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.*･｡. WAITING FOR SUPERMAN .*･｡.
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022.
CATALYSTS
AND
REACTIONS.
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——

   Lois had eventually returned to class without Lydia Martin by her side — being that the strawberry blonde had very loudly and repeatedly screamed that she would never help with her calculus homework ever again — and sulked through the last five minutes, until she eventually showed up to grab her bag and left at the ring of the bell.

   All Lois wanted was to help her friend, to protect her from those who wanted to hurt her. How could she if Lydia pushed her away?

    "Derek's not going to kill her without proof," Scott told Stiles and Lois as they all hurried to their next class, his eyes alert as he hunted for Erica and Isaac on their travels.

   He was scared that so much as blinking would lead to trouble.

   If he looked away, Scott feared the worst. Anything could have happened if he didn't keep an eye out — so much could go wrong, like Lydia being paralysed, or worse: dead. He was sure that he'd never forgive himself if she died.

"It's not her," Stiles said, shaking his head as he did. Scott had peered at him curiously, wondering how he could be so sure, but began to question the idea even more when Lois agreed. He was quiet as he listened to Stiles talk, "Derek's not going to kill her at all, because it's not her."

Scott rose a brow, "How do we know it's not her?"

"Because I looked into the eyes of that thing, okay? And what I saw was pure evil." He responded confidently, "And when I look into Lydia's eyes, I only see...fifty percent evil. Give or take,"

The teen wolf stared at him uncertainly, not convinced by the statement. He had been expecting some sort of hard evidence, but then again, it was Stiles. While he was good at playing detective, some of his theories were rather fluffy and whimsical, and lacked the evidence that they needed to make them liable. They weren't the proven facts that they really needed to save Lydia's life right now, even if the thought was there, especially not with two betas on the loose and trying to impress their alpha by plying damage control. To save Lydia, they needed proof.

"Alright, maybe sixty..." Stiles hummed, "Y'know— but no more than forty, on a good day."

"I look into her eyes and see no evil, at all." Lois piped up.

   She walked on, rolling her eyes at his antics and taking a few steps ahead of the boys. Lois flipped her hair over her shoulder and begged herself to walk faster, which she had never done on the way to chemistry with Harris, hoping to find Lydia in their next class and see if she was alright. She had been out of their sight for too long, now, and Lois was concerned. It wasn't safe.

"Stiles—" Scott sighed, pulling his bag higher onto his back and following closely behind Lois, wanting to keep an eye on her too.  He didn't want to risk anything that he would regret, "—that's not a very good argument."

The son of the sheriff shrugged aimlessly, "I'm aware of that, but I swear it's not her." He continued, "It can't be, alright?"

An awkward silence followed and he shook his head, muttering inaudible words under his breath as he attempted to figure out a game plan for the hours ahead. Stiles pushed himself back in line with his best friends, snapping his fingers as he got back into the mind set of figuring out how to help Lydia with hypotheticals.

"So— he tests her like he did with Jackson, right?"

"I guess..."

He spoke on as they entered their chemistry lab, both of the boys having noticed how Lois cringed at the lack of glass in the pane of the door. But they didn't question it as they was already too occupied with Stiles' suggestions, "But when, and where?"

Lois was too fixed on the memories of the night before, her eyes focused on the empty pane, to have noticed Isaac and Erica enter the classroom from the secondary exit, wrinkling her nose quite unpleasantly. It was a weird feeling, to know that she had been sat in the corner of the room, paralysed and instructing Isaac Lahey on how to make a bomb out of the numerous chemicals around them, only a matter of hours earlier. She felt queasy when she thought about it too hard, and suddenly needed to sit down and take a few deep breaths.

At least the glass had been cleared up.

    "—I think here and now."

   Looking back up the situation, Lois barely managed to catch sight of the two boys rushing over to take the seats next to Lydia. She frowned, confused by the movements, until she noticed the two betas that were staring them down for doing so. Then she understood.

   Lois pursed her lips tightly and swayed on her heels.

She didn't want to make it obvious that they were worried for her well being and actually feared what Isaac and Erica could do if they were given the opportunity, but it was likely that they both already knew. So, acting casually and moving to take the seat at the desk next to Scott's side left, Lois settled herself down with no intentions of turning back. Allison and Luna soon walked in and joined them, rather confused by what was occurring.

   They both took note of Scott and Stiles at Lydia's side and frowned, raising their brows while taking a seat either side of Lois. Scott nodded his head towards the desk behind them and the two girls quickly caught on. They silently slid out their chemistry books and glanced at Lois, leaning over her shoulder discretely.

The latter writing something down in the back of her book for them to see.

