Rather than playing the hero, Harley decides to find Scott and silently tug him along until they find the man pushing Isaac into the elevator. They stare him down until he turns, smirking. Scott flicks out his claws, rushing the elevator. He manages to fling himself through the doors just before they shut, leaving Harley standing alone.
"Idiot," she sighs. She makes her way to the next floor, reluctantly responding to Derek and informing him where to meet her. The two stand just outside the elevator doors, finding the man suspending Scott in the air.
"Don't you know what you're dealing with?" the man asks Scott. "I'm an alpha." Derek lunges, digging his nails into the man's back.
"So am I," Derek says, throwing him to the side. He turns back to face Scott and Harley, who is helping the former up off the floor. "Aren't you two supposed to be in school?" Harley rolls her eyes as Scott sighs heavily.
Harley follows behind Derek and Scott as Derek carries Isaac into the old Hale house. Scott is on the phone with a frantic Stiles, telling him about the situation at the school.
"Hey, can you call me about it later?" Scott asks, followed by more frantic voices. "All right, then meet us at Derek's."
"Derek's house?" Stiles yells. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Just meet us here, okay?" Scott hangs up, nodding at Harley, and the two jog over by Isaac and Derek.
"You don't still live here, do you?" Scott asks Derek.
"No," Derek says. "The county took it over, but there's something here that I need. It'll help heal a wound from an alpha."
"Yeah, but it did heal."
"Not on the inside," Harley interjects. The group stands in an awkward silence for a while. Harley sighs deeply before speaking again. "Are you going to tell us who that was back there?"
"A rival pack," Derek says, shifting awkwardly. "It's my problem."
"I want to help," Scott protests.
"I know you do, and you did. I owe you both one. Now go home."
"Oh, you owe me a lot more than one," Harley scoffs. "An explanation would be a nice start."
"To what?" Scott asks.
"To why I bit her," Derek sighs.
"I'm sorry, you did what? Did she ask you to?"
"Well, not tec-"
"You bit her without her asking? Are you insane? You said you only went around turning kids into werewolves when they asked. Now you do it when they don't?"
"As much as I hate coming to Derek's defense," Harley sighs, yet again, "I'm not a werewolf."
"But he bit you?" Scott asks, eyebrows drawn in confusion.
"It's a long story. Not for right now."
"Right," Scott scoffs. "Well, Derek, any chance you want to repay one of those favors right now?"
Harley stands alongside Stiles as Derek inspects the spot where Scott has asked him to tattoo him.
"I see it," Derek says, flashing his alpha eyes. "Two bands, right? What does it mean?"
"I don't know," Scott shrugs. "Just something I traced with my fingers." He draws out the design on the wall next to him.
"Why is this so important to you?"
"Do you know what the word tattoo means?"
Stiles learns forward and whispers, "To mark something."
"Well, that's in Tahitian. In Samoan, it means 'open wound. I knew I wanted to get a tattoo when I turned eighteen. I always wanted one. I just decided to get it now, to make it a kind of reward."
"For what?" Derek asks, speaking a lot more kindly than usual.
"Avoiding Allison?" Harley asks in a soft whisper.
"Yeah," Scott agrees. "Even when I really wanted to talk to her. I was trying to give her the space she wants." He sighs heavily. "Going four months later, it still hurts. It still feels like, a, uh-"
"An open wound."
"Yeah." Derek stares at Scott for a moment longer until grabbing the supplies.
"The pain is gonna be worse than you ever felt," Derek warns.
"Ah, that's great," Stiles squeaks.
"Do it," Scott nods.
"Oh, wow!" Stiles exclaims. "That's a lot for me, so I'm gonna take that as my cue. I'm just gonna wait outside." Harley rolls her eyes as Derek tugs Stiles back.
"You can help hold him down," Derek says. "Both of you." Harley grabs one of Scott's shoulders while Stiles grabs the other.
"Oh, my God." Harley flinches as Scott starts screaming when the fire makes contact with his skin.
Harley walks out with Scott and Stiles.
"Looks pretty damn permanent now," Stiles laughs.
"Yeah," Scott agrees. "I kind of needed something permanent. Everything that's happened to us, everything changes so fast. Everything's so, uh... ephemeral."
"Now where in the hell did you learn how to use that word?" Harley scoffs.
"Studying for the PSAT's?" Stiles suggests.
"Yep," Scott smiles proudly. Harley clears her throat to get rid of the laugh bubbling in her throat. Before they can leave, Scott stares at the outside of the door.
"You painted the door," he notes. "Why'd you paint the door?"
"Go home, Scott," Derek warns.
"Why only one side?" Before Derek can force him out, Scott claws off the paint and reveals a symbol painted on the door. "The birds at school, and the deer last night, just like the night I got trampled by the deer when I got bit by the alpha. How many are there?"
Derek sighs. "A pack of them." Harley groans, running a hand through her hair. "An alpha pack."
"All of them?" Stiles asks. "How does that even work?"
"I hear there's some kind of a leader. He's called Deucalion. We know they have Boyd and Erica. Peter, Isaac and I have been looking for them for the past four months."
"Let's say you find them," Scott says, stepping closer to Derek. "How do you deal with an alpha pack?"
"With all the help I can get," Derek says.
"This is why you needed my help?" she gasps. "Why wouldn't you tell me there?"
"It's a lot to process at once."
"So was biting me without warning."
"I'm sorry, he did WHAT?" Stiles yells. "He bit you? You're a werewolf?"
"Not quite," Derek says.
"They call me The Lunar Witch," Harley says. "Whatever the hell that means."
"What the fu-"
"Where is she?" A new voice, Isaac's, interrupts. "Where's the girl?" The group looks at each other in confusion.
"What girl?" Derek asks.
**A/N I find that writing this story is actually rather helpful. The comments you guys leave make my day and I love letting you guys see more of Harley. In case anyone wanted updates, his family set up a go-fund-me initially hoping for $5,000 and are currently at around $32,000, which is insane. They have just started another go-fund-me roughly 24 hours after for another student involved in the crash to pay for her brain surgery, and her family has raised about $17,000 so far, so I'm currently feeling better about the situation. Thank you all for being so supportive <3
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Hoping for Heroes
Fanfiction"She's basically, like, if Captain America and Scarlet Witch had a baby, but then Black Widow raised her. Her last name is literally Rogers!" "..." "She's right behind me, isn't she?"
