Arc 2 Chapter 14
Everything was black as inaudible voices could be heard among one another. The figure couldn't move as they appeared to bound down by something. The figure attempted to struggle but to no avail could not get free. They slowly opened their eyes as their senses came back. The figure looked around and noticed that their feet and arms were secured down on some kind of machine. "What's going on? Where am I?!" shouted the figure.
"Ah, Dr. Carter you're awake finally," jeered a man in a black suit as he approached the bound figure.
"Director Irons? Let me out this instant you bastard!" ordered Dr. Carter.
"Nuh-uh uh, I need you for a little side experiment that we've been working on, show him!" commanded Irons to his men manning the controls.
"Irons! What's going on?! Where's my family?!" yelled an angered Dr. Carter.
"You'll soon see," sneered Director Irons.
The wall behind irons opened up and behind it were some giant canisters containing a woman and a girl. They were Dr. Carter's Wife and daughter. He looked in utter horror and regret seeing them sealed up like that. They were both banging on the glass trying to get out but it was futile. The girl spotted her dad and yelled getting his attention.
"Dad! What's happening?! Get us out!" yelled the horrified daughter.
"James! Help us!" yelled his panicking wife.
"Irons! Let them out now! please I'll do anything you want, just let them go!" pleaded Dr. Carter in distress.
"I don't think so, they're going to be part of a little project of ours but don't worry you'll be joining them soon," sneered Director Irons as he walked over to the control panel where his men were.
"Ready the modified serum into the canisters for our subjects and get Dr. Carter prepared for his canister as well," ordered the director.
After a few moments, a guard rushed over to Director Irons. "What is it?" asked the director snidely.
"Sir we caught ourselves a little fly on the wall, a young man watching us from behind one of the control panels," said the guard.
"What! bring him out," barked the director.
Another guard approached with him having a hold of the young man's arm. When they got close enough the daughter in the canister went wide-eyed with a look of shock on her face. "Brandon?!" she shouted.
"Who are you?" asked the director with a displeasing look.
"I'm telling you the truth, I just got lost is all," said Brandon with guard having hold of his arm.
"Let him go, Irons, he has nothing to do with this!" shouted Dr. Carter.
"Oh, I'll let him go alright, in a canister along with your family," sneered the director.
"Mr. Carter, what's going on? where are they taking me!?" exclaimed a panicking Brandon as the guards dragged him toward an empty canister near Dr. Carter's wife and daughter.
"Alright, Dr. Carter you're next," said the director looking back at James.
"You won't get away with this Irons!" yelled James.
As Brandon's canister was placed beside Jame's daughter, Amy. She stared at Brandon her boyfriend that she thought would never see again. "Brandon! What are you doing here?!" she asked in shock.
"I couldn't let my girl go into outer space without me, To think that we may never see one another again, I had to sneak aboard the ship," explained Brandon.
"Brandon, that's so sweet of you, but you've put yourself in danger because of it," said Amy.
"For you, I wouldn't care if I put my life on the line or not, I love you Amy," said Brandon with compassion as Amy looked back with a loving expression. The two put their hands on the glass as to hold hands in their dire situation.
Dr. Carter's machine that he was laying on had unlocked his binds and threw him into another empty canister. "Dad!" shouted Amy breaking away from the moment between her and Brandon. His Canister moved over beside his wife as she looked over to him in horror. James rubbed his head and sat up facing his wife.
"Whatever happens hon, I love you," said James placing his hand on the glass toward her.
Me too, James," said his wife placing her hand on the glass toward him.
The two of them kissed the glass near each other as a gesture that they would love one another until the end.
"Well isn't this touching, at least you four will be a part of my experiment together, now commence the serum release," ordered the director.
"IRONS!" yelled James pounding on the glass. The director just looked over and gave him a smug look.
The AI Tartar appeared on the screen. "Starting Sanitation sequence," it said.
The canisters were filling up with some kind of blue-green liquid. The four of them were panicking unsure of what was happening. They banged and elbowed the glass in an attempt to bust out of the canisters. The canisters were halfway full as Brandon looked over to Amy with a worried look, "Amy...I love you," he said.
