Splatoon Afterworld

by drz1990

Explained in the intro

3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Wanted to keep going so I finish Chapter 2 pretty quick but I think I'm going to slow down a bit. I wanted to give the readers a good perspective of how the story was going. I think I'm a lot more motivated with this story and characters than the Agent Zero story. I think I made a good choice and I think I learned from my past mistakes on narrrating. I want the story to be vivid, deep, get the readers attention with the characters and events and not make them forgettable and boring. I think the story is much straight foward and it's not off to a crawl or full of meaningless chit chat. If there is any kind of suggestions or what not then please leave a comment. Hope you're enjoying the story so far.

"Sarah!...Virgil!...I won't leave you!" A familiar voice echoed through a black void. 'Blackwell! This isn't over!" The same voice shouted in an angered tone, echoed also through the darkness. As if they felt they were dead but... still alive, floating in an empty vast and lifeless void, they couldn't move but was inert of their surroundings. What was going on? They thought. After a moment a glimmer of light appeared like the sun rising from the horizon. It reflected off the clouds overhead and ocean below, revealing the riffles of the waters until the light reached the beach. A figure was laying on the grass, there eyes closed before the sunlight caused them to clinch before they opened.

The figure now awake and sitting up to see it was daybreak. They looked around, confused at where they were at. Behind them was nothing but forest and in front was the ocean reflecting the dawn, overlooked by a cliff they were perched on top of. The scene appeared peaceful and soothing but how did they get there. They stood up and walked toward the precipice and looked over toward the horizon.

Nearly a minute passed as they absorbed the tranquil sight and then all of a sudden. A bright flash followed by a shockwave nearly knocked the individual down. They shielded their face and then looked to see a horrifying sight. A mushroom cloud appeared. The blast turned the small riffles into large tidal waves that crashed against the cliff face. The tremor then started breaking apart the Earth beneath them, causing the figure to fall through a crevasse and crash into the waters below. Thrashing to keep afloat, the figure was slowly losing energy until they sank. Sinking deeper into the dark abyss as their air bubbles floated up from their mouth until they eventually drowned.

"Wake up! Wake...up! Seth! Please wake up!" shouted a muffled voice through the darkness. The sinking figure then twitched and gave a gasp of air. Seth had woken from his nightmare, coughing up water and gasping for air in the bed he had fell asleep in.

(Gasping) (Wheeze) followed by heavy breathing. Seth sat up and was still in shock from drowning. "It's OK!" shouted a goggle wearing figure that was kneeling over them. Seth came to his senses and looked at the figure. It was Mirage the squad leader of the creatures he befriended.

"W...what happened?" he asked nervously, still shaken up.

"You nearly downed, thank god Vee heard you shouting in your sleep. We weren't sure what was going on so we rushed in. The private panicked and tried to shake you awake but I made her let ago. I had no choice but to resuscitate you," Mirage told him.

"I...I don't what happened. All I remember was looking at the ocean then all of a sudden I see this nuclear explosion. The ground opens up between my feet and then I'm drowning in the seawater below me. It all happened so fast... It felt so real," Seth described to them.

"I'm just glad you're safe. You just joined my squad and now I'm already having to save your ass... that's why we watch each others backs, that's why I insisted that you sleep in the same room as us. If it weren't for Vee you'd probably be dead... and I'm sure there's no spawn pads in this place," Mirage harped as she got up off of him.

"I explained to Vee once, that when humans die we can't come back as in ever. She told me about your race respawning when you guys die out in the field. Humans never had that capability," he brought to her attention as he took a quick look at Vee. Her expression showed she was deeply concerned about Seth's well being.

"So humans can't respawn... that's deeply unsettling. Well that just adds more pressure into keeping you alive. no matter. You're a trained soldier and by what you've told me you've survived worse. It's nearly daybreak so we might as well not go back to sleep. I'm heading back across the hall," she said as she left the room.

"Don't worry about her Seth. She's always like this, well most of the time," said Vee before she plopped on the bed beside Seth.

"I should thank the both of you. She said you heard me shouting in the room while I was asleep. I didn't mean to alarm you guys,"

"No, as the lieutenant said, we gotta watch each others backs. I got really scarred when you quit moving. I shook you and shouted at you to wake up but you wouldn't respond. I was worried that you were about to die and that's when Mirage ran in and saw you. She pushed me off of you and started blowing air in your mouth. I thought she was kissing you,"

"It sounds like she was performing mouth to mouth. EMTs perform it to revive people who quit breathing. She said I was drowning but how? The strangest part it was seawater and I haven't even been around the ocean,"

"That is really weird. We're underground and no where near the ocean. Us octarians can't swim so we try to avoid the water if can and for some reason if we fall in we burst and report back to the spawn pads,"

"Wait a minute, you mean to tell me you can change into an octopus but you can't swim. Octopi spend their whole life underwater. How is that?" asked a bewildered Seth.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" asked an also confused Vee.

"Never mind, I shouldn't have made things logical, then again what is logical in this world that's inhabited by octopus changing girls," he said as he started to get up.

"Were things that different back when humans weren't extinct, the world you came from," she asked him.

"In the world I came from octopi didn't transform into girls and they certainly didn't have a fear of water. I don't know how I ended up in a place like this,"

"Well...I'm glad you're here,"

"Huh?...(sigh) I guess I shouldn't fret. You guys seem alright it's just. I'm not sure if I'll ever get adjusted to this world. I mean you saw how I reacted when I first met you and your team,"

"You're strange to us as we are to you. Humans have been long gone but we're still fascinated by them. We didn't how to react interacting with a living human. You're species is still unknown to us,"

"Guess I couldn't blame you guys for tying me up and shooting me with that ink, I still get sick thinking about it,"

"(chuckle) Well it's good to know our ink isn't too effective," said Vee while Seth gave a look exasperation with his arms cross.

"At least you don't get splat by it," Vee shot at him with her hands on her hips before Seth gave her a smirk. In the other room Star and Luna just woke up, "what's with all the ruckus?" asked Star rubbing her eye. "Yeah (yawn) what's going on? Is everything alright?" asked Luna who stretched.

"It's nothing, everything's been taken care of," she replied as she stood by her bed facing away.

"Was it Seth?" asked Star.

"I bet it was, Vee's missing, guess I wasn't the only one that tried to creep into Seth's room and..." Luna said, causing Mirage to get ticked and quickly turned to cut her off before she finished.

"Enough you two, drop it! It's been dealt with. I suggest you get ready and grab your gear. I'm assigning partners to conduct patrols while another pair will scavenge for supplies since this is our new base. I want your eyes and ears open at all times as well as no funny business, you got that," she scolded.

Luna and Star gave a nod and got out of bed. As soon they put their armor and boots on. They grabbed their goggles and gear before they headed to the atrium for further orders. Mirage walked out of the room after Luna and Star did, then looked into Seth's room where she saw the two talking. She stepped in and looked at them. "Hey you two, get it into gear. We've got a big day ahead of us and I'm going to task you to search this place for supplies and any other resources we can use. Seth knows more about this place than any of us, so he will lead but I'll pair you with him private," said Mirage.

"Yes, ma'am," she said at attention.

"And as for you sergeant, as I said, you will be hunting for supplies for the squad. Whatever was stored in the back of that warehouse yesterday may be useful to us. I'm not sure if we can use human weaponry but look for anything else that may be useful. I'm going to go talk to the other sergeant and my cohort about patrolling the surrounding area. Hopefully those octarians we saw had done their sweep and left. We don't need to be found out especially you," she told Seth.

"I understand perfectly. We'll go explore and see what we can come across lieutenant," said told the elite.

Mirage gave a nod but before the two started to leave she hollered at them. "One more thing, partners will probably be switched around time to time. If theirs any problems just notify me. The last thing I want is any issues, you're dismissed," she told them.

Seth left the room with Vee behind him. Thoughts were stewing in the elite's mind about those two. She gave a deep breath and recomposed herself before she headed to the atrium to link up with Star and Luna.

