THUNDERBIRD 4 surfaced on the Delaware River in the middle of Philadelphia and came over to one of the piers where a group of three medical people were wrapped up tightly. Two men, one holding a white rucksack it looked like and a woman, who seemed to be looking anxiously at her watch.

Gordon brought Thunderbird 4 up to the pier and stopped beside it before exiting the craft to meet the medics. "Did someone order a pizza?" he asked.

The female doctor was extremely stern and didn't think Gordon's remark was funny. "What you are delivering is considerably more precious to a young girl than any pizza will be!" she snapped as her colleague handed the bag to him.

"Duh! I meant for me," Gordon retorted. "It's a heck of a long way over to San Francisco, even by the Pacific-Atlantic Tunnel. I'm not gonna make that on an empty stomach."

The doctor gave him a look. "Sorry, no," she said bluntly. "Now listen. This pack is specially padded and insulated for shock-absorption. But that doesn't mean that the organ within needs any strenuous jostling. Do you have a timer on that watch-thing of yours?"

Gordon looked at the yellow wrist controller. "Yeah?"

"Good. You'll need to set a four-hour countdown on it," she said. "After that, the heart will no longer be viable. Is that clear?"

"Crystal," said Gordon.

"Then go!" she finished sharply.

Gordon rolled his eyes after turning away and climbing back into Thunderbird 4 with the heart. Sheesh. She doesn't ask for much, he thought to himself.

Submerging into the dark river once more, Thunderbird 4 headed back down the river before reaching a giant undersea lock chamber. Once he'd passed through, he would be inside the extremely long and straight Pacific-Atlantic Tunnel, built so that cargo-carrying submarines could cross the USA without having to send everything by cargo ship around from the Pacific into the Atlantic.

"Thunderbird 5, I have just entered the Atlantic Lock," Gordon reported.

"Well done, Thunderbird 4," answered John.

"But the doc says I have only four hours to get across to San-Fran," said Gordon. "I know Thunderbird 4 is fast but I'm not sure even going in a straight line I'll be able to make it."

"You w-will with the tunnel's artificial currents, Gordon," said Brains who had been listening in.

"We've also arranged for the tunnel to be cleared of traffic prior to your arrival," added John. "You'll be the only one down there."

"The tunnel's currents will more than d-double your speed," said Brains. "If my c-calculations are correct, you should be arriving in San Francisco in roughly three-and-a-half hours."

"No pressure," Gordon remarked.

"Good luck, son," said Jeff.

He watched as the inner doors opened to lead into the large underwater tunnel. Big waterproof lights helped illuminate the way. As Gordon pushed Thunderbird 4 up to full power and moved forwards into the tunnel, he felt the artificial currents created by special turbines kick in and help propel him forwards. "Woah!" he exclaimed. After the initial disconcertion, he found it quite thrilling. "Thunderbird 4 is GOOOOOOOOO!"

John and Alan turned their attention back to the Ice-Fortress. Despite noticing that Thunderbird 1 had arrived at the one over Oklahoma, the scan that Scott had promised seemed to still be struggling to get through.

"Thunderbird 1, we're not quite picking up your scan," John said. "Is everything okay, Scott?"

"Not really, no!" Scott replied rather sharply. "I have a Hood on my back, trying to get in!"

"The Hood?!" exclaimed several voices.

"Wait, The Hood's actually there, Scott?!" Jeff asked.

"Yes, Dad!" said Scott. "It looks like he's been guarding the fortress!"

"Then The C-Cabal IS behind this," said Brains grimly.

Then they heard The Hood's voice over the radio. He'd placed a speaking device onto the hull of Thunderbird 1. "Trying to learn the secrets of our latest creation, International Rescue?" he said. "I'm afraid that we cannot let that happen." He then activated a laser in his right gauntlet and began to attempt to cut into the hull of Thunderbird 1.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Scott snapped and set Thunderbird 1 off, performing a barrel-roll and causing The Hood to lose his grip and fall off.

"AARGH!" The Hood yelled briefly before managing to reactivate his backpack and wings to get flying again. He chased off after Thunderbird 1 who was now circling around the fortress trying to continue the scan. "Think you can get rid of me that easily, Scott Tracy?" barked The Hood. "Think again!" He was so busy focusing on Thunderbird 1 that he hadn't noticed the GDF Flyer closing in.

"Get his attention!" Colonel Casey ordered.

One of the operators targeted an area of sky close to where The Hood was and fired a single missile with a timed warhead on it to explode a short distance from where The Hood was flying and the shockwave knocked him off course.

"What?!" The Hood exclaimed once he'd recovered himself and looked around where he then caught sight of the Flyer along with the others that were now arriving to reinforce. "Casey!" he snarled and then charged towards the lead aircraft.

