Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/ works/617487. Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Underage, Major_Character_Death Category: M/M, F/M, F/F Fandom: Teen_Wolf_(TV) Relationship: Derek_Hale/Stiles_Stilinski, Lydia_Martin/Jackson_Whittemore, Ethan_(Teen Wolf)/Danny_Mahealani, Aiden_(Teen_Wolf)/Lydia_Martin, Isaac_Lahey/Scott McCall, Vernon_Boyd/Erica_Reyes, Allison_Argent/Scott_McCall Character: Derek_Hale, Stiles_Stilinski, Lydia_Martin, Scott_McCall_(Teen_Wolf), Isaac_Lahey, Allison_Argent, Jackson_Whittemore, Danny_Mahealani, Vernon Boyd, Erica_Reyes, Ethan_(Teen_Wolf), Aiden_(Teen_Wolf), Deucalion_(Teen Wolf) Additional Tags: Magical_Stiles_Stilinski, BAMF_Stiles_Stilinski, Supernatural_Elements, Blood_Magic, Elemental_Magic, The_Alpha_Pack, Work_In_Progress, POV Stiles, BAMF_Lydia_Martin, Team_Human Stats: Published: 2012-12-31 Updated: 2013-03-12 Chapters: 2/? Words: 6197 ****** Who Would Want Fangs, Anyways? ****** by Zman Summary The Alpha pack is closing in on Beacon Hills and have already taken one of the pack. Stiles is feeling as useless as ever, and not sure how to cope with all of his friends' lives on the line. But when he learns of a dark family secret his world gets flipped upside down. Notes Explicit for later chapters, hope you enjoy! ***** Chapter 1 ***** Stiles opened his eyes gasping for air, mouth dry and sweat plastered to his forehead. He told himself over and over that it was just a dream, but it felt so real… he could still see Jackson’s lifeless eyes staring at him. Stiles quickly shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind. After a few moments of stretching, he clumsily rolled out of bed and fell right into the floor. "... oww" He pulled himself up and slowly made his way to and down the stairs, tripping on the last step in his still half-asleep stupor. Luckily he caught himself before he could ram head-first into the wall. He pulled a right into the kitchen and pulled the fridge door open. Inside he found what he was looking for; his jug of Sunny-D. He twisted the lid off and started to chug. He whipped around, planning to find something solid to accompany his juice, but instead found Derek right in front of him with his trademark broody face. It took everything Stiles had not to spew the juice all over Derek’s face, which definitely wouldn’t turn out good. “What in the hell-“ Stiles barely get out through his coughing, “are you doing here?” “Protecting you,” Derek grunts, typical Derek style, “there’s a new pack in town and this house will be their first target”, Stiles gives him a skeptical glance while he caught his breath. "And why’s that? It’s not like I’m anything special,” Stiles rants, flailing his arms about, “I can’t transform into a wolf like you or Scott, I don’t have any freaky immunity powers like Lydia, and besides, shouldn’t the Argents be the bigger targets? I mean, they’re the ones with-“ he cut off because Derek was giving him the you’re-talking-too-much face. “The first thing the alphas would worry about would be what could blow their cover and alert the Argents, not dealing with them would be much easier.” Stiles tried to understand what Derek was saying but the daggers he glowered into Stiles’ eyes messed with his concentration. “Then why don’t we get the Argents to help? Allison already knows! They may be down a few numbers, but they still have enough to at least slow the alphas down!” Derek took another step towards Stiles, “This is about my pack and me. I don’t need anyone else involved.” Stiles could see Derek was getting annoyed from having to explain his actions to Stiles but he refused to let the sourwolf hang around his house without a decent explanation. “So, what’s the big deal about me? And you know, I didn’t ask to get involved with any of this. And I know I talk a lot but it’s not like anyone would even believe me if I ran around screaming that an alpha pa-“ Derek whacked Stiles across the head with his palm, “Oww! What was that for!?” “Your dad, idiot! If your dad finds more dead people and reports them to the public, the Argents would find out. So, what would be the easiest way for the alphas to prevent that from happening Stiles?” Stiles resorted to the one thing he always did under pressure; sarcasm,“I don’t know, bribe him with candy?!” Derek rolled his eyes with a snort, “They’ll kill him Stiles!” The words hit him like a ton of bricks; Stiles couldn’t lose his dad, not the only family he had left. Stiles grabbed Derek by his leather jacket, “You have to protect him Derek! He can’t die; I can’t… I just-“ Derek was glaring at Stiles’ hands on his jacket, but he didn’t let go. He could rip Stiles’ hair out for what he cared; he needed to make sure his dad was safe. “What do you think I’m doing here?” Derek seethed looking up, cold anger filling his eyes. Stiles licked his lips and realized his face was awkwardly close to Derek’s. He pulled back and took a moment to fix the angry man’s jacket, not wanting to give him another reason to be ticked off. “Sorry,” Stiles said lamely. “I’ll keep