Inigo's PoV
In the night, a gentle breeze blew, a shroud of darkness concealing the Vigilante from above. He stood on top of the roof of Starfish Drinks, the green sign still flashing this late. His indigo eyes narrowed underneath his tinted shades, focused on the entrance. He had to trust that Agent 3 would pop out of it, and maybe, he could battle with her again and finally take her to Tiffany.
What would she say? he wondered. She's not the squid she's truly looking for. He figured out in the days since he encountered Agent 3 for the first time here that she was actually referring to Geneva. But, the two inklings looked so similar that she might as well mistake her for his absent friend.
Unfortunately, it would seem that he would have to take her by force. The moment Octavia revealed his boss's name, Agent 3 immediately fled. He was still a little upset at her for that, but he had mostly calmed down since the incident. It was unlike him to hold a grudge for so long, but when he lost his chance to persuade Agent 3 into coming with him, he had a right to be angry.
Eventually, he heard the door swing open, and the Vigilante's attention immediately drifted down towards it. There she was. Agent 3. He dropped down in front of her, only for her to pull out her Hero Shot and shove it into his gut. He stumbled backwards, gripping it. As soon as he settled, the green-haired inkling focused on him and narrowed her eyes.
"What. Are. You. Doing," she demanded.
"Battle me again," he pled. "Please."
"I feel like you'll just take me to Tiffany no matter what happens," she protested. "Again, no way I'm going with you."
"Agent 3, please! I'm begging you! She's not a bad person!"
"You don't know her like I do. The fact that you're working with her makes me sick."
"Please!"
"I'm done with your excuses," she muttered, walking down the street.
"Wait!"
The Vigilante started running after her, but as the night had concealed him, the night now concealed her. She had disappeared into the darkness, marking another failure.
The next morning, at the dining table, Inigo ate some cereal, peering at his sister, who sat across from him, her feet on the wood. She was focused on whatever was on her phone. He lifted his head, wiping milk from his mouth. Still, his sister ignored him, lifting her cellphone to take a selfie.
"Ophelia," he started.
His sister put her feet down and began leaning on the table. "Yeah?" She had put her phone down, and her hands were now clasped in front of her, expecting something. Mischief twinkled in her indigo, almost purple, eyes.
"It's nice that you're home from college for once, but..." His eyes narrowed. "Can you please stop with the pranks?"
"What? I'm not hurting you or anything, am I?" she asked.
"Yeah, my pride," he grumbled. "I don't like it."
"Well, I'm not hurting you physically," she dismissed.
"Ophelia!" He slammed his hands down on the table. "I'm being serious!"
"C'mon, I can't have fun?" Ophelia teased. "Did you turn into Mr. No-Fun-Allowed this past spring?"
Inigo let out an exasperated sigh, shaking his head while his hand rested on it. "I'm going to school." Not bothering to take the bowl to the sink, he got up from his chair and walked over to where his backpack was resting, putting it on. Placing a fair-skinned hand on the door handle, he looked over his shoulder at his sister. "I love you, but please, for cod's sake, stop pulling pranks on me."
"Can't make promises, but I love you too." Inigo's sister waved, and he exited his house.
The boy with the ponytail wasn't interested in driving today, so instead, he super-jumped to the school. He landed a few feet from the gates, nearly losing his balance. He got up and wiped some dirt off of his shirt before entering. The school was practically empty this early in the morning, with only a few jellyfish roaming the halls. Not even Bonnie was here yet. And she was usually the first out of all of the Rainbow Squids to arrive at the school.
Inigo stood next to the water fountain, watching everyone pass by. He could go further into the hallway and head to his first class, but he at least wanted to see his friends first. Or Naomi. He wouldn't mind seeing Naomi, too. ...But she didn't know he was the Vigilante.
I wish that could change, he thought. But Tiffany wouldn't allow it.
The lady had caught wind of his rather long relationship with Naomi compared to every other girl he had gone out with as the Vigilante. She even summoned him to his apartment one day to talk about it.
