Chapter 24: Beginning of the End

"And now for some big breaking news: Hugh Ward, who has been identified as the Octarian leader of the Underdogs terrorist group, the same terrorist group that has allegedly shot up multiple locations within Inkopolis, including the Inkopolis Bank, has been found deceased yesterday. Jessica Murdock, who has infamously been known as Agent 3 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, was found on the scene, and has been brought into custody by Detective Grant Johnson, who has since been promoted to Sergeant for the act. Sergeant Johnson denied our request for comment."

As the news went on into more detail about the incident, Deangelo sighed angrily, with a drink in his hand. "Turn it off!"

The female Octoling in the room nodded and went to the turn the TV off, and he turned away from it. His face was still a bit swollen from his last encounter with Jessica, and he was in a lot of pain. Regardless, he still brought the drink to his mouth and downed it, groaning, before casually filling it back up.

"...Sir? May I suggest-" She tried to bring up.

"You don't have to say anything." He sighed. "…Ward built an empire… then he forgot his head on the way out the door, and everything we've worked on collapses to dust… even Ayesha's gone, for fuck's sake."

"...So what do you think we should do?"

"...We're gonna have to leave the city. Before the police find out about us."

"...To where?"

"I don't know. But we're packing up!" He shouted so that hopefully everyone else could hear him as he walked out of his office. "I want everything we own here loaded up onto trucks! The Underdogs are done, but our work will still live on!"

"Yes, sir!" Some other Octolings replied before they got to work.

"Sir…" His assistant followed him. "What about the nanotech weapon?"

"Load that up, too. We're taking it with us."

"It's heavy."

"Then figure it out."

She nodded and walked away, although she didn't make it too far. Deangelo was staring out the window into the afternoon view, sipping his drink some more, when a gunshot sounded, followed the sound of splattering ink. He jumped and looked.

"Hey!" Some other Octolings tried to apprehend the intruding shooter, but were unable to do much before they were quickly gunned down by the high-pressure charger. Soon, there wasn't anyone standing in his way, as everyone else stood down in fear.

Deangelo gulped and held his arms up in surrender when he saw the shooter walking straight for him, stepping out of the shadows. "…You again…" He sighed when he saw his face.

Daniel stood in front of him, his face covered with the bled ink of his victims, as he stared him down with a psychotic look in his eyes. He was wearing a suicide vest, to keep anyone from firing at him. And he wasn't alone; Vanessa stepped out of the shadows as well, shyly standing next to her new partner.

Meanwhile

Tenta-General Hospital

It had been a long, nearly sleepless day for Johnson, who was operating on only a 30 minute nap, some food, and coffee. When he arrived at the hospital, he quickly noticed that it was being swarmed by press who had heard about Jessica's arrest, who were being kept at bay by security. He sighed and, although it took a few minutes, pushed his way past the crowd and was soon let inside.

He made his way down the hall in the direction of Jessica's hospital room, which was also protected by security, and was surrounded by police officers. Captain Hertz, who was talking to a security guard, turned and saw him, smiling. "Ah, there he is! Man of the hour!"

"Captain." He nodded casually.

Hertz wasn't so casual, though. He walked up to him, proudly shook his hand, and stepped aside so that everyone could see him. "Sergeant Grant Johnson, ladies and gentlemen!"

The police that were in the hall clapped, all eyes on him. Johnson didn't argue, and opted to just politely smile and wave at them. "Thank you, everybody."

"Congrats on the promotion." An officer came up to shake his hand.

"Thank you." He replied.

Other officers came up and did the same thing, congratulating him individually. He was a bit annoyed and getting impatient, but thanked everyone regardless. As soon as the attention was no longer on him, however, he immediately turned to Hertz, putting on his usual more serious gaze. "I need to talk to Murdock."

"Oh, come on, Johnson, what else do you need to ask of her? The case is over. The Underdogs are done, and the Splatoon is done. She's injured and we're watching her. She's not going anywhere. Besides, she's a stubborn one, and she's been refusing to tell us when her damn birthday is."

"I just…" He sighed. "I have a few questions to ask her."

He sighed as well, sipping his coffee, but he didn't have much of an argument. "…You know, you're pretty stubborn yourself, you know that?"

