SCOTT surveyed the large round vault door and thought carefully. He used the heads-up display in his helmet to scan it and see if he could find a weak spot.
"Well aren't you going to do something?" snapped the manager. "There are kids in here dying!"
"You think I don't know that, sir?" Scott snapped back. "They are my primary concern right now. Now, please don't interrupt me. I'm trying to come up with a plan."
The manager muttered angrily under his breath and walked away.
Scott looked over at the children, all were huddled together. They were looking tired and afraid. One girl gave Scott a look of 'please help us' which made him more determined to succeed. He turned his attention back to the door. Come on, Scott. There has to be a way, he thought to himself. And then he had an idea. He took out his laser cutter and attached it to his Multi-Tool. "Okay, I have a plan," he said to everyone. "I'm gonna cut through the edges of the door and then push it open."
"Not possible," said a female cashier. "The door's mega-thick. You'll never cut through it in time."
"And you'd need a very powerful laser-cutter to do that," said the manager. "I had this door designed to withstand being cut through by lasers."
Scott smirked. "Good job mine is then," he remarked. He pointed the Multi-Tool at the base of the door and fired the laser. The bright red light startled everyone and then they watched with intrigue and a little trepidation as Scott began to slowly cut his way through the door. As he did so, he glanced up at the air gauge. The yellow light was still flashing, but he knew time wasn't on his side. I sure hope the others are having an easier time than I am.
John and O'Bannon had returned to the safety of Thunderbird 5, or at least it was safe until John put his plan to try and move the falling remains of Global-1 into action.
"Do you think this will work again?" O'Bannon asked.
"I'm not going to be able to prevent it from falling to Earth," John said. "But hopefully we can alter its trajectory and send it crashing into the ocean instead." He adjusted the controls and attached the mooring claw of Thunderbird 5's Space-Elevator to one end of Global-1. "Okay, we're attached. Thunderbird 5 is GO!"
The lateral thrusters activated and the small space-station attempted to tow the remains of the much larger one. It worked a little bit and it started to move along, but due to being caught in the gravity, there was a real danger that Thunderbird 5 could be pulled down as well.
"It's working!" O'Bannon called. "You've got it to move."
"Let's hope it's enough," John answered. "EOS, if Global-1 should make it through the atmosphere, where would it end up?"
"At its current trajectory, it would likely come down over New Mexico," EOS said. "Estimated landing position roughly calculated to a ten mile radius of the City of Albuquerque."
John grimaced. "Not good," he said, looking at the hologram screen. "Area Amber. We need to get it to green before we can even consider letting it go." He turned his attention back to the remains of Global-1. "Come on, Thunderbird 5," he urged. "You can do it." Then he thought to himself, I hope everyone else is doing okay.
Virgil and Hayley could do nothing but watch as The Shocker continued his menacing march towards them with his gauntlets powering up.
"Virgil, you've got to get us out of this!" Hayley said. "If he shoots those at us, we're dead!"
"I know, Hayley, I know!" Virgil said sharply. "I'm working on it!"
Hayley couldn't see what he was doing but he appeared to be doing something. She looked back out at The Shocker who was now less than two metres away from them. He was cackling. "No escape, fools," he said. "One blast at close range will be enough to finish you off!" He raised his gauntlets which were now glowing bright green and whirring loudly.
Hayley's heart was almost in her mouth. "VIRGIL!" she cried.
"HANG ON!" Virgil shouted back.
The Shocker's gauntlets fired, and as they did so, the Bulldozer-Pod jumped upwards and flipped back over onto its tracks. The blasts missed the cockpit by a few inches and instead slammed hard into the rocks at the base of the mountain. "WHAT?!" exclaimed The Shocker, stopping the gauntlets and staring in surprise at the now upright Pod.
Hayley too was startled by the sudden upright. Then both she and The Shocker noticed a grapple and cable attached to the front blade which belonged to Thunderbird 2 which was hovering above. "Gosh. Cutting it fine, weren't you?" Hayley gasped.
"It's not easy trying to control a ship upside down," Virgil remarked.
"Fair point," Hayley answered.
