Stiles knew that Peter hadn't arrived at the metro station yet, but he still headed towards the pickup point and paced around.
A beige luxury sedan eventually pulled up and Stiles didn't hesitate to hop into the passenger seat and throw his backpack into the backseat.
"Hey, Peter."
"Stiles," Peter replied. "Did you have a nice trip up?"
"It was okay. I've never taken the metro this far north before. How was your flight?"
"Uneventful. I see you brought your bat in your bag. Thanks for being prepared."
"Thanks for considering my schedule and waiting until the weekend," Stiles commented.
"Derek has me trying out this new thing in which I'm nice and considerate."
"How's that been going for you?"
"It's exhausting," Peter admitted. "I don't know why some of you bother."
"Sometimes it pays off," Stiles tried to argue. "It's usually the right thing to do, too."
"It's the 'sometimes' and 'usually' that trouble me. Related to that, I hope I didn't take you away from anything important."
"You didn't. The timing's actually good. Lydia is coming by next weekend. She's staying around here for a while before she moves to Boston to prepare for school. So, what's going on here?"
"I'm here to retrieve Cora. Since you're conveniently nearby, I thought I'd recruit backup in case I needed it."
"Last I heard, she was in South America. How long has she been here?"
"About two months," Peter answered. "She told me she was tracking some research being done on werewolves. Then, we lost contact. Derek convinced me to wait two weeks before assuming something bad happened, and now here I am."
"So that's why you might need backup. Derek's not worried?" Stiles asked.
"He thinks Cora can take care of herself; at least, that's what he's been telling himself."
"What's the full story?"
"Someone's looking into mind control. From what Cora could gather, someone is using a combination of black snakeroot and black hellebore to control werewolf moods. They think that if they can alter a werewolf's mood enough, they could potential reset it and push their way in."
"How far does Cora think they are from that?"
"She wasn't sure. She was going to try to infiltrate the lab for a closer look, and that's the last I heard from her."
"Are you worried?"
"I think things might have gone wrong, but I'm not worried yet," Peter replied.
Stiles and Peter proceeded northwest into rural Maryland. Peter then stopped and took out one of Cora's old shirts to get a scent.
Eventually, Peter parked on the side of the road.
"We should walk the rest of the way," Peter said. "Stealth could be helpful."
The pair entered some woods and continued the journey, with Peter periodically sniffing Cora's shirt.
"My dad told me that he's trying to recruit Derek into the department. He thinks having a werewolf on payroll would be a good idea."
"I heard," Peter responded.
"Are you going to push him to take the job?"
"He could definitely use one, but I'm not sure if this would be best. Have you heard about Aaron Seggel yet?"
"Who's he?"
"Body found in the woods five days ago in Beacon Hills. Your father asked for some input. Derek smelled the area and picked up a lot of stress and fear. What does that tell you?"
"It wasn't a quick murder. The victim knew what was happening and might have struggled."
"What do you think your father did with that information?"
"Looked around the ground for anything that could have fallen loose in the struggle, maybe some blood on a thorn or branch."
"Your father found the murderer's blood. Case closed."
"Kind of proves my dad's point," Stiles suggested.
"Maybe," Peter responded. "Derek just provided the information. Your dad's the one that applied it. Derek might be better off as a consultant than an employee. Besides, hiring a werewolf might displace a job opportunity for a normal human. That might not be a popular move."
"Or it could show that people and werewolves can work together," responded Stiles.
"How optimistic."
"Jordan's become really popular at the station because of what he can do, and it's out of respect, not fear. Besides, if there was no blood, Derek could have tracked the murderer by scent. Was there a supernatural element to this crime?"
"None whatsoever," Peter replied.
"That's probably good."
Stiles and Peter came upon a large farmhouse and Peter listened for heartbeats.
"Eight upstairs, five on the first floor, five in the basement," Peter concluded. "Two in the basement are particularly weak, and possibly not human. I think Cora's on the first floor."
"Is that where you want to go?" Stiles asked.
"Yes, but I'll take the top floor. There are more people there. Assume everyone else you meet is bad."
Peter leapt up to a ledge and into an open second-floor window. Meanwhile, Stiles snuck in through the back door. He made his way through the kitchen and came across an older man.
"Uh, hi," said Stiles.
"Who are you?"
"I got a little bit lost. I'm just trying to find my way back to the highway," Stiles offered.
The man reached for a gun, now visible to Stiles.
Stiles sighed. "Fine, Peter, everyone's a bad guy."
Stiles quickly attacked the man with his bat, knocking him out before he could aim his gun. Stiles proceeded to another room.
Another man burst through a closed door, landing against a wall unconscious. Cora stepped out from the doorway.
"Cora," said Stiles.
"Stiles? What are you doing here?"
"Uh . . . rescuing you?"
Cora rolled her eyes.
Two others appeared, and Cora and Stiles dispatched them quickly and Peter caught up.
"Are you okay?" Peter asked Cora. "We haven't heard from you in weeks."
"Sorry, I had to go quiet for this and then my phone started flaking out. Come on."
