After several close-calls of escaping Palaces and Momentos in the Morganna Van, the Phantom Thieves all agree that it wouldn’t hurt to have someone take a look under the hood of Morganna Van to see if there wasn’t anyway to give the van a tune-up in order for them to go faster.

The problem was that they didn’t really know anyone that could trust to bring into Momentos and was mechanically enclined…that is until Makoto remembered a 3rd-year American student who’d transferred the year before named Oliver Lowe who worked at a local garage.

Tracking him down, Akira was sent to go convince Oliver to come look at his van. It took a bit of coaxing, but the student mechanic reluctantly agreed, following Akira to the subway line where they activated the Metaverse app to take the American into Momentos.

——-

Upon arriving inside the Metaverse, there was an equal level of surprise from Oliver as well as the other Phantom Thieves as Oliver’s clothes had changed into those of a Phantom Thief as well, similar to the case with Noir.

Questioning him, Oliver explained that when he was kid, he and his mom were in a terrible car crash that killed her and that he should’ve died in. The witnesses claimed that a guardian angel saved him, but Oliver was left with a nasty scar on the left side of his chest.

Growing up, Oliver had felt like he’d had a parent stole from him, but his anger only had grown as he got older when he learned that the man responsible for the crash, an oil executive who was drunk at the time, got away with the crime, fueling more resentment and rage in a pre-teen Oliver. That rage and rebellion had marked him as a possible Persona user.

As for his persona, while non-corporeal, Oliver explained that growing up, he’d thought that he’d come up with an imaginary friend named Kelly to cope with the trauama, but Futaba and Morganna theorized it possibly was his Persona awakened, but lacking a contract.

——-

Eventually, Oliver eased into the situation at hand and would take an initial look at the Morganna bus, seeing several places he could make them run more efficiently.

Upon his second trip into Momentos to actually work on Morganna, the team was ambushed by several waves of Shadows. However, Oliver refused to let Morganna turn back to assist, pointing out neither of them knew what would happen.

Constantly looking between the engine and the thieves, the American could hear a voice speak to him…

“I’ve been watching you grow up…others would wait until the rash impulsiveness of hormones, but I saw a greater potential. Nurturing the other you for years in order to let the daredevil in you grow. I think it’s time we finally forged that contract that’s been a decade in the making….. Thou art I and I art thou…”

Tearing the goggles from his face in a moment of adrenaline, Oliver would charge the shadows, in a move not even Skull would consider, his Persona fully awakened and joining him in literally charging the Shadows and sending them scattered from a shotgun blast from Kelly, a chain now in Oliver’s hands…

He was now Octane.

——

On the team, Octane fills the role as the adrenaline-filled daredevil as well as the expert driver of the team. He’s willing to go past what’s reasonable in a plan, much to Queen’s displeasure; however, Octane does keep it within reasonable limits in order to make sure that Joker doesn’t scold him too much.

In battle, his Persona Kelly specialize uniquely in physical and gun attacks.