Happy New Year! And I'm soooo sorry! I didn't forget about this! I had most of it written ages ago but just couldn't find the time to finish. And at long last here's chapter 10!

Disclaimer: Don't own Teen Wolf or anyone in it. If I did, I'd be busy having way too much fun doing other stuff. ^_~

Bonded by Fate

Chapter 10

Jackson could hear a low hum of electricity as he slowly regained consciousness. He slowly opened heavy eyelids and saw a fuzzy dim orb of light. He tried to focus his sight and struggled to sit up and was struck by a wave of dizziness. He lifted a hand to grip his head and he gasped in pain as a sharpness lanced thru him. Looking down, he saw his shirt was caked in mostly dried blood. He lifted it and saw an open raw wound that looked to be partially healed.

Suddenly, his memories of earlier events coursed thru his mind. He was with Derek, they talked to his parents, and then he needed some time to think and went off on his own. And that was when... that was when Gerard Argent found him. And shot him...

Finally getting his wits about him, Jackson looked up and straight at bars. He looked behind him and around. He was in a cage. That bastard had locked him in a fucking cage! And the cage was in some sort of warehouse or abandoned factory. There were rusty machinery sitting around haphazardly.

"Where the hell am I?" Jackson whispered. Then he heard a clanking and another and another, growing louder, echoing in the building.

"I see you're wide awake. That's good, I thought I might have killed you for a while. And though that will likely be the end result, I still need you alive for now," Gerard Argent said as he appeared from behind a machine. He held an electrified nightstick that he'd dragged along some metal grates.

Drawing in a quick breath, Jackson nervously backed into the center of the cage as Gerard continued closer and closer until he was mere inches from the bars. "Wh–what do you want from me?"

"From you? Absolutely nothing... You are but a means to an end. A pawn to get what I want, what I need. To think, there was another Hale in this town the whole time." Gerard smiled like a cat that just ate the canary.

"What the hell are you blabbing about, you crazy old man?" Jackson shouted. "Let me out of here!"

"Let you out? Absolutely not! And you need to learn some manners. Calling me a crazy old man? And even if I wanted to let you out, I wouldn't. It would be my civic duty to keep you locked up, to see you dead even. That way you wouldn't be able to hurt anyone...Kanima," Gerard taunted Jackson.

"I guess you didn't get the memo. I'm not the Kanima, not anymore. I'm normal now – I mean..." Jackson trailed off.

Gerard filled in the blanks himself. "I see. You found your real family, your lost identity and now you're a werewolf. This just gets better and better."

"What are you talking about?" Jackson asked. "If you know who my family is, then you'll know that Derek will notice I'm missing. And he'll come looking for me. And when he does –"

"And when he does, I'll be waiting," Gerard cut in.

Realization dawned on Jackson. Gerard wants to kill Derek. So he caught Jackson and is using him as bait to get Derek. This place was a trap. "Arrrggghh!" Jackson lunged forward and reached out a hand and latched onto Gerard's jacket. But no sooner did Jackson grab him, Gerard struck forward with his nightstick hitting Jackson square on his wound.

Falling back on the floor, Jackson gasped in pain and tried to catch his breath as the currents ran thru his body. He managed to get into a crouching position just in time to see Gerard walking towards the door.

The Argent patriarch turned around and said, "Now be a good dog and stay. I need to run a few errands before I can chat with your long lost cousin." And with that he was out the door.

Jackson immediately felt his pockets for his phone. Nothing...of course that old geezer would take his phone. He frantically looked around the cage. It looked about 6'x8' and 8 feet tall. There wasn't a lock or chains on the door, but it was bolted to the frame somehow and refused to budge when Jackson tried with all his might to push it open. There was a metal top that wasn't budging either. There was no bottom and the cage frame was bolted into the concrete floor. Jackson crouched down and tried to get a grip on the bottom, to no avail.

It was useless. There was no getting out. Except that he had to. He knew Derek would come. And Jackson couldn't bear the thought of his only blood relative dying because of him. With that thought came a renewed strength and determination. He grabbed a bar and pulled with all his as hard as he could.

Derek tossed his phone on his bed in frustration. It was already the next morning and still no word from Jackson. He had refrained from calling all night long because he didn't want Jackson to think he was crazy. Jackson was probably really tired and just fell asleep when he got home, Derek tried to convince himself. "What the hell is wrong with me?!" This newfound worrying was completely abnormal for him. But then again, this situation they were in was completely abnormal as well.

