rogue wolf [teen wolf]

Chapter 26 - Valack

"It was more than that, I mean, she nearly took off his head." Scott persists.

"Maybe she had no choice." Stiles looks at Scott with subtle desperation, "There's got to be a point where self-defence is justified. Tracy killed her own father, and Lucas would've killed you."

"They're not the bad guys, they're the victims," Scott claims, "we shouldn't be killing the people we're trying to save."

Stiles looks down in defeat, and at the same time, the gate buzzes and clicks open.

We silently shrug and walk through the gate and up the steps, and the gate clangs closed behind us.  We walk through the eery grounds, until we reach the door,  Lydia pushes it open and we walk in, up to the front desk.

The man behind the desk places a plastic box in front of us and demands, "place empty your pockets into the container."

"We're here to see..." Stiles starts to say before being cut off.

"Please place your belongings into the container." He repeats.

We let out a sigh and an array of phones, keys, Lydia's handbag, a wallet and a weird ring with a stick attached to it, which looks like it's meant to be used for holding scaffolds together, are dumped in the box.

The man scans the five of us before looking at Kira and saying, "please remove your belt and place it into the container."

"I kind of need the belt." She quickly says, "I mean, it's crucial to the outfit." I mentally face palm.

"Please remove your belt, which patients will attempt to take from you and use to strangle either themselves or others." He repeats with a straight face.

"Right. Got it." Kira gives in with wide eyes.

The man stares creepily at Lydia, making her visibly uncomfortable, leaving us in a short moment of silence, before a door to the side creaks open.  We turn to see an older man in a light brown shirt with an ID clipped onto it and brown tie around his neck.

He gestures for us to follow him, whilst the creepy man behind the desk walks back into the room behind the desk.

"I'll remind you that I'm only doing this as a favour to Deaton." He tells us as he leads us down some stairs, "and I'm doing it against my better judgment."

"Hey, what's the etiquette for talking to this guy?" Stiles asks, "I mean, do you ever look at the other eye?"

"I wouldn't." The man says, "in fact, while you're down here, try not to make eye contact with anyone or anything."

I raise my eyebrows, turning to Lydia, who is doing the same.  We reach the bottom of the steps and arrive at hallway.  About halfway through, Scott, Kira and I get stopped by what must be mountain ash.

Lydia, Stiles and the man turn back to us, "you didn't think you were all going, did you?"

"It's Mountain Ash, isn't it?" I check.

"Everywhere, but heavily concentrated down here." He replies, swiping his card through the machine next to the gate, "Valack's cell is the last one at the end of the hall."

Lydia looks back at us with worry and slight fear on her face.

"We'll be right here." Scott reassured her.

She nods before the pair walk down the hallway, having the gate closed behind them.

"Fat lot of good us 'being right here' does." I chuckle dryly.

"Well it worked." Scott remarks, "sort of."

"Sure Scotty," I laugh, before going quiet to try and listen for Lydia and Stiles, "I can't hear anything."