March 19th 2060 - 17:18 NZDT
"Kayo, can you come out please?" asks Alan.
"No!" Kayo replies.
"What's...?" Alan starts.
"Alan, I've just got back from the GDF Base in LA, I need a shower," Kayo interrupts.
Ever since Alan's birthday Kayo started to become distance from everyone, taking Thunderbird Shadow out more and when she is home and making unexpected trips to GDF Bases all over the world, mainly in Scotland and the Western United States. No one knew why, but they had learnt very quickly not to question Kayo's motives.
Alan sighs and decides to walk down to the mission deployment room to find Scott talking to John.
"... what's up?" Scott asks.
"Atmospheric radon gas readings, that's what," John explains.
"Uh, come again?" asks Scott, who was confused at the complex statement.
"Radiation, Scott. I'm picking up a huge spike somewhere in Southern Africa. And it's rising faster than you can say 'catastrophic fallout,'" John continues.
"International rescue, we have a situation," Scott announces, over the coms.
5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Thunderbirds are Go!
Scott takes a seat next to Virgil and the couch while Alan sits opposite them next to Brains. They were all interested to find out about this radiation spike as it hadn't been used in years.
"Sorry, guys, satellites feed's not telling me a whole lot more. It's an unpopulated area, thankfully," John explains.
"And no power plants?" asks Scott.
"Negative. Besides, no-one's used nuclear power in decades," John replies, "It's strange. There's no sign of any kind of explosion."
"Nice to know we won't be flying into a mushroom cloud," Virgil says.
"That radiation's gotta be coming from somewhere," says Scott.
"Well, I'm gonna call Gordon back," John says.
"No, we'll take a look and report back. Thanks Thunderbird 5," says Scott.
"FAB," John says.
"Alan you come with me," Virgil orders.
"On it," replies Alan.
5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Thunderbirds are Go!
"Thunderbird 2? You at top speed?" asks Scott.
"Sure am. Got a full load here. Figure we don't know what we're dealing with so I'm carrying everything but the kitchen sink. Scratch that, you want a kitchen sink, I recon I can whip one up for you," Virgil says.
"I'm gonna step on the gas," Scott says, "I'll see ya there."
"See ya. Don't save the world before we get there," Alan says.
"Thunderbirds are Go!" Scott replies before speeding off at 15,000 mph.
"Right, now Alan what do you think is going on with Kayo?" asks Virgil. "Seeing as you're closest with her," he quickly adds.
"Honestly, I don't know. It all started the day after my birthday," Alan explains.
"Do you think there was something that could of triggered it?" Virgil asks.
"Not that I know of. She is in a... I mean she's just had a hard time since The Hood incident in 2058," Alan continues, almost telling Virgil about the darker part of her life.
"Hmm," Virgil thinks now that Alan is hiding something but is not sure why, "Okay, hopefully you find out soon."
"Me too," replies Alan.
March 19th 2060 - 07:43 CAT
Arriving at the co-ordinates John sent them Scott starts to look around to see if there was any abnormal activities. But didn't really see anything.
"I'm looking at nothing but... well, a whole lot of nothing," Scott explains.
"You're right on top of it Thunderbird 1. Please tell me I'm not imaging things," says John.
"You're not. Check this out," Scott says as he lands Thunderbird 1 just outside the entrance to a mine.
"An old uranium mine, Must have gotten reopened somehow," John says, "Better seal that baby up."
"FAB, I'm on it," Scott replies, as he gets ready to leave Thunderbird 1 by putting on his helmet, he gets a call from Brains, who appears on the hologram.
"Pop quiz, Scott. What's invisible, always around you and deadly in large quantities?" asks Brains.
"The smell of Grandma burning dinner again?" Scott questions.
"I heard that young man," Sally's voice replies.
"Oops," says Scott.
"Nearly. The correct answer is radiation. It's always there and quite harmless in tiny quantities," Brains says as Scott continues to put on his gear, for when he exits TB1.
