Zoe: "Hot damn!...That really explains so much of how we got in contact with them in the first place" she said in a surprised tone as we were within my room inside the sub, having a private talk via the helmet and eating my morning meal.
Zoe is next to the new work library table of mine. I was sitting on the bed while wearing new casual clothes. It was a very shocking moment to the core, as I told Zoe about it only briefly the moment that I got rid of my embarrassment, I slept shortly after revealing the small information. But I was really not in the best mood to talk about...the other thing that the mysterious girl mentioned. How did she know so much about it? And who told her that in the first place to know a great length of what I did to Villesa? Just...how?
Jack: "It's crazy right!? I really didn't see that coming, not it all! I was just thinking that it might be just the people we already come in contact with. But her!? Out of everyone we know so far. SHE. Was the one who gave me her little army….!?" I exclaimed in shock in deep disbelief of what I heard from the coin.
Zoe: "That little thing really capable of complex communication? How come I can't talk to it? And why through the coin beside the usual litters?" she said as I was wondering about the same thing as well.
Jack:" [hoooo boy, this going to hurt] Well for one Z, maybe because things are already out of control with that octocunt that she decided to go with the safe route and use the coin. To which it is a pretty clever move on her part. Second, it's a 'real' spiritual item. And forgive me for saying the facts here Zoe but, you may have a mind of a human, but no soul of your own to talk with it. Have you ever noticed that the coin never talked or reached you the moment they found me when they felt my very being but not you?"I informed Zoe as she looked at me with disbelief before she laid back on the work table as she sat on it.
She looked really upset but not to the point of crying; reminded by the cold fact of her existence - just a machine. Smart. Powerful. Sentient machine. It hurts to hear the obvious facts straight to her face. I switched my attention to the coin as it floated on my hand, then gently grabbed it before tossing it in the air. Soon enough it reached back to the palm of my hand before floating again. This time, it radiates it's blue and red aura.
Jack: "If you wonder, it speaks about you atm."
She perked up before looking at me with an intrigued expression, then to the floating coin.
Jack: "They apologise that they haven't spoken to you sooner, through me at least. And they really do like you and want you to have a future with me. Should you desire it of course after it's observation with you and I, and as long as I am around, you can talk to them anytime you wish. They will do what they can to help with making your dream come true'' I informed Zoe through the coin's own words as she looked like that she has seen hope in years prior.
Zoe:"...thank you. It really means a lot to me"
Is all she said but with a smile like something has given a purpose in life aside from her programming...the coin goes further and beyond the limit of life of our world, and now I am bound to it's goal until they finally finish what they have set to do all these years before making that deal. The coin's aura then faded as it rested back to my hand.
Jack: "They said 'you welcome and may be both the sin of lust and the sin of greed with the barrier of integrity. Find their goal to their final journey together" I said while we looked at each other as the coin is now a sleep for the time being.
We had this look that we just saw something so extortionary, as we smiled at our common and uncommon goal before we kept talking about it until we reached the actual subject we were supposed to address.
Zoe: "It is really pretty generous of her to do something so selfless that she brings her troops to us like that...I swear to you Jack~, if I actually had eyes I'd be crying right now for making our little new life better. She really is one helluva gal to care for you like that~"
Jack:"Eh eh...yeah" I said in a heartfelt tune with a warm smile before looking down as I just lost in my own mind.
Zoe just smiled before coming to me, as she took the helmet off my head without notice, she put it back in the suit as if she was wearing it herself. I snapped back to reality as I just looked at her while she made this bedroom eyes.
Zoe:"At least she's not mad for you doing this sort of thing with me, and other women; hmmm~?"she teased with a smirk in her face as I just said nothing and felt only a bit of shame and shy of embarrassment on my face as I looked away with hand on said face...fucking..ughhhh!
In exhaustion of both her and that feeling of somewhat being a dead man I flopped back to my bed while still thinking of how she did even saw me doing such things with both Villesa and Zoe as I made her go wild recently last night. The coin said nothing and kept such details to itself because whoever that woman was, she wanted to keep things secret...Can't blame her for how things are at this moment. But I'll still be patient long enough to meet her at last.
