The unwelcome attention of his trial has placed Draven in the cross hairs of the Lazarus Group, a shadowy centuries-old secret-society bent on achieving immortality – the very group which bribed the judge to set Draven free. Dorsett approaches Draven for them, offering to unite him with Shelly if he will help them expand their research.

Meanwhile, Albrecht is approached by a powerful African-American attorney who wants to represent him in a lawsuit against the city, claiming his demotion was based on racism. While weighing the possibilities, Albrecht finds himself visiting Capshaw in rehab, and then taking the first tentative steps toward re-establishing his fractured relationship with Cordelia. Ultimately, Albrecht takes a pass on the potential financial windfall, feeling litigation is not the honorable path for him.

Draven meets Joseph O. Balsam, the aging leader of the Lazarus Group, who boasts only twenty percent original body parts, desperate to fend off death. Promising that he will see Shelly, Draven is connected to experimental, high-tech machinery that artificially puts him in a suspended death-state. There, Draven does indeed see Shelly, only to realize that she may be a deathstate manipulation created by the Lazarus group, who intend to transfer Balsam’s spirit from his dying body into Draven’s while he remains unconscious. Learning their true inentions, Dorsett objects, and is forced into the same “sleeping death” as Draven, a specific brain wave-length that creates a shared, altered reality. Warned by Dorsett, Draven ultimately turns into the Crow in the altered state, which brings him out of his coma in the real world before Balsam can complete his evil plan.

Draven and Dorsett break out of the high-security facility, returning with Albrecht only to find the Lazarus group has vanished, taking with them Draven’s hopes of learning more about finding a real connection to Shelly.