Chapter Seventy-Six
🌒 Lie Ability 🌘

Stiles and Lydia watch as Parrish walks towards the pack of Chimeras when Theo walked back into Wren's room before coming back out. This time he had Wren with his claws to her neck. "Back off." Theo threatened as Tracy dropped Valack, "I said back off." Theo said as his claws slightly punctured Wren's skin.

"Take him." Theo said making his pack look at him wide eyed, "The guy's on fire!" Corey said. "You'll heal. Do it!" Theo said and the guys hesitated for a moment but Tracy instantly ran towards Parrish. She stabbed her claws into his stomach but they didn't affect him at all making her eyes widen. He looked up at her and growled before forcefully shoving her into a wall.

Josh ran over and broke one of the metal tubes that protect the wires running through the building and siphoned the electricity from the cables before going to grab Parrish's shoulder. But just like Tracy, he didnt affect Parrish at all as Parrish just gave him an unimpressed look. "Theo, this isn't working!" Josh yelled before Parrish shoved him into the wall as well.

All of the sudden Valack drilled into Theo's shin making him cry out in pain and drop Wren. Theo fell to his knees and Valack instantly slammed the drill against his head making him fall back. "Sorry, Theo, but I'm not done with her yet." He said before he picked Wren up to carry her away, just as Parrish lifts Josh into the air and slams him flat on his back on the ground with a loud, painful-sounding thud.

Valack turned around only to stop when he saw Lydia and Stiles standing in front of him. All of the sudden the sound of screaming made them all look over to see Parrish's and Corey's bodies erupt into flames before Parrish picked him up and threw him across the hall.

Valack quickly moved out of the way while Stiles pushed Lydia out of the way so he was the one to get hit by Corey. Lydia quickly ran over to pull Corey off of Stiles while Valack took that moment to quickly run past them.

They looked up to see Valack walk through a door making their eyes widened before running over. They try to open the door only for it to be locked making Stiles groan in frustration and pound on the door, "Wren!" Lydia yelled as Stiles tried to pull on the handle.

"Let me try." Theo said and they quickly move out of the way just as Theo, who seems to have recovered from his earlier injuries, comes up from behind him and kicks the door open with one powerful strike of his leg. Stiles and Lydia quickly ran past the door without a word, and Theo sighed in frustration. "You're not going to find her without me!" Theo called out and all he got in a response was silence.

Stiles and Lydia ran down a hall until they found a gate that was left open. "Guys!" Theo said as he ran up to them making Lydia sigh as they turn to him. "I want her out of here, too. I have her scent." Theo said making them both glare at him, "What do you want?" Stiles asked. "What's the difference?" Theo said making Lydia raise her eyebrows at him, "The difference is that we don't want her out for leverage." She said making him shrug.

"I can find her, you can't." Theo said and Lydia shook her head, "You've done enough to her." She said. "You'll find her quicker if I helped." Theo said and Lydia looked at Stiles who sighed sighed and nodded slightly knowing he had a point.

They all started to walk but stopped when they hear sound of steam coming from a vent at the top of the wall.

🌒

Valack had brought Wren down to an old, musty room in the basement, where she had been strapped to an exam chair. She struggles against her restraints slightly as she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to stop all the visions she was having. They were back to back flashes if everything Eichen House patients have gone through/will go through.

When a she saw a vision of the building shaking in an earthquake, she gasps in surprise and whimpers in pain as the room started to shake violently for a moment. Valack takes a piece of gauze to dab at the trephination hole in her skull. "Just hold on a little longer, Wren..." He said as Wren gasps in pain when the gauze makes contact with the wound on her head.

"You can make it." Valack said before standing to his feet and walks over to a machine plugged into the wall behind him. He flips a switch on the machine as he gives Wren further instructions. "I want you to focus on this, Wren. And what other things you see now, push them aside. Focus on this sound." He said before turning it on.