The Shocker was furious. He let out an angry bellow as he powered up his gauntlets again.
"Look out, he's gonna fire again!" Hayley said.
Virgil threw the Pod into gear and began to drive forwards in the hope of throwing off The Shocker's aim. But instead of firing at them, the supervillain angrily fired his right gauntlet up at Thunderbird 2 instead. It hit the starboard front VTOL thruster and destroyed it, causing a plume of black smoke to start billowing out as the green goliath groaned under the strain.
Now it was Virgil who became livid. "Oh, you did NOT JUST ATTACK MY SHIP!" he thundered and spun the Pod round before charging straight at The Shocker.
Hayley was alarmed. "Virgil, what are you doing?!"
Virgil's response was dark. "Nobody hurts my ship!" he snarled.
The Shocker was about to fire his other gauntlet at Thunderbird 2 before getting blinded by the bright lights on the front of the Pod. Covering his eyes, he quickly realised that it was charging right at him and was too close for him to be able to get a shot off. "Oh, no, no, NOT AGAIN!" he cried and leapt out of the way just as the Pod raced past.
Virgil skidded the Pod around and stopped, leaving Hayley almost at a loss for words. "Virgil…you could have-"
"I knew he'd move, Hayley," Virgil cut her off. "I wasn't going to do what you thought I was going to." He took some breaths to calm himself. I really hope nobody else is having a hard time, he thought to himself.
Gordon's vision was going fuzzy as he felt the grip of The Black Phantom's hand clamp tighter against his suit's neck.
"You know, I could end your pathetic little life with a blast of my omega-beams, Mr Tracy," The Black Phantom said. "But that would be too easy. And messy."
"Screw…you…" Gordon said, choking a little.
The Black Phantom chuckled. "Still got some life left, have you?" he said, amused. "How about if I pull this off?" He grabbed hold of the respirator attached to the front of Gordon's helmet and began to pull.
Gordon's eyes widened as he heard the respirator click and a tiny trickle of water began to seep into the helmet. "Oh, no, you DON'T!" he roared, suddenly finding himself getting a rush of enraged energy. He managed to find the button in his right hand that activated the laser chainsaw. He took a swing at The Black Phantom's helmet. There was a flash and a few sparks as it amazingly managed to cut into the villain's helmet.
"GAARGH!" The Black Phantom exclaimed, stumbling away and letting go of Gordon as he did so. Inside the suit's helmet, Kruger blinked as warning alarms began to flash and a heads-up hologram display showed that there was damage to the left side of his helmet. "You…you damaged my suit?!" he exclaimed. "But that's IMPOSSIBLE!"
Gordon had managed to get his respirator back into his helmet. He was back upright and floating with his chainsaw at the ready. "When it comes to International Rescue, anything is possible," he said.
The Black Phantom roared in frustration and his omega-beams began to power up again.
Gordon also readied himself, his laser-chainsaw at full power. "Bring it, jerk!" he said before thinking to himself, I hope the others are having an easier time.
Alan had no idea how long he'd been out for. When he came to, he found himself propped up against a wall with his Astroboard sitting beside him. He blinked and looked around. He was in a large control room that had four Subterrains at various consoles. He slowly began to pick himself up and observed his surroundings carefully. There was no sign of Kayo.
A hiss came from the back of the room and a door slid upwards to reveal another Subterrain sitting in a hoverchair of some kind. It was dressed a lot more regal than the others that were wearing the same bland purple and black uniforms as the others he'd seen. This did have the suit but also had a red cape with gold lining and a crown-like object on top of its head.
"Ahhhh," the Subterrain said with the snake-like hiss in its voice. "You are awake, Alan Tracy."
"You know me?" Alan asked, trying not to sound disturbed. "And I'm guessing you're in charge?"
"Yesss," hissed the Subterrain. "I am Sub-1: Chief of the Subterrains. We have been studying your planet and its people for months now. You and your family try to save the lives of people who get themselves into trouble. Very noble."
Alan tried his best to remain calm and brave. "Where's Kayo?" he asked.
"Ahh, yes. Your companion is quite safe…for now," said the Subterrain Chief.
