Stiles is in his room, tossing and turning. He tries to get comfortable and then imagines that Malia is in bed next to him. It's a memory. In the memory he can't get comfortable and tells her that he always sleeps in the middle of the bed. "Not anymore," she tells him. He says he's trying to adjust. She cuddles close and puts her head on his chest, but that doesn't last long. "Yeah. I can't sleep unless I'm in the middle." "Then we spoon." Stiles tries spooning against her back, but his arm falls asleep. He rolls the other way so their back are together, but he doesn't like that either. Malia then spoons him, and Stiles declares it good. (Previously, he was distressed about Malia always being the big spoon.)

 

Stiles wakes up from the memory in his empty bed, upset.

 

Rafael McCall is in the sheriff station packaging up his gun and making his report about shooting Simon. Scott listens to him describe Simon's weapons as a Walther P88 with sound-suppressor. He heard the perp's threat and countdown and made visual confirmation that Simon had a gun to Stiles's head. Since he felt Stiles was likely to die, he responded with deadly force. 

 

He comes out of the office to find Scott waiting for him. He apologizes for having to leave for San Francisco that night because it will mean missing Scott's first lacrosse game. Scott tells him that it's no big deal. "It is to me. I'm keeping my promises this time," Raf replies. Scott looks at the gun and shells in the evidence bag, and McCall assures him that what he did was necessary. Scott asks him if he's killed anyone before. "Two other times. It's not easy taking a man's life, even someone who forces you to do it." Scott asks how he deals with it, and his dad says you look at it logically and without emotion. You compartmentalize. Scott asks how you compartmentalize, and Rafael says he used to do it by drinking. 

 

He hugs Scott. And then he tells him that when he gets back they're having a talk, because Scott and his friends are way too okay about the terrible things that happen to them. "It's like you guys know something I don't. When I get back, I'd like to be in the know." They leave.

 

Some time in the future, Scott, Liam, Kira, and Stiles are in Scott's kitchen with three laptops. Liam questions whether their plan is too dangerous. Stiles adds that it's also borderline idiotic. "Have you guys done something like this before?" Liam asks. "Something dangerous or something idiotic?" Stiles asks. "I think it's a yes to both," Kira says. Scott tells Liam that he can duck out, but Liam claims to not be scared. Stiles congratulates him on being borderline idiotic, then. 

 

Stiles warns them all that if they go through with this plan, they don't know what's coming. Kira asks how they know something is coming at all, and Scott says that the tape said visual confirmation was required. Their idea is that if you kill someone on the deadpool but can't send the proof, the Benefactor will come get the proof himself, especially if it's someone high on the list. 

 

Later that night, ER staff pull someone from an ambulance, and Liam's dad rushes to the ER. They start trying to revive the victim, but after a hit from the defibrillator he's still asystole. They try again, but the doctor calls the time of death at 21:02. He tells the staff to call Melissa, and it's revealed that Scott is dead on the table. 

 

Braeden wakes up alone in Derek's bed and spots him sleeping on the couch. She moves quietly to his side and peels up the tank top he's wearing to get a look at the gunshot wound he got saving Satomi from the assassin in the hospital. Derek grabs her wrists without appearing to wake up and then asks her what she's doing. "Protecting my investment," she replies. Derek humors her. She asks why he isn't healing, and he tells her that some wounds take longer. "And some leave scars. But not for people like you." She asks him what's really going on.

 

"Maybe I'm just tired." Derek lets go of her hands and rolls onto his side to face away from her. "Derek. Show me your eyes." "You just saw them," he says without looking at her. She asks him to show her his real eyes, and he rolls back over with a sigh. He looks at her, but his eyes don't change color. She asks what's really going on.

 

Back in the hospital, Liam's dad tells Melissa about Scott, and she screams and collapses. 

 

Flashback to Earlier in the Day

Scott is on his bed. Liam paces around in distress, while Kira and Noshiko stand at the bedside. Kira suggests that they tell Liam everything is going to be all right. Scott says everything will be all right. Liam asks Noshiko if she's done this before, but she says she's seen it done. "Is that just as good?" "No." Kira admonishes her mom for not inspiring confidence, but Noshiko wants them to understand that this is dangerous and stupid. Kira asks if she'd prefer they do it without her. 

 

Noshiko gives in and tells Kira to put her hand over Scott's heart. Kira reaches, but Scott grabs her hand to stop her. He asks Noshiko what's going to happen to him while he's out. She says it might feel like he's dreaming. "Good dreams or bad?" "I suppose that depends on you." Not terribly reassured, Scott lies back. Kira puts her hand over his heart and electrocutes him, even though she's never shown that type of control over her powers before. 

