CHAPTER TWELVE

Five men lay unconscious on the floor.

In the midst of them stood the Hood. He looked up at Thunderbird Two, then down at Thunderbird 4. His work was nearly complete. He had four Tracys and the genius behind the Thunderbird craft. All he had to do now was get them all into something they couldn't get out of. Then he'd take Thunderbird One and the reign of Belah Gaat would begin.

By now, he believed the entire world knew the identities of the men who made up International Rescue. By now every news agency in the world was broadcasting his words, his pictures, his voice across the skies. The one thing he hadn't disclosed was the exact location of their base. Because now, it was his. This would serve as the base for his operations now.

He knew Kyrano was alive and well somewhere on this island along with the pesky redhead. But that was of little concern to him now. Eventually they too would be his prisoners and then he'd use Thunderbird One to destroy every major city in the world. He'd be done in a day as fast as that ship could travel.

And what would they think, the people who watched it descend over them as it destroyed their homes and themselves? What would the rest of Earth believe when cameras captured the sleek silver plane on its path of destruction?

They would think they'd been attacked by International Rescue. Their reputation would be ruined. Even if by chance the Tracys managed to escape the damage would be done. The people would rise against them and without leaders, without governments, they would look for one to save them.

That one would be none other than the Hood.

He smiled in satisfaction as the scenario played out in his mind.

But before he could even complete the last thought, a shot of pain went through the back of his head. He cried out and sank to his knees, holding his head and moaning. "What..." he ground out. "What is...this?"

Alan and Melody watched as beads of sweat formed on Kyrano's forehead and upper lip. Within minutes his clothing showed signs of profuse sweating and his hair was damp. His lips moved but made no sound.

She watched him intently, and a thought suddenly occurred to her. If one of the half-brothers could attack the other mentally, could not the one being attacked launch a counterattack of some sort? It made her mouth go dry.

Kyrano winced and her eyes widened. His face contorted in pain. She made to get up from the chair but a hissed "Melody, no!" from Alan stopped her. She looked over at him and bit her lower lip. He shook his head vigorously.

This time, Kyrano cried out. Melody and Alan both jumped and looked across the room at him. "Alan, he's being hurt," she whispered fiercely.

"He said not to interfere," Alan replied.

She never took her eyes off the man on the bed. He cried out again and stiffened, arms and legs flying straight out from his body. He fell back onto the bed and began to cry out. Head moving side to side, he moaned, "No! No!"

"Oh, no," Alan breathed.

"What?" Mel shrieked, jumping to her feet.

"That's what it looks like when he's having one of his...when he's being attacked."

"When he's being—that means the Hood's fighting back!"

"Noooo!" Kyrano cried, grabbing the quilt beneath him in his hands and struggling against it.

She looked at Alan, then back at Kyrano, then at Alan again. "I have to help him."

"Mel, no!"

"I have to! I know what to do! He taught me!"

"He...what?"

Letting out what sounded like a roar, Kyrano sat bolt-upright, his eyes wide open and unseeing. "You...will...not..."

"Oh, God," Melody breathed, racing to the bedside.

He turned toward her but his eyes weren't the same. They'd grown so dark they were nearly black. When his hand thrust out toward her she flinched. But without a second thought she took it in both of hers, crawling up onto the bed next to him.

"Meor," she said fiercely. "I'm here. I'm holding your hand."

Alan frowned as he watched what the scanners were showing him was happening in Thunderbird Two's hangar. He looked back up just in time to see Kyrano's free hand move to Melody's throat.

"Kyrano! No! Melody, get away from him!"

She coughed once, twice, then let loose his other hand, using both of hers to try and pry his fingers from her flesh. "Ky-ra-no," she sputtered. "Me-or…please!"

"Kyrano!" Alan yelled from the panel across the room. "Dammit, Kyrano, fight it!"

Melody's two hands were now firmly around the one Kyrano was using to choke her. Suddenly his grip loosened and she gulped in three giant breaths, never letting go of his hand. Coughing a few times, she looked into his eyes and saw a swirling mass of brown and black as though his irises were undulating.

"Meor," she gasped, squeezing his hand with all the strength she could muster. She crawled onto his legs, straddling them as he fell back again onto the bed. "I have your hand. He can't attack you anymore. But you can still attack him. Listen to me, please."

Ragged breaths shook his body as Kyrano's eyes slowly went back to their normal color. They widened when he saw her. "Melody?"

"Take him down," she growled. "He can't hurt you now."

Kyrano nodded once and closed his eyes, his other hand coming to rest over hers. The union of four hands rose between them and began to shake with the force of Kyrano's mind reaching out for his brother's. Melody squeezed her eyes shut as her head began to ache, but she fought against the pain. There was no way she was letting her new friend down. No way in hell.

Jeff slowly opened his eyes, a sharp pain shooting through his head. He struggled to sit upright but was soon confronted with a Hood whose face looked markedly different from before. It was contorted in agony as he body-slammed Jeff back down onto the hangar floor with a thud.

