weaponized

Other than the sound of rain, Scott's room was quiet, it was just the three of them sitting around a pile of cash on his bedroom floor. Five hundred thousand dollars. That was how much Garrett and Violet had earned from their killing spree. They had killed enough supernaturals to earn the number of some people's mortgages. The three sat quietly, concentrating as they listened to the tape they'd found in the ex-lacrosse player's bag, none of them quite understood what it meant. There was talk of IP addresses and wire transfers, something none of them had ever made, they were seventeen, they'd never had enough money to make wire transfers.

Frankly, they didn't understand any of this. They couldn't understand why anyone would use all of this money just to kill them, Stiles couldn't be entirely sure of the reason, but from what he'd gathered, someone really wanted them dead. Badly. That was something the couple gathered a long time ago when they had almost died multiple times over the past few weeks. When all the supernaturals in Beacon Hills had begun dropping like flies.

Darby and Peyton should be packing their bags as they speak, with any luck, they would already be on the road, following the desperate warning that Noelle had given them over the phone, she had known it was serious the moment the first third of the dead pool was cracked, but now that their name was on it too, it was serious, whoever was doing this would already be working their way down the list, just like Garrett had tried to kill Liam.

For a moment the three of them looked down at the pile of cash, still in disbelief that they were so close to five hundred thousand dollars in the first place, and then the Alpha began frantically packing it back into the bag, confusing the others who questioned what he was doing, what he planned on doing with it. Scott insisted that it was late, the three of them had PSATs tomorrow, they needed to sleep, to prepare, to be focused on anything but money and dead pools.

Stiles stopped him, reminding him that it was five hundred thousand dollars, asking if he knew how much money that was. Of course, Scott knew, it was five hundred thousand dollars, Stiles corrected him, that wasn't what he meant, it was half a million dollars. He couldn't just slide all of the cash beneath his mattress, that he knew, if hadn't taken long for Noelle to find it, and all she had to do was trip up, if his mother ever had the chance to search his room while they were out, he would be done for.

The Alpha needed to talk to Derek, the money was his, or as Noelle reminded him, Peter's too. It belonged to both of them. Scott questioned what she meant by that, the tone she had said it in, as though they should rethink what they were doing because it belonged to Peter. And that was exactly what she meant, she suggested that the three of them proceed with caution. Scott found it hard to fathom how she of all people was suggesting to keep it from Derek, she was practically one of them, an honorary Hale. He questioned if she really thought they shouldn't tell him.

Noelle shook her head, of course, they should tell him, it was just that some of that money was Peter's. Peter. The homicidal killer. She questioned whether the two of them really wanted that man to have five hundred thousand dollars. Still trying to understand what she was saying, they asked if she wanted to give Derek his money back, but not Peter. Frankly, they weren't sure that it was even Noelle they were talking to, she had always seemed like an advocate for good in the world, she was another Scott, but tonight she'd changed her tune.

"I didn't say that." The blonde shook her head.

"Nell, what are you saying?" Stiles questioned her as she sighed deeply, running a hand through her hair. Even she wasn't sure what she was saying anymore. All she knew was that the thought of giving Peter any portion of those five hundred thousand dollars made her uncomfortable, the man didn't deserve any of it. Before she could try to explain that, the three of them were startled by banging coming from the hallway, someone running upstairs as Scott rushed to hide the cash under his bed, all three of them quickly jumping to their feet, ready to be ambushed by someone who was clearly in a hurry to find them.

Malia swung open the door, drenched from the rain, looking across the three of them, somehow she didn't find it suspicious how the three of them were standing in front of the door, lined up in preparation for someone to open the door, her mind was consumed with the message she came to relay. She and Derek had found Satomi's pack, but they were dead. At least all the ones they'd found, amongst them, Braeden, the mercenary who Derek had rushed to the hospital while she came here to tell them what had happened. Another portion of the list, dead.

The pack lined up, waiting to register themselves for the PSATs, all of them anxious, some due to the test they were about to take, a life-defining test, and others because of the news they'd been given last night. In particular, the couple nervously tapped their feet with their arms folded, both unable to stop asking whether they would be next. Noelle hadn't heard from either her sister or mother, perhaps that was what she asked of them, scared that any contact might endanger their lives, but she couldn't help but want to know where they were, hopefully, far from Beacon Hills.

Malia questioned her best friend if she was okay, she reeked of anxiety, something she'd noticed last night too when the three of them had acted off, trying to cover it with up with the questions of what she and Derek had found in the woods. Noelle reassured her that she was fine, that all of her nerves were simply to do with dead body after dead body turning up, not because they were currently hiding a stack of cash beneath Scott's bed, hoping that Melissa wouldn't snoop around her son's bedroom. The mention of dead bodies reminded Kira to ask where Lydia was, but their genius redheaded friend had taken the test during her Freshman year, that didn't come as much of a surprise to the kitsune, she didn't know how she hadn't assumed it sooner.

"Does that mean I could have taken it some other time?" Malia questioned, turning to the druid she regularly studied with, the blonde who had refrained from mentioning that it could be done later, that she could have had more time to study, but it came with the risk of her repeating her junior year, a price that Noelle wasn't willing to let her pay. Noelle smiled brightly, the kind that got her out of most awkward situations, because nobody could say no to her.

"Malia, you studied harder for this than any of us," Scott reassured her, he knew that almost as well as Noelle, if he didn't find Malia sitting in Noelle's room studying until the early hours of the morning, he heard from Stiles that she had been doing the same at his house, typically with one of Lydia's books filled with notes. Occasionally written in code.

"Doesn't mean I'm gonna do good."

"Well." Stiles corrected her in a mumble, confusing the coyote. "It's do well, not do good," Stiles said wearily as the blonde girl stared him down, now wasn't the time to knock her confidence, but he had already done that as Malia began freaking out, hopelessly throwing her arms in the air, Nell left to comfort her as Stiles stood guiltily.

