just me and my beloved rescue cartoon

Chapter 1: The First Responder

Tomas leans up against the cave wall, his knees drawn and head tucked towards his chest. He can’t hear anything besides his own breathing and the gentle drip drip of water hitting the floor. His tears dried up a few hours ago and his throat is scratchy from all the screaming. He thinks back to his mother. She always warned him about the dangers of the caves, tried to talk him out of it, but he was arrogant, too confident in his own abilities. He should've listened.

His mother must’ve realised what has happened by now. Dinner was always at 7 sharp. Tomas was never late. It was now nearly 8. Maybe she’s gone into the town, asking for a search party. It would be useless anyway, no search party would go this deep. He wants to sob, to scream, but no sound escapes, no tears fall. This cave would be his tomb.

Drip drip

He watches the water slowly falling from the stalactites. It’s kind of pretty, he allows himself to think. Almost entrancing.

Tomas is drawn away from his thoughts by a sudden thumping noise from above. It echoes throughout the cave before melting into the silence.

Then, a few moments later, there’s another. 

Curious, he crawls forward, careful to not put any weight onto his broken ankle. He looks up at the cave tunnel he fell through. 

“Hello!” The voice is faint but it doesn’t matter. Someone is here.

Tomas tries to shout, but all he can let out is a raspy “Help”.

Before he can spiral any further, he sees the flicker of a light. He scrambles for his torch and points it up into the tunnel.

. . .   - - -   . . . (SOS) He flashes the signal twice, his fingers trembling with each press of the button.

“TOMAS?” The voice is louder, it’s getting closer.

. . .   . . (Si) Tomas responds.

“IS IT SAFE FOR ME TO COME DOWN?” The voice replies in perfect Spanish, although there’s an American twang to it.

. . .   . . . (Si)

“OK, I’M COMING DOWN!”

Tomas moves away from the tunnel entrance and watches as the light gets closer and closer.  A wave of relief hits him immediately. Someone has come for him. He’s not alone.

Finally, a man drops into the cave and Tomas recognises him immediately, who wouldn’t.

“Hi, I’m Scott Tracy from International Rescue. I’m here to get you out.” His voice is reassuring, and there’s a softness to it you don’t hear in the TV interviews. “Can you talk?”

“Yes, but not much. I’ve lost my voice a little bit.” He manages to say quietly through the rasp in the back of his throat.

“That’s ok, try to rest your voice as much as you can. Are you hurt?”

“I b-broke my ankle wh-when I fell.” His voice trembles a bit and Tomas can’t help but feel a little embarrassed.

Scott offers him a reassuring smile, “It’s ok to be sacred, I know I would be too.” He reaches into a pouch on his harness and pulls out a small bag. A first aid kit. He looks at Tomas before asking, “Can I touch your ankle? I would like to administer some basic first aid.”

Tomas nods and watches as the first responder carefully examines his ankle. He reaches into his kit and takes out a small square item.

“This is an instant cold pack.” He squeezes and gives it a shake before handing it over to Tomas. “Do you think you can hold that against your ankle?”

He nods again, taking the cold pack and doing as instructed.

“Your name is Tomas, right?” Scott continues and Tomas just nods in agreement. He feels like a bobblehead toy, incapable of doing anything but sitting there and giving a simple yes or no. “Ok, Tomas, give me a moment.” He turns away from the young cave explorer and taps his arm guard. A small hologram flickers to life, displaying another man. Tomas doesn’t recognise him, but based on his uniform he must be part of International Rescue too. Scott says something to the man in the hologram, but it’s in English so Tomas doesn’t really understand.

After a short moment of conversation, the hologram flickers off.

“So Tomas, first I’m going to bandage up your ankle. And then I’m going to help you get into this harness. After that, I’ll hoist you out of the cave using the cable I used to get down here. Does that sound ok with you?”

Tomas just nods again. He feels a bit useless, but what can he do? He’s stuck down here because of his own stupidity. He should’ve listened to his mother. She was right, he is just a kid. His life could’ve ended here and then what? What would’ve become of his mother, his family? He lets out a sob. It shakes throughout his body. Before he even has a chance to breathe, the tears are flowing down his face, falling to the floor and mixing with the cave’s fresh water. He’s so stupid.

He feels a gentle hand on his shoulder and looks up to meet blue eyes. “I’m sorry.” Tomas lets out between sobs.

“Hey, you’ve got nothing to apologise to me for.” Scott’s arms are open and outstretched and that’s all that Tomas needs. He collapses into the rescuer's arms, body trembling. Warm arms engulf him, rubbing soothing circles into his arm. “You’re going to be ok. I’m not going to let you get hurt. Can you breathe with me? In… and out… In… and out… In… and out…”

They stay like that for a few minutes until his tears stop falling. Tomas sniffles and allows himself to be held for a few more moments.

