72. Homicidal
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Rayne's outf
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Rayne and Stiles wake up from their sleep to find their dad not there. They then go into the elevator and to the bottom floor to the morgue, they see their dad look at one of the bodies.
Donavan's.
"The story Theo told me about the library? That's how it happened... Except it didn't happen to him." Their dad says to Stiles
"Yeah." He says
"Stiles, I can't protect you if I don't know the truth." He says.
"Did you really feel like you couldn't tell me?" Their dad says
"I couldn't tell anyone. Except Rayne." Stiles says glancing at Rayne
"Did you think that I wouldn't believe it was self-defense?" Their dad asks.
"What if it wasn't? What if I told you I wanted him dead?" Stiles says
"I'd believe you. I also believe that wanting someone dead and murdering them are two very different things." He says
"Yeah, but what if the judge doesn't think so?" Stiles asks.
"Then to hell with the judge!" He says
"Stiles, it was self-defense. And I would destroy every shred of evidence to protect you if I had to. I would burn the whole Sheriff's station to the ground."
"What about upholding the law? What about Kira?" Stiles asks.
"Kira was a mistake. I guess I'm learning how to bend." He says
"So, what? It just goes away?" Stiles asks
"Not for you. The problem now is how to bear this burden. This kind of thing is not at all uncommon in law enforcement. A fatal mistake, a partner who dies..."
"Or one who gets paralyzed." Rayne says
"Stiles, you carry that with you. Sometimes, it doesn't truly feel okay again until there's a kind of counterbalance." Their dad says
"Like what?" Stiles asks.
"Like, instead of taking a life, you manage to save one. Something like that can help, but maybe only for a moment. But, the real conflict you're having now is between your head and your heart. Your head? Your head knows that the only crime you committed was surviving. But your heart? Your heart still thinks it was murder. So, I guess you, uh... You gotta get your heart to catch up with your head." He says.
"I feel like it's more than guilt, though, you know? I feel like... I feel like I lost something. You know, I feel like I can't get it back." Stiles says
"You won't. Not entirely. But you get a little bit by forgiving yourself... And since that's not always the easiest thing in the world to do, then maybe you start by forgiving someone else. Someone who probably really needs it." He says.
"Someone like Scott."
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Noah wakes up to see Stiles on his laptop and Rayne glancing at it
"Is that my laptop?" He asks
"Yup." Stiles says, not looking up from it.
"Do you have my passwords?" He asks
"We have all your passwords. You know they just brought in another body from last night?" Rayne asks
"Yeah, I was hoping you two wouldn't find out. Now, give me my damn computer!" Their dad exclaims.
"Hang on, hang on..." Stiles says
"I think there's some footage missing... Or something missing in the footage." He says
"I think there's something missing in your head-" Their dad says.
"You need your rest." They both say.
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Stiles and Rayne walk into Scott's room to see Scott's bandage with blood on it
"Hey." Stiles says and they all stand awkwardly
"Still not healing?" Rayne asks.
"Sometimes it just takes longer." Scott says
"What are you two doing here?" He asks
"Uh... you heard about the guy who got killed out at the communication towers, right? I think I may have figured something out..." Stiles says.
"What, you want my help?" Scott asks
"Yeah, well... You said you can find the clues that I can't. Here, take a look." He says
"Well, my powers are in overdrive and I feel quite homicidal so..." Rayne trails off with a smile.
"This is when the technician first arrived. You see him going in? Then, Deputy Clark goes in. Then, something really big and really fast comes charging out, and now comes Clark. Eventually, the technician's body is carried out by paramedics." Stiles says and shows him the footage.
"Okay... What am I missing?" Scott asks
"Two people go in. Three people come out. I checked all the footage-- not a single person enters that building before the technician the entire day. So, where does that something-really-big-and-really-fast come from?" Rayne says.
"There's another way in."
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Rayne, Scott and Stiles have just arrived at the telecommunications towers, where they've walked down into the basement where the technician was killed and look around the crime scene
"Okay... You see that?"
"I see blood..."
"Look where it leads to."
They see that the blood trail leads to where a large metal cabinet of some kind has fallen onto the ground. Scott walks over and tries to lift it up, but can't due to his injuries and Stiles and Rayne help him to reveal a metal grate which has been forcefully ripped open, and which seems to lead to a sublevel via a ladder.
