by Lee Homer
Disclaimer: All rights reserved. This is a continuation of my original Captain Scarlet and Thunderbirds crossover: War of Nerves.
Chapter Two
Gordon's head started to ache as the pulsating lights pierced his brain. The maze of walkways left him feeling disorientated. He couldn't work out where he was. Despite repeatedly calling out for his brother, the only response he would get was his voice echoing back at him. The lights grew brighter as he headed towards the center of the complex when he caught the glimpse of something shifting in the corner of his eyes. He turned his head in the direction in time to spot a shadow of a person moving away from him. Clutching his gun, he followed the shadowy figure down another familiar walkway towards another chamber. As soon as he stepped into the room, the figure vanished without a trace. He had to question his sanity for a moment. Was he going crazy? Suddenly, the sound of a low-frequency hum filled his mind. It felt like something was pushing down on his head. He couldn't stand it. As the humming grew louder, he spotted Alan at the far side of the room. He stood there in a trance-like state, unresponsive to Gordon's cries.
"Alan! Alan! Can you hear me?"
Fighting the pressure in his head, Gordon stumbled towards his brother. He peered into his eyes to see them glazed over. His face was white as a sheet. He then located the source of Alan's comatose state. It was a giant circular panel that projected a hypnotic display of black and white rings. It didn't take long for Gordon to realize just how powerful this device was. Closing his eyes, he reached for his gun. He couldn't afford to stare into the rings despite the overwhelming urge. He directed his firearm in the vicinity of the circles and pulled the trigger. The device began to groan out of control. The rings dissipated and the humming drone faded away. Alan snapped back into reality. The color returned to his cheeks as he rubbed his head in confusion. Gordon rushed over to catch him as the youngest of the Tracy clan lost his balance.
"Are you alright?" Gordon asked him.
Alan nursed his throbbing head. "I don't know. How... how did I get here?"
"Something lured you over here," Gordon explained. "We've got to find the others and get out of here. Can you stand?"
"I think so," Alan replied. "I just need a few minutes."
"There's no time," Gordon stressed. "We've got to get out of here now."
As Gordon helped his brother up to his feet, they were caught off guard by a deep chilling voice that echoed across the complex.
"Earthmen. This is the voice of The Mysterons. You have stumbled into our secret complex at Kirska base. You will never leave here alive to reveal what you have seen. It will be your tomb."
Gordon dragged Alan on his feet. He wasn't prepared to stick around any longer. Blindly picking a direction, they hurried along with the network of walkways in search of the rest of their party.
Meanwhile, Scott, Virgil, and Brains arrived at a large chamber in the heart of the complex. The whole environment around them shifted, leaving them all with a sense of weightlessness. A large circular table sat in the center of the room. It was surrounded by a decoration of colorful circular tubes that ran from the ground up towards the ceiling. As the tubes flashed their colors they would emit a thumping noise like that of a beating heart. As soon as they heard the Mysterons, everything started to fall into.
"We've stumbled into a nest of Mysteron technology," Scott said. "We've got to get out of here."
"I don't think it's possible now, Scott," Virgil replied. "We can't find Alan and Gordon plus The Mysterons are going to do everything in their power to keep us from leaving."
"We must do something, Virgil," Scott argued. "Think about it for a second. What would Spectrum do? Brains, what do you think?"
Brains silently wandered over towards the large circular table which sat in the center of the room. A glowing crystal rock sat there and glowed on top of it which pulsated a fine bright white light. He drifted around the table, examining the crystal from a safe distance. He hadn't seen anything like it before yet he was able to deduce what it was doing.
"I- I think this pulsator is the key power source for the Mysteron complex," he said as he basked in its glorious glow "It must have a power output that we couldn't e-even begin to conceive."
"A power source?" Virgil asked with a raised brow. "Can you remove it?"
Brains rubbed his chin. "Without the right equipment, I'd advise a-against it."
"At least check it for radiation first. If it checks for negative traces then we know it's safe to pick it up."
"FAB," Brains acknowledged.
His scans on the crystal were reassuring. It was safe to remove from its podium. Cautiously, Brains leaned over the table when a bullet bounced off the floor by his foot. Virgil and Scott dived for cover to see a figure approach them from the shadows. It was Captain Black, and he wasn't going to let them leave alive.
"Drop the pulsator, Earthman," he said, aiming his gun at Brains.
Scott and Virgil reached for their guns. Virgil pulled the trigger, hitting the wall behind the Mysteron Agent. Black dived for cover where he could train his gun on the Tracy brothers.
"Virgil, It's Captain Black. Spectrum warned us about him!" Scott yelled. " I've got an idea. When I give you the signal, go and grab him Try and swipe his gun if you can! I'll cover Brains."
"FAB," Virgil responded as he waited to move in.
Scott kept his gun trained on Black as the Mysteron Agent continued to fire at them. Brains struggled to keep his focus as the surrounding gunfight rocked him. He could hear bullets whiz across the chamber, nearly striking him from all directions. He just needed a little more time. After a few grueling minutes of gunplay, Captain Black had an empty gun. Scott gave the signal and Virgil dashed the Mysteron agent. Unfortunately, Black had anticipated the Tracy brother's move. He dematerialized the split second that Virgil dived towards him. Stunned by what he just witnessed, Virgil landed on the floor with a thud.
"What the heck just happened?" he gasped.
"I don't know," Scott replied. "We'll speculate later. Right now, we've got to find the others and get out of here."
At this point, Brains had grabbed the crystal and stashed it in his utility suit. As soon as he removed it from the podium, the entire room bathed them in an eerie green light. Frantically searching for the way out, they bolted down one of the walkways looking for the way they came in. Halfway down, they bumped into Gordon and Alan. Suddenly, the entire complex began to shake violently like an Earthquake. The tremors knocked them all off-balance, making their escape impossible. Huge chunks of rock and metallic lights crashed down on top of them. The shapely walls began to topple like dominoes. Sparks flew from all directions and smoke began to rise from the floor. The sound of an explosion echoed from behind them.
