Chapter 15: My Tragic Life

Gideon flipped several switches and typed in some code on the nearby computer, getting the Subgrid set up once again. Bridgett was sitting on the bed, anxiously watching him as he did his work.

After getting the Subgrid fully powered on and prepared, Gideon grabbed the helmet with all of the wires on top of it, plugged some things in, and then simply handed it to her. "Put it on."

She looked at him.

He gave her a look. "I'm trying to make you feel as safe and as in-control as I can. Put it on."

She glanced at the helmet before she slowly put it on. She laid down.

Gideon then made the final preparations, typing in even more code and then hooking her up to the nearby vitals monitor. The monitor beeped at them as it read her heart-rate.

He leaned over her. "Remember… do not fight the simulation. Let it and your memories guide you. I'm going to be turning up the simulation's intensity this time to make memory retrieval easier, but in turn, messing with it will only be more dangerous. Do not mess with it. Understand?"

She just nervously nodded.

He nodded in return. "You ready?"

She paused and looked up at the ceiling. Anxiety filled her, and some second thoughts entered her mind, but she regardless forced her next response. "…I'm ready."

He nodded and turned back to his controls. He typed some last lines of code into the computer, and she began to feel dizzy. Then dizzier. Then dizzier.

She closed her eyes as the feelings grew more and more intense. It took a few moments, but the next time she decided to open her eyes to see if it worked, she was suddenly once again in the green ocean. She opened her mouth in surprise, shocked by how seamless the transition was, as bubbles rose from her mouth. She looked around, then at the Octoling boy next to him.

Upon seeing him again, she suddenly felt more sure than ever. She was ready for this. She was ready to receive answers. Now, how she was going to reach them was the question. She closed her eyes once again, focusing as hard as she could. She thought back to the photograph Gideon had given her. Of the younger Gideon. Of her mother. She focused as hard as she could to find any potential memories of her mother in particular… something… anything… in the moment, she wanted it more than she wanted anything.

It took a few minutes. Nothing was coming to her… but she didn't stop trying. She couldn't stop trying.

The warm embrace of the waters around her began to gush. She felt a tight squeeze, an intense push, and then… an intense, harsh light that enveloped her, accompanied by a skin-biting cold. Did… she awaken from the simulation?

Completely distressed, she started crying, as he felt someone cradle her.

"Here she is…" She heard Gideon's voice.

Then, she saw her. She was brought face-to-face, finally, with her mother. The woman from the photograph, who looked almost like an older version of her. She was propped in bed, extremely sweaty and in pain, but nothing could stop the joy as she smiled widely, happily crying at the sight of her daughter.

Gideon handed the infant Octopus to her, and she slowly took her in her arms, cradling her warmly. Her cries began to calm somewhat as she touched her.

"…Hi…" She told her over her tears. She sniffed, briefly looking back up at her partner. "…You were right… it's a girl…"

"I know…" The younger Gideon lowered his mask as he sat down, smiling. "…Did you decide on the name?"

It took her only another moment to respond. "…Lydia…" She sniffed, nodding with finality. "…Lydia…"

"...Lydia." He reached to pet her head.

Bridgett stared up at the woman. She was unable to believe it… she did not first come to life in the green ocean, as she sometimes suspected she might have; She was born. She was an actual part of the cycle of life. A wave of relief fell over her, but she also wondered… what happened next?

She could see the life ahead of her, down to the minute details. She was raised in Octo Valley, of course, as Gideon and her mother brought the infant Lydia back somewhere in the civilian domes, where they had already made a home for themselves. It was a small, designated quarters, with only a couple rooms and cold, metal walls that slowly deteriorated, but it was her home nonetheless. She was placed in an Octarian crib in the first stages of her life, and eventually, as she got a bit older, she was given small Octarian toys to play with. They were nothing like the quality of the toys you would see in the Inkling world, but regardless, they formed the first parts of her childhood.

Then she got older. And older. And a bit older. She just kept growing until at one point, she was given a journal, on which she was able to draw doodles and things like that. She spent a lot of time in this journal, filling much of it in with whatever came to mind. But, of course, as a child in the Octarians, there… wasn't much to her childhood at all. She had toys, children's books, and this journal, but aside from that and her parents… that was it. There wasn't even any childhood friends in her life, or anything like that.

As such, it was mainly her Mom that was in her life at first. On this particular day that she had arrived at, the woman was sitting in her chair, watching her. "…Whatcha drawing?' She asked.

Lydia was lying on her stomach with her journal in front of her, as she turned back to her. "…Just Dad again."

She paused. Indeed, Gideon was an extremely busy man, and Lydia didn't get to spend all that much time with him. She sighed a little. "…Why don't you come here?"

Lydia grabbed the journal and stood up, walking over. As she sat in the chair with her, she held her in her arms.

She took the journal, looking at her drawings. "…These are so good, Lydia. You're gonna be such a good artist someday. And the Octarians don't really get a lot of those, you know."

"Don't you think that I can be a scientist like Dad?" Lydia responded.

"A scientist…" She nodded a bit. "Yeah. Maybe. I bet with your talent… you can be whatever you wanna be." She booped her nose. "But if you wanna be a scientist… you'll have to be prepared to put up with a lot of responsibility.

She smiled a bit, but then looked down, as it turned to more of a frown.

