JOHN had been keeping a close watch on the transmissions from the GDF Space Patrol that had been sent to try and intercept the remaining cylinders that were heading for Earth. Thanks to his algorithm, they had been largely successful with reports of nine having been located and destroyed.

Captain O'Bannon had just reported sighting a tenth, the one that was closest to Earth and was moving in to attack. "Locking on target," she reported. "Target locked. Firing missiles."

The missiles were launched from under the wings of her Space Fighter. They soared across towards the cylinder that was only visible from within the cockpit and struck home. With a huge explosion, the cylinder was destroyed.

"Bullseye!" O'Bannon said. "Target destroyed!"

John breathed a sigh of relief. "Well done, Captain. Pass my congratulations on to your squadron. They all deserve to be decorated for this."

"I agree," said O'Bannon. "Our work has saved the Earth from any further invasion by these creatures. Returning to Global-2. Over and out."

"Over and out," said John. "Ah, damn. I knew I should have invited her-"

"JOHN!"

John blinked, surprised by the shout. "EOS?" he said. "Why the shouting?"

"Sorry, but we failed," EOS said. "Look!"

John looked out of the window, just in time to see the orange glow of something entering the Earth's atmosphere. He quickly pointed Thunderbird 5's scanners in the direction of the object and used the algorithm just to be sure. What he saw made his stomach churn. "What?! How did we miss that one?!"

A twelfth cylinder had somehow managed to go undetected and was now passing through the stratosphere and began to pick up speed as it headed downwards.

"Track its trajectory!" John instructed. "Tell me where it's going and then we can divert GDF Fighters to intercept it before it hits the ground."

"Scanning trajectory," answered EOS. "Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh?" John repeated. "Never heard you say that before."

EOS's camera turned to face him. "John…it's headed for London!"

John's stomach tightened even more. The first one landing in the field had been a lucky thing, but for this one to be heading right for a large populated area was beyond alarming. "Then we have a major disaster on our hands…" he said.

Alan was just securing FAB1 inside Thunderbird 2's module when John's urgent call came through. "International Rescue - the situation's taken a massive turn for the worse."

"The Rock Snakes have resurfaced?" asked Virgil.

"Not the ones responsible for where you are, no," said John. "There was a twelfth cylinder which the GDF failed to find and I failed to locate. It's already entered Earth's atmosphere."

"Where's it headed, John?" asked Scott from inside Thunderbird 1.

"That's the worst bit," said John grimly. "It's headed straight for London!"

"London?!" exclaimed Gordon. "But that's where Penelope's gone!"

"And aren't her parents there, too?" asked Alan.

"They are," said John. "And now you need to get there. I'll inform Colonel Jennings. We're gonna need all the hands we can get. This is gonna get messy."

For the population of London, everyone was going about their daily business. None of them even had an inkling that something majorly bad was going to happen. That was until the bright glow of the falling cylinder started to light up the slightly overcast sky. All eyes who could see turned skywards and watched in astonishment as the great ball of flame plummeted down before slamming hard into the ground, right in the middle of Kensington Gardens.

Within seconds of it appearing, all the emergency hotlines went red hot with hundreds of calls from concerned people as to what the mysterious object was.

The train that Penelope was travelling in had now reached a yard near Wembley. This was where Nicole was to deliver its cargo to. "Right, we're here," she said. "Stay here. I'm going to find the depot's doctor."

"Okay," Penelope said as she watched Nicole leave the cab. "I'm sorry, Nicole," she then said to herself. "Whilst I'm very grateful that you found me, I cannot sit around here. I have to find my parents." She got out of her seat and opened the door on the opposite side of the train before climbing down. She then used the other parked freight trains as cover to sneak her way to the perimeter fence of the shunting yard and then escaped by concealing herself in the undercarriage of a departing lorry. As it headed along the opposite side of the perimeter, she saw people running around like they were searching for something or someone. She guessed that Nicole had returned to the locomotive cab and discovered she was missing. She hated to do this, but she had to do what she'd done.

