Watch out – this one's fluffy! Another random one that came out of nowhere…but hey, I hope the ideas keep coming!
Thanks to my sister for reading this for me and pointing out some things that needed tweaking.
As always, I don't own International Rescue, and I am making no profit from this story.
Gordon adjusted his grip on the shivering little boy. His own teeth were beginning to chatter too, even though he'd only been in the water for a few minutes.
"How do I keep getting myself into messes like this?" he muttered under his breath. "The others aren't going to let me live this one down, that's for sure!"
Scott, Virgil and Gordon had finished putting out a warehouse fire a short time earlier. It had been a particularly exciting rescue, as they had discovered that the warehouse was used to store fireworks – and they had to get to two people trapped in an office in the middle. They had been successful – although not without a few singes here and there – and were packing up their equipment when a distraught woman had approached them.
"My son is missing," she had said, clearly on the verge of tears. "My little Ricky. He's been gone almost two hours now!"
Scott had shared a quick glance with his brothers, clearly thinking that the kid had probably just found a good spot to watch the fire. It had certainly been a spectacle to behold. "How old is he, ma'am?" Scott asked politely. He was nothing if not professional.
"Eight," she replied. "He wanted to watch the fire, but I told him to be back at noon for lunch – and he's still not home!"
Scott had given a barely noticeable sigh. Considering the hero worship many boys Ricky's age had for International Rescue, he and his brothers knew that the kid had most likely just lost track of the time while watching them work. Searching for him under such circumstances wasn't really in the scope of their job, but – "Gordon, go with her and see if you can turn anything up," Scott said. It was the only right thing to do, even though none of them would have been surprised if little Ricky was already waiting at home. "Check the house first," Scott told Gordon, with a wink when the woman wasn't looking.
Gordon hid a grin. "FAB!"
He and the woman – Darlene, she had said her name was – headed back to her home a little ways distant. Ricky had not arrived back, though, and Darlene's anxiety increased tenfold.
"Hey, hey, stay calm," Gordon told her, patting her cautiously on the shoulder. He was great with kids, but crying women – yikes! "I'll go look for Ricky, but I want you to stay here and call around to his friends and check if any of them have seen him. Okay?" He waited for her nod, then headed out the back door.
He studied the lay of the land, trying to decide which way he would have gone if he was an eight-year-old looking for a good view of the warehouse fire. Spotting a knoll sticking up above the trees a little ways away, he jogged in that direction.
When he reached the top, he saw that he had been correct – the warehouse was clearly visible below.
He looked around and saw an old house foundation nearby, along with a couple crumbling outbuildings.
"Ricky!" he called, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Ricky, are you up here?"
He paused to listen – and frowned. Had that been a distant cry for help, or just a bird call? Walking a little closer to the buildings, he tried calling again.
"Ricky!"
"Help!"
Okay, that was definitely a human voice, but it had an odd quality – kind of muffled and reverberating.
"Keep calling, Ricky!" he yelled, and walked in a circling pattern, changing his course occasionally as the cries seemed louder or quieter. Suddenly he tripped over something in the tall grass, and pinwheeling his arms, just managed to keep from falling on his face.
He looked down at a square framework of old, rotten boards that had a hole torn in the middle. He gasped – an old well! Of course! He raised his watch to his lips, planning to call Scott with a request for rope – but then let out a yelp as the ground suddenly crumbled underneath him.
As he fell, he caught a split-second glimpse of a scared face looking up at him, and managed to angle his body so that he wouldn't land on top of the kid. He plunged into the icy water – and kept going. This well was deep. When his feet finally touched bottom, he kicked back to the surface, spluttering, just in time to receive a painful blow to the shoulder as more rocks and wood fell from the edge. He quickly retreated to the wall, where he was somewhat sheltered.
Ricky was huddled against the far wall of the narrow well, clinging to the rock face. Thankfully it looked like the falling debris had missed him.
Gordon tried to regain his professional demeanor. "Hi, Ricky," he said with a grin. "My name's Gordon, and I've come to help you."
The boy stared at him in disbelief. Gordon supposed he couldn't blame the kid after the entrance he had made.
Ricky warmed up more after a moment, though, finally taking in Gordon's IR uniform. "You're International Rescue," he said shyly. "I was watching the fire – and then I stepped on this wood and fell in this dumb old well."
"Yeah, your mom asked us to help find you."
"The others are here too?" Ricky asked in excitement.
"Well, not yet," Gordon said. "But they will be as soon as I call them!" He raised his watch to his lips. "Scott, come in."
He frowned when silence met his words. "Scott, come in. Do you read me?"
Still no answer. Okay, then…the signal couldn't get through horizontally, but how about vertically? Thunderbird Five was above him, after all…
"Thunderbird Five, come in. Johnny, do you read me?"
