Chapter Seventy-Two
🌒 Damnatio Memoriae 🌘

"This is from the relay station's security camera." Parrish said before handing Scott his phone. His eyes widened as be watch a beast like creature bust out of the building and run after Hayden and Liam in the woods.

"That looked big." Scott said and Parrish nodded, "And too fast for anyone to get a good look at it." He said before noticing the look on Scott's face. "You know what it is don't you?" He asked, "The last Chimera." He says as he looks back at the building.

Parrish lead Scott inside the relay station, and they walk down the steps until they get to the ground floor where they find the space completely wrecked. Power cables have been ripped apart and are showering sparks onto the floor, and equipment and cabinets of all kinds have been smashed or knocked over.

Scott glanced around for a moment before noticing the puddle of blood and water on the floor near the wall where the technician was killed the previous night and crouched next to it before turning back to Parrish. "You still got a black light?" He asked and Parrish nodded and took out the small UV light from his utility belt before handing it over to him.

Scott turned it on and shined it over the bloody puddle, revealing dark shadows of modified mercury before nodded slightly and glancing back at them. "Mercury means Chimera." He said and Parrish furrowed his brows, "But what was it doing here? Why come here and kill some random communications tech?" Parrish asked and Scott sighed as he stood up.

"It might just like killing for the fun if it. Maybe it's just what it does." He said and Parrish's eyes widen slightly, "...That's terrifying." He mumbled. "Parrish, how many bodies do you actually see when you dream about the Nemeton?" Scott asked and Parrish sighed.

"Everyone."

🌘

"Is that my laptop?" Stilinski asks, looking over at Stiles who was typing on a laptop "Yup." Stiles said making Stilinski raise his eyebrows. "Do you have my passwords?" He said and Stiles nodded, "I have all your passwords. You know they just brought in another body from last night?" Stiles asked as Stilinski carefully rolled over.

"Yeah, I was hoping you wouldn't find out. Now, give me my damn computer." Stilinski said going to reach for the laptop but Stiles just moves it away so Stilinski can't reach. "Hang on. Hang on."

Stiles clicks on a video on the laptop and frowns slightly when he notices something in the video For was talking about. "I think there's some footage missing... Or something missing in the footage." Stiles said and Stilinski raised his eyebrows.

"I think there's something missing in your head." Stilinski said before reaching first the laptop again but Stiles moved it away more. "You need your rest." Stiles said as he rewinds and replays the part of the video where the Beast rushes out of the telecommunication towers a few times.

🌒

Wren laid in her bed at Eichen house still and immobile in her bed, staring at the ceiling, when suddenly, she becomes aware and turns her head to the side to look around. She furrowed her brows slightly as she noticed the sink and toilet on her room before looking at the large metal door that had been left open.

She slowly stood up and walked to the door, but after a moment, she feels something off making her turns around to find that her physical body is still laying catatonic in bed. Wren furrowed her brows before she suddenly hears a clanking noise making her slowly follow where it's coming from.

She slowly walked down the hall until she reaches a room with a metal door handle and opens it to find a white-tiled bathroom with a matching white bathtub inside. She could hear someone breathing heavily and looks more closely at the bathtub when suddenly, a feminine hand covered in black goo reaches out of the tub and grabs the side of the tub to help herself out.

Wren's eyes widen as she stepped back as a woman, covered from head to toe in black goo climbed out of the bathtub and crawls in a jerky, disjointed motion toward her. Wren quickly turned to run out of the room, only for it to close and lock itself so she can't escape. Eventually, the woman stood up and looked Wren in the eyes before whispering to her.

"Don't be afraid." She whispered and Wren furrowed her brows slightly, "Nora?" She asked. All of the sudden the lights flickered and when they went back to normal, Nora Wilson stood in front of Wren with a smile.

"I guess it's a little late for you to call me mother, huh?"

🌘

Stiles walked into Scott's making Scott look up from cleaning his wound, "You still haven't healed?" Stiles asked. "Sometimes it just takes longer." Scott said before looking at Stiles confused, "What are you doing here?" Scott asked, looking at Stiles.

"Uh... you heard about the guy who got killed out at the communication towers, right? I think I may have figured something out.." Stiles said and Scott looked at him shocked. "What, you want my help?" Scott asked and Stiles looked at him awkwardly for a moment.

"Yeah, well... You said you can find the clues that I can't. Here, take a look." Stiles said and held his phone out to show the video, "This is when the technician first arrived. You see him going in? Then, Deputy Clark goes in. Then, something really big and really fast comes charging out, and now comes Clark. Eventually, the technician's body is carried out by paramedics." Stiles explained and Scott just looked confused.

"Okay... What am I missing?"

"Only two people go in. And three people come out. I checked all the footage- not a single person enters that building before the technician the entire day. So, where does that something really big and really fast come from?" Stiles asked making Scott's eyes widen in realization.

"There's another way in."

🌘

"Okay... You see that?" Stiles asked as the two of them looked at the puddle of blood at the relay station. "I see blood." Scott says and Stiles shines the flashlight over to the wall, "Look where it leads to." Stiles said and that's when the blood went behind a fallen over metal cabinet.

Scott goes over to push the cabinet away to get a better look but struggles due to still being hurt. Stiles moved over to him opposite side making Scott look at Stiles in shock for a moment. Stiles nods at him slightly before they work together to lift it up.

Turning around they find metal grate which has been forcefully ripped open, and which seems to lead to a sublevel via a ladder.

🌒

Wren and Nora watched as Nurse Cross sat at Wren's bedside and scowls at her catatonic body. "I have been here a long time, Wren. You think I haven't seen this before? I know when patients are pretending- manipulating to get what they want. You're not getting out of here. Someone as dangerous as you? We can keep you here for the rest of your life."

