Somewhere in the woods of Beacon Hills, Brett Talbot is running for his life with an arrow, the tip protruding out of his back, sticking out of his chest. He looks behind him to see if anyone is close behind him. There isn't and he takes a break in hiding behind a tree. The wound from the arrow is starting to irate him, but first he is hoping that he can call backup without giving off his location. He pulls out his phone and sees that he still has no signal, but time is a factor.
He wraps a hand around the weapon's shaft, taking a deep breath before he tries to pull it out. It doesn't take much for the pain to be unbearable for him and he has to stop. He tries another method he was taught and looks at the tree. He faces the tree, breaking the fletching piece. With the leftover shaft remaining, Brett forces himself up against the tree with a much strength as possible, forcing the arrow to run all the way through his body.
His breathing finally returns somewhat normal now that the weapon is removed. He picks up from the ground and sees that it has a silver arrow tip. Which explains why his body feels like it is on fire. But he knows he can't go home and risk leading the hunter to his home. He's going to have to take care of them first. He takes out his phone and gets an idea.
Within five minutes, Brett is able to hide in the trees at his phone goes off due to the timer that he has set, and he waits for his pursuer to show their face.
It doesn't take long as the woman who shot him goes to his line of vision and he immediately throws the arrow back at her, but to his surprise she is pulled back by someone else as it hits the tree instead.
Brett reveals himself from the shadows and a for second is stun at the person who has aided her.
He's remembers hearing the stories about the fires of the Hale House and Beacon Academy. The man who had supposedly been behind them both.
Gerard Argent.
Back in the animal clinic, Scott, Derek have already gone with Liam and Lori to find Brett. This left Stiles, Lydia, and Erica in the examination room.
"I don't see why you both had to stay behind," Stiles claims, looking to Erica and Boyd. "Wouldn't more werewolves have a better chance in finding a lost one?"
Boyd gives Stiles a no-nonsense stare, "Nice try, Stilinski."
"It's almost like you guys don't trust me to stay put," Stiles says with feigned hurt.
"No, some of us just know better," Erica comments easily. She looks to Lydia expectedly, "Please tell me you have a way that could possible help them find Brett faster."
Lydia gives her an unsure expression, "There's one thing that we could try."
Out in the woods, the older werewolves and younger werewolves arrive at the tree that Brett had previously been hiding by. Liam finds the arrow that Brett threw at the woman hunter still in the tree.
"He's fighting back," Derek comments as he examines how deep the arrow is in the tree.
Lori walks over to the tree, "And now we know he's alive." She tears the arrow out of the tree, "But he's still hurt." She examines the blood on the shaft, "We need to find him," She says urgently. "He needs to know we're here."
She sets off to howl, but Scott stops her with a simple question, "You want the hunter to know we're here, too?"
"He's new," Liam reminds them. "We can take him."
"What if Brett howls back?" Derek questions the two younger wolves, "He'll lead the hunter right to him."
"No, we could find him first," Scott says with assurance. "There's no human that can track sounds faster than we can. And we've got the advantage," Scott continues, earning himself a questioning brow from Derek. "We've done this before," Scott answers without being asked, "We know what we're doing, Derek." Scott takes a sniff in the air, "How come I can't catch his scent?"
Lori doesn't smell the air, but already knows the answer, "He's masking it."
"Does he know not to do that?" Derek asks aloud, but Lori doesn't give him an answer.
While the others had been having their own conversation, Liam has been searching for clues in searching for Brett. He discovers some tracks, "He went this way," He declares, before taking off with Lori following him.
"I didn't want to say this with the two them," Derek says to Scott. "But whatever Brett tried to do didn't work. I'm starting to think that maybe this hunter is not such an amateur."
Scott nods his head in agreement, "Or maybe he's learning by using an inexperienced werewolf." Brett lays down a false trail of blood and tracks to throw the hunters off his trail. He seems to be bleeding black now due to the poison in Gerard's arrow. He ties up the wound, so he won't leave any more blood behind. He sees a squarish rock and gets an idea.
Back at the animal clinic, Boyd, Erica watch Stiles and Lydia set up for their plan. Lydia sits on a stool with a pencil in hand and a piece of paper in front of her. She gives Stiles a head nod and Stiles lights up a Bunsen burner that sits in front of her. Lydia starts focusing on the blue flame.
