Two Pack II: Teen Wolf Season Four

by lordtrayus

The Nogitsune is gone, Scott and Isaac are back together, and Stiles has gone back to normal. But, rather than deal with the grief of losing Allison, Scott's pack has to contend with Derek's imprisonment, former foes of the twins trying to settle scores, and taming Malia. But worst of all is a new enemy coming to town, bringing with them an old friend who could destroy them all...

40. Episode 10: Illusion Part 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf to my lasting regret

Two-Pack II

"Derek!" came a voice from the other side of the parking lot, and Derek turned to see Parrish approaching, and he cocked his head curiously at the deputy.

"What's up?" he asked, loading his shopping into the car, and Parrish flashed him a grin as he arrived.

"Well, how about a piece of good news for a change? Just before all hell broke loose last night, we got a call, warning us of what was about to happen. Now I know what you're thinking," he said in a low voice, and Derek leaned in closer to hear him better, as there were two people at the other end of the parking lot having a shouting match over a parking space, "what if it came from Stiles?" he asked, and Derek raised a sceptical eyebrow.

"Stiles made his choice, he deserted Scott." He said, his claws growing as he even repeated the depth of Stiles' treachery, but Parrish shook his head stubbornly.

"Then why did someone call the station last night to warn us of what was about to happen? It's not like the dogs would do it is it?" he pointed out, and Derek did muse on that for a second.

Could Stiles not actually be a legitimate traitor? Could he actually be undercover? If he was, that would be…well he didn't know what it would be, it was like he cared about the backstabbing hyperactive little spaz after all. But then, on the other hand surely if he was undercover he would have alerted someone to that fact beforehand, just so the more hot blooded and less principled members of the pack (himself, the twins, Jackson, Malia, Isaac (only in regard's to betraying Scott)) wouldn't try and kill him on sight. But even then, Parrish had a point, the dogs wouldn't betray Agravaine, but he could hardly take that to the rest of the pack based on Parrish's hunch.

"So what? Ok, admittedly, it might mean something, and maybe it was Stiles, but if it was him, why wouldn't he let someone know he's undercover? And if it isn't him, we can't do that to Scott, get his hopes up like that, that Stiles might be getting cold feet, or still on our side. Whatever's going on with him," Derek growled, his eyes flashing blue as he struggled to maintain control of his temper, "traitor or not, until we know more, he's on his own." He ground out, preparing to head into his car, but Parrish took hold of his wrist, wincing as the arguing over the parking space got worse, but he pressed on regardless.

"Ok, discount all of that. Either way, I still got a call last night. And because the phone lines were going crazy, it lasted longer than it should have done. I got a trace." He whispered, and that did get Derek's attention, and he turned to the deputy in shock.

"Wait you traced the call, and you reckon it's to do with where Agravaine's attacking from?" he demanded, feeling a surge of excitement course through him.

A lead on where Agravaine was, that was the break they've been looking for, hell, if nothing else, it was a break. Part of the problem they'd had was the fact that they couldn't anticipate Agravaine or guess where he was going to strike from next. But if they could figure out where Agravaine was striking from, they could perhaps use it to finally bring down the Corrupter!

"Yep. I traced it to the old steel mill, it's been abandoned for years, but it would be more than big enough for the dogs, and it's out of the way enough that the whists and revenants could use the back entrances without anyone noticing, there's not that many people with a reason to go to that area of town, it would be perfect for him. What do you think?" Parrish asked, and Derek felt the first genuine smile he'd had in days (well it was him, so probably weeks) blossom onto his face.

"That is the best news we've had in ages, if we know where they are, we might actually get a chance to stop them. Thanks Parrish. Um, you better go and…" Derek advised, pointing worriedly to the argument over the parking space, which had now become a full-fledged brawl, and Parrish rolled his eyes, groaning.

"The sooner we get rid of that damned dog and stop all this crap the better. Hey, break it up!" he bellowed, rushing towards them while Derek got out his phone and sent a text to Scott and the others, telling them they needed to meet at the twin's place as he had new information that could finally help change their fortunes in this war with the damned dogs.

But as he got into his car, he couldn't help wondering: had Stiles really helped them figure out where the dogs were striking from? Was he truly on Agravaine's side? But if he was going undercover, surely he would have told someone? After all, to go undercover and to pretend to betray Scott was a hell of a big risk, and not just from the dog's point of view, but also from the pack's, he would be putting himself between two factions who wouldn't stop to kill him if that was indeed the case. The information could well jeopardise Stiles if he was truly still on their side, but if he wasn't yet it had still come from Stiles, they could well walk into a trap. The question came down to one simple matter: did they trust Stiles? And if they did, did they trust that all this was just an elaborate deception?

After all, he had gotten very good at tricks due to his possession by the Nogitsune, something that was clearly still plaguing him as nothing else could even remotely hope to explain why he had betrayed the pack as he had. Was this all a trick, and he was still on their side? Or was that just wishful thinking talking? He didn't know, but perhaps the others, or at least Scott would. But then, Scott was even more thrown by Stile's betrayal than the rest of them, and did he really want to be the one to reopen that wound so soon? He had seen Scott, that night at Eichen, Stiles' betrayal had broken him, and if they took a chance and trusted he was still on their side and it turned out he wasn't, and if something dreadful happened, it would break what little of Scott that there was left to break.

Derek kneaded his knuckles into his forehead, this headache of his had barely shifted since Eichen. Stiles, why was that hyperactive little spaz such a problem? And why was Derek so affected by his betrayal?

So it essentially came down to two questions: One: Did they trust Stiles? And Two: If they trust him, is he undercover, or a genuine traitor? And that naturally led back to question one.

Where did that leave them?

Derek sighed, deciding to drive a while to clear his head before he met the pack. Maybe Scott and Isaac would have luck finding the little runt, and either kicking his ass or dragging him home by his hair, either seemed a good idea at this point. He gunned the engine of his car, waving to Parrish who had now arrested the two brawlers, and was looking extremely grumpy about it, as he fled from his problems.

XX

"And I have to say Stiles, that we couldn't have done it without you." Peter purred as he emerged from the gloom, that evil smug smile on his face, and Stiles felt his blood run cold as he did so.

No, that wasn't true. Well actually it was his fault, but he'd only been acting under the best of intentions, he certainly hadn't intended for things to get so out of control so quickly, and admittedly may have slipped up by not alerting anyone to the fact that he was going undercover, but then again, whatever he had done had to be nothing compared to Peter. Peter had been helping Agravaine, it was like a firework had gone off inside his head as he finally got the last piece that they had been missing.

Peter had been the one behind all of this, spreading his poison. Hell, it wouldn't even have taken all that much to probably do, starting all this on the heels of Allison's death, which now he thought about it, Peter hadn't known about that when they had first discovered that he had returned to Beacon Hills, so where the hell was he while Allison had died, and Aiden had nearly joined her?

Psychological warfare was Peter's stock in trade, the old Grima Wormtongue routine, and him flitting about…that, that was it. That was why he had taken so much pleasure in letting the pack know that he was actually Malia's father, it was because he had wanted to cause trouble for the pack! Agravaine had even admitted that it was Peter who was the one sneaking about, causing havoc, spreading poison, weakening an already weak Scott's Alphaship. Weak, not because of anything that Scott had done but because the pack was broken, hurt by the loss of Allison, still recovering from the damage that had been inflicted by his possession by the Nogitsune while Scott had to learn to become a full time Alpha to his pack after suffering such a devastating loss, and coming to terms with everything else that had happened recently. Oh god, and if he took that as true, if he was right and Peter was truly behind everything, he most likely wanted to be the Alpha again, which meant he had to warn Scott. He had what he needed, he had to get out of here, he had to warn the pack of what was really going on here, how they were all being manipulated like pieces on a chessboard as part of some twisted and evil collaboration by Peter and Agravaine to undermine and kill Scott and to seize power for themselves.

"Something makes me think you could have done it without me, besides you seemed to be doing a perfectly good job before I joined you." He pointed out, crossing his arms and glaring at the man who had caused all the supernatural shit to come into their lives simply by biting Scott in the first place.

Peter chuckled, his calculating eyes searching Stiles' face for any sign of treachery, at least that's how it seemed. Truth be told, Stiles was fairly certain he was safe. He was that angry that Peter had just been revealed to be the real villain behind all the strife in the pack, his heart was beating fast anyway, and he could imagine nothing better than ripping the smug evil bastard's head off and force feeding it to his friend Agravaine. He took a deep calming breath, trying to get his temper and his violent tendencies back under control, though he had to admit, if he had still been the Nogitsune proper, he would have loved nothing more than to give in and kill the power hungry would be Alpha.

"You're very kind. I'll admit, I was doing rather well, but your defection Stiles was the piece de resistance, the thing that finally finished off your dear Alpha. You know," he purred, his eyes fixated on Stiles, and Stiles could also feel Agravaine's eyes boring into him, alert for any sort of slip up, and Stiles knew that if he slipped up here, he was done for, "I would scarcely believe that the very same boy that I once asked if he wanted the bite would betray his best friend who he's so loyal to. But now my dear Stiles, you've finally started to realise how restricting and self-defeating Scott's way is. Scott will only succeed in getting you all killed, and now, finally, you're realising that. I have to say Stiles, bravo." He complimented, and Stiles forced down the urge to vomit, he didn't want Peter to be proud of him.

No, what he wanted to do was alert the others, to warn them that this was why everything had gone so wrong so fast. How long had Peter been at this? He remembered him, the night Scott refused to kill the Pombero, he had been making snide comments about Scott not killing and how it would come back and bite them. He'd been speaking with Malia a lot since he had revealed that he was her father, most likely getting under her skin. Hell he had even done to the same to him!

He had to admit, the bastard was good. It wasn't overt, it was subtle, just a little dig at Scott every here and there, in the right ear, and letting everyone's fears and imaginations do the rest of the work. In fact, other than a little conversation with each of them, none of them would realise that he had actually been doing it, actually been speaking to them that much.

How much damage had he done? He'd gotten to him, however marginal the effect was, by speaking to him about his possession and the aftereffects, and his relationship with Malia. If he was right, he was part of the reason that Malia had suddenly turned back into a coyote (his own role in dumping her notwithstanding). He had that weird bond with Lydia, which would further be exacerbated by her bitterness that she didn't understand her Banshee powers in time to save Allison and her fears of the Pombero coming after her. With Jackson dying and an obnoxious and abrasive asshole at the best of times, if he'd spoken to Jackson, that would probably be half his job done, Jackson would do the rest however unwittingly simply because of who he was. And then, after all, Danny was Jackson's best friend, so if Jackson was starting to rebel, particularly due to his fear of his imminent death, then Danny would follow Jackson's lead. Then the twins, with Aiden narrowly avoiding his own death thanks to Scott, the twins, Ethan probably more than Aiden due to his fear of losing his twin, would then start to pull away from Scott. It was so simple, so brilliant! Just a little snide comment, a little character assassination, and the beleaguered pack, harassed as they were by the endless Ghost Pack attacks, the corruption of the Nemeton inflaming all of their negative emotions and undermining their confidence in Scott, and the fallout from the whole Nogitsune fiasco, and now his undercover role finishing off Scott's belief in himself…holy shit what had he done?

