Chapter 14
The mech was larger than anything the agents had ever seen. It looked like a combination of a turntable and a stage, with lights and speakers as well. On either side of the front were two mechanical fists, roughly the size of a full grown inkling. And in the center, sitting behind the turntable, was Octavio.
Octavio laughs loudly at the shocked and nervous expression of the agents. It brought him a sick satisfaction to see their confidence so shattered in the face of his own creation. He swipes his wasabi across the spindle and yells "TIME FOR THE KING TO MINCE YA FOOLS!"
With that declaration, the mech shakes, and then bombs pop out. The agents' eyes widen and they scatter, barely avoiding the bombs. Octavio does a spin, flicking the spindle again, while simultaneously pressing a button with another of his tentacles.
This time, six bombs flew out, each of them beeping and homing onto a target. With two missiles flying after the agents, they each go across the arena, avoiding the heat seekers.
Callie runs as fast as she can, the missiles close behind her. She leaps forwards, turns mid air, and brings her roller down with a loud yell. The roller hits not only sends a wave of ink in front of her, but also hits the missiles. With her own ink covering the missiles, none of the hostile ink hits her, and she lands uninjured.
Ika was able to easily outrun the missiles, but not by a large margin. He looks behind himself, sees the missiles, and gets an idea. He runs towards the mech, which causes Octavio to raise a non-existent eyebrow. Ika gets close, then flips backwards. He goes over the missiles, which was sudden enough that they couldn't recalibrate in time. They fly forwards and hit the mech, obscuring it with ink. But, when the ink falls, Octavio is seen laughing without a scratch. Ika curses, muttering "Must be a barrier."
Amber notices what Ika did, and tries a similar maneuver. This time though, instead of leaping backwards, she turns and slides under the missiles. Once clear of the explosion radius, she turns and fires at the missiles. The missiles both beep loudly, then explode, making a large patch of ink.
Amber breathes out a sigh of relief, then turns to Octavio. He seemed unperturbed by their efforts. In fact, he simply seemed amused. Then, Amber knows why.
Octavio presses a few more buttons, then yells "Get ready for the BEAT DROP!" The speakers around them suddenly begin building with the song. As they do so, something appears from beneath the mech. It looked like a massive megaphone, with exhaust pipes on the end…
Suddenly, Amber realizes what it was. She yells "SCATTER! THAT'S A KILLER WAIL!" The agents' realize this as well, and quickly run across the area in different directions. Then, the beat within the song suddenly drops. With it, the mech shakes, and the Killer Wail makes a loud siren sound.
Octavio swipes his turntable, and the mech turns. It aims at Callie, whose eyes widen in shock and fear. Ika's eyes widen, along with Amber's, as the Killer Wail gives one last screech, then fires.
Callie's eyes widen immensely, and she lets out a startled gasp as she puts her hand up in a futile effort to defend herself. Then, right as the beam is about to hit her, she feels something. She suddenly begins falling to the side, and she stares at her savior.
Ika grits his teeth and stares directly at the beam flying at him. His eyes narrow, and suddenly he hears something. "I won't die. YOU WON'T DIE! WE WILL NOT DIE!"
Ika's eyes widen, and a bright flash of red is seen. He crosses his arms, plants his feet, because he has no time to do anything else, and tenses his body. The beam washes over him, and he screams in pain at the burning feeling. The ink was slamming against his armor, making his vest buckle under the intensity of the beam. His feet were beginning to slide, but he wasn't backing down. He glares at the beam, barely opening his eyes, before he lets out a roar. Ink explodes around himself, blocking the beam, and protecting Ika.
Octavio's eyes widen immensely as the ink falls, and he sees that, somehow, the Killer Wail didn't kill the inkling. Ika was standing there, holding his arm, as he breathes heavily. His vest was in tatters, and his clothing beneath was torn in places. His sleeves were completely gone, showing the bloodied and ink covered skin beneath.
Ika grits his teeth and stands up straight. Callie runs over and hugs him, crying out in distress. Ika smiles tiredly, then says "Not now Callie, we haven't won yet."
