"Alan, is everyone all right?"

"Last time I checked, yes. Can you believe it – Penny and Parker captured the Hood!"

"You're kidding. My...my father's out there with him?"

"Yeah. Yeah, he is."

"No," she breathed, thinking of all the times her father had been mentally attacked by her bastard uncle. To have them on the same ship at the same time...her heart rose to her throat. "Alan," she choked out. "Make them come back in."

"But Tin-Tin, you need help. I was going to send Parker and Penny your way."

"No," Tin-Tin stated resolutely. Her hazel eyes flashed as she reached forward and pressed several buttons on the console before her. "I don't need any help."

"Tin-Tin? What are you doing?"

"What your father would do." With that, she cut the channel, ignoring it when it started beeping. She knew Alan would try to stop her. Hell, Mr. Tracy would probably try to stop her.

But it was what had to be done. For everyone's sake.

She took a deep breath and pushed forward on Thunderbird 4's steering yoke. "All right, assholes. Your expedition has just been cancelled."

Thunderbird 4 raced forward. Cannons emerged from her nose and Tin-Tin started firing. The first two sailed at Thunderbird One. What was left of the once-proud rocket plane heaved to the side before exploding, sending pieces of its hull and innards shooting off to every side. Tin-Tin expertly dodged the debris as she headed for one of the mini subs. She opened fire and destroyed it, then moved to a nearby hauler.

Her mind was on nothing more than getting her father away from Belah Gaat as she systematically destroyed every apparatus that had been set up at Thunderbird One's underwater grave. She had to be done with this mission, and then go get her dad. She had to keep him safe from her uncle. There was no telling what might happen with the two in such close quarters, and Tin-Tin wasn't about to let anyone find out.

Thunderbird 4 zoomed in and around the site like a mad insect. When all was said and done, there was nothing left but scraps of metal and the occasional diver scurrying towards the surface. Tin-Tin wondered how many people she'd just killed. In her current frame of mind, however, she didn't really care.

No price was too great, she thought, for keeping International Rescue's technology from the hands of those who would do great harm with it. She'd have to deal with the ramifications later. Mission accomplished, she started towards Tracy Six but suddenly realized...if those men had been going at Thunderbird One already, what about Thunderbird Two's wreckage?

Tin-Tin rubbed her hand on her forehead. She wanted nothing more than to just get to the yacht. But...

I am a member of International Rescue, first and foremost.

Even if she had not witnessed Jeff Tracy drilling that into his sons' heads, her own father had done the same to her. If the bad guys got away with Two's secrets, her father would never forgive her. Hell, she knew she'd never forgive herself, not to mention quite possibly being excommunicated from the Tracy family altogether. She turned Four toward where she knew Two's pod was and silently prayed to the Masters with all her might that her father would be kept safe.

Penelope tried to see what was happening, but the light was bright...just too bright! She couldn't do more than squint for a couple of seconds before having to cover her eyes again. Kyrano continued to cry out, always the same word.

"Virgil! Virgil!"

Leaving Parker and Brains with the Hood, Penelope made her way across the room to Ruth and Kyrano. The latter was on his knees facing the large ball of light before them, his eyes stuck open wide, staring at it as though mesmerized.

"Kyrano!" she cried above the noise the ball of light was making. "Kyrano, are you all right?"

He didn't acknowledge her, just kept staring, his lips moving silently. Then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, the light – and the accompanying whirring noise – disappeared. Kyrano's face was blank, his hands lying palm-flat against one another in front of him.

"Kyrano!" Penelope gasped as she knelt before him. "Are you all right?" He didn't respond. Her brow furrowed. "Kyrano, speak to me. Are...you...all...right?"

"I..." He reached out, his hand at first missing her, then coming to rest on her cheek. "Lady Penelope...I cannot see."

"Kyrano, what in the hell was that?" Virgil cried. "I wish I was standing next to the bed." He moved instantly from his sitting position at the head of Kyrano's bed to a standing position just in front of Kyrano himself, who was still seated, but staring to his left. Virgil had never seen anything like it – a big, white ball of light had appeared in the middle of the room. It was silent but so bright he couldn't look at it for very long. And...it had seemed there was something inside it, something like people, perhaps, yet as soon as the light disappeared, so did they.

He leaned down so his face was mere inches from the man before him. "Kyrano? Are you okay?"

"I...do not know," Kyrano replied, turning his head so he was once again facing Virgil. "Did you cause that to appear?"

"Me?" Virgil asked, pointing at himself. "No, I thought you had. What was it? And why were you yelling my name?"

"I was not yelling your name."

"Yes, you were! I heard you! You were crying out my name as though you were in pain!"

"It was not me, Virgil, but I heard it as well."

"It sounded like you."

Kyrano nodded. "Yes. It did. I believe, however, that it came from the place of light."

"Place of light? Do you know what exactly it was?"

"I...I cannot be certain, but..."

"But what?"

"I fear that...whatever it was, it was not to be seen by me."

"Why would you say that?"

"Because, Virgil," Kyrano replied as he rose to his feet, "I have gone blind."

