This one took so long to write and you will see why.
—
Marie took aim from the top of her new position. She was laying low, attempting to pick off enemies from her high ground.
The backup Charger she had in case she lost the Rainmaker—which she did—had a serious modification which allowed much more range with quick charge speed.
"Hello, can everyone hear me?" It was Cap'n Cuttlefish.
Startled, she released her fire, but the stream still hit. She lowered her weapon and looked forward, surveying the landscape as she talked. "Yeah, what is it?"
"I've just been contacted. They're asking that the train returns to the edge of the forest."
"What! Now!?" Rose yelled. "We're still all here! What if we have to get out?"
"Would you pipe down a bit, Four?" Marie was still used to using the number to address her in the open. "I can hear you loud and clear without the volume."
"This was the only part of the plan that was a bit finicky," said Barry from the main square of the city. "I don't see another way. Sir?"
"Fine," said Octavio in his deep, intimidating voice. He said no more.
Marie shielded her eyes from sudden brightness. The sun had risen above the nearest building, and the sky was losing its last shades of red.
"Is the tech team still there?" Barry asked. "They'll need to push the train's engines or whatever. Send a few more defenders as well."
"They are here," said the Cap'n, "but so is the Rainmaker. It's reappearance was bound to here."
"I'll pick it up," said Callie, "I'm close. I'll send a few on the train too."
—
Callie drilled through five more with the help of the Hero Roller Mk II. Soldiers were becoming more sparse, but the ratio was still two to one.
She could see the train station a few blocks away, a short distance in Sharktown.
When passing by another cooler, she casually dropped a bomb inside, disabling another source.
She dodged left when someone almost bashed her in the head with some unknown weapon, choosing not to fight when the train needed to move.
As she closed the distance between her and her destination, her path became oddly devoid of anyone in her way.
She was about to swing open the door to the station when she heard something from above.
Callie bent backwards to avoid the incoming Inkwhip's stream. Eileen was next to her. She jumped, dodging it again, then forced the butt of her Roller down, knocking Eileen to the ground.
Callie turned the switch on to once again spin her way to victory, but her weapon was wrenched out of her hands by one of her brothers.
Cursing with the fact that she was defenceless, Callie opened the blue door and escaped inside the station. She locked the door.
The Rainmaker was close. She waved frantically as she approached the second car, hoping someone would see and open it.
The sliding door to the bullet train slowly moved, giving her just barely enough room to squeeze in.
Catching her breath, more from relief than exhaustion, she saw Morgan gripping the door handle. Cap'n Cuttlefish must have still been in the caboose.
"Thanks," she said. The Rainmaker, located a few feet away from her, still gave off its signature glow and had no signs of being thrown directly downwards. If she had to guess, it probably dented the Eagle more than it had been scratched.
A weight landed on top of the car. Eileen must have used the holes in the station's roof to pursue her.
"Get down!" Callie said, knowing perfectly well that the Inkwhip could reach from where it was.
She crawled to the Rainmaker, grabbing it by its back end, and calmly proceeded to the exit again.
Callie rolled out, ready for a battle, but then three more fell through another hole in the ceiling. Rose, Sid, and Sky, with a major advantage, engaged the one threat in the room.
For some reason, Rose had Callie's Roller. She must have gotten it back. She flicked it from a distance while allowing Sid to run up and finish her off. Eileen took a battle stance, but once she looked at her enemies, her surprise spelled her defeat.
Sky didn't fire a single shot and was instead planning an approach before Sid rushed in recklessly. Nevertheless, she smiled lightly and high-fived Rose. Callie grinned warmly at the sight. They were really warming up to each other.
Rose looked down at her. "Want this back?" she yelled from the top.
"Y- yeah, here," Callie said. But something was off, she just realized Eileen had never shown a hint of surprise in battle. "I'm better with that anyway." That, and how a Roller was just too big to carry while holding the Rainmaker.
