Her voice cracked as she spoke, the words tumbling out faster than she could control them. "We did nothing wrong! All these test subjects, every last one of them, willingly chose this fate. We had agreements, signed and sealed. They knew the risks and they accepted the terms. You cannot simply walk in here and declare judgment like some s-s-self-appointed god!"
For a moment the six of them stood frozen, staring at the naked blade in my hand.
Then the truth settled over them like a heavy cloak, and they began to mumble among themselves: short, broken phrases about contracts, the Company's protection, about how some elf should never have been able to reach this deep.
The muttering grew louder, more frantic, until the hunched man cut it short with a single sharp click of his tongue.