Acting out of the best intentions, but he had completely undermined Scott, and broke whatever belief Scott might have had in himself, and that, combined with a restless and insecure pack, was a recipe for disaster.

But then, Stiles thought to himself, Peter couldn't have done his little Iago routine with everyone, it wouldn't have worked. The three kids were too new, and as all three of them had categorically said that they didn't blame Scott for Mason's death, he didn't have an opening to twist them against Scott. And regardless, they were humans, all of them, which meant that overall they didn't add much to Scott's power anyway.

Kira…Peter didn't know Kira as well as he knew the others, she was too new, and he had been absent for quite a lot of the Nogitsune fiasco for reasons unknown. There's also the fact that Kira was different from the rest of them, she essentially had a spirit as part of her, and like Martagh's suspicion of Peter, her Kitsune form likely would have suspected Peter if he'd been up to anything. Stiles felt his heart rate calm ever so slightly, that was good, that meant she was most likely still totally on Scott's side, her own lingering feelings towards him aside, which were quickly being replaced by Liam now anyway.

Derek…Derek was likely free from his uncle's malignant attentions, but only because Derek knew him best and would be able to identify when he was manipulating him. However, Stiles thought worriedly, if Peter figured out a way to tap into the slight resentment that they were all sure Derek felt for Scott being a better Alpha and leader than he had ever been, that could mean that he was in danger of turning on Scott, but obviously he wasn't nearly as insecure as the teenagers of the pack.

That left Isaac, and Stiles fought down a surge of dark triumph. Peter would never be able to get close to Isaac that way, for a start he was far too loyal to Scott, as he had proved when he had tried to kill him in Eichen for his supposed betrayal. That in addition to the fact that Isaac lived with Scott and that the two of them were so erotically co-dependent on each other that they were rarely apart meant Peter wouldn't get anywhere close to Isaac. Well that and Scott's highly dangerous overprotective streak when it came to his boyfriend as well.

That was one relief, he still had some allies, but with everything that had been happening recently, Scott had to be feeling isolated and abandoned, insecure, afraid, and like a failure, something that Stiles with his pretend defection certainly wouldn't have helped. Oh god, Scott might have been able to survive this on his own merits, but Stiles' actions had doomed him, god he was such an idiot!

He had to fix this, they had to stop Peter, because if he got any further, Scott would be isolated from his pack, and hence an easy target. That was what both of them wanted, Peter and Agravaine. Peter wanted to be the Alpha again. And Agravaine needed the power of the True Alpha to survive the end of the curse that was killing Hollis. Which meant, that both of them were here to kill Scott, and had been in cahoots from the beginning, as neither of them could have gotten this far without the other.

Fuckers.

This had to end, this had to end now before it was too late. He had to save Scott, and help his best friend put his pack together before Peter and Agravaine made their final moves. And preferably before the two of them annihilated each other, because if they turned on each other too soon, as they would inevitably betray each other as even Beacon Hills can have only one narcissistic sociopath at a time, the entire town and hence the whole pack would be caught in the crossfire.

"You're welcome. Glad to help, but have to say didn't realise you were behind it all." Stiles admitted quite openly, and Peter chuckled.

"You're very kind, but it's been a joint effort, hasn't it Agravaine?" Peter asked in a silky voice, and Agravaine flashed him an indulgent smile.

"Yes it has actually, been most profitable. And now, the young Alpha's pack hangs on the edge of a knife, so all we need now is the final push. Then we all get what we want, don't we dear Stiles?" Agravaine purred, stroking his cheek, and Stiles felt and barely resisted the urge to shudder as the Gwyllgi walked off, leaving Peter standing with Stiles.

"You know, I'm still not entirely sure I believe this defection of yours Stiles," Peter commented idly, and Stiles turned and glared at him.

"I helped sell out Scott didn't I?" he pointed out bitterly, and Peter smiled indulgently.

"That you did, but then again, Scott also sold out Derek when Gerard was after him didn't he? You always were the oddest one, the smart one, but ever since your blessing from the Nogitsune," he began, and Stiles riled up at once.

"Blessing? The thing possessed me, made me a murderer so that I've actually killed more people than you, made me attack my friends, and got Allison killed, and nearly Aiden too." He spat, and Peter chuckled.

"Ah, self-loathing, how quaint. Think of it this way Stiles, before you were but a mere mortal, one wrong move by someone and then you would be very dead. Now, now you can hold your own battling the likes of Scott and the others, you're more assertive, more cunning, more dangerous than ever before. You only see the bad, just like the rest of your self-absorbed friends, you all fail to realise that you are now part of something most would kill for, that power, that feeling of being greater than everyone else." He assured him, and Stiles, still glaring at him, shook his head.

"Yeah, but I'm not a narcissist like you are, so don't need the validation you get from tormenting people." He replied tartly, and Peter smirked, throwing an arm around his shoulders.

"But I do enjoy it Stiles, because I'm good at it, always have been. But you are too. And that my dear Stiles is the reason you and Malia could never have worked out. And disappointed as I am in you for how you treated her, dumping her, and let's face it you still hold a candle for Lydia even when she will never reciprocate," he taunted, basically just proving Stiles' point, "I did quite enjoy the two of you together. You know why you couldn't have worked out with her in the long run? It's because, Nogitsune aside, there's something that keeps you awake at night, a silent terror, that you can scarcely admit even to yourself…that deep down, you're just like me." He whispered into Stiles' ear, and Stiles felt his blood run cold as Peter clapped him on the shoulder and went to speak to Thane, who was currently glowering at Stiles resentfully.

Stiles shook his head, no, this was just Peter doing what he was best at, trying to get inside his head. He wasn't like him…was he? The Nogitsune had made him more ruthless, hell he'd been just as sadistic as Peter while possessed, and he was certainly cunning and manipulative, everything he was doing here was kind of proving that truthfully. But was he really like Peter deep down? He certainly wasn't power hungry, but he couldn't deny, he did enjoy the perks afforded to him by the Nogitsune's possession, and he did like being stronger, more assertive, more dominant.

But then, that being said, here he was, so deep undercover he hadn't actually told anyone that he was undercover, hadn't even told his so-called girlfriend or best friend, going it alone…just like Peter did. All to get what he ultimately wanted: absolution from all he's done, or at the very least acceptance of the others (he knew they weren't the problem, it was really just him), their lives back to normal, and being able to grieve and come to terms with all that happened in peace, which also naturally involved getting rid of the dogs and Peter.

And doing that was moving right to the top of his list, his own survival could go out the window if it meant he could stop Peter and Agravaine.

So, sniffing and wiping angrily at the tears in his eyes that had materialised, he steeled himself and began to ponder: just how did he go about saving his friends, and stopping the dogs once and for all, and even more importantly…how did he stop Peter from wiping all of them out in his insane, endless quest for power?

He allowed himself a small smirk, an idea coming to mind, but that meant he would need to speak to one of the others, well, let's face it, two of them, as one of them certainly wouldn't let the other out of his sight. And then, the three of them together could figure out their way out of this mess.

Together, like the friends they were, their pack, all together, and defeating the bad guys. With that image emblazoned in his mind, he began to mentally create his plan, and realised the main difference between him and Peter: he had friends, whereas Peter only had people he manipulated and used.

And that, he thought with a satisfied grin, would be his downfall.

XX

"Wait, so we finally know where their evil lair is?" Liam asked, looking a little lost as Derek explained all that Parrish had told him, and the oldest werewolf in the pack nodded, a grim, satisfied smile on his face as he did so.

"Yep, we know they're holed up in the old steel mill on the outskirts of town. So I say we go and finish them, once and for all." He told them, though his stomach did churn a little as he said so.

After all, as he had said this was the first genuine break they'd had in ages, but with Stiles defection they had no way of guaranteeing whether or not it was a trap. But no matter what way you span it, they were running out of time. The pack was disintegrating, and he was afraid that Stiles' betrayal had made it inexorable that the entire pack would collapse around Scott's ears, through virtually no fault of Scott's own. That, and the fact that Jackson, who's face was ashen, his eyes were going yellow and his skin looking like it was dying, he wouldn't have long left if they didn't do anything to save the situation soon. They had to make a move, and Derek had always been a fan of finding and killing a problem.

"Yeah and that sounds great, but how do we know it is genuinely their lair? And what's more, if it is, how do we know we aren't walking headlong into a trap? And then, there's still Stiles to consider too." Kira pointed out nervously, looking intimidated speaking in front of all the others, well virtually all the others.

They had all assembled in the twin's apartment, but the entire pack wasn't present (Derek supposed that was because he had summoned them all, the entire pack got annoyed that he was essentially just a silent presence in their group chat and didn't contribute to anything even after he left prison but really, they all knew he was antisocial, what did they expect?). Scott and Isaac were on their way, having been scouring the town for any sign of either Stiles or Malia, and Violet and Garrett were both missing as it seemed they had become involved in whatever Camden was up to with Rakaisha, Argent and Melissa. But the bulk of the pack was here, and what's more it was all the more combat orientated ones all here, which they would need if they were going to storm the steel mill.

"Yeah, there's also Scott. He'll never go for this." Aiden pointed out, though he did look conflicted about that fact, and Derek chewed on his lip thoughtfully.

Thing was, Aiden wasn't wrong. Scott would never agree to an all-out attack on the steel mill, essentially for the same reasons that Kira had just pointed out, and Derek wasn't entirely sure that he would be wrong to object on those grounds, hell, if they weren't constantly on the back foot he would actually be on the same page. But the fact that the dogs had been kicking their asses ever since they had turned up, coupled with the fact that they had somehow managed to turn Scott's best friend against him, along with murdering Mason, meant that something had to give before it was too late, and if they could catch them off-guard and beat them (which they had proved at the lacrosse match was possible, the wolves as a while were stronger than the dogs, it was the corrupted Nemeton that was the issue and acting as a battery for the damned mutts) then they could finally get themselves a much needed break.

