Argent Arms International Warehouse 97

(Outside)

A few hours later found Scott McCall on the ground, heavily sweating and panting, his body protesting against continuing Gerard's training after the last plank he was instructed to do.

Scott discovered why Gerard's smile made him uneasy the hard way. It promised pain, and pain was exactly what he got.

After Scott introduced himself, Gerard instructed Scott to sit on a chair then proceeded to tie him to it with a rope, hands bound behind the chair, and explained that Scott had to set himself free.

And regardless of how long it would take, Gerard told Scott that he wasn't going to help him in any way, and went back to arranging and counting the guns, ignoring Scott entirely.

Scott did end up freeing himself after two hours and forty-five minutes after discovering a crossbow arrow attached to the back of the chair, and was rewarded with his first meal since last night and a short break.

Afterwards, Gerard had them play chess, taking the time to talk about the importance of psychological warfare, strategy, sacrifices, and such. Scott lost each game quickly.

At the end of the third game, Gerard announced that they were going to play chess three times a day during their training days.

The first game before they start training, second game during break and third game before parting ways, and each time Gerard wanted to see an improvement in how Scott played.

What followed chess was physical workout that brought Scott to his knees and genuinely consider quitting the training. Gerard had him run around the warehouse on the outside while holding an empty gun case over his head with a constant speed for five laps

However, Scott had to complete each full lap around the warehouse under the time he set on the first lap, failure resulted in an added lap. Of course, Gerard waited until Scott completed the first lap to tell him that condition, resulting in a total of eight laps.

Gerard then made Scott run five more laps, but this time holding the gun case on his shoulders. By the time Scott finished, he was sweating bullets and his body was begging him to quit, but Gerard wasn't done with him yet.

Push ups, sit ups, planks and stretches followed, and though the last one didn't seem much of a chore, it was, after everything, and Scott just wanted to go home and sleep for a week. But as tired as Scott was, he felt alive. And motivated.

For someone who had severe asthma to be able to do what he was able to do was a wish granted. A wish that Scott never thought he would be granted. So, for every breath he took, every centimeter he ran and every drop of sweat he produced, Scott cherished the ability to do so without his inhaler.

That was why he didn't complain about how far Gerard was pushing him and why he didn't tell him about having severe asthma. Well, one of the reasons he didn't.

Scott was familiar with starting from the bottom, proving himself, and his dedication, and working his way up, he didn't have a problem with that. He knew Gerard was testing him, seeing if he would complain or quit, he wasn't going to complain or quit.

Alan (Doctor Deaton) put Scott through weeks upon weeks of testing his dedication to work at his animal clinic, and was still doing so by giving Scott specimen to study and provide a detailed report every week.

At the end of the day, Scott benefited from the weekly tasks because he learned something every week and Alan took the time to look at his specimen study reports and then provide feedback and discuss them.

So, as much as his body complained, Scott wasn't going to complain or quit Gerard's training. A lot depended on it. Scott's parents and friends' lives depended on the training, and he wasn't about to give up because giving up meant either killing them or running away to avoid killing them.

There was the added bonus that the training was conditioning his body for lacrosse, meaning Scott's summer plans were still on and they were another incentive to continue training because he couldn't return to school as whatever he was.

At that last thought, Scott got up from the ground and started stretching which was the last exercise Gerard instructed him to do while he was inside the warehouse doing his day job.

TH

(Inside)

Gerard couldn't help but admire Scott's determination and focus. He expected him to have complained at least once by now, either about the physical exercises or the lack of information about what he was, but the boy did neither.

Instead of complaining, Scott seemed determined to complete the tasks Gerard gave him, and didn't even need Gerard's presence to do what he was supposed to do.

That was another thing Gerard expected, for Scott to not continue exercising in his absence, hence Gerard excused himself and left Scott to train on his own to watch him via a hidden video camera connected to a monitor inside the warehouse, but his expectations were not met.

Gerard wanted to see how long Scott would keep this up, and so he cleared his schedule for the whole week, bar the arms deal he had to see to at the end of the week.

Scott showed more potential than initially anticipated and Gerard was starting to think about cultivating it beyond his initial plans, even though the boy was a supernatural creature.

