Tristan usually had no problems when it came to patience. He could sit still and wait for opportune moments to occur. He knew the importance of gathering information so one could walk into a fight with the knowledge to help themselves win.

However, he was swiftly learning that it was impossible for him to remain patient under certain circumstances.

Harley had been gone for just over two days. He was safe and sound on Felwinter Peak. That was the only thought that brought any amount of comfort to Tristan. Obeying the Hunter's wishes, he and Rogue had not made another move against Elijah or anyone else in the shadowy organization that was after Harley.

But Tristan had to do something to help. So he decided he would redouble his efforts to find Miyako Thorne, the Praxic mole.

He didn't have much to go on. While he had seen her face during the handoff with Elijah, it didn't mean much while she remained in hiding. If only he could figure out who she was working for. He thought back to her file, trying to remember if there was any information that could help him in his search. It was in both Harley's and the Praxic Order's best interests that the mole be caught as soon as possible. Then he remembered.

Miyako Thorne was pledged to the New Monarchy faction.

Tristan never had much interest in aligning with any of the factions. To him, they seemed like a waste of time. Especially New Monarchy. But maybe they could tell him where Thorne might be.

Tristan pulled out his Holo and called Rogue.

It took a moment for the Exo to answer. When he did, Tristan could hear the Titan's labored breathing, accompanied by fainter sounds of gunfire and comm chatter. "What is it?" demanded Rogue.

"It's about the mole," Tristan began. Before he could continue, Rogue shushed him fiercely.

"You crazy? This is an unsecured comm."

"I'll keep it short and nonspecific," Tristan promised, "Can you meet me after the match?"

The Exo chuckled. "How'd ya know I was in the Crucible?"

Tristan raised an eyebrow, pausing in what Liv referred to as his "sarcastic silence." "Can you meet?" he repeated.

"Yeah, yeah. Anywhere specific?"

"The apartment."

"Gotcha. I'm gonna hang up now. See ya after we win."

Tristan could almost hear the grin on Rogue's face as the Titan ended the call. He sighed and settled in to wait.

About fifteen minutes later, he heard the apartment door open. Rogue's heavy footsteps sounded on the floor. The Exo stuck his head into Tristan's room, ducking a bit to get under the doorframe.

Tristan regarded him from his desk chair. "Did you win?" he asked.

Rogue nodded. "You bet your ass we did!" His mouth lights glowed even brighter with his enthusiasm.

Tristan stood up and walked towards the doorway. Rogue stood aside so he could get through, following him out into the main area of the apartment. "So what's up?" he asked.

"I've been looking into Miyako Thorne, the Praxic mole," said Tristan, "Since Harley does not want us to pursue our other investigation, I thought we might help the Praxic Order find her."

"You wanna help the Praxics?" said Rogue skeptically.

"Yes."

"Why not just tell 'em her name then? They still don't know who leaked their file, right?"

Tristan frowned. That was true. Currently Rogue and himself knew more than the Order did about the mole's identity. "They will want to know how we found out," he told the Titan, "Besides, I believe we have a better chance to find her."

"You think the two of us can do a better job than trained Praxic Warlocks? How d'you figure?"

"Thorne will be expecting the Order to come after her whereas she won't be expecting us. That and… the fact that Harley was nearly killed in Praxic custody does not instill me with confidence in their operating methods."

Rogue gave a short chuckle. "Point."

"Thone is pledged to New Monarchy. It would be in our best interests to speak with Executor Hideo. Perhaps he will have an idea of where she went."

The Exo shrugged. "Good enough for me," he said, "Let's do it."

Tristan nodded and led the way out of the apartment. Given the building's location off of the Bazaar, they would not have to go far.

Executor Hideo, the faction representative of New Monarchy, was set up under a shaded lounge area. As Tristan and Rogue approached, he looked up from the holopad he'd been using. "Ah, Guardians," he greeted, "What can I or New Monarchy do for you?"

Tristan noted the red, gold, and white colors he wore. Colors distinctive of all those pledged to the faction. "Hello, Executor," he said politely, "My friend and I are here about a Guardian in your faction. Miyako Thorne?"

Something flashed in Hideo's eyes. It was gone before Tristan could deduce what it was, but he noted it all the same. "I'm afraid there are many Guardians pledged to New Monarchy." He spoke apologetically, but there was an undertone of smugness in his voice. "I can hardly hope to know them all by name."

