KAYO felt like she'd been turned into solid stone. The room she was in was dead silent, save for the occasional beeping from one of the computer monitors attached to the tank, or the Darth Vader-like breathing sound that the man in the tank was making. Kayo looked across at Professor Kwak, who was still resting against the wall near the blocked off door and holding her leg in its make-shift splint. Like Kayo, she also had a look of confusion on her face.

Slowly, very slowly in fact, Kayo turned around back towards the tank. She looked at the man inside of it, still floating in the same position as before, but with the eyes, which were no longer bright yellow, but an ochre brown colour instead, gazed unblinking back at her. Kayo was trying to figure out whether she'd imagined a voice speaking a few seconds ago. Although going by the look on Professor Kwak's face, she can't have misheard. "Errr…hello?" she said in a slightly unnerved voice. "Did…you say something?"

The man made another heavy breathing noise. And then he spoke again. "Tan…u…sha. Daugh…ter."

Kayo's eyes went wider than they'd ever done before. She couldn't move. It was like she'd been glued to the floor. Surely, it couldn't be. "D…Dad?!" she asked, edging closer to the figure.

The man breathed heavily again. "Yes…Tanusha…."

Kayo found herself shaking. All kinds of emotions were flooding through her body. "No…No…No," she said, starting to freak out. "This isn't happening. WHAT KIND OF SICK JOKE IS THIS?!"

Before the man in the tank could answer again, there came a sharp banging from the other side of the door causing Professor Kwak to cry out in alarm. Then the door was freed and it burst open as the Shadows came in.

"There they are!" growled the Shadow Leader. "Seize them!"

Professor Kwak whimpered as three of the Shadows surrounded her whilst another five hurried towards Kayo with rope ready to tie her up again. Kayo would normally have gotten into a defensive position to fight them off, but she was in too much shock to do anything.

One of the Shadows pulled Kayo's arms behind her back whilst another got ready to tie the rope.

"DON'T…TOUCH…HER!"

Everyone froze, including the Shadows as everyone turned to look at the man in the tank.

"He…He speaks!" exclaimed one of the Shadows who'd been retaking Professor Kwak.

Then one by one, all except the leader got down on one knee and bowed towards the man in the tank out of respect.

The Shadow Leader didn't do this and instead walked cautiously towards the tank. She then did the same, getting down on both knees she did. She then opened up the front of her helmet and removed it to reveal a black-haired middle-aged Japanese woman with glasses. "I never thought we'd hear you speak again," she said.

Kayo stared. She recognised the voice. "Akiko?"

The Shadow Leader turned sharply to glare at her. But then she too froze and stared. She stood up. "How do you know who I am?" she demanded.

"She's…Tanusha…" breathed the man in the tank.

Akiko looked at him, then back at Kayo. "Tanusha? Tanusha Belargant?!"

"Y-Yeah…" Kayo answered. "Well…not anymore. I changed my surname to Kyrano." She paused as she looked around at all the Shadows and then back at the man in the tank. "Akiko…is that my father?" she asked in a shaky voice.

Akiko looked at the man in the tank and then back at her. Then she nodded. "Yes, Tanusha. It is," she said.

Kayo's lip trembled as she looked back into the eyes of her father behind the glass. His face couldn't be seen properly behind the oxygen mask he was wearing, but the eyes looked so familiar now. "D…D…Dad?"

Inside the tank, Kyrano Belagant gave a nod to prove that he really was genuine.

Unable to keep it in any longer, her legs gave way and she fell to her knees before bursting into tears.

The Shadows that had been about to restrain Kayo moved in to take her.

"No! Don't," said Akiko. "Leave her." She then looked over at the confused and terrified Professor Kwak. "She needs medical attention," she said. "Make her comfortable and treat her leg the best you can. And send S-86 and S-87 in."

The Shadows bowed in acknowledgement and carefully carried Professor Kwak out of the room. The ones around Kayo left as well leaving her alone with Akiko and Kyrano.

Kayo had made a puddle on the floor by her knees from all the tears she'd been shedding. Then she slowly looked up at Kyrano and Akiko before finally speaking. "WHAT THE HELL'S GOING ON HERE?!" she bellowed.

