Chapter 12: As Above, So Below

Splatoon HQ

Samantha let out a deep exhale as she held her weapon forward, holding it as straight as she possibly could as she eyed the dummy balloons before her.

Oliver stepped beside her, putting his hand on hers. "Get a good grip." He helped her adjust her fingers. "Fingers, like this. Hips-" He put his hands on her waist and adjusted her position. "-Like this. Good."

Samantha blushed, but did whatever he asked, closing one eye as she focused on the balloon.

"Now-" Oliver let go of her as they both faced the balloon. "When you're facing down an enemy, you must be much quicker than this. Assume that the enemy will be quick, because you must be quicker." He grabbed her arm to adjust her aim. "If your weapon is set to splat, you aim anywhere. If it's set for kill, you aim for the head. Got it? For the head. Drops them instantly and permanently and is the cleanest way to take them out.

"Y-Yeah, of course, I do watch movies." She responded.

"I'll just assume you understand, then." He again let go of her. "Breathe steady…"

She held her arm steady, letting out another breath as she soon fired at the gun, popping it instantly in just the way she was supposed to. She then quickly aimed at the other balloons, taking a few of them out with singular shots while missing others.

"There you go." He held his arms up. "Just like that. You're making progress."

"Woo…" She grinned, facing him. "See? This isn't so bad."

He nodded. "Remind me again, you said you had an S-rank in the, uh… Splat Zones?"

"Yeah. Game gets brutal at that level." She awkwardly chuckled. "I'll admit that aiming was never my strong-suit, but, it's still impressive that I got that far, right? Possibly by being carried by my teammates, who knows, and sure, I de-rank often and then have to rank up again, but, I'm by no means bad. Right?"

"I don't know what's impressive and what isn't in those games, all I know is that this progress is acceptable. But keep practicing. You still have a ways to go."

"Right… right." She turned back to the balloons, which had all reappeared in their places. She again aimed her weapon. "…Dylan will be floored when he sees me fight. I can assure you of that much…" She kept practicing.

Sheldon and Daniel were the only other ones in the room, Sheldon ignoring the noise as he worked while Daniel watched in boredom, currently cuffed to the chair he was sitting in. He occasionally looked around for something else to focus on, sighing as he did.

The elevator soon opened up as Cap'n Cuttlefish walked in, holding a folder.

Sheldon, as per usual, stood up and saluted as he walked over. "Cap'n."

"Sheldon. Daniel." He set the folder on Sheldon's desk.

He picked it up. "This it?"

"The Underdog names Daniel has given us. Yes." He leaned on his cane. "As far as I can tell, most of the names don't mean anything as most of these people are dead. Except for one. Cole Benson."

"Cole Benson…" He opened the folder, looked through, and pulled out Cole's biography. He ran it through a scanner just to pull it up on the monitor.

Samantha and Oliver walked over to join the conversation. "He's an Underdog?" Oliver asked.

"Former." Daniel scratched his neck. "He's just a dude I met back when I was the Executioner. If he's still alive, it means that he backed out when I became leader. He was loyal to Ward, not me."

"Those are exactly the type of people that Gideon has been recruiting. He's worth a look."

"God, it's good to finally have a lead again." Cuttlefish said. "We'll locate him and then we'll send our new agents out to talk to him."

"New agents as in… us?" Samantha awkwardly motioned between herself and Oliver.

"Yes." He nodded. "You two and Daniel."

Sheldon and Daniel both had an immediate reaction to that as they turned to him.

"What-!?" Sheldon exclaimed.

"Excuse me-?" Daniel said at the same time.

Cuttlefish sighed. "Temporarily, yes, I'm considering him an agent. He's our best option at getting through to Cole."

"Are you gonna let him off his leash?" Sheldon continued. "After he totally made that prison guard's face unrecognizable?"

Daniel ignored Sheldon's comments, leaning back. "You know I'm only doing this for Jessica, right?"

"I'm fully aware." The Captain nodded. "But in case you've all forgotten, we're woefully low on agents right now and we need all the help we can get. Daniel is here, he is our ally, so we're going to use that. With safeguards in place, mind you. If anything, I have faith that his care for Jessica will help us through this."

