Happy New Year, everyone! Thank you so much for your continued support, it means the world.
A cough tore from Virgil's throat before he had properly regained consciousness. His whole body tensed, trying to hold it in. He refused to open his eyes, having no desire to see what position he had landed himself in this time. He knew Blag wouldn't let his escape go unpunished and didn't intend to reveal he was conscious again. He knew he had tried his hardest and not everyone would have got as far as he did.
The problem was they were in the middle of nowhere: there was nowhere to run to. The house was isolated; no one was close enough to realise it was suddenly being inhabited again. Blag was twisted coming back here, but Virgil felt it was working: no one had found them yet. But he didn't let that get to him. His family knew who was behind his abduction and Virgil knew it was only a matter of time before they figured out where he was.
"Virgil?"
The voice was soft and quiet but Virgil jumped, his eyes flying open. He swore when he realised he wasn't in the house any longer. It was dark and damp: his back was pressed to a wall and Virgil could feel the moisture seeping into his shirt. He shivered, trying to pull away, and realised his hands were tied, lashed above his head to an iron ring embedded in the wall.
He could be in an actual dungeon. Virgil shivered again, then forced himself to think realistically. Blag didn't have a proper dungeon.
He hoped…
As much as Virgil wanted to squeeze his eyes shut and find he was somewhere different when he opened them, he couldn't. That voice was familiar. He looked around, squinting in the dim light. Then he swore again.
Just out of reach – even if Virgil kicked out – but slumped against the wall with his hands tied the same way, was an old friend.
"Matt?"
Virgil didn't know what he had expected. Blag had shown him the footage: he knew that Matt had been taken. But he had hoped his friend might have made a miraculous escape or been rescued. There was no denying the figure sitting next to him, though. Virgil lent his head back on the wall as helplessness rose once again within him. Blag was winning and there was nothing Virgil could do about it. He momentarily shut his eyes and sighed. Anger and frustration coiled in his stomach but Virgil was beginning to get the feeling that no matter what he tried, it wouldn't be enough.
Matt attempted to smile, but it was little more than a grimace.
"I would say good to see you, but given the circumstances…" he said, glancing up at his bound hands.
"What happened?" Virgil asked. Matt lived on the outskirts of the city. With Blag's contacts, it wouldn't have been hard to track him down. But Matt was a good cop – it wouldn't have been easy to take him by surprise. Then again, Virgil was one of the key operatives to International Rescue. Blag shouldn't have been able to get to him either, yet here they were.
"Someone tampered with my car. The engine just died in the middle of nowhere. Got out to have a look, next thing I know, two guys have jumped me."
Virgil shook his head, not knowing what to say. There wasn't anything he could say. Blag had known where to ambush Matt. He had also known precisely how to get to Virgil. The number of men he had sent showed he knew not to underestimate them. Thinking back to what he could remember of the fight, Virgil wondered if the force was not only to contain him, but to stop Scott from following. The men could have killed his brother, but they hadn't. They had just kept him at bay. Blag was toying with them.
"What's he planning, Matt?" Virgil murmured, not expecting an answer but needing to voice the thoughts running through his head. They had dealt with all sorts of problems throughout their life, most of them since starting International Rescue. But they had always prevailed, even against nature. Virgil didn't know how to defeat an opponent when he didn't know what they wanted. It was something to do with Scott, but Virgil couldn't work out if Blag wanted to kill his brother or not.
"I don't know," Matt admitted. Virgil heard him shifting position and knew it was aggravating the officer that he couldn't pace the way was prone to do when a problem arose. "But he seems to know too much about us all."
"Dad will protect Nicole and the kids," Virgil said softly. He knew what Matt feared the most and Blag seemed to know their weak spots. Not to mention Nicole had met the man when he had been masquerading as a businessman all those years ago.
"I know." Matt didn't sound convinced. Virgil wasn't even sure if he believed his own words. Blag always seemed one step ahead.
"Virgil?"
"Yeah?"
"Scott knows who is behind it. He'll come for you."
"That's what worries me," Virgil muttered, trying to shift position. "Blag's left him a trail of breadcrumbs, hidden just enough that Scott won't think of it being a trap. He would have got John involved by now. Blag is expecting Scott to come for me; he's waiting for him."
"What will he do?" Worry laced Matt's tone. Virgil shook his head, leaning back against the wall and trying to blink away tears of frustration. He refused to be used as bait for the rest of the family, knowing that Blag had the power to destroy them all.
But right now, he didn't see what he could do about it and he hated it.
