Two-Pack III: Teen Wolf Season Five

by lordtrayus

The Ghost Pack is defeated, and Scott's pack have emerged stronger than ever. However, an insidious new enemy has come to Beacon Hills, the evil Dread Doctors, who will stop at nothing until they have completely exterminated all supernatural life, and the only thing in their way, is Scott's pack...

10. Episode 2: IED Part 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf

Two-Pack III

"He let Neo tag along, is he crazy?" Scott hissed at Isaac as they arrived, and Isaac gestured helplessly.

"I did try to explain this to him on the way here, but apparently, I was the only person listening. The Nemeton looks fine by the way." He assured him, and Scott sighed a little, that was at least one thing off his mind.

The entire pack was assembled, all of them in their various states of battle readiness. Neo however, sticking out like a sore thumb, was sticking close to Stiles, and seemed to be pestering him with incessant questions, which Scott snorted in amusement at, served his idiot best friend right for bringing the new kid into what was, essentially a high school paramilitary vigilante operation.

Meanwhile, the rest of the pack were all getting ready. Kira had her sword ready and prepared, Danny, like Isaac, was armed with his bow. Stiles had his clawed gauntlets on, Violet had her knuckle dusters, flick knife and two guns. Argent was as heavily armed as he usually was. Next to the more equipped members of the pack, Liam looked very intimidated and small.

"Did you speak to him?" Isaac asked in an undertone, and Scott nodded.

"Yeah, I've told him to stick close to us. Lydia, what is it?" he asked in concern, as she was leaning heavily on her staff, kneading her head wearily.

"She's been like this all day." Aiden told him in concern, coming up and standing worriedly beside his girlfriend, who sighed in frustration.

"It's the voices, they haven't let up all day, it's like a drum, beating through my head, it's driving me crazy." She complained, and close to, Scott thought she looked quite tired.

"Can you hear what the voices are saying?" he asked, wondering if it was perhaps a premonition of the action they were about to undertake.

"No, and that actually makes it worse. They're getting louder, but it's just a racket, like when we're in Lunar and the music's too loud, I can't actually hear what they're saying."

"Do you want to sit this out?" Isaac asked in concern, and she shook her head irritably.

"No, I'm hoping that doing this will get rid of the noise, and besides, kicking some bad guy's asses will certainly improve my mood." She assured him, and Scott had to grin at that, and then gestured everyone closer to him so he could talk to them all.

The entire pack was present, with the exception of Garrett and Parrish, who Scott had left at the hospital to protect Brooke and Lori, who, while awake, were in no fit state to be fighting a bunch of poachers even if the leader of them was the reason they were in the hospital in the first place.

"Ok everyone, we know what this is about," Scott began, glaring at Stiles, who was standing reassuringly beside a very confused Neo, "Crockett is here, and is most likely here to come after us. He's already attacked some packs, and according to Brooke and Lori, he's already taken Satomi's pack, and the pack that Brooke came from. I used their memories to figure out roughly where Crockett is operating out of, and I think I know where he is. We need to bring him down before he comes after us. Hopefully, he doesn't know we're coming, but we can't make thar guarantee. So, everyone stay back, stick close to each other, no one dies, no one gets hurt, understood?" he demanded, and the entire pack nodded in unison.

"Who are you guys?" Neo asked uncertainly, however, while Stiles spluttered over an answer, receiving a glare from Scott in the first place, Neo's mind was working overtime.

Even back home in South Africa, he had heard of Crockett, the best of the world's supernatural poachers. As Africa had a great deal of many unique shapeshifting species, he had made several trips to the continent, and as such, due to the families he had ripped asunder, he was as much of a horror story as the Big Bad Wolf, or other such stories that his mother had told him growing up. If Crockett was here, and hunting for Stiles and his friends, they were clearly involved in the supernatural in ways that Neo had no clue about. He'd told his dad that Jackson was a shapeshifter like he was!

But it was clear that this group of friends, or pack he was beginning to suspect, with Scott clearly the Alpha, were rather used to this. He could see it from the way they were preparing themselves for battle, they were used to fighting, battle-hardened for want of a better term, and they all looked at Scott with the respect, admiration and love he had clearly earned. He did remember once, a story his mother had told him, that one day, a True Alpha would come. She had told him True Alphas were very rare, but she felt that the next one would be unique, and the entire world would be different because of his arrival. And now, faced with the fact that his new-found friends were now hunting an infamous poacher, their clear battle experience and all, Neo began to wonder if the fairy tale his mother had told him all those years ago was actually coming true, right here in his new home.

"Neo, please stay here." Stiles begged, and Neo looked uncertainly at the friend group (pack?), but shook his head.

Not because he particularly wanted to go and fight, he didn't like fighting, but he did know how, and could do it quite well. But these new friends he was making, they were about to go after someone very dangerous, and that meant, he was needed.

"It's ok Stiles, I won't get in the way, I promise. And if this Crockett guy is shooting teenagers, and you're a bunch of teenage vigilantes going out to bring him down, then I'm coming too." He told him defiantly, and Stiles sagged a little in defeat.

Neo had text him when he had been speaking with Isaac on the journey here, and Stiles hadn't checked to see who had actually sent the message, and had misread it, thinking it was Malia, who's name was abbreviated to Mal on his phone. It wasn't until the newcomer to town had confirmed he was coming that Stiles had realised his mistake, which had led to a lecture from Isaac for the rest of the journey.

God, he hated when the other second in command of the pack was right.

"Is he crazy? Bringing Neo into this?" Derek growled in Scott's ear as Scott led the way through to roughly where he suspected Crockett had set up camp, Liam closely dogging his heels as he'd been instructed.

"I know, I don't want him here any more than you do, nothing against him, but it's a bit much finding out his new friends are a bunch of supernaturally enhanced vigilantes. But he's not taking the hint, and I don't want to tie him up or anything." He mumbled, and Derek's lips twitched in amusement.

"Maybe you should kidnap him." He teased, and Scott went scarlet and shot the older wolf a furious look, while Braeden and Argent chuckled beside him.

Argent looked over at the new kid, slightly suspicious he had to admit. But, he didn't feel like the kid was threatening in any way, he seemed, well, kind of sweet to be honest, which Scott could also be described as, if he wasn't in the business of making his only daughter a woman when he had first met him.

"You reckon he's like us?" Kaisha asked in a low voice, following his gaze over to the new blond kid, and Argent nodded hesitantly.

"Possibly, anyone else would have gone a mile by now. I think he is, he just wants to find out exactly what everyone is before he reveals himself. But, keep an eye, just in case." He advised, the pack edging through the pack, and he had to admit, to the casual observer or passer-by, they would be a rather bizarre sight.

A bunch of teenagers, one with a staff, one with a sword, two with bows, and one with guns, a bunch of unarmed teenagers, complete with three older young adults, one of whom was also heavily armed, and an older man similarly heavily armed all traipsing through the woods on a unseasonably cold April night, the frost crunching beneath their feet as they headed towards the distant sounds of the river raging below, and towards a possible confrontation with a highly dangerous poacher.

"You smell anything new yet Malia?" Melody asked, as her best friend was slightly ahead of the others, using the best nose in the pack to try and figure out if they were on the right path towards Crockett's camp.

"I think so, there's certainly some creatures, ones I haven't smelled before in this direction, we're on the right path." She told their Alpha, who raised a hand, and the whole pack came to a stop, as Scott allowed his eyes to glow red, peering through the trees.

Yep, there was definitely a bunch of people through there, and he was starting to get the whiff of guns, that lovely bouquet that hunters and their ilk usually had about them. And Malia was right, as they all edged closer, he was also picking up some different scents than they usually dealt with, likely the scents of the pack that Brooke belonged to, as she had described several creatures that they had never even heard of before when explaining about her pack.

Melody looked out through the trees, and seeing everyone was suitably distracted edging towards the poacher camp, she quickly risked seeing in her supernatural form's many eyes. Yep, that was Crockett alright. Not that she'd ever met the man, but his reputation preceded him as it did so many others of his kind. And the African pack, they were an oddity among their world, they enjoyed roving from place to place, and Savannah, their Alpha for want of a better term, was well respected within their community, and also rightly feared due to her nature as one of the apex predators of the planet. Crockett being here didn't bode well for anybody, and she was forced to agree with Scott, the damned poacher might have taken down the African pack and captured Satomi's pack, but the real reason he had to be here was likely to be to hunt Scott's pack. And while that would be very bad, and could also kybosh the plans of her mother and the rest of the Beasturo, she also had to admit to a rather selfish desire to avoid that, as if the poacher got his grubby hands on her, when she was one, the princess, and two, a rather unique creature, the results would be disastrous.

Yeah, Crockett had to go.

"What do we do?" she asked Scott curiously, remembering this was her first time officially joining the pack for one of their missions, as the final battle with Agravaine she had been in what Aiden had described as her Batwoman costume.

Scott didn't answer, and instead crept closer, and now that they were closer, he could heard the soft, dangerous voice giving the orders, which was clearly the voice of Crockett. He stealthily pulled some leaves apart, peering through the trees, the rest of the pack hovering anxiously behind him.

Malia also joined in, poking her head through the leaves as well as they surveyed the problem. Seven hunters, patrolling around several people trapped inside crudely constructed cages who were lying on the floors of their prisons, looking listless and lifeless. A number of tents had been set up, and there were a couple of boxes littered around, and some thick storage containers were sitting on top of the tables. There was a roaring fire in the centre with a cooking pot hanging over it. There were also several open wooden crates, with enough handles sticking out to let Scott deduce they were filled with weapons, namely rifles and machine guns in this case.

This wasn't going to be easy.

But fortunately, he had a very well-trained pack on side to help deal with the situation.

"Ok, here's what we're going to do. Liam, remember, stay close to me and Isaac. Neo, stay back, this is dangerous. Argent, Cam, Kaisha, well split up and you three will go in, guns blazing, we're not shooting to kill, and before anyone complains," he said with a voice of forced patience, not that anyone was going to protest, they had learned that lesson the hard way when dealing with Agravaine, "we need to interrogate them, see if they know who's behind this, if they know where Satomi and her pack were dragged off to. Kira, you lead your group with Kaisha, Lydia, you follow Camden, my group will follow Argent. We go in smart, we go in quick, we blind then neutralise. Ok?" he asked, and everyone nodded, clearly eager to get started, and Scott looked over at his boyfriend, "Isaac," Scott said with a slight purr, and his boyfriend grinned, "after you."

The entire pack moved into position, and Neo felt a thrill course through him, as he realised, with unequivocable proof, that he truly was among other supernatural beings. It was clear that his initial suspicions had been right, and they truly were well-trained, battle hardened and knew how to fight, and from the look of approval that Argent was giving Scott, it was clear that their leader knew how to strategize.

"Who are you guys really?" Neo asked in a low voice, and Stiles winced as he was drilled by numerous glares from the rest of the pack.

"We stop bad guys, we spend a lot of our time stopping bad guys actually, and the people out there are kidnapping people and shooting kids. We need to stop them, especially if they actually are planning on coming after us. No offence to you Neo, but you really shouldn't have come, this is dangerous, and you've never dealt with anything like this before." Scott told him softly, as Liam looked at him anxiously, only for Isaac to lay a reassuring hand on the younger kid's shoulder.

"Scott, I'm…look, I'm sorry, if I had known what you guys were really up to…" Neo began, but he shook his head, while glaring at his best friend, who gulped and looked worriedly towards Neo.