"Hey…" She held her close. "Your father will be back home tonight. Then you can see him."

Her eyes practically lit up. "Really?"

"Really."

She smiled and leaned into her. Indeed, it would only be a few hours before the door to their quarters slid open, and Gideon walked in, sighing. He didn't look too much older than he did at the time of Lydia's birth, but he did now have his afro that Bridgett kinda knew him for at this point; Except at this point in time, it was pink rather than gray. He sighed as he kicked off his boots. "Heya, girls."

Lydia, who was again on the ground with her journal, stood up as she rushed over. "Daaad!"

"Heeey!" He immediately accepted her hug. "Oof, you're so big. At this rate, you're gonna be bigger than me one day." He chuckled.

"Mom said that too." She smirked.

"Did she? Wow, not a lot of faith in your Dad, I guess." After they broke the hug, he finally stood up and turned to his partner, smiling. "Dear Sondra."

"Gideon." She smiled as she stood up to kiss his cheek.

"Sorry it took so long."

"It was… it was successful… right?"

He paused before he silently shook his head.

Her smile faded. "…Did he even help you?"

He again shook his head.

They stared at each other in an anxiety-filled silence. She cleared her throat. "…Well…"

"We'll figure something out." He told her.

Lydia was staring up at them. "…What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Lydia, nothing." He replied, turning toward her. "Oh, but look what I brought you." He pulled another book out of his labcoat, handing it down to her. "Another journal! Because you like to fill them up so fast, don't you?"

She just took it. "Cool…"

He looked back at Sondra, who stared back, a deep nervousness still hidden behind her eyes. He stared right back, sighing.

The rest of the day passed as it got closer to Lydia's bedtime. Lydia was again on the ground, filling in the first pages of her journal, when she heard her parents talking in the other room. What were they even talking about, she wondered? She knew she probably shouldn't snoop, neither of her parents liked it when she did, but curiosity got the best of her as she closed the journal and walked over, sneaking along the wall.

"I don't care what happens to me, Gideon… I care about what happens to her." Sondra was saying. "This is about her future. Her future is more important to me than my future."

"I understand that, but to me, both of your futures are important." Gideon replied. "Because I still believe that in a perfect world, everyone would be happy. Fulfilled. Free of loss. But no, in this one, someone's always gotta be the hero. Someone has to be sacrificing themselves for the other person. It shouldn't be like that."

"Because this isn't a perfect world, Gideon. It never will be. I still don't know how you fail to grasp that. After everything we've seen."

"That doesn't mean we can't strive for it."

"I'm not having that argument with you again. Please. I just… I don't know what else we're supposed to do."

He sighed and looked down.

"I'm serious. This has already had an effect on her. She keeps drawing you in her journal. Dreaming about you. Wondering what kind of projects you're up to. She even told me today she wants to become a scientist like you. She's too young to even be thinking about that."

"Well, it'd be better than her becoming a soldier like all the other girls."

"I'm not asking much of you, Gideon, just… please… please come home a bit more. Or find a way to spend some time with her. Focus more on the projects that matter. Focus on the ones that will give her a future. Because this is going to catch up to her, and you know I won't be around for-"

"Now don't you talk like that. You have to understand, all of my projects matter, that's the problem. I won't be able to live with myself if-" He then turned as she heard Lydia sneaking up to them. He awkwardly straightened himself as they both turned to her. "…Heya, dear. What are you doing?"

She didn't respond, still thinking about what she just heard.

Sondra sighed and sat down on the bed, while Gideon went over, leading Lydia back into the other room. "I've told you… not to be snooping in on our conversations."

"But what were you talking about?"

"Nothing important. Nothing important."

She looked down.

He sighed and then knelt down. "Hey… I'm going to need you to be a dear about this. I know you don't see me as much, but… I do very important work. You understand that, right?"

"...Will you be leaving again?"

"...Yes…"

"But I don't want you to…"

"Lydia…" He pet her hair. "You've done perfectly fine all this time without me. Because your Mom is here for you. You will always be ok when you're with her. Despite what you might've heard us say in there, she's going to be around for… a long time. A long time. There's nothing to worry about."

She stared at him. "…Can't I come with you to your work, though?"

He paused. "…Eventually."

"But I want to now."

"...Dear Lydia…" He rubbed her arms. "…One day, whether you like it or not, you will see my work. You will see it. It's vital that you will. But for now… what's wrong with just being a kid?"

"...I don't wanna keep living here without you…"

He stared at her, unable to think of anything else to say.

Of course, one day, Lydia was allowed to see Gideon's work. She was a bit older, but on that day, Gideon had taken down to another dome, via an elevator. On their ride down, Lydia would look up at him, and he would give her a comforting smile, petting her hair once more.

Once the elevator opened up, the two of them stepped out into Octo Valley's Dome Station N.512 (Military/Research Division). They headed down some more hallways and then into the cafeteria. Lydia paused as she looked around at the large dome-shaped room, having never seen anything like it. There was plenty of tables, Octotrooper-like tentacles that were serving food in just the next room, and plenty of Octolings and other Octarians throughout, sitting and eating their food. She saw people that seemed to be soldiers and scientists and the like… and the truth was, she had never seen so many people grouped up into one room like this. Her jaw dropped.

Gideon chuckled. "There's a lot of people here, huh?"

"Yeah…" She kept looking around.