 

Present

Melissa, still sobbing, walks into the morgue and next to Scott. "I still hate this plan," she says. Stiles, Noshiko, Kira, and Liam are there with her. She complains that this is terrifying because Scott looks dead. Noshiko asks Melissa for her hand and places it on Scott's heart. Eventually, she feels a heartbeat and asks if it's enough to keep a Werewolf alive. "Enough for an alpha." They have forty-five minutes or else Scott will die for real. 

 

Stiles meets up with Chris Argent in the basement of his building. They contact the Benefactor and report that Scott is dead. "That's your assassin speak?" Stiles gripes. "I said he's dead. What more do you want?" "It was a little dry. You could've said something like, 'Target has been neutralized. The crow flies at midnight.'" Chris is not impressed. They get a reply stating that visual confirmation is required. Stiles and Chris go to type at the same time, but Chris lets Stiles do the work while he dictates. Visual confirmation isn't possible and the police are coming to claim the body in 40 minutes. The Benefactor repeats that visual confirmation is required for payment.

 

Chris starts getting into the role and gets angry. "Number one on the list is dead. I killed him. If the wire transfer isn't complete in forty minutes..." He takes over typing when Stiles can't keep up.  "I'm coming after you."

 

Back at the loft, Braeden has put a bandage on Derek's wound. She tells him it's just a graze, although it looked like a through and through when she pulled up his shirt. She warns him not to let it get infected. Derek puts his shirt back on, and she asks if all of his Werewolf powers are gone. He says that smell, hearing, speed, healing, everything. "Strength?" "I can still win a fight." Braeden then challenges him to arm wrestle, which Derek accepts but only to humor her. She counts to two and then uses both hands to slam his arm down. "You cheated! That's, that's cheating." "I won. When you're a human facing off against the supernatural, you need to bend the rules a little bit." She says she's going to teach him how to bend.

 

At the hospital, Chris attaches a transmitter to the security cameras and then calls Stiles on his wristwatch phone. Stiles, Liam, and Kira are in a hospital room with three laptops set up to monitor the cameras. Stiles hits a button and all the feeds come up.

 

Dream

Scott wakes up into a dream. He's inside a fridge in the morgue and has to crawl his way out, much like Allison saw Kate do in Season 3. He falls out of the tunnel into a hallway at school, much like Stiles's nightmares also in Season 3. Instead of finding the nemeton, though, he finds Liam, who throws a lacrosse ball at him. Scott catches it. "That's why you're team captain," Liam says. Scott used his Werewolf abilities to catch the ball. Liam then runs off. Scott follows him into a classroom and finds a laptop with the deadpool code. He enters his own name as the key, and it reveals three names: the Mute, The Orphans, the Chemist. Scott says that he can't do it, he can't kill them. (Indeed, he hasn't killed any of them and yet they are dead.) 

 

Liam is suddenly next to him and says that someone has to. Scott asks why it has to be him, and Liam answers, "Because you're the alpha." Scott claims that he isn't a murderer. "But you are a predator." "No. We're predators... but we don't have to... We don't have to." Scott doesn't quite finish quoting Derek. Scott turns away, and then behind him the Mute attacks Liam with a tomahawk to the back. Liam begs for Scott to help him, but the Mute just holds a finger to his face in a shushing motion and then kill Liam while Scott does nothing.

 

Present

Malia goes to the Hale vault and looks around. Her phone vibrates with a call from Stiles, but she ignores it. Instead she goes to the safe and breaks the handle off. Inside she finds her adoption records. Peter appears behind her. "I gotta buy a better safe." 

 

Chris waits in a hallway in the hospital. He's got a timer running on his watch. There's 28 minutes left before Scott dies. Melissa and Noshiko are outside in the parking lot watching as people come in. Melissa recognizes one as a guy who comes in every week with a new self-diagnosis. Melissa asks Noshiko why they're asking their kids to fight these kinds of fights. "Because otherwise we'd be asking them to run and hide." 

 

Stiles, Kira, and Liam are watching the camera feeds when one on the roof goes out. Kira volunteers to go check it out, and Stiles reminds her that it might not be a malfunction. She pulls out her sword, and Liam volunteers to go with her. "And you're both coming right back! Immediately!" Stiles calls after them. He shakes his head a little. "Kids." 

 

Back in the Hale vault, Peter approaches Malia and tells her that he can't let her leave with the file. She postures, and they start to circle one another. "I think I could take you," Malia says. "You've heard rumors that I'm not as strong as I used to be," Peter replies. She did. Peter punches the stone pillar behind him to prove how strong he is now. Malia reconsiders and holds out the file. "I said you can't leave with it. I didn't say you couldn't read it," Peter tells her. 

