Liam and Theo in this episode was everything
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The four of us decided to split up once we'd moved further into the zoo. Whichever pair found the fastest route to the parking lot first was to message the other two so we could get out of here alive.
"Glad you came back home?" Isaac asked as we walked through the zoo.
"Oh, yeah," I scoffed. "It's been a blast."
We trekked down the path towards the parking lot, hoping to avoid hunters on the way. So far, we had been lucky but we still had a while to go.
Isaac laughed, shaking his head. He looked over at me, "So, what are you gonna do when you get back to Washington?"
I found myself smiling somewhat at the thought of going home to Stiles and our life. "I'm supposed to be starting my nursing course soon, so I'll be focussing on that. Besides that though, Stiles and I don't have any set plans."
"That's kind of surprising," he admitted. "You both always struck me as planners."
I shrugged as we walked. "I mean, we are. But certain things should just happen when they're meant to, you know? Not everything needs to be planned out."
"Fair enough."
"What about you?" I asked. "I never expected you to still be here after graduation."
He sighed, scratching the back of his head. "Neither did I. But. . . I don't know. I didn't want to leave without knowing where I was going. This is the only home I've ever had."
"It was the same for me," I told him honestly. "But sometimes, you just have to take that step, you know? Or you'll end up never leaving."
"I'm thinking of applying to university," Isaac told me.
I smiled widely as I looked over at him. "No way? What coarse?"
"I haven't decided yet," he chuckled. "But you'll be the first to know."
"I'd better be," I laughed. "Come on, let's get out of here."
We moved at a steady pace, Isaac leading the way by finding our scent on the car. There were a few moments where we had to stop and hide behind something to avoid being seen by hunters, but we were making good time.
Gerard didn't bring as many of his new recruits as we thought, seemingly leaving some behind to protect the home base and others in the town. The ones he did bring were nowhere near as experienced as he was, and were quite easy to avoid.
As we walked we fell into a comfortable silence, both of us listening out for any danger. Just as I was about to turn a corner, Isaac grabbed my arm and pulled me back.
"What? I didn't hear anything," I told him.
He shook his head, "I can smell it. Chemosignals. Anxiety."
"That could be me," I admitted.
Isaac looked down at me, before glancing forward again. "I know your signals, and it's not you."
"Alright, then how do we want to play this? They're going to shoot as soon as they see us."
The boy thought for a moment, "Can't you just make them drop or something? I think there's only two of them. Three tops."
"I can try," I offered. "I haven't really done much practise since what the Dread Doctors did to me and moving to Washington."
He put a hand on my shoulder, nodding his head. "I trust you. You can do this."
Taking a deep breath, I nodded also, hoping he was right. Releasing the breath, I took one more heavy inhale as I felt my eyes glow silver. Walking out around the corner, I saw the two men who Isaac had sensed.
Before they got the chance to notice me standing there, I began to draw the air away from them. When they realised they both lifted their guns to aim at me.
Isaac grabbed my arm and pulled me to the side as one fired. The bullet missed and I managed to stay focussed and in control. I pulled away just enough that their instincts had them lower their guns to be able to bring their hands to their throat.
"Remember, just make them pass out. Don't kill them," Isaac said softly.
"I know," I nodded, my hand shaking ever so slightly as I forced myself to remain in control.
The two men dropped to their knees, struggling as they tried to bring air into their lungs. Finally, after another ten seconds, they both collapsed. I had managed to cause them to pass out.
"Nice," Isaac chuckled, grabbing my hand and dragging me past the hunters.
We managed to make it to the car, hiding nearby since Liam and Theo weren't there yet. I grabbed my phone out and called Liam. We both waited patiently as the line rang, but no one answered.
I didn't want to, but I scrolled through my contacts until I found Theo's name and hit dial. He picked up after only a few rings.
"Hey, we're back at the car. Where are you and Liam?" I asked quietly.
"On our way. We ran into a bit of trouble and Liam lost his cool," he explained. "We around the corner."
"Okay, see you in a minute," I said before hanging up on him.
"They're both okay?" Isaac questioned.
I nodded as I slipped my phone back into my pocket. "They're almost here. Apparently they got into some trouble."
"Why am I not surprised," he mumbled.
We waited about another ten minutes before we saw Isaac approaching the car finally. My eyes widened when I noticed that he had a passed out Liam slung over his shoulder.
