Theo had partially been hoping that Stiles hadn't meant what he thought he had, but it turns out he knew him better than he thought he did. The location, of course was the basement that the Dread Doctors had used for their experiments. Argent had shown up shortly after Theo and his new pack to install cell phone scramblers so that their enemies couldn't track them even if they tried. This was just as well because everyone should hopefully know what Stiles had insinuated anyway.
"Why didn't anyone tell us there was an evil scientist lair in Beacon Hills?" Serena asked, looking at one of the needle-guns the Dread Doctors had used to inject mercury into the chimeras.
"Didn't exactly want to remember it," Theo admitted.
"We all have something in our past we'd rather forget." Isaac acknowledged.
"So, when is everyone else getting here?" Megan asked, pacing around the room.
"They should be here soon. I'm guessing Stiles and Derek will be here first since it was Stiles' idea." Theo replied. He leaned against the wall, trying to block out the memories that were quickly resurfacing. He hadn't been here since the last time he had worked with them.
"Hello, mostly strangers." A voice called out, and Theo recognized it immediately.
"Hey, Stiles." He said with a smirk.
"Hey there, chimera." Stiles said, clapping Theo on the back. "How've you been? Staying in trouble, I see." Stiles said, looking over the others in the room.
"Well, you know me." Theo shrugged.
"Stiles, I told you to wait for me." Derek huffed.
"It's okay, Der-bear. You don't have to worry about me." Stiles replied. "I was just catching up with the chimera here." He gestured to Theo.
"Yeah, I can see that," Derek said gruffly, but Theo had heard his heart skip at the nickname.
"I'm glad to see you guys in one piece," Isaac spoke up, walking over and giving Derek a one-armed hug. He smiled at Stiles and raised his hand for a fist bump. Stiles hesitated but touched his fist to Isaac's regardless.
"So, you're the sarcastic human we've been hearing so much about," Serena spoke up.
Stiles' head snapped back to look at her as if seeing her for the first time. "Uh, yes." He said slowly.
Derek rolled his eyes. "I suppose introductions are in order."
"Yes, right." Isaac said. "This is Serena, Alan, Paul, Cris, and of course, you know Theo." He spoke, pointing out each of them. "Derek, and Stiles. This is my pack. As well as my lovely mate M and Ben who isn't here yet." Meg grinned, eyes glowing red so briefly; Theo thought he had imagined it but knew he hadn't when he heard Stiles' tiny gasp.
"It's nice to finally meet you," Megan said, stepping forward with one hand outstretched, and Theo wondered what she was playing at. "I've heard a lot about you." She said, glancing at Derek, who in turn blushed crimson. Ah. Playing at matchmaker. He realized. He supposed he should be happy she hadn't done the same when she had met Liam. Though he supposed it hadn't been the most ideal of times.
Stiles took her hand but didn't shake it. "And you're the girl who I can't find anything about no matter how hard I try." She smiled. "No, I was starting to think you didn't exist. Or that you were some shared delusion."
Megan tried to suppress her laughter, but she couldn't hold it in. "You're hilarious. Has anyone ever told you that?" She asked.
"I usually get more funny-looking than funny." She grinned in response.
"Alright, I'm glad you guys are seemingly getting along, but we should try to figure out if anyone else figured out Stiles' coded message." Isaac spoke.
"Argent put in the cell-scramblers, remember?" Theo said.
"I'm sure Scott can figure it out." Chris Argent spoke up, reminding them of his presence from the corner of the room. "It wasn't that hard to decode if you were in Beacon Hills at the time."
"Or if you had a Theo at your side." Megan added, putting her hand on his shoulder. Theo gave a small smile.
"So, this where the party is?" Another voice spoke into the quiet.
"Lydia!" Stiles exclaimed, heading in that direction, but Derek held him back by the shirttail before he could get very far.
"Hi, Stiles." The pretty strawberry-blonde said, walking into the room, the hellhound at her heel.
"Ah, so you're the pretty ex-girlfriend." Serena spoke up, looking her up and down. "I agree with the assessment. You're beautiful."
"Um, thanks. I'm Lydia, and you are?" She said, looking between everyone trying to figure out who had been the one to label her as the 'pretty ex'. Serena opened her mouth to reply, but Theo cut her off.
"Why don't we save the introductions until everyone gets here, so we don't have to go over it a million times?" He sighed.
"Doesn't that seem a bit weird, though?" Jordan asked. "Not knowing the names of people in this enclosed space." He said, eyeing the strangers, clearly trying to gauge their potential threat level.
"You'd rather introduce yourself multiple times instead of just once? Seems weird, but okay." Paul spoke.
***
It had taken about 20 more minutes for the rest of the group to show, much to everyone's dismay. "So, Theo, we good to make introductions now?" Derek asked sarcastically.
"It was just a suggestion." He pointed out. "You didn't have to listen."
"Alrighty, well. I'm Isaac, and you know Theo." Isaac spoke up. He listed the names of every other member and pointed to each of them in turn. "And this is my mate, M." She grinned in turn.
"Right. And what's the deal with the initial anyway?" Malia spoke. "We supposed to trust you even though you won't tell us your real name?"
"Trust me. It's safer that way." Megan replied.
"For who? You or us?" Malia asked, glaring at her.
Megan smiled. "Both." She shrugged.
"Oh c'mon, that's bullshit. I'm not asking for your life story or your social. Just a first name."
Megan deliberated before speaking again. "If you must know, my name is," She took a breath. "Megan." She said through her teeth.
"Jeez, was that so hard?" Malia growled.
"And you are?" Megan asked.
"Malia."
"Nice to meet you."
"Alright, well. I'm Scott. This is my pack. Stiles, Lydia, Corey, Mason, Liam, Nolan, Alec, and Malia. As well as Derek, Peter, Jordan and Argent." Scott announced, pointing out each.
"Nice to formally know your names," Paul spoke. "This wasn't awkward at all." There were several chuckles at that.
"Alright, so let's come up with a plan," Scott spoke up, ignoring Paul's comment.
"Like I said earlier, we'll kill anyone who gets in our way." Serena spoke. Scott's pack turned to stare at her. Malia's lips quirked up into a small smile, but it disappeared as soon as it had appeared.
"We. Are. Not. Killing. Anyone." Scott insisted.
"Okay, we clearly can't work together if you're going to take that 'killing is bad, must save everyone' attitude," Paul said, imitating a robot. Isaac suppressed a laugh.
"But isn't the party proof that we can work together? I mean, not everyone showed up but still." Ben pointed out. "No one got hurt, and nobody called the cops. That's gotta mean something, right."
"Yeah. It means that alcohol can put anyone in a good mood." Peter spoke up. Theo chuckled at that; the man had a point there.
"Oh c'mon. I'm sure if we put our heads together, we can come up with something, right? I mean, we all decided that we should come here together, right?" Ben continued.
"Well, technically, it was my idea," Stiles spoke up.
"Yes, Stiles, and it was a great idea." Lydia said, her hand on his forearm.
"But we all agreed to follow that advice, right?" Ben said, glancing around at everyone. "Even my pack agreed even though most of us had never met you before. We still followed you here because it was a good call."
"That's a very good point." Derek spoke up. "Kid's right. We should probably listen to him." The crowd was silent as a few members of each pack nodded.
"Alright, so let's come up with a plan," Theo spoke up. The group nodded and put away their differences. For now, at least.