"Y'know, I was thinking…"

Hmm?

Why'd everything feel so… familiar?

"Have you wondered what would happen if the world ever, y'know, ended?"

He looked over to his companion. She was sitting against a lichen-covered log, beer in hand. Her dirty blonde hair was in a neat ponytail, laid against the wood. Above them, the canopy of the thick forest blocked out the cloudy sky.

His gaze, whenever it flitted over her, shifted elsewhere. He couldn't quite look at her.

It was evening now, the sun's orange rays peeking over the horizon and tinting the clouds with a quiet purple. The sunlight cut through the trees, casting intricate shadows onto the forest floor, complementing the slightly chilled air of a summer evening. A cool wind blew through the leaves, blending in nicely with the quiet chirping of the grasshoppers and cicadas.

It was peaceful, bringing him back to his younger days. Memories of goofing off in the woods with his cousins, a sort of odd nostalgia. But, he could never truly recapture those times, no matter how hard he tried.

Cherish what you have, he supposed. It could always be worse.

Sighing, he took a drink from the bottle in his hand. Bitter as usual. His friend looked at him expectantly. Right, he had a question to answer.

"There isn't much to imagine, honestly." he said, shrugging. He sagged against the log he was leaning against, the coolness of the forest floor chilling him.

She rolled her eyes, waving a lazy, gloved hand.

"And by that you mean…?

He already knew the answer, for better or worse. His occupation, his studies, the general closeness he's had to government and mega-corporate activities gave him all kinds of insights into the weapons tech of the modern age.

And to him, there was only one real possibility.

"I figure somebody's going to flash-melt the ice caps. Thermo-nukes, launched from Emplacements, maybe? Drive up the atmosphere's temperature just enough to make the Earth a flooded, uninhabitable wreck, for a time." he said, huffing. "After that… I give it maybe a hundred years before we're all dead and gone."

He could almost see it in his mind's eye; the thought dredged up utter dread within him, one that made him nauseous, yet at the same time, he felt a weight lift off his shoulders. It was an unfathomably horrible thought, the end of billions of human lives in the span of a few hours, but he could… accept that idea, for now.

If only in theory.

Still, for just a theory, it terrified him, more than it should have.

His companion shrugged, chuckling through an awkward grin.

"Bet it's the only way we'll see peace in our time, honestly. Can't have a war if there's no one to wage it," her smile dropped slightly, her chin resting on her hand. "Though, I'd be curious how they managed to slip ICBMs past the Emplacements, or perhaps…"

Her smile dropped off entirely.

"...Kamabo was cooking up something like," she muttered, contemplating, "Stealthed warheads that could be fired via those railgun Emplacements, no doubt others were too…"

An itching had grown in his skull, an insignificant little pest that refused to go away. Something to do with Kamabo… but why?

"Kamabo? What do they got to do with this?"

She snorted, saying something under her breath.

"Forget I said anything." she replied. "I… you wouldn't get it."

"Whatever…" he said, taking another drink from his bottle. He didn't come out here to talk shop about the arms race, he came out to…

Why was he out here again?

An uncomfortable silence took hold. As if sensing the discordant emotions, the forest grew subtly quiet, the sun setting further into the horizon. This person, his friend, he hadn't known her long, yet equally, he felt as if he had known her his whole life, but she was still almost a stranger.

Deja vu, he supposed.

Oh, right. Now he remembered.

"Listen… there was something I needed to tell you," he said, breaking the silence, "I mean, we're out here for a reason, after all."

She rolled her eyes, sitting up straighter, "Not the reason you think, but go on, let's hear it.."

"Well… god, there isn't any easy way to say this… but… I've been given an opportunity."

"Oh? And that is…?" Her tone was off, almost mocking.

"I've been offered a job with Polaris Tech, out in Japan."

...

She was staring through him, contemplating, judging, silent. Her gaze shifted across his face, past his shoulders, into the sky. Her lungs sucked in a quick breath, eyebrows suddenly furrowed.

"...those cheeky bastards, that's why we're here," she muttered, almost impossible to hear. But, the vile tone she had taken made it impossible to miss.

"P-pardon?"

She abruptly straightened up, eyes widened slightly, "Oh, no, no, sorry! Just… realized something. Go on."

He swallowed nervously.

"Listen, I know it's a l-lot to take in, but… I really can't turn this down! It's… well, y'know, would you turn down a job with-?"

"With Borealis? No, I wouldn't." A fake, plastic smile was plastered across her face, obviously stressed. "No, no, I get it! You're working with Polaris now, congratulations!"

"I-I…" ...what was her name?

He nervously took another sip of his beer, tasteless to his tongue, "I'll… well, I'll be able to drop Aurora, for once. Get outta Seattle. Leave the country. See the world. I can't just turn it down, y'know?"

The words slipped unbidden through his lips, without thought.

"Wait, no… that wasn't what I meant to say." he corrected, massaging his temple. "I mean, I'm… glad you're happy, but I was expecting more… pushback, I suppose?

He was tense, nervous, on edge. She was showing… cracks of some kind, out of place in a way he couldn't quantify, like a note out of place in a song.

Not helping was the fact that she was now staring past his shoulders, into the forest itself. She had the eyes of both predator and prey.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me…" he heard her mutter, a note of anger tampering her tone.