"Well, I think we got his attention," said the pilot.

"Good," said Colonel Casey. "Let's keep him that way."

Scott had also noticed what was going on and that The Hood was now heading for the Flyers. "Colonel, get out of there!" he cried. "He'll take you all down!"

But Colonel Casey ignored Scott and seemed comfortably waiting for The Hood to retaliate.

The Hood stopped a short distance from the Flyer and hovered defiantly in full view of those in the cockpit. "Trying to disrupt our plans, Colonel?" he said. "Watch as I turn the TABLES!" He then let out a sonic screech at the Flyer and the crew braced themselves for end. But instead of any explosions, the sonic blast hit a newly-developed forcefield which absorbed the sound-waves, much to the astonishment of Scott and the utter fury of The Hood. "WHAT?!"

"Okay…that was unexpected," said Scott.

"An upgrade from our late friend, The Mechanic,," Colonel Casey said. "He did a lot more than just create the Sidewinder. Complete your task, Scott. The sooner we get these machines destroyed, the better."

"F-A-B!" said Scott. He turned Thunderbird 1 back towards the Ice-Fortress and after getting round to the opposite side from the battle, he recommended the scanning. "Scan underway," he said. "Are you getting this, John and Brains?"

"Coming through fine now, Scott," said John.

"Here too, Scott," added Brains. "Coming through c-clear and precise."

"Good," said Scott. "Although you might want to alert the other groups. If The Hood is guarding this one then I'm guessing the others are around as well."

"He's r-right," said Brains. "There are f-five Ice-Fortresses and five m-members of The Cabal."

"Meaning one at each," said Jeff. He opened a radio link. "John, better warn the other GDF Flyers as well. Captains Rigby and Madison wont ignore calls from us."

"F-A-B," said John. "Calling FAB1, Thunderbird Shadow and Captains Rigby and Madison. Do you read me?"

"Go ahead, John?" Kayo's voice answered.

"Receiving you loud and clear, John," said Penelope.

"Hello, John," said Hayley from where she was travelling in the Flyer over Bolivia.

"Rigby here," finished Rigby from the Flyer over the Caribbean heading for Peru.

"Just a heads up," John said. "Expect potential Cabal encounters at each of the Ice-Fortresses. Colonel Casey and Thunderbird 1 are already having to contend with interference from The Hood."

Kayo gritted her teeth. She was headed for the one over Mexico. "What I'd give to be taking my uncle down right now," she muttered to herself.

"We'll be ready for them," said Rigby.

"Thanks for the warning, John," said Hayley. "We'll be on our guard."

"As will we," said Penelope. "Thanks, John."

"Just be careful," John said to them all. "We've never taken them on like this before. They're still dangerous and could also have a few tricks up their sleeves. Report who you find then we can make note of how to deal with them if need-be."

"Understood."

"F-A-B."

"You got it!"

Thunderbird Shadow approached the giant fortress over Mexico. It was much larger and way more daunting than she had first imagined. "Woah…someone's a fan of Independence Day," she remarked. She then started to look around for any sign of a Cabal member. "Who will it be?" she asked herself. "Silver Swan? White Ghost?" Suddenly a beam of red light shot out from the top of the fortress. "WOAH!" she exclaimed, diving over to the left. Then she noticed a small black figure lift off from the fortress and head towards her. "Ugh, him!" she growled as she began to speed up to lead her attacker on a chase around the fortress. "International Rescue. I have located the fortress over Mexico. The Black Phantom is here."

The next to reach its target were the Flyers led by Rigby. They too had sighted the fortress above Peru and it was not long before they had company as a streak of flying silver emerged from behind the fortress. "Rigby to all Flyers! Silver Swan in sight. Engage at will!"

The Flyers began shooting their laser-guns in the direction of Silver Swan. Her speed and agility allowed her to dodge the blasts but her confidence at a quick victory was taken like The Hood had found with the Flyers also having force-fields to protect them from her winged blades and sonic screams.

Hayley's squadron of Flyers were also approaching their target - the fortress over Argentina. "Keep your eyes open, people," she warned. "We can't let The Cabal catch us off guard."

They drew closer and closer to the fortress, but there was no sign of any resistance. Having heard about The Black Phantom and Silver Swan engaging their comrades, Hayley realised that whoever was guarding this one wasn't one who could fly.

"No sign of resistance, Captain," said the Flyer's pilot.

Hayley frowned. "This doesn't feel right," she said. "Surround the fortress."

At the instruction, the other two Flyers in the group moved around so they formed a circle around the fortress. All three locked on with missiles.

"Fire!" ordered Hayley.

Two pairs of missiles shot out from each of the Flyers and streaked towards the fortress. But a series of white-blue pulse flashes came from near the top of the craft hitting the missiles and destroying them before they had a chance to hit.

