AMANDA was dumbstruck by the story so far. "So…let me get this straight…your parents arranged your own abduction?"

"Yes, but I didn't realise it was them at the time," said Kayo. "Nor did I know they were the ones in the front of the van."

"So what did they do to you?" asked Amanda.

"It's a blur," Kayo said. "I remember being carried into the van and then everything went black. They must have drugged me or something, the next thing I knew, I was in a dark, empty room…"

***Flashback Begins***

Tanusha woke up several hours after being snatched off the street. Everything had been a blur. She remembered being picked up by two men and bundled into the back of a dark van, then everything between then and now was a complete blank. When she finally regained her senses, she found herself in a dimly lit room which was empty apart from the old wooden chair that she was now tied to with an equally old and not very good-looking piece of blue rope. What Tanusha found equally strange was it was only tied around the top halves of her arms and torso. Her hands and legs were left unbound meaning she was able to wiggle about in an attempt to try and get free.

"HELP! HELP!" Tanusha shouted. "LET ME GO!"

No answer came for her shouts. She looked around the room, studying it carefully. There didn't appear to be any doors. Just four blank walls. But then as she looked up she noticed a gantry across the room, L-shaped with one end facing a blank wall and the other had a door with a green luminous EXIT sign above it.

Despite being confused, Tanusha wasn't afraid and continued to try and be brave. "Okay…er…the Police just got here…and they said that they're gonna wait outside and give you one more chance to let me go! And if you do…they won't be mad?" She cringed at her own words, realising how silly she was making herself sound.

She gave the ropes a hard tug. They seemed to loosen a little, but it would take a lot of tugging and twisting before it would come loose entirely. What Tanusha did notice however was a creaking and cracking sound coming from the chair. The back left leg wobbled slightly. She then realised that the chair could well break if enough force was applied to it.

"Man, this is gonna hurt," she said to herself. Using her feet, she was able to lift herself and the chair up and then dropped back down hard onto the floor. Sure enough, with a splintering CRACK the chair broke into several pieces and Tanusha found that she was able to slip herself free of the rope.

She got to her feet and began to look around to try and find a way out. There were no visible doors leading out apart from the one at the end of the walkway. Tanusha noticed a metal beam up against the way that was very close to the bars underneath the walkway. Running up to it, she managed to jump and grab hold with both hands before pulling herself up it. Once high enough, she was able to jump over and grab hold of one of the bars before dangling about fifteen metres off the floor.

"Okay, seriously!" she called out. "I can't just hang here all day!" She then chuckled at her own joke but pulled herself together enough to haul herself up over the railing of the walkway before making a run at the door which she then kicked open.

Bursting through the door, Tanusha found herself in another room with eight men and two women who were standing upright and very still. All wore smart black and white suits and sunglasses, despite the room not being that well lit. then they all took their sunglasses off and Tanusha realised that the one nearest to her was Wallace. She thought maybe she'd be better off back inside the room where she'd been imprisoned but the door had shut and had mysteriously become locked.

Tanusha clenched her fists and readied herself for a fight. "Stand back!" she barked. "I watch reality shows! I will scratch your eyes out and scar you emotionally!"

Wallace pulled something out of his trouser pocket and pressed a button. It beeped. Tanusha wondered what it was and was bewildered at the realisation that it was a stop-watch. "One minute, forty-two seconds! It's a new record!" he said and began applauding along with all the other people in the room as well, confusing Tanusha even more.

Tanusha unclenched her fists and instead pointed her finger at each person individually as she spoke. "Okay, I don't know what's wrong with you people, but if you people think my parents are gonna pay some big ransom then you're completely mistaken! We're not rich! They're just boring accountants."

Wallace and three other of the people then stood aside and two figures from the back that Tanusha had not been able to see properly stepped forward into the light.

"Boring are we?" asked Kyrano. "I'm sure we brought you up better than to believe such things!"

Tanusha's confusion was turned up to eleven as she stood very still, her eyes switching between her father and her mother.

"And accounting isn't our actual job," added Onah. "Honey, we're also undercover agents."

"And we need your help on a mission," said Kyrano.

