We open in Stiles' room, where he struggles to sleep next to Malia and complains until they finally find a comfortable position to sleep in. He then wakes up, realizing he's actually alone and the domestic squabble was a dream.
McCall records notes explaining why he killed the Chemist, and apologizes to Scott that he might miss his first game of the season due to having to go in for questioning. He assures Scott that what he did was necessary and justifiable, and Scott asks if he's done it before. McCall admits that there were two other times, and that none of the three times have been easy.
He tells Scott that to deal with it, he looks at the situation logically and without emotion. He admits that he used to compartmentalize by drinking, and then he hugs his son as he says that when he gets back, the two of them will need to talk about why Scott and his friends handling things the way they do doesn't phase them the way that it should.
Before Scott can ask what he means, McCall explains that it feels like they know something he doesn't. He tells Scott that he'd like to be in the know when he gets back, and Scott agrees.
—
We go to Noel next, sitting at the edge of a bed. He looks down at his hand and flips it a few times as if he's inspecting it, and we hear a soft knock on one of the support beams in the loft as Derek makes his presence known.
"Hi," he says, Noel returning a small "hi" as he lays down on the bed. Derek crawls in beside him as they both get under the covers, Derek wearing just his boxers while Noel is in a t-shirt and pajama bottoms. Neither seems to care about what the other is or isn't wearing as they face each other and join hands between their bodies.
After a few beats of just watching one another, Derek's hand raises up and tucks a stray curl behind Noel's ear, mentioning conversationally "Your hair's getting long. Maybe after we finish unpacking we should get you to a barber."
"I almost died today, Derek," Noel says, ignoring the comment on his hair and getting to brass tacks. Derek doesn't seem surprised, nodding and saying casually "Yeah. You did."
Noel smiles, laughing as his eyes fill with tears. Derek instantly pulls him into his arms, Noel still laughing through his cries as he wipes his eyes. Derek kisses his forehead and rests his lips against it, closing his eyes as he says soothingly "Hey... It's alright now. You're okay, you're here with me, you're alive and you're safe."
"I almost died and we're talking about unpacking my things and getting haircuts," Noel says with a sniffle, as Derek laughs as well and uses his nose to nudge Noel up to look at him.
Their eyes meet and Derek relaxes his head, just watching Noel for a second before he says "If you're alive and safe and in my arms, all I want to talk about forever is unpacking and haircuts. No werewolves, no diseases, no hunters, nothing like that. Just you, and how badly you need a haircut."
"Is it that bad?" Noel asks as he blinks away what's left of his tears, Derek shaking his head with a fond smile as he tugs Noel back in against his chest.
"No, it's not bad at all," Derek assures him, pressing kisses to the crown of Noel's head. "I kind of like it like this, long and wild with curls. You always kept it short and straight when we met."
"Short and straight was easier than having a routine," Noel admits, shaking his head to let his curls and waves bounce against the pillows. Derek laughs, holding his head still with one hand and kissing his forehead.
After a pause, he asks "You're sure you don't want to bed down in a guest room? Or I can go over on the couch. Whatever makes you comfortable."
"If you don't stop asking me that, I'm gonna sleep in a guest room just to punish you," Noel teases and pokes Derek's side, grinning at the laughter that erupts from his boyfriend's lips. He stops the laughs with a kiss, and Derek settles into the bed with his hand placed lovingly on Noel's cheek. When they part, Derek touches their noses back together and says quietly "I love you."
"I love you," Noel says back, adding "Goodnight, loser" as he rolls onto his other side to face away from Derek. Noticing the invitation, Derek curls up against Noel's back, spooning him close and laying his nose at the nape of Noel's neck. The camera zooms out, and then it's the following day, at the Yukimura residence.
—
Kira pulls out a laptop, asking if three is enough. "Depending on how many cameras they have, but I think so," Stiles says as Liam asks "Are we really doing this?"
"We're doing it. Tonight," Scott confirms, Liam confiding that he thinks it's kind of dangerous. Noel puts a hand on his shoulder, giving it a warm pat as he says "You'll get used to dangerous real quick, friend."
"Borderline idiotic will stop feeling weird to you at some point too, like it does right now, to me," Stiles says and casts a glance Scott's way. Liam asks if they've done something like this before, Kira saying that yes, they've done dangerous and idiotic things before.
