"A shame you couldn't spend the day with us!" Annie said giving Azule a hug; "Spyke filled me in on all the wonders he experienced with you by his side. Quite frankly, you were a big help the other day, so make sure to come back before you leave, okay? I'll treat you to a delicious meal if you put in another day of hard work!" she said with an angelic glow, though Spyke had three huge bumps stacked on his head and swirling eyes.

Azule nodded and promised to come back and visit them once he was done with his business in the conference, though he couldn't tell them that he was going there specifically. Just as he's about to make his exit and rush to his post, Spyke stops him and grips his hand, "Hey Azule…" Azule's face turned worrisome, since Spyke's tone was different from the usual jovial one he used for the last couple of days. Spyke's head lowered, "I know I've said this before, but I really do mean it. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for saving me when you did. For never allowing my selfishness to ruin you, and for always believing in me even when you weren't obliged. You took a chance on me and changed me for the better. When Annie is due, I'll make sure to fly you out right away to come and visit them. Please, be part of their lives like you were for me. You're a positive influence in ways beyond imagination, and I just want to say it as a man, that you're an unbelievable friend, and irreplaceable."

Azule hugs him despite his spikes pricking his skin, "I'm glad I was there to witness it. Thank you, Spyke."

3 hours pass and only a half an hour remains until the Ravia conference is set to begin soon with all the important guests already gathered in the conference room. Various media outlets were in attendance for the major conference, and so were plenty of journalists who made the trip just for this moment. Also in attendance were the forms of security accompanying world leaders and one unique rule was that there was always peace built on trust, which meant that everyone present was packing in some form or fashion with weaponry, but must refrain from action or risk the entire world entering a war. A thin ice to never be crumpled as well as being aired live on television it was one of the reasons it was so important for a meeting. One wrong move could spell disaster for the entire continent. Cap'n Cuttlefish and Netifla were already in the conference room with Maya and Julian at their side; Shiva and Fuchsia were also present and with their retainers by their side and likewise were many world leaders from small monarchies to democratic nations and republics. On the outside, the pre-shows covering the conference were already heavy into coverage. Many journalists denied entry were packed out in the front of the hotel presenting live coverage from where they stood, and mixed in that crowd were Santiago and his comrades, prepared for anything suspicious that might occur on the outside. Lately, the angry mobs of protesters from different nations all gathered at the entrance, which led to a high concentration of security at the front and side entrances. Up high on the neighboring rooftops sit Violet to the north and Mario to the south. Down below, stuck with no way to enter as of yet, is Azule. Since all the entrances were plugged up with security, there was no chance of simply walking in. There was no way he could blend in with any of the politicians or pass as their guests, and as such, he couldn't think of any other options for entry. One thought was to blend in as security, but that wouldn't fly sine all the security guards clearly were a muscular work of art. The next option was to stow away and sneak in, but it was difficult to stalk the trucks and sneak in since there was a security checkpoint in the rear.

"There has to be a way in. I already got the blueprints from Cap'n and I'm sure I can be stealthy. I just need a way in there…"

Just then, Azule overheard a conversation with a drive and the security guard about another delivery for catering coming in soon and the guard was told the details of what the driver would be delivering from; apparently there was an increase in frauds trying to sneak in, which led to an increase in security. A perfectly timed moment that was totally a coincidence and nothing else, Azule hurried over to the shop catering for the hotel and sure enough, the truck was still parked there. From the looks of it, the driver was still loading up the food in the trailer, which mean Azule had time to sneak in. Crawling on the ground, he watched the feet of the driver and waited for his return into the shop to hop on board. In the trailer, he saw several barrels and checked all of them; the last thing he wanted was to dip into a barrel of pickles and have a smell. Luckily he found a barrel of Wine! Hopefully he doesn't get drunk…

"Ah, you're the guy mentioned earlier; running a little late, aren't we?" the security guard jokes, while pointing to his clipboard.

The driver gave a chuckle scratching his head, "I hope the chefs won't be in too much of a bind!"