As Thunderbird 1 began to fly over the suburbs of North London, Gordon and Scott could see on the monitor screens a thin plume of smoke rising from within the city. "That has to be where it came down," said Scott. "Thunderbird 5, what's the damage?"

"Actually none," said John. "Apart from another crater in the ground. It came down in Kensington Gardens. No buildings have been hit nor do there appear to be any casualties."

"Well that's a relief," said Scott. "We'll go and check it out."

"Wait, I thought we were looking for Penelope?" protested Gordon.

"We were until this happened," Scott replied.

"But-"

"No, buts, Gordon!" Scott said sternly. "We've got a job to do."

But Gordon wasn't having it. He unfastened himself and stormed over to the cockpit. "Then drop me off here and I'll find her myself!" he ordered.

Scott stared at him. "Err…how do you plan to do that?"

Gordon opened his mouth to answer, but quickly realised he didn't have a plan.

"I thought as much," Scott said. "Look, Gordon. I know you're worried about her, and I don't remotely blame you for that. But wasn't it you who told Virgil to stop fretting over Hayley every time she gets into trouble?"

Gordon thought back to when Hayley and Brains had been trapped inside the B-1 bathyscaphe. "Yeah, I think it was," he said.

"There you go then," said Scott. "Even without us and Parker, Lady Penelope is more than able to take care of herself. So try and relax a bit, will you, please?"

Gordon sighed. He didn't want to admit it, but he knew deep down that Scott was right. "Yeah…sure," he said as he returned to his seat. "Sorry, Scott."

"Don't apologise," said Scott. "We will find her. But let's go check this crash-site out first. I don't think we want to find out what Rock Snakes in a city would be like?"

That Gordon definitely couldn't argue with. "Agreed," he said. "It would be catastrophic."

Flying over the scene, Thunderbird 1 came to hover directly above the crash site. A large crowd was starting to gather as people were coming to investigate. Already the Police had thrown up a barrier around it to try and keep people away as some News Helicopters began to approach as well.

"Well I don't think we'll be able to keep this one quiet," said Gordon.

"Just so long as the Rock Snakes aren't able to get out," said Scott. "Thunderbird 2, what's your ETA?"

"About two minutes, Thunderbird 1," Virgil answered. "We can already see the skyline. Any word from the GDF?"

"Colonel Jennings is coming in on a Flyer," said John. "Hayley's staying with Parker to make sure he gets the treatment he needs."

"And Lady Penelope?" asked Alan.

"I'm sure she'll be fine, Alan," said John. "She's looking to find her parents. Let's let her do that. She'll make contact with us when she's ready, I'm sure."

Penelope had had a piece of luck with the lorry she's hitched a ride with. It took her right into Central London and in particular to Oxford Street. Penelope realised that she was now a stone's throw away from The Ritz Hotel where her parents were staying. As the lorry stopped in a side-street, Penelope waited for the coast to be clear before lowering herself out and crawling away before anyone could notice. The men who began to unload the lorry didn't have the slightest clue that they'd had a stowaway.

Penelope made her way out onto Oxford Street. She looked around. It was full of people busy doing their last minute Christmas Shopping. As it was the day before Christmas Eve now everyone was looking for a last minute bargain. Above the street were several rows of colourful lights which although didn't quite show up in the daytime as they would at night, the overcast sky did make them show up a little bit.

None of this filled Penelope with joy. All she could think about were her parents, and the second object that had fallen from the sky. It would also be Penelope's birthday and her parents would have returned for that before she went to spend Christmas on Tracy Island.

Crossing the street and heading through a short-cut she knew to get to the Green Park area and The Ritz. It wasn't long before she began to sense that she wasn't alone. She had a feeling that she was being followed. Turning her head slightly to the left, she passed a parked car and looked at the windscreen which was reflecting both her, and the hooded figure who was following her with a knife in his hand. He had a menacing grin on his face, like he was intending to do her some harm.