"She and I are family, not a thing," Alan said indignantly. "Now where is she?"
"Take a look out the window, Earthman," said the Subterrain Chief. "You see that rocket?"
Alan looked out of the control room's large windows. About fifty metres away on the planet's baron surface was a launch pad with a rocket identical to the one that he'd seen on the Moon sitting on it. "Yeah?"
"She is out there, in the passenger seat with Sub-38 at the controls," said the Subterrain Chief. "In exactly eight minutes from now, it will be launched at your precious Earth."
"You're bluffing!" Alan said.
The Subterrain Chief laughed. "Am I?" He indicated to a nearby video screen on the wall.
The screen turned on and Alan let out a gasp of horror. There was Kayo, bound and strapped into the rear seat in the cockpit whilst another regular Subterrain sat in the front, adjusting the controls. He furiously turned back to the Subterrains. "You let her go this instant!" he demanded.
"Or what, Alan Tracy?" snickered the Subterrain Chief.
"We were never going to attack your planet!" Alan said angrily. "We only wanted to explore and discover what this planet was about. Kayo and I came to prove to you we're not going to start a war!"
The Subterrain Chief sat back in his hovering throne and twiddled his thumbs. "Again, a noble gesture, Earthling," he said. "But I'm afraid your planet has already declared war on our planet by discovering it in the first place. We're not interested in peace with Earth. All we want is its destruction!"
"It'll take more than that feeble rocket to get rid of Earth!" Alan said defiantly.
"On its own, yes," agreed the Subterrain Chief, "but that one has something that the others you've seen did not. It has a planetomic warhead!"
Alan's blood ran cold. "That's five times more powerful than a hydrogen bomb!" he realised.
"Exactly," said the Subterrain Chief.
Alan felt beaten. "Okay…I give in," he said. "What do you want me to do?"
"Simple," said the Subterrain Chief. "Bring your spaceship down to land."
"And if I don't?" Alan asked.
"You will," snickered the Subterrain Chief, nodding back to the image of the captive Kayo on the video screen.
Kayo had been unconscious up until this point. She started to come around and tried to move only to find that her arms, torso and legs were strapped tightly to the arms and front of the cockpit seat. She tried to speak too only to realise the Subterrains had placed some kind of muzzle over her mouth so the only noises she could make were muffled ones.
"Do not struggle, Earthwoman," Sub-38 called from the seat in front. "We will shortly be launching."
Kayo made a muffled cry and tugged anyway. Being restrained always made her mad.
Penelope and Parker's terrifying ride with Silver Swan was still ongoing. Some of the soldiers down below were still shooting, having not gotten the order to stop. Penelope then cried out as a bullet struck her left arm.
"M'LADY!" cried Parker.
Silver Swan hollered with laughter. "Knew it wouldn't take long for that to happen!" she said. She then pulled up and began to climb away from the base out of the range of the soldiers' weapons, just at the same time that they finally got the order to stop.
"How bad is it, m'lady?" asked Parker.
Penelope winced in pain. "I think it's just a graze, Parker!" she called back.
"Only a graze?" said Silver Swan with mock sympathy. "What a shame. Let's see you get out of this one." She stopped about 3,000 feet above the ground, hovered for a few seconds, and then let go.
Parker and Penelope cried out as they began to plummet towards the ground. "PARKER…DO SOMETHING!" screamed Penelope.
"'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG H'ON, M'LAAAAAAAAAAAADY!" Parker yelled back as he managed to grab something inside his jacket and push a button.
General Garr had run out onto the control tower balcony and looked through his binoculars as he saw them fall. "Dear God…" he said before a whooshing sound caught his and the other soldiers' attention.
Silver Swan continued to watch with delight as Penelope and Parker plummeted towards the ground. But then she too heard the whooshing sound, as did they and their eyes turned towards it, just in time to see FAB1 flying remotely towards them. Parker had managed to use the remote control in the car keys to call it to their location. The car swooped underneath and stopped so that Parker could first land heavily on it.
"OOOOF!" Parker cried out before reaching out and managing to grab Penelope who almost missed the car completely. With tremendous effort he pulled her back up onto the wing where they both clung on, gasping for breath.
