Flashback panel in muted tones. GOOTS stands at a podium during a council hearing, flanked by NYs. Their name tag reads “Goots (they/them)”. Their beak is mid-open.
GOOTS: “Just saying—if NY really knew what he was doing, why would he need twelve jobs?”
CAPTION: “Six weeks earlier…”

Panel 2

Back to present: The council is visibly twitchy. One NY has bloodshot eyes. Another clutches his briefcase like a comfort object.
CONSTRUCTION NY (shouting): “It’s like their voice lives in my head! I dream of spreadsheets that mock me!”
LAWYER NY (quietly): “They called me… ‘intern-core’…”

Panel 3

Cut to GOOTS on the security camera feed, sitting calmly in the cafeteria in a striped prison outfit, sipping a juice box.
GOOTS (speech bubble from monitor): “Oh look, it’s NY #7. Is he the one who sells knives door to door or the one who cries during CPR training?”
COUNCIL (in unison, screaming): “Goooooots!!”

Panel 4

ISEN steps calmly into the control chamber behind IVY and EXI. Without a word, he hands each of them a small earplug.
IVY: “What’s this?”
EXI (squinting at it): “Anti-goots tech?”
ISEN (silent, pours gin into a teacup): …

Panel 5

The central chamber shakes. DOCTOR NY stands, eyes wide, voice trembling.
DOCTOR NY: “It’s too late. We’ve underestimated them.”
MILITARY NY: “Who?”
DOCTOR NY: “The goose…”

Panel 6

Dramatic zoom on GOOTS as they stand in the cafeteria, hands raised like a prophet, eyes gleaming.
GOOTS: “You may hold the jobs, NYs… but I hold the judgment.”