STOP!
Do not proceed reading this story unless you have read "Normal". "Normal: The Octo Corp Chronicles" is a direct sequel to "Normal", so I'd highly advise going back to look at that, or else this story won't make any sense whatsoever.
Anyways, other than that, I really hope you guys enjoy the sequel! Things are going to get cray-cray, as usual.
Chapter 1
It took me a while, but I've finally accepted it. I am not a Human Resource Manager.
"What?" I bet you're thinking. "How could you say that when you went to college specifically to become a HR Manager?"
The thing about life is that it's highly likely things will not end up the way you've planned. I may have gone to college initially to be an HR Manager, but that's not what I became. That's not what I am. More specifically, if there were a major in—I don't know really—dealing with crazy ass octopuses, then that would be the job title for me. Once you dive into adulthood, specifically, I'm going to be honest right now—it's random as hell. You seriously never know what's going to happen to you. Take me for example. I was a regular person, doing regular, normal things, and I ended up finding a snow globe in a damn public bathroom and look where I ended up! I'm living with a bunch of freaking octopuses! One, I'd like to emphasize, that I actually ended up liking. And when I say liking, I'm not just saying, "Oh Dave is super chill, he's my boss," I actually mean that he's—
Oh my God, I don't think I still can say it out loud without questioning my sanity.
Well, Dave and I are kind of a thing now. I'm sure that was obvious before, but I just want repeat it out loud. Saying things out loud constantly helps to remind me that I'm not in fact, in a dream world, and I am very much conscious and breathing. To put it simply, it's kinda like what that little kid that went to the dentist asks: "Is this real life"? Only I'm not high.
Anyway, beyond me spending the last few months contemplating on where I've ended up, things have been fairly quiet. Octo Corp is up and running; there's that much. Dave had a new submarine built and other much needed contraptions made with the help of his new resource partner. Dave has yet to tell me who the hell this 'resources partner' actually is, and how on earth he found someone who is allowing him to buy weird, overly complicated material, and then use that material to build submarines and shit, but whatever. Asking too many questions hurts my head anyway, and I'm sure I'll find out sooner or later.
Taking it easy is my specialty though. It feels nice when the majority of all the bullshit you have to put up with on a daily basis dissipates, and it feels like every breath you take is crisp and fresh like an autumn morning. Kinda like how it was then, as I sat on a bench in Central Park, all bundled in my favorite sweater and boots. In Texas, there was no such thing as a chill October. It was virtually nonexistent. In New York the lows around the time were a nice and fresh high 40 to low 50 degrees. In Houston, that temperature was in the 60's and 70's, but then that would skyrocket to the 90's later in the day anyway. It's like summer doesn't know when to freaking leave in Texas. But here? Nah, there wasn't any of that bull. Summer was gone, and my favorite time of year had been on a roll. Good ol' October 31 even marked the official beginning of my season. Halloween all the way until after Christmas was the jam. Hellz yeah.
I remember vividly sitting on a bench in the park, watching as the orange, red, and yellow leaves fell from the high trees and onto the sidewalk in front of me. At my hands was a warm cup of hot chocolate, above the cup itself steam rising into the cool air and filling my nostrils with its warm, chocolatey goodness. Sitting right next to me, in his disguise, was Dave. He was looking around constantly, although his glances not quite mirroring my own in that sense of relaxation. He seemed to be having another off day, but because he had taken advantage of most of the rebuilding process within the last few months I couldn't particularly blame him. Business was hard, no matter what you did.
"You doing all right?" I asked, momentarily taking my focus off my hot chocolate and the surrounding fall scenery to look at him. "You haven't said too much."
"I hate the squirrels out here," Dave sneered. "Aren't they supposed to be hibernating or something already?"
I looked from Dave and around the park again, this time noticing a couple of squirrels grab hold of a few fallen acorns and stuff them somewhere in the ground. "They're just doing their thing; they'll probably sleep soon once mid to late November comes around." I paused for a second, contemplating on this and ending up raising a brow. "Why are you…? I don't know, pissed at the damn squirrels?"
Dave was silent. I watched him as he started twiddling his fingers together, although his expression, on the other hand, still holding onto that grouchiness that would surface every now and again.