"He doesn't care for anyone, he's a psychopath!" Sheldon argued.

"Well, this adventure may just prove whether or not there's merit in that. This is a chance for us all to set right things right, and I… believe he may be willing to take it."

Daniel stared at him, but he didn't have any more arguments.

"...Agent 33." He nodded at him. He then turned to Samantha. "Agent 44." Then, to Oliver. "Agent 88. I want you all to get ready. Our new mission begins soon."

?

The tunnels that Jessica and Dylan walked through were dismally dark after they fled their cell, forcing the two of them to use their hands and stick close to the walls just to stay on-path. It took a while before they finally found something, and they struggled to open the box that held a couple emergency flares, clearly left there for any lost Octarians. Jessica lit one of them, finally lighting up the area around them with a red light. She held it up. "Finally…"

Dylan looked around. The tunnel was just as ugly as their cell was, with lots of dirt and rock surrounding them. He limped alongside Jessica as they continued on their way. "Doesn't look like we've made much progress… it's a god damn maze down here."

"A maze that we know absolutely nothing about."

"Yeah, and it's hot down here, too, even without the flare… Are… caves supposed to be hot?"

"I have no fucking idea."

"I always imagined they were supposed to be cold, but…" He kept looking around as he thought about what the Octarians were even using this place for, before he suddenly gasped, looking at her. "Do you think we could be on, like, an alien planet right now?"

She rolled her eyes. "…No…"

"...Hm…" He looked forward.

She then thought about that, staring upward. "…Well… maybe. Look, I just don't fucking know anything right now, alright?"

"Right, geez… still gotta remain hard to talk to, I guess..." He sighed. "Forget I asked."

They fell silent as they walked another distance. Jessica glanced at him, figuring that it would be healthy to have some conversation right now. She glanced at his legs. "…You… still have a limp, huh?"

"Hm?" He looked at her. "Oh… yeah… one of the injuries my body just… didn't get over, I guess."

"I get it. Probably more than anyone else in the Splatoon."

"Heh… yeah, I… guess we have some similar experiences now."

She didn't respond.

He noticed. "…But I guess… you had it worse, so… I shouldn't be complaining."

They fell silent for another few moments. What was there to even talk about? She gave him another glance. "…And, uh… I noticed you shaved."

"Oh." He rubbed his face. "Yeah. Uh… I was actually making plans to take Bridge out to a nice restaurant when the uh… Square got attacked."

"...Sounds like that could've been nice…"

"Yeah… Yeah, that's what I was thinking…" He looked down. "…Oh, man, I uh… hope Sam is ok right now, though… she doesn't exactly… fare well on her own."

"...I'm sure she is. She's more ok than we are, anyway."

"That's probably true…" He kept walking with her, but the conversation died there, with Jessica again running out of topics to even discuss, at least without bringing up the obvious questions they didn't even have answers to. After a moment, it was instead Dylan who restarted the talk. "…After you were injured… you, uh… had no plans to return to the Splatoon, right?"

She sighed. "That's right…"

"Yeah…" He nodded, sadly looking down. "Because after this, uh… I think I might… really be done."

She glanced at him. "…Oh."

"I had already given a lot of thought toward, you know, not coming back." He stared ahead. "Been getting harder and harder to change my mind's course… but this, uh… whatever this is, I mean… feels like the last push. If you know what I mean."

She took a moment to respond. "…I know what you mean… and… that's your choice. But I can tell you now… Bridgett won't be happy about that."

"...I know she won't."

"...And for what it's worth… the Splatoon will be worse off without you. The other agents will miss you."

"Is… that your sneaky way of saying you'll miss me too?"

She again didn't respond.

He couldn't help but chuckle. "…Thanks, Jess… uh… the Splatoon would be worse off without you, too."

"I'm fully aware it would be." She gave him a sarcastic side-eye.

He chuckled again, and they walked through another distance. After a little while, though, he suddenly held his arm out in front of her. "Wait."

"What?"

He briefly motioned to a green hue that they could see emanating from some dirt in the ground. They looked at each other, confused, before they both got down on their knees and started digging.