She jumped down, and Callie and Rose traded weapons.
"Alright," Rose said, "Let's head back."
—
To Simon's relief, what was left of the crowd finally dwindled after a couple more short hours. Did they not prepare a close enough respawn point, or did the bombs really affect that much?
To test the question, he found one more active cooler, dropped a bomb inside, and watched the effect. Yet again, his nearby allies defended him, though it was a lot easier now that there was significantly less to defend against.
The bomb went off inside, then the film of whatever material it was changed. It stopped moving with constant ripples from the center and became entirely flat and green, the color of the bomb he threw in.
Cautiously, he tried to touch it, push his hand through, but to his confusion, the film was completely solid. Somehow, a quick, heavy bombardment of ink manipulated the surface tension of the substance or disabled it completely, not just splatting everyone on the other side of the film like he originally thought.
Once he looked back up, his headset emitted a sound to signal that someone was about to say something. "It's all clear here," Marie said. "How about everywhere else?"
"Just clearing the last few here," Rose resounded. "Aaaand done."
Everything went silent around Simon. He saw the circle gathered around him relax, and, looking around, he saw no more enemies.
Off in the west, several enemy soldiers were in the sky, jumping away in retreat.
"Was that all of them?" said Simon, a hint of disbelief in his voice. "I mean, other than-"
"One more," Rose said grimly. "Akash himself. There!"
Even as she said it, he, from a distance, witnessed the explosion of the Rainmaker, meaning Rose abandoned it in favor of her mobility. He saw her rise into the air and fall again, encapsulating the escaping rounded platform in the swirl of the Skydive.
Except the rounded platform was the same arena where Octavio was fought for the second time. The very same patch of concrete missing from Inkopolis Plaza. Apparently they rigged it so it's floatation could be controlled.
"To me!" He heard from his headset. Near the arena, he saw Callie leap from a building to the edge of the platform, exploiting the floatation's moment of disability.
Throwing hesitation to the wind, he immediately followed her, super jumping to her exact spot. He soared, paying close attention to his destination to avoid any incoming attacks.
Shortly after his arrival, Marie landed in a kneel, Charger cocked and eyes forward. A sound signaling a full charge rung soon after.
Rose landed on both feet with both Dualies pointed forward.
Akash was again wearing his purple cloak, but he was facing sideways, towards the sun which remained low enough to give the oceans a glimmering sheen and high enough to allow a striking blue sky.
The platform moved to one side, preventing any more from landing properly, then rose to a height higher than anyone could jump.
At this height, wind blew with a whisper of tension. Wispy clouds floated by behind him.
In other words, they were alone with a single chance to finish the battle.
Akash whipped his right arm — the mechanical one — backwards, revealing an active Inkwhip. "I've already said what I had to, yet you're still here," he said, slowly pronouncing every syllable.
He turned to face them, then he once again cast off his cloak, revealing a bored expression on his chiseled face and the same general's uniform.
Simon immediately started racking his mind for any advantages they had, sure the others were doing the same. First of all, Rose's Skydive ensured the entire arena was covered in green, their color. Also, the sun was the only light around, and he couldn't extinguish that to exploit darkness.
Before he had a chance to react, he was already rushing at him with a terrifying speed, Inkwhip deactivated and holding a pair of the all-too-familiar Hypno-Shades. Retaliation crossed his mind when the pair was already in front of him.
The next moment was a blur. Callie forced the shades out of his hand and to the ground with the spinning Roller, Rose stomped on them despite the blobs of ink going everywhere, then Marie shot him point-blank in the face.
Somehow, the fire from the charger only knocked him back. Without thinking, Simon covered the short distance between them and kicked him in the chest, forcing him to the ground. His metal legs couldn't withstand the blow.
As the other three rushed forward, he dove on top of his robotic arm and tried to force the Inkwhip out of his hands, but to no avail. The metal woudn't budge.