"You don't have to be part of it if you don't want to," Scott tells Liam at the boy's skeptical look, but Liam tells them he's not scared.
"Well then you're borderline idiotic," Stiles teases and pats Liam's shoulder with a wink. He then turns back to Scott, pointing out that if they do this, there's no telling what's coming for them.
"How do we even know something's definitely coming?" Kira asks, Noel answering "Track record says we do something idiotic, something comes for us. Honestly, at this point, we kinda deserve it."
"That, and the tape in Garrett's bag said visual confirmation required," Scott adds, as Stiles echoes that that's what the Chemist said, money couldn't be claimed until he had proof that the three of them were dead.
"Well the idea is, what if you kill someone on the deadpool, but you can't send the proof," Scott poses, Kira answering "You don't get paid."
"How does that get us any closer to the benefactor?" Liam asks, and Noel answers "If we don't send proof, how will he know for sure that the target is dead? Especially if it's a big ticket individual."
"So if he wants visual confirmation," Liam begins, Scott finishing "He'll have to come get it himself."
Ambulances and medics open the next scene, Liam's dad fighting to get an unseen patient alive. He uses a defibrillator to no avail, and when he calls a time of death, he asks somebody to page Melissa.
We then see that the dead patient on the table is Scott.
—
Credits.
—
At the loft that night, Braeden wakes up in a bed in a room illuminated by blue moonlight. She stands and leaves the room, making her way down the hall to the main room of the loft, where Derek's bed is. She sees him asleep there and moves carefully, taking hold of his tank top and pulling it up to see a wound on his hip.
Suddenly he wakes up, grabbing her wrist and asking in a calm, even voice "What are you doin'?"
"Protecting my investment," she says, with almost a smile, as Derek gives an 'I see' nod of his head. She asks him why he isn't healing, Derek answering simply that some wounds take longer.
"And some leave scars," Braeden agrees, "but not for people like you. So what's going on?"
"Maybe I'm just tired. Had a long day yesterday, so did you," he says and rolls to face away from her. Braeden isn't having it, requesting "Derek, show me your eyes."
"You just saw them," he says nonchalantly, Braeden amending "Show me your real eyes."
Derek rolls onto his back with a sigh, staring briefly at the ceiling before looking at her. When his eyes fail to glow, she says "Okay. Now why don't you tell me what's really going on? Don't make me ask Noel, you know for a fact that he'd tell me in a heartbeat."
"I know for a fact that he would, and he'd have the best intentions while he did," Derek says fondly, but his smile fades as he looks at Braeden and contemplates what to tell her.
—
After a heartbreaking scene where Melissa "learns" that Scott has died, we see the procedure Noshiko and Kira used to stop his heart. Melissa enters the morgue and looks at Scott's body, telling the other teens and Noshiko standing there that she still hates their plan.
"I mean, this is pretty significantly terrifying, he looks dead," she says, as Noshiko takes Melissa's hand and puts it on Scott's chest. After a few seconds his heart gives two small beats, and she asks if that's enough to keep a werewolf alive.
"Enough for an alpha," Noshiko corrects, and tells Melissa they have 45 minutes. After that, Kira says she'll bring him back the same way, but Melissa says that she wants to know what'll happen if Scott stays in that state for longer than 45 minutes.
With a heavy but clinical heart, Noshiko tells her that he'll die in that case. Blackout.
—
Argent and Stiles put into the computer that Scott McCall has died and request payment. The benefactor responds asking for visual confirmation, and Argent responds 'Visual confirmation isn't possible, police coming to claim body in 40 minutes.'
The benefactor repeats that visual confirmation is required, and Argent responds 'Number one on the list is dead, I killed him, and if the wire transfer isn't completed in 40 minutes... I'm coming after you.'
—
At the loft, Braeden bandages Derek's wound gently and jokes "Should I be leaving this for Noel to do? He won't get offended that my scent is on you or anything?"
Derek looks at her and laughs, shaking his head and telling her "No, he'll just be relieved that I actually let someone take care of me for once. You're in the clear."
Satisfied with the answer, Braeden tells him "It's just a graze, but make sure it doesn't get infected."
He inspects the bandages and starts to put his shirt back on, as Braeden notes "That's probably something you've never had to worry about before, is it?" Derek shakes his head, Braeden asking "So it's everything then. No glowing eyes, no healing?"