"Don't tell me you're jealous of the squirrels, Dave." I signed a little bit upon saying this out loud, but I would only draw in another breath afterward as if in preparation to laugh. "You're ridiculous, you know that?"
"I hate the squirrels; what's wrong with that?" Dave responded, a bit bitterly, but I could tell he was trying to come out of whatever irritable state he was in.
"You hate every cute animal," I acknowledged, "but you seriously need to chill out. It's not like all these people are paying attention to those things anyway. Besides, I didn't even notice them until you pointed them out."
He was still quiet. Regardless of what happened earlier this summer with the penguins and his vows to stop his revenge, the hatred he had for them, along with literally any cute animal ever, hadn't gone away. I don't think it ever would. It was only recently, however, that I found myself having to reassure him that everything would be okay, and in fact those cute little animals weren't going to do anything to him.
"You know who I think is cute?" I said aloud, managing to smile largely enough to contrast his pouting.
"Who?" Dave responded.
"You know who," I teased.
"I don't know." Dave was pretty persistent with his attempts to remain a pouty child, but I continued onward anyway with my attempts to cheer him up.
"You, dumbass, you're the cute one." I chuckled after that. "And cool too."
He reluctantly turned his head towards me, but when he did I saw that he finally had a smile on his face. That always worked; telling him he was cute or cool.
"Really?" he asked, sort of wistfully. "I don't know about cute…but—"
"Don't deny it, doofus, you're the coolest and cutest…errr, person here, so don't act like you don't know any better." I nudged his arm. "But since you're talking now, I wanted to go ahead and ask if that Halloween thing in the park was still going on?"
"Yeah, they do it every year for the kids," Dave said. "Although through my time living in the Central Park Zoo I have often seen adults dress up too."
"Hell yeah, I can't wait to show off my Jedi costume." I grew serious for a moment as I stared back at my hot chocolate. "And with you hanging out with me as a Star Trek red coat we will probably piss off a lot of nerds." I couldn't help but smile after saying that. I remember vividly as a teenager when my longtime friend Jessica and I went to the mall in costume, I being the Star Wars gal and her being the Treky. Even way back when and even all the way until now, I didn't understand the gigantic battle between the fandoms. Both franchises had their own great qualities so hearing people troll about which one was better always confused me. But, at least I could take humor in watching them squirm.
"For Comicpalooza, or heck, the San Francisco Comic Con, we should totally go DC and Marvel. I could revamp my Wonder Woman costume. You'd make a good Doc Ock."
"What? Who's that?" Dave asked.
"Oh my God, you have a lot to learn," I mused, then finally took a sip of my drink.
. . . . . . .
Once dusk came around it only got colder outside. Feeling the instant drop to the 40's was bliss to me as we came up to the festival, especially since I was all cozy in my legit Jedi robes. A lot of adults weren't dressed up (lame asses) but the ones that were had really good costumes. Even the little kids running around had some believable outfits on. A lot of the little girls dressed as Disney princesses while most of the boys were superheroes. The costumes out of the children that stuck out, however, were the homemade ones. There were a few witches and wizards, zombies and mummies, even a believable looking Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice walking around. The parents that decided NOT to be lame actually did themes with the kids, my favorite being a mother and father dressed as Fix-It Felix and Sergeant Calhoun from Wreck-It Ralph, while their little girl was dressed as Vanellope.
Ah, although Halloween costumes were always fun to see I couldn't wait to show Dave what a comic convention looked like. But for now, I'd need to show him how Halloween was really done. I'd imagine throughout his time revenging he'd have no idea what this holiday was like. He might have watched it happen for a little while those many years ago during his days in the zoo, but he never was a part of it. I couldn't wait to take him into the mirror maze or the scary haunted houses set up around the park. I also couldn't help but contemplate whether or not he has even tried pumpkin pie? HOLY SHIT WHAT IF HE HADN'T? I didn't even think about that.
My chances to quickly get to joining the Halloween fun was quickly diminished, however. Even in costume, people recognized us. I guess it was because he wasn't wearing the fake ass mustache.