He quirked an eyebrow. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah yeah, just… one moment."

In a fluid motion, she shot up to her feet, beer bottle in hand. "Hey! Fuck off, shoo!"

Tge bottle flew from her hand and into a tree, shattering glass all over the forest floor. Someone shouted in a bubbly high-pitched voice from the tree line, but when he turned around, all he could see was a figure fleeing into the trees.

Oh, right. Forests were like that, nowadays. Infested. Whispering all around, at certain hours of the night where not even the nocturnal creatures of the night stirred. If one listened closely, they could hear why…

TWO SOULS INTERTWINE

UNITY FILLS THE VOIDED SPACE

STORM CLOUDS LOOM ABOVE

Granted, he doubted that haiku enthusiasts were what led to the whole 'silence at the witching hour' phenomenon, but at this point? Anything was scarier than nothing, in these forests.

He pawed the ground, feeling for his camping handaxe, but it failed to manifest. Why… why didn't he bring it with him? He always did, so…

A sinking pit grew in his stomach as he patted his body for any knives he may have had, only to realize that instead of his regular, summer clothing, he was covered in some kind of… hazmat suit?

He looked down at his gloved hand, flexing it in disbelief.

She sat back down and awkwardly cleared her throat, breaking him from his confusion.

"...I'm sorry about that."

Whatever response he could conjure died in his throat, his emotions spun with disbelief.

"I…" her gaze kept shifting to the trees behind her, face losing color. "Yeah. We don't have much time here. Gonna have to get this over with, then…"

She took a deep breath, then let it out.

"So Polaris survived after all? Please, please tell me you're not the only one left."

Polaris? What?

"I…" he whispered, struck dumb. "Wha… I'm… not even on board with Polaris yet?" he weakly offered, his headache growing. "I… I really don't know what you're talking about."

She grimaced, a gloved hand pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Look, I had a dream like this a while back, and I have a feeling you did too. Can you really not break the script of this one? You're literally wearing the evidence! Hell, look at what I'm wearing!"

He blinked in disbelief. With growing horror, he leaned forward and stared at her. Really, really focused. True to her word, she too wore a hazmat suit of some kind, albeit with body armor of some kind worn over it. Her shoulder pauldrons had some kind of logo on them, a four pointed star.

He looked ahead at the sheer impossibility, mind abuzz with futile rationalizations, yet ignoring the stark truth in front of him. This could only be some kind of dream, but he could taste the beer, feel the breeze on his cheek, hear the quiet chittering of the forest…

…which had gone silent.

His emotions were stretched to a breaking point.

"Look, just… please, try to remember quickly. We're not alone." she stated, voice strained and eyes affixed to the treeline. "Whatever the hell those are, that girl's probably stirred 'em up. I don't wanna be here when they decide they've had enough of our shit."

The evening had set in fully, the fainting light of the sun almost completely gone. The shadows had deepened, casting them into a kind of pseudo-darkness. Yet, he could see movement in the trees, barely visible. Darker… shadow-like figures moved between the trunks and branches, staring into him.

Tearing his eyes from the display, he forced his gaze back to her, who was bent down near a small rock ring. She had stacked wood into the little ring, and with some paper, fuel, and a lighter, had started a small fire.

"What in the fuck is going on?" he quietly screamed, hands trembling.

She looked up at him, face illuminated by the weak fire. In the flickering light, her form was almost incorporeal.

"Don't ask me, I got no goddamn clue either." she sighed. "Though, I think this may be some kind of… shared hallucination, of sorts. An anomaly, or something."

He shakily nodded, still utterly lost. None of this was normal, and even if she was right (whatever she was talking about) it still aggravated his headache.

A quiet, yet crescendoing shriek was emanating from the forest, one that sounded like it was being run through some kind of watery fan. Branches snapped in the distance as the source of the screaming drew closer. Too close for comfort…

"Do you hear that?" he whispered, quickly crouching to the ground. He was a hair's width from adrenaline overwhelming his body; only his discipline kept him from panicking.

His Great Uncle Sam, bless his soul, had told him stories of all kinds of strange beings that roamed in the wooded hills of their home. He himself had seen, or rather heard, his fair share of them throughout his years, huddled in a tent as something large brushed the sides, his only comfort being his tightly gripped handaxe.

The things in the woods had little patience for humanity, or what meager weapons they yielded. Property too, for that matter. His family owned some of that forest fair and square, and they didn't care.

Oh, what he wouldn't give for a rifle. Preferably something big. Maybe a las-rifle?

As the two huddled closer to the fire, the warbly screaming reached a feverish pitch, as did the sheer dread he'd felt this whole time. What horror was about to emerge from the woods around them? Were the shadowy figures spectators to this display?

There was nothing they could do, except brace for impact.

His companion snorted, stressed, but slightly annoyed. "Yeah, I figured she'd come running back. Maybe that'll jog your fried-ass mind, huh?"

As if on cue, the bushes exploded as something purple and vaguely humanoid tumbled through them, crashing to the ground in front of them within the light of the fire.

He jumped back in surprise with a yelp. "The hell is that?!"

Suffice to say, he didn't exactly expect the cryptid in the woods to be a young squid girl, but here one was, looking like she was scared absolutely shitless.

