I’ll throw a little love to E-Merl in panel 1, doing his best to get in a Columbo-style “one more question” into his interrogation. Those pursed lips.

Sadly, this is the last real “moment” Astoria Troy gets, so you might enjoy reviewing the notes on her from a few chapters back. A bit strange that she doesn’t use her light-enhanced punch on this guy here: maybe she needs a little time to build up to it, or maybe she thought he honestly wasn’t worth expending the effort.

The mob is hardly defeated, but they are taken aback by how casual E-Merl and Astoria are about their threat level, so a little banter here is probably good tactics.