Question & Answer (Omni)

[ZeonDad]

If he had chosen to follow the instructions Kou Chun had mysteriously left for him, Schwarzer Ritter would have found himself in quite a situation indeed. He’d been left the location of a mobile suit in storage, an F-99 Record Breaker model, within one of the colonies of Side 5, along with more detailed information on where he needed to go. Not that Ritter would need any instructions to get where he was going. It was a place Ritter would know well. Decades earlier, the Triple Ship Alliance, a trio founded under the guise of battling evil and injustice, had made their base of operations in the shoal zones. Now, with coordinates pointing back to such a place, only one question remained. Would Ritter board the mobile suit, and begin what might be a perilous journey at best? Should he have chosen to do so, the mobile suit would soon take action of its own accord, and seemingly ignore all his commands entirely. Light left the cockpit as the paranormic monitors turned off one by one, leaving only darkness coupled with doubt at where the thing might truly be taking him…

[Omni]

The bladed silhouette of the Union's new Baronche-class revealed itself from its shroud of invisibility as the ship slowly approached a location that was all too familiar for its Captain, Schwarzer Ritter. This was where he had been told to travel from that mysterious message, the sheer unknown of it all causing Ritter to investigate despite all the warnings not to. A shuttle was launched, carrying Ritter to the docking bay of the now derelict colony. It had all felt somewhat surreal as Ritter step foot to see the Record Breaker sitting in storage, waiting for him to enter the cockpit. As he climbed in, he was once again welcomed by the familiar cockpit set up of the Formula-series of Mobile Suits. Even though it had been decades, he would never forget being behind the controls of a Crossbone Gundam. Ritter grunted as he climbed into the pilot's seat and worked to find the controls to activate the machine.

The cockpit slowly illuminated as it displayed a series of coordinates that shook him to his core. They were pointing to the base of operations Ritter had held with Kou Chun and the Triple Ships Alliance. A place that was all too familiar to the old Solar War veteran. Whoever had set this whole thing up knew more than your average fan would be able to gather. Ritter groaned as he felt a sickness set into his stomach. This was an uneasiness that he hadn't felt in a long time. Before he would have the chance to second guess his decision, the monitors of the cockpit went out one by one, and he felt the machine jostle his body with a forward motion.

"The fuck?" He muttered as he felt the strange sensation of acceleration while your surroundings are unknown. Even wearing a flight suit, Ritter felt totally exposed as the Mobile Suit traveled to its destination.

[ZeonDad]

Schwarzer Ritter would spend roughly the next two hours in total blackness as the F-99 carried him through space like an errant floating coffin. After what certainly felt like a short eternity, the Record Breaker docked somewhere, and the machine indicated that it had reached it's destination.

"Oh man! Ooh, lemme see! Open up big guy! Was this part of your flight plan?"

The teenager Pat Hartford laughed and mocked the F-99's pilot as he swung a submachine gun in each hand, clanking the weapons annoyingly against the cockpit door.

"Open the door and discard your weapon to the ground," the authoritative voice of the Lance Screamer said to Ritter inside the machine. "Follow my instructions and no harm will come to you."

"Union trash," Dom muttered under his breath, standing next to Lord Commander. Lance nodded in affirmation, quietly reveling in the moment. It felt good to be adding yet another stripe on his sleeve, so to speak.

"Keep your brother under control, please." Lance said to the much younger man accompanying him. Dom nodded in return. "Hey! Take a break Pat!" Dom yelled, gesturing for the younger Hartford sibling to ease up on the entombed pilot.

"Hey! Hey! Read my fucking mind! What am I thinking of right now? Huh! Guess, guess!"

Pat's antics continued to no response, much to the Lord Commander's chagrin.

"Last chance Ritter," Lance threatened, bringing his own sidearm to bear. "Open the hatch so we may speak."