"C'mon. Let's get some food in ya." He led her over to where the food was served.

As they got their food and sat down at a table, Lydia took the opportunity to look around more at the people around her. On top of the stern, serious looks many of them gave, there was something else she noticed. After all, it didn't exactly take a developed Octarian mind to recognize that these people were… miserable. All of them were completely, utterly miserable. They ate their scraps of food with blank, bored expressions, they barely talked to each other, and nobody smiled. It was even sadder than the life she knew at school, and no one there was particularly happy, either. Was… this the life that was waiting for her when she was an adult? She looked up at her father.

Gideon, who was eating alongside her, looked back, knowing exactly what she was thinking about. He patted her arm. "Focus on your food…"

She looked down and returned to eating, but one question gnawed at her mind now. "…Dad?"

"Yeah, dear?"

"...I heard someone say in school, that… the lives for the Inklings and everyone on the surface is better than ours…" She looked up at him. "…Is that true?"

He sighed, thinking about his answer. He knew she would find out sooner or later. "…Yeah. It's true."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "Because… they won the war. You've heard about that in school, right?"

"So why can't we just live up there with them? Why was there ever a war?"

"...Lydia…" He put an arm around her. "It's complicated… but… this is the type of thing that my life is about. Because one day… I'm going to make life better for everyone. And when that happens… there won't be any more suffering. We will be able to share the surface world."

"...When?"

He paused. "…I don't know…"

She paused as she just turned back to her food.

They ate in silence, and as soon as they finished their food, he again took her hand and led her down more hallways toward his own lab, where he entered in his code on the keypad to open the sliding door. She again looked around as she entered. The room was filled with all sorts of strange gadgets and other scary-looking medical tools. She looked up at her father.

"Keep your focus on me." He patted her arm, getting her situated in a chair.

What happened next, Lydia didn't fully understand at the time, but she regardlessly watched on as Gideon put a needle in her arm.

"Gonna be a little pain…" He warned her as he put it in. She winced, and then watched some more as Gideon set everything up so that the tube began drawing her ink.

"...W-What are you doing?" She asked, freaked out.

"Shhh… focus on me."

Indeed, her father proved to be a warm enough presence to calm her down and let her do what he needed to do, but as he continued working, putting even more needles into her and other medical things she didn't understand, she only grew increasingly uncomfortable. At one point, she even started to cry, completely confused and increasingly frightened.

Gideon, of course, noticed. After a moment, he looked her in the eye. "…Hey…"

She looked at him.

"When we were talking earlier about how I'm making the world a better place… do you want to see how it will be done?"

She paused before she nodded.

He nodded and reached into a drawer, where he pulled out the strange, white crystal, that had the faint, green glow. He held it toward her. "Go on… hold it."

She took it in his hands, looking at it from multiple angles, already distracted. "…What… is it…?"

"Power." He told her, smiling.

She kept turning it in her hand, not understanding, as she looked up at him, seeing his warm smile.

"One day… we will be one with the power in these rocks. And maybe one day, if you're lucky… you will be able to use it." He told her, poking her chest.

She stared into the crystal, as wonder slowly filled her eyes. After a moment, she had another question. "…So when I get older… do you think I'm gonna be happy? Will we be as happy as the Inklings?"

"Yes…" He nodded. "You're not going to live the life of any old Octarian… I'm going to make sure of that. I'm going to make sure you're happy. No matter what it takes. You're not gonna have to become a soldier, you're not gonna have to fight in any wars… you'll live an ideal life. I promise."

She felt some reassurance from that, turning her attention from the crystal and back into his smiling face. She smiled back.

However, she wouldn't see the crystal again for a while. A long time, in fact. Unfortunately for Lydia, as time moved on, the strange medical treatments only became a recurring part of her life as she grew up. Outside of that, in her home life, her artistic abilities improved and she even started trying out things like poetry. Gideon started to grow older, and Sondra, well… her health itself began to leave her. Not only did her body begin to grow thinner and weaker, but she spent more and more time resting. Of course, it wasn't helped by the fact that Gideon himself was still rarely home, spending most of his days at the lab, doing… whatever exactly his life's work was. At this point, the only times she even got to see him were for the mysterious treatments.

As a result, as Lydia grew on, she only became more and more disillusioned with her hobbies that she put in her journal. She was filling less of them up these days, and she spent more of her time doing much of nothing, often sitting around and twiddling her tentacles instead.

She was only 12 when one day in particular, things began to take a turn for the worst. And unfortunately, it was only going to be the first major turning point in Lydia's life. She was minding her own business when on that day, the door to the Tecca's quarters slid open, and Lydia looked up as a man she had never seen before walked in.

It was none other than the infamous Hugh Ward, who gave an intense stare around the living space. He locked eye contact with her as she stared back, confused, but neither of them said anything.

"Hugh. Hugh." Gideon walked in after him. "Please, listen to me."

Lydia got up and walked over. "Dad? What's going on?"

"Go into the bedroom, Lydia." He replied. "Check on your Mom."

"But… why?"

"Just do it."

She stared at him, before doing as he said. She went into the bedroom, where Sondra was resting in bed.

"Lydia? What's going on?" She asked.

Lydia ignored her, instead keeping the door open a crack so that she could peek in on the conversation.

Ward had waited politely for them to be alone before he turned back to his work partner.

