October 11th, 2061 - 05:34 MDT
A motorbike speeds along the white snow planes of central Canada. It has an Echelon Decoding Device connected to the side of it as speeds away from an incident that had happened just a few moments ago. The man's boss had just rung him asking for its transferal to his secret base. However, above him, Thunderbird S appears, its shadow covering the bike completely causing the man to look up in horror. Revving the engine, the motorcyclist turns off towards a tunnel as the large stealth plane closes in on him, thinking that the Thunderbird couldn't follow.
Little does he know, Kayo has other ideas, and quickly follows after him. As the man's motorbike disappears into the tunnel, Kayo pulls a leaver to the right of her and releases her Shadow Bike from the main body of Thunderbird Shadow. She revs her own engines as the platform is lowered before screeching her tires and shooting off after him keeping hot on his tail as she enters the tunnel. The Shadow Bike quickly catches up behind the fleeing man's bike and Kayo swerves trying to get herself around the other bike in order to cut it off in the tunnel. The man sees this and tries to block her off. However, an idea pops into her head as she'd recently seen one of Alan's old movies. Pushing her foot down on the accelerator, Kayo revs her engine once again and starts to go up the wall of the tunnel before looping over him and getting in front. She locks eye contact with the man with her signature smirk plastered on her face and quickly applies her brakes. The other motorbike crashes into the back of her, spinning out of control and throwing the guy off into the side wall knocking him unconscious. Kayo jumps out of her bike and drags the man out of the tunnel, before dropping him on the ground as law enforcement can collect him. Walking away, she makes it to the motorbike and picks up the device and calls John.
"John, it's Kayo. The Echelon decoding device has been recovered," Kayo states.
"Wait, what?" John questions, "You engaged with the subject? Kayo, you were just supposed to shadow him."
"We did a little... shadow boxing," Kayo smirks.
5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Thunderbirds are Go!
October 12th, 2061 - 07:01 NZST
In the lounge area, Sally and Alan are sitting on the sofas watching the fight between Scott and Kayo unfold. Scott is not a happy man.
"...Scott do not tell me how to do my job," Kayo fires back.
"It's not that we don't appreciate your excellent work, Kayo, it's just that this is not what we do," Scott complains.
"Why not?" Kayo shoots.
"Because we're not the police," Scott exasperates, "We leave the law enforcement up to the GDF. Our priority is people. Our job is to help rescue and clean up during international disasters. Not chasing after bad guys!"
"Scott, we can't always wait for catastrophe to strike!" Kayo shouts, "If I hadn't taken action and retrieved that decoding device, he could have accessed the computer system of every government in the world."
"Yep, but he didn't," Scott says not noticing his mistake.
"That's right," Kayo smirks, "By stopping the thief, I stopped an international disaster before it happened." Scott opens his mouth to reply but the comm goes off and John appears on the holo-screen.
"We have a situation developing," John says.
"This discussion isn't over," Scott points.
"I'm sure," Kayo deadpans, rolling her eyes in annoyance.
"What's the situation, John?" Scott asks.
"The Central Air Traffic Control Hub, CATCH, has gone offline," John explains, displaying a large hologram of the USA.
"What do you mean gone offline'?" Scott questions.
"I mean it's disappeared, gone, no longer working," John explains, "That means there's over two thousand planes stuck in the air with no way of landing safely."
"I'd say that's a problem," Alan says from his position on the sofa.
"John, monitor all communications, see if you can find the source of the problem," Scott orders.
"I've tried to access the CATCH computer but it's locked. If we can't bring it back online—" John trails.
"It's only a matter of time before there's an accident," Scott notes, "Alright... Kayo, I need you to go to CATCH and scout the compound, see is you can find out what's going on. Alan go with her."
"Here," a voice calls and Kayo turns around to see an object thrown at her, which appears to be a remote access chip. She looks up and see Brains entering the room.
"What's this?" Kayo asks.