Akiko and Kyrano looked at each other. Akiko let out a deep sigh. "I knew this day would come eventually," she said. "I'd better tell you everything."

It had just gone midnight when Hayley walked into the kitchen in her nightgown. Even though she was tired, she was thirsty and went to see if she could get a glass of water, or maybe some juice from the fridge. She was surprised to find a rather down-looking Scott sitting at the table with his chin resting on his arms. His eyes were closed and he looked as though he was deep in thought.

Hayley considered whether to see whether he was awake or not. She decided not to and to creep round behind the kitchen worktop to get the fridge. It was a good plan until she accidentally kicked the trash can. "Ow! Damn it!"

Scott jerked awake. "What the?!" he exclaimed. Then he saw who it was. "Oh, Hayley, it's you," he said.

"Scott! I'm so sorry!" Hayley apologised. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"No, it's fine," said Scott, calming himself down. "Can't sleep?"

"Er, no, I just wanted a drink," Hayley replied. "May I have one?"

Scott gave her a confused look. "You don't need to ask, Hayley. You're one of us. Help yourself."

Even though she was well-established as Virgil's girlfriend, Hayley still considered herself as a guest in the Tracy Island villa and therefore didn't feel helping herself was quite right. "Thanks," she said as she pulled open the fridge door. She found some orange juice and poured herself a small glass before taking a slurp. "How come you're down here?" she asked. "I thought you were on the night shift?"

"I'm supposed to be," replied Scott grimly. "But I'm worrying about Kayo."

"Kayo? Why, where is she?" asked Hayley.

"Somewhere in Malaysia," said Scott. "She went to look for Professor Kwak. She managed to find her but that was hours ago. There's a severe storm over the area so they could be sheltering where she hasn't got a signal. But John cannot raise her and cannot find her tracker signal either. I have a bad feeling that she's in some kind of trouble."

"Hmmm," said Hayley. "That doesn't seem like Kayo. But if I was her out in bad weather, taking shelter would be what I'd do. I'm sure she's fine, Scott." She walked over and placed a comforting hand on his arm, much to his surprise. "Thank you."

Scott was puzzled. "What for?" he asked.

"For bringing me here," Hayley said. "When I opened my front door I was fully expecting to see Virgil. But after you explained what had happened, I knew where I needed to be. Here with him. And thanks to you I'd not have been able to comfort him. So, thank you." She gave his arm a little squeeze and then walked away to the stairs taking her glass of orange juice with her.

Scott sat in silence as his thoughts returned to Kayo. Wherever she was, he just hoped that she wasn't in danger.

Akiko had a very long story to tell Kayo. She decided it would be best to start from the beginning. "After The Hood took over the Shadows and you fled with your Mother and Father, I made my escape as well with a few other loyal supporters," she began. "I was all too aware of the dangers that your uncle had in mind for us and I wasn't going to let myself be controlled by him. I managed to get a message to your father who told me and my followers to keep the Shadows going in secret and that when the time was right, he would find us. Eventually he did after some years. It wasn't long after Jeff Tracy disappeared if I recall correctly, and ever since we've been on a mission to disrupt The Hood's operations. Even when he had that Mechanic and those incompetent Chaos clowns working for him, we didn't stop our work behind the scenes."

"What sort of work?" Kayo asked.

"Sabotage. Espionage. Anonymous calls to the GDF. A lot of those were a result of us," said Akiko. "I don't believe he ever realised that we were still going. All the while, your father was determined to bring him in for justice for what he did, and against my advice…he tried." She trailed off. "It…didn't end well."

Kayo wondered at first what she meant. But then she looked back at Kyrano in the tank and took note of his missing arm and legs. It looked as though he'd undergone some kind of horrific experience to have lost them. "Did…The Hood…do that?" she asked shakily.

Akiko nodded glumly. "I'm afraid your Uncle got the upper hand thanks to those Chaos morons. They caught him and…experimented on him. They tried to make him into what your uncle had always had in mind for him."

"Which was?" Kayo snapped.

"To make him into The Mechanic," said Akiko. "The only reason the one you've encountered exists is because your father escaped from his clutches before he had a chance to."

