Delta twisted her torso to the side, narrowly dodging the stripe of purple ink from the Octoweapon's charger. She pressed her back against the platform's cover, holding down the splatling's trigger and watching its barrels turn as the weapon built up a charge.
"Really wish you guys let me have the charger instead…" Delta pivoted out of cover the moment she heard the splatling ding, aiming the torrent of emerald at the three Octocopters holding the Octoweapon airborne.
"Not with your performance earlier." Sheldon replied as Delta heard a sharp pop, signaling an Octocopter was down.
"Yeah, let's uh…" Marie let out an awkward cough as Delta splatted a second Octocopter, leaving one left hold the Octoweapon's chains. "Let's not have a repeat of the Octosniper's charger."
Delta didn't have time for a rebuttal since the Octo Shower ejected a stream of ink from its underside, using its last Octocopter to charge at Delta's position. Agent 4 leapt off the central platform, using the last of the splatling's charge to ink a landing zone to splash into. Delta was about to poke her mantle out of the emerald when a few stray shots of purple whizzed overhead.
"Is…that a hand crank?" Sheldon audibly cringed as Delta looked to her left, watching the weaponized shower crank its ammo at her with newly appeared arms, complete with sanitation gloves.
"If Delta gets hit by it," Marie added as Delta emerged from the ink, charging the Hero Splatling as she ran toward the raised platform to her right. "We're never letting her live it down."
Delta rolled her eyes, morphing into a squid to ride the dash track into midair. The Octocopter's green eyes bulged at Delta, who morphed back into kid form and released the trigger—splatting the last Octocopter. The Octoweapon's black, circular body crashed to the ground with a metallic moan—its tentacle sprouting from the Octoweapon's purple shingled roof. Delta landed two yards away from the Octo Shower, and wasted no time in aiming the last of the splatling's charge at the bright green X on the tentacle. The pulsating flesh burst open, spraying a few dots of purple across Agent 4's face.
"Last round," Marie spoke over the radio as four Octocopters buzzed their way into the arena, circling around the Octoweapon to screw their chains into its now gaping hole. "Then we can finally get out of here. You got this, Agent 4."
Exhaust steamed from side vents as the Octoweapon's LED eyes flashed red, its purple roof shuddering as the giant machine was hoisted back into the air. The Octo Shower gave a final toot before tilting to the side, ejecting a steel missile aimed straight towards Agent 4.
"Ugh." Marie groaned as Delta turned back towards the dash track, this time landing on the platform to avoid the missile. "Of course. I always wanted my shower head to shoot missiles."
"Those aren't just any missiles!" Sheldon almost cried in excitement. "Those are the latest generation of air seekers! They have the latest AI with adjustable thrusters and thermal navigation, not to mention its concealed shrapnel compart—"
"Can you cut to the point, Sheldon?" Delta had turned back to look at the missile, only to watch it turn around and propel itself back towards her. She had just enough time to dive behind one of the fortifications before the missile crashed into the parapet, exploding into a flurry of twisted metal.
"...They're homing missiles." Sheldon muttered, dejected.
"Well, I'm glad the timing of that information was useful." Marie smirked over the radio, but her playful quip was cut short as the Octo Shower tilted to the side once more.
"Heads up!" Marie was quick to give her warning, but Delta had already hopped onto the ground when the second missile launched itself into the air. She looked at her right to find two bright, flaming eyes charge towards her, closing half the distance in a matter of a few seconds. Delta sprinted away, listening to the screech of the thruster as it malfunctioned—giving her time to get a lead ahead of the missile.
Delta kept running until she heard a bang from behind her, signaling the coast was clear. Something smacked into her leg, nearly causing her to stumble. She straightened herself out in time to hear the familiar wail of a Stingray. Sure enough, a beam of purple ink cut through the central platform, bearing down on Delta's position. She slipped into newly inked emerald to avoid the special, mildly surprised to hear the ding as her yellow jacket's armor came back online. Since when was she without it?
"It's got a Stingray too?" Sheldon exclaimed over the radio as Delta climbed out of her hiding place, hobbling her way towards the central platform.
"I'll never understand why a shower head needs to be packing so much heat." Marie let out a long, defeated sigh.
"Pretty sure it's safe to say," Agent 4 began, firing a flurry of emerald shots at two unsuspecting Octocopters. "That every Octoweapon we've come across has destroyed your faith in Octarian logic."
