Harlow's outfit
Chapter Seven
💰 Weaponized 💰
"Okay." Harlow said as she walked into her dad's office with a few bags of food, "Remember our deal. I bring you fast food twice a week as long as you dont tell Stiles. He'd probably have an aneurysm if he found out about this." She said, setting down a bag in front of Stilinski before sitting down. She set one bag next to her chair before starting to pull out a couple things from her bag making Stilinski furrow his brows.
"Whose is that?" He asked, using a fry to gesture to the third bag making her hum slightly, "No one." She said and he raised his eyebrows. "Well I know you're not gonna eat too bags of food and I know you wont let me eat it so it has to be for someone." He said making her sigh softly. "It's for... Jordan." She said slowly making him squint at her, "What? I'm just trying to make friends my age. And he's my age." She said.
"Can't you make some female friends your age? You make male friends and year later you start dating them." He said making her raise her eyebrows, "Derek has been my best friend since middle school and we never dated. And I have female friends." She said. "Name one... Whose not a teenager." He said and she smirked, "Breaden. And plus, I'm allowed to date." She said and he shook his head.
"You are not allowed to date." He said making her scoff and laugh, "I'm twenty-four!" She said and he just shrugged. "Exactly. You're too young. And you especially can't date Parrish." He said making her roll her eyes and glance out the window behind her to see Jordan walk over to his desk. "So Stiles could date a werecoyote at seventeen but I can't date a Deputy at twenty-four?" She asked and he nodded, "Stiles isn't my only daughter and Parrish is on the deadpool and we have no idea what he is." He said and she hummed slightly and nodded before resting her elbows on the desk.
"Well, so am I and we have no idea what I am either." She said then glanced down at her hand before holding it out, "And honestly, I'm kinda getting bored of seeing this finger empty so I would like to go back into the dating scene. Even if it's with a Deputy." She said, smiling before grabbing the third bag and walking over to the door. "Harlow!" Stilinski called out as she opened the door, "Love ya!" She called back before walking over to Jordan's desk.
"Special delivery." She said setting the bag on his desk making him look at it before looking at her shocked, "You brought me food?" He asked and she shrugged slightly. "I noticed that most people taking the late shift or the nightshift dont get dinner so I decided to being you some. And if you already ate than you can save it for later or something." She said and he smiled softly.
"Thanks." He said and she smiled and nodded, "Of course." She said before looking at the time to see it nearing on midnight. "Well, I should probably get going, I have to be at the school tomorrow. The PSATs are tomorrow. I plan on going down to the school and work on grading just in case they need any help." She said and he nodded.
"Night Jordan." She said, backing away from his desk, "Good night, Harlow." He said and she smiled before turning around and walking away. He watched her walk off until she walked out the doors before looking down at the bag of food with a small smile.
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"Where's Lydia?" Kira asked as she, Scott, Malia, Stiles stood around at the highschool waiting to go into a class room to take their PSATs. "She took it her freshman year." Stiles said making Malia look over at him, "Does that mean I could have taken it some other time?"
"Malia, you studied harder for this than any of us." Scott said and Malia shook her head and looked at Scott like he was crazy, "Doesn't mean I'm gonna do good." Malia said. "Well." Stiles corrected making Malia look at him confused, "Well, what?"
"It's "do well," not "do good.""
"Oh, God!"
"We're doing this, because while we're trying not to die, we still need to live. If I survive high school, I'd like to go to college. A good college..." Scott said and Kira nodded. "It's only three hours. We can survive three hours." Kira said making Stiles groan and squint at her.
"Cell phone in the envelope, Scott" Natalie said, holding up an envelope after Scott did his thumb print and grabbed a couple pencils and his test, "You'll get it back after the test." Natalie said with a smile and Scott took a deep breath before pulling out his phone and dropping it into the envelope.
"Please do not open the test booklet until you are instructed to do so. This test is two hours and ten minutes. There will be two twenty-five-minute critical reading sections, two twenty-five minute math sections, and an essay writing portion that will last thirty minutes. There are supposed to be two teachers monitoring this exam..." Simon, the guy who ran the PSATs said, looking over at Natalie. "I know. It's Coach. He's not exactly punctual. Um, let me just try him again." Natalie said and walked out of the room.
