I don't own Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. The Gerry Anderson estate does.
I have started writing a series of one-shots about different episodes, I hope you enjoy them.
Enjoy.
After the Unitron.
The admin assistants, officers and staff at SHEF knew when the Supreme Commander was in a good mood or not, and this was one of those times where he was best avoided. Only three days ago, the Mysterons had announced their grand plan to kill him in their next step in their war of nerves.
Some of the circumstances were buried automatically, although the Supreme Commander personally was planning on retracting the order to classify the assassination efforts of the Mysterons, and it was rumoured Major Brooks and Colonel Storm had both gone mad and they had both tried to assassinate the Supreme Commander.
The truth was much worse than that, but the Supreme Commander needed to properly think things through before he set the record straight, but he was close to announcing the true story.
Shortly after the assassination attempts on his life, the Supreme Commander had ordered an immediate investigation into what happened to his personal assistant and one of his top advisors. The World Commander wanted to know more about the Mysterons besides what Spectrum knew and he wanted to prepare the defence and attack organisations under his control for what was out there right now. The whole story was even more fantastic and sinister than the Supreme Commander expected, and he had learnt from Captain Blue about what the Mysterons did and what had happened to Brooks after he'd blown himself up.
Both Major Brooks and Colonel Storm had died 24 hours before both events. They were killed in a collision with a methane truck in the Grand Catskill tunnel, likely organised and carried out by the Mysterons somehow, if they hadn't done something to kill two men and use their copies as pawns, he would be very surprised. While accidents in that tunnel were rare since the tunnel was only allowed one-way traffic, it would be pathetically simple to arrange for a collision inside.
But the Supreme Commander shuddered as he once more wondered about the Mysterons' strange powers; the fact they were able to effortlessly duplicate both men, and send them out into the world to kill him…
He had seen the copies of his assistant and his advisor, one of them had transformed into a walking, talking bomb while the other was a walking homing device and he had come close to dying twice. He would have been blown to bits if Captain Scarlet hadn't saved his life, and he would have been killed by the Unitron after Storm somehow reprogrammed it to home in and attack a signal Storm's body was broadcasting if Scarlet hadn't ejected them out of the SPV.
Alright, granted, he should have been concerned earlier; Storm had been behaving oddly when he and Captain Blue had entered the Point 783 command post, pointing that automatic pistol at him - he hadn't said anything about it because it was nothing to be concerned about. But other points of notice were Storm's attitude towards Spectrum; it verged almost on subtle disdain, bordering on hatred before it turned into an outright threat when he shot Captain Scarlet in the chest.
The Supreme Commander paused as the thought of the brave man filled his mind. He just did not understand Spectrum. Yes, he was beyond grateful for their help and he was thankful he hadn't become a victim of the Mysterons as those they had murdered because the Mysterons saw them as disposable assassins like the way they had deliberately destroyed a large aeroplane and turned it into a weapon to kill the Director-General of the United Asian Republic, but he did not understand how they could be so callous and irresponsible when it came to Captain Scarlet.
He had been shot three times in the chest and he had been barely breathing when the Supreme Commander got out of his seat the moment it landed, and he'd rushed towards the Spectrum officer. The Supreme Commander had promised to get the man to a hospital as soon as he could, but Spectrum had gotten in the way.
For 3 hours Spectrum had denied his requests for Scarlet to be rushed to a hospital, and he just did not understand why. But there was something about it that intrigued him now he was much calmer enough to process it now it was all over.
Captain Blue had said there were 'special circumstances' surrounding Captain Scarlet; at the time the Supreme Commander had been angry and outraged to properly listen to the Spectrum officer, and he had a right to be. The man had saved his life, sacrificing his own so he could live while they were both being held at gunpoint within the SPV by Storm, and Spectrum had wasted 3 hours taking him away when he could have been raced to a military hospital in just 10 minutes.
But Captain Blue and Colonel White, who had been as tightlipped as Blue had been, had both said the same thing. Captain Scarlet would live and he would continue to live, but at the same time, he didn't like the thought of the man being a weapon against the Mysterons.
