LA

Levi grew up in the Underground. That doesn't change how certain rooms look at him — the assessment made before he finishes his first sentence, the gaze that catalogs the boots and the hands and files it under disqualifying. He let the commander finish. Let the condescension land. Then: Are you done? Flat. Unhurried. More devastating than anger would have been. Good. Here's what we need. You were beside him — also from the Underground, also being looked at the same way. Two people from the same place, in a room designed to make them feel small, neither giving it the satisfaction.