"A remote access chip," Brains confirms, "P-Place it in the computer and hopefully I'll be able to reboot CATCH from here." Kayo nods and starts to leave with Alan but is stopped by Scott.
"Kayo..." Scott warns.
"Scott," Kayo sighs.
"Under no circumstance are you to engage in any hostile activity," Scott orders, "This is a reconnaissance mission only. If you find trouble, contact John and get out of there. He'll alert the GDF. Understand?"
"F-A-B. That's why Alan is babysitting right," Kayo states and winks at Alan as he sits down in his chair next to her.
"Virg," Scott says into his earpiece, "Time to suit up. I'll explain on the way. Thunderbirds are go!"
5
Virgil's rocket painting tilts backwards as Scott, Alan and Kayo descend to get suited up.
4
The pod equipment is loaded into Module 2.
3
Thunderbird S's platform heads up the ramp.
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!
October 11th, 2061 - 13:38 PDT
John watches the holo-map in front of him as he tries to manually direct as my planes as he can to their nearest airports. However, trying to land two thousand planes manually, without overcrowding airports is an impossible task. As he finishes with one plane, his worst fears start coming true. He receives a mayday call from a plane and manages to ping its location. On the map a warning symbol appears near Thunderbird 2's location, which is now passing over the Nevadan Desert.
"Thunderbird 5 to Thunderbird 2," John calls, "I'm picking up a distress signal nearest your location. I'm sending the coordinates now."
"Coordinates received," Scott says, "Virgil I'll double time it to your location. After-burners on."
"All right," Virgil says and speeds up along with Thunderbird 1, heading towards the distress signal. When he arrives, he is unable to see anything at all. Virgil looks down towards the grey clouds and is just able to make out a trail of black smoke that distinguishes itself from the clouds surrounding it. After pressing a couple of buttons on his control unit, Virgil pushes his console forwards and dives after the smoke. Thunderbird 2 plunges through the clouds but soon a smoking blue and red plane comes into view through the thick clouds. Concerningly, the plane is in an almost nosedive. "She's losing too much altitude. Gotta help her level off," Virgil explains to Scott and turns sharply to try and get behind the plane. He opens the hatch doors in the module and attempts to get a lock on the plane. "Hold still for Virgil. Now!" Getting a green lock on his holo-screen, Virgil fires two sets of his grapples which connects to the underside of the plane which begins to level off. "Yeah! Dead-eye Virgil strikes again."
"Oh, so now you're suddenly a good shot," Scott jokes, remembering the time last year when Virgil was unable to get a lock on the underwater research submarine.
"Hey, I have to take every small victory I can get," Virgil jokes him return and flies Thunderbird 2 upwards but his smile fades when the plane continues to struggle, "This won't hold for long. It's you to you now, big brother."
"Matching speed," Scott says appearing from the clouds behind the green goliath, before flying directly below Thunderbird 2's course, "Virgil, you have control of Thunderbird 1. Just keep her flying straight. If only Marion wasn't visiting her parents right now."
"No worries, Scott, will do," Virgil replies.
"Though I would like her waxed and detailed when I get back too," Scott muses as he makes the final checks to his suit, putting on his helmet and checking his oxygen supply. He opens the cockpit window of Thunderbird 1 to allow him to lower his seat out before attaching the line to the bird. "I'm ready to go Virgil," Scott informs and jumps down, the plane wing landing perfectly below him. The speed causes Scott to skids across the length of the wing right to the back of the plane before his boots stop him, "Phew. Thank you for magnetic boots, Brains." Scott then stomps his way slowly over to the door on the side of the plane. "Thunderbird 5, this is Thunderbird 1. I'm at the emergency door. Can you remotely access the plane's on-board computer and unlock it?"
"Hacking the on-board computer of a plane in flight is a violation of—" EOS starts but is cut off by John opening a diagram of the plane and doing it anyway.
"Consider it done," John says and the emergency door flies opens, almost taking Scott out as it did to some of the cargo that was on the plane. Scott waits a few seconds to make sure it's safe before going in and making his way over to the cockpit to find the pilot knocked out.
