Bonnie and Matt had returned to the room a few minutes ago and Michael handed Elena over without to Matt. Matt caught her instinctively, arms tightening her as he looked down at her pale, unconscious face. "Is she going to be alright?" he asked with panic bleeding through his voice.
Michael waved it off like someone asking about a mild headache. "Oh sure, I only knocked her unconscious." He nodded. "All she needs is a little rest and she'll be back to her usual complaining self in no time."
"Hey—" Matt protested.
Bonnie shot Michael a sharp look. "That's not funny." Michael smirked but said nothing because Bonnie had already gone still.
Her gaze slid past him.
Behind Michael, Klaus knelt before a boy who had just woken up gasping for air, eyes glowing with a feral yellow-gold sheen. He had vampire veins pulsing darkly beneath his skin. And his breath came in ragged snarls.
Klaus looked… radiant.
"Oh yes," Klaus said softly, pride dripping from every syllable. "Now that's a good sign isn't it Nelson?" He placed a hand on the boy's shoulder like a king blessing a knight. "The blood of the doppelgänger truly was the missing piece."
Rebekah leaned against a wooden chair she rested on nearby with her arms crossed, watching Michael with an unreadable expression. She didn't intervene or speak she just... looked.
Michael didn't look at either of them.
Instead, he kept his attention on Bonnie. "Don't worry about them."
And that's when a roar ripped through the room as the newborn hybrid apparently lost control of himself and blurred forward.
Straight for Matt.
Michael sighed internally.
'Okay… Tyler wasn't that rabid when he turned, was he?'
Nelson, because apparently that was his name locked onto Matt with newborn vampire instincts screaming at him to feed. He barely took two steps and then stopped. Because suddenly, he wasn't on the ground anymore.
Nelson found himself lifted clean off his feet, one hand clamped like iron around his throat. His legs kicked uselessly as he was raised to eye level.
Red eyes stared back at him.
One second Michael he was beside Bonnie and the next, he was directly in front of Matt, holding a furious hybrid in the air like an unruly child.
Michael glanced sideways at Klaus. "You know," he said lightly, "for a first draft, I've seen worse. But the aggression settings?" He tilted his head. "Might wanna dial those back."
Rebekah snorted. "Hmph, a poor design from you Niklaus, it's like you live to create cheap knockoffs of yourself."
Klaus shot her an annoyed look. "It's like you live to torment me, Rebekah."
Before anything else could escalate, footsteps echoed from the hall and Tyler entered the room.
Klaus turned slowly, eyes lighting up. "And where," he asked pleasantly, "have you been, little wolf?"
"Oh," Michael said before Tyler could answer, tightening his grip slightly as Nelson thrashed, "he's been with me."
Nelson, apparently lacking both sense and self-preservation, reached up and tried to grab Michael's neck.
Michael blinked, then laughed and the sound echoed with amusement, genuinely delighted by the audacity. That was when Tyler's eyes flared yellow.
Claws slid out as his facial structure shifted into a more partial transformation. ( Teen wolf transformation).
He let out a low, warning roar and Nelson froze, so did everyone else.
Klaus tilted his head, studying Tyler with keen interest, a slow smile spreading across his face. "Fascinating."
And then he blurre straight toward Tyler. And stopped because Michael was already there.
Michael stood between them, still holding Nelson effortlessly with one hand. With the other, he raised a single finger and wagged it slowly in Klaus's face.
"Ah. Ah. Ah."
His smile didn't reach his eyes, "He's off-limits, Niklaus."
The air tightened as he said that with a warning tone. Michael glanced over his shoulder. "Tyler. Calm down."
Tyler hesitated for a moment then nodded. His claws retracted. His breathing steadied. "Sorry," he muttered, though his eyes never left Nelson.
He shot the newborn hybrid a warning look that promised violence if he tried anything else.
Michael turned his attention back to Nelson. "Wow," he said conversationally. "You really are audacious."
Crack.
Darkness swallowed Nelson as Michael snapped his neck with a single twist. He tossed the limp body aside like discarded luggage.
And Klaus caught it automatically, more surprised than offended before dropping the body on the floor.
Michael turned back to Bonnie, who was staring at Tyler like she'd just realized something very important. "Right," Michael said briskly. "Tyler, drive them away. Get Miss Unconscious here to the hospital."
Tyler nodded immediately. "Alright, boss."
———————————————
When the others were finally gone, Michael turned slowly, hands still his pockets and looked at Klaus and Rebekah like he'd just walked into an awkward family reunion.
"So," he said, "How's life been treating you two? Still stabbing each other in the back? Still turning perfectly survivable situations into tragedies?"
Klaus scoffed. "Charming as ever, brother."
Rebekah rolled her eyes. "You disappear for a millennia Kan and this is how you greet us?"
Michael shrugged. "Consistency is important."
Klaus straightened, his usual arrogance settling back into place like a well-worn coat. "Life has been… tedious," he said. "But that's about to change." His eyes flicked toward the door Elena had been taken through. "Once I acquire a few pints of the doppelgänger's blood, I'll leave this small, wretched town behind. Then I can finally do what I was meant to do."
Michael tilted his head. "And that would be?"
