Hello, my pen name is Girl-Detective. My style is in my profile, I am an action junkie all the way. This may doom me to failure, but this is my first fic ever after sitting back and reading them for so long here. I ask for no leniency for that fact, just some constructive criticism so I can learn the ropes.

The Choice
by Girl-Detective

Chapter One - An Enemy Returns

In a specially sealed room on the third floor of the London prison, the Hood sat and meditated.

There wasn't much else to do, everything was provided to him via robot or robotic arm. The guards had known to keep their distance. International Rescue had apprised them of his powers so there was a general feeling of fear from what little bit he could gleam.

He thought over the events of the past month, and he was amazed that only a month had passed.
The plan was perfect. To steal the Thunderbird machines and break into the major banks of the world, that took genius.

He even thought he had Alan completely at his mercy, until the girl showed up. Those two caused him to be in jail for the first time since he donned his 'Hood' persona, and that just wouldn't do.

Figures that it would have been a son of a Tracy that brought him down. He made a promise that he would see Jeff again, and he racked his brains to figure out a way to make Jeff suffer during their next encounter.

There must be a way, there must.

It was then that he remembered what day it was.

With a secret smile, the Hood concentrated intently on his meditation, clearing his mind for what was to come. He would have his revenge on Jeff by killing Alan, and If any of the rest of the family wanted to follow suit he would gladly kill them as well.

It was the perfect plan.

Alan Tracy ran a hand through his hair and studied the floating textbook in front of him. Ever since his dad had finally relented and allowed him flight status as a genuine Thunderbird, he thought life couldn't get any better.

Instead, for the better part of the month, he had been relegated to making supply runs to the Thunderbird Five space station, learning the finer points of the Station's operation from his brother John, and catching up on his studies in-between.

So, at least for an hour, Alan found the silence of the anti-gravity room on Thunderbird Five a safe haven as he floated along with his physics book. By some perverse luck of the draw, it was decided that his father would do the actual tutoring of this subject, so there was no way he could shirk these studies even if he wanted to. A buzzer cut then into his thoughts, followed by his brother's voice. "Hate to kick you out, little brother, but father needs those supplies on the ground ASAP."

With a sigh, Alan grabbed for a ring tethered to one of the walls as his brother John slowly brought gravity back to the small room. His body slowly crept downward until his feet touched the deck. His physics book followed his same path.

A half hour later, John Tracy met up with Alan near the docking ring port for Thunderbird Three.

"The supplies has been loaded, Alan. Oh, Lady Penelope sends her regards and wonders if you would be so kind as to make a run to her estate to pick up Tin-Tin. She's through with her nature studies there and was hoping for a lift back to the island."

Alan smiled. "Should be no problem. Any excuse to delay my physics test is a good one."

John laughed and pushed Alan towards the door. "Better you than me, little brother. I have been through enough of dad's 'tests' to know, trust me. Just do me a favor and notify Parker before you land at Lady Penelope's this time? I swear I thought the poor guy was going to have a heart attack the last time you swooped in."

Alan laughed. "Yeah his expression was priceless and-" He stopped laughing when John's expression grew stern. "Okay, Okay. I will be good, promise. FAB. I am on my way back."

John simply smiled and shook his head as Alan opened the cargo door and entered the short walkway leading to Thunderbird Three.

Kids today.

He made his way back to the control room. There were one or two reports that his father had requested, then he needed to test the Anti-Missile lasers that Brains had installed on his trip to the station a week ago to finish off the last remaining repairs to Thunderbird Five.

No need for a repeat attack like the one he had endured when The Hood targeted the station.

John shuddered slightly at the memory, then headed towards the control room.

Four hours later-

John was tired, but at least his work was done for now. He transmitted his reports, and the lasers tested without a hitch. Anyone targeting Thunderbird Five with missiles were going to be sadly disappointed when the lasers would pick off anything within a thousand meters of the station.

He stretched and was about to raid his food rations, when an urgent red light blared to life on his comm panel. When he flicked the switch, a familiar voice sounded urgently through the control room.

"Thunderbird Five come in. John come in, please."

He hit the button on the control panel. "This is Thunderbird Five. What's up Tin-Tin? Where's Alan?"

"That's what I would like to know. He was due to pick me up three hours ago and he hasn't shown up here at Lady Penelope's estate yet. Alan knew to come here, right?"