“Are you alright?”

The teen nods in reply. “I want to go home now.” He continues, brushing tears from his face. Scott gently releases him.

“Ok, Let’s get you home.”

Scott talks Tomas through everything. Carefully bandaging his ankle and helping him into the harness. Once he’s securely attached to the cable, he watches closely as Scott clips himself on too.

“Ready?”

Tomas nods. He feels safe with Scott.

It takes nearly half an hour before they reach the outside. They go slowly, careful not to jostle Tomas’s ankle. Scott keeps a hand resting on his shoulder, a quiet reassurance as he counts down the distance to the surface.

30 metres… 20 metres… 10 metres… 5 metres…

It’s dark outside, and the first thing Tomas notices is the lights of his town in the valley below. Their glow is warm and familiar. Home. For the first time in a few hours, he smiles.

They continue their descent upwards and he looks towards the sky. Hovering above them is Thunderbird 1. Now Tomas isn’t really into airships but he still gazes up at the craft with a sense of wonder. Its silver body shimmers in the moonlight. Oh, his little brother Lucas is going to be so jealous.

A few moments later and he is standing inside Thunderbird 1, leaning on Scott for support. Once the bay doors close, he throws his arms around the first responder.

“Thank you! Thank you!” Warm arms engulf him, keeping him stable.

“You’re welcome, I’m glad you are doing ok. Your family was really worried for you.”

Tomas pulls away. “I know, I’m sorry. I didn’t intend to go that far. I should’ve been more careful.” He whispers slightly, trying not to strain his voice. He can’t look Scott in the eyes. 

“Hey,” there’s a hand gently resting on a shoulder, “you’re right. You should’ve been more careful. These mountains can be very dangerous.” The hand gives him a small squeeze and Tomas finally meets the man’s gaze. “But, you were very brave. And you did the right thing. You let your family know where you were going and how long you’d be. Because of that they were able to raise the alarm and tell me where to find you. You’re not an inexperienced climber by any means. You just need to remember to not push yourself too much. Knowing your own capabilities and limits is one of the most important things.”

Tomas nods, “I will be more careful next time. I promise.”

Scott smiles at him. “You’re a good kid. Let’s get you to your family.”

***

The relief on his mother’s face is an image that Tomas will never forget.

“Oh Tomas!” His mothers arms are around him as soon as he touches the ground. She mutters both prayers of joy and light scoldings to him, her grip tight but comforting.

“I’m sorry Mamá, I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok, it’s ok. I’m just glad you’re alive.”

His mother slowly releases him and turns to look at Scott Tracy. He hovers behind them, a small smile on his face.

“He’s got a minor fracture on his ankle. I’m just going to take him to the hospital in the town centre, but I thought he’d like to see you first.”

“Thank you, Mr Tracy.” Tomas’s mother walks up to Scott and holds his hands in both of hers. “Thank you so much.”

“It’s no problem, I’m just doing my job. Oh, and please, call me Scott. Mr Tracy was my father.”

“Don’t downplay what you’ve done for us, for Tomas.” She continues with a wave of her hand. “I will come to the hospital with you both and afterwards you will join us for dinner.”

Tomas chuckles slightly at this. His mother is not asking.

“I…” Scott looks slightly taken aback. “I appreciate the offer, but I wouldn’t want to impose.”

“Oh, that is nonsense. You have saved my son’s life, it’s the least I can do. Unless you have somewhere else to be? Other people to rescue?”

The pilot glances at his holographic display, “Uh, no, nothing right now. But, I might have to leave at a moment's notice.”

“I understand, you are a very busy man. If you need to leave, you can go, but if you have nowhere to be right now, I insist that you stay.”

When that guy was clinging onto the pipe inside Fireflash, could they not have closed the door so he wouldn't fall out? My first thought was 'oh, this guy is falling right out of there again' AND THEN HE DID. No worries though, they'd never have sent him out there without a parachute, which of course they did EXCEPT THAT IT DIDN'T DEPLOY! I was so stressed out for this guy, thank god for his spare, but wowee.

Watching the Thunderbirds get deployed is so satisfying

Scott: Yo, what's the status on that radiation shield? Pilot: Oh, that thing has totally expired, we're all dying here. (<- not how it went down but basically tho)

Virgil applies the brakes, they're not super effective, they're rapidly running out of runway and then Virgil thinks 'damn, maybe I should have used ALL my braking power for this' OH YOU THINK!?!?

Virgil: *crashes* Scott for 5 minutes: 🧍‍♂️ Scott: Oh shit, Virgil are you OK? Virgil: 🙃👌 never better (when it cuts to him just upside down in the fsking peter griffin death pose I just about lost it omg)

Also my evil little brain that decides all blorbos must be whumped had an absolute field day with the potential of that little crash, like yes, YES!