Jessica was the first to pull out the green Axcian crystal that had been engraved in the dirt, and she held it up as they both stared at it, bewildered and extremely concerned at the same time.

"...Oh my god…" Dylan muttered.

Jessica remained silent as she stared into its beautiful but haunting glow.

The beeping sound once again beat at Bridgett's head as her eyelids slowly opened. Her body now felt even worse than it had before, with sharp pains present in her abdomen and other spots. She tried looking around, which only caused the world around her to spin. Her ears began ringing as she sighed deeply, fighting to her best ability to regain her senses. It took a few moments, but what she could pick up was that, finally, she could move her arm. She slowly reached up to feel her head, confirming that she wasn't plugged into the Subgrid. Yet, with how dizzy she felt, she might as well not have been in reality, either.

Gideon walked into her view, but his image was blurry and out of focus. "Did you have a nice nap?"

She raised her head, glaring at him. "…What… did you do to me…?"

"Just did a bit of poking around, that's all."

Confused, she slowly reached to feel one of the spots that hurt. "…Did you cut into me…?"

"Don't worry." He held his clipboard with both arms as he leaned against the table. "We left minimal scarring."

She groaned. Part of her wanted nothing more than to lie back down, but the other part of her knew she couldn't. She had to get up. Struggling, she planted her hands on the bed and started slowly propping herself up. "…Taking off my restraints wasn't smart…"

He suddenly laughed in response. "What are you gonna do to me?"

"You'll see…" It took a moment, but she did start to get up, to the point that she almost collapsed off of the bed.

He suddenly reached forward and grabbed her, easing her back down. "You don't want to move right now, you naive girl." He chuckled. "You're a healthy one, but we all have our limits. Give your body some time."

She teared up as she ended up giving in and lying back down. "…Why are you doing this to me…? Where are my friends…?"

"If you had cooperated with the Subgrid, we could've taken a different approach to this whole thing, you know. You'd probably have gotten to see them already." He put his hands in his pockets.

"...The Subgrid…" She blinked. "…That was Marina's… where did you get it…?"

"Mmm… around." He gave a dramatic shrug, then pointed at her. "But, you know, I was deeply amused to find out who your boyfriend is. I mean… really? Agent 4?" He gave a playful silly face, briefly sticking his tongue out. "I thought you would do better than that."

She stared up at him. "…He's a good man…"

He held his hands up. "Just a little awkward is all, I shouldn't judge. But, uh, judging by your experiences in the Subgrid, it turns out you might instead have you eyes on someone else." He chuckled and shook his head. "What a twist. What a twist."

She paused as she slowly started to remember everything that happened in that simulation. "…It's… it's not like that… it was an accident…"

"An accident? Or… fate? You know, when this is all over, I can't wait to see how that little… love triangle plays out. Someone is going to get their hearts crushed, I just know it. It'll be like a real-life romance novel."

"Fuck you…" She turned away.

"Now don't you talk to me like that…" He leaned toward her. "Lydia."

She immediately looked back at him.

"That's right… you refused to go back to your earlier memories, so now, I'm instead telling you some things you should know. Your real name is Lydia." He sat on the edge of her bed. "And you're a very special girl."

In spite of her headache, her mind once again began to run, and her heart-rate audibly began to rise on the monitor next to her. She gulped. This was important information to her, but, judging who it was coming from… she instead looked him directly in the eye, glaring at him. "…My name is Bridgett."

He chuckled. "To your Splatoon friends, maybe. But to me, you are Lydia."

"You don't get to decide what my name is…"

"And where did you get the Bridgett name, anyway?"

"...It just… it sounded right…" She turned away. "It was a name I had heard somewhere, I told Dylan about it, and he… was the first person to call me such. It was… it was better than 'Eight' being my entire identity…"

"Awww…" He held his hands over his heart. "How romantic."

She suddenly turned to spit at him, but her attempt was too weak, and the saliva instead fell onto her own chin.

"Oh, Lydia…" He shook his head and grabbed a rag to wipe her off. "Lydia, Lydia… so feisty… I think you've spent too much time with Agent 3."

