Carl bit his lip and leaned very close to Aurora. “The x10CV department primarily handles high-security projects, which means that those records are not usually available after they’re processed.  However, because this particular set of materials was also involved in a data breach that was very… unusual, let’s say… because of that, it’s possible that there are still copies available at other locations, which is what Andy’s checking on now.”

 

Aurora nodded her head. Extensive Enterprises was very suspicious.

 

Carl continued, “Andy’s a nervous little nebbish, but one thing he’s really good at is tracking records. So, he’s trying as we speak to find one of the physical copies which should still be in our reach.  He’s pretty unlucky though, so don’t be surprised if he kind of stares at you when he gets back.  He’s not a creeper, just… unlucky, if you catch my drift.”

 

Was Carl trying to hook her up with the ‘nebbish’? What is a nebbish? Aurora blinked.

 

Carl cleared his throat and started talking in a louder tone, “So anyway, as I was saying, you’ll probably have to go to the seventh floor and speak to someone regarding records redundancies,” he said, shaking his head to alert the superhero that his words at that moment were false. “But give me a few more moments to try to track something down here.”

 

Aurora nodded, understanding.  Was his office bugged and monitored by equipment? It’s not uncommon for companies to use security cameras to spy on their workers.

 

Smiling, Aurora looked over Carl and considered his words. “I don’t mind waiting. I appreciate your honesty and candor.”

 

While Carl made small talk afterwards, his phone interrupted him, buzzing in his shirt’s front pocket.  He showed Aurora it after scanning it.

 

Found the records you’re looking for. Send her to floor six down in IT.

Tell her to look for Box 7.

 

Carl shrugged after pocketing his phone, speaking loudly, “Okay, well… I guess there’s nothing down in records for you, I’m afraid.  I’d suggest you go up to the ninth floor and look for ‘Wayne’ in ‘Extended Projects,’ got it?  Oh but, before you go, can I ask you about something?”

 

Aurora nodded again and considered.  Carl was a very clever and honest guy.  He sure knew how to pass information.  He asked his question with a slightly silly smile, “Is Valerie North as earnest as she seems on her blog?”

 

Carl was one of Valerie’s readers and maybe was an admirer from afar.  Aurora’s connection with her and her glowing report had already borne fruit in her investigation.  Amazing!

 

Aurora nodded her head emphatically with an answering warm smile. “She really is. I enjoyed our interview in Oceana.  I’ll let her know that she has a great fan.” Aurora stood, extending her hand to shake his.

 

Carl took her hand and shook it firmly. “Thanks. Hey, add me on LinkedIn.  We should keep in touch.”

 

Aurora grinned. “I don’t have an account there.” Because she was fifteen years old in reality.  Maybe she’d have gotten one around four or six years from now, normally. “I’ll open an account, soonish.”

 

“Well, yeah.” Carl laughed. “I guess there aren’t a lot of professional superheroes there, huh… Hey... maybe I should become a superhero. I can be the Purchaser!” He flexed his muscles a little, gesturing with his head to indicate that Aurora really should move on.

 

Aurora laughed and stepped away, nodding. “Try a regimen of 100 situps, 6.2 miles of running, and around 100 pushups and 100 squats every day, and you never know what may happen. You could become a superhero.” Aurora waved and headed for the elevator.  Would that kind of a ‘maybe’ brutal exercise take his nice hair from him?  Sweat drops.

 

Carl called after her, “Yeah! I’ll add that to my Zumba and Cise classes.” He looked after her, a little skeptical.  Aurora left the Purchasing Department and pressed the button to board the elevator.  After a few moments, the door dinged and opened.  She pressed the number nine button and then the sixth.  Ooops.  Accidental button mashing… What can you do?

 

When the elevator stopped at six, she got off and looked around for the IT department.

 

Finally, she found the correct section, but it was sealed off behind a door equipped with a security key scanner.  Aurora looked around while she studied the door, wondering if she could somehow use her light powers to create magnetic fields that might fool these kinds of systems. She’d have to look into the possibility.  After all, her powers did generate effects like the aurora borealis, so why might it not work?

 

She didn’t have to experiment and possibly cause an alarm to go off when the door opened and a familiar face poked his nose out.  It was Andy, who smiled shyly at Aurora again.  He walked past, and Aurora took the opportunity to walk through.  “Good luck!” he whispered.

 

These guys were a pair of amazing guys.  The door closed behind her with a loud clicking and Aurora looked at what was on the other side.  There were another set of larger cube farms here and Aurora attempted to move as nonchalantly as possibly, as though her presence was accepted and sanctioned.

