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𝐁 𝐀 𝐂 𝐊 𝐓 𝐎 𝐏 𝐋 𝐀 𝐍 𝐀
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The fourth floor was destroyed. Scott, Stiles, Dax, and Noah exchanged glances as they walked onto the floor. There were small fires everywhere. The walls and floor were black from burns. And there was paper everywhere.
"Eatenus exstinxisti," Dax muttered and all of the tiny fires surrounding them went out. Noah looked to Dax startled before continuing down the hall. They all jumped back in time for what looked like a ball of pure fire to get thrown down the hallway. Once the fire landed and went out, they could see that it was Parrish and that he was wounded.
Noah carefully walked over to Parrish, "Parrish, you okay?" Parrish had a dazed look as he stared past Noah, "Deputy!" Noah yelled, snapping Parrish out of it. He looked around startled.
Dax and Scott began following the bloody pawprints that lead down the hall. The giant claw-like paws turned into bloodied shoe prints once they got further down the hall.
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"What I am about to show you, isn't supposed to exist," Deaton said as he looked between Scott, Stiles, and Dax.
"Maybe it'll want to be my friend then," Dax shrugged, "Nevermind," Dax said disgustedly as Deaton began laying out pictures. Everything in the pictures was supernatural and dead or almost there.
"This is the only surviving evidence of Dr. Valack's time as Chief Medical Officer of Eichen House," Deaton said as he laid the pictures out on the table, "To call it human experimentation would be... charitable," Deaton explained. Scott picked up a photo of a girl covering her ears, "A banshee... She died screaming."
"So did he have a thing for drills and skulls?" Dax asked as he looked at the pictures concerned.
"He means did he drill into all of their heads," Stiles clarified with an eye roll.
"That was the experimentation part," Deaton nodded, "He did it to werewolves, banshees, wendigos, any creature he could get his hands on."
"What about vampires, witches, or cursed werewolves?" Dax asked.
"None of those creatures have been in Beacon Hills... since the 1800s, I'd say," Dax nodded slightly relieved, "Valack found that trephination would initially heighten their powers, but to levels that couldn't be contained."
"So he wants to make Lydia more powerful?" Scott asked.
"Yeah except she's gonna end up like them," Stiles said as he placed a hand next to the photos.
"Worse, actually," Deaton clarified, "Lydia's abilities were pretty exceptional, to begin with... Putting a hole in her head will be like causing a leak in a nuclear reactor. She'll hear everything. Every death, every dying scream, all at once."
"That's gonna kill her," Scott said as his eyes widened slightly.
"Not only that... her own dying scream could be so powerful that it might kill everyone around her as well," Deaton explained.
"Fan-freaking-tastic," Dax sighed as he looked at the pictures on the table.
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"There is four steps," Stiles said. Malia, Scott, Kira, Liam, Dax, and Brett were stood around Scott's kitchen table, "We get in Eichen. We get into the closed unit. We get out."
"And we have to do all of this while getting past orderlies, guards, electronic door locks, and a mountain ash barrier."
"You have a plan for all that?" Malia asked.
Stiles held up a key card, "Stole this last night off of an orderly, but it's useless because they reset the codes each night."
"So why'd you take it?" Kira asked.
"Getting to that," Stiles said as he pressed his lips together.
"The only way to get Lydia out of Eichen is to make that keycard work again," Scott pointed to the keycard Stiles was holding.
"How are you gonna do that?" Liam asked.
"We're getting to that, okay? Just listen," Stiles said as he flipped his computer around to show Malia, Liam, Kira, Brett, and Dax, "I pulled all the history off the keycard. Two weeks ago there was a brownout and the security system rebooted. During a reboot, all of the keycards revert back to a default coding. So if we trigger a reboot.."
"The card foes back to the default code," Dax nodded.
"And it works again," Brett nodded.
"How are we going to cause a brownout?" Kira asked.
"That's your part," Scott said, "You're going to draw power from the mainline, but only enough to cause the brownout."
"Not a blackout," Stiles emphasized, "You do that, you send Eichen into lockdown and that would be bad. Very, very bad."