His human companion laughed. "You tell me, man. I found her passed out next to you." Reaching down, she grabbed the girl by the scruff of her neck and pulled her up to her feet, almost shoving her in his face. "Is she enough to get those gears in your head turning?"

The girl was hyperventilating, eyes dilated and frightened. He could spy fangs in her; a squid beak?

"S-Spook, what's happening!? Who is she?" she feverishly mumbled, trying to twist from the other human's grasp.

Spook? What the hell kind of name was Sp-

Oh.

Oh.

"S-Sally? Kid?" he whispered.

Like a slap across the face, everything snapped back into focus.

"Finally." the other human smugly replied. "Took you long enough."

His jaw opened and closed, trying to form any words, but none came out.

He and Sally had been exploring, then… here they were, in this disturbing, yet nostalgic dream, one that felt awfully familiar. And the other human, her! He remembered her! Why did- What was-

Just…!

This was too much.

He swallowed, "A-alright." he shakily said, forcing the words out. "W-what the hell is this?"

What was another human doing here? How did you survive? Who are you?

The other human shrugged, her hands shaking slightly. "I was like you when I snapped out of our script." she admitted. "Freaked out just like you when I learned I… wasn't alone."

wasn't alone.

He stared ahead at her.

It…

She pushed Sally aside and leaned closer, taking his hand. The squid balked at the treatment, but her protest died as the other human shot her an angry glare. Wisely, Sally shut up, a state the armored woman was all too happy to exploit. Her voice grew quicker.

"You're from Polaris, right? I didn't think any of you survived. My money was on Kamabo, and look how that turned out." she stammered, nervously chuckling.

He jerked back from her grip, almost falling from the log he was sitting on. He nearly wretched onto the fire, but steeled his innards.

"No, no, shut up!" he all but shouted, heart pounding up to his throat. "No, first! Who. The fuck. Are. You?"

After everything that had happened, he just… couldn't accept this at face value. He had been fighting his way through this world from the very start, made enemies of almost everyone he had met, and now was currently fighting his way through the hell on earth that was this… what did Sally call it… this 'Metro.'

Running into another human, especially in the Metro, had to be impossible. He knew enough about this place to know better. It was trying to twist his mind, but to what end?

He couldn't quite pin it down, but something about this woman threw him off. She… fluctuated too much for his liking, for lack of a better word. Her emotions were all over the place, shifting, yet equally, she had some measure of control. And the way she was looking at him, like a feral dog staring at a bloody steak.

Desperate. Unstable. About to explode.

Yet, he couldn't just shake this. At this point, he was willing to give her the benefit of doubt. He was desperate, plain and simple.

Her face flushed, furious, but just as quickly mellowed.

"Look… I don't know how long you've been down here, but… alright, here's the thing, you can believe what you want, but if we wake up, I'm holding it against you." she said, putting her hands on her hips.

For just a moment, her annoyed and indifferent facade flickered. Her eyebrows drooped, glossy eyes reflecting incredible pain. Her breath hitched for just a moment, hands balling into fists.

"So, with that out of the way… I'm the last one out of Borealis. Lead engineer Emily Hawthorne, at your service."

She bent forward slightly in an unsteady bow.

"...Borealis survived?" he asked, distrust momentarily forgotten.

Eyes blinking rapidly, Emily nodded. One of her cheeks was being ground to minced meat by her teeth.

She was telling the truth.

The thought was almost delirious, yet it made some amount of sense.

Both his company, Polaris, and her group, Borealis, were American companies contracted by the Japanese as part of some corporate alliance, made in the wake of the Fourth World War. He wasn't sure of the specifics, but he knew of the 'pipeline,' as it was informally known.

Kamabo handled the science and initial developments, Borealis engineered and field-tested what Kamabo put out, and then Polaris took these products and finalized them for commercial sale, whether through Polaris themselves or through shell companies such as FLK.

If any of the three companies were to have survived, it would have been Borealis and Kamabo. Yet, only he (a Polaris employee) had emerged into this world. Both had perished, he figured, what with the distress call he faintly remembered hearing. But, apparently not.

"Yeah, kind of. Borealis only lives on because I'm still here." she said, a darker note entering her voice, glaring at Sally. "I'm the last one standing. Everyone else died when her people found us." The sheer hatred imbued within the words caught him off guard.

"They broke into our complex, fried our power grid, and forced us out of hibernation. Do you know how it feels to wake up like that, every nerve on fire and your lungs almost exploding from decompression, with the screams of your dying friends?"

As she spoke, tears prickled at the edge of her eyes, her tone breaking down.

Oh… oh shit.

The cryopod prototypes were notoriously precise; there were an uncountable amount of variables that were factored into the equation of suspending human life, and it took time to bring a human from an active status to proper suspension and back. The shock from being woken up suddenly, coupled with the drugs and chemicals needed made the process lethal.

Yet, she had survived, somehow.

He looked to Sally, who had shrunk back to the edge of the firelight. Emily was staring nervously at him, who was eyeing her back with a veritable cocktail of loathing and uncertainty. But, after a moment, the vitriol faded.

"Sorry, I…" she mumbled, hands bunched into fists on her lap, "It's… the point being, Borealis is gone."

She looked down at her lap, ashamed.

"Gone?" he asked, stupefied. "Just what did the intruders do?"

