Michael woke with a start. His head felt like it had been split open, he tried to feel with a hand to see if it actually was but found that he was tied up, both on his wrists and ankles.

Michael had only just realized he could barely see his own hands, even when they were right up against his face. The room he was in was criminally dark, almost devoid of light.

Michael couldn't escape, his restraints were too strongly tied. He struggled as best he could but he only tired himself out further.

He sat in his cell and waited for what seemed like hours. He almost had fallen asleep when he heard a click at the door. He was greeted by two burly guards. One grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him across the ground out of his cell. He was moved across the facility and was taken to a marked room.

The doors slid open, blinding Michael with the higher amounts of light that came flooding out. Once his eyes adjusted, he could see multiple Octarian scientists all working at their stations, not paying any mind to the guards as they took him to a large door at the back of the room and threw him in once it had opened.

Michael raised his head up to take in his surroundings and was greeted by an Elite Octoling standing before him, wearing a caped lab coat above her normal gear. She looked him up and down. Her expression darkened.

"Michael…"

"Who're you?"

"Me? I'm glad you asked, I'm the boss of this facility. I worked up to this positon just a few months ago, actually."

She began pacing around him. "Tell me, do you have any companions with you?" She asked, playing dumb.

"No, I'm here alone…" Michael tried to cover up for his team.

She kicked him in the back of the head the moment he finished speaking, sending him to the floor.

"Don't try playing any games with me. We have cameras everywhere. Do you really think we'd just have the ones you've blinded? We're not a stupid species, you know." She turned her head to an Octarian who was sitting to the side. "Ryu, turn on the containment cell cameras, I want to show Michael here something."

The Octarian nodded and clicked a few buttons, turning five different screens to different camera feeds.

Michael looked over to see his friends, Angela, Shelly, Randy, Callie, and Marie, tied up and sitting in dark cells, just like the one he had been put in. Junko was missing. They all looked too still, almost like they were…

"What did you do to them!?" He was answered with the Octoling stamping her boot onto his temple.

"Be quiet, I did not give you permission to speak."

The pressure on his head was unimaginably painful, but she did not let up.

"But, I won't be rude, so I'll answer. We funneled in some knock-out gas in the room you were all huddled up in. Almost knocked all of you out. That Octoling and Randy were the only ones left standing. If it hadn't been for the Octoling leaving him to guard all of you alone, we might've not gotten the drop on him and captured you all. They're all still alive, but they're not going to be awake for a little while longer."

Michael looked to the camera feeds again, he noticed in Randy's feed that he was gently breathing. Michael felt some relief. The Octoling lifted her boot off of Michael's head as she walked away from him. She continued to speak.

"Michael, I know how much you value your friends." She spat out the word "friends". "So, I'd like to make a proposition. You swear your allegiance to Octavio, and I will let them go free. You have permission to respond."

Michael hated how she tried to make him stay silent and speak at certain times, but he kept his cool.

"No, I won't. I'll get out of here, and save them. I don't need you to…"

He hadn't noticed that she had walked over to him until she had kicked him again, this time in the face. Michael heard his nose breaking as pain seared through his face, burning it like a great inferno. Tears welled up in his eyes but he held them back, no matter how much pain he would go through, he wouldn't show any amount of defeat.

"So defiant. You've always been like this, Michael."

"What do you know? You don't even know me."

He was expecting another kick but was only met with a laugh.

"Oh, Michael. Dear, sweet Michael. I think I know you better than anyone else here, even your friends."

Michael had heard a familiarity in her laugh. He couldn't piece together the parts, who was this Octoling?

"But don't worry, I don't think you'll have a say in the matter anyways."

"What do you mean?"

"Why don't you look behind me?"

She moved aside to give Michael a view of what was behind her. It was a large, cylindrical vat. Different Octarians and Octolings seemed to be configuring it.

"What is that?"

"Oh, you'll find out soon enough. Guards, take him to it."

The same guard who had dragged him across the facility picked him up again and placed him on a platform at the edge of the vat. Michael looked in, seeing a deep purple liquid. It was bubbling erratically.

The Octoling walked up to his side. "This, my dear Michael, is the Octarian conversion machine. We've been working on it for over a year. We've worked out all the kinks, so don't you worry. It will give you full, unwavering allegiance to Octavio."

Michael was picked up and was sat down on a platform that hung over the vat.

"Why are you doing this!?"

"Why? Why are we doing this? I'll tell you why Michael. Do you remember, a year ago, when you were in the war? Don't you know just how much of our forces you crippled? Killed? To even think of having a fighting chance, we captured people of your species to see how we can turn them to our side. All your antics of snooping around our offices let you learn that this led to us finding out just how similar Inklings and Octarians really are. Similar enough, that one's ink can completely turn another's species around. Turning Inklings into Octarians, making pregnant Inklings give birth to our new forces." She laughed.

"Oh let me tell you, it's great fun playing God." She flashed him a manic grin that made his blood go cold.

"Wh-What are you going to do with me?" Michael tried to hide the fear in his voice. This Octoling was something else.

"Well, firstly we'll put you into that Ink there. We've heated it up a bit, apparently that makes the Inkling to Octarian conversion go by quicker. We'll put you in for just a moment, an instant. That will be enough to get you on our side. Then?" She laughed again. "We'll put you in for longer and longer." She had activated a crane that brought Michael's platform closer to her. She placed a hand under his chin and moved his face around, looking it over. "Yes, I think you'd make a perfect male Octoling, all the girls will love you."

She moved his platform back over the middle of the vat again.

Before she dropped him down, she spoke once more.

"Well, since you're going to be forgetting this in just a moment, I might as well show you now." She grinned as she unbuckled her mask, carrying it in one hand.

Recognition flashed in Michael's eyes.

"M…Micheline…?" He choked out.

He went under.

"Get his friends out of their cells and put them somewhere else. Give them their weapons, too, I want to see how it plays out when they meet the new Michael." Micheline commanded an Octarian scientist to her side.