From the way Scott ran into the road a moment after the wolf howl, Gerard had suspected the alpha werewolf either bit Scott without his permission, or Scott was having second thoughts about being a werewolf, after he saw the bite wound, and so Gerard saw an opportunity to recruit Scott before the alpha could.

Gerard brought Scott to the warehouse to see if he would turn so that he could recruit and use him against the alpha and it's pack. It seemed he made a good decision and now that Scott was showing his potential, Gerard was beginning to think about taking his plans a step further.

Now that Scott was about to finish his last exercise for the day, Gerard thought that he earned his rewards in the form of answers. It was time that he told Scott McCall what he was.

TH

(Outside)

"I think you've earned the right to know what you are, Scott." Said Gerard, arriving outside just as Scott finished his concluding workout, gaining his attention. "There's this saying among shapeshifters, that sometimes the shape you take reflects the person you are.

This is to explain why sometimes a human bitten by an alpha werewolf doesn't turn into a werewolf, but another kind of supernatural creature. It explains why you didn't turn into a werewolf."

Considering Scott could petrify people with just a look, Gerard's introduction made him feel uneasy about who he was as a person to take the shape of a being that did what he could, and have already done.

But Scott continued listening because after all he put his body through, he did earn the right to know what he was. Even if he didn't like hearing what Gerard was implying.

"You see, Scott, you are an ancient shapeshifter many believe is far more sinister than other shapeshifters, because your kind uses and feeds off chaos, death, paranoia and most of all, fear." Gerard revealed to an uneasy Scott. "You're an anuk-ite, the double-face shapeshifter."

"Double face shapeshifter?" Asked Scott, touching his face to make sure it wasn't double, whatever that meant. "Does that mean...?"

"Double-face, used as a compound word." Gerard corrected, interrupting Scott. "And no, it doesn't mean your real form has two faces. It means that you are the perfect person for espionage."

"Spying?"

"Yes. Spying. While werewolves can shapeshift into wolflike humanoids, you can take any form and be anyone you want. Your pathokinesis and shapeshifting abilities make you perfect for espionage, and espionage is how you are going to become human again." Responded Gerard.

Though he sounded like he knew what he was talking about, Gerard didn't know much about the anuk-ite shapeshifters. There wasn't much written about them even though they were an ancient species, but Gerard was going to make use of what he knew.

An anuk-ite was a creature of disharmony and disharmony was exactly what he wanted, but all was in due time, even if time was something Gerard didn't have much of.

What Gerard just revealed was a little too much for Scott, especially after his workout, so Gerard sent him on his way with an order for Scott to arrive early and prepared tomorrow morning.

Gerard also advised Scott to keep his emotions in check and in turn his pathokinesis, and also offered him to come to the warehouse if he needed some time alone.

TH

Beacon Hills Preserve

Instead of going home right away, Scott returned to the Preserve to search for his lost inhaler. He didn't like the idea of returning there but he had to find the inhaler because he didn't know whether his asthma would return or not, and a new inhaler was out of the budget.

So, body aching and the Sun about to set, Scott retraced the paths that he and Stiles took last night while thinking about what he was. An anuk-ite. A supernatural creature that Gerard said reflected the person Scott was.

That bothered Scott. What Gerard said brought the person Scott was into question, it made him question himself. And he wasn't even a violent person.

That thought was followed by one that said that as an anuk-ite, he didn't have to be violent, more so in the physical sense. He could make things happen without doing much. But then again, if Scott wasn't a violent person, why did he want to play lacrosse?

The answer to that question came very quickly. A scholarship. The scholarship Scott was aiming for for his higher education career, required that he not only perform well academically but also participate in a sport.

Being a severe asthmatic, there weren't a lot of sports Scott could play at Beacon Hills High School and there weren't many coaches who would allow Scott into their team. But there was one coach Scott was sure that he could convince to allow him on his team.

The coach was Bobby Finstock, Economics teacher and Cyclones' coach. Bobby was a bit eccentric and Scott planned to be as capable a lacrosse player as he could, in eight months, and then, 'somehow', convince Bobby to allow him to join Cyclones and at least be a bench-warmer for the next few years.