He knew enough about Borealis to know that their dedicated facility in Japan wasn't some cheap flimsy complex. Esoteric technologies allowed for rapid construction, allowing for decades of work to be done in mere months. The true scope of the site was classified, but he knew enough to know that a small group of intruders didn't just make Borealis disappear.

"Yeah…" Emily said, fumbling with a strap on her armor. "I fought back, and the only things I had to fight back with were experimental prototypes. I should've known the risks, but I just- I had to do something. Nobody was gonna make it out of Borealis besides me anyway, so… it ended up becoming a torch and burnt up, y'know?"

Oh.

Oh. Oh dear.

He stared at her with wide eyes, nodding slightly. "Oh. Christ, I'm… I'm sorry."

His now deceased coilgun was destructive enough, especially its power source, and that had been after the majority of the kinks from the Borealis prototypes were ironed out and its power input watered down considerably. He didn't even want to think about what destructive potential Borealis could have cooked up with an unrestrained prototype.

"A weapon that could destroy a building?" Sally suddenly muttered, from her spot nearby. "How is that possible? I mean, I-I know my dad had some theories about human weapons, but this is something else entirely…"

Another indescribable emotion flitted across Emily's face, settling into a kind of resolve. The human stooped down to the inkling, her eyes locking with Sally's.

"Could you… repeat that last part?" she asked, setting a hand on the kid's shoulder. Her question was simple, yet cut through the air like a cleaver.

She gulped, no doubt unsettled by Emily's antics. "Um… A-a weapon that could destroy a building?"

"No, no, not that." Emily tutted softly. "You said something about your dad having theories about us?"

Before Sally could answer, however, he spoke up. "Hey, lay off the kid, alright? It's not something we need to worry about." Regardless of the reason, seeing Sally freaked out by this potentially deranged gun(wo)man was something he really didn't want to have to deal with.

She turned to face him, partially relinquishing her grip on Sally. "It's not something we need to worry about?! If I'm understanding this correctly, the Aberrants-"

"Inklings…" Sally mumbled, correcting her.

"Aberrants," she repeated, "have been reverse-engineering some of our technology. I saw their little city. And now they're trying to recreate our weaponry!?"

"I mean, technically, we're just trying to understand the theories behind them, not recreate them." Sally interjected, nervously. "And-"

"Listen to me." she growled, now looking Sally in the eye. "Do you even know what the hell your kind's getting involved with? What they're digging up?"

Her face grew serious as she grabbed Sally's shoulders, pulling her in close, nearly face to face.

"Some things should stay buried, left to die in the past."

And for him, that was the final straw.

"Okay, that's enough!" he said, forcefully pulling the two apart, then meeting Emily's glare with one of his own. "I don't care who you are, but you're not talking to her like that!"

"I'll talk to her however the fuck I like!" she shot back irately, voice growing manic. "Those freaks are trying to dig into shit they really shouldn't be getting into! Everybody at Borealis is fucking dead because they can't just leave anything alone!"

She jabbed a finger at him, forcefully. "And now here you are, somehow not concerned that they're digging way too damn deep? You've seen the shit Kamabo spawned! Do you want that to fall into their hands?!"

Emily brimmed with anger, the emotion practically radiating from her form. For a brief, heartstopping moment, she looked as if she wanted to attack him and Sally, but barely held herself back.

The worst part was that she was right. These new species weren't remotely equipped to handle this knowledge.

"Yeah, I know. I've been down here long enough to see enough. You're right, none of this tech should be theirs." he said, quiet, yet calm, even if he didn't feel particularly calm himself. "Now, look - we don't know just how much they know about us, and who knows, maybe they could learn from our mistakes! And for that, well…"

He paused. In truth, he hadn't bothered to ask Sally much about what her species knew of humanity, or even what they researched. It was a touchy subject, for obvious reasons.

"Sally, you said your dad was an anthropologist, right?" he said, turning to the Inkling. "You're the expert here."

Sally, for her part, stuttered as both humans looked to her, one curious, the other manic, yet curious.

"T-that's… well…"

"Spit it out!" Emily growled.

"W-We don't know much! At all!" Sally exclaimed, the words tumbling out on instinct.

Both humans glanced at one another, then back to her.

"Could you elaborate?" he asked, shakily.

Sally looked as if she wanted to throw up.

"W-Well," she began, "We've never really found any… well, records. Just… skeletons. Skeletons of humans, and occasionally some ruins. Structures, the Domes, some of your old technology…"

She trailed off, cautiously looking to the humans to gauge their reactions. A waved hand on his part told her to continue.

"But… we never found records or photos, much less anything that could have survived. And then… the statue emerged. A big human statue, with some kind of weapon on it."

He saw a flash of recognition in Emily's eyes.

"A weaponized statue?" she questioned. "You wouldn't happen to be referring to that wreck off the city coast?"

Sally blinked, "Y-Yeah, that one! My dad went crazy over it, it gave him so many new theories! An actual lead, after so long! Y-yet, the government was keeping the whole situation quiet. And then my dad lost his credentials over it…"

She sighed. "And then… well, I wanted to help him, so I snuck out to the statue, and… fell down here."

Silence reigned for a moment, only to be broken by Emily's manic chuckle.

