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.*･｡. AN ODE TO CLARK KENT .*･｡.
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039.
REUNITED.
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——

Lois wasn't sure how long it had been until she opened her eyes, squinting up at the bright ceiling lights floating above her. She let out a grunt and raised a hand to hover over her brows, wanting to block out the artificial white, but three figures entered her vision, their silhouettes doing the job instead.

    "Ah— Miss Lane."

   Her body stiffened, and she fought back a groan.

    "Glad we were able to find you. You are quite a task to get ahold of," the man said, "We were thinking, we could have a little chat."

"Something tells me that's not optional..." Lois sighed. The only answer she got was the elevator lights flickering off, and two sets of their eyes glowing a deep red.

   Deucalion nodded, "If you'd kindly do the honours, Mr Parker."

   It was then that Lois' eyes fell upon her cousin, and away from the two alphas. She had no choice but to look him in the eyes with a deep scowl on her lips. There was still an issue in her gut with his choice of loyalty, whether he had a choice or not, and she couldn't help but feel spiteful when she saw him with his pack. This was the first time Lois had properly seen Peter on Deucalion's side, at least since Boyd had been killed. She didn't like it — seeing her not-so-baby cousin with the second band of bad guys on their radar, other than the Darach. That was something she would never get used to; not when she knew her cousin, and that he was a good kid. Peter'd always been a good kid.

Lois knew he hadn't much choice in the matter, and was unable to get out of the pack without consequence, but it still made her a bit — a lot — mad that he wouldn't even try. It was kill or be killed in the alpha pack, but surely there were points for trying?

Then again, she'd rather him alive.

Even if he was on their side.

"My pleasure."

Frowning, having finally digested what was said, Lois narrowed her eyes even harder than before. Do the honours?

Peter knelt down, slowly crouching by his cousins side. He was a bit hesitant — as if he were questioning what he was about to do and everything else he had ever done. The fire in Lois' eyes was a heat that was inescapable, and it burned him with guilt wherever it was that he looked. Peter had tried to tell her that he wasn't one of the bad guys, not really, but right now, he definitely felt pretty bad.

When he was hovering above her, Peter gnawed at his bottom lip and took a moment to procrastinate. He didn't want to do it. Not to Lois. There was nothing he wanted to do less than inflict harm on his cousin. But, with Deucalion and Kali over his shoulder, the boy didn't have much of an option. Peter had to do something, or it would end up awfully for both of them. Maybe that was selfish of him — scratch that, it was incredibly selfish — but if they tore him to pieces, then there was no chance he would be able to help Lois if the time came that they threatened to kill her, too. Even if there wasn't very much he could do, anything was better than nothing; if Peter got himself into trouble now, then who would protect Lois when she needed it? When herself wasn't quite enough?

Turns out, Peter was wrong to question that.

Lois flipped onto her stomach and snatched the crossbow from the floor, well— half of it, seeing as Jennifer had kindly snapped it after leaving Lois to the wolf pack.

Still, it would do.

She swung her arm back and smacked Peter in the face with the first half, and watched her cousin fall back. The small ounce of the guilt she felt disappeared when Kali growled, and Lois rose it aloft and stabbed the second half into her thigh.

Kali howled loudly and swiped at Lois, but the girl rolled out of the way and onto the balls of her feet. Lois concentrated on every drop of water still in her hair, and then the anger she felt with her cousin — she shut her eyes, breathing in heavily, letting her fingers twitch. When they opened again, they were neon blue.

Lois didn't like to fight with water, not unless it was a small kind of altercation. Unlike this one.

But her options were slim, and without a working crossbow, she had little else to defend herself. And she could defend herself, just about, if she tried her hardest. There'd been instances she'd been able to defend herself without even trying. Lois suddenly wished she knew how to create a shield of water around herself like in the loft, but funnily enough, that hadn't been her first port of call with the realisation of her abilities. And now that she knew that those abilities came from the same place that strengthened the power in Jennifer Blake — who had thrown Lois into shark infested waters to save herself — she was even more scared of fighting.

What if she ended up like Jennifer? Like the Darach? Miss Blake had said Lois' eyes had been white, like hers. Were they the same?

That though shook Lois to the core, and the water that shot in the direction of Kali collapsed mid-way and hit the floor. Lois let out a curse, having lost concentration, and watched Kali tear the crossbow from her leg.

Lois cringed at it, too much?

Before she could try and grapple with the water once more, her legs were swiped from beneath her. She collapsed to the ground in a mess of limbs, letting out an —oof! when her chin hit the metal rim of the elevator. An attempt to crawl away was tarnished, two sets of claws grabbing her legs and dragging her back. Lois cried out and tried to kick, but Kali had already regained control. She growled lowly, eager to kill, but slowly retreated when Deucalion cleared his throat.