It took a moment, but Scott realized that though he might not be a violent person, he wasn't a good person either. He intended to take advantage of Bobby's eccentric personality even if he didn't outright admit it. He was even thinking about how his anuk-ite abilities could help him and...

"I found her car near the Preserve a few hours ago, and I'm tracking her phone right now, Derek. Don't even think about coming here, stay where you are until I say so."

Scott heard a female voice say before she (Braeden) came into view. He paused when he realized that she was heading in the direction he saw the body he and Stiles were looking for and wondered who she was.

Although Scott's inhaler was also located in that area, he decided to hide and wait for her to finish her business and leave.

TH

"What if...?"

"What if nothing, Derek. Let me worry about finding Laura and you look after your sister and cousin." Said Braeden, speaking to Laura's younger brother Derek Hale who was in an undisclosed location in South America.

"Fine. But keep me updated." Replied Derek, before ending the call.

Braeden released a sigh, then opened the application she was using to track Laura's phone to check if she was walking in the right direction. She was.

Braeden found Laura's car near the Preserve after she gave up on waiting for Laura at the Hale House ruins, and became worried because she knew her friend loved her car too much to leave it stranded in the middle of nowhere.

After calling Derek to ask him when last he heard from Laura and he responded by saying yesterday, Braeden broke into the car and began to look for clues as to where Laura could have gone. When that turned out to be fruitless, she turned to locating Laura by her phone, leading her here.

Braeden found Laura's phone a minute and a half later, under a fallen tree branch, thankfully undamaged by last night's rain due to the branch, although there was blood on it, a detail that worried her.

She carefully recovered the phone by using sticks to lift it and just as carefully placed it on a portable sanitary pad. After looking for more clues and finding none, due to the rain, Braeden left, determined to find out what happened to Laura.

TH

Scott saw Braeden leave but still waited for some time to make sure that she wouldn't return and then went on to search for his inhaler. He supposed the authorities found the body and she didn't, which meant he didn't have to report it.

It took Scott some time to find the inhaler but he did find it just as the Sun set, and he didn't waste a moment to get on his bicycle and get out of the Preserve.

TH

As Scott left the Preserve, a figure with glowing red eyes watched him intently. The figure was of the alpha that bit Scott, and before that, killed the girl whose body Sheriff Stilinski's team recovered.

She, the alpha, was confused. Scott didn't smell like he should have after surviving the bite, he still smelled like he did before the bite, like a human.

She had been watching Scott since he began searching for his inhaler, and made sure to catch his scent and it was nothing like she expected.

Maybe it was the fact that she was a werecoyote, but she was assured that after killing the beta werecoyote-werewolf hybrid Theo Raeken and an alpha werewolf she would be able to turn humans with the bite. But Scott's scent said otherwise.

The alpha werecoyote didn't like the idea that she was lied to and resolved to halt her plans until she received answers and solutions to her problem.

TH

McCall House

Scott once again sneaked into his home using the back door, but unlike in the morning, he found Melissa and Stiles in the kitchen, the former drinking a cup of coffee and the latter was busy with his phone.

That is, until they saw Scott and he momentarily froze in fear. Only Gerard's last advise to Scott and Scott remembering that he had glasses on kept him from being overwhelmed with fear but he still avoided looking in their direction.

"Oh, thank God, you're OK?! I thought..." Said a relieved Stiles, but...

"Why wouldn't I be OK?" Scott quickly interrupted him, to prevent Stiles from revealing their visit to the Preserve, and on a personal level, there was a little sarcasm to his tone, which Stiles didn't pick up.

"Yes, why wouldn't Scott be OK?" Melissa joined in, having noticed that Stiles was worried since he arrived at the house.

"I... Uh... His phone has been off all day and I couldn't find him, so, I assumed the worst." Replied Stiles, all true. "What's with the shades, anyway?"

"Um, they are a part of my training." Scott answered, then busied himself with his bicycle, taking it to a room they used for storage.

"How do glasses contribute to lacrosse training?" Inquired Melissa, standing up to place her empty cup into the sink.

