024 | FROM PEOPLE YOU KNOW TO
PEOPLE YOU DON'T
( people you know — selena gomez )
" we used to be close,
but people can go from people you know
to people you don't "
MANHATTAN, NEW YORK
__________________________
STILES WANTED TO ENJOY LIFE AS A FREE MAN, but considering all the extenuating circumstances of his framing and his life right now, it was hard to force a smile on his face.
He'd made it a mission of his to make sure Aspen was safe at any time he could— without being a stalker, that is. He'd made her promise to call him every time she got to work safe and home at night.
Today, he was going to meet Scott at a coffee shop— the old pair of brothers having not really had a proper talk since the trial being overruled. Stiles was staying in the cheapest motel he could find in Manhattan, as he was unemployed and short on money like he had been since quitting CIA.
The Stilinski man checked out of the building and walked out into the busy streets of Manhattan— it was freezing cold out as it was late November, certain small shops were already setting up their Christmas lights and decorations.
Stiles tugged his dark jacket around him as he was hit by the nippy breeze, and reached into his pocket to send Scott a text that he'd be about ten minutes.
He ended up turning down a much quieter street in attempt to make a shortcut to the coffee shop he was heading for. Stiles ran his hands through his long messy hair, letting out a deep heavy sigh of frustration.
He just kept trying to picture her. Sitting at her fancy desk, working at a job she excelled at more than anyone he'd ever known. And as much as it tore his heart out every time he imagined it, he saw her coming home to another man, a man he hoped loved and cherished her as much as he did himself.
While she might not have achieved that life with Stiles by her side— Stiles was happy she got to have it with someone else.
He was not going to let anybody rip that away from her.
Suddenly, as Stiles was about to turn the corner of the quiet alleyway, he was suddenly being gagged around the mouth with a black cloth, making his eyes widen out of their sockets in horror and shock, as he choked for breath.
All he could see were the locks of blonde hair in the corner of his field of vision, and knew exactly who his sudden attacker was.
"Miss me?" he heard the Russian accent he hadn't heard in three years.
I have got to stop taking these quiet alleyway shortcuts, Stiles scolded himself.
Stiles forcefully span them around and planted his hands on her shoulders firmly, slamming her into the brick wall behind them and ripping the black cloth gag out of his mouth.
"Was about time you showed up..." he cocked his head as he mocked her with a murmur.
"Well, where did you think I was all this time, staryydrug?" said Avery Drake, using the Russian word for 'old friend'.
She then launched her hand to his throat forcefully— which he caught mid air before she got the chance to strangle him.
"Rotting in the hole you crawled out of?" Stiles taunted back, grabbing both of her wrists and restraining them. He was in no desire to fight her, but he would do anything in his power to keep the assassin away from Aspen.
Avery laughed deeply with amusement, "Not quite, staryydrug..."
"It's Raven Chaseusse, isn't it?" Stiles suddenly guessed, remembering what happened at the hotel room in Ibiza three years ago. "She's the one you work for? Are you the one that busted her out of prison?"
Avery scoffed, and then used her leg which was unrestricted by Stiles' grip to kick him forcefully in the sin, making him stumble backwards, letting go of her wrists. Avery then threw a punch to the side of his jaw, making him stumble even more.
The blonde then grabbed both of his wrists, pinning them together behind his back, slamming his front into the wall with harsh force, the side of his face colliding with the hard brick with a grunt of pain from the Stilinski man.
"So you discovered a member of my team, did you Stilinski?" the blonde mocked, "you think you have it all figured out— but you are not even close."
"What do you want?" Stiles murmured with rage as his face was pressed hard to the brick wall, as Avery was using her other hand to grip the back of his head.
"You know what I want." Avery said back in a tauntingly low whisper into his ear.
"Yeah, revenge, I know." Stiles shot back, trying to mentally think of a way to grab the dagger he'd briefly caught a glimpse of in her holster right before she slammed him into the wall. "But how?"
"Well, I was told that apparently getting to you will get to her..." said Avery, "And I couldn't wait to jump on the chance to come after my old partner..."
"But you forget..." Stiles shot back, "I underwent the same training you did, Drake..."
Stiles then used one his legs to wrap around one of hers, causing her knee to buckle and making her lose her balance subsequently.
