Stiles and Malia pulled up to the front of the school after their "get together". It went a little longer than they thought and Stiles ended up almost getting pulled over as he sped to try and make up the difference. Stiles got to the lacrosse field though froze when his stomach started grumbling.

A team member was unwrapping a rice krispie treat and was about to take a bite when it was snatched out of his hand. "Hey!" he cried out at Stiles.

Stiles held the treat at him. "You shouldn't be eating these things anyway," he said right before he went to take a bite of it himself. He was hungry and this would have to sate him until lunch.

A yawn made its way out of him as he set his bag to the side and moved to get a feel for his net, giving a few practice swings. He then shoved the rest of the treat into his mouth, so he didn't notice someone moving for him.

"Hey, Stiles?"

Stiles snorted roughly and looked over to see that Liam's buddy Mason was standing next to him.

"Mason?" he asked with a mouth full of the snack treat before swallowing and wiping at his mouth. "What's up? Looking for Liam?"

"Actually, I was hoping I could talk to you."

"Me? About what?"

"About everything. What's been going on for like the last month. I mean, Liam spending so much time with you, Scott and the rest of your junior friends. Then, how Liam just vanished while we were running but turns up missing and he suddenly shows up and can't tell me where he went or what happened. And, all that craziness at the bonfire, when your dad comes and tells me to get rid of a soundboard while he goes after Liam and your friends who were taken away by security guards and an hour later, he has them all arrested and Liam and your friends are all gone. I know Liam is involved but I can't figure out what it is and he won't talk to me."

Stiles sighed. Mason was smart and intuitive, way too smart and intuitive. But, Stiles could feel how anxious and worried he was. "Why come to me?"

Mason shook his head. "Last time I came to you, Liam was missing but he turned up okay a few hours later. I know that you know what it is and it's obviously something serious if your father is involved. I guess that if I come to you again, then somehow, I can find out what's wrong with my best friend and if he's in trouble, actually help him."

Stiles looked around them and found that there were some people close enough to them that might be able to overhear. "Let's go over here." He went and took Mason to a less crowded part of the field. "Mason...okay, first of all, you're right. I do know what's been up with him lately, but it's not for me to say. What I can tell you, is that the worst of it is mostly over. The parts where my dad has to be involved is at least."

"So, he's not in trouble?"

"No, at least, not in the way you might've been thinking."

"So wait, then he's still in some kind of trouble?"

"More like, having trouble. But don't worry, we've been working on it and he's actually getting a better handle on it than he thinks he is."

"On what?"

Stiles shook his head. "I'm sorry Mason, I can't tell you that."

"Why not?"

"Because it's not mine to tell," he told him sternly. "Look Mason, this is something that he probably doesn't want to burden you with. You're his best friend."

Mason let out a deep heated breath. "And he's my best friend," he said simply. "When I came out, I let myself get pushed around because I was too afraid to stand up for myself. He stood up for me, helped me to not let anyone make me hate myself. So, if he's in trouble, then he's probably being half-assed in trying to get out of it. He's going to need me to fill in the blanks for him."

Stiles smiled to himself. "Oh, I hear ya." He did. Stiles knew exactly how Mason was feeling. He'd been there with Scott quite a few times, chief among them, during his star-crossed romance with Allison back when her family wanted to cut the both of them in half. He had to be there to try and drill some sense into him, not that he ever wanted or did listen most of the time, but still. "Mason, do you remember when Liam went missing from Lydia's party? You said the same thing back then, remember?"

Mason remembered. Liam had vanished and had been acting strange which had made him worried and when he had tried to get answers from Stiles before, he had told him that it was because Liam was his best friend. "Yeah."

"Do you remember what I said to you back then?"

"Uh...to make sure that he could still count on me."

Stiles nodded. "Yeah, but, I also told you to not let his problems make him believe its okay to let him be a jackass." Oh, how Stiles wished that he had done that from the beginning, himself. Hopefully, Liam and Mason don't ever go through what he and Scott had and are going through with each other. "Look Mason, I can't tell you what is up but I will tell you that Liam is definitely getting better, so don't have to worry too much. And I think he will tell you what's going on when he's ready to tell you. Just make sure that he knows you'll be there when he's ready. But, in the meantime, you also make it clear that it doesn't give him the license to just shrug you off and that you'll just take it."

_____________

At Coach's class, Lydia, Kira and Malia were sitting as Coach was going around to hand them the results of their tests. Lydia was staring down at her book but not really reading anything. Her mind was far away, back at the loft. The last time that happened was back during the Darach's human sacrifice rampage a few months ago. With all the things she had been through since then, she thought that she had least gotten over blacking out and reappearing at random places by now. She guessed that the consolation was that she hadn't woken out of it to find a bleeding corpse so it was somewhat progress. But, she had a feeling that someone close to her was about to become a bleeding corpse. Lydia was so consumed by these thoughts that she didn't hear the sound of her name being called.

"Lydia? Lydia?!" Lydia blinked and looked over to see that Malia was calling her and holding up a test paper. "Look, I passed," she said gleefully.

Lydia zeroed her vision on the paper and her eyes narrowed at the grade on it. "C plus?" Not exactly a grade that Lydia would personally be jumping up in joy about.

But Malia looked ecstatic. "Yeah. Your notes are great when they're not written in code."

"Not to mention all the extra studying that Stiles has been helping you do," Kira casually threw in. "You should be happy." Kira gave her a smile in support. She knew that Malia had been working hard and was worried seeing as how she had been behind everyone else.

Malia smiled back at her but turned when Coach came over and slammed down a more recent test. This one a C minus.

"Just one wrong question away from a full letter drop. Careful Malia. Don't start disappointing me," he said to her sternly.

Malia's grin faded a bit and she gave a solemn nod. Before, she and Stiles had worked hard and long together to help her crack where she was having trouble, motivated by the fact that Stiles would let her spoon him if she got enough practice questions right. But, after that whole thing with finding out that she was Peter's daughter and that he had known but didn't tell her, that study time had been cut until recently, which obviously cost her. She looked from the test back over at Lydia with a less enthused smile on her face.

Lydia shrugged at her. "At least you passed," she said trying to keep her spirit up. Malia gave a nod but it wasn't as enthused as before. "I'll send you my notes. You can look them over, it'll be okay," she lightly assured her. Malia sighed as she went to look her recent test over and Lydia moved her gaze up to the board.

Kira noticed that Lydia's gaze seemed to be a little tense and haunted. She followed her gaze to the board and saw that there were names on there, with money values next to each, kind of like the Deadpool. She leaned in. "Hey, it's over. The computers are off," she reminded her. "No more assassins, no more murders. No one's dying."

"Not yet." Lydia could feel that, deep down, that while the computers were off, it was far from over.

____________

Braeden was dressed up in a pants suit with a suit case jiggling a bit at her side with every confident step she took into City Hall. There were half a dozen people sitting up in a board room in the building and seemed to be waiting for her. Braeden then slammed the briefcase down onto the table and slowly removed her sunglasses to stare them down.

The mayor was at the center and he broke the silence. "Well, Ms-?"

"You can just call me Braeden," she told him.

He nodded. "Well then, Braeden, why have you called for this town council meeting?"

She moved to unlock the briefcase. "I have a business proposition for Beacon Hills," she told them before she opened it to reveal rolls of money underneath.

____________

It was Physics class and Scott was trying hard to pay attention and make the best notes that he could. Lydia's mom was teaching this class and she was going through material that would be on a big exam she would give them next week. This was one of the classes that he couldn't afford to have his grades slip down on. As Scott was copying down a diagram that was on the board, he heard a light snoring coming from his side. He looked over at the other side of the station to see that Stiles had his head lying on his notebook as he was sleeping. This was their first class together for the day and they didn't speak when it started. They both were still reeling from their argument last night. But, seeing Stiles sleeping and drooling close by, Scott almost forgot what he was mad about.

