"What if I genuinely love the shoe?"
"You still disclose it."
Cillian appealed to the room and found no allies.
"The regulator doesn't care about your heart," Maeve said. "Money changed hands, the post is commercial, it gets marked. Payment, free gear, a holiday — all of it counts. And disclosing doesn't launder a lie, either. You still can't claim the boots made you faster if they didn't."
"This industry is joyless."
"This industry is why your appearance fee exists. Sit up."
Kavanagh, on the screen, had been waiting for the rules to finish.
"While you're all feeling organized," she said, "understand what Team Zero currently is, legally. The Tower recognizes you as a registered clearing party. That's all. You are not an organization. You can't employ staff, own a facility, run payroll, or sign a collective contract as Team Zero."
"So what have we been doing?" Ronan asked.
