VIRGIL sat in his bedroom looking over the photos he'd taken at the Grand Canyon for what must have been the umpteenth time or something. His favourite was without a doubt the one he'd taken of the two of them together. He grinned broadly as he gazed at it for ages.
"Wow. That's a beaut."
Virgil came out of his trance and turned to see Scott had entered the room. "Oh, Scott! You startled me!"
Scott laughed. "Entranced by Hayley's beauty I see," he teased.
"Hey, hands off, she's mine!" said Virgil. But then both brothers burst out laughing.
"Looks like you had a good time," said Scott.
"The best," said Virgil. "I didn't want it to end."
"The vacation may have ended, but she's yours, Virg," replied Scott.
"She sure is," Virgil said, unable to take his eyes off one of the solo images of Hayley.
Scott turned to leave. "Come on, bro. They're waiting for us downstairs. You know what today is?"
Virgil grinned. "I sure do," he said. "But before we do, I want to ask you something."
Scott turned back. "Sure, what is it?"
Virgil took a small box out of his chest of drawers and handed it to Scott. "I need you to look after this for me please," he said. "Don't open it. Just be ready to give it to me when I ask you too."
Scott was a little confused by the request but he took the box regardless. "You got it," he said. "Now let's go have a party."
Amanda looked inside the open safe, unable to understand what she'd learned that morning. "I just don't believe it," she said to Colonel Jennings who was standing by the window that Hayley had used to enter the room.
"What other explanation is there, Captain?" Colonel Jennings asked. "The invitation from the W.A.S.P.s was clearly a fake. Someone wanted to get Madison away so we couldn't help."
"Yes, but I still can't believe she did this," said Amanda. "This has to be a mistake?"
"I'm inclined to agree," said Colonel Jennings. "But the base commander is breathing down my neck. There is clear video evidence from that camera on the wall showing one of our operatives in a stealth-suit, making their way across the room and breaking into the safe. And then taking the missile codes."
The radio in Colonel Jennings's hat beeped and a microphone built into the cap folded down in front of her face. "Jennings, here. Go ahead?"
"This is Captain Liberty. I've found the remains of Madison's Cheetah, Colonel. It's about thirty miles South of the base."
"What do you mean by the remains?" asked Colonel Jennings.
"That's exactly it, Colonel," replied Captain Liberty. "It's a smouldering wreck. Looks like the self-destruct button got used."
Colonel Jennings cursed under her breath. Those cars are expensive, she thought to herself. "Destroyed to get rid of the evidence, no doubt?" she said.
"No doubt," said Captain Liberty. "Colonel…do you really think Madison's gone rogue?"
Colonel Jennings hesitated before answering. "The base commander wants her head on his wall given how angry he is, and rightly so if she has. I'd want a piece of her, too. Those missile codes in the wrong hands will be deadly. But…" she added. "I have a hunch that this wasn't Madison. But until we find her, we need to be open-minded. No jumping to conclusions. Understand?"
"Yes, Colonel," said Captain Liberty.
"Yes, ma'am," added Amanda.
"Good. Now gather your squads," said Colonel Jennings. "I'll round up Madison's. This is a full scale red alert. All other priorities of the GDF are to be forgotten. I want Madison found…and alive!"
"Roger that," said Captain Liberty and he signed off.
As the cap microphone swung up, Colonel Jennings turned to Amanda. "She could be anywhere. The world is a huge place. We'll need more than just our people. I want every single law enforcement in every single country alerted to be on the lookout for her."
"A worldwide manhunt for Hayley, and not The Cabal?" said Amanda, shocked. "Unless…?"
"Mmm," said Colonel Jennings. "If my hunch about it not being Madison is correct, whoever broke in here could very well have been a member of The Cabal. But we need to find them first."
"What about International Rescue?" asked Amanda. "Should we tell her boyfriend?"
"Personally, I'd rather we didn't tell him," said Colonel Jennings as she headed for the door. "The love between those two is one of the most genuine I've ever seen. It'll break him."
"But can they help us with the search?" said Amanda.
Colonel Jennings stopped in the doorway and looked back. "Exactly," she replied. "Get your squad together, Captain Thompson. I need to make a call to International Rescue."
"Roger, Colonel," said Amanda and followed the Colonel out of the room, all the while feeling very concerned for her friend.
