The glass shattered after the first wave of hawks and crows hit it at full speed. Shards got in students eyes and skittered across the tile floor like translucent bladed marbles.
Everyone ran as more avian maniacs filled the room to terrorize the students. People slipped on bird corpses and downed students as they rushed for the door.
It would've been an issue getting it open if Ethan and Aiden were never thrown through it. They sailed over the tripping and stampeding horde of students, slamming into the doors and blowing them off the hinges so everyone could spill out into the halls as the birds followed like a black cloud of violence.
"HELP!"
"AHHHH!!!"
"SOMEONE! AH- STOP!"
The screams. The fear. The blood splattering against the surface of everything. His missing mother….. and the others.
It was like life was repeating in some sick way. Marco's arm itched like hell. His skull pounded. His heart burned.
Ethan and Aiden got up as Marco stood in the doorway. They growled— an insignificant sound that barely rose above the madness. Marco returned the sound. Scott and Stiles stayed in the classroom with a few of the other students. Like Alison and Lydia.
"Marco! Any idea what this is?" Stiles wasn't too worried about attention being drawn with a full scale supernatural assault underway.
"Get outside and look for something…. Anything. Carcasses, bones, tomes, markings." Marco kept his eyes on the twins. Instinctually they couldn't move from the directness of a challenging gaze. It was an Alphas job to face that very thing.
"RRNNNGFFF!!"
A buck ran between them with a student barely holding on to its back as it jumped and shook down the halls. It's hooves cracked the tiles it stomped over like hammer strikes on glass.
The staring contest ended. Winner unknown. Fight started.
Marco pounced, crossing the distance they shared in a flash. He collided into the twin alphas like a boulder.
The three of them tumbled into the classroom across the hallway, landing on a teachers wooden desk causing it to burst into a thousand wooden shards.
Marco snarled as he clawed and kicked at everything in his sight until the Alphas were rolling away on the defensive.
He studied them in the scarce moments. Lights flickering in and out. Eyes doing the same. Sawdust filling his infinite lungs aided by adrenaline.
They were average. Painfully average— underwhelming. No feel of speed like Stiles. No sturdiness like Scott. No dark edge like Derek. Their might had to come from their connection.
It was then that the twins got closer to eachot—
Marco kicked a desk into Ethan.
With a snarl the Alpha stepped out of the way in a blur. Marco kicked another at Aiden. He didn't check if he'd dodged. The point was to split them.
They charged him, flipping and vaulting over the desks and backpacks.
Marco grabbed another two desks. One in each hand held by the metal stands. He swung them like hammers.
"RAGH!" The first swing hit Aiden, causing the wood and pieces of weak metal to shatter on his forearms.
Ethan clawed at his face immediately after.
Like blades they bit deep fast. His hot blood turned the left half of his vision red. He didn't need his eyes. He shoulder checked Aiden out of the way and smashed the other desk over Ethan.
All that was left in his hands were two metal sticks.
"Cheap American shit.." Marco growled and spun the improvised batons before going to war.
Aiden dropped low to sweep his legs as he came in.
Marco jumped, once his fists hit the ceiling, he shoved himself back down to earth on Aiden's ankle. The wet snap was almost loud enough to enjoy.
"AUUU—" Aiden's roars were cut short as Marco swung his batons, knocking out three teeth.
Ethan came from behind him, wrapping his arms to lift him in the air.
Marco snarled, shifting in a chaotic blur of steam, bubbling muscles and fur. Ethan's grip was forced open. Marco shoved one of the batons through his leg with a wet sinking sound. The angle told him he missed the femur.
He swung his head back, getting Ethan off him just as Aiden was back on his feet.
The two shared a look. An exchange. Something inhuman. Shifters could do that. Have meaningful conversation through body language. Scents. They did it. The air changed.
The twins closed in from north and south. Marco went east. Like water they filled the opening as one collective tidal wave and pressed him with fluid connectivity. Like tendon and muscle. Sword and shield. If Ethan was providing openings, Aiden took them. If Aiden was slashing at Marco's chest, Ethan went for the legs.
He was beginning to see their power.
Not enough.
Another kick to his midsection. Marco caught Aidens leg and swung him at Ethan. The two collided hard enough to make you cringe. Afterwards he lifted Aiden and slammed him at the floor like a child angry at his plaything. His ankle broke in his grip. His blood stained the busted tile.
"WHERE…."
Another slam.
"IS…"
Three more.
"MY MOTHER!"
