The episode begins with a flashback to four weeks ago. Kate sits in a car and listens to a cassette tape that details the Hale family and their triskelion, after which she asks an assassin who the benefactor is. The assassin informs her about a group of teenagers called the orphans who got cassettes like she did, after which she kills him.

—

Credits.

—

Coach tries to keep everyone calm by the locker room, and nearby, Scott assures his dad that he's okay. His dad apologizes for missing the game after he had promised to be around, as Parrish walks Violet out of the school in handcuffs. She sees his badge and casts a look Scott's way, as McCall follows Parrish out after hearing Violet's weapon was a thermo-cut wire.

Liam approaches Scott, and tells him that Kira left when Lydia cracked the second deadpool code. Scott notes that her mom was on it, as Liam agrees "Everyone's on it."

"You're not, neither are Malia and Noel," Scott says, and Liam corrects "Not yet. There's still another third, right?"

In the next room, McCall notes how unusual Violet's weapon of choice is, implying that she caused the other murders. She denies his accusation, and McCall reveals that he knows she doesn't have any parents and theorizes that she must be part of the orphans. Parrish escorts her out, as we cut to the clinic where Brett is violently convulsing and spewing yellow liquid from his mouth.

"What the hell is happening to this kid?" Stiles asks as he helps Derek hold Brett down, as Deaton explains hastily that he was poisoned by a rare wolfsbane. He tells the boys to hold him as still as possible so he can make an incision, and when Stiles asks Derek to use a little werewolf strength, Derek retaliates "Well I'm not the only one here with werewolf strength," as he struggles with Brett.

"If you can't hold him still the incision might kill him," Deaton says sternly, and just as he's about to make the incision, Brett breaks free and starts to panic. He stands up and moves to run, but as he makes it to the door, Noel steps in and punches him clean across the face.

Brett falters and collapses back onto the operating table, as Noel watches and looks at his knuckles. He flexes them, clearly in pain from the strength behind the punch, gaze turning to Derek with a puzzled expression on his face.

"I leave to grab a towel and this is what happens?" he asks, Derek seeming sheepish as Noel feels Brett for a pulse. "Okay, well, I didn't kill him, that's a good sign." He looks up at Derek again, saying "He was weakened, I know that our strength heightens when we panic, but he's basically half dead right now. Why...?"

Noel trails off as Derek looks down at his arm, a deep scratch set there unhealing. Just as Noel is about to comment on it, Stiles announces that Brett has stopped breathing, and Deaton takes the opportunity to puncture Brett's lung and allow the wolfsbane to escape as a cloud of yellow dust.

We hear Stiles ask if he's okay, to Deaton's response that he should be fine in time as we watch Derek's arm finally heal when Noel touches him. The two meet eyes, both looking equally concerned as Stiles hears Brett whispering the "sun moon truth" mantra.

Deaton explains that it's Buddhist in origin, looking back at Derek, who says with a sigh "Satomi."

—

Scott and Liam are snooping in Garrett's locker when Scott finds a bag full of cash, but when Liam (who is keeping watch) asks if he found anything, Scott lies and says he didn't.

—

At Scott's after the break, Melissa begs over the phone for her power to be turned back on after learning she's three months late on her bill. Upstairs Scott eavesdrops, the bag full of cash under his bed.

—

At school that following morning, Derek and Noel walk together down the hall.

"Are you sure you're okay to be skipping school for this," Derek says casually. Noel looks at him, saying "If I don't skip school and accompany you, you either run off and disappear or you get hurt. I can't handle that today, especially when you're not healing properly."

Derek looks guilty at his words, but says nothing. Noel catches the expression, looking at Derek and asking "Why aren't you healing properly?"

Derek shakes his head to dismiss the question, but Noel presses, adding "You aren't healing properly and you asked me to grab Malia to come with us on this little mission that you could easily do yourself. Finding and following a scent has always been what you're best at, why all of a sudden do you need our help?"

"Maybe I just want to get to know her, and maybe I want to be closer to you," Derek suggests, and Noel says outright "Bull. You're the king of sneaking off alone, disappearing, and driving me insane with worry."

He lurches to a stop, Noel looking confused at the sudden halt. Derek is staring at him, mouth open slightly in surprise as he says "I'm sorry."

Noel is both flattered and confused, saying "It's okay."

"It's not," Derek argues, putting his hands in his pockets and saying "I love you, I shouldn't be hiding things from you."

"What are you hiding from me?" Noel asks gently, as Derek holds up a clawed hand. The claws almost instantly sink back into his nail bed, and Derek tries again to the same effect. Noel, surprised, says slowly "You... You're..."

