The battlefield was gruesome. Splatters of magenta and teal ink covered vast stretches of land. Rebel Octolings could be seen fleeing the scene as magenta ink rained down from the other side. Octo commanders lined the border between rebellion territory and Octavio's domain, and with Octavio back in command, his forces were making a push. Octolings from behind the Octo Commanders and Octo Snipers peered through their Hypnoshades and made their way onto the battlefield. The rebellion knew they were not going to win this fight and so they were fleeing to regroup and fight another day. As Octavio's armies made their way closer to the Rebel base, the octolings inside were frantically trying to gather their intel and get out before they were met with an untimely end.

"Takeshi! What's your status?" A female Octoling called into her communicator as she ran through the compound, her Octo Shot clipped at her belt and flopped against her leg as she ran, ready to be equipped at a moments notice. "We need to get out of here NOW!"

Her communicator lit up and Takeshi's voice rang through the speaker, relieving her slightly that he can still hear and answer her call. She doesn't stop her sprint however, if he calls for backup she needs to be ready to support. She furrows her brow and listens to the voice calling out from her communicator as the wind rushes past her, making her small tentacles beside her face flap slightly.

"We're almost done! We just need to finish loading the map data so we have it with us when we make a new base!" His voice sounds frantic, no doubt he's seen battle recently and is guarding the communications room. "I handled a few Octotroopers but I'm sure reinforcements are coming."

"Hold on Tak, I'm gonna see if I can draw them away from you. I might be able to buy you a few more minutes!" She calls back into her communicator as she unclips her Octo Shot and readies it for battle, flipping the safety off with a quick twist of her thumb. She takes a moment to quickly check the straps of her ink tank, making sure it's secured.

"Kiaria no! Regroup with the rest of the rebels at the fallback point! We need you alive!" Takeshi's voice calls out in distress. Kiaria knew he meant well but she could handle herself. Besides, that intel would be far more useful than just her. She was a competent fighter, you don't get to special ops just by having a pretty face, but she was just one soldier. If she died defending her friends, that means they have just that much greater chance of surviving to fight another day.

"You don't give the orders here soldier, now get that data and get out of here!" She calls into her communicator before clipping it back on her belt and making her way through the winding tunnels that lead to the coms room. She could hear methodic marching which meant there was hypnotized Octolings nearby. She ventured a guess that they were headed to Takeshi's position as his hostility towards them would've raised an alert to the rest of the hypnotized forces.

Just as she had expected, there were more Octolings outside the door than Takeshi would've been able to handle on his own. She screams in rage as she materializes a Splat Bomb and throws it into the middle of the pack causing them to split. The confusion created by this allows her to quickly drop to her knees, sliding on the ground as she passes by two dazed Octolings. She stops quickly and turns, her Octo Shot firing teal ink with force causing her victims to explode into ink. She quickly turns her head to see another Octoling, now recovering from their daze, readying their weapon to fire upon her. She quickly sweeps their legs out from under them with her own before making them too an ink stain on the floor.

She bows her head in shame for a moment. She doesn't like how many of her kind have to die because Octavio continues his iron grip on Octarian society, but she knows that their sacrifices won't be in vain. The more he tightens his grip, the more Octolings slip right through his fingers. She wishes that this was the end of the fight, but she knows that more will be upon her shortly, she can already hear their footsteps.

"I'm sorry brothers and sisters, may the gods be merciful to your souls." Kiaria says under her breath as she readies herself for the coming army. Her feet planted on the ground firmly, ready to kick off or dodge at a moments notice. She slows her breathing and closes her eyes, the world slowing down around her, every step of the enemy echoing in her ears.

The platoon of Octoling soldiers round the corner, Kiraria's eyes shoot open and she lets out an ink curdling scream as she charges right for them. They turn to face her and the Octoling in the front raises their weapon to fire, but Kiaria kicks it out of their hands before they can pull the trigger. The stunned Octoling is now acting as a temporary barrier between her and the rest of the platoon, so she uses this to her advantage. She reaches out, grabs them by the collar of their Neo Octoling armour, and quickly pulls them towards her and lifting them off the ground as she spins. Then, using the momentum from the centrifugal motion, she throws them into the rest of the platoon they arrived with. Shamefully Kiaria raises her weapon again, and the ink leaves the nozzle rapidly as the group of assailants becomes more ink stains on the walls and floor.

Kiaria clips her weapon back on her belt and dusts herself off. She bows silently to her fallen combatants. It wasn't their fault Octavio had them hypnotized, but there was no way to save them without the Inkantation, which unfortunately they weren't able to record. She takes a moment to take inventory of the situation. She can't hear any more soldiers marching towards her, so likely they're regrouping. If they got caught in the wave of Octavio's forces marching in they'd be toast, but with them gone for the moment they just might have a chance to escape. She unclips her communicator and flips it open, her hands still shaking and her breath still heavy from her encounters, but she pushes through to get a message to her comrades.