"Hey, it isn't your fault. Just stay back, ok? I mean its your first day of school tomorrow, and it would be pretty poor if you got shot the day before. This is dangerous, stay back, behind a tree or something, and be careful. Don't follow us out there, I don't want you getting hurt. We'll call you when it's all over." He assured him, and Stiles then trotted over, looking very guilty.

"I'm so sorry Neo, I didn't realise it was you who messaged me, I never wanted you involved in any of this, it's just…" he rambled, and Neo shrugged, and while he did send Scott a slightly resentful look, he did nod.

"Hey, it's ok, I probably shouldn't have pushed. Don't worry, I'll stay back. Just, don't get shot, ok?" he asked hopefully, and Stiles grinned, and after gesturing Neo behind a large tree, he headed to join his part of the attack group.

Neo looked around at the various pack members who made up of Scott's group of friends. It was clear that this pack, as he was ninety nine percent certain that they were indeed a pack, cared a lot for each other and that they'd been through a lot together. He'd met other packs before, and like he'd said, he had dealt with other things before, and knew how to fight, but the pack didn't know that, how could they? But this, this was different, this was a full-fledged pack, and despite the terror of the fact that he was about to get involved in a showdown between the most dangerous poacher in the world, and between a wolf pack, he couldn't help but feel excited, hopeful, that after all this time, he might finally find a place to belong.

Despite the very real fear he felt as he observed the pack assembling for battle, Neo couldn't help but feel he would be pretty safe. One, he was going to stay back, after all, they seemed to do this sort of thing frequently enough to have battle plans, set roles and the like, he would just get in the way, which wasn't advisable when the opposing side had guns and such. And two, he couldn't help but trust Scott, and his pack, they seemed to know what they were doing, had their plan, and were clearly just waiting for Scott's signal.

They had split into three separate groups. The flank on the left consisted of Camden who was wielding a rifle, the twins, Lydia who was wielding her staff, Violet who also had her own guns, and Malia, who was hovering restlessly, clearly anticipating the order to attack. The right flank was made up of Rakaisha, Kira who had her sword in hand, Jackson, Danny who was armed with his bow and arrows, Melody and Braeden, who uniquely wielded a bizarre, futuristic looking gun that seemed to crackle with electricity. The central flank was where Scott was, backed up by Isaac and Liam, who was sticking close to Scott as he'd been told, Stiles, Derek and Argent rounded them off, with him wielding two hand guns.

Scott took a last look over his pack, then nodded, grinning at Isaac, who smirked as he readied his bow.

"Ready when you are honey." He told him, and Isaac pulled an arrow with some sort of cannister mounted to the shaft from his quiver, docked it into his bow, and aimed it into the sky, ready to fire.

XX

The hospital was quiet this late at night, with few people floating around, and the few conversations were generally in hushed tones. Parrish and Garrett were both based in the room that was being shared by both Brooke and Lori, alert for any kind of skulduggery, both of them as armed as they could be in the present circumstances.

"Are you ok?" Parrish asked worriedly, as Garrett had been pacing relentlessly for a while now, while the deputy was sitting quite at ease at the foot of Lori's bed, a magazine beside him, with a clear view of the door.

"Yeah, I'm just…worried. After what happened, I don't like Liam being out there without me." He complained, and Parrish smiled a little, the two of them were quite the double act admittedly.

"Liam will be fine, he'll be with the rest of the pack, and besides, Scott won't let anything happen to him, he'll be safe. Well, as safe as you can get when you're going after some lunatic kidnapping poacher I suppose." He mused, going back to his magazine, while Garrett, far from being reassured, simply resumed his pacing.

Since Scott had left, and had apologetically used his powers to check Brooke's memories to try and figure out where Crockett was striking from, the two girls had been fading in and out of consciousness, but it was clear even to Garrett that both of them were now starting to heal, a benefit of the bullets having been removed from their bodies. The two girls were currently fast asleep, leaving Garrett to pace and watch them while Parrish was a little more relaxed as he watched the door.

He didn't like stakeouts of any sort, and had done a couple with Argent as practice. They were irritating, boring, and Garrett was the sort of person who preferred to be doing something. Admittedly, it might be different if Brooke was awake, she seemed quite, well…but she was currently asleep, and while he did like Parrish, there was only so much they could talk about.

He was distracted from his musings when a burly looking orderly stuck his head into the room.

"Excuse me, could you give me a minute or two? Need to check them over." He told them, and both Parrish and Garrett nodded, heading out of the room to allow him the space to check over the girls while preserving their modesty.

The two of them headed down the corridor, but as they did so, both Garrett and Parrish started to get an unsettled feeling. Admittedly, the hospital was pretty creepy at the best of times, no denying that, and considering Garrett's nerves were shot after staying here virtually all night to make sure that Liam was alright after he was attacked, he was to be forgiven for being slightly more unsettled by the place than usual. But, no, there was something that just wasn't quite right. His dad had gone home hours ago, the others were all out hunting Crockett, and there were very few nurses floating about either. Melissa wasn't even here either, she was making the most of her night off, but something just didn't seem right.

"Hey, look, someone's not wiped their feet." Parrish commented, and Garrett looked down at the floor, and there were indeed muddy footprints on the floor.

"Bit much when it's a hospital we're in. Ooh, if we find out who it was, I could drop them in with dad!" he replied brightly, and Parrish sent him a look out of the side of his eyes.

"You know, you're a horrid little person." He commented, and Garrett grinned and shrugged.

"Have you seen our pack? Our Alpha's too sweet, we need someone who can be a dick on occasion, and fortunately, I'm very good at it. Hey," he said, coming to a stop as he actually looked at the prints instead of just giving them a cursory inspection, "is it me, or are they pointing back towards…?" Garrett began, his hand dropping to the waist of his jeans and slipping his gun into his hand, as Parrish went pale and turned back to look at the room where they had left the girls.

Garrett was right, the footprints were heading in that direction. And the footprints definitely hadn't been there since Scott left, they'd have been cleaned up by now, the cleaning guy, Clarence, had come in earlier, and Garrett had had to stick his hand in his mouth to stop from sniggering when he realised the cleaner was reciting the lyrics to 'The Good Ship Venus', the floor had been cleaned, but that meant…

"SHIT!" Parrish hissed, drawing his own gun and the two of them hurtled along the corridor, heading right for the girl's room, only for bullets to come banging out of the room, forcing them both to scramble to the floor to get out of the way.

The so-called orderly clearly wasn't an orderly it seemed, and was in the midst of apparently trying to take both Brooke and Lori out of the room, with the two girls still groggy from sleep. However, to Parrish's consternation, it seemed as though there was an extra injector nodule put on each IV drip going into the two girls, so it seemed he had drugged them in order to help subdue them.

The hunter fired randomly up the corridor again, while Parrish sheltered behind a medical cart and Garrett stayed low behind the reception desk. The guy had the advantage of position, and with the girls out of commission, and also right behind him, the two boys could hardly afford to fire indiscriminately lest they hit them in the crossfire. However, the hunter had no such compunctions, but with his prey sheltered, he would have to come down the corridor in order to try and shoot them. He also had to make good his escape before any reinforcements arrived.

Either way, for the moment, it was a stalemate.

"Look, this doesn't have to end with you dead! I'll just take the monsters and go!" the hunter called, currently hiding behind the partition, meaning Garrett and Parrish couldn't even risk trying to shoot him as it would just go into the wall.

"You realise I'm a cop right? Put the gun down and slide it out!" Parrish yelled down the corridor, alert for any sign of any other staff coming to investigate the source of the racket they were making.

"That's what you think." The hunter muttered, or that was what it sounded like to Garrett as he edged forward a bit to try and get a better read on the situation.

Brooke and Lori were both unconscious in their beds, close to the door, and very much in the line of fire if things went south. The hunter was standing behind the partition wall leading into their room, and wasn't in the right position for him to risk shooting out the glass window, leaving him and Parrish unable to attack him that way. Meanwhile, the damn hunter had the advantage as the doorway he was standing inside of was a chokepoint, and the girls were in the line of fire of both boys.

Parrish looked across at Garrett. Despite being young, and technically his first time under genuine fire (Agravaine's fire in the final battle didn't count), he was holding up quite well, his face was resolved, and he was only shaking a little bit as he brought his gun up, but there was no way that either of them could get close enough to neutralise the damn hunter without getting shot themselves. They needed to force him out…

Garrett chanced a look across at Parrish, and tried desperately to stop shaking. This was different than before, the battles with Agravaine and the Calaveras, this time, it was just him and Parrish, this time they were very much at a disadvantage, and this time, Garrett now had an adopted brother and didn't want to leave him to face being a werewolf alone.

But he just couldn't stop shaking, Argent had warned both him and Violet that it was different in training than it was in real life. During one session, he had told them of a time when he had frozen up during a gun deal gone wrong, gangsters had tried to seize the shipment instead, and only Argent's poor, wild aiming had actually saved them by making the gangsters think that there was another shooter, and they had elected to retreat.

But this time, they didn't have help, there was no one to save them, the rest of the pack was in the preserve trying to stop Crockett and his attacks, this time, he and Parrish were on their own, and unless someone else in the deserted hospital heard the gunshots and called for reinforcements, they truly were on their own. Garrett highly doubted this guy would retreat just because one of them shot something they weren't meant to, like Argent had.

Argent had described firing indiscriminately which had frightened the gangsters, but this hunter was trapped and wouldn't retreat, he had nowhere to run to, but, he thought, a slight smirk coming to his face, maybe he could still make him panic, and he raised his gun and aimed for the window that looked into the girls room, pointing at the one furthest away from the girls, and after taking a steadying breath, using his left hand to help balance the gun's shaft, he squeezed the trigger.

The bullet whizzed through the air, crashing through the glass and shattering it everywhere, and the hunter turned to the source of the noise in automatic, blind panic. Parrish grinned at Garrett in the split second the younger kid stuck his head out from behind the desk, and made his move. He shoved the medical cart with all his strength, and the distracted hunter turned and pumped several bullets into the cart, to no avail, as Parrish ran along in a squat behind it, and as the hunter edged round the door to try and shoot down onto Parrish's head, Parrish then slammed the cart through the door, catching the hunter in the stomach, winding him and doubling him over. As the hunter wheezed, Parrish then backhanded him into the wall, and as the hunter stumbled, his gun dropped out of his hand, landing on the floor with a clatter. The hunter looked at Parrish in panic, sure he saw his eyes flash orange before the young deputy punched him in the face, dropping the hunter like a sack of potatoes, and finally let out a sigh of relief.

"That was too close, you ok?" Parrish asked as Garrett came over to him, holstering his gun, and blushing a little at the proud look Parrish was giving him

"Yeah, are they?" he asked worriedly, pointing to the two girls, and Parrish was about to respond when he finally heard other people rushing towards them.

"We heard guns hots, bloody hell, what's been going on here?" the attending doctor spluttered in shock, and Garrett sighed as the nurses came to check on the girls.

They had called it right that Crockett would try and take back the girls at least, and for the moment at least, they were safe. But, he mused darkly as Parrish cuffed the hunter and explained what had happened to the doctor, if these hunters were willing to come after unconscious supernaturals…what the hell did they want them for that they were so willing to act so openly in order to try and get them back?

XX

The arrow shot through the air as the hunters milled about, and landed right at Crockett's feet. Crockett barely had time to yell a warning as gas hissed out of the canister on the side of the arrow, surrounding himself and his team in a thick fog. Cursing, he went for his gun as several menacing growls carried across the overlook where he made his camp, and just barely, through the smoke, he could see the glowing red eyes of the True Alpha of Beacon Hills.

