So sorry for the delay with this. Life's catching up with me!
"You're trapped now, Tempest."
Troy sighed and slowly moved his hands above his head. Numerous gun barrels stared him down.
He was trapped alright.
For the past few minutes Troy had been trying to avoid the guards who had made their way into the tunnel not long after Marina had left. After giving them the runaround for a bit, they quickly cornered him, and this led to his current predicament. There was nowhere left for him to run and he was getting pretty desperate for ideas.
"Come over here with your back to me. Guards, bring me some rope!" Aquanas ordered, glaring at the man who'd caused him so much trouble since coming to his palace. "The girl may have escaped the fate I had planned for her but you certainly will not!"
"Yeah yeah yeah, that's what they all say." Troy rolled his eyes, beginning to comply with the prince's orders. He made his way over to the man and moved his hands behind his back.
The second before Aquanas could do anything to Troy, a pile of fish went flying at him. The prince staggered under the great weight which had suddenly been flung towards him and collapsed, leaving Troy staring at his flailing body incredulously. The guards watched the events in stunned silence before turning in the direction the fish had come from.
Gordon was standing in the corridor entrance with a big grin on his face as Phones crouched beside him with a now empty crate.
"Got 'em hook, line, and sinker."
"Really?" Troy deadpanned.
Gordon snorted. "Really reeled 'em in that time!"
Troy rolled his eyes and turned back to the Aquaphibians, who were now advancing on him. They raised their rifles again, this time aiming for his head. He slowly began walking backwards towards his friends. "What's the plan then, fellas?"
"Run."
"Run?"
"RUN!" Phones and Gordon cried together, beginning to race back up the boarding tube. Troy followed them and quickly took the lead, directing his friends towards another corridor which would take them to Stingray. The three men ran down the tube and soon reached Stingray's airlock. Troy tapped in the code to find it wouldn't open.
"Marina's changed the code. Activate the intercom, Phones."
Phones tapped the electronic keypad and spoke into it. "Marina, it's us, darlin'! Let us in!"
The airlock swooshed open and the three men darted inside to see Marina frantically gesturing towards the controls in the cabin, indicating they were still completely dead.
"Still nothing?" Troy asked, sliding into his seat as he started working on the submarine's start-up sequence, Phones joining him. Gordon stood with Marina at the back of the cabin and watched them desperately work to fix their baby.
"The turbine's jammed." Phones spoke tersely.
"Try the restart sequence."
"Still negative."
"Q-tank?"
"Damaged."
"That means we can't surface." Troy hissed, slamming his hand onto his control panel. "Blast it!"
"It wouldn't matter either way." Phones looked over to him. "The oxygen unit needs servicing. Even if we could start the turbojets we wouldn't be able to breathe."
Gordon caught the glimpse of a yellow tail peeking over the edge of Stingray's side window. After a few moments of deliberation, he made a choice. He whispered something to Marina and she nodded, running for the topside exit hatch.
"I have another idea." Gordon cut through the Stingray crew's irritated mutterings. "But we don't have much time."
Troy noticed Marina's hasty exit. "Where's Marina going?"
Gordon shook his head, rushing for the airlock. "Never mind that now. Just follow me!"
Without a second thought Troy and Phones followed a determined Gordon back out into the boarding tube. As they started running, they spotted a crowd of Aquaphibians down the other end of the tube, searching in the wrong place. On seeing the three sailors making a getaway, one let out a cry.
"They've spotted us again!"
Gordon skidded to an abrupt stop and climbed into the upper deck of an adjoining narrow tube which ended in a familiar airlock. After typing his mother's birthday into the access keypad, the door slid open with a swoosh. He climbed inside and his two friends followed, the airlock sliding shut once they were safely aboard.
Gordon strode into the cabin and made his way over to his seat. He plopped down and started making swifty inputs to iniate his submarine's start-up sequence. Marina swam into his vision and he gestured directions towards the airlock. She nodded and kicked her way over to it.
Troy and Phones stood at the edge of the airlock and peered through the open doorway at the minute cabin with wonder, having never seen anything like it before.
"Um, Gordon?"
"Not now."
The airlock opened and a soaked Marina made her way inside. She stood beside Troy and Phones, and also started admiring the interior.
"What did you do?" Troy asked the girl.
"She attached a secure line to Stingray." Gordon cut in, fingers furiously dancing over his controls.
"A line? What? Do you expect this tiny thing to pull Stingray? She's too heavy!" Troy replied, a little bewildered.
"Yep." came the confident reply.
The trio ventured into the tiny cockpit and saw first-hand just how small a space it was. Troy was about to comment on in when he felt Phones nudge his side.
"Uh… Troy?" his friend whispered.
Troy glanced at Phones to see his friend had gone a little pale, his eyes wide. The Southerner gestured towards a fire extinguisher mounted to the wall which had an oddly familiar logo plastered on it.
With a hum, Thunderbird 4 powered up and started to move away from the boarding tube. The movement juddered the cabin, causing the trio to bump into one another.
"You may want to strap yourselves in. Spare seats are in the airlock." Gordon breezily informed them, completely focused on the task at hand.
The submarine vibrated as the huge weight of Stingray could be felt straining against Thunderbird 4. Phones and Marina moved into the airlock to sit down but Troy remained standing next to his childhood friend, his curious eyes darting around the cabin. He watched as Gordon manoeuvred his little submarine away from the underwater city, seemingly pulling Stingray in its wake.
It was then that Troy noticed the gleaming yellow front section of the submarine through the window panels. He hadn't noticed it before. This puzzled him, though. Troy knew of only one submarine with a colour and shape like that. A very special, particular sub. Very distinctive, and very… sunny.
And if he were in that particular, very distinctive and very sunny sub, it would mean that his old childhood friend Gordon was…
Troy's eyes widened.