48|foolproof plan

Nothing can express how happy I was when they were finally getting the Pack back together

——————————

"Stiles, this foolproof plan doesn't feel all that foolproof," I said from the backseat of the Jeep. I held on to the back of Scott and Stiles' seats as Stiles drove in pursuit of the police cars that were following the Beast.

It had attacked and the police were right on it, chasing it down. They had no idea what they were following though, and that's why we were right behind them.

"Unit Five heading northwest on Crescent reporting an incredibly large. . . something," we heard Hayden's sister's voice come through on Stiles' radio that he had installed in the Jeep.

This time, a man's voice came through on the radio, "Unit Nine, to Dispatch, I think I've got eyes on the same thing. Some kind of rabid animal."

"Unit Five to Nine, trust me, that's no animal."

Hayden's sister, Deputy Clark, had been the officer present during the attack at the communication towers. If she hadn't thought there was something weird stalking around in the night before, she certainly did now.

"Unit Six to Dispatch," a different voice that sounded a lot like Strauss came from the radio. "We have a situation downtown. Multiple fatalities."

"Copy, medics on the way," the man on Dispatch responded. "Do you have a perp in sight, Unit Six?"

"Negative. Looks like a 10-91E. Animal attack."

"10-4, can you say what kind of animal?"

The man didn't answer, maybe trying to convince himself that what he hadn't seen was real. If I didn't know better, I probably would have done the same.

Before Scott or I could stop him, Stiles had picked up the receiver on his radio and began to speak into it. "All units stay back. Do not engage. I repeat, do not engage."

"Stiles, get off the radio," we heard the Sheriff say angrily. "All unit alert. Wait for back-up. Repeat, no one goes near this thing."

"Unit Five reporting a sighting on Hill Road southbound," Deputy Clark announced.

"Unit Nine, I've got it turning off Oakridge, southbound on Beachwood," another office countered.

"All Units, this is Dispatch. We've got a 911 call with additional sighting on Mitchell."

I calculated the path in my head, trying to figure out where the Beast was headed. My stomach dropped when I put it together. "Guys, if it's going down from Beachwood to Mitchell. . ."

"It's headed back for the hospital," Scott completed, coming to the same conclusion as I had.

Stiles picked up the receiver once more, panicked. "Dad-"

"Stiles, get off this channel," the man responded in frustration, not in the mood for what he believed to be his son's usual antics.

"Dad, just listen to me, okay?" Stiles continued, ignoring the man. "It's headed for the hospital, all right. He's headed for Beacon Memorial. You hear me? It's headed for the hospital."

Stiles put down the receiver, before speeding up. He went in a different direction to the police, who were still following the Beast. With the size and speed of that monstrosity, they weren't going to be able to catch it unless it slowed down.

Thanks to Stiles driving, we managed to beat the police to the hospital. The parking lot was practically empty as we walked in, almost ghostly. We all shared a concerned look, before climbing out of the Jeep and rushing over to the hospital.

We slowed down as we entered the building. It was eerily quiet, the staff and patients having already been evacuated. We pushed the doors to the hospital open, walking in carefully.

At the sound of a gun cocking we all jumped. Turning around we saw it was only the Sheriff. I found myself taking a relieved sigh, steadying myself once more.

The Sheriff shushed us all with one finger to his lips. The lights flickered as the building shook, a horrific roar echoing through the halls of Beacon Hills memorial.
"I don't like the sounds of that, at all," I mumbled, grabbing ahold of Stiles' hand out of instinct.

"Fourth floor," Scott said to us as he listened out for the Beast. It was impressive how far he had advanced with his skills. I wish I was able to have as much control as he had.

The four of us took the elevator up to the fourth floor, going as quietly as possible in hopes that the Beast wouldn't hear us. The Sheriff lead the way with his gun, even though we weren't sure how well it would hold up against this supernatural creature.

As we walked down the hallway, I noticed halls in the wall, as well as small fires. And not just the walls, there were even wheelchairs and hospital beds in the hallways that were on fire.

I was about to say something, when someone came flying across the hall, before slamming into one of the walls. It was Deputy Parrish, which explained the fires throughout the hallway.

