LX

Verzweiflung

Standing at the edge of the dock they watched as the fireball started to get bigger. "We should not stay here, I do not like the way that is starting to look." Bando remarked as he was about to take the plunge. "You can swim alright!?"

"Better than you humans!" Dreachon dove in before he could even react to the remark, there was a loud splash followed by him diving in as well. The fire expanded in every direction, nearly engulfing them, those men that remained in the area were less fortunate, consumed by the raging maelstrom that lashed out in every direction when the cells finally ruptured and the containment field could no longer hold the power contained.

The first cell exploded with phenomenal power, flattening everything within a hundred meters and blasting a crater twenty meters deep, then the remaining cells detonated as well with the power of a sun, ripping the foundations of the docks apart.

Night became day as blinding light fountained from the point of detonation, car-sized chunks of stone and concrete were hurled in the air like pebbles as an expanding wave of blinding smoke and dust filled the area. The thunderclap of detonation was like the hammer of gods, come to smite the surface of the city, and a surging mushroom cloud billowed a hundred meters into the air, hurling ash and burning debris in all directions.

Buildings and cranes on either side of the detonation sagged and cracked, their walls and steel frame splitting under forces they had never been designed to endure.

With a tortured groan, millions of tons of stone cracked and rumbled, sliding free of the docks it crashed down into the sea in a rocky tidal wave of destruction. Dozens died screaming as they were crushed beneath the sweeping tide of stone or drowned as they were swept into the sea.

The blast wave buffeted against the remaining vehicles and picked them up like a children's toy, their crews in their desperation tried to escape from their doomed vehicles. Vaporized upon contact their ashes was scattered, inside their vector craft the crew were frantically working to prevent their craft from suffering a similar fate. Using whatever shelter they could find or hide behind they prayed to god for saving them but as the wave caught them they understood that god had no mercy for them.

"Oh my god." Dai gasped as he saw a pillar of fire rising from the harbor, it almost seemed surreal to him. Mayu who had not yet fully understood what he meant looked in surprise at the ground as her shadow grew in size, the next thing she noticed that there was too much light even when it still was in the middle of the night. It felt strange to her

"Mayu-chan don't look back, just keep staring in front of you." She heard him say as she tried to see what was happening. What was there that she was not allowed to see? Turning around to see what he could mean she was stopped by him.

"Believe me this is for you own good, don't you dare look." He almost sounded scared of something, was it because something happened at the harbor, had something happened to Bando? Ignoring his warning she dared to look what had cause Dai such distress, seeing it for herself she wished that she had listened to him.

The harbor or where the area where it should have been was gone, there was nothing left safe an enormous cloud that rose to the heavens it seemed. "… What… is… that…?" She cried as she saw but she couldn't believe her eyes. Such a thing couldn't be real, it couldn't be that such an explosion had happened in this city. "How… did... that… happen?"

"I-I don't know, nothing the Saseba forces carried with them could have caused such an explosion. It, it is almost like somebody used a damn nuke, what the hell has gone on there..." He desperately searched his mind for the right words to describe what he saw but he simply couldn't. It was something that he couldn't describe at all.

He turned back to face Mayu, the horror of what she had witnessed was clearly edged on her face. He needed to get her away from here and the best place would be the hospital. "Don't look at it." He could read the fear she was experiencing. "They will be fine. If anybody stands a chance to survive that it's them."

Taking in the sight of the destruction he wasn't even so sure of that anymore, surely nothing could have survived such an explosion. "Come on. Let's go to meet the others." Pulling her away he tried get away from it as fast as he could, it would not be in her best interest to start thinking about what could have happened to them.

Finally the hatch could be opened, as it broke free from its holdings it fell down to the ground, he could barely see what was outside due to the smoke that had filled up the crew compartment. Shouting out he got the dreadful feeling that the remainder of the crew were either dead or unconscious, his throat was becoming sore, no doubt from the smoke he must have inhaled. "… C-Can… any… body… hear… me?" There was no response coming from them and with that he decided to save himself first.

