The new area was strange. The team did not encounter any guards. They weren't just uncommon here, they weren't around at all. Even stranger, the place seemed completely devoid of security cameras. The doors in the hallways were unlocked too. Many were unlocked, but didn't yield much, just organized desks with pencil holders and a few computers that were locked. Junko didn't want to go through guessing passwords again.
The doors progressively took on more intricate designs, apparently indicating rank, as Junko pointed out. The team came upon a hall with ten doors only, all with a personal design.
"These must be the higher ranking scientists." Junko said.
The team entered one and found a cluttered desk, papers strewn about every which way. One of the computers had been left on and was still logged in. Junko quickly opened up the document viewer. She didn't find anything of significance, just different files about worker schedules and the like. She decided to turn on visibility for hidden files. She found one hidden file named "important research for boss". She opened it up.
"A few of the test subjects have been showing some strange reactions when submerged in Octarian ink for extended periods of time. Those who don't drown start showing signs of irregularities in their internal organs. DNA tests will be run shortly"
Junko scrolled down.
"DNA tests show what appears to be combinations between the subject's natural DNA and Octarian DNA. Tests are now being done to see if this reaction is consistent with all Octarian ink or not."
Reluctantly, Junko scrolled down more.
"Tests confirm that this is consistent no matter which Octarian's ink is used. Questions still remain on different factors. Note-to-self: request to test the reaction a pregnant subject will have, and how their kin will be affected."
Junko started to feel sick, but continued to scroll.
"Request was accepted, unfortunately the prime test subject for this tried to escape and was killed. No matter, we have at least a few more pregnant subjects we can use for this."
"Haven't been writing here for a long while, mostly because I've been away from this project for a while. Heard the subject is due for birth soon. I'll write down findings we gather from the child."
"Now this was unexpected. We thought the subject's child would be deformed, or even a lost cause and dead on arrival. Turns out that our testing causes pregnant subjects to give birth to Octarians. They're perfectly fine, too, no disabilities or anything. I will look into raising these children for the Octarian army soon. Until then, I request looking into the similarities between the DNA of the subjects and our own."
Junko had to stop herself. She hunched over and held her head in her hand.
"Oh my god…"
"What?" Randy asked.
"The scientists… they were doing some kind of testing experiments on the subjects here. Apparently the Octarian's DNA is very close to the DNA of the subjects, so close that they can naturally fuse if a subject is dunked into Octarian ink long enough. I… I never knew about this."
"Well what does this mean, for us now then?"
"It means that, whoever they tested these things on, were almost certainly Inklings. No other creature has as many similarities to us as Inklings do."
Randy looked to the floor, then back to the rest of the team. They were distracted with something else in the room, and hadn't heard what Junko said.
"I'll go tell 'em."
"Alright." Junko tried to resume reading the notes, but when the possibility of subjects fully becoming Octarians came up, she had to stop. She closed the file and turned the computer off.
Randy had just finished relaying the information to the group. Angela, Shelly, Callie, and Marie were shocked. Michael was looking off into space. His eyes seeming to lose their shine.
The group continued. Michael was lagging behind, but he kept it discreet enough that nobody really took notice. Except for Shelly. She noticed when Michael continued to slow his walking over time. She made no note of it to the others, but kept it in her mind.
When the group reached an intersection of hallways, that's when Michael sprang into action, he ran ahead of the group, leaving them all behind him, dazed and confused. Shelly was the first to give chase. She quickly inked the walls of the hallway and kept up the pace with Michael's run.
She called out to him during the chase. "Michael! What are you doing!?"
"I'm going to go do what I should have done a year ago!" He yelled back as he picked up his pace.
Angela called down from the hallway, the whole team chasing after Michael now.
"Michael! Don't go off on yer own you damned idiot! Yer gonna get ripped to shreds without a team!"
"I handled myself well against an army of Octarians before and I can do it again!"
"Michael! Come back here!" Randy yelled out desperately.
