LETHAL
CHAPTER SEVEN

( WEAPONISED )

— ☾ —

Alex blew out a breath as the recording stopped playing.

"You ever made a wire transfer?" Stiles asked.

"Never had enough money." Scott answered as Alex shook her head.

"So you guys didn't understand a word of that either?" Stiles raised his eyebrows, glancing between Alex and Scott.

"I don't understand any of this." Scott sighed. "Why would someone use all this money just to kill us?"

"Someone wants us dead, Scott." Alex responded, glancing at Scott. "Badly."

Scott began to collect the money, placing it back into the bag.

"Woah, woah, what are you doing?" Stiles frowned.

"It's late." Scott responded. "We've got the PSAT's in the morning."

"No, I meant the money." Stiles replied, Alex raising her eyebrows. "The five hundred thousand dollars. You know how much money that is?"

"Uh, it's five hundred thousand-" Scott started, however, Alex cut him off.

"It's half a million dollars, Scott." Alex cut in. "What are you gonna do with it? Slide it under your mattress?"

"I have to talk to Derek." Scott responded, glancing at Alex, who nodded. "The money's his."

"You mean his and Peter's." Stiles clarified, Alex and Scott frowning.

"What does that mean?" Alex frowned in question.

"It means, maybe we should proceed with caution." Stiles responded with a sigh.

"You don't think we should tell Derek?" Alex's frown deepened.

"No." Stiles replied simply, Scott frowning too.

Stiles stood up. "No, of course we have to tell him, I'm just...I'm just saying, some of that money is Peter's, right?"

"Yeah..." Scott replied.

"Yeah, Peter." Stiles emphasised the name. "Homicidal killer? Remember? You want to give half a million dollars to him?"

"So we should give Derek his money back." Alex started with a frown. "But not Peter?"

"I didn't say that." Stiles sighed.

"Stiles, what are you saying?" Scott asked with raised eyebrows.

Before Stiles could answer, the trio heard footsteps, Scott sliding the bag of money under his bed quickly.

Malia opened the door, the girl's hair and clothes damp from the rain pouring outside. "We found Satomi's pack. Derek and I. But they're dead."

"All of them?" Alex raised her eyebrows.

"All the ones we found." Malia responded.

"Then where's Derek?" Stiles frowned.

••••

"Where's Lydia?" Kira asked.

"She took it in freshman year." Stiles responded, referring to the PSAT's. Alex has the grades to take the test in freshman year too, however, she chose not to.

"Does that mean I could've taken it some other time?" Malia widened her eyes as Alex crossed her arms.

"Malia, you studied harder for this than any of us." Alex replied, raising her eyebrows.

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

"Well..." Stiles spoke quietly.

"Well...what?" Malia frowned.

"It's do well, not do good..." Stiles responded.

"Oh god!" Malia exclaimed.

"Hey, you're doing this." Scott spoke, changing the subject. "Because while we're trying not to die, we still need to live. If I survive high school, I'd like to go to college. A good college."

"It's only three hours." Kira added. "We can survive three hours."

••••

Alex placed her thumb on the ink pad, then placing her thumb on her paper. Scott did the same, but with his. Kira, Malia, and Stiles followed.

"Phones in the envelopes, Alex and Scott, you'll get them back after the test." Ms Martin smiled, holding out two small paper bags, Alex and Scott placing their phones in and walking to their desks.

Stiles sat in the desk next to to Alex, one pencil in his mouth, and one behind his ear. He opened the first page.

"Please do not open the test booklet until you are instructed to do so." The teacher supervising the test started, Stiles closing the booklet quickly.

Malia glanced at Alex nervously, Alex sending the werecoyote a small, reassuring smile, along with a thumbs up.

"The test is two hours and ten minutes. There will be two critical reading sessions, two twenty five minute maths sessions, and an essay writing portion that will last thirty minutes. There are supposed to be two teachers monitoring this exam." The teacher continued, glancing at Ms Martin.

"I know, it's Coach, he's not exactly punctual." Ms Martin sighed. "Um, let me just try him again."

••••

"You may now begin."

As soon as the teacher spoke, everyone opened their booklets, Alex immediately circling and writing down the answers.