[Omni]

Ritter was unsure of how much time had passed since the Record Breaker had begun its journey. His mind wandered as he fidgeted inside of the machine, wondering why such an elaborate method of trying to attract him. Still, even as he had no control of the mobile suit, he kept his hands wrapped firmly around the controls, ready at a moments notice to react to whatever might come his way. He felt the machine slow itself down before coming to a smooth landing. One by one the monitors of the cockpit simply shut down, and once again he was no longer in blackness, but instead surrounded by the machinery in the cockpit, illuminated by the ambient safety lighting the machine provided. Before long he heard a tap-tap-tap against the door of the cockpit, followed by a very familiar sounding voice. Even before they finished speaking, Ritter could feel the familiarity behind it.

"Screamer..." Ritter muttered under his breath as he released the restraints around him and slid the helmet off his head, attaching it to the back of pilots suit. As he listened to Screamer's request through the cockpit's speakers, Ritter slid his gun from its holster and pondered for a moment about not listening to it. He imagined himself rushing out of the cockpit, pistol firing round after round as he tore his way through Lance Screamer and the other lackey's that were accompanying him. He could hear there were at least three of them, and he could definitely feel that Screamer was here as well. If worse came to worse, he hoped his ship had managed to track him to this location. He was hoping it wouldn't come to that.

Ritter began to move from the seat, pressing the release button on the cockpit's hatch.

The out shell of the cockpit hatch opened itself as the interior door slid open with it. A moment passed before a gun's magazine would emerge from the hole, landing with a echoed click as it landed on the floors of the docking bay. Another moment passed and a pistol followed, echoing with an even louder click as it dropped. Ritter brought himself out of the cockpit, hands raised in the air to show that he wasn't going to resist their requests. A stern look was held across Ritter's face as he first looked at the young man attempting to mock him, and then at Lance Screamer.

"You could have just requested a meeting, Lord Commander. There's no need for all this pageantry for me." Ritter said with a hit of contempt in his voice. He nodded towards the young upstart continuing to act up. It's not that Ritter was afraid of him, it was just he didn't trust the kid to not pull the trigger. "You can tell your boys to relax. I'm not going to do anything."

[ZeonDad]

"This is him being relaxed," the older Hartford sibling responded with some concern. "So don't be stupid."

The Lord Commander tucked his sidearm away at the satisfactory sight of Ritter laying down his arms. "You've been a busy man. Come, it's been too long. Let's talk."

Pat could hardly contain himself his disruptive giggling and grinning, permeating the mood as he ushered the decorated Newtype soldier into the presence of the Lord Commander. Then, they slowly began their journey through quiet and empty corridors, as Lance let himself do most of the talking.

"Now, not another word," Lance instructed the younger brother, gesturing to the younger man's weapons to be put away.

"You'll have to excuse him. He's unwell, I'm afraid... Dominic, I leave it to you to explain Pat's... condition."

"It's his medication," Dom explained, sounding a bit unsure why he was explaining anything to a captive at all. "We're supersoldiers. Kind of like you, but better." He was sure to add emphasis to the thought of his own superiority. "Pat's, well, he's better and worse-"

"You can't fuck with this!" Pat interjected, tugging at the sizable package between his legs. "I'm simply the greatest!"

"Quiet!" Lance ordered, shushing the fool. "Continue, Dominic."

"Simply put, you couldn't match either of us even at your prime," Dom concluded, cracking a hint of a smile at his brother's immaturity.

Roughly twenty minutes passed as the Lord Commander and his guest exchanged thinly veiled pleasantries. He inquired into Ritter's personal life, and largely ignored talking about the Union.

"So what do you think of Commonwealth?" Lance asked, well aware of the answer he invited. "What do you think of the glue holding the fabric of civilization together around here? Hm?"

[Omni]

Ritter felt unease as he let the two young soldiers lead him to the Lord Commander and then start their journey through the empty halls of the facility. As Dominic began to speak, Ritter couldn't help but think how they were nothing alike. He was no super soldier, even if that's how he was viewed. Still, Ritter found himself smirking at Dominic's final comment.

"Sure, if that's what you want to believe." He spoke as he continued following the Lord Commander. As the two supersoldiers quieted down, Ritter continued to converse with Screamer. Of course he didn't give the Lord Commander much information about his actual personal life. Some things are best kept secret, and he wasn't about to spill any of them to somebody who was supposed to be his enemy.