"Whoa, Dr. Brine! It's really cool to see you out here! Are you here to support the children? Perhaps give a speech of some kind?" one random dude asked.
Hell no, he was here because I'm a huge nerd and like to freaking cosplay and do Halloweenie shit, not for the damn kids!
"I suppose I could," Dave mused, as he reached around and scratched his head. "I'm sure a speech wouldn't entice the children, though."
"You're in luck!" the dude cried cheerfully. "I happen to be the manager of the festival. We have a Frankenstein setup over there. You could actually use the lab stage to show the kids something cool?"
"Sure," Dave smiled. I could tell he liked the opportunity. Getting to show off fancy science tricks to a bunch of kids? That's Dave for you. I, on the other hand, really wanted to go fart around and be a child myself, but yet again, I had to act like an adult, because I was expected to be for being the "fiancée" to a renowned geneticist. Pffttt.
"Mrs. Brine, it would really be an honor if you joined Dr. Brine on stage. I think the kids would get a kick out of seeing you too, since you're kinda a hit with the kiddos yourself, being a robot fighting person and all." People were always so excited when they saw us that they never referred to me by my actual name.
"Heh, yeahhh," I smiled a little, but I was still irritated. I tried staying calm for the sake of catering, yet again, to the public, and followed the manager along with Dave to the Frankenstein area he had spoken about.
The small section located on a slight elevated stage was actually pretty cool. Looking like it came straight from a movie set; it had the complex background, some desks and different sorts of scientific equipment placed on top of it, and even a dummy set on a table to the side, with a white cloth draped over it to make it look like the actual Frankenstein's monster.
"I can have some stuff brought out for you to work with," the manager said. "We had some dry ice laying around for the fog effects under the pavilion and the attractions, along with other household chemicals, but I'm sure you can do something cooler with that."
Dave nodded casually, sending off the manager to quickly go retrieve some items for him to use. Even after he left, however, people started to take notice. A little bit at a time, festival goers surrounded the front of the stage to look excitedly up at Dave and I. I tried deterring my attention, nonetheless, to the decorations around me instead of looking at the people below. Despite how I was already used to being a spectacle, more or less, didn't mean I liked the attention. I mean, don't get me wrong, I liked some attention. I didn't freaking cosplay as a Jedi, carrying around my custom movie quality lightsaber, so nobody could see me. How I was used to this attention was only in small chunks. Little meetings with other people here and there. Not giant crowds.
At the corner of my eye I saw the manager, along with a few volunteers, come onto the stage, bringing with them the items for Dave to use in his little show. Again, I huffed with irritation, although only mildly for the sake of not looking like a pouty child myself. I paid attention for only a brief time as they started sorting everything out and prepared Dave for the show until someone in the audience caught my attention.
"AHHHH!" Yet again, to my surprise, it was Steven, fangirling as usual, only this time his nerdiness escalating ten times over while he was wearing a Ghostbusters costume. He was trying so hard to not to start crying or something. "KAILEY—" He exhaled loudly, although he caught himself and tried lowering his voice to not cause attention. "Kailey!" Steven said a little softer that time. "Oi, it's me! Ahhh!"
"What are you doing here?" I mouthed, although the statement ended up coming airily from my throat.
Steven heard me, obviously, but he seemed too excited to properly respond. He ended up pointing at Dave, steering my attention from himself and back to the stage, where I saw that everything was finally green lit and prepared to go. Dave put on a little headset, and within a matter of seconds his voice was loudly sounding from some surrounding speakers.
"Well then, this was unexpected," Dave admitted, although he continued to wear his trademark wide and happy grin on his face. "What do you say, civilians? Would you like to see the doctor in action?"
The crowd went wild. I had no idea that a family event like this could get so rowdy, but it did. Kids and adults alike, ridiculous as they looked fangirling in costume, (along with Steven, the nerd), jumped and clapped, sending all their adoration towards the stage. Dave was soaking it in, per the norm.
Just as the crowd's cheers started dying down a bit, Dave pulled a large jack-o-lantern onto the table in front of him. The carving depicted the typical scary pumpkin-face, although for the time being it was not lit. Instead, Dave pulled out a few other items, placed them into the pumpkin head, and then lit a match. He hesitated, however, as the flame ignited on the stem, causing the children in the crowd to awe in anticipation.