She was focused, not noticing that Malia was stuck on the first question. Stiles was on a roll, until he got up to one question. He stopped, frowning in confusion. The pencil fell out of his mouth, the pencil in his hand dropping to the table too.

Alex took off her jacket, placing it on the back of her chair, then continued to write down the answers.

Suddenly, a student fell to the ground, everyone stopping their tests to glance at the girl.

"Sydney!" Ms Martin frowned, walking up to Sydney quickly and helping her up.

"Uh, I'm okay." Sydney breathed. "I just got kind of dizzy."

Ms Martin frowned, glancing at the girl's wrist. "Sydney...how long have you had this?" The girl had a red mark on her wrist.

"I don't know." Sydney frowned.

"Ms Martin do I need to stop the test?" The other teacher asked with a frown.

"No, um, it's fine." Ms Martin responded, walking to the front of the room, Sydney sitting back down and rubbing her wrist gently, Alex frowning. "Everyone stay in your seats. I'll, um, be back in a minute."

At this, Alex and Stiles shared a glance.

"Nobody leaves the room." Ms Martin turned to the other teacher.

••••

Alex blew out a breath, crossing her arms as she leaned against a desk, Stiles sitting on the desk next to Alex, Malia and Kira leaning on other desks.

The school had just went into lockdown, some professional people in hazmat suits checking the school and the students.

"Bet they're thinking smallpox." Stiles started quietly.

"Not likely." The teacher interrupted, Stiles turning around to face him, the three girls glancing at the teacher as well, Alex frowning. "Smallpox was eradicated worldwide in 1979. We've only managed to completely eradicate two viruses in history. The other was rinderpest. It killed cows."

"So we should be comforted by that, right?" Alex spoke sarcastically, raising her eyebrows.

"Unless it's something worse." The teacher responded lowly.

"Whatever it is, they're taking it pretty seriously." Malia frowned. "There's a lot of cars and trucks out there. Your dad's with them."

"I should probably call him." Stiles nodded, going to take his phone out of the paper bag it was in.

"Don't bother." The teacher stopped him. "They would have shut off any access to all outside communication by now. No cell service, no wifi. No starting a panic. Looks like we're all just going to wait here and see what happens."

Alex frowned at the man, finding him a little suspicious.

••••

"Kira, Alex." Malia started, catching Alex and Kira's attention.

"Hmm?" Alex glanced at her.

"Do you guys ever get the feeling that Scott and Stiles aren't telling you everything?" Malia asked as Alex frowned.

She thought to herself for a moment. They're always honest with me. They'd never hide anything from me...right?

"What do you mean?" Kira asked, glancing between the two werewolves.

"Like, they hide stuff." Malia elaborated, Alex staying silent.

"I...think if they did, they'd have a pretty good reason." Kira responded nervously.

Malia blew out a breath. "Do you know what they're hiding in the bag under Scott's bed?"

Alex stiffened slightly, Kira widening her eyes.

Before Alex could even think of an excuse, Kira began to ramble.

"What? No, I've never been under Scott's bed, or in it, just on it...wearing clothes."

Malia and Alex frowned at her.

••••

Scott's red alpha eyes glowed, then went back to normal. He couldn't control his transformation.

"It's still happening." Mr Yukimura frowned.

Alex and Malia were sweating, Malia's claws out, and Alex's beta eyes glowing a golden yellow, her eyes not turning back to normal.

"I can't make them go back." Malia started, Alex nodding.

"I can't make my eyes turn back either." Alex added, Stiles glancing at her, Alex glancing at him too.

"Obviously the virus is affecting you three in a way it won't hit any other human being." Mr Yukimura started.

"You guys have to stay out of sight. We have to quarantine you...from the quarantine." Stiles added, glancing between the three werewolves.

"Yeah, but where?" Kira asked. "I mean, what if they get violent? Like on a full moon."

"We shouldn't stay in here, not in the locker room." Scott spoke.

"A classroom is not going to hold us." Alex added, her eyes finally turning back to normal.

"What about the basement?" Kira glanced between the werewolves.

"There's too many ways out." Scott responded. "We need somewhere secure, somewhere nobody can find us."

"The vault." Stiles suggested. "The Hale vault."

"The Hale's always have an escape room." Alex responded, glancing at him. "Like their house. There has to be another way in."

