Mariashades asks for: Whumptober request- #26, no one left behind, involving John

Characters: John, Fischler, Gordon

Warnings: Disaster, Blacked-out, Bruising

One day very soon John was going to have to do something permanent about Langstrom Fischler before Scott ended up in prison for murder or worse, Kayo decided it was time to act.

He shook himself. Now was not the time for that kind of thinking. He – they – had a rescue to perform. With Scott out on a separate rescue, and already chomping at the bit because his was going to take a while and he hated leaving little brothers to deal with incompetent fools, and Alan and Kayo out on the other side of the moon, it had fallen to him to actually participate in an Earth-bound rescue with Virgil and Gordon.

John had nothing against Earth-bound rescues, he just rarely got the opportunity for anything less than the thermosphere. Fortunately he'd been home for almost 30 hours before this rescue came in, so gravity was not so much of an issue as usual.

The Horizon Scrubber incident was nothing compared to this though.

Fischler Industries had been bought out by Tracy Industries in the hope that the loss of his company would stop the mad scientist from inventing any more ways to kill people. Unfortunately it had not worked. The man was stubborn to the extreme, even worse than Scott.

Chuckling to himself, John looked over the scant information that EOS had managed to glean. Fischler was getting smarter in that he was giving International Rescue less and less ability to check over his designs to shut down his projects.

The weather drones had been a disaster at creating water in the desert, so this time the man had decided a solar-powered drill to excavate the ground and free an underground river would be the way to go.

Machinery that had lots of moving parts verses sand and wind and poor design and no maintenance…it was a disaster just waiting for the right moment.

The right moment came when Fischler was doing his usual PR routine. He and nine others were currently stranded in the control centre as the unwieldy machine straddled a huge chasm that had opened beneath it. Every few minutes one of the feet slipped, causing the group to collectively scream.

Virgil and he had exchanged grim smiles as EOS kept a steady holo-stream of the command centre displayed. John recognised at least one person from the weather drone incident, proving that Fischler wasn't the only idiot aboard. Talk was turning nasty as they began to turn on each other verbally, and the brothers knew that it wouldn't be long before that was directed at the man actually responsible for them being in that predicament. Words would lead to actions if they weren't quick enough.

People had indeed united behind the need to vent against Fischler when John, standing on the rescue platform, used one of the hand-held lasers to cut a hole in the plexiglass. He kicked the pane out of the way and jumped in as Gordon moved forward so that between them they could get everyone out.

The first woman had been evacuated when the machine shifted suddenly, dropping several feet quickly. It threw everyone back and John found he was seeing stars despite wearing his helmet due to the force of being thrown to the ground. He ignored the ringing in his ears until he realised it was his brothers shouting his name. Huh. He must have blacked out momentarily.

Worried faces looked down on him and his inwardly grimaced. They were too close for comfort. But then the unwelcome sound of Fischler overwhelmed all other noises.

'It's not like I asked him aboard my station. He's as bad as the rest of them, always interfering and causing my brilliant inventions to malfunction.'

'I'm fine. Please give me room to get up,' was John's only response and he was gratified that they backed away. He made his way back to the hole they were using and Gordon, who peered worryingly at him before breaking out in a grin.

They began helping the people through the glass and onto the platform. It wasn't an easy task as the machine kept slipping with alarming and increasing frequency. No one mentioned that although Fischler had been the first to queue up to be rescued he had been pushed behind the women and the other men certainly weren't going to let him board before them.

Four people strapped in and suddenly those waiting to be rescued realised that there were not enough seats for all ten of them and the two International Rescue operatives. A particularly smartly dressed man set them off.

'There isn't enough seats!.'

'What? What do you mean, there isn't enough seats?'

'There's twelve of us and only ten seats.'

'Well, that little fellow is standing on the platform. Maybe he doesn't need a seat?'

'Even if he doesn't, there is still one person too many.'