 

It wasn’t long before another guy in this new office stepped up to Aurora. “Um… can I help you? I’m not sure you're supposed to be in here.”

 

Don’t freeze… don’t freeze…

 

Aurora took a moment and suppressed a loud sigh while she held up her Society of Sentinels identification.

 

“Society of Sentinels member, Aurora.  I’m here for information in regards to a case that involves supervillain tech that was stolen from Extensive Enterprises and was used in the recent attack over in the City of San Isidro.  I’m investigating and am looking around your offices.  I’ve been assured that your company has nothing to hide in regards to this incident.  I don’t expect that I”ll find much, but you never know.”

 

“Um… well, I guess welcome to IT, but a superhero doesn’t give you, like, police powers, you know.” It did give her several rights, actually.  

 

Superheroes do exactly what they have to do to get to the bottom of a case, even if it requires bypassing law, sometimes.  

 

The man continued, asking, “Do you think someone here is involved with that? Someone in IT? Really? I… ha.... D-don’t think we supported anything with legs today…”

 

Aurora blinked, wondering what he was going for with that pun.  Maybe someone else would understand.  She looked at him with a slightly raised eyebrow. “No.  I don’t expect the workers would be involved. There’s nothing you have to worry about.” She offered a soothing smile.

 

“Being a member of the Society of Sentinels does give me powers of investigation that are recognized by governments worldwide.  Freelance heroes that aren’t a part of the Society just shake people down vigilante-style.  We try to do things in a more open fashion and always prioritize the saving of lives.  In any case, what I’m saying is that cooperating with the Society today means that you have nothing at all to hide.  I can leave now if you asked me to, but then, I’d definitely have to make a note that the sixth floor might have something to hide, actually.” She tapped her cheek with her communicator and smiled.

 

The guy froze and frowned. “Okay… let me just call legal and I’ll make sure we’re complying as per policy.  Do you want to follow me, please?” he asked as he took a couple steps away.

 

Aurora suppressed another dramatic sigh and composed her face to hide her consternation.  She had considered disguising herself so she wouldn’t stand out so much, but being open sometimes was a better policy.

 

Aurora gestured to the man as she stepped beside him.  She had a bit of time, but what she worried most about was whether Carl and Andy would get in trouble for their help.

 

Hoping that she’d get lucky again, she followed him to a desk and waited while he picked up a phone.  While he started dialing, another guy poked his head in. “Oh, hey. Sorry, I was supposed to meet with her.  She got sent up here because of that thing we had the other day.”

 

The guy dialing the legal department froze. “What thing?” He asked, hanging up.

 

Sweat drops.  That call might have meant the end of her investigation, if Andy had not done everything he could to smooth her way.  This newcomer must have been talked to by him.  Aurora decided that she owed the two guys some favors.  Plugging Carl with Chuntao should cover her debt towards him, but what about Andy?

 

“Don’t worry about it. I got this,” the newcomer said, “I’ve already got a couple of irons in the fire.” He waved to Aurora in a friendly way, even though she’d never met this guy.  “Come on, it’s still on my screen. Let me show you.” He beckoned her over.

 

When Aurora got up, he led her out from the forest of cubes, but they remained in this department.  “Wow…” He grinned. “It’s really you.  Superhero… uhh… I don’t know your name, offhand, but hey, I hear you're looking for records regarding that breach, right? Those records are being kept over here. Come on, before anyone else comes by.”

 

There were some really cool guys working here, even if Extensive Enterprises seemed to be deeply involved with matters that were legally nebulous.

 

He led her along the wall and leaned back against the card reader, ‘accidentally’ swiping his card.  There was a beep and the loud lock tumbled.  He opened the door for Aurora. “In here. Come on.” Aurora went in and the room on the other side was packed with boxes.

 

“I hear seven is a lucky number,” he said nonchalantly as he pointed at a specific box. “Poor guy, really.  Didn’t get anything back after… too bad.”  He slipped out quietly.

 

Aurora walked over to the box and opened it after plucking it from the stack and broke the tape sealing it.  Rummaging through it for anything conspicuous, she found that it was a mishmash of desktop head bobbles, posters and such.  Basically, this was what a worker decorated his desk with in order to demonstrate his humor and character.  Smiling sadly, she wondered about what the guy said,  Poor guy, really. Didn’t get anything back…  The guy must have been fired, and if she was pointed to this box, he must have been involved with their security breach.

 

Digging through the box, she spotted one thing that stood out amongst the cute decor.

 

A small USB drive.  This might be it.  Aurora pocketed it and replaced the box, turning it and piling others on top of it so it wasn’t obvious that it’d been tampered with.