"What the hell did you do?" I hissed.
"Nothing," he answered as he opened the passenger side door and sat Liam down. "Well, not nothing. I knocked him out."
"Why?"
Theo shut the door and turned to face me, "Because he was going to kill Nolan, and I wasn't going to let him do that. Now get in the car."
Isaac and I did as he said, getting into the backseat of the boy's car. Theo was quick to start the car, getting us out of there as soon as possible.
"Has anyone heard from Scott?" Isaac asked as he looked at his own phone.
I shook my head, knowing I had no notifications. Theo also claimed he had yet to hear from him either. Isaac dialled the True Alpha, but he didn't answer.
"That's not good," he said quietly.
We fell into a nervous quiet as we drove back to Beacon Hills, praying that the hunters hadn't gotten our friends. They had been planning on breaking into the Argent armoury, but that was easier said than done.
About ten minutes into the trip, Liam woke up with a pained groan. He looked around the car, rubbing his jaw in confusion.
"I had to knock you out," Theo told the boy with a sly grin.
"Yeah, how many times?" Liam groaned.
Theo seemed to hold back a laugh as he looked between Liam and the road. "Five."
"I almost killed him, didn't I?" The Beta asked.
"Almost. But you broke your hands trying not to."
Liam scoffed, "I guess that's something."
"Any progress towards control is worth something, Liam," I assured him.
Theo nodded in agreement. "And next time you come up with a plan like that, pick a okace that doesn't trigger a murderous rage."
"I didn't know this was gonna happen," Liam stated, defending himself.
"Whether you meant it or not, you picked the spot. You made the plan. You wanted us to help."
"If I needed your help for anything," Liam said, emphasising as he looked at Theo. "It'll be so I get angry enough to kill you myself."
"You brought me here because that thing that came out of the Wild Hunt is affecting you, too. You need to figure this out before you completely lose it. Just ask Riley."
"Watch it," I warned. "The only reason I lost control was because of what you let the Doctors do to me."
"The point was," Theo said, getting back on track. "Was that you can find a way to control it."
Liam shook his head, "The Anuk-ite causes fear, it doesn't cause anger."
"People only feel one emotion at a time, Liam. Which is why you get angry when you're afraid. That's why you almost tore Nolan's head off," Theo claimed.
"What are you, a psychologist?" Isaac scoffed.
Theo rolled his eyes, "No, but I think I know a thing or two."
"If the Anuk-ite can do this to me, what do you think it's doing to everyone else?" Liam asked, the concern clear in his voice.
"Nothing good," I answered. "That's why we need to figure out how to defeat it. And fast."
♧♤♢♡
Theo dropped Isaac and I off at Scott's house as we requested. He said he was going to drop Liam off and then go home.
"You think there's something going on there?" Isaac asked as we walked inside the McCall house.
I shrugged, closing the door behind me. "They definitely don't seem to hate each other as much as they used to, that's for sure. But, I don't know."
"I couldn't imagine Theo caring about anyone but himself."
"People can change," I replied.
Isaac looked down at me with narrowed eyes, "You do remember he buried you alive, right? Because I do. It wasn't fun."
"Trust me, I know. I was the one underground," I reminded him. "But like I said. . . people can change. You did, why can't Theo?"
"Maybe," Isaac said as we walked into the living room.
"I'm so glad you guys are okay," Lydia said as she saw us enter the room. She walked over and threw her arms around me, embracing me with a sigh of relief.
I hugged her back, laughing lightly. "Us? We were worried about you. Why wasn't Scott picking up his phone?"
Lydia pulled away, lips pursed as her eyes avoided mine. Isaac noticed her strange behaviour also, stepping forward, "What? Is he okay?"
"He's fine," she said quickly. "He's upstairs."
"Okay, cool," I sighed, turning to go upstairs.
Lydia was quick to grab my arm, "He's upstairs with Malia.
"Oh," I said quietly, thinking for a moment. Then, my eyes widened somewhat in realisation, "Oh."
"Yeah."
I cleared my throat, "What ended up happening at the armoury?"
Lydia told us the short version so that we could move along. Basically, it was a set up, they knew we were going to go there - shocker. They managed to break in, but when they made it behind the locked doors, Scott and Malia got locked in.
