Part 4: The enemy of my enemy (chapters 16-20)
With her crimes confirmed and no reason to stay, Victoria plans to leave Octo Valley for good. Meanwhile a conspiracy brews in the shadows of Octo Valley, as the captain of the guard, along with Claire, Lynn and the rest of their splatoon, plan to remove Octavia from power.
Holter family household, Octo Valley
Flames rose in every direction
In one half of the dining room, lay what was once a team of Elite Octolings.
In the other, stood Maria and Robert.
They had planned for this to happen, as soon as Agent 3 left they knew it wouldn't be long before the Octarian army came for their daughter.
If they did, they would have to do everything they could to keep her safe.
Therefore, they had planned ahead, while Kal and Agent 3 convinced Victoria to visit, they had gathered every bit of flammable liquid they could find, as soon as Victoria was out, they had hastily poured it over every inch of the house on their way back to the dining room.
If the Elites came after them, they would all go down together.
That was exactly what happened, the Elites might have covered the house with Ink, but ink wouldn't stop things from burning.
The only place that wasn't flammable was the dining room, where Maria and Robert stood.
There was no way they could leave anyways, even if they did escape, the fire would have attracted lots of attention, they'd be caught within the hour.
Plus the room was completely blocked off now, there was nothing else to do, but see their final moments.
Maria sighed
"After sixteen years, we finally got to tell Victoria, a shame it had to end like this."
Both she and Robert were sweating from the heat, their eyes irritated by the rising smoke, but they still stayed as calm as ever.
They righted the table, which was starting to catch fire, and sat back down for the last time.
"Well this is it" Robert said, "Too bad we couldn't live a bit longer."
"Yeah, real shame, haha. I wish I could see what kind of guy our daughter would fall in love with."
"I wish we could see her on her wedding day, wearing a white dress, as happy as can be."
"I wish we could have held our grandchildren in our arms, telling them stories while rocking them to sleep."
"Oh man, we should stop, otherwise the regrets will start piling up..."
The two looked at each other, they both looked sad, as they have just lost something important.
"Do you think we made a mistake, reuniting right before this happened?" Robert asked
"No… Even if it was just for a moment, I'm glad we were able to sit down and have dinner like a family."
"You still miss your folks don't you."
"Of course I do, and now that we are about to join them, Victoria will miss us too, history repeats itself doesn't it?"
"Yes, hopefully Victoria won't feel devastated like you did."
"She will, but it's fine, she's found some great friends, they might be Inklings, but they are different from the citizens of Octo Valley, they'll look after her for us, especially Kalus."
The fire kept spreading, getting closer to them with every passing second, it wouldn't be long now.
Robert smiled "Well then, at least we can say our family lives on with Victoria."
"Yes, are you okay with this? You were the one who convinced me to leave the army since you wanted to avoid any danger, yet here i've dragged you into this." Maria said
"Of course."
"Really? So you have no second thoughts? You're satisfied with the life you've had?"
"Definitely, after all I married you, what else could I have possibly asked for?"
The two shared one last kiss as the roof collapsed in a storm of embers, burying the two Octolings…
Victoria's apartment, Octo valley
'Victoria'
'When I first met her, I was afraid of her because she was an Octoling. Later I hated her because she used me to try and steal the Great Zapfish. What do I think of her now?'
'She's always been calm, concealing her emotions and looking for the upper hand. But when something happens and she can't do that anymore, she'll lose control.'
'Last time that happened, she just yelled at Inker and I, but that was nothing compared to what she's doing now.' Kal thought as he watched the scene in front of him.
"YOU IDIOT!"
"...ahh…...i'm…sorry…...please….stop….I can't…..help….."
In a fit of rage, Victoria had stormed back to her apartment despite Kal and Inker telling her it was too risky, as soon as she arrived she started strangling her roommate Violet.
Since Victoria, was a soldier and Violet was a paramedic, Violet was physically weaker than Victoria, she couldn't break free of Victoria's grasp.
Victoria didn't want to stop either, she held Violet by the neck and squeezed, even managing to lift her off the ground, Violet struggled but couldn't do anything.
For a moment Kal watch Victoria throttle her roommate, then he decided to do something.
He put a hand on Victoria's shoulder
"Victoria, you should stop, Violet is turning blue."
With a thud, Victoria let go, letting poor Violet fall to the ground. Violet didn't get back up, she started rubbing her neck, and was gasping for breath.
