Scott was pretty sure that sophomore year at a spy school was supposed to be exciting, but he wasn't sure that it was supposed to be this exciting. Sure, the explosions were to be expected considering Lydia and Jackson had broken up, again, and she liked to make her feelings on the subject known by creating new and even bigger ways to create contained explosions. And now that he was dating Lydia's new best friend it was natural that he would be drawn into it even more than before.

What should not have happened was being dragged into an international spy conspiracy. He didn't even start learning about those until junior year. Not that Stiles had let that deter him, he'd already read all about them by the time they'd started high school. Still, Scott would probably not have agreed to be a part of the Pack if he had known that this would happen. Especially considering he wasn't even allowed to let anyone know he was in it.

Nobody was allowed to know who was in Derek's Pack, they weren't even supposed to know that it existed. But this is a school for spies, of course everyone knew it existed. It was actually more of a surprise that no one actually knew who was in it, or that their only correct idea was Allison. No one even thought about Stiles and Scott being viable options, mainly because Scott was more people smart than book smart and Stiles didn't want anyone to know how smart he was. And yet no one knew who was a part of the Pack, not even Stiles' dad. No one even knew that Derek was the Alpha.

But Scott and Stiles were in the Pack and they were actually currently in Sublevel Five, the mythical place that students weren't even sure if it actually existed. Apparently it did, and it was used to teach the truly special students. Frankly, Scott was a little surprised that he was even there at all. Sure, Stiles and Allison he could totally see, but Scott had always been happy being a normal, average spy, even if he probably had more experience and adventures thanks to Stiles than most of the other students.

"Scott!" Derek barked out, with his signature scowl that still intimidated the hell out of Scott. "Stop daydreaming and run the course. Even Stiles is paying more attention than you today!"

"Hey!" Stiles protested, but all four of them knew it was more of a token protest than anything else. Stiles' ADHD was bad enough that it could be a liability when he didn't get his meds, but most days he got around that pretty well.

Scott got to his feet with a groan, looking at the obstacle course with trepidation. "Sorry, Derek," he muttered as he made his way to the beginning of the course.

That was another thing that made this whole thing difficult. In the regular classroom and in the hallways, Derek was always Mr. Hale because he was a teacher. In Sublevel Five he was just Derek, the leader of the Pack and their mentor in all things super spy. Scott didn't even know how he'd gotten the job, only that he had and that he was in charge.

He couldn't think about that right now, that was something to talk with Stiles later, when they were in their dorm room and had done their nightly bug check. Right now he had to get through this stupidly hard obstacle course. Seriously, this thing was ridiculous. Scott was pretty sure that if a situation ever got bad enough that he needed the skills that this course cultivated he was probably going to be in too deep to survive. Because a spy's best defense was to keep anyone from knowing they were there, not being a super soldier.

After all, he highly doubted that he would ever have to run through a burning building only to find himself having to cross a chasm. Scott really wanted to know who had even thought up this obstacle course and how on Earth they had managed to install it five levels below the main building of BHA. By the time he'd finished the course, which was about half an hour longer than Derek ever took, he was so exhausted he just flung himself down on the mats next to Allison.

"You shaved about five minutes off your best time," she told him, with one of her bright smiles that kind of made his brain melt for a moment. "That was awesome!"

Scott grinned back at her, too tired to do anything else. "Ugh, you two are going to give me cavities," Stiles quipped as he came over to sit by them. "Save it for when you're alone, please."

Scott just rolled his eyes as he dragged himself off the floor so that he could stretch. "Good job, all of you," Derek said as he joined the three of them on the mat. Scott was a little gratified to see the dark stains of sweat on his top, in the two months since they'd begun working together he'd never before seen Derek sweat. "You're finally getting to an acceptable level."

"Do you know that you're the master of the backhanded compliment?" Stiles queried, as honestly curious about this as he was about everything else. "Or are you just that unable to deal with actual human interaction that you can't just give out an honest compliment without qualifying it first?"

"Stiles," Derek said, and it was amazing how much he managed to pack into just that one word. "I'll let you know the next meeting time tomorrow, get some sleep. And don't forget to read the next chapter of the book."