He couldn't help but think about what Derek asked for him to consider. Scott was confused about what a 'Second' was. Derek then explained that usually Seconds were looked at as next in the Alpha's chain of command for a pack. If the Alpha wasn't around or couldn't be reached then the rest of the pack turned to the Second for direction and leadership. Same could be said for any outsider that had business with the pack or Alpha. Scott didn't like the sound of that because it made a pack sound like an army which is close to what he and Stiles had fought about in the first place. However, Derek told him that Seconds actually had a much more vital and deeper role for the future of the pack, in that it guaranteed a future. Should anything happen to the Alpha, then the Alpha's rank, eyes and power would be passed on to the pack's Second upon death, provided of course that the power wasn't stolen from the Alpha by another werewolf. Otherwise, the pack was left defenseless and directionless, and often ended up being broken apart with its members becoming Omegas. The true role of a Second was to be the one to look and take over in the pack when the Alpha's time ended, often abruptly. Derek told him that his mother Talia had made Laura their pack's Second and, after the fire, Laura had found that she gotten her mother's red eyes. When Derek was an Alpha he had never appointed a Second for his pack and he admitted that he had selfishly believed his pack wouldn't have a future passed his time. Derek then asked Scott that if something happened to him, would he feel content knowing that his pack was left in good hands? If those hands belonged to Stiles?

Scott had to admit, he had honestly never thought of it before. Never even considered. The rank of Alpha, and his pack, all of it really just fell onto his shoulders and he only ever tried to get them all by and deal with it the best he could. He never really gave a thought to it having a future. But, with everything that happened with the Deadpool, and now his talk with Derek, he couldn't help but start thinking some. What if something had happened to him, or did happen? What would happen to Kira? To Lydia? To Malia? To Liam? And Stiles...he looked closely over at his sleeping friend's face. If Scott gave a thought to having a Second, would he make it be Stiles? For Stiles to become the Alpha for the pack? Despite everything going on with them, if it all came down to it, would Scott be okay trusting all their friends, the pack, leaving it all to Stiles? Or, would it be better and safer for them all if his power did just disappear with him? Before he could think anymore, a pointer stick slammed down at the station making Scott jump in surprise and Stiles cough out as he jolted awake.

"Mr. Stilinski," Natalie Martin cried out as she raised the stick back up. "I do hope I'm not making this class too boring for you," she said mockingly.

Stiles blinked rapidly and shook his head as he felt the heat of Lydia's mom's hard stare. "No, no Ms. Martin. I'm sorry."

Her stern look started to set in. "I expected more than this from you Stiles."

"I know. I know," he muttered softly as he visibly deflated. "I'm sorry."

She then started to soften a bit. "Don't disappoint me, or more importantly, yourself."

"Yes, Ms. Martin," Stiles nodded as he went and tore off the page in his notebook that he drooled on so that he could start over.

Ms. Martin then walked away leaving and Stiles cleared his throat before rubbing at his eyes. He then set to work in jotting down notes as Scott watched him from the corner of his eye.

___________

Chris was being manhandled by the Berserker as soon as he managed to come to. He was completely unable to free himself from its hold as Peter was strutting confidently towards him with a strip of metal.

"Finally awake," Peter said as he saw the man stirring.

Chris tried to move but the Berserker kept him firmly pressed into the wall. Peter was Kate's accomplice. The one that had helped Kate learn control and was targeting Scott. "Why are doing this Peter?"

Peter moved to tightly grip at the man's jaw, painfully. "I'm just trying to get back what is mine. What has always been rightfully mine and, was stolen from me."

"And what would possess Kate to side with you?" Chris muffled out through Peter's grip on him. "Or you to side with her? After everything you two have done to each other."

Peter chuckled. "Yes, well, as much as your sister and I do despise each other, there's others the both of us despise a hell of a lot more. Who took more from us than we ever did from each other. And, unfortunately, while I promised Kate that I wouldn't kill you." He moved from gripping Chris' jaw to the side of his head so that he could look him square in the face. "I also can't let you leave," he said with a sympathetic tone of voice that contradicted what he was about to do next. He then went and drove the spike directly into his side, making it pierce straight through and pinning him into the wall.

Chris let out a deep grunt of pain through his clenched teeth as he felt a bite of the pain traveling through his side and light up every fiber of his being. His right hand reached for the spike to pull on it but Peter kept his hand gripped on it to keep it from budging. Peter then moved to twist the end of the spike up to keep him locked in there.

Chris tried to fight through the pain to keep his hard glare on Peter. "Damn you," he spat at him.

Peter rose his eyebrows at him. "Hmm, surprising resilience Chris. Most would be screaming or passed out."

"I've been hurt worse," Chris spat at him.

Peter then looked down at his hand that was now caked with the man's blood. His eyes narrowed as he caught something strange. "Curious smell." He brought his fingers closer to his nose as he gave the blood a deeper smell. He then brought his forefinger to the tip of his tongue and his eyes widened. "Ah," he said with a nod. "Pain killers." He knew the taste of them well thanks to his years stuck in the hospital after the fire. "Now, why would Chris Argent need to inject himself with pain suppressant drugs before going on a hunt?"

Chris just glared at him as he tried to remain stoic and strong through the spike piercing him. His right hand was at the point of entry, trying to stem the bleeding as much as possible. Peter moved a clawed finger to the bridge of Argent's nose and caused the hunter to reach for the hand with his free hand by impulse. But Peter latched onto the wrist and squeezed it to lock it in place. Chris finally broke composure and let out a small but deep scream of pain.

Peter noticed the spike in Chris' pain and moved to rip the sleeve down. He chuckled at the sight of the claw mark scars running down his arm. "Ouch. That explains it. Now, what could've been strong and skilled enough to do that to the Great Christopher Argent?" he chuckled.

Chris' narrowed eyes flew from the scars to Peter. "The same person who will do this and more to you if anything happens to Scott."

The werewolf just let out a single chuckle under his breath. "I don't doubt that, which is where your sister comes in. See, while Scott may be mine, Stiles belongs to her." He then backed away. "Get comfy Chris, because as soon as those pain killers wear off, every second will feel like an hour."

Peter then headed on off with the Berserker following after him, leaving Chris stuck to the wall of that dark and dank tunnel.

____________

Liam needed a distraction. During his free period, he went to the weight room and moved to lose himself at the weight bar. Mason was already there, lifting barbells and saw as he began to stack weights on the bar, one by one, with a troubled look on his face.

"That's a lot of weight," he couldn't help but point out.

Liam sighed. "I got to get ready for the game." Truth is, he was sure he would be fine for the game. Unlike last time, he wasn't going in blind. He knew how to handle his new strength and had an anchor now. But, what he really had to do was be ready for whatever it was that would be coming for him next. Those...things, Berserkers, were still out there. And he had to be ready to help his pack. They were counting on him.

"Need a spot?" Mason offered.

"No," Liam smirked. With his new strength and with all of his training, he wouldn't need it. He then looked over at the simple and single weights Mason was lifting and hard breaths he was taking with every lift. "Do you?"

Mason stopped and narrowed his eyes at him. "This is just my warm-up. Ass," he huffed up. Liam moved to lay under the bar and moved to begin lifting but Mason moved over to the bar. Liam quickly sat back up. "What are you doing?"

"Spotting you," Mason said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. With as much weight that was on the bar, he would be crazy to leave Liam alone with it.

"I said I don't need one," he barked out. "Really, I don't need your help."

"Are you crazy? This thing must be, 300 pounds," he said as he took a look at all the weight that Liam had stacked.

Liam just sighed and moved to begin to lift it. He lifted it off and pushed a set before putting it back on the bar. He then sat up and looked at Mason's stunned face. "See? I told you that I don't need your help."

"Liam, what is going on with you?" Mason sighed out.

"Nothing, okay," he coughed out at him. "I'm fine. Can you just, leave me alone?"

Mason narrowed his eyes before shaking his head at him. "You know what, if that's what you really want, fine."

Mason then grabbed a rag and wiped off the sweat from his brow and threw it at him. It went and bounced off Liam's cheek but he hardly reacted as Mason walked out the door.

"Fine," he muttered under his breath before settling back to do his set.

Mason turned the corner after pushing passed the doors and bumped into someone. "Sorry," he muttered before he turned and saw that it was Scott.

Scott could smell the irritation and frustration leaking out of him. "Mason? You okay?"

Back in the weight room, Liam started pumping the iron bar slowly. With every raise of the bar, Liam's mind drifted to the night at the hospital roof, where he had been beaten by that Berserker. Then, he started to see the assassins at the lake house. He saw as a gun was pointed at him and then a spray of bullets were being fired right at him. He saw Scott's gentle and consoling face as he talked with him. Then he saw Stiles smiling proudly at him. The speed that he was raising the bar increased with double the speed then and it was almost like a blur. But, a hand went and grabbed it, stopping him in mid push. Liam was sweating and breathing quickly as he looked over and saw that Scott had stopped him.