an eye on him today while you are at school-“ he stopped and looked like he was straining to hear something, "And he's up, I should go.” Derek began to walk to the door but Stiles had to ask him, especially with the nightmare still replaying in his head, “H-have you found anything out about Jackson?” Derek stopped. He slowly turned his head to look at Stiles and his face said it all, his previous stone demeanor was replaced by a softer and more apologetic one… no leads then. He turned back for the door, moving slower in deep thought. Stiles knew his dad would be getting in the shower and that Derek still had a few minutes. “Derek,” he looked back and his face was still soft from Stiles’ previous question; Stiles looked down unused to Derek’s vulnerability, “Uh… just, don’t get hurt, okay?” Derek looked at him like was about to say something, but then his face regained its hardness and he simply nodded before rushing out the door.     Stiles leaned over to Scott, ignoring Mr. Harris reading the syllabus out loud; it was like he thought his class was the only thing anyone cared about their entire lives, “Dude, I talked to Derek this morning and he still doesn’t have any leads on Jackson…” Scott looked back with less than hopeful eyes, “I know Stiles, but what can we do? We can only follow his scent so far before it crosses with the other pack’s scent; we aren't in any position to position challenge them right now.” Stiles gave a frustrated sigh, “It just doesn’t make sense! You know Jackson wouldn’t just leave, especially with her behind,” he said giving a head tilt towards Lydia. She was in the back of the lab alone, writing like a mad woman on something so complex, mixed with numbers and letters that no one other than the pack actually knew what it was. Scott sighed, “Is she still working on a formula?” Ever since Jackson had gone missing, Lydia refused to give up searching for him. Somewhere along the line she decided that if she could somehow come up with a vaccine of sorts to lower her immunity to the werewolf virus, she could find a way to infect herself and be better prepared to take on whatever had Jackson. Of course, she was lacking in the resources most professional biologists had access to and had to limit her research to nights when she could sneak into the school and use lab equipment. All of her other time was spent with Peter and sampling his wolf saliva in petri dishes or with her notepad where she worked out balancing chemical equations that Stiles could only begin to comprehend. She kept doing them over and over, knowing there was no room for error; one small bacterium of DNA altering material unaccounted for and who knows; she could end up with the power to transform into a pile of boneless gook every full moon. “I don’t think she’s ever going to stop Scott, not until she’s found something that works or Jackson comes back. And you know she’ll find the right formula eventually, she always does...” Stiles trailed off because Scott's face contorted into a nervous, slightly fearful expression. Mr. Harris cleared his throat a few inches from Stiles’ ear, making him jump a mile out of his seat, “I’m sorry, am I interrupting something here?” “No sir”, Stiles and Scott reply in unison. Mr. Harris went back to his syllabus and Stiles just doodled on his notebook. Stiles actually envied what Lydia was doing, she wasn’t afraid of the bite and she was doing everything she could to obtain it. Stiles had once told Peter he didn’t want the bite and Peter called him out on the lie, but Stiles knew he wouldn’t have taken it willingly regardless. The actual reason was that he was afraid, too afraid that his body wouldn’t be compatible with the virus, too afraid that he would lose control on the full moon and possibly kill someone close to him... too afraid his dad would find out and hate him or fear him. He had too much to lose if he took the bite, but at what cost? He couldn’t turn his back on his friends, not now when they needed help the most… but how was he supposed to keep up with all these other supernatural creatures? Allison could but only because she’d been trained as a child, all those gymnastic and archery lessons were to prepare her for the life that inevitably caught up with her. Lydia had all of her intelligence to protect her, but she still didn’t see that as enough. And then there was Stiles. Sure, he had kept Derek afloat when he was paralyzed and hit the Kanima with his jeep, but all those things were mostly coincidental; he could have done them much better if he’d had some supernatural help. He felt like a kitten surrounded by a bunch of lions, trying to do something helpful but so blind by its inability to do anything that it just keeps getting in the way of everyone else.     