SCOTT TRACY

Scott Tracy sat at his fathers desk waiting for his two youngest brothers to report back on their mission.

The call had come in that a private mini sub had run aground in shallow waters becoming stuck with all three passengers trapped inside. A mission that usually would only require the technical skill of Thunderbird 4 and her aquanaut but on this occasion Scott had decided to send Alan along too which had not been greeted with much enthusiasm from either.

"Why is Alan coming?!" Gordon had grumbled looking offended. "I can handle this one fine on my own."

"Because I want Alan to get some more experience in Thunderbird 4, he's clocked very little time in her so far."

"Why can't I just go in her with you instead?" Alan had piped up.

"You know very well why Alan. Gordon is the most experienced in the sub, you'd learn far more from him then me."

Alan scoffed at the comment which had the aquanaut glare across at him.

"I'm not taking him." Gordon seethed.

"That's fine by me."

"You're both going and that's final!"

Scott gave a deep sigh, a hand running through his hair in frustration.

It had been like this for a week now, since the day he and Virgil had to break them apart in the middle of Alan's room as they brawled on the floor.

The pair typically were joined at the hip, partners in crime, best of buds, so to be informed by John that they were fighting in Alan's room and when getting there with Virgil close behind to find it was a physical fight and not a verbal one had really thrown him off.

But what was throwing Scott off even more was the aftermath of this fallout.

Neither of them would talk.

This wasn't necessarily unusual for Gordon. The aquanaut could be very tight lipped when he wanted to be, its why Scott had deployed Virgil onto him but even that had provided little results. However the most unusual part in this case was Alan. As a rule the youngest Tracy always opened up to his fellow blue eyed brother, yet here he refused to breathe a word.

The past days had been filled with a quiet tense atmosphere which was having everyone on edge and Scott had had enough.

So he'd made the executive decision that having them work together on a mission could help break the ice. Communication was always key as part of teamwork and both were professional when it came to iR, knowing to keep personal feelings aside when it came to saving innocent peoples lives.

John had seemed sceptical on this method, worried it might have the opposite effect and make it worse but Scott could see no alternative. The pair refused to talk to them about it and made no sign of attempting between themselves to resolve their disagreement. The only option left was to force them into a situation where they had to talk, whether they liked it or not. This mission seemed perfect for that.

As a result they'd been dropped off in the Pacific around the Philippines by Virgil in Thunderbird 2 before he'd continued on heading to his own assignment of a trapped miner in Northern China.

That had been 2 hours ago.

Since then it had been quiet.

Far too quiet.

Scott was starting to get worried. He couldn't help it. Since their father had vanished he had done his utmost to take up the mantle not only with International Rescue at its Commander but more importantly as big brother and father figure to his younger brothers.

Virgil and John had been rather smooth sailing, however the youngest two Tracy's were where his greatest challenge had come over the past few years. Their relentless enthusiasm and prankster antics caused a majority of Scott's headaches on a daily basis, especially when they rashly ran into the thick of danger without a moments thought or concern for their own safety. The number of too close for comfort calls he'd had when it came to them had brought grey hairs on the back of his head far too early for his years.

One day they'll be the death of me, I swear.

He was about to call John to see if he could give him an update when as if on cue the com's lit up on Gordon's portrait, the projected form of the aquanauts upper body appearing above the sunken lounges coffee table.

Speak of the devils.

"Gordon! Why haven't you checked in before now? Whats your status?"

"Easy Scott, we are heading back now. Mission complete!" came the chipper response.

Scott felt some of the worry ebb away, his eyes scanning over the aquanaut satisfied that he looked fine before looking for the baby of the family.

"Where's Alan?"

"He's in the back compartment cleaning some of the equipment." Gordon explained, "Got a lot of sediment on parts when freeing the sub."

A whining complaint in the background told Scott that the youngest blond was not too happy with the task he'd been assigned by the elder.

Scott felt himself relax a little more into the chair. They were both safe, that at least was something.

"What's your ETA?"

"Should be home in around 3 hours."

"Can't Virg come pick us up?" floated in Alan's voice.

Gordon threw a glare over his shoulder.

"Why Alan, anyone would think you didn't want to be here with me!"

There was a mumbling response that the iR Commander did not catch over the audio but judging by Gordon's reaction it was not a positive one.

"I heard that!"

Scott pinched the bridge of his nose feeling another headache coming on. Looked like his plan hadn't worked out exactly as he'd hoped.

"That's enough you two!" He stated firmly. Maybe John had been right, sending them out together unsupervised may not have been the wisest of decisions. "Virgil is still dealing with the collapsed mine. You'll just have to make your own way back for now."

And hopefully not kill each other along the way.

Suddenly there was a ripple through Gordon's projection which caught his eagle sharp eyes.

"What was that?"

"I don't know. There was a strange vibration for a moment."