Derek just nods, confirming "I'm losing my powers." He pauses, looking at Noel and asking "Can you feel it?"

"Honestly, Derek, I don't know what I'm feeling anymore," Noel admits, reaching out and lacing his fingers with Derek's. He then continues, "I'm feeling love and excitement about moving in with you, and that's kind of overshadowing the alpha-beta bond. I think a better question is do you feel it?"

Derek closes his eyes, and when he opens them they blaze gold. He meets Noel's eyes as his glow gold as well, until Derek's fade. Noel's stay gold, as Derek explains sadly.

"It feels like you're slipping away slowly. Like you're the sand in an hourglass and I'm doing everything I can to keep you from falling. That tether I have on you that tells me your emotions, it's getting weaker by the minute, and I'm starting to lose your scent."

Noel is visibly upset, but he puts on a smile as he moves himself into Derek's arms and takes hold of his face. "Well, if you're losing my scent, breathe it in deeper while you can. If you can't feel my emotions, use your words and ask me what I'm feeling. And if it feels like I'm falling..." He takes hold of Derek's hand, placing their joined hands on his chest and finishing softly "Remember that I'm not letting go. Not for anything."

Derek pulls him into a kiss and holds his face with his free hand, and when they pull away from the kiss, their eyes glow twin shades of gold. Even as Derek's fade, Noel's hold strong, as he says "Come on. Let's go get Malia."

—

During a run with Mason, Liam breaks ahead and gets hit by a car, and out steps Garrett with his dagger in hand. He swings it down on Liam, and when Mason catches up, he doesn't notice the blood on the ground.

—

In class, the teacher asks Malia where Stiles, Noel, Lydia, and Kira are, when she suddenly hears her name being whispered from somewhere outside the classroom. She looks around for the source and excuses herself from class, finding Derek and Noel standing in the hallway waiting for her.

Derek tells her that Brett is still out of commission but he needs to find his pack and warn them about the deadpool as soon as he can.

"Noel's right there, what do you need me for?" Malia asks, with complete sincerity, as Derek explains that the pack has a secret meeting place in the woods and she knows the woods better than anybody.

"This is Brett's," he says as he tosses a jersey to her, asking her to breathe it in.

"I'm not good at that yet," she argues, but Noel says "You have me to help you, I just can't do it on my own. I can't navigate the woods like you can, so we need you to at least try and catch his scent so I can help you follow it."

"Focus on the different scents, some are tied to identity," Derek explains as Malia holds the jersey up to her face. "Others give off an emotion."

Malia looks up at the two after a few beats of silence, her face saying without words that she has it before we cut to the station.

—

Stiles and Lydia inform Parrish of the deadpool and he's shocked that he's not only on it but also worth five million dollars. Scott and Mason ask Coach if he's seen Liam, until Scott gets a call from him that turns out to be Garrett using his phone. Garrett demands his stolen money and Violet, as we see Liam injured at the bottom of a well. Blackout.

—

Scott and Garrett discuss a plan to get Violet as he reveals that he stabbed Liam with a wolfsbane laced dagger, and we see the well Liam is trapped in is in the middle of the preserve.

—

Derek, Noel, and Malia pile out of a car and Derek explains that Brett's alpha is a woman named Satomi, who's one of the oldest werewolves alive who's, quote, "learned a lot."

"What does that mean?" Malia asks, Noel answering "She was bitten, not born. It takes a lot of hard work to be a bitten alpha, not to mention one that can control themselves."

"Before she learned that control, she did something that changed her," Derek explains as we see a clip from Noshiko Yukimura's story of her past from the last season, where Satomi threw a molotov cocktail while in a rage and set some soldiers ablaze.

Malia stops them suddenly, saying "I smell gunpowder." Noel inhales deeply, looking at Malia, obviously impressed. "See? That's why we need you. It would have taken me way longer to find that on my own."

With some renewed confidence at the compliment, Malia leads them a short walk away, and Derek finds a bullet shell on the ground. He examines it, saying "If Brett's pack is out here, I don't think they're meeting. They're hiding."

—

Scott and his dad discuss the plan to move Violet to another location, and Scott insists to Garrett that their plan won't work. Garrett disagrees, and they follow the car carrying Violet, McCall, and the sheriff into the night.

At Eichen House, Parrish tries to talk to Meredith along with Stiles and Lydia, but Brunski the orderly stops them. Parrish blackmails him with his ongoing DUI charge, and the three are let into Meredith's room.

Garrett and Scott follow the car, finding it flipped with the sheriff and McCall in the road. The sheriff tells Scott that "they" are still there, as we see a berserker in the fog. A second one comes out and easily kills Garrett, making quick work of knocking Scott out as well.

