Derek kept his breathing even. He had his pistol in hand, but it was resting at his side. It was loaded with aconite laced bullets. The exchange wasn't going to go well, he knew that. That's why they'd taken extra precautions. Hopefully the Argents wouldn't realize what was going on until it was too late.

He reached out, placed one hand on the shoulder of the girl with the hood over her head and covered in powdered wolf's bane that knelt on the floor in front of him. He heard steps approaching from the far side of the warehouse. It was time, the Argents had arrived. Laura had better be with them, alive. He placed his gun to the back of the girl's head. Would they realize what was going on before everything was ready?

A formidable looking woman with short red hair stepped into the light in the center of the room. Victoria Argent based on Natalie Martin's description. She was flanked by a man and a woman, likely Chris and Kate Argent. There was also a teenage girl of Asian heritage trailing behind them. Weirdly, she was holding a jar of fireflies.

"How dare you?" Victoria growled.

Derek didn't even look at Victoria, or the strange Asian girl. His gaze was focused on Kate. She was holding Laura, one clawed hand around her neck. Laura had clearly been beaten, maybe even tortured. Her forehead was also bruised. Suspiciously though, as if she'd headbutted one or more of her captors. Probably more than once. Pride and fury welled up in Derek's chest. Laura would spit in the face of a god if it stood in her way. The Argents were going to pay for everything they'd done.

"Give me my daughter, now." Victoria's eyes began to glow red. There was power there, remarkable even by the standards Alphas were judged by.

"Release Laura," Derek countered, his voice steel. He would not break in front of his sister, would not show the monster any fear. They were monsters. Not because they were werewolves, but because they had done horrible things to the people of Beacon Hills, to Laura, to Stiles. Today they'd pay.

"This isn't a negotiation you pathetic monkey," Victoria growled. She looked at the girl kneeling on the floor. She sniffed tentatively at the air, and even though Derek didn't think it was possible, her eyes got redder, more rage built in them. Was it because she realized?

"Release my daughter."

Derek tried to keep his heartbeat steady. Chris tilted his head suspiciously. That wasn't good. Derek needed to get this moving before it got out of hand.

"Shall I make them, mistress?"

The Asian girl turned the lid of the jar of fireflies partially, but not completely off. The hooded girl at Derek's feet stiffened as though readying herself for something.

"Not yet, Kira," Chris said. "Let my wife handle this for now."

The girl nodded at Chris, and for a second Derek thought he saw some sort of black energy pulse through her eyes. Was she not also a werewolf? His side had a few trump cards ready too, but things were going sideways vary fast. Too many variables, especially if the Argents realized what was going on. He needed to try to slow things down.

"Release Laura fir—"

Victoria roared, and it felt like the earth shook. Derek staggered under the weight of it, and the girl on the floor trembled too. The Alpha's voice took on a bestial commanding tone, clearly inhuman.

"Come out, toy."

Derek wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean until Stiles walked stiffly out from behind some of the boxes to the side. His movement was jerky, like he was being pulled by some puppeteer's strings. Was she controlling him somehow? Was it because she'd turned him? Stiles's neck was bent, his eyes on the floor.

"Let him go, or she dies," Derek said, glancing down at the gun he had at the back of the kneeling girl's head.

Victoria didn't take her eyes off Stiles as he walked towards her. Didn't even bother to glance over at Derek. "That's not my daughter. Wearing Allison's clothes, covering her in wolf's bane. Pathetic. A mother always knows."

Fuck. Things were about to get very bad. Very, very bad.

"Tell me where she is," Victoria commanded Stiles.

"You don't have to listen to her, Stiles. She doesn't matter," Derek said, trying to get his attention.

Fury practically rolled off Victoria as she stared at Stiles. "I made you. You are property. You think you can defy me?"

Stiles trembled under the force of it, but he didn't speak. His fists clenched tightly at his sides. Derek's heart skipped a beat as he watched Stiles struggle to break free. He didn't know how exactly it happened, but he was falling for the young werewolf.

"No one owns you, Stiles. You're not one of them."

Derek needed Stiles to break out of her control. Not because he was afraid of Stiles giving away tactical secrets, that didn't matter anymore. What mattered was that Stiles realized he was strong enough to stand on his own, that despite what they'd done to him he wasn't broken, he wasn't beaten, and he wasn't dead. He was alive, they were together, and they belonged together. It didn't matter what people thought about that, not Laura, not the Argents. Derek's heart skipped another beat.

Stiles looked up at Victoria. His eyes glowed with amber light, but they were full of defiance. He looked away from the Alpha, towards Derek. "Bump skip bump," he said, and he placed his hand over his heart. "Mine too."

"I will make you talk you ungrateful wretch, and then I will give what's left to my daughter."

Victoria took a single step, and then in a blur of motion flew across the room towards Stiles, hands outstretched to seize him by the neck. She didn't make it to him though. Somehow Claudia was there, having stepped out of the from behind some boxes and moved directly between Victoria and her son. Her face was unnaturally calm as she raised her shotgun and fired it directly into the onrushing Alpha's stomach. Blood sprayed out, Victoria stopped, looking down.

"You think a shotgun can stop me, bitch?" Victoria's body began to shift, muscles rippling and clothes tearing away. In the span of moments she became something other than human, an enormous rippling hybrid beast with russet fur.

Derek needed to do something but there was no way he was going to make it in time. Could he shoot her in the back? Would Kate rip Laura's throat out if he tried?

"I didn't think it would stop you in the sense that it would bring you down," Claudia said calmly as she tossed the shotgun to the side. She faced the enormous creature in front of her with no fear at all. "That one was for my husband. And this, this one's for me."

Then she screamed.

Visible waves of some sort of energy rippled out from Claudia as she shrieked, slammed into the monstrous Victoria, and sent her flying backwards through the air to crash into a stack of shipping crates. Claudia stopped screaming and looked down at where Victoria had fallen to the floor. "You never should have touched my son, bitch."

Then all hell broke loose.