Tin-Tin slowed Thunderbird Four as she approached where her radar told her Pod 2 still floated on the surface of the Pacific. She saw no indications of any life signs near it, but decided that an actual visual would tell her for certain whether or not it was being looted as One had been. She surfaced the small yellow submarine and rose to her feet, surveying the scene before her. The pod's door was closed, so she couldn't see inside, but another look at her scanners still told her there were no life signs present inside the pod.

"Should I destroy it?" she wondered aloud. The insistent beeping of the communications panel finally grated on her nerves and she answered it. "Yes, Alan."

"Goddammit, Tin-Tin, what the hell did you do? Why did you cut me off?"

"Because I had a job to do, Alan. Has your father yet regained consciousness?"

"He did, apparently, for a short while, but they gave him more painkillers and he's sleeping. Why?"

"I have a question for you. If you knew people were trying to salvage the Thunderbird secrets and you also knew those people were very close by, would you just leave an unattended pod sitting in the middle of the water or would you blow it up?"

The airwaves were silent. Tin-Tin could imagine the myriad of thoughts going through Alan's mind. Finally, he replied. "Why are you asking me that, Tin-Tin?"

"Remember the divers I came upon who were taking pieces of Thunderbird One?"

"Yes."

"We don't have to worry about them anymore."

"You didn't!"

"It was what needed to be done, Alan."

"But- "

"But nothing. Don't give me the high-and-mighty road, Alan. Would you not have done the same thing if International Rescue's precious secrets were being stolen right before your eyes?"

She heard Alan sigh. "I guess I would've, yeah."

"Very well. So? What about the pod? I need to resolve this issue before I move on to Two's wreckage."

"Are you sure it's safe to do that?"

"Are you sure it's safe to be up on Thunderbird 5 for a month?"

Once again, she'd rendered him speechless. In another time and place she might've considered the fact that she'd done it to him twice now quite funny, but right now, humor was the furthest thing from her mind.

"Tin-Tin, if I were you, I'd destroy it. But I still don't think—"

"Thank you, Alan, that was all I needed. Thunderbird Four out."

She cut him off just like that, and put Four in reverse. When she was far enough away, she fired a missile. Before her eyes, Pod 2 exploded in a massive fireball reaching at least a mile into the sky if not more. That was bound to get someone's attention. She knew that if there really was a salvage team at Two's crash site, she had very little time to get there before someone would alert them to the presence of a hostile craft in the vicinity.

It saddened her to think of Thunderbird 4 as a hostile craft. After all, it had been designed to help people, not to kill them. She suddenly wondered what Jeff Tracy really would say. Well, even if he did kick her out of International Rescue and off Tracy Island, at least she would have the satisfaction of knowing that nobody had gotten the Thunderbirds' secrets.

But her gut told her she was doing the right thing. She knew there was no way the Tracys, even if they hadn't been mostly incapacitated, could've gotten teams of agents out there fast enough to start gathering the wreckage. No, those people and all their equipment would've had to have been waiting in the depths. And that meant they worked for the person who had shot the Thunderbirds down. The person she and her father were related to. The person who had killed tens of thousands more in his life than Tin-Tin could fathom.

Something told her that blowing up whomever she found at Thunderbird Two wouldn't be the last killing she did today. Though she wasn't aiming for the divers, she knew that many would die. What was disturbing about it was that it wasn't bothering her. She tried to tell herself that was because it was for a good cause – that she was protecting the Tracy family. Protecting International Rescue. And ultimately, protecting the world from the likes of Belah Gaat.

But suddenly she wasn't so sure. Perhaps she had more of her uncle in her that she cared to admit.

The Hood had refused to speak since the ball of light had come and gone. Brains was running calculations on a computer console, and Penelope was instructing Parker as to exactly what she wanted done to the Hood in order to extract answers from him. She was confidant that his years as her butler had taught him enough of the finer points of obtaining information from someone who didn't want to talk well enough to work on Belah Gaat.

Ruth tended to Kyrano off to the side while Penelope steered the ship toward Thunderbird Two's debris field. Brains had performed a cursory examination of Kyrano's eyes, but could not find anything immediately wrong – nothing that would have rendered him sightless. His conclusion had been that the blindness was temporary, that Kyrano's eyes had been shocked since he'd been staring directly into the light when it appeared.

"Kyrano?"

"Yes, Mrs. Tracy."

"Why were you crying out Virgil's name? I mean, before, when that light thing was here."

He contemplated his words for a moment before replying. "Mrs. Tracy, I believe the device engaged a portal to another dimension. I both saw and heard your Virgil when the portal opened. After it closed, he disappeared, along with my sight. And I can no longer hear him."

Penelope glanced sharply over to where the two sat. "You're not making any sense, Kyrano. Gaat uses the device to allow him to travel from one place to another here by tearing holes in the fabric of the universe. Balling the string of the world and moving across it rather than having to travel its length." She turned to look behind her. "Isn't that what you told me, Brains?"

"Well, ah, yes, Lady Penelope, that was my initial theory."

Her eyes narrowed. She was not one to believe in the types of things Kyrano was purporting, and suddenly having a genius change his "theory" was unexpected. "Your initial theory?"

"Y-Yes. I have run several computations here and Kyrano's explanation seems to most closely fit the facts at hand."

"So you're telling me that what we saw was another dimension?"

"Ah, not e-exactly, no."

"See? I knew it."