"Damn! It has anti-missile guns," said Hayley.

Suddenly a panicked cry came out over the radio. "Captain Madison! We've got-ARRRRRGH!"

Hayley's heart skipped a beat. She knew the voice as belonging to one of the soldiers down in the cargo bay. She grabbed the microphone. "Leon? Leon?! Are you there?" No response. "Fire a barrage at the fortress and tell the others to do the same!" she ordered the flight crew. "Fire more missiles than the guns can shoot down." She then headed for the door leading out of the cockpit.

"Where are you going?" asked the navigator.

"To find out what's going on," Hayley replied as she left the cockpit.

Thunderbird 2 was flying over Westchester, New York looking for people to save. John then spoke over the radio. "Thunderbird 2, I have a rescue for you to perform."

"Where at, Thunderbird 5?"

"Twenty miles North-West of your current location," said John. "Snow has built up on a hillside and has caused an avalanche. It has buried a school where the townspeople were sheltering. You need to go and dig them out."

"On my way," said Virgil. He turned Thunderbird 2 and headed for the school.

Scott had just managed to complete his scan of the fortress over Oklahoma. "Scan complete, Thunderbird 5."

"Well done, Scott," said John. "How are the GDF doing with The Hood?"

Scott looked over. "Their defences seem to be holding out, but they can't seem to be able to get a hit on him either. Should I assist them?"

"Negative," replied John. "People below need you. I'm sending you the most urgent in your area. Do what you can."

"F-A-B."

The Hood was getting more and more frustrated as he tried all sorts of tricks and weapons to try and break the defences protecting the Flyers. "Come on, just blow up already!" he fumed. Just then the Flyers seemed to back off. Confused, The Hood looked around, just in time to see Thunderbird 1 diving fast towards him. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGGGGHH!" he screamed as he dodged out the way and the rush of air sent him spiralling out of control.

Scott hadn't been able to resist the chance to make The Hood's life more of a misery. "He's all yours, Colonel Casey," he said.

"Thank you, Scott," answered Colonel Casey. "Leave him and the others to us. You go save people."

Scott nodded, his respect for Colonel Casey was restored following his doubting the obsession that she seemed to have with taking The Cabal down.

The Hood was disorientated from the spiral and therefore was unable to fully prepare for when one of the Flyers took a shot at him and the explosion sent him spiralling towards the ground.

"He's going down, Colonel!" announced the pilot of the Flyer.

"Good," said Colonel Casey. "We'll go down and get him. The rest of you take that fortress down, by any means necessary!"

The Flyer with the Colonel aboard began to descend down after the falling Hood leaving the other two to try and take down the Ice-Fortress by themselves.

Hayley made her way down into the cargo bay of the Flyer. She was startled by what she saw. All of the soldiers had been taken out. None were hurt, but all had somehow been knocked into unconsciousness. As she made her way down the stairs to check on them, she suddenly felt the Flyer jolt, like it was starting to fall out of the sky. Saving herself from falling, Hayley managed to scramble her way back up the stairs and towards the cockpit. "What the hell's going…on?!" She had begun to say and then momentarily cut off when bursting into the cockpit. The flight crew had also been knocked out, and a figure in a white suit was standing just beside the pilot's seat. It turned to face her. "The White Ghost!"

"Well observed, Captain Madison," the figure replied. "I hope you can swim."

The Flyer was falling away from the fortress and towards the South Atlantic Ocean nearby. Hayley had a device on her wrist which allowed her to access the Flyer's controls and stop it from falling any further. "Nice try, Ghost," she said. "But so long as I am here, nobody aboard this craft is losing their lives."

The White Ghost hissed in frustration. "That can be rectified," she said and lunged at Hayley.

FAB1 was the last to approach its destination - the Ice-Fortress over Montana. "Thunderbird 5, we are approaching the fortress," said Penelope. "Any idea who we might be up against?"

"Kayo's reported an encounter with The Black Phantom and Captain Rigby's squadron are taking on Silver Swan," John replied. "Looks like you've got either White Ghost or Techno."

"I 'ope h'it's the former," Parker muttered.

Just then they heard Hayley's voice over the radio. "Madison to International Rescue. We have The White Ghost aboard our Flyer. Attempting to take down."

"Well I guess that answers that," remarked Penelope.

Parker shuddered.

"Techno you have then," said John. "Although knowing him it'll likely be his Techno-drones that you have to deal with."

"Better get the hull charged up for an EMP blast, Parker," said Penelope.

"Yus, m'lady."

They closed in on the fortress. Parker had the body of FAB1 charged up and prepped, ready to fire a big EMP blast at however many Air-Meccas would come their way. But the closer they got, the more concerned they became for there was no sign of any drones anywhere.