Seth and Vee made it back to the storage bay. Seth had one thing on his mind first, if he was going to be a part of Mirage's team and be a soldier then not only did he have to act like one he had to dress like one. He needed a weapon and he remembered the assault rifle he came across yesterday as well as something else he spotted in the back before he and Vee talked. "What are we getting?" the private asked Seth as they were headed to the back of the warehouse.

"I'm grabbing a weapon, if I'm going to be a squad member then I need to be armed and be in gear. That weapon I had yesterday, I'm getting it and I spotted something else that would be handy, might as well dress like a soldier while I'm at it instead of just a tank top and cargo pants," said Seth as they continued.

Seth approached the weapons crate and obtained the SIG MCX Virtus rifle he messed with before. He slung it around his torso and searched for the gear he spotted. Near one of the HMMVWs was a metal chest. He opened it and inside were uniforms and a tactical vest with mag pouches and everything he needed. He slipped on the vest and filled the mag pouches. He stumbled across a leg drop holster and a sidearm. A modified Glock 19 with a micro red dot that he checked. Seth was loaded out and Vee had stars in her eyes staring at the cool gear and weapons he had on. "That is so...Cool!" she squealed. "I wish the octarian army had stuff like that, even if I don't like going into combat... it's still fresh as the inklings would say," she continued, swooning over Seth's loadout.

"Wow, you kinda sound like the grunts when they first get handed their gear. It helps to have the right equipment for the job and I'm not going into combat without it," He told Vee.

"OK, so what now..." asked the octoling.

"Now, I gotta find a place to hone in on my shooting skills, it's been a while and need some trigger time before I do anything else. I know your commander wants us to hunt for supplies but how I see it everything's in pretty much one spot. I'm not sure what else we could be looking for," said Seth.

"But where are you going to shoot?"

"I guess this place is as good as any. I'll just have to set up targets on the back wall since there's no range. It's been a while, over 2,000 years since I've shot a weapon. so I need discipline and to get familiar with my weapon again,"

"Back at Octo base, we always had to train shooting our octo shots. It seems the human military isn't much different. What else did you do?"

"Well, I shot pistols, machine guns and sometimes had to throw grenades. We also had to learn troop movements, clearing buildings, gathering intel and other strategies that I'm going in depth on. That was a life I thought I had left behind when I got hurt and was sent back home to my family... and now here I am having to relive it again,"

"I'm sorry... it's just Mirage is high strong, she heard you talking about being a soldier and thought with your skills that you could... be a big help to us,"

"Don't think I'm mad, I didn't ask to wake up in a world full of octopus-based creatures either. I'm more troubled about whether I will ever find my wife and child,"

"I really hope you do find them Seth," she said as she approached him and placed her hand on his shoulder. He accepted the gesture as she hugged him. Seth felt better, he was hopeful that he would find them with the help of his new friends. She pulled away and the two stared at each other for a moment.

Seth lost his composure a little bit, blushing and rubbing the back of his head. "Umm... thanks for the support... I hope I find them too,"

Vee nodded with a smile, she thought highly of Seth even though they just met. "I guess I better make a range and find some targets. Wonder what I can use?" said Seth as he walked away, hunting for some thing he could shoot at.

"I...I'll help you Seth," Vee told him as she followed behind.

Meanwhile, back in the atrium Mirage was briefing Star and Luna about patrolling. She mentioned also about switching partners occasionally. "So that means me and the human could be tagged together all by ourselves," Luna said with a grin.

Mirage approached her and grabbed one of the elite's tentacles and yanked until it she let go, smacking Luna in the face as she yelped. "Let that be a little warning lieutenant, I've got no time for your antics, you're on mission no matter who you're paired with and expect you to get your act together and start acting like a soldier," scolded Mirage.

"Yes, commander," Luna said rubbing her tentacles. As Mirage turned away she stuck her tongue out and crossed her arms at her commander's back. Mirage faced the pair again. "As we've went over you are to go topside and provide watch, keep a low profile and radio in for any activity, do I make myself clear," said Mirage.

The two nodded and octo formed toward the elevator to head for the surface. "Those two can be a real pain in my tentacles, especially Luna... though their skills prove valuable for the team. Wonder if Vee and that human have come across anything. I might need to go check on them. I'm sure Vee is not as frisky as the lieutenant but seeing them talking yesterday and this morning I just wanna be sure those two mind each other," She said to herself. Turning into a black octopus and scurrying down the hallway to hunt for Seth and Vee. Her emotions were still bothering her about Seth and she even started to get jealous about Vee hanging around Seth.

Back in the Storage bay, Seth had managed to cut pieces off the MRE boxes to make targets as well as some empty crates with Vee's help. He drew bullseyes on the cardboard pieces while Vee drew faces with a mean look, a frown with the tongue sticking out and angry eyes on the wooden boxes.

"Private you were supposed to draw targets, like I did," said Seth.

"I did, they're enemy octolings," she answered.

Seth rolled his eyes and ignored her childish demeanor. He shook his head and turned his attention toward the targets him and Vee made.

He propped himself against the plastic ammo crate and looked down the sight of the rifle, facing the makeshift targets. He racked the bolt back to load a round. "Vee, you might wanna cover your ears because this is gonna be loud, especially with the echo effect," he told the octoling.

She placed her hand on her ears and watched Seth, readying himself to shoot the weapon and get familiar with it. "Fire for effect," he said. After lining the crosshairs on one target, he exhales and pulled the trigger. "BOW!" the bullet struck the wall beside the target by a few inches.

Vee had her ears covered and her eyes closed before opening them and looking at Seth. "Damn! Don't know if it was me or the scope, I may need to zero it in," said Seth.

He aimed the weapon back on the target and Vee covered her ears again. "Fire for effect," he said again. "BOW!" this time it struck much closer but was still off. Seth was a little frustrated as he gave a deep breath. "(sigh) At least I was little closer, but closer doesn't count in combat. I have to hit the target," he said.

"Um, Seth... what exactly are you trying to do," Vee asked.

"I'm trying to hit the target, what else would I be doing?"

"Maybe it's because your nervous is why you're not hitting the target,"

"I admit, I am a little trigger shy. I was hoping my soldiering instincts would kick back in but apparently not. I got to learn everything all over again. Eventually I'll hit it before I have to change mags,"

"How about trying my octo shot, it's not loud,"

"Uh, Vee that would do me no good, I can't produce ink and that thing has no sights on it. I don't know how you guys can hit anything with that oversized squirt gun,"

"It takes practice, like what you're doing,"

"I guess so but still, I have to shoot the weapon I will be equipped with, shooting your octo shot thing won't benefit me at all,"

"Oh, c'mon...please,"

"Vee I done said no, I'll look silly shooting that gun,"

"Are you calling me silly?"

"What! No, it's just...never mind, Vee just let me shoot my rifle,"

"Well then, Is there anyway I can help you?"

"Not really, this is something I gotta do on my own. I'll improve, just let me shoot and get situated,"

Vee puffed her cheeks and walked over behind Seth and placed her arms against his as she leaned against his back. "W...what are doing Vee?"

"Helping, Mirage taught me to shoot my octo shot better when she guided my hands and showed me how to posture myself.

"I don't feel comfortable about this. I know you wanna help but I'm not going to be able to focus with you on top of me like this,"

"Well don't focus on me and focus on the target,"

"Vee stop it, I'm not doing this with you,"

"Oh, c'mon,"

"I said no, you're getting as annoying as that black-tentacled chick,"

As Luna in her octopus form swam down a corridor she decided to enter the storage bay. She was going to check and see if Seth and Vee were inside scrounging through supplies and credentials. Everything looked as if it hadn't been messed with. She saw the pile of MRE wrappers left by Luna and Star from yesterday. Just when she though the two were somewhere else she heard a commotion coming toward the back where the weapons and vehicles were stored. She octo formed again and swam behind a pile of crates and heard Seth and Vee's voices. Only catching the conversation when Vee leaned on Seth to help him aim his rifle, she took it as something lewd between the two as if Vee was pulling a Luna on the human. Getting agitated by the conversation she leaped from behind the crates and pointed her finger at the two.