Whilst the massive search operation for one person on a planet populated by many millions was getting underway, Hayley was as far from civilization as was possible. She was travelling in a small one-person midget submarine heading deep underwater with the box containing the launch codes safely beside her. Soon she reached the destination she was heading for. One that had taken a very long time to reach. A huge icefield appeared on the surface above with an open underwater cave that the mini-submarine sailed up into. Once in its docking bay, it surfaced and Hayley climbed out carrying the code box with her. She walked out of the docking bay and down a specially crafted ice corridor with some heat lamps on low power. Enough to warm the place up but not warm enough to melt the ice. Hayley remained as cool and unphased as the ice as she walked past a group of henchmen wearing the helmets worn by the Hoodlums. They looked up and one did a wolf-whistle but she paid no attention. Then she passed an open door leading into a joint medical and laboratory room. Inside she saw Techno helping a recovering Shocker adapt to his upgraded cybernetic legs. Both looked at her as she passed.
Hayley kept on walking until she reached a large steel door built into the wall at the end of the corridor. In front of the door stood The Black Phantom. He looked down at her. She looked at him. No words were said as she held up the box containing the codes. "He's here," The Black Phantom said into his helmet radio. Then after a few moments of silence, moved to one side to allow Hayley to pass through the door which she pushed open. Once inside she closed the door behind her with the Phantom taking up his guard position once more.
Inside the room, Hayley found The Hood and Silver Swan waiting for her. "Here you go," she said as she handed the code box to The Hood. "I told you I wouldn't fail."
The Hood took the box and opened it. He gave a satisfied smile. "Excellent," he said. "No doubt the manhunt has already begun."
"They'll never find us," Hayley said. "I'm too good for that. I destroyed the car. They'll find no evidence of where I went."
"Your confidence seems a little too strong," remarked Silver Swan. "If there's one thing we've learned, it is not to assume our enemies will not find some clue."
"Relax, Swan," said Hayley. "The GDF are too dumb to find anything."
"But International Rescue will," said The Hood. "And that's what I'm counting on."
Then to Hayley's surprise, he threw the box of launch codes into a nearby dustbin. "What are you doing?" Hayley asked. "I thought you were going to use those?"
"Use them?" replied The Hood. "No…those aren't what this mission is about."
Hayley glared angrily at The Hood. "Have you any idea of how difficult that mission to get those was?" she growled.
A soft muffled groan stopped The Hood from replying. All three turned towards the source of the sound. "Ah, she's waking up," said The Hood. He turned on a light revealing a flatbed. And on the bed, securely strapped down and with a piece of white tape over her mouth…was a second Hayley! She tried to speak but couldn't as her eyes adjusted to the light. She then saw The Hood, and then Silver Swan. But if that wasn't enough to alarm her, it was nothing compared to the sight of herself standing behind Silver Swan. the grunting intensified and her eyes widened.
"Welcome back," said Silver Swan slyly. But Hayley didn't seem to have noticed, she was too alarmed at the sight of herself.
"Ah, yes," chuckled The Hood. "I don't believe you've been introduced to our new member, have you, Captain?"
The Hayley who'd brought the missile codes pressed the buckle of her belt and with a flicker, a holographic image disappeared to reveal a man in a navy blue armoured suit and a silver metal head with two holes where a pair of eyes could be seen peering through at her.
"Meet The Chameleon!" said The Hood.
"Are you impressed, Madison?" The Chameleon asked, with a mocking tone in his slightly robotic tinny voice.
But all Hayley could do was muffle in response, now getting more angry than scared.
Birthdays weren't a big thing for John. It meant being down on Earth socialising with everyone. Although at least he knew everyone here. Even Lady Penelope and Parker had come over for the occasion. After opening his presents, including the one from Gordon who had hastily changed his mind following the incident with the Andersons, John thanked everyone before raising a toast. "I may be the first to learn of an emergency, but I can never call myself the hero," he said. "The others get that honor."
"Oh, nonsense, son!" said Jeff. "They couldn't go out and save the day if you weren't there to get the call."
"Hear-hear!" everyone agreed.
"You've pulled off some rescues, John," said Scott. "The sky sweeper."
"The Global Seed Vault," said Kayo.
"The Chateau," added Penelope.
"The freighters in space and Eden," said Alan.
"And of course, bringing Dad home," finished Gordon.
John went a little red. "Okay, okay, you make fair points. But I never did any of those by myself. Tell a lie - the Chateau I did I guess. But I wasn't in uniform and I didn't get the guests out. Penelope and Parker did that."
"Whether you wear the uniform or not is irrelevant, John," said Jeff proudly. "What matters is lives were saved and none were lost. That's all that matters."
