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om_mainSimon, Lydia, Betsy, and Scott have to figure out where Damon's being held. Once they do, the fight begins.
Text from Lydia: Have you heard from Damon this morning? Tried texting and calling but he's not picking up.
Text From Betsy: Static.
Telepathic Message From Betsy: Coming to you.
Text from Lydia: Shit. Okay.
* * *
It was almost dusk again by the time they figured it out. The Hale House was empty, nothing but a few cages in the basement and some musty furniture and the smell of dog to suggest it was usually occupied. Lydia, Scott, Betsy, and Simon divided up research at the courthouse and online, digging up deeds and family trees, then geological surveys, trying to figure out where Peter Hale and his watchdog had gone. Where they could disappear to so suddenly and effectively--and potentially turn Damon's psi signature into static, if that wasn't part of his telepathic abilities.
Whether or not they actually had Damon, none of them could be entirely sure. But it was their best lead, their only lead--and if he wanted information about Lydia's mutation to cure whatever disease was eating at him, like Betsy and Scott suspected... well, Damon was a good bet, and he'd been alone at that bar. As they approached the cave they'd discovered in the records on the Hale Family land, Lydia's skin began to crawl. Her face stayed determined, jaw set, but a sudden rustling in the nearby undergrowth didn't help. She turned to look at Scott.
He met her gaze for a second, face stony but calm. Cyclops turned towards the sound, hand at the ready on the trigger to his visor. He wouldn't just shoot - the sound and light show would give them away - but if something needed it, he was ready. Silently, he moved a bit towards the source of the noise, though not into the underbrush itself.
Simon edged closer to Betsy out of instinct, since he meant to ask her a question, even though he fully intended to do so telepathically. He kept his eyes on their surroundings as he directed the thought at her. "Can you sense anyone around?"
"Yes," Betsy responded. She was sticking protectively close to Lydia.
The 'anyone' was preparing to make themselves known, then. Two figures, one tall and broad, the other slight and wound like a spring. Derek and Cora Hale's eyes glowed yellow, though neither had transformed... yet. Brother and sister, they had startlingly similar mutations--as had their other sister, Laura. Before they'd had to bury her.
Derek sniffed at the air and turned towards the smaller boy--that scent. He knew it. "He's the one," he said quietly,
Cora narrowed her eyes. "One... two... three--go!"
They both jumped out, Derek going after the biggest of them, a tall boy with red glasses on, who was a better match for his size, Cora for the other boy. The girls were small--they'd be easier to handle.
Lydia grabbed for Betsy and tugged her towards the entrance, shooting a look back towards Scott. You guys can handle them? She thought hopefully.
Such confidence in our abilities, Scott replied, though he remained focused on his attacker. He unleashed an optic blast at the man, trusting, for the moment, Simon and Betsy's abilities to handle the other one.
Simon turned invisible even as he jumped out of the girl's way, rolling on the ground and immediately getting back on his feet. If she was anything like the man that had chased him - and they currently had the same yellow eyes - then she would not be as handicapped by not seeing him as others might have been, but he would take any advantage he could, even a small one. He didn't pause to let himself think - about what he was doing, about the fact that she was a girl - and immediately moved back in, before she could pinpoint his location, aiming a punch at her jaw.
The red light-blast hit Derek square in the chest, sending him spinning to the ground. He felt for his chest instinctively, even as he began to shift, but there was nothing singed like he expected. Not even hot. He growled and sprung up again, eyes flashing yellower and hotter as the change twisted up his body, bones cracking, body shifting.
Cora, meanwhile, twisted in the air when the boy disappeared--she'd smelled him all over Derek, all over the woods before, so she was fixated now. But when the hook hit her jaw, she spun again, landing on her ass and half-shifting, nose in the air, growl answering her brother's.
This... was gonna be harder than they'd thought. And the girls were getting away...
Betsy led Lydia downstairs, knowing the boys could fend for themselves.
Scott cranked up the power level on his visor - still not to the point of lethality, but enough to hopefully put the shifter down for an extended period of time. He fired again, now at the pissed-off sounding wolf.