"Liam, calm down," Scott told him.

Behind Scott, stood Mason, who was looking at him with a stern expression on his face.

"Still think you don't need my help?" Mason said with a stiff tone.

Liam averted his gaze from him before turning his back to the both of them as he started to take deep breaths in order to settle his heart rate.

Scott looked over at Mason. "Uh, could you-"

"Yeah," Mason said before Scott could finish.

The freshman just huffed and started to walk off. Scott looked back over at Liam, who was breathing hard and looking religiously at his sneakers.

"Liam," Scott said to him. But the kid kept his gaze away. The Alpha could sense the anxiety and fear that pouring out of him. Scott then kneeled so that he was right beside him. "Liam, relax. Stiles said that you found your anchor, right?" The boy nodded quickly. "Well, what is it?"

"My...my stepdad," he said in a deep and rough tone. "His slogan. Play smart,"

"Not hard," Scott finished as he had remembered hearing it back at the hospital. Liam blinked a bit before nodding. "Okay, then concentrate Liam. Imagine him here instead of me. Imagine hearing his voice saying it to you."

Liam blew out a deep puff of air as he let his dad's voice come to him and heard him say the slogan. 'Play smart, not hard'. He kept hearing his stepdad's voice repeat it over and over in his head and his heart rate began to slow down and the pressure on his chest loosened.

After clearing his throat, Liam sighed. "I'm good. I'm okay," he breathed out. He rose himself up to show that he was relatively normal save for a slightly sweaty brow.

Scott could see that Liam's little breakdown at the weight bar was anything but good and okay. "Liam...look, I know things have been a little, insane, lately. And, if you're having second thoughts and don't want to be with us-"

But Liam shook his head. "No Scott, it's not that. I do want to be with you, that's the problem." He dropped his gaze a bit. "I don't deserve to be with you guys. With anyone."

Scott narrowed his eyes at him in confusion. "What are you talking about?" Liam kept his gaze away and Scott went to kneel beside him. "Liam, what's going on?" he lightly demanded.

"Last night...Stiles took me out into the woods for a run and, he brought me to this, really great spot.

"The creek," Scott cut in softly. He then remembered last night, the two of them coming close to clawing at each other. "You like learning from him?"

A ghost of a smile started to creep its way onto Liam. "Yeah, of course. Well, I mean, sometimes I don't get what he's saying. One time, he told me about how us controlling our wolf parts are like blind men and their help dogs. If you try to push the dog away when you don't need or don't want to be bothered by it then he'll bite you more than lead you. But care and treat him like he's truly a cherished part of you and not just a pest or thing to use and he'll protect and guard you with his life and hopefully never lead you into a wall or oncoming car." Scott rose his eye at that and Liam shrugged. "Yeah, honestly, I think he didn't really get it either." Scott let a small amused snort out at that. "But, still it helped a little I guess. And, the night before Garrett took me, Stiles came to my house and told me that being a werewolf could be rough but there were times when it could be great too. Last night, he took me out running, I shifted but he asked me to not rush to make it go away. He asked me to keep myself shifted and stayed shifted with me as we sat by the water. Relaxing there, faces shifted and with claws on our hands, glowing eyes, he made me feel, I don't know...actually normal."

"Normal," Scott mumbled to himself.

Liam nodded. "For the first time since...well since the doctors told me and my parents I was an anger driven freak." But then Liam's face fell. "But then-"

Scott could feel...shame coming from Liam. "What?"

He turned away. "Well, we got to talking and...he looked at me and called me a hero," he muttered softly. "Said that everyone, our friends and even Satomi's pack...I saved their lives and was their hero. For stopping the Deadpool."

Scott couldn't help but feel his heart warm a bit. "Well, he's not wrong."

"No, he is," Liam said, jumping to his feet so he looked down on him. "I'm not a hero Scott."

Now Scott never heard of something more ridiculous. "What are you talking about?"

The freshman quickly turned and walked a few paces away from him. "That night, when you dropped me off at my house, Stiles came to get me so that I wouldn't be alone. So I could be safe, and I went with him because I was scared of not being safe. He said I could help being with him, but...when I found the key, the one that shut the Deadpool down, I wasn't running to stop it. I was ready to run away. An assassin saw me and moved to kill me and I moved to get myself out of there. The only reason I didn't was because one of those assassins blocked the way out for me and aimed for me with his gun which made me run back up to the room just to avoid getting shot. Everyone thinks I'm a hero but, I'm not. Not like all of you." Angry tears were leaking from him. Anger at himself. For those two nights, everyone else was fighting to protect themselves and each other, protect him, and he was only thinking of hiding and running. They all think he was a hero, when he was really a coward.

Scott moved over to him and took his shoulder. "Liam," he said simply. "Hey, look at me," Scott said softly. Liam turned slowly but it took real effort for him to move his eyes to meet Scott's. "It's okay Liam. You say that you wanted to run, it's okay. Back when I first turned, I actually did run." Memories of the Winter Formal coming back to him. "But, in the end, my friends made me run back. But, you didn't. You could've still tried to keep running, but when the time came, you didn't. You stayed with Stiles and the others from start to finish to help stop the Deadpool. I'm no hero, even if everyone says I am. I'm just a guy that wants to graduate high school with my friends. But you are. So, don't run from your friends Liam, ever. Heroes don't do that."

Scott moved to leave Liam with that thought but Liam stopped him.

"Stiles." That made Scott stop and look back at him. "After the hospital, I felt I was useless, for not being able to stop those Berserkers. But Stiles, he tried to tell me that I wasn't, like you just did. I get why you're best friends," Liam said with a soft look in his eyes.

Scott's gaze dropped a bit, and it took so much effort to manage a hint of a smile.

____________

Lydia was sitting out in the courtyard after school, doing her homework as everyone around her started to head on home if they weren't staying. Malia was off with Stiles and Kira had gone home to try and get ready for her date with Scott. As for Lydia, she couldn't leave without her mom and she had to stay and work on looking over homework and getting tests prepared for next week. But, Lydia didn't mind. She confidently sat there, working, and her poise even made a few passerby's ogle her for a bit though Lydia didn't care much for it. Yet, she suddenly felt a small tingle in the back of her neck and looked out towards the direction of the main entrance. She packed her stuff and started to walk off and found, in front of the school, was a familiar deputy and he seemed to be waiting. His face lit up at the sight of her and Lydia just sighed and but walked over to him with a small grin on her face just the same.

"What brings you here Deputy Parrish?" she asked as if she didn't already know.

"Uh, well, I just got off duty and decided to check up on you and see how you're doing, after last night."

"I'm okay," she shrugged.

His face went a little softer. "You sure?"

"Yeah," she said in the same calm tone. "It's actually not the first time I've gone off in the middle of the night and found myself somewhere else." That didn't seem to make the deputy feel relief. "Really, I'm fine."

He nodded. "Well, how about I give you a lift?"

"Uh, sure. Let me just text my mom to let her know I got a ride." Her mother had insisted that they ride off to school together this morning. After she sent the text, she then went off and followed after Parrish as they went over to his squad car. It was silent the entire time that he had driven them over to her house. They pulled in but Lydia just sat there, and she saw that Parrish was silently staring off at his fingers that were still gripping the steering wheel. This silence felt a little awkward and after a few minutes of it, Lydia moved to break it. "Uh, I never got to thank you for last night Parrish."

"It was nothing. And Lydia, you can call me Jordan." He gave her a timid smile.

Lydia's face softened. "Jordan...uh, when you brought me back, my mother told me that you had actually come along before, asking for me." Lydia gave him a pointed look. "Why did you want to see me?"

He sighed. "Well, Stilinski had told me that as smart as his son was when it came to all of this, you were smarter." Lydia raised her eyes at him. "So, I was hoping you could help me."

"Help you? How?"

Jordan paused for a moment before he cleared his throat. "With, trying to find out what it is I am. But, if you don't think you can help me, then I can understand," he quickly added.

Lydia narrowed her eyes. "Actually, maybe I can."