"Now she just magically writes down all the answers?" Erica questions Stiles.
"It's not quite that simple," Stiles answers.
"Shocker," The she-wolf mutters.
"The silence, the darkness, and the light will allow her to find a more comfortable, relaxed, trance-like state." Stiles explains, "The same state that usually comes when her abilities take hold of her."
"She ever tried this before?" Erica questions as they watch Lydia focus on the flame, "Initiating a premonition? "
"A few times," Stiles answers with a minor shoulder roll. "They usually find her."
"QUIET," Lydia suddenly snaps, shocking everyone. She clears her throat, "Please."
Erica and Stiles mutter their apologizes, but Erica, for some reason, still asks a question not directed at Stiles, but to Boyd, who has been silent, "Think this will it help us find him?"
"I don't know," Boyd answers. "But if Brett's dead, I think she'd already know."
"Do you think it's working?"
"It might if you stop talking," Stiles snaps at them in whisper. She takes a deep breath realizing the tone she has used, "I'm sorry, but please shut the hell up."
Erica starts looking around the room as sees Newton's cradle sitting on one of Deaton's counters. Unable to help herself, she reaches out for the Newton's cradle sitting on the lab station and plucks at one of the steel balls.
Boyd, who recognizes her anxious body language, realizes what Erica's doing just a second too late and a loud "click" fills the air before he can stop the kinetic energy toy from moving.
Stiles eyes turn into a glare and she is ready to kick them out of the room all together when she sees the flame go out and Lydia starts writing hard and fast.
Scott, Derek, Liam and Lori have some to the spot where Brett left the false blood trail, "The trail is gone," Derek realizes looking around them.
"Maybe he just stopped bleeding," Liam offers when he sees Lori's worried expression. "I think we should split up." Liam suggests as Lori starts examining the surrounding area. "Lori and I go this way; you guys go that way."
"Or maybe we go in four directions?" Lori offers, still trying to find a clue.
Scott offers with no actual meaning to it, "We should stick together."
"We have the advantage," Liam argues back. "It's four against one."
"Not if we split up," Derek says, backing up Scott.
Liam isn't pleased with Derek's involvement in his and Scott's conversation, "No offense, Derek, but I've been doing this type of thing without your help. The entire Community has." Liam tells him. "So, I think I can make a decision."
Derek realizes that Liam is not wrong, but he also knows that Liam fails to forget that he is a more experienced werewolf than, but Derek doesn't remind him of this, instead he says, "Well, if you're deciding to do something stupid and die, then go ahead."
He didn't mean it.
"It's one hunter," Liam presses. "One amateur who doesn't know what they're doing."
"The hunter," Scott says suddenly, interrupting the feud between Derek and Liam. He is kneeling to the ground where tracks seemed to have been hidden. "He's covering his tracks." He examines the tracks more, "There's another."
"Two of them?"
"Maybe more," Scott breathes out. He looks to Derek for guidance, "How many hunters have you seen out here before?"
"A lot," Derek answers honestly. He gives Liam a knowing glance, "Still wanna split up?"
"We can deal with it," Liam says, not backing down from. "We just need to find Brett's trail."
"No, we don't," Lori says. They see that she is standing by a pile of rocks, "Rock balancing. Before we moved here, an Alpha named Satomi taught us." She walks to them with confidence, "It's him, and I know where he's going."
"I thought this was supposed to help us find Brett," Erica questions as she stares at what Lydia has drawn. "What does a face looking distress have to do with anything in finding him?"
"Considering the situation, I feel like that it's perfectly fitting," Stiles says. "But it doesn't exactly look like him."
Lydia is unimpressed by both Stiles and Erica's commentary on her drawing, "I never claimed to be an artist."
"What does it mean?" Boyd questions to her.
She looks to him dumbfounded, "I have no idea." She examines the picture she has drawn herself. Erica is right about it looking like face that is distressed and Stiles is right about it not looking like Brett at all. It doesn't show any resemblance of anyone that they knew. Hell it... "Doesn't even look like a person," She says aloud.
"I could've told you that," Erica says. "Looks more like a goblin or something."
"Maybe goblins do exist after all," Stiles offers half-heartedly.
"They don't," Boyd answers in a knowing tone. "Not every mythological creature that humans learn about exists."
Stiles gives Boyd a glance before focusing back on the picture, "Well, if Lydia didn't draw this picture to help us find Brett, then it's obviously a warning about something else."
