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.*･｡. AN ODE TO CLARK KENT .*･｡.
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011.
ADVENTURES IN
BETA-SITTING.
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——

Lois fiddled with the arrow in her crossbow, making sure that it was perfectly in position. She smiled when it clicked into place.

"Where did you even get that?"

"Chris gave it to me," she told Isaac, "As a present."

He blinked.

"Argent gave you a crossbow?"

"Did I stutter?"

Rolling his eyes, Isaac sank down where he sat. They were both across from each other, leaning their backs against opposite walls, knees propped up to the sky as they sat on the hardwood floor. It was awkward and uncomfortable, but it was either sitting on the floor or sitting on his bed. They'd sooner the floor.

Derek and Scott had set off to get their plan into motion a short while ago. It had felt like longer. Being stuck in a room together made time seem to pass slower than usual, and they wouldn't have known how long it had been unless Lois had kept checking her cell to see when they were able to leave. Every once in a while Stiles would shout updates to the pair upstairs, letting them know what was going on and if anything had yet to go wrong, to which Peter would tell him to shut up. Then they would argue. That was the only reason that Lois was glad she had been paired with Isaac, and not Peter Hale. If it was her arguing with Peter, Lois would have definitely snapped by now.

Before yesterday, Lois and Isaac hadn't really interacted since they had defeated Gerard and saved Jackson. They hadn't even seen each other, after that day. Summer break had been and gone.

Then, she had been at the old Hale house.

That was the first time they had seen each other in months.

Honestly, Isaac and Lois hadn't had the intention of seeing each other. Not until school started, anyway. After everything that had happened last semester, they had both tried to move on and leave their sophomore year behind. It hadn't been great for either of them.

A lot had happened. Isaac's dad had died and he had gotten the bite from Derek, almost killed a hunter when he was locked in a holding cell, and gotten a bit big for his boots. There had been a giant, murderous, psychopathic lizard that came into the picture and Derek's new pack had decided it was Lydia. They had tried to kill her, thus making him enemies with Scott's pack, and they had fought on several occasions. That was where he and Lois had really decided their dislike for one another.

From then, Lois had shot him after he had saved her from the giant lizard — which turned out to be Jackson Whittemore, who would have guessed? — but still used him as an excuse when she didn't want to go on a date with Matt. Isaac had agreed to go on the fake date with her, kissed her more than he should have, and used it as the perfect time to see if she were the one controlling the kanima. It turned out that she wasn't, and her dislike for him had only gotten worse. She discovered that Matt was stalking her and was nearly killed by him, and then she and Isaac had kind of met on common ground when they tried to save Jackson and almost died at the hands of Allison and Gerard. Then... then, it had all just ended. They didn't speak after that. Not even once.

That was the run down until summer had ended. The rest was kind of obvious.

Needless to say, Lois and Isaac weren't the best of friends.

    "I was just asking," Isaac said.

    "And I have already told you," she shot back with an impressive speed. Isaac was almost impressed. "Do I need to repeat myself, every ten seconds?"

    "Look— you don't have to act so happy to be stuck here, with me." Squinting at her for a moment, he then shrugged and leant his head back and against the wall. Isaac saw her frown, "I'm not exactly enthused to be stuck with you either, gumdrop."

    "Do you have to call me that?"

    "What would you rather be called, Lane?"

    "I have an actual name, y'know." Lois glowered at him and gripped her crossbow tightly. "Most people call me by that."

    "Most people call me Isaac—" he hummed, "—but you called me fugitive, all semester."

   Fake pouting, Lois mocked him. "Did you want me to lie?"

    "I wanted you to shut your mouth, a few times." His response came easily, and he lifted his head back up to stare at her. Just as he expected, she was frowning deeply with a clear crease in her forehead. If she had planned to look threatening, it wasn't really working. She had a mean stare, but Isaac struggled to feel even remotely afraid. He wasn't sure why; he just didn't.

Some people were intimidated by Lois Lane. He could see why, what with the piercing glare she could produce with a blink and her close friendship with Lydia Martin, that had put her towards the top of the food chain. Lois was sarcastic and unafraid to fight back — unlike a lot of girls their age, she wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty and step into an argument that wasn't her own. Not to mention that she had taught herself how to use a crossbow on the spot. No teaching, no training. She had simply learned how to use it in a moment of need, when protecting a friend.

    And even though Isaac had been the person she had learnt on, he still wasn't intimidated by her. In fact, it was the total opposite. At one point last semester, Isaac had almost been drawn to her.

    "I gathered."

