March 19th, 2060 - 17:18 NZDT

Alan bangs on the door of his shared bedroom with Kayo after getting back from doing a training course in the USA that Scott had asked him to go on.

"Kayo, can you come out please?" asks Alan.

"No!" Kayo replies.

"What's...?" Alan starts.

"Alan, I've just got back from the GDF Base in LA, I need a shower," Kayo interrupts.

Ever since Alan's birthday Kayo started to become distance from everyone, taking Thunderbird Shadow out more and when she is home and making unexpected trips to GDF Bases all over the world, mainly in Scotland and the Western United States. No one knew why, but they had learnt very quickly not to question Kayo's motives.

Alan sighs and decides to walk down to the mission deployment room to find Scott talking to John.

"... what's up?" Scott asks.

"Atmospheric radon gas readings, that's what," John explains.

"Uh, come again?" Scott asks, who was confused at the complex statement.

"Radiation, Scott. I'm picking up a huge spike somewhere in Southern Africa. And it's rising faster than you can say 'catastrophic fallout,'" John continues.

"International rescue, we have a situation," Scott announces, over the comms.

5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Thunderbirds are Go!

Scott takes a seat next to Virgil and the couch while Alan sits opposite them next to Brains. They were all interested to find out about this radiation spike as it hadn't been used in years. John has brought up a hologram of the local area where the radiation is being detected as is going over the details with everyone.

"Sorry, guys, satellites feed's not telling me a whole lot more. It's an unpopulated area, thankfully," John explains.

"And no power plants?" Scott enquires.

"Negative. Besides, no-one's used nuclear power in decades," John replies, "It's strange. There's no sign of any kind of explosion."

"Nice to know we won't be flying into a mushroom cloud," Virgil jokes.

"That radiation's gotta be coming from somewhere," Scott states.

"Well, I'm gonna call Gordon back," John informs.

"No, we'll take a look and report back. Thanks Thunderbird 5," Scott dismisses.

"F-A-B," John acknowledges.

"Alan you come with me," Virgil orders.

"On it," Alan replies.

5

Virgil's rocket painting tilts backwards as Scott and Alan descend to get suited up.

4

The pod equipment is loaded into Module 2.

3

Alan boards Thunderbird 2 via the passenger elevator.

2

Thunderbird 2 taxis down the main runway and comes to a halt allowing the ramp to raise.

1

Thunderbird 1 comes to a stop as the swimming pool above starts to retract.

Thunderbirds are Go!

After a few minutes of flying, the two Thunderbirds are well on course, passing to the south of the Australian coast, avoiding any flight paths of any other aircraft and staying low to the water. They are cruising at a respectful 5,000 miles per hour and would be making good time in any other rescue. However, when radiation is concerned, the sooner they can put an end to the fallout, the better.

"Thunderbird 2? You at top speed?" Scott enquires.

"Sure am. Got a full load here. Figure we don't know what we're dealing with so I'm carrying everything but the kitchen sink," Virgil states before pausing to think about the last comment he made, "Scratch that, you want a kitchen sink, I recon I can whip one up for you."

"I'm gonna step on the gas," Scott says, "I'll see ya there."

"See ya. Don't save the world before we get there," Alan jokes.

"Thunderbirds are Go!" Scott replies before speeding off at 15,000 miles per hour.

"Right, now Alan what do you think is going on with Kayo?" Virgil asks before quickly adding, "Seeing as you're closest with her."

"Honestly, I don't know. It all started the day after my birthday," Alan shrugs.

"Do you think there was something that could of triggered it?" Virgil pushes.

"Not that I know of. She is in a... I mean she's just had a hard time since The Hood incident in 2058," Alan continues, almost telling Virgil about the darker part of her life.

"Hmm," Virgil thinks now that Alan is hiding something but is not sure why, "Okay, hopefully you find out soon."

"Me too," Alan nods.

March 19th, 2060 - 07:43 CAT

Arriving at the co-ordinates John sent them Scott starts to look around to see if there was any abnormal activities. However, all he can see is a rocky desert landscape. South Africa is clearly in a drought as dry yellow grass cover the ground where only a few green leaves on trees reside. He takes Thunderbird 1 over several golden mountains and peers down through the viewing window below his feet but is unable to really see anything.

"I'm looking at nothing but... well, a whole lot of nothing," Scott stutters.

"You're right on top of it Thunderbird 1. Please tell me I'm not imaging things," John chuckles nervously.

Suddenly, Scott spots an unusually flat area of land in front of him and goes in for a closer inspection. As Thunderbird 1 draws near, Scott makes out some man-made structures and does a scan of the area.

