"Where are they heading?" Kali asked to which Peter didn't have a real answer. He was already halfway out of the door but now he had to pause to think if Stiles had mentioned something.
In the end, he sent Kali in the general direction to Derek's stargazing spot with the promise to call her back once he knew more. Next, he tried to call Derek who didn't pick up.
"You're not in class, dammit," Peter cursed under his breath, "you're allowed to answer the phone."
Derek had either muted his phone or he was the grandma who wouldn't pick up while driving. The other option was that he was ignoring Peter on purpose but there was no time to dwell on that idea.
"Braeden!" Peter hammered his fist against her door while he waited for his phone to put him through to Stiles.
It took way too long for his liking but eventually, Peter was sitting in his car with Stiles next to him and cursing at the New York traffic. He'd lost sight of Braeden who on her motorcycle was able to maneuver more efficiently through the lines but even she would need some time to get out of the city.
Kali had grabbed a few guys and was on her way as well. What her motivation in this was was anybody's guess but for now, Peter was just glad that they had backup. He didn't know what Deucalion was up to now but according to Kali, he had some of his goons with him so he was most likely past talking. What he would do when he did not find Peter or Braeden in the car with Derek Peter didn't want to think about. This was a man who had lured his rivals into a trap and had killed them in cold-blooded murder. And that had been when he'd been more stable.
"Turn right," Stiles navigated from the passenger seat. He'd also tried to call Derek but couldn't get a hold of him either. Same with Isaac. What teenager was not glued to their phone?
"Deucalion has a head-start but he has to get through the same mess." Stiles gestured at all the cars around them. "And he has the disadvantage that he doesn't have me." Stiles flashed him a grin but it looked pained. He was worried about Derek, he wasn't fooling anyone. "Take the next left."
"What do you mean?" Peter was not familiar with the streets so he just followed Stiles' instructions.
"Let's just say, old habits die hard." Since he didn't have any luck with calling anybody Stiles put the phone away to fully focus on his surroundings.
"Don't tell me you have plans for a quick exit." Peter shook his head. At this point, he wasn't even surprised, though.
"It does come in handy, doesn't it?"
In the end, Peter had to admit that Stiles did know the quickest way out of the city. With any luck they weren't that far behind Deucalion.
Since Peter needed to focus on driving it was Stiles who called Kali to coordinate their approach. It was kind of scary how casually Stiles talked to her. Kali was second in command of one of the most powerful organizations in New York, most likely even the future head of that organization, and Stiles was just an ordinary math professor. Who had turned out to be not as ordinary as he liked to appear. It showed in the way he took the lead and told Kali where to meet up.
For now, the plan was to catch up to Deucalion, preferably before he got to Derek, and then they would see from there. Braeden on her bike was faster than the rest of them so she went ahead to scout out the road ahead.
"I hope we're not too late," Stiles mumbled under his breath once they were on the road again, this time with Kali's car following right behind them. She had four guys with her and Peter just hoped that when push came to shove they would stick with her and wouldn't turn to Deucalion. Kali seemed to trust them, though.
When Stiles' phone rang, he answered it at the first ring.
Deucalion had found Derek.
Peter's stomach dropped. Peter didn't want to think about that possibility but in his mind, he already saw the car off the road and all the passengers dead with a bullet in their head.
Turned out that Stiles was not the only one who looked more innocent than he was because from what he gathered from the bits he caught from Stiles' conversation, Derek was giving Deucalion a run for his money.
"They are coming this way," Stiles informed him. "We can set something up to ensure Derek's escape."
Peter had no idea what he was planning but it became clear when Stiles directed him and the guy driving Kali's car to turn the cars sideways.
Then they sat there with idling engines, waiting for Derek to make it to them.
"There is not much room," Peter pointed out but he couldn't back up farther without ending up in the ditch right behind him. Stiles had picked this stretch of the road because there was no way around them but this setup also left little room for Derek to come through.
"There's more than enough room," Stiles assured him.
Less than a minute later a car approached them. It wasn't Derek's Camaro but it had two other cars hot on its tail and somewhere in the middle was Braeden on her bike so there was no mistake about who was coming their way. And they were coming fast. There was no way that Derek would be able to make it through the gap at this speed but it was too late to do anything. Peter braced himself for the impact and hoped for the best.
Derek made it with what felt like less than an inch to spare but Peter had no time to think about that, he had to move. They closed the gap right in front of the car following Derek and that one almost did slam into them. It skittered to a halt, the driver now almost right next to Peter. Their gaze met and for a second they just stared at each other, trying to process the close call.
