Sevro confronts and beats Quicksilver, dismissing his claim to be a Son of Ares. Quicksilver persists, while Darrow watches the interrogation strain his friendship with Sevro, whose creed is to protect friends at any cost.

Pressed about Matteo, Quicksilver reveals Matteo is his husband and the stylist who trained Darrow after the Carving. Darrow steps into the light, recognizing the truth, but Sevro remains skeptical. Quicksilver explains the Sons’ highColor/lowColor compartmentalization after Fitchner’s lead, and Darrow tests him by asking for Tinos’s location. Quicksilver passes with precise details and declares he funded and built Tinos, then recounts employing Fitchner as an off-book enforcer before becoming his co-conspirator.

Quicksilver argues he used soft power because his spread-out private security could not face Peerless Scarred head-on. He rebukes Sevro’s post-Fitchner insurgency as chaotic and counterproductive, calling Sevro a bad investment. The critique stings, exposing the human cost and strategic failures since Darrow’s supposed execution.

Quicksilver then describes a recent attempt to broker peace: bringing Mustang and the Sovereign’s envoys to remove the Jackal and grant Mustang Mars, a plan now ruined. Admitting he misjudged the Jackal, he lays out his capitalist, pro-innovation rationale for overthrowing Gold and commits fully to Darrow’s cause.

Offering hackers, security teams, transports, and companies, Quicksilver goes all in. Darrow, citing new assets including Orion, calls off the planned refinery and dock bombings, noting the catastrophic economic fallout. Sevro, believing Darrow is wavering and manipulable, reveals Mustang contacted him earlier, accuses Darrow of fear and past failures, opens the detonator’s guard, and prepares to blow Phobos’s infrastructure.