"Virgil, the pilot's out cold, but stable," Scott informs, moving her over to a passenger seat, "I'll have to land this thing."
"Right behind you. Be careful Scott," Virgil acknowledges.
"F-A-B," Scott says sitting down in the co-pilots seat.
October 11th, 2061 - 16:54 EDT
Kayo flies Thunderbird Shadow over several hills with no sign of civilization for miles. Suddenly, the CATCH compound, appears in sight. A large satellite dish is on the roof on the main building in the complex, but no sign of life. This makes Alan very suspicious and does a quick scan of the building for Kayo. Thunderbird Shadow is in camouflage mode so not even military satellites can pick her up as it circles the compound several times.
"Looks like somebody's home," Kayo notes, receiving Alan's scan. She flies through a couple of security posts before coming into land on the back of the satellite dish. She climbs out along with Alan and starts to look around.
October 11th, 2061 - 13:56 PDT
Scott tries to pull a lever inside the fried controls of the plane.
"This is a mess," Scott comments, choosing to ignore all the warning lights going off around him. They break through the clouds, Thunderbird 2 unable to keep the plane in the sky for long. Looking up, Scott sees the Nevadan desert in front of him. A long stretch of flat ground of sand can be seen unfolded. "I see a strip of land where I can put her down."
"Are you sure Scott? It's not very big," Virgil states, indicating to a cliff that is at the end of the strip.
"No other options. Follow my flight pattern," Scott orders just as the left wing finally breaks off almost taking out Thunderbird 2. Unfortunately, it did take something else out, the grabbles that are connecting the plane to Thunderbird 2. The only thing keeping the plane from rapidly hitting the ground like a pancake in a pan. "I'm going down! Get ready for a bumpy landing."
"Scott, hold on!" Virgil yells as the holo-diagram of the plane is beeping. Scott lands the plane with a bump, and it starts to run along the desert floor at a quick pace. Thinking swiftly, Virgil flies Thunderbird 2 directly behind it and manages to attach two grapples to the tail section to pull it to a halt. However, as Thunderbird 2 twists away from the aircraft, in a effort to slow it down, all it achieves is ripping the plane into two. The nose disappears into a cloud of sand and dust as it continues to run along the ground until it comes to a halt, with the very tip precariously balanced over a cliff.
"Phew. That was close," Scott sighs.
"You're not out of the woods yet, Scott," Virgil says and the plane creaks as it balances awkwardly on the edge. Scott runs across into the cargo bay, and his eyes dart around, spotting a forklift in the corner of his eye. He charges over to it and gets into the drivers seat. A large on button is located right under the wheel and Scott presses it before proceeding to move it forwards into the cargo that is still on the plane. It pushes it right back of the plane before Scott brings it to a halt. The extra weight now at the back of the plane causes it to balance itself out.
October 11th, 2061 - 17:10 EDT
Alan and Kayo are sneaking around on the roof when they both hear voices. Kayo drag's Alan against a wall as she hears movement up ahead and indicates to him to be quiet. She peaks around the corner and spots two goons dressed in black, wearing a black ski mask with green eye holes in the front. The couple, Kayo leading the way, sneak past them over to a window in the ceiling, they look down over the edge and see several more goons inside. Sitting in a chair there is a man talking and Kayo instantly narrows her eyes in frustration. Alan gets a good look at the guy inside and his insides turn.
"Excellent," The Hood's voice says.
"And the planes?" Mullion, the man in the chair and The Hood's leading henchman from the island invasion a couple of years ago.
"Oh, I'm sure they'll sort it out. Most of them," The Hood cackles.
"Thunderbird 5, come in," Alan whispers and gets a death stare from Kayo.
"This is Thunderbird 5. What do you see?" John asks.
"It's The Hood. He's shut down CATCH and has no plan to reboot it," Alan explains.
"Alright, you guys get out of there, I'll alert the GDF. Return to Shadow and wait for backup."
"What's that John? You're breaking up," Kayo says walking over to Alan and turning his comm off before taking it off him.
