The city's skyline glimmered against the evening sky, its fractured serenity hiding the scars of the recent battle. Alice walked the streets in reflective silence, watching as people began to rebuild their lives. The scent of ash lingered in the air, mingling with the faint aroma of street food from vendors reopening for the first time in weeks. She felt a bittersweet pride in their victory, but a part of her knew the fight wasn't over.
Max's call came just as she was about to head back to the precinct. "Alice, we have a situation," he said, his tone unusually grim.
Her heart sank. "What is it?"
Max hesitated. "The data we recovered... it's incomplete."
Alice frowned. "Incomplete how?"
"There's a fragment, encrypted. It looks like Graves anticipated our raid and compartmentalized his most critical operations. Without the decryption key, we're flying blind."
Alice exhaled sharply, her mind racing. "Do we have a lead?"
