A/N - I'm sorry that it took me ages to update – when I looked it up it was well over a month and a half (Oops!). But I hope you like this chapter, and it's longer than I thought it would be, so that should help. I'll try to finish the next one slightly faster.

Disclaimer

Thunderbirds and all the characters etc. belong to Gerry Anderson and Working Title films, I'm just borrowing them.

Accidents

Chapter 11 – No longer in Control

"Sir, sir!" Sergeant Dannir said loudly as soon as he got into the Control Room. Colonel Roberts looked around in surprise "Sir, something's wrong. Thunderbird 2 is still outside, but the International Rescue people can't be found anywhere. It's as if they've just left."

"Considering how tight they usually are with security, that seems very odd." Colonel Roberts replied, then turned to someone at a control board near him "I want security to have a constant watch over the Thunderbird. No one goes near it, understood."

"Yes sir, I'll tell them."

"Right Sergeant, let's get down there and find them."

"The plans are going well Master. International Rescue will have no choice but to tell us what we want to know." Braddick said confidently to the man half-hidden in the shadows. "We will soon have all their secrets!"

"No, I will have their secrets. You won't be around to know them." the 'Master' sneered evilly

"But Master, what have I…?" Braddick cried, desperation creeping into his voice

"You are far too cocky, and that is a liability in this business." The 'Master' leaned forward, the dim light glinting off his dark eyes. "I don't accept liabilities." As he said this, a gunshot echoed from the other side of the room and a tall, thin man walked forward, completely ignoring the body now lying on the floor.

"Well done Agent Zero, it is clear that you are worthy of this job. Now we can get on with the last stage of our plan." The master said

"No, you can get on with your plan Agent X. I have told you that if I or my real Master were controlling you, we would be doing things very differently." Agent Zero threatened, not at all intimidated by the older man.

Agent X swivelled his chair around, effectively turning his back on the other man. Before this, he had been in complete control. Now he wasn't so sure.

"What happened? Where are we? What is going on here?" Virgil asked groggily, trying to sit up and only just managing it with his hands tied behind him.

"Calm down Virgil, it won't make any difference" Scott said from his left. Virgil turned to try to see him, but it was too dark. "Let's just try to figure this out. You here too Alan?"

"Yeah, I'm here." Came the youngest Tracy brother's voice "Where the heck are we? I can't see a thing."

"Nor can I. What's the last thing you remember?" Scott asked

"Well, we'd just gotten back from the rescue and we'd taken the reporter and her cameraman over to the ambulance, then…I dunno. I must have blacked out or something." Virgil said quickly

"A similar think with me I think. I was heading down from the control centre in Thunderbird 2 to meet you after putting the firefly away and…it's all a blank. The next thing I knew, I was waking up here, tied up in the dark." Scott replied unhappily

"So someone deliberately knocked us out and brought us here?" Alan asked dumbly. Before Scott or Virgil had the chance to answer him, a door creaked open and a very pleased-sounding voice came to them.

"Well done International Rescue, well done. Now you will tell me everything I want to know."

Scott, Virgil and Alan looked towards what they thought was each other. What the hell was this guy thinking?

"Right, the computer says that…wait, that doesn't fit. Why would Thunderbird 2 have been launched without Thunderbird 1 if there was a rescue call? There wasn't any sort of power failure, even the television is still on. It's as if they just stopped what they were doing and left. All the equipment seems perfectly operational." John stopped his 'narrative' as a thought came to him. "Why didn't I think of that before!" John gasped, moving as fast as he could to a control panel at the opposite end of the control room.

"If everything is fixed, that that means…" he muttered as he tried to get any power to the console. "It took Brains months to install this equipment. If this doesn't work, then I'm out of options."

"Lady Penelope calling International Rescue base, come in Jeff" Penelope called for the second time, but still no answer. Knowing how the family must be feeling right now, especially that they had just had their first rescue call since the 'accident', she had decided to call and see how they were. She had waited until she thought the rescue was over so that she didn't interrupt anything, but it seemed that there was no one at base "Come in Jeff, please." She called again, before turning to Parker. "I don't like it Parker. It's not like Jeff to leave the base so unattended. Something must be wrong."

"Yes, m'lady, but what should we do now?" Parker asked in his very Cockney accent.

"I'll try to contact the boys, maybe they're still on their way back from the rescue." She turned the communicator back on "Lady Penelope calling Thunderbirds 1 and 2, come in please" again, no answer.

"What now m'lady?"

"Parker, get out the Rolls-Royce. We're going to find out what's going on."

"You're never going to get away with this. The other members of International Rescue will know what has happened. They will come to get us." Scott said loudly to the short, balding man who had walked in the door. He looked at them with an evil smile that said clearly that things were not going to be that easy, which they could only see because of the light coming from the open doorway.

