KAYO and Rigby made their way cautiously down the outside of the mountain towards a small ventilation hole that had been bored into the side. It was just large enough for them to fit in. Kayo went first with Rigby behind her. They followed the shaft a short way into the mountain before finding it came out in an underground cavern. It was pitch black so they dropped down carefully.

"Blasted darkness," grumbled Rigby. "Can't see a damn thing."

Kayo smiled as she pulled out a light stick which turned bright blue. "Ta-da!" she said. "Thunderbirds are glow!"

Rigby frowned. "Seriously?" he asked.

Kayo shrugged. "Virgil used it once," she said as she led the way down the dark cavern.

Despite the glow of the light stick, the tunnel remained dark and somewhat sinister. Although they were brave on the outside, deep down Kayo and Rigby couldn't help feeling uneasy.

"I don't like this," Rigby said in a quiet voice. "This is the perfect place for an ambush."

"I haven't noticed any sensors," Kayo whispered back. "Let's hope The Hood thinks nobody would think of looking for him here. Do you reckon we're going the right way even? Rigs?" She turned around and was surprised to find nobody there. Rigby had vanished. "Rigby?" Kayo said, looking around in confusion. "Wayne? Where did you go?" She began to get nervous. "Come on, this isn't funny. Where are you?"

"Here!" hissed a voice.

Kayo jumped and spun around just in time to see a white glove flying out of the darkness towards her face. She felt a sharp thump and then everything went black.

Ned had been dozing happily on the grass following his picnic. He opened his eyes, yawned and stretched his arms out before sitting himself up. "Ahhhhh, that's better," he remarked. "Nothing like an afternoon nap to clear one's head of all problems. Isn't that right, Gladys?"

Gladys's stem bobbed up and down in the wind like she was nodding in agreement.

"That's what I though," Ned continued. "Despite that near me with that careless bus and almost having a heart-attack caused by those Thunderbirds, it's been a perfect first day out for our beloved Wilson. Have you enjoyed your first run out, Wilson?" He turned to the Beetle and blinked. The car wasn't there. "Wilson?" Ned asked, looking around in confusion. Then he let out a gasp of horror as he saw the car was rolling backwards down the hill. "Wilson?!" Ned jumped to his feet. "WIIIIIIIIIIILSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!" He then began to run after the car, leaving Gladys and the picnic stuff behind.

Two Police Officers had to restrain Dillys to stop her from lunging at Professor Harold who was being carried to a nearby Ambulance on a stretcher. The reason for his broken nose and bruised face was put down to him having drunkenly fallen over whilst trying to stab Scott whilst he'd tried to help him. This was partly true but it was only Virgil who had seen Scott punch the Professor's lights out so nobody else could back the Professor's story about being punched by Scott even if he could remember anything, which the brothers hoped he wouldn't.

Despite his fury at the Professor, Scott couldn't help but feel guilty. "I'm sorry, Virgil," he said. "You should have stopped me like you did before."

"I know," Virgil replied as he put a hand on Scott's shoulder. "Try not to let it get to you, Scott."

"If you ask me, he had it coming," Gordon said. "I know! I know, two wrongs don't make a right. But for what he did, I'm glad you did hit him, Scott."

Scott wasn't sure whether to feel better or worse after hearing that. "Come on," he said. "I think we've been here long enough. Let's go home."

Virgil and Gordon nodded in agreement and the three brothers began to head back to their ships.

Suddenly a loud CRASH came from behind followed by a small explosion that made everybody on the beach jump and a small shockwave knocked the brothers down onto the sand.

"What the heck?!" exclaimed Scott as he looked back. Virgil and Gordon did the same and they were all shocked to see a small burning object had appeared on the beach about ten metres from where they were.

"WOW!" exclaimed Norman. "A METEORITE HAS LANDED!"

"We need the fire brigade!" cried Sarah. "Mum, we need Uncle Sam!"

Virgil scrambled to his feet. "EVERYONE, STAY BACK!" he ordered. "LEAVE THIS TO ME!" He ran towards Thunderbird 2 and entered the ship. Less than a minute later he re-emerged in his grey-coloured fire-fighting outfit as well as the Jaws of and Scott kept everyone including the Police as far back as they could whilst Virgil hurried towards the burning object.

"Everyone keep back!" Gordon instructed. "Virgil will have the fire out in no time."

