Joric Tahl used the minimal, volatile residue that Dr. Lydia Thorne had isolated. He couldn't trace the complex compound directly, but he could trace the rare synthetic base- the "non-commercial lab resources" Lydia had mentioned.
He leveraged his security clearances to pull municipal utility logs and outdated regulatory maps. He was looking for any abandoned or decommissioned facility that matched the energy signature required to run the specialized equipment needed to produce the ADO's base compound.
The search led him to the old industrial quarter, specifically the district where Professor Silas Thorne's original university lab had been located before his disgrace.
Joric spent hours cross-referencing power consumption spikes, ventilation records, and chemical disposal manifests from the past six months. The official records were dead ends, sanitized by bureaucracy. But Joric was looking for anomalies—the quiet distortions that suggested a deliberate act of concealment.
He found it in the municipal zoning archives: a series of subtle, undocumented power fluctuations traced to a single block- the area containing the defunct bookbinder's shop. The fluctuations were small enough to be dismissed as grid decay but consistent enough to suggest a powerful, intermittent drain.
Joric drove to the location that night. The bookbinder's shop was shuttered and dark, covered in faded advertisements. It looked innocuous, yet the faint, acrid smell of ozone and something metallic- a scent he associated with high-voltage science- lingered in the damp air.
He bypassed the simple, old-fashioned lock on the service entrance. Inside, the shop was a dusty shell. But beneath the counter, hidden behind a false panel, Joric found the entrance to a stairwell descending into the bedrock—the Professor's secret lab.
Joric knew he was standing at the threshold of the mastermind's lair. He did not descend. He was hunting a ghost, and the ghost was likely alerted by now, protected by whatever traps a brilliant, vengeful scientist could devise. Joric was the shield, not the frontline commando.
He retreated, leaving no sign of his infiltration. He had enough. The location tied the ADO, the "Veridian" alias, and Professor Thorne's disgrace into a single, devastating narrative of revenge.
Now, Joric had two halves of a weapon:
The Means and Motive: The Thorne family's scientific genius and their shared grievance against Valen Kaelen. The Architect: The highly intelligent, precise Archivist, Veridia, who had both the physical access (data core, studio) and the philosophical framework for "silent justice."
Joric knew the game was nearing its end. The architect was not finished. The Kaelen dynasty still had two primary political assets: Lady Isolde (the new heir) and, more importantly, the young, sheltered son, Elias Kaelen, who was still too young to pose a threat or hold political weight.
If the architect's goal was total erasure, the final targets had to be Isolde and Elias.
Joric sat in his car, overlooking the silent shop. He needed to find the connection between Veridia and the Thorne lab- a weakness, a personal habit, anything that would lead him to Elara Vane before she could deliver the final, fatal stroke to the dynasty.
He recalled his conversation with her in the Archives, the raw honesty in her voice when she spoke of necessary cruelty. He realized his pursuit was no longer just professional duty. He was hunting a mind that fascinated him, a moral mirror that reflected the corruption he served. He needed to find her, not just to neutralize her, but to understand her truth.