Chapter 22: Breaking Through

Melissa McCall had finished bandaging up some of the heavily hurt deputies from whatever it was that had attacked them to steal the body. A part of her couldn't help but not be too upset. She overheard the Sheriff speaking with Clark. Since there was no body, there was no evidence of Kira killing anyone, or her father. Mr. Yukimura would have to be released. Noah had noticed her watching them and they shared a silent but tense moment of just staring at one another. Clark was in between them and quickly became uncomfortable. She was spared it going on for too long when a call came in on the comm and she jumped to answer it.

"Sheriff," she said after a moment, when she was done. "Something's happened."

Noah and Melissa broke their eye contact to look over at her.

'What now?' they simultaneously thought.

Soon enough, a gurney was rolling on through the halls of the hospital with Zach lying on it. Melissa moved over to it was wheeled in.

"What have we got?" she asked them as she helped pull the gurney down the hall.

"A suicide jumper, I think," one of the EMT's said to her. "Went and landed right on top of a car, smashing almost clean through it."

"Alright, let's get him to OR," she told the others.

Over in the lobby, Virgil was being questioned by Deputy Clark.

"Are you saying he jumped from the roof?" the deputy asked him, with a notepad ready.

"Maybe, I'm not sure," he said to her.

"Did you see him actually jump? Or maybe someone pushed him?" she questioned him.

"I don't know," he answered, with a shake of his head.

"Did you hear anything?"

"I don't know," he said again, with another shake of his head.

"Clark." Both of them looked over to see the Sheriff approaching. "It's okay. Let me talk to him."

She nodded and walked off, leaving the two of them alone.

Virgil let out a small breath of air but nodded over to the man. "Sheriff Stilinski," he said in a calm tone.

"Virgil Edelman," he said back, in the same tone. He stared at him for a moment before letting himself give a small smile. "It's been a while. How's my favorite young felon?"

Virgil narrowed his eyes a bit but his lips curved themselves into a bit of a smile. The two of them used to be very familiar with each other. Back when he had first come to Beacon Hills over two years ago. The man had practically been his parole officer, checking in on his progress and making sure he stayed out of trouble during his senior year.

"Great to see you haven't lost that sense of humor of yours Sheriff," he quipped.

Noah let out a little chuckle before he sobered up. "Uh, I don't think I ever had the chance to tell you that I was sorry to hear about your father and grandmother."

The two of them were among the cases Noah had reviewed back when he had his revelations regarding the supernatural. They had been caught in a mild traffic pile-up caused when a 'man-lizard' had run across the interstate.

"Yeah, right," he mumbled to himself, though it was still loud enough for the Sheriff to hear him.

"Uh, hey, I hear you've been working over at Armor Auto. How's that been going?"

"Makes me wonder some days if prison would've been so bad," he said dryly.

The man didn't know if Virgil was serious or just trying to be funny. He then cleared his throat as he felt that it was time to move this along. "So, you mind telling what happened tonight?"

"Uh, I was just coming back home from a grocery run and, out of nowhere, there was a crash and I see that the car next to me in the lot, tin foil. I went to take a closer look and saw that there was a guy lying there on the hood, looking like he had dived bombed on it."

"Do you happen to know who he is?"

Virgil nodded. "Yeah, I recognized him. We were in a few classes last year. And he lives in my building, two floors down, so I sometimes see him now and then. I think his name is, Zach."

"Do you really think that Zach is the kind of guy who would go to top of his apartment building and just jump?"

"I don't really know enough about the guy to say anything. But I do know and understand enough about cars to know that he couldn't have done that kind of damage unless he fell on top of it from a very good height."

"Well, thanks for your help. Hey, for all you know, the fact that you called 911 and helped him get to the hospital so quickly made all the difference."

"I didn't really do anything Sheriff," Virgil said, shrugging the whole thing off.

"Still, I think that Zach would appreciate what you did for him."

"Yeah well, no offense Sheriff but appreciation is overrated. I could do without it."

Virgil then turned to get ready and head on out but Noah stopped him.

"Virgil," he said sternly, making him stop but not turn back around. He kept talking to his back. "I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you stick around here for a little while. Just for some follow up questions and to give an official statement. You are a material witness." Virgil's form deflated a bit and though his back was still turned, Noah could see the kid was aggravated. "Look, I'm not going to pretend that I know or understand what you've been through these last few years. But, what I do know is, through this rebel without a cause attitude you like to have, you want to be a good kid."

That made Virgil roll his eyes as he turned his head to look slightly back at the man. "Yeah, well, my dad always said that it often doesn't matter what we want. We're stuck with what we got."


In the forest, Jordan Parrish was slowly moving through the woods, the body of the chimera Courtney swaying slightly as he carried it his arms. His upper torso was blackened by soot and ash and his eyes had a faint orange glow to them. Staring ahead with a trance like expression on his face, he was not thinking about where he was going or what he had done at the hospital. It went that way until he came upon the giant, old and sacred tree stump. He then went and set the body down at the base of it before he went to sit right on top of it. As soon as he sat, his body seemed to get enveloped by a thin layer of flames and his whole body began to glow as bright as his eyes.