"I don't like this, Parker," Penelope said. "It's too quiet."

"I h'agree, m'lady," said Parker. "What do we do?"

"What else can we do?" Penelope replied. "Our job is to take this fortress down. So let's see what throwing a few missiles at it will do."

"Right h'away, m'lady," said Parker. He pressed a button on the dashboard opening up the front grill to reveal the missiles. After locking onto the fortress, he pressed the button to fire. Two missiles shot out from the front of FAB1 and raced towards the fortress. But before they could get anywhere near, two mystery green sonic bolts came out from the fortress and destroyed them. "What the perishing-?" Parker asked as something seemed to lift off from the deck of the fortress. Before they knew it, they found themselves being targeted by a figure that they'd never seen before. It wore a bright yellow and dark brown suit that was part armoured and part quilt-like in places. It had black boots that seemed to have rocket motors built into them and on its wrists were two powerful gauntlets than when close were raised to fire green sonic blasts at them that Parker had to dodge. "Who the blinkin' 'eck h'is this guy?" Parker asked.

"I have no idea," Penelope replied. "But try not to get hit by them."

Suddenly the figure appeared out of nowhere and landed on the bonnet of the car. "What's this?" a distorted modulator voice answered. "I get a chick and an old timer in a flying pink motor?! WHERE'S THE LITTLE RUNT WHO CRUSHED MY LEGS?!"

"GET H'OFF, QUILT-MAN!" Parker shouted and rolled FAB1 to cause the figure to fall off.

"Quilt-man? QUILT-MAN?!" the figure said, sounding very offended. "Don't you know who I am?!" He powered up the gauntlets. "I'M THE SHOCKER!" He fired the gauntlets. One just caught FAB1 and sent it spiralling about.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Parker and Penelope cried out together as they spiralled down but luckily Parker was able to recover them and head back up.

Penelope opened her compact. "John, we've engaged in combat. But it isn't Techno."

John, Alan, Jeff and Brains, the latter two had been listening in to everything, exchanged puzzled looks with each other.

"What?" said John. "Then who is it?"

"Some guy in a yellow suit," Penelope replied. "Shooting sonic blasts out his arms at us. Think he called himself The Shocker or something?"

Alan almost choked. "W-W-W-W-WHAT?!" he exclaimed. "Show me!"

John patched in to the cameras aboard FAB1. They were soon able to lay eyes on the figure who was attacking it.

"My God!" exclaimed Jeff. "Is that the guy whose legs you crushed, Alan?"

Alan sounded like he was going to be sick. "Errr…yeah…"

"That was a couple of Christmases ago," John said. "Have to say I'd forgotten about him."

"I think we all had," said Jeff. "So now he's joined The Cabal as well."

"How has he even got legs?" asked Alan. "The pod completely crushed them."

"They m-must be cybernetic or something," said Brains. "Looking at this f-footage, he's had some serious upgrades since we l-last encountered him."

"Techno's work?" asked Jeff.

"That would b-be my guess, yes," said Brains. "Which raises a f-far more serious question. If Techno isn't guarding one of the fortresses…"

"Then where the heck is he?" Jeff finished for him.

Thunderbird 4 was making good progress through the Pacific-Atlantic Tunnel. With no other traffic using the tunnel he didn't have to worry about avoiding any obstacles. But Gordon was getting bored. He checked the time he had left. "Two hours down, one and a half to go if Brains is correct," he told himself. He'd got his craft on autopilot. "Eye spy with my little eye something beginning with…W," he said to himself. He looked around. "Water? Yes! Ha-ha!" This was how bad the boredom had gotten for Gordon. But he couldn't have known that it was about to change. "I spy with my little eye…hmmm…something beginning with…" He paused as he looked around. "Something beginning with…R!" he decided at last. He then caught sight of something small, black and orange swimming across in front of Thunderbird 4 for a few moments before carrying on ahead of it. It had a glowing red light emitting from it which seemed familiar. "Ray-Mecca!" he said triumphantly, applauding himself. "Man, I am good when I am playing by myself." But then it hit him. "A Ray-MECCA?! What's that doing down here?!" He turned Thunderbird 4's lights on to a higher beam just to make sure he wasn't imagining it. He wasn't. The Mecca was clearly visible swimming ahead of him. Then when they reached a maintenance tunnel branching off on the left, it turned and headed down it. Forgetting all about his important mission, Gordon switched Thunderbird 4 back to manual control and turned out of the strong current to follow the Mecca and see where it went. "Is The Mechanic still alive?" Gordon asked himself. "I'm sure he was lost in the Sidewinder explosion. Unless…"

The Mecca suddenly shot upwards through a shaft and disappeared from view. Gordon stopped his ship directly underneath. Thunderbird 4 couldn't fit through, so he put on his helmet and exited through the airlock, swimming up the shaft to see where the Mecca was going. Upon reaching the top, he found himself in a pool of some sorts and breached the surface. He looked around. There was no sign of the Ray-Mecca, or anyone for that matter. The room was dimly lit so it was hard to see. Gordon swam to the side of the pool and climbed out.