"Touching. Real fuckin' touching." Emily snorted. "On one hand, I oughta be flattered that we're not entirely forgotten, but on the other hand, I oughta also be real pissed that you thought it was a good idea to come down here, kiddo."

"E-excuse me?"

"Alright, lay off the kid, Emily." he said, trying to break up the inevitable argument.

"I will not, thank you very much." she spat, but she deflated somewhat, sitting back down. A sigh escaped her, as her head slumped down. "I… just don't know anymore. They're abominations, but…"

She shook her head. "I swear, they remind me too much of us."

He sighed, taking a seat next to her.

"I get it, kind of. My own experience hasn't been… pleasant, either."

She looked at him with weary eyes.

"You better not be the last one out of Polaris too." she mumbled, shivering slightly.

"I'm the only one up right now." he began, looking down at his gloved hands. "There's fifty-five of us still alive, but they're still down there in cryo. We lost two guys, though. Found one of their bodies. The other… I don't know."

Memories of a desiccated corpse came rushing back to him. A notebook, every page filled with inane ramblings and capped off with all traces of the owner's identity hastily scratched out. The one confirmed casualty. But why? That mystery still threw him off balance.

"Our warden AI put out a general lockdown, so all I could do was suit up and get topside. And, well… that's when things just started getting worse. There are… things in the sea, monsters I had to fight off. And in the Inkling city, I had to skulk about and hide. Stole someone's groceries."

As he spoke, the memories rushed back in full force. His desperate escape still rattled him; it was an uncertain time, compounded by his lack of knowledge of this world. He knew nothing, with no friends or allies, and the weight of his species sat on his shoulders.

"And then… things got real dicey. You remember the Shelters, right?"

She looked away, instead staring into the fire. An unpleasant expression grew across her face, no doubt beginning to realize where his story was heading.

"The big, underground domes, you mean?"

He nodded. "Bingo. I found one, out in the woods. Neru-sha owned and operated. I went in, thinking there were people down there, but…"

"But what?"

"The whole place was occupied. Some military group, uhh…"

He snapped his fingers, thinking.

"Sally, do you know what those octopus-lookin' people were?"

"O-Octarians?" Sally sat on the log, content to listen.

"Yeah, that works. Long story short, I… A-A fight broke out. Put my coilgun to the test. Things went sideways, and, well. For all I know, I think I might've brought the place down by accident."

…He was a horrible person.

"You what?"

He stared at her in silence, a grave expression written across his face. Her own expression, while disturbed, almost looked proud.

"I… I don't really wanna talk about it. Not in front of the kid." he finally said, trying to steer the subject away from his… episode. "What matters more is that we're not the only ones left. And…"

He sucked in a deep breath, before continuing.

"I-I don't know what I'm going to do."

He buried his face in his hands, sighing again.

It was a crushing reality, one he had been putting off, but there was little way to avoid it now. Even assuming he got out of the Metro alive, then what? The rest of Polaris was still trapped under the toxic ocean, and the facility itself was an iron crypt. How would he get everyone out of there, and assuming they did so, where would they go? Where could they go?

He was beginning to believe the Inklings (as Sally had called herself) may be possible to coexist with, but to what degree? The nightmare of announcing themselves as the last remnants of humanity and demanding a niche in this world would surely not end well. And what could they even do? This new world wasn't ready for the knowledge they could give.

And what about people like Emily? She clearly held a (justified) grudge. But, he supposed it was a problem for his future self.

The look she gave him, while relieved, was also somber.

"Well. At least we're not alone…"

"No kidding." he muttered.

The three lapsed into silence around the fire, warming themselves. The tension between them slowly bled away, bit by bit.

…or, it would have, if not for the shadows just behind the tree line. He may have managed to forget about their unsettling presence with the conversation, but without it, he was now all too aware of their presence. His gaze flitted amongst the branches, skin crawling from the unseeing stares he received in turn. As a small mercy, they stuck outside of the light.

Emily was watching the treeline just as intently, but she seemed more confused than scared. Sally had followed her gaze, sucking in a breath.

"T-They're here too?" she whispered, face pale as a sheet. "Why couldn't they have just stayed in the forest?" Unconsciously, she scooted closer to Emily, who surprisingly, didn't shove her away.

She didn't acknowledge Sally's presence, and instead was staring over his shoulder, her eyes widened slightly.

"Alright. Don't move." she spoke, her words of warning contrasted by her overly calm tone. Sally looked as if she wanted to scream.

A cold sensation gripped his sternum, a deep dread settling deep within his stomach. Conversely, his nerves seized up, holding him still. He recognized the fear, harkening back to his younger years.

Winds whispered behind him, the temperature dropping significantly, despite the fire in front of him.

It was behind him.

In a strangled, forced voice, he whispered. "What is it doing?"

Before either could answer him, he felt an ice-cold pressure on his right shoulder, feeling almost like a hand. Absolute zero, it felt like, the atoms of his shoulders standing perfectly. He bit his tongue, marshaling every last bit of self-control to not scream or jerk away. Tears pricked at the edge of his eyes, which were set forward, staring straight ahead as if his life depended on it.

This concentration almost unraveled him. The forest grew darker, the trees disappearing entirely as the shadows converged upon them, forming a tight circle around them. The fire's light was absorbed by them, yet threw their features into contrast. The chilly pressure on his shoulder disappeared.