Virgil reached the fire. He used the targeting computer in his helmet to scan the blaze and locate the source before aiming the foam-cannon mounted on his left shoulder and aimed it at the fire. A jet of foam shot out of the cannon and smothered the flames. In less than a minute the fire was out. "Fire extinguished!" Virgil called to the others. "But everyone stay back for your own safety!"

Gordon and Scott came over. "Well done, Virgil," said Scott. "Now let's see what this thing is."

As the foam dissolved, the object became clearer.

"Good grief!" said Virgil. "It's a car!"

"That's not just a car, Virg!" exclaimed Gordon. "It's a Beetle!"

"A what?" asked Scott.

"Scott, you must have heard of the Volkswagen Beetle?!" Gordon said. "They're one of the great classic cars of all time!"

"Classic you say?" repeated Scott. "Well, I'd say it was. Now it's toast."

"The bigger question is where did it come from?" Virgil asked.

"WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!"

Everyone heard the shout and looked around, trying to see where it had come from. Looking up, the three brothers spotted a figure standing on top of the cliff directly above where they were. They could not see who it was but they could tell they had to be the owner of the car as they sprinted off along the cliff-top towards the road that led down to the village and the beach.

"Who's Wilson?" asked Gordon.

Scott looked at the car as a sudden thought struck him. "Wait, was there someone in the car when it went over?" he asked. "Virgil, scan for any signs of a body."

Virgil did so, walking around the car and checking the boot and the insides. The others couldn't touch it because it was still hot following the fire, but Virgil's suit allowed him to do so. Gordon began to check some smaller pieces of debris that seemed to have broken off when it impacted the sand.

"Anything?" asked Scott.

"Nope," Virgil replied with a shake of his head. "Nothing in there at all. It's definitely empty."

"Then…who the hell is Wilson?" asked Scott.

Gordon was able to answer that. "Er, guys?" he said as he came back over to them and nodded to the car. "I think this is Wilson."

Virgil and Scott looked at each other and then at the car. Gordon then held up something he'd found a short distance away from the car. It was the registration plate, and it read W1LS0N.

"Wait, the CAR is called Wilson?" asked Scott. "Who the hell would call a car-"

"WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!"

"Wait a minute," said Gordon. "I know that voice."

Despite the efforts of the Police, Ned barged his way through, sprinting over towards the wrecked car before stopping dead and letting out a squeaky "Wilson?!" before falling to his knees and bawling his eyes out.

Scott groaned and clapped his hand to his face. "Ned Tedford," he said. "Of course he would give his car a name!"

They hand-signalled the Police to leave Ned as they approached him.

"Hey, Ned," said Gordon. "Long time, no see. I'm guessing this is yours?"

Ned sobbed loudly. "Fifteen years it has taken me to restore this car!" he wailed. "Today was his first day out. And now he's dead!" He buried his face in his hands and continued sobbing. "I'm sorry, Wilson. I'm so so sorry!"

Nobody seemed to know what to say. They were all too startled by Ned's words.

Scott sighed. "I'm so done with today," he remarked as he walked away. "I'm going home."

"Wake up!"

Kayo felt a sharp punch against her right arm and jerked awake. She tried to move but found that she could not because she could feel duct-tape wrapped around her wrists and ankles, but more so she realised that she was sitting in a very strange chair. All around her from the waist down she was encased in a black octagonal box and was strapped in preventing her from moving her arms or torso. She strained but they were too strong. Looking up, she found herself staring into an unfriendly face. "Havoc!" she hissed.

"Have to say, we didn't expect you to find us here," Havoc said, her face a few inches from Kayo's. "It wasn't a pleasant surprise."

Kayo grimaced. Then she looked around at the dark room the two were in. "Where is Rigby?"

Havoc smirked. "Oh, don't you worry. Your boyfriend is safe."

Kayo went red in the face. "Boyfriend?!" she almost shrieked. "Don't be absurd!"

Havoc laughed loudly. "Ha! You see, Laura. Told you she'd get that reaction."

"Laura?" repeated Kayo. A figure then emerged from the darkness. Kayo's eyes widened as she recognised the white suit that the young woman was wearing. "The White Ghost?!"

"So you remember me?" said The White Ghost in her strong Scottish accent. "Glad to know it."

