GORDON had never moved so fast in his life. He sprinted over to the elevator but the doors were already closed by the time he got there. He glanced up at the Floor Number screen to see where it was going. Turned out it was going down to the underground parking lot in the basement. Noticing there was a doorway leading to some stairs just to the left, Gordon kicked open the door and sprinted down whilst the staff and patients in the reception area exchanged bewildered looks.

Gordon practically jumped down the flights of stairs rather than run down them. It was very dangerous but he didn't care. He was livid at having been played twice in one day and was determined to get the heart back no matter what it took. He reached the bottom and burst out into the underground parking lot. He looked around and then caught sight of the man standing beside a large SUV. he looked like he was about to pass the rucksack in through the open passenger window. Sprinting forwards, Gordon took the man by surprise, knocking him over and snatching the rucksack out of his hands before it hit the ground. The big man scrambled back to his feet and pulled out a concealed pistol before shooting at Gordon who ducked behind a nearby car. Two men in suits and dark sunglasses then emerged from the SUV and began firing machine-pistols in Gordon's direction.

Gordon scrambled along close to the floor as bullets whizzed and flew over his head, hitting the walls and the cars around. Would love to take these creeps out, Gordon thought to himself. But I'm no match for them without an armored suit. And I can't put the heart at risk! Two of the men ran over to block the doorway leading to the stairs he'd just come down. Can't take the stairs. Better go up the ramp, Gordon decided, catching sight of the road leading up to the street. He raced towards it, only to suddenly be hit by a strange sensation in his head. He began to feel light-headed, sick and dizzy and he slowed down, falling to his knees but fortunately putting the rucksack down lightly. "Uhhhhhhhhhhh, what the hell?" Gordon asked weakly. He glanced behind and saw a man in a green cloak with a strange headband around his forehead. Gordon recognised him immediately. "Count V-Vertigo! Of course! Makes sense you're behind this! Using the cover of an unexplained ice storm as the perfect opportunity to murder your niece!"

"Well aren't you smart, little one?" sneered Count Vertigo. "Although this isn't a mere coincidence. It was all part of the plan."

"Plan?" Gordon asked. "Are you the one behind these ice-fortresses?"

"Not entirely," smiled Count Vertigo. "It's amazing what a little collaboration can do though."

Despite the dizziness, Gordon became aware that the man who'd tricked him into handing the heart over to along with the two men from the car were beginning to surround him.

"You won't…get away…with this!" Gordon told them. "The law…will catch up…with you."

Count Vertigo chuckled again. "Not for me it won't," he said smugly. "As a member of the Lartirva Royal Family, I have diplomatic immunity. Provided that no crimes against my country can be proven against me."

Gordon gritted his teeth as he tried to fight off the vertigo. His eyes then fell upon some small pieces of concrete that had fallen down after being broken off the support columns by bullets.

The three henchmen aimed their guns at Gordon.

"No, no, no," Count Vertigo stopped them. "This one I'd like to take out myself." He pulled his sword out of its holster. "Let's see if I can kill two hearts with one blow."

"Take your best shot," hissed Gordon. He then made his move, sliding the rucksack away from them all across the floor. The four men immediately tried to go after it but were unprepared for Gordon's next move. He jumped up and managed to back-kick Count Vertigo in the chest. As the Count stumbled and fell over, Gordon grabbed the pieces of concrete and proceeded to hurl them at the henchmen. One was hit in the knee which became dislodged. The driver of the car got hit on the nose, breaking it and the big man who'd tricked Gordon ended up getting hit by the two biggest pieces, one in the stomach and the other in the downstairs region. Both were extremely painful and were enough to send him to the floor whimpering in pain. Gordon jumped to his feet and ran towards the rucksack, he felt the vertigo effects start up again.

"ENOUGH!" thundered the Count. But to his astonishment, Gordon was able to fight against it. The determination to help save Queen Perdita had gotten too strong for him to give up. He turned and ran back as hard as he could towards Count Vertigo whose eyes widened as he realised Gordon was getting through. Gordon then punched him hard across the face and in doing so he damaged the device that was giving him the vertigo feeling.

"Would love to finish this, Count, but you're not my priority," Gordon spat. He ran away from the stunned Count, grabbed the rucksack and sprinted back up the stairs now that it was no longer blocked by the henchmen. Please tell me there's time, he prayed to himself. He burst back into the reception area, and sprinted over to the doctors. "Take it-Take it-TAKE IT!" he yelled.

