Chapter 7
The day was going good so far for Amber. She had a day off from missions, but she still went to Octo Valley and hung out with Ika as he guided his cousin and sister on missions. The older inkling often showed her some basic tips and tricks for her missions, but today was different.
She pops out of the pipe leading to the valley, the pipe automatically outfitting her with her hero gear. She grins and waves to Ika, who had already noticed her presence in the area. Currently, he was looking at their computer, watching something.
Amber grins as she walks over. "Those two already on another mission?"
Ika just nods and says "Another mid-class termination mission. I can't believe how many Octarians are around. They don't even do much compared to the Octolings."
Amber just shrugs and nods. Her commander turns to her and says "Wanna watch them do the mission?"
Amber blinks, then grins and nods. Ika pulls up a chair for her to sit on, and they watch the mission play out. The younger inkling blinks in surprise as she realizes that the video was from ABOVE the Squid Sisters, not from one of their headset cameras. "This isn't from their cameras. How are you getting an aerial view?"
Ika grins and says "I just got a new drone to test out from Sheldon. It'll let us view the battles from above, letting us tell the operative if anything unknown is coming. Plus, it has some sort of camouflage ability to keep itself invisible mid flight."
Amber whistles and says "That's pretty cool." Ika just nods with a smile, and the two focus on the mission playing out on screen.
The two cousins were like a machine as they moved through the floating platforms the Octarians were posted on. The smaller, tentacle-like creatures had no chance against the two as they went through the horde like it wasn't even there.
Amber's eyes were wide in awe as she sees Callie fend off at least five Octarians from attacking Marie, while the older inkling blasted three more Octarians in quick succession. "They're… so good! They move so smoothly with each other… like clockwork."
Ika nods his head in agreement. "They are incredibly skilled. Despite us being siblings, Callie works better with Marie than she does me. I prefer the lone wolf route on most occasions."
Amber nods, and the two focus on the battle once more. Ika, deciding to get a closer look, switches to Marie's headset cam.
The screen flickers, then switches to a new view. Here, they could both see from Marie's perspective, and hear what she was saying. Marie turns to another Octarian preparing to fire at her and blasts it before the small creature can react.
"Take that, and that!" Marie turns to the direction of the sound to show Callie slamming her roller on Octarians, often creating a wave of ink in the process to take out even more. Marie then yells "Agent One, stop messing around and focus on your sides and back!"
To prove her point, Marie raises her charger and blasts an Octarian Commander ready to unload on the unaware magenta inkling. Callie yelps, then says "O-Oh, right! Thanks Two." Marie just waves her off, then continues to fire at the Octarians.
Ika presses a few buttons, and the screen switches to Callie's perspective. They watch as the hyper inkling crushes the Octarians with her roller, often having to swing in order to hit some far away targets. But, because her roller only had so much range, she had to take cover or keep moving to avoid Snipers and Commanders.
Ika frowns, then clicks a button on his headset. "Sniper to your left One." Callie just nods, shown by the camera going down then back up, and she turns to her left. Roller high in the air, she sends a thin line of ink that hits the Sniper dead center, splatting it and a couple more unfortunate Octarians in the way.
Amber's eyes narrow as her eyes dart across the screen. "Two Snipers in the back posts, one Commander closer to her left, and one… oh, Marie took that one out. Does Callie know this?"
Ika frowns, noticing the same thing. He watches Callie's actions, watching as she keeps batting away Octarians, moving closer to the Snipers in the back. One of the Snipers, now in range, fires at her. Callie yelps and jumps to the side, the beam barely missing. Ika hums in irritation as he notices this. "One, focus around you! You can't just go crazy like that with Snipers nearby."
Callie just grins sheepishly and says "S-Sorry. I guess I got too excited."
Ika just says "No matter, just focus on the battle. Their numbers are dwindling, but all they need is one good shot to take you down."
Callie nods, then proceeds more carefully. Certain that his sister can handle things on her own, Ika switches back to the drone cam. He grabs the controller for it and swivels the camera around, watching as Callie and Marie took out the remaining dozen or so Octarians.
But, just as he was turning back to the battle, something caught his eye. His eyes narrow as his gaze focuses on the kettle entering this place. Five figures emerge, all geared with a shooter and some sort of metal armor. Each of them had octopus like tentacles.
