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.*･｡. AN ODE TO CLARK KENT .*･｡.
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042.
NOT VERY GOOD IDEAS.
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——

  Peter Parker had no idea what was going on by the time he, Lois and Stiles had heard cop sirens in the distance. All he knew was he was somehow alive, and that it was time for them to go.

   Or, at least, go back into the hospital.

   That was probably the last place that they wanted to go, but they had little choice. Without Scott, they were on their own. And while it proved that usually Lois and Stiles made the plans, it was rare of an occasion for them to pan out without Scott leading them. They had never been without him, before. It made them feel cold and it made them feel empty, but they had no choice— there wasn't time for them to sit and dwell, because Noah and Melissa were gone, as was Jennifer Blake, Scott had left them, and the cops were on their way to the hospital. AKA, the building that they still occupied. And it wasn't just them, either.

    "Maybe you should hit him?" Peter suggested.

   Stiles and Lois both looked at him blankly, which made him give a shrug of his shoulders. He was new to this, after all. Not new to the whole werewolf thing, but new to their pack mentality — the way they did things was different to Deucalion's alpha pack. Peter had gotten used to that. Plus, he didn't care for Derek Hale much.

   Peter barely knew Derek. All he knew was disliking him, wanting him dead because his pack had said so.

   Other than that, he didn't know much. He was an alpha, having stolen it from his uncle — who he could've sworn was supposed to be dead, right now — at some point, and that he himself had been apart of eliminating the man's betas, one by one. The last one left was Isaac Lahey, who he didn't like one bit, and who he had quite the feeling would be the next to go. Deucalion was set on getting a hold of anything in his way and crushing it in his palm, which was a guarantee that Derek's pack would probably be gone by the end of the year. Including his sister. That wasn't their doing, but Peter supposed it counted. It had just been done for them. By the woman they had been after, all this time.

   Jennifer Blake had accidentally done the alpha pack a favour, but that wasn't really the point. The point was it made him feel kinda accomplished — involuntarily, of course — and that was bad. He shook his head, no! Bad, Peter! You're on team good, now!

   By now, Peter had been doing the whole bad guy spiel for longer than he ever wished to admit. Some things were engrained in him, now. They were things he hoped to get rid of, because he knew he was a good kid. He always had been a good kid. But, since he had gotten himself caught up with the alpha pack, Peter hadn't been so good. Not as good as he really was, deep down. Not since Peter had met Ethan and Aiden.

   Ethan and Aiden. How would they react?

   He hadn't thought that far ahead, yet.

   Although, Peter supposed he hadn't had a chance — he had just died and somehow come back to life, so he hadn't had the time to.

   They would probably be as mad Deucalion, maybe not murder level mad, but betrayed no doubt. The twins were his friends. His best friends. Sure, they had done terrible things, but so had Peter. It wasn't a matter of their innocence; it was a matter of loyalty and, to him, the twins had always been loyal. Right from the very start.

   Peter had never met anyone he had clicked with so well, besides his cousin and her friends. Something about he and the twins had just clicked.

   Ethan and Aiden had loved him, accepted him, protected him in more ways than hw could describe. Despite the circumstances, the alphas had lived up to the role of best friends like no other person he had ever met. It was like Lois, Scott and Stiles; their friendship was so closed, so unmatched by any other, and Peter had finally felt that with two people who weren't miles away. Even as cold hearted killers, the way they had been conditioned to be, they had still both been his friends. When he had been dying, they had laid their own life's on the line in an offer to save him because they couldn't see him die. They had put their asses on the hook all of the times that he had crumbled, and messed up, and been too afraid to do what Deucalion wanted. Their lives came second to Peter's.

And yet, Peter had repaid them by formally switching sides. He had never been good at being bad, but now he had really done it; Peter had risked his life to change sides, thus leaving his two best friends behind. He had left.

Would they be upset when they found out he was dead? Perhaps if they knew he was a traitor, they wouldn't feel anything. Aiden had always been good at switching off his emotions and acting as if he had never cared. Ethan... not so much. Maybe Ethan would feel a misery, but only to an extent. As long as they stayed with the alpha pack, they were friends of Deucalion — not Peter. They were both his royal servants. He had a feeling that they wouldn't feel any sort of grief for him, while they were under Deucalion's thumb.