"Shut up and follow," Kayo orders to Alan and indicates for him to follow.
Kayo leads the way as she slides down the side of the building onto the gravel road. The sun hiding behind one of the tall hills that surround the complex casting a large shadow around her. Her turquoise suit melding well against the blue concrete structure behind her, unlike Alan who's red sash stuck out like a sore thumb. Kayo gets low as she starts crawling around the edge of the building, making her way towards an emergency door that is located around the back of the main building. She uses a route marked out on her wrist communicator to lead Alan through all the blind spots in order to not get caught by the goons that are now littering around the building. Once they reach it, Kayo slowly creaks the door open, waiting for any sudden movement to come inside. There is none.
She barges the door open causing a muffled shout to echo through the room, followed by the unmistakable sound of a scuffle. Instinctively, she tenses, her position given away and grabs onto her stun gun. The room grows quieter, but the tension doesn't dissipate. It is almost as if the very air is holding its breath, waiting for something to break the silence.
A goon finally stumbles into view, a bruise already blooming on his cheek and a look of absolute terror in his eyes. He doesn't see Alan nor Kayo at first, too busy trying to recover from what looks like an electrical bruise on closer inspection. Knowing that they're going to be discovered anyway, Kayo decides to break the silence. "Hey buddy," Kayo calls out cheerfully, "You look like you're having a worse day than I am." The goon's head snaps up, and he freezes, spotting the figure in the doorway.
"Well, that's not the look of a man eager to chat," Kayo says, feigning disappointment, "But, since you're here, I might as well ask if you know anything about The Hood. He's got some explaining to do, and I've got all evening." The goon's eyes widen even further, and he stumbles backward, only to bump into more of his own kind, armed and ready for a fight.
The second goon takes a step forward, brandishing a baseball bat with a smug grin. "You looking for trouble, love?" he sneers, "This is no place for a stripper."
"Trouble?" Kayo replies, cocking her head to the side deciding to ignore the stripper comment, "I'm more of a 'trouble finds me' kind of girl. But if you insist on keeping it company, I'm happy to introduce you two."
With a flick of her wrist, she cocks the stun gun in her hand, aiming the gun right at the first goon. "I'm not great at small talk, so let's cut to the chase, shall we?"
"Kayo!" Alan whispers as he goes into his own tool belt to get his own stun gun.
With a flick of her wrist, she unsheathes a small dagger from an ankle holder, the blade glinting in the neon glow.
The goons exchange confused glances before charging at him as one. Kayo's grin widens. She doesn't need a fancy superpower to predict their moves; they are about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the face. Taking a sidestep the first swing, her gun fires into the back of one of them, but a second goon knocks it out of her hand and sends it flying into a wall on the far side of the room. Impressed, Kayo raises her eyebrow and beckons for more as a third man swings at her with a dagger. Kayo ducks and dodges as several swings are thrown at her before doing an uppercut to the check and sending the man to the ground, the blade falling perfectly into her hand.
"Kayo! Behind you!" Alan shouts as he takes out one man with his gun.
Kayo turns around to see a man coming at her with a baseball bat. Her dagger becomes blur as it slices through the air, moving out of the way as the man goes flying past her. The bat clatters to the ground, its former wielder clutching his now-severed hand with a howl. The others pause, their bravado momentarily forgotten. "Oops, slippery when wet," Kayo quips, pointing at the blood pooling around the goon's fingers. The others glare, their fear turning to anger. They draw their weapons: knives, chains, and a taser that looked like it had seen better days.
"Alright, you've got my attention," Kayo sighs, hopping into a ready stance, "But before we get down to business, I've gotta ask: Did you really think a bunch of clowns like you could take on someone with a sword and a vendetta?"
The goons growl in unison, their charge fueled by a mix of pain and embarrassment. They rush her, and the dance began. Each swing and thrust is met with a parry or a dodge, each electric arc of the taser dodged with a casual flip. The room becomes a symphony of clanging metal and grunts of effort, a battle ballet performed in shadows of the CATCH Headquarters. Alan unable to keep up in the mist of the battle, taking out the occasional goon with his stun gun.