Those eyes then looked down at Courtney and he could see her role in the death of the werewolf Wilson Grant right before he saw her demise. Getting struck down by Kira's sword. He then looked over at the body lying next to her, Lucas. Flashes of the chimera's attacks on Corey, Brett and Lori Talbot, Liam, Scott and Kira played out in his mind before they went to his death at the hands of the Surgeon's cane blade. Further up from that body was the body of Belasko, the chimera that attacked him. Jordan was calmly recalling his attack on him, as well as his attempt at killing Scott before seeing the deranged man's death at the hands of the same caned weapon that killed Lucas. After turning his head slightly, Jordan looked down at the body lying directly to his right, Donovan. He could see Donovan's hand in Wilson's death, and then his demise when he tried to kill and devour Stiles.

There were a half a dozen more bodies to be found scattered about. Each one, brought by him there and he could see all of the deaths that they caused or attempted, as well as their own, as his eyes scanned over each one of them. Jordan didn't lose his composure as he calmly sat there, gazing out into the darkness. He knew that this was just the beginning. Soon, there would be far more bodies lying here. A sea of them. It wasn't a question of if, but when. And, it still wasn't clear yet, by whom.


Melissa felt completely tapped by the time she stepped into her home. She moved to take off her bag and place it on her kitchen counter. Inside was the file she had taken from the hospital's file room. A part of her couldn't believe she actually took a file like this but she remembered everything she told the Sheriff about bending. It looked like things were pushing her to follow her own advice. Stiles wouldn't have asked this of her if it wasn't important, she knew that. Melissa sighed as she put it firmly back in her bag and went upstairs to check in on Scott. Knowing he wouldn't be asleep, she knocked and then opened the door to find that he was awake and sitting off in a corner of his room,

Scott didn't know how long he had been standing there, in the street, watching out from where Kira had driven off with her family. When he finally got home, he didn't even change out of his wet clothes. He let himself stew in everything that had been happening with his friends. Kira was now gone. Liam was taken, along with Hayden, and he couldn't find him. And it seemed that all he and Stiles ever do anymore is argue and fight with each other. He looked up when his mom stepped into his room with a concerned look on her face.

"Sweetheart, everything okay?" she asked him.

She had to ask that. Of course everything wouldn't be okay. Not after everything that happened with Liam, Hayden, and the attack at the hospital.

"Something's changed," he muttered.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure. Something's different. With my friends. All of us. Something's changed…and I think it's because of me. I don't know how to fix it."

Melissa moved to bend down and sit next to him. She didn't say anything. She just moved to try and comfort her son. After about an hour of just sitting there, Melissa looked up to catch her son's eye.

"Scott, something has happened." She said hesitantly.

"What?"

"There was someone brought into the hospital. At first, it looked like an attempted suicide. It looked like he might've jumped off a building and he had landed right on top of a car. But, during the operation, we didn't find any trace of broken bones or tissue damage on him at all."

"Like he had healed himself," Scott said, following along.

She nodded. "Yeah, and I managed to find his medical history. Apparently, this boy had a bone marrow transplant almost six years ago."

Scott realized what this meant. "He's a genetic chimera. What's his name?"

"Um, Zach Powell."

Scott's eyes widened. "Did you just say Zach?"


Through the darkness, a black wolf was quickly darting through the back and front yards of suburbia until it stopped to look at a certain house. It moved to the back down and started to bat at the glass with its paws. A moment later, Maggie came over and opened the door to let it in.

"Your clothes are on my sofa," she said to it.

The wolf let its eyes glow blue as it stared right up at her before it padded over to the living room. Maggie moved to sit over at the kitchen as she heard some rustling in the next room over. A minute later, Derek was walking in, with simple jeans and a shirt, but barefoot. As he was adjusting his shirt, there was a second where Maggie caught a glimpse of his abs before he covered them.

"Hey, I never asked…how does it feel?"

"You mean, shifting?"

"Yeah. I mean, I've never met another werewolf who could fully shift other than your sister."

"You never asked her?"

"Uh, I was kind of embarrassed to ask her to be honest. So, does it feel like when you normally shift or is it completely different. I mean, I've seen werewolf movies like The Howling and it never seems to be a picnic for them."

Derek allowed a small smile to find its way onto him. "Well, I don't know what those writers drew their information from but its not like that for me. It's…kind of hard to describe. I don't think I can actually put it into words."

Maggie saw Derek start to retreat a little into himself. No doubt he was thinking about his newfound ability to fully shift.

"I called to check on Cora about an hour ago," she suddenly started up.

Derek moved to sit down on a stool opposite her from her kitchen counter. "She still upset?" he asked, unnecessarily.

"Of course," she said, with a roll of her eyes.

"Well, if you ask me, that Ruben guy isn't worth it. I never liked him."

"I doubt you'll ever like any guy that your sister likes, or likes her."

"If a guy will just drop a girl at the first sign of a baby like he did then Cora shouldn't waste time feeling sorry about that guy going."

"He's a teenager Derek. I mean, when you were his age, if you were seeing a girl and found out that she already had a kid, how would you have reacted?"