Instead of answering right away, Scott took out his inhaler and used it to both calm and buy himself some time to think after he was done with his bicycle.

"It's a confidence thing, mom." Said a yawning Scott, having no other connection between his new glasses and lacrosse. "Could you (Melissa) please lock the door on your way out? I'm going to take a shower then sleep, I'm really tired."

"Eat before you sleep, Scott." Melissa instructed, before she remembered something. "Oh, and your rooibos tea has arrived."

The news brightened Scott's mood significantly, and he momentarily forgot about his problems and went to see if his rooibos tea package really did arrive. When he confirmed that it did arrive, Scott didn't waste a moment to boil himself some water and prepare his favorite beverage.

For Melissa and Stiles, this wasn't an unusual reaction from Scott.

Ever since a man from South Africa, by the name Piet Mofokeng, Scott never forgot his name, came to a younger Scott's aid, who had forgotten his inhaler at home and was experiencing the initial symptoms of an asthma attack near a restaurant Piet was dining at, by giving him a cup of rooibos tea and the asthma attack halted, Scott has loved the tea.

This package, in particular, was supposed to have arrived a few days ago, and it kind of did. The problem was that when Scott ordered it, he was in San Francisco visiting his father, before Rafael went on a long term assignment, so, Scott used Rafael's address as the recipient address.

And now that it has arrived, Scott was over the moon.

However, what was unusual for Melissa and Stiles was that they found themselves surprisingly in good spirits at the sight of the happy Scott McCall. It was like there was just something about seeing him happy that made them happy.

It wasn't that weird for Melissa since she had been expecting such a reaction from her son, and seeing him happy made her happy. It was a parent thing.

As for Stiles, he rationalized that he was relieved that his best friend was OK after he wasn't able to return to the Preserve to pick him up.

When Scott retreated to his bedroom upstairs with a cup of rooibos tea, after a 'talk later' to Stiles and 'love you, mom' to Melissa, they found themselves too happy and calm to stop or delay him, and they too went their separate ways, with Melissa going to work and Stiles home.

It wasn't until Scott had finished his tea and taking a shower that he realized what happened. He got so happy that he forgot about everything else and focused on his favorite beverage, and unintentionally used his pathokinesis on his mother and best friend.

But instead of causing them to feel emotions more akin to those Gerard told him about, he made them feel the opposite of those emotions, he made them feel happy.

This realization made Scott happy, it meant that he wasn't only capable of bad things. It meant his pathokinesis wasn't all bad and he could also...

That thought came to a halt when Scott realized something else, although he made Melissa and Stiles feel happy, he didn't feed on their happiness. He didn't just not feed on their happiness, it was like Scott couldn't feed on their happiness, at all.

"You see, Scott." Scott recalled Gerard say. "You are an ancient shapeshifter many believe is far more sinister than other shapeshifters, because your kind uses and feeds off chaos, death, paranoia and most of all, fear. You're an anuk-ite, the double-face shapeshifter."

In that, Scott became aware of Gerard's keywords.

"... [Y]our kind uses and feeds off chaos, death, paranoia and most of all, fear."

Although Scott could manipulate people's emotions, he could only feed on specific emotions, particularly those associated with fear.

TH

Beacon Hills Sheriff Station

"We've identified Jane Doe, Sheriff." Said Valerie Clarke, a new deputy at the station.

"And who is she?" Inquired Noah.

"Laura Hale." Replied Valarie.

"Hale... As in one of the survivors of the Hale house fire?"

"I wouldn't know, Sheriff. I just printed out the results we found on her fingerprint match and brought them to you straight away, just as you asked." Said Valerie, placing said results in a file on Noah's office table.

"Thank you, Deputy." Noah responded, dismissing her.

He picked up the file and put it in a box he used to carry case files that he brought home with him, intending to look over Laura's file at home since it was late.

TH

McCall House

A few hours later found Scott asleep, but a second later he woke up screaming. And this wasn't the first time.

He kept waking up due to nightmares, nightmares of the alpha werewolf's attack on him, repeatedly. Interchanged with nightmares of Scott petrifying Malissa, Rafael, Stiles and Harley, then everyone in town.

