Malkom is pulled over by a cop car. His augmented tech interface feeds him information about the world around him as the cop approaches, and Malkom quickly minimizes all his interface windows to hide his unregistered tech from the police.

Malkom tries his friend Machine's augmented immersion technology. It's new, created by Machine himself, and it's even more immersive than virtual reality. Machine is brilliant, and his technological creation is ground-breaking. He plans to use the profits he'll make from augmented immersion to bankroll his career as an artist. Malkom asks for a copy of the sim-disc that runs the augmented immersion and Machine lets him take it.

Machine and Malkom are let into a nightclub to meet up with a hacktivist organization named Anansi. They are ushered into a VIP lounge where members of Anansi greet them. After some persuasion, Malkom convinces the organization to help him with his project EMPATHY. He says he is willing to give up everything in order to make this project successful.

In an alley, Malkom meets up with his girlfriend Vee, who warns him to be careful. She hands him a sleek card and he heads to a bathroom, and, using tech created by Machine, transforms his appearance as a black man into that of a True American — pale-skinned and blue eyed. He heads to Dyscre Bank. Using the card Vee gave him, he hacks corporate servers for confidential information. But, he wants to show Anansi he's even more powerful, and he heads to the elevators for the restricted basement where federal servers are kept. A True American monitors those elevators, and as Malkom steps into one, the True American guard throws a dart at him. Malkom's vision cracks, his disguise slips. As the elevator doors close, he sees the triumphant smirk of the guard. When he gets to the bottom of the elevators, Malkom frantically uses Machine's hardware to hack into the government servers and then gets away quickly.

That evening, Malkom is pulled over by a cop, who tells him that he fits the description of a man who broke into a bank that day. A True American was killed, and they are looking for the perpetrator. As the cop turns to leave, Malkom unleashes his EMPATHY program. It overrides the functions of every True American's biochip, hijacking every live-stream with images of what it is like to live in American as a second-class citizen. Machine, watching, realizes that Malkom has stolen his augmented immersion software, and feels incredibly betrayed. Malkom continues to broadcast his message, however. The True Americans will hear him.