"It's been peaceful here, up till now, for nearly a decade," Erica points out. "Why would you automatically assume that it's a warning?"
"For you guys living within the City of Beacon Hills, yes," Stiles answers. "Not exactly for those who've been living in the Preserve."
"Trust the Banshee when she says, it's always something else," Lydia warns to the two werewolves.
Lori has lead Derek, Scott, and Liam into tunnels that run under Beacon Hills. She spots a few droplets of blood that appear to be black, "He's been poisoned." She tells them, "That's why he's not healing." The calming manner Lori has been presenting all evening breaks down into a panic, "What if he only has a few hours to live?"
"Well, if we howl, we can find him," Liam says looking pointedly at Derek.
"That's too risky," Derek says easily.
"Who cares about the risk?" Lori questions him, "He could be dying."
"He's still moving." Derek places a calming hand on her shoulder, "We just need time to think."
Derek had hoped that the comforting gesture would subside Lori's panic, but it doesn't as she pushes him away, "I need him to know that I'm here," She says. "That I'm coming for him."
"Lori's right." Liam says with certainty, "He has to know we're here."
He lets out a loud roar that echoes through the tunnels.
Brett is lying across a pipe high above the tunnel floor. He hears the howl and struggles to lift his head. He hears footsteps and hopes for a moment that his rescue is nearby, but his hopes are dashed when he sees that it just Gerard and the woman who shot him.
"How did he get behind us?" The woman questions.
"He didn't," Gerard answers in a knowing tone. "That wasn't Brett," Gerard tells the woman, "That was a werewolf making a mistake."
The woman questions the old hunter clearly worried, "His friends are coming for him?
Gerard seems rather unbothered by the fact, "It's safe to assume they're coming for us."
Gerard starts leading them out the tunnel, "Why are we going back?" The woman asks when she sees that Gerard is heading in the same direction that the howl came from, "What if there's a pack?"
"Oh, there is," Gerard answers with certainty, "We can count on it."
The woman grabs him by the arm "Wait, how many are we talking about?"
Gerard gives her a disapproving expression, "That's not the right question," He chastises her. "You're thinking from a place of fear," Gerard tells the woman.
"I'm thinking logically and mathematically," The woman argues back. "Two of us against too many of them."
"Try thinking strategically." Gerard suggests to her.
The woman seems to take Gerard's words into consideration, "So, what's our strategy?"
"Right now?" Gerard questions back, "Divide and conquer."
A drop of black goo drips from the bandaged wound. He manages to catch it before it falls too far and alerts the hunters below.
The Preserve members and Derek continue searching the tunnels, "Why didn't he answer?" Lori questions in panic.
"Maybe, he didn't hear us," Liam offer to her.
"Maybe, he can't," Derek says.
Lori, not watching where she's going, trips a wired trap. Scott sees it at the last second, "Lori, no!" and pushes her out of the way. He catches a spiked spear in the gut.
Lori and Liam work quickly together to remove the spike while Derek applies pressure to Scott's wound, "They knew we were coming," Scott says with shortness of breath.
"Don't talk, just heal, and let us figure this out," Derek orders him.
"They've been a step ahead of us the whole time," Scott tells him.
"I'm sorry, but I can't wait around," Lori claims as she starts pacing, "We have to go. We still have the numbers, three-to-two. We're faster, and we're stronger."
"They're smarter," Derek argues with her indicating at Scott.
"I don't care who's smarter or faster or whatever," Lori argues back. "My brother's going to die."
"Something's not right," Scott mutter shaking his head. "That arrow, the trip wire, the poison."
"These aren't amateurs," Derek realizes.
"But they've never fought us before," Liam argues.
"And you've never fought hunters, Liam," Derek nearly snaps at him. "We need to stick together."
"I need to go," Lori nearly snapping herself. She takes a deep breath, "He's my brother."
"I understand that," Derek tells her in calming tone. "But you're not going alone."
"I'll go with her," Liam offers.
Scott shakes his head at the offer, "Liam, you don't know who they are or what they're capable of."
"I know that you guys don't talk about what happened 10 years ago a lot," Liam tells the older werewolves. "And I get it, but I know who we are. We never give up, especially when it's someone innocent, when it's someone alone, when it's one of our friends."