Derek tightened his jaw and then turned away. "I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"Fine, whatever," she sighed. "Let's talk your little covert walkabout. Did anyone see you?" she asked him.

He shook his head. "No. One good thing about being able to fully shift is that you are harder to detect, even for Alphas."

"The fact that you are a former Alpha also probably helps. What did you find out?"

"Well, the rumors you heard about Oscar meeting with another Alpha was true. They were on the edge of the woods, talking together. He was agreeing to Oscar's offer of an alliance."

Maggie scoffed. "Alliance? More like allegiance. He wants all the alphas and their packs to answer to him."

"Well, if that's the case then it's safe to say he's well on his way. How many does this make now anyway?"

"Including this one, seven. Seven packs along the northeast, if what Charlie said about the last meeting was true."

"Are you sure we can trust that guy?"

"Charlie is a decent guy. He was just turned against his will."

"Yeah, a lot of werewolves get turned against their will. That doesn't mean they were or are good and trustworthy." He knew plenty who didn't get bit by choice that were far from decent.

"Oscar bit Charlie over six months ago when he started scouting for recruits to expand his pack. He's actually started to adjust pretty well but he still feels something off about what Oscar is doing. So have I."

"What about your mentor, Darlene? She's his Emissary. What does she have to say about him?"

"Honestly, I think Darlene might be helping him. I mean, Charlie and the two other new betas Oscar turned all have had military backgrounds but I know he couldn't have tracked them down himself."

"You think Darlene pointed him their way. Helped him to exploit their backgrounds to fill his pack with stronger betas. Why would she even do that?"

"I don't know. Darlene has always been a private person for as long as I've known her but lately, she's been more…assertive. What do you think she or Oscar are even trying to do?"

"To take power. It's oldest and most powerful motivation in the world."

"Yes, of course Derek. But, why now? And why does Oscar seem to think that Cora and Jason might hold the key for him to get that power?"

He shook his head. "I don't know."

Maggie rose her eyebrows at him. "Really? You don't think it has anything to do with Jason's father?"

"What would make you think of something like that?"

"Derek," she breathed out shortly at him. "Please don't talk to me like I'm an idiot."

Derek let himself stare at Maggie for a while before he deflated. "Cora told you?"

"Yes, she did. Back when she was staying with me, before Jason was born. She felt she could trust me," she said, pointedly.

Derek slid off his stool and moved to stand directly in front of her. "You're saying that I don't trust you?"

She crossed her arms. "I don't know, do you?"

Before either of them knew it, Derek grabbed Maggie and he pulled her in for a kiss. It was a toss up between who was surprised more. Maggie for Derek's impulsive action or Derek for his daring move. The kiss was a little awkward in the beginning. After all, they hadn't been like this since before Derek left to go to Beacon Hills after Laura had died. Before either could really relax into it, Derek pulled away. They took that time to just stare at each other.

"So…do you still think I don't trust you?" he asked after a minute.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I think I might still be on the fence about that," she playfully told him.

He smiled down at her. "Well, let's see if I can help you get over that fence."

Not a second later, they pulled each other in for another kiss. This time, they both were completely relaxed and given into it. Their hands were moving across one another's bodies and soft moans were escaping from them every other second. Before they knew it, Derek was carrying her into her room and then tossed her onto her bed. As he threw himself onto her, he froze for a moment as he stared down at her and Maggie took that moment to flip them over so that he was the one on the bottom and she was on top. Giggling, Maggie moved to grab Derek's shirt and pull it up his torso. He then pulled himself to sit up and yanked it off his head and tossed it to some unknown corner of the room before he moved to do the same to her top. They then moved to make out for a bit before they got more daring and then started to tug at each other's pants. Once they both managed to become fully naked, Derek let out a small, aggravated growl as he went and rolled them around so that he was on top, letting some leftover Alpha dominating instincts take hold. At the sound of the growling, Maggie froze but not out of fear, but of awe. She let her hands go up his firm biceps until they stopped and cupped at his stubbly cheeks. As they rested there, Derek let his eyes glow blue down at her and she let herself become entranced. They kept eye contact until when Derek went and plunged himself right into her. As he slowly drove himself in and out of her, Maggie's fingernails moved to grip his back and then ran down, leaving some softly bleeding marks with every thrust he made. It didn't stop him but instead urged him and his wolf to become more intense with her and he started to speed up his rhythm. The room and soon house began to fill with the sounds of hard moans and soft, wolfish growls that built up to their joined climax.

When they were finished, Derek and Maggie just stared up at the ceiling, sweaty and softly panting from their exertion. Derek felt the scratches from Maggie begin to heal and then moved to pull Maggie's head to his chest so that she could rest on him. As Maggie rested there, she let her right hand move and make small spiral movements on his stomach, which made Derek smile contently down at her, and he went and placed a soft kiss on her forehead before letting himself fall soundly asleep.


Virgil was reaching for his jacket as it had been left on one of the chairs in the waiting area.

"Excuse me, we were wondering which room belongs to Zach Powell."