Unable keep himself from doing so, Derek drove over to Jackson's house. On the way there, he kept telling himself that Jackson was sound asleep in bed. He was worrying over nothing. When he arrived, he parked his car down the block and concentrated, looking for the heartbeats in the house. There were only two. And neither of them was Jackson's.

Ok, maybe now it was time to panic.

"What are you doing here?" A voice startled Derek out of his thoughts.

He whipped around to see Isaac leaning over the car, dressed in jogging clothes. Derek had been so distracted, he forgot that Isaac lived down the street.

"Have you seen Jackson last night or this morning?" Derek asked brusquely.

"Well good morning to you too," Isaac said.

"Have you?!" Derek asked urgently.

"No, why?" Isaac said a look of concern spreading on his face.

"I think something bad happened. He never texted me," Derek said, gripping his phone. "I never should have let him go on his own."

"Why don't you just call him? If you're so worried," Isaac suggested the obvious.

"I didn't want to seem... Never mind." Derek pulled up Jackson's number and hit call.

Jackson strained to pull the bar open. His hands were sore from trying to pry the bars apart. But they were strong and considering his wound and that he was far from a hundred percent, they didn't give an inch. He let go and gasped for air, sweating from the exertion. His chest hurt. A lot...

"That's made out of a special blend of metal. It won't give. So don't bother and save your strength. You're going to need it," Gerard warned. "I hope you haven't been lonely here on your own. I got some things that I believe you'll find very interesting."

"I think I'd find it more interesting if you disappeared forever," Jackson retorted.

"Now, is that any way to –" Gerard was cut off when a phone started to ring... Jackson's phone.

Jackson drew in a sharp breath. It had to be Derek.

"Will you look at that? Big cousin is calling you," Gerard said with a grin.

"Give that to me!" Jackson shouted as he reached between the bars in vain.

Gerard zapped him with the stick again and answered, "Hello, Jackson Whit – er – Hale's phone."

Derek blanched when he heard the voice that answered Jackson's phone. He tightened his grip on his phone.

"Hello?" The amused voice asked.

"Where is he? And who the hell are you?" Derek said in a low voice. Whoever that was, was a dead man.

"He's here...with me and you know who I am," the voice taunted.

"Gerard Argent," Derek growled.

"Correct," Gerard laughed.

"What do you want? If you've hurt him – " Derek said angrily and squeezed his free hand into a fist so tight he broke skin.

"I need you to do something for me," Gerard said.

"And what would that be?" Derek asked suspiciously.

"I need… the bite."

Derek was stunned. "Why? You hunt werewolves; hunted us all your life. Now you want to be one?"

"I don't need to explain myself to you!" Gerard exclaimed. "I'm going to text you an address in a few hours and you'll come. Otherwise, he dies."

"I want to talk to him. I want proof he's still alive," Derek demanded.

"Very well. You're on speaker," Gerard announced.

"Jackson? Are you there?" Derek called out.

"Derek!" Jackson shouted. "He's got me in a warehouse or factory or something. And he locked me in a cage! He's –"

Gerard abruptly turned off the speaker, cutting Jackson's voice out. "And now you know he's alive...for now. Wait for my text." And then the line went dead.

"So...what are we going to do?" Isaac asked, having heard the whole phone call.

"I don't know. If I go, I'm sure Argent will have made a trap," Derek said. "But I also can't not go."

"Maybe that vet boss of Scott's night know something," Isaac suggested. "Stiles told me he was the one that helped them trap the Kanima at the rave."

Derek nodded. "It's our only choice. Get in. Call everyone to meet us there."

Derek paced the exam room impatiently as he waited for Scott to arrive. "Where the hell is everyone?"

"I'm sure they'll be here soon," Dr. Deaton said. "But we can discuss it first if –"

A loud commotion at the door signaled the arrival of Scott and Stiles and...Allison and Chris Argent?

"What the hell are they doing here?" Derek said angrily and Isaac, Boyd and Erica all jumped up from their seats.

"Hold on! Just calm down," Scott exclaimed. "When Isaac said Gerard had Jackson and wanted you to turn him, I knew something had to be up. The other Argents had no idea of any of this. They're here to help."

