He was staying away from alcohol for a while, he decided. Well, aside from the occasional beer. A couple mornings before the impromptu meeting at the governor's office, he'd had an unpleasant reminder of why tequila - while enjoyable in the moment - had terrible consequences.

It was the first time he'd gotten really drunk since he could remember, though that wasn't saying much, and so he'd missed out onthe capture of that freaking madman that had started the whole fiasco. He'd wanted that prick son of a b*tch for months, since he'd made an appearance at Batten's party and implanted some kind of crap in his men. And to top it off, there'd been a momentof rage when he'd been sure Katt had simply walked away with the guy.

He'd only gone along with it because the others had, though he had been less trusting. Too many people had the tendency to simply flip sides here, and that aside, he knew how dangerous Kain was - he'd had a run-in with the man himself, and the guy was stark, raving insane. And all the more deadly and dangerous for that.

He was sure his only chance to catch the bastard was walking away with someone he counted as among his few familiar friends. Free to go, and who knew when he would have a chance to get him again.

But it turned out he had underestimated Katt. And so did Kain, apparently. By the time the message had gotten to him he had been six shots into and eight shot tequila night, and he vaguely remembered showing it to Issy. Other than that the evening was a blur of lights, sound, and vague recollections of some intensive athletics with a blonde.

She hadn't been there when he woke up, which he remembered finding amusing and relieving in equal amounts. Apparently she'd gotten what she wanted and left, which he'd been guilty of a time or two himself.

At some point his armor had been broken that evening, and had needed repairs. And as Race's message came to him over that odd pin he'd gotten from Belial, he looked up in the direction of the ceiling. "Diana, status of repairs?"

The answer came back right away. "Complete, sir. Your armor will be ready when you stop and pick it up."

"Great. Next question for ya: Is Kyle in his office?"

There was a pause before the cool female voice came back. "Yes, sir. Shall I put you through?"

He simply looked up at the ceiling for a long moment, exasperated, until he remembered that the AI doesn't take into account human expressions. With a sigh, he nods. "Please, Diana."

There was another moment of silence before the deep, slow voice of the COO came through. "What can I do for you, Leo?"

He looked up towards the ceiling as he spoke, some weird habit he'd not been able to rid himself of. "I have to take on an assignment with Race, Kyle. Might take a day or so. While I'm gone, could you head up the Avengers meeting for me?"

There was a long pause, folowed by an audible sigh, though Leo could hear the smile in the man's voice as he spoke. "You know you owe me one for this."

He nodded before scooping up his jacket, tucking the pin in his pocket as he swung it on. "I'm pretty sure it's more than one, boss. Thanks. Hopefully I'll be talking to you shortly." And as the call cut off, he was headed out of his office.

It didn't take him to arrive. Twenty minutes after leaving his office, he pulled up in front of the address Race specified on his modified Katana. The only thing he'd brought was his backpack, which he unslung from one shoulder before stepping off the motorcycle.

He stepped into the lobby, looking around swiftly before his eyes settled on the man stepping up to greet him. Whatever security scans were present would read nothing in the way of weapons on the young man, though the backpack he had slung over his shoulder seemed to give off some sort of strange spatial-containment energy. Nothing enormous, but there, measurable.

The male approached within arm's reach and stopped, holding out a hand in greeting, which Leo took and shook. "Good evening. Mr. Heracleides, isn't it?"

Leo did his best not to grimace at the sound of his name, and nodded. "Just Leo, thanks. And you are...?"

"Malcolm. A pleasure to meet you, Leo. Mr. Race is expecting you. If you'll follow me?"

Leo nodded and motioned for the man to lead on, and followed on his heels. It didn't take too terribly long to reach the main office, where the man - Malcolm - left him and took the elevator back down, presumably to await the arrival of Matt Simon.

Shouldering the backpack again, he headed into the office, spying the Mogul and giving him a nod. "All right, lay it on me. What are we going hunting for?"

He chuckled, unslinging the backpack and setting it on a chair, then gave it an affectionate pat. "I've brought my own toys, good for recon or stopping power...whatever's required. I'll be good for whatever we run into out there."

And as Race began mapping things out, he settled into business, not in the least surprised at how natural it felt to be planning out a mission. The focus, the analytical mindset, the way he saw weak points in the plans laid out before him of the Abbey, like it was second nature.

What would you do, Leo?

The longer he looked at it, the more he saw. And what he saw was a veritable fortress which, while hardly impenetrable, was loaded with places to set up death traps.

He motioned towards the courtyard, the buildings with their array of narrow alleyways in between. "Sounds like you got it right. He can't have too much in the way of numbers with the size of this place, but the way it's set up, he wouldn't need them. All he'd have to do is let the attacking force try to swarm the place, put his people up high on roofs and walls...set explosives at a few key points...even if Raven's forces were outnumbered ten to one, in the narrow spots of this place, those numbers wouldn't mean jack. Classic strategy, old, simple...but effective."

He motioned towards the outer fields next. "If I were the attacking force, I'd keep my distance, surround the place, and pound it with artillery from long range...soften them up before I sent my forces in to clean them out. But without knowing what kind of numbers and weaponry they have, or what their goals are...it's just as likely they'll try the old frontal assault. And in there," he looked at the abbey, its buildings, the levels, "if Raven has his forces deployed the right way...it'd be a slaughter. He could hold out for a while in there."

He stepped back, une hand coming up to stroke thoughtfully at his chin. "We need a look at this place from the air, and we need to do it fast. Chances are by the time we get there, it's going to be in the middle of a mess."