That made Virgil look over at the reception desk and he saw two teens there. The younger one, he didn't recognize, but the other, him he knew. It was Scott McCall. He had been a scrawny sophomore at Beacon Hills High during his senior year. The only reason he remembered him was because he had been the boyfriend of Allison Argent. She had that huge scandal surrounding her after her aunt had killed all those people. It had pulled everyone's attention off him and unto herself for the rest of his year. He wondered why he was looking for Zach.

The receptionist took a moment to look at her screen but she then shook her head at them. "I'm afraid to say you're too late. He woke up about two hours ago and after he was given a thorough examination, he was fully checked out of the hospital roughly half an hour ago."

"Why are you asking about Zach?" Virgil said, coming up to them.

Scott turned to look over at him. "Oh, uh, I'm an old school friend of his. I heard he was sent to the hospital and just wanted to see if he was okay."

"Really?" Virgil doubted McCall was telling him the truth. The only real friend that he remembered him having back at school was the Sheriff's son.

Virgil's feelings of doubt and suspicion were becoming clear to the two werewolves.

"Who are you?" asked Scott.

Virgil couldn't help but be surprised that he didn't recognize him. After all, his coming to Beacon Hills High had been the hottest topic for months.

"Virgil, Virgil Edelman. I'm the one that found him."

Scott deflated a bit. "Oh."

"Now, what's the deal with you and that guy? Why do you want to see him so badly?"

A part of Virgil couldn't believe he was actually trying to defend a guy he hardly knew like this. Maybe, it was because since he was the one who found him, a part of him felt that made Zach his responsibility. That's how it had been back in the streets of San Diego.

"Look," Liam sighed. "He was with me and my friend not too long ago and we didn't know what happened to him. Then Scott told me that he was here, so I wanted to see him. He's only here for me."

Now the kid, Virgil believed.

"Well, Zach lives in my building. I can give you the address if you want."

"Thank you," Liam said gratefully.

After writing the address down for them, they went and took their leave from the hospital. As he stared at their backs, Virgil decided to pull out his tarot deck. He looked down at Scott McCall's retreating back as he shuffled and then drew the card from the deck that would be the young man's soul card. He then looked down at it and saw that it was The Fool, reversed.

"The Fool," he muttered.

Virgil's eyes then glassed over as he remembered the end of summer when he saw this card in this same position falling down on the floor, next to The Magician card. He then saw Scott McCall heavily making out with Allison Argent in a car. Then he heard a monstrous roar and a snake like man break out from a van and then run off into traffic, followed by the sounds of car horns and then a crash. Virgil gasped as he began wheezing and heavily coughing. His eyes were shut tight in pain as he had his right hand squeezing the space directly over his heart.

"Sir, are you alright?"

Virgil blinked and saw that he was on his knees, with a nurse and two others hovering over him.

Scott pulled his bike up in front of the apartment building and he and Liam hopped off and headed inside. Checking with the directory, they found Zach's apartment and went and knocked on his front door. The two of them waited for about ten seconds before the door opened.

Liam's eyes widened as he looked upon Zach. When Scott had told him that Zach was alive, he had been surprised. He and Hayden had been sure that he was dead when the Dread Doctors took him away. But now, he was looking much more healthier and livelier than he had been back when they were all locked away together.

"Zach," he muttered.

But Zach didn't seem to share in his relief. At the sight of Liam, Zach quickly moved to close the door and the two of them could hear him begin to lock in the bolts.

Scott went and gave the door a few bangs. "Zach!" he called out to him through the door. "We just want to talk to you!"

"Go away!" Zach shouted back.

"Listen, you might still be in danger. We can help you."

"I don't need or want your help. Now go away or I'll call the cops!"

Liam let out a heated sigh as he looked over at Scott. "Now, what do we do?"

Scott shook his head. "I don't think there's anything we can do for him right now."


Lydia stepped into the sheriff's station with a small bit of tension in her step. Her eyes looked around but she didn't see any immediate sign of Jordan anywhere. She didn't know what she would do or say when she saw him. Earlier this morning, Lydia received a message from Stiles, saying that he had to speak with her. When she went to his house, he then started to explain what happened to him at the hospital, during the attack the previous night. He had been knocked away by the body snatcher, but, had managed to get a glimpse of who it was.

"It was Parrish," he had said to her when she asked who it was. "He was lit up, like he was on fire. And his eyes, they were like little flickers of fire but, it was like he wasn't there. Almost like he was possessed."

Stiles then pulled out Parrish's name plate, partially covered with ashen soot. He claims that he had found it in the morgue but didn't tell his father about it or what he saw. As Lydia stared at it, she told Stiles that Jordan had confided in her that he'd been having dreams about himself surrounded by bodies. When he asked if he told her where this was, she told him that he did. The place was the Nemeton. And, she told him that Jordan had not just seen a dozen bodies with him. There were hundreds, spread out as far as he could see.

Lydia then told him that she had to go and see him though Stiles argued that it was a bad idea. Lydia quickly countered that it sounded like Jordan didn't know what he was even doing but Stiles argued that only made it even worse. They still didn't know exactly what Parrish was so they couldn't know what might set him off. He had already attacked a handful of deputies and he didn't want to risk anything happening with him working so close with his dad which is why he wasn't telling him about Parrish. But Lydia couldn't do it. She knew what it was like to have someone or something inside of her be in control.

