SILVER Swan made sure the navigation computer of The Cabal Cruiser was set to the right destination before going back to check on The Hood. The Hood was sitting in one of the chairs towards the rear of the control cabin with an oxygen mask over his face. "How do you feel, love?" she asked.

The Hood, still naive to Swan's affection for him, let out a soft groan. "I have quite the headache," he said. He looked around. "Where are the others?"

"They didn't make it," said Silver Swan.

"Gah!" growled The Hood. "They died as pathetically as they lived. What about Tracy and the traitor?"

"They wouldn't have made it either," said Silver Swan proudly. I sealed the elevator door before any of them could get inside. There's no way it would have gotten back down to them before the self-destruct went off. It's just us now." She went to go and sit on his lap.

The Hood wasn't naive to this. "What the HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" he bellowed, forcibly pushing her away onto the floor. He ripped off the oxygen mask and got to his feet whilst Silver Swan lay stunned on the floor.

"But, darling, I-"

The Hood forced himself on top of her and then pinned her to the cabin floor. "What…did you…just…CALL ME?!"

Before Silver Swan could answer, an alarm started beeping on the control console. The Hood stood up and stormed over. It was the proximity alert warning that was going off. He pushed a button that activated a rear-mounted camera on the outside of the Cruiser. What he saw not only surprised him but made him boil over in a rage.

"YOU SAID THEY WERE DEAD!" The Hood bellowed, pointing at the hologram image.

Silver Swan had by now managed to pick herself up. She looked at the screen and her skin went pale. There were three unmistakable figures closing in on them. It was The Shocker, Black Phantom and Techno. "What?! I-I-I don't understand!" she stammered. "I thought they-"

"WELL THEY HAVEN'T, HAVE THEY?!" thundered The Hood. "AND BECAUSE YOU LEFT THEM TO DIE IN THAT LAB, THEY'RE NOW GONNA WANT PAYBACK FOR THAT!" He pointed towards the door leading out of the cockpit. "GO!"

"And…do what?" Silver Swan asked.

The Hood made a disgusting grimace and his eyes seemed to glow dangerously. "Get…out there…and KILL THEM! BEFORE THEY TRY TO KILL ME!"

"D-Don't you mean us?" asked Silver.

"GO!" screamed The Hood, forcibly shoving her out of the cockpit.

Confused and angry, Silver Swan complied as she headed for the rear hatch of the aircraft.

Black Phantom and Techno were a few metres to the right and behind Shocker. For Shocker, flying was easy, but for the other two it was uncomfortable. Phantom hadn't been able to retrieve his helmet from the lab so flying with a bitterly cold wind blowing in his face and stinging his eyes was very uncomfortable. It was the same for Techno, although he had the additional problem of trying to hold onto Phantom with one hand whilst using his Touch-Pad with the other.

"HOW CLOSE DO WE NEED TO GET?!" The Phantom bellowed above the wind.

"JUST A FEW METRES MORE AND WE'LL BE THERE!" Techno shouted back.

"Should I take out one of the engines?" suggested Shocker. "That'll slow them down?"

"DO IT!" Techno bellowed.

So Shocker raised his left arm and took aim at the Port-side outer engine under the Cabal Cruiser's left wing. His gauntlet powered up and then fired. The blast struck the engine. It exploded and burst into flames as it broke away from the wing.

The entire aircraft shuddered violently. The Hood, who was sitting in the main control seat to fly the aircraft, was almost thrown out as he'd neglected to put his safety-belt on. "ARGH!" he said furiously. "SWAN, GET ON WITH IT!" he bellowed into his earpiece.

"STOP SHOUTING AT ME, FOR GOD'S SAKE!" Silver Swan replied angrily.

"DON'T ANSWER BACK, JUST DO AS YOU'RE TOLD!" screamed The Hood.

Silver Swan couldn't understand it. Why was The Hood being so rude to her? She just didn't understand it. She was now at the back of the Cruiser and punched the button that opened the Cargo Bay door. Once the gap was wide enough, she activated her suit's armoured wings and took flight to take on what were her now former allies.

Techno had seen the door opening. "WE GOT INCOMING!" he yelled as Silver Swan's unmistakable shape emerged from the Cruiser.

"DAMN MY LOST HELMET!" roared The Black Phantom.

"I'LL DEAL WITH HER!" said Shocker. "YOU TWO GET INSIDE AND TAKE CARE OF THE HOOD! ONLY, SAVE SOME OF HIM FOR ME!"