"What's happening!?" Alan cried.
"The crystal! It must have powered the down the base enough to dismantle it!" Scott replied. "The whole place is going to cave in at any minute!"
The stress of the situation had jump-start Gordon's memory. He suddenly remembered where the entrance was.
"Wait! I know where we came in!" he said. "Follow me!"
Following his newly awakened memory, Gordon led his brothers and Brains through the collapsing maze of walkways until finally;
"Look! There are our hoverbikes. We made it!"
"Great! Let's get the heck out of here!" Scott commanded. "Let's move it! Go! Go! Go!"
Mounting their hover-bikes, they raced down the gantry towards the hangar doors. Once they were in clear, they hurried towards the Thunderbirds. Once inside Thunderbird Two, Virgil secured the pod, leaving their laser tank behind to perish. They didn't have the time to retrieve it. Thunderbird One blasted off the pad first. Virgil hit the thrusters just seconds later. Climbing to a safe altitude, the boys watched on in sheer horror as the mountain base caved in on itself. Kirska base had been destroyed. They hovered safely above the mountain for half an hour when the raging mountain began to settle down. Scott couldn't even begin to process what had just happened to them. The reality of the ordeal wouldn't hit them all until after they returned to base. Hitting the thrusters, they set course for the island, leaving the debris of the Mysterons there on the mountain.
In the comfort of his lab on Thunderbird Two, Brains sat there examining the Mysteron power crystal. It's origin and composition baffled him. How could one crystal produce so much power that it could destroy a mountain once it's removed? The real question was what were they going to do with it? That would be a decision best left with Jeff Tracy himself. Virgil's voice chimed in removing Brains from his thoughts.
"Brains, we'll be coming into land soon."
"O-On my way, Virgil," Brains acknowledged placing the crystal in his pocket.
The morning sun appeared over the horizon as a new day dawned over Tracy Island. None of the boys managed to sleep after their ordeal. Soon after they touched down, Brains and Jeff locked themselves away in the lab discussing their options regarding the crystal pulsator. The boys continued the day like it was any other, doing chores and maintaining their Thunderbirds. By lunchtime, the event nearly slipped their minds completely when they were drawn to a noise outside Thunderbird Two's hangar. Hurrying up to the observation lounge, they were surprised to see a Spectrum Jet taxing down the runway towards them.
"Uh-oh. I wonder what's up this time?" Virgil speculated. "You don't think it's to do with the crystal do you?"
Scott looked at him with the same thought. "There's only one way to find out."
The boys made their way towards the main lounge where they were greeted by Captain Scarlet and Captain Blue. They had met and worked with them before on countless occasions so naturally, they greeted them with the warmest of welcomes.
"Boys, you remember Captain's Scarlet and Blue," Jeff said. "They have come here regarding your incident at Kirska base last night."
Scott stepped forward, speaking for his brothers. "We hoped we'd get some answers after what we witnessed. We did deduce some of it ourselves though."
"Yeah. We stumbled into a Mysteron complex," Gordon added. "We had never seen anything like it before. The part we can't work out though was why we received an SOS distress call."
Scarlet stepped forward. "Gentlemen, The call you picked you was sent hours before the base was destroyed. The Mysterons had commandeered an automatic satellite and smashed it into Kirska Base before we could intercept it. The base had already been evacuated but we suspect that one of the personnel members tripped the SOS beacon on their way out. By the time you had received the call and flown out to investigate, the Mysterons had replicated the base."
"That's impossible," Alan scoffed. "The things we've seen in there were incredible. The complex was huge. There's no way they could have built all of that in a small space of time."
Captain Blue quickly stepped in to correct him. "You're underestimating the power of The Mysterons. They have harnessed the power of swift reconstruction. The pulsator you removed was their key power source. When you removed it, their entire power supply was cut off, causing the base to deteriorate."
Scarlet nodded. "We encountered a similar incident on the Moon. The Mysterons were able to create a more stable complex. They didn't factor in the Earth's gravity when they infiltrated Kirska Base. They won't be trying it again."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Gordon said. "If they can build a complex on Earth now then they'll surely do it again."
"It does explain why the man in black was there," gathered Virgil. "He tried his best to stop us from leaving."
Scarlet frowned. "Captain Black. He was sent there to oversee the construction. No doubt he'll do it again. We must be vigilant."
"So what will become of the pulsator?" Scott asked.
"It'll be archived under our Mysteron research project. It'll aid us in our understanding of their technology," Blue replied. "What you boys did would have taken us weeks to plan. We do understand how you must be feeling though wondering into something like that. Once again on behalf of Spectrum, we thank you."
The brothers all stared at each other in disbelief. In that split moment, they felt like Spectrum agents. While they stood there dumbfounded, the two Captains took their leave with the Crystal, reporting their situation to Cloudbase.
"You know boys, that thank you comes from me too. I'm very proud of you all." Jeff smiled. "I hope you all sleep better after that. You all acted bravely and rationally in a foreign situation. I would have done the same thing."
"Thanks, Dad," Virgil piped up. "If only we could have known sooner though, we would have stayed clear."
"I know son, but you put our code first before anything. You all knew that there could have been potential lives at stake. We can't afford to ignore any call no matter how suspicious it might be."
The boys started to smile with a shared feeling of comfort. Now that their adrenaline levels started to settle, fatigue set in, and the Tracy clan headed for their beds. Their first-hand experience with the Mysterons would forever haunt their memories. It was all over, however. The next day would be a brand new day.
END