"And so do you," she sternly said to him, making him relent.

However, Stiles asked her to not tell Parrish the truth, at least until they found the bodies and why he took them.

All the deputies were gathered together in front of the Sheriff's office and Lydia spotted Jordan towards the front. They were all listening to the Sheriff as he was holding up a small stack of papers that had survey questions on them. Stilinski start talking about how they were to question anyone that might have two sets of human DNA in their system for any symptoms such as black outs, sudden feelings of rage, or hallucinations. While most of the station seemed baffled by why they were being asked to do this, Jordan didn't. He knew that it was to find any genetic chimeras that might be possible targets for the Dread Doctors to make into supernatural chimeras.

Yet, as one deputy was given the questions, she froze as she looked at all the questions. Deputy Clark already knew of one person that had two sets of DNA. Her sister, Hayden. And recently, she has been acting a little off.

After they were dismissed, Jordan went for his desk and quickly spotted Lydia there, waiting for him. He smiled as he made his way over.

"Lydia, hey. What's brings you down here?"

"Oh, just wanted to check up on you." She then went and handed him a coffee cup. "And I brought you something."

"Thanks," he said, taking it from her. "I appreciate it but I'm fine. And thankfully, no one was too badly hurt at the hospital. How about your friends? Are they okay?"

"Liam and Hayden are a little shaken up but they'll be fine." Lydia then went to look over at Deputy Clark. "And Hayden's sister still doesn't know?"

"No," he said with a small shake of his head.

"Do you think she should?" she asked a little hesitantly.

"Honestly…I don't know." He felt there were a lot of pros and cons to Clark both knowing about her sister and not knowing. But he knew that the decision wasn't really up to him.

As Jordan moved to stare at Clark for a moment, Lydia stared at him. Should he know about what was happening?

He then looked back her way and noticed her staring. "What?" he asked, making her snap out of it.

"Oh, just, uh, the Sheriff called everyone for a meeting?"

"Yeah, Stilinski is just organizing a search in helping to look for more genetic chimeras. To see if we might protect them before the Dread Doctors get to them."

"Well, there can't be that many still out there, right?"


Mason let his eyes scan the illustration of a monstrous wolf attacking two crouching people in terror. He then laid it on the pile of documents he had printed and collected off the net and copied from tomes at a university library a county over. This research project that Stiles sent him on over a week ago, he had really gotten into it. More than he had expected. The legends of legendary monster and demonic wolves, he felt drawn in with every story and arcane passage he found. Every free moment he had, Mason was reading and working to separate fact from fiction. He had already found a lot of interesting stuff and was making a small note collection of his own with everything relating to The Beast.

A soft knock made him look over and see Liam standing there, looking somewhat dejected. "Whoa, I know that look," Mason mumbled as he closed his notebook.

"Can we talk?" Liam asked.

"Yeah, sure." The both of them then moved to sit at the foot of his bed. "So, what's up?"

Liam let his head droop a little as he twiddled with his fingers. "Uh, I think I might have a problem."

"You mean aside from the three scary mad scientists that are turning teenagers into monstrous chimeras?" he said, trying to make it all seem lighter than it actually was.

Liam let a small smile creep its way onto him before it quickly flattened again. "It's about Hayden."

Mason stiffened up. "What? Has something happened to her?"

"What? No, no," he said quickly. "Nothing like that. But, when we were rescued from that house, the two of us kind of…kissed," he managed to squeeze out.

"Oh," said Mason, widening his eyes. "Wow. Uh, wait, did she kiss you or did you kiss her?"

"Uh…well, we both kind of kissed each other. Though, we stopped right when we realized what we were doing. I kind of remembered…Lori."

"Wow." Mason didn't know what else he could say to that.

"I don't know what to do."

"Ahh, well, did you want to stop?"

"Stop what?"

"Kissing Hayden."

"Yes," he said quickly. Mason then stared at him and Liam found himself faltering. "No," he then said before he shook his head. "I don't know."

"Liam, do you like Hayden?"

"Uh…yeah, I think I do. But…I also can't stop thinking about Lori. I like her too." He then moved his face into his palms. "But, I don't want Hayden or Lori to get hurt," he said through his hands.

"Well, you're going to have to make up your mind because, from what I've read, wolves mate for life." That made Liam pull his face away, narrow his eyes and glare slightly at him. Mason raised his hands quickly in surrender. "Just a joke." He then sobered up. "Look Liam, the way I see it, you and Hayden had gone through something pretty intense the other day. You two didn't know if either of you would be getting out of there, especially after you saw that Zach guy taken away. It's easy for your emotions to kind of get away from you."

"So wait, you think me and Hayden kissing might've been some kind of…adrenaline thing?"

"Maybe. And it's not the first time this has happened. I mean, you and Lori first kissed as the both of you were upset with Wilson's death and she needed comfort."

"What are you trying to say?"

"Uh, well, you kind of have this whole knight in shining armor thing going on. Maybe you just take some time to think about who it is you really want, outside any grief or danger."