Silver Swan had been trying to figure out which of the two incoming targets to go for. She could tell that The Black Phantom didn't have his helmet and that Techno had no means of striking her either. They looked to be the easier targets, but Shocker still had his gauntlets and was the more dangerous one. She decided to use her sonic attack on Phantom and Techno and her speed to outmanoeuvre Shocker.

Shocker fired a blast at Silver Swan. She ducked out of the way, but the second blast hit her and she went into a spin. Shocker dived after her, allowing Phantom to push on towards the open hatch of the Cruiser.

"ALMOST THERE! KEEP GOING!" yelled Techno.

But Phantom had seen something. "DAMN IT, HE'S TURNING THE WEAPONS ON US!"

He was right. Two sets of missiles on launchers had emerged from the sides of the fuselage and were being aimed towards them.

The Hood watched them on the targeting screen. "You were a good boy, Noel Casey," he said. "You, Phantom, not so much. Goodbye." He pushed the button. But the missiles didn't launch. He pressed the button again. Still no launch. He began roaring in a rage and punching the button repeatedly until it broke. "COME ON, DAMN YOU!"

Black Phantom was confused as the launchers suddenly went back inside. "Huh? THEY DIDN'T FIRE?!"

Techno was grinning. "I THINK HE'S FORGOTTEN!" he said.

"FORGOTTEN WHAT?!"

"GET US INSIDE AND YOU'LL FIND OUT!"

So Phantom used as much power as he could muster to get the two of them inside the Cruiser's Cargo Bay. Once they'd hit the floor, Techno was able to remotely close the door.

Silver Swan had looked up just in time to see Phantom and Techno enter the Cruiser. "NO!" she shrieked. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!" She managed to punch Shocker away before flying up towards the Cruiser.

But Shocker was soon chasing after her. "GET BACK HERE! I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU!" He quickly drew level with Silver Swan who was so busy trying to get back up to the Cruiser that she failed to notice until he struck her with a powerful blast from his right gauntlet.

"GAARGH!" Silver Swan shrieked before turning her attention back to him. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU FOR THAT!"

"NOT IF I KILL YOU FIRST!" roared Shocker. This time firing a double blast at her.

The Hood kept checking the outside cameras. But he couldn't see anyone outside. "Swan? Report!" he barked. "Have you taken care of them yet?"

Suddenly a hand grabbed his right shoulder. "She's preoccupied." It was The Black Phantom who used his powerful suit's energy to lift The Hood right out of the seat and throw him across the control cabin. The Hood struck the back wall with a painful cry before falling to the floor.

Techno came over, grabbed him by the suit and hoisted him up before pinning him up against the wall.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!" The Hood thundered.

"YOU LEFT US BEHIND!" Techno bellowed. "WHY?!"

"I DIDN'T LEAVE YOU BEHIND!" roared The Hood. "SWAN DID!"

"OF COURSE SHE DID!" shouted Black Phantom. "SHE'S SO MADLY IN LOVE WITH YOU, IS IT ANY WONDER?!"

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!" demanded The Hood.

"WAKE UP, HOOD!" spat Techno. "SHE'S FALLEN FOR YOU! SHE'S HEAD-OVER-HEELS FOR YOU! GOD KNOWS WHY, BUT SHE IS! AND IT'S CREEPY AS HELL!" He slammed The Hood into the wall and let him fall, winded.

"You're delusional, Techno," said The Hood. "Swan is-"

"A puppet, like the rest of us, we KNOW!" shouted Phantom.

The Hood stared at him. "What…?"

"Oh, don't act dumb!" snapped Techno. "We know what you said about us!"

"Tracy played us the recording he made of what you said to him!" said Phantom. "It made us realise that our recent suspicions about you were correct."

Techno then kicked The Hood in the hip. "YOU TOOK ME IN!" he screamed before grabbing and pulling him up. "I IDOLISED YOU!" He punched him in the face, giving him a black eye. "I THOUGHT YOU CARED ABOUT?!"

"Cared? CARED?!" roared The Hood, suddenly finding some energy to fight back. He managed to spin Techno around and push him against the wall. "YOU THINK I CARED, BOY?! I DIDN'T CARE! I NEVER CARED! I USED YOU TO GET EVEN WITH YOUR STUPID MOTHER! IT WORKED! BUT SINCE THEN YOU'VE BEEN NOTHING BUT A FAILURE! JUST LIKE ALL OF YOU!"