"What you've worked towards is impressive." Ritter began as he thought for a moment about the right words to use. He wanted to just confront the man about everything on the spot right now, but the voice of reason in his head kept him from causing something while he was under such tight surveillance. "But, I can't say I agree with your methods, Lord Commander. These divisions will be the fall of the Earth Sphere."

[ZeonDad]

Lance sensed the apprehension of his guest to speak freely, and upon understanding there existed little chance of an open conversation until the air was clear, he dismissed the Hartford siblings from their side. Of course, he had Ritter checked for anything that would be hazardous to his health beforehand. Pat glimmered with mocking adulation, invading Ritter’s personal space with a dubious smile before being dragged off by his older brother.

“He is unwell,” was the only offering of confession the Lord Commander made before moving on.

So together they continued to walk, Lance taking up position a few steps behind Ritter, their steps and words gently echoing through relatively quiet, mostly empty corridors. Lance allowed the man the opportunity to ask questions about his situation and more to his contentment. He again prodded for more details of Ritter’s personal life, but took little interest in Union affairs, appearing wholly disinterested in whatever they might be doing.

“In some places, it is said that when thoughts betray words, it is an indication of a lack of focus. It is seen as a sign of weakness. But I’ve never taken you for a man without focus or principle, diametrically opposed as we may be.”

Having reached their destination, Lance ushered his guest into a massive auditorium. Designed in a way that mirrored the seating arrangements of a small coliseum, dozens of rust colored chairs and what appeared to be surgical and medical equipment all faced the center of the room. In the middle, where the floor flattened, slightly different looking chairs took up space, back to back in two rows of three. A curtain separated each chair so as the occupant one chair would be unable to turn their head and see any of the others.

“So with that in mind, when I ask you, why do you think we are here, and where do you think we are, what will you say, and what will your thoughts tell me, I wonder…”

Lance took a seat in the closest row of bordering those in center of the room as he nodded for Ritter to sit next to him and join him.

“Please, have a seat, and make yourself comfortable.”

[Omni]

Ritter kept his best stone face on as Pat attempted one last attempt to mock him. He wasn't about to let someone like that feel they had any sort of upper hand. He had stared down everyone from genocidal maniacs to alien entities before this, so surely a mentally unwell supersoldier wouldn't be the one to make him crack.

"If he's unwell, you should keep him at bay. Do you really want someone like that looking out for you and your people? Before long you'll have another Vector Alias or Priscus Nox on your hands, and that isn't good for anybody." Ritter said once he heard the two brothers walk off, not that he was concerned if they overheard him either.

The two continued on as Ritter looked at the empty corridors, wondering what the exact purpose of a facility like this was. It had an eerie feeling to it, something kept nagging at the back of Ritter's mind. The empty halls, the whole elaborate method of getting Ritter there in the first place, all of it was beginning to feed into the paranoia he had. Now wasn't the time to let that paranoia eat away at him, he needed to use it to get to the bottom of Lance's intentions.

"We're only opposed because of our circumstances, Lord Commander. If things had played out different, for all I know I might be on your side." Ritter started as Lance guided him towards their final destination. "I'm curious, have you heard from Warren Biggs lately? He's someone, like yourself, that I would very much like to talk to."

It was a white lie. But would Lance Screamer be able to pick up on that? Could he feel the anger that began to flood Ritter's mind as he mentioned the name? Even if Lance told him, would Ritter be able to tell that he was lying? Luckily for Ritter, his thoughts refocused as he entered the room the Lord Commander had brought him to. It felt cold and empty to him, shuddering as he entered and took notice of the odd equipment strewn throughout. He watched Lance take his seat and motion for Ritter to follow, wondering just what the purpose of all of this was.

"Well, Lance, I had called in to some talk show in a moment of anger, then found a handheld game console at my door with what looked like a message from Kou Chun." He began as he took his seat. "So what, are you going to bring out a clone of the man to try and get a reaction out of me? Force me to fight it to the death to break me?"

