THUNDERBIRD Shadow was flying along the West Coast of the United States. In the distance she could make out the skyline of Los Angeles. As she began to overfly the city, Kayo spoke into her radio. "Thunderbird S to Captain Liberty. Are you receiving me?"

"Kayo!" the cheerful voice answered over the radio. "Glad you could make it. Meet you on Hollywood Hill."

"F-A-B," said Kayo. "I'll be there in five minutes."

Captain Liberty smiled and nodded and his hologram disappeared.

Kayo then made contact with Thunderbird 5. "Thunderbird 5, I'm approaching LA. I probably won't be able to give any updates whilst I'm carrying out this mission so tell Mr Tracy I'll be back as soon as it's done."

"Understood, Thunderbird Shadow," said John. "Have you any idea what the mission might be?"

"No, but I have a hunch," said Kayo. "Captain Liberty reckons some of The Hood's Hoodlum gang are operating in the city. They're planning something big."

"Hmmm, quite a tall order for just the two of you," John remarked.

"You saying we can't handle it?"

"What? Er, no, I-"

Kayo laughed. "Oh, John, I'm just messing with you," she said sweetly.

John huffed in embarrassment. "That is not what I meant, Kayo," he said.

"I know," she said. "But I believe Captain Liberty isn't alone. He's got this, erm, Captain Thompson, I think with him."

"That's who Hayley's mentioned?" said John.

"Mmhmm."

"Ah, okay," said John. "That'll be interesting to see how you get on with her."

"I'm rather intrigued as well," said Kayo. "Anyway, I'd better go and-" She broke off and looked out of her cockpit.

"What is it, Kayo?" asked John.

"I'm flying level with the Highway on the outskirts of the city, John," said Kayo. "There's something strange going on. There's an Ambulance racing along."

"What's odd about that?"

"There's no lights going," said Kayo. "Also it appears to be covered in paint and…there's about twenty or more Police Cars behind it."

"Strange," remarked John. "I'll patch into the LAPD radio chatter and see what's going on." He did so and soon came back with a rather bone-chilling answer. "Good grief!"

"What is it?" asked Kayo.

John looked rather alarmed. "Thunderbird Shadow, you've just stumbled across a situation! That Ambulance has been hi-jacked!"


5!

4!

3!

2!

1!

"Thunderbirds Are Go!"


"FRIENDS & ENEMIES"

AMBULANCE 72 was in a tight situation. Having responded to help deal with potential victims in a bank heist on the outskirts of Los Angeles, things had taken an alarming turn when the leader of the gang - Danny Chapman, his brother Will and a third man by the name of Chris had hi-jacked the Ambulance after Will had been shot by a Police Officer. Having thrown the driver of the Ambulance out of the vehicle, Chris was now driving it whilst Danny was in the back with Will on a stretcher whilst holding EMT Cam Clarke hostage to force her to save his life whilst they tried to escape the Police.

"If he dies, you die!" Danny told her firmly.

Cam whimpered and quivered as she tried hard to save Will's life. Every so often, Danny would aim his machine-gun through the broken window of one of the Ambulance's back doors and started opening fire on the pursuing Police Cars.

By now they'd reached the Highway that ran around the edge of the main city and it seemed like half of the Police Department were chasing this one Ambulance. Cars, SUVs full of Armed Officers and at least two Helicopters, plus a News ones that was repeatedly being ordered to back off were on the scene.


Now Thunderbird Shadow was joining the chase, not that the Police knew about it. "Talk to me, John," said Kayo. "What can I do to help?"

"I'll contact the Chief of Police and offer our assistance," said John.

"I doubt they'll want us involved," said Kayo.

"It's worth a shot," said John. "International Rescue to L.A.P.D."

The Chief of Police answered surprisingly quickly. "Er…go ahead, International Rescue?"

"Chief, we've come across the pursuit your officers are making on the Highway outside the city with an Ambulance. Is there anything we can do to assist?"

Kayo wasn't remotely surprised by the Chief's gruff response.

"No, International Rescue. This is a Police matter. The man behind this is someone we've wanted to put away for a long time. Do not interfere!" and with that he ended the call.

"Told you," said Kayo.

John sighed. "Then I guess we'll have to leave them to it," he said.

But Kayo's stubbornness took over. "Not a chance, John," she said. "There's a woman in danger inside that Ambulance, and my job is rescue. I'm not gonna let them harm her."

"But if the Police won't let us help," John began, "then how can-"

"Leave that to me," Kayo said with a smile. "They might not listen to us, but I know exactly who they will listen to."