THEY'RE GOING TO TEST LYDIA

    "Einstein once said, Two things are infinite: The universe and human stupidity; And I'm not sure about the universe."

   Lois quickly scribbled over the words and put her own down, closing the page as Harris entered the room. The last thing she needed right now was for the man to be at her throat, all hour.

    "I myself have encountered infinite stupidity," He told them all as he made his way to the front, making sure to pat Stiles Stilinski on the shoulder quite passive-aggressively. Lois snorted, and the boy shot her a dirty look. Harris continued drly, "So— to combat the plague of ignorance in my class, you're going to combine efforts through a round of group experiments."

   She groaned. This would be the perfect time for Erica and Isaac to sink their claws into Lydia. Lois took a chance and peered over her shoulder, only to find the pair already looking back at her, waving with wide smirks. Her eyes narrowed.

    "Let's see if two heads are indeed better than one. Or, in Mr Stilinski's case, less than one." Harris smiled smugly as he looked between him and the duo that rarely ever left his side, "But as he, Mr McCall and Miss Lane come as a package deal, we might just get two."

   Lois squinted at him.

    "Is Scott the other half?"

   Uncaringly, Harris rolled his eyes.

    "Erica, you take the first station. You'll start with—"

   An influx of students raised their hands and the girls scoffed; it was safe to say that Lois, Luna and Allison disliked Erica. A lot.

   Poor Lydia, on the other hand, just seemed very confused.

    "I didn't ask for volunteers. Put your hormonal, little hands down!" Harris spoke firmly, "Erica, you start with Mr McCall. Alright, next two..."

   By the time the class had settled down, Lois had been paired up with Luna. The two girls sat at the desk to the right of Allison and Lydia, and directly behind Erica and Scott. Somehow Stiles had ended up with a random girl from the BHH soccer team, and was watching over his friends intently, and Isaac had been paired up elsewhere. Their order caused Lois to sigh in relief when she had realised that Lydia would be fine for this round and away from any harm, and started to unscrew the cap of a bottle, reading the label and shrugging her shoulders. She sprinkled some of it into the small beaker on their desk and carefully read the next step as Luna leant in closer to her. Lois slowed down, listening closely.

    "Is it me, or are they oddly close?" Luna whispered.

   Lois looked away from the sheet of instructions, eyes widening at the sight of Erica sliding her hand up Scott's thigh. She looked over at Allison and Lydia, only to find that they were talking in hushed whispers — there was no doubt that they had seen it, too.

   She looked back at Luna and bit her lip.

   That would but Allison, but there was nothing they could do.

   At lack of anything else to say, Luna and Lois continued to put all of the ingredients into the beaker until Scott grabbed Erica's hand and she grabbed him by the back of his collar. Her dark eyes flashed amber as they stared each other down, and the noise of the scuffle has made Lois jump. She around aimlessly, looking for one of the others to have noticed the incident other than Luna, and gaped when she realised that no one had.

    "Is no one else seeing this?" She muttered in disbelief as the buzzer sounded. It was time for the students to switch around.

     "Seriously? No one—?"

    "Switch!"

   Guffawing in confusion — how they had managed to hide the secrets of werewolves from the rest of their high school was very much a mystery to her, especially when the wolves seemed to be doing everything in their power to get caught — Lois quickly got up, aiming to take a seat next to Lydia this time, but found herself being redirected by Harris as Allison hadn't left their desk yet. She grit her teeth in frustration and glared at the teacher blocking her pathway, but moved along, ending up next to Scott McCall while Luna jumped into Allison's space the moment that the hunter had moved. Sighing, Lois nodded to herself.

   Thank god there were so many of them.

   When everyone started up the work assigned, Lois smacked Scott's arm, watching him recoil.

    "Lois!" He whined childishly, "What was that for?"

    "For nearly showing everyone in the general vicinity that you and Erica are werewolves!" Lois hissed lowly, a tight smile on her face as she continued with the experiment. Lately, Lydia had been helping her with chemistry and she felt like she was slowly getting to grips with it now, especially after making a self-igniting bomb last night in that classroom, "Like— really? Are you crazy, Scotty?"

    "Are you?"

   Eyes narrowed into slits, "Not funny, McCall."

   Said boy sighed, "I didn't mean to. She just— she got under my skin, okay?"

    "Tell me about it," Lois let her eyes slowly travelling to the other beta sat next to Stiles. She took a deep breath in and focused on the acid that she slowly poured into the breaker.

    "You know—" Scott leaned closer to Lois, almost hesitantly, as if he were debating what he was about to say next. She turned away from the work set and peered up at him curiously, noses close to touching, her brows raised, "Last night, when I found you, there was another scent."

   "Wait—" Lois hadn't expected that, "What?"

