Over your head
A girl about 14 with long blonde hair stood quietly in the shade of the balcony; she had left her dorm in such a hurry she was still wearing her school uniform. Her bags were packed and laid discarded on the ground to her right. Anyone could tell by the look on her face she was ready to go home.
"Fermat, There you are, are you ready to go home?" She asked with enthusiasm as her best friend joined her on the balcony.
"I… can't wait Panda." Fermat replied as he carefully set his heavy suitcases on the ground beside him.
"So what are you going to do when you get home Panda?" Fermat paused for a moment then continued, "I'm going to help f...f...fa...fa…dad with his in...In…inv... Research."
"Cool Fermat. I'm most likely going too laze around and maybe get dad to home school me. I can't stand Beth any more; thanks to her I have another bruise on my arm." Panda complained as she softly rubbed the bruise.
"You can't forget about the one on your eye, she h….hi... hi... punched you there again didn't she?" Fermat asked with a frown.
"Yeah, but I didn't start it at all!" Panda said in a hushed tone.
"Yeah, I know." Fermat quietly agreed
They hadn't been waiting in the shade long when a pink car pulled up to the curb in front of them. Out of the car stepped a beautiful lady with blonde hair and glamorous blue eyes. She had on a pretty pink outfit with matching shoed, basically she was the pretty princess in pink.
"Lady Penelope!" Panda and Fermat yelled as they ran to give her a hug.
"Hello, how are you this fine afternoon? Amanda what are you doing in that hideous uniform?" Lady Penelope asked with a smile before turning serious, asking, "What happened to your eye? You know that your father and brothers are not going to be very happy about this. Do you know who gave you that shiner?"
"Yes, I know, but I don't want to talk about it right now. I just want to get home Lady P." Amanda replied.
Lady Penelope nodded her head and let them into the car. Then Parker helped Lady Penelope in before loading the children's luggage, then climbed in the drivers seat ready to take them to Tracy Island.
"Parker to Tracy Island, and make it steady I want to make a call before we get there." Lady Penelope said.
"Yes, Milady." Parker replied.
At the Thunder Birds"Come on Virgil we needed that fire out 2 seconds ago. Scott I need status report. Gordon how are the workers, are any in need of medical attention?"
"The fire is out dad." Virgil replied.
"All systems are go." Scott answered.
"4 of the 6 workers need to be brought to the hospital. The closest is Pacific coast Hospital. 2 have major burns and the 2 other are going in and out of system shock. The last two are just in a daze." Gordon relayed.
"All right we are going to the hospital. We need to get there fast and easy, Scott can you clear the air ways for us and make sure that no airplanes are in the way?" Their father asked.
"Yes, sir, just follow me and you'll be fine." Scott replied
The Thunder Birds flew to the hospital in record time; they safely got the injured to the medical wing and then said good-bye. The Thunder Birds left with the grace of a falcon.
"Come on boys your sister and Fermat are on their way home, we need to be there when they get home." Jeff said to his sons.
"Alright Panda's coming home! I can't wait, the last time we saw her was when she had to change schools." Gordon said excitedly.
"Yeah Gordon that is still clear in my mind too, the idea of her fighting with that boy was scary, but at least she beat him. That made me proud." Scott replied.
"You know I really think he started the fight like Panda said, he looked like the type of kid that could weasel out of anything." Virgil accused.
It didn't take them long to return to the Island.
Penelope's Car
"Tracy Island up ahead, do you think we should wake the young ones up?"
"No, Parker I need to make a call first. Remember that black eye Panda has."
Parker nodded his head and slowed the car down to a slower flight. Lady Penelope nodded her head in thanks, and then dialed Jeff Tracy communicator sequence.
"Jeff Tracy here, what can I do for you Penny? How s the kids is every thing alright." Jeff asked.
"Jeff, it's wonderful to hear your voice, I have so thing to tell you before we arrive. Are the boys listening to this, if not I think you should let them, this concerns all of you." Lady Penelope said.