____________

Scott had rushed over to the loft right after school so that he could set up for his date with Kira. He would've waited after school for Stiles to help him with some things he could do for his date but, things were still a little on edge with them. Maybe all they needed was just a little space to breathe. And...Scott didn't want to talk to Stiles right now as he would start to think all about the whole 'Second' thing. He got to the loft and found that Derek was almost about to head out. He had asked Derek if he could use his loft for his date and Derek decided to let him and promised that he and Braeden would be gone to give them all the 'privacy' they needed. Scott was thinking of fixing up some kind of surprise because he wanted to make their first official date night special. He asked if Derek wouldn't mind having the loft decorated a bit but promised that he would clean it up after he was done. Derek said it was okay and while Scott moved to clean the main room up, Derek thought there might be some lights and other things from that party thrown at his place left behind that he could use and decided to help him before heading out.

Derek began moving through the stacks of boxes in his storage when he came upon a marked white box. "Whoa, I forgot all about this," he mumbled as he pulled it out.

This box had been given to him by Stilinski last year, back when Scott and Stiles had gotten him arrested when they first met. To be free, he told them that he had been checking in on his sister after she hadn't checked in with him as she said she would. Stilinski had checked her credit card history and found the motel that she had been staying and found her stuff to validate his story. He had gathered them for evidence but then given them back when everything checked out. He had forgotten that he had stashed them away when he had purchased the loft. He remembered he just gave them a small look through when he was looking for clues but hadn't found anything so he just pushed them to the side. He looked and found Laura's clothes and her favorite necklace. He ran his fingers across them delicately. Maybe Cora would like to have them?

"Derek?" He turned around to see Scott walking in. His expression was soft. "You okay?"

Derek guessed that Scott was feeling some of the sadness and anxiety he was feeling as he looked through his sister's things. "Uh, yeah. I'm okay." Scott nodded though he could tell that Derek was lying even without hearing his heart. Derek cleared his throat. "Listen, I found some lights."

"Oh, great."

While Scott went on to look through them, Derek continued digging in Laura's box and found the leather pocketbook that Maggie had given to Laura as a graduation present. There were some basic things in there like some makeup, a brush, a small box of mints, her wallet and the keys from their old place back in New York. But, he found something stuck a little in the lining. He pulled it out to see that it was a hand drawn picture.

"I remember this," he mumbled to himself. He had seen it a few times in Laura's room as it had been tacked to the door of her cabinet.

Scott had heard Derek and saw him staring at something. "What is that?" he asked as he moved over.

"Just some doodle that my sister had. Said that a little boy gave it to her before we had left Beacon Hills." He moved to show it to him. "I can't believe she took it with her from New York."

Scott looked and saw that it looked like it had been done with colored pencils. And it seemed like it had a good few years on it and had creases like it had been folded up to fit in a pocket. It was one of a ship in the middle of high looking waves. His eyes flew off to some black letters written on the side of the ship. "S. S. Mischief," he mumbled.

Derek looked over at the expression on Scott's face. It looked like that rang a bell. "Scott, what is it?"

Scott shook his head. "Oh, it's nothing."

But it wasn't nothing. S. S. Mischief. That vaguely brought back some memories of a time that felt like another lifetime ago. What did it mean?

____________

Liam was sitting in his room, trying to keep relaxed before the game by playing some video games. His face was blank as he played but his head snapped up when something landed over next to him. It was a video game and he looked up to see that Mason was standing by the door.

"Can I come in?" Liam just paused his game and set the controller down. "I guess I'll take that as 'Sure Mason, come right on in', but if it's not then I'm going to want that game back." Mason took a step inside and saw that Liam was trying to not make eye contact. Mason could see that his friend didn't feel like talking. "Liam, look man, I know you've been going through some things. And somehow, that mess back at the bonfire and what happened earlier today is a part of it. And, for whatever reason, Scott, Stiles, and their friends are a part of it. But, you're still my best friend." He then moved to sit beside him but Liam kept himself from still looking at him. "And considering that my last good friend turned out to be a professional killer, I'm thinking that I don't have too many options for new ones. Now, I get that you feel like you can't tell me what's going on, at least not yet. But, you don't have to worry. I'm not going to try and force you to tell me but I want you to know that you can tell me. Just make sure that when you do, you don't treat me like an idiot. Tell me everything and only everything. For now, scooch over. I'm sure that I can destroy your lame ass in one of these before the game," he finished sternly.

Liam kept himself silent at he stared at his controller through the whole thing. He then slowly looked over at the game Mason threw at him and took it in his hands. He gave it a look before he shrugged. "Never played this one," he mumbled as he looked calmly at his friend.

Mason narrowed his eyes playfully at him as he moved to grab a controller for himself and Liam popped it in.

___________

Lydia was scrolling down pages of Archaic Latin with images popping up now and again. She was in her room, sitting at her computer with Jordan kneeling off to the side as he was gently petting Lydia's dog Prada. She looked over to see Prada leaning into his touch and let a content purr.

"Seems Prada likes you. He usually doesn't like strangers."

Jordan shrugged. "I've always had a way with dogs. Worked with them during bomb disposal training."

"Seems you have a way with werewolves too." As soon as they met him, her werewolf friends seemed to instantly like him. Derek seemed to warm to Parrish during his freakout when he was going through the whole teen regression thing. Stiles thought that Parrish was cool and seemed to come to trust him, which she knew he didn't seem to do so quickly. And Scott, well, he's Scott so he takes to just about anyone.

"Yeah, who would've guessed," he said as he left Prada and moved to go and stand next to her at the computer. "So, this is the bestiary that you guys were talking about before?" he asked as he leaned in to look at the passing pages that Lydia was scrolling down.

"This is it," Lydia said as she kept her eyes on the screen. "It's basically a record of everything supernatural, well, anything supernatural that the Argents managed to come across."

"Oh. Did you come across anything about, things," he said not finding a better word for it. "That revolve around fire. You know, like an Ifrit or Phoenix?" Lydia turned to look over at him. "I've been doing some reading."

Lydia felt a smile creep up on her. She realized she was staring and turned back to the screen. "Yeah, but those don't really have concrete facts, just stories or legends. There's quite a few things listed in here that are like that. I don't think the Argents actually came across everything listed here but only heard or tried to study them."

Jordan let his eyes fall on an image of what looked like a giant bird standing on two clawed hind feet. He wondered if the hunters actually had run something that did look like that artist rendering before, or if it was just an embellishment. He could see the words and passages weren't in English. The Archaic Latin looked like complete gibberish to his eyes. "And you could actually read what it says?"

"Exactly," she simply said as she kept scrolling down and let her eyes go down the passages one by one.

Jordan looked at the thumb drive that was inserted into the port. "How did you get this?"

"Argent loaned it to me the other day. He just came over and gave it to me and told me make a backup to keep for myself. He thought it might be a good idea to have our own copy around in case anything happened. So far I've copied and translated around a quarter of it. If we're going to find whatever it is you are, it's a good bet that it's here."

"Uh, what about banshees? Have you found anything about that in there?"

She sighed. "I did but, that's one of the things that falls under stories and legends with not a lot of actual facts to go with."

"So, last night, what happened to you, that wouldn't be in here?"

She sighed. "No." She then caught his eye. "What about you? Last night, how did you find me?"

"I...I don't know. All of a sudden, in the back of head, I just heard some faint screaming and felt some kind of pull. I followed it and found you at Derek's loft." He went to pull in a chair close by and sat next to her.

Lydia was stuck in a frozen stare. "But, you don't hear anything you know you can't, right?"

He shook his head. "No."

"Rules out enhanced hearing then. Okay...so other than the fact that you were covered in gasoline and set on fire and came out of it without a scratch, what else is there?"

Jordan's face then fell a bit. "Uh, well, there's really not much else than that. I mean, I don't grow fangs and claws like your friends do."

She narrowed her eyes. "What about your eyes?"

"My eyes? You mean, do they glow?" Jordan then thought back to Scott and Stiles. "I don't know. If they have then I wouldn't know. How can we be sure? How do your werewolf friends do it?"

"They trigger it," Lydia said before she stiffened. "Or it gets triggered," she whispered to herself.

Before either one of them knew it, Jordan was turning a lighter around in his hands.

"You sure this will work?" he asked her.

"Well, it worked with Kira. She's not a werewolf but whenever she had touched electricity, it triggered her eyes. She's a thunder kitsune. She's tied to electricity."

"And I'm somehow tied to fire," Jordan finished.