The trio silently descended into the basement. There, they saw two transformed werewolves lying on steel beds. They were unconscious and intravenously connected to bags of tan liquid. Three people tended to the werewolves. One of them noticed Peter, Stiles, and Cora in a mirror and drew everyone else's attention to them.
"Cora," the first person acknowledged. "Are these volunteers you've brought? I'm guessing not, based on that bat."
"You know this won't work, Tessa," Cora responded. "Why would you keep hurting them like this?"
"Not to mention it's wrong," Stiles added.
"Wait. How far have you gotten?" Peter asked.
Cora and Stiles glared at Peter.
"I'm just asking," Peter responded. "Can't I take an interest?"
"We've gotten as far as mood destabilization," Tessa answered. "With some more research, we can get them to a blank slate. Think of the implications of what we could do with that. This is a big break. I think we could get there more quickly with betas, but we're shooting for the stars, here."
"These two are alphas?" Peter asked. He approached the two unconscious werewolves.
"If we control alphas, we control their betas," Tessa explained. "Unfortunately, these two are dying. We'll need to find another alpha or two."
"Peter, what are you doing?" Stiles asked.
"Tessa's right," Peter answered. "This is an incredible opportunity."
"You aren't going to get as far as you think," Cora warned Tessa.
"We can't know unless we try," Tessa countered.
Everyone heard car doors close outside.
"Those are the others," Cora told Stiles and Peter.
Peter quickly transformed into his werewolf state and slashed the two alphas, eliciting panic from everyone else in room. They watched as Peter's eyes turned red and his face twisted into a smile.
"You brought a werewolf here?" Tessa yelled.
Cora looked at the tan liquid. "This is bad."
"What? Why?" Stiles asked. "I mean, aside from the obvious."
"Those alphas' moods were already deranged. It's going to affect Peter."
Four people descended down the stairs, after seeing evidence of conflict on the first floor. Cora and Stiles prepared to fight them off until Stiles saw Peter brutally slaughter Tessa and her colleagues.
"He's not in control!" Cora yelled as she fought the four men.
Peter noticed Stiles and launched in his direction. Stiles backed up against a wall as Peter drew closer. Peter then hesitated. Noticing the hesitation, Stiles slowly extended his arms and put his hands on the sides of Peter's face.
"Peter," Stiles said, the only word he could muster.
Stiles continued to hold his hands on Peter's face nervously until Peter began to calm down and revert back to his human form. Peter looked at Stiles as his appearance changed and he took hold of Stiles' wrists.
Both Stiles' and Peter's attention turned to Cora's battle, as she was knocked onto her back. They both charged into the fight. Peter took on two of the men, prompting Stiles to try to do the same. However, Stiles was overwhelmed and soon knocked out, leaving Peter to kill all four.
Stiles woke up later in his bed. Peter sat next to him, staring at Stiles' bare right forearm.
"What happened?" Stiles asked.
"Cora and I dismantled everything, dumped the serum, and destroyed the data. I got your address from your driver's license. Cora drove and I carried you here. She's tying up some loose ends. She should be back, soon."
"You're an alpha again," Stiles commented.
"I am. And before you judge me, I'll remind you that they were dying already. I might have given them peace."
"I'm not judging you. How are you feeling?"
"I'm back in control now," Peter answered. "That serum wore off. I'm sorry if I scared you."
Stiles noticed that one of his sleeves had been rolled up.
"You didn't scare me. Did you bite me? Would it have healed by now?"
"I didn't bite you," Peter responded with an edge to his voice.
"You say that like you wanted to," Stiles observed.
"I did," Peter admitted. "I offered you the bite before."
"I remember."
"I offered you the bite because I thought you could potentially be useful to me. Now, I was thinking about biting you because I genuinely want you in my pack. I'm not going to do it, don't worry."
"I think Scott has dibs on biting me if I ever wanted to become a werewolf."
"Yeah, and I don't want to go against him again. More importantly, I just wanted to respect your wishes."
"Because you're trying to be nice and considerate," Stiles suggested.
"Because I like you, and I wanted to do right by you."
"Aw, who's a good boy?" Stiles said with a wide smile.
Peter's face instantly darkened and his eyes narrowed. "And I'm back to wanting to kill you," he said, standing up.
"No, you aren't," Stiles corrected.
Peter's phone signaled the receipt of a text. "Cora's back and waiting downstairs. She sends her regards. Are you going to be okay?"
"Yeah," Stiles answered. "I've been knocked around enough to know which hits are concussions and which ones aren't. I might throw up later, but I'll be fine."
"I figured as much. I'm headed back west. I convinced Cora to come, too, now that we're out in the open in Beacon Hills. Thanks for helping me, Stiles. I really appreciate it."
"Anytime. This turned out to be quick and easy. Simple mission."
"Thankfully. Whenever you make your way back to Beacon Hills, do pay me a visit sometime, will you?" Peter asked as he opened the door.
"Sure."
Peter took one last look back. "Stiles."
"Yeah?"
"I would have been proud to call you my beta."