There were probably a dozen or so people in the cage, and a few of them stood out at a glance.
One was the Suit Man who was shouting the loudest. He was impeccably dressed in a suit and leather shoes, his hair combed without a strand out of place. The lower-right corner of the briefcase in his hand bore a small logo from a Wall Street financial institution. He looked every bit the stereotypical successful finance professional.
There was also a flamboyantly dressed Hippie Girl, who was currently clutching the cage bars and shrieking wildly, no quieter than the Suit Man.
There was a mother tightly shielding her son, crying louder than anyone was shouting. Meanwhile, her seven- or eight-year-old boy was desperately Calling for Help in her arms.
A couple seemed to be checking their phones to call the police, but this was not the real world. How could there possibly be any signal? After tapping at their phones a few times, they began yelling as well.
Natasha immediately stepped in front of everyone and shouted, "Quiet! Everyone, quiet! You won't be in danger..."
This was a fairly typical agent response: soothe the crowd's emotions first, no matter what. But it was clearly useless. Natasha had barely taken two steps forward before a phone thrown by one of the couple nearly hit her in the head.
"Let us out, you damned demon!!" the Hippie Girl screamed.
"Everyone, quiet." Batman stepped forward too, though he was clearly shielding Schiller. His voice was not loud, but it carried powerfully, and the crowd's clamor diminished slightly.
"If you do not cooperate, all of you will die here. Stay quiet now and let us hear the question clearly."
The panicked crowd had been unable to calm down and think about their circumstances