A few seconds after finding Coach passed asleep on his desk Natalie walked back down the hall before noticed a wide open classroom door. She glanced in and noticed Harlow sitting at her desk reading a paper over and marking a few things making Natalie sigh in relief. At the sound of heels clicking on the ground, Harlow look up to see Natalie quickly walking it.
"Are you busy?" Natalie asked and Harlow sat back slightly and shook her head, "Not really, why?" She asked and Natalie sighed softly. "I need you to come help monitor the PSATs. Coach was supposed to but he's..." Natalie tailed off and Harlow nodded lightly. "Coach?" She finished for her and Natalie nodded making Harlow put the papers into a folder before standing up.
"Luckly that's the main reason I'm here, in case something went wrong." She said making Natalie sigh in relief, "Thank you." She said and they both started walking to the test room. "I couldn't find him... But I found Miss. Stilinski, is that alright?" Natalie asked
as she and Harlow walked I to the room and Simon nodded, "That's perfectly fine." He said making Harlow look at him warily as he seemed almost relieved to see Harlow. He pressed a button on his watch before turning to the students, "You may now open your test booklets and begin."
Everyone was in the middle if working on their test when all of the sudden, a girl named Sydney suddenly fell to the ground making everyone stop and loom at her. "Sydney!" Natalie said running over to her, Harlow following her, "Are you alright?" Natalie asked as they helped Sydney up. "I'm okay... I just got kind of dizzy..." Sydney said, chuckling awkwardly.
"Sydney, how long have you had this?" Natalie asked, looking down at a red mark in Sydney's arm, "I don't know." Sydney said confused. "Ms. Martin, do I need to stop the test?" Simon asked and Natalie shook her head, ".. Um, it's fine. Everybody stay in your seats. I'll, um, be back in a minute. Nobody leaves the room." Natalie said before walking out of the class room.
"Get back! No! Do not come in here! Get back outside!" They heard Natalie start to yell out in the hall making everyone ran out the class room to see her locking the double doors. "Back to your seats! Now. Please." She said and Harlow turned back to the students. "You heard her. Go back to your seats." Harlow said and the students walked back inside, Scott closing the door behind him as Harlow walked over to Natalie.
"What is it?" She asked and Natalie sighed softly, "I need you to get the number for the CDC." Natalie said making Harlow's eyes widen. "CDC? As in the Center for Disease Control? I-I know the number but you really think it's that serious?" She asked and Natalie nodded, "I hope not but it's better to be safe than sorry." She said and Harlow nodded before pulling out her phone.
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"Bet they're thinking smallpox." Stiles said to Harlow, Malia and Kira, "Not likely." Simon said making them look over at him, "Smallpox was eradicated worldwide in 1979. We've only managed to completely eradicate two viruses in history. The other was rinderpest- it killed cows." He said.
"So, we should be comforted by that, right?" Stiles asked as Harlow crossed her arms over her chest, "Unless it's something worse..." He said and Harlow gave him a weird look. Something about him gave her an off feeling.
"Whatever it is, they're taking it pretty seriously. There are a lot of cars and trucks out there." Malia said and Harlow sighed and nodded, "CDC takes anything seriously. It's better to take an unknown disease seriously even if it turns out to be something as small as common cold instead of down playing it and it ending up being something pretty deadly." She said.
"Your guys dad's with them." Malia said and Stiles nodded and stood up, "We should probably call him." He said before walking over to where all the phones were. "Don't bother- they would have shut off any access to all outside communication by now. No cell service, no WiFi, no one starting a panic. Looks like we're all just going to have to wait here and see what happens." Simon said making Harlow squinted at him.
"You're really horrible at trying to keep people from panicking. You know that?"
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"Harlow!" Natalie called out making Harlow turn around to see her walking over, "Scott's been in the locker room for a while and I'm worried something might be wrong but I feel like it would be better if you go in there since you've known him most his life." She said and Harlow sucked in a deep breath before nodding. "Yeah, yeah. I'll go check on him." She said before quickly running off to the rocker room.
"Scott?" Harlow asked, lightly knocking on the door, "Harlow..." Scott said making her quickly pull her keys out and unlock the door before walking in. She walked around the rows of lockers to see Scott standing at the sinks with his fangs and red eyes out making her eyes widen. "Are you losing control?" She asked, quickly walking over to him and he shook his head, "No, no, I just can't get then to stop." He said and she sighed and nodded.