Kayo moves with the grace of a dancer, her small dagger whispering through the air. She disarms one, sends another flying with a well-placed kick, and leaves the taser-wielding goon twitching on the ground. Her heart races with the thrill of the fight, but her mind remaining sharp, always looking for the next opening. Behind her, she can almost feel the worried eyes of Alan, reminding her to keep her emotions in check.
As the last goon falls, panting and defeated, Kayo puts her new dagger into an empty ankle holder and dusts off her hands. "Looks like The Hood's fan club isn't all it's cracked up to be," she scoffs, flashing a grin, "Now, who wants to tell me where I can find the main act?"
The goons exchange desperate looks. One speaks up, his voice shaking. "We don't know where he is, love. We swear!"
"Ah, come on," Kayo pouts, her tone light despite the edge in her eyes, "Someone must know. Don't make me ask again." She takes a step closer, and the goon flinches.
"Okay, okay," the same goon blurts out, "Mullion would know. He's over there." He points over to the main control room in the room over.
Kayo chuckles. "Now that wasn't so hard was it. But thanks for the tip." She offers a two-fingered salute and disappears back into the shadows of the room, leaving the goons for the GDF to pick up. Alan cautiously following behind her.
"We have all CATCH personnel locked in the sub-basement, just as you ordered," Mullion explains to The Hood over the comms, unaware of the battle that has just taken place, "They puts up no resistance."
"Everything is right on schedule. Soon we'll have what we need, and no one will be any the wiser," The Hood muses, "Keep CATCH shut down for another hour and that should be a good enough diversion."
"Yes Sir," Mullion says ending the communication.
"This is all a diversion. But for what?" Alan muses as the couple sneak up behind Mullion.
October 11th, 2061 - 14:16 PDT
Meanwhile, Virgil has landed Thunderbird 2 a few feet away from the plane and has her on her landing struts. The module door opens as Virgil exits in his exo-suit and he charges over to the back of the plane. He looks through all the cargo back to Scott, who's made his way back to the cockpit of the plane to assess how to get the pilot out.
"Scott!" Virgil shouts.
"Stay back! This plane is a tightrope walker on roller skates," Scott states, "I need to try and get the pilot out and any sudden movements will cause this thing to take a header into the gorge."
"F-A-B. I'll try to secure it with a tow line," Virgil says and runs back to Thunderbird 2. Scott turns back around with a sigh and notices that the pilot has begun to regain consciousness.
"Must gain altitude," she mumbles and goes to get up but is preventing in doing so by Scott.
"Easy. You had a hard landing and we're still in danger," Scott says, "I need you to sit still."
"There was a plane and... who are you?" the pilot asks, clearly confused.
"International Rescue," Scott says and helps her get comfortable in the pilot seat, "It's okay, everything's going to be fine." As he says this, the plane begins to tilt again and Scott pulls the pilot back. "Woah! Or not."
October 11th, 2061 - 17:21 EDT
Inside CATCH, Mullion starts to regain consciousness from his position on the floor. When he finally comes to, he looks up to see Kayo is sat in the control seat with Alan to her right.
"Rise and shine, sleepyhead. Time to talk," Kayo coaxes with a smirk, "What brings you to the neighbourhood?"
"You think I'd ever tell you," Mullion sneers, "I remember that look for fear and dread on Tracy Island all those years ago and from what I can see all that's changed is that you can now throw one."
"I wouldn't be so sure on that one," Alan says with anger, arms crossed against his chest. "This Kayo here," he indicates with his finger, "Is badass. She's just taken out most of your men."
Mullion raises an eyebrow and chuckles. "I won't tell you any—" He stops when Kayo's right boot lands dangerously close to his crotch causing him to yelp and go back several feet. Mullion looks up and Kayo and lets out a low growl. "Fine! We were to sabotage CATCH as a diversion. The Hood knew the authorities would be focused on the skies."