Amber gasps, noticing the same thing Ika did. "Octolings! And that one in the front, that looks like an elite!"
Ika nods grimly. Elites normally had green seaweed strapped to their goggles, flowing behind them. They also had more black colored tentacles than the normal red, making them easy to identify. However, they were identifiable for a reason. Elites were just that, elites. The best of the best. One of them was enough to keep Ika on his toes and Callie serious, and Marie often away from the battle. Luckily for them, Elites were few and not often seen. Still, seeing one here meant something was wrong.
Ika stands up and says "Watch the cameras Amber. I need to go deal with this Elite." Amber nods, and Ika super jumps towards where the battle would soon take place.
Amber's eyes roam the screen, showing the slowly advancing octolings and the exhausted Callie and Marie resting in the back of the floating platforms. It didn't look like the Squid Sisters noticed the octolings yet. Amber frowns and bites her lip in nervousness, watching anxiously for Ika to appear.
The team of five octolings began to spread out, forming a small, unseen perimeter around the Squid Sisters. The two cousins seem to suddenly freeze up, having the same sense that Amber developed. They knew something was wrong.
The octolings circle around the the now on guard inklings, hiding in wait for their superior's orders. They had planned to take the enemy by surprise by attacking from multiple fronts. Even if a few of them went down, at least one of the inklings below would be taken out. This tactic was their downfall.
As Amber was watching, one the octolings suddenly jerks, then falls over limp. Amber's eyes narrow as she sees the octoling fall unconscious. Then, another one goes. Her eyes snap over, wondering what was going on.
Then, she sees it. Ika was sneaking around, almost unnoticeable in the natural shadows around the place. He reaches the third octoling, then presses a few specific spots on the octoling quite hard. The octoling seems to tense up and freeze, and then Ika sends a hard chop to top of their neck. The octoling crumples without a word, knocked out.
Amber's eyes were wide in awe as she saw Ika in work. She knew Ika was a stealth and assassination master, but this was far beyond what she expected. She knew what Ika was doing. Biology was important to inklings to understand how their bodies reacted to different ink simply based on colors and how they turned into squids. Ika was pressing certain pressure points on the body to tense and lock up the body from moving for a few seconds, then sending a hard hit to a knockout pressure point located just above the spine, at the base of their skull. Even if inklings had few bones, skulls and spines were still essential for their much less forgiving land environment.
Ika quickly places the knocked out octoling on the ground silently, quickly moving to the next one. The fourth octoling looks up at the Squid Sisters, then frowns as a nagging feeling hits his head. He hears a sudden scrapping on the ground and turns, muttering "What?" in the process.
Suddenly, an inkling clad in completely black clothing comes out of the shadows like some sort of wraith. Gold eyes narrowed in absolute concentration, along with being the only visible part of his face, gave him a frightening image.
The octoling's eyes widen and he raises his gun to fire, but Ika was quicker. He leaps forward and presses a few points on the octoling's arms. As his arms go limp, he feels his body freeze up as a severe pain comes from certain points on his body. Then, he feels a sharp pain on his neck, and his world goes black. This all happened within three seconds.
The gun falls to the ground, hitting it with a soft clank on the metal platform. Ika curses, then quickly retreats into the shadows. The Elite's guard suddenly raises exponentially as she hears the sound from one of her teammate's spot.
She frowns, her trained eyes darting around in worry and concentration. Suddenly, her danger sense flare wildly. She jumps to the side, barely avoiding Ika's strikes to her side. The Elite grits her beak as she sees the inkling in front of her. "Agent 4, the Blood Wraith."
Ika straightens up, and red ink forms around his hands. Suddenly, his brush appears in hand, and he lowers himself into a fighting stance. The octoling frowns, holstering her gun and grabbing her own Octobrush. "So it's true. You can store your brush within your body as ink. You will be a formidable opponent."
Ika doesn't respond and simply narrows his eyes. Seeing no other reason to wait, he launches forward, swinging his brush in a high arc. The octoling blocks it with the handle of her own brush, then quickly maneuvers around it and sends her own attack at Ika. Ika jumps back, then rushes back in quickly.
