Author's note: Thanks for the reviews!
"Lets go for an early morning walk Tanusha."
Kayo knows better than to question the voice inside his head. It's relatively early and she hasn't been up all that long. She nods slowly. She trusts that the man will be reasonable enough to allow her to shower first. Anything else would be suspicious. She doesn't usually wander around in her pajamas after all.
She keeps her left eye closed ensuring that no images make it back to her uncle and his lair. It's permitted only for propriety's sake and she knows that she shouldn't push her luck. To linger too long would be reprimanded by a sharp reminder that indulging in long showers wouldn't get her anywhere. So she makes quick work of getting herself showered and her hair dried so that she could dressed and think about beginning her day.
She slipped out of her bedroom and into the corridor but found nobody. She wasn't really expecting to. Despite everything, Tracy island followed a simple enough routine – rescues notwithstanding. That made it surprisingly easy to predict just where everyone would be at a given time more or less. So as she made her way into the main room, she already knew that she would find Jeff sitting in his desk taking in whatever news the world had to offer. Her father was emerging from the kitchen with a tray carrying three mugs of freshly brewed tea. Both offer her warm and gentle smiles as she enters.
"There you are Little Star. Did you sleep well?. I brewed you some tea."
"I did… Thanks Bapa."
She accepts the offer of a warm mug of tea the same as she always does. She settles down in one of the nearby armchairs. Her father joins her whilst Jeff continues to listen to them from his desk. Her uncle doesn't push her forwards, so she assumes that her staying her for a couple of minutes doesn't bother him terribly. Kayo relaxes. Asks about some of the missions. All of the brothers (save for John) are on the island apparently. There's a forest fire that they're keeping an eye on but otherwise, no cause for concern. They avoid talking about business so early in the morning. It's just a little chat about the weather, Grandma's going to go shopping tomorrow, does she need anything?
Kayo plays a part, ignores the fact that she knows her uncle is a hidden spectator just as she has been doing for the past few days. She acts as normal as she can, trying to recall just how she would have been before the nightmare had become. Somehow, it seems natural. Probably because she wants terribly to believe that none of it ever happened.
Oh there's a little voice in the back of her head which just wants nothing more than to scream out the truth, to warn her family that she's become in essence a ticking time bomb to their downfall. The voice has been forcibly gagged and beaten into silence however over the course of six months. She knows only too well what will happen if she so much as utters the beginnings of a warning. She'll be plunged into a hell from which there is no escaping and trapped in it indefinitely. The mere thought chokes any beginnings of a rebellion which there might be within her.
"Anything planned for this morning, Kayo?" Jeff asks her.
"You were thinking of going to a walk around the island."
"Maybe… Think I could go for a walk?"
"You don't need to ask permission." The former astronaut smiles reassuringly. "This is your home."
"Do you feel up to it or would you rather someone accompany you?" Her father can't quite manage to conceal his concern.
"It's fine. Honestly, I feel a lot better." She pauses for a moment, looking for more justification. "Besides, Scott's out there for his jog, right?"
To her surprise, neither of the men argue with her and her father doesn't insist on tagging along so as to ensure that she doesn't end up fainting and spending half the morning lying on a rock somewhere. They must have either trusted her or assumed that she wouldn't be able to get into all that much trouble. That and as former head of security, Kayo was acutely aware that there was quite the surveillance system set up about the island. She suspects that they'll be keeping an eye on her regardless of what happens. It's something to keep in mind, given the secret that she's doing what she can to keep.
The young woman slips outside once she's finished her mug of tea. It's nice to feel the warm morning ocean breeze against her skin. She takes a deep breath, filling her lungs with as much oxygen as she can. As she makes her way along the trail that leads round their island home. It's safe enough. There's some reason for Jeff and Kyrano to worry though. A few bits here and there are a little rocky. They wouldn't exactly be called "obstacles" but it is enough to potentially trip someone as they walk on past. If she were weaker, it would be more of a concern. As it is however, Tanusha has recovered enough strength to not be worried by it.
She keeps an eye out for Scott but can't see him anywhere near. The young woman takes care to take in all of the sights. It's only when she's confident that there are no cameras or other ears to hear her that she dares to speak:
"I can imagine you fancied a breath of fresh air."
"Hardly." Comes the response within the confines of her own mind. "I'm merely scoping out the territory. All of the brothers are in the house?"
"No. Scott's out for his jog. He'll get back about half seven and go for a shower. John's still on Thunderbird 5."
"I see… So the problem's going to be getting them all together and away from their machines."
"Why would you want to do that?"
"Because I want the Thunderbirds, not the Tracys."
Kayo comes a sudden stop. She almost snaps back at the man but stops herself. A nervous glance around confirms that she's still alone. Right now, she's made it about one third of the way round the island and opts for making her way down towards the beach. There's some anger burning deep down inside of her as she thinks about her uncle's words and what she perceives as the threat hidden behind them.
"You said you wouldn't hurt them!"
"And I won't but they're not going to let us just take the Thunderbirds, are they? We're going to have to find some way to subdue them. All of them. Any ideas?"