To his relief, John's voice came crackling over his wrist-comm. loud and clear. "I read you, Gordon. What's going on?"
"We-ell," Gordon drew the word out.
John waited a moment, and then asked patiently, "Well, what, Gordon?"
"It's a deep subject," Gordon told him.
"Huh? Oh, I get it – a well is deep. Ha, ha. Very funny. Is that all you called me to say?"
"Well, no," Gordon replied, winking at Ricky, who gave him a slightly confused smile.
"Well, get on with it, then," John sighed. "You apparently have all the time in the world, but I've got stuff to do!"
"Well," Gordon said one more time. "I'm actually in one right now."
Longer pause. "Um, what? Wait, you're in a well? Seriously?"
"Seriously."
"How in the world did you manage to do that?"
"Well, I was sent to look for a lost child. I found him. Ricky, say hi to John!" Gordon held the watch closer to Ricky.
"Um, hi John," Ricky said shyly.
"Oh, uh, hi Ricky," John replied. "Are you okay?"
"A little cold, but I'm not hurt," Ricky said. He giggled. "This is kind of fun, actually, now that Gordon's here with me."
"Well, good," John said. "So, Gordon, why did you call me?"
"My watch wouldn't connect with Scott's. He and Virgil are still at the Danger Zone. We're gonna need ropes and harnesses to get out of here – there's no way we can climb out."
"Okay, I'll let them know. Hang in there, guys!"
"FAB," Gordon replied. He swam over to Ricky's side and held onto the wall with one hand. The other arm he wrapped around the little boy. "Here, you can give your arms a rest for a bit," he said. "I know mine would be tired after all that time."
With a grateful sigh, Ricky let go of the wall and curled up against Gordon.
Gordon frowned – he could feel the deep shivers running through the boy. Hypothermia was going to be a serious problem if he was in the water much longer. Hoping Scott and Virgil were hurrying, he worked on taking Ricky's mind off their situation by telling him about various rescues – mostly ones involving Thunderbird Four.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"He's where?" Scott demanded incredulously.
"We just left him alone for, what, ten minutes?" Virgil added. "And he manages to fall down a well?" He sighed and shook his head. "Hang on, I'll get the gear."
"The kid said he was cold," John called after him.
"Okay, I've got thermal blankets in my pack," Virgil replied as he trotted toward Thunderbird Two.
"What are the coordinates?" Scott asked.
"I don't think you need them – just look for the hill to your east," John said. "They're up on top of that. Just for goodness' sake, be careful you don't fall in too!"
Ten minutes later, after a stiff hike, Scott and Virgil stood on top of the knoll, looking around much like Gordon had.
"John, how close are we?" Scott asked.
"The opening should be fifteen feet behind you."
They moved carefully, not entirely certain what they were looking for. They immediately recognized it when they saw it, though. The wooden lid was still in place, but a large chunk of the edge had fallen into the hole, leaving a gap under the edge of the lid. Approaching cautiously, Scott and Virgil each seized a side of the lid and heaved it off the hole. They lay on their stomachs to look inside.
Twelve feet below, two faces were turned in their direction. Gordon was grinning, while Ricky smiled uncertainly.
"Hey, Gords, what are you two doing down there?" Virgil called.
Gordon held a whispered conference with Ricky, which ended with the boy giggling. "We're spelunking, of course," Gordon replied. "Because we both made a big 'spelunk' sound when we fell in!"
Scott and Virgil rolled their eyes in unison.
"Well, are you ready to come out now?" Scott asked.
Gordon's grin widened. "Well," he said.
Scott was less patient than John had been. "Well, what?"
Gordon nudged Ricky, muttering, "You tell them."
Ricky giggled again, then looked up at Scott and Virgil. "It's a deep subject," he told them from between chattering teeth.
Scott cast Virgil a look of utter perplexity.
Virgil sighed. "Well – a deep subject…the well is deep…oh, forget it." He leaned back over the hole. "Okay, you two comedians, very funny. I'm lowering you a harness now."
They watched Gordon help get Ricky's numb fingers into cracks in the wall again so that Gordon would have his hands free. When the harness splashed down next to him, Gordon, with the ease of long practice, had Ricky all hooked up in seconds. He double-checked the attachments, then tugged lightly on the line.
"All right, haul away," he called. "See you at the top, Ricky!"
Scott and Virgil pulled the little boy up with ease. While Scott kept tension on the line, Virgil helped Ricky climb up onto the edge of the hole.
Then, quite suddenly, the entire edge of the well crumbled away under Ricky's feet. Virgil, in one instinctive movement, snatched him up and leapt to safety, bowling Scott over in the process.