"How did you two get-" Kayo trailed off as a few thoughts came to mind. "Of course! You can phase your body through solid objects. It was you who rescued Havoc and The Hood from the Flyer before causing it to crash. And to capture me and Rigby without us even knowing you were there."

"You are correct, Kyrano," said The White Ghost as she walked around the captive Kayo whilst Havoc stood back and watched. "And that isn't all I've been able to achieve. I was able to make Jeff Tracy extremely ill and without anyone suspecting a thing."

Kayo's blood ran cold. "You were the wine waitress in the restaurant when he was with Colonel Casey?"

"All I had to do was slip the micro-Scorpion-Mecca from Techno in the drink and once Tracy had swallowed it, it could make its way to his brain and knock him senseless," said The White Ghost.

"Techno?"

"You'll meet him soon," said Havoc. "Now let me see if the boss is ready to see you." She activated the communicator in her suit's right arm. "She's awake."

"Good," The Hood's voice responded although Kayo couldn't see a hologram. "Bring her to me. It will not be long until Techno is ready."

Havoc signed off then took out a small remote control. "Walkies, Kayo," she teased as she pressed a button.

Kayo jumped as the chair suddenly began to move forwards. It made a whirring sound as it hovered a few centimeters off the floor. The White Ghost walked in front with Havoc following behind, controlling the chair in the directions it needed to go.

They passed through a pair of doors, down a long corridor until they reached another set of doors which The White Ghost opened with a keypad. She stood directly in front so that Kayo couldn't see the numbers she was typing in. The doors then opened and they entered what appeared to be a control room. Kayo took a look around, trying to see where The Hood was, but she couldn't see him anywhere. What she did notice was a second large black hoverchair with a large back-rest sitting by the controls. There appeared to be some kind of heavy breathing coming from the other side. Then as they approached, the chair began to turn around towards them. Kayo let out a small gasp when she saw The Hood. He looked nothing like he'd done when she'd seen him getting loaded aboard the Flyer. He had bandages around his head, a black bodysuit with an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth, and most shocking of all, his left arm was missing.

"Ah, Tanusha," said The Hood, his voice croaky behind the mask. "Nice of you to drop in and see us. I knew International Rescue wouldn't just believe that Havoc and I had perished in the Flyer crash."

"You have more lives than a cat, Uncle," Kayo remarked. "Although going by your current state I'd say you've used up most of them in your attack on Jeff."

The Hood let out a low growl. "Yes…" he said bitterly. "I had my revenge planned down to the letter. I made contingency plans should you or the Tracy boys try to remove the Scorpion-Mecca from Jeff's brain. I was very close to victory. And yet the one thing I never even considered was that The Mechanic would have the kind of technology to shrink a Thunderbird down to enter the mighty Jeff Tracy's brother. I'd be impressed if that accursed yellow submersible hadn't emerged when it had."

"Looks like it knocked seven bells out of you," Kayo remarked.

The White Ghost made a move towards her with a raised arm. "Mock the boss again and I'll-"

"Do nothing," The Hood snapped, taking everyone by surprise.

"I, er, beg your pardon?" asked The White Ghost.

"You will not touch her, Miss McCullen," The Hood said as he moved his hoverchair closer to Kayo. "She may be a pain in my backside but she's still my niece and I do not wish to see her harmed…too much."

"That's…caring…of you, Uncle," Kayo said sarcastically. "I kind of want to feel sorry for you for being in that state. It looks painful."

"It most certainly was," The Hood replied. "But thankfully Techno managed to perform the necessary surgery to ensure that I would live on. Even if it did mean losing my left arm…and both my legs."

Kayo's eyes widened. Seemed like getting hit by Thunderbird 4 had done more damage than everyone had initially thought.

"But enough about me," said The Hood. "Now that you're here, and you'll not be leaving us anytime soon, you may as well get acquainted with the place."

"What do you mean, not leaving?" demanded Kayo.

"I thought you were smart?" Havoc said. "You're our prisoner, Kayo. We're not gonna just let you go."

"Indeed," agreed The Hood. "My sole purpose now of being out of prison is one thing - revenge. And that isn't going to change. I may have failed to end Jeff Tracy's life this time around but it'll come. And so will the brothers find themselves suffering no end of pain. You are now one of us, Kayo. Welcome to The Cabal!"

And for the first time in a very long time, Kayo actually felt scared for her life.