"Well it's not really up to him though is it?" Jackson sneered, before giving into a coughing fit, with Danny massaging his back worriedly, and Aiden's eyes glowed blue as he glowered at the churlish wolf.

"Actually, as he's the Alpha, yeah, it is." He snarled, and Lydia and Danny both sent him a warning look, but really, this entire thing was getting so very old, he got that Jackson was scared and frustrated, they all were, probably Scott most of all, and his constant riding of Scott wasn't helping much.

"McCall doesn't have the guts to commit us to an attack himself, but if we all vote against him, because I'll give him that he's quite keen to be democratic and all, he'll go along with it even if he doesn't like it. At the end of the day, he knows he isn't winning as well, and with Stiles stabbing him in the back, he needs this to be over too. We basically need to force him to agree with us, to launch an attack." He retorted, hoping that Aiden wouldn't go for him again because he was still quite sore from earlier, but Liam looked at him sceptically, as did Derek.

"Yeah, he's still the Alpha though. Maybe I don't know how it all works because I'm quite new to all this, but isn't the final say still Scott's? He'll listen to you, sure, but he doesn't have to do it just because you lot want to. He wants to protect us all, and going all guns blazing into Agravaine's hideout isn't a good way to do that, we don't know what we're walking into! And Kira's right, there's still Stiles to consider. If we go in there, do you expect Scott to fight his best friend? How do we know Agravaine hasn't already been told everything and more by Stiles, with a unique plan of how to kill us all? If we go in there, we're asking to all wind up the same as you…or worse, like Mason." He said softly, and Jackson's face flickered as he saw the recriminatory look in Liam's eye, and he started to feel a little bad, especially as he watched Kira take Liam's hand and give it a reassuring squeeze.

Martagh was sitting silently in the corner, her piercing green eyes scouring the room like a hawk, her thoughts tumultuous. She saw where Jackson and his more reckless faction were coming from, certainly she did. But truth be told, she had to agree with Kira and Liam, which meant she would agree with Scott as well. It would be inviting disaster, especially if they tried to topple Agravaine without dealing with the corruption of the Nemeton first. Sadly, however, she was still utterly flummoxed as how to overcome that particular hurdle, but she had to agree that they were running out of time, not just for Jackson, but for the entire pack.

"Look, I get where you're coming from, and I actually agree with you on most of it. But there is one thing in our favour, Agravaine doesn't know we know where he is. If we do it right, we can get in, face them and finish this, we've come close to ending it before, we can do it again. I hope." Lydia added lamely, and Martagh over in the corner frowned, her gaze focused her eyes on her apprentice, a slightly nauseous feeling in her stomach as she heard her apprentice's opinion.

The room was tense, a simmering pot that was about to boil, much like warming milk, fine one minute and then exploding the next. She had a horrible feeling that the event that she'd felt brewing for quite some time, the reckoning she'd felt coming for the entire pack for weeks now, was about to blow, and she could tell that whatever happened when it went down wasn't going to be pretty. Battle lines had been drawn within the pack, and the fractures in the pack's unity were developing along those battle lines, the epicentre being a horrible amalgamation of Allison's death and Stiles' betrayal. What happened next she feared would very much depend on Scott, and whatever happened would decide the future of the entire pack.

"It's a moot point anyway. McCall will never agree to it." Jackson grumbled, just as the door opened, and Martagh felt her breath catch in her throat.

"What won't I agree to?" Scott asked nervously from the door as he entered, cutting quite an impressive sight in the early evening sun streaming through the window, flanked loyally by his boyfriend as usual.

Isaac shot them all a suspicious look as they entered, and Scott narrowed his eyes as he looked at Jackson, who as usual, failed under the gaze of his Alpha, and Martagh allowed herself a derisive snort: for someone so keen to badmouth Scott behind his back, he certainly quailed in front of his Alpha, though Scott was probably the sweetest and kindest Alpha she had ever come across. Though to his credit, the look of distaste and anger that Isaac was directing at the obtuse beta was probably enough to make him shut up anyway.

Derek stood forward, sending Jackson a mocking look as the dying beta slinked back into his seat away from the venomous glare that Isaac was giving him, and he looked at the young Alpha.

"Well, Parrish discovered something. We think we know where Agravaine's hideout is, and we're discussing going after him and bringing an end to this." He explained, and Scott looked at him worriedly as he came into the apartment properly, Isaac standing protectively beside him, and Isaac looked at him worriedly.

"How did he find out where Agravaine was hiding?" he asked, and Derek proceeded to explain about Parrish tracing the call that the cops had received last night, however as he explained it, he could see that Scott was looking less than enthused.

"Derek, we can't guarantee that he actually is there." Scott pointed out, figuring he could start at the bottom of the severity of his objections and work his way up, and Derek did have to concede that point, they were going off gut feelings, and they couldn't even risk checking it out because if they did it would tip Agravaine off to the fact that they knew where he was.

"Yeah I know, but Scott this is the first solid lead we've had on where the evil bastard's hiding." Lydia pointed out, and Scott looked at her worriedly.

"And if he is there, what do we do then Lydia? Stiles is with Agravaine, for all we know, he's told him everything about how to fight us, about our lessons with Martagh, about how we fight, all of it. We could be going in having already lost. Not to mention the corruption of the Nemeton making all of them stronger while making all of us weaker, and if anything he's only gotten stronger recently. And what's more, how do we know Stiles…how do we know Stiles didn't leave that, realising we'd hear about it and go after him, and walk headlong into a trap so Agravaine can finish us off?" he asked, sounding defeated and hopeless, and Lydia sighed and walked over to him, squatting down in front of him and squeezing his hand.

"Stiles wouldn't do that, I can't believe he would betray us…well betray us that much." She admitted lamely, and Scott gave her a pitying look.

"I didn't think he could consciously betray us at all and looks like I was wrong about that." He lamented, and Liam exchanged a worried glance with Isaac, who squeezed Scott's shoulder reassuringly.

The whole thing was caused by what Stiles had done, his betrayal had broken something fundamental within Scott, and the constant henpecking of the rest of the pack was destroying what little self-worth he had left following the deaths of Allison and Mason, Malia's absence (they still hadn't been able to find hide nor hair of her) and the possession of his best friend, and all the associated drama that that had caused.

Derek nodded, and he saw Scott's point, but what did he do? He could practically feel the simmering resentment rising from behind him, as Jackson would object to whatever Scott said anyway (hell Scott could agree to an all-out assault and the disagreeable, spoilt little brat would still find something to object to), and he knew Jackson, however unintentionally, had canvassed a fair bit of support out of the present pack members for going in all guns blazing, Danny would be on side, likely Ethan too. On the other hand, all of Scott's objections would be perfectly true, and he wouldn't agree to an assault especially if they didn't know all the facts. Kira, Liam and Isaac would all vote with Scott, so essentially the swing vote all came down to Lydia, Aiden and Derek himself, as he was fairly certain that Martagh would keep her counsel to herself. But at the end it all came down to one main question: did they take the risk, and essentially trust that Stiles wasn't evil or hadn't betrayed them completely, or did they do nothing and let Agravaine continue to have free reign over the town?

"So what, you want to do nothing? We know where he is, and we've beaten them before, we beat them at the lacrosse game!" Danny protested, and Scott got to his feet, glowering at him.

"Yeah, we did, but that's only because Argent showed up with the other hunters and helped turn the tide. Not to mention the Nemeton corruption has only gotten stronger since then as well, which means they've gotten stronger too. There's also the fact that Stiles left us, to go and work with Agravaine, he betrayed us, and we don't know exactly what he told Agravaine and how much danger we're in if we go headlong into a fight. On top of that, Agravaine and the dogs could know that we know where he is and we could be blundering headlong into a trap, which will only get us all killed. I get it, I want this over like all of you do, but attacking Agravaine's lair is very risky." He told him, and Jackson, seemingly having recovered his courage, got to his feet and glared angrily at Scott.

"What if we think it's worth the risk?" he challenged, his chin jutting out, but he could tell that the tempers were starting to flare, as Isaac's eyes had flashed gold, and Aiden had also let out a warning growl, but he didn't care, they needed to do this, they finally knew where Agravaine was, this was their chance to bring him down!

"How can it be?" Liam snapped angrily, getting to his feet, and Kira laid a hand on his chest to prevent him throwing himself at the older boy (Jackson seemed to bring that particular urge out in a lot of people), and Jackson turned, scoffing to the youngest pack member.

"Because if we do this, it's all over, no more dogs, no more whists, no more revenants, no more Agravaine. I'm not dying anymore, I go home, you lot can get Stiles back and do whatever the hell you want to him, we all get our lives back! And even better, no one else dies! So what is the problem? We finally get a break, and McCall here is too much of a coward to go and finally do something about the crazy murderer who's been slaughtering his way through the town for weeks!"

Scott growled angrily, his eyes flashing red, but Isaac got there first, his own eyes also glowing, his hands clenching, and Scott was fairly certain if Jackson kept pushing, his knives would be out in a second.

"What do you want us to do Jackson, huh? Go in all guns blazing into a trap where we could all get killed just so you can go back to your life and leave the rest of us clearing up your mess as usual? And say we do go in, what do we do about the dogs? Agravaine himself? We can't beat them, the Nemeton's making them stronger and they're too damn dangerous! Agravaine is a vicious psycho and we don't know how to stop him!" he protested, and Jackson groaned in exasperation.

"We know how to stop him, we kill him, pure and simple! Just because he's," he spat, pointing at Scott, "too squeamish to kill someone doesn't mean the rest of us are! Agravaine needs to die!"

"We don't know how to kill him!" Kira protested, and Jackson sneered.

"Well we've got the murder twins here, surely they know how to rip a head off? I say we go in and finish it, whatever it takes, and I can't believe that you're not all wanting this to be over!" he shouted, and Aiden glowered at him.

"Oh please, like you care about any of the rest of us, you only care about saving your own skin, which is why you're so keen for all of us to go in and risk our lives when we don't know what we're walking into, just on the off chance that it'll save you!" he barked, and Jackson shrugged.

"Yeah, I don't want to die again, I'd have thought of all of you, you'd be the one most on board with that since you nearly died as well! And look what the common denominator is here: Scott, not putting down a threat because he's too much of a goody two shoes to kill the people going round murdering our friends, no wonder Stiles turned on him, he just realised that if we stay with Scott, we're all going to wind up like Allison and Mason!" he screamed, but this time he had gone too far, and to everyone's shock, it was actually Scott who snapped.

With a savage roar, Scott, his face contorted into a full wolf form, scarlet eyes burning and fangs jutting from his mouth, backhanded Jackson with such force that they heard one of Jasckson's vaunted cheekbones snap and Jackson went flying across the room, slamming into the wall with a crash, and the entire pack went silent as Jackson growled, then whimpered upon seeing the look on Scott's face.

