The team stayed in Octo valley over-night, it was morning now, and Junko was just waking up.

"Ngh…"

"Oh good, you're up."

Junko opened her eyes and looked around, the place was familiar, they were hanging over a large canyon, and looking into the distance she saw a distinctly huge rock formation. She realized that she was in Octo valley.

She didn't see who had spoken to her, and looked around some more. Soon, a figure turned a corner.

It was Michael.

"I was wondering when you were going to come back from sleeping."

"Why did you take me here?"

"Hm?" Michael was a bit surprised at the Octoling asking a question so quickly.

"I said, why did you take me here?"

"What? Octo valley? This is your home, isn't it?"

Junko refused to answer.

"Well, it's not important either way, what I want to know is, why were you trying to steal from a restaurant, you have enough food here in Octo valley, don't you?"

Still no response.

"Furthermore, why did you come up to the surface anyways? It'd be much safer if you had just stayed down here with all of your friends."

"Don't lump me in with those scum-sucking wastes of space, they've done more evil than you could imagine me doing."

"And why is that?"

Junko turned her head away and didn't answer.

"Well, if you're going to be like that." Michael reached around the corner and grabbed something. He brought it into view and set it next to Junko.

It was a cup of coffee.

"What's this?"

"It's coffee, ever heard of it?"

"I mean why are you giving me this."

"You just woke up didn't you?"

Junko was expecting to be tortured in some way by making her have to tell him something first before he gave her the coffee, but was utterly shocked when Michael went behind her and loosened her binds up to allow her to pick up the coffee.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Loosening your bindings, what does it look like?"

"Why?"

"I gave you a cup of coffee, didn't I? Besides, I don't think you'll do much harm to us, we have your weapon hidden somewhere safe."

Junko sat still before even moving. She slowly moved her hand to the cup and just as slowly brought it to her mouth and took a sip, never keeping her eyes off Michael at the same time.

"You really like looking at me, don't you?" Michael decided to tease her a bit.

"I'm watching for any funny business."

Michael didn't respond any further, it didn't seem like he would be getting any answers from her. He leaned back to make his voice go around the corner.

"You're up, Shelly." Michael walked back as Shelly came in. She pulled up a chair and sat down in front of Junko.

The two held each other's stares for a long moment.

"Something happened to you." Shelly said suddenly.

"What?"

"Something happened to you. I can tell. There were other Octarians involved, weren't there?"

Sweat beaded Junko's forehead. The Inkling's ability to deduct things just from that disturbed her. Nonetheless she stayed silent.

"You're sweating. That is what happened, isn't it?"

'Dammit.'

"Just tell me, you'll be better once you do so."

Junko kept her mouth shut and continued to stare at Shelly, hoping, praying for some change in her reaction. But Shelly kept a blank face the entire time. Junko couldn't tell if she was being threatened or not, and eventually she cracked.

"Alright… I'll tell you, just, please, stop staring at me like that."

Shelly's expression softened and she gave a thumbs up to the others around the corner.

"And that's how the other Octarians and I ended up here."

Junko had finished her explanation and looked to the small crowd that had formed around her as she was telling her story. There were many different faces, some sympathetic, some skeptical, and some utterly surprised.

Cuttlefish was the first to speak. "That is certainly a story I haven't heard before. I suppose you've been stealing from the restaurants to feed the families who are with you?"

"Yes, that's correct."

Randy spoke up next. "I'm sorry but I'm finding this a little hard to believe, how do we really know there are other Octarians than you and that partner of yours?"

Junko grew angered. "Do you really expect me to tell you all where we're hiding? I'm not going to risk putting our civilians in danger, especially not in the condition that they're in!"

"Well I'm not believing the word of one lone Octoling, I'm going to need some actual proof."

"We don't need her to tell us where they are." Shelly whispered to Randy.

"What do you mean?"

"If we end up letting her go, we're going to have one person follow her on her way back to their hideout, we'll know where they are then."

Junko couldn't hear what Shelly had said, but she knew one thing, she had to get back to the hideout.

"Please, just let me get back to them, if we don't get food soon they're going to starve."

"Whoever your commander is will send out a different team to collect food tonight. Don't worry, we're not going to stop them. And we're not letting you go until you tell us more info." Marie said.

"That's all I have to tell, I swear!"

"No it isn't, I know you have something else that you're keeping to yourself. Tell us what it is and we'll let you go."

Junko thought about the offer. She did know something. She had to think about what would happen if she told them. On one hand, the Octarians who stayed in Octo Valley would hunt down the hideout and show no mercy to anyone inside. But…

"Alright… I'll tell you."

"Good."

Junko took a moment before speaking.

"About a month before Octavio was defeated, some Octarian scientists began working on something. It was described as being a trump card that would help the Octarians win the war, but development on it was halted when Octavio was overthrown. At least, it was halted. Before we were run out of Octo Valley, which was only a month after Octavio lost, development resumed. The last I heard of it before I was run out was that it had begun testing, and that they had a few test subjects."

"Who were these test subjects?" Marie questioned.

"Nobody outside of the facility where it was developed knew for sure, but there were rumors that they..." Junko cut herself off, not wanting to incur any anger from her interrogators.

"That they what?"

"There were rumors that they were using captured Inklings as test subjects."

The statement brought out horrified reactions from the crowd.

Michael's voice grew serious. "What facility is this?"

"It's called the Presidio. It's a heavily guarded military facility, where new weapons for the Octarians are developed. Its existence is hidden from civilians. And Octarians like me who are low-ranking aren't allowed in. We only get information about what's going on in it from the occasional Elite Octoling."

Nobody had a response, they all had to take time to process the information they just received.

Michael spoke first. "We're going there."

"Don't! You don't know what goes on in there!"

"Don't try to talk me out of it, you don't know what goes on in it either. Besides, I'm a hero to Inkopolis, I feel like it's a duty of mine to help the Inklings that are being held up in there."

"Please, think this through, you're risking the lives of so many Inklings in an attempt to rescue a few. If the Octarians know that the Presidio has been found by Inklings, they may go on an all-out assault on Inkopolis."

"How bad could their weaponry be? There was nothing I couldn't handle all by myself in the last war. And think of this, if they truly are constructing something that could have won them the war while we had them cornered, if we can shut down the testing and development of it, we'd be able to prevent another Great Turf War before it even started."

"…Fine. But you're not going to find a way to the Presidio without the help of an Octarian." Junko breathed in. "I'm going with you."

Michael was surprised at her willingness to help. "Alright."

Angela grabbed Michael's shoulder. "Now, hold on there, Mikey, don't think just the two of you are going. We're coming too."

Michael looked to his team.

"We're not letting you go into Octarian territory without at least a few more people." Randy said.

Shelly continued. "We'll do our best."

"Yeah! We'll crush those Octarians and break their dumb weapons!" Callie excitedly said.

"We're at our best when we're a team. We'll have each other's backs in this." Marie concluded.

Michael grinned at his friends. "Right."

"You kids stay safe now. You're going deep into enemy territory."

"We will, Captain."

Cuttlefish pat Michael on the back and smiled. "I know you will, son. I know."

"I'm going back to the hideout, I need to ready up. We leave for the Presidio in one week." Junko said as she stood up.

"Right. We'll train hard during that time. See you soon."

Junko nodded and turned towards the kettle that lead back to the surface.

"Oh, wait! Before you go. You never told us your name."

"Junko. My name's Junko."

"Right, we'll see you in a week, Junko."

Junko waved goodbye as she launched herself back to the surface.

"Do you think it was such a good idea to let her leave during the day?" Randy asked Michael.

"Probably not."