 

Lydia is up at the lake house exploring the boat house. She hears floorboard creaking behind her and quickly grabs and oar and spins, ready to strike. It turns out to be her mother. Natalie wanted to know why Lydia is up at the lake house all the time and admits to following her up there. Lydia tells her that she's trying to figure something out. "And honestly, mom, you don't  need to be involved in every single detail of my life." Natalie tells her that she just wants to help if she can.

 

Lydia gives in and shows her the picture she found of Meredith. Natalie recognizes her, much to Lydia's surprise.

 

Dream

Scott wakes up again in the morgue fridge. He crawls out into the hallway at school and finds Liam. This time when Liam throws a ball at him, Scott catches it, but his claws are out. "That's why you're the alpha," Liam says. Suddenly Scott is in the bathroom looking at himself in the mirror. He's got more fangs than he should. He noticed during quarantine but he doesn't know what it means. Liam suggests that he's becoming more of a Werewolf, but Scott thinks he's becoming more of a monster. Liam insists that it means he's growing.

 

There's a thud and then the Mute's mechanical voice says, "Evolving." Scott turns around and catches Liam as he falls forward with an ax in his back. 

 

Present

Kira and Liam go onto the roof and encounter berserkers. The transformer on the roof explodes, knocking out the power to the building. Downstairs, Chris stalks through the hallway. Stiles comes up behind him, and Chris pulls a gun on him. Stiles stops short and then reports that because of the power outage he lost all the cameras. Chris tells him to stay with Scott and text him if he sees or hears anything. They have 18 minutes left. 

 

In Derek's loft, Braeden puts a Sig Sauer P226 9mm down in front of Derek. "I don't like guns," Derek says. "That's because you've never learned to use one." "Or because I've been shot. Repeatedly." She pops the clip out and explains to him that the legal clip size in California is 10 and to always remember how many shots you fire because running out of bullets can get you killed and also make you look stupid. She grabs his wrist and puts the gun in his hand. He has close to zero interest in learning any of this but continues to humor her.

 

Braeden explains that shooting is more than just pointing and pulling a trigger. The average person can move 21 feet in 1.5 seconds, so someone with a knife can gut you before you get a shot off. With a gun, you need distance. She steps away and tells Derek to pull the gun on her. He does, and she steps in, grabs his arm, and twists the gun out of his grip. "So, yeah," Derek says, nodding in embarrassment. Braeden hands the gun back and has him do it again. Again she disarms him. Derek sighs and asks to try one more time.

 

"I can do this all day," she says. Derek steps in close and looks her in the eyes as he takes the gun back. He moves in and kisses her, then presses the gun to her stomach. "You cheated," Braeden whispers. "I'm learning to bend," Derek replies. She tugs on him, and they start kissing for real. Derek lifts her up and sets her down on the table as they strip each other's clothes off. 

 

Malia looks at her adoption records. Her birth certificate lists her as Baby Malia, implying that she was abandoned, and born on November 28, 1993. The year is wrong, because the props people forgot that the show occurs in 2012. Peter asks her if she wants to talk about it or see a family counselor. Malia claims there's nothing in the file. Peter frowns because it cost him a lot of money to get it. He then says that she's only heard one side of the story. 

 

On the hospital roof, Liam and Kira face off against the berserker. The berserker throws Liam across the roof and into a chain link fence. Kira then tries but the berserker punches her down. 

 

She enters a flashback of talking to Scott on his bed. She asks him if he's worried. Scott replies that he's just thinking that they've never actually been on a real date. She says there hasn't been time, but Scott thinks they could make time. "Even though people are dying all around us?" Scott agrees that maybe they can wait until people stop dying. They agree to see a movie and then kiss.

 

Kira wakes up to Liam calling her name. 

 

Melissa and Noshiko go to the room where the laptop were setup and find it empty. Stiles is in the morgue, pacing, calling Chris. Suddenly Chris come flying through the door. He tells Stiles to run as Kate comes through the door after him. Stiles doesn't run. Instead he stares at Kate. "Get out of the way, Stiles. I'm taking the body," Kate says. "Why? Visual confirmation?" Kate tells them that she's not the Benefactor. Chris asks her what she wants with Scott, then, but she can't say. Chris then rushes forward and puts a gun to her jaw. She smiles at him. "I always forget you carry two."

