Chapter 27 - Escape

Alan smiled in satisfaction as General X looked flustered. The rumbling they were feeling beneath their feet came in short bursts, and that was when he noticed that the whole group standing behind the general was beginning to get antsy. This could work to our advantage.

He elbowed Scott to quickly get his attention and then quickly mouthed. "Follow my lead."

Scott nodded quickly, and then Alan turned his attention to the General. "It's over. Our team has this place surrounded. Felt those tremors? They are drilling in this very minute to come and get us. Give it up."

"I'm pretty sure that you wouldn't want to face our team even on your best day," Scott sneered. "So what's it going to be?"

General X remained defiant, choosing to point a finger at them. The order came like a whip crack. "Attack!"

Each of the Tracy men quickly ducked as they were fired upon, but immediately went on the counter-offensive, lunging at the group head on.

Jeff and Scott had managed to disarm them while John and Alan worked on subduing the others. A few well placed punches later and they had turned the tide. Scott stood and dusted himself off, looking back at the groaning group of men on the ground that they had just defeated. "Let's get out of here before we encounter anymore surprises."

Alan stood and felt his ribs ache in protest. It had been quite a busy day, but it wasn't over yet. "Sounds good to me. I'll signal to Virgil to find the dignitaries and we are out of here."

--

After Alan sent the signal to Vigil, he and his family ran down the corridor trying to reach the dock to rendezvous with Virgil and the dignitaries they were rescuing. It would be almost standing room only inside of a submarine, but they did not have much choice in the matter.

They reached a juncture point in a hallway that joined two of the domes when Alan felt a weird sensation wash over him. He heard the concerned voices of his father and his brothers around him, but couldn't utter a sound.

Something about this seemed familiar in a bad way. There had been only one other time he had felt this weird.

Alan quickly got the picture when he saw that in the corridor in front of them, the Hood stood and regarded them all with an amused expression. "You know, it took me all of this time to find out how the General has protected this place from my power. The British government really should keep a lid on their dampening technology."

He struggled against the power that was holding him back, but it was as if his body was made of stone. Losing his balance, he then toppled forward to the ground clutching at his neck. The Hood was apparently trying one of his old tricks by trying to choke the life out of him.

Darkness fringed the edges of his vision, and Alan knew time was running out.

--

"Alan!"

Scott heard his father's frantic voice behind him cry out, but then was silenced almost instantly. He looked back quickly to find that his dad was struggling to move. It was almost as if he was glued to the floor.

Turning back to Alan, Scott couldn't help but feel a wave of helplessness wash over him. His father had recounted what had happened in the Bank of London all of those years ago, and Scott had seen the haunted look in his eyes when he recounted how the Hood had used his power to try and choke the life out of his brother.

Desperate for ideas, Scott looked over at John and noticed that he was looking around the hallway.

--

John felt frustrated at the scene before them. This man had caused his family so much pain. His father stood there either in shock or under the control of the Hood, for he did not make any move or effort forward. He could not tell which, but there was no time to look for nuances. If they did not stop the Hood from choking Alan, he would surely die down here.

Looking around the hallway past their attacker, John looked for something, anything they could use to get the Hood to stop attacking their brother.

Then he had it. About two feet away from them looked to be an emergency release valve of some sort. Visually following the flow of the pipe, he realized that it looped around the ceiling and end of the pipe pointed downward just behind the Hood.

John cast a quick look over at Scott. He could tell that his brother was also trying to come up with a plan to save Alan. Keeping his movements as small and as unnoticeable as possible, he decided to try and buy some time.

From his vantage point, Scott was slightly closer and had a better shot at getting to the valve than he did.

--

Scott noticed that John seemed to be going with an idea. He caught his brother's look for only a moment, and saw that his eyes were fixed on a spot on the wall just ahead of him. He followed John's gaze until he spotted the emergency release valve on the wall near him. Putting two and two together, he realized what John was trying to drive him at.

So they had a plan of action, but what he needed now was a distraction. He did not know how much power the Hood had left at his disposal and frankly he did not want to find out. He looked back at John and quickly mouthed the words - distract him.

--

Distract him? John caught the words all right. He had been thinking along those same terms, but how do you distract a sociopath bent on gaining revenge on your family by any means possible?

Recalling the information that he had gained from Arianna and his own research, he decided the direct approach would be the best and only way to do it. Stepping forward slightly, John looked at the Hood and tried his best to keep the fear he was feeling out of his voice. "You are a coward, Belagant. You've attacked me on Thunderbird Five, you've attacked Alan in the Bank of London - all in the name of getting back at our father for something that he did not do."

The Hood looked at him with the utmost contempt on his face. "I am the Hood. I swore that I would see Jeff Tracy suffer for leaving me there in that collapsed diamond mine to rot, and what better way to make him suffer? I take away the family that is so precious to him."

From the corner of his eye, John saw that Scott had started inching forward towards the valve. He turned his attention back to the Hood and decided to up the ante. "To rot?? I see you standing in front of us alive, Belagant. It may not have been our father that rescued you, but you survived in that mine. It was by that little grace I suppose, since you were the one that put the mine workers in danger in the first place. I wonder how safe that mine truly was and-"

A burning pain began at the front of John's mind, and he nearly passed out from the exertion on his brain. So this is what it feels like to be attacked by the Hood.

His vision wavered slightly, and then John fell to his knees as he noticed that Alan had stopped moving on the floor. Were they too late?

--