"Do you know that fire can come in different colors? In fact, the typical yellow, red, and orange flames you see in your fireplace, or on this tiny match even, is filled with more color than you think. It all depends on what the fire consumes, or to put it simply, what you burn. That, or…" he paused for a moment, as his gaze met the children in the audience. He chuckled a little bit before he continued. "…that, or this pumpkin is actually haunted, because I can almost guarantee you've never lit a jack-o-lantern like this before."
Dave finally set the match into the head of the pumpkin, it's spark soon creating a bright green flame which also initially spilled from the pumpkin's triangle shaped eyes and jagged teeth. Because of the fires ominous color, this caused the little kids to shout with awe. Right afterwards, even the adults started laughing and applauding with glee. I could distinctly hear Steven making weird noises from the crowd mostly, randomly a shout of a loud "OH MY GOD!" falling from Steven's mouth.
The green fire was really cool. Don't get me wrong. But why on earth was Steven freaking out so badly about this? He was an engineering and physics major, so I'd assume he'd know how elementary chemistry worked. I sucked really badly at chemistry and yet I could tell what was going on, but regardless, Steven still acted amazed.
As the crowd clapped and Dave started moving onto another experiment, Steven waved his arms around, trying to get my attention. I stood there only for a few moments, before his hyperness got the better of me and got me off the stage and into the back of the crowd with him.
"Steven, what are you doing here?! What do you want?" I hissed loudly, attempting to get my voice across to him through all the cheers.
"Oi, I'm so glad to see you again!" Steven happily and unexpectedly took me into an embrace. Wide-eyed, I sat in his hug for a while before he finally pulled away and resumed smiling at me. "Didn't I tell you? I don't think I did, but—oh well, you're going to know now! Remember when you saw me earlier this summer? When you know, Dr. Brine announced you were his fiancée?"
"Yes, how could I forget," I answered, with a tid bit of sarcasm escaping me.
"Well, admittedly I wasn't here just to see the opening of Octo Corp. That was just the cherry on top. I actually came to New York to start my doctorate program. I got into Princeton University and into their engineering program, and started this Fall semester! Can't you believe that? I'm staying with a relative that works in between New York and Princeton, so I kinda shuffle between here and there."
"No way!" I gasped. I suddenly felt myself growing really happy. I practically grew up alongside Steven during our time working on our Bachelors programs, so it was so much fun to see him finally going off and doing what he did best. Being proud of a friend is definitely up there with being proud of family, which he practically was. "Steven, I'm so glad you're starting your doctorate!" I chuckled nervously, finding myself blushing briefly. "You're a lot braver than I could have ever been, going off alone like that on your own terms."
"Brave? Don't go talking about me being the brave one now. Have you bloody forgotten all you've done?" His excitement died down, just for a bit, to exchange his own fondness for me.
"You're sweet," I said. "If only I could say my brother got into Princeton though. I guess you'll have to do."
"He's smart; he'll find his way." Steven smiled. He turned his attention from me afterwards to look up at Dave, who was still in the process of entertaining the crowd. As excited as he was to see Dr. Brine, who was basically his hero, I was surprised to see how he turned from that spectacle and back to me. "Hey, while Dr. Brine is busy with the crowd, you wanna hang out? We can go into that haunted mirror maze!"
"Well, I…" I stuttered. I wasn't sure. I ended up looking right back up at Dave, who seemed to be carried away with what he was doing. I didn't want to leave him, but at the same time I wasn't too keen on standing up on that stage doing practically nothing. "I guess that will be fine," I finally answered.
Before I could start walking, Steven ended up pulling me along. Also, before I could even manage to bring anything else up, Steven starting flapping his mouth again.
"So tell me, where did you get the costume?" Steven asked as he pulled me along.
"A friend made it for me a while back. That girl we met at one of the cons a few years back?"
"Oh! Her! Yeah, I remember her; she was also the one that made your Princess Belle cosplay. Gotta hand it to her, she's a brilliant seamstress."
"And of course, I told you where I got the lightsaber from." I could help but smile that time. I remember vividly how I got the thing. "Those cons were great; I don't think there wasn't anything they didn't have."
