Virgil knew that.

"It wasn't your fault" he said firmly "Scott was doing what he always does best – looking after everyone but himself" Virgil sighed and put a reassuring hand on Gordon's arm, unsure whether it was to comfort his brother or himself.

"Ok, so what are we gonna do then?" Alan's voice startled them both and Gordon smirked. The youngest of the Tracey boys had been listening the whole time.

"Parker's got nothing on you, sprout" he teased his youngest brother, momentarily lifting the mood. Virgil answered his question.

"We're gonna get back to base, tell Dad and John what's happened and then……well…I don't know…we'll see what Dad thinks" Virgil tried to hide the nerves he felt about facing their father. He didn't think he would blame Virgil for what happened but that didn't stop him from feeling guilty.

………………………………………………………………

Jeff Tracey's heart sank as Virgil told himself, Brains and John what had happened. He looked at Brains who, as usual, was lost for words and then John. Jeff felt a stab of pain when he saw a deep look of hurt and guilt on his son's face.

"John, this wasn't your fault" he turned to face Virgil "and it wasn't yours either Virgil, all four of you acted the way I would expect you to in this situation, especially Scott"

"But I should have figured it out before they went in there Dad" John began "the geographical reports, the weather forecasts…they just didn't match up with the landslide and I should have seen that" To Jeff's surprise, Brains was the one who reassured John.

"Given the err sit-sit-sit-circumstances I don't believe that anyone could have st-st-st-prevented this from happening" he said quite confidently for him. Jeff smiled at his friend's positive reassurance and was relieved to see that some of the guilt had left John's face.

"Brains, is there anyway we can locate Scott?" he asked, taking on a serious tone.

"I err have confirmed that he is not at the landslide sight anymore and I'm doing an in-in-in-global scan for his exact location" Brains told him before returning to work. Jeff looked around at his boys and, despite them trying to hide it, he could see fear in their eyes.

"What are we gonna do, Dad?" Alan asked him in a quiet and nervous voice.

"I don't know yet son" he replied honestly "but we will do something…I promise you – we will do something"

………………………………………………………………

Scott's eyes opened slowly and painfully and he took a look around the dimly lit room he had found himself in. He was alone. Whether that was good or bad he didn't know. As he closed his eyes again the memories of what happened flooded back into his mind. Virgil?! Did he make it out? Did he get to the others in time? Scott tried to stand up but the consequence was a shot of excruciating pain through his left leg. It was bandaged. Not bandaged well but at least bandaged. He remembered the gun, the pain, the terrified sound of Virgil's voice and it all suddenly going black. He looked around again. The room was completely empty. A single window about the size of a shoebox gave the room a tiny glimpse of the outside world. The only door to the room was at the opposite end and considering Scott couldn't even stand right now it was probably safe to say he wasn't going to reach it anytime soon.

This was bad. Scott had been in dangerous situations like this before, the last time being only six months ago. That experience had taught him to not give up even when the situation was dire and to stay strong for his brothers. He knew they wouldn't leave him here but saying that, he didn't even know where 'here' was.

His thoughts were interrupted by the door opening. He watched his captor move towards him and as soon as Scott saw the look in his eyes he knew that his brothers were in danger. Terrible danger……and there was nothing he could do to warn them……………

Who is Scott's mystery captor? (i think we can probably guess...) What does he have planned for the remaining Tracey boys? And is there really nothing that Scott can do? Wait and see! More coming very soon...