There was a few seconds of silence as Tanusha tried to take in this bizarre revelation. "Whaaaaaaa?" was all she could say.

***Flashback Ends***

Amanda remained awestruck by what Kayo was telling. "Damn…there's revelations and then there's that!" she said. "So what happened then? How did you take it?"

"It took ages to process it," Kayo chuckled. "But I soon found myself joining them on their mission - even if I did almost blow it for them."

Amanda looked surprised. "You? Blow a mission? That's not possible for you, is it?"

Kayo looked at her. "Not now, although I can still blow it occasionally," she said. "I was young and silly back then. I was too confident. I thought it would be simple. I was wrong."

***Flashback Begins***

The metal cover of the air vent duct close to the floor gave way as it was kicked in. Tanusha emerged from the vent, dressed in a black and white leather catsuit. It was due to her thin body that she'd been chosen by her parents to carry out the mission of breaking into the vault of the secret Cobra organisation. In the vault that she'd managed to get into was the secret information that Shadow needed in order to learn the secret of what the heads of Cobra were planning. Tanusha had been informed by Kyrano that it would be located in the top drawer of the third cabinet from nearest the main door which was located close to the vent where she'd entered.

Tanusha located the cabinet and tugged at the drawer. Predictably it was locked. But that wasn't going to stop Tanusha. She reached behind her head and pulled out a hair-pin which she then used to pick the lock. The drawer opened. She looked inside and shuffled through the papers, soon finding the one marked Operation Fish. She then used the special bracelet that Onah had given her that contained a secret camera to take photos of the documents before putting them neatly back into the drawer and was about to close it up again, her mission accomplished.

"HEY!"

Tanusha jumped and turned round to see two scruffy henchmen had entered the vault via another secret entrance that she'd not known about. One had dark hair, the other was blonde.

"Who are you?" demanded the one with dark hair.

"Me?" Tanusha asked, trying to think of a good answer. "I am…Doctor Chen. Do either of you have an appointment?"

The henchmen weren't at all convinced. They both lunged at Tanusha who began to battle with them. The blonde took a swing but Tanusha ducked and he accidentally punched the black-haired one. Tanusha was quick and managed to evade several attacks, scoring a few hits of her own. But eventually a double-lunge by the two henchmen managed to overpower and force her up against the wall opposite the cabinets. The blonde one held her in place whilst the black-haired one pulled her arms around a metal pipe that was fixed to the wall and placed handcuffs over her wrists, securing her to it. Then he pulled a large white cloth out of his pocket and stuffed it into her mouth. Tanusha rolled her eyes and grunted in annoyance.

"Who…ARE YOU?!" the henchman demanded.

"Mmm-mmmph! Mmm-mmm-mmm-mmmph!" Tanusha responded, forcing him to pull the cloth out of her mouth again. She then rolled her eyes back and sighed. "Okay, pardon me for saying this, but if you knew you were going to interrogate me, why exactly did you bother with the whole gag thing?"

The two henchmen looked at each other, realising she had a valid point only neither of them were going to admit it. "For the last time…" the black-haired man said, getting extremely irritated, "WHO ARE YOU?!"

"I'LL NEVER TALK!" Tanusha shouted back. The blonde henchman suddenly pulled out a small black device which was revealed to be a taser. As it let out a zap of electricity, Tanusha leant hard back against the pipe, her eyes widened and her mouth did the rest. "My name is Tanusha Belargant and I'm a fourteen year old spy for Shadow and my mission was to find out what your group's Operation Fish was all about, which is the attempted destruction of the Royal Navy's newest submarine HMS Invincible and-" She broke off suddenly as her eyes caught sight of something that made her skin turn pale.

The two henchmen realised that whatever it was she'd seen was behind them. They turned round to look and then jumped back in surprise to see that the vault door was open and that Kyrano and Onah had entered where they'd overheard everything that Tanusha had just said.

"Is there anything else you want to tell them, big mouth?" asked Onah sarcastically.

Tanusha couldn't find any words to respond with.

