SCOTT had known fear before. He'd experienced it. He could also remember hearing the terrified voices of his brothers on occasion over the radio. Never before had he heard Kayo sound this frightened before, not even when she'd been falling out of control after getting hit by the disrupter from The Hood's skyship after she stole the tanks of aslterine from him. "Kayo, repeat. What's happening?"

Kayo couldn't seem to give a proper answer for she appeared to be running, jumping or doing something that he couldn't make out. No hologram had appeared, just audio from her radio. "SCOTT! HELP! PLEASE! AAARGH!" Then the line went dead.

"Kayo, come in?! KAYO?!" Scott shouted and tried to make Thunderbird 1 go even faster. His attention was then grabbed by a warning alarm from Thunderbird 1's controls.

Brains's hologram then appeared. "Scott! You're overstressing the engines! Thunderbird 1 is going critical!"

"Screw the engines, Brains!" Scott snapped. "Kayo's in trouble. Cutting coms!" And he did so.

"Scott?" Brains asked as the line to Thunderbird 1 went off. "SCOTT?! RESPOND!"

Jeff cursed. "God SAKE! What the hell's going on out there? Thunderbird 2 - what's your ETA?"

"According to my instruments, about five minutes, Dad," Virgil replied. "Scott's gonna be there in about two."

"V-Virgil, have T-Thunderbird 2's defences ready," Brains stuttered. "I have a r-rather bad feeling about this."

"As do I, son," Jeff added. "Be careful."

"F-A-B," Virgil promised and signed off.

Kayo did a triple cartwheel before landing back on the shingle. She had to remove the outer nanotech helmet for it had taken a hard hit when she'd collided with the cliff-face after diving and ducking to avoid getting hit by the omega-beams from The Black Phantom. The sonic scream attacks from The Hood and Silver Swan she could just about take, provided they weren't combined, although she knew that she couldn't be killed by those. The omega-beams however were a whole new thing. These could so easily vaporise her in an instant and that's why she was trying desperately to avoid them.

"Hold still, damn you!" growled The Black Phantom. He'd had to cut the beams because they were starting to deplete the suit's power. Whilst he waited for them to power back up again, he flew over with the suits jets to take Kayo on in hand to hand combat.

Hand-to-hand Kayo was fine. She swung her legs and tripped the Phantom up but he quickly recovered and was up again. She then managed to get behind and jumped onto his back, wrapping her arms around under his helmet and trying to force it up. "How the hell did you get out of Aquatraz, McCullen?" she demanded.

"Who the hell's McCullen?" asked The Black Phantom. He fired his jets and flew backwards into the face of the cliff slamming Kayo hard into it.

"GAARGH!" Kayo exclaimed and let go before falling down to the bottom.

The Black Phantom landed and turned to face her. "You owe me blood!" he snarled and produced a sharp blade out of his left arm which he swung at Kayo.

Kayo spun round to the left narrowly avoiding the blade which wedged itself into the rock. As the Phantom tried desperately to pull it out, Kayo caught sight of a small manta-like insignia etched onto the steel. It was one she'd seen only once before. "You're the guy from the Konovalov attack?"

"That's right!" thundered The Black Phantom, finally yanking the blade out of the rocks. He then started to swing it again and again trying to slice Kayo but she was able to dodge each time. Eventually she saw a chunk of rock the size of a football near to her which had been part of the cliff blown out by the omega-beam attack. She grabbed it and threw it at the Phantom's head. It wasn't hard enough to break the helmet but it was hard enough to knock him off balance and fall over.

"I thought you perished when the sub went down?" Kayo asked.

"You left my father to die!" said The Black Phantom as he sprung back up again. "I cannot let that stand. So you will pay with your LIFE!" He powered up the omega-beams and fired at Kayo once more. Kayo dived out the way only to be surprised when something intercepted the beams and blocked them off.