"Smell, hearing, speed... Everything," Derek confirms, Braeden adding "Strength?"
"I could still win a fight," Derek insists, Braeden giving him an 'oh really?' look. Derek seems offended, as Braeden puts her arm down on the table in an invitation to arm wrestle.
Derek laughs at the notion, but Braeden is completely serious, and he concedes by taking hold of her hand.
"Ready," she asks with a smile, Derek confirming with a nod and an 'mm-hmm'.
She starts to count down, but when she gets to two, she pokes Derek's wound to catch him off guard and slams his hand down onto the table. He yelps, saying with his head down "You cheated, that's- that's cheating."
"I won," she corrects, adding "When you're a human facing off against the supernatural, you need to bend the rules a little bit. I'm here to teach you how to bend."
Derek looks her in the eye, still in pain, but he manages to joke with a ghost of a smile "I'm gonna tell Noel on you."
"Good thing I already asked him for permission," Braeden fires back, finally releasing Derek's hand as he looks at it and shakes his head. With a duo like Braeden and Noel, he seems to have finally met his match.
—
At the hospital, Argent sets up some cameras and tells the teens he's there. Stiles fires up the laptops, and we see twelve security camera feeds on the screens.
—
Scott wakes up in a desaturated dream, crawling down a corridor and toppling out of a locker at the school. Liam is there, complimenting him and eliciting a chase. Scott sees a classroom with another deadpool unlocking screen, and enters his own name as a password, as "The Mute", "The Orphans", and "The Chemist" pop up as names. He says he can't kill them, but Liam argues that someone has to. Scott asks why him, since he's not a murderer, but Liam says it's because he's the alpha and a predator. He closes the laptop, and we see Liam being killed by The Mute as we cut out of the dream.
—
Down in the Hale vault, Malia looks around and ignores a call from Stiles. She tries to open a safe, and when she manages, she finds her adoption records inside. She turns around and finds Peter, who announces casually "I've got to buy a better safe."
—
Commercials.
—
Argent starts a timer as Noshiko and Melissa sit in the parking lot trying to figure out who the benefactor could be. Melissa asks why they're asking the teenagers to fight these kinds of fights, Noshiko supplying that otherwise, they'd be asking them to run and hide.
—
Stiles, Kira, Noel, and Liam watch the cameras as one glitches out, Liam being the first one to catch it. The signal cuts out, and Stiles says someone's gonna have to go check out the roof.
Kira volunteers, Noel saying "Hold on, it might not just be a normal malfunction. Someone could be trying to lure one of us out there."
"That's why I'm bringing this," Kira says and holds up her sword, Noel shrugging and saying "Okay, yeah, good plan."
"I'm coming with you," Liam tells her, and Noel tries to stop him to no avail. He looks at Stiles, who urges them to come right back, and then tells Noel "Are you ready to go pick them up at any time?"
"You know I am, Mom, don't worry your pretty little head," he jokes and nudges Stiles' side, who flaps his hands in his direction to get him away while Noel laughs.
—
Peter and Malia share a scene where he encourages her to read the records, and Lydia has a scene at the lake house with her mom where her mom reveals that she knows who Meredith is. Scott has another dream sequence where he makes note of his extra fangs, and Liam is again killed by the Mute.
—
On the roof, Kira and Liam encounter a berserker, both poised to fight as we cut to a break.
—
When we return, Argent is startled by Stiles and pulls a gun on him. Noel steps instantly between them, more as an instinct than anything, since Argent immediately lowers the gun anyway. Stiles pats Noel's back and tells him to go, and Noel jogs off as Stiles explains.
"Power's out in the whole building, I lost all the cameras, Noel's going upstairs to check it out. We think something might have happened up there with Kira that caused the power cut."
"Stay with Scott and text me if you see or hear anything," Argent instructs, checking the timer and seeing that they have eighteen minutes left.
—
At the loft, Braeden lays a gun down on the table and rattles off its make and features. Confused, Derek says gently, "I don't like guns."
"That's because you never learned to use one," Braeden argues, Derek arguing right back "Or because I've been shot. Repeatedly."
"You'll like this one," Braeden assures him and explains legal clip sizes and having to remember how many shots he's fired because running out of bullets can get him killed. "It also makes you look stupid," she adds as a stinger.
