It was three o'clock in the afternoon when Scott and Alan returned from their trip in Thunderbird 1. Scott was learning Alan how to fly the silver blue rockets for a couple of days and he was getting the hang of it.

"Hey, how did it go"? Virgil asked when the two brothers walked in.

"Pretty good". Scott said.

"I made a loop all by myself". Alan said.

"Where's the rest"? Scott asked.

"Gordon is cleaning Thunderbird 3 and dad is on the phone with John". Virgil said. "Something about a possible bank robbery in Germany".

"I thought we only recall on disasters caused by nature"? Alan asked.

"Don't let dad hear you saying that". Virgil said. "We respond when people's lives are in danger".

"Including people who are threatened by bad guys with weapons". Scott finished.

"I get it". Alan said.

At that moment, Jeff walked in to the kitchen.

"Ah you're back, how did it go"? He asked when he made himself some coffee.

"Great"! Alan said with a smile.

"Did John has anything to say dad"? Scott asked.

"Not really, the Germans told him that the robbery was a joke of some teenagers and that it was handled by the police". Jeff said.

"Hey guys". Gordon said when he walked in. "I could use some help at Thunderbird 3".

Scott, Virgil, Alan and even Jeff started to laugh. Gordon's face was black from all the ash that came off the red rocket. The three other brothers walked back to the silos with him. Jeff took his mug and walked to his office.

On Thunderbird 5

John walked to the kitchen and grabbed an energy bar out of one of the cupboards.

Stupid teenagers! He thought while he made his way back to the monitors.

He sat down and gazed a bit out of the windows. There wasn't much work for him to do. Everything was working fine and there was nothing happening on planet earth. John stretched himself and closed his eyes for a second.

Suddenly he could hear a high, shrieking noise. John stood up and looked on his technical screen. Something was wrong in the engine room. He walked to the left side of the station in a hurry and walked downstairs. One of the steam pipes was broken.

John made his way through the steam to get to the pipe, but when he reached it, he accidently burned his arm. He screamed and cursed. He tried a few more times to fix it by himself, but the only thing he achieved was to get more burns.

Those pipes are only a week old! John thought when he sat down at the monitors. He pushed the button to make a call to Tracy Island.

Tracy Island

Jeff took a sip from his coffee when he saw the incoming call.

"Hey, what's up"? He asked. "Don't tell me that the robbery wasn't a joke".

John laughed. "No I've got a broke steam pipe in the engine room and I can't fix it myself".

"You tried to fix it yourself"? Jeff asked mad.

"Well…yeah". John said a bit blown away.

"You could have been burned"! Jeff said angry.

"I know, now is one of you going to help me or what"? John asked. "It isn't getting any colder in here".

"I will come myself and I'll ask Scott to come with me". Jeff said. "We're leaving straight away".

"FAB dad". John said a bit down.

Thunderbird 5

John sighed deep when his fathers face disappeared. He walked to the bathroom and took his jacket and shirt off. The skin where he had hit the pipe were pretty red and it started to sting a bit. He cursed a bit when the water reached his arms.

Suddenly there was a huge explosion that made everything shaking. John ran to the engine room and saw that there was smoke coming out of the door. He ran back to the monitor room and grabbed the fire extinguisher. In the corner of his eye, he saw the red color of the Thunderbird 3.

John opened the door to the engine room. His sight got worse when he got a cloud of smoke in his face. He thought he was almost choking and could see the light of the flames coming towards him. Suddenly he smelled something. It was gas. Just when John realized he was in big trouble, he was too late. Another, much more powerful explosion went through the room.

John felt how he was blown backwards and felt the sting of the flames on his legs, arms and chest. He landed hard on his back and hit his head on the edge of the monitors.