April 19th, 2066 – 20:03 NZST
Thunderbird 10 has now been operational for a few weeks now and both the World Council and GDF were impressed with International Rescue over its success. With Ridley being in charge of the large Thunderbird, which employed thousands of people from different sectors of expertise, her GDF training made sure that everyone on board did their job to the highest standard. The longest walk in the Thunderbird is 15km long and this meant that it is impossible for Ridley to be everywhere at once. Therefore, she spends most of her time in the central control room, which had its own teams and several large monitors dotted around it that covers, TV broadcasts, CCTV footage and satellite data. Ridley also that the contacts that would allow her to contact all major world leaders and diplomats in a matter of seconds if there was a crisis.
Another area that Ridley would use regularly is a restricted wing of the Thunderbird that only she could access, this is the International Rescue wing. Inside, there were 3 major docking stations and a living quarter. The docking stations were designed for Thunderbirds 3 and 5 as well as Brains' new Zero-X, which is still under construction. It is this wing where Ridley currently is residing in.
Brains had informed her that he would be doing the operation on Professor Borender at some point today and Ridley would need to hear his progress reports to submit to the GDF Hearing that would be on the subject of Borender, who they were still calling The Mechanic. Ridley and several other members of IR detested the use of this phrase but were unable to convince the World Council to put their foot down and force the GDF to change their documentation until they hear of Brains' progress.
As Ridley settled down on the couch and alarm goes off and the IR logo appears on the holo-screen in front of her. Ridley immediately sits up, knowing it's an emergency call and answers it.
"This is International Rescue," Ridley calls, "What's the situation?"
5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Thunderbirds are Go!
"My friend is trapped down a trash mine and is currently being chased by a Worm!" the man cries.
"Trash mine," Ridley mumbles as she does a quick search, and several windows open up in front of her as the man explains what's going on. At the same time, Ridley tracks down the caller's location and gets a lock in Northern England.
"... and somehow it's turned back on again," the man finishes, as he explains that an EMP had been used to try and shut down the Worm initially.
"Alright," Ridley nods, "What's your name again, Sir?"
"Lazlo," the man replies, "Please save her!"
"Help is on the way," Ridley states and ends the calls before pressing down on a TB5 button in the corner of the holo-screen, "John, you'll wanna hear this."
April 19th, 2066 – 20:19 NZST
Inside the Tracy Island lounge, Marion, Virgil, Nina and Gordon gather around the holo-table that is currently displaying a Worm. Behind, Scott and John appear in hologram form as John relays the information that he has received from Ridley.
"Sorry, what's a trash mine?" Scott inquires.
"Before Earth became a zero-waste society, people used to throw all their trash into big rubbish dumps called landfills," Nina explains.
"Right," Marion nods before point over to the hologram, "But these days we use WRMs, Waste Reclamation Machines, or Worms to tunnel into those old landfills."
"And process trash that can be recycled for precious metals," Virgil adds.
"Cool," Gordon beams.
"But a junk collector named Scraps snuck into an active mine and got trapped," John explains, "Somehow the Worm's controls have gotten scrambled and now it's chasing her. She managed to get a call out for help, but we can't reach her now."
"She must be too far underground," Marion muses, having some experience of that when she used to live in her family's uranium mine.
"Can't you just shut the worm down remotely?" Virgil asks.
"It's not responding," John answers and demonstrates as he tries again only for the hologram to flash red."
"Then we need to get down there before she gets recycled," Nina states.
"I wish I could help," Scott sighs, "But I'm going to be stuck in board meetings here at Tracy Industries."
"It's alright," Marion replies as she stands and turns to face the others in the room, "I'll take Thunderbird 7 and meet you both there."
"I'll try and get over there if I can," Scott adds, "I'll act as a mission control as this sounds like it could get messy."
"FAB," Marion smiles and takes a seat in her chair, in front of Scott's portrait, "See you in the sky."
7
Thunderbird 7 pulls out from a hanger underneath Thunderbird 1 to allow Marion to get inside.
6
A crane comes down and lifts Thunderbird 7 onto a platform.
5
Virgil's rocket painting tilts backwards and Nina and Gordon descend as they get suited up.
4
The pod equipment is loaded into Module 2.
3
Nina and Gordon board 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
The engines start as the blast shield rises.
Thunderbirds are Go!
April 19th, 2066 – 20:27 NZST
As the Thunderbirds start making their way towards the Indian Ocean, Marion calls in to check upon Thunderbird 2 before she takes the lead to get to the mine first and assess the situation.
"I'm heading straight to the mine," Marion informs, "John's unlocked the door remotely."