The two henchmen looked at each other, then lunged at the new intruders. However, unlike Tanusha who had only had limited self-defence training at school, Kyrano and Onah were far better fighters. Kyrano alone was a force to be reckoned with and the punched he was giving out began causing massive bruising and bleeding to the two men. After picking up the blonde one and throwing him against the wall where he fell next to where Tanusha was cuffed, the keys for the cuffs fell out of his pocket.

Onah had been battling the black-haired henchman. She'd just thrown him against the cabinets when Kyrano threw her the keys. He then gestured for her to free their daughter whilst he took care of the man. As Onah took the keys and hurried over to Tanusha, the henchman bellowed and tried to stop her, only to be grabbed by Kyrano and spun around the room before being thrown straight down the end where his hit crashed into the tallest cabinet at the end. He landed on the floor, winded, but still not quite out of it yet.

Onah worked quickly and by the time she'd managed to free Tanusha's hands from the cuffs, the henchman was back on his feet again. He pulled out a knife from his belt and tried to stab Kyrano in the chest, only to discover that his black stealth-suit was knife-proof. The blade only broke and the henchman found himself only holding the handle. Realising he was done for, he let out a cry for help as Kyrano grabbed him from behind and picked him up by his arms. Onah took hold of Tanusha's arms to give her a boost as she threw both her legs up to double-kick the man in the face before Kyrano let go and he fell to their feet, unconscious and defeated.

Now that the fight was over, the two parents gave Tanusha a rather stern look regarding her actions.

"I'm sorry. Okay, I'm sorry," she said. "I'm not good at keeping secrets. It reminds me of when I was nine, my friend Chelsea and I snuck out late at night to try and get away from the babysitter, I mean Chloe was a nice lady but she could be a right mmm-mmm-mmmmph-mmmph!"

Onah and Kyrano was fed up at hearing Tanusha's babbling that Onah had picked up the cloth from the nearby cabinet and then handed it to Kyrano who then stuffed it back into Tanusha's mouth and the rest of her sentence was just muffled before Kyrano pointed a stern finger at her to finally stop.

***Flashback Ends***

Amanda couldn't help but be amused by Kayo's story now. "You know, I've heard a lot about you from Wayne and Hayley," she said. "They've said you're the best at what you do. I find that whole thing hard to believe."

Kayo felt flattered. "That's kind of you to say, Captain."

"Please, it's Amanda."

"Okay, Amanda," Kayo said, finally breaking a smile. She couldn't understand why she was telling Amanda any of this. This was the first time that they'd met - and yet, she felt like she could trust her. She too had heard about Amanda from Hayley. She was a kind and caring person. Whilst it felt a little weird knowing she was dating Captain Liberty, she was glad that he had found a woman who he could be happy with.

Kayo kept her eyes firmly on the bank, waiting for any signs of movement. She was also listening out for any word from Captain Liberty that there was action taking place nearby. She then noticed out of the corner of her eye that Amanda was looking at something on her phone. It was a photo of three people, although Kayo could not make out who they were. It looked like two adults and a young person. "Family portrait?" she asked.

"Oh, yes!" said Amanda. She showed Kayo the photo. "My Mum Jess and my Dad Wally." She let out a sad sigh. "I wish they were still around."

"Oh…" said Kayo. "I'm sorry to hear that. If you don't mind asking, what happened?"

Amanda didn't mind. "Mum passed away two years ago from cancer," she said. "Dad…I don't know."

Kayo was puzzled. "Don't know?"

"He used to work for some secret organisation we think," said Amanda. "He never told Mum what it was but she said it was why he was away for so long. Then one time, he went away…and we never saw him again. We never got an explanation from anyone about anything. It's like he just…vanished."

Kayo could sympathise. "Guess we're the same on that front," she said. "My father too has vanished without a trace. UGH!" It was at that moment that a series of strange images flashed through her mind. What they were she couldn't distinguish but it made her react in a funny way.

Amanda was alarmed. "Kayo? Kayo!"

Kayo stopped. "Huh?"

"Are you okay?" Amanda asked, taking hold of Kayo's arms.

"I…er…think so," Kayo said, confused. "Woah…that was…strange."

"Did you see something?" asked Amanda.

