Whumpmas Day Four: Four Calling Birds: Muzzled. A were!Virgil, eagle!Scott and puppy!Alan fic.

Scott hated it when any of them needed to transform 'in' public. There was always a risk that the general public would panic – or worse. It wasn't too bad for John, Virgil and Alan, or Gordon if there was water, but for himself it was a nightmare.

There were very few places in the world where an eagle his size was native. So it was only on rare occasions or in emergencies that he could transform.

This was the most definitely an emergency.

Virgil and Alan had been helping lead children out of the collapsed building. The crawl spaces were too narrow for anything more, and too unstable for anything else. Of course, the children were delighted with the two dogs International Rescue sent in to help them, and before long all the children and adults were safe.

There were three other buildings in similar states, two of which Scott and Gordon had evacuated. All four descended on the building. But only three of them came out.

Virgil had disappeared.

John and EOS set to work tracking Virgil while Alan and Gordon finished everything off. Scott panicked co-ordinated.

'I have his signal travelling at speed down this road, Scott.' A map appeared with a red dot travelling.

'What are we dealing with, John?'

'Hang on.'

Scott was not good at hanging on, but he did.

'It appears that he is currently in a van. Ah. Scott, we may have a problem.'

'What kind of problem?'

'The kind that travels in a van that has Animal Control written on it.'

'Ohh. That kind of problem.'

'Do you still have Virgil's license?'

'Of course. Send the address and I'll be on my way.'

'FAB, Scott.'

'And John?'

'Yes, Scott?'

'Listen in, will you. Something doesn't feel right here.'

'Sure thing.'

Scott changed, grabbed his brother's license and pulled the bike from Two's hold. It was Virgil's, but Scott could ride anything, and he needed speed for this one, the van had quite the head start.

He was three-quarters there when John spoke in his ear. The panic in his brother's voice almost threw him off, and Scott gunned the bike without waiting for whatever the news was.

'Scott! You gotta get there faster!'

'I'm on it, John. What is it?'

'They're going to put Virgil down as a dangerous dog!'

'S***!'

Scott dumped the bike and transformed. He grabbed the clothes and paperwork he needed and set off.

Flying directly over the countryside took Scott to the animal control centre far faster than he could traverse the roads, and he dressed quickly and burst into the office. He vaulted the counter and through the door in time to see his brother muzzled and being dragged by the neck in a slip-noose cable.

The sight made Scott's heart race, but he held his fist back from decking the man dragging his brother to his death.

'STOP!'

'You cannot be here!'

'That's my dog! I have a license and a permit for him. You cannot destroy him!'

It wasn't the words that stopped the man, it was Scott's tone of voice. He looked Scott up and down and took the paperwork. And blanched.

'M…M…Mr Tracy! I'm so sorry!'

But Scott was too busy getting the muzzle and cable off Virgil. He could see the fear in his brother's eyes, feel him trembling, and as soon as he'd got them off he had Virgil in a hug, burying his face in Virgil's ruff. His brother whined.

'It's ok. It's ok. You're ok. I got you.'

Eventually they separated and the man let them walk out. He was shaking that he'd come so close to killing Scott Tracy's dog.

They walked to the bike. It was therapeutic for both of them, and by the time they had reached it their hearts were back to normal. Scott grabbed Virgil's spare clothes from the bike and his brother transformed back. They sat on the verge, shoulder to shoulder.

'That was a close call.'

'It was.'

'Thank you. Both of you.'

'Just – don't do that again.'

'I'll try not to, John.'

They arrived back at the rescue site to see Gordon and Alan waiting with burgers and fries. Such a normal ending to what could have been the worst day of their lives. Scott hit the comms.

'John?'

'Yes, Scott?'

'Come down.'

'I'll be waiting. And I'll pick the movie.'