"He's rigged a hangar and is leading them straight to it. I don't think Scott will go alone, but I…" Virgil took a deep breath, fearing if he said it out loud, it would come to pass "Blag doesn't care about the others, only getting to Scott. He's going to kill them, then kill me once I've played my part."
"I won't let that happen."
"I don't really see what you can do to stop it," Virgil muttered. If only there was something he could do to warn the others! His hands scrunched into fists and he tugged against the cuffs, hoping they would give enough for him to free himself. But nothing happened. Blag wasn't taking any more chances that Virgil might escape.
Silence fell between the two men, neither able comfort to the other. They both knew who they were up against and just how incredibly dangerous Blag was – the man might have been insane, but he was clever. It was a deadly combination. More than anything, Virgil wished he had his watch, a way of contacting Scott and stopping his brothers walking into a trap.
"Do you know where we are?" Virgil asked, wondering if Matt had figured it out yet.
"No. I haven't seen daylight since they took me. We could be anywhere."
"We're in Kansas," Virgil said, trying to hide his shudder. He couldn't believe Blag had brought him here, to the very centre of Scott's nightmares.
Matt saw him, though.
"Where are we, Virg?" he asked, his voice soft and quiet. Virgil tucked his knees up to his chest, letting his head lean on them, talking to his legs rather than Matt.
"You should know; you've been here before. We're back where it started," he mumbled, his tone despondent. Matt swore, clearly unable to believe that such a daring move had worked. They both knew Blag had called their bluff: no one would think that he would come back to such an obvious location, so no one had looked.
"He's not going to kill the others," Matt said.
"How do you know?"
"After everything the world has thrown at you all over the years? They'll be on their guard; a trap won't stop them."
A shadow of a smile crossed Virgil's face. Matt didn't just mean their previous encounters with Blag. He meant International Rescue. For all of Blag's gloating and mocking, he didn't know them, didn't know what they were capable of.
When Blag realised precisely who he was dealing with, Virgil wanted to see the look on the man's face. He wanted to see Blag understand that he would never truly win.
Right now, however, Virgil just needed that moment to hurry up and arrive. He was freezing.
"They know it's Blag, and you know what your brothers are like," Matt continued. "They won't stop looking until they have you-"
"Us."
"What?"
"Until they have us back. You really think they are just coming for me? They'll know you are missing by now as well and I've seen your wife when she is angry. They'll come for us both and then we will get out of here."
"How touching," a voice sneered.
Virgil flinched as sunlight streamed into their prison. He squinted against the light, realising the door was at the top of a set of steps. It slammed shut behind Blag as he entered. But Virgil had been able to have a look around their prison. They seemed to be in some sort of pit, or a cellar or…
Virgil's heart thudded uncomfortably. There was a shadow, an outline of what he had, at first, presumed was a table on the other side of the room. But Virgil had just figured out precisely where they were.
They were being held in a crypt.
This time, his shiver was nothing to do with the cold.
Matt swore and Virgil knew his friend had also figured out where they were. He didn't have the chance to say anything before a light flared into life. He blinked rapidly to clear his vision before looking up.
Blag was standing in front of him, looking pleased. Even as Virgil grew accustomed to the light, the door opened again and two of the men struggled in. One carried a small table, the other a laptop and they moved down the steps, placing the items where Blag indicated. Blag opened the laptop, ensuring Virgil could see the screen. It was currently blank.
"What do you want?" Virgil muttered bitterly. He wanted to keep the attention away from Matt. Apart from when he had first rescued Scott, Matt hadn't had to come face to face with Blag – Virgil still recalled his unconscious form on the floor when he had slipped into Scott's hospital room all those years ago. He wanted to give his friend some time to deal with the fact that Blag was standing in front of him.
"Don't push me!" Blag snarled. "You think you can attempt to escape and expect to get away with it? When you have played your part-"
"Yeah, yeah, you'll kill me. You know this is getting old now, right?" Virgil had no idea what he was doing or why he thought mocking Blag like this would be a good idea. But he was frustrated with the whole situation and was not going to sit idly by while his family were in danger.
"Slowly," Blag said. His tone was quiet and he stared steadily at Virgil, unflinching. Despite himself, Virgil broke the eye-contact first and Blag chuckled. It didn't matter how much he pretended, Blag knew how scared Virgil was.
Virgil remained quiet as Blag fiddled with the laptop, loading it up and ensuring the screen was visible. Part of him was hopeful – John knew how to hack into anything and if Blag was sending a signal, his brother could trace it – but he forced himself to be realistic. John was hundreds of miles away – even if he could trace it, no one would be able to get here any time soon.
The screen booted up and Virgil swallowed. It was the same hangar as before. Blag wanted him to see this and escaping wasn't enough to change his mind.