Scott gave a roar of challenge as he and his pack stormed into the smog surrounded area, as the poachers opened fire with bullets, firing indiscriminately. Kaisha was on the case within an instant, her eyes glowing a brilliant green as she raised a hand, a glowing green bubble flashing into existence before her, absorbing the bullets and allowing the pack to get in close.

"Take them down, and remember, don't kill them, they're worth more alive!" Crockett spat, but he knew that the pack had them at a disadvantage, and fired towards the Alpha, trying to dissuade him from the attack.

Scott twirled through the air, making a beeline right for Crockett as his pack surged through, and the other hunters began to cry out in pain and terror as his pack fell upon them. Her eyes glowing green, Lydia then stood forward, and let out a screaming whistle, the smoke blowing all around them and dispersing into the air, as the hunters realised that the pack was already in far too close for them to do anything about, and Scott grinned.

One hunter shot at Isaac, but Isaac twirled out of the way, his knives glinting out, acting like an extension of his claws and tore the hand of the hunter to shreds before his gold eyed Prime Beta punched the now screaming hunter in the face, dropping him to the ground.

Kira swung her sword, sending the hunter that was trying to shoot at her's gun hurtling over the edge of the overlook, giving a satisfying splash as it landed in the river below, and Kira then directed a surge of lightning through her sword, catching the woman in the chest, and she screamed in pain as she was blown across the overlook, crashing down to the ground where she moved no more.

Aiden, most unfortunately for everyone concerned, had picked up a log from the fire that was burning and now one hunter was urgently backpedalling in order to get away from the arson-inclined Beta. As he fell back, the hunters' foot found the edge of the overlook and he fell, and with a split second regretful look at the burning log, Aiden cast it off the edge and into the river, stooping to catch the falling hunter, before hoisting him up single handed and then threw him through the air, the hunter plunging through the side of the tent which promptly collapsed in on him and tangled him up in the fabric.

Lydia danced through the air, her staff spinning around her as she emitted a sonic scream, the woman trying to stick a bullet through her skull screeching in pain, dropping her gun as she clamped her hands to her ears to try and stave off the sound based assault, but that proved to be a fatal mistake as Lydia performed a brilliant pirouette and then whacked her staff into the woman's chin as though she was wielding a baseball bat, and the woman dropped to the ground with a thud.

Jackson snarled as one hunter shot at him numerous times, trying to catch him, but he was too fast, and he closed in on him, as Danny kept up a steady stream of arrows that were distracting the hunter. The man snarled, grabbing for his cattle prod that was holstered in his belt when one of Danny's arrows punctured right through his leg, the man dropping to the floor, yelling in furious pain before Jackson kicked him in the face, the man dropping down and moving no more.

Camden fired his rifle, forcing the hunter he was shooting at to take cover behind the cages holding the African pack members. The man edged out cautiously, firing at Camden, who was well versed at dodging enemy fire, and also knowing he had to lead the battle away from the captives. However, his opponent didn't seem to have the same concerns and laid down covering fire, trying to keep Camden back, but seeing a green plume of smoke materialise beside the man, he simply grinned and shot a bullet lazily into the sky, to keep the hunter occupied. The hunter grinned, edging up above the cage, but then a hand grabbed his shoulder, and he was twirled round to face an enraged Djinn, who surrounded her fist in glowing green magic before punching him in the mouth, his head whiplashing back off the cage one of the captives was in and he went still.

Argent laid down covering fire as he and Scott advanced towards Crockett, who, unlike his hired help, was much better at this kind of fight. He sprayed several bullets towards the advancing pack's forces, readying a flashbang with his spare hand which he hurled at Scott with all his might. The True Alpha was up to the challenge, dancing out of the way of the flashbang's path, seizing it from the air, and then lobbing it back at it's owner, who had a split second to look astonished before the flashbang went off, blinding him with a howl of pain. Scott grinned in primal satisfaction, springing towards the man, his claws ripping into the man's plaid covered chest. Crockett cried out in enraged pain, punching at Scott, who caught his offending hand and let out a guttural snarl, and Crockett's snarl of pain became a squeal as Scott crushed his hand in his grip, grinding the bones together. Scott then slammed his knee into Crockett's gut, doubling the man over before following up with a final punch, which lifted him off his feet, into the air, and slammed him down hard onto his back, Crockett wheezing in pain as he laid there, silently cursing the Alpha.

Yep, he should have let those other poachers he'd hired live, they might have stood more of a chance…

The last remnants of the smoke were clearing, and Scott sent a proud look around his pack, smiling at them. Not one injury, well not really, Melody's hair had a singed end from a rogue ember from the fire that the twins had dismantled on their way through the camp, but other than that, everyone was in one piece, and the fight had taken a minute or two at most. Damn, they were getting good, and while Liam had snarled and growled, he hadn't fought anyone, so that suited him.

"Well done Scott." Argent complimented, clapping his shoulder proudly, and Scott grinned as his pack started rounding up their vanquished opponents.

"Thanks. Like riding a bike, least they seem brighter than the Calaveras." He mused, and Argent chuckled, as a furious Crockett struggled back to his feet, and glared at both Scott and Argent, not that he could do much, disarmed and with no way out except through the pack, who were now starting to rip open the locks on the cages holding the African pack.

"The True Alpha of Beacon Hills…how did you find me?" Crockett spat holding his good hand to his still bleeding chest as the leather clad Alpha advanced towards him, Crockett casting an eye back and retreating ever so slightly from him, he had to time this just right after all, otherwise, he'd be very dead.

"A little help from one of the girls you shot, actually. Now, where are Satomi's pack?" Scott growled as Liam also followed suit, his Beta standing behind him loyally, but just far enough back that he would be protected should Crockett try anything against Scott.

Crockett glowered at the Alpha, and watched as his pack dismantled his cages, rounded up his men, and collected all the weapons together, while one of the archers hurried over to the computers that he had received from the Directive. Unfathomable that this little brat and his friends had been able to discover him, and had defeated him so thoroughly, the Directive were going to go ballistic.

"That you Argent?" the dark hunter challenged, his chin jutting out, and gave Argent a dismissive sneer as he levelled his gun at his head.

"Yeah, it's me. Now, the man asked you a question." He ground out, and Crockett scoffed at him, as if he would answer that.

"I don't know where they are, I catch the beasts, and hand them over to the highest bidder, that's my job." He purred smugly, and Scott growled, his claws growing and Crockett backed up a little more in slight alarm.

"Then who is the highest bidder, who are you working for?" he snarled, and Crockett chuckled darkly, edging back a little as Scott, Liam and Argent advanced towards him a little more.

Lydia, who was helping one of the captives out of their cage, looked over at where Scott was interrogating Crockett himself, and frowned, there was something not quite right there, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Come on now kid, in my line of work, blabbing gets you killed." Crockett teased, and Argent sighed wearily, and shot a bullet at Crockett's feet, who yelped in shock, dancing out the way of the bullet, but only barely.

"And not talking will also get you killed. Who hired you?" he demanded, and Crockett chuckled a little.

"Oh, come on now Argent, you know how this works. I'm not telling you anything." He taunted, and Liam snarled, taking a step forward, shaking in rage.

"Well how about we rip your balls off, that'll make you talk." He growled, and Scott laid a restraining hand on his shoulder, but he had to admit, the idea did have possibilities.

"I'm not telling you anything kid. You think the old bird's pack is the only one I've handed over? You've no idea who you're about to be dealing with!" Crockett boasted, laughing maliciously, and Scott had to say, he was getting very fed up of this interrogation, maybe it was time to bring in the twins.

"Ok, you're not going to talk? Fine. Aiden!" he yelled, and his twin bodyguard eagerly bounded over with an almost puppy like air about him, his eyes glowing blue as he extended his claws.

"Ouch time?" he asked hopefully, and Scott looked back at Crockett, who had gone slightly pale upon seeing how excited Aiden was at the idea of torturing him.

"Well, that depends. Crockett, who hired you, and where have you put Satomi and her pack?" Scott demanded, Aiden coiling as if to spring at the poacher, who glared at Scott, then jutted his chin out defiantly.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" he whispered in his soft, melodic voice, and it suddenly clicked what he was about to do.

"Scott, he's going to jump!" Lydia cried, and in the split second it took for the message to register, and Scott, Liam and Aiden surged forward to grab the poacher, Crockett gave them a maddening grin, and stepped backwards off the edge of the overlook.

A bullet lanced out, fired by Argent, knowing that if Crockett escaped they would only have to deal with him further down the line, but the laughing Crockett had plummeted off the edge, and with a splash, was lost into the river.

Scott cursed as he, Aiden and Liam stood on the very edge of the overlook, Scott gently restraining Liam in case he fell, but saw no sign of the poacher.

"Reckon he's dead?" Liam asked hopefully, and Scott let out a resigned sigh.

"With our luck? Probably not, and he'll probably come back with a regrowing head or some such nonsense. Damn it. Come on, let's see what we can find." He ordered, and with an irritated shake of his head towards Argent, who cursed, he headed back into the defeated camp.

Argent sighed in frustration, Scott was right, Crockett would be back. He was far too wily a hunter, and this time, he had been caught off-guard, caught unawares. Next time they encountered the poacher, he highly doubted it would be that easy. Musing that he should have just shot the immoral bastard when he'd had the chance, and that the chances of the fall having killed the bastard being rather slight, he headed back towards the camp with the others.

Scott looked around in satisfaction as the African pack were all freed from the cages that they had been so unceremoniously thrown into. However, despite looking slightly worse for wear, it seemed as though the African pack were all in one relative piece.

"Thank you for your help young Alpha," their leader said, a tall and striking dark woman who inclined her head to Scott respectfully as he approached her, and eagerly shook his hand when he reached towards her, "I am Savannah, the leader of our little pack, and we are in your debt."

Scott smiled at her.

"Don't worry about it, we'd have been here sooner but we didn't know where he was striking from. Are you alright?" he asked, and she nodded, glaring at the captive hunters.

"Other than being a bit malnourished, sore and our pride being a bit damaged, we're fine. How did you find us anyway?" Savannah asked as she ran her eyes over her pack, who all nodded to let her know they were alright.

"Brooke, she's alright, she's in the hospital, Liam found her and got her to safety." He explained, indicating his Beta, who went scarlet as Savannah sent him a thankful look and inclined her head to him as well.

"Then you have my thanks, I'm glad to know she's alright," she breathed with relief, sagging a little with the knowledge that the girl was alright, "thank you, for what you did for her, and for us."

Scott smiled as he led Savannah over to the various captured poachers, and her pack, such as it was, assembled around her, clearly relieved that everybody was alright.

"Who are you?" Scott snapped at one of their captives, who just glared back at him sullenly, and Scott allowed himself a little sigh of exhaustion.

Really, must they go through this every time?

"We're all quite willing to…persuade them to talk if you wish?" Savannah asked, a little hint of excitement in her voice as she glared down at the poachers, but Scott shook his head.

"No, not yet," he promised menacingly, and was glad to see they all went a bit paler at the insinuation, "but we'll keep it in mind. Who are you guys, who are you working for?" he demanded, and as Nalia advanced menacingly towards them, and the poacher that Aiden had neutralised shuddered in fear.

"We don't know, ok! Crockett hired all of us, but he was the one who was in talks with them, the one negotiating with the Directive!" they exclaimed in panic as Aiden and Ethan started to circle the captives, and Scott raised a hand to call the twins off.

"The Directive? Who are they?" he asked, and the poacher shrugged, still looking terrified.

"We don't know, we only know that they're the ones who are posting the bounties, Crockett was the one who knew everything, not us!" he insisted, and Stiles frowned as he came up to Scott's side.