"Takeshi what's your status? The coms room is clear of hostiles." Kiaria says into her communicator, still standing between the hallway that leads to the entrance of their base facing Octarian territory.

"We've got -rything we ne-, we're ready to -egroup with the rest -f the rebels!" His voice calls from the fuzzing speaker of her communicator. She was losing connection which meant interference. The only time they ever had interference was when… oh no.

"Takeshi, get the FUCK out of here NOW! That is an order!" Kiaria yells into her communicator, unclipping her weapon from her belt and breaking out into a sprint towards the entrance of their base. "He's here, get out and regroup with the rebels!"

Kiaria doesn't wait for a response, she throws her communicator on the ground and stomps it under her boot. She wasn't going to risk the safety of her comrades by letting Octavio hack directly into their coms. She continues her journey towards the entrance of their base, praying silently that everyone would have the time to escape with what little she could buy them. Kiaria kicks open the door with such force it flies off the hinges and lands a few feet away. She runs out, Octo Shot primed, and enters what she believes will be the last fight of her life.

Octo commanders keep her pinned in the small area she has, with Octo Snipers keeping her on her toes. She dodges a shot from a sniper with a roll to the side as several Octolings march into the fray. They're all pointing their Octo Shot's at her and she knows she has no choice, but it still hurts her soul every time she has to end one of her own kind. She furrows her brow and pushes aside any thoughts she might have about friendships that could be made, and instead focuses on the task at hand, saving the friends she already has. The Octolings attempt to surround her but they fail to realize that Kiaria is primed for her special attack. She flips a token off her belt and slams it into her weapon, a triumphant ringing of a bell can be heard as Kiaria's hair begins to glow and appear almost on fire. She dodges a shot then leaps into the air, activating her special. Her ink creates a protective layer around the outside of her body as she rises higher into the air than any normal jump, then quickly she comes flying back to the ground with her fist pointed right at it. In an explosion of teal ink, the enemy combatants are dispatched.

Kiaria raises her weapon again, ready to face another wave, only to be hit suddenly over the side of the head by a blunt object. Kiaria falls to the ground, her vision fuzzy and her head spinning. She's not able to hear or see very much, but what she does see is a large figure standing over her, and only a couple words that passed their lips.

"...If she doesn't talk, put the shades on her and send her after Three…"

Kiaria awakens in a cold room, there's not enough light for her eyes to make out any details but what she can tell is that her situation isn't good. She can make out that she's on some kind of table, it's angled so that her feet are towards the floor but she's still leaning backwards. She can also feel a mild burning on her wrists meaning she's been restrained, no doubt those ink injectors will leave a mark. Regardless, she's trapped, but she hopes she gave her comrades enough time to escape.

Then she realizes there's an unfamiliar taste in her mouth, it was strangely metallic and almost made her mouth feel numb. She didn't have to spend very long guessing what the taste was from as shortly thereafter she felt a drop of ink leak from her forehead and drip down over her lips.

"Perfect, I'm leaking." Kiaria groaned. Now aware of the break in her skin on her forehead, she begins to realize that almost her entire body was in seething agony. It felt like she'd been dragged by her ankle all the way from the old Rebel compound to… wherever she was now. Which most likely she was. Tiny spots of her body flared up in sharp, precise pain. It was like she had a million tiny cuts and scrapes, each individually complaining about existing at the same time.

Her evaluation of her body's condition was interrupted by the sound of a door opening, followed by the sound of footsteps. The lights flick on and Kiaria winces as her eyes adjust to the brightness.

"MotherFUCKER!" She spits. "A little warning would've been nice, ass."

The Octoling that entered the room doesn't pay her any attention, they simply walk up next to the table she's strapped to and wheel out a small cart. Kiaria can't make out what's on the cart and that fact scares her greatly.

"You are going to tell us exactly where your rebel friends are hiding." The Octoling states, as if somehow that would make her just outright say where they are. She'd look them in the eyes but the Hypnoshades that sit over their eyes prevent this.

"I'll die before I reveal their location, you can tell that bastard Octavio he's wasting his time trying to get anything out of me." Kiaria growls, she knows they'll try other methods of extracting information from her, but she's determined not to break. Or maybe they'll just off her for not being cooperative. Octavio's always been the impatient type.

"Very well then." The Octoling grabs something off the table and brings it up for Kiraria to see, it's a syringe with an unknown substance inside. The Octoling smirks and flicks the side of the syringe as they push lightly on the plunger to remove any air. Quickly the needle is jabbed into her thigh, she lets out a quiet wince of pain and the substance is injected into her body. She feels the world around her start spinning and her consciousness waning. The last thing she remembers seeing before she blacked out was a pair of shades being placed over her eyes, and flickering, dancing lights in front of her eyes.