She looked across the sea of faces, of bodies all so different from one another. There were Caucasians, Far Easterners. There were those from the Middle East and dark-skinned warriors wearing very nearly nothing at all. The painted and tattooed Iban tribesman, the simply and poorly-dressed Tamil. Business suits and dresses to grass skirts and denim jeans. Every manner, type and race of human being seemed to be represented at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

"I'm not sure who they are," she said. "There's Kim Lee Seung!"

A Chinese man who was thin and wiry with brightly sparkling brown eyes walked up the steps as Alan's brothers gathered behind them. When he reached the top he got down on his knees and bowed to Tin-Tin, his nose touching the bulkhead of the jet just in front of her toes.

"Kim Lee Seung," she breathed. "Rise, my father's old friend."

A gasp from next to her made Tin-Tin look up, only to find that each and every person down on the tarmac had bowed in imitation of the man before her. "Tin-Tin, are these people all…from Sarawak?"

"No," she said. "Lee Seung, what is all this?"

The man rose to his feet and turned to look at the respectful audience who had waited so long for her arrival. He then looked to Alan, the men standing behind him, and finally Tin-Tin. "These are your loyal subjects, Sultana. They have vowed their peoples' allegiance to you if you will fight those who wish to take Malaysia by force."

Scott leaned forward, his head between Alan's and Tin-Tin's, and let out a low whistle. "Are you saying these people are from all parts of Malaysia?" he asked.

"No," Lee Seung replied with a slow shake of his head. "These people are from many countries. Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore, India, the Philippines, Cambodia, Mongolia. There are African nations represented. Iran and Iraq."

"I don't understand," Tin-Tin said. "I mean, I can understand all the states of Malaysia, and even Indonesia and Brunei. But the Philippines? Africa? What does this mean?"

"You do not know," Lee Seung said, looking at each of them, who in turn all exchanged confused looks.

"Know what?" Gordon asked as Virgil shrugged.

"The world, Sultana," the Chinaman said with downcast eyes and a tinge of sadness to his voice, "is at war."

"I don't believe it," Virgil said.

"Tune to NTBS," Lee Seung told them as he flipped on the television in the Rainbow penthouse suite they occupied. On the top floor of the Alpha Genesis Hotel, Tin-Tin and four of Jeff's five sons sat with water or coffee as the television flickered to life.

Across the bottom of the screen flashed the words, NTBS NEWS FLASH! NTBS NEWS FLASH! Instead of seeing Ned Cook's visage, it was reporter Eddie Kerr who graced the screen. "…and Gentlemen, I cannot believe I'm telling you this. I never thought I would see this day in my lifetime. But NTBS had learned that Japan, the Korean nations, all Russian states, Vietnam and seven nations in Africa have just declared war on the world."

Scott's jaw dropped. Tin-Tin grasped Alan's hand on one side and Virgil's on the other. Gordon leaned forward in his chair, disbelief as evident on his face as it was on those of his brothers.

"I repeat, Ladies and Gentlemen, war has just been declared on Europe, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the United Kingdom and North and South America. We are at war. I repeat, the world is now at war."

"This can't be happening," Tin-Tin whispered, turning her face to Alan's. "Please tell me this isn't happening."

He just shook his head, squeezing her hand as he looked up to watch Lee Seung turn the TV off. "When did this happen?"

"Only just," Lee Seung replied, seating himself at the opposite end of the table from Tin-Tin. "When word came from Malaysia that your palace had been decimated, and that the sultan of Brunei had fled, Japan moved in, only to find my own countrymen defending your borders."

"On the north we meet Mongolia," Tin-Tin explained quickly.

"Precisely, and the Mongols don't want the Japanese that close to their borders," Lee Seung replied.

"What does the World President have to say about all this?" Scott asked.

"Those countries which have allied to fight the West and its supporters have seceded from the World Economic Union," Lee Seung replied. He looked directly at Tin-Tin. "All the nations who remain under the unification of the WEU and the World President look to you now, Sultana."

"I…I don't understand."

There was a knock at the suite door. Lee Seung rose and crossed through into the outer sitting room. Alan turned to Tin-Tin. "Is he trying to say they want you to lead the war?"

"I can't fathom it," Tin-Tin replied. "After all, what would the World President say?"

"He'd say," came a voice from the doorway, and all eyes turned to look upon the man it belonged to, "that he needs your help."

Tin-Tin and the Tracys rose to their feet. "President Gomela?" Gordon said uncertainly.

Lee Seung gestured for the president to enter the room. Every face was filled with a myriad of emotions from shock to disbelief; from awe to confusion. Gomela crossed to the table and seated himself where Lee Seung had been, then splayed out his hands for them to all do the same.

Scott and Virgil exchanged frowns; Gordon's and Alan's eyes were wide. Tin-Tin moved to the chair at the president's left. "But I don't understand what I can do. I no longer have my palace or my guards," she explained. "I've been out of the country and don't even know what's going on."