Then there was a visible jolt as Gordon was pushed to one side, his face scrunching up in shock as he looked outside of his cockpit.

"What on earth?!"

And then the transmission cut off.

"Gordon?" Scott called as he stood up receiving no response. "GORDON?!"

The worry that had ebbed away earlier was now back with avengence.

Scott hit the coms for Thunderbird 5.

"John! What's going on?"

The middle Tracy's avatar suddenly appeared beside him on the desk.

"There's been a category 9 earthquake not far from their location. The quake seems to have disrupted some of the satellite relays in the area, trying to compensate now."

Scott watched how the gingers hands quickly typed and swiped across various displays before him but this all suddenly stopped, those teal eyes widening in a way that made his elder brother feel very uneasy.

"Scott, that earthquake….its caused a…."

The next word had Scott stop breathing.

"…tsunami."

GORDON TRACY

The mission had been rather straight forward which Gordon was thankful for.

They'd found the sub fairly quickly on arrival, run aground in the seabed a lot of sediment having built up in the propellers making it impossible to move. He could see three people within through one of the windows waving ecstatically, the relief on their faces evident on seeing the most famous sub on the planet approaching.

He'd established communications and checked that no one was injured before he and Alan had set to work. Their usual banter was none existent, but years of working together side by side meant they could effectively do so without one word having to pass between them bar the essentials.

This suited Gordon just fine, he was more then happy to talk to the three within the trapped sub instead. The trio had promptly introduced themselves as Jared, Miko and Azra, all undergrad art students from Hong Kong trying to get some underwater images for a project. It had been while chasing a particular picture of a bamboo shark as it glided effortlessly along the seabed that they had become stuck.

As Gordon had swum over to start scraping some of the sludge caught in the propellers out, they'd shown him some of their images on a camera through the window and the moment they had all heard he was a keen marine biologist had gotten his help to identify some of the species they had caught on film over the course of the day. The aquanaut had to admit he was impressed by their photography skills plus some of the marine life they had managed to capture. Harlequin Shrimp. Pygmy Seahorse. Mandarin Fish. They just a few of the trio's finds that he had been able to identify for them.

Once they'd got the sub free, bringing it back up to the surface was simple with Thunderbird 4's grapple arms.

There had been a little spat between the two blonde's as Gordon had all but ordered Alan to start cleaning the equipment in the back before the sediment solidified and clamped the joints. Alan not impressed why he was on as he called it 'sludge duty' when he was meant to be getting more experience with handling Four yet had barely been allowed near the controls, huffed in indignation but as Gordon had put it, his bird, his rules. So while Gordon piloted Four, towing the mini sub along behind them to port, Alan had got to work mumbling away to himself and a scowl set on his face.

Upon reaching dock, Gordon had moved outside to release the hold on the mini sub and help the trio clamber out onto dry, stable land. Jared had enthusiastically move forward shaking his hand and asking for a selfie, something Gordon was all too happy to oblige with, Miko shyly moving closer to the aquanauts side with a slight blush as Azra stood stoically beside them all. Alan however had kept in the background only poking his head out of Four for a moment before disappearing back in when his eyes had caught with his brothers. Gordon had just rolled his eyes at this. Brat.

Several thank you's and promises to send their underwater images over to Gordon to see later and Four was on her way, propelling herself out of the dock and down below the surface just as amber eyes caught the time on the console.

Oh, boy.

It had been 2 hours since they'd been dropped off and he hadn't checked in.

Not once.

He felt himself internally wince.

Scott was likely having a mild panic attack back home on Tracy Island. He was surprised he hadn't contacted them yet to grill them on protocol, though he knew John would have been watching over them high above in Thunderbird 5, coms always linked in automatically to any of them when they were out on a mission.

Sure enough the look on his big brothers face was exactly as he'd feared, contoured lines of worry all along his brow, sharp blue orbs piercing into him as he'd clicked on the coms to Command.

"Gordon! Why haven't you checked in before now? Whats your status?"

"Easy Scott, we are heading back now. Mission complete!" Gordon placated with the most upbeat tone and reassuring smile he could muster.

The aquanaut noticed how his brothers eyes quickly glanced over him before searching for his other sibling. Gordon wondered if Scott even realised he did this every time they came back from a mission without him. The man worried too much, so much so that Gordon had dubbed him Mr Worrywart two Christmas's ago with a t-shirt embezzled with the slogan which matched very well with the Mr Grumpy one he'd got Virgil that Christmas too. That had earned him a dunking in the pool by said brothers with Alan laughing in the background and John rolling his eyes at his siblings antics.

"Where's Alan?"

"He's in the back compartment cleaning some of the equipment." Gordon explained. "Got a lot of sediment on parts when freeing the sub."

Alan's voice floated into the cockpit having obviously been listening in. "This is so not fair!"

Gordon decided not to respond to that comment and lucky neither did Scott as his next question came in.