His head hanging from the hatch he took in his first breath of fresh air, oh the air must have been bad inside if he felt still this badly, dragging himself forward. What he saw outside horrified him, there was almost nothing left of the area. By god how many men had died in such a shameless slaughter, he cursed these bastards for having dared to detonate whatever the goddamned bomb was. They were going to pay for this; they would not be allowed to get away with such a heinous crime.

The stench of burned human flesh was already thick in the air, god it smelled awful to him. Reaching out for a cloth to cover his mouth he started to think what to do first, the answer came pretty quickly as he needed to get out of here, he needed to get himself into safety and then contact command. Looking down he noticed that it was some way down to the ground, guess the craft had been rolled over and landed on top of something, he couldn't imagine otherwise how it had ended up in this kind of position. Now he just needed to figure out how the hell he was going to get down without breaking his neck.

A tremor was felt throughout the craft, to him that was not a good sign as it seemed to him that the craft's position was becoming rather unstable. That kicking and pushing against the hatch earlier likely has had an effect as well, taking a deep breath he went ahead and lowered himself carefully.

There was another heavier tremor this time, it nearly caused him to lose his grip on the railing. The thought of falling to his death was starting to become pretty real; to him it was a galling idea to die in such in ignominious way. No he wouldn't allow such a thing to happen to him, he would get out of here alive and then he would hunt down all of those responsible for it. Most of all he would deal with the remaining diclonius as he had planned from the start, he would see them all burn in the fires.

Allowing his hatred for them to fuel him strength he reached out, about to grab it he lost his grip as another tremor went through the craft again sending it toppling over. His remaining arm wasn't enough to compensate as the craft's momentum made him lose whatever grip he still had. He screamed as he fell down on the hard floor, landing on his feet he could feel something crack and give as he fell back on his back.

He screamed for help as he couldn't walk, his legs wouldn't support him anymore. "H-HELP… H-HELP… SOME… BODY HELP ME!" He was starting to panic as there came no reply to his cry of help.

Apart from the sound of fire and the sea there was nothing out here, he felt deserted as he oversaw the destruction that had been brought by the enemies weapon. With a deafening shriek parts from the vector craft tore off from the main body, he couldn't get away in time and the next thing he know a searing pain ripped through his legs. "GODDAMMIT!" He shrieked with an equal mix of pain and frustration, cursing as he no longer felt his leg, if it wasn't broke it was likely severed all together.

There was another noise and this one sparked his interested, it sounded different than before but as time went on nothing happened, perhaps he had just imagined it. "J-Just what was that?" The pain numbing his sense, his vision getting hazy.

He screamed as something slammed down on his hand.

"The sound of the tables turning!" Sadistic laughter accompanied the pain, someone must have snuck up on him.

Gazing up to see who it was that dared to attack him at a time like this, his heart almost stopped beating as he saw the drenched figures of Bando and Dreachon looming over him.

"Missed us!?" Bando gasped, his side has been torn open, no doubt he had been hit by shrapnel that had been flying around. "You look to be in a rather poor shape…"

"You terrorist bastards, it were you who set of the-!"

His nose broke as Bando lashed out with his other foot him. "I am not in the mood for your talking, I am getting a headache from seeing your face." Bando pulled away his foot as he needed to lean against something. He was having trouble at keeping himself straight, so tired.

"Bando I need to leave, I need to find that ship and destroy it before it is too late." Dreachon walked away, seeing it Bando knew that he had been hit hard as well even when he wasn't letter other know. "You can't keep up fighting, not in your condition. You're not going to last much longer if you keep pushing yourself." Yeah he was definitely wounded alright, guess it likely had been one of those big vectors that had gotten to him or crashing into a building.