"Of course, Tin-Tin, in fact he was looking forward to picking you up from there. Standby and I will check this out, okay?"

A weary sigh came over the line. "I am not angry so much as worried. Let me know when you have found something out so I will know whether to kill him or not."

"FAB" John replied curtly. He cut the transmission, then activated the scanners.

Each of the vehicles they used had their own unique trace signature, so in theory he should be able to pick up on Thunderbird Three easily. However, John swore softly as each of the scans turned up negative. The ship was nowhere in the immediate area, nor in or around any discernable place on Earth. There was only one place left to check and it was the one place it could evade scanners.

He didn't want to alarm his father unduly. After all, things were finally getting back to a normal routine after The Hood's failed attempt to rob the world's banks and trying to smear the International Rescue name in the process.

This however could not be ignored.

With a thought and a silent prayer, John opened a comm channel. "Thunderbird Five to Tracy Island, come in please."

The screen in front of him blared to life as he saw the familiar figure of his father take a seat.

"John, good to hear from you. The reports came through all right, what's up?"

Here goes nothing. "Dad, please tell me that Alan and Thunderbird Three are there."

He watched as his father frowned slightly. "Hmm, I didn't hear Alan come in. Let me check the silo."

John watched as his father quickly typed out some commands on a nearby keyboard. "No, Thunderbird Three is not in it's silo. What's going on, John?"

John's voice filled with dread. "Dad, I can't find him anywhere. He was supposed to pick up Tin-Tin from Lady Penelope's estate over three hours ago, and I just got notification that he never made it. I did a complete scan for Thunderbird Three's signature and nothing. He's completely disappeared."

Jeff Tracy wasn't normally one to be alarmed. He had ridden out tough challenges as an astronaut and even survived near death after the attack on Thunderbird Five.

Over the past two weeks, Alan had proven to be an adept pilot, and only needed one or two lessons from him in order to solo in Thunderbird 3. Jeff was confident that Alan knew how to handle himself.

But where in Heaven's name was he?

"John, I will send Scott and Virgil out in a search pattern for him. He couldn't have disappeared off the map. Even if he had crashed, the signature from the ship should still be something that we can pick up. Don't worry, we'll find him. Stay on the scanners just in case."

"FAB, dad."

Jeff ended transmission, then contemplated the situation. He knew John was right about the scanners; Jeff had personally overseen the design phase of them with Brains. He wanted Thunderbird Five to be able to track any of their craft in order to help them get to the scene of rescues faster, among tracking in case one vehicle got damaged. However, that still didn't explain a whole craft disappearing.

He turned on the TV to catch the news. He had been busy in the lab with Brains for the last twenty-four hours, so he wanted to see what was going on.

Jeff caught the last snatches of a special report and the sight of people in a courtroom being carried out in stretchers.

"-luckily no one was seriously injured, apparently the only intent of The Hood was to escape without being followed-"

The Hood? With a feeling of dread, Jeff stabbed at the volume button to make sure that he had heard right. The report was quickly repeated.

"Again if you are just tuning in, the evil mastermind known as 'The Hood' escaped a London courtroom yesterday by using his incredible mind powers to keep everyone unconscious for hours while he made his escape. Luckily no one was seriously injured, apparently the only intent of The Hood was to escape without being followed by the police or other authorities. London police are on the hunt now for-"

With a muttered curse, he turned off the TV. He told them, WARNED them that this might happen. No one knew the extent of what The Hood could do with his mind. Alan managed to wear him down enough to where Tin-Tin could counterattack him that fateful day, but it nearly cost Alan his life.

Jeff flicked a switch on his comm panel. "Boys, I need you to report in. NOW."

Four of the five photos along the far wall flared to life with video feeds of four of his sons.

"Scott reporting in."

"Virgil reporting in."

"Gordon reporting in."

"John reporting in. Dad, have you found out anything more about Alan?"

John's simple question set his other sons to chattering:

"Dad what's going on?"

"What did John mean?"

"Where's Alan?"

Jeff raised a hand. "Hold it, hold it. We can't panic, not yet."

His satellite phone started trilling incessantly from its resting place on the table. He quickly snatched it up to answer it.

"Jeff Tracy here."

The familiar taunting voice grated against his ears.

"I promised myself that I would see you again, Jeff."