"What we saw, ah, Lady Penelope, was the doorway to another dimension."

"H'a bit Twilight Zone, ay, milady?" Parker asked as he finished retying the Hood's legs together.

"Science fiction indeed."

Belah snorted. "Do not discount that which you haven't the intelligence to understand."

Penny ignored him. "Brains, I need answers. I can't very well tell Tin-Tin that we've allowed her father to be blinded without some sort of logical explanation for it."

"I-I'll continue working on it, ah, Lady Penelope. H-However, I would suggest Kyrano seek medical attention immediately."

"I suppose someone could fly him to hospital on your helijet."

"Y-Yes, that is true."

"Kyrano? Perhaps you would be so good as to accompany Parker in the helijet?"

"No," Kyrano said. "I do not wish to leave this ship."

Penny smiled and shook her head. "Dear Kyrano. You really must be tended to. We don't know that not getting you immediate medical attention won't make your blindness permanent."

"As long as my half-brother is on board this ship, I remain."

"But what can you do, Kyrano?" Ruth asked. "You can't even see."

Kyrano closed his eyes and leaned back into the chair. "You do not need eyes to see. And you need not wield a sword to protect."

"What does that mean?" Penny asked. Kyrano's cryptic answers either seemed to baffle her or annoy her most times, depending on her mood.

"It means," Ruth said softly, looking upon her friend with new eyes, "that he's been protecting us since the Hood came on board." Ruth watched as Kyrano bowed his head. "In fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised if that's why he came to us when we first moved to the island." She looked across the room to where Belah was securely fastened to a corner pipe. "To protect us...all of us...from him."

Kyrano raised his chin, a small display of pride and defiance, for he knew Belah's eyes had turned upon him.

"That is what you do, isn't it, Kyrano? That's why a man who's so intelligent, so capable of doing so many things that we do and don't understand...that's why you remain with us there, isn't? To protect us from your half-brother?"

Kyrano was silent for a handful of seconds. Finally, he spoke. "Yes," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "It is."

Ruth placed one hand on Kyrano's arm, suddenly in awe of the man before her. She couldn't conceive of exactly how he protected her son and grandsons, but as she looked over at Gaat, as she took in his posture and the look upon his face, she knew Kyrano spoke the truth. How could anyone harm such a kind and decent man as Kyrano? How could anyone be that evil, that heartless, to want to kill his own half-brother? And not just that, but all those people from Tracy Corp who were now dead.

And then...her grandsons. First Thunderbird One. Then Two. The machines...well, Ruth didn't really care about them one bit. It was four of her five grandsons almost having been murdered in cold blood that got her blood to boiling. She rose to her feet, venom in her eyes, which never moved from the bald man across the bridge. Kyrano reached up to grab her, for he could sense her change of mood. But in his blindness he missed, and Ruth walked away before he could stop her.

"You," she spat, the look on her face one Parker and Penelope had never seen grace the normally kind features. "You bastard. I ought to pick up that damn harpoon gun and kill you where you sit."

"You are welcome to try, mother of my enemy. But do not underestimate me, nor overestimate my brother. He is not capable of blocking my efforts, as you have seen for yourself with the destruction of your precious Thunderbirds."

"You're responsible for his attacks, aren't you? You're responsible for the deaths of so many, for shooting Scott and Virgil down...and you sit here tied to a pipe at our mercy and have the audacity to think you can get away from us. After all you've done?"

Belah snorted. "What are you going to do, old woman? You and a blinded fool? A butler and a Lady of England? You think you are a match for the most powerful man in the world?" he roared.

"The most powerful man in the world?" Penelope asked, unable to hide the sarcasm in her voice. She looked him up and down and shook her head. "You mean the most pathetic man in the world."

His muscles tensed. Across the room he could sense Kyrano preparing, knowing what was to come. But it didn't matter. Kyrano was no real threat. He never had been. Belah flexed his arms and legs, closed his eyes and began to chant in a tone of voice so low it made everyone's entire bodies vibrate.

"What is he doing?" Penny asked. She jumped when Kyrano suddenly appeared next to her.

"He is summoning the powers of darkness," Kyrano said matter-of-factly.

"Powers of darkness?" Ruth repeated. "What does that mean?"

"That we are in grave danger," was the reply.

"Can't you do something?" Penelope asked, slowing the yacht.

He turned his face up toward the sound of her voice. "I thought you did not believe in magick, Lady Penelope."

"I don't," was her honest reply.

"I need your assistance."

"What? How?"

"You must be my eyes. Without benefit of my eyes, the concentration necessary to protect you from his power will prevent me from being able to know each of his moves."

Penelope stopped the yacht altogether. "How long before these 'powers of darkness' get here?"

Kyrano listened to sounds of Belah's chants. "He has already invoked them."

"Why don't we just duct tape his mouth?" Ruth asked.

"Or knock 'im out?" Parker added.

"No!" Kyrano replied sternly. "Unconscious he is much more powerful than when he is awake. He can operate on many levels when he does not have to operate on this one. He must remain conscious."

"I'll help if I can," Penny said, laying a hand on his shoulder. "But how?"

"Lash yourself to the front of my body. You will move me. I will do the rest."

"You're kidding." Penny looked skeptically at him, but his facial expression didn't change.

