"W-What are... you celebrating?"
After losing consciousness in a laboratory corridor, Stanford Pines awoke in an unknown room, bathed in sickly light.
He remembered almost nothing, except for a brutal dizzy spell that had struck him shortly after lying down in his bed.
Apart from these confused fragments, his mind was blank. No other relevant memories came back to him.
'I simply woke up here... on this chair, firmly tied up,' he thought, gritting his teeth, his jaw clenched with anger born from helplessness.
At first, he merely observed his surroundings in silence, his eyes still heavy and blurred by the drug's effects.
But when he spotted Alpha, holding a brain floating in a jar, he broke his silence.
"Oh... fascinating. You've already managed to overcome the drug's effects in your system."
A slight surprise crossed her pale face when she noticed his awakening, but she immediately resumed her cold mask.
She approached a strangely-shaped machine, before connecting the brain she held to what she called her neural network.
"Hm~ I'll never tire of this feeling of hunger, each time a new me takes shape... but I have more important matters for now."
Her words were addressed to no one. The witch was talking to herself, as if lost in a monologue. A habit born from too much isolation in her private laboratory.
"Damn it, who are you?!"
Stanford's patience cracked in the face of this disturbing scene, both fascinating and obscene.
Alpha flashed a crooked smile at her prisoner.
"I already introduced myself, Mr. Stanford. But... I admit I didn't reveal the entirety of my objectives to you."
Her words only added to Stanford's confusion. A reaction Alpha had perfectly anticipated.
She therefore decided to further enlighten the mind of this alternative version of her father. Because, even if she didn't want to admit it, seeing him so helpless tugged slightly at her heart.
"You see, Mr. Pines... your presence in this reality isn't by chance. It's the result of a failure, which occurred during my attempt to summon my biological father..."
In truth, Alpha suspected Gorou of having hidden certain crucial elements in his journals. No matter her efforts, she had never managed to find them.
That's why she was now interrogating Stanford, hoping to obtain clues about these hidden enigmas.
At the mere mention of hidden information, Ford let slip a micro-expression of trouble. A tiny crack... but sufficient.
That's why she had decided to capture him alive.
Why not simply steal his brain? Because Stanford Pines possessed protection in his skull: a shield making any mental, physical, or magical extraction impossible. Any attempt would result in the brain's destruction or utter failure.
'I hope all versions of father aren't this troublesome to handle...' Alpha thought while observing her prisoner's reactions.
Finally, she took the time to explain in detail all the reasons that had led her to capture and sequester Stanford.
"You didn't need to go this far! I would have cooperated... for free!" Stanford shouted, unable to mask his mental state already weakened by Alpha's extreme methods.
She burst into brief, joyless laughter.
"Really? Yet I doubt you would have let me study your weapon..."
The Quantum Destabilizer.
This invention wasn't just the fruit of Stanford's genius, but the culmination of his collaboration with an alternative version of his assistant. That's why Gorou himself had never been able to recreate it.
As for Alpha? She simply had no chance of obtaining it through honest means.
This technology brought together theories torn from various civilizations of the multiverse, and had even required the help of another genius to be completed.
And its dangerousness was such that Stanford would never have consented to hand it over... even under duress.
"I... I understand better now. My other self must have fled this reality. You're completely insane! haa"
Alpha might not have been a physics expert like Okita or Rei, but her strength far exceeded that of an ordinary human.
One slap from Alpha was enough to send a tooth flying, which crashed to the floor with a sharp sound.
Stanford's face contorted under the sudden pain, but in his eyes still burned an indomitable will.
The mark of decades spent facing the dangers and cruelties of the multiverse.
Alpha then stared at him without the slightest scientific curiosity. There was nothing left but indifference. An icy indifference that concealed bottomless anger.
'Never... he would never have given it to me.'
Stanford's insult had indeed hit a sensitive spot... a place he should never have reached.
At that moment, the journals mattered little to Alpha.
Logic faded, replaced by a growing madness that devoured her mind.
...
Ding!
The sound of a doorbell rang through the Hyoudou residence.
It took some time before a woman, her belly slightly rounded by pregnancy, opened the door.
"Hello... you are?" she asked, troubled by this face both familiar and yet foreign.
"I got lost in another dimension for a few days... or maybe five years? Doesn't matter. But... are you already forgetting me? *sigh* Tell me Miki, have you moved on with your life?"
Miki was slightly disconcerted by the strange words of the stranger standing at her door. Yet she didn't give in to panic.
'Gorou had mentioned he'd left a girl named Okita in the area...' she thought.
Unfortunately, Miki was unaware of the recent upheavals within Gorou's group. She didn't know that Rei and Asia had been assigned to her security... nor that Okita was no longer there.
Even less that Asia, weakened by the successive disappearances of Rei and Gorou, was no longer in any state to ensure surveillance.
"I don't really understand what you're saying, sir, but... I'd prefer if you left." Miki declared while trying to close the door.
But a foot blocked her action.
"I-I'm going to call the police!" she threw out in a desperate attempt at threat, facing this brown-haired man with an unkempt beard.
She didn't have time to go further: her face was brutally seized... for a forced kiss.
Of course, she tried to struggle, to push away the stranger, but...
'He's too strong... Help... someone...'
Yet no one intervened. As if the passersby, in broad daylight, were deliberately looking away from this immoral scene.
Then suddenly, a click.
'Wait... I... I recognize this tongue action.'
It took Miki a few moments to realize what had escaped her at first glance.
Finally, a thin thread of saliva, the sole trace of this "assault," remained suspended between them.
Her eyes widened, filled with tears.
"Y-you're... finally home, darling..."
Gorou flashed a tired smile.
"Sorry... I got caught up in one hell of a mess, haha..."
...
"Ise... you can't stay silent. Soon, the postponed match against Riser Phenex will finally have a date... I-I'll need you, my precious pawn."
After the incident with Rei, the Gremory clan launched a more thorough investigation into the man known by the pseudonym Hunter.
Unfortunately, all his contacts in the supernatural world seemed linked either to the Grigori or to the Church.
That's why Grayfia had advised Rias to use her authority over Issei, in order to obtain more information about Hunter.
A logical choice, since the "perverted devil" represented their only viable lead at the time.
However, Issei hadn't proven as cooperative as they'd hoped.
Overwhelmed by guilt over Rei's death, he had withdrawn into himself, refusing any discussion on the subject. A reaction similar to the one he'd had before, after being traumatized by his first death at the hands of Yuuma Amano, alias Raynare.
Normally, Rias would have wanted to give him more time to rebuild himself. After all, each member of her peerage already carried the burden of deep wounds related to their past.
But her brother saw things differently. For him, the strength demonstrated by Rei was far too dangerous. The idea of seeing another Hunter appear in Kuoh worried him even more, especially since his sister used this town as her main base.
And with the planned meeting between the three great biblical factions to negotiate a fragile peace, no potential threat could be tolerated.
Thus, the decision was made: Issei Hyoudou would be placed under house arrest in the underworld, until he agreed to fully cooperate with the investigation concerning this mysterious second Hunter mentioned by Rias.
"A pawn... isn't that right? S-so that's it, my true identity to you?" he murmured with a bitter smile of self-derision.
'F-father might have been right... the idea of a harem is stupid without strength... especially if I end up losing everything, including my freedom.'