The machine seems to be emitting some kind of staticky white noise, and when Wren focuses on it, it seems to relieve the pain caused by her overwhelmingly amplified abilities. She lets out a sigh of relief as she straightens up in her seat and Valack seems pleased by this reaction and continues to speak to her in a soft voice.

"That's it. Focus on this sound and my voice, all right, Wren?" He asked as Wren glanced around weakly with glossy eyes before noticing something off to the side of the room. She turns her head to the right and is horrified by the sight of Nurse Cross is slumped in the corner of the room and is obviously dead. Valack notices her concern and immediately tries to calm her down.

"Don't worry, Wren. Nurse Cross wasn't nearly as strong as you are." Valack said making Wren whimper in fear slightly as turns away so she can no longer see the nurse's body. While the white noise machine seems to be keeping most of the visions at bay, its clear that she's overwhelmed and exhausted by everything she's been through in the last week or so.

"Wren? Can you hear me?" Valack asked and a tear fell down Wren's face, "Why are you doing this? What do you want from me?" She asked weakly. "I want your help against the Dread Doctors. They ruined me. Destroyed me. They drove me to obsession, consigned me to professional ridicule... People thought I was a monster, when I was simply trying to open their eyes." He said making her look at him with a weak but annoyed look.

"Now you want me to be your eyes." She said with a glare, "You'll see things, Wren. Things no one else can see. You may not survive... but you might save the lives of your friends." He said said.

Valack walk over to the nearby desk and picks up a Dread Doctor mask. One of the eyepieces to the goggles' glass has several fine cracks running through it, and the mouth looks like it's been stitched up with wire. Wren's eyes widened slightly as she shook her head, "I don't want to..." She said weakly as a couple tears rolled down her face.

"We have to slow your mind first. There's too much activity in your brain. We have to get from a gamma wave to a theta." Valack explained as he he applies electrodes to her temples to help him determine the kind of brainwaves she's producing. She's twitching from the exertion it's taking her to ignore the visions that started gain, even with the white noise machine's help.

Wren suddenly overwhelmed by a vision playing in her head, and the twitching turns to spasming as she suppresses a moan and shakes her head frantically. "I can't do it... It's too much... I can't..." She cried in pain as her hands balled up into fist.

"If I try the mask now, it will kill you. You have to calm your mind." He said and she shook her head slightly, "You understand what they've created?" He asked and Wren took a deep breath. "The Beast." She said and he nodded, "The Beast of Gévaudan- an engineered version of it. But, it's not yet fully grown. It's still bound to its host, the teenage Chimera inside... And it still requires the Dread Doctors' protection." He said.

Wren flinched as she heard and saw the screams of a patient before she took a deep breath. "Damnatio memoriae..." She said I'm a slight whisper and Valack nodded, "That's right. The Beast was a man first, a human killer in the late 1700s. The Dread Doctors are trying to get it to remember itself. To remember the man. When that happens, the teenager is gone." He said.

Wren cried out in pain as the visions got quicker and every time she saw a patient getting tortured she could feel their emotions. "This teenager, Wren, is the last genetic chimera. A young man or a young woman, maybe even someone you know. A success where Theo and the others were failures." He said and she shook her head weakly, "But we went through the list of genetic chimeras... There's no one else." She said.

"There must be one you missed. Another way they could have two sets of DNA. If you could see the face of this teenager, discover its identity? Then, you and your friends would have a fighting chance. The mask can help you see." He said and she weakly but rapidly shook her head. "I don't want to see. I can't do it..." She said and from the corner of her eyes she saw someone standing off to the side making her look over to see Allison.

"Don't do it, Wren. You won't survive and you can't leave them." Allison said, her voice echoing slightly.

All of the sudden they're startled by the sound of Stiles pounding on the door with his fists while Theo forcefully shoves his shoulder into it. "Wren!" Lydia called out and Theo's blows against the door cause the white noise machine's wire to fray even more as a result of the friction from the vibrations he's causing.

The machine sparks one last time before blowing its fuse and ceasing to function, causing all of the visions and voices to come back at once and at full force. "Sorry Wren, but time's up." Valack said as he lifted up the mask but before he could go any father, Wren let out another cry of pain as she leaned forward.