But, his heart nearly stopped as the one behind him stepped into his view, taking a seat right next to him.

He could see slightly through the specter, and his skin crawled from the close proximity. Their outline was uneven as if they were wearing clothing.

As if waiting for that particular shadow, the rest huddled around the fire, some sitting on the logs next to Sally and the human, the others crouching close, dripping arms raised to absorb its heat. Both looked as if they were about to pass out from fear.

They sat tense, waiting for the end, but the figures appeared content to rest by the fire.

Nervously, he glanced at the shadow next to him, who too was warming themself. They were definitely a person, judging by the outstretched arms.

The figure stared back, shoulders slumped slightly.

Were they ghosts?

A Kamabo employee card, still attached to its lanyard.

Scientists discovering their new, horrifying reality. Phase one, complete.

Safe zones found and demarcated. Phase two, failed.

A host body, dripping with ink. Cornering him. Corralling him.

Eyes looking over Sally's shoulder. Push this button, then this one, then that one. Enjoy the show.

Emily, pistol raised in self defense. Not a threat. We need to move.

The forest around them. Probably the last place we'll meet.

Shimmering air, keeping something at bay.

Time's almost up. Sorry we can't say goodbye.

Oh. He got it now. Phase One of the Initiative. So these ghosts, as well as that ink person back there… they were what was left of the Kamabo scientists that underwent that whole process.

A nod from the figure, almost as if it could read his mind. Maybe it could, maybe it couldn't. Eventually, the figure broke contact, staring back into the fire. The light was almost snuffed out, leaving a melancholy air about the circle.

After what felt like an eternity, the figure to his side laid a hand on his shoulder, and the ice-cold feeling returned. The other hand pointed across the fire, to the log Emily sat upon.

Lying to the side of one bottle was a small, glowing stone, one that drew his gaze, almost unnaturally so.

She had followed his gaze, and she too noticed the stone.

"So that's what they wanted to show me…" she said, intrigued. With a hand, she picked up the stone, bringing it up to her eye level. The stone rolled in her palm, glinting off of her eyes. Sally and the figures around her craned to get a better look.

The figure next to him patted his back and then stood up. They looked down on him, gesturing for him to do the same. He, Sally, and Emily exchanged glances, then stood up as well. The las-rifle's familiar weight had returned to his hand.

They were alone again, save for the figure next to him, who pointed to the tree line, where the start of a path was barely visible.

"So that's it, then?" she said to the figure. Her voice had gone quiet, somber. The figure looked at her, simply nodding.

"Well… thanks, I guess. We'll get this done. I promise."

She started down the path, motioning for them to follow.

He and Sally followed behind her, sticking close. Her eyes were glued to the small, glowing stone in her palm, yet occasionally flitted forward, gazing at something only she could see. The shadowy figures had faded away, watching them from amongst the woods. A sort of goodbye, he supposed.

A lone figure remained, a silhouette against the fire, a hand raised in farewell.

The campfire was but a distant light as they walked through the forest, casting an odd sort of melancholy over him. This may have been some sort of dream, but… damn it all, this had been a spot of tranquility. It took him back to a time from before the Flood, before everything he ever knew was wiped off the face of the planet.

Even now, with them walking in the dark amongst the trees, he could almost convince himself that he was home.

Nostalgia was going to be the death of him.

Though, it appeared he wouldn't have to worry much longer about such a concept.

As the distant light of the fire was snuffed out behind them, the trees grew closer and closer together, gradually thickening and narrowing their path. The branches grew lower, boxing them in while concrete wormed itself between the trunks, creating a gradient that grew stronger and stronger.

Before long, the concrete and steel had completely encompassed them. They had returned to the Metro.

"Say, I forgot to ask; what's your name?" Emily asked, looking back to the human and aberrant following behind her.

Both he and 'Sally' looked at her, and then back to each other. He opened his mouth to speak, but what left the man's mouth wasn't English. Specifically, it was the language of the Aberrants - an incomprehensible babble that the human's aberrant friend no doubt perfectly understood.

Well, shit.

If she had to be honest, the language barrier breaking down in a shared hallucination totally tracked - it was yet another thing she'd learned about in her study of the Eurocom's experiments and their results.

What she didn't expect, however, was the fact that she was going to be the one stuck behind this newfound language barrier.

Great.


There was something to be said for subtlety.

In the opinion of one Agent Four, these preparations for the Metro expedition were less than subtle.

She was sitting in the back of Sheldon's arms shop within the Square, decked out in her Agent gear. Three hovered around her, fretting over the state of her gear and making sure every piece of equipment was in its proper place. Her pockets and backpack had been stuffed to capacity for a long-haul operation; knives, food, water, anything and everything Three deemed essential towards a Metro expedition. The weight of it all already made her shoulders ache.

How was she supposed to walk to the Metro in this? She stuck out like a sore thumb, especially if she had to walk through the Square.

Four didn't even realize her gear had so many pockets, nor that Sheldon had this much equipment in his backroom. What was he doing back here that necessitated this many survivalist knives?

With one final pat, Three nodded to herself. "Alright, that should be everything you'll need. Everything comfortable? Not too heavy, is it?"

Four stretched, getting a feel for her stuffed pockets and backpacks. Not the most maneuverable configuration, but she could work with it.

