Liam had never seen the lake house this somber. Every pack member present wore equally blank or confused faces, eyes glued to the TV screen hanging over the fireplace. He was the only one purposefully avoiding it. The black and white image hadn't changed in the last twenty minutes since Theo had fallen asleep. It was the closest he could get to the chimera since Scott and Isaac had locked him down there the day before.
It had taken all of Liam's self control to not fight against that choice. His wolf had been screaming, pain surging through every desperate howl as it clawed at his resolve, incapable of understanding why his anchor was being locked up. There was no other way. Until they broke through whatever mind-melty shit Fallon did to him, he had to stay contained, away from Liam who couldn't help but want to believe anything he said.
"The easiest solution would just be to kill him."
His eyes found Isaac before the growl ripped from his lips, deep and threatening. That was a plan he would not entertain, even a little bit. No matter what she did to him, the man shackled in the basement was still Theo.
"... How can you just say things like that?" Stiles asked, tone pitched from the incredulity on his face.
"Because it would be!" Isaac said, looking between Liam and Stiles with wide eyes, as though he was stating the simplest fact in the world. "They obviously fucked around in his head, took out any part that messed with his 'perfect killer' mojo, which unfortunately means he's right back to being the guy you all almost couldn't beat. What else can we do?"
Liam shot to his feet, snarling out his words, "Help him! We don't even know what they did to him."
Isaac's eyes glowed to match his, a warning in and of itself, as Liam fought to pull his claws back in. Losing his cool would not help the situation. In fact, it would likely end up with him getting kicked out of the house and sent home, which would only further send him into chaos. No way his wolf would shut up or give him even a moment of peace with how close at hand Theo was now.
"Liam has a point," Scott said, putting a gentle hand on the beta's shoulder. "Fallon's crew had him and me for a couple weeks, and you saw what she got us to do. She's had him for months . Even someone as strong as him can break." Scott moved to Stiles, lifting a hand to his shoulder as well, a small reassuring grin pulling across his face, "We owe it to him to try putting the pieces back together before we go nuclear."
A ripple of relief fizzled through Liam, settling his wolf with the knowledge that at the very least the nuclear options were being tabled. It was short lived as Jackson raised a hand from the couch across from him.
"We are pretty sure he wasn't wolfsbaned when we got him out, right?" Nods from around the room spurred him onwards, though he pursed his lips thoughtfully before continuing, "Then how do we know he wasn't working with her all along?"
Liam snarled, eyes flaring and claws out, barely a hairsbreadth from launching himself forward, when Jackson stumbled back, Stiles' fist having connected with his jaw in a strikingly strong blow. Had he been anything other than human, the force of it might have snapped the once-kanima's neck.
"What? It's not like it's outside the realm of possibilities, given the shit I heard he pulled last time he was all psychopathy," Jackson grumbled, one hand rubbing at his jaw as the other was pressed into the wall for support.
"Yeah, heard being the operative word there," Stiles snarled, stepping forward, arm subtly pulling back. "You, of all people , don't get to jump on the 'mind control doesn't matter' band wagon, Blue Eyes."
The two crash forward, mere inches separating them as they howl at one another. Their anger infected the room, blanketing it so thoroughly and quickly that Liam's head started to spin. His wolf bristled, eager to join the fray, knowing well enough that the two were near to blows. Scott jumped between them, shoving Stiles toward Lydia and Isaac while he blocked Jackson in the corner.
At that, Liam spun around, forcing himself out of the room before he gave into his wolf. He didn't care where he went, just that it was away from the roaring of his pack. His own emotions were hard enough to manage, he didn't need theirs too. Sure, the last couple days his wolf had been calmer than any time in the last six months, but control was still harder than before.
Water splashed on his leg, soaking through his pants in seconds. He stopped, looking down. The lake, serene and still, reflected the surrounding trees perfectly. It was the exact opposite of the shitstorm barreling through his head. With a purely human growl, he picked up the nearest rock, launching it hard as he could at the picturesque water. The image shattered, ripples slowly reaching the shore. As the surface stilled, Liam's frustration returned with a vengeance.
He grabbed rock after rock and threw them. Not even trying to skip them, just launching them as far as his strength allowed each and every time. Progressively, the rocks he grabbed grew bigger, some barely fitting between his two clasped hands until he found one he had to cinch both arms around, claws digging into the rough surface. It didn't travel anywhere near as far, but the ripples took longer to fade.
Time ticked on, his muscles eventually became too strained to function, and he was forced to sit beside the water. Behind him, footsteps drew nearer. Stiles odd uncoordinated gait was distinct, and had him sighing. He had come down here for peace. When the human stopped and stood quietly standing several yards off, his chest clenched. Not many people ever gave him space to come to them, always clamoring at him about calmness and finding his damn center. Slowly, he turned around of his own accord, chest heaving, having worked himself up quite a bit, but at least his wolf is quieter now.
"We've got a week to give them something tangible that proves she screwed with his head in a way we can fix. Otherwise…"
A new surge of rage filled him, his knees threatening to buckle and crash him to the floor. His stomach churned, he couldn't help but wish on the rest of the pack. Everyone was so ready to give up on him, to wash their hands of him and move on. After everything the chimera had done, all the favors he picked up at the drop of a hat, all the times he put himself between the pack and danger, they were still so quick to accept that he was a danger, better off gone.
Liam growled, face twisting in time with the renewed flash of anger searing his veins. It wasn't fair! Theo deserved more. If it were anyone else, he knows for fucking sure, the pack would be moving heaven and earth to find another way, and that little fact set his wolf off even more. His palms busted open, his claws sliding in easily, as they always did when his wolf surged forward.
Even through the red haze of his wolf's anger, he saw Stiles stepping closer. He almost backed up, the need to run or lash out too strong for the human to realistically be safe so close to him. But, to his surprise, his wolf softened, accepting the reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"We'll find something. Come hell or high water. I promise," Stiles squeezed his shoulder firmly as he spoke.
Something warm washed over Liam, placating his wolf and settling some of the lingering churning in his stomach. He looked up at his friend, a powerful sense of relief filling him as he saw hard lines of determination set in the clench of the taller's jaw. He wasn't the only one fighting for Theo. But, he was still confused.