"Alright you two! Explain yourselves! I let you go and search for supplies only to find you two getting off on each other! You two better..."

The two jumped, not expecting the confrontation from their commander. Vee quickly got off Seth's back before he held his arms out in defense.

"Hold up Lieutenant it's not what you think, You see Vee was just...

"...taking one for the team... I heard your conversation and if you think you can pull a fast one then you better think again because..."

"... wait, you think me and Seth were... oh my gosh, we would never lieutenant,"

"Then what were you two doing just now! Don't think I didn't catch you in the act,"

"She was just trying to get me situated with the weapon, like you did with her as she explained. No offense but I would never have intimacy with one of you, I'm a human and you guys are octo... not human... and besides I'm married and eager to find my wife and son. So don't even think something like that would ever happen,"

Mirage paused and remained quiet to the simple fact that she put accusations on Seth and Vee, thinking they were about to do a dirty deed alone and out of sight but what also bothered her was Seth said he would not even think to have intimacy with an octoling, though those weren't the exact words he used. She gave a sigh of defeat and felt bad for accusing them of what she thought was intercourse. "I apologize you two, I should've never jumped to conclusions but still you're supposed to searching for supplies and credentials but all I see you two goofing off,"

"We're not goofing off lieutenant, I'm practicing shooting this weapon. As I told Vee if I'm going to be a part of your squad then I need to be armed and if I'm going to be armed then I need to train myself. You should understand that being a hardened soldier yourself. Am I wrong," he said to her with slight disprovement.

Mirage yet again stayed quiet and knew he was right. He wasn't an octoling like them so he couldn't produce ink or shoot one of their weapons. "You've made your point but I've already gotten on to you about following orders human,"

"I know you have but what good am I to you if my skills aren't being used or rusty. Just let me train for a bit and then maybe my soldiering instincts will come back to me,"

"I'll let this slide only because I can't debate you on this. You maybe right but I need you to do as you're instructed. Don't let this be a problem sergeant," she said crossing her arms.

"It won't lieutenant,"

"See that it doesn't and you private... I don't wanna see you and the sergeant in a situation like that again, I don't care if it wasn't what I thought it was, do I make myself clear,"

"Yes, ma'am it'll never happen again," Vee complied with a salute, but as she raised her arm up, she knocked it into the rifle, causing it to aim at the elite and Seth pulling the trigger discharging a loaded round. A distressed gurgle could be heard after the sound of the gunfire. Mirage fell back on the floor as Seth and Vee 's eyes widened realizing what had happened. "Lieutenant!" Vee yelled rushing to her fallen commander.

"No...no...no, Mirage! Answer me!" she shouted trying to assess the lieutenant. Seth quickly dropped the weapon and rushed to Vee's aid. "Let me see, oh shit..." Seth said seeing the gunshot wound in Mirage's abdomen. She was bleeding ink and Seth scrambled to find a first aid kit.

"Hang in their lieutenant, I'll try and treat that wound but I gotta stop the bleeding," he said loudly as he rushed off, remembering seeing some med kits when he was grabbing gear for himself. "M...Mirage, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen," Vee told as her eyes started to tear up.

"(coughing)...ugh..." Mirage replied back. A little disoriented, she slowly recovered and sat up as she held her stomach. "What...the shell hit me, gah that hurts," she clutched. "Mirage! You're OK," shouted Vee who hugged the elite as Mirage winced in pain. She pulled off Vee and looked at her wound.

Seth finally made it back and opened a med kit, pulling out blood clotter and some gauze for the wound but as he did he watched the bullet wound instantly heal and seal up. "What...the..." was all he could say, he was awestruck to see as if the wound was never there. "Look, the lieutenant's OK Seth," said Vee with joy.

"I can see that... but how?" replied Blake as he put the medical stuff away. "That really hurt... what was I hit with?" she asked.

"My weapon discharged, it wasn't cleared. It's my fault that happened. Another reason to get disciplined with the weapon," said Seth.

Mirage saw that Seth was remorseful about what had happened to her and laid the guilt upon himself. She downed her head for a moment as her anger subsided and knew the human didn't mean for it to happen but as his superior, she had to take action for what happened, thankfully for some unknown reason, it seemed the bullet didn't do any permanent damage as the wound just healed in less than a minute. She got up and brushed herself off.

"Accidents happen but in this case... the worst didn't happen, I'm very fortunate that weapon didn't splat me but I'm going to take this lightly human. I'm suspending you from using it and you're being placed on punishment detail for negligence," she told him.

"What, lieutenant you can't do that to him! I'm the one that caused that human gun to shoot, not Seth," argued Vee.

"No Vee, I'll take the lick. I should've emptied that weapon and kept it pointed in a safe distance. That's what we were told when I was in the army and expect my commanding officer to see to it that it never happens again even if it means facing the consequences," said Seth.

Mirage was impressed at Seth's demeanor, accepting his situation honorably, something Mirage hasn't seen in a long time from any octoling soldier. Her admiration for the human was growing and then she was conflicted about doing this to him but as their commander she had to do what she felt needed to be done and that was to make Seth an example of what happens when there are fowl ups.

Seth placed the weapon back in the crate where he got it and took off the tactical gear. "You gonna bump me down to corporal too, right?" he asked Mirage.

"No, what I'm doing to you is punishment enough sergeant. Vee, I want you to report to the atrium and you," she said looking at Seth. "There's a room down the hall before you reach the atrium, I've turned it into my office, had to get those skeletons out though but anyway, head there and we'll discuss your punishment. You two are dismissed," she ordered them.

"Right away, Lieutenant" said Seth with a salute. Shielding herself, a reaction after what had happened. He left and Vee was grieving that Seth had to pay the price for her mess up.

"Private... Don't beat yourself up over this. If Seth's willing to face his actions then this will show how much he means to me and this team. Discipline is key and it's what I expect out of everyone here. I can tell he's a soldier with honor and I admire him for that so don't dwell on this," Mirage told the private.

"But I'm the one that caused it, I was worried you could have died, I wasn't sure how human weapons would effect us," Vee fretted.

"Private it's fine, thankfully it didn't hit something important but right now I want you to get over this and focus back on the mission. Just head to the atrium and don't worry about Seth," she said.

"Oh, alright then," Vee brooded as she started to walk off.

Outside on the surface, Luna and Star had already done a sweep and spotted nothing so far. They assumed the octarians they saw left and let their guard down to relax a bit. On the hill overlooking the abandoned suburb, where the hatch to the elevator was located. Luna and Star explored the surroundings, spotting a large kiosk near the gate. Probably used by the guards.

They looked inside and saw a skeleton laid over the gate controls. A little startled at the sight the two saw nothing of use inside. "Why do humans have bones anyway?" asked Star.

"How should I know... guess that's why they can't change forms like us," replied Luna before she leaned against the booth.

Well, I haven't seen anything," said Star.

"Yeah but Mirage has got us doing patrols while she's got the private and that human looking for food and junk. I know we've set up here but I honestly believe those inkheads will never find us. This is just stupid. We're underground, which technically we're already underground if you think about," said Luna as she looked up.

Up above them what looked like a normal sky, but looks can be deceiving. In fact it was nothing but screens projecting a false sky from outside on the real surface. The sun was nothing but a large light emitting warmth in what appeared to be an underground dome. Seth never noticed it before and was too focused on finding his missing family and getting captured by the octolings.

"Can't wait to leave this place, I'm getting sick of being underground and tired of hiding from Scarlet and her troops. When are we gonna get to the surface?" asked Star.

"Not soon enough that's for sure. Mirage is in no hurry," Luna replied as she hopped on the hood of a nearby rusted out vehicle.

