Shadow to Tracy Island, come in John." Jeff said.
"Thunderbird Shadow, what's your ETA?" John asked.
"Three minutes, where are the boys in 2?" Jeff asked.
"On their way now, they seem to have gotten through to this Mechanic, he offered to help us." John said.
"Can we trust him?" Jeff frowned.
"We'll find out. Scott says they're heading to Thunderbird 4's location first, the Mechanic claims he can disarm her safely so they can pick her up." John said.
"I hope he stays true to that." Jeff sighed. "I'm picking up the submarine on my radar, but I'm only picking up two lifesigns on it."
"There's no way the Hood would be alone with Gordon, if Gordon is in there then he will be with Mullion." John said. "Hold up, I'm picking up another ship in your vicinity."
"I'm seeing another ship in my vicinity." Jeff replied. He watched as a a large aircraft drifted down from the clouds, stopping a few hundred meters above the ocean, where the waves were being stirred up violently by the powerful engines. Jeff pressed a button on his console. "Activing stealth mode."
"Uh what's stealth mode?" John asked.
"An invisible Thunderbird, son." Jeff chuckled.
"Literally?" John asked.
"In-indeed John." Brains chuckled.
"Why doesn't 5 have that?" John whined..
"Do you even need it?" Jeff asked.
"If it stops me getting struck by missiles and blown to pieces, yeah." John retorted. On taking in Jeff's and everyone else's silence, he spoke again. "Too soon?"
"M-much." Fermat replied, smiling sheepishly.
"The ship's picking up the submarine with a magnetic cable. Any news on 2 and 4?" Jeff asked.
"Not yet- wait, yes. Scott, patching you all in with Dad." John said.
"Scott, update." Jeff said.
"We found 4, the Mechanic managed to disarm her, Alan was right about the explosives wired to her. Virgil just picked her up and now we're on our way to you." Scott said.
"ETA eight minutes." Virgil announced.
"Make it six son, this aircraft isn't going to hang around for long. Anything from Alan and Tin-Tin yet?"
Silence in all the channels. Jeff sighed, hoping it would all be worth it for Alan to give them all grey hairs before their due time.
"Pushing engines to the maximum, six minutes it is." Virgil said, understanding all too well how precious time was right now.
"FAB." Jeff replied.
John suddenly let out a bark of laughter, startling everyone. "Dad look out your right window!"
Lo and behold, FAB1 was flying alonside Thunderbird Shadow, also in her own stealth mode. Lady Penelope was always one step ahead, having already arranged for Thunderbird Shadow to show up on her onboard radar even in stealth mode.
"FAB1 to Thunderbird Shadow, it's lovely to see you Jeff." Lady P greeted, radiant as ever.
"The sentiment is shared, is everything going according to plan?" Jeff asked.
"More than satisfactory, Jeff. Gordon is in that shady looking craft there, Parker and I will slip in and find him." Lady P said.
"FAB, welcome back Lady Penelope." Jeff said.
"Lady Penelope, Alan and Tin-Tin?" John asked.
"On their way." Lady P said vaguely. She looked around at the sound of another engine approaching, to see TB2 fly overhead.
"Hey Dad, I know you're here somewhere, can you show yourselves so we don't crash into you?" Virgil laughed nervously.
Jeff let out hearty laughter. "You just flew right over us, you're fine son."
"Opening a channel for Thunderbird 1 to listen in as well. Listen carefully everyone." John said, being met with sudden silence. "Our mission is to find Gordon and get him out of there. Lady Penelope and Parker will find them, board the aircraft while 2 distracts them. Dad, they don't know you're there and with luck, they don't know about Shadow, standby until we absolutely need you. My next message is for the Mechanic; I know you left your confort zone to help us and we are all extremely grateful for that. You and Virgil will board the aircraft as soon as Scott can fly you near enough, your mission is to locate the Hood and report back with his whereabouts. Do not engage under any circumstance. This next message is to Alan and Tin-Tin; I'm not entirely sure what you're planning out there but I trust you with all my heart. We all do. Do what you need to do, keep in touch with us, and stay safe. Everyone keep your comms open at all times. Brief finished."
"FAB John, you all know your missions." Jeff said. In TB2, Virgil switched main controls to Scott while he got out of his seat to put on the Jaws of Life.
The Mechanic watched in silence, contemplating the astronaut's words. Do not engage with the Hood. Was he distrustful or simply careful? The Mechanic couldn't tell, but John sounded genuine in his concerns. He would go along for now.
Parker made his move, flying towards the aircraft and attempting to locate a passageway. He soon found a ramp that had been left open after retrieving the submarine, and drove in.
"Left it open? How shoddy." Parker tutted as he parked up and opened the passenger door for Lady P to exit.
"At least it worked in our favour, Parker. Now let's find Gordon." She said, looking around the submarine hold. By the time they arrived, the occupants of the sub had left, so in such a large ship, Gordon could be anywhere.
"If I were the 'ood, where would I put my 'ostage?" Parker wondered.