The Ambulance continued to race along the Highway, weaving in and out of other vehicles that were forced to move aside. Chris had finally found the siren which caused the traffic to part, thinking it was on the way to an emergency, only to be shocked at the large number of Police vehicles chasing after it.

The Chief of Police was in one of the vehicles. The lead vehicle of the chase in fact. His vehicle had taken several bullet hits from Danny's weapon but due to its tough construction it was still going. Even the windshield was still intact. "Close the gap!" he ordered. "We need to surround that Ambulance and bring it to a stop!"

Then a message came over the radio. "Control to Chief. We've received an instruction from the Global Defence Force. You're all ordered to back off from the Ambulance and let International Rescue take over."

"What?! NO WAY!" the Chief bellowed into the radio microphone. "I'VE WANTED TO TAKE DOWN CHAPMAN FOR YEARS! I'M NOT LETTING THEM TAKE MY GLORY!"

"Sorry, sir," said the dispatcher. "But this order has come from the top." Her voice had trailed off in anticipation of the Chief's response.

The Chief's response was the curse loudly before issuing an instruction that surprised all the other officers involved in the chase. "Pull back! Repeat - pull back! Keep your distance from the Ambulance." He then finished with an extremely bitter tone in his voice. "International Rescue and the GDF are taking over." He then slammed the microphone back on the dashboard and continued to curse under his breath.

From her position in Thunderbird Shadow's cockpit, Kayo saw the Police vehicles start to lower their speed and allow the Ambulance to race away from them. "Ha! I knew that would work," she remarked. "Now, let's stop them in their tracks."


Danny pointed his weapon through the rear window of the Ambulance to fire another round at the Police. But he did not pull the trigger this time because he had noticed something strange. "They're backing off…" he said out loud. "Why are they backing off?"

Chris, at the controls of the Ambulance, glanced in the wing mirror. "Ha-ha!" he said with delight. "They're giving up! YEAH, BABY! HA-HA!"

Cam felt like she was going to throw up. Surely the Police weren't going to leave her in the hands of her captors?

"WHY HAVE YOU STOPPED?!" Danny bellowed at her, pointing the nozzle of the gun at the back of her head and causing her to tremble. "SAVE…MY…BROTHER!"

"I'M TRYING, DAMN IT!" Cam shouted back. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Danny swore to himself as he went back to the window to look at the Police now at least half a mile behind them. "They're up to something," he said. "They wouldn't have done this unless they had something planned."

THUD! Everyone except the critically injured Will jumped. Something had just landed on the top of the Ambulance.

"What the hell was that?!" exclaimed Cam.

"I think something just hit the roof," said Danny.

Chris turned his attention back to the road. Then came another THUD and Chris cried out in alarm at the sight of a woman in a blue armoured suit having dropped down from the top of the Ambulance and was now in an action pose on the hood. His shriek made Cam and Danny look. None of them did anything except stare in disbelief at the sight.

"Hiya!" said Kayo, before using her nanosuit's power to punch through the Ambulance's windshield, grab hold of the steering wheel and then rip it clean off its mounting and out of Chris's hands.

"SHI-!" Chris shrieked, taking his foot off the accelerator and causing the Ambulance to decrease its speed. Without the steering wheel, its direction could no longer be controlled and it veered off to the left, driving into the crash barrier that separated the two directional roads and then bounced around a full one-eighty degrees before coming to a stop.

After getting over the shock of the impact, Danny barged past Cam who was now on the floor, frozen in fear and appeared in the driving cab beside an equally shocked Chris. "WHAT HAPPENED?!" he yelled at Chris.

Chris was hyperventilating. "She…She…SHE TOOK THE WHEEL!" he cried.

Danny looked out of where the windshield had been at Kayo, standing triumphantly on the road a few metres away from the Ambulance and mockingly holding the steering wheel in her right hand. "End of the line, boys," she said.

But Danny wasn't the kind of person who would give up. He'd been a criminal for over thirty years and had never once been caught. He wasn't going to let some strange woman in a special suit be the one to end his career. He let out an angry bellow and began firing his weapon at Kayo. Kayo had anticipated this and produced her nanotech shield on the left arm which deflected Danny's bullets.

Cam, seeing her chance to escape, ran for the back doors and pushed them open before running out onto the Highway. But Danny heard the doors open and looked back. He stopped firing and ran into the back of the Ambulance. "KILL HER!" he bellowed at Chris, pointing at Kayo before disappearing. But Chris was still in shock over what had happened and therefore did not carry out Danny's order.