Blag wanted him to watch his brothers die.
Virgil glared at his captor, pouring his hate and anger into that one look. Blag grinned, adjusted the position one last time and climbed the stairs. He paused at the top.
"Enjoy the show. It's the last you'll see."
He slammed the door behind him. Virgil's hands clenched into fists, tensing his restraints as three figures emerged on the screen.
He had been right in thinking that Scott wouldn't go alone.
He hadn't realised that it would be both John and Gordon with him though.
Virgil wanted to look away, to refuse to watch.
But he knew that, no matter what happened next, he owed it to his brothers. They were about to live through whatever Blag had planned. The very least he could do was watch.
TBTBTB
Scott took a deep breath, checking the gun in his hand was loaded. Even when they were out on missions for International Rescue, he didn't like the idea of being armed. They were supposed to be a neutral organisation and Scott knew that more than one government would love the excuse to either shut them down or detain one of the operatives. Carrying weapons would give them that excuse and it wasn't as if the brothers were helpless.
This time, however, he hadn't protested when Gordon had produced the guns.
This wasn't about saving unknown strangers while putting their own lives at risk. This was about getting his little brother back, and there was nothing Scott wouldn't do in order to accomplish that.
The drive out to the hangar had been tense. How Gordon ended up driving, he still wasn't sure. But Gordon had muttered something about John being needed to keep track of movement and Scott being more likely to kill them driving too fast. Before either he or John could protest, Gordon had taken the keys out of Scott's hand and that was that. Arguing about it would cost them precious time.
Time, they were all too aware, that Virgil might not have.
To give his brother credit, Gordon had got them out here at a speed Scott wasn't sure he would have managed without crashing the car. It was easier for Gordon, he wasn't being plagued with flashes of their past every time he blinked. Only when John shot him an alarmed look did Scott realise that he was hyperventilating and the knowledge was enough to make himself calm down. He had been put through enough scenarios in his life to mean he had mastered the knack of calming himself down from a panic attack. He needed to - the Air Force would have never let him in if he wasn't in control. But given their situation, his normal tricks took a long time to work and Scott was angry – at himself more than anything – by the time he could breathe properly again. He hated that Blag had this much power over him.
"What if they are in there?" Gordon's quiet voice made Scott refocus on the job at hand as he glanced at his brother. They were fortunate in their position. Through chance (and some quick navigation on John's behalf), they had approached the hangar from the east, using a natural incline to give them cover. The car was out of sight and if they kept low, they would remain unseen while they examined the area. Scott was lying on his stomach, his gun in his hand as he stared down at the hangar. Gordon had crawled up next to him while John was still by the car, trying to pull up any information or camera feeds that he could hack into that might prove useful.
"Then I hope for their sake they don't get in our way," Scott muttered darkly. He was usually the first to caution his brothers about being rash. But this was Virgil. His brother. His best friend.
No one was going to get in his way.
"What about John?" Gordon continued.
"What about him?"
"What if they are still in there and John is with us?"
Scott glanced at Gordon and sighed, realising what his brother meant. He and Gordon were both trained, even if it had been a while since either of them had been in the military. But Scott knew they could still hold their own, even in a gunfight and outnumbered. But John's talents had always rested elsewhere and he did very little fieldwork compared to the rest of them. His reactions – while greater than a causal citizen – were not as quick as his brothers'. Could they risk John coming in with them when it could get him hurt?
Scott looked over his shoulder to see John was heading their way. He, too, had a gun in his hand and Scott knew by the look on his face they weren't going to have an option. John wouldn't take no for an answer, and they didn't have time to either argue or convince him to stay here. Gordon followed his gaze and as Scott turned back, their eyes met. Scott knew Gordon realised the same as him: John wouldn't be left behind.
Scott pulled a face. "Look out for him," he said quietly, making sure that John didn't hear as the man dropped down beside them. Gordon nodded once.
"What's the plan?" John asked, scanning the building in front of him.
"Did you pick up anything?" Scott didn't know precisely what John had been doing. John shook his head.
"I'm not getting any readings. But I'm also trying to over-ride Five from a laptop and zoom in on a small location. The chances are that I'm looking at New Mexico rather than New York, it's not exactly accurate doing it like this. But if it is any consolation, everything looked quiet."
"That doesn't help." Scott rose into a crouch, preparing to approach as he did so.
"Why? Surely any chance to avoid a fight-"
"It's the only lead we have," Scott said simply. John didn't answer and when Scott looked at him, he saw his brother had gone pale. If the men weren't here, then the chances were Virgil wasn't either. Scott wasn't prepared for this to all be for nothing.
