Scott pushed his Thunderbird as fast as he dared toward Geneva, the landscape gradually giving way to dense forest and snowy drifts. The fairytale surroundings would have made for great sight-seeing had he not been pushing fifteen thousand miles per hour. Scott grimaced as he neared his destination. The last time he'd flown in this airspace he'd been caught in a self-sustaining gravity well that had nearly crushed his beautiful aircraft into the ground. And now the facility had some sort of breach on their hands…this place sure seemed to have it out for him.

A corporeal, non-holographic John nudged Scott gently from the co-pilot's seat. Alan had relieved the space monitor of his duties aboard Thunderbird Five a week ago, giving the second-eldest a well-deserved break from the high-intensity environment. While John didn't mind answering his share of distress calls, he had admitted it was nice to complete a few missions without constant concern for his oxygen supply.

"John, if this place has one more accident, we're shutting them down." Scott griped in reply. His grip tightened on the controls.

John clasped his hands behind his head. "Scott, easy. The Quantum Research Center is a leader in their field. They're bound to have some mishaps bringing in a new age of technology."

Scott narrowed his eyes."They're bound for a GDF citation if I have anything to say about it." That earned a snicker from John, who tried and failed to compose himself as Alan's translucent image projected from the console.

"Hey, who forgot to invite me to the party?" the blonde inquired lightly as he slid holo-maps of the building layout to their wrist communicators. "I'm all by myself up here and—"

"Correction. I am here. As I am hardwired into every forseeable function of this station, I am, in effect, everywhere. You are never alone."

Alan suppressed a shiver. "Joooohhhhhnnnnnn, EOS is SO CREEPY! Did you happen to include a mute button when you created her?"

"Allllaaaannnnnn," John chided, shaking his head. "EOS is a sentient artificial intelligence. I may have crafted the basis for her existence, but she developed her own personality. Give her a chance. It simpy takes her awhile to warm up to people; just ask Ridley O'Bannon. I'm sure you and EOS will soon get along famously." A sleek, metallic probe – Scott recognized the machinery as EOS's eye lens – crowded Alan's view and pushed the blonde to the side. The AI ignored the youngest Tracy's yelp of annoyance.

"John. Help me."

"EOS. I warned you Alan would be your new colleague for a couple weeks."

"I do not like Replacement John."

"He's not so bad."

"Replacement John does not play chess."

"So? Play another game with him, then. You like games."

"I take rudimentary pleasure from expanding my logical abilities and processing complex equations. I do not see the point in the extermination of zombies, which is neither compelling nor realistic."

Scott watched with a hint of amusement as Alan seemed to wrench back control of the screen, only for EOS to slide sneakily behind the blonde's shoulder. "Ugh, FINALLY. She's such a pain, John. Would it be possible to, like, shut her off temporarily? Just a couple minutes at a time?"

EOS's eye glowed red.

"REPLACEMENT JOHN HAS ISSUED A THREAT OF TERMINATION. PROTOCOL DICTATES IMMEDIATE NEUTRALIZATION."

Scott banked to the left as John raised his hands in a placating manner. "Alright, enough, you two. Learn to get along. That's an order. Understood, EOS?"

She emitted a whirring sound that resembled a petulant scoff. "Affirmative, John."

Alan ducked his head, hoping to sneak away unnoticed, but John was faster. "Alan?"

"Okay, fine. But she started it."

Scott eased the thrusters, decreasing his speed well in advance before the research center came into view. The aircraft maintained a steady descent as he commed Brains and Gordon, allowing for audio only. "Thunderbird One to Q.R.C. Commencing landing sequence. How's the situation holding up down there?"

Brains answered quickly, slightly breathless. "Stable, for n-now. But it won't take long b-before it eats everything in its path. And I m-mean everything."

"That sounds…ominous."

"Well, you c-can't spell 'bacteria' without IR."

"Bacteria? I thought we were dealing with some kind of chemical spill."

"It's…complicated. M-Moffie can explain it b-better in person."

"FAB. See you in a few." Scott ended the connection and lowered the landing skis. He expertly manuevered around the snowy terrain and guided his aircraft into a horizontal landing position a safe distance away from the main building. The sleek architecture and recently repaired roof revealed nothing of the danger that lurked within its walls. Scott scanned the grounds more closely as he and John exited the Thunderbird. The World's Water Symposium had been a success, if the massive crowd was any indication. Gordon had been especially excited for this event and had even pitched a few ideas regarding water decontamination to Professor Moffat, which was why he and Brains arrived early this morning. In fact, the aquanaut and resident engineer had traveled here back and forth for the last couple of weeks, assisting Q.R.C. in spearheading a project to purify polluted water. That project should have been the cornerstone of the entire conference. Which begged the question – what happened to the test solution and why? Was the containment breach a simple accident? Or sabotage?

Security was busy directing employees and guests alike out of the building's multiple entrances. Scott was pleased to see the officers were keeping potential spectators at bay by guiding traffic out of the underground parking garages and enforcing a strict perimeter. Curious bystanders who ventured too close to rescue operations more often than not needed rescue themselves.