    "So, why didn't you?"

   She quirked a brow, "Why didn't you tell me you thought I was controlling the kanima?"

   That had stumped Isaac, slightly.

    "Honestly?" When she nodded, he scrunched his face up in thought. "Not sure. Guess it would've been harder to kill you,"

    "Well, I appreciate your honesty." Lois scoffed.

Isaac sent her a smile that was sarcastic but dazzling, and it struck her in a way that was different to the rest of the times that she had seen him smile. The girl shook her head slightly, then turned to her crossbow.

Silence lingered.

Neither of them said much for a short time. Isaac played with a quarter in his hands and Lois fiddled with her crossbow.

   Every couple of minutes she'd steal a glance at him. A small part of her was intrigued by Isaac Lahey. He was different to a lot of boys, but she guessed that he always had been. From freshman year, Isaac had been different — he rarely spoke, stuck to himself, and he was always lurking in the library. Lois had seem him there.

   Now, however, even as a cool guy with a leather jacket and good looks Isaac was still different. He was no Jackson Whittemore; he had more to him than Jackson ever had, although she supposed they had some similar aspects. Jackson had been a spineless jerk and so had Isaac for a while, and they both had their backstories that no one had ever really known about. But Isaac was softer in ways that Jackson never had been, and never could be.

   But Isaac was no Scott McCall, either. He was bitter around the edges and sarcastic; more sarcastic than Scott could understand, in ways that almost competed with Stiles Stilinski.

   Where Stiles was awkward and nerdy, Isaac no longer was. He was smooth, and cool, and eager to please, whereas Stiles was his own person and never aimed to impress anyone other than those who knew and cared for him. Though, it seemed that Isaac had never really had people who cared for him. His own father had abused him for years, and Lois hadn't been blind to the lack of friends Isaac had. Quiet. That had always been the right word to describe him over the years, to an almost unnoticeable extent, but he wasn't even quiet anymore. In many means, he was actually very outspoken. Since the bite, that is.

   The bite. Lois' nose scrunched. She spared another look.

   The boy had shown no signs of turning. Not a single one. Lois started to wonder whether she had been put in charge of babying Isaac for his sake, or for her own — maybe Derek and Scott knew  Isaac was unlikely to lose control on the full moon, and she wasn't there to watch him. Rather, Isaac was there to watch her.

    "You're not gonna turn— are you?"

   He frowned, "What?"

    "I'm not baby-sitting you..." she rolled her eyes, "...am I?"

   Isaac struggled to find words. Yes, they had wanted Lois to be away from harm during the worst part of the night in fear of her winding up in harms way. But they did want her to watch over him, as well. They knew that she could look after herself and he had pretty good control over himself during full moons, but Scott and Derek found that if they were together, then trouble was less likely to get to them.

   Working in pairs, everyone was safe. Lois and Isaac would work well together, if they gave it a chance.

    "They wanted us to stick together."

    "Why?"

    "So that I don't kill anyone, and so that you don't get ripped to shreds by angry betas." There was a shrug in his shoulders, "I guess it's working out, so far."

   Despite the circumstances, Lois smothered a laugh.

    "Yeah..." she hummed, "Yeah— I guess it is."

   Surprisingly, he chuckled and bowed his head, smiling down at the ground between his knees. What a strange situation, it was.

   Another silence — more comfortable, this time.

    "I'm sorry."

    "Hm—? What?"

    "Your wrist," Isaac gestured towards it. He watched her look down at it, as if she had forgotten about it altogether, before her eyes flickered up to meet his. He sucked in a breath, "I didn't mean to... does it hurt?"

   Her head shook softly, "No, it doesn't really hurt anymore."

    "Are you sure?" He asked.

"There's been bigger things to worry about," Lois brushed a strand of hair out of her face. She then set her crossbow down and tied her hair up completely, "It's hardly noticeable."

The beta nodded once.

Nothing else was able to be said when Isaac's ears perked; his head shot towards the door, listening closely.

"What?" Lois asked, "What is it?"

"Stiles and Peter..." Isaac stood, "They sound worried."

She didn't hesitate to follow him out of the door and down the stairs of the loft. Actually, Lois was right behind him with her crossbow in her left hand. Together they piled down the staircase and she nearly tripped, but he was quick to catch the back of her jacket and pull her to a halt.

"Get them on the phone!"

"What—?"

"Call them," Peter demanded, "Now!"

Stiles reached for his phone with shaky hands. He fumbled with the keys and turned back to Peter, confused. Lois and Isaac shared a look, what was happening?