The man rolled to sit up, a large scratch from claws across his chest. His eyes were glowing orange like the fire that had previously enveloped his body. He sat staring ahead, looking at nothing in particular as smoke slowly lifted off of him, his eyes fading to their natural colour.

Parrish had been fighting the Beast, and he was losing.

The Sheriff approached his Deputy cautiously, kneeling down before him. "Parrish? You okay?"

The Deputy continued to stare ahead, seemingly in a daze. It was concerning; any time he went into his supernatural state, he seemed to forget who he was.

"Deputy!" The Sheriff shouted, trying to get his attention.

Parrish jumped slightly, before turning to face the Sheriff. He took a deep breath, seeming like himself once more as he blinked a few times.

As the Sheriff dealt with the Deputy Scott, Stiles and I walked down the hallway which Parrish had come from. Their were bloody pawprints on the ground left by the Beast. They were large - much larger than what Peter had left when he was able to go full wolf. It only reminded me how big this thing really was.

But there as something strange about these prints. As we followed them, the bloody prints appeared to get smaller slowly. Slowly, slowly, they shrunk, until they became shoe prints.

Whatever this was - whoever this was - they weren't the Beast anymore. They were back to their human form, a form that didn't even know it was the Beast.

Grabbing my phone out of my pocket, I began to take photos of the prints. If their was the slightest chance it helped us to identify who was the Beast, then we needed to have a record of them somewhere.
"We missed it again," I told the boys as I took the photos.

Stiles nodded, "Yeah. But we'll get it eventually. We're gonna figure out who it is, don't worry."

"But first, we need to go and see Doctor Deaton," Scott told us, taking his own phone out to contact his boss.

♧♤♢♡

"What I'm about to show you isn't supposed to exist," Deaton told us as Scott, Stiles and I stood around the metal table out the back of the clinic.

The man opened an envelope, before beginning to lay out polaroids on the table one by one. They were all images of supernatural creatures who appeared to have been experimented on. Each image was as horrific as the last, and I almost had to look away.

The people in the photos each had holes in their head. I thought back to when Stiles and I had been in the basement of Eichen together, and the experimental pages we had seen whilst there. Trepanation; the process of drilling a hole into a patient's head.

"This is the only surviving evidence of Doctor Valack's time as Cheif Medical Office of Eichen House," The Doc explained. "To call it human experimentation would be charitable."

Scott picked up a photo that caught his eye. I looked over to see it was an image of a woman screaming, two nurses holding her down. Her hands were on either side of her head, desperately trying to block her ears as they tried to restrain her.

Doctor Deaton watched Scott pick it up also. "A Banshee. She died screaming," he said, answering the question we didn't dare ask. The man continued to lay down more photos, and my stomach turned at every one.

"So, he drilled holes into their heads? All of them?" Stiles asked the Doctor.

"That was the experimentation part. He did it to Werewolves, Banshees, Wendigos, Sylphs, any creature he could get his hands on."

I felt Stiles step closer to me at the mention of my kind. Even with him beside me, all I felt was cold. My mother had told me that there weren't many of us left, and now I couldn't help but wonder if part of that was thanks to Valack. How many Sylphs had he managed to hunt down? How many had he put a hole in the head of.

Deaton noticed the discomfort Scott and I had shown at his words, but knew he had to continue. "And Valack found that trepanation would initially heighten their powers, but to level that couldn't be contained." 

"So he wants to make Lydia more powerful?" Scott inquired.

Stiles pointed down to the photos on the table, "Yeah. Except she's going to end up like them."

"Worse, actually," Deaton stated, not pulling any punches.

"We need to get her the hell out of there," I stated firmly. The thought of my friend having a hole drilled in her head made my stomach turn. I just wanted to know that she was okay, but I knew she wasn't and that made it all the worse.

"Lydia's abilities were already pretty exceptional to begin with," Deaton began to explain. "Putting a hole in her head will be like causing a leak in a nuclear reactor. She'll hear everything. Everry death, every dying scream, all at once."

"That's going to kill her," Scott concluded.

"Not only that. . . her own dying scream could be so powerful that it might kill everyone around her as well."

Stiles picked up a photo from the table also, another one which appeared to be a Banshee. This one was a close up, the woman's mouth wide as she screamed, her eyes squinted tightly shut.

"We're getting her out of there," I told them, leaving no room for any form of argument or question.

