The duo entered the massive room, and once inside, Hyoubu's expression visibly darkened. Andy, on the other hand, looked around in shock.
What he saw left him horrified—all kinds of creepy tubes and machines that looked like they came straight out of hell.
"Do they experiment on living things here too?"
Then as realization dawned upon him, he glared at the equipment.
"I can't believe the prison is performing experiments on espers!"
Hyoubu, on the other hand, just stood silently next to Andy, staring at the massive glass cage situated in the middle.
"Let me see this a moment."
He said while snatching the machine gun Andy was holding.
"Ah?!" he yelped.
And without hesitating, Hyoubu started firing at everything he could see except the glass cage. All the other machines and tubes were completely destroyed by Hyoubu's erratic shooting.
"Hey, what are you..."
But before he could finish his sentence, something had gotten his attention.
"Hm?"
A black and white photo had fallen from somewhere; on it stood multiple men, women, and even children, all posing in front of a large building wearing military uniforms. In the middle of the photo, however, stood a young boy with short black hair who resembled the man in front of him.
"What is this?" Andy muttered to himself.
Hyoubu paid no mind to Andy's mumbling and made his way straight to the glass cage.
"Major?" Yugiri asked, glancing through the blinds that surrounded her large bed.
The moment she saw him standing on the other side of the glass, she slipped through the massive blinds, now wearing a cute dress instead of the oversized T-shirt.
"It's really you, Major. You came!"
"Yes, wait there. I'll get you out." Hyoubu gently assured her.
"So the business you mentioned is this girl?" Andy inquired.
But before Hyoubu could reply, from a side entrance, Kan and the skinny man leisurely entered.
Kan was once again smoking his cigar, while the skinny man was holding his baton with an evil expression on his face.
"I see. So you let yourself be captured to rescue that sample," he declared.
"I had thought it was odd for an elite esper like you to be captured without much of a fight."
"..."
Hyoubu didn't reply and just looked straight at the duo that had just interrupted his reunion.
"But don't worry, Hyoubu Kyousuke-kun. You will always be together from now on." Kan exclaimed, an evil smirk now on his face.
"No, perhaps it would be more accurate to say you will fuse into one, just like our army's prized soldier."
From behind the duo, a monstrosity then walked out of the hallway.
It looked like a misformed giant; its size was massive, around two and a half times Kan's height. With its skin having a dark green color.
With weird protrusions sticking out of its head as well. And two misformed arms, one of them reaching all the way to the ground like a massive crab's pincer. And the other one is the size of a normal human.
"What the hell is that?" Andy asked, a clear look of disgust on his face.
Hyoubu had the stoic look on his face and remained silent.
Kan's earlier professional mask slipped off completely as he had an evil smirk on his face.
"The best of our prisoners were successfully combined after many different experiments. This is the ultimate soldier!" He proudly declared.
"H-How could you do that?!" Andy asked, clearly outraged.
But without a second's hesitation, Kan ordered the massive monster to attack the duo.
"Go!"
"Gooaaaaah!" The monster screamed as it rushed at Hyoubu.
Hyoubu casually raised his hand—an invisible wave tore forward. Concrete cracked, debris flew, but the monster remained unfazed.
"Oh?" Now smirking, Hyoubu flew out of reach of the monster and kept shooting telekinetic waves at it.
But the monster remained unaffected until finally he hit its right shoulder.
"Gwoh!" it groaned, but right after it glanced at Hyoubu and vanished.
Then, in a flash, it reappeared—towering directly in front of Hyoubu.
"Tch."
Hyoubu braced for impact, forming an X with his arms in front of his face and upper torso, but his gaze wasn't panicked or even surprised; it looked calmly at the massive fist that was rapidly approaching his body.
"Hyoubu!" Andy shouted, a worried look on his face.
But the moment the monster's fist was about to reach him, Hyoubu also vanished and reappeared a couple meters behind his original position.
Floating in front of the glass cage, Hyoubu watched as the monster raised its palm—energy swelling within.
"Major."
Without hesitation, Hyoubu took the beam the monster shot at him straight to the face; as he was flung backwards by the impact, he crashed straight through the glass cage protecting Yugiri.
"Kyah!" She lifted her arms up trying to protect her frail body from all the glass shards flying around.
Andy stared at the destruction, wondering why Hyoubu would just take that hit head-on to protect the little girl.
Looking around, he saw the gun Hyoubu had used earlier to destroy most of the machines in the room.
"Major?"
"This is nothing to worry about." Hyoubu immediately said, making sure to reassure Yugiri.
"Fahahaha!! How pathetic. If you had obediently taken the poison, we would have easily made you one of the ingredients." Kan shouted, mocking Hyoubu.
Hyoubu stood square in front of Yugiri making sure she was safe and sound. And would not get injured.
"Kill him." Kan ordered the monster that at some point had appeared next to him once again.
And the monster charged that same beam he had fired at Hyoubu once more with his massive hand.
"Ogaaah!" The monster yelped as bullets rained down on him from afar.
Andy stood on a large staircase, a serious look in his eyes.
"Hyoubu. Take that girl and get out of here!" he ordered.
But instead of listening or even making use of the opportunity Andy had given him, Hyoubu stood completely still with a smirk on his face.
"Gwohh."
Then the monster charged another beam, but instead of aiming it at Hyoubu and Yugiri, he shot it straight at the unsuspecting Andy.
Alarmed, his left eye lit up, and the beam was completely nullified when it came within a meter of his body.
"Major!"
"Yes." Hyoubu stared at Andy for a couple seconds before turning his attention toward the monster and Kan once more.