The concept of a true body meant very little to Johnny – for as long as he lived, he was himself, everything he could think of, was him. But that girl…something deep in her core intrigued him. The sentience of black mass squelched and slithered through the tight compactness of the vents and shafts, diligently trying to sense the presence of his targets. However, something else caught his attention, an odd cyan glow seeping into the tunnel from below. His usual pitch black body illuminated by the light, the being slipped through the holes in the tunnel and oozed down to the floor. Eyes formed, revealing the sources of the lights – vats. Rows and rows stacked upon rows of vats, each and every single one filled with unclothed Octolings of varying sizes, shapes and ages.

His favourite food…

But despite his endless hunger for the flesh of the mortals, he felt no desire to smash every vat open and devour the subjects. He was curious – the man in shadows was often accompanied by such a glow as this. What was he hiding from him? He wouldn't live to see the next day when he was through with him, that, Johnny was certain of. Slithering down to the bottom of the vat-encased army, eyes appeared over every inch of Johnny's body as he observed the casings. Names and ages were listed on plaques at the base of each container, along with a designation.

CORA LILAC

23

SUBJECT DH-2322 – SUSPENDED STATUS

This…Cora was suspended in the green, translucent, bubbling liquid that filled the vat in a foetal position, arms seemingly squeezed shut, yet the rest of her face seemed calm. Johnny placed a hand to the glass, a purple energy radiating off of his arm before the vat exploded, shattered glass scattering across the floor and the liquid inside splashing everywhere along with it, the torrent that hit Johnny simple sliding off of his inky mass. Looking down at the helpless subject, Johnny's body melted down into a puddle that spread out over the Octoling ever so slowly. Just as Johnny's expanse reached her chest, the woman's eyes opened, her scream muffled as a hand shot out of the numbing mass, covering her mouth. Her eyes rolled back into her head as her it was sucked under the shadows, the room silent for a few seconds as Johnny writhed and bubbled on the floor before reforming his humanoid body. A holographic red "TERMINATED" then appeared in the vat, Johnny paying the broken container no heed. Another vat caught his eyes, only this one was without any Octoling, yet still filled with the bubbling fluid.

NAMELESS

33

SUBJECT EP-3 – UNKNOWN STATUS

Looking about, Johnny then noticed a lot more empty vats, some of them still containing the fluid, some empty with the red TERMINATED glowing in the middle of them. The Octoling to the right of this vat was heavily mutated…purple skin, a bulbous right eye and an incredibly long left arm – longer than their entire body by several times. They weren't in the foetal position like most others, their back seemingly snapped to put them in an arching back position.

ALEX SEHORS

17

FAILED ATTEMPT

Attempt…of what? Johnny rumbled as he stared at the hideous creature; was it even alive in there? The one he just devoured certainly was. Was it aware of its fleeting existence? A question that could not be answered.

Slithering up a few of the vats, Johnny came face to face with another purple skinned Octoling male, yet they did not possess the mutations of the one at the bottom.

OHIO TEREL

19

GENERATION 17 – ALMOST COMPLETE

And then, numerous hundred rows away and dozens of layers up, one single vat stood out among the rest. It was empty, like others, but this one…

SUBJECT D

16

ALIVE, DEPLOYED

Many miles away…

The metallic outer soles of his boots barely illuminated by the single light in the shadow-filled room, the man hidden by darkness that Johnny had been previously speaking to watched a myriad of screens in pure silence, save for the whirr of a few devices nearby – he could see everything, the young couple falling into a pit of putrid acid together, the eels that were flattened into bloody pancakes and many, many more mutilated bodies that filled the chambers of the metro. His glowing, light blue eye, however, was focused on one particular screen, a camera that was following none other than Delta's every movement. How she squeezed herself through tight passageways, her growing skill in hand to hand combat against the Octolings, the way she began to carry herself with increasing confidence – over the past few days the girl had slowly turned from just a stranger to the lands to what could be described as a young warrior.