••••

"Okay, this is where the school sign is, so the vault's gotta be right about here." Stiles started, pointing to a spot on the blueprint of the school.

Alex released a breath, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. She wiped a bit of sweat off her neck, as she began to sweat more. Scott, Alex, and Malia were beginning to pale, all three werewolves getting worse.

Alex rested her head on Stiles' shoulder, already starting to feel the effects of the virus. Stiles wrapped an arm around her shoulder, bringing her closer.

"I suppose if there's a second entrance, it would probably be accessible from the basement." Mr Yukimura spoke.

"It's probably somewhere in this hallway. Or this corridor." Stiles gestured to the blueprint again. Suddenly, Stiles' grip on Alex weakened as he stumbled, Alex lifting her head quickly so she wouldn't fall. She reached out and held Stiles' arm before he could fall to the ground.

"Woah..." Stiles spoke quietly as he lifted his sleeve up, revealing the same red mark Sydney had. It was on the back of his hand and his wrist.

"It's happening to you too." Mr Yukimura spoke. "You're getting sick. You all are."

"I don't feel sick." Kira responded.

"I think it's affecting you differently, neurologically." Mr Yukimura replied, Scott and Kira sharing a glance. "I found your test answers here in a pile with the others."

Mr Yukimura took out Kira's page, placing it on the table for everyone to see. Kira hadn't even circled any of the actual answers. She had only just drawn circles around the page.

••••

Scott, Kira, Alex, Stiles, and Malia walked down to the basement, coming across the vault door.

"Look at the cracks on the wall." Stiles spoke, gently touching the vault door. "It looks like the entrance outside only opens with claws. Anyone's claws, right?"

The door could only be opened by a Hale. Alex and Malia both didn't know about that rule, amongst another thing. Everyone, other than Malia and Alex of course, were keeping the fact that Alex had a brother a secret.

Scott and Stiles shared a glance before turning to Malia.

"Um...Malia, can you try?" Scott asked.

"Why me?" Malia frowned.

"Me and Alex don't have control." Scott responded.

"Okay, I'll do it." Malia replied simply. "But first, tell me what you've been hiding from me."

Alex crossed her arms, already knowing about the bag of money, however, she had a feeling the boys weren't telling her another important thing either. She just couldn't put her finger on it.

Scott and Stiles shared a glance.

"I know you think you're trying to protect me, but I can handle it." Malia added.

When no one said anything, Malia sighed. "I know I'm on the list."

Kira released a relived breath, Stiles and Scott glancing at each other again. Alex slightly narrowed her eyes, still having a feeling the boys were keeping a secret or two.

"Yes." Stiles spoke.

"So how much?" Malia asked.

"What?" Stiles replied, glancing at Scott again.

"How much am I worth?" Malia frowned.

"Four million." Scott responded.

Malia's frown deepened.

"Are you okay?" Stiles asked.

"Yeah." Malia answered. "Scott's twenty five, Alex is twenty three, Kira's six. They'll take you guys out way before me."

With that, the werewolf placed her claws in the doorway, opening the vault.

"Progress...it's progress..." Stiles muttered.

The vault door opened loudly, the group walking in.

••••

Alex's head was resting on Stiles' lap, the girl's legs up slightly so her knees were to her chest. Her eyes were gently closed, the girl resting, but not sleeping.

Stiles' hand was softly brushing through Alex's hair, his other arm around the girl. The hand that he was using to brush through Alex's hair had now moved to her arm, his fingers gently trailing up and down it.

Malia was lying down and sleeping a few centimetres away from the pair, Scott and Kira on the other side of the vault, Kira pacing around.

"You know, this is where it all started." Stiles spoke, referring to the money situation. "That's where the money was." He gestured to the safe. "One hundred and seventeen million in bearer bonds."

"How do you even change bearer bonds into cash?" Kira frowned.

"The bank, I guess..." Stiles responded. "They just let it sit here the whole time collecting dust." As he spoke, Kira sat next to Scott.

"You know bearer bonds are basically extinct?" Stiles continued.

"Why does it matter?" Kira asked.

"You know how many problems that money could solve?" Stiles replied.

"For you?" Kira raised her eyebrows.

"Well, me and my dad." Stiles nodded. "The Eichen House and MRI bills are crushing him."

