With the information provided by Ronnie , Aurora was able to track down and spot fresh tire tracks along the dirt-covered ses of road. From following those, she was able to pinpoint the shed iion. The structure was rge enough to house two of the minivans she was looking for, but only one garage door to aodate it.

  Flying around, she again thhly scouted the surrounding area from above. There were a few obvious avenues of escape for any gang members inside. While she was looking, another importaail anded her attention. Not far from the shed, an area of dirt and weeds had been smoothed and pressed by something very rge with no tracks leading to the depression. It was indeed something rge, like say, a dirigible!

  Aurri having discovered a possible clue. After examining the shed’s door from a dista was clear that it had been crowbarred open. Ronnie’s key would be useless.

  Landing, she stepped forward and approached the doorway. Her footsteps were silent, her senses heightened as she moved closer.

  There was ion to her presence so far.

  Teo go.

  Still nothing.

  Aurora readied her defenses just in case, wary of a potential ambush. Carefully steppihe doorway, she hoped against hope that the suit awaited her inside, waiting for her to easily snatch away. Even if it wasn’t here, perhaps a new lead or two would be found.

  She ched her fists, ready for a fight as she stepped io find there were no windows, nor any other ways to gairahe air inside was musty, filled with the st of oil aal.

  Aurora carefully stepped back from the door and slipped to siddle against the side of the building, choosing to not make use of such a dangerous chokepoint by instinct. As she circled the periphery, she charged a bolt to create a sed artificial doorway. The tension built up as she prepared for any surprises.

  The bolt flew and broke a hole directly through the side of the shed. Ohe cloud of dust and wood chips cleared, a single man standing beside the minivan she was after came into sight. He gasped, dazed and scrambled to get into the vehicle.

  Jumping through the hole, Aurlided to the minivan. “That won’t wuy,” Aurora stated as she targeted the vehicle’s tires with finger-wide bolts of her cussive bsts, one by oening them within moments.

  To demonstrate her statement with more puissance, she stepped in front of the escape vehicle to bst the hood with her envelopment aura, looking for the csp that usually was found in the ter and forward. When the bo popped open, she decisively bleart the alternator.

  It hadn’t been a performance vehicle before, but now it was nothing more than a derelict mess of scrap metal. The hor off for a sed as the van started to die messily.

  The criminal, having seen enough, raised his hands and forced his lips into a sheepish grin as if to beg, ‘don’t hurt me.’

  Aurrinned iurn, nodding amiably but theured for him to step out while carefully looking around to make sure she hadn’t missed anything else important. Her eyes sed the interior of the shed, searg for any clues or hidden threats. The air was thick with tension, but Aurora's resolve was unwavering as she prepared for the steps in her mission.

  The man slowly stepped out, even as she kept half an eye on him while iing the shed. Nothing else drew her attention, so she retur all to the man who offered a nervous greeting, “F-fancy meeting you here!”

  “Ah, I remember you.” She chuckled at the recolle of when she’d st seen him. He was one of the guys in the blimp heist! “Since we’re getting to know each other so well now, why don’t we have a tle chat, eh?” She patted her new ‘rade’ on his shoulder and winked. “Where’s the exo-armor stashed?”

  “You mean that big metal suit thing?” He frowned. “It’s not here. If I tell you where it is, will you let me go?”

  Aurora’s smile broadened as she tilted her head. “Now, I ’t promise that… you’re an escaped prisoner after all… but, I promise that I won’t be rough on you though.”

  “How about this, you give me a thirty-sed head-start after I tell you?! After all, you don’t want to waste time chasin’ down some nobody like me, do ya?”

  More well reasoned or truer words had never been spoken.

  “Hmm, now you have me curious about how far you could actually get in thirty seds.” Aurora appreciated the harmless ing implied.

  “Alright, but first you’re ing with me to where it is. If I like what I see, we’ll see if I catch you while I’m dealing with the thing. By the way, it’d be in your best is if I could focus on keeping my powers to a minimum, which would be tough if I was fighting.”

  “Oooo-kay! I’ll lead ya,” he nodded, agreeing instantly to the terms. The thug looked towards the open hole and back to Aurora. “We gonna use your hole or the door?”

  “Smart mouth.” Aurora spped him on the shoulder lightly, not seriously.

  “You point and we’ll go that way.” She pced a hand on him and surrounded him with a field and took a handful of his belt in her hand before swooping out with him in hand, making him yelp, but since he seemed somewhat sensible, he stifled his outcry.

  Barely managing to stifle a chuckle at his rea, Aurora said, “Point the way, my little guiding light.”