"HELLO?" Gordon called out into the darkness. "MECHANIC?! ARE YOU THERE?!"

A cackling laugh made him spin around with clenched fists, ready to defend himself. A figure emerged from the darkness. It was dressed like The Mechanic with the same orange and black that he had worn. Two Scorpion-Meccas scuttled along the floor beside his feet and two Insect-Meccas hovered above. Gordon hadn't seen this guy before…at least not in person…but he knew immediately who it was.

"Techno!" Gordon said. "What are you doing down here?"

"What's it to you, International Rescue?" Techno asked. "Am I not allowed a little peace and solidarity every now and then?"

"I would have thought you'd be off controlling those flying ice machines or something," Gordon said.

"My colleagues are more than capable of defending them from any attacks made by your comrades or those imbeciles in the GDF," Techno said "I am merely doing a favor for a friend."

Gordon was suspicious. "What kind of favor?" he asked. "If it involves endangering people's lives then I will have to take you in."

Techno laughed. "You're welcome to try, Tracy," he said and activated the Meccas to attack him.

Gordon grabbed a piece of discarded pipe he found lying on the floor near his feet as one of the Insect-Meccas dove in for an attack. He took a hard swing at it, knocking it away and damaging a wing. It lost the ability to stay airborne and landed in the water where water got into its electronics. It fizzled and then exploded. Then the second one came in and Gordon swung the pipe the other way, knocking that one into the wall and smashing it in the process. Then the two Scorpion-Meccas scurried towards Gordon with their electric stings fizzling. Gordon was prepared for them as well. A couple of swing downs of the pipe were enough to break both of the Meccas.

Techno was taken aback by this. He hadn't expected Gordon to be so prepared. "What? How did-?"

"I spent a lot of time fighting off these things from your predecessor," Gordon said. "At least his were a challenge."

Techno snarled angrily. "What did you say?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry, is that mask blocking your ears?" Gordon asked sarcastically.

Techno roared and lunged at Gordon, but having learned a few self-defence tricks from Kayo, Gordon was able to dodge the attack and Techno fell flat on his face. Gordon seized his chance and jumped on top of him to pin him down. Techno struggled to try and get up again, but Gordon kept him down. "Ha! Not so tough without your toys to protect you, are you?" Gordon said mockingly. "Now, I just need find a way to stow you away so that Colonel Casey and the GDF can-"

Gordon didn't get to finish his sentence for all of a sudden, Techno let out an even bigger bellow than before. He pushed himself and threw Gordon off his back. Surprised, Gordon landed on his own back and before he could recover, Techno was on top of him, bellowing in a rage and slamming his metallic-gloved fists onto Gordon's helmet. Whilst the helmet prevented Gordon from getting any serious injury for now, the constantly knocking of his head from left to right and back again in quick succession was quickly causing him some discomfort and dizziness.

"DON'T…MENTION…THAT…NAME!" Techno roared as he continued to punch Gordon. He then stopped and stood up, standing tall over Gordon and taking a heat-spike out from his toolbelt. "For that…you will pay with your life!" He brought the spike down once it was glowing hot and tried to pierce Gordon's suit with it.

Gordon seized his chance and with a clenched right fist managed to punch Techno's right arm and then kicked him in the stomach. Whilst the suit prevented him from feeling pain, Techno was knocked back and Gordon rolled over to fall into the water.

Techno roared and charged forwards before looking over the side. He tried to see where Gordon was but there was no sign of him. He cursed and deactivated the spike, putting it back in his toolbelt. He then looked at the time on his wrist-controller. "That should suffice," he muttered. "But how DARE he bring her up?!"

Shaken and confused by what had just happened, Gordon returned to Thunderbird 4 and reversed out of the maintenance tunnel into the main tunnel. Now back in the strong artificial current, he started to continue his way on towards San Francisco. "Damn, that was intense," Gordon remarked out loud to himself. "I had him. What could have made him flip like-" He was cut off by a beeping sound on his wrist-controller. He looked at it and his heart skipped a beat. It had just passed the two-hour mark meaning that was all that was left. "What the hell was I doing?!" Gordon suddenly realised, hitting himself hard on the head. "I've lost time! Come on, baby. Faster! Faster!"

Thunderbird 4 continued on its way, with its pilot furious with himself for allowing himself to get distracted the way he had been.