♧♤♢♡

We went to see the Sheriff first thing the next morning. We needed to talk to him about getting Lydia out, in hopes that maybe there was a way we could go about this legally, for once.

"I'm doing everything I can, but her mum is her legal guardian. She's the only person who can check her out of Eichen House," he explained as we entered his office.

"Can't we get a court order or something?" Stiles asked.

The man sighed as he went over to his desk, "Technically, tepanation is still considered a medical procedure."

"It's archaic!" I scoffed angrily. "We can't leave her in there, Sheriff. They're going to end up killing her."

The Sheriff leaned against his desk, looking at me with a sad look in his eyes. "I understand that, Riley, I do. But a judge would have to declare Natalie unfit, which isn't likely. It could take months."

"So you're saying there's nothing we can do," Stiles stated more than asked, also frustrated by the situation.

"I'm saying there's nothing we can do. . . legally."

I found myself smiling as I looked over to Stiles. Just when I was beginning to lose hope, the Sheriff reminded me why we were so lucky to have him on our side.

"Stiles," I said, turning to my boyfriend. "Looks like your plan is going to come in handy after all."

♧♤♢♡

"There's four steps," Stiles began to explain to the members of the Pack surrounding Scott's dinner table. On the table, were all the items we needed to complete our Eichen escape plan. There was a laptop, multiple maps, pictures, manuals, and of course the key card that Stiles had stolen.
"We get into Eichen, we get into the Closed Unit, we get Lydia, get out."

"And we have to do it all of this while getting past orderlies, guards, electric door locks, and a Mountain Ash barrier," Scott tacked on.

The thought of feeling the effects of Mountain Ash made my skin crawl. I hadn't had to feel it in a very long time, and that wasn't something I was keen to try again. But for Lydia, I would.

And I couldn't help but think about someone else who was locked in Eichen. Peter Hale, my father, was still in there after our trip to Mexico. Part of me hoped that maybe we'd pass his cell, and maybe I could talk to him.

I wanted to know more about his past with my mother; more about that night that I had remembered in my hallucination after reading the book written by Valack. The night my mother asked him to walk away if he cared about her or me at all. He didn't say anything, but he left.

I had to know why he walked away, and why he never said anything the whole time I'd known him. It was clear from the interaction we'd had prom night that he knew exactly who I was, so why not tell me? Why not use it as some sort of taunt?

Why not admit to being my father to my face for all that time?

"You have a plan for all that?" Malia asked the boys.

Stiles picked up the ID card he had stolen, holding it up for all to see. "I stole this last night off an orderly. But it's useless 'cause they reset the codes each night."

Something we hadn't planned for, that was for sure. But with all of the sick, twisted things happening in Eichen, a high level of security was to be expected.

Kira's brows furrowed in confusion as she looked at the card. "So why did you take it?"

"I'm getting to that," Stiles informed her.

Scott nodded, pointing to the card, "The only way to get Lydia out of Eichen is to make that key card work again.

"And just how are we supposed to do that?" Isaac questioned, looking thoroughly confused with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Like Stiles said before, he'll get to it. Just listen, okay?" I told them all. I had already heard the outline of the plan, but now was a more in depth explanation for the whole group.

Stiles nodded a thanks, before spinning his laptop around on the table for all to see. On the screen, was a log that my genius boyfriend had managed to get from the key card, which was going to come in handy.
"I pulled all the history off the key card. Two weeks ago, there was a brownout and the security system rebooted. During a reboot, all of the key cards revert back to a default code. So, if we trigger a reboot. . ."

"The card goes back to the default code. It works again," Liam completed.

I grinned over at him, "Gold star for you."

"Okay, but how are we going to cause a brownout?" Kira asked.

"That's your part," Scott told his girlfriend. "You're going to draw power from the main line. But only enough to cause the brownout."

"Not a blackout," Stiles clarified quickly. "Do that and you send Eichen into lockdown which would be bad. Very, very bad."

"There's an electrical room behind the reception counter," Scott told us all as he began to point to the map on the table. "The main power line goes into two breakers that run power to all of Eichen."

Kira gave an unamused laugh as she shook her head. "Okay, slight problem. I don't know how to do that."