Lydia nodded as she went and took the lighter from him. She then flicked it and brought the flame out. Jordan let himself stare at it before he slowly placed his palm over it. Lydia and Jordan's eyes kept their eyes locked on each other. They didn't see the flame as it slowly kissed the skin of his palm. Jordan didn't blink as the heat built up on him, yet, he didn't feel hot. But he did feel a...tingle. It traveled from his hand, to his shoulder, to his head. His eyes slowly lit up and Lydia's eyes focused on the orange glow they now had.

As Lydia stared into the glow, her ears began ringing. She heard a voice crawling out. A familiar voice. "Deaton," she gasped.

As for Jordan, staring into the vacant look that has come over Lydia's face, he suddenly saw a man bleeding in a dark tunnel.

"He's dying," he breathed.

They then broke away from each other and were both breathing a little faster than normal. They both looked off towards the window. They had places they knew they had to be. People needed them.

____________

Stiles was sitting by his window while Malia was lying on his bed, looking over Lydia's notes. They had gone to his house to study together like they had before their 'small reprieve' a week ago. Stiles was taking a little break as he calmly looked at the view outside of his window. He was holding the necklace that Argent had given him, his fingers grazing over the shield and arrow pendant. His eyes drifted to the scattered trees by the houses swaying in the light wind to the nearly full moon shining overhead to try and let it calm him down but as helpful as he would've liked. So many thoughts were flying through his mind all at once, and it was making him a little anxious. So anxious, that Malia could smell it coming off of him easily.

"Stiles?" she said making him look over at her. "You okay?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

But before anything else could be said, there was a knock at the open door.

"Knock, knock," Stiles' father said as he stood at the door, smiling at his son and his girlfriend.

He stepped in but right behind him stood Malia's father.

Malia went to sit at the edge of the bed at the sight of him. "Dad?"

"Hey kids," he said with a nod.

Stiles moved to pocket the necklace. "Is something wrong?"

"Uh, no," Mr. Tate told him. "I just got a call from the school. They say that Malia is on her way to moving onto senior year. I can only guess who helped her do that and wanted to show my gratitude by coming and seeing him play in his first official game of the season," he said giving Stiles a pointed but light look.

Stiles shrugged. "It was nothing."

"No, it was a lot more than nothing," Malia chipped in fondly.

Stiles ducked his head a bit at the praise on Malia's face. His father gave him a proud smirk.

"Well, that settles it. We have to celebrate. I'm treating everyone to dinner, whatever you want," he said pointing to Malia. "My treat, I insist."

Stiles then scratched his head. "Uh dad, I don't think it's a good idea for a man in debt to make such a promise."

"Well, would it be a better idea if there were more than one thing to celebrate?"

Stiles straightened himself up from where he sat. "What do you mean?"

"You see, Henry wasn't the only one that got a call. So did I, and a letter. From Eichen House," he said pulling it out.

Stiles sighed as he quickly deflated at the mention of the place that they were heavily indebted to. "Another final notice?' he glumly guessed.

But his father wasn't looking glum but calm as he shook his head. "No. It turns out, that having one of their best orderlies turn out to be a psycho killer looks bad on their establishment. Especially when he nearly kills a former patient. So, to try and make sure there's no hard feelings, they decided to forgive our debt." As Noah handed his son the letter, he could hear a small snort coming from Henry's direction. He was eager to follow the man's example. He knew the only reason that Eichen House would be so generous was to make sure that they didn't get sued and end up paying the Stilinski's more than they owe.

Stiles let out a gasp as he read through the letter. "Wow, I've never been so happy to have had someone try to have me killed."

Noah rolled his eyes. "Wait son, remember, that was just the letter. About an hour ago, I got a call from the mayor's office. Turns out, some of those men you three caught at the lake house were linked to quite a few unsolved federal cases. They were able to track them back to some of their associates and arrested a lot of them. From the sound of it, it sounds like these guys might be some of the assassins that attacked Scott, Derek and the others but had got away."

Henry folded his arms. "Oh, well that's some real good news." He was happy to hear that they grabbed more of the people that wanted to kill his daughter and her friends.

"Gets even better actually," Noah continued. "The station got a great deal of the credit for finding them and got a donation of 75 grand. The mayor decided to give all the officers a bonus to celebrate."

Stiles' jaw dropped. "What? That's...that's incredible." Stiles laughed out before he moved to go and wrap his father in a hug. Malia smiled fondly at the two of them before her gaze moved over to her dad. He was giving her a side grin which she returned. Stiles pulled away from the hug. "Wait, so, what does this mean? Are we okay now?"

Chris' smile flattened a bit but he still had a good grin on. "Well, the bonus doesn't completely cover the MRI, but without the Eichen House debt, we'll pull through it." Stiles let a relieved sigh out. "For the moment, I can definitely afford to take my son, his girlfriend and her father all out to dinner."

Henry shook his head. "No, that's okay, you don't have to Sheriff."

But Noah wasn't having it. "Henry, I insist." His tone made it clear that he wasn't taking no for an answer and Henry visibly surrendered. He then turned back to the kids. "So, what do you want to eat tonight? Malia, what's your favorite food?"

"Deer," she cheerfully threw in longingly.

Noah and Henry raised their eyebrows at that one while Stiles tried to fight a small laugh at their fathers' reactions.

"Uh, well, deer does kind of taste a bit like beef," Stiles threw in. "Let's go for that."

"And how exactly would you know that?" his father asked.

"Eh, you don't want to know," Stiles said before he went to share a look with Malia.

"Well, I know this Grill that serves the best beef dishes in town," Henry pitched.

"Perfect," Noah said before he and Henry led the way out of the room.

Stiles grabbing Malia's hand as they walked after them.

___________

Scott went to pick Kira up and brought her to the loft. It was quiet, and dark.

Kira turned over at Scott with a bit of confusion on her face. "Uh, it doesn't look like Derek is home."

Scott was smiling at her. "He's not."

Kira now smiled back, though it was from nervousness. "Then, why did we stop here first?" Scott grabbed her and brought her deeper inside. "Uh, it's kind of dark in here. Can you turn on the lights?"

"Actually, I need you to do that," he told her with the smile still on his face.

Kira went and grabbed the bulb, where her fox fire lit it up and it was quickly followed by the other lights that Scott had set up around the loft. It made a bit of a starry effect inside the loft with the dim light of the nearly full moon shining out through the window. Kira's face lit up just as much as the light bulbs from the set up.

Scott noticed her expression but couldn't help but ask anyway. "Did I do okay?"

"For our first real date, it's a start," she playfully teased before she leaned in to give him a small kiss.

"Uh, did you bring the movie?" he asked when they separated.

Kira nodded. "Yeah," she said as she reached into her bag and pulled out a DVD. "Lydia loaned me one of her movies. Said it was perfect for any date night."

"What is it?" Scott asked as he moved over to the laptop that was set up at the couch.

"The Notebook," she said. "Seen it?"

"Uh, actually no." Romantic dramas never were his kind of movies. He usually liked action films and comedies.

"Oh, well...actually, neither have I," she admitted. "She said I would like it," she added hesitantly.

"Well, let's put it in and see." Scott then put it in and started the movie up.

They got through the first ten minutes when Kira just shut the computer down. "You know what, let's just forget the movie." She looked over to see Scott's amused face before they both leaned in to get back to their earlier kissing.

It was sweet, slow and pleasant. They just calmly sat there and lightly held each other as their tongues lightly tickled and teased against one another's. They went on for about a minute before their hands started moving for their clothes. Kira moved to open some buttons in Scott's shirt and Kira sat up straighter for Scott to better remove her leather jacket. They playfully made out for a bit and were getting ready to let themselves move a bit farther than they had ever gone when Scott just froze.

"Wait," he said as he moved her to sit at his side.

Kira saw the worried look on his face. "Scott? What's wrong?"

"Something's here," he muttered.

Scott's hearing picked up a sound that was a lot like...growling. It was coming from behind the door. Scott stood up just in time for a crash to come in behind them. The window had shattered as Kate flew into the loft, fully shifted and growling. Two more giant figures burst in behind her at either side, her Berserkers. They let out low growls as they stood straight up to display their full, intimidating height.

Kate let her eyes scan the way the room was set up and how the two teens were before her entrance. "Oh, how cute," she grunted through her teeth.

