Chapter Text
“You coward!” Allison watched, horrified, as Kate struggled against the officers trying to arrest her.
“I did this for us! I did this for our family! You’re never gonna live up to him!” She screamed at Allison’s father. She spat in an officer’s face and Allison had to turn away. She couldn’t watch as the person, she thought was her best friend, screams about her plan to burn an entire family alive. No company is worth eleven people's’ lives.
It’s with these thoughts lingering in the back of her head, that Allison decided to leave her family home to start her apprenticeship. She left with a weekend bag full of clothes, a pocketful of cash, and a soldering iron. She never stopped looking over her shoulder.
-
“Allison! Could you take the ‘droid pulling in?” Allison grinned as she jumped up to jog out to the front of the warehouse. Danny, her boss, was in some big whig meeting with the district manager and the biggest pain in her ass, Jackson.
While she had hand picked Danny for her apprenticeship long before leaving the family estate, Jackson had been appointed recently and his ties to her parents were very apparent. A day didn’t go by without Jackson strolling through their workspace to check on “safety policies” or whatever lie he had chosen to feed Danny that day. No matter how many times she repeated that “No, she didn’t want to see her parents. No, they were under no circumstance to visit her at work. And no, she will not even have a phone conversation with them.” She was positive that Danny was starting to catch on to the fact that Jackson’s frequent visits had little to do with their small scale repair warehouse and more to do with her.
She almost gasped as they lowered the case from the shipment truck. The android that had been totaled in a car crash, according to her tablet. It also happened to be a very specific and rare model that was used only by the Argent family and high level government officials, while she didn’t appreciate her parents’ meddling in her apprenticeship, she was a little relieved to have a break from software malfunctions due to computer borne viruses from the owners’ computers.
As the android was maneuvered into her workspace, she went searching for the tools that she was going to need to dismantle the droid and assess it’s internal damage. She was head and shoulders into a bin, looking for her hand saw, when a throat cleared from behind her. Assuming it was Jackson, she barked out “Jackson! Wait for five goddamn seconds!”
“Alright, alright.” Allison froze when she realized the dulcet tone she just heard most definitely did not belong to Jackson. She scrambled out of the bin, rubbing herself against everything in the process.
“Oh shit! Danny! I’m so sorry!” Danny snorted into his hand as he gestured to her front. Allison groaned as she saw the mess down her front. “Don’t worry about it, Ally. I just wanted to say congratulations.” She stared at him quizzically until he asked “Didn’t Jackson tell you?” She shook her head and Danny rolled his eyes goodnaturedly. “Ah well, I’ll tell you. Looks like you’re on your way outta here soon. You got a promotion!” Danny grinned at her as she swallowed down her surprise.
“That’s amazing!” she said, as she pasted a bright smile on her face. Danny looked unconvinced, but he smiled and clapped her on the shoulder as he passed with another “Congratulations!” thrown over his shoulder.
The announcement weighed on her mind for the rest of the day as she worked mindlessly, going through the motions. The announcement had rung ominously through her head for the rest of the day.
Allison was still thinking about her inevitable promotion as she was taking the train home. She was lulled by the steady movement of the train and asleep within seconds of being seated.
-
She rubbed her eyes and blinked sleepily when she dragged herself into her apartment just in time for a game controller to go sailing past her head. If she hadn’t grown up with Kate, she doesn’t know if she would’ve ducked as quickly.
“Allison! I’m so sorry!” Allison couldn’t help but grin at Scott’s big puppy eyes when she shuffled into the apartment to see him and Stiles splayed across their couch playing video games. “She’s dimpling. I’m sure she’s fine, Scott.” Stiles muttered darkly as he retrieved his wayward controller. “Is Scott kicking your ass at Mario Kart again?” Allison snarked at him as he stuck his tongue out at her, biting out a “No, he’s fucking cheating like usual.” Scott’s yelp of “Hey! I don’t cheat!” is punctuated with eyes that are so potent that Allison watched Stiles’ disgruntled pout ease straight into a fond smile. “I know, buddy. You’re just that good. Now if you want our friendship to continue, I think we need to find a new game to play, yeah?” She chuckled and ruffled their hair as she passed them on her way to her room to change.
