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tracybirds · 2 years

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Thundertober Day 1 😁😁 I love these prompts and I'm excited to spend some time with as many as I can!! Thank you @skymaiden32 for the prompts! Currently only have access to my phone bc overseas so please excuse any typos you spot 😅

Day 1 - Cave In

Alan hits a limit mid-rescue

Notes: significant emotional whump, hurt/comfort, generally the small one is having a bad bad time 🥺 (sorry Alan)

I promise it works out 💕

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"Please, sir, stay calm," said Alan firmly. "Grab my shoulder, we'll move nice and slow. Ms Beaker, make a chain with Mr Welsh and follow on."

"Stephen, I'm scared," she said, gripping her husband's arm tightly.

"I understand you're frightened," said Alan, taking a deep breath.

His mind whirled with months of overlapping advice and he paused for a moment, tying to find the right response.

"The passage is clear but we have to move single file. I can give you a glowstick to help make sure you don't trip?"

She nodded slowly, and quickly cracked the proffered stick.

"Sarah, you go ahead of me," said Mr Welsh, a waver of uncertainty clear in his voice.

She sniffled, wiping away a tear in the dim light.

"We're not normally like this," she said unhappily.

"You've not normally been trapped underground for several days either," Alan pointed out. "All things considered, you're doing amazing. And we're nearly there, the hard part is almost over."

She nodded, drawing herself upright.

"You're right, we can do this. Let's get out of this awful maze "

They formed a line and Alan swung his flashlight ahead of him. A line of luminescent dots showed him the way out, a series of modern breadcrumbs scattered by the drone that had charted the pathway tto the couple. All they needed to do was follow them home.

"This way," he said, and the group began to pick their way across the rugged terrrain.

The path wasn't easy and more than once they needed to squeeze through narrow passages or clamber through low-ceilinged spaces on all fours. Alan's breath quickened at each obstacle, but his two charges made it through them all with little complaint.

"How much further?" called Mr Welsh, his voice sounding pained.

Alan checked his monitor, cursing his failure to check in on the injured man and his heart sinking at the distance.

"Quite a way," he admitted slowly. "We should take a break."

"No, no," he said. "That's not necessary, I can keep going."

"This is my call, sir, you're in pain."

"I'm fine," began the protest, but Ms Beaker soon quitened him.

"Stephen, he's right. If we don't take care of that arm, it'll require much more painful treatment when we finally get out."

"And this is as good a spot as any," said Alan, giving them an encouraging smile that neither could see. "It's wide and open, and we can set up the artificial flame cubes."

By the dimly flickering light, he could see the toll the crisis was taking on the two. He had to admit to weariness himself. Making their way out of the cave system was proving to be a grueling process, and he missed being able to rely on his brothers' guidance. Still, that was what today was about. In situations like this, even International Rescue's specialised low attentuation radio waves couldn't penetrate this deep underground, and he had to get used to making decisions without them.

He hoped he was doing them proud.

"I can give you ibuprofen for the pain," he said softly. "And the splint seems to have kept the bone in the right place. Try not to lean on it too much when we're crawling; use your elbow instead."

"Thank you," said Mr Welsh tiredly, resting his head back against the rockface. He accepted the rations pack along with the pills, not saying a word.

Alan leant back, still thinking of how his brothers would respond to the dismal scenario. Gordon had an air of confident cheeriness that seemed to make dark moods vanish with barely a word. Virgil excelled at comforting those with fading hopes, making space for their fears and gently helping them find their stength for the next task at hand. John was so matter-of-fact that it never occurred to the people around him to worry even for a second. And Scott was kind and sure, never doubting his success, never losing his way.

Alan wished he could be even half as good as they were. Instead, he breathed deeply, holding onto the slow meditations Kayo had taught him and squashing down the uncertainty and fear that he was mucking everything up.

His brothers trusted him, he reminded himself. Being here, in this moment, was evidence of that very fact.

"Time to keep moving," he said, forcing Gordon's cheer into his voice. "I know it seems like a lot, but we're over halfway. We'll be hearing my brothers soon, and then we'll be able to call the Mole down."

"The 'Mole'?" asked Mr Welsh curiously as he stumbled to his feet.

Alan opened his mouth to respond, but froze as a deep rumble rippled through the earth.

"Get down," he said harshly. "Hands on heads, don't worry about the break."

Startled, they minicked his motions as a tremor swelled and shook the cave, a sharp jolt that threw them all forward accompanied by an unpleasant rolling as the floor dropped and rose to meet them.

