Chapter six: Optimism

     VAL WOKE UP TO THE SOUND OF THE PRINTER MACHINE. She pushed her ginger hair out of her face and looked at her surroundings, she looked up at Scott from the realization she had fallen asleep on his shoulder. She glanced over at Stiles sleeping in an uncomfortable position on the ground with his mouth wide open, loud snores coming from it. The door opened and Noah Stilinski looked around at the surroundings. He noticed Val and offered her a small wave, before his eyes continued to scan the room a bit. Val had the opportunity to meet him the night before while she was grabbing snacks from the kitchen, and Noah was sat at the table looking through police files.

"Boys." Noah said. "Hey time to wake up." He added, not getting anywhere. Val tried to nudge Scott's shoulder a bit but he was a heavy sleeper."Boys." Noah repeated entering the room. "Boys!" He yelled. Both Scott and Stiles jumped, Stiles had a paper attached to the side of his face and Scott nearly fell out of the chair he was sitting in.

"I gotta get to work, you guys, get to school." He said before beginning to walk out.

"Dad!" Stiles yelled catching his fathers attention. "Heather?"

"No nothing yet." Noah said giving his son a pitiful look. A moment of silence went by, Val didn't know who Heather was to Scott and Stiles, she had only heard that she went missing the night of her birthday.

"Ten hours and nothing." Stiles said frustrated.

"We're gonna find something." Scott said looking up at his best friend. Val had admiration for Scott's optimism, something she was never good at, when it came to tough situations she was never good at giving people Hope.

"Finding something doesn't make Erica any less dead, or Boyd any less about to be dead." Stiles retorted while snatching papers off of his bed.

"Well we still have time." Scott replies.

"Is this whole like remain optimistic in the face of complete and utter disaster thing apart of the be a better Scott McCall program?" Stiles asks.

"Uh not If it doesn't work." Scott muttered with a small smile on his face.

"No it works." Stiles said looking through the papers in his hand. He looked up at Scott and Val before looking back down at the papers. "Dad! Dad!" He hollered rushing out the room.

Scott and Val looked at the newspaper.

Beacon Hills first National Bank robbery was what the headline read and there was photo of Sheriff Stilinski putting a man into the back of a police car.

"See your optimism does work." Val whispered glancing up at Scott, their faces were only a few inches away from each other. Val could feel the blood run to her cheeks, she quickly pulled back and so did Scott. "Well I've got to return a stolen Motorcycle." Val laughed awkwardly.

"Yeah you should do that, uh see you at school." Scott said standing up to face Val. 

"Bye Scott." The flustered girl uttered walking past Scott and out of the bedroom. 

Once Val was back at the apartment, she headed straight for her room to already find Aidan sitting on her bed.

"Where were you?" He asked.

"Studying at a friends." Val lied, hoping it was non detectable.

"And you just had to steal my bike."

"Yeah I don't have a car or anything, you know I shouldn't have to rely on a man taking me everywhere I need to go, something's gotta change around here." Val began to ramble, a common thing she did when she was lying, lucky for her Aidan and her weren't as close as anyone would expect a couple to be, so he wouldn't know that she was lying straight through her teeth. "I have to get ready for school, you can leave now." Val said folding her arms across her chest.

"I'm leaving in five minutes, if you're not outside you're getting left." Aidan said standing up and brushing past Val on his way out.

"Asshole." Val muttered to herself. She turned to her closet and picked out an outfit to wear before heading to the bathroom. While she was fixing up her hair she heard to honks from outside. "Shit." She quickly grabbed her bag and sprinted out the door, she hated the smirk on Aidan's face as he put on his helmet. Without another word from each other they were off to school.

Val had seen Scott and Stiles through out the day, the three talked in an empty classroom about the plan, and told Val the three would head to Derek's loft after school.
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It was the end of the school day and Val was on her way to the parking lot. She was supposed to be riding with Scott and Stiles but didn't feel completely safe with the thought of riding in Stiles jeep, one of the main reasons she was able to know that the two boys were following her the day before was mainly because she could hear the Jeeps rattling on the rugged road, and she swore she saw a whole bunch of duct tape when Stiles opened up hood of vehicle this morning.

As Val was walking she spotted Aidan, she immediately duck and hid, probably in the most noticeable way possible, but Aidan payed no mind to it as he snuck into Coaches office with Lydia Martin. Val bit the inside of her cheek, she felt a sense of guilt with the moment her and Scott shared earlier that morning, even when her boyfriend was hooking up with another girl with the excuse that it was an order from Deucalion. Val knew she had to end it, even if it was nothing to begin with. Val made her run for the school exit to find Scott leaning against Stiles Jeep while Stiles was placing duct tape on a pipe.

