-> [A Sea Of Dried Paint] (Classic Edition)

[Chapter 2 - Rebirth]

About an hour and half passed since Unizo was given the hypnotic shades. It thankfully stabilized him, but with the cost of turning him into a cold, brainwashed Octarian following orders without question.

He started doing minor tasks in the laboratory, such as moving objects or testing some small machinery, with the scientist and Pix watching over his every move. They noticed great efficiency in his tasks, most likely thanks to the mysterious injection. However, he still needed breaks because the hypnotization doesn't nulify the need for energy, food and drink. But, it was during one of these breaks where his new gift shined.

Pix and the scientist let him mess with a few parts from broken equipment, not expecting much to happen. Then, about 40 minutes passed...

Pix came over to the scientist's (which I'll be calling "Lab Man" from now on for simplicity's sake) room.

"Sir...you might want to come see this."
"What is it?"
"It's Subject 23. Something interesting happened."

The two of them went to Unizo's room. He was sitting on the floor, still with the Hypno-Shades, and next to him was a Octoshot and the parts given to him.

"...what am I supposed to be looking at?" Lab Man asked.
"The Octoshot, sir. He made a rather interesting modification."

Pix picked up the Octoshot and aimed at a wall. She pulled the trigger and instead of a ink shot, it fired a bullet of electricity, which caused a small explosion.

"JESUS--" Lab Man quickly tried to take cover using his clipboard, but thankfully he wasn't close enough to get damaged by the blast.
He lowered the clipboard to see the blast mark on the wall. And then he proceeds to slowly look at Unizo.

"...what did you do, boy?"
"I was bored. So I just swapped the ammunition from ink to electricity. Bullets go in a near straight line that way, and do more damage."

The two scientists looked at each other for a second, then back at Unizo.

"...how very interesting..."

Lab Man wrote something in his clipboard and made a hand gesture for Pix to come outside. She followed him, and slowly closed the door.

"Should we do something about him? The hypnotization will prevent him from going rogue, but still...I don't know." Pix asked.
"...we could test him. If he peforms well enough, maybe he can help us with our other projects. Possibly the top secret ones."
"...it's a possibility."

Lab Man starts walking towards a staircase at the end of the hall.
"Get him to Room B7. I'll get some materials."
Pix nods and goes to get Unizo while Lab Man walked downstairs.

Once the two enter Room B7, Lab Man was already waiting.

"What do you want?" Unizo asked.
"Your modification has caught our interest, Subject 23. We want to see just how far it can go."

He grabbed some diferente Octoshot models and parts from shelves in the room.

"I'd like to see you try to apply your modification to newer models of the Octoshot."
"Easy enough."

This is where Unizo showed off what the injection made him capable of. Lab Man and Pix gave him tasks that gradually increased in difficulty. But he would always end up finishing the task, even if it took a good amount of minutes sometimes. The two scientists grew a liking to what they had created.

Unizo moved from modding weapons to working on more obscure projects. Missiles that released deadly gas, mech suit prototypes, and even a machine that could erase memories, something previously thought impossible to create.

During the construction process, Unizo finally asked...

"What was it that you gave me?"
"Hmm?" Lab Man looked over at him.
"You and...Pix keep mentioning some sort of injection given to me. Apparently responsible for a IQ boost? What is it?"
"...so you were listening.
Well then. To answer your question, you have been given a special injection. The brain cells of Octoling Engineer prodigy, Marina Ida. As you may, or may not know, she is a rising star in the engineer class because of her unique brain structure. I attempted to inject a few of her cells into other Octarians to see if I could replicate her brilliant mind. Your injection was only half-successful."

"Half-successful? What went wrong?" Unizo asked.
"It appears the assimilation wasn't fully successful. You were showing signs of anxiety, and we had to give you hypnotizing equipment to prevent a panic attack."
"..." Unizo went silent.

"Don't worry, though. You are still a sign of great progress. Soon, the injection will be perfected, and we can outsmart the Inklings." Pix said.

Hours passed...

"Some of our models were sent to Octavio. Hopefully, he will be pleased with our finds." Lab Man said.
"I'm sure he will! Some of this stuff is revolutionary! Don't you think?" Pix said.

While the two scientists were talking, Unizo went to the room labeled Power Management. A faint beeping noise could be heard coming from there. He walked inside, and followed the noise to one of the monitors.

"...what the...?"

"...with this, my team will finally be the top Octarian scientists! We will have our names written in history!" said Lab Man, confidently.
"We'll make sure the Inklings know who just screwed them over."

Unizo peeked his head out from the Power Management room.
"Uhhh...guys? Why is the power percentage dropping fast?"
"...what?"

Lab Man walked over to inside the room and went to the beeping monitor. By entering a password, a scan was performed, which revealed the cause of the power drop.

"The Zapfish was...removed?" Unizo said.
"But...how is this possible?? We weren't warned of a invasion, and I was told our lab would have top-notch security! Could it be a spy?" Lab Man asked.
"I don't know. But what I do know is that this place will run out of power in about an hour." Pix said.
"Disabling everything down here. Including...the Neo Hypnosis Generator...!" Lab Man added.

The two scientists tried getting into contact with other locations, but all phones were either turned off or unanswered. Pix even tried to exit the lab and get help, but she never came back. Despite their best efforts, there was nothing they could do to stop the power outage.

The last minute ended. The lights went off. And both Unizo and Lab Man had their hypnosis removed, causing them to both fall to the floor. Ten seconds passed, and the red, emergency lights turned on.

The lab was dark and red. Unizo and Lab Man were out cold. No response from anyone, including Pix.
What happened? And how is Unizo going to escape the laboratory once he regains consciousness?

To be continued...