Derek had called a pack meeting, which was normal almost every few nights. The Hale House was almost finished with reconstruction, under the heavy influence of Peter, and the living room there was the general meeting place. In light of the impending danger to the whole community, these meetings included not only the attendance of Isaac, Boyd and Erica- but also Peter, Scott, Allison, Lydia, and Stiles. A few months ago it also included Jackson but now there was just an empty space in the loveseat that used to be filled beside Lydia as she furiously scribbled in her notebook. Occasionally Deaton would attend but only once a week or so. “So,” Derek started in an authoritative voice, “let’s start with a quick recap from Erica and Boyd, what exactly did the pack you see look like?” Derek had asked them to explain what happened every meeting, in attempt to make sure they weren’t missing any important details. Boyd started, “Well, the first thing I noticed were a set of twins. One wanted to tear us apart then and there, but the other told him he had to wait for the right time or the message wouldn’t make it to Derek…” Derek’s eyes narrowed at the mention of his name. “There was also the really bitchy looking one,” Erica threw in and Stiles saw her jaw clenching in anger, “She didn’t have shoes on and her claws down there looked like they were about as sharp as her nonstop mouth.” “The leader looked strong and absolutely pissed but was level headed when he spoke to us,” Boyd added, “And he told us to tell you that once a month starting August they would pick off members of the pack one person at a time until there was a formal challenge.” At this Lydia tensed and her writing faltered, but she never once stopped. Derek’s face has the same sour look as usual, “Exactly, and we know that Jackson has crossed paths with them… but I don’t think he’s dead. He wasn’t exactly a part of my pack and he’s just a beta. The only time killing another wolf gives any power is when they want the victim wolf's position in their pack, basically take their position in the hierarchy. They probably told him to join with them or leave before things got nasty. Let’s just hope he chose the second.” As he said this he looked at Lydia who acted like she hadn’t heard anything. “Next up on our list is Lydia.” Lydia looked up and finally stopped writing, “How’s your research going?” Lydia stared at Derek for a moment before placing her pencil in the spiral of the notebook and closing it, “Well, it would go a lot faster if I had better equipment to analyze the virus, but the school lab equipment is fairly cheap. I have to keep working these equations to rule out what the make-up is of the virus cells to figure out exactly what my body is rejecting. I believe I have the possibilities narrowed down to five-thousand six-hundred and forty-two combinations of materials, which is a much better number than the eight- hundred-thousand I started with. At this rate I should absolutely have a formula to drop my immunity within a month.” Stiles looked at his former crush in awe. Lydia was so smart and beautiful and brave- but he stopped himself because it was still painful to think about. He gave up on his ten, well, actually fifteen year plan to make her fall in love with him. It wasn’t an easy decision but whenever he looked into her eyes, all he saw was Jackson- just like Scott saw no one but Allison; Stiles knew any chance he had with Lydia before died along with the Kanima. “Of course,” Lydia said while resuming her storm of scribbles, “I’ll have to take the serum daily, at least for a few years to be safe, so that my body no longer sees the infection as a foreign substance.” Everyone stared at Lydia in silence but then Scott’s eyes lit up, “What happens if you forget to take it or run out? Would you be able to turn back to a human? Maybe we could still use your blood to make a cure so that not all of us have to stay like this!” He looked at Allison with hope but Lydia scoffed something that sounded like a laugh mixed with a snort. “I hate to break it to you Scott, but there’s no cure. If I stop taking the serum or if we try to make a cure for other wolves, they’ll die. The infection is throughout the whole body, a cure to a virus this complex would result in an attack by the immune system to every cell in their body, acting as a poison.” She looks even harder at her writing, “That’s why there’s no room for error, one wrong number, one forgotten factor and I could end up dead. But I have to do this; I can’t sit by while my friends are made into mincemeat right in front of my eyes. I can’t sit by while Jackson could be…” she trailed off and Stiles felt guilty for not taking the bite when he could receive it so easily. However, for Stiles fear wins out to guilt every time. Derek looked satisfied with Lydia’s answer, “Last thing is Peter. Are you getting any stronger? Or are you still… not?” Peter looked out the window and sighed, “I’m afraid I’ve reached a plateau in my recovery. I can shift just fine, but holding it for a long period of time is… rather impossible. My strength is surely stronger than the average human, but it’s nowhere near what it was before.” Stiles looked at Derek’s face and thought he could see just a slight hint of relief, probably because Peter’s weakness meant he was less of a threat if he switched sides again, “That’s unfortunate. We’ll