Michael's voice turned to a pained scream. "NO! NOW THAT I KNOW THERE ARE INKLINGS HERE, I HAVE TO RESCUE THEM! I'M THEIR HERO, I NEED TO GET THEM OUT OF HERE!"
"Michael! We know that you think you need to do this on your own, but you don't! We're a team, we need to do this together!" Callie called out.
"I CAN DO THIS BY MYSELF!"
"Michael!" Marie called out.
"NO!"
"MICHAEL!" Marie called out, louder this time.
"I CAN DO THIS BY MYSELF! I NEED TO RESCUE THEM! I NEED TO!"
"IS THIS ABOUT MICHELINE, MICHAEL!?" Marie yelled down the hall at him.
Michael heart gained immense weight. He didn't know why, but he couldn't move his legs as fast as he just had. He slowed, even if he tried to get back to running.
Shelly caught up, she jumped out of her ink and tackled him to the ground, sending them both into a roll. Shelly ended up on top, holding Michael down.
Michael didn't have anything to say. He just laid on the ground in silence before speaking to Shelly.
"Can you let me up?"
Shelly eased herself off of Michael, the both of them stood back up. As soon as Michael stood up fully and adjusted himself, Shelly pulled him into a hug.
"What's this for?"
"It just felt like you needed one right now."
Shelly broke off the hug after a few moments. The team caught up to the two by now.
"L-Look guys, I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking with that."
"It's alright." Randy replied.
"No. No it's not alright. I almost ran off from you guys and got myself killed. Thanks for saying what you said, Marie, I think that might've been what stopped me."
"So, Mikey, what's with this 'Micheline' girl Marie just mentioned?" Angela asked, gesturing to Marie when she spoke her name.
Michael took a deep breath and sighed. He needed to tell them now.
"I guess now's as good of a time as any. Let's go into that room and I'll tell you." Michael gestured to a nearby door. It led into an office.
All eyes were on Michael.
He took another breath before speaking.
"Back when I first joined Captain Cuttlefish's new Squidbeak Splatoon, with Callie and Marie here working as Agents 1 and 2. I was recruited along with Agent 4, Micheline. She was…"
He paused.
"…She was my sister."
Callie and Marie had their heads down and eyes closed, apparently remembering Micheline. The rest of the team was surprised at the news.
"We worked together to fight the Octarians, and we did a good job of it. Alone, we were both great, but when working together, well, Cuttlefish always compared us to some of his previous Agents back in the Great Turf War. We cared for each other, too, when I was hurt really badly after a mission she'd be checking in on me all day when she wasn't out on a mission herself, and I did the same for her."
Michael chuckled to himself over the memories.
"...But, well, no stories like these end up with a happy ending."
His voice started choking up, but he continued nonetheless.
"I was resting after a really bad mission, I don't know who did it but apparently some of the Octarians back then really got their sense knocked into them and really did a number on me. Sis was out on a solo-mission and Cuttlefish told me she'd be back soon, so I waited. I waited for hours. I waited for almost the rest of the day. That's when I got a call from Callie and Marie. They told me that their connection to Micheline was cut short during the mission, and that she was ambushed. She was captured. That was the last I ever heard from her."
Tears started to bubble in Michael's eyes.
Callie cut in. "It took Mikey a good few months to really get used to not having his sister around."
Michael's voice was hoarse. "You never really get used to that. Sure, you learn to move on with your life and live normally, but… the pain you experience from losing someone that close to you. It stays. There's always a feeling of hollowness that won't ever be filled back up again."
"But, now that I know there's Inklings here, there's always a chance. Always a chance that she could still be around. And, if she is, I swear that I will find her. Even if she's changed I'll still love her like the sister she was. I might be able to still save her."
Michael grabbed his Splattershot.
"And I've realized something now. That's why I'll never leave this role. That's why I will never be a normal Inkling. And why I don't want to be anymore. As long as there's still someone I can save, I will save them. No matter the risks, that's one thing I can promise, as the hero of Inkopolis…"
"…and as a friend to all of you."