"You did it before, and you'll do it again," agreed Virgil.
John blushed a bit more. But before he could answer, an urgent beeping sound filled the lounge.
"What's that?" asked Parker. "H'I 'aven't 'eard that noise before."
"That's the global emergency alarm," said Kayo. "Something must be really wrong for that to be going off."
Grandma groaned. "Whatever it is, I hope it can be given to local authorities. We're in the middle of a birthday here!"
Jeff pressed the button to receive the message. "International Rescue. How can we help?"
Everyone was surprised when a rather concerned Colonel Jennings appeared. "International Rescue, we have one hell of a situation that's going to need all of you."
Everyone looked at each other. None could remember seeing the Colonel look this anxious.
"What's the problem, Colonel?" asked Jeff.
"The problem is Madison," said Colonel Jennings. "She's gone missing and we need to find her."
"WHAT?!" exclaimed Virgil. "How?! Has the W.A.S.P. craft gone wrong?"
"No, she never arrived at Marineville," said Colonel Jennings. "And that invitation, it turns out, was a fake. Commander Shore never sent one to her."
"What does that mean?" asked Scott.
"It means that she's likely been kidnapped and replaced by an imposter," said Colonel Jennings. "Take a look at this." She then brought up the security footage showing Hayley breaking into the room and opening the safe.
"What the hell is she doing?!" exclaimed Gordon.
"That isn't Hayley!" said Virgil defiantly. "She'd never do that!"
"Not willingly anyway," agreed Kayo. "Someone's set her up!"
"Where is this, Colonel?" Jeff asked. "And what was in the safe?"
"That's Base Trenzalore," said Colonel Jennings. "And what's been taken is a set of missile launch codes. A guard was also attacked so badly that he might not recover."
"Definitely not Hayley," said Penelope. "Even if she was being blackmailed into doing this, she would not cause grievous bodily harm."
"I am inclined to agree with you, Lady Penelope," said Colonel Jennings. "But the base commander is not buying the whole 'She's an imposter' statement from us. He wants Hayley's head on a platter, and I am not going to allow that."
"So we need to find her and fast," said Jeff.
"Yes," said Colonel Jennings. "Finding Madison has become a top priority for not just the GDF, but all of the world's search and rescue services. And that includes you guys."
"Tell us what you need, Colonel, and we'll provide it," said Virgil. He sounded very keen to leave straight away.
"Hang on, Virgil," said Scott. "We don't even know who's behind this."
"Seriously, Scott?" said Alan. "That's obvious."
"Of course it is!" agreed Gordon. "This has 'Cabal' written all over it!"
"Right now it doesn't matter who's responsible," said Colonel Jennings. "We need to find her and then clear her name. Now, my people have the majority of the world covered, but we'll need help in the more remote areas. The North and South Pole for starters."
"Agreed," said Jeff. "Scott, launch Thunderbird 1 and conduct a search of the Arctic."
"Yes, sir!" said Scott.
"Virgil, you do the same with Thunderbird 2 to Antarctica."
"Yes, Dad!"
"Alan, as for the rest of you, this is a long shot, but I'm inclined to agree that The Cabal are behind this scheme," said Jeff. "So launch Thunderbird 3 and search the Earth's orbit just in case you find something out of the ordinary."
"I'm on it!" said Alan.
"Kayo, go check around the Indonesia area with Thunderbird Shadow."
"Yes, Mr Tracy."
"Penny, Parker and Gordon, on the off chance this is a trick by The Cabal to lure us out, I want Tracy Island to have full security around it. So use FAB1 and Thunderbird 4 to patrol the sky and the sea around us."
"F-A-B," said Gordon.
"We can definitely do that," said Penelope.
"Right h'away, Mr Tracy, sir," finished Parker.
"I can h-have Braman join them as well, Mr Tracy," added Brains.
"And I'll go up to Thunderbird 5 and see if I can find anything from up there," said John.
Jeff nodded. "Okay then. Let's not waste any time. Get out there and find Hayley!"
As everyone headed off, John found himself being stopped by Grandma. "Why did this have to happen today?" she said grumpily.
"I get how you feel, Grandma, but Hayley's safety is a hell of a lot more important than my birthday is," said John. "Excuse me." He hurried off.
