Penny held her breath as she then made out Alex's legs in the top of the shot. She had evidently been standing at the window, waiting there just as she had been ordered and for a moment Penny saw a glimmer of hope that John was wrong.
Alex turned and walked slowly into view, her expression unreadable as she stepped towards the visitor.
The visitor paused and seemed to laugh gently. "Thank you, Alex."
Penny gasped in horror and collapsed into a nearby chair. She let her head fall into her hands and cursed under her breath. When she dared glance back up at the feed, she saw Alex frowning in confusion and Penny met John's cautious glance.
"What?" Alex asked after a moment.
Another gentle laugh. "It was your idea to call me, was it not?"
Alex watched her in wary silence.
"I had hoped John would call for a chat at some stage but I was most surprised when the contact came so soon. I wasn't quite ready."
"I … I don't understand." Alex said quietly.
Penny slid closer, intrigued by Alex's reservation and feeling again a flutter of hope somewhere deep inside.
"Your concern for him opened the door for me."
Alex seemed troubled by this. Penny moved even closer to the screen, a smile chancing at her lips.
"I needed the new transmission frequency for the network. I got it when Scott's call came through."
Alex covered her mouth in shock, shaking her head in disbelief.
"YES!" Penny cheered in triumph, "I knew it! I just knew it!" She grabbed John's arm and hugged it against her chest in delight.
John managed a small smile but still seemed somewhat unconvinced, watching the scene continue to play out before them.
"Who are you …?" Alex asked quietly.
"Oh, I saw the look on your face when you saw me arrive. You know who I am."
"Dr. Mishka Nazarenko. Supposedly deceased psychiatrist."
"Funny. You didn't recognise me just a few days ago. I was worried when I saw you there at RAF Northolt."
"I had other things on my mind."
"John?"
Alex paused.
"Mmm … poor boy was in a bit of a mess when we'd finished with him."
John made a sound like he had been kicked in the abdomen and retreated back from the console. He met the desk behind him with a gasp and perched there uneasily, his eyes tightly closed.
Penny was up out of her chair and at his side in an instant. She watched the memories passing in John's pain-filled face and gripped his arm tightly.
"That's really rather sweet."
Penny groaned as the woman's voice continued through the security feed.
"You know, you were the only thing on his mind while I tortured him."
"No!" Alex cried out in horror.
Penny spun back and watched as Alex made a lunge for Eva/Mishka.
"Al?" John gasped and stared in disbelief as the two women grappled together. He stood and moved off the central platform towards the office door.
"No!" Penny grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
John spun at her in fury, shrugging from her grip.
"John!" Penny urged firmly.
"She's no match for her!" John argued, pointing at the screen.
"Neither are you."
"She'll be killed!"
Penny shook her head slowly. "No. She won't." She stepped in front of the screen to block his view and tried to ignore the sounds of the continuing fight. "Mishka will use her to get you."
John frowned in confusion.
"Think about it, John. Why is she here? Why would she need to be here during all this?" Penny urged carefully, "There must be something she needs from you. From the island."
John seemed to consider this for a moment.
"She already has the higher ground." Penny continued, "We cannot let her gain any more of an advantage." She turned and saw that, despite the continuing sounds of a struggle, the two women were no longer in camera shot.
"But, Pen … it's Al …" John argued in a whisper.
Penny looked back and saw the tears flowing freely down his pale face.
"I know." Penny looked away from his anguish, trying to keep a clear head. She switched cameras and found the fight, her heart racing as she saw that Alex had broken free and was making for John's bedroom.
She watched as Mishka caught up with Alex at the door to John's room and tackled her to the floor. Penny held her breath as a few well-placed punches then left Alex in a crumpled, worryingly still heap. And Penny could not help but be strangely relieved; she knew what Alex had been trying to get to and that would have made the situation a thousand times worse.
"Pen?"
Aware of John taking a seat behind her, Penny moved to keep his view of the terminal obscured. She couldn't chance him freaking out again. She watched Mishka checking on Alex and then standing to take in her surroundings. Penny then gasped and quickly switched cameras. "Where are the Belagants?" She urged worriedly, and then sighing as she found them talking together in their small separate studio.
On the video feed, Onaha and Kyrano jumped in startled surprise as Penny then called to them through the intercom.
"We have an intruder." Penny explained quickly, "Lock your door and stay there until further notice."
Kyrano's worried face appeared on the comm. camera feed and he seemed to want further information.
