The Silver Soldier

XXXVII

I unlock the window and pull it upwards.

"Stiles." She hisses, looking around to make sure no one could hear. "Come here."

"What for?" I ask.

She opens her mouth, then shuts it. Rethinking what she was going to say. But then she seems to settle on something other than her original though process.

"We have a meeting in fifteen, wanna come?" She offers. No, I think, not really. But that's not what Stiles would say. If I were actually "normal," the first thing I would want to do is figure out how to stop Hydra. The old me wouldn't have cared about slowly getting back into the swing of things, I would want to be filled in on everything that has happened as soon as possible.

"Where?" I ask. "How long will it be?"

"The clinic, and I have no idea. We haven't had an old pack meeting in years."

"Old pack?"

"The one we had when you... you know."

I nod. The same pack we had when I died. Now they have expanded, adding lone wolves and other supernatural creatures. Like Juliette and Alec. "I'll meet you there in ten." I call down to her just as I hear my father's voice yell up from the kitchen.

I turn to respond, and by the time I look back to the window, Malia is gone.

I finish three helpings of mac'n'cheese before it's time for me to leave. My father offers to drive me, but I decline. I give him the excuse that I want to get back into being normal, and having a personal chauffeur/father everywhere I go isn't normal. He gives in, surprisingly, and allows me to take his car to the animal clinic.

Rosco hasn't been driven in two years, he's been sitting in the garage since I died. It will take a bit of work to get him up and running again.

I end up making it to the clinic at the 13 minute mark, two minutes early. But knowing Scott and the pack, the meeting probably started half an hour ago and they've just been deciding on what to do with me. They will ask questions no doubt, probably quiz me on Hydra. And I will tell the anything and everything they want to know.

Well, anything that isn't important that is.

As I guessed, each one of their vehicles are parked in the back lot when I pull up.

This is going to be fun.

I exit my father car and lock it, checking my surroundings before I walk inside. The last time I was snuck up on, was in this very parking lot. The night the Dread Doctors took me. Since then, I haven't given anyone the chance.

"Stiles." Malia's voice calls from the back door. She waves me towards her.

I have a sinking feeling that she didn't tell the others I was going to be coming.

"They're training downstairs." She says once I'm inside.

"Training? Downstairs?"

"Yeah. Like-" she makes a few karate chopping motions. "Like hi-yah type stuff. I don't know, I just watch them do it." She shrugs.

"We have a downstairs?"

"We had it put in about a year ago, it's nice for pack meetings and stuff." She leads me to a new-looking stairwell, it looks slightly out of place in the small animal hospital.

"Malia." I stop her right before we're about to head down the stairs. "Do they know I'm coming?"

She looks up at me, something like surprise flashing in her eyes when she realizes how much taller I am now that I'm standing in front of her. "Not all of them." She says after a moment. "But Lydia does."

"You told me this was a pack meeting, not a training session."

She shrugs once more. "Same thing."

I'm about to say something more when she takes my hand and drags me down the set of stairs. I don't have time to protest before she opens the door and leads me into the basement of the animal clinic.

It's bigger than I thought it would be.

Not as big as the training room on Malgasco, but still decent.

Isaac and Scott are sparing in the middle of the room, Liam is doing push-ups in the corner, Argent is aiming his handgun at a target on the wall.

And Alec is leaning against a pillar near Lydia, both watching Scott and Isaac spar.

Alec is the first to notice me.

But he doesn't recognize me right away, he shouldn't, he never saw my face when I was torturing him. Only my mask. "Scott." He calls out, and Scott turns, but just in time to get hit in the face by Isaac's fist.

I hold back my satisfied smile.

Rule 1: never turn your back to your opponent.

Scott swears, holding his cheek in pain. "Really?" I glares at Isaac. Then turns back to Alec, who then points in my direction.

Scott's eyes widen.

Suddenly all eyes are on me.

"Malia?" Scott looks to Malia, eyebrows narrowed in accusation. "I thought we agreed that we'd give him some more time to settle in. I hasn't even been an hour since he got home."

"I thought he could help, seeing as he was on their side." I have to flinch at her words, if only for Scott to notice. "The sooner we get rid of Hydra, the better."

Scott nods, looking sympathetically at me. As if he wants to say sorry.

Sorry my ass.

"Do you have anything that could help us?" He asks as he walks over, unraveling the protective wrap from around his fists. He has a few more tattoos than I remember, one on his shoulder and one on his left wrist.

"That depends on what you want to know."

He pauses, pondering his next words. With one last slightly angry look at Malia, he motions for me to follow him.

He brings me to a small circular table in the corner of the room, gesturing for me to sit. I do.

The surface of the table is littered with papers, different maps of Russia, pictures of Hydra operatives. And then my eye catches sight of a large scale map of Malgasco. One I didn't know existed.

Malgasco isn't supposed to be charted.

So where did they get these?

I only let my gaze linger for only a moment, not allowing him to see my peaked interest. I look back up, meeting his gaze. He has a confliction of emotions in his eyes. He looks as though he wants to hug me, but he also looks as though he blames me for every little inconvenience in his life.

He wouldn't be wrong. 

He tries to discretely cover the map of Malgasco. 

He doesn't trust me. 

"Let's start with how." He begins, his eyes studying me. My face. My neck. My hands. Then his stare moves back up to my eyes. "How are you alive?"