Tracy Island quickly became a hive of activity as the brothers, Brains, Kayo, Penelope and Parker got ready to start the mission. Scott and Gordon went down their express elevators. Virgil went down the slide whilst Alan and Kayo went down in the chairs before going separate ways through the changing rooms. John was the first to leave the island aboard the space elevator whilst the brothers and Kayo boarded their ships. Thunderbird 1 went up the tunnel to the launch bay, Thunderbird Shadow went backwards to the cliff-face and Thunderbird 2 headed out onto the runway with Module 2 aboard. FAB1 had been housed in a small parking bay inside the garage and followed Thunderbird 2 out but only as far as the entrance of the hangar. The swimming pool moved back as Thunderbird 1 arrived, the cliff-face swivelled round bringing Thunderbird Shadow out into the open and the palm trees folded back to allow Thunderbird 2 to pass before it was hoisted into position on the launch ramp. Gordon meanwhile had dived down and boarded Thunderbird 4 which readied itself to head through the launch tunnel and Alan had been hoisted aboard Thunderbird 3 with the silo door closing shut behind it.
5! 4! 3! 2! 1!
Thunderbird 1 launched first, then Thunderbird 2, then Thunderbird Shadow, then Thunderbird 3, then Thunderbird 4 and finally FAB1 followed shortly by Braman from his launch tube. All craft headed off in their respective directions to head for their positions and search areas.
Jeff and Grandma watched the ships disappearing from view. Grandma in particular noticed that Jeff was watching after one craft in particular - Thunderbird 2. "You're worried about Virgil, aren't you?" she said.
"You're damn right I am, Mother," said Jeff. "I'm starting to wish I was with him."
"He actually didn't sound that much distressed about Hayley's situation," said Grandma.
"Yes, that's what's worrying me," said Jeff. "I tell you something, Mother. I hope someone else finds Hayley or The Cabal first."
"In case of what The Cabal might do to him?" said Grandma.
"Or what he might do to them," said Jeff grimly.
Hayley tugged at the cuffs around her wrists that were in turn attached to the solid steel pipe that had been built into the wall. She'd been removed from the medical bay room where she'd been strapped down and was now in a dark room with no lights at all. She had a mixture of emotions. Anger - for having been captured and imprisoned, scared - for what The Cabal was planning, and confused - as she had no recollection of how she'd been caught. Last she could remember was driving down the road towards Marineville. She hoped some answers might come her way soon.
The door suddenly opened and Hayley was almost blinded by the light outside. As her eyes adjusted, she saw a figure enter with a tray of food which was placed down in front of her. Hayley looked at the plate. What was on it looked disgusting. Mashed potato which didn't look like it had been cooked. Salad leaves which clearly hadn't been washed, and a glass of very dirty looking water. She then looked at the figure. It was The Chameleon. "How the hell am I supposed to eat like this?" she asked bitterly.
The Chameleon shrugged as he stood up again. "I'm sure you'll manage," he replied bluntly before turning to leave.
"What's your issue with them?" Hayley asked.
The Chameleon stopped and looked back over his shoulder. "What?"
"You're the mystery person who helped orchestrate the breakout at Aquatraz," Hayley said. "So why are you a part of The Cabal? Why do you hate International Rescue?"
The Chameleon turned back round to face her, closing the door slightly as he did so. "I have no issue with International Rescue," he said. "My grievance is with you!"
Hayley stared. "What do you mean?" she asked. The Chameleon activated his holographic technology that allowed him to take the appearance of others. And the figure that appeared made Hayley gasp out loud. She stared, wide-eyed in shock. "PIERCE?!"
"That's right," said The Chameleon in the voice of Lieutenant Pierce, a former controller of the base where Hayley had been training to become a medic. "Well, strictly speaking that was never who I was when you were there. I'd already taken his place by the time you arrived. I was working undercover for The Hood even before he created The Cabal. I had gotten my position right down to a T, feeding information of interest to him whenever he needed it. And it would have stayed that way if YOU hadn't interfered!"
Hayley showed no regret for her actions. "You weren't following any kind of protocol, nor did you have any regard for anyone's safety on the base. Now it all makes sense!"
"In all my years of service, working for those who have been able to afford my services, I have never failed," The Chameleon continued before turning back to his normal self. "Only once did I ever fail in my work, and that…was because…of YOU!" He advanced on her, looking ready to attack her. "I cannot let this go unpunished. All this getting you here was my idea and-"
"What are you doing?"
The Chameleon stopped and turned around. The White Ghost had entered the room having phased through the walls. "What do you want?" he barked. "Get out, I'm busy!"
"The boss wants to talk to us all," said The White Ghost. "And he doesn't want you in here with her either."