  Without hesitation, the guy quietly passed instrus as though he was worried someone would see or hear him, and he babbled a bit, “That way! Wait, this way now… don’t go toht yet.” Aurora supposed he was leadiowards the refinery which was going to be her stop anyretty obvious, actually… but had the gang really shacked up right where the thing got its fuel?

  Aurora flew over to the building with ohug in hand. “What’s the best way to get in without being noticed, you think?” she asked while midair.

  “Whoooooa! Wait a minute! Don’t go up so high!” He squirmed. It was hard to trate with him thrashing like this, but she managed.

  “I don’t know! I don’t know!” he cried desperately.

  “Tsk… okay… new pn!” Aurora smiled and spiraled down to a pce that seemed safe a him down easy.

  “Here’s what we’ll do instead,” she ged her hair again and put on another dress, experimenting with touches like makeup that she hadn't tried before. In order to determine whether she’d successfully modified her appearance, she slipped her phone from her boob pocket and used the mirror app. Ugh…. not yet. The thug stifled a ugh when he saw the -like result.

  Ign his rea, she thought about the lessons that Quinn and Goonie had given her, particurly eling the teiques that Quinn used on her face when they went to the rave where she met Sarah. She brushed her face with her fingers and perfected the look and when she was satisfied she smiled as though she’d smeared on aint.

  The man stopped sniggering and watched with fasation at how her appearance ged right before his eyes. When he eventually tried to edge away, Aurestured at him and put a ring around his ankle so he couldn’t move more.

  “Yoing to ese like the lucky gentleman you are. I’ll be on your arm. Nothing to be anxious or nervous about.” She paused to give him a firm gnce. “If you try to say anything to ahough, you’ll be the first ohat gets a taste of my, um… lightshot? I haven’t really hem yet. But I’m sure you know, foom.” He winced, clearly appreciating the sequences. “Anyway, that would knock you out nicely until I could address any bigger issues.”

  “Y-yeah, yeah!” he said. “But you said you were going to let me go after I showed you! I thought you super-types didn’t lie!”

  “I didn’t lie. ‘You get a head start,’ remember. Besides, showing me isn’t just a general set of dires, it’s more useful. Plus you’re my cover. Esc me means showing me exactly where the suit is, that way I don’t have to guess where in the building that thing’s held.”

  Aurora smiled again at his nervousness. “Calm down. You’re already quite the lucky guy for having such a sexy young thing on your arm, aren’t you?” She winked. “Think about the cred that might get you if you escape. You could just as easily say ‘Hey, she duped me!’… You might cate fck for it, but it’s believable enough.”

  “Y-yeah… sure,” he said nervously, sweating already. He tugged at the light ring until Aurora dissolved it. She took his arm, guided it into a decidedly ptonic position and held it there firmly.

  Arm in arm, the pair walked towards the refinery. As they came near, the smaller man-sized door o one of the rger vehicle-sized ones opened up.

  A guy with a gun looked out. “What are you doing?” the newer asked, “You said you wao stick to the car, didn’t you? And who’s this?”

  “S-Super… Sue Per Hino?” he halfway asked nervously.

  “Sue Per Hino, eh?” He tossed a quice at Aurora before tinuing his interrogation, “And didn’t I hear you yelling before?”

  Aurrinned and interjected, “That’s why they call me ‘super Sue Hino,’ baby.” She winked. “I was giving him the ride of his life earlier.” She stuck out her tongue slightly.

  Thankfully, she’d chosen to go with a darker hair color for her current disguise as that might imply an asian bloodline paired with the silly he man had chosen for her. He’d already subtly tried to betray her. Noted.

  She posed like the asian girls did in videos online on social media, winking with a little salute. “Don’t get your hopes up though, buddy. I think I’ve grown really attached to my baby here, and I’m a one guy girl, right baby?” She stroked her ed ary’s lightly with a finger and another wink.

  “Um… y-yeah. She’s… uh… she’s my baby?” he said nervously, looking at Aurora fearfully.

  “he man said with vi. “Well, get your ass back to the car. We’re almost done here, and then we’re taking off.”

  It’d cause problems if the thug ran back to the car. Aurora had to interject, “A… baby was telling me all about the big awesome robot thing you guys used to bust up a police station! I got all hot thinking about it, pulling a job like that. Baby told me he’s the pilot and the ringleader. Isn’t that amazing?” Aurora cooed aed her ‘baby’ fawningly.

  “Why do you treat your star pilot so harshly though?” She grinned. “Anyways, I told him I’d give a real ride to ANYONE who showed me that awesome thing…”

  While she was keeping it together somehow, Aurora nearly died on the inside delivering such lines.

  “WHAT?” her prisoner cried, shocked.