Scott's face was furious, sure, but as it went back to its normal human form, they saw tears flowing down his face, which was a tortured mask of self-recrimination and despondency, and for once, Jackson, despite the pain in his face, felt truly sorry for provoking him in that way.

"I get it ok! I get it, it's all my fault that Allison died, that Mason died, that Stiles betrayed me! I never asked for this, I didn't want it, and somehow all of you think I'll automatically have all the answers, that I know what to do all the time, well I don't! You think I like seeing all of us getting our asses kicked, getting attacked, watch people we loved come back and attack us, watch people we love die in our arms? Huh? You think I want you to die Jackson? I want to protect us all, to make sure we don't lose anyone else, but you know what, I can't! I don't know how to, that what you wanted to hear? I don't have a clue what I'm doing, I never have a clue what I'm doing, and you, all of you, just sit and complain and bitch about it, moaning that I haven't came up with an idea to save us yet! I'm trying to keep us all safe, trying to keep us all alive, and I'm sorry if that makes me a bad person but I'm not going to stop trying to save the lives of the people I care about! And I'm sorry, but if we go after Agravaine, god knows what we'll be walking into, and how many will come out, and I am not going to anybody else I love's funeral!" he screamed, tears streaming down his face as he finally let loose, his entire body shaking as he broke down, sick of being blamed for everything, of failing, and of his friends not having his back.

Isaac shot Jackson a furious, filthy look and hurried to Scott, wrapping him in a hug as Scott collapsed into his boyfriend, Isaac hushing him and rocking him, soothing him, stroking his hair tenderly and nuzzling him as Scott sobbed onto his shoulder, his whole body quivering with tears, feeling so utterly spent and just done with all of it.

The rest of the pack looked at each other nervously, and Lydia wrung her hands worriedly, she hadn't seen Scott like this since his suicide attempt, thoughts of which had suddenly resurfaced with alarming accuracy. Scott standing in the parking lot of that dreadful motel, covered in gasoline, telling them how he felt he was the cause of everything that had gone wrong in their lives, how everything had gone wrong ever since he had been bitten, how he felt responsible for everything that had happened, all the losses, all the near misses, all the strife, how he preferred it when he was a nobody, and wanted to be a nobody again, even if it cost him his life. Scott had been willing to do it as well, until Stiles had talked him round, and even then it had been a near thing because the Darach had interceded to try and kill someone that she must have known would stop at nothing in order to stop her.

And now, battered, beaten, bloodied and dispirited, their Alpha was breaking down in front of them, and they were all to blame, everyone who'd criticised him, taken a pot shot at him, not because Scott couldn't cope but because he could: he felt responsible for all of them, he saw it as his job to protect them, and he felt he was failing, that it was his fault that they'd lost Allison, Erica, Boyd, Mason…his fault that Stiles had been possessed…his fault that Isaac, Aiden and so many others had nearly died…his fault that Stiles had betrayed them…his fault for everything basically.

That was how they'd made their leader, their Alpha…their friend feel.

What had they done?

Liam was looking at Scott as though he too was about to cry, and he then, very hesitantly admittedly, went over and hugged Scott too as Isaac helped calm him down, and Lydia exchanged a horrified look with Danny, they had been part of this, part of making Scott feel so awful about everything that had been going on recently. She felt sick to her stomach, she wanted to throw up, they had done this to him. What the hell did they do now?

"Scott…don't you see? That's why we need to go after him. It's the only way to fix this, to stop it. To stop Agravaine." Jackson told him nervously, advancing a little towards their Alpha, however a bark like snarl from Isaac made him withdraw his hand and stay at a respectable distance from Scott, as if he got too close, there was every chance that his cheek (which was in agony by the way) would be the least of his worries.

"Jackson, it's too dangerous, we don't know if it's a trap or not." Scott told him tiredly, sniffing and defiantly wiping at his eyes as though ashamed of the fact that he'd been crying, and Ethan, looking sickened with himself, piped up, though looked terrified as Isaac's lethal glare was turned onto him.

"Yeah but Jackson does have a point, he doesn't know we know. And like he says, if we don't stop him, if we don't at least try…Agravaine won't stop. And if nothing else, Jackson is dying, and can't have long left. If we don't do something, you'll be attending his funeral. And who'll be next?" he pointed out, though quickly started looking at his shoes as he felt the furious, betrayed expression that his best friend was giving him, and tried to hide from the look that Scott gave him, that made him want to disappear right there, it was like he had disappointed someone rather than angered them and it felt horrible.

"Scott, don't you see this is how it has to be? We go in, we bring him down. And if you're not comfortable, well, Derek could probably do it." Danny ventured, and he recoiled at the acidic look that Derek sent him, and Isaac let out a low growl.

"Hey, don't bring me into this!" Derek protested, fair enough, he might not agree with all of Scott's decisions but this, he had to say, on reflection, he was on Scott's side, and what was more, he was now seriously worried about Scott's mental state, if they did this when he, their Alpha, was so against it, it could well finish Scott off.

"Look, I'm just trying to be practical! They're right, Agravaine is a maniac and isn't going to stop trying to kill us, and we have a chance to finally stop him and bring him down, we need to take it. It could be worth the risk, don't you think?" Danny asked, though he looked terrified of the furious look that Isaac and Derek were giving him, and noticed Lydia beside them, shaking her head urgently.

"Clearly you've not had someone you love bleed to death in your arms." Scott told him softly, and Danny went white at the accusation, and Jackson pointed to Ethan.

"Yeah, but he nearly has. And soon, I'll be the one dead too. Or does that not matter to you?" he asked, and in response to a growl, this time from Kira, he shrugged.

"Hey, I don't like it either, and he is right, it could be a trap. But at the end of the day, if we don't do something, soon it'll be me dead, and if he's all about stopping that, then this is what we need to do. It sucks, but yeah, that's the way it is."

"I don't want you to die Jackson, if we stop and think…" Scott protested, and Jackson groaned in exasperation.

"NO! I am done stopping and thinking, I'm done messing about. Agravaine is the main problem in this town. I am dying because of Agravaine. We have a chance to bring down Agravaine. So I say we go, and we take him down. What do you say?" he asked, looking around at all the others.

"He's right, we need to try Scott, otherwise, Jackson will be dead. We might all be dead." Danny said, though looked sickened with himself, and stood beside Jackson, and the air of the room went very still, so silent you could hear a pin drop.

Scott looked at Jackson, and briefly wondered why he had tried so hard to save such an arrogant, self-obsessed obnoxious asshole, his stomach knotting as he looked at him, and briefly, very briefly, wondered how much more powerful he would get if he did as Deucalion once had, and killed one of his own Betas, to wipe that arrogant, haughty, self-assured look off his face…

No, he wasn't like that, no matter how much they all wanted him to be. He wasn't the killer he wanted, but he would be damned if he was going to become one just to please them.

"You all feel the same way?" Scott asked, proud of the fact that his voice only wavered slightly, and Ethan looked at Jackson and Danny anxiously, before standing with his boyfriend, and shrugged.

"They…they have a point Scott, I'm sorry, I don't want to admit it, but they do. I'm sorry, I-I think you're a great Alpha, and you're right, we've all been unfair to you. But Jackson's right about this, this is the chance we've been looking for. I'm sorry, but I'm with them." He told them, and Scott felt that like a hammer blow to his chest, so much for loyalty he supposed, if his Betas, who had begged to be in his pack, would turn on him so easily, what chance did he have?

"Aiden?" Scott asked in a voice little more than a whisper, and he could feel the tenuous bonds of his pack splintering and shattering, he could feel it in his heart, like a mortal wound, he felt isolated, alone, abandoned, and even Isaac's hand tightly squeezing his, and Liam's strangely reassuring presence behind him wasn't doing anything to alleviate the void inside of him.

He'd been right, months ago when they'd been attacked by the Darach, he wasn't a leader, he wasn't a hero, he just made everything worse, hell, Stiles had noticed it, now the rest of them were too, they were all realising he just got everyone he cared about killed and that there was no hope, well none while he was meant to be leading them.

Aiden looked nauseous, as he looked between his Alpha, the Alpha who had literally moved heaven and earth to keep him alive, and to his twin, the same presence that had been there all his life, surviving the implosion of their first pack together, surviving with Deucalion, and finally finding a place here, but who's side did he take?

"Scott I…Taking out Agravaine is a good idea, but you're right it could be a trap, but Jackson's right too, how long is it until Agravaine kills someone else?" he asked, deciding not to stand on one side or another, after all, both sides were right, but both sides were wrong, and he didn't know where he really stood, did he side with his brother or with his Alpha?

Scott looked away from the one he had thought might have taken his side, but he should have known that if it came down to him or Ethan, Aiden would choose Ethan. Not that he blamed him, before he'd betrayed them Scott would have done anything for Stiles, and he knew Aiden hadn't actually said he was on their side, but at the end of the day, if Ethan went, Aiden would follow as he wouldn't allow his twin to go into battle without him.

"This, this is wrong, we're a team, we're a pack and…" Lydia protested, but Scott shook his head remorsefully.

"I don't think we've been a pack for a while, we've got people dead, people who've left, and people who'd rather work with our enemies than be here because I'm so bad at this." He whispered, and Lydia shook her head adamantly.

No, that was wrong, this was wrong. She suddenly felt so awful, so guilty, so riddled with self-hatred as she had also been one of Scott's naysayers, even if it was to a lesser extent than the others, but she had been one of them, and she had helped bring this state of hopelessness and despondency onto her friend, without whom, none of them would even still be breathing.

"Scott, no, you're not bad at this, and I notice they," Isaac spat, glaring at the others who didn't even have the decency to meet his eyes, "haven't contributed much to stopping Agravaine either, no, they'd rather just sit back and bitch about you!"

"But they're right. Maybe I should have been more ruthless, maybe if I had been, maybe if I'd just killed Stiles when he was possessed, Allison might still be alive, who knows?" Scott asked, and Isaac looked pleadingly over into the corner where Martagh was sitting, her face hidden in shadow, but the Scuffock remained unmoving.

"Scott, this isn't your fault! None of this is!" Liam protested, and Kira nodded.

"He's right, and we're a team, we're all meant to be in this together, we need to work together!" she insisted, and Scott shrugged, and it was so eerie seeing him like this, Scott always fought, he always resisted, he always found a way, yet now it was like all the fight had gone out of him as his pack basically rebelled against him.

