A/N: This is a flashback to the Edison group attack on Derek and Alicia, I couldn't figure out a place or it in the last chapter cause it ddn't flow right… so here it is, and I'm not the best at action, lol so constructive criticism is welcome on this, let me know what I need to work on? (I put on iron man in the background during a fighting scene to get in the mood lol)

"Okay, just act casual and pretend we are on a date."

"Excuse me?" Alicia was very confused…

Why couldn't she just play along? It's not like he liked her, it would just be less suspicious than a giant guy dragging an unhappy looking girl into a McDonald's on the edge of lightly populated rundown outskirts of some city. "Ugh, please just play along." Luckily, she did.

"So, Dear," wow Alicia, real subtle, "What would you like to eat today?"

"Well, I'm going to get pretty much one of everything for me, how about you and that guy that you're cheating on me with?" This could be fun for Derek.

"I am not cheating on you! But if he eats half as much as you, I'll get him a few burgers, some chicken finger things, and fries. But I'm not saying he's real cause I wouldn't cheat, unlike you." This was starting to go too far, people were staring… she was a really bad quiet-talker.

"Okay… well we're up. I'll take a…" and they ordered their food and started to walk out of the restaurant. Derek stopped short; he knew that smell. It was bleach and crappy Frebeze off brand. The smell of a doctor… Alicia spotted him and turned away, pulling Derek with her.

"Do you think he's with the Edison group? He doesn't really look suspicious, he could be a regular doctor…"

Derek gave her one of his signature disapproval faces. "A doctor? Out here? A guy all about keeping your body healthy, eating McD's? Then again, this is America."

"If we just walk out there and act casual, maybe he won't recognize us, and if he does, then we know what to do." With that, she snapped her fingers and a small flame formed on the tip of her pointer finger. Derek licked his finger and pinched the tip of hers, as if extinguishing a match. She glared at him.

They walked out holding hands like a happy couple, but that didn't last. They had to pass an alley where they were pulled back bye two people wearing lab coats. Derek thought, this is so cliché; what scientists actually wear lab coats outside the lab? Derek was thinking this as he and Alicia were pulled back in chokeholds, towards a big white van parked at the back of the McDonald's, diagonal from the alley.

Derek whipped his left arm around and slugged his holder in the nose, which snapped upwards into his head with a sickening crack. Alicia tried the same move, but her holder blocked her shot. She panicked and then thought of an idea. She threw the bulging bag of hot food at Derek.

"Run like hell!" Alicia winked at him, telling him to trust her, that she had a plan. He listened; he didn't have a choice. At that moment he had to listen because by taking control in this level of danger, she had become his beta, the second rank in his pack, next to his mate of course. The fact that his beta was being dragged to danger made the wolf pull against his running, and it pulled hard.

Alicia had given into her holder and she willingly jumped into the van, and her holder, Derek's, and the driver all were in the car when she followed through with her plan. She thought of heat. Lots of heat. She pictured every action movie she'd ever seen where there was a large mushroom cloud explosion, and told herself, mimic it.

She didn't know if she could make it out unharmed or alive from an explosion that large, but she had no choice. She took one long breath, and just as the driver was about to pull away from the curb and a scientist was tying her down to a chair, she spontaneously combusted. And not just lit on fire like before, flames engulfed the entire back room of the van, the scientists, and she pushed a little harder to reach the engine and gas tank. The booming smash of metal buckling knocked her out of the melting chair, her hand ties melted. She kept her focus. Her eyes had been closed this whole time, so she opened them, and shut them again out of fear. She was in the middle of a growing fire; everything was warped and bright red. She melted her way out of the van, and saw Derek standing there, confused, scared, and… was that pain on his face? Pain that he thought she was gone?

"Derek! We have to get out of here!" Obviously a bunch of people had heard and came running, so they ran farther down the alley to another street that had woods on the other side. They ran, and Alicia's flames started to cool down to a low yellow, but wouldn't listen when she told them OFF!

The woods parted and they were exposed in a local park where there were a decent number of civilians. Derek, acting on instinct and the fact that he had a girl on fire standing next to him, pounced on her before people could see.

"SHIT! YOU'RE HOT!" Derek was miraculously able to keep his voice to a yelled whisper.

Alicia raised a fiery eyebrow, "No shit, Sherlock. I can't turn them off, and look at the grass!" The short trimmed grass was indeed starting to ignite. "Knock me out Derek, Punch me, do something, that's the only way to make this stop… ahhh…" She was starting to get seriously worried and scared of her own powers.

Luckily, Derek stayed in control, God knows how, and simply reached over and pinched her collarbone. She passed out, and the flames slowly dissipated. "Damn, I liked this shirt." His shirt was completely fried from tackling Alicia. He picked her up and brought her back into the woods and waited for her to wake up. She did so quickly, and her first words were, "You have shrubbery in your hair." Derek looked confused and then patted his head to find a half charred twig sticking out. They laughed together, something that neither one would've guessed would ever happen. After they got over their giggles, they lead a misleading trail before going back, carefully, to their hideout, to share their story.

A/N: how was it? Awful? Sry! Lol. I tried, and yes run4life, I changed who said the shrubbery line, I thought this was a good bonding line haaha.