"Haha, well let's hope not! Go on through…"

The security guard allows him entrance, and the driver finds a spot to park, quickly unloading everything in the trailer. Several workers in the kitchen came to assist him, since the rest were busy making preparations. While carrying one of the barrels of wine, one noticed that it was a little heavier than usual, to which the driver joked it must be some really strong alcohol. Parting ways, the worker went down below to the cellar to unload the wine before returning to work. Once there were no more echoing footsteps and the small hint of light disappeared, Azule emerged from the barrel of wine, climbing out drenched in the alcoholic beverage that stained even his clothes. Off the scent alone, he went a little fuzzy in the head and could barely stand straight, but after some minutes he stabilized his stance. A risky move taken by hiding in a barrel of wine and drenching his clothes, it seemed to pay off because he was within the walls of the hotel. Turning on his mic, he communicates with everyone to announce he made it on the inside, though forgetting to mention how he got there. Cap'n Cuttlefish encouraged him to get to the main floor of action as much as possible. He explained that the seventh floor is where the conference is being held and he needed Azule to reach that floor. He makes his start from the stairs of the underground cellar and walks slowly with his clothes dripping on the floor, peeking around every corner he approached. On his way to the main floor, he had near encounters with several employees and workers who had their hands full with preparations and were on their way to the top. Careful to stay out their peripheral, he either sat still or tried to hurry them by whistling them or doing a clap, which got their attention to go his way and allow him to stay hidden until they pass. After reaching the main floor, he slowly makes his way through the hallways cognizant of several factors present: security, employees, and guests. He had to stay out of their peripherals at all costs and avoid attracting any sort of attention. Mindful of security guards who roamed each guard, Azule focused on observing any minute details all while sneaking to the elevator. If he could just reach there and get to the seventh floor, it'd be easy! However, there was the risk that he'd be caught if he took such a careless route. There was also the case of his attire. He felt cold after being in the wine and now he was sure that the scent might attract curious minds. He'd love to change his attire or freshen up, but chances are slim he could just use a shower. Opting for the stairs instead, he works his way up to the fifth floor where he gets stumped; someone was also taking the stairs, likely from the floor above to descend, which meant he had to hide. He swiftly breaks through the door at the fifth and decides to camp there, but in doing so, he's exposed.

"Hey! That's a kid!" One security guard yelled, posted down the hall and witnessing Azule's sloppy entrance.

"Huh? What's a kid doing here? Only the important guests affiliated with the conference are allowed on these floors." another Security guard nearby spoke.

Uh oh… Azule thought, having no other thoughts than to run; the guards try to stop him, but Azule doesn't listen, instead nearing corners of the hallways until he bumps into a lady dressed in nice clothing. They both crash to the floor, and the guards catch up, grabbing Azule by the arms ready to interrogate him.

"What are you doing on this level, kid?" the first guard spoke.

"You're not supposed to be here…" the guard sniffs; "Why do you smell like wine…?"

The lady raises her hand, "That's my fault! I didn't know he'd wander off like that, so my apologies."

Azule and the guards alike are dumbfounded by her response, but her smile was too genuine for them to question it. They let him go, but warn the lady to keep an eye on her little brother next time and just when they're done with their scolding, Pharaoh Nefertina arrived asking what all the commotion was. The lady revealed herself to be Handan and she explained the situation, which led to a very unhappy Pharaoh. After scolding the guards and threatening to get them fired, she made them apologize and return to their posts, and snatched up Azule. Saved by a pair of nice women so kind enough to lie for his sake, he thanked them and expressed that he needed to be on his way, but Pharaoh Nefertina grabbed him by the wrist and asked him why he smelled like wine. Unable to answer them, they took his silence as enough of a reason to take him in, and it wasn't before long that he found himself in the room the pair were staying in being told by the Pharaoh to strip; Handan opposed the pharaoh using her power for and instead had in change in the bathroom and take a bath to clean off the scent. After half an hour of scrubbing and cleaning, Azule overheard the pair having a conversation.

"Is it me or does he resemble your sweetheart, Handan?" she asked while looking out to the sight of Ravia.

Handan shrugs her shoulders, "I couldn't really tell since he was trying to cover his face most of the time, but Now that you mention it, he does have a similarity to Verde."