Kayo felt like she was about to throw up. This horrible truth was almost too much to bear. "H-How?!" she demanded. "WHEN WAS THIS?!"

"About five years ago," said Akiko. She looked back at the tank. "The Hood succeeded in his plan to make Kyrano half man and half cyborg, but he failed to control your father's mind. Kyrano got the upper hand against Havoc and Fuse and managed to escape. He returned to us and began to be violently ill. So we placed him inside the tank, and he's been there ever since."

Kayo was speechless for a moment. She then walked up to the tank and placed a hand on the glass. Kyrano, without saying a word, lifted his own hand up and placed it on the opposite of the glass. It was clear that he too wanted to touch his daughter, but was unable to do so.

"Did The Hood cut off his arm and legs?" Kayo asked, anger building up inside her body.

"Whether he did it himself or got one of his despicable henchmen to do it, I don't know," Akiko said bitterly. "But they replaced them with cybernetic limbs. They're in special storage containers ready to be reattached to your father's body should he ever be able to leave the tank."

Kayo turned sharply to stare at Akiko. "What do you mean by that?!" she demanded. "You mean to say he might never come out of there?"

"His body has been healing ever since we put him in there," said Akiko. "The fluids that pump through those tubes into his body are doing that. We'd hoped it would only take a month or two. But no. Five years on and it's still going. I'm sorry, Tanusha. We really hoped you wouldn't stumble across this place."

Kayo was silent for a moment, seething with anger. Any kind of humanity she'd felt for The Hood for being a human being was gone. And it was the same for the Chaos Crew. not so much Fuse because she knew he really had reformed by joining the GDF and becoming Obsidian. Havoc on the other hand was far more deadly as Silver Swan, and like The Hood was a deadly danger to the world. She clenched her fists tightly, shaking with boiling rage. "I never thought I'd utter these words," she said. "But when I find my uncle…I'm gonna kill him. He will pay for this!" she finished with gritted teeth.

Akiko opened her mouth to try and talk Kayo down, but it was Kyrano who spoke. "No…"

Kayo and Akiko looked at him. Kayo stared. "What? What do you mean 'no'?! Father, look what he's done to you! You CAN'T POSSIBLY FORGIVE HIM FOR WHAT HE'S DONE?!"

"I…do…not…" said Kyrano, breathing heavily between each sentence. "But…I will not…let you…be consumed…by the rage…that caused me…to fall…into his hands. I cannot…let you make…the same mistake…that I did."

Kayo shook her head and was shaking. More tears filled her eyes and trickled down her cheeks. "Dad…I can't let this slide. I have to get justice for you!"

"No…Tanusha…you do not," growled Kyrano, now sounding rather sinister through the voice modulator in the mask. "You are not…a killer. You are…my daughter. And don't…ever…forget…that." He fell silent once more, making only the heavy breathing sounds.

Kayo couldn't find any more words to say. She had so many thoughts and emotions running through her that she did not see two Shadows enter the room to join them. One of them was carrying something silver in their right hand. This was Shadow-87 and the taller one was Shadow-86 who Akiko had earlier asked for.

"How is the Professor?" asked Akiko.

"Stable," said the female voice of S-86 via the helmet modulator. "She's been given the serum as well."

Akiko nodded then sighed sadly before turning to Kayo. "Tanusha?" Kayo turned her head to look at her, but said nothing. "I'm so sorry."

Kayo seethed for a moment before speaking. "Not as sorry as The Hood's going to be when I find him," she snarled. "You don't need to apologise to me for that."

But Akiko shook her head. "I wasn't referring to that," she said. "I'm apologising for what we're about to do."

Before Kayo could ask what that was, S-86 suddenly grabbed her by the arms whilst S-87 placed the device against Kayo's neck. There was a psst sound as she felt a needle penetrate as something was injected into her. "W-W-What the?!" Kayo exclaimed, as she was let go of. Immediately she began to feel strange. She turned to try and attack the two Shadows. "What did you do?" she asked. Then she turned to Akiko. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

"Forgive us Tanusha," said Akiko, sounding very regrettable. "But in order for us to remain secret to the rest of the world, you need to forget that you were ever here. Like I said…I'm so sorry."

