No matter how strong we are, mentally or physically, we all have an Achilles Heel, a breaking point, a weakness. It could be phobia; maybe loosing something or someone that you treasure for life. I lost my mum in an avalanche, we as brothers, don't know if it was purposely or naturally. My father died in a plane crash, but we know he was shot down, by someone who hates us and we hate him. I have 4 brothers, all loving, caring, determined and confident in whatever they do, but, even though they are tough, they have a weakness and so do I.

My brother Alan is the youngest of us all, but is the most daring. We don't mention it, but his Achillies Heel is graphic nightmares. He gets nightmares about either himself being abused from his past schooling years or loosing a brother. I can mention multiple occasions when we become enemies, all of us. It turns into a battlefield of emotions and actions. It goes to extreme measures, like one time, Alan almost killed himself and threatened to isolate himself from his family. I worry about him.

The loudest of our family, Gordon, is a nutcase and may seem fun, but deep down, he's hiding something. Gordon's weakness is secrets and rumours, I know it may seem ridiculous, but this kid can be torn apart with it, it's bad ones too, really offensive and sickening. It could be about his brothers, his family or himself. It puts him in a stage of denial, depression and sadness. When he's like that, he's not himself, he acts the opposite of Gordon Cooper Tracy. I can retell times when he never acts goofy, doesn't come up with lame jokes and sometimes, doesn't even set foot on the beach or in the pool, it scares us to death.

The Da Vinci of the 5, Virgil is the strongest of us all and especially calm in pressurised situations, but even he has a weakness. He has a fear of death, for himself and his other brothers. He hates the idea of closing his eyes and not being able to open them again. To be sent into void of darkness and not being able to escape, sends the thoughts into reality. When we are on rescues and one of us nearly dies, he can't bare to be around us, if we are close to death, in our personal infirmary, unconscious and not able to be strong.

The Britannica is an intellegent thing, so that's why we compare it to our second eldest brother, John. He's up in the earth's orbit, circling around, alert and aware for rescues to take place. He works best in a pressurised environment and calls it like it is, but our Johnnie boy, he can be the brightest star, giving as much advice, comfort, hope and happiness as he can. He has a phobia of sharp metal objects which can impale us- blades. He has the fear of when every time he comes down to Tracy Island and go on rescues, he feels as if he's gonna get stabbed. He did get stabbed once, that was a while ago. If he's afraid of a blade, you can imagine him in vaccination season- he once punched Virgil in the face because he "stabbed" him in the arm and even strangled Virg once when he was unconcious and Johnnie had an IV and two needles in each of his elbows.

That leaves me- Scott, the leader, the eldest, the protector. It's always been my job to raise my younger brothers ever since dad isolated himself in work after mum's de-...accident. I walked them to school, I helped them with homework, did mine and dressed them. John taught us new things, Virgil cooked and kept track of our weekly shopping and events and Gordon and Alan...well they did childish things, until International Rescue came into operation. I was always there for my brothers, I always looked after them, I always worried for them, I held the responsibility for my brothers, not dad. He only ever came home and started to care for us when Alan landed in hospital after receiving physical abu- I'm sorry, I can't say it, it's too traumatic. My Achillies Heel- combine all of my brothers fears; mainly Alan and Virgil's, roughly 55% and John and Gordon's roughly 30%. The 10% is my own fear- drowning. I can swim, I just have a fear of the deep blue abyss, suffocating me and pulling me down. I could break my back or neck and not swim to regain strength or air. Gordon tells me that I shouldn't be the one stressing- "...I'm the frickin aquanaut, you don't work in water, I do, I have the possibility of dying..." When he told me these words, I instantly thought about him in the hospital- he had a chance of not making it when he had his hydrofoil accident. The last 5% is my dad- I'm scared of a dead 63 year old man, whoop de do! I had my share of yelling at him, in fact I was afraid it was my fault, for him to run off the island and getting shot down. I was afraid that he was going to come back and chew my ass out for my failiure into resuming International Rescue from where he left off and raising my family.

We may be strong, but we all have a weakness. Virgil may have been strong like Achillies, John may have had the smarts like him, I may have had the strategy like the hero and Gordon and Alan have the courage and confidence like the man had when he went into battle. But when the crutch to support him was kicked from under him, after being shot in the heel of his foot, he fell and he crumbled down, dying slowly. The crutch is our dad, he was taken from us. We fell down hard as a family and IR was out of control. But we managed to stay strong and get back up and continue the battle. We stay strong through thick and thin- after all we are a team, we are a family, we are brothers...