Amber's eyes widen as she sees Ika and the Elite become a blur of red and black, little being seen from their high speed battle. It was at this moment Amber knew exactly how far she had to go in order to be one of the best. Ika was the best fighter in the league for reason…
While the fight was progressing, Callie and Marie slowly went towards the kettle. They figured that whatever got their senses on high alert, Ika was handling it. They knew he was here from the red ink they could see flying around, but they knew the purpose for his presence. Get out while I have them distracted. They needed no other indicators before they began running to the kettle at full speed, dropping stealth for speed. They managed to get in without any trouble.
Ika's eyes flicker to the kettle for just a second, just enough for him to process Callie and Marie exiting the area. He quickly ducks under another swing, then jumps back rapidly. Using his hopping, he quickly enters the kettle and disappears.
The octoling pants slightly, one eyebrow raised in confusion. She looks around, then quickly runs to her closest ally. The octoling was on the ground, unmoving. The Elite quickly feels for a pulse, then breathes out a sigh of relief.
She looks around and notices her other comrades also unconscious. "So ruthless and skilled, and yet… not a single kill. Not one…"
Ika lands on the lookout with a sigh of relief. "No kills. Thank Kami…"
As he walks through the arch leading to their 'HQ', he was instantly assaulted by two very hyper and very worried inklings.
Callie grips Ika tightly and says "Oh Ika, you had me worried sick! Elites aren't easy to take down…"
Amber nods, looking up at Ika from where she was hugging him. "I knew what you were doing, but you still had me worried. How did you manage to fight her at those speeds?!"
Marie chuckles from behind the trio, pulling down her surgical mask to show her small smile. "Ika is incredible with his speed and stealth. That Elite is more lucky he backed out instead of fighting fully."
Ika just chuckles, a small blush on his face. "It wasn't THAT impressive! It was just what I normally do."
Callie finally unlatches herself from Ika and plants her hands on her hips. She frowns and says "Stop selling yourself short Ika. You are amazing!" Ika just chuckles in embarrassment, his blush increasing.
Marie then walks over to Ika. "Other than the octolings, the mission was a success. However…"
She turns to Callie, and Ika gazes at her as well. Callie looks between them, then sighs. "I know, I need to be more serious."
Marie frowns and says "Callie, this isn't a game like turf wars. You can be killed out there. I don't want to lose you."
Callie blushes and looks away, her feet messing with the ground. She just nods, then walks away. Marie sighs and says "She needs to have more training. She still can't seem to focus on multiple things at once."
Ika just nods, looking at Callie as she walks away. "Thanks for the report Marie. Just put it in the computer for gramps to look over when he gets back."
Marie nods, then walks to the computer. Ika looks at Amber and says "I need to go help Callie. You can train if you'd like, but we don't have any more missions until tonight."
Amber nods, and Ika walks over to where Callie went. Amber frowns, then walks to the grate. Today she saw her idols and Ika in action for the first time. They were so much more skilled than she was. She needed more training!
As she steps on the grate, she turns to where Callie went with worry. She trusted Ika, but something seemed wrong with Callie. While it was always depressing for someone to point out your flaws, it seemed to be especially true with Callie. Amber sighs, then falls into the grate, returning to Inkopolis. She could only hope it wasn't something too bad.
A single octoling elite steps into the room filled with cameras. She kneels and says "Octavius sir, I have something to report."
The octoling within the room turns around, his blood red eyes narrowing at the sight of the octoling's form. "This better be important Terra. I have important matters to deal with."
The Elite known as Terra nods and says "It is sir. It has to do with Agent 4."
Octavius raises one eyebrow in curiosity. "Go on…"
Terra looks at him and says "Agent 4 once again was confirmed to not have killed. He managed to catch me and my team off guard as we went to deal with Agent 1 and Agent 2. Despite my team not moving, they were simply unconscious, not killed. It was odd…"
Octavius takes in the information, then nods. "Odd indeed. If that is all, then you are dismissed."
Terra nods, then leaves the room. Octavius turns back around, looking at the multiple screens in front of him in thought. "No kills ever recorded, and yet, he has that berserk state of mind. I believe it is time I paid this 'Blood Wraith' a little visit."
The octoling commander turns around and walks out of the room. The largest screen showed Agent 4 surrounded by octolings, drenched in rain. He was laughing maniacally, and then hell breaks loose. Faster than the eye could see, he blitzes through the army, killing every single one.
His smile never left his face as the sky cried along side him.
-Author Notes-
Soon. Soon Ika's strange condition will be shown. Soon we will see why he has no kills. Soon.