Stiles, previously hellbent on reminding Theo of his faults and his lack of a place in their pack, was saying he would make sure Theo wasn't tossed out with the trash. Sure, over the past six months they had been equally set on getting the chimera back, but he chalked that up to the rescue running parallel with the need to take down the hunter threat to the pack. Him being ready to go toe to toe with the rest of the pack to keep Theo alive after he had openly admitted to murdering people was a step too far into the Twilight Zone for comfort.
"What alternate dimension did I wake up in that you of all people are fighting to keep him alive?"
Stiles fell silent, a dark, pained look flashing across his face before he schooled it into a mask neutrality. It was a damn good one too. If Liam hadn't had hours of experience picking apart a certain chimera's, he might have fallen for it.
He kept quiet all the same, waiting for his friend to speak first.
"I… I, uh, let's just say I know what it's like to have someone scramble your brains around for the hell of it."
Much to Liam's chagrin, even after a run around the lake to clear their heads, Stiles was jittery as ever, one leg bouncing at unnatural speed beneath the table, as it had the last several days. Adjusting to the constant hyperactivity had been a challenge, with every little movement grating on Liam's nerves. The quiet stillness of working with Mason and Theo whenever they were researching or studying had grown on him and apparently engrained itself into his study habits.
He leaned back, groaning as he rubbed at his eyes, ignoring the sting. Staring at screens didn't normally bother him, but a nearly thirty straight hours of doing almost nothing else was starting to take a toll on the both of them. He dared a quick glance at his research companion. Being human, Stiles showed far more signs of needing a break than himself. The near-black bags under his eyes almost made Liam wince, knowing his own face wouldn't ever be able to show that much damage. They had taken on the brunt of the search through the data stolen from Fallon's devices, hoping to find something. Neither of them had given it a second thought, raising their hands in unplanned unison.
It was absolutely not that they didn't trust the pack to fully exhaust themselves looking for an answer. Definitely not that. But Liam couldn't' help the sting of hurt growing in his gut at how quickly they had decided on a deadline. Would they have been so quick to give up on Scott? On him? A tickle of anger fluttered beneath his skin. It was a familiar kind of anger that just simmered, fueled by the quiet protective rumbles of his wolf and fueling him in turn.
He refocused on his computer, pulling the device closer to stare point blank at the scanned documents. It was all surface level, things they mostly already knew, but until the brainiac crew cracked the encryptions on Fallon's harddrives, it was all he had. So, he settled in again, pouring over page after page of notes on how her methods of refining the red wolfsbane and administering it changed. Every so often, he would recoil, as though a blow had landed in his gut, but he pushed on, ignoring the whines from his wolf. The longer he read, the more similar to his own experience it became.
When he reached the end of the journal, the sunlight that had filtered through the lake house windows was gone, replaced with a dusky tinge to the fading sky. Another day gone. He bit at his lip, pulling it between his teeth and worrying at the same spot he always did. They only had another three days. The sharp pain in his lip told his fangs had dropped, responding to his wolf's sudden growl. His skin heated up as the simmering anger boiled over. How were they supposed to find anything in this mountain? It wasn't fair. Not to Theo, not to them, not to anyone!
A soft thunk on his head snapped Liam's attention to the table. He keyed in on Stiles' concerned face before glancing down to the crumpled piece of paper now sitting on his keyboard. A smile, weak though it was, crept onto his face as he picked up the ball and looked back across the table.
"You were growling into space again," was all Stiles said before going back to his own research, lips moving a mile a minute as he mouthed the words as he read them.
Liam sighed, the weight on his shoulders dragging the sound out, not quite ready to let it leave so easily. The ticking clock had his whole body keyed up to eleven, but there was only so long even a werewolf was expected to run off fumes. His brain was exhausted, burnt out far beyond his normal limits; his body too. But stopping was not an option. The break to run around the lake had been even too long for his liking. Every minute without answers was just another reminder of how little time they had left.
The fire inside him sparked again, threatening to burn through every ounce of self control he had left. There had to be something. They couldn't come up empty. Theo had saved them all so many times, he couldn't go out like this. The was not about to let the pack kill him or put him back in hell. Never again. Jackson had actually gotten a broken jaw for suggesting that.
Mason's screech jerked him back to the room. He shot to his feet, pulse pounding in his ear, almost obscuring the disjointed arrhythmic thumps and shuffles. A door overhead slammed open, ricocheting off the wall, and a familiar thunder of feet grew, haphazardly racing down the hall. Liam turned as the pace slowed, edging around the table while watching the stairs. Not a second later, Mason leapt into view, having hopped down the whole flight of stairs. Liam winced as his friend slammed into the banister, barely catching himself in time to keep from tipping over. When he looked up, eyes wide as saucers as he stumbled down the last three steps.
"You good Mase?" Liam offered a hand to help steady him, brow tightly pinched together.
The triumphant grin on Mason's face was all encompassing, reaching his eyes for the first time in days as he lifted the laptop between them with a flourish, hands shaking. Liam's pulse spiked again the longer he looked at his friend. His wolf whined, nosing tentatively at the thin tendrils of hope spreading through him like wildfire.
With a half-nod and relief-ladened sigh, Mason stepped towards the table, one hand catching Liam's arm and pulling him along, "Better than good."
As Mason set the laptop down, he was almost laughing, the sounds little more than lilting huffs and puffs, but laughs all the same, and Liam could not stop the sides of his mouth from curling. He flicked his eyes between the two humans, trying to bite back the wave of hope. Getting swallowed up in it before all the facts were out was an amateur move. He knew it, he really did, but the lightness left in the wake as it lifted the Damoclesean weight off his shoulders stole the breath from his lungs and had the world teetering on the edge, just a hair's breadth from tumbling down the drain.
Mason's excitement was palpable, bursting from him as fervently as his heart was trying to rabbit right out of his chest, but so too was his exhaustion, voice more breath than words as he said, "We got in."
The floor might as well have disappeared, for all the support it gave Liam as the words sank in. Something loosened in his chest, snapping the bands of fear and guilt, letting his ribcage fully expand for the first time in days. He choked on the air as it rushed in, doubling over to rest his hands flat on his thighs, coughing once. It took him a moment to lift his head and torso back up, what with the world still faintly spinning and the abrupt, disorienting freedom to take full breaths conspiring jointly against him.
But, as he met Stiles' eyes, he grinned . There was still a chance.
Mason waved a hand in his face, close enough that displaced air buffeted his cheeks. An answering grin, though a touch muted as he looked back to the machine.
