Annie groaned, sluggishly descending the stairs leading to the dungeon. That awful back pain made her feel like an old lady. Apparently, the crazy scientist had woken up. Fen had gone to the dungeon earlier to check on Gun, only to find him crouched in the cell's corner, his head buried in his palms. Naturally, she had to see what that was all about. She didn't have anything better to do anyway.
"Still, I wonder what those guys're up to. They sure were in a hurry," she muttered to herself, as she pushed the iron door open.
Her discussion with Een sprang to Annie's mind. A few days had passed since then, and she'd almost forgotten about it. A cold shiver ran down her spine. Of course they were in a hurry. They were probably getting ready to go after that creature Een had told her about. She'd promised to help them, but she hadn't really done anything. Some soldier she was... But was there anything she could do? Karabell and his team didn't even know she was aware of their plans. How could she help them?
"You're finally awake," Annie said, glaring at Gun.
The man didn't respond. He simply looked around, bewildered, as if he'd just realized that something was wrong. Gun stared at Annie for a few seconds, but his eyes seemed devoid of any will. Annie scratched the back of her head.
"What am I gonna do with you? Well, I guess we have no choice but to keep you down here until you get better. Assuming that'll even happen. Hey, at least say something..." Annie chuckled. Was she really trying to talk sense into a madman? "Maybe we both have some screws loose."
"Bell... Ress..." Gun mumbled, and his voice trembled. "Shut yer trap! Begone, lemme sleep!" he suddenly yelled, jumping to his feet. The scientist clenched his fists, gritting his teeth. "Go away. Just... go away."
He seemed on the verge of crying. Gun was in pain, Annie could clearly see that. Helping him, however, was beyond her powers. She was pretty sure she'd heard Gun mention Karabell's name. Maybe he hadn't completely lost his mind... Though Annie was having trouble trying to convince herself of that. Oddly enough, talking to Gun had actually given her an idea. She'd promised to support Karabell and his squad. And she was planning to do just that.
*
Frederick was trying his best not to snap at Karabell. He'd listened to his little speech, grinning as always. And he didn't understand what Karabell had tried to achieve by saying all that. They had to eliminate the Ringleader. They had to get rid of the Aberrations. Was he trying to say that their lives were more important than saving the world? The Commander sighed. He knew that getting angry wouldn't solve anything. They needed to work together, whether he liked it or not. That, however, didn't change the fact that Karabell was too ignorant.
"Alright, we get it. Now, what was that about finding the Ringleader?" Lyra asked, a cocky smirk pulling up the left side of her face. She, for one, had actually enjoyed Karabell's talk.
"Right, sorry for that. Gull, would you like to take it from here?"
Karabell looked at the feathered Aberration. He honestly felt like giving up. Why did they have to fight? For what purpose were they risking their lives? And, most importantly, how many times had he contemplated that already? Just like dying wasn't an option, giving up wasn't one either.
"It would be my pleasure. I mentioned earlier that communicating telepathically with humans for prolonged periods of time was a no-go. That's mainly because the way our minds work is different. However, when a Superior does enter a human's mind, something strange happens. It's almost like their senses begin to complement each other. It requires an astounding amount of concentration, but it's possible. You can think of it as a sixth sense. I've only experienced it once before. It felt like I was directly connected with every single creature... Aberration, human, animal, it didn't matter. It was beyond simply reading their thoughts. Their feelings, their very being became part of me in that moment. And, among those beings, I sensed a strange, frightening aura. I'm positive that is what we're looking for. It was only for a split second, so I couldn't pinpoint its exact location." Gull paused for a second. "And that's where you come in. Karabell, Frederick and Een... We'll use this method to find our enemy. You three seem to have unusually resilient minds. Naturally, you'll take turns."
"So you're saying we'll have to rely on your ability to sense that thing? And you don't even know how to get there in the first place?" Lyra couldn't believe her ears. Was that creature actually stupid, presenting them with a plan that flawed?
"We'll find out soon enough. Please, Lyra... calm down," Karabell pleaded, his voice pinched with pain. He didn't like it either, but... "We have to do this. There's no other way. We'll try using Gull's power tomorrow morning, see if it tells us anything. If everything goes according to plan, we'll leave on horseback at dawn. We'll find that thing and take it out. What else can we do?"
"Karabell's right. We don't have much of a choice now, do we? Honestly, we should all get a good night's sleep, then go for it. No need to overthink the details," Alice unexpectedly remarked. She had refrained from saying anything, afraid that they might get angry at her. But what was that all about? They wanted to give up just because finding the Ringleader wasn't as easy as they'd previously thought? Alice said she and Kei would go outside for a bit. She really needed to cool her head. Arguing was a waste of time.
"Hey, Kei... What do you think of all this?" she asked absently as they exited the factory.
"They're acting childish, if you ask me. Promising that they'd do anything to kill our enemies, then backing down when a tiny inconvenience arises."
Hearing those words come from a ten-year-old girl's mouth still felt annoying. But Kei was right.