Scott let out a groan and Allison nodded but Stiles didn't even pay attention. He'd finished their latest book two days ago. "See you guys tomorrow!" Allison said as she got up and made her way over to the exit that would let out closest to the girls' dorm.

"Bye!" Scott called and held his hands out to indicate that Stiles should help him to his feet. "See you at breakfast!"

"See ya!" Stiles tacked on before turning to Derek. "You have got to start telling us stuff. For instance, how did you become Pack Alpha? Because if we're going to be a part of a super-secret group we really need to know its history and all the rules. Seriously, have you gotten to that welcome packet that I talked about before yet?"

Derek didn't even deign to answer Stiles as he headed off towards the exit that only he used. Stiles had already explored it enough to be able to tell Stiles that it led to the teacher's wing. Scott just shrugged when Stiles gave him an exasperated look and pulled him toward their own stairs. They both kind of just collapse onto their beds when they reach their dorm.

Scott's not really sure how Allison always manages to sneak out for practice when the meetings are at night because she's got a roommate who's not in the know. Luckily for him, Stiles is also a part of the Pack and so he does not need to hide his whereabouts. Of course, Scott doubts he could have hidden the secret from Stiles for very long if this had not been the case, Stiles is just too good at knowing everything he's not supposed to.

He's really, really grateful that Stiles had made him do his homework earlier because that means he can just go to sleep and he's more than ready for that. Stiles is already asleep on the bed next to his, having shoved all his books off the edge. Scott shakes his head at his friend and goes to turn off the light before joining his best friend in slumber.

X

When he wakes up in the morning it seems as if the entire world has changed. He doesn't know that though, not at first. Stiles is gone, but that's the usual, he's always gotten up before Scott and he'll be back right around the time Scott's ready to go to breakfast, they've got their routine down after so many years of friendship. However, that's not what happens today.

Scott's just finished pulling on his uniform when Stiles barrels into the room, slamming the door behind him. He makes the signs not to talk so Scott just watches in bemusement as Stiles tears apart the room looking for bugs. Finally he's satisfied that the room is private, just as it was the last time they checked a little over twelve hours ago.

"Laura Hale's dead. They found her body last night, ripped in two," he explains and Scott has to sit down in order to take this news in.

He'd known Laura, a little, and he'd liked her. Logically, he knew that the spy business wasn't safe, that people died in the line of duty all the time, but he never really thought about it. Sure, that's how Stiles' had lost his mom, but she'd just disappeared, there still wasn't a body, so this was different. This was an actual corpse of someone he knew.

"How did she die?" Scott asks and he really should have been expecting the incredulous look that Stiles gives him.

"Heart attack. She was ripped in half, dumbass."

Scott is so used to being called a dumbass that it's almost like a term of endearment when Stiles or his mom say it. "Oh. Does Derek know?"

Because if he doesn't, that's a problem. Scott might not be best friends with Derek, but he respects the older man and he doesn't want to be the one to tell him that his last remaining family member is dead. And Scott would have to if he doesn't already know, because Stiles would make him because the two of them actually know Derek now, and Stiles can be ridiculously soft-hearted when it comes to the people he likes. A list of people which is surprisingly small when you take into account that he's super friendly with everyone in the school and he's not even popular.

"I think that's part of the reason he's here, because Laura went missing a few weeks before school started and I was going through my dad's papers and originally she was supposed to be our new teacher, not Derek."

Sometimes Scott gets a little weirded out by just how much access to information Stiles has, but that's not something he should be worrying about right now. He can think that over later, when there's not possibly an imminent crisis on their hands. "So what do we do?"

Scott's relying on the fact that Stiles already has a plan, due to the fact that never once in Scott's life has Stiles not had a plan. He's not wrong this time, either. Stiles is already pushing his bed out of the way and prying up a floorboard to reveal a hiding spot that even Scott hadn't known about. And Scott thought he'd found the last of them two months ago, unless this was a new one. Stiles was good at finding new hiding places.