"Nice catch, Parker," said Penelope. "Thank you."
Silver Swan let out an enraged bellow and dived towards them.
Parker and Penelope looked up and saw her coming down.
"Don't thank me yet, m'lady," said Parker.
Techno and The Hood were completely bewildered by the sight of Thunderbird 4 sitting in front of their only secret way into Tracy Island.
"I don't understand," The Hood said. "I thought Phantom said he was taking care of Gordon Tracy and his Thunderbird! Why is it here?!"
Before Techno could answer, a sonic amplifier shot out of the second Thunderbird 4 and attached itself to the hull of their Submersible. "Thought you'd pull off your distraction trick again, did you, Hood?"
"Jeff?!" spluttered The Hood.
"From the moment all the emergency situations came in, we guessed you and your Cabal were up to no good," Jeff continued. "Good thing we have our own countermeasures to make sure you couldn't infiltrate our island again."
The Hood snarled.
"And you think sending a remote-controlled spare Thunderbird is going to stop us, Tracy?" growled Techno. "Think again!"
"Come get some then," said Jeff.
Techno pressed a button on the control panel. Two small hatches opened in the sides of the Submersible and a group of ten Ray-Meccas came scurrying out before making their way towards Thunderbird 4. But before they could reach it, it released a small EMP blast that fried the meccas and caused them to sink to the seabed.
"DAMN!" roared Techno.
The Hood got up and moved to one of the escape pods. "Keep it busy or destroy it if you can," he ordered. "I'll fly onto the island and deal with them myself."
"You got it," growled Techno, desperate to avenge his wrecked meccas.
The Hood entered the escape pod and was ejected from the Submersible. Once it was high enough above the water, he pressed the emergency door release after donning his flight helmet and dropped out into the sky. He deployed his carbon-fibre wings and began to swoop down towards Tracy Island.
Techno closed the hatch above the hold for the escape unit and turned his attention back to Thunderbird 4. "Alright, little yellow underwater bug. Let me show you not to mess with my toys!"
As if on cue, the robotic arms of the second Thunderbird 4 deployed. Then, as Techno watched on, he was startled when the opaque covering of the cockpit faded away to reveal that none other than Jeff Tracy himself was inside, controlling it.
"Okay, Noel…" said Jeff with determination. "Take your best shot."
Techno let out a bellow and slammed his sub into full forward. Jeff did the same with Thunderbird 4 and the two vessels were now on a collision course with one another.
It took Scott longer than he would have liked to cut through the door of the vault. Every so often he would glance at the air gauge. The red light was very slightly starting to flash as the bottom yellow was getting dimmer. The children and others who were trapped were starting to drift off due to lack of oxygen. "Hang on a little longer!" Scott said to them. "I'm almost through."
"Please…hurry…" wheezed the manager, who'd sunk to the vault floor.
Scott completed his circular cut. Then he ran to the back of the vault, took a moment to ready himself and then began to run forwards, activating his jetpack and rocketing towards the door. "This…better…work!" As he got closer, he performed a forward roll in mid-air, much to the amazement of the watching children and slammed his feet into the door. The force of the impact weakened the door and caused it to move forwards a bit. Scott dropped to the floor and picked himself up again before running back to the rear of the vault to make another attempt. Once again he charged forwards, zoomed via jetpack and did a forward roll to knock into the door again. It moved further, but still didn't quite make it out. Scott went back and did it a third time, and this time he was successful, pushing the thick door out of its frame and it toppled front down with a loud CRASH!
Scott fell to the floor, exhausted, but triumphant. "Go…Go…Go…" he panted, gesturing for everyone to get out.
The manager, cashiers, customers and the school party were weakened too, but the sudden rush of clean air into the vault allowed them to struggle up and out of there. Scott took his helmet off to get some fresh air himself. He felt knackered, but pleased. "Where's Virgil when you need him?" he asked himself jokingly out loud. Suddenly, he got a feeling he was no longer alone. It was the same feeling he'd felt right before he'd been caught and pushed into the vault by The White Ghost. Glancing to his left, he just managed to catch a flash of white out of the corner of his eye before rolling himself over and out of the way as an angry White Ghost tried to kick him in the head. Scott tried to scramble to his feet but The White Ghost was quicker and managed to knock him back down before pinning him down with her boot on his chest. "Knew you wouldn't be far away," he remarked.