Liam didn't say anything after that. He just let his mind think about what his best friend just said. When it started getting dark, Liam eventually moved to head on back to his house. As Liam started running off, three figures started to slowly approach the house. The Surgeon took a moment to look up at the window to Mason's room.


School seemed to be dragging on and on these days. As Scott looked down the halls, he saw that no one seemed to be smiling. Everyone had dark and sullen expressions on their faces. It was like all of them were able to feel that bad things had been happening and were only going to get worse.

He caught sight of Hayden. She was talking with Liam but when she caught sight of him, she moved to head off down the hall, away from him, with Liam following after her. A moment later, he caught sight of Corey. When he noticed him, Corey turned and moved in the opposite direction. Scott could see that both of them were still angry with him. Hayden for being his bait and Corey for getting clawed by him. Truth be told, he didn't really blame either of them.

As he walked, he noticed Stiles moving down the opposite hall but he didn't seem to notice him. His mind seemed to be lost in intense thought. So much that when he made his way to class, he barely noticed Malia, and she barely noticed him. She was overlooking printouts of all the evidence gathered about the Desert Wolf. She had gone to Stiles' room and taken all those pictures while he had been out. Neither of them noticed Scott walk into the room.


Stiles was running through the woods, alternating between running on two legs and dropping to all fours. He was desperately trying to locate the Nemeton. He had to find out if Parrish had been the one to take Donovan's body that night at the school. He had been coming out here, alone, after school the last few days to try and find the bodies. So far, nothing. Still, a part of him was finding some peace and relief with the search. Just running and letting himself be lost in his speed and surrounding wooden scenery, both quelling the anxiety of both him and his wolf.

As he ran, his nose was going a mile a minute. After all, a stack of corpses had to leave a strong enough scent to pick up. Yet, even after many hours of trudging through the woods, there was no trace of the smell of death anywhere around. Stiles was starting to wonder if whatever it was that was protecting the Nemeton from being found was also somehow blocking the scent.

When the sun started to go down, Stiles stopped and then started to heave deeply as he let himself regain his breath. Suddenly, Stiles let out a growl just before he angrily threw a punch at a nearby tree, punching a chunk clean through it.

"Where the hell is that thing?!" he growled out to himself.

Days of this and Stiles was starting to feel that he was doing nothing but run around these woods in circles and couldn't help his sudden aggravation. Any release of anxiety he had done seemed to return all at once. Stiles then looked down at his knuckles, ready to see them split open, or at least bruised, but there didn't seem to be a mark on them.

Normally, Stiles would be surprised at this, yet, somehow, he didn't feel a single ounce of it. Like it was exactly as he expected. Maybe that was because he shouldn't be, especially after what happened the night at the animal clinic. When Stiles had caught his image in the window of his jeep, he had seen not his face staring back, but the appearance of a raggedy, furred wolf. He remembered seeing the same thing happen back at the Glen Capri, in a puddle's reflection, a year ago. Stiles couldn't deny it, at least not to himself. The Beast was starting to come back. But, there was a big difference this time. Last year, he had been terrified of what he might become that he had wished with everything he had that it wouldn't happen. But now, he found himself actually hoping for it to emerge. If he did become the ultimate Apex Predator of werewolves, he might just have the power they need to stop the Dread Doctors, and whatever 'Success' they were trying to make. That was why he asked Mason to research everything he could about any kind of werewolf legend that regarded the Beast. He needed to know everything he could so that he could quickly start controlling it when it did arrive. He knew it wasn't a question of if, but when. And his instincts were telling him that it would be soon.

Stiles guessed he should be heading back. He hadn't brought his jeep to take him out here. He was starting to get more and more worried about it. Recently, every time he wanted to use it, it took a couple of tries to start. It no longer started at the first turn of his key.

But he barely ran a few meters when he found himself stopping. His instincts had flared up and his eyes frantically started to scan the trees, his blue eyes shining through the darkness. If felt like he was being stalked. Stiles slowly shifted his claws out, extending them to their longer, deadlier form. Then his ears twitched when he heard a sort of electrical clacking in the air. A few seconds later, the three Dread Doctors started to move out of the shadows and into the dim light of the moon overhead.

"Stilinski," the Surgeon said through the mask, in his distorted voice

"What the hell do you want?" Stiles said, through his fangs.

"The perfect catalyst," answered the Surgeon.

He then pulled out a device that had a long needle at the end. The sight of it made a chill go down Stiles' spine and he felt goosebumps erupt all along his back. The Pathologist and Geneticist then started to move for him. Stiles quickly threw a punch at the Geneticist but he effortlessly caught his punch and squeezed it in his grip. Stiles let out a pained grunt as the Pathologist moved to grab Stiles around his torso and hold him in place. The Surgeon started to slowly approach, pointing his syringe device right at the young werewolf. Stiles tried to wriggle out of the Dread Doctors' hold but the Pathologist had a firm grip. The Geneticist took the hand he hurt and pulled to extend Stiles' arm out. Stiles realized that they seemed to be after his blood. Why, he didn't know, but he knew he couldn't let them take any. He moved to kick at the Surgeon's hand and the syringe flew off into the dark brush.

