In preparation for a state inspection, the boys work to bring Nickel up to code, painting, mortaring, and cleaning. The inspection is supposed to be a surprise, but Director Hardee has access to inside information, so he can direct the boys to spend several days fixing the place up to appear as though it is up to code. Despite past allegations of abuse and several state investigations, Nickel is still in business, its reforms mostly cosmetic.

Shortly before the inspection, Elwood and Turner are charged with cleaning out the basement of Edward Childs, one of Nickel’s biggest financial supporters. Childs’s father had once used the basement to house Nickel boys he kept as indentured servants. While moving old junk out of the basement, Elwood confides to Turner his plan for getting rid of Nickel: give his detailed notes on Nickel’s corruption to the state inspectors. Turner is furious, fearing the revelations could get them both killed; Elwood argues that simply navigating Nickel instead of rising up against it is morally wrong.

The day of the inspection, Elwood prepares to deliver his indictment to the inspection team, imagining himself a link in a chain of freedom fighters all ultimately connected to Dr.