Zoe chuckled as she opened the suit and told me that we were going to talk to the mayor of inkopolis soon...let's hope things are not going to be AS awkward with the previous encounter with the sealings. I just need to meet business people and that's all I need, as for normal….fuck normal. Things were never normal back in my time, so I really don't give a damn about people's thoughts of normal, aside from worshipping. That shit is freaky to the healthy mind in so many levels, I really wonder what god is thinking right about now after seeing all this, then again. he is the creator of creation, and already knows all the fucked up possibilities, but what does he really think of me being treated like one. I don't expect that I will go either heaven or hell from this one. I'll...just keep on going and see what happens next. God, forgive me for this. But I ask you to at least forgive my only sin that I committed back in the bunker, they left me with little choice...I'm sorry.
Zoe: "It's ok jack, I'm sure the big guy himself already forgives you. I did and so does she, so be brave and go forward for now. Ok?"
jack:"...let's make our move. We have a job to do"
Zoe:"...roger" she said with a sad tune as I wear my gray coat over my suit to make look somewhat presentable for the meeting as I just sat down in front of the computer while putting my legs on the table for comfort with other one on my first leg and decided to continue playing Mario odyssey in the suit's data with the holographic controls.
For a while at least to keep my mind occupied, until the meeting starts. We scheduled a live meeting with the mayor this morning, as we came in contact with one of the guards to speak with him. I didn't want to sound like some sort of intrusion as I only wish to knock on his door, metaphorically of course, in the best of our abilities at least. Well either way, the mayor himself sounded tired when he took the phone but, delighted to hear me, he did mention of course about the offer as I told him that it can wait until things are back to normal first. My proposal to schedule a meeting to let them know that I will do something about that power problem was already agreeable. Sooner then, he gave us the meeting code shortly after making a few calls or so, before we could attend.
An hour passed with me playing as I reached the seaside kingdom, my favourite place to crash after beating the game on my previous console with everything in it. God I really do miss the good stuff, anywho. I begin to hear some kind of noise on sub's monitor.
?:"...hello?...are you representing ?"
Upon hearing the voice, I saved and stopped playing before standing up. As I looked at the sub's screens I saw the jellyfish mayor himself named Derin. Other government employers are facing the camera, I waved my hand while saying 'hi' to signal if they can hear me as well. They did the same as we confirm that all of us are well connected...perfect.
Wraith:"greetings and good morning ladies and gentlemen. My name is wraith, the last human on earth and as well as known by the public as the ghost of justice. Pleased to meet you all on this short notice" I said with a humble tune while still standing up before I did a small bow with hand on my chest.
odradek/zoe:"And I am Zoe - the most advanced self aware artificial intelligence responsible for keeping Mr. Wraith updated, alive and well. After his wake from sleep cryo-sleep. So please If you don't mind, treat him with the best kindness you can offer for making our dabu" she said with the same tone before faintly flashing a blue colour while forming a hand with a waving gesture.
Derin:" I am very pleased to hear you once more Mr. Wraith! And I must congratulate you on your success with avoiding both death and time itself. Where we are very happy that you have come to us and helped us out with the mess of our city" he said before the rest of the employees made their interjection.
Most of them were ok, others were not so much but, they're alright. Few of them are believers in me, others - including the mayor - not, which is good.
Wraith: "The pleasure is mutual. No need to give much credit to me and please don't think ill of us as we only follow the instincts to give someone our aid if things have gone wrong" I said while still bowing my head in a humble tune.
Derin: "You don't need to be apologetic Mr. Wraith. I understand the need to do something right for making things better for everyone so no need to be so modest in trying to do something right. Your explanation of making your existence known to the world was truly liberating"
wraith:"You're too kind Mr. Derin, sir" I said with a humble tone before raising my head.
Sealing e/f:" If you don't me ask my lord. How did you-"
Wraith:"Found our way here to find all of you? We just used whatever evidence of intrusion to the bunker"
Sealing e/f:"Oh really!?...was it us?"
wraith:"...the opposite actually"
Derin:"Oh...then. How come you reach us instead?"
wraith:'' I make my own play on life...no one else's" I said as Derin just looked at me with more eagerness in his eyes as if there were sparkling.