To any other young woman, this would have sparked fear in them. But not Penelope however. She just carried on, looking straight ahead whilst glancing with her eyes at each window to see how much closer he was getting to her.

The man sniggered to himself as he got ready to strike. "Merry Christmas to me," he whispered to himself. "I'm gonna have some fun with you."

It was at this point that Penelope made her move. She reached out with her left hand and picked up the lid of a dustbin. Then before the crook even knew what had happened, she spun around and threw the lid like Captain Liberty's shield. It hit the man right in the face with a loud clang followed by an "ARGH!" of pain as he fell to the floor in surprise. He dropped the knife and soon realised after coming out of the daze that his nose was broken. "What…the HELL?!" he exclaimed. He looked around. But his victim had vanished.

Penelope had taken the opportunity to take another short-cut from the short-cut in order to escape from the creepy man. She still wasn't scared. She wasn't even angry that someone had tried to come up behind her. Her thoughts were back on her parents, and making sure they got out of London safely was all that mattered to her.

Thunderbird 2 soon arrived above Kensington Gardens and began to hover near to where Thunderbird 1 was. "What do we do?" Virgil asked.

"Wait for the GDF," said Scott. "Let's not touch anything until we're told to."

"Yeah, someone might want to tell them that," remarked Gordon, pointing to the ground.

Looking down, the others saw two people with cameras had somehow managed to get past the Police and were moving in to get close to take photos of the cylinder.

Scott turned on Thunderbird 1's tannoy. "Hey, you two! Get away from there!" his voice boomed out.

The two men made rude hand gestures up at Thunderbird 1 and then tried to take photos. But this had alerted the Police and within seconds they'd grabbed the two photographers and were dragging them away.

"HEY, GET OFF!" one of them shouted.

"WE HAVE A RIGHT TO BE HERE!" shrieked the other. "THE PRESS CAN GO ANYWHERE!"

"Morons," remarked Alan.

"Too right," agreed Virgil.

The Flyer carrying Colonel Jennings soon arrived and landed on the grass outside the cordon. The GDF soldiers then joined the Police in forcing the unwilling crowd to get clear whilst Colonel Jennings and Captain Liberty made their way onto it and up towards the cylinder.

"What do we do with this one, Colonel?" asked Captain Liberty.

"Well we know what's inside it," said Colonel Jennings. "And we cannot let them out under any circumstances!" She spoke into her cap radio. "International Rescue, this is Colonel Jennings. We'll have the entire parkland area evacuated, then you can destroy it where it is."

"You got it, Colonel," said Scott. "Ready your cannon, Thunderbird 2."

"F-A-B," said Virgil. He reached to flick the switch that would lower the cannon.

"N-No, Virgil! Don't!"

"Brains?!" Virgil said in surprise as the holograms of Brains and Jeff appeared from the projector.

"Boys, Colonel," Jeff began to say. "We don't agree with what you're planning."

"With the greatest of respect, Mr Tracy, the contents of this cylinder are deadly and you know it!" said Colonel Jennings. "It has to be destroyed."

"I agree on that, Colonel," said Jeff. "But it shouldn't be destroyed there. Somehow Rock Snakes were able to survive the destruction of that first cylinder."

"It's v-very possible that the same thing could happen here," added Brains.

"That's a very valid point actually," said Scott.

"Then what do you suggest we do, Hackenbacker?" asked Colonel Jennings.

"I would suggest the removal of the c-cylinder from the ground," said Brains. "Then it should be taken b-back into space and destroyed there. I'm p-pretty positive that not even a Rock Snake would be able to survive in space."

"How do you plan to get it into space?" asked Alan. "Thunderbird 3 is back on the island."

"If you could c-change places with Gordon, Alan," Brains said. "Scott can f-fly you back to Tracy Island and you can l-launch Thunderbird 3 for a rendezvous with Thunderbird 2 in a remote area. Then you can t-take it into space and destroy it there."

"Sounds like a plan," said Scott. "I'm game."