"I don't think he is," Ruth said. "Kyrano, are you sure about this? What if we...well...what if we just...kill him?"

"I cannot," Kyrano said, his chin hitting his chest.

"Why not?"

"Because," a great voice boomed from the corner. "He still cares." Everyone froze as a loud, evil laugh permeated the bridge and indeed the entire yacht. "You are too late, my brother. Too late!"

"Kyrano, what can I do?"

"I cannot help but believe the tale you have woven for me. And I believe the appearance of that which we saw is connected to your presence here. For some reason, you have been brought to me so that I may help you."

Virgil nodded. "Yes, but how? I mean, my idea that I'm not really dead is only a theory."

"You are wrong, Virgil Tracy. Your theory that you are not dead has been proven."

"What? How?"

"We both heard me calling out your name."

"Yes. But you said it wasn't you."

"It was not the sultan who stands before you, that much is true."

"Sultan?" Virgil stepped back, looking first at the turban on the bed, then back to Kyrano. "You're a king?"

"I am Sultan of the Lower Realm of Malaysia. There is also a sultan of the Malay Peninsula. We work together for the good of our country and our people." He paused in thought. "You did not know this when you came to me."

"No, I didn't. That makes Tin-Tin...a princess?"

"Yes. She is to become sultana when she succeeds me."

"You? A king? It...just doesn't seem to fit you somehow. You've always been so...mystical."

"Mystical? Ah, yes. In my youth, I did practice white magick, as taught to me by my mother. But how do you know of this?"

"Well, the Kyrano I know practices many things we don't really understand. You don't ever talk about your family, but the grapevine has it you've got someone after you."

"Someone...after me? In what way?"

Virgil shrugged. "I don't know. Someone from your past? I gather you being there on the island with us is some sort of protection for you and Tin-Tin. Is there anyone you can think of you'd need protection from?"

"The only one who has challenged me is my half-brother, Radzi Belah."

"Belah?" Virgil repeated, his voice rising in pitch. "You mean Belah Gaat!"

"Yes, you know of him?"

"I never got to that part of my story. The Hood? The one who blew Tracy Tower to hell? He's your half-brother, Belah!"

"It cannot be."

"Yes, he's been after International Rescue for years! He wants the secrets to our Thunderbirds and all the machines we use to save peoples' lives. We have to watch our backs every second to make sure he doesn't get his hands on...oh...oh, my God!"

"What is it?" Kyrano asked, alarmed.

"That's got to be who shot Scott down. And Thunderbird Two. He somehow developed a way to sneak up on us, a way our radars can't detect!" Virgil began pacing the gigantic bedroom from wall to wall. "But why would he destroy the 'birds? Why destroy the very thing he wants to get his hands on?" Virgil paced a bit longer, then turned to face Kyrano. "You say he tried to take the throne from you?"

"He killed many in his attempts to usurp this position. He felt it would give him enough power to begin taking over the world. But when he finally reached me, his revolt was quelled and I ascended the throne as rightful heir."

"So you're actually royalty?"

"Yes. I was born as one in a long line of princes. Others either lost interest in the title and duties, and abdicated their responsibilities, or were killed by my half-brother. Only Tin-Tin and I remain. And Belah, but he has not been heard from for many, many years."

"Until now," Virgil breathed. "Listen to me, Kyrano. I don't know exactly what's going on here, but it seems like some things are the same as what I know and some aren't. You're telling me you're royalty, yet the Kyrano I know lives as a simple, quiet man with no accolades and no indication that he should be a king. And from what I've seen since I woke up, the only major difference with my own family is that I haven't been able to find any trace of myself, only of Ben."

"Who you tell me died shortly after birth."

Virgil nodded enthusiastically. "Yes. And now you say that your half-brother – a man who's been after my family since International Rescue started operating – wanted to strip you of your title so he could try to take over the world. But you defeated him. Yet you don't know where he's been."

"That is correct."

"What if he's been secretly developing some way to take International Rescue down once and for all? If he had our technology, he wouldn't need your throne or anyone's. He could take over by force. That's why we're so damn careful, so he can't!"

The two men were silent, each lost in his own thoughts. Finally, Virgil spoke again. "I remember him attacking One and Two," he said softly. "And when I regained consciousness, Two had crashed, with the same damage as I remember." He looked up at the sultan. "Gaat obviously found a way to finish International Rescue...and my family...once and for all. But then why is so much different than I remember?"

Kyrano looked thoughtful as he replied. "It is as though there are two distinct timelines, Virgil. One of which you are from, one of which you are not."

"That sounds crazy. But nothing else seems to make sense. I mean, if some God somewhere made this as my purgatory, why would he give me you to help me out?"

"And why," Kyrano continued the thought, "allow you to see the other side?"

"The other side?"

"We heard me call your name."

"Yes."

"What if it was the 'me' that exists where you come from?"

Virgil stopped and stared at him. Stared at him hard. His mind worked and worked, fighting to wrap itself around something so far-fetched, so outside his realm of knowledge that it seemed tantamount to a fairy tale.

"That ball of light...Kyrano, what was it?"

"Perhaps...a portal of some sort. Back to the place you belong."

"So you believe me. I mean, believe that I don't belong here."

