Chapter Twenty Nine

Alan watched his father and uncle leave. It wasn't fair that they were making him stay here. True he was feeling a little tired and energy depleted but he could still feel that there was power inside him. Power that would have to be enough. He couldn't just stand by and let his father and uncle challenge the powerful Hood on their own.

Alan's eyes hit on the slick of ice on the floor and an idea began to form how he could recoup some energy. He remembered how his body had seemed to take energy from the cold environment of the fridge back on the island. Maybe he could recoup the energy he'd used creating the ice slick perhaps he could absorb the slick back into himself the same way it was known that Static could take electrical energy from external sources like power sockets.

Moving over to the ice he knelt down beside it and put his hand on the ice but nothing happened. Okay Alan think, he thought, you know you took energy from the fridge environment instinctively. There has to be away of consciously doing it. Alan thought about it for a few moments. Then he wished the energy that had made this particular bit of ice to come back into him. It was the only thing he could think of.

For a moment nothing happened then he felt his powers flare again but different this time.

Fermat watched his best friend in interest wondering what Alan was going to do now. The way Alan almost instinctively used his powers was interesting to watch and the things he could do with them were amazing. Fermat's own personal favourite was when Alan phased himself so he could pass through normal non-phased matter or normal matter could pass through him. Fermat constantly found himself trying to come up with a theory to describe how it would be possible for a person to phase or even to get anything to phase but he couldn't. He would have to remember to ask Alan what it felt like when he phased later.

Fermat was surprised when Alan's eyes began glowing silver again. But this time it was only his eyes. His hands didn't glow like they normally did. That was another thing that fascinated Fermat the way that Alan's eyes would glow different colours when he used different powers.

The slick of ice on the floor suddenly seemed to kind of ripple then before Fermat's surprised eyes the ice turned into silver energy that then began flowing like some kind of liquid into Alan's hand, disappearing inside his body. In moments it was over all the silver energy gone reabsorbed into Alan's body. The silver glow disappeared from Alan's eyes.

Alan got back to his feet feeling a bit rejuvenated by recovering the energy he had expended creating that particular piece of ice. The energy within him had been replenished a little bit, not by much but a little. Over the course of the day he had used his powers quiet a lot so he had expended a considerable amount of the energy within. It would probably be tomorrow before his powers were back to their full strength and that was probably dependent on him eating properly this evening and getting a good eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. Until that could happen he would have to manage with the energy that he had left.

Alan looked in the direction that his father and uncle had gone and for a moment debated with himself again if he should go after them and help them deal with the Hood or if he should do what his father wanted and stay here with Fermat. I can't let them face the Hood alone, Alan thought, but if I go after them I'll be defying my father's instructions.

Alan was torn. He wanted to go help his father and uncle but he didn't really want to defy his father's instructions again, not now. If he did dad would end up treating him like a child again who couldn't be trusted to do what he was told. But Alan couldn't shake the feeling that his father was going to need his help. Regardless of how dad reacted he had to go.

"I'm going after them Fermat," he said at last making his decision.

"B…b…but Alan y…y…your dad s…s…said to s…s…stay here," Fermat replied stuttering heavily in agitation.

"I know. But I can't let dad and Uncle Peter face the Hood alone. They are going to need my help."

"H…h…how can you be s…s…sure," Fermat asked hoping that he would somehow be able to convince Alan to do as his father asked. Which would be difficult considering that Alan could be very stubborn – a trait common to Tracy men he'd been told by the boy's grandmother during one of her visits to Tracy Island.

"I don't know. But I can't shake the feeling that they are going to need my help. So I'm going to go." With that Alan walked off in the direction that his father and uncle had gone.

"Alan," Fermat called back still hoping to dissuade Alan from this course of action. Alan ignored him and disappeared down the corridor leading to the main vault.

Fermat sighed and considered going after him. But what could he do one on one against the Hood. The answer was nothing. Unlike Alan and Tin-Tin he had no powers the Hood would crush him like a bug. Alan and Tin-Tin could at least defend themselves. Fermat sighed again then resolved to wait for Tin-Tin only then would he go and join Alan in the main vault.

Elsewhere In The Bank

That Same Time

Tin-Tin ran through the corridors of the Bank of England into one of the smaller vaults in the Bank of England though it was still bigger than that of most banks. There was not much stored in here aside from important national documents and some more gold. As with the main vault the gold was kept neatly stacked in storage cages. Tin-Tin didn't have an idea of what she was going to do to deal with the pursuing Transom. When she'd lured her out of the main corridor away from the others she hadn't really done it with a plan in mind, she'd just wanted to get Transom away from Alan – so she couldn't shoot him in the back with whatever weapon her bracelet had been.

"Come here you," she heard Transom growl from behind her.