"Then I'll explain it to you, but first I want to know who your companions are."

She nodded and looked at each man in turn. "These are the Tracys, Mr. President."

"Tracy…as in Jeff Tracy?"

She nodded. "Four of his sons. Alan is here next to Lee Seung." The youngest of them nodded, rising halfway out of his chair as the president nodded a greeting in return. "Next to him is Virgil, and then Scott and Gordon."

"It's an honor to meet you all. Your father's historic mission to the Moon is something I'll never forget."

"Thank you, sir," Scott spoke for them all. "But right now we're a little more concerned with Earth than the Moon."

"As well you should be, son," the president replied. He bit his lip and then rose to his feet and started to pace. "Several of the countries who have formally seceded from the union have been talking of doing it for some time now."

"But why?" Alan interjected. "The world's been at peace for so long."

"It might seem that way to a youngster like yourself," Gomela smiled wanly, "but in truth we've only been at peace for a decade, and much of that was nothing more than a façade."

"But what's this to do with the throne of Sarawak?" Tin-Tin asked.

"Everything," Gomela said, returning to his seat. He leaned forward, elbows on the table, and looked directly into her eyes. "When word spread that Gaat had died, when everyone realized Gaat was the Hood, and it was therefore the Hood who'd kept such tight control over this region since stealing the throne from your family, there was mass hysteria."

"I don't get it," Virgil said. "Wouldn't Gaat's death have been a positive thing for this part of the world?"

"For this part?" Gomela nodded. "Yes. But for the countries who never really wanted to be part of the union to begin with, Malaysia was nothing more than a front. You see, Sultana, while Malaysia appeared to be neutral, and proclaimed such with every breath it took, secretly Gaat was supplying all the nations who've now declared war upon the union with weapons, training, military supplies…in short, Gaat was at the helm of the entire secession movement. He wanted the world to be at war."

"I get it," Gordon said. "Now that he's dead, the nations he was working with decided it was time to act before Tin-Tin came back to set things straight here."

"That's exactly what happened," the president confirmed.

"This war," Tin-Tin breathed, "is all my uncle's doing." She turned stricken eyes to the men who'd become her family over the past many years. "Now that he's dead…"

"Tin-Tin, what are you thinking?" Alan asked, rising and coming to crouch next to her.

"I have to put things right," she said, touching the side of his face with the back of her hand. "Don't you see? This is my family's fault. It's my uncle who set these wheels in motion, who made Malaysia two-faced, who prompted this war for as long as he held power."

Tin-Tin rose to her feet and began pacing between the doorway and the table. All eyes were on her. "He planned this. He planned all of this, and he wanted to use-" She stopped short and one by one each of the Tracy men knew exactly what she'd been about to say. "Now that he's gone, now that the throne has returned to the Kyranos, they're attacking."

"They are," Gomela confirmed, rubbing the heel of his hand into his forehead. "Dammit, I don't know which way to turn anymore. Everyone's military is raring to go; it's been so long since we've had a war on this planet, they're all dying to take the first shot. The Chinese sent the Japanese fleeing from the border between Mongolia and Sarawak, but my advisors are pretty sure that isn't the end of it."

The president stood and moved across the room to Tin-Tin. He took her tiny hands in his as her face turned up to his. "All these nations that are represented here in Kuala Lumpur today are here either of their own accord or at my behest."

"But I still don't understand, Mr. President," she whispered, squeezing his hands. "You hold the power of every country who's remained in the union. What can a sultana with absolutely no army left, no palace, no country hardly…do?"

"China is, at the moment, our greatest ally in this neck of the woods," Gomela replied. "But the only reason they've stayed with the union rather than become secessionists is because of Lee Seung's friendship with your father and his influence on the countries of China and Mongolia. If we lose China, there's an eighty-five percent chance, I'm told, that this entire part of the world will come under Chinese rule."

"And if that happens?" Alan asked, coming to stand next to Tin-Tin.

"Their armies are massive and well-trained. Their equipment rivals that even of International Rescue thanks to the Hood," Gomela replied. Alan and his brothers exchanged glances. "They've got enough nuclear weapons hidden in that country to decimate this entire planet."

"Nuclear weapons were outlawed when the union came to be!" Virgil exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

"My uncle," Tin-Tin said sadly. "This is all his doing."

"Yes," Gomela confirmed. "Deep in the jungles of your home country are facilities which have never stopped making that kind of weaponry. And now every single secessionist country has thousands of these warheads just waiting for someone to make them fly."

"My God, we're on the verge of a complete Armageddon," Gordon said from the table.

"Very nearly, son," Gomela nodded. "Very nearly."

Tin-Tin turned to Lee Seung. "You have been my father's friend for many years." The man nodded. "What will it take to keep China with us? What will it take to stop this?"

"They insist that you and your father lead them to victory," was the simple reply.

"My…father?"

Lee Seung nodded. "I was disappointed to find him not with you, Sultana. They insist that it be both Kyranos."

