Bob frets uncomfortably in the Night City hospital with the Screamsheet in his lap. A small ad in the social section invites people to pay last respects to Aristotle Chan of the Tai Shan Import Company. He calls around to find out what people are doing, and learns that Angel and Jade were killed outside the bar last night by a sniper of some sort. Bob wrings his hands at his situation, feeling acutely how vulnerable he is here in the hospital tied to all these machines and monitors. With a deep breath, he resolves to settle the matter once and for all if he can. He winces as he peels the sticky monitor sensors off his arms and chest, and slowly eases himself out of his bed and into his clothes. Screamsheet in hand, he resolves to visit the funeral and confront Hermes.

As Bob exits his room, he is spotted by Van Ngo, Dr. Ngo to some, who has been peeking into the room Bob is officially registered in, though thanks to Fix it isn't the room he's actually in. Van catches Bob out of the corner of his eye and chases him down. An old accquaintence from the bar and a few parties, Van is a software engineer and member of the Open Intelligence movement, a loose collection of programmers, theorists, and activists promoting the evolution and freedom of AIs as the first electronic species. Van heard through the grapevine that Bob had been hurt, so he came to visit. After some terse conversation, Bob shimmies out of the hallway, leaving Van confused and concerned. He resolves to get to the bottom of the situation and help his friend if he can.

Across town, the morning light streams onto the emerald grounds of the Sacred Heart Funeral home and cemetary. A procession of Asians dressed in white and black solemnly hold service for their fallen friend. Far away from the crowd on a lonely rise at the edge of the cemetary, a gaunt, middle-aged gentlement stands watchfully in a white on white suit. Bob appears on the grounds and spots him immediately. Will Hermes kill him on the spot, or will respect for the services in progress stay his gun? Bob doesn't know, but too many of his friends have died in the last 72 hours, so he turns toward the hill and begins limping his way up the slope, and ironic gesture in this cemetary, being mummified himself from his wounds.

Bob approaches Hermes, who greets him cooly but politely. Bob asks Hermes if there is any way he can convince Hermes to stop his killing, and how far things have to go until he's satisfied that their blood debt is paid. Hermes is cold and uncooperative, stating flatly that they have crossed a line and killed someone who came to them in peace. That they drew first blood and now he would finish them all. Bob probes further, hoping his final card will convince Hermes, selling out D as Aristotle's sole murderer. Hermes is unconvinced, and deserts Bob on the hill, he wounds being too severe to allow him to follow at more than a crawl. Bob wrings his fists in frustration. The deaths of his friends and especially his own brutal death loom over him and he darkly descends the hill trying to come up with a plan to avert disaster.

Yet below and around the cemetary, others are at work trying to influence this situation and others themselves. Shiv is in the parking lot casing the area, Fix is with the crowd giving his "respects," and a mysterious man named Deadline is floating through the scene mumbling notes into a handsfree cellular mic. Deadline is a freelance reporter, and recent rumors of gang like violence connected to the Tai Shan Import Company hasbrought him to this place to see first hand what is going on and then possibly publish the story on the net.

The ceremony finishes, and while Fix and Deadline pick their ways through the dispersing crowd, Shiv selects a single Chinese lady who he saw in the front row of the services and tails her back to her burbplex. As she gets out of her Lexus in front of her home, Shiv dismounts his bike and approaches her switfly and deliberately. Flashing his gun, he orders her to get inside or he'll shoot her dead on the spot. Once inside, he interrogates the startely and frightened lady about Aristotle and Hermes, discovering that Hermes is a friend of her uncle Terrance, a senior partner at the company. Aristotle was not a relation, but a trusted friend of the family and loyal employee. Shiv then forces her to call her uncle. When she's connected, Shiv snatches the phone and with gun out and levelled at the girl, he tells Terrance to call off the killing or he'll shoot Angela.

"You've gotten three of mine, and I have one of yours now. I admit. We started this, and for that we're sorry, but we're not taking any more. You can keep coming for us, but from here on I'm going to be coming for you, and I can start with your niece here. After that, we can go back and forth until everyone's dead. Is that what you want?"

Terrance is speechless on the other end of the line. Shiv tells him that he'll give Angela back if he agrees to call off Hermes and stop the war. Terrence resists, and Shiv ensures Terrence luridly that he's willing to start his part of the war right away. Terrence relents, and the two come to agreement over a location to meet: the Kimura Commercial Center, a mall downtown.

Shiv takes and Angela and meets up with Vincent and Fix and they drive to the mall. Once there, they spot Terrence and an aide in the food court waiting for them. Shiv approaches Terrence, and they talk for a moment. Shiv assures Terrence again that he's willing to kill everyone in the Tai Shan company and all their relatives if he has to, just as Hermes is certain to kill all of the gang and their friends. Terrence agrees, and promises to stop Hermes. He calls Hermes on his cell phone, and orders Hermes to stand down, right there on the phone in front of Shiv. Shiv nods his pleasure, and asks Terrence how he can be trusted. "You can't trust me any more than I can trust you, Shiv, but what else do we have to go on? You're protecting yours, and I'm protecting mine. Let's hope that's enough to keep both sides away from eachother from here on." Shiv shrugs his consent and releases Angela to Terrence and leaves the mall.

After a brief chase with the police who are tracking the Lo-Jack in Angela's Lexus, Shiv is able to elude his persuers and fade into the night.