Olivia's POV:

"I'm not letting them out." Sheriff Stilinski sternly spoke, placing the case files of the two werewolves he had locked up in the cells on top of the desk in front of him. "We've got two bodies covered in slash marks. They confessed to killing two people."

"Hunters." Scott angrily emphasized.

"People, Scott." He corrected with a glare.

"And what about the situation with Stiles and Donovan?" Phoebe questioned with a brow raised. "It was self-defense so what's the difference with them?"

"Phoebe." My dad scolded, sending her a look that practically read 'stay quiet'.

"Self-defense or not, they're still here." Sheriff Stilinski continued, ignoring Phoebe's comment. "The other guys are dead. And there's a process I have to follow."

"Yeah, but you know what's happening around here." I argue before I gesture to Liam and Phoebe. "Some kids at school tried to get Liam to shift by beating the crap out of him! The other day, some kids randomly decided to cut Phoebe's hand! It's not safe for them."

"This may actually be the safest place for them in Beacon Hills." He countered. "At least I can protect them here."

"Would Stiles think that?" Lydia remarked.

"Especially if one of your deputies is working for Gerard?" Malia added.

"I'm not buying that." Stilinski immediately shook his head. "I know these deputies like the back of my hand. I know their families, their kids, their brothers, and their sisters. I know who they are, and I trust them."

"With all due respect Sheriff, people could change." Allison spoke up with a nervous expression. "Especially with fear playing a huge role in their decisions. It pushes them to the extreme."

Liam nods in agreement. "You know who they were. There's something out there. Everyone's afraid, and it's getting worse."

"You can't protect two werewolves from hunters if they're already on the inside." Scott added.

Silence filled the room until Sheriff Stilinski's eyes glanced behind us where the woman from before sat on one of the chairs. She held a distant look as she stared at her hands.

"It's Quinn, right?" He asked and the girl simply nodded. "You sure it was a deputy who shot you? Absolutely one-hundred-percent sure?"

She nodded again. "I saw flashing lights...a police car." Her brows furrow into concentration. "I-I saw a badge, a gun, and then they shot me. They shot me in the head and that's all I remember."

Sheriff Stilinski let out a sigh. "There are a couple of holes in her story."

"Maybe because there's a hole in her head." Lydia retorted.

A sudden laugh escaped from Malia and she nudged my side with a grin. However, everybody turned to us with disbelief, causing me to stifle a giggle as Malia quickly stayed quiet.

"I'm sorry." Malia tried to say with sincerity, looking down to the floor in shame, but even at that, I let out a snort which caused us to giggle quietly to ourselves.

"Sheriff, the only way Jiang and Tierney are safe is if they come with us." Allison pleaded. "I know Gerard. He'll send Monroe to make sure they pay for what they did. Dead or alive."

Scott gestured to Allison with a nod. "She's right. We need to get Jiang and Tierney out here before anyone realizes that they're here."

"And take them where? I can't let them go."

"But if you keep them here, they're--"

"Look!" He snapped, cutting me off from my sentence. "if there's a problem--"

Suddenly, a small explosion from outside the building caused us to quickly turn, seeing as a blinding light came through the windows.

My dad quickly steps around Phoebe to walk to the window and peeked through the blinds. "Sir, there are about a dozen SUVs outside and people stepping out with weapons in their hands!"

"Crap." Sheriff Stilinski cursed under his breath as he rushed out of the room to where the rest of the deputies were with my dad following behind. "Get away from the windows! Put your guns away!"

"So much for our escape plan." I remark in annoyance.

"There's no way they found out that fast!" Phoebe exclaimed. "Now we're surrounded!"

"Stilinski went out there to try to talk them down." Liam explained. "Knowing Monroe, she won't budge."

"We have to get out of here." Malia suddenly spoke up, panic laced in her tone.

"Give him a chance. He knows what he's doing." Scott warned as he stood by the window watching the interaction between Monroe and Noah.

"I am giving him a chance. He can talk all he wants, but we have to get the hell out of here!" She begged.