Kayo tried hard to remember what the images in her mind were. It wasn't easy, but then she became very still, her eyes wide as though something had come back to her. She looked at Amanda. "Show me that photo!" she said.

Surprised, Amanda did so. Kayo almost snatched the phone out her hands and stared hard at the image. She suddenly went pale. "What's the matter?" Amanda asked, getting even more concerned.

Kayo looked hard at the photo and then at Amanda. "My God…" she said in a low voice. "That's the guy who bundled me into the van!"

Amanda recoiled in shock. "W-W-What?!"

Kayo stared at the photo again. "And I remember what happened to him."

Amanda's eyes widened with shock. "Tell me!" she said.

Kayo looked at her. She was almost trembling with nervousness. "Are you sure?" she asked. "Because I don't think you're going to like what I have to say."

Amanda put her hand tightly on Kayo's "Tell me…please!" she said in a low, scared voice.

So Kayo took a deep breath before beginning the most alarming part of the story yet.

***Flashback Begins***

Kyrano led the way through the dark corridors of the ancient temple that he, Onah and Tanusha were running through. Tanusha was scared - not because of the sinister statues that were mounted around the temple, but due to the urgency of why they were there.

"Mum? Dad? Please tell me what's going on?"

"Tanusha, not now!" snapped Onah, sounding distressed.

"In here!" said Kyrano, leading them through a side door.

They were now in a big control room with computers and glass-covered cabinets with gadgets and what looked like weapons to Tanusha.

Onah ran them over to the wall on the other side and pushed a concealed button that opened a secret door. Inside were four seats in a small cylinder-like room. Onah made Tanusha sit in one of them. "Sit there!" she ordered. "Do…not…come out!"

Scared and confused, Tanusha did as she was told as Onah ran back out into the control room. Kyrano was busy typing stuff on the computers, running from one to another. Onah now did the same with the others.

"Is that all of them?" Kyrano asked.

"Yes, that's all of them," Onah replied.

Kyrano composed himself. "I've spent so much of my life building this," he said. "Damn you, brother for this!"

Brother? Tanusha wondered.

"We can rebuild and start again," Onah said. "But for now, we have to let it go."

Kyrano turned to face his wife. "I will not let anything we've built fall into my brother's hands!" he said defiantly. He then tapped on the main computer keyboard and a digital clock in red digits appeared with a 05:00 on it. Then with a heavy heart, he ushered one word: "Self-destruct: Activat-" PETOW! "GAAGH!"

"KYRANO!" yelled Onah.

"DAD!" screamed Tanusha, unfastening herself and running out as Kyrano fell to the floor.

A series of red and blue laser blasts began shooting across the room from the open door. Onah grabbed her own weapon and began shooting back.

Tanusha couldn't see who was shooting at them. She kept low and scrambled around the floor to reach them. "MUM! DAD!"

Onah spun around after ducking down to use a console for cover. "TANUSHA! GET BACK IN THE-" She broke off. "NO, WAIT! GET YOUR FATHER IN THAT ROOM! NOW"

Terrified, Tanusha ran forwards and got hold of Kyrano. He'd been hit in the left shoulder and was in quite severe pain. "Hang on, Dad. I've got you."

Whilst Onah returned fire on the attackers, Tanusha used all her strength to drag her injured father along the floor, around the consoles and into the small round room where she helped him into one of the seats.

"STRAP YOURSELF IN!" Onah yelled. "I'll be right behind, ARGH!"

Tanusha turned in time to see her mother hit the floor. "MUM!" she screamed and tried to get her but another pulse blast narrowly missed her face, causing her to scream and fall back on the floor, frozen in fear.

Onah, although injured from getting hit in the back, tried to crawl towards them. But the attackers now arrived. Tanusha's eyes widened with horror when she saw who the five figures were. They were Shadows - and leading them was none other than Wallace Thompson himself.

"Thought you could escape us, could you?" Wallace asked.

The remaining four, two men and two women held their pulse-weapons at the Belargants.

Wallace then brought out his phone and tapped the screen. "We got them, Mr Boss," he said proudly.