Kali's guys didn't waste time, same for the ones in the second car that had come to a halt a few yards behind the first one. The guy right next to Peter needed a second longer to process the situation but then he shook off his stupor and along with the rest of his gang, he scrambled out of the car.
Suddenly they were in the middle of a stand-off with drawn guns and yelling to drop said guns. Peter would have loved to just drive off, Derek was out of the line of fire, Kali and Deucalion could figure out the rest among themselves but the way their cars were aligned it would take quite a bit of back and forth to get back on the road and he doubted that the others would ignore him for that long.
That idea died anyway when out of the car farther in the back the blind man himself emerged. One of the twins was helping him while the other one covered them with a drawn gun. He seemed to be unsure if he wanted to point it at Braeden who just got off her bike, so much for just driving off in the other direction, or at Kali and her guys. Most likely they had all been on the same side this morning so a little bit of confusion was understandable.
"Heard you've been looking for me." Braeden pointed her gun at Deucalion. She should at least try to take cover behind the car but no, she was just standing in the middle of the road.
The twins had made up their minds and turned toward Braeden while the rest of Deucalion's guys kept their focus on Kali and her crew but they kept glancing backward. To keep an eye on Braeden or if they were looking for a cue from their boss on how to proceed Peter didn't know. However, nobody seemed to care about him and Stiles.
"Stay here," Peter told Stiles and opened the door as silently as possible. A ditch and some bushes prevented a car from going around their little barricade but on foot, it even granted him some cover. It was far from ideal but nobody was looking in his direction. He hoped it stayed that way.
"Deucalion!" Kali yelled, bringing everything to a halt. "Time to go home."
"I'm blind, not senile," Deucalion yelled back. "Don't talk to me as if I am."
"You were chasing a college professor and his students," Kali pointed out. "Is that how we do things now?"
Peter doubted that her words even went through to him but they were heard by the guys pointing their guns at her. There were shared glances and one or two guns did falter. These guys were in a standoff with people they most likely called friends. Hopefully, they would realize soon that Deucalion's side was not the side they wanted to be on. Not that Peter cared about their internal crisis, his focus was on the twins who had their guns pointed at Braeden.
Peter expected the twin at Deucalion's side to step in front of his boss to cover him but if anything he tried to get out of the line of fire. Interesting, even the most loyal members of his gang didn't want to die for Deucalion.
"I don't want to crash the party," suddenly Stiles spoke up. Of course, he had not stayed in the car. Peter cursed while Stiles nonchalantly walked up to stand next to Kali. He had his hands in his pockets as if he was just out for a casual stroll.
"But you should know that the police are on the way." Unphased by all the guns now pointing in his direction Stiles bounced on the balls of his feet. "And by now they should have more than enough reason to at least have a nice long talk with your boss."
"I don't recognize your voice." Deucalion frowned. "Who are you?"
"Stiles Stilinski, I think you've heard of me."
Stiles was enjoying this way too much.
"You're the guy cheating on his husband," Deucalion nodded.
"For the last time, I am not cheating on him." Stiles glared at him which was lost on the blind man.
"That looked different to me." The twin at Deucalion's side gave him a smug up and down.
"You took those pictures?" Stiles latched on to him. "What did you use? A potato? How did you even get a quality that bad?"
"Enough!" Deucalion bellowed. "Shoot them. Shoot him, shoot Braeden, shoot them all. I am the alpha, this is my organization, I will not tolerate treason. You hear that, Kali? You want to take over? I'll shoot you myself."
With that, he drew a gun and started firing. The twin at his side ducked out of the way while everybody else hurried to take cover behind the cars.
"Are you fucking insane?" Kali yelled which Deucalion used to aim in her general direction. The bullet went into some bushes but it was sheer luck that Deucalion didn't hit one of his own men.
"Drop the gun." Peter came up behind Deucalion and put the blade to his throat. "Same for everybody who's still on this maniac's side. Drop the gun."
The twins still seemed unsure of how to deal with the situation but the rest started to gather behind Kali.
"Peter." Deucalion swallowed against the blade at his throat. Peter felt his Adam's apple bob. "What do you want? Money?"
"What I want?" Peter asked. "Apologize. Say that you're sorry for putting a prize on my and Braeden's head, for blackmailing me, for dragging my nephew into this, for targeting an innocent student. Say it." Peter emphasized the last words by forcing Deucalion's head back and digging the blade more firmly into his skin.
"I'm sorry." Deucalion stammered out the words.
Over Deucalion's shoulder, Peter made eye contact with Kali.
"I don't know about you but that apology didn't sound very sincere."
Kali mouthed a "don't" but Peter didn't hesitate and ran the dagger across Deucalion's throat.