With each nightmare of the alpha, the red-eyed alpha werewolf kept on getting smaller than Scott remembered, and just recently, Scott realized that the red-eyed wolf that bit him was smaller than an average wolf, and more the size of an adult coyote, just with glowing red eyes.

It seemed when he was in danger, he saw the danger bigger than it actually was, although it was far more dangerous than he was aware.

With the nightmares concerning himself, Scott found that with each person he petrified he kept on getting stronger, and because there were people who witnessed him petrify others, their fear kept on increasing to the point that others committed suicide.

Regardless, he kept on getting more powerful. But not powerful enough.

Having already seen himself petrify his parents and friends, even in a nightmare, Scott felt like a threat to them, and he didn't want to hurt them, he didn't want to kill them.

There was only one way to keep them safe, and that was to leave home. To disappear until he wasn't a threat to them. Until the alpha was dealt with. But Scott wasn't much of a runaway, and he didn't want to worry his parents and this, in turn, left him in a tight spot.

Having a lot to think about and not much to clear his mind, Scott got out of bed with his glasses on, wore a sweatshirt, sweatpants, a pair of running shoes and a sweater, before preparing himself something to eat and drink at his destination.

With that out of the way, he packed the food and his favorite tea, wrote Melissa a note then grabbed his phone and bicycle and got out of the house with one destination in mind.

TH

Argent Arms International Warehouse 97

Gerard found Scott at the warehouse early in the morning, and judging from his steady breathing, fast asleep on a chair with a plastic container, water bottle, gun cleaning kit, twelve bullets and a half disassembled, or maybe re-assembled, Beretta M9A1 on the table Scott was supporting himself on.

It was a sight Gerard didn't expect and it gave him pause, but only for a moment because a moment later he cleared his throat to wake up Scott. The first time didn't work and neither did the second but the third time did.

Scott found himself forced awake by the clearing of the throat, one that he wasn't familiar with, but upon opening his eyes he was met with Gerard, who would have liked to be daring enough to stare Scott in the eyes but wasn't.

"I see you've been busy." Said Gerard, motioning to the table. "Where did you get the gun?"

Scott cleared his throat before he responded.

"I, uh, found the gun on the floor in the room I woke up in yesterday morning, and the cleaning kit was already here on the table, sir." Replied Scott, then added while putting away his plastic container and water bottle in his backpack. "I couldn't sleep at home so I..."

"Busied yourself by trying to disassemble a gun you with the purpose of cleaning it." Completed Gerard, he recognized the gun as Henry's and guessed that he didn't see it when he was moving the statues.

"I already cleaned it, I was reassembling it when I fell asleep." Scott revealed, surprising Gerard who motioned for him to continue reassembling the gun.

TH

Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital

Braeden had just delivered Laura's phone to a person she bribed, who works in the lab, to run the blood sample on the phone through the hospital blood database to find out whose blood it was, when she overheard a two nurses talking about a body that was found in the Preserve.

"As it turns out, she was identified as Laura Hale." One nurse told the other.

"Hale? As in...?" The other nurse inquired.

"Yes. I was just as surprised as you are. Maybe her murder has something to do with the house fire that killed most of the Hales."

The world slowed down to a crawl as Braeden heard that. The worst had happened just as they were beginning their investigation. She didn't know how she was going to tell Laura's family, but they had to know.

TH

Argent Arms International Warehouse 97

"You've handled a gun before, haven't you? This isn't the first time." Gerard said after Scott was done reassembling the gun.

"Not really. I've watched a lot of videos and I had a handgun disassemble and reassemble simulation app, with a Beretta M9A1 simulation, so, I'm familiar with it's design." Responded Scott, not about to reveal his and his father's secret bonding activity.

"Don't lie to me, Scott. I'm a certified arms dealer, you can't fool me. The way you handle that gun speaks of muscle memory, and that is something you can't learn from a phone." Said Gerard, but Scott seemed adamant to stick to his story, so... "Don't worry, I don't care where you learned to handle an M9A1."

Scott didn't expect that, not at all, but even more so, he didn't expect Gerard's follow up.

"But, you can keep that one, provided you show me that you can actually use it."