"Me too," said Virgil. "At least we know the others have been destroyed and its only these we have to deal with."

"What about the other ones in the Midlands?" asked Colonel Jennings.

"Those we'll need to find a solution for," said Jeff. "But in the meantime, let's get these ones sent back into space. I take it you agree with the plan?"

"Yes, of course," said Colonel Jennings. "We'll keep the area clear for you. Get to it!"

Penelope was now approaching The Ritz. as the grand building came into view, she caught the sound of a conversation between two women nearby.

"Did you see that thing fall out of the sky?"

"No? What? Where?"

"It was like over an hour ago or something! It's come down in Kensington Gardens or something."

"We should go and take a look."

Without thinking, Penelope cut in. "Please don't. You should get out of the city while you can." She said no more and headed for the pedestrian crossing, leaving the two women rather confused.

Reaching the other side of the road, Penelope passed a group of Carol Singers who were singing merrily like it was just a normal day. "And all the angels sang for him! The bells of Heaven rang for him! For a boy was born! King of all the world!"

She reached the entrance to The Ritz and entered the lobby. She straight away started to get looks from some of the posh guests because of the state she was in, but she paid them no attention. She went up to the Reception Desk and pressed the bell as nobody was there.

A young African-American man appeared. "Woah! Lady!" he exclaimed when he saw her. "I'm sorry, but you can't come in here looking like that."

"Never mind how I look, young man!" Penelope snapped. "I need to see my parents!"

"Your…parents?"

"Yes! Lord & Lady Creighton-Ward. They're staying here."

The man had been looking in a book, then did a double-take when the realisation struck him. "Wait…you're Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward?"

She nodded.

"Whatever happened to-"

"NEVER MIND WHAT HAPPENED TO ME!" Penelope shouted in frustration. She then regained herself. "Sorry. Please, just tell them I'm here."

"Okay…hang on," said the receptionist. He checked the computer. "Oh…sorry. They're not here," he said. "They said they were going to Leeds Castle in Kent."

Penelope 's head dropped forwards and hit the desk quite hard. "Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo…" she whimpered.

Thunderbirds 1 and 2 had temporarily landed in Kensington Gardens to allow Gordon and Alan to swap between the two ships. Thunderbird 1 took off first following the transfer with Scott setting a course to take them back to Tracy Island. Thunderbird 2 then took off shortly afterwards with Virgil lowering the magnetic grapple to attach onto the cylinder whilst Captain Liberty guided them in.

"Right one degree," Captain Liberty said. "Left two. That's it!"

Virgil flicked a switch and the grapple clamped on. "Okay, we're secure," he said. "Taking her up now." He pulled back on the controls and Thunderbird 2 gently began to lift the cylinder out of the ground whilst a quite large crowd now watched from beyond the Police barricade.

"It's clear, Virgil," said Gordon who was watching from the platform under the nose which had been lowered so he could observe from above. "Bring me back in and let's get it out of here."

"F-A-B," said Virgil. "Colonel Jennings, are clear to-"

"No, hold it!" Colonel Jennings barked. Virgil and Gordon stopped dead. There was something about the tone in the Colonel's voice that made them both feel very uneasy all of a sudden.

"Colonel, what is it?" Virgil asked.

Captain Liberty hurried around to join Colonel Jennings at the front. He too was concerned at hearing the sound in her voice. He saw at once she was looking disturbed. Then he looked at the cylinder. "Uh-oh…"

"The front of the cylinder is open!" Colonel Jennings said to Virgil. She shone a powerful torch up inside to illuminate the interior. "And it's empty!"

These words weren't just heard by Virgil and Gordon. Scott and Alan in Thunderbird 1, John in the space-station and Jeff, Brains and The Mechanic on Tracy Island had heard it too. Grandma had entered just in time to hear it and stopped dead in their tracks. Everyone was in a stunned and sickened silence. As they exchanged glances with one, they could all tell what each other was thinking.

"But…if they're not in the cylinder…" Gordon began in a shaky voice. "Then…that means…?"