He wasn't sure whether he should feel offended, or not. It wasn't exactly their fault, and he wasn't even dead anymore. Thanks, Lois.

   It was a shame, really. If things had been different, perhaps their friendship would have been normal. Three normal best friends. But then again, Lois, Stiles and Scott made it work.

   At least, they had made it work. Before Scott left.

   Peter also wondered what Morrell would say when she found out what he had done, and that he was dead. He figured he needed to spend some time on the down low — the alpha pack would think he'd been long gone by the time they found out, and Peter had the sneakiest of feelings they would want to know how he had defied a literal death situation.

   That probably wouldn't work out so well, in the long run. So, at least for the time being, Peter would happily stick with being dead; it was a lot easier, so it seemed.

    "Hit him?" Stiles echoed.

    "He's gotta wake up at some point," Peter said. "Worth a shot."

   Lois thought about it. Honestly, it wasn't that bad of an idea. It wasn't as if she hadn't hit Derek, before. But, that had been back when he was turning every social reject of a kid he came across into an angst-ridden teenage werewolf. Derek didn't do that sort of thing, now. Mostly because everyone tried to kill them.

   Nowadays, Lois quite liked Derek. They weren't best friends or anything, that would be weird because he was years older than the bunch of teens, but they had some sort of friendship going on. Like siblings, that would fight and bicker but protect each other without hesitation, if it came down to it. When she has thought Derek was dead, a small piece of Lois had died with him — but, as he always seemed to, Derek had defied the odds.

He was like a bad cold. No matter how hard someone tried to get rid of him, he always came back. Always.

However, as much as she liked Derek, Lois would still hit him if she needed to. Perhaps it would be smartest to try and wake him by giving him a shake first, and they could call out the big guns if it became totally necessary.

   Stiles went to shut down Peter's comment but stopped himself short. He peered at his palm, flattening it, and tilted it side to side as if he were inspecting it. Eyes flickering to Derek's face, then to the side of his hand, the boy seemed to deliberate whether hitting him would be worth the possible ripping his throat out with teeth that might occur if he hit the alpha too hard. Regardless, Stiles made up his mind when the lights flickered and the sound of sirens got louder than before — that meant that the cops were closer, and in turn that they didn't have very much time until the hospital would be swarmed with every cop from the station other than his father, who was still missing. That meant they would have a lot of lying to do.

   And Derek Hale couldn't be around for any of it.

    "Here goes nothing..." Stiles muttered.

   He brought his hand back and struck the werewolf across the face, causing his head to fall to the side but little else to happen. It made Stiles curse and ready his hand again, and repeat the action.

   Nothing.

   Stiles hit him again, more desperately this time than the last. He hit him again, and again, and one more time before he had really grown into a panic. They didn't have much time to get Derek up and out of there, all the while explaining all he had missed. Why wouldn't he freaking wake up?

    "Derek!" He resorted to yelling.

   Another smack, "Derek!"

   His hand was starting to hurt. It was red and hot, and Stiles was sure it was throbbing.

   Impatient, Lois rolled her eyes. She pushed Stiles out of the way and let him wring out his swelling hand, taking his spot beside the unconscious alpha. Peter watched over her shoulder.

   The girl curled her fingers into a fist and raised it high. It wasn't the first time she would have punched Derek Hale, and she didn't have a lot of hope that it would be the last, but at least this time it was for his sake. If he didn't regain consciousness from a good old right hook, then Lois wasn't sure what would do it. So, she sucked in a breath, grit her teeth, and swung her fist towards his face. Fast.

   Lucky for him, he caught her wrist just shy of his jaw.

   Exaggerated sighs fell from the three teenagers — even Peter let out a grunt of relief. He didn't care for Derek Hale, but he knew that Lois and Stiles did. To them, Derek was important, and they didn't think they could do this without him. With Scott vanishing with Deucalion, they needed Derek to pull himself together, sort his shit out, and help them clear this mess up. His strange and very unexpected affiliation with Jennifer Blake could wait; it made Peter cringe to think about.

