Enter the Octobot King, Octo Valley
"I never let news of this Inkling leave Nautilus base, not even the Octarians in the Undercity know about this and only the Octarians at Nautilus base knew that we would be pulling back right now. So tell me, which one of my soldiers brought you here?"
They had been played.
Why would the Octarians use Lila as bait if they weren't even going to let Inker know what they were doing?
Why would they remove the boss kettle and force them to go through the Undercity to reach Octavio's lair?
Why did they put every splatoon they had to take shifts guarding Lila if Agent 3 never knew where she was in the first place?
Because Lila wasn't bait for Agent 3, it was bait for whoever was leaking information from Nautilus.
Right now Neon could easily take out Octavia with a single shot, but they were surrounded with nowhere to run, if any of them did any kind of hostile act it would end in disaster.
Inker and Kal were worried that Neon would go off and start shooting so they eyed her Charger for movement, surprisingly she didn't budge, even she must have noticed the severity of the situation and restrained herself.
Though Inker did notice Neon's eyes darting around as if trying to find a way out…..
Leave it to a competitive Turf War player like Neon so always be looking to gain the upper hand.
'What can we do now? We obviously can't tell her about Victoria, but I can't see a way out of this either. I got three lives with the Hero Suit on so maybe I could sneak away by losing one, but Kalus and Neon don't have Hero Suits, also we would end up leaving Lila behind and this whole mission would have been for nothing.'
"We don't need anyone to tell us, after all we've broken into Octo Valley's security system a long time ago, we've been using it ever since Octavio stole the Great Zapfish."
"Nice try, but there aren't any cameras here since Octavio like to keep secrets. Therefore you had no way of knowing that the Octarians on duty would hide inside the Octobot King, so how could you have known to check inside the Octobot King for troops?"
'They saw that too?'
Sky's voice came over the headset
"She's right, there aren't any cameras in that lair, all I got to watch now is the footage from your hidden camera."
Inker's little lie was shot down in an instant, still he had to think of something else to say and buy time.
"Agent 3? Agent 3 are you there?" Callie was now talking through the headset, she must be in the shack with Sky and the Cap'n
"Callie? I could really use your help right about now."
"Marie and I are at gramps' shack but the boss kettle is gone and we can't get to you in time."
"Can you just start making your way over here? I'll do what I can to keep them at bay."
"Okay, be careful though."
Octavia had easily noticed Inker mumbling to someone through his headset.
"Calling for help? Don't bother, if any one of us hears any shooting you're going down first. Plus you are in the deepest part of Octo Valley nobody can reach you here. I'll ask you again, who told you to come here at this time?"
Inker tried his best to think of another plausible lie.
Nothing, he couldn't think of anything that would explain how he found out about Lila that didn't involve Victoria.
"I'll take your silence as confirmation that i'm right, I suspected that someone in the Octarian army was helping you after you somehow made it to Melanin prison in under four days. You know if you tell me who brought you here I might just order the Elites to go and arrest them instead of shooting you where you stand."
'Was she making a deal?' Inker couldn't tell, but no way could he trust Octavia, she's the same one or squidnapped Kal and nearly splatted him when he returned Victoria…
'Oh no, that's right I was there when we brought Victoria back, even if we do get away she'll be the prime suspect. Oh what the heck I got three lives.'
Inker stepped towards Octavia, drawing the attention of all nearby Elite Octolings
"What are you doing?" Kal asked
In a voice loud enough for everyone in the lair to hear, Inker introduced himself to Octavia.
"Acting Leader Octavia right, I am Inker Cetamari, the third agent of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, I have encountered your kind many times and single handedly assaulted 32 Octarian lairs, let my friends and your prisoner go, I offer myself and all my knowledge on the New Squidbeak Splatoon and anything else you would like to know about Inkopolis or its people."
"Hold on what are you doing? Callie and Marie already left! Hold on for ju-"
Inker removed his headset drowning out Sky's voice, he also dropped his Hero Shot.
Lila was watching from her glass capsule, she couldn't understand what was going on?
"Kal what's happening?" she asked
"The other two with me here today are volunteers and not involved with any of the New Squidbeak Splatoon's regular operations, your prisoner is also a child with nothing to do with Inkopolis' army, I am far more valuable than them, so please let them go."