"Unfortunately, where you are right now, there's approximately 4,953 times the safe amount in the air, give or take," Brains continues.
"If this is a pep talk Brains, it's not going so well," Scott says.
"But fear not. The radiation shielding on your suit will protect you, for a while at least. But if I were you I wouldn't hang around for too long," Brains explains.
"Not planning to," Scott says, making the final adjustments to his suit and then exiting Thunderbird 1 via the pilots chair, "Huh," he remarks around takes a quick look around.
"Keep an eye on your Geiger counter, Scott. If it strays into the red, get out fast or you'll end up crispier than Grandma's meatloaf," Brains jokes.
"I'm still here, you know," Sally's voice replies.
"Sorry," Brains apologises.
"It sounds like you're in more trouble than I am right now, Brains," Scott says, "Thunderbird 1 out," and he starts to walk over to the entrance.
Upon entering Scott waves his torch around and looks for a button to turn off the radiation alarm, "Ah. The system must have come back online somehow and opened up the main hatch to the mine. Probably a short circuit," Scott comments and walks into the following room.
"I found the owner. Van Arkel Corp. The largest extraction and refining operation on the continent. But the mine and it's onsite processing facility was closed down 20 years ago in 2040," John explains.
"Ugh. They didn't even bother to clean up, by the looks of it," Scott replies picking up a fast food burger box and continues looking for a way to close the mine. He goes over to the door for the main shaft, "Time to pull the plug on this place for good," he says.
"You're telling us that we got dressed up for nothing?" asks Virgil looking over to a quite Alan.
"Sorry, Thunderbird 2. This place is history. Sealing main hatch," Scott says and takes one last look at the control room behind him and notices something, "Hold that thought..." and then looks at the floor to notice extra footprints that weren't his, "Someone's down there," Scott exclaims.
"In the mine? Who in their right mind would want to do that?" asks John.
"Only one way to find out," Scott says looking down, "I'm going in."
"Scott, we're 10 minutes out. Why don't you wait in case you need backup?" Virgil asks.
"Whoever's down there might have no idea how much danger they're in," Scott explains, "Thunderbird 5, how long can we leave this hatch open before it causes a major problem?" he asks, dropping a light down into the shaft to see how deep it is.
"15 minutes, tops. Or maybe less. I'm picking up a major weather system heading your way. If that storm hits before you can plug the leak it'll carry the fallout over, downtown Pretoria, population 12.5 million," John explains.
"Then I'd better make this quick," says Scott.
"If you don't, Thunderbird 1, you'll wind up fried worse than Grandma's chicken wings," Virgil says, again looking over to a quiet Alan, which was increasingly worrying him as he is normally the energetic one of the group.
"Careful, you never know who's listening. And for the record, I love Grandma's chicken wings," Scott comments and sets up his grapple, "Besides the fall will probably finish me off long before the radiation does," and starts to head down the main shaft.
"100 meters... 150," Scott says as he went further down. He then swings over to a rock as starts a new grapple, "200," swinging over to the opposite ledge and almost falling off, "Whoa. I hope I have enough grapple packs. Oh well. Can't hang around here all day," Scott says to himself and continues down.
"Wow this mine is deep," Scott remarks.
"You found our sightseer yet, Thunderbird 1?" Alan asks.
"Negative. Still in the dark here and I'm almost out of rope," Scott replies.
"We're nearly there. Why don't you come up? We'll figure something out," suggests Virgil.
"It's okay. I think I see my way in. It's just gonna take a little precision timing," Scott replies..
"Scott uses his last grapple pack to swing over to the ledge. Using his momentum he almost reaches it, when his grapple is grabbed and cut.
"Fuck!" Scott shouts as he falls down the shaft.
"Thunderbird 5 was right, that storm is heading this way. You nearly done Thunderbird 1?" Virgil asks as he lands Thunderbird 2 at the entrance of the mine.
"Urh," Scott mumbles.