When Noelle's word of assurance didn't cut it, Scott stepped in, reminding the coyote why they were all doing this. Because while they were trying not to die they still needed to live. In a strop, the coyote threw her head back as she listened to the Alpha make reasonable points that she'd had no choice but to agree with. The wolf admitted that if he managed to survive high school he would like to go to college. A good college.

Kira chimed in, reminding them it was only three hours. They could survive three hours. She had confidence in them all that they could do that, though it wasn't a feeling that was mutual for all of them, Noelle wasn't quite sure they had three hours in them, that list hung over her head, the simple act of her name being on that list lingered over her every thought like a dark cloud. Scott wrapped an arm around the girl, reassuring her that she had this.

As the students filed into the classroom one by one, they pressed their thumbs into an ink pad, a necessary security measure to stop cheating, Natalie Martin told them as she stood waiting with an envelope for their phones to be placed in, another security measure. Noelle was last in a long queue of her friends, looking at the examiner as she pressed her thumb into the ink pad, he was a peculiar-looking man that smiled at her, a smile that sent a chill down her spine, despite that, she provided him a weak one back. Ignoring how it felt as though the man had just stared at her like he knew everything about her, her every weakness and secret.

Everyone sat down in their seats, their nerves rising as they tried to find a comfortable position, all of their pens laid out as they impatiently waited to begin. The examiner stood up at the front of the class, announcing it would be two hours and ten minutes long, consisting of two twenty-five-minute critical reading sections, two twenty-five-minute math sections, and thirty minutes of essay writing. Looks were shared around the room as students gave their friends a final good luck in a low whisper, praying they would all pass. Coach Finstock's absence brought them all a few minutes extra to calm themselves, waiting for Mrs. Martin to return with him, only he never came, Natalie returned empty-handed, suggesting that she find Mr. Yukimura instead, but it was already too late, the test had to begin now. The two of them would have to deem fit.

As the man announced for the students to begin, papers were opened in unison, the noise of all the pages turning sending a wave of nausea through the class. Something about it felt like that saying "the beginning of the end". Malia looked around her during the test, Noelle was sitting on her right, whizzing through all of the questions, but with confidence, she seemed sure of herself and the answers. Stiles was on her right, pencils in every available place, whether it be slotted in his ears, in his mouth, in his hand or on his desk. Scott and Kira were across the room, too far for her to slyly check up on them, but she was sure they were doing well too. She took a breath, she had to do this for them, for the dream that Stiles had, for the reasons that Scott had said. To live while they were all trying not to die. Her pencil lingered toward the paper, a loud thud startling her and the rest of the class before she had a chance to fill in the first bubble.

Natalie rushed over to Sydney, the girl who'd collapsed onto the floor, her fainting hadn't lasted long enough for her to avoid the embarrassment of being stared at by the classroom full of peers who were concerned for her, understanding how she felt, the nerves were enough to make all of them sick. As Natalie helped the girl up, she noticed red and white welts on her wrist, with worry riddling the woman's voice, she asked the girl how long they had been there, but the girl wasn't sure. Until now, she hadn't noticed them. The examiner questioned if he should stop the test for the girl, Natalie told him that it was fine, helping Sydney back into her seat before picking up her phone from the desk, telling everyone to stay where they were, that she would be back as quick as possible. Scott heard the woman tell the examiner in a whisper to not let any of them leave, a look across her face that unsettled him, something was wrong.

On edge, the entire class waited for her to return, Noelle shared a worried look with Scott, much like he felt, she was sure that something wasn't right about this, this wasn't just Natalie being an empathetic woman worried about the health of her student, and those marks on the girl's wrist wasn't the average symptom of being ill. She had never seen anything like it, and she lived with a nurse, Melissa's books were everywhere, and in the times she'd looked through them, nothing like that had ever come up.

Scott mouthed to her that it was fine, the words barely settling in before they heard Natalie, the woman yelling from the hallway, telling someone to get out, to stay outside of the building while her heels clicked loudly on the floor. Everyone jumped up from their seats to see what all of the commotion was about, Scott and Noelle found themselves at the front of the crowd, watching a panicked Natalie turn back to them, ordering them all to return to their seats as she stood acting as a human barricade against the school entrance.

The pack looked at one another, unsure what was going on, but it had confirmed their suspicion, there was something off. About all of this. Natalie pleaded for them to go back inside once again, this time, returning to their seats. As they did, Scott heard the woman's phone call from the hall, grabbing Noelle's arm to stop her, ready to feedback to her as he continued listening, keeping an on-edge blonde waiting with a furrowed brow. Natalie mumbled three concerning letters. CDC. A series of letters he repeated to Noelle. That was something she did know from Melissa, it was the center for disease control.

Within fifteen minutes, the entire room was standing at the door again, watching as CDC agents walked past them in bright yellow biohazard suits, covered head-to-toe as they prepared to set up a quarantine area in the cafeteria, the rest of the school would be evacuated within a half an hour. Rows of beds were set up in individual tents, IV drips prepared for the infected, blocked off windows and doors, soon followed by a police barricade, the sound of the sirens heard from the classroom they had all been shut in.

Noelle had lasted a matter of minutes sitting around waiting to hear something before it became too much, until the stress was eating away at her and she had run out of fingernails to nervously chew on. She pulled herself off of the table, insisting that she needed to go and talk to someone about it, preferably Natalie. Scott volunteered to go with her, the two excusing the room, telling the examiner they had to speak to Mrs. Martin, surprisingly he didn't argue, allowing them both to roam the halls looking for her while the others waited in the class.

