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.*･｡. AN ODE TO CLARK KENT .*･｡.
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023.
LATER, LOIS LANE.
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——

   "Did you tell Ethan that they couldn't be friends with me?"

   Lois' eyes briefly flickered from the road in front of her and over to her cousin. Well played, Ethan.

   She cleared her throat and turned back to the road. Lois tapped her thumbs against the steering wheel in a nonchalant rhythm, a shrug in her shoulders as they approached the school parking lot.

   Honestly, the Lane girl hadn't expected to have this conversation on the way to school. Perhaps she had been naive to think that the conversation wouldn't happen at all, but Lois had expected Ethan to be smart enough to bring up a piece of their argument (out of context) with Peter — he wasn't a fool. It made Lois sound bad to her cousin, when it was put in such a way, and that was his aim. With it, Ethan had started a game he wouldn't win. If he wanted to play dirty, then Lois Lane would happily play dirty as well.

    "I don't like them," she said.

    "Since, when?" Peter rolled his eyes, seeing straight through her facade. Last time he had checked, his cousin was perfectly alright with the twins — not best friends, but they got along. "You liked Ethan, two minutes ago. And you even said Aiden was—"

    "Yeah— well, I don't like them, anymore." Lois cut him off with a glare. "I don't want you hanging out with them, alright? They're bad news."

   He scoffed, "Is this because of that Lahey guy?"

   Frowning, Lois echoed, "Isaac?"

   She pulled her car into a parking space and cut off the engine, but made no effort to get out. Rather, Lois turned in her seat to look at Peter with furrowed brows. It seemed that, lately, everyone was bringing up Isaac Lahey to Lois Lane at any available time of day, as if he were a very important factor in her life — which, he wasn't. Honestly, Lois hadn't expected her own cousin to bring up Isaac as a means of shooting her down. They had joked about the boy from time to time, and he had teased her about him even if he meant nothing to her, but Peter had never seriously used Isaac for a method of invalidating her argument. Peter knew that she and Isaac were hardly even friends, so why had he brought him up?

   Why did everyone bring up Isaac Lahey, these days? She didn't care about Isaac, and he didn't care about her. Lois couldn't quite understand how that had been clear between them, but had gotten lost in translation for everyone else. There hadn't been a day that Lois had cared for Isaac, and vice versa.

   Did no one see that? She had shot him, for crying out loud!

   At least Stiles only ever teased, and had never once thought to bring up Isaac Lahey to Lois. Then again, that was mostly because he didn't like Isaac, either. Not at all, actually. More than Lois.

    "I know they locked you guys in that storage closet, but it was just a harmless joke — alright?" He defended the twins' actions.

Lois was a bit surprised that they had told Peter about what they had done, but it was probably hard to not bring up when telling him why Aiden had gotten suspended for a week. Everyone heard about that, including Peter, and Aiden had tried to explain how his bike had even ended up in the hallway. It hadn't taken a genius to know that Lois, Isaac and Scott had been at the bottom of it, and hadn't denied it either; they were quite proud.

When Peter had asked her if it was true, Lois had grinned. He had told her that it wasn't funny, and that she shouldn't have done something that could get him suspended, but she had assured that it was all in fair game.

    "No— not alright, Pete." She said with a deep-set crease in her forehead.

It was tempting to tell Peter that she had ended up with bruises on her wrists and a near-death experience, but opted not to. Lois knew she couldn't have told him. Peter would have asked questions and they were all questions that she that she wouldn't be able to answer. Lois didn't want to drag him into this whole mess — that was why she had told Ethan and Aiden to stay away from him, in the first place. She didn't want her family to get hurt. While her father had found out under the circumstances of a hostage and murder situation, Lois hadn't chosen for him to find out about the supernatural. It put him in a lot more danger, now. Matthew Lane had already wound up in the firing line, and Lois didn't want the same for Peter. Not if she could help it, not if she could stop it.

She continued, "Someone could have gotten seriously hurt."

    "What was he gonna do? Maul you? It was just a joke," Peter shrugged his shoulders. "But Isaac had to go and take it all serious, right? Y'know— I heard about him beating the crap out of Ethan, at the meet, last weekend." He leaned forward and acted as if he was telling a secret, gaze pointed. "He sounds unhinged."

   Lois briefly wondered whether Peter would have said the same thing about her, had he known that she had beaten the living day lights out of Ethan, as well.

    "He's not unhinged."

    "He's not sane," the boy argued.

"When did this become about Isaac, anyway?" Lois criticised his argument, watching him scoff again.

"I know they have some kinda feud, but what's that got to do with you?" Raising a brow, Peter took his backpack from the back seat and made sure he had everything with him. "Actually, what's it got to do with me? Why can't I be friends with them?"

"I don't trust them, Pete." She tried, "They're not good guys."

"No— you're wrong." He glared at his cousin, for the first time in forever. Peter never got angry with Lois. They were close, two cousins with a close bond, and they usually listened to what each other had to say. Usually, Peter would have taken Lois' judgment as his own. But, this time, it seemed that Peter didn't want to hear what she had to say. "They're my friends."