  “Ha, you told this trick you were the man in the armor? Boss’ gonna twist your head off, man.”

  “No, I ain’t never said that! You tell him, you tell him I didn’t say that! I ain’t no snitch!” he decred, suddenly hyperventiting.

  “Yeah, well wait here, baby, I’ll get the boss and you have a talk with him yourself. He’s gonna love this story.”

  The sentry started to close the door to check with someone inside, but the thug broke out from Aurora’s grip and dove to try to get past.

  “No! I ain’t never said that!” He said over and ain.

  Aurri him. “It’s okay. I’ll tell them you manned up and told me the truth. Oh, bestill my maidenly heart. To be lied to by my first lust. Oh well, such are the trials of love, I hear.” She waved her hand. “Now, thirty seds as promised. If you get away from here they’ll think you just chied out. And trust me, your boss isn’t going to get the ce to get at you, if he even thinks twice about you.”

  The guy took off running, pumping so hard he touched his ko elbows. Aurora watched him go with a small smirk. She waited for only a couple of beats before the door opened again. “Okay, th--?” The guy from before looked around. “Hah, he shit himself and ran off. All right, kid, e in, the boss wants to see you, anyway.”

  Aurora wiped a fake tear while smiling faintly. “He did. Poor baby… he broke my heart when I found he lied to me, but fet ‘em. The real pilot wants to see me! So exg!” She put on a dreamy airheaded expression. “Would you escort a wayward dy?” She extended her arm with a warm smile.

  He smiled and waved Aurora forward with his gun instead. “Uh uh, Boss wants you, I ain’t toug the boss’ stuff.”

  “Well, aren’t you the gentleman?” Aurora smiled and stepped inside, affeg a little ay about the gun being poi her as they progressed.

  She allowed him to direct her as being too forward and assertive would be automatically suspicious. She wondered idly whether she’d meet the boss or the suit first. Assuming the boss was the pilot himself, she could elimihe biggest threat quickly without much of a struggle.

  As soon as she walked ihe sentry smmed the door behind.

  “Sorry sweetheart, no witnesses,” he said, putting the gun right to her head.

  “Oh dear!” Aurora blinked, definitely surprised and feeling quite put out.

  It seemed like a perfe, but she wasn’t surprised enough to not automatically activate her shield. She waited for the gun to fire. It had to be the skin-tight variety since he was so close, so she hoped he didn’t get hit by his own ricocheted bullet.

  Once he squeezed the trigger, Aurora spun and thrust her arms out to grab his on arm, turned again and simultaneously applied her weight-ing field to the man. The bullet ricocheted off her aura and she go see with relief that it struck a near wall. Having firmed his safety, she smmed his arm on her ko break his grip on his gun. Having disarmed him, she crouched and struck his below with a smooth movement. She wasn’t muartial arts, but with the agility she’d gained in her super-form, it was child’s py.

  The man didn’t fall over, though his eyes gzed a bit thanks to his brain being rattled. Aurora wasn’t done quite yet. Pg a hand on his chest while he was stunned, she put a golden ring around his arms and torso and tighte.

  Not a moment after the sentry had been subdued, a voice came through his walkie-talkie. “Have you killed that moron and his girlfrie?” it asked.

  Aurora reached below and firmly palmed his balls through his trousers. She grinned and nodded very exaggeratedly as if to say, ‘you won’t have them anymore if you e.’

  “Y-yeah…” he yelled in reply, “He ran off but I got the girl!”

  “Good. Get the van then, and pull it up to the sed bay.”

  Aurora leao his ear and spoke quietly. “Van’s no good… it won’t start… baby came to say that and it slipped your mind... You were too worried about the girl…”

  “Van’s dead! Girl told me it was dead ‘cause I shot her… I mean before I shot her… !”

  “All right then. Everyone fan out, search for a new vehicle, quick, otherwise we’ll pay that yellow bastard another visit a one from him.” The owner of the voice ughed a little at the end.

  A number of booted footsteps quickly moved iher room and the vehicle-sized entry doors started to rattle as the motors that trolled them activated.

  “When it’s safe, take me to your boss. Should be nid cleared out. You do as I say, aher of you will be harmed…” She patted o his groin to remind him of the danger.

  “By the way, what you don’t know is I shoot people too… nohally, mind… but with the power of a shotgun bst. It stings real good. If I think you’re too much trouble, you’ll be out like a light before you know it.” Aurora listened carefully to the men’s movements fading.

  Gesturing for her hostage to move, this time she kept her ring ihe man nodded, his eyes wide with fear and uanding. He led her through the y corridors of the refinery, the sound of their footsteps eg off the walls.