🪐

Josh stands at the exam table, where the Dread Doctor mask that Theo stole from Valack is sitting. Josh stares at the mask with both curiosity and horror then finally glances up and looks at Theo who is standing by Rayne with his arm around her hips.

"You want me to put it on?" Josh asks and Theo and Rayne glance at Tracy
"You won't die if you put it on..." She says
"Great pep talk." Rayne mutters and Theo smiles before tucking his head into the crane of her neck and kissing it before turning back to Josh.

"How do you know that? Or is it just that you don't want to put it on yourself?" Josh says
"Or you?" He looks at Theo
"I'm not afraid to do it, Josh. I'm just not stupid." Theo says.

"Are you not getting that it could kill us? You're the one with the power!" Tracy says
"They want you to wear it, Josh, because the properties of the mask are based in electromagnetism. Pick it up, and you'll see." Deucalion says as he sits up leaned against the wall.

"What is this thing?"
"The product of genius and madness-- two traits too often found in the same mind."
"The man who created the first was known only as 'The Surgeon.' Using practices in the farthest edges of pseudoscience, he harnessed electromagnetic fields in the masks, infusing them with a unique and deadly power." And Josh puts the mask closer and closer to his face.

"I'm not putting this thing on. You want to know who it is? Do it yourself." Josh says putting it down
"Well, this was completely pointless. I'm going." Rayne says and leaves Theo's arms
"Where are you going?" He asks.

"To go see my dad." She says
"More like her friends." Tracy says
"Tracy. I get it. You're obsessed with me, I'm hot I understand. If it makes you feel better Theo and I are looking for a third." Rayne says and Theo and Tracy's eyes widen.

"Bye now." She says and walks out.

"I really didn't need to know that." Deucalion says.

🪐

"Hey, dad." Rayne says as she walks in
"Hey." He sighs as he sits down on the couch
"So how's everything?" She asks as she sits beside him and he puts her arm around her.

"Parrish is staying and we need to find whoever this 'Beast' is." He says
"What about you?" He asks
"My boyfriend wants his pack to put on a deadly mask that melted a guy's face off." She says.

"Oh- okay." He says.

"Rayne?" He asks
"Yes?"
"We haven't talked about it." He says and she looks up at him.

"There's nothing to talk about." She says
"Rayne, you killed yourself. You were at that point where you felt like you needed to do that." He says and she looks down at her hands
"I'm not mad at you. I'm worried about you." He says.

"What I saw when I was dead was heartbreaking. I saw Erica, Boyd, Aiden." She says and he holds her hand
"I also saw me." She says
"I saw a little girl, her name was Acalia." She says and he looks at her.

"You know when you try or even kill yourself, you kill the last part of your childhood. That last bit of happiness you had, last bit of innocence." She says
"I wanted to stay. I really did. But when saw you were dying. I couldn't do it. I needed to make sure you were okay and that you lived." She says.

"I love you, Rayne." He says
"I love you too, dad." She hugs him.

🪐
Rayne's outfit

🪐

Rayne and the others stand around the kitchen table in Scott's house while they come up with a plan
"Our dad's got an APB out." Rayne says
"For a 5'8" sixteen-year-old?" Kira asks
"I recommended nine-foot-tall rampaging werewolf..." Stiles says.

"It still might not be him..." Liam says and everyone gives him a sympathetic look
"But, Hayden's at the school looking." He says
"I can keep checking the woods." Malia says.

"My mom can check all the hospitals in the county." Scott says and the pack all turns to face him, looking surprised and relieved that he's healed and seemingly fine. Then Scott sees the anxious look on Liam's face, his face becomes reassuring
"We can find him." He says.

"What happens then?" Liam asks
"We figure out a way to save him." Liam looks even more relieved by this answer, as do the others, and the pack starts to get back into their planning phase.

"Okay. Where else could we look?" Lydia asks
"Let's ask Corey!" Scott says and the other frown in confusion, which quickly turns to shock when Scott reaches over toward a cupboard and roughly yanks on what looks like air, which turns into Corey, who has apparently been invisibly eavesdropping on their entire conversation. Corey looks frantic when he sees the appalled expressions on their faces and immediately becomes defensive.

"Wait! WAIT! It's not my fault! They took him, and I couldn't do anything. They took him!" Corey shouts
"Who?" Rayne asks
"The Dread Doctors." He says.

"Oh for fuck sake." She says
"I'll be back." She says
"Where are you going?" Stiles asks.

"To see the peak of stupidity." She says.

