Chapter 52
The inside of the factory was dim and only slightly maintained. The two agents look around in caution as they sneak through the factory, trying to see anything important, or any hostile octolings that may catch them.
Ika notices that the corridors were getting brighter, making it easier to pick the two agents out from a distance. But, this also meant that shadows were present. Ika could exploit shadows.
Ika rummages in his bag, then grabs a small capsule filled with a black liquid. He opens up his ink tank and drops it in. His ink turns from the bright red to a pitch black, almost unseeable in the darkness.
Marie notices what he was doing and pulls out her own device. This one was a small tablet colored black. She pulls down her mask and pops it into her mouth. She shudders slightly as her tentacles turn black in color, her green spots turning a very dark gray.
The two inklings, now having black and gray ink respectively, move into the shadowed corridors. They sneak along quietly, not wanting to alert any guards that could be around.
They manage to reach an intersection in the hallway. They could continue forwards, or go left and right. Ika pears around the corner cautiously, searching for any hostiles. When he sees none, he breathes a mental sigh of relief.
He tells Marie the coast is clear and the two begin analyzing their options. Marie's ears twitch slightly as she listens for sounds, and Ika's eyes search everywhere for something to help them continue.
Eventually Marie lightly taps his arm. Ika turns back, and she points to the right hallway. "I hear someone speaking. It's faint, but audible."
Ika turns to the hallway and listens. He strains his ears to try and find the noise that Marie heard. Eventually, his ear twitches slightly as he registers what sounded like a very distant voice.
Ika nods and whispers "Alright, let's go." The two run across to the opposite hallway. They instantly hide in the shadows and move along silently, their footsteps making virtually no noise.
They eventually reach the end of the hallway, it turning to the left. The voices could be more clearly made out, but it was still too muffled to be heard clearly. As Ika looks past the corner, he realizes why the voices were muffled. There was a door at the end of the hallway, and the voices were behind it.
Ika gestures for Marie to follow, and they quickly move across the hallway. As they move, Ika suddenly stops and turns around. Marie stops quickly and turns around as well. "What?"
Ika's eyes dart all over the hallway, searching. He eventually turns back, albeit slowly and with some caution. "I thought I heard something."
The two turn around completely and continue forwards. They reach the door, and the muffled voices could be heard louder, but still unclear. Ika presses his ear against the door, hoping that would work. He curses silently and says "Must be a thick door or soundproof. I can't make anything out."
Marie steps up to the door, trying it out herself. When she also hears nothing but the indecipherable voices muffled by the metal door, she nods in agreement.
The two step back and Ika begins looking around. "We'll need a way in, but how?" They continue to search, trying to find a way to enter the room.
After a couple short moments, Marie's eyes widen as she spots something. "Look, a vent!" Marie points to the vent entrance and Ika smiles slightly.
"Big enough to fit in. That's our ticket." Ika goes over to the vent and grips the bars. He goes to grab the bars, when something makes him stop.
Hissss
Ika freezes at the sudden sound. He slowly raises himself, then says to Marie without turning "You heard that, right?"
Marie nods, similarly still. "That was hissing." Ika nods and slowly begins to turn around. Marie notices and follows suite. Once the turn around completely, their eyes narrow as they see what caused the hissing.
Two long reptiles were slithering along the floor leisurely. They had wide yellow eyes, their irises a blood red. Their pupils were slitted and their tongues flicked out in random intervals. The blue body with green spots told Ika exactly what they were. "Sea Serpents."
The serpents suddenly stop moving and rise up off the ground. Their piercing red eyes instantly train on Ika and Marie. They were constantly swaying, and their eyes darted around the agents' location. They seemed to be searching for something.
Ika and Marie stand stock still, not wanting to aggravate the two deadly creatures. Marie backs up very slowly, trying to keep the serpents from attacking. The serpent looking at her hiss slightly, but doesn't move.
She eventually is able to stand next to Ika without the serpents moving. The two snakes continued to look over their locations, still trying to find something. Ika brings a hand behind him and grabs onto the bars of the vent. He wanted to know where they were so they could escape if necessary.
