Crushing a drone there and rerouting another on the other side, Senzo was slowly losing his patience but also becoming increasingly exhausted; protecting Hyoubu and paying attention to what was happening on the Catastrophe was almost impossible.
His concentration was stretched so thinly it felt like he would miss the most important parts of both sides.
"Fuuu, why can't I do anything more?" he muttered, while glaring at the large fleet.
"S-Senzo," Hyoubu coughed weakly, "just leave me here and help the others." while blood dripped down from the edge of his mouth; his whole complexion had become so pale he already looked like a corpse.
But Senzo just shook his head. "No, I cannot allow that. If I left you to die now, your body would be torn to shreds, and no one would be able to give you a proper farewell."
Gritting his teeth, with one large swing of his arm, he wiped out tens of drones once more, but once again, it didn't make a difference in the grand scheme of things.
He knew that leaving Hyoubu here would be the correct choice, but his pride wouldn't let him do that. He had told the others that he would help the Major, so that was what he was going to do; it was as simple as that.
And most of all, he would not let that cute little girl cry ever again; he had vowed so to himself after letting her suffer in that "hospital."
Hyoubu could only wryly smile at the young man who was now protecting him with everything he had.
***
Yugiri and Sophie had been transported through the whole ship and brought before Andy's superior, who had an evil smirk on his face.
"To think you actually survived, code number pr. 00. There's no doubt that this girl is the prototype!"
Sophie had such a disgusted expression on her face it looked like she could throw up at any moment. Could these people even be called humans anymore? She didn't know the answer, but one thing was for sure: she did not consider herself the same race as those things.
"Uh... uuuun!" Yugiri suddenly cried out after hearing what that man had just said, as she completely lost control over herself.
Her eyes rolled back, and her pupils vanished as a massive illusion enveloped everyone, including Sophie.
"Uwaaahh!!" The soldiers cried out as their eyes widened upon the horrifying sight in front of them.
"Tsk, don't be afraid. This is only an illusion." Andy's superior sternly ordered, but most of the soldiers couldn't hear him anymore.
The same went for Sophie, as she immediately lost consciousness after seeing the dreadful illusion Yugiri was forcefully letting them all experience.
"Increase the output of the ECM."
As the soldiers rushed toward Yugiri with the ECMs, they aimed them straight at her at almost maximum capacity.
Yugiri grasped her head in pain as even more tears started falling from the edge of her eyes. But the illusions persisted.
"More," he calmly ordered.
Now Yugiri was rolling on the ground, grasping her head and screaming her lungs out, but the man in front of her didn't care at all and just glared at her.
"More."
Now Yugiri was barely conscious as tears were streaming down her face. "Sen..."
But before she could finish that sentence, she completely lost consciousness.
"Hmph. Damned monster."
***
Meanwhile, Andy was leading the soldiers who were transporting Ihachigo to the meeting point. But he felt horrible as Hyoubu's words echoed in his mind.
Hinomiya. You are, in the end, an incomplete person who decided to side with normals.
He perfectly remembered Hyoubu's disgusted expression while saying that.
"..."
He could only stare at the ground with frustration while continuing to lead the soldiers, his hands balled into fists. But a moment later he relaxed them and put them in his pocket.
"You bastard! Hinomiya!!"
Everyone suddenly heard echoing in their heads as they all saw a flying hamster approach them at high speeds.
Bang! Bang! Multiple soldiers were blown away by the beams the hamster shot at them; only Hinomiya and the soldiers standing directly behind him were unharmed due to his powers.
"Just what the hell are you doing!?" the hamster exclaimed, glaring straight at Andy.
"You monster!" One of the soldiers shouted back, but Momotaro wasn't listening at all as he only focused on Andy.
"You..."
As sudden realization hit Momotaro, he became even more enraged.
"Could it be that you... betrayed us!?"
The moment Andy heard that, his whole body froze, and he just blankly stared at the flying hamster.
"..."
But a moment later one of the soldiers had snuck up on the hamster and struck him down with his gun.
"Gyaaah!"
The hamster fell to the ground, its body limp.
Andy had a concerned expression on his face, but he couldn't do anything for Momotaro right now.
"Let's go," One of the soldiers said as they, without delay, continued making their way toward the meeting point.
Andy took one last glance at the now limp hamster and followed the soldiers with a pitiful expression.
***
After Andy and the other soldiers made their way back onto the deck of the Catastrophe, they were greeted by a horrifying sight.
"Good work. Undercover investigator Hinomiya."
"Director!"
When Andy heard that voice, he raised his head to look at the director, but what he saw left him disgusted.
Sophie was cuffed and held by multiple soldiers; she looked awful, but that wasn't even the worst of it.
Yugiri was locked up in a high-tech cylindrical pod with mechanical restraints spreading out from a central lock on the girl's chest.
"Yugiri!!?" Andy screamed the moment what he saw registered as he rushed straight toward her.
"Kuh..."
But before he could approach, he was caught from behind by a soldier.
"Fuck, let me go!!" he screamed.
"What's the meaning of this, director!? You said you'd leave the children alone!" Andy demanded, as he glared at the director.
"I'm respecting her human rights..." the director replied.
"Like I said, "To the best of our ability.""
"But this kind of treatment!!"
Andy countered, but before he could continue, he was cut off by the director's snort.
"Hmph. It seems like you don't understand." now the director had a serious expression on his face as he stared straight into his investigator's eyes.
"Unsupervised espers will eventually lose control. In other words, this is a necessary measure for the sake of humanity."
"... Humanity?"
"What's wrong? Pack her up. Before that "monster" wakes up, it'll be a problem."
Andy could only glare at the director. He'd heard enough. With one quick look around, he saw that this would be an uphill battle for sure, but that was fine.
If he decided to close his eyes even now, could he even be called a human anymore?
Without hesitation, he swung his head back, hitting the soldier who was holding him with the back of his head straight on his helmet.
"Gah!?"
The director casually raised his hand to halt all the other soldiers from shooting with an intrigued look on his face.
"What are you doing?"
But Andy was undeterred as he pointed his own gun straight at the director.
"Please let Yugiri go! That child is not a monster!"
"That is not your place to decide," The director calmly said.
"From the moment I got here, I've been watching over her this whole time... even espers are humans!" Andy confidently stated.
But the moment the director heard that, his expression darkened. "It seems that while you've been here, you've been infected by that monster Hyoubu." now pointing his own gun straight at Andy, the director continued.
"Andy Hinomiya, all of your records as our investigator shall be erased."
"!!!"
But before Andy could process what he was saying, he heard a gun go off. Bang!
He let go of the gun he was holding as he couldn't believe what had just happened. He shot me!?
He fell backward with blood dripping from his left shoulder, his mouth agape.
"Let's go. Load it up." The director casually said, like he hadn't just shot someone.
But right before Andy hit the ground, he took a deep breath in and, with all his remaining strength, screamed the name of a certain someone that suddenly came to mind.
"SENZO!!"