"Okay! Why?"

"What's going on?" Isaac interrupted, and the pair turned to face him and Lois. "Why do we need to call Scott?"

"Because Boyd and that girl aren't gonna kill each other," the ex-alpha explained lowly, and Isaac and Lois decided that they had missed something very important. They shared another look when Peter continued to speak, "They're gonna kill Derek and Scott."

Feeling her face pale, Lois gripped onto her crossbow so hard that her knuckles turned white. What were they going to do? It was Derek and Scott who were walking into the thunderdome; they would be the ones to die on the full moon, not Boyd and the unknown girl. If they didn't do something, then her best friend and Isaac's alpha were goners. They could fight, but somehow she didn't believe that fighting hungry beta's was going to be as easy as fighting usually was. Lois felt her knees quiver.

"No, they're not."

They all looked at Isaac, confused.

"They're not gonna die—" he said, "—cause we'll stop them."

Lois gaped. By we, did he mean him and her?

• • •

   Lois had a feeling that she would be in quite some trouble when Scott found out that, instead of staying inside, she and Isaac were running through the woods to find Boyd and the girl.

   Although, it was to save his ass — maybe he would realise that and go a bit easier on her, when they saved him and Derek.

"Come on!"

"Isaac, wait up—!"

   He was a lot faster than she was, being a werewolf and all. But Isaac seemed to forget that detail and would speed up once in a while, to a pace that she couldn't keep up with. While Lois had found that she was quite a fast runner since starting cross country, it didn't mean that she was fast enough to outrun a beta on the night of the full moon.

Isaac slowed and turned on his heel, and he watched her come closer with each step. She looked out of breath but she didn't give up. Rather, Lois pumped her arms and legs faster, and she had soon caught up with where he had stopped, momentarily.

"You do realise I'm human, right?" She huffed and puffed.

"The biggest reminder is that you're not trying to rip people's throats out," the boy retorted.

Mocking a laugh, Lois wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. She was sweaty and tired, but she refused to give up until they had found either Boyd and the new girl, or Derek and Scott.

Whichever came first.

They had left the loft conversion pretty quickly after Isaac had volunteered them to go after the two rabid werewolves. Stiles had been given the job of calling Scott and making sure that he was aware of the new dangers — the walls of the vault were built with a mineral called hecatolite, which scattered the moonlight. That meant that during the three long months that Boyd and the girl had been in there, they had been starved of moonlight — each full moon had been suppressed, so this one would be overwhelming for them. Not only would they lose control, but they would lose any will power. They would attack anything in sight.

Lois and Isaac had originally planned to take her car to the old bank and help from there. However, a call from Stiles had told them that Derek and Scott had soon left the bank after Allison and Luna had freed the two wolves. That, and he had said that the unknown girl turned out to be Derek's younger sister: Cora Hale.

While Lois was certain that the majority of the Hale family had died in the house fire years ago — apart from Derek and his older sister — she didn't have much time to question it before she and Isaac had changed their tracks and headed for Beacon's preserve instead, hoping to find the wild wolves out there. It seemed to be the most likely of places they could have gone; it was close to the bank, and most of the bad things that happened to werewolves tended to happen out there. It was their best shot.

Ears perking, Isaac pushed an arm in front of Lois before she could venture further. She peered up at him questioningly, but didn't push his arm away.

"I hear her..." he breathed.

    "Hear who?"

    "Cora."

   He grabbed Lois' hand without a second thought and pulled her along as he broke into a run. She stumbled, but kept her footing.

   If she was slowing him down, Isaac didn't show it. It seemed that the boy had no struggle in taking her with him. Soon enough they had stopped prior to an opening in the tree line, the two teenagers crouched down behind the foliage.

   Lois let her eyes wander along the opening. Down there was a girl that she didn't recognise whom stood by a tent, tears in her eyes. She didn't need to be a werewolf to tell that the girl wasn't the one they had been looking for, although she seemed worked up about something. What, Lois wasn't able to see — judging by the look on Isaac's face, however, and the way that his eyes flashed a brilliant amber, he knew exactly what this girl was afraid of.

   A low growl sounded and Lois paled. That wasn't Isaac.

   The girl backed closer to her tent and started to sob, and Lois felt the urge to jump out of the bushes and save her from the wild wolf that was coming. But she stopped herself before she could do something stupid, that she would only end up regretting. Rather, Lois slowly reached for her crossbow.

    Isaac noticed.

    "Wait—" he watched her fix an arrow into position, "What are you doing?"

