Episode Three: Investigation Part 2

Waking up the next morning, Ace decided to check the scenes of the thefts while keeping her eye out for anything that resembled the piece of metal while she was out. During the day, it would be too difficult to search the buildings as the Mysterious Ace of Spades; today, she would have to go back to being Regan Willis, high school student.

After changing her clothes, and realizing that it was probably a good idea to wash her costume, Regan peeked out her door to see if CORE was anywhere to be seen. She mostly trusted the robot, but she didn’t know if someone could be watching through him and she couldn’t put her secret identity at risk. As an extra precaution, she pulled up her hoodie before leaving her room.

The garage at their base was meant to hold a team of heroes’ vehicles. Currently, it held only her motorcycle. Regan clicked a button on her motorcycle, changing the color from black to red and allowing the license plate to be seen. She plopped her helmet on her head and was off.

When she entered the first building on her list, she quickly took in her surroundings before walking up to the receptionist.

“Hi, how may I help you?” the receptionist asked.

“Hi, my name’s Regan. I have an appointment this morning for a tour of the building.”

The receptionist was shocked and began frantically looking around her desk for something that confirmed Regan’s story; of course, there was nothing of the sort. Well, not until Regan slid one onto her desk when she turned to look in the filing cabinet.

“Ah, yes,” the woman said when she found the false document. “Hmm, I don’t recall who was supposed to give you the tour. Give me a minute to make a call, will you?”

Regan nodded and waited until a man, who was embarrassed that he had forgotten an appointment but pretended that he hadn’t, came and took her on a tour. Similar things happened at the next two buildings and Regan was practically a pro by the fourth.

The fourth embarrassed man explained all sorts of history and gave Regan a ton of information. As they entered the building's science wing, Regan saw it.

“Sir, on the news I saw that there have been break-ins in companies like yours. Did your company have any?” Regan asked.

“Why, in fact, we did not,” Regan heard him lie with great skill. “We actually had a misreported break-in. One of our men saw something fall over and immediately called the police. But, there were no missing items, I checked the building myself.”

She looked back around the room and looked at the canisters marked “Calobicin.” She wondered why the police report had listed something as stolen when this man was obviously trying to hide that fact. Regan recalled that the item listed as stolen was not this “Calobicin” ingredient. Maybe he had only managed to hide the Calobicin's theft from his co-workers but not the other ingredient. But if they knew about the other being stolen, why lie about there never being a theft? Why lie at all?

“This canister here,” she pointed to the “Calobicin” container, “I don’t recognize the name; what is it?”

“Ah, young lady, that is a substance we created here. Unfortunately, it is top secret. Only I and two other scientists know about its creation. Come along.”

Regan needed to know who the other scientists who knew about the substance were. It was possible that her tour guide was working alone or with outside help, but for now, the other two were her best lead.

“And that’s the tour!” the man said with a sigh of relief.

“Thank you so much, sir. I learned a lot. I must apologize, but could you give me your name once again?” Regan asked innocently.

“I’ll do you one better; I’m Larry and this is my business card. Give me a call if you have any questions.”

“Thank you!”