Octavia seemed pleased "Well well, isn't this a surprise, sacrificing yourself to save your buddies?" She turned to her fellow Elite Octolings "we can catch the mole eventually, Agent 3 however is quite valuable, take him away."
Kal and Neon watched as the Elite Octolings escorted Inker away.
'Dammit what can I do? I can't just stand here and watch can I?'
Kal looked at Neon, Inker aside she was the most capable Inkling there was when it came to a fight. Neon must also have hated watching her friend go, her hands moved from her E-liter to her Squid Beakons and the Inkzooka Canned Special she pocketed earlier, she silently let a Squid Beakon drop to her feet, while glancing around for a possible method of attack.
"Well now, if you would get going back to Inkopolis it would be much appreciated." Octavia said with a nod.
Kal clutched his Slosher tightly glaring at the Elites walking away with Inker, he whispered to Neon. "We aren't letting Inker go like this are we?"
"I don't know, Inker is too close to those Elites, even if I use the Inkzooka or my Kraken I doubt I could get them all before they splat..."
Neon turned to look at Kal as she said this, then her eyes went wide
Last time she checked, there shouldn't be a laser beaming down on her friend's head. Also why did Octavia nod towards them?
On instinct, Neon dove at Kalus, pushing him out of the way just as several Octosnipers opened fire on the two.
Neon lay on top of Kal for a moment, upon noticing that he was fine she rolled over and looked upwards.
An Octarian saucer hovered above them carrying six Octosnipers.
The Octosnipers were spread evenly over the saucer so only three of them could fire at once, the saucer spun around so that the second group of Snipers could fire while the other group recharged.
Neon prepared to fire back, but with her turf wars experience she could easily judge the distance and realised she was outranged, so she helped Kal up and ran for cover just as the Octosnipers fired again..
Inker was startled by the sudden sound of sniper fire, he turned and saw what was going on.
He started struggling "What are you doing? You gave me your word!"
Octavia however just laughed "Did I? I don't remember agreeing to your terms."
"Why youuu"
"All's fair in love and war, and this is no doubt, war."
Inker now regretted leaving his Hero Shot behind, at least he still had his Seekers, Burst Bombs and Splat bombs.
Sure the Hero Suit could save him twice as long as he was in a lair, but Octavia and the other Octolings here were all Elites, they wouldn't take long to catch on and just wait by the spawn point to splat him.
Octavia and the Elite Octolings kept dragging Inker away, leaving that saucer to deal with Kal and Neon.
By now Neon and Kal were running around all over and around the Octobot King using it as cover to block the Octosnipers' shots.
The Octosnipers on the saucer could not fire directly downwards so the saucer had to fly around the Octobot king everytime Neon and Kal left their line of sight.
"Hey Tony didn't you say you never miss?"
"Shut up Kevin, and fly the saucer."
These were the same Octarians who took out Vert's group, they had fun the last time, but this small group of two was being surprisingly resilient, it was slightly annoying, especially since this little skirmish was supposed to be completely in their favor.
Oh well, as long as they flew high enough, no Inkling weapon should be able to reach them
"Neon why aren't you shooting back at them?"
"They are too high! no way I can hit them from here!"
"What about Inker then?"
"What?"
"Can you hit the Octolings around Inker?"
"I could but wouldn't that mean more trouble for us?
The two of them kept moving around and covering turf to avoid getting splatted by Octosnipers.
"If they were I bit lower I might be able to hit them with the Inkzooka I picked up."
"I doubt they'll fly any lower, what else could we do?"
"Well you should have your special ready by now, what if you launched an Inkstrike?"
"Have you seen how fast that saucer moves? It would be impossi-"
"Not that, what if you launched it at Inker?"
"What good would that do? We'd still have this saucer chasing us!"
"Well it wouldn't help us, but right now I don't see any way out of this, if we are going down here we might as well take that Octarian Acting whatever down with us!"
"Don't be so quick to give up! You are only reliable when it comes to combat so can't you think of something?!"
"I'm sorry, i've looked everywhere and considered everything, I really can't think of any way we can make it out of here."
"Dang"
Thinking before acting may not have been Neon's strong suit, but Neon was definitely the best when it came to adapting in battle, Kal knew this, if Neon was about ready to give up, then he had no hope either.
