The chapter opened with a flashback to the morning after the Manuscript Halloween party, when Alex woke at Black Elm with an increasingly intimate Darlington unintentionally touching her while asleep. She shut it down, and he realized he had been drugged; Alex had already decided to soften her official report to protect Manuscript in exchange for a future favor.

In the present, Alex returned to Manuscript and met Mike Awolowo in their tomb. She demanded repayment: a way to pull back a not-yet-viral video of Mercy being exploited. Mike explained media thresholds and proposed attempting a reversal of the Full Cup ritual, which Manuscript used to boost projects. He warned it required gathering members and time, and Alex agreed, despite violating Lethe protocol.

Mike questioned whether this was Lethe business; Alex did not answer. He provided Alex with Starpower, a cursed-lake salt that would make her exceptionally convincing for under an hour, and asked her to find the Merity source. Alex criticized Manuscript’s power hoard but pocketed the drug with a threat against misuse on her.

Alex went to the Omega house where Blake Keely lived. After swallowing Starpower, she entered and, with its influence, enlisted a pledge, Gio, and another brother, Jason, to take her to Blake. She cut power to Blake’s game, demanded his phone, and under the drug’s sway he obeyed. She found Mercy’s video and ordered Blake to summon Jason and Rodriguez with their phones.

While Blake fetched Rodriguez, Alex deleted Mercy’s video from sent texts and purged Blake’s “Pussy Vault,” which contained numerous videos of intoxicated and drugged girls. She then wiped Jason’s phone and cleared Rodriguez’s messages, though Rodriguez had already forwarded the video to others, making the spread uncertain.

Alex interrogated Blake about Merity and learned he obtained it from “a guy from the forestry school,” suggesting greenhouse access that could mimic the Greater Khingan Mountains where Merity’s plant grows. She asked about Lance Gressang and Tara Hutchins; Blake acknowledged knowing Lance but denied harming Tara. With Starpower fading and a headache building, Alex decided to escalate and told Blake they were going to “make a little movie,” implying she intended to record incriminating material.