Chapter 12: Running an errand
Disclaimer: I own Adstrum. I don't own Splatoon.
About ten minutes of driving went by when Adstrum pulled into a parking garage and parked in the first opening he found. He hopped out and saw Callie land down next to him, still holding the case.
"Alright. Thank you. May I have the case?"
She handed it to him with a smile. "What's in it?"
"The newest turf war weapon. Chase and I tested it yesterday and wrote down the stuff that needs to be fixed and how the weapon works." He started walking toward the exit. When they got outside he began to head for the Turf War Subway Central Station entrance.
"You guys enter turf wars through a subway?"
"Yeah. Kind of makes more sense than entering a tower in Inkopolis Plaza."
"Good point." She followed him down the stairs. "You know, I heard that people aren't really hanging out in the plaza anymore. The shops and turf wars have moved to Inkopolis Square."
"Really?" Adstrum looked back at her. "That's cool." He approached the Ammo Knights store and walked in. "Hey Barry! You here!?"
"Ello mate. Oh you got ya self a gal I see." Barry grinned, "G'donya mate."
"Uh...she's a friend." Adstrum looked at Callie. "Her name is Jewel. Jewel, meet Barry."
"Hello, Barry. It's nice to meet you."
"Likewise, what brings you two here?"
"I came to give you the newest weapon. Jewel came along because I invited her to hang out today." Adstrum walked up to the counter and placed the case on said counter.
"Ah, thanks mate. Wonder if me test dummy wants to try it…"
"I'm not a test dummy…." A quiet voice squeaked from behind Barry.
Callie looked behind Barry and saw a small octopus hanging on to his fin. "Is that a-?"
"How long have you had an octoling, Barry?"
"Iris? Oh she is me child… long story… Could tell you but too lazy."
Callie looked worried. "You use your own daughter as a test dummy?"
"Nah, mate. She just tries them out to calibrate it. She fixes any mistakes that you made."
"Okay. Please don't say that again. She may be an octarian but even I found calling her a test dummy disturbing. And I don't always think right." He stared off into space for a second before placing his finger on the roof of his mouth and pretended to fire it like a gun. "Get out of my head, memories."
"It's a umm, let's see, a word of endearment? By the way me child's not an octopus, she be a vampire squid. They just, well, look similar."
Callie walked behind Barry and looked at Iris. "Oh, I didn't notice the thin webbing. Sorry."
Adstrum looked and saw the thin webbing between Iris's tentacles. "Oh. I didn't see it either. Alright. Welp, now I feel like a racist. Sorry, Iris." He grabbed the notepad and opened the case. He pulled the weapon out and showed it to the baracuda. "This is the Double Barrel Reservoir. It fires multiple blobs of ink in a spread, covering a wide area." He opened the notepad. "Here's the list of observations Chase and I made. It has short range, but covers a wide area. Each ink blob does small damage but the closer the target is the more blobs that will likely hit them, doing more damage." He handed the weapon to Barry and gave Iris the notepad. "The notepad has a list of problems that need to be fixed, and go ahead and fix anything else you find."
"..." Iris handed the notepad to Barry.
"You're kind of cute, Iris." Callie had a heartwarming smile on her face.
"Thank you…" She hid in her tentacles making herself look like a pineapple.
"Aw…" Callie's eyes lit up. "How cute. She's like Sanz." She got a few confused looks. "Sanz is the clown fish that lives in my boss's hair."
"She be only a hatchling to me, but yet she can do so much… I remember when-"
"No! A-and I'm 14..." Iris wrapped her tentacles to close Barry's mouth.
"Hahaha! C'mon Barry, don't embarrass your kid." He looked at Iris. "Good luck with the Reservoir." He then looked at Barry. "I'll be back in a week or so. Will the Reservoir be selling by then?"
Barry pulled Iris off, leaving sucker marks, "Yeah, it should."
"Good man." Adstrum patted his back. "See ya around, Barry. And it was nice to meet you, Iris." He smiled before heading toward the door.
"G'day mate."
"Please try not to say anything about me…" Iris waved.
"It was nice meeting you both." Callie waved and followed Adstrum. "Is that all?"
"Yeah. I try not to be around before any inklings show up." He looked at her. "Well, now you choose what we do."
"What? Why me?"
"Because I already got done with my plans for today. I got nothing else to do. But I invited you to hang out. So now you pick what we do."
"Okay." She thought about it for a moment as they started walking back to the parking garage. "I kind of want to try a turf war, but I'm going to wait until I feel more comfortable with a roller again."
Adstrum looked at Callie with a look of confusion. "Okay. You must have changed since Inkopolis. The Callie I remember was more energetic and always ready to do something interesting. At least based on your news quotes."
"I had to change a bit when I came here. I had to take action and start working harder. I'm always excited to try things that interest me, but I want to make sure I'm completely ready. I don't know the turf wars in this city, and seeing what happened to Annabelle-"
"Again, I apologize." Adstrum interrupted.
"That's okay. And seeing what happened to Anna I kind of want to go in prepared. So whenever you are able to get a sniper to help you with the Roller vs Sniper lesson please let me know."
Adstrum gave her a thumbs up. "Got it."
"Thank you." She went back to thinking. "I don't really know what we can do right now…why don't we just drive around and see what there is?"
"Alright. Sounds fine to me. Maybe we can find something to do while going around."
They had reached Adstrum's Outrunner and a question popped into Callie's mind. "You know, I'm still curious. I know you built this car. You said it yourself. But why did you you have to have this car and how are you allowed to drive it?"
"Well…" Adstrum got into the driver's seat as Callie got into the secondary seat. "I'm allowed to drive it because I did the proper paperwork, went to the right places, all the stupid shit required." He started the engine and pulled out of the parking spot he was in. "The reason I have this car is not only because I built it but because of this city." He drove out of the parking garage and started driving. "This is the kind of city that if you live in the nice areas, which is where most of the big corporations and businesses are, then it seems fairly normal. But other places in the city are not so inviting. And I drive through these places almost daily. Remember that sniper idiot back at the restaurant?"
"Yeah, he cracked Clair's windshield."
"That's an example of why I drive this car. A lot of people hate me, which is why the armor helps to intimidate them. It also helps to remind people who I am. Having the only car like this one in the city lets people know who I am and to not bug me. I may be attracting attention with it, but that can be both good and bad." An idea popped into his head. "Hey, I know this is off topic, but do you have your license yet? I wonder if you got that over the past two years."
Callie shook her head. "No. I still don't."
"Well, do you have your permit?"
"Yeah…" She gave him a confused look. "Why?"
"I know what else we're doing today." He took a left turn at a traffic light. "I'm going to help you learn to drive."
Author's Note: Alright. Heads up to everyone reading. The update schedule is changing from one chapter a day to one chapter every two days. Sorry. My mind is kind of wandering at the moment. I'm having trouble focusing on the fic. And not because of school or a job or anything. My mind is just going random right now. I will keep updating, but not as fast. Sorry. Next chapter will be in two days.
Anyway, thank you everyone who is still reading. Leave a review if you want and remember the rule I made. Have a great day and see ya next update.