Virgil looked out at the London skyline of several unmistakable landmarks. "Then they're already out there somewhere," he said grimly. "We're too late!"

Jeff then spoke up. "Thunderbird 5…can you scan the city and find them?"

"I'll have a go," replied John. He performed the scan. But there was so much heat from the electricity and underground networks that he could pick up any trace of where the snakes could be. "Negative."

"Shall we turn back to London, Dad?" asked Scott.

"Yes!" said Jeff sharply. "And Colonel, you'd best alert every single Emergency Service member to be on standby. I have a feeling all hell's gonna break loose!"

It would have probably made the most logical sense for Penelope to have asked the man at the reception desk in The Ritz to call Lord Patrick and Lady Patricia and inform them that their daughter was looking for them and was in quite a state. But instead, depression took over Penelope and she'd wandered out of the hotel and walked into neighbouring Green Park instead. She sat down on a bench and looked down at the gravel path feeling nothing but misery inside her. A few tears trickled from her eyes which she quickly wiped away. She didn't know what was happening. She was meant to be a strong and very capable woman, and yet here she was in such a state. She worried about how Parker was, being tended to in the GDF Field Hospital and under Hayley's protection. She then worried about the cylinder that had come down and was wondering whether International Rescue was on the scene. She thought about going, but had noticed from the queues of traffic back on the road it looked like the area down towards Hyde Park had been sealed off.

Her sadness was suddenly broken by a joyous voice. As she looked up, she saw a man dressed as Father Christmas walking around between some families who'd been out walking and surprisingly picnicking in the park.

"HO! HO! HO!" said the Father Christmas man. "MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

The children's faces lit up at the sight of him, but it brought no joy to Penelope who turned to look away in the direction of Buckingham Palace which was only slightly visible behind the trees at the far end of the park.

Suddenly there came a scream, "HEY, THAT'S MY PURSE!"

Penelope turned her head sharply back the other way. The scream had come from the mother of the family who were having the picnic. She was running after the Father Christmas man who was making a dash for the gate that led back out onto the street. Penelope saw that in his right hand was a brown velvet purse which had to belong to the mother. In a strange instant, she forgot all about her misery and the International Rescue part of her mind kicked in. without a word, she jumped to her feet and began to run after both of them.

"STOP THAT SANTA!" shrieked the mother. "HE'S STOLEN MY PURSE!"

Two teenagers standing by the gate tried to intervene, but the Santa used his momentum and strength to effortlessly knock them over. He ran out of the park and mounted an E-Scooter that was propped up against a street lamp. Before anyone could stop him, he'd started it up and was off heading down the road towards Piccadilly Circus, dodging in and out of the stationary cars as he went. "HO! HO! HO!" he jeered with delight as he threw the purse into his sack. "MEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRY CHRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSTMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!"

The mother stopped running once she realised she couldn't catch him and she burst into tears just as Penelope stopped running herself beside her. Penelope took one look at the mother, then at the escaping Santa and then back at the mother. She placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'll stop him," she promised before jumping on a nearby motorbike, which incredibly had the key in the ignition. Someone's careless, Penelope thought to herself as she kick-started the bike and spun it round to chase after the Santa.

The chase was quite long. It took them through Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square before heading down Charing Cross Road and ending up in Covent Garden. The heavy traffic was no obstacle for the E-Scooter and the motorbike for they could easily nip between them, even if they end up mounting the pavement once or twice and almost knocking several people over. For the man in the Santa outfit, he couldn't have cared less if he hit or knocked someone over. Penelope on the other hand did and shouted warnings as she approached.

The pursuit finally came to an end when they entered Covent Garden itself. The Santa thief hadn't actually realised he was being chased until Penelope cut across in front of him with the motorbike and stopped him by raising her right foot and kicking him in the chest which caused him to fall over and land heavily on the cobbled ground. "GAARGH!" The Santa cried in pain. "Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww…"

Penelope dismounted the bike just as two Policemen came running over. They'd been in their Patrol Car parked at the edge of the Garden and seen everything. "Hold it there, lady!" one of them called. "What is going on here?"