In the moment of surprise, Stiles then threw his feet back, pulling him away from the Geneticist's grip and making him and the Pathologist fall on their backs, with Stiles landing right on top of him, making him release his hold. Stiles then quickly flipped himself to his feet in time to see the Geneticist moving for him again. Stiles screamed as he charged and then threw himself at the Dread Doctor, tackling him and forcing him back into a nearby tree, dazing him. Stiles then dashed off, running as fast as he could, not looking back.

The Surgeon wasn't reacting. He just stood there, looking off in the direction that Stiles had retreated into. When the Pathologist and Geneticist were able to shake off what Stiles did to them, they moved to stand on either side of the Surgeon.

"Unexpected," said the Geneticist.

"What now?" asked the Pathologist.

The Surgeon didn't answer right away. He kept looking off in the same direction for a few seconds before he tilted his head slightly. Finally, he responded. "A minor setback."

The Geneticist turned to regard him. "Lunar Perigee is coming."

The Surgeon straightened his stature back up. "We'll have another chance."


In his special office at the bureau, Raphael McCall was at his desk looking through a small mess of files he had amassed, all relating to a favor that his ex-wife asked of him. She claimed it wasn't really for her but for Stiles and that it would help in trying to keep Scott safe. It hadn't been easy but he though he put together a decent amount of information.

It wasn't as though he didn't already have a mountain of stuff already on his plate. He let his eyes fall on the tack board mounted on his wall. There were photos and documents plastered all over. This was a special side project that Raphael had been working on alongside Christopher Argent as a way to further protect his son and his friends.

A knock on his door went and broke him out of his stupor. "Come in," he called out.

The door then opened and it was none other than Chris Argent himself.

"McCall," he greeted as he moved to sit across from him.

"Argent," Raphael answered back.

"You left a message that you wanted to see me?"

"Yes," he nodded. He put the files for his ex down and moved over for his crime board. He yanked away a photo and handed it to him. "You recognize this man?"

Argent looked at the photo and he narrowed his eyes. "Yes, this Richard Baxter. He was a former hunting friend of mine. Last I checked, you arrested him after he and his men tried to kill Stiles at the Martin lakehouse earlier this year."

"Yeah, we had him in custody up until two weeks ago. During a prisoner transfer, it seems that he somehow escaped."

"Escaped? How?"

"From the looks of the transport and the guards, I would say that a small team of men intercepted it. Judging from the damage to the car and the wounds on the guards, they all were very familiar with firearms."

"There are quite a lot of hunters who are still in the wind. They could've gone to bust him out but I have to say, this a rather aggressive move, even for them."

"Well, it looks like its becoming a trend. Baxter isn't the only one who was sprung from custody. There have been four other cases of hunters you pointed us out too and arrested that are now out there again. And, if that's not all, a couple that we've had on surveillance had dropped under the radar, including the Calaveras."

"They've gone to ground."

"Any idea where that might be?"

Argent shook his head. "No. No doubt word has spread about my involvement. Any places and safehouses that I know about, no one will try to use any of them. And I recently got a call from Derek Hale. It seems that some of the werewolf packs in the northeast are organizing under a single leader."

"The timing, this can't be a coincidence, can it?"

"No. I don't know what exactly is in the works, but I can tell you one thing without a doubt, something big is brewing. And when its put into action, all hell is going to break loose."


Scott moved to the window of the animal clinic's front door and stuck a sign saying that they were going to be closed. This place was so…quiet. There weren't even any animals in the clinic right now. Before he left, Deaton had quickly sent notices for all their owners to come and pick up the animals he still had up, with some take home kits for the ones still under treatment. This was the first time in days that he had been in here. Even without wolfish senses, it was easy to pick out the leftover smell of smoke and ash that still lingered in the air. He hoped that coming here would've been a break from how everything seemed to be unraveling over the last few days but it seemed even here served as a grim reminder of what was happening. He went over to the supply closet and took out the pail and mop and began to wipe away all the burnt soot that was still smeared on the floor from when Josh's body was stolen.

He took a rag and wiped out the black soot on the medical table. Scott then felt a tickle in his throat and start to cough a bit but kept on working. Yet, it only got worse and he started coughing a bit more harder. His hand went to his chest as he started wheezing. He was having another asthma attack. He reached for the inhaler in his pocket but an ever harder coughing fit made his fingers fumble with it and he ended up dropping it. Scott tried to move for it but he fell to his knee as he kept wheezing. He closed his eyes and suddenly started hearing someone calling his name.

He then found himself on his feet, in this very room, staring down at the table that now had a dog being brushed, by himself. Or rather, a slightly younger version of himself. He saw that he had the same hairstyle he had at the start of his sophomore year. This other Scott didn't seem to notice him standing there at all. He was stood there, lightly brushing this dog's fur with a smile like he didn't have a care in the world. One that would be completely alien on his own face these days.

Both Scotts then heard the door chime. Scott watched his younger self move off to see who came into the clinic and he followed after him.

"Hello, what can we do for you?" his younger self said when he saw who had just walked in.