Natalie was more than willing to answer their questions, including the one on how Sydney was doing, she guided the two of them into the quarantined area to see her, allowing them into the tent that she was placed in, a few other people in the surrounding tents already. The girl looked relieved to see someone who wasn't in a hazmat suit, smiling at the couple who walked in, they had always been friendly with her, talking to her in class, but she didn't think it was enough for them to come and check up on her when she was sick. Noelle and Scott asked how she felt, she reassured them that she was feeling better already, the werewolf could smell the fear radiating from the girl, she was terrified of what was happening, they all were.

"So what happens now?" Noelle questioned the woman.

"We isolate the sick and wait for instructions," Natalie told her, repeating what she was told by one of the agents when she asked the same question. "If I'm wrong, they'll be out of here pretty quickly, and then I'm the crazy biology teacher who panicked for nothing."

Nellie pulled a blanket over Sydney, she looked feverish, despite her words, she didn't look like she was doing better, in fact, she looked somehow worse than when she'd collapsed during the test. The welts on her wrists were spreading to her arms, her skin was clammy, sweat dripped on her pretty scarlet cardigan that was failing to provide her any warmth as she shivered. Scott told her that she would be okay in a few hours, his smile reassuring her of that as if he somehow had the ability to tell, but it wasn't her health she was concerned about. In fact, it was the last thing on her mind. She was more worried about the PSATs, the qualifying tests for the National Merit Scholarship, and her parents couldn't afford to send her to college without it.

The Alpha could understand her worry, he had similar ones, with all of the financial troubles, he was unsure he would make it to college even if he did earn good grades. A worry that the blonde luckily didn't have, she had a trust fund provided by Darby, the woman had continued to save it, a large portion of it from James' life insurance, something had always told her to keep it, that it might come in good use one day, and it would, it would put both of her daughters into college, a gesture she never had the opportunity to offer to her son.

Even if Noelle couldn't relate to them, she sympathized with the girl, certain that they would all be able to retake the test, that for now, all Sydney had to worry about was getting better. Scott and Natalie nodded in agreement, at least they hoped that all of this wouldn't stand in the way of the PSATs, there were plenty of teenagers whose hopes and dreams were riding on passing it.

As Natalie guided the two back out of the tent, Noelle sneezed, a panicked scream sounded, her head and Scott's shot up to see a woman across the room with a small fire started in front of her, a group of agents rushing to help her put it out, suspecting that she had mixed two chemicals to accidentally start a fire. But Noelle and Scott's eyes were wide, suspecting that the blonde had a little something to do with a sudden flame.

"Are you feeling okay, Noelle?" Natalie asked with concern, a hand on the girl's shoulder.

Nellie nodded with a smile. "Yeah, it's just Scott's cologne. I think I'm allergic." She brushed it off as the woman nodded, excusing herself so she could go and talk to another CDC agent about the situation going on around them.

As the two walked back to the classroom, Scott sniffed his shirt. "Nell, I don't think I'm wearing any cologne." He told the girl with a furrowed brow.

"Your not." She admitted, confusing the wolf even more. "I'm not feeling so hot," Noelle said, as she said those words, it was as though her symptoms had worsened, soon she began to feel the way that Sydney looked. Sweaty, but cold. Her skin pale and clammy. The only thing she seemed to be missing was the spreading welts. The blonde sneezed again, the school doors on the other side of the corridor blew open with a strong wind. With another sneeze, the drinks fountain next to them burst, water forming a puddle on the floor as Scott turned to the druid with wide eyes, a warning to stop sneezing, but she couldn't help it, and another one was already starting to tickle her nose.

Scott quickly guided her into the locker room, hoping to get the girl out of the hallway before a concerned agent quarantined her, worried that whatever was happening to everyone else in the tents was happening to her, and perhaps it was, only she had much worse side effects than welts on her arms. Scott stood back as the blonde covered her nose to sneeze again, he winced as the sneeze sounded, carefully opening his eyes, prepared to see fire or water after he failed to feel a gush of harsh wind. Nothing. Perhaps it had passed.

The blonde removed her hands from her face, opening them up in front of her, a small flower sat in the palms of her hands as she looked up at the wolf with a distressed look, wondering why all of this was happening to her, but her concern only grew when she looked up at him, seeing that he didn't look too great either. Scott looked down at her, blinking harshly as his vision blurred in and out of focus, barely able to see her anymore, her voice distorted in his head as she spoke, it sounded as though she was across the room yet in front of him at the same time.

He stumbled toward one of the sinks, splashing cold water on his face, leaning on the porcelain basis to stabilize himself while the entire locker room spun around him. No longer able to find a sickly Noelle at all anymore. Scott was startled by the sound of knocking at the door, followed by the sound of Mrs. Martin's voice, she called for them both, asking if they were okay. She saw the two of them rush into here while he held onto the girl, how the two of them had been in here for a while.

Neither teenager found themselves able to speak, it felt as though the life was sucked right out of them, leaving them speechless as they sat, or stood, weakly listening to her calling them with the hopes that she wouldn't come in. With every passing second the Alpha was losing control of himself, his canines and claws beginning to reveal themselves as he looked at his reflection, the wolf couldn't stop it if he tried, it felt like it was all new to him again, before he'd learned how to control it, when he was still a slave to his transitions.

Ken Yukimura walked into a silent locker room in the search for the couple who had been gone for much too long, their friends beginning to grow concerned, he had told them to wait back in the classroom, expecting that Scott and Noelle might be in one of the quarantine tents, maybe the two of them had been infected, but after speaking to Natalie Martin, he found out that they were last seen in the locker room. She wasn't sure if the two of them had left yet, neither of the pair had answered when she had called them, perhaps the two were in a rebellious phase where they didn't want to sit in a boring classroom waiting to hear if they would be sitting a test.

As the man entered the room, he was met with a puddle at his feet, one of the sinks leaking, the dripping water was the only sound in the room as he pushed further through it, wondering what had happened, where Scott and Noelle could possibly be. As he ventured further, something had caught his eye, a hint of green peaking from behind one of the lockers, of course while searching for a druid, he was inclined to follow it, hoping that it was a trail to an elemental controlling girl, perhaps an Alpha werewolf with her.