"There's an electrical room behind the reception counter," Scott said as he pointed to it on the map with his blue marker, "The main power line goes into two breakers that run power to all of Eichen."
"Okay, slight problem. I don't know how to do that," Kira said with slightly wide eyes,
"That's okay," Scott said as he looked back to Stiles, "You have time to practice."
"This is going to go so smoothly," Brett muttered.
"Let's say all this goes perfectly," Malia nodded, "How does a brownout get us into the closed unit of Eichen?"
"The system takes five minutes to reboot. In that five minutes, all the alarms will be turned off. The keycard should work," Stiles explained.
"Liam, Dax, and I will get Stiles to the gate of the closed unit, but after that, Stiles and Dax have to go on their own. We can't get past the mountain ash barrier, and when we're gone all anyone is going to think is that it was a reboot of the security system caused by a brownout."
"We're screwed," Brett nodded as he muttered quietly.
"Any questions from anyone other than grumpypants over there?" Stiles asked as he glared at Brett.
"How do we get into Eichen House in the first place?" Liam asked.
"What is our worst-case scenario?" Malia asked.
"What if I can't do it?" Kira asked.
"You guys know I have to strip in front of you to get through the Mountain Ash, right?" Dax asked.
"Is there a better plan?" Brett asked.
"Okay, admittedly, a lot could go wrong," Stiles admitted.
"Everything could go wrong," Liam cringed slightly.
"Guys, if we don't do this, we lose Lydia. She's gonna die in there tonight, and she' might take a lot of innocent people with her," Scott reminded them.
"Can you control your shift?" Brett asked as he turned to Dax.
"Mostly," Dax shrugged slightly, "Wait a minute what the hell am I thinking," Dax scoffed.
"That you're going to help us and our insane plan?" Stiles raised his eyebrows and pressed his lips into a thin line.
"I have a better plan."
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"Hi, Ms. Martin," Dax smiled as he and Brett walked into her office, "Can I talk to you for a moment?"
"I'm really busy at the moment, Dax," She sighed.
"It'll only take a moment," Dax said, "You're daughter is in danger. You need to get her out of Eichen House."
"Why are you telling me what's best for my daughter?" She crossed her arms angrily.
"Oh, shit," Dax commented.
"Sorry," Brett apologized as he grabbed Dax's shoulders and pulled Dax into his chest, "He, uh, he drank a little too much," Brett nodded. Dax stumbled slightly to try and sell Brett's lie.
"It's not even noon," She said as she gave him a look of confusion.
"What can I say he has trauma?" Brett laughed as he backed out of her office, "We have to go."
Brett and Dax walked out of her office quickly, "Looks like we're back to Stiles' plan."
"What just happened?"
"She must have access to vervain somewhere which means she definitely knows what's going on."
"I still don't like that you're stripping in front of them," Brett complained.
"My poor baby," Dax cooed as he patted Brett's cheek.
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Brett, Kira, and Malia were standing behind a beam hiding. A patient walked out fully naked into the lobby, "Not again, Nelson!" Schrader yelled as he ran out of the reception office and into the lobby. He ran right past Malia, Kira, and Brett. The three of them slipped into the reception area and ran for the electrical room.
"It's natural," Nelson giggled.
"So is 50,000 volts!" Schrader grunted. Nelson yelled out in pain.
"How the hell is this place still in business?" Brett muttered quietly as they made their way to the electrical room.
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Dax unzipped the body bag. He shot up as he gasped for air. Liam shot up a few moments after him. Stiles began flailing around like a fish out of water and knocked the actual decomposing body onto the floor.
"Never again," Stiles said. Scott nodded.
"If you guys ever put me that close to a body that smells that bad again, I will end you," Dax threatened, "His blood smelled worse than a sewage plant."
"No one asked you to smell it," Stiles said.
"No one asked for your buzzed hair, but I still saw pictures," Dax responded. Stiles glared at him.
Scott pulled out his phone and checked the timer, "Fifteen minutes starting now."
Dax slid out of the body bag while Stiles flailed. He sat up and went to rip the zipper open, but instead, he threw himself on the floor.
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"We're in," Kira smiled as Brett shut the door, "We did it."
"We haven't done anything yet," Brett said as he pulled open the electrical box.