"Just some repairing, we'll be out of here in no time." Scott informed.

Val went to stand beside Scott to get a good look at what Stiles was doing. "You ever just go to a car garage and have them fix it."

"Well you see the last time I went to a repair shop, I ended up witnessing a murder and having my whole body Paralyzed from lizard venom." Stiles explained like Val understood what he was saying.

Val's eyes widened, internally questioning if she heard that right, before looking over at Scott.

"We'll tell you on the way to the loft." Is all Scott managed to say.

"Alright Scotty could ya give it a try?" Stiles asked.

"Sure." The McCall boy responded before hopping in the drivers seat and starting the engine. It was successful, Val didn't quite understand how Duct tape affected being able to start the jeep but she just hopped in the back seat of the jeep and didn't ask any questions.

The car ride was full of chatter, Scott told Val of how he was turned and then the two boys explained the problem with the kanima and how some traumatized teen stalker controlled a homicidal Lizard to kill his foes from the past. It was all a lot to take in for Val, seeming to her she had a very boring life, Alpha pack and all.

They finally reached Dereks loft, there was no time for greetings or anything, Stiles got straight to the point slamming the blueprint to the bank on a steel table. "Okay. You see this? This is how they got in, so it's a rooftop air conditioning vent, leads down inside into the wall of the vault which is here." Stiles paused and drew a circle on the mapped out print. "Okay? One of the robbers was lowered into this shaft, now that space is so small it took him about twelve hours to drill into that wall which is stone by the way, then through out the rest of the night, they siphoned the cash up to the guys back on the roof through that one little shaft on the wall." Stiles hit the table signaling that was the plan. "Boom."

"Can we fit in there?" Val asked.

"We?" Derek Scoffed.

"Did I miss pronounce something?" Val mused.

"How do we know as soon as Stiles is finished talking about our plan, you're not going to go call your dearest uncle and tell him everything." Derek replied.

"I'm not."

"And that's supposed to mean something?"

"Listen Derek, I'm sorry I was born into such a shit family who does wrong in the world and has kidnapped your betas, I'm trying to help you get them back, so if you can't take my word for it that's on you but you don't have many options of people to go break into that Vault with."

"She's right I'm not claws and fangs like you guys." Stiles stated.

"Me and Scott can handle it just fine, we don't need or want your fake guilt tripped mind screwing us over." Derek said folding his arms across his chest.

"Listen I'm risking a lot by being here, some of you might have grown up with nice loving parents who actually gave a crap about what happened to you but that is not the case with mine." Val said beginning to feel enraged by Dereks snarky comments.

She knew trust had to be earned and she was determined to make her way there, so she had to accept that this would be the current treatment she would receive from people like Derek.

The room was silent for a moment before Scott cleared his throat. "Back to Val's question, Can we fit in there?"

"Yes we can, but very, very barely and they also patched the wall obviously so we're gonna need a drill of some kind." Stiles explained. "I'm thinking maybe a diamond bit-"

"Look forget the drill." Derek spoke.

"Sorry?" Stiles questioned.

"If I go in first how much space do I have?" Derek asked.

Stiles slung his head looking over at Scott and Val. "What? What do you think you're gonna do Derek? You gonna punch through the wall?" Stiles asked sarcastically.

"Yes Stiles I'm gonna punch through the wall." Derek said so bluntly.

"Okay big guy let's see it, let's see that fist, big old fist, make it come on." Stiles taunted. "Get it out there don't be scared. Big bad wolf yeah look at that. Okay see this that's maybe three inches of room to gather enough force to punch through solid-" Dereks fist connected with Stiles palm sending the boy directly into the steel table making a loud clanking sound.

Val reframed from her laughter as Scott's eyes went wide at Derek.

"He could do it." Stiles croaked.

"I'll get through the wall, who's following me down? I know miss enemy lines is." He said giving Val a tight lipped smile, she returned it before turning her attention in the direction of Scott and Peter.

"Don't look at me, I'm not up to fighting speed yet and honestly with Isaac out of commission you're not looking at very good odds for yourself." Peter replied.

"So I'm just supposed to let them die?"

"One of them is already dead." Peter deadpanned.

"We don't know that." Derek shot back.

"Do I have to remind what we're up against here? Or should our little ginger over her enlighten us?" Val rolled her eyes turning back towards Derek."A pack of Alphas. All of them, Killers. And If that's not enough to scare your testicles back into your stomach, try to remember that two of them combine bodies to form one giant Alpha."