"It was lost long ago when an oven popped out of a puddle of ink and started to attack us." Marie rebutted as the final two Octocopters exploded out of existence. The Octo Shower gave one final screech before plummeting to the ground, and Delta readjusted her aim to shoot the wriggling tentacle. The last of the splatling's charge was enough to destroy the tender tentacle, and Delta pressed her back against one of the platform's fortifications. She anticipated the explosion this time, and only had to watch as a burst of emerald sailed past her cover.
"All right." Marie let out a sigh of satisfaction over Sheldon's mildly disappointed huff. "I think you can finally head back after picking up that Zapfish."
Delta didn't have the energy to respond, instead she wasted no time in diving off the platform to reach the caged Zapfish. She heaved herself out of the emerald ink to find the baby Zapfish staring back at her with wide, horrified eyes. Agent 4 fired a few shots to break the cage's barrier, not finding the motivation to figure out the Zapfish's puzzled mood. Delta instantly Super Jumped back to Tentakeel Outpost, more than ready to relax.
She was so, so tired.
Delta landed with a drunken stumble, nearly collapsing onto Tentakeel Outpost's white pavement. The Zapfish flinched in her arms, and she brushed her hand against the side of her right thigh to wipe the dirt off. After making it inside Cuttlefish Cabin, Delta slid down the hatch and made her way toward its central chamber.
"There you are." Marie greeted from the kitchen table as Delta nudged the Zapfish towards the tank with the others. "I was wondering when—" Delta looked toward her mentor to find her usual smirk had faded into shock, and Marie quickly stood from her chair to rush towards Delta. A brief sensation of confusion passed over Delta's consciousness, and her senses finally pointed out something wet trickling down her calf. Delta looked down at the hand she had used to wipe against her leg before, only to find it covered in cobalt blue.
Delta spared a proper look at her leg to find a jagged piece of steel protruding from the side of her knee, her flesh bleeding blue ink down to the floor and even seeping into her Hero Boots.
Delta's weight gave out from under her as the room spun, until Marie caught her from behind. Her nerves finally kicked in as the knee bent to the new position, triggering an onslaught of sharp pain digging into her leg. Delta's ears rang with a high-pitched screech, leaving her to numbly wonder how the carp the metal even got there.
"Sheldon!" Delta vaguely registered Marie's call for help. The blurry horseshoe crab appeared in the doorway to his workstation, but quickly hurried over once he realized the situation. Sheldon gingerly scooped up Delta's ankles as gently as he could, but no amount of care would have stopped the pain from screaming even more—and Delta instinctively gritted her teeth into a pained growl.
Marie and Sheldon carried the wounded agent to the bunk room, gently lowering her onto one of the lower bunk beds. Delta vaguely heard someone say "get the med kit" and Sheldon disappeared as Marie pulled a pillowcase from the top bunk, ripping it at the seams. Delta couldn't remember what happened next since her vision had suddenly blurred, head spinning even more.
"Hey, hey!" Delta detected fingers snapping in front of her as her vision focused back to Marie, who then moved her hand to Agent 4's shoulder. "Stay with me, okay?" Delta managed a weak nod as Marie turned her attention back to the injury, twisting the shredded pillowcase into a rope. She wrapped it just above the knee, tightening and tightening the cloth until Delta felt a squeeze in her thigh. Marie tied the tourniquet with a quick snap of her wrists, turning her attention toward the wound itself.
Delta's head had started to clear when Sheldon returned with the med kit. Marie was quick to open it, grabbing a pair of latex gloves and laying out an array of tweezers. Agent 4 nudged her head to the right to find Sheldon awkwardly standing behind the senior agent, unsure of how to help.
"How bad is it?" Delta managed to speak, lifting her head ever so slightly to look at Marie.
"I can't tell until I get that metal out." Marie turned back to look at Agent 4, her shellphone's flashlight in one hand and a magnifying glass in the other. "Feeling better?"
"Yeah, I guess." Delta dropped her head back onto the pillow, brows furrowed as her brain started to comprehend the situation.
"Good, that means the tourniquet is working." Marie turned her attention back to the metal piece stuck in Delta's leg. "I think I can pull this out. It looks like it's halfway out already, maybe I can just…" Delta hissed as she felt a sharp tug.