Derin: "A man with will of his own. I like him already"
zoe:"Really?...I'm surprised that you don't have anything remotely against the man since you did offer him to be part of the government. And I assure all of you that he is more than qualified for the job" she said in a respectful tone as he nodded in reply before we all kept talking and discussing the full situation of both inkopolis and I.
Didn't want to reveal too much, going with 'need to know' approach. I'll keep my army and my actual objective classified for the time being. Time has passed and they agreed that I will handle the problem with some help of course, obviously. 'The all might squid-beak splatoon', they had to notified them of my arrival for the extra help...i do hope I can get the chance to talk with Craig personally, that asshole along with his supposed shitty friend of his better have some explanation's to every fuck up they did. Cuz I'm going for a belt whipping of these old crocks.
Derin:'' well that concludes the meeting for your operation. I already sent you the location of where the last Great Zapfish had been seen. Once you get the zapfish escort it to a safe place till the rest of the situation is solved. In addition for you to get the next one after the first rescue, you get to keep the next upcoming ones. Since we only need the Great Zapfish back, you get to keep some of the small ones as a power reward for your ship. I hope it's enough before we can finally discuss further making a contract of becoming one us" he said with a happy tune as I just bowed once again in good grace.
Jackpot! More power for my brand new palace. And keeping the sub on until we find a different source of energy for days...but still.
Wraith:"I'll just grab five for myself and that should cover most of my power needs in the future" I said as he just nodded in agreement with delight.
I may be greedy but not a hoarder, trying to collect as much as humanly possible for no reasons.
Derin:"As you wish good sir. Also, this is the first time that I see and hear both you, and your A.I. in our channel here. Of course I wish to meet you in person but, I see that circumstances have put us all in a hiding petition for now. So I guess we'll have to wait a bit longer to officially make our acquaintance" he said in a happy tone.
Wraith:'' I am sure we all are mayor Derin. Well then. This is the part where I make my move after a quick preparation. Farewell for now!...Oh before I forget, I need you to do something for me, if you don't mind. not for free of course" I asked politely as he was really eager to help with whatever I'm planning.
I waved a hand gesture to all of them before they did the same, some of them bowed their heads before I bowed back. our meeting has finally been concluded before the channel has turned off completely.
Odradek/Zoe:``Well that went rather well more so than I hoped, and good thing I checked every corner in the grid in case someone was spying or recording our talk. And here I thought for sure that they might be going to...well. Somewhat shut us down on the spot" she said as I sat down in small tiredness.
Jack:'' If you have a spine, then shit won't go wrong. You'd be owning so much shit without a single strain. Father has taught me that while things were not as fulfilling, Gotta love the man for staying optimistic for our sake just as much as I do for the family" I said with a heart warming smile as I just let my head relax and remember every single step of his lessons before I had to leave for haunting some good jobs to earn a lot of money in his stead.
I had to leave outside so many times over and over despite that I am somewhat of an introvert myself. Wilson grew up to be a government man himself. He makes sure that every recourse he has of his party stays good and tip-top shape. However, something has happened that he started to earn less than usual and he doesn't seem to know why. My mother Lurina had to whore her way for her children to make our living situation better. Father was well aware of it as they had a talk as a team to make that sort of diction. Of course they disliked the idea with passion...but, they had to. Bless their hearts for keeping a straight face about it. She of course did the same but seeing them both do this for all of us is indeed both admirable and foolish. I fucking hate it to the core but I understand why. Hell, even both brother Zeke and sister Trace had to dive into drug business out of necessity. As for me...
He-he-he~. Let's just say that before Hellven City came into the picture in my life, I had to pull some strings in my favor for every job I take~.
Odradek/zoe:"Do you think it will work well?"she asked as I just formed a sly smile.