"Hugh, please." Gideon continued. "You can't be jumping to conclusions here."

"I really don't care anymore, Gideon." He replied. "Your work is sloppy. Flawed. Lazy. You've been given every opportunity to do better, but you have nothing to show for it. Your obsession with these crystals has gone too far."

"This isn't about the crystals, this is about my family. What am I supposed to do if she really has inherited Sondra's-"

"Do not talk to me about family. You don't know family." He stepped toward, a threatening glare on his face. "You are a poor father. A poor man. A poor scientist. Your entire life has amounted to nothing but obsession, and delusions of grandeur. If your daughter passes away… it will have been your fault. No one's… but your own."

Gideon didn't respond, visibly hurt by his words. As Lydia listened, her hearts sank. What were they talking about?

"Every Octarian has their responsibilities, Gideon." Ward continued. "You've failed with yours. I'm shutting you down."

"No… no." Gideon stepped forward. "If you take away my work, I… both of them will pass aw-"

"And I understand the pain." He nodded. "I have a daughter of my own. I understand completely. But it's over, Gideon. You've failed her. So I will act as Octavio himself sees fit."

He again didn't respond, looking down as he teared up.

"Goodbye, Gideon." Ward walked out, leaving him alone.

Seeing this, Lydia opened up the door fully and walked out toward him. "…Dad…?"

He glanced at her, but didn't say anything.

"Dad?" She asked again, shivering. "Dad, what were you talking abo-"

At that moment, multiple soldiers suddenly stepped inside. Gideon just stepped back, staring downward.

Lydia stepped back at the soldiers came up toward her.

One of them began reading off of her tablet. "Lydia Tecca. Under protocol number 405, you are hereby sentenced to a standard Octarian draft, under service of the Octarian military. For maximum efficiency, you are to be separated from your family and instead placed in the care of the academy, where you will be trained as an Octarian soldier." She lowered it. "Long live Octavio's empire."

"If you anything you must grab, grab it now." Her partner responded.

"D-Dad!?" Lydia ran past them, over to Gideon. "W-What's happening!? Why are they-" She screamed as the Octarians went up to grab her. "Hey! HEY! GET OFF OF ME!"

He just shook his head as he watched. "…I'm sorry…"

She started crying as the soldiers dragged her out. "Dad! No, please! I want to stay with you! Dad!" She was sobbing now. "Dad, please! Dad! DAD!"

Gideon just watched as she was dragged down the hall. It was the last time she would see him for a long time.

At that moment, Bridgett's eyes shot open as she was snapped back to the real world, panting. She blinked and looked around, overwhelmed by the whiplash-like feeling.

"Easy…" Gideon was standing directly next to her, trying to keep a comforting presence.

She looked around, having to once again come to terms with her surroundings. "…What… Why… did you pull me out…?"

"Your heart-rate was spiking. You were starting to lose it."

She caught her breath. "…You gave me up to the military…"

"Ward did. Under orders from Octavio." He sat on the edge of the bed.

"...You let them do it…"

"...What else could I have done?"

She had no answer to that. She turned to stare at the ceiling.

"...I've always regretted what happened that day, Lydia. I made choices I shouldn't have."

"...You… he said I was going to pass away…"

Gideon paused. "…Yes."

Her mind was once again racing as a million more questions entered her head. "A-Am I dying? Am I going to die? W-What about my Mo-"

"We'll get to that. We'll get to that." He patted her arm.

She looked up at the ceiling again, thinking. This wasn't over, she had to go back in. She slowly turned back to him. "…I want to see what happened next..."

Inkopolis

The Suburbs

The Splatoon's white van slowly headed down the streets, passing by the many houses that resided here. Samantha was driving this time, using a GPS app on her phone to get them where they needed to go. It was a bit of a lengthy drive, but they eventually arrived at a somewhat more isolated, older-looking house. It was clearly abandoned as well, with the garden up front completely dead, with no traces of life around the place.

Confused, Samantha jetted her eyes back-and-forth from the house to the map on her phone. "…This really it?"

Daniel was nervously staring out the window. "Yeah… This is it."

Samantha let out a nervous breath as she parked the van, and one-by-one, Oliver and the two of them all came out, turning to face the house. They were standing in front of none other than Hugh Ward's old study.

Oliver cocked his weapon before he hid it under his shirt. "Alright, then…"

Samantha stood next to him. "We sure this isn't some schizophrenic delusion of his…?" She whispered to him.

Daniel could hear her regardless. "It looks like a house, but at the end of the day, it's just another one of his Underdogs bases. Under disguise."

Samantha looked at him, considering that possibility, before she again turned to Oliver. "Ok, but just saying, he still has schizophren-"

"Let's go." Oliver cut her off as he walked forward. Daniel followed, and Samantha took another nervous breath as she came up last.

Daniel pulled the key from his pocket, paused a moment, and then unlocked the door, slowly creaking the door open. They were immediately met with heavily dusty air as they entered, and Samantha couldn't help but cough as she breathed it in. Oliver and Daniel simply turned on their flashlights as they stepped in. The place clearly hadn't been cared for in the slightest since Ward's death, and was now decorated by unpleasant sights like dust-bunnies and spiderwebs. It was a wonder to Samantha how this place was even still here under Ward's ownership.

