Betrayed by his superiors and left for dead, XIII has definitely left the secret service in favor of a wandering life. In the hope of finding food and shelter, he went to Empire City and meets Betty Barnowsky, a beautiful activist involved in the fight against the major energy groups. Betty saving a police raid muscled XIII calls within the Veil, an underground organization led by Max Vargas. Veil attempts to expose openly the climate research center Hearpe (High Energy Auroral Refraction Protonospheric Emitter), whose real purpose is to influence the climate for economic reasons. Betty seduced both by itself and by his speech committed XIII agrees to help activists.

When falsely accused of a murderous attack against the headquarters of the group Synequanon conglomerate in charge of the project Hearpe, XIII realizes he has been manipulated. He was soon captured and tortured by an agent whose identity remains a mystery.

Betty and XIII both question the reality of their situations: concealing his true identity, XIII sails to China, searching the ship for the final letter which has been hidden somewhere on board; Betty is abducted and delivered to her father in London, who claims that her experiences with XIII and the Veil have been nothing but the narcotic-induced hallucinations of a runaway.