Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing! Thank you, also, to the silent readers! Sorry for the delay!

Joshua (Guest): Kayo was captured and you will see what happened to Penny and Parker. Now, on with the chapter:

LUCIAN BASE, MARS

Not quite the same time...

The doors opened with a hiss. Kayo, under the Mechanic's grip, walked into the room, and the doors closed behind them with a hiss. She brought her hands up to block out the glaring light. Once her eyes adjusted to the light, Kayo lowered her hands and looked around. On the left side of the room, Kayo saw a row of twelve transparent tubes. Inside each of them was a person. Some were male, some were female. One female looked like she was around the same age as Kayo. They had their eyes closed and were standing absolutely still, like they were frozen in place. The people almost looked unreal, almost like they were life-sized dolls. But at the same time, they looked real and about to wake up. "What's going on here?" she murmured in surprise.

"Experiments," grunted the Mechanic. Kayo sensed him look at her, then he guided her over to the right side of the room. Kayo saw on the right side was twelve other transparent tubes with people in them. They were in the same condition as the other ones. Though, she suddenly noticed not all the tubes had people in them. Three of them were empty.

"What's with the empty ones?" she asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

"They won't be empty for long," the Mechanic commented, avoiding her question. Her mind puzzling over his cryptic comment, she looked at the other tubes, at the other people. Kayo's eyes settled on three of the tubes, which were side by side. She gasped. What? How is this even possible? The Mechanic silently led her over to those tubes. She placed her hands against the middle tube, the transparent glass feeling cold and smooth under her touch. She stared at his features, his eyes closed, frozen in place.

The Hood.

He looked lifeless, yet at the same time, looked like he was about to wake up. Kayo shook her head in confusion. She looked at the tubes directly to his right and left – at Fuse and Havok. "I-I don't understand," she said. "How did they get here?"

A memory than flashed before her eyes.

One of an aircraft that had looked just like the Millennium Falcon suddenly materialising in Trafalgar Square and a beam of light zapping the Hood up. She remembered three other beams of light flashing out of the craft before it just disappeared into thin air.

So that's how they got here, she realised, looking at Fuse and Havok. They were taken here. But she still had no idea where here was. Kayo then noticed something protruding out of the sides of her uncle's bald head. Even from his scalp. Taking a closer look, she realised that it wires were snaking out of the Hood's head. She craned her head to see where the wires went. The wires were connected to some sort of machine at the top of the tube. She frowned, and looked Fuse and Havok, rubbing a sore spot on her neck. There was wires coming out of their heads and were connecting them to the same strange machine at the top of the tube. "What's that?" she asked, pointing at the machine.

"It's a type of drip feed. How else are they going to survive in there?" the Mechanic replied. Kayo slowly looked around at everyone else in the other tubes. She had not noticed it before, but she noticed it now. Wires were snaking out of everyone's heads, connecting them to the drip feed. "What's it for?" she asked, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.

"I told you. Experiments," the Mechanic answered. Her stomach did a flip, and she felt she was going to throw up. The Mechanic sensed this and guided her out of the room, where he let her take a few deep breaths to steady her stomach. What the hell kinda' experiment is that? What's going on? She did not ask any more questions – Kayo knew the Mechanic was not going to tell her anything.

Once she had calmed her stomach down, Kayo and the Mechanic went down the aisle and were about to turn a corner, when Kayo happened to glance through a permaglass window. She immediately kicked the Mechanic behind the knee. He groaned, his grip on her shoulder loosening. She used that moment to wriggle free and run over to the permaglass window. Her green eyes looked around the room, trying to spot what she had seen before. She looked at all the people standing infront of all the computer screens. Then she spotted it. On one of the big screens was an image of Thunderbird 5 orbiting earth. Suddenly, the picture zoomed in on TB5's claw. It was pinning down something against TB5, something...

John!

She heard the Mechanic swearing and saying profanities as he came over to her. But she could only focus on John, who was struggling against the claw. Why is he being pinned against Thunderbird 5? Why isn't EOS helping him? Kayo then heard a voice speaking.

"5..."

That's... "EOS?"

"4..."

What's she counting down to? What's going on?

"3..."

"2..."

Kayo saw John panicing.

"1..."

"0."

To her horror, she watched as Thunderbird 5 blew up. "No." There was nothing left except small pieces of floating space debris. She frantically searched the image for signs of John. He had to be alive. But there was nothing. "No, no, no!" Everything swirled around her and her legs felt like they were going to collapse. She leaned against the permaglass window to steady herself. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

John.

She felt like she could not breathe. She felt she had been punched in the gut. She gasped for air. This can't be happening! "Come on!" She heard the Mechanic growl as he yanked her to her feet and began dragging her away. Grief turned to anger. She kicked at the Mechanic and squirmed, trying to break free.

Her anger dissipated and despair filled her heart. There was no way that John could have gotten away. Kayo began to uncontrollably weep. She felt as if a part of her heart had been ripped out.

Through her tears, Kayo saw the Mechanic bring a needle to her arm. She felt a prick, then everything faded away.

5555555

The Mechanic, with Kayo slung over his shoulders, walked through the door and into the doctor's office. He laid her on a hospital bed, then straightened up and backed away so that the doctor could look at her. He crossed his arms across his chest and studied the doctor. Dr. Ling Ho had jet black hair, olive skin, and was 5'3". Dr. Ling Ho, with a gloved hand, pushed open Kayo's eyelid and shone a torch straight at her eyeball. He closed her eyelid and did the same with the other eye. After that, the Mechanic watched as Ling Ho inspected her mouth, and then the rest of her body. He briefly thought of Rae. He was glad that the boss had agreed to save her, but the Mechanic had not seen the need to save Penelope, Parker, and Sherbet, the annoying mutt. The Mechanic briefly wondered how Rae was going. He pushed her out of his mind. Before the Mechanic had went to get Kayo, the boss had finally explained why he had wanted the others saved. The Mechanic now understood.

Dr. Ling Ho straightened up, typed something on his iPad, then turned to the Mechanic. "She's fit and healthy. Good eyes, teeth, and figure. In a word, perfect. You may take her now," he reported, then immediately walked away. The Mechanic lifted Kayo, strode out of the room and back the way he had came.

The Mechanic went over to an empty tube and placed his thumb against the tube, which had a biometric scanner embedded in it. It scanned his thumb, and the tube descended into the floor. The Mechanic placed Kayo upright on the circular base of the tube and, sensing the weight, the tube ascended back up to the roof. Once the tube was back in place, the wires shot down out of the machine at the top and slapped themselves against Kayo's head. She was now frozen in place, and would not wake up until she was let out of the tube. Before walking out, the Mechanic looked at the other two empty tubes, which had been filled after he and Kayo had gone through. He looked at it's occupants.

He now knew why they were necessary. Clever plan, he mused. He looked around at all the tubes, now all full. He looked at each of the people. Such useful tools, he thought. He looked back at the other two. Especially you two, Lady Penelope and Parker. Especially you two.