"...Jesus… it's like a… fucking haunted house in here…" Samantha desperately fanned the air around her as they all stepped in. She was the last to turn on her own flashlight.

"Where to now, Daniel?" Oliver asked.

Daniel was still looking around. "…Careful… there's sure to be some old booby traps around here." He turned toward the stairs.

Samantha's eyes widened as she heard that, wondering whether or not that was just another one of his delusions, but she nonetheless summoned her bravery to follow the other two up the stairs. They kept their steps slow and quiet as they made their way up to the second floor. Daniel led them into the actual study, which was lined with shelves of books.

Samantha nodded her head, impressed. "For an Octo-terrorist, dude was fancy…" She muttered.

"The research has gotta be somewhere in here." Daniel replied. "Just… again, mind the booby traps."

Oliver nodded, and the three of them spent the next several minutes searching around the place. They carefully pulled out books, looked through notes, and looked at other objects, but… there was no signs of anything even Underdogs-related here, no matter how hard they looked.

"Daniel." Oliver shook his head. "I'm not seeing anything."

"But it's…" Daniel looked around a bit. "…It has to be here. I don't know where else he would have put it."

"There's nothing of use here in the slightest. This is just Inkling junk."

"Keep looking, alri-"

"I have been looking. There's nothing here."

A buzzing sound started to fill his ears. "Oliver… I promise you… You wanted what I knew about Ward… this is where he would pu-"

"Are you absolutely sure?"

He paused, trying to control his breathing. His eyelid and his finger trigger both started to twitch. "…I'm not lying… I'm not lying…"

Oliver's expression became uncharacteristically intense, to the point that Daniel wasn't sure whether he was hallucinating it. "...You know, that sounds like something a liar might say." Oliver mocked.

"Nonononono-" He shook his head, before covering his face with his arms. "I-I'm not lying… I'm not lying…"

However, while they were arguing, Samantha hadn't stopped her search, and was currently in the process of discovering that behind the bookshelf she was currently searching, there appeared to be a second bookshelf behind it that was hidden by the multiple columns of books, lined with its own collection of more hidden ones. "…Huh…"

She moved more books to examine it more directly, soon able to discover that one of them, indeed, wasn't a normal book. Sticking her tongue out, she pulled on it, causing the entire bookshelf to buckle. She jumped and backed up. "Guys?"

The other two looked over as the hidden door opened up to reveal the secret room behind it. Oliver walked up to point his light inside.

"Oh my god." Samantha couldn't help but laugh as she pointed her light in his face. "I just did a detective thing. T-That was a detective thing! Woo…" She wiped the nervous sweat from her forehead. "See, I-I told you I wasn't a bad agent."

"Yes, good job." Oliver nodded and patted her shoulder as they all headed inside.

This room, although sharing the same general appearance as the actual study room behind it, was filled to the brim with top secret items. Most of it wasn't of use to them, even if a ton of the content was fascinating new information nonetheless, but Oliver was the first to find and pull out what they needed.

"Oh, Occius…" He straightened the sheets on a desk, looking through. Indeed, it was information on Octo Mine itself, including maps and information, and much to his glee, it included information on how to get there, and how to leave. "This is… this is it! I got it! I got it!"

Samantha looked over, pointing her light at it. "R-Really? I-Is Dylan there?"

"Yes. He has to be." He looked at her. "…We're gonna save your brother."

Samantha stared back at him, almost unable to believe it. She smiled widely.

Daniel was standing on his own, watching them from a small distance, when… a realization fell over him. If the Splatoon just got what they needed… then…

"Executioner…" He heard Ward's voice. He jumped as he looked up at him, seeing Hugh Ward's full image standing over him, almost like a statue. "They got what they needed from you. You just outlived your usefulness…"

Daniel backed up, eyes wide as he stared at him. His appearance was terrifying, like an all-consuming shadow that blended with the room around him.

Ward leaned toward him. "Do you know what happens next? What they're going to do with you?"

"...I…" He couldn't respond.

"Don't forget where you've come from… Executioner…" He faded into the shadows.

Daniel looked down, starting to tear up.

"Daniel!" Samantha said, giddily. "We got it! We actually got it, we're gonna save our-"

Out of nowhere, he suddenly pulled out the high-pressure Splattershot that was hidden in his own pants, and he pointed it at her. Her eyes widened as she was immediately frightened. In that moment, she even stopped breathing, her life practically flashing before her eyes.

"Daniel." Oliver shoved Samantha back and got in front of her, holding his arm out.

Daniel shook his head, tearing up. "Don't think… I don't know what you're doing…"

"Daniel." He took a single step forward. "We're not doing anything. Lower the gun."

He started crying. "W-Ward just told me, h-he's always been telling me, I don't have a use anymore. H-He, I-I, I-I don't have a use anymore." He tightened his grip on the weapon. "You took me here to kill me. You set me up."

"Daniel, Ward is dead. We didn't set you up, we're not gonna kill you. You still have a use. We're not out of this mission yet."

"You're lying, you're lying…" He sniffed. "You thought I was lying, but it was you, it was always you, you're lying!" He screamed. "You meant to betray me from the beginning, I knew it from the beginning, because you're just like Ward, you just wanna use me!"

He flinched. "Daniel, please, calm yourself. I'm nothing like Ward. I didn't even know him, but I can tell you… you're nothing like Ward. Or at least, you don't have to be. I know this is scary, but he's not really here right now."