   They had been searching high and low for the Darach, and yet Derek Hale had been rolling around the sheets with her this whole time? While they'd been trying to kill him, too? Peter was stumped and a little impressed, what were the odds?

   Derek peered around the elevator, looking at Lois' knuckles close to his face, and the lack of Jennifer. His eyes crossed in the middle.

    "Where is she?"

    "Jennifer?" Stiles huffed, "Gone with Scott's mom."

   Carefully letting go of Lois' wrist, Derek took a second to digest the new information. "She took her?"

    "Yeah," Lois nodded her head and licked her lips, jaw set in an irritated line. "And if that's not enough of a kick to the balls, Scott left with Deucalion. Right after he killed my freaking cousin!"

   His gaze travelled past Lois' shoulder, taking in the sight of the boy he had learned to be a witch during the fight at the loft. Derek had been told somewhere along the lines that said witch was Lois' cousin, who was apart of the alpha pack, and an asshole that Isaac found to be really annoying. The words confused him, seeing as he didn't look very dead — other than the unsettling amount of blood soaking through his shirt — and Derek rose a brow.

   Peter waved, awkwardly.

    "I'm not dead, anymore..."

    "Point is, we gotta get you out of here." Stiles grabbed Derek's hand to haul him up into a sitting position. He ignored the groan that came from Derek's lips, "The police are coming right now, and we gotta get you the hell out of here—!"

    "Woah—" Derek stopped him, "What about Cora?"

The trio exchanged glances, unsure of what to tell him; Lois and Stiles had fled back into the hospital prior to watching Isaac, Peter Hale and Luna get Cora out of there, and Peter had been kinda... unavailable. He had been lamped around the head with something heavy while the Darach snatched Melissa, and had awoken still on the roof, with a pleased looking Kali stood above him. It wasn't all very clear what had happened before Lois, Scott and Stiles showed up and he was murdered and resurrected while Scott disappeared into the mist with Deucalion. They could only hope that Cora had been taken to the meeting point they had planned with Matthew Lans and the Argents, and were waiting for Derek.

If not, they weren't sure what they would do. Peter grimaced at the thought of Derek Hale tearing him to shreds after he had just gotten his throat slashed.

It didn't sound particularly appealing, but what did? At this point in the game, the kids had nearly died more times than they could count on one hand. Derek mauling Peter wouldn't be the worst of experiences he had endured — but it sounded messy, and they had little time to rise him from the dead, again. Very, very little time.

Eyes flickering to meet Lois', Peter noticed that she was already staring at him. His brows cinched together and his lip pouted at he tried to read her mind. His cousin was wearing an expression that told him she had an idea, and when he looked over at Stiles, Peter noticed he was wearing the same face. One that looked a bit more constipated, but the same face, regardless.

Lois and Stiles had always had this weird connecting: as if they had been able to read each other's minds, or something like that.

They called it their twinstinct — they weren't even twins.

"We might have an idea," Lois said.

"Yeah..." Stiles nodded, peering between Derek Hale and Peter Parker skeptically, and then cringed. He didn't seem to be hopeful for their supposed plan. "...it's not very good."

Peter and Derek shared a glance, oh no.

• • •

Isaac had never jumped out of a car, so fast in his entire life. Not to his memory, anyway — it was usually Lois Lane who was insane enough to just jump out of vehicles, and often when those vehicles were still moving.

He wished that was the biggest of their problems, right now.

Freaking hell, Lane.

He knew she had promised not to jump out of any cars. In fact, Isaac had been there when she had promised her father that there would be strictly no car jumping. Isaac had been the reason she was made to promise such a thing. And, he supposed, she had kept her word to that promise. Lois hadn't jumped out of a car. Rather, she had simply decided to disappear by running back into the danger zone instead. She dashed into destruction.

The beta sighed, what was he going to tell her father? Isaac had made his fair share of promises, too. Namely: to watch over Lois Lane.

