Warning: Sexual content.

Hour Three

The following takes place between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.

10:01:37

She couldn't keep it out of her head. As she walked in silence, it played out before her unbidden.

She opened her eyes to find herself lying on a bed that was impossibly soft. Covered in velvet the color of blood, it melded to her form as slowly she came back to the here and now, though if asked she could not articulate what exactly that was with any sort of clarity.

"Master," she whispered, her eyes opening to find his staring into them. "My master."

"Yes," he breathed, hot against her face.

And then he pressed into her. Her body tensed as the spindle inside her twisted tighter, and tighter.

Feel me.

Inside her mind. Inside her everywhere.

Feel me.

"Yes."

His mouth covered hers, devouring, taking without asking. Owning. She could not stop what surged within, could not stop wanting him inside her, silently begging him to take her once and for always. His tongue moved everywhere over her tongue and teeth, as the kiss deepened. She felt something give as the spring uncoiled, releasing her essence, everything she was. It was as though his mouth was pulling it from hers, pulling it up through her body from its sacred cherished seat within her soul.

And willingly she let it go.

He sucked it into him, just like he sucked her into his eyes, like his aural glow sucked her body into his. When he slipped into her, she cried out at the intrusion.

Open your eyes.

Her eyes slowly opened. He was boring into her, his mind becoming part of hers, every thought and every feeling taken into him. No secrets. Nowhere to hide. He knew it all. Knew it all. Knew her. What she had hidden, what she had never told to another. He had been there with her always, she knew, always from the time she was a child. He was her worst nightmare, her greatest fear and her deepest desire all in one fantastic, frightening, evil man.

God, how she wanted him.

He moved then, pulling almost completely out of her before slamming back in. His arms held her tightly, as though trying to make their bodies become one as their minds had already joined.

"Yes," she whispered as his teeth found her neck, biting and sucking, then soothing with his tongue before moving to the next bit. Covering her painfully, agonizingly slow, with a mouth that seemed far too hot to be real, far too real to be just a dream.

You want me.

"Yes," she answered, her body rising to meet his as thrust after thrust impaled her. Over and over he moved so fast, so fast, electrical energy building at this point of contact, building a white-hot bluish glow around them, so bright she could no longer see except for the blackness of his eyes.

Pools. Liquid.

Slam, move out, thrust, pull back.

Say you want me.

"I...I..." she gasped. Her breath was nearly gone; she couldn't stop the crackling energy from stealing every motor function. She could barely move, her arms wound around his back seemed made of wood as she clung to him, clung to the last thread of life itself.

Say it, orang yg sangat dikasihi saya.

Once again she felt herself rise. The velvet no longer at her back. She wrapped her legs around him, deepening their contact as his hand moved around behind her head, tangling in her long, black hair. His mouth claimed hers, a fevered kiss borne of claiming that which one desires. She held him as he continued pumping into her, as they rolled over and over in the air above the bed. Above them, a canopy of blood-red velvet as her head lolled back, sweat dripping from them both.

"Master..." she whispered between whimpers.

Dikasihi.

"Say it!" he growled, slamming into her before ceasing all movement.

She opened her eyes. He was, as always, there before her. She fell into them, those darkest irises contracting into cat's eyes, red-gold slits of light glinting in some unseen fire that seemed to burn behind them. And once again, as though possession had not been done before, he consumed her, wrapped himself around her like a cloak, hiding her within himself. She was his.

"I want you," she whispered as his teeth pressed into the flesh of her neck. "I want you."

The sound that came forth was like a snarl as he moved inside her slowly, slowly, building the heat, building the friction, the electricity crackling around them, bluish light morphing to black and then red, surrounding them like a bubble as they moved, one unit, one person...one last evil deed performed.

The sensation became too much, every nerve on alert, body convulsing beneath his as she felt his release. She cried out in agony. What had been pleasurable was now sheer torture. She screamed again.

"Forever!"

10:13:04

The loud banging of the door and the ensuing bright lights were almost more than he could handle. He just couldn't stop shivering. Cold. So cold.

"Who are you?"

"Now, John, we must not use our voices." Think it, John. Think it.

There it was again. That voice. He heard her and...he heard her. Inside his mind. Once again his eyelids were forced open. Once again her black eyes looked into his. The colors. There they were. Comforting, like an old friend he'd just met. A friend who felt familiar, but...different. New.

That's right, John. I'm your friend. Remember me? I'm Ebony. I saved your life.

God, he could hear her inside his mind just as clearly as if her mouth spoke the words!

What is this? You saved my life? But you have me chained! his mind cried as he wrenched his arms and legs against the shackles.

The hands moved away from his eyes, which had adjusted now to the lights overhead. He could only stare in disbelief as a flick of her wrist sent the chains unraveling. With no more effort than that, he was freed.