Scott had been assigned a mission by John. The owner of a small civilian private plane had ignored the warnings about 'No Flying' due to the severe weather conditions and believed the rules didn't apply to them and that their little aircraft would have no issues. How wrong they were for the aircraft had ended up coming down in the Arizona Desert, which looked very unusual covered in a thick blanket of white snow.

"This is just wrong on so many levels," Scott said to John as he flew over the landscape. "A desert with snow? I honestly thought I'd seen it all, John."

"Brains has a theory that those clouds might be artificial too," John answered over the holo-projector. "From the scan you created for us, he's figured out that the fortress is built up of a series of large liquid oxygen tanks that have been scientifically altered into making clouds. Specifically snow clouds."

"I didn't realise The Cabal had the knowledge or expertise to do that," remarked Scott. "Techno must be one hell of a scientist."

"I h-highly doubt that, Scott," Brains said. "As far as we can t-tell, Techno is merely an engineer, just like The Mechanic was. It's m-more likely that they have stolen the chemical compounds from somewhere and adapted it to their own needs."

"Where in the world can create this kind of chemical?" asked Scott.

"At present, I have n-no idea," said Brains.

"I'm looking into it though, Scott," said John. "You shouldn't be far from the downed plane now?"

Scott checked his position on the instruments. "Coming up on the area now," he said. "And I have a visual on the plane. Looks like its made a belly-landing."

"What's its condition?" asked John.

"The wings appear to have broken off but the main fuselage looks to be intact," said Scott. "I am going down to take a look and check on the occupants." He adjusted Thunderbird 1's controls as he prepared to bring the ship in for a landing.

Touching down in the snow close to the downed aircraft, Scott put on his helmet and hurried across the snow towards it. "I still cannot believe I am running across snow…in the Arizona Desert!" he told himself out loud. He soon reached the plane and found that the hatch that allowed entry and exit was jammed shut. He used his laser to cut through and pull the door off. He then almost fell over in surprise when he discovered who was inside. "Warren Grafton?!"

"About damn time someone showed up!" growled Grafton as he pushed past Scott. "Just look at my plane! It's wrecked! What are you gonna do about it?"

"Your plane, sir? Nothing," Scott replied. "I've been asked to make sure you're taken to safety!"

"I WANT MY PLANE FIXED AND BACK IN THE AIR!" bellowed Grafton.

Scott sighed heavily. Great…thousands of people in need of rescue and I get an ungrateful bigot, he thought to himself.

Thunderbird 2 had reached the town where the snow had covered the school. Using his onboard scanner, Virgil was able to detect a large group of around thirty-two people trapped inside. He was also able to locate where the main exit of the building was. It was completely buried under the snow along with most of the building.

"Thunderbird 5, I have reached the school," Virgil said. "The streets are too narrow for me to land."

"You'd better use the school's playground, Virgil," said John. "The snow isn't as uneven there."

"I see it," said Virgil. "Thanks, John. I'll configure a Bulldozer-Pod and clear the exit."

"Mind how you go," warned John. "With all that snow, there's a chance you could hit the building by mistake."

"Don't worry, I'll be careful," promised Virgil. He carefully moved Thunderbird 2 over the snow-covered playing field and landed on it. He then hurried down into the module and used the set-up computer to configure a Bulldozer-Pod that had been packed away at the back behind Thunderbird 4. Once the tracks and blade had been attached and it turned to face the doorway, Virgil donned his helmet and climbed aboard. Whilst this was happening, the main body of Thunderbird 2 lifted clear of the module and the door opened so that the Pod could trundle out. "Wow, this is deep!" Virgil remarked to himself as the Pod almost sank into the snow. Luckily he was able to keep on top of it for the most part and if the blade did sink below the surface it allowed him to push it out of the way. Soon he reached the area where the doorway into the building was supposed to be. "No way to let them know I'm here," he told himself. "Guess I'll just have to clear it and then introduce myself." He lowered the blade and slowly began to clear away the snow, using a scanner to check his position and to make sure there was no risk of him hitting the building.

Inside the building the rumble of the Pod's engine had caught the attention of everyone inside. None of them could see out and pretty much all the young children began to cry out of fear because the building was shaking.

"What's going on?!" demanded a mother.

"Is that an earthquake?!" asked one of the fathers.

The headmaster of the school went up to the wall and listened carefully. "No, that's an engine," he realised. "There's a machine out there!"

Everyone began calling and shouting, hoping that whoever was outside could hear them.

Virgil couldn't hear them, but as soon as he cleared away some of the snow and it fell away from some of the windows, he was able to make eye-contact with those inside and it allowed them to calm down knowing that they were being rescued. "Don't worry, guys," Virgil said. "Stay calm. I'll get you out of there."