Inker on the other hand had also been looking for a way out, he started struggling against the Elite Octolings holding him when he saw Kal and Neon in trouble but they easily subdued him. Inker had armor so if the Elites shot at him he would have enough time to toss a splat bomb their way, after that they would be hostile towards him though, so after respawning he would have to somehow run back to Kal and Neon before the Octarians discover that he had respawned.
That is if the Octolings don't go after Neon and Kal, then they'd really be screwed.
It was not a good plan, so Inker had to hold back for now, as long as the Elite Octolings weren't joining in the fight they could buy some time.
The only question is: buy time for what?
This could go on forever by the looks of it, but it wouldn't be long before Inker was brought to Nautilus, Neon and Kal would also get tired eventually and get splatted.
And it was already beginning to happen.
"No let me go you damn seaweed heads!"
Inker struggled trying to prevent the Elites from dragging him out of the lair. However it was still one against a couple dozen, Inker squirmed and kicked but the Elite Octolings simply grabbed all his limbs and hoisted him up.
Inker then transformed into Squid form, becoming small enough to slip free, but then the Elites started trying to stomp on him, he quickly transformed back and was seized again.
Meanwhile Kal was running out of breath.
"Huff, huff, Sky where are Callie and Marie?" Kal spoke into his headset while trying to catch his breath.
"I have no idea, Callie said she had an idea then they just left."
Neon, who was distracting the Octosnipers noticed Inker's struggle, he was almost out of the lair, she had to do something quick. Neon joined Kal after a bit more hopping about.
"Kal use your Inkstrike right now and hit Inker, i'll keep them distracted."
"But that won't work! They'll just splat Inker and turn on us."
"If you don't he'll be taken away."
"That would be better than being splated."
"If you won't do it then give your stuff to me."
"No, let go of my Inkstrike! Fine, i'll do it, but we gotta go help Inker as soon as it's launched."
"You think I don't know that? I'll shoot my way towards him, then i'll grab him and hop back to the squid beakon I dropped earlier."
"Okay, keep that saucer distracted!"
"Of course, you hide under the Octobot King for a sec."
Now that they had some sort of a plan, Neon smiled and was ready to run around again.
"How are you not tired?"
"What from running around? We used to do that every day in Turf Wars remember? the real question is why are you tired."
Neon ran out into the open, almost immediately the Octosnipers on the saucer all targetted her, a couple seconds later they fired just has Neon hopped back over the Octobot King.
By this time Kal had crawled back out of hiding and launched his Inkstrike, a large swirling marked appeared under Inker,who immediately realised what his friends were doing. Inker reached for a Splat bomb, intending on tossing it at Octavia as soon as the Inkstrike hit.
Since the Octarians were well co-ordinated the saucer's occupants immediately noticed the Inkstrike missile launch and alerted the Elite Octolings.
Octavia and the other Elite Octolings dropped Inker and scattered as a massive blue ink tornado came whirling down on their position.
Because they had been alerted and scattered not a single Elite Octoling was hit by the inkstrike, however what lay before them was now a large blue puddle.
Inker had hidden inside it, as the Elite Octolings begun to cover the blue ink he hopped up and tossed a Splat Bomb at Octavia.
"Watch out!" one of the Elites hit the Splat Bomb mid flight and knocked it out of Octavia's way and was splatted in the process.
'Of course, these Octarians are treating Octavia like the new DJ Octavio, of course they wouldn't let her be splatted that easily.' Inker thought
"Come on, we gotta make our stand together!" Neon suddenly appeared saying dangerous things, having swam towards Inker while the Octosnipers focused on Kal, the Inkling who had dared attack their Acting Leader.
Neon grabbed Inker and super jumped back towards the Octobot King.
For now at least the three were together and able to help each other.
Inker ran for his Hero Shot and headset, putting them back on as he ran for cover from Octosnipers, he barely had time to slide behind the Octobot king before the Snipers fired.
"Okay, so what now?" Kal asked
"Don't ask me, I just thought it would be nice if we could fight all together one last time." Neon said
"Don't say stuff like that, aren't you the one who never gives up when it comes to fighting?"
"That's when I know I can win, this time I really can't see a way out, sorry guys."
"Don't apologise, I was the one who decided to bring you and Kal along, if anything its my fault you were dragged into this."
Inker Neon and Kal all ran around the Octobot king again as the Octarian saucer had them in their sights again, as they ran to the other side, Inker, Neon and Kal could see the sight of many angry Elite Octolings approaching.