In that moment, Peter's voice rang clear in her mind.

            After getting through to you, you'll be able to get through to Scott. Deucalion thinks it'll make Scott cave, easier. Without you, he's not as strong... You're his biggest threat, Lo. Deucalion is threatened by you. Whatever you can do, he needs it to be for him, not against him. I think he's scared of you. If you're helping Scott, you're almost invincible together.

Deucalion needed Lois — he wasn't going to let Kali kill her, on the spot. At least, not before he got his use out of her.

He couldn't kill Lois, because he needed her. If Lois died, then it would be impossible to get Scott. After all, Deucalion wanted both of them. The two of them was far better for his pack than just one.

Lois' breathing was laboured in her chest while Kali stood up, a narrowed glare in her eyes as she looked down at the girl. Clearly she would have much rather killed Lois on the spot, which she was less inclined to blame her for. Lois did impale her leg with half of a crossbow. That had to hurt, werewolf or not, and Kali probably wasn't used to people not going willingly and out of fear.

Plus, Lois was generally pretty annoying.

"Now— no need to kick up such a fuss, is there?" Deucalion let out a tsk. He adjusted his glasses and tapped his cane, head slowly tilting. Lois wondered if he was able to see her, right now. It felt as if he could see straight into her soul. She shot him a dirty look.

    "Everything okay, over here?"

   Hearing her voice was music to Lois' ears. She lifted her head to look at the nurse.

    "We're trying to evacuate the hospital, so if you could all just—"

   The woman froze, finally seeing the scene properly. Her eyes had to work hard to process it all. They travelled from the two alphas, to Peter Parker, to Lois Lane on the ground looking rather beat up; she blinked, concern striking her features, standing her ground as Deucalion slowly turned to her.

    "Miss McCall," he hummed. "Perfect timing."

    "You're him, aren't you?" She asked.

    "Him?"

    "The bad guy."

   Deucalion chuckled to himself lowly, "You have no idea."

   The lights flickered again, the hallways going dark. When they came on again, Lois turned to see her cousin crouching beside her once again. He sighed; "Sorry, Lo."

   Before she could spit a mean comment at him, Peter had lifted his hand and mumbled a few words. He clicked his fingers and a green mist brushed over Lois' face, tickling her skin. It smelt soft and familiar, like how her mother used to tell — honey, the fabric softener from Costco, and the same perfume Lois grew up using to fill the void. She breathed it in deeply, the scent lulling her, until she realised what he was doing. Her head grew heavy, and the lids of her eyes slowly started to droop. Whatever he had used on her, Peter had made the memory of her mother into a weapon. Peter had used her mother against her. Teeth grinding, Lois tried to keep conscious enough to glare at him with all her might.

    "Screw you." She spat, more like slurred, before her head hit the floor and slipped into unconsciousness. Lois mumbled, "Again...?"

• • •

   When she came to, Lois was debating starting a tally: how many times had she been knocked out, in just that day? It was quite a lot for a matter of hours, and Lois wondered if she had concussion; at least they were in a hospital.

One that was evacuating, but a hospital nonetheless.

She grumbled and stretched her stiff neck, hearing it crack and grimacing at the awful sound. It felt like it was in her head.

Lois' blurry eyes peered around, and she found herself in a dark room that she didn't recognise. It was in the hospital still, but she'd no idea where.

"I didn't wanna do that, y'know." A voice said.

She scoffed.

"I'm serious, Lo." Peter said, stepping out of the shadows. His fingertip hovered a flame above it, and it illuminated his face. That was the only thing really visible in the dark. She couldn't see either of her hands, but at least Lois could see the cousin that was siding with the bad guys and had betrayed her. Seeing the irritated look on her face, Peter sighed; "I had to."

"You don't have to do anything," she told him. "You chose to."

"So, what? I chose for him not to rip my head off," Peter gave a shrug of his shoulders, "And I'm selfish. Can you blame me, Lo?"

"You really wanna ask, that?"

"You really wanna be so difficult?"

    "Difficult?" Lois scoffed, echoing his words incredulously. "What am I supposed to be, when my cousin's basically kidnapped me and taken me to my probable death? Am I supposed to be fully willing?"

   He rolled his eyes, "He's gonna talk, first!"

    "Oh— fantastic! Well, now I feel so much freakin' better!"

A silence lingered between them. Part of Lois wondered why she was being watched over by Peter Parker and not having that chat with Deucalion, though she didn't say it aloud. She didn't want to jinx it. Lois had a feeling the conversation would mostly consist of what Jennifer had told her about the Nemeton — seeing as he had seemed to know what Lois was long before Lois did — and why she should join his pack, and likely convince Scott to do the same. But, for a mastermind, Deucalion had to be pretty dumb to think Lois Lane was the kind of girl who could ever ditch her pack. They were her friends long before her pack, her family. While Scott was a little easier to sway with some hard convincing, Lois wasn't. She had no intention of joining Deucalion, and she had no intention of letting Scott join him, either.