"Bounties? What bounties?" he asked suspiciously, and the poacher indicated one of the mobile computer units with his head, which Danny was currently trying to break into, a frown on his face.

"We get paid for every pack we bring in," one of the other poachers explained bitterly, "every time we take down one of your packs, the Directive makes sure we get paid. We'd have gotten a pretty penny for them too," she griped, glaring at Savannah, who let out a warning growl, "until you lot showed up. But that's all we know, I swear!" she protested, as Aiden growled behind her, the woman going pale in terror, and Scott sighed, gesturing for Aiden to leave them alone.

Savannah looked at the captive poachers, her mind abuzz with the implications, as Scott turned to her, his expression one of exasperation.

"This Directive whoever they are, they've done something with Satomi's pack, one of her Betas survived the ambush on her pack and let me know. So if they captured her pack, also captured yours, and are likely gunning for us, then we're all in trouble." He explained, and Savannah nodded, looking around at her pack members, looking about darkly as she did so, the fact that there was some mysterious, shadowy organisation out there targeting supernaturals was rather, unsettling she supposed was the word.

"You don't know the half of it. Jacqui's pack hasn't been heard from, and Alastair hasn't been seen. He was taking his pack back from the Dakotas, but he never made it home. We were attacked, and had you not saved us, we likely would have been carted off to who knows where, Satomi's pack has also been targeted…something is picking us off." She told him in a dark whisper, and Scott nodded, certainly seemed that way, and Argent edged closer, his face grim.

"Scott, that isn't good. If this Directive is targeting packs, we don't just have to worry about them. Packs are starting to disappear across the world, might just be hunters, but if it isn't, then it could be the Fivefold, and if that's the case, then it risks it going on up to the highest levels, and antagonising the Beasturo." He warned, and Scott groaned.

The Beasturo were the shadowy organisation that ruled all of the shapeshifters of the world, while their counterpart was the Fivefold, which ran the more human like creatures, and on top of that there was the Artemisia, which ran all the hunters. All of them were apparently very interested in Scott, and in his pack, a fact exacerbated by the fact that Scott was the first True Alpha to have survived so long in over a century and that his home base was on a traditionally neutral ground which also happened to have the one unaligned Nemeton in existence growing in it too. And from what everyone said, both the Beasturo and the Fivefold were two sleeping giants, but the numerous dices with exposure, complete with Scott's mere existence, was apparently making them both extremely antsy, and they were both looking for a reason to go after the other.

Yay for him.

"But if this Directive are placing bounties on supernaturals, why isn't anyone else picking up on it?" Stiles asked, and Savannah frowned, pondering the situation as she tapped a finger against her chin.

"Well, from what we saw, it looked as though Crockett would receive updates on that computer thing, which, now I don't know much about computers, but I'd assume that it's connected in some way to the dark web. This Directive would have to be very careful though, as even on the dark web, if the news leaked out that there were truly things that go bump in the night out there, people would panic. So I assume that only a certain few hired guns are contacted by this Directive, they get the information, then filter it out to hired guns, like our friends over there." She mused, and Scott had to admit, it did seem a plasubile theory.

"That's a possibility I suppose. One thing that bothers me though, how did they know you were coming through town enough to capture you?" Argent asked, and Savannah shrugged.

"No idea, we're always careful. I suppose we can't rule out slight carelessness, or a little touch of arrogance," she admitted, smiling ruefully at Cockburn, who shrugged innocently, grinning a little, "after all, we can usually deal with most hunters. We're a rather unique bunch after all, tends to encourage up and coming hunters trying to take us down. But even then, they still shouldn't have been able to know exactly what way we were going, and let's face it, Crockett isn't exactly a normal hunter, he's elite, he's skilled. Someone knew what they were doing when they hired him."

Liam, who had been following Scott around, looking slightly nervous and unsure as he talked to Savannah, then cleared his throat, and the older woman turned and smiled at him encouragingly.

"Yes?" she asked kindly, and he went a little red, and pointedly ignored the grin on his Alpha, second in command and resident hunter's face, as he looked at the leader of the African pack.

"What's so special about you guys? If you don't mind me asking?" he asked nervously, and she fixed him with a warm smile before her brown eyes flicked to Scott, who grinned.

"Let me guess…new werewolf, perhaps first bitten Beta?" she teased, and his jaw dropped.

"How did you figure that out?" he asked, and she chuckled.

"You can see the signs. He stuck right next to you all through the battle, kept back, was quite restrained, and has been following you around like a puppy. I don't mean anything by it, son," she assured Liam, who was scowling while Stiles and Argent sniggered, "but you can tell. But from what I can see, I think you're going to be a fine young werewolf."

Liam went red, and he looked down at his shoes.

"Oh, thank you." He mumbled, and Cockburn trotted over, clapping a hand to his shoulder.

"Don't worry son, you'll get the hang of it. To answer your question, we're a rather unique pack, well, not a pack per se, more a travelling family. I'm a cockatrice," he told them, and upon seeing the blank looks everyone gave him (except Argent and Isaac, who was also now paying close attention (he'd read the Bestiary several times)), he relented and elaborated, "a sort of rooster dragon like thing. Savannah is a nunda, a poisonous werelion," he explained, and Scott looked at her, impressed, and she winked, "Nile is a korio, which is a were-crane for want of a better term," he explained, and the spindly looking man with a nasty looking cut above his eye gave them a cheerful wave as he kicked one of the captive poachers, "Nalia is a Mali, which is a were-hippo I suppose," he told them, and she gave a wave as she helped Melody and Malia dismantle several creates worth of weapons to see how much there was, "and Tyrin, who's a chimisit, a sort of were-hyena," he explained, pointing to the youngest present member of their group, "and you've already met Brooke."

"Wow, that's impressive." Isaac commented as he joined them, and Savannah smiled.

"You're very kind. We were coming to officially meet you, you know, present ourselves to the local Alpha when Crockett captured us. But thank you again, for your help, and your timely arrival, if it wasn't for you, goodness know would have became of us." She grumbled, and Scott shrugged it off.

"Like I said, you're welcome, and Crockett was clearly hoping to come after us. This Directive that hired him, we need to know more, Danny, did you find anything out?" he asked, as the pack clustered around their resident computer expert, who was looking at the computer as though it had done him an injustice.

"Hey, you ok?" Aiden asked Lydia worriedly as everyone packed around Danny, as she was sitting on a discarded crate, kneading her forehead with her fingers, her head between her knees.

"No, I thought stopping Crockett and his minions would help with the voices, but they're worse than ever, it's driving me mad!" she complained, and he sat down beside her and gently held her to him, and while it didn't help her pounding headache, the din of the voices was still running through her head, but she did feel slightly better.

"Well, in theory, I could crack it. But, there isn't anything to crack, not really. It's like an old time computer, you know, the likes of computers they had when computers first came out. There's no data stored directly on it, not really, it's essentially just one continuous document that gets updated, they need passwords, but you can access the whole thing. Not that it tells me much. I could try and enter whatever the passwords are, or cyphers, to try and unlock the newest version of the document, and I've got as many tries as I want, but obviously, there's millions of things that it could be." He explained, poking at the large, blocky piece of computing equipment that was stored in it's own white carry case.

"So what is on the list that you can access?" Tyrin asked curiously, peering at the computer, and Danny gestured helplessly.

"Just a bunch of names and numbers really, nothing that's of much use, maybe you need something else to explain it all?" he asked, looking at it, however as he scrolled down the page, Scott stopped him, bending past him to examine the computer.

"Satomi Ito, that's actually Satomi, and there's other members of her pack on it too…actually," he mused as he scrolled further down the page, "her entire pack is on it. So is yours Savannah." He told the other pack leader, and she looked at the computer screen.

Black screen complete with green writing, it looked like something right out of the Alien movies, and Danny was right, it was rather archaic, but just because it was didn't mean that it didn't have information on it.

"Hmm, Savannah Ncube, and then let's see, a fifteen…unless…I'm worth fifteen million!" she breathed in realisation, and everyone turned to look at her in shock.

"Wait, what?" Stiles demanded, and Danny then nodded, looking hesitantly at the screen as he checked the information.

"I think she's right, look at all these numbers, beside all the names. Like this one here, is point five, which means it's half obviously. The zeros would take up precious space, and also make it harder to figure out for any layman looking at it. Yeah, each of these numbers are zeroes. Whoever this Directive bunch are, they've got some serious cash." He told them, impressed despite himself, as there was a hell of a lot of money on offer on this list.

"That's crazy, I'm only worth a million!" Nile protested churlishly, then stomped his foot, crossed his arms and glared out at the world, thoroughly disgruntled, which made the rest of his pack snigger.

"There's loads of names on this Scott, this is scary, plus side, we're not on it!" Jackson said happily, but it was then that Scott got a horrible feeling in his stomach.

"Didn't you say that there's another part of this list to get unlocked?" he asked, a growing sense of impending doom enveloping him, and clearly seeing where his Alpha was going with this, Danny sighed then nodded.

"Well, yeah, but without whatever the cypher codes are, I can't get any further. And they could be anything, names, places, secret codes, who knows?" he complained, but it was then that Lydia, still sitting in Aiden's arms, suddenly jerked upright, her eyes snapping open as she could finally hear the names that had been droning through her head all day.

"Lyd?" Aiden asked worriedly, but she got to her feet and hurried over to Danny and the others, shoving Violet out of the way with her staff.

"I think I know what the cypher codes are, that's what's been grinding through my head all day! Shove over." She commanded, and with Danny out the way, she began to type in the four cypher codes, and as she did so, as Scott and the others saw the names that she was entering into the computer, the wave of grief, loss, recrimination, survivor's guilt and a myriad of other emotions flooded through the pack, all of them feeling sickened as she entered the four names:

ALLISON

MASON

ERICA

BOYD

And as Lydia entered them, there was a second of processing, and with the four cyphers, the list then unlocked.

"Son of a bitch!" Jackson hissed, there was no way that their dead pack mates being used as passwords was in any way a good thing, and as the updated list blazed to life in front of Lydia, the green writing shining slightly onto her face, they all felt their hearts and stomachs plummet as they saw the contents of the list:

SCOTT MCCALL 25

ISAAC LAHEY 18

LIAM DUNBAR 18

ETHAN AND AIDEN 25

ETHAN 11

AIDEN 11

JACKSON WHITTEMORE 15

DEREK HALE 5

LYDIA MARTIN 20

KIRA YUKIMURA 6

NOSHIKO YUKIMURA 5

MALIA TATE 4

KYLE PARRISH 5

STILES STILINKSI 2

RAKAISHA AMIRI 20

SEAN WALCOTT 2

NEO BOTHA 3

"I knew it." Scott complained, and the various pack members looked at the list, growing increasingly alarmed as they did so.

"Scott, this is a hit list!" Melody shrieked in shock, doing rather a good job of projecting the fear she actually felt in this current situation.

To everyone else it looked as though all the supernaturals within the pack were on the list, in fact there was a couple of others which bore investigation, but to her great and ever-lasting relief, her name wasn't on it, which meant that whoever had the cash to be paying these bounties didn't know about her. Small mercies she supposed.

But, from a purely professional point of view, this was rather terrifying. Someone out there knew enough about the pack to be able to offer these staggering bounties, and the sheer size of the prizes on offer were enough to give her pause. Someone extremely wealthy was offering this staggering sum of money, and while she did have some ideas who could be behind it, it didn't seem like any of their style, but did that necessarily mean that there was someone else involved, some previously unknown enemy?

"Scott, this is a hit list, a Deadpool, and why am I only worth two million when I'm your best friend?" Stiles demanded furiously, as though it was actually a deep insult that he wasn't worth more, and Isaac, grinning slightly, leaned in close to whisper in his ear.

"Well, as I'm worth eighteen million, clearly I'm more important to him." He teased, and Stiles looked at him furiously, clearly about to start bickering with him, and Scott sighed a little, really, now?

"Calm down Friend Bear," Kira advised, laying a hand on his shoulder, and both Scott and Liam sniggered as Stiles turned to glower at her, Isaac shuddering in silent mirth behind him, "look at the list. Not all of us are on it. It's only the supernaturals who are on it, no humans. Danny, Garrett, Violet and Camden aren't on it at all, just all of us." She explained, and Derek nodded, looking pensive.

"Yeah, she's right. But the worrying thing is, whoever set the list has up to date information, Liam's on the list, which means they know he's a werewolf."

"But I've only been a werewolf for two days!" Liam protested, and Derek nodded, looking grim.

"Yeah, exactly."

Scott looked darkly at Lydia, who groaned. Derek was right, the fact that Liam was on the list meant that whoever posted this Deadpool as Stiles called it, they knew that Liam had received the bite, which was actually even more worrying than anything else. If they knew about Liam, his bitten Beta, being a werewolf, that likely meant they were spying on them, and possibly linked back to the damned Popobawa as well. It might also, Scott realised with a churning of his stomach, mean that whoever was behind this list were the ones who had sent the thing after Liam that had resulted in him becoming a wolf in the first place.

"Still doesn't explain why I'm so cheap!" Stiles complained, and Scott rolled his eyes.

"Well, whoever wrote this list, this Deadpool, knows us, knows Scott. Look at it: Scott is the highest as he's the True Alpha. The two werewolves he's closest to are Isaac and Liam, Liam because he's his only bitten Beta and Isaac because he's his Prime Beta and his boyfriend. The rest don't make as much sense though," Kira mused, pointing at the flashing green writing on the screen, "the twins together are worth the same as you."

Aiden looked nervously at his twin, who shrugged.

"Maybe whoever's behind this thinks we still have our combined form?" Ethan theorised, and Aiden gnawed his lip.

"Yeah, but we don't have it, and they also know Liam's a wolf, so what gives? And still no actual surname." He moaned, and Jackson looked at him in confusion.

"I thought your surname was Smith?" he asked, and Aiden shook his head.

"Nope, we don't know our actual surnames. We use Smith and Johnson because they're common names and nobody will question it." He explained, and many of them, including Savannah, sent him and Ethan a sympathetic glance.

"Then there's Jackson, why is he worth more than Derek?" Danny asked, and Jackson grinned and shot Derek a sly look.

"Well, I'm hotter obviously." He teased, and Derek scoffed but didn't rise to the bait any further.

"I'm worth more, I'm assuming Lydia and I are quite rare. And Stiles, you're probably only on the list to begin with as you only have supernatural leftovers left." Kaisha explained, and Cockburn looked at her curiously, then looked at Stiles.

"How can you only have supernatural leftovers?" he asked, and Stiles shrugged.

"I was possessed by a Nogitsune, it was a whole thing." He explained, and Cockburn sent him a slightly worried glance before stepping back.

Malia however, looked fairly upbeat.

"What are you so cheerful about?" Braeden asked incredulously, and she grinned.

"Well, look at the prices, if assassins are coming after me, they're coming after all you guys long before they come for me, I'm only worth four million!" she told her brightly, and despite herself, the Druid grinned.

"Your concern for our friends is touching." Melody told her best friend tartly, who grinned all the wider.

"I'm thinking there's some age discrimination here, look, you're only a million bucks more than your mom." Liam pointed out to his girlfriend, who looked slightly nettled.

"Um, why are we avoiding the rather large elephant in the room here?" Violet asked, and Scott shook his head.

"No, but it's kind of a lot to process Vi, we all have a price on our heads." He told her, and Savannah shot him an appraising look.

"Plus side, it's a very handsome price you have on your head." She told him encouragingly, and he allowed himself a small grin.

"Yay me. Yeah, I noticed Violet. Since when was Parrish supernatural?" he asked, and Argent frowned, mulling it over in his head, and looked at Camden and Kaisha.

"You think he's been supernatural for a while? After all, he did bring down a Berserker when we fought Ifrit, we thought it was because it was already weakened but maybe…" Camden mused, and Argent nodded.

"It's possible I suppose."

"Do you think he doesn't know he's supernatural? I mean, why wouldn't he tell us?" Danny asked, and Lydia shrugged.

"It's not that strange, I didn't know I was a banshee." She told him fairly, but Stiles looked at her uncertainly.

"Yeah, but we had begun to figure out you were something, we just didn't know what, it's different if he doesn't know at all."

"What if he's like I was when I was the kanima?" Jackson asked worriedly, and the prospect of Parrish being a supernatural weapon and not being aware of what he was doing wasn't exactly a great one.

"We just need to keep an eye on him. Maybe he does know, and doesn't want to tell us, but if he doesn't know, until we know more, we'll just watch him, see what he does." Scott decided, and Isaac looked at him worriedly.

"Scott…" he began, and Scott gestured helplessly.

"What? We're kind of backed into a corner here, if we confront him and he's after us, we're going in blind. If we confront him and he isn't after us, we risk losing him, which we don't want either. If we watch and wait, we might find out what he is, and if he is a bad guy, it hopefully won't blow up on us, either way, we're backed into a corner." He reasoned, and he looked around his pack.

This was the first time he'd had to make a decision like this since they had defeated Agravaine, and as such, was the first time a decision like this had been made since the pack's little mutiny against him. However, he felt something shift as he looked around his pack, and breathed a silent sigh of relief.

While Isaac and Lydia looked less than happy, that was more because Lydia discovering what she was the way she had and that backfiring on them. Admittedly, Isaac's concerns seemed shared by Camden and Kaisha, but in fairness Parrish was closest to them, and was Camden's best friend. Derek remained unreadable as always, and Argent gave Scott a slight approving nod, as did Braeden, fixing him with a slight, proud smile. The rest of the pack looked like they had slight misgivings, many of them simply because they didn't want to face potentially losing Parrish as a friend and the shock of discovering that he was actually supernatural, but then gave consenting nods, and Scott breathed freely again.

"Ok, thanks guys," Scott said gratefully, and Savannah and her pack were watching in interest, Savannah's dark eyes surveying the young True Alpha who was upsetting so many of the unseen powers of their supernatural world's delicate dispositions.

This boy had assembled a large pack, and while it seemed as though they had recently had issues, it seemed as though the pack as a whole had recently overcome them, and had become much more united and as a result, much more formidable. There was clear love, trust, respect and friendship between them all, and while they might disagree with their Alpha, it was clear that the boy had accepted his power and his word was law, and as such, his pack was all the more dangerous for it.

Savannah smiled, yes, this boy was going to change everything.

"And looks like your new boyfriend is also one of us." Liam teased Stiles, grinning a little, and Stiles shot the Beta a dirty look.

"He's not my boyfriend! But if he is, what is he?" he asked, looking slightly put out, and Lydia sighed.

"Yeah, are we helping or fighting, because it would be nice to know before time for a change." She pointed out, which they had to admit, was true.

Melody watched as they all started to debate whether or not Neo was a threat to them, and for a brief second, something flickered inside her. Had her name been on the Deadpool, would they be having the same conversation? Would they want answers, or would she be on the business end of the twins claws? And would Scott accept her answers, whether they were true or not? Not to mention, there was also Argent to contend with, who would likely then figure she was a Beasturo agent, as would Braeden, how would they advise their Alpha?

But it was clear that her observations for the last several months were becoming more and more true: Scott was a genuine, inspired and charismatic True Alpha, and had complete command of his pack, the mutiny having ended any questions as to his suitability for himself, and for his pack.

Scott was growing in strength all the time, growing in power, in surety, and it confirmed that her being here was the most important task in the whole Beasturo, to watch the young True Alpha and make sure he grew as he was meant to.

But still, she couldn't help but wonder: would the pack, her friends, be so willing to discuss whether she was friend or foe if they had discovered she was lying through her teeth to them all day every day?

However, she was distracted from her melancholy musings when the newly discovered supernatural in question called from the treeline?

"Are you guys all alright? Can I come out now?" Neo called anxiously, as though terrified he was about to discover the pack weren't the ones he was calling to, and it was actually the poachers.

"Damn, forgot he was still out there, oops. Yeah, come on out Neo!" Stiles called, and the twins, at a look from Scott, moved outward, as if to flank him should he indeed pose a threat.

"Scott…" Stiles hissed into his ear, and Scott took a hold of his wrist.

"I don't think he's a threat, but if he is, we don't know what he is, and I don't want us caught off-guard. He must know what we are, he has to, so he's probably just anxious, but I'm not letting him get too close to us in case he is a bad guy." He told him softly, as Neo emerged from the trees, and let out an impressed whistle as he saw the captured bad guys.

"Wow, you guys are badass! What's going…" he asked, and then suddenly stopped, as he heard something whistling, hurtling through the trees towards him, and knew that however things turned out, the pack were about to discover that he was in fact supernatural.

However he didn't intend for them to discover this way as a large, shrieking bat like creature flew right at him, bursting through the trees with a savage scream, its fangs dripping as it swooped down towards him, about to rip his face asunder, and if Neo didn't move, the last thing he would ever see would be the single, glowing bright eye of the bat monster.

Neo slipped a foot out of his sneakers, allowing it to transform to it's natural state and with incredible speed, slammed his hooved foot into the glinting eye of the bat monster.

The Popobawa screamed in agony as the hoof plunged into it's eye, the force of the blow sending it careening off course, slamming into the ground, dislodging stones and gravel as it skidded to a stop. Neo breathed heavily, only his hooved foot on display to his friends as he beheld the creature, and remembered the horror stories his grandmother told him of these beasts.

The Popobawa, scourge of Zanzibar, screeched as it got back to it's feet, it's eye now bloodshot, screaming in furious agony, it's body reeking of sulphur, but it realised it's miscalculation, as by having failed to take down Neo, it was now trapped and at the mercy of a pack of highly trained teenage vigilantes, complete with hunters.

Scott gave a resounding roar, his power washing over the pack as he sprang into action, going right for the bat monster, Liam right behind him, his own eyes glowing gold and letting out a challenging snarl. Both wolves came at the Popobawa, their claws ripping for the voyeur like monster's membrane like wings. Violet fell back as did Danny, Violet opening up with her gun while Braeden, Camden and Argent all followed suit. The Popobawa shrieked in fury, and leapt into the air, but with it's wings slightly damaged from it's crash to the ground and from Scott and Liam's attack, it didn't get that high, and it couldn't manage to keep itself aloft.

Isaac then moved, spiralling into action, his two knives glinting in the moonlight as he flicked them at the monster, which screamed as the two blades bit into its sides, geysering yellow blood all around. It crashed back down to the ground with a thump, rolling itself to its feet just as Aiden and Ethan pounced, both of them striking at the one eyed monster. The Popobawa backed away, spittle spraying from its mouth as it backed away, only to fall into the waiting claws of both Jackson and Malia, with Jackson springing at it after springing off one of the poacher's ammo boxes, and Malia slashing up at it from the ground.

Knocked off it's feet, the Popobawa slammed into the dirt, but then darted its leg out, taking Jackson and Malia's feet out from under them. As they crashed to the ground, it lunged towards them, its claws raking across their skin, making them both cry out in pain as it got back to its feet, before propelling itself into the air, shrieking all the while, and to their horror, they saw that the thing's wings had healed.

"Wait, how the hell did it heal that fast?" Derek asked in shock, and Braeden shot him an unimpressed look as she brought the monster into her sights.

"It's got one eye and bleeds yellow blood, and that's your biggest take away?" she asked, bemused as she fired a pulse blast right at the monster.

The Popobawa corkscrewed through the air, and tilted its head back, emitting a loud, echoing screech that staggered them all. Furious on behalf of her kind, Lydia darted into action as the others recovered, screaming at the thing herself, the sonic attack distorting the Popobawa's, and while it somersaulted through the air trying to get its bearings, Kira emerged from nowhere, lightning crackling around her as she directed her sword at it, a current of lightning channelling from her and her sword and crashing into the Popobawa, the monster screaming in agony as it crashed back to the ground, but as the dust plumed around it, it struggled back to its feet as the pack converged on it at once.

Scott was like a storm, his eyes crimson as he went for the thing's eye. The Popobawa caught his claws in its own hand tipped wing, and used its spare one to slash across Scott's chest. Scott snarled in pain, and the Popobawa gave him a coy look before crashing its taloned foot into the Alpha's chest.

Scott gasped out in agony, but he needn't have worried as Stiles then struck, his gauntlet claws ripping into the membrane of the monster's wing, while a furious Liam snarled and sprang at it, savagely cutting into the monster for daring to harm his Alpha. Isaac, his eyes glowing gold, had recovered his knives and tornadoed at the creature, the Popobawa howling in agony as the knives slashed through its wings.

Jackson and Malia then surged forward, the twins reflecting their movements on the other side, allowing the first wave to fall back. The Popobawa however was no pushover, snarling and shrieking as it clawed at the other pack members, and while they did wound it, they didn't get out unscathed. They peeled back and a furious Melody used the distraction to trigger a flashbang right in front of the bat monster.

The Popobawa staggered back, screaming and crying in pain, clutching its one eye as it stumbled away from the pack's onslaught, and right into gun members field of fire. Bullets filled the air, the Popobawa being riddled with them as it staggered towards the edge of the rock face. Kaisha then moved, conjuring glowing green manacles and with deft hand movements, had them strike like snakes, ensnaring the monster's feet. Lydia and Kira then backed her up, with Kira, eyes a shining amber, cast a cracking stream of lightning at the beast, lighting it up and illuminating its skeleton as the lightning hit. Lydia then directed a blast through her staff, the beast crashing to the ground and crying in pain before it rolled onto its front, clawing its way towards the cliff face.

The pack moved as one, determined to stop the monster escaping, and Kaisha suddenly had Kira and Lydia grab onto her, holding her fast as the monster was far stronger than they'd anticipated. The Popobawa let out a whiny sounding chuckle and sprung up from a crouch, it's wings healing in overtime once again, and carried by their momentum, the closest pack members to the monster were savaged by its claws, the twins crying out in pain as blood spurted out of their wounds, and Malia and Jackson tumbling down as they too were slashed, all of them hitting the earth in a heap. Scott and his backup went right for it, Scott roaring furiously, his claws going right for it's neck, and in that split second, the Popobawa let out a guttural laugh and its glowing red eyed suddenly glowed a new colour, a shining blue, and a beam of impossible energy sprouted from it, Scott and the others crying out in pain as the unexplained energy beam blasted them all away from their opponent, landing them in a heap on the floor.

The Popobawa chuckled, its eye glowing like a brewing storm as it stalked towards the surprised pack members, the others firing bullets at it, but another beam of power from its eye sent them all diving for the dirt, and it laughed again, stalking towards the pack, only to suddenly freeze when an entirely different roar boomed over the cliff face.

The pack looked up in fascinated horror as Savannah, now in her true Nunda form, pounced. Her monstrous form was truly terrible to behold, and Scott had never before appreciated having someone on their side as much as he did then. Savannah blew a plume of noxious smoke into the Popobawa, which this time howled in agony as the burning smoke started to eat away at its skin. Her claws tore a massive chunk out of its chest, however just as she made to take a hold of its neck and bring it into custody, the monster, still flapping in agony and trying to alleviate its burning skin, mistimed its step, and plunged off the cliff face, and blinded by her own smoke, Savannah could do nothing to stop the monster.

However, she did smile as she returned to her human form, as she had heard a rather satisfying splash.

"Is it dead?" Liam asked hopefully as he got to his feet, wincing at the slash he had received across his face as he did so, and Scott, who had joined Savannah at the cliff face, peered over, and sighed.

"I'd like to think so, especially when it can go all Terminator on us and shoot freaking energy beams out of it's eyes!" he complained, that was just unfair, and it was stinging like a bitch where the beam had hit him, like it had burned him.

"Yeah," Stiles grumbled, as Nile helped him back to his feet, the korio having stayed back as his avian form would be no match for the Popobawa's prowess, "but let's face it, with our luck, it'll probably come back with an extra head or something. Damn it was strong."

Savannah sighed as she looked down at the river thundering by down below them.

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to stop it, and that it got away, however you shouldn't sell yourselves short. You were holding up rather well against it, but whatever has happened to that beast, it is no longer an ordinary Popobawa. Popobawa's come from Tanzania, in an archipelago of islands known as Zanzibar. They're a rather unpleasant species, and often appear at times of strife, and if legends are to be believed, make their living raping people and causing strife. But they're usually a lot less…resilient, and also have red blood. That thing, whatever the hell it is, isn't a normal Popobawa." She explained, and Scott frowned.

"So what, it's some sort of super-Popobawa?" he asked in a tired voice, and Savannah shrugged.

"Your guess is as good as mine little one," she admitted grimly, "but it's clear that you attract some rather interesting enemies."

Scott groaned, and she sent him a rueful smile.

"Yeah, that's getting to be a real problem. Ok, is everyone alright?" he asked, casting his eyes over his pack.

They were all still standing, still upright, however, most of them had been caught by the claws of the Popobawa at some point, and many of them were sporting gashes, scrapes and cuts, and reddened skin were the thing's energy beam had hit them all too. However, he couldn't really complain, they'd fought off the poachers without so much as breaking a nail.

The fact that his blood was currently pounding through him in fury that his pack, his bitten Beta in particular, had been hurt, was another matter entirely.

"We've had worse." Aiden replied darkly, wincing at his numerous cuts, and satisfied, the entire pack turned to look at Neo, who was shaking slightly in fear as the whole pack was now looking at him.

"Ok, so now you know it all I suppose, we're all supernatural, and clearly from the way you dealt with the Popobawa you are too." Lydia summed up, and he went red.

"And even if we hadn't seen that, you're on the Deadpool the same as the rest of us." Derek mused as they all looked at him, and he gulped before looking at Stiles.

"Ok, yeah, I am. I kind of thought you were all different as soon as I arrived, I'm not like you guys!" he told them, and Kira frowned.

"Not like us how?" she asked, thinking it was a rather odd thing to say, it wasn't like they were the bad guys.

"I'm not a wolf, or even a kitsune or anything like that! I'm more, um, I suppose…"

"He's a prey species, whereas you lot are all predators." Cockburn explained, grinning at the kid, who grinned, glad that he was grasping it.

"Exactly!"

"A prey species? Like a deer or something?" Liam asked in confusion, and Neo sighed, going further red, but this time from embarrassment as opposed to anything else.

"Well, yeah, essentially. But I'm not a deer or anything, I'm quite rare, I'm an abada." He explained, and Savannah's eyes widened in realisation.

"An abada, here? He's right, they are very few and far between, in fact I thought they were a myth myself!" she exclaimed, and Stiles looked at Neo apprehensively.

"Ok, so what's an abada?" he asked, and Neo blushed even more.

"Well, it's probably better just to show you, but I'm basically a were…but for want of a better term, I'm basically a were-unicorn." He told them, knowing how ridiculous it sounded, but before the pack could say anything else, and before his nerve could fail him, he slid his shoes off, and began to transform.

His feet both turned into stout black hooves, and his legs became more muscular and defined, and more strangely, they then reversed, so his knees were in the opposite direction to what they usually would be, similar to that of a horse. Everything else remained the same until they looked at his head, where his ears became more pointed, elfin like. His blond hair got longer and hung about his shoulders draping across his face as well, hanging into his eyes. The eyes themselves became quite large and were a glowing and pleasant brown, like Scott's normal eye colour. But most strangely of all were the two silver horns that had grown from his face. The one that had essentially replaced his nose was small and reached to the middle of his eyes, and it was slightly curved, similar to that of a rhino. However, the one that had grown from his forehead was entirely different. About three times the size of his nose horn, it was long, thick and curved and also a glistening silver colour, though despite Neo's assurances that he was a prey species, they could tell between his thick hooves and his rather lethal looking horns, it could well do a lot of no good to anyone trying to attack him.

However, all in all, he was actually one of the cutest creatures they had ever come across.

"Well, that's…kind of adorable really." Melody said, winking at Neo, who went even more red and he shyly hid behind his mane even more.

An abada was indeed a rare species, in fact the Beasturo believed there were fewer than a thousand in the entire world. For one to be here of all places was quite strange, as they very rarely left Africa, there wasn't even one in the Beasturo's ranks so far as she knew. She would have to watch him closely, purely to see exactly what he could do.

"Well, it's gone for now at least. Ok, is everyone alright?" Scott asked tiredly, after all, they had done what they came here to do, and had seen off the Popobawa and they all went back to school the day after.

"Mostly, it's ok for you lot, you'll be healed by the morning." Lydia complained bitterly, but at least her pounding headache had finally abated.

"Um, I could help with that?" Neo said hesitantly, and as everyone turned to look at him, he rubbed his horn and a little sliver of silver dust came off his topmost horn before he returned to his full human form, and he sprinkled the dust onto Lydia's wounds, which then automatically healed.

"Wait, did you just…?" Ethan asked in shock, and Lydia turned to Scott excitedly.

"Can we keep him?" she begged hopefully, and Scott smiled and rolled his eyes.

"If Neo wants to stick around, then he can. Savannah, I'm sorry, but we'll need you to stay in town a few days while we sort things out with the sheriff." He told her, and the Nunda nodded.

"That's fine with me, we can see these scum get what they deserve," she snarled at the captive poachers, "and I think you could use a hand around here, with everything that's going on, what do you think?" she asked, and Scott nodded.

"We'd be happy to have you around, and Brooke's still here anyway." He told her, and Savannah nodded, mulling it over and exchanging a look with Mali.

"Well, it wouldn't be that bad an idea for us to enrol her in school for a little while now I think about it. Usually we home school her but she has a chance to get know other kids her own age, it might be good for her, besides we don't know how long we're going to be in town." She said, and Danny looked at her worriedly.

"Is that a good idea with this Deadpool going on?" he asked worriedly, and Savannah shrugged.

"Well until we find out more about whoever sent down this Deadpool, this Directive, it's not like we're going to be safe, and something makes me think this fine young gentleman," she said, gesturing slightly in Scott's direction, and the Alpha went slightly pink, "is right in their firing line, so the closer we are to danger, the further we are from harm, and sticking around here, we might get some answers."

"That's true I suppose. Ok guys, bring everything you can, the computers, this Deadpool thing, all of it. Savannah's right, the more information we get now, the better, because I reckon we've only just begun to see the start of all this." Scott told them darkly, as they began to dismantle the poachers camp and started herding them back towards town, while Argent looked around worriedly, an unsettled feeling in his gut, something niggling in his head that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

XX

"So, a bunch of children were able to outwit you? Perhaps our faith in you was misplaced." The Pathologist sneered as the three Dread Doctors stood in the infirmary, where Crockett had been brought following his debacle of a confrontation with the pack.