She puts the gun in Derek's hand, informing him that using a gun isn't just about pointing and shooting, because an average person can move twenty-one feet in just a second and a half. She connects that if a person wanted to, they could gut him with a knife before he has time to aim and fire.
"So with a gun, you need distance," she finishes, stepping away and inviting him to pull the gun on her. He laughs, but does, and she instantly gets the upper hand and turns it back on him. She invites him to try again, to the same result, and when he asks to try again she confirms that she can do this all day.
He humorously agrees with her, and with the new proximity of him reaching to take the gun from her, he takes it and instantly points it at her stomach. She looks offended, saying "You cheated."
"I'm learning to bend," he corrects, winking at her and backing away as she squares her jaw with a smile and the scene ends.
—
Malia and Peter discuss the lack of information in her adoption file, and we're back on the roof. Liam growls and lets his eyes glow as the berserker approaches, attacking and finding himself thrown against a fence almost instantly.
When Kira also gets taken down, Noel bursts out of the hospital and onto the roof, roaring as he rushes in to fight. But when he sees his friends, he instead beelines for them and calls Liam's name to wake him up.
Kira, half-conscious, has a brief flashback to assuring Scott that their plan will work. She's then woken up by Liam as Noel stands in front of them both, yelling bitterly "Kate! Kate, if you can hear me, come up here and get me yourself!"
Inside, however, Kate enters the morgue, throwing her brother in and greeting Stiles with a smile.
—
"Get out of the way, Stiles, I'm taking the body," she says, and when Stiles asks if it's for visual confirmation, she says "Don't worry, handsome, I'm not the benefactor."
"Then what do you want with the body," Chris asks, Kate not giving an answer again as Argent puts his gun under her chin.
"I always forget you carry two," she notes, and Malia and Peter share another scene where he details how he felt living all six years of his coma consciously and gives Malia a hint as to who her birth mother is.
—
Noshiko and Melissa encounter a berserker and Natalie gives Lydia her grandmother's ashes. Lydia tells her that they aren't her ashes, they're mountain ash, and discovers that the whole building is made of mountain ash.
—
Argent yells at Kate to back off, and when she doubts that he'll use the gun, he insists he will and tells her he won't let her take Scott's body.
Stiles suggests that they discuss their sibling squabble elsewhere, as Argent tells her that they have a plan that'll save them all, including her. He tells her to take the berserkers and go, as we return to the roof.
—
Kira and Noel fight the berserkers and tell Liam repeatedly to run, but the beta is furious, storming at the berserker and taking a swing. Before we can see him make contact, we cut to black.
—
Scott has yet another dream sequence, in which he violently kills Liam and his eyes glow red. Suddenly he awakens in the real world with a scream, surrounded by his friends. Kira takes hold of him and kisses him, and when Scott asks if it worked, Liam comes in to tell Kira that her mother got hurt.
—
Kate returns to Peter and tells him he was right, and that Scott is still alive. Peter thanks God, and we cut to Stiles' house. He and Malia share a scene where they discuss Peter and how she thinks she remembers wanting her family dead the night of the accident.
—
At the loft, Derek is asleep on the couch and Braeden is in the bed. He wakes up to the sound of footsteps, sitting up and looking over at the door on high alert. The door slides open and the jangling of keys are heard, as Noel steps in and quietly closes the door behind him.
"Hey," Derek greets quietly, Noel turning and greeting in return with a smile "Hey."
"How'd it go?" he asks, Noel shaking his head simply as he walks to Derek. He sees Braeden asleep in the bed, raising an eyebrow as Derek explains "I... Kind of lost a bet."
"You had the gall to bet the use of our bed against a trained highly qualified assassin?" Noel asks, Derek looking hangdog as he nods. Noel rolls his eyes, setting down his things and walking over to the table filled with guns in the loft.
"This all part of your training session?" he asks and looks at the weapons, Derek standing to join him at the table with crossed arms. He sets his hands on the edge of the table, admitting "I'm really not a fan of this whole gambit. I understand why you and Braeden are doing this, but-"
"Anything to keep you safe," Noel says firmly, taking one of Derek's hands and putting it on his cheek. Derek watches him, smiling and asking "When did that become your job?"
"When I fell in love with you," Noel says casually, smiling as Derek pulls him into a kiss.
This is Noel's last scene of the episode, followed by Scott informing Kira that the benefactor is most likely a banshee, and Lydia seeing her grandmother's final note before she died and noting that it's code.