Alan glanced upwards as he recovered himself, and there in the red glow of the artificial flame cube he spied the first fracture in the rock above.

"Oh, sh..."

His sentence is swallowed by the resulting cave in.

He can hear himself yelling, his heart rate spiking as he calls for his brothers and hears nothing. He's not trained for the way the darkness presses down on his limbs, nor the way his nerve fails as phantom pain flares with the adrenaline.

Gasping, he remembers his charges, and he calls to them, screams for them when they don't respond. He crawls to them, shaking helplessly at their unconscious bodies and clawing at the blocked passage when neither responds.

He has to get out. He has to get them out. And he can't.

He curls into a ball between Mr Welsh and Ms Beaker and tries to remember how to breathe.

He can't do this, and the thought that he's failed wells up inside of him, choking its way out of his throat as he lets loose a sob. Failure means death and he can't process that, it's never happened when he was so alone.

He calls out for his brothers who should be able to hear him, who do nothing to help him and he realises he might already be dead.

There's no rationality left.

The air is definitely thinning fast and he gasps for oxygen, fighting the black spots in his vision. He can almost hear Virgil yelling in the background to turn it off.

He laughs hysterically. He can't turn off his fear, he's not Scott. He's not clear-headed John, doesn't have Gordon's will to live, and will never be strong like Virgil himself.

The rock shimmers around him and vanishes, leaving him splayed out on the floor and struggling to catch his breath.

"Alan," called his brother and he can feel warm arms holding him close as he curls in on himself even more tightly, grasping at life, and sobs.

It's a long time before he remembers who he is.

Scott looked pale, his arms cradling him in a way Alan vaguely recalls from when he was small.

"You okay?" asked Gordon, crouched next to him. His hand hovered over Alan's shoulder like he was too scared to touch him.

Alan breathes. It's all he can do.

"John's coming down," said Virgil, brushing a hand across his forehead and sweeping back his blond hair.

"He doesn't need to," said Alan, his voice as frail as he feels.

"He wants to," said Virgil firmly. "That was a nasty shock you had."

Tears welled in his eyes again and Alan buried his face into Scott's chest, unable to look at his brothers any longer.

"I'm sorry," he cried. "I failed them, and I failed you. I tried so hard to think of how you guys would do it and I couldn't and I can't and..."

"Shhh," admonished Scott, his grip tight around him. "You haven't failed. You've found a limit, that's all. To be honest, I'm surprised we haven't hit one before now."

"A limit?"

"We test the limits so that we don't discover them mid-rescue."

"We're not superhuman, Alan," said Virgil. "We all have fears, we all have weaknesses."

Alan scoffed.

"You've never fallen apart like that."

"And how would you know, squirt," asked Gordon with a faint grin. "John's not about to put us on any rescue that we can't handle."

"The training is to get better, to be better, yes," said Scott softly. "But it's also to ensure we know how to keep each other safe."

"Surely you've noticed that you've only done cave rescues in training or within communication range," said Virgil. "This is the first time you've had to deal with this extreme."

"And it'll be the last," said John, striding into the room.m and falling to his knees to give Alan a hug. "At least until you're ready to train the scenario again."

Alan didn't say anything, squirming out of his grip.

"I just feel so stupid," he said into his knees. "I knew it was just a training sequence. I knew that."

"It doesn't have to make sense, Allie," said Gordon. "Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. I can't do anything too high speed, my brain just freezes."

"Fires," offers Scott. "Not anymore, and I'm still the last option only, but for a long time until I learned to trust Brains' safety margins on the protective gear."

"Which you did by creating an inferno of your own, and then panicking." grumbled Virgil. "Idiot."

"Hey, I only panicked until I realised nothing was burning me."

"Unfortunately, it was burning everything else."

"Avalanches," said John quietly, interrupting them. "Virgil and me both. I transfer the call and Grandma does the monitoring from the island."

A hush fell over the brothers.

"Point is," said Scott gruffly, "we'll look after you. So you're not cleared on cave rescues, big deal. You're as competent as the rest of us. Fear isn't weakness."

"Definitely not," said Virgil as John and Gordon murmured their agreement.

Alan looked up at each of them, his ownpersonal heros, still as strong and corageous and kind even now he knew they weren't as fearless as he'd imagined.

He flung his arms around them, pulling them in close.

"Thank you," he whispered. "Thank you."

#alan tracy #thunderbirds are go #sometimes i fic #(all the bros in the end 💕)#thundertober

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