The two serpents suddenly stop searching them and stare right into their eyes. Marie looks at the serpent's forehead, not wanting to look at the beast's eyes. Ika on the other hand instantly locks eyes with the serpent looking at him, narrowing his eyes in a silent challenge.
The serpent looking at Ika instantly hisses loudly and begins slithering across the floor. The other serpent sees what its companion was doing and drops down, hissing and slithering quickly.
Marie pales slightly and says "Ika, I think you made a mistake." Ika just nods and quickly turns into a squid. He slips through the bars of the vent, Marie following behind.
A sudden loud hiss is heard and the two squids are knocked forwards slightly. They turn and see one of the serpents gripping the bars with its teeth, trying to bite its way in. Marie just looks at it with wide eyes, then turns and pulls herself forwards with her tentacles.
The two squids inch forwards, ignoring the frustrated hissing behind them. Ika let's out a small gurgle in relief, then turns back to Marie. The white and green squid was back to her normal self, albeit with a slight shake in her tentacles.
Ika turns back forwards and begins pulling himself down the vent with his tentacles. Now that they were in the vent, they could make out some words more clearly.
"I want them… by tomorrow. That… must be produced… more test subjects are needed… you two load them up." Ika's expression becomes confused as he hears the chopped up conversation.
The two reach an incline and begin pulling themselves up the slope. They eventually reach the top and find a grate in front of them. Ika pulls himself closer to the grate and peers down. Marie squishes herself next to him to look as well.
Below them were the two octoling guards from before, the giant octoling behind them. A fourth octoling was pacing around in an irritated manner. His short tentacles were well styled and his suit looked like that of an army general.
The octoling stops pacing, then turns to the other octoling present. Ika and Marie's eyes widen as they get to see the octoling's face.
His left eyes had a large scar over it, and the bottom of his face was a slightly red and dripping slightly. His eyes were narrowed in impatience, and he begins talking again. "I need more materials for the serum! Where is the next shipment?!"
Ika flinches at the raspy tone of the octoling. It almost sounded like his voice box was undeveloped, but it also sounded familiar.
One of the octoling guards shake slightly and says "W-We don't know sir. We've been waiting for Mr. G to get here, but he hasn't shown up."
The octoling growls loudly and his fists tighten in rage. "That no good… I bet he has skipped out on the deal since opening his company in Inkopolis. When I get my hands on him I'll… AGH!"
The octoling suddenly grabs his chest in pain and bends over. His breath was coming in raspily, and his other hand was gripping his head in pain. The guards eyes widen in surprise and fear, but they don't move. The giant octoling growls and shoves them roughly to the side. He goes to the other octolings side and carefully puts a pill into the octoling's mouth. The octoling swallows it gratefully, then sighs as his pain eases up.
The giant octoling turns to the guards and says "That's the second time they refused to help." The octoling nods, more concerned with straightening his suit.
The giant octoling turns to the octoling and says "What should their punishment be commander?"
The octoling, or now the commander, looks at the suddenly fearful octolings. He turns away and waves a hand at them. "Throw them in the boiling pits. I need something to ease my nerves."
The captain nods, then walks over to the octoling guards. They whimper slightly, then begin protesting loudly as they are carried off by the giant octoling. Ika and Marie can only watch with wide eyes and wonder what these 'boiling pits' were.
The commander goes to a window and looks outside. He looks around and says "Why must I be surrounded by idiots? I need more inklings for this army."
The two squids suddenly grow confused at that. Inklings in an octarian army? That didn't seem normal, not in the slightest.
The commander walks to the side and Ika pokes his head throw the bars to get a better angle. The commander was walking around idly, nothing interesting. Then, Ika feels a tap on his back.
Ika pulls himself back through the bars and raises a nonexistent eyebrow to Marie. Marie just points down the vent, towards the direction they came from.
Ika looks behind himself, then pales rapidly. The sea serpents were slithering slowly down the vent, their eyes trained on Ika and Marie. One serpent hisses, baring its fangs at the two frightened squids. It suddenly snaps its jaw at them, and the two squids back up rapidly to avoid the bite. They ended up right over the grate and fall through.