"You are right but I cannot rest, that ship must be destroyed. For their sake I must go and destroy it otherwise their lives will be over. Look after them, keep them safe, do what I could not for them."

Giving a quick nod Bando pulled out his gun, this needed to be done if they wanted them to be safe, for that matter he really wanted to make sure that she could lead a good life. She was a simple brat but even a brat like her deserves a good life. Despite that he didn't know if he could do what he had agreed to for that much longer himself but this one thing he could still do. Planting it against the man's forehead he wasn't going to miss even in his condition.

Turning his attention back to Shimada he let out a short growl. "Guess not much left but to take care of the trash, you had this coming! Like hell I will let you get near those girls asshole, go and rot in hell where you belong!" There was a burning pain in his chest as he took a deep breath.

He pulled the trigger, standing there near the lifeless body he limped away himself, right now he just wanted to find a place to rest. "If I died there wouldn't be single bastard who would shed a tear for me… obviously I haven't paid much if any attention to other people and I think I am kind off proud off that… and still…" Dropping to his knees he leaned back against a piece of rubble and letting out one last sigh he closed his eyes. His body felt so heavy, nearly every move he made required almost herculean strength, there was nothing left in him, he had given it his all.

With her mother standing there Yuka felt rather uneasy about what had happened, how was she even going to explain everything that had happened and yet she was also glad that she had come. She could definitely do with her mother being there to comfort and support her in this difficult moment.

"Yuka, how is Kouta-kun doing? Have the doctors said anything about his condition yet?"

Looking at him lying there she wasn't sure of it herself. "Uhmm… they said that it was a clean penetration and although it went in pretty deep it has missed his heart. It seemed they used a solid bullet… there also appears to be a hole in one of his lungs but they assured me that it was not as serious as it sounds and it should heal in time." She sighed as even then his condition was still uncertain. "Despite all he hasn't regained his consciousness."

Yuka had spent nearly every moment with him ever since he was released from the operating room, she had been at his side the whole time. "Though he has had nightmares from time to time, his body is drenched with sweat."

With a hand on her daughter's shoulder her mother wanted to let her know that she wasn't alone in this.

"I'm sorry mother, we have brought so much trouble to the Inn."

"It is just some damage, nothing that can't be repaired but for the time being I think it would be better if you all commute to school from home. Kouta and the other girls too."

Yuka knew what she meant, their time at the Inn as a family was over. She really didn't want to hear that as she had too many fond memories of the Inn. Even despite all that had happened she really wanted to go back there make more good memories with her little family.

"That place is no longer suitable to live in." Her mother informed her. "The smell of blood won't go away, the house will be stained forever by it."

There was a knot in her stomach as Yuka noticed that her mother was staring at both Nana and Saeko, even when wearing a hat both of the girls drew attention to them. "Don't tell me…" She remarked as she watched them closely. "I didn't think you were hiding a murderer though."

Yuka objected to that. "Nyu-chan is not that kind of person, she is kind and caring. She-."

"Then what's with the bloody scene? All of the police that came to apprehend the murderer were killed, right?" Her mother interrupted her and already Yuka could tell that her mother had been told a cover story, that had not been at all how it had happened, those people were not police. It pained her that her own mother believed such a story and not what her own daughter was telling her what had happened

"Thinking about that murder that happened eight years ago at the festival and then at that facility too, I am not saying that that girl is behind it all." Yuka could do little but shake her head, her mother was already convinced that Nyu was a murderer. There was little that she could do at the moment to make her change her mind, not after what had happened.

"Even a helicopter has crashed in the yard this time, this has become quite a scene."

There was a knock on the door and Yuka was glad to see Mayu coming inside, hopefully she could steer this conversation into a more pleasant direction. "Excuse me…?"

"Ah Mayu-chan, how is Nozomi-chan doing?"