    "It was all the way to the labs. And you were covered in it," he confirmed. Allowing himself to look her up and down, as if she were hiding something, Scott said, "I can still smell it, in here."

   Lois hummed to herself — she was now glad for the couple of acting classes her parents had paid for when she was a kid as she sat there, as if thinking hard to figure out where the scent could have possibly come from, deciding that the kanima wasn't a very good enough answer. He would call rubbish on that one, easily.

    "It smells like—"

    "And switch!" Harris announced, pushing between the pair with a taunting smile when they didn't make any effort to leave their station. "That means you two as well, McCall, Lane." He clapped his hands, "Get up, and move. Find a new station,"

   Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Lois shot up from the desk and moved along. She was somewhat happy to get away from Scott's prying eyes. Lying to him wasn't an option that would be easy, but she worried what he would say about the truth. Lois was certain that she would tell him about Isaac saving her life the night prior at some point, but now didn't exactly seem like the perfect moment. Not when they were trying to protect Lydia while Isaac was most definitely trying to kill her. In fact, Lois Lane didn't think that there could have been a worse time to tell them about that little story than right now — something in her gut had told her that it wouldn't go down, very well. She'd have to wait it out.

   Soon enough, Lois had breezed past Allison and Stiles, watching Luna and Scott sit at the desk in front of them as she worked on finding herself an empty seat. Lydia was partnered with a guy that settled for drooling over her while she conducted their experiment, taking control and smiling seductively.

   Lois chuckled lightly at the sight — at least the hour was going well for some people — and picked up the beaker on her desk, slowly shaking it around and watching as the concoction sloshed about. Undecided, the girl tried to figure out what else might have already been added to it. Her tongue poked out of the side of her lips as she scanned over the instructions she contemplated what would go into the mixture next. It was hard to tell...

   The liquid was completely brown, after all.

   As she tapped her fingers in thought, the science stool beside her scraped across the floor in signal that her partner had sat down.

    "It's strange to see you moving, Lane."

   Lois froze.

    "I got so used to seeing you paralysed—" he hummed as he recollected, "—that I almost forgot how well you could move on two legs."

She turned to him with a sarcastic smile, "I'm flattered."

"You should be," Isaac shrugged with a small smile, one that was cocky and discreet, that bugged her to no end. Lois kept her cool, however, and listened to his next words with a calm face. "I don't say that to many girls."

"I can see why..." Lois nodded slowly, looking him up and down misleadingly as she dragged out her words. She quickly let the forced smile drop, "Girls don't exactly like talking to fugitives."

   Isaac's smug expression fell. It satisfied Lois, to see him look so fazed by her comment. He had very much gotten on her nerves the night prior and she hadn't been able to do much in response, being that she was stuck in his arms and relying on him for life, but now, she could do whatever she wanted. Lois Lane didn't need him to play the role Superman, anymore — the thought gave her tingles. The beta thought that he was a force to be reckoned with.

   But Lois was a raging storm, and Isaac Lahey wouldn't even know what hit him.

"I'd play nice if I were you," he feigned a coy look when he recovered, picking up a spatula and playing with it in his hands.

He passed it between his fingers, still watching from the corner of his eye as she to followed the instructions. Frankly, Lois wanted to at least try and pass chemistry, despite the situation. Perhaps doing it right would put her down in Harris' good books, for once.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, oh." Mocking words as he continued, Isaac tried to hide his frown. It was strange; she didn't seem the slightest bit bothered by his threats, "I have Lydia's life in the palm of my hands,"

Lois pouted, "How poetic...hm— I'd give you a C-."

   Teeth grit, he chuckle bitterly and shook his head.

   He stared down at her while she mixed a couple of things into the experiment, unable to miss the way that her eyes flickered over to Stiles and Scott.

"I saved your life," he said, "And this is the thanks, I get?"

"You also left me for dead," she shot back, finally showing more emotion than the sarcasm she had been using as a weapon. The test tube in her hand was squeezed so tightly that it threatened to crack, and Isaac gave it a tap with his metal spatula. Lois seethed in anger, "You really want me to thank you, for that?"

Isaac rolled his eyes, "Derek dragged me away before I could go back for you. I didn't just leave you. And, plus, the giant lizard had already vanished! So, technically, you would have been totally fine whether I came back, or not."

The girl paused, taking a moment to peer up at him suspiciously. When his face showed no signs of the usual cockiness it seemed to hold, not a single smirk in sight, Lois' posture relaxed and she put the test tube down. It was clammy and steamed from the palm of her hand, but she could hardly concentrate on little details like that when her heart seemed to swell in her chest — and, strangely enough, Lois Lane suddenly felt guilty.