He sat up on what looked to be a stone table of some sort, and hugged his knees to his chest, effectively hiding his manhood and giving him some semblance of control over the situation.

"What do you mean, you saved my life?"

Another flick of her wrist and he felt a searing heat start at the base of his spine and move rapidly toward his neck. He howled, modesty forgotten as he dropped back down and writhed on the table in agony.

You will speak to me in this manner or you will be punished. Come, John. I don't wish to harm you. Do as I tell you and the pain will stop.

He yelled in fright and confusion before crying out in his mind, Okay, I won't talk! Just please stop! Stop it!

And just like that, the pain was gone. Sweat cooled his skin, and he began shivering again in earnest as he dragged himself back up into a sitting position, legs dangling over the side. He felt weak. So weak. And why did his lungs hurt so badly?

Tell me how you saved my life, he thought, unwilling to look her in the eye.

I will, but first you must be cleansed of the outside world. When the Cleansing Ritual is complete, we shall begin.

"Begin what? Who the hell are you?"

Too late he realized his mistake as the pain returned, starting again at the base of his spine and rocketing upwards, this time all the way into his head.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaa! Make it stop! Please! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

You need only think it so.

Panting, John fell off the table to the stone floor below, scraping knees and legs and arms as he went.

Make it stop, please! Ebony, make it stop!

Just the mental utterance of her name brought it all back.

In the plane...he remembered her. There were huge men surrounding him. A large, rectangular tank stood in front of him. Roughly he was stripped naked. He fought...he tried to fight, but...something...her. Ebony. Her eyes. That was it, her eyes! Somehow, he couldn't move.

The pain...behind his eyes...it overwhelmed him. He couldn't...it wouldn't stop. He could barely see. He was led forward and felt himself stepping on something hard. A glass surface. He heard something close, and then a vacuum sound, as though something were being sealed.

It wasn't until he heard the water start to come in that he realized what was happening.

"No!" he'd cried, fighting the pain behind his eyes, pounding his fists against the glass walls. He could barely see around the colors, but the men watched and some laughed as the tank filled. Slowly. So slowly. Torture, waiting for it to fill. Slowly up his shins. Past his knees. Over his calves to his hips. The water was cold. So, so cold. His teeth chattered as he begged for help, begged them to let him out.

It rose to his navel. His chest. His armpits. It was at his neck and suddenly he felt something against his leg. He tried to get a look, but the tank was too narrow to see around his own body. It slithered past his skin and his shivering turned from one of cold to one of fright.

And then it got him. Electric eel.

John Tracy screamed and for just a moment, his world went black.

He regained his senses. Wide-eyed, John yelled at the brutes who pointed and laughed. He screamed for the woman he'd seen to save him. Suddenly there she was, in his line of sight at last. The water rose to his chin as the eel slithered up his back, then down past his ass and around his legs. He was terrified. Would it strike again?

"Help me! Please!"

Her eyes held his and suddenly words stopped coming. He couldn't even remember what he'd been saying. The eel's painful touch was forgotten. The water rose past his mouth. He held his breath instinctively as water filled his nostrils and moved up past his eyes. It was clear. He could still see her.

Take a breath, John.

He shook his head slightly. Surely she couldn't be telling him to breathe underwater!

It covered his head now. He was fully immersed. His arms and legs started going numb. He couldn't even feel his midsection. He blinked as the bubbles escaping his nose and mouth slipped past his eyes, some catching on his long eyelashes.

Breathe, John. You won't die. I won't let you die. Breathe.

And somehow, he believed her.

He choked on invisible water as his mind reacted to the sensation of lungs filling with water. Oxygen, he needed oxygen! His world spun out of control as he coughed and choked, seeing it in his mind, Ebony as the last person he would ever look at before he died.

But then, suddenly, he'd found himself...here.

I'm not drowning.

She knelt beside him on the floor. Come. Let yourself be cleansed, John. No more questions. Clear your mind.

She rose and helped him to his feet. He could only gaze upon her face in childlike wonder, his mind held by the strange power she seemed to have over him. And, as a child, he allowed himself to be led away.

Ebony smiled.

10:34:16

"Thunderbird One to Base and Thunderbird 5. Estimate arrival at Airstrip 2-H in three minutes."

"F.A.B. Contact Dad as soon as you're down. He should already be pretty close to the safe house."

"Alan, any signs of life out here?"

"Other than Dad? No. Not a thing moving. I've got Dad's GPS on radar. He's just turned onto Hunters Croft. It should only take him about five minutes to get to the end of the road."

"F.A.B., Alan. Continue monitoring, double up on me, and keep your eyes open for anything. I don't want to be walking into an ambush."