"Okay, what ever is happening is different for you, which means its probably happening to Malia and Kira." She said before gently grabbing Scott's arms and leading him over to a bench. "Focus on your breathing and trying to go back to normal. I'm gonna go get everyone else." She said and he nodded slightly before she quickly ran out.
A few minutes later they all stood around in the locker room as they watched Scott's eyes flicker from red to his normal brown. "Still happening." Mr. Yukimura said and Malia sighed and held up her clawed hands, "I can't make them go back." She said and Mr. Yukimura sighed. "Obviously, the virus is affecting the two of you in a way it won't hit any human being." He said.
"Obviously you guys have to stay out of sight." Harlow said and Stiles nodded, "We have to quarantine you from the quarantine." He said and she nodded in agreement. "Yeah, but where? I mean, what if they get violent, like on a full moon?" Kira asked and Scott sighed, "We shouldn't stay in here. Not in the locker room." Scott said.
"A classroom is not going to hold us..."
"What about the basement?"
"Too many ways out. We need something secure- somewhere nobody can find us." Scott said and realization crossed over Harlow's features, "The vault." She said making them all look at her, "The Hale family vault. They always have an escape route, like their house. There's another way in, I've seen it before." She said and they all nodded before moving to Coach's office.
Stiles handed Harlow a blueprint of the school and she rolled it out onto of the desk. "Okay, school sign is right here so the second entrance to the vault is around here in the basement." Harlow said, looking up at them, "Around the west corridor." She said.
All of the sudden Stiles started fall making her and Malia quickly grab in to him to steady him. "It's happening to you, too. You're getting sick- you all are." Mr. Yukimura said and Harlow and Kira glanced at each other. "I don't feel sick." Kira said and Harlow nodded, "Neither do I. Not that we even know what I am..."
"Well we know that you're not a shapeshifter or kitsune so for all we know this virus might not affect you at all." Mr. Yukimura said, looking at Harlow before turning to his daughter. "But I think it's affecting you differently. Neurologically. I found your test answers here in a pile with the others." He said, pulling the sheet out to see that instead of filling out the bubbles, Kira had scribbled a circle next to them.
"We should probably get to the vault, now." Harlow said and they all nodded before running out and down the stairs to the basement. "Over here!" Harlow yelled, leading them over to a shelf. Scott helped her pull it away from the wall to reveal a triskelion carved into the wall. "Look at the cracks in the wall. It's like the entrance outside. It only opens with claws- anyone's claws, right?" Stiles asked and Scott looked over at Malia. "Malia, can you try?" He asked making Malia look at him confused, "Why me?"
"I don't have control." Scott said, holding up his and Malia thought for a second before nodding, "Okay. I'll do it... But, first, tell me what you've been hiding from me." Malia said making them all glance at each other.
"I know you think you're trying to protect me, but I can handle it." She said and they didnt say anything right away, "I know I'm on the list!" Malia said making them slightly let out a breath of relief that apparently. "Yes..." Stiles said slowly making Malia nod, "So, how much?" She asked making Harlow raise her eyebrows. "How much what?" Harlow asked, "How much am I worth?"
"Four million..." Scott said making Malia look over at him before looking down, "Are you okay?" Stiles asked and she looked up and nodded. "Yeah. Scott's worth twenty-five-, Harlow, twenty-three, Kira, six. They'll take you guys out way before me." Malia said before walking over to the vault door.
"That's progress. That's progress." Stiles muttered right as Malia went to stick her claws in the markings. Malia was able to turn the lock making the vault door open.
After a few minutes, Harlow was walking around looking at all the stuff on the shelves while Kira paced back and forth, Scott sat on a metal box and Malia lied in Stiles lap. "You know, this is where it all started. That's where the money was. One hundred and seventeen million in bearer bonds." Stiles said, looking over at the safe that Scott sat by.
"How do you even change bearer bonds into cash?" Kira asked and Harlow walked around a shelf, "Bank." She said, leaning against the shelf as they looked over at her, "Apparently they had just let it sit here the whole time, collecting dust. I always knew they had money but I didn't know they had millions." She said and Stiles nodded slightly.
"You know bearer bonds are basically extinct?" Stiles asked making them look at him, "Why does it matter?" Kira asked and Stiles sighed. "You know how
many problems that money could solve?" Stiles asked making Kira raise her eyebrows slightly, "For you?" Kira asked. "Me, my dad... The Eichen House and MRI bills are killing him. Even if Harlow helps pay bills." Stiles said glancing over at his sister who set him a small sad smile.