John and Gordon – and Virgil – listened but didn't say anything, being too busy keeping the platform stable and helping the rescuees keep their footing every time the machine dropped.

'We should leave him behind.'

Whipping his head around to find out which one of the remaining men had said it, John's eyes narrowed on the same suited man who had started the conversation. He fixed him with a stare and the man blushed slightly but remained defiant.

'No one is getting left behind.'

'But you don't have enough seats.'

'Doesn't matter, we don't ever leave someone behind.'

Over the man's shoulder Fischler brightened at John's words and John rolled his eyes. As if they would have left him behind.

Two more to go, the suited man and Fischler, and the machine dropped again. This time John had been ready and had braced, one hand grasping the suited man's wrist. Fischler wasn't so lucky and had skidded down the now uneven floor and thumped into the wall.

Gordon brought the platform close again and passed John the safety line after they had the penultimate man secure. It was going to be a steep climb down to rescue the scientist. Gordon didn't say anything, but he didn't have to, John could feel the worry radiating of him and no doubt Virgil too.

The climb down was easy. Getting Fischler back up was not. At first the man wanted to cling to John's back, but John was adamant that that was unnecessary, and eventually Fischler began to climb the rope, hand over hand, John following closely behind.

No one was quite sure of the sequence of the events that happened next.

Gordon reached down to help Fischler up over the lip of the plexiglass. The man was all arms and legs, pulling hard and practically dislodging Gordon from the special stand Brains had built in for occasions like this when there weren't enough seats and no time for another trip.

John was too busy trying to avoid Fischler's legs while he hung there to do anything, but two of the others who had been strapped in quickly released themselves and grabbed his brother, helping him to right himself.

Gordon managed to get Fischler's upper body through the hole, finally, and was reaching forward once more to grab the man's waistband to haul him up when Fischer – being his normal self – decided to give him a hand and kicked out.

His foot connected with John's shoulder and it was enough to loosen his grip.

For a split second all Gordon could see was his big brother falling back into the machine. And of course this was the time that the machine decided it was also going to fall. It was extremely noisy.

There was no gentleness as Gordon yanked Fischler aboard, ignoring the man's protests and threats of suing him. He pushed him over to the remaining chair and growled at him to strap in and prepared to jump after his brother, securing a second line around his waist.

He didn't need to jump far.

John was dangling from the end of the line, quite a distance underneath them. He had anchored the line around him and now lay splayed out on his back, swinging in the air.

'Gordon, report! What the hell is going on down there?'

Virgil's voice got him moving again, and he filled his brother in as he lowered himself down. He knew that Virgil couldn't lower Two and it wouldn't be safe to raise the platform with John swinging so freely, so Gordon filled everyone in as he descended.

By the time he reached John Gordon was rewarded with confused aqua eyes, and he heaved a sigh of relief. He helped his brother to get the right way up and together they climbed the rope, very very slowly.

Once they were back on the platform Gordon wasted no time securing John to the other stand-hold, and then he gave the all-clear for Virgil to raise them up.

Neither brother was surprised to see Virgil waiting for them, and they waited while thankful rescuees shook hands and gave promises of witness statements should Fischler actually attempt to sue Gordon or any of them.

They were deposited on the nearest piece of flat ground since there were no injuries to speak of, and Gordon couldn't keep the smile off his face when he saw a GDF flyer waiting to take the mad scientist off their hands.

The closing of Two's hatchway cut off the man's very vocal protests at his treatment, and all three brothers sighed in unison.

'Medbay.'

Virgil was firm and Gordon backed him up but that didn't stop John rolling his eyes at them. He sat on a bed as the medic ran the Medscanner over him, showing no surprise when bruising was flagged up to his waist and shoulder, but at least he was concussion-free despite blacking out.

It didn't stop either of his brothers from relegating him to Alan's usual seat, which caused him to scowl. But then, Virgil could have insisted he travel back in the med bay...so John said nothing.

As soon as they were home John set EOS on the task of finding a better solution to the menace that was Langstrom Fischler.