"You were right, by the way," he said, logging in. "She's got tons of records about everything she did, just like any scientist doing actually studies, and it's tucked all up in–"
"Show me," Liam didn't bother tamping down his wolf's growl in his words, even as they slurred through his teeth and his eyes glowed gold.
Mason pulled the laptop back towards him, speaking slowly as he typed, "It'll be faster if we all look through different sections."
Sharp pings from both the other machines in the room drew the attention of their respective owners. The little email icon at the bottom of his screen was jumping, a visual reminder of the new message. He clicked it, a pebble of dread playing reverse plinko up his spine as the email opened, containing only a google folder link.
"Headphones are probably recommended," Mason said, shifting to stand straight, hands hovering over the keyboard. "The files, they're all MPEGs or MP3s."
Liam's gut sank even more, yet another curdling rock dropped into it, splashing his insides with a low-grade burning he didn't have a name for. Listening to her voice again, even to help Theo, was the last thing he wanted to do. The bitch was going to live rent free in his nightmares, both dead and alive, for long enough, he didn't need more fuel for his subconscious.
Once in the dropbox, he opened the first file. As the cursor turned into a rainbow wheel, spinning tirelessly, he dropped his head forward, chin touching his chest and eyes closed. This was going to be the longest night of his life, and he had had to sit through a two hour presentation by his best friend on why he, Liam, was in fact bi, the week after he had figured it out for himself. His lips tugged into a little smile, vaguely remembering way too many photos of Brett and Theo in the forty something slide powerpoint.
He lifted his head, eyelids dragging as he looked at his screen, caught between dreading whatever he was going to find and eager to have found it already. The dueling needs flew from his mind as Fallon's face, partially blurred by a pause button, looking back at him. Half of him was screaming run , to just sprint away from the table, through a door, a window, a wall, it didn't matter. The other half wa paralyzed, drowning in the sea of knives that were the dark eyes staring back at him.
It took nearly three minutes for the adrenaline fueled panic to subside enough for him to reach back to the keyboard, shifting the cursor to hover over the play button. His hand shook, making the little white arrow jitter on the screen. This was probably one of those times he should listen to whatever his body was telling him, but it was also the one time he couldn't. His own discomfort was a price he was more than willing to pay for Theo's continued existence.
He pressed play, inhaling sharply through his teeth. The little pause symbol turned to play, a white half circle rotating slowly in the center of the screen, loading the video.
"Journal log 364, dated 06-25-2019; new test series, catalog in subdirectory 3 labeled 'Beacon Hills, Sewer Boy'. Subject's species not within the database, thus requires a new designator. Let's go with: C-H-I," she said, sitting back in her chair, scooting around like she was settling into it. "I did not expect to end up with such an interesting test subject after losing the alpha-beta pair. Like sure," she shrugged, pushing away from the desk, spinning on her chair as she continued talking, "testing how the aconite effects a true alpha and bitten beta relationship has been something I've wanted a look at for a while, but I can't say I'm too mad about getting my hands on Raeken. He opens a whole new ball park. The dual nature of his engineered chimerism allows for–"
A full snarl tore over Liam's face, soundless but no less furious. He closed his eyes, forcing himself to stay otherwise still. Fallon's voice, grating though it was in his ears, quieted, almost forgotten as his wolf howled and roared, thrashing beneath his skin.
All anyone did was use the poor chimera. His whole life had been about what he could do for others, what he had to do for them to survive, reduced to a thing, a tool, to be used when convenient and tucked away, out of sight and out of mind, till he was needed. Even Scott had been guilty of it during the Hunter War, much to Liam's dismay. There was more to Theo than just being a set of claws, or a walking encyclopedia of supernatural factoids, but no one else bothered to look, or care.
He shook his head, opening his eyes, practically glaring at the freeze-frame. She was dead, gone and buried six feet under in the desert where no one would find the body. Not for the first time, a tickle of self-gratitude started in his gut. Guilt pressed in, eager to smother the thought, but his wolf nipped it back, all but preening at what he did. The kill was more than justified. Scott hadn't even blinked an eye at the body.
Liam exited out of the finished video, clicking the one beside it, not bothering to check the title. They had to go through all of them anyway, the order they did it in was irrelevant. He leaned back, rolling his neck both directions, half an eye on the spinning half-circle in the center of his screen as the video loaded and buffered.
Not seeing much other than dark blobs in the still, he hit play. Immediately, the lighting changed. Air caught in his throat as Theo was thrown into frame, hitting the ground for barely a heartbeat before he was lunging at whoever was behind the door. The speed with which he jumped backwards and the tight pull of his lips made Liam's heart ache. Electricity seemed to be the crazy bitch's favorite way of controlling supernatural creatures.
Theo wandered around the cell, sometimes dipping out of frame, spiking Liam's pulse, until the chimera was visible again. A loud hiss made Liam wince, his ears itching as the sound carried on.
"Just great," Theo sighed, somehow audible over the mechanical hissing.
The coughing fit that followed had Liam fighting back his wolf, again. Trying to tell the damn thing that this all already happened and there wasn't a thing he could do about it now was useless.
Fallon's voice pulled him back into the video, a guttural rumble vibrating up his chest as she spoke, "Good, it looks like this will affect you after all. Honestly, was a little worried about that, what with your abnormal biology."
He could only watch in horror as Theo fangs and claws slid out only to be sucked back into his body seconds later repeatedly. The chimera's entire frame swayed, nearly toppling over, as he wrenched his head violently from side to side. Blood streaked down the sides of his face as he fell to his knees, hands still gripping his scalp tightly, and Liam thanked whoever was in charge of the universe that videos didn't record scents yet.
"Shit," Theo slurred around fully dropped fangs.
Fallon's eerie chuckle slid into her words as she said, "Fighting it doesn't really do anything, but you're welcome to try."
Another round of coughs ripped through him, shaking him from head to toe. He curled forward, forehead pressing into the dirt, claws still embedded in his own skin. The ache in Liam's heart worsened, growing into a stabbing and wrenching pain that dropped his jaw to the floor, as a raw, barely muffled scream took the place of the aborted whimpers Theo hadn't been able to quell. Cracks and pops followed, each one pulling another wordless cry from the chimera, though they were slower than normal. Theo had shifted in front of him over a dozen times, and never once had he seemed to be in pain, let alone enough to scream.
Black fur sprouted all over his skin, drawing another strangled sound from him. As Liam was reaching for his headphones, ready to yank them unceremoniously from his ears, unable to handle anymore of the agony ridden sounds, the shift accelerated, snapping over the hump with a vengeance at having been delayed. The bones all snapped into place at once, the shrieking wail morphing into a keening howl no less ladened with pain.