"I do not understand why you are here as an apparition if you are not dead. But I agree that you do not belong here, because I have known Jefferson Tracy for many years, and I know for a fact that you died as an infant, and that Ben did not."

Virgil swallowed hard at the idea that he hadn't ever made it past infancy. "Not that I'm not glad, Kyrano, because I really am, but...I have to be honest with you. If someone who could walk through walls and beds suddenly appeared to me, I wouldn't be doing anything but running the other direction. Why do you believe me?"

Kyrano reached out one hand. Virgil stepped forward and placed his hand over it, as though meaning to grasp it. "Because, Virgil," Kyrano whispered, "though we cannot touch, I feel your goodness. You are pure of soul. And I hear the truth in your voice."

It was times like this when a hand placed on a shoulder would speak the words Virgil couldn't make himself say. But alas, he hadn't the ability to touch, and so his voice was all he could use. "Thank you."

"Do not thank me yet, Virgil Tracy. Quickly, you must allow me to change my clothes."

"What? Why?"

"If I am to assist you, we must leave the palace."

"Leave? But you can't see. You need medical help!"

"I do not know what makes me think this, but I do not believe a doctor can cure my eyes. I will trust you to do that."

"Me? But I can't even touch you!"

"One does not need to touch to feel."

Virgil watched as the blinded man made his way across the room to a large walk-in closet. Within minutes he'd come back out with traveling clothes. Virgil turned his back and listened as the swish of fabric told him the sultan...sultan...was removing his long, blue robes.

"Is there any way to find out if it was Belah who shot us down?" he finally asked.

"I believe you might be able to find out faster than I."

"You're right. But what will you do?"

"Do not concern yourself with me. When you have discovered what you need to know, return to me."

"How will you go without sight?"

"I have a trusted aide who will guide me. Now go!"

Virgil took one last look at Kyrano, nodded and said, "I wish I was with Belah Gaat!"

She arrived upon the scene of Thunderbird Two's wreckage to find that although it appeared a salvage mission had begun, there wasn't a soul in sight. As though it had been abandoned before it really got underway. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Tin-Tin had a bad feeling. A really bad feeling.

"I gave myself away," she whispered aloud, scanning the area both with Four's sensors and her own eyes. "When I blew up the pod."

She stared at the radar for five long minutes, not moving a muscle, not making a sound. She even blocked Alan's attempt at an incoming transmission so the cockpit of Four was as silent as could be. Yet there was no sign of movement. No sign of anything other than the two mini subs on her scanners, both of which she could see through the cockpit windows. No life...no movement.

Perhaps one or two strategically fired missiles would be all she had to do for this one – missiles to destroy what was left of Thunderbird Two. Because even if this site had been abandoned before being fully set up, Tin-Tin had no doubt her half-uncle would not allow Two's secrets to go unexplored for long. There really was no way for International Rescue to haul what was left of the giant green transport ship back to Tracy Island. It was either destroy it, or risk her uncle's greed.

She pressed a button on her console and Four's cannons slowly extended from the submarine's nose. Without its headlamps on, Tin-Tin couldn't see well enough to view the outline of what used to be the main workhorse of International Rescue's fleet. But she gave it a moment of respectful silence, looking in the direction scans indicated it was resting in the distance. Her finger hovered over the button. She hesitated for only a few seconds before firing.

Just as the two missiles launched, an alarm sounded in Four's cabin.

"Oh, no!" Tin-Tin cried. She jammed open a communications line. "Alan! Alan, I'm under attack!"

"Tin-Tin? What the hell's going on?"

"I can't outrun them! They're heat-seeking!"

"What is? Tin-Tin, who's attacking you?"

"I don't know!" she cried. "I don't know!"

"Tin-Tin!"

She frantically dove further into the depths as what was left of Thunderbird Two exploded behind her. But no matter how much she dodged, no matter how deftly she played chicken with the underwater mountains, no matter how high or low she went, the two missiles stayed glued to her tail.

And they were closing.

Fast.

"Alan!" she cried, eyes filling with tears. "Tell my father I love him!"

"What? Tin-Tin, what-?"

"Just tell him, Alan! Tell him!"

"Tin-Tin!" Alan yelled into the microphone. "What the hell did you mean by that? Tin-Tin!"

There was no reply.

"Tin-Tin, come in!" Alan tried again on another frequency. Again, nothing. He switched to their emergency channel. "Tin-Tin! Thunderbird 4, are you reading me?"

A high-pitched beep from four monitors down caught his attention. Heart rising to his throat, he sprinted over to it. One word appeared on the screen.

ALERT

Alan gulped as he keyed the command to show the remainder of it.

THUNDERBIRD 4 GPS SIGNAL LOST.
THUNDERBIRD 4 GPS SIGNAL LOST.
THUNDERBIRD 4 GPS SIGNAL LOST.
THUNDERBIRD 4 GPS SIGNAL LOST.

"No!" Alan half-sobbed, running back to the microphone. "Tin-Tin, noooo!"

"You will not succeed. Spare yourself a useless fight."

"Kyrano...or should I say...Meor..."

"Meor?" Brains repeated.

"My given name," Kyrano replied. He reached forward, took a handful of Penelope's blouse and started pulling her backwards.