Tanusha gasped and Kyrano and Onah glared as a hologram of The Hood appeared from the screen of Wallace's phone. "U-Uncle?"

"You…!" Kyrano and Onah both said bitterly. Although both severely injured, they were still in control of their senses.

The Hood gave a chuckle. "Honestly, Kyrano, I am surprised," said The Hood. "I never thought running away from a fight was your style."

"Not…running from you…brother," snarled Kyrano from inside the room. "Needed…to make sure…you couldn't…get this…building."

The Hood gave a laugh that sent horrified chills down Tanusha's spine. She hadn't a clue what was going on and was too terrified to ask. "Still not willing to share, are you, brother?" he said. His face suddenly turned ugly. "I'm HURT!"

"You're a monster!" hissed Onah. "You wouldn't be a part of our cause!"

"Your cause is a joke, Onah," said The Hood. "Trying to help the world whilst staying concealed from the public eye? What kind of organisation is that?"

"The kind that keeps criminals like you from doing harm to innocent people!" snapped Kyrano.

Tanusha stared at her father, then back at the hologram of her uncle, unable to believe what she was hearing.

"Criminal?!" Wallace said, pulling out his stun-weapon and aiming it at Kyrano. "YOU TAKE THAT BACK, RIGHT NOW!"

"Why are you even with him, Wallace?" asked Onah. "You've been by our side for years! What has he offered you all to make you betray us?"

"We're not betraying you," growled Wallace. "You abandoned us! The boss is right. Our cause is a joke! We need to be seen in the world, not hiding from it!"

"Here-Here!" agreed the four other Shadows.

"This place is now ours, Kyrano," said The Hood. then he noticed something. "Wait a moment, is that Tanusha I see?"

Tanusha trembled as her voice tried to come out. "U…Uncle?"

"Hello, Tanusha," said The Hood. "So you've only just learned of Mummy and Daddy's little secret as well, hmmm?"

"She's known for ages," said one of the women. "They brought her in to help with a mission."

The Hood looked at the Belargants. "Is that so?" he asked with a sneer. "So you were prepared to put your own daughter in danger rather than let someone like myself put these resources to a better use?"

"You will never have our stuff!" growled Kyrano. "The countdown will see to that."

The Shadows exchanged puzzled looks whilst The Hood frowned. "Countdown?" he asked.

"AAH!" squealed one of the male Shadows. "LOOK!"

The Hood and the Shadows turned to look at the main computer. The countdown now showed two minutes, thirty seconds before destruction took place.

"Stop that countdown!" The Hood barked.

The Shadow tried to access the computer. "I can't! It's locked!" he cried.

"Of course you can't," said Onah. "It's voice activated."

The Shadows were now looking nervous.

"Well go on then!' The Hood snapped at the Shadow by the computer. "SAY IT!"

"Er…d-d-deactivate!" stammered the Shadow to the computer.

As the Shadows and The Hood were distracted, Onah peered into the door at Tanusha. "Get in the seat and strap in," she whispered.

The countdown stopped at two minutes, twenty seconds. All the Shadows breathed a sigh of relief. But then to their shock, it started again, cutting a whole minute off and now reading one minute, twenty seconds.

"WHAT?!" exclaimed The Hood.

Onah gave a weak chuckle. "Only the person who set it can deactivate it." She looked back and saw Tanusha was strapped in. The Hood and the Shadows now looked back. All their eyes fixed on Kyrano.

"Kyrano! Get out here!" The Hood demanded.

But before anyone could say anything, Onah's arm shot up and hit the concealed button again. After a few seconds, the door sealed shut.

"MUM!" Tanusha yelled.

"ONAH!" shouted Kyrano.

"What are you doing?!" demanded Wallace.

Onah grinned as she slunk down against the floor. "Deactivate," she said.

The countdown stopped again at one minute, ten seconds. Then came a whoosh from behind the door. Tanusha and Kyrano felt the room they were in shoot up revealing it to be an escape capsule which burst out of the roof of the old temple deep in the Malaysian jungle.

Then the countdown restarted, only ten seconds left. Wallace and the Shadows were horrified. They began to panic and tried to run for the exit. Wallace dropped his phone and it landed on the floor near to the injured Onah.

