"Who were they?" Kayo wondered as she, Virgil, and Alan, entered the lounge where everyone was waiting for the, even Gordon who had arrived a few hours before the others. As soon as the strangers left they tried to search for them, but couldn't find anything, not even with John helping, all they left was a strange mark on a wall. Other than that they managed to get all the remaining survivors out and captain Rigby was put in charge until further notice, he assured them that they'll continue the investigation and Kayo would be on standby if needed.

"I've analyzed the mark, it's nothing special really. It's an octagram and in Islam, it means seal of the prophets" John explained, his hologram coming from his portrait where he gave Scott and Brains a brief rundown of the mission. He began to pull up several images of the same mark on walls, floors, and even cards. "the same mark appears in other places but there isn't much detail. I've asked lady Penelope to look into more detail"

"I'm afraid there isn't much to explain John," Penelope's said as her hologram appeared "apart from the fact that the same symbol appears in other places that have been robbed recently, although every time they rob a place they seem to know where every security camera is as they were all destroyed. Even the hidden ones."

"how long have they been doing this for?" Gordon asked

"for 2 years at most, but they mostly work in the shadows, this is the first time they've made an appearance"

"what about the security guards?" Alan asked

"all knocked unconscious. Although they appear to be robbers but I have a feeling they are much more than that."

"I agree," Virgil said resting his elbows on his knees "after all they attacked a GDF base. Besides the hood who has the guts to do that?"

"and why?" Alan added

"to get your attention" suddenly the images that John had brought up disappeared and was replaced by a bigger version of the eight-pointed star.

"how..." Scott was cut off by a laugh

"your systems are pathetic compared to what we've hacked into in the past" a male voice said

"why would you attack a GDF base?" Virgil demanded standing up

"like we said: the game's just begun. And there's much more still to come" this time it was a female voice

"what do you want," kayo asked, buying time as Brains and John were trying to find the signal.

"you'll find out soon enough, and don't bother trying to find us. You never will. Till next time international rescue" said the first voice once more and with that, the star disappeared.

"Brains? John?" Scott asked turning towards them.

"no luck Scott, these guys know what they were doing. They managed to bypass our systems undetected" John responded

"How did they hack into our systems. I thought we upgraded them ever since the mechanic managed to" Gordon wondered

"w-we did. h-he helped me u-upgrade them before h-he left" Brains said, still tapping away at his tablet. "I-I can ask him t-to come back i-if necessary"

"you do that Brians, we need all the help we can get. Obviously, these guys are good, we have to hope the Hood doesn't find out bout this" Scott said and knowing that with Havoc was still in GDF custody and Fuse or Clarence had given himself up the Hood needed more people to cause destruction.

"too late Scott, the news about the GDF base being attacked has spread like wildfire, it's everywhere now. It won't be soon before the hood knows about this if already doesn't" Penelope said, cutting into his thoughts.

"Alright then. Penelope, do you think Parker could help us? his past might be helpful in this situation" Kayo asked

"'ll be delight'd to help kayo. Can't let myself get rusty" Parker said as he appeared next to Penelope.

Suddenly Kayo's communicator went off.

"Hello?" she asked cautiously

"Kayo, we have a lead on the attackers" Rigby's voice was a relief to everyone

"already? How!?"

"well, they actually left us a note saying that they'll be at the National History Museum in New York to steal a priceless jewel on display"

"that's strange, why would they tell us?"

"not sure, but could you check it out?"

"I'm on my way"

"Kayo, be careful, we don't know how dangerous these guys are" Scott warned her

"I'll be careful" she promised and went down to Thunderbird Shadow's silo.

"in the meantime, I'll see what I can-" suddenly John's hologram disappeared.

*Thunderbird 5*

"EOS, what happened?" John asked his AI, staring at the space where the faces of his family had suddenly disappeared.

's-s-sorry John but-" suddenly EOS started to flash red, then white, and yellow and back to red.

"EOS?" John asked turning toward her

"J-J-John" EOS said before she went offline

"EOS? EOS! this isn't funny" John said when suddenly 5's computer started to flash and alarms went off. John was suddenly thrown to the side, he cried out in pain as a box rammed into his ribs.

"what's going on?" he wondered shoving the box away from him tried to open a link to Tracy island. "Thunderbird 5 to Tracy Island...come in". No luck. All he got was static, he then tried his sash but still couldn't get a response. Suddenly all the lights flashed red and his screens around him were turned off and everything was replaced by the octagram, "who are you?" he said to himself before the gravity cut off.

*Tracy island*

Everyone stared at the space where John's hologram usually hovered after he disappeared.

"what happened?" Alan asked.

"Brains?" Virgil asked the scientist who didn't answer as he was busy tapping away at his tablet. Suddenly the lounge went red as alarms went off, alerting the family that something was wrong, Scott ran to his dad's desk and started to tap away at the computer and the others watched him anxiously.

"Alan, Virgil suit up quickly and get to Thunderbird 3" Scott commanded not looking up from the screens.

"Scott?" Virgil asked

"Thunderbird 5 is falling out of orbit"