"Malia, we can't leave with Jiang and Tierney." Allison gently explained but Malia let out a scoff.

"Screw them. It's Stilinski's job!"

Not only will communities tear themselves apart, but the phoenix will become unstable.

I glance down at my hands, seeing them violently shake in place. Uh oh.

"But it's our job to keep them alive." Scott reminded.

Eventually, the fear turns to anxiety but the longer you keep it inside...you'll destroy everything in your path.

The door to Stilinski's office bursts open which causes us to turn, seeing Theo Raeken walk in with a look of annoyance as he shook his head from side to side. "Not mine."

Phoebe's eyes widen in surprise. "You're still here?"

"Do you want me to just kill him?" Liam huffed, taking a step forward to attack him but Malia held her arm out.

"No, just leave him. Can we please just go?" She pleaded.

"We're not going anywhere! Don't you get it?" Quinn snapped, crossing her arms over her chest in discomfort. "We're trapped. They have all the windows and doors covered. We're going to die in here!"

"Thanks for the optimism, Debby Downer." I grumble under my breath, shoving my shaking hands in my pockets.

Theo dryly chuckled. "Does someone want to kill her?"

"Shut up!" Malia angrily yelled, the tone of her voice mixed with a growl.

"Malia, hey." Scott worriedly soothed, grabbing onto her arm to take a step back. "Take a breath. You're shaking."

Malia nervously swallowed. "I'm fine."

"Guys, there's only a dozen of them out there. We can take them!" Lydia emphasized.

"That's exactly what they would want! By you guys taking the first shot, it gives them a reason to kill you!" Allison countered as she shook her head. "We can't play into their hand. We need to be smart about this."

I raise a brow in disbelief. "Them surrounding us in the station isn't the first shot? They could literally rush in and kill us!" I question as I gesture outside. "They have guns! We can't just sit back and pray they back down."

"Scott, they're the last of Satomi's pack. We can't leave them behind." Liam added.

Scott looked around, meeting each of our eyes until he turns back to Malia. "Okay. We go. But Jiang and Tierney are coming with us."

➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵

As soon as Liam broke Tierney and Jiang out of their jail cell, Scott stood by the main exit with the rest of us standing behind him.

He glanced at us for reassurance. "You ready?"

I nod as I flicked out my hand to show the lit flame in the palm of my hand. Allison and Lydia simply nod while Malia bared her teeth at him with a growl. Liam flicked out his claws and Phoebe detached her bo staff into two pieces with a nod.

Scott looked at Theo expectantly in which he rolled his eyes before extending his claws, holding them out for us to see with annoyance.

"Once we open the doors, Olivia will give us the head start by--"

"Creating a wave of fire that will force them to get cover which will give Allison, Lydia, Quinn, and Phoebe the time to get to the car to take Jiang and Tierney." I finish for him with a nod. "The rest of us will hold them off."

"Exactly." Scott nodded before he faced forward. "On my mark. One, two--"

"Nobody's going anywhere." Sheriff Stilinski interrupts, causing us to turn around and see he stood by the front desk with my dad and Parrish behind him.

"We can get through them." Lydia spoke up.

"We're not gonna fire the first shot. Now, get back from the door. All of you." He emphasized before glancing at Parrish and my dad. "Parrish, Jimenez, get these two back in their cell."

They nod from where they stood behind Stilinski and stepped forward to grab Tierney and Jiang, escorting them back into the other room.

However, Scott quickly walked towards Sheriff Stilinski with me trailing behind. "What happened?"

"She gave us 'til midnight."

Phoebe's POV:

As soon as those words left Sheriff Stilinski's mouth, everything moved fast. Rather than facing head-on with the hunters outside, now we were barricading the doors and windows with the other officer's desks.

Lydia, Quinn, and I split off from everyone else to one of the rooms in the back of the station that had a computer.

"I still don't have any service." Quinn muttered from beside me, watching as Lydia tried to adjust some of the settings on the radio device.

"That's because it's jamming all our cell phones." Lydia answered.

"What about the radio?"