"You're the one who promoted me."

"Yes, I am. And don't you forget it." He decided to just turn to the security. "Let the Sergeant in. No one else is allowed in or out."

"Yes, sir." One guard opened the door and stepped aside to let Johnson in.

Hertz gave Johnson a pat on the shoulder before walking away. "Add it to the list of favors you owe me."

"Yes, sir." Johnson echoed, before he walked over and entered the hospital room. The guards immediately blocked the entrance again and closed the door once he was inside.

He looked around a bit once he was in. Jessica was in the hospital bed, in a hospital gown while she was hooked up to machinery, and both of her hands were handcuffed to the bed rails. It wasn't visible through her gown, but the cut in her stomach had already been patched up, and she was already well on the road to recovery. She stared at him, unmoving.

Johnson stood before her, hands in his pockets. "…Well… Jessica Murdock… you've created quite the buzz around the city, you know. You and your gang are getting to be quite infamous."

Jessica stayed silent.

"I have some questions for you. So that we can get things settled. Maybe I can even get your sentence reduced."

"...Execution." She finally spoke.

He stared at her, confused. "…Excuse me?"

"...I want to be put on death row."

"...Death row isn't that simple, Agent 3."

"...Make it that simple."

"...May I ask why the change of heart?"

Jessica sighed. "I committed homicide on approximately… 30, maybe 40 Octolings inside the base alone, including Hugh Ward and his second-in-command, Ayesha. I didn't feel a thing for any one of them. Before that, I've killed several targets over my career as Agent 3, related and unrelated to the Underdogs, including Octarians in Octo Valley, and attempted homicide on an innocent Octoling in the NILS Statue. Over my career, I have also tortured, extorted, abused-"

"I've heard enough, thank you. Most of that was already on your file, and I'm not here for your testimony."

Jessica continued anyway. "I have tortured and extorted targets over my career, and in my recent negligence to do the right thing, I have caused the deaths of innocent people, including Mia Harper, everyone at Inky Cheeks-"

"Enough!" Johnson snapped this time. Jessica fell silent, and he sighed. "I'm not putting you on death row."

"What, you're gonna put me in prison so I can 'learn the hard way'?"

"We're figuring that out."

"Well, either you put me on death row or I'll find my own way out."

He ignored that, and he pulled up a chair to sit close to the bed. "…Can I tell you something?"

"...Can I stop you?"

"...I've been... questioning things, lately. I've been questioning the system. Our society. My own faith in Inkling-kind. You know, stuff like that. And to be frank with you, I just got promoted today, thanks to my accomplishment of bringing you in, because no one wanted to give you the credit of what you did. I'm sitting here with a promotion I'm not sure I even deserve because of you. You single-handedly dismantled the Underdogs. In a night. I have never, ever seen anyone like you in my own career. And yet, people out there think you're the bad guy. For a while, I thought you were too."

"...What changed your mind?"

"You saved my life. You tried to save my partner too. I could tell, I was there. And even then, you did the thing I couldn't: you avenged her."

Jessica sighed.

"...In the end, all us police guys are trying to do is make the city safer. You understand that, right?"

"Yes..."

"...What I failed to see was that was the purpose of the Splatoon as well. Most of you didn't even do much, that's why most of you are just on house arrest. And yet, we shut you down. And I'm sorry for that."

Jessica sighed again, leaning her head back in frustration.

He sighed a little as well. "...I guess, what I'm trying to say, is that I think you're a good person. Sure, you've done things, questionable things, but I see now that you did what you did in the line of duty. You're not with the Underdogs like I suspected you were, and you're not a terrorist. And I'll never forget what you did to save my life."

Jessica put some thought into what he was saying, but shrugged it off. "...Your head's up the wrong ass, Detective, or Sergeant, or whatever rank you are now. I'm not a good person. And I deserve to be put away."

"And you know what, I do agree. To an extent. No matter what I think, you're gonna be locked up for a long time. Just thought I'd share my opinion."

Jessica fell silent.

"...Now, if we're done sulking, I'd like to ask you those questions, please?"

"...Fine..."

