Working Title: Somewhere Safe
Fandom: Teen Wolf/Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel
Pairings: Some canon BtVS pairings, possible Stiles/Peter, still undecided
Rating: G currently
The van rumbled, a low sound that brought Stiles’ head up in concern. They had found the aging van on the side of the highway, the owners long gone. It had taken precious time to get the old vehicle working again, but in their current situation having a way of moving quickly was critical. Now, the ancient van was making sounds that worried Stiles. The rumbling, groaning sound was not good. Not good at all.
“Stiles?”
Glancing at Isaac in the driver’s seat, Stiles nodded. A moment later the van pulled over to the side of the road, the rumble louder as it idled.
“What’s up, guys?” Scott asked over the walkie-talkies as he pulled up behind them in a battered SUV. Moments later another van, this one a newer model came to a stop just to the side of the SUV and Derek peered out at them.
“Sounds like engine issues,” Isaac reported as Stiles took a moment to breathe before extending the wards he had on the van. He gave a quick check to the wards on the SUV and second van, then pushed the sliding door open. “Stiles is checking on it now.”
As Stiles slide out, Allison followed behind him, climbing onto the roof to take up watch. Two figures piled out of the other vehicles, one taking up watch atop that SUV while the second hurried over to help with the old van. Stiles nodded at Chris as the man settled into a good position to keep an eye out for trouble, then he moved aside to let Derek assist. Fixing the van thankfully didn’t take long, but the minutes that passed were nerve-racking. As far as they could see (and the wolves could hear) this particular stretch of highway was clear, but they were all aware that that could change in a heartbeat.
“Done,” Stiles called out as he dropped the hood shut and hustled back inside. Chris waved a hand in acknowledgement as Derek headed back to his van. Allison slid off the roof of the van and inside seconds before Stiles shut the door. “Let’s go,” he said to Isaac. “I don’t want to get caught out in the open like this.”
The van roared the life, the rumbling silenced, and they were back off down the empty road.
**
“Did Chris say how much further?” Lydia asked, leaning to peer between the front seats.
“If the highway stays clear, not that much. A day max, hopefully.” Isaac answered absently, keeping most of his attention of the road. There might not have been any moving cars but there was still plenty of hazards to worry about. He shot a quick look at Stiles who was asleep, slumped over in the passenger seat. “I’m hoping this really is a safe place. So far we’ve been shit out of luck.”
“Dad trusts this guy,” Allison piped up from the far back. She smiled when Isaac met her eyes in the rearview mirror. “Really trusts this guy. He says he’s one of the good guys all the way.”
“And this town? He say anything about it?” Lydia asked somewhat archly.
Isaac hid a wince at the tone, but he understood how the Banshee felt. Every so called safe place they’ve landed at had turned out to be anything but safe. The barely made it out of the last place alive, and definitely didn’t make it out without any injuries. Even werewolves could be overrun and taken out if the enemy had enough people, even if they lacked a Hunter’s specialized weapons.
“Not a whole lot,” Allison admitted, her voice quiet. “He’s been a bit closed mouth on that part.”
“I don’t like that,” replied Lydia. “We have no clue what we’re walking into. Hell, we don’t even know if that guy is there or not.”
“No, Dad did manage to get a call through when we went to get Jackson,” Allison told them. “His contact is still in the town.”
“But nothing else?” asked Isaac. He hoped there was more information. He agreed with Lydia that walking blind into the situation was a horrible idea. One that could get all of them dead. Walking into established towns and safe havens was sometimes the most dangerous thing to do. People were less tolerant of outsiders now than they were before the world took a nose dive.
“Sorry,” Allison said with a shrug.
“Do we at least have a name of the place?”
“Sunnydale, California.”
*
Stiles jolted awake as the van hit a dip in the road hard. He sat up with a groan, running a hand through his hair. “Where are we?”
“According to Chris, about three hours outside of town,” Lydia replied from the driver’s seat. “I sent Isaac to nap in the back with Allison.”
“I thought it was my turn to drive next?” he asked in confusion.
“It was, but you needed to sleep more than we needed you to drive,” she told him primly. “Besides, you are already doing so much to keep us safe that the rest of us decided to take over most of your shifts.”
“Lydia,” he ground out. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not,” she snapped, then sighed. “Seriously, Stiles, you are powering the wards around the cars. That is more important than driving or taking watch. And you’ve been exhausted lately.”