"You're not. Check this out," Scott calls. As he brings Thunderbird 1 down he sends John a diagram of the area.

"An old uranium mine," John muses, "Must have gotten reopened somehow. Better seal that baby up."

"F-A-B, I'm on it," Scott replies. He lands Thunderbird 1 outside the mines entrance and his comm starts beeping as he receives an incoming call from Brains. Once he accepts the call, Brains' hologram appears in front of him.

"P-Pop quiz, Scott. What's invisible, always around you and deadly in large quantities?" Brains asks.

"The smell of Grandma burning dinner again?" Scott questions.

"I heard that young man," Sally's voice replies.

"Oops," Scott smirks.

"Nearly. The correct answer is radiation. It's always there and quite harmless in tiny quantities," Brains says as Scott starts to put on his gear, for when he exits Thunderbird 1. This includes changing out of his blue International Rescue suit and into an orange radiation suit. He ensures that he has all the equipment he can carry on him. "Unfortunately, where you are right now, there's approximately 4,953 times the safe amount in the air, give or take," Brains continues.

"If this is a pep talk Brains, it's not going so well," Scott deadpans.

"But fear not. The radiation shielding on your suit will protect you, for a while at least. But if I were you I wouldn't hang around for too long," Brains explains.

"Not planning to," Scott says, making the final adjustments to his suit and putting on a protective helemt before exiting Thunderbird 1 via the pilots chair. "Huh," he remarks as he takes a quick look around.

"Keep an eye on your Geiger counter, Scott. If it strays into the red, get out fast or you'll end up crispier than Grandma's meatloaf," Brains jokes.

"I'm still here, you know," Sally's voice replies.

"Sorry," Brains apologises.

"It sounds like you're in more trouble than I am right now, Brains," Scott chuckles, "Thunderbird 1 out." He remotely closes up the hatch and he starts to walk over to the entrance. Upon entering Scott waves his torch around and looks for a button to turn off the radiation alarm. He approaches a switch board and takes a look around. "Ah. The system must have come back online somehow and opened up the main hatch to the mine. Probably a short circuit." he comments. Seeing nothing of interest he finds a doorway into another room and walks forward.

"I found the owner. Van Arkel Corp," John reads, "The largest extraction and refining operation on the continent. But the mine and it's onsite processing facility was closed down 20 years ago in 2040."

"Ugh. They didn't even bother to clean up, by the looks of it," Scott replies picking up a Fireball XL burger box and continues looking for a way to close the mine. In the last room before the mineshaft there is are display cabinets that each have a protective suit in and a green light showing that it is locked. However, what Scott does see as he approaches the shutdown button on the wall, is that one of the cabinets is empty. "Time to pull the plug on this place for good."

"Shhh, you're telling us that we got dressed up for nothing?" Virgil scoffs looking over to a quite Alan.

"Sorry, Thunderbird 2. This place is history. Sealing main hatch," Scott says and takes one last look at the display cabinets behind him and notices a red light. "Hold that thought..." he trails as he looks down at the floor to notice extra footprints that weren't his, "Someone's down there!"

"In the mine? Who in their right mind would want to do that?" John exclaims.

"Only one way to find out," Scott says looking down, "I'm going in."

"Scott, we're 10 minutes out. Why don't you wait in case you need backup?" Virgil asks.

"Whoever's down there might have no idea how much danger they're in," Scott explains, "Thunderbird 5, how long can we leave this hatch open before it causes a major problem?" While talking to John, he drops a light down into the shaft to see how deep it is and the light quickly disappears into the darkness.

"15 minutes, tops. Or maybe less," John mutters and adds the weather overlay to the holo-map he is sharing with his brothers, "I'm picking up a major weather system heading your way. If that storm hits before you can plug the leak it'll carry the fallout over, downtown Pretoria, population 12.5 million."

"Then I'd better make this quick," Scott winces.

"If you don't, Thunderbird 1, you'll wind up fried worse than Grandma's chicken wings," Virgil says, again looking over to a quiet Alan, which was increasingly worrying him as he is normally the energetic one of the group.

"Careful, you never know who's listening. And for the record, I love Grandma's chicken wings," Scott comments and sets up his grapple, "Besides the fall will probably finish me off long before the radiation does." He attaches the grapple to the top of the lift door and starts to head down the main shaft.