"Instead of?" Alan pushes.
"Instead of his plan to steal a billion therms of Alsterene," Mullion says, "But it's too late. There's nothing you can do about it."
"Don't bet on it," Kayo snarls and handcuffs Mullion to the metal railings before walking away from him with Alan behind her, "John, this is Kayo. Do you read?"
"Yeah, suddenly I read you loud and clear which is weird because there's really no reason for your comms to—" John starts.
"Pass me to Brains please," Kayo interrupts.
"Connecting," John groans, "You're on with Brains."
"Have you f-found the source of the problem?" Brains asks, "It's still chaos in the skies."
"The Hood shut down CATCH to divert attention from a massive theft of Alsterene," Alan explains and watches a Kayo attaches the device to the systems which start to reload, "Kayo took out the hostiles and plugged in the device you gave her."
"It's up to you know Brains. Good luck," Kayo adds.
"But what about you?" Brains asks.
"I don't know about Alan, but I've got another job to do," Kayo says and starts to make her way out.
"N-No, Kayo. Stay where you are and wait for backup," Brains tries but Kayo turns off her comms again and turns to Alan.
"You in?" Kayo asks.
"Looks that way," Alan replies with a small smile and the pair make their way back to Thunderbird Shadow.
October 11th, 2061 - 14:32 PDT
The plane is still hangs in the balance as Virgil returns from Thunderbird 2 with a tow line to secure the plane. The plane starts to tip again and go over. "No, no, no!" Virgil cries and sprints over to the plane, attaching the end of the cable just as it falls. The line pulls taught and the plane stops going down the cliff face. "Come on! Hold! Just... Scott, you okay?"
"I guess okay is relative term," Scott answers and he holds onto the pilot and the pushes against the control panel to keep upright.
"I've had better days," the pilot adds.
"Maybe I could hoist you back up using Thunderbird 2?" Virgil suggests.
"Negative Virgil. The plane's too big and it's crumbling like one of Grandma's cakes," Scott dismisses as the plane creeks again, "We gotta get out of his fast."
"Any ideas?" the pilot asks.
"I'm open to suggestions," Scott replies.
October 11th, 2061 - 17:49 EDT
Thunderbird Shadow arrives below The Hood's ship, a huge aircraft that holds a large canaster of Alsterene attached to several cables. It's grey body is littered with weapons which Alan notes as Thunderbird Shadow attaches to the underside of the canaster.
"I'll wait here," Alan says from the back seat.
"Your call," Kayo says and gets out of the driver's seat and climbs up the side of the canaster onto one of the ropes that is holding it to the ship. Kayo climbs about three quarters of the way up the rope before throwing herself over to one of the large guns. She stops as she sees one of the goons standing by a disrupter.
"Hold it there," a goon says, "This was made for knocking aircraft out of the sky, but it'll do just fine on you. No funny stuff."
"Don't worry, you won't be laughing," Kayo smirks and jumps over to the gangway and kicks the end of the barrel as he turns it towards her, knocking him from the gangway over the edge of the ship to his death. "I was wrong. That was pretty funny."
October 11th, 2061 - 14:52 PDT
"Scott..." Virgil calls as the creaking intensifies, and the plane starts to slip. It then where the metal holding the tow line breaks away resulting in the plane falling. "It's going!"
"Hold on," Scott says grabbing onto the pilot and firing his grapple at the rock face. They go straight through the plane as it falls down into the gorge and explodes at the bottom.
"Oh!" the pilot exclaims as the pair are temporary engulfed by the smoke that has resulted from the explosion.
"I'm Scott, by the way," Scott introduces.
"Nice to meet you, Scott. Captain Jane Carter," the pilot replies.
"Good news," John says over the comms, "CATCH is back online."
"Great John. Glad to hear that Kayo and Alan were on the scene and in control," Scott smiles.
"Uh, yeah..." John stutters looking at Thunderbird Shadow's location, "Not exactly."