The White Ghost opened up her face-helmet. "Despicable man!" she spat. "Why do you and your family have to ruin everything?!"
"A better question," said Scott. "Why do you try to hurt innocent people?"
Laura snarled and pushed her foot down harder. By doing this, she wasn't phasing her body and because she was focused on Scott, she failed to notice Captain West and six officers armed with taser guns had entered the vault. As Scott hadn't come out with the rest of the hostages, West had decided to come in to find him. Without hesitating, the officers fired their weapons at The White Ghost. They hit her in the back and sent a series of high-voltage electrical charges through her already damaged body.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!" Laura screamed and fell to the floor, whimpering in agony.
Captain West and his men approached her, weapons drawn. West put his away and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. "Police! Stay down!" he ordered. "You're under arrest!"
Laura was quivering and her body was starting to flicker light on the blink. It was like she was about to disappear from existence. Scott noticed this and tried to move forwards to grab her. "GET AWAY!" Laura shrieked, trying to shuffle back from him.
"Laura, please!" said Scott. "Let us help you!"
"NO! NEVER!" Laura shouted, and right before Captain West could attempt to put the handcuffs on her, she managed to use what strength she had left to phase through the floor of the vault and then disappeared.
"What the hell?!" exclaimed Captain West in astonishment whilst Scott let out a sigh of frustration.
Scott picked himself up and walked slowly outside. He touched his sash to make a call. "Thunderbird 1 to base. The hostages are safe but White Ghost escaped. How are things with you?" He waited for a response but none came. "Dad, are you there? Brains?" He felt a shiver run down his spine. No answer could only mean one thing. "Oh, no…" he said and ran back outside before jetpacking up to Thunderbird 1.
"HEY, WE NEED TO TALK!" West yelled up after Scott. But it was too late. Scott was back aboard his ship and rocketing away from Manhattan to make the journey home to Tracy Island.
Thunderbird 5 wasn't doing so well in its attempt to pull the remains of Global-1 clear of the Earth's gravity.
"John, our thrusters are overheating!" EOS warned. "If we continue at this rate, Thunderbird 5 could explode."
"But the city's still in danger!" John said. "We cannot let what's left of Global-1 crash into it."
"EOS is right, John," said O'Bannon. "I may have been arrogant to make you save my station last time, but even I know it's beyond saving. You have to let it go."
"But the city!" John protested.
"It won't make it there," said O'Bannon. She placed a hand on John's shoulder. "Trust me. Let it go."
John hesitated, then sighed. "Fine. EOS, alert the authorities of Albuquerque to the danger."
"Yes, John."
John tried to release the mooring claw of the Elevator. But it wouldn't.
"Come on, what are you waiting for?!" asked O'Bannon.
"It's stuck!" John cried. "It won't release!"
"Hold on, John, I've got this," said EOS.
There was a jolt and Thunderbird 5 shot forwards before John managed to activate the retros and bring it to a controlled stop. He then joined O'Bannon at the window and saw what EOS had done. Instead of releasing the claw, she had detached the Elevator from its cable and was going to be dragged back to Earth with the rest of the remains of Global-1.
"I'm sorry, John," EOS apologised. "It was the only way to save us all."
John's heart sank as quickly as the Elevator and Global-1 were passing into the Earth's atmosphere, glowing red hot as they did so. "There goes my link to home," he said sadly as O'Bannon put a comforting arm around him.
The Shocker had gotten over the near-miss of almost being run over by the Bulldozer-Pod. He was back on his feet and shooting blast after blast at it as it ran at full speed in circles around him.
Hayley was getting frustrated. "Great, now you've made him mad!" she said. "Good plan, Virgil. Good plan!"
Virgil was getting equally frustrated. "Hayley, come on! I'm trying to distract him!"
