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Scott's eyes widened as one of the men stepped towards the bathroom, muttering something about needing to go. He ached from the blows the men had struck just to get him back in the room, but his legs tensed and he prepared to rise. This time, it wasn't some ploy to buy time. He had to do something or the men would discover his brother. He wouldn't have minded Virgil appearing when it had been just them and Keane; the threat wouldn't have been that great. But now?
Planting his feet flat on the floor, Scot shot upwards. He didn't hold anything back this time, not caring if he shouldn't have reactions like this. He could keep fit on an island just as he could on the mainland. He swung, instinct taking over as his body reacted of its own accord. One of the men holding him down fell back, his hand clutching his nose as he let out a howl. Scott smirked when he saw the man heading towards the bathroom pause, looking over his shoulder at the scene. Scott's expression goaded him and he turned properly.
But before Scott could move towards him, another man jumped on his back and after that, Scott lost track of who was where and what was going on. He could tell they hadn't expected him to fight back, though. Their plan had meant no one was supposed to be in the room, let alone someone offering a challenge. They hadn't been prepared for this and even though they were armed, their fighting skills were lacking. Scott could only guess that secrecy was more important than controlling him – the sound of a gun going off would have brought people running. Even his father's office wasn't that sound-proofed and no weapons were drawn. Scott knew they weren't the usual street thugs if they couldn't fight but it wasn't a reassuring thought.
In the end, it was numbers that subdued him. Every time he floored one of them, another recovered enough to come at him. All five men were fighting him, leaving just Keane at the desk. Scott wished it was creating enough of a distraction for Virgil to slip out but he knew that wouldn't happen. Virgil wouldn't leave him.
As a knee drove into his stomach at the same time as an arm collided with his neck, Scott found himself on the floor, blinking stars out of his vision. Someone kicked him until he was flat out on the ground and the pilot swore as a foot rested over his neck, the pressure enough to keep him down.
"What are you doing here, Scott Tracy?" Keane asked, his voice cold. He was still standing at the desk and Scott craned his neck to try and look at the man. "Who else knows you're here?"
"Everyone," Scott muttered. "My father, the security he assigns me whenever I'm in the city, the press. If I don't turn up for the rendezvous in fifteen minutes, they are going to come looking for me."
"Do you hear that?" one of the men hissed, worry in his voice. "They're onto us."
"We've got at least half an hour before they trace him here," Keane murmured thoughtfully. "Time enough for us to get what we want. Tie him up and make sure he doesn't cause any more problems."
Scott tried shifting his weight but the men had him pinned at an awkward angle and he couldn't rise. There was nothing he could do as his arms were pulled behind his back and he felt his wrists secured with a plastic tie. As the men dragged him up, Scott automatically tried pulling against it. It came as no surprise when it only cut tighter into his skin. They pulled around the desk chair, forcing him onto it. Scott tried to jump up when they produced a length of rope and bound him to the chair, but he wasn't quick enough.
"What is it you want?" he muttered, trying to see if he could wriggle loose. The rope was too well secured though; he couldn't get free.
"You really don't know, do you?" Keane said, a smirk on his face. "You'll find out soon enough."
Scott didn't like the sound of that. The man's earlier comments about his father were lingering in his mind and he knew whatever they were looking for wasn't common knowledge. Their movements were too cautious. Could they have found out about International Rescue somehow? Scott knew if they did manage to access his father's computer and knew how to search through encrypted files, they would find something they weren't supposed to.
"Whatever you think you are looking for, you're wrong," Scott tried again. He couldn't just sit there and let everything be discovered. Keane sighed, moving closer even as he held out his hand. Another man – the one who had spoken as well – reached into his bag and pulled out a roll of tape. They might not have been expecting someone to be here, but they had still come prepared. Scott turned his head, determined not to make it easy for them. As someone held his neck still, he kicked out, striking Keane as soon as he could reach. The man yelled but Scott's hopes of flooring the man were dashed as he stumbled closer and gagged him.
"You better hope we find what we're looking for!" he hissed, shooting Scott a venomous look even as he stumbled back towards the computer. Scott would have grinned if he could at Keane's awkward movements. "For if not, we might have to call your father to ask him. And if he is as stubborn about co-operating as you are, we'll start breaking bones."
Scott wasn't worried. Their fight earlier had told him enough – these men didn't know how to break bones. But he didn't want his father getting involved with this. Not only because his dad would be more likely to let something slip if he saw Scott being held hostage, but because he would never be allowed off the island for a vacation again if the man saw the trouble he was in. At least telling him afterwards would mean he could leave out the bad parts.