Azule's eyes widened with a beam, did they really know his brother? Was it true he was seeing someone from another country? What interesting developments! Already wrapping himself up, he decided to eavesdrop on the pair and see if there was anything else he could learn about them, but that was all they mentioned for changing to meaningless subjects. Helping himself to getting ready made took his exit. Some moments pass by as he sat on the bed upright like the nervous boy he was and kept his head lowered, mostly because he was embarrassed by the situation in general. "I really appreciate this, but is it really necessary?" Azule said wearing a robe after having just cleaned himself up; the dryer works soundly as the Pharaoh had Handan put his clothes to wash while he got the scent of wine off of him in the meantime since they had some time before the conference began. Despite his concern and reluctance to follow through, he accepted their kindness even though he was jeopardizing the mission. Some minutes go by and the clothes are dried, and he's all set to depart. During the time spent waiting, the Pharaoh passed time by learning more about him and found it pleasant that he was the first inkling to ever look at her and not be charmed by her features, as though immune to her divine appearance, and after some roundabout questioning, the Pharaoh decided to ask the obvious: His identity. Unable to keep his defense up since her narrowing gaze dissolved any lies he had planned to use. Even though he was close friends with a princess, he neglected to keep that in mind in the presence of a Pharaoh, realizing that he'd been taking his friendship with her for granted; this is what it meant to be in the presence of royalty. Thanking them for their hospitality, Azule told her whatever she wanted to hear, though she was mostly concerned about him personally rather than why he sneaking around the hotel premises during the biggest conference of the year. After the game of 20 questions, Azule rubbed his neck grimacing at the thought that he spilled so much personal information about himself, from his identity to his family history.

"A-anyways, I really should be going…"

Nefertina chuckled and shook her head wagging her finger, "Nuh-uh-uh! You'll be accompanying me to the conference, cuter Verde!"

"My name is Azule-"

"Doesn't matter what your name is, all that matters is that you follow my orders."

"My Pharaoh! You can't be serious." Handan objected, knowing that it was a terrible idea to bring a child like him along, though Nefertina knew it was mostly out of worry that she didn't want anything to happen to Verde's little brother, for she didn't know how she could face him if anything bad happened to Azule.

Nefertina looked at her with a sly grin, "Why wouldn't I be?"

Unable to deny her requests after all she did, Azule agreed with great reluctance; Handan tried her best to stay positive about this spontaneous move by talking with Azule as much as possible, finding it amazing that Azule shared quite the resemblance to Verde aside from hair color. As they passed through the corridor that led to the conference room, she felt somewhat at ease since it was like Verde was with her in a way. The trio arrive at the grand room where the conference is to be held. A room so large that it can seat hundreds, it's organized in a circular pattern so that everyone can face each other with tables with their names placed on it. As Azule follows after Nefertina and Handan, he gets a call from Cap'n asking for an update on his status, to which Azule replied that there was a change of plans. Briefly explaining what went down with everyone listening in, they all were outraged that Azule allowed himself to get swept up by the Pharaoh, although Shiva was more irritated at the fact that the pharaoh conveniently ran into him of all people and dragged him along. Unable to get himself out of this one, Azule begged Cap'n to go along with this change since he would've been in bigger trouble if she didn't help him, in which Shiva chimed in that Nefertina was an ally they could rely on. Taking a seat beside Handan and Nefertina, Azule got to see firsthand the pressure of sitting at these tables carried. As he sat down, he felt an incredible weight on his shoulders from the hundreds of glare focused on him. This is what it meant to be part of the upper echelon of the world, this is what it meant to look below at the masses who had to suffer for their success; The conference begins shortly after as the trio seat among the many other world leaders, an endless sight for Azule, who can't find the others among so many colorful heads.

The cameras begin rolling and coverage is televised for the entire world to see. From the far east to the western isles, everyone tuned in to watch the fate of the world hang in the balance in the hands of a few leaders. Several topics were presented that were expected to lead the discussion before proceeding to what other nations wanted to offer for discussion. From economics to politics, many nations expressed their concerns about the current climate between nations, from civil wars and protests, to genocides in many of the smaller nations, and even social unrest in some of the larger nations, everyone wanted to speak out and let things off their chests. Several solutions arose from the problems called, but with each solution given, a new issue appeared. It started off civilized but soon became rowdy once Ixia was mentioned. A cyber group that turned terrorists, they were causing problems all over Inkopolis and were now making appearances in all across the continent, claiming responsibilities in everything they did. Unlike before where they prioritized destroying the core values of Inkopolis, they sought to selfishly change the world to fit the image they wanted for the sake of convenience. Many leaders spoke out about their frustration and demanded that the group be dealt with, explaining that at the rate they were growing, their anti-establishment views were becoming contagious and spread for all the wrong reasons. As the nations continue to quarrel and bicker among themselves, the aforementioned Ixia were watching in satisfaction at the discord growing from their presence. United together on the same network, everything was proceeding smoothly from Octaria almost invading the surface to their long awaited debut on the global stage. Any minute now would mark the arrival of the darkest hour in continental history as Ixia would pave the way for a revolution. Also listening to the televised conference from one of the large boards displayed in the city center is Luke Garston, who is investigating the area in search of the Tower Bridge Unit. After asking several questions around the area, he finally found a lead that a few days ago recalled someone riding a strange looking bike in a certain outfit; Garston knew that had to be one his subordinates and as such began looking into tracking them. He arrived at the conclusion that wherever there was trouble, they would likely be involved; all he wanted to do was prevent them from crossing a line they could and reach the point of no return. That same time, the Tower Bridge Unit and the Urchins were about to carry out their plans and agreed to accompany the other. Rolling out and loud, Kida led them to the destination he desired, selling them on the chance that their target would show up at this location.