At this, Alex's eyes fluttered open, the girl raising her head slightly and kissing his cheek softly.

She wanted to hug him, however, she felt too weak to do anything more than kiss his cheek. Her head went back down to where it was resting before, the girl closing her eyes again, Stiles gently squeezing her arm at the action.

"Mom does this thing. She writes down all the items in our budget and how much they cost. And then she adds them all up and figures out how long we have until...we'd lose the house." Scott explained sadly, Stiles releasing a sigh.

••••

"Anything?" Stiles asked Scott, the two boys standing at the door, Kira moving to sit next to Alex and Malia.

"They're looking for us." Scott replied. "Someone's gonna have to go out there."

The two glanced at the three girls, Malia and Alex breathing heavily, Kira sharing a sympathetic glance with Scott.

"We need to tell them the truth about Peter and Lucas." Scott whispered to Stiles. "They're gonna see the rest of the dead pool eventually."

"Try to remember that Peter is the one name missing from that list. And try to remember that all Alex has ever known about her family is that they all died." Stiles whispered back. "The fact that Peter's name isn't on that list either makes him incredibly lucky, or the Benefactor."

He continued quietly. "If Malia finds out about him, she's gonna go to him, you know she is. And then he's going to twist her mind like he does to everyone else, including us. We let him walk around like nothing ever happened, like he's one of the good guys. Scott, he's not one of the good guys."

"And if Alex finds out about Lucas, she's going to go to him too. And the fact that his name is even on the list means that he's here, in Beacon Hills. She's going to want to eventually leave with him. He's her brother, her only remaining family member." Stiles continued. "Think about it, Scott. If she finds out about him, she's gone. If Malia finds out about Peter, she's gone too. That's probably what Peter's waiting for, and then if he wins, we lose."

"We're already losing." Scott responded with a frown. He held up his hand to reveal black ooze slipping down his fingers from his nails.

••••

"Alex." Stiles spoke softly, Alex waking up slowly to find Stiles in front of her. Alex's vision was slightly blurry, her condition getting worse. Her nails had dried black ooze around them, just like Scott's, her lips stained with the unknown substance.

The dried black ooze seemed to be in the areas the werewolves have their powers in. Their canines, and their claws.

Stiles gently rubbed her shoulder, Alex groaning a little as she released a breath, fully waking up. She sat up slowly, Stiles cupping her face and gently tucking a stray hair behind her ear.

"I've gotta leave for a few, okay?" Stiles added quietly, his gaze flickering from Alex's eyes, Alex frowning.

"Where are you going?" Alex asked softly.

"Whatever's happening, it's worse for you guys." Stiles replied.

Scott and Malia were also worsening, the two having the same symptoms as Alex.

"That means it's not just people getting sick." Stiles added.

"It's another assassin..." Alex added quietly, Stiles nodding.

Alex held her arm out and touched Stiles' jacket, Stiles shrugging it off his shoulders and wrapping it around the girl, the smell of his faint cologne filling Alex's nostrils. "Here."

"You're coming back, right?" Alex asked, the girl hopeful.

Stiles huffed a small chuckle, his lips twisting up into a small smile, the boy cupping one of Alex's cheeks and gently stroking it with his thumb. His eyes flickered between Alex's. "Yeah. Yeah, I'd never leave you behind."

Alex smiled, feeling herself tear up, the girl internally cursing herself for doing so. She didn't want to get emotional, least of all, make Stiles emotional too.

Stiles leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss to Alex's forehead, his lips lingering there for a few seconds before he pulled away. He held one of her hands tightly, Alex feeling the tears she wanted to hold back sting her eyes.

Her smile faded as Stiles stood up, beginning to walk away, Alex's grip on his hand tightening, as she didn't want him to leave.

Stiles gently pulled away from the girl as he walked away, Alex feeling the tears slide down her cheeks, the girl releasing a breath, beginning to quietly cry.

Alex laid down again, the tears still falling from her cheeks.

Malia glanced at her with sympathy, moving closer to her best friend slowly, the werecoyote wrapping her arm around Alex.

Stiles turned back around for one last look, his gaze softening as he glanced at Alex crying. However, he couldn't go back to comfort her, as the vault doors closed.