The men took up position, their movements agitated. The fire alarm had stopped and Scott knew they were aware someone might have heard the fight – it had hardly been quiet. Keane started tapping away at the computer again and Scott fumbled with the ties around his wrists.
To start with, he tried to free himself. But when he realised that wasn't going to happen, he shifted until he managed to press a button on his watch. Holding his breath, Scott nearly sagged when he felt the tell-tale vibration informing him it had connected.
John was quiet on the other end, though. He clearly had been talking to Virgil and knew they couldn't draw attention to themselves now. Scott hoped John knew what he wanted: his brother was going to have to do something now Scott couldn't. John had seen the camera feed through their father's computer, after all. He could monitor the machine from Thunderbird Five. Scott hoped John could either hide the files or remotely keep the men out of anything relating to International Rescue.
After that, there was nothing Scott could do. He might have struggled harder if he wasn't worried it would draw attention to Virgil in some way. He was just considering himself lucky that his little brother hadn't tried anything when he saw the bathroom door open an inch. For a moment, he stared, wondering if the man he had been trying to distract when the fight started had actually opened it. But when it jerked a little more, he knew it was Virgil. Staring at it intently, Scott hoped his brother wasn't about to try something stupid.
When something came flying out of the bathroom door and hit the main door with a thud, he knew his hopes were in vain.
"What was that?"
"I don't know."
"Well go and check it out. There might be someone on the other side of the door," Keane snapped.
Scott tried to look bored as three of the men instantly headed towards the main door. As they stood there, arguing over the best course of action, the other speaker moved forward, wrenched it open and pushed all three out into the corridor before following them. Clearly he was concerned about security and wanted to make sure no one was near the room.
Out of all of them, Scott knew he was the one to watch; he seemed to know what he was doing in terms of keeping on guard. Keane barely spared the door a second glance, but the final man moved closer, peering at it quizzically.
To Scott's horror, something seemed to have caught his eye. Virgil's missile – whatever it had been – was lying on the floor close to where it had hit and the man bent down, his fingers reaching for it. As soon as he realised the noise had come from inside the room, Scott knew their problems would have only just begun. He tried shifting the chair, making some sort of noise to make the man turn back to him instead. But Scott was no threat anymore and the man ignored him, continuing to crouch.
TBTBTB
Virgil had ducked back out of sight as soon as he had thrown the object at the door. He didn't think his father would thank him for unscrewing part of the pipe in the toilet, but he would like it even less if their secrets were had been itching to help out his brother, but he had forced himself to stay still. If they had looked as if they were going to harm or even kill Scott, Virgil would have stepped in. But for now, he knew finding out who they were and what they were after was just as important. It was what Scott would have told him to do.
As soon as he had seen Scott being held down on the floor, though, he knew his brother's ability to stall the men had come to an end. It was up to him to do something now but with only one gun and six men out there, he knew he needed some sort of distraction and throwing something at the door had been the only thing he could think of. He had hoped it would just cause the men to turn their backs, but grinned at seeing four of them leave the room. The odds were even now and while Scott tried to stop the final man discovering his missile, Virgil slipped out of the bathroom. For the first time, he was quite glad his brother had been gagged for he was quite sure Scott would have been yelling at him otherwise.
It was easy in the end. All Virgil had to do was bring the gun crashing down on the back of the man's head and he slumped, out cold. Virgil left him where he was, hoping it would help stop the others from being able to open the door properly when they returned. Keane looked up at the sound, but Virgil had already flicked the safety off the gun and was aiming it steadily at the man even as he moved across the room.
"Step away from the computer," he said. His voice was calm and Virgil didn't look away from Keane as he moved towards Scott. He couldn't untie him – he would need some sort of cutter to get through the ties and that would mean putting the gun down. Instead, he reached out and ripped the tape away from his brother's mouth. Scott's intake of breath and the whimpered "ow" meant Virgil knew it had hurt as much as it sounded. He winced.
"Sorry."
"What are you-"
"Yell at me later, Scott!" Virgil stayed on the other side of the desk, making sure Keane couldn't reach him. It was going to be over much quicker if the man didn't attempt to fight back. "Hands on your head. Move away from the desk."
Virgil didn't know whether to be pleased or suspicious when the man did as he was told. Maybe having people here had thrown him off his game and he knew he didn't have a chance with a gun aimed at him? Virgil made sure he wasn't lulled into a false sense of security though, keeping his eyes on the man even as he moved around the desk towards him.