The man thought to the two men and women accompanying the young Octoling, even their raw power wasn't enough to contend with what was being thrown at them every single day. But now they had his blood-fuelled experiment on their side…

Condensation exited his mouth as he released the first breath of the hour, icicles in the room revealing themselves as the shadowed being moved himself. His hand wandered over numerous dials and gears to a collection of cards, which he pulled out of their tray, his grip on them tight as he yanked a lever on his chair that made another tray of sorts pop out from the desk, the cards being dropped inside before it was slammed shut. Every screen flickered into a unified display that rapidly flashed through numerous kinds of beasts and giant weapons before stopping on a large, predominantly orange with black stripes wyvern. A low, menacing chuckle echoed through the inky darkness, a distant earth shaking roar audible throughout the entirety of the metro.

Delta's location, some time later

Dusting the dirt off of her jacket, the young Octoling stood over a knocked out green-skinned Octoling, their pitch black shades cracked and sparking. Her heavy breathing in the cold air gave a feeling of tightness in her chest with each one she took, her fingers quivering.

"Where did it…?" She wondered aloud, eyes scouring the area for her currently missing rifle. After a few minutes of searching, she found the battle damaged rifle in a pool of ink she'd spewn up after the attacker had ambushed her, slamming her knee into her stomach. Wiping the almost mucus-like substance off her weaponry, Delta continued forth into the chamber - only to freeze when a loud swooping noise became audible through the metal walls...she ducked for cover behind a collection of beaten machinery, and just in time, as a giant creature unlike any she had ever seen before burst into the room, the metal it sent flying by punching through the wall careening into the abyss. Its bright orange scales, large wings and black accents...did Rem get captured and transformed into this thing!?

The beast sent sparks flying as it landed, sliding along the metallic ground with the splattering ink painting its legs. The following roar it released was absolutely deafening, to the point where Delta's head felt numb from the raw, unfiltered power of the creature. Almost as soon as it was done roaring, the monster tore Delta's cover away with ease, releasing another deafening roar directly at her, enough to shake the entire chamber.

All the courage Delta had gathered fled in an instant as she let out a terrified scream at the towering beast, its stomps alone knocking her off balance every time she attempted to stand, scampering away from the creature as fast as her downed state would allow her. The beast's glowing green eyes bore into Delta's soul, the cat-like irises it had thinned down to small lines, smoke coming from its nostrils with each exhale.

And just as it was about to swipe at her, its foot landed on an Ink-Mine, the sharpening beeps making the creature turn its head to the direction of the mine, only for the sheer force of the resulting explosion knocking it clean off its feet. Delta tried catching her breath, only for the creature to immediately get back up, an enraged roar sounding once more that penetrated the shadows that surrounded the suspended chamber, which it followed up with a powerful swipe from its tail, shattering the metal that stood in its way and tearing up the ground with its claws with more sparks scattering across the room. Delta grabbed her rifle, holding it tight as the beast continued to stomp towards her. in the quickest motion her body could muster, she fired the weapon at the beast's face.

The shot hit it square in the eye! It screeched, roared and writhed in pain as the blood caked the side of its face, a small yet uneasy smile forming on Delta's face. Her victory was short-lived as the beast glared at her once more, wisps of fire appearing from the gaps between jaws…

With another thunderous roar, the beast took to the air, immediately opening fire upon the Octoling with a barrage of flaming blasts, the ink that coated areas of the floor setting ablaze in a raging inferno, basking the monster in an ominous red glow. Barely finding cover behind a black block, Delta noticed a large chunk of metal lying on the floor nearby...something the beast had not noticed yet. It was big, bigger than her whole body and then some - yet there was a large slab of twisted metal and concrete at the end and a large pipe at the part closest to her. Gently creeping up to it, she clutched the pipe in both hands, growling and straining as she attempts to lift the giant club off the ground.