Kayo grunted as she narrowly avoided a direct hit from The Black Phantom's omega-beams. "Brains, please tell me you have a way to stop these fortresses?" she asked. "I can't keep playing 'Keep-Away' with The Phantom forever!"

"I'm w-working on it, Kayo!" Brains answered. "There's a l-lot to learn about these things."

Grandma had just delivered some fresh coffee for Brains and Jeff. "Can't you just fire missiles at it?" she asked.

"Not whilst The Phantom is attacking me," Kayo said. "All my focus is on him."

"Can't you maybe get him to hit it for you?" suggested Grandma. "Trick him into damaging their own machine?"

Kayo considered the suggestion. "Do you know, Mrs Tracy? I think you might be onto something."

"I second that," said Jeff. He pointed to the large thruster jet located on the underside of the fortress. "I can't see any defences around there."

Brains checked. "N-No I don't see any either," he said. "Only the p-pulse cannons that are mounts on the top."

Kayo grinned. "Guess The Cabal didn't anticipate any attacks from below," she said. She shuddered as she then dodged another omega-beam. "Okay, Kruger. Come get me!" She flipped Thunderbird Shadow over and doubled-back, zipping right past The Black Phantom who by now was getting beyond frustrated.

"STAY STILL, DAMN YOU!" The Black Phantom roared and chased off after Thunderbird Shadow.

Kayo took them down and around underneath the giant Ice-Fortress and then put her craft into a hover in a position between the massive thruster and The Black Phantom. "Hey, Krueger!" Kayo called mockingly. "I bet you can't hit a stationary target!"

"DON'T MOCK ME!" bellowed The Black Phantom. "OF COURSE, I CAN!" He powered the omega-beams up to full power and with a roar, they fired out from the optic eyes of the manta-shaped helmet. As they did so, Kayo pushed Thunderbird Shadow's engines to full power and the craft shot forwards. The beams missed the small black stealth-jet and struck the massive thruster instead.

There was a humongous explosion, one that not only ripped the entire base of the fortress apart but also created a shockwave that sent The Black Phantom and Thunderbird Shadow spiralling away. By the time they recovered themselves, the giant fortress was starting to fall towards the ground. Luckily they were over open country so it simply crashed heavily on the ground, far away from where it could endanger lives.

It didn't take for The Black Phantom to realise what had happened and he let out an almighty scream of rage.

Kayo also wasted no time in alerting the others. "Thunderbird Shadow to International Rescue and GDF. Target the main thruster. It's not protected!"

Rigby acknowledged Kayo's message. "We need to get underneath and take that thing down!" he told the crew of the Flyer he was in. A sudden explosion caught his attention as Silver Swan had managed to break the defences of one of the other Flyers and had taken out one of its engines. It was starting to fall out of the sky. "Damn it!"

"Sir, what about the O-Bomb?" suggested one of the Flyer's crewmembers.

Rigby clapped his hand to his forehead. "Yes, of course! Isn't he aboard?"

"Yes!" said the crewman.

"Then get us above Silver Swan and then get her attention," said Rigby.

The Flyer rose up whilst Silver Swan began to make a beeline for the other one in the group. A powerful spotlight on the nose of Rigby's Flyer was turned on, almost blinding Silver Swan behind her visor. "GAAARGH!" she cursed. "Fine! I'll take you down instead!" She changed direction and charged towards Rigby's Flyer. As she approached, she noticed that the cargo door ramp was opening. "Opening the door for me?" she asked. "Aww. I wanted to knock." But as she was about to fly inside the open doorway, a large bulky figure in a grey, white and blue armour came running out along the ramp towards her. Silver Swan gasped and stopped dead in her tracks. "Fuse?!"

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOC!" bellowed Obsidian as he used the boosters in his metal boots to leap up off the ramp and slam himself into Silver Swan.

"AARGH!" Silver Swan exclaimed as Obsidian's bodyweight began to push them down towards the ground. "GET OFF ME, YOU DOLT!"

Obsidian ignored her and instead spoke into his radio. "I have her, Captain! Do your thing!" he said.

"Good man, Obsidian," said Rigby. He then changed frequencies. "Flyer 3 from Flyer 1. Target the Ice-Fortress's main thruster on my mark!"

Hayley and The White Ghost were still locked in their battle. Hayley had managed to instruct the other two Flyers in her squadron to target the fortress whilst she kept The White Ghost occupied. "I remember you, Miss McCullen," she said. "Sister of the late Montgomery McCullen and the original Black Phantom Angus McCullen."

"And I remember seeing you with International Rescue when they invaded our home!" snapped The White Ghost. "If I'm not mistaken, you're the girlfriend of one of the brothers! Therefore I shall take great delight in taking your life!" She took a swing at Hayley but missed as Hayley ducked and dived away before managing to get a kick in against the phasing villain.