Belah grabbed Jeff's shirt and forced him to look into his eyes. "Oh, no, you don't," Jeff said. "Not this time."

He rolled and threw Belah to the side. Then he rushed to Virgil's side, the closest of his sons to him. "Virgil, get up! Wake up!" When he heard Virgil's moans, he moved to John's side and roused him. Then on to Brains and finally to Gordon.

"Oh, God, my brain hurts," the latter groaned, sitting up and holding his copper-haired head.

"Not half as much as his, I bet," John said through the tears of pain that leaked out of his eyes.

They all managed to sit upright enough to look at where the Hood had regained his footing and taken a few steps closer to them.

"Boys, gather close," Jeff said, motioning them toward him. "Take my hands and take someone else's hand."

"Do what?"

"It's the only way to keep him from knocking us out again, John," Jeff explained. "Quickly."

Jeff took Virgil's hand on one side and John's on the other. John took Gordon's, who took Brains' and then Brains connected with Virgil. The men stayed in their tight circle as the Hood fell to his knees, his head knocking into Gordon's back. The younger man scooted closer to the center of his family's circle, eyes wide as the Hood rolled around on the concrete.

"What's wrong with him?" Brains asked.

"I think he's getting a taste of his own medicine," Jeff replied. "And I'll bet I know who we have to thank for that." Writhing on the floor, Belah's face turned paler and paler, his hands clutching his head, scratching at his bald pate and wailing in sheer agony. Jeff watched for a moment and then realized what was happening. "No," he breathed.

Gordon turned to look at his father. "What?"

"He's going to kill him," Virgil breathed, his eyes wide.

"Kyrano wouldn't do that," John said. Then his brow furrowed as his eyes met his dad's. "Would he?"

Jeff broke the circle of hands and scrambled to their enemy's side.

"Careful, Dad," John warned.

"What are you doing?" Brains whispered.

"I can't let him do this," Jeff ground out. His hands reached out and hovered over Belah's body. Jeff closed his eyes, took a deep breath and reopened them. All at once his hands came down and grabbed one of Gaat's.

"Dad!" Gordon cried out, breaking away from the circle.

"Stay back!" Jeff growled. He closed his eyes and spoke so quietly the younger men could barely hear him. "Kyrano…Kyrano stop…"

The Hood let out a yowl that made the hairs on the backs of all necks stand on end.

"Kyrano, you can feel me, I know you can. Stop it now, you're going to kill him!" Jeff said more loudly, his eyes still squeezed tightly shut.

Everyone was frozen in place as Jeff clung to the Hood's hand. Within seconds he was still. Slowly Jeff lifted the hand, turned it over and felt his wrist for a pulse. He turned to his sons and Brains. "He's dead," he reported.

"Are you sure?" Gordon asked as his brothers rose to their feet and came to stand over the body.

Brains knelt and rechecked the vitals. "This man is definitely dead."

"Kyrano," Virgil whispered. "I don't believe this."

"You think Kyrano killed him? He can't kill a fly!"

"He can if he thinks our lives depend on it, Gordon." Jeff shook his head. "I can't let this be it."

To his sons' and Brains' shock and horror, Jeff Tracy began performing CPR on Belah Gaat. Two repetitions later, they heard and saw the man begin to breathe again.

"Thank God," Jeff whispered, rising to his feet. "That was too close."

"You shouldn't even have bothered," Virgil said sourly.

"I had to," Jeff replied. "It would have destroyed Kyrano."

John let out a long, low whistle as Jeff raised his watch to his face. "Alan, come in."

"Dad? Dad, you're all right!"

"Yes, son, we're all just fine. The Hood's incapacitated. We think Kyrano attacked him."

"He did," he replied sombrely.

Jeff's brow puckered as he took in Alan's face. "Where are they?"

"Melody's bedroom," Alan replied. "I think you'd better get up there."

She bowed over his chest and let the tears flow. Her head was killing her, but more than that, Kyrano wasn't breathing. She held his hands even tighter between their bodies and whispered his name over and over again.

The door swished open as Alan reappeared on the panel next to it. Jeff ran in first, the remaining four nearly running him over when he came to a stop halfway across the room. They all popped out from behind him standing in a row.

"Gordo, move!" Alan said.

Gordon moved off to the side so his brother could see where Melody sat astride Kyrano in the middle of his bed.

"Don't go," she whispered. "Don't go yet. Not yet."

Tears sprang to Jeff's eyes. He swallowed hard.

"It's too soon, Meor. Please come back."

Jeff motioned to Brains, who started making his way to the bed.

"I've still got your hands. You should be alive."

Brains had just reached them when he was startled so badly he nearly fell backwards.

Kyrano's eyes flew open and his chest heaved as he gasped in a breath so loudly they all jumped. Brains was instantly at his side reaching to get hold of one of Kyrano's wrists. He then looked down at his face, opened his eyelids to look at his pupils and checked the pulse on his neck.