"Using a woman to do your work, Meor?"

Kyrano didn't answer. Instead he pulled Penny's arms out to her sides and widened her stance slightly. Within seconds he had pressed the front of his body full-length against her back. Penelope looked down as Kyrano tied his sash around her stomach, effectively lashing them together.

"Move with me," he whispered into her ear. "Feel it and I will know."

Penelope took a deep breath. We're going to die.

"No," Kyrano said, his arms folding both their sets of arms together over her chest. He moved their hands to the left, then to the right before raising them high in the air. Whispered words raced past Penelope's ear as she studied Belah, trying to determine what his first move would be.

"This is beneath me," Belah growled, his voice still sounding like there were fifty of him speaking at once in stereo. "I could kill you with the flick of a wrist."

Penny nearly jumped out of her skin when Kyrano answered, "Go ahead and try."

Ruth, Brains and Parker stared. Kyrano's voice was deeper. No longer speaking in the hushed tones of the man they'd come to know, this Kyrano, though without use of his eyes, seemed confident and ready for battle. Ruth tiptoed back to the weather station and flipped the radio on to Transmit Only. She looked down to the floor and saw the harpoon gun still lying where she'd dropped it.

If she could just lift and aim it well enough, all it would take was one well-placed shot. She wasn't certain she believed in the hocus-pocus any more than Penelope, but she knew how to stop a madman. But could she steady the weapon in time for it to be of any use?

Only one way to find out, she concluded.

But before she could even crouch down to pick it up, a great roar came from Belah, startling her. She jumped back, eyes growing wide as he reached out one hand toward Kyrano. A strange black vapor appeared in his palm and he growled before tossing it right at Penny's head.

Penelope's hands moved to cover her face, Kyrano's right with them as though they were attached. He twirled his hands around one another and seemed to "throw" something back. She could barely see it, but it also looked like a colored vapor of some sort. Kyrano's hit Belah's and there was a loud crack, almost like thunder. Ruth covered her ears as Belah began speaking in Chinese, yelling at Kyrano and Penny.

"What was that?" Penny asked.

"I think you know," Kyrano replied. "He is moving."

"How did you—?"

"I can sense him."

All of a sudden Belah darted across the bridge, headed for Brains, who had the inter-dimensional travel device securely in his hands. Brains ducked out of the way, rolling across the floor as Belah lunged for him.

Penelope made a move to dart after him, her legs leading both her and Kyrano toward Belah's imposing form. Once again, Belah seemed to throw something, this time at Brains. Penny cried out, moving to launch herself into the air. Kyrano sailed through the air with her...sailed a lot further than they should have.

Brains was awestruck by the spectacle before him. Kyrano and Penelope moved as one being as though they really were just that. Every move seemed planned, every thought read. Not a word was spoken by either as they distracted Belah's attention from him, leading him out of the bridge and onto the deck of the luxury yacht.

"I have had enough of these games!" Belah yelled. "Now you and the woman die!"

Kyrano's back was pressed against the railing on the edge of the deck. His and Penny's hands rose in a defensive posture. Then Kyrano laid his forehead against the top of Penelope's head just as Belah struck. He hauled back and shot a jagged white light of energy in their direction. To the shock of those watching, Kyrano/Penny vaulted into the air...and stayed there.

"Strewth!" Parker exclaimed. "I never!"

"My God, they-they're flying!" Ruth exclaimed.

Belah whirled on her and his face broke into the most evil grin she could imagine. "This is fitting," he said menacingly. "I shall further hurt Tracy by killing his own mother."

"No!" Brains cried.

Parker bolted forward, but with a wave of his hand, Belah tossed him aside like a doll. The butler slid across the deck and slammed into the bulkhead that made up the wall between the bridge and deck.

And Ruth was left defenseless.

Kyrano/Penny darted through the air, circling around Belah's head. It distracted him long enough for Ruth to scurry back onto the bridge. Belah ran after her, followed closely by Penny and Kyrano.

No sooner had they entered the door and come to rest on the floor, than the radio near the weather station crackled to life.

"Tracy Six, come in!"

Ruth groaned. Alan had the worst timing!

"Tracy Six, I need you now! I've lost Tin-Tin! I repeat, Thunderbird Four is down! Come in! You have to find Tin-Tin! Please, come in!"

Kyrano's eyes snapped open. Penny sagged forward off his body like a rag doll. "Tin-Tin," he breathed, untying the sash that bound them together. Penelope stumbled away as Kyrano headed for the console, open robes flapping in the breeze his movement created.

"Ha!" Belah barked. "Your daughter will at last be your undoing!" He rose into the air and lunged across the floor as Brains ran into the room.

The engineer knew Kyrano was doomed. Distracted at the console, there was no way he could react in time, with or without supernatural abilities. But...he was just an engineer. What the hell could he do but stand there and watch Kyrano...and then the rest of them...die?

Then he looked down at what was in his hand, and it came to him. Without a moment's hesitation, Brains pushed a succession of buttons, pointed it at Belah...and prayed.

It took a few moments for Virgil to get his bearings. When he did, he frowned. He was standing on the ocean floor. He looked around, but there was absolutely no light. He couldn't see a thing. "What the hell good is it for me to be here if I can't see?" he yelled in frustration. He took a few steps, but without the ability to feel solid objects, any search he did attempt would be futile.