"But my father abdicated when he—" Tin-Tin closed her eyes at the painful memories. Alan quickly put his arm around her. "He abdicated for health reasons."

"I understand, but I told him of this when I spoke with him. He knew that his presence was needed to bolster support for China and all the other countries of the union. Why did he not come with you?"

"He had…" Tin-Tin faltered as the Tracys gathered around her.

"He had to help our father with something important," Scott offered. "But we can get hold of him mighty quick."

"I would suggest that you do just that," the World President said. "I would also suggest that you, Sultana, come up with a way to stop this war."

"Me?" Tin-Tin squeaked. "But…how?"

"I don't know," Gomela replied honestly. "But I do know that none of the secessionist countries will listen to me. They know who you are; they know you're related to Gaat. You and your father may be the only chance this planet has of not becoming a nuclear wasteland." Gomela shook his head as he moved toward the penthouse door. He stopped with his hand on the knob and turned back to look at them all. "Lee Seung knows how to get hold of me. I've got to prepare the union to fight." He turned his back to them and opened the door. "In case you don't succeed."

Tin-Tin leaned into Alan, who wrapped his arms around her and held her there in front of everyone. Gordon looked at Virgil, who turned his eyes to his leader, Scott. Scott in turn met his baby brother's concerned blue irises before looking to Lee Seung.

"I think," Scott said, "we need to have some time alone. We'll get in contact with Tin-Tin's father, and mine, and let you know what the plan is as soon as we can."

Lee Seung nodded. "Please give Meor my regards," he said, "and please do not be too long. All that needs to happen is one country's leader pushes a button."

"We understand," Virgil said, rising and walking with Lee Seung to the penthouse door. "Thank you." Lee Seung bowed and had soon disappeared down the elevator. Virgil closed the door and turned to face the rest of them. "Jesus Christ," he breathed. "What are we going to do?"

"We're going to do just what I said we're going to do," Scott replied. And with that, he raised his wristwatch to his face.

"I'm so sorry, Ned," Penelope said as she lay a hand on the reporter's back.

Bowed over the bed where his one-time girlfriend and lifetime love had died not thirty minutes earlier, Ned Cook did something he rarely ever did: he wept.

Penny turned to look at the doorway. Jeff had refused to come in and she had a good idea why. He waited out in the hall while she did her best, stiff upper lip and all, to comfort when truly she hadn't a clue how to do so for this relative stranger. She had always been at best, at odds with the man before her…at worst, ready to kill him in a heartbeat. And yet, just as Jeff had so many years before, he'd lost the woman he loved, and it seemed to have broken him completely.

"It's all his fault," came the whispered accusation from the sheets covering Adi's body. "It's all goddamn Gaat's fault."

"Yes," Penny acknowledged. "Yet another life lost because of his treachery."

"Tell me John and Ben got rid of him," he said with a hiccough, turning red-rimmed and bloodshot eyes her way. "Tell me that bastard sonofabitch is gone for good."

She patted his shoulder. "I'll find out for you, Ned. With every fiber of my being, I pray they met with success."

He was doing everything he could not to think of what was happening inside that hospital room. Pacing the floor up and down, up and down, over and over, wishing Penny would hurry the hell up, wishing the doctors and nurses had been able to save Adiduana Mataya's life, that she hadn't…he closed his eyes and stopped dead in his tracks. That she hadn't hemorrhaged to death like Lucille had.

It was like history repeating, only this time for someone other than him. Adi hadn't lived long enough to even hold her newborn son. Neither had Lucille. Adi had never gotten to see his eyes. Neither had Lucille. Adi would never see her boy grow into a man. Lucille didn't either.

Grinding his teeth against the memories that were far too close to the surface, Jeff tensed as his watch chimed an incoming call. Slowly he raised it, only to find his eldest son's visage before him. "Scott?"

"Father, I need you to get Kyrano here and I mean on the double."

"Kyrano? Why? What's going on?"

"You don't know either?"

Jeff frowned. "Know what?"

"Jeff?" Penelope asked as she approached. "What is it?"

He shook his head, never taking his eyes from Scott's. "What's happened?"

"There isn't time to explain. Suffice it to say that if you don't get Kyrano here faster than Thunderbird 1 can even fly, we're going to have a nuclear war on our hands."

"Nuclear war?" Penelope repeated, standing on tiptoe to see his face. "In Malaysia?"

"The whole world, Penelope," Scott replied grimly. "And I mean every country."

"Scott, why do you need Kyrano there?"

"It's a long story, Father. Was he successful helping Ben get rid of the Hood?"

Jeff's head snapped up. He'd been so involved in wallowing in Ned's current and his past pain that he'd completely forgotten his best friend, his son and Ben. "My God, I don't know. Come on, Penny!" With that he grabbed her hand and they raced for the elevator.

"Father, you've got to get him here. Do you have an IDT?"

"ID…no!" Jeff said vehemently as they boarded the elevator and the doors swished closed behind them. "We're not using those goddamn things ever again."