The commander raises an eyebrow as he hears one of his serpents hissing from somewhere. "Hm? What is it this time?" The commander turns, looking around for his serpent. His eyes widen when he sees two squids, one black and red, and the other white and green, fall through the vent grate from above.
The two squids are left in a daze from the sudden fall. Ika shakes his head, then looks up. His eyes widen when he sees the commander walking towards them with a suspicious look on his face.
He stops in front of the two squids and says "Who are you? Identify yourselves!" Ika narrows his eyes at the commander, and the commander growls back. The black squid covers itself in red ink, and the commander's eyes narrow in suspicion. Red was a very rare ink color for inklings.
The inkling takes his humanoid form again, his eyes covered by shades and a half-face mask on. Despite this though, the commander's eyes widen when he sees the familiar construction-suit armor on the inkling. "An agent!"
The commander looks down at the white squid as it covers itself in ink as well. She shakes the ink off of herself, then aims her Hero Charger at the octoling. "You are unarmed and alone. I suggest you come with us, 'commander'."
The octoling looks between the two, then sighs. The two agents raise an eyebrow when they hear it as exasperation and not defeat. The octoling shakes his head and says "Alone? I am never alone."
Their confusion only raises higher, but then a loud clang is heard. Ika gasps sharply and grips his head tight as he feels something heavy fall on it. He looks up in curiosity, and then his eyes widen in surprise as he sees the sea serpents looking down on them, the grate not on the vent anymore.
The two agents jump back as the serpents fall to the ground. They expected to land on open ground, but then stumble slightly as they hit something. They go to turn around, when two massive and strong arms wrap around the two of them, keeping them in place.
The octoling claps lightly and says "Good work captain. Good timing as always." The captain just grunts in pride, his hold on the agents tight. Ika struggles slightly, but then the captain begins to squeeze. Ika lets up as he begins to feel his airpipes being blocked.
The commander walks up to the two agents, kicking aside the Hero Charger on the ground. He goes to kick the brush, but then notices something curious. It didn't have the same color scheme as the hero weapons he's seen. It looked wooden, with a carving on it.
The commander's eyes widen as he recognizes the brush as an Octobursh. Not any Octobrush though, but an Octobrush Remix. The commander turns back to the inklings and stares at them with wide eyes. "I know of only one inkling who managed to get an Octobrush remix. Could it be…"
The commander goes over to Ika and rips off his face mask and shades. Ika's unique eyes glare at the commander in defiance. The commander gasps loudly, and then his eyes narrow dangerously. "You…."
Ika raises an eyebrow and says "Me?" The commander growls loudly and suddenly sends a fist into Ika's stomach. Ika gasps and retches up ink as the blow hits him.
The commander continues to glare at Ika as he says "You stopped my plans… ruined everything I had built! You took away the glory the octarians rightfully deserved! You, Ika Cuttlefish, ruined my whole life!"
Ika raises an eyebrow in confusion, wondering what the octoling was going on about. And then, Ika's eyes widen immensely. Ika knew he heard the voice somewhere before, and now it was falling into place.
Ika looks at the octoling with nothing short of disbelief and says "Octavius?" Marie's eyes widen as she hears the name, and she looks back to the octoling. She gasps slightly as she recognizes the octoling as well.
The octoling grins madly as he hears the name. "I see you recognize me."
Ika just shakes his head in disbelief. "But how?! I saw you get splatted by Pearl's inkstrike!"
Octavius grunts and adjusts his suit slightly. "Did you really think I would go so deep into enemy territory without a back up plan? I had a long range spawn point set up to revive me in the case of me being splatting."
Octavius rasps slightly and gingerly touches the goopy part of his face. "As you can see, it didn't work completely. My lungs are destroyed, and my face is permanently scarred. All because of you…"
Octavius gasps raspily, gripping his chest slightly. The captain's eyes widen and he begins to loosen his grip on Marie, when Octavius puts a hand up. "Don't captain. This one… is short."
Captain nods, pulling Marie back towards him. She sighs in defeat as her chance of escape was ruined.
Octavius coughs, then straightens back up. He grimaces at the splatter of red shown on his hands, and not red ink. "Blood... "
Octavius waves his hand to remove the life liquids, then turns back to the two inklings. He turns to Marie and says "And you are Agent 2… Miss Marie, correct?"