Looking up, Kayo saw that Obsidian had regained consciousness and had dived in to protect her. "Stay behind me!" he instructed. "I'll handle this creep." He managed to hold out until the power depleted from the omega-beams. Then he began to attack The Black Phantom. He landed several punches across the helmet, causing him to get disorientated and prevented him from launching any counter-attacks. Obsidian then grabbed him by the leg and swung him round before sending him crashing into the cliff. This caused some superficial damage to his battlesuit but wasn't enough to take him out of the fight. However he remained down long enough for Obsidian to place his foot on top and pin him down.

"Idiot boy!" growled The Black Phantom. "This isn't your fight!"

"If you're a member of The Cabal, then it is," hissed Obsidian.

Kayo then stepped forwards. "Talk, Kruger. How did you get the Black Phantom suit? It got destroyed when we last battled with its previous operator."

"The Hood knew I needed an upgrade after you stopped us from taking the sub for him," The Black Phantom explained. "He had his technician make this and presented it to me."

"The Hood hired you to hi-jack Konovalov?" asked Kayo.

"Correct," said The Black Phantom. "And now I shall use it to destroy you!"

The omega-beams had powered up yet again and he used them to blast Obsidian away before jumping up once more. Kayo knew she had to act before he could turn them on her. She ran forwards and drop-kicked the Phantom over before backflipping away ready to come in again. As he tried to pick himself up she ran forwards and kicked him again. Then Obsidian came in, grabbed him by the leg and started slamming him around.

"ENOUGH!" bellowed The Black Phantom, firing his omega-beam into the ground causing a blast that threw him, Obsidian and Kayo in different directions and leaving a crater in the ground. All three then hit the ground with several hard thuds and grunts.

Kayo and the Phantom were the first to get back up again. "You know killing me won't end well for you, Kruger," she warned.

"Because your precious brothers would come and avenge you?" cackled The Black Phantom. "That's exactly what The Hood would want."

"Wrong," Kayo said. "He'd kill you because he's my uncle. And despite us being on opposite sides, he would not stand for anyone who would kill me."

The Black Phantom scoffed. "I'm not falling for any distraction lies!" he rumbled. "You caused the death of my father. I will not be satisfied until I kill you in return!"

Suddenly Obsidian came in from behind and punched the Phantom in the back, sending him flying forwards and allowing Kayo to perform a roundhouse kick, knocking him over. The Phantom roared and jumped up again, headbutting Kayo and knocking her over. He then produced the sharp blade from his left hand and forced it down towards her chest. But the nanotech suit prevented it from penetrating.

"That didn't work last time, and it won't this time!" Kayo said as Obsidian grabbed the frustrated Black Phantom by the helmet and threw him away when he landed in the water just off the beach.

"Thanks," said Kayo as Obsidian offered her a hand.

"Who the hell is this guy?" asked Obsidian. "He wasn't mentioned in my training sessions about The Cabal."

"I'll explain later," Kayo said. "First we need to make sure he cannot attack us again."

Whilst Obsidian and Kayo had been talking, David was cursing inside the Black Phantom suit. It was getting more damaged and starting to malfunction slightly. But if that wasn't enough, he then got a rather angry radio message. "Black Phantom from Techno. What are you playing at? You were tasked with extracting the boss and Silver Swan?"

"To hell with your instructions, tech-guy!" snapped David. "The bitch who killed my father is here and I intend to kill her!"

"You'll do no such thing if you want to live!" Techno thundered. "I gave you an order. Recover the boss and Swan and get back to the ship. Obsidian cannot be taken in your current state."

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR ORDERS!" bellowed David.

Techno's eyes narrowed. He held up a device. "Do as you're told!" he barked. "Or I'll get the suit to do it for you. Remember, I built it. I can control it. Just make sure they don't interfere with your escape."

David fixed Techno's hologram with a hateful glare. He then let out a growl before screaming "DAMN YOU!" He then realised that Obsidian and Kayo were approaching him. He jumped up, spun round and fired his jets before charging at them. He grabbed Kayo with one hand before slamming helmet-first into Obsidian, shoving them both back across the beach and into a small opening in the face of the cliff. Obsidian crashed first, then the Phantom threw Kayo in on top of him. He then flew backwards. "One day, bitch!" he cursed. "One day, you will die for what you did!" He then fired his omega-beams up at the cliff above, blasting a huge chunk away which fell down towards Kayo and Obsidian.