Scott's eyes widened when he saw who that person was. Laura Hale. Derek's older sister. And he wasn't the only one who's eyes widened. Laura seemed a bit stunned at the sight of him, the younger him, as if she was surprised to see him. Scott saw that his younger self didn't seem to notice but he did. It was as if Laura somehow knew him…but how? He didn't really know anything about her until Derek had told him. Then Deaton came by and froze slightly at the sight of her before he quickly sent his younger self back to work so he could talk to Laura alone in his office.

The next moment, Scott saw himself back in the clinic's med room with his younger self brushing the dog as Laura came out of Deaton's office. She approached him and Scott saw the younger him introduce himself before they started talking. It was pleasant talk and his younger self then started going on about lacrosse tryouts. The conversation soon started turning over to his friends and his younger self started telling her about Stiles and how he was helping and supporting him to try and make the team. When Laura told Young Scott that she wished him and Stiles luck in making first line, Present Scott felt a rush of air and he was back on the floor of the clinic's med room.

Scott was coughing as the inhaler was brought to his mouth and the medicinal air was pumped into his lungs. He looked up and saw that Theo was the one holding it up to him. Theo let his golden eyes glow as he stared right at him to help him breathe again. Scott's red eyes flared in response and he began taking bigger bumps, one after the other.

"Are you alright?" Theo asked him, pulling the inhaler away.

Scott let himself cough a bit before he nodded. "Yeah, I think so," he muttered. Theo then moved to help him up to his feet and Scott leaned down on the table. "What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you. You weren't at home so I tried here and I came in and saw you on the floor, your inhaler was out so I went and got it to you."

He let himself sigh a bit. "Thanks Theo." Scott then went and pocketed his inhaler.

"Another asthma attack?" Theo asked, unnecessarily.

"Yeah…no, not exactly," he said, shaking his head a bit.

Scott went silent as he let himself think about what had just happened. It was all just like what happened at the school during his asthma attack. What he had seen, that had all been a memory. A forgotten memory, one that was awakened from reading the Dread Doctors book. Scott had met Laura Hale, before she had been murdered by Peter.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

Scott cleared his throat. "I think…I just had another forgotten memory."

"What memory?" Theo asked curiously.

Scott then started to explain what he saw to Theo and the relevance behind it.

"I had actually talked to her, right here, and never realized. Even when I found her body, twice, I never recognized her."

"Well Scott, why would you? As far as you knew, she was just another visitor to the clinic."

"I guess," he shrugged. Still, he couldn't help but feel that he should've recognized her somehow. "Stiles would have though." He then deflated a bit as the thought of his friend came to him.

Theo found himself nodding. "Yeah, Stiles does have the mind of a steel trap. And, I have to admit, everything he can do with 'Event Scars', it's pretty amazing."

"Yeah, from what Deaton told me, it's a pretty rare ability among werewolves." Scott then stressfully started to rub at his eyes. "You know, sometimes, I just wish I had stayed home and not gone to the woods with him that night. Then I wouldn't have run into Peter Hale and none of this would probably even be happening."

Theo's face fell. "Yeah, sometimes, I wish I had noticed the time and had gotten home before that Alpha found me too. But, we're stuck with what we got."

"Well, what we've got is too much. From what Valack said, everything that's happening here is our fault. Because me, Stiles and Allison gave power to the Nemeton."

Soon enough, Scott found himself venting. He spoke about how things were with the people in town, the Sheriff and his search for more genetic chimeras, the situation with Parrish, how things were with Hayden, Corey and Zach, and how spread apart he and his friends were with each other.

"I know something's coming. And all I can think about is how good am I going to be if I can't even breathe?" he finished, slamming his hand down flat on the table.

Theo let out a sigh as it seemed that Scott was done with his venting. "You sound like you're trying to apologize."

"You came back looking for an Alpha. I guess I'm sorry that you found me."

"I'm not sorry," he shrugged.

"You still want to be in the pack?" Honestly, Scott didn't feel good about being in the pack himself right now, especially with him leading it.

"Scott, you're the True Alpha. I'm with you. For better or worse."

Scott let himself straighten up a bit. People had been already been hurt on his watch. He didn't want Theo to come in and become one of them. "Trust me, it's going to be worse," he said, trying to talk Theo out of it.

Theo lifted his eyes to meet Scott's. "I'm counting on it." He then straightened himself up. "After all, things only get worse before they start getting better. And I want to help make them better. Well, if you'll have me." Theo then reached his hand out to him. "So, what do you say?"

At that moment, as Scott moved to look Theo in his eyes, he let them shift into their golden yellow glow again. Scott found his own red eyes coming out, staring unflinchingly back. He then went to grasp Theo's shoulder, a gesture that Theo quickly copied. Both of them could feel a string of connection starting to bind them, one that normal people couldn't put into words or understand. But three others might.

From where they were, Stiles, Liam, and Malia all froze as they felt something down in their bones. An…addition. Malia felt a fulfilling warmth course through her. Liam felt a surge of power travel through his veins. And Stiles felt his blood run cold as a pit fell into his stomach.

Scott had officially made Theo a member of the pack.