Lydia glances down at me but I shake my head a sigh. "All I'm getting is static."

"Are they jamming that, too?" She snapped.

I exhale through my nose, trying not to snap at the poor girl since she went through a lot and continued to write in my notebook. "If I had to guess, it's most likely they are. Just so we won't call for any backup."

Quinn lets out a huff before standing up from her spot. "I'm going to see if they have some snacks in their vending machines." She mutters, crossing her arms over her chest before leaving the room.

"If you don't mind me asking," Lydia spoke up, resting her arm against the table in front of us. "what are you writing down? Is it homework?"

I shake my head with a nervous smile. "It's...sort of dumb."

"Come on, it must be important." She nudged my leg. "The entire time I spent trying to get the transceiver to work, you were jotting something down and tapping your pencil as if you were trying to come up with some sort of idea. So, spill it."

I sigh, knowing it was practically pointless to keep it a secret from the insistent girl, and push my notebook towards her for her to read. "When I get super nervous, I have this horrible habit of shaking my leg so to avoid that, I find a distraction. I assumed that what better way to do that than by taking the time to figure out what we're dealing with?"

"By inspecting what is causing the fear." Lydia concluded and I nod, scooting closer to her. "Smart."

"It began with the wolves and the rats. From there, we found that scarred-tissue thing but according to Ms. Flores, she and Melissa tried getting a sample of its DNA but couldn't find any sort of traces through their microscope." I explain, pointing to the small drawings and bullet points. "And from what we know, this all started when the creature escaped from the Wildhunt around the same time people were turning against the supernaturals."

Lydia nodded. "Their paranoia turned to anger, anger to violence in which entire communities tear themselves apart. Like what my premonition said."

"Right so it had me thinking, why would a creature create enough chaos for neighbors to turn against neighbors? What could be their motive?" I say before leaning back into my chair. "With all the villains Olivia had told me about, it's safe to assume that it wants to grow more powerful. It doesn't need to have fangs or claws, weapons, or fire to shoot out of its hands. It uses something far more sinister and useful."

"Fear."

I snap my fingers. "Exactly. And fear will make someone most likely do something out of the ordinary to protect themselves. Even go as far as to jam the signal to a police station." I remark, gesturing to the device in front of us.

"But it's not easy to find a jammer capable of disrupting a law enforcement transceiver..." Lydia trailed off until she placed her hand on my knee in realization. "Unless someone had access to it."

I look away from the radio and slowly turn to the doorway where all the officers were still trying to barricade the doors and windows.

"Someone in here." I whisper.

As if on cue, the lights in the building suddenly switch off which left us in the dark.

"That can't be good."

Olivia's POV:

"How easy is it to cut the power in a Sheriff's station?" Malia questioned.

"Too easy!" I hear my dad scoff before a boy was thrown to the ground. "Look who I caught out back with these." He remarked, holding up a set of heavy-duty cable cutters.

"Nolan?" Allison tilted her head to the side in recognition of the timid teenager on the floor.

"Throw him out!" Liam seethed.

"No, you can't. Okay?" Nolan pleaded. "Please, don't! She'll know I screwed up."

"He's with them." Liam insisted.

"Liam--" Scott warned, noticing his angered demeanor.

"Sheriff?" Parrish questioned, unsure of what to do with the boy.

"He's a liar, and he's sick in the head." Liam spat.

"And now he's under arrest." Stilinski stated before nodding his head. "Lock him up."

Parrish grabs onto Nolan's arms and escorted him out of the room without another word.

"Hey," I turn away from the window once more, meeting my dad's look of concern. "you okay kiddo?"

I weakly smile. "I'm managing. Why?"

His eyes flicker downward. "Ever since the hunters showed up, you haven't stopped shaking."

I glance down at my exposed hand, seeing as it trembled in place and I quickly shake it a bit in an attempt to soothe my nerves. "I'm...er, I--"

"Olivia," My dad whispered, placing his hand on my shoulder. "they'll have to go through me before they get to you and your friends."