Theo flopped to his side, mouth open and tongue out, panting heavily, obviously exhausted by the unusual shift.
"Get up," a cold voice said, as if the chimera hadn't just been screaming bloody murder in front of them.
For a moment, Liam wished he could have found that goon and torn him apart. All these people were sick and so horrifically twisted, in ways he could barely fathom. Life was sacred, to be protected at all costs, as Scott had repeated so often when they were still in school, but some were beyond saving. A not-so-quiet growl rolled through Liam's chest as his wolf snapped at him. Thinking like that was exactly why the pack was dragging their feet so much in regard to helping the chimera.
"You know what's expected, Theodore," Fallon's overly sing-songy tone made his stomach jump. "This really isn't becoming, Theodore. You're the Chimera of Death, the strongest Daddy and his friends ever made. You really should be living up to your potential better."
Another hiss filled the room, another blanket of thick red smoke descended on the room. In seconds, a purely animalistic growl rose over the hissing, raising the hairs on the back of his neck. A snarl too high pitched to be Theo's filled the room, echoing in Liam's ears. In answer, Theo stood, jaw hanging partly open, a thick line of drool hanging from his fangs as he swung his head and body around, rocketing out of frame.
A gasp slipped from Liam as he caught a glimpse of the stark white eyes where a glowing gold or soft green should have been. Sharp shrieks and vicious growls were background noise as he sat with his mouth still wide open, chest burning as it pulled in greedy breaths. The hint of hope that had nestled into him as soon as Mason came downstairs flared up, wriggling excitedly.
Gruesome though it had been, the video was proof that the chimera had been exposed to the wolfsbane and reacted to it similarly to him and Scott. At the very least, it proved Fallon did fuck with something in his head, which wasn't much.
But, not much was something, and something was a good place to start.
After a while the videos blurred together. There were so many long winded, rambling rants on how difficult a subject Theo was being or how infuriating his resistance to the wolfsbane was, he stopped counting. If he clicked into them her irritated complaining lasted more than thirty seconds, he moved to the next file. The teeniest, fragile sliver of hope settled beneath his skin. Theo had spent weeks just incapacitating whoever she threw at him, avoiding bloodshed whenever possible, flat out refusing to kill anyone, even maiming himself in the process.
A crumpled ball of paper landed on his keyboard. Liam blinked twice, the first out of surprise and the second to soothe the scratchy dryness of his eyes, before lifting his eyes, catching the pointed look Stiles was giving him.
Stiles beckoned him with his hand. "You're gonna want to see this."
Liam made his way to Stiles, nerves beyond shot. He stopped just behind the occupied chair, resting a hand on the wooden back. With a quick, apologetic glance over his shoulder, Stiles pressed play.
The air in his lungs punched outward as the camera zoomed in on Theo. Every exposed inch of skin, at least half of it was some abnormal shade of purple or green, including the chimera's face. His cheeks were hollowed, the angular bone only worsening the twist of his features, a grimace overtaking the challenging smirk that had seemed screwed on tighter than a pickle jar. The tight line of his hunched shoulders was such a bright, crimson red flag of pain that Liam almost turned away. Pain, so prominently displayed, was anachronous with the version of the chimera living in his head, so much so that he could almost imagine it was someone else on the screen.
The deep creases of his snarl shifted as Theo's lips moved. Never before had Liam kicked himself so hard for laughing off Mason's jokes about learning to lip read. softened, a smile appearing, but it wasn't right. Fangs poked over his lips, twisting what should have been a light, happy expression into a far darker, more sinister one.
He couldn't pull his eyes away, no matter how his stomach threatened to flip or how hard his chest clenched. Every time the chimera moved it was wrong. The fluidity, somehow sharp and far too predatory, in every motion was deliberate, calculated, intended to scare.
A wave of realization flooded him. The feral glaze to his eyes, the lack of compunction, the drastic shift in his morality, it was all the same shit that had changed when Theo came out of hell.
He knew exactly who he was looking at, but the differences between his Theo and the one moving towards the downed wolf almost had him questioning if it was in fact the same person.
Beside him, Stiles let out half-aborted gagging noises as Theo shoved his hand into her chest, ripping into the bone and flesh with ease. The girl's screams were short lived, mostly cut off when he reinserted his hand and lingered. Liam finally looked away as the chimera lifted his eyes to the camera, smirking and playing with the organ.
"It's the coyote," Liam said, staggering back a step.
The tiniest sliver of Stiles' eye was all Liam could see of the very concerned and questioning side-glance. Liam pulled his lower lip between his teeth, canine toying with the spot at the corner, knowing exactly what was about to come out of the human's mouth.
"Care to elaborate?"
On the one hand, telling the pair exactly what just happened on the tape and how it was possible would be the definite proof they needed to convince the rest of the pack Theo wasn't to blame for his actions. Well, not the human part of him. On the other hand, Theo didn't trust anyone, aside from him, with the extent to which the Doctors had messed with him. Technically, he hadn't even really chosen to tell him. It had just tumbled out between the hyperventilating and clinging to Liam like a man adrift at sea, which had only happened a sum total of three times but never failed to alarm him or dredge up some new bullshit from the damn Doctors.
Sighing, Liam looked to Mason before saying, "He's a hybrid."
"They all are. That was the whole point of the experiments they were running. Human-supernatural hybrids," Stiles said, the 'tell me something I don't know' was left unspoken.
"No, like an actual hybrid." Liam groaned, struggling to remember how Theo had put it. "The normal chimeras, they-they're half human and half any supernatural, but he's part human, part werewolf, and part werecoyote."
"So he is barely human," Stiles hummed under his breath, flinching at Liam's sudden, loud growl. "Wasn't meant to be said out loud."
The hairs on his nape stayed raised, even as Liam reached back, gently kneading at the muscles, encouraging them to release. He knew Stiles didn't mean anything by the comment, but the livewire that was his wolf was much closer to the surface than usual.
Mason smacked Stiles' shoulder before looking back to Liam. "What does him having two supernatural halves have to do with him going from the guy we've known to killing people?"
Liam frowned, biting at the corner of his lip, rolling it between his canines. Putting any of this in words was something he had been struggling with since the night on the roof. Even when he was talking to himself, he barely understood a word of what he said, or sounded absolutely insane. Granted, the benchmarks for sane versus insane within the pack were drastically different compared to the average person's.