But he couldn't calm down. He gritted his teeth, breathing like an animal. "But… but I just saw him… He said-"

"He wasn't really there. He's not here. The reason we're here is to stop him. Remember? We're here to unfurl his legacy. I promise. You're letting yourself get overwhelmed, so please… lower the gun."

He didn't respond, still gripping his gun. However, as Oliver noticed, his finger wasn't quite on the trigger, which was the one thing keeping Sheldon from zapping him where he stood.

"...Daniel…" He took another few steps forward. "We're not gonna do anything to you. Think… think about Jessica. Because we're just trying to help her. Remember? Remember Jessica?"

He did remember. This was for Jessica… not for Ward… and then, he realized. Ward was once again burrowed into his head. He had once again tried to corrupt him, which was the exact thing that led to the previous disaster. Realizing this, he slowly lowered the gun, his eyes welling with tears.

Oliver slowly took the gun from him, and he sighed in relief before he glanced back at Samantha. "…You ok?"

Tears were running down Samantha's cheek as she stood in the corner, trembling, but she nodded at him regardless.

He sighed and nodded back. "…Ok. Let's get outta here." He walked out.

Daniel looked back at Samantha, and they locked eye contact. His eyes held a degree of remorse, and apology, but he said nothing as he slowly followed Oliver. Samantha, too terrified to even get near him, followed only after he was out of sight.

The Subgrid

It didn't take Bridgett as long this time to get into the swing of things once she was plugged back into the simulation, able to jump back more-or-less to where she had left off.

The younger Lydia, as she had last seen, had been forcefully drafted into the military. She spent the first day kicking and screaming, fighting against the soldiers that were submitting her into one of Octo Valley's military academies. In fact, her first day only lasted so long before it got so bad that she had to be sedated.

When she woke up the next morning, she took a look around. Gideon and Sondra were both nowhere to be found, and instead, there seemed to be other female military students in the room with her. In fact, her bed was only one of many that were lined up in different rows. "…Hey." She asked one of the other students.

She turned to look at her.

"...W-Where am I?"

She gave her a look. "The academy?"

She shook her head, looking at her wrist. She had already been tagged and marked. "...I-I'm not supposed to be here…" She slowly sat up. "…C-Can you please help me…? This is… there was a mistak-"

"You think that just because you don't want to be here, you can just get out of it while the rest of us are hung to dry?"

She didn't respond.

"...Good luck with that, sister." She walked off.

"...Hey… hey, wait!" She shouted her, but to no avail. She looked around. "Anyone? Please?"

But no one cared. Barely anyone even listened to her. She was here now. This was her home now. With nothing left to do, she kept looking around, as tears welled up in her eyes. How could her own Dad just… give her up like that? After everything he had promised her? She still didn't even know what Ward was talking about, or why he said the things he had said. Now, here she was, left frightened and alone, to softly cry to herself.

Years passed as ultimately, she was forced to comply with the academy. Sweat, tears, and even some ink was shed through the process, but as she got older, she was only increasingly hardened by the training put on her. During this time, even when she had made attempts, she was never able to see her parents. She didn't even make any friends within the academy; during her time there, she either got shot down whenever she tried to talk to someone, or simply kept to herself. As a result, the previous, younger personality she had before started to dissipate, and upon her graduation, she became nothing more than another faceless soldier drone, just like everyone else.

More years passed like this, as Lydia only became more and more dead inside, even as she was recruited as one of DJ's Octavio's personal guards, as guard number 10,008. She rarely actually got to see the Octarian King, it was more like she got to stand guard in the same dome as his throne, and was occasionally the one to bring lower Octarians in to see him. At one point, during this time, she even had a brief run-in with… Marina. She had been tasked with escorting Marina to see the King himself. It was a brief memory, she apparently couldn't recall the whole thing, or maybe the Subgrid was just refusing to simulate it; but it at least confirmed one thing to her: Their lives had, even if briefly, intersected before the Deepsea Metro. And that, in some small way, gave her both some comfort and sadness.

Outside of that brief run-in, things continued just like this until one day, a turn of events came along. DJ Octavio had gone through with his plans to steal a group of Zapfish, and in retaliation, the New Squidbeak Splatoon had sent a new agent directly into their domes to retrieve them. The already miserable lives of every Octarian soldier had been thrown off, and almost every soldier had been called to guard duty. In obedience, Lydia took her gun, went where she was told, and did what she was ordered to as she awaited the arrival of this feared new agent. Word was getting around about how skilled this girl was, but it was not in her job to worry; she put on the same blank face, knowing she would fight her when the time came.

But then, things again took a turn for the worst, and the next major turning point in Lydia's life came when Agent 3 managed to infiltrate Octavio's dome for the Great Zapfish. In fact, this was when the true turning point happened; Lydia wasn't even there to see the direct confrontation when Jessica made it all the way to Octavio, but the effect could be felt throughout the Valley when the Splatoon pulled an unexpected move; They hijacked the Valley's intercom, and broadcasted the Calamari Inkantation to as many people as they could. This was the turning point for all the Octarians, in fact, but for her in particular… nothing would ever be the same. Her hearts began racing as she again heard the heavenly melody… Somewhere deep down, she could already remember this day, because it was etched deep within her, to the point that it could not be shaken.