John took the lead, holo-map glowing from his wrist communicator, and threaded his way past the entrance and into the main foyer. From there, the two descended an industrial staircase and emerged three floors below ground level. The air chilled considerably as they stepped through a pair of automatic doors and into a stainless steel, white-walled environment. The sterile room screamed 'mad scientist'.

John looked impressed. "State-of-the-art equipment. Some of this even rivals Brains' technology! Well, well. Makes you wonder what else they're working on down here." Scott released an irritable sigh.

"I honestly don't care. Right now they'd better be working on a way to control that breach, or a failed science project will be the least of their problems."

John shook his head and chuckled. Scott would go to the grave before admitting he'd been scared that Gordon or Brains had somehow been injured when Q.R.C. had first contacted them for assistance. His anger had tempered somewhat during the flight when Gordon commed in and assured that everyone was okay, but it would take more than words to convince Scott of their wellbeing. "Touché." The brothers crossed the evacuated laboratory and set a brisk pace toward their rendezvous point.

Another set of double doors led to the main hub of the floor, which included a large central work station with an accompanying holo-screen. Gordon, Brains and Professor Moffat waved the two eldest brothers over as they surveyed a slew of numbers skittering across the monitor. John paused beside Moffat and Brains to examine the scrolling data, which looked so complicated it may as well have been in a foreign language. Scott decided to leave the deciphering to the experts and nodded at Gordon; who, true to his word, appeared unharmed.

"Looks like the Symposium's been exciting so far."

The blonde looked slightly shaken, but his humor remained intact. "I should've know Brains was lying when he called this place a giant theme park of science. Don't get me wrong, the three hour lecture about the evolution of water treatment was riveting, but in my opinion the hors d'oeuvres were a little stale."

"What happened?"

"Well, I don't think they were baked long enough. It takes a practiced hand to melt the cheese to perfection—"

"Gordon."

The younger brother shrugged. "I was waiting for the main event in the lecture hall with everyone else when Professor Moffat showed up and ordered the evacuation."

"Main event?"

"Yeah. The Q.R.C. developed some sort of smart water that devours everything around it. They were supposed to showcase it today."

"They what?!"

"I-It's not quite that simple, Gordon." Brains said decisively. He brought up an adjacent holo-screen depicting…something. Something moving. It appeared to be worms? Spores? The bacteria mentioned earlier? Scott looked at Brains questioningly. "M-Moffy and her team have been w-working on a way to reduce water pollution in the Arve and R-Rhône rivers near Geneva. Their research has been m-most fascinating."

"Oh, Hiram!" Moffat blushed deeply and she beamed at Brains. He adjusted his glasses self-consciously.

Gordon caught Scott's eye and grinned. "They've been like this all day. Hence me sitting in a lecture hall by myself and eating away my loneliness."

"I-It's true, Moffy. This is g-groundbreaking science."

She sighed. "Possibly. But unfortunately it's flawed. And now it may very well be irreversible."

Scott's patience was coming to an end. He felt like they were talking in circles. "Hungry water? Pollution? What are we even dealing with, exactly?"

Moffat pointed to the holo-screen Brains had produced. "Synthetic micro-organisms. We created them for the sole purpose of eating away non-organic matter introduced to the environment. Namely, man-made trash contaminating our local waters."

"That doesn't sound bad," John mused from behind the monitors.

"The artificial bacteria have grown aggressive. We had intended this batch to target a specific pollutant but they've built on their programming faster than we anticipated. Yesterday, they could barely disintegrate a plastic bag. This morning, they managed to eat through their containment tanks."

"That sounds very bad," John amended. He paused and mulled over this new information. "But I don't see how International Rescue can be of any help. All employees and guests not involved in this project are being evacuated." He indicated the monitor with a gloved hand. "These readings indicate safety protocols have minimized the risk of bacteria transference. And I'm assuming a fail-safe has already been activated?"

The raven-haired professor nodded. "We were able to render the bacteria inactive. This was possible because they were constructed for our cold Geneva waters, so they're susceptible to extremely high water temperatures. They won't remain dormant for much longer, however." She glanced back at the screen displaying the engineered organisms and sighed. "The tanks are embedded inside our newly installed e-quarium system, which the bacteria escaped to after the breach occurred."

Gordon's eyes lit up in excitement. "WHOA, you built an e-quarium? Here?" He proceeded to do a happy dance then looked at Brains accusingly. "I sat through three hours of boredom and the entire time an e-quarium was right under my feet!"

Scott felt at a loss again. "Back up. Isn't it pronounced 'aquarium'?"

"G-Gordon's right, Scott. E-quarium. Sh-short for 'ecological aquarium'. It creates an optimum environment for natural growth of p-plants and organisms within a m-marine ecosystem."

John whistled in awe. "So this e-quarium was built to test the effects of water pollution in a structured setting while measuring the success rate of the bacteria…not a small feat."

Moffat caught Brains' eye and her blush deepened. "None of which would have been possible without my team and Professor Langley's backing. But the project might still be viable, with your help."

The brothers all spoke at once, but only John's professional tone, honed from receiving thousands of calls, cut through the din. "Of course. What kind of assistance do you require, Professor?"

"It looks like a rescue is in order."