While she had made the decision to return to the hospital on her own — which, Isaac felt had kind of broken her promise of no car jumping because it was equally as stupid — and that was her call, it still felt as though Isaac had let Matthew Lane down. He had told the man he would make sure his daughter stayed in one piece, and yet had let her stray from their entire plan and return to the worst place she could have: the hospital. Where the alpha pack had every chance to get ahold of her. The one thing he had promised Lois' father, he had broken. Immediately. Pretty much as soon as he and Lois had started their part, he had let her out of his sight. And as if that didn't make him want to punch himself in the face, he had also left her behind.

Isaac should have followed her. He knew he should have followed her. Letting her back into that building was the dumbest thing that he could have done, and he had done it. He had left.

There were no excuses. None that seemed at all fitting to Isaac, anyway.

   Yes, Stiles had rushed in after her. No, she wasn't entirely alone in the hospital. Yes, Lois was able to defend herself. No, she wasn't the slightest bit weak and she definitely didn't need protecting. Yes, his alpha's cranky uncle had been breathing down his neck to get out of the parking garage. No, he hadn't much of a choice but to leave when the twins caught up to them.

   Yes, Lois would have flipped her lid if Isaac didn't leave her back there had it meant getting to her father before anyone, or anything,  else did. No, it didn't particularly make Isaac feel any better about what he had done. Not even slightly; because he had still left Lois.

   He had left Stiles, too. That was pretty bad.

   Luna had made sure to remind him of that, every minute that'd passed since leaving. It wasn't her fault that she was mad, actually it was totally understandable, but Isaac could tell she soon felt bad about being so snappy. She had brought up her high faith that the duo wouldn't be alone — Derek was definitely in there, having just been stuck in the elevators with Jennifer Blake, and Scott was the one who was supposed to be helping them get out. They knew that Melissa and Peter were on the roof as well, seeing as the generator had definitely been switched back on. Perhaps they were just late; caught up with something, on their way to the parking garage.

   Either way, Stiles and Lois wouldn't be alone in there. That was what Isaac reminded himself as they pulled up around the front of the hospital, where they were supposed to be meeting Derek, Miss Blake, Scott, the Argent's and Matthew Lane. Isaac only hoped that Lois and Stiles would be with them.

   As much as he didn't care for Sabrina the teenage witch, Isaac hoped that he was with them, too. If Peter was there, then Melissa would likely be there as well.

   Plus, it was another person to have kept Lois away from trouble.

   One more person that hadn't been Isaac Lahey.

   To say that he was annoyed with himself was understatement of the century. Actually, Isaac had seldom been so annoyed with what he had done. If he had let Lois go back inside and something had happened to her, and he hadn't even tried to follow after her, Isaac wasn't sure he would ever forgive himself. And not just because he had made her father a promise, either. But because he didn't want Lois to get hurt — especially not because of him. Not because Isaac hadn't followed her, without hesitation, like he usually did.

   Isaac didn't want Lois to get hurt because he cared. About her, for her. Wait— did Isaac Lahey care for Lois Lane?

    "Do you see the twins?" Luna asked.

    "No," Peter responded from his spot in the backseat. It shook Isaac from his thoughts, and he returned to true consciousness as Peter caught sight of someone in the distance. "But I see Lane and the Argents."

   Indeed, there were Lane and the Argents. And the trio were fast approaching. Isaac had felt sick the entire car ride, but now that sick was steadily rising up the back of his throat.

   How was he going to explain?

   He had lost his daughter!

   As to let off some nerves, Isaac decided that a healthy dosage of trauma would raise his spirits; "Not to bring up any uncomfortable memories..." that was exactly what he was trying to do, to give him some spare time before he had to face the music. "...but wasn't the last time you saw them, the time you killed Kate, and then they all burned you alive?"

   When he turned, Peter was already gone. He frowned but made sure Luna had gotten out of the car alright, then turned around.

   The confusion on Matthew's face made him grimace.

    "Where are the others?" Allison looked about, searching for the large quantity of people who were currently unaccounted for. And it was a large amount. Their group had recently expanded, and the majority of them were missing.

    "Scott went in to get Derek and Jennifer, they should be on their way." Isaac said.

