Gordon & Virgil + Animal Attack
An AU where instead of IR, the boys start up an organisation that hunts supernatural and mythical creatures!
Virgil slowed the car into a stop when they reached the end of the dirt path. Trees blocked them from going any further, so they would have to head the rest of the way on foot.
Gordon was flinging the car door open before Virgil had even fully stopped the car, and he was already grabbing the bag from the backseat in the time it took Virgil to turn the engine off.
"Slow down!" Virgil called to his little brother as he scrambled to unbuckle his seatbelt and clamber out of the car. Gordon was already past the tree line, but he thankfully stopped and waited for Virgil to catch up with him.
"What's the hurry, anyway?" Virgil asked as he finally reached him.
"Don't act like you don't know, Virg!" Gordon was back to hurrying through the woods, and Virgil had to almost jog to keep up with him. "We're gonna finally get proof that these exist. Aren't you excited?"
It was hard to not be excited with how contagious Gordon's enthusiasm was, but Virgil just didn't think he could have the same passion for these things that his little brothers had.
"But there's already proof that werewolves exist." Virgil cast an uneasy glance at the woods around them as he remembered what they were here for.
"Not like what we're gonna get!" Gordon spun around as he reached a clearing and, seemingly pleased with this spot, started to grab the equipment out of his backpack. "With Brains' equipment, we're going to get the highest quality footage that exists. Think of all the research that can come of it! John will love it."
As Gordon spoke, he took the equipment that was in the bag and laid it out on the grass of the clearing. It was mainly cameras, motion detectors and tracking equipment. All of it was compact and painted the colour of the woods around them, so they would be easily hidden and would blend in well with their surroundings.
"Alan will be so jealous he couldn't come," Gordon said as he threw the now empty backpack onto his back again and picked up a few of the cameras. They were on extendable poles that were a couple of feet long and had a sharp point at the end, so that they could be dug into the dirt and stand up straight.
"At least he's safe." Virgil didn't mean to voice his thoughts, but Gordon already knew how he felt about all this. They were out in the middle of the woods, alone, with the possibility of dangerous creatures nearby. He didn't want to come out here at all, but Gordon couldn't rest until he came out here after he heard the rumours. He would have come whether Virgil followed or not, and at least this way Virgil could keep an eye on him.
"Look, the faster we set up the equipment, the sooner we can get out of here." Gordon stood up from where he had been knelt on the ground, and he held out the cameras he was holding. "Just go set up some of these for me deeper in the trees, whilst I set up the rest of the stuff here."
Virgil reluctantly took the cameras off of him. He didn't want to leave Gordon on his own, but he did want to get this over with and head back to the car as soon as possible. That would mean they had to split up.
"Alright, but I won't go far. Call for me if you need anything."
"Sure thing!" Gordon grinned at him and then turned to start setting up his own equipment. Virgil sent him a final glance, and then walked deeper into the trees.
He was true to his word and didn't head far. Gordon had given him four cameras, and Virgil searched for a suitable place to put them.
Despite his reluctance to this particular mission, he was still slightly giddy at the idea of gathering footage that no one had gotten before. Even though werewolves had been around for centuries, like most supernatural creatures there wasn't a whole lot of information on them, and this was exactly why they started their organisation in the first place.
So it shouldn't be surprising that Gordon jumped at the chance to come here after they heard the rumours that people had seen werewolves in these woods, and those who lived nearby had reported hearing howls in the night. He and Alan were the most passionate about these things, whereas Virgil was more concerned with keeping his family safe. If he put these cameras in the right place, then he only had to worry about coming back to collect them later. Hopefully at a time that wasn't so close to a full moon.
It didn't take him long to set the cameras up. These woods were pretty spacious, so it wasn't hard to find spots that were facing clearings rather than just trees. After securing the cameras in the ground, all he had to do was make sure they were switched on before moving onto the next one.
It was when he was just searching for a suitable spot for the fourth camera when he heard a scream.
The camera he was holding fell to the floor as Virgil sprinted back through the trees.
He made it back to where he last left Gordon in seconds, but his brother was now laying in the middle of the clearing with a big, black beast standing over him.
It was hairy and massive, almost the size of the two of them combined. The wolf's teeth were latched onto Gordon's shoulder, and Gordon was struggling to push it off.
"Hey!" Virgil yelled, and the werewolf's attention snapped towards him.
There was blood dripping from its teeth, and it bared them with a growl as it leapt off Gordon and stalked towards Virgil.
Virgil stepped back as the beast got closer and he fished something out of his back pocket. He produced a small device that Brains had invented, that emitted a high pitched noise when activated.
Virgil held it out and pressed the button in the centre of the device. He couldn't hear if it was working, but he could see it was by the way the wolf suddenly backed off. With a whine, it ran off into the trees.
He turned the device off and shoved it back into his pocket as he hurried over to Gordon's side.
Gordon's eyes were closed and he didn't move as Virgil knelt next to him.
"Gordon?" Virgil said softly as he leant in closer to inspect his brother. Gordon still didn't react.
His shoulder was bleeding heavily. The strap of his backpack was torn to shreds, and Virgil dreaded to think of what his shoulder looked like beneath his shirt.
Virgil's eyes scanned down to also find that Gordon's chest was bleeding through the torn strips of his shirt where the wolf's claws had ripped through it.
Virgil's heart was racing and as the adrenaline of seeing that beast started to fade, he began to feel sick with the memory of seeing the wolf with blood dripping from its mouth. Gordon needed help, and quickly.