He slumped back against the seat and closed his eyes. She was right in some ways. Most of his energy was going towards the wards around the cars. the only reason he had managed to stay somewhat upright was that Peter was supplying a steady trickle of power to keep Stiles going. When they had decided it would be better to go out and collect their missing pack members instead of waiting around, Peter had pulled Stiles aside to discuss how to keep them all safe while crossing the country. After a bit of back and forth, Peter had brought out the idea of him supplementing Stiles’ power. the rest of the pack hadn’t liked the idea in the beginning, but now, months later, they all agreed that they would probably be long dead if Peter hadn’t helped.
“Fine,” he muttered. “Catch me up.”
“Well, we’ve made good time,” she replied. “As I said earlier, we’re a few hours outside of town. Derek and Scott shifted and are scouting ahead for any trouble.”
“Are they still being ignored?”
“Yes, and it’s still freaky,” she said with a shudder. “They can run right past and nothing.”
“It works for us,” he pointed out.
“It would work better if we could figure out how to get all the wolves to full shift,” she amended.
“Yeah, but they haven’t been able to yet. Peter said it’s only something that runs in certain bloodlines, but I call bullshit since Scott managed it.”
“Scott is a True Alpha, though.”
There was something about the tone of Lydia’s voice that made Stiles wince. Something about the whole *True Alpha* situation didn’t sit right with either of them. Granted, Scott did make a somewhat decent Alpha, but he definitely wasn’t something special. All the research Stiles had done on True Alpha’s pointed to more of a gap fill than some *Super Wolf*. Scott had become a better Alpha after they had managed to get him more in touch with his furry side, and he was a far better Alpha than Derek had been, but Stiles couldn’t help but wonder if there was someone who be a greater leader for them.
“I take everything Peter says with a fucking salt mine,” Stiles snorted. “I know we can’t trust him.”
Lydia was silent for several minutes. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this but I think we *can* trust him.” She lifted a hand off the steering wheel at his shock. “Peter puts himself before everyone else, we know this. He also has a metric tonne of knowledge in that head of his and he’s dangerous as hell, but even he knows he wouldn’t make it on his own out there. Sticking with us is his best chance, so he’ll toe the line.”
“Until something better comes up,” pointed out Stiles. Lydia nodded her head in agreement. Stiles looked back at the too still form lying in the back. “How is he anyway?”
“Still breathing,” Lydia responded with a careless shrug. “As far as we can tell he’s only asleep. Derek said it looks lighter than when he was in a coma, but deeper than regular sleep.”
“I think I might have pulled too much last time,” Stiles admitted. He could remember the feeling of power, energy flooding out of Peter and into him, which he then channeled into powerful spells set around the cars. He had nearly fallen to his knees as he set the wards. Peter <i>had</i> collapsed, like a puppet with its strings cut. They had tried to put him in the far van with the others, but the further away from Stles he got, the weaker both of them became. After several long arguments, it was decided to was smarter to keep them together, and since stiles needed to stay in the lead vechile, that’s were Peter was put.
“Go back to sleep, Stiles,” Lydia commanded. “I’ll wake you when we’re closer to town.”
He considered fighting, but it wasn’t worth it. The effort of keeping the wards up weighed on him, even with the study supply of energy from Peter. Closing his eyes, he curled up and let himself drift off into a light sleep.
*
“What the fuck is that?”
The three cars pulled to a stop to stare at the maze of cars and rubble that covered as far as the eye could see. There was a path large enough to fit their vehicles through, but barely. It would be slow going, something that none of them liked the idea of, but it was the only way into town that they knew of to get in.
“Let’s go,” Scott said firmly, heading back to the SUV. “It’s not safe out here.”
Nods answered him and they all piled back into the cars. Isaac slid back into the driver’s seat and Allison took the shotgun position, a high power rifle in her hands. Stiles knew if he looked back he would see Chris in a similar position to his daughter and Stiles’ father was in the furthest car with another rifle, all three ready and waiting for any trouble. Stiles had moved into position in the middle of the back of the van, power crackling under his skin. He would do what he had to to protect his pack.
They made their way slowly through the piles of cars, broken concrete, and what looked like chunks of buildings. Worry about possible ambushes pushed at all of them and all the wolves had their hearing pressed to the max in hopes of being alerted to danger before it happened.
“We’re being watched,” Isaac said, breaking the heavy silence. “We have been since we entered this mess.”
“How many?” Allison asked, eyes scanning for the watchers.
“I don’t know,” Isaac admitted. “I can feel them. Can’t you?”