"Well, shit." Rayne winces.
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They walk under the tunnels under the telecommunication towers. Suddenly, when Stiles passes his flashlight across the floor, they see a message on the ground that seems to have been written in mercury.
DAMNATIO MEMORIAE
"What is that?" Stiles asks
"It looks like Latin..." Rayne says
"Hold up that light-- I'm gonna get a picture of it." Scott says taking out his phone.
"Stiles, hold the light still-" Scott tries to say but then gets cut off with Stiles groaning as he falls to the floor. Rayne steps back to see Tracy, partially transformed with her claws and fangs out, has paralyzed him with her Kanima venom.
She lunges for Scott, who quickly dodges her quickly allowing his Alpha eyes, fangs, and claws to come out. Stiles, who is laying flat on his back on the floor, sees Josh, whose claws and fangs are also out and who is emitting purplish-blue sparks from his hands, heading toward Scott as well, though he's too busy fighting Tracy to notice.
"Scott, behind you!" Stiles shouts
Scott moves as soon as he hears Stiles' warning and dodges Josh's attack, deflecting both of their blows before grabbing Tracy's wrist and plunging it into Josh's chest, causing Josh to be paralyzed by her venom and Tracy to be incapacitated by Josh's electricity.
Corey suddenly appears, revealing that he had been hiding camouflaged against the wall. He looks terrified as Scott continues to snarl at him, waiting for the young Chimera to make the first move.
"Okay! Maybe they're not ready to take on an Alpha..." Theo says coming out of the shadows.
"Especially one that can smell fear." He adds
"He's got fangs!" Corey exclaims
"He won't kill you." Theo says.
"You're right. Scott doesn't kill. But I do." Rayne steps into the light while holding Tracy's arms back.
Theo looks at her with somewhat happiness. She was alive, she hated him. But she was alive.
"Let go of me." Tracy says
"Why? We're only getting started, princess." Rayne says showing her fangs and scrapping them across Tracy's neck while keeping eye contact with Theo out of spite.
"Rayne." Scott warns and Rayne rolls her eyes and pushes her towards Corey and Josh.
"No fun." She says and holds up Stiles
"Homicidal?" Stiles asks.
"Homicidal." She nods.
"What did you do?" Scott asks
"I found some new friends. I don't take rejection well." Theo says
"Hey, Theo!" Stiles says and Rayne holds up his hand to wave.
"Stiles." He acknowledges and then looks at the writing but then stamps on it breaking the floor
"You're going to leave here thinking that you need to worry about me... But you're wrong. We're actually all on the same side. Because that thing..." Theo says.
"That's what we need to worry about. Your pack, and mine. We're gonna go back to school and pretend like we're normal teenagers, but at night, we're going to be fighting for our lives." Theo says
"What is it?" Rayne asks
"It's not a Chimera." He answers.
"But it's just a kid underneath-- someone like us." Scott says
"Not anymore." Theo says.
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Rayne sits Stiles on the floor and she joins him
"He knew what it meant, and I can't remember the words..." Scott says
"Damnatio memoriae. It means 'condemnation of memory.'" Stiles says.
"I think it also means that whatever the Dread Doctors created, whatever this last Chimera really is? It's not something new. It's something old-- really old." Stiles says
"So, they didn't create a new creature..." Scott says
"They resurrected one." Rayne says.
"We need help. If Theo's got his own pack now, then we need ours. We have to get the others back." Scott says
"The others? You mean Kira, who's currently battling a homicidal Fox spirit inside of her? Malia, who isn't even speaking to either of us? Lydia, who's stuck in Eichen House? And Liam, who almost killed you?" Stiles asks.
"Also known as our best friends." He says and Stiles sighs
"Okay. How?" He asks
"One by one." He says and takes his index and middle fingers and draws a small circle in the dust on the floor of the tunnel before looking up at Stiles with a look.
"You're not seriously going to make me do it?" Stiles asks
"You're part of the pack, right?" Scott asks and Stiles sighs and stretches out his arm so he can finish the symbol by drawing a bigger circle around the smaller one Scott drew.
"Okay. We need to find Kira." Scott says and he rises to his feet before pulling Stiles up to his, putting Stiles' arm around his shoulder so he can help them get out of the tunnels and back to the car.
"I still hate that tattoo." Stiles says and they laugh
"I know." Scott says
"We all know." Rayne says.
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