Jellyfish Fields was as peaceful as ever. Both of them were running around with their nets, trying to catch the floating creatures, sometimes failing, sometimes succeeding, but always having fun. Their laughter echoed through the ocean, and, at the moment, they were blissfully content with every aspect of their lives. And Patrick Star knew that there was no life he'd rather live.

He awoke in a daze. His eyes were blurry, his mind was cloudy, and his body was cold and sweaty. He rubbed his eyes, and looked around his environment. There were steel bars all around him, with little space for him to move a muscle. He was in a cage. Outside of the bars he saw dozens of similar cages, all with other prisoners in them. Some of them were sleeping, while others were huddled up in fetal position, clearly frightened and uncomfortable. Memories began to return to Patrick after he cleared his head of the faded sleep. He had been kidnapped. Maybe a month or two ago. It was hard to measure the passing of time in this sort of place for a normal mind, let alone the...curious brain of Patrick Star. He wasn't quite sure how his capture had happened. He was keeping watch one night for Spongebob and the others, had momentarily drifted off, and awoke in this place. This horrid, cold, and suffocating place.

"Meow"

Patrick jumped with shock and hit his head against the top of the cage. After rubbing the sore point, he looked over to the nearest cage to the right of his own, to determine the source of the noise. As he had expected, it was an old friend that he had frequently talked to in the long and boring hours of captivity.

"I know the cages are too small Gary! Everyday you ramble on about the cages being too small, but what do you expect me to do about it?" He said, though, despite this minor outburst, Patrick was just as good as friends with Gary as ever.

"Meow," The snail replied in his own witty, sarcastic manner.

"Oh, haha, very funny, Gary! I'm sure you were coming up with that line all night, weren't you?!"

Meanwhile, two prisoners from nearby cages watched the exchange take place in pure awe.

"Dude...is that dude talking to a snail-dude, dude?" One with long shaggy hair asked the other with a hint of disbelief, to which the other merely shrugged his shoulders as a reply.

However, all talk was cut short when the sound of rusted metal doors opening echoed through the large room. Dead silence awaited. They all knew who would be coming out of the doors, and none of them were thrilled. Patrick could see a certain rolling computer with a flashing green screen, and he didn't need to see her companion to know that he was there. His obnoxiously loud voice did the job of giving him away.

"God damn it, Karen! When I tell you that I want the systems functional in six weeks, I expect for you to get the systems functional in six weeks! Not eight weeks, not twelve weeks, SIX!" His scream could be heard as the two walked across the room, heading towards a door that led to a room Patrick shivered just thinking about.

Karen rolled her digital eyes in response. "Oh excuse me, your highness, but I'm afraid that I can't make the whole world bow to your every command. The systems will get on-line whenever possible, and no sooner!"

With that said, they screeched to a halt and complete silence overtook the room for several minutes.

"Need I remind you, Karen, that I'M in charge, here?" Plankton asked, his temper clearly flaring.

"Yeah? Well, look at where you're brilliant leadership got us. The entire ocean's nearly been destroyed because you botched the engineering process for the virus!" She shot back, her anger rising as well.

"Hey! The virus could have and should have worked. I've already explained this to you, Karen. It was that damn crab and his stupid restaurant that distracted me! That's why I built the Chum Bucket 2.0 far away from the Krusty Krab, or anywhere else for that matter. And it has helped! The revamped virus is working just like it's supposed to! Do I really need to show you again?" Without waiting for a response, Plankton snapped his fingers and two muscular brutes soon appeared from the room that made Patrick's skin crawl. What really shocked him, however, was the thing that walked behind them.

It was one of the Infected. It had all of the identifying markers (Patrick was sure of this, as this was probably the closest he had ever seen one of the monsters before), and there was no mistaking it for anything else. But...something was wrong. As it walked towards Plankton and Karen, it appeared incredibly docile and didn't try to attack anyone. What in Neptune's name was going on?

As it reached the two, the creature merely glanced at the floor (presumably where Plankton was located) for a second, and then bowed down.

"I await orders, master," it said, its voice as rough as sandpaper, but there was no mistaking the meaning of the phrase it spoke.

Karen merely sighed as an admission of defeat, and Plankton told the two thugs to take the creature back to the Room.

"See? Now, I'll concede that the first incarnation of the virus didn't QUITE make the super-soldier slaves that I desired. But, my revisions have proven irrefutably successful. As soon as I unleash it to the masses, starting with these prisoners, every last creatures under the sea will be infected, and a new day will dawn! A day where, I, Plankton, SHALL RULE THE OCEAN AS A GOD!" And with that, he laughed manically. For six minutes straight. He and Karen then followed into the Room.

All of the prisoners remained in silence, petrified by fear. Patrick was no exception. He had always thought Plankton was a little grumpy, but he had no idea that he was the cause of the unimaginable horrors that had been inflicted on Bikini Bottom and everywhere else! And, despite his fears regarding the creepy Room, as well as his observations that every now and then a prisoner was led there and never returned, he would have never guessed its true sinister purpose. And finally, the most chilling thought of all reached Patrick's head.

We're all gonna be infected.

And with that, he turned to Gary in a panic and whispered quickly and intensely.

"We've got to get out of here, Gary! And we have to find Spongebob and tell him what's going on!"