With the ex-NextWorld employees taken capture by the Crucibles now willing to cooperate, the media and the FBI are aghast at the sudden news-bombshell dropped upon their laps. Within hours, public favor shifts in Orpheus' direction as the innocence of the "fugitives" is laid bare for the public to see.

Kate Dennison, John Carruthers and Hoyt Masterson choose to go public and form a new company called Lazarus Redux, knowing that the spirits of those who have not moved on shall need help. Fully aware of the threat that exists against them, Kate also sees Lazarus Redux as a means to gain the media's attentions and to have the media see what they prefer the media to see. "To use the media to misinform the enemy who has been one step ahead of us all this time," Kate muses.

With Vincent Fiorello opting to visit the Mayor again, Andrew Everard and Robert Channing have a few close calls with Reapers. Feeling spite growing deep within them, the two choose to hold on to their true selves and protect that wish is important to them. With creative use of their Horrors, the two discover the whereabouts of the four men who had kidnapped Bobby's father and Andrew's Father figure. Accompanied by Chet Mason and John Carruthers, the four take the Death Merchants down and arrive before the two kidnapped men. But with Andrew having foreboded earlier the fact that Mr. Channing, Bobby's father, is actually possessed by a Skin-Rider, and the additional complication of the two kidnapped men being on top of a pressure sensitive explosive, the crucible ponders on how to save the men without leaving themselves open to retaliation.