Disclaimer: I don't own Thunderbirds.

Characters: Scott, John. Rating: T. Warnings: None

Drabble challenge from cg29: "Self-Sacrifice and Abandoned Building" with Scott.

It wasn't usual, having his immediately younger brother with him on a rescue. Not in person, at least. Normally he'd only be a voice, maybe a hologram if the situation really needed it, but today circumstances had conspired and John was down on Earth, jumping out of Thunderbird One behind him.

Scott was alert for the sound of a stumble, but John had been down on Earth for a little while now and his equilibrium was mostly adjusted to the inconvenience of gravity. He landed lightly on his feet, and took barely a moment to make sure his centre of gravity was where it should be before taking the steps that brought him to Scott's side.

"There are two life signs inside," EOS chirped from his communicator, stepping in for John's usual role. She was getting better, although Scott knew that no matter how good she got, he'd never be the one to tell John to leave Thunderbird Five for good. His brother belonged there, regardless if any AIs could do his job just as well as he could (she couldn't, but there was almost certainly a yet tacked onto that sentence).

"Have you managed to make contact?" he asked, overriding John as he began to make his own inquiries. Right, the problem with having John on the ground and not as the eye in the sky. For all that Scott was the commander, John had never settled into obedience the way the others had, mostly because his role was to see the things Scott couldn't and make sure Scott didn't overlook them.

It worked when John was in space and Scott was on Earth. It worked less well when they were together.

"They are unresponsive to my attempts to engage," EOS informed him. "Yes, John, that is the case."

Of course, the AI could still 'hear' them both even when they talked over each other. Unfortunately, Scott hadn't heard John's question.

"What's the case?" he asked. John sighed.

"Not important, Scott. What's your plan?"

Reminding himself to trust John on that - it was no doubt the sort of query he made on Five that they never even knew about unless the answer was relevant - Scott eyed the crumbling building in front of them. It was simple, really. They just had to get inside, find the people trapped, and get them out before the rest of the old warehouse came crashing down. Nothing he hadn't done before, although admittedly it would have been nice if Thunderbird Two had been able to come along with a pod for extra protection. But Thunderbird Two was off elsewhere and the job could be done fine without her.

"Nothing elaborate," he said, bringing up the schematics on his wrist controller. "This entrance is the closest one to the life signs that's still stable, so we'll go in through here, find them, and evac."

"F.A.B.," John acknowledged, donning his helmet. Scott followed suit, before dismissing the hologram and leading the way.

Everything went according to plan with their entrance. The building held, that section not quite so derelict it was ready to collapse on top of them as per the schematics and his own observations, and they found the two life signs - a pair of teenagers who seemed to have made the mistake of considering an old and derelict warehouse romantic.

Not that Scott could really judge - and John might be a perfect professional, but he was more than capable of being professional while still silently reminding Scott that his little brother knew more about his own teenage escapades than he sometimes wished - as he got to work freeing the first unconscious teenager from the debris they were under.

Beside him, John was working on the second, who was a little less unconscious but still far from coherent. It made Scott wonder who'd put in the distress call, because neither teen seemed to be in any condition to do so, and would probably have been too mortified in the first place.

With neither teen in a condition to make their lives additionally complicated by being uncooperative, it didn't take long for Scott and John to have them freed and checked over for injuries. Nothing that made moving them a bad idea, thankfully, and with one teenager each, they hurried back towards the exit.

They almost made it.

A sudden rumble, like an earthquake except this wasn't a live quake zone and there shouldn't be earthquakes here, and the building caved. By himself, Scott would have been able to get out - he was fast, sure-footed, and even carrying a teenager would probably have been able to escape.

John stumbled, unable to keep his balance on the shifting ground with a teenager over his shoulder, and Scott could see as clear as day that he was going to fall. By itself, that wasn't enough of a reason for him to stop - he had his own teenager to get to safety - but the roof was falling down on top of them with its thick, heavy beams of steel, and John was right underneath a particularly large one.

Scott leapt the distance between them, hurtling into him with all the speed he could muster and all but throwing him out of the way. He lost his grip on the teenager, their limp body slipping from his hands to land on top of John, but that wasn't a bad thing, because while John was now clear of the beam, the same could not be said for Scott.

It slammed across his shoulders, forcing him to the ground and crushing on top of him. He couldn't move, couldn't breathe where it rested on his upper back, compressing his lungs to the chorus of bones breaking like twigs.

"Scott!"

John was scrambling to his feet, turquoise eyes wide. The teenagers lay at his feet, now both unconscious.

It was them Scott looked at meaningfully.

"Get… th- out," he gasped, rasping against lungs that couldn't breathe and bones that screamed. "Res… cue."

John had to get the teenagers out before they were crushed. Had to get himself out before he stumbled and fell again, with no big brother to protect him this time.

There was anguish in those wide turquoise eyes, but no protest. John understood, even if he hated it. John would obey, because while he was normally the last to listen to orders, in this case he was the only brother that wouldn't waste time trying to find a way to get all of them out at once when there were two simple rescues and one complex. The only one who would do the same probability calculations as Scott and come to the same conclusions.

"I'll be right back, Scott," he promised, bending down and throwing one teenager over each shoulder. He staggered under the weight, and Scott watched in horror as he almost overbalanced before catching himself. "Hold on."

Any response Scott could try to form to that was snatched away before it even started, and he watched helplessly as IR blue stumbled away from him, leaving him behind. Another beam slammed down, narrowly missing him - and at the other end narrowly missing John, putting Scott's heart in his mouth.

He could take being left as long as it meant his brother got out. He could take anything, swallow the breathless scream before it started as something heavy landed on the back of his knee and something else went crunch, as long as John was safe.

The physical pain could never, ever, top the heartbreak if it was his brother in his place.

More shrapnel was falling, pelting down like aggressive rain, and through it all Scott saw John duck under the exit and escape, limp teenagers in tow. Then the rest of the building came down and he was left in darkness.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari