Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf
Two-Pack III
Neo looked sadly at his dad lying in the hospital bed, surrounded by the very machines he usually tended. He was hooked up to them all, and judging by the confused looks on the faces of the nurses and other doctors, they didn't have the remotest clue of what the hell had done this to him. The sting, or whatever the hell it was, on the side of his neck had resisted all attempts to treat it, no drugs, antibiotics, antihistamines, nothing, it was lying there, essentially mocking them, and mocking modern medicine. His dad's neck was covered in a sort of greenish, purple bruise, with the sting mark itself (currently under the plaster that some kindly nurse had applied in the hopes of it achieving something) a dark red welt with a serrated edge.
Now, Neo wasn't an idiot. Since finding his name on the Deadpool, and learning of the exploits of his new friends, he had come to suspect that the supernatural was unreasonably active in this town. That being said though, this, it didn't seem to be connected to the Deadpool, or at least not on the surface. But that begged the question, what had done this to his dad?
"Bokkie," Retha said tiredly, looking pale and drawn as she entered the room and squeezed his shoulder, "there's not much use we can do here. Why don't we go home, get you changed, and you can head to school and be with your friends? Sadly, there's not much we can do for your dad at the moment."
Neo nodded, dutifully following his grandmother out of the room. Retha took a last, concerned look at her son before sighing and steeling herself, realising that her precious grandson was now her sole responsibility, and would be for the time being. And if her son didn't pull through…
Shuddering at the very thought, she took a deep breath, nodded to herself and led the way towards the car park, already dreading what had become of her life in the last twenty-four hours…she hated driving in this country.
XX
"Are you sure you're ok? I could probably ask Argent if I can postpone the buy?" Camden asked worriedly as he pulled up to Scott's house, and Isaac shook his head.
"Honestly, I feel fine, a good night sleep helped. I'm alright Camden, besides, you did all the work for it, I don't want you calling off the buy just for me," Isaac told him, and his brother, who had picked him up from the hospital first thing, looked at him worriedly.
He and Kaisha had gotten back late the previous night, and due to their being no electricity, or phone coverage thanks to Barrow's shenanigans, they hadn't been able to do anything about Isaac being in the hospital, but Ethan had come down and had explained what had happened to them the day before. Filled with anxiety (and mysteriously agreeing to give Aiden a lift home in the morning too, which Camden had suspected was part of the reason Ethan had informed them of what had happened), Camden had been at the hospital first thing to pick Isaac up, while Kaisha took Aiden home under Ethan and Braeden's watchful eye (Kaisha was learning to drive, and it had been an experience, she drove better than Malia, which was as far as you could compliment her so far). While Jackson's parents had taken him home and Dr Dunbar had taken Garrett (who was released but still the worst off out of the four of them), Camden had brought Isaac to Scott's, but for the first time since coming back from the dead, had been forced to confront the reality of being the guardian of his younger brother: did he take time off work to look after him?
"Isaac…" he began anxiously, but his brother shook his head stubbornly, stifling a yawn as he did so.
"Camden, I feel fine! Truth be told, the only reason Jackson, Aiden and I aren't going back to school today is because Scott's dad is floating around and it would look very suspicious. Scott took a lot of my pain…probably more than he realises he took," he mused softly, a gentle inflection in his voice, and Camden was, as always, torn between his genuine love and appreciation for the boy who had turned his little brother's life around, and exasperation that the kid seemed to live for his friends and would likely put himself in danger to save them and likely get himself killed in the process, "and I got a good night sleep. You worked hard to set up the buy, and Kaisha worked hard for her pitch today as well. I'll be fine, it's not like I'm alone, Allegra's here too. I'll be fine."
Camden sighed, a small smile on his face. In some ways, he did love that he had come back to Isaac being basically all grown up, but in some ways, he resented the fact that he had missed so much of his younger brother's life while being entombed in a Taliban prison. If he'd been here, things would have been different: Isaac would listen to him more. Mind you, he mused in amusement, he never really listened to him even before he had joined the army.
"Ok, if you're sure, but if you feel slightly dizzy or anything, call me!" he urged, getting out the car and was fairly sure he heard an exasperated but amused sigh from his brother as he shut the door.
As they entered the house, Isaac was immediately pounced on by his boyfriend, who hugged him tightly, burying his face in the crook of his neck. Isaac hugged back, just relishing the fact that he was still alive to be held by his boyfriend like this. While he was passing off that he was fine to Camden, and physically, he was, there was still the fact that he had been nearly electrocuted to death for a second time, and he was lucky to still be alive, the only reason he hadn't been in such dire straits this time was because the voltage wasn't as high as it had been that night at the hospital. He couldn't tell that to Camden though, and he was telling the truth, he was fine. It just sucked that it was once again electricity that had nearly killed him. And unnoticed by Camden, but felt by Scott, he did shudder a little as he considered that yesterday might have been the last time his boyfriend had seen him alive. Scott squeezed a little tighter, gently hushing into his ear before reluctantly pulling away, pressing a kiss to his boyfriend's forehead, then kissing him gently on the lips.
"I'm so glad you're home, I missed you," Scott mumbled, nuzzling him softly, and Isaac smiled a little, reciprocating the gesture.
"I missed you too."
Melissa then emerged from the living room, her face breaking into a relieved smile as she saw him and wrapped him in a hug of her own.
"I'm glad you're ok honey, honestly, the moping drives you mad," she teased, and Scott scowled and fixed her with a glower, "but you take it easy, you feel weird in any way, you let me know ok? That's twice now you've been electrocuted like that, I don't want to risk any more," she told him sternly, her hand resting on his cheek, and he nodded.
"Got it."
"And do me a favour," Camden asked as he leaned against the doorframe, "maybe try and avoid any mass murderers just for a day ok?"
"No promises but I'll try."
Camden nodded, clapped Isaac on the shoulder and after nodding to make sure he was alright, made good his escape, bound for his first solo buy that he had set up with only minimal supervision from Argent, who would of course be present to see how well his business associate did.
"I've got to go, need to see what happened to Dr Botha, take it easy. Bye honey, bye mom!" Melissa called as she left the house, and there was a vague call from the kitchen where Allegra was clearly ambling about.
Scott took Isaac's hand gently, lifting it to his mouth and kissing it softly.
"I wish I could stay," he whispered, and Isaac nuzzled him again, "but I can't afford to miss any more school, you know, what with nearly dying every other week. Take it easy, and I'll see you later after work ok?" he promised, and Isaac nodded.
He knew Scott had lost a lot of school usually through no fault of his own, and he certainly didn't begrudge him going to school. But that didn't mean he wanted him to go, while he did feel fine, and was mainly off today for appearances, he couldn't deny, the thought of being curled up in the safety of his boyfriend's arms all day was rather a nice one.
"Ok, see you later," he whispered softly, kissing Scott hungrily, Scott moaning in slight surprise as he did so, "and hurry back, yeah?"
Scott nodded, kissed Isaac's cheek, shouted a goodbye and left the house, allowing Isaac to head through to the kitchen. Allegra turned to greet him as he came in, hugging him fiercely and chivvied him into a seat, which he was about to do when he saw the other figure sitting, grinning at him from the table, and despite the slight irritation he felt, he did smile as Stiles bid him hello.
"For the record, I warned him you wouldn't like it, but it was his idea." Stiles warned as Isaac sat down beside him, rolling his eyes.
"So he asked you to skip school to watch me? I don't need a babysitter! Memo to me, murder well-meaning, sweet but incredibly dim boyfriend." He grumbled, and Allegra passed him over a cup of tea.
"He does mean well at least, and he's very overprotective. But yes, he blackmailed Stiles into staying off today to watch you," she told him in amusement, and Isaac let out a sigh before turning to Stiles.
"Ok, I get why you, you're smart enough to easily catch up, and haven't nearly died as often as the rest of us, but how did he blackmail you?" he asked curiously, and Stiles went slightly pink.
"Never you mind." He replied, and Isaac's face lit up in excitement.
"Oh, is it to do with your thing?"
"What thing?" Allegra asked curiously, turning to look at Stiles, who went scarlet and groaned.
"No, it's nothing to do with my thing! Leave my thing alone! And I agreed because Scott asked, that's all, ok?" he insisted, but Isaac and Allegra exchanged amused glances as she sat at the table with her own cup of tea.
"Whatever you say dear. Now, Scott has basically confined you to quarters Isaac, which means Stiles is much the same as he's your babysitter," she said, and both boys rolled their eyes while her lips twitched in amusement, "but that's no reason for us to sit around watching TV. It seems to me that there's a lot going on in this town, and it's all starting to stink. It seems to me to be all connected, even Barrow." She told them, and Stiles nodded.
"Lydia and I think the same thing. The poachers, the Deadpool, Crockett, the Popobawa, whatever the hell attacked Liam, the mass grave, the disappearances…it has to all be connected, it's too much of a coincidence not to be."
Isaac nodded as he sipped his tea, then looked at Stiles curiously.
"I'd agree on all of that being connected, but what about whatever's happened to Nolan and Gabe?" he asked, and Stiles frowned.
Admittedly, that was the fly in the ointment, but after…how long had they been doing this? After this long, Stiles didn't think they were jumping at shadows to think that the two things were entirely unrelated.
"Might be, and I'm beginning to think the crocodile thing might also have something to do with it, but I think that one might just be me being paranoid. But yeah, something is off, more than usual."
Allegra nodded as she sipped her tea. She was glad that Stiles was on the same page as her, he had a very inquisitive mind, and she could feel it in her bones that he would be a damn fine law enforcement officer one day.
"I think you're right. I say we do a bit of research, I've got some of the case files of the last disappearances from seventeen years ago, I got them from your dad. So, I think we should have a look, see if anything rings any bells. And Isaac can look up on the monsters we know are in town." She said, and he nodded eagerly.
"Yeah, and maybe try and figure out what the hell Barrow was since he was nearly unkillable."
"Yeah, good idea, Scott did a Vader and cut his hand off when he was railing on him for almost, you know, killing you," Stiles explained to Isaac, who went a little pink and tried not to look too pleased that his boyfriend would go to such lengths for him, "and it just regrew, and even when dad shot him in the head it didn't take him down, whatever the hell he was, he wasn't human."
"So, past crime reports, the records from the disappearances seventeen years ago, all the disappearances this time, and whatever is going bump in the night in this town, we'll see if we can't dig something up, or at least get a clue where to start looking. Though, I do have one slight idea."
The two boys looked at her excitedly, if she already had some sort of an idea, well, they were weeks ahead of where they usually were anyway, it normally took them ages to even get to that point.
"What?" Isaac asked impatiently when she wasn't being forthcoming, and she tapped her finger against her teeth before getting up, going through to the living room, and coming back with a file.
"Seventeen years ago, the disappearances, the weird stuff happening, it all stopped when Clive Mariner, who you reckon is now the Popobawa, disappeared at Devil's Corner. Now, that's bad enough, but not long before that, two people were in a car accident there, a horrible accident which left a baby on the side of the road, covered in their parents blood. And not long before that, there was another horrible accident at that very same bit of road which resulted in two more deaths, and they had to act to save the life of her unborn child." She explained darkly, and both boys felt something twist inside their gut.
She hadn't said, but it was obvious who and what she was talking about. Something she had let slip last time she was here, about one of the last cases she had worked on, it had rung bells for them but she'd left and they'd been too preoccupied with the Ghost Pack to pay much attention.
"Jackson. And Garrett." Stiles said grimly, and she nodded, biting her lower lip.
"Exactly. I know I said I wouldn't go looking through all my old cases now that I know about the supernatural, but this one…this one I can't leave alone. It's part of the reason I came, to confirm my suspicions that the supernatural might have been at play seventeen years ago, the last time this was happening. And it's even more important now because the two kids involved are in my grandson's pack. They deserve to know the truth, whatever it might be. And if we're right, and it's all connected…"
"We might be able to get justice for them too." Isaac said softly, and she nodded, a determined look kindling in her eyes.
"Precisely. So, are you boys with me?"
XX
"Isn't this a little outside of our comfort zone?" Dexio asked grimly as the two of them looked at their unexpected guest, who was currently necessitating that the neutering of Rumpelstiltskin the cat be postponed, as this morning, on what both of them fervently hoped was a one-time thing, their table was taken up by a dead, human corpse.
Yes, she had to admit, it was. Vets weren't meant to do anything with human bodies whatsoever, yet here they were, standing with a dead body on their table as though it was an everyday occurrence, or if they were in a rerun of Bones.
"Yes, and usually I wouldn't agree to anything like this, but if we're right, this thing is racking up quite a body count, and we need to confirm our suspicions one way or another. So, let's see what we've got." She told him grimly, frowning as she watched her probation student set about examine the body of the latest poor unfortunate.
Until this morning, the body count from their mystery predator has at an unsettling four, particularly when they had no idea what the hell was really causing it. Four bodies in natural attacks (in anywhere but Beacon Hills) should account for a year's worth of unfortunate deaths caused by the forces of mother nature. However, they had four in the space of a week, or at least, that had been the consensus until this morning when three more savaged bodies, each with massive chunks having been torn out of them, had appeared, floating at the riverway just on the way out of town. That brought the number of bodies up to seven, and hence escalated the threat to concerning, and as such, the sheriff had been banging on the door first thing, begging for help, to at least confirm or deny the identity of their unknown predator that was killing people.
The thing was, Finch, while sure it was indeed an animal of some sort, she couldn't shake the feeling that while it did scream an animal…it didn't necessarily mean it wasn't a human either.
"Bite marks are certainly consistent with the original victim that Scott and I examined," Dexio informed her as she joined him at the table, bent low and scrutinising one of the three victims who were found floating in the river that morning.
Finch looked, frowning as she did so. Dexio was right, it did match with her initial suspicions of the attack that they had investigated a couple of days before, and the size of the bite mark was consistent. But the bite mark itself was what was bothering her. Each of the victims had been killed by this creature, but other than killing the victim, there hadn't been that much more damage. And that was what was bothering her, it was like a twitch, it was jarring her for some reason.
"The bite clearly kills them, but why…ah!" she exclaimed, as the penny finally dropped.
"What?" Dexio asked curiously as he looked at the scene of the crime photos of the other two victims (the sheriff hadn't wanted to bring all the bodies, in case Scott's father had gotten wind of it), and she hurried over to him, and took the photos from him, the three newest victims now joining the previous four.
"The bite, the bite is the key. They all look the same, yes?" she asked, and he nodded, his brow furrowed.
"Yeah, but we figured that was because there's only one animal doing this."
"Correct. I suspect it is only one animal, but what's been bothering me is the consistency of these attacks, the wound, the bite. They're all the same!" she exclaimed, and Dexio, rather lost, looked at her in confusion.
"Yeah, but we knew that?" he asked, completely at sea, and she put the photos on the desk in front of them, indicating each wound.
"All the wounds, they're all bite marks, caused by the same animal. The bites are large, massive really, pointing to the fact that this animal, this crocodile that we're looking for, is big, massive even. But that's the thing. They're all just bite marks. Just bites. No eating. This monster isn't attacking them to feed. It's attacking them solely to kill."
Dexio went a bit pale as he realised what she was getting at.
"Wait, so it's killing just because it can? It's doing it for what, sport?" he asked in astonishment, most animals only killed when they needed to for food, in fact, there was only one species that would kill indiscriminately for no reason…humans.
Finch looked grave as she looked at the pictures, realising exactly what he was thinking.
"Sport? I don't know, without seeing the beast, I can't be certain, but from the places that the killings took place, its now currently mapping out a fairly substantial territory. At best, we can hope that it's simply defending it's territory. But if not, well, we have to go with your theory that it is indeed killing purely for the sake of it, which is alarming in many ways, I have to say."
Dexio hissed through his teeth. He'd dated a girl at university who was a big reptile fan (while training to be a vet, reptiles weren't his favourite type of animal to encounter and had hastily made good his escape from her apartment upon discovering she had five pet snakes, which she allowed to slither around the apartment freely), and she had wrote a paper on the specifics of crocodile attacks, and he'd even looked it up after the discovery of the first victim. The mugger crocodile of India seemed to be one of the few man-killer crocodiles, if not the only one, that killed only to defend it's territory as opposed to the Nile and saltwater crocodiles which would happily kill and eat a human if the circumstances dictated it. Did that mean they were dealing with a mugger croc? One that had somehow escaped from somewhere and had just marked a large territory that the dead had just wondered into? Or was it in fact some other type of croc, killing simply because it could?
"So, we need to tell the sheriff that it's definitely a croc, and that he needs to keep people away from the waterways for now, at least until we can hunt the thing down and either catch it or kill it," he said, heading to tell the sheriff about their theory, leaving Finch with her thoughts as she looked at the dead body, and the pictures of the others.
Sport…killing for sport was definitely something that rarely occurred in the wild, in any species. The only species that did kill for sport were humans, usually rich people with very small sexual organs who liked to believe that by killing helpless animals it reinforced their own superiority, and she had to admit, she loved it when the animals those particular douchebags were hunting got their just desserts and the animal happened to kill them, served the spoilt little subhuman's right.
But this croc, this also seemed to be killing for sport. Killing just because it could. Now, was it killing because it viewed it's territory as being under threat? Or, was she right, and was the crocodile they were looking for actually a crocodile with a human malice, a human mind?
There were were-crocodiles out there after all, few in number, but out there, and somewhat justifiably, had rather an unsavoury reputation, not helped that many seemed to be working directly for the Beasturo or other malevolent or insidious individuals.
Was one here, a were-croc of some sort, and if so, what the hell was it doing here, and how did they find it to stop it striking again?
XX
Argent looked at his two hunter companions as they studied Gabe and Nolan, the two of them lying in bed in the hospital, both of them in the exact same state: virtually braindead, and drained of all their testosterone. As soon as Melissa had asked him about it, he knew what they were dealing with: either a succubus or an incubus.
The question was, which flavour?
"It's definitely either a succubus or an incubus doing this, that much is obvious." Natasha concluded, looking grim.
It wasn't like she didn't like hunting such creatures, truth be told, they were actually quite a fascinating hunt. The problem was they were also a colossal pain to hunt, particularly solo, and usually necessitated working and playing well with others, which she wasn't very good at either.
"So far only two victims, but I've got to say, I'm worried." Gareth muttered to Argent as the three hunters checked the victims of the latest hellish visitor to Beacon Hills.
"Why?" Argent asked curiously.
He himself was worried of course, so far, two kids had been attacked by whatever was doing this, in a feeding ground near the hospital. Was this just the zone the creature had set up for itself, it's preying ground? Were there other victims out there, showing a bigger feeding pool?
"Well, considering what's been done to them…they've been left alive. From what's been done, unless you're very lucky, if you can call it that, you don't get left like that if a succubus or an incubus has had a munch on you. One of them, maybe, but two? Nah. They were left in this state for a reason. That to me screams ritual." He said darkly, and Argent groaned.
A ritual. Hadn't the town had enough of rituals with the blasted Darach? But if Gareth was right, and the attacks on Nolan and Gabe had left them in this state for a reason, he did have a point, that could well be ritualistic. And a natural succubus or incubus wouldn't need a ritual. That meant it was a demonic one.
Wonderful.
"So we've got a demonic succubus or incubus in town, preying on teenagers. I don't know about you two, but I'd say that needs killing. Up for it?" he asked, and the other two nodded, and followed Argent away from the two victims lying in their beds, hunting for the sex demon before it struck again.
XX
"Come on dude, I'm bored!" Garrett whined from the other end of the phone during morning break, and Liam rolled his eyes at Kira, who sent him a commiserating, if amused, look.
"I know you are, but there's not much I can do about it, I'm at school! If we'd thought about it, we could have let you hang out with Aiden, but we didn't, so I don't know…just suck it up!" he suggested, and he could practically hear Garret's scowl at the other end of the phone.
"There isn't much to do in here, not with all the power still being off! What do you expect me to do, read?" he grumbled, and Liam smirked.
"Well, yeah, think how much homework you could get done!" he teased, and he heard Garrett splutter in outrage.
"So I get blown up, and extra school?" he demanded, and Liam shrugged.
"Sorry bro, but there isn't much I can do, find some way to amuse yourself, got to go!" he said hurriedly, hanging up before Garrett could continue to whine any more than he already had.
He got that he was bored, but it could have been worse, he could have been dead! If the power wasn't still down (it was slowly being restored in different places across town, but it was slow work as Barrow had totalled the entire substation so it would still be ages until it was sorted) Garrett wouldn't be bored at all, and would be quite enjoying his enforced day off from school, but as it was, he was now desperate for any kind of gossip or excitement, which sadly, school just wasn't providing.
"Just because there's no power, doesn't mean there's no school! Greenberg, stop waving at me, you could have taken today off school." Coach called over a megaphone, to the bemusement of everyone within earshot.
"You'd think he'd conserve your phone battery by not phoning and harassing you." Kira mused as she held Liam's hand as they joined the others at the table outside, and Liam sighed, yeah, that would be logical, but as he looked over at the ruined bleachers which had nearly killed four pack members the day before, he couldn't help but be relieved everyone was at least still in one piece.
The others were already in full blown discussion as they sat down, with their new abada friend fiddling with his fingers anxiously.
"So they don't have any idea what it was that attacked your dad?" Melody asked worriedly, exchanging a dark look with Scott, who shared the sentiments.
After all, when you included whatever had attacked Johan to whatever had attacked Liam, and the Popobawa, they had more than enough weird and wacky creatures to be contending with as it was, but if this was a different creature from the ones they had already encountered, it did beg the question: what had attacked Johan, what did it want, and was there a particular reason he had been targeted or was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time?
"No, they don't have a clue. Gogo is worried, after all, we just came here, and now dad's been attacked, and I've got a price on my head, and the man who killed my mother is here too, and gunning for all of us." He complained bitterly, and Violet looked at him in shock.
"Wait, you mean Crockett? He killed your mom?" she asked in shock, and he nodded, blowing his breath through his teeth in frustration as he did so.
"Yeah, they told me when I got back the other night, it was Crockett. He's been all over the world, and like I said, abadas aren't exactly common, so I think he jumped at the chance to kill one of us, even though we're mostly harmless." He spat, and Scott fixed their new friend with a kind look, squeezing his hand to calm him down.
"Hey, you're with all of us now. We won't let Crockett get you, not if we can help it." He assured him, and Neo gave him a shy smile, going slightly red as he looked at the Alpha gratefully.
"Thanks Scott."
Danny looked at Scott anxiously.
"Yeah but the thing is Scott, we still don't know who's behind this list that this Directive have sent out, why you guys are all on it, and what's to say there aren't more maniacs out there gunning for us all, other than the ones Crockett hired? We attract enough problems as it is, but what's to say we won't get random hired killers hoping for a bit of the action? Malia alone is enough to make anyone consider it!" he exclaimed, pointing to her, and the coyote shot him an annoyed look.
"Hey, what about your boyfriend, he's worth eleven!" she insisted, and Scott sighed as they all started to bicker about the prices they were all fetching on the Deadpool.
Mind you, he would be lying if he said he wasn't tempted. After all, it was so hard keeping track of the whole pack, one being picked off from the pack…he suppressed a grin, shaking his head, no, he couldn't do that to Derek, anyone, he couldn't do that to anyone!
"The prices of everyone aside, I'm more interested in me and Neo being on it." Brooke pointed out as she chewed a crab stick thoughtfully, and Lori, still looking a bit out of place, looked at her curiously.
"How come?" she asked, and Brooke extracted her own version of the Deadpool, of which she (and Lori) were on a different part of, having been unlocked before the pack's details had come down from the mysterious Directive.
"Well, look. All of you lot, like Neo said, are all essentially predator species, with the exception of Neo himself and Lydia. You told us what Lydia did to the Pombero in Eichen," she explained, her eyes flicking to the Banshee, who fiddled with her streak of white hair absently, "so she's proven herself to be a threat to those who would cause problems in the town. But we're all technically prey species, and some of my pack are also technically prey species, like Nile. That seems to me that this Directive isn't concerned with how dangerous any of us could be, but are just interested in our respective abilities."
Scott frowned as he considered her point. Admittedly, until she and Neo had arrived in town, the only non-predator species in his pack was basically Lydia, everyone else was technically a predatory species. But now that he considered it, she did have a point. The fact that she and some of her cohorts were on another part of the Deadpool, but still basically prey species, did seem to point out that this Directive had other intentions other than stopping the more dangerous creatures that existed in this supernatural world of theirs. He had to wonder though: as werewolves et al were all considered dangerous, where did whoever this Directive consisted of consider the less dangerous species? And if they considered them all as dangerous as each other, were they as nuanced in any way? Or did they consider them all dangerous, and hence all equally deserving of their fate?
Either way, Scott didn't like it. It reminded him all too vividly of Gerard Argent, and that was a nightmare they could all do without repeating.
"So, we're all as valuable to them as each other?" Kira asked, and Melody frowned, looking pensive.
"Well, yes and no. Clearly, they want all the supernaturals they can get their hands on," she said, earning a funny look from two passing freshmen, which she rolled her eyes in response to before ploughing on with her point, "but the price variation is the thing that's most interesting. Look at the list Brooke is on," she said, pulling it from the Antukai and putting it in the middle of the table to allow everyone to see, "Savannah is obviously the most dangerous, and is technically the Alpha of sorts, but you also have Mali too, also fetching a high price. The prices to me all seem informed, but what exactly is informing them? Look at our pack's prices, Scott is obviously worth the most as the True Alpha, fair enough, but why is Jackson more expensive than Derek? Why are the twins combined worth more than the True Alpha? It doesn't make much sense." She reasoned, and there in lay her problem.
The whole thing didn't make sense. While she was relieved to have avoided her secret being exposed, the prices genuinely didn't make sense. And while there was the argument that perhaps the unseen Directive did think the twins still had their combined form, which would justify their price being higher than that of Scott, the fact that they knew that Liam had become a werewolf, that Neo had arrived in town, and that Parrish was supernatural, a fact that they didn't know themselves, all pointed to a more intricate knowledge of everything than anyone should be having.
How were they doing it, how did they know so much?
Brooke nodded, and also looked out at the preserve worriedly.
"Then there's that thing that nearly got me, are the Directive behind that too?" she asked nervously, and Malia looked at her curiously.
"What do you think it was?" she asked, and the were-otter shrugged.
"I don't know, but to me, it looked like a crocodile."
"We think it is a crocodile, but Dr Finch messaged me earlier," Scott told them all, to several looks of consternation, "her and Dexio think that it's killing purely for sport."
Malia looked troubled, shaking her head.
"Well that can't be right, animals don't kill for sport, the only ones that do…"
"Are human." Lydia supplied helpfully, almost resigned to it now, and Scott permitted himself a dark grin despite himself.
"Yeah, exactly. I've got Derek and Braeden exploring the preserve to see if they can find anything, but either way, it's killed enough people already, so crocodile, or were-crocodile, we need to try and find it. It can go onto our ever-increasing to-do pile." He mused sardonically, and Lydia smiled a little.
"Does our to-do list ever get smaller?" she asked as the bell rang, and Kira shook her head.
"Nah, we're not that lucky. What is it Liam?" she asked, as her boyfriend had stopped short, and was nervously sniffing the air, with Scott and Malia looking at him expectantly, both of them grinning as he did so.
"I think there's another one of us here," he told them, though not looking entirely convinced, and Scott smiled, his eyes glowing briefly red as he saw Dr Finch's daughter, Quinn, heading inside.
"You're right, it's Dr Finch's daughter, Quinn. Good job." He told him proudly, and Liam beamed with pride as he dragged Kira off to their next class.
As Scott watched Kira negotiate with Liam (being the year above, Kira had a different class than he did, and Liam was inadvertently dragging her completely the wrong way for her next class) he became aware of a feeling of being watched, and he turned, to see Lydia and Malia smiling proudly, while Neo grinned.
"Derek's right. You are going to be good at this." Lydia told him proudly, and Scott felt his cheeks go warm as she kissed his cheek and headed off, Malia grinning behind her and winking roguishly at Scott as she followed.
"You guys all seem really close. To think, dad was worried I wouldn't really fit in." Neo mumbled softly, scuffing his feet as he headed with Scott towards their next class, and Scott nudged their new friend with his shoulder.
"Hey, we'll find a way to help your dad. Things have a way of getting really crazy round here, and I won't tell you it doesn't suck, and people don't get hurt. But sometimes, we pull it off. And I think we do it pretty well. We'll find something to help your dad Neo, I promise. Even then, you can hang around us. We're not going anywhere." Scott assured him, and Neo smiled.
"Thank you Scott, I didn't have many friends back home, what with being supernatural and living on the outskirts of town. It's nice to fit in. Um, why is Malia trying to sneak out of the classroom?" he asked in confusion, and Scott let out a tired little sigh.
He knew there was a reason that he didn't like Stiles having the day off, what with Liam, the pack as a whole, Isaac (admittedly he liked watching Isaac, especially naked…what had he been thinking about? Oh yeah!), he had forgotten how tiring it was ensuring their coyote didn't escape Math class, which was nominally Stiles' job.
"She hates Maths, and seems to think," Scott growled playfully, yanking a protesting Malia back by her backpack, "that with Stiles gone she can get away with ditching Maths. Come on Malia, I promised Stiles you would still go to all your classes." He told her, and she grumbled, but acceded defeat with little drama.
"You know, you're not the boss of me!" she insisted as he and Neo, the abada grinning in amusement, shoved her into class, and Scott grinned.
"Hey, I'm the Alpha, which means yeah, I am. Come on, you said you were getting Pythagoras." He told her, and she did, very reluctantly, concede the point, nodding begrudgingly.
"True, but still, Maths sucks."
Neo nodded as he sat down at his desk.
"Yeah, it does. But next year, we can all be seniors together if you pass this year right? Otherwise, wouldn't you have to be held back a year, and be in class with Liam, Violet, Garrett and Lori?" he pointed out, and Scott sniggered and leaned a little closer towards Malia as Ms Flemming entered the room.
"You'd be aunt Malia, responsible for all the puppies while we do senior stuff." He teased, and she went white, before glowering at Scott resentfully.
"Fine, you win, you're right. But you fight dirty. Wait…puppies?" she asked, and Scott's mouth fell open in horror as Neo started to laugh, and Malia's eyes widened in delight as she hastily sent out a text in the group chat.
Son of a bitch, they had just all mostly shut up about the kidnapping fiasco, and now it would start all over again. Clearly he could at least fill in one of Stiles' usual roles when his best friend was absent: he could put his foot in it all by himself. Scowling as the other two started laughing on either side of him, and the group chat beginning to make his phone vibrate in his pocket all over again, he consigned himself in a defeated manner to the rest of what was likely about to become another very long day.
XX
Sean slammed against the tree, panting with exhaustion. They hadn't let up, even though he had killed a couple, in fact, if anything, that seemed to have spurred them on. He gasped as he felt the bullet wound that was in his thigh, and held his hand against it, trying to stem the flow of blood. He pulled his hand away as he heard the sounds of the soldiers getting closer, but as he did so, he was distracted by the sight of blood on his hand. Weird. He now couldn't eat meat, whatever the hell Sinner had stabbed him with, surely it had poisoned him? He couldn't eat flesh now, so surely he had to be poisoned, so if so, why wasn't his blood black? It just didn't make sense, well, none of this made sense. In the last twelve hours, he'd been rendered unable to eat and watched his family get massacred before his very eyes. And not to mention the fact that he was currently being pursued by some soldier death squad who wanted to turn him into a throw rug.
"Here little wendigo, come out and play…join your family!" Sinner spat as he and his group stalked through the woods, clearly revelling in what he was doing.
But, Sean's hearing was just as acute as a werewolf's, if not more so, and he could also smell very well (it helped them stalk prey in normal circumstances) and while Sinner was enjoying this, immensely even, he was starting to get bored.
Sean didn't know if that made things better or worse. Mind you, Sinner might just burn down the whole forest in order to get his hands on him, which he wouldn't put past him. He grimaced in pain as he adjusted his leg, then made a break for it as Sinner bellowed in victory, bullets puncturing the trees as he ran away from them, skidding down an embankment towards a deep pool of water. Maybe he could find a cave or something in the pool, use that to hide from the hunters until he could make a break for it, then…well he didn't know, that was the best he had so far.
Floating vaguely in his head was the idea of finding the True Alpha, he knew he lived in Beacon Hills, and there was the cute Banshee from a few months ago, if he could find them, they might be able to help. Besides, nobody (except Crockett and Sinner themselves) deserved what had happened to his family, so it was only neighbourly to find them and warn them.
He waded into the water, and took a deep breath, diving underneath the surface, and was relieved to find it was quite deep. Thank god, now all he had to do was find somewhere to hide, please let there be a place to hide…
His whole family had been slaughtered before his eyes, and he was too preoccupied with fighting for his life to even begin to come to terms with that. But they were all gone, his dad, his mom, his big brother, all of them butchered, and while part of him wanted to join them, to just give in, the other part of him didn't want to give Sinner the pleasure, nor did he want to go down with a whimper, hell no.
Wendigos were at the top of the food chain. They were the apex predators, above even Alpha werewolves. And one didn't hunt a Wendigo. Which he planned to illustrate to Sinner very soon.
And besides, he thought with a pang, if he died, what would happen to poor Willow? His poor little calico cat, now the only other family he had left, he had to at least try and make sure that she would be alright.
Small wonder he preferred animals to people.
Speaking of animals…what the fuck!
Sean jolted for the surface just as a massive crocodile darted out of the murky shadows, its glowing, evil, yellow reptilian eyes fixated on him as its maw opened wide, dozens of serrated razorlike teeth glinting in the murk, and Sean accelerated, hauling himself out of the water with the crocodile right on his heels.
"The fuck did that come from?" Sinner demanded in shock as the startled soldiers who had been chasing him raised their weapons to instead cover the crocodile, which, abandoning Sean completely, gave a vicious roar and sprang at them, the soldiers shrieking in alarm as the scent of blood filled the air, with screams piercing the cold, misty air of the preserve.
Sean however didn't care. The crocodile, terrifying to have been ambushed by it though it was, had probably saved his life. Men were being torn apart like confetti as the twenty-odds foot crocodile savaged them, and Sean grinned in satisfaction as the soldiers were torn apart, Sinner frantically giving orders as they tried to get out of the way of the croc, which seemed singularly unimpressed by their bullets and attempts to kill it. Sean grinned, and knowing it was too risky to stick around, fled further into the preserve as the crocodile tore apart Sinner's soldiers, while the leader of Ouroboros made good his own escape.
XX
"AGH! Theo screamed, clawing at himself in a terrified panic, however, it seemed as though he had finally emerged from whatever hellscape that the Surgeon had inflicted on him, as his eyes finally returned to normal, his whole body shaking in utter terror, sweat gleaming on his emaciated skin, his eyes wide and unfocused.
Theo slowly came to, his heart hammering inside his chest, his whole near-naked body shaking as the images of his sister, Tara the Dread Doctors had said she was called, emerging from hell and dragging Theo there, ripping her stolen heart out in the process. Since Valack had trapped him in the illusion, he had hallucinated his own murder at the hands of his dead twin sister so many times, he'd lost track, hundreds, thousands…
"Hey, are you ok?" Corey asked softly, running his hand worriedly through Theo's hair as Theo fought to get his heart back under control, he couldn't stop seeing Tara's dead, accusatory eyes as she tore his heart out of his chest and ate it in front of him, he was shuddering, his mind was joining her in death…
"Theo, calm yourself. I can't imagine that whatever Valack inflicted on you was entirely pleasant, but you need to calm down, you're painfully weak as it is, and if you don't calm down, you might slip back into it. That's it, deep breath." Martagh coached, throwing a concerned look outside the cell, the air was changing in here, like it always did before one of the Dread Doctors randomly selected their entertainment for the afternoon, and she needed Theo at least a bit more present and alert before one of them was dragged off for yet another round of pointless 'experimentation'.
Theo shook his head, trying to get the image of his dead sister ripping her heart out of his chest, that was now seared into his brain, out of his head to focus on the Scuffock.
"Word of advice," he breathed, shaking and shivering as he found himself unconsciously cuddling into his chameleon friend as Corey stroked his hair softly, hugging himself around Theo protectively, "don't piss off Valack. There's air down there," he muttered softly to his cellmates, and Martagh looked slightly shocked, "fresh air, and I could hear water, but, anything else, I'm sorry, I didn't-" he muttered, and Martagh petted his cheek, looking positively sickened with herself.
"I am sorry that Valack did that you Theo, I shouldn't have pushed you into it. I thought you might find something that might help Scott when the time comes." She lamented, and he shook his head.
"Well not much, but we're close to water, that's something at least. But yeah, this hasn't been fun." He complained, and found he didn't mind at all when a worried Corey pressed a gentle kiss to the top of his best friend's head, hoping it would help to calm him.
Bonnie, who was sitting in the corner of the cell watching them, frowned. Martagh had been wracked with guilt since Valack had done, well, whatever the hell he had done to Theo, and was what Theo had discovered really worth the effort, the risk? But then again, they were all trapped in this hellhole, and with no sign of the Dread Doctors setting them loose, she supposed any form of progress had to be counted as good progress.
"Any ideas?" Rhyley asked Martagh, who frowned, she couldn't think of anywhere off the top of her head that might be the location of this secret base, but then again, she didn't exactly know the area well at the best of times.
"What-" Theo croaked, as he saw Tara prowling at the edge of their cage, and determinedly avoided her gaze, his chest twinging in anticipation of her ripping his heart out again, and he forced himself to look at Martagh, "-what is he? Valack?" he asked, throwing a frightened look at the rows of plastic cells as the sense of anticipation rose.
Bonnie growled, the man was a sociopath, never mind anything else. But in terms of their world, she had no idea.
Martagh frowned. Well, it was clear that unlike everyone else so far, these Dread Doctors were basically human. However, it was also apparent that they weren't entirely human, but the result of some supernatural force, or some demented experiment they had performed upon themselves, the jury was out on that one. These enemies weren't natural, for want of a better term. And it seemed as though these Dread Doctors were rewriting the natural rules of their supernatural world.
She was jarred from her reverie as the door to their cell slid open, and the occupants of the cell all got to their feet, while Corey dragged Theo to safety behind them all, getting to his feet himself while two emaciated weredogs, a weak Scuffock and a were-chameleon got to their feet, as the intimidating visage of the Pathologist hulked into view.
"Good day to you all. We've brought some new friends for you to play with." He told them with a slight sneer, his smooth metallic mask turning to look at them, as if mocking them as he clicked his fingers.
Six members of Ouroboros came into view, and threw three newcomers into their cell with their usual tact, diplomacy and consideration for their charges well being: none at all. The three new victims of the Dread Doctors slammed down to the floor, and Martagh and Bonnie hurried to their side, helping their victims sit up, and Martagh, upon examining the face of the newest victim. It was Satomi, the Alpha of the biggest pack in the world, and the closest Alpha to Beacon Hills, and if she was here, that left Scott completely isolated from the rest of the supernatural world, provided the Dread Doctors had gotten the rest of her pack, which she suspected they had, which meant Scott was on his own. And the thought of her pack, her apprentice's pack, being isolated from the rest of the supernatural world and hence at the mercy of the Dread Doctors and their sinister designs, filled her with, well, dread she supposed.
"Let us go!" the girl, Hayden spat, her eyes flashing green as she gave a rumbling growl in her throat, and instinctively, Bonnie and Rhyley growled at her as the two weredogs registered the presence of a werecat.
The Pathologist turned his smooth death's head mask back towards her, and despite the fact that that his face was hidden, it was perfectly obvious that he was rolling his eyes.
"You listen to me, you stubborn, unpleasant little brat," he hissed, advancing into the cell while the members of Ouroboros flanked him, covering the cell's inhabitants with their guns, "we have told you that you are all here at our discretion, and your constant whining that your sister will find you is getting rather tired. We have nothing to fear, least of all from some rent-a-cop and her churlish little sister who is only even still alive due to our mercy and our curiosity. You will be here till we tire of you, and the more you open your ignorant mouth, the more likely it is that that day will come about all the faster, and then we will throw your body out of our facility and leave it as carrion for the crows. Do you understand?" he asked in a sinister, malevolent whisper, and while Hayden remained glaring at him petulantly, she did go quiet.
"Why are you doing all this?" Martagh challenged, wondering how anyone could be so evil for no reason, and also, genuinely curious as to what their endgame was.
The Pathologist turned to look at her, and Martagh felt a cold shiver run down her back as he did so. Bring back Agravaine…well, who'd have thought she'd miss fighting the Corrupter?
"Because we can. And because this world doesn't belong to you, it belongs to us. And soon it will. Now if you'll excuse me…" he said, turning away, only for the Surgeon to appear and impede his exit.
"If I might doctor, could you perhaps run your eye over this?" he asked, passing his compatriot a file, and the Pathologist took out, a metallic hiss escaping from his helmet.
"Then this means…" he whispered in realisation, as the two Dread Doctors turned to look back at the cell's occupants, and Martagh suddenly had a very bad feeling about the way the two Dread Doctors were looking at them.
"The missing piece." The Pathologist declared with relish as the two Dread Doctors entered the cell.
"No, not again!" Theo roared, his eyes glowing gold as he struggled to his feet, as the entire cell sprang into action, leaping at the doctors, claws, fangs and a tongue lashing towards them.
"Oh for the love of…sit down you stupid little brat!" Valack snarled, his central panel on his death mask glowing an eerie blue, and the beam lanced into Theo, who screamed before it even hit, and then collapsed to the ground, screeching as he was trapped in the illusion of his sister murdering him again, Tara was there, pinning him down, snarling as she tore his heart out of his chest.
Corey panicked as he looked at Theo, torn between trying to harm the doctors, and also wanting to rush to his best friend's aid, but in his split second of indecision, the Pathologist fired an electrical dart from the gauntlet on his wrist, and Corey gasped as it punctured into his neck, and then screamed in agony as electricity coursed through him, his tongue rolling back into his mouth as he dropped to the ground, convulsing and shaking.
Hayden sprang at Urbaniak as the soldiers all panicked and asked for orders from their leaders, however, it seemed as though the two doctors didn't need them. The Surgeon turned his glowing central eye onto her, and Hayden then collapsed to the ground, clawing at her eyes as she shrieked and writhed on the floor.
"No, no, Val, I won't leave you, no this isn't happening, stop it, no, don't do it, Val, VAL, VAALL!" Hayden screamed, lost inside her own mind as the insidious Surgeon trapped her in a hellscape of her own imagination's making as he had done with Theo.
While he did so, a long sharp needle had emerged from his knuckle, injecting something into Bonnie's neck, the weredog collapsing to the ground, coughing and choking, spitting up shining mercury as it flooded her system, she had to get it out, she couldn't die here, Rhyley needed her.
The other weredog in question was similarly suffering, having also gotten the effect of Valack's third eye's mysterious powers, and he was screaming on the floor, tears streaming down his face, as he clawed at the ground as though trying to escape something pulling at him.
"No, please, Malakai, let me go! I miss you, so much, I do, but please, no, I don't want to go where you are, let me, you have to, let me go, let go, get off me!" he begged, sobbing as he fought his dead, unseen brother all inside his own head.
That left the other new werewolf, Satomi, and Martagh. The boy growled, but he looked anxiously at Satomi, as though asking for her permission, but the Alpha wasn't paying attention, instead, she was glowering at her captors, and with a look and a nod at Martagh, the two moved against them.
"Wait, what am I meant to do?" Brett demanded desperately, and the Surgeon turned to look at him, and his eye glowed red and fired a beam right through Brett's head, and Brett gasped in pain as the beam drilled right through his skull, dropping him to the floor, his eyes rolling back in his head as he dropped down, twitching, the wound already healing but Brett unmoving, twitching, the victim of Valack's bizarre power.
Satomi and Martagh moved together, going for the two Dread Doctors but Martagh was blasted by lightning crackling from the fingertips of the two physicians, giving a scream as she was blown across the cell, slamming into the plastic wall and sliding down it, leaving Satomi pinned between the two doctors. They surrounded her, both of them firing lightning into her, and Satomi roared in agony, her pack echoing her pain as they roared throughout the facility, slamming against their own walls, trying to come to the aid of their alpha, to no avail. As Satomi was forced down, the Surgeon crushed his heavily booted foot down on the back of her head, with Satomi whimpering in pain as he crushed her face into the floor.
"Get off!" Satomi snapped, the pain of his weight on the back of her head was unbearable.
"Oh no my dear, you see, you are the missing piece of the puzzle. Now, your stupid little act of defiance has wasted enough of our time, hold still!" he spat, applying more pressure to the back of her head as the Pathologist unsheathed another needle from his other glove, this one unlike the other, while Satomi tried to claw at the floor, an exercise in futility while the Pathologist viciously stabbed the needle he had extracted from his glove into her back, Satomi screaming as he plunged it viciously into her back, right where her heart would be. Satomi struggled, giving a piteous moan as he drained blood into the syringe on the back of one of his gloves.
"This is it, this is the key, now we can move ahead with Operation Fallout!" the Pathologist exclaimed, almost brimming with excitement as he helped Valack off the back of Satomi's head, who groaned and clutched at her head weakly, rolling on the floor while Martagh coughed and got back to her feet before hurrying to Satomi's side, helping the Alpha up, before turning their attention to the rest of their cellmates, the door sliding shut behind the doctors.
And now that begged a new question: what the hell was Operation Fallout, and why were they so excited that they could now move ahead with it?
XX
Clark scowled as she walked the beat that she had been sent on, no car, no backup, just a beat, like a cop fresh out of the academy. Admittedly, it was her own fault, but she was just so frustrated! Her sister had been missing for months now, nobody knew anything about her disappearance, and everyone else seemed content just to write her off, her little sister!
It was her job to look after Hayden, always had been even before their parents had died in the gas leak, but now, Hayden was gone, missing, and it was all her fault, she couldn't find her! Her sister had literally disappeared from right under her nose, and she had no clue where she was, what had happened to her, any of it.
And while everyone else seemed content to basically give up on Hayden and the remaining missing kids, especially after finding the mass grave, but she knew that she was still alive.
She just needed a break, she needed a clue, something that would prove that she was right, that she wasn't crazy, that she wasn't losing control of the situation…
She shouldn't have lost her temper admittedly. The sheriff had taken her to task for going after Liam Dunbar, a last desperate hope that he had had something to do with the disappearances of Brett and Hayden, she knew she was clutching as straws, but she was desperate. Admittedly, she should have known it would get back to the sheriff, and he had told her that unless there was something directly implicating Liam, she should stay away from him and the rest of the weird little clique that hung around the sheriff's son. She had intimated that perhaps that weird little group were more involved than they should be to the sheriff, and the sheriff had promptly torn her a new one and sent her out on a beat to get her to cool off.
She had overstepped, she knew that. She also knew that she was lucky that she wasn't now emptying parking meters for a living, but she just needed to find her sister, she'd do anything to find her sister, and the longer it took, the more likely it was that Hayden would be dead by the time she eventually found her. She couldn't bear this anymore!
Maybe the sheriff had been right to send her on a beat, but now all she had for company was her own thoughts, and they were driving her crazy. What ifs, worst case scenarios, they were all chasing around her head and she just couldn't concentrate…
Only for a screaming body to land on the sidewalk right in front of her, the impact killing the man immediately, the scream cutting off the instant he hit the ground.
"What the?" she demanded, hurrying to the man's side and checking his pulse, but it was no good, he was already dead.
The man had screamed as he fell, and that, to her mind, ruled out suicide, but where had the man fallen from? She looked up, and saw a broken window in the penthouse of the apartment building she was standing outside.
"Deputy!" a woman called, and at the cry, Clark looked to see a dark, bald woman emerging from the building, looking anxious.
"Ma'am, this is a crime scene, if you could stay back…" she began, and the woman glowered down at the dead body.
"I know it's a crime scene. This man barged into the penthouse we're renting, opened fire on us! Two of my companions are wounded upstairs if you'd like to go and investigate, please, come, quickly!" she urged, and Clark started to call it in while hurrying inside.
Savannah glowered at the dead poacher, who had somehow managed to track her pack. Where the hell did this guy come from? Obviously the Deadpool was still running, they all knew that much, and it seemed as though this guy was simply acting on his own, but that begged the question: how many of these damn poachers and would-be assassins would they have to deal with?
Unsettled, and feeling as though she was being watched, Savannah left the dead poacher behind and headed back to Tyrin and Mali, both of whom had been wounded by the unexpected arrival of the poacher. Getting her phone out of her pocket, she hastily started sending a text:
The True Alpha had to be made aware. Both of the continuing threat of the poachers, and of the fact that once she checked on the others and retrieved Brooke, that they would be leaving town.
XX
They had been doing research all morning (Isaac and Stiles had been dutifully responding to Scott's texts, so as far as their Alpha knew, they were still happily researching in the house) and Allegra, calling a stop due to their lack of meaningful progress in the last hour, had ventured the idea that they go to the preserve, specifically Devil's Corner, to look around and investigate, to see if anything leapt out at them. Frustrated and also going slightly stir crazy, both boys had agreed and had clambered into Stiles' jeep to go on their field trip.
"You really think we're going to find something out here?" Isaac asked curiously, sending a text to a worried Scott, smiling fondly as he did so (the fact that he was lying through his teeth to his boyfriend was neither here nor there) and telling him that they were just having some soup for lunch, which seemed to satisfy his overprotective and over worrying boyfriend enough to focus on his own lunch.
Praying that Scott wouldn't come home from lunch in order to check on them as that would lead to a very upset Alpha boyfriend, he looked at Allegra curiously as she had been directing Stiles, to their driver's chagrin, and she frowned as she considered the question.
"I don't know. I'd like to think so, but it is very much a long shot, but we might get lucky, and find something worth our while. But all I know is, both Jackson and Garrett's parents died on that street corner, and there's something decidedly fishy about the entire preserve at the moment, so we can have a look."
Stiles shrugged, grinning.
"Well, wouldn't be the first time I've gone looking through the preserve looking for dead bodies or other trouble." He admitted cheerfully, and Allegra looked at him as though she were slightly afraid for his sanity.
"You know Stiles, you've been a constant worry to me ever since you first went into y-fronts." She told him frankly, and Stiles looked at her, in embarrassment, going scarlet as he spluttered in shock, while Isaac shook with silent mirth, giggling to himself in the back of the jeep.
Stiles drove them towards Devil's Corner, and maybe it was just all they had said about it, but Stiles felt a slight shiver run down his spine as he brought his jeep to a stop. The corner was a sharp hairpin turn, right at the bottom of a slope, which meant water collected on it and made it even more treacherous. The trees were numerous, old, thick and gnarled, and there was a consistent fog that permeated the area. As the three of them left the jeep, the unseasonable weather seemed to have taken a turn for the worse, with a cold, biting wind blowing through the preserve, the ancient trees creaking and swaying in the wind.
"Well, anyone else feeling a sense of doom?" Stiles asked anxiously, now quite relieved that he had thought to bring his gauntlets, the mist that was hanging around gave the place some very horror film vibes, and it was creeping him out.
Isaac had brought his knives as usual, but he had also come with his bow and arrow, and Allegra was also armed with her gun. After all, in this day and age it didn't pay to go traipsing through the preserve without at least some form of defence.
"It's always been a bad corner, but with all the disappearances recently, you have to wonder if this place is anything to do with it. Eighteen years ago, Jackson's parents were killed here. The car was slammed into by something, causing them to lose control and plough into the trees over there," Allegra explained, and both boys exchanged a dark look, and feeling a surge of sympathy for Jackson as they looked at where she was pointing, "naturally, at the time we assumed someone had hit them and just done a runner, perhaps a lorry judging by the damage, however we could never prove it. The crash killed his father, and his mother held out just long enough to get her to the hospital, and they had to deliver Jackson to save his life. Now, obviously it was dismissed at the time as just a crash, but now, I'm beginning to wonder, what if the supernatural was involved?" she mused, walking over to where she had attended the scene of the crime, looking at where, she still remembered to this day, she had attended the scene, the car totalled, Jackson's father virtually crushed in two, the weak cries of his birth mother and her pleas to save their baby, the entire thing imprinted on her memory.
Obviously Jackson's birth mother hadn't been in any fit state to help identify who done had this to them, but now, she had to wonder…
"What about Garrett?" Stiles asked, looking around anxiously, it was like every small movement was a potential warning, everything that moved could be some unknown threat leaping out at them to attack them.
Allegra frowned, leading them to the other side of the road, the wind whistling lowly through the gnarled trees, all three of them alert for any sign of danger. There was no sounds of traffic, approaching or otherwise, no sign of any life at all really, other than the three of them, it was extremely ominous, and in a town with rampaging Alphas, narcissistic sociopaths and every other lunatic they've encountered so far, it was enough to make them all on edge. Allegra came to a stop, pointing at where she remembered the other car had stopped the night that Garrett's birth parents had died.
"The car was here. It had been ripped open, and Garrett's parents had been torn apart as though by some rabid animal. But the strangest thing was, Garrett, poor little mite, other than being covered in blood, was completely unharmed, not a scratch, it was like whatever had torn their car open had taken special care to look after him, they left him outside at any rate. Obviously if we hadn't gotten here when we did, but it was like they had been trying to protect him. Now we were baffled enough at the time, but now, I'm starting to wonder, was it something supernatural that killed both their parents, and even then, is it a coincidence that they both died here, or is there more to it?" she asked, and they had to admit, they could see where she was coming from.
"So, deeper into the preserve you think?" Stiles asked, a little anxious, not too keen on the idea of going deeper in, and Allegra looked worriedly into the thick trees, and nodded to herself.
"Just a quick look. Alright, let's go."
Despite their anxiety about entering the preserve, their little venture passed without incident. While they got further away from where they had left the jeep, other than the place being thick with mud, fallen leaves, broken branches and things, there was nothing particularly untoward about their venture.
"I'm sorry boys, just an old woman's curiosity." Allegra dismissed, but Isaac shook his head.
"No, wait, listen." He told them, and Stiles shot him a funny look.
"I don't hear anything."
"Exactly."
And now he came to mention it, there was no sound. No animal noises. They were inside a massive forest, but there was no sign of birds, insects, nothing, not even Malia's hated enemies, squirrels. There was literally no sign of life at all.
"You think it means something?" Allegra asked, her eyes scanning the trees, now that it had been pointed out that there was no ambient sound in the preserve, well, at least not in this part anyway, that creepy feeling that they weren't meant to be there was beginning to come back, and suddenly, she was rather keen to be away from here, safely back in the house with a cup of tea in hand.
"We spend a lot of time patrolling through here. If there's no noise, that usually means that there's something going on that there shouldn't be." He explained, straining his ears, now that he was talking about it, there seemed to be strange noises coming from further up ahead, in the exact same direction they were going.
"Yeah, but what?" Stiles asked, sticking close to Isaac and Allegra.
Not that he was cowardly by any means, but well, Isaac had his bow and Allegra had her gun, and that aside, he'd have to look after the two of them, if anything happened to them on this little field trip, Scott would turn him into a throw rug. Wishing he'd at least brought his sword with him for added protection, he noticed the frown on Isaac's face, and decided he didn't like it one little bit.
"Isaac dear?" Allegra asked softly, as the Prime Beta had suddenly gone stiff, his eyes glowing gold, looking anxiously through the trees of the way they had been heading, into the deepest recesses of the preserve.
"Isaac?" Stiles asked, flexing his gauntlets, and Isaac gave the tiniest warning growl.
"Shut up, I hear something." He warned, straining his ears, he couldn't see what was coming, but he could hear the approaching noise, and suddenly, his heart started to pound in his chest, whatever was coming, he had a feeling that they wouldn't be happy to encounter a retired cop, a werewolf and a Stiles.
Looking around anxiously, he saw a tree that looked sturdy enough to support them, and made a move. He grabbed Allegra, who gave a muffled yelp as he dashed over to the tree with her in his arms, and looked at her warningly as he stood beneath the tree he'd singled out.
"Don't scream." He warned, and without so much as a by-your-leave, threw her skywards.
It took all of Allegra's self-control not to scream, though to her credit, she was rather preoccupied with grasping at the tree for grim life, grabbing onto the branch Isaac had thrown her towards and pulling her trembling, shaking form into the relative safety of the bough of the tree. As she shook in fright, Stiles made a small, suppressed noise as he too was thrown bodily into the air, scrambling onto the branch and just managing to pull himself up, looking at Allegra weakly as she trembled and clutched to the trunk for grim life. However, thy were then joined by Isaac, who had scrambled up the tree, and joined them, crouching on the thick branch they were all on top of.
"Put your phones on silent. Someone's coming." Isaac ordered, and Stiles, who didn't look too happy about their current predicament, did manage to silence his phone, while Isaac took pity on Allegra, who had gone rather white as she clung onto the tree trunk, and silenced hers before doing his own.
He breathed deeply, trying to calm his heartrate, it was like a pneumatic drill inside his chest. He didn't know how he could explain it (though he suspected years of abuse at his father's hands may have had something to do with it) but he knew that whoever was coming, they weren't friendly, and that it would be very bad for the three of them to encounter them in the middle of the preserve with no witnesses.
Stiles shuffled a little, his whole body shaking, he wasn't too keen about squatting on the tree branch, but Isaac laid a hand on his wrist to assure him, and despite his own precarious perch, Isaac reached to take Allegra's hand as she looked very white and like she was clamped to the tree as though it was a life support machine. Stiles looked at him questioningly, but Isaac then froze, then squeezed both their hands and nodded towards the direction he had originally heard the noise coming from, as eight people came into view.
Soldiers. Eight of them. They were proceeding in an asterisk formation, each of them armed with machine guns. Clad in dark camouflage gear, each of them was also wearing a helmet with a visor, and the visor was emblazoned with the symbol of a snake eating its own tail. They were all talking, eagerly and excitedly, and thankfully, were unaware of the three people hiding in the boughs of the trees watching them.
Allegra, still clutching the tree, looked at the two boys in shock, she had been right, who the hell were these guys? Soldiers moving through the preserve? Isaac exchanged a look with her, and she nodded, allowing Isaac to balance himself precariously and reach for his phone, using the camera to zoom in and take pictures of the soldiers, their gear, their weapons, and the symbol on their visors.
"The colonel wants the beast hunted down, he's furious that it got away from him so far. And also, if we discover the croc, it's to be subdued as well, the Surgeon thinks it could be a potential test subject." The leader of the group, ironically in the centre of their formation, instructed, to a series of 'sir, yes sir' responses.
Stiles looked anxiously at Isaac, who's eyes were still glowing gold but shared the same anxious expression. Soldiers, was this some government thing? A private army? And if they were looking for the croc that was going around killing people, did that make them friend, or foe? And from what they had said, maybe they, like the pack, suspected there was more to the croc than would meet the eye. Just what was going on here?
"The sooner we hunt the thing down, the sooner we can go after the prize, and then boys, we'll all be on easy street!" the leader guffawed to the cheers and chuckles of his companions, and Isaac got a hit of their emotions, excitement, anticipation…and greed.
The soldiers were getting closer, and Isaac could feel his claws instinctively digging further into the branch they were standing on. The soldiers were getting closer, if they happened to look up, they would see all of them, and then they'd all be for the high jump. Stiles was quivering, trying to hold on to the branch, sweating with the exertion, much like Isaac was, both of them clinging on and hoping they wouldn't be noticed. Sweat was starting to trickle down their faces, all three of their hearts pounding in their chests as the soldiers got closer, Allegra was clinging on but she was getting so tired of hanging like this, and her grip was starting to loosen, it wasn't exactly comfortable, and Stiles' grip was starting to slide too, and even with his claws digging in, Isaac was struggling to remain in place as well. The soldiers were getting closer, they were sweating, losing grip…
And then the soldiers walked away from them, walking off in another direction, away from the three hanging in the tree, and once he was certain they were out of earshot, Isaac breathed a sigh of relief.
That had been too close.
Straining his ears, he decided it was worth the risk, figuring the soldiers were now far enough away. He dropped down, and felt the blood rush back to his hands and the burning in his muscles started to ease as he got himself back to solid ground.
"I think they're gone, but we better get out of here in case they come back. Allegra, let go, I'll catch you." He ordered, and Allegra looked down at him in horror.
"Let go?" she demanded weakly, and he nodded.
"Yeah, I'll catch you, trust me." He told her, and she looked at this blond boy who had so turned her grandson's life around, who had become so important to him, and figured, if Scott could trust him with the people and things he cared about most, she could trust him too, and with a deep breath, let go.
For a split second, she savoured the feeling of blood rushing back into her spent muscles and arms before she actually registered that she was falling, before she landed safely in Isaac's arms.
"Are you alright?" he asked worriedly, and she nodded, bending over to try and get her heart rate back under control.
"Yes dear, thank you. Though that was a little more extreme sports than I had in mind for our outing." She admitted weakly, and Isaac grinned, they couldn't deny it hadn't been an interesting day out.
"Ready dude?" Stiles called, and Isaac looked up at him, distractedly.
"Huh?"
However, Stiles had let go of the branch, but with Isaac not in position, it ended the only way it could: with a thump.
"Ow! You did that on purpose!" Stiles grumbled, pushing himself up and spitting dead leaves out his mouth, and flicking them out his hair, whole Isaac went a little pink, grinning sheepishly.
"Sorry dude, I wasn't ready." He apologised, though offered Stiles a hand to help pull him back to his feet, which while he glared at him, he did accept.
"Only reason I'm not hitting you is because you saved us in the first place. Good thinking buddy, good Prime Beta decision. Not great execution," he admitted waspishly, and Isaac rolled his eyes as Stiles draped an arm around his shoulders, but patted Isaac's chest proudly, "but still, you saved us."
Allegra breathed a sigh of relief, and flicked some leaves out of her hair herself.
"Yes dear, good thinking. Well, looks like we were on the money. There is something fishy going on in here. Soldiers, hunting people? What the hell is going on in here?" she asked nervously, and Stiles looked worriedly at the direction the soldiers had gone off in.
"No idea, but I vote we get the hell out of here before they come back." He said, and Allegra nodded eagerly.
"Couldn't agree more darling, let's go. After all that, I'm gagging on a good cup of tea. Besides, there's a squirrel up there glaring at me, I think I disturbed his wee house, and he seems a tad miffed," she said, looking up at a squirrel that seemed to be glaring at her, "let's go. Come on Isaac love." She ordered, and they began hurrying back towards the jeep through the preserve that suddenly seemed all the more sinister than it had before.
And now they had another problem: how did they explain what they had seen to Scott, without telling him they hadn't been in the house all day?
I'm back!
I'll put all my episode notes in with the last part of the episode