Virgil and Gordon walked back to Thunderbird 2. "You know what?" Gordon said. "I kind of feel sorry for Ned in a way. He spent years restoring that car only to have it destroyed on its first outing. That's so unfair."

"Life isn't always fair, Gordon," Virgil replied. "Sometimes it can be pretty cruel."

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?! GET AWAY FROM MY SHIP!"

The brothers jumped at the sound of Scott's bellowing voice. They turned and saw him sprinting across the car park towards Thunderbird 1. After exchanging a look, they ran over to see what the matter was. They arrived just in time to see Scott grab a middle-aged man in a yellow high-visibility jacket and pin him to the ground.

"WOAH, SCOTT!" shouted Virgil. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

Scott ignored his brothers as they approached. "WHAT KIND OF JOKE IS THIS?!" he thundered at the man whilst pointing to the port-landing leg of Thunderbird 1.

Virgil and Gordon grabbed Scott and pulled him off the man. Virgil held onto him whilst Gordon checked on the frightened man.

"Scott, have you lost your mind?!" snapped Virgil.

"LOOK, VIRGIL!" thundered Scott, shaking himself free and pointing at the landing leg. "LOOK AT WHAT THIS MORON HAS DONE TO THUNDERBIRD 1!"

Virgil and Gordon looked and then they blinked in surprise, for there was a yellow clamp attached to the foot of the leg.

"Don't either of you dare laugh…" Scott added dangerously.

But they didn't. Instead they both stared at the man in the high-viz. "Is there a reason behind this, sir?" asked Gordon.

The man got to his feet. "I am Charles Mildew. The local clamper," he said. "You are parked illegally. You have taken up more than one space in the car park, and worst of all, your ship has prevented the Emergency Services from getting access to the beach to deal with an emergency! You have broken the law."

Scott's face went as red as Thunderbird 3. "Do you even know who we are, pal?" he fumed. "We're International Rescue! WE ARE AN EMERGENCY SERVICE!"

"And YOU ATTACKED ME!" roared Mildew. "I WILL HAVE YOU DONE FOR ASSAULT!"

"And you will be done for your illegal clamping, Mr Mildew." The clamper and the three brothers were surprised to find a Policeman had appeared. "First, you will remove that clamp, along with all the others that you have put on these cars. Then you'll be coming with us."

Looking around the car park, the brothers noticed that several other cars had got clamps on their wheels except for a dark blue van with an open side door that had clamping equipment inside.

"I am terribly sorry, International Rescue," the Policeman apologised. "But Mildew here isn't who he claims to be. He's not an official clamper. He's been causing misery to the people of this area for months by illegally clamping cars and not removing them without a fee."

"You can't do this to me!" protested Mildew. "This is my living!"

"Just do as you're told!" snapped the Policeman. "Move it!"

Mildew seethed with fury as he reluctantly did as he was told and began to remove the clamp from the leg of Thunderbird 1.

Scott turned away and leant against the wall before taking deep breaths to try and calm himself down.

"Are you okay, Scott?" Virgil asked, worried for his elder brother.

Scott exhaled before looking out across the sea. "Ask me later," he said simply.

Another set of doors opened as The Hood's hoverchair entered a viewing gallery. The chair with Kayo in came in behind whilst Havoc and The White Ghost brought up the rear.

"Where are you taking me?" Kayo asked.

"To observe an experiment," replied The Hood. "One that our dear old friend Captain Rigby has unwillingly volunteered for."

Kayo's heart skipped a beat as she looked down into the room below. It looked like some kind of operating theatre with cabinets and boxes of equipment located all over it. In the middle was an operating table on wheels and the unconscious body of Rigby could be seen strapped to it.

"Rigs…" Kayo said hoarsely. "What are you going to do with him?"

"You'll see," said The Hood. He then spoke into a microphone. "Techno, are you ready to begin?"

Some doors on the opposite side of the room opened and a thin but slightly muscular figure emerged from the darkness. Kayo stared in shock as a black male appeared. He was dressed in an outfit almost identical to that of The Mechanic from when they had first encountered him. He had the goggles and voice-distorter as well. Unlike The Mechanic however, he was shorter and didn't have a mohawk on top of his head. He was practically bald and his eyes looked even meaner behind the goggles.

"Tanusha, meet Techno," said The Hood. "My new Mechanic."