[ZeonDad]

The Lord Commander would secretly have almost chuckled, if he'd had any stomach left for humor. "You are an imaginative man, Schwarzer Ritter." His reply came with as little emotion as possible, as if to emphasize the absurdity of Ritter's response, an irony considering the explanation Lance was set to deliver momentarily. He chose to ignore the inquiry into Warren Biggs' whereabouts for now, saving that deliciousness for later, and instead related his opinions on the subject of cloning.

"I don't believe human beings are expendable like that," he lied, but with total conviction, "And I don't do that kind of work. I've never believed in it. Even my boys, I didn't make them. I found them. Someone else's dirty little secret..."

The Lord Commander's voice trailed off into a tired sigh and the eruption of silence for the next minute as he considered his coming words to a man who, although not at this precise moment, was more than capable enough to ruin him under different circumstances. Lance had run this scenario, the exactness of his conversation this far, through his head for days and weeks, and months, and yet something undefined about it now underwhelmed him. Frustrated, he abandoned the script he'd so meticulously mentally prepared, and lay his cards on the table.

"We are inside an Angel Halo," Lance abruptly explained, a fair bit more casually and blunt than such an admission deserved. "That is where we are. This is Angel Halo. You are familiar with the concept, yes?"

Lance leaned forward in his seat and shifted towards Ritter, posture lowered into a hunch and his gloved fingers interlinked.

"The particular room we occupy is quite special," he explained, his voice lowering. He wanted to make sure Ritter would focus on every word. "I came up with this room. I took the concept, and reversed it, on a smaller scale. Instead of focusing out, they focus in. They focus on one."

"One mind!" Lance suddenly exclaimed, standing up as Pat and Dom reentered the room, accompanied by a young child dressed in hospital scrubs. She seemed unsure of herself, somewhat confused by her surroundings. A closer inspection would reveal she required assistance from her handler, Dom. Clumsily, she slid up into one of the seats in the center of the room, eyes glazed over and pupils dilated.

Lance momentarily abandoned his seated Newtype guest and strode over to the exhausted looking girl, resting a concerned hand on her small shoulder. Turning back to look at Ritter, he said, "Ritter, you are the most powerful Newtype I can bring in here, for right now. You may have lost a step, but even still. You remain quite something. I need you. I need you to find something for me. In here."

Lance twice brushed the girls long hair with his hand. He didn't enjoy her circumstances, or what he'd done to her parents, but he had little choice in the matter. Again, he would bear the burden, and pay the cost necessary to do what needed to be done.

Pat and Dom moved to escort Ritter to the chair opposite the girl, as Lance then rolled over the equipment they would need to totally sync their minds as one using the systems of Angel Halo.

"Like I said, I didn't make these boys," the Lord Commander noted as he anticipated a struggle from Ritter against the boys, "I simply found them. Gave them good purpose. Borrowed them."

Lance slid aside his cloak with one hand and rested on his displayed sidearm in view to his captive Newtype guest. With the other hand, he again patted the girl on the head.

"But this one, I admit it. Her, I stole."

[Omni]

Ritter intently watched Lance as he began to deliver his grand speech. Everything about the man's aura seemingly shifted in an almost opposite direction from what it had been moments earlier. He was just playing Ritter after all. It all seemed like grand gesturing, until the Lord Commander uttered words to Ritter that were somehow familiar, even if he himself wasn't sure what it truly was.

"Angel Halo..." Ritter repeated as his skin began to crawl. He could somehow see it clear as day in his mind, the massive facility, Newtypes connected to machines all throughout it, as if they were human batteries, all feeding the same host. He felt as if he just saw countless versions of it, all resulting in different results. Of course, what Ritter felt he knew of it was nothing like what the Lord Commander was describing. Just what did he have planned with all of this?