"Why?" she had asked. "Why are you still in a relationship with this one girl? It's been weeks."
"I'm...trying a new strategy," he had replied. "I thought the girl you're looking for would become jealous if I stayed with her for a while."
"Using jealously to your advantage?" Even now, he could see her sly smile. "Interesting idea. You know, it would be a shame if you're lying to me. That would have...unfortunate consequences."
"I wouldn't lie to you. When I have I? I wouldn't start now."
"I trust you, boy, but trust me, you don't want things to get ugly."
Inigo shivered as he remembered the threat. His friends had told him from time-and-time again that Tiffany was dangerous. He didn't want to believe it, but now, he was thinking that they may be right. Yet, Tiffany was always nice to him. It always seemed silly that someone as nice as her would be someone so wicked and dastardly.
He heard two inkling girls gossiping, their loud voices projecting through the echoing hallway. He turned into an indigo squid and hid underneath the water fountain. They stopped in front of him, and now, he was only seeing their legs. One wore leggings, while the other was wearing a skirt, with pants underneath it.
"Naomi's gonna get dumped for sure," one of them sneered. "You can't trust the Vigilante. He keeps cheating on everyone. Everyone. I heard he's been cheating from the moment he started dating. He cheated on his first girlfriend for his first victim!"
"Then wouldn't that be his second victim?" the other one corrected. "Girlfriend number one would be his first."
"But like, he dated her before he became the Vigilante. Whatcha have to say to that?"
"...Yeah, you're right. Hey, did you know that Leah knows who the Vigilante is?"
"Leah? That art squid?"
"Yeah? People say she grabbed his glasses and almost broke them, allowing her to see his true colors. And get this—apparently he goes to our school!"
"Really? Here, in West Inkopolis High School? He seems too fresh for school."
"Yeah, no doubts about it. He's a junior."
"Well, duh, he's 17. Y'know anyone who looks like him?"
"I dunno, I don't know a lot of juniors. If he was in our grade, on the other hand... Then I definitely could've scoped him out."
"Roy Blacktip from the baskfishball team has red hair, doesn't he?"
"...Yeah, now that I think about it. But the Vigilante has lighter skin. And a completely different hairstyle."
"Oh, yeah, you're right. Know anyone with five tentacles?"
"No. What happened to tentacle number six, anyways?"
"My friend told me he cut it off and stuffed it into the mouth of one of his victims. She didn't go to school for a week straight from ink poisoning!"
"Yikes, that's bad. So not only is he toxic personality-wise, he's literally toxic!"
"Girl, anyone can get ink poisoning if you drink too much of it."
"Oh, yeah..."
Beneath the water fountain, Inigo shuffled his tentacles, shrinking further against the wall. Heavy emotions weighed down on him, threatening to overwhelm him. What were these girls saying? The rumors weren't even true! Then why do I feel horrible? In the back of his mind, something was laughing at him.
You are a horrible person, said a more twisted version of his own voice. Who cares if the rumors are false? Your actions spawned them.
No, he argued silently. The Vigilante's actions spawned them.
But you're the Vigilante, countered the voice. And he is you.
The Vigilante is me... It was true, yet he always liked envisioning himself as a stronger, more heroic version of himself. As the Vigilante, he felt unstoppable. No one could stop him, and no one would get in his way. His dream had come true, and Tiffany was to thank. He had all the girls he wanted.
But...
The girls stopped talking, and the one wearing leggings leaned down to check under the water fountain. "Hey, who's this?" she asked.
"Uh..." Inigo trailed off.
"Was he eavesdropping on us?!" the girl with the skirt gasped. "Lemme have him!"
The girl with leggings reached a fair-skinned hand towards him, grabbing him. She tossed it in the other girl's hands, and she proceeded to punt him down the hallway. He crashed into some lockers, his world spinning as he transformed back into a kid.
