Cat and Mouse
A Thunderbirds Movieverse fanfic
by Timeguardian
Chapter Eleven
Lady Penelope knew that the time was now.
Cassandra swung around with her fist, aiming towards Penelope's midsection.
Lady Penelope countered by ducking low, then bringing everything into an attack on Cassandra's legs.
With a cry of surprise, Cassandra lost her balance and staggered back in Scott's direction.
As Penelope hoped, she watched as Scott leaned forward, quickly bringing up his arms and wrapping one around her waist and the other around her throat.
"Gotcha lady," Scott growled.
As soon as Scott grabbed Cassandra, Lady Penelope wheeled around with a roundhouse kick that knocked the gun out of one guard's hand. The guard staggered back and she immediately swooped in, picking up the gun and pointing it at him.
Beside her, Parker landed an uppercut on the other guard and then moved in for a headlock. It was nearly a minute before he released the unconscious guard to the floor.
"You do know we're pressed for time here, Parker," Lady Penelope stated as she motioned her prisoner to move over near the unconscious guard.
"With all due respect, milady, he will not be waking up for a while," Parker declared as he picked up the gun that his opponent had.
On the main deck of Thunderbird Five, Gordon sat back in his chair after hearing Alan's declaration. Due to interference around the ship itself, It was difficult enough to contact him without help from the communication mod he got from John. They needed control of Lady Cassandra's ship in the most unobtrusive way possible. But how?
Leaning forward, he punched a button on the communication panel to open a channel. "Thunderbird Five to Thunderbird One, Thunderbird Two, and Tracy Island: We've got a situation."
In Thunderbird One, Jeff's thoughts were a mile a minute as Gordon explained the situation that Alan was facing. Finally, he spoke over the communication channel. "Brains, you heard Gordon. Any ideas we can use?"
Brains wasted no time in replying. "Maybe - Gordon, c-c-connect me t-to Alan."
In the small recessed area, Alan fought not to pace as he waited for word from his family.
From his tele-com came the words he was hoping for. "Thunderbird Five to Alan."
Alan lifted his wrist to find Gordon staring back at him again. "I'm here – did you find a solution?"
"I'm in touch with Brains – he has a few ideas for you."
He watched the scene shift until Gordon's face faded out - In its place was Brains. From what Alan could tell, the scientist was home on Tracy Island.
"Brains, am I glad to see you," Alan declared. "I've got a number puzzle that I could use some help with."
"T-t-transmit a p-picture and let me s-s-see."
He turned his tele-com around and focused it on the computer panel for nearly a minute before looking back at Brains. "What do you think?"
On the screen, he watched Brains looking downward, typing furiously into a computer terminal.
"Gordon is r-r-right," Brains stated. "The bottom p-p-part of the panel is a s-s-sensor."
Alan switched his gaze over to the computer panel. "Okay, looking at it further, I can see it too. That only means it can accept data from an external source and the last time I checked I do not have anything that could feed it anything."
"Wrong," the scientist declared, "the tele-com c-c-can, as l-long as you k-keep it in range."
Looking around the area of the panel, Alan spotted a ventilation panel immediately below the computer panel that had a repeating pattern of horizontal slits.
"Well that can be arranged," Alan declared as he took the tele-com off of his wrist. "I am going to slip the strap of my tele-com through this ventilation grate and that will hold it in place."
He heard Brains voice. "K-keep the comms o-o-open – I won't be l-long."
"FAB." More waiting, goody.
As he finished securing his tele-com to the grate, Alan heard a rough voice from behind him.
"What are you doing?"
Alan slowly raised his hands and turned around. Before him were the three men he spotted earlier near the engine room. Only one of them had a gun but given their height and build, Alan didn't fancy his chances in hand to hand combat with any of them.
Knowing his tele-com still had the communication channel open, he took a step back and spoke loudly. "I don't have any weapons on me and I am outnumbered. Why should I be doing anything to piss off you guys?"
