Krahn blinked slowly in disbelief. He wanted to believe this was some kind of nightmare. "I-Iso Dunar?" he squeaked, his cyan eyes glued to the octarian looming before him. "Mhm, that's me, the big scary guy," Iso answered playfully, flashing Krahn his signature half smile. "Holy mother of Pearl. You're really real, and you're really here?!" Krahn asked, starting to become overwhelmed with the astounding amount of new and unusual information being crammed into his head. "Quite, where else would I go? I was tossed down here so your stupid hierarchy wouldn't, and couldn't, deem me as a threat," Iso explained casually, his crimson eyes boring into Krahn's horrified cyan ones. "W-wow. Iso Dunar.. Iso.. freaking.. Dunar," Krahn breathed, still absolutely blown away by the circumstances he was in.
"Anyway, Krahn, Iso here wanted to discuss the surface with you and how to escape. I didn't know much and Iso already knew about you, so I guess he figured he'd speak to you face to face," Vai said matter-of-factly, still maintaining her usual bleak and serious tone in her voice whenever she explained something important despite her prior odd behavior.
"You want to escape from the Deepsea Metro?" Krahn asked her, confused but also curious. "Yes. After talking with Iso, I've come to realize how oppressive this society really is, and I'd like to get away from all of the pressure," Vai answered coolly, oddly confident in such a bold claim. "Are you out of your mind? We'll never escape! They'll surely find us and get us back to the fuzz where we'll be imprisoned, maybe even sanitized early!" Krahn suddenly blurted, terrified for the octoling before him. "What will Mano and Nora think of this? Nora might be fine, but Mano? He'll freak!" Krahn rambled, clasping his fluffy hair out of a stress induced habit.
"Krahn," Vai began, a strange sense of easiness in her voice. Krahn's gaze shot toward Vai's, his teeth gritting together and his breath hitching as he grasped his afro tightly. "I promise you, it'll be alright. Stop pulling on your hair," Vai ordered gently, leaning over to pry his hand from his scalp. "Fine, fine. A-anyway, you want to escape? For real?" Krahn asked again. Nervousness was still present in his voice, but it was a little less noticeable now. "Yes, I do. Please share what you know with Iso, and you two can just talk, alright?" Vai ushered softly, patting Krahn's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. Krahn smiled slightly, his gaze softening as the panic ebbed from his mind.
He then turned to face Iso, re-fluffing his afro and staring deep into the aforementioned's hazy red eyes. "So you know how to get out of here?" Krahn challenged, trying his best not to become too nervous around the elder octarian, afraid of the raw power lying dormant within him. "Of course I do, but wouldn't you like to discuss a plan for you four first? It'll be much different compared to my dazzling exit," Iso suggested. He smirked slightly and his eyes almost seemed to glow for a moment, but it quickly disappeared. Krahn was weirded out, but he decided not to question it.
"So you are aware of the main metro train, correct?" Iso queried, still maintaining strong eye contact with Krahn as he moved from his throne to sit cross-legged on the floor. "Yes, yes I do. It's where all octolings go to find the 'promised land', as quoted by DJ Octavio, who also quotes it to be a myth, but all octolings who tried to find it, never came back," Krahn murmured, his gaze shifting, along with his focus. "It's just a death trap set up by the government to capture and terminate the ones who get tired of this nonsense," Krahn continued quietly. His tone was grim.
"Of course, you will need to board this train, and meet someone named C.Q. Cumber. He will give you a device called the CQ-80, which is a digital map of the metro. You will need to pass a multitude of various ability tests designated on this map in order to find your way to the surface," Iso seemed to ignore the sudden mood change that Krahn initiated. He instead dismissed it and continued with his preface.
"Although," Iso started, but then trailed off, seeming to be lost in thought. Krahn leaned forward, sitting down in the cross-legged position and parallel to Iso. "I simply made a hole in the ceiling with my dynamo roller, I'm not sure if any of you can do that now. Unless any of you are familiar with a weapon that has exceptional range and power," Iso murmured, uncertainty tainting his tone for a moment.
"Mano mains a hydra splatling, would that work?" Krahn asked quickly, a sudden urgency present in his voice. "Mano?" Iso mumbled quietly, his gaze flicking down to his boots. He shook his head quickly and resumed eye contact with the other octoling. "With enough power, the ceiling should give, and you will all super jump through the opening. From there, you four will go through seven stages of extra security provided by higher Octarian officials. Each level is closer to the surface. Some of them might be tricky because there are more of you, but if you all stick together and regroup whenever you can, you should be able to make it through all the Kambo Co. security system has to offer," Iso finished, smirking slightly at the idea of four octolings at once escaping to the surface.
"Right, but how do we get to the central station?" Krahn asked worriedly, that being the only thing he wasn't certain about when it comes to directions. "Ah, right. That, I don't seem to remember," Iso muttered, his gaze dragging off to the side as uncertainty filled it. Krahn stayed quiet, staring at Iso for reassurance as his cyan eyes filled with worry. Iso shook his head again. It looked as if he did that to clear his mind.
