<div style="text-indent:1em;">To the surprise and disgust of his team, upon nightfall Hardich opted to spend the night in the town, closer to the scene. The shape shifter and great thinker argued that Heroes United was only a forty-five minute drive away, but Hardich wanted to be much closer. He thought that perhaps if he was around the entire area for the day, he could find more evidence than the alley way had offered. And while they were certainly exasperated by his decision, it really didn't take all that long to find a very nice hotel just a little ways down the street.</div><br/><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"Well, Hardich, I must say. This hotel is quite exquisite. Perhaps not as comfortable as my own room and bed, but I do believe it will do just fine,"  Maximillian said upon entering the hotel behind the rest of his team. His thoughts were echoed by the shape shifter. It was a grand hotel, enough for anyone. And while there were many attractions, Hardich was mostly inside of himself. He noticed, looking from the inside out, that the great thinker paid for the overpriced Penthouse with the Hero Card and sometime later, he was being lead upstairs.</div><br/><br/>Villains Incorporated.<br/>Soft blue patch of cloth.<br/>Probably women's clothing, but unsure.<br/>Unsure if threat even connected.<br/>Perhaps not.<br/>Will gather information from surrounding area.<br/>What is motive?<br/>They have other weapons.<br/>What is special about Vexis weapons?<br/><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">In his mind, Hardich was lost. Things were happening outside of his body, but he was on the inside. To himself, he materialized in an infinitely spacious area, lit indirectly by a dull glow. The light was cast equally, and had no source. Somewhere, perhaps in the middle, he stood. This is where things were real to him. In real life he sat on the edge of some couch that he faintly recognized as extremely soft, but in his reality, things were coming to life. In the space above, Hardich allowed the image of the blue cloth to exist. He placed all he knew about the object right there. It felt like satin, smelt faintly of flowery soap, was blue, tasted of nothing and gave no sound. This was his largest lead, however shaky it was. In another space, he placed all of his knowledge about Vexis and their operations. Unfortunately, he knew very little about what they did.</div><br/><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">He continued like such for another hour, completely undisturbed by his companions. Perhaps it consideration for is work that they excluded him from conversation, and Hardich enjoyed thinking it was just that. Before long, he passed out on the couch anyways. When he woke very early the next morning, Hardich didn't bother waking his companions before he ate and left. The morning air was cool, and while the city street was much busier now, it was still pleasant. It wasn't long before Mary woke and dragged Maximillian down to the scene. The two spent a little while putting up the official yellow Heroes United tape, and after that, really did nothing. Truly, it was terribly boring, especially for Mary. Maximillian busied himself by researching Vexis more deeply through his laptop computer, but Mary was really only around for more physical protection. Eventually, she came to confront the young man, who she found sitting on the ground opposite the dumpster the victim allegedly came out of.</div><br/><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"Hardich, I really don't think there's anything else here. We should consider wrapping up, going back to Head Quarters and just putting up protection for the general Vexis corporation. I'm sure, if this was really even the work of Villains United, there will be..." Mary said, standing a few feet from Hardich. She'd approached from the mouth of the alleyway, and as Hardich lifted his head to give his actual attention, something on the street caught his attention.</div><br/><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">There was girl, not very old, walking past. This would have been typical, he'd seen plenty of young women go past them all morning, but this was different. She had blonde hair and blue eyes, dressed in some kind of blue outfit. Of course that wasn't enough to make any kind of claim, but then, she smiled. And it wasn't just a smile. It was triumphant, it was...and then she blew a kiss.</div><br/><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">When Hardich rose to his feet, Mary was startled and her exasperation quickly began to turn to anger. Obviously he was ignoring her, why was she being ignored? He could hear the question being raised as he walked past her, walking towards the mouth of the alley way just as the girl disappeared behind the building to the left. He was sure she was just passing.</div><br/><br/>At least, almost sure.