She sighed, "Peter—"

"No!" Peter snapped, "Just shut up, Lois!"

"Hey—!" Lois hissed at him, glaring. She was getting irritated, now. He was her cousin, couldn't he see why she was doing this? She was doing this for him. "I'm just trying to look out for you!"

    "Well, don't."

   He threw his bag over his shoulder and opened the car door, wanting to leave, but Lois grabbed his hand before he could.

    "Pete..." heart sinking, she squeezed his hand.

   She was hoping for a response. A positive, warm response that told her it was alright. That he understood that she wasn't trying to boss him around, or ruin his life, or sabotage his friendships in favour of her own selfish wants. Lois was hoping for a response that told her he wasn't mad, that he wouldn't be upset for much longer. A smile, a nod, even a hand squeeze back. Anything. Lois was hoping for a response of sorts, but she didn't end up getting one. Rather, Peter snatched his hand away and got out of her car angrily, his backpack smacking the side of the vehicle.

    "Don't slam the—!"

   Peter slammed the door shut and sent her a sarcastic smile.

   Turning on his heel, the boy adjusted his bag and then headed towards the school where — quite conveniently — Ethan and Aiden were waiting for him. They noticed Lois was watching them from her car and the latter sent her a snarky grin, while Ethan rose an eyebrow. She narrowed her eyes.

    "Assholes..." Lois muttered, "Freaking assholes."

Grabbing her own bag from the backseat, Lois grumbled a few angry words as she clambered out of her car. She locked the door and made for the blue jeep a few spaces down from her own, as Stiles and Scott got out.

    "Dude— you fell asleep on watch!"

   Hearing Stiles' words, her jaw dropped. They had discussed that Scott and Isaac would watch over Melissa in the night, to make sure that she wouldn't be taken by the Darach. Deaton had told them that the next round of sacrifices would likely be healers and, judging by the disappearances and death of two doctors meant to be at Beacon Hills Memorial the night before, he was very much correct. That left just one more sacrifice to be made in order to complete the pattern of three, and Melissa McCall happened to fit the bill of a healer pretty damn well. She was a nurse, and she was good at her job in the hospital. Melissa had most definitely been a healer when she had saved Danny's life.

    "You fell asleep on watch?"

   Scott jumped, not having expected Lois to be stood behind him with crossed arms and a mean look in her eye, and he gave her a sheepish grin. "Sorry...?"

   The puppy eyes didn't work, this time.

    "Isaac fell asleep, as well!" Scott tried to defend himself, "And he was on watch last!"

    "Don't rat me out!"

   As if on cue, Isaac Lahey jumped out from the back of Stiles' jeep with a roll of his eyes. Initially, Lois was a bit shocked that he had even let Isaac into the jeep, but then remembered that Derek's beta was currently living with Scott — who she didn't doubt had convinced Stiles to give them both a ride to school, that day. She could tell that she was right by the daggers Stiles shot at him.

    "You're both idiots." Lois deadpanned.

    "The biggest idiots I've ever met," Stiles added with a nod of his head. He then looked at Isaac pointedly, "Especially you, Lahey."

Isaac nodded, "Charming."

With a smug smile, Stiles threw an arm around Scott's shoulder and spoke in a hushed tone that only the four of the teenagers could hear, "So, my dad said the ER attending wasn't strangled, but did die from asphyxiation. They just don't know how, yet."

"Do you think the on-call doctor could still be alive?"

"I don't know," Stiles told Scott, "But there's got to be at least twenty other doctors in that hospital."

Sighing, Lois added, "At least. Any one of them could be next."

"Then we've got to figure out who— right?" Glancing at group they had created, Isaac rose a brow. He was right. They needed to try and figure out who the next sacrifice would be before they were taken, but how were they supposed to do that? They couldn't. Not without any clues, or anything that was pointing them in the right direction.

Healers wasn't very specific.

"It's not that easy," Scott pursed his lips. He seemed to think of what to do next, for a long moment, the three stood watching him with intent. He eventually spoke confidently, "But we have to try."

Lois hid hack a smile as the bell rang, signalling the start to the school day — Scott was always optimistic, and selfless, and easily the most persistent person she had ever met. He never gave up; it was something that Lois admired about him, amongst many. Not many people were as selfless as Scott McCall. Since that night at the motel, when he had nearly been tempted into something he'd regret, Scott had been even more Scott-like. At every opportunity he was using his abilities for good, to be selfless and kind, just as he had always done. He was determined to stop these sacrifices and to get justice for the innocents who had died. And to get them that justice, they needed to find the Darach and stop them before they killed again. It was the only option that they had, and they were going to do it. Even if it seemed like it was impossible.

As Stiles, Scott and Isaac made for the school entrance, Lois reached into her pocket for her phone, hoping to text Danny and see how he was doing, but cursing to herself when her pocket had come up empty.

"Shoot..." she muttered, lowly.

"Lo?" Stiles turned around, "You coming?"

"Uh— I think I left my phone in my car," Lois said, already on her heel to turn back and get it. "I'll just meet you guys, in class."