Victoria looked down at her roommate, she clenched her fists, she really wanted to pick her up and beat her to the ground again.
"ARGH!"
Instead she just yelled and threw a punch right over Violet's head, her fist smashed straight through the drywall.
Violet was more afraid of Victoria in her current condition than anyone else.
"I'm sorry" Violet said, still gasping for breath
"You're sorry!? How about you say that to my mother and father! I'll send you to them right now!"
"Victoria! Stop!" Kal grabbed Victoria from behind as she tried to pounce on Violet again.
"Let go of me Kal!" Victoria started prying Kal's arms away.
'That hurts, Victoria is strong'
Inker joined in as well, helping Kal pull Victoria away from the defenseless Violet.
Violet was still apologizing over and over.
"I'm sorry, really, I didn't know they'd…."
"You didn't know what!? How many times have I told you they have ZERO evidence! The whole point of breaking in to random houses was to scare someone into talking! Are you so stupid that you couldn't even see that!? Because of you my parents are dead! Their deaths are on you! Along with anyone else who dies today!"
"I'm sorry!"
"I'll kill you!"
"Hey! Be quiet down there!" someone shouted from the floor above them.
"Sorry!" Kal yelled on instinct.
"Hear that? We are going to attract attention if you keep shouting at this hour."
Finally Victoria stopped struggling.
What was there left for her to do now? The army was after her, and Violet would be no help.
Who else did she know? Her fellow soldiers?
No, the soldiers she knew at Nautilus would not be of any help either, they were probably being fed lies about how she was a traitor who committed a final act of terrorism by starting the fire.
Besides, nobody would be stupid enough to help a traitor.
Only one thing to do now.
Since Victoria was no longer struggling, Inker and Kal let go of her, Victoria looked around.
Images of the various places in Octo Valley flashed in her mind, the school she went to, the parks and arcades of the Undercity, the Octarian training camp, Nautilus base, the lairs she patrolled...
'Will I miss these places?'
Victoria turn to Kal and Inker.
"Alright Kal, take me to Inkopolis."
"What?!" every shouted in unison
"You heard me, I'm going to Inkopolis, I'm done with Octo Valley, who cares if it falls apart, I'm not coming back here again!"
"Wait, hold on, why Inkopolis so sudden?"
"You are the one who said I could head back to Inkopolis whenever I wanted right? Well i'm doing that now, I don't have anywhere else to go, so i'm going to Inkopolis."
"Umm okay."
"I'll pack your things for you." Violet said
"No, you can shut up, I'll just take whatever I can carry with me, you can go pawn off everything else to pay off your rent, it's a pile of junk compared to Inkopolis anyways."
Violet slowly got up again
"Oh ummm thanks, and i'm sorry, I really am."
Victoria turned and glared at her.
"Eep'
"Violet, for your own safety you should probably leave us for now." Inker suggested
Violet wasted no time in leaving, she hurried out of Victoria's sight.
Victoria on the other hand left to her room. A few moments later she returned, now wearing the Satin jacket and Tentacles Helmet from before.
Kal handed her the family album she had dropped earlier.
"Do you want to bring this along too?"
"Yes, thanks for picking it up."
"No problem."
Inker peeked outside, making sure no one else was nearby.
"Sky, we are coming back now, Victoria is coming with us, so let Cap'n Cuttlefish know."
The three then left for Inkopolis, they had nothing left to do in Octo Valley now.
Undercity, Octo Valley
Violet watched as Victoria left with Inker and Kal.
She had never seen Victoria so angry before, also Octarians die every day, this was common knowledge.
Violet couldn't understand why Victoria was so angry, but she didn't feel innocent either.
She started to clean up the apartment, which had been messed up by the Elites and then made worse when an angry Victoria came back.
Violet didn't spend much time alone before she was called to work.
The fire that had started in the outskirts of town was being put out, Violet and several other Octarians stood by in case anyone needed medical attention.
The fire had spread to a few nearby buildings as well, some Octarians were hurt, but they were alive and were treated by Violet and her co-workers.
Apparently military personnel had been involved, because a few Octarian soldiers stood nearby as well.
When the fire was out, there was a brief idle period as the responders waited for the area to cool down.
Following that, the soldiers and medical personnel went through the rubble, looking for any possible survivors.
There were none, all they found were bodies, burnt to a crisp.
Normally the soldiers were used to seeing other living beings get splatted, so the sight of a burnt body was new to them and absolutely revolting.