just have to make do with what we have. So, starting tomorrow we’re going to begin an even more strict training regimen.” Derek looked at everyone except Stiles, “And not just the wolves, but the humans too." Stiles jumped up with a fist pump, “Yes!” Then he looked around and realized everyone was staring at him like an idiot, except for Derek who had the look of death upon his face; Stiles slowly sank back down onto the stool he was sitting on. Derek finally broke eye contact with Stiles and turned back to the group, “Allison, I was hoping you could set up something with Stiles and Lydia that could help them prepare for the worst.” Allison nervously tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, “I guess I can try, I’ll just do what dad did to get me ready…” Stiles didn’t like the way she said that. He remembered Allison talking to Scott about how her dad first started preparing her by doing stuff like tying her to chairs and then timing how long it would take to escape, or drugging her then throwing her miles out in woods and waiting for her to find her way back; you know, the normal daddy-daughter bonding thing. But Stiles knew he had to do it if he wanted to be somewhat useful. Derek nodded, “Sounds good. I guess we’ll all meet here tomorrow after everyone gets out of school. Allison, before you leave let me talk to you about what your plans are for training.” And with that the pack dispersed. The whole drive home Stiles tried to rationalize his reasoning to not take the bite. Sure, taking it would put him and his dad in danger, but weren’t they always in danger? Right now the danger with the other alphas was outside of his control… but if he took the bite he would be able to have more influence over the situation. But how would he handle the guilt if he hurt someone innocent? He pulled into the driveway and punched the steering wheel. Suddenly he remembered something his mom told him a long time ago. It still hurt to think about but he thought he could let her in his head today without crying-   Stiles’s mother picked him up and put him on her knees, “Honey, what’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!” “I think that Scott’s mad at me but I’m not mad at him and I don’t want him to be mad at me but I’m afraid that he won’t listen to me and what if he never listens to me again and-“ “Sweety, I’m sure you and Scott will come back around, but you need to be the one who steps up and say sorry first.” “But mommy, I’m scared that if I try he won’t listen to me.” She gave a light laugh and put her hand in Stiles’ hair, “I’m going to tell you what my mom once told me; the whole point of life is to learn the difference between the fear of things and the fear of failure. If you’re dealing with fear of something, you need to prepare for the worst but don’t act until it arrives, because sometimes the fear isn’t really there and is just your imagination. However, if you’re afraid of your own failure, like how you're afraid Scott won't listen to you, the remedy is to take action as soon as you can and do your best. Whatever else happens, it does for a reason. As long as you try your best to fix your friendship with Scott, that’s all you can do.” She paused and looked deep into Stiles’ eyes with a wisdom that passed all understanding, “And don’t worry; I know you two will be best friends for a very long time”   Stiles wiped his eyes, of course he’d still cry when he thought about her. He began to think harder, which was it stopping him; fear of the bite or what he would do after? After a long time contemplating, he honestly couldn’t tell which one it was- maybe it was both. But he did know he had to prepare regardless, that he had to do everything in his power to defend his home and friends no matter the cost. He wanted to do it without the bite, but in two weeks if he had made no progress with the new training he would ask Derek to bite him, even if he was scared out of his mind. With a sigh he got out of his jeep and went straight to bed, knowing that if Derek was helping Allison plan he needed every minute he could get. ***** Chapter 2 ***** Chapter Summary Stiles let out a sigh and started walking with Lydia, earning the release of her grasp. She reached into her purse and pulled out the taser and rope. Stiles’s cleared his throat, “Umm... what are you doing with that exactly?” Again, she didn’t look up, “Improvising.” Stiles realized she was tying the taser to the end of the rope. Oh God, she was making a freaking taser flail. Chapter Notes So, I have no beta readers and I'm totally finishing this at 3 in the morning, so please tell me any errors you find and I'll be sure to fix them! Hope you enjoy! :P Stiles slowly cracked his eyes open. A goofy grin crawled across his face followed by a drawn-out yawn. He couldn’t get over how warm and comfy his bed felt, usually he was freezing in the mornings. For some reason it felt like he was forgetting something, but what was it? Slowly, he began to relive the events from the day before in short snips; unexpected Derek, vulnerable Derek, no