It had a greater effect on her than anyone else. It made her… dizzy. Unable to focus. She groaned to herself as she held her head. What was this song doing to her? What was happening to her? Her mind was racing, and her body felt shaky and weak.

"...W-… What…" She looked around as she ended up stumbling away from her guard position, desperately searching for a place to sit down. In the chaos this song was creating, no one came to check up on her, and she didn't make it far before… she fainted.

What happened next, the Subgrid couldn't even fully simulate- any memories she had of this next phase of her life were apparently too broken- but what she could figure out was that… she was on an operating table. Surgeons around her had opened her up, and they were poking around inside her. She was completely unable to move, and she came in and out of consciousness. Terror seeped through every vein in her body as she felt this, and although she could do nothing about it, more terror fell over her as she was able to see the surgeons over her. One of them, she could tell, was the outline of Gideon. He stared down over her, with a sad look in his eyes. Was what Ward said really true? Was… she dying?

When she was able to regain full consciousness next, she had, at long last, circled back around to the moment where this nightmare truly started; the green ocean. She was again floating in place alongside the Octoling boy she did not know. And of course, she still had no answers for what she was doing here…

She teared up, even if the tears immediately mixed in with the waters around her. She closed her eyes, in disbelief, before she heard Gideon's voice.

"...That day changed a lot, didn't it?" He remarked.

She opened her eyes to see that she, along with Gideon, was standing in the green void. The water was gone, replaced by the green, shallow pond they stood in, which splashed with each step she took.

"I programmed a digital form for myself to be able to talk with you." Gideon explained. "Just for this moment, actually."

A tear fell down Bridgett's cheek as she faced him. "…I don't… understand…"

"I didn't expect you would. You didn't know then, so of course, this trip down memory lane wouldn't give you all the answers."

She just stared at him, feeling particularly confused.

He stepped toward her, reaching to dry off the tear. "Luckily for you… I know what happened… but it may frighten you."

She kept staring at him. "…Just tell me…"

"...You were dying, Lydia. I realized early on, that… you and your Mom shared a rare illness. It was passed on genetically to you."

She knew it. A dire feeling overcame her now that she was hearing the words out loud. "…An… illness…?"

He nodded. "Did you notice that your mom was getting more and more… unlively as she grew older? Even before you were in the military?"

"...But… I was doing ok… what… I don't-"

"The Calamari Inkantation is a mysterious thing. There's… something about it that… plays with our very DNA. Our DNA itself has extraordinary reactions to it, which is why so many people theorize that the melody has magical properties. After all this time, I still don't even fully understand it. But here's what matters, and why it's relevant. For many other Octarians, it broke them free of the Octarian's ways. It made them realize just how trapped they were. It gave them a desire to leave, to see a bigger world, to… be free. But in your case… while it did do that… it also… accelerated your condition. It sped up the process. I daresay… it even awoke the illness within you."

She started crying as she listened to his words.

He wiped more of the tears for her. "…But don't fret, Lydia… because I had a project. A project that… I believed could help save you. You remember it… don't you?"

"...What… project?"

"...I put you in a healing tank, Lydia. Among some other subjects. That boy over there that you can remember, but have no identity of… is just another sick person like you."

She listened intently to every word, but said nothing in response.

"The downside was…" He paused, choosing his next words carefully. "…It suppressed many of your memories. It… reset you. If you want to be all poetic about it… you can say that the old you died… and then you were reborn."

She stared at him, for what felt like several moments, unable to believe it. Slowly, she lowered herself to her knees, splashing the water below her, as she knelt forward and started sobbing.

Gideon reached forward to pet her hair. "…It's ok, Lydia… The new you is still just as beautiful as the old one was. We still have a chance to correct… all of it."

She sniffed as she opened her eyes again, staring downward. "…What… happened next?" She slowly looked up at him. "How did I get to the Metro? How did…?"

He gave a simple nod in response, but said nothing as he then faded away. The world around her corrupted as she once again found herself floating among the green ocean, again next to the Octoling boy. She looked around as the alarm sounded, and red lights flashed around her, briefly replacing the green tint with each flash.

The first part happened just as it did in her dreams. A figure stood in front of her, the glass broke, water gushed everywhere, and freezing air bit her skin as she and the boy were ejected out of the tank and onto the floor. She wheezed for air, before noticing as a pair of boots stepped near her head. She looked up at the masked Octoling, who stared down at her.

"I had a… you could call her a protégé." Gideon's voice narrated over the scene. "Her code name was Shadow. And she grew to hate my work."

The next thing Lydia knew, Shadow picked her up, holding her tightly by the hair as she marched her out of the room. It was chaos outside, with there apparently being some kind of small civil war going on inside Gideon's lab.

"There was… a lot of disagreements about my work, actually." Gideon's voice continued. "It got heated. And Shadow wanted revenge against me. She wanted to spite me." He then chuckled. "She didn't realize how much of a mistake she was making… because that day, she just gave birth to Agent 8. Such a naive mistake…"

Lydia screamed as Shadow held the gun to her head.

"I'll kill her! I swear to god, I'll kill her!" Shadow shouted, causing more people to turn toward her. Now that she had their attention and let them know who she was holding, she then turned her gun on all of them instead, shooting them as she continued marching her out. She took Lydia all through the rest of the warzone up until they reached the elevator.