"She's…crazy!" wheezed the Santa. "She…knocked…me…over."

Penelope turned to the Policemen. "Glad you're here, officers. I think you'll find the contents of his sack quite interesting."

"I'm not interested in what's in the sack," said the taller of the two Police Officers. "You just chased this man on this bike which I'm guessing isn't yours and attacked him for no reason! I'm gonna have to arrest you for-"

"Hold it, Sarge!" said the shorter Policeman who had taken Penelope's suggestion and looked inside the sack.

The Santa suddenly realised that the officer was looking inside. "Hey, GET OFF THAT, IT'S MINE!" he shouted, sitting up only for Penelope to push him back down with her foot.

"Look at this!" said the Policeman and he showed the Sergeant the contents of the sack.

The Sergeant couldn't believe his eyes. "Well, I'll be-" He turned his glare away from Penelope and onto the Santa man. "So you're the infamous Purse-Santa. You're at the top of our Most Wanted list."

The Santa-man was in too much pain to try to run away. Instead he swore under his breath and gave Penelope a very hard stare of hatred instead.

Penelope watched as the bad Santa was put inside the Police Car after being handcuffed and was taken away. She turned to the motorbike, fully intending to return it to where she found it before she got into trouble for stealing it, but instead got distracted by the sound of an aircraft flying overhead. She looked up and saw a GDF Flyer passing overhead. Then her heart skipped a beat when she began to feel a rumbling under her feet. She looked around. The tables and crockery of a nearby restaurant were starting to shudder and rattle whilst the guests inside became alarmed. She could see through the windows that they were looking at each other in confusion.

The rumbling grew louder and it seemed to be intensifying.

"What the hell's going on?!" exclaimed a nearby man. "Is this an earthquake?2

Penelope felt her blood run cold. She knew there was only one thing it could be. Then came a loud BANG from the other side of the central building in Covent Garden. Penelope saw pieces of ground flying up into the air and crashing in all directions. She then heard gasps and screams before people started running away in all directions.

And then it appeared - the head of a Rock Snake rose up from behind the building and began to tower above the other ones. Everyone around her started running away, but Penelope remained frozen to the spot, trembling at the sight of yet another Rock Snake.

The snake looked around at this strange landscape it was in. it was nothing like the dusty red and baron landscape that was Mars. This was all strange and unfamiliar to it.

Penelope then noticed a ladder from a fire escape on a nearby building. Without knowing why, she started to run up it. She passed through several turns and flights before eventually reaching the top. The snake still towered over her and the building as it had begun to slide its way out along the streets,, but this wasn't why she'd gone up there. She could get a good view of most of the city from up here and just looking around was enough to make her want to fall to her knees in despair. Four other Rock Snakes could be seen in various locations. One looked to be back in Trafalgar Square. One had appeared on the South Bank near the OXO Tower. Another was further East around the back of St Paul's Cathedral and the last one was in Parliament Square. Then she noticed another familiar object close by to it - the unmistakable shape of Thunderbird 2 hovering.

"Virgil! Gordon!" Penelope gasped out loud. "I…I have to get their attention somehow!"

All across London, carnage had broken out. The Rock Snakes, clearly not happy with this new environment they had found themselves in, had decided it seemed that it was too cramped for them to make home in. so they started to attack. Huge beams of fire shot out of their mouths periodically, causing buildings to explode. They also knocked into other buildings causing major collapses. Before breaking the surface they had made tunnels under the ground and had ploughed through numerous Underground Tunnels causing several trains to become derailed and trapped with hundreds of terrified and confused passengers among them. On the surface, cars and Buses were abandoned as the Rock Snakes continued their rampage.

By the time Thunderbird 1 returned, Scott and Alan could only look on in shock as several plumes of thick smoke from destroyed buildings could be seen from Charing Cross to Southwark.

"Oh, man!" exclaimed Alan. "Dad wasn't kidding when he said all hell was gonna break loose."