"Yeah, what the hell for?"
"So you can take him out of course! Isn't that why you're here?"
Hayley fell silent and realised what Virgil was getting at. "You mean?"
"Yes!" snapped Virgil. "I'll let you out of here and then will distract him so you can take him out! You do know his legs are cybernetic, right?"
Hayley glanced out at The Shocker who had just fired a shot right over them. Then she realised fully what Virgil meant. "Open the lid," she said. "I'll take him from behind."
Virgil pressed a button and the cockpit of the Pod slid back so Hayley could climb out. "HEY!" Virgil shouted as Hayley began to exit. He reached up and grabbed her arm. "Don't you dare get killed, babe."
"Likewise with you," Hayley replied before jumping off the moving Pod and ducking behind a fallen chunk of rock from the mountain.
"STAY STILL!" roared The Shocker. He was firing so many blasts that his gauntlets were getting low on power. Also the amount of turning to keep up with the circling Bulldozer-Pod was starting to make him dizzy. "Ohhhh, man. I don't feel so good," he groaned.
He'd come to a stop with his back facing Hayley, just as she'd hoped for. She took out her stun-gun and took careful aim. "Gotcha!" she said before firing.
The blast hit The Shocker's cybernetic legs and caused them to short out. "WHAT THE HELL?! GAAAAAARGH! WHAT IS HAPPENING?!" he cried as his legs collapsed underneath and he found himself sitting on the ground unable to get up again.
Hayley used his blind spot from behind to finish her takedown. She ran up behind him and then kicked him in the back causing him to cry out and fall on his face. Despite wearing a helmet, the impact with the ground was enough to knock him clean out. Hayley stood triumphantly above him. "That's for trying to kill my Virgil," she said, even though she knew he couldn't hear her.
Virgil stopped the Pod and looked over at Hayley who looked back over at him. They then began to communicate via wrist-radios. "You got him."
"Yep."
"Have I ever told you how much I love you?"
"More than twice. Now don't you have some guys to rescue?"
Virgil grinned. "F-A-B!" he said and aimed the Bulldozer-Pod towards the rockslide covering the mine.
A small part of the rusted hull of the Mikhail Lermontov burst open as Gordon and The Black Phantom crashed through it. The Phantom deployed a blade from his left gauntlet and tried to stab through Gordon's leg but missed. Gordon then used his laser-chainsaw to slice it off. The Phantom cursed and deployed the one in the right gauntlet but Gordon managed to perform a kick to the side of his helmet and knock him down to the sea floor.
"DAMN YOU FOR RESISTING!" thundered The Black Phantom.
"This is the first time you and I have faced-off, right, Mr Kruger?" asked Gordon.
"Yeah! And it'll be the last!" The Black Phantom retorted, powering up his omega-beams and firing. The blast would have vaporised Gordon if not for him managing to block the beams with the laser-chainsaw and keep the beams at bay. The Phantom roared and tried to increase the power. Gordon also roared as he tried hard to hold the immense power back.
Against the odds, he was able to hold his own until the power that the Phantom had in the beams depleted and cut out.
Kruger was in a state of disbelief. "H-H-How…?" he asked. "I have more power than you'll ever have. Why can't I kill you?"
Gordon moved fast and managed to kick him back. "I spent a lot of time fighting your predecessor," he said. "He was formidable. But I learned his moves. His techniques. All based around how the suit works. And you use the exact same ones."
The Phantom let out a low deep growl as the suit began to build up the power again. "Then allow me to show you some-" He was suddenly cut off as a large yellow grab clamped around his waist and held him in place. "What?!"
Gordon had remotely piloted Thunderbird 4 over to their location and used one of the robotic arms to grab the Phantom. "How does that grab you?" he asked as he swam around behind the struggling supervillain. "Now, if Techno constructed this suit exactly the way the original was, then that must mean…" He reached out and lifted a small flap round the back of the Phantom's neck to reveal a red button. "Wow!" he laughed. "He even included the off-switch!"