Cautiously, Tanusha approaches the water's edge. She wonders if it's warm enough to swim in. She won't try her luck today. Not with a cast. She knows that her uncle won't allow it at any rate. If anything happens to her, then he will just have lost his single greatest weapon. She stands there for a moment, considering the vastness of the ocean in silence. She knows that despite her assurances, her uncle isn't beyond violence and cruelty if he deems that the situation requires it. In that respect, she owes it to her family to try and provide them with a solution which will spare them from all of that.
"John comes back from Thunderbird 5 twice a month at around 8 AM for breakfast and to restock supplies."
"There you go. Good girl."
Her uncle doesn't elaborate any further and so she assumes it to be bad news for the Tracys. It was never going to be anything else. So she doesn't question it. She'll discover soon enough. She's too worn out to believe anything else.
Tanusha lingers for a short while by the beach, picking up a few shells as she kicks them in the sand. They can go on her windowsill. Then, slowly, the young woman begins to make her way back up towards the house. She doesn't want to push her luck too far. It's baby steps that will serve to comfort her father and Mr. Tracy. Every time she comes back from a walk fine or otherwise proves that she's capable, it's one step back towards normality and her regaining some of their trust. One step closer to sealing their doom…
As she climbs back up the incline, readying to continue on with her walk, she turns. It's then that she spots Scott. He must have about finished his run judging by the sweat on his brow and his slightly red cheeks. The man skids to a halt, staring at her as if she's some sort of an apparition. True, he hadn't been aware that she was out there but still his response seemed unusual. She offers him a gentle smile.
The young man just stares at her. For a moment, she thinks that he might be about to speak. It's odd but the way that he fixes her with his eyes wide, it's almost as if he's frightened. He can't have overheard, she's certain of that much. Tentatively, Kayo takes a step forwards. It's then that Scott breaks into a run once more, continuing with his jog wordlessly. She just stands there and watches him, shocked. A few months ago, she would doubtlessly have confronted him, slammed him against the wall and demanded that he explain himself. She's a little too tired now though to be angry. All that she can wonder is: What did she do wrong?.
"What's up with him?" Her uncle asks once he's out of earshot.
"I don't know..."
"Do make an effort to find out. We wouldn't want him to catch on to you."
"I don't think that-" She stops herself. "Yes, uncle."
"Good. Now lets continue our little tour. I'm beginning to come up with some ideas."
"All I want Tanusha is two things: the operating frequency for the Thunderbirds and for you to draw me a little diagram of the house's layout. You can do that, can't you?"
Can she? Yes. Will she? No.
Kayo was stubborn. Her uncle knew that much. He was patient for once.
It was a battle of temperaments as much as anything else. It could have lasted indefinitely and might easily have done so under other circumstances. Everything that her uncle did only served to fuel the rage and bitterness inside of her. It caused the young woman to double down on her own stubborn refusal to give even an inch. She dug her heels in metaphorically, refusing to utter even the slightest syllable in the man's presence. She would have no problem dragging out the silence and enduring the hours of solitude. The Hood's new weapon, his hold over her was something else entirely.
Her days – at least that's what she thought of them as, at no point during her stay did she actually get to see the light of day and there was no way of her telling just how much time passed – followed the same old pattern.
She was left in her cell. The only thing that changed was that at some point, she would be given "food". It tasted of nothing, resembled little more than slop with no real texture or even a smell to go with it. It kept her alive though, in a state of permanent hunger, much as if her stomach was empty, but never enough for her to actually starve. She had a few minutes to eat. After which the bowl and spoon were taken away from her. Then, periodically, her uncle would want to see her.
She'd be escorted to a room. Inside which there was a table, pen and paper for her to draw. That was it.
Her beloved uncle would wait for her there. He would offer her a chance, remind her what he wanted from her. She would refuse: sometimes with a simple "No", others more forcefully with insults, curses and language she knew Grandma would have scolded her for – she missed the old woman – and then periodically, she would opt simply for a refusing to speak.
Then the pain would start again: the terrible, inescapable, constant, invasive pain. It carried with it some sense of the Hood's will, as if his words were physically being branded into her mind without her wanting it. It didn't stop. Not even if she crashed to the ground and started to scream. She lost all sense of time, of her surroundings. It could have only lasted a few seconds and yet it seemed to draw out for hours. She did all that she could, trying to recall some of those tricks that she'd been taught about how to ignore pain. With every session, they never quite seemed to be enough. Instead, she found herself clinging desperately to the memory of her family, the reason that she was enduring all of this.
The Hood always seemed to know exactly how far to push things. Just far enough to convince her that one second more and she would have died but never quite enough to push her over the edge. He'd ask one more time. With what little strength she had left, she would refuse. He would nod slowly but say nothing.
Someone would come to escort her or, if she was too weak, physically drag her back to her cell and then she would be back to her cell.
She would just press her face against her lap, forcing herself not to cry so as not to give her tormentor the satisfaction. She just needed to be patient, to hold on, to wait a little longer… Her brothers, her father, the GDF, they'll all come.
They will rescue her.