Surely enough, when he reached the end of the vine, he found the two hiding behind a locker, a weakened blonde resting on Scott's shoulder as he held her nose, making sure that she hadn't done anything to alert the person who'd entered the locker room, holding her nose was as much strength as he had. He looked ghastly. They both did. But he managed to mutter one request, for the man to get Stiles. Before he scurried off to find Stiles and the rest of their friends, he handed them two bottles of water, telling them to get their fluids up before he came back, hoping that it would ease their sickness, at least until he knew of a proper way to heal them.

It was only minutes before the door burst open again, Stiles leading Malia, Kira, and her father as they rushed around the corner to find the couple, the werewolf just helping the blonde stand up as Stiles assisted them. Neither of them was in a good state, but some fluids had perked both of them up temporarily.

As the three of them hobbled over to Malia and the Yukimura's, Scott stumbled, losing balance, Malia and Kira rushed to catch him, only when the coyote had her hands extended did they see it was happening to her too, her claws extended unwillingly. It was happening to all three of them, and there was no stopping it. Scott's eyes were flashing between a searing red and his usual eye color of chocolate brown. Malia couldn't put her claws back, and every time Noelle felt a sneeze coming, they all had to duck for cover, unsure what was going to happen. Luckily, the fires were the least common side effect, they had only had to put out two so far, for her, that seemed to be progress. A lacrosse player might have lost their jersey, but that was the least of their worries.

"Obviously the virus is affecting the three of you in a way it won't hit any human being." He had explained to them, looking between the two lycanthropes and druid.

"You guys have to stay out of sight. We have to quarantine you from the quarantine." Stiles said, confusing himself with his own words, most of the group around him too ill to make sense of his words anyway, allowing him an easy escape. He might just be the sanest of the entire pack right now. The only question was, where would they go? Kira pointed out that Scott and Malia risked getting violent like on a full moon, perhaps they didn't have to worry about the blonde trying to slash their throats, but for all they knew, a deadly sneeze was in their future.

The Alpha wasn't sure where they would go inside of the school, but he knew that they couldn't stay in the locker room much longer, it was too out in the open, not to mention Noelle bursting a water pipe, soon enough it would begin leaking into the hallway, alerting someone they were in here. Malia added a classroom to the list of places they couldn't go, if Kira was right about either her or Scott getting violent, it wouldn't hold them. Kira suggested the basement, but Scott shut it down, there were too many ways out, they needed a place that was secure, somewhere where nobody would find them, someone that could hold him and Malia if need be.

"I know somewhere," Noelle spoke up, her voice startled them, frankly, they'd forgotten that she could talk after being silent for so long, trying to focus on resisting the urge to sneeze again. The entire group was eager to hear where she could of think of that fit their criteria. "The Vault." She told them. "The Hale Vault. Hales always have an escape route. There has to be another way in."

Seeing no other option, Mr. Yukimura left them to find a blueprint of the school, locating it a lot easier than any of them had expected, they had at least expected another elemental occurrence to happen before he returned, but the druid seemed to be handling herself well, at least if they'd ignored the fact that much like Scott, her eyes began flickering between her human eyes and her supernatural colored eyes. He called the teenagers into Coach's office where he laid it out on the table, Stiles pointed at the school sign, telling the man that was the entrance they knew about, it was the one they'd taken before. And if Noelle was right about Hales having multiple ways out of places, another way in should be accessible from the basement.

Stiles placed a finger on the blueprint, the west corridor, it had to be there. With his hand on the blueprint, all of a sudden, he collapsed as Noelle and Kira managed to catch him, steadying him before he hurt himself. Another person down, infected. Mr. Yukimura pulled up Stiles' sleeve, he too had the human symptom of spreading welts on his arms. They were all sick, he announced.

Ken turned to his daughter, insinuating that she was part of it too, she told her dad that she felt okay, that she didn't feel sick. He wasn't sure that meant that she was fine, it appeared that the illness was affecting her neurologically, he had found her test papers amongst some others, he said as he pulled it out of his pocket to show them what he meant, every bubble on the sheet of paper had been missed, the small markings scattered across the page. Not a single one filled in, as though she hadn't been able to see straight while doing it.

The teenagers needed no other excuse to get to the vault and now. They quickly made their way down while Ken covered for them, spreading out to search for the entrance, an opening maybe, an object that might trigger it. Noelle brushed her fingers against the wall as she tried to feel for a trap door, this was the Hales they were dealing with, it wouldn't be obvious. Stiles searched a bookcase for this magic opening that they were all hoping for, he moved everything on it, but it didn't work, he walked away as Nellie followed behind him, only she stopped, seeing the thing he didn't. A small triple spiral of a triskelion craved into the wall with a metal grate in the center.

"Stiles." She called him back, pointing at it.

He and Scott quickly moved the shelf out of the way, looking at the triskelion. Derek and Peter had told them that only a Hale could open the vault, unfortunately for them, an honorary Hale didn't count. Fortunately, they did have a Hale amongst them, even if she didn't know she had that title.

The three standing at the door had to think fast, they had to find a way to get Malia to open the door without telling her why, it was too soon for that, now wasn't an appropriate time either, it wasn't something they just dropped on her in a life or death situation. Stiles was quick to think as he turned to Noelle and Scott, telling them to look at the markings on the wall, they were like the markings on the entrance outside, it could only be opened with claws. Anyone's claws, Nell caught on quick, but Scott needed some help as Stiles slyly peered over at Malia.

"Lia." Noelle spun on her heel to look at the coyote, snatching up the opportunity before the girl caught on before Scott. "Can you try?"

"Why me?" She asked, looking at the other clawed animal who could have done it.