"I'm not so sure about that. Some of your friends are probably having a well needed rest right now, and they won't even know you're gone." The man replied

"What do you mean? What have you done to them?" Scott demanded quickly. Both Virgil and Alan knew Scott was better than them when it came to negotiating, so they let him do the talking for them.

"The same thing we did to you. A slow acting knockout drug. It won't wear off for several hours, but we needed you awake. You can't answer our questions if you're unconscious."

"We won't tell you anything."

"Maybe you won't, but I'm sure we can find someone who'll be more…helpful."

"We interrupt this program to give you an important and slightly disturbing message." A stern, no-nonsense looking reporter said quickly. "A few minutes ago, this message was transmitted to NASA Headquarters, and it seems to be perfectly genuine."

The reporter signalled to someone off-camera, who must have turned on a recording. The poor quality of the transmission seemed to add to the maliciousness of what the speaker was saying.

"Hello NASA. You won't know me, but rest assured I do know you. I want you to contact the press, and re-transmit this message to the rest of the world." The man's voice stopped and there was a long pause "International Rescue, wherever you are, I have a proposal for you. You will contact me immediately to discuss terms for the release of the 3 members of your organisation that I am holding. I suggest that you think quickly on this, as if I don't hear from you in the next 8 hours, it will be your children that suffer."

The transmission abruptly ended.

"We do not wish to put your organisation in any more danger" the same reporter continued "But if International Rescue can hear me, please contact us as soon as possible to avoid any loss of life. Thank you."

The unexpected 'news bulletin' ended and the original program resumed.

"Parker, get me NASA on the videophone."

"Yes m'lady"

"International Rescue, that was quick." Colonel Roberts exclaimed as he found out who the woman calling him was working for.

"I am not willing to risk children's lives in this matter Colonel. Do we know anything about these people?" Penelope got straight down to business.

"Nothing at all I'm afraid. Their transmission was bounced around so much we haven't got a chance of tracing it. All we have is the phone number they gave us to contact them…"

"Which is likely to be untraceable as well. Alright, thank you for the help Colonel. We'll take it from here."

"If it's not too much trouble, could you please keep us informed?"

"I'll do my best. International Rescue out." Penelope cut the transmission, and then turned to the man standing by the door. "This is beginning to look very suspicious Parker. I just wish we knew what was going on at Tracy Island. Why no one's responding."

"It is possible their communications are malfunctioning. They have been temperamental since they can no longer be routed through Thunderbird 5."

"Maybe. But I still think there is more going on here than meets the eye."

"Agreed m'lady"

"How long do you think it will be before your friends call in?"

"I don't know. But I do know that they won't be fooled by you for a second. You really do underestimate us." Scott responded calmly. This just seemed to make the other man angrier. Well, at least we can actually see him properly this time. They finally decided to turn on the lights.

"No, it is you who underestimate me. I can be quite…persuasive when I need to be."

"Then why haven't you got the information you wanted?" Scott asked sarcastically. Agent X did not answer, but simply stormed out of the room and slammed the heavy door.

"They won't give in to his demands, will they?"

"No. They'll get us out of here. But whoever these men are, they will probably have made it as difficult as possible. It might be a while."

"They we'll just have to wait." Virgil said finally. Waiting was all they could do anyhow.

"Why did you pull me out of there! I might have been able to get the information we wanted!" Agent X practically yelled, venting off steam.

"Oh, I seriously doubt it. But, anyway, one of your lackeys back there said that International Rescue has just called in. Some posh sounding lady demanding to know if the hostages are alright." Agent Zero was completely unfazed by the other man's anger.

"They've got a woman to call in, huh. This could be easier than I thought." Agent X said, smiling to himself. He did not know what Lady Penelope was really like.

TBC…

A/N 2 - My estimate for how long this story will be is definitely wrong! There are still a few more chapters to come after this.

The warning was about, as you may be able to guess, the shooting of Braddick and that we now have a new bad guy, who likes bossing the other bad guy around. But he isn't the hood either, in case some of you think he is.

I don't think liked me putting that apology up, as I got an email saying it had removed the 'chapter' entirely. Oh well, it wasn't really important.

Replies to reviewers – I thought I'd better thank the people who gave me the ideas, and to everyone else who has remained patient with me. THANK YOU!

scarlettWALES – Nice idea, but this chapter might put a bit of a flaw in that plan. Scott, Virgil and Alan are in no position to go on a rescue. Thanks for the tip, I don't think I'll have much choice.

Peekaboo42 – I will probably have to write some sort of hurt/comfort chapter somewhere in this story, when the family eventually gets back together (and note I did say when, not if), but it will be a little while yet and I don't think I'll be very good at it.

Anyone else who reviewed – thank you very much. I can't believe how much everyone seems to like this story. I have to go and write the next chapter for you.