It wasn't Simon's first time seeing someone shift, but it was his first time actually fighting a wolf, and for a second he froze in place, eyes wide as the girl's bones seemed to rearrange themselves. He snapped out of it almost immediately, though, and whirled to aim a kick at her head with the right momentum, before she could finish her transformation.
Derek smelled the girls disappearing into the cave, but before he could do anything, he had to jump to avoid another of those red blasts. He howled a warning to Cora, wolf instinct taking over, and launched himself directly at the boy's chest.
Subtlety had never been his thing.
Cora heard the howl, but the kick caught her just beneath the ear and sent her spinning with a yelp. The transformation finished and she pulled herself up, shaking as if she'd fallen into water and needed to dry off.
The good news, for Scott, was that the wolf flinging itself directly at him provided a fairly obvious target, and he fired again. Simultaneously, he leaped to the side, to dodge the onslaught.
The good news, for Simon, was that he would no longer have to feel vaguely guilty about hitting a girl. The bad news was that he had no idea how he was supposed to fight a wolf barehanded. But he supposed his agility was his main asset - and the only thing standing between him and her claws - or fangs. Before she'd finished situated himself, he struck again, another revolving kick straight to the face, then launched himself at a nearby tree to escape whatever counterattack she might launch his way.
And she did, swiping as she spun, but missing him entirely. "Where are you?!" She snarled as she pushed herself up to her feet again.
Derek, meanwhile, also spun in the air from the blast--what the hell was that?!--and landed sideways. But the wolf was so powerful that he dove in again, now going for the ankles. Not usually his style, but he was hurting and huffing--he'd take what he could get.
Scott jumped while he shot down towards the wolf, but the creature managed to just catch his foot, and it threw his aim off a bit. "Fuck," he grunted as he hit the ground, and rolled.
The creak of the branch Simon launched himself from gave the she-wolf a second's warning, before his fist - hopefully - connected with her face, and he rolled away again, aiming to keep out of reach. But there was only so long he could keep this up, he knew, especially since she didn't seem fazed by his hits.
Derek's teeth caught at the boy's boot, trying to shred it, but he escaped. The impact from that beam had him reeling still, though, and he staggered forward more than lunged, this time, unwilling to give up the chase. Just one more bite, another good bite...
Cora scrabbled towards the smell of the invisible boy, bleeding from one eye and ignoring it; it'd heal, in time. She snapped her jaws and pushed in his direction, as determined as her brother to get a mouthful.
Just one more good blast had to be enough, Scott estimated, based on how the shifter was stumbling its way towards him. He shoved himself back upright and on to his feet, before swiftly bringing his hand to his visor. A millisecond, two, and then he triggered the lens and fired. Man, PETA was going to be pissed.
Simon felt the slice of claws across his calf right as he was launching himself at a tree. Pain slashed through him and he fell back down to the ground, short of catching the branch he'd been aiming for. He rolled and tried to stand, but the pain redoubled and his sight went white for a few seconds as he crumbled to the ground, flickering in and out of sight as his hold on his power wobbled.
Scott hit his, now much slower, attacker again, sending the wolf-boy around twenty feet into the woods. For the moment, he didn't seem to be coming back. Spinning, he turned his attention to the other one. She was circling a single area of the grounds, and every so often, Simon's face could be seen there only to vanish a second later.
Chroma. On the count of three, I want you to roll forward, towards me, as hard as you can, okay?
Make it a fast three? Simon thought back, right as the she-wolf pounced on him. He just had time to kick out with his good leg, glad when his boot found her face, and pushed himself up on it, hoping that the three in question would come before she tackled him or he collapsed back on the ground all on his own.
One. Two. Three! As Simon rolled in his direction, Scott shot over the top of him at the shifter.
Cora flew backwards on impact, yelping like a kicked dog.
Derek recovered consciousness, but lay still for a moment, waiting. Watching through slitted eyes glowing amber.
How bad are you hurt? Scott asked, watching for the shifters, his hand at his visor.
I won't be running any time soon, Simon replied, hopping back trying to put more distance between himself and the wolves.
