Notice: A few lines from Callie and Marie are taken directly from the game.
Alexis's PoV
While the Rainbow Squids, albeit Inigo, who was absent once more, were chatting, a pile of papers was suddenly dropped on their table. Their eyes drifted up towards the source—a familiar green-haired octoling, standing alongside his friends.
"Here," announced Giovanni. "My research."
Roy picked them up and started reading through it. "Huh. You're better at Inkling than I thought."
"Most of us, Octa Prisma, can write your language decently," he pointed out.
"Speaking Inkling?" Oscar questioned before shaking his head. "It is not the well." He quickly put a hand behind his head, blushing. "I am wishing I do, though. It be a dream of I."
"I am almost fluent in it," Brayden mused. "I have been interacting with your kind much longer than they have."
"Contractions be the confuse of us," Yvonne admitted.
"Contractions aren't that hard," Perry said. "You just smash two words together and bam, contraction."
"So..." The yellow-haired octoling smiled. "Hel'ere?"
"That's... not a word," Bonnie pointed out.
"A for effort, though," Yuri encouraged with a thumbs-up.
"Anyways..." After Roy had put them down, Alexis slid the pile of papers towards her. "I'm taking this."
"What?" Gio gasped. "Why? I work hard on the research!"
"It's for... my friends," she explained carefully. Perry opened his mouth to elaborate, but the short-haired girl put a finger over her mouth, reminding him to be quiet about his encounter with she, Callie, and Marie a few weeks ago.
"The friends of you; they are here," Iris pointed out, gesturing towards the Rainbow Squids.
"I have other friends," she argued.
"Can't we at least read them?" Octavia asked.
"It's urgent!" Alexis argued, her brow furrowing. I wish I could tell them the truth, but I can't!
"If Alexis wants the papers, then it being more...uh...good, for Giovanni to do summary," the indigo-haired octoling countered. "We no argue this for long."
"A summary... I can do a summary," the green-haired boy agreed, putting a hand on his chin.
"Great, thanks." Alexis immediately picked up the papers and walked towards the manhole that would lead her to Octo Canyon, where Callie and Marie were presumably waiting. She slipped through the grate, and she popped out in the grassy area, donning the familiar hero suit. The Squid Sisters sat on a bench next to the shack, talking. Marie donned her kimono, while Callie donned her casual wear, minus the sunglasses. When they noticed her arrival, both of them waved.
"Hey, Four!" Callie greeted. After her peppy greeting, however, her shoulders fell, nervous. Her starry eyes glanced at her cousin for a second before returning their attention to the short-haired girl's orange eyes. "So, uh... remember how I tried to kill you?"
"Yeah, I remember." After the fight with DJ Octavio, no one really brought it up. Though, to be fair, this was the first time she had a casual conversation with the black-haired idol. Every other time had been business-related.
"Yeah... Sorry about that. I know I should had brought up sooner, but I just kept forgetting..." She smiled. "But I'm back on the up and up! Promise! In any case..." She stood up and pointed a finger towards the sky. "The Squid Sisters and the New Squidbeak Splatoon are ready to roll!"
"And you know the deal with me," started Marie. "I gotta hang out here until Gramps and Agent 3 come back from...whatever it is they're doing." She let out a sigh. "Seriously, where did Gramps wander off to..."
Callie gasped and sat right back down, crossing her legs. "Oh! That reminds me. Marie told me all sorts of wild stuff about you, Agent 4!"
"...What?" the orange-haired inkling questioned.
"She's been tracking your every move and logging it in her Agent 4 Factopedia! It's totally not creepy!" she replied.
While Marie remained speechless, Agent 4 remarked, "...Yeah, it's creepy." I hope Gio doesn't have an 'Alexis Factopedia' somewhere.
Callie picked a green-and-orange notebook and opened it, beginning, "According to Marie's Agent 4 Factopedia..." She looked down at the first page and bubbled, "Guess which weapon you've been using the most lately, Agent 4! It's the Hero Dualies! ...Which isn't very surprising, I'll admit. But just like Sheldon told me, 'The better you get to know a weapon, the better it will get to know you!'"
"Yup, that sounds like Sheldon," Marie agreed.
"Anyways." She closed the notebook and set it down. "We got a bigger task at hand."
"Yeah, the Vigilante." The grey-haired inkling eyed the papers Alexis held. "What are those for?"
"Remember how I told you Giovanni was stalking the Vigilante to see what he can learn? Well, he came with these papers today, and he let me bring them to you," she explained.
