Hi, there, folks. Had a half-day at school, sort of, so able to scribble a little bit more. Thanks, Whirl Girl, Bow Echo, Tikatu and Akimakel, for sharing your awesome thoughts. =)

4

Ross Island, Antarctica-

Mt. Erebus had partly caved in, but its double caldera was still largely intact. And there, hauling himself from boulder to crag with blood in his mouth and wrath in his heart, was a man. Hatred kept him going, despite freezing cold, and savage pain. Sheer hate, and the need for revenge.

Slowly, laboriously, the man climbed. His right leg was swollen and oddly bent. Broken, no doubt. Harsh breath smoked from his lungs at every step, but he refused to scream or curse. Instead, he imagined creative torments to be visited upon his former captors, who would never escape him, and never be permitted to die.

The rocks were cold, their edges sharp and daubed with bloody handprints, marking the man's path from ledge to rim. He'd been suppressed. Squashed. Toyed with. But then, cast aside and forgotten, he'd managed to cling to one of the drones sent to drop him here. Fighting its pincers and sting, he'd ridden the mechanical hornet to ground on a tiny, crumbling ledge. Twisting its head off, he'd fashioned a splint, knife and spear from those spasming legs.

On the hunt, now, the Hood was far from dead. He'd sensed the touch of a familiar mind, mere moments before. His niece, Tanusha. And, wherever "Kayo" was, her despised brothers could not be far behind. International Rescue was present and ready to hand; the weapon with which he would crush the Mechanic.

XXXXXXXXXX

In the tunnel, far below-

John blinked; looking wildly around him at tumbled dark rock, red light and trickling sand. From his perspective, he'd just teleported; crossing time and space to go from the training center, then, to rock tunnel, now. Meanwhile, his suit flickered and sparkled with reddish-pale light. Jaeger? Kayo stood nearby, leaning over an injured man on a bobbing grav-stretcher. He'd landed in the middle of an in-progress rescue?

For some reason, his heart was pounding and his breath coming fast. He would have called out, but the suit kept squeezing and releasing around his left wrist, repeating a warning, in ancient Morse code German. Translated, it said: Extreme caution. Female has proven hostile. John Tracy, former lieutenant, GDF Space Corps, is operating on save file. Memory erased.

Yeah. Definitely, Jaeger. But where was Eos? Reflexively, John reached up with one hand, seeking his ear-piece. Gone. Something about the suit felt different, too. It seemed to be buzzing faintly, as though plugged into a high-tension wire, or something. Okay, then… stay quiet for a while, find out what had happened, take appropriate action.

Rapidly clenching and releasing his left hand, John replied: Understood, Buddy. Danke.

Kayo was speaking softly to the wounded man, who appeared to be young, and dark haired. Reminded him of someone, though he was too upset, too sparked with adrenaline, to say who.

"You're safe, now," she whispered, touching the other man's forehead. "The Mechanic is gone."

Mechanic? Here? Had the cyborg collapsed a mine, going after ore? And, if so, why were he and Kayo the only ones fielded to handle a complex rescue? Something was very much wrong. Couple of hours of life were missing, like they'd just been deleted, while his pulse rate and tension seemed to indicate furious, out-of-place anger at… at Little Bit? Why?

The smart play was to hang back; listen and learn. Only, he'd never been one to sit out a tight situation. Preferred to meet trouble head on; often enough, to his cost. Would have reached out to touch the girl's shoulder, but found his hand clenching into a fist, instead. The suit… or his own subconscious impulse?

Before he could decide, John heard someone coming down the shaft toward them. So did Kayo. As she was turning to face those incoming noises, John demanded,

"What happened, TinTin? Why the h*ll do I want to kill you, right now?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nearing the end of that meandering, ruby-lit shaft-

Once everyone had been snapped out of his trance, Jeff had led their way to a sort of triage area, where twelve men, one woman and a boy were laid out for treatment and transport. He left Grandma and Brains there, because they seemed woozy, still, and those folks needed help, badly. Blankets and pain-killers, some of them; splints, quick-clot or stasis disks, all the rest. Pretty clearly, his family had been hijacked back to frigid Ross Island, where Virgil had almost crashed Thunderbird 2. Were these people responsible for that sh*t-close near miss? Had they run into trouble, and somehow forced IR to come to their aid? Judging by all of the wrecked bug-drones he was having to kick from his path, "trouble" meant the Mechanic... And he couldn't find Kayo, or John. Left at home? Or out there, somewhere, in danger?