Anticipating an attack from the weapon he just attempted to steal, he jumped directly up, aiming to land on his right arm. After the Inkwhip sailed under him, he aimed to drive his feet into the joint. A few screws came loose with his brutal landing.
Callie ran up to the arm, held her Roller behind her head, then brought it down, using the frame to disconnect his forearm. Then she swept it to the side, sliding the pieces to the ground below.
Since Akash had no arm, all four of them expected him to try and escape somehow. Instead, a whoosh from above came.
Simon and Callie backed up, for it sounded like it was above them. Rose and Marie stayed behind and warily looked up to see the weight that was dropping.
As he stood up and caught it with his other usable arm, the four had retreated near the edge. The object he caught looked like a backpack of sorts, something that he began wearing immediately. The drone that had carried it to him above whirred away.
From the back of their enemy, there was a machine's purr. Four more, much longer robotic arms emerged from the device he wore. They were each longer than an Inkwhip.
Akash sat down casually as the weapons his that newer arms held started to fire.
Simon was the only one to recognize them. From his probably illegal underground investigation of Grizzco, he discovered four illegally modified weapons only used rarely in Salmon Run.
A Blaster, a Charger, a Slosher, and a Brella. Grizzco weapons. His own personal ones.
From where they were at the edge of the arena, none of the weapons could reach them, but they were still firing. Each weapon was aiming at a separate individual, and the arms moved only when they did. Neither side seemed willing to approach the impasse.
With this setup, the Grizzco Charger would be the most problematic. Its instant fire coupled with the near-perfect aim of artificial intelligence wouldn't allow them to approach. Ink consumption didn't seem to affect the weapons either. If that wasn't taken out quickly, then-
He heard a pop followed by the clang of falling metal.
The Grizzco Charger was gone in a helpless heap of shiny grey on the ground. Marie had aimed for the arm, shot it, and it fell.
Of course. Nobody else had noticed! The glowing orange spots on the arms were still there. If they shot those, then they could win easily.
Before their hopes were up, Akash reached behind him, pressed a button on his backpack, then more metal plates telescoped out to cover the vulnerable places.
"I got it." Rose said. "Let him cover as much as he wants. I'll take it from there."
Marie smiled at her. "Smart. Are we ready?"
"Split!" Simon yelled, hoping Akash would hear.
Simon swam in a half-circle, placing himself opposite his original starting point. The Blaster was after him, so he had to get somewhat close to bait a volley of shots.
Akash was still sitting still, cross-legged, as if nothing was happening. Then he stood up, gathered the remains of the broken arm, and kicked them off the edge with one arm, still barely moving from the center of the arena.
Marie kept her distance and rarely moved in closer. The Grizzco Slosher was a very easy weapon to dodge due to its slow-moving bullets.
The last weapon, the Grizzco Brella, was a fast-firing Brella with no canopy. It alternated targeting Rose and Callie, both of which could easily avoid it by staying just out of reach.
By only shooting the ground when facing Akash's back, Rose could charge one more Skydive.
She made eye contact with Simon, and they both came charging in to the center of the platform, yelling wildly.
Akash finally made the decision to stand. As Rose flew upwards, Akash abandoned his weapons, choosing to leave them all tumbling to the surface.
All of his artificial limbs pressed against the platform, simulating a jump. The ends of each limb except for one of his arms became a thruster which propelled him to Rose's height.
Rose hung in the air for a moment, and Akash exploited the moment of stillness to grab Rose by the collar with his arm, preventing her from rocketing downwards.
She hung from his arm for a fleeting, helpless moment before an idea came to her. She brought her right arm to her headset.
"Catch!"
She threw her Dualies downwards, accidentally sending them in different directions.
Marie caught one that almost fell off the platform. Callie caught the other with a dive.
Akash tried to drop Rose back down, but she held on to his arm. Marie passed the other Dualie to Callie, then she left her Roller on the platform. All three of them super jumped to Rose.