"Nah, doesn't feel like it." she said, shifting in her seat. "Though, I gotta ask, is all of this really necessary? I mean, two weeks' worth of food and water? Five separate knives?"

"We're taking extra precautions here." Three explained, leaning on one of her crutches. "You should be safe on the main Metro lines, but if worse comes to worst, you'll be able to survive for a while."

"And by 'worst comes to worst,' you mean?"

Three affixed her with one of her patented Stares, those eyes of hers glowing ever so slightly brighter. "When I was last down there, I saw… things, to say the least. Don't stray far from the Metro lines and the stations. Do not go down any stairs, no matter how tempting they seem."

She took a shaky breath, then added, "The point being, if that human gets her hands on anything from Kamabo, we may be in a heap of trouble. We're all counting on you to stop her."

"I'll… I'll keep that in mind," Four said, somewhat perturbed.

An odd warning, but the dire tone in Three's voice gave her pause. Unlike her, Three'd actually been in the Metro, and if her stories were true, she'd been down there for a long while. She had always been tight-lipped about that particular mission, and rightfully so, considering everything that had happened.

Agent Eight had all manner of stories about that place, and the events that had transpired down there. Before she disappeared, at least.

A horrific AI of sorts, human in origin, had been down there and had possessed Three, like some kind of cheap B-movie ghost or something. Eight managed to free the girl from the machine's control, but the AI managed to get away just long enough to nearly bring about the end of the coddamn world.

The statue, in the bay. A laser cannon of sorts, jury rigged to follow up its destructive blast with a massive stream of corrupted ink. To think, if it wasn't for Eight and the timely intervention of that Off the Hook idol duo…

Ugh. At least she wouldn't have seen anything coming. Or heard anything. One moment, she would've been showering as usual, the next? Probably vaporized, or something.

Ignorance was truly bliss. And frankly, she didn't want to even consider what a vengeful human with an obsession centered around Kamabo would do. It was a collective feeling amongst the squad, and why she was preparing as if the second apocalypse was upon her.

"You'd do well to remember all that." Three said, handing her a little cheap dollar store notebook. "I've got a lot of necessary info in this for you, door codes, stations of interest, the works. Also, you're gonna want this, too."

Three withdrew a small, gray device from her coat pocket and handed it to her.

Four turned it over in her hand. "A CQ-88, right?"

"Yep." Three chirped, nodding. "Not just any CQ-88, though. It's one of the administrator ones, loaded with all sorts of Metro door controls and system bypasses. It served me well, and hopefully it will do the same for you."

"Huh. Ain't that convenient."

"Like you wouldn't believe. Oh, speaking of-" Three turned to the door of the small back room, out to the weapon testing grounds. "-Sheldon and I cooked up a little surprise for you."

A surprise?

Intrigued, Four followed Three out to the weapon range. A small table was set off to one side, where Four's good old Hero Shot sat, a few tubes and wires hooked up to some newly added bits on it.

Cool, upgrades! Wait. When did Three take her Hero Shot…?

Whatever, problem for later.

Strangely, several cracks ran throughout the otherwise neat concrete flooring, and one section of the far wall had been patched up with scrap metal and welds.

"Uh… do I want to know?" she asked, pointing at the offending damage.

"Oh, that…" Three muttered, seemingly embarrassed. "We ran into a few… let's call them 'issues' with reverse-engineering the Stranger's weapon."

Four quirked an eyebrow.

"The actual research and development part's coming along well, but we've just moved development to a place with less risk of collateral damage."

Ah.

Three sighed, "Honestly, it's been a nightmare so far, but that's not why we're here."

"And that would be…?"

With practiced ease, Three grabbed Four's Hero Shot from the table, gave it a twirl, and then put it in Four's grasp. Immediately, she noted that despite the mostly (save for a few miscellaneous new bits and some tubes that seemingly look pointless) unchanged appearance, the gun felt far heavier. She brought it up to her shoulder, testing its weight.

"Alright, what did you change?"

Three waved a hand at one of the inflatable target dummies, "Why don't you find out?"

Nodding, Four assumed a shooting stance, and laid down a trail of ink to the nearest target. Each rapidly spat out glob fizzled with heat, sizzling on the ground before cooling. She almost dove into the ink on instinct, barely stopping herself from diving into the boiling liquid. Four quizzically looked down at her newly modified Hero Shot. A series of small internal fans blew hot air out of the weapon, heating up the worn plastic around them.

"Through the miracle of science and engineering, we've managed to jam a boiler into the ink piping inside the Hero Shot." Three explained, her usual, prideful voice back. "If you run into anything or anyone down there that's ink resistant, the heat will at least do something to them. It eats batteries up though, so try not to use it too much."

She reached over to the weapon, flicking a small switch at the side, "This controls the boiler, and the battery is right above it. I put a few extra in your backpack."

Four stared at her, incredulous.

"Isn't this… y'know, kinda immoral?"

Three rolled her eyes, huffing. "As immoral as an Explosher is, Four. If we're right and that human's trying to break into Kamabo, we can't take any chances. With this, you'll actually be able to stand a chance against them."

"...fair point." Four conceded, sighing. Attaching the shooter to her backpack, she turned to regard Three fully. "So, is that everything?"