"Alright the boys are listening. What is it that you want us to hear?" Jeff asked after a brief pause
"When you get home you need to talk to Panda. I think that she's been in another fight. She has awful black eye and two bruises on her arm. I am quite sure that she didn't start this one, I believe it was self-defense. I think you should ask her I don't think she'll talk to me. I think I'm hitting the sore spot when I ask her what happened." Lady Penelope said in a hushed tone.
"Alright I'll have a talk with her when she gets home. I think she just wants to be like her brothers. They brawl all the time; she just doesn't want to get left behind." Jeff told Lady Penelope.
When the conversation ended Parker brought the car in for a landing. When they were closer to the island Penelope spotted the other Tracy's standing not far from the launch pad, waiting to greet their sister and friends.
"Come on Lass, Lad, your home on Tracy Island. Miss Panda, it looks like your family is here to greet you." Parker said as he gently shook Panda and Fermat awake after they had landed.
Panda and Fermat got out of the pink car followed by Lady Penelope, and Parker.
"Dad, Scott, Virgil, Gordon! I missed you so much." Panda yelled as she ran at them. "How are you guys? Did anything exciting happen while I was away?"
"Hold it squirt, there is plenty of time for questions," Jeff said before asking some questions of his own. "Is that a black eye? Who did you get it from, and where did these bruises come from?" Jeff asked his daughter indicating the bruises forming on her arms.
"Don't worry dad, I just got into a scuffle but every thing is fine." She said lightly
"Amanda Tracy, it is my job to worry. I'm your father, I know you got into a fight at school again and I want you to tell me what happened." Jeff said sternly
Amanda dropped her head down to look at the ground in shame. She couldn't look him, she knew she had disappointed him and it hurt.
"There is this girl at school who made it her life passion to make my life miserable every day. I finally got tired of it so I confronted her with the help of a teacher, they spoke to her and she agreed to leave me alone, at least until the teacher left. Once we were alone she punched me in the face then left like nothing happened. I looked for her for a while but I couldn't find her. A few days ago she found me again and we kind of got into a little fight." Panda said still staring at the ground.
Virgil, Scott, and Gordon were listening; all three of them silently cheered her on. They also knew that their dad would give her a lecture if they did not intervene.
"Dad come on she told you she did it in self defense, at least she didn't throw the first punch. You might want to home school her, you know so we can keep a close eye on her." Gordon said with a wink.
"I wouldn't say home schooling but defiantly don't punish her for sticking up for herself." Scott chimed in.
"Alright I won't give you the same speech I gave your brothers, but I will say no more fighting." Jeff paused then smiled before saying. "Welcome home Panda Bear. It's nice to have my baby girl back. Let's get in the house so we can eat. I don't know about you guys, but I'm hungry." Jeff said as he hugged and kissed his daughter.
Panda Ran at Scott and jumped on his back. Virgil started to laugh and Gordon Jumped on his back.
"Mush Scott, to the dinner table."
"Yeah mush Virgil."
Every one was laughing and having a good time and listening to Panda and Fermat talk about school. Lady Penelope made a comment about the hideous uniforms. After dinner was done everyone went his or her separate ways. Scott went to TB1's silo, Gordon went to his room to paint, Virgil took Panda into the living room to teach her the piano, and Jeff went to the control room to talk to John.
Jeff sat down at the control desk and called John. "Base to Thunder Bird 5, hey John how are you is every thing okay?"
"Hey Dad, everything is fine. We have a few storm warnings though. We have a major typhoon heading toward Japan; there is a hurricane heading toward Texas and Florida. We haven't received any calls about anything yet. I have been monitoring the weather patterns, just be ready if the calls come in okay." John said.
"Ok, will do, your sister is home for spring break. She was in a fight again; I am getting really tired of her coming home with black eyes and bruises. I think I'm just going to have her home schooled here at the island." Jeff told his second oldest son.
Panda walked in to the control room to find her father talking to John. She had come in here to say good night and get a good night kiss.
"Hey Johnny how are you is every thing okay in TB 5? I've never asked what this question before, but I am just dying to find out, what does the world look like to you? Do we look like little ants running around or does it look like a big blueberry?" Panda asked John jokingly.
