Modern Messiah Malcolm Stevens, back in his familiar padded cell, has lost lady love Gwen. He still has trouble projecting himself into his own fantasies and is, at first almost subliminally, replaced by tattooed muscle boy John Decker. In the asylum control room, Dr. Hellstrom browses reports of the missing Lillian Mangrove, the now catatonic Stevens' psychiatrist who vanished right after first examining him. She's been found in a state of severe shock, nursed back to health at the institution, and currently runs a successful psycho-tracking agency. Subscribing to the beneficial qualities of shock treatment, Hellstrom reactivates Stevens, who drags an innocent young nurse—tellingly also named Gwen—into the dark recesses of his twisted mind, vowing to free her only if the doctors agree to discharge him.