Before Ritter could even begin his train of thought, or start a retort against the Lord Commander, he saw the small girl paraded into the room. Instinctively he stood from his chair at the sight. She couldn't have been older than ten, a mere child. He clenched his teeth in anger as he noticed her expressionless face, the tired eyes, the lack of any sign of expression. This was his childhood. This was the childhood that he wanted his own daughter to never experience. Too many questions ran through his mind. Was Screamer even being honest about wanting something from the girl? Or was this an attempt for him to pry into Ritter's own mind? Mentally, he prepared himself to be as difficult as possible, trying to clean his mind of any thoughts but what was before him. He couldn't allow his emotions to reveal something the Frontier Commonwealth might want to use against him and the Union.

"And if I refuse to cooperate with you? I can't be the only Newtype you know of to use for this." Ritter inquired, taking heed of the Lord Commander now resting his hand on his sidearm. He didn't even know if he had the ability in him to refuse. He couldn't just leave this child, no matter who she was, to be a victim of experiments and torture. That was no life for somebody to live. Begrudgingly, Ritter allowed himself to be escorted by Pat and Dom to the chair opposite the child. He knew what Screamer's answer would be, even before hearing it.

[ZeonDad]

“You’ll do it for her.” Lance ordered with absolute certainness, intent to dispel any illusions Ritter might have held to the contrary. He tucked his weapon away and pointed a finger in instruction for Ritter to sit. “She’s been through quite enough already.”

He pitied her. By now, her parents were most certainly dead through events he had carefully orchestrated, a deed he took no pleasure in. But he did what needed to be done. No parent would ever willingly let their child fall victim to fate. He thought back forty years, to his own childhood, something he not often cared to consider. If only there was another way… But she was the one who held the key. A child pure of mind and body, with a powerful lineage in her veins, he knew of none other who could do it. There was no other way. She was a victim of circumstance. They all were.

Pat tittered at the implications as he escorted Ritter, eagerly snatching him at the wrist. Dom moved to assist with a look of mild disgust, as if preparing to tangle not with necessarily with Ritter, but perhaps his younger sibling.

“And I have been through enough as well, Ritter.” Lance added with his gloved hands tightly gripped on the top rail of the seat his Newtype captive would soon occupy. “Truly, I have waited long enough for this.”

Lance grew close as Ritter approached, and despite standing shorter, glared him dead in his piercing blue eyes. The Lord Commander held gaze unflinchingly, studying and certain he was to be studied in that moment. Their pressure would intertwine with added focus, revealed sentiments of conviction, a simmering antagonism, and a head full of pride, but not true malice. It would do little to explain things. Only a split second of what was underneath, overridden feelings of explosive anxiety, madness, and extreme paranoia, would slip through the cracks and brush Ritter’s mind. There was reasoning for all this in there, buried somewhere, a hideous truth. The séance abruptly ended with a sharp exhale by the Lord Commander, as he blinked, and then slowly looked for Ritter to take his place.

“You will help me,” Lance insisted, focus returned to the task at hand. Having gleaned something during their exchange to capitalize on, he considered his next words before adding, “And if you do, I will tell you where he is.”

[Omni]

Ritter clenched his fist and grit his teeth at Lance's response. He was absolutely right. Even if abandoning the girl was his only chance of surviving this, he couldn't bring himself to do it. The Lord Commander was more calculated than Ritter had thought, and he obviously knew his target well enough to get him into a situation like this. Ritter wished that Madalen was nearby, she would have never allowed him to get in this position in the first place. He needed that voice in his ear to tell him it was okay to worry about only himself. He was still far too naive.

He hesitated for a moment as Pat snatched at his wrist, not immediately allowing himself to be dragged into all of this. After the first tug at his arm, Ritter relented, and allowed the super soldier to guide him towards his seat. Something inside of him urged him to comply, as if it was his fate to do so.

"I guess you know me better than I thought, Lord Commander." Ritter said, almost sarcastically as he stared at Lance. For a brief moment, the two Newtypes interconnected themselves. Ritter could feel everything Lance was projecting, even the things he had wished to repress, and the same for Lance. He could feel the sense of loss inside of Ritter over the Chancellor, his fiery anger at those who had taken her from him, his fear of the unknown, the drive to protect those dear to him, and the promise he had made to Kathryn and the Ultimate Gundam. Just as soon as they had connected, it all snapped as he approached and chair and took a seat. Ritter unzipped the top of his flight suit and pulled that half off as he positioned himself in the chair, setting his helmet on the ground next to it.