The lead doctor took the rucksack. "COME ON, LET'S GO!" he yelled to his colleagues as they hurried off to perform the transplant surgery.

The adrenaline soon wore off and exhaustion consumed Gordon. He let out a moan and then collapsed onto the floor, whilst the other patients gazed at him and other staff members began hurrying towards him to see if he was okay.

The Black Phantom had managed to recover himself in time to watch the Ice-Fortress go crashing into the Pacific Ocean a few miles off the coast of Mexico. He was furious at having been tricked. "That absolute…YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS, KYRANO!" He looked around, trying to see where Thunderbird Shadow was. "WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Suddenly, Kayo dropped down from above and landed on the Phantom's back. "Hello!" she said.

"RAAAAARGH!" roared The Black Phantom and began flying about trying to shake her off, but the gecko suction cups on Kayo's suit kept her firmly in place. "GET…OFF…ME!"

"If you insist," smiled Kayo. "But let me give you a 'farewell' gift." She then placed something on the back of the Phantom's helmet and then dropped off his back, deploying her air-brake and swooping away.

The Phantom turned round, saw where she was going and dived after her. "COME HERE, YOU LITTLE-"

"Woah, what a temper!" Kayo remarked, pressing a button on her wrist controller. The device that Kayo had planted on the back of the Phantom then activated, sending an electromagnetic pulse right through his armour, completely disabling it and began to plummet towards the sea far below. Kayo watched him fall and gave a playful wave. "Bye-bye," she said.

"I KILL YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU!" screamed The Black Phantom as he disappeared from view.

Kayo then signalled on her controller for Thunderbird Shadow to come in and get her. It flew underneath where she was gliding and the canopy opened for her to retract the air-brake and drop perfectly into her seat. "Normally, I would catch him and then hand him over to the GDF, but there are more important things to do," Kayo decided. "Far too many people need saving. Hopefully the GDF can find him floating around later."

Thunderbird 1 was now flying over the outskirts of Chicago where Warren Grafton had been heading to. Rather than drop him off at an airport, Scott had decided to instead make the grouchy entrepreneur's life more easy by delivering him straight to the helipad on the roof of his office building. Although Scott wasn't entirely sure why he was doing this though. Grafton had done nothing but complain the entire journey and he was glad when he saw the tower in the distance.

"Almost there, Mr Grafton," said Scott.

"Almost where?" snapped Grafton.

"To your tower," said Scott. He brought Thunderbird 1 into a hover above the building before gently touching down on the helipad.

Grafton exited the rocket-plane without saying 'Thank you'.

"You're welcome, sir," Scott said.

Grafton glared back at him. "What was that?"

"Nothing," Scott answered and began to rise back inside Thunderbird 1.

"DON'T YOU 'NOTHING' ME, BOY!" bellowed Grafton. "WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME?"

Scott let out a sigh within. I'm gonna regret this, he thought to himself as he lowered the seat down again. "I said 'You're welcome'."

"Welcome?" repeated Grafton. "Welcome for what?"

"For rescuing you from a snowy desert," said Scott. "Now if you'll excuse me I-"
"DON'T YOU DARE GIVE ME THAT KIND OF TALK!" thundered Grafton at the top of his voice. "YOU KNOW WHO I AM, RIGHT?!"

"Yeah, ungrateful," retorted Scott.

Grafton went red in the face. "Oh, you've done it now, boy!" he snarled. "I'll HAVE YOU FOR SLANDER!"

"Nobody could slander you," Scott replied cheekily and he began to raise his chair away from the enraged businessman at the moment he'd tried to lunge at him.

"YOU'LL HEAR FROM MY LAWYERS!" bellowed Grafton. "I'VE GOT THE BEST!"

"SO DO WE!" Scott shouted back before the hatch closed, sealing him inside. He then fired up the VTOL jets and Grafton was forced to retreat as he was pushed back by the power of the thrusters. Thunderbird 1 climbed away from the skyscraper and then headed off towards its next assignment that would be given by John.

The fight between siblings had turned nasty. Both Obsidian and Silver Swan were trying to literally knock each other out of the sky. Silver Swan tried to use her sonic scream to push her brother away from her whilst Obsidian tried to use his power-punches to knock her down to the ground. Due to their thick armours, no physical damage was being caused to either so the fight wasn't really going anywhere.