"She's a Warlock who works for the Praxic Order," said Tristan, "We hoped to find her at her residence some time ago, but she wasn't there. It appears she has not been seen for quite a while now."

"Is that not the nature of Guardians?" said Hideo, "Always flitting between worlds. Fighting the good fight."

"Not for the Praxic Order," Tristan pointed out, "The duties of Warlocks in the Order remain here in the City. They only leave when they are dispatched and I hardly think the Order would dispatch many of its members considering the-" He stopped himself, remembering that knowledge of the Praxic mole hadn't exactly been made public. Tristan hastily amended his statement. "Considering the current circumstances."

Hideo raised an eyebrow. "Hayden's escape? I would have thought that even more reason to deploy Praxic agents into the field." The Executor noticed Tristan's expression. "You're surprised that I would talk so openly about it," he said.

"...I can't say I expected it," said Tristan.

Hideo nodded. "That's understandable. But you two are Hayden's friends, are you not? I recognize you from his file. Tristan Bentlix and Rogue-12. As his friends, I can only assume you knew of the situation."

"You're right, we did." He almost wanted to ask the Executor how he had come across Harley's file, but asking him that would imply that Tristan knew the file had been acquired illicitly.

"Such a shame," Hideo continued, "To think that yet another Guardian has fallen from grace. Perhaps you are not as… well-equipped to protect the City as we believed."

Tristan narrowed his eyes but didn't rise to the Executor's needling. "The Consensus was about to put him on trial, was it not?"

Hideo nodded. "We were."

"But Harley had already been sentenced by the Praxic Order. Why put someone on trial if judgment had already been passed?"

Hideo frowned. "We deemed the Praxic Order's 'judgment' insufficient," he said, "They would have essentially let Hayden off of the hook. Rogue Guardians cannot be tolerated. If a Guardian falls to the Darkness, an example must be made so it won't happen again."

Tristan wasn't surprised when Rogue decided to give his input. He was aware that the Titan had been fuming almost the entire time he'd been talking to Hideo. "And what kinda example does killing him set, Hideo?" Rogue demanded.

"We were never going to execute him," said the Executor with a frown, "Should we arrive at an agreement - which I'm certain we will - Hayden will be exiled. That has always been the punishment."

Rogue stepped closer to the faction representative, jabbing him in the chest with his finger. "That's as good as executing him and you know it!"

Hideo pushed his hand away, looking annoyed. "I'm sure I don't know what you're referring to," he said.

"You know damn well!" growled the Exo, "If you goons exile him, the Man with the Golden Gun's gonna find him and he'll be dead!"

"Hayden getting killed at the hand of a vigilante is hardly our problem to solve," said Hideo impassively, "Our jurisdiction ends at the City's walls, I'm afraid."

"Bloody convenient for ya. Still a death sentence but you get the luxury of keepin' your hands clean."

The Executor's eyes narrowed. "What are you implying?"

"I'm not implying anything," retorted Rogue, taking another step closer, "I'm tellin' you to your face that you're a fucking coward!"

The two looked like they were about to come to blows, and while Tristan knew that Rogue would inevitably come out on top of that exchange, the repercussions that would come from attacking a Consensus member would be harsh. Knowing he lacked the physical strength to hold Rogue back, he shoved between them.

Tristan himself was not much taller than Hideo and the Exo towered over them both. But he knew that the Titan would not harm him. "Rogue, you need to calm down," he said, keeping his tone even.

"Why should I?" demanded Rogue, "Why should I let this weasel get away with sendin' Ace to his death?"

Tristan shoved at the Titan's chestplate, but he knew Rogue wouldn't budge unless he wanted to. "The trial hasn't happened yet, Rogue. Harley could walk free for all we know." He heard Hideo scoff behind him and he turned to shoot the Executor a glare before refocusing on Rogue. "Harley's done a lot for this City," he continued, "There's a good chance. We just need to convince him to mount a defense." Rogue still looked angry, but Tristan could tell he was beginning to calm down.

"How do you expect to do that when Hayden could be anywhere in the system?" Hideo challenged, "Unless, of course, you know where he is or have means of contacting him."

"The Praxic Order is looking for him," Tristan stated, "When they find him and bring him back to the Tower, we will convince him to mount a defense and get these ridiculous charges dropped."

"So possessing a Weapon of Sorrow is a ridiculous charge now?"