"Wonder why? Has it got something to do with how the inklings will treat us if we're seen by them," pondered Star.

"I could care less about those squid and what they might think of us. I'm like you the sooner we leave octarian territory the better," said Luna.

"Have you noticed how Mirage has been acting every time that human's name is brought up, especially if it involves Vee," said Star.

"Yeah, I sense a bit of jealousy, she might as well admit it, she's got a crush on that human... and I would too I guess," said Luna repositioning herself to sit against the windshield.

"That's really odd for her to act like that. As long as I've known her she doesn't act like she's in anyway interested in anybody, not even among her own," said Star.

"As far back as I can remember she's always stayed to herself. I was in a unit with her, Mirage is just a closed book I guess you can say, she never mingled or talked with anyone even after training. Us elites would always hang out at the bar and get wasted and try to pick up guys...but Mirage, it wasn't her scene, was a waste of time to her," Luna explained.

"Well one thing I can say about her is she is a devoted leader and she's gotten us out of tight spots," defended Star.

"I'll give her that... still she could lighten up every now and then. Wind up a bit or something. Not stay on edge every second. I'm the same rank as her and I don't act like that... I could care less about the chain of command," Luna scoffed as she got relaxed.

"Probably why you two don't get along," said Star crossing her arms.

"Whatever, like a care... I'm just following orders until we get out of here and on the surface. May try and see if I can snag a inkling cutie but there's also a chance at that human. If Mirage could lay off that is," said Luna.

"Goes back to that jealousy thing you were talking about," said Star with a smirk.

"Ha! I'm a better package for that human than Vee or the lieutenant combined. I got personality, the body, the spunk... he don't know what he's missing," said the smug elite.

"Not sure if that's bad thing," Star mumbled under her breath.

"What was that?" Luna asked with her hands on her hips.

"Oh, nothing... let's just get off this topic, so um... listen to any good music lately?" she asked her.

"Star... we're underground running from Scarlet's forces. I don't think we've got time to check what's the freshest songs out there. I don't miss that dumb octarian techno and especially Octavio's "spicy" beats. What a wash out, I can't believe we were taking orders from some samurai poser DJ on a giant floating robot. How pathetic... if you ask me I'm glad he got his butt spanked by that agent even if she did tried to splat us too," said Luna.

"Well we would've been respawned back at base," Star replied.

"You make it sound like it wouldn't have been a big deal," said Luna placing her arms on her hips as she sat up giving Star an agitated look.

"I'm just trying to stay positive, wouldn't hurt for you to be," Star popped off.

"I'll be positive when we leave this place... I'm bored, I'm going to go find something to do," she said hopping off the hood of the vehicle and walking away.

"Hey Luna, wait for me," said Star as she followed after her.

Private Vee was waiting in the atrium for her commander. She was worried about Seth and felt guilty for getting him in trouble and nearly getting Mirage killed from bumping into the human's rifle, setting it off and hitting the elite. A black octopus swam from out of the corridor and changed back into the elite's humanoid form.

"Alright private, before I go and see if the sergeant's reported to my office yet. Go and link up with Star and Luna. I'll radio them to meet up with you at the elevator entrance," Mirage commanded the octoling regular.

Vee just gave a nod before changing forms and swimming away to go meet up with her squad mates. Mirage turned toward the hallway she came from and octo formed back to her office to wait on Seth. A couple of minutes later Seth had knocked the wall by the doorway of the room and was permitted in by the octoling leader.

"Have a seat sarge," she directed him as she sat behind a desk. He sat down and looked hard at the octoing. She slid over her goggles revealing her yellow eyes and her serious expression. "Look lieutenant, I'm sorry about what happened, being in cryostasis has still got my nerves racking. My senses aren't what they used to be but... that's still no excuse for what happened," he said apogetically.

"Sergeant... I know you didn't mean for it to happen; I've done already said that. Not sure what kind of punishment I should give you since you're not an octoling. But that's not the only reason why you're here, I've asked you into my office to discuss locating your family," she told him.

Seth's attention was gotten once he heard that. "Yes, I know I told you that placing you with my unit was part of the conditions for locating them. Once we're sure the octarians have left the dome we can begin our search, is there any clues to where they might have gone. Anything?" she asked.

"Not that I'm aware of, the pod they were in was already open before I was released. I looked around the facility to find them but I had no luck so I went top side and that's when you found me," he explained to her.

"I see, that doesn't help me though. I suggest we head back to these pods and look around, surely there's something that could tell us where they went," she said.

"Thank you so much, lieutenant, I really appreciate this..." said Seth as she waved her hand.

"You're part of my squad, it's the least I could do...curious though, you're very determined to find them, you mentioned that a wife meant a mate and you're offspring was with her. Octarians do produce offspring so they can grow and be dispatched to whatever occupation they're assigned when they reach age. How is it for humans?"

"What do you mean? Don't octarians get married and start a family?"

"We do find a mate but if for some reason they go missing, which really doesn't happen, often times we don't go hunting for them. We move on and focus on our occupational goals. If we do produce offspring we let them go at a certain age and they are assigned a role, whether it be a soldier, engineer, scientist and so and so forth but I sense something, emotional attachment, compassion for them, something us octolings don't have a sense of,"

"So I'm guessing you don't have families then,"

"Not in a human perspective, no. Under Octavio we all do our part and keep our minds concentrated on serving him and defending our territory from all threats. Assimilation I guess you can call it and it's hard to get away from even after the hypnowaves have worn off,"

"Sounds like a horrible life... I'm sorry what your people have endured,"

"You accept it or should I say programmed to accept it. There really is no freedom I hate to say. It sounded like human society was a far cry from octarian, sort of more like inkling society. Not sure how those squids will react seeing us come into their territory once we've reached the surface...If Scarlet's forces don't come across us first,"

"I assume that's the guys hunting your team down, why?"

"All traitors and deserters are to be captured and taken back to octo base for "reeducation" and if they are uncompliant and resist then they're splatted without any hope of respawning,"

"Humans were like that too, I remembered the mindset of our enemies from back during the resource wars. Guess things haven't changed that much from my world,"

"You said these wars killed your race off, but how did you end up here?"

"Me as well as my wife and son were abducted for some kind of project, I can't remember all the details but I can recall was we were placed in those pods for preservation, maybe we were supposed to wake up and reestablish humanity once the war ended. Only problem though was their pod was empty,"

"I would probably go nuts if I was in your shoes, to wake up and find out your kind has went extinct and you maybe the last of it. Don't worry we'll find them... but we're not gonna find them while we're just sitting here jabbering. Let's make our way to those pods and start looking for clues, you lead the way,

"What about my punishment, lieutenant?"

"That can wait, let's just go,"

Outside, Luna and Star left the complex site to go looking around. There was a breach in the fence toward the north. A trail of some kind was going into the wooded area. The two ventured down it, curious to where it led. Up ahead about 200 feet the trail forked. "So...which way now?" asked Star.

"Hmm...let's go left," Luna directed.

The two octolings traversed further and came across a rocky ridge, the trail descended down to a river. The two of them decide to keep going down and reach the river. Unable to swim they see an island near by, and octoform and shoot across the water toward it. They spot an APC stilling out of the ground with its rear hatch, leaning toward the air. The skeletal remains of a soldier is laying on the ground beside a crate of supplies, tipped over.

"Oh, good I could use a snack," said Luna as she scoured through the rations but they were ruined. Frustrated she threw a weathered package down, seeing nothing was edible.

"Hey Luna do you hear something?" asked Star.

"Yeah, what is that, sounds like a propeller," Luna replied.

They look for the source and see something hovering over the river toward them. "Oh carp! Octocopter! We can't let us see us," Star panicked.

"I got this," said Luna chalantly as she aimed her weapon at it.

"No Luna! You might miss and get us spotted, we need to hide," Star said as she grabbed Luna's weapon. They look and see the APC's hatch was partially open. "Quick, in here!" Star directed as the two octoformed and jump inside the military vehicle.