"I don't have control," Scott told her as he raised a clawless hand, he hadn't even tried, perhaps his symptoms had eased enough to gain control, but he couldn't tell her that.

"Okay, I'll do it." Malia shrugged, allowing everyone to breathe a sigh of relief. "But first, tell me what you've been hiding from me." She demanded as the three of them looked at each other as if they didn't know what she meant, as though they hadn't been hiding a huge secret for months now. "I know you think you're trying to protect me, but I can handle it." She reassured them with another push for them to tell her what it was. Scott and Stiles immediately looked at Noelle, she seemed most fit for this, she had known first, she was the closest person to Malia, her best friend and the person she trusted most.

Noelle looked at them with wide eyes, questioning how she had been left with the responsibility when Stiles was literally dating the coyote, if anyone should be telling her, it was him. Before the three of them could get themselves into a sticky situation by saying the wrong thing, the coyote added more, telling them that she knew she was on the list, allowing them another sigh of relief as the three of them nudged each other, egging them on to follow along with it before it was too late. Stiles quickly agreed with her, that, that was what it was, that she was on the list.

Malia nodded, she knew it. Only her questions didn't end there as she asked how much she was worth. This time there was no hesitation when answering her, Scott told her that she was worth four million. Her face dropped for a moment, causing Noelle to step forward as she asked if she was okay, the girl looked up at her.

"Yeah." She stated plainly, Noelle's eyes widening. "Scott's worth 25. You, 20, Kira, six. They will take all you guys out way before me." She deadpanned as she walked past the stunned blonde, Noelle was completely flabbergasted as she turned back to Scott and Stiles, both of them were as stunned as she was, relieved, but stunned. Stiles wrapped an arm around the girl, reminding her it was progress. They were making progress.

Malia held up her claws, placing them inside of the grate, turning them as the wall scraped with the turning mechanisms inside. They all watched with amazement as light came from the grate before the wall slowly began opening, allowing them all into the vault, seeing it from a different angle, some of them, for the first time at all. Before stepping into the eery place, Malia looked at her blonde best friend who could take a hint, walking in beside her, looking around the vault as the door closed behind them, shutting them in, placing them in their own quarantine. As Stiles called it- a quarantine from the quarantine.

·❥·

For what felt like forever, the teenagers sat around the vault, in almost complete darkness, there wasn't a single shed of light from the outside world, nothing to tell them what time it was, if they had been gone long enough for people to begin worrying for them. Human contact seemed like a distant memory as if they had spent years down here, Noelle had experience of that, she spent years in another vault, one that was colder than this and maybe even darker, somehow this was worse than that. Even with the people she loved the most around her, this was worse than being alone in that bank vault guarded by Alpha werewolves. She wasn't sure how, perhaps it was the number of people this affected now, now that more people were involved, or the taste that she'd had of the outside world only to be shoved back in a vault. Or perhaps it was feeling like she had some unfinished business.

She still didn't know what was going on with Darby and Peyton, whether they'd made it over the border of Beacon Hills, perhaps claiming them to be safe. And until she got out of here, if, Noelle wouldn't know. Of course, there was no signal down here, not a single corner of this vault had an ounce of signal, she'd held her phone up in the air, stepping slowly around it hoping for at least a bar. Eventually, it became too painful for Scott to watch as he sat her down, he and Kira trying to calm her down, sure that Darby and Peyton were out of town and safe, that they would call soon to check up on her. The woman had asked her eldest daughter to go with her, she'd spent years on end yearning for her daughter, she wouldn't just forget about her, even if Darby did make the regular mistake of calling her child Briar instead of Noelle, she loved her.

Noelle tried to push it to the back of her mind, trying to focus on other things, she had aimed for them to be positive, but that chance soon disappeared when she looked over at Malia, she lay in Stiles' arms across the vault, still not feeling any better, much like everyone else, she was trying to sleep it off, embracing the comfort of lying in the arms of someone she put her whole trust in, because she thought she could. She thought she could trust all of them, that they'd protect her, that they would be honest when it came to the big things. And yet, everyone around her knew of the facade she was living, the truth about her, and where she came from.

Scott watched as the blonde stared at her best friend, he might not have been able to control his abilities, but that didn't mean he couldn't see what was right in front of him. Guilt. He squeezed her hand, muttering to her that it would be fine. But she didn't agree, and she told him that, they couldn't keep lying to her, it wasn't fair, it wasn't right, soon enough, someone else would find it out, and they would take the chance to tell her before they did. They couldn't let that happen, it had to come from them, and soon.

He knew it was true, he just didn't know how to tell Malia that Peter Hale, a person that they had all introduced her to as a psychopath, was her father. A man she had grown to hate the way they did, only she could be the one person who needed a relationship with him.

"You know, this is where it all started," Stiles announced, raising the head of the couple and Kira as she paced around the vault. "The money was over there. 117 million in bearer bonds."

"How do you even change bearer bonds into cash?" The kitsune asked as she looked at what all of the Hales had been keeping down here, one looked like a jar of mushrooms, it seemed weird to keep something like that in a vault, but she didn't question it as she sat back down beside the werewolf and druid.

"The bank, I guess," Stiles told her, unsure if it was the right answer. "They just let it sit here the entire time collecting dust. You know bearer bonds are basically extent?"

"Why does it matter?" Kira asked him, unaware of any problems that his family had financially, it wasn't the kind of thing that he talked about, at least not to anyone but Scott and Nellie. But she didn't expect any different, the three of them were close-knit, they were like a little group inside of their little group. It was no secret that the three of them told each other things that they didn't tell the others, sometimes Lydia was involved in the secrets, but that was something else the girl expected. They had spent their entire lives together, she and Malia were still new.

"You know how many problems that money could solve?"

"For you?"

"Me. My dad..." He told her, Kira bowed her head, feeling guilty for asking about it. Scared that it might have been an overstep. "The Eichen House and MRI bills are crushing him."