"I...love you, too," said Amy with tears forming. James and his wife were looking at each other knowing that we're not getting out of this one. "James no matter what we'll always be together," said his wife placing her hand back on the glass towards him.
"Always, no matter what happens," said James placing his hand on the glass.
The canisters were completely full as the four of them struggled to catch air. James turned and looked back over to the director with a sinister smile. James was losing strength while the rest of his family went unconsciense. He soon blacked out himself seeing nothing but the blurred figures of his family and Brandon until he lost consciousness. The image fades to black and nothing else is heard.
Camper and his gang had arrived at there destination to hear back from the octoling. They were at a dockyard outside the city getting ready to load up on a boat heading for the Saltspray Rig where they were to exchange Blake for the other half of the payment. The inklings woke Blake up from the dream he had as they grabbed him and threw him off the truck. Camper walked over to Blake and kicked him. "Get up fossil!" sneered Camper.
Blake moaned from the kick and looked up at Camper with a hateful glare. "I wonder how a human like you, survived all this time. What I've learned your race is supposed to extinct, I bet it sucks knowing your the last of your kind, guess that's why you're so valuable, maybe you've been better off drowning like the rest of your kind," sneered Camper.
Blake had gotten enraged by what Camper had said and tried to lunge at him but was held back by two other inklings. "Hmpf, still got some fight in you, too bad that octoling wants you alive or I'd feed you to the sharks," touted Camper holding his N-Zap at Blake's head.
"your nothing but a coward! You wouldn't even face me back at your hideout, your a disgrace to your kind!" shouted Blake. Camper got agitated by the comment and struck him with his N-Zap.
"I'd shut up if I were you, or you might "accidentally" fall off the boat we're about to get on," said Camper baring his fangs.
"I not afraid of you," said Blake glaring at the inkling as he spat up blood.
Camper just scoffed at Blake and walked away commanding his crew to get ready to load Blake on the boat. He then pulled his phone out and called the octoling elite that he was about to leave for the Saltspray Rig. After a few minutes he hung up the phone and he headed for the boat with his crew and Blake.
Meanwhile, the elite known as Scarface hung her phone up getting done talking with Camper. "Alright, That inkling his heading for the Saltspray Rig with the package, let's get there before any of those inkstains and traitors decide to show up," ordered the elite to her unit of octotroopers and octolings.
They saluted and hopped in their submarine getting ready to head out to the Saltspray Rig to meet up with Camper and his crew.
Once inside they dove down to avoid detection, inside the elite was sitting in the captain's chair, monitoring her crew and watching in front of the large sub. In the cargo hold was the octotroopers and a few octosnipers ready to be deployed if trouble should ever appear.
"ETA in 30 minutes Major," said an octoling regular manning the controls.
"Good, soon that human will be ours, that stupid squid doesn't realize once we have possession of the human, we'll splat them in the back. I can't believe that idiot believes we would just let him and those other inkstains just leave the rig knowing too much about our operations, I can't trust him to keep his big mouth shut, he's nothing but a shady squid anyway and I can't stand inklings anyway. That land should be ours and it soon will be once we deal with those traitors and they're false ruler, Stay on course!" sneered the elite.
"Yes ma'am," said the octoling.
"It'll just be a matter of time...and don't think our little matters are finished...Sargeant, you and those turncoats will get what's coming to you," sneered the octoling with an evil grin pressing her hands together.
The submarine continued on slowly making it's way to the Saltspray Rig.
It was getting late as the sun was going down. It had been a long day as the events that had transpired took a toll on everyone. The squid sisters had made it back to Cuttlefish's with some dreadful news about Blake. Cuttlefish dropped his cane once he heard Blake had been kidnapped by Camper and his gang of inklings.
"Gals, I trusted you to keep Blake safe! Now you say this band of misfits has taken him somewhere and you don't know!" shouted a distressed Cuttlefish.
Cuttlefish shook his head and turned away in disapproval. "Gramps, we're sorry, we..." Marie tried to explain.
"It's my fault gramps, I lost Blake!" shouted Callie in distress.
"Cal, like I said it's not your fault, we were all supposed to make sure he was safe, but we didn't expect to get into a fight with Camper and his gang either," said Marie.