Scott was up again almost instantly, his face white. "Gordon!" he gasped, lunging back toward the hole.
"Careful," Virgil warned, even as he followed right at Scott's side.
They crawled to the edge, wary of another cave-in, and peered down into the well – and both their hearts stopped. Below them was a perfect circle of dark, muddy water, still shimmering with little wavelets from the falling debris – but no Gordon.
"The debris," Scott said frantically. "The rocks – he must be trapped!"
Virgil grabbed Scott's arm to stop him before he could dive into the murky water below. "Wait," he snapped, watching the water with narrowed eyes.
The water roiled – and then a red-haired figure burst up into sight, shaking the water from his eyes and coughing.
"Gordon!" Scott and Virgil exclaimed in unison.
"Are you okay?" Scott demanded.
"What were you doing?" Virgil added.
Gordon grimaced up at them. "Sorry to scare you," he said, actually sounding genuinely apologetic. "I saw all that stuff coming down, and I figured it would be slowed down by the water, so I dove." His familiar grin reappeared. "This thing is seriously deep!"
Scott rolled his eyes. "Well, let's get you out of there before the whole thing caves in!"
Gordon snickered. "Well, okay, then!"
Scott growled at him, but tossed him the harness. He and Virgil picked the side of the well that appeared the most stable, and pulled the wooden lid right up to the edge, letting the rope slide over it to distribute the weight better. Soon Gordon was cautiously stepping up onto solid ground; he quickly moved away from the edge of the well.
"Well," he said, "that was fun."
Ricky, wrapped in a thermal blanket and sitting in a patch of sunshine, smiled at him and held out a second blanket as he approached. "Here, this one's for you," the little boy said.
"Hey, thanks, Ricky," Gordon exclaimed, unwrapping the blanket and pulling it around his shoulders. "Keep that up, and you'll give Virgil a run for his money as our medic!"
Virgil ignored him, long used to Gordon's banter. "Shall we get Ricky home?" he suggested. He told the little boy, "Your mom is worried about you."
Ricky nodded, scrambling to his feet. The warm sunshine, combined with the thermal blanket, had worked wonders, and he had nearly stopped shivering. He was steady on his feet as they made their way back to his house, and Virgil gave Scott a satisfied nod in response to a questioning glance.
On the way, they let John know that the rescue had been successful – and he in turn said that he had contacted the local authorities and asked them to seal off the old well.
Darlene nearly went into grateful hysterics upon their return, and it took a few minutes for them to extricate themselves, Virgil making sure to recommend a visit to the family doctor in case of any complications.
Soon, though, they were hiking back to the Thunderbirds. Gordon had warmed up completely and was letting the sunshine start to dry out his uniform.
"Well," Gordon said. "That was an interesting pair of rescues. And to think, Scott – you weren't even going to look for Ricky!" He regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth.
Scott's shoulders drooped. "I didn't want to," he said quietly. "If it had been just Virg and me, I'm not sure if I would have bothered. And then Ricky would be –"
Gordon, cringing guiltily, quickly cut him off – it took a lot to discourage Scott, but mentioning a could-have-been was almost sure to send his oldest brother into a self-doubting spiral. "I didn't mean to say that," he exclaimed. "Of course you would have gone looking for him. This is you we're talking about, after all – Mr. Perfect! Tracy Do-Right!"
"Yeah," Virgil added, shooting Gordon a nasty look behind Scott's back. "Don't let it get to you, Scott. We all make mistakes, but today you didn't – you listened to your instincts, and you sent Gordon out, and then we all helped save a little boy's life. It doesn't matter what might have happened...all that matters is what did happen."
Silence reigned until they had almost reached the Thunderbirds. Scott still walked with a slight slouch, and Gordon kept casting guilty glances at his back, while trying to avoid being fried by Virgil's ferocious glare.
They stopped near the Thunderbirds, and Gordon cautiously touched Scott's arm.
"Scott?" he asked softly, a slight pleading tone in his voice. As much as he and his brothers teased one another, true hurt was never their intention.
Scott finally turned to face them, and they were surprised to see that he was grinning, an unusually mischievous light in his eyes. "You're both right," he said. "Don't say any more – you'll make me well all up!"
Virgil let out a startled laugh, while Gordon stared at Scott open-mouthed.
"Trying to catch a fly, Squirt?" Scott asked, then bounded up the ladder into Thunderbird One.
"Did he – did he just –" Gordon spluttered.
Virgil clapped him on the shoulder. "Yes. Yes, he did. You've been out-punned, Gords." He headed for Two. "You planning on coming home with me?"
Gordon shook himself and hurried after Virgil, a grin slowly spreading across his face. All was well.