A gravely injured Michael is being wheeled into an infirmary emergency room, the Empyrean shard still firmly lodged in his abdomen. Alex is sick with worry but is being pushed outside to give the medical staff room to work.

He doesn’t get a chance to dwell on it, as a team of Blues comes to arrest Alex for desertion of duty. When Alex realizes that he would have to strip off his clothes as he is being processed, the only way out he sees is by head-butting an officer to be thrown into solitary confinement.

Hours later, Michael is lying in a hospital bed with a sleeping Becca sitting vigil beside him. In the quiet hours of the night, a mysterious, dark figure steps closer, takes the bandage off the wound and drips molten pinfeather into it. Michael’s brow furrows and his eyes open ever so slightly when the wound starts to close.

Michael recuperates back in the Stratosphere tower from the injury that is now fully healed. But there’s a new threat looming — a blond woman in leather armor with an ancient looking double-bladed sword. She can only just wield it to threaten Michael before he stops her in mid-stride.

This is Uriel, another archangel and Michael and Gabriel’s sister. She knows that the Chosen One has been revealed and she tells Michael to meet him up north.

Claire visits Bixby in the hospital, and Bixby tells Claire that the Chosen One has come back but was taken away in handcuffs. What neither of them realizes is that Senator Frost is being treated one bed over and overhears when Bixby refers to the Chosen One.

In the next Senate meeting, Frost stirs up the members by corroborating the rumor that the Chosen One is in Vega. David Whele promptly quells the notion, ridiculing Frost in the process.

Gabriel, Michael and Uriel hold their secret meeting “up north”, which turns out to be the ruins of San Francisco. Uriel has come back after twenty-five years of absence and is urging her brothers to stop fighting. She’s remained neutral until now; her choosing a side could very well decide the fate of humanity.

In his dark, desolate prison cell, Alex has a vision. Water is dripping onto his naked torso, making the tattoos bleed off his skin in dark rivulets like ink on paper. The drops on the floor form a message. “She died for you,” it spells. He wakes up when his door opens and Claire enters.

She tells him she can pull some strings and get Alex out of prison, but he doesn’t want her to. It’s safer with him locked up, he doesn’t want any more of his friends being put in harm’s way.

Arika and Noma share an intimate moment as Noma is waiting for her shift change to guard Arika. Arika has the suspicion that Noma is hiding something important, which Noma isn’t ready to reveal. She offers Noma a position as her personal guard for when she goes back to Helena.

David Whele and General Riesen meet inside one of the Agri-towers, having been summoned there by Senator Frost. Frost is adamant that the Chosen One should be revealed to him and holds them hostage until they do, threatening to flood the Agri-tower with them in it if they don’t.

In the Archangel Corps dorms, Alex confesses to Ethan that he’s been seeing Claire Riesen. They never finish their conversation when a lieutenant starts to mobilize the troops to help resolve the hostage situation at the Agri-towers.

When word of Frost’s extortion attempt gets to the Senate, the remaining leaders of the city are in upheaval. Becca tries to defuse the explosive atmosphere, but it’s Claire Riesen who brings order to chaos. In General Riesen’s absence, Becca appoints her Lady of the City pro tem. Claire confers with William and Becca, and they come to the conclusion that the Archangel Corps should be sent in.

Meanwhile, Frost keeps negotiating with Riesen and Whele, demanding to speak to the Chosen One. David urges Frost to be reasonable and let them out, but Frost won’t hear any of it and stresses his resolve by shooting David in the thigh.

Alex is one of the first responders at the scene and asks to be sent in to negotiate with Frost. His lieutenant won’t allow it until Claire steps in. Inside, when Alex takes off his shirt to reveal the tattoos to Frost, he takes it for a hoax. It’s only when Alex repeats what he saw in his vision and says, “She died for you,” that Frost relents and switches off the water supply. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief until General Riesen picks up the gun and shoots the senator in the head.

Later that night, in an honest talk with Claire, Alex is appalled that Frost will now be remembered as a madman, but Riesen’s political genius comes in again to rewrite history into making Frost a hero. And finally Alex accepts that his gift can help, that he needs Michael to guide him on his new path.

In Gabriel’s aerie, Uriel pits Gabriel against Michael. Previously she told Michael that he would have her sword, now she tells Gabriel that Michael has lost his way and that she will stand with Gabriel if he helps the humans destroy themselves.

The episode ends with David Whele sitting by Bixby’s sleeping form in her hospital bed. He injects something into her IV and holds her hand as her heart rate speeds up and the heart monitor eventually flatlines.

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