Violet saw a few soldiers throw up,
A few passerby watching were also greatly disturbed with the sight of the bodies and held their hands over their mouths.
But for Violet and a those who need to respond to accidents like this every day, the sight was nothing new.
"Sorry, but we'll have to leave this to you guys for now." an Octoling trooper told Violet and the other paramedics.
The soldiers left the medical personnel to retrieve the bodies.
Alot of them wore goggles and armor, Violet assumed they were the same Elites who broke into her apartment earlier.
The last two bodies were further apart from the rest.
They must have been holding on to each other, because the two were burnt together and could not easily be separated.
Violet could easily guess who they were
'Their deaths are on you! Along with anyone else who dies today!'
Victoria's words echoed in her head.
'I'm sorry, Mr and Mrs Holter, I was scared, this is all my fault….'
Over the past two years, Violet had seen many deaths, but this was the first time she was involved is causing one.
Well not just one, but several.
The longer she stood here the guiltier she felt.
'Why? this kind of stuff happens all the time, why does it feel like i'm the culprit here? Is there maybe a way I could make up for this?why am I even thinking that?'
"Alright what have we got?" a soldier asked once Violet was the bodies
"Twelve casualties, eleven female, one male."
"The ones that were wearing armor were part of the army, bring their bodies to Nautilus, we will perform their last rites, the other two were terrorists, so just toss away their bodies somewhere outside the city."
"Okay."
'Terrorists? But Victoria's parents seemed like good Octarians….'
Violet was not sure what happened, but she didn't want to risk getting on the bad side of the Octarian army.
So she and the other Octolings started loading up the bodies, the Octarian army brought over coffins for the Elites, as for Maria and Robert's bodies, they were to be stuffed into a bag to be disposed of as garbage.
Violet was helping the others load the Elite Octolings into their caskets.
"Hold up! Before you nail em shut we need their goggles for our investigation."
Even though they weren't doing any work, the soldiers were still ordering the others around.
'What would they need goggles for?' Violet wondered.
As the other medics started removing the burnt goggles from the deceased Elites, Violet made a quick decision.
The soldiers were all looking away because they couldn't stand the sight of their burnt comrades, so Violet quickly pocketed one pair of goggles from a deceased Elite.
'If these are important, maybe there could be something on it that could prove that Victoria's parents were innocent.'
She looked back at the bodybag containing Robert and Maria's remains.
Normally nobody would care if someone died, it was completely natural in Octo valley, yet today Violet felt different.
She felt sorry for the two innocent Octolings who were going to be tossed away and left to rot.
Violet and the other medical Octarians retrieved the goggles from the fallen Elites, then they nailed their caskets and loaded them into military transports.
After that Violet volunteered to get rid of the "terrorists" bodies.
She took a chunk of concrete from the destroyed house, then drove an ambulance to out of the undercity to an area where nobody ever visited.
There was no wildlife here either so she could leave the bag here without risk of them being preyed on, but that wasn't why she was here.
Without anyone else knowing, Violet started to dig, until she had a pit large enough for both Maria and Robert's bodies.
Violet felt that they deserved some kind of burial.
Using the chuck of concrete she had collected, Violet marked the final resting place of Maria and Robert Holter.
She still felt guilty that they had died, but at least now they weren't just tossed away and branded as terrorists.
Once she was finished, she stood by, giving the two a moment of silence.
'What happened to you was my fault and mine alone I don't know why, but I've accepted it, nothing I do now can bring you back, but maybe, just maybe I could make up for my mistake.'
Hopping back inside the ambulance, Violet looked back.
'If I can obtain a casket, i'll come back and get you two out of that bodybag.'
It was the least she could do to try and atone for her mistake.
Kal' home, Inkopolis
'click!'
"Hello?"
"Hi mom, its me Kalus."
"Hi Kal, its been a while, why are you calling all of a sudden?"
"No reason….. It's just that well, something terrible happened, one of my friends just lost their whole family and it kinda made me realise, you don't know how much you'd miss someone until they are actually gone."
"Oh my, what happened? I didn't hear anything on the news. Did something happen to Inker's family?"
"No not Inker, and you probably won't hear about it on the news either. Anyways I just felt like calling just so I could hear you again. Is dad home?"
"No he's at work, don't worry we'll be safe. What happened anyways? We usually watch your turf war matches when we have the time, but after the splatfest you just seemed to disappear."
"Oh about that, I was kinda busy with something else. Is it okay im I come by and visit sometime?"
