✓ | battle wounds, scott m.

chapter thirty seven.

Ella rubbed her neck, watching as Allison cleaned up Chris's cut. "His eyes were glowing?" Ella asked. Chris nodded, "There was something almost ritualistic about it. Like it was looking right into his soul." "That's the same thing it did to me," Isaac said. "That's what it did to everyone," Allison stated. Scott shook his head, "Not everyone. They only came after the werewolves." "And Lydia," Allison added. "And me," Ella added, looking at Scott who took her hand into his. "Anyone with a connection to the supernatural," Chris stated. "Then who was the guy they went after in Japan?" Isaac asked. "A kumicho. A yakuza boss. It was my first gun deal. I was only 18 and it was supposed to be a simple exchange. Except Gerard left out the minor detail of the buyers being yakuza. He wanted to see if I could adapt in the moment. Testing my ability to improvise," Chris told.

"Or your ability to survive," Allison muttered. "The moment the sun went down it was like they just materialized out of the shadows. They had swords, not curved like katanas but straight, black steel. Like ninjatos," Chris continued. "What did they want?" Ella asked. "To get to the kumicho. They cut down every living thing in their way," Chris replied. "Did they mark him like they did us?" Isaac as he touched the mark they left behind his ear, Ella doing the same. "Not exactly," Chris said. "What was he?" Scott asked. Chris looked at him, "I don't know. But there might be someone who does. There were a few others who survived that night. One of them was a man named Katashi. They called him Silverfinger because of an unusual prosthetic. And it looked like he was getting ready to take them all on himself. I've known for a while Katashi was in the country. I spent yesterday tracking him down."

"Didn't look like he wanted to be found," Isaac said. "Not particularly, no," Chris stated. "You think he knows what they are?" Scott asked, "Or what they want?" "Maybe," Chris said. "What if he doesn't want to talk?" Allison asked as Chris stood.

"What if he doesn't even remember you?" Isaac questioned. "He'll remember this," Chris said as he opened a box and removed the cloth, revealing a shattered metal mask that looked like the masks the figures wore last night, "I know I didn't kill it. I'm not sure you can. But I slowed it down long enough for us to get out of there." Ella bit her lip, "What was behind the mask?" Chris looked at the Stilinski girl, "Darkness. Absolute darkness."

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"So then she starts talking about phosphors and the key having chemicals on it, right? And so that made me think of the chemistry closet and the fact that someone had to let Barrow in," Stiles walked up to the blackboard, seeing no more atomic numbers. He turned back to Ella and Scott, "It's gone. Okay, it doesn't matter though. It doesn't matter. I've still got the key." Stiles walked to the closet at the back of the room, looking through his set of keys, "What the hell? I had it I had it here. I had it here this morning, I swear to God, I had it this morning." "The key you were talking about last night?" Scott asked. "Yeah, I showed it to you, right? Didn't I show it to you?" Stiles asked.

"No, you just told me about it. I never actually saw it," Scott said. "I was here a couple of hours ago. And the message left to Barrow spelling Kira's name was right there on the board in my handwriting and I had the key to the chemistry closet," Stiles said as he lead Scott and Ella towards the blackboard. "So you unlocked the chemistry closet so Barrow could hide in it from the cops and then you wrote him a message to kill Kira?" Ella asked. "I know how it sounds," Stiles then took out a paper from his pocket, "But look at this. This is the news report that came out about Barrow when they caught him, okay? About the shrapnel bomb that he used. See this? See what he did? He put nuts, bolts and screws. And then he hid the bomb and the detonator in a box that he wrapped as a birthday present. What does that sound like to you?"