"I'm gonna fight 'em all
A seven nation army couldn't hold me back
They're gonna rip it off
Taking their time right behind my back"
Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes
I waited outside the locker room for the lacrosse team and Finstock to leave. Mr. Stilinski tried to smile at me when he left, but it was lackluster and empty. Bodies slowly trickled out as I twiddled my thumbs.
"Sara!" I heard Isaac call from inside the locker room. Kicking off the wall, I entered the smelly room.
The moment I walked in, Scott pulled off one of the locker doors. "What the hell?" I asked, arching an eyebrow while walking over to them. Scott looked sheepishly up at me but set the door down and started digging through the locker. I assumed it belonged to Stiles.
Scott held up some clothes. "You're going to find him by scent?" Isaac wondered, gesturing to the clothes.
"Yeah, we both are," Scott replied. He handed Isaac Stiles' shoe.
Isaac frowned, looking at it. "But how come you get his shirt and I get his shoe?"
"Well, you're new at this, so you need something stronger," I pointed out but also bullshitted, trying not to laugh at his reaction and rubbing Isaac's shoulder. "Scott probably has a decent grasp on his best friend's scent and just needs a refresher." I then noticed Scott wasn't exactly paying attention. Looking to where Scott was focused on, I saw Derek standing there with his hands behind his back, just as broody as I had seen him earlier.
"We need to talk," Derek said, forgoing all greetings and pleasantries.
Peter then popped out from behind one of the rows of lockers and added, "All of us."
"Holy shit," Scott blurted. "What the hell is this?"
"You know, I thought the same thing when I saw you talking to Gerard at the Sheriff's Station," Derek countered. Furrowing my eyebrows, I turned to Scott. He did what?
"Okay, hold on. He-he threatened to kill my mom. And I had to get close to him. What was I supposed to do?" Helping family was a reasonable argument for getting close to a psychopath. I looked back at Derek, wanting to know his counter.
"I'm gonna go with Scott on this one," Peter interrupted. "Have you seen his mom? She's gorgeous." He's not wrong, but gross.
"Shut up!" Derek and Scott exclaimed together.
"No one asked you, Killer Clown," I added, pointing at the elder Hale. "So butt out. The adults are talking." Peter rolled his eyes.
Isaac leaned closer to Scott and me and asked, "Who is he?"
"He's Peter, Derek's uncle," Scott explained. "Little while back, he tried to kill us all, and then we set him on fire, and Derek slashed his throat."
Peter waved. "Hi."
"That's good to know," Isaac said quietly, eyeing Peter warily and putting his hand on the small of my back.
"Wait, how do you know him?" Scott asked, looking at me. "You weren't with us."
I shrugged nonchalantly. "He mauled me in the woods."
"He what?" Isaac growled.
I put my hand up, stopping him from surging forward. "Down boy." Isaac resorted to wrapping his arm around me again instead to keep me close. I didn't mind his protectiveness showing. Peter simply looked annoyed.
"How is he alive?" Scott asked Derek.
"Look, the short version is he knows how to stop Jackson," Derek said, skipping over how Derek and Lydia were used in resurrecting the man. "And maybe how to save him."
Scott, Isaac, and I exchanged glances. "Well, that's very helpful, except Jackson's dead," Isaac told them.
Derek's face dropped. "What?"
"Yeah, Jackson's dead. It just happened on the field," Scott continued. Derek turned to his uncle who did not look pleased.
"Okay, why is no one taking this as good news?" Isaac wondered.
"Because if Jackson is dead, it didn't just happen," Peter explained. "Gerard wanted it to happen." I clenched my jaw and roughly sighed, digging my foot into the floor. How could it possibly get any worse? I then scolded myself for thinking that. Every time someone asked that things got worse.
"But why?" Derek asked.
Peter took a few steps forward. "Well, that's exactly what we need to figure out. And something tells me the window of opportunity is closing. Quickly."
"So not ominous," I snarked. "Thanks for that."
"Anything for my favorite kitsune." Peter cheekily winked and smirked. I grimaced and Isaac growled.
"Let's get going," Derek cut in. He grabbed Peter's shoulder and forced him out first.