"It's different for him than it is for us. It's like," he paused, curling his lower lip over his teeth, half biting it as he mulled over his words. "It's like having a second person in your head, and you don't speak the same language, but they… they can, sort of take control for you or of you, depending on the situation." Liam winced as he spoke, remembering all too well the times early on when his wolf took over, silently apologizing to the chimera for what he was about to say. "Theo has both a coyote and a wolf in his head, a-and he's constantly fighting them for control."
"So he's got like a multiple personality thing going on?" Stiles asked, chewing on his pen, rocked back in his chair with only two of its feet on the ground.
"Kinda," Liam squeaked, grimacing at the comparison, just as Theo had done when he made it. "As far as I know, the Dread Doctors wanted a killing machine that would fly under most supernatural radars until it was too late, so they combined the wolf for the innate trust between werewolves and coyote for the killer part."
"Makes sense," Mason said, shrugging in turn as he nodded, as though tossing the notion around in his head. "Werecoyotes are essentially survivalists with a side of intense blood lust."
Liam nodded, hands clenching and unclenching at his sides, replacing the urge to bite at his lip again, "They used and manipulated the coyote till it became unstable, caught between needing to survive and burning the world, which was when they came back here. Aaand we all know how that ended."
"So you're saying…" Stiles said, an understanding smile slowly widening.
"He wasn't in control. His physical body is technically the murder weapon, but he isn't the killer." Liam stepped toward the table, scrolling back in the video, pausing as Theo turned back to the unconscious girl, "Right there, that's when the coyote took over."
"Why didn't it take over sooner?" Mason mumbled as he crowded around the computer.
That was one answer Liam did not have. It shouldn't have been enough for her to dose him again, there had to be something else to it.
"Uh, I might have an answer to that," Stiles said, softly clicking his tongue as he unplugged his headphones, eyes staying locked on the screen. "This video has sound."
"What?" Liam's face was awkwardly contorted, more than a little confused.
"Just listen," Stiles sighed, dragging the cursor back over the bar, clicking about thirty seconds earlier and pressing play.
Theo was mid backwards stagger step, the girl crumpled and unconscious at his feet, an odd tint to his eyes and a lethargy in his movements. A disgusted groan reverberated through the crackling speakers.
"Come on, Theo. You can do better than that," Fallon sneered, a taunting edge to her words.
"Maybe I need a better dance partner." The ache in Liam's chest resumed as Theo turned, briefly looking at the camera, smirking haughtily. "Care to join me? I bet it'd be just the performance you're looking for."
Liam's fists clenched at his sides. Every inch of him wanted to run, to bury the eerie, half-hearted laugh echoing in the room beneath the pounding of his heart and rush of air as he ate up the ground beneath his feet. His wolf, for once, kept him still, refusing to let him shift so much as an inch toward the nearest door.
"I think I'll stay off the dance floor for now, but if you don't like your current partner," she said, sighing loud enough the speakers crackled, "I could always get you a new one. What'd you prefer? Someone with a little more oomph? Hmm? "
The utter panic that flashed across Theo's face made Liam's chest clench, a horrible, bitter feeling welling in his gut. There were really only two people Theo would readily jump in front of bullets for, but there was no way she could have known who to threaten. The chimera's existence and affiliation with the pack were rumors at best. No one outside of the pack knew who was close to him or not.
"Maybe I got the wrong style for you. What about that beta, huh? He was so feisty, so angry. I can only imagine how he'd behave with you here."
Another cackle sizzled through the speakers.
A deep pang of guilt wracked through him, throwing his wolf into a frenzy of howling and shrieking. Grimacing, he turned and hurried to the nearest door. Hot tears welled in his eyes, quickly tumbling over the edge, damn near burning as they crawled down his cheeks. His wolf snarled at the tears, throwing itself against the last of his barriers, mad beyond any level of reasoning, feeding off the rising swell of Liam's own anger.
Soon as the door was gone, and trees came into view, the wolf launched forward, snapping its way through his restraint. Four paws hit the deck for the briefest millisecond, only long enough to feel the wood beneath them. His claws gouged the wood as he leapt down the stairs, stumbling a step as he landed, panicked voices shouting behind him.
The whine that had been unconsciously sliding between his teeth turned to a full snarl as he launched forward, running as fast as he could, hoping the combination of crunching of leaves, pounding of his heart, and harsh breathing would muffle the storm of ' It's my fault' screaming in his head.
Liam's heart was beyond ready to beat out of his chest, rebelling against any and all attempts to slow it since showing the pack his and Stiles' proof. The silence that had hung between them all was thick as the guilt that had pervaded the living room. No one said it aloud, but the way some of the pack had looked at him… They thought he was going to come up empty handed.
His fists clenched at his side, a ripple of anger sweeping through him, courtesy of his wolf bristling against the memory.
A hand grabbed his shoulder, jerking him to a stop. He blinked twice, staring at the woodgrain not even inches from his face.
"Thanks," he said softly, letting out a small embarrassed chuckle as he turned, giving Stiles his best approximation of an apologetic smile.
It was a short lived glance, as his wolf redirected his focus to the door. More specifically, the singular heartbeat on the other side. His throat tightened, a keening whine pushing its way up. The beat was steady and strong, clearly awake. Stiles squeezed his shoulder, simultaneously encouraging him and grounding him. The most support he could offer as Liam was quite literally about to walk into a battlefield.
He grabbed the doorknob, slowly turning it, ears straining to hear Theo's breaths on the other side.
"Much as we're trying to save him and he's not himself, please keep in mind, he's dangerous," Stiles said, stepping back.
"Not to me," Liam answered resolutely, pushing the door open as he spoke.
Without looking back, he stepped through the door. He knew the steps they had put in place since putting the chimera down here, the lengths taken to insure the safety of anyone who went in. The lakehouse basement had been turned into the most supernatural-proof room outside of Eichen's special ward. The door closed behind him, but he didn't notice.
All he had the capacity to process was Theo sitting in the far corner, eyeing him like a caged animal, which for all intents and purposes he was. Maybe the stoney set of the other man's face and sharp glint in eyes scared him a little, but not enough to override the simultaneous relief crashing through him. The chimera was covered in dirt and dust from just being in the basement, but overall he still looked better than when Liam had last seen him.
"Theo?" He kept his voice soft, almost quiet, knowing full-well that he would be heard.
