[Tony sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose for a second, trying to reign in his anger. Maybe seeing Ardyn take a breath had reminded him to do it too, who knows. When he spoke again, his voice wasn't as loud.]

How much patience should someone have when they think someone they care about is being tortured? That's the catch. That's the line in the sand. That's the point of this that made everything go from acceptable to unacceptable.

I can compromise and be diplomatic with them and with you on just about everything else, but no. I won't budge on that. We had to know if someone was being hurt in those towers and make it stop.

We had evidence. We had a reasonable theory and a precedent of lack of questions being answered had been set. We took precautions so the natives wouldn't get hurt.

[Tony flips the feed to private.]

Tell me Ardyn. If that had been your nephew or Regis. How long should we have waited for the last resort? Because I promise you, if Reggie or Noctis ever go missing I hope you'd help me storm every building in this city until we're absolutely sure they're not here being hurt.