"GET DOWN!" Obsidian yelled, pushing Kayo down and positioning himself above her to protect her from the falling rocks.

Thunderbird 1 was finally on approach to the tiny island where Thunderbird Shadow's signal was coming from. As he kept his eyes focused, he spotted a beam of red light shoot up momentarily from behind the rocky middle and his heart skipped a beat. "What the hell?" he exclaimed. "Hang on, Kayo. I'm almost there!"

Swooping round and low from the Eastern-side of the island, Scott began to observe the island. He saw nothing but carnage. There was a crater on the beach. Several chunks missing out of the cliff and a big landslide in the middle. He also noticed Thunderbird Shadow perched on one part of the cliff that hadn't been touched. But he couldn't see Kayo or even anybody on the island anywhere.

"No. Please, no," Scott said, his entire body was shaking. "I can't be too late. Please, tell me I'm not too late!"

Thunderbird 1 came in almost too quickly and Scott only just managed to lower the landing legs before it hit the beach and skidded along, leaving three trails behind it. Scott's seat was lowered and he practically jumped out before running around trying desperately to find Kayo.

"KAYO?!" Scott shouted out. "KAYO, WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Kayo opened her eyes. Everything was dark at first, but then she noticed a small gap in the rocks that had fallen in front of her. She then heard strained groaning from above. Looking up she saw Obsidian standing over her, holding up some huge rocks that would have surely crushed her if he hadn't managed to stop them falling.

"Ka…yo…" Obsidian said between strains. "Get…out…of…here! Can't…hold…it…much…longer."

Kayo scrambled to her feet. "But what about you?" she asked.

"Don't…worry…about…me…" Obsidian said, straining even harder. "You….have….family….still." He panted and strained again, slowly sinking lower as the weight was getting too much for him. "You…need…to…live. Go…"

"Obsidian, no!" Kayo protested. "I can't leave you. You'll be crushed."

Obsidian looked into her eyes, which he could see properly since her nano-tech helmet was damaged and couldn't be used. His own eyes were saddened and starting to fill with tears. "Better…me…than…you…" he said weakly.

"KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?!"

Kayo gasped and looked round towards the tiny gap in the rocks. "Scott?!"

"GOOOOO!" bellowed Obsidian. "Please…"

Kayo's heart was torn. Half of her wanted to go out to meet Scott, but also she did not want to leave Obsidian to his fate. Eventually she had to comply with Obsidian's wishes and with huge reluctance, scrambled through the rocks to the opening. Poking her head out, she saw Scott about fifty yards further up the beach, calling her name out almost despairingly. She tried to climb out, only to realise it wasn't as wide as she thought and became stuck. "SCOTT?!" she cried. "OVER HERE!"

Scott spun round at the sound of his name and gasped when he saw the danger Kayo was in. more rocks were falling down from the cliff and any one of them could hit Kayo and potentially end her life. "KAYO!" he cried and sprinted over as fast as his legs would carry him. He soon reached the rocks and scrambled up them until he reached where Kayo was stuck. "Give me your hands!" he ordered.

Kayo did so and grabbed tightly onto Scott's hands. "PULL!" she ordered.

Scott did so and with an almighty heave, Kayo slipped through the gap and they tumbled together down to the bottom of the rockpile. They then hurriedly got to their feet and sprinted away just as Obsidian finally lost his energy and collapsed, with the huge rocks tumbling down and crashing all around both inside and outside the rockface.

Scott and Kayo had thrown themselves to the ground to avoid getting hit by the falling rocks. Once the crashing and falling of rocks finally subsided, Kayo leapt back to her feet and turned to face the now huge pile of rocks that covered where she and Obsidian had been. Panic tore through her body and she ran forwards, grabbing what rocks she could and began throwing them aside. "OBSIDIAN?!" she cried out. "CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"

"Kayo, what are you doing?" asked Scott.

"Scott, help me!" pleaded Kayo. "We have to get him out!"

"Kayo, half that mountain has come down!" Scott said, grabbing Kayo and pulling her back. "You can't help him. He's gone."

