A massive breakout at Stronghold Penitentiary later occurred and Octopus was able to return to work with the Vicious Circle. The organisation was being restructured by SkullFace, using the older members as cannon fodder to eliminate Dragon. Octopus and OpenFace created a massive android that was deployed against their target but when it was destroyed, the pair was assumed to have been killed, but this was actually all a ruse. They had in fact created holographic illusions of themselves that they knew would be destroyed so that they could continue their research unmolested.