A barely audible rumble was his only acknowledgment. Not a singular muscle even so much as twitched anywhere on Theo's face. His wolf slunk back, whimpering at the lack of recognition. It was as much of an answer as he expected to what was, admittedly, a stupid question. Of course, the chimera would be in the cell. There was no way out, other than the door securely locked behind him. They had made sure of it.
"I, uh, I don't know if you're up for talking, or whatever," he started, words shaking as they left his mouth, "but I've got, well. I've got some things I need you to hear. Okay?"
Features as impassive as a statue, Theo gave no answer. The detachment, and correlating lack of response, while expected, still hit him like a ton of bricks. Even though he recognized the glowing, predatory eyes, and parts of the cold facade around them, there was a distinct lack of everything that made up the chimera. Despite being in the same room, surrounded by the smell of Theo and seeing his face… He mentally kicked himself, a quick scowl passing over his face as he refocused.
Logically, he knew before he set foot in the cell that his Theo wasn't anywhere near the building, let alone in it. He told the pack he was prepared for anything, that he could handle whatever bullshit shenanigans the coyote decided to pull, and it was true. If it tried to play games, there was no way he was falling for them. If it attacked, he was ready for that, mentally. Physically, he, and the pack, was relying on Stiles' word that the chimera was incapable of killing him.
Snarking jeers or the same sort of brutality as when they were rescuing him, sure, that he had expected. A trick or two to get under his skin, lull him into thinking everything was fine again, that would have been normal. He could have handled anything on those spectrums.
Liam dropped his eyes to the floor, quickly blinking back the tears prickling at the edges of his eyes, "I just…" His shoulders shuddered and shook as his breath stuttered out of him. "There're so many things I want to say right now, but I know you're not you , so I can't, yet."
His jaw locked, trapping the inklings of words that crept forward, desperate to squeeze themselves out into the open. It sent pangs through his chest to swallow them back down, against the shrieking protests of his wolf. This was not the time to let those feelings loose. He had to get his Theo back first, then they could take a look at where they stood.
"I know you're hurting, and you think you have to hide because of what you did, but you don't. Okay?"
Liam brought his eyes back to Theo's, waiting for him to fully meet his gaze. He almost regretted it the second the chimera's blue eyes locked full with his. Any hint of the spark that made Theo who he was, was gone. Just plain, placid indifference in its place.
"We, the pack and I, we know that wasn't you."
With every word that left his mouth, he hoped to see a flicker of something, anything to let him know he was being heard. A brief lilt of hope rose as Theo's mouth curled into a smirk. Quick as it rose, the hint of hope shattered under the wicked edge to the expression.
"It was, actually," Theo huffed, narrowing his eyes, reinforcing the wrongness of the smirk. "Every little decision. All me."
Liam resisted the urge to grump and huff at him, his wolf more than a little frustrated at being toyed with. But what else did he expect? The chimera was a liar by trade and afraid by nature. Coaxing him out of whatever was going on in his head was never going to be easy or pleasant.
"Maybe whoever is here now," he retorted, letting a hint of bite edge into his tone before he wrangled his wolf. "But, not the part that really calls the shots. The real you, the guy that has risked his life for mine more times than I know about or can count, who puts everything he's built on the chopping block time and time again, accepting he could die to keep people safe? No way he'd stoop to doing the dirty work for someone else ever again."
For a moment, the cell fell quiet, and Liam could have sworn he heard the faintest little whine. The fact that Theo's chest hadn't moved partially quashed his hope. He had probably imagined it. Keeping emotions locked down tighter than Fort Knox was as integral as breathing, according to the chimera, and even mind-fucked, that was unlikely to change.
Soft scuffling filled the room as Theo stood. "That man died."
His wolf snarled at the words, a visceral sizzling trapped between the layers of his skin. While obviously untrue, the wolf in him couldn't differentiate between the lack of everything that made up his Theo and the thought of never getting him back. Liam swallowed back the snapping retort that had leapt to his tongue, reining in the wolf's bristling.
There were times for tempers and times for temperance.
"No, he didn't," Liam said, steeling himself as he caught the chimera's eyes again. "I saw the tapes, Theo. All of them."
Theo recoiled, the whole of his upper body twisting violently as if a powerful slap had landed on his cheek. Tears glassed over his eyes, highlighted by the fluorescent bulbs overhead, and Liam's heart skipped a beat. There was all the proof he needed. In a blink, the glassy-sheen disappeared, Theo having shaken away as he grit his teeth, head tilting just barely to the right. A master liar like the chimera had few tells, most impossible to see, but the twitchy head tilt and grinding teeth were tell-tale signs he was repressing something.
Liam scowled, throwing caution to the wind as he stepped closer. The soft slope of his shoulders and gentleness of his expression evaporated, leaving a raw fire behind. He growled, just a short warning sound, but enough to share the agonizing anger boiling within. The chimera's eyes jerked back to him, shifting to molten, glowing gold as they reached Liam's.
"I watched you go through hell as you told her 'no' over and over, till she backed you into a corner."
Tears prickled behind his eyes, tickling his nose as the pressure built, only to roll down his cheeks as his shoulders shook. Every little emotion from the last six months that he had cast aside, promising to feel it later, crashed into him. The pain exploding through him as he fought back the shout struggling to escape made his vision swim. Or maybe those were the tears still clinging to his lashes.
"You saved me, again, a-and I get it now. I get why you kept trying, okay?" His voice broke, forcing him to swallow back the thickening mucus lathering his throat. "I know."
A wrecked half-sob shuddered from his chest, unbidden and too raw for his liking. This was not about his problems, he had to stay focused. What did Theo always say? Something something, stay in control, Liam. Stay focused . He was absolutely not about to let whatever advantage he had scrounged up go to waste.
With a quiet huff, he brought his attention back to Theo. The line of his body was taut, so much so that he was visibly shaking, as if he were a rubber band being stretched closer and closer to its max. He closed his eyes, giving himself a second to hide from the blank, balking stare on Theo's face. There wasn't much else he could say, beyond what he refused to give to anyone else that wasn't his Theo.
"Please," Liam's voice cracked again, all the desperation that had been fueling him the last six months bleeding into it. "Just this once , let me save you."
Silence hung heavy between them, twisting Liam's eyes shut even tighter. He couldn't stop the swirling torrent of sadness and guilt burning through him from reaching his chemosignals. The emotions had gotten too big, too out of hand, there was no shoving them back in the box now. A deep, throbbing ache in the center of his chest had him reaching for his heart.