"Dad, I know…trust me, I know. But even if Thunderbird 1 was ready to go, it still wouldn't be fast enough according to the World President."

"The World President was there?"

Scott nodded. "And Kyrano's friend Kim Lee Seung. They need Kyrano and Tin-Tin to try and help stop this from going south, and quick."

"We're on our way to find out how they did. I'll be in touch, Scott."

"Hurry, Father," Scott said, and Jeff could hear the near-begging in his voice. "Hurry."

Jeff and Penny burst into baby Gabriel's room only to find everything intact. The infant's incubator was together and the life sign indicators above advised he was quite stable. The room seemed to be in perfect order and just as Jeff and Penny were about to ask each other where everyone was, a nurse entered the room with a handheld computer filer.

"I'm sorry, nobody's allowed in here," she said, stopping halfway between them and the incubator. "Who are you?"

"Ned Cook's friends," Penny answered quickly. "Jeff Tracy?" she finished, pointing at her companion.

"Oh! Mr. Tracy, and Lady Creighton-Ward! I'm so very sorry, yes, we were told you were allowed in. Pardon me, while I just grab this chip and replace it with a blank one." She was flustered, a situation which normally would mildly amuse the Brit and the American, but right now didn't even register with them.

The nurse quickly did as she said she would and was soon out of their hair. "Jeff, where are Kyrano and John?" Penelope asked as soon as the door closed behind the woman.

"I don't know," he breathed. "They weren't supposed to go through the portal; only Ben was."

"Where can they have gone?" she wondered aloud.

Jeff raised his watch to his face. "John, come in." He looked into Penny's eyes. "John, it's your father, answer."

"Oh, no," Penelope breathed. "He went over there. Didn't he."

Jeff squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them again. "John, please, you've got to answer me!" He let his arm fall back to his side, then got an idea and moved up to the incubator. He took the top off and looked at the baby. "He seems normal enough."

"Then perhaps they did indeed find success in removing Gaat's soul."

"But to where?" Jeff wondered aloud as he replaced the incubator lid. That's when something glinted off the sun's rays coming in the room's lone window, catching him in the eyes and making him squint. "What was that?"

"What was what, Jeff?"

Craning his neck down and around the side of the incubator, he lowered himself to one knee and looked under the wall register. Within seconds he'd grabbed something and was back on his feet. When Penny saw what it was, she gasped.

"The IDT," she said. "Why is it here?"

Jeff keyed a few commands into the readout of the arm unit. "It fired thirty-two minutes ago, destination…" he paused as he keyed another command in. "Destination Tracy Island."

"Ours? Or Ben's?"

"Ben's, from the look of this readout."

"Mr. Tracy?"

Jeff and Penny turned to find Parker and Brains standing in the doorway.

"Milady, h'our young friend 'ere insists 'e's well enough to move about. I 'ope Mistah John isn't right cross wiv me."

"Perhaps if he were here we could ask him," she said, then caught Jeff's eye.

"Not…not here?" Brains blinked. He was pale, but seemed to be doing all right all things considered. "Where is he?"

Jeff held up the IDT. "John was supposed to fire this off after Kyrano helped get Gaat's soul out of Gabriel and into Ben. Ben was going to go through the portal to his Tracy Island, which he destroyed before Gaat brought him here."

"To wot end, then, sir?" Parker asked, eyebrows raised.

"He was going to…"

Brains' eyes grew wider still. "Kill himself," he finished for Jeff. When the older man nodded, Brains shook his head. "But i-if that's the case, where a-are John and, ah, Kyrano?"

"Could Gaat or Ben have forced them to go with him?" Penny asked.

"Without the IDT?" Jeff shook his head. "If Gaat wanted to get back, he'd have had to take it with him. I can't imagine if he was in control he would've just left it here."

"Perhaps, uh, Mr. Tracy, i-it's a message."

"A message, Brains?"

The scientist nodded. "Maybe, ah, John left it here on purpose. So that you'd, ah, find it."

Jeff looked the young man in the eyes, then immediately secured the device to his arm. "So we'd go after him."

"We?"

"Yes, Penny. We. Brains and I need to go get him and Kyrano back. You get on the horn to Scott and tell him we'll have Kyrano there before he can blink twice."

"Jeff, you're not leaving us here! We'll go with you; you may require assistance!"

"No, Penny," Jeff shook his head. "This is something Brains and I need to do alone."

"But why?" she countered. "Jeff Tracy, you do not need to go things alone!"

"I'm not, I'm taking Brains." His face softened as he looked into her eyes. "Penny, don't you see?"

She looked back and forth between him and Brains. "Because you're John's other half," she finally said to Brains, who nodded. "And you," she said to Jeff. "Are you telling me Kyrano is your other half?" she asked. "Rather than me?"

He took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know, Penny. But I do know that I will not put you or Parker in danger, not one more time. There's been enough death because of Belah Gaat. It's my family he was after, and it's my family who'll stop him."

