Thanks to Tikatu for sending me that plot bunny, and for her help with that pesky sentence.

Again, I don't own them, so please don't sue!

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Alan had searched the beach and the house, before he finally came across Tin-Tin sitting on a hammock in the garden.

"Hey." He called out softly.

She looked up and smiled. "Hey."

He walked over and sat down next to her. "You OK?"

Tin-Tin nodded. "I think so." She looked up at him, her brown eyes dark with emotion. "Alan? Do you think he'll come here? Try again?"

Alan sighed. "I wish I could say no, but with Hood, there's no telling what he'll do. I mean, who would have counted on him attacking Thunderbird 5 again." He shook his head. "Do you think he might go after John?" He asked quietly.

She nodded. "Yes."

"Terrific." Alan got up and paced. "Then we need to get to Boston! Warn him! Hell, drag John back here if we have to!"

Tin-Tin got up and placed her hand on his arm. "That's not what I meant." She sighed. "I think he's going to do more of what he has been doing. Trying to influence John, convince him to turn against all of us."

"Then I still say we need John here." Alan stated firmly.

"And how would we get him here Alan? If we try, he'll only run again." She smiled. "He has Scott and he has Christa. Somehow, they'll have to manage to get through to him."

Alan's head dropped and he closed his eyes. "I hope you're right Tin-Tin." He said quietly. "I'm scared Tin, scared of what he might do now."

Tin-Tin slipped her hand in his. "I'm scared too."

Alan took her into his arms and placed a soft kiss on the top of her head. She snuggled in closer to him, and he tilted her head up, and lightly kissed her lips. She responded by pressing herself against him, leaning her head back to deepen the kiss, her tongue playing lightly with his.

Alan grew bolder, holding her tight with one hand, the other beginning to lightly move across her lower back. Still keeping her lips fastened to his, Tin-Tin also let her hands roam.

She let out a soft moan as Alan broke away, and began leaving trailing kisses down her neck. She trembled at the sensations flooding her body. Suddenly Alan pulled back and looked at her, his blue eyes wide. "Tin-Tin..." He said hoarsely. "I'm sorry." He quickly removed his hand from her backside.

She smiled. "It's OK Alan..."

He shook his head. "I don't want to hurt you Tin."

"You won't." She took his hand. "Why don't we head in and see what the others are doing."

Alan nodded. "Gordon's probably in the pool. And Fermat's down with Brains in the lab. And I'm sure Virgil is pounding something out on the piano."

"You're probably right."

They walked towards the villa, hand in hand.

----------------------------------------------------

"RING...RING...RING..."

Scott groaned and rolled over, grabbing the phone. "What?"

"Scott, put on the news."

"Virgil?"

"Put on the news."

Scott squinted at the clock. "Dammit Virgil, it's three in the morning."

"Just put on the news!"

"OK, OK! Give me a second here..." Scott grumbled, dropping the phone on his bed as he pulled on a pair of pants. He picked up the phone again and headed to the office.

"Got it on yet?"

"Will you knock it off? I'm not even awake here." Scott snapped.

"You will be."

Scott paused. "What's going on Virgil?"

"Just put on the news."

"Stop saying that." Scott sat down in the office and turned on the TV. "OK I'm here. What am I supposed to be looking at?"

"Just wait."

Scott's tone took on a hard edge. "Look Virgil, I'm not in the mood for riddles. What am I...Holy shit!"

"Found it I see."

"Shut up and let me listen." Scott keyed up the volume and stared at the screen, all sleepiness forgotten.

"British authorities are perplexed today at the unexplained deaths of two inmates. Known only as 'Transom' and 'Mullion', both were accomplices of Trangh 'The Hood' Belagant, released from all charges earlier this week.

Transom was found dead in her high security cell, apparently of natural causes. Mullion was found at roughly the same time, again with no obvious sign of injury. There appears to be no indication of foul play. Autopsies are being carried out, and we will update you as we receive more information.

Authorities are, at this time, trying to locate Belagant, who disappeared shortly after his release."

Scott shut off the television and stared at the screen, his mind whirling.

"Scott? Scott...you still there?"

"Huh? Oh yeah Virg, just shocked." Scott shook his head. "What the hell do you suppose happened?"