"Inigo?" a masculine voice called. In his blurry vision, a red-and-tan shape loomed over him. Roy? "What are you doing?!"
"...I think I'm seeing stars," the boy with the ponytail muttered.
After school, Inigo immediately headed towards the Deca Tower to change clothes. Today, he would be the Vigilante. He was sure of it. He entered the changing room and pulled out his hero costume and tinted shades. His ink color shifted from indigo to red, matching Tiffany's ink color. After he put his shirt and shoes away, he immediately grabbed his roller and walked out. Standing boldly, he put his free hand on his hip.
"Don't fear," he announced, "the Vigilante is here!"
A few inklings cast him strange glances before returning to what they were doing before. The boy with the ponytail lowered his hand, and he slumped over, frowning. What is wrong today?
He continued walking through the tower, only to garner few responses. And the responses he had gotten were negative. Ignoring them, he marched on. Once he entered the square, he put away his roller and started parading around it, popping up in front of any inkling girl hanging about. They merely screamed in terror and ran away.
"Vigilante!" someone finally called. Finally. He turned around to see a pale-skinned girl with hair styled in a double bun running up to him. "It's you!" She wrapped her arm around him, much to his discomfort. "Will you date me?"
"Uh..." He freed his arm from her grasp. "Sorry, I'm dating someone else."
"What?!" she cried. Immediately, tears welled up in her silver eyes. "The Vigilante doesn't like me...!"
"Don't cry!" he tried to comfort her. Putting a hand on her shoulder, he said, "I'll just date you another time."
She sniffed. "R-Really?"
"Yeah. I don't know how long that'll be, or if I even remember, but..." He shrugged. "Just find me when you find out I'm single again."
"Alright!" She straightened and put a hand over her chest. "I won't let you down!" She skipped away, leaving the Vigilante alone again.
His indigo eyes drifted over to where the Rainbow Squids were sitting. His friends were chatting away, not seeing to notice him. As far as he knew, only Roy and Octavia knew who he truly was. He figured that Alexis might know, too, considering her relationship to Via. His attention then drifted over to Octa Prisma, who were also talking, though he didn't know what they were saying. Iris glanced at him and grumbled to herself, looking away.
The Vigilante turned away from the Crust Bucket and started headed towards the direction of Grizzco Industries. He wished he could do a Salmon Run, but it wasn't hiring right now. The doors were barred shut. An inkling was banging on the door, demanding to be let in. Of course, no one answered. He turned his attention away from Grizzco's and started heading down the alleyway, which led to an open street. As he walked down it, he felt icy glares shoot towards him, dread dripping into him with every step. Keeping his façade up, he gulped and tried to ignore them.
"The Vigilante..." someone gasped.
The boy with the ponytail looked over towards the source of the voice. On the other side of the street, a betta fish had her mouth gaping, eyes wide. Once they made eye contact, she scrambled away, never to be seen again. Turning his attention away from the spot where she had once been, he continued walking. Grey clouds hung over the city of Inkopolis, casting a dreary shadow over it. Everyone's mood seemed to be dampened. Perhaps that was why everyone was so hostile to the Vigilante, he reasoned.
He couldn't take the glares anymore and gripped the side of a building. There was a gap next to it that led to an alleyway. A few clotheslines were draped between the two buildings, the garments swaying towards the street in the breeze. Looking around first, the Vigilante slinked into the corridor, disappearing into the shadows. He walked through it, his feet heavy. The alleyway opened up into more alleyways, creating a maze among the buildings. He navigated them until he came across a dead end. A blue dumpster rested against the side of the water, some stickers covering it. Some empty tin cans laid around it, and a few feet in front of it was a puddle, reflecting patterns the clouds made.
The Vigilante approached the puddle, looking down at his reflection. Instead of seeing himself, however, he saw something else. The reflection shared his features, yet at the same time, they were foreign to him. A tired fair-skinned inkling, with red tentacles that drooped downwards. He could see a hint of dark circles under the shades he wore. The tinted lens made it impossible to tell his eye color. All the while he was smiling. But that smile quickly fell.