🪐

"Hey, I'm back. How's everything goi- what the fuck!" Rayne shouts as she sees Josh's dead body is still laying on the staircase and Theo standing in front of the table with the Dread Doctor mask resting on top, while Deucalion and Tracy stand behind him.

"This kind of power requires risk, Theo. Do it. Put on the mask. Discover the Beast's identity and guarantee your place as an Alpha. As a real werewolf." Deucalion says and Theo takes a deep breath before slowly picking up the mask and is about to put it on.

"The fuck do you think you are doing?" Rayne asks and he turns to her
"Discovering the Beast's identity." He says
"You said you weren't stupid enough to put it on." She says.

"Well, thanks to our guest I have Josh's power. I can do it." He says
"This 'advice' is coming the mad man who beat by a fucking teenager who hadn't stopped going through puberty. I don't think we should be taking advice from him, especially if it involves that mask." She points to it and he walks to her.

"Rayne. You have to trust me." He says
"Trusting you isn't issue. It's your stupidity of listening to that bastard." She motions to Deucalion
"No offence taken." Deucalion mutters.

"Rayne, don't to save your friends and family. If I find out who it is they can be saved." He lightly touches her arm but she pulls
"You know, you saying is just proving that you care about power. Because you're the one who killed Scott in the first place. But we were both wrong." She says.

"You are that fucking stupid. Put the mask on Theo, I don't care what happens." She walks up the steps
"And for the love of god don't leave him here. He was person. He wasn't stupid." She says and leaves.

"Come on, Theo. You're not letting her ruin your claim to power. Once you save her friends and family she will run into your arms in an instant." Deucalion says and Theo takes a deep breath and puts it on.

The mask snaps itself onto Theo's head and squeezes it tight, causing Theo to scream in pain and claw at the mask as though it wants to take it off. He falls onto the floor and leans his back against the wall as he's overwhelmed by everything he can see. Tracy and Deucalion both watch him curiously in anticipation.

🪐

Rayne, Scott and Liam are walking down the hallway toward the locker room while they talk about what they're about to do
"How stupid are we to be doing this?" Liam asks
"We're not stupid. We're desperate." Scott says
"Stupid and desperate." Rayne concludes.

"How desperate?" Liam asks and Scott stops just as he's about to push the locker room door open and sighs
"Incredibly desperate." He says. The three of them walk into the room, where they find Theo and Tracy waiting for them. Theo looks smug at the fact that they've been forced to come to him.

"I told you we'd end up on the same side." He says and Liam gives him a fake smile
"How about I punch you in the balls to remind you we're not?" He asks and Theo genuinely laughs at this remark, but Tracy just scowls at Scott and Liam.

"I love this kid." He says
"I don't." Tracy says
"And no one likes you yet here we are." Rayne says.

"We know you're not on our side, Theo. You said you wanted to help Lydia, but you left Eichen with something else, didn't you?" Scott says
"You mean the mask? Are you worried about that?" Theo asks
"Did you put it on?" Scott asks and Theo stays silent.

"You stupid fuck." Rayne scoffs.

"Who did you see?" Scott asks
"Not Mason." He says
"What does that mean? It's not him?" Liam asks.

"It probably means he's a lost cause." Tracy says
"You're a lost cause. I mean what is the point of her. She is just a ball of bad energy." Rayne says and the rest of them ignore them.

"We all want the same thing. We want Mason back." Theo says
"Okay, but the difference is that we want him back alive." Scott says
"Well, I'm open to compromise. You still got the map with the telluric currents on it?" Theo asks and then Scott gives a hesitant nod.

"Bring it to the operating theater in two hours." Theo says and Rayne, Liam and Scott leave the locker room
"How desperate are we?" Liam asks.

"Incredibly."

🪐

Rayne, Liam and Scott walk into the theatre to see Theo is standing alone in front of the now-empty tank where the body was previously held in green fluid as they join him.

"They called him Der Soldat. That's German for 'The Soldier.; I'm pretty sure he fought in World War II." Theo says
"And he was a Nazi?" Scott asks
"And an Alpha werewolf. The Dread Doctors were using him to prolong their lives. They've been doing it for decades. Actually, probably longer." Theo says.

"How old are these guys?" Liam asks
"Who knows? But wherever they go, he goes, too." He says
"So how do we find him?" He asks.

"Keeping him alive requires a pretty unique set of conditions. There's got to be a power source, it has to be underground..." Theo says
"And on a telluric current." Scott says and he hands him the map
"Looks like we're going for a hike." Theo says.