Cuttlefish turned back to the girls and gave a sigh. He soon picked his cane back up and consoled over the loss of losing his friend again."I don't blame you girls...you...did you're best to keep him out of harm's way, why would this Camper and his gang want with the lad anyway?" asked Cuttlefish still saddened by Blake's kidnapping.
"Cuttlefish, you're not gonna like this, but (sigh) we were informed by this octoling soldier that this group of rebels that are defying the treaty made a deal with Camper to capture Blake for them, I'm sorry to tell you this gramps," said Marie in a distressed tone.
Cuttlefish was horrified to hear this and he slowly walked to his bedroom.
"Gramps?" said Marie placing her arm out to Cuttlefish.
"Find him...soon, gals, please," pleaded Cuttlefish with his back turned.
"We...will, gramps...we promise, are you...gonna be ok?" asked Marie.
"I just wanna be alone for a bit, just focus on finding the lad," said Cuttlefish as he made his way in the bedroom and closed the door.
'Poor gramps," said Callie.
"(sigh) I... don't know what to do, I don't where they could've taken him," said Marie with defeat.
After a moment the two girls heard pounding on the door. They both look and Marie walked over to open it. It was Cassie in her casual clothes looking at Marie with concern. "Hey, you guys," said Cassie.
"Hey, Cass, well come on in," directed Marie as Cass walked inside.
"How's Cleo?" asked Marie.
"She's slowly recovering, thankfully she got help before it was too late, I hope she pulls through soon and maybe she can give us some information on Camper and his plans," said Cassie.
"Maybe, but I'm glad to hear she's doing better," said Marie with a half-smile.
"I took Izzy home after the authorities left, I hope she's not too traumatized by what's happened, It's... hard to live with myself knowing I put her through all that, I..." said a regretful Cassie being cut off by Marie placing her hand on her shoulder.
"Cass, It's not your fault, you didn't mean to put Izzy in danger like that, don't dwell on it, what's done is done and Izzy is ok because of your actions," said Marie reassuring her.
"I know but... I wanna make it up to her somehow," said Cassie still feeling remorse.
"How about you take her to go see Off the Hook, they're performing for the Square opening tonight, I'd bet she love that and It'll get both your mind off of things," said Marie trying to ease the tension off Cassie.
"You... think she would like that?" asked Cassie looking up at Marie.
"I'm sure she would, you two go have fun," said Marie.
"(sniff) all...alright, I'll ask her, she did say she liked Off the Hook, but... what about finding Blake?" asked Cassie.
"We... don't know where to start, the only person that would know would be Cleo but she's in intensive care, other than that maybe that octoling will let us know something, but I doubt it," said Marie in defeat.
"Well, I hope we find him soon," said Cassie.
"Me too," replied Marie.
The two remain silent for a moment until Cassie looked back to Marie. "How did Cuttlefish take the news?" asked Cassie hesitantly.
"(sigh) he... didn't take it well, him and Blake are...practically brothers, they fought in the great turf war together," said Marie depressingly.
"Maybe, something will turn up, I'll go and leave you guys alone, maybe you two should come to the concert too," suggested Marie.
Marie looked back at Callie who had remained silent sitting on the couch with her head in her arms on the arm of the couch. "I... don't think me or Callie are in the mood, you and Izzy go, we'll be fine," said Marie with a fake smile.
"oh, ok, well I wish you two the best, especially Cuttlefish," said Cassie before she left out the door heading back to the city.
As Cassie left, Marie walked over to the couch to comfort Callie. She gave her a hug and Callie whimpered thinking about Blake. "Cal, things will be alright, We'll find Blake, don't dwell on it so much," suggested Marie.
"I...know Marie, I just..." uttered Callie.
Marie cut her off and grabbed her by the shoulders so she could face her. Callie had tears running down her face from crying over Blake. Marie wiped her tears and gave a warm smile. "Everything will be alright Cal, I'll do whatever it takes to find him, he's... family, our friend and we never leave a friend behind," said Marie.
"(sniff) Thank you Marie, I'm glad to have you as a cousin, you're family too, I don't know what I would do without you or gramps," said Callie holding her tears in trying to smile.