"FAB," Virgil acknowledges.
"Okay," Marion replies and goes to end the call but pauses and looks up again, "But I'm still not understanding why this Scraps person would go digging around in a trash mine on purpose."
"You have no idea how much cool stuff is down in those places, Marion," Gordon states.
"Ohh, don't tell me," Marion mutters and facepalms.
"Yeah," Gordon smiles, "I bought a few reclaimed things."
"Ohh, you're collecting trash?" Nina decides to interject,
"Not trash," Gordon states, "Cool, retro stuff. Pieces of history."
"But you've never gone down one of those Worm tunnels, have you?" Virgil asks.
"Noooo, I buy my stuff like everyone else, online," Gordon dismisses, "I'd never risk getting Wormed."
"I'll add this to the list of things to tell Lady Penelope," Nina sniggers.
"Wait!" Gordon starts and Marion just laughs before ending the transmission and zooming ahead in Thunderbird 7 towards the trash mine.
April 19th, 2066 – 10:11 BST
Marion arrives on site and sees a beautiful garden landscape laid out before her. There is nothing left to suggest that this was once a landfill site as it had been completely overtaken by the brilliant work of the landscape artists. To Marion's left, a large building stands, indicating to her that it is the entrance to the mine and hovers over it as she scans the gardens for a place to land. She spots a large patch of grass to the north and heads over to it, leaving enough space for Thunderbird 2 and possibly Thunderbird 1 to land. She gets out of her seat putting her jetpack on before making her way over to the gardener who is looking bitterly disappointed. Marion follows his gaze and gulps as she sees that Thunderbird 7's engines had damaged what she could only assumed was a giraffe hedge sculpture.
"Ooh," Marion grimaces and turns to the gardener, "I'm really sorry, Sir. I'm with International Rescue, here on an emergency mis...sion." Marion trails her words as the gardener seemingly ignores her and travels back up the ladder in an attempt to true and fix the destruction she caused. "Again, sorry about the giraffe," Marion calls but and flies over to the entrance of the mine, crouching slightly as she made her way through the door. As she starts to make her way down, Marion internally thanks herself for bringing a jetpack with her as she follows the spiral staircase downwards in a never-ending spiral.
Eventually, Marion arrives in the tunnels which have been seemingly made by a large tunnel boring machine, though she knew it had been the Worm. Marion radios in an update, "These go a lot deeper than I realised. We're going to need to configure a pod or two."
"FAB," Gordon and Nina reply.
"I'm heading back up to meet with you guys," Marion states and makes her way back to the surface. As she opens the door, she hears the sounds of Thunderbird 2's engines and quickly reaches over for her coms unit as she watches the gardener at work.
"Thunderbird 2," Marion shouts and runs over to the gardener, "Wait, don't. Oh. Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry. It really is an emergency."
"Humph," the gardener grunts as he makes his way back down the ladder and walks off in a huff as his giraffe is further ruined.
"Sorry again!" Marion chuckles nervously. She turns to look at Thunderbird 2 as Virgil lands and drops Module 2. The ramp then lowers to show Nina in the seat of The Mole.
"Mole pod, huh?" Marion mutters to herself, "Oh, good approach."
"That's not all," Gordon says in Marion's ear forcing Marion to look back over to the module to see Nina's Pod B emerge from inside revealing a Dragonfly Pod, "Ta-da!"
"With these Pods, we're prepared for anything down there," Nina explains.
"Gordon wants to pilot one of the Dragonfly's," Virgil informs, "So why don't you take the other one while I'll monitor operations from here until Scott arrives?"
"FAB," Marion agrees and everyone hops into their respective Pods, with Nina running back to pick up Pod C, which has also been configured to be a Dragonfly Pod. Once everyone is ready, Nina fires up The Mole and starts moving across the gardens.
"I'll take you in as far as I got," Nina calls, "Follow me to the edge of the park, I'll dig us away in."
They make their way over to the far side of the park and Nina puts The Mole into action. She uses the side of one of the small hills to start digging her way in, in order to keep the caterpillar tracks attached to The Mole once they made their way into the tunnel system. It takes a few minutes, but the team make their way inside the former landfill site. A large corridor opening goes off to their left slightly and the team start their way down there first.
"Scanning now," Nina states.
"Huh?" Gordon cries before turning around and heading back the way they came slightly, "No way!"
"What?" Marion asks as she and Nina bring their pods to a stop, "Did you locate Scraps on a scan?"
"No," Gordon gasps, "It's an old Okigo XV game console from 2020."
"Ugh," Marion groans, "Gordon, rescue mission now, broken junk later."