Jackson, Scott wearing sadness in the worst way, Lydia wearing crazy in the best way, pack meeting, even more no Jackson, even more crazy Lydia, weak Peter, training, mom, tears, sleep for training. Hmm, this bed is almost too warm. Oh crap! Stiles literally jumped into a standing position in his bed, accompanied by a borderline asthma attack. He wouldn’t have been surprised to find out his bed was suspended over a pit of lava. However, the more the frightened teen looked around the more normal everything seemed. His eyes refused to stop bouncing from place to place as he put on clothes, ready for the walls to go down in a fiery explosion at any second. He slowly backed out the door and then quickly turned to look at the perfectly untouched landing before cautiously treading down the stairs. Stiles checked his Lucky Charms for poisonous spiders and the milk for extremely corrosive acid but it all checked out as his everyday breakfast of magic, crunchy-when-wet marshmallows with pencil-shaving obstacles. As the cautious boy made his way to the jeep he checked the tires and then the breaklines; it was all in great condition. Stiles knew this wasn’t going to be a normal after school training session, this kind of training only worked when there was legit danger to pump the human full of adrenaline to see how they hold under pressure; Derek would strike when least expected. And when would the least expected be? Obviously before the expected. Stiles couldn’t stop obsessing over the endless possibilities as he drove through the morning fog, would a wolf jump in front of him and rip him out of the jeep through the windshield? What if Allison was waiting up ahead with explosive arrows to take out his wheels? It wasn’t until he was in the parking lot that he realized he was almost thirty minutes early. His head dropped to the wheel as he let out a long sigh, he wasn’t so much afraid of the training, he knew Derek wouldn’t truly harm him, or anyone else in the pack for that matter. What Stiles truly wanted to avoid was falling flat on his face when it mattered most. But Stiles knew this was something he had to face, to give up now would be a jillion times worse than failing while trying. Besides, maybe the training today was just to get an idea of his and Lydia’s current strengths and weaknesses, no creepy cellar lock-ups involved! Stiles managed to put on a smile and step out of his jeep. He was going to face this like he did every other unmanageable problem he had dealt with, by pretending it didn’t exist. The appearingly happy Stiles made it to his English class long before anyone else and couldn’t help but snicker at the fact he was usually barrelling through the door seconds before the tardy bell would ring. Stiles sat in his regular seat and pulled out his notebook. He wasn’t sure why, but he had always doodled strange looking symbols when he wasn’t focusing on anything in particular, most taking up whole pages. People who saw them usually thought Stiles was a weirdo but Scott never said anything negative and usually asked Stiles if he thought they meant anything. Stiles secretly hoped he had some crazy prophecy powers and what he was drawing were actually ancient runes used to tell the future, but Stiles already knew the answer to that, he went off on that kick before Scott even turned into a werewolf. Every website he found had nothing that looked quite like the things he drew, so of course She was was just a messed up kid that doodled creepy- looking scribbles. The absent minded boy began to look at what he was drawing and realized this one looked kind of like an hourglass. For some reason it made Stiles feel... weird, for lack of a better term. After he traced over it a few times his pencil jumped up a few lines and started working on something else. Now that was super weird, usually Stiles would trace the same simple doodle over and over until he was done drawing, but this was different. It was like the hourglass now had a smaller diamond layered on top of it. Stiles closed it all in a circle and the bell rang. For some reason Stiles felt an odd connection to this drawing, like it actually meant something huge- he quickly folded it up and shoved it into his pocket as the teacher began taking attendance. One of the few perks of advanced ADHD is the ability to let your mind completely go and not focus on anything in particular, helping him get through his first period quite effortlessly. At the start of second period the teacher introduced two new students, twins actually. They were built, blonde, and looked a little old for high school. Of course the only seats open were behind Stiles and for some reason they were giving him a serious case of the heeby- jeebies.. Third period finally rolled around and at least he had this class with Lydia, who was actually managing to paint her nails and balance her equations at the same time. Seriously, how could someone like that actually exist?! Stiles thought about talking to her, but he was almost sure she would bring up- nope. Not even going there. Before he knew