"100 meters... 150," Scott says as he goes further down. He then swings over to a rock as starts a new grapple. "200," he mumbles to himself and swings over to the opposite ledge, almost falling off, "Whoa." Scott wobbles slightly on the edge and manages to regain his balance. "I hope I have enough grapple packs. Oh well. Can't hang around here all day."

He fires another grapple straight across the lift shaft and throws himself across to another rock that is sticking out. Scott breathes a sigh of relief as he takes in the area that he finds himself in. In his pocket, Scott pulls out his torch and shines it across to look at the rock formations. "Wow this mine is deep."

"You found our sightseer yet, Thunderbird 1?" Alan asks.

"Negative. Still in the dark here and I'm almost out of rope," Scott replies.

"We're nearly there. Why don't you come up? We'll figure something out," Virgil suggest.

"It's okay. I think I see my way in. It's just gonna take a little precision timing," Scott replies as he spots a doorway several meters below his current point. He uses one of his last grapple packs and fires it upwards to connect it to a secure part of the mines rockface and throws himself off his perch. The momentum from this allows him to swing over towards ledge and almost reach it. However just as he goes to grab the side of the doorframe, he feels a tug from above and feels the grapple come away from where it is connected.

"Fuck!" Scott shouts as he attempts to grab the door but is unable to and proceeds to fall down the shaft.

March 19th, 2060 - 08:12 CAT

Meanwhile, at the surface, Thunderbird 2 comes into land. Virgil using the VTOL engines to rotate his green bird into position to land on the flat area of land that Thunderbird 1 had left unoccupied.

"Thunderbird 5 was right, that storm is heading this way. You nearly done Thunderbird 1?" Virgil asks as he powers down the VTOL engines and rests Thunderbird 2 perfectly next to Thunderbird 1.

"Urh," Scott mumbles.

"Scott? Everything all right down there?" Virgil questions.

"What? Falling. Falling. Someone cut the line," Scott mumbles as he is carried by a metal suit towards a metal box.

"I didn't copy that. It sounded like you said..." Virgil replies and mumbles something untranslatable about Scott's reply.

"Huh, hey what?" Scott asks as he finally awakes fully. The fall had knocked him clean out and he is now suffering from a headache causes by a mild concussion. As he looks over away from the metal suit he sees that it leading him straight towards a box which has two doors swung open ready to lock him inside. "Uh! No thanks, metal man!"

Scott manages to rest his feet on either side of the box and use his weight to escape from the suit and roll underneath the legs of it in order to escape. The suit quickly turns around and charges towards Scott, who is struggling to get back to his feet as he pushes himself backwards. "Hey listen! Whoever's in there, can we start again?" Scott asks as his back hits a uranium container forcing him to scramble to his feet once again, "I kinda feel like we got off the wrong foot." The suit swings out an arm towards another container and pelts it in the direction of Scott's head. Scott, while still a little groggy, manages to duck just in time and avoid getting hit but is forced to remain heavily focused as the box he'd previously backed into is now flying towards his stomach as the suit takes another swing. All Scott can do is push himself backwards, which only ends up with him back on the floor. His eyes dart around looking for an escape but is unable to and before Scott knew it, he ends up backed in a corner.

"Thunderbird 1? What's happening?" Alan asks confused of what's going on.

Scott is initially unable to reply as a uranium crate next to him is throw towards is legs causing him to roll out of the way and go through the legs of the suit once again. "Fucking hell, this intruder doesn't play well with others," Scott responds and spots a metal gantry in front of him and starts climbing up. In the commotion the person in the suit loses sight of Scott and looks around trying to spot him. "You know, I'm a reasonable guy!" he cries just before jumping off the frame work and onto the suits roof, putting it into a spin.

"Why don't we... fucking hell! Talk about it?" Scott grunts as he tries to keep his grip on the suit which continues in the spin around uncontrollably. "Well this is gonna fucking hurt," he mumbles and puts all of his strength into it and manages to twist the metal suit around and down but pins himself underneath it. Fully expecting a man to exit a suit, he is surprised to see a female in a green and grey radiation suit exit instead.

"Wow she's-!" Scott trails in his thoughts.

"Unbelievable!" the female scoffs.

"Erm... I'd... Er shake your hand but Erm... I'm kind of stuck here," Scott stutters going red in the face, as the female walks away, "Any chance for some help?"

"You've wasted enough of my time already," the female replies and picks up a large rucksack.

"You won't get away with stealing that, whatever it is," Scott says, still struggling to get out from under the suit.

"Refined uranium, and I'm not stealing it! I'm taking back what's mine," she growls. She turns and walks over to the elevator which Scott now notices. The lift is filled to the brim with uranium containers.

