Chapter 10: The Unraveling of Things
I couldn't resist letting a small smirk play across my face as I watched Sheldon stare at the old piece of paper in his hands with growing shock. His hands soon began to shake before he finally looked at me.
"Marlin...are you sure this is real?"
"As far as I can tell it is," leaning against the counter I tried to maintain a serious composure as he looked at me. Once he had looked away the smile returned, "just like the last one was."
"Yes...I still can't believe it..." one corner flopped slightly down, allowing me to see the rough sketch lines of some form of ink weapon on the side Sheldon was viewing. It looked nothing really like any ink weapon I had seen in his shop before.
"Think you could do something with it?" I felt my phone buzz in my pocket but chose to ignore it as I continued to look at the horseshoe crab.
"Most definitely, it will take several days of studying to be able to make it but I should have something if you want to try it out by the end of the week?"
"Sounds good," my phone buzzed again as I said it. Pulling my phone out I saw the name was "Whark" on the screen before putting the phone away, "see you later this week?"
"Of course Marlin...and thank you," folding the paper up carefully he scuttled back behind the counter and through a door into a back room.
Walking back out of the shop my phone went off again. Growling in annoyance I pulled it out to deny the call only to stop when I saw "N. Hemloch" instead. Smiling a little I raise the phone up to my ear, "Hey Noi...what's up?"
"You know your friends are pissed at you right?" her voice was deadpan serious as she said it.
"Wouldn't be the first time," I told her as I continue to travel into the plaza.
"Not like this...Marlin we were just in a meeting...and they are thinking about kicking you off the team."
"What?!" a jellyfish being jumped a little from my outburst as I passed him, "why didn't someone tell me there was a meeting today?"
"Have you checked your phone lately?"
Lowering the phone from my face I looked through it only to find twenty various messages from Whark and Alga as well as one from Noi. The receiving time being for most of them during my last visit to Octo Valley earlier that day. My phone having been muted during that time to avoid getting caught by any Octarians from it going off.
I raised the phone back up to my ear, "I just found them..."
"They were trying to get a hold of you all morning...where were you?"
"Busy...I had to keep my phone off during it."
"Busy doing what?"
I bit my lip, "Training..."
"Do you honestly think any of us believe that by this point?"
I bit my lip harder, tasting blood on my tongue, before hearing a sigh, "Marlin...I understand you want privacy but if you don't start explaining why you keep disappearing all the time..."
"I know..." covering the microphone with my hand for a moment I let out a shaky sigh before continuing, "I'm just not ready..."
"Not ready for what?"
"To tell them..." I leaned myself against a wall with a sigh, "I don't think I could tell them."
"Can you at least tell me?"
I stood there in silence, staring at the phone in my hand as I felt my mouth open and close repeatedly while I tried to figure out something to say to her. Anything that would help her understand why nobody, her especially, couldn't know.
"Look...Marlin..." her voice snapped me out of my thoughts as she continued, "I know we haven't know each other long...and we only started dating a few weeks ago..."
"N-Noi..."
"If you aren't ready to say what's going on its fine...but whatever is really going on sounds like it shouldn't be something done by just one person...and Marlin that scares me."
"I..."
"Just...please don't take long to finally say something...but when you are I'm here for you," there was a brief pause, "I gotta go, I'll talk to you later Marlin."
"Wait Noi I-" the click of the call ending caused me to snap my mouth shut with an audible click as I stared at it for several seconds.
Growling under my breath I quickly turned and punched the wall in frustration.
Immediately afterwards I had to bite back a curse as pain blossomed across my hand and I held it close to my chest, "C-carp...Marlin you are an idiot..." holding my hand up to my face I saw my fingers were awkwardly clenched in a fist as the skin started turning a dark purplish blue color.
Holding my hand with my other one I started stumbling off to get help.
"Agent 3...what did you do to cause this damage to your hand?"
"I uh...punched a wall..." I admitted before wincing as Cuttlefish wrapped my hand in a bandage after having to re-break the cartilage in my hands to set them properly. Since my rapid healing capabilities had already started to set it improperly the Captain had no other choice in the matter and thus I had to endure my hand breaking twice in the span of an hour.
"What did the wall do to make you do that?" he chuckled a little at his own joke before sighing, "or was it someone else that caused you to punch it?"
"It's nothing I can't handle Captain," after he was done wrapping my hand I looked at it before flexing it open and close several times, "besides it involves a girl..."
"A girl?" he whistled softly to himself, "well I can tell you Agent 3 girls can certainly be fickle creatures...but if you give them enough time they will eventually come to you."
"I'll take your word for it," lowering my arm back to my side I pushed myself off the chair, "I probably should get going."
"How about I make you something nice to eat before you go...crab cake perhaps?"
"Sure," a smile crept onto my face, "I'd like that."
"Give me two minutes and I'll have one whipped up faster than you can say, 'Twenty zany Zapfish'!" with a look of determination he marched into the other room.
Shaking my head slowly I decided to pass the time by looking around the place.