"Help is on the way! Don't worry!" a voice rang out of nowhere
'Did Callie and Marie finally get here? No they couldn't move that fast.'
Hoping that someone had come for them, Inker poked his head out from behind the Octobot King and looked towards the source of the voice.
It wasn't Callie and Marie, it was a second Octarian saucer.
Regular Octolings hopped down in front of the Elite ones. Surprised by the sudden arrival of reinforcements, the Elite Octolings stopped their advance.
"Hey what are you doing here?! Who's orders are you following?!"
Octavia's voice could be heard yelling at the new arrivals.
The last Octoling to leave the saucer was an Elite one.
"Mine, I saw an Inkling transport heading for this lair and remembered that our prisoner was still here."
Kal recognised the Elite Octoling as the Captain of the Melanin prison guards.
The Captain of the guard looked in the Inklings' direction.
"I thought there'd be nobody here so I came to retrieve our prisoner, I heard that we would abandon this place today, so why are you having a skirmish here?"
"Did you really think I would try the same plan twice? I wasn't using your Inkling as bait for Agent 3, I was using it to check either or not someone was leaking information. Now move your troops aside, we got this handled!"
"Of course I could do that, but first I want you to witness this, I have modified our old Octobrushes to make a copy of Agent 1's weapon of choice."
"Are those Rollers?!" Inker exclaimed
The regular Octolings were holding what appeared to be an Octarian version of a Roller weapon.
"ADVANCE!"
At the captain's orders all of the Octolings charged towards Inker and the others.
'That can't be good…'
Snipers from above, Rollers in front, Elites further behind, there really was no way out.
The Elite Octolings followed closely behind the Octolings and the Octosnipers on the saucer kept watch, waiting for an Inkling to emerge and try to fire at their comrades on the ground.
The Octolings ran with their Roller's on the ground, quickly covering the entire platform behind them in magenta ink.
If they tried to splat the Octolings before they got close enough the Octosnipers would pick them off, if they tried to hide form the Octosnipers the Octolings would close in and run them down.
As long as that saucer was still watching them, they couldn't do anything.
"We are here Agent 3! Where are you?"
"Marie? We are behind the Octobot King, where are you?"
"Right above you guys."
Inker could barely see a helicopter with the Inkopolis News logo painted on its side flying in.
"Luckily I got my pilot's license a month ago, so Callie and I borrowed a news helicopter."
The door on its side opened and Callie appeared holding Marie's Hero Charger.
"Alright shoot at that saucer Callie." Marie called out from the pilot seat of the helicopter.
"Okie, umm I haven't used a Charger in forever so I'll probably miss."
"It doesn't matter if you do, we just need to get their attention!"
Callie fired a shot at the Octosnipers on the saucer.
Luckily the saucer didn't move so Callie managed hit an Octosniper, as the entire saucer crew was too focused on the scene below them to see or hear the Inkopolis news copter approach.
"What was that?"
"We lost Charlie! Inkling aircraft at 3 o'clock!"
In response to losing one of their comrades, the Octosnipers switched their target to Callie.
"Inkcoming!" Callie yelled as the Octosnipers took aim.
Marie quickly pulled the helicopter away, then covered her mouth as she felt her lunch rush up to her throat, she may have prefered flying, but she was still afraid of heights. Callie shut the chopper's door and sat back inside.
The Octarian saucer quickly gave chase to Callie and Marie's chopper. On the ground, Octavia and the others were so focused on the trapped Inklings on the ground that they didn't noticed their saucer had flown after a helicopter.
The Octolings and Elite Octolings were closing in fast, but now that there was no unreachable Octosnipers pinning them down, Neon was free to pick them off with her E-Liter as they approached.
The Octolings armed with rollers led the charge, but were inexperienced with their new weapons, normally an Inkling could lob globs of Ink at nearby targets using a Roller, but these Octolings did not know that, instead they just tried to run down their opponents with their Rollers.
Not only was that method ineffective, but they also ended up blocking the shots of the Elite Octolings, who were trying to hit Inker, Neon and Kal with Octoshots.
The tide had somewhat turned around, the Roller Octolings seemed incompatible with the Elite Octolings. Inker decided that they'd best leave before the Octolings learned to properly use those Rollers.
