Aurora finally arrived above the general indicated area and began to take in the sprawling junkyard. Her eyes were drawn toward the ‘small’ refinery nearby, finding that it was actually quite huge. A number of small temporary office trailers were set up in the area, but nothing jumped out like the hulking processing facility. Re-sing everything more carefully, she didn’t see the minivan sitting anywhere in the open, but that wasn’t a surprise. The only people to be seen out and about were the workers in the junkyard.

  The hero decided that it’d be a good idea to start by finding this “” person. Looking around for what looked like the head office, she spotted it after some scrutiny and steered towards the building to nd quietly along the shady side to ge her look. Through thinking about how to hide her wings, she discovered how to do so whehought about her e. Every gmor she’d made so far had ated for the wings, but since she didn’t want them visible this time, she was instinctively able to preclude them. From there, she tested creating a dress, making it a deep red shade and making sure to close the batirely across her shoulders. It was quite a strange feeling to automatically know how to do magic like this without ever having practiced, as though the information was in part supplied to her or that her intuition was very mu the mark.

  Her excitement deepened and she was eager to jump into a, but her silvery hair was very much a problem. Even though hardly anyone knew her yet, the unon color would make her stand out in a way that wouldn’t work for the undercover work she pnned. Puzzling over what color to go with, she decided to match the dress and then tweaked the dress’s color to better coordihis ‘Ronnie ’ robably a man, so she decided it wouldn’t hurt to make sure her bosoms were dispyed for effect without being overly suggestive.

  With the disguise operation pleted, Aurora fidently walked around the er towards the front door aered, apanied by the jingle of a bell installed on the door’s frame. Ihere were three people w at desks. They looked up at the sudden ctter and they all smiled, seeing only a beautiful woman and no threat.

  After a moment, one of the three men who was sitting at a desk with strong ese features smoothly addressed her, “It unusual for someone very well-dressed visit my office.” He slicked his hair while speaking, “You looking for parts of some kind... or you need some… hmmm… other work done?” He chuckled.

  Aurora didn’t quite know what he meant by that, so she ig with a pyful smirk. “You’re the proprietor? Ronnie ?” Her smile didn’t falter.

  “Yeah, that’s me. How may I help?” He smirked.

  The other two men moved to either side in a fnking maheir eyes watg Aurora mostly with disdain, but a fra of was starting to shoarently, they had a healthy dose of suspi even where a lovely dy was ed.

  Despite their attempt to intimidate her, Aurora tio smile sweetly as she looked right back at the guys with a total ck of . Her calm demeanor only seemed to irritate them further.

  “Excellent!” Aurora winked. “I’d like to talk to you about an individual called ‘Blue Max’. Would you happen to be the leader of those goons who perform these so-called blimp robberies? It’s not just that though. I’d also like to talk with you about a certain power suit that’s said to be hidden somewhere in the area. I’ve never seeside the movies. Those things are straight out of sci-fi. I’d love to see it.”

  Ronnie’s face turned sour and he harshly spoke in ese. Aurora had no idea at all what his words meant, but they couldn’t have been anything positive what with the ‘rub her out’ look on his face.

  “You leave, rude girl,” Ronnie said, pung his fist into his other hand. A transtion would have indeed been a moot point given how much louder as were speaking now. The tension in the room escated as the two hen pulled out brass knuckles, but Aurora stood her ground, her eyes log onto Ronnie's with unwavering fidence.

  “Rude girl? I think I’m only being upfront.” She bounced and snickered. “So are you the leader, Blue Max? Or are you one of their ckeys, ? Hmm, though you might have a point, maybe I should be even MORE upfront.” Aurora smirked a her disguise fade. To add to the effect, she let her wi from her bad let them spread wide for effect. Light fshed, illuminating the room as the men backed off with shrill cries.

  “I’m here for some information, . Even if you aren’t the ringleader… I’m sure you have something I could use. If you wao prove how tough I am, just go ahead a your boys here attack me.” She grinned mogly. “Either way, none of you are leaving this room.”

  rubbed his eyes and gred. “Ha, some little girl with fsh bulbs wants to intimidate Ronnie ?” he said aured to his men to attack. “Get her, I said!”

  Aurora instantly sheathed her body in her shield as the man roached expertly pu her face. The teique seemed deadly and he had brass knuckles on to boot. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t have been able to ter a martial artist’s speed, except… she didn’t o.

  He wailed on her field. “Ya-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya-haaaaa-hrrrrmph.” He cried as he pou Aurora’s barrier. Yawning, Aurora smiled at the other man. In response, he charged and tried to grapple her which she tered by ging her shield to the capsule variety and the ma flying as though he’d bounced off something.