Tristan ignored the Executor. His words had been for Rogue's benefit. He didn't particularly care what the faction representative had to say. The remaining tension left Rogue's body and the Exo stepped back. Tristan held back a sigh of relief.

"You Guardians seem to think the City's justice system doesn't apply to you," said Hideo.

"Actually, I don't," said Tristan, turning to face him, "But I am starting to think that it isn't as "well-equipped" to deliver justice as I believed... My friend and I will leave now. Thank you for your time," he said, hoping it sounded insincere. With that, he walked away, back towards the apartment building with Rogue at his heels.

Once they were out of the faction representative's hearing range, Rogue laughed. "Throwin' his words back in his face! Nice move, Brainiac."

"Thank you," said Tristan, "It's just a shame that we weren't able to get any useful information from him."

The Titan hummed in agreement but didn't speak again until they entered the apartment.

"I think Hideo did it," he said suddenly.

Tristan shot him a quizzical look. "Did what?"

"Sent those goons after Ace." He noticed Tristan's skepticism. "Look, the guy clearly doesn't like Ace. You saw how much he wanted to get him exiled! Didn't care that he might end up dead from it either."

"That's hardly sufficient evidence to convict him," Tristan pointed out.

"But it makes sense, right?"

Tristan frowned. "Not exactly," he said, "I doubt Executor Hideo would risk his career by taking direct action against a Guardian. He doesn't have much to gain from Harley's death. And he has quite a lot to lose if it were to be traced back to him."

Rogue deflated somewhat. "I guess," he said sullenly.

"He also seems to care very much about the law. He is going after Harley because the law is behind him. Sending people to infiltrate the Praxic Order and kill Harley before the trial isn't his style. You heard him. He was confident that the Consensus would rule against Harley, right?" Rogue nodded. "So if he was that confident, why would he bother having Harley killed before the trial even happens?"

Rogue sighed. "I see your point," he admitted, "I still think he's playin' dirty though. He mentioned readin' Ace's file. Maybe he was the one who had it stolen."

Tristan frowned as he considered the Exo's theory. "Reading Harley's file means nothing at this point," he said, "Remember, it was leaked to the entire Consensus so they've all seen it."

"Damn," swore Rogue, "You're right."

Tristan held up a finger. "However… there might be something to your idea about Hideo having the file stolen. We know Miyako Thorne is a member of New Monarchy. Hideo could have told her to leak the file."

Rogue frowned. "But why would he care about the file if he didn't know what was on it?" he asked.

"Maybe he did know," said Tristan, "Or he knew about Harley... Thorne would have knowledge of Harley's arrest, possibly firsthand. You saw how passionate Hideo was about stopping Dark corruption. She could have told him about Harley's case. Maybe she was even keeping him informed from the very beginning."

"Hmm," said Rogue, "Makes sense. Think he knows about the assassins?"

"Elijah was the person who gave Miyako the file," Tristan mused, "They weren't working for the same person but it's possible they had an understanding of some kind."

The Exo held up a hand. "Hang on. There's somethin' I don't get..." Tristan motioned for him to continue. "Thorne and Joviac met up inside Praxic HQ to make the handoff right? I suppose it's easy access for her and shit but I wanna know why Joviac was the one delivering it to her if the Praxics were the ones with the info in the first place."

Tristan frowned. It was a good question. The file had been assembled by the Order so it would stand to reason that Miyako would have had an easier time getting it than Elijah. "Perhaps it wasn't accessible to everyone in the Order," he suggested, "Maybe only Aunor had access. And I believe most files are accessed from Records anyway. Elijah isn't working alone. He may have contacts that are able to retrieve secure files."

"So you're sayin' it's a resource thing."

"Yes."

"Alright. I'm on board with that. But how did Thorne know Joviac could access the file? I mean, the kid's pretty new, but he wouldn't go around bragging 'bout somethin' like that."

"I think we have something more important to consider. What should we do about Miyako Thorne? ...Executor Hideo did not exactly give us any helpful information."

Rogue sighed. "Honestly, I think we'd better just toss her to the Praxics at this point. They have a better chance of findin' her than we do. Plus it's kinda their job."

Tristan nodded slowly. He had been thinking along similar lines. If he was being honest with himself, they had screwed up with Executor Hideo. It was probably time to bring the actual authorities in on it. "I'll make contact with them today," he decided, "I'll leave an anonymous tip. We don't want them wondering how we know so much."