That's not me, he realized. But... He waved a hand. The reflection followed. It is. It isn't. It is. His mind was in turmoil, unsure of what to make of the reflection. He gripped his headset and threw them off, splashing into the puddle and banging against the dumpster. Once the water settled, he looked at the reflection once more. It was still the same, minus the lack of the hero headset replica.
He fell to his knees, mortified. His hands trembling, he took off his tinted shades, set them on the ground, and gave one final look at the puddle. Indeed, he looked like himself again, but something was not right. His expression and posture looked foreign to him. Panicking, he took the hair tie off, revealing his cowlick and causing two tentacles to fall to his shoulders. He took out his normal hair tie and put it up again, making his cowlick visible once more. Nothing happened.
Something was wrong.
He thought back to earlier, to the inkling girls gossiping about the Vigilante. The way they described him, it was like he was a monster, waiting for its next prey. And deep down, he knew they were right. To everyone, the Vigilante had been a horrible person.
And Inigo was the Vigilante.
The fair-skinned inkling put his hands between the puddle, leaning over to look at his face. He bit his tongue, trying to hold back tears. His grip on the concrete tightened, his vision becoming watery.
"Caarrrrp," he swore under his breath, his breathing becoming heavier. He blinked, tears stinging his eyes as they dripped into the puddle, distorting the reflection. One of his hands rolled into a fist and pounded against the hard ground, sending vibrations through the small body of water. Eventually, he succumbed himself to the tears, and collapsed on the ground, sobbing.
He didn't know how long he had pitifully stayed in the same place, curled around the puddle. He took off his hair tie at one point, tentacles draping down once more. He glanced down at his reflection. Tears stained his cheeks, and red was no longer present in it. His ink color had shifted back to indigo. For now, he was simply Inigo, but at the same time, he was the Vigilante. He was supposed to be the Vigilante, anyways.
Eventually, he heard a voice.
"Vigilante?"
He opened his eyes to see a girl, standing at the end of the alleyway. His indigo eyes glanced up at her face. Naomi.
Carp, I can't let her see me like this. "Go away." The demand came out weaker than he would have liked. "I'm fine." He rolled over, facing away from her.
"Do you think I'd leave you at a time like this?!" she refused. "Something's wrong; I can feel it."
"I said, go away," he pressed, his voice a little stronger. He rubbed his eyes, still wet from crying.
"Vigilante, no!"
"I said, GO AWAY!" His voice breaking, he sat up and faced her, eyebrows furrowed. "Cod, just get away!" he sobbed. "You can't see me like this. You can't..."
Naomi still stood lax, though her expression turned into one of bewilderment. "Inigo Sable?" she asked, causing him to look up at her yellow-green eyes. "Is that you?" Inigo only nodded, slumping over. He heard footsteps get closer to him, and he then noticed her kneeling down to look at him. Frowning, she wiped a tear from his eye. Her hand felt warm on his cheeks, which had gone cold as the tear streaks cooled. She then wrapped herself around him, hugging him.
"I'm here," she whispered in his ear. "I'm here."
Smiling, he dug his face into her shoulder. They remained in the alleyway for even longer as Inigo calmed down, his despair leaving him. He didn't want to let go. How long had it been since he had a hug as intimate as this one? He couldn't remember. He put a hand on her back, fingers brushing her tentacles.
"I like you," he whispered at long last. "I really do. But I didn't want to admit it for real."
"You sounded sincere every time you said 'I love you,'" she commented. "I wouldn't be able to tell." She sighed, and then she said, "I like you too."
His heart skipped a beat. He didn't say anything in return; he simply tightened his grip. Eventually, the two broke the embrace and rose to their feet, staring into each other's eyes for the first time. Naomi picked up his headset and glasses and returned them to him. He put the headset back on, but he hesitated putting the shades back on as well.