"We can't, because even if I say no, they'll go anyway." He told her sadly, and Lydia shook her head, looking pleadingly at Aiden, who gestured at her helplessly, and she hated this, and she certainly didn't want to put Aiden between choosing between his Alpha and his brother, particularly when she didn't think it would be Scott who won that contest, especially after his near death.

"No, they won't, you're the Alpha! Scott, this is wrong, and you know it, if they go they'll get themselves killed, it's the mall all over again!" Isaac protested, and Derek stirred, that was why this seemed so familiar.

He had wanted to attack at the mall, in an attempt to kill one of the Alphas of Deucalion's pack. Scott, like now, had protested, as had Isaac (though that had been because Derek had only recently thrown him out at the time), but yeah, this was giving him an awful sense of déjà vu.

The thing was, Scott was right. Even if he said no, even if he exerted what was left of his Alpha power, Jackson would go anyway, and the others would follow suit, even Aiden though he was the most conflicted by this. Fear was driving them, fear and anxiety, and what was the name of the guy, Santayana was it? those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. That's what was happening here, but as that was the case, where did that leave Derek?

By all rights he should stand with Scott, Scott was the Alpha after all, and he was right, about a lot of this. But on the other hand, Jackson and his little group was also right, and even if they said no, Jackson, driven by the terror that he was going to die, would go anyway, and probably take the rest of them down with him. What the hell did he do?

"I could go with them if you wanted, keep an eye on them?" Derek suggested softly, the answer coming to him in a flash, that way Scott could keep half the pack back, and the other half could go after Agravaine, and they could all meet in the middle if need be.

"That's a bad idea, just because he doesn't want Scott to be leader, you want to go with him and fight?" Liam demanded in outrage, and Jackson shrugged, though didn't meet the younger kid's eyes.

"Derek knows how to fight better." He replied curtly, though there was a disbelieving, derisive snort from someone present, (Derek could make an educated guess who had done it too), and Derek felt a little nettled.

Ok, he admitted it, he hadn't been a great Alpha, having accidentally killed one of his own pack, failing to find another one in time, had nearly lost another when she had been poisoned who also happened to be his sister, and had driven the other from his home and into the hands of a far better Alpha, but he wasn't completely useless either.

"No, if we go in with less than all of us, Agravaine will kill us all anyway. Ok, I get it. We'll go after Agravaine." Scott decided, his voice thick with unshed tears, though his eyes looked haunted, his expression just…broken, as he gave in, and Jackson braved a small smile.

"Ok, cool, we go then. It's what we need to do Scott." He advised, though Scott didn't look at him as he talked to him, and instead Isaac tilted his boyfriend's head to look at him.

"Scott, no, this is a bad idea, we could be walking into a trap!" he insisted, his face worried, though less for the pack and more for Scott and the broken, beaten expression he had on his face.

"We don't all agree Scott, this is a bad idea!" Kira insisted, and Scott shrugged.

"You're right, we need to finish it. And at least half of us don't think it's a bad idea, so we go, to make sure it doesn't turn into a bloodbath. We leave in an hour." Scott ordered, then turned and virtually fled to his room leaving a very awkward silence in his wake.

"Scott, wait!" Lydia pleaded, but she could see it, the mix of everything, the ridiculously high body count, Stiles' possession, Allison's murder, Mason's murder, Malia's disappearance, and now Stiles' treachery, combined with the numerous pot shots everyone had been taking at Scott, it was just like that night with the Darach, but this time there was no twisted dark Druid to blame, no , Scott's utterly broken state was down to them, to his so called friends, who had constantly thrown him under the bus when he'd needed them to support him, and this was the result.

They had destroyed their Alpha, and Lydia could feel a burgeoning sense of doom blossoming around her, it was like…

Like before the night at Oak Creek, like before that fateful night where Allison had died and everything had changed.

"Scott, please, come back!" she begged, she could tell him about the feeling she was now developing, this was bad, this was awful, if she was right, if she'd recognised this sense properly, if they went after Agravaine tonight…someone was going to die.

"We need to do this Lydia, it's the only way." Ethan said softly, and he recoiled as Isaac span on him, his face a broiling tempest of fury, and he and his co-supporters all recoiled in alarm at how close their Prime Beta was to losing control, he was quivering in fury, his fists clenched around the handles of his knives, and there were numerous fangs in his mouth as he fought to maintain control of his temper and not rip their treacherous, self-absorbed backstabbing throats out.

"I hope to god you know what you're doing." He ground out, his voice guttural as he turned and headed after Scott, and his entire body was shaking, Isaac was furious yeah, but he was also terrified, he had never seen Scott so down and beaten and broken and he hurried to Scott's side.

The door to Scott's room slammed shut and the other's all looked anywhere but at each other, except Liam, who walked over to Jackson, his chin jutting out defiantly.

"You know what? I don't see why Scott keeps trying so hard to save you ungrateful, backstabbing life." He spat, and Jackson spluttered in outrage, but the youngest kid then stormed from the apartment, and Kira looked fearfully at Lydia, who gestured helplessly, and after sending a vicious glare at Jackson, she hurried after her boyfriend, calling his name.

"Scott…I never meant this to happen, I only thought…" Derek protested softly, and Lydia laid a hand on his shoulder, as the older wolf looked genuinely horrified at how all this had turned out, and how he, by trying to help, had essentially finished off their Alpha, who thought that Derek too also thought they should go after the dog pack.

"This is wrong Derek if we go then…" she began, the feeling getting stronger by the second, and she looked pleadingly over at the corner, where Martagh was sitting in the shadows.

In the corner, Martagh fought down a wave of revulsion. That hadn't been nice to watch, Scott's so-called friends essentially staging a mutiny and a vote of no confidence against him in one fell swoop. She knew that it hadn't been all of them, which was a saving grace, but there had still been enough people against him that it finished off Scott's remaining self-confidence and destroyed whatever belief he had left in himself, and clearly felt that his friends would be better without him.

"Martagh?" Lydia asked pleadingly, and she was jerked from her reverie as she looked at her apprentice, who seemed to be begging for her to intervene, but sadly, much though she would like to, something like this, she could not intercede on anyone's behalf.

This was Scott's great trial, the one you never see coming, the Trial of Fire. Much though she wanted to help him, she simply couldn't, as sadly, he had to do this himself.

She just wished that she could help him through it herself, as seeing him feel so utterly abandoned, betrayed and hopeless hadn't been nice in any way, shape or form.

"The die is cast. Let us hope things come up the way we want them to apprentice." She told her curtly, and departed to prepare, leaving Lydia looking after her beseechingly.

"Martagh, please, we need your help!"

Martagh sighed sadly as she left the apartment, her apprentice hot on her heels and she turned to her young Banshee companion.

"I am sorry child, not this time. I'm afraid this time, I cannot intervene. I'm so sorry." She told her remorsefully, and departed, leaving a very confused Lydia behind in the corridor, tears in her eyes.

Inside Scott's room, Isaac edged towards his boyfriend, he had come in, wanting to try to make Scott see reason, make him see that this was a bad idea, but Scott just looked so broken, he didn't want to attack him any further than he already had been, Jackson…Isaac fought down a wave of white-hot fury as he considered the arrogant Beta, but no, ripping Jackson's throat out would have to wait, Scott needed him.

"Scott?" he asked softly, and Scott sniffed sadly as he looked up at him, his warm, chocolate brown eyes swimming with tears, and Isaac felt his heart rip in two, this was his Scott, his hero, the person who had given him everything, a home, a family, love…a person who would always fight for the people he loved, a person who would always try to do the right thing, this kind, compassionate, sweet, inspiring leader…who had been broken by his so called friends essentially blaming him for everything that had happened, something that in the darkest part of his heart, Scott had always believed anyway.

Isaac hadn't been there when Scott had tried to kill himself, he'd been making sure Boyd was alright at the time, he hadn't seen, it had been Stiles who had helped Scott, made him see that his life wasn't an endless morass of despair and self-loathing, who had saved him.

But Stiles, Scott's best friend, his brother, and arguably the biggest reason Scott was like this, wasn't here.

It was just Isaac, and he was damned if he was going to let anyone take Scott from him, especially if that person was Scott…or worse, fucking Jackson, 'better-than-everyone' Whittemore.

"I fucking hate this Isaac, I h-hate being an Alpha, I hate that I can't s-save everyone, that everyone is d-dying, getting hurt, that's it's all my fault, but I…" Scott sobbed, and Isaac climbed onto the bed, kneeling in front of him, taking his face in both hands tenderly.

"Scott, to hell with Jackson! This isn't your fault, no one could do any better than you have, you've not done anything wrong!" he insisted, willing Scott to believe him, but Scott shook his head hopelessly.

"I can't save anyone, Isaac, what if-if I'm the problem? All of this started when I got bitten, what if it gets better if I'm not here?" he asked, his eyes streaming with tears, and Isaac shook his head stubbornly.

"It won't. You know why?" he asked, trying to keep the snap out of his voice, he was so angry at the other pack members, but if he displayed any anger towards Scott, it could break what little was left of the person he loved irrevocably, "because every single person in this pack, in this town," he insisted, tears leaking into his eyes and voice as he looked imploringly into his boyfriend's eyes, "would be dead, if it wasn't for you. And that includes everyone else too…even Erica, Boyd, Allison, and Mason. How many times did you save them Scott? If it wasn't for you, we'd all have been killed by Gerard, or the Alphas, or the Nogitsune. It was because of you that they lived their lives when they could. You saved them as long as you could. Scott," he whispered, sitting down beside Scott, though keeping Scott's agonised, warm, chocolate brown eyes focused on his own, "you can't save everyone, and that isn't your fault. You're not invincible, you're not unstoppable. You're human. You are not the problem Scott, you never have been. You're the reason the problems have all gone away, you've saved us, time and again, because that's what you do. You're human, but you're a hero. You're our leader, and our Alpha…to hell with the others…you're my Alpha," he intoned, his hand cupping Scott's slightly uneven jaw, feeling Scott shake in his grasp, "and if you don't want to be in this world, then I'll go down with you, I promise you that. If you go down, I'm going with you, because I don't want to live in a world where you're not," he whispered, nuzzling him, "but don't you dare listen to that arrogant, spoilt little brat and let him convince you that you're worthless, because you're not. You hear me? You are not to blame, you are not the problem, and nothing, nothing, will be better without you. Least of all my life," he whispered softly, sniffing and trying to blink the tears out of his eyes as he allowed his eyes to glow gold to reinforce his point, "you hear me? This isn't your fault, and without you…hell, I'd have been dead a long time ago, and instead, I fell in love with the most amazing person I ever met, someone who made me so happy just to be alive, because I've got you. And if you're struggling, if you need me, I'm always here, and I will never leave you alone." He vowed in a soft whisper, his gold eyes boring into Scott's as Scott looked back at him, and Scott sniffed a little and shook his head, though it was more in denial, disbelief than hopelessness, and Isaac counted that as a win.