Everything began to go fuzzy for Kayo as she started to feel drowsy, like she was about to fall into a very deep sleep. "No…No…NO!" she wailed, reaching out to try and touch the glass of the tank. Her legs gave way though and she fell to the floor. Her vision was getting more blurry and she kept whimpering "No…No…" over and over again before the drug took effect fully and she slipped into unconsciousness whilst Kyrano looked on with great sadness in his eyes. He hung his head but said nothing.

S-86 and S-87 then opened up their helmets revealing them to be Martha and Rita Casey. Like Kyrano and Akiko, both showed huge regret in what they'd just done. "Was that really necessary?" asked Martha. "Kayo is one of the most trusted people I've ever come across. Surely we could've entrusted her with our little secret?"

"Believe me, Martha, I didn't want this either," said Akiko. "But if we did allow her to remember, she wouldn't rest until she found The Hood and…potentially murdered him in retaliation."

"She's right," said Rita. "The thought of an International Rescue member turning into a killer would be very damaging for them - even if it was an evil supervillain for an uncle."

Martha sighed. "Yeah…I guess you're correct," she said sadly, looking down at Kayo's unconscious body.

Jeff was making his way down to the lounge when he bumped into Virgil and Hayley coming out of the bedroom. "Morning son. How are you feeling?"

"Better, thanks, Dad," said Virgil. "I think I needed the cry."

"Of course," said Jeff, understandingly. "These will never be easy, Virgil. Best to get it out. If you need some time off, take it."

Virgil considered the offer. "Thanks, Dad. But, I need to get back to it," he said with a smile. "People will always need saving. We always have to try."

Hayley placed her hand on her chest. My heart... she thought to herself, moved by Virgil's words.

Jeff had secretly hoped Virgil would take some time off, but he knew that it wasn't his choice to make. "I'm proud of you, son," he said, giving his second eldest a hug. "Very proud of you."

Virgil felt his heart flutter. "Thank you," he said happily.

Gordon then came out of his room. "Woah...sorry," he said and scuttled away.

Jeff, Virgil and Hayley laughed. "Relax, Gordon. You're not interrupting," said Jeff. "Come on. Let's get downstairs."

They walked into the lounge followed by Gordon, Virgil and Hayley. They found Scott, Brains and Grandma were there already. Brains was looking over a map of what looked like a jungle and John's hologram was projecting out from the eyes of his portrait.

"Any word from Kayo?" Jeff asked.

"Negative," replied Scott. "Not a whisper."

Gordon and Virgil exchanged a look. "What's this?" asked Gordon.

"Kayo's missing?" asked Virgil.

"Yes, since yesterday," said John. "The weather is starting to clear at last."

"Do you have a rough idea where she could be?" asked Jeff.

"I cannot get a s-signal from Kayo at all," said Brains. "However, I have m-managed to get a lock on the signal from Thunderbird Shadow."

"The best we can do is find Thunderbird Shadow and go from there," said John.

Jeff relieved Scott from behind the desk. "Then we haven't a moment to lose," he said. "Virgil, launch Thunderbird 2 and search the area around Thunderbird Shadow. Gordon, go with him."

"F-A-B!" Gordon and Virgil said as they hurried to their respective suit-up stations.

"See you in the sky," said Scott as he headed for the revolving wall panel.

But Grandma stopped him from reaching it. "And where do you think you're going, young man?" she asked.

"Errr, to look for Kayo?" replied Scott. He tried to get past but she blocked him off. "Grandma, move!"

"Scott…when did you last sleep?" Jeff asked.

"Errr…the night before last?" Scott said, unsure himself.

Jeff frowned. "I thought as much," he said. "You've been up all night. You're staying here."

"Dad! I can't-"

"NO, son!" Jeff thundered, taking everyone by surprise. "I will NOT allow you to fly Thunderbird 1 in your present state! You're staying here. That's an order. Understand?!"

Scott was upset by this as he allowed himself to sink into one of the sofas. However, he did not feel at all up to challenging his father right now. "Yes…Dad…" he said miserably.

