On their way down the fire stairs, Spence killed two more hotel employees 
whom he had, on somewhat ambiguous grounds, identified as Fists. Carl was 
skeptical in both
cases until Spence ripped their shirts open to reveal the scarlet girdles 
beneath. "It's not that they're really Fists, you see," Spence explained 
jovially. "Just that when the Fists come, this sort of nonsense becomes 
terribly fashionable."