Callie looks up at him, then nods. She turns back to Octavio and holds her roller tightly, bringing it down and ready to go. Amber runs over to them and holds her Splattershot close to herself, ready to fire at any moment. Ika steps forwards as ink flows down from his shoulder, coalescing into his brush. He holds it tightly, his eyes narrowing as he glares at Octavio.
Octavio's eyes shift between them all, before settling on Ika. He was injured, but something was off. His eyes… they were no longer golden. They were a bright red color, and they BLAZED with unbridled determination and power.
He tsks in irritation, then says "Commando Force! Get ready to deploy!" The agents look around, Ika's face still showing clear anger and irritation. Octolings begin launching from the audience, landing in the pool of Octarian ink, and then launching again. Soon, there was a squad of twenty Octolings, many of them holding weapons.
Ika tsks, his face mask luckily still on, and he says "Alright. This is going to get tough. Amber, try to shoot them from afar. If they get close, take out your roller. Callie, get as many knocked down as you can. As for me, well." Ika rolls his shoulders, his muscular arms tensing in anticipation. "Ima knock some heads together."
The agents nod, then quickly break apart. The squad of octolings break as well, moving to each person. Luckily, it seemed that a majority of them, about 10, went to Ika, who disperses his brush and quickly runs in.
The octolings quickly surround him, but Ika doesn't care. His eyes narrow and he clenches his fists, approaching the first octoling. She seemed younger and more inexperienced. She frowns and raises her gun, ready to fire.
Ika suddenly gains a burst of speed, going from running to sprinting, and the octoling gets startled. She tries to fire, but Ika knocks the gun away. He quickly grabs the gun and throws it at a nearby octoling. His legs buckle and he falls, his advancing comrades falling behind him.
One octoling with a brush rushes at Ika from behind, and his eyes flash towards the octoling. Ika swivels on his heel and forms his brush once more. He brings it up and blocks the attack, stopping the octoling dead in his tracks. The octoling's eyes widen behind his goggles as Ika pushes him back with a grunt of exertion. The octoling tumbles back into his allies, just like the first, and knocks down a few of them.
Ika uses his hopping ability to jump high above the octolings. He forms an arc, eventually looking down to the octolings, many of which were recovering or aiming at him. He grips his brush tightly, then twists midair. He quickly swings his brush, outpacing the guns that needed to be prepped before firing. A wave of ink flies down and hits seven of the octolings, knocking them out cold. The remaining two, look at each other nervously.
"Stand down soldiers, I'll handle this." Ika and the octolings look towards the edge of the area, where another octoling was walking. She had dark brown skin, along with a very fit body. She was carrying an Octo Brush, but it was currently holstered. Her knuckles were bandaged. Most importantly, she had dark red tentacles, the symbol of an elite.
The soldiers salute the elite, then quickly run off, going to join the other octolings in fighting Callie and Amber. Ika watches them warily, ready to run, when the elite says "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Ika looks over his shoulder and sees the elite, her brush raised to his head. Ika's red eyes bore into her blue ones, and she simply narrows them as a challenge. Ika turns around slowly, fully facing the elite. Once he does, his own eyes narrow. "I know you. We fought once."
The elite nods, holstering her brush. "I am Elite Terra. I was part of the squad to apprehend Agents 1 and 2 when they were attempting to clear an outpost. You came in and knocked out my team, leaving them alive. And for that, I thank you."
Ika raises an eyebrow, his fists clenching and unclenching. "Thanks, huh? An oddity from an elite, but not unwelcome. Any way we can do this with reasoning?"
Terra shakes her head stiffly. "I am afraid not. That is not something I can do, despite your merciful actions." She lowers herself into a fighting stance, her arms raised.
Ika sighs, falling into his own stance. "Somehow I knew that was going to be the answer. Fine then." His eyes flash with something that seemed… foreign within Ika. "Let's dance."
