Chapter 16:
The Plan
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So the plan to save Lydia was pushed to the next day considering The Beast that was going around killing people. But the following day they all gather in Scott's kitchen to go over the plan in more detail.
"There's four steps." Stiles started, glancing at them, "We get into Eichen, we get into the Closed Unit, we get Lydia, get out."
Scott continued for him, "And we have to do it all of this while getting past orderlies, guards, electric door locks, and a Mountain Ash barrier."
"You have a plan for all of that?" Malia asked, she didn't really believe that the plan they had would be completely full proof.
Stiles held up a keycard, "I stole this last night off an orderly. But it's useless 'cause they reset the codes each night."
"So why did you take it?" Kira asked with a furrowed brow. She was a bit doubtful she would be much help since she still had yet to gain control over the fox.
"I'm getting to that."
"The only way to get Lydia out of Eichen is to make that key card work again." The alpha said.
Liam frowned, "How are you going to do that?"
The two best friends seemed to start to feel a bit annoyed by their constant interruptions, "We're getting to that, okay, just listen." Stiles turned the laptop so they could all see the screen, "I pulled all the history off the key card. Two weeks ago, there was a brownout and the security system rebooted. During a reboot, all of the key cards revert back to a default code. So, if we trigger a reboot..."
Isaac nodded, "The card goes back to the default code and it'll work again."
Allison crossed her arms over her chest, "Okay, but how are we going to cause a brownout?"
"That's Kira's part." Imogen looked at the kitsune as she further explained, "You're going to draw power from the main line. But only enough to cause the brownout."
"Not a blackout." Stiles emphasized, "Do that and you send Eichen into lockdown which would be bad. Very, very bad."
Scott pointed to the room on the blueprints, "There's an electrical room behind the reception counter. The main power line goes into two breakers that run power to all of Eichen."
Kira's voice sounded nervous as she spoke, "Okay, slight problem. I don't know how to do that."
"That's okay." Imogen assured her. "You have time to practice."
"Let's say all this goes perfectly." Malia gestured to the blueprints, "How does a brownout get us into the Closed Unit of Eichen?"
"The system takes five minutes to reboot. In that five minutes all the alarms will be turned off and the key card should work."
"Liam, Isaac, and I will get Stiles and Allison to the gate of the Closed Unit." Scott explained, as Stiles and Allison were the only humans who could pass the mountain ash without a problem, "But after that, they have to go on their own. We can't get past the Mountain Ash barrier. And when we're gone, all anyone's going to think is that there was a reboot of the security system caused by a brownout."
Stiles felt satisfied that they came up with a semi- good plan. He looked at the rest of the group, "Uh, any questions?"
"How do we get into Eichen House in the first place?"
"What's our worst-case scenario?"
"What if I can't do it?"
"Okay, admittedly, a lot could go wrong."
"Everything could go wrong." Isaac jabbed and Stiles rolled his eyes.
"Guys, if we don't do this, we lose Lydia." Scott said, his voice serious which got their attention. He had told Imogen about the pictures that Deaton had shown him and Stiles. It made her even more worried about her friend that was currently alone and defenseless. "She's going to die there tonight. And she might take a lot of innocent people with her."
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"I can't do this." Kira said looking stressed out as she glanced at the boxes of lightbulbs she went through in the hour. Her dark eyes flickered to Imogen who was sitting next to Malia, the two of them were the ones who were going to be with her during the brown out. A brown out that she was sure she was going to fail in doing.
Imogen got off the stool and dropped the protection spell that she had been using to keep the glass from hitting her and Malia. The latter had been struck with a piece of glass in the forehead during Kira's first attempt at lowering the voltage.
"Yes, you can. You're just overthinking it." The hybrid said, noticing that every time Kira grabbed the wires her heart would be beating a lot faster. "You just need to take a deep breath and relax."
Kira shook her head, "I can't relax. All I can keep thinking about is if I fail then Lydia will die and it'll be my fault." She swallowed nervously, "Why can't you use your magic?"