"Well... Erm you've kinda overloaded that you know. The elevator's too old and won't take the weight," Scott warns.

"Nice try!" the female sneers.

"Are you just gonna leave me down here?" Scott asks as he struggles to get out from under the metal suit.

"That's funny. I don't remember inviting you," the female replies and the elevator starts to go up.

In the next few seconds are a blur; Scott manages to squeeze out from underneath the metal suit and get to his feet. The elevator goes up normally for the first fifty meters until it starts to rattle. There's a loud snap as the cable that pulls the elevator upwards gives up. It comes hurtling towards the ground. Scott's eyes widen in horror and reaches into his grey sash and brings out a grapple pack and attaches it to his grapple gun and times his shot perfectly so the rope manages to squeeze through the woman and her backpack before attaching the opposite wall. However, Scott isn't out of the woods yet and throws himself to the side, still holding the grapple gun in hand. He manages to do this just in time before the elevator crashes into the ground and pings up in the direction of the metal suit. As it hits the suit, most of the uranium containers that was on it, breach and hundreds of cans of refined uranium go sprawling out across the platform. A sigh of relief escapes Scott's lips as he gets to his feet again, something that is now becoming a common occurrence in this mine, much to his displeasure.

"Let me down! Let me down right now or you'll be sorry," she complains. Scott reels in the rope slowly and manages to get her down safely. He helps to remove her backpack in order to get the rope out from between them and settles it on the ground. This doesn't improve the woman's mood, who remains very angry and upset with Scott, "No, no, no!"

"That's ok. You can thank me later," Scott says sarcastically.

"Thunderbird 1, what's going on? Radiation levels are rising even faster," John interjects.

"Um, yeah, I've had complications. Every fucking storage capsule in the main shaft has been compromised," Scott replies.

"Everything was going fine till you fucking showed up, arsehole," the female yells.

"What the fuck? Who's that?" Alan cries.

"Yeah," Virgil and John add in unison.

"Oh, that's uh... well we actually, haven't been formally introduced," Scott replies starting at the female, captivated by her.

"I'm Marion Van Arkel. This is... was my family's mine. And if there's anyone who shouldn't be here, it is you," Marion responds giving Scott a shove in the chest.

"I didn't... hear you complaining when... I... er rescued you from that little elevator malfunction just now," Scott fires back, getting a bit more confidence.

"If you hadn't barged in and made me rush," Marion says.

"Hey," Virgil calls worried that tensions could rise.

"I'm sorry!" stats Scott.

"Wha...," Marion trials clearly stunned after formulating an argument in her head.

"I was called out due to abnormal radiation levels in the area and the fallout could cause serious complications for the people of Pretoria," Scott explains.

"Guys, we need to figure a way to get you out of there before your organs get microwaved," Virgil says, interrupting the moment.

"You really have a way with words Thunderbird 2," Scott says, "I get the message, scan the mine, see if you can find another way out. I'll have to keep an eye on my friend here until we get out, she's not exactly the stable type."

"Like we don't know you have a crush on her," Alan points out.

"One word, Kayo," replies Scott as walks after Marion to see where she was going, "Where you going?"

"I know another way out if you want to follow me. But I'm not waiting around after what your brother said about the radiation levels," Marion replies.

To the side of the platform there were some stairs that lead downwards. Marion picks up her backpack once again and heads in the direction of the stairs. Scott, not wanting to be left behind, follows her in hot pursuit. They go past some old equipment before coming to a junction with the corridors all looking exactly the same. Marion goes down the left tunnel which miraculously is still lit up by lamps that have been attached to the rocky walls.

"Are you sure this is the way out? All these tunnels look the same to me," Scott pants.

"I practically grew up here. Most little girls had dolls' houses. I had bore holes, crosscut tunnels, and haulage ways," Marion says, "I loved it. And then the UN, now The World Council, shut it all down." She pauses as the pair continue walking, "Mind the gap," she says, jumping over a large hole.

Scott quickly follows, "To be honest, the way the planet was using nuclear power wasn't safe. It's a better world now thanks to the people of the 2020s."

"Not for my family or for me. You try getting a job as a nuclear materials expert in a world that reviles it," Marion explains.

"So what were you going to do? Sell the leftovers and restore the family's fortunes?" Scott asks, intrigued.

"Exactly. I had a buyer as well," Marion replies.

"Someone made you an offer you couldn't refuse, and you never saw his face... yeah we call him The Hood," Scott says.

"It makes no difference now," Marion says and sighs.