"Off-switch?!" exclaimed The Black Phantom. But before he could make another move, Gordon pushed the button, shutting down the suit and causing it to go black inside the helmet. "No! NOOOOOOOOO!" yelled Kruger, suddenly alarmed. The clamp was released and he sank to the seabed. The heavy suit prevented him from moving. "YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!"
Gordon managed to pick him up and carry him round into the back of Thunderbird 4. Once the water had drained out, Gordon managed to unlock the Phantom's helmet and remove it. Kruger bellowed and yelled at Gordon's face. He then tried to spit in his face, which was pointless given Gordon was wearing a helmet. "Did anyone tell you that you're disgusting?" Gordon asked.
Kruger fixed Gordon with a hateful glare. "You're a dead man," he said, his voice shaking. "Do you hear me? YOU'RE DE-"
POW! Gordon punched Kruger hard in the head and knocked him out. "Why don't you shut the hell up?" he said. He then hurried back to the cockpit and took the controls. "Porpoise 2, this is Thunderbird 4. Sorry to keep you waiting, but we'll soon have you out of there."
Parker managed to get Penelope inside FAB1 and close the doors just before Silver Swan slammed into the car. She angrily began scratching her metal claws against the glass down trying to rip it open.
Parker took Penelope's left arm to see how bad the damage was. "Cor! It's just h'a graze, m'lady."
"Thank goodness for that," Penelope replied. She then looked up at Silver Swan. "Parker, please get this crazy lady off FAB1."
Parker looked up at Silver Swan too. "With h'all the pleasure in the world!" he said darkly. He jumped behind the wheel and spun it to the right. FAB1 rolled over and Silver Swan slipped off. She managed to activate her suit and remain airborne. FAB1 then hurried away with her in pursuit. "Now what, m'lady?"
"We lure her away from the base," said Penelope. "I'll call the GDF and try to create an ambush."
Silver Swan was also making plans. "Techno, it's Swan. I need you to launch more missiles."
"Kind of…busy, Swan!" Techno answered over her earpiece. "Do it yourself!"
Swan's left wrist gauntlet beeped and she looked to see he'd sent the missile hack codes to her. "Yes. It is time to inflict mass pain." She stopped chasing FAB1 and began fiddling with the device.
Penelope looked back and noticed. "Parker, she's stopped pursuing."
"Odd," Parker remarked.
Then Silver Swan's cackling voice came over the radio. "Hey, Lady Popular and Jeeves…try and stop this!" She pressed a button.
As Parker turned FAB1 around, he and Penelope were greeted with a horrifying sight: a barrage of six missiles rose up from behind the mountains where the base was located and levelled out head in the direction of West.
"Swan…what have you done?" Penelope gasped. "Parker, after those missiles!"
"Yus, m'lady!"
FAB1 raced off after the missiles with Silver Swan laughing maniacally once again.
Brains was busy adjusting a remote-control device out on the lido by the Sun-Loungers. MAX was there too. The first that Brains knew of anything wrong was when MAX warbled in an alarming way. "W-What is it, MAX?" Then he heard the sound of a jetpack approaching. He sharply turned to look up into the sky and saw The Hood diving towards him. "Oh, m-m-my GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODNESS!" he yelled and began to run towards the house right behind MAX who was also fleeing.
The Hood calmly swooped in, grabbed Brains before he could reach the house and threw him off to the left. Brains screamed as he flew through the air and crashed into the barbeque which fell over with a crash. Brains then lay winded on the ground. As he tried to sit up, he saw that he'd dropped the remote device a few metres away. He tried to retrieve it but The Hood got there first and he destroyed the device by stamping on it.
"Oh…d-d-dear," stuttered Brains, turning pale.
The Hood's helmet opened up and he looked down upon Brains with a sinister grin. "Nice try with the fake Thunderbird 4, Brains," he said. "But it won't help you." He then spoke into his helmet's radio. "Techno, I have taken out the device. Rip that model Thunderbird apart."
"IT'S NOT FAKE!" Techno's voice shouted back. "JEFF TRACY IS PILOTING IT!"
The Hood stood in a stumped silence for a few seconds. "Wait, what?"