"Okay, Earth to Scott, come back to me, Scott," Stiles said as he pulled a file out and then moved everything back to how it was, neatly hiding any evidence that there was even anything hidden under the bed at all. "We're going to work on the assumption that Derek doesn't know anything more than we do, but we've got to work fast."

"How do we know that he didn't kill her?" It was a legitimate question. Derek could be really scary sometimes.

Stiles apparently did not agree. "She was his sister. His last living family, of course he didn't kill her, Scott. He probably came here trying to find out where she'd gone. Now, focus."

"Okay, okay. So we're operating under the assumption that Derek's innocent and knows nothing, what next?"

"Next we've got to get him either out of the Academy and into hiding in the next hour, or we've got to hide him here. They're going to think he did it, I've seen everything they've got and it doesn't look good for Derek. Especially because when she died he was with the Pack and he can't exactly use that as an alibi, can he?"

Stiles was really in his element here, thinking and talking and planning simultaneously while Scott just sat and watched. That was the best way to deal with things when Stiles got like this, to just wait it out until Stiles had a full plan and was ready to share it, or at least part of it. But Stiles might have had too much influence over him and he couldn't help asking questions.

"Why do we have to do anything? Derek's our teacher, he's alpha, he's got to know how to deal with this better than we ever could."

It was a legitimate question, but one that just cause Stiles to roll his eyes. "What's the first rule of being a spy? Back up, and if we don't help Derek doesn't have any. We're pack now, we can't just abandon him to his fate."

A fair point, so Scott goes with it. He listens as Stiles thinks out loud, even though he can only follow about 80% of what he says, and only that much because he's been with Stiles for so long. It doesn't bother him. One time Stiles did this in front of Allison and Scott understood more than she did, even though Scott's very much aware that his girlfriend is much smarter than he'll ever be. He's okay with that, because he might not be the smartest person in the room, but he knows Stiles best and often Stiles is the smartest person in the room.

Scott knows he shouldn't, but sometimes he tends to judge his own self-worth by his relationships with other people, and that is not healthy. Good thing he has Stiles, and now Allison, because he thinks the world of them and they love him back, so he must be awesome in some small way. Scott's working on that though, and his self-esteem is actually a lot better than it used to be. He's comfortable in his own skin, and that's fine with him.

But Scott sometimes understands the minds of humans as a whole even better than Stiles, because Scott gets the emotional side of it better than Stiles does. Stiles can do what he does through logic and observation and sheer intelligence, with Scott it's emotional and instinctual, and sometimes it works better than Stiles' methods. So Scott knows that he at least can contribute something, and that he's necessary. So Scott can be okay with going to get Derek without fully understanding exactly what the plan is, because he knows there's a plan and he knows that his particular skill set is very necessary to its completion.

And that necessity is revealed when he gets to Derek's room only minutes before others show up, meaning he has a matter of seconds to convince Derek to go with him. It could possibly be his greatest feat ever, because he pulls it off. They even have enough time to grab a few things before slipping away into the hidden passage that leads to sublevel five.

Derek is possibly more intimidating than he was the first time Scott saw him, which is pretty improbable but apparently not impossible. "Are you going to tell me why I'm here, Scott? Because I could have gotten far away from here by now if I wasn't."

"Actually, I'll explain the plan to you," Stiles cuts in as he shows up with Allison in tow. Scott has never before been so grateful to see the two of them. "And no need to be such a sourwolf, we're pack, we're here to help."

"Stiles. I am your teacher, no matter what you might have learned by now, I don't need your help. I can do it on my own."

That makes even Allison set her jaw and glare at Derek stubbornly. It takes quite a bit to make Allison do that, and Scott knows that for a fact, so he's pretty sure that Derek's not going to get out of here without agreeing to their demands (which, whatever Stiles might say, is really what they're doing, not offering help).

A/N: Apparently I'm writing this as a full story now. Not sure how well that will work out, but oh well. This is fun. I should be updating this about once a week, and hopefully will have slightly longer chapters, but no guarantees. Sometimes there are just natural breaks that feel like chapters to me, but I am weird and like short things.