The octocopter looked like a bobbling tentacle attached to a metal cap with a rotor on top of it. It's bulging eyes and goofy face looked around, it was presumably scouting the area. When it didn't see anything it left and continued down the river and out of sight.

"That was close, Star," she said as she turned her head to see a skull staring at her. She squealed and jumped out of the APC. Luna laughed as she crawled out of the vehicle's hatch. "You should've seen your face," she told her as she held her stomach and laughed at the octoling.

"That wasn't funny Luna! I'm just glad the octocopter left... I think we need to head back up the hill. There's nothing here," she said recomposing herself.

"Yeah, before you ink yourself," Luna taunted which flustered her partner.

The two return to the fork and headed right. The trail went into an opening. A large highline wire ran through the wooded area and then they spotted something on the other side of field they were facing. They run through the high grass and see what looked like a camp site consisting of a makeshift tent made from a tarp and pieces of wood that was cut. A campfire that had done went out and had been out for a while leaving nothing but ashes. Luna picked up a tin can that had been opened and saw a cardboard box has flattened and made into a bed for whoever was using the tent.

Star spots a note laying on the ground, though she couldn't read it. It was in a strange writing. "Wonder what this says?" asked Star.

"Let me see," Luna snatching the note. She examined it. "I don't know what it says either, doesn't look octarian," handing the paper back to Star who put it in her thin shorts.

"Wonder who set this camp up?" Star asked as she studied the camp. "Whoever it was must have left, not sure if they're coming back though. It looked like this place hasn't been attended to for days. Not sure if we should report this to the lieutenant or not," said Luna.

Unknown to them at the far end of the field, under a highline pylon was a figure watching them from a pair of binoculars. They watched the two octoform and swim into the grass out of sight.

Meantime, Vee was patiently waiting for Luna and Star to show up. It was 10 minutes until the two would finally reach the site and spot Vee kicking rocks in front of the elevator access. She turned and saw the Luna and Star approached. "Hey where were you two, Mirage was trying to get a hold of you on the radio," Vee fretted.

"Oh, I must of forgot to turn it on," said Luna.

"What are you doing out here? I thought you were with Seth," asked Star.

"I was reassigned, Seth is... facing punishment because of me," Vee said with her head down.

"Huh, what happened?" asked Star.

"Yeah what did you do him that got him into trouble, don't tell me you got into his pants... because I won't believe it," commented Luna.

"Luna! Really! What a dirty mind you got," scolded Star.

"What! Why would you say that! That's what Mirage thought too but no that's not why, I'll talk to you guys about it," she told them as the three of them started walking.

Both Star and Luna were curious to why Seth got into trouble and how it was Vee's fault. She told them about the shooting incident, which in turn concerned the two but glad to hear Mirage had recovered, still feeling bad for Seth with Luna popping off about Vee getting Seth into trouble like that and making her feel bad which in turn got her a glare from her friend Star who came to Vee's defense. Getting off topic, Star told Vee about seeing the octocopter and almost getting caught. Luna had to bring up about Star almost inking herself over the skeleton inside the APC which deserved her a smack from Star.

They also brought up about the campsite and a note that was left behind. They showed it to Vee who was puzzled as to what the note said since it wasn't written in octarian. "We'll notify Mirage about it once we report back in. Sucks for Seth, I hate it that the lieutenant grounded him though," said Star.

"Me too, it's my fault though. It wouldn't have happened if it weren't for me, I'm such a klutz," said Vee, feeling the guilt again and covering her face.

"Don't beat yourself over it Vee, It'll be OK, Seth's not gonna hate you," comforted Star.

"Yeah but... I just wanted to help. He's got a lot on his plate between waking up, what we did to him and his family is missing too," she told her.

"I know you wanna help him and that's kind of you but Seth just needs time to get adjusted," Star replied.

"Yeah you were helping alright, the same way I would've helped him but it wouldn't be his arms I would be grabbing for," said Luna which gave herself a punch in the arm from Star. "Oww...I'm just being honest,"

"Don't listen to her, she needs to get her mind out of the gutter. Seth's part of the squad and we all need to treat each other as such, isn't that right lieutenant," Star said giving Luna a displeased look.

"Yeah, sure thing, you're getting as bad as Mirage, you don't want me to have any fun," she pouted.

As the trio walked around the site, they spotted movement down below. They could make out octopi swimming behind cover, getting closer up the hill where they were at. "What was that, I saw something," said Vee. Then a couple octolings appeared from behind the rocks, looking toward their direction. "Oh, shrimp. They found us... we gotta warn Mirage," panicked Star as Luna grabbed her radio.

Deep inside the facility, Lieutenant Mirage and Seth stepped into the cryo chamber. This was where Seth had awoken from and where he could speak and understand his octoling captors. They approached the pod where Seth's wife and child was in and looked. They saw nothing that would point them to any direction. "I would say our trail is off to a cold start, no pun intended," said Seth as he saw his breath in the chilly room.

"No, I'm sure there's something here, maybe theirs records or something on that machine that Luna messed with yesterday," said Mirage. The two walked over to the main computer controlling the cryopods. "Knowing the lieutenant, I hope she didn't break it, that would just be our luck," she said.

"Maybe not, let me see," he said as he walked up to console. He typed on a keyboard but the screen remained black. He kept pushing buttons until the monitor came on with a blue screen. A window popped up saying rebooting system. The two waited and finally the main menu appeared. "OK, let me check files," said Seth pressing the arrow keys till he reached the files icon. He scrolled through them, only revealing dates and codes. "I don't know what I'm looking for," he said.

"Just pick something," said Mirage.

Seth just chose a file, by the date it was uploaded. It was a file from before he was placed in cryostasis. Notes popped up about research that was irrelevant to him. He exited it and picked another file. This time a video of researchers in a lab. Doctor Engils was facing the camera with a lab station behind him. "We've successfully come up with a formula for the project. X10 as we're calling it. The last 9 formulas unfortunately have killed the test subjects in less than 24 hours. So far a subject that has been injected with X10 has stayed alive for over 24 hours but is showing adverse and strange effects. Their cognitive skills have decreased and they act hostile to the staff, we're continuing to monitor them closely. We will begin modifying the formula and see if we can alleviate these effects..." Seth stopped the video and exited the file.

"What's that human sayng?" said Mirage who couldn't understand Engils.

"It was nothing, just some science project. I'm not concerned about it," Seth replied as he looked through the files. He chose another and soon a video popped up like the last file. It was Engils again and this time he was beside an aquarium. "We're taking a different approach to the problem. We've decided to study and observe the behavior of our aquatic friends, cephalopods. These creatures are very intelligent and often use problem solving skills that have always fascinated us. Having a complex nervous system that allows each tentacle to act as if they are independent and when they lose one, it heals up very quickly, possessing regenerative properties. These creatures are very adaptive to their surroundings and it made me think... what if we..." Seth stopped the video but Mirage was fascinated by something. In the video she saw Engils messing with an octopus. "Wait a minute, can you tell me what he was talking about, I couldn't understand him," she asked, very curious to what the video was about seeing the octopus.

"He was just talking about your kind, well not actually your kind, the kind of octopi that don't turn into humanoids or octo...lings,"

"The sunken sea scrolls mentioned about our race as well as the inklings coming out of the sea and onto dry land sometime after the humans went extinct. Our ancestors were have said to be in our primitive form unable to transform like we do now but... what's that humans fascination with us?" she wondered.

"Wait, your ancestors were normal octopuses? And that you crawled on land... that makes no sense, you wouldn't have survived out of the water,"

"There's gotta be some other explanation, I was kind of skeptible about our race's origins too. Something's missing and I agree with you. I think humans had something to do with it but how?"

"I'm not sure, my kind were always delving into things they shouldn't have. It's why we wiped each other out in the first place. Maybe if nukes were never created the human race would still be around,"

"Do you remember anything about this place before you woke up?"