Rigby was observing via a camera on the underbelly of the Flyer. Then he looked at the Ice-Fortress. "Fire!" he ordered.

A barrage of twenty missiles were launched between the two Flyers which zoomed through the sky towards the fortress. The pulse cannons were able to take out at least eight but the rest managed to find their mark and slam into the hull of the fortress. It caused significant damage, but didn't quite score a hit on the thruster so it remained airborne.

"Damn it!" cursed Rigby. "That wasn't quite what we were looking for."

"Launchers are going to take a little time to reload, sir," said the Flyer's weapons operator. "Maybe Obsidian could help?"

"Negative," said Rigby. "He's otherwise-" He broke off, looking back at the camera-feed of the two former Chaos Crew members fighting each other. "On second thoughts," he said. "Rigby to Obsidian. Missile attack proved ineffective. I need you to try and take it down."

"I'm a bit busy here, Rigby!" huffed Obsidian as he took the full brunt of another sonic scream from Silver Swan.

"The fortress is leaking liquid-oxygen due to the damage we've inflicted!" Rigby snapped. "It needs to be taken out now!"

Obsidian glanced up and saw that the fortress had almost vanished in a cloud of its own making. "Fine!" he sighed, turning away from Silver Swan and applying full power to his booster-boots.

Silver Swan stopped screeching when she saw her brother fly away. At first she was a bit confused until she saw the damaged fortress and that he was heading straight for it. "Oh, no, you don't, Fuse!" she said and set off in pursuit.

Obsidian darted through the leaking liquid-oxygen cloud and landed on the top deck of the fortress where he was soon faced with the pulse-cannons. However, despite detecting his presence, they weren't able to properly lock on due to the damage caused by the missile attack which had caused several malfunctions. He was therefore able to take out the weapons and then prepare his power-gauntlets for a finish.

Silver Swan burst through the cloud and saw what he was about to do. His gauntlets were fully powered and he'd raised them above his head. She gasped at the realisation of what he was about to do. "FUSE, DON'T!" she yelled.

"Obsidian…SMASH!" He slammed his fists down onto the top of the fortress and the shockwave blasted right through the structure. It shuddered, shook and began to explode. Soon it was burning and starting to slowly drop down towards the ground.

Silver Swan bellowed in a rage and charged at her brother, grabbing him and yanking him off the top of the fortress where they began to brawl once more.

Rigby and the crews of the flyers watched in delight as the wrecked fortress began its descent. "All right!" said Rigby triumphantly. "Well done, Obsidian."

"Errr, Captain?" said the Flyer's navigator. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news but look where it's headed…"

Rigby looked at the radar screen. The fortress was on a direct collision course to crash into the city of Iquitos. He gulped as he realised what this meant. They had no means of stopping it. "Oh, hell…"

John and Brains had noticed the danger with the fortress and knew immediately that they needed to act quickly. "John, you know what this m-means?" Brains said.

"Yes, I do," said John. "Alan, you're up!"

"I am?" said Alan.

"Yes!" said Brains. "You n-need to catch that fortress and get it into space before it h-hits the ground!"

Alan blinked and gazed at the hologram image of the falling fortress. Then he gritted his teeth. "On my way!" he said and hastily left the control room of Thunderbird 5. He boarded Thunderbird 5 and disengaged from the space-station before heading back down into Earth's atmosphere and hurrying as fast as it would go.

Silver Swan and Obsidian were still fighting, but Silver Swan had just noticed the city far below, directly under where the fortress was. "Well done, Fuse," she said, suddenly feeling far less mad.

"I told you, don't call me that!" Obsidian snapped. "And what are you on about?"

"You see where its falling, right?" Silver Swan asked, pointing.

Obsidian turned and looked down. He froze when he saw the city and that the fortress was falling towards it. "Oh…Oh, no!" he exclaimed and dived off down to try and stop it, fearing for those down below.

Silver Swan laughed with delight. "Every cloud does have a silver lining," she said. But her evil joy was short-lived when her suit's sensors warned her of an incoming object from above. She turned and looked up, then gasped and dived out of the way as Thunderbird 3 came shooting out from the clouds above with its grasping arms extending. "Huh?!" she said, watching in disbelief.