Stiles then managed to swipe the dagger from her holstered belt, and then grabbed her by the collar of her fashionable coat. He then got her into a chokehold with his arms wrapped around her neck, his height over the blonde playing to his advantage.
He hovered the dagger dangerously close to Avery's neck, making her let out an irritated grunt as he was now in the position of power.
"I'm gonna ask you the same thing I did three years ago," Stiles whispered with spite into her ear, "Who do you work for?"
"Justice," the blonde seethed through her teeth, "Aspen Bellator must pay for all the blood on her hands."
"You don't even know the whole story..." Stiles said into her ear, keeping the dagger about a centre meter from the flesh of her neck.
"I told you, my brother's is not the only blood." the blonde seethed heavily in her strong accent, "She's gone her whole life, climbing to the top of the New York social ladder, living her perfect little life without paying for any of it. Isn't it ironic that she defends criminals for a living now?"
"I won't let you hurt her." Stiles threatened, slowly moving the blade closer, til suddenly Avery felt the cold sharp edge of the blade make contact with her skin.
"You're pathetic..." Avery scolded with a scoff, "She's off marrying another man and you're still moping over her as if she's not a cold blooded killer."
"You say that as if you've never killed anyone yourself." Stiles shot back.
"I killed terrorists, Stilinski." the blonde scoffed, "She killed my fifteen year old brother— for nothing."
"That wasn't her!" Stiles snapped, rushing to the defence of his true love, but his outburst had made his hand holding the dagger flinch, giving Avery the chance to get the upper hand.
Avery snatched the dagger from him and moved behind him to put him in the chokehold, the pair of them reversing roles as she now held the dagger to his neck threateningly.
"She has to pay for what she's done, Stiles." Avery said— using his name which she never did, even back when they were partners. "I don't care what it takes to get through you to get to her."
"What, you gonna shoot me in the leg again?" Stiles scoffed.
"Maybe," Avery shrugged with a smirk, then leant to whisper in his ear— "You know, I stole that move from her. Apparently she pulled the same stunt of Raven's twin brother."
"He and Raven were trying to kill her!" Stiles snapped defensively, "See this is the problem—you only know one side of all these stories, you don't know anything!"
Avery then lowered the dagger, and used her other hand to grab Stiles by the collar of his shirt and slam him back into the wall. His head hit the bricks harshly, making his eyes shut as he grunted lowly in pain.
Avery held the dagger back up to his neck, and Stiles let out a deep breath as he clenched his jaw, feeling the cold blade on his skin.
"No, Stiles, you are the one who doesn't know anything." the Russian blonde taunted, shaking her head at him, "You have no idea what's coming. You have no idea the extent of the war you and your friends are about to face— in fact, one of you are already enduring it. When was the last time you heard from your redhead friend, huh?"
Stiles had been worried sick about Lydia Martin since Aspen told them all she was missing at the end of the trial.
"If you've hurt Lydia—"
"Oh, your little banshee friend is okay, Stiles." Avery cut him off, her lips curling into a smirk— "For now, that is. In Russia, they call this a situatziya zalozhhnikami. I believe you Americans call it a hostage situation?"
"I'll kill you..." Stiles threatened lowly, "I'll kill every last one of your merry band of psychos."
Avery scoffed a laugh.
"This is a war, old friend." Avery said as she slowly and tauntingly titled her head to the side, her eyes lowering to the dagger she had held to his neck, applying a tiny bit of pressure that made his breath hitch,
"And you're on the losing side."
Avery then took her dagger and stabbed Stiles deep in the thigh, making him lose all balance and fall to the floor, his back sliding down the cold brick wall as his hit the ground.
Avery couched down beside him, smirking tauntingly with amusement—getting a sense of deja vu to the last time they parted ways three years ago.
"Agent Stilinski..." she sighed, her fingers teasingly dancing up his leg until they reached the dagger planted firmly in his bleeding flesh, and harshly ripping it out. "We gotta stop meeting like this..."
Avery then took her bloody dagger and walked away with a calm, unbothered strut, disappearing around the corner as she left Stiles—once again—bleeding out from his leg on the floor.
Stiles looked down at the gashing wound, grunting as he threw his head back with a sigh, his jaw clenching hard from the stinging pain.
"At least she switched up the leg this time..."