"Kyrano's not part of your family," she said, then quickly realized her mistake as he shot her a look. "Jeff, I-I didn't mean—"

She was cut off when Jeff fired the mechanism. The IDT ripped open a portal, which blinded and deafened them. In the blink of an eye, Jeff and Brains were gone. Penny rubbed the spots out of her eyes and sighed deeply.

"Oops, milady?"

"A very definite oops, Parker." She looked toward where the portal had just vanished. "A very definite big oops."

"That's all I can tell you, Tin-Tin. Penelope said Dad and Brains just went through the portal to find John and your father."

"If only we had an IDT!" Tin-Tin proclaimed.

"We, uh," Scott looked askance at Virgil. "We do, Tin-Tin."

Her eyes widened. "We do?" she repeated.

"What gives?" Gordon asked.

Scott rolled the sleeve on his jacket up. "I never took it off," he said, displaying the metal device for all to see. "It's how Virg and I got to the island so fast after Ben came over with the Hood in him."

"Yeah, it's how Virgil knocked the shit out of me," Gordon added, shooting a look at his older brother, who smiled apologetically.

"Then we must go after them," Tin-Tin said. "Our fathers may need our help!"

"Tin-Tin, you're not going over there," Alan said sternly.

"Don't you try to tell me what to do, Alan Tracy," she retorted. "I happen to be a sultana."

"And I happen to be the man you're going to marry, so that makes me an almost-sultan."

"Like hell it does!"

"Excuse me, children," Gordon said, exaggerating every syllable.

"I am not—" Alan began to shout, then clamped his mouth shut. "I don't want Tin-Tin put in danger again." When she turned and gave him a withering glare, he said, "Don't you see, Tin-Tin? As it is, we need your father. But if something happens and he doesn't return, you're all this planet has left. You must stay safe."

"Alan's right," Scott said, drawing a look of surprise from all his brothers. "And that means, Al, that you and Gordo are staying here and making sure nothing happens to Tin-Tin. If push comes to shove, you do whatever it takes to stop this war, the three of you. Am I clear?"

"Damn you, Scott Tracy," she seethed.

"You can damn me all you want once you're in charge of the world," Scott said, reaching out and chucking at her chin with his index finger. "But for right now, Virg and I are going to hit Tracy Island on the other side and see if we can't make heads or tails of what's going on over there."

Noticing the look on Virgil's face, Gordon said to him, "I think you've just been voluntold."

Virgil shrugged and grabbed Scott's hand. "Whenever you're ready," he said.

"But you're not even armed!" Tin-Tin said. "If you won't let me go with you, then at the very least, take my keris." She reached down and lifted up her pantleg, then quickly unstrapped something from her leg. "It holds centuries of my family's power," she said. "If you run out of options, this will see you through."

With those words, she handed it to Virgil, who reverently took the eight-inch long wavy-bladed knife and lashed it to his belt. "Thanks, Tin-Tin."

"Scott?"

"Yeah, Al?"

"Come back safely."

"We will," Virgil said, making a face at him.

Scott keyed in the necessary coordinates and patterns and hit the firing mechanism. Seconds later a portal appeared and he and Virgil walked through it hand-in-hand. Moments after that, it disappeared.

"I guess it's just us, guys," Alan said.

"Yeah," Gordon nodded, looking uncertainly between Tin-Tin and his brother. "Guess it is."

"Masters help us," Tin-Tin breathed.

Tracy Island, such as it was, was quiet. Too quiet.

Brains gulped and turned to look at Jeff, who was surveying what he could see. And all he could see was rubble. Smoke rose in lazy curls to the perfect tropical sky, and here and there small fires still burned. There was an acrid stench that told of a plethora of materials and chemicals that had burned or were still burning, and most of the volcanic mountain that had given the island its considerable height was blown away.

"He really did destroy it," Brains breathed in disbelief.

"That he did. But where are Kyrano and John?"

"O-Or Ben, for, ah, that matter."

Slowly they picked their way along the shoreline, which was really the only place they could walk. "They had to have come over here," Jeff said, checking the IDT screen. "The coordinates match exactly with those of the last firing."

At a loss, they just kept going as best they could. Brains stumbled once and then a second time. Jeff barely caught him to keep him from falling on a jagged metal spike sticking up out of the ground. "Be careful, Brains. I don't want to lose you, too."

The engineer gave him a lopsided and apologetic smile as they kept going. The trouble was, neither of them knew where they were going.

"Kyrano?" John coughed, and heard a similar sound from not too far away. "Kyrano?" he called out again.

"I'm…here," was the raspy response.

John flicked his wristwatch light on and shone it around until he saw the older man. "Kyrano!" he cried, moving quickly across the debris-littered floor to his friend's side. "Kyrano, are you okay?"

"I…" Kyrano moaned as John rolled him onto his back, then gasped in disbelief. "I am afraid, I…did not come through…unscathed," he said, then coughed and winced in pain.