"Got it." Marie held up the half-bloodied metal shard with her tweezers before setting it down on a nearby napkin. "Sorry, I would have given you some painkiller but I needed to move quickly. That tourniquet might have slowed the bleeding down, but right now it's the only thing between you and ink loss. I want to stop the bleeding entirely and that metal was in my way."
"Can I have some now?" Delta mumbled. If anything, the faded dizziness had left the injured agent with even more pain.
"Yeah, of course." Delta heard Marie rummage through the med kit. "Sheldon, can you go grab a towel? Any towel will do." Sheldon disappeared again as Delta felt a small sting in her thigh.
"Pulling the metal out was easy, luckily." Marie kept talking, likely to keep Delta distracted from the administration of the painkiller. "If it wasn't practically falling out already I'd have needed to grab a surgeon to do it."
"It looks like the shrapnel came from one of the missiles." Sheldon peered over the napkin, passing Marie a hand towel.
"Yeah it probably happened when that missile exploded behind you." Marie bunched the towel against Delta's injury, pressing it against her knee. "And then it took you a while to notice because you have a thing for adrenaline."
"I do not…" Delta couldn't help but smirk at Marie's attempt to break the tension in the room. "I do not have a thing for adrenaline." Delta felt the tingling sensation turn to only pressure as Marie leaned harder against the towel, trying to stop the ink from bleeding.
"Oh, yes you do." Sheldon and Marie were both quick to rebut. Marie lifted a corner of the towel from the injury, then pulled the rest of the it off. Marie grabbed her flashlight and magnifying glass to observe the injury proper.
"It…actually doesn't look that bad." Marie spoke after a few moments, sprinkling antiseptic on the injury. "I think it just hit a vein and that's why there was so much ink. But this looks stitch-able."
"You can stitch?" Sheldon asked, surprised.
"I'm the Splatoon medic, remember?" Marie nearly rolled her eyes as she pulled a dark thread from the med kit. "Callie wasn't about to pay attention to boring science, and one of us had to learn." Marie grew quiet as she concentrated, and Delta felt a tugging sensation as Marie stitched the wound closed.
"There." Marie cut off the rest of the thread with a pair of scissors, then dressed the knee in a fresh bandage. "That should hold for now. I can check it in an hour or so."
"Can I take a nap now?" Delta asked, eyes already half closed.
"Yeah." Marie gave Delta a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "I think the worst is over. It's been a hard day; you've earned a little rest. I'll be back in an hour."
Delta didn't need to be told twice—she was out like a light.
Marie took a deep breath, letting the sharp cold air ease her nerves. It had been a whirlwind of a night, and with Delta's now stable condition Marie could take the time to settle herself down. It had felt like forever since Marie last relied on her medical training, and she now understood why Gramps had insisted on practicing until she could do it in her sleep—otherwise she might have lost Delta earlier.
But Delta's injury meant they couldn't storm Cephalon HQ anytime soon. Marie looked down at the barrier beneath Tentakeel Outpost's glass, looking for its electric sparkle. The shine from the barrier was so slight it was barely perceptible, in fact…was it even there?
There had to be less troops guarding the place, too. Octavio had to have sent some to the rest of Octo Canyon after Delta cleared the place of Zapfish. Marie had wanted to strike the headquarters within twenty-four hours and finally bring Callie home, but Delta's injury made that plan was little more than a pipe dream. She had no choice but go back to the drawing board, consult the book and try again later.
Marie let out a stressed huff, adjusting her headphones as she made her way back inside Cuttlefish Cabin. Sheldon had burned the CD Delta had found after fighting that Ayla girl, and downloaded the files to Marie's phone for her to listen. They sounded like a Turquoise October album, but Marie couldn't understand why. She knew they were popular in Octarian society, but why would a military scout be carrying one? What did an Octarian band have to do with troops? Why did they hear these songs in every single kettle to date?
Marie couldn't figure out the answer because the excited chippers from the Zapfish tank told her Delta had started to stir. Marie pushed herself out of her desk, walking over to the bunk room.
"You have fans." Marie jabbed a thumb towards the direction of the Zapfish tank.
"Heh." Delta lifted her head to look at the Zapfish plastered against the tank wall, eager for a look at their savior. "I guess they were worried about me."
"I can tell them you didn't break any bones." Marie smirked, pulling up a chair. "Because you don't have any bones."
