new york wolves } { of kidnappings and suppressed memories

[impetere]

Esposito: [is waiting, nodding to Flack] Your brother on his way?

Cora: [nods, one hand coming up to brush at the side of her face] Yeah. He’ll be here in fifteen minutes.

Esposito: Alright. Well, while we wait, let's see what we can do to find them. [goes to sit her down at his and Ryan's desk area]

Cora: [nods as she follows, sitting in the chair and pulling one knee up to her chest as she does. She doesn't really know what to say so she just says nothing and waits for him to ask her what he needs to know.]

Esposito: [watches her a moment] Do you remember anything about the people who grabbed Alexis and Hal?

Cora: They were all male. [that much she could figure out by scent] They were big but ... they were all wearing masks. I didn't see their faces.

Esposito: Well, that eliminates half the population of the world. [he's trying to be positive]

Ryan: Sixty percent, actually.

Cora: See? I'm being helpful already. [it's self-deprecating at best, but she's trying to not focus on the fact that she's not really being helpful at all. She also keeps staring at her phone, almost as though a phone call or text message from Stiles will appear if she looks at it long enough]

Esposito: [he sighs and kneels down in front of her, putting a hand on her knee] I'm not going to treat you like a kid, Cora. The first twenty four hours are the most crucial. You may not think that the little things you remember are important, but your brother can tell you that it's the small things that matter most.

Cora: [she looks up at him for a moment, before placing her phone to the side one his desk and covering her eyes with her hands. She's trying to help, her eyes just aren't of much use to her right now] The van was black? Diesel, I think, the smell just ... covered everything. [there's another pause] I think they were Russian.

Esposito: Good.

Ryan: You remember what street you were on?

Cora: [rambles off the cross streets] We were heading towards school, so ... east, I think.

Ryan: [and he's going to go to work on trying to find traffic cameras]

Esposito: Do you remember if Stiles jumped in to try and help?

Cora: [shakes her head] I thought he was right next to me the whole time, but when I turned around he was just ... gone.

Esposito: [lowers his voice] Did you catch any other scents that seem out of place?

Cora: [tries, but she makes a face as she shakes her head] Diesel just gets all over everything, it's so much worse than regular gas.

Ryan: I agree. It smells horrible. [typing away] Maybe one day electric cars will actually be affordable.

Esposito: [shakes his head] Well, let's see if Detective Ryan can work up any camera magic so we can get a better picture, alright?

Cora: [nods, dropping her hand and reaching for her phone again]

Peter: [yup, he was called first, so he's getting there first and looking around to try and figure out where his niece is]

Cora: [spots him in the crowd before looking back at Espo] My uncle's here, can I ... ?

Esposito: Yeah, just bring him over here when you're ready. We should have something for you to look at in a bit.

Cora: [nods and just cuts her way through the crowd until she's throwing herself into the uncle's arms]

Peter: [catches her and holds her tightly, nuzzling her for comfort] It's okay, I'm here now.

Cora: [doesn't say anything, just burrows her face in his shoulder and tries to keep herself together better than she has been]

Peter: [holds her a moment longer, and then pulls back] Are you okay, sweetheart?

Cora: [the look on her face says no, but physically ...] Yeah. They didn't touch me.

Peter: Good. Now I know this is hard because it's Stiles, and your heart is all over the place with worry, but you need to bite down on it and focus, okay? The worrying will keep you distracted. Can you do that for me?

Cora: [nods trying to shove it back down, but she can't, not completely] I'm trying.

Peter: [kisses her forehead] You can do this.

Cora: [she closes her eyes at the touch, trying to shove it down some more, and shoves her phone back into her pocket in the process, but that doesn't stop part of her from hoping it will ring] Detective Ryan and Esposito are trying to find the van on the traffic cameras.

Peter: Then let’s go see what the Detectives have. [keeps his arm wrapped around her shoulders and guides her back over to Espo] Detectives.

Esposito: We're having some problems getting a good camera angle.

Cora: [frowns as she makes her way around to look] So you can't see anything?

Ryan: [turns the screen to show her] This is the best camera, but it's on the other side of the van. However... [click, clickity click as he follows the street pattern and he claps his hand] That is a license plate.

Cora: [her face brightens a bit] So you can find them?

Ryan: Running them now.

