The Dead Zone
A Thunderbirds Movieverse fanfic
by TimeGuardian

Chapter One

Parker's head hurt. This wasn't anything new – in his younger days when he ran with a rougher crowd, he would normally spend his weekends at the nearest pub, drinking away whatever ill-gotten gains he obtained. The next day would be spent sleeping off the ensuing headache that almost always came on.

Only he was older now, and in the service of Lady Penelope. The only time he drank these days was when he got the day off or relaxing after assisting her ladyship with particularly tough matters, especially when assisting International Rescue or other agencies that ask for help.

Reluctantly, he first pried his left eye open and then his right. Light slammed at his senses, and Parker quickly shut his eyes again with a groan. From what little he saw though, Parker realized that he was sitting in the driver's seat of FAB-1.

This was very strange – he couldn't remember how he came to be there, and there was one other matter that concerned him.

He raised his voice as loud as his throbbing head would allow him to in order to call out. "Milady, are you back there?"

Nothing – no greeting, no rebuke for having been waylaid – Lady Penelope was simply gone.

Parker tried opening his eyes a little slower. He had to find out what was going on.

This time when he opened them, the light was a little bit friendlier and he was able to focus on his surroundings. Parker looked around but nothing looked out of the ordinary in FAB-1. The backseat was empty with no sign of Lady Penelope, and when he looked out the windshield to try and figure out where he was, all he could see were signs of a grassy field with a line of trees circling the perimeter. No help there.

He tried thinking as far back as he could, but all he could seem to focus on was the pain. Lifting an arm, Parker felt around on the back of his head until he found an egg sized lump on his head. No wonder he was hurting – he was going to need assistance for sure.

There was nothing else to go on, so Parker drew on the information that Lady Penelope drilled into him in case of emergencies and if this situation didn't scream emergency, he didn't know what did.

Leaning forward, he accessed the communication systems of FAB-1 and made a transmission. "International Rescue from FAB-1, please respond."

On Thunderbird Five, John was working on taking readings of a storm system that was ravaging the Caribbean islands when he heard the transmission from FAB-1. He recognized the voice or at least he thought he did, but something seemed off.

He moved to the communication panel and transmitted a response. "Thunderbird Five receiving your transmission - Parker, is that you?"

"Yes."

"Are you all right? Where's Lady Penelope?"

"I have a nasty bump on the head and I don't know where I am."

The way Parker's voice was coming through was enough to unnerve John. He knew that the transmission strength was solid but the way Parker's voice wavered along with his confession meant a possible concussion or worse. "Parker, are you near FAB-1?"

"I'm calling you from the driver's seat."

John shifted his attention to the scanners and started searching for FAB-1's signal along with Lady Penelope's. After a few minutes John had the car's location pinpointed but there was no sign of her still. "That should be enough. I've triangulated your location, Parker. Sit tight, and we'll get you help."

"Yes sir, but I am concerned for Lady Penelope. I don't know where her ladyship could be."

Truth be told, he was concerned as well. John knew that Lady Penelope normally kept a compact on her that housed a built in communicator. He could normally track her movements with that if called upon, but the scan he just tried didn't pick up anything at all. "Don't worry about a thing, Parker. If anyone can find her, it's International Rescue."

Lady Penelope woke up - somewhere. It was hard to see – it looked to be nighttime, or somewhere there was little light. The ground beneath her was hard but she could tell little else.

The last thing that Lady Penelope could remember, she was set to meet a contact in a field about some information on ships disappearing in the open sea. Parker drove her to the meeting and then she couldn't remember anything else.

She found herself lying on her side. Strangely enough she wasn't tied up which didn't say much - the last time that she had been waylaid, it had been at the hands of the Hood and he left her unbound as well and that situation turned out to be a fight for her life.*

Moaning with the effort, Lady Penelope managed to push herself into a sitting position. Her eyes finally adjusted to the lack of available light to the point that she recognized that she was in a warehouse of some sort. Wooden boxes of various sizes were stacked to the ceiling, and over in one corner she could just make out the outline of what looked like a forklift. Well, that's an improvement at least.

Though she was sure of what she would find, Lady Penelope checked to find that all of her 'toys' that she liked to keep with her were gone - no one would be able to find her at this rate.

Lady Penelope knew the Hood was still in prison, in fact she checked on that information only last week. There were many other possibilities as to whoever else may have targeted her, which did nothing to quell the uneasiness she was feeling. She knew that if she was going to find a way out of this situation, she would have to work fast.

She pushed herself up until she was able to get on her feet. After a moment to make sure that she was steady, Lady Penelope started looking around with more focus. Maybe if she found an exit-

"Ah, so the intrepid little secret agent is awake."

After she heard the voice, a familiar figure stepped into view which Lady Penelope recognized instantly. She didn't even bother to keep the contempt out of her voice.

"You."

*A reference to one of my earlier stories, Unnatural Sabotage. Not nessecary to read it in order to understand this one.

Where in the world is Lady Penelope? I'm not telling - not yet at any rate. ;)

Standard story disclaimers apply – This idea is one chapter old. I'm not sure how quick I can be with this, but I promise to try and make it worth the wait if you stick around.

And now, I shall go hide behind the customary rock and work on the next chapter.

Till Next Time,

TimeGuardian