Kayo couldn't find any words. She couldn't stop staring at this new arrival. There was something that seemed familiar about him, but she had no idea what that was.

Techno walked up to the table where Rigby was strapped to. Some tubes dropped down from the ceiling and robot arms attached themselves to his back. He then looked up at the viewing gallery. "All is ready," he said, voice heavily distorted. "The operation can now commence."

Kayo gasped. "O-Operation?!" she cried, looking at The Hood. "I thought you said this was an experiment?!"

The Hood looked back at her. "The operation is an experiment," he replied.

"We wanted to try it on you," Havoc remarked. "But we weren't allowed."

"No, but if the experiment is a success, you will be next, Tanusha," The Hood said, turning to face his niece. "I fully intend to increase the members of my Cabal. And you will make an excellent edition."

Horror was now flooding through Kayo's veins. "Do it on me now!" she demanded. "Leave Rigby out of this!"

"No," said The Hood. "This experiment is very dangerous. There's a chance that Rigby might not survive."

"NO!" Kayo cried as she tried to tug at her bonds. "Uncle, please! I'm begging you! Don't do this!"

"He's expendable, you're not!" The Hood replied sharply. "I won't risk having you killed, Tanusha." He turned back to the operating room. "You may begin, Techno."

Kayo's eyes were filled with terror as she saw some tanks rise from underneath the floor of the room. They contained some kind of silver liquid. It had a kind of metallic look about it. Then some robot arms began to emerge from under the table producing syringes and long tubes leading out from the tanks. It looked to Kayo as though Techno was about to inject the liquid into Rigby's body. She tugged harder at her bonds, desperate to be free and to save Rigby.

John floated uncomfortably around inside the control room of Thunderbird 5. "I don't like this, EOS," he said. "It's not like Kayo not to check in. I fear something bad has happened to Kayo and Captain Rigby."

"Do you think the Cabal have them prisoner?" asked EOS.

"Yes, I do," John replied. "Can you run another scan of the complex."

"Scanning now, John," EOS said.

John watched the hologram of the island anxiously as EOS performed the scan of it. Sure enough there were six life-signatures detected inside the complex.

"I have a lock on Kayo," EOS said. "She's a prisoner all right, John."

"Damn it!" John cursed. "Brains, are you there?"

"Y-Yes, John," Brains answered. "And I h-heard every word. We have to d-do something to help her."

"If you have any suggestions I'm open," John said. "I'd rather wrap this all up before Scott finds out. Virgil called to say they were on their way back…and Scott's not in the best of moods from what he said."

"Oh, dear," Brains said. Scratching his cheek nervously. "If there's anything m-more frightening than the vacuum of space it's Scott in a bad mood."

"Options, Brains, if there are any?" John asked, almost sounding frantic.

Brains paced back and forwards as he pondered the problem. MAX suddenly bleeped which made him stop. "Are you s-sure, MAX?" he asked.

MAX nodded.

"What's he saying?" asked John.

Brains turned back to John's hologram. "John, can you remote-access T-Thunderbird Shadow?"

"Sure," John replied. "But what use is it going to be?"

"The w-weapons I fitted to it," Brains said, his lip trembling. "You could u-use them to create some kind of distraction?"

John was already gaining remote access to Thunderbird Shadow before Brains had even finished. "On it!" he said. "Just need to find the right access code. There! Thunderbird S is GO!"

On the top of the volcano, Thunderbird Shadow de-camouflaged itself and retracted the claws in its legs as its engines fired up. It lifted off the edge of the crater and began to hover over the crater itself.

Using the hologram scan, John quickly noticed an air-duct built into the north-face of the volcano. "That'll do," he said as he remotely piloted Thunderbird Shadow around to where the duct was located. He then used the targeting computer to lock onto the inside of the duct. "Take this, Cabal!" he said angrily as he pressed the button to fire.

A small black missile was launched from underneath Thunderbird Shadow's port-wing which flew into the duct and detonated.

The explosion sent a jet of flame roaring down into the complex which was shaken by the blast.

"What was that?!" exclaimed The White Ghost.

"An explosion!" Havoc replied. "The GDF must have found us! Rigby must have a homing device!"

The Hood turned on a monitor linked to an outside security camera. Everyone was surprised to see that it wasn't a GDF Flyer that was attacking, but Thunderbird Shadow.