__________________________
Stiles managed to limp himself back to his motel, having used his jacket to tie a makeshift bandage around his thigh to keep himself from losing more blood. He was now sat at the edge of his bed in his tiny, poorly lit room, using a first aid kid to treat his wound.
He reached for his phone to text Scott, then decided on a phone call instead.
He dialled his once-best-friend's number, put it on speaker as he set the phone down and went back to attending his gashing wound, and heard the sound of it ringing a few times before the line connected.
"Stiles, hey," Scott's voice came through the speaker, "You— uh, you close by? Weren't we supposed to meet like a half hour ago?"
"Yeah, Scott, about that," Stiles sighed as he used an anti-bac wipe to clear some of the dried blood, "I'm gonna have to rain check, is that cool?"
"Uh..." Scott seemed concerned, "Not really, Stiles— this was important. You know, with all the crap going on right now?"
"Yeah, it's kind of about that crap..." Stiles murmured, hissing in pain a bit as he swiped the anti-bac over the wound.
There was a small hesitation from Scott on the other end of the line before he said— "Stiles, what happened?"
Stiles pursed his lips as he sighed, looking down at his phone, seeing Scott's contact picture lit up on his screen with the call. His lips curled into a weak smile at the picture, it was taken many many years ago when the two friends still saw each other all the time.
Stiles then realised there was no point in keeping what just happened to himself. They were in over their heads— they were facing a war they all needed to be prepared for.
"Actually," Stiles eventually spoke, "Scott, could you meet me at my motel? I can— uh— I can send you the address."
"Um, yeah, of course." Scott said, "I'll be there as soon as I can."
_______________________
Stiles was just finishing wrapping a blue turncock bandage around his thigh when there was a knock at his door.
Stiles pulled his trousers back up and put the bandages back in the first aid box, and then walked up to the door to let Scott in.
"Hey," he gave Scott a bit of an awkward smile, welcoming him in.
"Hey," Scott said, looking around the very small, poorly lit, basic room. "This is where you're staying?"
Stiles laughed, "Hey, it's not like I'm employed like you, Dr. McCall."
Scott then noticed the box of first aid kit that was out on the bed. He looked back at Stiles, "You wanna tell me what happened now?"
Stiles nodded, as Scott walked into the small room as Stiles closed the door behind him. Stiles at back down on the edge of his bed next to the first aid kit, as Scott pulled up the wooden chair in the corner of the room and sat opposite the Stilinski man.
"You remember the name Avery Drake, right?" said Stiles with a sigh.
Scott nodded, "Right, the uh—the woman who went after Aspen in her apartment. You said you knew her..."
Stiles nodded, "I was her CIA partner for six months."
"Okay..." Scott tried to follow, assuming there was more to it than that.
"Last time I saw her was three years ago." Stiles began, ready to put it all out on the table. "We were on a field mission in Ibiza. While we were sitting waiting for the target to show up, she started making conversation— she'd always try to make conversation with me, but I never really engaged, y'know?"
Scott just nodded.
"I didn't realise it at the time, but she was trying to get information out of me." Stiles continued with a sigh, running his hand through his hair stressfully. "When we got back to the hotel room that night, this slip of paper was passed under the door."
"What was on it?"
"A threat." Stiles replied, standing up from the bed to a small locked box he had in the draw of his bedside table.
He took out the threatening note he'd kept all this time, walked back over to where he was before and handed it to Scott.
Scott read the threatening note, and this time it was her time to let out a stressful sigh, realising how serious this was all getting.
"She wrote it." Stiles said as Scott looked down at the note. "I found out she was just in the CIA to get information out of me because she mentioned Aspen's last name— which I never once told her."
"So she's with them?" said Scott, looking up at Stiles, "Raven and.... whoever she's working for?"
Stiles nodded. "She can't be the killer, she was with me in Spain the night the Manhattan Murderer killed another person. But there's a whole team of them, Scott."
"What do they want?" Scott said hopelessly.
Stiles hesitated, pursing his lips as he looked down at the carpet.
"Stiles, what do they want?"
Stiles looked back up, meeting Scott's eyes with a serious look.
"Aspen." he finally confessed, "They want revenge on Aspen. With Raven, it was obvious— she blames her for the destruction of her whole family. With Avery, though..."