"You're telling me!" Steven laughed. "I got a lot of tips from that one guy that built armored costumes. See this?" He gestured to his Ghost Vacuum. "Made it myself. I used an actual vacuum mechanism and restructured it into this. Works and everything! Although I can't say it will actually suck up ghosts."
"Ha! Wow." I rolled my eyes, but smiled as I did so. "You're so good at that stuff, why don't you make me that Samus Varia suit I always wanted?"
"I could, you know!" Steven smiled. "But for right now… let's focus on that haunted mirror maze. Here, I'll give you a head start, Jedi." Being the dork he was, he instantly started getting into character. "Force ghosts are in there! But not just any Force ghosts: malevolent Sith spirits lurk in there! The dark side, there is!" He pushed me forward. "Go in, quick! I'll have your back. Together we'll vanquish the evil ghost!"
"What the hell, Steven!" I yelled, flailing my arms around as he pushed me towards the entrance of the creepy mirror maze.
"Go! The force beckons you! You find the source of the evil within and I'll come find you and suck up the ghost!"
"You're a freaking geek, you know that!?"
"I said GO!"
"Ahhh!" I finally gave in and ended up flying into the entrance with his last push. I didn't even know where to start. The mirror maze would have been difficult to navigate as it was alone, but since this was supposed to be a "haunted and spooky" maze, the fog, along with the occasional pale white lights that flickered, triggering a thunder and lightning sequence, made it all the harder to navigate. In the speakers there were also some creepy moans and other monster sounds, so of course I was a little rattled. "Don't you dare do anything stupid, Steven, or I swear I'll swing this lightsaber right on your face!"
. . . . . . .
He did it anyway. Steven actually failed to heed my warning of sneaking up on me, so he ended up getting hit. I don't know what to say. It's just a regular reaction from me! If I get startled enough, or angry enough, a sort of fight or flight response kicks in and it's almost always the fight response. Nobody, not even my own father, has escaped this inevitability.
"That hurt," Steven huffed again, as we sat to the side of the large pavilion further into the festival grounds. There were lights spinning around with colors of green, purple and orange in unison to the song Ghost by Mystery Skulls.
There were a few people dancing, although for the most part everyone was up and about elsewhere, watching and investing their time in the other, more kid-directed attractions. But I suppose it was better that way. I was tired of the crowds anyway, and I'm sure that Steven didn't want to be pushed around by other people right now, considering his left cheek was red and implanted with a thick line, indicating quite noticeably what exactly hit him.
"I'm sorry," I sighed. "Look, can I get you something? They're selling some food over there."
"No," Steven huffed.
"Are you sure? They have candy corn."
Steven looked up from the floor, unable to stop another goofy smile from filling his expression. "Candy corn?" He asked.
"Yes, candy corn," I repeated. "I'll go get you some. Do you want it in the Halloween souvenir cup too?"
He nodded.
"Okay, I'll get you candy corn in the souvenir cup." I sat up then, leaving Steven alone at the benches and ventured across the pavilion to a stand that was selling an assortment of sweets. A bunch of kids had ordered the same thing, to their parent's guidance, and ended up running off with the kiddy souvenir cup too. It really didn't take the guy at the counter long to understand what I wanted, and I paid him the 2.50 then stuffed the change back into my robes, balancing the cup of candy in my other hand. However, as I shuffled around to get everything in in order to prepare myself for the venture back across the pavilion, I heard an exaggerated grunt behind me.
"Kailey." It was Dave. "Where were you?"
I turned around, a penny ending up falling onto the floor regardless of my attempts to keep everything on my person balanced, and looked up at Dave. He wasn't angry, per se, but he was definitely not in a good mood.
"I… well, went to hang out with Steven."
"I know that," Dave sighed. "But why?"
"You were… busy," I stuttered. I mean, I wasn't lying. He was busy, doing his own thing. The best I could have done was stand aside and watch him, but regardless of what that manager told me, everyone still loved the famous "Dr. Brine" more. I would have just been in the way.
"Why would you hang out with him?" Dave gestured quickly to Steven from across the way.