"He's okay," he finally said, looking first at Melody and then back to Jeff and his sons. "Pulse is strong and steady."

"Mr. Tracy?" Kyrano said softly, his eyes never leaving Mel's.

"I'm here, Kyrano," Jeff said as he approached them. The others followed.

"You did it," Virgil smiled.

"I did what?"

"The Hood's…" John glanced sidelong at his father, "unconscious," he finished.

"Not dead?" Kyrano asked, looking visibly relieved.

"Of course not, Kyrano," Jeff reassured him. "You wouldn't kill even him."

Virgil, Gordon and Brains exchanged looks while Melody realized the position she was in and scooted quickly off Kyrano and onto the floor, finally letting go of his hands. She backed away as the men who loved him crowded around, desperate to ensure he was really okay, and explaining what had happened from their perspective.

She was startled when Alan called her name. She moved closer to his panel. "You're shaking like a leaf."

"I feel like a leaf that just got blown through a tornado," she admitted with a nervous laugh.

"Bet none of your mysteries ever had any of this in it."

"You bet right." She put her hand over his shoulder on the video feed. "Thank you, Alan. You're the only one I haven't met in person, yet you're the one I somehow feel closest to now."

He grinned and she thought how young he looked. "Well, I don't think I'd say I'm the one you're closest too," he replied cheekily, nodding toward the other side of the room.

She turned to find Kyrano standing unsteadily at the end of the bed, supported on one side by Jeff and on the other, by Virgil. Her eyes moved to Brains, then John, and finally, Gordon. "You're the most amazing family I've ever known," she said.

"Well, you're part of it," John grinned, winking. "Ripped shirt and all."

She looked down at John's torn shirt and realized the one rip had gotten bigger and was no longer hiding her left breast. "Oh, for Christ's sake," she complained, trying in vain to pull the fabric down far enough to cover it.

Kyrano surprised her by walking forward and taking her into his arms. "Here," he said, "let me help with that."

She smiled, wrapping her arms around him and laying her head on his chest.

"Thank you," he whispered, kissing the top of her head.

"Well, boys, I think Kyrano's got things well in hand." There were a few snickers from around the room. "Tied up and unconscious or not, I want that bastard out of my hangar."

"My hangar," Virgil corrected.

"Hey, my 'bird lives there, too," Gordon countered.

"Well, you guys can have it. I need a drink."

"Oh, no, you don't," Alan growled from the panel. "Not until you're off-duty."

John screwed his face into a grimace, walked over to the panel and promptly turned it off.

"Oh, he's gonna kick your ass come rotation," Gordon laughed.

"Then I've got three weeks of no bruises to look forward to," John said, laying his arm across Gordon's shoulders. "Dad, I really need to talk to you about what happens when I'm on this planet."

"Yeah, it seems like whenever you're around, Johnny, all hell breaks loose."

"I'll show you all hell, Virgil!" John crowed and with that, they all exited the room.

"They're insane," Melody breathed, backing away long enough to wipe the tear tracks from her face.

"Well, they're your uncles," Kyrano teased, then his smile faded as her eyes filled with tears.

"I thought you were dead."

He smiled and shook his head, using one finger to wipe a tear that escaped her eye. "No, my body had shut down against the onslaught from Belah."

"Did you know what you were doing to him?"

"I wasn't in control near the end of it," he said sadly. "I didn't want to harm him but…I was so angry. If it hadn't been for Jeff…" His eyes widened as his fingers moved to where some ugly bruises were beginning to form. "I did this to you."

She nodded slowly.

He let go of her and backed away. "I'm sorry."

"I know you didn't do it on purpose. It was Belah controlling you."

"But my hands made those marks. I could have killed you!"

She moved forward and took hold of his hands. "If I had died, it would've been Belah who'd killed me. Not you."

"I don't know if I can forgive myself for the pain I've caused this family," he said, backing up until he'd hit the edge of the bed.

Not quite knowing what to say, she moved to him and took his head, laying it against her chest. They stayed that way for some minutes until at last his arms encircled her. She leaned down and kissed the top of his head. "Did he hurt you?"

"I don't think so. Not permanently, anyway."

They stood there in an awkward silence. Melody finally backed away and turned toward the door. "I suppose I need to get some decent clothes on."

She felt Kyrano's hand on her shoulder and shivered. "Not necessarily." He turned her slowly to face him. Then his hand lifted her chin until their eyes met. "You saved my life."

"Well, you saved all of ours."

He leaned in and placed his lips softly against hers. His hand moved around to the back of her neck as she took a step closer. Smiling into him, her hands moved to his chest, then slowly up to his shoulders and further to circle around his neck. They moved together until their bodies were touching from chest to legs.

"Do you still want to get your clothes?" he asked.

"No," she whispered. "I don't."