Chapter Text
It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
Martin places his front paws on the tree growling at the net holding his brother.
A mechanical hiss draws his attention from his little brother and over to the grassy clearing.
“Well, I'll admit, Wild Rats, I didn’t think a simple net snare would catch you.” Zach says as one of his bots deposits him on a branch just below Chris’s squirming form. The bot dips down ducking out of sight
“Ok you got me,” Chris calls up, “Can you-ugh- let me go? My legs aren't supposed to bend like this. Not as a Wolf.”
“Not a chance.” Zach says pulling out a small vial of dark purple liquid.
Martin growls and hits his deactivation switch.
“Not so fast.”
The zachbot grabs him from behind. Pinning his arms in place.
Zach hands the vial to a much smaller bot, guiding up through the net so it’s hovering just out of Chris’s reach, “See, I have plans that I can't have you two messing up.”
The bot breaks the vial forcing the liquid into Chris’s mouth. A howl tears through the woods as Chris crackles with energy. Wiggling free of the net he lands on Zach’s branch, far to small fangs snapping dangerously close to the man’s legs. He knocks him out of the tree then leaps down after him. Claws slashing in the air as Martin catches him.
“Hey, no biting.” He gently flicks the pups forhead.
Chris just growls.
“I’ll take care of it,” Martin promises, “You’re still in there right?”
Chris nods, reaching up to paw at the deactivation button.
Martin pushes the paw back down, “Let Aviva take a look first.”
“Fine.”
“So you can still talk.” he teases, setting him on the ground. Binding Zachs hands together and calling park rangers to deal with him. Sitting heavily on a log he calls the Tortuga for back up. Eyes following Chris as he wanders.
Tail wagging Chris sniffs around the area. He’s not too sure what Zach did to him, forced a full activation and glitched him into a wolf pup, sure, but something about the whole thing just feels off. Unsure of what to do he jumps up on a rock and howls.
At Zach’s grumble, Martin joins in.
Chris runs over jumping up onto Zach’s chest sniffing at him.
Screaming Zach yells, “Get it away from me!”
“Chris, come here.” Martin sighs, “You can't be doing that.”
Sulking he walks over, placing his paws on the log. “Help me up?”
Nodding he takes him under the arms and sets him down on the bench.
“Thanks bro,” Chris yawns, “Ugh, don’t know why I'm so sleepy.”
“You are a wolf pup,” Martin points out, “I’ve got you, go head and sleep.”
He’s woken by the sound of an engine. Ears pricking up he stands up.
“Hear something?” Martin asks, looking in that direction.
“Car’s coming, probably the ranger.” Chris says.
“Good, they can give us, and Zach a ride back to town.”
“No landing for the Tortuga?”
“Nope, the forest is too dense.”
“Hey, Martin.”
“Yeah?”
“I'm hungry.” Chris says, unable to help the winning that slips into his voice. Though it’s clearly the wolf form not him winning. Definitely.
“I have freeze dried strawberries, seaweed, and uhhh, oh beef jerky.” He tears a small piece off the jerky and lets Chris eat it from his hand, “I’ll give you the strawberries and some of the jerky, it’s too salty for your system.”
Chris is too busy crunching up a dried strawberry to respond.
A few minutes later the car Chris heard rolls into the clearing.
Martin stands up, and starts explaining parts of the situation to the ranger, “And can you give us a ride into town.”
“Us?” The ranger asks as he locks Zach into the back of the truck.
Martin nods and heads back to his stuff. Reaching behind the log he pulls Chris up, “We had a Power Suit glitch, so he’s a little stuck right now.”
Wiggling his legs Chris groans, “Put me down.”
“Ok, uh, regulations say I can't have any unsecured animals in the truck, would the kennel in the back be alright…”
“It’s fine,” Chris answers shortly.
Nodding the Ranger waves them over, and unlatches the large kennel, “Glad I brought the animal control truck.”
Martin frowns, taking off his jacket and setting it inside, before helping Chris up. “We could try to deactivate the suit.”
“It’s better if Aviva does it.” Chris shakes his head, “Besides we were waiting for like twenty minutes.”
“You were sleeping for an hour.” Martin says.
“It’ll be fine.”
“If you're sure,” he shuts and latches the door. Worry for his brother seeping in.
“Hop in.” The ranger nods, “Sorry about that, the roads were all damaged in a recent storm, and we’ve had a few crashes. Boss is making sure all animals are secured.”
Martin just nods.
Chris kicks at the jacket on the floor, he hadn’t realized just how big the kennel was. He ends up scrambling for balance as the truck starts making its way through steep and woody terrain. The truck sways side to side, Chris shoves his face into the jacket. Swallowing down the bile that was creeping into his throat.
The truck lurches. Chris groans. Off all the times to get carsick.
Eventually the car stops rocking and settles down. Whimpering Chris lets out a small howl. Huddled in a corner away from the vomit, as much away as he can be with bits stuck in his fur. Pushing aside the urge to clean his paws he clamps his jaw shut and tries to wait the ride out.
Finally everything stops rocking. He can hear Martin getting the kennel as Zach is hauled away.
“Chris I am so sorry that…” He trails off seeing the mess, “Oh Chris.”
“That was a really bad idea.” Chris says.
“Just car sick?”
He nods.
“Ok,” he pulls his jacket around Chris and scoops him into his arms. “Let's get you back to the Tortuga.”
Thankfully the turtle ship was in the parking lot. Martin wasted no time in rushing inside and getting to the shower.
With clean, thoroughly blow-dried fur Chris sneaks past Martin and Koki and ducks through the door into his room.
“Today was so embarrassing.” He murmurs to himself, crawling under his desk.
He manages a good fifteen minutes of alone time before Martin walks in, with Aviva right behind.
“Chris, I know you’re in here.” Martin says.
Dragging himself out from under the desk Chris silently looks up at Aviva.
“Awwe you’re so cute,” She coos, fawning over him.
“Can you fix it?”
“Have you tried deactivating?”
“We wanted to wait for you. I told you about the mystery thing Zach gave him.”
“Oh yeah,” Aviva pats Chris’s head, “Come down to my lab.”
As she hooks up all sorts of cables and tests Chris sits in a silent staring contest with Martin.
“You know you’re not in trouble right?” Martin says, “As far as everyone out there was concerned, you’re just some poor creature Zach was messing with.”
“That’s the problem.” Chris barks, “I probably would have been car sick either way, but he saw me as an animal, not a person.”
“Yeah…”
“Hang on,” Aviva says, “You don’t get carsick, are you sure it wasn’t poison or something.”
“I’m sure.”
“He used to get car sick all the time,” Martin says, “Couldn’t take a trip on a road that was even slightly bumpy without his meds.”
“Hmm. Well it looks safe to deactivate. Wanna give it a try?”
“Sure,” The button is pressed and Chris returns to being human. His gloves clatter to the floor and Martin and Aviva stare at him, shock painted over their features. Glancing down he yelps, “I should have stayed a wolf…”