One thing that Deucalion didn't have, that Lois and Scott did, was loyalty. His pack was built on fear and temptation. Their pack had grown in numbers via manipulation, thirst for power, and they had all stuck around in fear. They were scared of him. At least, the evil twins and Peter were. Lois could tell.

But that wasn't why the McCall pack worked. The McCall pack wasn't based on hunger, fear — it was formed on love. They were all friends. Werewolf, or not. The teenagers were friends, family, a loyal band of kids who hadn't asked for this lifestyle but had stuck around for one reason: they wanted to save people. Since the start, that was what Scott, Stiles and Lois had always been about. They wanted to save those who couldn't save themselves; not strike fear in anyone who defied them. No, it wasn't like that. Not at all.

Joining the alphas was the last thing Lois was likely to do. In life, it had always been her friends that loved and relied on her. No way was she going to let them down.

She never let them down.

And Lois wasn't about to start, now.

"If you're gonna kill me eventually, then you might as well do it now." Lois finally broke their silence, "I'm never gonna join you."

"See— I don't think you understand, Lois." Sighing, Peter's jaw set in a sharp line. He made his way over and crouched down, his silhouette casting a shadow over her. Lois rose a challenging brow, as if questioning him, and he relented. "Deucalion sees you as a threat, right now, because you could help him get Scott. With you, he gets two things that he wants. But if you don't help him, you are more than just a threat. You know, what you are?"

"A promise?"

"This isn't funny, Lo." Peter scowled. She had never seem him so serious, in all her life.

He continued, "You're the only thing getting in his way."

"And, eventually, he'll get sick of it. Deucalion gets whatever he wants, and he wants you and Scott. If he can't have you, then you won't let him get easy access to Scott, and then he'll do whatever it takes to get him." Peter's voice was low, "He will erase any threat."

   Lois and Peter stares into each other's eyes for a minute, and the girl felt a chill run down her spine. She knew that Deucalion killing her off was always a possibility, but the idea of her cousin being a part of it was what got her. It made her stomach churn. How had it all ended up, like this?

    "If you deny him, today..." he bit his lip, "I— I don't know how long he'll wait. I don't know if he will wait."

So, Lois was literally waiting for her death.

Her heart dropped.

She hadn't told her dad where she was going. If Deucalion did kill her, he wouldn't know until they found her body. Lois Lane; another in an endless list of Beacon Hills animal attacks.

He had already lost her mother. Would he survive losing Lois, too? She knew that she couldn't survive losing him. It'd kill him.

What about Stiles? And Scott? Maybe they would understand it, that she couldn't join the enemy. Maybe they wouldn't. Maybe the boys would be so upset with her willingness to die, rather than her taking the easy route to live. Then again, they were in the hospital somewhere, right now. Maybe they were already looking for her, so she wouldn't have to decide.

Would Peter care, if she died? Would it kill him?

Would it hurt him, like it would her? Despite his siding, despite the fact he had been apart of Boyd and Erica's deaths, despite the lies, despite all of it. Lois would die inside if Peter was killed. But would he feel the same? Or, would he kill her?

    "You asked me if I would kill you, if I had to..." As if reading his cousin's mind, Peter spoke up again. He ran a hand through his hair and continued, "You asked me, and I said I didn't know. I have to do what Deucalion tells me to do, we all do. And, he wants me to keep you here until he tells me to kill you, myself." It was a punch to the gut, and Lois suddenly felt woozy. She looked at him with an expression she had never had, before. It was a mix of fear, horror, empathy. Peter shook his head, "Don't feel sorry for me. You said it yourself — I have a choice. Even if it gets me killed, instead of you."

"What are you saying, Pete?" She whispered.

"I'm saying, even if I can't play god, I still have a choice in who dies, today." He said, "And it's not gonna be you."

Her dampened heart inflated.

"Deucalion can't have you dead, if he loses you." Peter seemed a lot more confident as he spoke. "If he wants to kill you, he has to find you, first."

"He already has me," Lois' brows cinched.

He shook his head, "Not if we make you disappear."

"Okay— Pete, I know you have this whole new magic thing that I don't really understand... but I didn't think you were a birthday party magician," she remarked, making Peter roll his eyes fondly.

"Come, on." Standing up, Peter offered her a hand. When she grabbed it with no hesitation, he grinned. Finally. Finally him and Lois were back on track, back to normal. Peter had never felt so connected to his cousin. If they got out of this alive, maybe things could go back to normal. Maybe. "We gotta get you to Scott and Stiles."

"Let's do it, Petey."

——

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