This episode was so stressful
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"We are so screwed. We have, like, less than half an hour before they come in here and kill us all if we don't give them those two," Malia said, clearly still on edge.
I went to stand beside her, hoping to be a somewhat calming presence. I was super nervous, but I was holding myself together in hopes of helping my sister feel less anxious.
"Scott will find a way out of this. He always does. And we're all going to be okay, they're not going to kill anyone."
"You can't guarantee that, Riley."
I went to reply, but the words fell flat on my tongue. She was right, I couldn't. With all our combined abilities, claws and weapons, I couldn't promise that we were all going to make it out alive, and that made me feel weak.
We all sat quietly, waiting to be told what to do next. I was about to go in search when I saw Scott storming across the station.
"Wait here," I told my sister and the rest of the Pack before following my best friend into the Sheriff's office.
"Scott, are you okay?"
"No," he said, shaking his head as he turned to face the Sheriff and me. "They searched the hunters out to kill them. They're murderers."
The Sheriff was quick to close the door and shut the blinds at Scott's words. "It doesn't change anything."
"Well, it does for me. They killed innocent people," Scott said, emphasising with his hands.
"It doesn't matter, Scott," the Sheriff repeated. "Because if you find yourself fighting a war, you're gonna have to kill people. And there's no such thing as guilty or innocent."
My friend looked to me with unsure eyes, to which I nodded. "He's right, Scott. I know you don't want to hear it, but he's right."
"There's only the other side," the Sheriff finished.
"Sometimes wars take prisoners," Scott pointed out.
Scott wanted to put Tierney and Jiang under arrest by our side. While I understood where he was coming from, the Sheriff was right. We couldn't afford to draw the line in who chose to fight with us in a war.
"And others take none," Sheriff Stilinski pointed out.
I reached out and put a hand on his arm, "For the time being, they're on our side, and that what matters here. We're at war, Scott."
Before Scott had the chance to reply to either of us, the sound of breaking glass and screams coming from the next room over. The three of us shared a look before rushing out of the office.
Rushing over, we saw Malia pulling an arrow out of the wall. Glancing across, I saw the panel of glass that the arrow had broken through on its way in.
Malia pulled a piece of paper off the end of the arrow as our Pack began to gather around. Liam snatched it from her hands and as he unfolded it, I realised it wasn't a piece of paper.
It was a piece of stiff fabric crudely cut away from a jersey. It was green and had half of a white number seven in the centre of it that was covered in blood.
"This is Brett's number," Liam told us all, a slight growl in his tone.
Lydia shifted her weight between her feet as she blinked a couple of times. "They're trying to rattle us."
"It's working," Theo responded.
I looked back from the chimera to the beta. His jaw was clenched as his hands lowered, his shoulders heaving heavily as he growled beneath his breath and his eyes glowed gold.
"Hey, you need to pull it together right now," Isaac told the boy. He knew how it was trying to learn how to control his anger as a fresh beta after everything that had happened to him.
Suddenly, a scream came from somewhere nearby. Was this night ever going to end? The Sheriff told us to stay put in case the arrow was a distraction and went with Parrish through the building into the next room.
Liam wasn't calming down as he stared down at the piece of paper. They were trying to rile him up by reminding him of Brett and Lori - it was a cheap shot and it was working.
"Theo, can you take him into the next room or something?" I asked, knowing that I would want the rest of the Pack out here with me if something happened.
Theo surprisingly nodded, grabbing Liam's arm and preparing to leave. Just as they were about to, a gunshot echoed through the building.
"Scott," I called as the True Alpha ran towards the sound. I ran in after him, skidding to a halt when I spotted the body on the ground.
It was the Deputy from earlier - Morrow. Her gun was in her hand and there was blood splattered across the wall behind her. The woman had shot herself.
"Liam," Scott called. The Beta came in almost immediately, waiting to be told what to do by his Alpha. "Get him out of here," he instructed, nodding in the direction of the boy who had broken in earlier.
Liam did so happily, grabbing the boy roughly by the arm and dragging him from the room. Lydia and Isaac had entered the room at that point, the Beta swearing beneath his breath when he saw the woman.
He and Scott carefully lowered her body to the ground to no longer slouch against the wall. They lied her beside the body of another Deputy who had bruising around his neck.
"He hung himself," the Sheriff informed us quietly.
Lydia was staring at the bodies also trancelike as they did so, most likely feeling something because of her Banshee ability. The strawberry blonde moved closer cautiously, crouching beside Morrow.
"That wasn't just panic," she stated, taking deep breaths. "It's in here with us."
"What?" I choked out.
"Whatever's causing the fear. The same thing that drove the wolves to kill each other."
She straightened up, finally turning to face us, fear on her face. "It's in here with us."
Isaac held his phone screen up, showing us the time. "I hate to make a bad situation worse, but it's almost midnight. We're out of time."