Wren frowned slightly as she looked Nurse Cross up and down slightly. "Why did I get a bitch for a nurse?" She mumbled and Mora chuckled, "Oh you have your father's mouth." She said making Wren look at her. "That's offensive." She said and Nora smiled and looked at her, "You have to wake up." She said and Wren sighed and looked at her body.

"I don't know how. What if I can't?" She asked and Nora sighed, "Then you won't be able to help your friends... And they'll die without you." Nora said making Wren look at her with wide eyes. "How am I supposed to help them like this?" She asked and Nora raised her eyebrows, "You learned to fight, didn't you?" She asked and Wren nodded.

"A little, I guess" She said and Nora gave her a proud smile, "You learned more than you think you did, and faster than an ordinary person would." She said and Wren shook her head.

"That doesn't matter now." Wren said and Nora gently grabbed her shoulder, "It does. Because I'll teach you the rest. I'm going to show you how to use your abilities. How to use them as a weapon." Nora said making Wren look at her.

🌘

Scott and Stiles found themselves in the tunnels underneath the telecommunication towers, which probably connects to the tunnels under the water treatment plant. Stiles shines a blacklight across the floor to find a bunch of dark shadows from mercury making them slowly start to follow it.

They walk up to a hole in the wall and stop as they see a message on the ground that seems to have been written in mercury. "DAMNATIO MEMORIAE"

"What is that?" Scott asks and Stiles tilted his head slightly, "It looks like Latin." He said as Scott pulls out his phone and holds it up. "Hold up that light- I'm gonna get a picture of it." Scott says but frowns when the flashlight dips low enough that he can no longer see the message. "Stiles, hold the light still-"

Suddenly, Stiles groan as he falls to the floor making Scott turn to see a very alive Tracy, partially transformed with her claws and fangs out, has paralyzed him with her Kanima venom.

She hisses and snarls as she lunges for Scott, who quickly dodges her blows, his red eyes, fangs, and claws coming out. Stiles, who is laying flat on his back on the floor, sees Josh, whose claws and fangs are also out and who is emitting purplish-blue sparks from his hands, heading toward Scott as well, though he's too busy fighting Tracy to notice.

"Scott, behind you!"

Scott moves as soon as he hears Stiles' warning and dodges Josh's attack, deflecting both of their blows before grabbing Tracy's wrist and plunging it into Josh's chest, causing Josh to be paralyzed by her venom and Tracy to be incapacitated by Josh's electricity. Tracy falls to the floor at Scott's feet while Josh falls over next to Stiles, who raised his eyebrows, "Sucks, doesn't it?"

Scott and slowly turning to the wall and growled until suddenly Corey appeared right where the were looking. "Okay!" Someone yelled making them look over to see Theo. "Maybe they're not ready to take on an Alpha. Especially one that can smell." Theo said, giving Corey an unimpressed look.

"He's got fangs!"

"What did you do?" Scott asked looking at the Chimeras in shock. "I found some new friends. I don't take rejection well." Theo said as he walked through the hole and looked down at Stiles, "Hey, Theo!" Stiles said sarcastically. "Stiles." Theo said and then looked down at the words on the ground before stopping his food, breaking the concrete making the words go away.

"You're going to leave here thinking that you need to worry about me... But you're wrong. We're actually back on the same side. Because that thing? That's what we need to worry about. Your pack, and mine. We're gonna go back to school and pretend like we're normal teenagers, but at night, we're going to be fighting for our lives."

"What is it?" Stiles asked, "It's not a Chimera." Theo said and Scott slightly shook his head. "But it's just a kid underneath- someone like us." Scott said and Theo shook his head, "Not anymore more." He said and turned to leave.

As Theo and his pack walked away, Scott walked over to Stiles and helped him lean against the wall before sitting next to him. "He knew what it meant, and I can't remember the words..." Scott said as he glanced back at the ground Theo broke and Stiles sighed.

"Damnatio memoriae. It means condemnation of memory. I think it also means that whatever the Dread Doctors created, whatever this last Chimera really is? It's not something new. It's something old- really old." Stiles explained making Scott's eyes widen.

"So, they didn't create a new creature..." Scott trailed off as Stiles nodded slightly, "They resurrected one." He said. "We need help. If Theo's got his own pack now, then we need ours. We have to get the others back." Scott said as he drew a small circle into the dust on the ground while Stiles scoffed and looked at him crazy.

"The others? You mean Kira, who's currently battling a homicidal Fox spirit inside of her? Malia, who isn't even speaking to any of us? Lydia whose been fighting with her mom all day? Wren, who's stuck in Eichen House? And Liam, who almost killed you?" He asked and Scott smiled softly.

"Also known as our best friends." Scott said and Stiles sighed, "Okay. How?" Stiles asked as he looked back over at Scott. "One by one." He said then give Stiles an expectant expression. After a moment, Stiles realizes what Scott wants him to do and gives him a look, "You're not seriously going to make me do it...?"

"You're part of the pack, right?"

"Okay." Stiles sighed, knowing that Scott is right once again, and uses all of his newfound mobility to stretch out his arm so he can finish the McCall Pack symbol by drawing a bigger circle around the smaller one Scott drew. Once it's done, Stiles looks at Scott, who looks pleased.

"Okay. We need to find Kira." Scott says as he rises to his feet before pulling Stiles up to his, putting Stiles' arm around his shoulder before they started walking out. After a moment, Stiles groans softly, "I still hate that tattoo." He said making Scott laugh.

"I know."