"Thank you..." He took out his notepad and a pen. "First off. I want to hear your side of the story. From the night your apartment was firebombed and you went missing."

Jessica thought about it for only a moment, before she broke down the entire story for him, from her own point of view, all the way from the incident he requested, to her recent massacre and arrest. She was mostly honest about it as well, and the only details she withheld were the location of Cuttlefish Bunker and Bridgett's involvement. She didn't want her to take the fall, after all.

Johnson wrote this all down, but was confused on some aspects. "Wait a minute... your brother... worked with the Underdogs?"

"He was the Executioner. He was the one who set us up to leak all of our Splatoon data in the first place, and he shot up... well... you know…"

This was definitely news to him. Surprising news, actually. "...And where is he now?"

Deangelo's Base

"H-Hold your fire…" Deangelo requested to all the nearby Octolings, that were still holding Daniel at gunpoint.

Daniel smiled a bit. "Don't worry. The suicide vest is just to keep you from doing anything stupid. If I go down, we all die."

"Y-yeah, I got that… P-Please… y-you don't have to kill me…" Deangelo was still holding his hands up. "What left do you have to gain from killing me?"

"...Is that why you think I'm here?" He replied, his finger that was on the gun's trigger twitching a bit. "I'm not here to kill you. Vanessa and I are here because you're still of use."

Vanessa was still standing near his back, looking like she didn't entirely want to be there, yet kept her expression as tough as possible.

Deangelo was now shaking a bit. "...What use…? Didn't you hear the news? Ward is dead. The Underdogs just collapsed, I have no use left. I swear."

Daniel sighed. "...Well, if that were true, then, I might as well just kill you right here and right now. But it's not true. You have something that we want."

"...What?"

Vanessa was the next to speak. "When Jessica and I investigated into the Underdogs, we found blueprints of a nanotech weapon of mass destruction here in the city. Powerful enough to destroy the whole city."

"And last I heard, Deangelo, it was hidden right here in your own base." Daniel continued. "We want to know where it is."

"...I-I swear, I don't know what you're talking ab-" He lied, but was met with Daniel's charger in his face. He flinched. "No! Don't kill me!"

"Aww…" Daniel mocked. "You scared of the lights going out?"

He didn't respond.

"Tell us there the weapon is. And I won't lay a finger on you."

"...W-What do you want it for?"

"We want to destroy it." Vanessa walked up a bit, feeling more confident. "We're gonna sweep your Underdogs legacy under the rug. And if... you play nice… we'll let you go scot-free, and we'll never speak of it again."

"Y-You can't just des-" He tried to say, but Daniel shoved the charger closer to his face so that it was touching him. "Ok! Ok! I know exactly where it is!"

A few minutes passed as Deangelo led them to a large vault, held at gunpoint by Daniel the whole time, and he started the long process of unlocking it; they had to go through two locked doors with keypads just to access the vault itself, which had an extra long code. A very long code, actually. Deangelo had to type that in as well, but he had one tiny problem. He awkwardly looked at them. "Guys… um… I-I need the code…"

"Don't you have it memorized?" Daniel asked.

"Well… I've tried to, before, but i-it's about as long as a nuclear code, I can't just-"

"Try it anyway." He pressed the weapon against his face again and he flinched.

He whimpered a bit, sweating. "…I-If I mess up the code, the base will self destr-"

"I said TRY!" He yelled above the voices in his own head.

"Daniel." Vanessa tried to interrupt.

"Relax, I know what I'm doing…" He replied simply.

Deangelo nervously turned to face the keypad, sweating more and more. Vanessa backed up again, preparing to flee in case some kind of self destruct countdown started.

Deangelo put all of his mental energy into remembering the code, given that his life literally depended on it, as he slowly entered it in, thinking carefully about each digit. After several minutes of this, thankfully for all of them, the panel turned green, and he sighed in relief. But, to Daniel's confusion, it still didn't open.

"...Why isn't it doing anything?" He asked.

Deangelo ignored him, and went to shakily pull on the wheel, until they heard a clicking sound. He pulled on it, and the door finally opened. They all peeked inside.