Jeff couldn't find anyone in shape enough to talk, or willing to grunt a response to his questions. Disgusted and deeply concerned, he left them to the care of his mother and chief engineer. Following Lee's head-jerk, he'd spotted a path leading across the icy ground and halfway up the collapsed mountainside, to a dark, gaping tunnel mouth. Raising his voice to be heard over that icy-sharp wind, Lee had said,

"Betcha we find us some answers up yonder, Jeffery… plus Tina 'n Jase, if we're lucky. Might be lookin' at a hostage situation, if not. What'd ya say? Feel like spinnin' th' wheel, again?"

Jeff had grunted a short laugh, watching his breath condense into puffy white smoke-signals.

"Doesn't look like we've got much of a choice, Lee. We'll get up there, look around, find the kids, then take these folks, and get the h*ll out."

For some reason, he was wearing an old-style IR cloth uniform (but not the fore-and-aft cap; that embarrassing relic, he'd stuffed in his pocket, along with the big, shiny sash). Not exactly Antarctic-grade clothing, and nothing like up to that wind.

They'd set off; Jeff and Lee up front, followed by Scott, Virgil, Gordon, Alan, Parker and Lady Penelope, all in uniform, all with their usual rescue gear. Soon, they'd left the ocean's thunder and rumble behind them, along with that frost-taloned gale. Stepped into a low, sloping tunnel that seemed to crackle and glimmer with eerie red light.

There was only one way to go, for the shaft did not branch, though it kinked and bent in places, as though searching for something amid all the rocks. Must have taken a lot of power to excavate the thing, he'd mused, wishing for some sort of weapon. Anything, even a taser, would have been nice, right about then.

Signaling for quiet, he'd led his crew around a final bend in the passage, and there found Tanusha, with John, and a fifteenth victim. Relief and spent tension made him go wobbly-loose, for a moment.

Then, Jeff cleared his throat, causing the stiff, silent girl to turn away from her red-haired brother. She appeared upset; very pale, one hand on the victim's grav-stretcher, the other clenched tight. Jeff strode forward, clasped his daughter close for a long moment, then held her away. Looking into the girl's troubled green eyes, he asked,

"Princess, what's going on? Are you two alright?"

John was no help. When Jeff glanced over, his son wouldn't meet his eyes, but drifted across to stand beside Lee; tension in every hard line of him. Once again, Jeff looked at Kayo.

"I… Dad… this is Nikorr, my cousin," the girl whispered, adding, "He needs help. They all do. All that're left, anyhow. The Mechanic attacked them, and stole Sentinel, a… giant laser, sort of."

Jeff's heavy grey brows twitched together, as he combined two and two, in his head.

"That's what they needed the stolen power for? Running a massive energy weapon? So… when I came out with Scott and Virgil to investigate…"

"They defended themselves," Kayo replied softly, ducking her head so that her face was half-hidden by silky, dark hair. "They are Kyranos, like my parents and… and my uncle."

Jeff's gaze shifted down and across to the unconscious young man on the stretcher. Gordon was already at him. In another life, the kid would have made one h*ll of a doctor.

"So… your cousin, there, used some kind of mind-hold to bring us all out here, after the Mechanic left with their doomsday weapon?"

There was subtle pressure behind her father's words. He'd found a solution that worked for him, and wanted it seconded. Kayo looked up at him, then over to John, who was pale and rigid, but silent. No, he would not betray her… and no, she wasn't forgiven. Maybe, she never would be.

Kayo took a deep breath, too confused, worried and shamed to reply, at first. If… if she told the real truth, what would she score but a loss of trust? On the other hand, if she agreed with her father, allowed Nikorr to shoulder the blame for her actions… would not that be better?

The girl swallowed, hard. Everyone but John and Gordon was looking at her; ready with smiles to hear and accept the easy excuse; the short-cut out of her troubles. Feeling tears burn the back of her eyes, she started to speak.

"I… actually… panicked, and used some… some 'mental holds' of my own, to… make everyone come here," she finished, in a tiny, rushed voice. "I'm sorry. I never… never meant to hurt anyone. You're… you're my family… but, so are they! And I promise, I'll never do it again, ever! I promise…"

It was Gordon who moved first, oddly enough. Coming around the grav-stretcher, he took Kayo into his arms, and embraced her. After a stunned moment, the others followed. Most of them. Only John remained aloof.

Lee Taylor watched as the younger man began heading back up the tunnel, then uttered a gusty sigh, and followed him out. Obviously, there was more to that story, and the family stew was just now coming to a boil.