   So....he hadn't left her?

"A thanks would be nice," He grinned, seeing how she calmed.

Lois' brief appreciation was then ruined. His words had snapped her out of that state and back into defence mode. Just when she had thought that maybe there was something genuine about him.

    But, no. Isaac had to ruin it; he as he seemed to ruined everything with only one comment. She wondered if it was a talent, or not.

Almost immediately, she was scowling at him.

"You're trying to kill my friend."

Shrugging his shoulders, Isaac allowed his eyes to venture across the chemistry lab, passing over each student until he found a very in-tune Scott McCall. The teen wolf had his eyes narrowed on the beta Lois, his brows furrowed and a frown deeply etched into his face. It was anger and concentration, both emotions hand in hand as he tried to make sense of their conversation. When Isaac soon matched his stare, Scott waited only a second longer, then turned away to grab another chemical. Although, his ears had remained perked as he awaited for one of them to speak again.

Isaac seemed entertained and leaned down to Lois' ear, making her shudder as his breath fanned her cheek. She tried her best to ignore it.

"Scott seems interested in our conversation," he mused. His tone was teasing, "Didn't tell him you were with me, last night?"

Lois looked over to where Scott sat and then shouldered him away, "I wasn't with you, last night. I fell down the stairs, paralysed, and you caught me. I had no choice but to go with you,"

"I saved you—!" Isaac sang.

"How did Derek react when he found out that you saved me— hm?" Lois shot back, "When you were a fugitive supposed to be against us?"

Silence was the best kind of answer.

"You didn't tell him, did you?" Eyes flickering between his own, Lois found her realisation. Isaac remained quiet in response, which made made her smirk triumphantly. Lois had got him there, and she couldn't help but feel proud of herself — amazed, even. The tables had suddenly turned, and now he was stuck in her claws.

"Alright— switch! Last station!"

With a final smug smile as she slowly moved her body towards him, Lois abruptly pulled back and grabbed her things, leaving the desk behind with a confident strut in her step. It took the sudden movement for Isaac to come back to, finally out of his daze. He could only stare after her with a glare, one so hard that if he had the ability then it could have turned someone to stone. His eyes flashed amber and he clenched his fists, jaw feathering.

Lois moved to her next desk, shooting a look at Allison whom sat with Erica, and sighed. She turned to her left, having expected to see Lydia Martin ready and waiting, but she recoiled.

"—Greenberg?"

She stood, ready to flee, but Harris slammed a ruler on her desk before she could get very far.

"Don't test my patience, Miss Lane." The man spoke lowly.

When he sent her a challenging look, almost daring for her to try something and find herself in a lifetime of after school detentions, Lois pursed her lips and sat down with a begrudging thump! He smiled in satisfaction and left, leaving her to cringe as Greenberg stared at her.

While cursing out the evil man, Lois began to throw the left over ingredients into the beaker until the experiment was finished. It was a process that reminded her of the times she would bake with her mother when she was young. But she quickly shook her head at thought, suddenly feeling sick to her stomach, and tried to find Stiles with her eyes. Instead of gaining reassurance when she found him, however, Lois found herself feeling worse. Sat to the side of him, whom he watched with angry eyes, was the one and only Lydia Martin.

And she was sat right next to Isaac.

"Time!" Harris declared as the students sighed in relief, folding his hands behind his back, "If any of you fools have catalysed the reaction correctly, you should now be looking at a crystal."

Lois hesitantly looked down into their beaker, her eyes widening in surprise when she noticed a crystal sat at the bottom of it. And, despite the situation, she smiled and smacked Greenberg's grimy hands away from the tongs and taking them for herself. She used them to reach into the beaker and picked up the result with pride.

Holding the crystal up to the light, she marvelled at it and then observed the rest of their class, finding that almost everyone else had come out with a green kind of goo. The only other person to end up with a crystal was Lydia — unsurprisingly.

"Miss Lane, I'm impressed..." Harris nodded, amazed, making her feel even bette. "Now for the part of that last experiment I'm sure you'll all enjoy — you can eat it."

Suddenly, Lois didn't feel so proud of the crystal anymore. Well, at least not proud enough to eat it, anyway. Not today; not any day.

She wasn't going to digest the stuff, they'd just put in there—!

"Lydia!"

Lois quickly swung round, dropping the crystal and watching it smash into scattered pieces on the floor. She cursed to herself and look up at Scott, shooting him a confused expression. Why had he shouted for Lydia? Now, he looked like an idiot as he stood in the centre of the classroom.

Lydia seemed just as confused, "....what?"

He stood awkwardly for another seconds, then sighed in defeat and cleared his throat. "Uh— nothing."

So, Lydia took a bite.

——

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