"Understatement of the year, little brother," replied Scott. "Dad, what do we do?"

Jeff glared at his eldest son via hologram. "What do you think, son?" he asked. "Find people in trouble and help them, damn it!"

Scott cursed to himself, realising just how stupid his question had been. "Of course," he sighed. "F-A-B."

They could see some people trapped on the roof of a building near Westminster Abbey and Scott brought his ship down to provide assistance. As he was about to help, Alan caught sight of Thunderbird 2 over near Horse Guards Parade. And then he saw something else that made his eyes widen. "Er, Scott…look at what that snake's doing!"

Scott turned to look. "Holy…" he began, unable to finish.

The Rock Snake that had been attacking around Parliament Square was now coiling itself around Big Ben, raising its head high above so it could get a good look around at the city and to where its comrades were carrying out their attacks. "ULLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The howl was once again accompanied by the sonic vibrations that the ones that had attacked Creighton had done. Everything in the area seemed to be rocked by it. Hundreds of windows shattered. Every single car alarm went off on those vehicles that hadn't yet been destroyed, and anyone close to one of the snakes when they made the noise felt like their eardrums had been burst as several fell to the ground, pressing their hands over their ears and screaming in agony.

"What the hell was that?" Gordon asked.

"The Rock Snakes," said Virgil. "I don't recall them doing that before."

"Neither do I," agreed Scott. "I won't lie to you guys, that was horrible."

"You don't say," agreed Alan.

Virgil had just finished putting out a fire around Horse Guards and looked around to find the next group of people to help. "Looks like some people near the National Gallery who could use some-"

"Hold it, Virgil, what's that?" Gordon said suddenly. He was pointing in the direction of Covent Garden.

Virgil looked and noticed a light flashing from a rooftop. It was flashing in Morse-code. "Looks like we are going there then," he said. He moved Thunderbird 2 over so they could get a better look.

Gordon used one of Thunderbird 2's external cameras to get a look at who was flashing the light. Then he almost cried out in surprise when he realised who it was. "PENELOPE!"

"Wait, what?!" exclaimed Virgil.

"VIRGIL, IT'S PENELOPE!" Gordon squeaked.

Virgil looked at the screen. "My God, it is!"

Gordon had never unfastened his safety-belt quicker than he'd done right now. "Take me down there!" he pleaded.

For once, Virgil wasn't going to argue. "You got it!" he said.

Penelope felt so relieved as she lowered the torch she'd been flashing as Thunderbird 2 approached. Virgil lowered Gordon down on a harness and Penelope ran to the edge to greet him. They both threw themselves onto each other and wrapped their arms and legs around each other squeezing tighter than they'd ever done before. Both sobbed tears of happiness.

"I thought we'd lost you," Gordon said.

"Me too," Penelope replied. "I'd kiss you but…"

"But what?" Gordon asked. "What's stopping you?"

"You're wearing your helmet," said Penelope. Her blue eyes looked lovingly into Gordon's brown ones.

"Oh…yeah, I am," Gordon replied and they both started to laugh.

"Hang tight, you two," Virgil said. "I'm winching you back in."

Both Gordon and Penelope had been so overjoyed to see each other that they'd both forgotten they were hanging from a cable several feet above the carnage-wrecked streets of London which was burning as more and more fires were started by the Rock Snakes.

As Penelope and Gordon felt themselves being winched up, Virgil moved Thunderbird 2 to hover over the River Thames near Blackfriars Bridge.

"THUNDERBIRD 2, LOOK OUT!"

Scott's scream caused Virgil, Gordon and Penelope to jump. Penelope almost lost her grip on Gordon and she slipped down. "OHH!" she cried in alarm.

"I GOT YOU!" Gordon shouted as he grabbed onto her tightly. But then as he looked up again, he let out a gasp of horror.

Penelope now turned to look and she did the same as they saw the raging hot fireball erupt from the advancing Rock Snake's mouth heading straight for them.