"Kyrano has a theory..." Virgil's voice trailed off.

Scott quickly switched to the video phone and stared hard at his brother. "What theory?" It was more of a demand than a question.

"He thinks Hood did it." Virgil said quietly.

Scott frowned. "How?"

"You know..." Virgil made a waving motion with his hand and rolled his eyes. "His mind voodoo thing."

Scott sat back in his chair and bit back a smile. "Thought you didn't believe in all that Virg?"

Virgil cast his eyes downward. "I..."

"Yes?"

Virgil's head snapped up, his hazel eyes flashing. "I was wrong, alright? If Hood is capable of this, maybe he has been influencing John."

"Maybe?" Scott's tone was as sharp as glass.

"Scott..."

Scott stood and paced the room. "Have you heard from Dad?"

Virgil nodded. "He called to tell me. I'm surprised you haven't heard from him."

"Yeah well, he could probably figure out the time difference." Scott said sarcastically.

A red flush crept over Virgil's face. "Sorry Scott."

Scott smiled. "Don't worry about it." He sat back down and sighed. "So, now what?"

Virgil shook his head. "I don't know. Dad'll probably call you later. Fill you and John in on all the details. I guess he and Penny are working on something." Virgil looked up. "Make sure you fill John in before Dad calls."

Scott quickly looked away. "Sure. No problem." He replied quickly. A little too quickly.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Scott, where's John?"

"I...I'm not sure."

"What do you mean 'you're not sure'? Did you lose him again!"

"No I didn't lose him. He's a grown man Virgil. I'm not his keeper. Where he goes and what he does is his own business." He snapped.

"Shit." Virgil pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lit one. "What happened?"

Scott frowned. "Still smoking? Thought you were going to quit?"

"Pot calling the kettle, Scott?" Virgil blew a stream of smoke and the two glared at each other. Then Virgil sighed. "Look we should be working together. Fighting is us doing Hood's work for him."

"You're right." Scott shook his head. "John's been gone for two days. He bugged out right after they made the announcement about Hood's release."

"No..."

"Oh, it gets better." Scott ran a hand through his dark hair. "He and Christa broke up."

"WHAT!"

Scott nodded. "I found part of a note she wrote him. Said something that she didn't want to watch him drink himself into an early grave."

Virgil shook his head. "I can't believe this? I thought they were pretty serious."

Scott shrugged. "So did John. Guess she couldn't handle it and dumped him."

"Well, I suppose it's better to find out now then..." His head snapped up. "Do you think John told her about..."

Scott shook his head. "This is John we're talking about here. He doesn't talk to us, think he was any different with Christa?" He sighed. "I don't know Virg, maybe if he had said something, things would have worked out differently. I really thought she was the one for him. She would have been a terrific asset to the team, that's for sure."

"Yeah." Virgil watched as Scott yawned. "Go back to bed. I'll see if I can do any digging on my end, see if we can figure out where John is. I'll call you later."

"FAB Virgil. Good night." Scott waited until his brother had disappeared, then got up and started back to his room.

"DING-DONG!"

Scott rolled his eyes. "Now what?" He marched down the stairs.

"DING-DONG!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." He pulled the front door open. "Yes?"

A police officer stood on the step. "Sir? I'm detective Roger Connors. I'm sorry to bother you this late. Do you know this man?" He handed something to Scott.

Scott felt his blood grow cold as he stared down at the ID. "This is my brother...John." He said hoarsely.

The detective nodded. "That's what he said, we just wanted to verify it."

Scott's head snapped up. "He said? You know where he is?"

"Yes sir. We have him in the car." The man turned and waved.

Peering into the pre-dawn twilight, Scott could just make out the cruiser parked near the sidewalk. Two figures emerged from the car, and started up the steps. "John!"

Sure enough, John was stumbling up the steps. He reached the top and pushed by, not even glancing at his brother.

The police officers exchanged a glance. Scott caught it and frowned. "What's going on? Is he being charged with something?"

The officer shook his head. "Not at this time, no. Seems your brother picked a fight with some Yankees fans, down at a bar on Com Ave."

Scott closed his eyes and sighed. "John..."

The man went on. "Jerry and I convinced the owner not to press charges if John was to take care of the damages."

