Hello again readers! I am gonna write another multi-chaptered story that I said I was gonna write, by the way, but the plot-bunnies forced me to write this right now instead. Also, I was in a bit of a bad mood and writing or reading about injured Scott makes me feel better. Not sure why though. I'm just evil. So I wrote this. I will try and write more stories but I'm a very slow updater, as you know. Anyway, I'm waffling, so I should just get on with the story.

Disclaimer: If I owned them, there would be a series 3 by now. And a series 4... and a series 5.

The Fall of a Bird

To say Scott felt terrible would be an understatement. Even if you multiplied terrible by a million, you would probably just about have reached the half-way mark. His head felt like it had been smashed by a psycho with a mallet for several hours and as for the rest of his body... well, don't even get me started on how many broken bones he knew he had.

He lifted his spectacularly sore and bleeding head and took in his surroundings. He could tell he was in Thunderbird 1 (a rather damaged looking Thunderbird 1 at that) and that he was lying on the floor, so he concluded there must have been a crash of some sort.

Great, he thought. Just great. It's always me who has to crash isn't it? It's always my 'bird that gets damaged.

He looked around Thunderbird 1 and suddenly felt very annoyed and a little upset. There had been a lot of damage done to Thunderbird 1 in the crash. The pilot seat had completely come away from the bulkhead it was supported by and Scott was glad his seat belt had been broken, because otherwise he would have still been under it. Wiring had been ripped from the walls and both the hatches supplying exits from Thunderbird 1 were blocked and twisted, enough to allow water to enter but not enough to let humans out.

Scott reflected that if he was going to ever get out of there alive, he would have to conserve his energy and wait to be rescued. He didn't like waiting, particularly when he couldn't remember what had happened and wanted to know. This, combined with the pain from his battered body, didn't put him in the best of moods, especially since his day had started so well.

Wait, I just remembered...

Suddenly, memories of the day flooded back and he clutched his head, overwhelmed.

"Base from Thunderbird 1. Leaving the Danger Zone now," Scott reported, as he strapped himself in and lifted Thunderbird 1 from the ground.

"Well done, Scott. You've all done a great job today," Jeff replied.

Scott smiled, knowing his father was right. It had been a routine mission and there had been no fatalities. Sure, a few people had been injured and a school had blown up, but not seriously and he expected most of the school-children were looking forward to the time off. There had been nothing a bit of money couldn't fix and it had been one of International Rescue's most successful rescues. That didn't mean Scott wasn't looking forward to going home, though.

He set the controls and gained height. Soon he would be flying back over the Atlantic Ocean, taking a detour back to Tracy Island, in the Pacific Ocean. He hummed gently, watching the sky through the monitor in front of him and keeping a firm hand on his controls.

Scott was about to tell his father that he had reached the Atlantic, when the cold barrel of a gun was pressed against his head. He held his breath as a heavily accented voice called, "Do not move!"

The stranger cuffed Scott on the head for what felt like the millionth time.

"You will do as I say, or I will shoot you," he demanded.

"No," Scott refused. "I'm not going to let you."

"Fine, then," the stranger agreed calmly, much to the surprise of Scott. "I'm just going to have to do a deal with your family. I'm sure they'd just die for the chance to give me the secrets of International Rescue, in return for you. Then I could kill you all and be the richest man alive."

"If you even lay a finger on my family..." Scott started angrily, but was cut off by one of the stranger's evil laughs.

"Yes, you'll kill me. I know that speech. But, answer me this, Scott Tracy. How are you going to do that when you're dead?" He let out another malicious laugh. He never got to finish this, however, for Scott had seen his chance and taken it. He turned around and lunged at the stranger, trying to knock him out, but he had seen this coming and blocked his attack. He then, before Scott had time to recover, brought his gun down on his opponent's head.

Scott promptly slumped forward and passed out.

"Scott, come in! Thunderbird 1, do you read me?!" was the first thing Scott heard as he came to. He lifted his head up groggily and, on realising that the stranger had disappeared, called Virgil, looking around the cabin for any immediate dangers. He soon found one.

"Oh, thank God, Scott!" Virgil cried. "We've been trying to contact you for ages! What happened to you?"

"Sorry, Virg, but I can't discuss this with you now. Thunderbird 1's on a colossal dive into the ocean." He heard the silence on the other end as compliance to his wishes.

Scott could feel the G-forces as his 'bird nose-dived towards the Ocean and frantically got to work trying to get her out of the dive. Just as he thought he was getting somewhere, he looked at the monitor. His blood ran cold at the sight of the two projectiles coming straight for him.

"Missiles."

Scott groaned as he remembered the impact. Needless to say, it hadn't been too pretty. The initial explosion had damaged nearly everything in the ship, especially the nose cone, which the missiles had hit first. Scott had been right behind it too, and had found himself thrown across the cabin. Whacking his head against a wall, he had passed out, as Thunderbird 1 had, literally, dropped into the ocean. This had caused an even larger explosion, damaging and, in some cases destroying, everything on the ship.

