D.U.M.P. holds a ceremony to give Department Commendation medals to each member of the security team, and to give David the Directorial Medal of Valor, making him the first non-Department personnel in history to be awarded it.

Three days after the Inversion resolution, David and "Angel" return home from the D.U.M.P. ceremony. David has been asked to speak at the memorial scheduled for the coming week, but he has yet to decide if he will do so. Opinions of him and the Pack are mixed but generally supportive, aided by the stories coming from the survivors that were actually there to see their heroism in person. The Department has chosen to laud the security team as heroes, but that is a mixed bag in and of itself, given the disastrous public opinion of the Department in the wake of the tragedy. David believes adamantly that the Department must have considered pinning the disaster on him and the pack, but that still would have made them look complicit for having agreed to keep the Ward up so long, so instead D.U.M.P. went the other way and lifted them as heroes with full Departmental support in a bid to get in on the goodwill. David refuses to be a mouthpiece for them. While he thinks the world is better in general for having the structure the Department provides, especially in the wake of a disaster like this where paranoia is at an all-time high, he refuses to be a PR tool for them. Though many members of the Pack sustained severe injury, they all survived, which is a further source of guilt for David. He remains tormented by the memories of what happened that night and the decisions he made, and feels like he's trapped in a loop that he can't escape and he blames himself for every life lost. "Angel" provides all the support that they can, and the two of them resolve to keep hanging on by leaning on each other.

Four days after the Inversion resolution, Asher and "Baaabe" are struggling to maintain some shred of optimism in the face of the disaster. Asher's injuries, though healed, were very severe and have left him with scars on his chest which he tries to ignore but that weigh on him heavily. Milo sends Asher a video that is circulating of an ad put out by CloseKnit in the wake of the disaster. Asher is disgusted about it and snaps, furious that CloseKnit thinks they know what was the right course of action when no one who wasn't there can say that. He confesses that he couldn't have made the decision that David made in the control booth that night. He froze when presented with the scene, and wouldn't have been able to make a decision in time if David hadn't been there to make the choice. Asher fears what might happen if a situation comes where he is the one to have to make a choice like that. All his latent fears about his inadequacy have returned at their worst, now combining with his survivor guilt to leave him utterly shaken. He recounts to "Baaabe" what it was like that night after he was too wounded to fight and was taken to the underground. No one down there believed they would survive the night, and he watched powerless as families said goodbye to one another, unable to reassure them because he thought they were right. "Baaabe" comforts him.

Six days after the Inversion resolution, "Sweetheart" has attained the Department's private report on the events of the night. They review it with Milo, and in doing so learn that the Department's restraint was primarily motivated by the ongoing attacks and containment breaks led by daemons against their facilities, which D.U.M.P. fears may be acting at the will of the Chorus. D.U.M.P. feared (and continues to fear) that the Chorus had a hand in the Inversion itself, and that asking for aid would be playing directly into their hands and would have made the situation far worse. Though the context for their actions is interesting, Milo still finds it hard to believe that the Chorus would ever make such a move against humanity, even if they are responsible for the containment breaches. Milo instead suspects CloseKnit was involved. He remains concerned about his inability to shift into his wolf form, but believes it is just a matter of time before it returns.