"Neon, can you pass me that Inkzooka you picked up a while ago?"
"Hmm?" Neon was a bit confused for a moment, but she could guess what Inker had planned.
"Do you want to clear a path with the Inkzooka and make a run for it?"
"No, I want you to charge forward with Kraken, then i'll use the Inkzooka afterwards."
"That works too! Catch!"
Neon tossed the canned special over to Inker.
"Callie, Marie, can you guys land somewhere near the spawn point?"
Back in the air Marie and Callie were being chased by the Octarian saucer.
The Octosnipers took turns firing at the helicopter with no real effect, Callie tried to shoot back with Marie's Hero Charger, but she could not aim well with it.
"Sure I could, but we need to do something about that saucer first."
"I got an Idea, Marie I want you to fly higher then fly over the saucer for just a moment."
Callie said as she put down Marie's Hero Charger and grabbed her Hero Roller.
"What are you trying to do?"
"I can't hit anything with your charger while we are moving, so instead i'll leap on the saucer with my Roller!"
"That's….. Not to bad of an idea, okay I'll try."
Marie jerked the helicopter backwards, they slowed down dramatically and lost quite a bit of altitude, they nearly collided with the Octarian saucer.
"Alright! Go get Agent 3 and the others, I'll be back!"
With that Callie lept off the news chopper and onto the Octarian saucer.
The Octarians on the saucer were in shock after seeing Marie nearly collide with them mid air, luckily their pilot was very experienced and managed to avoid a collision.
The Octosnipers had just breathed a sigh of relief before they heard a shout.
"WHAMMY KABLAMMY!" Callie rolled over one Octosniper with her Hero Roller.
Leaving her cheerful cousin behind, Marie flew for the spawn point.
As Marie brought the helicopter down, Neon transformed into Kraken form to make a path through the wall of Octolings.
"What is that?!" an Octoling exclaimed when she saw Neon's Kraken form charging at them.
"Don't just stand there! Run and don't let it close the distance!" a more experienced Elite Octoling shouted.
A few Octolings with Rollers were squashed, while the Elite Octolings knew to back up with shooting at Neon to knock her back.
A Kraken only lasts about six seconds so Neon started backing up when four seconds had passed. As Neon's Kraken expired, Inker took out the Inkzooka and started firing at the Elite Octolings.
Back in the air, the Octosnipers went into a panic after noticing an Inkling attacking them at such close range.
"Hey! There's an Inkling on board with us!"
Callie splatted another Octosniper with a splat bomb and got a second by flinging ink at it from her Roller.
As she ran around the saucer the last two Octosnipers gave up on shooting at this close of a range, they lept off their platforms and off the saucer, escaping Callie's wrath.
"Abandon craft!"
Like Inklings, the Octosnipers had no bones so falling from such a height could only hurt a bit.
Now that there was nobody left on the saucer Callie waited for Marie to return, but then from a pool in ink in the center of the saucer, a large Octostriker flew out, yelling things that Callie could not understand.
Inkstrikes fired out of the Octostriker's helmet, Callie quickly moved out of its path, then tried to fling ink at the Octostriker to no avail.
The Octostriker flew rather slowly, but it was still launching Inkstrike after Inkstrike, Callie ran around avoiding the Magenta coloured tornados.
"Umm Marie, I might need some help here."
"Just jump down, you'll be fine."
"But i'm so high up, it'll hurt."
"If you don't we might leave without you."
"You're so mean… okay im coming down! Catch me!"
Callie lept off the saucer onto the platform below.
"I got you!" Kal said as he ran for Callie.
Callie had a soft landing, because Kal went too far and ended up under her, Callie thanked him and helped him up, then the two joined Neon next to the spawn point as Marie came in with a rough landing.
With everyone else safe, Inker turned his attention to splatting as much Octolings as he could before he was splatted.
"What's Inker doing?"
"He's just buying us time."
"We have to help him!"
"He'll be fine."
"No he won't!"
Inker's armor gave way, a few moments later he was splatted by the sheer number of Elite Octolings.
Seeing the blue menace finally burst into ink, the Elite Octolings cheered!
"Yes! Agent 3 falls!"
Kal however was shocked.
"Oh no! Not Inker!"
"Umm i'm right here."
Behind Kal, Inker stepped out of the spawn point
"Wha?"
