Chapter 11

The Next Day…

Otis returned to find Marie standing next to Cuttlefish Cabin, Sheldon working on a TV close by, and Sarah sitting on the bench.

"Heya Otis!" Sarah waved.

"Hello 4.5." Marie waved. "Please use the codenames."

"Greetings!" Sheldon called out.

"Hey guys!" Otis said. He turned to Sarah. "I see you're healing up nicely."

"Yup!" Sarah pumped her fist in the air.

"Sheldon's a technical genius, not a medical one." Marie pointed out. "But he said Agent 4 should be back in fully healed by the end of tomorrow."

"She always was a fast healer." Otis noted.

"Yeah! I'm already walking around a bit," Sarah excitedly mentioned. "And I've been helping Marie upgrade weapons with Sheldon's Thingamajig."

"Enhancifier!" Sheldon corrected.

"Yeah, that." Marie added.

"So, where to next?"

"Next up is Beaker's Depot." Marie said. "From what I gather, it shouldn't be too different from what you-actually no, what your sister's been through since you kind of joined near the end of the last area."

"Right." Otis said. "So Sarah, what should I expect?"

"Floating buildings, rails, Launchpads, pathetically weak Non-Octoling Octarian regular soldiers, and at least one or two military or building design decisions that make me question what they were thinking." Sarah explained. "But the scenery will likely be pretty to look at, I'll give them that."

"Guess I should get going then." Otis started walking.

"Goog luck!" Sarah cheered.

"We'll keep in touch over the radio." Marie waved Otis farewell.

Sarah's POV

"So how was your little pizza party last night?" Marie asked.

"Oh, it was great!" I told her. "We spent some more time getting caught up and he told me more about you guys"

"What?" She seemed confused.

"You, the Squid Sisters." I answered.

"Oh, what'd he tell you?" She asked.

"How you two did the news and Splatfests before Off the Hook started doing it." I told her more. "Also, you do theatre?

"Oh yeah, ahem." She then picked a rock off the ground and held it up. "Alas poor Sheldon, I knew him well."

"But I'm still here." Sheldon responded, having just tuned in to the conversation.

"I know, Sheldon." Marie said, a little annoyed. "I was just doing a thing."

"Oh, hehe…sorry." Sheldon said, a bit embarrassed. "I'll just keep working on the TV."

"Anyway, oh, while I was doing some reconnaissance near beaker's depot last night, I heard screaming coming from the cabin." Marie recalled. "What happened?"

"That was me, sorry." I told her. "Otis wanted to brush my beak like he did when we were kids and I was having none of that and he wouldn't take no for an answer."

Marie started laughing.

"Hey, stop laughing!" I nearly yelled, embarrassed.

"S-sorry, I'm just picturing that." Marie said, catching her breath. "He must really care about you."

"Hmph!" I turned the other way, arms-crossed, making my trademark pouty-face.

Marie just started laughing again.

In no time at all, Otis made it through the first area. We could tell he made it to the second area when we heard him cursing under his breath chasing the Tentacooks. The then entered the third area.

"Is this some kind of resort?" We heard him say over the comm.

"Yep, apparently they're using the Zapfish to power recreational areas as well." Marie explained. "Weird how they apparently need power, yet they're spending it on things they don't need."

"Maybe they need some fun and relaxation too." Otis said. "I know I would if I lived down here my whole life."

"Geez Otis," I said. "Whose side are you on?"

"Just saying." Otis seemed oddly soft towards these jerks after all they've done.

"Alright, TV's fixed!" Sheldon announced.

"So this is how you've been watching me?" I asked.

"Yeah, there's a camera on your headset connected to the TV." Marie explained.

Sheldon turned the TV on as the sight of Otis bouncing on large, inflatable pads appeared on the screen. He seemed to be enjoying it.

"Wow," I said. "Looks like he's having fun."

"The Octarians put a lot of interesting things in their domes." Marie mentioned.

"I must find one of these Bounce Pads for some…research." Sheldon commented.

Sure Sheldon, research. But, I will admit I find the image of that little nerd having fun on a bounce pad to be strangely adorable.

Everything seemed to be going well, with the exception of a couple times when he landed in the middle of what appeared to be regular Octarian vacationers. It got real awkward real quick. I really felt sorry for him. Finally he got out with the Zapfish.

"Why do they have banana-boats if the water's too deep to stand in? Otis wondered.

"I told you some of their design decisions made no sense." I reminded him.

"Excuse me-

"Woah!" Otis turned around shocked to see an Octoling vacationer followed him out.

"A-are you the guy who defeated Octo Samurai?" She shyly asked.

"I…uh, yeah." He answered.

She then put her hands on his shoulders, pulling him closer…before kneeing him in the groin and diving back in the kettle.

"You okay Otis!?" I worriedly asked.

"Y-yeah." Otis said, struggling to get back up. "In a way, I guess I deserved that. I did splat her idol."

"You deserve more than that." A voice behind him said.

He turned to see Cass the Elite standing there, seemingly coming out of nowhere.

"Sea-Witch!" I yelled over the comms. "If you hurt Otis, I swear I'll rip your limbs off!"

"I'm just here to ask a question, runt!" Cass clarified.

"What do you want?" He asked, clearly not wanting to deal with her.

"What'd you agents do with Octo Samurai?" Cass asked.

"I beat him." He answered.

"I mean after that!" She got angry.

"What are you talking about?" Otis was confused, as were we all.

"You splatted him and destroyed the machine he was respawning from, but he should've made it to another spawn point before fading away, but no one's seen him since the fight." She explained. "So where is he!?"

"I don't know!" Otis answered. "I beat him, grabbed the Zapfish, and left."

"Liar!" She yelled. "We know you did something! First the toaster, now Octo Samurai! None of them showed back up after you agents splatted them!"

"What?" Otis had no idea what she was talking about. "Whatever you're on about, we had nothing to do with it!"

"Oh, I believe you…but you know who doesn't" She was up to something. "Him."

Before he could react, Otis was platted by a charger shot. Before his ghost could fly away, Cass took out a bottle, jumped up, and caught him.

"Otis!" I screamed.

"Nice shot as always, Sharp." We could hear her say through Otis's headset.

"What'd you do to Otis!?" I yelled into the comm. "If you lay a finger on Him-"

"Oh, we're just gonna see what this liar knows." She said after she picked up the headset. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to give this sucker some first-hand experience with an Octarian respawn point."

We could hear her breaking the headset as it got more filled with static.

"You bitch!" I screamed, despite the headset being broken by this point. "You give him back!

I fell to my knees. Marie rushed over to me.

"Give Him back!"

Tears started flowing. I dropped the radio.

"Give my brother back…"