Scott quickly moved to grab Kira so that they could make a break for it but the door was thrown wide open as a third Berserker started to make it's way in. They were trapped. Kira quickly jumped up and grabbed a light bulb and threw it for the nearest Berserker and it shattered against it's skull without giving off a flinch. The one across it began to move at Kate's subconscious command to go for Kira. Scott quickly moved to defend her, as she didn't have her sword to fight and defend herself, but was taken surprise by the Berserker that had blocked the door. It snuck up behind him and thrust one of it's bone claws into his side. Scott grit his teeth in pain and the Berserker grabbed him and threw him across the room.

"Scott!" Kira cried.

But a growl sounded and she started to duck away from one of the Berserkers stomping at her. Right into Kate Argent's path and she moved and sent a hard kick that sent her flying off into a gate. Kira flinched from the pain but noticed a chain hanging off beside her. It wasn't her sword but it was something. She grabbed it and got to her feet, swinging the chain around in front of her, the scared and frightened look disappearing as she displayed her skill.

Kate was watching with a smirk on her face. "Adorable but tough," she muttered. She then turned to Scott, who was still groaning slightly on the floor. "She's just like Allison, wouldn't you say? I can see why you fell for her."

At that, the Berserker charged in and Kira started to whack at it. Swinging to make sure the end hit every exposed part of the beast's body that his bone armor left exposed. Scott pushed pain he was feeling down as much as he could as he threw himself to his feet and went at Kate. Kate dodged his first hit and Scott quickly went to send a kick at her feet but Kate jumped up on the table by the couch to avoid it. Scott jumped after her and narrowly avoided a claw to the head. Kate quickly sent a punch into his side but Scott responded with a kick that knocked her off balance and forced her to jump off the table. Scott jumped off after her and Kate had to duck to avoid his attack as he went into the air at her. They sent strikes at one another, only managing to graze each other every other hit. Kira hits weren't having too much effect on the Berserker and seemed to only be infuriating it. She moved off to the side and thrust the chain for it's arm but it managed to catch in and get a tight grip. Kira tried to pull the chain free but it pulled on it instead and made her start to fall towards it. When she was right at its face, it went and sent a hard backhand to her face, making her collapse to the ground. Scott panicked when he saw it and blindly threw a punch for Kate but she caught it and struck him at the chest, forcing him back into a pillar. Scott tried to force himself forward but Kate grabbed and threw him back to the pillar. She struck at him, where he had been wounded and pulled him forward before throwing him right back to hit the thing. Scott groaned harshly as the pain shot through him and then dropped to the floor in a crouched slump. He looked over to see that the Berserker had grabbed Kira and was holding her up by her hair, completely helpless. Kira was at Kate's mercy and Scott knew that he couldn't give her any reasons to kill her.

"What do you want from us?" Scott hissed out.

"I want a bit of insight Scott," Kate told him.

"To what?"

"My family," she answered. "The Argent family has been around for 400 years. A powerful, wealthy, aristocratic family of werewolf hunters. But, in less than a year, that family is decimated. By teenagers no less." She then leaned in closer to him. "Scott McCall, the tragically adorable baby werewolf that defeated my father, the Great Gerard Argent, and turned our final generation against the tradition all by batting his sad little puppy dog eyes at her." Saying that earned her a glare from Scott. "And then there's his good buddy Stiles Stilinski who, one by one, took on and took out most of our allies and proteges. Including my poor niece," she growled through her fangs. "He even managed to finish off what was left half a week ago."

Scott shook his head. "What are you talking about?"

But Kate just straightened herself up. "See, my family and old friends aren't even worth being front page news anymore. But what no one can't shut up about, is the fact that you go and become an Alpha and come out on top of an Alpha Pack. And now there's talk of how a small army of assassins and hunters goes to handle your buddy and he is the one that ends up still standing in one piece. So, I just got to know, what the hell makes you both so damn special?"

Scott just glared at her. "Look, you have me, okay. Just let her go and leave everyone else alone. Take me."

Kate snorted at him. "Oh, as much as I want you sweetie, I want Stiles a hell of a lot more. But, that little shit is still too alert from all that Deadpool crap to get the drop on, so, you had to be first. But, don't worry, there's still someone that wants you just as much."

Scott's eyes widened. "What?"

"Don't worry, he'll be waiting. I hope you and your foxy girlfriend know all your prayers Scott. We're going to church!" she announced joyously. She then went and roared at Scott's face.

__________

Chris was still lagging where he stood as the metal spike was stuck tight in him. It must've been hours since Chris had been stabbed and he had been careful to keep himself still so as not to jar his body and cause more damage from that spike. His hand wasn't leaving his side as he tried to stem the bleeding as best as he could. The injection he had given himself before coming down here had worn off and he was starting to feel the pain building. Every muscle spasm sent a surge of pain through his body that made him want to pass out. Every minute felt like an hour and he felt himself getting more tired as they passed. A small dripping sound made his head turn slightly. There was a small puddle at the side slowly building, drop by drop. He couldn't help but let out a tired chuckle, which sent a sting of pain right to him. He couldn't help but find the karma funny. The irony too. He guessed he was starting to get delusional which is why he didn't believe someone with a light was actually coming over at first. When they got closer, he saw it was the Sheriff's unknown supernatural deputy.

"Parrish?" he muttered. He saw that he checking that the coast was clear. "They're gone."

Jordan looked over at the impaled spike and the gathering pool of blood. "How long have you been like this?"

"I've lost track of time."

Jordan's jaw stiffened as he pocketed his gun. "Peter Hale did this, didn't he?"

Chris looked him in the eye. "You've been following him?"

"I was, ever since Meredith, but no, not today."

"Then how do you know it was him?"

"I...I just know." He didn't know how, but Jordan knew it was him. "I'm getting you out of here."

Chris shook his head. "He's after Scott. And Stiles. He's with Kate. You have to warn them."

Now Jordan shook his head. "I can't. There's no service down here."

"Then just go."

"No." From what he could see, Chris was on the verge of bleeding to death. "If I leave you now you'll be dead by the time I get back. We're getting you out of here." Jordan moved to try and pull the spike free but it wasn't really budging. He wasn't strong enough and the attempted effort was causing Chris to scream loudly in excruciating pain. Jordan pulled his hands away as they were now covered in his blood. "I'm sorry," he cried to him. He started to puff out in exhaustion. "I can't do it myself. It's not bending back and it's not coming out of the wall."

"Leave," Chris barely breathed out.

Jordan straightened himself back up. "I can't do that either." He wasn't going to abandon someone who was hurt and dying. "I need you to help me. I know that you're hurt and you're tired, but I need you to gather everything you've got and help me."

But Chris shook his head. "I've got nothing."

"Grab the bar," Jordan told him.

Chris lifted his head. "I've got nothing left. Just go, you're running out of time."

But Jordan knew that it was Chris that was running out of time. "You know what you need, adrenaline. There's two ways to get it: Fear and Anger. So, since you don't look like a guy that's afraid of anything, you need to get angry. You need to get so angry that your brain lets loose every bit of adrenaline it has left."

"I'm too tired," Chris said simply.

Jordan let his shoulders slag. "Alright, I'll admit that I don't know much about you. Or what you've been through, but Lydia told me some of it. And I know about Allison. I know how she felt about Scott and I know what happened between her and Stiles. So, I know that if she knew what was happening, she would tell you to get angry. At least angry enough one more time to get the hell out of here. So whatever trigger you need, whether it's Allison, your sister, Peter, whatever it is, use it! Use it right now!"

Chris let himself remember the night he saw Allison kissing Scott in front of the Hale House. Remember handing Stiles Allison's pendant. Remember Allison telling him that she loved him the night she made her silver arrowhead. He then moved his hand to the spike and he nodded to Parrish. They then moved to pull on the spike, together. He screamed, but not just in pain. In pain, and anger.

Jordan pulled on the spike, with everything he had. His eyes glowing a bright reddish orange as he did to the sound of Chris' screams. It then snapped loose.

___________

Melissa McCall was checking her bag as she checked to see she had everything before heading off to the school to catch the lacrosse game. It was her son and his friends' first official game of the season and she was going to catch a ride with Liam's stepfather so they could go together.

"Melissa."

She looked up and saw him moving for him, dressed in his casual clothes.

"Oh good. We'll make it with plenty of time-"

But he cut her off. "Melissa," he said. "Something's come up."

She stiffened. "What?"

"The board. They've called a meeting."