There was a door that was rigged to drain all the oxygen from the room when they opened it, which they did. I instantly felt guilty, knowing I would have been able to save them if I had been there.
I was just glad they were both safe. Lydia had managed to use her Banshee ability to scream the door down. I was equally shocked and impressed. Sure, I had seen Ludia throw a Ghost Rider across the room, but knocking down a wholeass reinforced door was next level.
"Gerard is actually insane," I said.
"Tell me about it," Lydia sighed.
"Well, I'm just glad you're all okay."
Isaac nodded his head in the direction of the kitchen, "C'mon, I think they're waiting on us."
Just as we were about to go into the kitchen, the front door opened again. I turned around to see Charlotte and Iris walking in.
"I told you I'd be okay," I smiled as I went over and hugged them both.
"Can you blame me?" Charlotte said through a chuckle. "It's Beacon Hills."
"You're not wrong."
We all went into the kitchen together where Chris, Melissa and Mason we all around the table examining a map. The rest of us spread around the remainder of the table to get a better look. It was a world map with certain points marked with a red circle.
"They're Nemetons," Argent told us.
Melissa looked up at Argent from the map, "What does Gerard want with them?"
"If they're like the one here, then they're beacons for supernatural creatures," Mason pointed out.
"So, what? They're trying to lure in the supernatural?" Iris asked.
"Possibly."
Chris nodded his head, hands on his hips as he straightened up, "If you wanted to kill ever supernatural creature in the world, these are where you would start."
I felt like my stomach had gone hollow at their words. It felt like the Benefactor all over again, except this was worse. We knew for a fact that Gerard was an experienced hunter - he had been doing this his whole life. And now, he had made it his personal vendetta to kill us all.
"Well, then Gerard isn't gonna stop with Beacon Hills, is he?" Melissa asked.
Chris barely had to think before he answered, "No. He want the whole world."
The door opened for the thrid time within the ten minutes since we had arrived. Everyone turned to see Agent McCall stride into the kitchen, looking around.
"Where's Scott?"
"Upstairs. Why?" Melissa responded.
"He can't leave. No one can."
"And why not?" Charlotte asked, hands on her hips.
"It's Gerard's weapons," Agent McCall stated.
Glancing around the room, I noticed Lydia was staring off at something. Putting a hand on her shoulder, I leaned down to face her. "Hey, are you okay?"
She shook her head as she made eye contact. "Something's wrong here."
"Dad?" Scott said as he entered the kitchen, Malia right behind him.
Agent McCall continued, "The guns, they've all been distributed to the citizens of Beacon Hills. All of them, and at no charge."
"What, he just gave them away?"
"No," Argent answered softly, thinking to himself. He then looked around the table at us all, a grief-stricken look on his face. "He's arming his army."
Lydia jumped beside me, staring across the room.
"Lyds? What's wrong? What did you hear?" I asked her.
Her eyes narrowed in thought as she continued to focus only on the window. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she turned to us all.
"Get down!" she yelled.
Suddenly two arrows broke through the window, firmly planting themselce into the wall across from where it came in. We all ducked down, trying to avoid being hit.
The arrows then exploded, causing a a bright white light to bathe the room. The wolves reacted to the light immediately, their sight being affected by the stun arrows.
I was on the floor beside Lydia, both of us trying to cover each other. Daring to glance towards the window, I saw rays of red light coming in through the window.
"Oh, my God," I gasped as I realised what they were. "Stay down!"
And then the bullets came. Several guns were firing, bullets spraying through the room. The curtains shifted as the bullets flew through, all of us doing our best to stay below the line of fire.
It felt like forever before the gunfire finally stopped. All I could hear was my heart pounding and my heavy breathing as I pulled my arms away from my head.
There was the light tinkling of glass hitting the floorboards as it fell from my hair. Reaching out I placed a hand on Lydia to check on her. When she didn't respond, I drew my hand back, only to see that it was covered in deep scarlet blood.
"No, no, no, no, no," I mumbled to myself as I scrambled to her side. "Scott, we need to get her to the hospital."
"Are you okay?" Isaac asked me from my other side.
I glanced down to see that I had taken one bullet to the arm. It wasn't burning or anything, so I figured it must have just been an ordinary bullet.
"I'm fine. We need to get Lydia to the hospital."