it the lunch bell was ringing and he was practically sprinting to the lunchroom, he definitely needed some bro time with Scott to keep his head clear. Stiles quickly got his food and took his usual seat between Scott and Boyd across the table form Isaac, and Erica. Lydia sat with a seat between her and Isaac, the one that used to belong to Jackson... and that’s when Stiles noticed the empty seat on the other side of Scott, meaning Allison and Derek were putting a fair amount of work into all this if she was willing to skip school for it. Everybody was acting creepy and not saying anything so Stiles just took a handful of fries and shoved them into his mouth. “So,” Scott finally broke the silence looking at Stiles and then Lydia, “You two excited for training later?” Stiles looked up with a full mouth and deer-in-the-headlights stare, of course they would bring it up. Lydia let out a sharp, venomous laugh and looked up from her tablet, “I’m pretty sure we all know it’s going to be sooner than later, Scott.They will come get us when we’re most vulnerable- alone.” So much for ignoring the problem. “Well... maybe as long as you two are around us Derek and Allison won’t be able to get to you and they’ll have to put the training off until after school!” Lydia stared for a moment, as if calculating something in her head. Suddenly her eyes narrowed into a glare, “They’ve put you up to something, haven’t they?” He looked shocked, “What do you mean?” “Don’t give me those puppy eyes,” Lydia scoffed, standing up and walking over to Scott’s side, ”there are other ways to tell if someone is lying other than their heartbeat.” Out of nowhere Lydia snatched up Scott’s backpack, he could’ve stopped her but he and the rest of the pack just looked away, like if they didn’t see it happen it didn’t. She poured its contents onto the table, out came rope, what looked to be a handheld taser shaped like a baton, and vial of clear liquid. “Really guys, liquid narcotics?! What, were you going to slip some into our drinks at lunch or if that didn’t work tase us, then tie us up?!” They didn’t move. Lydia scoffed, “Of course you were...” Stiles looked from Lydia to Scott, pain deep in his eyes. He knew it shouldn’t hurt him that bad because it was all part of the training, but Scott was the one person he felt he could trust, if he was gone who did Stiles have left? Lydia snatched everything and threw it into her purse. She grabbed Stiles’s arm and pulled him up, “Come on Stiles, Derek and Allison must be here if they were about to go through with this. Lets not put off the inevitable and get it over with.” Stiles felt a rush of panic as she dragged him away from the rest of the pack, “Oh come on Lydia, I bet now that we have them figured out they’ll just wait until later!” As soon as it was out he knew she would never buy it. Lydia didn’t even look at him, “Stop trying to ignore the problem at hand, it just puts you in a worse position in the end.” Stiles let out a sigh and started walking with Lydia, earning the release of her grasp. She reached into her purse and pulled out the taser and rope. Stiles’s cleared his throat, “Umm... what are you doing with that exactly?” Again, she didn’t look up, “Improvising.” Stiles realized she was tying the taser to the end of the rope. Oh God, she was making a freaking taser flail. They stepped out the door and of course Derek and Allison were standing at the edge of the woods wearing blank faces, waiting for them. Derek didn’t react and made a motion to follow as he and Allison turned deeper into the woods. Stiles looked at Lydia and she shrugged her shoulders and started after them, knowing it would be best to keep this off school property. As they made their way Lydia gave the inactive taser-flail an experimental swing, and Stiles had to say it looked like a decent means of self-defense. Finally they made it into a fairly open area where Derek and Allison were standing about twenty feet away with stone demonors. Stiles felt the need to use his only true defense, “What’s this Derek, giving Allison creeper lessons? And who would’ve thought she would catch on so quickly, I think she has a bright future in this profession!” Derek snarled, “Shut up Stiles, spitting out pointless words does nothing when you’re facing a threat head on.” Silence filled the clearing until Allison finally spoke up, “So, what are you two going to do? Fight or give up?” Lydia gave a sarcastic grin and switched the baton on, it crackled with blue electricity as she swung it in a vertical circle to the side of her body. Yup, that was one way to answer that question. Stiles thought he caught a hint of fear in Derek’s eyes when he saw the baton but it was gone in less than a second, “Allison, stick to the plan we talked about.” With that, Derek began walking towards Lydia. Stiles looked back at Allison just in time to see a net flying at him out of a bazooka-like cannon. He dove, rather ungracefully, to the left and saw the net land where he was standing just moments before, crackling with the same blue electricity as the