"I don't like you," Chris Argent said. "But I don't like what's going on now either. I don't know why my... Why Gerard is doing this, but this is not the code. When my wife –" Chris broke off, unable to continue. "He had made it clear there was only one option. And now he wants the bite? Over my dead body."

"Dad!" Allison gasped and he squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Don't worry sweetheart, I don't plan on dying," Chris said.

Derek gave him a sympathetic look and nodded. It wasn't his fault his wife tried to kill Scott. He was a fair man.

"Scott said Jackson's not the Kanima anymore, and that means he's very vulnerable," Chris continued. "You have no idea how many ways hunters have come up with to kill werewolves."

"Actually, I do have some ideas," Derek replied dryly. "Jackson's alive. I spoke with him when I called and Gerard answered his phone. He said he's being kept in a warehouse or factory."

"Oh, so he's probably really close to where you live," Stiles chimed in. Everyone turned to give him a look. "Ok...I'll just listen then."

"He also said that he's locked in a cage," Derek said, getting angrier at the thought.

"A cage..." Chris said thoughtfully. "We've used them for interrogations in the past. If we caught a member of a particularly volatile pack, we'd work on them to get names and locations of the rest of the pack members."

"Your point?" Derek asked.

"They're made of extremely strong metal. There's hasn't been a werewolf that's even bent a bar. And you can modify it," Chris explained. "Hook it up to a power source and you've got an electrified fence on all sides..." He trailed off as four pairs of angry werewolf eyes glared at him.

"Whatever he does to the cage, can you undo it? Get Jackson out?" Scott asked.

"With enough time, probably," Chris replied.

"Then we'll make sure you get time," Derek said.

"But how do we stop him?" Allison asked. "He wants the bite and at some point, Derek will probably have to bite him."

"Maybe he'll die instead of turning?" Stiles asked optimistically. Everyone turned to give him another look. "Too soon? Ok, ok!"

"Actually, I think Stiles might be right," Chris said, causing everyone to turn surprised looks his way.

"Yes! Of course I am," Stiles said excitedly, then looked confused. "Wait, what am I right about?"

"Where Gerard is keeping Jackson," Chris explained. "There's only that one area in town that would have the building Jackson described. If we go there, you can fan out and search for him by sound."

"Good, that way we won't have to wait for Gerard's twisted invitation," Derek replied. "Now we just need to figure out how to deal with him."

"I think I might have a plan," Deaton said, "but it's going to be very risky for you, Derek."

"I don't care," Derek answered. "Whatever it is, I'll do it."

Jackson warily watched as Gerard put the final finishing touches to whatever contraption he had turned the cage into. There were wires flowing everywhere with circular pods attached at certain points. He had tried ripping off the wires a few times only to get hit with the taser stick.

"Ahh...all done. It's beautiful, don't you think?" Gerard asked.

"Not really. I liked it better the way it was, in fact I'd like it better if I were on the other side," Jackson retorted.

"See this," Gerard held up a switch-like object in his hand. "This controls all this," he gestured to the cage. Flipping a switch, Jackson saw flash of blue and heard a crackle and knew that the bars on the cage were now an electric fence. Great...just great.

"Now, to invite the guest of honor to our little private gathering," Gerard said as he pulled out Jackson's phone.

No sooner had he done that, then the doors banged open to reveal Derek and Allison on the other side.

"What in the world?" Gerard jumped in surprise.

Allison walked forward. "Please grandpa, why are you doing this? Please let him go."

"Let him go? Impossible. He was the Kanima, he's killed people. Many people!" Gerard refused.

"Not on purpose he hasn't," Allison claimed. "Everyone the Kanima killed was ultimately Matt's fault. He was the one that was controlling the Kanima. Jackson didn't know what he was doing."

"Enough," Gerard shouted. "Look at this Derek." He threw a random object towards the cage and as it hit the bars, it was fried with the electric current. "But that's now all. This masterpiece is also rigged with charges that will detonate inwards if I were to flip this switch," Gerard's lips twisted into a feral smile as he waved a remote in his hand. "Thousands of pieces of shrapnel all laced with wolfs bane."

"What do you want?" Derek growled.

"You know what I want. And let's say it's true that he's no longer the Kanima. All the more reason why you will give me the bite. Then I won't blow him up."

"Why are you doing this?" Alison asked. "You've been so against werewolves all your life and now you want to be one of them? You're a hypocrite! You even made mom kill herself!"