Blood splattered from Kyrano's mouth all over John's shirt. He concentrated his watch light onto Kyrano's chest and shook his head. "How'd you get stabbed with that?" he asked, looking at the long, thin shard of plexiglass sticking out the left side of Kyrano's chest. "Oh, God, Kyrano, how…"

"I…had to let him get close enough to me to…" Kyrano dissolved in a fit of coughing. Blood dribbled from his mouth now as John grabbed his hand.

"Father's never going to forgive me. Why did you even come? You were supposed to stay behind!"

Kyrano shook his head, letting his eyes close. "Because then you would have died," he whispered, "and your father would never have forgiven me."

"We can get you healed. All we have to do is go back through the portal to the hospital. Or even to Tracy Island."

"No," Kyrano said. "It is fitting this way. My half-brother is gone for good, as it should be."

"But you're not supposed to be gone for good." The ghost of a smile graced Kyrano's face. "I've got to get you out of here."

"John Tracy," he said, so quietly that John had to lean forward and put his ear close to the dying man's mouth, "you know of the connections now. You know how important you all are to one another."

"Yes, I know," John said with a nod, drawing his head back so that he could look into Kyrano's eyes. "But you're part of that, too. You…well, you're…you know…Dad's."

He raised an eyebrow. "I doubt he sees it that way."

"Well, I'll make him see it. Hell, if I can believe, so can he."

"Your father," Kyrano said, before dissolving into another coughing fit. This time the pain was far too much and he cried out. John took both of his hands and held them tightly. "Your father holds my life," Kyrano said. "If he doesn't already know from that, then he never will."

"I can't let you die," John said, shaking his head. "We need you."

"No…longer. Not…with Gaat dead."

John looked up and around them. In the distance he could see Ben's body inside the chamber they had been able to get him to enter. Then Gaat had come through stronger than ever and Ben had escaped, felling John. When John awoke, his other-dimensional brother was gone and Kyrano, nearly so.

"I need Dad," John said simply. He raised the watch to his face, doubting it would work between dimensions, but not knowing what else to do. "Dad, come in," he said, one hand still holding tightly to Kyrano's. "Please, Dad."

"Mister, ah, Tracy, have you considered, ah, using the watch?"

"The…the watch?"

"Y-Yes, I'm not wearing mine, the hospital, ah, took it o-off me at some point, I-I guess."

"Will it work here?"

"W-well, i-if there's a Thunderbird, ah, Five here, I-I don't see why not."

Jeff raised the watch to his face just as his missing son's appeared on it. "John? John!"

"Dad!"

"John, where are you? Where's Kyrano?"

"We're…down in the Stasis Unit room; the one with the single-part Chamber."

"How'd you get down there?"

"Under where the roundhouse used to be, there's a small opening." John's blue eyes met the blue-gray ones of his father. "Hurry."

"Oh, God," Jeff breathed.

Jeff and Brains began scrambling toward the roundhouse. Bits of metal, glass, rock and varying other pieces of debris cut into their flesh like so many knives, but neither paid the wounds heed. All they could think of was getting to the Stasis Chamber. Jeff knew just from the look John had given him, they wouldn't like what they found.

"I don't see any sign of them," Scott said as he looked around. "Wow, what a mess."

"No kidding. So this is what Tracy Island looks like post-apocalypse."

Scott raised an eyebrow at his brother. "Where the hell could they all be?"

Just then, both men heard a noise in front of them and slightly left. Scott motioned to Virgil who laced his fingers together palms-up and crouched down to let Scott step into his now-cupped hands. He slowly lifted him until Scott was a good four feet over top of Virgil's head.

"I see them!" he said, pointing toward where the roundhouse used to stand. "I'm sure that was Brains who just disappeared into a hole!"

Virgil lowered his brother, who hopped off his hands a foot off the ground. Lickety-split they started making their way over the rubble, sure they'd either burn their shoes off or lose a few toes. But it didn't matter, as long as they found their family members safe and sound, and returned them to the dimension they belonged to.

Penelope and Parker turned as one when the door to Gabriel's room opened. "Ned!" the Lady exclaimed as he walked in looking like death warmed over.

He just looked up at them and then walked over to the incubator, where he stood staring at the premature infant laying within. "He's all I have left."

"All you have left?" Penny repeated. "But…I thought you didn't…"

"He's half Adi," Ned said simply. "All that's left of her."

Penny just nodded, sharing a look with Parker.

"I guess I've got to be his dad now," Ned continued. "They must've gotten the Hood out of him, huh?"

"Yes, we—I believe they were successful, Ned."

The door opened again and a nurse entered the room. "Mr. Cook, I'm so awfully glad you've come to see him. He needs his father around now more than ever," said the same nurse Penny remembered from earlier. The woman stopped and laid a hand gently on Ned's back. "I'm sorry about your wife."

Ned nodded. "Thanks," he said as the nurse tended to the incubator's settings.

Penelope and Parker stared at one another and both mouthed the questioning word "Wife?"

"How long 'til I can hold him?"