"Getting out is the hard part.," Malia added.
"Twelve minutes," Brett said as he put his phone into his pocket.
"Okay, Kira, you can do this," Malia assured her.
"Eleven minutes," Brett said as he glanced back down at his phone.
"The practicing you guys did at school went well, right?" Brett asked.
"Totally," Kira lied through her teeth as her voice raised several octaves. She pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and looked at it.
"It was a disaster," Malia answered honestly.
"Wonderful."
"I think it's these, but they're covered in rubber," Kira said as she looked at the electrical box. Brett began to look around the room as Malia did. Malia grabbed some scissors. She was about to cut into the wires when Kira stopped her.
"You wanna electrocute yourself?" Kira asked.
"I'll heal," Malia shrugged.
"Not if die," Kira said. Malia pulled out her claws and stuck them into the electrical box before any protests could be made. She pulled her hands away. They were smoking.
"I didn't die," Malia shrugged slightly.
Brett pulled out his phone, "Four minutes."
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Dax, Stiles, Scott, and Liam ducked behind the corner the minute they saw two nurses. Dax looked to Stiles expectantly since it was his plan. They were ten minutes in and it was already beginning to fall apart.
"What are they doing there?" Scott asked quietly.
"I don't know. Their round should have needed five minutes ago," Stiles mumbled before poking his head around the corner to get a better look at them.
"I can take 'em," Liam nodded as he looked at the two men.
"We can all take them, but do you see us doing that?" Dax asked as he looked at Liam.
Scott and Stiles' eyes snapped to Liam and Dax, "No one's taking anyone," Scott said firmly.
"See?" Dax smiled brightly at Liam. Liam glared at him.
"How much time?" Stiles asked bringing Dax's attention back to what they were supposed to be doing.
Scott pulled out his phone. He sighed as he looked down at it, "Three minutes."
"I'll knock them out and hide the bodies," Liam shrugged.
"He kinda has a point," Dax shrugged.
"Oh my God, please stop," Stiles whispered as he looked between the two of them.
Their attention was snapped to a patient when he hit the glass. All four boys jumped, "Did you take the doctor?" He asked as he looked at them.
"What?" Liam asked.
"Don't antagonize him!" Dax whispered as he hit Liam's back.
"Did you take the doctor?" The patient repeated. He seemed very concerned, "I haven't had my medication. I need 10 milligrams I need ten milligrams at 8 AM, fifteen milligrams at 1 PM, and no more than twenty at dinner."
"We'll get the doctor," Scott assured him.
Before the patient could get too upset and do anything rash, Dax muttered a spell, "Silentium," The patient beat on the glass-like wall of the cell, but no sound emitted.
"What'd you do?" Liam asked.
"He's fine," Dax whispered defensively as he pointed to the patient.
Dax peeked down the hall and the orderlies ducked into a room. Dax, Scott, Stiles, and Liam made their way down the hallway, past the kid who couldn't make a sound.
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"I can smell how nervous you are," Malia said as she and Brett looked at Kira. Kira was staring at the electrical box and toying with her hands.
"Not helping," Kira sighed.
"Okay," Brett sighed as he stepped closer to Kira, "You can do this."
"It's just like we practiced," Malia nodded as she gestured to Brett.
"You mean like when I caused a major blackout?" Kira asked as she looked at Malia. Brett gave Malia an alarmed look but smiled when Kira turned to look at him.
"Not like that. No," Malia said.
Brett pulled out his phone, "Ten seconds."
Kira took a breath as Malia began to count down, "Nine... Eight..."
"Please, stop counting," Kira said quickly.
"Yeah, you're beginning to make me nervous," Brett said as he put his phone into his pocket. Kira took one more deep breath before grabbing the two large wires. Brett and Malia looked around confused. Nothing seemed to happen.
"Why isn't it working?" Malia asked.
"Because I have no idea what I'm doing," Kira answered honestly. Brett nodded with a look of concern as he looked to Malia. He had no idea what to do. He didn't know Kira, and he sure didn't know a thing about Kitsunes.
"Kira, nothing is happening," Malia said as she looked around.