I drove Scott and Isaac, following Derek's car to the Hale House. The car ride was tense as all three of us hated the situation we were in. About halfway there, Scott poked his head between the driver's seat and passenger's seat. "Did Peter seriously maul you?"
"Yep," I answered popping the 'p', my hands gripping the wheel tight. "January. Unlocked my healing ability, so it wasn't all bad. I was honestly more pissed about him ruining my favorite joggers. They were my favorite color, fit perfectly, and had pockets. Do you know how rare that is? I'm still pissed about it. I'm tempted to send him a check for physical and emotional damages."
Scott ignored the extra tidbits. "Healing ability?"
"Yeah, she heals like us," Isaac answered for me.
"Partial kitsune have to unlock it. Full-blooded kitsune are born with it," I explained.
Scott shook his head. "I'm just gonna forget I asked." He then sat back in his seat which made me chuckle.
When we pulled up outside the ruined house, we followed Derek and Peter inside. Right then, Scott got a text. "Oh, they found Stiles," Scott revealed.
"That's fantastic," I said. "Glad he's okay." That was one less thing to worry about.
"Look, I told you. I looked everywhere," Derek told Peter, not paying attention to us teenagers.
Peter bent down towards the stairs in front of us. "You didn't look here." He pulled a board loose and pulled something out. He blew the dust off the top.
"What is that, a book?" Derek asked.
Peter's face twisted as he looked up. "No. It's a laptop. What century are you living in?" I snorted and had to stop myself from laughing. Even Isaac looked mildly amused. Peter opened the top of the box, revealing a silver laptop. "A few days after I got out of the coma, I transferred everything that we had." He shut the box and stood. "Fortunately, the Argents aren't the only ones that keep records."
Scott's phone started ringing as Peter walked into the other room. Scott walked a short distance away to take the call. I stayed by the door with Isaac, both of us keeping an eye on both the Hale's and Scott.
After his short phone call, Scott returned to us with a worried expression. "My mom said something's wrong," he explained. "She's at the hospital with Jackson's body." He then took a few steps to tell Derek and Peter. "I've gotta go."
"We're going with you," I said. "I'm your ride, remember?" I held up my car keys.
"We'll be here," Derek assured.
Isaac, Scott, and I hurried back to my car and I quickly drove off. I sped through the streets as fast I could without drawing unwanted attention from the police, but it was fast enough to have Isaac and Scott clutching the doors with their eyes wide.
Once we got to the hospital, we met with Melissa in the morgue. On one of the tables, in an opened body bag, was the deceased Jackson Whittemore covered in a strange, transparent goo. Isaac leaned on the table above him staring down while I got a closer look at his claws.
"What's happening to him?" Scott asked his mom.
"I thought that you were gonna tell me," Melissa said. "Is it bad?"
"It doesn't look good," Isaac snarked.
Jackson twitched and everyone jumped back a foot saying, "Whoa."
"Um, Mom, could you zip it up, please?" Scott requested.
I bent down again. "Wait, I think it's coming from his claws," I told them. "The casing looks like the venom used to paralyze his victims." All three of them looked at me like I was insane. "What? I'm curious." Their expressions didn't change. I rolled my eyes and grabbed the zipper. "You're all lame." I started zipping the body bag up. But it got stuck right beneath his chin. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me." This is the part in the movie when we're all attacked.
Jackson's mouth then opened to reveal fangs. That's when everyone, including me, began to panic.
"Sara, zip," Scott coaxed.
"I'm trying, it's not moving." Jackson started to hiss, so I tugged as hard as I could on the zip, finally getting it to move. The bag finally closed. I looked up at Scott. "Call Derek. He's gonna wanna know about this."
Scott nodded quickly and pulled out his phone. While Scott talked to Derek, I backed into Isaac as Jackson continued moving in the bag. This is bad.
"I'm not sure if we have time for that," Scott said to Derek.
"What does he want?" I asked him.
"He wants us to bring Jackson to him."
I nodded my head, not surprised. "Of course he does."
Derek told Scott something else then hung up the phone. Scott turned to us. "We've gotta go."