"Oh, not for some time, I'm afraid, Mr. Cook, at least, not out in the open. We have a sterile room where we can move him, and you'll have to be thoroughly cleansed and properly robed before you're allowed to. I think in a day or two he'll be ready as long as he keeps doing this well." She fussed and hmm'd over some readings.

"What?" Ned said. "Is he all right?"

"Actually, I think I'm going to call the neo-natal specialist on duty."

Ned's eyes widened and he grabbed the nurse's arm. "Why? What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing," the nurse smiled. "In fact, the problem is he's doing much better than I would have expected, much better than he should be! His vitals are so good he may not even need that oxygen mask anymore!" With that, she left the room whistling a tune.

Ned turned to his companions. "Something Gaat left behind?"

"Oh, I certainly hope not," Penny replied, face twisting in disgust. "Ned, did I hear the nurse correctly just now? She called Adi your…wife?"

He gave her a watery smile. "Yes. Adi and I were married right before I…it was the last time I saw her until this, was our wedding night."

"Oh, Ned," Penny said, walking toward him but still keeping her distance. "I'm ever so sorry. We didn't know."

"No one did," he said. "And now there's a baby with my last name."

"You're…keeping him?"

"I have to," Ned said. "It's what Adi would have wanted. She loved him. In spite of how he came to be, she loved him." He moved back to the incubator and looked at the tiny life inside. "I guess…I guess I love him, too."

Penny shifted uncomfortably until Parker lightly touched her arm. He motioned toward the door with his head and she nodded. "We'll be just out in the hall if you need anything." Then she turned and followed her butler out.

"Milady?" Parker scratched his nose and reached out a hand, touching her back gently. "Milady." She turned to look at him and he was surprised to see tears in her eyes. "C'oh, milady, don' cry, now, it's all goin' ta wash."

"Oh, Parker, I'm afraid I've made a terrible mess of things," she replied, fighting to keep from dissolving in front of him. He led her to a small waiting room at the end of the hall, gently pushing her into a chair there. "Thank you, Parker."

He said nothing, simply sat down next to her with his hand flat on her back between her shoulder blades. He waited while she fought the sadness, fought the annoyance with herself and her actions. He watched as her face showed every emotion as it passed through her, marveling at how quietly elegant she was even on these rare occasions where she wasn't the self-assured Lady of England.

"Parker?"

"Yes, milady?"

"Why is it that through everything, even when I make a complete mess of it all, you're still here with me?"

"Well!" he said indignantly. "H'as h'if H'I'd be anywhere else, milady! H'as h'if!"

She smiled and turned to look into his eyes. "But you always pick up the pieces. Nobody's seen me this way but you."

"H'and h'if I 'ave me own way about h'it, no one else evveh will, H'I can tell you that much."

She smiled and he very nearly swooned himself right off the chair. For of course the one thing he could never, ever tell her…and never would tell her…was how hopelessly in love with her he had been from the moment they'd met.

Penelope's eyes widened. She cocked her head and looked at him as a lone tear trickled from the corner of her left eye. "Why, Parker, you astound me," she said and his face turned beet red. "Why didn't you ever just say so?"

"Uh…say so, milady?"

She just gave him a knowing look and rose to her feet. "It would appear Kyrano left something interesting behind."

"'E—'E did?"

She smiled as she felt waves of fear, hope…and above all, love…roll from her butler and partner in crime. "Parker, it's time to do some traveling. We must get to Tin-Tin in Kuala Lumpur as quickly as you can make it happen."

He popped to his feet. "Yes, milady, H'I'll see to it righ' away." As he began to scurry away, her voice stopped him dead in his tracks.

"And Parker?"

"Yes, milady?"

"Thank you."

He tipped his head, proffering his non-existent cap to her, and grinned cheekily as he winked. "Always, milady," he said gruffly, before turning on heel and making his way toward the exit.

Penelope gazed out the row of windows to a parking garage that was next door. "Life certainly is full of unexpected surprises." She smiled and wiped the tear track from her cheek. "Unexpected, indeed."

"John! Kyrano!"

"Dad!"

Jeff's watch light waved around wildly as he ran the last few feet from the hole where he and Brains had gained entrance to the Stasis Chamber. Brains was right on his heels, and both men soon reached Kyrano's side. Brains checked his vitals quickly, but within seconds had looked first at John and then Jeff and started shaking his head.

"Can't we just take him back to the hospital?" John asked. "Or to our island?"

"I-I'm afraid any movement could, ah, slice his heart in two," Brains said. "Th-This piece of, ah, plexiglass has stabbed right through. I-It's astonishing he lived a-at all."

John felt Kyrano's grip on his hand go slack and whipped his head down. "No," he said, then looked up at his father's face. "Dad," he pleaded with his voice and eyes.

"I…I can't do anything if he can't be moved!" Jeff said, his voice strained and high-pitched.

"But...you had his life force in you," John said. "Didn't you?"

"Yes, but he took it back."