After a moment of thought, Stiles nodded and sent her a smile that told her he'd save her a seat. He tugged Scott with, saying a thing or two about who would be covering Harris' class, and soon disappeared within the hallways of Beacon Hills High. But, Isaac didn't follow them. Rather, he shrugged and walked back down the steps he had just trotted up.

"I'll come with you," he told her, "I hate chemistry, anyway."

"You were never any good at it," she hummed, recalling that time in Harris' class when they were trying to stop Derek's betas from testing Lydia as the kanima. It seemed so long ago.

"Still failing." Isaac said, almost proudly.

"Impressive." Rolling her eyes, Lois waved him off. "You don't have to follow me, I can get to my car just fine."

He seemed to hesitate for a moment, but just as Lois noticed it, the moment was over. Nodding, Isaac took a step backwards and started to retreat up the steps. He spared her another glance and pursed his lips, before slipping between the doors and into the hall.

Lois made her way back to her car fairly quickly. She hummed a tune under her breath as she searched for her phone. Her original assumption of it slipping between the seats had been wrong, and she couldn't find it thrown across the backseat. It wasn't laying in either of the footwells, and it wasn't on the dashboard either. In fact, it was as if her phone had vanished, altogether. Brows at the bridge of her nose, Lois tried to think about where it could have been — she had left with it that morning, she knew that much. It couldn't have just completely disappeared, could it?

As if on cue, a familiar ringtone flooded her ears.

"Looking for this?"

Her body stiffened.

Slowly, Lois pulled herself out from her car and span on her foot to look at him. She glared, eyes harsh, and looked to her phone.

INCOMING CALL
DAD

"You might wanna pick up, Lois. I think your daddy's calling you."

Before she could bark an insult, or send the punch she had been waiting to serve, her wrist had been grabbed and Lois was shoved into the side of her car with a smack! She groaned in pain and her mouth was quickly covered to smother it. Lois couldn't fight them off. Not on her own.

"Ah—ah..." he wiggled the phone in her face, "Not so fast."

His slowly moved away from her mouth.

She spat at him.

"Such a bitch," he muttered, wiping his face with his sleeve.

"What do you want?" Lois cut to the chase. She didn't care for small talk, not when she was currently pinned to her own car. "I said what do you want, Aiden?"

"I wanna know what my brother told you." Aiden said, his face unnervingly close to hers. Lois tried not to shrink back when she noticed his red eyes and sharp teeth, not wanting to show that she was intimated by the alpha twin. But, something told her that she didn't need to show it. Aiden already knew. "He said something to you last night, didn't he? That's when you told him that we should stay away from Peter— right?" She didn't say anything and Aiden smirked, "I'm right, aren't I?"

"I'll tell you what I told him," Lois answered, "Stay away from my cousin."

"Did he tell you that we aren't after Derek?" He tested, "That we just need him out of the way? I bet he told you that Deucalian isn't after Derek, at all. That's right, isn't it, Lois? Ethan told you that he wants something else. Something he can't have—"

"—with Derek, in the way." She finished.

"Then, you also know that Deucalian wants two things..." Aiden mused, leaning in closely. "...did he tell you what they are?"

Again, Lois stayed quiet.

"He didn't?" Chuckling sadistically, Aiden rested his arm above Lois' head, making their position look natural. To anyone that was to look, it was just a teenage boy flirting with a teenage girl at her car before class. Really, it wasn't at all natural. "Well, how about I tell you something? Shake it up, a bit?"

This time, Lois bit back at him; "Unless you tell me that you'll stay away the people I care about, then I don't really wanna hear it." She smiled tightly as he glared down at her, "Sounds boring."

After a moment or two, Aiden laughed again. There wasn't an inkling of humour in it. The alpha held up her phone and smiled, his hand tightening around the item until it cracked and crumbled into compact pieces.

"Still sound boring?"

Asshole.

"I'm trying to help you, Lois. Can't you see that? You'll want to hear what I have to say. Trust me," he said.

"Trust you?" She echoed, "You think I'm dumb?"

"No, actually— I think you're smart." Aiden hummed, "And I think you're smart enough to realise that you aren't normal, little Lois Lane from next door, anymore. Aren't you?"

Lois frowned up at him, confused. How did he know?

"Deucalian knows that you found it," he told her, which only made her more confused. She wasn't sure what this it was, that he was referring to — it was clearly the same it that Deucalian had referred to, that time that the twins had gone after Scott and Isaac in the school. He had said that she was it, that she had found it. But Lois didn't even know what it was, and Deucalian knew that. How did he know? Before she even did? It didn't make sense, any of it. She was so confused. "He knows, and once he gets to Derek, he's gonna try and get to you, next."

"I— I don't believe you..." Lois croaked.

"Really? You need any more persuading?" Holding up what used to be her phone — but now crushed glass and several pieces of metal in his hand — Aiden tested her patience. She gulped the lump in her throat involuntarily, and he smiled. "Didn't think so. You're a smart girl, Lois." Aiden took a step back and dropped her phone to the ground, "Good luck, Lois Lane. See you, around."

——

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