"He's my friend," I answered genuinely. "Look, you were busy and Steven was here, so I figured I'd hang out with him while you were doing your thing; no big deal."
"Not a big deal?" Dave scoffed.
"Yes, not a big deal! And since you're finished with your science show, we can start doing what we came here to do!"
"Not with him," Dave stated. "He needs to go elsewhere."
"But why?"
"Because!"
I had to stop there. As much as I thought this was an okay thing, having hung out with my friend and all, I realized that Dave was apparently not taking it very well. For what reason? Lord knows why. I was a little stunned to be honest—that weird sunken chest feeling ended up filling my ribcage momentarily, but I ended up getting myself together enough to confront this in a mature manner.
"I'm sorry I ran off," I apologized. "I didn't know you needed me."
"It's not that…" Dave said, giving off another deep breath as he shifted his eyes towards Steven from across the pavilion and back to me. It was from this simple thing, just how he acted and constantly moved his attention back to Steven momentarily, that I understood what was going on.
"You're jealous, aren't you?" I asked.
He didn't answer. Not at first at least. I could see him contemplating deeply as he tried to sort through his emotions. "Well, of course I am," he finally stated. "I can see that he understands your interests. I'm sure he knows all about Star Wars and Star Trek, and gets all your jokes and puns in general… I'm just…"
"Dave—" I had to stop myself though, since we were technically in public. "I mean, Octavius. Look, that doesn't matter. It never has. Steven is my friend, so of course he's going to like some of the same things I like. But you, you're the one I'm in love with." I felt myself turn red, quickly this causing myself to lose track of what I was saying, although once Dave looked back at me I found my words. "No cute animal or nerdy friend is ever going to change that."
"Really?" he asked sincerely. Those butterflies ended up replacing the sunken feeling my chest.
"Yeah, really…" I said.
"Oh, I see what's going on…" Suddenly, what personal moment Dave and I were having shattered at the sound of Steven's voice. We both turned around to see him staring at us, although with a goofy smile glued to his face. After a few seconds he started squeeing, ever so softly.
"Do you mind?" I asked.
I'm here for my souvenir cup you promised me, take your time."
"Just take it!" I shoved it outward, allowing Steven to take it from me.
For a second, he stood there, dipping his hand into the cup with a bunch of spoopy ghosts on it, and slowly ate some of the candy corn.
"I SAID GET LOST!" I yelled. I wasn't being mean, truly. And Steven understood that. But seriously, I was just in a bad situation to begin with. With Dr. Brine being his hero and I being his friend and all. If I could put it more simply it was like actually being shipped, only I wasn't a character, and yet was being shipped with Dave anyway. If that makes sense? Yeah, whatever.
Steven ended up chuckling. "Take it easy, Kailey! I'll be off now; you two have fun," he said. After that he gave us a wave farewell and walked off, leaving us alone on the pavilion and under the multicolored lights.
"So," I resumed, attempting to deter my initial feelings from before. "I was wondering…"
"Wondering what?" Dave asked, his rather down state of mind having lit up instantly.
"Have you actually tried pumpkin pie before?"
"No, I haven't,"
And do you want to enter that couple's costume contest with me?"
"Anything, if it's with you."
"Good." Finally, we were going to do what we came here to do. Spend Halloween together.
. . . . . . .
Lo and behold, we ended up winning first place. Of course we freaking won first place. The instant we went on stage the crowd that had come for the costume contest went crazy. Surprisingly, nobody trolled us for the whole Star Trek/Star Wars thing we had going, so that was the only disappointment about this whole thing. Whatever, it was fun, and we had pumpkin pie afterwards, which was just another highlight of the night. Although I have to admit the pie wasn't nearly as good as my mom's, but he'd have a chance to try that come Thanksgiving dinner later the following month.
We were back in the Octo Corp building by then, only instead of the busy hustling of Dave's henchmen going through the hallways and working the controls on the computers, it was quiet. Dave had given the henchmen a night off, so they must have been elsewhere in the building or back at the shores in the submarine.
Dave turned on some of the lights in the large room we were in, setting illumination onto a big flat screen monitor and its controls to the left. It was kind of weird, seeing this room without the busy movement of working henchmen, or even the soft glow of the green Medusa Serum Dave had been working on for so long. Instead it was empty, quiet, but not necessarily devoid. It was kind of nice, really.
