Trials, Traits and Truth

Win the Battle . . .

Logan couldn't help but smile to himself as Pitch got ever more frustrated as his taunts and jibes didn't get the reaction he desired.

Logan was honestly surprised his half-baked plan had worked well enough to get Patton free, but it couldn't be long before Pitch pieced it together - even if Logan had done his make-up pretty well.

He had an escape plan, based on an untested theory with unknown consequences. Logan tried not to focus on that - every scientist had to start somewhere, he just needed his first attempt to be a breakthrough. He couldn't leave yet anyway, there was one more issue to attend to.

"You still haven't told me where Tristan is."

Pitch snarled and spat at the ground. Logan raised his eyebrow.

"Want to see how Patton's doing?" Pitch growled, conjuring a mirror beside him.

Logan's heart skipped a beat as Patton flickered onto the screen, looking a little bruised, more than a little reserved and way too quiet. He was sipping tea in the kitchen, thankfully alone.

If Pitch had the ability to spy on the others, then Logan had a lot less time than he had dared hope for.

"Look a bit shaken, doesn't he? Don't worry. You're going to help Thomas by being here, I'm guessing it's going to happen soon...I wanted to save Thomas the pain by having both you and that sap tucked neatly away, but alas! At least now you'll finally see that I am needed, and you will let me in."

Pitch knelt down in front of Logan, who shrunk into the surprising comfort of the stolen hoodie. Logan suddenly felt very conscious of his breathing.

"Or, save him the pain. You have the power to save Thomas, Virgil. Bond with me now." Pitch extended his hand and passed through the transparent walls with ease, touching Logan's chin lightly. The picture feed behind Pitch flickered away from the kitchen scene and landed on Thomas instead: the boy was on the couch, reading.

Logan narrowed his eyes. Everything was a little foggier to him without his glasses (but he didn't think he was missing out on much as most of his surroundings was hazy darkness anyway), but he saw the mad glint of ambition in Pitch's eyes with such clarity that he blinked away.

"I've read about that...I mean...I know that Logic looked into that at one point - " He huffed, stalling for time and hoping for a classic, straight-forward, villain monologue.

"You don't have to hide from me, Virgil. I know you read all of that nerds' notes to make sure he wasn't going to break you down and make you bond with someone." Pitch looked truly sympathetic.

Logan's stomach flipped and he cried out - the pain from the reflection of his burst of emotion having really hurt, for the first time. It must have been hell for Patton.

Pitch broke out into a massive grin, ecstatic to have finally managed to locate a chip in his prisoners armor.

"I promise I won't throw your consciousness away. We'll be partners, a fusion if you will. I'll even wear one of your grungy hoodies and listen to that emo trash you call music. You won't be gone, but you'll be cured of all the things that hurt Thomas. Together we can help Thomas...and keep you in check. That's all you ever wanted, wasn't it?"

Logan gulped, and decided he'd finally had enough. He'd gathered enough information, and he doubted he was going to learn anything about where Tristan was being kept.

He just needed one second...one moment. Logan craned his neck to watch the mirror, hoping that Thomas would presently provide a distraction, and hoping against hope that his untested theory would be correct -

Another wave of pain hit Logan as he started to despair about how his plan was almost wholly reliant on hope.

"That's all anybody's ever wanted, right Verge?"

Logan shoved his hands in the hoodie's pockets, which Pitch grinned even more maniacally at: misinterpreting the move as Virgil starting to crack. He pressed on with more malice and vigor.

"Think about how much happier you were when you spent most of your time in the back of the mind."

Logan gripped the object with his left hand, and stared past Pitch to focus on the mirror.

" - how much happier everyone was, really."

The phone rang and Thomas jumped up to get it.

"Come on buddy, this is your chance to be a hero."

Thomas answered and listened, his smile becoming rather fixed.

After a few moments, Pitch whipped around finally to see what Logan was so fixated on. The darkness in the room, which had until then been settled, started churning and swirling around Pitch euphorically.

Logan took the opened.

He yanked his pen from his pocket and stabbed down with all his might at the wall of his prison. It shattered, but Logan's arm jerked back from the force awkwardly. He dimly noticed pain, but put it on his mental list for later.

Logan stood, the wind in the room (which now looked more like a literal storm than a room) whipped his hair about.

Pitch was in the middle of the maelstrom, still watching Thomas, and starting to cackle.

Logan didn't stick around to see it unfold any further.

With his knowledge of the infospace, he closed his eyes and guided his consciousness to land heavily on his bed.

Logan didn't hesitate, but grabbed his glasses and shed the hoodie as he ran from his room and into the hallway - his head too busy with information to slow down enough to register that something felt very, very wrong in the mindscape.