Akash was too busy trying to shake off Rose, so Callie had time to sail above him and hang in the air for the moment. Simon landed on the other arm that tried to grab her, then Marie slammed the butt of her Charger into the last intact arm, pushing it away for a vital split second.
Callie grinned mockingly at Akash, then she fell, bringing him with her.
Rose and Simon kicked off of the arms they were holding on to.
Callie landed in the dead center of the platform, creating a twister of swirling color that spun around for a few seconds, forcing the arena to descend, then fell with a splash.
The ink cleared from the air, hitting the ground with a thud.
Akash lay in the center with Callie's fist pressed against his chest. She stood up and walked away once she saw that all of his limbs except for his non-artificial arm were detached. The Skydive ripped off the metal protecting the orange spots, leaving all of the metallic limbs in a sprawling mass of scrap.
Once Callie reached the edge, the four stood in the cardinal directions of the platform.
With the arena lowered, two people immediately jumped to them. Barry and Sky both landed.
They approached Akash, warily keeping some distance between him and themselves.
The others stayed silent.
"I think I see what you were trying to do," Barry stated, "but did you really think enslaving two entire races was the best way?"
"It's better up here, I agree with that," Sky said, "being underground and forced to fight must've been terrible. How I survived down there, I don't know, but I don't plan to go back. Most of them on the surface have really accepted me since I escaped. And," she said, looking up, "the scenery is beautiful."
Akash was staring directly at the sun as if trying to blind himself, not making eye contact with either of the two.
"What was your motive?" Barry asked. "Other than..."
"Annabelle..." he said, reminiscent. "Lost..."
One more super jump reticle appeared, right on top of Akash's immobile body. As Octavio landed on to p for him, he pressed his knee against Akash's chest and pinned his neck down with his right hand. In his other, he held a rectangular piece with two spikes protruding from one end.
A flash of blue electricity jumped between the spikes, revealing it's purpose.
Akash looked at Octavio in the eyes. "I guess I deserve this, huh?"
Octavio thrust it down, fitting the spikes around his neck, removed his right hand, and activated it once more. Akash didn't even yell or show any sign of pain.
After a few seconds, he lifted the device up.
Akash was motionless. He wasn't splatted, he was just gone. With no sign of life left in him.
The four Agents, Barry, and Sky looked on in horror, but said nothing. None had seen a lifeless corpse on anyone before, but Octavio's rage brought him to do what he had done.
Octavio searched Akash's pockets and found a remote control. He placed it on the ground along with the taser, then swept the remote aside as he crushed the taser with his heel, grinding it to pieces.
When he was done, the taser was unidentifiable.
He dropped his headset on the ground.
Octavio lifted Akash in his arms and super jumped again to some unknown location outside of the city boundaries, leaving the backpack and metal arms.
The wind died down, leaving a moment of eerie silence among the six on the platform.
Rose cautiously walked over to where the remote was swept, picked it up, and examined it. "It controls this platform."
"Annabelle," Simon said, "was that his fourth child?"
"Yes," Barry said, "We never thought it would be brought up."
Another few seconds of silence passed.
"What now?" said Callie.
"We bring back this thing," Marie said, pointing to the platform below her.
"Yes, I agree," Barry said. "You four need to rest. We'll handle things here."
With that, Barry jumped off of the platform to act as the temporary leader. Sky followed soon after.
The Agents gathered at the north side of the platform. Rose placed the remote on the ground and weighed down the northbound button with one of her Dualies.
The platform began to move, away from the diminishing chaos and to Inkopolis once again.
—
There. It's (almost) done. I still have one more epilogue planed, then that'll be it.
For this story, anyway.
Thanks again, dear viewers. Whether you found me at the beginning, joined later on, or if you're reading this in the future, seriously, thank you. I'm not one of the better writers, and I have a pretty slow update schedule, but really, I had so much fun doing this.