Kayo quivered, and then burst into tears. She tried to wipe them away but couldn't because of her helmet. Scott therefore removed the helmet for her and pulled her in close whilst she sobbed into his shoulder. "He saved me, Scott," she said hoarsely.

"Fuse saved you?" Scott asked.

Kayo pulled back suddenly. "How do you know it's him?!" she asked.

"Dad made Colonel Casey tell us the truth," Scott explained. "Which she should have done from the start."

Kayo sniffled as more tears trickled down her cheeks. She looked back at the huge pile of rocks.

A rumble of engines filled the air as Thunderbird 2 then appeared over the hill. "Thunderbird 1, what's the situation?" Virgil asked over the radio.

"Kayo's safe, Virgil," Scott said. "But Obsidian is buried under this massive rockpile. There's no way he could have survived."

Virgil looked down from the cockpit of Thunderbird 2. "Thunderbird 5, scan the island. Are there any other signs of life?"

John ran a scan of the island. "Affirmative!" he said. "There's one right under those rocks."

"Then he did survive!" said Virgil. He got Thunderbird 2 ready for landing. "I'd better suit up."

"What are you going to do?" asked John.

"Dig him out," Virgil replied simply.

Kayo and Scott watched on in surprise as Thunderbird 2 came in to land. They were even more surprised when the nose elevator lowered to reveal Virgil with his Jaws of Life mech-suit. He ran over to the rocks and started to shift them.

"Er, Virgil? What are you doing?" Scott asked in confusion.

"Digging Obsidian out," Virgil replied. "You two just gonna sit there or are you gonna help me?"

"Virgil, he can't have survived-" Scott began.

"Well he has!" Virgil snapped, silencing Scott. "The sooner we get him out, the better chance he has!"

"See!" Kayo snapped at Scott and pushed him aside to go and help Virgil clear the rocks. Scott sighed in defeat and moved in to help as well.

It took quite a long time even with the three of them and Virgil's suit to clear away enough of the rocks in order to find Obsidian laying face-down and not moving right in the middle of it all.

"He's pinned down," Virgil said. "I'll lift this rock. You two grab an arm each and pull him out."

Scott and Kayo nodded in agreement. Scott grabbed Obsidian's left arm whilst Kayo took hold of the right. Virgil grabbed hold of the rock with his jaws.

"One, two, three!" Virgil said as with an almighty heave he managed to lift the rock very slightly to allow Kayo and Scott to pull Obsidian out. It wasn't easy due to his suit being bulky and heavy, but they managed it just. They then had to jump clear and Virgil released the rock and jumped clear himself as it crashed back down to the ground.

With Obsidian safely outside, they rolled him over onto his back. His suit was no longer the pristine and clean white and blue that it had been when he'd first emerged from the crate aboard the CX-92. It was scorched, dented, scratched and severely damaged in several places. His glass domed helmet was also cracked in several places but luckily hadn't actually caved in.

"Help me get his helmet off," Kayo said as she and Scott carefully undid the clips to remove the dome and place it to the side.

Virgil came and stood beside them, using the heads-up display in his helmet to run a medical scan on Obsidian's body as neither Kayo nor Scott were wearing theirs. "He's breathing," he said. "Heart rate is stable. I think he'll be okay."

Kayo fell onto back and collapsed partially from exhaustion and relief that Obsidian was going to live.

Scott looked at Obsidian. "Is this really Fuse?" he asked. "He looks…so different."

"For better or for worse?" asked Virgil.

Scott gave his brother a look. "For better," he said. "Just provided this isn't a trick."

Virgil frowned. "Now, Scott, don't start that again."

"Start what?"

"It took you a very long time to get over your resentment of The Mechanic, even after he'd proven to have been cured by Brains," Virgil said. "Don't let your resentment of our enemies make you judge before you are proven."

"He saved my life, Virgil," Kayo said. "I'd have been crushed to death if he hadn't kept those rocks off me so I could escape. I owe him. Big time."