   He was beating around the bush. He and Luna both were, as they busied themselves with checking on Cora and making sure she was still alive and sprawled out in the backseat if Argent's car. At least it wasn't just Isaac who was too terrified to directly meet Matthew Lane's eye. Not only was his daughter not present when she should have been but neither was his nephew, or the boy he saw as family, as well as a good friend and confidant. It made Isaac anxious to think about how he would react when he found out why none of the four above were present; he began chewing his lower lip as he aimlessly adjusted Cora's lulled head, while Luna brushed away all imaginary dirt from her jacket shoulder.

   Matthew Lane glanced left and right, his face dropping when he noticed the severe lack of a comic-book conundrum: his daughter, Lois Lane.

    "What about my daughter, Lahey?" He asked.

   Isaac didn't know what to say.

   Turns out, neither did Luna. She looked just as apprehensive to break it to him. While she was thoroughly liked by Matthew Lane, as she was by most parents, Luna still didn't want to have to see his face when he heard that Lois and Stiles had gone back in, and that Peter hadn't even come back out. She dreaded seeing it.

    "Where's Lois?" Matthew repeated, eyes fixated upon Isaac and Luna. "Where the hell is my daughter?"

   Deciding to take the plunge, seeing as it was him who had been the one to actively drive away and stop Luna from rushing in after their friends, Isaac sucked in a breath and moved to face the man he had hoped to avoid. The man who had so much faith in him, a blind faith that Isaac hadn't deserved, and who he had let down in one of the worst ways possible. As soon as Matthew saw his face, it was clear that he knew his daughter had done what she did best, in recent years: vanished.

    "Peter and Melissa never showed," Isaac explained to them with a nervous twitch of his nose  "Lois and Stiles went back in to find them, and..." he hesitated, "And— and they didn't come back out before the twins did. We had to get Cora out,"

    "You left my daughter?"

    "I tried to wait—" the beta winced.

    "Fat lot of good, that did!"

"I— I'm sorry," sucking in a breath, Isaac whispered the words; they were less confident than he had hoped. "She went back inside before I could stop her, I didn't want to leave... but with Cora—"

The man shook his head and sighed. Matthew Lane knew he had no business battling a sixteen year old. Werewolf or not, Isaac was still a kid and he had no responsibility over his daughter. It wasn't as if Lois was easy to reign in, either, and they both knew that she was liable to run off at any given moment. No one could stop Lois when she put her mind to something. Not even her own father had the power to prevent her from making impulsive — and usually in the realm of risky — decisions. She just went ahead and did it. He didn't doubt that as soon as she had realised that Peter and Melissa weren't likely to show, she had gotten an awful feeling and rushed back into the hospital to find them. That was Lois for you.

The man shut his eyes and took a moment, then looked back to a very nervous Isaac. It only made him feel worse; the expression of guilt on the kid's face was unsettling. Maybe he had allowed his daughter to disappear back into the firing lines, but Isaac couldn't be expected to watch Lois and save Cora. There was only so much a teenager could do.

   Plus, judging by his sad eyes, Isaac felt bad enough about leaving without her as it was. He didn't need fo be shouted at, for all of it.

   It was Lois who had run off.

    "Don't apologise, kid." Matthew pursed his lips, "Lois is a force; I should've known she'd have gone rogue. Never was good when it came to rules, was she?"

   Isaac didn't agree, "I should've gone after them—"

    "You had to get Cora out of there," he told him. "They've been doing this longer than you and I have known about it— any of it; all this supernatural stuff. They know what they're doing," seeing Isaac's tense shoulder droop in relief, Matthew mumbled under his breath; "I hope."

He has utmost faith in his daughter. In fact, Matthew Lane had more faith in his daughter than any person on this planet. She was his ride or die. Lois was capable of unfathomable things, things he could never even dream of, and while she had a habit of straying from the beaten track, she was smart. His daughter had never once let him down. Lois was used to orienteering her way through this bizarre world she had found herself apart of — she had promised to stay safe, and he believed she would keep that promise to him.

Sure, she had ventured off-route, but this was Lois. He trusted she knew what she was doing, or that she would at least do it as safely as she could, albeit impulsively. Lois and Stiles would be fine. The remaining kids had said Scott was still in there.