"Must you think out loud?" Lady P smirked, more than comfortable with Parker's strange grumblings anyway, having hired him knowing full well of his past. "We had best start from the bottom, the Hood has more pressing things to worry about than keeping Gordon in his sights, so the chances are high that Gordon will be in the cargo hold."
"Very good M'Lady." Parker said, leading the way. John smirked from behind the scenes, loving the relationship between Lady P and Parker.
"Virgil, Mechanic, get ready to jump." Scott said as he flew the ship in a sharp bank towards the deck of the large aircraft that seems to be a runway for other aircrafts.
"Jump together." Virgil said, taking hold of the Mechanics shirt with no resistance from the other man.
"Three... two... one." The Mechanic counted, and they jumped together. Landing safety thanks to the Jaws of Life, the two ran into the building and into shelter before they could be spotted by anyone on board.
Scott sharply pulled away to regain a safe distance. "Drop off successful. Standing by for new orders John."
"Wait for word from Lady Penelope." John said.
"FAB." Scott said, though he couldn't help but look out to the skies for his blue ship.
"The waters below are pretty choppy right now." Jeff said, glancing out the windows as he grit his teeth trying to hold onto the jet.
"The air currents from the craft are causing issues, Scott, you okay?" John said.
"I'm fine, 2 is heavy enough to withstand it out here but I wouldn't say the same about flying under it." Scott said.
"God forbid you don't have to then."John said. They could all hear the grin in his voice.
"Virgil here. We're approaching the main stucture, we haven't seen anyone so far which has me more than a little bit uneasy." Virgil said quietly.
"This aircraft is designed to work with very few crew members, the maximum needed is twentytwo, most of which you will find maintaining the engines on the corners of the craft, the rest being the pilots and our targets." The Mechanic explained.
"Even so, exersize caution, we don't know yet if they noticed your infiltration. Same for you Lady Penelope." Jeff said. He was met with silence from her. "Uhh Penny?"
"Sorry about that Jeff, what were you saying?" She asked, sounded slightly out of breath as they could hear Parker taking out multiple people in the background.
"Uhh nothing apparently. Carry on." Jeff chuckled, expecting nothing less. "Mechanic, how sure are you that the Hood is in the pilot's room?"
"Almost certain." The Mechanic replied.
"Great, then rendez-vous with Penelope and concerntrate on finding Gordon." Jeff said.
"Wait Dad, what if Gordon is with the Hood?" Virgil protested.
"He won't be, I'm almost certain as well." John said. "The Hood took Gordon for reasons we don't know of yet but he didn't require 4 which means Gordon is just collateral damage meant to alarm us and keep us at bay. I genuinely do not believe the Hood cares about keeping Gordon around any more now that we are here so Gordon will be somewhere where they can dispose of him quickly."
"You think they would have used him to force us to hand over the Thunderbirds, that's what he wanted right?" Scott asked.
"Yes, initially. Now I think he's grown past wanting the ships and now instead wanting to cause pain to our family. He armed Thunderbird 4 believing we would find it and get blown up trying to access it." John replied.
"Damn that guy. Damn. That. Guy." Scott said.
"Scott." Jeff warned. He addressed Virgil again. "Virgil, go to Lady Penelope now."
"FAB Dad." Virgil said, beckoning to the Mechanic to follow, which he reluctantly did.
When Virgil got to the cargo hold, he didn't quite expect to see Parker and Lady P taking on about a dozen men with guns and knives. He was bodily shoved to the ground by the Mechanic, to narrowly avoid getting shot.
"Thanks." Virgil said and the Mechanic pulled him to his feet.
"A promise is a promise. I save your life, you give me back mine." He replied.
"Let's help them." Virgil said, jumping over a railing on to the lower decks to join the fight. He shed his exosuit to avoid hurting the men too much, he was still a rescue operative on a mission, so hurting people went against what he stood for.
The Mechanic, not so much. His feelings for the Hood were strong and he definitely took it out on these guys, Virgil winced, feeling sorry for them.
"Virgil, no sign yet." Lady P said, running to him and leaning her back against his.
"He has to be here somewhere! Cover me?" Virgil asked.
"Did you really need to ask?" Lady P smiled as she followed Virgil in his search for Gordon, taking down anyone who got in their way.
"What is he doing?" Lady P asked as she spotted a man on the upper decks operating a claw and picking up a shipping container, which he sent flying in their direction. The container landed roughtly on a runway and Virgil felt his heart stop cold as the man opened the floor and let the container fall out into the open sea.
"Scott, grab that container! I think we found Gordon! Get it out the water, now!" Virgil shouted into the comms, his voice heavy with stress and emotion that filled everyone with dread. He ran over to his exosuit to protect himself against the claw that was now free and aiming to crush him and the others.
"FAB!" Scott replied, shaking as he flew underneath the craft, cursing John for that joke he make earlier. "It's sinking! Deploying magnetic line."
The line shot into the water and made contact with the target, and Scott used all his strenth to try and pull it out the water, with no success thanks to the violent waves beginning to pull him in.
"We have a situation." Scott groaned, losing control of TB2.