"I hate being an Alpha." He replied sorrowfully, his own eyes glowing red as he favoured Isaac with a slight, microscopic smile, and Isaac gave a watery chuckle and used his thumb to wipe the tears from Scott's cheek, both their eyes still glowing.

And as Isaac took Scott into his arms and Scott buried his face into Isaac's shoulder, feeling Isaac stroking his hair and rocking him, hushing him as he did so, his eyes briefly flickered before returning to their usual red colour, but in that split second, unknown to either boy, they had flickered from Alpha red back into Beta gold.

XX

"I still don't see why this has to happen in my police station, don't you think I've had enough issues in here between homicidal teenagers and murderous ninjas?" the sheriff asked, bemused as the strike team got ready down in the cells beneath the main station, and Camden looked apologetically at him.

"Sorry man, but we figured this was the best bet, we can control what happens more here." He explained, and John sighed, he knew the kid was right, but still.

"And think of it this way honey," Melissa assured him, patting his arm comfortingly, "least doing it in here if things get messy, we save you a call out!"

He snorted in amusement, shaking his head derisively.

"You're very reassuring. Are you sure you're up to this?" he asked his girlfriend worriedly, and Argent sent him a grin.

"Oh she's ready, trust me, she can outdraw me, which is no mean feat if I do say so myself." He assured him, and John looked at Melissa worriedly, and she smiled at him, and strangely enough he did feel slightly reassured.

"John you know full well I can defend myself, I can fire a gun, besides, you, Parrish, Argent, Gareth and Natasha will all be here also armed with guns, and there's also Camden and Rakaisha, with the blade and magic, I reckon we should be fine. The plan will work…we hope." She finished lamely, and Argent did consider the plan as the two of them set about their preparations.

Kaisha had been using her magic to essentially hide herself from Ifrit all day in preparation to lead him into a trap tonight. The actual holding cells of the police station were on the basement level, and until recently had been fairly empty at least until Agravaine's little jailbreak. However for the occasion, Stilinski, though hoping it wouldn't be necessary and that he wasn't essentially dooming everyone left in the station (prisoners dying in custody caused a lot of paperwork, especially if he had to put down that they were skewered by an evil genie as the cause of death, people would start asking awkward questions), the prisoners had all been transferred into the overflow cells on the ground level, leaving the basement level free of any prisoners, and the perfect place to trap the evil Djinn.

The plan was essentially simple. When the time was right, Kaisha would drop her magic and allow Ifrit to sense her. That would bring him to the station, and, after much debate, she had cast some magic that would prevent him from just teleporting straight into the basement, forcing him to come through the station at least in some form (hence why everyone else would be sent out on deployment in order to minimise the risk to them (not that they could minimise the risk much when they had a pack of evil dogs hellbent on causing untold havoc but still)) and come out the elevator. That would be when they would strike.

John, Parrish, Argent, Melissa, Natasha and Gareth would then emerge from the cells, catching him in a crossfire, which would occupy him long enough for Camden to get close enough to plunge the lamb's blood-soaked blade into him, and once that was done, Kaisha would finish him off. Furthermore, Braeden was also waiting in the wings, acting as a last form of defence for the prisoners and anyone else who happened to be upstairs and would come down and catch him in a pincer movement and allow him to be attacked from behind as well. Everyone goes in, everyone comes out, least that was the plan.

"Everyone ready?" Camden asked, not at all liking the cold look Natasha was giving Rakaisha and vowing to end her himself if she made any sort of move towards his fiancé.

Kaisha nodded, and they all gathered at the desk of the sergeant who usually admitted prisoners into the cells down here.

"Ok, I'll be with Melissa, Natasha, you with the sheriff, Gareth, you with Parrish. Kaisha, you be with Camden. I expect he won't waste much time once he senses you're here, so we need to be prepared. We hit him hard, and we hit him fast. Everyone ready? Then good luck, let's bring down this Djinn and get some form of control back over our lives." Argent said, reading his weapons, he had the spare silver blade to stab the Djinn should Camden fail, and they all nodded.

"Thank you guys, it means a lot, you helping us with this." Camden said, and Natasha favoured him with a cold smile.

"Hey you don't need to thank us, this is what we do. Besides, it isn't every day we get to take down one of the best assassins the Kaf has to offer, we should be thanking you. Ok, let's do this, no one dies." She ordered, readying her own weapons, her cold, mercurial nature coming to the fore.

"Yeah, no one dies Natasha." Gareth chided pointedly, and she rolled her eyes as she swept into her own cell, with the anxious looking sheriff right behind her.

"Thank you Melissa, hopefully this will be some recompense for him torching your house." Kaisha said lamely, and Melissa rolled her eyes and hugged her.

"Honey, if you bring the bastard down and give my son a bit of a break, the house be damned, especially when it wasn't your fault. But yeah, it's payback time." She said, readying her shotgun, and also readying Violet's spare set of knuckle dusters that she had lent her.

"Ready?" Camden asked, double checking the ammo in his pistol, and making sure the silver blade was right where he needed it, and she nodded bravely, her warm brown eyes boring into his as she did so.

"Yes beloved. Are you? Everything will change after this, hopefully for the better." She warned, and he kissed her softly, his hand wrapping in her curly hair as she melted into it.

"Hey, I'm about to get the chance to help my girl fight for her freedom. If it changes everything, and means we can get on with our lives so we can be together, I'm all for it. Everyone ready?" he asked loudly to everyone assembled in the cells, and Gareth poked his head out of his cell with a roguish grin.

"Hell yeah, this brings back too many memories, let's get on with it!" he encouraged, and Parrish looked at him curiously.

"Wait, you've been in a cell?" he asked, and Gareth blanched a little, then winked.

"A story for later kid, let's get this done!" he insisted, and he and Parrish went into their cell.

"Stick close to me, I am not going to Scott and telling him his mother died." Argent warned, and Melissa clapped him on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about me, and besides, I left something at the apartment if anything goes wrong, but I have a good feeling about this. But just in case something does…make sure the boys are safe." She asked, and Argent allowed himself a small smile.

"Don't worry Melissa, you're not the only person I made that promise to," he told her kindly, and she squeezed his hand kindly, "and I'll honour it whatever happens."

"Ready sheriff? Not going to freak out on me are you?" Natasha asked pointedly, and John shot her an unamused look.

"Look, I've been shooting at things for quite a while now, I think I'll be fine." He assured her, and she gave him a dismissive shrug of her shoulders.

"Hey, I just meant with what's going on with your kid, nothing else." She said, and he nodded, the reminder of exactly what Stiles had done flaring into his mind all over again, which he brutally suppressed, he had a job to do.

"Stiles has to wait, if we can remove the Djinn from the board, that goes a long way to helping the pack, then we can hopefully get Stiles back. And with everything that's happened, I just want to, you know, do something, you know what I mean?" he asked, and that was certainly true.

Ever since the revelation about the supernatural, and worse, Stiles' possession by the Nogitsune, he had simply wanted to lash out, a feeling exacerbated by Stiles defection to join Agravaine. He didn't profess to know what the hell was going on inside his boy's head, hell he hadn't known even before all this started the supernatural had only made it worse, but he couldn't believe that Stiles was lost to him, he wouldn't believe it. But until he could figure out what to do with Stiles, he had someone to help, and he was hoping helping the kids bring down one of their bad guys would prove to be quite cathartic.

"You know sheriff, I reckon you'd have made a hell of a hunter in another life," Natasha teased, and he winked at her.

"Hey, who knows, if today goes well, I might find a new calling?" he joked, and she allowed herself a small laugh as they took their positions.

Outside the now inhabited cells, and after calling Braeden to make sure she was alright and also prepared, Camden took cover, and with a deep breath, Kaisha dropped her cloaking spell.

She felt the malicious, predatory power of Ifrit almost at once and she looked towards the elevator doors.

"He's coming."

XX

"I believe my friends, I have found my prey. Come, it's time to hunt." Ifrit purred, as the dark Djinn, his glowing tattoos shimmering in the darkening night, flanked by his six usurped Berserkers disappeared in a plume of purple flame, and arrived outside the police station.

"Whoever defies us, kill them. Leave the girl to me." He ordered, and the Berserkers grunted in acknowledgement as they bore down on the police station, and Ifrit allowed himself a satisfied smirk: the hunt ended tonight.

XX

"You know, if they find out we're out here, they're not going to be happy with us." Violet commented from the seat of her foster parent's car, and Garrett shrugged, his own sidearm now sitting in front of them as they watched the police station.

"Well if everything goes well, they won't need to find out about us being here, and everyone will be happy won't they?" he pointed out, lounging beside her, his eyes alert for anything out of the ordinary.

"You think the plan will work?" she asked, making sure she had her small dagger, her knuckle dusters and her gun all ready.

Argent hadn't liked the idea of arming the kids, however Camden had pointed out that if something went wrong with their plan and anything happened to their strike team, then the kids having an extra form of protection couldn't be a bad thing. Argent hadn't liked it, but he had reluctantly acquiesced to the problem, and had proceeded to arm both Garrett and Violet, whereas Liam had already left, to respond to some summons of Derek's while the two would be hunters had taken their leave. However, worried for their friends, and worried about what was about to go down with Ifrit while they weren't there, they had filled their time in other ways.

"Hopefully. And if not, we're here to lend a hand. Jackson told me about how they stopped Peter, you know, the first Alpha they fought, with Molotov cocktails, and thankfully for you and I, you're a bit of an expert at making them." He teased, and she rolled her eyes, grinning as she did so.

"What's wrong with that? I like chemistry! Admittedly being able to make Molotov's is a little different than making itching powder or slime, but it's still fun for me! I get, you know, in the zone." She responded, and Garrett snorted derisively, and turned to look at the six Molotov cocktails she had made just in case things did indeed go south lying on the back seat of her car.

"So I can see…wait, what's that?" he asked sharply, sitting up and grabbing his gun, and Violet followed his gaze as a purple plume of smoke materialised outside the police station, and their jaws dropped.

The man dressed in the dark robes, with glowing purple tattoos marking his skin, at the front of the little strike team was clearly the Djinn, Ifrit. Garrett however was infinitely more concerned with the six hulking brutes made from bones standing right behind him, and he felt the bottom drop out of his stomach.