Great. Stay low and make your way towards me. Stay invisible, if you can. Then stick to my back, alright? Scott instructed. Keeping Simon down meant he'd keep a 360-degree field until Simon could watch his back. Short of quickly moving them to a better position - something Simon didn't sound up for - it was the best he could do for now.
Simon had every intention of staying invisible if he could - less because staying low meant crawling on one leg and two hands in a really undignified manner, and more because he would like to stay alive. On it. He could feel blood trickling from his wounded leg, but he forced himself not to focus on that, or on the pain, to keep his mind trained on maintaining his invisibility as he moved towards Scott.
Cora had lost consciousness for a moment, but the wolf was strong and sturdy--she shook her head to get rid of the last of the cobwebs and growled low in her chest, already sniffing out the invisible boy.
Blood. There's blood. Follow the blood.
Derek still played dead, but he heard and felt Cora moving. It was rare that he was the one being patient. But he had to think of a way to come at the boy who shot with his glasses.
And then, Cora launched herself at the invisible boy, unable to resist when her prey was bleeding like that.
"Do you assholes ever fucking stop?" Scott asked rhetorically, as he put her down on the ground again. He didn't want to kill them, and if he turned the heat up much more, that was exactly the risk he would run.
Still. Better them than he and Simon.
Cora went flying. Derek lay still. Waiting.
Once Scott felt Simon at his back, or near enough as the guy could manage anyway, he switched to look-out mode. He'd wait for the shifters to make the next move. Being on the defensive wasn't always his preferred method, but here, dealing with a number of unknowns, it was the best he could do.
Just like that, the link between Peter and his pack snapped. Derek sat up and howled, but Cora remained motionless in the underbrush.
It was the opening Scott needed. He spotted his shot, and he took it, hitting the shifter as hard as he dared.
Derek went down hard, and the world went black.
You alive back there? Scott sent, still scanning.
I think being dead hurts less, Simon thought back, flickering in and out of sight again, a figure hunched on the ground and holding his injured leg.
Scott couldn't quite help the slight smirk at that. We can only hope. Let's patch that up, get the others, and get the fuck out of here.
Text from Lydia: Have you heard from Damon this morning? Tried texting and calling but he's not picking up.
Text From Betsy: Static.
Telepathic Message From Betsy: Coming to you.
Text from Lydia: Shit. Okay.
* * *
It was almost dusk again by the time they figured it out. The Hale House was empty, nothing but a few cages in the basement and some musty furniture and the smell of dog to suggest it was usually occupied. Lydia, Scott, Betsy, and Simon divided up research at the courthouse and online, digging up deeds and family trees, then geological surveys, trying to figure out where Peter Hale and his watchdog had gone. Where they could disappear to so suddenly and effectively--and potentially turn Damon's psi signature into static, if that wasn't part of his telepathic abilities.
Whether or not they actually had Damon, none of them could be entirely sure. But it was their best lead, their only lead--and if he wanted information about Lydia's mutation to cure whatever disease was eating at him, like Betsy and Scott suspected... well, Damon was a good bet, and he'd been alone at that bar. As they approached the cave they'd discovered in the records on the Hale Family land, Lydia's skin began to crawl. Her face stayed determined, jaw set, but a sudden rustling in the nearby undergrowth didn't help. She turned to look at Scott.
He met her gaze for a second, face stony but calm. Cyclops turned towards the sound, hand at the ready on the trigger to his visor. He wouldn't just shoot - the sound and light show would give them away - but if something needed it, he was ready. Silently, he moved a bit towards the source of the noise, though not into the underbrush itself.
Simon edged closer to Betsy out of instinct, since he meant to ask her a question, even though he fully intended to do so telepathically. He kept his eyes on their surroundings as he directed the thought at her. "Can you sense anyone around?"
"Yes," Betsy responded. She was sticking protectively close to Lydia.
The 'anyone' was preparing to make themselves known, then. Two figures, one tall and broad, the other slight and wound like a spring. Derek and Cora Hale's eyes glowed yellow, though neither had transformed... yet. Brother and sister, they had startlingly similar mutations--as had their other sister, Laura. Before they'd had to bury her.