"I believe you certainly have to exit the entire campus, and I'm not sure how you can find your way out of that. This is the second lowest level of the metro, meaning it is on the same level as the central station, but it's quite a large level. The ninth level is below us, and it's also massive. It mostly consists of abandoned trains and subways, along with neglected drafts of weapons and other things located there. While you're down there, though, there is a detour somewhere that will allow you to advance to the next level, but avoid the school campus where most octolings live, and you can find the central station from there. The only thing that I'm not certain of is how to get there or where the detour is located exactly, but we can discuss that later. Anywho, you two should get back, before your other friends begin to suspect something," Iso said pointedly with a wink, standing up and brushing himself off.
Krahn nodded quickly and glanced over to Vai, who was doodling in the gravel off to the side. "We've gotta go, Vai. Nora and Mano might suspect something about um, us," Krahn said uncomfortably. Vai sighed at this remark. "Are you seriously worried about that?"
Krahn didn't answer her and he instead made his way over to the hole that served as an entrance and gazed up at it with frustration. "How the hell do we get out of here?" Krahn asked, clenching his fists as he became irritated at the thought of being stuck down there. "I'll help you two, no worries," Iso answered from behind. "Alrighty then," Krahn replied reluctantly, not exactly believing what he was saying.
Iso's hands raised near his head and his eyes emitted a red glow, as ink puddles scattered around the room started to rise. "Holy shit," Krahn muttered, already terrified enough of Iso as a well known bringer of destruction and now just an individual, due to his intimidating demeanor alone. The ink floated toward the ladder, seeping into what appeared to be a lock. The ink dripped into the keyhole and some strange noises were heard from the mechanism instead. It suddenly hardened and expanded, making the lock explode and thereby cause the second portion of the ladder leading to the top folded neatly behind the upper portion of the ladder attached to the inside of the hole come pummeling downward.
It extended as far as it could go with a loud clang, the bars reaching down far enough for Krahn to grab a hold of them and climb upward, Vai following close behind him. "Good luck, young ones," Iso called, most likely going back to sit on his weird chair and do whatever he does while being isolated.
Krahn and Vai made their way up, while Vai grabbed hold of Krahn again and executed the same routine of teleportation to exit as was used to enter. They both flopped to the ground, the landing not being as graceful as either of them had wished.
"That was ass," Krahn said jokingly, rubbing the back of his head as he chuckled while Vai stood up and shook off the dust and gravel. "We better get back to the duplex now," he said, still smiling like a dork. "Right," Vai responded, taking the lead once more and taking him outside to wait for a train.
After a few minutes of considerably peaceful silence, aside from the usual sounds of clanking in the distance, the train squealed to a stop in front of the pair, spewing up the pungent scent of diesel fuel. They stepped on to the train together and sat near the door so they could exit rather quickly when the time came to do so.
"So, you really don't like it here, huh," Krahn murmured, taking care to keep his voice down in case curious ears heard the wrong thing at the wrong time and got the wrong idea. "Yeah. The whole 'deputy' deal was a little too fast for me, and now I have to do all of this extra work when I didn't even want to be the future minister of the district anyway," Vai complained quietly, her voice barely rising above a whisper. The train was unearthly quiet despite the usual ambience of the wheels clanking against the tracks. Krahn hummed in acknowledgement, silently offering Vai his condolences.
After a few more minutes of silence, the train stopped and they exited together, approaching the pair of doors leading to the duplexes housing the students. They found their house and they were a little confused by the sight of the door open to Vai and Nora's dorm. Krahn and Vai both sped up their pace and made their way to the open doorway, only to see two guards in their room, with Nora and Mano sitting on a bed.
"Vai Venci and Krahn Orneta! Just in time," one of the guards said, molten rage lining her tone. "Yes?" Vai answered, her eyebrows furrowing with concern as her gaze shot over to the other two octolings sitting together, their body language tense and afraid. "Have a seat! We all must discuss a little something going on in this little household, okay?" the guard repeated, the other guard not saying anything and only looking on.
"Hm?" Vai hummed questioningly, confused, yet suspicious. Her and Krahn took a seat on the edge of the other bed, glancing nervously at Mano and Nora. "So, there's been a little thing going around saying that you'd like to, uhm, evade your responsibilities. Sound familiar?" she went on, a sinister grin plastered on her green skin. "What?" Vai asked, starting to become worried at what the octoling was aware of. "You and your pathetic little friends want to escape from here, don't you?" she asked quietly, almost mockingly.
"Pathetic?! I'm the strongest octoling you've ever met!" Mano suddenly spat, standing up and taking a defensive position. "Cute, but I don't recall speaking to you," she grinned, staring at Mano through her hypno shades. Mano growled, but he refused to sit back down. "Well? Don't you want to escape? Don't you want freedom? Huh? Tell me Vai, what is it?" the first guard cooed condescendingly, her faux sympathy making Vai even more afraid. She was silent. What was she supposed to say? She's not the greatest liar regardless, but now these guards are in her house and asking her targeted questions?
She leaned away from the guards wordlessly, but her eyes told the guards everything they needed to know. The first guard suddenly pulled out an octoshot and the second guard did the same. "That's what I thought," she sneered. They both pulled the trigger, and everything went black.