"But some of these modifications aren't."
"They improved my design."
Nobody liked hearing that.
The room grew quiet again.
Alice finally stood.
"Then we stop it before it's finished."
Simple.
Direct.
Reasonable.
Unfortunately Nish immediately shook his head.
"We don't know exactly where it is."
"Not yet."
"Scouts only narrowed the area."
Alice clicked her tongue.
Annoyed.
"How large?"
Nish pointed at the map.
The Manufacturing District occupied a huge section of the city.
Factories.
Warehouses.
Storage depots.
Foundries.
Machine shops.
Thousands of workers moved through it every day.
Finding one giant robot should have been easy.
Normally.
Unfortunately Asphyxia had many large industrial buildings.
Enough to hide something massive.
Especially if somebody was actively helping conceal it.
Raj looked at the reports.
"Could there be officials involved?"
Nish didn't answer immediately.
Which was answer enough.
Alice noticed.
"So there are."
Nish sighed.
"Possibly."
Nobody looked happy.
The room had suddenly become much larger than a stolen blueprint.
This wasn't simply cultists anymore.
Someone inside the city was helping them.
Or being paid to look away.
Alice walked toward the giant window overlooking Asphyxia.
The city stretched into the distance.
Bright.
Alive.
Busy.
Her city.
The city she spent over a century building.
"I refuse."