The teens trudged through the woods and Malia said, "We can still catch him."
"Catch who?" Scott asked, looking at Malia.
"The killer. What are you thinking about?"
Scott and Tessa stared at the fleur-de-lis bullet she'd found.
The demigoddess held up the bullet. "We need to take this to Mr. Argent."
Malia frowned. "Even if he's the one that fired it?"
Scott nodded. "Especially if he's the one." He stopped abruptly. "Do you hear that?"
Tessa drew her dagger.
After a moment, Malia asked, "Heartbeats?"
"A lot of them. They're here."
"Who?" Lydia wondered.
"Hunters," Tessa confirmed, hearing the fear in her cousin's voice.
He ran off and Malia called after him. "Scott!"
Scott turned and saw hunters coming closer. He stopped, seeing several red laser-sight beams crossing the woods. He bared his fangs, showing his alpha eyes. Tessa raised her dagger, ready to stab it. Scott attacked the closest figure, who was Sheriff Stilinski. "Argh. Scott. Scott, it's me. It's me! Scott! Scott. Tessa, dagger away. You don't need to stab anything."
""Talk first, stab later?" I don't think so," Tessa retorted, keeping her dagger up as she stared at the gun pointed at her cousin's heart and inched her dagger closer to the sheriff. "Move the gun and I'll put the dagger away."
The sheriff did so and said, "Okay, okay. Come on. It's okay. It's okay." He looked around. "Everybody stay back. They're just kids."
Deputy Vargas glared at them, gun still pointed at Scott. "What's wrong with his eyes? Why does she have a gold dagger?"
Tessa turned to the deputy and pointed her dagger at him. "It's Celestial Bronze, asshat. Drop the gun. Now."
Parrish shook his head. "You heard the sheriff. Tessa, put the dagger away. Stand down."
Scott shifted back to normal and started panting. "I'm really sorry. You don't think they'll say anything, do you?"
Parrish smiled at the teens. "No more than they're used to."
"You wanna tell me what happened out here?" the sheriff asked.
"He's a Hellhound."
"A dead Hellhound," Malia added, earning a look from Lydia.
Sheriff Stilinski nodded. "Yep, got that."
Parrish frowned. "Well I don't get it. I didn't think you could kill a Hellhound."
Tessa pursed her lips. "Anything can be killed."
Malia nodded and shrugged. "Looks a lot easier than we thought."
Tessa pocketed the bullet casing as she said, "I don't think it was just any bullet."
"I hope not," Parrish muttered, kneeling next to the body.
After everyone left, Lydia, Malia, Tessa and Scott shared a look. Lydia turned to Scott. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"Why didn't you say anything?" Scott repeated.
"Why didn't either of you say anything?" Malia asked.
"Why didn't any of you, us, say anything?" Tessa wondered.
Malia frowned at Scott. "Wait, was I supposed to say something?"
Scott looked between his cousin and friends. "None of us said anything to Argent and none of us are going to say anything until we talk to him. Everybody good with that?"
Lydia nodded. "As long as we talk to each other soon. Immediately would be preferable."
Malia raised an eyebrow. "The one with the screaming and people killing each other."
Tessa let out a sigh. "First, we need to find Mr. Argent."
Lydia went off to Eichen House with Parrish and Tessa followed Scott and Malia to the Argent bunker.
As they searched through bullets to find the matching casing, Malia said, "He's not answering our calls or texts, he's not home, he's not here. I mean, maybe Argent just doesn't wanna be found?"
Scott sighed. "Well, he... He would have his calendar on his laptop. If we crack the password..."
Malia grinned excitedly and teased, "I didn't think you had it in you." She opened the laptop and tried various passwords. "Gun." There was a beep. "Lots of guns." Beep. "Hunter!" Beep. "No, no, it's definitely not hunter. I mean, cause why would it be hunter because Argent's not even a hunter anymore, so... I mean there's not even hunters for werewolves at all anymore, right? So why would anybody think that there was a hunter in the woods when it was actually just deputies?"
"What?"
Malia shook her head and turned back to the laptop. "Nothing."
Scott broke open a locker and Tessa stood next to him, seeing the guns.
Scott frowned. "Uh, Malia, Tessa, I don't think that Argent took off from Beacon Hills. I think he's back in business."
The blonde noticed Scott holding a bow and typed in 'ALLISON'.
They drove to Argent's location and hid, listening to him talk. "Major Delane is my contact at Camp Robertson. I'm surprised he didn't tell me about the change in protocol."
"Well, the Major got promoted and was promptly shipped overseas," a guy said.
"Huh? Didn't know the Army worked that fast."
The soldier laughed softly. "They do when they want to."
Argent laughed falsely. "The Major's not Army, he's Marine. Who sent you? Who's buying all this weaponry?"
"We don't need to have a situation."
"We already do. See, I don't sell to weekend warriors. You want these guns, you'll answer my question."
"We're taking the guns, and the ammo, and the crates."
Argent smirked. "If you knew anything about guns, you'd know they're not loaded."
"We brought our our own," the commander said, raising his gun at Argent.
Tessa chuckled softly. "Ares would like him."
"And we always have a backup plan," Argent said.