"Come on, Delta…!" She growled through her clenched teeth, the twisted, makeshift weapon ever so slowly leaving its resting place on the ground…

The monster released another roar then dived headfirst for Delta's position, smashing straight through the brick that covered her - and to Delta's own surprise, in that split second, she lifted the club like it was nothing, smacking the monster round the head so incredibly fucking hard that entire chunks of its tough skin came off before it was sent careening into a wall, the metal partially collapsing upon it. Delta looked to her weapon, which had shattered down to just the pipe from the impact - the smashed up skin from the monster didn't seem like it'd be much help, either. Before she could think any further, the monster erupted from within its temporary prison, charging straight for Delta with its mouth wide open!

Much to the surprise of both, however, the charge was interrupted by a sizable blue explosion, followed by the roaring inferno seeming to gain its own mind, hurling blobs of ink from within itself at the monster, burning holes straight through its wings. Rem and Ix dropped from above, standing firm between the beast and Delta "Well, this is a new one." Ix crossed her arms "Wasn't expecting to see this kinda thing round here."

The monster went ominously quiet, glaring at the two new arrivals to the fray. Rem seemed to have the cloak coming from her belt flowing over Delta like she was shielding her from the beast, an odd light breeze blowing through the arena.

The monster then roared once more and continued its charge, the sisters moving in perfect unison as they sent it skyward with an uppercut, the beast diving for Rem after it corrected itself. The woman dug her feet into the ground, metal screeching and shredding as Rem caught the beast's impact, sliding back from the force - sweat dripped down her forehead as she strained against the almighty beast's unyielding power, her eyes meeting that of the monster, both of them filled with an endless fury "You better…" She grabbed the monster's jaw "FLOCK OFF!" With what she made look like the easiest of movements, she sent the monster into a rapid spin on its side, Ix coming in as a glowing blue blur which smashed the beast into a crater on the floor, pummelling it repeatedly as it responded with wild struggles and high pitched shrieks. The monster's tail then smacked into Ix with a solid THWACK!, sending her tumbling through the air; a booming pulse of energy shot through the chamber as Ix came to a complete stop over Delta, Rem running up to the shivering girl "Oh, luv, I'm so sorry...are you alright?" She gently embraced the Octoling, holding her in a hug that run the most calming warmth through Delta's core.

"Guh…" Delta shook her head once she was released "I'm f-fine. It just-just took me by surprise."

Rem responded with an oddly stern glare "Are you sure, Delta, your eyes tell another story."

"..." Delta looked away, shuffling her feet as she did...finally building up her courage in this hellpit, only for it to be shattered by that one roar? It was...humiliating…

"SIS!" Ix cried out as she ripped one of the monster's claws clean off "A little hand here!" She bounded up to the infernal beast's side and plunged its own claw into its skin. The shriek of pain from the beast would deafen most people.

Rem patted Delta's shoulder "Ix and I are gonna hit it with what we can, you hit any soft parts that get exposed!" She pushed Delta's rifle into her hands before she took off in a mad dash toward the behemoth, which was flailing and bashing itself into the walls and floors in an attempt to throw Ix off its back as she pummelled it repeatedly with back-breaking punches. She zipped from spot to spot with every attempt the monster tried to ram her between it and a wall, the monster releasing roars and hisses of annoyance and rage every time its attacker zipped off at the last second.

Its annoyance was completely blown away by a blast of pain and rage as Rem, coming up from seemingly nowhere, slammed her foot into the its jaw, sending it tumbling down to the opposite end of the room, numerous scales and spikes flying off it.