Obsidian too was equally surprised when Thunderbird 3 appeared and manoeuvred itself underneath the fortress.

Alan pointed his ship upwards and hovered in place allowing the fortress to land perfectly on the ends of the grasping arms. "Got it!" he said. "Activating ion-engine!"

The ion-fusion engine was the only thing powerful enough to push both Thunderbird 3 and the fortress up and away from the city. Shooting off into the sky much to the amazement of Silver Swan, Obsidian, the GDF crew and those on the ground who'd seen what was going on.

Silver Swan let out a roar of frustration before deciding it was best that she leave the area before Obsidian and the GDF Flyers could pursue her.

Thunderbird 3 continued to push the heavy craft up through the upper atmosphere and eventually broke free of Earth's gravity.

"Okay, it's no longer a threat to Earth," Alan reported. "Now what do I do with it?"

"You c-can't leave it to float away into space or remain in orbit around the Earth, Thunderbird 3," said Brains. "T-Take it to a safe distance and then use your asteroid-laser to destroy it."

Alan grinned. "F-A-B!" he said.

Thunderbird 3 soon had the fortress pushed far away from the Earth before releasing the grasping arms and coming to a stop whilst the fortress floated away. He allowed it to get some distance before targeting it with the laser. A great beam of red light shot out from Thunderbird 3's nose-cone and totally obliterated the fortress. Alan whooped in delight.

Virgil had finally been able to clear away the snow from around the main entrance to the school. After getting the doors opened, he oversaw the evacuation of everyone inside. Even though the snow had now stopped thanks to the Ice-Fortresses being destroyed, what was already on the ground remained and it was still freezing cold for the occupants. However they didn't seem to care about that. They were just glad to no longer be trapped inside the school.

"Thank you ever so much," the Headmaster said to Virgil. "We couldn't get any communications to work. I didn't think anyone would find us."

"I'm not sure who called it in, but it's a good thing they did," Virgil replied.

Just then they heard an unsettling creaking sound coming from above. They looked up towards the roof of the school. The snow was piled high above it. "Why does that not sound good?" asked the Headteacher.

Virgil used the heads-up display in his helmet to scan the building. He saw several highlighted red areas of danger in and amongst the building's support beams. "That snow's heavy," he said. "It's a bit more than what the roof can take. Is there anyone else inside?"

"Five," the Headmaster said. "They're just coming out-"

CRACK! Both men jumped. Virgil checked again. Some of the beams were starting to fail. "QUICK! GET OUT OF THERE, NOW!" he yelled into the building.

The five remaining adults and children came scurrying out of the building, just as the roof caved in with a huge rumble. Everyone watched back in complete shock. But luckily, nobody was hurt.

"Phew - that was way too close," Virgil remarked. "But at least everyone is safe."

The brawl between Hayley and The White Ghost was still ongoing. Despite The White Ghost having the upper hand by being able to phase to avoid any attacks by Hayley, Hayley remained undeterred and continued going. The White Ghost managed to grab Hayley from behind and threw her over her back through the doorway into the cockpit. Hayley lay on the ground, groaning in pain.

"You'd be wise to give up," The White Ghost said. "You're no match for me."

"Aren't you supposed to be protecting the fortress?" Hayley asked weakly.

The White Ghost looked up and reacted in shock for she could see the other two Flyers had managed to disable the Ice-Fortress with missiles and it was now falling into a burning wreck as it crashed into the ocean. This gave Hayley the opportunity she'd been waiting for. She managed to pull out her sidearm and after quickly making sure it was set to 'stun' fired a shot at The White Ghost. As she wasn't expecting it, The White Ghost did not phase and was straight away hit with heavy shock. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" she cried and fell to her knees allowing Hayley to retaliate. She threw several punches and managed to kick the stunned White Ghost out of the cockpit and then crashed down the stairs into the cargo bay. She then lay on the floor, making a noise that sounded like crying.

"You didn't think you'd somehow get aboard my aircraft and not expect someone to put you in your place, McCullen?" Hayley asked. "Clearly you don't know me. Let me make this very clear. I'm not afraid of you, or anyone in your pathetic little group. We will always stand against you and put an end to whatever you try to do."