"So, what's the plan for the upcoming week?" I asked. This in itself was loud, considering my voice bounced around in echoes throughout the wide and tall room. It was sort of ominous even, despite that I knew well that I only felt this way because it was Halloween night. The scariest thing I saw was Steven sneaking up on me in that mirror maze, so I figured nothing could quite top that.
"Nothing big planned," Dave admitted. "My henchmen are taking care of cleaning up the submarine after construction."
"Well, in that case maybe we might as well do our own thing. I think tonight's been the only night in like… weeks since we've done something that has nothing to do with work."
"Yeah, I know… it's just taken a while with this entire resource hunt."
"Speaking of, how is all that going? What company are you getting help from?"
Dave, again, was mute.
"Oh come on, it can't be that bad," I said. "Whoever helped to give you stuff to rebuild the submarine and all did a really good job."
"I would really rather not talk about it," Dave admitted.
"But why?" I could help but ask. "Is it about having to find someone other than Mr. Issa? I'm sure he'd understand."
Before Dave could reason with me what he had yet to even tell me, the already dim lights flickered, dipping us into a brief wave of darkness. After that, the big computer monitor to the side actually turned on by itself, and fell into an on and off static state, filling the once quiet room with white noise.
I don't why, but I screamed. The scream was brief, but regardless all my focus was suddenly on the damned static computer screen. I guess I was already in that "spooky" state-of-mind so that must have caused my random scare. It was probably just a power outage or something. No big deal.
"Hyakkk—Hyaakkhaha! Hyaha—Hahaykkhakk!" A weird series of laughter suddenly started hiccupping along with the random static. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, as yet again, I put full forced effort to looking directly at the computer monitor. As I laid my eyes on the static, and with every wave of energy the signal made to produce an actual image, the computer monitor finally received the message it had been receiving.
Within a blink of an eye, the static ceased, and on the computer screen was… a dolphin? Was I like, tripping out here? Because there was a freaking dolphin on the computer screen. The most bizarre thing about him was one of his eyes was like a damned cybernetic or something. Also the dolphin was on land? Inside somewhere? I had no idea what the ever living shit was happening.
"Hyakkaaaahhaakka!" The dolphin on the other line resumed laughing for a moment longer, before he gathered himself and started talking. "Dave the octopus!" he called out. "So I finally am able to get through to you! I'll admit, I had to hack your computers to actually get you to talk to me, but here I am! Have you forgotten our little deal? Nice human costume, by the way."
"I'm not talking to you!" Dave huffed, turning around irritably away from the screen as he wrapped both his 'arms' around himself.
"You're joking, right?" the dolphin asked, his tone changing from amusement to seriousness in a matter of moments. "Don't you dare turn your back on me! We had a deal, and it's a deal that I won't soon forget. Simply turning your back on your problems isn't going to solve anything!"
"Okayyy, so seriously, what's the deal, yo?" My question seemed to slip out uncontrollably. I normally would keep my mouth shut in a situation like this but it was so confusing that I ended up letting my question out regardless.
"Yes, what's the deal, yo?" The Dolphin mimicked me sarcastically, though redirected the sentence at Dave. "You should listen to your human assistant. Although from what I've seen you treat her more as your pet than an actual slave. And you have the nerve to call yourself a mastermind. Not to mention you gave up on your plans to take vengeance on the pengyuins. Pathetic, really."
"Real big talk coming from someone who lost to them on multiple occasions," Dave sneered. "And should I also bring up the time they erased your memory, using your own device, for some time, and you started referring to yourself as 'Flippy'."
"How do you—never mind! It doesn't matter, hypocrite! I suggest you listen to me right now, Dave! You owe me big for the help I have lent you in getting you the materials needed to rebuild your tech. Either you pay me the 26 billion dollars by the end of the following month, or I will personally come to take back my payment myself." He paused only to eye us both intensely before he let out his one-liner towards Dave before ending the call.
"By the way, red coats die first, bitch."
And to think I was just starting to be more relaxed in my situation. Oh well.