Also available on Ao3 including previous chapter and prequel
This insanity returns! It is a Thunderbirds Are Go/Wallace and Gromit crossover story with Thunderbirds Original Series Easter Eggs.
I posted the first bit of this Chapter as a WIP Wednesday but here is the rest of it.
This is my first multi-chapter fic ever! I hope that you enjoy it.
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“I do so miss the giant vegetable competition, but I do so love the animal sanctuary. Tottington Hall just wouldn't be the same without all the animals” Lady Tottington sighed.
She poured two cups of tea, one for herself and one for her companion, Lady Penelope.
“I understand, Totty” Penelope replied. “I couldn't be without Sherbet now.”
I'd probably have drawn the line at several thousand Sherbets, Penelope thought, but then not everybody was the same. Lady Tottington loved her sanctuary for, at last estimate, seven thousand small animals who roamed freely on her land.
“They're just so much more rewarding than most people Penelope, not including yourself of course” Totty went on. “But then I hardly see you now, so many functions and … where is it you often go again?”
“Overseas on business” Penelope replied. She preferred not to explain exactly what she did with International Rescue, even to one of her oldest friends. Totty had a heart of gold but she wasn't always the sharpest tool in the box.
Sherbet ran in, barked, and began tugging at Penelope's trousers.
“Bertie! What's got into you? I must apologise Totty, he isn't usually like this.”
Parker then followed, sounding very out of breath. “Beg your pardon, milady, but I think we might have a call.”
“Excuse me Totty” Penelope said, standing up and gliding out of the room.
“Parker, what is wrong? My compact doesn't have a call.”
“No milady, but FAB1 has multiple red lights on and the dog is insisting we respond.”
Penelope went back inside and made her apologies to Lady Tottington, and FAB1, with Parker and Sherbet already inside, picked her up at the front door. FAB1 was indeed showing multiple red lights on the dashboard that she didn’t remember existing before.
Penelope contacted John, to find a rescue call was already in place with holograms of Kayo in Shadow, John in Five and Virgil and Gordon in Two appearing.
Gordon hurriedly took his feet off Two’s control panel. Virgil looked relieved.
“John, what’s happening? Did you call?”
“No Penelope, but you could be useful. We’re responding to a possible kidnap of a citizen in the Wigan area by the Hood. We believe …”
“Wallace, Penelope. It's Wallace, the inventor we met at your roadshow a few weeks ago” Virgil interrupted. “We’re following Kayo in case we need equipment.”
“Well this is all rather distressing. What about Gromit?”
“He'd gone out before the Hood arrived” Gordon replied. “Not sure if the Hood got Gromit after Wallace.”
“No, tracking data says only one stop over West Wallaby Street” said John confidently. “It looks like he's returned to the quarry.”
“Well John, I'm in the area, how can I assist?” Penelope asked.
“Closing in now” Kayo announced, her hologram visibly turning Shadow.
“Kayo, are you sure you should be doing this by yourself? I'm in the area, Two isn't far behind, should we not have a coordinated approach?” Penelope sounded concerned.
“No! The Hood will let me go, he doesn't do the same for any of you. Two is standing by in case we need equipment, and John is tracking. The bad guys are my thing, and none more so that my ever delightful uncle” Kayo replied defiantly. “I’ve made visual contact with what I think is his ship. I'm heading in now.”
Penelope wanted to express her concern further, but she was distracted by the new lights in her car coming on again, yet this time they were blue. Sherbet was barking.
Parker slowed down at the sight of two dogs standing by the side of the road in what looked like bulky protective wear. As the car drew closer it became clear one of the dogs was Gromit. The other dog was smaller and white.
FAB1 stopped and both dogs got in. FAB1 was a large car, however Penelope still felt more squashed than usual sharing the back seat with three dogs.
“Lady Penelope, Parker and Sherbet, meet Fluffles” John announced. “I thought some introductions might be helpful.”
Nobody questioned how John had known who FAB1 was collecting. It was just accepted, even by the newcomers, that the blue floating hologram knew everything.
“Are these new lights yours, Bertie?” Penelope asked Sherbet. Far from having received a call herself, she realised the lights meant Bertie was receiving a call or assistance from Gromit.
She had to admire the ingenuity.
Bertie barked, nodding and Gromit gave a sheepish look, but one that acknowledged that Penelope was right.
Gromit had clearly noticed Virgil and Gordon, who he'd been speaking to not so long ago, although both were now in full International Rescue uniform.
The holographic Kayo had left Shadow and was walking into the Hood's ship. Why is this so easy? Penelope wondered. Was he just going to let Kayo walk in and rescue Wallace?