"You alright here for a moment?" he asked his brother, knowing the sooner Keane was in custody, the better. Scott didn't answer but Virgil took that moment to take hold of Keane's arm and pull the man closer to him.
"Virg…"
"I won't be a minute, Scott. I'll even send that receptionist up to-,"
"Virgil, listen to me!"
"I told you, yell at me later." Rolling his eyes, Virgil made to move. He knew what his brother was like and couldn't help but think it was the safest option to leave Scott bound while he got Keane out. Otherwise Scott would probably let the man go by accident because he was so busy yelling at his brother.
Then again…
Virgil swallowed. There was a very strange look on Scott's face and he looked as if he was about to grimace. Before Virgil could follow his brother's eye-line, he felt something cold being pressed against his neck firmly, a resounding click sounding in his ear as the safety was taken off another gun.
Scott grimaced. "Look behind you?"
The force of the gun against his neck was forcing Virgil's head forward a little but he still managed to glare at his brother.
"You could have told me that before."
"You didn't let me!"
"Enough!" Keane said, pulling the gun out of Virgil's hand now he couldn't do anything with it. "Hands on your head."
Just as Keane had had no choice before, Virgil sighed as he linked his fingers and placed them on the back of his head. The man behind him instantly kicked at his knees and Virgil fell heavily, not moving his hands in time to break his fall. He glanced at his attacker and groaned. He clearly hadn't hit the man hard enough as he was up and about now. A clatter made him shake his head, knowing Keane had just thrown the gun on the desk. The man probably didn't even know how to use it, but there was nothing Virgil could do about that as he felt his hands bound the same way as Scott's and he was hauled to his feet. The man kept hold of his collar and Virgil felt as if he was being treated like some disobedient puppy.
"Now what do I do with him?"
"Let me go?"
"Shut up."
Keane moved from the desk, pulling around another chair and resting the back of it against Scott's. Virgil noticed he seemed to be giving his brother a wide berth even if Scott was bound to the chair, but then realised he had bigger problems as he was shoved into the second chair. Just like Scott, a loop of rope was dropped over his stomach and tightened. Judging by the hiss of breath from behind him, the rope had been looped around Scott as well.
They were stuck, tied back to back. Virgil made a mental note to make sure that Gordon never found out about this. He tried craning his head around to see what was going on, not wanting to be stuck looking at a wall. He didn't have to wait long to witness something though, for he had only been bound for a few moments when the door opened and the rest of the men came spilling back in.
"Must have been a false alarm, there's nothing… There are two of them!"
"Hi," Virgil said cheerfully, deciding if Scott's approach of being hostile hadn't worked, he would try something new.
"Why are there two of them?" The voice was the same as before and Virgil tried to remember the man's name as he walked across the room, staring at Virgil intently. The man who had caught him shrugged and Keane didn't look up from what he was doing.
"I said; why are there two of them?" The man's yell bounced around the room and his hand slammed down on the desk with such force that Virgil flinched despite himself. The man saw it and moved towards him, but stopped at a low sound coming from Scott.
"You're going nowhere near my brother."
"If I were you, I'd keep quiet or you might just make things worse for said brother."
"Look, no one needs to get hurt," Virgil said, the name finally falling into place. "Tell your friends to let me go, Maloc. How is this fair considering the tight spots I've got you out of over the years?"
"What?"
"C'mon, Josh… You know I've always had your back."
"You know him?"
"Of course not!"
"Then how does he know your name?"
"Damned if I know…"
"You're lying."
Despite still facing the wall, Virgil allowed himself a smirk. All it took was one piece of inside information and he already had the men at each other's throats. He knew Scott would be taking in everything that was happening in front of him, judging who would be the most likely to lash out and who might be persuaded to free them.
"Then we'll ask him."
Virgil tuned back into the conversation just as the largest of the men appeared in front of him, grabbing the front of his shirt.
"Hands off my brother!"
Knowing Scott was never going to be able to relax, Virgil drew his knee up and shoved it into the man's stomach. He let go and stumbled back, ending up in exactly the right position for Scott to loop his own foot around the man's and pull, sending him crashing down with enough force to shake the floor. While both brothers were twisted around, Virgil managed to catch Scott's eye and they shared grins, knowing that being tied up wouldn't stop them from working together.
Unfortunately, their actions had consequences. Maloc and another man moved closer and before Virgil realised what they were planning, his ankles had been tied to the chair as well. Judging by the way the chair was rocking, Scott was trying – and failing – to stop the same thing being done to him.
"Who are you? How do you know my name?" Maloc asked, his voice quiet and dangerous.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Virgil said, a smirk on his face as he stared up at the man.