"They're actually whiny little bitches." Val muttered, she looked up to all the eyes on her. "Not the time, right."

"I'm sure Erica and Boyd were sweet kids, they're gonna be missed." Peter concluded his sentence.

"Could someone kill him again please?" Stiles put forth.

"Derek seriously, not worth the risk." Peter said looking at his Nephew believing that he taught Derek to not be so stupid. 

"What about you?" Derek asked.

"Yeah if you want me to come-" Stiles began.

"Not you." Derek cut him off closing his eyes in frustration.

"I don't know about Erica. But if Boyd's still alive we have to do something." Scott said. Peter let out a disappointed sigh. "We have to try." Scott added.

"But?" Derek asked with the feeling that Scott still had more on his mind.

"Who's the other girl? The one locked in there with Boyd?" Scott asked the question they were all wondering.

"Guess we'll just find out ourselves." Val said.

"Yup on your suicide mission." Peter mumbled.
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Derek, Scott and Val stood staring up at the bank, no one spoke, they just stared up, occasionally exchanging glances from each other. They all had something troubling their minds.

Dereks troubles consisted of guilt, he was reason Boyd and Erica were in this mess, he was the one that turned them and he's the reason Erica might be dead. He's also worried for Scott now too, even if Scott wasn't exactly his beta, he had still dragged him into his mess when all the teen boy wanted to do the past year was play lacrosse, spend time with his girlfriend and control his abilities.

Scott's mind drifted off more to logic, which was rare for the young beta who had pretty much failed his sophomore year of high school. Scott wondered why this was so easy, he'd expect the Alpha pack to cover up their tracks more and the thought of Val crossing them did make its way into his head, even though he did not want to think it. The boy glanced at the red head, his head was cluttered with questions but they all disappeared when he looked at her, he focused on the few small freckles on her cheek, if he were close enough he'd probably count every single one, but he had to snap back to reality and remind himself the goal was to save Boyd and the mystery girl and possibly Erica.

Val's worries were more on covering her own ass, it's sad that the teen girl wasn't 100% sure that her family wouldn't kill her if they found out who she was helping. It's sad that she wasn't even sure her own parents wouldn't be the ones to commit the crime themselves. She was putting a lot at risk and the thought of walking out on the plan crossed her mind more than once, but she couldn't stand the fact that two teenagers would end up dead at the hands of her family, and she didn't want Scott to hate her.

Scott and Derek exchanged one final look before Derek finally spoke. "What?"

"There's just something I can't get out of my head." Scott said.

"The moons rising Scott, what is it?" Derek replied quickly, it was noticeable behind his calm facade there was anxiety surrounding him.

"Risk and Reward."

"Which means what?"

"We're not measuring the risk with enough information, we don't know enough."

"We know times running out." Derek countered.

"Yeah but think about it, they put the Triskele on the door four months ago, what have they been doing all this time? Why wait until now?" Scott questioned.

"We don't have the time to figure out every little detail."

"Okay but what if this detail, the reason why they waited- what if it's the most important."

"Then we do nothing and Boyd and Erica are dead. I know what I'm risking, my life for theirs." Derek told the two before running to do some par core to climb the building. He turned back once he was midway up. "And I won't blame you if you don't follow me." He said, he paused another moment before looking back again. "But I would blame you considering your family is the reason for all this." He said directed at Val. He finished his climb and Val muttered a curse under her breath before following behind.

Once Val was up Derek had already began punching the wall, Scott soon joined them. Derek had succeeded punching through the wall as the stone fell onto the marble flooring.

"Boyd?" Derek called.

Val had gotten a lot of familiar scents but one. She had even recognized the scent of the guidance counselor for some reason.

"You think the other girl goes to our school?" Val questioned.

"No, she's had to been here for months." Scott replied. "Why?"

"I think I just the scent from a girl in my history Class." Val told him.

"Who?" Scott questioned. 

"I think her names Allison." 

Scott became confused but was snapped out of it when his phone rang. "Stiles now is not the best time." He said when he answered.

"Scott! Scott! No listen to me, okay? Look you gotta get out of there, the walls of the Vault are made with a mineral called Hecatolite." Stiles explained.

"Moon stone." Val whispered in realization to what Stiles was trying to warn them about.

"It scatters the moonlight." Stiles explained.

"What does that mean?" Scott asked.

"We're gonna get you out, okay?" Derek told Boyd holding his hand out. Boyd growled in response as Val approached Derek.

"Derek we gotta leave, the material this Vault is made out of, it scatters the moonlight." Val said.