This caused Techno to now bellow with rage and force The Hood back. The Hood fell over onto his back and Techno began beating him over and over again, screaming at him as he did so until Black Phantom pulled him off. "Noel, that's ENOUGH!" he shouted. "I think he gets the point."

The Hood's face was battered, bloodied and bruised. He was groaning in pain, no longer the powerful and dominating figure he'd been only an hour before.

Techno stood above The Hood, his fists with blood on them. He'd never gotten this physical before with anyone. "David…my friend…get this rubbish off my ship!"

"With pleasure," said Phantom. He bent down and picked The Hood up, slinging him over his shoulder and walked out of the control cabin.

"Goodbye…" Techno said. "Everything that happens to you now, you deserve!"

The Hood hadn't the energy to respond until after the door had closed behind Phantom. It was only as they were heading through the Cargo Bay that he finally found his voice. "W…W-What are you doing?" he asked. "Where are you taking me?"

Black Phantom dropped him heavily onto the floor by the door ramp. "You remember that bomb you put into my suit to prevent me from killing your niece?" he said. "Well that was in my helmet. And I happened to leave that behind in the lab. Now you have no way of stopping me from getting my revenge on her. Once I've had mine on you!" He then punched the button to open the door.

The alarm rang as the door opened. Cold air began to fill the Cargo Bay. magnets in Phantom's suit kept him in place whilst The Hood was unable to prevent himself from being sucked out of the Cruiser. "No! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he screamed as he went tumbling out.

Shocker was lining up another attack on Silver Swan when she was able to retaliate by striking him with one of her sonic blasts. It was then that she looked up and gasped in horror at what she saw. The tumbling body that was The Hood having now been ejected out of the Cabal Cruiser. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" she screamed and went to fly after him.

Shocker fired a blast which sent her spinning again. "LET HIM FALL, SWAN! HE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT YOU ANY MORE THAN THE REST OF US!"

"SHUT UP!" shrieked Silver Swan. She then swung herself around and released two of her deadly feather blades. One struck each of Shocker's legs, piercing through the other casing and slicing straight through the cybernetic parts.

Before Shocker had a chance to process what was about to happen, his legs exploded and he was sent spiralling towards the ground far below, screaming as he went.

"SHOCKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!" bellowed The Black Phantom as he saw his friend disappearing from view.

Silver Swan's attention was firmly on the falling Hood. she zoomed over and grabbed him which stopped him from falling any further. Shock and exhaustion from the beating had overwhelmed The Hood and he was only able to mumble something before blacking out. Silver Swan was very upset when she saw how battered his face was. She then looked up at Black Phantom and fixed him with a hateful glare. Black Phantom gave one back. They were too far to shout insults at each other, but they knew what each other was thinking. Swan was going to want payback for them hurting the man she loved whilst Black Phantom would want to avenge one of the two members of The Cabal he actually considered his friend. Instead, she turned and flew away with The Hood knowing that the Cabal Cruiser was now lost to them.

Phantom closed the door and walked sadly back to the control cabin where Techno had taken full control of the aircraft.

Techno looked around as Phantom slowly closed the door behind him. He could tell immediately something was wrong. "Shocker?"

Phantom didn't answer for a moment as he went to sit in one of the spare chairs. "The bitch got him," he said bitterly.

Techno was left stunned. "And The Hood?"

"She grabbed him and then flew off with him," Phantom said, still looking at the floor.

Techno looked at the controls in front of him. "Damn it!" he cursed.

Both men were silent as they tried to take in what had just happened.

Eventually, Black Phantom broke the silence. "So…what do we do now?" he asked.

Techno was silent for a few moments. Then after taking a deep breath, he answered. "Now…we can do things our way."

Sophie cleaned the last of the vials she had on the workbench and placed it onto a holder.

"Is that all of them?" Hayley asked, coming out from the Medical Bay and removing her mask and gloves.

"Eight vials. One injector," Sophie said. "One for each of them."

"Shouldn't there be nine?" asked Hayley.

"Nine?" asked Sophie, confused. "Mr Tracy, Mrs Tracy, Kayo, John, Alan, Scott and Gordon. That's eight I think you'll find."

"And you make nine," said Hayley. "Virgil and I have already taken the antidote so we're immune to it. The Mechanic, well we already know he can't be infected. But you, Sophie. You've been touching them."

"I've been wearing PPE," said Sophie. "I should be fine."

"Should doesn't mean you will be," Hayley said.