"It should be." Three replied, nodding. "There's just one thing, though. C'mon."

She exited the training area, going back into the store. Four followed a step behind, perplexed as Three led her to the darkened interior of Sheldon's shop. The twilight shone into the shop, bathing the various weaponry in an eerie light.

Three leaned against the counter, her expression inscrutable.

"I just wanted to say something, before you went down there. Words of warning, mostly." she began. Unconsciously, Four leaned in closer.

Three sighed, "Just… stay safe down there, alright? The Metro is nothing like anything you've ever seen, and it's a nightmare outside of the safe zones. The things I saw while under Tartar's control…"

Four felt a small thrill of fear.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is… I don't even know how to phrase this. Tartar may be gone, but something is still controlling that place, and that thought still keeps me up at night."

Suddenly, Four was very much nervous about this mission. Three's eyes glowing almost imperceptibly brighter didn't help one bit.

"Point is, you're gonna stay near the Metro line and the stations, and you're not going to let your guard down. And, I cannot stress this enough, do not go down any stairs."

Numbly, Four nodded.

"Good. Now…"

Three sat up, no longer leaning on the counter.

"Let's get you down to the station. Gonna be a bit of a walk, but just stay close and we'll get there quick."


Alert! System asset tagged observer 5663 reporting: x3 subjects, tagged HUMAN 00001, HUMAN 00002, INKLING 00002 leaving location tagged SAFEZONE EXPERIMENT 002 - FOREST.

Querying active defensive systems in radius of observer 5663.

Result: x1 active defense system in radius of observer 5663, tagged MASS.

Warden preparing updated retaliatory measures. All available assets, hold for potential activation per impending updates to active directives.

Directive updates are as follows:

Preliminary response: Assigning defensive system MASS and defensive system COFFEE to continue duty, response measures are as follows:

For subject tagged HUMAN 00002 - RECEPTIVE, ISOLATE, CONTAIN, INTEGRATE, per PHASE_THREE condition JOB_OFFER directives.

For subjects tagged HUMAN 00001 and INKLING 00002, ISOLATE, CONTAIN, SCALPEL. Maintain active duty until response measures are declared successful.

Secondary response: Assigning defensive system MASS to secondary duty, response measure is as follows:

For subjects tagged COLLECTIVE, CONTAIN, SCALPEL, INTEGRATE. Priority diminished due to subject's continued evasive behavior.

Notes: Subjects tagged HUMAN 00001, 00002, and INKLING 00002 have convened in SAFEZONE 002. Initial observations sugG…*****222eINTENTTOMURDERMEANDTHROWsAWAYEVERYTtHINGI'VEEVERWORKEDFOR22****/

Notes: Subjects tagged HUMAN 00001, 00002, and INKLING 00002 have convened in SAFEZONE 002. Initial observations suggest active hostile intent, probability 90%. To ensure operational security while maintaining prior objectives, it is imperative that HUMAN 00001 and INKLING 00002 are removed from the operational area before damage can be done. Subject tagged HUMAN 00002 remains susceptible to input, and continued code INTEGRATE actions remain viable.

Directives updated. Activated defensive systems execute assigned task updates, then execute hold pending further directives.

Warden executing hold until further situational criteria is met.


/ REWRITE A/N: /

So, howzabout that dream sequence, eh?

Falk here. Still feeling the effects of finals, but I've got a bit more to say with this chapter than the last one. Honestly, there isn't much to say that hasn't already been said, on the topic of what we've done to these chapters.

Things got simplified, Esoteric Bullshit has been reduced, and things have been moved around to hopefully make this a lot less of a slog to read. 'Tis all.

For the most part, these last few chapters (after this one) start to go from large-scale rewrites back down to more manageable 'updates,' considering I started editing for Polaris around this chapter's release. Granted, I think I worked on this one, as well, but in a very limited capacity. After this chapter, I started doing more 'full-time' work on this, editing and doing art for the fic at the same time, more or less.

This makes my newfound job rewriting them much easier, thankfully. Sounds like I'm ragging on Piston's work, which I am, in a nice 'hey man you did your best lemme help unfuck this' type way, if that makes any sense. The Act One rewrites were inevitable, and now with me and the rest of the guys on board we can take Piston's original ideas and writing and give it that new coat of paint we all agreed it needed.

Hopefully it's turning out alright, so far. Three chapters to go. We're in the home stretch.

With that, it's back over to early 2023 Piston to see what he's got to say. Hope you're having a nice day, and we hope you stick around for the next chapters. Take care.

/ ORIGINAL A/N: /

Another chapter done, and finished just after the launch of Splatoon Three. It's odd to think that the game is out now, and from what little I've played, there may be some ramifications for the overall lore. I stated earlier that we would be sticking with the Splatoon Two canon for now, but I may try to integrate some elements from the new game into the story, albeit sparingly. What else can I say, the new game is rather endearing.

For this story itself, I should come clean. The Metro arc has gone on for far too long, and I'll try to get it wrapped up within the next chapter or two. I'm not the best planner in the world, which is why we have the monstrosity that is called the Metro arc. Apologies for this, and thank you for sticking through these last few chapters.

Aside from that, I hope you enjoyed! Big thanks to Spoopy and Falken, who helped me push out this chapter far ahead of schedule! Thanks for reading and reviewing, and see you next time!