The elite takes no time in rushing to Ika. Ika quickly leans to the side, dodging the punch, and tries to send one of his own. The octoling ducks under it, dropping to her feet. Terra tries to take Ika's feet out from under him, but he quickly jumps over the attack, and herself.
Terra springs back up to her feet, quick enough to block a kick from Ika. He then tries twisting himself to bring his other leg down, but Terra just grabs his leg and throws him away. Ika manages to twist himself midair to land correctly, sliding slightly.
He quickly rebounds back to the elite, trying to hit her with a quick jab to the head. She blocks the punch easily, ready to counter, when her eyes widen. It was just a faint!
As Terra was distracted by the jab, Ika was bringing his knee up to hit her stomach. Preoccupied with the jab, she couldn't react in time, and got hit square in the stomach. She gags loudly, gripping her stomach. Ika brings his hands up, grabbing them, and slams them down onto the stunned octoling's head. It connects, and the octoling is instantly floored, her head banging against the metal floor. She groans, but doesn't get up.
Ika breathes heavily, his injuries making the fights more taxing than before. "One good hit. That's all it takes." Ika looks around, ready to see who needs assistance, when he hears a scream.
His eyes widen and he turns to the origin, and sees Amber pinned down by an octoling. He had an ink knife to her neck, and Amber couldn't break free. Two more soldiers were nearby, holding guns to her head.
Ika's eyes widen at the sight of his loved one getting threatened. Then, something in him snaps. He grits his teeth, then runs to the octolings pinning down Amber. "LEAVE HER ALONE!"
The last word seemed to have a different tone to it, something more sinister and furious. The octolings turn to Ika in surprise, the two with guns aiming to take him out. Ika yells and leaps to the one holding a knife to Amber's neck. The octoling's eyes widen as Ika tackles him, bringing him away from Amber.
The octoling brings his hand up to protect himself, but it was futile. Ika pins him down and punches his face repeatedly, the octoling unable to protect himself. Eventually, the octoling falls unconscious from the beating.
Ika readies another punch, when something hits his back. He hisses in pain and turns around, looking at the other octolings. They stare at him in shock, one of them having the safety of his gun turned off.
Ika gets up and summons his brush, holding it tightly. He jumps forwards towards the octoling that hit him, swinging his brush. The octoling tries to protect himself with his gun, but it was useless against the wave of ink that came from the brush. He falls over unconscious.
Ika then quickly jabs his brush backwards, hitting the other octoling with the butt of his brush. The octoling's breath rushes out of his body and he grabs his stomach in pain. Ika brings his brush over his head, then brings it down onto the octoling's head.. The octoling crashes onto the floor with a sickening crack. Unlike Terra, he did not move.
The crowd goes silent as the noise reverberates around them. Octavio's eyes widen in surprise as Ika seems to have no reaction to the octoling's obvious death. "Didn't Agent 4 react poorly to killing? Why is he not fazed?!"
Ika breathes heavily, looking down at the octoling, his eyes shadowed. By this point, the other octolings had been knocked out, their unconscious bodies scattered across the arena. Amber lifts herself up, looking at Ika in concern. "Ika?"
There was no response, which worried Amber more. Then, Ika looks up at Octavio, and Amber's eyes widen in shock. They widen even more when Ika speaks.
"I'm tired of your sick games Octavio. You threatened my loved ones, nearly killing one in the process. Because of that, you made the worst mistake of your life. You. Pissed. Me. Off."
With that statement, Ika's eyes were seen once more. But, they weren't the focused gold he normally had or the determined red he had a bit ago. His sclera were pitch black, the color of his mask, and his irises were a blood red color.
Callie gasps in shock, and Amber was dumbfounded. No one knew how to react, some didn't even know what happened, but then Marie uttered his name. With a small voice, almost a whisper, and laced with fear and worry, she says. "Akuma."
The demon has been released.
A/N
It has happened, finally. I've been waiting for this moment, as I can finally flush out Akuma's character. I hope this was written well, as I am not a good judge of these things. Because of this, any reviews are very appreciated. Thanks you for reading!