"They ambushed us!" Crockett spat furiously, as the Geneticist tended to his wounds with a sigh.

"Yes, you were ambushed. By a bunch of children." She hissed in his ear, and he turned and glowered at her.

"I've done loads for you over the years, brought you loads of beasts for your twisted experiments!" he growled, and the Surgeon raised a hand to calm the irate hunter.

"Calm down Crockett, my colleagues are just teasing you. You've done a lot of mischief to the state of the Popobawa." He lamented, as the bat creature was getting put back together under his tender ministrations, growling under its breath.

"It doesn't actually matter anyway, we knew there was a chance that the pack would foil some of our plans," Turnbull purred, her long fingers splaying over her surgery table that she had brought into the infirmary to fix up Crockett.

After their defeat at the hands of the pack, both Crockett and the Popobawa had been washed down the river, and were both rather the worse for wear. However, once being out of immediate danger, the Popobawa, using a presence of mind that they hadn't anticipated admittedly, had pulled itself out of the river, seizing Crockett and bringing them both back to the Directive's base.

"Yes, doesn't mean it isn't irritating though. We are going to have to deal with them soon enough." Urbaniak warned, and Valack smiled, and Crockett, despite doing what he did for a living, felt his blood run cold as he saw the sinister smile on the face of the leader of the Dread Doctors.

"Which is why our test subject was set loose earlier today, he will be quite sufficient to keep the little brats out of our way for the time being." He assured him haughtily, and the Geneticist turned to him, her faceless mask fixed on the leader of their trio of terror.

"I've warned you before Gabriel, yes they're children, yes, they're easily led and distracted. But don't forget, everyone who has gone up against the True Alpha and his pack has come off worse while he grows from strength to strength. We can't afford to underestimate those leather clad nightmares." She warned, and Crockett chuckled.

"Scared of them are you?" he challenged, and her faceless mask turned back to face him, and as a result, she seized a large needle off her table and stabbed it into his arm for no reason.

"YOW!"

"Not a wise move to antagonise the person giving you your physical, poacher. Besides, I've…encountered…" she admitted with a pained hiss, clutching her back, her free hand clenching in fury, "some of them before, and they aren't to be underestimated, something I learned to my detriment. Oh, and speaking of detriment…" she said, and Crockett backed away from her as he felt he could hear the nasty smile in her voice.

"What are you doing?" he demanded, as she picked up a large and brutal looking implement, looking like one of those things that you sealed parts of your bathroom with.

"Giving ourselves some insurance," she purred, and then brutally grabbed his head with one hand, holding him in place and tilting his head to the side, exposing his neck.

Crockett struggled, trying to break free form her grip.

"What the hell are you doing bitch, get off me!" he spat, clawing at her, but damn either her boiler suit gave her super strength or something because he couldn't budge her, and stuck up on the examination table as he was, he was bent over and unable to get enough purchase to get off the table.

Turnbull then applied the device to his neck, and he felt a sort of puncture go into his skin, after which she abruptly let go of his head and returned her tool to the table, unperturbed by the hostile glare that he was sending at her back.

"What the hell did you just do to me?" he demanded, and Valack permitted himself a small smile.

"Pray you never have to find out Mr Crockett. Ah, here's Colonel Sinner, Colonel, Mr Crockett will be taking command of our second battalion," he informed the just-arrived leader of Ouroboros, though if their leader had any objections to this poacher being inserted into the command structure of their private military force his face didn't betray his concerns, "I trust you'll get him up to snuff? After all, we have the greatest prey to hunt the pack of the True Alpha, and then, it will only be a short time until the completion of Project Typhon."

"Very good sir." Sinner responded with a respectful incline of his head, then gave Crockett a shove to get him out of the room, leaving the three sinister Dread Doctors behind them, and as he walked away, Crockett chanced a look back to see all three Dread Doctors now wearing their facemasks, their sightless faces fixed on him as Sinner led him away, and couldn't shake the feeling that they were watching him the same way a child who had pulled the wings off a fly watched their victim, or that they were enjoying every second of it.

Shuddering in fear and trepidation, he followed the silent Sinner through the guest level, where there were numerous cages rammed full with the Dread Doctor's unwilling guests, many of whom had been put there by Crockett himself. Indeed, as he walked past the cube currently holding a woebegone looking Satomi, she roared in challenge and threw herself against the glass, trying to break through and tear the poacher asunder for what he had done to her pack.

Martagh glowered at Crockett and Sinner as they went past the cube that she was still unceremoniously stewing in. Mind you, her last escape from said cube had been a lengthy session with Dr Urbaniak, the Pathologist, who had injected her with numerous poisons, and she still felt like she had been hit by a truck or two. Huddled over, she watched as the two men, she had heard tell of Crockett through her travels, and was intimately familiar with Sinner who seemed to delight in tormenting her when he had a spare five minutes.

In her humble opinion, both needed an introduction to a hungry alligator or something, make the world a better place.

However, on the plus side, she was no longer alone in her cube. Due to the capture of Satomi's pack, which was the largest in the world, many of the other cubes had been split up. Now, Martagh was also sharing her very small cube with Bonnie and Rhyley (Rhyley's fever had finally broken but he still wasn't back to full strength, well, as full strength as he could get when he was being regularly tortured and experimented on by the damn Dread Doctors), along with two other young men, Theo and Corey, who had been unceremoniously dumped at her feet after a rather intensive session with all three of the Dread Doctors. Both were still extremely weak following their session with their hosts, but Corey had made some progress, and had had less invasive experiments performed on him than Theo had.

Theo, it transpired, had been kept awake all during exploratory heart surgery, along with various other things, with the doctors constantly rousing him as they studied the heart that they had given him so many years ago, to make sure he was still functioning properly.

Having survived open heart surgery without so much as the benefit of even a local anaesthetic, he had been the focus of Martagh, Bonnie and Corey's ministrations, and he was now staying awake a little bit longer each day, which she supposed was progress.

"Who are they?" Theo rasped weakly, as a worried Corey looked pleadingly at Martagh and Bonnie from his position kneeling at Theo's side, and after exchanging a look, the two women nodded and breathing a sigh of relief, Corey gently helped Theo to sit up enough to take a sip of their very limited water.

"Sinner leads Ouroboros, Crockett is the most infamous poacher in the world. Both rather unpleasant, both on the payroll of our esteemed hosts." Martagh sniffed in disdain, looking rather jealously at Rhyley who was sound asleep, recovering or not, the kid could sleep through anything, including the virulent alarms that would go off at random times through the night just to disrupt the Dread Doctor's victims sleeping patterns.

"How do you know?" Corey asked, lowering Theo back down to the sleeping mat, and Martagh looked around nervously, making sure that the members of Satomi's pack that were now in the cell next to hers were asleep before she leaned in closer to the young werechameleon.

"They haven't yet discovered all of my abilities, I don't believe they've had a Scuffock to study before. I've been using my powers to augment my sight and hearing, to see what I can glean from listening in on them." She explained, and he looked at her, impressed.

"That's cool, all I've been able to do is watch when they head down to the elevator downstairs, whatever's down there, they don't want anyone finding out what it is." He told them, and she nodded, that was also her assessment of the situation.

"Did you learn anything we didn't already know?" Bonnie asked in a low voice, and Martagh shook her head.

"No, but I did confirm our suspicions though: I think we're still in Beacon Hills. The doctors keep talking about Scott and his pack, and Crockett definitely encountered them it's how he wound up here, they got the better of him," she explained with some smugness, it did fill her with joy and savage triumph, good for them.

"So they're after Scott?" Theo asked, wincing in pain as he moved a little to face the Scuffock, and she nodded grimly.

"I fear so. However, with any luck, that will be their undoing. They won't be the first ones to underestimate Scott, and hopefully won't be the last either. Perhaps by going after him, and his pack, they're going to make a fatal mistake so we can finally get the hell out of this shithole."

Theo coughed a little in amusement, which he immediately regretted as it caused him severe pain when he did so.

"We are talking about the same Scott, right? When we were kids he was a dork." He informed her, a fond lilt to his voice, and Bonnie smirked.

"Hey, don't sell him short. He took down the Renegade and the Corrupter after all." She warned him, and Corey shrugged.

"Yeah, but even if he is as great as you guys say, we're all still stuck in here, with no way of letting him know what's going on. So unless he comes in here, in which case he's screwed anyway as he'll be captured, he isn't going to help us much." He pointed out, but Martagh smiled.

"As Bonnie said, don't sell him short. Besides, we know that the Dread Doctors are gunning for him. Something makes me think it'll only be a matter of time till he learns all about his new enemies." She told him, just as Sinner and Crockett returned, with Crockett now outfitted in the combat fatigues of Ouroboros, which shut her up instantly.

"Come on ladies, the doctors will see you now." Sinner said, tazering Martagh, who shrieked in pain and fell to the floor, convulsing as he seized her and dragged her out by the hair.

Unlike Martagh, Bonnie had a chance to make a move, and pounced towards Crockett, who scoffed derisively and merely backhanded her, slamming her to the floor of the cell and kicking her in the stomach for good measure.

"Leave them alone!" Corey spat, his tongue darting out to hit Crockett, who, to Corey's agony, stomped down on his protruding tongue.

Theo snarled, as did Rhyley who had woken up with the noise, but despite his tongue being crushed under Crockett's boot, tears streaming from his eyes, Corey threw a hand onto Theo's bare chest and forced him back down, and then waved warningly at Rhyley, whose eyes were glowing blue but he did as the chameleon indicated.

"That's better. Now," Crockett sniffed, lifting his foot off Corey's extended tongue, which he retracted back to his mouth, clamping his hands to it in agony, tears running down his face while Theo and Rhyley growled virulently, "I'm going to be sticking around a while, and if you don't all behave, I won't care that you're the docs' special guests, I'll gut you like a fish." He warned, before exiting their stall, dragging a weak Bonnie by the hair as he did so.

"Bastard!" Rhyley roared as loud as he was able as he heard the only family he had left whimper as he dragged her away.

"We need to…" Theo began, but Corey forced him back down, glaring at him, and even though his mouth was in total agony, the pain of a thousand fillings running through it, he shook his head.

"No, you heard Martagh. We can't do anything yet, you two in particular can't do anything yet. But until we get better, or get a break, or anything, all we can do is hope that she's right about this Scott guy, and that he can stop them. And that he does it soon, you know, before they finish whatever she's got down there." He said grimly, pointing to Turnbull as she ambled down to the bottom floor, and seemingly sensed them staring at her, and offered a cheerful wave before she vanished from sight, malice exuding from her.

After all, it was pretty obvious that whatever the hell she had down there, she loved it more than anything else in the world, and anything that got her and her ghoulish companions that excited, certainly couldn't be good for anyone, Theo mused, and shivered as the implication ran through his head.

Seeing him shiver, Corey huddled up to him, their nearly naked bodies huddled together for warmth while a worried Rhyley let out a whine as the distant screams of Bonnie and Martagh being tortured at the hands of the Surgeon and the Pathologist echoed across the prison floor.

XX

Neo hissed as the door made a louder noise than he had anticipated. God it was so late, he was going to be in so much trouble if his dad and grandmother were still up…

"Nice of you to finally come home." A distinctly unimpressed voice said from the living room, and Neo groaned, damn it, he had been hoping he was going to get away with it.

He edged hesitantly into the living room to find both his father and grandmother waiting for him, both of them looking rather unimpressed.

"And what time do you call this young man?" Johan asked sternly, and Neo looked at his shoes.