"She's not the only one," I heard Malia say.
I was confused for a moment before I assessed the room. Practically everyone in the room had been hit, not just Lydia. This wouldn't have been as worrying if the majority weren't just human.
"Charlotte? Char, stay with me," I heard someone say across the room.
I stood up slowly, leaving Isaac to take care of Lydia as I moved around the table. Iris was knelt on the ground with Charlotte's head in her lap. I wasn't sure where the bullet had hit, but I could see the blood beginning to soak the light blue shirt she was wearing.
I felt my breathing become uneven as I dropped to my knees beside her. My hands were shaking as I reached them out towards her, her blood coating my fingers.
"Someone call an ambulance!" I screamed.
♧♤♢♡
Scott, Malia, Isaac and I all sat in the hospital waiting room. Iris was currently talking with Charlotte's doctor, Charlotte and Melissa were in surgery, Mason and Lydia were in recovery, I wasn't sure where Agent McCall was, and thankfully Argent had managed to avoid being hit altogether.
I sat bobbing my knee up and down, tears slowly rolling down my cheeks as I waited to hear if my sister was going to survive. My had were shaking, my sister's blood dried on my skin.
"She's going to be okay," Isaac said from beside me, reaching an arm around my shoulders.
I didn't look up at him as I shook my head, "You don't know that."
"C'mon," he said softly, getting me to stand up.
"I'm not leaving," I told him, slipping out of his grasp.
"Hey, it's okay," he said quickly. "We're not leaving, I promise. We're just going to get you cleaned up, okay?"
I barely nodded as I allowed him to lead me to one of the small hospital bathrooms. Isaac turned the sink on, guiding my hand beneath the stream as he got some soap and began to gently scrub away the blood.
I watched as the water turned slightly pink as the blood ran down the drain. Between Lydia and my sister, my hands were stained red.
I wanted to speak and thank him, but I just felt numb. My sister had been in surgery for hours and we still hadn't heard anything. I don't know what I'd do if she died.
Except, I did know.
"I'm going to kill them," I mumbled.
Isaac stopped washing my hands to look at me, "What'd you say?"
I finally looked up from my hands, jaw clenched. "I'm going to kill them. All of them," I told him, tears in my eyes. "They're not going to get away with this."
Isaac turned off the water before reaching his arms around me and pulling me into a hug.
"Let me go," I muttered like a child, trying to get away from him. "I need to find out who did this."
"It's going to be okay," he told me, running a hand up and down my back to try and calm me down. "You're not going to kill them - we're better than that. We don't kill people."
I put my arms back around him, holding him tight as I cried against his chest. "I can't lose her, Isaac."
"I know. I'm going to be right here with you until she wakes up, okay?"
Isaac let me cry for a bit longer before I finished cleaning my hands. Fixing my hair and trying to clean some of the blood off of my shirt, I wiped my face and took a deep breath. We then left the bathroom to see Scott and Malia walking down the hall.
"Scott?" I said, rushing to catch up with him. "Scott, what's going on?"
He slowed down to talk to us, a scowl on his face. "No more peace summits. No more running. No more half measures."
"What's the plan?" Malia asked as he started to walk again.
"We fight back."
"Okay, that's great," Isaac nodded. "But that isn't really much of a plan. Even by our standards."
"Gerard, Monroe, the hunters, we take them all on."
"Then we're gonna need more fire power," Malia pointed out.
"Not just firepower," Scott countered. "We're gonna need an army."
As we reached the elevator, I grabbed the True Alpha's arm, "Scott, wait. How's your mum?"
Scott gave me a small smile, "She's going to be okay. But that doesn't change anything."
"I know," I nodded. "That's why I can't come with you. Not yet, at least. Not until I know that Charlotte is okay."
The boy nodded, stepping forward and putting his arms around me. "Call me as soon as she's awake and I'll let you know where we are."
"Thank you. I love you, Scottie."
"I love you, too, Ri," Scott said before pulling away. "Charlotte will be okay. I'll see you soon."
I took a step away, giving him a grateful smile as he stepped into the elevator. Malia gave me a quick hug also, letting me know to call if anything happened.
I turned to Isaac, expecting him to go with them. He shrugged, staying by my side, "I told you, I'm staying with you until she's awake."
Scott thanked the boy, and then the elevator doors shut.