The Supreme Commander also didn't understand how the man could still be alive; he had seen Storm shoot him, and yet Spectrum seemed sure he was going to live.
He had used his influence as the Supreme Commander of Earth forces to put a lot of pressure on Spectrum - while SHEF didn't have direct authority over the relatively new organisation as they did with the World Security Patrol and its umbrella organisations, such as the World Space Patrol, or the World Aquanaut Security Patrol, SHEF still had a lot of influence within Spectrum, and it was formidable - to give him answers.
But he didn't know if it would do much good.
The intercom went off. "Yes?"
"I have Colonel White and Captain Scarlet to see you, Supreme Commander," his secretary said.
What? "I'm sorry, did you just say Captain Scarlet?"
"Yes, sir," his secretary replied uncertainly.
"Please let them in," the Supreme Commander readied his gun in case this was some kind of Mysteron trap, but when the door opened admitting Colonel White and Captain Scarlet, he gasped. Captain Scarlet had been shot three times but he appeared as healthy and robust as he had been before.
"How is this possible?" The moment the question was out of his mouth, the Supreme Commander could not help but wince. That was the worst opening ever.
"Hello, sir," Captain Scarlet greeted.
"How-? Why? What's going on?" He directed the question towards Colonel White.
"When you directed those complaints and questions to Spectrum, it was decided to inform you of the truth, sir," Colonel White spoke in his usual dignified manner.
"What truth is that?"
The two Spectrum officers looked at each other. "This is…complicated," Colonel White began, "and it's classified; it's known to Spectrum personnel and its kept secret from non-Spectrum personnel, but we have decided to let you know as the Supreme Commander of Earth's forces as an exception."
The Supreme Commander instantly stiffened. Classified information was not to be underestimated and its release could be the difference between life and death. The fewer people who knew about it, the better. Whatever they were going to tell him was so important that its truth could be fatal in the wrong hands.
"I understand, and I assure you I don't plan on revealing anything," he replied, wishing he could thank Scarlet for saving his life twice, but he was unsure of how to do it with his surprise the man was here alive and unhurt. He didn't even seem to be wincing with any movement he made….
But what he heard was surprising and made him wonder if the two men were there or if he was living in a parallel world.
"I'm indestructible," Scarlet told him.
"What?" The Supreme Commander was wondering what was going on.
"It's true, sir," Colonel White clearly took his surprise as disbelief. "Captain Scarlet is indestructible. He is not a clone or a robot. He is still the same man he was when you two met."
"But the whole thing sounds incredible and impossible," the Supreme Commander decided to go with the flow and if he felt it was necessary he would have the two men sent to a psychiatric ward. But Scarlet was here. He seemed okay to him.
Scarlet let out a dark chuckle. "Believe me, sir. I know how you feel. I was the same when I heard it for the first time."
So he hadn't always been like this? What was he, some kind of genetic experiment?
"So how are you still alive? I saw you shot in the chest 3 times, so how do you explain that?"
Colonel White sighed. This was going to be a long meeting. "Shortly after the Zero X mission to Mars, which resulted in the Mysterons declaring war on us after the accidental destruction of their complex, they declared their first step was to assassinate the World President."
"I remember that," the Supreme Commander clicked his fingers as the memory surfaced in his mind. "Spectrum took over his security, but it was compromised somehow, wasn't it?"
"In a way; we had little knowledge of the Mysterons powers and what they could do, but after the way, they declared war on us and demonstrated their power of matter we took the threat seriously, but the Mysterons had help," Captain Scarlet said.
"Help? Do you mean they killed and copied two people? Who?" The Supreme Commander jumped to the most logical conclusion. But he was startled by the reply.
"They killed me and another Spectrum officer, Captain Brown," Captain Scarlet replied, his expression dark as he remembered the whole mess, as far as he could.
When the news settled into his mind, the Supreme Commander stiffened, remembering only too well how Brooks and Storm both tried separately to kill him. He didn't realise until a minute had passed that his hand was reaching for his gun, but then rational reason passed into his mind. Why would the two men be telling him this if Colonel White didn't seem worried by being with Scarlet?