"They don't have any either, I don't think." Delta gave a small chuckle, rubbing at her eyes.
"Actually they do!" Sheldon popped into the room, unannounced. "You see, they have to since the Great Zapfish can grow up to the diameter of the—"
"We'll take your word for it, Sheldon." Marie held up a hand to stop the horseshoe crab before turning back to Delta. "How are you feeling?"
"Better." Delta rested her head back onto her pillow. "Any idea how long this'll take to fully heal?"
"It'll probably be three or four days before that leg is useable." Marie replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "Then we can talk about coming back here."
"I can't wait that long." Delta replied, curling her hands into a nervous fist. "Entrenched's match against Indigone is in two days. If I'm not playing, the team is disqualified."
"Well..." Marie let out a defeated huff. "You gotta do what you gotta do. Two days is better than zero, you can see what it feels like then."
Delta nodded again, but stayed quiet.
"Is it hurting again?" Marie asked after a few moments.
"It's starting to." Delta replied, bringing a hand up to scratch her nose. "You got any more of that painkiller?"
"I've got one more." Marie pulled the med kit from under Delta's bed, grabbing the bottle. "After that I'm out. I'd have had to cut you off pretty soon after that, anyway."
"Why's that?" Sheldon asked as Marie started to unwrap Delta's bandage.
"There's such a thing as too much painkiller." Marie administered the analgesic. "We're not trying to go for general anesthesia here, I hate that squit."
"Oh." Sheldon raised a cocky eyebrow over Marie's comment. "Hate, you say? That's a strong word, Marie."
"It deserves a strong word." Marie grumbled, grabbing a fresh bandage to wrap Delta's injury in. "Some people come off it just fine, others are a little loopy and may or may not…" Marie felt ink rush to her cheeks in an embarrassed blush. "I should shut up."
"Ah-ha, sounds like there's a story there." Delta grinned, teaming up with Sheldon on the subject.
"Care to share with the class?" Sheldon feigned an innocent smile as Marie settled herself back into her chair, glaring daggers at both of them.
"Fine." Marie conceded, realizing the two were too stubborn to let this go, and Sheldon was too eager for payback about the Zapfish tank. "As Delta probably knows, most squids have 'wisdom fangs' that grow into their beak in their late teens or early twenties."
Delta nodded.
"And most squids need to get them pulled because they don't grow in right. I say most because Callie—being the lucky squit that she is—didn't have to. And I'm still salty about that."
"And I was one of the unfortunate ones who needed to get surgery to get them out. We were busy in Inkopolis at the time and didn't have the availability to go home to Calamari County, so Callie was the one to look after me."
"Oh no." Sheldon added.
"No, no she was actually fine." Marie defended. "I was the problem."
Marie woke up in the operating chair, all smiles and without wisdom fangs. She heard the nurses talk a bit, until one brought Callie into the room. Marie gave her cousin a big smile, who sat down to wait for the nurses to come back with the discharge papers.
Callie took an orange out of her bag and Marie pointed at it, laughing uncontrollably. It was an orange! That was orange! And when she peeled the orange there was even more orange underneath! It was genius humor—Callie was so funny. She slowly lowered the orange in front of Marie, who laughed at it even more. Marie vaguely registered Callie giggling, then holding her shellphone up to record.
The orange had magically disappeared when the nurses came back into the room. Marie heard Callie talking to them while she busied herself with a staring contest against the ceiling light. …Dang, the light was really good at not blinking. It, like…didn't. Ever. How was that possible?
"You sure she's good to go?" Callie asked, and Marie thought she saw Callie gesture to the staring contest party.
"Yeah she's fine." The nurse waved Callie's hesitation off. "That should clear up in a couple hours or so, once she sleeps it off."
So they plopped Marie into a wheelchair and started moving her out the front door. The movement of the wheels registered as none other than an amusement park ride, and Marie was delighted to be cutting loose.
"This is the best Wahoo World ride everrrrr!" Marie tried to exclaim, flinging her arms out to her sides for the entire hospital lobby to see. Callie had to stop pushing the wheelchair because she was laughing so hard. She later told Marie it sounded more like "Thib id da befth mumfl murlb rooc ebar" because of the swollen, numb cheeks and gauze in her mouth.
