They retreated to the tunnels, shaken. Hollis's jaw was set, his fists clenched tight.
"Do you not see?" he snapped. "This could end it all. War, famine, crime. If the Engineer controls the city, there will be no need for soldiers, no need for suffering. A perfect order."
Selene whirled on him, shadows flickering in her eyes. "At the price of slaughtering my kind? At the price of turning us into cogs?"
"It may be the only way!" Hollis's voice cracked like gunfire.
Evangeline's hands trembled against the lantern glass. "Machines without will are not order, Captain. They are death that simply ticks more politely."
Elric stepped between them, his gaze cold. "Do not mistake inevitability for destiny, Hollis. He counts on your weakness. That is why he whispered to you. You are not a disciple — you are his experiment."
The silence stretched like wire pulled taut. Then Hollis turned away, his shoulders bowed beneath a burden no one else could carry.