Derek sniffed at the air and turned towards the smaller boy--that scent. He knew it. "He's the one," he said quietly,
Cora narrowed her eyes. "One... two... three--go!"
They both jumped out, Derek going after the biggest of them, a tall boy with red glasses on, who was a better match for his size, Cora for the other boy. The girls were small--they'd be easier to handle.
Lydia grabbed for Betsy and tugged her towards the entrance, shooting a look back towards Scott. You guys can handle them? She thought hopefully.
Such confidence in our abilities, Scott replied, though he remained focused on his attacker. He unleashed an optic blast at the man, trusting, for the moment, Simon and Betsy's abilities to handle the other one.
Simon turned invisible even as he jumped out of the girl's way, rolling on the ground and immediately getting back on his feet. If she was anything like the man that had chased him - and they currently had the same yellow eyes - then she would not be as handicapped by not seeing him as others might have been, but he would take any advantage he could, even a small one. He didn't pause to let himself think - about what he was doing, about the fact that she was a girl - and immediately moved back in, before she could pinpoint his location, aiming a punch at her jaw.
The red light-blast hit Derek square in the chest, sending him spinning to the ground. He felt for his chest instinctively, even as he began to shift, but there was nothing singed like he expected. Not even hot. He growled and sprung up again, eyes flashing yellower and hotter as the change twisted up his body, bones cracking, body shifting.
Cora, meanwhile, twisted in the air when the boy disappeared--she'd smelled him all over Derek, all over the woods before, so she was fixated now. But when the hook hit her jaw, she spun again, landing on her ass and half-shifting, nose in the air, growl answering her brother's.
This... was gonna be harder than they'd thought. And the girls were getting away...
Betsy led Lydia downstairs, knowing the boys could fend for themselves.
Scott cranked up the power level on his visor - still not to the point of lethality, but enough to hopefully put the shifter down for an extended period of time. He fired again, now at the pissed-off sounding wolf.
It wasn't Simon's first time seeing someone shift, but it was his first time actually fighting a wolf, and for a second he froze in place, eyes wide as the girl's bones seemed to rearrange themselves. He snapped out of it almost immediately, though, and whirled to aim a kick at her head with the right momentum, before she could finish her transformation.
Derek smelled the girls disappearing into the cave, but before he could do anything, he had to jump to avoid another of those red blasts. He howled a warning to Cora, wolf instinct taking over, and launched himself directly at the boy's chest.
Subtlety had never been his thing.
Cora heard the howl, but the kick caught her just beneath the ear and sent her spinning with a yelp. The transformation finished and she pulled herself up, shaking as if she'd fallen into water and needed to dry off.
The good news, for Scott, was that the wolf flinging itself directly at him provided a fairly obvious target, and he fired again. Simultaneously, he leaped to the side, to dodge the onslaught.
The good news, for Simon, was that he would no longer have to feel vaguely guilty about hitting a girl. The bad news was that he had no idea how he was supposed to fight a wolf barehanded. But he supposed his agility was his main asset - and the only thing standing between him and her claws - or fangs. Before she'd finished situated himself, he struck again, another revolving kick straight to the face, then launched himself at a nearby tree to escape whatever counterattack she might launch his way.
And she did, swiping as she spun, but missing him entirely. "Where are you?!" She snarled as she pushed herself up to her feet again.
Derek, meanwhile, also spun in the air from the blast--what the hell was that?!--and landed sideways. But the wolf was so powerful that he dove in again, now going for the ankles. Not usually his style, but he was hurting and huffing--he'd take what he could get.
Scott jumped while he shot down towards the wolf, but the creature managed to just catch his foot, and it threw his aim off a bit. "Fuck," he grunted as he hit the ground, and rolled.
The creak of the branch Simon launched himself from gave the she-wolf a second's warning, before his fist - hopefully - connected with her face, and he rolled away again, aiming to keep out of reach. But there was only so long he could keep this up, he knew, especially since she didn't seem fazed by his hits.