Scott shudders as he takes a breath, "Okay, go, go. All of you, I'll catch up." Lori and Liam don't hesitate to take off while Derek continues remains at Scott's side, "I just need a minute."
Derek gives him a strained expression, "You just need to shut the hell up."
At the animal clinic, Stiles clenches to her stomach gasping in pain, alarming Erica and Boyd, "I'm alright," She tells them with a hand stopping them from coming closer.
To Erica and Boyd, she doesn't sound alright. She sounds like she is struggling to breathe.
"The two of you clear of the table," Lydia suddenly directs them, and they move without question. "Stiles you need to lay down," Lydia says as she guides Stiles to the table and helps her lay down.
Stiles continues breathing hard and heavy as sweat begins to form.
"We need to get her to the hospital," Boyd says.
"No hospital," Lydia says as she starts wetting paper towels. "Erica, place the towels on her head." Erica moves to the sink where Lydia is soaking towels by the bunch, "Boyd, I'm going to need you to make sure that she actually stays down."
Boyd nods his head, "What the hell is happening to her?"
"Scott," Stiles gasps out, trying to sit up. "Scott's in trouble."
"Scott is going to be fine," Lydia tells her, as Boyd continues holding Stiles down on the table. "You won't be, if you try to move and find him."
"But-"
"Stiles," Lydia says sharply. "Usnąć."
At the command, Erica watches in amazement as Stiles's eyes close and she stops moving, "There are things that we can't share with you for your own protection." She looks to Erica face completely serious, "That's why I'm going to have to request that you and Boyd keep what happened here tonight to yourselves."
Boyd shakes her head, "I don't think-"
"I know that what I'm asking is a lot," Lydia interrupts with understanding. "But for the safety of you both, I need you to do it, both of you." She focuses back on Stiles, replacing the towel on her forehead as Stiles makes a hard grunt that causes her body to jerk slightly, "What the hell is he doing?"
Lori and Liam have come across the same room where Brett had been hiding from Gerard and the woman but it seems that they have lost the trail, "Which way?"
However, Lori seems to be just as lost as he is, "I don't see anything." She answers now becoming frantic, I don't hear anything."
"We'll find something." Liam tells her with absolute confidence, "He's gonna be okay."
Lori knows that he is trying to make her feel better, but it does seem to work, "How do you know?"
"'Cause, he's strong," Liam answers easily. "He's really strong. During my training with Scott and Stiles, he'd knocked me down on the lacrosse field more than once." Lori smiles at the memory having being part of the training sessions that Liam endured, "Now, when I see him coming, I do everything I can to get the hell out of the way."
"Scott and Stiles were possibly the most questionable teachers we could ever have had," Lori laughs with a sniff, which causes her to pick up something in the air, "Do you smell that?"
Liam takes a breath too, "It's... It's sour." He looks around the room, "It smells like something's rotting."
"I think it's the poison." Lori realizes, "That's how we'll find him."
Derek manages to have Scott sit-up against the wall of the tunnel and notices how big the trap is, "How did we miss that?"
"We underestimated them," Scott answers in a panted breath.
"But, how did they rig a trap that big tonight with us running down here in the tunnels blindly?"
"They didn't, it was rigged a long time ago," Scott revels to him. "And for you it may seem like we have been running down here blindly, but we haven't. We've been through these tunnels a hundred times."
"And whoever this hunter is, he's been through them a hundred more," Derek informs him. "And he knew we'd be here, he was waiting for us, tracking us. He was prepared and we weren't."
"Derek, there's something I've got to tell you," Scott tells him, looking him in the eye. "I'm sure Stiles told you about our first encounter with the Beast." Derek nods his head, "I'm sure she didn't tell you the whole story."
Of course, she didn't.
"We didn't know much about the Beast or on how to catch it and there was only one person who knew more than we did," Scott tells him. "Someone that we never wouldn't have asked for help, if there had been another choice."
"Who was that hunter?"
"Gerard." Scott tells him, "He was only able to get through Beacon Hills when Stiles's dad had first gotten sick." He takes a breath, "And now with him…"
Scott leaves the rest unsaid. They all knew, it was just a matter of time.
Derek clenches his jaw that name and the fact, "Gerard's known for only using lethal means. The only thing this did was slow us down.
"And split us up," Scott inputs with realization dawning on him. "He's planning something else, another trap with Liam and Lori are walking right into it."