The White Ghost managed to pick herself up off the floor. "You don't fear me?" she hissed. "Allow me to change that." She lunged at Hayley but Hayley managed to grab her by the arm and throw her into a nearby truck. There was a crack and a fizzle as The White Ghost's right gauntlet was damaged by the impact. She fell to the floor momentarily and then picked herself up again, only to then notice what had happened. "What? Oh, no, no, no!" She then ripped off the glove and gauntlet and pulled back her hood and tore her face-covering off. She then looked at her right hand, trembling with a look of terror on her face.

Hayley stared in shock as Laura's hand started flickering in and out of existence. "What the?"

"My suit is breached!" Laura wailed. "My condition is going to deteriorate!"

"Hey, hey, easy," Hayley said, now concerned for Laura. "We don't have to do this, Laura. Let us help you. We can try and find a cure for you."

"No. NO!" shouted Laura, scrambling away from Hayley. "You lot won't help me! You'll lock me in a cage! The Hood's going to cure me! He promised me!"

"And how long ago did he promise you that?" Hayley asked.

Laura thought for a moment. It had been at least eighteen months since Havoc had first found and recruited her with the promise that The Hood would be able to find a cure for her condition. And yet, nothing had been said about it by any of the other Cabal members. Laura's face turned as white as her suit as she looked back at her hand.

"Laura, please," Hayley said, placing her stun-gun back in its holster and holding out her hand. "I want to help you."

For a few seconds, Laura hesitated, then slowly raised her flickering right hand towards Hayley, but then swiftly changed her mind. "No!" she cried and then phased away through the floor and dropped out of the bottom of the Flyer to be picked up by a Techno-Drone aircraft that would take her back to The Cabal's hideout.

Hayley sighed and banged her fist against the side of the truck. "Damn," she cursed to herself.

Jeff and Brains felt somewhat satisfied as they watched the footage of the last Ice-Fortress, the one that had been over the northern part of South America, come crashing down in the ocean.

"That's all of them, M-Mr Tracy," said Brains. "The Ice-Fortresses are n-no more."

"Wonderful," said Jeff. "John, can you confirm that?"

"I can indeed," said John. "But…"

Jeff and Brains's expressions changed. "What is it, son?" asked Jeff.

John tried to answer but couldn't seem to find the words. "You need to see this," he said, sounding almost heartbroken.

A hologram image of a news report came up showing Kat Cavanagh doing a report in the snow-covered streets of San Francisco. "This is Kat Cavanagh reporting live from San Francisco. At long last the mysterious snow-storm that has plagued the United States, Mexico and South America has finally been brought to an end. Thanks to the combined efforts of both International Rescue and the Global Defence Force, all five of the mysterious Ice-Fortresses that were discovered to be causing the freak weather have been taken down for good. However…I'm afraid I have to move onto some bad and rather sad news…Early reports indicate that over fifty-seven people have lost their lives on this terrible day with more expected to be revealed when we get them. One of those casualties however is young Queen Perdita of Lartirva, who despite the best efforts of one of the International Rescue team and a group of surgeons, was unable to get the replacement heart to her before she passed away. We would like to offer our most sincerest condolences to the people of Lartirva and to the member of International Rescue for his valiant effort in trying to help save her."

This broadcast had also been played out across the other Thunderbirds and FAB1. Nobody said a word at first for they were all totally gobsmacked by what they'd just heard.

"Gordon didn't make it?" Alan asked, his voice trembling.

"Oh, God…" sighed Scott, sinking back in his seat.

"You know I'd completely forgotten Gordon was on his own mission," said Kayo. "Oh, God…has anyone heard from him?"

"He's at the hospital now," said Penelope. "Parker and I are going there now."

"We're coming too," said Virgil.

"No, Virgil, you and Scott still have people to save," said John.

"But…"

"No buts, boys!" snapped Jeff. "Gordon is in safe hands. Get on with your jobs."

"F-A-B…" Scott and Virgil answered reluctantly.

Gordon didn't know how long he had been out for, but when he began to come around, he quickly realised that he was still in hospital, only he was now on a ward in one of the beds. His body ached where he'd suffered extensive bruising at the hands of both Techno and Vertigo's henchmen. He became aware that someone was standing at the end of his bed. Opening his eyes fully, he felt his stomach churn when he saw who it was. "Count Vertigo…"

"That's King Vertigo to you, peasant!" came the blunt reply.

"King?!"