"True," said Sophie. "But I think if I was going to be infected, it would have happened by now?"

Hayley couldn't think of a response to that. "Still, I think you ought to be just in case. I promised Dr Charles to return you to hospital as soon as this is over."

Sophie was quiet for a moment. "I hope my brother doesn't decide to visit again whilst I'm gone," she muttered.

"Brother?" repeated Hayley.

Sophie sighed. She'd hoped not to have been heard. "Yeah, Michael. He hates them."

"Hates who?"

Sophie pointed towards the Medical Room. "Them," she said. "He blames them for everything that's happened. What happened to me tore our family apart. Things were already bad when Grace died, but me getting put in the psychiatric hospital broke them. Michael and my Dad blamed International Rescue. My Mother did not. From what Michael said, Dad packed his bags and walked out not long afterwards because he could not convince Mom to hate us as well. Michael has blamed them ever since I first fell into that crater and lost the use of my legs. Mom and I have tried so many times to make him change his mind." She paused for breath. "But he's so damn stubborn. He refuses to accept it."

Hayley began to think. Something that had happened earlier that day was starting to come back to her. "Did your brother visit right before I arrived?" she asked.

Sophie nodded. "He did…why?"

"Because I think I encountered him as he was leaving," Hayley said.

Sophie looked at her sharply. "Did he say anything?"

"First he began to advance on me with some degree of aggression," said Hayley. "He asked if I was a member of International Rescue but backed off rather quickly when I said I was GDF. He then went on to say that International Rescue would pay for what they did to his sister. I can only assume he was referring to you?"

Sophie buried her face in her hands and let out a huge sigh. "Oh, for God's sake, Mike!" she said. "Yeah, that would be him."

Just then The Mechanic appeared. "Thunderbird 1 is arriving now," he said.

The two girls looked at one another.

"Then it's time," said Sophie.

After landing Thunderbird 1, Virgil hurried up to the house with the vials of antidote. "I'm here! I'm here!" he said, hastily giving them to Sophie.

Sophie set immediately to work. The Mechanic put a funnel over the top of each of the smaller vials as Sophie carefully poured the blue liquid into each of them.

Hayley got her some new gloves and a fresh mask. Then she put some on herself. "I'm gonna help you with this," she said.

"Thank you," said Sophie. She then turned to Virgil, reached out and put her hand on his arm. "I can't promise we're in time, but I'll do my best."

Virgil nodded understandingly. "I appreciate it," he said, trying to hold back tears. "Thank you."

The Mechanic pushed open the doors. Sophie wheeled herself in and Hayley followed with the moving tray with the equipment on. They went to Grandma and Jeff first. Sophie positioned herself by Grandma first. Sophie placed one of the small vials into the injection device and handed it to Sophie. Sophie pushed up Grandma's left sleeve and injected the antidote into her. "One down, seven to go."

As they moved on to Jeff, Virgil and The Mechanic watched from outside. Virgil couldn't ever remember feeling this tense before. He was physically shaking. The Mechanic noticed this and did something none of them could ever have thought of him doing before…he placed a comforting hand on Virgil's shoulder.

Once Jeff was injected with the cure, Sophie and Hayley moved on to Brains. Then Gordon, then Scott, then Alan and then John before finishing with Kayo.

"It's done," Sophie said.

"But there wasn't enough for you," said Hayley.

"What will be will be," said Sophie.

Before Hayley could answer, they heard a soft moan from the far side of the room. They turned to look. It was Jeff. He was trying to move. Hayley hurried over. "Woah, woah, woah, easy there, Mr Tracy," she said. "Don't try to move."

Jeff's weary eyes slowly opened. His skin was no longer bright red. His breathing was sounding like it was going back to normal. He was groggy, but he managed to identify who was standing next to him simply from the bright red and black uniform she was wearing. "Hay…ley?"

Hayley looked up towards Virgil. "He's coming round!"

Sophie looked around. "They're all coming round!"

And they were. One by one, the bright redness of their skins was fading back to normal colour before they slowly began to come around.

Now Virgil could let himself cry, but with relief.

Virgil and The Mechanic walked in as everyone was starting to regain their senses. Virgil of course went straight to Jeff and Grandma. "How do you feel?" he asked.

"Like I've been run over by Thunderbird 2," remarked Grandma.

"Followed by a herd of Elephants," added Jeff. he looked at his arms. "Say, I'm not red anymore!"

"None of you are," said Hayley grinning with relief. She turned to Virgil. "You did it."