"Please." Penny urged, "I'll explain later." She saw Kyrano nod in agreement and she then entered a command into the central control, watching as the silent warning indicated island shut down. She imagined bulkheads closing and thick titanium doors sealing the island tight. And Mishka trapped inside.
Moving back to the security feed, Penny watched the Belagants bolting themselves safely within their apartment and then huddling together on the couch. She wished she could do the same and then shook the thought away, switching cameras and finding to her delight that Mishka was ensnared in the corridor between the safely locked bedrooms.
Penny smiled in satisfaction and then heard John gently crying behind her. Turning to him, the sight of him barely able to contain another imminent breakdown making her chest ache, she swallowed hard and stepped closer.
"I need you to re-establish the link. Get the Thunderbirds back."
John shook his head slowly.
Penny crouched before him and sought his gaze. "You can do it, John. I know you can."
"God, Al … how could I have thought - " John closed his eyes.
"John, stop it!" Penny shouted, needing to pull him back from the brink but wishing she didn't sound quite so harsh. "I need you focused."
John slowly looked up at her.
"Come on. Get them back. If Brains had fixed the problem, we would have heard something by now." Penny placed her hands on his knees and peered up into his tired eyes. "Please, John. I – we need you." She watched him processing this and smiled in encouragement. "Brains said something about rebooting from Five …?"
John frowned slightly and then nodded. He sat up straight and guided his chair across to the control panel that was currently linked with the orbiting satellite. "Wait …" he yanked his hands back from the keyboard as if stung and shook his head suddenly. "No, that's what she would want me to do."
"What?" Penny urged, moving to his side.
"Brains said there was a signal hidden inside our transmissions. Only 1 and 2 were in comm. connection because I'm using these processors and not Five's." John explained distractedly, thinking it through aloud. "You were operating on a different frequency because you didn't want me to know what you were up to."
Penny cringed.
"You didn't know it, but you were safe-guarding one hell of a prize. When this thing went live, FAB1 – and subsequently your secure network – was protected by your sneaking around."
Penny wanted to protest but figured he was more than entitled to make his point.
"Cutting the comm. broke the link just as Brains said. If I integrate our systems with Five then I could open up the whole lot."
"And then she'd have it all."
John nodded. "Everything."
"So now what do we do?"
John shrugged, "Easy. First, we get your laptop and, with its state of the Hackenbacker art firewalls, find the signal, establish our own remote access and bring my family home."
Penny frowned.
"Like you said," John explained, "If they haven't found a way back then we have to assume they can't. I'm guessing that the virus had to destroy the processors on 1 and 2 in order to gain control. Now the link is down, they'll be stranded but they can't be subject to further commands."
"How can you know that?"
John shrugged and indicated the terminal linked to Five, "Because she would have done something by now."
Penny glanced at the screen and watched the virtual representation of busy multi-frequency scanners keeping watch on the world. The only current transmissions Five was keeping an eye on were those from the ongoing oil tanker disaster and she nodded in understanding.
"Then," John continued eagerly, "We seek out the source and destroy her fellow conspirators."
Penny noticed the delight that this part of the plan seemed to give John and shuddered slightly.
John then moved to another terminal and murmured approvingly. "You locked us down. Good work." He glanced back at her. "Where's your laptop?"
"In your father's room."
John smiled. "Closer than your car, at least."
Penny scoffed sarcastically, "That maybe so but it is also trapped behind three blast doors and a certain crazed lunatic."
"Not a problem." John shrugged, glancing up at the ceiling.
Penny followed his gaze in intrigue and then gasped. "Of course!" She hurried over to the couch and dragged it into the corner of the room. Kicking off her heels and climbing up onto the back of the couch, she could just reach the air-conditioning vent and lifted the panel.
"See you in a few." John called over merrily.
Penny grinned back at him. "I knew all those gymnastics classes would come in handy one day." She reached up and gripped the edges of the square hole in the ceiling, groaning slightly with the effort as she pulled herself up and secured her elbows on the rim. With a final heave she was up and into the duct.
John watched her disappear into the vent and his smile grew as he heard her muttering something about being glad of her recent healthy eating plan. He listened for a moment to the slight brushing rhythm of her crawling through the pipe above him and then turned his focus back to beginning to decipher the mess that had been made of the island's operating systems.
Somewhere in the back of his mind was the knowledge that he had all but lost his hold on his sanity for a while there and he knew he had not walked far from the edge of the abyss. But distraction worked like a charm. And as long as he ignored the fact that his soul mate was probably lying dead outside his bedroom, there was a chance he might continue to be of some use.
Tbc …