Scott pushed himself up against the wall, trying to get into a more comfortable position. It didn't really help, but at least he was sitting up. He looked over to the hatch the water was seeping in from and checked the water level. It wasn't dangerously high yet, but soon he would be wet and he knew he had to keep checking it. He then checked himself over for injuries. He knew he must have hit his head from the massive killer of a headache it was giving him, and that he had broken his left leg and arm, but he couldn't tell if he had any broken ribs or if he had any internal injuries.

Trying not to aggravate any of his injuries, Scott slowly moved his arm towards his face and said in a quiet voice, "Base from Scott Tracy. Come in please." Unfortunately, this only gave him a coughing fit and not a reply. Probably broken ribs, then.

As the hours slipped by like seconds, he could feel himself becoming more exhausted and the world beginning to spin. Scott knew he probably wouldn't be able to stay awake much longer, but he battled the fatigue nonetheless, knowing that if he went to sleep he might never wake again...

From the moment Scott woke up, he knew something was different. For a start, it was light and warm now; it had been dark and freezing cold in Thunderbird 1. He was lying on a comfortable bed now, with sheets covering him, and not lying on a cold metal floor. He had what felt like an oxygen mask over his face and was finding it much easier to breathe. All the pain had gone too, except for a light headache. He could hear the heart monitor beeping in time to his heart and he listened to it for a few minutes.

He was interrupted as he heard a door open and someone walk in angrily. Scott initially thought it was Alan, as he was the most hot-headed of the family. He quickly felt very guilty, however, when he realised it wasn't his youngest brother, but Virgil.

"One of these days, Scott! One of these days, I'm gonna kill him! I really am!"

Unable to contain his curiosity and wondering what Gordon's latest prank was, Scott opened his eyes blearily. Even though his vision was foggy somewhat, he could see his brother perfectly and found he couldn't contain his laughter. Virgil's hair had changed from its usual chestnut brown to a baby pink. He burst out laughing. Virgil's eyes widened as he ran up to Scott.

"You're awake!" he said, grinning madly.

"Yep," Scott managed to gasp between laughs. Virgil soon joined in, very relieved and glad his brother had woken up.

Once the two men had managed to get a grip on themselves and stopped their laughing, Virgil realised something.

"I'd better get Brains and Dad. They'll want to know..."

"Know what, son?" Jeff asked, on walking into the room. His eyes widened when he saw Scott. "Scott, you're awake," he stated with a grin. He strided across to beside Scott's bed and sat on the seat next to it.

"Last time I looked," Scott said, smiling.

"So, h-how are y-y-you, uh, feeling now, Scott?" Brains stuttered from across the room. Scott hadn't even realised he was there.

"I'm fine," Scott said dismissively. Jeff and Virgil both gave him disbelieving looks.

"Okay, okay. I have a a bit of a headache. But, that's all."

"The painkillers must have been stronger than we thought, then," Jeff said, a frown forming on his features.

"What d'ya mean?"

"Well, you were pretty badly bashed about in that crash," Virgil explained, motioning to the bandages, which Scott hadn't noticed until now, that were covering most of his body. "You broke several bones in your left arm and leg; gained quite a few burns from the explosion; broke four ribs, cracked your skull and your collarbone..."

"Okay, Virgil. Scott gets the picture," Jeff interrupted, giving his eldest son a sparing glance. Scott smiled gratefully in return. Virgil would have probably gone on for hours otherwise.

"Sorry," Virgil apologised. "I guess I'm just glad we found you in time."

"Yeah, me too," Scott agreed. "So, how's Thunderbird 1?"

Jeff and Virgil glanced at each other a uncomfortably. This was what they had been dreading: having to tell Scott about the damage to Thunderbird 1.

"Well..."

Outside, lounging beside the pool, were Alan, Gordon and Tin Tin. It was quiet and peaceful with the exception of a tropical bird chirping from a nearby tree. The Sun was shining brightly, warming them and lightening their moods at such a time. They were all extremely worried about Scott but glad of the rest and relaxation.

Suddenly, they heard a yell from one of the rooms in the Tracy Villa.

"WHAT?!"

Alan and Tin Tin jumped from their deck chairs in surprise and looked at each other.

"I think our eldest brother is awake," Gordon stated.

"Yeah," Alan agreed. "And by the sounds of it, he's heard what happened to Thunderbird 1."

I wanted to end this on a light note, as it started out a bit gloomy, and I imagine that Scott would have been a weensy bit upset if he found out that Thunderbird 1 had been damaged really badly.

By the way, if anyone didn't understand, the 'stranger' sneaks on board Thunderbird 1 and jumps off while Scott was unconscious. He owns a boat in the Atlantic with missiles on and fires them at Scott. Confusing, I know, but he did plan the whole thing in advance. Guess who the 'stranger' was?

I hope you enjoyed this story and review if you liked it or didn't. I don't mind if you say you didn't, 'cos it all helps to improve.

Lulu303