Realizing this, Scott struggles to get to his feet. Derek supports him with one of Scott's arms over his neck and they take off down the tunnel after the younger werewolves.
Brett is slumped over a crate. He has black goo leaking from both eyes, his nose, and mouth.
"Brett!" A voice calls to him, getting his attention. He looks to see Lori, falling to her knees as she gives him an expression of relief.
"You found the rocks," Brett responds with some hope in his voice.
Lori brushes some of his hair away. She gives him a chuckle, "Yeah, I found the rocks."
Brett looks from his sister to Liam, "You're a dumbass for doing this."
Liam is amused by the statement, "Oh, is that your way of thanking me?"
"No," He answers as Liam and Lori offer him some support, "That's my way of calling you a dumbass." But a smile plays on his face, "But, thanks."
An explosion, followed by a series of bright lights flash and the tunnel begins to fill with smoke, "They're coming."
They hear a warbling sound coming from the opposite direction and take off in its direction.
Scott collapses to the floor of the tunnel as Derek once again tries to make an attempt to take away his pain, "Let me try again."
"It's not going to work," Scott tells him. "I don't think that we should waste any more time."
"Why isn't it working?" Derek questions not listening to a word Scott has said, "How come I can't take your pain?"
"Because it's already being taken by someone else," Scott tells him. "It just takes a while." Derek is confused about the statement because there is obviously no one in the tunnels with them, "It's the Nemeton." He answers, "When it brought Stiles back, it didn't just change her. It changed the people who held a strong connection to her, a kind of emotional tether. Because of that, we get to experience a taste of what power the Nemeton holds."
"It takes away your pain."
Scott nods his head, "More or less."
"She didn't tell me that," Derek comments.
"Honestly, there's a lot of things that we haven't told you," Scott confesses. "It's either because we fully don't understand ourselves or it's for your protection."
"But what about my child's?"
"Stiles wouldn't have done this surrogacy, if she or the Nemeton were going to harm your baby in any way possible," Scott informs him. "Your child is under the care and protection of the safest person in Beacon Hills."
The Talbot siblings and Liam are closing in on an outlet to the surface, but as they get closer Liam hears a warbling sound, coming from a separate part of the tunnel. He searches for the sound and finds a sonic device and realizes they're being herded and hurries back the way he came, "Lori, wait!"
Bu the Talbot siblings are too far ahead and already up the ladder to the outside.
They exit a manhole on Muse Street. Just as a large truck, that doesn't slow down slams into both Brett and Lori.
Still in the tunnel, Liam wolfs out and leaps up to the street, finding Lori on the ground beside Brett, holding his hand, "I couldn't take away his pain." She cries softly, before she dies.
Liam roars, bearing his fangs, claws, and glowing eyes to a growing crowd of onlookers who point in his direction.
In both the tunnel and animal clinic, both Scott and Lydia recognize the roar, "Liam."
The driver of the truck gets out, spots Gerard and the woman in the distance and nods in their direction, "You set this up," She realizes.
Gerard is seemingly proud of him, "Of course I did."
"Is this part of the lesson?" She questions as she looks at the crowd of onlookers.
"Everything's a lesson, every moment with me," He advises her. "And if there's one thing you learn today, it's this, the best way to build an army is through fear."
Stiles moves in a robotic manner the following morning as the events from last night replayed in her head. There is so much that she has do. She still needed to contact Lily to let her know about what happened to Brett and Lori, needed to contact their former Alpha too just out of pure respect, needed to find a way to protect the residents of the Preserve and…
"Stiles," Derek's voice snaps Stiles' out of her thoughts. She looks up to find Derek, Scott, and Lydia giving her worried expressions, "Are you feeling okay?"
Stiles side steps the question, looking to Scott, "How's Liam holding up?"
Scott shakes his head, "Not too great, he didn't want to get out bed this morning."
"Can't say I blame him," Lydia replies. "From what I've gathered, anyone on the road had a clear view of him." She crosses her arms, "No doubt in my mind, old rumors have started up again."
"Then we're just going to have to do what we did back then," Stiles decides. "We're just going to have to pretend that we're normal just like everybody else."
Okay peeps, I know I don't have a consistent update schedule for this fic, but it's going to go on hiatus for awhile due to personal reasons. Should be back in late May or early June. Stay safe and stay home!