"Huh, I guess octolings can do some good every once and a while," she commented. The Squid Sisters took them and began reading them over.
"Oh, he uses a Carbon Roller in turf wars!" Callie chirped. "Just like-"
"You'd might want to keep quiet," Marie interrupted her cousin. "We don't want to leak too much of Agent 3's personal life."
"Agent 3's personal life?" Alexis asked. She had always thought of the missing agent as this unstoppable force that she forgot that she was an inkling, just like her, too.
"Yeah, she came to Octo Valley to vent all the time," the black-haired inkling replied. "We weren't there all the time, but Gramps and Octavio do make for pretty good listeners."
"It was like a boke and tsukkomi routine every time I went there," the other idol added.
"So, anyways, about the Vigilante..." the bronze-skinned girl started again.
"Well, these papers say he's usually seen in the alleyway past the Grizzco building," Callie informed. "I bet that if we hide out there, we can ambush him and get the new Hero Roller back!"
"I've prepared a bunch of low-tide ink for this," continued Marie. "We don't want to splat him on accident."
"Yeah, that would be bad," she agreed.
"We also found a bunch of armor. There're no spawn points anywhere around there, if memory serves. We have to be careful."
Callie tossed two black suitcases at Alexis. "Put these on while we change. We'll be right back out!" The two idols disappeared into the shack, leaving the short-haired girl at her lonesome. She opened one suitcase and immediately, she was equipped with a helmet and padded clothing. She then opened the second suitcase, which added a visor and extra padding to her armor.
"You're fighting another inkling, now?" someone behind her commented. She turned around to find DJ Octavio, sitting in his snow globe. "You splat-forsaken Squidbeak Splatoon are hypocrites, I tell ya!"
"Oh, shut up," she groaned. "We fight other squids in turf war all the time. Plus, we're not even trying to splat him."
"Whatever," he grumbled, crossing his muscular tentacles.
Callie and Marie emerged from the shack, wearing identical armored hero suits, though the former wore some shades, while the latter wore a white face mask. "We're back!" the black-haired idol announced.
"It's been a while since we wore these, hasn't it?" the grey-haired idol mused.
"Feels just like yesterday, right?"
"Eh... Anyways..." She lifted three tanks of lime green ink onto the bench. "Change your ink color to match mine, and we'll be on our way."
"Aw, but I like pink better," Callie muttered. "Oh, well." The ends of her tentacles turned lime green as she picked up one ink tank and slung it around her arms. She picked up the original Hero Roller, the wheel becoming slick with ink. Alexis also changed her ink color to match Marie's and picked up another ink tank, just like Callie had done. She spun one of her dualies in her hand as she waited for Marie to gather her belongings.
"Alright," announced the grey-haired inkling, holding the Hero Charger in her hands. "Let's go."
The three squids slipped through the manhole, arriving in Inkopolis Square seconds later, fully equipped. Some inklings gave them odd looks as they walked towards the alleyway, past Grizzco's. Callie directed them using a map that was included with Gio's research, and soon, they arrived in an alleyway. Clotheslines hung above them, and trash cans were lined up against the wall. Litter and graffiti decorated the corridor, making its danger clear. Callie and Alexis used the trash cans as cover, while Marie climbed up to a ledge, turning into a squid to make herself seem less visible. Now, all they had to do was wait for the Vigilante's arrival in silence.
It was not until sunset that a figure dropped down into the alley, balancing on a far-away ledge. The Vigilante. His red hair glistened in the sunlight, alongside the red wheel of the Hero Roller. A smirk lined his face as he did a few bounces, his stance telling that he was eager to act. Above Alexis, Marie reformed, stretching from the hours of idleness. She kneeled down and charged up her charger. She pointed it at the ground until the Vigilante started to stroll deeper into the alley. Then, she suddenly shot up and fired at his roller. He maintained a tight grip on it, flying back a few feet at the impact.
"Who's there?" he demanded. "The Vigilante will make you pay, no-good-doer!" The grey-haired inkling gestured for her allies to act, and Callie and Alexis jumped out at him. "Woah!" The latter fired at his chest, the ink sliding off of the hero jacket replica. He growled in pain, even though he seemed unharmed so far. Callie launched herself at him, Hero Roller in hand, but he simply pushed her back with the swing of his own roller. The wheels collided, sending the two back.
"Give us your weapon!" the black-haired inkling commanded.
"Why?" he asked. "I'm not handing this over."