"I'm glad to have you as my cousin too, Cal," said Marie with a tear running down her eye as she wiped it. The two of them embraced for a while and let go.
"Let's head back to the studio, it's getting late and their's nothing we can do right now," said Marie.
"I hope Blake will be ok," said Callie downing her head.
"Blake's tough by what I've seen and what gramps has said, I'm sure he's fine," said Marie.
The two got off the couch and headed to the door until Marie turned toward Cuttlefish's bedroom door. She slowly walked over and opened it seeing Cuttlefish sleeping on his bed. Marie had a look of regret on her face as she looked at her grandfather facing away on the bed. "Don't worry gramps, we'll find Blake, me and Callie love you," said Marie as she closed the door.
"How's gramps?" asked Callie as Marie walked over. "He'll be fine, eventually," said Marie rubbing her arm.
"Well I guess we better go," said Marie as the two left and squid formed down the storm drain back to the plaza. When they got to the plaza they headed to the studio exhausted from the day they had. Both Marie and Callie had thoughts dwelling through their minds how they were gonna find Blake and stop Camper and the octo Rebels.
Meanwhile, deep in Octo valley at the octoling base an elite was surveying other octolings manning computers who just got done with a transmission with the new octarian ruler. She shook her head and gave a deep sigh before she turned around toward the main doorway into the chamber.
"Let's hope the rebels haven't succeeded in their mission, hopefully, Sergeant Maxie reports back soon with some good news since we haven't heard from that inkling," said the elite.
After a moment she turned back around looking at the giant screen and gave another sigh, just then the main doors opened and an octopus came slithering in the room and changed back to her bipedal form. The elite turned her head to look at the octoling regular.
"Ah, Sergeant Maxie, I'm glad you've returned, I hope you have something good to report," asked the elite.
"Lieutenant Octillia, unfortunately...the human was captured by the inkling crime syndicate leader and even worse news I intercepted with the rebel leader, the major, she apparently knew of the mole and informed the inkling gang leader about it," informed Sgt Maxie.
"(sigh) this isn't what I wanted to hear Sargeant but that would explain why we lost contact with our source," said the elite Lieutenant.
"Don't worry our source had been rescued by the squidbeak squad, but they were unsuccessful in keeping the human away from the crime syndicate, as of now we don't know where they've taken him and our source is in ICU at the Inkopolis hospital," said Sgt Maxie.
"The squidbeak were involved, that complicates things, I was hoping none of the other inklings would get wind of this especially the squidbeak squad," said the displeased elite.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, I wasn't expecting them to be there either but it appeared they've made friends with the human, his name's Blake, by what I've gathered," said the sergeant.
"made friends with the human? Hmm... interesting, but troubling. We need to find that human fast before the rebels get a hold of him," said the stressing elite.
"I'll see what I can find, ma'am," said the Sargeant.
"I hope so, for our sakes, you're dismissed," said the elite.
The sergeant gave a salute and turned to walk out until. "Sergeant...how was your little reunion with your old friend the major?" asked the elite.
The sergeant just clenched her shoulders and balled up her fists. "I'm assuming it wasn't pleasant by the cut on your cheek," said the elite.
The octoling slowly calmed down and rose her head back up and continued out the door. recanting when she and the major were friends before Octavio was captured.
The main doors closed and the elite turned back to the screen shaking her head. "Ma'am" she was asked by a young octoling recruit.
"What is it private," asked the elite brashly.
"What did you mean old friend when you mentioned about the rebel leader, if you don't mind me asking," asked the private.
"The rebel leader and the sergeant used to be best friends, back when we were fighting against the inklings, the sergeant was under the major's wing. She trained the Sergeant everything she knew. Their friendship to the point they saw each other as sisters until Octavio was captured and they disputed about the peace treaty. The major was heavily against it while the sergeant supported it. Their outlook of the peace between the races was different. The sergeant seen peace as a betterment for the octarians while the major seen it as a disgrace. Their friendship split apart as the major and other octarians that supported her left the valley and set up base at the canyon. The sergeant was hurt by this and has been callous since then," explain the elite.