Isaac and Scott picked up the bag and Melissa led us out of the hospital to the parking lot, avoiding people as best we could. As we hurried to my car, Scott dropped his end of the bag right behind it. We all froze, wide-eyed. Please don't wake up, I prayed. Scott bent down to pick the bag up again and a car pulled into the lot and stopped by us. Out climbed Chris Argent.
"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me," I found myself saying again.
For a few tense moments, no one said anything, but Scott realized something. "You're alone," he pointed out.
"More than you know," Argent replied.
I glanced between Scott and the hunter then asked, "Does that mean you've been redeemed to the Light Side or. . . ?" I trailed off.
Argent took in a deep breath and replied, "At the moment, we have a common enemy." That wasn't necessarily a 'yes' but it was better than a 'no.'
"That's why we're trying to get him out of here." Scott gestured to Jackson in the body bag.
Argent glanced down at the bag and back up to us teenagers. "I didn't mean Jackson. Gerard has twisted his way into Allison's head in the same way he did with Kate. And I'm losing her." I'm not surprised. Seems a little too fragile and easily manipulated for this world. I didn't say anything aloud, though. Argent would've likely shot me. Again. I didn't want another pair of pants ruined. Again. "And I know you're losing her, too."
That time I did talk. "Yes, because everyone cares about the forbidden romance. Can we get this show on the road? He's moving." I pointed down to the wiggling body bag.
"She's got a point," Isaac pitched in helpfully.
Argent looked at my car. "My car's faster. Get in."
The boys picked the body bag up, I opened the trunk, and Argent started up his car again then we all climbed in and sped off before any of us could put on seatbelts.
I poked my head between the seats, looking at Argent. "We haven't formally been introduced. I'm Sara. I have bullet holes in a pair of pants because of you, so don't expect an apology for me attempting to burn your face off." I gave him a wide, innocent smile.
Argent looked over at Scott, ignoring me, and said, "I see you've replaced Stiles with someone that matches his level of Smart-Ass."
Despite the situation, Scott chuckled. "You could say that."
"Excuse you, I'm an upgrade." Isaac pulled me back by my arm before I could keep going and shook his head. I stuck my tongue out at him, and he wrapped his arm around me. The rest of the drive to an abandoned warehouse was silent.
Argent pulled up outside the building and we all got out. Isaac looked back at the body bag and said, "I think he stopped moving."
Scott and Argent looked at each other, both looking just as worried as Isaac and I. "Where's Derek?" Argent asked.
Right after he said that, Derek came running down the alleyway towards the car. He did a flip and landed with his eyes glowing red. I snorted and said, "Okay, take it down a notch, Superman." Scott looked at me, exasperated, while Derek glared at Argent.
Argent felt the need to defend himself against the alpha. "I'm here for Jackson. Not you."
"Somehow, I don't find that very comforting," Derek retorted. He looked at Scott, Isaac, and I. "Get him inside."
Argent moved his SUV inside and Scott and Isaac dragged Jackson out, setting him on the concrete floor of the warehouse. The five of us stood around the body bag, each of us tense with varying levels of worry about our situation.
"Where are they?" Scott asked.
Derek glanced around. "Who?"
"Peter and Lydia." Wait, Lydia? Derek didn't answer him and moved to unzip the body bag. "Whoa, hold on a second. You said you knew how to save him."
Derek started unzipping the bag. "We're past that."
"What about-"
"Think about it, Scott," Derek interrupted, looking up to glare at the beta. "Gerard controls him now. He's turned Jackson into his own personal guard dog. And he set all of this in motion so that Jackson could get even bigger and more powerful."
"No," Argent interjected. Derek fully stood up, facing the hunter. "No, he wouldn't do that. If Jackson's a dog, he's turning rabid, and my father wouldn't let a rabid dog live."
"Of course not," a new voice said. We all turned to see Gerard standing a good distance away. My blood ran cold and my fox began to stir. "Anything that dangerous, that out of control, is better off dead."
Derek moved to slice Jackson's throat, but the kanima came alive, stabbing Derek in the chest with his claws. Chris pulled out his gun and I pulled out my chain dart, letting the kunai hang low. The half transformed kanima began to rise, lifting Derek with him then tossing him across the room.
"Well, done to the last, Scott," Gerard praised. "Like the concerned friend you are, you brought Jackson to Derek to save him. You just didn't realize that you were also bringing Derek to me."