"No, as I said everything is still a blur to me, doesn't mean it won't come back though,"

"I wish I knew more," said Mirage who stared back at the monitor.

Seth exited the file and scrolled all the way down to the last file. It was the most recent one, the date was the same time he went into cryostasis. He clicked on it but the data was corrupt. "Crap, looks like another dead end. I should've known I wouldn't have found anything. Let's face it, they could be dead for all I know,"

"Don't talk like that! A soldier never gives up on the mission! We will find them," said Mirage sternly as she approached Seth. "I guess spoken like a real leader, you're right! I don't need to give up! There's gotta be a clue a hint, something here. Surely they couldn't have gotten far," said Seth.

"Well let's head out since there's nothing here, maybe we'll...wah!" she said but as she turned away and took a step, she slipped in a puddle of water, losing traction and falling back. Seth rushed in to catch her but in doing so she landed into him causing the human to fall back into the console as she caught her.

Seth winced from hitting the machine and was leaned back against it. He opened his eyes and saw nothing but a black tentacle obstructing his vision. He brushed it aside and was face to face with the elite, her goggles fell off and her eyes were closed until she opened and saw how close her face was to his.

Both frozen in place, awkward and afraid to say anything to each other. Her face slowly turned pink as her hands were on top of his, bracing themselves against the console after they fell on one another.

"You...ok?" asked Seth awkwardly to break the silence. Their lips were just a couple of inches apart and Mirage wasn't sure how to answer his question. After a moment she came to her senses and quickly got off of him and brushed herself. "Y...y...yeah I'm fine," she finally replied.

"You sure?" he asked.

"Yes! I'm sure, I just slipped is all," getting flustered if not embarrassed. She bent down to grab her goggles.

"You got pretty eyes," commented Seth as she wiped the goggles. She looked at Seth, seeing his half-smile as he looked back at her.

This made Mirage blush even more to a near red. "I... just shut it, We need to formulate a plan if we're gonna find them. You comin' or are ya' just gonna stand there human," she snapped putting the goggles back over her eyes.

"All I did was comment your eyes, no one's ever done that for?" he asked.

"What! No! Why are we talking about my eyes!?" She snapped again.

"Ok, I'll leave it alone... so I guess that means you've never went out,"

'Uh, no... why would I. I'm a proud octarian soldier. I don't have to find a mate besides I haven't even seen a single male that's even peeked my interest... though males are a minority. 1/3 to be exact, maybe less of the octarian population,"

"So there's that many male octolings. Why?"

"It's just how it is, Females are the dominant sex. We're the better warriors... by what you've said it's the opposite for humans. I could tell by your demeanor towards us... which confused me at first,"

"Don't get me wrong but yes in certain criterias, women do dominate men on things and I have seen women that could put up a fight alongside a man. Humans are diverse, not everyone is the same even if they are stereotyped. When me and my wife got married we always compromised on different matters. we never tried to dominate over the other. I can do things she can't and she can do things I can't. That's how it works,"

"Compromise huh... unfortunately octarians don't think like that, it's why we had the great turf war with the inklings before they banished us underground. It's why we stole the great zapfish from them instead of making a deal or even thinking about settling a peace with them,"

"It's never too late to start, how I see it you've already compromised with me to help find my wife and son, if I joined your squad and I did, kinda, more like drafted but never the less you were still willing to help me, a human you've never met before,"

Mirage was stunned, he was right... she did reach an understanding with the human. She turned her head to cover her red cheeks. Under her goggles and disposition, she was accepting her feelings toward Seth. "(deep breath) Out of everybody I've ever met this human has got me twisted in all kinds of directions. It's...freaking me out, I've never felt like this before," she said in her mind.

She turned back to Seth who was looking at her with concern. "Look, I... how should I put this, be so hard on you. I've got so much weight on my tentacles that it's putting me under a lot of pressure. As a team leader I'm appointed many responsabilites, making sure we stay alive above all else,"

"As a soldier I understand that lieutenant... I've been on the battlefield, I've seen soldiers die, some I've made friends with get killed in combat. I know where you're coming from, believe me I've been there,

"Then you know this isn't easy for me to say neither. As the commander of my squad its hard for me to admit when I can't handle my job. To know they'll be times when I could fail them; to live with that when I do,"

"Lieutenant, you motivated me not to lose hope and now I doing the same to you. You need to quit focusing on the what if's and start thinking about the what can's. You are our commander and should think like one, not some grunt whose about to go through training. I'm here for you, if you're going to be here for me," Seth told her. She looked and saw a genuine smile on his face and his arm out for her to shake his hand.

She looked at him and then at his hand. She smiled and pulled her goggles up, revealing her eyes and hopeful expression. As she shook it, he pulled her into a hug, which she didn't expect, stunned at first but then accepting it as she wrapped her arms around him. They pulled away as the elite placed her goggles back on. They locked eyes on each other unsure what to say and forgot what they were about to do.

The static from the radio then jarred their senses as Mirage grabbed it to see what was going on. "Bzzzttt...Lieutenant, come in..." a voice sounded, faint and static. "This is the lieutenant, report," she replied back.

"Bzzzttt... we have Bzzzttt...coming, we...Bzzzttt"

"Repeat that message, you came in broken, over," replied the elite.

"Enemy octarians are coming up the hill!" they shouted followed by ink fire.

"What's going on?" asked Seth.

"We got hostiles approaching from the West, I need you to..." Mirage started but realized Seth was unarmed.

"What!? What do you want me to do?"

"Stay put, I'm going outside to fight along side my squad,"

"Negative, lieutenant, I'm coming with you. I'm not..."

"I said for you to hold, that's an order,"

"And let you guys fight without me, no doing, orders or not,"

"You're not going outside and that's final sergeant!"

"I'm a part of this squad. I thought we sticked together, your words!"

Mirage paused, she bit her lip eating her own words. (Growl) Fine... you can't produce ink so retrieve that weapon you had and rendezvous with me in the elevator and make it quick!"

"No problem! I'll meet you there!"

Mirage octoformed and swam back to the atrium as fast as she could while Seth headed for the storage bay to grab the weapon and gear.

Top side, near the entrance to the complex. Luna, Star, and Vee watched multiple octarians move up the path toward their position. Enemy octolings took cover while the octotroopers on their platforms scurried up the path way. "Alright get ready to shoot some ink," jeered Luna.

Star nodded and Vee clutched her weapon. "We need to hold positions and prepare to defend this place. We're limited on splat bombs so make them count and wait until they get closer," said Luna.

As the octotroopers were in range, the trio raised up and began shooting at the troopers. Star lobbed a splat bomb at the lead tentacle and splatted him off the platform. The remaining troopers fired back and tried to gun down the three octolings. "Don't let them get on top of us!" Luna shouted before she raised up and struck a trooper. Star managed to hit the other and all three troopers were finally down but the threat wasn't over.

As they fought the tentacles, the enemy octolings used this as a distraction and snuck past the fire sector to whip around and gain a vantage point over the three. Only just 50 yards away behind a rusty humvee, the octoling lobbed a splat bomb in front of them but the cover shielded the squad from the ink blast. "Damn! You little..." jeered Luna as she shot at the octoling.

The enemy octoling took cover as another appeared near the gate entrance and sprayed a barrage of ink toward Luna and the others. "Eat my ink you traitors!" she shouted at them.

Luna and Star raised up again and shot at her, she evaded their fire and octoformed to swim away to cover. "We can't keep this up, when's Mirage getting here?" asked Star.

"I done called her on the radio, we gotta hold them off," said Luna. Just then an octoling snuck around to the side of their position. She changed back to her humanoid form and aimed her octo shot at Vee. "Prepare to get splatted!" she shouted. Vee turned and froze in fear but just before she could pull the trigger to shoot the private, she burst into ink. Luna had her octo shot up, saving Vee.

