The strike through failed to bury the refusal.
The yellow sheet lay with its back side up. N. Vale's line sat near the corner, small enough that a rushed supervisor could pretend to miss it.
N.V. refused to initial release without check.
A darker mark crossed the sentence. The ink had dragged at the paper fibers, smeared where a thumb or the side of a stamp had caught wet ink.
Under the slash, the release line had been forced into place.
Release completed under override.
Ty kept his hands at his sides. The slash bothered him more than the stamp. A code had authorized the move, but a hand had dragged ink over the pencil. Maybe D. Creel's. Maybe the second support staff. Maybe someone who only wanted the cart out of the corridor before the next shift yelled.
The room kept refusing clean monsters. It kept giving him tired hands.