"...And when I find her… we're both going to kill you… assuming I haven't already killed you first…"

"Well… I can't deny you two will be quite the couple." He stood up. "But that will be a story to be told another time. This, right here…" He motioned at the room around him. "This is your real story. The final arc. Has it become obvious yet that I like to read a lot of novels? Heh… well, yeah. This is the part of the story where you learn about yourself. And I'll take whatever road that might require." He nodded. "So rest up some more… We've got a big day ahead of us!" He walked away.

As soon as he was gone, she started struggling to get back up, but of course, a masked Octoling came over to watch over her instead, preventing further action. She sighed in frustration and slowly rested her head again, unable to stop her mind from racing.

Splatoon HQ

Oliver was, in the meantime, once again looking over the notes he had on Bridgett to help calm himself, while he and Samantha were simply sitting around and waiting for their inevitable assignment. Minutes passed as he stared at it, before he looked up to stare at the wall, thinking once again about the green ocean…

Luckily, he didn't think about it for long before Cuttlefish and Sheldon walked in, interrupting his thoughts. "It's time to get moving." Cuttlefish told them as they walked over to Daniel.

Samantha and Oliver both stood up and watched as Cuttlefish pulled out of a pair of keys, moving over to Daniel's arm.

Daniel stared at him, and he stared right back, hesitating, before he moved to unlock the cuffs.

"Let me make this clear, Daniel." He said as he took them off of him. "We're letting you move around, but we're not setting you free. You try anything, you make a move we don't like, the device Sheldon has hidden on you will electrocute you and you will go down in an instant."

Daniel briefly looked down at himself, confused as to where the device could even be hidden, but he regardless stood up.

Sheldon leapt up onto his desk, folding his arms. "And I will be the one doing the tasing. So don't bring out my sadistic tendencies, buster."

"You have sadistic tendencies?" Samantha asked.

"You don't know everything about me."

Cuttlefish sighed as he faced Daniel. "This will be a simple mission. You go in, and you talk to Cole Benson. Get him to talk about the Underdogs, not anything else. Agents 44 and 88 will be there as guards to make sure this goes smoothly."

Daniel stared back at him. Admittedly, he was still thinking about a dozen different ways he could escape this place, but unfortunately for him… none of it worked out in his head. For now, the Splatoon had a tight hold on him. "…Yes, sir…" He rubbed his own wrist where he had been cuffed before. "Is there a particular reason those other two need to be around as guards?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "KRAKEN. There's no doubt that they're out there combing the city for you. So the other two will be a line of defense before anyone gets to you."

"Never heard of it..."

"Because you were in prison when they formed. They were formed in response to the Underdogs incident, after all."

"...My fault, then. Got it. Passive aggressive message received." He nodded as he stepped past him, then past Samantha and Oliver, on his way to the elevator. "Let's just get this over with, you two."

Oliver nodded, as he and Samantha then grabbed their weapons. He holstered his own as he faced her. "You ready for your second mission?"

She awkwardly nodded as she holstered hers. "Yeah. Yeah…"

"And you're keeping in mind what I've been teaching you?"

"Yeah… of course." She said, though with a lack of confidence in her voice.

He sighed. "...Ok." He turned and they both followed Daniel into the elevator. Cuttlefish gripped his cane with both hands as he saw them off, all the way up until the elevator doors closed.

In spite of his terrorist history, Cole Benson was otherwise just a normal Octoling who lived his days in Inkopolis; Many days after his work hours, he would come to the same bar in the city, where he got drinks, played pool, and occasionally hung out with friends, enjoying his life as normally as possible. During this time, no one had ever traced the former Underdog, nor did he seek out trouble himself, and his life thus went on uninterrupted… until today.

One-by-one, the Splatoon agents began coming in separately, wearing their disguises supplied to them. Samantha and Oliver were the first ones in as they stood guard; Oliver ended up just standing around with his usual soldier-like posture, while Samantha was instead smart enough to order a drink, sitting at a table by herself. "We're in position…" She whispered into her earpiece.