Imogen pursed her lips, "Well because it's not magic that I would be taking in. I can probably control electricity like when I use fire spells but it would take me longer to learn that then it would for you. We don't have time for me to learn. Which is why you have to be the one to do it." Her eyes flickered to Malia and nodded to Kira who was looking at the ground in thought, she gave her cousin a look that said say something encouraging.
Malia crossed her arms over her chest and sighed, "Kira, you can do it." She said blankly with a forced smile on her lips. She really didn't want to be locked in a room with Kira who couldn't control her powers. She had more self preservation then her cousin. "Just believe in yourself."
Kira blinked, glancing between the two cousins and nodded, feeling encouraged by them before grabbing the wires.
The brief feeling of excitement they felt when they believed that Kira was doing it was overcome with shock when suddenly the power went out. The three girls were dumbfounded by the end result and didn't waste any time in rushing out of the school in order to avoid getting in trouble.
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Later that night, Imogen and Scott were in his room laying on his bed. After causing the power to go out in the school with Kira, she thought it was best to let the kitsune have some time to herself before they had to go to Eichen House.
"Promise that you'll be careful." She pleaded in a soft voice as she laid her head on his shoulder.
He peered down at her, of the two of them he would be the one in more danger since there was a chance he could get caught. "I'm always careful." He muttered teasingly and flinched when she poked his side.
She knew he was ticklish and hid her smile, "You say that but you always somehow get hurt." She hated that he always somehow got injured whenever it involved them in a plan.
He grabbed her hand, his thumb caressing the ring on her finger, "I'll do my best to not get hurt." He also wanted to avoid her feeling his pain. "I'm sorry, by the way."
"Why are you sorry?" She asked, sitting up so she could look at him. She sat crossed legged on his bed as he also sat up with his back against his pillows.
"Because, I pull you into this kind of danger every time there's a threat." He felt he wasn't keeping his promise to her mom or Ben by putting her in harm's way all the time. "It just doesn't seem fair. You deserve someone who's normal and can take you out on dates. Not drag you to fight Dread Doctors or fight against a giant werewolf. "
She cupped his face, "Scott, it's my choice to help you, remember? You've never forced me to do anything. If I wanted to get away, all I would have to do is tell Omar that I want to leave Beacon Hills. But I haven't because we always find a way to stop the bad guy. It's hard sometimes but we get through it because we have each other." She paused, smiling gently at him as she moved her hands to grasp his. "Normal's boring anyway. I like what we have. It's not easy but we make it work because we love each other. I wouldn't be wearing this ring if I didn't have hope in our future together." She watched him glance at the ring on her finger, "Wasn't it you who believed in fate?"
He saw her thoughts which showed a memory of when they broke up in sophomore year. The conversation they had which included him saying that he believed that they would wind up together.
"I remember." He whispered, he cupped her cheek with one hand while keeping the other wrapped around her hand. "I just wish we could have more moments like these. I feel like we've been so caught up with Theo and The Beast that we've rarely had any time together like this."
While they had been alone together before, most of that time was spent on trying to save their town and the people in it. He enjoyed the intimates they had.
"We'll have more time together." She assured him as she climbed on his lap, "Just remember that once high school is over... you and I will be moving in together while enjoying college life."
He smiled at the thought as she kissed him on the cheek. His smile faltered for a moment, "Stiles is gonna kill me." He mumbled, having forgotten that he would have to tell his best friend that the plans of having an apartment together would not be happening anymore.
She blinked, his phone buzzed and she saw it was Stiles. "Well, you can tell him later since we have to go now." She said, the mood in the room now more serious. They got up from the bed. "I have to go pick up Kira and Malia at my house so we can get ahead of you guys."
"Right." He mumbled, before pulling her into a deep kiss, "Be careful."
"You too..." She mumbled, pressing her lips to his once more before leaving. He would have to meet Stiles downstairs so they could meet up with Isaac, Liam, Allison, and Parrish.