"Why should I tell you?"
Hearing Canard's anxious inquiry, Felix smiled and deliberately strung him along with his reply. Canard, picking up on the teasing tone in Felix's voice, thought for a moment before his expression turned cold as he questioned sharply.
"Are you messing with me?"
In response, Felix chuckled and replied mockingly.
"Even if I were messing with you, what could you do about it?"
"No one jokes with me about this!"
Hearing the anger and seriousness in those words, Felix saw the Hyperion Gundaim aim its two Beam Cannons at him while its remaining arm held a Beam Saber pointed in his direction.
It looked as if it was ready to fight to the death!
Meanwhile, inside the Hyperion Gundam's cockpit—
"Canard, we're retreating!"
"Don't talk to me about retreating!"
Annoyed at the mention of retreat again, Canard replied with a hint of aggression in his voice. After dismissing his teammate, he turned back to the comms and demanded.
"Do you know Kira Yamato?!"
"Of course I do."
Felix answered calmly despite the accusatory tone. As he finished speaking, he noticed that Heine and the others had effectively surrounded the mothership of Canard's unit.
His gaze fixed on the Hyperion Gundam, Felix smiled and said.
"Your teammates have been surrounded by my subordinates. Aren't you going to do something about it?"
Hearing this, Canard snapped out of his frantic search for Kira Yamato and checked the screen to see the situation his forces were in.
His expression turning fierce, Canard angrily shouted.
"You set me up?"
"Well, you made it easy!"
Felix chuckled dismissively in response.
He then maneuvered the Genesis Gundam to evade the Beam attacks fired by the Hyperion Gundam and retaliated with the Whale Plasma Cluster Beam Cannon.
The heavily damaged Hyperion Gundam, under Canard's control, shifted forward and to the right, narrowly dodging the Sandwich Beam.
"You should be careful. If you keep firing, I can't guarantee your teammates will survive."
Watching the Hyperion Gundam evade the attack, Felix reminded him with a smile.
Hearing the warning, Canard struggled internally before moving his finger away from the firing trigger.
"I won't fire again. I hope you keep your word."
"Keep my word about what?"
Felix laughed playfully at Canard's reluctant reply. Infuriated by the response, Canard's suppressed anger flared up again.
He yelled at Felix over the comms.
"Don't attack my subordinates!"
"In that case, have your subordinates exit the battleship in Escape Pods. As for you, step out of the MS Cockpit immediately.
Otherwise, I can't guarantee your safety!"
Dropping his playful expression, Felix sternly laid out his demands to Canard.
The demand reached his ears, and Canard naturally understood what this meant. Gazing at the Mobile Suit before him, Canard then shifted his focus to the mothership.
Taking a deep breath as he looked at the mothership, Canard spoke.
"We will comply with your request."
After giving his response, Canard established communication with the mothership and issued orders to his subordinates.
Upon hearing Canard's command, the members of Special Task Force X all showed expressions of confusion and did not immediately carry out the order.
Hearing no reply from his subordinates, Canard's voice grew stern.
"Do you all want to die here if we don't do this?"
"Canard, are we just surrendering like this?"
"If we don't surrender, what other choice do we have? Unless we choose to die here."
Calmer now, Canard spoke gently to his comrades. After saying this, he continued.
"This is my fault. I can't let you pay with your lives for my mistake.
Listen to me and do as they say!"
As he spoke, Canard's voice carried a note of pleading.
"Alright?"
...
Athena Hangar
"Conduct a thorough study of this Mobile Suit and see if there's anything worth learning from."
Exiting the Genesis Gundam's cockpit, Felix looked at the recovered Hyperion Gundam and gave orders to Taiber and the others.
Hearing the command, Taiber saluted Felix.
"Rest assured, Captain!"
"Hmm!"
Nodding, Felix acknowledged with a sound.
Felix then turned his gaze to Canard, who was clad in a combat pilot suit, and at that moment, Canard also fixed his eyes on Felix.
The moment he saw Felix's face, Canard's pupils contracted, and he roared at Felix.
"Kira Yamato!!"
"I'm sorry, but you've mistaken me for someone else."
Hearing Canard's angry tone, Felix smiled and calmly responded.
Canard's expression remained disbelieving, a mix of fury, disgust, and hatred swirling in his eyes as he shouted.
"Stop making excuses! You are Kira Yamato!"
As he continued shouting, before Felix could speak, Marine Captain Jonah spoke up impatiently.
"Are you out of your mind?"
After this outburst, Jonah added.
"Our captain's name is Felix Leo Griffith, not Kira Yamato!"
"Jonah, detain them for now."
While Jonah was refuting Canard, Felix gave the order. Upon hearing it, Jonah saluted Felix and replied.
"Yes, Captain!"
...
Bridge
"Captain, what should we do with this captured battleship?"
Seeing Felix enter, Aric stood up and asked. In response, Felix glanced at Aric, then looked at the battleship on the screen. Just as he was about to speak, a voice came through the public channel.
"Captain Griffith, would you be willing to sell this battleship to us?"
"No sale!"
Hearing Ro's offer to buy, Felix decisively refused. After the refusal, Felix asked Ro.
"Ro, what are you doing all the way out here?"
Listening to Felix's inquiry over the communication, Ro recalled their purpose for coming and considered Felix's identity, then fabricated a lie in response.
"Nothing much, just wandering around casually and picking up some things here."
Hearing Ro's reply, Felix chuckled.
"In that case, you may leave."
Upon hearing this, Ro expressed gratitude over the communication.
"Thank you!"
After giving thanks, Ro ended the communication.
Seeing the communication had concluded, Felix turned to Aric and said,
"Tow this Space Battleship. We'll give it to Lacus and the others later."