Indeed, the weapon that Vanessa had seen the blueprints for was inside, a large and heavy metal canister with a dome-shaped topping. It had a panel with several buttons and a small screen on it.

Daniel looked at it, as if questioning if it was real, like he questioned lots of things. "…This is it?"

Deangelo nodded, still shaking and sweating. "…Just as dangerous as a nuke if you use it correctly…"

"How do we destroy it?" Vanessa asked.

"...I don't know…"

"...Wheel it out of here." Daniel commanded.

"...A-Are you serious?"

"Now!" He pointed the weapon at him again, and he jumped before he went to get some Octolings to do as requested.

It took some heavy lifting, but they soon had the weapon on the largest luggage cart they had, and they wheeled it out to the main area of the base, by where the trucks were. After some more heavy lifting, they had it loaded into a truck, tied it down, and hid it under a tarp, while Daniel kept an eye on them as this happened.

"...It's loaded and ready to go." An Octoling told him.

"Thank you." Daniel replied.

Vanessa, who was staying close to him, grabbed his arm a bit to pull him aside. She started talking to him, but Daniel wasn't listening so much.

Instead, Daniel's gazed veered off to the side, as the voices in his head took over. Yelling at him. Screeching at him. She didn't even realize Vanessa was talking until-

"Daniel." Vanessa snapped her fingers in his face.

He blinked. "What…?"

"I asked what exactly what we're gonna do with that thing? Like… if we dump it in a lake, it'll surely disappear… but that wouldn't entirely destroy it… We might… what if we blow it up? In which case, we don't even have to take it out of the base, we can just bomb it right here."

His gaze veered to the side again.

"...Daniel!" She snapped her fingers again. "Are you listening?"

He flinched slightly and forcefully grabbed her hand. "Yes, I get it, I heard you." He lied. "…What are you wanting to do?"

"...I said I think that we should blow it up. We can leave Deangelo with it and he'll be stuck in the blast. And then… once it's all done, we can… we can leave the city. And you can train me there, like we discussed."

"...You still want me to train you?"

"...It was part of our deal. So that I can be like Agent 3. Remember?"

Daniel fell silent, as if he was having trouble even remembering this in the first place.

"...You do… remember… don't you…? Why… why do you think I let you go…?"

"...I get that… but I think we've had a misunderstanding…"

She was getting a bit nervous now. "…What…?"

"I didn't bring you here to destroy the weapon. I came here to acquire it."

Everyone in the whole base turned to him, somewhat surprised, and Deangelo stepped up. "Hey, man, you can't just-"

In response, Daniel suddenly lifted his charger and shot him through the head without hesitation, and his ink splattered the floor behind him before his body collapsed to the ground.

Vanessa jumped and backed up. "...Daniel… y-you can't do this…"

"...Are you not with me?" Daniel asked her, as if nothing just happened.

"...I-I didn't say that... I just..."

"I thought you let me go because you knew that this city requires correction... and that my sister needs to be taken out..."

She gulped. "Y-Yeah... and we'll... we'll take her out… if you really want… b-but there are other ways to handle this, you… I… I'm not letting you use that thing. Too many innocent lives will be taken."

"That's the only way this city can be corrected, though. Ward taught that to me. Don't you get that? I came on as the Executioner... I still have to finish what he started."

Vanessa fell silent.

"...Hm…" He was getting a bit frustrated now. "…I wanna make something clear!" He suddenly shouted, for all the remaining Octolings to hear. "I didn't come here to hang out! You all work for me now! And anyone who wants to tell me otherwise, will get to join Deangelo!"

The Octolings just stared at him without any signs of resistance, as they were unable to much in resistance, anyway.

"Hugh Ward is dead! But I'm gonna finish what he started! So that the people in this city, and my sister, get what they deserve! So here's what you're going to do! We're going to assemble every last surviving Octoling in the whole organization, and we're gonna work under one wing! My wing!"

Some of the Octolings were even nodding their heads in approval, just happy to see that their mission wasn't done yet after all, while Vanessa stared in horror.

"I am the Underdogs now!" Daniel finished, pointing at his own chest.

The Octolings replied with an Octarian chant.