"What if," Brains said, looking across Kyrano's body to John. "What if he didn't?"

"I don't understand," Jeff said, looking first at one, then the other.

"Jeff, he shouldn't, ah, even be a-alive," Brains said. "That plexiglass i-is through his heart."

John's eyes widened. "Oh, my God, he didn't take it back," he said, reaching across and grasping Jeff's shoulder tightly. "Dad, it's still inside you. That's what he meant!"

Shaking his head, Jeff looked down at the man who for all intents and purposes looked dead, save for the fact that he was still warm and breathing.

"What did he say, ah, John?"

"Instead of 'your father held my life,' he said 'your father holds my life,' Dad! That's what he said to me just minutes before I called you!"

"But…why did he tell me it was back with him?" Jeff breathed, reaching out and taking Kyrano's hand from John's. "Why would he have left it with me?"

"He knew," Brains said simply.

"Knew?" John repeated.

"He's known all along this was going to happen."

John swallowed hard. "He knew the only way to get rid of his brother once and for all was to sacrifice himself."

"But," Brains continued, all traces of his hesitancy gone in the face of complete understanding, "he knew if he left his life force within you, Mr. Tracy, he wouldn't actually die."

"Wait, I know how to know for sure," John said. "Brains, take Dad's pulse."

"Take his…of course!" Brains reached out and touched Jeff's neck directly over his carotid. He closed his eyes and then leaned forward and jammed his ear to Jeff's chest, causing the patriarch to flinch as John grinned broadly.

Slowly Brains raised his head. He looked into Jeff's eyes. "It's there," he said. "I'm certain I heard two distinct heartbeats."

"But then why am I all right?" Jeff asked. "When I almost died in that hospital, Penny said Kyrano did, too."

"You hold his life force," John said, looking at where his father held Kyrano's hand in both of his. "It's only if something happens to you that he'll die."

"Brains, if all this is true, does that mean we can move him?"

"I don't see why not."

"Why aren't you pausing in your speech like you usually do?"

John laughed. "One shouldn't have to keep up appearances in front of one's friends."

"Huh?" Jeff said, and Brains chuckled.

"Let's move him, Father. Now."

"Dad?"

Jeff jumped to his feet. "Scott?"

"There you are."

"Virgil!" Brains called out.

"What are you two doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Scott said, frowning as he leaned over to get a better look at Kyrano. "Is he…?"

"No, and he won't be," Jeff said. "Boys, we need to get him back to the island now."

"Can you heal him?"

"I can heal his, uh, body, Scott," Brains said, drawing a strange look from Jeff and a knowing one from John as he began talking the old way again. "But, the, ah, rest, will be u-up to your father."

Virgil and Scott exchanged looks before turning their eyes to Jeff, who blushed crimson in the dark remnants of this dimension's island.

"Dad, there's one more thing I have to do before I join you," John said. "There's another IDT here. The time I came over here, Ben told me he had one of his own, and I know he wasn't wearing it when he hit our island."

"That's right, he wasn't!" Brains exclaimed.

"Oh, shit," Scott whispered.

John nodded. "Exactly. I've got to find it and destroy it before I can leave here."

"I-I'm staying, too."

Scott's and Virgil's eyes moved to Brains' face.

"What?" the scientist said. "Y-You think I-I'm leaving John a-alone with a dead Hood's, ah, soul around, y-you've been sniffing o-oxyhydnite again."

John stifled a laugh, then stooped to help lift Kyrano into Jeff's arms. "What about him, Brains?" he asked. "He needs you right now more than I do."

"Actually, h-he doesn't," Brains said confidently, looking at Jeff. "What he needs, he, ah, now has."

"Let's go, boys," he said, cradling the limp body close to his chest and giving Brains a small smile, "before there's nothing I can do at all."

Scott keyed in the coordinates to their own Tracy Island. "You sure you're okay to stay here?" he asked.

John pointed his wristwatch light across the way to the sealed see-through stasis chamber. Ben Tracy was clearly dead. And that chamber was still air-tight, in spite of the destruction surrounding it. "Yep," John finally answered. "We'll be just fine."

The portal was opened, and before long its brilliance had left Brains and John both rubbing at their eyes to clear their vision. "Just us, Brains."

"That it is," Brains said. He was surprised when John took two quick strides toward him, and utterly shocked when John's arms came around him and squeezed him tightly.

When John released him and backed away, Brains tried to peer at him but could barely see his shadow. "What was that for?" he asked, genuinely curious.

John shrugged, knowing Brains wouldn't be able to see it. "I'm glad to see you."

Brains grinned. "Ditto. Now where should we look for the IDT?"

"Same place we kept them on our side, if we can get to it."

"The lab," Brains said. "Right." He grabbed John's arm and moved it around so he could point the watchlight in multiple directions. "We might, ah, be here for a while."

"I'm counting on it," John said, slinging his arm over the slightly shorter man's shoulders. Off Brains' surprised look, he grinned. "Come on."