"Luna! Oh my gosh I thought I was done for, you saved my tentacles," said Vee.

"Watch your butt private! I'm not gonna always be here to save it," Luna snapped.

The three then focused back on shooting the octolings that kept sneaking up the hill. Soon another small group of octotroopers were coming up on their platforms. "We're gonna get over run, darn it! What's taking Mirage so long!?" sneered Luna as she was shooting.

Speaking of which, Mirage was eagerly waiting for Seth to return. When he finally arrived the two rushed to the elevator. Seth was carrying the rifle and the gear he was wearing. "Wow, you really look like you're prepared for war," said Mirage. "Isn't that what we're doing," Seth replied as the two ran for the elevator. Seth smacked the button for the elevator to ascend up to the surface. As the hatch opened above, they could hear the fighting. "Alright get ready," said Mirage as she gripped her octo shot. The two ran behind cover, Mirage octo formed and swam toward her unit while Seth scurried closer as he aimed down his sight with the rifle.

"About time you joined the party, we were waiting, where's Seth?" asked Luna sitting behind the vehicle with Vee and Star.

"The sergeant has probably found a vantage point. He'll be providing cover fire for us. Get ready on my mark! We can't let these inkstains take the facility!" commanded Mirage. As soon as she got an opportunity to raise her head, she fired back along with her team. "Now! open fire!" she shouted.

The octolings were converging, coming in and out of cover to take pop shots at the squad. Seth looked down the optic and took a shot beside the enemy octoling. The gunfire and bullet impacts caused the octoling to yelp and get back behind cover. "What the shell was that!" the enemy octoling shouted to herself.

"Troops! Advance and take down those traitors!" ordered an enemy elite, further out, directing the regulars to push the onslaught. The octotroopers were now in range and providing covering fire for the octolings to push up and overwhelm the squad.

As the troopers moved forward, Seth got one in his sight but something caused him to hesitate. The troopers looked so... goofy with their fat lips and bulging eyes. He shook his head and aimed down the sight but couldn't pull the trigger. Though the creatures were hostile he felt like a veteran gamer facing noobs in a online shooter. He saw they were riding some kind of machine and instead of shooting them he shot at the platform. A couple of shots caused the vehicle to malfunction and explode, only making the trooper fly up into the air and land on the ground, the other troopers were confused and shocked by what happened. This allowed his team a window to shoot the troopers, splatting them.

"Where did that noise come from!?" shouted the enemy elite. She was unfamiliar with the gunfire as it didn't sound like anything she's ever heard before. The other octolings were also stunned which caused to stop their attack. Luna then saw her opportunity and rushed an octoling regular in the open and kick her down before splatting her. Afterward she launched ink fire at more octolings as Star, Mirage and Vee saw their enemies were confused by the gunfire and not focused on the squad closing in on them.

Star threw a splat bomb behind the cover of an enemy octoling, splatting her before she could flee. Mirage splatted a few causing the enemy forces to retreat. "Fall back!" shouted the elite, waving her unit to head back down the hill. Mirage and her team shot as they octoformed and fled the site. "What a turn of events," said Star.

"Yeah, I guess Seth scarred them off with whatever that was he was shooting," said Luna.

Seth saw the battle was over and ran toward the octolings. "Everyone ok?" he asked them.

"Yeah, we're fine since you got here," said Luna promiscuously, giving the human a wink.

"Thanks for the support and that weapon you got looks awesome. I like to get a chance to use it," Star told him, admiring his rifle.

Hey, I wanna shoot it first," argued Luna.

"Shut it the both of you!" Mirage snapped at the two before turning to Seth. "I gotta admit we'd end up ink puddles if it weren't for you,"

"Thanks, wasn't sure how I would do, haven't been in combat for technically 2,000 years,"

"I think you did great Seth," commented Vee.

"You guys are giving me too much credit,"

"Hey, I had a question? Why did you hesitate on that first shot," asked Mirage sternly.

"What are talking about?"

"I saw your reaction when you looked down that weapon. I know hesitation when I see it. You had the shot on that trooper but instead you shot it's platform, why?" she grilled with disprovement.

"I haven't got to shoot a weapon since I was in the military, my skills aren't as they used to be. What's it matter, I immobilized it didn't I,"

"That doesn't matter, I know you could've hit that trooper, why didn't you? Hesitation is a hole in the head and I won't allow it. I expected you to do your job and be a soldier. There's no room for errors," getting more agitated with Seth.

"Listen here lieutenant, I've only ben out of my pod for nearly a day. I still don't know anything about this world or your enemies. You should know that bullets aren't affective against your own anyway. All that matters is that they retreated,"

"They'll be back and you can count on that sergeant, everyone check your gear and replenish your ink,"

Seth gave a sigh seeing Mirage getting aggravated at him. He didn't have the nerve to kill the creature. It seemed he may have lost his edge. He unslung the rifle and checked it. "So much for that," he said to himself. He looked over toward the exit and saw something rolling around. He went over to investigate as Mirage was accessing the team.

Seth spotted what looked like a tentacle with legs kicking, trying to get up, but he could tell the creature was injured from the explosion. It was the octotrooper that got blown off its platform. "Murm Murm Murm," it cried when it saw Seth. It stared at him with fear.

"Hey, don't worry I'm not gonna hurt you," Seth tried to coax it.

It tried harder to get up. Fearful of the human it had never seen before. "Murm Mah Muuuuuurm..." it cried out some more.

"Poor guy, here let me help you up..." said Seth before he was cut off from the trooper exploding into ink. Some of the ink splattered on Seth and into his mouth. He quickly spit out the purple ink and tried to wipe the ink off his face.

Nothing but a puddle laid where the trooper was. Stunned by what had happened he heard footsteps behind him and saw Mirage with her nozzle dripping ink, aimed in the direction where the creature was. "Did you just shoot it?" Seth panned.

"I did," she answered plainly and apathetically.

"It wasn't armed! That's breaking rules of engagement!"

"The only rule I have is no prisoners! I don't know how you humans fought one another but things are different here. It's splat or be splatted sergeant. Don't show weakness or it could cost you,"

"That wasn't the point! That creature posed no threat, why not just restrain it or just let it go," he suggested to her. Outraged by the merciless killing of the trooper.

"Let it go!? So it can run back and alert more of those brainwashed octojerks,"

Mirage pinched her nose, trying to contemplate how to get Seth to understand how fighting works in their world. As she was about to say something, Star shouted from up the hill. "Lieutenant! We got a live one here!"

Mirage and Seth rushed up and saw the three huddled around behind a large rock. It was an octoling regular, she wasn't dead but unconscious. The octoling managed to stay out of the blast of the splat bomb enough to not get splatted by it. "What do we do with her?" asked Star.

"Finish her off," commanded Mirage. Luna walked up and aimed the nozzle of her weapon at the unresponsive octoling's head.

"Hold it! You're not executing another one," demanded Seth.

"I'm the commander of this squad and I say waste the little inker,"

"No! I don't care what you told me. I'm treating her and then we'll interrogate her when she wakes up," said Seth as he walked up and carried the knocked out girl into his arms.

This infuriated Mirage. Luna gave an indifferent expression with her arms crossed as Star and Vee didn't know how to react. Mirage balled up her fist and threw her octo shot down watching Seth leave with their enemy. She gave a deep breath to calm herself before she turned to her team. "A regular boy scout isn't he," popped off Luna.

"I think he made an admirable choice sparing her," said Vee. The group then looked at her. "Private, she's the enemy, they want us killed or captured, what part don't you understand," asked Mirage who was still trying to get over Seth's actions.

"Seth is merciful even if he is a soldier. I don't think it's weakness lieutenant. I think we could learn a lot from him and his species," Vee continued.

"Yeah, a species that wiped each other out. Seth though... isn't what I'd expect from a human. He has changed my perspective of things somewhat. He's definintly hard to figure out," said Mirage.