"Well Tracy Island looks like a tiny spot, and the world believe it or not looks like your baseball. So squirt how are you doing I hear you got into a fight at school again. Did you get caught?" John said and asked with a smile.
"I'm fine and no I did not get caught."
"That's my girl; just don't let your brothers hear you say that. Well goodnight squirt don't let the bugs bite."
"Night John. See you in the morning. Night Daddy."
"Night Baby." Jeff replied
The Next DayPanda woke with a groan of pain. It was that time of month, and the cramps hit hard.
'Life for a girl should not be this painful. I did nothing to deserve this at all.' Panda thought.
Panda got up and out of bed, and went to the bathroom to change her clothes. Now she had to change the sheets too.
'Great, just great now I have to tell the guys why I can't go swimming.'
Panda went to the kitchen to make a nice cup of warm milk to smooth the pain. She hadn't been there for very long when her long time friend came in. He had tan skin and black hair, his eyes matched his hair, and he also had a nice six-pack. She had a crush on him for a long time, but he never knew.
"Hey Amanda welcome home. I didn't see you yesterday, where were you?" he asked.
"Hey David, I was with dad and every one else. I didn't see you either. Where were you, did you get eaten by a sea monster, maybe it decided to spit you back out?" Panda joked.
"I was in the lab with Brains and Fermat. Fermat said Hello for you. Oh Brains said hello too." David told Amanda.
Amanda nodded her head before leaving the kitchen to look for her brothers. She still had to tell them that she could not go swimming with them. Panda walked to the pool to see the Gordon dunking Virgil, and Scott reading the news.
"Hey guys I'm going to have to cancel the swimming." Panda said in a soft tone.
"Why squirt? Is anything wrong, I thought that you wanted to swim with us?" Scott asked.
Gordon and Virgil looked at their sister in puzzlement. She likes to swim and would not miss it for the world, what was stopping her now.
"I don't know how to tell you. It's kind of embarrassing, you see…" Panda said then trailed off.
"What's so embarrassing that you can't swim Panda?" Gordon asked.
Virgil hit his brother on the top of the head softly and whispered in his ear.
"She's on her period, and she's afraid to swim. So don't make her, or I'll pound you a new one. Ok?"
Gordon nodded his head in reply and swam up to her.
"It's ok you can help me by timing my laps. Ok?"
Panda smiled at her brother in thanks, then grabbed the timer from Scott, and sat next to him.
"I'm sorry Scott, I really want to go swimming, and stuff with your guys. But I have really bad cramps." Panda said with her head down.
"Don't worry your not ruining anything. we can still do stuff together, it's not like its the end of the world." Scott replied.
After timing Gordon's laps, Panda went for a walk down by the shore. She found that walking on the nice warm sand was peaceful and refreshing to say at least. She was alone, no one bothered her here.
Somewhere off the Coast
"Mullion get ready for the invasion of Tracy Island. Transom set the target for thunder Bird 5. I want to get them in their blind spot. They won't know what hit them." said a man with an evil grin.
"Target is set would you like me to fire it now sir?" Asked a woman with what look like un-brushed hair.
"Yes, Transom fire the missile Mullion I want you on scope. I want the Thunder Birds to never forget what The Hood did to them." The Hood laughed evilly
Transom smiled and pushed the bottom for the missile. The missile flew up to Thunder Bird 5, and hit in the right side of the space station.
"Direct hit sir, the Tracy's are leaving the Island in Thunder Bird 3. Do you wish to go to shore?" Transom asked.
"Yes, I do but I also want you to block their radio waves. I want complete control over everything." The Hood said.
Space Station (Before the missile hits)
"Let's check the weather, the typhoon is just rearing off the coast of Japan and looks like it will hit the South end and it may miss Tokyo all together. Now back to you Danny." The newsman said.
John was paying little attention to the news, he was playing cards on the monitor when the space station was hit with a powerful blast.
"What the? Thunder Bird 5 to Tracy Island! Mayday! Mayday! Come in Thunder Bird 5 has been hit. MAYDAY!" John screamed as he was blasted to the other side of the bridge.