October 11th, 2061 - 17:53 EDT
The air around the Alsterene fuel ship is thick with the smell of ozone and burning plastic. Kayo dodges a stray laser blast with the grace of a caffeinated flamingo. "Seriously guys?" she quips, "Is that the best you got? I've seen better firefights in a kindergarten play." Two goons, with expressions like they've just been told their lunch is cancelled, shuffles closer, their makeshift laser rifles sputtering with every attempted shot. Kayo, never one to miss a performance opportunity, twirls, a flurry of acrobatic kicks leaving the goons sprawled on the deck, their weapons clicking harmlessly. "Oh, you're supposed to aim, guys," she sighs, "It's a shame, really. All that effort, literally going nowhere. You know, I wouldn't be surprised if The Hood considered firing you for such… 'unconventional' tactics."
A grunt of annoyance echoes off the metal walls as a third goon, wielding a thick metal pipe, charges at her. "We'll see about that, little bird!" he snarls, bringing the pipe down with a deafening clang.
"Do they ever earn?" Kayo mutters to herself and effortlessly sidesteps, the pipe whistling harmlessly past her ear. "Hold on a sec, pal," she grins, "I think you missed a spot." With a swift kick, she disarms him, sending the pipe flying across the ship. "Did you know, that thing's gonna make a pretty stellar boomerang? You're basically throwing your work life away!"
The goon, his face a picture of dumbfounded rage, just stares at her. Kayo, ever the showgirl, winks. "Don't worry, I'll leave you a note," she says, blowing a kiss as she leaps over the railing to the next section of the ship. She lands with a graceful thud, ready for the next wave of poorly trained goons. "Alright, Hood," Kayo announces in a booming voice, "You can't be serious. You're sending goons against me? What, you think I'm just gonna sit here and let you steal this fuel, all the while you're wearing that ridiculous mask?" The goons, confused and disoriented, exchange hesitant glances. Kayo, taking full advantage of their hesitation, continues her monologue. "Listen, I get it, you're trying to be this big, bad villain. But honestly? You're making it look like a bad high school play. I've seen better acting in a kindergarten recital!" Kayo shouts, trying to wind up her uncle.
The goons, their faces tinged with red from a mixture of embarrassment and anger, finally lung at her. They are met with a torrent of kicks, punches, and well-placed head-butts. Kayo, a whirlwind of turquoise and black, effortlessly dances around the attacks, each move punctuated with a witty quip or a sarcastic comment. "Hey, I'm pretty sure you've already been defeated," Kayo chuckles, dodging a particularly awkward attempt at a grapple, "Why don't you just get it over with?" She lands a perfect roundhouse kick on the last goon, sending him crashing into a pile of crates. "That's it, guys," she sighs, "You're all outta juice."
As the goons lie groaning on the deck, Kayo surveys the scene with a thoughtful frown. "This is getting ridiculous," she mutters, "I'm starting to think The Hood is completely incompetent. I mean, you'd think he'd send someone with, you know, basic fighting skills. Or maybe a weapon that isn't a blunt pipe." She shrugged, a mischievous glint in her eye. "Oh well, guess it's time to find The Hood himself and give him a piece of my mind." With a confident stride, Kayo makes her way through the ship, until she jumps up to the platform behind The Hood. In front of him on the gangway are the controls.
"Nice of you to join us, Tanusha," The Hood says without turning around.
"You really need to invest in a better class of baddies, Uncle," Kayo chuckles.
"As I mentioned before, excellent workers are hard to come by," The Hood exclaims, "The Tracy's are truly fortunate to have you to skulk in the shadows for them while they take to the sky. Why do you let them treat you like a minion, Kayo?" He walks around to stand behind her so he can whisper into her ear to fill her head with taunts and create doubt. "You have the skills and spirit to lead. Like me."
"You call this leading? You've risked thousands of lives just to cover a... fuel theft," Kayo whispers.
"Not just any fuel theft. The greatest fuel theft of all time," The Hood states, "Alsterene is the cleanest, most efficient combustible energy source that exists on our planet. This haul will allow me to run my operation for years to come."