"Dad, we might need some additional hands to help us on this," Virgil said from where he was standing by the rocket painting. "It's a large area for just me and Gordon to cover."

"Shall I go and wake Alan up?" said Gordon.

"No, let him sleep," said Jeff. "Hayley…would you go with Thunderbird 2?"

"Of course," said Hayley.

"Thanks," said Jeff gratefully. "Off you go. And good luck."

The stillness of the early morning was ruptured by the sound of Thunderbird 2's engines as it took off from the runway and climbed away from Tracy Island with Virgil, Gordon and Hayley aboard.

Scott watched from the window with a depressed feeling inside. Jeff could see this and felt bad about not letting his eldest go. "I'm sorry, Scott," Jeff apologised. "Maybe I should have let you go in Thunderbird 2."

Scott didn't answer for a moment. "Yeah…you should have," he muttered darkly before walking away leaving Jeff feeling down and full of regret.

John has EOS move Thunderbird 5 to a position over the Malaysian Jungle. "Hold her position here, EOS," he said as he entered the suiting up chamber. "I'm going to go down there and help Thunderbird 2 with the search."

"Understood, John," said EOS. "Good luck."

Once in his EXO-Suit, John exited Thunderbird 5 through the airlock and out into space. He then looped around underneath the space-station and through the doors of the Space Elevator which was now starting to be lowered down towards Earth.

Once the elevator had passed safely through the Earth's atmosphere, John was able to exit the small pod and use his suit to fly down towards the Malaysian Jungle whilst the elevator was winched back up to Thunderbird 5.

John continued down towards the area where Thunderbird Shadow's locator beacon was coming from. "Thunderbird 2, it's John. Do you read me?"

"Loud and clear, John," answered Virgil over the radio in John's helmet.

"What's your ETA?" asked John.

"About thirteen minutes from the search area," said Virgil.

"F-A-B. I'm making my way down to the area now," said John. "I'll let you know if I find anything."

"Wait, you're coming down to help?" asked Gordon in surprise.

"Is that a problem, Gordon?" asked John.

"What? No, of course it's not!" said Gordon hastily. "It's just, you normally do this from Thunderbird 5."

"Well, there's only three of you conducting the search," said John. "Thought you could use an extra pair of hands on the ground as Alan and Scott aren't with you."

"A fair point," said Gordon.

"I'll keep in touch," John finished and he signed off.

Virgil and Hayley gave Gordon a look. "What?" he said, annoyed. "I just wasn't expecting it, that's all."

Virgil and Hayley said nothing, but gave each other knowing smirks instead.

John soon found the clearing where Thunderbird Shadow had landed. It was still sitting on the ground only it was covered in dirt and mud from the heavy rain during the night. "Wooo," John whistled. "Brains isn't gonna be happy about the state of that." He came down and landed on the ground next to Thunderbird Shadow. He did not take into consideration that the ground was still going to be very muddy and slippery from the rain and as a result he went "WHOOOOOPS!" and slipped up, landing on his bottom. "Ouch…" he said, as he picked himself up and rubbed his backside. He looked around, wondering whether someone had seen him. But there was nobody in sight near any of the trees. "Thank God nobody's here otherwise I'd be embarrassed even more," he remarked to himself. But then as he turned back to look at Thunderbird Shadow, he saw something that made him stop dead in his tracks. There, sitting underneath Thunderbird Shadow, propped up against the landing legs were two familiar-looking figures. "Kayo! Professor Kwak!" He hurried carefully over, trying not to slip up again and ducked down underneath to where they were lying next to each other - clearly asleep. "Kayo?" he said, giving her a little shake. "Professor Kwak? Can you hear me?"

Kayo let out a moan and began to come around. "Wh-Wh-Wha…John?" she said sleepily as her eyes adjusted to the light. "Is...that you?"

Professor Kwak moaned too as she started to wake up. "Ow…my head. My leg…" she said. "Where are we?"

John looked from one woman to the other. He knew something strange was going on, but before he could say anything, he heard the distant rumble of Thunderbird 2's engines getting closer. "Stay here," he told them as he stepped out from underneath Thunderbird Shadow and waved to Thunderbird 2 to get their attention.