Ritter still didn't know how to react to this information Lance might have on Kou Chun. He knew it wasn't his Kou. It couldn't be, he could still see that day clear as anything in his mind as he felt Kou fade away and everything about his world shatter. Yet somehow, there was something that more than ate away at Ritter's curiosity. He didn't get the feeling that Lance was necessarily lying about that information. Either way, Ritter wanted to find out.

But, before he could think about that, he had to think about the girl.

"I'll do it. But I also want you to guarantee the girl is safe afterwards, there's no need to let her become like one of us. At least give her a shot at a normal life."

[ZeonDad]

“Then give me what I want. Here, look at this.”

His impatience growing, the Lord Commander had Dom quickly hand Ritter a small black and white canvas print. A vivid yellow signature in the corner would indicate that it was some kind of sketch.

“Study it,” Lance ordered as he wheeled more equipment over, eyeing the condition of the girl. She was in rough shape. It was clear the battery she’d endured over the last day had taken its toll, and yet to no avail. They were no closer to their goal than when they’d started, although Lance had caught a glimpse of it. Not nearly enough to pinpoint a location.

Yet she could not survive another…

“A Newtype is a fickle thing, as you know.” Lance pontificated. “We’ve had to sedate her considerably, to slow down her mind. Otherwise, synchronization would be impossible. Unfortunately for you, this also makes your job much harder. Her feelings aren’t so clear. Things are… distorted.”

Lance considered his own earlier attempt. The necessary medication made the girl’s mind a mess to navigate. It was akin to paddling a small boat into the surf, with pieces of information and feelings on the top of the waves, but only touching the surface, and always pushing back, repeating the same waves again and again, to no avail. Madeline was a powerful Newtype, like her parents, and so an equally powerful Newtype would be needed to break through the lagoon of her mind, and pass into the ocean of content beyond. Ritter wouldn’t paddle, Lance knew. Ritter would be his sailboat.

“Through the power of Angel Halo, you will be as one. She will reach into your mind, and you will reach into hers, though she is in not any state to do so. You however should have less difficulty in that regard, if you’re still the man of your reputation.”

Referring to the print Ritter had been issued before taking it back into his possession, Lance gave the man his final orders. “Somewhere in her mind, you will find this. When you do, I need to know everything. What it looks like, what surrounds it, where it is, etcetera. Do this, and I’ll let the girl go. Do it for her…”

“…Oh, and this will hurt,” Lance added with some satisfaction after a pause. He placed upon Ritter a massive black helmet to wear that covered the entirety of everything above the nose. A peak over at the girl would reveal she had already been adorned by Pat and Dom, who were now strapping her wrists and ankles down to the armrests. A myriad of wiring connected the two to a nightmarish amalgamation of equipment.

“Strap him down!” Lance ordered to his lackeys, before kneeling next to Ritter and softly whispering words of encouragement to his ear. “I have faith in you. Oblige me this and I will deliver him to you as you wish.”

Despite the wickedness of their deliverer, the words held truth. The Lord Commander knew this would be his last chance to locate it. Ritter would accomplish his task, for the sake of everyone involved. The fate of all their lives depended on it.

[Omni]

Ritter took the canvas print in his hand, beginning to study it before he was disrupted by the rest of the Lord Commander's tirade. He was banking on one hell of a shot, something Ritter was unsure he would even be capable of right now. He could feel the stress in his body slowly climbing as time went on during this experiment. The fact that the girl was so heavily sedated would complicate things as well. He didn't know how he could possibly try and connect with somebody who might as well be a zombie at the moment. Without the emphatic connection, two Newtypes simply couldn't communicate, and even if they could, there was a good chance the abstract understanding of one's thoughts and emotions would appear as nothing more than intrusive apparitions.