"I'm sure he had his own reason to spare that octoling,"

"Maybe...but my team's survival comes first. He's making things more difficult for me... I guess we might as well see what he's up to,"

The squad octoformed and followed Seth to the elevator. Once they made it down and back to the atrium he took the girl to one of the examination rooms and laid her on a bed. The group followed behind and hung around the door way. "I think she's just in shock, I don't see any wounds on her and I checked her pulse. It's pretty rhythmic, that's odd," said Seth.

"I'm no medical professional but I'll treat her to the best of my abilities," said Seth as he examined the octoling.

"Why are you showing her sympathy?" asked Mirage.

"Because that's how I am... She's defenseless and needs medical attention. Even on the battlefield we treated our enemy if they were injured and posed no threat. Your kind might not be like that but I'm going to help her whether you like it or not. Also maybe she knows some things... like if she's seen another human," said Seth facing Mirage and the others.

"I don't understand you,"

"What's to understand, I'm a soldier or used to be. I trained, I fought and I made it back home. I still suffer from it all, seeing guys like me die around me through the gunfire and explosions...and I could've been one of them. So don't start lecturing me about war, I've done lived through it and it's not a life I wanna go back to,"

The elite didn't even try to debate the human. She could sense his anguish and regret, experiencing the horrors of war. Humans seemed to be driven by conflict while the innocent are pulled into it. Losing their lives or living through the trauma from it. Seth was clearly mentally and emotionally effected by his combat experience. Octarians didn't have the same outlook, fighting seemed like a norm to them, apathetic and submissive to their superiors, never questioning orders. How Mirage wishes she could share his dignity.

Seth turned his attention back to the octoling on the bed. Still lying motionless, he sat beside to watch for any responsiveness as the group decided to leave them alone. He gave a deep breath and shook his head. "Hope this girl wakes up soon, maybe she has some answers for my questions,"

Mirage and her team hung around the atrium. She was leaned up against the wall with one leg bent and her arms crossed. Conflicting thoughts stirring in her mind about Seth and the enemy octoling. Star was sitting on the floor beside Vee and Luna was standing, tapping her foot wondering what they would do next.

"So...new orders?" asked Luna breaking the monotony. Mirage ignored Luna and brooded. So she shrugged and turned to Star and the private. "What do you think?" she asked them.

"About," replied Star.

"Um Seth and that octoling, what else. Why wouldn't he just let us splat her. She's just a grunt, probably doesn't know anything,"

"I'm not sure," said Star.

"What about you Vee?" asked Luna.

"Is it a bad thing that he did, after all they were assimilated back to obeying Octavio," Vee replied.

"What's it matter if she's brainwashed or not. It's either us or them, what do you expect us to do? try and reason with them, good luck," said Luna.

"That's not what I'm getting at, it's just... even though Seth's went through so much in his life he's still willing to be merciful even to our enemies. Something the octarians have often lacked. Yeah the inklings banished us underground a hundred years ago but I don't hate them for it. I think if our people were more like Seth we would be at peace and help our societies out. They may let us come to the surface and share the zapfish,"

"That's all well and good but you forgot about the overgrown sea slug Octavio. He wouldn't allow it. He despises the inklings. Did you forget about that? Merciful is not exactly in that octopus's vocabulary," said Luna.

"Didn't that squidbeak agent defeat him though," Star brought up.

"Last time I heard but now his second in command is in charge. Scarlet and she's more ruthless than him. She's willing to hunt down her own and splat them for trying to leave for the surface. A regular octo winch," Luna sneered.

"Wonder what we'll do once she wakes up. Seth brought up interrogating her," said Star.

'If it were me I would've just turned her into an ink puddle. Don't know why he wants to interrogate that girl for, she wouldn't have nothing of interest for us,"

"Maybe she could give us information on the unit she was with," Star inputted.

"I doubt it, she's gonna keep her beak shut. She's not gonna tell us anything,"

"What if... Seth was gonna see if she'd seen another human like him, I just thought about that, his family is still missing," said Vee.

"Again I don't think she's going to be in a talking mood when she wakes up and is held captive,"

"You're right, would be a waste of time," said Mirage as she butted in. She got off the walk and walked over to the trio.

"Oh finally in a talking mood," sneered Luna.

"Shut it lieutenant, I got too much on my mind and I don't have time for your mouth. Wonder how they found us?"

"Me and Luna evaded that octocopter north of the base. We went exploring with Luna forgetting to even turn the radio on. After that we stumbled across a tent, no one was around and by the look of things, whoever was staying there, didn't stay long. Other than that we didn't see anything else...oh! also we found this note by that camp. It's written in some strange language, it's definitely not octarian," said Luna as she pulled the note out of her shorts and handed it to Mirage.

She examined it and couldn't read it neither, but upon further inspection. "I recognize the lettering...it's human... and that could mean, where was that camp at?" asked Mirage.

"North of here at the end of a trail across this field, why?" asked a baffled Star.

"I think we may be on to something. Maybe this will give us a lead to where Seth's family is unless there's another human running around other than his wife and child," she told them as she rushed away to show Seth the note.

Seth was still in the room, the girl still hadn't moved. He was anxious to see if she knew anything and then Mirage ran into the room. "Seth! Star and Luna may have ran across something you might want to know. A note written in human language, I'm not sure what it says," said the elite handing the paper over to him.

Seth was curious and eager to see it. He looked at it and read it:

It's been a couple of days sense we left that place seeing all those people dead in those pods and the skeletons laying everywhere. I wonder what happened to everyone? I had no choice but to leave with my baby. I hate it that I left my husband behind but I couldn't get the pod open and it was too cold for us to stay. We thought somebody might have been alive on the surface but I was wrong. Nothing's the same anymore, ever since I woke up I've been having these weird dreams and my skin has been real itchy and some of my hair is falling out. What's happening to me? Was I exposed to something? Even my voice is starting to change. I started this camp in hopes that maybe the smoke from the fire would attract attention. My baby is getting hungry and I'm having to scavenge for food. I hope someone finds us soon. Seth I hope you know I'm sorry for leaving you, I love you and I hope we'll be together again,"

"It's...them, I know it is! they mentioned me!" shouted Seth who was excited to hear they were still alive as he jumped up from the chair, clutching the note.

"Star said she and Luna found a campsite north of here but it was empty and for a while according to them. We'll go investigate as soon as we can but right now, we're going to have to do something with her once she wakes up," said Mirage, directing to the unconscious octoling.

"Yeah, I'm just so...overjoyed by this. I can't thank you enough," he told her.

"Look... I wanna apologize for what I said and how I acted. Vee seems to look up to you and she's try to reason with me about your actions. I think there's a lot we could learn from you. I'm glad you're a part of the squad, it's just you worry me at times is all,"

"Apology accepted but I don't hold anything against you, we're different. You have your own perception and I have mine,"

"We are different but at the same time we're not... if that makes any sense.

"Getting philosophical on me... seems like someone's coming out of their element, so much for having a apathetic mentality that you said your people share,"

"I would hit you but... I'll just take that as a compliment. Inform me when she decides to wake up and then we can begin questioning her," said Mirage before she left.

"She's something else... I like it, I think she's starting to come around," he said...but Just then the octoling started to move, she mumbled a little bit and tried to sit up as she held her head. "Looks like someone's away, guess that means she's feeling better," Seth said. She blinked and looked around until she froze at the sight of Seth. "Um, hey there," Seth plainly said with a wave.

Her eyes lit up seeing he wasn't an octoling like her. He had no tentacles or eye marks but he was dressed like a soldier. Now frightened by his sight and wondering where she was it. "Look, don't take this personally but you're our prisoner now," he told her as he rubbed his head and tried to smile.

With Seth now knowing his wife and infant were now alive, he was more determined than ever to locate them. As for the octoling, would she know anymore information on them? Had she seen another human like him or any of her people? It seemed Seth and the octolings managed to repel Scarlet's forces for now, unsure if or when they would attack again. Keep reading and find out.