"What the hell does that mean?" Derek asked.

"It means Boyd hasn't had a full moon in four months, he's stronger and anything you say to him isn't going to matter, he'll still try and kill us as soon as the moonlight shines in here." Val explained.

"Derek we have a problem a big problem." Scott said.

"Derek they haven't shifted for 3 full moons." Val continued to explain but Dereks gaze had shifted to a girl that appeared out of the Dark.

"Cora?" Derek questioned in disbelief.

"Who?" Scott asked.

"Cora?" Dereks voice cracked a bit as observed the sister he hasn't seen since he was a teen.

"Derek get out. Get out now!" Peter warned.

The Vault door opened and there appeared Miss Morel, she bent down finished the circle of mountain ash. "No, no wait!" Scott shouted.

Both Boyd and Cora growled more intensely signaling their attack.

Scott went for Cora first before being knocked down by Boyd, just as he was about to claw at Scott Derek pulled him back throwing him against the metal poles on the wall. When Val went to help Scott up she was Clawed in the shoulder by Cora. Val grasped at the rather huge claw mark, turning around with her eyes glowing an Ember orange color.

Val was able to land a kick to Cora's gut, but foot steps echoed from behind her distracting her. It was a fellow classmate who's scent she had picked up earlier. 

"Look out!" Allison had warned, just in time for Val to move out of the way from a claw to the face. Derek had stepped in and pulled Cora away. He tried to stable her but it was difficult from the rapid claws flying around.

Val's attention went to Scott as he was being lifted off the ground by Boyd's claws impaled in his abdomen.

Val was never good at controlling her witch side, or her werewolf side either, but if Boyd held Scott like that for any longer he'd kill him, Val closed her eyes trying to focus on her magic before they opened and a flame was sent right into Boyd's shoulder. Boyd released his claws from Scott's stomach turning towards Val. Val had used a lot of energy just from using so little of her magic which was pathetic as her parents have told her.
Boyd had made his way over and Clawed Val in her side, twisting his hands to make it even more painful.

"Boyd no!" Scott yelled trying to gain his Balance, Boyd growled dropping Val leaving her coughing up blood before returning to Scott placing his Claws back into the teen boys stomach.

Allison had panicked at the sight, Boyd was on the verge of killing Scott and she was the only human in the room. She bent down with the intention of breaking the mountain ash seal.

"No don't break the seal!" Derek shouted.

Allison took another glance at the claws that were back to being impaled into Scott's stomach, before she brushed apart the mountain ash and called out to Boyds name. Both Boyd and Cora were quick to the opportunity and ran right out of the Vault, just passing Allison.

Scott waddled over to Val who had began to stand up holding onto her side. "You're bleeding." He said helping her stand straight.

"No shit Sherlock." Val grunted. "It'll heal, it just takes longer for the process to begin with me." She informed.

"What were you thinking?" Derek yelled brushing past Scott and Val and grabbing Allison by the shoulders.

"Don't touch her!" Scott yelled.

"That I had to do something!" Allison exclaimed.

"She saved out lives." Scott stated.

"Yeah and what do you think they're gonna do out there! Do you have any idea what we just set free!" Derek continued to yell.

"You wanna blame me? Well I am not the one turning teenagers into killers!" Allison argued.

"No that's just the rest of your family." Derek spat just as Allison was about to walk off.

"I've made mistakes." Allison admitted. "Gerard is not my fault."

"And what about your mother?" Derek said. Val was completely confused in all this, she just sat down trying to limit her movements. She glanced over at Scott seeing the avoidant look on his face, but not towards her, towards Allison. He knew something that Allison didn't and Val could see it was eating at Scott.

"What do you mean?" Allison asked confused.

"Tell her Scott." Derek said putting all the attention on Scott.

"What does he mean Scott?" Allison asked.

Scott remained silent looking away from everyone.

"You two should go get Erica." Allison said. 

"Is she-"

"She's dead Derek." Allison said looking down at her feet. "There's Um a closet in the hallway close to the main entrance, sh- she's in there." Allison informed.

Val gathered everything she could to stand and walk with Derek, but not after giving Scott a reassuring rub on his shoulder, Scott had reached up and placed his hand over Val's before nodding for her to leave.

Derek and Val began to walk out of the room in silence.

"I'll stay and help you guys get Boyd and Cora." Val said, she now felt obligated to fix this mess knowing that Erica was dead.

Derek nodded as a sense of appreciation.

"I guess your not that bad." He said. 

A/n: I didn't know how to end this long chapter so there it is, hope you enjoyed.