"Yes," said Count Vertigo, a malicious grin spreading across his face.. "Perdita is dead. And the beauty of it is…I didn't do anything."

"And now nobody can lay a hand on you!" hissed Gordon.

"As King of Lartirva, I'm untouchable," said Count Vertigo smugly.

"Let's test that theory!" spat Gordon. He tried to sit up only to winch in pain.

"Easy now, hero," warned Count Vertigo. "You're in no shape to take me on, even without my vertigo device. I must say I'm impressed. My new friend was right about you. I'm glad he invited me to join his little Cabal."

Gordon's eyes snapped open. "Did you say…The Cabal?!" And then he realised. "Of course! Only Techno could have created those Ice-Fortresses! It WAS a diversion! Covering the whole of the United States and South America would not only throw the continents into chaos and stop anything from moving, but that the GDF and International Rescue would be too busy to take them out and help rescue people to pay any attention to the Queen!"

"You are a smart one," said Count Vertigo.

"Guess that really bums you out knowing it was all for nothing!" Gordon said.

"Not at all. They played their parts," said Count Vertigo. "After my attempt to assassinate Perdita in London failed, The Hood approached me with the offer to help me in my quest in return for the special liquid nitrogen compound we have created in Lartirva. Additionally, now that I am on The Cabal, I am in their debt big time, and I will fully support their ongoing missions from now on. They're only a small group after all. With my army and advanced weapons at their disposal-"

"They'd be unstoppable…" Gordon said with gritted teeth.

"Of course, "Count Vertigo continued, "all of this could have been avoided if those meddling British peasants hadn't stopped me in London."

"Peasants, you say?" said Gordon. "You know they'd be extremely insulted by that?"

Count Vertigo chuckled. "I am sure they would be," he said.

Gordon suddenly began to smirk. "I'm sure they are," he said. "Aren't you?"

"Yes, we most certainly are."

Count Vertigo blinked and gulped. He turned his head to the left as the curtain beside Gordon's bed was pulled sharply back to reveal a rather angry-looking Penelope and Parker. They glared at the Count who stared back at them in confusion. "You?" he asked, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Catching you h'out!" said Parker darkly. He and Penelope then moved aside in opposite directions to reveal a second bed on the otherwise empty ward.

Count Vertigo froze and gasped when he saw who was sitting in the bed. "No…!"

"I believe you know Queen Perdita?" said Penelope, fixing him with an icy glare.

The Count couldn't take his eyes off his niece, who contrary to his belief was sitting in the bed, awake and very much alive. Standing on the opposite side of her bed were two of her security guards. She too was glaring at her uncle and in her right hand was a recording device, on which she had recorded everything that had been said.

"As King of Lartirva, I'm untouchable," Vertigo's voice was heard playing back on the recorder.

Perdita lowered the device and hardened her stare as she began to spoke furiously at him. "Uncle Verner Vlaterva - a-k-a Count Vertigo. As Queen of Lartirva, I accuse you of high treason, banish you from Lartirva for life, and revoke your diplomatic immunity."

Silence fell across the ward. Count Vertigo's initial shocked expression turned to one of fury as he became enraged. "NO!" he bellowed, drawing out his sword from its holster. He tried to lunge at Perdita but Gordon threw his urine bottle at him, knocking him across the head. Parker then gave him a haymaker and Penelope gave him a roundhouse kick to knock him over. He dropped the sword also which fell to the floor with a clatter. The two security guards then ran over and swiftly detained him.

"Get this moron out of here," Gordon said to them, having stepped out of the bed and walked over to them.

Count Vertigo initially tried to break free of the grip of the guards, but quickly realised that he was outnumbered. Without his vertigo device, he had no chance against the combination of them all. "Well played," he said. "Admittedly, well played. This one goes to you." The guards turned him around and began to march him towards the door. "And please," he added, "feel free to let the victory go to your heads."

Parker picked up the sword and placed it back into the holster before handing it to Gordon. The two of them along with Penelope then walked over to stand at the end of Perdita's bed.

For the first time in a very long time, Perdita was comfortable and was smiling happily. "Thank you," she said gratefully. "Your plan worked better than expected."

"Well, when we found out you knew we were in recovery, we had a feeling that Count Vertigo would make another attempt on your life," said Penelope. "So we initiated the cover story to be revealed to the media."

"Seems like h'everyone took it," added Parker.