   She shifted into a crouch, her head just above the tree line, and allowed her crossbow to rest on the foliage. The werewolf, Cora, slowly came into sight and Lois readied herself. "What do you think I'm doing, smart guy?" She hissed, "I'm gonna shoot her."

   Nodding, Isaac vaguely recalled the time she had shot him in the chest with no training. Now that Lois had her own crossbow, he decided that her aim would be even better.

    "Okay— okay, yeah—" Isaac said, "Good idea."

    "Where should I aim?"

    "Why are you asking me?"

    "You're a werewolf, Isaac!" Voice low, Lois turned to look at him with squinted eyes. She ignored how close they were, what with his chin hovering over her shoulder and their noses would have bumped if they moved a measly inch. "Where is an arrow gonna cause the most inconvenience? Where would it hurt?"

   His lips formed the shape of an O.

    "I would say the head, but Derek would be pissed, so..."

    "Isaac—!"

    "The chest! Definitely the chest!" He finally said with a quick, confident nod, "That hurt like a bitch when you hit me, last time."

   Satisfied with the answer, Lois let out a ragged breath.

    "Chest..." she muttered, "Okay, I can do that..."

   She peered through the looking glass and lined up her shot, her tongue poking out the side of her lips. It was hard to get a clear view when Cora kept moving around, and Lois cursed to herself lowly.

    "I don't wanna hurry you, or anything— but you really gotta shoot, gumdrop."

    "I can't get a clear shot!"

    "You gotta shoot!"

    "Did you not hear me, the first time?" She snapped.

   Cora was getting closer and closer; the poor girl started to sob and shake, begging the creature to leave her alone. Time was ticking.

    "Lois, if you don't shoot, right now—" Isaac said, "—that girl is gonna be a pile of skin and bones, any minute!"

    "Isaac—!"

    "Shoot, Lois!"

    "Okay!" Lois yelled, pulling the trigger and watching the arrow soar through the air. Both of them held their breaths. A second passed and Cora let out a loud growl, the arrow landing in her right shoulder, and immediately tried to claw it out. "Wait, I hit her? I hit her! Holy—!"

    "Good job, gumdrop!" Saluting her, Isaac stood from his place on his knees and rolled out his shoulders. He gave her another glance and winked, "If you'll excuse me, I'll take it from here."

   Isaac's eyes glowed amber, and he jumped into clearing.

   Lois huffed.

    "I said don't call me that!"

   She watched from the sidelines as he took Cora to the ground, swiping her legs beneath her. Although Cora was quick to strike at him, and Isaac barely missed a gash to the shoulder. Lois winced and tried to look away — but she couldn't. The girl found herself drawn to the fight, watching in fear and anticipation as Isaac gave the rabid beta a run for her money. He was good. There was no denying it; Isaac had gotten better at fighting, over summer. It seemed that Derek had trained him well, and Isaac had gotten even stronger than he had been during the last semester.

When Isaac was sent into the air, hitting a tree and landing on the ground with a thud! Lois gasped. She grit her teeth together.

Slinging her crossbow over her shoulder, Lois leapt out from the foliage and landed with her knees bent, crouched down with a palm on the floor. The girl swiped an arrow from her boot and loaded it into her weapon, pulling back the mechanism and setting the trigger while Cora let out a vicious roar. Lois wasn't stupid — she knew that it was aimed at her.

Lois stood up straight and swung her crossbow into position.

"Come on," she tested, "Come get me!"

And Cora did as told.

The werewolf leapt towards her with a snarl, and Lois would have been scared if she hadn't heard Isaac growling a few metres behind her. He had her back covered.

Cora hurtled towards Lois. The latter released another arrow, less hesitant this time, and smirked victoriously when it landed in Cora's thigh. Whimpering, the girl stumbled back in pain; her legs seemed to falter for a moment, but that moment was soon over as she ripped the arrow from her leg. Lois' smirk fell.

That wasn't good.

Cora didn't get the chance to tackle Lois Lane to the ground. Instead, a figure jumped over Lois and kicked Cora back.

That figure? Scott McCall.

He bared his teeth and snarled at Cora, whom returned the gesture with pleasure. Lois edged away from the altercation as Isaac pulled himself up and stood closely by her side, as to assure that she wouldn't be caught in the firing lines. She was grateful.

Almost out of nowhere, Derek appeared and roared at Cora with his eyes red and shining. It seemed to faze his sister ever so slightly, and she turned on her heel and made a swift getaway.

Isaac and Derek shot in the same direction, which left Scott and Lois with the girl who had almost been mauled.

How were they going to explain this?

——

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