The plan hadn't accounted for Ifrit having reinforcements, much less the damn Berserkers, what the hell were they doing here? And he knew they had three experienced hunters down there, complete with two experienced cops, but they wouldn't be able to stop the Berserkers, they'd be equally matched virtually in terms of numbers, and Kaisha, their strongest member, would have her hands full dealing with Ifrit himself, as would Camden most likely. Oh shit, this was bad, this was so not good…

"What the hell are they?" Violet demanded in horror as she saw the hulking masses of muscle and bone, and Garrett briefly remembered that she hadn't yet had the pleasure of encountering the Berserkers, unlike him, Liam and…and Mason.

Shaking his head to focus on the task at hand, he pursed his lips worriedly.

"They're Berserkers, they're kind of a wild card, we don't know where they came from or who they're working for, they're just here, but seem to be helping Agravaine, well, at least they were, wonder if they've defected since that seems to be the order of the day at the moment. Um, think the Incredible Hulk, all muscle, all angry, and covered in bones, and very hard to kill, but they've had a couple of replacements, the pack took down a couple, but if the others don't know they're there, they'll get slaughtered! Come on!" he told her, clambering out of the car, and Violet steeled herself and followed her friend as he leaned into the car, picking up the Molotov cocktails as they did so.

"Um, do we have a plan here Garrett?" she asked worriedly, and he shrugged, readying his weapons.

"Save the others, after that, I got nothing!" he replied, and he ran towards the station, armed with all the weapons he had in his possession, Violet hot on his heels as Ifrit and the Berserkers headed for the confrontation that the Djinn had sought since he came to town.

XX

Despite everything, despite the tensions now ripping apart the pack as they had an Alpha who felt like he was failing and that his pack blamed him for everything, and half the pack wanting to do one thing while the other half did another, the pack had assembled, even Liam though if looks could kill, between him and Isaac, Jackson would have been little more than a memory the filthy look they were giving him would kill lesser people.

"Scott, this is a mistake, we can't do this, you said it yourself, we could be walking into a trap!" Lydia pleaded, and she was looking at Aiden for assistance, for support in this, if he turned on this plan then perhaps they could get a clearly and obviously dispirited Scott to choose against this, but she happened to catch Isaac's eye, and he sent her a tired, hopeless look.

Isaac had calmed down their Alpha, but the damage had already been done. While Scott might privately disagree with the course of action that Jackson's little mutiny had forced him into, there was still the spectre of what Scott felt were his constant failures hanging over him, the constant deaths, and obviously Stiles' betrayal. While Isaac had galvanised him a little, Scott still was terrified of losing anyone else, and the fact that Jackson was dying and the fact that he felt so responsible for all of them, he had still agreed to go along with Jackson's plan, and had even let Derek take the lead. Scott's shoulders were slumped, and he just looked so done, so tired and exhausted that Lydia felt sick to her stomach.

She had contributed to doing this to someone who was meant to be her friend, someone who had risked everything to help her, to save her time and again, and because things weren't going great, she along with some of the others had turned on him. Not quite as much as others in her case, and not nearly as much as Stiles had turned on Scott, but she had been involved. And now Scott, terrified of losing anyone else, for fear of letting anyone else down, and basically being emotionally blackmailed by half his pack who would ignore him if he refused (she suspected he was having trouble tapping into his Alpha powers as well so he couldn't command them), so terrified he was of making everything else worse because of Jackson's little character assassination coup that he had agreed to do something he would never normally agree to.

"She's right Scott, this is a mistake, we don't know what we're walking into." Kira begged, and Scott looked at her sadly, shaking his head.

"I know Kira, but if we don't do this, you're all right, we're dead anyway. The way I've been doing it has only made matters worse, like everything else I've done, and I don't want anyone else to die because of me, and if we don't do this, Jackson will probably die, and it'll be all my fault, because I'm not good enough." He replied, and he just sounded so beaten down, so heartbroken that Kira reached out and took his hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

Meanwhile Liam looked pleadingly at Isaac, who looked nearly as dispirited as his boyfriend. Stiles' treachery was the root cause of all this, but the rebelliousness of the others, the constant fear that he wasn't good enough, the belief that he was making everything worse had all combined with the utterly unfathomable treason of his best friend, and then combined with the pack all basically turning on him, bitching about him, blaming him for all that had gone wrong, it had all combined into the perfect shitstorm that had utterly destroyed Scott, and it was all their fault.

Isaac had tried to reason with him, tell him that it was a bad idea, and he knew that on some level Scott agreed, but Scott was wracked with guilt, self-loathing and fear, all of which was most likely being exacerbated by the Nemeton's corruption, and said that he couldn't bear to be the reason another one of their friends was dead, even if it was Jackson. He argued, without spirit or conviction admittedly, that Jackson was right, and knew that the others agreed on some level, even if it was only marginal, but Scott knew that they all agreed. That knowledge, the belief that his friends would rather have the same sort of Alpha that they had spent so long fighting, trying to stop, than him, him who (as he believed) had gotten his first love killed, had lost his best friend, and lost an innocent kid, all because he wasn't good enough, had robbed him of any form of self-belief he'd had left, which had already been trashed, stripped from him, taken by becoming so dispirited by so much being thrust on him and enduring so much recently, it had destroyed him.

He felt that his friends felt that he was the reason so much had gone wrong, so much had happened in their lives, that they had lost so many people they loved. He felt that his friends would rather have an Alpha, like Peter or Deucalion, rather than him, as they could protect them better. He felt that his friends would all be better off without him, and that if he wasn't around, their lives would be better, that some of their friends would still be alive, or with them in the case of Stiles and Malia, and that he was an utter failure as an Alpha and that he basically deserved to feel as he did because he had let them all down.

How the hell did they fix this?

"Look, after tonight, it'll be over, we can stop Agravaine." Danny assured them, though felt the acidic glare that Isaac was giving him and realised that if this went wrong, if anyone got hurt in any way, Isaac would never let them forget it.

"We don't know that. Ok, what's the plan Scott?" Derek asked their Alpha, trying to reignite some form of Scott instead of this Scott-lite version they had presently, trying to bring him back to himself, and Scott looked anxiously at the steel mill before giving a sort of hopeless shrug, and Derek bit down a curse.

He should never have offered to lead this mission, or at least to take the rebels within the pack on their own mission away from Scott, he felt that he had been the one who had broken the last bit of resistance within Scott, the one that ordinarily argued that killing the enemy wasn't the only solution, the one that always tried to find another way. Scott would never ordinarily go along with this, and to have him even begrudgingly go along with Jackson's foolhardy plan was a mark of how far he had fallen. Derek felt awful, it was him who had finished Scott off.

By offering to take some of Scott's from him, to go off on their own mission, he had made Scott feel that he was essentially wresting control back from him. After all, Derek's pack had fallen apart, and with Isaac's defection, the implosion of his pack had been assured, but after the fact, Derek had discovered that he didn't particularly like being the Alpha. But, to Scott, beaten down, miserable, depressed, feeling like he was failing and making everything worse and putting them all in danger, to have someone who's own pack had failed with what was essentially a fifty percent mortality rate and present himself as a better leader than he was, and then to have certain pack members go along with it and essentially stage a mutiny against Scott to the extent that Scott didn't even want to fight it anymore, he knew he had, once again fucked up.

Admittedly, he felt a little resentment towards Scott for becoming an Alpha, for becoming a good Alpha to boot, but that was more to do with Derek and his feelings of inadequacy and his own shame at screwing that up so badly than it was to do with Scott. Yet now Scott probably believed that even Derek felt he could do a better job than he was doing as well, and Scott had lost even his drive.

And an Alpha that felt he had failed his pack would be easy prey, particularly for such a malevolent foe as Agravaine.

"I-I don't know, just…" Scott began, looking worriedly at the steel mill, his face wracked with fear and indecision, debating just what they should do, feeling the eyes of his entire pack on him as he internally debated with himself.

He knew that Jackson wanted to attack the mill, to finally bring an end to this fight with the dogs, if they actually could. He knew the others were frustrated with how he led the pack, but he also knew that the rest were now adamantly against doing this, after all, it was so out of character for him to launch an attack by this, but what did he do? Did he just sit back and let Jackson die (tempting though it may be)? Did they take the chance that Agravaine really didn't know that they were coming and hope they could launch a sudden blitz and see the dogs off? But by doing so, how much danger would he be putting his pack in? After all, he was still the Alpha, if only just, even if his pack didn't necessarily want him anymore, it was still his job to lead them. Even if they preferred Derek to lead them because Derek was a fighter, a killer, whereas Scott was an incompetent pacifist in a world that was entirely unsuitable for him to be so especially when they were under attack by a pack of rabid dogs.

But as he looked at the steel mill, feeling his stomach knot as he felt the eyes of his so-called pack, the pack that he had failed boring into him, he looked at the mill again, panic setting in.

If they went in, and Agravaine was waiting for them, or if Stiles had told him everything, then what would they be walking into? Would Agravaine kill them all, like he'd killed Mason? Would he kill Isaac, Liam, Lydia, all of them? How could Scott ask them to follow him somewhere he didn't think they should be going? How could he ask them to fight, maybe die yet again to stop a madman that at the end of the day they had no idea how to stop?

"Scott? What do you want to do?" Derek asked chidingly, trying to bring Scott back to himself as he could see the terrified indecision, the fear that he was messing up again, the fear that if he did nothing they'd all get killed, but the fear of what would happen if he did do something also crippling him, how had they let Scott fall into such a mass of despair, how had they made him like this and were still able to live with themselves?

"Honey, this isn't you." Isaac whispered softly, squeezing Scott's hand gently, while the rest of the pack looked on anxiously, though the increasingly churlish look on Jackson's face could only be indicative of trouble.

Scott looked around at his pack, feeling their eyes boring into him, the pressure, the trepidation. This was his pack, but he had failed them in so many ways, he was to blame for everything that had gone wrong. But if he didn't act properly now, would he be signing all of their death warrants? Or if he did nothing, would they still all die? How had he let it come to this, how had his pack been so ripped apart behind his back, what the hell had happened? It all came down to Agravaine, and all he had done, and how he'd…

Scott then stopped, something flashing into his head. No, Agravaine was a virtual newcomer to town, he shouldn't have been able to deal this much damage to his relationship with his pack, his friends, in such a short space of time. Unless Stiles had been with him from the start, which he knew he hadn't been, then there was no way of explaining how this had all gone down so quickly, how his pack, already driven to the edge by the aftermath of the Nogitsune and of course from Allison's death, had gone off the cliff into the self-destructive spiral they found themselves in. Even the constant state of stress they'd all been under ever since he'd shown up and unleashed hell upon them wouldn't explain it, unless…

Unless he wasn't the only one acting against them.