"F.A.B., Scott."

"Virgil, I want everyone on standby. This could get ugly."

"F.A.B. Base out."

Scott checked his gauges as Thunderbird One made a perfect landing just behind Tracy Twelve. He grabbed a few extra charges for his laser pistol and exited Thunderbird One, turning slowly to check the perimeter. He tapped a small button on the left side of the watch he wore on his wrist, then waited, then tapped it again. Heading for a hatch in the belly of his plane, Scott soon had it open and had removed his hover bike. Finally, his father appeared in the watch face.

"Scott, where are you?"

"I've just landed and am on the bike. Alan's given me your position, should I proceed?"

"Yes, and make it snappy. I haven't seen a single sign of life out here, not even an animal."

"That's odd."

"Exactly."

"I should catch up to you in just a few minutes, Dad. Hold off before entering. You don't know what's waiting for you."

There was a moment's silence before Jeff finally replied, "F.A.B."

Scott was more than just a little surprised. He'd given his father an order...and his father had obeyed it? Maybe he was just deferring to Scott as International Rescue's Field Commander.

Or maybe Jeff Tracy's gut was giving him a warning he wasn't about to ignore.

10:39:00

Oh, God, where am I? What's happened?

Her surroundings were dark.

Bump-bump.

She was moving. And lying on her back in...whatever it was she was in. Her hands were tied behind her at her waist, having fallen asleep along with her arms from the force of her weight pressing down.

My legs are tied together as well.

Obviously, not an optimal situation.

She tuned her trained ears into the environment around her. She could hear the hum of wheels on the pavement, feel the acceleration of her temporary tomb.

I must be in the boot of a car.

Trunk, Penny, Jeff would have playfully reminded her. Trunk.

Oh, trunk...boot...you Americans and your improper use of Queen's English.

We don't speak Queen's English, Penny. We speak American English.

Oh, yes, I forgot. So distasteful.

She grinned as the memory returned, so vivid and powerful she could almost believe Jeff was by her side in this moment, preparing to move in for the kill, as it were.

But Jeff was not with her. A bit of scooting about had indicated her supposition of being in the boot was correct, and that it was rather small. And that she was its only occupant.

Sir Jeremy!

Tears sprang to her eyes. First Parker, and then Jeremy. Bless them both, they had been saints. And brave, brave men. Never shying away from their self-imposed duties, different though they may have been. Parker...always loyal, always true. Jeremy...at a moment's notice by her side.

Penny wondered if Jeremy had had any idea whatsoever that this time he was coming to his death.

A tear trickled from her eye, followed by another and another. She worked at the rope binding her hands, but it was tied tightly and knotted well.

John, dragged into the cargo plane.

Parker, holes blasted into his chest over and over again.

Penny, turning to run. Run like a coward.

Run, Penny! John had shouted, struggling against his captors. Run!

She realized that unless she heeded his words, she, too would have been either dead or kidnapped.

Then why did she feel such an overwhelming sense of guilt?

And then to have invited Sir Jeremy to his death, too? Lady of Death seemed appropriate for her name just now. Was John still alive?

Sir Jeremy...fighting...pulling out his sword, hidden in the umbrella he carried.

But fencing was a sport for the rich, for those who really didn't mean to hurt their opponent. Within minutes, Jeremy fell, his own sword used to slit his throat.

She could feel the dried blood on her hands. She'd tried to save him. She'd tried. This time she hadn't run, but had stayed, pressing her hands against his neck, trying desperately to keep the blood from spurting out.

It covered her chest and legs as Jeremy's eyes pleaded with her. Pleaded for what, exactly, she did not know.

And then she'd been grabbed. A cloth had covered her face and...she'd awakened here. In the boot. In the trunk.

Jeff...

The tears began anew.

10:47:44

For the most part, things were quiet on Tracy Island. You'd hear the occasional beeps and blips of computers as they returned information to the humans searching for it. You might even hear the pencil Tin-Tin was tapping on the tabletop as she studied an old newspaper, or the rumbling of Gordon's stomach, telling how he'd missed breakfast.

That was the odd thing about it, though. It was way too quiet for an ordinary day. But, of course, this day had become anything but ordinary, Virgil thought as he looked around the Lounge. Only Tin-Tin and Kyrano were there, having been designated to pull the musty, dusty boxes of old papers out of the storage room. It was their job to find anything that might help Jeff, John and Penny.

Virgil was also searching on the computer at his father's desk, but kept looking up at the portraits expecting to hear a signal from John. He'd tried in vain to raise him via his watch communicator more times than he could count. John didn't answer. He also tried Penny. Again, there'd been nothing.

It had been years since any of them had been out of communication with the other thanks to the watches they all wore. They were never more than a heartbeat away from knowing what was up. Until now.