"Are we seriously skimming over the fact that was a Nazi?" Rayne asks.

🪐

Rayne, Theo and Scott are leading the hunting party while Liam, who knows Mason's scent best, follows behind. After a moment, Scott glances over at Theo and gives him a knowing look.

"Where is he?" Scott asks
"I thought we were looking for him?" Theo plays dumb
"You know who I'm talking about." Scott says.

"Deucalion?" Theo says
"You shouldn't trust him." Scott says
"And you're the one who let him live." Theo argues.

"I'm not a murderer." Scott disagrees
"You still think you're gonna get through this without killing anyone?" Theo asks
"I didn't say that." Scott says.

Liam stops walking, leading the others to stop as well
"We're close." Liam says
"You get his scent?" Rayne asks and Liam nods
"Which way?" Theo asks and Liam glares at Theo before turning to Scott, clearly unwilling to trust him enough to share this information.

Theo realizes this, he scoffs again in frustration
"You think you're going to leave me behind?" Theo asks and Liam continues to glare at Theo while remaining silent, and Scott tries to reason with him
"Liam..."

"Look, he wants to kill him-" Liam starts to say
"I just want his power! You want to fight someone that actually wants to kill Mason? Go fight Parrish." Theo says.

"Who did you see when you put on the mask?" Liam asks
"I already told you, it wasn't Mason." Theo says
"Who was it?" Rayne asks.

"I saw a man dying in the snow. He was impaled on a spear." Theo says
"It's called a pike. Lydia told us the story." Scott says
"Then both of you know what it means. Time's running out." He says and then turns back to Liam.

"Where is he, Liam? What direction?" Theo says and Liam looks at Scott and Rayne who give him a look. Liam then sighs before saying
"This way." And then the four keep walking and following Mason's scent until they come upon a small cabin in the middle of the woods. Liam is eager to go inside, but Scott grabs him by the wrist to stay his hand when he tries to open the door.

"Listen." He says and they all focus their hearing and pick up the sound of a heart beating relatively quickly, which Liam immediately recognises.
"It's him." He says and they rush inside the cabin and down the steps, with Liam leading the group.

"Mason?" He says and they make it down and are all relieved to find Mason sitting on the floor with his head dropped down toward his knees. His back is leaning against the large green tank with Der Soldat floating inside inside it. However, when they crowd around Mason, their relief turns to horror when they realize something is wrong with him. Mason is breathing quick, shallow breaths as Scott's eyes travel from the plug in his neck to the tank and realizes what is happening.

"It's connected to him..."
"This is creepy. Even for me." Rayne mutters.

Scott and Liam are still nearly around the half-conscious Mason, trying to figure out how to disconnect him from the plug in his cervical spine while Theo and Rayne stand nearby and watches.

"What is this thing?" Scott asks
"I don't know." Theo says
"Liam, I can feel it... It's in my skull." Mason whimpers in pain but keeps his head dropped down so that his chin is against his chest, and Scott and Liam look panicked and at a loss for what to do as they continue to examine the plug.

"Don't move." He says and reaches his hand to touch the plug in Mason's neck
"Careful..." Liam looks up at Theo with a horrified expression
"What are they doing to him?" Liam asks
"I don't know!" Theo exclaims.

"Guys, let's focus." Scott says and moves so he's in front of Mason to look him in the eyes as best as he can
"Mason, we're gonna get you out of here." He says and Mason nods weakly as Scott turns to Liam, though it's obvious that Scott is concerned that he has no idea what they're doing.

"Hold him still." Scott moves around so he's behind Mason in preparation to try to unplug Mason from the tank
"Okay. All right. I'm going to try to pull it out. Let me know if it hurts." Scott says and Liam holds onto Mason as Scott reaches for the plug, wrapping his hand around the base of it and holding Mason's neck with his other hand to stabilize it. However, Mason starts to groaning loudly in pain as soon as Scott grabs it, and Scott quickly lets go.

"It hurts!!" He screams and Scott immediately lets go out of fear of hurting Mason more and looks at Liam apologetically, though it's obvious that he's extremely worried about their current situation.

"I barely moved it..." He says and then suddenly, they're all distracted by the clicking, skittering sound of the Dread Doctors approaching them and instantly become panicked.
Rayne, Scott, Liam, and Theo are looking around at each other in horror as the Dread Doctors approach them, and Theo gets a dawning realization.

"They wanted us here." Theo says and Scott turns to Liam as he starts to come up with a quick game plan
"Liam, try to get that thing out of Mason's neck." Scott says and Liam prepares to do as he's told as the Dread Doctors close in on them.

