Chapter Text
The alpha spits blood onto the dingy floor of the abandoned department store, head swimming and jaw aching as the Enforcer strikes him for the fourth time. "I will ask this last time monster. Where are the rest of you hiding?"
A second Enforcer doesn't wait for an answer as they take out an injector and jab him in the neck. Immediately his heart begins skipping beats, sweat beads at his brow and though it may only be in his head, he swears he can feel the poison as it crawls through his veins. Injected so close to his heart he knows has little time before the effects become lethal. That is their mistake. Less time means he won't be able to spill any secrets, and his friends might just escape.
"Jace, why bother? We both know this thing won't cooperate." The first man complains, motioning to the creature tied to the chair, and hooked up to a car battery to keep its transformation locked down. Terrifying things, those supernatural things were. The stuff of nightmares, yet also with a surprising amount of weaknesses.
"Yeah. But we had to try. There were a lot of them in the group that B-team spotted." The second Enforcer gives an irritated sigh, grabs the alpha by the hair, and lifts his head. The rubber gloves and sweaty hair make the hold slick, so he grips tighter and smirks at the pained grimace on the monster's lips. "Times up."
The door closest to them forcefully swings open and all three men startle as a figure slinks in with a smile that is all teeth. "Hello, gentlemen."
The newcomer is silhouetted in amber as he steps over the line of mountain ash and away from the outside street lamps. His eyes do not glow nor is he affected by the mist of purple wolfsbane directed at him as a test. His raised eyebrow cries 'seriously?' at them, he even rests a hand on his left hip, clearly unimpressed.
The two Enforcers relax. The newcomer is probably looking for information. Brokers and scavengers are big these days. Though, a Scavenger is more problematic with their harvesting of parts to sell.
"Get out of here. We are interrogating-"
"-he is diseased, did you know?"
The alpha’s timely emptying of his stomach contents has one of the men jumping back with a shriek. "Diseased?!"
"Shut up Milo. This rat can't possibly know from the single minute he has seen the alpha."
Said rat, laughs. "You can tell from his eyes. Wolfsbane wouldn't dilate them the way it does his. Clocked it the second I saw you idiots pull him in here. Waited to see how this played out. But I can't have you contaminating the area. People still live here, y'know?"
The Enforcers share a look, the first shakes his head and motions to the violently ill creature hacking up the thick black goo. They've not seen that reaction in any other they've been in contact with, and that above all else is enough for concern.
"And what do you get out of this, rat?" The second Enforcer eyes the younger man, still unable to tell if he is a broker or a scavenger. Though in the end it probably doesn't matter as one thing the community can agree on is the getting rid of the diseased.
"I get a pass the next we see each other, should I be conducting business. That's all I ask in return for taking care of your problem."
"Done."
"Milo, you can't make that decision -"
"If the alpha really is diseased, he needs to be properly disposed of and we don't have the time or tools to do so. If this rat wants at it. Let him. We're done. You have a deal."
The man with hazel green eyes and a wide-mouthed saccharine grin watches them leave until they are out of sight.
The alpha, though his vision is blurry, chest tight, and stomach rolling, thinks he would recognize Theo even if he were blind and deaf. He is three years older than when they last saw one another toward the end of the war—a war they lost, and oh did they lose—leaner too, with hair tied back at his nape and clothing that while fits, is streaked with dirt and stinks of old blood.
“You know, every time this works I’m a little dumbfounded at just how gullible humans really are.” Theo shakes his head with a disbelieving grin. “Though I believe they are waiting for confirmation. Let us give them that, shall we?”
When Theo rushes him and puts claws through his thigh, Scott can't say he's surprised. His roar of pain is cut off when he begins choking on vomit, black blood, and pieces of his esophagus coming up.
"Shit. Shit, why has your healing not kicked in yet?"
Cold hands slap at his face, fingers grip his jaw, and turn his head. Theo expels a string of colorful swears as he notices the injection site. "Fuck."
And really, Scott couldn't agree more as he blacks out.