He glanced up at the row of portraits again. First Penny's, off to the left, apart from the others. He couldn't help but smile as he recalled the first time Jeff and Penny had made it clear they were an "item."

It had been one year after that awful day Washington, D.C. had been destroyed. Virg and his brothers were well aware that a relationship had been blossoming, however secret Dad and Penny had tried to keep it. But it wasn't until they were gathered 'round the television one Sunday morning watching NTBS that they realized just how close the two were.

Because Tracy Corporation had given so much money to help begin rebuilding the nation's capitol, Jeff had been invited to a ceremony in D.C. to unveil the newly built White House by the U.S. president himself. He had, of course, taken Penelope along, and after giving a good speech about working together as a united front to face this tragedy and becoming stronger from it, he retreated to join Penny.

And that's when it happened.

Their eyes followed their father as he walked to the back of the stage. His arm wrapped around her, she looked up at him...and they kissed. Right there on worldwide television, directly behind the president of the United States, Jeff Tracy and Penelope Creighton-Ward landed what the press had called "The Smooch Heard 'Round the World."

Rather embarrassing for their father, but funny as hell to his sons.

Virgil held his chuckle in as he recalled the razzing they'd given Jeff upon their return to the island. That's when he and Penny finally admitted that they were in love and definitely together. Well, it's not like it was a secret anyway, what with that "smooch." What were they going to do? Deny it? That would've been like trying to tell the family their names weren't Penny and Jeff.

Virgil's half-smile turned into a full-out frown. He lost Mom. He can't lose Penny, too. He just can't!

And then there was John. John, who had never been particularly close to Virgil, but was his brother and sometime confidante nonetheless. Virgil loved him as much as he loved anyone. They were all a pretty tight-knit bunch regardless who might've been favored over whom. Everyone knew it was Scott and Virg joined at the hip, and that Gordon and Alan were always co-conspirators.

John had always sort of been the lone wolf, much like their father. That's probably why the two had spent so much time together since International Rescue's formation. More than once, during John's tours of duty aboard Thunderbird 5, Virgil had wandered into the Lounge to find Jeff having philosophical discussions with his middle son. Discussions that, at 2 and 3 in the morning, were way beyond Virgil's ability to absorb.

They also spent time together doing things like fishing or going over things in the lab, and even heading off to the place atop the island's mountain where John had a powerful telescope set up. It had never before occurred to Virgil to wonder what they talked about for all those hours on end, but now he did wonder. As close as John and Jeff were, what this must be doing to his father...well, Virgil could well imagine. He himself was at his wits' end. Just sitting there in command of Base was not Virgil's cup of tea. All he wanted to do was fire up his beautiful green baby and rescue Penny and John.

Which, of course, would have been impossible at this point given that no one knew where they were.

He began to feel resentment slow-boil into anger. Who was this bitch Ebony and what in the hell did she want with John? They were working off the premise that that she was responsible for both John's and then Penny's kidnapping.

Suddenly his eyes widened.

Wait just one damn minute.

It didn't make any sense.

If Ebony is responsible for both kidnappings...

It couldn't be.

Then why didn't she take John and Penny at the same time earlier that morning?

They were, after all, together. John was going to attend the opening of a new observatory on the Isle of Muck off the western coast of England, which Penelope had, in part, helped fund. But neither of them would be attending unless they were found, and soon.

But if they were there together in one place at one time...why take John and then wait an hour to take Penny?

Unless...

Virgil slammed his fist down on the console in front of him. "Base to Scott. Come in, Scott! Now!"

10:58:22

Scott didn't dare slow the hover bike when his watch beeped. Instead, he steered with one hand while bringing the watch closer to his face.

"Yeah, Virg, I'm here, but I'm kinda busy. What is it?"

"Scott, you have to stop and listen to me."

Scott took one look at Virgil's face and the hover bike screamed to a halt. "Talk."

"John was taken first. Parker was killed when John was kidnapped."

"Right."

"Penelope was right there when it happened."

"So we're assuming." Scott was impatient to reach his father. "What's your point?"

"Why did Ebony wait until an hour later to kidnap Penelope, which meant she had to find Penny again after she'd just had her right there with John not an hour before?"

The color drained from Scott's face as he stared into Virgil's eyes. "What are you getting at?" he asked, even though he had an idea.

"What if Ebony's not behind Penny's disappearance, Scott? What if she's only behind John's?"

"But what...I mean, who...oh, my God." Scott started the hover bike up again and began to speed toward his destination. "Virg, if you...if you're right, that means...we don't just have one kidnapper to deal with."

"No," Virg replied solemnly. "We have two."

10:59:58

10:59:59

11:00:00