"My mom does this thing... she writes down all the items in our budget, and how much they cost, and then she adds them all up and figures out how long we have until... we lose the house." Scott explained.
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"Anything?" Stiles asked as he, Harlow and Scott stood by the vault door, "They're looking for us. Someone's going to have to go out there." Scott said and Harlow nodded. "I'll go out there." She said before noticing Stiles looking at Malia, "You guys gotta to tell her the truth about Peter. She's going to see the rest of the Deadpool eventually." Harlow said and Stiles sighed.
"Try to remember that Peter is the one name missing on that list- which either makes him incredibly lucky, or the Benefactor. She finds out about him, she's going to go to him. You know she is. And then he's going to twist his way into her head, like he does with everyone- including us. We let him walk around like nothing ever happened, like he's one of the good guys..." Stiles said making them sigh softly.
"Guys, he's not one of the good guys. If she finds out about him, she's gone. That's probably what he's waiting for! And if he wins, we lose." Stiles said and Scott sighed and shook his head, "We're already losing." He said and Harlow sighed softly.
"I can't make you guys do anything so it's up to you but I have get out there and I think it would be best if you came with me." Harlow said and Stiles nodded, "Yeah, I'll come with you but I'm gonna talk to Malia real quick." He said and she nodded before he walked over to were Malia laid.
"Malia, I gotta leave for a few, okay?" Stiles asked and Malia sat up slightly, "Where are you going?" Malia asked and he sighed. "Whatever's happening...? It's worse for you guys. That means it's not just people getting sick- it's another assassin."
"Here." Stiles said before wrapping his jacket around Malia's shoulders. "You're coming back right?" Malia asked and Stiles nodded, "Yeah. Yeah, I'd never leave you behind." He said making her smile. Harlow smiled softly as Stiles kissed Malia on the forehead before Stiles stood up and started walking to Harlow. "Ready?" She asked and he nodded before they walked out, the door closing behind him.
They ran back up stairs and into the room where everyone was getting quarantined in making Natalie look over. "Stiles, you're not looking so good. Maybe you ought to lie down." Natalie said as they walked up to her, "It's okay. Have you seen Mr. Yukimura?" He asked and Natalie nodded. "Yeah, he's fine. He's helping the other students." She said and Stiles nodded and went to walk away but Harlow didn't move as something caught her eye.
"Is Coach the only adult who got sick today?" She asked, looking at Natalie, "As far as I know." She answered and Stiles and Harlow glanced at each other. "Why is he...?" Stiles muttered and Natalie grabbed his arm, "Stiles? I think you should lie down." She said and he shook his head. "Yeah, no, it's okay. We'll be back. We'll be right back-" He said before him and Harlow ran out the room.
They ran into Coach's office and instantly started digging around everything. The moved to the desk as Stiles started looking through papers that Coach was stamping to see the red ink had started fading before becoming black. "Stiles." Harlow said as she grabbed Coach's mug to show a bunch if black smudges, "It's the ink." She said in a slight whisper.
"I was wondering how that idiot got sick." Someone said making them jump and turn around to see Simon standing in the door way holding a gun, "I'm also wondering where your friends are. Since, it order to get paid by the Benefactor, I need to have proof that they're dead." He said as he messed with the gun.
"Visual confirmation..." Stiles said his sister subconsciously pulled him behind her, "Exactly." Simon said before pointing the gun at them.
"Still a bit feverish, Mr. Stilinski?" Simon asked as he made Harlow and Stiles walk into the locker room. "But, you should know something. The virus doesn't kill humans. You'll get better. So, don't you think you should tell me where they are? Shouldn't one of you get to live? Although, I am quite disappointed you never touched the ink, Miss Stilinski" He said turning to her, "I do wish the list told us what you are. I'm quite curious."
Harlow just gave him a fake smile and chuckled, "Then that makes two of us." She said and he chuckled. "What you just tell me where the rest of your friends are?" He said and Stiles sighed, "I think I saw them in the library.... Or, it might have been the cafeteria. It was definitely one of those two." He said sarcastically.