He scooped his little brother up off the ground, careful not to jostle his injuries. There was a small groan from Gordon as he was moved, but any hope of him waking up was quickly gone as Virgil looked down and saw Gordon's eyes still closed.
As Virgil began to make his way back to the car, he heard more movement coming from deeper in the trees, and Virgil was hauntingly reminded that wolves ran in packs.
He went as fast as he could with Gordon in his arms, and each step he took, he could hear even more behind him.
When he reached the car, he realised he had a problem. With his hands occupied, he couldn't open the car door, or unlock it as the keys were in his pocket.
He had to lay Gordon back down on the ground. He propped his brother up against the wheel of the car, and then hurried to grab the keys from his jeans.
The car unlocked with a click and once the backdoor was opened, Virgil picked Gordon back up and laid him gently across the backseat.
As soon as Virgil stood up and went to close the door, he heard a growl behind him. He quickly turned, and could see several pairs of eyes watching him through the trees. And they were getting closer.
Virgil didn't hesitate any longer as he ran around the other side of the car. He opened the door to the driver's seat, and at the same moment he closed it behind him, another werewolf slammed its body against the door.
Virgil was fortunate that the window was shut as the teeth of the beast scratched against the glass.
Another wolf appeared at the window of the passenger seat and Virgil could hear one more slam against another part of the car, but he didn't look where as he was already busy starting up the car.
The trees around him were too close to be able to turn around, so Virgil had to reverse back down the dirt road until there was an opening wide enough for him to turn in.
The werewolves scratched their claws against the car, but they didn't put up too much of a resistance as Virgil drove away. By the time he found a spot he could turn around in, the wolves had all but disappeared.
That didn't make Virgil slow down, though, and he continued down the road until he exited the woods.
When he pulled out onto the main road, that was when he finally allowed himself to relax a bit. He pulled over at the side of the road, and twisted in his seat to take another look at Gordon.
Gordon still hadn't moved, and his skin was growing alarmingly pale. Blood was staining the seat he was lying on, and Virgil wasn't sure that the bleeding had slowed down at all.
He only gave his brother one final glance before he was turning in his seat and facing the road ahead.
His hands were shaking as he grabbed his phone from where he'd left it in the cup holder next to his seat, and he punched in the location of the closest hospital.
There was one about ten miles away, and once Virgil had pulled the directions up on his phone, he was starting off down the road again.
He was forced to sit in the waiting room of the hospital whilst Gordon was getting patched up. Virgil had already informed the rest of their family, but the two of them were far from the base and so it would take the rest of their family a while to arrive.
So, it was just Virgil who could watch over his little brother for now, but he still had to wait for them to let him in.
When a doctor finally appeared and said Gordon was awake and ready for visitors, Virgil hurried to his room so quickly he almost forgot to ask where his room actually was.
Virgil opened the door once he reached the correct room, and the first thing he saw was the bandages wrapped around Gordon's right shoulder and his chest. A blanket covered up most of bandages wrapped around his torso, but Virgil knew they went as far down as his stomach.
The second thing he saw was how Gordon was propped up on some pillows and he was watching Virgil with tired eyes.
"Hey," Virgil gave his brother a smile as he pulled the chair that sat in the room over to Gordon's bed.
"Hey," Gordon replied in a hoarse voice. He lifted one of his hands as if to give Virgil a little wave.
"How're you feeling?"
"Like I just got eaten by a bear." Gordon groaned and tipped his head back as he realised something that Virgil hadn't yet. "I'm not gonna turn into a werewolf, am I?"
"Uh, no," Virgil laughed at the distressed look on Gordon's face. "I don't think that's how it works."
"Phew!" Gordon sighed heavily and closed his eyes as he relaxed. But then he sat up as he thought of something else. "The cameras! Did you set them up?"
Virgil's brow creased at the subject change, not seeing why that was the biggest concern right now.
"Gordon, I don't think this is the time-"
"I want to know me getting eaten was worth something!" Virgil grimaced at the reminder of seeing that wolf standing over his brother, blood dripping from its mouth, but Gordon didn't seem to notice. "If they got set up then they'll be recording just what we need! Brains should already be receiving the footage."
"I got most of them set up, but I think one of them ended up on the floor," Virgil recalled as he remembered dropping the last one before running to his brother.
"That's fine. I got all of mine up and running, plus most of the motion detectors. I didn't get to set up the tracking equipment, but that's alright because we know they're there, we just won't know where they'll go."
"Gordon," Virgil cut in before his brother could continue his rambling that sounded much more energetic than Gordon looked. "Are you not, you know, concerned with what happened?"
Gordon was acting like nothing had happened, whereas Virgil couldn't get the image of seeing his little brother torn up and bloody out of his head.
Gordon shrugged, but then winced at the movement.
"I mean, I guess I am, but at the end of the day we got actual proof and the footage that we needed. I think that makes it all worth it."
Virgil just shook his head as he sat back in his seat.
"I'll never understand your excitement about all of this," he muttered towards the ceiling.
"But I love you always," Gordon replied with a smile in his voice, and Virgil chuckled as he smiled too.
"Just get some rest, Sprout." Virgil stood up from the chair and stretched. "I'll go let everyone know you're still as annoying as ever and see how far away they are."
Virgil ruffled his brother's hair as he stepped past him.
"You still love me, too!" Gordon called to him and Virgil opened the door.
"Yeah, yeah." Virgil sighed, but he was still smiling as he left the room.