I felt my stomach drop. We're were way in over our heads right now. I could feel my heart beating unevenly in my chest as I looked around. I needed to call Stiles - I needed to hear his voice, his laugh at least one more time.
More than anything though, I wanted to feel his arms around me. I wanted to sit on our couch and watch a movie together. Walk down the street on his lunch break. Go to dinner.
I shouldn't have come back.
"Hey, are you okay?" Isaac whispered.
I shook my head, taking heavy breaths. Coming back was the right thing, I knew that. It was my fear trying to get the better of me. Whatever was causing the fear was trying to overpower my mind, just like it had done to Malia.
"I've already got two bodies. I'm not giving Monroe two more," the Sheriff said firmly.
Scott's eyes trailed down to the two bodies, before he mumbled, "I don't think you'll need to."
He then walked back out the door, calling Theo's name. I went to follow, but Isaac grabbed my hand and kept me in the room. "Hey, talk to me."
"I'm fine," I said quickly. "It's just that thing getting to me. I'm fine."
"It's okay to be scared, Ri."
I shook my head as I looked up at him. "No, it's not. I can't afford to be. We can't lose anyone."
"We won't," he assured me, sounding way more certain than I had when I had tried to convince Malia. "We can handle some amateur hunters and an old guy, okay?"
"Okay," I answered as I took a deep breath.
We both left the room side-by-side in search of Scott and the Sheriff. Scott had found Theo and was asking questions about when he had been held captive with Jiang and Tierney.
"I watched two guys bring them in and tie them up," Theo told him as they walked through the station.
"Okay, but how long did they actually have Tierney and Jiang?" Scott asked, stopping at the window to peer out and see what the opposing side was doing.
"A couple of hours, maybe."
"Did Monroe talk to them?"
Theo shook his head, "No. I don't think so. Just that guy from Eichen, maybe one or two other guys with shotguns. I think they were waiting for Monroe to do the real interrogating."
"So she might not have seen them?" Scott clarified.
"What are you getting at, Scott?" the Sheriff asked.
My eyes narrowed as I looked at my friend, the corner of my mouth twitching almost into a smile. "Scottie, have you actually come up with a plan?"
The boy sighed heavily before nodding. "Yeah. But I don't think you're gonna like it."
"So, just like your other plans then."
"If it keeps someone from getting killed, I'm pretty open," the Sheriff told him.
Scott ran his tongue over his lip, before finally telling us the idea. "Monroe said that she wanted Jiang and Tierney brought out. Dead or alive."
We all looked at each other for a moment, before what he was saying began to sink in.
"You want to use the Deputies as decoys?" Isaac thought aloud.
The True Alpha nodded, glancing at the Sheriff to see if he was still open to the idea. In response, the man removed his gun from its holster. "Let's make it look believable, then."
He quickly told us all what to do and we split up. In less than five minutes, we had the two Deputies out in the main room in body bags. While the Pack had been sorting that out, the Sheriff had given his employees a quick rundown of what we were about to do.
When everything was ready, he then pointed his gun at a wall and fired off three shots. Even though we knew what was going to happen, the sound still made me jump considering I had just healed from a gunshot wound.
I felt a phantom stinging in my stomach as the noise rattled my bones. This was going to work. It had to work.
"Five minutes," the Sheriff told us after checking his watch. Five minutes until midnight and the hunters came in with guns blazing.
Isaac and Scott zipped the two body bags closed before carrying them out the front of the station and laying them down carefully for Monroe to see. The Sheriff had gone with them to be the one to talk to Monroe, while the rest of the Pack all stood by the window so that we could monitor the situation.
"Anyone think this is gonna work?" Malia questioned, the creature still making her afraid. When Liam gave her an unimpressed look, Malia pursed her lips.
"I'll stop asking."
"They tried to run. And tried to take a couple of Deputies with them," I heard the Sheriff told the woman as she approached. "Either way. You got what you wanted.
Monroe walked up slowly, a frown on her face. It was hard to tell what she was thinking and whether or not she believed them. "Let me see their faces."
There was a slight moment of hesitation before Isaac and Scott unzipped the top of the body bags. They dragged the corners down enough to see the faces, but not enough so that she would be able to see the deputy uniforms that they were wearing.
This time I could almost tell what she was thinking. She seemed shocked like she didn't think that we would actually fulfil her request. She was hoping we'd deny her so that she could come in and shoot us all where we stood.
"What's wrong? You don't recognise them?" Scott asked when the woman didn't say anything.
Monroe recovered quickly, "Show me their tattoos."
"Fuck," Theo muttered from behind me. Fuck was right. We hadn't even thought of that.
"What tattoos?" Scott questioned, deciding to play dumb, it seems.
Monroe's face turned stony as she looked at him, her eyes narrowed. "The pack symbol."
Isaac and Scott looked at each other slowly and I could the reflection of my eyes glowing in the window. Apparently, we were going to have to fight after all.