She’s freshly showered and comfortable when she settled in between them with a bowl of leftover Chinese food so they could continue their nightly ritual of discussing their days while watching B-rated horror movies. “So, how’s the light of my life?” Stiles chirped. “Aw, that’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me about Scott, Stiles! I feel like I should be asking you that though, since he spends most of his day with you” She grinned wickedly as Stiles rolled his eyes at her sarcasm while Scott snorted into his bag of Doritos. “Haha, I meant Danny.” He drawled out.
Allison smirked and replied. “He’s fine, same as usual. Pretty damn handy, ruthless, and he bent over to pick up his pen at least twice today so that was memorable.” It’s Stiles’ turn to snort while Scott rolled his eyes at their antics. “Well if anybody wants to actually hear something work related, Stiles and I got promotions today.” Allison perked up from her slumped position exclaiming “What? That’s great news!” She pulled them both close so she could hug them simultaneously. “Aw, I’m so proud of you! I knew it was bound to happen. You two are some of the greatest robotics software engineers I’ve ever met.” She kissed their cheeks to punctuate the pride she felt for them. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves yet, Allison. We still have a lot to prove at ALPHA before we can get egoes the size of our heavily compensating desks like some software engineers we know.” Allison couldn’t help the eruption of laughter at Stiles’ dig at their boss, Peter Hale. “At least you don’t have to deal with Jackass Dickmore.” Allison huffed as she shifted so that she can lay across the boys. “Jackson’s not even the regional manager, half the stuff he calls you out on is garbage anyway. You should report him to HUNTER corporate.” Allison sighed softly at Scott’s bountiful optimism. She still didn’t have it in her to tell them about who she really was, especially after she had found out where they work. Not only would they be upset with her for lying to them about her job, they would probably kick her out of the apartment. She couldn’t afford to go back to Kate’s mess. She had sacrificed too much and worked to hard.
She blinked owlishly out of her reverie when Stiles snapped his fingers in her face. “Earth to Allison, we were having a conversation.” She bolted upright and stretched with an exaggerated yawn. “I should probably go to bed. You know how morning shifts are.” They stared after her quizzically as she scurried to her room.
-
Allison woke up feeling exhausted and disgruntled as she opened the door to the workshop, the next morning. She’d spent half the night agonizing over whether she should have come clean to Scott and Stiles the night before and hope that they would forgive her or not. She wasn’t too pleased to see Jackson leaning against her work station as she tossed her lunch into the mini fridge attached to her desk.
“What is it Jackson? I have things to do today. Whatever is is, make it quick.”
Jackson sneered at her as he pushed off her desk. “Your parents are requesting an audience with the heir to the throne, prissy pants.” She flipped him the bird, as she started to set up for the day. “I said “No.” the first couple hundred times they’ve asked and I’m going to continue saying no, so how about relaying the message and not being a nagging dick about it, eh Jackson?” She threw him an icy glare from where she was bent, fiddling with her tablet to pull up the android she had been reassembling. Jackson snorted as he rolled his eyes and he strides off into Danny’s office. Allison was glad that he still had the common sense not to push his luck after she left him hanging from the ceiling on one memorable occasion. She was also thankful for the fact that her parents couldn’t step foot in the warehouse without Allison going to the press and ruining the company’s good name. It was the only thing that kept her mother from stomping in and frogmarching her all the way back to HUNTER headquarters.
She was halfway through rebuilding the left leg on the droid, when Danny appeared at her elbow. She flicked up the magnifiers on her work glasses and peered up at him with a questioning stare.