Esposito: [is looking at the van, because he knows that it still doesn't answer what happened to Stiles if Cora didn't see him pulled into the van with them]

Cora: [is aware of that too, and her arms wrap around her stomach a bit, almost as though that's the thing keeping her together.]

Peter: [No, he will ask it.] Are there any other views that may wrap around the front side of the van closer to where Cora and Stiles were standing.

Ryan: [getting back to the computer, rolling back the footage.] Not really. The traffic light on that pole is broken.

Esposito: There’s a jewelry store across the street. I bet we can get their security footage through the window.

Ryan: The van will still block it.

Peter: But if Stiles was taken from behind Cora, they may have used the van as cover and exited in front of it.

Cora: [doesn't know any of this so she'll just sit there patiently, waiting for them to sort it out, all the while letting that question echo in her mind - if the plan was to take all of them why didn't they take her too?]

Esposito: [is calling the jewelry store and talks to them a bit, then hangs up in frustration] Apparently their security cameras are only one in the window at night.

Peter: [looks at Cora and sighs]

Derek: [and he will be arriving at this point, out of breath because he took the rooftop route since it's faster] Did we find anything yet?

Cora: There's a license plate for the van but we can't see the angle to figure out what happened to Stiles.

Derek: Stiles wasn't taken with Alexis and Hal?

Cora: I don't know. I thought he was behind me, but then he was just gone.

Peter: There may be another way, but it's not pretty. [looking at Derek, then Cora] And I'll need permission from your sister.

Cora: [her brow furrows in confusion] What?

Peter: It's a technique I learned from your mother. A ritual, really. I don't think Laura ever got to learn it, but it would let me access your memories to see what you see without your emotional attachments.

Cora: [while a part of her says YES if he has to ask Laura for permission ...] What's the catch?

Peter: It's dangerous. If you move wrong, or I do... it could hurt you.

Derek: [no, he will translate] You mean kill.

Peter: Or paralyze. I haven't killed anyone doing this yet.

Esposito: [is about to comment but Ryan elbows him]

Cora: [just crosses her arms in front of her chest] She's with Nik, I don't know if she'll answer.

Esposito: [slight narrowing of his eyes]

Peter: Alpha business.

Esposito: Oh.

Cora: [shrugs, before shaking her head, more at herself than anything else. She's frustrated and tired and she just wants her boyfriend back]

Derek: Technically you're the second. If she's out of pocket, I'll point out the time window to her and how minutes count. If Cora wants you to do it...

Cora: [quietly] I just want to find him.

Peter: [nods] May we use the interrogation room?

Esposito: Yeah. You need recording?

Peter: No. Just quiet and privacy.

Esposito: I'll make it happen. [and he goes off]

Cora: [shifts uncomfortably and tries not to be nervous about this]

Peter: [puts his hands on her shoulders] I promise you I will not hurt you. You just need to sit still. Derek will help.

Derek: I'll be there, I swear.

Cora: [she nods] We should still try and call her. [and by her she means Laura. She'll be twice as pissed if they did this and they didn't even attempt to let her know about it]

Peter: [nods and pulls out his phone, calling Laura]

Laura: [annnnnnnnnnnd voicemail, as predicted, but at least they tried.]

Peter: [leaves a voicemail explaining what he is going to do and why, and if she tries to call back in the next thirty minutes it's important that she calls Esposito as to not interrupt and risk destroying their focus]

Laura: [yeah, she'll be mad when she hears that later, but she'll wait until she sees him in person to yell]

Peter: [yeah, they can have their yelling match later away from the kids. but for now, heading into interrogation. Ryan goes to guard the door to make sure no one opens it, and Espo goes to stand behind the one way mirror so that he can make sure there's eyes in the room.] Alright, Cora I want you to sit down and take a deep breath and relax. Clear your mind as best you can, and focus on when you, Alexis, Hal and Stiles were leaving the lecture.

Cora: [nods and does as she's told, sitting down and closing her eyes, trying not to tense up or anything that might make this harder for Peter]

Peter: [whispers to Derek to stand behind her and to hold her shoulders, which he does, and then he pops his claws out. It's been a long time since he did this, and he closes his eyes as well as he lets muscle memory take over, feeling with the tips of his claws along her skin for the right spot before snapping his hand and digging them into her neck]

Cora: [sucks in a breath sharply at that, because that's not what she's expecting but she doesn't move, trying to stay present in the memory and let Peter find what he's looking for]

Peter: [he's silent, his lips moving a bit as he tries to find the memory, looking at the faces, seeing the four kids walking...]