"Sorry dad, I was out with my friends." He replied, and Retha, in the big armchair that she had claimed as her own, sighed in exasperation.

"And while we're delighted that you've finally got some friends that you're happy spending time with, there are still rules bokkie!" she chided, and he sighed.

"I know gogo, but for what it's worth, I was right, they are like me, they're all supernatural, well, most of them are anyway." He told them, and Johan, interrupted from his train of thought about to chew his son out, looked at him in astonishment.

"You're kidding? All of them, this Stiles boy you told us about?" he asked weakly, and Neo shook his head.

"No, he isn't supernatural, well, not really, he was a Nogitsune at one point but he isn't anymore," he explained, grinning a little at the bemused looks on the faces of his father and grandmother, "but Scott is the Alpha, the True Alpha that mom used to tell us about."

"Aren't they some sort of hero?" Retha asked, vaguely remembering the stories that her daughter-in-law had told her grandson when he was growing up.

"Yeah, and now he's being targeted by some poacher called Crockett, that's where we were, Scott was rescuing a pack that Crockett had captured." He explained, and then stopped, as he saw the horrified look on his father's face, and noticed that he had gone rather grey all of a sudden.

"Crockett?" he asked, his voice tight, and Neo nodded, looking at his dad worriedly.

"Yeah, why?" he asked, and after looking at his mother, Johan sighed and reluctantly turned to his mother, and after a look from Retha, he sighed, and turned back towards Neo.

"Crockett, we've encountered him before. He's the hunter who killed your mother."

Neo felt the world collapse from under his feet. He'd always known that hunters had killed his mother, but he had never known much about the specifics of what had happened, let alone the name of the hunter.

"He, he killed mom?" he demanded angrily, his eyes glowing and horns erupting as he did so, he could also feel his feet transforming into hooves, and Johan nodded.

"Yes son. I'm sorry, but when it happened, we wanted to protect you, we didn't want you to know, and I'm sorry we did that. But please son, don't do anything you'll regret. Crockett is evil, and he's already taken your mother from me," Johan pleaded, kneeling down in front of Neo, who was still angry, trying to rein in control over his shapeshifter nature, his elfin like ears pinned back against his head as he breathed heavily, "please Neo. I can understand how angry you are, and I'm sorry we kept it from you, but please, don't go looking for trouble! If Crockett finds out who and what you are, he won't stop hunting you."

Neo breathed through his mouth, spluttering in anger as he strived to contain his anger, and as he did so, he fixed his father with a pitying glance.

"It's too late for that dad." He admitted, and Retha, who had gotten up from her armchair, looked at him in concern.

"What do you mean?" she asked worriedly, she had long counselled against telling Neo the identity of the hunter who had murdered his mother, but now, here he was, in their new home nonetheless, and could very well now try and finish the job he had started six years ago when he had killed Johan's wife.

"He already knows I'm an abada, the whole pack does too. Look." He told them, regaining control, and passed them his copy of the Deadpool, as Scott had made sure everyone had one.

"What the…?" Johan demanded weakly as he looked at the Deadpool, and saw the list of prices on the head of his son and his new friends.

"My god…they're hunting you?" Retha demanded, clutching a hand to her chest weakly, and Neo shook his head, looking grimly at his grandmother.

"No gogo, they're hunting all of us, everyone who's supernatural, and if what Scott says is true, whoever is doing it…they're only just getting started."

XX

Nolan was making his way home, mulling over what had happened tonight. He and Gabe had been hanging out at Gabe's place, playing video games and watching tv. As it always did, it had degenerated into a playful squabble, especially after Nolan had beaten Gabe at Mario Kart for the tenth time. Pretending to completely lose it, Gabe had pounced on his best friend, the two of them play fighting. However as they had done so, Gabe had pinned Nolan to the floor, hanging just above them. Nolan had felt something…he didn't know, click he supposed was the word for it? He had never really considered it before, he and Gabe had been best friends for years, with Gabe usually being the one watching out for Nolan, who's myriad of issues made him an easy target. But as Gabe was hanging above him, his taller friend's brown eyes had fixed on him, and it suddenly occurred to Nolan that damn, his best friend was hot. He was hot, tall, his thick hair looked awesome, and it was clear that his stupid hormonal body had designs of its own, as he had suddenly gone hard as Gabe had looked deep into his eyes, his breath tickling his cheek as he did so, and it seemed as though Gabe had been about to edge forward, perhaps to kiss him?

Nolan was being ridiculous. Gabe was his best friend, always had been. He was tall, handsome, on the reserve list for the lacrosse team, popular, and was obviously going to be straight…not that they'd ever considered it one way or another. He would never be interested in weedy, geeky Nolan like that. Hell, until tonight, Nolan had never even considered that he would be interested in Gabe like that, but for a brief, mad second, it seemed as though his best friend was about to kiss him, and god, Nolan had wanted him to, his body certainly had, especially the exclusively male appendage under his jeans which were tenting under his best friend's groin as he hung above him, pinning him to the floor.

What did it mean? Nolan had been so busy dealing with his multitude of issues, his mental health, his weedy physical appearance, his freckly face, basically everything he hated about himself to notice his damn sexuality! Typical, he would be gay too, in lust with his best friend, as if he didn't have enough issues already! But, then, there was Gabe, and damn, is best friend was hot, so hot, and his breath had been tickling Nolan's face, it would have been so easy to lean up and kiss him, to press his lips to Gabe's, but his nerve had failed him, and Gabe had then gotten off him, and with the moment over and their return to school tomorrow in the offing, Nolan had left for home.

Was he in love with Gabe? Was he just horny? Was he simply turned on by Gabe's physical closeness to him and it didn't actually mean anything?

God he was already dreading seeing him tomorrow at school, what the hell was he going to do? Gabe was his best friend, one of the few things that made his life bearable, and now he could lose him, he didn't even want to see him if it meant losing him, but Gabe was basically all he had, if he ignored Gabe, he would have nobody! He didn't have any other friends, not really, he didn't have any girls he talked to (though after tonight's events he suspected there may be a sexuality related reason for that), he didn't talk to other boys much either really, he was too shy, even the really cool ones like Liam he avoided as well, no, he was happy just hanging out with Gabe, but now…

And all of a sudden, all thoughts of Gabe went out of his mind as he stopped short, beholding the beautiful woman in front of him.

She was stunning. Quite petite, she had long, elegant legs nonetheless, finished off with exquisite red sandals. She was clad in a rippling, tight and elegant black dress, which exposed the majority of her legs to the cold night air, the long strip of cloth that hung down between her legs to her perfectly shoed ankles was swaying slightly in the evening breeze. The dress was backless, exposing her perfectly formed back, and the dress fitted around her neck, with a slight gold colour shining through the black material that covered her breastbone. She lad long, slender arms, finishing in long and elegant fingers, each of them painted a striking violet colour. Her face was a perfect alabaster white, her lips a vivid crimson. Her eyes were expertly made up, a smoky green colour shadowing her eyes, with her pencilled eyebrows looked sublime. A single beauty spot marked her left cheek, and she had gorgeous, luscious blond hair following in elegant but lazy curls, reaching down past her exposed shoulders.

Fuck she was gorgeous!

"Evening handsome, isn't a little late for someone like you to be out?" she purred, and Nolan felt his stomach do backflips, as he consciously forced his mouth shut, he felt like a cartoon character when they saw a hot girl, he was fairly sure his tongue had been hanging out for a bit there.

"I'm…I'm just, just heading home ma'am." He replied huskily, his eyes fixed on her smouldering green eyes, and she smiled and winked, and he felt his knees go weak as she did so.

"So polite too! That is refreshing. What's your name honey?" she asked, taking a step towards him, and Nolan felt the same organ that nearly jeopardised his friendship with Gabe suddenly go brick hard as he took a step towards her.

He wasn't in love with Gabe, Gabe was just his friend. Hell, he could never be in love with a guy of any sort, not when a woman this beautiful existed! He was breathing heavily as she coyly winked at him, and beckoned him closer, and Nolan felt his knees shudder in excitement, god she was so gorgeous, and she wanted him, and he wanted her, more than he had ever wanted anything in his life, he had to have her, he had to know what it was like to know her, to please her, to touch her, to kiss her!

He wasn't gay, he wasn't bi, he was straight, and he was in love, he was in love with this gorgeous woman, he had to know her, please her, serve her, he would do anything for her, give his life for hers in an instant!

"N-Nolan, my name's Nolan." He replied huskily as he came right up to her, and her lithe, curvy body pressed against his.

"Nolan, what a nice name. My name is Qandisa." She told him sweetly, her body pressed against his, and it felt as though he was struggling to think through a wave of perfume, god, she even smelled amazing, and her hand snaked up his body, god she made him feel like an Adonis!

"Qandisa…" he moaned weakly, closing his eyes as he felt one hand sneak up under his tshirt and snake up towards his chest while the other gently took his cheek.

"So informal," she chided with a light chuckle, "taking liberties. I think it's better you call me mistress…or goddess." She purred, she was so close, and Nolan nodded weakly, yes, she should be addressed as goddess, as that's clearly what she was, she was a goddess.

"Yes, goddess…" he replied, and she leaned her forehead against his.

"Good boy." She whispered, and his heart was pounding in his chest, his cock was rock hard, he had never wanted anyone as much as he did now, and with a daring he had never felt before, he kissed her.

It felt amazing as her crimson lips pressed against his, but all of a sudden, he suddenly realised what he was doing, he was kissing an older woman, and thoughts of Gabe came rushing back, what the hell was he thinking? But as he opened his eyes, and tried to break the kiss, he found he couldn't, and he looked into Qandisa's eyes, he suddenly wanted to break the kiss simply so he could scream as he saw what was really going on inside her eyes.

But before he could, he suddenly felt something sharp inside his mouth, and her evil eyes widened in malicious delight and Nolan suddenly wished he could scream.

Nolan then shuddered violently as Qandisa thrust her tongue into his mouth, still kissing him, and his entire body started to shudder, jerk and shake. Nolan screamed through whatever the hell she was doing to him, it was blissful yet excruciating at the same time, everything was so hard yet suddenly so soft, no, god, what the hell was she doing to him? GABE! GABE! GA…

And with that, Nolan's eyes rolled back in his head as she broke the kiss, freeing his mouth from hers, and with a final rattle, he collapsed to the floor, utterly drained, his eyes rolled back, barely breathing on the ground.

Qandisa smiled as the Mute and Ash appeared with two of the Kishi from the wintery mist. For such a weedy guy, Nolan had been a pretty good kisser she had to admit.

"Good dinner?" Ash teased, and she looked at him chidingly.

"You know full well he isn't dinner sweetheart. No, Nolan here is the first of some very special people, who will finally get me what I want after all this time." She reminded him, caressing Nolan's face tenderly, her dress pooling about her as she crouched down to stroke his cold cheek, before gesturing at the boy she had drained, and Ash nodded, calling it in so that he would get taken to hospital, wouldn't do for him to die from exposure after all, not when Qandisa had so many plans for him.

One down.

Eleven to go.

So many hot guys to find, so little time.

And then, when she had them all, she would finally get what she wanted. And this world would never be the same again.

So, things are just starting to heat up in Beacon Hills, but at least Neo and Brooke are on side. The Dread Doctors are nasty pieces of work, and whatever Project Typhon is, it can't be good for anyone, least of all the pack. But perhaps most dangerous of all is Qandisa, just exactly what is she up to, and what has she done to poor Nolan?

Anyways, apologies once again for the length of time between updates, I hope to recharge my Teen Wolf batteries and come back fresh soon but until then, please read and enjoy!