Characters: Virgil, Gordon, John

Warnings: Ensnared, Electric shock, kidnapped

Scott had been soaring though the sky above him. Virgil had been running along the ground beneath him.

A rare day off, some time to be their other selves. It had been unplanned but needed, the amount of rescues they had attended had not allowed them any time to exercise the way they needed to.

Virgil was racing through the forest, heading for the lake when a strange scent made him stop. He sniffed the air cautiously. Something was very strong down by the water, and he broke into a gentle lope down to the shore. He heard Scott calling, and he glanced up to see his brother circling overhead.

The smell was strong here, and before he even thought about it he was wading into the water. There were several dead fish floating, but something didn't feel right about them. He nudged one with a paw. It didn't move properly.

His wolf sense was ringing a loud alarm and he looked over his shoulder as Scott landed on the dirt bank. Virgil turned to shout a warning when there was a small explosion and he watched in horror as Scott became entangled with a net. He lunged forward, but his paw triggered something in the water, and a noose tightened around it, preventing him from reaching his brother.

There was the crackle of electricity and Scott fell still. Virgil redoubled his effort to get free, wishing he could just transform. But then the electricity hit him and he knew no more.

It was Gordon shaking his shoulder that woke Virgil.

He wasn't where he had fallen unconscious, he was now on the bank. He blinked up at his brother, trying to frown. "Frowning is really hard when you are a wolf," he thought. Which thought clarified for Virgil that he was no longer in the water, no longer trapped and he shivered and transformed. Gordon wordlessly passed him a towel.

As he dried himself Virgil looked around. All he could see was Gordon. He could hear Two, and once he'd dried off and dressed from the clothes his brother handed him he looked up, comforted by the bulky craft that was his. He continued staring at her while he asked the question burning him up

'So where is our brother?'

The pause told him everything. But Gordon answered anyway.

'We don't know, Virg.'

Virgil pushed Two to her limits to get home, ignoring Gordon and John's concerns about his health.

Scott was missing.

Scott was missing and he'd been right there but unable to do anything.

They all knew that high voltage electricity could disrupt their ability to transform. But up until now it had been something only they knew about. At least that was what they thought. Even Havoc with her penchant for tasering them hadn't caused an issue, while it was enough to knock them out on occasion it wasn't strong enough to disrupt them.

So who knew?

He shuddered at the thought as he brought Two into her hangar.

John was already down, seated at the desk with fingers flying and screens up. On one was the image of an eagle covered in a net and Virgil shuddered once more. He stood behind his brother, resolutely not looking at the screen.

'Anything, John?'

'Well, Gordon sent a picture of a trap on the bank that hadn't been activated, and the one that snared you, and I've been researching. They are all standard eagle traps, although I've not found any that are electrified.'

'What are you saying?'

'I'm saying that I don't think you and Scott were targeted specifically. It looks like the work of poachers. You were unlucky to get stuck in a trap that hadn't been wired correctly. If an eagle had been caught in the one you were in, that voltage would have killed them outright.'

'Wait – are you saying that catching Scott in his eagle form was just a fluke?'

'Looks like it.'

He didn't know whether to be relieved or not. While it was a relief that their secret was safe, the thought of Scott in the hands of poachers…Virgil suddenly realised that John was still talking.

'Sorry, John, I missed what you said.'

'EOS is already checking out the dark web for illegal sales.'

And didn't that just make his blood run cold. Still, Virgil needed to be doing something.

'What can I do?'

'Gordon is distracting Alan for the moment, if we can work this out before needing to let him know then that would be good.'

'Agreed.'

'Kayo is scouting out the area to see if she can find anything.'

'How long was I out?'

'We're not entirely sure, but you disappeared from scanners for over half an hour, which we think is the window that the poachers were there. Pretty sure they had heavy shielding and it was that that alerted EOS to the problem.'

'We really need to find a way to track us when we're transformed.'

'We've been over this. The only way is a subdermal tracker chip. None of us were happy with that idea.'

'Well, maybe we just need to suck it up and do it. Especially now.'

'Yeah, let's have that conversation once Scott is safely home.'

'Yeah. I'm gonna go check Two over, make sure she's ready.'

'FAB, Virgil.'

They didn't find Scott or any illegal wildlife sales that day.

Nor the next.

Or the day after that.

Alan had been furious when they had told him that first evening, refusing to talk to any of them that night and submersing himself talking to his gamer friends. Kayo hadn't found anything helpful. Even Penny and Parker had come up empty from their contacts. EOS deep-dived.

Day four and EOS found it.

'John, I believe I may have found something.'

'Show me.'

It was very black market, with many exceptionally rare and endangered species on the sales list. But it was the premium lot that caused John's breath to catch. He hit the emergency alarm, barking out orders as his family appeared.

'Suit up. Gordon, you're with me in One. Kayo, I've sent Shadow the coordinates, you'll get there just after us. Virgil, Alan, we'll see you when you get there. Hurry guys, we don't have much time.'

There were a chorus of 'FAB's' and the Island was a sudden blur of activity before absolute silence descended.