"Overconfidence," said Hayley. "Classic villain mistake."

"I DON'T MAKE MISTAKES!" bellowed The White Ghost, suddenly performing a roundhouse and kicking Hayley back against the wall. Hayley cried out and fell down on the floor. She then found herself backed in a corner as a fuming White Ghost advanced menacingly on her.

Penelope and Parker were having a similar problem to what Kayo had been having. Penelope was starting to feel a little airsick due to Parker's constant course changes in order to avoid getting hit by the sonic-blasts from The Shocker.

"Charming fellow, isn't he?" Penelope remarked.

"I'd say colourful more like, m'lady."

"Mmm. At least he stands out against this horrible grey sky we're currently in."

The Shocker managed to cut them off and landed on top of the glass dome. He then began trying to punch his way through. This immediately began to worry them as it was bullet-proof for sure, but they weren't sure how it would hold up against continuous shock-punches. "WHERE'S THE BRAT THAT CRUSHED MY LEGS?!" demanded The Shocker.

"OI! I SAID, GET H'OFF!" shouted Parker, bringing FAB1 to a sudden stop and causing The Shocker to go flying off. He summersaulted backwards before reactivating his boot rockets and recovering himself. He got ready to fire at them again only to be blinded by FAB1's bright headlights.

Penelope then noticed that they were flying underneath the fortress. "Parker, quick. Target the fortress's thruster!"

"Right h'away, m'lady!" Parker quickly turned FAB1 away from The Shocker who was struggling to get his focus back and aimed up towards the fortress. He then fired a barrage of six missiles from the front of the car up towards it then turned away.

The Shocker finally managed to recover himself and looked up to see the missiles heading for the fortress. "No, no, nononononononononoNO!" he shouted, chasing after them and shooting his gauntlets to try and take them out. He managed to knock out all but one which found its target and exploded, destroying the thruster and disabling the fortress. The force of the explosion caused The Shocker to fall back away towards the ground, screaming and cursing as he went with the fortress falling after him where it would then crash into a large lake. Like the one in Mexico, it had been over an unpopulated area much to the relief of Penelope and Parker.

John and Alan had been watching what was going on. "Two down, three to go," said Alan.

"Make that three down, two to go," said John. "Casey's escorting Flyers have just taken out the one over Oklahoma."

Alan sighed. "Awh, when do I get to do something?" he said. "As fun as this is to observe, I want to get stuck in."

"Hey, at least you're not stuck in a long tunnel delivering an organ," said John. "As important as it is, I doubt Gordon's getting any thrills right now."

"That is true," agreed Alan.

Thunderbird 4 had finally made it to the end of the long tunnel and passed through the exit-lock. It was now in San Francisco Bay and within a few minutes, it had surfaced at one of the piers after having had to blow a hole in the ice so that it could even surface at all. The hospital was literally a three-minute sprint from the waterfront so Gordon was able to make the rest of the way on foot. This was no easy task due to the ice making it very slippery and he became paranoid about dropping the bag containing the heart. At least five times his legs went in the wrong direction but he was able to save himself each time.

At last he approached the front doors of the hospital where he saw a big man in medical clothing standing in the doorway. "International Rescue?" the man asked when Gordon approached.

"Yeah! Sorry…for the…delay!" panted Gordon. "I'm afraid…my ship…doesn't go…on land." He took off the backpack and handed it to the man. "One heart for the Queen safely delivered."

The man took the bag, and then hung his head. "I'm…sorry," he said slowly. "I'm afraid you're too late. She's gone."

Gordon stared. "W-W-What are you talking about?" he asked. He looked at the stopwatch. "There's still twenty minutes left!"

"I know," said the man. "But she passed away twelve minutes ago."

Gordon felt his own heart sink like a stone. "Twelve...minutes," he said in disbelief.

"I'm sorry," said the medic as he took the bag off of Gordon. He then turned and walked inside.

Gordon followed the man inside and sat himself down on a sofa in the reception area. "Twelve minutes..." he said to himself again. "I wasted about ten fighting Techno. Oh, could I be so fu-"

"MR TRACY?! MR TRACY?!"

"Huh?" Gordon looked up to see a group of three doctors in surgical clothing running towards him.

"Where's the Queen's heart?" asked the lead one.

Gordon frowned, confused. "I...already handed it over?" he said. "Besides I was told that I am too late?"

"By who?" demanded the doctor.

Gordon looked around to see if he could see the man he'd given the bag to. And then he spotted him, standing in an elevator. Then to his horror, he saw the man give him a sly smirk as the doors closed. And then it hit him. "I'VE BEEN PLAYED!"