Jeff noticed that his sons grew quiet. He mouthed 'The Hood' to them before he replied. "What do you want?"

"Are you missing a son, by chance? Blond hair, blue eyes, answers to the name of Alan?"

Anger flooded his emotions. "You evil, sadistic-"

"Tut, tut, Jeff. Anger doth become you. I suppose now you want proof."

The phone connection cut out, then the last unlit screen on the wall blared to life.

There in the screen Alan sat in what looked like a dark damp cave. He looked to be unconscious, his hands bound high on the wall around what looked like a clamp. He was still dressed in his flight suit, and a slight trickle of blood ran down one side of his face.

"ALAN!"

The picture wavered for a moment then turned around to a view of The Hood.

"Jeff, these video communicators are a marvel. I mean small enough to fit on a wrist. Of course Alan didn't mind me borrowing his, but do they come in black?"

What little reason Jeff had snapped. He stood and walked closer to the five screens.

"You want something, otherwise you wouldn't have called here. Be warned though: If you kill my son, I will make sure that there is no place on this Earth that you can hide from me, and I will personally hunt you down myself."

Laughter greeted his declaration. "My, my, Your perception is right on the nose, but don't worry- your son is safe for now. What I propose is simple: A life for a life. In twenty-four hours time a ship under my control will reach your island. You are to board it and it will bring you to me. Once I determine that you are on board, Alan will be released. Oh, and feel free to search for me during those twenty-four hours, I am quite sure that you will not find any signs of us whatsoever. Goodbye."

"Wait!" Jeff shouted, but the image on the screen faded out.

The sound of his sons voices surrounded him once again.

"Dad, we can't let him get away with that."

"He won't keep his word."

It was Scott who finally broke the noise. "Whoa, hold it! It is our father's choice. He needs to decide."

Jeff leaned against the smooth screen where he had seen Alan only a moment before. It wasn't fair, but yet each of his sons knew the risk of working under the strictest privacy. It looked like The Hood was holding all the cards at the moment, but Jeff wasn't going to take that lying down.

"Gordon, Scott, come back here on the double. Virgil, I need for you to pick up Tin-tin from England and bring her back to the island on the double. Go ahead and advise Lady Penelope what happened, her services may come in handy. John, stay on those scanners. The Hood has to have some type of cloaking device. Search for any strange anomalies along with your regular scans. We will continue to field any rescue calls as they come in. Now let's get to it."

His sons raised their voices unanimously. "FAB"

Each of their images winked out one by one, until the control room grew quiet once again.

Jeff walked back over to his chair, and sat down wearily. Grudges were a terrible thing to fight against, but he had the beginnings of a desperate plan forming in his mind.

He just hoped that all of the pieces would be in place in time, or he would be forced to make the choice his foe put forth.

Oh Jeff had no doubt, he would face the Hood again, one way or another- but he wanted that meeting to be on HIS terms.

Alan's head hurt, there was no doubt about that. He opened his eyes slowly, and winced at the throbbing pain his brain greeted him with.

He rewound the day - the last thing he remembered was adjusting his course in Thunderbird Three so that he could pick up Tin-Tin, and then...nothing.

"Ah Alan, wondering where the day has gone?"

He jerked his gaze up, making his head throb even more. The voice was familiar, but it couldn't be him-

"Oh but it can, Alan. I have returned, and with your help, I will have revenge on you and your father."

Alan struggled against his bonds. "How did you escape custody, Hood?"

His eyes finally focused as he saw the familiar figure stalk towards him. "It was simple enough. After all, I had to have my day in court, right?"

"My family will stop you," Alan spat out. "They will end your bid for petty revenge."

"Petty? Did you say petty?" his captor asked. "Was it petty when I had to watch my brother being rescued and I laid broken and helpless under tons of rubble? Was it petty that your father chose who he wanted to rescue?"

"Oh please, spare me," Alan retorted, "I found out much about your 'diamond mine' and about how you conned innocent villagers into working in the mines for next to nothing. Your brother told us about the whole thing. The conditions were so bad there that dad couldn't rescue everyone before additional cave-ins made it impossible. Many of those villagers died, thanks to you, so I think you are the one who should have something on their conc-aargh"

Alan's last words were cut off as The Hood knocked him out with a mere thought.

"There. I think you are better off quiet. Besides, I have a lot to prepare for. Rest up Alan, cause you are going to need it."