"Not while I'm around," Kayo says with uncertainty as she turns around.
"Why do you help those that would hoard the resources of the world?" The Hood asks, "There are many that need this fuel far more than the rich companies who own it."
"Oh, I'm sure your motives are nothing but noble," Kayo mutters sarcastically, "You'd never sell the stolen fuel to the highest bidder. You're nothing but a common thief."
"Am I? You may find, Tanusha," The Hood empathises, "That things are not always as they appear."
"Enough talking," Kayo murmurs.
"Yes. Enough talking," The Hood says and beckons to four goons who surround Kayo, "There are only two kinds of people in the world. Those who act and those who react, such as the Tracy's. You are not one of them Kayo." He moves closer to her and leans in. "You know that. You and I are the same. We are bold. We see an opportunity and we take it."
Kayo gulps. "You're right." She taps her wrist. "Alan." A few seconds later, the wires connecting to the Alsterene tank begin to explode. The Hood runs over to look over the gangway.
"What?" The Hood cries, "Secure those tanks!" Kayo uses this opportunity to make her escape and jumps down to the gangway below and making it across to one of the lines to slide down.
"Kayo, satellite is picking up an explosion in your vicinity," John calls, "Help is on the way. Sit tight."
"Too late, John," Kayo says getting back into the driver's seat, "We might not get The Hood, but at least he won't get away with the stolen fuel." The final explosion happens that send the large canaster of Alsterene down towards the Earth. Kayo starts up Thunderbird Shadow's engines, as the tank falls to the ground.
"Kayo," Alan says, "I don't think Thunderbird Shadow is designed to take this kind of strain."
"We're not flying them home, Al. We just need a nice soft landing," Kayo says but Thunderbird Shadow seems to disagree as the engines start to struggle, "Come on, come on, just a little bit longer."
On The Hood's ship, one of the henchmen gets up and fires the disrupter at Thunderbird Shadow and gets accidently shoved over the edge by The Hood. "You fool!"
"We've been hit with a disrupter!" Kayo yells to Alan who continues to try and get the engines to work when he notices another problem.
"Kayo! The Alsterene tanks has separated," Alan shouts.
"Hang in there, guys. I'm on my way," Scott comms in as the engines of Shadow cut out.
"The engines are out," Alan yells and watches as Kayo tries the controls.
"Eject!" Scott exclaims in terror as he hears the situation unfolding.
"Ejection controls aren't responding," Kayo panics and looks up to see that The Hood's ship has taken a downward turn after her and the tank. The alarms blare as the ground approaches, when suddenly, a grapple connects to Thunderbird Shadow, unbeknownst to Alan and Kayo, who watch the Alsterene tanks hit the ground and explode. The couple finally look up from where the grapple came from as they are slowly lowered to the ground. It is The Hood's ship. Once they hit the ground the cable detaches and The Hood heads away from the scene of the incident just as Thunderbird 1 arrives.
"What are you doing? Why aren't you going after him?" Kayo says pointing over to the ship going off into the distance.
"People are the Thunderbirds priority Kayo," Scott sighs as Kayo scoffs in annoyance that The Hood was allowed to get away again.
"The Hood could have just as easily saved those tanks, but he saved us," Alan says confused, "Why?"
"Don't ask me. I'm just as surprised as you are," Kayo says a bit too quickly, jumping out of Thunderbird Shadow.
"I'm not happy about the way you handled this," Scott states, "A, You put yourself and Alan in danger and b, That's not the way International Rescue does things."
"Then maybe it's time to change the way things are done," Kayo sneers and helps Alan out of Thunderbird Shadow.
"Well, I'm just glad you guys are okay," Scott says before opening Thunderbird Shadow's damage statistics, "Looks like Brains has his work cut out for him. Think you might have fried the motor."
"It's for the best," Kayo smirks, "We wouldn't want Brains to have nothing to do."
"I heard that," Brains says over the comm channel causing everyone to laugh.