Cam had managed to run about ten metres from the Ambulance before Danny jumped out of the back and fired a few warning shots at her feet. Cam screamed and stopped, throwing up her hands.

"GET BACK HERE, NOW!" Danny bellowed at her.

Cam was terrified. She began to cry as she slowly turned to face her captor.

"DANNY!"

Danny turned his head at the sound of Chris's shout. But he did not have any time to do anything as Kayo suddenly appeared from the top of the Ambulance and pounced on him like a cat attacking an unsuspecting bird. Danny fell flat to the floor. "AARGH! GET OFF ME!" he yelled.

"Stay down," Kayo said. "It's over."

Then they heard the sound of a flatline coming from inside the Ambulance. Cam rushed past them and into the back of the vehicle. But it was too late. Will had succumbed to his injuries.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Danny screamed in a rage. "YOU WILL ALL DIE FOR THIS!"

Just then the LAPD vehicles caught up and surrounded them. Kayo kept the crazed criminal pinned down until the officers could place the handcuffs on him. He continued to scream and shout as they pulled him to his feet and dragged him away whilst he swore fierce revenge on everyone there.

Kayo around and saw Chris had also been apprehended. He had offered no resistance due to still being in shock. She then looked into the back of the Ambulance where Cam was sitting on the floor. The adrenaline had worn off and she was now shaking and sobbing. Kayo climbed in to comfort her. "Hey, hey, you're safe now," she said.

Cam threw her arms around Kayo's waist. "T-T-Thank you," she said gratefully.

"International Rescue?"

Kayo looked behind at the open doors. It was the Chief of Police, and he didn't look happy. "Hello," she said, calmly healing back towards the door of the Ambulance. "Guessing you're the one who declined our help?"

"I don't know what link International Rescue has with the GDF, but I will NOT TOLERATE HAVING MY PEOPLE TOLD WHAT TO DO!" the Chief roared.

"You wanted these criminals caught, didn't you?" Kayo asked innocently as she stepped out. "You have them now."

"By MY PEOPLE!" shouted the Chief. "MY PEOPLE SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE ONES TO TAKE THEM DOWN!"

"And you were doing a splendid job of that," Kayo remarked slyly. This made the Chief's blood boil even more. Kayo then turned to walk away. "Sorry for doing your job for you, Chief. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm late for-"

"You're not going anywhere!"

Kayo stopped and turned back around, stopping dead to see the Chief had drawn his side-arm which was now aimed at her.

"You think I'm just gonna let this go?" the Chief snarled. "Wrong!" He then produced his handcuffs and slowly advanced towards her. "You're coming with us, Miss. I'm not gonna let International Rescue get away with-"

The Chief was suddenly cut off as a muscular figure in a red, white and blue suit appeared out of nowhere and stood between him and Kayo. Kayo felt an instant sense of relief at the realisation of who it was.

"Is there a problem, Chief?" asked Captain Liberty.

The Chief had taken a few steps back in surprise. "Where the hell did you come from?"

"Does it matter?" asked Captain Liberty. "Now…I will repeat the question. Is…there…a problem?"

The Chief grimaced. "Yeah! Yeah, there is! I don't like having my people ordered to back off from a job to let some cowgirl from International Rescue be a goddamn vigilante! I won't stand for it!"

"If you have a problem, then talk to Colonel Jennings," said Captain Liberty.

"Oh, I intend to!" snapped the Chief. "But she's coming with me! I want to deal with her per-"

"You so much as lay a fingernail on her and those cuffs will be on you, Chief!" said Captain Liberty in a rather dangerous tone. "So let me say this once. Back…off!"

An awkward silence followed as the Chief and Captain Liberty stared off against each other. The Chief soon began to sweat whilst Captain Liberty's brow remained clean.

Eventually, the Chief reluctantly lowered his weapon and placed both it and the cuffs back in his belt. "Fine!" he snapped. "But I still ain't letting this go! I will talk to BOTH your superiors about this!" He turned and stormed back to his car.

"Come on," Captain Liberty said to Kayo. Together they walked away, leaving the Police to clean up the mess.


Having returned to the cockpit of Thunderbird Shadow, Kayo flew her ship across LA towards the mountain where the big Hollywood sign was located. Captain Liberty rode on the starboard wing. "Thanks for that," Kayo said as they went. "I really didn't want to get into a fight with the Chief of Police."

"You could have simply escaped," Captain Liberty said. "But, you're welcome. I've always got your back, remember that."

Kayo smiled. "I sure do," she said.

