That night, Bullet stumbled through alleyways in the city, all the way on the other side of Inkopolis. He coughed up yellow ink into his right hand on occasion while holding onto the brick walls with his left. The match with the Captain's yellow team left him ragged, and short of passing out.

Luckily for him, he was home now. At the end of an alleyway, the silver colored inkling managed to undo the lock on a metal door. Once that was done, the door as flung open and he entered. Slamming the door shut as fast as it was opened.

Behind the door was a large room that was remade into a lounge area. About the size of a studio apartment. To Bullet's right was a set of bean bag chairs that were located in front of a TV. To his left was a desk that had loads of paperwork on it. And at the opposite end of the room was the kitchen.

And in the kitchen was an Octoling girl, with an ink color of jet black, and her tentacles done up in two pigtails. She wore similar leather to Bullet, albeit in the form of a white jacket to help her palette stand out.

"There you are," she said as Bullet made his way over, "everyone's already asleep. What's the hap?"

Bullet groaned in reply. He went to the fridge and grabbed a milk carton to drink directly from. "Ugh..." He then shook his head to regain his composure, and finally acknowledged the black colored Octoling. "Sup toots?"

SMACK

"Idiot. At least I know you're not dead or anything."

The boy rubbed the bruised spot on his cheek, "Okay, number one: ow. Number two: I was sorta compromised because of this deranged sea Captain. But we did manage to get the candy back."

"While that's great and all, you do know we're still hurting for money here?" The jet black Octo leaned back against the counter. "It'd be more helpful if we landed a really big one with a huge reward..."

"Mehhh time is money, Stormy. Can't rush things ya know."

Stormy, the black Octoling, rolled her eyes. "If you say so," she then rubbed Bullet's head affectionately but with a hint of condescendence as evidenced by her serrated grin. "Just stay safe out there ya know? I got my own side of things to deal with."

"Owowow, stahp," Bullet pleaded with a groan. The pain from the battle he took part in not long ago still lingered. He forced himself out of the taller girl's embrace and proceeded to flop onto a bean bag chair.

In the moments that followed, a smoke bomb went off in front of Bullet. Once the smoke dispersed, it revealed a kid wearing traditional black ninja gear. "Sir! I come with intel!"

"Quit it with the costume, Cove."

The kid removed the ninja mask, showing the head of a pink Octoling boy that spoke with a hint of an Southeast Asian accent. "Hey! It's not a costume. I pracitice legit ninjitsu!"

"Duh-s'why I got you as my recon man. Speakin' of which-whatcha find?"

Cove, the Octoling went and sat next to him on a bean bag chair, much to Bullet's annoyance. "Ah, you're gonna love this. Just turn on your TV news."

Stormy turned her attention to it as well.

A familiar orange Octoling was broadcasting an emergency.

"Breaking news! Pearl of Off The Hook's Splatoween costume has been stolen! We're going live to our news team for an interview."

The screen transitioned to show a distressed Pearl screaming with teary eyes.

"WHO DID THIS?! MY COSTUME WAS SO PERFECT AND MADE OUT OF EXPENSIVE RAW MATERIALS. I SWEAR TO COD IF YOU TOOK MY AMAZING COSTUME YOU'LL BE SORRY!"

From behind, Marina was grasping Pearl by the shoulders. "...E-Easy now, Pearlie. We'll find it..."

"WE BETTER! I worked all year on it!" She turned to her Octoling friend and buried her face against her while sobbing.

Marina gave a silent glare at the camera before it promptly shut off.

"Huh," Bullet had watched through the entire broadcast with a mute level of interest. "That's...kinda low for somebody to stoop to. But at the same time, her costume must be worth a gigantic fortune if it's been stolen."

"What's the move then, boss?" Cove saluted while eagerly awaiting Bullet's direction.

"Uhh...for now ya'll should be gettin' some sleep. I need to take care of somethin' before we start on this."

The Octoling boy frowned, but heeded Bullet's words. "Yes sir! C'mon, Stormy let's let him get some rest!" And in another puff of smoke, he disappeared.

The jet black Octogirl made her way towards a door at the other end of the room. "...Don't stay up late, alright?" She then took her leave, closing the door behind her.

Once they were both gone, Bullet took out his Squidphone, and dialed a number.

Meanwhile, at Tortuga's house...

The dark purple girl was shook out of her sleep from the buzzing of her phone. "Wah, what the-?!" Her arms and legs flailed around underneath the blankets until she realized what caused the noise. Since she was in a state of being irritated and tired, she wanted to avoid answering it. But something pushed her to do so. "Y...wh...hello?"

"Tortuga. It's me. Didja see the news?"

"Bullet? When did I give you my number?"

"Earlier when ya-look that ain't important right now. Point is, a case the size of a blue whale has just came up. Pearl's flippin' Splatoween costume's been stolen..."

That got her attention, which caused her bloodshot eyes to pop open. "What?! Wait a sec...why are you tellin' me? Aren'tcha gonna take this for yourself?"

"Look, I'm worried that Sandman may think I'm tryin'a show him up again, and lose sight of whatever the case is. I wanna deal with him on our own time, not durin' a valuable investigation."

Tortuga rubbed her eyes. "...I see. Look, you two need to figure out what your problems are. So how 'bout this. NEITHER of you should do anything pertaining to this case until you get your carp together."

Bullet had to stop and think on whether this was a good idea. "Um...are ya sure about that?"

"Oh yeah. Hang on, I gots an even better idea." She lied down on her front and idly kicked her legs behind her. "Head to the cafe where Ravine works tomorrow. And if ya don't I'mma pound ya good and hard."

"Okay okay, no need to get violent..." He wondered what the purple girl was planning, but found it better to go along with what she advised. "Alrighty, guess I'll..." His words slowed to a stop.

"TORTUGA MANGETSU. ARE YOU STILL UP? AND ON YOUR PHONE?!" Screams were heard on Bullet's end of the phone.

"Carp...gotta go." Was all the girl said before there were more loud shouts of a gruff male accompanied by Tortuga herself.

The shouts got even louder which made Bullet recoil and pull the phone away from his ear. The last thing he heard was the sound of crashing over the phone before hanging up.

The silver colored inkling sat and thought to himself.

"What in the almighty zapfish's grandaughter mayflowerin' steam powered susaphone did i just hear?"