Derek's teeth caught at the boy's boot, trying to shred it, but he escaped. The impact from that beam had him reeling still, though, and he staggered forward more than lunged, this time, unwilling to give up the chase. Just one more bite, another good bite...
Cora scrabbled towards the smell of the invisible boy, bleeding from one eye and ignoring it; it'd heal, in time. She snapped her jaws and pushed in his direction, as determined as her brother to get a mouthful.
Just one more good blast had to be enough, Scott estimated, based on how the shifter was stumbling its way towards him. He shoved himself back upright and on to his feet, before swiftly bringing his hand to his visor. A millisecond, two, and then he triggered the lens and fired. Man, PETA was going to be pissed.
Simon felt the slice of claws across his calf right as he was launching himself at a tree. Pain slashed through him and he fell back down to the ground, short of catching the branch he'd been aiming for. He rolled and tried to stand, but the pain redoubled and his sight went white for a few seconds as he crumbled to the ground, flickering in and out of sight as his hold on his power wobbled.
Scott hit his, now much slower, attacker again, sending the wolf-boy around twenty feet into the woods. For the moment, he didn't seem to be coming back. Spinning, he turned his attention to the other one. She was circling a single area of the grounds, and every so often, Simon's face could be seen there only to vanish a second later.
Chroma. On the count of three, I want you to roll forward, towards me, as hard as you can, okay?
Make it a fast three? Simon thought back, right as the she-wolf pounced on him. He just had time to kick out with his good leg, glad when his boot found her face, and pushed himself up on it, hoping that the three in question would come before she tackled him or he collapsed back on the ground all on his own.
One. Two. Three! As Simon rolled in his direction, Scott shot over the top of him at the shifter.
Cora flew backwards on impact, yelping like a kicked dog.
Derek recovered consciousness, but lay still for a moment, waiting. Watching through slitted eyes glowing amber.
How bad are you hurt? Scott asked, watching for the shifters, his hand at his visor.
I won't be running any time soon, Simon replied, hopping back trying to put more distance between himself and the wolves.
Great. Stay low and make your way towards me. Stay invisible, if you can. Then stick to my back, alright? Scott instructed. Keeping Simon down meant he'd keep a 360-degree field until Simon could watch his back. Short of quickly moving them to a better position - something Simon didn't sound up for - it was the best he could do for now.
Simon had every intention of staying invisible if he could - less because staying low meant crawling on one leg and two hands in a really undignified manner, and more because he would like to stay alive. On it. He could feel blood trickling from his wounded leg, but he forced himself not to focus on that, or on the pain, to keep his mind trained on maintaining his invisibility as he moved towards Scott.
Cora had lost consciousness for a moment, but the wolf was strong and sturdy--she shook her head to get rid of the last of the cobwebs and growled low in her chest, already sniffing out the invisible boy.
Blood. There's blood. Follow the blood.
Derek still played dead, but he heard and felt Cora moving. It was rare that he was the one being patient. But he had to think of a way to come at the boy who shot with his glasses.
And then, Cora launched herself at the invisible boy, unable to resist when her prey was bleeding like that.
"Do you assholes ever fucking stop?" Scott asked rhetorically, as he put her down on the ground again. He didn't want to kill them, and if he turned the heat up much more, that was exactly the risk he would run.
Still. Better them than he and Simon.
Cora went flying. Derek lay still. Waiting.
Once Scott felt Simon at his back, or near enough as the guy could manage anyway, he switched to look-out mode. He'd wait for the shifters to make the next move. Being on the defensive wasn't always his preferred method, but here, dealing with a number of unknowns, it was the best he could do.
Just like that, the link between Peter and his pack snapped. Derek sat up and howled, but Cora remained motionless in the underbrush.
It was the opening Scott needed. He spotted his shot, and he took it, hitting the shifter as hard as he dared.
Derek went down hard, and the world went black.
You alive back there? Scott sent, still scanning.
I think being dead hurts less, Simon thought back, flickering in and out of sight again, a figure hunched on the ground and holding his injured leg.
Scott couldn't quite help the slight smirk at that. We can only hope. Let's patch that up, get the others, and get the fuck out of here.
