Devil-Slayer is confronted with an existential crisis, one he is ill equipped to solve himself.
Devil-slayer attempts to come to grips with his actions, recent and in the past. He used to be a hitman for the mob, and recently tried to go straight, but in his attempt to save his ex-wife from the sorcerer Ian Fate, he accidentally caused the death of a hippie named Sunshine. He now goes through a crisis over his responsibility in this matter.
In the Negative Zone, he sits on an asteroid with Sunshine's body, waiting to be killed by the constant antimatter explosions around him. Sunshine's ghost (real or imagined) rises up and persuades him to go back to Earth. He starts to drink heavily, which is ironic because he had been instrumental in helping Sunshine get over his drug addiction.
Meanwhile, Nighthawk's lawyers tell his nurse, Luann, who had fallen in love with him, that he died battling August Masters. She leaves in anger, wanting more information.
We also see that Kyle Richmond, who was killed a couple issues ago, is now...the President of the United States?
Payne, in a drunken fury, decides to get revenge on the mobster who first hired him as a hitman, blaming him for his troubles. Right before he kills the mobster in front of his family, he decides against it and goes back to the Negative Zone for another suicide attempt.
Once again he decides against suicide. He now visits an old childhood friend and fellow Marine, hoping to see that he, too, has struggled in life. However, his friend is perfectly happy, and tries to help him. Payne can't deal with the happiness and returns to the Negative Zone, where Sunshine's ghost talks him out of killing himself again.
Now he goes to Jerusalem, where he runs into his ex-wife, Cory. Despite what's happened between them, she still cares for him and brings him back to sobriety. They talk about God. He tries to undergo death via Negative Zone one last time, but she tags along and he can't kill her, so they return. She finally helps him come to grips with all that he has done. He gives himself up to the authorities and goes to jail, repentant. Dr. Strange helps them both by giving counsel from afar.
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