Jack: "Positive, hmhm~...also we have one more quick meeting with the octolings. Since we're going alone on this one for now"
Odradek/zoe:"Celine, the Agent 3 will be joining us actually. She just texted us"
Jack: "Oh!...well, more help never hurts. Plus, the preparation will be done soon. We'll deploy our octolings into the field once they're ready to take charge after their training. So let's be extra careful from here, mkay?" I said before taking the coat off and having the gyro wire hanger taken away before going to the next meeting...I know it's the briefing but I like to keep my mind sharp.
*After the afternoon briefing, on our way to octo valley*
I am now inside the lunch tube with Zoe taking the wheel like usual. Nicky wanted to come with us of course but since the tube itself is required to have water to make the launch, AND her coming back soon after the whole shebang. Also she and others don't have the human needle gene thing, so I said 'no' and told her to keep training and guarding the sub, along with her squad as they volunteered to help. All of the octarians have shared in the briefing of what everything they know, and what I have on Octavio's overall character, putting all together what I learned about him summarises in a few words. Pride with no honour, blinded by the past and can't move on from it; boomer to the extreme with a justified goal but an absolutely horrible execution. Failure as both leader to his people and as a family man to his wife and only child. And since he just practically did gave the same treatment with Nicky and the rest….I'm going to teach him a fucking lesson that he'll never forget until god himself deal with him when father time takes him a way. And I already know exactly how to make him stick with it, this should be fun~.
Odradek/zoe:"We've arrived" she said as she showed me through the subs camera via the visor.
As I see three big hills with two octopus statues on each edge top of both the valley and the canyon. The origin of these ones are not a complete mystery. In the reports Deadf1sh gave to me about Octo Valley I quote: "was made using the remains of an ancient civilization. It seems to be using very familiar things... or is it just my imagination?" This seems to hint that Splatoon's events take place on Earth, long after humans have gone extinct. A large octopus-shaped rock can be found in Octo Valley, which is likely how it got its name. No, I'm not imagining this not one bit. it's real alright.
We made our stop and descended down, I also made sure that I had some nourishments and the 'stay fresh' bottle's with me in the usual waterproof bag, along with my new upgraded heavy roller weapon as I installed a custom back holster for it. Nothing is too important to me, aside from my coin of course...'sigh'. I know I shouldn't bring it alongside me but I need to at least bring a message to her before starting my mission. And thank her for the support she gave me, that and apologise for being impatient. Oh my good lord I hope she can forgive me for being at least a filthy honest man like myself. I groaned in some frustration before I got launched out of the sub's tube as I flew all the way to the top head of the statue...overlooking the valley.
From what I gathered in the briefing, Octo Valley is the home base of the Octarians. This is where the Octarians came to live after they lost the Great Turf War to the Inklings. The domes' falling into disrepair and losing electrical power drives the Octarians to invade the surface and steal the Zapfish. It also comprises many large underground domes, called kettles, and their interior walls are covered with screens that display images of the surface...now I just feel sad, though I understand why. Anywho, in order To find the entrances to these kettles, you must find anomalies in your surroundings, as they are hidden, The air around these kettles will appear distorted, so they are not hard to spot. and shoot ink at them until they are fully visible. That also might explain why Celine was able to see me first hand when we met. Hmm, I wonder if I got my hands on that technology. I should ask deadf1sh for that if I did a good job on both ends.
The whole place looked like some kind of a broken mind with now way to repair it. I saw a huge hole underneath the dome that looked like a crater. What the hell have they done to make such a thing? and why is there a UFO in the sky?...Well you know what? Fuck it like always, things will get more odd from here on out, but I'm ready for this Alice madness returned bullshit.
I also saw a shack of some sort in the far distance from below as I see two inklings, one old and one yang. I zoomed in before I saw Celine herself was waving at me happily from a far….goddamn woman you're scary~, and I see the old fool himself, Craig cuttlefish. In the last meeting they showed his picture to recognise him on the spot. He is just sitting there with his green bamboozle stick to support him. He looked...guilty, his expression I mean, lost and tired. Hmm, I'll ask him later when he feels better. Right now.
Jack:" It's time to start this game" I said with an evil smirking tune just before super jumping to the outpost.