"I'm just here to do my job," replies Scott and gives her a comforting pat on the back. They turn a corner and stroll into an opening. They gaze up at a set of stairs that are embedded into the rockface. "What's this?"

"The back door," Marion replies.

"Holy shit," Scott gasps.

"Thunderbird 1, this is Thunderbird 2, look at the radiation reading," Virgil says, looking at Alan's monitoring of the radiation.

"I know," Scott replies and looks at his own Geiger reader which is now entering the red zone. He know he needs to remain vigilant and keeps close to Marion as they continue to walk up the stairs that leads to the back door. He then sees a problem, "Wait!"

"What?" replies Marion and stops.

"Look, the stairs end halfway and we have no time to go back down," Scott says, and calls in Virgil and Alan, "Thunderbird 2... we have a problem."

"That's it. Scott, Alan's coming down there and getting you out," Virgil says.

"Alright," replies Scott.

"On it," says Alan and went to configure The Mole.

"John can you close the main hatch?" Scott enquires.

"I'll do my best," John replies.

"Hard to say goodbye," Scott says, looking over to Marion as well as taking a quick look at her figure.

"This might sound funny to you but I was happy here once. I'm now happier leaving," Marion says.

"Good to hear. We don't know what The Hood could of done to all of that Uranium, all the damage... It might have restored your family's fortunes but it doesn't mean it's the right thing to do," Scott states.

"Scott I've managed to tap into the mine's system and the main shaft is closed, Alan's your only way out," John informs over the comms.

"Copy that," Scott acknowledges, before turning back to Marion, "What you gonna do with that extra Uranium?"

Marion looks at her rucksack and back to Scott and back again, before unclipping it and throwing it to the bottom of the stairs, "The right thing," she replies.

Scott smiles and turns around as Alan bursts through the wall, "Now who's up for getting out of here?" Alan asks.

"Good to see you bro," Scott replies, "Ladies first."

"I hope the one seat is okay with you," Alan says and winks at Scott as he sees him going red in the face.

"Yeah that's fine," Scott grimaces looking down.

March 19th, 2060 - 10:34 CAT

Eventually Alan makes it out with Scott and Marion and Virgil blocking any entrances and exits where fallout can exit the mine and to stop anyone from entering.

"See you back at the ranch Thunderbird 1," Virgil says as he and Alan take off in Thunderbird 2.

"Copy that," Scott replies.

"What about The Hood?" Marion enquires, "He's expecting a delivery of refined uranium."

"Let us worry about that," Scott says and shows Marion a single uranium container that he has put onboard Thunderbird 1, "I've picked up a little something from the control room before Virgil sealed it up."

"You'd never even know it was there," Marion sighs as the couple look over the now empty flat wasteland. All sign of human activity having been removed by Virgil and Alan.

"It's for the best," Scott comments.

"I know that now," Marion nods, "Guess I'll have to think about a new line of work."

"Not necessarily. You could always work for International Rescue. Since our father went missing in 2058, we've always needed an extra pair of hands," Scott offers.

"Are you sure?" Marion questions.

"101%," Scott smiles, "Can get irritating sometimes when you're stuck with only your brothers all day."

"Thank you," Marion blushes as her check go into a tinted pink colour.

"Let's get your stuff and we'll head to Tracy Island. And I need to check on my youngest brother cause he's been acting weird," Scott says.

"Well let's hurry then," Marion replies and the two set off.

March 19th, 2060 - UNKNOWN

Inside a large palace, there is a long hallway with a desk at the end. Tall, cream pillars line the walls on either side, giving the room a clear line of symmetry down the middle. A chandelier hangs from the ceiling, lighting up the room as well as the colourful artwork that is located on the curved panels that are placed between golden bands that are evenly spaced out. A huge soft and patterned rug resides on the floor, covering up most of the gleaming marble surface. At the back of the hallway is a red bookshelf that covers the whole of the back wall. However, most of it is covered by a golden dome that is chained to the top of it. In the centre of the dome and imprinted front and centre is The Hood's symbol.

The Hood sits as his desk and rubs his hands together with glee at the sight of a black uranium container in front of him. However, his smirk quickly disappears as he opens the container to a look of shock. To his surprise, there is not refined uranium in the box at all. Instead there is a single empty Fireball XL Burger box. The Hood drops the box back into the container and slumps back down in his seat.

A scowl forms swiftly on his face and he yells, throwing the container off his desk and into a heap on the floor and bangs both of his fists down harshly onto the desk.

"Aaaaaahhhhhhh!" The Hood screams, "Curse you International Rescue!"