They soon approached the meeting place on the mountain. On the road just below the sign, Kayo saw a red car waiting. She recognised it as a Cheetah RRV. "Isn't that Hayley's car?" she asked.

Captain Liberty laughed. "There's more than one Cheetah," he said. "Amanda has her own. They're a Captain's car."

"But you don't have one?" asked Kayo.

"Negative. I have my motorbike and jetpack," said Captain Liberty. "Oh, and my shield. Those are all I need to do what I do."

Kayo then saw a figure in a green and black suit waiting for them. That must be Captain Thompson, she thought as she brought Thunderbird Shadow down to land nearby. After climbing out, she followed Captain Liberty, who'd jumped down from the wing over towards where Captain Thompson was waiting for them. She heard them exchange pleasantries before Captain Liberty's bulk blocked Captain Thompson from Kayo's view. She couldn't be sure, but she thought she heard them kiss. However, she decided it wasn't her place to ask.

"Amanda, I want you to meet Miss Kayo Kyrano - International Rescue's Stealth Ops."

Amanda walked eagerly towards Kayo, her eyes and outstretched arm were like someone meeting their hero. "Gosh, Miss Kyrano!" she said. "It's an honor to meet you."

"Hello, Captain…Thompson, is it?" Kayo replied.

"It sure is," Amanda said excitedly. "Wow! This is awesome! I've heard so much about you from Hayley and Wayne."

Wayne? Kayo thought. She had never called Captain Liberty by his first name. She'd always called him Rigs once they'd gotten over their initial dislike of each other. Seems there's something going on here, she continued to think. Then she spotted something on Amanda's hand. Good lord…

"Right, well, now we're here," Captain Liberty said. "I suppose we should get down to the task."

"Yes, what is the mission?" asked Kayo, needing to distract her mind. "I'm guessing that Ambulance wasn't it?"

"No, but your performance there was spectacular," said Captain Liberty. "Although the reason behind the mission isn't far off. We're here to hopefully thwart another robbery."

"We've had intel that the National Bank is going to be targeted," said Captain Thompson. "And by people you two have dealt with before."

"Hoodlums," said Captain Liberty. "Seems that group we busted before was only a small part of it."

Kayo rolled her eyes. "Great…" she said. "More of my uncle's old lackeys to sweep up and throw into the dustbin."

"I know you'd rather go toe-to-toe with The Cabal, Kayo," said Captain Liberty. "And believe me when I say I do too, but you know how difficult they are to find so…"

"Besides, if we take them out, he can't find them and get them back under his employ," Amanda added.

"True point," said Kayo. "Any idea when this could be?"

"We reckon around noon," said Amanda, glancing at her watch. "Which is in about an hour's time."

"There's a Security Van due to arrive with half a million in gold bars," said Captain Liberty. "I wouldn't be surprised if perhaps more than one group of criminals tries to take this."

Kayo cracked her knuckles. "If they do…we'll be ready for them," she said with confidence.


The National Bank of Los Angeles was situated in the near dead center of the city. To not attract any attention to civilians and even any potential bank robbers, Captain Liberty and the Cheetah took up unsuspecting positions. Captain Liberty was around the back of the bank, looking down at the secure area waiting for the Security Van to arrive. The Cheetah with Kayo and Amanda aboard was sitting in a side street that looked down towards the entrance of the bank.

"This is Captain Liberty. I'm in position."

"Roger that, Wayne," said Amanda. "We are too."

"You know, Captain, it's against regulations to call me that?"

"I know," she said with a knowing wink.

Captain Liberty responded with a wink of his own and signed off.

Kayo looked at Amanda. "You two seem to know each other very well," she observed.

"Oh, he's a wonderful man," said Amanda lovingly. She looked at a finger on her left hand. "I can't wait to become Mrs Liberty."

Kayo bit her lip. She had been wondering when this would come up. "Ah, yes. Congratulations."

Amanda proudly held up her left ring finger revealing an engagement ring. "Thank you," she said with a big smile. "He asked me about five weeks ago. I said yes."

"How long have you known each other?" Kayo asked out of curiosity. "You haven't been a Captain for long?"

"No, I haven't, but I've been in the GDF for about ten years," said Amanda. "Colonel Jennings thought I had what it took to take Wayne's place when he became Captain Liberty. I couldn't turn down the offer."

"Big promotion," said Kayo. "Well done."

"Thank you," said Amanda. Silence fell for a moment as the two looked down the street towards the bank. "Do you have anyone?"