••••

Alex shoved her hands in Stiles' jacket pockets for warmth, frowning as she felt the corner of a piece of paper. She pulled the paper out, sitting up slightly, Malia glancing at it too, Scott widening his eyes in realisation.

The piece of paper was the list Lucas Carter was on. Along with that, Malia's biological last name was on there too.

Alex sat up as she unfolded the paper.

"Alex, Malia." Scott started, slowly standing up.

Alex and Malia glanced at the paper, the two frowning.

They couldn't read a thing.

"Alex? Malia?" Scott frowned in question.

"I can't see." Alex replied worriedly. "I can't see anything."

Malia began to release panicked breaths. "Me neither."

Scott reached out, the boy frowning at his hand, as now his vision was starting to get blurry too.

••••

"What's happening to us?!" Malia exclaimed panically.

"Scott, I cant..." Kira added, fumbling around, the girl not being able to see properly either. "I can't see!"

"No, this can't be happening, no..." Alex breathed, glancing around and squinting a little, however, the girl still couldn't see.

Scott felt around a shelf, pulling himself up and holding onto it for stability.

Black veins were starting to show up on Alex, Malia, and Scott's faces. They weren't showing up on Kira's face, as the virus was affecting her neurologically, rather than physically.

••••

"Scott?!" Stiles yelled from the other side of the vault, Alex glancing around, trying to locate where Stiles was, however, her vision was still impaired.

"Scott! In the vault, it's in there with you!" Stiles continued, referring to the antidote. "It's called 'Reishi mushrooms'. Scott?!"

The werewolves and Kira began to heavily breathe, their condition worsening even more. Scott was gripping onto the wall, Alex and Malia sat next to each other, and Kira leaning on another wall.

Stiles began to hit the vault door, becoming panicked at how he didn't get any response. "Scott?! Scott, open the door! It's in there with you! It's in a jar, it's on one of the shelves! Scott, can you hear me?!" At this point, Stiles was yelling, desperate for Scott to hear him.

He yelled as he aggressively hit the door again multiple times, however, there was no use, as the door was tightly sealed shut. He gave up, the boy slowly sliding to the floor, releasing breaths.

"Reishi. Scott, I saw it." Kira's weak voice spoke in between gasping breaths from inside the vault. "In the jar on one of the shelves. Reishi..."

"Scott...please..." Alex's even weaker voice added quietly, Scott only just hearing her.

Scott then frowned, wanting to save himself and his friends. He stood up slowly, leaning against the wall for stability. He tried his hardest to shift his normal eyes into his werewolf ones. It took a lot of strength, but it worked. He could use his werewolf eyes to see.

Scott stumbled across the room in the direction of the Reishi mushrooms on the shelf. He finally got to them, however, when he reached over to get the jar, he accidentally tipped it over, the contents falling to the ground, and the glass breaking.

The particles of the mushrooms wafted around the vault, the werewolves and Kira getting their eyesight and powers back as they inhaled the substance in the air.

Alex gasped as she blinked, the girl being able to see again. Malia, Scott, and Kira gasped too.

Alex quickly gripped onto the sheet of paper Stiles had in his pocket, Malia leaning over her shoulder as the girls read the names on the list.

Alex frowned at how no one told her about the last third of the list being cracked. Her frown deepened as she read two names, Malia frowning too.

'Malia Hale' and 'Lucas Carter'.

Stiles ran into the vault as soon as the door slid open, the boy immediately running up to Alex, who was frowning, her gaze set on the ground a few meters in front of her. Malia was in the same state.

"Hey, you alright?" Stiles asked, squatting down in front of Alex as he scanned her face.

"Alex?" He frowned when Alex didn't look at him. Alex swallowed, her frown deepening.

"Alex?" Stiles asked again, this time, placing his hand on her shoulder, Alex grabbing his wrist and taking it off her, still not looking at Stiles as she stood up. She dropped the list to the floor intentionally.

Malia followed her, the two walking out of the vault with no words, Stiles glancing at Alex as she walked out.

Scott and Kira frowned, glancing at Stiles. Stiles' gaze flickered between the vault door, and Scott and Kira, his eyes slightly tearing up. He picked up the list, crumpling it up into a ball in frustration, pissed off at himself for not telling Alex.