"You can't do this… Daniel, you can't do this!" Vanessa started shouting, and desperately went to the van as if to find her own way to destroy the weapon. Two Octolings, however, grabbed her and held her back. "NO! NO! DANIEL! DANIEL, LOOK AT ME! I CAN HELP YOU! WE CAN HELP EACH OTHER! WE'LL KILL YOUR SISTER, I PROMISE, BUT JUST PLEASE DON'T DO THIS!"

"Tie her up." Daniel told them, ignoring her.

"NO! N-" Her screams were muffled as an Octoling covered her mouth, and they carried her off, resisting her struggles.

"Should've just killed me when you had the chance!" Daniel told her angrily before he was carried into the other room and out of her sight. He turned to the Octolings. "…Now get to work!"

"Yes, sir!" They chanted in unison, as they got to work. One Octoling, however, was stopped by Daniel.

"You. I have a question." He told her.

"Y-Yes, sir?"

"You know those messages that Ward recorded before his… demise?"

"...Yes…"

"...You should know what to do."

An Hour Later

Tenta-General Hospital

Jessica was still in her hospital room, cuffed to her bed as she was before, as she was going through a second round of questions with Johnson. They were both getting pretty tired, but Johnson kept going, wanting as much information as possible. That was, until the door suddenly opened and Captain Hertz stepped inside. "Johnson. We have a situation."

Johnson turned to him. "Can it wait? I'm in the middle of an interrogation and I'm actually getting good answers out of her."

"Now! This is bad!" He snapped.

Johnson sighed and turned back to Jessica, standing up. "…I'll be back…" He went and walked out, following the seemingly desperate Hertz out and closing the door.

Jessica sighed as well as leaned back in boredom, unable to do much else. Suddenly, however, the TV hanging on the wall in front of her powered on all by itself, and she squinted up at it in confusion.

It was broadcasting a still image of… the Underdogs logo.

The police were gathering out in the hospital hallway to a different TV, where the exact same broadcast was showing. In fact, every single TV in the entire hospital was playing it now, even if they weren't turned on previously. Johnson stared up at his own next to Hertz, fearful of what was happening.

All eyes in the hospital were on a TV screen when it finally transitioned to a pre-recorded message of Hugh Ward's face. Even if it was a bit jumbled and glitched, the message was clear.

"People of Inkopolis." He spoke.

It wasn't just the hospital. Every single TV and radio in Inkopolis had just gotten hacked and turned on to play the message for everyone who was nearby one to see.

"My name is Hugh Ward." The message continued, in sync everywhere. "I am the Octarian leader of the organization you will know only as the Underdogs. If you're hearing this message, you are to soon find out just what my purpose in this city is. For years, the Inkling race has been serving as a plague on the very ground you walk on, the ground that you live on. You seek out war." Every screen began to show a montage of old black and white footage from the Great Turf War, including the original Squidbeak Splatoon. "You bathe in it. You think you're fair; but then you force your own brothers and sisters underground, desperate for food and energy, without ever turning another gaze toward us. For years, you have looked at Octarians as the bad guys; Worse yet, you think you, yourselves, are the good guys." The screens then began showing footage of Agent 3 in Octo Valley, and Agent 4 in Octo Canyon. It wasn't afraid to show off their… less pleasing actions, either. "But I am here to show you just what you are."

Basically everyone in the city was staring at a screen now, as it began showing chaotic footage of Inklings causing disaster throughout history; some of it was footage of both generations of the Squidbeak Splatoon. "This is the beginning of the end. Soon, Inklings and all other surface species will understand our pain. As you tear each other apart, you will soon face your city's end."

Jessica was still in her hospital bed, staring up at her own screen in horror, as it soon turned back to Ward's face. "Know that there will be no fleeing, no escaping, no salvation. Your time has come. So make use of what little of it you have left. The clock starts now. Again, my name is Hugh Ward, and we are the Underdogs."

Johnson and the rest of the officers were still staring at their screen, listening intently, when the message cut off and all the TVs powered down. They stood in silence, unable to believe what they just witnessed. Jessica was equally as silent, still staring at her screen.

Some officers exchanged hushed whispers."...What do we do?" An officer asked, deciding to break the silence.

Johnson and Hertz were both just standing in silence.