He studied it once more as Lance began to explain the context of the art, it was the map to whatever he was looking for. To Ritter, it looked like nothing at the moment. Nothing he was familiar with, nothing that even existed in this very world. He handed it back to Lance as the two brothers continued to strap him in and connect him to the Angel Halo. He took a look at the young girl, strapped in just as he was, and looked inside himself for that determination he always had. He didn't want to abandon her, he couldn't let her be subject to even more than she had already been subjected to. He could feel that Screamer was at his wits end with all this, and turning to Ritter for a solution was a desperate attempt at succeeding.

Ritter took in a deep breath as he closed his eyes. Trying his best to trace the outlines and shapes he had seen in the print moments ago. He exhaled as he opened his eyes, feeling as if he was as ready as he would ever be for the task at hand. He couldn't help but wonder what the circumstances would be if he failed to deliver, but needed to push those thoughts out for now. He needed focus.

"Let's begin." He said stoically as he began to try and reach out with his mind to the young girl.

[ZeonDad]

“Activate it,” Lance ordered with distaste for the time they had already wasted. He was in no mood for further dithering. Like a rolling grey storm cloud he hovered, unremittingly scowling, leaning in and laying a black gloved hand tightly on Ritter’s right shoulder. Pat chuckled to himself as he punched in some commands at a nearby console, oblivious to the significance of what was about to occur. Dom, the more disciplined of the pair, stayed focused on the girl, specifically her breathing.

“Find it. Find me the Devil Junior. Ritter, you need to find it.” Lance growled softly, “Find it for all of our sakes!”

An inaudible shriek of a thousand voices would incapacitate all the Newtypes in the room for a split-second, driving Screamer to his knees with an intake of breath. Still, for someone linked to the machine, and now delving into the mind of another, the experience would be much, much worse. The minds of Schwarzer Ritter and Madaline Starwind melded, and then they were one.

The Lord Commander only hoped Ritter was strong enough to find it, and the girl strong enough as well, to survive him.

[Omni]

Ritter closed his eyes as he heard the words of Lance Screamer fade off into the distance as the Angel Halo began activation. He could hear one term echoing again and again in his mind as it came from the Lord Commander. The sensation of the Angel Halo was unlike anything Ritter had experienced before, the feedback coursing through his body in a way not even a psycoframe could deliver. Ritter's body twitched occasionally, as his brow broke out in a deep sweat, yet the expression on his face remained calm, there was no agony, no discomfort. It was as if he could feel himself sinking into a deep state of dream, but he was still awake. Against the blackness, Ritter could see the letters appear one by one, clear as day.

Devil Junior... Find it...

As if a light switch had been flipped, one by one Ritter saw light after light emerge in the darkness as he opened his eyes. No longer was he shackled to a chair inside of the Angel Halo. He could see himself floating against the cosmos, and feel the presence of all those around the facility, slowly fading in and out from the origins of the lights. It felt intrusive, unlike anything Ritter had felt before, and was far too distracting to let him focus on any one source. Yet, above the thousands of lights, one seemed to shine differently than the rest. It wasn't as vibrant, or as bright as the others, yet it drew him in, as if an all consuming black hole. One by one the rest of the lights disappeared as Ritter saw himself get sucked into it, the darkness once again consuming his surroundings.

Ritter looked around in all directions, once again there was a nothingness around him, a complete and utter void. He looked again and again, but there was nothing still. Just as he had felt he surveyed his surroundings hundreds, if not thousands of times, he could see another sliver of light creeping into the abyss. Ritter extended an arm forward, reaching out to the lone glimmer of hope peaking out towards him. Instantly he could feel what it was, even if it was much dimmer than what it should be.

<Madaline... I am Schwarzer Ritter... Please talk to me. It's the only way I can help...>

No matter what he attempted, Ritter couldn't seem to make contact with the beacon before him. As if something stood in the way. As the light seemed to creep closer and closer, Ritter could see two silhouettes, the shape of a man to one side of the light, and a woman to the other. Both gave off their own shade of incandescence, obscuring any major features Ritter could divulge from either of them. The only identifiers he had were the bright hues of light radiating from the man's neck, and another radiating from the right eye of the woman. These were her parents, protecting her even when not physically there. This was the bond between a family. Suddenly, the white light that was beyond the girl's parents enveloped Ritter, and he was suddenly staring at the blue sky above, the sunlight peering out from behind a cloud made him squint as he looked down to refocus on where he was.