"Uhmm… up until now, she hasn't been able to speak…" Mayu fell silent for a moment. "The doctors don't know is she needs treatment right away or not…"

Yuka shed a tear as she heard that. "Poor Nozomi-chan, just when she passed the exam…" They had all found out that she had indeed passed her exam. "That such a thing had to happen to her…" She sobbed. "And all because I had invited her to come practice at our place."

He mother watched as finally Nana got up and excused herself as she needed to go to the bathroom, opening the door they could see Saeko sitting there. She was still waiting for him to return but after what Dai had told them Yuka had her doubts.

"How are you doing Saeko-san?" Nana asked as she saw the expression on her face, like the rest of them the news of what had happened at the harbor had hit her hard.

"…M-Master will come… I know… he will come..." She put up a smile but Nana could tell that it was just something to hide her true feelings behind; she had cried almost nonstop when they had gotten the news. For the time they were waiting as Dai had offered to go there and see if he could find anything but they had not heard from him ever since he left the hospital.

But there had been some good news as well, they had managed to get into contact with Mako and through her they had learned that the twins were still with her and safe at the moment. Hearing what had happened she did not seem to hesitate for a moment to offer a place for all of the girls to stay, Nana and Saeko in particular were most welcome.

"Would you like to go to your aunt, she sounded pretty nice on the phone?" Nana wondered where else they could go, the only other option they had was at Yuka's place though she had no doubt that her mother might find it strange to have so many girls around.

"…I want… to go to… Dreachon-sama's place… with master it is… safe right?" Nana was a bit surprised at her saying his name again, it had been a while now and to her it had become very common for Saeko to simply use the term master instead of his name.

"I am going to the bathroom, can I bring you anything on the way back?

"…No…" She sobbed, shaking her head in response.

Nana was concerned about her, how much longer Saeko was going to keep this up before she would breakdown completely. Was it even possible that she would go insane or listen to her inner voice and become a treat to other people? She prayed that it wouldn't come to that.

For Saeko's sake and for her family's sake she would have to make sure that such a thing wouldn't happen, she would look after her. It would give her something to focus her thoughts on.

Watching the hallway she noticed that she actually had no idea where she needed to be, she pondered on what to do but then she decided that it would be best to go back and ask Mayu for help. Even then this was going to be a bit trickier than she had thought; these hospitals sure were pretty big. Maybe it would be best to just ask Mayu to come with her and show her where she needed to go, perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad idea if she started to spent more time on learning to read. Luckily she hadn't wandered that far off so her walk back to the room went rather easy, with a smile she reached out for the doorknob and then froze.

"Is she alright, that girl that just walked out of here? The same goes for that girl just sitting outside the room." Nana froze on the spot as she heard that, the door was barely open but she clearly heard Yuka's mother speaking. A feeling of dread overcame her as she listened.

"The murderer from yesterday, also had horns growing out of her head just like those two girls am I right?" She had found out, even with them doing their best not to let other people see their horns. It had been too much to hope for that they could keep fooling people.

"But Nana-chan or Saeko-chan aren't that kind of people, they are both really nice-."

"What are you talking about? That murderer was friendly and nice too, until yesterday right? We will never know when they might also start to kill until it is too late?" Nana's hand lend go of the doorknob, she really didn't want to hear more of this.

"I can't afford to have those kind of people in my house, I won't allow them to come along with the rest of you." It a was heart wrenching experience to hear her say such a thing. Surely the concerns of her own daughter should convince her otherwise.

"MOTHER!" She could hear Yuka cry in protest, so that was it then. Just like that her home and her family were gone, looking over she realized that the same applied to Saeko as well. There would be no place for them to live and if it kept going on like this then Mako would likely in time also turn against them.

It pained her that after all of her troubles she had to start all over again, she didn't want to leave them, she had a family that she loved and cherished. Neither she nor Saeko could stay here any longer, they needed to get away from here before more trouble would come looking for them.