"What?!" exclaimed The White Ghost. "How is that able to fly? We have the pilot!"

Havoc came round in front of Kayo. "Ships can be remote-piloted," she said. She pressed a button on the chair causing the front section to open up. "Where's your remote, Kayo?" she snapped. But as she looked at Kayo's bound wrists she was surprised to see Kayo didn't have one. "What?!"

"She's not the one controlling it," The Hood realised. "Someone else is pulling its strings!"

Kayo suddenly saw a chance. Whilst the straps restrained her torso and arms, they did not restrain her legs. "Big mistake, Havoc," she said. Although her boots were bound, Kayo's legs shot upwards, hitting Havoc in the stomach and causing her to fly back. She slammed into one of the glass windows of the viewing gallery and it shattered. Havoc screamed as she fell down into the operating room as she hit the now glass-covered floor.

"HAVOC!" cried The White Ghost. She then lunged at Kayo. "YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!"

"NO!" bellowed The Hood, but it was too late for The White Ghost performed a jump kick against the chair Kayo was in. kayo yelped as the chair toppled over and landed on its left side. The Hood roared with anger and raised his right hand before firing some kind of electricity blast at The White Ghost, knocking her back onto the floor.

Kayo struggled to try and free herself from the chair. She then had an idea. She began making gasping noises, like the straps had tightened and she couldn't breathe. The Hood heard this and in his concern he released the straps that were holding her in place. She rolled out of the chair and continued to gasp for breath.

"Tanusha?" The Hood asked, bringing his chair over towards her.

Kayo suddenly stopped gasping. She turned her head and looked at him. "Knew you'd fall for that," she said as she suddenly rolled onto her back and used her bound boots to flip herself up onto her feet. She then bounced across the observation room before diving through the broken window where Havoc had crashed through into the operating room below, making sure to land on Havoc and causing her to cry out in pain as she landed.

Kayo then turned to Techno who was about to inject Rigby with the silver liquid. "STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING!" Kayo demanded.

"You don't give me orders," growled Techno. "What has started cannot be stopped."

Kayo knew she had to do something. From memory, The Mechanic was often linked to his machines via the tubes that were attached to the back of his suit. The ones Techno was using had to be doing the same with the robotic arms that were about to work on Rigby. She knew she had to act fast. Noticing a set of operating tools nearby, she hopped over to them to grab something sharp.

"STOP HER!" The Hood shouted from above. "BUT DON'T HURT HER!"

Techno moved a device on his left arm that activated a full-sized Scorpion-Mecca that had been disguised as a box on one of the tables. It unfolded itself before lunging at Kayo.

"WOAH!" Kayo cried as the Mecca knocked her back onto the ground. Her eyes widened as its electric tail with its razor-sharp blade moved down towards her face. It seemed as though Techno was ignoring The Hood's demand not to hurt her. Then Kayo had another idea. The Mecca's tail might be just what she needed to free herself. She mustered what strength she had to push the Mecca off her before pulling her bound wrists over the blade, slicing through the tape and freeing her hands. She then grabbed the scalpel she was originally going to use and ripped the tape around her boots freeing them as well. The Scorpion-Mecca then turned around so it could attack again but before it could, Kayo pounced on it and shoved the scalpel into its control processor causing it to break down.

"GRRRRR!" growled Techno in frustration.

The White Ghost had now recovered and looked down into the operating room to see Kayo was now free. "She's loose!" she cried.

"Get down there and restrain her!" ordered The Hood.

The White Ghost then gave him a dirty look. "Do not harm me again!" she spat. "I hurt enough as it is!"

"And don't harm my niece either!" The Hood snapped back. "Now get her!"

The White Ghost jumped down through the broken window and with a battle-like cry threw herself at Kayo. But this time, Kayo was ready for her. She moved aside, grabbed hold of The White Ghost and swung her around the room. Havoc was just getting back on her feet only to be hit in the side of the head by The White Ghost's boots. Kayo then let go of The White Ghost who flew across the operating room, missed the table and Rigby by a few inches and slammed into Techno who was knocked off his feet before both landed in a crumpled heap on top of each other. Kayo then took the opportunity to grab the scalpel again and use it to cut the power lines that connected Techno to the operating table. There was a whining groan as the arms powered down with the arms and syringes falling away from Rigby and dropping harmlessly at the sides.