"That's why you're going to practice," I told her. "We have time, and we're going to use it. Don't worry, you can do this."

Malia placed her hands on the table, leaning forward with a small frown on her face. "Let's say all this goes perfectly. How does a brownout get us into the Closed Unit of Eichen?"

There was a moment of silence as everyone who was unaware of the plan let the question sink in. Our plans never went smoothly, which we had learnt from past experience. But this time, with all of Eichen's precautions, we really needed it to go as smoothly as possible.

"The system takes five minutes to reboot," Stiles stated, filling the silence. "In that five minutes all the alarms will be turned, the key card should work."

Scott took the lead next, detailing the next part of the plan. "Liam, you and I get Stiles to the gate of the Closed Unit. But after that, he has to go on his own. We can't get past the Mountain Ash barrier. And when we're gone, all anyone's going to think is that there was a reboot of the security system caused by a brownout."

There was no moment more that I wished I were human. The thought of letting Stiles go down into the Closed Unit alone was terrifying. I knew he was more than capable of handling himself, but we didn't know what was down there waiting for him. And if there was a brownout, who knew what else could happen.

"Uh, any questions?" Stiles asked, knowing full well everyone was going to have questions.

Liam went first, "How do we get into Eichen House in the first place?"

Then Malia, "What's our worst-case scenario?"

Isaac, "Is this really the only possible way that we can get her out of there?"

And finally, Kira, "What if I can't do it?"

"Okay, admittedly, a lot could go wrong," Stiles pointed out, already aware that there was flaws in the plan.

"Everything could go wrong," Liam countered.

"We take that risk every time we do something like this," I reminded them all. "But this time, things are different. One of my best friends is locked in there, and they are doing goddamn experiments on her. So, I get that you're scared, but if we don't save her, she is going to die tonight. And I am not about to let another person I care about die, do you hear me?"

"Riley's right," Scott told them all. "And not only that. If Lydia dies, she risks taking a lot of innocent people with her. So this is happening, and it's happening tonight."

♧♤♢♡

After we finished up with our group meeting Malia, Kira and I headed down to the school. We wanted to get onto Kira's practice as soon as possible. The best way we thought to do was, was using a lightbulb in the science room, and having her practice using her abilities to do a miniature brownout on the bulb.

Once we had the bulb set up on the machine, the three of us stood around the work bench. Kira didn't make a move to start, just shifted awkwardly as she looked anywhere but the lightbulb.

When Malia nodded towards the bulb, Kira shrugged. "What?"

"Do it. Do your thing," My sister instructed.

"What thing? I don't have a thing."

I shook my head, "Kira, you have a thing. And right now, we really need you to do that thing."

"You did it before," Malia reminded her. "You had to learn how, right?"

After a moment of thought, Kira squinted, "Actually, no. It just happened."

"How'd you learn to fight with a sword?"

"That just kind of happened too."

Malia looked at her in confusion, "So you've never worked for anything and basically you're a cheater?"

I elbowed her lightly in the side, giving her a look. Malia threw her hands up, her social unawareness leading her to not understand why she shouldn't have said that.

"This wasn't my idea," Kira reminded us both, clearly not overly offended by Malia's words. "How are we even getting past the front gate?"

"I have a guy on the inside," Malia informed her. I wanted to ask which of our Eichen inmates she was referring to, but I didn't get the chance before she went back to Kira.
"And stop changing the subject. Do your thing."

"You can do it," I said encouragingly. "Just concentrate."

Kira took a deep breath, before placing her hands on the thick wires hat left the box connected to the bulb. Closing her eyes, she took another breath in as the bulb began to glow brighter.

When I noticed the watts rising rather quickly, I quickly picked up a text book and held it in front of my face. A moment later, the bulb burst, spraying glass a short distance.

"It didn't work," Kira sighed.

I lowered the book, turning it to see a couple of small shards dug lightly in the back cover. I glanced over to my sister, to see she hadn't moved as fast, and had a shard of glass sticking out of her forehead.

Malia reached a handup, plucking the glass from her skin as blood slowly trailed towards her brow. "No, it didn't."

Putting the text book down, I put a hand into the box beside me and retrieved a brand new bulb. Holding it out to Kira, I managed to keep a smile on so that Kira didn't lose hope.
"It's fine. Just try again."

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