Lady Alhanda's eyes flickered with something like anger, though her face betrayed none of it.  She stopped stroking the knife with her claw and instead indicated the plate set before Karogen.<br/><br/>"Do eat, Karogen," she commanded.  "The food is good."  Ignoring her own empty plate, she laid her hands flat on the table and paused a moment.<br/><br/>"If you ever thought I considered you a threat, it is you that was misinformed," she went on.  "Grossly misinformed.  I would never consider your ragtag band of misfits a threat to my power.  You haven't the stomach to make even a simple demand."  She picked up the knife and ran her fingers along its surfaces, as if caressing a fine piece of jewelry.  "I will give you the benefit of the doubt and say you were attempting humor."  Her tone told him she was not amused.  "It is obvious you know why you are here."  She stopped for a moment and glared at Karogen, her voice cold.  "Don't think for a second you will deter me with a denial.  I have the power to search among your living guts until I find what I'm looking for."<br/><br/>She put the knife down and seemed to soften, but only just.  "My House is at war now, Karogen.  If I use language that is... explicit, you must understand why I do so."  She didn't go so far as to ask his forgiveness.  "You mentioned an 'equality movement less civilized than your own.'  It is my experience that these others have weapons, organization, purpose, and a leader.  That shows me that they are quite a bit<span style="font-style: italic">more</span>civilized than you and your rabble.  You know their leader.  You spoke his name.  Next question: who is Lentan?"  Her eyes bore into his.<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>The medic took the medikit and immediately ran an IV to Baz's arm, trying a few times to find a vein before scoring and hooking in a bag of the blood with his name on it.  He continued to work on the rat, glancing up at Sara momentarily to say, "My furry anatomy?  Nonexistent.  You guys have too many different anatomies to bother learning... at least right now."  He realized something just then, and looked at Sara again and noticing her excellent bandage-work.  "You seem good with a suture.  If you know how to heal this guy better than me, have at it.  There are other wounded I can tend to."<br/><br/>The man who had driven the truck to the safe house was still alive, though superficially wounded.  He nodded at Bane and rose, taking an able man with him, and they ran outside to the garbage truck, starting it up and working the controls.<br/><br/>The remaining humans approached Halvorson and O'Toole, checking in.  The sergeants gave them a look-over and passed them to the medic, who, in the midst of his work on Baz, divided them up triage-style, telling most to bandage themselves while setting some aside to be worked on soon.<br/><br/>Janus walked silently over to Collins, still unmoving in his chair.  He grimaced in a combination of dread and sadness, and put his fingers to Collins' neck.  The man's skin was cold and clammy, but there - faintly beneath his fingertips, Janus felt a heartbeat.  He looked at the medic.  "Collins is alive, barely," he mumbled, too numb to really speak.  Halvorson gave him a look and went over.<br/><br/>When Bane and Heretic rushed out, O'Toole looked after them in concern and followed.  Both of them were very distressed.  Bane was taking it out on a young anthro-wolf from the cult.  She decided to remove herself from that.<br/><br/>But Heretic was... sucking the human dead dry of blood.  O'Toole felt bile rise high in her throat.  She kneaded the quarterstaff in her hands and bit her lip, turning away.  From the corner of her eye she saw the dead form of the lieutenant.  She looked at the body from a distance and felt vindicated.