"But why does the Sergeant have a distrust toward the inklings?" asked the young private.
"(sigh) even though she wanted peace she still holds animosity towards the inklings because she witnessed the loss of her friends during the battle with the squidbeak squad and also sees the inklings as contributing to the break up with her former friend the major. She feels the inklings maybe could've done more since it was them that banished us underground years ago," said the elite.
"you would think the sergeant would be against the peace treaty if that's the case," said the confused private.
"She would rather have peace with the inklings than being ruled over Octavio, She saw him worse than the inklings, he was a tyrant after all, but what difference did it make when you're hiding underground trying to survive. Stealing the zapfish just proved how vulnerable we were and how we underestimated the inklings," said the elite.
"You really think we'll stay at peace with the inklings?" asked the private.
"I hope so, If we manage to rescue that human from the rebels than maybe we can survive for years to come, we don't how much longer the zapfishs the inklings gave us will power the domes, we need the human to gain us access to the alternative power supply for the domes, but we can't get access, we can't decipher the computer systems at the lower levels, all I know is these domes were built by humans but we made the major repairs, let's hope the human can help us, after all, it's been through, maybe we can establish peace with us as well," said the elite.
"Wow to hear a human is alive is extraordinary, I've heard by our history reports that they were very intelligent, it's unfortunate they went extinct," said the private.
"Let's hope we don't share the same fate, private, now return to your station," said the elite.
"yes ma'am," saluted the young octoling who walked away.
The elite turned and looked back surveying the octolings manning the computer systems and gave another sigh and walked away.
The new square was packed with inklings and the new shops had open. The concert was jamming with Pearl and Marina getting done singing their song color pulse. Inklings were dancing to the groove and waving glow sticks to the song. Pearl had rushed to the middle of the stage and shouted for the inklings. "You guys ready for the opening of Deca Tower!" yelled Pearl. "YEEEAAAHHH!" shouted the inklings in excitement. "Alright yo! Then let's hear for the great zapfish!" shouted Pearl as the giant fish appeared out of the sky and wrapped around the new Deca tower powering it up. The doors on the bottom of the tower opened up to the new turf battle lobby.
"YEEEAAAHHH!" shouted the inklings again as they were eager to get into the new turf war lobby. "Hold on yo!" shouted Pearl. The lobby doesn't officially open until 10:00 tomorrow morning!" explained Pearl.
"Hey! Pearl!" shouted Marina.
"Yo, Rina!" replied Pearl.
"Won't there be new turf arenas as well?" asked Marina.
"That's right! There will be new turf arenas but we won't reveal them until the lobby opens tomorrow morning," said Pearl.
"AAAAAWWWWW!" said the disappointed inklings.
"Don't worry, Me and Pearl will inform on the news report for tomorrow and hope you all get some rest and train," said Marina rubbing the records on her DJ turntable.
"Peace out!" yelled Pearl as the concert was finally over.
The inkling crowd started to disperse and head back to their homes. Except two that stayed back for a bit to talk to Marina and Pearl.
Earlier that night, It was Cassie and Izzy who had decided to come. Cassie had gone back to her apartment in flounder heights to see if Izzy wanted to go to the square opening even after all she had been through. Izzy had jumped for joy and hugged Cassie screaming yes. The two got ready and left for the new square to see Off the Hook perform but Cassie's thoughts weren't clear as Izzy soon noticed.
"What's wrong Cass?" asked Izzy.
"Oh, nothing It's just..." Cassie started to say.
"Cass, I'm not mad about Camper and his gang, I'm over that and you didn't mean for that to happen," said Izzy putting her hand on Cassie's shoulder.
"I know but..." Cassie said.
"Look let's just enjoy the concert to get our mind off things, ok," said Izzy smiling.
Cassie started to smile back and gave Izzy a hug as they left the apartment and headed down to the new square.
After the concert was over they saw Pearl and Marina head back to their studio, they caught them before they walked in. "Hey you guys," said Izzy as she waved.
"Izzy? Cassie? I'm glad to see you two, did you enjoy the concert?" asked Marina delighted to see them.
"Yeah we did, It was awesome!" shouted an excited Izzy jumping up with her fist in the air.