Delta's vision went black, her body slumping over. But before she hit the ground, her arm shot out to stop herself, clouds of cold mist coming from her mouth with every breath. Slowly, she raised her head, her eyes had returned to their pitch black state with white pupils – this time, however, they were visibly shrinking with each passing second. Without a word, she pushed past Rem and Ix, rifle clutched tightly. Her sights locked onto the beast's exposed flesh as it charged for her, the rifle letting out a crack that split the air as it fired, the bullet digging itself deep into the monster's shoulder, blood spewing like a fountain. Silently, and without a hint of mercy, Delta continued to fire at the beast, blasting out bones in its legs, making it fall to the ground with an earth shaking thud. Just as Delta was about to fire a shot directly at its remaining eye, Ix dashed up from behind and grabbed Delta in a bear hug "Delta! Enough, calm down!"

As Ix wrapped her arms around her with enough force to totally immobilize her arms, Delta's pupils rapidly expanded back to their standard size, the white washing over the black in an instant, the immobilized monster was glaring right back at her, still kicking despite its wounds.

"I'll put it out of its misery." Rem walked past the two of them and up to the beast. Its attempt to snap her arm off failed miserably. The ginger woman placed her hand on the beast's nose and in a simple flash of light, the beast went limp and silent. Rem began clambering around its body, inspecting its parts and even yanking out chunks of flesh "This thing could last us a good few weeks!" A huge, goofy grin appeared on her face, something that hadn't appeared in months "Ix, go get the bag!"

"On it!" Ix nodded, gently releasing Delta "You OK, darling?" She spoke softly, crouching down to Delta's level "What happened there?"

"I...I don't know." Delta shook her head "I was out cold."

Ix hummed, putting a hand to her chin "Well, at least you're back. We'll try and figure out what that was later." She turned around and began to run off, only for all three women to freeze when a metallic groaning echoed from the floor. Before either of the unnaturally quick women could react, the floor under Delta gave way, her scream of raw terror vanishing in seconds, as did she, into the dark pink mist.

"DELTA!" The sisters shrieked, running to the edge of the hole. The Octoling was gone, only a murky abyss to meet them.

Almost immediately, Rem's eyes began to water, whatever light there was glistening off her cheeks "No…!"

Thousands of leagues below

Delta didn't know how long she'd been falling – 15 minutes? 30 minutes? An hour? All she knew is that when she hit the ground, it was going to hurt.

And hurt it did. She slammed into a pitch black solid floor, surrounded by darkness. Her left arm twisted itself way out of position, her chest crumpled in and her leg bent in a way it never should...the sheer nothingness of sensation, even as she adjusted to her surroundings in her broken state, it was...harrowing. Her throat filled with both ink and vomit, both of which came out in a disgustingly coloured mess that coated her front.

Before she could barely move an inch, however, hundreds, thousands, no, millions, of red eyes opened in the darkness, all around her, even below her...was she going insane, or was this who she thought it was?

Her question was answered by the eyes closing and then all reforming on what looked like a wall before her, continuing to keep their gaze on her. A face like that of the beast she had just fought formed from within, the whole thing dripping its black ink all over her legs as it stretched closer before reforming into a face she never wanted to see again.

Johnny, with all 4 of his eyes focused intently on her, slowly opened his mouth – a simple breath came as the form of millions of pained screams layered upon one another, begging for the cold embrace of death, any kind of release...at least, that's what Delta's guess was. In reality it was all just an incoherent amalgamation of screaming, Delta's skin going cold as the face got closer, the blotches of Inkblot on her legs spreading over her, her feet already feeling numb.

There was no escape. Both of them knew that. Strings of the inkblot suddenly filled Delta's mouth, loud gags coming from her as it was forced open, Johnny wrapping his body around her arms and forcing them behind Delta's back – her legs part of the mass now, the thick darkness spreading up her waist in seconds, creeping over her chest, the numbing feeling keeping up the whole way. Her arms were swallowed next, eventually leaving only her head. The vanishing girl let out her own scream, straining her throat as it happened, only for her mouth to be filled with the darkness. The mound that once was Delta's arm tried to reach skyward, only to be met with nothingness.

Encroaching darkness. Black.

Nothing.