"Or never," Nina adds.
"Sorry, guys," Gordon sighs, "But it's like finding buried treasure down here!"
"Wait!" Marion calls, "Got a hit on Scraps. But she's not moving. And... Uh oh..."
"The Worm?" Nina questions.
"Yep," Marion confirms, "I can detect its ground vibrations. It's getting closer to her."
"That's crazy," Gordon comments.
"I know," Marion mutters, "The Worms aren't supposed to hunt people."
"Marion, I'm not sure we can get to her before it does," Gordon states.
"Yeah, we can, and we will," Marion says determinedly. The team go full speed as they use the holo-map of the tunnels to take short cuts in order to get over to Scraps before the Worm did. They arrive to a hole in the ground of one of the tunnels and they come to a stop.
"She's down here," Nina says.
"FAB," Marion nods and gets out of her Dragonfly and switches on her jetpack. She only had a limited time before the Worm would be right onto them. "Hey, Scraps," Marion calls.
"That's me," Scraps answers nervously, "I don't know who you are, but I'm so thrilled you're not a giant, hungry metal tube."
"Me too," Marion laughs and reaches out her hand, "I'm Marion Van Arkel from International Rescue. Grab on."
They fly up to the top and meet Gordon and Nina standing on the edge of the hole to give Scraps a helping hand.
"Hey, I'm Gordon Tracy," Gordon introduces, "Make any good discoveries down there?"
"Nothing big, just a communications device from, like, a billion years ago," Scraps replies.
"Whoa, rotary dial?" Gordon inquires.
"Good eye, are you a collector?" Scraps responds.
"Well, I dabble," Gordon states.
"Let's continue this conversation topside," Nina orders.
"I agree," Marion nods, "The Worm is still..." She trails as there is a large rumbling sound and the whole tunnel shakes violently. They turn around and see part of the tunnel cave in, directly where the Mole is sitting.
"Scraps," Gordon shouts, "Get in the Dragonfly pod with me. Hurry!"
"Nina," Marion calls, "Take the other Dragonfly, I'll try to save The Mole. Brains really doesn't want us to destroy anymore... pods." Marion is left dumbfounded as the Worm charges through the rubble and a bright light temporarily blinds her. As she brings her right palm over her eyes, she sees the Worm envelop The Mole leading to its destruction. Gordon's Dragonfly had long gone but luckily Nina is still hovering nearby as Marion tries to flee using her jetpack.
"Marion, get in!" Nina yells as Marion scrambles inside before Nina makes off taking the Pod to full speed, "Don't worry, Marion, we're faster."
"But the Worm is faster at digging," Marion replies, "That means we have to stick to the existing tunnels.
"But it's currently blocking our exit," Gordon calls over the coms causing Scraps' breathing to hitch.
"We'll find a way out of here," Nina states.
"Let's hope," Marion mumbles as she scrambles for ideas, "Worms follow some sort of routine pattern, right?"
"Normally, but this one..." Scraps starts but pauses sheepishly, "Erm, well, I might have damaged it with an EMP."
"Shit," Marion facepalms as Nina catches up to Gordon's pod. They start pulling away from the Worm significantly as they continue to twist and turn down the tunnels.
"Stop!" Scraps suddenly yells out and Gordon and Nina abruptly bring their pods to a standstill. She then opens the hatch and jumps out of the Dragonfly Pod.
"What are you doing?" Marion cries as she watches Scraps walk over to the side of the tunnel and picks something up, "We're being chased."
"A Strong-Arm Reach action figure," Scraps explains, "New in box, mint condition. Can you believe how rare this is?"
"Oh, for fucks sake," Marion and Nina growl.
"Amazing," Gordon states as Scraps makes her way back over to Gordon's Dragonfly and hopping in, "Worth of fortune, you've got a keen eye."
"What can I say? I'm a pro," Scraps smirks.
"Go!" Nina yells as Gordon's pod is blocking her path, "If we don't get out fast, you'll never get a chance to play with that toy."
"Play with it?" Scraps cries.
"Nina, you never take a gem like this out of the box," Gordon scolds before taking off and allowing the Dragonfly's to make their escape. "This Worm's moving around without any kind of pattern," Gordon states, "I can't plot the safest path out of the mine."
"I can," John's voice suddenly states and appears on the holo-communicator, "I programmed Thunderbird 5 to create a full map of the tunnels. Now, turn right 45 degrees." Gordon takes a sharp right and Nina does the same. The regained some of the lost distance between them and the Worm, but it seemed that the Worm is still speeding up. "Keep straight," John orders, "You're nearing the surface of the mine."