"You really don't have to ask, just drop by whenever you feel like it, you are always welcome."
"Thanks, goodbye now."
"Goodbye, and stay safe dear!"
With that Kal hung up the phone.
He was back in Inkopolis now, surprisingly Cuttlefish didn't object to bringing Victoria back.
Kal yawned, he had gone two days without resting now.
Maybe it was time for a nap.
Victoria was sitting on the couch, staring at the family album on her lap, it wasn't even open, she just stared and was lost in thought.
"What's it like to have a family picnic?" Victoria muttered
"Hmm?"
"Or to have a family vacation? Or to just come home and talk about your day? What does that feel like? I'll never know."
Victoria stood up
"Oh well no use thinking about that now, what are you and Inker going to do about the Octarian army?"
"Victoria….."
"It's won't be long before they come again, I've memorized most of the Nautilus base's layout, so if you want to get rid of Octav-"
"Victoria, I know you usually like to stay calm and serious, but that doesn't work when you are crying."
Indeed, while Victoria might have been talking about more serious affairs, but she still couldn't stop the tears from trickling down her face.
"I'm fine, now is not the time to grieve."
"What are you talking about? Victoria, please don't try and hide everything, it's fine to grieve, to worry, to cry."
Kal edged closer to Victoria to comfort her, but as soon as he got closer Victoria embraced him and cried.
"Wahhh!"
"There there."
A moment later Victoria realized what she was doing, she let go of Kal and backed away out of embarrassment, leaving Kal alone in his living room.
'What was that all about?'
Inkopolis plaza
"Hiya!"
Neon, cheerful as always greeted her friends as they met in Inkopolis plaza
Inker, Kal and Sky however were not nearly as energetic as Neon.
Probably cause none of them got any sleep in the past two nights.
Neon who had returned home early, did not know what had happened, and was full of energy.
"Why are you all half asleep?" Neon said with a confused expression
"Neon, we just got back from Octo Valley a while ago." Inker told her
"Oh, why didn't you come back yesterday? Was it that hard to find Victoria?"
"No, we just got caught up in some unfortunate events."
"What happened? Did you get caught and have to fight your way out?!"
"Please don't say such things out loud in public."
"Oopsie, well what happened? Octolings? Those guys with snipers on a flying saucer? Or something like that giant stomping thing?"
"Nothing like that, we didn't get caught by the Octarian army."
"What happened then?"
Neither Kal nor Inker wanted to say what had happened.
So Neon turned to the last one, Sky.
"What happened anyways, I don't mind if its boring, I'm really curious now."
"Victoria had a family reunion before leaving."
"Oh that's great! Family reunions are the sweetest!"
"Yeah but that's where the good news ends, the Octarian army came in while Inker was away, Kal and Victoria got away, but her parents didn't make it."
"Oh? No worries, we'll go resc-"
"They are gone, when Kal and Victoria looked back at their house it was burning, they couldn't try and rescue them either because they'd risk getting spotted."
"Oh."
Inker spoke up "If only I realized earlier and made it back to their house, things would have gone differently."
Kal however also felt he was to blame "No, if I had just gotten Victoria to leave instead of forcing her into that reunion then they never would have came to the house."
"Hey don't feel down, it was neither of your guys' fault, come on let's have a game of Turf Wars to celebrate our return!"
Everyone looked at Neon
"What?"
"Sorry not today, I'm not in the mood for Turf Wars, besides I really don't think i'll be any good while half asleep." Inker said
Kal agreed "Me neither, and I also have something to do."
"I could play, but well, i'd be a burden."
"Forget it then, rest up and we'll play turf tomorrow!"
"We'll see." Kal said
"What do you mean we'll see?"
"Well things are different now, first off Victoria is staying with me for a moment, secondly I still want to become a diplomat sometime in the future."
"So Victoria's living with you now!? You must be real happy!"
"Oh shut up, Victoria just lost her family because her roommate ratted her out, she'll need someone, she's been holding back tears ever since we got back from Octo Valley, so tease all you want, I don't care."
"Whoa I was just playing around, no need to get so triggered. Look, since you are all tried from your trip to Octo Valley i'll just see you all tomorrow."
With that Neon left in the direction of Inkopolis tower.
"Is it just me or is Neon a bit different today?" Sky wondered
"What do you mean?"
"Normally she'd laugh and keep on joking around, why did she leave so quickly?"
"People change I guess, by the way, do you have that picture you took while we were in Octo Valley?"
