2018.08.20 - Holy Batcave, Sourwolf!

*Derek shows Stiles the Night Angel's secret headquarters. Stiles nerds out completely.*

September 2015

Forks, Hale House

Once Derek gets Stiles back to his house, he leads the way into one of the unused-looking rooms and seems to occupy himself with nothing too important-looking. It almost looks like he's just wasting time. But then, the bookcase slides away to reveal...a hidden passage! Probably the one that he mentioned to Stiles during their midnight rendezvous.

It's important, but Derek silently leads the way in and seems to regard it as something incidental at best. They're here to combine their resources, to share information. But it's rather dazzling, even if it isn't particularly fancy: it has a CB, a cutting-edge computer system, the Night Angel costume and spares...and all kinds of gadgetry.

Stiles' eyes go wide, and he follows Derek into the room with a sense of palpable awe. "Secret passage... hidden lair? Dude, this is *so* freakin' cool!" He doesn't touch anything, but he visibly shows quite an interest, and eventually he looks up to Derek again. "Okay, so... what's the plan, then? Compare notes?" He produces a thick file from his bag, holding it out to Derek. "This is everything I've got plus everything Dash got."

Derek nods, not turning around just yet, but he takes up a whole strongbox when he does and presents it to Stiles. "The rest is on the computer. I tried to keep organized." There's a slight...difference to his posture and tone. As if he's a little embarrassed, or maybe flattered, at Stiles's reaction to the place. He might even be blushing, but only a little bit. Just enough to be deniable for him.

Stiles looks further impressed, opening up the strongbox and starting to sort through it. "Huh," he says slowly. "I don't know if this will help us figure out the problem, but..." He reaches for a document, then another, then digs a bit--and then he goes to sit in front of the computer and starts to explore the files on that. "I... I think I might know who Mr. Green is, though," he says, sounding like he's not sure what to make of this.

Derek, meanwhile, goes through the file once he takes it and lets Stiles likewise familiarize himself with the new information. He's silent, of course, as he does so, neither wanting to disturb Stiles, nor particularly having anything to say or contribute. He even breathes quietly, chest rising and falling, spreading and contracting again, slowly and steadily.

When Stiles speaks up, Derek sets the documents down he was looking at and moves over to the computer. "Don't tell me--the guy from Clue." Somehow, the gruff, grumbly alpha has cracked an actual honest-to-goodness joke.

Stiles snorts a laugh and shakes his head. "No, but he might not be any more 'real.' Based on what I'm seeing, looks like a really good chance that Mr. Green... could actually be Jason Christopher. Which means that your 'villain' was actually part of this whole Weird thing. Like, maybe the whole deal was just because of what this magic did to his mind, cutting him off from who he really is."

Derek raises an eyebrow, leaning on the back of the chair. He folds his arms and, idly and perhaps slightly presumptuously, rests his chin atop Stiles's head. "So...Jason Christopher, caught up in all of this, turned into my archenemy for the moment." He falls silent again for a short time, then at last speaks once more. "So. What next?"

Setting aside the documents, Stiles nods and says, "Well... I think we need a different kind of information. Like, this is all... detective stuff. We need to know... magic stuff." He looks up at Derek. "Do you know anyone that it would make sense to contact about that? You were, like, basically our main source, before."

"Magic stuff," Derek answers, lifting his head when Stiles moves his own. He goes silent again, in thought at who might be able to help them. But he only shakes his head. "I don't know," he mumbles in response. "Deaton was the closest we had to a magic authority." Though he settles his gaze again onto Stiles. "Do you know anything?"

"Not about this!" Stiles says with a sigh. "I mean, I think... there's probably a magical focus of some kind, like... a center? There's always a source for this kind of thing, right? Like, when I made the barrier before, I had to use the mountain ash as the focus. That's where the magic... was, like it was located there. Maybe there's something similar for this?"

Derek nods once, standing straighter and folding his arms over his chest. The gears are almost visibly turning as he stands there, shoulders rising and falling with deep, slow, calculated breaths. At last, he shakes his head only once. "I guess we'll have to find it. Maybe in the forest."

"Which is where Jason supposedly is," Stiles muses. "Maybe those werewolf instincts are leading him somewhere, and he doesn't even know it." He hops to his feet and says, "We should regroup with the others. We've gotta figure all this out, and we should get to searching as soon as we can." He flashes a grin. "I hope I get to see more of your secret lair later, though."

"Anytime," Derek answers as he follows Stiles out, securing the room on the way. Once he steps back into the other room, he adjusts the seemingly random parts of the room, and the bookcase slides back into place. It's so old-fashioned cool like that.

Once that's done, Derek turns back and smiles faintly at Stiles, walking to catch up with him and then shutting off the lights. He's ready to go and rendezvous.

Nodding, Stiles grins. There's only one thing left to say, and say it he does: "Quick, Sourwolf--to the Hale-mobile!"