"Great," Nina says, "How far are we ahead of the Worm?"
"Well, small problem," John winces, "My scanners lost the Worm. It could be anywhere."
Suddenly, there's a loud crash in front of them and a cloud of soot and dust forms. Before it dissipates, several bright lights show up and both Gordon and Nina turn their pods around, so Nina's pod is now leading. The Worm had found them.
"Fucking hell," Marion sighs.
"Why is this thing haunting us?" Scraps wails.
"Your prime recycling," John deadpans.
"We are?" Scraps questions.
"To be 100% accurate, we're driving inside crime recycling," Nina explains.
"Worms can't leave their mines," Marion states.
"Then we get you to the surface so you're safe," John responds and looks at the escape route that EOS had calculated, "Sharp left now."
Nina takes it and they head towards and older part of the mine that hadn't been touched in a long while. After travelling for a few moments, Nina increases the height of her flight path as the tunnel starts to go up a slop. In the back of her Dragonfly, in the passenger seat, Marion brings up a holo-map that showed both them and the Worm in the tunnel.
"Head up this tunnel," John states, "Enough speed will break you through to the surface."
"FAB but the Worm's gaining, we need... a diversion," Gordon strains as he notices the Worm get closer to the back of his pod.
"We know you have the phone and the... the toy," Marion stutters, trying to say the right phrase without offending Scraps, "But anything else in that backpack?"
"Erm..." Scraps mutters as she scrambles through her backpack to find something, "Oh, just this holo-viewer. Wait, it's built with rare earth minerals, Worms love this stuff."
"Throw it," Nina demands, "See if you can distract the Worm long enough for us to get out."
"Urgh..." Scraps growls as the hatch to Gordon's Dragonfly Pod opens, "Can't seem to let go of valuable object."
"Fuck this," Marion sighs. She opens up the hatch to Nina's Dragonfly Pod and uses her jetpack to fly over a grab onto Gordon's, "Allow me." Marion snatches the holo-viewer out of Scraps' hand and down a side tunnel that approaches on the right. She holds her breath as she waits to see how the Worm reacts. To everyone's relief the Worm comes to a stop before heading down the other tunnel and away from the two fleeing pods.
"All right," Marion celebrates, "It took the bait."
"Hold on tight, Marion," Gordon calls as Nina's pod approaches the end of the tunnel, "Brace for debris!"
Nina crashes threw the dirt and sunlight covers her pod. Marion grabs onto one of the handles on the outside of Gordon's pod and ducked her head to avoid any large chunks of dirt hitting her helmet and giving her a concussion. When both pods are clear of the hole, the land next to Scott, Virgil and the gardener. Behind them were two hedge sculptures of the Thunderbird 1 and 2 prototypes that Jeff Tracy initially designed in the 2040s after the global conflict. As everyone prepares to exit the pods, John radios in again.
"The Worm has ended its chase," John states, "It's turning around. Just in time."
"It's passed too close to the surface," Scott shouts as he watches the ground underneath him start to break under Earth's gravitational pull, "Sinkhole!"
Everyone gets out of the way just in time. However, the hedge sculptures aren't so lucky, and both the ones Scott and Virgil made, along with an elephant and the destroyed giraffe, all fall down the sinkhole that completely split the gardens in two. Marion walks sheepishly over to the gardener who is standing in shock at what just happened.
"The good news is the emergency is over," Marion nervously chuckles.
"Just so you know," Virgil growls as the gardener walks off in a huff, "I was really proud of my topiary."
"You're what?" Gordon asks.
"Hurgh," Virgil grits, "Never mind."
"Ah, don't worry," Scott sighs as he turns to face everyone, "He'll forgive you when you let him play around with this Strong-Arm Reacher doll you found. It's pretty fun."
"You took it out of the box?" Gordon and Scraps gasp in horror.
"Yeah," Scott deadpans, "To play with. I maybe Head of International Rescue but I still have time to play."
"Ah," Marion winced, "You kinda fucked up there, babe."
April 20th, 2066 – 00:43 NZST
On Tracy Island, Brains has been working all day working on Professor Borender's mind-control device and trying to disable it. After a couple of setbacks, Brains managed to switch the device off completely before completely destroying it before The Hood was able to totally whip Borender's mind and making him into his personal robot again.
"So, n-now that you're free of The Hood's c-control, I think we have a new T-Drive engine to build," Brains states.
"Let's get to work," Borender nods, "But there's one thing you should know. When you were severing the link between me and The Hood, he could see into my mind. He could see what I was thinking."
"The T-Drive," Brains gulps as the pair look at Borender's large hologram of the design, "So he knows."
"He knows."