"The Hero Suit lets you respawn a few times as long as you got a spawn point nearby."
"Ohhh, so I was."
"Worried for no reason."
Aside form Kal everyone else knew Inker could respawn, (Neon and Sky heard it from Cap'n Cuttlefish in chapter 6) so they had all known why Inker asked them to wait at the spawn point.
"Alright quickly lets fly out of here! I couldn't get Octavia with the Inkzooka but that doesn't matter we need to leave!"
Marie took off with everyone inside.
"Wait a second we are forgetting someone!" Kal called out to the others
"?"
Amidst all the fighting they had forgotten all about Lila.
Lila was still stilling in a glass capsule, she pressed herself against the glass, making it obvious that she wanted to come out. However that glass capsule had a number lock on it, even if they turned back now how could they get her out of there?
"Marie, could you fly low enough and fast enough to break that glass capsule with the helicopter" Inker asked
"Are you crazy!?"
"I can't think of another way, they don't have a key nearby this time, instead they are using a number lock. Come on if we don't rescue Lila what would be the point of coming here?"
"You do know that I just got my pilot's license four days ago?"
"It doesn't matter just do it!"
"Sigh, the director is going to kill me.. Okay everybody hold on to something!"
Turning back, Marie flew just low enough to hit the top of the capsule, but high enough so that she wouldn't ram Lila.
"Hang on…"
The glass shattered, Lila ducked and covered her head to protect herself from any shards of glass, while the news helicopter lurched forward from the impact.
"Don't flip over, don't flip over, don't flip over!" Everyone yelled in unison.
Marie pulled back as hard as she could to stop the helicopter from flipping forwards, the chopper snapped backwards, hitting it's tail on the ground for a brief moment.
Lila ran towards the chopper and Kal lifted her inside, as the Octarians watched, far out of range.
"Get that saucer down here A.S.A.P, everyone load up quickly!" the captain of the guard called out as the Inkopolis news chopper flew away.
"There's no need." Octavia replied
"What? They'll get away."
"So what, it doesn't matter, I wanted to check for a mole and we've accomplished that, we even managed to get Agent 3. Let those Inklings have a hollow victory, we got work to do once we return to Nautilus. In the meantime, scrap all those oversized paint rollers your troops are holding."
"What why?"
"Do you really need to ask? All they did was block our soldiers from hitting the Inklings, aside from that it has almost no range so your troops didn't really do anything."
"You didn't do much either." the Captain of the guard muttered
"Excuse me?!"
"Nothing ma'am, i'll head back to Nautilus as commanded."
With clenched fists, the captain of the guard and her Roller wielding Octolings boarded their own saucer and flew off.
"That didn't go as planned."
"I hate to say this but haven't you been questioning the Acting Leader a lot recently?" one of the surviving Octolings asked
"What are you implying?"
"Nothing, I just noticed that…. Never mind."
Meanwhile back in the Inkopolis news helicopter.
"I'm never doing that again." Marie said from the pilot seat
She could feel a cold breeze blowing in, as she had broken part of the windshield when she rammed Lila's capsule, also something must have happened to the tail because the helicopter wouldn't fly straight.
"Why not? There seems to be a big advantage if we fight from the sky, I know you loved planes but I had no idea you actually got a pilot license, otherwise I would have asked to try this earlier." Inker said
"No, i'm never flying a helicopter again." once again Marie felt like hurling
This time Callie replied with sparkling eyes "Come on Marie, imagine all the sights we could see if we flew around Inkopolis! I didn't know they'd let us take this chopper so easily, we should fly around more often."
"No! If i'm traveling by air again, it's gotta be by plane, and one that i'm not flying."
"Why is that? Didn't you say you liked flying in that Splatfest we did back then?"
"I like flying in safe and stable planes, not a wobbly and floppy helicopter, it makes me feel sick."
"Hmm? But all this twisting and turning while so high up feels like being on a roller coaster! Oh wait you feel sick on those too, I wonder why…"
"Callie no."
"You know I remember hearing you mumbling something during the announcement for cars vs planes."
"I hate you."
"Yeah you said something before stating that planes were super safe, what was it?"
"Okay! I'm afraid of heights alright!"
"There it is! News for all you guys, Marie is afraid of heights!"
Marie wasn't about to let Callie one up her like that.