Just as I was ready to walk out the doors and help my friends, a car pulled up outside of the station. A man got out, approaching the hunters and the three from our side.
"Good thing you're not the only ones who can negotiate."
"Dad?" Scott said, sounding completely shocked as he stood up. "What are you doing here?"
"Making sure no one else dies tonight."
♧♤♢♡
We all sat waiting for Agent McCall, Sheriff Stilinski and Scott to return from their negotiation. I sat on the Sheriff's desk, bobbing my leg nervously as I stared down at Stiles' name on my phone. I was trying to decide whether to call him or not.
I wasn't as afraid as I had been when we'd found the bodies, but the pain I had felt at missing him was definitely real. It had only been a couple of days, but with everything that had happened, it had felt like so much longer. Plus, usually, when we face something like this, he was right by my side.
Locking my phone, I slid it into my pocket. Calling him and dragging him away from his FBI program would be selfish and I couldn't do that to him.
Almost half of an hour later, they finally entered the office. Scott came over by the desk with the Sheriff while Agent McCall closed the door behind him.
"Scott, are you sure about this?" the Banshee asked.
We had discussed what we had been willing to give before they went to meet Monroe. None of us was overly happy, but it was the only way to guarantee our safety. I called Iris while we had been waiting to keep her updated - as far as we knew, Iris and Corey were the only other supernatural creature in town not at the station. But, that didn't mean that there were more of us out there who managed to keep a lower profile.
"I'm not," Liam said from behind her. "This deal sucks."
"Yeah, Scott. I mean, are you serious about this?" Isaac asked.
Agent McCall stepped further in, hands in his pockets. "It might not be what you want, but it's the only deal on the table. In a situation like this, the best solution is always to de-escalate. It's why you called me, isn't it?"
"To be honest, I didn't think anyone was going to show up," the Sheriff admitted.
Scott looked around at us all, but no one said anything. We could kick up a fuss all we wanted, but the fact of the matter was that we didn't have many options left where we all left that station alive.
"Okay," Scott said quietly, nodding to his father. "We'll go."
There was almost a collective breath between us as we all heard him say it aloud. We were being forced to leave our homes. Sure, I didn't live in Beacon Hills anymore, but I grew up here and my sister was still here. It was just as much my home as Washington.
Without a word we all got up and walked out of the office. The Sheriff got his Deputies to surround us as we prepared to leave the building so that Monroe couldn't change her mind and shoot us down once we stepped out the door.
Walking out of the station at least twenty hunters were backing Monroe up, all of them standing around their cars with guns in their hands. I couldn't help but wonder how many of those guns contained bullets fashioned specifically to kill us. Had Gerard and Monroe started to hand out wolfsbane and iron ammunition?
Following the Deputies with the Pack, Theo, Jiang and Tierney made me feel like a criminal. We had done nothing wrong. In fact, we had protected them more times than I could count. But they were afraid of us, and that was all they were going to see.
Nolan was released back to Monroe's side as Agent McCall put Jiang and Tierney under arrest. They were placed in the back of a police-issued van, Tierney mouthing a thank you to Scott. Sure, they were going to do prison time, but that was better than being killed.
The Deputies led the rest of us out to our cars in the parking lot. I hugged my friends goodbye once we were there. We said we would meet outside of town, but something about it felt so final.
When I reached Scott he pulled me in close. "Ri, listen to me. Go home and pack a bag, convince Char that we're leaving for her own safety. Then come to the clinic."
My eyes widened for the slightest moment before I got myself under control, realigning my disheartened look. "What's going on, Scottie?"
"Come on, Ri?" he whispered beside my ear. "Do you really think we're going to give up on our home that easily?"
At his words, my arms tightened around him. I didn't need to say anything for him to know how much I loved him and how thankful I was for him. He was my best friend.
I pulled back from him after a minute, nodding to reiterate that I understood. I then went and said a quick goodbye to Isaac and Malia, who I knew Scott had already spoken to. It made it easier to let them go knowing that we weren't actually going to be leaving.
As I went over to my car, the Sheriff came over and placed a hand on my arm.
"Riley, I'm sorry but I need you to let Iris know that this includes her. Because of the Deadpool, they know about her. She needs to leave too. I'm sorry."
Charlotte wasn't going to let us both leave easily, that much I knew for certain. Hopefully with Iris' help, it would be simpler.
Stepping forward, I put my arms around the Sheriff. "Thank you for everything you've done for us."
"I'd do anything for you kids," he told me. "I'll come and visit you and Stiles soon."
I nodded, smiling at the man. He was always so kind to us even after everything we had done, including lying to him for so long. Now that I knew I was lying to him again, I felt bad. But I trusted that Scott knew what he was doing.
Getting in my car, I didn't waste time driving home. Between packing and talking to Charlotte and Iris, it wasn't going to be an easy stop.