The Alpha spoke up, admitting his family's troubles, explaining that Melissa wrote down a list of all the things in their budget, added it up, and then figured out how much longer they had until they lost the house. Kira looked around the room, surprised at just how much they were keeping to themselves, how little she knew about their normal, human problems when she was kept out of the loop. She never really thought that like her, they had normal things going on in their lives. Perhaps she had been so wrapped up in trying to talk her parents out of moving house that their problems flew completely over her head.

Outside of the school, crowds gathered around to find out what was happening inside, nightfall was already upon them and they still knew nothing. Parents of teenagers waited to hear if their children were affected if they were one of the people placed into quarantine, whose cellphones were shut off to try and prevent widespread panic. Of course, that hadn't worked when they'd all waited for their children to return home from school, only to hear of what was going on. All of them had questions for Noah, questions that he couldn't possibly provide.

Amongst those people was Lydia, she had questions for the man too, her mother was inside, her friends were inside, she needed to know what was going on. Unlike most, she managed to worm her way past the police tape to ask, but he had told her the truth, that he knew nothing, but they were working on it. A frustrated, stressed Lydia placed a hand on her head, freaking out as Noah reassured her that they would all be fine.

Scott, Stiles, and Noelle leaned against the door as the Alpha tried to hear what was going on, all of the conversations happening outside, tuning in on the conversation between the redhead and their fathers. Scott listened for a while before he turned to the blonde. "Darby's here," He said as the girl's eyes widened, unsure whether that was good or bad. "She came with Peyton and Lydia. She's asking about you."

"She came back for me?" Noelle asked, unable to hide her surprise. Scott had told her that she'd get in touch, that she wouldn't just forget about her eldest daughter and go back to the life they had been living a couple of months ago, but she hadn't expected Darby to come back, to risk her life just to see if she was okay. "One of us needs to go out there." She told the two boys. She had been thinking about it for a while now, that one of them would need to cover for the others, but now she was more inclined than ever to do it, hoping that she could somehow talk to Darby if it was her who left.

Stiles turned to look at the coyote he had left in Kira's care, Malia was shivering, getting worse by the second, as was Scott, the only ones who didn't seem to be on death's doorstep was him and Noelle, the most human between the five of them, the ones they expected it to affect the least. It was clear that it would be one of them who left to cover, ones who wouldn't be placed inside of a quarantined tent, ruining their cover with their illness. He felt guilty for leaving her, and for lying to her too. He didn't need to hear the conversation that Scott and Noelle had earlier for the topic to be on his mind too, much like Noelle had said, they had to tell her the truth about Peter soon. She would see the rest of the dead pool eventually.

The human moved closer to his friends, reminding them that there was only one name that had failed to appear on the list, and that was Peter's. Either he was incredibly lucky or he was behind all of this, The Benefactor. If she found out about him she was going to go to him, he knew it, the two of them knew it too. And when she did, he would twist his way into her head like he did with everyone. Including them. They allowed him to walk around like nothing ever happened, like he was one of the good guys. In case they needed a reminder, he wasn't one of the good guys.

If Malia found out about him, she was gone. That was probably what he waiting for, and then he wins, and they lost. Scott told him that they were already losing, raising his hand to show them a black liquid oozing from his fingernails. Time was running out for them.

Stiles agreed with Noelle, someone had to go out there, he volunteered himself, and so had Nell. It came to a compromise. Both of them would go, that way they could protect and cover for each other, ensuring that neither of them was put in harm's way, that if one of them got worse, they'd be safe with the other. Scott reassured them he would hold down the front down here, he would take care of Malia and Kira while they were gone, as best as he could. Stiles asked for a minute to speak to the coyote before they left, to tell her that he would be gone for a little while.

"You're going to be okay, right?" Noelle asked as she turned back to the Alpha. Scott watched as Stiles knelt down in front of a disoriented Malia, explaining where he and Nell were going. "Hey." The blonde nudged him, his sweaty face turning to her. "Scott, if you aren't going to be okay I'll stay with you. Stiles will understand."

Scott told her that she had to go, that he was good, the two of them had to do this together. The girl didn't argue as he pulled her in for a parting hug, her head laying on his chest, embracing in the comfort before it was torn away from her for an uncertain amount of time. With her head on his chest and such uncertainty, Scott knew that he had to take a chance, as he had told both of them, they were losing, but he knew there was one thing he sure as hell wasn't going to lose, it was the chance to tell the girl how he felt. He mumbled the girl's name, with a hum, she looked up at him as he muttered those special three words. I love you, he told her.

I love you too, she told him through her smile, resting her head back on his chest.

Soon enough, the two of them were parting ways again as Stiles came back to her feeling guiltier than he had ever felt before. Nobody said goodbye, they all settled for parting looks, worried the meaning of goodbye would change the moment that Noelle and Stiles passed that door. The two of them waited on the other side of it until it had closed completely, their last sight a reminder of what they both had to lose. Malia curled up alone on the floor, wrapped up in Stiles' jacket while she wept softly. Scott trying to comfort Kira as they returned the fearful expressions of the pair at the door. All hoping it wasn't long before the door opened again.

With the door closed tightly, the two best friends looked at each other, taking a deep breath, Nell grabbed ahold of Stiles' hand, telling him that Malia would be fine, as would Scott and Kira. They were all going to be fine, they had gotten through worse than this. He believed her, somehow, he believed that this was just another bump in the road. What was the worst that could happen in a school, right?

The two of them rushed upstairs in search of Mr. Yukimura, hoping he had found a way to fix this in the past few hours. When they were able to find him, the two settled for the next suitable offer they could find, they found Mrs. Martin standing in the quarantine room, caring for the people in the tents, the numbers had grown massively since Noelle was last in here. It seemed that Natalie wasn't insane at all, they had a serious infection on their hands, for the humans too. Whatever it was might just kill all of them.

