Chapter Eighteen
...
Everyone seemed ready to go at Tomika's words, but Mason stopped them. "What about the rats, though? Surely Deaton wouldn't be killing them? And there is no physical trauma as far as we can tell," he added.
"We even asked Mrs. McCall to check," Liam added.
"McCall?" Teresa murmured, frowning as she looked to Agent McCall.
"Oh, that's what it is," Tomika said, looking as though a light bulb had gone off above her head. She looked between Scott and Agent McCall, then shook her head. "I should've guessed sooner; you've got the same crooked jaw," she said, Teresa nodding beside her in agreement.
"Can we focus on the task at hand?" Rafe pointed out, not entirely pleased that they'd worked out his relationship to both Melissa and Scott already.
He wasn't trying to hide his family from them, but he'd seen the curiosity of the recruits for himself and they were relentless with new information. Rafe wondered if he should alert Melissa to the fact that they would all possibly be bearing down on her for information. He figured she'd be able to handle it as she'd handled every other aspect of her life: with grit, determination, and definitely without his help.
"They're different things," Stiles murmured, oblivious to the past minute of conversation.
"What's different?" Derek asked, his voice louder and quietening the others around them as they looked to Stiles curiously.
"I don't know that these are all connected events. There's four separate issues: the rats are dying mainly in this area of the forest," Stiles said, drawing a circle around the area. "The Nemeton's over here," he added, indicating to the Nemeton deeper in the forest. "Mr. Forrester's farm is practically on the outskirts of town," he said, again indicating and everyone following his finger while trying to follow his point. "While the hellhound's been at the school for the most part, right?" Stiles asked over his shoulder, indicating further down on the map to Beacon Hills High School.
"Yeah, he was there during the last lacrosse training session," Scott said, Liam and Mason nodding beside him.
"On that note: Scott, why were you training newbies in the dark in Beacon Hills?! Seriously, dude?" Stiles added incredulously.
"Later, Stiles," Derek prompted him gently.
"Right, later. So... where's the hellhound now? We need to talk with him, and he's going to do that little chest check thing of his on me. We also need a group to investigate the rats and see if there's a cause. Someone needs to go with Mr. Forrester as well. Another group needs to talk to Deaton and see if you can get him to spill about the Nemeton and what the hell's going on there."
"What are your suggested groups?" Sean asked, curious to know how Stiles would split them up.
Stiles turned, considered each person for a moment, and then he grinned. "All right. Team leaders are: Scott for Deaton and the Nemeton, Lydia for Mr. Forrester, Malia for the rats, and myself with the hellhound."
"You're putting me in charge of chickens?" Lydia asked incredulously.
"Would you prefer the rats?" Stiles asked pointedly.
Lydia still didn't look entirely pleased, but nodded reluctantly. "Fine. Next time, I had better be in charge of something better than chickens."
"Understood," Stiles said with a nod. "Sean, Mohammed, Ari, Marcie, and Grant, you're with Scott.
"Sara, Jade, Li, Kuhle, and - god help us all - Tomika, you're with Lydia. Tomika and Lydia, don't you dare start your plans for world domination until after you've dealt with Mr. Forrester."
Lydia looked over at Tomika in interest. Tomika grinned and winked back at her.
"Mason, Liam, Yukimi, Jorge, Yelena, you're with Malia. Uh, use your judgement when listening to Malia, okay?" he added, when Malia looked a little too pleased at the prospect of being team leader. Malia scowled at him, but Stiles just grinned and continued. "Derek, Parrish, Tasha, Okami, Caleb, you're with me."
"What about us?" Teresa asked, Mia beside her.
"You're on communications with Agent McCall and the Sheriff," Stiles said. "We need to keep in contact and know what's happening, and I'd prefer to know if we're all going to end up in the forest without accidentally killing each other."
"What's your reasoning for the groups?" Sean asked as the others started to move to their groups, no one else questioning Stiles' logic.
Stiles had expected this question from either McCall or Sean and nodded, taking a deep breath before answering. "Scott is leader because Deaton will probably let his guard down around him. Mohammed and yourself are two of the calmer and more level-headed of our groups, and trust me, you need all the patience you can get when dealing with Deaton. I figured Ari would be good as a backup to negotiate or, y'know, do her siren thing if he gets particularly cryptic. Marcie and Grant can look through Deaton's stuff while he's preoccupied with the questions in case he's lying.