"Build," Klaus said simply. "My hybrids. My army." His voice hardened. "So I am never alone again."
That made Michael pause and the humor drained from his expression quietly.
He exhaled and sat down on the floor, resting his back against the wall, Rebekah stared at Klaus, disbelief etched into her face. "So that's what this is?" she said softly. "All of it? Your obsession with power, control, these ridiculous experiments it's all because you're afraid of being alone?"
Klaus didn't look at her, Instead, his gaze shifted to Michael. Michael studied him for a long moment. When he finally spoke, his voice was calm and measured.
"You know what's truly remarkable, Niklaus?" he said. "You've never actually been alone."
Klaus frowned at that and shifted in his stance as he looked at his elder brother.
Michael gestured lazily with one hand. "You had Elijah. You still have him." Then he pointed, briefly, at Rebekah. "You have her, family who would burn the world for you if you asked."
Rebekah looked away and swallowed while shaking her head despite herself.
"But every time they get too close," Michael continued with a steady and gentle voice, "you panic. You dagger them. You lock them away. You convince yourself betrayal is inevitable, so you strike first." His gaze softened. "That paranoia of yours, little brother, it's not protecting you. It's poisoning you."
The room was silent after that little bit. For a fleeting second, Klaus looked… shaken. Then he turned away.
"Yes, well," Klaus said coolly, masking the crack in his voice with arrogance, "be that as it may, I will still build my army. A force so overwhelming that no one will dare oppose me. My enemies will crawl back into whatever holes they came from."
He smirked then glancing back at them. "After all, what is a king without an army?"
Michael looked at him for a moment hike then leaned his head back and looked up at the ceiling. "Oh well," he muttered. "At least I tried."
Rebekah scoffed bitterly. "How pathetic," she said. "You never change, Niklaus."
Klaus merely shrugged, unfazed or pretending to be. "You don't arm yourself after war has been declared," he said smoothly. "You build your army so large that no one dares pick the fight in the first place, my sister."
"Now why don't you be a dear," he said casually, waving a hand, "and go get the car."
Rebekah stared at him, unimpressed. "Excuse me?"
"The car," he repeated, smiling like this was the most reasonable request in the world.
She scoffed, muttered something under her breath, and reluctantly pushed herself up. As she passed Michael, they both paused just for a fraction of a second. Their eyes met. Something unspoken flickered there.
Then Michael looked away.
Rebekah's lips pressed into a thin line, disappointment flashing across her face before she turned and walked toward the exit.
Michael watched her go.
'What the hell was I expecting?' he thought dryly. 'It's not like I expected her to stay single for a millennium.'
He frowned, 'That would have been very hypocritical of me.'
His gaze then dipped, purely by accident, obviously and followed the sway of her stride. The way her hips moved, her skin and breath and goodness her eyes… her boobs. He muttered under his breath, "Father Lord, bless thy son and deliver thee from sweet immortal temptations."
Rebekah smirked without turning around and stepped out as she overheard him.
Klaus gagged audibly. "That is disgusting."
Michael flicked a hand at him. "Shoo. Shoo."
Klaus rolled his eyes and Micheal said, "You wouldn't understand, Mr. Warlord. You don't believe in such things."
"Oh, believe me," Klaus shot back. "I believe in the purest form of debauchery. But that is my sister."
Michael groaned. "You're no fun, brother."
Then he paused, head tilting toward the entrance. "Speaking of brothers…"
The doors burst open.
Damon stormed in like he owned the place.
Klaus smirked instantly. "Well, look who finally decided to show up for the party."
"Where is she?" Damon demanded.
"Elena?" Klaus drawled. "Oh, she's making a donation to the cause."
Michael stepped forward with a lazy grin on his face. "Fashionably late, Damon. Unfortunately, the party's over. Cake's gone. Trauma's already been distributed by yours truly Niklaus."
Damon's eyes flicked to him. "Why are you back in town?"
Michael pointed across the room to where Stefan lay unconscious against the far wall. "Because your brother called me to discipline my brother."
He then turned that same finger and poked it toward Klaus. "This one."
Klaus blurred in front of Damon in a flash. "Now what the bloody hell do I do with you?"
Damon then looked at him defiantly even as Klaus moved to grab him. "Oh Klaus, I can think of a few things you can do for me instead ."
Michael sighed internally. 'Oh boy.'
"One," Damon said, voice tight but still defiant, "you get the hell out of town and don't come back. Two, you don't get Elena. Because that happens over my dead body."
Klaus laughed and hoisted him by the neck, bursting through the exit.
Michael rubbed his temples. "And there go the two idiots again."
He followed after them at a walking pace because why rush?
'Brazen,' he thought. 'Really brazen and mouth just as I'd expect from Damon.'
Outside, Damon's voice rang out, strained. "Don't you want to know about your friend—Mikael?"
"My brother and I, We're good," Klaus snapped.
"The hunter," Damon added.
Michael winced as he overheard that bit. "Yep. That'll do."
He blurred out just in time to see Klaus raised his hand, fingers poised to plunge into Damon's chest. Damon was lifted off the ground, choking. Michael appeared between them, one hand casually gripping Klaus's wrist.
"Well then," Michael said mildly, "ain't that a surprise, Niklaus."
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