 

Malia accuses Peter of murdering people. Not killing, but murdering. He claims there were extenuating circumstances, but she doesn't think the fire is enough reason. He explain to her what it was like to be trapped in his own body with only his thoughts to drive him mad. He says that horrible, terrible things have happened and are going to keep happening, especially when there's a deadpool with her name on it. "But not yours," Malia points out. Peter says that he's not the Benefactor, he's just a guy who's out millions of dollars, a few thousand of which he used trying to help her. 

 

Peter was going to prove that he wasn't so bad by doing something nice for her, by finding her real mother. "I'm pretty interested myself as the memory was stolen from me by my sister, Talia." He says that all he's found so far is a woman with an interesting alias, The Desert Wolf. It means coyote. 

 

Melissa and Noshiko are walking through the hallways when suddenly people behind them start screaming and running. A berserker appears. Melissa asks Noshiko if she's still a kitsune. "Technically," she replies. They decide to run as well. 

 

In the boat house, Natalie gets an urn down from a shelf and hands it to Lydia telling her they are her grandmother's ashes. Her grandmother died in Eichen House. Natalie explains that her father had a difficult relationship with Grandma Martin. After the things she said, they thought she was crazy. "She said she heard things," Natalie says. Lydia asks why the ashes are in the boat house, and her mom says that grandma left instructions to have her ashes spread across the lake, but only by Lydia on her 18th birthday. Natalie figures Lydia will be 18 in a few weeks, so it's close enough.

 

Lydia opens the urn but discovers that inside is mountain ash. She takes a handful and throws it toward the water, but instead it forms a line across the end of the dock, sealing the boat house. 

 

Chris shoves the gun harder into Kate's neck and tells her to back off. Kate asks if he thinks he can really pull the trigger fast enough. He doesn't want to kill her but he's also not letting her take Scott. Stiles tries to defuse the situation by suggesting they go outside and get some coffee. They explain their plan to Kate and insist that they're trying to get to the Benefactor. They ask Kate to leave and let the plan play out, which is in her interests since she's on the list, too. She checks the time on Chris's watch. There are 3 minutes left. 

 

Liam and Kira are still fighting the berserker on the roof. Liam gets up on high ground and attacks again.

 

Dream

Scott wakes up a third time in the morgue fridge. He crawls out into the school hallway. This time when Liam says "Catch," Scott catches a tomahawk covered in blood. Scott looks down at Liam, who is whimpering and also covered in blood. "Why'd you do that?" Liam asks. The Mute takes Scott's arm. "Let me help you. Let me show you how." And then directs Scott to strike Liam. Scott attacks and splatters his face in Liam's blood. He roars and seems pleased.

 

Present

Scott surges back to life with a yell. Kira hugs him, and Stiles looks relieved. Scott asks if it worked and looks at Chris and Stiles, but they look away. Liam runs into the room and looks at Kira. "It's your mother. She's hurt." Melissa is cradling Noshiko, who has a huge gash in her side. Liam's dad runs up to help. 

 

Kate returns to her sewer lair and reports to Peter that he was right and Scott is still alive. "Thank God," Peter replies.

 

Stiles returns home to find Malia in his room looking at the deadpool list. He asks where she's been and she admits she was talking to Peter. "Okay. You think that's a good idea?" "If he can help me find my mother, I don't think I care." Stiles insists that just because she's related to him doesn't mean she's like him. Malia says that she killed her family, so maybe killing runs in the blood. She explains that before the car crash, she got in a fight with her mother and told her she wished they were all dead. "Killing doesn't run in a family," Stiles says. "Maybe it does in mine," she replies. He doesn't know how to respond, so she tapes the deadpool back up on the case board and leaves. Stiles stares at the list, and the camera appears to focus at the end on Derek name.

 

Derek wakes up next to Braeden. He eases her arm off his chest and slips out of bed. Derek walks over to the table full of guns and braces himself against it. 

 

Scott and Kira are in Kira's room. She says her mom is being taken to Palo Alto. They think she's going to be okay, but she doesn't heal like she used to. Kira says she needs to go be with her mom. Scott is okay with that. He has to go back to the hospital too since they ruled him dead when he clearly wasn't. Kira wishes their plan had worked. Scott says he thinks maybe it did. They might know a lot more about the Benefactor now. "But no one came. No one got visual confirmation, right?" "That's why it might have worked. Think about it. Who has the power to know when someone's dead but doesn't need to see the body to know it happened?" "A banshee."

 

Back at the boat house, Natalie gives Lydia a note which was the last thing Grandma Martin wrote before she died. Lydia opens the note, and it's another cipher. Lydia stares. "Are you absolutely sure Grandma's dead?" Natalie looks at her. "She has to be."