Corvid Lost

Three AM

Notes: Sup! I've already posted all up-to-date Corvid Lost on my AO3 but I'm trying to post it all here as well in case some folks prefer this format to AO3. 

CW: for first chapter, mentions of blood and implied injury, mentions of a tranquilliser gun

Remember to wear your masks, wash your hands, and stay hydrated. Have a great day! :)

The call was at three am. On the dot.

Techno was immediately dressed and nearly out the door before Wilbur and Tommy had even stumbled out of their rooms.

It wasn't unusual to receive calls this late at night, in all honesty the three should have been used to it by now.

Then again, Techno grinned wickedly at the sight of the poor intern walking face first into a wall with a curse, it was only Tommy's first month. He'd still be getting used to things.

"Trucker supposedly hit something out near the off-ramp." Techno called out. "Said it was big and feathered and black."

"Confused bald eagle?" Wilbur responded, strapping on a headlamp. "Can't think of anything large, black, and feathered at this time of night."

"Could be mothman?" Tommy suggested as the three finally clambered into the truck.

Techno turned the keys and pressed the garage door opener, backing the truck out.

"Don' think mothman lives out here." he muttered once they reached the end of the drive, trying to eye where the road was they needed to turn out onto. The lights of the truck were bright, sure, but even they were hardly enough against the stark, inky void of the desert night.

"Maybe Bigfoot?" Tommy suggested.

"The report said 'feathered', Toms." Wilbur sighed. "And Bigfoot's more a forest kind of sighting, not desert."

"A Chupacabra then?" Tommy continued to ignore him as Techno peeled the truck out onto the long, dusty desert road.

"If you wanted ta' look for cryptids Tommy," he grinned into the rear view mirror at the sleepy teen. "Ya should've signed up for your internship with the weirdos back near the town."

"They don't pay jack shit!" the teen crossed his arms. "Not that you pay much either but at least it's something..."

"Alright, checklist everyone." Techno stated. "Wil I take it you already did your PPE and gear list before we left?"

Wilbur nodded in the seat beside him. "All good here."

"Cool cool." He glanced back at Tommy through the rear view mirror once more. "And you know the drill?"

"Keep the truck running, keep the lights on the scene, keep traffic moving if anyone comes by," the boy listed. "Yup, got it."

"And?" Techno raised an eyebrow. "What's the most important one that you keep forgetting?"

The teen sighed. "It's a wild animal, don't try to pet it."

"Good." Techno grinned. "Glad we're on the same page."

It wasn't long before they finally arrived at the site.

Techno angled the truck's lights to hit the scene, a man in denim standing beside a trailer with a cellphone in hand, before stopping the vehicle.

"It's over there!" the denimed man practically shouted at him as he exited the truck. "Big ball of feathers, I-man I dunno am I gonna get in trouble or something? I didn't hit it, I just saw it happen, I swear! The other guy didn't even stop!"

Techno shrugged, motioning Wilbur to calm the man before making his way to where the truck lights indicated. He'd never been that great when calming people, especially ones who thought they committed a federal crime by accidentally hitting an endangered species.

Sure, there would be a fine involved, but sometimes those could be waved. And it wasn't as if they'd be sent to jail. It was only if the person actively tried to hunt the animal that it would be considered a crime.

Techno eyed the front of the man's trailer, there were no feathers, no blood. He believed the man's story, if something big and feathery had smashed into his trailer there'd have been evidence.

His gaze drifted from the trailer to the side of the road, where the edge of the dusty pavement sloped downwards a few feet into the pitch black desert. The lights of the two vehicles pointed in the same direction, towards the splatters of red leading out across the darkness.

Techno drew his tranq gun, loading it against his hip before stalking down the berm of the road, following the blood trail and bits of feathers. As the sounds of the denimed man's panic and Wilbur's soothing voice faded into the distance, a new sound rose.

A faint, wheezing whine. And the soft shuffling of something trying to move.

Techno dropped into a crouch as he neared the edges of the truck lights, before switching his head lamp on.

There, just at the edge of the light, was a large heap of black feathers, sticky with dark blood, trembling slightly.

A condor? He wondered. But, those birds shouldn't be this far north? Unless that tornado storm last week had caught a few off course?

Except, even for a condor, those feathers were massive.

The wings of the thing shifted, huge and downright terrifying in a way, Techno was sure if they were fully spread they'd be about the size of the truck or longer.

Tommy's earlier remark of mothman came to mind, but he quickly shook the idea from his head before inching closer. If this thing was still conscious, its sheer size alone indicated it could do some serious damage.

He'd rather not have to tranq it, on top of it's injuries already looking quite bad, he didn't want to risk losing it to a tranq. He hated losing them to a tranq... If he could avoid it, he would.

Where are your talons bud? He finally reached the edges of the feather pile, or, wing pile really.

Two, massive black wings were cocooning whatever bird was hiding within them, probably shielding it from the harsh light.

Or stunned. Techno thought.

He carefully reached out and took hold of the edge of a wing, prying it back to look for talons to grab onto, a beak to avoid-

What he saw was NOT a bird.

End Notes:

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