Realgam Tower Hotel Suite

-Lucius facepalms.-

Lucius: No, that's not it. Do you remember the whole armour project that Cipher were running last time we were here? The one that gave normals access to all four corners of the Auric quadrant? That was the YMCA project. Yvetalic M-something Combat Armour, I think it stood for. Dumb name, I know, but you can blame Cipher for that. I'll admit I didn't know what it was called until earlier today.

Realgam Tower Hotel Suite

-Lucius sighs and shakes his head.-

Lucius: ...That much is self-evident.

-He turns back to his map, taking a sip from one of his coffee mugs.-

Lucius: The connection is that all of the businesses he's targeting either used to have connections to Cipher, or have connections to people that used to work for Cipher. Emphasis on used to, I hasten to add.

Realgam Tower Hotel Suite

Lucius: Bingo. Either he's styled himself as some kind of misunderstood vigilante planning on burning down most of Orre's legitimate businesses in the hope of catching some ex-Ciphers in the flames, or he's a particularly bitter and vindictive remnant. At the moment I'm leaning towards option two, since the guy is such an asshole that punching him probably causes a puppy to be born somewhere on the other side of the world, but there's really no way of telling with the information I've got available.

Realgam Tower Hotel Suite

-Lucius sighs and gives a shrug.-

Lucius: Unfortunately, I'm not sure about that just yet. Cipher were so ubiquitous before we took them down that pretty much anywhere can be traced back to them if you try hard enough. And this guy seems more than willing to make a fair few leaps of logic in his judgement. I'm confident that Realgam's probably going to be his grand finale, though. As Cipher's former headquarters, it seems pretty appropriate.

Realgam Tower Hotel Suite

-Lucius picks up Shieldmaiden's helmet off of the floor (where it was presumably left last night) and tosses it to Crewe.-

Lucius: Neither am I, which is why I had a better idea. I sent Kirk out last night to do a trace on the guy's Aura, and sure enough, birdbrain wasn't using a Jammer or a Disruptor or anything. So with any luck we'll have a trail to follow by now. One that actually leads somewhere this time. Get yourself suited up; we'll be leaving in five.

Realgam Tower Hotel Suite

-After a couple of minutes, there is a hammering on the bathroom door as a growly voice addresses the occupant from outside.-

The Auric Avenger: Hurry it up. We've got places to be, you know.

Realgam Tower Hotel Suite

The Auric Avenger: Follow me. I'm the only one who can follow Kirk's Aura trail, after all.

-He opens the window and promptly hops out, using his Maneuver Gear to anchor himself to the building as he does.-

Phenac City

-The Auric Avenger has already made his way back here by the time Shieldmaiden teleports onto his shoulder, but it still doesn't stop him from giving an undignified yelp nonetheless.-

The Auric Avenger: I thought I told you to warn me before you do that!

Phenac City

-The Auric Avenger skids to a halt on top of a rooftop.-

The Auric Avenger: Why don't you get that robot of yours to make you a Maneuver Gear of your own, then? Oh, that's right - because you're far too heavy for something like that to carry you around.

Phenac City

-The Auric Avenger's mind turns its full attention to damage control almost instantaneously.-

The Auric Avenger: Uh, not to say that having a few curves is necessarily a bad thing. Which is also not to say that I'm calling you curvy, but, um... well, that armour of yours isn't doing you any favours... I mean, in terms of weight, not appearance, because it actually looks pretty good on you... erm, if you're into that sort of thing, of course, which I'm most certainly not...

-Unfortunately for him, this is akin to trying to put out a fire by dousing it with cooking oil.-

Phenac City

The Auric Avenger: Yes ma'am.

-He immediately returns to following Kirk's Aura trail.-

Phenac City

-Eventually, the Auric Avenger comes to a halt outside a large townhouse on the outskirts of the city.-

The Auric Avenger: Trail ends here. Looks like we've found birdbrain's nest.

-He kicks down the door and manages to catch a glimpse of an elaborately-furnished living room before being blasted right back out again by a Focus Blast. The brightly-dressed man sat in the swivel chair serving as the lounge's centerpiece turns to face the intruders, an Archeops perched next to him eyeing Shieldmaiden warily.-

The Red Falcon: Ah, bonsoir. I was beginning to wonder when the two of you would finally muster the required intellect to trace me. Welcome to my humble abode.