The distraction had allowed Brains to get back up off the ground. He picked up a lump of charcoal that was used for the barbeque and threw it at The Hood's helmet. It hit hard and knocked him sideways for a moment. The Hood growled and then lunged at Brains, kicking him back against the stone wall. "For that, you have signed your death warrant, Hackenbacker!" he said, opening out his wings and positioning them ready to stab into Brains's torso. But as they were thrust forwards, Brains reached out and caught them, stopping them dead. The Hood, even more startled than learning Jeff was in the second Thunderbird 4, tried hard to push them towards the engineer, but Brains was able to not only hold, but push them back as well.
"W-W-W-W-What?" The Hood stammered, confused. "You're nothing, Brains! You're a feeble kind of person! You cannot possibly be stronger than me!"
Brains stared hard at The Hood before a strange smirk began to spread across his face, confusing The Hood even more. And he most certainly didn't expect what came next.
"Sailing, sailing, over the bounding main." As Brains spoke, his voice went from human to robotic. His body began to flicker and then it faded away to reveal a major secret.
The Hood stared in disbelief. It wasn't Brains he'd been fighting at all. It was Braman. "R-ROBOT?!" he exclaimed.
Braman looked very different to what The Hood remembered. His body, legs and arms were chunkier than before. His head was also more rounded and he had big feet as well. His face with white dots for eyes was the same as before but he clearly had been severely upgraded from what he'd originally been. The Hood tried to pull himself free from Braman's grip but found that he was unable to do so. He took a breath ready to launch a sonic scream at the robot, but before he could do so, rocket boosters built into Braman's feet ignited allowing him to take flight up off the ground and take The Hood with him.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!" screeched The Hood.
The Cabal Submersible and the second Thunderbird 4 collided with each other. Both were ramming in an attempt to sink the other. Both were strongly constructed so no significant damage was made the first time round.
"You think you can best me, Tracy?" Techno asked. "You got another thing coming!"
"Do you think I want to do this, Noel?" Jeff asked. "All I want is to do is free you from The Hood's control and-"
"HE'S NOT CONTROLLING ME!" bellowed Techno. "HE'S NEVER CONTROLLED ME!"
"AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HE'S PROGRAMMED YOU TO SAY!" thundered Jeff. "You can be better than this, Noel."
"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" shouted Techno. "I ALREADY AM BETTER!"
"STOP THIS!" roared Jeff. "I WANT TO HELP YOU!"
"AND I WANT YOU TO DIE!" finished Techno, punching a button that launched a barrage of torpedoes at Thunderbird 4.
Jeff grimaced as he readied himself to counter the attack. "Okay. Screw it!"
Alan did as he was instructed. He used his wrist-controller to guide Thunderbird 3 down towards the surface of Planet-46 and the area designated to him by the Subterrain Chief.
"Will that do for you?" Alan asked.
"Perfectly, Earthman," answered the Subterrain Chief. "Just put it down right there."
Alan did so, turning the large red rocket upright before setting it down onto the ground. Once it had landed, he powered down the engines. Then, as he looked on the monitor screen, he noticed it was starting to lean over to the side. Then his eyes began to widen as he noticed that Thunderbird 3 was starting to sink into the ground. "Hey, what the-?"
"Perfect!" said the Subterrain Chief. "Your spaceship will sink into the ash. And your charming Earthwoman will die when the rocket hits its target - Earth! Then it will be your turn. You've already cost us two failures."
Alan was enraged. "You creatures are as disgusting as you look," he remarked.
The other Subterrains turned and hissed like angry snakes.
"SILENCE!" ordered the Subterrain Chief. "For that insult, your death will be slow and painful." He then turned to the Subterrain sitting at the control desk beside him. "Proceed with launch!"
"Commencing countdown at minus-forty," said Sub-5. "Thirty-nine. Thirty-eight. Thirty-seven. Thirty-six. Thirty-five. Thirty-four. Thirty-three."
Alan glanced between the two monitor screens. One showed Thunderbird 3 sinking into the ash, the other showed the bound and gagged Kayo trapped inside the rocket-ship with Sub-38. He felt powerless. There was nothing he could do but watch both meet their doom.