baton. Stiles couldn’t help thinking about how painful it would be to get trapped in. Stiles decided to run in closer towards Allison, knowing if he kept his distance her ranged attacks would take him out. Another net came flying at Stiles and he wasn’t so nimble with his dive this time. Sure he wasn’t trapped in it but the side grazed his leg sending god knows how many volts of electricity inside of him. He hit the ground hard but rolled over and scrambled back to his feet as soon as he was able. As Stiles closed in Allison dropped the cannon and pulled out a dagger. He saw out of the corner of his eye Lydia swinging the taser around above her head while Derek was at the edge of the arc- as though he were testing the water before jumping in. Stiles tried to remember what little hand-to-hand combat his dad had taught him. The first thing was to run, obviously not a viable option at the moment. If there was no way to get away you should never be the first to attack, let the aggressor strike and then use their momentum to get them off balance. Of course, Stiles had no clue how he was going to do it, but he had to try. He was finally up on Allison and began circling her. He heard the crackle of electricity and saw Derek rolling on the ground away from Lydia in pain as she quickly reeled the rope back in. Stiles looked back at Allison and remembered from lacrosse the place you should watch for movement is the stomach, regardless of fancy footwork and tricky eye movements the stomach would be going wherever the other person was. Allison lunged forward and Stiles tried to sweep her legs out from under her, tried being the key word. Allison saw the poor attempt coming from a mile away and did a one handed cartwheel over his legs. Stiles tried to pull himself off the ground but it turns out Allison was a lot faster than she looked. Stiles felt her elbow shove into his chest knocking the air out of him. He scrambled to get up again but Allison quickly pulled him back down into a headlock. Stiles tried to roll her off but she wouldn’t budge... yup, he was beyond screwed. He felt the blade in her other hand rise up to his throat. “Stiles, stop moving or you may cut your neck on the blade.” Stiles had stopped struggling before he even felt the metal on his jugular, “You did pretty good for it to be your first time in a fight, by the way. But we’ve still got something else to do so stand up with me.” Stiles didn’t protest and followed her lead as she pulled him up. She suddenly took the knife away but the arm returned in an instant and covered his mouth with a wet cloth. Shit, it’s freaking chloroform! Thankfully, being the son of the sheriff also brought lessons on how to react when a soaked rag is rammed into your face. Stiles pretended to struggle for a moment, making sure to give the impression that his chest was heaving when in actuality it was burning like hell from holding his breath. He slowly began to relax his muscles and lessen his spasms, lazily closing his eyes before going limp in Allison’s arms. She continued to hold the rag at Stiles’s face and he knew he couldn’t pull off the facade much longer. Then, right at the moment Stiles was going to freak out and start flailing his arms like crazy she removed the rag and gently laid him on ground. Stiles heard her walk away to where she dropped the cannon and took a humongous breath of air. The faint smell of the drug lingering on his skin was still enough to make his head spin. He heard the cannon fire followed by Lydia screaming in pain then silence. Derek’s voice filled the silence “That was more difficult and time consuming than expected...” “Are we still going to take them to the warehouse or do we have time?” “Of course we have time, they’ll just have to make up for the time lost by escaping faster.” Allison sounded hesitant, “Derek, I know you think they’ll do fine but isn’t what we’re throwing them into kind of... dangerous for beginners?” He let out a muffled sigh, “It is dangerous but we don’t have time for anyth-” At that he cut off and Stiles could literally feel the eyes glaring into his side, “Damn it Allison, he’s still conscious!” Stiles bolted up and made a dead sprint for Lydia’s weapon but only made it halfway before Derek tackled him to the ground. “I have no clue how he isn’t out Derek, I swear I held the rag over his face for two full minutes!” Derek pulled Stiles up off the ground and actually had a rare smile on his face, “To be honest I’m not surprised that you could hold your breath that long, but what I saw of the little show you put on was actually convincing. Almost makes me not worry about what you’re about to go through.” Stiles was so caught off guard by Derek’s compliment- which was not giving him butterflies in his stomach, nope- that he didn’t even realize he was being thrown into the back of Derek’s camaro until the blindfold was placed in front of his eyes. Stiles felt Lydia’s limp body lean against him. Yup, he and Lydia were absolutely, positively, irrevocably screwed. Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!