Over in Octaria, The dreadful news arrived for Captain Jonah and the rest of the 8 Legs. Veronica arrived carrying Hatu's lifeless body along with Pastelle assisting a wounded Sky. Agent 8 arrived with Abraham, who unfortunately took his last breath a while ago. Difficult to digest, Jonah confirmed that 6th Leg Hatu and 2nd Leg Abraham indeed died in the line of duty, and immediately their bodies were to be buried. After a prayer is uttered and they mourn the loss of two people they considered family, their sights turned to what had to be done next, though it was painful that they couldn't mourn their deaths a little longer. How did Candice know their location? How was she able to lead such an ambush? These questions and many others loomed over the group as they looked to Jonah for guidance. Luckily, Agent 8 was able to retain the data collected by her and Abraham, handing his portion to Felix, who he entrusted to continue his efforts should he die. Agent 8 also found some new developments while in the underground, one that answered the question as to why there was some jamming with Princess Magenta over the previous few days. Agent 8 discovered that there were some strange artificial gnats being produced that carried several functions: Recon, Battle, and Divebomb. Recon was for surveillance and spying and most of all allowed the gnats to record audio and visual data that could be relayed to the palace. Battle was a different model that was slightly slower than the recon gnats but made up for it with durability and secret battle functions that made it difficult to fight against due to how small of a target it was. Lastly were the divebomb gnats, strictly meant to explode on impact like missile drops. After explaining that bit, it all made sense and none uttered a word about why they'd gotten ambushed: Candice must've placed these gnats on the people present at meetings out of distrust and it seems like it worked out in her favor. Sure enough, there was someone she deemed traitors and took the opportunity to strike once she learned what was necessary. At first, Han and his apprentices felt sick to their stomachs for allowing this to happen, and before they could utter a word and probably announce their punishment, Jonah took the helm.

"This is all my responsibility. I placed my trust in them and never did I once check to inspect them for carrying anything. Candice must've had her suspicions about you and placed those, and if you aren't the only ones, then that means the others are in trouble."

Han raised his head, "The rest should be attending the conference about now, which means she's doing all of this knowing what is occurring on the surface. That's why…"

"They've been able to bypass the signal jamming that they created. They not only dragged themselves down with us by cutting off their connection, but they relied on those devices to do their dirty work. They likely have a very weak signal able to transmit that we can't detect."

"We can't even warn the others…"

"Well, we'll do what we can."

Felix raises his hand after reading through everything Abraham left and then combined it with what Agent 8 presented, after scouring through everything, the genius saw the path the late resistance member forged. There was a clear way to take down the machines, and they now had a map to infiltrate the palace, not only that, but Hatu made an ultimate sacrifice that took down a pair of the Royal Guards, and with Octavio's forces already breaking to the surface, their job became somewhat easier. In his eyes, all that had to be done was to create the necessary weapons left and attack the palace immediately since the team on the surface would have to intercept the invaders. Even if they failed in killing the enemy in their sleep, they still had a chance to cut their throats. Preparing to make their final stand and fight for Octaria, they pinned their hopes on Team Inkopolis to lend their support in bringing down the menace of the queen. Meanwhile in Ravia, talks within the conference are growing tense as many leaders are frustrated by the emergence of Ixia and how quickly they've dominated the talks between them. Many saw it all as the fault of Inkopolis and demanded that they take the stage to address the issue themselves; Cap'n Cuttlefish, Netifla, Maya, and Julian had been waiting for this moment, the moment of truth that'd finally spin the world on its head.