"What did you do?" The Hood thundered at her. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

Onah's face broke into a triumphant grin. "We made sure you couldn't win," she said.

"NO!" bellowed The Hood.

Tanusha had managed to unstrap herself from the seat and hurried to the window of the capsule. She peered out and down at the shape of the temple, just visible far below in the glowing orange of the setting Sun. She let out a mortified scream as a sudden colossal explosion ripped through the temple, obliterating it and sending huge chunks of concrete flying in all directions whilst flames and smoke erupted into the air. "MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM!"

"ONAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" bellowed Kyrano.

Of course, Onah would never have heard them. Nobody could have heard them. Nobody inside the temple could have done so following an explosion like that. Everything inside had been completely wiped out.

Tanusha began to bawl her eyes out with tears as she sank down onto the floor. "Mum…!" she wailed, burying her face in her hands.

Kyrano, still strapped in his seat, also began to cry heavily as well, knowing full well what had happened to his wife. "NO!" he yelled.

Soon, Tanusha hurried over and wrapped her arms around him. Now both were sobbing uncontrollably as the capsule carried them far away from where the temple now lay in a smoking ruin.

***Flashback Ends***

Neither of the two women said a word for a good few minutes after Kayo had finished. Amanda was in total shock. She'd been enjoying Kayo's story up until this point. But now…the realisation of what she'd said had stumped her into silence. Her own father had joined a master criminal for a reason that they hadn't learned about, effectively betraying Kayo's father and mother in the process, who had trusted him dearly. She had no words. None at all.

Eventually, Kayo broke the awkward silence. "I'm sorry you had to hear that," she said.

Amanda was silent. She didn't look at Kayo at all. It was clear she was struggling to take in what she'd just been told.

Just then, the radio sprang into life. "Captain Liberty to Captain Thompson and Kayo. Do you read me?"

Kayo looked at Amanda. Amanda didn't appear to have heard, so she answered. "Go ahead, Captain?"

"We have action," Captain Liberty said, peering down from the roof that he was stationed on. "The vans are entering the sub-basement around the back. If they're gonna make their move, it's now."

Amanda suddenly grabbed the wheel and turned on the Cheetah's engine.

"F-A-B, we're on our way," said Kayo as the Cheetah raced out of its parked space and down the street towards the bank.

Captain Liberty jumped down the side of the building he was on and upon reaching the street level, made his way towards the rear gates that led down into the underground subbasement for the bank. Soon Amanda's caught up with the Cheetah and opened the door to let Kayo out. But as she and Captain Liberty were about to jump over the gates, there came a deep rumbling sound and they felt the entire ground starting to shake.

"What the?!" exclaimed Kayo.

"EARTHQUAKE!" shouted Captain Liberty. He saw some civilians across the street. "EVERYONE, CLEAR THE AREA! GET TO SAFETY!"

All the buildings in the area were starting to shudder and shake. Windows began to shatter. Car alarms began to wail and some street furniture broke out of their mounts and toppled over. Several other vehicles lost control and started crashing into each other whilst inside the bank, everyone inside threw themselves to the floor in anticipation of a collapse.

But then, the vibrations stopped almost as suddenly as they'd started. Everything was quiet. The area became quiet, but not silent as sirens began wailing in the distance.

Amanda lowered the window of her Cheetah. "Cap!" she called to Captain Liberty. "What happened?"

"Earthquake or tremor," Captain Liberty answered. "I know this city is no stranger to earthquakes, but-"

"OVER THERE!" Kayo suddenly shouted, pointing across the street. Part of the building on the opposite side of the road had become weakened and a huge chunk of the stone wall began to break away, falling towards the street, and the three young children standing on the pavement.

"NO!" Captain Liberty yelled as he fired up his jetpack and grabbed Kayo by the arm. Together they zoomed across the street and he threw his shield at the large chunk of wall that was falling. It broke into several more pieces but the danger wasn't over.