"Saeko-san we need to go!" She could tell that she really wasn't interested in leaving but she wasn't aware yet that their former lives would be over, even if he was still alive she wasn't going to abandon her. If they kept together then they could at least find comfort in each other, now it was only going to be a matter of time before the twins would likely join them.

As the crane passed over her she took note that the final preparations were well underway by now, for the time being it seemed that everything was well on schedule. She had made it clear to the captain why she had been sent here and to what purpose her presence would be.

There were some who had refused to listen to a woman but after making an example of them the rest simply obeyed her orders.

"Madam." There was a loud cough behind her back, turning around she noticed with irritation that it was one of the bridge officers. "Here are the latest updates as you requested."

She could hear the resentment in the old man's voice; he had been one of those who had initially opposed her taking command. Would he still be harboring that much resentment against her after she had several men executed.

"I see." Yamada mumbled as she went through the report, it wasn't really all that interesting to begin with but it was essential that she kept making sure that nothing and nobody were to fall behind the schedule the chief had tasked her with. "Has there been any word, I am expecting a very important transmission coming in any time now?"

"No madam but we rarely use the radio, radio silence is still mandatory according to our standing orders."

He might be an old fool but at least he followed orders when they came from his commander.

Still it was a shame that no communication had reached her, she was most definitely keen on getting off this ship but that could only be achieved when its mission was completed.

"Alright, break radio silence for the moment and allow for a brief window in which messages can reach us, keep it at ten minutes max lest we risk of getting spotted. Make also sure that our defenses are being prepared, with the current speed of our progress we can likely return to territorial waters before the end of the day." That seemed to make the man grow even more nervous than he already was around her.

Good let him; the more concerned he was about her the more focused he would be on doing his job right. She couldn't care less if each and every single person on this ship would die just as long as they did what was expected from them, the chief had high expectations of her as well and this was now her only chance of redeeming her previous failure at the DRI. Anger flared through her body as she clenched her fist, she had not forgotten the injustice done to her by those invaders. Even she ever was going to come across them she would make them pay.

"To think that that whore is now running things at the DRI, that was my job and likely she is busy in capturing Lucy. A role that was meant for me." Ah yes, her rival was no doubt doing her best to make her failure look even worse in the eyes of the chief. Yamada couldn't stomach the thought that she had wormed her way into the chief's inner circle but there was nothing that she could do about it. "I will deal with you when I return, just watch my words."

That was a welcome thought, the prospect of revenge when she would return to the DRI and the chief in triumph. All she needed to do was to bide her time and keep these men focused on what they were doing, there was a certain sense of irony that they were working so hard on the tools that would lead to their own destruction.

There was delight to be taken in their false believes that they were actually doing something constructive, she did wondered what kind of lies the chief had told the captain when he was first given this mission and assignment, would he be aware of what they were actually doing?

Surely some must have gotten suspicious after all of the weaponry and launch components were being brought onboard, they may be kept in the dark but that did not make them fools.

"I will be victorious here, nobody is going to stand in my way of setting things right."

She allowed a smile to cares her face, her moment would soon come.

He could already hear them approaching and sure enough the door flung wide open as they burst into the room. "DOCTOR! DOCTOR!" THANK GOD YOU ARE STILL ALIVE!"

Nousou just rolled his eyes as he saw them standing there. "What are you screaming about, please keep the noise down will you?" He took another bite of his chocolate.

"THANK GOD YOU ARE ALRIGHT SIR!"

He nearly choked as he heard the fool say that, hadn't they noticed the large casts stuck around his leg. "I AM NOT ALRIGHT YOU BUNGLING IDIOT! THERE'S A FRACTURE IN MY RIGHT LEG! THAT WILL TAKE UP TO THREE MONTHS TO HEAL!"

Why was he stuck with such dumb people, couldn't they tell from just looking at it, it was not like they couldn't notice it at all.

They all stopped as a few sound notified them of the others awakening. "Myuu… myuu… myuu…" Wiping her eyes Felicia stared at the people, Barbara already had gotten herself one of his sweets.