The area we were in was underneath what was the entrance room to the place on the ground level, lovingly known as "the shack" as I had heard Cuttlefish call it at one point. Most the walls were covered in notes and reports like on the wall outside of the shack and on various tables and shelves were random bits and bobs clearly left by the Captain who had started messing with them only to move on to something else.
Walking past a desk something bright yellow caught my eye, causing me to turn and see a life size baby Zapfish plush sitting on top of a stack of files. The yellow felt on it was patched with random pieces of cloth and a hat a lot like Cuttlefish's was stitched onto its head.
"Heh...well you're cu-" reaching for it I stopped when I noticed wrapped around one of its flippers was a piece of black cord and a piece of paper strung through it. The paper itself was yellow with fold marks like it had been folded multiple times before being attached to the toy.
"What's this?" Carefully I grabbed the plush off the stack and with some effort untied the cord before putting the plush back on the desk. Holding the note in my hand I stared at it curiously before opening it up to read the faded blue writing ink on the paper.
Walter
Congrats on starting your own family. Having been a father myself (and now a grandfather,) I know you and May will do just fine. Here's a toy for Marin...I'm sure he'll love it, I know the ones I gave to my granddaughters were...
Good luck in your new mission in life.
Cuttlefish
As I held the paper in my hands I couldn't help but notice a slight trembling coming to them as I read the words over and over with increasing speed. I soon found myself repeatedly shaking my head from side to side as well before suddenly slapping the paper onto the desk.
"N-no...it can't be..." my gaze then fell to the stack of folders the plush had been sitting on. The one on top having in white bold letters the word "Confidential" on the front. Without a second thought I grabbed it and flipped it open.
The first thing I saw was a picture of my father. His face was still young in appearance as he seemed to look at the camera with an air of overconfidence while the same bright orange eyes as my own glinted with mischievousness. If I hadn't known better I probably would have thought I was staring at myself just as I had turned 14.
Flipping the picture over underneath were more pictures of my father at different ages ranging from 14 to somewhere in his early twenties. In most of them he was wearing a suit very much like the one Cuttlefish had given me as he stood next to or interacted with other Inklings about the same age as him. In one he was even seen holding a baby Zapfish proudly while others happily applauded him and a younger Cuttlefish stood behind them all with a proud look on his face.
I flipped through more of the photos until I reached near the end. Another picture with the group of agents now all adults with my dad in the front with a wide grin soon stared up at me. I looked at it for a few minutes before I turn it aside to see underneath was a picture of him with a younger version of my mom standing in front an apartment, arms wrapped each other as they stared at the camera. Their happy expressions plastered across their faces like nothing could remove them.
My vision suddenly turned blurry as I felt hot tears threatening to fall down my face as I hastily turned to the last picture, which was one of my father again like the first one but as an adult instead. The mischievousness was still there but seemed to be more hidden as he stared at the camera.
The photo was attached to a yellowed piece of paper which I started to read after a minute of staring at my father's image but once I had I started to feel a cold shiver run down my spine.
Name: Agent Firefly (Walter Colorian)
Orange Male, opalescent inshore/? descent
Living Relations: NA
Living Family: May Colorian (wife)
Marin Colorian (first son)
Kell Colorian (second son)
Active duty: August 10th 212017-May 28th 212025
Born: March 3rd 212003
Death: June 6th 212027; Walter Colorian was found dead on the outskirts of Inkopolis with multiple stab wounds to the back. Was pronounced dead on the scene when body was found, Octarian involvement of agent death highly probable.
"You weren't supposed to see those..."
I whipped around to find Cuttlefish standing behind me, a plate of crab cakes in his hands and a look of sorrow on his face, "Those are extremely confid-"
"You knew my dad?" he immediately fell silent as he avoided my gaze, "why didn't you tell me?"
"Walter was one of my best agents in the original Squidbeak Splatoon..." he replied as he place the plate on the desk with a sigh before sitting in a chair, "...everyone thought of him as the leader and respected him greatly since he always seemed to know how to get everyone out of a rescue mission without a single injury or loss of life."
"Then what changed?" I tried to keep my voice level but I could hear it trembling as I spoke.
"You came along...in order to protect you and your mother he retired from being an agent...unfortunately that didn't stop the Octarians from eventually finding him. As soon as word had spread of Walter's death many of the others grew concerned for their own families and thus the Squidbeak Splatoon was disbanded...I only restarted it a few years ago."
"I still don't understand..." my hands had started trembling again as I continued to hold the folder while my voice grew louder, "Why didn't you tell me my father was an agent?!"
"Your father had many secrets...some I still to this day don't know and now never will...such as why he was out there that night...but you father having his double life was one of them. Not even your mother I think knew and he had told me before he left that he didn't want to put his family in danger anymore."
"So...you didn't think I could handle it?" I could feel a warm feeling coming to my chest as I felt my anger rising with it.
"Marlin...you're only 14..."
"I'm not a child!" a tiny hint of a growl came from my throat.
"I-I never said you were!"
"Then why are you treating me like I am!? You're no better than the rest of them!"
"Marlin...please listen to me..."
"No! You're not my dad!" throwing the folder to the floor I only watched the photos and other papers fly out of it and scatter across the floor for a few seconds before I grabbed my ink tank and hero shot and ran out the door.