"Well technically you have Derek over there to thank for that," Gerard looked pointedly. "But I have my reasons."

"What possible reason could you have to do this? Please tell me," Allison pleaded.

Gerard relented, "My dear, I have cancer. The inoperable kind. I need this so I can be cured, so I can live."

Allison gasped, "Why didn't you say anything? There has to be some other option."

"I have exhausted them all," Gerard replied. "Now enough stalling. Hale! You know what you have to do."

Suddenly, the lights went out. Allison couldn't see anything, but heard growling and the sound of fists hitting flesh. When they came back up, she saw her grandfather being held down by Isaac and Boyd with the other werewolves surrounding them. The remote had fallen out of his hands.

Derek rushed to pick it up and Chris Argent came forward.

"I can't believe you would do this. Just to save your own skin," Chris said with a disgusted look. He then turned away to deal with the cage.

"What should we do with him?" Erika asked.

"We aren't killing him, if that's what you're thinking," Scott exclaimed.

"No, we're not. We're going to leave him for the hunters to deal with," Derek answered. "They have their code and will deal internally with those who violate it." He nodded to Chris who nodded back.

Then he walked over to Jackson and asked, "Are you ok?"

"More or less, yeah," Jackson smiled. "Thanks for coming. And I'm guessing I have an 'I told you so' coming to me?"

"I'm just glad you're ok –"

"Damn it!" He was cut off by Chris's shout. Then Chris rush over to Gerard and demanded, "What's the code?"

"What code?" Derek asked as he ran to the corner of the cage where Chris had been. He saw a time counting down to detonation with a keypad to enter a stop code. He pulled hard on a bar and when it wouldn't give, he ran to Gerard and hoisted him up with one hand. "Answer him!"

Gerard started to laugh. "Did you honestly think I wouldn't have a backup plan? You might have turned off the electricity, but you can't stop the charges. If you want the code, you'll have to give me the bite."

"Fine," Derek nodded and Gerard triumphantly held out an arm.

"Don't do it!" Jackson urged. "He won't give up the code anyway."

Derek looked over to Jackson and said, "Trust me." Then he leaned forward and bit Gerard. "The code, now."

"Not so fast, we have to make sure this works don't we," Gerard stalled. "And lucky for us, tomorrow is the full moon."

"You bastard!" Derek shouted.

"Be that as it may –" Gerard's words were cut off when he suddenly shook violently and black blood bubbled out of his mouth. "What – what is this? You – what did you do?" He glared at Derek who smiled back even as he started choking himself.

~ Flashback~

"This capsule is filled with white oak ash," Deaton handed it to Derek. "Keep it in your mouth and crack it open only if you have to resort to biting Gerard. It will taint the werewolf venom and cause him to reject it immediately. But it you accidentally ingest some of it, it will cause you severe pain. And you may experience some of the rejection symptoms yourself."

"Is there any way to counter this?" Derek asked.

Deaton held out a vial. "You'll need to take this immediately. It will be extremely painful, but this should counter the ash."

~End flashback~

Breathing labored, with traces of black blood on his teeth and lips, Derek stood shakily and pulled the vial out, drinking its contents. He grinned with fangs revealed and dropped the empty vial on the floor.

"Damn you," Gerard gasped as more blood dripped from his mouth, ears and eyes. "I wasn't going to kill him. Just you, Derek. But now, he dies. I'll get all of you," Gerard sputtered before collapsing.

"Are you ok?" Scott asked Derek.

"Fine," Derek gasped, still clearly in pain. "The timer!"

"We don't have the code," Chris said powerlessly.

"Just go, everyone! Just get out!" Jackson shouted.

"Not leaving you," Derek said vehemently.

As the timer counted down, Chris shouted, "Out, everyone out! Scott, get Allison out of here!"

Scott nodded and grabbing Allison, rushed towards the door. "Stiles, come on!"

As everyone else backed away from the cage, Derek reached between the bars and grasped Jackson's arm. Jackson nodded at him and clasped his arm back.

Not knowing what else to do with the timer swiftly counting to zero, Chris pulled out all the wires connected to the timer, closed his eyes and cringed, bracing himself for an explosion.

Whew that was a long one! I'm surprised I was able to get all of that into one chapter, almost split it up, but since I've been so bad with posting these last couple chapters, I just wanted to get it out there… Next one will be the last.

Thanks to everyone for hanging in there!

Please R&R =)