The men looked at the girls with some confusion. "I guess that Barbara and Felicia saved you right? They saved your life sire?"

Nousou sighed at hearing the man's question. "Yeah. With their vectors they cut the steel above my head. When they dove towards me at that time, I wondered what would have happened if their vectors weren't strong enough, if they weren't close enough to me we all would have been killed." He took a deep breath as he gazed at the ceiling. "But Arishia… and Cynthia too, died while protecting me. These kids aren't brainless are they?"

Remaining confused the two men looked at each other not sure on what to say in return, they were not certain what he was hinting at. Was there a chance that he had hurt his head when it had crashed on top of him? Perhaps it would be best to have the doctor run a few more check on him just to be sure.

"But when you think about it. We implanted the Ajina on their foreheads in order to exact control over their pineal gland, thanks to that they lost their violent nature and grew attached to me." Rubbing Felicia over the head he started to wonder.

"That's why…" He stopped for a moment as he lifted the hair from Barbara's forehead to expose the Ajina attached to her. "To say that I was actually saved by them is… no it was only thanks to this device."

One of the men was starting to grow nervous at hearing him say such thing. "… You must be kidding us sir right? To talk like that."

Seeing the look in his eyes they didn't go any further on the subject, surely the doctor was doing credit to his reputation for being a bit odd. Surely he was not starting to see his creations, these girls in a new light now was he? They were clones, nothing more. Products of science and even then they had no rights at all as the original had died, these girls would never have human rights. They were not even human to begin with.

There was another knock on the door and as they all watched Nousou's ire only grew as he saw who it was that had stepped inside the room, really she was the last person in the world that he wanted to see at this moment. "What's wrong with you?" She asked as she had a good look at him. "You look pretty well don't you?" Seeing him shoot up in his bed she smiled. "See your fine already right?" She asked with a smirk on her face.

Nousou had it with her. "WHAT!? ARE YOU STUPID!? YOU DIDN'T DO A SINGLE FUCKING THING!" He groaned as he sifted his weight. "Ouch ouch ouch…"

She waited for him to stop with his little rant. "That is so ungrateful of you. Who do you think it was that pulled you and your girls from underneath that burning wreckage." As if adding extra credibility to what she was saying she held up one of her hands for him to see, heavily bandaged but the burn mark could clearly be seen.

"That's because it was your job, you were assigned to protect me remember!?" After that he decided to drop the matter, little reason for him to continue but he was feeling somewhat ashamed at having said that to her earlier. There was no denying to the burn marks on her hand.

"By the way." He said as he closed his eyes. "What exactly happened to Lucy after the helicopter…?" He waited to hear what she had to say, personally he was fully expecting to hear that Lucy had once more escaped them. It would come as no big surprise if she had managed to get away once more, for a diclonius she was proving to be very crafty indeed

"Despite our earlier setback in the operation and the high price paid we were successful in subduing and recovering Lucy. She is currently back at the DRI within a special holding chamber, the chief is overseeing her imprisonment personally."

Well that certainly made the death of two of his clones not in vain but somewhere deep in the corner of his mind he secretly wanted for them to have survived even if it did meant that Lucy would have escaped them. Curious why he was having such feelings at a time like this.

"I see you are tired." She remarked. "I will leave for the time being, try not to get yourself killed while I am away." He just waved her off along with the others, right now he wanted to be alone, just him and his girls.

"Myuu myuu myuu." Hearing them both say that in unison brought him another sense of pride, he petted them both on the heads. They had also earned their rest, for the time being it would be good for them to enjoy this time of rest. When they needed to go back to the DRI there were likely plenty of hardships going to occur for them, he wondered how Diana was doing.

"Myuu myuu." Gazing down on them he started to think what he was going to do next with them, there was still a burning question in his mind that wouldn't be satiated.