The Chameleon snarled. "He has no right to ask that of me!" he snapped. "This is MY revenge and-"
"You won't get your money if she's harmed in any way," The White Ghost cut him off. "Do you want me to bring him here and tell you that himself?"
Frustrated, The Chameleon kicked the tray of food away and it hit the side wall. "I'll tell him what my thoughts are!" he said as he stormed out of the room.
The White Ghost looked at Hayley. Then she looked at the tray of food and picked it up. "You don't want to be eating that," she said and then walked out, closing the door behind her.
Hayley was stunned into silence. Did a member of The Cabal just take pity on her?
As Thunderbird 1 made its way at high speed towards the Arctic, Scott found himself thinking on similar lines to what Jeff had been. He too had noticed how unusually unpanicked Virgil had been when Colonel Jennings had been explaining the situation with Hayley and it didn't sit well with him. Normally he'd be trying to get to the launch chute of Thunderbird 2 without a plan even being formed. Despite telling himself to stay quiet, he made contact with his brother regardless. "Thunderbird 2, this is Thunderbird 1."
"Go ahead, Thunderbird 1?"
"Virgil, are you at your search area?" Scott asked.
"Approaching the coastline of Antarctica now," answered Virgil. "This is a huge area. It's gonna take a long time I feel."
"Agreed," said Scott. "Trying to find Hayley's gonna be like looking for a-" He broke off, noticing the look on Virgil's face. "Sorry."
"It's fine."
Scott breathed out. He couldn't keep it in any longer. "Are you okay, Virgil?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
That wasn't the answer Scott had expected. "You don't seem as concerned as you'd normally be," he said.
"Oh, I am, Scott," said Virgil. "But I'm not scared. I'm angry."
"And you've every right to be," said Scott. "Taking someone close to us is a new low for The Cabal."
"Trust me, Scott, they couldn't get any lower," said Virgil with a slight growl in his voice. "Sorry, I need to concentrate. Thunderbird 2, out."
As Virgil's hologram turned off, Scott shifted uncomfortably. "Don't do anything stupid if you do find them, Virgil," he sighed out loud to himself.
Thunderbird 2 was now flying due East along the Northern shoreline of Antarctica. Virgil looked out of the window at the huge expanse of white ice that made up the continent. Scott's right, he thought to himself. Even if one of us does happen to stumble across even a single member of The Cabal, it'll be a miracle. The strong, stern feeling he'd had on the island and when talking to Scott suddenly began to slip away as the realisation of just how difficult this task was going to be was. As tears of fear began to fill his eyes, he knew that the weight wasn't just on his shoulders, but everybody's and not just those of International Rescue. Never before could he think of such a massive global search for one person ever being attempted before.
Up ahead was a large ice mountain which sat along the icy coastline. It would have been seen as beautiful by Virgil under normal circumstances. Its height and shape made it look like the spire of a great cathedral. But right now, to Virgil, it was just more ice. That was until he flew past it and caught sight of something that wasn't ice around on the other side. It was brief, but Virgil thought he saw an aircraft sitting on the ice. "Hang on, what was that?" he asked himself out loud. He slowed Thunderbird 2 down and turned around for a better look. He then froze when he saw what it was. It was an unusual-shaped aircraft but he could tell from the colour scheme exactly what it was. "You've got to be kidding me!" he exclaimed. "That's The Cabal's ship! Wait? Seriously?! They're hiding out here?!" The more he thought about it, the more it made sense for The Cabal to have a base in a remote location like Antarctica where nobody would normally think to look. But surely he couldn't have found where they and Hayley were that easily, could he? Virgil was about to call Tracy Island and inform them of the development, but then he stopped himself. Perhaps it was just a Cabal outpost?
Rather than alert the others and pull unnecessary resources away from other areas, he decided to go down and take a look for himself. He gently brought Thunderbird 2 and landed on the ice a short distance from where the Cabal's Condor Carrier rested. He then cautiously emerged from his craft and began to make his way quickly across the ice, hoping there were no cameras. He couldn't see any, but that didn't mean there weren't any. Virgil tried to use what ice boulders he could find to use as cover as he got closer to the giant ice mountain. There was not a soul to be seen anywhere and he felt nervous. "Keep it together," Virgil told himself. "Stay low, stay quiet, and hopefully they won't see you." All the same, he prepared his stun-gun just in case. He then noticed an open doorway carved into the ice mountain. "Guess that's where I'm going," he said and cautiously made his way inside.
