Junko and Randy narrowly escaped being knocked out like the rest of the team, Junko's training and Randy's size saving them. But now the five other members of the team were knocked out. Michael and Marie held on for a bit longer, but eventually they succumbed too.
"What do we do now? We can't drag all of them with us." Randy asked.
"I… I don't know." Junko said.
Randy thought for a moment.
"I'll bring them somewhere safe and guard them."
"You can't defend them by yourself."
"Come on now, have you seen me? I carry this Splatling around with me all the time, I think I'm strong enough to defend myself and them. And you can change your hair color, right? You can blend in with those Elite Octolings."
"Hm, I guess you're right." Junko paused. "If we go through with this, I'm counting on you to keep them all safe." She got close. "But if something happens to even one of them, you can bet that I will personally ruin that face of yours."
"Gotcha."
"Good." He hair rippled as it transitioned from red to black, matching the Elite Octolings. "I'll be back."
Junko ventured off into the Presidio, alone.
It took a while, but Randy was able to move the rest of the team to a different room. He rested each of their weapons in a small pile in the corner of the room.
He was going to have to wait a while.
Junko walked through the halls, hidden in plain sight. She passed by multiple regular Octolings, who didn't take any special notice to her. Even Elite Octolings didn't notice anything strange about her. This might be easier than she thought.
She mirrored the motions of other Octolings, patrolling through the halls in an orderly fashion. Occasionally stopping to readjust her ink tank. It gave her a sense of nostalgia from when she was still working in the Octarian army.
She got the memories out of her mind, she needed to focus on the here and now. Over time, she moved further and further ahead into the Presidio. When none of the other Octolings were looking, she entered the office of an elite scientist at the facility.
"Alright, let's see what we can find here." She whispered to herself.
She was a bit reluctant to go looking through computer files again, especially after last time, but she did so anyways. She found a picture file and opened it. It looked like a diagram of some sort, with arrows marking different parts.
The picture was of what seemed like an oversized inflatable pool. The diagram listed parts such as "surrounding catwalk" for an area around the object, presumably where people would stand on.
Underneath the object was a device labelled "Heater". Underneath the label was the statement "To speed up conversion".
Junko glanced to the top of the paper, the name of the device was printed in bigger, bolded lettering.
"Inkling-to-Octarian Conversion Machine"
"Hm." Junko considered the possibility that this might be the "Trump Card" the Octarians were working on during the war. She printed an extra copy out, folded it, and stored it away.
"I'll need to show the team this when I get back." She said in a hushed voice.
Leaving the room, she marched onwards.
Randy was still holed up in the same room, with the rest of the team still deep in unconsciousness. He was starting to get tired, he probably wouldn't stay awake for much longer.
His mind almost did drift away when he heard heavy footsteps outside the room.
He grabbed his Heavy Splatling and aimed it at the door. Standing tall, he anxiously waited.
The footsteps neared, he began to slowly rev up his Splatling.
The footsteps stopped.
Randy glanced at the bottom of the door, he saw shadows standing there.
'Please don't come in… please don't come in…' Randy thought to himself.
The shadows left.
Randy felt relief spread over himself. He unrevved his Splatling.
The door broke open, flying off its hinges.
Randy, out of reflex, threw down a Splash Wall in front of him and revved up his Splatling, faster this time. He saw two large Octarians holding weapons in the doorway. The started firing at Randy upon seeing him, only to have their shots blocked by the Splash Wall. Randy grinned as he started firing upon them. They took cover behind the walls on their side, avoiding the shots fired. Randy realized his chance and dived down into his ink, swimming past them. He kept his patience, waiting until they would come out of cover and go into the room again to start firing.
The Splash Wall ran out of fuel and they jumped out of cover, firing into the room simultaneously. When they realized Randy wasn't there they looked around the room, confused.
Randy took the chance, he jumped out of his Ink and unleashed hell, splatting both of the burly guards in a near-instant.
"Hah! Guess strength really doesn't make up for no brains!" Randy said.
He surveyed the room, thankfully none of his teammates were hit in the crossfire.
"Guess I should relocate." He said to himself.
"I don't think that'll be necessary." A voice said behind him.
"Huh?" Randy was only able to make that out before he was struck in the head. A guard behind him had bashed him with his gun, knocking him out.
A feminine laugh echoed out. "I guess Randy wasn't strong enough to protect them."
The boss of the Presidio stepped out from behind the guard that hand struck Randy. She surveyed the area. She called out to the numerous other guards behind her.
"Take them all to the holding cells. Bring Michael to me once he wakes up. Take their weapons too." She commanded. The guards all nodded and holstered their weapons, they picked up the whole team and ran off in single file.
"Now all that's left is that Octoling they have with them." She said to herself. She, and two other guards, returned to where they had come from.