I nod. "I know that dad but...that's not why I'm freaking out." I say, glancing over to Allison who was in mid-conversation with Scott and Malia. "Ophelia, the original phoenix, paid a visit in my dream last night to warn me about controlling my abilities." I whisper, making sure only he could hear. "The fear that's been building up? It's affecting the phoenix and if we don't figure out a way to stop the fear from everyone else...I'll pose as a threat to everyone."

"How much of a threat?"

"Bad enough where it'll wipe out Beacon Hills and only a certain arrow could put me down." I mutter and his eyes slightly widen.

"The one that took down the Oni?" He questioned but I shake my head. "Then--"

"I don't think it's a good idea to list out something that could kill me in front of a potentially corrupted cop listening in." I whisper and he slowly nods in agreement.

"Everyone get down!" Parrish suddenly shouted.

My dad harshly yanks me close to him, covering me as much as he could just as a large explosion filled the room. An ear-piercing ring blocked my hearing as I frantically tried to look through the white smoke that enveloped the air.

"Liv, stay calm." He patted my face a few times as my eyes darted everywhere. "We're safe, just stay calm for me, okay? Take back the control over your powers."

I look down to my hands enveloped in flames and I shakily take a deep breath, watching as the fire disintegrated. "Okay, I'm good." I whisper with a small smile. "Thanks."

"What the hell was that?" I hear Malia snap nearby where she, Allison, and Scott slowly rose from the ground.

"A distraction." Scott breathed out, helping her stand to her feet.

"They said midnight!" Noah angrily spoke and charged to the door but Parrish quickly stopped him.

"The grenade came from in here." He warned. "It was one of us."

"Scott," I turn at the voice, seeing as Liam held Nolan by his collar with a purple vial in his hand. "Wolfsbane. He was trying to kill them."

I walk up to them with a glare towards the timid boy. "You're beginning to piss me off. I--"

"As much as I would love to join you in kicking his ass, there's something else you two need to see." Liam cut in, glancing between Scott and I.

Once Parrish, Stilinski, and my father escort him into a different room, Scott and I quickly follow behind Liam to the holding cells.

"Show him your eyes." Liam insisted to the two teens sitting on the bench, keeping their stares to the ground.

"We never said we were innocent." Tierney stated, squeezing Jiang's hand with discomfort.

"Show me." Scott demanded but they kept their stares forward. A moment passed and Scott lets out a ferocious roar with his eyes shining a bright red which rattled our surroundings. "Show me!"

The two werewolves slowly turn their heads towards us with reluctance and to my surprise, their eyes glow an electric blue.

"They're...omegas?" I curiously ask and Scott grimly nodded with a sigh.

Liam swiped the keycard to the slot and it lit green, allowing us to pull open the door to step inside the cell.

"Okay, let's start with the beginning." I say, clasping my hands together. "Tell us what happened."

"They were hunters." Tierney answered simply, causing Scott to let out a sigh.

"If I'm asking my friends to risk their lives for you, then you have to tell me the truth. What happened?"

Jiang shared a look with Tierney before giving a small nod. "Satomi didn't want to fight. We were on the run for two days, but they were everywhere. Then it was just us, hiding in the storm drain while Satomi tried to talk to them."

"But they didn't want to talk. She died so we could keep running." Tierney scoffed, causing my heart to sink in remembrance of the elderly woman.

"And then what?" Liam questioned.

"We stopped running and we started hunting them instead."

"How?" I hesitantly ask.

"It's not hard to use public records to find where someone lives. All you need is a name." Tierney shrugged.

"Were they the ones that killed Satomi? Or Brett or Lori?" Scott insisted. "Did you see them kill anyone?"

"Does it matter?" Tierney harshly remarked.

"It does matter. You can't kill innocent people!" Liam took a step forward with a glare.

"They murdered our whole pack!" Tierney exclaimed as she and Jiang stood up to their feet. "You really think any of them are more innocent than us?"

"They have a point, Scott." I whisper. "I mean...look at what they're forcing us to do."

"What are you gonna do?" Jiang questioned and Liam glanced at Scott, noticing his discomfort.

"I don't know."