"What did you say?"
Scarlet sighed. "I was driving with Captain Brown, we were talking about the protection of the World President and the threat of the Mysterons when something happened to one of the rear tires of the car. We were driving pretty near a ravine, and we went over the edge before the car exploded. I can just remember the heat of the flames, but the rest of the whole mess is still blanked from my memory, but from what I heard afterwards after Captain Brown tried to kill the President in an identical way to what Brooks tried to do with you, my Mysteron copy flew the President away, resulting in a chase to the London Car-View where I held him as a hostage."
The Supreme Commander just could not believe what he was hearing, but as he looked between the faces of the two Spectrum officers and saw just how serious the two men were, he knew they were both telling the truth.
"Captain Scarlet was cornered by the Angels and by Captain Blue, and it resulted in Scarlet being shot and he fell from the high height of the park," Colonel White took up the explanation. "When the body was recovered and identified, something happened which we still don't understand; some have voiced the theory that the Mysterons were still inexperienced when it came to duplicating humans since it has not happened again with any of the Mysterons we've encountered in the past. Captain Scarlet recovered and healed from his injuries."
"With a significant loss of memory," Scarlet shook his head as he ground his teeth visibly in frustration. "I must have tried to get into that memory a thousand times, but every time I try to remember my time under Mysteron control it never works."
"Maybe you should stop, Captain?" White suggested.
"Perhaps you're right, sir. But I get frustrated by the reminders I've gotten about the whole mess and not being able to recall anything."
"I guess that's understandable, gentlemen, but that still doesn't explain how Captain Scarlet is indestructible," the Supreme Commander interrupted.
"Captain Blue told me you'd been given a quick talk about the Mysterons powers of retro-metabolism, so you know they can duplicate a person or an object for their own use, yes?" Scarlet said.
"I remember."
"Yes, well retro-metabolism in my case means I can't be killed or injured. Apparently, during the episode where the Mysterons took control of my body, I died twice. Now I didn't believe it, of course since I didn't have a scar, but from what Dr Fawn, the doctor on Cloudbase told me, it's another power of the Mysterons. A bullet could make me bleed, and while I would and still do experience pain, I would recover as if nothing happened," Scarlet grimaced as he described the example. He clearly disliked what had happened to him. Well, the Supreme Commander could understand and even sympathise with him for that.
"And that strange sixth sense of yours?"
"My…sixth sense, sir?" Scarlet looked at him quizzically.
"You appeared dizzy and sick when we were in SHEF before Brooks exploded. Was that another side effect?"
Scarlet quickly realised what he was describing and he nodded. "Oh that. Yes, that's another side effect alright; it only happens rarely since I have come across Mysterons disguised as humans and objects and I haven't reacted like that, but when I have experienced it I suddenly go dizzy and my head feels like it is going to split in two. I still don't know why it rarely comes on, but when it does I've learnt to be more alert."
"I remember one of Captain Blue's reports; didn't it first happen when the Director-General of the United Asian Republic was being threatened?" Colonel White asked.
"Yes, that's right. It came on when an aircraft was landing, but at the time I didn't know enough about what had happened to me, but if I had known what it meant, I would have done something about it," Scarlet replied.
By now the Supreme Commander had learnt and heard enough of the story to now make a judgement. "So, there was no danger to you after you were shot?"
"No, sir, but believe me I do appreciate what you tried to do."
The Supreme Commander smiled. "I'm just happy you are alright, Captain," he said, respect in his voice. "Don't worry, I don't plan on revealing any of this to anybody. At the same time, I hope you and the rest of Spectrum keep the world safe, with the aid and the resources of SHEF. I have made up my mind; I want SHEF to help Spectrum in any way we can."
"Believe us, sir, it would be good to have help," Colonel White replied with a grateful smile.
The three men talked for an hour more, but when it was over the Supreme Commander and Colonel White left together with a new understanding and a level of respect. As he watched the two men leave, the Supreme Commander felt sure they would win.