"Lydia is team leader because if I hadn't assigned her that role, she would have ended up with it anyway. If there's something weird going on at Mr. Forrester's, then I'm hoping Sara will be able to see whatever that is with her magic. Tomika and Jade are both banshees with more experience than Lydia, so I'm sure they'll either be able to sense more than Lydia or the three of them together will figure out something from pure will alone. Li and Kuhle because... well, Li can impersonate an officer if anything goes wrong, and Kuhle looks older than he is so he'll be able to go with it.
"Malia's team leader because she knows the forest better than most, and she, Mason, and Liam have been following the rats for the past two or three weeks. I figure Jorge would have a better sense of smell in regards to blood, if there is any, and Yelena can help him investigate things with a clearer head than the other three. Yukimi is there to ensure they don't rip each others' throats out.
"For myself, I'm still not entirely pleased about going to a hellhound and letting them pull something out of my chest, so I've gone with the werewolves as backup and Parrish as mediator and translator," Stiles finished, and looked to Sean for any further questions or comments.
Sean looked from Stiles to the rest of the group. After a long moment of silence, he nodded in agreement. "I hope it works out that way. We'll find out soon enough."
...
The Sheriff returned as they were all sorting out the tactical gear they'd need, from vests and torches, to two-way radios, guns and tasers. He wasn't entirely surprised to find his son in the middle of it all, rationing out weapons and vests and looking, for all intents and purposes, to be in charge of the whole situation.
For all that Rafe and Sean were both seniors within the FBI, neither one seemed to mind that a nineteen-year-old was practically running their investigation. To be fair, the Sheriff doubted that either man would have been able to stop Stiles anyway.
"We have a problem," the Sheriff said, drawing everyone's attention.
"Well, I wouldn't say problem," a voice drawled behind him, somewhere between amused and offended.
Lydia stiffened at the voice and she looked over to the doorway to see Jackson standing there with Ethan and Isaac behind him.
The Sheriff ignored Jackson and continued, "The problem is that Gerard Argent has been spotted in town, and someone's robbed Mrs. Gawler; the suspect matches Kate Argent's description. Mrs. Gawler's okay; she scared Argent off with wolfsbane bullets when she shifted," he added.
Most of the recruits recognised Kate Argent's name from Derek Hale's file as the woman who had burned his family alive. They all looked to him in varying degrees of worry, unease, and pity.
Stiles grabbed Derek's hand and squeezed gently in support, then he looked to Jackson, Ethan, and Isaac. "How did you three find us?"
"Easy, we followed the scent of loser down the hallway," Jackson said, rolling his eyes.
More than five people snarled at his comment, bristling at his tone. Stiles tried not to laugh at the werewolf's surprised expression. "Nice to see you too, Whittemore. I assume you're not in Beacon Hills for a holiday?" he added, looking between the three werewolves with a raised eyebrow.
"We're here to help," Isaac said from behind Jackson, putting a hand on his shoulder.
On the other side of him, Ethan did the same thing. Stiles watched curiously as a couple of emotions flashed across Jackson's face and he realised that the werewolf was terrified. Jackson had escaped Beacon Hills almost four years ago now, and yet here he was again, probably pulled back by some force he didn't understand nor want. Jackson's small pack was probably the only reason he hadn't gone running to escape that force completely.
"Thank you, we appreciate it. Can you three patrol and report back to communications with anything you come across? We're expecting more than just the Argents," Stiles added, nodding to the two-way radios. "Map's on the wall; you're welcome to chart your own route, though I've got a few ideas if you need," he added, offering but not implying they couldn't do it themselves.
Jackson walked into the room with Ethan and Isaac, though he stopped short when he saw Lydia. "Lydia? I... I didn't scent you," Jackson said, his façade dropping away in an instant.
Lydia plastered a smile on her face. "A few things have changed since you left, Jackson; I guess my scent's one of them," she added, her voice firm.
Stiles noticed that Tomika was gripping Lydia's hand firmly, as a show of support and friendship rather than anything else. Not yet, at least.