Theo's snarling, wordless growl rolled through the cell, ricocheting off the walls, barreling into Liam. His eyes snapped open, already glowing as his wolf snarled back, claws and fangs following suit on instinct, though it was too little too late. Theo slammed into him shoulder first, knocking the air out of him. Before he could even try to recover, claws dug into his left side, sinking deep into the muscles, while the chimera's other arm pressed against his trachea, forcing them backward til his head collided with the wall.
Liam tried to shift away, snarling at the sharp pain flaring from his side. He glanced down, taking stock of just how much blood was pouring down his jeans. When Theo's arm pressed into him harder, turning his breaths into more wheezing gasps, he met the gold eyes with a snarl that died instantly, frozen in his throat.
The wild glint in Theo's eyes had been replaced by icy detachment, but other than that, their current position was a damn near mirror image of the night Liam pulled him out of hell. He shuddered, dropping his hands from Theo's arm, forcing his claws back in.
"It's okay," Liam choked out, taking little gasps of air between words. "You're just surviving, like you always do."
He couldn't stop scanning the chimera's face, looking for any reaction, a twitch of his eye or a little half-flutter at the corner of his mouth, anything other than the bland disdain. Not one muscle moved on the chimera's face, but the pressure against his throat lessened. Not by much, but enough that he was able to gulp down a deep breath. Something he said got through, so he pressed on.
"I saw how hard you tried to fight it, how long you held out." Liam chanced lifting one of his hands, laying it over the curled fist holding part of his shirt as the elbow was wedged under his jaw. "Theo, it was longer than anyone else." Liam's breath shuddered out of him. "If not for me, you would have beat her at her own game."
The arm vanished from his throat, sharp hissing breaths punctuating it as Theo jerked back, claws pulling out of Liam's side with gag-inducing wet pops.
Liam dropped to the ground with a thump akin to a bag of potatoes falling from the counter. Groaning, he lifted his head, immediately finding the chimera's eyes and squinting. Something flickered in the golden depths, softening the scowl he was leveling down at him by the barest margin. His heart fluttered, a thin smile overriding the pained grimace stuck to Liam's face.
Quick as it appeared, the softness vanished, replaced by a blazing fury that had him worried about the validity of Stiles' assumption concerning Theo being able to kill him.
As claws connected with his chest, a pained howl of a scream burst from him. He couldn't even try stifling it, his fangs erupting in full force. The next strikes were vicious, smooth, clean cuts that tore through his abdomen with the same kind of ease and precision as a sushi chef fileting a fish, practiced till it was more muscle memory than breathing.
No defense or resistance rose to meet him. Liam let hit after hit land without protest, even as each of his breaths tasted more of blood than air.
"It's okay," Liam rasped, blood leaking from the side of his mouth.
The thinnest of smiles pulls his lips apart, sad and understanding, full of too much knowing. Tears blurred his vision, only to fall by the wayside, dislodged as the force of the last blow. The chimera paid no mind to the words, raking his claws through skin, leaving rivers of bright red blood pouring out in his wake.
Swallowing back the blood pooling in his throat, Liam tried his best to smile again, aiming for a reassuring look, though with how much blood was covering him, it was likely anything but. His eyes fluttered, despite how hard he fought to keep them open, still trying to watch the other's facial expressions.
"You're okay," he mumbled, loud as he could, though it was barely above a whisper. "I know you can't stop, it's okay."
No more blows came. He tried to force his eyes open, but they must have weighed at least a ton. They didn't even twitch. Even so, he smiled a little wider. He got through to him. If he hadn't, his chest would still be getting torn to shreds.
How he was so full of hope and love as blood leaked from almost every square inch of his abdomen, he had no clue whatsoever. All he did know was that his chimera was not to blame, and that no matter what he trusted the man to keep him safe, even from himself. Again, he asked himself how he could believe that so staunchly as to bet his life on it, only to come up empty handed.
Garbled voices drifted over him, a sharp worry tingeing one of them while the other was more distraught.. He knew them, but the fuzziness in his head did not lend itself to pulling up details. Hands settled on him, grabbing each of his lead-like limbs tight, jostling the myriad of wounds across his torso. The fiery wave of pain only grew as his back dragged over the concrete, tipping him over into blissful nothingness.
The couch creaked as Liam stood, ignoring Mason's quiet protesting huff to level a firm stare at the older pack members across from him. Only Scott and Stiles met his eyes, fear and concern written plainly across their features, which was fair enough given how they found him last night. His wounds pulled as he crossed his arms, sharp spurts of pain, almost poignant enough to override the determined set of his jaw, went off in his chest. Even several hours after being pulled out of the cell, he still needed a gauze covering over the myriad of crisscrossing lines all over his torso. They were deep and would take a day to heal, but nothing too serious overall for a werewolf.
"You want to do what?" Scott asked, clearly hoping he had misheard his beta.
"I need to go back down there. He's in there Scott. Our Theo; I saw it in his eyes," Liam insisted, a roughness to his voice from the pain.
Jackson snorted, "Yeah, what you saw was likely from blood loss."
Liam glared at the kanima, biting back a growl only because of how it would irritate his injuries. Once upon a time, he was grateful for the guy's muscle, but now he wished he had just gone back to England with Ethan. They had this handled well enough with the portion of the pack currently residing in California, they didn't need out of towners anymore.
Liam shook his head, stepping forward, flicking his glare over to Scott, "I know what I saw. He was there, just for a second, but I saw him. I can get through to him, I just need another chance."
A quick glance to Stiles softened his glare into a hopeful plea. If anyone was going to side with him, it would be the person who had been helping him fight for Theo tooth and nail. His smile fell as a reluctant, heavy sigh broke the tight line of the human's mouth. Stiles ran a hand through his hair, heart rate picking up as he looked everywhere but Liam.
"Stiles, please, you know I'm right," he begged.
"You are," he agreed, but the way he half-squinted and looked at Liam like he was ready for an explosion made the wolf's heart sink. "But, we need another approach, because letting him nearly kill you repeatedly is not it."
Frustration pooled in his clenched fists. Liam turned away, teeth grinding audibly as his wolf bristled and snapped. Stiles was the only older member who had implicitly backed him and Theo this far. Even Mason had a doubt or two at the beginning. His pulse quickened, a new thread of worry stabbing into the over-full pincushion that was his remaining sanity and energy. It was understandable for support to wane, given what he did, but he had definitely not anticipated the one person he had come to rely on pulling away as well.