"No!" cried Techno as he struggled to untangle himself from The White Ghost. "You've broken my tools!"

"You've messed with the wrong person," Kayo retorted. She looked back up at The Hood who was glaring angrily down at her. "Sorry, Uncle. But I'm not your prisoner anymore!"

The Hood growled under his oxygen mask. "It would appear that is correct, Tanusha," he said. "It was only because you were caught off-guard that we were able to capture you both. But now you're free, you can fight back."

"Your Cabal is down, Uncle," Kayo added as she moved to unstrap Rigby from the table. "Soon the GDF will be here to take you all in!"

The Hood shook his head. "No, Tanusha," he said. "Not today. Not ever again. I'm afraid you leave me with no choice." He pressed a button on the control table in front of him.

One moment, Kayo had been trying to free Rigby, the next she let out a gasp of surprise as the floor suddenly opened up underneath her feet. "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAARRGGGGHHH!" she cried as she plummeted helplessly through a dark tunnel before suddenly finding herself out in the open as the tunnel ended in another hole at the side of the mountain. She dropped down and landed hard on a rock just above the beach. She screamed in agony as she felt her right leg break under the impact before landing on the sand. "Argh!" she cried, her eyes watering with pain. She'd never felt pain like this before. After a few moments trying to adjust to the pain, she lifted a weak, trembling left arm over to her right, which appeared to be twisted and just about managed to touch her emergency beacon before she passed out.

The emergency beacon was detected by Thunderbird 5. "Kayo?" John's voice asked over the radio. "You managed to escape! Do you need assistance? Kayo? KAYO?!"

John checked the vitals in Kayo's suit. He was very concerned by what he saw. "Brains, Kayo seems to have escaped from the complex but looks like she's injured herself."

"I'm s-seeing her vitals too, John," Brains replied. "She m-may need medical treatment immediately. And you know what we have to do in order to get it to her?"

John let out a deep sigh. He wasn't going to enjoy what he had to do next as he checked the hologram map for the positions of Thunderbirds 1 and 2. He raised his right hand and tapped on their icons. "Thunderbirds 1 and 2 from Thunderbird 5. We have a situation."

Havoc, The White Ghost and Techno were now finally back on their feet following Kayo's attack on them. They were dazed and a little more than angry.

"Where…is…she?!" fumed The White Ghost as she removed her face-covering.

"Looks like she went down the rubbish chute," remarked Havoc, noticing the hole in the floor which closed seconds later.

Techno rounded on Havoc. "This is all your fault!" he barked.

"What?!" Havoc said, outraged. "How dare you say this is MY fault!"

"You opened up her hoverseat!" rumbled Techno. "You gave her the opportunity to retaliate!"

"SILENCE!" bellowed The Hood, making the others fall silent. "Forget Kayo," The Hood ordered from the viewing gallery above. "We've been compromised. Kayo is bound to alert the rest of International Rescue and no doubt the GDF to our location. We cannot stay here. We need to move to another location."

"What about him?" Havoc asked, pointing to the still unconscious Rigby.

"Take him to the Condor," said The Hood. "The experiment will be undertaken en-route. He may well prove to be useful…if he survives the procedure."

"She's WHAT?!" Scott shouted. As Brains and John had predicted, Scott hadn't taken the news of Kayo's mission well at all. "WHY WASN'T I INFORMED OF THIS?!"

"Because you would have forbidden it," John replied.

"You're damn right I would have!" Scott snapped. "Allowing Kayo to investigate an island all alone? Just what were you thinking, John?!"

"She wasn't alone, Scott. Captain Rigby was with her," said John.

"Oh, because he's going to be a huge lot of help!" said Scott sarcastically.

"Scott, I've told you to calm down already!" Virgil barked from Thunderbird 2.

"And for the last time, Virgil, DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!" Scott roared.

John held up his hands. "Guys, listen. I'm sorry. This one is on me," he said. "I found that island. It's my fault she's in this mess."

"It d-doesn't matter whose fault it is," Brains interrupted. "K-Kayo needs help."

"Fine!" said Scott, still furious. "Where is she, Thunderbird 5?"

"I'm sending you the location," said John. "Please hurry, Scott."

Scott didn't acknowledge John. He simply locked the location into his targeting computer and turned Thunderbird 1 in the direction of the island, increasing to full speed.

Virgil and Gordon felt sorry for John.