Being typical young children, the kids made no attempt to try and run away. Instead they stood up at the falling debris, screaming and crying. Kayo grabbed the two boys and her momentum carried them out of harm's way whilst Captain Liberty caught his shield and used it to cover himself whilst protecting the girl as the debris fell all around them.

"Are you three okay?" Kayo asked once Captain Liberty had brought the young girl over to be reunited with her brothers.

The kids were scared and couldn't answer, but they did manage to nod. A frantic cry from down the street announced the arrival of their mother who gratefully thanked Kayo and Captain Liberty before ushering the still trembling children away. They faintly heard her scolding the kids for wandering off as they went.

"Kids…" Kayo remarked. "Why don't they have the sense to run?"

"Because they're kids and don't understand how dangerous this world is," Captain Liberty replied.

Amanda watched them heading back across the street with a look of displeasure on her face which neither of them could see due to the Cheetah's blacked out windows. Seeing them together was making her skin crawl for some reason.

Suddenly, all three were startled when the rear gate of the bank burst open and the three trucks that had entered earlier came racing out. The gate almost hit Kayo and Captain Liberty but they just managed to avoid it landing on them. The trucks split up. Two went right and the other went left.

"Damn it!" cursed Captain Liberty. "They beat us to it!"

"We can stop them if we split up," said Kayo. "I'll go with Amanda and chase down those two. Can you deal with that one?"

"Roger!" said Captain Liberty. "Did you catch that, Captain Thom-"

But he was cut off by a roar from the Cheetah's engine. It shot forwards and spun around in the road, almost hitting Kayo before racing off down the street after the two fleeing Armoured Vans.

"What the hell?!" exclaimed Captain Liberty. He then spoke into his communicator. "Amanda, what the hell?! You almost hit Kayo!"

Amanda didn't answer. She just gripped the wheel and grimaced as she changed gear to start the chase.

"I don't get it," said Captain Liberty. "What's gotten into her?"

"It doesn't matter," said Kayo, touching her wrist controller. "I have my own ride."

Thunderbird Shadow appeared in the sky having been flying around the city remotely and in stealth-mode. It dropped down towards the streets and released the Shadowbike. The bike remotely homed in on Kayo's signal and then stopped beside her. She jumped in whilst Captain Liberty jumped on his own motorbike hidden nearby. Both then set off in pursuit of the stolen Armoured Trucks.

As he made his way through the streets, Captain Liberty tried contacting Amanda again. "Amanda, do you read me?"

"Yes," came the abrupt reply.

"Why did you drive off without Kayo?"

"I don't want her in here!"

Captain Liberty was confused. "What? Why?"

"I JUST DON'T!" Amanda thundered. "I DON'T WANT HER NEAR ME, OR YOU!"

Captain Liberty was even more confused. "Well…tough, I'm afraid. She's coming to join you with her bike whilst I chase down the other one."

"WELL SWITCH TARGETS!" bellowed Amanda. "I WANT YOU WITH ME, NOT HER!"

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS ALL ABOUT?!" Captain Liberty thundered, getting angry himself.

"IT DOESN'T MATTER!" fumed Amanda. "GET OVER TO ME, NOW!" And with that, she cut off the radio.

Captain Liberty just couldn't understand what was wrong with his fiance. He then called up Kayo as he steered his bike around into another street. "Liberty to Kayo. What did you and Amanda talk about whilst you were waiting?"

"Why do you ask?" Kayo asked as she also dodged between the scattered and confused traffic.

"She's…acting strange," Captain Liberty replied. "She's angry. She's demanding that we switch targets and she doesn't want you anywhere near us. What did you say to her?"

Kayo sighed. She saw no reason to lie. "She wanted to know about my past," she explained. "I never talk about it…and yet I felt so at ease with her. It just all came out."

"She has that effect on people," said Captain Liberty as he dodged between a pair of city buses. "Continue."

"She also said she never knew what happened to her father," Kayo said. "And through my story we both realised he worked for the secret organisation Shadow."

"Shadow?" repeated Captain Liberty. "I've never heard of that."

"They don't go anymore," Kayo said. "My parents ran the set-up. But The Hood found out and managed to tell lies about them which caused several of the operatives to turn against my parents and join him instead."

