| …and Medicate |
It's been a month. A long month. The missing signs and hotline haven't bore any fruit and after a week Rafael McCall was able to get the San Francisco chapter involved; his son was missing after all. But still, the weeks dragged on and they thought he was gone for good. The headlines read 'Local Teen Lacrosse Captain Abducted', 'BHHS Senior, 18, Missing', 'FBI Agent's Son Kidnapped', and 'Family to Kidnapper: 'Let Our Son Go''. When late October, all seemed hopeless: Scott is a werewolf—a true alpha; it's difficult to keep someone subdued for that long unless…
A few days before Halloween he called. Deaton. "I found him," was the first thing he said. So they planned. Schemed. Took notes and pulled out city maps on the internet. As Peter had once said, "The schemers are scheming." Only 24 hours passed before they settled on a plan and took off. This matter needed to be handled delicately as not only was it uncharted territory, but Theo Raeken was with him, with Scott, as they suspected all along. The drive was supposed to be four hours long.
They made it in just over three.
The city was almost the same size as Beacon Hills, only slightly larger so it could cater to more vices. Located on the eastern side of Lahontan Reservoir, Nevada, Las Colinas was like a mini-Las Vegas, only, as it became more obvious, it catered to some more less-human vices as well, particular fighting cages. When they arrived, though, it was already night—Saturday night—so blending in was not an issue even for the one human leading them.
Deaton confirmed that Scott was still in the city, however headed for the outskirts. When they received the GPS tracker, Scott appeared to be walking, and when they pulled up so he was within sight, it was clear he was headed for the club embedded into the warehouse at the end of the street. Next to him was none other than Theo Raeken, the Betrayer, and Scott, by all appearances, seemed to be going willingly.
"Pull over here," Malia said, pointing to an emptier street around the corner.
Stiles parked a refurbished Roscoe and everyone clambered out, the whole gang of Stiles, Liam, Kira, Malia, and Lydia. Stiles grabbed a black round device before locking his jeep and following the pack towards the white-lit sign that read 'Chama.' When they got to the line, Scott and Theo were already inside. They waited, biding their time as the security scanned everyone that entered. "What're they looking for?" Liam asked hushedly.
Lydia looked ahead before turning to the werewolf. "They're checking to see who's supernatural."
The others turned to look at Stiles when Malia linked their arms. Kira and Malia smiled in agreement and when they got to the front, Malia's assertiveness got Stiles past the bouncers. Unlike Sinema, the club reached up high, like pyramid stacked towards one end. And even more unlike Sinema, the party-goers were clearly unabashed about showing their supernatural nature. Stiles led them to the catwalk surrounding the second floor, giving them a view of the hanging transparent dance platform above them as well as the dance floor down below.
It became a game of 'Where's Waldo?' for a moment before Liam spotted them first. "There…whoa…" His pointed arm slowly fell as they watched Theo and Scott sliding and grinding against each other, devious smiles of enjoyment spread across their lips. And as Liam made to say something else, Scott leaned forward and kissed him, grabbing the sides of his head in the process. Immediately the warrior fox inside Kira surged, threatening to revert to its battōsai-state inflicted by the Dread Doctors which she'd worked so hard to tame, even expel.
Before the others could stop her, Kira was rushing down the stairs, hands on her belt. They moved to follow, watching her as she moved through the crowd in haste. As they got to the top of the stairs, a girl between her and the boys grabbed her. She led her across the floor and that's when they saw the door. They picked up their pace. When they looked back to find Scott and Theo, they were nowhere to be found. So they followed and there, far ahead of them, were the boys. They were all headed for the same place.
Stiles dug out his phone and tapped at it before shoving it back in and retrieving the thick disc he'd shoved in the back of his jeans' pocket. The pack slipped through the door, its handle twisted and crushed. That door led to another one, then to a hallway, and then another door that opened into the larger abandoned main room of the conjoining building. There, standing in the middle of it, was Scott and Theo with seven other teenagers, one of which was standing behind a kneeling Kira with her claws against the kitsune's throat.
"Hello, Stiles," Theo said, his voice ricocheting slightly.
"Scott?" Stiles said, the four pack members walking in slowly.
"I have to say, I'm surprised to see you," Theo continued.
"Scott, what's going on?"
"Who are they?" Scott said more quietly into Theo's ear.
"Scott?" Liam said, taking a step ahead of the others.
"Who are you?" Scott replied, his face as serious as they'd seen it in a while.
"Scott, I—" Liam tried when Theo started again.
"You shouldn't have come, Stiles. You hurt him before, bad enough that he blocked it out."
"You did this," Stiles countered. With both his hands he twisted the giant cap-looking disc and it quickly formed a bat. "See this, I've got it covered in mountain ash. Mountain ash that'll knock your fake werewolf ass into the ceiling. You wanna' test it out?"
"Stiles," Lydia stifled. "What did you do to him?" she said, looking back at their former friend.
"No one did anything!" Scott yelled, confusion driving his brain state now.
"It's okay," Theo said, placing a warm hand on his alpha's shoulder. "These are the people I was telling you about, the rival pack. I thought they were dead, that you were lucky to be the only survivor. I was wrong, and I'm going to protect you."
"I'm gonna' kill you, Raeken," Stiles said, stepping out front, his eyes threatening to leak the rage swelling inside him.
"Easy there, Stiles," Theo said, his asshole-smirk returning. "You're the smart one, remember? Do the numbers: there's nine of us and only five of you. I've got one and even with that bat, you're still just a human."
"You're right, Theo, I am the smart one. So let's run through the numbers together, shall we? Let's see, I've got one banshee, one kitsune, one werecoyote…um, let's see what else? Ah, that's right, four werewolves including an alpha, two hunters, two law enforcement, and a fucking fire salamander. What've you got up your sleeve, asshole?" Just then, from various parts of the building including other doors and from the catwalk above against the walls, the extra eight people appeared: Derek, Satomi, Brett, Braeden, Chris, Stiles' dad, Rafael, and Jordan.
Theo's smirk had diminished, looking around at the five guns and four transformed werewolves, Liam now starting to circle them. "Oh, I also forgot to add, I've got a couple people putting a mountain ash barrier up."
"That won't hold us, Stiles," Theo countered. "We're not beholden to those laws."
"It's not for you," Stiles said and it began. Kira broke free of the werecoyote keeping her down and they fought. The other pack began to charge at the others, Theo staying by Scott's side as they watched everyone fight for him. Scott even made ready to charge at Stiles when dart hit him in the back of the neck. At first nothing happened, but before Theo could go to remove it the thin bolt discharged a burst of electricity, rendering the true alpha unconscious, letting the fight to continue on without him.