Malia stepped out from her hiding spot. She kicked one of the soldiers, knocking him out. She kept a foot on his chest and Scott and Tessa exchanged a look before moving to stand behind Argent.
Argent looked between the teens. "What the hell are you guys doing here?"
"We're your backup," Malia told him.
Argent frowned. "I had a guy on the inside."
"Who?"
Tessa looked down at the man Malia's foot was on. "I think you're standing on him."
Argent nodded and Malia awkwardly removed her foot from the man's chest.
Argent yelled, "Get down!"
Guns started firing. Malia pulled the inside man to safety as Scott took out one bad guy. Tessa punched another guy. Another soldier noticed Malia and went to attack her, but Argent came to her aide by putting a gun to the solider's head.
"What are the guns for?" Argent asked.
The solider dropped a grenade and the group dove for cover while the soldier escaped. Tessa started going after him and was pulled back by Scott and Argent.
When everything had cleared, Argent frowned at the teens. "For the record, I had everything under control."
"Clearly," Malia muttered.
"How did you find me?"
Malia pointed to Tessa and Scott. "They did it."
"You left your computer in the bunker," Tessa said in a deadpan tone.
Argent nodded. "Ah. I guess I need a new password."
Scott looked at Argent. "Why have you been avoiding us?"
"I haven't been avoiding you, I've been busy. Business is booming, and I'd like to know why."
"Have you made any unusual sales recently?" Tessa questioned.
"Like a bullet with a fleur-de-lis?" Malia added.
Argent shook his head. "I haven't stamped a bullet since Allison died."
"Someone just killed a Hellhound with one," Scott informed.
"Can I see the casing?"
The demigoddess searched through her pockets and frowned. They stared at the casings on the ground before she said, "I guess it fell out."
Argent shook his head again. "You don't need the casing, you need the slug. Find that, and you find the killer."
The group made their way back to Beacon Hills to reinvestigate the spot where Halwyn had died.
Malia sighed. "Okay. I'm not good with subtlety. What the hell happened last night?"
Scott nodded slowly. "Yeah. I get it, I freaked out. Which freaked you out."
Malia met Scott's eye. "So you admit that you freaked out?"
"Wait a minute, I didn't freak out. You haven't been trying to get me to talk because you're freaked out that I freaked out?"
Malia shook her head. "No, I've been trying to get you to talk because, you know, I'm you know, I'm... Well, I'm worried about you."
Scott gave her a small smile. "Uh, I'm okay. Thanks."
Tessa stood back, not wanting to be in the midst of their conversation.
After a moment, Malia said, "I was hunted by my dad."
"I was hunted by my girlfriend's dad."
They chuckled and Scott asked, "Does that fear ever go away?"
Malia glanced at Scott. "What if I told you I saw a red laser-sight right now?"
Scott frowned. "I'd say that you are seriously..." he paused, "...not paranoid."
Argent stepped out of the shadows. "Relax. It's just me."
Scott let out a slow breath as Malia asked, "Do you have to use that thing?"
"To determine the trajectory of the bullet, yes. Show me where you found the body."
The teens motioned to the ground in front of them. Argent investigated it and focused back on them, gun pointed at them. Scott's eyes widened and he stumbled back, as did Malia. Tessa gripped the hilt of her dagger tightly.
"Take it easy, safety's on," Argent reassured, looking around and using the laser-sight to span the trees and leaves. "Got it." The gun was pointed at a tree trunk. "Scott, do me a favor. Glow your eyes, tell me if you can see it too."
Scott's eyes flicked red and he nodded. "I see it."
"That's because it's made from an element with a higher heat signature than regular metal. It shines infrared, like your eyes, because it's silver."
They made their way back to the cars, trekking through broken branches and dirt.
Malia frowned. "How come no one's saying anything? Silver, copper, lead. Who cares what a bullet's made out of? Don't they all do the same thing?"
"Well, there's a myth that a silver bullet can kill a werewolf," Scott told her.
"But a real hunter would know it's just a myth," Argent said. "Silver's too soft for bullets; they don't fly straight."
"Well clearly you didn't fire it. Who did?" Tessa asked.
"Someone who doesn't know what they're doing," Scott said.
Argent nodded. "And someone dangerous. A new hunter."
They got back to the cars and made their way back to the McCall house. Lydia informed the group of what had happened on her end.
"He killed every supernatural in the Closed Unit?" Scott questioned. "All of them?"
Lydia nodded. "He said he couldn't see it any other way."
Malia narrowed her eyes. "Well, I've got another way. You don't kill everyone."
"I think he was afraid."
Scott was quiet for a moment. "The wolves, the rats, the spiders for Tessa. It keeps coming back to the same thing; fear."
"But what is everyone else afraid of?" Malia wondered.
Tessa glanced between her cousin and friends. "Us. We have no idea what the fear will do to someone. It changes them. They're going to see us differently. They're going to do things they've never done before. And, for the record, Scott, I was already afraid of spiders before this, so that means nothing."
Malia scoffed. "People can be so stupid."
Lydia shook her head. "They're not stupid, they're scared."
Scott frowned, looking between them. "And scared people will do things that you wouldn't believe."