"Including Amanda's father, I'm guessing?" said Captain Liberty.

"Yes," said Kayo. "My parents took me to a location in the jungle somewhere. I don't know where, but it was a secret headquarters for Shadows. Amanda's father was the leader of the group that tracked us there and they injured my parents in a gunfight. The Hood tried to take over the temple only for my father to activate the self-destruct which they couldn't. But my mother sacrificed herself and ejected my father and I in a capsule before the temple was destroyed."

Captain Liberty felt his stomach churn. "And Amanda's father was killed in the explosion as well?" he said grimly.

"Yeah," said Kayo mournfully. "I don't think she's taken it very well. I'm sorry, Rigs."

"I can understand how she feels," said Captain Liberty. "But please don't apologise, Kayo. This isn't your fault. She's probably having a bad moment."

Kayo turned the Shadowbike down into another street. She caught sight of the Cheetah in hot pursuit of the two stolen trucks. "I see them," she said. "You tell her to take out one and I'll deal with the other. She may hate me, but we can't let personal feelings get in the way of the job."

"Agreed," said Captain Liberty. "Good luck. I think I can cut the third one off. Over and out."

Kayo revved Shadowbike up to eleven and closed the gap on the Cheetah. The trucks took a sharp left down another street and Amanda pulled a handbrake turn and spun into the street after them with Shadowbike close behind.

Amanda noticed the Shadowbike in her rear-view mirror and swore. She turned the communicator back on. "Back off, Thunderbird!" she ordered. "I ordered Cap to change places with you."

"Since when did you become field commander?" Kayo retorted.

"I don't need you!" Amanda snapped. "Get out of here!"

Kayo gritted her teeth but tried to remain cool. "No chance, Captain. Captain Liberty told me to take one of these trucks down whilst you take the other. And that's what I'm going to do." She revved Shadowbike again and tried to overtake the Cheetah.

"No, you DON'T!" fumed Amanda spinning the Cheetah's wheel and almost hitting Shadowbike which forced Kayo to brake to avoid getting crushed against the buildings.

"Damn it, Amanda! Just let it go!" Kayo said crossly.

"No…I won't!" Amanda replied with bitterness in her voice and she managed to make the Cheetah race away from the Shadowbike, closing in on the trucks. The rear doors of one of the trucks opened and one of the Hoodlums could be seen. They fired a machine-gun at the Cheetah but the bullets bounced harmlessly off its bulletproof shell. Another then threw a grenade out but Amanda made a sharp turn to dodge the grenade which exploded and caused no harm at all. All the while, bystanders were running in the opposite direction in fear for their lives.

At the end of the street, Kayo noticed that it ended in a T-Junction. They're gonna have to choose a direction, she thought to herself. I reckon they'll split. Amanda will have to choose one. I'm not bothering with her anymore. I'll take whichever she doesn't choose. Her prediction was correct. The lead truck turned left and the second turned right. As the Cheetah reached the junction it too began to turn right after the second truck. Left it is, Kayo thought. But before she could think any further, a flash of green light appeared from the left. Whatever it was, struck the back of the Cheetah. There was an explosion which caused the Cheetah to fly up into the air. Kayo gasped and watched on in horror as the Cheetah spun over and over in the air before crashing into the front of a building, ripping huge chunks of the wall out which plummeted along with the spiralling Cheetah back down onto the street below. The Cheetah bounced and rolled a few times with Amanda feeling like she was in a washing-machine before it finally came to rest about eighty metres further down the road.

Kayo slammed on the brakes and the Shadowbike screeched to a stop. "Oh, my God! AMANDA?!"

No response came from the Cheetah, which was now upside-down on its roof. A burst water main caused by the falling debris was sending a huge column of water high into the air like a fountain whilst loads of panicked civilians fled the scene.

Kayo looked back to the left in the direction of where the mysterious green blast had come from. She saw the Security Van racing off down the street. The back doors were just closing, but they were open just long enough for Kayo to catch sight of a familiar figure in a bright yellow suit inside before the doors closed. Fury instantly began to flood through Kayo's veins as she realised at once who was responsible. "Shocker!"