—
Austin sat on Derek's, rather uncomfortable, couch. His head was tilted all the way back, eyes staring up at the ceiling as he listened to the pacing of Stiles' feet.
His mind traveled to the thought of how Ryder was at the moment. The girl had been asked last minute by Scott if she could accompany him and Derek in finding Boyd and Erica. His heart raced at the thought of her somehow getting hurt.
Austin knew she could take care of herself, very well, she's done it before. But that didn't mean his heart didn't drop every time she left him to go fight some random supernatural being.
He could admit that it threw him in for a loop to realize that Peter seemed nervous that his only known biological child was possibly putting her life on the line. He wasn't showing it on his face, but way his knee bounced gave him an idea.
"I can't take waiting around like this, you know? It's nerve-racking. My nerves are racked. They're severely racked...Racked."
"I almost assumed your nerves were racked."
Peter hummed, "I could beat you unconscious and wake you when it's over."
"You think Erica's really dead?" The Stilinski asked, looking more specifically at Austin.
"You think I really care?" Peter scoffed.
"He wasn't— never mind."
"I just... I don't understand the bank, though, okay? Wha... like, why wouldn't they chain them up in some underground lair or something? They're an Alpha pack, right? So shouldn't they have a lair?"
"They're werewolves." Austin told his friend.
"Not bond villains." Peter finished.
Stiles' eyes suddenly widen, "Wait a sec. Wait a sec. Maybe they're living there. You know? Like, maybe the bank vault reminds them of their little wolf dens."
"Wolf dens?"
Austin dropped his head, "Stiles."
"Yeah, wolf dens. Where do you live?" He asked the Hale man.
"In an underground network of caves hidden deep in the woods."
"Whoa, really?"
"No, dude." Austin groaned, lifting up in his seat to pull his phone from his back pocket. He shook his head as he realized Ryder hadn't texted him back yet.
Peter made a face, "No, you idiot. I have an apartment downtown."
"Okay, fine, but still, that just proves that there's something up with the bank. And why wait around for the full moon, huh? Why not just kill them whenever they want to?"
"Maybe they think it's poetic." Peter waved a hand.
"They've already had three full moons to be poetic." Stiles said.
Austin rubbed at his temples, a low groan leaving his lips as they continued to talk.
"And here you've only had one full hour to be so annoying..."
The George teen looked up at Peter's silence, brows furrowing in confusion.
"No, go ahead, finish what you were saying. I'm an... I'm annoying. What were you gonna say there?"
Peter squinted, "What are the walls made of?"
"What? Uh... I don't know, like, wood and brick or—"
"He's talking about the vault." Austin cut him off, facing his girlfriend's sperm donor, "What's wrong?"
"The vault walls, what are they made out of? Where would it say that? Doesn't say anything. Where... where would it say the materials, the type of stone?"
Stiles skidded to a stop, running to the table that held a bunch of papers, Austin and Peter following quickly behind him, "Oh.. Oh, hang on. Yeah, here, hang on. Here. It's gotta be in there."
•••
Ryder fell behind as Scott and Derek rushed to the side of the building. Her boots clicked against the ground before she came to a stop beside Scott.
"What?"
"There's just something I can't get out of my head." Scott admitted.
"The moon's rising, Scott. What is it?"
"Risk and reward."
Ryder hummed. Austin had told her about that when they spoke to each other about how their days went. He went on and on about the risks and the rewards of situations, she later explained how her day had went horribly because she got stuck next to Allison in art class.
Derek shook his head dramatically, ushering a response from the teen, "Which means what?"
"We're not measuring the risk with enough information. We don't know enough."
"We know time's running out."
"Rushing won't make anything easier, Derek. If anything, you're probably risking the lives of your beloved betas you want so bad to be alive." Ryder told him.
"Yeah, but think about it. They put the triskele on your door four months ago. What have they been doing all this time? Why wait until now?" Scott pressed.
His words got the blonde thinking about it. If they hadn't seen or felt the moon in months, then that means they weren't given the chance to let out all the pent up anger and frustrations the moon took for them. They've been holding it all in for four months.
"We don't have the time to figure out every little detail."
Ryder rolled her eyes, "That's your problem. You don't pay attention to every little detail. It's part of the reason we're here anyway."
Ryder knew Derek wasn't at fault for Erica and Boyd going missing. Not completely anyway. But she figured that being as nice as Scott wasn't being wouldn't get into Derek's head, so why not be a complete ass instead?
"Okay, but what if this detail, the reason why they waited... what if it's the most important one?"
"Then we do nothing. And Boyd and Erica are dead. I know what I'm risking. My life for theirs. And I won't blame either you if you don't follow me."
With that, he walked off.
Ryder hummed, crossing her arms while looking around. She noticed the way Scott stopped to look back at her.
"Ryder?"
"What? You think I'm not going to take the opportunity to sit out of something that's going to blow up in our faces?"
He gave her look. Her shoulders dropped, tilting her head back, eyes rolling dramatically before she smacked her foot to the ground and moving past him to follow Derek.
•••
"There, that's it." Stiles pointed.
"Hecatolite."
Austin's eye brows drew together, "Shit."
"Is that awful?" Stiles looked between them, eyes snapping to Austin's phone as he pulled up Ryder's contact, then back to Peter who had wide eyes, "That sounds awful."
"Get 'em on the phone. Call them. Now!"
"Okay, why?"
"Cause Boyd and that girl aren't gonna kill each other. They're gonna kill Ryder, Derek and Scott."
•••
"Boyd? Boyd? It's me. It's Derek."
"Yeah, cause call out to a possibly homicidal werewolf, that always turns out great."
Scott looked down at his ringing phone, Ryder doing the same as she felt it vibrate in her pocket, "Stiles, now is not the best time."
"Scott! Scott! No, listen to me, okay? Look, you gotta get outta there. Look, the walls of the vault are made with a mineral called hecatolite. It scatters the moonlight."
"Austin?"
"Ry, hey! How are you? Are you okay?"
"Aside from the headache Derek's giving me, yeah i'm fine, what's going on? Why is Stiles so frantic?"
"You need to get out of there, okay? Just trust me, alright? The vault is made out of hecatolite."
She narrowed her eyes, "Like, moonstone hecatolite?"
"Exactly! They haven't felt the moon in four months."
"So i was right." She spoke, mostly to herself, "Scott, we need to get out of here!"
Scott glanced over to her, ending his call with Stiles, "Derek, we got a problem, a really big problem."
"Cora?"
Her heart dropped at the name, phone falling from her hand as she turned to face them.
Ryder felt her eyes fill with tears, "Cora?"
Cora looked up at them, "Derek, Ry, get out. Get out now!"
This is not how Ryder thought reuniting with her dead childhood best friend would be.