He wracked his brain for solutions. Then it came to him. This was why he needed Kyrano. "I wish I were standing on top of the water directly above this spot." When he materialized, he found himself standing atop the water, just as he had wished. To his left was something floating on the water. In a split second, he identified it.

"It's a wing," he breathed, walking over for a closer look. That's when something else caught his eye. He walked a couple of feet away and crouched down for a closer look. "What the heck is that?" he wondered aloud. He watched as the cylinder-shaped object rolled over in the waves. There was a small monitor on it and he peered through the darkness to read the message scrolling across it.

COUNTDOWN: 25...24...23...22...21...20...WARNING! PORTAL OPENING COMMENCING IN 15...14...13...12...11...

"Portal opening?" Virgil read it aloud. "Portal opening?"

That's when all the puzzle pieces fell into place.

"He has a device that opens portals," he said, standing fully upright again. "He must have opened one to come in behind One and Two. I saw that blip...he did take off from Tengah Airfield! Then...what...he opened a portal, and...yes, that's it! He disappeared from radar, then reappeared right before we were fired on. That has to be it!"

Virgil turned in a three-sixty, but could see very little in the darkness of night. Very little but the glow from the device's monitor.

...4...3...2...1...

Virgil moved away as the device began to hum and whir. Then something a bit more familiar happened. A white ball of light appeared right next to him, seemingly out of nowhere. He cried out and jumped back, shielding his eyes from its brightness. The whirring and humming grew louder and louder until it became almost unbearable. He squeezed his eyes shut and covered his ears, falling to one knee as the sound threatened to overwhelm his senses.

That's when someone sailed right through him. Whoever it was hit the water and sank as Virgil rose to his feet. Then, in a flash, the white ball of light was gone. Virgil's ears rang. When the other surfaced and turned to face him, he couldn't believe what...or rather who...he saw.

"Holy shit! The Hood!"

"Tracy Six, come in! Come in, please!"

"Alan! Alan, i-it's me, Brains!"

"Brains, what the-why didn't you answer until now? I've been trying to raise you for over fifteen minutes!"

"We've had some trouble here."

"What—is everyone okay?"

"Yes, I believe so. What happened to Thunderbird Four?"

"I don't know! Brains, she was attacked, Tin-Tin was attacked! I need you over there now, you have to find her, you have to! Thunderbird Four is gone from GPS...Brains, please..."

"We're moving now. We should be in position...in about ten minutes."

"Hurry, Brains. Please hurry."

"F.A.B., Alan. I'll contact you again when, ah, we're in place."

"Thanks, Brains. Just find her for me. Please."

Alan sank back into his chair. He needed someone to talk to. Something to do! He couldn't just sit here like this. None of his family knew what was happening. Virgil was still missing and now Tin-Tin, too. Gaat had been captured, but there was no telling how long those on Tracy Six would be safe.

And there wasn't a goddamn thing Alan could do about any of it. He decided to put in a call to the hospital in Townesville. Maybe Gordon would be awake enough to talk to him. Maybe someone would.

He couldn't take this not-knowing. This being so far away he couldn't help, couldn't protect his family. Couldn't help protect Tin-Tin. His throat seemed to swell as grief threatened to overwhelm him. But he knew he couldn't let that happen. After all, she could have gotten out of Four. She could have!

She could have.

"Aaa!" Kyrano gasped as a sharp pain stabbed through his skull. He was sitting in the cockpit of a large cargo jet with a pilot his aide had known, a pilot who would do whatever the sultan asked with no questions.

"Tuanku, kamu jatuh sakit?" the pilot asked, turning to look at his surprise passenger. He was afraid to insult his sultan, but couldn't just sit there and not ask if he were okay.

Kyrano didn't understand what was happening. It was as though something had just moved through him, like something had changed. He felt it as surely as he felt the chair he was seated in. He suddenly wished he'd kept up his practice of magick, for he was certain that it would help him now.

"Tidak bimbang," he replied, telling him he was fine just to get him off his back. It worked, as the pilot turned back around.

Where was Virgil? Surely he had found Radzi already. Then why wasn't he appearing?

Kyrano suddenly began doubting his own sanity. Maybe he'd imagined the whole thing? After all, here was the king of half the country of Malaysia sitting in a jet on a tarmac somewhere waiting for someone nobody else could see or hear.

It sounded insane even to him.

And yet somehow he knew it was right. Even as his stomach began to churn. He knew he didn't need to be practiced in any kind of magick to understand that feeling. It was dread.

Something wasn't right. Something just wasn't right.

"Are you all right, Kyrano?" Ruth asked for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

"I failed you. I failed all of you."

"Don't say such things. You heard that your daughter had disappeared. No less can be expected of a father than the way you reacted."

"I am more than a father!" Kyrano spoke, rising to his feet. But without his sight and his more acute senses at his command in his current state of distress, he didn't dare walk anywhere just now. "I am supposed to be protectorate. But I failed, and now...now the balance has been upset."

"Because I opened the portal?" Brains asked. "I-I had no choice, Kyrano. He was going to kill you, and then he would've come after all of us."