Cora: [most of it plays out as Cora has been describing it. Hal and Alexis are ahead of them, talking about their weekend and Stiles’ hand is in Cora's from where he's standing next to her. They're just reaching the corner of the street when a large black van pulls up in front of them and the smell of diesel fills the air, overwhelming everything. They practically run Hal and Alexis over, as they were about to cross the street, and Hal is about to yell at that before the men are surging forward and grabbing Alexis first, Hal second and Cora reacts instinctively - she lets go of Stiles’ hand and tries to reach forward to grab for her friends, even as they're slipping through their fingers. She was right - there are bits of Russian coming from the men in the car, but not enough to make out what they're saying clearly - there's too much background noise]

Peter: [He replays the memory again, and then goes to focus instead on the things Cora sees but isn't focusing on as they walk, thirty seconds before the van. What does she seen in the edges of her vision that could be a clue]

Cora: [nothing that would seem odd or out of place. Everything seems ... normal, which is the part that's bugging her so much. She doesn't even think to acknowledge the black SUV that's coming up in her periphery, because it's New York City. There are probably fifty SUVs on the streets at any given time.]

Peter: [which would make it the perfect cover vehicle. He focuses on the chaos that's to come, filtering not for the Russian, but specifically for anything that is in the undercurrents. Stiles' voice.]

Cora: [Stiles’ voice is going to be up to you, but somewhere under all the diesel Peter might catch the faint scent of ozone, almost as though there was a rather large static shock somewhere in the vicinity]

Stiles: Hey, what the... Hal! [a pause and then the sound of the air going out of Stiles' lungs, a growl, and then a cry of pain with the undercurrent of electricity. Doors slamming shut at the exact same time as the van that grabbed Hal and Alexis.]

Cora: [and then there's nothing but Cora being left alone on the streets as she turns and Stiles is gone]

Peter: [and he's going to end the connection at that, which because he's the connector, the release of the energy from the ritual knocks him back against the opposite wall, stunned a moment as he tries to get his bearings again]

Cora: [would have slumped forward into the table if Derek had not been still holding her in place. it takes her a moment to recover before she spins around, eyes wide with concern] Peter?

Derek: [yeah, he's not sure what to do first, so he just holds his sister a moment] What did you see?

Ryan: [coming in because he heard Peter connecting to the wall]

Peter: [to Ryan] SUV. Black SUV a few seconds before the van. That's who took Stiles. [looks at Derek] Hunters.

Cora: [Her eyes close as he says it and she buries her face in her hands] How did I miss that?

Derek: Hey, no. There was a lot happening.

Peter: [pushing himself to sit up] It was staged. They timed it too perfectly to match whoever took Hal and Alexis.

Ryan: [has one off to review the video to see if he can get the second plate]

Esposito: [In the doorway] You sure about that.

Peter: [nods] The doors slammed shut at the exact same time. The overabundance of diesel to hide the ozone of the taser.

Cora: [then there's another horrific little thought] How did they know Stiles was the wolf?

Peter: That I can't tell you.

Derek: But we'll figure it out. I promise.

Cora: [doesn't say anything to that, just curls onto herself a little more, now wanting to either go home or keep searching until she either finds him or can't anymore, whichever comes first]

Derek: I'm going to go and see what Flack and Ryan have. [and see if Beckett has arrived yet] You two be okay for a bit?

Peter: [waves his hand a bit] Go. I'm going to just... sit here for a bit. [resist the urge to throw up]

Cora: [nods as she glances back to Peter in concern] I'm fine.

Derek: [nods and he's going to close the door to give them a moment and walk with Espo to check in with the other side of the case]

Cora: [just watches Peter from her chair] You okay?

Peter: [nods] Just a bit nauseous. There's a reason only alphas are supposed to do that.

Cora: [makes a face at that, before moving to sit next to him on the floor, reaching for his hand] Thank you.

Peter: [takes her hand, and then pulls her against him and just closes his eyes] You're welcome. Just remember me when your sister is trying to rip my head off.

Cora: [curls into him and nods] I'll remember you fondly.