"Marlin!" Cuttlefish's voice cried out before I shoved my headset over my head as I continued to run across away from the shack and farther through the valley. Eventually the crackle of the headset coming on came into my ears.
"Where are you going?!"
"I'm going on a mission..." super jumping across an area I landed next to the third boss kettle that had opened earlier that day when I was collecting Zapfish.
"What?! No Agent 3 you need to rest, take time to-"
"I'm ready now!" taking a running start I jumped straight at the kettle opening. Turning into a squid at the last second as I passed through the grate and was transported through the tunnels.
Landing in another arena like the last two times I looked around the place before seeing the Zapfish in the center. Immediately I started moving towards it.
"Agent 3 return to the-"
"No Captain," I told him, cutting him off, "...I can handle this."
"But you don't know what octoweapon it is...and you are exhausted from your previous missions I'm sure."
"I'm fine..." walking up to the center I see a Zapfish dangling from the ceiling above a giant clamshell object surrounded by a pool of Octarian ink like a juicy worm hanging over a waiting fishing net, "looks like they were waiting for me..."
"Wait...what do you me-!?" static filled my ears for a second before it died to be replaced with the now familiar mysterious voice sighing as I stood at the edge of the ink pool and looked up at the now panicking Zapfish. It had started squeaking even more loudly once it had caught sight of me.
"Why must you Inklings be so persistent...?" The voice sounded bored, "your making my job difficult."
"I thought that was the idea...?" I looked around the arena to see if I could finally catch a glimpse of the voice's owner which as usual resulted in nothing, "are you interrupting Cuttlefish just to tell me that I'm ruining your plans...again?"
"My plans? Heh...I wish Inkling they were..." he seemed mildly annoyed by this before continuing, "but no...I'm here to give you your final warning."
"Are you saying the last few weren't?" I took a step forwards only to jump back as a tentacle shot up and grabbed it from the Zapfish from the empty clamshell before pulling it back in as the two halves of the shell snapped shut with a loud clang that echoed throughout the dome for several seconds before the sound of mechanical whirring overpowered it.
"Very funny Inkling...but if I were in your shoes I'd take this seriously because this is not child's play...and we will do anything in our power to take back what's ours!" the now spiky orb in front of me slowly turned around until a pair of mechanical eyes was glaring down at me as an ear splitting wail came out of it.
"What the kel-!?" before I could even pull my hero shot out the thing was already charging at me as it tried to run me over. Leaping towards the side I barely dodged it as it zipped past me and hit the barrier of the arena loudly before slowly turning around, "Captain, it's a giant mechanical clam that tries to roll me over! What do I do?!"
Only tiny amounts of static could be heard coming from the other side as I watched the octoweapon finish it's turning around and prepare to charge once more, "Captain I need advice!"
Silence was the only thing that answered me as the giant ball of death came at me. It was on me before I could get out of the way again and I felt the sting of Octarian ink and large sharp spikes piercing my skin before I blacked out.
Snapping my eyes open I let out a pained gasp as I fell to my knees on the spawn that had activated just outside the arena. Left over sensation of the spikes going into me continued to assault my body for several minutes before dying down as I finally forced myself to stand, "C-Cuttlefish...?"
Still nothing came across the headset as I watched the octoweapon which seemed to wander around aimlessly in the arena since it had already splatted me.
"How am I supposed to take it down without...?" I froze as I watched it come across one of the spots I had inked. As it went over it the huge thing temporarily sank down into the ink before pulling itself out with a mechanical groan, continuing it's wandering around as before.
"N-no way...could I...?" swimming back up and through the barrier I started waving my arms to get its attention, "Hey Octoswirl! You didn't actually get me! How about you try harder you dumb spiky ball!"
It immediately turned around and let out an angry screech as it rushed towards me from the other side of the arena.
Turning into squid form I leaped into a puddle of my ink as it went past me before jumping back out and shooting as much ink as possible onto the ground. I turned around at the sound of the octoweapon roaring at me as it seemed to debate whether it should rush me or not.
"Come and get me you lazy tin clam!" I yelled with my hands cupped around my mouth, "or are you too scared to try to take on a kid!?"
Whatever hesitation it had was completely gone as with another screech it rolled towards me at a break-neck pace. It's beady mechanical eyes never taking its gaze off me.
Just before it could roll me over again its angry screech turned into one of panic as it rolled straight into the puddle of ink in front of me and sunk into it. In its panic its tentacle launched upwards into the air as the entire thing shuddered from its efforts to free itself.
"If you want to stop me...you're gonna have to try harder than that," I softly muttered as I aimed my hero shot and started to shoot it.
The tentacle exploded with the rest following afterwards a second later spraying ink in all directions. The Zapfish crashed into the green ink while still in its light bulb tank with a loud squeak before letting out a series of whimpers as it laid there.
"Come on..." walking up to it I broke the tank and held my arms out as the Zapfish jumped into my arms, "let's get you out of here...Captain I'm on my way back."
There was still nothing as I started making my way out of the arena. For the first time since I had entered this place I was beginning to feel something else creeping into my heart as I left instead of anger.
And that feeling was fear.