"Speaking of which," Scott said. "Who were you fighting? I can't believe that The Hood and Silver Swan caused all of this? Unless they've been upgraded with-"

Virgil let out a cough, interrupting him. He then pointed towards the sky. Kayo and Scott looked to see a squadron of GDF Flyers approaching them. Kayo then looked around to see that The Hood and Silver Swan were nowhere to be seen, except for the broken wings of Silver Swan's suit. It was clear to her that The Black Phantom had flown off with them after burying her and Obsidian. She'd yet to tell Scott and Virgil about it, but decided it would be best to tell them at the same time as she told Colonel Casey.

Obsidian let out a groan and opened his eyes. "Ouch, my head," he said. "What happened?"

"Clarence!" Kayo said with relief. "Thank God you're okay."

"Kayo?" said Obsidian. "How did we make it out of there?" Then as he looked around, he saw Scott and Virgil and instantly gulped. "Oh…h-hello," he stammered nervously.

"Fuse," said Scott. He stepped forwards. Then cleared his throat. "Obsidian, I mean." He then held out his hand, much to Kayo and Virgil's surprise. "Thank you for saving Kayo."

Obsidian was just as surprised by Scott's offer of hand. He took it and Scott helped him to his feet. "I, er…you're welcome," he said, trying to take it in.

The Flyers split into two groups with two landing behind Thunderbird 2 and another three behind Thunderbird 1. Swarms of troops ran out from each Flyer with restraint gear for their prisoners, and soon got very confused when they found no Cabal members anywhere to be seen.

Rigby was also amongst the people disembarking from the Flyers. As was Colonel Casey, who straight away had clocked onto the fact that The Hood and Silver Swan were nowhere to be seen. Hers and Rigby's eyes widened too when they saw the state of Obsidian's armour.

"Obsidian? Kayo? What the hell happened here?" Colonel Casey demanded. "I thought you had The Hood and Silver Swan defeated?"

"We did, Colonel Casey," said Obsidian.

"Then WHERE THE HELL ARE THEY?!" roared Colonel Casey.

Kayo stepped forwards, her face very stern. "Colonel Casey, you need to listen to what I have to say," she said. "The Cabal has a new member. The Black Phantom."

A mixture of stunned silence and alarmed mutterings filled the entire complement of GDF personnel as well as sending shockwaves through Scott and Virgil's bodies.

"WHAT?!" the brothers exclaimed in unison.

"Kayo, that's impossible," said Rigby. "I was at Aquatraz only yesterday. Angus McCullen was still in his cell."

"Well clearly he isn't, Captain," said Scott.

"Actually he is," Kayo said, surprising them all. "Because the person wearing the new Phantom amour isn't McCullen. It's David Kruger."

"Who?" Scott, Virgil, Rigby and Colonel Casey asked all at once.

"He was one of the pirates that attacked the Konovalov submarine," Kayo explained. "The one who I fought in the torpedo room and his father got crushed by a falling torpedo."

"But I thought they both perished when the submarine sank?" said Virgil.

"As did I, Virgil," replied Kayo grimly. "But only his father did. Kruger revealed that it was The Hood who hired the pirates to hi-jack the Konovalov so it could be used by The Cabal. Now he blames me for his father's death and is out to get me."

"But I thought the Phantom suit was destroyed in the battle we had in Scotland last year?" Scott said.

"This is a new suit," said Kayo. "One built by Techno. Which would explain why his omega-beams are so much more powerful this time. As you can see," she finished, pointing to the damage to the island.

"That explains the red beam I saw from Thunderbird 1 as I approached," Scott realised. "They must have escaped moments before I arrived."

"And Stanton Labs," said Virgil. "You remember, Scott? The lead scientist said a red laser beam of some immense power cut through the building and caused it to collapse. That must have been the Phantom."

Scott nodded. "I think you could be right, Virgil," he said. He turned back to Colonel Casey. "I'd say that taking down The Cabal has just gotten a hell of a lot harder," he said.

Colonel Casey nodded grimly. "Damn right it has," she said. "But that's why Project Obsidian was set-up. The Cabal are insanely powerful. We needed something to try and counteract it."

Obsidian stepped forwards. "And I will continue to do so," he said. "No matter how long it takes." He walked towards the sea and gazed out across the waves. "And if I can save Catherine from that monster, I'll have done even better."