"What's your ETA?"

Gordon looked down at his navigation the course already plotted. "Should be home in around 3 hours."

"Can't Virg come pick us up?" Alan called from behind him having moved closer to the cockpit entrance no doubt trying to spy his big brother on the com's.

Gordon threw a glare over his shoulder.

"Why Alan, anyone would think you didn't want to be here with me!"

There was a moments pause as Alan's eyes locked momentarily with his before disengaging but as he started to move away he muttered under his breath. Words no doubt he did not count on being heard.

But Gordon caught it, and the words stung.

"Like anyone would want to be here with you."

"I heard that!" he snapped but before he could say anymore the firm tone of iR's Commander cut through the air.

"That's enough you two! Virgil is still dealing with the collapsed mine. You'll just have to make your own way back for now." Scott's tone indicated no broker for argument.

Suddenly a vibration went through Four making her console rattle for a split second and then stop.

"What was that?" Scott asked sharply.

"I don't know. There was a strange vibration for a moment."

Gordon looked at his console to his 'birds readings. All his systems were green so it wasn't the sub herself. He was about to turn and see if Alan had dropped something in the back but a jagged jolt had him slamming into the side of his cockpit.

"What on earth?!"

He looked outside to see the water whirling around, sea-life being pulled past them as the current shifted. He pressed down on his throttle to get the turbines of the engines moving faster to compensate but it was no use, they were being pulled along too. Even at full throttle it was having little effect as he soon felt a large thud as Four hit the ocean floor.

All the water around soon vanished, a couple of small fishing boats deposited not too far away from where they once floated on the surface.

"Did someone unplug the sink?" Alan quipped from behind him.

"Shut it Alan!" Gordon snapped, uncertainty beginning to rise within as his squid sense started to tingle. "Hey Scott, something weird is going on."

When no immediate reply came he looked down at his com's. The small projection of his eldest brother had disappeared.

"Scott?" he called again but no answer came.

He clicked his com's button on Thunderbird 4.

"Scott?"

Nothing.

He tried the one on his uniform.

"Scooottt?!"

Again, nothing.

Odd.

"Did the tide go out?"

Gordon rolled his eyes at his brothers interjection.

"The tide doesn't extend this far Alan!"

"You sure?"

"Of course I'm sure!" he replied irritably.

Honestly Alan was getting on his last nerve now. Of course he was sure, he'd checked the data on the flight here. A habit ingrained in him since his W.A.S.P days after a slightly humiliating experience as a cadet. He grimaced at the memory. It had been difficult to live that one down amongst his fellow cadets, getting stranded on a training exercise because he hadn't taken into account the time of the tides had him teased mercilessly for at least two months. It was why he'd never recalled the tale to any of his brothers, or least not to all of them save the blonde in the back who he'd felt confident at the time he could confide in. Granted Alan had laughed for a good hour after being told but he'd never let it slip to the any of the older Tracy's.

"Then how come I can see the beach?" came the exasperated reply.

"Huh?!"

Sure enough when Gordon turned around he could see all the way to the shoreline, the beach now extending to them and as he looked the opposite way, beyond them, the water retreating out to sea at an alarming rate.

Gordon's eyes widened as the reality of what was happening sunk in, his squid sense screaming loud and clear now.

Tsunami.

Gordon felt his stomach sink.

Shit.

He looked to the shoreline again. It was a good mile away.

Too far to run.

There was only one option.

"ALAN!" he yelled. "PUT YOUR HELMET ON AND STRAP IN, NOW!"

"What?!"

"DON'T ARGUE! JUST DO IT!" he snapped. The edge of panic in his voice must have been picked up as he noticed out of the corner of his eye Alan immediately scrambling around

Gordon reached for his own shoving it on quickly as he looked to his controls. They were a few red flashes indicating for immediate attention on his console at being grounded but he ignored them all as he started powering down all none essential systems.

"Gordon?!" the panicked call of his little brother brought him up from his task, as he looked over his shoulder to see the astronaut starring out towards the ocean with a look of dread.

Gordon's eyes followed his line of sight though the sound of distant thunder already had him guessing what he was about to see.

A white towering column stretching as far as the eye could see along the horizon.

The wave was coming.

Fast.

"CRASH POSITION, ALLIE!"

Gordon flicked the emergency beacon switch on, before crouching his upper body forward, feet together and hands resting on top of his head, elbows tucked in.

The thundering got louder and louder, until it was right on top of them.

The sudden force that Four was hit with flung them hard. Gordon's body snap forward, he feeling a burn in the muscles along his neck and down his back. He thought he heard a cry behind him but the water around drowned it out as they were tousled again this time making Four roll as water crashed around them in torrents.

The lurch as they unmistakably hit something had Gordon thrust to the side, his head colliding against one of the side consoles. He felt a sharp stab of pain on the right hand side of his temple, before everything went black.