Hearing the cue, Daniel was the last one in, looking around. The first thing he did was scan the bar; he located all possible exits, hiding spots, items he could potentially use as weapons, and suspicious-looking individuals that might have it out for him. With his paranoid condition, it seemed to be… everyone. He gulped a bit as every single person in the bar reared their heads toward him, hands slowly moving to their weapons as they smirked at him. Everyone was smirking at him. Taunting him.

"Where you going, Danny Boy?"

"You really thought you could be a civilian again?"

"Gimme a break."

They all laughed, and he gulped in response, slowly making his way past them as he searched around for his target. Of course, no one was actually smirking at him, or even looking at him, but he regardless avoided any eye-contact until he eventually located the one face he knew he had to talk to.

Cole was playing his usual solo game of pool toward the back of the bar when Daniel slowly came up to him. He put his hand on the table as he stood next to him. "Cole Benson?"

"Solo game, bu-" He looked at him, then froze. He stared at him, slowly standing up straight.

"...Remember me?"

"...How could I forget? The fuck you doing here?"

He shrugged, reaching over to grab one of the billiard balls, playing with it in his hand. "Secret agent stuff…"

"Whatever it is, I don't want a part in it."

"Trust me…" He stared him in the eye. "Neither do I."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"Because you're one of the surviving Underdogs… one who was loyal to Ward."

"Not anymore." He shook his head. "Man, the second I heard you broke out of prison… I knew it was bad news. I don't live that life anymore. I'm just a guy now. Man, whatever you were doing out there, trying to… blow up the entire city, or whatever you were doing? That was batshit crazy. I was out the moment Ward died, end of story."

He couldn't help but chuckle. "Taking down the city was Ward's plan, not mine… I just tried to carry out his dying wish. And it didn't work, so here we are. I work with the Splatoon now."

He stared at him longer this time. "…You're lying."

"Don't believe me?" He looked over at Oliver, subtly pointing at him. "That guy over there…" He then turned and pointed at Samantha. "That girl over there… we came here to talk to you. And it's not to kill you, or capture you, or whatever else you're thinking… Someone else has been reorganizing the Underdogs. They're trying to stop them."

He didn't respond.

"You a part of that? You know who Gideon Tecca is?"

"...Man, I'm not a part of any reorganizing." He said, nervously.

"But you know what I'm talking about… right?"

He stared at him, and Daniel stared right back, raising his eyebrow. He scoffed and shook his head. "…Why would a man like you turn tail to the Splatoon, anyway? This is too wack… even for you."

"Don't worry about the Splatoon… I see through their lies… So once this is all over and they've served their purpose?" He gripped the ball tightly. "I'll just kill them."

Able to hear their conversation through their earpieces, Oliver glanced at him across the room, while Samantha, who was barely even touching her drink, nervously stared at the table as she listened.

Cole watched as Daniel's grip on the ball grew ever-tighter.

"…Well?" Daniel pressured after a moment.

Cole sighed. "…I've heard… things… going around…"

At that moment, Samantha looked up as the door opened, and two armored KRAKEN soldiers stepped inside, looking around. Her eyes widened as she subtly pressed her earpiece. "Bad guy alert…"

Oliver and Daniel both looked over, and Cole followed their gaze as the soldiers slowly walked in, looking around. Daniel cleared his throat as he awkwardly resumed his previous stance, lowering the ball but not letting go of it. Oliver turned to notice as two more entered through the back entrance. People around the bar started whispering among each other as they also noticed.

The bartender went up to the soldiers, whispering at them as she visibly pointed at Daniel. They all looked over at him.

"Shit, man…" Cole grabbed his drink and sipped it. "Looks like our conversation's over."

Daniel just looked around at the soldiers, sighing. "Stay here…" He stood up straight and stepped forward, toward the soldiers, as if walking out of the bar.

Oliver and Samantha could only watch as one of the soldiers, of course, stopped him. "Sir."

"I've been made." He suddenly struck one of them with the billiard ball, knocking him back, before he reached and grabbed the billiard cue, striking his partner with it.

People around the bar began screaming as they fled. Oliver, with no other choice, leapt into battle as he whipped out his gun and took on the other two KRAKEN officials. Cole, seizing the opportunity, blended in with the crowd as he also rushed out.

