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like a man morosely recalling the past.
    “I . . . I . . .” Kass was trying to find the words to defend herself, but she was coming up short. For some reason, Darwin’s empty, red eyes had pierced through her spirit and left her wordless and without a defense.
    “That’s enough, you two. She didn’t understand the ramifications of what she was doing.” Charles held up his right hand, gesturing for Darwin and Kass to be silent. “She isn’t lying. She mentioned several times during her pre-interview that she wouldn’t discuss anything other than her particular involvement in the system. She had no idea that the tiny pieces of information she released could be so damaging.”
    “Oh, so because it’s a--” Stephanie began to lay into Kass again, but didn’t make it far. Charles slammed his hand on the table, cutting her off mid-sentence.
    “Stephanie, please. For my sake, don’t make this into something more than it is. You know exactly how we humans are. Full of errors, yes?” He gave her a stern look.
    How we humans are? Is Stephanie not a human? Is she like Darwin? These people are demons . . . in real life? Questions started racing through Kass’s head as Charles had obviously stressed the word ‘human.’
    “She’s never dealt with journalists before,” Charles continued, “so how was she supposed to know that even the slightest mention of a few details would lead to Darwin getting late night coverage more detailed and negative than a U.S. presidential candidate’s voice cracking while talking about an affair?”
    “I’m . . .” Initially, Kass had been feeling very wronged when she got there. She had been the one who was getting mistreated. She had been the one who had been carried away in the middle of an interview, forced into a car and driven to an unnamed location against her will. She was the offended party--or so she had thought since the second she had been ‘politely’ asked to leave G.O.R.N. Things seemed a little different now. “I’m sorry . . . I didn’t know,” she said mousily.
    “There. Now, let’s move on.” Charles lifted the hand he had slammed on the table and picked up his empty soda as if that action somehow rendered the subject officially closed. “Anyway, I’m sorry about how we treated you, removing you from the broadcasting station, but you have to understand that you put us in quite the predicament. We’d rather the world know as little as possible about Darwin and his involvement with Tiqpa. Okay?”
    “Okay.” Kass felt like she was five years old again and being scolded by her father.
    “Great. Now, Alfred and Alfred, go fetch us all some drinks. I think everyone is either out or hasn’t been served to begin with.” Charles waved his hand and two butlers appeared with fresh drinks.
    “You have two butlers named Alfred?” Kass, despite the tension of the situation, couldn’t entirely avoid giggling a little, finding the whole thing a bit silly.
    “Of course. Have you ever met a rich guy who took the time to clear away a giant underground lair and didn’t have at least one butler named Alfred?” Darwin piped up with a laugh from the other side of the table before momentarily straightening in his seat and looking over at Charles. “Wait, you’re not going to name me after a flamboyantly red-breasted bird, are you?”
    “No, no. I went through ten orphans before I gave up on that gag,” Charles mused, the other three outright cracking up. “Apparently, orphans don’t always make good parkour students.”
    “Ah, right.” Stephanie grinned. “Do you get Eve to wear leather outfits when she tries to sneak into the house at night and steal your goodies?”
    Charles cocked an eye. “I tried to get Eve to wear leather outfits for everything. She’s always in a cocktail dress like she’s about to play the lead heroine of a spy thriller.”
    “Yeah, but the poor kid is terrible at the whole spy thing. She gives away the plot before her part