Marie's speech had regained some intelligibility when they arrived at the apartment. Callie was busy setting up the couch and Marie had managed to sneak away into the kitchen, where she discovered a marching baton leaning against the fridge. Then—suddenly—Marie realized she could twirl it. Callie had found her when she was about to start.
"Whoa whoa whoa." Callie came jogging over to her cousin. "Let's put the charger down, ok?" Callie took the baton away from Marie. "Come with me." She led Marie to the kitchen chairs and instructed her to stay while Callie called someone on her shellphone. Marie felt around her face while she waited for her cousin to get off the phone. And that was when she realized—someone took her nose. Marie couldn't feel it, so obviously someone took it. And she didn't know who was responsible or where it was, which meant she would never see her nose again. The thought brought Marie to tears.
"Ok never mind, I have to go." Callie hung up as Marie started bawling on the floor. "Hey, what's up?" Marie felt a hand on her back as her cousin squatted next to her.
"They took my nose…" Marie slurred out between hiccups.
"What?" Callie apparently couldn't understand the obvious. "Oh! No, no one took it. It's still there, you just can't feel it because you're numb." Callie tried to rub comforting circles into Marie's back. "So calm down, 'kay? You're gonna rip out your stitches if you keep this up. And trust me, you've had waaaaaay more than enough loopy juice for one day." Marie wailed harder, certain Callie wasn't understanding her predicament.
"Ok, you know what?" Callie's hand vanished and then put something into Marie's hands. "Good news, I found your nose. You left it in the kitchen."
"You found it…" Marie stared in wonder at her nose. She hugged it to her chest as she vaguely registered Callie throwing her arms into the air and muttering "how did that work?"
"Ok." Callie said, pulling Marie back up to her feet. "Nap time, executive older cousin orders. And once you've slept enough we'll watch all the movies and eat all the ice cream you want, ok?" Marie took a few steps toward the couch before stopping dead in her tracks. She was staring at the waving colors of the room when the realization hit her like a thunderbolt. Of course! Everything made sense now. Marie could see the inner workings of the universe so clearly with her sudden epiphany. The world wasn't rocket science, it was just…this. Marie felt like this realization was sent to her from the sea itself.
"Callie, I have to tell you something." Marie grabbed her cousin by the shoulders and looked at her with the utmost desperation. She had to tell Callie. She had to share with the world!
"…What?" Callie's voice sounded hesitant.
"I love tacos." Marie replied with the utmost sincerity and solemnity.
Marie's cousin vanished because she had dropped to the floor, holding her sides and howling with laughter. Poor Callie, Marie found the ability to think to herself. Callie was a simple mind. The complexity and nature of Marie's epiphany had shattered her cousin's psyche.
"It's okay." Marie knelt down in an attempt to fix her cousin. "I will help you. Repeat after me. I…"
"You…" Callie choked out between giggles.
"Love…"
"Love…"
"Tacos." Marie finished, and Callie erupted into laughter again.
The next thing Marie remembered was waking up on the couch with a sore mouth and an overwhelming sense of embarrassment. She turned to her cousin, pleading her to say it was just a dream. Callie was all too eager to say it wasn't.
And why do cousins have to record everything?
Delta and Sheldon burst out laughing, earning a disgruntled glare from Marie.
"All right, you two misfits." Marie grumbled as she stood from her chair. "Entertainment time is over. Time to get you two back. Sheldon—" Marie motioned for Delta to sit up. "—close down the Cabin before you leave. I'm gonna take Delta back to her apartment."
"I can do it myself…" Delta protested, trying to gather the courage to stand on her own.
"Yeah, and I like pineapple pizza." Marie looped and arm around Delta, guiding her to the exit of Cuttlefish Cabin. "C'mon, let's get you home."
A/N: Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited, or followed so far! It was pretty convenient that misfortune fell on Chapter 13, I didn't plan that timing and it was almost spooky to see.
On another note, I embedded a poll onto my profile (I think) that's super important. Marie's book is an actual book in real life, and one I've been using throughout the story to develop its plot. I also lost it at a research conference a couple weeks ago and had to buy a new one...which I'm still salty about. I need to know how many of you are curious about learning what it is in order to properly plan for a scene a couple chapters from now. So if you folks could do me a huge favor and vote in that poll for me, I'd appreciate it. Or if you could tell me if the thing isn't working, that'd be great too. This is my first time using a poll on FFNet and I have no idea if it's even there.
At any rate, I hope you enjoyed!