Was he clutching at straws? Was he so determined not to find fault within himself, not to admit that it was all because of him, that he was now creating villains out of thin air? He was to blame himself, he knew it, he was such a poor Alpha, but what if there was something else going on here, something he hadn't seen yet?

The others were all looking at Scott, however while they were looking either increasingly worried or mutinous, Derek and Isaac shared a look, it was like Scott was looking beyond them, seeing something they couldn't see, and to Isaac's surprise, and also slight excitement, Scott's face suddenly broke into a look of dawning comprehension.

"Scott?" Lydia asked worriedly, and Scott didn't even look at her as he retorted.

"Shh!" he hissed, his mind mulling it all over, and she sent him a nettled, affronted look in response.

Agravaine was good, there was no doubt about that, and the constant fear and stress he had put them under, combined with his corruption of the Nemeton and the endless night of the living dead all had to be contributing factors. And then of course there was just the bad timing of both the Pombero and the Djinn showing up. But even then, the pack had ripped itself apart, all of them doubting him, bickering, not trusting each other. Was he really being conceited believing there had to be something else behind all this? The more he thought about it, the more unlikely it seemed, after all, with all the enemies they had suddenly developed, how could they possible have another one? But the more that he thought about it, the more convinced he became that it was right.

When had all this started? The Pombero had shown up, but they had long ago ascertained that was just bad luck…no, it all started when Jackson arrived, poisoned by Agravaine, and everything snowballed from there, building on the foundations left by Stiles' possession and Allison's death, and then of course further exacerbated by Mason's murder…

"McCall! Still dying here, are we going in or not?" Jackson demanded angrily, and Scott tore himself back to reality, more convinced than ever that he was right, something, someone, else was behind all this, someone who had basically shoved the pack over the hump and sent them hurtling down into the mess that they were currently in, but who, why…

"What?" Scott asked, still distracted, trying to process the various flares of inspiration that were going on in his brain, and Jackson snarled in frustration.

"Are we going in, or not, dumbass?" he demanded, ignoring the warning growl from Isaac and the eye colour change of Kira, he was getting so frustrated with this, why was he the only person who cared about the fact that he was dying?

"No." Scott replied absently, still trying to process his thoughts, he could feel the answer was just out of reach, it was right under his nose…

"No? McCall, what are you thinking is going to happen, we'll hold hands with Agravaine, sing Kumbaya and he'll piss off? He won't, we need to stop him, now! Derek, let's go!" he demanded angrily, and Scott tore himself from whatever was going through his head as he glared at the rebellious beta.

"I said no Jackson, I get you're frustrated, but we're missing something here, we need to stop and…" he told him, and Aiden looked at Scott in frustration.

"Scott, we're already here, we might not get another chance! He's in there, we need to take him out before he realises we're here, and before he kills us all, which is what he will do if we don't stop him!" he ground out, but Scott refused, shaking his head, there was something...

"Aiden, I get it, but trust me…" he began, and Danny stood forward, glaring at Scott.

"No! We have trusted you, and all it's done is waste time, and get people we care about killed! So, it's do or die time Scott, either we go in and take down Agravaine once and for all, or you stand aside, and let someone do it who will! I'm not going to stand by and watch my best friend die, or watch my boyfriend fall apart because you got his brother killed by hesitating, you want to be the Alpha? Be the Alpha!" he spat angrily, and the entire pack went silent in shock (aside from Isaac who was now standing right behind Scott, knives in hand, and giving a warning, guttural growl as his eyes glowed gold).

For Danny to have reached this point, things were truly awful, Danny was always the kind, sweet one that everyone liked, but now, driven by fear of losing his best friend, his other friends, all over again, he was showing a side to himself that none of them had ever seen before. Scott recoiled a little, looking at Danny in shock, who looked angry but also looked sickened with himself, and also highly guilty (not to mention afraid, but that was likely due to the fact that Isaac's knives were glinting and he hadn't stopped growling), and Scott swallowed, as though he was trying to stop tears from welling in his throat.

The whole pack was silent, all of them watching this exchange, the tension so thick that the air was essentially solid, and it was clear that whatever epiphany that Scott had had, whatever it had awoken inside him, the effect of that was gone, and he was back to looking completely destroyed again, and even Jackson was standing slack-jawed, looking at his best friend in shock.

"I…I'm only trying to…" he protested softly, and Jackson glowered at him, before standing beside Danny, though stayed out of the reach of Isaac's knives.

"Yeah, we get it, but you trying doesn't change the fact that it isn't helping McCall, you have tried, you've failed, people are dead, and it's your fault. Derek's willing to lead, so let's go." He demanded, twisting the knife, and Ethan then stood beside them as well, and though he looked terrified and horror struck by being forced to choose between his brother and the Alpha who saved his life, Aiden joined them too.

Derek closed his eyes, he knew where Scott was coming from, he'd learned the hard way that he should back off and always look for a less violent solution, but Jackson and Danny were right, it was endless hesitation, and now he seemed to be having some sort of epiphany and wanted to pass up what could be an opportunity, for what? Hating himself, and knowing that if this went wrong he would never live it down, hell if it went right it would be even worse, he reluctantly stood beside the others.

They were exactly split, and Scott looked at them, feeling it all over again. They were right, all he'd done was get people killed, endanger people they cared about, so what if someone else was trying to destroy them? Agravaine, the main problem, was in there, and they were out here and had a golden opportunity to finish him. Agravaine couldn't be defeated, or reasoned with, he just had to be killed. If they did it his way, they would never be safe, they'd always be looking over their shoulder. If they did it Derek's way, Agravaine would be dead, the pack would be safe, and have the Alpha they really wanted, and not the one who had failed so utterly, who'd done nothing but endanger his friends.

God he was so tired, he hated being the Alpha so fucking much, he'd never asked for this, he knew it was all his fault, that he was to blame for everything going wrong, he knew as long as he was the Alpha they were all doomed, so why not try and stop the main problem? Why not let them do this, and let Derek lead, be the Alpha again? He couldn't do any worse than Scott had after all, he'd thought Derek was a failure, but he had nothing on Scott.

They were right, he was the reason people were dead, that they were dying, that Stiles had betrayed them, that they were all in danger constantly, all because he wasn't the Alpha that they wanted, that they needed, that they deserved. He wasn't the Alpha. And he never should have been.

"O-ok, let's go." Scott whispered, and Lydia took his hand, looking at him urgently.

"Scott no, I have a horrible feeling, if we do this, if we go after him, I don't think it ends well, we can't do this!" she insisted, and Kira nodded insistently.

"Yeah, this is a bad idea, we need to fall back, we don't know if Agravaine is waiting for us or not, we need to get out of here!" she pleaded, but what did he do, Agravaine was inside, he was the murderer who had ruined their lives, he'd virtually been given a free pass by Scott, and if they didn't act, Jackson would be dead, and it would be yet more blood on Scott's hands.

"What do they know? They're not the Alpha, you are! If he says this is a bad idea, it's a bad idea, so back off!" Liam snapped at the others, glowering at them and ignoring Jackson's mutinous growl.

"Scott, no, don't do this, don't let them push you into this, it's like the mall," Isaac begged, throwing an acidic look at Derek who shrugged, though didn't meet his former Beta's eyes, "this will only make things worse!"

"No, it won't, we go in and stop Agravaine, and everything gets magically better, because unlike McCall, we'll actually be dealing with the problem. Now let's go!" Jackson stormed, and Isaac shook his head one last time, looking Scott in his eyes, which weren't even wet with tears, no, now they were just lifeless, soulless, the warm, kind chocolate brown having gone inert.

"They're right, it's the only way to fix things, it's the only way to stop people dying, to stop us dying, our friends dying, and all my way does is make things worse. They're right, it is my fault. So, let's go." Scott ordered lifelessly, his claws growing, the spark that made him, well him, having gone out.

"Scott, no!" Isaac begged as Scott transformed, and his eyes changed.

And to Isaac's horror, they went red, then flickered like a bad lightbulb, and became gold, the colour of a Beta.

"Scott, your eyes…" he gasped in shock, and the others all looked at his golden eyes, and Derek felt the bottom fall out of his stomach as he saw Scott's eyes revert to their former gold colour.

Oh no, they couldn't attack, if Scott wasn't the Alpha, if he was just an ordinary beta, they'd endangered him more than they ever could have anticipated, they had done this by turning on him, and left him far too weak to properly defend himself, particularly against Agravaine, they had to get out of here, this was his fault, he'd helped do this, they all had…

"What's happening?" Danny asked, horrified that their Alpha no longer had the red eyes of an Alpha, but instead seemed to be a beta, like Isaac, but Derek's eyes were still blue, that meant they had no Alpha, which meant they were too weak to go in, oh fuck he had done this, he had pushed Scott over the edge, he had broken him…

"A word to the wise," a smug, arrogant, Imperialistically English voice called, and the entire pack span to see the smugly grinning Ghost Pack, all of them assuming their more canine forms, emerging from the steel mill, a terrified looking Stiles shadowing them as they did so, "if one is going to storm one's enemies home base, one perhaps should learn to keep quiet." Agravaine taunted, his eyes glowing their poisonous yellow as he and his dogs stalked towards Scott's pack.

Stiles was looking at them all in horror, what were they doing here, how had they found Agravaine's lair? Unless his call had been traced…oh fuck if Agravaine found that out, he was so dead. But then, as he saw the look of complete and utter betrayal on Scott's face, the look of hopelessness and despair that he'd only seen once before, that night at the motel, when Scott had tried to kill himself, Stiles felt his world shatter around him. He'd destroyed, Scott, he'd helped do this to him, it was because of him that his best friend, his brother, had been brought back to that same, horrible dark place that the Darach had led him to. What the hell had he done?

And then, he saw something that made it all the more real, his heart hardening to ice as he saw it: Scott, his Alpha, his brother, his once red Alpha eyes had turned back to gold, and now, in a horrific change of scheduled programming, Isaac was now the one shoving Scott behind him protectively, Isaac must have realised there was something wrong with Scott too, what had happened in his absence, why had Scott lost his Alpha powers? And why did he have a horrible, poisonous, sinking feeling that it was their pack, especially the ashamed looking boys of the pack who had done this to him?

He was jarred from his terrified thoughts as a screech echoed overhead, and Agravaine looked up in delight as the Owlman swept towards them, his claws going right for Agravaine's throat.

"Evening Hollis! Kill them, kill them all!" the Gwyllgi ordered with relish as he sprang into action, and all descended into bloody chaos.

Poor Scott, sadly, things get worse for him next chapter. One last bit of this episode, until then, please read and review!