"You do not understand," Kyrano replied. "If I had not been distracted by news of my daughter, I could have stopped him. But now...because of my weakness...I fear for the other dimension."

"So you really think that what Brains did sent Gaat to some sort of parallel existence?"

"I do, Lady Penelope" Kyrano replied, tears filling his eyes. "But it didn't just send him to another dimension." He paused as his mind contemplated all the potential ramifications of what had just happened. "It sent him right to Virgil."

Ruth gasped.

"He doesn't stand a chance," Kyrano whispered, sinking back into the chair. "What have I done?" The others could do nothing but stare helplessly at him as tears spilled onto his cheeks. "Tuhan memaafkan, what have I done?"

"Jesus Christ!" Virgil exclaimed, scrambling to his feet.

"You!" Belah snarled. "You are Virgil, the one they're missing." Belah's eyes narrowed as he reached out and grabbed the airplane wing floating nearby. "Ah, I see what happened. You're here by accident. The second firing of the device. That was you!"

"What?"

"That," Belah replied, pointing to the cylindrical object still floating on the ocean's surface. "When I ejected it was taken from my arm. It must have fired when it landed." He looked up at Virgil. "Right when you crashed."

Virgil looked right back at him. "When I was ejected from the hatch. My God, I've been...wait a minute...what is that thing?"

"I use it to travel between dimensions," Belah said as though bragging about a highly successful child.

"Between dimensions. Then...then I'm not dead."

"Of course not, fool. And neither am I." Then he looked...really looked...at Virgil. For one of the first times in his life, the Hood looked surprised. Virgil was standing on top of the ocean. On...on top?

"I'm not dead," Virgil breathed. "I was right. I'm not dead!"

Belah continued to stare at his foe as he hoisted himself on top of the wing, only tearing his eyes away when he turned to see the device again. Brow furrowing, Virgil's mind grabbed hold of the fact that he had not felt Belah. That he alone was walking atop the ocean here like it was made of rock and not water. That the Hood was not.

Gaat crouched and reached out, successfully palming the device. He then lashed out at Virgil, but when his hand went right through him, he cursed a string of words Virg thought would probably have made Kyrano blush. "What is this treachery?"

Why could the Hood grasp solid objects but Virgil couldn't? He decided to keep his questions to himself. He knew better than to show anything but confidence in front of his family's enemy. He also knew he didn't want to be this close to him, whether he could touch him or not.

"Why are you not solid?" Belah breathed, thinking aloud as he studied his enemy. "You are here...but you are not."

Virgil smiled smugly, though he hadn't any more answers than the Hood. "You have a lot to learn about being stuck in another dimension, Gaat," Virgil said smugly as the dark eyes bored into his own. "And if I have anything to do with it, you won't be getting out."

"You cannot touch me. You have no more idea what you are doing here than I."

"You're right," Virgil said. "I don't. And your appearance through that white light only authenticates my belief."

"What belief?"

"That I'm not dead," he replied. Belah snorted as Virgil eyed the device Belah was now fastening to his arm. And he knew what he...and the sultan...had to do.

I wish I were with Kyrano, Virgil thought, praying that in the absence of speaking the words aloud, thought would do the trick.

And indeed, it did.

There were divers everywhere. Tin-Tin checked her air. She had less than fifteen minutes of oxygen left in the emergency tank she wore on her back. It was all she'd had time to grab before ejecting from Thunderbird Four's cockpit. The force of the two missiles hitting Four had thrown her far from Two's crash site. She'd used nearly all her air to get back.

Now, as she watched the divers returning to the site, she recognized the telltale signs of anger as one by one they realized Two had been blow to smithereens. From what she could tell by the floodlights they had set up, there wasn't enough left to make a Konami model out of.

At least she had the satisfaction of having thwarted her uncle's plans. If nothing else, that was gratifying in and of itself. Then again, she'd also destroyed three Thunderbirds. Well, to her credit, she had just finished the job, not actually destroyed One and Two of her own accord. And Four...well, that had been the missiles.

Still, Tin-Tin felt responsible.

And then she felt guilty. Tell my father I love him, she'd told Alan. But...she'd said nothing to him. What must he be thinking right now? She knew Four would've disappeared from GPS. Alan was probably frantic. She couldn't really talk on her wristwatch without alerting the divers to her presence, and she had only the emergency dive helmet on. It wasn't outfitted with a communications device.

Deciding that at least with the watch she could send him code to let him know she was still alive, Tin-Tin reached down to her wrist to begin tapping the sequence that would get through to him.

A searing heat through her leg made her cry out in pain before she could get a signal out. Tears rolled down her face, her leg screaming in pain. She looked down and saw blood appearing in the water around her. Then something whizzed by her head.

She was being fired on...and she'd been hit!

No!

Tin-Tin turned into the murky depths beyond the crash site and swam for the surface as fast as she could. But her left leg wouldn't work and she was starting to get dizzy.

Have to make it.

She kicked her right leg as hard as she could.

Can't give up.

She looked up but suddenly couldn't tell if she was looking toward the surface or the floor.

That's when the second bullet hit.

Tin-Tin screamed. And the world faded before her.

No...

Her eyes closed.

Father...

Her arms and legs stopped moving.

Alan...

to Part VII: Salvation >>