Stiles turns the corner out of the long hallway and enters the doorway of NOS just as his phone vibrates. Standing within the store, it's easier to hear and focus than it was within the crowded halls. He types out a message, "at the mall. brb" and then pockets the device again. He turns toward the lobby of the shop and smiles. He loves NOS.

He starts looking at the displays along the right wall, working his way into the store following his usual pattern. The stuff for sale at the front of the store is alright, but the stuff toward the back is pure gold. He slowly starts seeing more and more of the good stuff. Looks at it closer to see if they've gotten in any goodies since his last visit.

There's a shelf full of Funko PoP figures, Avengers movie memorabilia, Jurassic world sets. Stiles squeals when he sees a pristine, plastic wrapped Grumpy Cat keychain. He quickly grabs it even though no one else is anywhere close to taking it for themselves. He clutches it in his hands and turns it over to see the back. He peers through the wrapping and finally sees the date marking. 2018. Jackpot!

He has very little time to revel in his good fortune because he sees a familiar face stomping his way. He sighs and places the keychain in his back pocket. He's not going to let this piece get away like last time. He turns and heads toward the furthest room. No one ever visits this room as it is only used for John Wayne and Hello Kitty memorabilia. He presses himself into the rack of Hello Kitty backpacks and hopes his friend passes by.

Stiles growls as his arm is harshly grabbed and yanked to the side. He tries to pull himself free and glares at the man.

"I'm not leaving," he hisses as he looks up at Grant.

The man pushes his dark sunglasses down on his nose and stares directly into Stiles' eyes. "You don't have that choice."

Stiles is seething as a second man enters the room. He's wearing camouflage and has a duffel bag hiked on his arm. Stiles rolls his eyes and again tries to pull free from Grant.

"I texted my dad, okay?! He knows where I'm at. You have no right to drag me away when he says that it's…"

"800 yards and closing, sir," the camouflaged man announces, glancing between Stiles and Grant.

Stiles huffs and knows there's no way he's getting out of this on his own. There's absolutely no way he's making it easy, though. Grant moves to lock his arm around Stiles' forearm and the other man moves to his other side in a mirror image. Stiles hates the "force walk". They exit the back room and emerge to the main area. Stiles makes a high pitched whine and tries to go boneless.

Curses. Seems he's done that trick a few too many times for it to work again. The two men swivel and soon Stiles has no choice but to straighten and walk again.

"Hello!" he shouts. "Kidnapped! I'm being kidnapped!" If his hands were free he would be waving them wildly about. His plan to prevent anyone from knowing he's inadvertently shoplifting is working, because everyone in the store is looking at him like he's insane. The "Insanity Diversion", works every time. "Does anyone see what's going on here?! Not using my FREE WILL!" Stiles jerks his legs in a "look what I can do" fashion and almost succeeds in knocking camo man to the floor.

"Try that again and I will make sure your father regrets it," Grant hisses into Stiles' ear.

"Get off of me, Prick," Stiles spits as he tries to shoulder him away. All he gets is his own shoulder pressed up into his mouth. It smarts a bit, shutting him up until he is out of the door.

None of them notice the gentleman dressed in black following them out of the store.

"You guys are freaking unbelievable!" Stiles screams as he swings his arms out of their grasp. "I get one day! I repeat ONE DAY; to do whatever I want and you butt turds have to come and mess everything up!"

Grant lunges forward and grabs Stiles by the front of his shirt, "Are you trying to give away our location? Davees, update."

"About 100 yards from the front entrance. We need to move."

Stiles pulls his red hood up over his head and falls in line between the two men. Davees in front and Grant in back. The three men walk down the dark alleyway behind the mall and the parking complex.

Davees pulls out a gun from a holster hidden beneath his jacket and turns the safety off. Stiles pretends to be sulking as he walks along, but he shifts his eyes from side to side to see if he sees anything off.

When Davees' arm is snapped and is legs are swept out from under him, Stiles has a split second to think "what good does a guy with a gun do" before he realizes the severity of the situation and starts to panic.

Grant has immediately taken shooting stance and has pulled his own gun on the attacker. "Stiles, RUN!"

Stiles stands frozen for a second before his is able to shake himself to awareness and runs. As he moves farther into the parking complex, there are several corridors on either side of him. He thinks back to his father's "rule of four" and darts into the fourth one he comes to. It's dark and he doesn't want to run into an ambush, so he shakily grabs his cell phone. He tries to power it on, but it's too dark for the retinal recognition system to detect anything. Darn you, technology.

A scream escapes his lips as he feels a hand on his shoulder. He falls to the ground and holds out his hands in front of him. "I have no idea where the Lifeline is. Don't hurt me!"

"Get up. Let's go," a voice growls as the man grabs Stiles' arm, yanks him up, and starts running. With a grip that tight, Stiles has no choice but to follow.

He doesn't realize his cell phone is left behind.

The young brunette nervously chews on his lip in the passenger seat of the black Camaro. He glances out the window to try to take in his surroundings. He isn't used to being this far North in town. Nothing looks familiar. He steals a glance at the man driving the car. Dark hair, dark eyes, dark clothes, dark soul apparently.

When the man glances his way Stiles snaps his eyes straight ahead. His heart is pounding in his chest. He's trying to think back to ways his father has taught him to escape a moving vehicle, but he's thinking none of those quite apply to this situation.

"Are you okay?" the man huffs.

Stiles startles and is unsure of how to proceed. Apparently the sarcastic portion of his brain is faster than the rest because his reply is, "I've been better."

Silence.

Stiles feels queasy as he looks out his window and peers down into the gorge from the bridge they are traveling on. He has to squeeze his eyes shut and exhale slowly to keep himself from throwing up. Nope, never been this far out before.

Stiles finally works up the nerve to speak. "I don't know where the Lifeline is."

"I believe you."

"Then… what…" Stiles can't even correctly form his question. He sighs. How is this his life?

The man steals a glance at him again. "Where should I take you?"

Stiles looks at him totally confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I have no idea what I need to do now. Where do we go? I've never dealt with a kidnapping before."

"Wow… Worst XenoSworn ever." Stiles rolls his eyes.

"Excuse me?"

"I said you're the worst. Like literally the worst."

The man growls. "Wow, you're so grateful. Glad I chose to help you."

"Help me?!" Stiles squeals. "You're helping me? How?!"

The man pulls off the side of the road. Past the gorge but not far enough away for Stiles' liking. "I saved your ungrateful butt." With Stiles' incredulous look, he continues. "Did you or did you not scream for help back there in NOS?"

"I did." The gears are turning in Stiles' head. Thinking he knows where this is going.

"No one even tried to help, so I took it upon myself to…"

"Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh, this is incredible." Stiles is smiling ear to ear. "Do you know who those guys were?"

"No. ZenonSwore or whatever you just said?"

"Do you know who I am? What I am?"

"Should I?" the man glowers.

Stiles laughs as he fist pumps. "Dude, seriously. You have no clue?"

If eyebrows could speak, they would be saying "no".

"Oh man, this is great."

The dark haired man sighs. "Why is this great?"

"I'm free!"

"Free…" the man shakes his head. "Free from those men, right?"

"YES!" Stiles claps his hands together. "Free from everything." He turns to the man and holds out his hand. "Call me Stiles."

The man hesitantly holds out his own hand. "Derek."