"We did it," said Virgil. "But we couldn't have done it without you, Sophie."

In an instant, everyone was sitting upright, Alan faster than everyone else.

"Sophie?" repeated Scott.

Virgil and Hayley then stepped aside in opposite directions to reveal a rather nervous-looking Sophie sitting in the wheelchair by the window. "Hey…guys," she said awkwardly. "It's been a while."

Everyone was stunned into silence. Then they looked at Virgil.

"Son?" said Jeff. "What's going on here?"

Virgil cleared his throat. "When Grandma was struck down, I knew we needed a medical professional to administer the antidote properly once I got it for you. I knew The Mechanic, Hayley and myself weren't up to the task. So I decided to take a chance with Sophie."

"So you entrusted that task to someone who was willing to kill Alan over an alien?!" said Gordon with disgust.

Sophie hung her head in shame. She was waiting for that to be brought up. But she was very surprised by how fast Virgil shot his brother down.

"I was prepared to do whatever was necessary to save you, Gordon!" Virgil snapped. "ALL of you! Even if that meant having to take some risks. Besides, Sophie's recovered. She regrets what happened. And it was with the co-operation of Dr Charles that we were able to smuggle her out here."

Everyone in the beds was exchanging looks with each other. Everyone except for Alan who seemed transfixed by the presence of Sophie. Sophie caught his gaze and quickly looked away, unable to bring herself to look at him out of guilt.

Kayo then began to try and get off the bed and pulled off her oxygen mask.

"Where do you think you're going?" Hayley asked.

"To the sub-basement," Kayo answered. She cracked her knuckles. "I have some unfinished business with Ghost."

"Yeah, well get in line," said Gordon, also stepping off the bed.

It was at that moment that Hayley and The Mechanic suddenly realised.

"Hold it there!" The Mechanic said, blocking the door.

"Move, Mechanic," said Gordon. "I'm not letting this go."

The Mechanic ignored him and turned to Virgil. "I've just come to a realisation," he said. "Ghost was not with you when you brought the antidote up."

Everyone looked at Virgil again.

"Did you not bring her back?" Hayley asked.

Virgil walked over to the window and looked out across towards the ocean. The dark clouds were a little lighter than they had been but not clearing yet. "No…I didn't," he said.

"Hang on, I'm getting confused here," said John. "What exactly has happened here, Virgil?"

Virgil exhaled and then turned to face everyone. "I've got one helluva story to tell you all," he said.

Concealed deep in a forest in Mississippi, a lone wooden shack sat almost as dark as the night that covered the forest. The only sources of light were the one shining inside the shack as well as the Moon shining brightly in the sky. On the front porch of the shack, an elderly woman sat in a rocking chair sewing whilst her son in dungarees and a straw hat sat on the opposite side with his pipe. A large German Shepherd lay on the steps between them having a sleep. The night was silent and still. Neither of them had spoken for a while.

Eventually, it was the woman who spoke. "Not a sound to be heard."

"Sure is quiet tonight, Ma," replied the man. "Unusually quiet. Gotta say I'm kinda unnerved by it. Always some critter or bird that can be heard."

"You don't sense trouble, do you, Jeremiah?"

"Quite possibly, Ma. I will have to doubly check to make sure all security systems are working fine."

Just then the dog woke up and lifted its head, looking out into the forest. It then got to its feet and stood firm, as if it was staring at something.

"Well, Ace certainly seems to think so," asked Jeremiah. "Watcha see, boy?"

Ace suddenly began to bark and bolted off towards some nearby trees.

Jeremiah leapt to his feet and grabbed his rifle. "Ma, get inside and have some beans ready." He then hurried off after the dog. "WAIT UP, ACE!"

Ace soon disappeared into the trees. Jeremiah ran after him. His rifle was loaded just in case. Whilst trouble very rarely came his way, Jeremiah suspected a trio of rough criminals that often caused problems for others in the area and he was certain it would be them. Running through the trees, he could hear Ace's bark getting louder. He knew he was getting close. He had a torch in one hand so he could at least see where he was going.

Eventually he found Ace at the bottom of one of the trees. Ace was on his hind legs barking at something above them. "Ya need to slow down, boy!" said Jeremiah once he'd caught up to him. "I'm not as fast as I used to be."

Ace continued to bark. Jeremiah aimed both his torch and his rifle up the tree whilst preparing himself for whatever danger might be up there. However he was not at all prepared for the sight that met his eyes. "Great…Mother of God!"