Spying the open cages an idea came to Tin-Tin. She slowed down just enough that Transom could come to just outside of arms reach.

"Now I've got you," Transom said triumphantly.

"I don't think so," Tin-Tin replied and again somersaulted over Transom's head. Transom seeing the cage she was heading for awkwardly skidded to a stop and spun around glaring her fury at her quarry.

Tin-Tin frowned slightly as she saw Transom was able to stop in time. She had hoped that the auburn haired henchwoman wouldn't be able to stop before she hit the wall. Guess there is only one thing for it, she thought and gripped the crystal pendant around her neck and with some concentration gave Transom a hard telekinetic shove backwards

Transom shrieked as she felt an invisible force pick her up and send her flying backward into the cage and into the solid concrete wall that formed one side. She struck the wall with a brutal force and immediately crumpled to the floor darkness enveloping her immediately.

Tin-Tin smiled at the unconscious Transom before walking forward and closing the door to the cage. The electronic lock on one side engaging automatically. Two bad guys down one to go, she thought thinking about her uncle. He probably would not go down as easily as Transom or Mullion though it would depend on how much he'd used his abilities. She knew from what her father had taught her that using their psi powers had a price usually in the form of a headache that got more and more debilitating the more the power was used until it turned into the mother of all migraines. It also drained your strength. After a certain point was reached your psi abilities wouldn't work until you'd either slept for a few hours or spent a few hours in a deep meditative state.

A smile graced her face as she imagined that the Hood would be in a lot of pain if he'd used his abilities a lot. Like he had a habit of doing. Unfortunately the same mental disciplines that enabled the Belagant's to use their abilities also gave them a great tolerance to pain and physical discomfort. The Hood would be able to ignore the pain for a time. Though when it really caught up with him he would know it. After all he couldn't well meditate or go to sleep in the middle of the Bank of England.

She hoped that her evil uncle had used his powers a lot, as it would mean he would be a lot weaker and easier to deal with. Though even weakened she knew her uncle would still be very dangerous considering his decades of experience in controlling his psi abilities and his use of mental arts that had been forbidden for generations.

She sincerely hoped that they would be able to stop him. For the consequence of failure could prove disastrous not just for International Rescue but for the whole world.

A determined look coming into her eyes Tin-Tin vowed to herself that she would do whatever she had to do to stop the Hood. No matter the cost.

The Main Vault

A Few Moments Earlier

The Hood frowned as he telepathically sensed Mullion be defeated by the metahuman who was accompanying the approaching Thunderbirds – a metahuman who the Hood was reasonably sure was Alan Tracy.

His lips compressing into a thin irritated line the Hood decide that he would seriously have to start looking into replacing Mullion. The fact that for all his strength Mullion couldn't defeat a superpowered teenager was just another nail in Mullions coffin. The super strong metahumans usefulness to the Hood was rapidly coming to an end.

As well as being aware of Mullion being defeated by Alan the Hood also sensed the actions of his niece. He'd known who she was from the moment he'd first laid eyes on her. He was impressed at how she lured Transom away from the others. Clever girl, he thought, though it's a pity that she's so like her father that no good brother of mine. If she would only learn to embrace the true strength as I have her abilities whatever they are would be very useful to me.

A smile graced the Hoods face as he sensed two minds break off from the others and head towards his location leaving the others including Alan behind. He focused his telepathic perception on the two approaching Thunderbirds to see if he could identify who they were. Only to recoil in surprise and anger as he recognised one of them as Jeff Tracy – he still remembered what the mind of the man who'd left him to die felt like even after four years. Though at the time he'd been still been too weak psychically to do anything to Jeff Tracy or even to find out his name.

He should be dead by now, the Hood fumed, he should have died a slow death when Thunderbird Five's life support failed. Despite the instant fury at Jeff Tracy being still alive the Hood quickly realised how he could be still alive. Obviously Alan and the others had gotten out of the fridge back on Tracy Island, got to the control room and broken through Transoms encryption codes – though how they'd do that quickly he really didn't know – and restored power to Thunderbird Five before Jeff and his other four sons could die of the cold and oxygen starvation.

 the Hood fumed, Despite the instant fury at Jeff Tracy being still alive the Hood quickly realised how he could be still alive. Obviously Alan and the others had gotten out of the fridge back on Tracy Island, got to the control room and broken through Transoms encryption codes – though how they'd do that quickly he really didn't know – and restored power to Thunderbird Five before Jeff and his other four sons could die of the cold and oxygen starvation.

Despite himself the Hood couldn't help but be impressed. Alan Tracy was proving himself a very formidable opponent indeed one worthy of his respect. Still respect aside he would take great pleasure finally getting rid of the young metahuman pest himself. But first he would take pleasure in personally delivering Jeff Tracy's demise. It would be much more personally satisfying to look into Jeff's eyes and see the defeat there as he died at the Hoods hands so to speak.