"Well, I'm glad you liked it," said Marina with a warm smile.
"So this is going to be the new turf player hangout then," said Cassie looking around.
"Yep, but the lobby won't open until tomorrow, I assume it's gonna be packed with folks in the morning, you two might want to head home so you can get up here early," suggested Marina.
"Rina, let's go, I'm getting sleepy yo," said Pearl yawning.
"I'll be there in a minute, Pearly," said Marina as Pearl started to walk in the studio.
"(sigh) so...how's Cleo doing?" asked Marina.
"She's... slowly recovering, Marina," said Cassie.
"I think she'll be fine, She wouldn' t have made it we weren't there to get her help, I'm just sad to hear about what had happened, why would anyone do that to a person!" exclaimed Marina.
"Some people are like that Marina, I just didn't think he would stoop that low, mark my words, Camper will be stopped!" exclaimed Cassie.
Marina downed her head as she thought about everything that had transpired that day. She couldn't mention her acknowledgment about the human and her contact on the laptop. She turned her head for a moment and bit her lip thinking why the octarians wanted Blake. She turned back to the two with confused looks on there faces.
"Marina? Are you ok?" asked Izzy.
"huh...yeah, it's just been a long day, with rescuing Cleo and having to hurry back here for the Square opening, it's been very exhausting," said a stressed Marina who wasn't looking like herself.
"Well ok Marina, get some sleep," said Izzy.
"You too," replied Marina as the two girls walked away with Marina waving back at them with a grin. She soon headed back inside the studio. She went to the back bedroom and saw Pearl passed out snoring. "Good, she's asleep, it's been a long day for the both of us, I don't wanna wake her," said Marina as she peered in the bedroom and then closed the door.
She walked back to the main lobby and went over to her station to pull out her laptop. She got on and saw she had a new message on the screen. She opened it and it said:
DJ_Hyperfresh this is Agent_Indigo
I'd hope you got a hold of this message soon. I'm hearing reports that the subject had been captured by the rebels, if this is true, this is not good. We have to ensure no harm comes to the subject and that it doesn't initiate the rebel's operation: Teal Dawn. We must locate the whereabouts of the subject before they can reach Octo Canyon. If they do, it will be further away from our grasp and their chances of completing the operation will be higher.
Marina finished reading the message and typed one back.
I'm aware Agent_Indigo about the subject. And his name is Blake. He's become friends with some of the inklings I've met. We were compromised by this gang of inklings that had been working with the rebels. Things had gotten jeopardized and we were not expecting these inklings to be cooperating with the rebels. It appeared the Octarian's mole had been rooted out as she was tortured by these inklings. We managed to get her some medical attention before it was too late thanks to the squidbeak agents.
Marina sent the message and after a moment another message popped up, it read:
It has a name and the squidbeak agents were involved. This complicates things, we were hoping they wouldn't get involved, we must tread lightly now. This is a most troubling dilemma. I don't want the inklings or Inkopolis to find out about this. This could raise tensions between us and the Inkling government. I assume you don't know where "Blake" had been taken too, do you,"
Marina read the message and typed another:
I don't Agent_Indigo and the octarian's source is in ICU at the inkopolis Hospital. She probably would've known and I hope she recovers soon, I hated that her life was on the line for this mission. I'm glad she didn't die, she's a nice girl. I just hate it and Blake, He's been hiding away from the inklings for some time only to get captured by this inkling gang that's working with the rebels. To think how he feels right now and he's so sweet and selfless, watching out for his friends.
Marina sent the message and got a reply:
DJ_Hyperfresh I don't want anything to happen to the human neither but you have to put your emotions aside and stay focused. I'll try to find out any information on his whereabouts hopefully it's not too late. I'll stay in contact with you but for now, we'll retain network silence. Stay updated and near a communication device at all times DJ_Hyperfresh, stay in touch.
Agent_Indigo out
Marina closed her laptop after reading the last message. She sighed and got stuck in her thoughts thinking about the mission and Blake's safety and hoping Cleo would recover soon. She laid her head down on the table and soon drifted to sleep. "Blake, I hope you're ok," she mumbled before she went out.