Blackout.

—

At Eichen House, Meredith can't give up the third key, saying that "the benefactor" doesn't want her to.

Scott wakes up at the clinic, where Argent pulls a berserker dagger out of his side. As he recovers, Scott tells them that it was Kate and the berserkers, and resolves to catching a scent from the dagger to find them.

—

In the car from the backseat, Malia apologizes without context. Derek assures her that there's nothing to be sorry about, because if the pack doesn't want to be found, they won't find them.

"Some werewolves have an ability," Derek continues, Malia and Noel looking on with interest. "A kind of mastery over their bodies where they can actually inhibit their scent."

"What, to hide their scent from other werewolves?" Malia asks, as Derek corrects "From anyone who's trying to find them."

"That's why we couldn't tell Brett was a werewolf," Noel comments. "He was hiding his scent from us, he didn't want us to know."

"Same with Demarco," Derek says, almost solemn.

"Maybe we need to try something different," Malia suggests, offering "Maybe we need to think like Stiles."

"Last time we thought like Stiles we ended up in a nogitsune trap," Noel says, denying the plan as Derek agrees "We're not gonna get very far thinking like a hyperactive spaz."

"No, like detectives," Malia corrects. "If they're really Buddhists, then maybe instead of asking where werewolves hide-"

"We ask where Buddhists hide," Derek finishes, looking back at Malia like he's impressed. He turns to face forward, explaining how Buddha looked to the East for enlightenment. Malia asks if there's an Eastern point in Beacon Hills, Noel confirming that there's a lookout point.

—

Liam tries to climb out of the well but fails, thinking back to a conversation with Scott that helps him to gather courage and overcome anger and frustration. He starts to climb again as we go to commercial.

Meredith screams when she is pressed too far and causes Lydia's ears to bleed, as Argent and Scott follow the scent to where Kate and the berserkers are. Argent shows off the gun he brought and how willing he is to take his sister down, as we go to the woods.

—

Noel, Malia, and Derek walk along the lookout, until Malia stops Noel with a hand on his wrist. He looks at her and says her name as a question, answering himself as his head tilts up and he wrinkles his nose before covering it.

"What?" Derek asks, taking hold of Noel's hand as he seems to catch the scent as well and says "Both of you, wait for me, right here."

The two obey as Derek walks off, looking around before finding a clearing full of dead bodies.

—

Scott and Argent find Kate, and when she refuses to tell them where Violet is, a fight breaks out.

—

"What happened here?" Noel asks as the three of them stare at the bodies, Derek suggesting that they may have been poisoned. Noel looks distressed at the presence of all the bodies, and Derek quickly takes him by the back of his neck and pulls him so their bodies are flush. Noel follows his lead and puts his face in Derek's neck.

"That's great," Malia says to the poisoning suggestion, elaborating "If assassins with guns don't get you, then the ones with wolfsbane poison will. Or maybe one with no mouth."

Derek, despite his steadiness and apparent calm, looks distressed at the sight before him as well. He keeps a hand on the back of Noel's neck, the contact grounding them both as Malia suggests that they should all get out of Beacon Hills and run for their lives.

Derek says nothing, looking at Noel and pressing one quick kiss to his forehead before leading him back in the direction of the car. Before they can go, however, Noel freezes, and turns around. We see a hand reach out in the darkness, as Noel sprints over and kneels beside whoever was alive.

The camera angle widens, and we see Noel and Derek's shocked expressions when it's revealed that the hand belongs to Braeden.

—

Scott continues to fight until he finds Violet presumably dead, and before a berserker can kill Argent, Kate calls them off and leaves. Liam continues to climb the well, losing strength and coughing as he climbs. His scream of pain turns into a howl, one Scott hears and turns immediately toward. In Stiles' room, he and Lydia discuss the third key, pointing out how no other names of dead people they can think of are unlocking the final deadpool. Stiles makes the observation that the final key may be someone who isn't dead yet but will be, and Lydia closes her eyes and intuitively types 'DEREK.' The final list is deciphered, and on it among other names like Malia and Liam, we see 'NOEL WHITTEMORE 6.'

—

Scott manages to save Liam, and Parrish tells Lydia over the phone that Meredith hanged herself shortly after they left Eichen House. Liam gets his chest cut open so the wolfsbane he was poisoned with can escape, and Scott makes a promise that no one else will die because of the deadpool. At Scott's, he and Stiles count the money in the bag under his bed, finding a cassette that says 'Play Me.'

—

Peter and Kate team up, and the episode ends.