"The Yanks fans cut and run." The other officer added.

Scott nodded wearily. "I'll have our lawyer call first thing in the morning. Consider it taken care of." He held out his hand. "Thank-you."

The men each shook Scott's hand. "You're welcome sir. And I'd try to get your brother into some kind of program. He needs help."

You can say that again, Scott thought to himself. "I'll look into it." He waited until the cruiser had left, then went inside in search of his brother.

He found John in the kitchen, pouring himself a glass of water.

Scott watched as John moved around the kitchen, steadfastly ignoring his presence. Finally Scott could stand it no longer. "So John, where've you been for the past couple of days?"

John continued to ignore his brother, instead making himself a sandwich. He pushed past Scott again, and sat down at the table and calmly eating his meal.

Scott counted to ten. Then did it twice more before marching forward. He placed his left hand on John's shoulder and jerked him backwards, almost toppling the chair. "John, I asked you a question."

John glared, his blue eyes flashing fire. "What do you want to hear Scott? That I was out drinking myself senseless?"

"Were you?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact I was." He arched an eyebrow up. "Happy now?"

"Is this because of Christa?"

John went pale. "How do you know that?"

Scott shrugged. "I found a piece of a note she wrote you. It was on the floor near the fireplace. What happened?"

"You read the note. She dumped me. End of story." John got up and placed his dishes in the sink. "I'm better off without her anyway." He mumbled sullenly.

"You sure about that?"

"Just drop it Scott. It's none of your business." John snapped.

"And I suppose the couple of grand needed to make bar repairs is none of my business either."

"That's right." John started to push by his brother.

Scott waited until John had reached the doorway before he spoke. "Transom and Mullion are dead."

John froze as Scott went on. "They were found dead in their cells this morning without a mark on them. I'll leave it up to your imagination as to how it happened."

John turned, his face deathly white. "No, you're lying. He wouldn't kill them. He said he wasn't going to hurt anyone anymore." He whispered.

Scott frowned. "What?"

"Nothing...nothing." John bolted from the room, and Scott could hear him pounding up the stairs to his room. A few moments later, he heard the bedroom door slam.

Sighing wearily, Scott realized there wasn't much more he could do until after he talked to his father. He shut off the kitchen light and went back to bed.

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Jeff rubbed his eyes tiredly as he stared at the video-screen. He didn't even want to know how Penny got the recordings of Hood's trial. As far as he knew, it had all been classified.

He'd run the video nearly a dozen times now, looking for anything that would prove Hood had used his influence on the court. So far he'd come up with nothing. He had already sent the film to Brains, and had considered sending it to John as well, before deciding that was a bad idea.

Jeff sighed and ran the video again, this time zooming in on Hood himself. It's here, I know it is.

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John agitatedly paced the length of his room. I can't believe this. Why would he kill them? Why? He threw himself down on the window seat, pulling his knees up and resting his hand on them. He then took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"Trangh." Nothing. "I know you're there. I want to talk to you."

"Hello John. Come to congratulate me on my release?"

John snorted. "You wish. Why did you kill them?"

"Kill who John?"

"Don't play games with me."

"They were no longer useful to me." There was no touch of remorse in his tone.

"I guess I know where I'll end up then, huh?"

"Now John, when have I ever given you the reason to think that?"

"Let's see, how about whenever you give me that mind blast thing of yours."

John could almost hear him sigh. "How many times must I apologize for that John?"

"Until I believe you." John got up and paced the room again. "How am I supposed to convince the others that you're sorry when you pull something like this?"

"You are right. I shall have to find a way to repair this."

"You think?" John sighed. "Sorry, been a bit testy lately."

"Yes, I know about Christa."

John shrugged. "She's better off without me."

"I do not think so John. I would say you are better off without her."

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

"And your words with Scott...I am sorry you are having trouble with another member of your family. Perhaps I should just leave you, let you sort things out by yourself."

"No! No...don't go."

"I do not wish to cause you further pain John."

"Please, you're the only one who's actually listening to me at this point. I don't know what I would do if you left." He pleaded. "I need you!"

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Far away, hidden deep within the English countryside, the Hood smiled. "Very well John. I shall stay."