"You'll have to ask Cuttlefish for that, I just took the picture and did nothing else with it."
"Oh okay."
Octo Valley
"Today on the Octo Valley news:
Flames rise from the Undercity as a group of treacherous Octolings commit an act of terrorism against the state.
Agent 3 defeated? Reports of the blue menace being splatted by brave Elite Octolings have been surfacing from Nautilus base.
The accident to death ratio in Octo Valley decreases as another load of power eggs are bought from the Salmonids…..."
The citizens of Octo Valley were fed several misleading stories that day.
The first of which concerned Victoria and her family, it was claimed that the whole family had been collaborating with the New Squidbeak Splatoon ever since the theft of the Great Zapfish by DJ Octavio and that the whole family perished in the fire which they had started in order to strike fear into the heart of Octo Valley.
The second claimed that while scouting out the lairs, Agent 3 was caught by a group of Elites who had been tracking him for days, after a brief fight Agent 3 was outnumbered and outgunned and finally splatted.
The rest were a bunch of other stories glorifying the actions of Octavia and the Octarian army.
While most of Octo Valley accepted what they heard as the truth there were a few who didn't
In one area, was Violet, who for the first time ever, questioned the legitimacy of the news once she had heard it claim Victoria had died with her parents.
If that was true she wouldn't have nearly been strangled to death earlier.
There was also Claire and Lynn, who did not believe Agent 3 was gone yet, no way could such a skilled and powerful opponent go down so easily.
Finally there was the captain of the Melanin prison guards.
Like Claire and Lynn, the captain didn't believe Agent 3 was truly defeated, but it was the story about the fire at the Holter household which caught her attention.
'I doubt the whole story is true, but if Octavia has already found the mole then it won't be long before we are called to carry out our suicide mission.'
With all her knowledge on the Octarian army's protocols and base layouts, she came up with a plan, one that would have to be carried out quickly if they are to avoid being sent on a mission with no chance of survival.
It was time to reassemble the Melanin prison guards, they were loyal to her and maybe Octavio, they would follow no one else.
As for the plan, it was simple enough, yet it required a few of the Octolings under her command to change their ink colour, after all, if they are to have a valid reason to move to Octo Canyon, they need to make it seem like Nautilus was no longer secure….
Like before, Octolings and Octotroopers arrived at Melanin prison as their captain had requested.
"Looks like everyone is here, good, i'll explain what we must do now." once again the captain stood in the middle of the block, surrounded by her subordinates.
"The room where the Elites hold their meetings is guarded by a few trustworthy Octolings on the verge of promotion, but that will not be too much of an issue, there is a vent connecting to the meeting room which can be used by Octolings if we stay in Octopus form, I will need a team of volunteers to go inside and eliminate the other Elites."
The captain knew exactly who would be the first to volunteer, Claire.
"Sorry Claire, but I have a different task for you, is there anyone else willing to go?"
It wasn't long before more Octolings stepped forward.
"Good that's everyone I need, the rest of you will have other tasks."
They couldn't just expect everything to go their way by assassinating Octavia.
First of was Claire's task
"As my adjutant, it is not unusual for you to call me away for an urgent matter, before or volunteers Splat bomb the room, I will need you to come in and call me away, incase Octavia sends someone to go with me, I will need you and a few other guards to actually fake an attack on Melanin prison."
Then there were other matters;
"After the deed is done, we would have to make sure everyone leaves Octo Valley as quickly as possible, someone would need to make contact with the garrison near Octo Canyon in advance and have them start bringing in saucers to evacuate the populace, they would also need someone to tip off Octo Valley news so that all the civilians are ready to leave."
"What about the guards outside the meeting room?"
"The meeting room has quite alot of soundproofing, noone inside can hear what is going on outside and vice versa, the Octolings guarding the room should be unable to hear the splat bombs go off inside. They should suspect nothing, however in the event that someone in the room survives and finds out who was really behind this, we would need to make sure they cannot make contact with the rest of Octo Valley.
The captain paused to consider how to divide her troops into the groups needed.
The majority of them would have to stay at Melanin or Nautilus, otherwise it would seem too suspicious, the rest would be divided into three groups with different tasks.
One to drop Splat Bombs through the vents, one to alert the reserve army and cut communications and one to fake the attack on Melanin.
"Well then, now all we need to do is wait."
'Yes, wait. Wait for Octavia to give me that suicidal order again, I want one last reminder of how incompetent of a leader she was.'