His hands reached to his sides as he grasped at the blades of grass around him. Ritter sighed as he felt the cool breeze wash across him and split the blades in a flurry of directions. He could make out the shape of a young girl running towards him, the light reflecting off her equally as bright hair as she reached out with a hug.

"Daddy! Daddy!"

The words echoed as Ritter looked up to find Kathryn smiling down at him as she brushed a hand against his cheek. The girl rushed towards the two of them and nestled against her father's side on the grassy hillside.

"Kit..." Ritter murmured as he blinked, and just as it had all been before him, it was all gone, and he had returned to the abyss.

He blinked again, and seated before him was Madaline. She was no longer in the restraints or machines that Lance and the others had connected her to. She looked to be free.

<Madaline, please. I need to know where this is.> Ritter reached out to her again as the sketch the Lord Commander had given him materialized into his hand. He could make out she was saying something, but he couldn't hear the words, nor make out what she was forming. She pointed at the drawing, her arm raised up in an almost robotic fashion towards it. Suddenly the paper darted from Ritter's grasp, floating off and stopping in front of the seated girl. Slowly, waves of light darted from the outlines of the sketch, flooding the room with light once more.

Ritter blinked, and once more found his surroundings had changed. He was surrounded by a dense fog, and a deep stench of damp, muggy air. He took a step forward, only to find himself half submerged in a deep bog. As he looked below, trying to find out how deep he actually was, the shape from the sketch seemed to appear out of an infinite void beneath the waves. The shadow grew larger and larger until the familiar look of nano-skin erupted from the water, and in a torrent of water Ritter found himself consumed by a blackness as a lone mono-eye stared at him as his body plummeted through what felt like aeons as he drowned in the infinite abyss.

Suddenly, Ritter's body jerked to life as his eyes darted open, and he began to pant for air.

"I... I saw it..." Ritter gasped through breaths as he fought to steady himself.

[ZeonDad]

"Tell me where it is!"

As abruptly as Ritter had emerged, Lance discarded the Newtype warrior's helmet, gripped his collar with his left hand and pulled hard, while his other gloved hand clasped firmly along Ritter's jaw and mouth, wrenching his head forward. "Where? Where is it!?" He screamed into Ritter's face over and over, brown eyes wild with opportunity and ambition. The cool and collected Lord Commander had suddenly vanished, replaced by a primal, sinister urge. Something he could not take out on the child, but Ritter was a more than suitable target. He forgot all about the girl and if she was okay, and nothing mattered anymore but the location of Devil Jr.

"Tell me!" He yelled yet again, only starting to simmer down, but still wildly insistent on an immediate answer. As the brothers checked on the girl and offered a typically lackadaisical and less than inspiring "She's good!" Lance backed away, fists clenched, to regard the prisoner before him.

"Tell me or I'll send you back in. I will put you back in there, and I find out who and what you care about, and I will bring them back here, and your suffering will be nothing compared to what I do to them! Do you understand that? Nod your head if you understand! Speak!"

[Omni]

Ritter tried his best to stay composed as Screamer rushed forth and began to scream in a fit of rage. He almost smirked as he saw the Lord Commander lose his demeanor in such a fashion. If his hands were free, he would have thought about decking Screamer in the face right then and there. This was probably why he did it in the first place. Whatever this Devil Junior was, it must be more important than Ritter might have realized. He needed to keep his upper hand right now, not just for himself, but for that girl too. There was no guarantee what Screamer would do with the information either. For now the two of them would just need to make a deal.

"First, I want you to guarantee that me and the girl are both safe. If you can give me this one thing, then I'll tell you everything I saw."

He wouldn't let Screamer's threats worry him. He could try and hurt Ritter and his loved ones all he wants, but that just showed how little Screamer actually knew about his enemies.