"If you follow through on this, his death is on me," Liam said, voice tight and strained as he fought to keep it level. "He sacrificed himself to save me. I should be the one downstairs, not him. At least then you guys would actually TRY to save me."
"Liam," Isaac said, stepping up to the couch, leaving a few feet between them, "whether you saw him or not, he might just be too far go–"
"I can't believe you guys!" Liam snarled, looking between the faces of everyone around him. "You're all really ready to just abandon him? If anyone else were in his situation, none of you would be sitting here, talking about whether they were too far gone to save!"
An idea zinged through him. His entire focus narrowed to Stiles, locking eyes with the human. He was the answer. He had been 'too far gone' by the same standards, controlled by something inside him that he couldn't kick out by himself, and he had been saved.
"What if I went in his head to get him out? Like you did with Stiles and Nogitsune."
Scott's adamant, "No," rippled through the room, making each of the wolves shudder at the ferocity of the answer. Liam almost snarled in response, hating the way his wolf was whining, trying to settle the alpha. He didn't give a rat's ass if Scott was upset at the suggestion.
"Why?" Liam challenged, chin jutting out, refusing to cower or submit without an answer. "You went in after Stiles. Why not Theo?"
"What do you mean 'went in after'? Like in his head? That's a thing?" Jackson asked, looking around the room, one eyebrow raising higher the more of the room nodded. "Why did no one tell me that's a thing?"
"Because it's not something to jump into lightly, or that's easy to do," Isaac said, a long slow sigh flowing out of him.
Whether that was directed at Jackson or Liam, it answered both with simultaneously striking the younger wolf as a warning. He held his tongue, glancing to Scott and almost flinching at the severity of the frown creasing his face, directed solely at the taller wolf. For Isaac to go against his mate, it had to be at least a somewhat viable tool to actually solve the problem.
Stiles was quiet, deeply lost in thought if the thousand yard stare was any indication. Bringing up the darkest part of his life so abruptly probably wasn't Liam's best plan, but it wasn't like he had much better options at his fingertips. Time was running out and he was absolutely not about to let Theo go down without a fight or exploring every option.
Finally, Stiles broke off his staring contest with a flower vase and turned to face his best friend.
"He's got a point, Scott. We've done some pretty batshit insane stuff to get people back, one of which was you and Lydia pulling me out of the fox." He looked at Liam, offering him a sad and yet hopeful smile. "If he's okay risking his life to save him, how can we not let him, when we've done the same?"
"I'm an alpha. We're supposed to be able to do it. Betas have to be trained! Look at what Theo did to Lydia when he tried it," Scott growled, eyes flashing briefly at Stiles.
Tears clouded his vision as he strode forward, maneuvering around the table. Though Stiles stopped him from getting any closer to Scott, he glared daggers at the alpha through his tears and shouting, "Then fucking teach me! I have to do something , Scott. I can't just sit here–"
Scott groaned, pinching the side of his head. "He's not your responsibility anymore, you don't owe him anything."
"I'm not doing this out of responsibility or duty," Liam said, shaking his head, a growl creeping into his voice. "I'm fighting for him because I can't let you kill the guy I'm in love with!"
The room fell silent, which only made the thundering, too-fast pulsing of his blood in his ears all the louder. He froze beneath the eyes of his friends, unable to even close his gaping mouth. True as the statement was, he had NOT meant to say it out loud. No one was ready to hear it, except Mason, who was the only one sporting a satisfied smile, as opposed to the various degrees of sneering, horror, and judgment plastered across the rest of the pack. The swarm of chemosignals made his nose twitch. He rubbed at it before dropping his hands back to his sides, squaring his shoulders.
Whether he wanted it to be or not, it was out there, and he was going to own it. Backtracking or dismissing it would be a level of dishonesty with himself that he refused to live with. One hundred and twenty percent of him meant what he said. At least now they understood why he was fighting so hard.
Scott was the first to move. Liam followed every one of his movements as he carefully stepped forward, pausing in front of Stiles, silently asking permission to move past him. Besides the slowness and the tentative way the alpha came to stand in front of him didn't seem mad, but the set of his jaw and deep, trench-like furrows in his frown were a combination he had yet to see. While the lack of yelling or immediate violence settled the tiniest bit of his raw nerves, it was not enough to stop the worry churning in his gut.
He couldn't hide the flinch as Scott lifted his hand, though he did relax as it came to rest on his shoulder as opposed to connecting with his face.
"How long?" Scott asked, a softness in his voice that had one hundred percent not been there seconds ago.
Liam shrugged, not ready to meet his alpha's eyes. "A while. Not really sure when."
Scott sighed, loud and long, and the speed at which Liam's stomach plummets through the floor was astronomical. He braced himself for the disappointed speech and the rebukes centering around how he could forget what Theo once got him to nearly do, having long since accepted that those would be an inevitable eventuality. When arms wrapped around him and pulled him into a firm hug, Liam was dumbstruck. It took him an embarrassingly long time to compute that Scott was in fact the entire opposite of mad. A little huff of a laugh shook free from his throat, not entirely audible to anyone beyond the embrace, which he then proceeded to melt into.
Scott stepped back first, leveling a hard look at him as he held onto both of Liam's shoulders, "I'll show you how to do it, okay? But if he doesn't come back, whether because of what she did or because he can't handle it, the kindest option is going to be to let him go."
His wolf bristled at the notion that his Theo would choose to not come back. There wasn't anyone more resilient than the chimera. Survival was the name of the game he'd been playing since before he hit double digits, this would barely compare.
He nodded.
"Okay, we'll get started once all of those have cleared up," Scott said, gesturing to Liam's chest, poorly hiding his wince.
Liam nodded again, more than okay with that concession. Honestly, he was somewhat surprised he was still on his feet, let alone having a coherent conversation. His chest hurt like a bitch and the world was starting to spin again. He staggered backwards, arms flailing forward, reaching for any sort of support as the floor swam up to meet him.
"God damnit, Liam. You and your idiot of a future boyfriend are why we can't have nice things," Stiles grumbled, now standing above the collapsed puddle that was Liam as he smiled.
The dark ass tunnel he had been swimming through the last week finally had an end in sight and a plan to get there. Everyone else might doubt the plan, but he didn't. Between him and Theo, there was little they couldn't accomplish. This would be no exception.
