Randy's head felt like it had been split open, it hurt like hell, but he grinned and beared it. He sat up and took in the room around him, same as the one he had been in before. He saw the others, Angela, Shelly, Callie, and Marie, all looking like they were just waking up too. Junko was still gone.
Michael was gone too.
'Junko is going to kill me.'
"Ugh, what happened?" Angela asked first.
"You all got knocked out by some gas, Junko and I got you out of the room. I was able to protect you guys from a few guards but I, uh… kinda got sneak attacked?" Randy explained.
"What are our weapons doing here?" Shelly asked. Everyone's weapons were leaned up against a wall.
"This is really weird. If they got the drop on me, why wouldn't they take our weapons?" Randy asked.
"Wait, if they got the drop on you, which must mean they captured us, right?" Marie asked.
"I think they did capture us."
"That makes no sense though, if they had us captured, why would they put us back here, with our weapons, no less?"
"Where's Junko, by the way?" Angela asked.
"She left, she's able to blend in with the Elite Octolings by changing her color."
"So she's out in the facility all alone?"
"Uh… I guess so."
"How could you let her go out on her own!?"
"Look, she knows what she's doing, she was in the Octarian army before, wasn't she? If she's disguised as an Elite Octoling, they won't know a thing!"
"I swear if something happens to her I'm going to kick your teeth in, Randy."
"That makes two people now."
Shelly cut in. "Where's Michael?"
Randy didn't respond.
"Randy, answer me. Where is Michael?" Shelly repeated.
"They must still have him captured." He responded.
"I'm going to kill you." Callie said.
Marie immediately grabbed Callie, keeping her back. "Callie, calm down."
"No. Okay, Marie, just listen for a second. Let me kill him and then I'll calm down."
"Do you really want to be known as the Inkling that murdered another?"
"He let Michael get captured, I swear I am going to kill him right here right now, I don't care what other's think."
"Yes you do, Callie, you spent two hours in the bathroom one night trying to fix your makeup because you were scared you weren't pretty enough for going out to dinner. Killing someone isn't going to help anyone."
Callie didn't respond.
"Is everyone just completely forgetting the point where I said I was sneak-attacked?" Randy said, in a concerned voice.
"Fine." Callie stopped struggling. "Sorry, Randy." Marie released her grip on Callie.
"It's fine, let's just get going, we'll find Michael, alright?"
"Alright."
The halls of the Presidio were as expansive as they had remembered them being. They were almost completely empty, to a scary degree. There were no guards to be seen. The cameras were still blinded, everything seemed the same, but it felt like everyone had just left, like they abandoned a place like this in a matter of minutes. It sent a feeling of unease through the whole group.
More importantly, where was Michael? He had to be somewhere in this facility, he wouldn't just leave everyone else here if something did happen.
The group searched what felt like the entire facility, corridor after corridor, it began feeling like a maze, and they even felt like they were going around in circles from time to time.
Then, suddenly, they heard footsteps. Not gentle ones either, they were very audible. The group pushed their backs to a wall, with Angela peeking out from behind the corner to see who would turn. The footsteps got closer and closer, and with them, a shadow appeared and got larger and larger. Angela readied her weapon, and would have fired when the figure turned the corner if not for one thing.
It was Michael.
Relief spread through Angela, she signaled to the others that it was alright and told them who it was. The group came out from the corner and rushed towards Michael.
"Hey! Mike! There you are, we've been looking all over for you, where've you been, mate?" Randy asked.
No response.
"Uh, Mike? You hearin' me?"
Still no response.
The group got closer, and as they did so they noticed there was something strapped to Michael's head.
"Mike? You alright? You're kinda quiet."
Michael turned to them.
The group saw he was wearing the same mask that the Octolings wore. He stood and simply stared at the group.
To the group, Shelly spoke. "Something's not right here."
"What do you mean, Shell?"
"There's something off about him, I just can't figure out what. Michael's never usually this hard to read."
Callie noticed it too, she looked closer at him and…
"Guys. Run."
The group turned to Callie. "Why?" Angela asked.
"That's not the same Michael, I-I can't say for certain why either but… there's something seriously wrong with him."
At that moment Michael aimed his weapon at the group, with his finger on the trigger.
"Guys, RUN!"
Michael fired at the wall and jumped into it, swimming to the other side of the group and unleashing fire on them. They were able to run faster than his shots reached them, they turned a corner and pushed themselves against a wall. Michael continued firing erratically.
"Wh-What's wrong with him!?" Angela shouted.
"I don't know, did the Octarians do something to him?" Shelly put in.
"We need to find Junko, and quick." Marie said.
Just then, the shots ended. Randy reluctantly looked past the corner, only to see Michael wasn't there anymore.
"Where did he go?"