"I thought you were supposed to be good at these rallying the troops speeches?" Gordon said, smirking. "Johnny, we'll be fine. Shoot anything that moves. Unless it's me. You can shoot Scott, he's being a pain. Just not me, got it?"
Before Scott could react, Gordon leapt up and started down the hill at a run. Scott and John looked at each other, before scrambling after Gordon. If there was one thing that neither were going to allow, it was their little brother running into danger without them.
No alarm was raised as they approached. Gordon was waiting for them at the bottom of the hill and they all shared a glance. It was quiet. Too quiet. Scott didn't want to consider what that meant.
"Now what?" John asked, his voice soft.
"Now we get Virgil back," Scott said. "Stay close to Gordon, John. Gords, follow my lead. I'll go in and clear it, you cover the doors. John, take out anyone that comes out, understood?"
"F.A.B." The familiar response gave Scott a feeling of reassurance, of strength. They were used to working as a team; they could do this. The three of them shared a long look and Scott took a deep breath.
"Let's get Virg back."
Scott set off at a run. Gordon was on his heels and his presence was reassuring: Scott knew Gordon had his back and he ran as he had never run before, his gaze locked on the hangar. The only thought in his head was reaching it and rescuing his brother. Any other thoughts were mere distractions right now.
He had halved the distance when something caught his eye. Scott slowed, twisting to see what the sun was glinting off. The ground should have been kept clear if this was an active airfield, but there was definitely something there. It had to be metal for the sun to catch it in such a way. As Scott changed direction, he realised there was a lens. Frowning, he didn't notice Gordon shoot past him as he and John continued to advance on the hangar.
"Scott?" Gordon's yell made Scott stop and he turned back. He could examine the object afterwards. It wasn't important enough to let his younger brothers run headlong into danger without him taking the lead. Knowing delaying only increased their chances of being seen, Scott raised his hand in acknowledgement to Gordon's shout and set off after them.
Gordon continued to run when he saw Scott following. Scott cursed, willing himself to move faster. Gordon wouldn't wait for him, wouldn't let him enter first to check for danger, but would barrel straight in himself, knowing that Scott was following. John also continued to move and Scott lengthened his stride.
Gordon reached the main hangar before Scott had caught up with them. Something wasn't right though: Scott could feel it.
"Gordon, don't!"
Gordon dashed inside, John right behind him. Scott sprinted after them, waiting for the flurry of gunfire to signal his brothers were in trouble.
Then he heard Gordon swear. The panic in his voice made Scott stumble. He had never heard Gordon like that.
"Run!" John also sounded alarmed but it only caused Scott to pick up his pace even more. His brothers suddenly emerged from the hangar, John holding Gordon's arm as he dragged him along. They saw Scott approaching.
"Run!" John yelled again, gesturing for Scott to turn around. John could co-ordinate the most troublesome of rescues from thousands of miles into space and make it sound like he was just taking a walk in the park. For him to sound like that…
Scott never finished his thought before an almighty explosion ripped through the air.
He was thrown backwards, instinct causing him to throw his arms over his head as debris rained down on him. He realised it was pieces of the actual hangar, the corrugated metal having been blasted into pieces from the force of the explosion. Smoke filled the air and Scott choked as he pushed himself upright, his head spinning and a loud ringing sound filling his ears. He stumbled in what he hoped was the right direction, a hoarse throat screaming John and Gordon's names.
He had no idea if they were answering him or not: he couldn't hear anything. A sticky feeling on the side of his face made him lift a hand and he stared as his fingers came away coated in blood. It explained why he felt so disorientated. But his brothers had been much closer to the explosion than he had…
They had to be okay! They just had to…
He stumbled, his body pitching forward until he hit the floor again. The dizziness was too much, he couldn't get back up. Scott looked up, then blinked. But his eyes weren't playing tricks on him: someone was walking towards him through the smoke. But the figure was uninjured, walking with an easy stride. John and Gordon had been closer – Scott knew they wouldn't be walking that comfortably, even if it was just fear for the others that hindered their movements.
Scott tried to scramble backwards, but he was too late. A man he didn't know emerged from the smoke. Hands hooked under his shoulders, pulling him further back from the hangar. Again, a glint caught Scott's attention and he suddenly found himself looking at the same lens that had drawn his eye before. It was a camera, positioned perfectly to have captured the explosion.
Scott frowned, then choked. His hands prised at the man's, clawing at him as he tried to escape. But the man had a firm grip on him and the cloth over Scott's mouth and nose made breathing difficult. Fumes hit the back of his throat, causing his eyes to water.
He struggled, fighting to get away but it was too late.
He passed out.