Scott ducked, avoiding two arrows that hit Isaac in the shoulders. I slid over to Isaac as he hit the floor and immediately ripped them out and tossed them aside. I'm going to wreck that stupid huntress. Scott moved to check on Isaac and helped him up while I stood and turned to Jackson, throwing a fireball his way as Chris shot him. The kanima hissed and ran, climbed the SUV as Chris continued to fire. I followed after Scott and Isaac, hearing Chris follow shortly after. I then heard him stop and looked back to see Chris get thrown aside by a fully transformed kanima.
"Now or never. You can do this," I told myself and allowed my fox-spirit to form around me. Keep it controlled. You can do this. Fire spread across the chain, and I threw the kunai forward. It stabbed into the kanima's stomach as a shifted Derek attack the lizard from behind. Isaac and Scott joined the fight.
Unlodging the kunai, I whipped it around and sent it towards the kanima every time the werewolves allowed for an opening as they attacked from various angles and got tossed around. I then had a bad idea.
"Stay back!" I yelled. The boys fell back as I rushed forward with a wall of fire sent straight towards the kanima. It got thrown back by the force of it, but I collapsed in my spot from the exertion, my eyes returning to brown, and my spirit fading away. Isaac stood to rush over to me, but Allison attacked with her own knives and he fell.
"No, Allison!" Scott called out. She simply glared at him, until the kanima came up behind her and grabbed her by the throat. She dropped her knives.
"Not yet, sweetheart," Gerard told her, walking forward. I rolled away towards Scott, keeping away from the veteran hunter. My heart raced and I breathed heavily, holding onto my chain like a lifeline as I watched Gerard hold his own granddaughter captive with his monster.
"What are you doing?" Allison asked.
"He's doing what he came here to do," Scott answered, already knowing Gerard's play. I grimaced.
Gerard looked at him. "Then you know?" How much did Scott know?
"What's he talking about?" Allison asked, shaking in fear.
Gerard ignored her. "It was that night outside the hospital, wasn't it, when I threatened your mother?" I looked up behind me to see Chris looking confused. "I knew I saw something in your eyes. You could smell it, couldn't you?"
"He's dying," Isaac realized, unshifted and on his hands and knees while he healed.
"I am," Gerard confirmed. "I have been for a while now. Unfortunately, science doesn't have a cure for cancer yet. But the supernatural does." He wanted the bite.
"Boohoo, a villain with a sob story." I rolled my eyes, silently panicking on the inside. "Try not being a cliché."
The old man glared at me. "The first thing I'm going to do when this is all over is rip out your tongue." He then turned to Allison and the kanima. The giant lizard gripped Allison's throat tighter.
Chris and Scott tensed, and Chris said, "You monster."
Gerard smirked. "Not yet."
"What are you doing?" Allison cried, but I had lost all sympathy for her since she shot and stabbed Isaac after attempting to shoot Scott.
"You'll kill her, too?" Chris asked his father.
"When it comes to survival, I'd kill my own son." The look in Gerard's eyes was stark-raving mad. He looked at Scott with a small grin. "Scott." Scott gritted his teeth and shifted back. I didn't like his actions one bit.
"Scott, what are you doing?" I questioned, forcing myself to stand and gather my chain as Scott started walking towards Derek.
Scott's hesitant eyes met mine. "Trust me." But how could I trust him when he was so obviously going towards Derek, an alpha, who had been paralyzed by the kanima's venom? I clenched my jaw but didn't move, watching Scott lift Derek from the floor.
"Scott, don't," Derek pleaded as Scott forced him to stand. "You know that he's going to kill me right after. He'll be an alpha."
"That's true," Gerard agreed. "But I think he already knows that, don't you, Scott? He knows that the ultimate prize is Allison. Do this small task for me, and they can be together. You are the only piece here that doesn't fit, Derek. And in case you haven't learned yet, there is just no competing with young love." I shook my head. Even Scott McCall wouldn't do something so ridiculously stupid for love, and he would do quite a bit.
"Scott, don't," Derek tried again as Gerard stripped off his jacket.