Lydia said nothing, just watching on in confusion as Shadow handed her a pile of clothes and then pressed the elevator's button, shutting them both inside. They could both hear as the Octarians opened fire on the elevator door, but they were too late, as the elevator shot upward. Lydia looked up at Shadow, still confused.

"Just do what I say…" Shadow told her. "No one will hurt you."

"Make no mistake, she had no care for your life." Gideon continued. "She tried to use you as an escape attempt. To get out without anyone trying to lay a finger on her." He chuckled. "For her, it didn't quite work. We had a tracker on her that she didn't know about. You, on the other hand, you managed to slip away, through the confusion and the chaos, and… well… you know what happened next."

He was right. She knew exactly what happened next. Although Shadow did let her escape into the Valley once they were on the other end of the elevator, the event had tripped certain alarms, which led directly to the next events. Her escape to the Valley's surface, her first real run-in with Jessica and Cuttlefish, Tartar's attack, the Deepsea Metro, the NILS Statue, her move-in with Pearl and Marina, her relationship with Dylan, her first steps at following Jessica's shadow into being a city vigilante, the Underdogs incident, her grief, her partnership with Jessica, Marina and Pearl leaving on their new mission, and then…

She was back in the green void, caught up on her entire life. Again, she collapsed to her knees in disbelief to what she had seen, on the verge of hyperventilating. It was an entire rush for her; So much had been answered, but there were now more questions and new mysteries she had just discovered. Above even that… she hadn't realized just how broken of a person she was before, how broken her life was. It was almost too much for her. She looked up as, again, Gideon's image appeared before her. She closed her eyes as he reached to caress her hair.

"They say that the most broken people become the most beautiful…" Gideon told her. "That they have the biggest potential for growth. And you have grown. So much."

She slowly opened her eyes again as she looked at him. She had been left with one more major event that she hadn't seen. She was extremely scared to even ask, but, she had to. "…My… My Mom…?"

He paused. He had hoped to maybe worry about this next part later, but after a moment, he nodded yet again in silent disagreement, before he again faded away. The void around her faded away after him, transforming back into the inside of one of the Valley's domes.

She looked around. She was in one of the Valley's infirmaries, again dressed in her soldier uniform. This was before the Zapfish caper, before she had heard the Calamari Inkantation. Again letting the memory proceed, she walked down the hallway.

Sondra was in her own room, extremely sick in bed. Lydia paused a moment before she walked in. This was the first time she had seen her since she had been dragged off to the academy, and it wasn't how she wanted to see her at all.

It didn't take Sondra long to slowly turn and notice her, although her vitals on the monitor next to her were dismal. "…Lydia…" She spoke weakly. "…You came…"

Lydia said nothing as she walked up to her side.

"...You came just in time…" She struggled to swallow her own saliva, subtly reaching her hand forward. "…I missed you… so much…"

She stared at her, wondering what she should even say. "...Is… Dad not here?" She finally spoke.

She managed to just barely shake her head. Lydia looked down and started tearing up.

"Hey…" Sondra continued. "There's a good reason for it… he… he has very important work to do…"

She didn't respond. At the moment, she didn't even fully believe that.

"He is working for your future, Lydia…" Sondra said softly. "You're… still too young to understand, but… he is working for you… he just… he wasn't fast enough to secure mine… but I've made peace with it…"

Lydia still couldn't say anything, her crying steadily turning into a more violent sob.

"Lydia…" She again swallowed her saliva. "…Trust… your father… because when he is finished… you are going to become a great Octarian… I just… know it…"

"N-… Not without you…" She managed to choke out. "T-This isn't the life I wanted to live, I-… I was supposed to spend more time with you… It's not supposed to end this way."

"...I'm sorry… Lydia… one day… you will…" She couldn't finish, starting to fade out of consciousness.

"No…" She shook her head, sobbing louder. "No, I don't understand! I don't understand any of it! No one has told me anything! You've left me confused! And alone! I've been alone! You're leaving me alone now! I'm always alone! I don't have anybody!" She sobbed harder. "I don't have anybody! Please don't-…" She choked, gripping her hand. "…Please don't go… not again, I can't-…"

But it was too late. She couldn't respond, or say so much as "I love you". Her eyes just closed for the last time, and her hand failed to really grip hers back. A moment later… she flatlined, filling the room with the monitor's continuous beep.

She stared at her. "…Mom… No… Please don't-…" She looked around, before suddenly standing up straight. She reached for her chest, trying to resuscitate her. She whimpered, as her tears fell from her cheeks and onto her chest. "Mom, p-please don't do this to me… you can't- I can't-" She sobbed. "Please wake up! I need you! I need you! Mom! Mom, please! Mom! MO-"

"-M! MOM!" Bridgett screamed as she was awoken from the Subgrid. She immediately began sobbing again, as she frantically looked around, hyperventilating. "Mom! M-"

"Easy, easy!" Gideon grabbed her. He pulled her close, trying his best to calm her down.

Bridgett slowly came to terms with her new surroundings. Her Mom… was gone… and as she realized this, realizing that instead, there was another person right there to comfort her, she sank into him, allowing herself to sob.

"I've got you…" He held her head. "I'm right here, Lydia… I'm right here…"

A moment passed, before she reached up to fully hug him back, holding him as close as she possibly could. "…D-… Dad…" She whimpered into his chest.