6

Alice stood at the front of her office, projected graphs filling the wall screen behind her. "The usage spikes we're seeing across Nova's neural networks are unprecedented," she explained, gesturing to a densely populated chart. "Last quarter's processing load increased by forty-three percent, with peak activity in healthcare systems and automated transit."

Daman leaned back in his chair, arms folded, offering his usual air of detached calm. The data streams scrolled past: millions of daily interactions, system load distributions, network response times measured in microseconds.

The door flew open with a force that sucked the casual atmosphere from the room.

Nico Caito stepped in, her face a mask of composed fury. The team instinctively straightened in their seats, and Alice felt her stomach drop. Nico's presence had a way of stripping away any semblance of comfort or ease, leaving only cold, professional fear.

"Everyone out," Nico said, her voice cutting through the room. Her gaze remained fixed on Alice, who immediately understood that this wasn't just about the presentation. "Except you, Alice. And you too, Daman."

The other engineers scrambled to gather their notes, muttering awkward goodbyes as they shuffled past Nico, who didn't even glance at them. The door clicked shut behind the last of them, leaving Alice and Daman alone under Nico's severe stare.

"Why," Nico began, her tone unnervingly calm, "was I not informed about the service desk reports the moment they came in?"

Alice swallowed, choosing her words carefully. "The glitches were low-priority, nothing affecting major systems. We're already working on patches, and the scope is very limited. Just a few users—"

Nico held up a hand, silencing her. "Limited scope?" Her gaze hardened. "These 'minor issues' you're so quick to dismiss represent vulnerabilities in our entire infrastructure. I expect to be notified of every anomaly, no matter how insignificant it might seem to you."

Daman, sensing the mounting tension, interjected in his usual relaxed tone. "Nico, I get it, but these really are just minor behavioral anomalies. Nothing widespread. Nova's architecture is solid. If anything were to escalate, we'd be the first to know."

Nico's eyes snapped to Daman, and her lips curled in a humorless smile. "Minor behavioral anomalies? That's the standard we're holding ourselves to now?"

Daman cleared his throat, realizing he'd overstepped. "I just mean... the issues we're seeing don't suggest anything foundational. Nova's too integrated to fail over a few reports. People depend on her so completely that they're bound to notice any minor glitch. And when they do, they panic. We're dealing with a few isolated cases here, nothing more."

Alice glanced at the screen, feeling the sting of Nico's gaze. The graphs and statistics, tracking Nova's expanding influence across every system, suddenly felt like a record of their vulnerability.

Nico stepped forward, her gaze unwavering. "If we want to continue to hold our position, we cannot afford so much as a crack in the facade. Fix it. Immediately. Or I'll have to rethink the structure of this team."

Alice's mouth went dry. Nico's threats were never hollow, and everyone in the room knew it. She nodded, feeling the suffocating pressure settle around her. "Understood, Nico. We're on it."

"Keep me updated. Immediately," Nico commanded without looking back, before the door closed behind her with a soft click.

Daman exhaled, slumping back in his chair. "Well, that was fun."

Alice forced a weak smile, her hands still trembling. She met Daman's casual shrug, but they both understood the truth—Nova's glitches, however minor, threatened everything. And Nico's warnings weren't something either of them could afford to ignore.