I glanced down at the kunai in my hand. It would be so easy to unhook it and throw it. I'm faster than a kanima. I could end it. But what the hell did Scott have planned? I knew him well enough from past experiences and growing up in the same town as him to know he had something weighing heavily on his mind. If whatever Scott had planned didn't pan out, a long knife to the skull would still kill a werewolf. I couldn't, wouldn't let Derek or anyone else die who didn't deserve it.
Scott pulled Derek's head back, brandishing the alpha's teeth. Gerard rolled up his sleeve and I discreetly unhooked my kunai, ready to throw it at any moment. The old man held out his arm, forcing Derek to bite it. He held it up proud as Scott dropped Derek. Everyone watched the hunter to see the reaction to the bite and it started bleeding black.
Gerard noticed everyone's change of expression and looked down at the bite mark. He glared at Scott. "What is this?" he demanded to know. "What did you do?"
Scott turned to Derek. "Everyone always said Gerard had a plan." He looked back at Gerard. "I had a plan, too." I looked at Scott with a pleased expression. Oh, Scotty, I'm proud of you.
Gerard pulled out a small container from his pocket, dropping his coat as he opened it. Pills spilled out. He crushed them in his hand. "Mountain Ash!" He began bleeding from his nose and eyes and looked directly at the kanima.
"Oh, no, you don't," I said and threw the knife directly at his head, landing it square in his forehead. Scott stumbled back and looked at me with a what-the-fuck expression. I gestured to the man-sized lizard. "Did you not see him look at the kanima? He was about to order it to do something. A master-less monster is better than one being controlled." Scott shook his head and sighed.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Derek asked Scott.
"Because you might be an alpha, but you're not mine," Scott replied and I grinned. Little Scott McCall is growing up.
The kanima began to let go of Allison now that it had no master, and she elbowed it in the face, hurrying away right as a vehicle rammed through the wall and then hit the kanima. Once the vehicle stopped, I recognized it as Stiles's Jeep.
"Did I get him?" Stiles called out from inside with Lydia in the passenger seat. The kanima hopped back up, landing on the Jeep hood. Lydia screamed and the two scrambled out of the vehicle after Stiles also screamed.
Lydia stopped just outside of the Jeep while Stiles continued running over to and behind Scott. I readied my chain for another fight. Allison and Stiles just had to piss it off. "Jackson!" Lydia exclaimed. The kanima hopped off the Jeep right in front of her and began raising its claw. "Jackson."
"Lydia!" Stiles called. Scott stopped him from rushing forward.
Lydia held up a key. The kanima paused and stared at the key. It then started changing back into Jackson. He grabbed the key from Lydia's hand, looked at her, then started backing away. As Derek stood, Jackson held up his hands and nodded at the alpha werewolf who then lunged forward, stabbing the teenager with his claws from the front while Peter, who had come out of nowhere, stabbed him from behind. They released him together. Jackson knelt, coughing and Lydia ran over, collecting him in her arms.
A limping Isaac came over to me as we all watched Jackson fall completely into the redhead's arms while she sobbed. Lydia laid him on the floor, the last of the kanima scales fading away. Lydia stood, wiping away her tears, and started walking towards us. My hand gripped Isaac's as I noticed Jackson then beginning to move, his claws scraping against the floor. Lydia turned around and Jackson stood and roared: a fully-shifted werewolf.
"Well, I'll be," I muttered, leaning against Isaac. Jackson's wolf features receded and he looked at Lydia who jumped into his arms. "I think I'd be more moved if he wasn't completely naked." I heard Isaac chuckle beside me and he wrapped his arms around my waist, setting his chin on top of my head.
Stiles looked over at the body of Gerard from his spot next to Scott a few feet away. "Did Sara kill him?" Stiles asked not-so-quietly.
"Yeah, but I don't exactly know why," Scott said.
"Oh, I read somewhere that kitsune don't have human morals. They have their own sense of right and wrong that they follow."
I took a few steps towards him, clapping my hand on his shoulder which made the human jump with a slight squeal. "You know, I'm right here."
Stiles nodded erratically. "You still scare me."
The kanima problem was over and that was what mattered.
Yes, I had her kill off Gerard. He's a little bitch that deserved to die way back here. This means his later involvement in other seasons will definitely be different. Love his actor though, he's amazing.