Just then, the door was pushed open.
High heels stepped onto the marble floor.
The air in the office changed noticeably when Stormfront walked in.
She wore her signature black suit, her cape lifting slightly behind her, with her usual "let's see what you people are up to" expression on her face.
Then she saw Drago standing beside the sofa.
Her steps faltered.
Her expression shifted from indifference to a frown, then from a frown to undisguised, visceral disgust.
"Oh."
She tilted her head, looked at Stan Edgar beside the desk, and raised a hand to point toward Xiao Long.
"What the hell is that?"
"Does Vought recruit lizards now? Or is this some failed experiment that escaped from a lab?"
Her tone was casual, as though she were commenting on a misplaced piece of furniture.
"That skin color... seriously, Edgar, has your budget been cut that badly?"
"Can't even afford some decent clothes? Or is this some kind of cultural appropriation?"
She glanced at Xiao Long again, shook her head, and curled her lips into a vicious sneer.
"I've seen plenty of ugly things, but looking like that? Honestly, that's pretty creative."
Xiao Long's tail went rigid.
His claws hung at his sides, his yellow-green slit pupils slowly narrowing as something churned deep within them.
Edgar's expression changed.
The composure of someone who had just sworn his allegiance, the calm of someone with power in his grasp, vanished the instant Stormfront spoke.
He hurried out from behind the desk, his voice low but every word heavily stressed.
"Stormfront."
"Shut up."
Stormfront turned to look at him and raised an eyebrow.
"What? Did I say something wrong? Just look at that..."
"I said, shut. Up."
Edgar stood before her, his eyes behind his glasses so cold that he looked nothing