"Scott? Everything all right down there?" asks Virgil.
"What? Falling. Falling. Someone cut the line," Scott mumbles as he is carried by a metal suit towards a metal box.
"I didn't copy that. It sounded like you said..." Virgil replies and mumbles some untranslatable crap about Scott's reply.
"Huh, hey what?" Scott asks as he finally awakes fully from getting knocked out just before he is locked up in the small box, "Uh! No thanks, metal man!"
Scott manages to escape from the suit and run away continuing dodging the swinging of the suit, "Hey listen! Whoever's in there, can we start again?" Scott asks, "I kinda feel like we got off the wrong foot," he says all the while he is still dodging the suit as it starts to throw Uranium boxes around to get to Scott.
"Thunderbird 1? What's happening?" Alan asks confused of what's going on.
"Fucking hell, this intruder doesn't play well with others," Scott says and starts climbing up one of the steel frame works, "You know, I'm a reasonable guy!" he cries just before jumping off the frame work and onto the suit, putting it into a spin.
"Why don't we... fucking, shit! Talk about it?" Scott asks as the suit stays in the spin, "Well this is gonna flipping hurt," Scott says and puts all of his strength into it and manages to yank the metal suit down but pins him to the ground. To his surprise a female exits the suit.
"Wow she's-!" Scott's thoughts say.
"Unbelievable!" the female says.
"Erm... I'd... Er shake your hand but Erm... I'm kind of stuck here," Scott stutters going red in the face, as the female walks away, "Any chance for some help?"
"You've wasted enough of my time already," the female replies and picks up a large rucksack.
"You won't get away with stealing that, whatever it is," Scott says, still struggling to get out from under the suit.
"Refined Uranium, and I'm not stealing it! I'm taking back what's mine," she replies.
"Well... Erm you've kinda overloaded the elevator you know. It's old and won't take the weight," Scott says.
"Nice try!" the female scoffs.
"Are you just gonna leave me down here?" Scott asks.
"That's funny. I don't remember inviting you," she replies and the elevator starts to go up.
In the next 10 seconds; Scott manages to get out from under the suit, the elevator starts to rattle and collapse under the weight, and Scott using his 2nd last grapple pack sends a grapple and saves the female from dying from the impact before rolling out the way of the falling uranium.
"Let me down! Let me down right now or you'll be sorry," she complains and Scott manages to get her down safely but is still very angry and upset with Scott, "No, no, No!"
"That's ok. You can thank me later," Scott says sarcastically.
"Thunderbird 1, what's going on? Radiation levels are rising even faster," John asks.
"Um, yeah, 'bout dat, we've had complications. Every fucking storage capsule in the main shaft has been compromised," Scott replies.
"Everything was going fine till you fucking showed up you fat cunt," the female yells.
"What the fuck? Who's that?" asks Alan.
"Yeah," says Virgil and John in unison.
"Oh, that's uh... well we actually, haven't been formally introduced," Scott replies starting at the female, captivated by her.
"I'm Marion Van Arkel. This is... was my family's mine. And if there's anyone who shouldn't be here, it is you," Marion replies giving Scott a shove in the chest.
"I didn't... hear you complaining when... I... er rescued you from that little elevator malfunction just now," Scott says, getting a bit more confidence.
"If you hadn't barged in and made me rush," Marion says.
"Hey," Virgil interjects worried that tensions could rise.
"I'm sorry!" stats Scott.
"Wha...," Marion says clearly stunned.
"I was called out due to abnormal radiation levels in the area and the fallout could cause serious complications for the people of Pretoria," Scott explains.
"Guys, we need to figure a way to get you out of there before your organs get microwaved," Virgil says, interrupting the moment.
"You really have a way with words Thunderbird 2," Scott says, "I get the message, scan the mine, see if you can find another way out. I'll have to keep an eye on my friend here until we get out, she's not exactly the stable type."
"Like we don't know you have a crush on her," Alan points out.
