Miss Justice was quiet.
Which meant Gehrman Sparrow was quieter.
This was the first time any of the Apostles had heard the name — Klein Moriarty.
Even when Apostle Shield and Mushroom-nimi had been randomly hacking Hero Agencies across the USA to learn more of the silent Monocle epidemic plaguing the country, they hadn't come across this name.
That left only one possibility — the only viable one.
Klein Moriarty was Amon.
Miss Justice coughed so loudly that it almost felt like she was choking.
"…" Gehrman adjusted his glasses before breaking the ill silence. "Not one of us."
That was all he knew.
That was all he said.
Alexander Becking narrowed his eyes.
No matter how much of a lunatic Dr. Blessed and his Apostles were, one thing was true and time-tested about them.
They weren't Villains.
Most of the time, they were preoccupied with cleaning up a mess that was largely the result of their own actions.
However, even then, the Apostles of Mr. Fool had yet to do something that would instantly label them as Villains on par with the likes of Stain and All For One.
It was one of the biggest reasons that Singularity kept giving leeway to Her Radiants when it came to dealing with the Apostles.
The same was true for the Radiant of Gravity as well.
So, perhaps, this Klein Moriarty was indeed trying to rile up Singularity against the Apostles of Mr. Fool, using the half-mental, mad scientist?
That indeed made the most sense.
Because, if Gehrman Sparrow hadn't been here, then the first thing Alex would have done after reaching Earth — if he had managed to reach Earth… alive — would have been to make finding and eliminating each Apostle his sole mission. No matter what!
"Can you search his mind and find out what happened here?" Gehrman asked, looking up at Alex.
The Radiant shook his head. "We must not even try to see his memories around the event," he said. "The risk of something like Star happening to us is too much…"
[…?] Miss Justice reacted to that info within Gehrman's mind. [So… even Singularity doesn't dare come in direct contact with an Eldritch Entity? Hmm…]
Changing strategy, the Faceless faced Amon's sick joke, putting his hand over his left chest. "Praise be to Mr. Fool."
Next to Gehrman, hearing those words out of nowhere, Alex narrowed his eyes.
Before he could say something, though, he noticed Dr. Sam's entire face light up as if someone had granted him his most desirable wish.
"You are Mr. Fool's follower, too?!" the scientist asked.
"Indeed," Gehrman said, giving a side glance to Alex. "We were both sent by Mr. Fool to find what went wrong."
Sam, elated beyond bounds, looked toward the huge, old man.
"…" Alex ground his teeth, cursing silently under his breath. "Yes. Yes. Praise be to… Mr. Fool."
Gehrman smiled.
Alex felt like putting a hole through the bastard's head.
"Wonderful…" Sam said, meanwhile, oblivious to his surroundings. "Mr. Fool truly is one of the most benevolent Gods!"
"So, what happened?" Gehrman pushed.
Sam hurriedly turned around and ran to the Control Panel. "Let me show you."
Behind the scientist, Gehrman glanced up toward the Radiant. "Play along," he said, walking forward. "Do not ask anything about how he came here or for what purpose."
"You don't have to tell me," Alex hissed back, matching the Apostle's pace.
It was obvious from their earlier questioning that Dr. Sam was wired to spout utter nonsense when asked about the means of his arrival at ORIGIN and his purpose. It was better to just see what he had been doing here and draw their conclusions from that.
Not to mention, their priority right now was Star and Stripe and Skycrawler, not solving the mysteries that revolved around Samuel Abraham.
When the Apostle and Radiant approached the scientist, they found him rapidly punching keys.
With a BEEP, the massive screen of glass over the semicircular control panel came alive, showing footage.
It was a group of scientists, all welcoming the arrival of Star and Skycrawler.
Gehrman again glanced toward Alex and found the man already looking at Dr. Sam, who was standing like a puppet among the smiling group of astronauts, lacking all emotion.
"We were making no progress in breaking The Boundary," Dr. Sam suddenly said, making both Gehrman and Alex jump, their eyes widening to the extreme. "So…"
"Why would you break The Boundary?!" Alex asked, barely hiding the tremble in his voice. "ORIGIN's mission had always been to study the changes in The Boundary."
"It was…" Dr. Sam said without looking back. "I convinced my fellow researchers to break The Boundary, instead. How else could they see God?"
Gehrman instantly took out his revolver and aimed it at the back of Sam's head.
Even Alex raised his fist like a massive hammer, hoping to smash Sam's skull to a pulp if the idiot survived a bullet to the head.
[…] Miss Justice placated, putting a stop to Gehrman's murderous intentions.
Next to him, Singularity made Alex's hand pause as well.
Meanwhile, not knowing what kind of disaster he had avoided facing, Sam continued, carrying a fanatic smile on his face.
"The Boundary is the most fascinating thing I have ever experienced," the scientist said, pausing the video. "It does not behave like any matter. It is tangible and invisible, but it also makes us blind, preventing us from seeing what lies beyond it."
With that, Sam pressed the play button, this time with audio.
[Our mission is to find out the reason behind that depression in The Boundary,] Star said, briefing the group of researchers. [Skycrawler here will help us test the integrity of The Boundary by replicating that event with my help from this side. Also…]
Star paused because one of the scientists had raised his hand.
It was Dr. Sam, who, oddly, neither Star nor Skycrawler seemed to recognize.
[The handprint-shaped depression occurred from the Cosmos,] the mad scientist said. [Instead of testing The Boundary's integrity, what if…
[What if we first made it possible to see through It?]