Smiling evilly at the prospect of finally killing Jeff Tracy and his troublesome offspring the Hood concealed himself behind a concrete pillar and waited patiently for Jeff and whoever the person with him was to arrive.

Jeff Tracy and Peter Davison came into the main vault and came to a dead stop assessing the scene before them with experienced eyes.

What immediately grabbed their attention was the sight of the Mole sitting idle near the right wall of the vault a maintenance gantry for an air conditioning unit only about two or three feet above the powerful drilling machines cutting heads. Directly behind the Mole was the huge hole it had made in the side the vault where it had chewed through the layers of reinforced concrete and metal that made up the wall of the vault like it was paper.

Another thing that swiftly grabbed their attention was the sight of Penelope and Parker, Static and Gear all restrained against the bars of one of the gold storage cages, though only Penelope were conscious and on their feet. Static and Gear lay slumped unconscious on the floor.

"Penny," Jeff said as he started over with Peter. "Hang on we'll have you out of there in a minute."

"I don't think so Mr Tracy," a familiar voice said from behind them. Jeff and Peter stopped dead in their tracks and turned around to find themselves face to face with Trangh Belagant a.k.a the Hood.

"Did you save everyone this time Jeff," the Hood asked in a pleasant conversational tone that didn't fool Jeff Tracy for an instant. "Or did you again leave someone behind to die?"

"I didn't make you what you are," Jeff replied looking his enemy straight in the eye and the Hood couldn't help but feel slightly intimidated by Jeff Tracy. Which was not surprising there were very few people in the world that could lock gazes with Jeff Tracy and not feel a little intimidated by him.

"In a way you did Jeff," the Hood replied determined not to let Jeff Tracy intimidate him. "In leaving me to die that day you helped me find my true strength. But you also caused me great pain and suffering. And you know what they say what goes around comes around. Well now it's your turn to suffer, right before you die."

"We won't go down without a fight," Peter said also glaring at the Hood. He wasn't quiet as good at the intimidation thing as Jeff but he could still scare the wits out of most people if he wanted to. The Hood merely laughed.

"Even now you do not understand do you," the Hood said. "You can't fight me and win. I'm too far above you." With that he lashed out telekinetically at Peter knocking Peter flying into the gold cage and shutting the door causing the lock to engage automatically.

"Now its your turn Jeff," the Hood growled and lashed out telekinetically again knocking Jeff flying backwards into a pillar. The impact knocked the wind from Jeff's lungs. Grinning evilly the Hood telekinetically pulled Jeff away from the pillar and sent him flying across the vault to slam into the safety deposit boxes on the far wall.

The impact stunned Jeff momentarily as well as made him cry out in pain from the power of the impact. He started to crumple stunned at the base of the unit that held the boxes; started being the obvious word.

Reaching out telekinetically for the third time the Hood lifted Jeff Tracy into the air and brought him closer towards himself before holding him stationary in the air for a second before concentrating again. Much as he was enjoying throwing Jeff around like a toy it was time to finish him off while he still had the psychic strength to do so.

Jeff gasped as he felt what felt like an invisible vice wrap around his throat and steadily start cutting off his airway. Gasping and choking Jeff struggled to get air into his lungs instinctively clawing at whatever was stopping him getting air into his lungs. Eyes widening in instinctive panic Jeff's struggles increased, as he couldn't get any air into his lungs. His vision began to fade as he fought to breathe.

Watching from inside the storage cage Peter, Penelope and Parker stared in horror and helplessness as they watched the Hood telekinetically choking Jeff to death. Peter fumed silently that he couldn't go out there and help Jeff. The only thing he could do was stand and watch the Hood choking his brother in law. There has to be something I can do, Peter thought there has to be away for me to help Jeff. I can't let the Hood kill him. How would I explain his death to the boys? All the boys were close to their father they would all go to pieces if Jeff died.

Looking around Peter's eyes fell on Static and Gear who were showing signs of coming around. If he could wake him up quickly maybe one of Gears gadgets could help save Jeff or maybe Static would be able to zap him.

"Your finished Jeff," the Hood said as he continued to choke Jeff. "The Thunderbirds are mine now. You've failed and now it's your time to die."

"I don't think so," a familiar voice abruptly said right before a snowball slammed into the side of the Hoods head making him yelp in surprise and pain from the his speed impact. His concentration disrupted the Hood lost the telepathic grip he'd been holding Jeff in. Jeff dropped to the deck and suddenly able to breathe again lay there gasping and shaking with reaction.

Peter like Penelope and Parker turned to look where the snowball that had abruptly slammed into the Hood and saved Jeff's life in the process had come from.

To see that Alan had just come into the vault.