"I don't want to be the Vigilante anymore," Inigo admitted. A weight lifted off of his chest at the confession. Just how long had he been wanting to say that? "But I can't stop."
"Why not?" Naomi asked.
"I promised my boss I would find a girl for her," he explained. "And I will. I don't want to let her down."
She shook her head. "I don't like the sound of that."
"I don't even know what she wants with her," he added. "But, I'm sure it's for a good reason. She's never done anything bad to me."
Naomi put an olive-skinned hand on her forehead and laughed. "Aight. If you say so."
"But, now that you know my identity..." Inigo frowned. "...I don't think we can keep dating."
"Huh? Why not?"
"If we start acting lovey-dovey at school, then people will notice. And people are bound to find out that I'm the Vigilante. I don't want that." Neither does Tiffany.
"What if we date in secret?" she suggested. "Just the two of us, after you announce the break-up. We're gonna have a lot of fun, right? We already did! You not being the Vigilante isn't going to change anything."
"That's not a bad idea. We just have to be careful."
"Yeah!"
Inigo put his tinted shades back on and smiled. "Be safe out there."
"You too!"
He waved as Naomi walked away, leaving him along in the alleyway. With a smile on his face, he followed her out, acting as if nothing had ever happened in the darkness.
A few days later, Inigo was back in Tiffany's apartment, staring right into her dark eyes. Her legs were crossed, her hands clasped together on her lap. She kept a neutral expression, making it impossible to tell what she was truly feeling. He sunk into the cushioned chair, curious on what she had to say.
"You broke up with her at last," she started. "And yet, no one has seen you with a new girlfriend. Is this another one of your 'strategies?'"
Inigo nodded. "I-I thought that playing hard-to-get would make me-" He said the word with hesitance, his voice lowering a little. "-more desirable."
"I see... Why not just continue with the first strategy?"
"No matter who I was dating, the result would be the same." He looked down at his hands. "The girl you're looking for didn't pop up, and she wouldn't pop up if I'd kept doing that."
She snickered. "What a slippery girl, she is." Louder, she asked, "What will you do if that strategy fails, too?"
"I'll just go back to the first strategy," he declared. "And alternate between them."
"Hmm..." Tiffany put a pale hand on her chin. "Maybe she likes girls?"
Inigo blinked. "...I'm not growing my hair out."
"I'm not saying you had to."
The indigo-haired boy shook his head. "Look, Tiffany, I want to ask you something."
Her eyes widened, surprised. "Oh? That's rare. What is it?"
He gulped, bracing himself for her reaction. "W-What are you going to do after we find the girl you're looking for?"
Tiffany smiled. "Didn't I tell you? I just want to talk to her brother again. He's been avoiding me, and I want to reconnect with him."
"Oh. I'm sorry..." he apologized. "I forgot." But did she ever tell me?
"Boy, I thought you had a better memory than this. Best for you to write it down somewhere. Like in your phone."
He pulled out his cellphone and started typing the reason why in his notes. "Doing it now."
"Good."
After he finished, Inigo rose from the chair and walked over to Tiffany. "I'll be going, now." She nodded, and he started walking towards the door, placing his hands on the handle.
"Oh, and Inigo?"
He looked over his shoulder to see Tiffany staring over at him.
"You know what the consequences will be if you're lying."
Giving a slight nod, he waved and left the apartment, unusually nervous.
A/N: Woo! That's done and over with. Ever since I decided to continue the plot with the Vigilante into Season 3, I've been thinking about this scene a lot. It feels a little less emotional than what I wished for it to be, but I hope it still has some impact on the reader, seeing Inigo so distraught. ...I can also get rid of that "skipping a lot of chapters for now" note I have for the next Inigo chapter, which I wanted to get a head-start on when I started writing this season. Trust me, Inigo can finally get a break next time he has a point-of-view chapter. The next chapter is considerably happier than this one, though there's possibly going to be a downer ending. I don't know, a lot can happen between now and next week. That's all, and Branchwing, out!