She started seeing an American World War II getting shot in the face before the visions quickly switched to one of an earthquake. The room around her started to shake until the vision ended, and once it did Wren collapsed back against the chair.

She looked over at Valack and her eyes widen slightly when he lowered the mask. The upper left corner of his head has been completely blown off, his left eyeball dangling out of its socket just like the soldier she saw. She watched in exhaustion as Valack's body fell to the ground before the doors suddenly burst open.

Stiles ran in to see Wren weakly laying on a chair covered in wires making him quickly run over to her. "You came back..." Wren said weakly as Stiles started pulling off the wires, "We're getting you out of here, okay?" Stiles said and Wren shook her head. "You can't! It's too dangerous-" She started to say but Stiles cut her off.

"Wren, please shut up and let me save your life." He said and Wren sighed in reluctance before giving him a weak smile as Stiles helps her to her feet, swinging her left arm around and wrapping it around his shoulders as he puts his right arm around her waist to support her. "Let's go." Lydia said and Stiles nodded before they quickly ran out, paying no attention to Theo, who noticed the Dread Doctor helmet on the ground next to Valack's body.

As they run Stiles was trying his best to keep Wren standing as Lydia leads them through the tunnels. But Wren was obviously getting weaker and weaker by the second. "Okay, you gotta try to stay on your feet. The plan didn't work too well, so we're gonna need your help, okay?" Stiles said. "You guys had a plan?" Wren asked weakly making Stiles chuckle slightly as Lydia glanced back at them while Stiles nodded, "Yeah. It was good on paper. Not so much in reality." Stiles says.

The visions started overwhelm Wren to the point that she whimpers loudly. But when they turn a corner and burst through a door, Wren can no longer handle everything she's seeing and falls to her knees, pressing her hands against her temples.

"I can't do it!" She yelled making Stiles and Lydia turn back to Wren to try to help her up. The walls around them start to shake, "Guys, run!" Wren yelled. Just then, Parrish in his Hellhound form appears behind Stiles, grabbing him by the shoulder and forcefully throwing him back into the adjacent hallway, where Scott and Liam catch him before he can hit the wall. The boys and Lydia all quickly ran behind the wall.

Parrish wrapped his arms around Wren as she let out a cry of pain and yet another earthquake happened. This one worst like the last. But some how, Parrish managed to block her abilities from traveling too far past them to where only the hall they were in shook and the walls around the two crumbled slightly. It went on for a minute before the shaking slowed to a stop.

Parrish, now fully back to himself, walks out of the massive cloud of dust carrying a barely-conscious Wren toward them. "Where to?" He asked and Scott nodded, "This way." He said before leading them down the hall. "There's a gate up ahead." Liam called out as he leads them to the exit, "What about Mason?" Lydia asked. "He's on it! Trust me." Liam says before running as fast as he can ahead of the group while the rest struggle to keep up. "Liam, slow down!"

"Liam, wait!"

Liam beats them to the exit, which is an electrified chain-link fence and gate. The rest skid to a halt behind him and watch nervously as Liam grabs the fence with his hands. Though it sparks with electricity upon contact but Liam easily breaks the gate open before turning to the others and smirking in satisfaction. "I told you!"

Malia and Kira drove the Jeep to the front steps just as Liam, Scott, Stiles, Lydia, Parrish, and Wren crawled out of the underground tunnels. Parrish looks at Wren with concern, "Can you stand?" He asks before gently setting her on her feet, though he continues to help her stay standing as Kira and Malia get out of the Jeep. "Is she okay?" Malia asked looking at her sister worriedly.

"No. We need to go. Give me the keys. We gotta get her to the clinic." Stiles says and Malia hands him the keys. Just then, Parrish groans in pain and falls forward against the hood of the Jeep, revealing his back has several fresh, deep claw gashes along the length of his back.