Before either of the teenagers could open their mouths to talk to her, she pointed out how ill the two of them looked, suggesting that they lie down in one of the tents and get checked out. Stiles ignored the suggestion as he asked whether she'd seen Mr. Yukimura, Natalie reassured them he was fine, that was taking care of the other students. That answer was good enough for them, the two had a rough idea of where he was, somewhere to begin as they began walking away, quickly stopped when Noelle glanced into one of the tents, seeing Coach inside of one, stopping Stiles in his tracks. She turned back to Natalie, asking if he was the only adult who'd gotten sick today, as far as Natalie knew, yes.

Why is he the only one? Noelle asked in a mumble, turning to Stiles whose brows were furrowed, the same way that hers was. The two of them were in a confused and sweaty daze. Natalie softly suggested again that they both lie down, in the short time they had been standing in front of her the two had begun looking worse and worse. They could feel it too, but Noelle was taking a lack of sneezing as a win. They told the woman that they would be right back before rushing off, they had no intention of coming anywhere near the quarantine again.

Noelle and Stiles raided Coach's office, searching for something that could have made Coach ill, they had torn the office apart, as they had done many times, sometimes in search of something like now, and others as a prank on mischief night. The things they would do to return to times in their life when mischief night was something they called the night before Halloween, not every night of their freaking lives. The two of them couldn't find anything, they searched his drawers, filing cabinets, and his hung-up jackets, there wasn't anything that could have made him ill.

With a sigh, the human threw himself back in Coach's chair, the blonde leaning on the desk from the other side of it, the only thing that seemed to be giving her balance as her vision blurred, her eyes tightly shutting every time she blinked to try and get rid of the blurriness. As he sat there he noticed a stack of permission slips on Coach's desk, the first few stamped "approved" in bright red ink, but he began working through the pile, the blonde raising her head, wondering what all of the crinkling paper was about. She watched as the ink on the permissions slips faded, turning into a lighter red until the color changed completely. From red to black. Fresh black ink.

The two shared a look, the blonde looked back down at the desk, a bright yellow mug in front of her as she picked it up with narrowed eyes. Black, inky fingerprints wrapped around it. The girl's mind thought back to the security measures they had to take before the test, dipping her thumb into the ink pad. The look that the examiner had given her as she did it. That smile he had given that made her skin crawl.

"I was wondering how that idiot got sick." A voice came from the locker room door, startling the two teenagers as Noelle dropped the mug onto the floor, Stiles jumping up from the desk as the two of them came face to face with the examiner again. "I'm also wondering where your friends are. "He admitted a gun in his hand. "Since in order to get paid by the Benefactor, I need to have proof that they're dead."

"Visual confirmation," Noelle muttered as the man raised the gun to her head.

"Exactly." He smiled again, that same smile. He ordered for the two of them to walk, Stiles took a slow walk around the desk as he moved closer to his blonde best friend, shielding her as the two of them stumbled into the locker room. "You still look feverish, Mr. Stilinski. And your friend." He said as he peered around the teenage boy to get a good look at the cowering blonde. "Is it Miss. Blake, or Miss. Priestley, that you prefer?" He asked, the girl refusing to answer the question, he wasn't too concerned about the answer anyway, soon enough she would be nothing but a stack of cash in his bank account. "You should know something. The virus doesn't kill humans, you'll get better. Even you." He told the blonde. "So don't you think you should tell me where they are? At least two of you will get to live."

"I think I saw them in the library," Stiles told the man. "Or it might've been the cafeteria. It was definitely one of those two though."

"I'm going to count to three." The man warned them, raising the gun. "And then I'm going to kill you." He threatened as Stiles stared into the barrel of the gun. Noelle stepped in front of him, her arm stretched across him as she shielded him, narrowing her eyes at the assassin, wishing that it was sooner rather than later that she would feel well again, soon enough to set him alight where he stood, showing him who the real murderer here was. "Go on. Do it. I'm second on the list. You know why, right? You really think you can scare me? And with that?" Nellie asked, nodding at the gun he held to her head, she'd had bigger guns than that under her pillow.

"I think I can kill you." He corrected. "I just thought a countdown would make it more exciting. So..." He said as he raised it right to the girl's head until the barrel was touching her skin, Stiles was shaking behind her, froze, unable to fight and try to take the bullet if he wanted to, and it wasn't even touching him. The blonde's shaking hand was however, she was as terrified as him, but she refused to let the assassin see that. "One... Two..."

The girl couldn't hide her shaking as she gripped tightly onto Stiles's hands, almost stopping his circulation, it still wasn't enough to trigger a movement in him as she tightly shut her eyes, there was no choice in the matter. It was a natural instinct as her body quaked with fear. This was it. It was how she would die. Taking a bullet to the head for her best friend.

A gunshot sounded, splattering blood over the faces of the two teenagers, both of them opened their eyes, finally able to move, even if it was just the movement of freaking out, spitting out the blood that had found its way into their moves as they looked at the assassin in front of them. A small bullet hole in his head, his eyes still open, looking straight into Noelle's before his lifeless corpse dropped at her feet. The two panted for breath as a hazmat-suited figure emerged from Coach's office, his gun still raised as he pulled off his hood, Rafael McCall beneath it.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Stiles asked, barely able to breathe.

Rafael told them to listen, he had a call from Melissa, he didn't know what it meant, but he had a feeling they would. There was an antidote. It's in the vault. Reishi mushrooms. It's in a jar on one of the shelves, he instructed them clearly. They had to tell Scott. It's in the vault, he repeated as the two breathless, blood-covered teenagers looked at him, listening over the sounds of panting breaths. Without a word of confirmation, the two of them began running off, heading back down to the vault to tell Scott, hoping that it wasn't too late. They didn't stop. They didn't let anything get in their way. CDC agents. Teachers. Puddles in the hallway from Noelle. They repeated it, the antidote was in the vault. Reishi mushrooms. In a jar on one of the shelves.