Jackson seemed to realise that this wasn't the time or place, nodded briefly, and continued to over to the map on the wall. The three werewolves looked at the map, Isaac's chin hooked over Jackson's shoulder, and Ethan's body a firm line against Jackson's.
Stiles continued to ration items, flitting between people to make sure they'd all be all right, before looking at the communications setup that McCall and the Sheriff were working on.
"Hey, Stilinski. Isaac's got an idea for a route but we want to compare it to yours," Jackson called out after a moment.
"You show me yours, I'll show you mine?" Stiles snickered.
Scott and Li groaned, Lydia and Tomika rolled their eyes, and the Sheriff shook his head. For the most part, people ignored Stiles, already used to his particular brand of humour or too busy preparing for the night ahead.
Isaac waited until Stiles was beside them to describe the route he'd worked out. "Jackson can patrol North to South; Ethan South to North, and I can go to the groups between the different areas," he suggested, showing the path with his finger.
"That's a lot of distance to cover," Stiles said.
"Isaac's fast," Jackson said, almost defensively.
"All right. We'll probably end up at the hospital at some point, either because of injuries or just the usual random crap that goes on there, so include that in your patrol. Can you add the school in, just in case? There's nothing that should be happening there, but too much shit's happened there to rule it out."
"We're leaving now," Lydia called over her shoulder, leading her group out of the room to where Mr. Forrester was waiting for them.
"Go ahead and start patrolling," Jackson said to Isaac and Ethan. "Contact me the second you need anything, all right?"
Isaac nuzzled against his neck briefly and Ethan squeezed his shoulder, then they were both gone. Stiles was curious, but decided it wasn't the time to ask. Besides, Jackson would probably claw him to death before he finished asking the question.
"The only reason I came back to this hellhole was because of those two. Don't make me regret it," Jackson said, a warning in his tone that if anything happened to Isaac or Ethan, he would hold Stiles personally responsible.
"I won't," he said, serious as he nodded firmly in understanding and agreement. Then Stiles grinned. "I guess you are everyone's type, huh?"
Jackson smirked. "Of course I am," he said, grabbing a two-way radio on his way out.
Stiles waited until Jackson left before going to his group, where Parrish was putting his vest on and Derek was standing with Caleb, Tasha, and Okami, all four already wearing their own vests. "Ready to go?"
They all nodded in return. Stiles hugged his father before he left, grabbing his things on the way out. Piling into the BHPD van they'd been provided with, Parrish started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot, heading towards the last known whereabouts of the hellhound.
...
End of the eighteenth chapter.
Author's note: Okami, Tasha, and Caleb's backstories
Okami, Tasha, and Caleb knew of each other - their senses weren't that limited as omegas - but they usually stayed out of each other's way because three omegas in one space without an Alpha was a recipe for disaster. Rafe knew about them being werewolves, but he's their boss and not their Alpha.
Tasha is from Texas, and is a born 'wolf. Her pack was destroyed by hunters when she was an adult and she felt her status change from beta to omega in the same instant. She still has no idea who killed her pack. Her anchor is justice.
Okami is Japanese-American and was born in New York. Okami was bitten on one of her first jobs for the FBI but she didn't include the red glowing eyes and the bite she'd received in her report. Since the bite was gone the next day, and she'd killed the guy anyway (accidental decapitation did have to go in her report), it didn't seem real let alone believable to anyone else. She found information online to help her through the changes, and survived her first full moon in her building's basement, as far away from the moon as possible. Okami's anchor is her late grandfather. (She unintentionally gave away her Alpha status to help a werewolf while on a job, but felt better as an omega without the Alpha drive to create a pack.)
Caleb refuses to tell anyone where he's from. He's a bitten 'wolf as well, and his transition and first full moon weren't as smooth as Okami's as his Alpha was sadistic and had too much power over him. At the first chance he could get, Caleb ran as far away from his Alpha as possible, until their call was a dull ache at the back of his mind and somewhat easier to forget. When he accepted Stiles as Alpha, his headache disappeared. His anchor is freedom and his sense of self.
...
If you want to read how I think Jackson and Isaac meet, I wrote 'Home is where pack is' a while back (now posted on FFNet). Just pretend that Ethan tries to get as far away from BH as possible and ends up in London as well, okay?