justlurkinghere | Gas Station - Beacon Hills, Late Monday Night

With this mystery alpha attacking people, Derek had needed some back up. Or, at the very least, someone who was more versed in detective work than he was. Which meant pretty much anyone but him.

Sorry, Derek.

But, hey. At least Jack was willing to show up on short notice to help out?

Derek	"He's trying to make Scott hunt with him," he said, pulling the car up to the gas pump.
Jack	"What's Scott doing about it?" Jack asked slowly. "He doesn't seem like a killer."
Derek	"It doesn't matter with an alpha," Derek replied, putting the car into park and shutting it off. "They can make someone they've bit do what they want."
Jack	Jack paled at that. "So if the beast who bit me had lived--" Some things really weren't healthy for him to think about. He moved to unlock his door.
Derek	Derek nodded, staring ahead for the moment. "If it wanted to. Yeah."
Jack	"Well that's cheerful," Jack said, sounding as if he wanted to curse. He glanced toward the gas station office. "I need a soda," he decided. "Do you want anything?"
Derek	"Cheerful situation," Derek replied, getting out to start gassing up the car. "No, I'm fine."
Jack	Jack nodded and checked the change in his pocket before heading toward the soda machines. He kept some of his attention on what was happening around Derek, but stopping for gas seemed a banal enough situation.
Derek	No sooner than Jack had left, two SUVs pulled up. One at the gas pump in front of the Camaro, the other not so subtly blocking him in the back. This was clearly going to end well for everyone involved. "Stay where you are," Derek said quietly, assuming Jack could hear him.
Chris	Yes, Jack. Stay where you are, away from the hunters piling out of the cars to carefully take up positions around Hale and his car. Who could be assumed to be the leader of the little group walked forward toward the car.
Jack	Jack had heard Derek, and signaled with a slight nod before going back to what he was doing. To a passing glance, he was no one: A slight young man sipping a ginger ale outside a gas station. At as closer look, someone might notice his back was straight, his body alert, and the hand not holding the soda was clenched into a fist. The posture got even more rigid as the leader went up to Derek. Jack had a hunch that he didn't just want to welcome Derek back to town or offer his condolences.
Chris	"Nice ride," Chris said, picking up one of the squeegees from bin of water to start wiping down the windshield. "Black cars, though. Very hard to keep clean. I would definitely suggest a little more maintenance. If you have something this nice, you want to take care of it, right? Personally, I'm very protective of the things I love. But that's something I learned from my family." That brought a pause in his cleaning to look over at Derek. "And you don't have much of that these days. Do you?"
Derek	Derek clenched his jaw, pulling the gas nozzle out of the car once it clicked off. It was a decent enough distraction from the blinding rage he felt right about now, after all.
Chris	Chris just smiled at that. "There we go," he said, replacing the squeegee. "You can actually look through your windshield now. See how that makes everything so much clearer?"
Derek	Which would be around the time Derek decided to get his courage back and inform Argent that, "You forgot to check the oil."
Chris & Hunter	Well then. Chris paused, looking back at the man before nodding to one of the other hunters with him. "Check the man's oil," he said, turning away. The other hunter took a few steps forward, smashing the driver-side window of the car with the end of a baseball bat. "Looks good to me." "Drive safely," Chris called back as he got into his SUV. The others quickly followed suit.
Jack	Jack's bad feeling about the conversation turned into a need to wade into it just as the baseball bats came out, after which there wasn't enough time for him to do anything. The third SUV was still in the driveway when he made it to the Camaro. "Do you think," he asked, poking at the shattered glass with a forefinger, "they were confused as to where the oil goes in?" It wasn't very funny, but his choices were either attempted humor or rage. He was going for humor.
Derek	Derek let himself very slowly relax from the fight or flight reaction he'd had to the hunters. "Yeah. Real geniuses there," he muttered.
Jack	"I noticed," Jack said, looking very much like he wanted to kick things. "Those were hunters?"
Derek	"Those were hunters." And they were in the same club because he needed to go hit something too!
Jack	"They were assholes." Because Derek wouldn't have noticed that. "Were any of them Argents?"
Derek	"Chris." He rubbed his forehead, coming around to inspect the damage to the Camaro. "The who talked." The leader, of course.
Jack	"And the others are what, his flunkies?" Jack said, with clear distaste. He was still prodding at the glass. "This is going to cost money to fix."
Derek	"More probably down the road as back up." For one werewolf, yes. "Go back to Fandom, I'll take care of it."
Jack	Jack looked at Derek as if he were insane. "I'm not leaving you alone while they're waving baseball bats about. Come back with me."
Derek	"This isn't exactly new behavior with hunters," Derek replied with more resignation over the fact than anger at the moment. That'd change in a heartbeat, though. "I can handle it."
Jack	"I know, but there's no reason you have to handle it alone," Jack said firmly. There were reasons the island had liked to turn him into a terrier even before he became a werewolf; one of them was that once he had an idea in his head, he wouldn't let go easily.
Derek	"You'll be safer in Fandom," Derek replied, tone firmer now. "They know about me, not about you or Scott." Martyr complex party of one!
Jack	Jack eyed him. "I wasn't going to go up to them and announce myself." He was persistent and defensive, not insane. "If there's no trouble, there's no reason they'd know. If there is trouble, I want to be with you."
Derek	"I'll lay low," Derek replied. "We can go out together looking for the alpha once they've stopped circling wagons."
Jack	"You're determined to pack me off, aren't you," Jack sighed. "Would you go easily if you were me?"
Derek	"That's not--" Totally a different thing, Jack! Totally! "--if they get me, you need to be alive to keep Scott from losing control."
Jack	"Fantastic, assuming I'm not too busy trying to eat his head when he needs me," Jack said, but he was surrendering. "I still think you're being insane, but if you have to do this on your own I can't stop you."
Derek	"You're the only pack I have left," Derek muttered, looking down.
Jack	"And you're the only pack I've ever had," Jack told him before he got embarrassed by the emotion and looked away as well. "I should go before they get curious and come back to see why you've been here so long."
Derek	Derek nodded at that. Because emotions were haaaaard. "Be careful."
Jack	"Same to you," Jack said, nodding back. "And call me when you get back to the island." And then, reluctantly, he turned and started walking toward where he'd meet a portal home. Best not to draw the leaving part out; he'd go home and worry on his own.