Their feet slowly gave up beneath them as they reached the vault door, falling against it, weakly calling Scott's name, their fists banging against the stone door. "Scott! Hey, Scott!"

"Scotty?" Noelle weakly shouted as she collapsed against the stone. "It's in the vault! It's in there with you!"

"It's called Reishi mushrooms," Stiles shouted at him, neither getting a response. "Scott!"

Noelle banged her hands against the door, using it to hold her up as she called his name, yelling at him to open the door. They kept repeating it, repeating the things that Rafael told them, what Melissa had told him. It was in there with them, in a jar on one of the shelves. The two teenagers repeatedly threw themselves against the door, their lungs begging them to stop screaming, with every harsh movement their bodies grew more exhausted, but they couldn't give up. They called his name over and over, waiting for an answer.

Eventually, the two were brought to their knees, unable to do it anymore as they sunk onto the floor outside of the vault. Leaning against the stone as they tried to repeat it again, their voices lost, it was hopeless. They had lost. Just like Scott said they were.

Silence spread throughout the vault for a moment as the three supernaturals lay sprawled out, a dying Kira in the center of it after failing to keep herself up long enough to reach Malia. Scott was against the door, wanting to gather the strength to tell them both that he was still there, that for now, he was still alive. He wanted to get up, to find those reishi mushrooms in a jar on one of the shelves. But he couldn't. He couldn't see. He couldn't walk. He couldn't breathe. Since they left, they had all lost their vision, their airways had begun closing, and black veins stretched over the two lycanthropes' faces.

The quiet was broken by Kira's weak voice. She had seen it, she told the lycanthropes. She had seen them, the mushrooms on the shelf. She saw them. The Alpha placed his hand on the wall, trying to pull himself up as he panted, trying to catch every breath that he could, channeling all of his energy into his eyes until they were a searing red, allowing him to see through the vault, a small glowing light coming from the shelf. The reishi mushrooms. His legs were weak as he tried to get over to them, stumbling, reaching for every surface that could help him walk, his legs had already begun giving up on him as he fell, right as he reached the shelf. Scott's arm reached out for the jar, his fingertips brushing against the jar as he slipped, taking the jar down with him, the two hit the floor together. The glass jar shattered across the floor, releasing the spores, relieving them of all of their troubled breathing as they inhaled largely.

Weakly, he stumbled and crawled towards the shelf, struggling to stay upright as he reached for the jar of reishi mushrooms, his hands were weakening, his legs giving up beneath him, his arm extended, reaching for it, the tips of his fingers barely touching the glass as he tried to get a grip of it from the floor. But they began to slip. As he began collapsing to the floor, he pulled the jar down with him, the collision with the cement broke the jar, shattering it as the spores began to fill the air, allowing the supernaturals to breathe as it reached them.

Noelle and Stiles came back to as the door began moving on their backs, opening as Scott fell through it, seemingly cured as he landed in front of them, still breathing heavily, the three all looked at one another for a moment. Scott's face still had a hint of black veins stretched over it. Their faces covered in smeared blood. None of which mattered, they were alive.

The human boy pulled himself up, rushing into the vault to get to Malia while Scott turned back to Noelle, taking another heavy sigh of relief as he pulled her in, cupping her face as he kissed her like it was the last time he ever would. From now on, he wouldn't take advantage of having her in front of him. He would treat every moment like their last. The couple looked back in the vault, Kira was pulling herself to her feet as Noelle rushed to help her up, Scott following her as they all stopped, looking at Stiles and Malia, the coyote looking at him with disgust. As if there wasn't anyone in this world she hated more than him.

Noelle couldn't understand it, and neither could Stiles. Malia stood up, walking out of the vault, refusing to turn back as she walked straight past her friends, the blonde called her name, but it was no use, she ignored it, refusing to utter a word. The confused druid turned back to Stiles, a piece of crumpled-up paper in his hand as he watched Malia disappear. She knew. Just like the blonde had feared, someone else had told her before they'd had the chance.

"Malia!" Noelle shouted the girl's name again as she began chasing after her, nobody trying to stop her, Scott and Kira looked back at a regretful Stiles, he didn't know what to say, or what to do. She knew. She knew, and there was no going back now. "Malia!" Noelle's voice called over and over again as she pushed through the halls, the triage area being packed up, everyone was better, the quarantine over. People from outside pushed in, people from inside pushed out, the crowd taking over the hallways until Noelle couldn't see the coyote anymore.

Nobody questioned the girl with blood smeared over her face, blood stains splattered over her pale pink dress or how she desperately called for her friend. It was the least of their worries, for people who had just been through a quarantine, it was nothing. A usual sight.

"Noelle?" Two voices called as they pushed through the halls to find the blonde girl. "Noelle!"

"Darby?" Noelle muttered, looking around for Darby. "Peyton?" She searched the crowd until a path parted, the two blondes pushing through everyone with more determination than they'd ever felt in their lives. Stopping for a split second when they saw her standing in the middle of the hall in her bloodied clothes. "Mom!" Noelle shouted again, rushing towards them, running into their arms.

"Nell. Oh, Nellie, my baby." Darby wrapped her eldest daughter into her arms, holding her close to her chest, her fingers brushing through her blonde, matted her. "Oh, Nell. I thought we'd lost you." The woman muttered as she held her secondborn like it was the first time all over again, pulling in her youngest child with them, refusing to release either of her daughters anytime soon if she had the choice.

"Please don't leave me," Noelle begged as she sobbed into the woman's shoulder. "Please, don't leave me, Mom." She sniffled as the woman pulled away from her, looking over her daughter, her face contorted with confusion. Mom? She questioned. That was something she had never heard the girl say before.

"I'm not going anywhere." She reassured her, pulling her back in again, "I'm right here."