"It's stolen property," the short-haired girl explained. "And Sheldon's offering a big reward for its return."
"And all signs are pointing to you as the thief," Marie added.
The Vigilante looked up at her, and he let out another growl. "So that's where that shot came from... No matter!" He stomped a foot on the pavement. "I'm not a thief; someone gave this to me! It was a gift!"
"Where's your proof?" Agent 4 snapped.
"Proof?" he retorted. "How am I supposed to give you proof? My words are proof!"
"Proof or not, you need to hand the roller over," Callie demanded. "Or we'll make you."
"In the name of...justice!" the young inkling added.
"Well, if you want this roller, you'll have to get through me, first!" He swung his roller at the black-haired lady's stomach, breaking one layer of armor and sending her back a few feet. While Callie crashed into the wall, he swung it again at Alexis's helmet, causing her to fall on the ground, landing on her butt. One layer of armor had broken, and a dull pain throbbed where the wheel had collided with her body. The Hero Roller was a dangerous weapon, and these swift attacks only rectified that claim.
"Ow!" Callie cried, gripping her gut. "That hurt!" She jumped to her feet and dashed towards him, knocking her roller into his. The two continued to fight, weapons constantly slamming into each other. Alexis got up and inked his feet, causing him to get stuck in the enemy ink. Callie slammed her roller into his once more, and the Vigilante fell off balance. Marie followed up with a charged shot that collided with his tinted shades, knocking them off. A thud sounded as he fell on his back, his body held down by the stolen weapon's weight.
Agent 4 walked up to him and put a boot on his chest, pinning him down. "Give it, now," she demanded, pointing a dualie at his head. Thankfully, he did not dare turn into a squid and try to escape. They had subdued him, and hopefully, he would give the roller back. The Vigilante's black hair tie had become loose, a smaller, sixth tentacle poking out from the bottom of it. His breathing was rapid, betraying his previously-confident demeanor. He even seemed to be muttering something to himself, something she couldn't clearly hear. At last, she looked him straight in the eye, her determined orange eyes meeting... scared, indigo ones.
She lowered her gun as recognition set in. Inigo? she perplexed. He's the Vigilante?
"Oh, him," Agent 2 realized. "This just got a lot more complicated."
"Mhm," Agent 1 agreed. "I'd hate for this to leak out..."
He gulped. "P-Please don't kill me," he pleaded. He opened his fist, freeing the roller from his grasp. The black-haired inkling walked over to him and picked it up, now having two rollers in her hands.
"We'll be taking this," she announced with a straight face.
"Fine, take it!" Inigo cried. "Just please, please don't kill me!"
"Calm down! We weren't even trying to kill you in the first place." She winked. "Promise!"
"Anyways, we're taking this back to Sheldon," Agent 4 informed him, pointing a second dualie at the new Hero Roller. "Don't try anything funny."
"I won't, I won't," fretted the boy with the ponytail, shaking his head. "I'm not dumb."
The group stared at him for a few more seconds before beginning to walk past him, back towards Ammo Knights, leaving the Vigilante alone in the alleyway, now powerless. At least they obtained what they were looking for. When they stepped into the weapon shop, Sheldon squealed upon seeing the Hero Roller.
"Yess! You got my baby back!" the horseshoe crab cheered. "Thank you, thank you so much! I knew I could count on you!"
"Any time, Sheldon." Alexis smiled. "Any time."
Yet, her smile was not genuine. It quickly fell as the weight of what had just happened fell on her. Inigo was the Vigilante. The Vigilante was working with Tiffany, the lady Asher had warned against so much. ...Inigo was working with Tiffany. And he had been the only member of the Rainbow Squids not to hear Asher's spiel.
To her, it seemed that her friend was going down a long, dark path, dancing with the devilfish.
A/N: Yikes! Poor Inigo... Even if Alexis knows that he's the Vigilante, and Octavia and Yuri both suspect that he is, he can't reveal his secret identity to the public. Anyways, that brings an end to this arc, but don't expect the Vigilante and Tiffany to go away just yet... They'll be around for another season or two. Next week's chapter should be a breather, and the week after that... well, it'll be the two-part finale of Season 2! And, the day after part two of the finale is released, another bonus story will be released. That's right, we'll have two bonus stories between seasons 2 and 3, which should serve as character development and reveal some backstory for the POV characters each story focuses on. I've been on the fence on whenever to have one or two bonus stories for a while now, and this past week, I finally decided on having two stories. Stay tuned for what's the come, and Branchwing, out!