Here's chapter 16! Hope you all enjoy and I promise Space Race will have an update very soon!

baao xo

Chapter 16:

"Well, it seems time is running out," said the Hood conversationally "10 o'clock already - I wonder how Virgil got on with that fun game I set up in your father's building."

Scott was dimly aware of the Hood speaking to him, but it was difficult to make sense of the words when his blood was rushing through his ears and his head was pounding mercilessly. He was aching from sitting on the hard chair for so long, but any movement just caused more pain to spike in his head and ribs. His only consolation was that the rawness on his wrists from the handcuffs had all but gone; the metal now slippery with his own blood that had run down his arms.

A hand batted the side of his head and Scott grunted in response, lacking the energy to do much else.

"Just checking that you were still awake, Scotty." said the Hood far too brightly; his false sing-song voice cutting through the ringing in Scott's ears.

Although it felt like it was far too much effort, Scott forced himself to look at the Hood, blinking owlishly. The Hood grinned, proud of what he had accomplished in just one day with his guest.

"You wouldn't create much of a stir if you were sleeping - people would think I was being kind and letting you rest! No, the best way to shock them is for you to be either awake or dead, and I really do need you to remain alive for the time being. Do you feel you need a wake-up call...?" the Hood asked sneeringly, leaning in towards the beaten pilot in front of him.

Cruel laughter rang out through the reactor room as Scott flinched away from his captor, not desiring to feel the pain behind those eyes ever again. His jerking movements caused his body to angrily protest, and the man still stood behind him to share in the Hood's glee as Scott gasped in agony.

The Hood crouched down so that he was eye-level with the eldest Tracy son. He waited for Scott to compose himself, and Scott forced himself to look at the Hood in the eye and trying desperately not to look away from the coldness in the man's yellow eyes.

"Would you really put International Rescue before your life? Would you preserve its secrecy for the sake of your father over yourself?" questioned the Hood, his eyes burning into Scott's mind.

"Always." croaked out Scott firmly, despite the hoarseness of his voice.

The Hood stood once more, staring down at Scott who had finally broken eye contact and was staring blankly at the floor through half-lidded eyes. The Hood could not understand how the man's loyalty could overcome self-preservation, nor could he understand how the man could accept full responsibility for what the Hood was accusing him of. The Tracy family never ceased to amaze him, and the eldest son was no exception.

Opening his mouth to speak to the young man once more, the Hood was interrupted by one of his henchmen re-entering the room from behind. Turning and ignoring the sigh of relief from the Field Commander, he addressed the man shortly:

"Well? Any news?"

"The bomb's definitely detonated in New York," stated the man, without any expression, "but we don't know if the Tracy brat is still alive or not. The explosion was definitely reduced in size, no doubt it was him, but there's been no sign of him in the area since."

"Any other casualties?" asked the Hood, irritably.

"Still unknown - most people got out the building and vicinity."

"Well, at least our point had been made..." murmured the Hood, watching Scott carefully as the man's eyes widened in shock at what the henchman had reported.

"Perhaps it's time to call our good friend Jeff once more! It's time to reveal the Tracy family's greatest secret." finished the Hood, his icy tone contrasting the ever increasing heat in the room.

Being thousands of miles above the Earth's atmosphere when there was nothing happening below was no problem. Being thousands of miles above the Earth's atmosphere during a rescue was difficult at times, but a necessity. Being thousands of miles above the Earth's atmosphere whilst one brother was being held hostage, two had dropped out of contact, and one had been potentially caught in a bomb explosion was unbearable. Alan had almost chewed off half his fingernails in agitation and nerves and his constant tapping of his foot against the hard metal floor of Thunderbird Five was even becoming an annoyance to himself.

He'd lost contact with John and Gordon a few hours ago - they said that they were investigating movement in another part of the power plant. Alan had told them to be safe, though he was sure that they'd ignored that part. Virgil had not been heard of since the bomb in their father's building had gone off, and whilst the explosion had been confined to a far smaller space than it would've been, Alan was no less concerned that his middle-brother was not responding to hails on his watch even if the bomb had exploded to its full potential.

Alan was trying to stay calm for the sake of his father, who he knew was on a caffeine high and threatening to tear all his hair out back on Tracy Island, but the lid that was stopping all of his emotions from spilling out was starting to slip, and more than once since Gordon and John's disappearance Alan had found himself almost making a call to his father to beg for reassurance that everything would be okay.

He knew that his father could do no more than he could at this moment, and that in itself was killing Alan. Jeff was the adult, the father - he was meant to fix everything and put it all back together. If Jeff couldn't fix the mess that was happening back on Earth, and Virgil couldn't do anything, and nor could the rest of his brothers, what else could Alan do? Whatever he could do now up on Thunderbird Five could also be done on Earth by his father or any of his brothers (save Scott, who was more than a little preoccupied at the moment) and Alan had truly never felt so useless in his life.

Attempting to blink away the tears that suddenly threatening to fall, Alan tried to concentrate once more on the screens in front of him. One showed his father's building in New York, plus the area around it, and Alan was simultaneously trying to assess the damage that had been done to it whilst ignoring the emergency calls coming in from New York, begging for International Rescue's help. Alan had left the answering machine on loop - a standard message which told the caller that International Rescue were currently using their operatives elsewhere and would return the calls as soon as possible. Alan hated using it, but right now, it was the only thing he could do. He hated answering the call only to tell the desperate person on the other end that there was nothing he could do to help.

The other screen showed the original map of the power plant in Minnesota that he'd been using when Scott, John, and Gordon had first arrived on the scene. The dots that had shown living people moving around the area had almost all vanished, and Alan now only occasionally got one or two lights which signified people moving along the corridors. The tell-tale coloured lights that showed the members of the Tracy family and International Rescue had vanished hours ago, and Alan could only hope it was a technical problem, rather than something far more sinister. Seeing that the Hood was still broadcasting messages to the world with Scott still in them gave Alan hope that his brothers were still alive, if only just, and something was blocking the signals.

Seeing something flash out of the corner of his eye, Alan slowly shifted his gaze back to the screen of the power plant when he was jolted out of his actions by an alert to an incoming call. Accepting the contact hesitantly, Alan addressed the caller:

"Thunderbird Five receiving you, come in."

Apologies for yet another cliff hanger! Let me know what you thought!