John sat forward as he listened to Alan's situation over the open communication channel. Despite being tired, aching, and struggling to keep up with the action, he couldn't miss the slight edge of panic in Alan's voice. Taking on three bad guys at once was hardly fair, but Alan needed more time for Brain's plan to finish.
Suddenly a thought came to him. As a precaution, he opened a new comm channel to Gordon and asked. "Gordon – the prank you helped me play on Scott for April Fool's day – remember it?"
"John, this is no time for," Gordon started to protest before going silent.
After a few seconds, John heard Gordon laugh. "I like the way you think, John, but would it work?"
John smiled. "Well, we were going for annoying that time – it'll need to be tweaked to take those guys out of the picture for a while."
"We've got to hurry, then. I caught a glimpse of the guys that have him cornered when he stepped back. Alan can probably take on one of them, but he can't hold all three of them off for long."
Apparently the three men had lost patience for the one with the gun took another step forward. "You're gonna come with us."
Alan held his hands high in the air and contemplated his options. Time to fight my way out.
It was then that he heard Gordon's voice emanate from the tele-com. "Alan, cover your ears!"
The command was quick and sharp. Alan complied, much to the confusion of the men in front of him. Despite the protection, he could hear a piercing noise come from the tele-com that made his head throb.
It had an immediate effect on the men. They started writhing in pain – two of them even tried covering their ears, but it was too late. Thirty seconds later they collapsed to the ground and were still, the gun clattering to the ground.
Seconds later, the sound ceased. Alan blew out a breath as he removed his hands from his ears. His head still throbbed slightly as he picked up the gun and wheeled around towards his tele-com. "Thanks – that was too close."
Brains voice came through. "Alan, c-c-check the unit now."
Alan laid the gun on the ground close to him. He then cast a glance over the computer panel as he grabbed for his tele-com and put it back on his wrist.
"The logon screens are gone – let me type in a few commands here. Hmm – we're in. I just found the ship's computer control systems, which include navigation and sensors," Alan stated with a big grin. "Give me a course to plot, Gordon."
It took a few false starts but Scott was soon on his feet thanks to help from Parker, who then helped him wrestle a protesting Lady Cassandra into the chair. While Parker held a gun on her, Scott found enough of a length of rope from the remnants that kept him prisoner to be able to bind her to the chair.
"You think you've won," Cassandra spat. "You know nothing."
An alarm sounded through the room that apparently took the wind out of her sails. On the only display screen in the room, Scott spotted the reason for the alarm: A course change had then turning around.
Cassandra turned red after she spotted the information on the screen. "WHAT?! I didn't order a course change!"
"Yes, that would be my associate," Lady Penelope replied. "While we were on board getting your warm welcome, he had a mission to secure this ship. You're through, Cassandra."
Scott moved closer to her to ask in a low voice. "Is John all right?"
"Virgil and your father went to recover him," Lady Penelope replied in the same low tone. "They are to rendezvous with us here."
As she said the words, the alarm for the course change went silent, only to be replaced by a new and lower pitched one. This time on the display screen the picture of radar reading was showing of the area around the ship – two bright red blips were rapidly approaching the center of the map.
Cassandra took one look at the new information on screen and smiled. "Hear that alarm? It means your friends have arrived in the air – my pilots have been updated and are more than ready to take your people down."
On the display screen, the image of the radar winked off, only to be replaced by an image of Alan!
"Alan, it's good to see you. Are you all right?" Penelope asked over the noise of the alarm.
"Hello from below decks," Alan replied with a smile. "I checked some sensor and security readings to find you guys. I am in the computer systems and have managed to plot a course for this thing to rendezvous with the closest naval authority. Everyone all right up there?"
"Better than expected," Lady Penelope replied as she cast a side glance at Lady Cassandra. "Alan, we're hearing an alarm up here. Our host has indicated that is an alert for the pilots to launch the armed helicopters off of the deck."
On the screen, Alan's eyes widened as he checked some readings. Penelope then saw him speaking into his tele-com. "Dad, there are eight helicopters on deck. I disabled the lift elevators but that's only going to slow the pilots down. Better get them before you have a dogfight on your hands."
The action continues next time,
Timeguardian