"By the way, we agreed to work together to save Inker, when we get back to Inkopolis we are going our own ways again."
"Yep."
"Good, cause it was your idea to borrow this helicopter from the studio, so when the director asks why it's all dented you can explain all by yourself."
"..."
From the back seats Inker, Neon, Kalus and the newly freed Lila laughed as they watched a teary eyed Callie throw herself at Marie.
"Looks like they are still somewhat mad at each other, oh well at least they'll talk to each other now." Inker said as he watched the Squid sisters' banter
"It was your flying that did this, you need to come with meeeeee!"
"Hey! Don't shake me when im flying a company chopper above Octarian territory! It was your idea, so you take responsibility."
"Nooo I keep getting into trouble lately, you're a good girl, they'll forgive you."
"Let go of me, I can't see what's ahead."
'Ummm isn't that a bit dangerous?' Kal wondered
The Inklings flew over the Octarian Undercity, from up here, the degrading city actually looked quite peaceful.
Marie was dealing with Callie, Lila was asking Inker to tell her stories of the New Squidbeak Splatoon and Neon and Kal were glancing out the window.
'I wonder how Victoria's doing right now. Victoria…. Oh right!' Kal lept from his seat
"Drop me off right here."
Callie and Marie both stopped their argument and looked at Kal, confused.
"What why? This is still Octo Valley."
"Yes I know, but I just remembered that the Octarians know that someone is helping us from Octo Valley. I need to go warn Victoria before it's too late. Marie drop me off as soon as you can."
"Kal how do you even plan on finding Victoria in Octo Valley?"
"Simple, i'll go find Victoria's parents, they should know where she lives right?"
"What about the cameras all over the Valley?"
"I'll ask Sky to warn me of any cameras."
"And what if Victoria's roommate sounds the alarm?"
"..."
"Look it will be a while, let's go back and find something to cover our tentacles then go visit Victoria."
"But if she gets caught."
"She won't, they got no evidence proving that its her, Victoria will be fine."
"I want to believe you, but lately it seems that nothing good comes out of waiting. I'm getting off here."
While they were still above the Undercity, Kal grabbed his Slosher and lept off the helicopter.
"Kal wait!" Inker followed.
"Kalus! Agent 3!" Lila called out as the two fell towards the ground.
Neon seemed to want to go as well, but she didn't move
"You're not going?" Callie asked
"Nah, they're just talking and hiding, a buncha boring stuff, i'd rather go back to Inkopolis tower."
"Umm okay suit yourself."
Nautilus base, Octo Valley
"Ma'am, the team as assembled as ordered."
Before Octavia stood six Elite Octolings, a team assembled to deal with rebelling Octarians.
"Good, I want you to go to the Undercity and snuff out the one who leaked information to the Inklings."
"Okay, do you have any suspects yet?"
"It could be anyone at Nautilus base, look we don't need to do any kind of quiet investigations, make this one loud. I want you to go to the homes of any soldier you like, accuse anyone you like and make a mess of their homes while searching for evidence. Rumors will spread amongst the populace and that will scare whoever leaked information out of hiding."
"So you want us to spook them out of hiding? What should we do with them if they confess"
"Bring them here alive, we need to show everyone the treatment given to traitors"
"Understood."
As one team of Elites left, Octavia turned her attention to another.
"Do we have contact with our spy in Inkopolis?"
"Yes, we can have them act out at anytime, just make the call."
"Good, Agent 3 had a spy in Octo Valley this whole time, now it's time we answer with our own."
"What should she do?"
"Nothing for now, let us wait until the traitor is found."
A/N: So I was thinking of how to get Callie and Marie to bail Inker and friends out of trouble this time, then I found out that you can actually get a pilot's licence at a younger age than a driver's licence, since Marie was team Planes and Callie was team Cars I thought it was fitting for Marie to go for a pilot's licence first while Callie got a driver's licence. I'm not exactly super familiar with Callie and Marie's usual behavior and personality so I usually try to avoid bringing them in so that I won't end up making them act out of character, with that in mind they'll probably make less appearances later on.
This may seem like a repeat of earlier chapters with the Squid Sisters saving the day but don't worry i'm not out of ideas, there probably won't be any more rescue missions after this.
Thanks to Dragshot for writing such a positive review for the last chapter, I really appreciate it! it really does make me want to write more chapters.