"I'm going to count to three, and then I'm going to kill your sister." Simon said, holding the gun in front of Harlow forehead making Stiles turn around while Harlow just raised her eyebrows, almost daring him. "You think holding a gun to my head is gonna scare me? After everything I've your mediocre at best." She said.
"No... I think I can kill you. I just thought the countdown would make it more exciting. So, One. Two-" He said and Stiles went to move in front of her but she wouldn't let him until all of the sudden a gun shot when off making them jump. Blood splattered across the both of them making them look over to see Simon falling to the ground and Rafael standing there in a hazmat suit.
"Where the hell did you come from?" Stiles asked as they looked over at him, "Guys, listen. I got a call from Melissa. I don't know what it means. She said there's an antidote? Reishi mushrooms..." He said making Harlow eyes widen. "Did you just say Reishi mushrooms?" She asked and he nodded.
"Come on!" She said, grabbing Stiles arm and pulling him out of the locker room. "What is it?" He asked as they ran down the stairs to the basement, "Purple reishi mushrooms! There's a jar of it in the vault. It's a remedy and cure for sickness, Talia used to make tea out of it and when ever I came over she'd make me a glass of it. That's why I haven't been sick in years." She explained and they ran up to the wall.
"Hey, Scott? Scotty? In the vault, in there with you- it's called reishi mushrooms. Scott? Scott, open the door! It's in there with you! It's in a jar, it's on one of the shelves. Scott! Scott, can you hear me?" Stiles yelled as they bangs on the door. The only answer they received was silence making tears start to cloud Harlow's eyes as she wiped a bit if the blood off her face.
All of the sudden the door opened making the siblings sigh in relief as they saw Scott standing there. "Hey, you alright?" He asked but she didn't say anything, "Malia?" He asked again, grabbing her shoulder but she grabbed his arm, before looking at him with glossy eyes. She removed his hand then stood up, dropping a piece of paper as she walked out.
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Harlow sighed softly as she and Stiles walked outside and almost instantly their dad ran up to them. "We're okay!" Harlow said before her dad could say anything, knowing he would start freaking out, "It's not our blood." She said as he inspected her face before looking at Stiles's face worriedly. "What happened?" He asked and Harlow sighed softly, resting her hand on Stiles shoulder.
"The guy who ran the PSATs was actually an assassin who created this whole virus thing." Stiles said and Harlow nodded, "He pointed a gun at us and before he could shot, McCall put a bullet through his head first. That's why we have blood all over us. We're okay." Harlow said, glancing over at Stiles to noticed his slightly sunken expression. "Well- physically." She said and Stilinski was about to say something but someone called his name making him sigh.
"Okay, go home, get cleaned up and preferably get some rest." He said and they nodded before he walked away, "Come on." Harlow said as she wrapped her arm around Stiles shoulders before walking over to the car. "Harlow!" Someone called out making them glance back to see Jordan walking over to them. "Here." Harlow said, handing Stiles his keys, "I'll be there in a second." She said and he nodded and walked away as Jordan walked up.
"Here." He said holding out a small towel to her making her smile and grab it to wipe the blood off her face. "Thanks." She said as she started to wipe away the blood, "You're okay right? I remembered you said you were gonna be at the school today so when I heard the school went under quarantine, I was worried." He said making her smile softly and raise her eyebrows.
"You were worried about me?" She asked and he chuckled and shrugged slightly, "Of course, I'd like to think we're friends." He said and she smiled and nodded. She was about to say something but the sound of rapid honking made them look over to see Stiles leaning over to press down on the horn of Harlow's car making her hold her finger up.
She went to say something again but Stiles started honking again making her sigh in frustration before flipping him off making him smirk and stop before sitting back in his seat. "I should probably get Stiles and I home. I think both could use a shower." She said and Jordan nodded before noticing a spot of blood that she missed.
He reached up and wiped it away making her look at him, "You missed a spot..." He said and she smiled. They stared at each other for a moment until the sound of honking started again making her sigh frustratingly. "I'm gonna kill him." She mumbled before shooting Stiles a look making him stop, "You should probably get going before he kills your horn." Jordan said and Harlow nodded slightly and smiled at him.
"I'll see you later." She said in a slightly whisper before walking away. When she climbed into her car Stiles gave her a smug look, "So what did you talk about?" He asked and she slowly turned to look at him. "How many detentions can I give someone before it becomes illegal. " She said before starting up the car.