Michael had swam up his own ink towards them and rose up from it.
"Randy, watch out!" Angela cried out.
But it was too late, Michael grabbed Randy by the arm and flung him to the other side of the hall, making him hit the wall face-first. Just as Randy was standing back up Michael jumped and slammed into his back, knocking him back to the floor.
Michael was about to fire at Randy when he was hit by a flick of Callie's Krak-On Roller. Callie usually kept her weapon grounded, but now a fire burned inside her. Even if she loved Michael, she needed to protect her cousin and the others. She wielded her roller as if it was a deadly sword. She was challenging Michael, and it was a challenge he accepted. Michael ran to her while firing, but it was all for naught when she flicked her roller once more, hitting him again and canceling out most of his shots.
Angela sprang into action, throwing down a Splash Wall to cover her and the group from Michael's shots. She rushed to Randy, picking him up and retreating back to the group, she set him down and signaled Shelly and Marie to get into the fight too. Shelly went on the offensive, throwing down Burst Bombs, throwing off Michael's balance, Marie helped in that too, firing at Michael's other side. He was forced into dodging one attack, but get hit by the other.
They had him on lockdown, if he was able to get past Shelly and Marie's combined fire, he'd simply be knocked back by Callie's roller.
Things would have been simple, if not for the Splash Wall running out of fuel. As soon as it dropped, a fire ignited inside Michael. He caught a Burst Bomb and threw it back incredibly fast, knocking Shelly onto her back. He covered up the walls and swam towards Marie. He jumped out, kicking her Splatterscope away and throwing her to the ground. Callie was quick, though, as she flicked her roller once again, hitting Michael. Michael used the best effort he could muster to dodge the incoming ink, inching ever closer. Soon, he was close enough to grab Callie's roller and wring it from her hands. He threw it to the side and picked up his Octoshot again, as he rose to fire at her, he was met with a fist to the face.
He recoiled back. The fire inside Callie was now a blazing inferno. Just as Michael recovered Callie delivered another blow to his gut, causing him to reel over. He dodged another hit and went in for a left hook, only to be blocked by Callie's forearm, she took advantage of the moment and brought in another blow. She had an advantage over him in close-combat, she could keep him away from her and also made note to stand between him and his weapon.
The two danced around each other for a moment. Michael attempted to rush in, only to be knocked back by another hit.
Now, Callie ran in, attacking with an uppercut straight to his chin, using the uppercut as an opening, she drove her other fist into Michael's face, sending him to the floor.
He came to a stop at a wall. Callie held her stance, cautious of Michael doing something to catch her off guard. He simply laid there. Even when wearing a mask, Callie could still feel him staring at her and she felt his hate for her in this very moment.
Callie realized too late that Michael was sitting in a pool of his own ink.
He dived down and jumped out from underneath his Octoshot, while Callie reoriented herself, he ran up and smashed the butt of his gun into her head. On her way down to the ground she grabbed Michael by his shirt collar, bringing him down with her.
With the rest of her strength, she was able to throw him over herself, sending him crashing into the ground.
"Guys, get him, NOW!" Callie was able to call out.
Shelly acted quick, picking up her E-Liter, she took aim from the ground. She overcharged the weapon, making it fire a huge glob of ink at Michael, its immense weight, coupled with him getting weakened by the fight made it so that he couldn't pick himself up.
The hall was quiet, save for Michael's struggling. Marie picked herself up. Angela was able to steady Randy on his feet.
"You alright?" She asked.
"Ngh… yeah, yeah I'm alright. I can walk this off."
Marie pulled Callie up, supporting her.
"Are you alright, Callie?"
"Yeah. Heh, I guess those fighting lessons did pay off after all." Callie said, laughing.
Marie laughed too. "Yeah, I guess they did."
Randy walked over to Michael, who was still struggling. He peeled him out of the ink and slung him over his shoulder.
"We'll get you fixed up soon enough, right buddy?" Randy said. Michael only growled in response.
"We need to find Junko soon, she'll know what to do." Angela said. "I hope." She added.
"Right. Let's go."
The team moved onwards, now searching for the last member of their group.
"Damn it!" Micheline pounded her fist on her desk. "Guess Michael wasn't strong enough to beat them all."
"Boss, may I make a suggestion?" An assistant scientist spoke up.
"Go ahead."
"I think it would have been a better idea to send Michael out with reinforcements."
"Thank you, I definitely didn't think of that." Micheline replied in a tone that practically bled sarcasm. "Just get back to work, I'll figure something out on my own."
"Man, it was just a suggestion." The scientist grumbled to himself as he left the room.
"Even if they do end up getting here, they won't be able to get Michael back to normal anyways. And besides," She chuckled. "I still have that to back me up."
She stood up out of her seat.
"No matter what happens now, I've still won."