Samantha, however, could see him as he rushed out the back exit, and she quickly followed, whipping out her own gun. As they rushed into the back alley, she aimed at him. "Cole Benson!?"

He stopped as he looked back, pausing.

She slowly approached him. "W-We're not done with you… I don't think."

He slowly raised his arms in surrender. "I don't want your shit, girl."

She got closer and closer to him. "But you just told Daniel that you've heard things going around. We need to know what you know about the Underdogs. It's the only way we can… you know, find them. You're our only lead right now, and if we mess this up, I really… don't know what else we're gonna do. Can we please just talk? Please? Anything you can tell us?"

But she had gotten too close. And she clearly had no intentions of actually pulling the trigger. He suddenly grabbed her and disarmed her, shoving her into the wall. She screamed.

He pinned her back. "What are you doing? You're really that crazy? You know what happens if you mess with these people?"

She screamed again, louder this time as he furiously pointed her own gun at her.

"You and your friends have a death wish." He continued, gripping her throat. "I just wanted to be left alone! Before I end up getting wrapped up in this shit and getting myself killed! You understand me!? Huh!? Do you and your friends wanna fucking die!? HUH!? Do you!?"

She started sobbing. "I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

He gripped her throat harder this time, strangling her. "Relay the message-" He suddenly fell to the ground as Oliver came up from behind, striking him across the head. Samantha screamed a third time, gasping as she looked down at him on the ground.

"You ok?" Oliver asked her, panting.

She just looked at him, shaking horribly. She then turned as Daniel came out next, partially covered in what was apparently one of the KRAKEN soldier's ink. Her eyes widened and she almost screamed again before Oliver covered her mouth.

"Listen to me." He told her. "We need to scoop up Cole and get back to HQ, before more soldiers come. You understand me?"

She paused before she frantically nodded.

"Good…" He let go of her, and Daniel went to pick Cole up, slinging him over his shoulder as they rushed off.

Samantha paused there another moment, crying to herself as she caught her breath. She looked around, before forcing herself to follow, chasing after them.

?

Jessica eventually dropped the second flare as it burnt out, once again leaving her and Dylan in darkness as they wandered the tunnel. They carefully travelled along the walls, occasionally exchanging quick words with each other just to ensure they hadn't gotten separated.

Both to their fortune and their concern, they didn't wander in the darkness for too long; eventually, they came across a tunnel that was filled with a fair amount of green light. The two agents looked at each other in confusion as they slowly began walking over.

Sure enough, this tunnel they were now walking down was lined with more Axcian crystals, sticking out of the ground, walls, and even the ceiling. At this point, some retained their green glows, while others appeared more as a glossy white, lacking the energy inside of them. Jessica looked around at all of them, wondering if she was hallucinating. "…What the hell…?" She muttered.

Dylan was equally as baffled. "…Oh, man… we are on an alien planet, aren't we?"

"...Whether or not we are… I think we know now where the Octarians have been getting these…" Carefully, she made her way over to a smaller patch of white crystals, slowly breaking one off to examine it.

Dylan looked around, starting to panic a bit as he did. "…What the fuck are we supposed to do now?"

Jessica didn't respond, and they both turned as they saw actual lights start to creep in through the tunnel, followed by Octarian voices. She quickly pulled Dylan into hiding.

A Twintacle Octotrooper and a masked Octoling walked down as the agents hid. The Octoling pointed her light around as they looked through some of the crystal structures. "You think they could've gone down this way?" She asked.

"No sure. Only doubt. But likely." The Octotrooper responded.

The Octotrooper pressed onward, but the Octoling stopped. She thought she could hear something… like an Inkling squid, slithering around somewhat. Using her mask, she looked around and allowed it to scan the area around her for any heat signatures. The powered crystals themselves gave off plenty of heat, making it somewhat tricky, but she could still see as Jessica suddenly leapt into her field of view. She couldn't react quickly enough as Jessica attacked her, disarmed her, grabbed her, and slowly strangled her until she was unconscious.

