With Michael's promise made, he spearheaded the team further into the depths of the Presidio.
There was a faint giggle.
"How adorable, our little hero Michael seems really determined to rescue his sister."
An Octoling was reclining in her chair, one leg supported by the other knee, watching security camera footage of the group. She had heard everything.
"Well, we can't have him being so sure of himself, now can we?"
She called to the guards stationed outside her office.
"What do you need, boss?" One of them said in a low voice.
"I want you two to head out and separate Michael's little team. Isolate Michael, then capture him and bring him to me. Understand?"
"Yes, boss."
"Good, go on now." She motioned with her hand and sent the two burly Octarians off.
She sat back down in her chair, keeping a close eye on the team, she wanted to see just what would happen.
"I think I'm going to enjoy this night."
The Presidio's halls stayed mostly consistent, to the team's surprise though, guards started appearing. They weren't just simple Octotroopers either, they were Octolings.
The team entered a certain hall and narrowly avoided being spotted by an Elite Octoling patrolling around, not taking notice to the sound of the door opening. The seven of them weaved through the building, not rousing any suspicion. They ended up taking refuge in a room, they had been going at this mission for hours and needed a break.
"How long have we been in this dang place anyways?" Angela asked.
"Couple of hours, at least. Hopefully we can get this done by the end of the night." Junko remarked.
"Hey, Junko, if you don't mind me askin', why'd you and the Octarians back in Inkopolis decide not to follow Octavio anymore?" Randy asked.
"Well, we didn't see much of a point in it anymore, we was defeated, not by an army of Inklings, but just one of them. We just didn't have any faith in him to protect us anymore."
"But how'd all of you guys get kicked out of Octo Valley? There must've been, like, way less people who still had faith in him, right?"
"The thing was that most of those people are ones who worked or still work in the Presidio. They had access to more advanced weaponry than the rest of us."
"So you guys retreated?"
"N-No. Some did, but most other's tried to form a large Militia and fight against them."
"What happened?"
"We were outmatched. Even if we had the advantage in numbers, that doesn't mean anything if your opponents have Inkstrikes and Inkzookas to wipe out your forces from 100 to 10 in the matter of a few seconds."
"We're you in this Militia?" Marie asked.
"Yes. I was appointed as a Sergeant. I was one of the few in my team that survived."
"Man, that's rough." Randy said.
"Yeah. It is."
The group held a silence for a moment.
"The damn idiots, you can't take a break in enemy territory." The Octoling laughed to herself. "Guess I'll have to teach them a lesson."
She left her office and stepped into the room following it. She glanced to the other scientists. They returned her gaze and nodded in greeting.
She stopped at a certain scientist, he had fallen asleep on the job and was lying his head on his desk. She jolted him awake by hitting the desk with her fist near his head.
"I'll give you a pass for this time, because I need you right now."
"Y-Yes, boss, what do you need?"
"Start ventilating some knock-out gas into that room there." She pointed to one of the many screens showing security camera footage, this one looked over the room Michael and his team was in. It was tiny and hidden, they had no idea they were being watched.
"Yes, boss." The scientist started configuring the ventilation system, blocking off paths that the gas could take that lead it away from the room. He confirmed his changes, and got the gas moving.
"Good work." The Octoling said before turning around and returning to her office.
"Let's see how they deal with this."
The team had been sitting in the room for a while now, Junko had brought some food she could scavenge from restaurants before this raid. The group each ate their own share. Marie, Shelly, Junko, and Michael were now thinking of where to go from this point onwards. Now that there were smarter guards to look out for, they'd have to be more careful in moving through the halls.
Angela was refilling her Ink Tank, her .52 Gal ate up ink like nobody's business and she might have run out of ink by now if not for letting the other's fire first.
Callie slid up to her and started a conversation. "Hey Angela! Randy told me that you two are big fans of me and Marie."
"Ah, hey Callie. Yeah we're pretty big fans. I have a lot of your albums back home."
"Hey, after all this is over, whaddya say us four hang out together?"
"Oh, uh, gee Callie I dunno."
"Aw c'mon, what's the worst that could happen, we're all friends, right?"
"Ya' know what? Okay, we'll go. I'm sure Randy'll love hanging with Marie."
"Great! I'll make plans when we get back."
Callie scooted away and spent the rest of her time trying to flirt with Michael.
After a few moments Shelly spoke up in a weak voice.
"Ugh… does anyone else feel weird right now?"
"Now that you mention, man my head's killing me." Angela put in.
"I… I feel like I need to lie down." Michael took a seat on the floor.
Shelly went out like a light, Randy was able to catch her before she hit the floor.
Junko, realizing the possibility that some kind of gas was being used, covered her mouth and nostrils. She looked around the room and saw a vent near the ceiling. She had to squint her eyes, but she could just barely make out a faint outline of a cloud of gas pouring into the room. She quickly opened up the door to the room, signaling to Randy to bring everyone out of the room quickly.
He dragged the rest of the team out one-by-one. Junko closed the door, with only small amounts of the gas escaping. Michael and Marie were barely conscious, the rest had fallen asleep.
Junko took her hand away from her face, she looked to Randy.
"They know we're here."