"Theo... Theo Raeken..." They says
"He's coming with us." Theo says
"Failure. Theo Raeken..." They say.

"I'm not a failure." Theo objects while Liam tries to help Mason and the Doctors are still slowly approaching them
"Not a complete failure. We learned from you." The doctor says
"Theo, he's trying to get to you. This is what they want! Don't give it to them! We can't beat them." Scott says.

"The mark of a true failure-- repeating the same mistake again and again." They say
"We're taking Mason." Theo says
"And then, I'm taking what's mine." He says and transforms
"Let him go." He says.

"You have the entitlement and narcissism typical of your generation. In that, you are a profound success." The doctor says
"Scott! Scott, I... I can't get it out. I don't know what to do." Liam says and Scott rushes over to Liam to help him.

"But your failure taught us one thing-- the banality of evil. That you were and would always be an ordinary evil." They say
"You think I'm ordinary?" Theo asks
"We believed that to resurrect the perfect killer, we had to start with the perfect evil. From you, we learned true evil only comes by corrupting something truly good." He says.

One of them reaches out his gloved hand, his fingertips glowing blue as he prepares to shock Theo, but the Chimera responds by punching him in the chest and head repeatedly, though his blows do little to him aside from pushing him backward slightly. Liam looks back and forth between the fight that has just broken out and Mason, eventually deciding to stand to his feet and join Theo.

When Scott realizes what he's about to do, he stands to stop him
"Liam, wait!" But it was too late, because Liam has just attempted to hit the other with a left cross, which she easily blocks. Theo continues his battle with the Pathologist and Rayne helps him. Mason, who is becoming more anxious by the second, shouts to Liam as loudly as he can without moving his head.

"Liam!" He shouts
"LIAM!" He shouts even louder. By that time Scott has joined the fight to help Liam fight the doctor, who shoves him across the room where he lands on the ground. At a loss for options, Mason grabs the plug in the back of his head with his right hand to stabilize it as he slowly rises to his feet, though the Dread Doctors don't immediately notice due to their distraction from the fight. Liam is thrown across the room, where he lands on top of the still-recovering Scott, and Theo's eyes widen in alarm and fear when he realizes that he's now severely outnumbered.

However, he still lunges for the Surgeon, shoving him backwards toward the wall as he grabs Theo in a choke-hold. Rayne, Liam, Scott, and the Dread Doctors all turn their heads toward Mason as he finally stands upright, groaning in agony loudly as he does so. He finally manages to rip the plug out of his neck, leaving a bloody wound behind, and the Dread Doctors manage to look shocked at this newest development.

"Transformation..." They say
"Transformation without frequency..." They repeat
"Mason!" Liam shouts as Mason's eyes suddenly turn entirely bright glowing blue as he growls at them.

"That's not... my name..." He says and shadow completely envelope Mason until he has transformed into the Beast.

🪐

Rayne's back hits the wall with a groan as she looks to her left to see Scott and Liam have just been thrown across the room, one after the other, and they land tangled up in a pile just as the Beast rips out the Geneticist's throat, leaving her twitching and bleeding out on the ground before she dies.

Theo watches in horror as the Beast lifts the Pathologist up in the air in a choke-hold before literally ripping his head off and allowing it to roll across the room until it lands at the boys' feet. As the Beast backhands Theo so hard he's thrown backward into the staircase as the Beast corners the Surgeon, who makes his final observation
"Success." He says and the Beast roars and shoves his hand in the Surgeon's abdomen before dragging him outside, causing the overwhelmed Scott and Liam to follow after them.

The boys and Rayne make it outside just in time to see the Beast drop the Surgeon on the ground before Parrish, who is on fire and in full Hellhound-mode, leaps forward and punches the Beast in the chest. Immediately afterward, gunshots are heard as Gerard and Argent appear, the former shooting with a shotgun and the latter using a handgun as they pump the Beast full of bullets. The gunfire eventually causes the Beast to turn back into a human, but everyone in the vicinity is shocked and horrified when they see that the human is not Mason, but Sebastien, the original Beast.

"La Bête du Gévaudan!" Gerard says
"I know your name. Do you remember mine?" He asks
"Argent." Sebastien says and runs away as fast as he can, and Rayne, Scott and Liam, who have no idea what is going on, look at Argent with incredulous expressions.

"Who the hell was that?" Scott asks
"You've seen the Beast of Gévaudan. That was the Man." Gerard says and they all look at Argent
"Sebastien Valet." He says.

"Oh great." Rayne says.