Inside the mountain was a long tunnel that got steadily darker the deeper it went. All the while, Virgil kept a close watch on his surroundings. He felt sure there were cameras watching his every move, and yet he couldn't see any anywhere.
The tunnel soon reached a staircase that went deeper into the ice. Virgil cautiously made his way down and as he went, he began to hear voices. Reaching the bottom, he found a storage area with several crates and boxes that looked like they contained supplies. He then saw some people with hood-like helmets which told him it was definitely a Cabal base. Perhaps he could interrogate the Hoodlums on where the main Cabal members might be. But before he could make his move, he heard a voice talking from outside the room.
"What are you mugs doing?" growled a voice. "Techno needs those servers! And now!"
The Hoodlums quivered nervously. "We're trying to find them, Ms Swan!"
"Well, do it faster!" snapped Silver Swan who was now standing in the doorway. "You're holding us up and the boss won't like that." She turned and stormed out.
So they are here! Virgil thought to himself. He checked his wrist-controller. Maybe being in here alone wasn't such a good idea. He turned to head back up the stairs.
"Jeez, can't we catch a break?" one of the Hoodlums said to the others.
"Clearly not," said another. "What do they even want it for anyway?"
"Who are we to know?" said the third one. "Just like why was that Chameleon guy posing as that GDF girl earlier?"
Virgil stopped dead in his tracks. He snuck back behind a crate to listen some more.
"Yeah, that's weird," said the first Hoodlum. "Especially as I could have sworn I saw that same girl lying unconscious in one of the medical bays a short while before."
"What were they doing with her?" asked the second.
"Don't know. Don't care," said the first. "She was strapped down and gagged. I can only guess the boss has deadly plans for her."
Virgil had heard enough. He couldn't explain what came over him except possibly uncontrollable rage. He jumped out from his hiding place and double drop-kicked two of the Hoodlums down and startling the third. He then punched this one and they fell against the wall, somehow becoming knocked unconscious despite wearing a helmet. Virgil pulled the helmet off the second one and punched this one out as well before grabbing the first one and throwing him against the wall. "Okay, time to talk, buddy!"
The Hoodlum was startled. "W-W-Who the h-h-hell are you?"
"Doesn't matter! Where's the girl?" Virgil growled.
"G-Girl? What girl?" asked the Hoodlum.
"Don't test me!" Virgil said dangerously. "Where…is…she?!"
Now Virgil was often regarded as the most easy going of all the brothers, and yet a far more unknown side of him that even he hadn't been aware of was coming out.
Terrified, the Hoodlum cracked. "T-Third room on the r-r-right!" he said, pointing a shaking finger out of the doorway.
"Thanks," said Virgil before he pulled the Hoodlum's helmet to reveal the terrified face before headbutting the man into unconsciousness.
Virgil then made his way out of the store room and down another corridor. He looked back and forth continuously with his stun gun at the ready. He felt that it might not be much use against the armour of The Cabal but it made him feel better in himself. He counted the doors on the right as he went. One. Two. Three. He pushed himself up against the side of the door and placed a listening device against it to hear if anyone was inside. Nothing. He then grabbed the handle and pushed it open. Then he froze. The room was mostly empty, except for a bed, with an unconscious Hayley laying on top of it.
Without thinking, Virgil put his gun away and hurried over to her. He began to shake her gently. "Hayley? Hayley, it's Virgil. Can you hear me?"
Hayley did not answer. She remained still and silent.
Virgil sniffled as he tried to hold back the tears. "What have they done to you?" he asked. "Come on, I'll-"
"MMMMMPH!"
Virgil swung round at the muffled squeal behind him. He then froze again. There was Hayley, her hands bound behind her back and tape over her mouth again. Standing beside her with a hand on her shoulder was The Black Phantom. Virgil then glanced back at the Hayley on the bed and then back at the captive one. Then before he had a chance to realise what was happening, the one on the bed suddenly sat up and kicked him backwards against the wall before two figures came in through the opposite wall. It was The White Ghost and The Shocker. As Virgil tried to scramble to his feet, Shocker blasted the ceiling above him, causing parts of it to fall and land on top of Virgil, trapping him underneath. Hayley squealed and struggled to escape from the Black Phantom's grip but was unable to as The White Ghost pulled Virgil's helmet off. Then the Hayley on the bed revealed themselves to be The Hood in disguise and he then placed a zapping device within his hand onto Virgil's right shoulder.
Hayley let out a muffled scream as sharp bolts of electricity zapped Virgil's shoulder.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Virgil yelled before slipping into unconsciousness.
