Bartek stood in the main hall of the Robington building, passing the time by hacking in and out of the building's security system.

[i]Alfred sure is taking his damn time. Maybe he's making me wait on purpose. The old codger never did like me.[/i]

He decided to glance into the cell in the building's basement, to keep an eye on the prisoners. They all seemed to be awake at this point. The bird man was panicking, which gave Bartek a good laugh. He always did enjoy watching gutter scum out of their depth.

"Bartek, sorry to have kept you waiting."

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Alfred made his way down the stairs towards Bartek. With the death of Hemingway it had fallen upon Alfred, the family steward, to run things until the son was fully trained (a point that he was far from, as far as Bartek was concerned).

"That's quite alright sir. How is the boy handling his father's death? I'm sure he must be quite distraught."

"You and I both know you don't care. Have you talked to the prisoners in our basement yet? If not, I'd prefer to be the first to question them. Hemingway was quite important to me, and I'd like them undamaged before my turn at them."

[i]The old fellow's trying to do my job.[/i]

"Absolutely Alfred, be my guest."

Alfred and the Initiator saluted each other, and Alfred began to make his way to the basement. Bartek turned, refocusing on keeping himself entertained. Who knows how long the old man was going to take, but Bartek would be damned if he wasn't going to have a turn. The girl with all the junk mods caught his eye in particular, he could have some fun hacking into those.

[i]I wonder what Alfred could possibly hope to achieve by interrogating the prisoners first? Maybe I'll watch.[/i]

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Alfred made his way to the basement very quickly. He didn't like Bartek, but the man was smart, and it might not take him very long to figure out that something was wrong. He slid open the hidden door into the basement cell, and stepped into the light, so that the prisoners could see him very clearly.

"All of you, I need your attention. Now. You don't have much time. I need you to tell me completely honestly, did you kill Hemingway? Don't bother lying, I'll be able to tell."

With the last statement Alfred tapped the center of his forehead, indicating his particular genetic enhancement.

"If you didn't do it, I need you all ready to leave. You're taking my ward and getting out of this part of the city. There's a safehouse in the garden district you can go to. I just need to know that we can trust you."