"One word, Kayo," replies Scott as walks after Marion to see where she was going, "Where you going?"
"I know another way out if you want to follow me. But I'm not waiting around after what your brother said about the radiation levels," Marion replies.
"Are you sure this is the way out? All these tunnels look the same to me," asks Scott.
"I practically grew up here. Most little girls had dolls' houses. I had bore holes, crosscut tunnels, and haulage ways," Marion says, "I loved it. And then the UN, now The World Council, shut it all down," the pauses as the pair continue walking, "Mind the gap," she says, jumping over a large hole.
Scott quickly follows, "To be honest, the way the planet was using nuclear power wasn't safe. It's a better world now thanks to the people of the 2020s."
"Not for my family or for me. You try getting a job as a nuclear materials expert in a world that reviles it," Marion explains.
"So what were you going to do? Sell the leftovers and restore the family's fortunes?" asks Scott, intrigued.
"Exactly. I had a buyer as well," Marion replies.
"Someone made you an offer you couldn't refuse, and you never saw his face... yeah we call him The Hood," Scott says.
"It makes no difference now," Marion says and sighs.
"I'm just here to do my job," replies Scott and gives her a comforting pat on the back and makes his way with her into a massive room.
"What's this?" Scott asks.
"The back door," Marion replies.
"Holy shit," replies Scott.
"Thunderbird 1, this is Thunderbird 2, look at the radiation reading," Virgil says, looking at Alan's monitoring of the radiation.
"I know," Scott replies, as he as Marion continue to walk up the stairs that led to the back door. He then sees a problem, "Wait!"
"What?" replies Marion and stops.
"Look, the stairs end halfway and we have no time to go back down," Scott says, and calls in Virgil and Alan, "Thunderbird 2... we have a problem."
"That's it. Scott, Alan's coming down there and getting you out," Virgil says.
"Alright," replies Scott.
"On it," says Alan and went to configure The Mole.
"John can you close the main hatch?" asks Scott.
"I'll do my best," replies John.
"Hard to say goodbye," Scott says, looking over to Marion as well as taking a quick look at her figure.
"This might sound funny to you but I was happy here once. I'm now happier leaving," Marion says.
"Good to hear. We don't know what The Hood could of done to all of that Uranium, all the damage... It might have restored your family's fortunes but it doesn't mean it's the right thing to do," says Scott.
"Scott I've managed to tap into the mine's system and the main shaft is closed, Alan's your only way out," John says over the coms.
"Copy that," replies Scott, before turning back to Marion, "What you gonna do with that extra Uranium?"
Marion looks at her rucksack and back to Scott and back again, before unclipping it and throwing it to the bottom of the stairs, "The right thing," she replies.
Scott smiles and turns around as Alan bursts through the wall, "Now who's up for getting out of here?" asks Alan.
"Good to see you bro," replies Scott, "Ladies first."
"I hope the one seat is okay with you," says Alan and winks at Scott as he sees him going red in the face.
"Yeah that's fine," replies Scott looking down.
Eventually Alan makes it out with Scott and Marion and Virgil blocks any entrances and exits were fallout could exit the mine and to stop anyone from entering.
"See you back at the ranch Thunderbird 1," Virgil says as he and Alan take off in Thunderbird 2.
"Copy that," replies Scott.
"What about The Hood?" asks Marion, "He's expecting a delivery of refined uranium."
"Let us worry about him," Scott says.
"Guess I'll have to think about a new line of work," Marion says.
"Not necessarily. You could always work for International rescue. Since our father went missing in 2058, we've always needed an extra pair of hands," Scott offers.
"Are you sure?" asks Marion.
"101%," replies Scott, "Can get irritating sometimes when you're stuck with only your brothers all day."
"Thank you," says Marion as her check go into a tinted pink colour.
"Let's get your stuff and we'll head to Tracy Island. And I need to check on my youngest brother cause he's been acting weird," Scott says.
"Well let's hurry then," replies Marion and the two set off...