“I can,” Lydia spoke up from the backseat. “And there’s something strange, something I can almost touch.”
“Power,” Peter said, startling them all.
“Peter?” Stiles questioned softly, turning to look down at the older wolf.
Peter was still lying on the thin mattress pad they had found, his eyes dull and his face grey with exhaustion, but somehow he still managed to find a way to smirk at Stiles. “There’s power, intelligent power, overlaying everything. Can’t you feel it?”
Not that he wanted to admit it, but Stiles could feel it. The power seemed to probe at them, taken stock of who they were. It didn’t seem malicious, only watchful. He wondered if it was anything like the spells he had on the cars. Obviously it was stronger than anything he had cast, but it did have an oddly familiar flavour to it. Scowling, he nodded at Peter.
“Help me up?” the prone man asked, lifting an arm in supplication.
Wrinkling his nose is annoyance, Stiles grasped Peter’s hand and yanked, pulling the wolf into an upright position.
“Thank you,” Peter murmured, pushing to his knees with a little more help from Stiles. “I ache all over.”
“Sorry,” Stiles said, feeling red steal over his face. “I think that was my fault.”
Shrewd eyes assessed him for a moment. “Did it keep us safe? Are we all still alive and well?”
Stiles blinked. “Yes.”
“Then there is nothing to be sorry for,” Peter told him. “I knew the risks when I made the offer. Hell, I knew them more than you did. Letting you siphon power off me was the only way to keep us safe.”
Sighing, Stiles slumped a little. “Still sorry.”
Peter laughed. “You can make it up to me at a later date,” he leered.
“Creeper Wolf,” Stiles muttered, but he didn’t move as Peter leaned against him, exhaustion evident in every line of his body. “Do you know anything about a town called Sunnydale? It’s where Chris has us headed.”
Tension filled the frame slumped against him and Stiles looked down to meet bright blue eyes. The grey of exhaustion had been replaced by white shock. Peter opened to his mouth, then shut it after a second. “We’re going to Sunnydale?” he finally managed to say.
“Yeah, we’re almost there,” Stiles answered, shifting a little to let Peter rest heavier against him. “He supposedly knows someone there, he checked in when we were picking up Jackson.”
“Hand me the radio,” Peter commanded, reaching out one hand.
Lydia stared at him searchingly for a moment before she dropped the walkie talkie in his hand. “This better be good, we’re in the middle of some junkyard maze.”
“It is,” Peter murmured before toggling the radio. “Everyone pull over, I need to speak with Chris.”
Protest crackled over the line. “We’re not stopping,” Scott stated. “We’re almost there.”
“Pull over now.” The words were growled out slowly and in the shadows of the back of the van,Peter’s eyes glowed brightly. “It wasn’t a request.”
“You’re not the Alpha, Peter,” Scott scolded.
Stiles hid a smirk as Lydia laughed out right at the expression of disgust on Peter’s face. He plucked the radio out of the wolf’s hand. “I think this might be a bit important.”
The sigh that echoed down the line was loud and deep. “Fine.”
Moments later all three vehicles were stopped in the little space that path through the maze left. Stiles helped Peter as they climbed out of the van, keeping a hand on the wolf to keep him steady. When he looked up, a scowling Chris Argent was barreling down on them as Allison, Derek, and Kira took up watch.
“What do you want?” Chris snarled as he stopped in front of them.
“Who do you know in Sunnydale?”
“An aquaintence that I met a few years back,” the hunter answered.
“Does he have anything to do with *her*?” Peter asked intently.
“Yes,” Chris replied slowly. “You know?”
“I read a lot and I re-established a lot of my old contacts after my coma,” remarked Peter as he glanced around them with a worried expression. “Why haven’t you told them everything?” He paused. “Are you leading us into a trap?”
Chris reared back in shock, his eyes wide. “No!” He ran a hand over his face before continuing. “Yes, Wes is one of them. Or he was. He was fired and decded to roam around the country being a Hunter.”
“You’re bringing us to a Hunter?” Scott interrupted, red flooding his eyes. “Is this a trap?”
“Look, Wes tried to be a Hunter, but he wasn’t really cut out for the job,” Chris said with a sigh. “He ended up in LA working with a PI there before the world went to hell. He’s a good guy.”
Lydia stepped between them, glaring both into silence. “Maybe Chris should tell us about this Wes and Sunnydale.” She glared harder. “Everything you know. Peter too.”
