The Dead Zone
A Thunderbirds Movieverse fanfic
by TimeGuardian

Chapter Four

When Lady Penelope awoke this time, she found that her settings had drastically changed. For one thing, she was seated in what seemed to be a cushioned seat that seemed to be bolted to the floor. It reminded her of the type of seats that were in Thunderbird Two, only this was nothing like she had ever seen before. She also found that she was bound to the chair by rope with her hands situated behind her.

Looking around, she noticed the various computer panels around and behind her, each of them manned by men dressed in black. The space seemed narrow and confined and when Lady Penelope leaned forward and chanced a look further down the room, she saw a larger computer panel with a video screen and radar with two men stationed there. She had only been in one once before, but she recognized the setup immediately. I'm in a submarine.

"Awake, are we?"

Lady Penelope recognized Cassandra's voice as she walked up from the other end of the room. With the exception of changing her shoes out for boots and a curious looking belt with a holster, Cassandra was still wearing the same outfit as when they first met.

Penelope shook her head as Cassandra stopped in front of her. "Yes. You must have some interesting new toys – you took me down without a fight."

She kept a touch of curiosity in her tone – any information she could get from Cassandra could be beneficial.

For her efforts, Cassandra reached down at her hip and removed what looked like a small metallic gun from her holster. "Like it? My scientists call it a neural scrambler. One shot from this and you'll be out for hours. Quite a handy little gadget, wouldn't you say?"

"Oh indeed," Penelope replied lightly, "so, care to tell me why you have brought me on a submarine ride?"

Cassandra replaced the weapon back into her holster before replying. "We're going hunting – there is a container ship by the name of the Argus out there. The cargo is fifty million dollars in precious metals. Imagine that – a bank that was afraid of a skyjacking so they decide to ship their precious cargo by sea. They will soon regret that."

"So you loot these ships as well – keeps you afloat I suppose."

Cassandra chuckled. "How utterly droll of you – well you did ask why you were here. I figured you would make a good bargaining tool in case your rescuers showed up too early. I mean, who would attack their own people, really?"

Revulsion filled Lady Penelope. "You would. When I closed in on your operation in Switzerland, you had your lab blown up, with your scientists still inside."

"Ah yes," Lady Cassandra replied with a smile as if she relished the memory.

"You however," Penelope continued, feeling the odd rush of anger, "are sorely underestimating International Rescue. They will find a way to get you."

"As you did me?" Lady Cassandra scoffed. "We shall soon see. Don't go anywhere dear."

And with that, the rouge agent turned and walked towards the men manning the main computer area and radar panel. Lady Penelope could hear her barking out orders to move to a set of coordinates. Now was the time to check out more things before she came back.

Lady Penelope made sure to keep her movements small, but no matter how hard she tried, her bonds wouldn't budge. It figures.

With no chance of immediate escape, she chose to look around. When she had her chance, she wanted to be sure that International Rescue was informed about what they were up against. The neural scrambler was bad enough, but what little she saw of the submarine was unsettling. It was bigger than Thunderbird Four and considering what she knew of Lady Cassandra's means that meant the craft could be armed with anything from lasers on up to nuclear warheads – or worse.

Penelope kicked herself mentally. The last time she encountered Cassandra, the plans were not on this scale. In the end, she managed to defeat Cassandra after running a carefully crafted bluff pitting her against one of the scientists she hired. The matter was supposed to be finished with Lady Cassandra heading to prison.

If – no when I get out of this alive, I'm going to keep a better eye on Cassandra.

She soon felt the deck below her feet vibrate. That meant that they were on the move, but she had no way of knowing how far they were from their target.

That was also when she realized that neither her feet nor legs were bound. Maybe I can do something with this.

Lady Penelope set to work, bending and flexing her body until she felt the ropes around her upper body begin to inch upward. As she worked, Penelope kept an eye on Cassandra, who still was focused on the controls at the front.

She had lost track of the time, but soon the vibrations under her feet went away. Lady Penelope's heart sunk – she was nearly free, but time was running out for the ship that Cassandra was targeting.

The next words Cassandra uttered seemed to confirm that. "Transmit the pulse – the Argus must not be allowed to call out."

Lady Penelope thought quickly. Time to switch tactics.

She managed to twist her body around until her feet touched the computer panel nearest her. Lady Penelope reared back as best as she could and then kicked out as hard as she could. Sparks greeted her efforts and she readied herself to give another kick until Penelope felt herself being grabbed firmly by the arms and forced back into the chair.

With a start, she realized that Lady Cassandra had come back and had been the one to force her back down into the chair.

"Very good Penelope," Lady Cassandra snarled as she caught her breath, "thanks to you, they've had enough time to send an SOS. You know – the superstitious sailors call each scene I create a 'dead zone'. Maybe I should add one more body to this one."

In his study, Jeff studied the computer in front of him intently in the activated command and control center.

Thanks to Brains and John's efforts to organize their computer systems on Thunderbird Five and Tracy Island, he managed to pull up the news footage and the information on the previous ships that they helped to rescue the crews on.

On the surface, there seemed to be no rhyme or reason - one ship sank off the coast of New York while another sank not far from England. One ship was hauling cars while another was hauling building supplies. There was even an oil tanker that sank near the coast of Africa.

What did seem to link all of the incidents together was the condition of the hulls of each of the ships along with the eyewitness accounts from the crew, saying that they slipped into a 'dead zone'. In each case, the crews heard noises against their hull but were unable to spot anything in the water or on their radar. Their instruments then quickly registered a hull breach. When the crews tried to radio for help, they found that their communications equipment was non-functional. When the ships were later recovered, four large perfectly round holes were found in each of the hulls.

It smacked of sabotage but no evidence was found when the authorities did their follow-up investigations. That was why Jeff hoped that Lady Penelope's investigation would bear fruit, but with her disappearance they were now back at square one.

A harsh beeping broke into his thoughts. When Jeff turned to address the alarm, he saw that John was trying to get in touch with him.

He typed in a command, bringing up his son's feed onto one of the video screens on the far wall.

Jeff spoke quickly. "What's the situation, John?"

On the screen, Jeff noticed the tension on John's face. "Dad, we've got another one. Virgil and Gordon were at the docks near where Lady Penelope disappeared when they overheard the authorities receiving the report. A container ship by the name of Argus – they managed to transmit a quick SOS message before their radio went dead. It's just like the others, dad – given their position in the sea, it'll take an hour at least before the authorities can get to them. I was able to scan and confirm the data. Virgil and Gordon are back in the air and on route to the scene now."

"And if it's anything like the previous incidents, those sailors don't have an hour. Understood, John – I'll have Scott and Alan take Thunderbird One and rendezvous with Virgil and Gordon. Transmit the coordinates to them as soon as they are airborne."

John nodded. "FAB"

Once John's image disappeared, Jeff turned and pressed another button on his console, sounding another alarm through the house. Seconds later, both Scott and Alan ran into the room and came to a stop in front of him.

Alan was catching his breath as Scott asked. "We're here, dad, what's happened?"

"Another ship is sinking – The Argus. Thunderbird Two is already on route but I want you to take Alan and join them. John will get you your coordinates once you are in the air."

Scott nodded knowingly. "On our way. Come on Alan, let's get down to the hangar."

We're on the scene with the Argus – next time. I'm still here , just slowed down a little – too long and too frustrating to explain - just trust me, this story is still on.

Till next time,

TimeGuardian