She sighed. "You can't go," she realized.

He nodded. "They want me there."

"Oh, well, I can call Scott and maybe he could pick me up on his way-"

She got cut off again. "Melissa, they just don't want me there. They've asked for you too."

She froze. "Why?"

___________

Stiles and Liam walked on into the locker room together where there already were a good few members of the team getting ready for the upcoming game. Liam was taking deep, winded breaths before he moved to start getting his gear on.

Stiles paused in the middle of unloading his own gear. "Liam, you okay?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm just, a little nervous."

"Hey," Stiles said moving for him. "If you feel like you can't-"

"No, I can. It's just...a bit harder than I thought." Liam shook his head and took adeep breath. "Besides, my mom and stepdad are coming to watch me play with my new team, and my new friends."

Stiles sighed. "It's good that you're trying to be calm, just don't be overconfident. Remember what happened last time we played Devenford Prep."

"But, now I have my anchor, and you, Scott and Kira." He then blinked and noticed that they weren't there yet. "Hey, where are Scott and Kira?"

"Oh, I got a text from Scott while I was at dinner. He and Kira might be a little late. They kind of went off and-" He left it at that. Liam's eyes widened and gave an understanding nod.

"How late is a little late? This time it's an actual game with Devenford. They shouldn't be late," Liam said to him getting a little jumpy which made Stiles hold his hand out to settle him down.

Coach Finstock was nearby and heard them. "Who shouldn't be late?"

That made the two of them look over and they sighed together. They could feel that this wouldn't go over well.

"Scott and Kira," said Liam.

"Might be slightly late," Stiles finished.

"Wha, uh, slightly late, is still late," he stammered out. "What are they doing?"

Stiles licked his lips nervously. "Uh...they're doing something that will make them slightly late." He hoped that would be enough to end this.

No such luck though.

"What could Scott and Kira be doing, right now, that's more important than playing in the first game?" Coach demanded.

Stiles and Liam just stared hard at him. Stiles could tell. The guy truly didn't have a clue.

"Oh Coach," Stiles sighed to him with sympathy.

Outside, the stands were starting to fill up with spectators. Mason moved to sit in the stands and he was joined by Brett's sister Lori who was ready to show her support for her brother and even give a cheer for Scott, Stiles, Kira and Liam. Malia was heading for the stands with Stiles' father, while her own father was off finding a restroom.

Stiles sat and looked over and smiled over at Malia as he saw her take a seat. She smiled back at him and he turned back to fasten the last of his pads in. Liam moved to sit with him.

"The game's about to start, and Scott and Kira are still not here," he said to Stiles. He looked out at the stands. "My stepdad's not here either. Where are they? We need them here."

Stiles held his hand up. "Whoa, Liam. You're scared." The older werewolf could smell it starting to build up. "Of what? The full moon? It isn't for another day."

"I know," he gasped out. "I'm fine."

"Look up," Stiles told him. Both of them looked up at the near full moon at the sky. Liam moved to turn away but Stiles moved to grab his shoulder. "Keep looking," Stiles said to him a bit sternly. "Liam, relax, and concentrate."

Liam kept his gaze at it, a faint glow beginning to shine through. He tried to picture his father's voice saying his motto to him. His breathing increased. Trying to focus on his stepfather, reminded him that he wasn't here even though he promised. But then he felt Stiles' hand on his shoulder getting firmer as he squeezed it. Liam suddenly felt himself able to hear his stepdad's voice and he heart started to slow and the yellow glow from his eyes slowly fizzled out as he kept them locked on the moon.

He turned back to Stiles and nodded. "I'm okay."

Stiles nodded to him before reaching for his phone.

"Son?" Stiles looked up to see his dad standing there. "Everything okay?" he asked him before looking over at Liam.

Stiles looked over to see that Liam was just sitting there and letting his eyes wander as he kept himself calm. "I think so."

"See Scott and Kira yet?"

"No, Scott texted they would be 'late'," he said stressing that last word.

Unlike Coach, his dad got it right away. "Gotcha."

Malia was calmly sitting in the stands when someone went to sit with her. She turned and smiled, expecting her dad, but frowned when she saw that it was Peter, her father.

"So, who do you think is going to win?"

She huffed out impatiently as she looked away from him. "I told you not to come here."

"You want to have a clandestine meeting, you need to choose a clandestine location."

"After what happened with you and Meredith, I'm sure that I can do without any kind of father-daughter time."

"What about mother-daughter time? I found our Desert Wolf."

She looked back at him. "You mean Corrine?"

"Oh, you found out her name, good for you," he said with some amusement.

"Is she, really my mother?"

His jaw tightened a bit before he breathed, "Yes. And I know where she is. But, you're going to have to do something for me. Something that comes naturally to you for a very long time."

"Do you always have to get something in return?"

"When it's not something I can do on my own, yes," he said without batting an eye.

Malia started really thinking. Stiles, his dad, and her adoptive dad were helping her to try and piece together the mystery of her mother for her, and were doing it without any strings attached but it was slow going and looked like it would take some time. If Peter really knew where she was, she could find her right now. And she wanted to find her.

"What do you want?" she sighed out.

"I want you to kill Kate Argent."

"Malia?" a new voice said.

The two of them looked up to see Henry there. He was staring at them both with a look of concern.

Peter gave the man a dry look. "Tate."

Henry huffed out through his nose. "Hale," he said back.

Peter looked back at Malia. "Your boyfriend, I'll be rooting for him and his team," he said with a ghost of a smile before he got up and went off.

Henry watched the man go off before he went to sit next to Malia. "What did he want?"

She shook her head as she stared after Peter. "Honestly, I don't know."

At the bench, Liam looked over and spotted the Devenford team. He quickly spotted Brett who was stretching but the guy looked over and locked eyes with him and stopped. They stared at each other for a moment before Brett looked away when he was tapped by one of his teammates. "If Scott and Kira don't come back in time, you think we'll be okay."

Stiles shrugged as he nodded at his dad as he went to join Malia and her dad back at the stands. "Yeah. I'm not worried."

Liam rose an eyebrow at him. "You're not. Even a little bit?"

"No," he said confidently. Liam looked at him doubtfully and Stiles rolled his eyes. "Okay, I'm mildly concerned. Mildly. But we still have them." He looked over at their teammates. "They may not be like us but they've practiced hard and want to beat Devenford as badly as we do." He smiled at Liam. "They can handle it."

Five minutes after the starting whistle blew, one of their team members was passed the ball but ran right into two Devenford players and lost the ball to them and they went and scored a few seconds after. Devenford was leading 3 to 0.

Liam sighed as he walked over to Stiles. "You were saying."

Stiles jaw tightened and he nodded. "Now I say the two of us pick up the pace and step it up a notch. You up for it?"

Liam looked over at the Devenford team bumping each other in celebration. "Hell yeah," he breathed before he took off back to his position.

Stiles and Liam picked up the pace alright. They ran a bit faster and hit a bit harder than usual to try and make up some of the difference. Stiles pushed passed two Devenford players that were protecting their teammate with the ball, forcing him to run into one of Stiles' teammates who stole the ball and ran off to score a goal. Stiles managed to get the ball, run it down towards the goal before passing it over to Liam who then made a jump shot that the opposing goal keeper missed catching, scoring another goal. That made Mason jump into the air and give a hard victory howl. That made Liam look over to him and smile as Mason held a thumbs up to him before clapping. Liam went and ran in front of an opposing pass, catching the ball and passing it down to Stiles. He then ran around two players and made a shot that caused the net to make a loud whack when the ball went in.

In the stands, as Stiles went to score the latest goal, Noah and Malia jumped out of their seats in a standing ovation, screaming Stiles' name as Henry stayed seated between them. When they sat down, he turned his head between both of them.

"Excited much?" he asked them in amusement.

Malia just smiled while Noah just rolled his eyes at the man. He then felt his phone vibrating and looked to see that Derek was calling him. He excused himself so that he could go off and take the call where he could hear better.

The new momentum that Stiles and Liam had started, began building with their teammates. But Brett and his teammates weren't going to let themselves fall behind and they resolved to up their game too. Beacon Hills had the ball and the player that had it moved and gave a pass to a player who was being charged by Brett. He spotted Stiles at the corner of his eye and yelled his name as he threw it his way just before he got nailed. The ball soared and Stiles ran and extended his net and just managed to catch it. He ran down the field, pushing passed an opposing player to the crowd and Coach's excitement. He then moved and made the shot, hitting the goal net. He let out a hard shout, along with the crowd and the rest of the team. Stiles looked over to the stands and his eyes locked onto his father. But the expression on his face wasn't of happiness or excitement. He looked worried. His dad was moving for Coach and Stiles ran over for them. He came over to catch Coach starting to argue with him.