Marie growls and says "Why would I answer to you, you damn monster?!"
Octavius stares at her for a little bit, Marie glaring right back. Octavius eventually leans back and says "Oh Marie, you'll answer to me soon enough."
He looks up to captain and says "Take her to the rehabilitation chamber. As for HIM… take him to the pits."
Captain nods, hoisting the two inkling over his shoulders. Ika was about to struggle, but the immense strength on his chest from the captain made him think otherwise. Octavius just watches them with a bored expression. Ika's eyes narrow as he sees a smug glint in them, and them. Then, the doors suddenly close.
The two agents are carried down a long and winding hallway. They do pass by a few octolings, most of them looking at the agents with curiosity, then hatred as they recognize the suits. They did pass by one massive room serving as an assembly line. Ika only got a glance, but he was able to see some sort of liquid in large tanks, and something golden.
They eventually turn a corner, and Ika is suddenly dropped on the floor. He goes to pick himself up, when he feels something cold pressed on his head. A single octoling had an Octoshot trained on his forehead, his finger on the trigger. Ika freezes, then lowers himself back down.
He turns around, and his eyes widen as he sees the giant octoling grab Marie and throw her into a room. The female inkling grunts in pain as she rolls on the floor, and then the captain presses a button. The metal door slides shut, and Marie is effectively trapped.
The giant octoling turns back to Ika and grabs him again. "Now its time for you." Ika is hoisted back onto the giant's shoulder, and the two exit the room.
They walk back in the direction they came from, and Ika raises an eyebrow at that. They eventually come back to the assembly line room, and Ika is surprised to find themselves entering.
The room was massive, and multiple octolings were moving around. They all had various test tubes and liquids, while a larger purple liquid was set in large tanks. Ika sees a flash of gold, and he turns his head. He gasps when he sees a large pile of golden orbs with a small fish in them. "Salmonid eggs! But that means…"
The captain turns and sees that Ika was looking around quite a bit, taking in everything. He grunts, then says "Take in all that you like inkling. You'll die soon enough."
Ika turns back to the octoling, wondering what he meant. Then, the octoling suddenly puts him down. Ika is set on his feet, and he is smart enough not to run. There were octolings everywhere, and he knew he wouldn't make it out in time.
The giant octoling pushes Ika roughly, and he begins walking. The two walk past the assembly line and all the working octolings, passing through a set of door in the back.
Ika raises an eyebrow at the next room. It was a blank room with a massive grate on the roof. In the middle was a bit, a large amount of steam exiting it.
Ika backs up slightly from the steam, but the octoling pushes him forwards. Ika turns back to the octoling, then notices the sadistic grin on his face. "Afraid, inkling? You should be. That pits is where you are going."
Ika turns back to the steaming pit, then gulps. He tries to keep himself from moving forwards, but the giant octoling was pushing him with ease. Then, with a sudden grunt of effort from the giant octoling, Ika finds himself hurling forwards into the pit. He has just enough time to notice the densely woven metal grate at the bottom of the pit before the pain hits him.
You see, inklings and octoling are made of 80% ink. Because of this, they are extremely vulnerable to water. When they touch water, the exposed body part turns into ink. If their whole bodies are exposed, they will dissolve into the water, instantly dying.
Now, water vapor has an interesting effect on inklings and octolings. Instead of causing them to dissolve, it instead just causes their bodies to instinctively turn into ink. This sudden turning into ink is very painful, along with some other effects.
When Ika entered the dense steam cloud, he is instantly hit with a spike of pain. He slams against the wall of the pit, then falls down, landing roughly on the grate. He doesn't feel it though as his body is washed with the immense pain of being burned by steam and his body suddenly turning into ink. The pain was immense, all he could feel was the burning and the spikes of pain all over his skin.
The captain looks down at the inkling, watching as his body turned into ink. He grunts in satisfaction, then turns away. "He won't last long." The door is slammed shut, and all that is left was Ika's pained cries.
-Author Notes-
Oh this isn't good! Ika was thrown into a pit of death, and Marie was thrown who knows where. What'll happen to the agents with this impossible scenario set before them? I hope you enjoyed!