The others look up to find that once again, Wren is being held by Tracy, who is partially transformed into her Kanima form and who is sneering at them smugly as she holds her clawed hand up to Wren's stomach, "Sorry, she's coming with me." Tracy said.

"Okay, Tracy, just wait. You don't know what's about to happen-" Scott tries to reason with her bit she just cuts him off and starts to slowly walk backward with her clawed hand still against Wren's stomach. "I'm taking her. That's what's happening. And none of you are going to do a thing-"

Before she can finish her sentence, her body starts to seize and spasm before she collapses onto the ground, revealing Natalie behind her holding one of the guard's taser. Wren falls forward making Stiles instantly shoot out and grab her as Natalie looks at them with an overwhelmed expression. "Could somebody please get my daughter out of this hellhole?"

Seconds later Scott is driving the Jeep while Lydia sits next to him and Stiles and Wren sit in the backseat, but Scott is having difficulty getting the gear shift to move, Stiles looks slightly concerned about the condition of his Jeep. "Scott." Stiles says and he nodded, "Yeah, I'm trying. I'm trying."

Wren's eyes were clamped shut as tightly as she tried to block out the visions as much as she can but she was barely hanging on. She suddenly let out a cry of pain as the ground and the jeep started ti shake violently. The driver's side mirror cracks into dozens of pieces, making Scott's eyes widen.

Stiles immediately tries to calm Wren down as she goes back to suppressing the visions as much as possible. "Wren. Wren, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Look, you're gonna get through this, okay?" Stiles says as he turns Wren head to look at him. "Please go before I see the jeep getting flipped..." She said weakling making their eyes widen in realization. Scott finally was able to get the gears to shift before he pushes the gas pedal down to the floor to drive faster.

Finally, they arrive at the animal clinic, where Deaton rushes toward his materials as they enter the exam room, "Get her on the table!" He said and Scott and Stiles do just that while Deaton works on something at the counter. "Hold her!" He said as the three try to hold Wren down onto the table as firmly but gently as possible as Wren lets out a small cry of pain and the walls shook slightly.

"Doc, I think you gotta do something..." Stiles says as Deaton is in the middle of drawing the contents of the container up into a steel syringe gun while the three teenagers watch over Wren. "I will! But right now, I need you to keep her still."

Deaton finally finishes what he's doing and walks over to Wren, using his left hand to stabilize Wren's neck while he holds the syringe gun, which has had its needle removed, in his other hand. The three continue to press Wren to the table.

Lydia sees the syringe and her eyes widen at the sight of it, "What is that?" She asked. "Mistletoe." Deaton said making Stiles' mouth gape open, and he looks at Deaton as though he thinks he's crazy, "Mistletoe? She's got a fricking hole in her head!"

Wren groans in pain and tries to sit up, but Scott and Lydia pushes her back down, making Stiles to do the same. Deaton takes the syringe gun and prepares to fill the hole in Wren head with the mistletoe paste while the three hold her down.

Just as soon as Deaton fills her wound with the mistletoe paste, she bolts into a seated position and she let out a cry of pain and the clinic shook violently making shatters all the windows in the clinic. The force of the glass shattering throws Lydia, Scott and Deaton backward toward the far wall, while Stiles ducks over Wren's body to protect her, using his open flannel shirt to keep the glass from hitting her skin.

When the dust settles, Wren fell back onto the exam table and she laid silently with her eyes closed. Stiles pulls away from her and instantly starts to try to rouse her as he brushes the small fragments of broken glass off of her face.

"Wren? Wren?" He asked and waits for a moment, but Wren doesn't move or respond in any way, making Stiles start to panic. Scott and Lydia quickly joins Stiles next to the table and watches as he cradles Wren's head in her hands and continues to frantically try to wake her up.

"Wren. Wren, come on." He said but her body is like a rag doll in Stiles' arms, and he only becomes more desperate. "No, no, no, no. Come on, Wren. Wake up. Come on, wake up! Can you hear me? Wren. Wren, open your eyes! Come on, come on!"

Lydia watched with glossy eyes, covering her mouth to block