Perdita gave a sigh. "It pains me for the world, even my own people to be made to think that I am dead, but I can now go back to my country and make it the safe haven my father worked so hard to make it. We will not be intimidated by our neighbours Bereznik."

"Good to hear," said Gordon. "You'll be a great leader, Your Majesty." He held out the sword holster to her.

Perdita shook her head. "That sword belonged to my father, not the Count," she said. "I cannot take it back for it shall bring back too many bad memories. I would be proud for you to keep it though, as a reward or…a birthday present?"

Gordon blinked. "How did-" He then broke off, noticing Penelope smiling lovingly at him. He lowered the sword and looked at it for a moment. Then he looked back at Perdita, who was giving him such a warm smile that it could have melted the snow outside. Best birthday gift ever, Gordon thought to himself.

After returning triumphantly to Tracy Island, Gordon placed the sword on a shelf that he'd just cleared in his bedroom.

"Bro!" said Alan, coming in. "I've just heard - you saved an entire country today!"

Gordon turned and grinned at his younger brother. "Well, what can I say? I'm the man!" he said. "But as good as this is, Alan, the best present was seeing that little lady's smile. Oh, man, I've never felt butterflies like that before."

Alan chuckled. "Come on, Gordo. We want cake!"

"Mmm, cake," said Gordon, licking his lips."

Together they went down to the lounge where everyone congratulated Gordon on his achievement. Even John had come down from Thunderbird 5 to join in.

"Well I think we all deserve this," Jeff said to them all. "You've all done splendidly well today. Once again The Cabal thought they could win the day - and they failed."

"We didn't get any into custody though, Dad," said Scott.

Grandma elbowed him. "Don't spoil the moment," she hissed.

"Maybe not, Scott, but it will come," said Jeff. "However, I believe Gordon gets the biggest round of applause of all. The country of Lartirva would be a very dangerous place without your heroic efforts today."

"Hear-hear!" everyone said.

Penelope then noticed a bruise on Gordon's neck. "Gosh, Gordon, you certainly got beaten up today by those Vertigo henchmen, didn't you?" she remarked.

"Oh, those guys didn't lay a finger on me," said Gordon. "Nor did Vertigo for that matter. It was Techno who did those."

The lounge suddenly went very silent as those who'd been having conversations with others all stopped to look at him.

"Wait…where did you encounter Techno?" Kayo asked.

"In the Pacific-Atlantic Tunnel," Gordon said. "I realise now he was there to distract and delay me. I saw a Ray-Mecca and thought maybe The Mechanic had somehow survived The Sidewinder. Yes, I know, I'm sorry, I deviated from my task. Curiosity got the better of me."

Grandma began checking down Gordon's shirt and seeing more bruises. "Golly. He sure gave you a pummelling," she said. "Why didn't you tell us before?"

"Must have slipped my mind," Gordon replied. "I almost had him too. I took out his meccas and I got him on the ground. Then I said how pleased Colonel Casey would be and he somehow gained the strength to get me off of him and start punching the living cr…er daylights out of me. It was like I'd touched a nerve or something."

Scott turned to Jeff. "Does Casey have any personal enemies?" he asked.

"Not that I'm aware of, Scott," Jeff replied. "But that might be worth asking her about next time we speak."

"Speaking of Colonel Casey, did she manage to catch The Hood after he was knocked out of the sky?" asked Virgil.

There was a pause.

"Now that you mention it, we've not heard anything from her since she went off in pursuit of The Hood," said John.

As if on cue, the incoming call signal started to sound. A hologram of Hayley appeared from the table. "Hey, guys," she said. "Sorry to interrupt the party but I'm afraid we've got a serious problem."

"What's the matter, Hayley?" asked Jeff.

Hayley brought up a hologram image from her body-camera. Everyone froze and gasped. It showed the wreck of a GDF Flyer with several fires burning and GDF people checking through wreckage. Some looked to be carrying people on stretchers.

"Hayley, what happened? Are you hurt?" asked Virgil anxiously.

"No, Virgil, this wasn't my Flyer," Hayley answered. "This was Colonel Casey's."

"What happened?" demanded Kayo.

"We found the wrecked aircraft and came down to check," Hayley explained. "Everyone who was aboard is dead - but one remained alive long enough to tell me the most important thing. The Hood's abducted Colonel Casey!"