  Well, he kind of did.

  He hit a filing et causing the drawers to fly open, causing papers to fly out in every dire as he put a big dent in it.

  The first man discarded a brass knuckle to pull his pistol and took aim at her. Aurora nodded, having expected it to escate. The capsule variety would stop bullets ft, not reflect them, so she wasn’t worried about ricochets. She very much preferred that someone didn’t get hit by a stray bullet. He fired a few times on the superhero and watched the projectiles ftten on tad fall to the floor, clig on the wood floor.

  Finally getting the idea that she was unassaible, Ro up a hand. “Wait. All right, you’ve proven that you’re a real superhero. What makes you think I know anything about this ‘Blue Max’ person?” It looked like he decided to stop pying the ‘ese-English at’ card.

  Aurora smiled amiably. “A little bird told me this pce is an ideal base for their crew, or is something close to it anyway. A certain distinctive van was junked here and the exo-suit iion runs on a very particur type of fuel which just so happens to be attainable right over there. Even if you’re not Blue Max himself, your es with the Triads are well known. So, I figured you might know something, whether you’re colborating or would be willing to throw the petition uhe bus, so to speak. It’s ve, really. What do you think? Do you know anything that would get me out of your hair?” She shook her head to punctuate the words, tossing her lovely tresses.

  Ronnie’s face torted with frustration. “Well…” He shrugged, trying to mask his unease. “I don’t know what these ‘Triads’ things could be. Some old legend about desdants of Shou-Lin fighting against the oppressive Manchu regime and nothing else, I think.” His expression was still dark as he tried to stall for time.

  “Regardless, if you give me some more details on this ‘Blue Max’, maybe I know someone who knows him.” He grinned and waved to the seat before his desk. The remaining goon who was unharmed put his gun away with a sour expression.

  Aurora tilted her head in assent and sat graciously. She told him about the type of fuel being produext door, how it was refined, as much about it that she’d been able to it to memory. She stuple details, things he’d know something about perhaps and from her viewpoint weren’t particurly risky to share. From there, she described the getaway minivan’s coloration and its lise pte number.

  “Ah… you see, I’m afraid as a simple junkyard owner, I don’t know much about such stifisense, but your story about a minivan, that rings true. I had a rude gentleman looking to buy it the other day. Even offered him a fair deal, but he was terribly insistent and I believe he might’ve stolen it from my lot.” He chuckled and o agree with his own story.

  Aurora watched him carefully, sensing he was skirting around the truth. “If I were to help you find this individual, I assume he would be brought to justice. Is this correct?” Ronnie asked, his tone oozing faux innoce.

  Aurora nodded. “Without a doubt.” She fshed him a grin. “He’s pulled some pretty major shenanigans. I imagihe sentence will be fairly steep.”

  “The me look at my information,” he said, watg Aurora while carelessly flipping through a Rolodex. A very outdated way to keep tabs on t information, but it was effective, if not dramatioheless.

  “Ah… here it is,” he said as he pulled out a card. “I believe my employees may have spotted that van a few yards over, hat refinery. It’s a utility shed shared by the ndowners - family friends of mine you could say. Said ndowners have pced great trust in me, since Ronnie is most trustworthy, and I happen to have the keys right here. Do you need one?” He opened his desk draroduced the key.

  “And should you find this gentleman, please advise him that one does not make demands of the Junk Tiger.”

  Aurrinned, accepting the key. “I’ll be sure to tell him that.” She nodded. “Thanks for the information.”

  As she turo leave, Aurora caught the faint smirk on ’s face, indig he was still uimating her. She exited the building and oned off into the sky immediately and turowards the refinery . She didn’t want to get TOO close to it yet though. If there was a ce that she could steal away the exo armor without any fireworks, that would certainly be a great deal less trouble than fighting it.

  The sprawling expanse of the refinery loomed before her, a plex maze of pipes, ste tanks, and utility sheds. Aurora sed the area, her keen eyes searg for any signs of the minivan or the gang members. She hovered high above, sidering her options and formuting a pn.

  If ’s information was accurate, the utility shed could be the key to finding the exo suit. With a deep breath, she began her dest, aiming for a discreet nding spot where she could observe without being seen. Her mind raced with potential strategies to ralize the suit without drawing too much attention.

  The challenge was clear: she o act quickly and decisively, ensuring the success of her mission while minimizing the risk of a frontation. Aurora’s heart pounded with anticipation as she prepared to make her move, her resolve unwavering in the face of the unknown.