Super sorry for the late upload - university has been absolutely mad with deadlines and essays and exams! Hopefully the chapter being a little longer will make up for it! Enjoy!

baao xo

Chapter 10:

Times Square was eerily silent, the crowd staring at the huge television screen in the centre in silence as the image was burned into the memory of every person present. The feeling of horror was heavy in the air, but no one felt it as much as Virgil Tracy, who stood slightly to the side of the crowd, partially hidden by the shadows. Biting down on his knuckles to conceal his anguish, Virgil could only stare at the screen which was broadcasting the image of his eldest brother who looked like he'd been on the wrong end of someone's fist (with potentially said person standing slightly behind him) and appeared to be bound to a chair in a dark, crumbling room. Scott was slumped where he sat, dried blood caking the right hand side of his face. He had glanced at the camera briefly as it had first blared into life, but since then had apparently been staring at the ground. Another man in red clothing was standing slightly in front of Virgil's brother, and the crowd's attention snapped to him as he started to speak:

"Well, it is nice to have the entire world's population paying attention to you, it's just a shame you're meeting me under such serious circumstances. My stage name, so to speak, is the Hood, and I'm afraid I have matters to discuss with one Jefferson Tracy, who has disappointed me beyond words. Now, Mr. Tracy, I'm sure you'll be watching this transmission carefully, and I have no doubt that you will have forgotten me but I feel that you will remember this: Malaysia, September last year, landslide. Failures there led to lives being lost and a failure here may lead to the death of your son here,"

To emphasise his point concerning Scott's potential death, the Hood raised a finger and the man behind Scott stepped forward, gripped his hair tightly, and jerked his head back, hard. Scott let out a grunt at the treatment which was quickly cut short as the man placed a gleaming knife against his throat. The crowd gasped, and the Hood grinned manically, revelling in the universal shock.

"I am more than aware of your reputation as a businessman, Tracy, and so, in proper business-style, I suggest a compromise. As compensation for Malaysia, you give me $10 million and maybe even a go on those fantastic 'planes' of yours, and I will give your son back safe and sound. Well, mostly. You have until midnight to give me your response and gather the ransom together."

The transmission ended suddenly, the screen going black, and suddenly people's buzzing chatter filled the air once more, this time ripe with curiosity and excitement. The people had no emotional attachment to the Tracy's; their suffering meant little to anyone else, and the Hood's threats to Jeff only fuelled the people's lust for gossip.

Virgil scowled at the crowd, his anger at them overtaking his worry for his eldest brother for the briefest moment before he lifted his watch before opening the line to base. He could only hope that his father was keeping his emotions in check better than he was.

An incoming call from Virgil jolted Jeff out of his thoughts. The transmission from the Hood had ended as suddenly as it had come, and whilst Jeff had been expecting some sort of minor disaster after Scott had gone missing in the power station, he certainly hadn't been expecting this. Opening the line to Virgil, he was greeted with middle son's worried face.

"Did you get that, Dad?"

"You bet I did, Virg. It was certainly a surprise."

"You're telling me - I'm pretty sure the entire world's got the message. Any idea who this Hood guy is?"

"Not really..." replied Jeff, clearly thinking hard, "Let me add Alan into the line, maybe he can bring up some records of our previous rescues."

There was a moments silence in their conversation whilst Jeff contacted Alan up in Thunderbird Five, but it was quickly broken by his youngest son's slightly panicked voice.

"Did you see that, Dad? What are you going to do? And who's the Hood, anyway?"

Alan's stream of questions almost went completely over Jeff's head as he struggled to process everything Alan was asking.

"Yes, of course I did, Alan, and I'm not sure what we're doing yet. I called you to ask you something - can you pull up a list of any missions we completed in Malaysia in September last year? This might give us a clue as to who this Hood is." answered Jeff, running his spare hand through his hair once again.

"F.A.B." was Alan's reply, and the three members of the Tracy family sat in silence whilst Alan worked, none of them being able to voice what they were thinking.

Alan was efficient, however, and before they knew it, his voice was breaking the silence once more.

"In September we only visited Malaysia once - there was a pretty serious landslide there; we couldn't get everyone out. Most people had taken refuge in the surrounding caves, but loads of them were completely blocked off by all the mud. Roughly a third of the people involved in the accident were reported as lost or deceased so I suppose this Hood was caught in the landslide but managed to escape. He must be bitter about us not being able to reach him." Alan reported, ever the professional.

"That doesn't explain how he knew who IR were or how he's managed to get hold of Scott." said Virgil, keeping his voice low to avoid being overheard in the overflowing square in New York.

"Well, how he's managed to get hold of Scott is easy - he must have staged the meltdown in Minnesota in order to get International Rescue. He said he's been watching us for awhile too, so the only way I can think of for him knowing our identities is him potentially seeing our faces at the rescue, and linking it to media coverage of us as the Tracy's." replied Jeff, concern shining in his eyes.

"What do we do now, then?" asked Alan.

Jeff was silent for a moment, before facing the camera which allowed his boys to see him,

"We do nothing for now. Alan, contact Gordon and John and make sure they know what's happening. Virgil, stay low - you can't have anyone recognise you as a Tracy. Listen to what the people are saying and don't do anything rash."

"And you, Dad?"

"I'll see if I can contact the Hood, keep the link private and see if I can appease him. Oh, and Alan?"

"Yeah?" replied his youngest son, turning his attention back to his father.

"Don't let Gordon do anything stupid."

Alan grinned, but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

"F.A.B., Dad."

The boys both closed their connections to base, leaving Jeff alone. Sighing, he couldn't help but wonder how all of this had happened. The rescue was meant to be a basic one, but now he had one son being held hostage, two other sons stuck in the same building with said kidnapper, another son stuck on the other side of America, and his final son looking more stressed than he'd ever been and stuck thousands of miles in space. For not the first time, Jeff wondered what it would be like to have an easy life before he started to search for ways to contact the madman who was holding his eldest son at knifepoint.

What did you think?