"There are weapons already trained on you. Please don't make me use them."

"You kill us, Panoply will just send more prefects," Sparver said. Thalia's skin prickled. She could feel the scrutiny of those hidden weapons, ready to wipe her out of existence at the twitch of the man's thumb.

"I won't kill you if you turn and leave.".

"We'll leave when we have the evidence." Sparver's hand moved to his belt. He unclipped the handle of his whiphound and flicked it to deploy the filament. It cracked as it spun out to its maximum extension, lashing the floor.

"He's right," Thalia said, fighting to keep the tremor from her voice.

"We're Panoply.".

"Please." The man's thumb caressed the firing stud.

"I'll do what needs to be done to protect the core.". Sparver released the whiphound. The handle remained at waist height, supported by the coiled extremity of its stiffened filament. It swayed from side to side with the questing motion of a snake. Then it curled around and aimed itself at the man.

A bright red dot appeared on his Adam's apple.

"I need you to answer a question for me," Sparver said.

"How attached are you to your fingers?". The man inhaled and held his breath.

"The whiphound has a mark on you now," Sparver continued.

"If it detects hostile intent – and it's very, very good at detecting hostile intent – it'll be on you faster than a nerve impulse can travel down your arm. When it reaches you, it'll do something quite nasty with the sharp edge of that filament.". The man opened his mouth to say something, but all that came out was a dry croak. He spread both his hands, opening his fingers and thumbs as wide as they would go.

"Sensible," Sparver said.

"Now hold that pose, but step away from the core." He nodded at Thalia, giving her the go-ahead to start securing the evidence. The whiphound stayed by his side, its blunt head tracking the man as he inched away from the central column.