All Lois and Stiles had to do was find Scott.

Together, those three could do anything.

Trust them.

The entirety of the group swung around when another vehicle pulled up beside them, with tires screeching on the damp concrete as it hit the breaks.

Isaac was the first to jump into action. He didn't need to see who it was to know that he had to open the back door so that Cora had a clear path to be carried, but when only one door to the other car slammed shut, he was glad he hadn't looked. He couldn't.

"Where's Scott, Stiles and Lois?" Allison was first to ask.

Feeling his whole body stiffen, Isaac briefly prayed that Derek'd have a good explanation as to why he couldn't hear Lois bickering with Stiles in the background. He kept his eyes firmly on Argent's car; he didn't want to look at Matthew Lane. It was clear through his sharp intake of breath that the man was anticipating a story in which Lois was perfectly alive and well, as much as Isaac was.

"Stiles and Lois stayed back at the hospital," Derek explained, "They're gonna hold off the cops for us."

Audible sighs sounded. Isaac risked a glance over at Lois' father and the man nodded at him, a mutual apology passed between the two of them. Isaac was sorry he had left his daughter behind, and Matthew was sorry that he had almost blown his top. For now, the verdict was that Lois was completely and utterly fine.

She would just be busy lying her ass of to law enforcement, for a little while. Classic Lois, really. Isaac bit back a smile, atta girl, Lane!

Unexpectedly, another person hopped out of Derek's car. While Isaac wasn't overly thrilled to see that Sabrina was still apart of the pack they had going on, Matthew Lans was very happy to see his nephew and even Allison's eyes brightened a tad. Isaac watched as she cleared her throat and looked in the opposite direction, then squinted at the teenage witch to see him awkwardly occupying his vision with anything else. At one pointed his eyes captured Isaac's, and the two shared a brief glare and small head nod. Had Isaac missed something? Maybe he wasn't totally bummed out that Peter Parker was fine, but he wasn't anywhere near as happy as Allison appeared to be for a brief moment. Had Isaac missed something? He wasn't sure.

"Why've you got blood on your shirt?" Luna asked, watching as he helped Derek remove Cora with a skeptical glance. She didn't know Peter any better than Isaac did. "What happened?"

He peered down at the state of his shirt and felt nauseous, but it was unclear as to whether that was the trauma of dying and then coming back to life, or the state of Derek Hale's driving. Peter was used to going fast on his bike, but he had never gone as fast as the alpha he had ridden with.

Peter had a feeling that Derek had partially been driving quite so quickly because of the witch sat in his car, who he had no idea had seemingly switched sides from the alpha pack who had been slowly killing his betas and trying to kill him. All that Derek knew was the kid was with them now, and being with Lois and Stiles was enough for him to believe that her cousin was good. For now, at least. Yet, as much as he trusted Lois Lane, he didn't trust her cousin to be in any position of power. That was why he had been pushed into the back seat and told to keep an eye out for the twins.

Rather than thinking too hard about the blood on his shirt, and unable to really explain it, the boy avoided it.

"We have to go, right now." Peter said.

"What about Scott and Melissa?" Countered Chris.

"Jennifer took Melissa."

They all stared at Derek in shock. Not only had Jennifer gotten away, but she had taken Melissa McCall with her. Now she had a second parent, two thirds of her next sacrifices, and left them with no way of tracking them down or helping Cora.

Isaac wasn't sold on the potential that she would help them, but he had tried to be optimistic when it came to finding Stiles' father and saving Derek's sister.

Apparently, optimism had been a waste of time. Lois had been right to go back in there — she had known that something wasn't right when Peter and Melissa hadn't met them and, as always, she had been unequivocally correct.

"Jesus..." Matthew muttered.

"What about Scott?" Allison was the one to speak through the palpable silence, her stare occasionally focusing on the amount of blood on Peter's shirt. It was drenched. Whose blood was that? There was no response as Derek and Peter slammed the door shut, so she repeated her question. "Derek, where's Scott?"

He didn't say anything.

But when he looked at them, they knew.

——