“There are some guys here to see you.” He shrugged at her confusion and jerked his thumb at the lobby area in the front of the building. “They said it was urgent.”
Allison can’t think of anyone, but her parents and Jackson, who would be calling for her by name and they definitely wouldn’t need Danny to speak to her. She was still trying to puzzle out who her mystery guests are when she sweeped into the lobby. She was shocked to find Scott and Stiles sitting with their heads pressed together, while they murmured distractedly to one another. The ice cold sensations of dread flooded her as she froze in the doorway.
Scott was the first one to realize that she was there and he bolted upright and crossed the room before she could react.
“Allison, we need your help.” She’s thrown by the seriousness in his expression and his statement so much that she just blurts out “But I lied to you!” His face softened minutely and his eyes warmed as he cupped her face and said “Allison, Stiles and I have been using computers since we were in diapers. You did a great job making sure your location didn’t leak to the press, but we’ve known who you are since you responded to our ad.” She blinked owlishly at him as she tried to summon a response.
“Guys! The walls have ears. Let’s get this show on the road!” Stiles cut in as he grabbed them and steered them toward the front doors. Allison was still trying to wrap her head around the boys having known who she was since she had moved in with them, when she realized that she was being steered toward Stiles’ Jeep.
“Guys! I’m working! I can’t just leave!” They threw twin looks of disbelief at her as they paused before guiding her into the Jeep. “We all know that you could take a week long trip to Tijuana with no notice and Danny would still have you on payroll and scheduled to work, Allison. Cut the crap.” Stiles bit out as hopped into the driver’s seat and screeched out of the parking lot.
“Now we need your help and we need to know that you can keep quiet about more than where you live.” She was confused as to what was going on, but she knew that she’d give her life for these boys. She responded with a quick “Of course you can, Stiles. Now tell me what the hell is going on.”
Allison couldn’t believe the words coming out of Stiles’ mouth.
“So this android-”
“Spy android.”
“Right. This spy android was designed and manufactured by Peter Hale to infiltrate my family’s company, send inside information back to him, and after it finished giving ALPHA all of my family’s secrets, it was supposed to kill us all in our sleep? And you happened upon this information while using his programming computer to make some modifications to this assassin android?” Allison almost wanted to laugh but the overwhelming urge to be sick prevailed. Scott handed her a fast food bag before she emptied her breakfast onto the floor of the Jeep.
“In our defense, Peter was micromanaging us. He wasn’t giving us the full system. Just assigning us to tweak this algorithm or the response of this synapse. And it’s not Lydia’s fault either!”
“Lydia?” Stiles glances at her guiltily as he says defensively “I named her! BANSHEE is such a cliche for a female assassin android! And she’s an amazing piece of work, it’s not her fault that she was made this way!”
“Stiles, I don’t care. Why are you telling me all of this?” A look of outright discomfort flitted across Stiles’ face.
“Stiles?” He pinches the bridge of his nose as Scott claps him on the shoulder and takes charge of the conversation.
“We need you to take Lydia into hiding. We didn’t mean to pry, but we know about your family’s safe house and we need you to take her somewhere she won’t be found. Please Allison, we put everything on the line to steal her. She can’t end up in Peter’s hands again.”
She couldn’t say no, not when they went to such great lengths to keep her family safe.
“What do you need me to do?” She sighed out. Stiles brightened immediately, firing off information.
“She’s already programmed to the safe house’s coordinates, that was pretty tricky to get out of the ALPHA servers.” He gestures offhandedly about hacking into a computer system that she knows for a fact is nearly uncrackable. “You just need to-”
Neither of them were prepared for the impact and Allison wasn’t surprised that she had lost a pocket of time. Her head was pounding and she thought she heard Scott screaming something at her but she couldn’t make out what he was saying. She felt something grip her waist and she felt weightless. Her vision swam as black spots danced across it. Her last thought was of how pissed her parents are going to be when she disappeared again.