"Man, I've never known Scott be like this before," Gordon remarked.

"He'll get over it," Virgil replied. "He's just had an off day."

"All the same, I still feel responsible for this, Virgil," said John.

"Hey, for starters, don't beat yourself up, John," Virgil said. "At least we now know that The Hood is still out there."

"And if Scott gives you a hard time, we'll have your back," finished Gordon.

John perked up a little. "Thanks, guys," he said. "Now go help Kayo."

"F-A-B!" Gordon and Virgil said as Thunderbird 2 hurried after Thunderbird 1.

Having re-secured Rigby to the table, Techno had the electronic motors in the table's wheels move him out of the operating room and into a large service elevator that linked the underground complex to the large aircraft, which was called the Condor, above. He was joined by Havoc and The White Ghost with The Hood entering last. He turned in his hoverchair and spoke into the base's in-built computer system. "This is Agent-79 - set self-destruct sequence."

"Self-destruct acknowledged," answered the base's computer voice. "Two minutes until self-destruct. Please evacuate."

"Oh, don't worry," said The Hood sarcastically as the doors closed and the elevator began to rise. "We aren't staying for the fireworks."

Kayo remained motionless until the faint sound of a familiar aircraft engine made her begin to stir. She couldn't muster any strength to move though so she remained where she was. She wondered even if she was imagining the sound.

Scott landed Thunderbird 1 on the beach near to where Kayo lay and after exiting the ship, hurried as fast as he could over to her. "KAYO?!" he shouted as he approached. "KAYO!" He bent down and carefully began to move her round. "Easy," he said. "Kayo, can you-"

"ARGH!" Kayo cried as the pain in her right leg returned. Then her eyes snapped open. "S-Scott?!"

"Kayo…" said Scott, sorrow in his eyes. "Where does it hurt?"

Kayo groaned. "My leg…" she whimpered. "I think it's broken."

"Okay, moving you may have been a mistake," said Scott. "Just lie still. Thunderbird 2 will be here soon."

Just then the rumble of another aircraft startled them. It wasn't coming from out at sea and it definitely wasn't Thunderbird 2. It was coming from within the crater of the volcano. Looking up, they saw the orange, grey and black coloured Condor rising out from the crater with its four VTOL engines that changed to horizontal flight before the craft began to fly away from the island.

Kayo gasped as she suddenly remembered. "Rigby…no…" she groaned before passing out again.

"Rigby?" Scott asked. Then he realised. He must be aboard the ship, he thought to himself. He must still be a prisoner.

Suddenly there came a loud explosion as the self-destruct system activated and destroyed the underground complex, sending a huge column of smoke and flame high into the air, making it look like the volcano had just erupted. Scott threw himself over the top of Kayo for protection as pieces of debris began to rain down around them. Luckily, nothing major landed on or around them.

"Phew, that was close," Scott remarked.

"Scott! Scott, come in!"

"Virgil!" Scott replied, looking out to see and seeing the green leviathan that was Thunderbird 2 coming towards them. "It's okay, we're fine."

"Thank God!" Virgil said with relief. "What's Kayo situation?"

"Not good," Scott replied grimly. "Suspected broken leg and possible trauma. Get Thunderbird 2's sick bay ready."

"I'm on it!" said Gordon, hurrying out of the cockpit whilst Virgil brought Thunderbird 2 down to land on the beach on the opposite side of Scott and Kayo to where Thunderbird 1 was.

No sooner had it touched down when the nose lift descended with Virgil exiting the craft with a hover-stretcher under his arm. He hurried over to Scott and helped him gently move Kayo onto the stretcher. The hover-motors then took over as Kayo was transported back to Thunderbird 2. They re-entered the cockpit and placed Kayo on the medical bed that Gordon had prepared.

Gordon quickly performed a medical scan. "No trauma," he said. "However, the leg is an affirmative. It's broken in two places."

"Those suits provide more protection that we thought," Virgil said. "She's damn lucky she didn't break her neck."

Scott shuddered at the thought. Then he suddenly remembered there was something else that needed to be done. "Take care of her," he said. "Get her back to Tracy Island and have Thunderbird Shadow follow you back remotely." He headed for the elevator again.

"Where are you going?" asked Virgil.

"The Cabal still has Captain Rigby," said Scott as he began to descend out of the cockpit. "And I'm gonna get him back!"