Chapter 1

Virgil pressed harder on the gas, wishing that for once in his life Scott would just slow down. His older brother had been getting more and more reckless as the week had worn on. Tiredness and determination sending him to the limits of what he could do. Virgil could only wonder how far those limits would reach.

"Virgil, stop!" John's sudden command surprised the younger brother as he followed through without hesitation, skidding to a stop at the very edge of a ice crack. Silently, Virgil swore as he opened up the pod and jumped out, "John, please tell me this isn't happening."

"He went down." John confirmed with a sigh, "He lost consciousness for a few minutes but is back on the line now."

Virgil cursed again silently, "How bad?"

"He wouldn't say," John's face hardened, "Wanted you to go ahead and come back."

Virgil rolled his eyes, "Of course, the idiot would rather freeze to death than fail a mission."

He shook his head and looked in the general direction they had been headed, yes they needed to fix the generator, but his brother was just as important.

"M-may I suggest an idea?" Brains interrupted, "If MAX can get to the generator, I will be able to use him to release the excess energy."

Virgil looked back to the pod, "Can MAX use the pod?"

"If you give me a few minutes, I should be able to remotely control it from here," Brains confirmed.

"But what about you?" John frowned, "Scott's pod is destroyed."

"I can remote pilot Thunderbird Two to the area and do an air lift." Virgil explained, earning a not so enthusiastic look off of John.

"The ground-"

"Do we really have another choice?" Virgil asked, "I'll be careful with her."

John sighed, "FAB."

Virgil nodded to MAX, "Away you go MAX, good luck."

"Thank you Virgil, and g-good luck to you as well." Brains responded down the line.

As Pod Explorer trundled off, Virgil turned back to the gaping hole with a sigh, "Wait to go big brother."

Scott shivered as his younger brothers' voices above him softened. When had it gotten so cold down there? He frowned and looked to the ruins of the pod - when had he gotten so reckless? He winced as he lay back, letting his eyes slip closed for a moment as he screwed his face up in pain. Something was cutting into his leg, sharp and cutting deeper every time he tried to move. He sucked in a breath as a handful of snow fell from one of the walls of the crack, landing just next to him.

"What have I done?" He whispered to himself as he looked up to the dark sky, "Oh god."

He sniffed and shook his head to himself, his eyes not really seeing the dark cavern in front of him as he sucked in several deep breaths. It felt impossible to work out what had been going on in his head, he couldn't see how he had let himself get so reckless.

Going to run a hand through his hair, but then realising his helmet was in the way, Scott sniffed to himself, "I'm sorry dad, I failed them all."

He closed his eyes and relaxed back in the snow willing all the pain to go away, just for a little while.

"...frozen, hypothermia had probably set in." Virgil was saying as Scott groaned. The younger brother paused in his bandaging and glared at Scott, "Welcome back to the land of the living."

"Wha- The gen- You shouldn't be here." Scott slurred as he moved to sit up only to cry out in pain. Virgil gently pushed him back to the floor, "If you think I'm leaving you in this state, you're even more of an idiot than I thought."

Scott let out a breath, steaming up the visor of his helmet, "I screwed up."

"Damn right you did." Virgil stated, turning back to bandaging the gash in Scott's leg, his anger not subsiding, "Why couldn't you just take someone's advice for once? You always have to do it your own way and-"

"I know!" Scott yelled, "Alright? I know!"

Virgil tied the bandage off and moved up to Scott's head, "Hey, it's alright. Scott, calm down."

Scott shook his head, "I failed everyone, I screwed up- god I screwed up so badly. I thought I could do it, make up for it. I didn't know what else to do."

Virgil frowned as he tried to hold his older brother's head still, "What do you mean Scott?"

"It's all my fault, I was just trying to do what Dad did-"

Virgil didn't hear the rest of his brother's self hating rant as the roar of engines blanketed them. He sighed in relief and set the remote pilot to send down the rescue platform as John spoke in his ear, "Scott's heart rate has spiked dramatically."

"He's stressing, I'll try to calm him down once we're inside Thunderbird Two," Virgil explained, "I can't pilot and look after him though."

"I'll take over control for you," John responded, "You do what you have to."

"FAB." Virgil sighed as he looked back to Scott with a shake of his head, "What are we going to do with you big brother?"

Once they were aboard Thunderbird Two, and Scott was safely in the med bay, John took control of the machine and set off towards the nearest hospital. Virgil checked all of Scott's stats, noting how his blood pressure was low. He set up a full body scan before carefully removing Scott's helmet.

"Calmed down now?"

Scott nodded tiredly, " 'm sorry Virg."

"I am honestly so pissed with you Scott." Virgil sighed as he glanced to the scan results that had started to show up, "What's gotten into you this last few weeks? It's like… like you're trying to be Dad or something."

"He'd be disap-"

"Proud," Virgil cut Scott off, "Come on, you're smarter than this Scott, you know that we've done all we can to make this work since Dad disappeared." He sighed and perched on the edge of the bed, "Is this your way of coping Scott? Throwing everything into IR? If it is, you can't keep going like this, you need to stop pushing so hard. You need to know when to stop Scott."

"Can't sto-"

Virgil frowned as Scott's eyes fluttered, resting closed as he trailed off. In a panic he looked to the scan results and swore loudly.

"What is it?" John asked instantly, "What's wrong?"

"He's bleeding internally," Virgil muttered, "He's bloody lucky I'm universal."

John frowned over the hologram, "What are you doing?"

"Direct transfusion." Virgil responded, "Saving his arse."

John let out a breath, "ETA five minutes."

"FAB." Virgil murmured watching the blood drain from his arm into Scott's, praying it would be enough.