Splatoon: Humanity's Second Chance (BEING REMASTERED AS OF 06/05/24 (UK))

C1 P6 - The Hard Way It Is Then

"Hey human, wake up!"

Dan had finally begun to regain consciousness. He tried to move but he was tied to a chair. Once he managed to open his eyes he looked around, at first all he could see was a bright light until his eyes adjusted. He saw a figure in front of him, as his eyes focused he was able to see who it was.

"About time you woke up, do you have any idea how hard it was to carry you here?"

Dan: "Who are you? Where am I?"

Octoling Soldier: "My identity is not of importance, and you aren't the one asking questions here. All you need to know is that you're currently in Cephalon HQ."

Dan: "Why am I here? How did you know I was human?"

Octoling Soldier: "ENOUGH QUESTIONS!"

Dan jumped in surprise, he didn't think she would start shouting so suddenly.

Octoling Soldier: "As our hostage, you'll be answering our questions. Understand?"

Dan nodded in agreement.

Octoling Soldier: "Good. Now, would you care to explain how a human of all things is alive?"

Dan was skeptical of telling her, he didn't want them to know of the bunker as they would take everything in it for themselves. So he decided to try and play it safe.

Dan: "I just recently woke up from my cryopod, the machine allowed me to stay alive all this time."

Octoling Soldier: "Where is this 'cryopod' located?"

Dan: "I don't know. When I came out of my sleep I just wondered for a while until I stumbled upon Inkopolis."

Octoling Soldier: "Are you telling the truth?"

Dan: "Yes I am."

The Octoling stared into his eyes, she did it for so long that it started to make Dan feel uncomfortable.

Octoling Soldier: "Hmm, very well then. Now, we noticed that device you're wearing and realised that it's translating what you're saying, could you tell us who made it?"

Dan couldn't rat out Marina, she's meant to be free from the Octarians. The last thing he wanted to do is put her in danger.

Dan: "My friend made it, they had been studying my language for quite some time so we worked together to make it."

Octoling Soldier: "It's not too bad, in fact I would say it was Octarian tech."

Dan: "Well they said that they went scavenging around in a place full of Octarian tech, they figured out how some of it worked and made her own machines."

Octoling Soldier: "Interesting. Well, we better make sure we do a better job cleaning up our mess."

Dan felt relieved, he honestly did not know how he got away with it. But he was happy Marina was safe for now.

Octoling Soldier: "One last question before I take you to your cell. Are there any more of you?"

Dan: "N-no."

Dan hated that question, it just reminded him of his experience in the bunker.

Octoling Soldier: "Alright. Guards! Get him out of my sight!"

Two guards walked in and untied him, he was then cuffed and brought out the room. After a quiet and awkward walk, he arrived at his cell. He had his cuffs taken off and was pushed into a cell. The door closed behind him and he heard a loud 'clang' as it was locked.

The cell was pretty basic, just a toilet, sink and a bed. He didn't have any privacy either as the front of the cell was just bars so anyone passing by can see as much of the room as they wanted.

Dan felt terrible, all he had to do was keep his disguise on and that was it, and he failed at that simple task. Because of that stupid mistake, he may never see his sister again.

About an hour passed when he heard the door unlock, he looked up from his bed to see the guards again.

Guard: "Get up, our leader wants to see you."

Dan did what he was told and he was escorted to some sort of throne room. At the end of the room sat a octarian in his octopus form.

?: "Ah, so this is the human. Guards, bring him closer."

The guards took him right up to the throne.

?: "Do you have a name hipster?"

Dan: "Dan."

?: "Dan huh? Pretty generic name. Anyway, I'm Octavio, the Octarian Leader and the best DJ in the world!"

Dan: "A leader and a DJ?"

Octavio: "Well, just because I'm a leader doesn't mean I can't have a hobby. Now, we're not here to discuss my life, we're here to discuss an opportunity for you."

Dan raised an eyebrow, Octavio caught on and explained.

Octavio: "To put it simply, I want you to help us against the Inklings. You see, they've had us trapped down here for 100 years. And with my power outages becoming more frequent, we've decided that we're going to take action against them and fight for our freedom! You're probably wondering where you come into this?"

Dan nods in agreement.

Octavio: "Well, as you're human, we believe that you may have a strong resistance to ink, which means with the right armour and weaponry you could become a super soldier. What do you say? Would you like to fight for our cause?"

Dan knew that Octavio wasn't giving him the full story, Pearl had given him the run down on why the Octarians were trapped down here. While he didn't agree with the fact they had to live underground, he also didn't agree with starting a second war.

Dan: "I don't see why you guys should fight, why not try and negotiate peace instead of starting a conflict?"

Octavio narrowed his eyes, he wasn't liking what he was hearing.

Octavio: "So is that a no...?"

Dan: "Yes, it is. Not because I don't think you deserve freedom, but because I think this could be resolved with words and not weapons."

Octavio: "Well I tried to do this the easy way...looks like we're doing this the hard way. Do it."

An Octoling started approaching Dan with a strange pair of shades. Realising that they're not good, he tries to escape from the guards, but they weren't letting go.

Dan: "No, no no no no! Stop that!"

His words meant nothing however, as the shades were forced on. Dan's pleas for mercy stopped, and all emotion that he had was gone.

Octavio: "Good, now Dan. I have someone that I would like you to meet. The three of us will be working together when the new agent arrives in Cephalon HQ. Go and meet her."

Dan: "Yes...sir."

The guards stopped holding Dan and simply guided him to his new teammate. He didn't try to escape.

Octavio: "Now that the shades have taken effect, they'll turn him against the Inklings and we'll have a super soldier on our side! Soldier, please go inform our engineers that we're now building the human his armour."

An Octoling left the throne room and headed for the Development Lab, with the intent to make Dan an unstoppable force.

Dan's mind was now being controlled. The innocent human was now nothing more than a soldier dedicated to the Octarian cause.

His own thoughts were constantly monitored, the hypnoshades removing any thoughts that weren't in line with what Octavio wanted.

Dan arrived at the room, he entered and prepared to greet his new partner.