Aiden leaked as he hung upside down like a crushed fruit.
Ethan said something. But a searing pain ripped across Marco's skull like hellfire on a string.
He dropped the alpha and grabbed his head, the pressure felt good— as if it stopped him from crumbling. Splitting apart. Exploding into the hundreds of pieces that made him. His arm felt numb. Like when you hit your funny bone. Only replace the tingling with stabs…. And voices. Blending with the screaming students and dying animals until it was just a murderous buzz.
"Stop…. Stop… stop...….. fine."
Pieces of the mountain ash bandage fell. Before they even hit the ground Marco left the classroom, following the trail of blood.
***
Ethan and Aiden limped down the halls, healing with every step. Furthering themselves from the concept of death. But it wasn't enough. They weren't at their full power as two.
Ethan pulled aiden around a corner down and another long stretch of hallway met them. Classroom doors closed to house the scared students. The injured. Their fear smelled good.
They faced a classroom.
Ethan looked at Aiden, "Deucalion said we could take them. We can."
Aiden coughed and nodded before they headed to the classroom to become their strongest selves. They knew Marco was coming. With the cover of all the madness it was per—
"AUUUUGGGCCKKKK!!!"
A buck flew down the hall like a bullet, it's antlers ripped through Ethan, stapling him to the classroom door they approached with a sickening thud.
He tried to scream but it made the gaping hole in his stomach twist and shift around the frantic Bucks antlers.
His blood leaked. Aiden's sneakers squeaked as he was lifted off the floor.
"SCOTT!"
Ethan could hear someone approaching. Another Alpha.
"Marco…. What…"
"Take him. Make him talk if this one dies."
"Mar—"
"What did we talk about? You made a promise. Don't get in the way when OUR PEOPLE are on the line. Wake up!" Marco roared as he approached Ethan.
Scott held Aiden, claws hesitantly held around his throat as they watched.
Marco grabbed the buck by the back of its thick neck. Holding it in place. Keeping Ethan where he was.
Marco only let him see half of his face as the Alpha turned with his face against the door.
"Ethan…."
Ethan grunted.
"You are a dumbass."
"….."
"If you take my people... don't show up with one pack member. Why would you not expect war? Do you think humans scare me? ME?!?"
"W-what? You saying you did this to the animals?" Ethan managed.
Meaning it wasn't them. Marco tucked that away in his brain.
"What if it was? You wouldn't know. You and your brother are sloppy lapdogs…."
Ethan said something else. But again. He was interrupted.
He grabbed Ethan's neck and placed their heads together.
"My head hurts….. so much.... Ethan. I'm not here... there is one thing holding me together. You. And there is one thing keeping everyone here alive. You. Your next words…."
His hands expanded on Ethan's neck. The claws curled and wrapped around the front of his throat, cutting into his adams apple. The shadows thickened as he grew. His eyes turned to an ice cold killers blue. He lost his old voice. His accent changed. Sounding almost feminine behind the deepness.
"I'lL assSK YoU agaIN…. WheRE is My mOTHer... whErE is BoYd….. aND DeaAtOn. You teLL Me nnNNow, or I wOn'T kilL you…. Not right away. I'll change the planet."
Everyone was already more than lost. His final sentence was the nail in the coffin.
For their understanding and Marco's patience.
In a flash he yelled as the school began to quiet and calm.
"HELLLLP! We've got a student out here bleeding!!"
Ethan panicked, "What are yo—"
Marco snarled and his eyes flashed red, forcing Ethan to rise to the challenge and shift as footsteps closed in.
People were coming.
"How's your control Ethan!? Good enough to stop you from exposing yourself and your brother? Your an alpha right? Not some second rate betas that got lucky! Luck gets you killed eventually. You'll die Ethan! Control yourself or die!"
"They're in a bank vault- abandoned. Deucalion wipes our memory so we don't know how to g-get there!"
"Marco!"
Victoria's voice echoed down the hall.
Marco snarled at her, finding her in business slacks as she walked beside the school guidance counselor. Ms. Morel. The teacher didn't look surprised in the slightest.
"Marco…. Scott. I suggest you get out of here. Police are on their way. And our new principle can't cover for you that well. Neither can I."
Looks like Victoria was working behind the scenes afterall.
Marco backed away from Ethan.
Scott dropped Aiden.
As they headed down the hall he stopped beside Victoria.
"With your new occupation, call off school tomorrow. We need the day to plan."
"Why?"
"It's a full moon. And we're going to break into a bank."