Following his encounter with Shin Malphur, Sarren had thrown himself into his work with more fervor than usual. While he occasionally snuck looks at the latest information or theories the Hayden strikeforce team produced, most of his energy was focused on the mole.

Aunor had given him a direct assignment to uncover the mole's identity, and so far, he was no closer to bringing them in than he was when he'd begun investigating. Either the mole was someone with high-level security clearances or their hacking skills were unparalleled. He couldn't figure out which. All he knew for sure was that the leaks came in the form of scanned documents, indicating that the mole had printed a physical copy of the file. Sarren begrudgingly admitted that they were smart for doing so. Far more difficult to trace a paper copy than a digital one.

To anyone at the surrounding desks, he appeared to be glaring at a wall. However, he was really glaring at what little information he did have, displayed via his bionic eye. He had to make progress soon. The praxic order being unable to catch a mole in their own organization was not a good look.

Suddenly, a notification popped up on his eye's HUD, indicating a message.

PUBLIC KEY 374655

FROM: UNKNOWN USER

TO: USER 7136
SUBJECT: TIP

MESSAGE IS:

To whom it may concern, I have good reason to believe the mole in the Praxic Order is a

Warlock by the name of Miyako Thorne. I know you may doubt my information but I'm

unfortunately unable to reveal my source. I only hope it's not too late for you to find her.

MESSAGE ENDS

Sarren was immediately suspicious. The Praxic Order typically didn't receive many tips, and never about investigations of this caliber.

As much as he wanted a lead, Sarren knew there was a very real possibility that the message had been sent by the mole themselves. "Tau, what are the chances of being able to trace the origin?" he asked.

There was a moment of silence.

"Not good," replied Tau, "It's been scrambled well, no way of knowing who sent it or where they sent it from."

Sarren nodded. He'd suspected as much. If the mole was a proficient hacker, scrambling the message's origin would certainly be within their abilities. He had to make a choice and there was only one person he trusted to advise him.

Aunor didn't exactly look thrilled when Sarren all but barged into her office. Judging by the number of screens in front of her, she was deep in her hunt for new leads. "What is it?" she asked, managing to keep the irritation in her voice minimal.

"I received a message just now," said Sarren, "An anonymous tip regarding the mole."

Aunor seemed to perk up as Sarren opened the message on his Holopad. He offered the device to her. She took it, interest showing openly on her face. Sarren waited for her to read it, feeling slightly nervous.

After a minute or so, he spoke up. "What do you think?" he asked, "Should I pursue it?"

Aunor pursed her lips, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

"It might not even be a lead," he continued. He wasn't quite sure why he was downplaying it so much. Maybe it was because they hadn't had a break in either case for so long that the tip being accurate seemed too good to be true.

"Do you know what this is?" said Aunor excitedly, pointing the screen at him, "This is actionable intel. This is what we've been waiting for!"

Sarren hadn't expected her to show such enthusiasm. "But what if it's fake?" he asked, "What if it was sent by the mole, designed to throw us off the trail?"

Aunor's laugh was borderline hysterical. "What trail, Sarren? They can't throw us off a trail that never existed in the first place."

Sarren considered that. It was a good point. They didn't have any other leads to go off of. This tip - should it prove true - could be the key to them apprehending the mole.

The more he thought about it, the less apprehensive he was. After all, the worst that could happen would be their search getting sent back to square one. Sarren had already been on square one long enough. He wanted to make progress. "I'll follow it up," he told Aunor, "I'll see what I can find on Thorne and get a task force together to find her."

Aunor nodded. "Good. Keep the tip to yourself and stick to a small task force. We don't want to raise too many suspicions. If Thorne isn't the mole, then they're still out there. If she is, she might not have been working alone."

"Understood." He accepted his holopad back from Aunor.

"While you're doing that, I'll see about tracing where the tip came from. And I'm going to keep looking into the Hayden case. Something about it doesn't seem right to me."

Her statement caught Sarren's interest. "How so?" he asked.

"I'll let you know once I've found out more," said Aunor, "As of right now, I have nothing more than feelings and hunches. Focus on Thorne. I'll read you in once we know for certain whether she's the mole."

Sarren nodded and made his way out of Aunor's office. This time, there was energy in his steps as he walked back to his desk. It looked like the case might finally be going somewhere.

A/N: Sorry about the lateness of this chapter. Not gonna lie, I completely forgot to post the update over the weekend and then forgot again yesterday. But it's here now and hopefully I won't forget again.