"Are you crazy Sheriff?! I can't pull one of my best players out now, not with the score still so damn close."

"I'm sorry Coach. Believe me, I understand but this really is an emergency. I wouldn't be asking if it wasn't."

"What's going on?" Stiles said as he got to them and ripped his helmet off.

His dad looked over to him. "I just got a call. Something's happened," he said pointedly. Stiles nodded to show that he understood. "We have to go."

"Okay," he told him.

"No," Coach burst in. "It's not okay."

"Coach," Stiles cut in. "I'm sorry but I have to. But you still have the rest of the team, and they can win, at least not make it easy for Devenford to win."

Coach narrowed his eyes at him before looking over at the others on the bench. They were looking at Coach with determination on all their faces. He then waved for them to go off.

Stiles looked over and saw that Liam was staring right at him. Stiles gave him a nod before he ran off with his dad.

With the match being neck and neck, and with not too much time left, the crowd was full of high emotions, releasing excess energy into the air. Energy that started to seep into Liam and make his own emotions start to heighten. Before the next play started, he looked over at the stands to see that his stepdad still wasn't there. He then remembered that Scott wasn't there either. Or Kira. And now Stiles was gone. He was alone now. He almost didn't hear his name called and looked over to see a teammate tossing the ball over to him. Liam caught it and was about to run down the field but froze. His eyes widened as he saw Berserkers running down the field along with the players. And, caught glimpses of masked and heavily armed men, assassins, mixed in as well, pointing their guns for him. His heart rate started to skyrocket and some distance away, Liam was close to lashing out at the closest person in his line of sight but was given a hard tackle at his blind side. Liam had fallen down and looked up to see Brett standing over him.

Mason tensed from his seat, but Lori reached over and grabbed him, telling him to relax.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Liam coughed out.

"You're afraid. I could smell it across the field. You're fine, aren't you?"

"Yeah," he grunted.

Brett took a step back. "Then get up, and play the damn game."

"Hey," the referee said as he came to them. "Is something wrong?" he demanded.

"Ask him," Brett told him.

The referee looked down at Liam. He took some deep breaths and stood back up. "Everything's fine. Let's play."

___________

Lydia pulled her car up in front of the main gates of Eichen House. The echoes of the screaming of Deaton's calls had been growing louder the closer she had gotten to this place. She followed them right inside and it led her straight to his room without even having to ask where he even was. It was just like her fugue states, but for once, Lydia was in complete control. Had full awareness and knew where she was going and what she was doing. Any of the orderlies she came across, they tried to tell her that she couldn't go further but she just walked passed them with her confident, determined stride and they seemed unwilling to stop her. She arrived just as the doctor told a nurse that they had to move him.

"You're not taking him anywhere," she told them.

"Well, unless you're family, I don't think you can make that decision," he told her.

She stomped on in. "We're close enough. Let me talk to him."

"He's not responding to any stimuli," he tried to explain to her. "You could talk to him but there's no way of knowing if he hears us."

Lydia didn't budge. "Trust me on this. He'll hear me."

____________

With the game over, Liam was sitting in the locker room, calmly trying to keep himself calm.

"You okay?"

He looked up to see Brett leaning against one of the lockers, with an easy look on his face.

"We lost," Liam huffed out.

"But you're okay," he pointed out.

"And it was close." Liam looked over and saw Brett's sister Lori. "You guys only lost by one point. It was actually a good game. Better than your last one," she said with a bit of a joking

Brett ducked his head as a chuckle escaped him and Liam couldn't help a small grin himself.

But Liam looked back at Brett. "Why did you do that? Why did you help me?"

"Because of Scott. He saved me, saved all of us. And Stiles too. He saved me and Lori."

Brett stopped there and Lori rolled her eyes. "And, you saved us too," she threw in as she gave her brother a hard look.

"Yeah...because you saved us too." He shook his head. "Do you realize just how lucky you are?"

"What do you mean?" asked Liam.

"Scott's a True Alpha. That means that he didn't get his powers because he was born with it. He didn't steal it by killing someone. He earned it. And, then there's Stiles. He's someone that will stop at nothing and stand against anything to make sure that everything and everyone he cares about is safe. And now, that includes you. I saw it during our last game when he stood up for you. Both of them."

Lori nodded. "Satomi, she told us about a special kind of strength. One that has nothing to do with being able to lift a lot of weight or running really fast. It's strength of character, being able to endure. And...they've endured so much. More than you could know."

Liam remembered the times when Scott wasn't scared to go through with almost dying and approaching him in the woods and Stiles quickly stepping forward in front of Liam to face down anyone that tried to hurt him. The strength and bravery they each had and he couldn't help a small grin coming to him.

Brett grinned too. "That's why they're so strong. You're lucky to have them."

Then he turned to leave but Lori moved to go to Liam and give him small peck on the cheek before following after her brother. Brett gave her a look before she pushed at his shoulder and told him to shut up.

Liam watched the siblings leave before his head dropped a bit. "Then why wasn't Scott here?" As if to answer his question. He had a mental flash of the dream he had this morning. A jaguar threatening him and four other animals with a blue eyed wolf being the first in its path. Then...something leaping for a red eyed wolf. "Scott," he mumbled.

____________

Stiles and his father made it to loft to find Derek and Braeden there. The place was a complete mess with hanging lights, more than half broken and damage everywhere.

"What the hell happened?" Stiles gasped as he looked everywhere.

"It was supposed to be a date," Derek told them.

"They were both here?" Noah asked.

Braeden folded her arms. "And they're both gone." She looked over at Stiles.

He nodded. "Yeah. I can smell Kate's scent. Mixed with death. Her and her Berserkers."

"She has them," Derek mumbled.

"Where?" Noah asked.

Stiles felt his phone vibrate and he saw that it was Lydia. "Yeah?"

"Scott's been taken," she told him immediately.

"Yeah, Scott and Kira but we just don't know where," he told her.

"Mexico," said Deaton. "And, if you want to save his life, that's where you're going too."

At the Animal Clinic, Lydia moved to take Deaton's hand. Both to settle him, and herself.

____________

Kira stirred awake and found herself in a dark space with only a little light shining through. She could barely see where she was but found that the ground had bones scattered around. She jumped to her feet to see that there were human skulls and skeletons surrounding her. This place was some kind of dungeon. And there seemed to be no way out. More than that, she was alone.

"Scott?" she cried out. She was scared that something happened to him. "Scott!"

Scott was laid out on an altar as he was starting to come to himself. He was being held by bonds and he found that he couldn't break them. He then noticed that there was herbs all around him. Wolfsbane. And two Berserkers were standing guard nearby.

Kate then started walking up to him casually. "So Scott, they ever teach you the myth of Artemus and Actaeon in school?" Scott was silent, looking at her nervously. She then went to tighten a restraint on his leg. "No, didn't think so. Artemus was a goddess, and Actaeon was a hunter who happened to see Artemus bathing naked one day." She moved to tighten the rest of his restraints, painfully. "Well, the goddess wasn't too happy. In fact, she was so angry that she turned Actaeon into a deer. And this sent his own hounds into a frenzy. He was actually turned apart by his own hunting dogs." She then went to pull out a skull mask. One that looked like those that her Berserkers were wearing.

"What are you doing?" he asked fearfully.

She laughed. "Relax, I'm not going to turn you into a deer. But, you are about to become something unrecognizable to your friends. They won't know what they're fighting. Or killing." Scott's eyes widened as he understood the skull in her hands. "Or, at the very least, one of them will." She chuckled with a gleam in her eye. "When he hears me say how I took my time, played with his best friend before, finally having my way with him, he won't let anything keep him from me. Not even a Berserker and which either kills him, or softens him enough for me to."

Scott knew what she was going to do. She wanted Scott to be attacked and killed by his pack. Specifically Stiles. She wanted for them to fight to the death.

"Kate, no! Stop! Don't! Kate don't!"

But she didn't listen. She just slowly went and placed the mask onto him through his screaming.