"I am aware of that. I don't want to lose control because I'm scared I might fry the entire system," Kira responded. Her hands were placed firmly on the wires, but nothing was happening.
"If you constantly worry about losing control, you will," Brett spoke up, "Remember who we're here to save. Take a deep breath, and don't worry about it. Repeat a mantra or think of something or someone to keep your focus."
Kira nodded. She took a deep breath before grabbing onto the wires, Her eyes lit up bright orange as electricity crackled through the electrical box, "Kira, it's working," Malia smiled.
"Keep going," Brett said as the lights started to go out. Brett looked over to the computer to see that it said 'reboot initiated'.
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"She did it! Kira did it!" Liam patted Scott on the back as they walked up to the gate.
"Five minutes to get to Lydia," Scott said.
"Turn around time," Dax said as he pulled off his shirt.
Liam sighed as he, Scott, and Stiles turned around, "I literally almost clawed your dick off."
"I made a promise," Dax shrugged before hit bones began breaking. He let out a muffled cry as he crumpled to the floor.
Stiles turned around to see a black wolf with bright yellow eyes, "Holy hell," He said as he jumped back.
"I told you he transformed," Scott shrugged.
"Yeah, but not like that," Stiles snapped himself out of it. He picked up Dax's clothes from the ground and went to scan the keycard, "Where's the card reader?" Stiles asked as he held u[ the keycard. The three human boys looked around but saw nothing, "It should be here. It has to be here."
"They must have taken it out when the dread doctors got through," Scott said as he looked at the door.
"Are you telling me we came all the way down here just to-" Stiles was cut off by Dax pushing his way in front of Scott and Liam. He jumped up onto the door causing it to fall to the ground sending out a large bang. Dax walked through, "That works too," Stiles nodded as he stepped over the door on the ground. Dax shifted back into his human form, "Give us a warning next time!" Stiles sighed as he threw Dax's clothes at him.
"What do you want me to do? Bark?" Dax asked as he put his clothes on, "Time to go," Dax said as the two boys jogged to the next door. Thankfully, this one had a card reader. Stiles swiped the card. They made it to her room to see Lydia on the bed with a bloody drill on a tray next to it. Her pillow had light red stains on it.
"Stiles?" She asked. She was pale and sweaty. Stiles kneeled next to her bed and tried to get a look at the hole in her head, "You can't be here," Her voice was hoarse, "You're going to die if you stay."
"Death doesn't suit me," Dax shrugged.
"Give her your blood!" Stiles said as he stood up.
"I would. I really would... but look at her. She's a banshee with a hole in her head. Something I know nothing about. She could have a bad reaction and it could speed up the ticking timebomb that is her for all we know," Dax explained as he carefully picked her up bridal style.
"All of you will die," Lydia rasped.
"Good thing we plan on leaving," Dax said as he pulled out his claws and broke the restraints that held her to the bed
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Malia and Kira were next to each other. They were peeking out into the lobby. Brett, on the other hand, was using his height. He was stood behind the two girls watching as two security guards walked in.
"Those guards shouldn't be there," Malia whispered.
"We can get past them," Kira nodded to herself.
"We could," Brett responded, "but we don't want to set off any alarms until Lydia is out."
"Perimeter security check-in please," The man over the walky-talky said. Malia and Brett shared a nervous look, "Perimeter, do you copy?"
Malia slowly shut the door. The three of them listened from the inside as they heard a group of people walk in from the front.
"Visiting hours are well past over," Schrader droned out.
"We're not here to visit," Tracy responded.
"We're here for Lydia Martin," Theo said. They heard the sound of glass shattering and a crash. They waited until the chimeras left to leave the electrical room. Malia leaned down next to Schrader and landed a slap to his face.
"It's started," Kira said as she looked at her hands. Electricity began to crackle.
"We need to get you out of here," Malia said as she ran for a door.
"What about the others?" Kira asked.
"You guys go out the front and get away from whatever is making her... do that," Brett said as he waved his hand in her general direction, "I'll find everyone else."
"Are you sure?"
"If this place goes into lockdown, there's no way we're getting out. Go," Brett nodded towards the door. Malia looked back at Dax for a moment before she and Kira went out the front entrance.
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