Jessica laid her down and took her Octo Shot. "Let's go."

Dylan nodded and looked behind him as they rushed down, avoiding the crystals as they did.

A few minutes passed before they could hear more Octarian voices. They both looked back, seeing more lights approach them as more Octolings came down their way. They pressed onward, rushing as fast as they could, but as they got deeper into the cave, the amount of crystals in their path only became more and more strenuous. Slipping their way past them became harder and harder, until eventually, the tunnel finally branched out into a much larger cavern.

They were both forced to stop as they almost fell into it, and they held their arms out to balance themselves, staring outward. Their eyes both went wide. This cavern was lined with even larger crystals than they had seen before, and among them were minecart tracks. They watched as occasional minecarts came through, some of them carrying stacks of green crystals themselves while others were instead travelling to collect some of their own.

"...This is a dream…" Dylan gulped, shaking his head. "This isn't real… this isn't real…"

Jessica didn't respond as she looked back, hearing the Octarians draw closer. She aimed her weapon as she and Dylan again went to hide.

The Lab

Gideon himself was observing just one of the many crystals in his hand, smiling as he adored its beauty. He had come to grab a few other things, but every once in a while, he just liked to stop and take the crystal's visual in, reminding himself of the power he held in his hand.

One of the masked Octolings came up to him. "Sir."

"Yes?" He didn't take his eyes off of it.

"We have a team pursuing Agents 3 and 4 into the mine. They shouldn't be able to run much longer."

He finally looked at her, smiling. "…Thank you, sweetheart. That is good news." He patted her shoulder, then handed her the crystal. "Why don't you hold this for a bit? My treat. Do let me know when we have them, alright?"

She nodded. "Yes, sir…" She glanced at the crystal.

He grabbed the other things he meant to grab before he walked out, walking down some hallways.

At this point, Bridgett had managed to sit up in her bed, eating some Octarian food that had been given to her by the guard that stood watch over her. She glanced at her, as the masked Octoling staring right back, watching her every movement.

She awkwardly swallowed her food as they watched each other. "…That mask…" She decided to ask her. "…What's it for?"

She didn't respond, maintaining her position like a statue.

Bridgett just sighed and finished her food, up until Gideon walked in.

"Thank you, sweetheart." Gideon patted the guard's shoulder. "Why don't you go get yourself a nice juice?"

"Yes, sir…" She walked off.

He turned to face Bridgett. "Well, look at that. You're looking much better already."

She set her food down as she stared at him. They stared at each other for a moment, before she sighed. "…What… exactly have you been hoping to achieve here?"

He shrugged. "…Some camaraderie."

"...That's a lot to ask for."

"Maybe. Maybe." He played with the photograph in his hand. "But I understand if it will take some time."

"Where are my friends?" She asked yet again.

"For Occius' sake, don't worry about them. You'll see them in time."

"I want to see them right now."

"Lydia, Lydia, Lydia…" He briefly looked down at the photograph. "You don't seem to understand, that… I've had a plan. A deep, rooted plan. So far, the plan has gone well. Well enough, at least. But the plan is still in motion, you can't-" He chuckled. "You can't rush things. Everything will line up for us… the very galaxy… will unite for us."

She stared at him, then looked around, then brought her gaze down. "…Don't fucking start… all this talk about galaxies and space and magic crystals these past few months has really started to grind at my sanity…"

"Lydia…" He stepped forward. "I understand perfectly if your mind isn't in the right place right now. But I'm here to nudge it back into a more rightful position. You didn't seem to believe me about your real name. So I want to show you something."

"I don't want to see it…"

"But you need to." He handed her the photograph. "Here… take a look."

She glanced up at him, before slowly looking at the picture. It took a moment for it to sink in… but it was… her.

It was her, as a child, in the arms of a younger-looking Gideon, and some other woman she did not recognize. She paused, staring at it before she slowly took it in her hand.

"Your name… isn't just Lydia." He continued. "It is Lydia Tecca." He touched his own chest. "My name is Gideon Tecca."

She stared at it, before she slowly looked up at him.

He gave her a warm smile. "What did I tell you? Everything aligns."