“Ah! Hello, Tanusha” a nasal drawl came from Kayo’s holographic projection, indicating she’d found her target. “Would you like to sit down with your uncle to share some food? I was just having some cheese and crackers!”
Penelope heard Gromit snarl beside her as Kayo’s holographic projection enlarged to reveal herself but also the Hood, sitting at an obscenely oversized table with the cheese and crackers he’d taken from Wallace and Gromit’s house.
“I don’t have any desire to eat any meal with you. Where is Wallace?” Kayo demanded.
The Hood pulled a face of mock sadness. “No time for family, Kayo. Oh dear.” He stuffed another piece of cheese into his mouth. “Oh well. I’ll survive. He’s not here.”
“Of course he’s here. You’ve just kidnapped him. I’ve just flown half way round the world because for some reason you want to kidnap a man who was living quietly with his dog. I don’t know what you’re up to, but you give him back and go back into your hiding hole!”
The Hood shrugged. “Or else? You’ll unleash the GDF? How many times has that been ineffective? They’re not even here.”
Penelope had to conceded that the Hood was no idiot. Yes, they’d beaten him before, but he usually had the right measure of people. She was quite concerned that Wallace could suffer the same fate as the Mechanic. Wallace had made some fantastic inventions, but she didn’t think he had any skills to defend against the Hood.
Kayo sighed. “I’ll ask you once more, where is he?”
“And I’ll tell you once more, he’s not here. I don’t know where he is. I just delivered him.”
Kayo paused. “Delivered him? You’re a hired villain now?”
The Hood did a sigh of his own. “It’s always been about money for me, Tanusha. If somebody wants to hire me I’m available. For the right price, of course.” That smug grin was flashed at Kayo and Penelope could feel the hatred of this man rising up inside her. Based on the faces of her companions and the boys’ holograms, everybody else was feeling the same.
“Who hired you?”
“Well that would be telling, wouldn’t it?”
“You’ve told me everything so far and you didn’t have to. You let me in. You obviously have an agenda. So I’ll ask you again, who hired you to kidnap Wallace?”
The Hood took another mouthful of cheese and crackers, smirked, and replied “General X”.
Mostly to assure people I'm still writing General X, and following discussions about Gladys the Geranium, I thought I'd post a piece where she is mentioned.
General X is a Wallace and Gromit/Thunderbirds crossover fic.
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Captain Mukherjee sat at her desk, staring at the chart of evidence. Her mind was elsewhere.
Had she made the right move? The Global Defence Force were well resourced and had a worldwide jurisdiction, so she would never again have to stop chasing a villain because they’d crossed a county border. She’d joined the GDF hoping she would get to make a real difference, but it hadn’t worked out that way.
So far she’d used all her evidence gathering skills finding a mystery character called ‘General X’. Nobody knew who they were, why they used the name or where they hid. None of that bothered Mukherjee since seeking out villains was her job.
What bothered her was General X didn’t seem to have done anything. Their biggest crime reported to date was they were connected to stealing a large box of Yorkshire Tea. Even then the evidence wasn’t conclusive.
In her old job she'd recovered the Blue Diamond. She'd hoped in this new one she could finish the task and apprehend Feathers McGraw, but it wasn't looking likely.
The people were strange too. Gromit had kindly given her a plant from his garden when she'd started the job. Something to give her office a more homely feel. But the plant had gone back home when one of her colleagues had asked her what the plant's name was, and whether the plant would be friends with Gladys. She didn't know who Gladys was, but apparently this man couldn't be without her. Hopefully Gladys was aware of this affection.
oKAY BUT CAN WE JUST STOP A MOMENT AND TALK ABOUT THIS; TALK ABOUT PRESIDENT X
RUI'S A FUCKING GENIUS PROGRAMMER BECAUSE WITH EACH EPISODE THIS COMPUTER VOICE HERE SHOWS MORE FEELING
It's not only this sense of caring for Rui's health we got to see first, where she worried about him when he was physically acting odd or didn't eat properly. This is more. This is X literally starting a conversation about a topic of perception nonetheless.
She tells him something is beautiful. She tells him because she knows her Rui would agree.
And like fucking damn it, beauty is a very emotional concept that she picks up on without being prompted, just wanting to like... make Rui enjoy something for a moment.
And even better, when Katze says it looks blood red she just goes 'it does not look like this to me'
To her
Katze's logged in as system administrator, but she's programmed to keep her personal opinion anyway, even when the fucking administrator tells her otherwise
Also let's remember Katze's
'We're friends, right?'
done in his best Rui impression.
Katze used emotional blackmail on a computer and it worked.
