Stalwart Hunters (8)

Until Proven Guilty

Cosmo Canyon - Cosmo Candle

Seikou is sitting by the candle in silence, still staring at the beautiful flame...

Variance strides closer to the immortal flame of the Candle, taking a few short breaths to collect himself from the short sprint to arrive here. "Seikou!"

Seikou looks up, still looking depressed. "...Hai, Vari-sama...."

Variance recedes a little, the despaired expression doing its job quite well on his previously hightened spirit. He would have to word this carefully... or come straight out with it, either way. "...It wasn't her."

Seikou tries to stay calm, but a flicker of hope is now in his eyes. "...Really?"

Variance nods, unable to keep a rising, relieved smile to himself. "I asked her myself not too long ago. Said she hadn't left Truce much at all, which means she couldn't have been here to... you know."

Seikou looks a little concerned nonetheless. "...What if she was lying, though?"

You say 'I can tell when someone's lying, and she was definitely being truthful. Though she looked more worried about you than anything... kept asking if anything had happened to you. I... didn't want to worry her more.'

Seikou allows himself a slight smile. "...I'm so glad it wasn't her..." He then goes serious again. "...So who the hell -was- it?"

Variance turns a little cross himself, brow furrowed and arms crossed, actually looking a bit annoyed. "That's the problem. Aura was the only lead we had, and now that she's innocent, we're back at square one."

Seikou says '...The only known active Mavericks are Vaisu and that shadowbot from a few weeks ago, if I'm correct, and neither one of them fits that description...'

Variance nods slowly, still deep in thought. "True..." A sigh leaves him. "This just keeps getting better and better..."

Seikou says '...Perhaps it was Vaisu -dressed- as Aura?'

Variance blinks, considering the idea for a moment... And quickly cringes, dismissing the thought as fast as he can. "I doubt it. Vice tends to go to any means necessary, but I don't think he'll -crossdress- to do something like this."

Seikou shrugs. "Just listing our options..."

"Well, I know one thing for certain," Variance begins, idly shouldering his polearm, "We need to find out who did this as soon as possible. Though without any idea where to start, it won't be immediately."

Variance starts heading back towards the gate, turning towards Seikou briefly. "You can stay here longer if you wish, Signas gave us both a little time off."

Seikou says '...I think I'm ready to go.'

Seikou stands up and brushes the dirt off his armour. "I want to find out who did this..."

Variance nods and starts off again. "Fair enough... Although this'll be at least the second time we work when off-duty, you realize." He smirks, adding quickly, "He might not sit well with that."

You say 'You know, since bosses tend to expect their employees to properly take their time off as -time off-.'

Free City, Truce - Fountain

Variance nods, stopping by the fountain briefly on the way back to base. "Right, though we have to -find- the hard copy files first."

Seikou sighs. "Blody Signas hiding all the files..."

You say 'I'm sure he's not hiding them on purpose, just... keeping them safe. And I'd say his office is safe enough, considering he's the only one who can get in and out.'

Seikou says 'We could try knocking on the wall until he came out...'

Variance pauses again, considering the possibility. "...I guess we could..."

Seikou shakes his head. "No matter what we do, we should do it -soon-."

Variance nods, staring towards the Base again...

Maverick Hunters Headquarters

Variance strides into the one-break room building known as Hunter Base, looking a bit frantically for a certain man in a Spiffy Hat. "Signas, sir!"

Seikou walks in slowly and knocks on the wall where Signas presumably hides. "Signas-sama, may I have permission to talk to you?" he calls.

Signas looks up from sorting a small pile of documents. "Er, yes! What do you need, gentlemen?"

Seikou says 'We need the hard copy data on known Reploids...'

Signas says 'That's a rather.. large file. Are you sure you want the entire thing?'

You say 'It may be a large file, but we need to look at everything at once. We're... still trying to find that Maverick from yesterday.'

Seikou nods. "At the very least, we need the files on Reploids matching the description given by the witness."