"Stiles, tell me what's going on..." Scott said, Stiles' constant hesitation making him even more uneasy.
"You remember when Aspen was in New Orleans?" Stiles said, "When she was losing control of herself, and the nogitsune was getting its hold over her?"
Scott just nodded again.
"We know that she... she killed some people." Stiles said with a sigh again, "We know that everything she did back then— she wasn't in control of, we know that it wasn't really her— but Avery doesn't."
"Oh no..." Scott said, sensing where this was going.
"One of those people were Avery Drake's little brother." Stiles revealed, "She wants revenge for that."
Scott threw his head back in a distressed sigh, as Stiles carried on.
"I never saw or heard from her since she shot me in the leg back in Ibiza, until today." said Stiles, making Scott's eyes widen. "I was on my way to meet you when she jumped me. I don't know where she's been all this time, but... well, she stabbed me in the leg again— granted, it was the left one this time, but... yeah..."
"Wha—" Scott's eyes were wide, "Are— are you okay?"
Stiles nodded, "Yeah— yeah it's fine, I treated it myself just now, not the first time I've had to..."
"Well, do you want me to take a look?" Scott offered, "I mean I am Dr. McCall now..." he added in a chuckle to attempt to lighten the mood between them.
"Yeah, but I'm a human, not a puppy, Scott." Stiles replied with a laugh too. "Hey, probably wouldn't have this problem if I was part-puppy like you guys, huh?"
Scott broke out in more genuine laughter at Stiles' lighthearted comment. It had been a long time since the two of them had genuinely laughed around each other.
They'd both missed it a hell of a lot.
Once their laughter died down, they both pursed their lips as the seriousness of the situation dwelled on them again.
"So this is all about revenge, then?" Scott spoke up, "Revenge against Aspen?"
"Yeah..." Stiles sighed, "Only thing we don't know is who's pulling all the strings."
Scott fell quiet as his face was in an expression of deep thought, looking at Stiles with a wary look.
"You got any suspects, Mr FBI?" he said.
"I mean I did," Stiles replied with a shrug, "One of them was Raven, but she's clearly just a puppet, not the puppeteer."
"Anyone else?"
Stiles pursed his lips in hesitation, before replying.
"Well, Aspen has a few new friends now, friends that we don't know all that well." Stiles suggested.
"Like who?"
"I don't wanna say it, but... Josephine?" Stiles suggested, "She's known Aspen since college, they've lived together for years, she might know... stuff."
Scott shook his head, "No, I don't think it could be her. I know we don't know her as well as Aspen does, but she just seems... too normal."
"Don't they all?" Stiles shot back.
Scott shrugged.
"Any other suspects?"
"I mean..." Stiles sounded hesitant again, "I hate to say it, because it just makes me sound like the typical jealous type— but... we don't know much about Jordan either..."
Scott hated that he agreed with that, he barely knew Jordan at all. But Scott had kept briefly in touch with Isaac over the years who apparently had become good friends with the Hayes man.
"It— it can't be..." Scott shook his head, "After what happened with River, Aspen said she'd never let that happen again. She was never easily trusting again after what River did to her— I think we should try to trust her judgement..."
Stiles just nodded with a sigh, "yeah, I guess..."
Both men just sat in silence as they both racked their minds for all possibilities. Each one of them hated this whole thing with equal measure—that someone was going to such lengths to harm a girl they both loved equally in different ways. Aspen was Scott's family— she had always been his sister, no matter whether they were blood or not.
And Aspen was and would always be the love of Stiles' life— the person who showed him what love is and taught him how to love. She was the only person in the world he felt truly seen and understood around. She was the one who gave his life a purpose, she made him want to get up in the morning every day, even if he wasn't the one waking up next to her anymore.
"This is gonna be bad, isn't it...." Scott murmured, glancing up from the floor to meet Stiles' eyes.
Stiles hesitated.
And then nodded his head.
"It's war," he replied, "This is a war, Scott. Us against them."
"Well then..." the McCall man sighed—
"We gotta make sure we're not on the losing side."
//
i missed sciles ❤️
I WILL NOT BE KEEPING YOU WAITING ANY LONGER
CHAPTER 25 LADIES AND GENTS: THE REVEAL
the suspense has been fun tho...