Thunderbird 2 soon had the rescued women aboard and was flying back across the ocean towards the United States. Thunderbird Shadow had been programmed to fly remotely back to Tracy Island.

Despite having given up wanting to be a medic, Hayley could still remember a lot of what she'd learned whilst training so she ran medical scans of Professor Kwak's leg. "Ooo, that's quite the break, Professor," she said. "Good job with the bandaging, Kayo."

Kayo frowned. "I didn't bandage her leg," she said.

The others looked at her, confused. "Wait, what?" said Virgil. "But you were the only two there!"

"I know," said Kayo. "But I...I don't remember anything from getting the Professor out of the tree to John shaking us awake."

Virgil, Gordon, John and Hayley exchanged even more confused looks.

"What do you remember, Professor?" Gordon asked.

"Nothing, I'm afraid," Professor Kwak replied. "In fact, the last thing I remember was burning up in the upper atmosphere. Then a huge bang and I was hurtled forwards. And then I seemed to be spinning in the air as the craft seemed to just disintegrate around me." She looked at her hands. "I should be dead. Nobody can survive an explosion at that altitude."

"Well somehow you did, Professor," said John. "And if it's possible, I'll see if I can use Thunderbird 5's super-scanners to try and figure out how it happened."

Professor Kwak gave a small smile. The pain in her leg prevented it from being a full one. "Thank you...International Rescue," she said.

The brothers and Hayley returned the smiles. Kayo however, was lost in thought as she tried hard to remember what had happened out there in the jungle. But no matter how hard she tried, no memories came back to her. None at all.

After returning Professor Kwak to Kwak Industries headquarters where she could be properly treated by the base medics, Thunderbirds 2 and Shadow returned to Tracy Island where Grandma gave Kayo a medical check up. But try as she might, she could find nothing wrong with her. "You're as fit as ever, Kayo," she said. "I am giving you a clean bill of health."

"Thanks, Mrs Tracy," said Kayo gratefully.

Grandma smiled and headed out of Kayo's room. "Get some rest. You've earned it." She found Scott and John who'd been waiting outside. "She needs to rest," she told them. "Don't be too long with her."

"We won't," the brothers promised before heading inside.

Kayo had been just tucking her blankets over her when they came in. "I was told I needed to rest, boys," she said.

"Don't worry, Kayo, we'll only be here for a few minutes," said John.

"But first we need to ask you something," said Scott.

Kayo sat herself up again. "Okay…?"

"What the hell happened out there, Kayo?" asked Scott. "We totally lost all contact with you for over twelve hours."

"And we couldn't detect your signals at all," added John. "We thought something had happened to you but we weren't able to mount a search until the storm passed."

"We hoped you'd taken shelter and would be in touch when it passed?" finished Scott.

Kayo shifted in bed. "I wish I could answer that," she told them. "But I'm afraid I can't."

"Why not?" asked Scott.

Kayo looked at him. "Because I don't have a clue, Scott!" she snapped. "I remember helping Professor Kwak out of the tree. She fell and broke her leg on the ground. I tried to call John to get us an extraction but I got no signal and then…" She trailed off.

"And then what?" asked John.

Kayo didn't answer for a moment. She was trying to think of what had happened. "I…The next thing I can remember is you waking me up," she said at last. "Everything suddenly went black and…that's all that I can remember."

John and Scott exchanged bewildered looks.

"You're sure that's all you remember?" asked Scott.

Kayo nodded. "I'm afraid so," she said. Then she yawned. "Sorry boys, but I need to sleep. If you'd be so kind as to-"

"Foxtrot Oscar?" asked John.

Kayo looked at him and then gave a chuckle. "In the politest possible way. Please," she said.

John nodded. "We will," he said. "See you later." He headed out of the room. Scott hesitated for a moment and then reluctantly followed his brother out, closing the door behind them.

"Are you okay, Scott?" John asked, noticing how troubled his eldest brother was looking.

Scott stopped in his tracks, then turned back and walked right up to his brother before looking him dead in the eye. "Something happened to them out there, John," he said. "Kayo wouldn't go silent on us like that." He then walked away in a huff, leaving John confused and concerned.