Kayo hesitated before answering. She'd had a secret crush on Rigby for quite some time but had never admitted it to anyone. Even Rigby himself wasn't aware of it. She certainly couldn't reveal it now. "No," she said. "Life with International Rescue doesn't allow for relationships."

Amanda was surprised by this remark. "Hayley's boyfriend is one of the pilots?"

"Yeah…but somehow Virgil and Gordon have managed to make their relationships with Hayley and Lady Penelope work," said Kayo. "Me? I'm just…not looking for anyone."

"Fair enough," said Amanda. "Sorry for being nosey."

"It's fine," said Kayo, still keeping her eyes on the bank.

There was some more silence before Amanda spoke again. "I have to say, it's an honor to meet you, Miss Kyrano."

"Kayo. I'm not keen on being formal, please,"

"Sorry, Kayo." Another pause. "That takedown you made back there to stop that Ambulance. I saw it from the News Helicopter's camera. So awesome. I wish I could fight like you."

Kayo felt flattered by the compliment but didn't wish to acknowledge it. "Nothing special to me," she said. "They were bad guys who needed to be stopped. I took them out. No big deal."

"It just shows what a great crime-fighter you are," said Amanda.

"I'm a rescuer and a security detail," said Kayo. She sighed. "You know, there was a time that I wanted to do crime-fighting. I kept straying from my tasks to beat up The Hood's minions. At the time it felt good, but I was always getting into conflict with Scott, John and Brains over it. I no longer do it for enjoyment. I do it when it needs to be done."

"That's fair," said Amanda. "Have you always been this good?"

Kayo snorted with a slight chuckle. "Believe it or not, no," she said. "I never used to be like this at all. In fact, I was the complete opposite to begin with."

Amanda was intrigued. "Can you tell me, please?" she asked.

Kayo hesitated. She'd only just met Amanda, but she'd heard nothing but good things about her from Hayley. She also had a strange feeling that she could trust Amanda. "Er…sure," she said.


***Flashback Begins***

The black van pulled up outside the quiet residential house in the leafy suburb in Hammersmith, London. In the driver's seat sat Kyrano with his wife Onah in the passenger seat beside him.

Onah wasn't entirely comfortable with what was about to take place. "I do hope we're doing the right thing here with Tanusha," she said.

Kyrano took his wife's hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "Come now, babe. It's all gonna be okay," he said. "Tanusha never met a task she couldn't handle. She takes after her old man."

Onah smiled. "She sure does," she agreed before turning away and rolling her eyes. Just then she caught sight of a young girl walking up the street on their side. It was Tanusha, being a typical young teenager. She was walking without looking where she was going. Her and thumbs were on her phone and a white cable connected the phone to the earphones in her ears. Despite this, Onah quickly closed the window of the van door and she and Kyrano sank themselves down as far as possible to make sure Tanusha didn't see them.

Kyrano then spoke quietly into a radio communicator in his watch. "She's coming. You're up."

The rear left side door of the van slid open sideways and an African-American man in a suit stepped out. He nervously adjusted his tie before stepping in front of Tanusha to block her path. "Er, excuse me? Tanusha, is it?"

Tanusha stopped dead and stared in confusion. She removed one headphone. "Er, yeah?" she asked.

"Hi. My name is Wallace," said the man. "I work for a secret government agency."

Tanusha nodded with some amusement. "Yeah…not so secret anymore now that you've mentioned it, huh?" she remarked before trying to walk around him.

Wallace went slightly red with embarrassment before pulling out his badge and cutting her off. "This is my ID," he said. "You need to come with me."

"Wallace, you say?" asked Tanusha. "Do your secret agent colleagues call you Wally?"

"Errrrrrr…" Wallace found his mouth empty of words.

"Thought so," she chuckled. "I have a shorter name too, you know? People sometimes call me Kayo. You want to know why?" And with that she kneed him between the legs.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!" Wallace exclaimed in surprise, covering his downstairs up and whimpering in pain having been caught completely off guard as he then fell to his knees.

Satisfied, Tanusha walked around him. "That's why," she said triumphantly. "Now if you'll excuse me, Wally. I have places to be-" Before she could take three steps, two more men in suits leapt out of the van and caught her off guard. One grabbed her around the torso and the other by the legs. "WHAT THE?!" she cried. "GET OFF ME! LET ME GO!"

A third man jumped out and helped Wallace to his feet as the other two bundled the struggling Tanusha into the van. Wallace, still in pain, and the other man then boarded the back of the van as well and closed the door before Kyrano put the van into gear and drove quickly away from the scene. There had been no witnesses at all.

***Flashback Ends***