Kal's house, Inkopolis
"They say the suspect always returns to the scene of the crime, but this is first time I've heard about a victim returning."
Victoria was met with several Octolings when she returned to Kal's damaged house.
They were searching his house for something.
"I'm the one you want right? Well i'm here now." Victoria said, removing her Tentacles helmet.
"Oh, no wonder we couldn't splat you….' one of them muttered
Victoria was confused, it almost sounded like the Octoling didn't know who she was until she took off her helmet.
"What? Didn't you break in to Kal's home because you knew I was there?"
"No, we were after the red Inkling living here, he had information we needed but this works too. Victoria Holter, you are under arrest for treason against the state, put your hands behind your head, interlock your fingers."
Inker's home, the next day
When Kal woke up there was light seeping through the curtains.
'Wasn't Victoria supposed to wake me up at four?'
Kal got up quickly and headed downstairs.
Inker was still asleep and Victoria was nowhere to be found.
Something was wrong, Kal quickly checked every other room in the house.
Victoria was nowhere to be found.
There was an Ink tank with her dark magenta ink left on the dining table, along with Inker's Hero Shot.
'What had happened?'
"Inker! Wake up! Wake up! Wake UP!"
Kal shook Inker awake
"Okay okay, What's wrong? Are the Octolings here?" he asked
"No not that, Victoria is gone!"
"Huh?"
Inker looked around
It was daytime, Kal stood in front of him looking incredibly worried.
Victoria was nowhere to be found, the Hero Shot and Ink tank he gave her sat on his dining table.
Victoria's Tentacles helmet was also gone, she wouldn't have taken it unless she went out.
But just to be sure, Inker had to ask. "She didn't wake you at four?"
"No, I woke up and the sun was up, I couldn't find any trace of her."
"Hmm" Inker pondered
'Victoria mentioned that the Octolings were likely after her, could she have went out on her own to protect us?'
He glanced at Kal
'The two of them have been getting closer recently, it would make sense of VIctoria to try and protect Kal.'
"What's on your mind? Do you know where she could have gone?" Kal anxiously asked
"Victoria probably gave herself up so that we wouldn't be caught in the crossfire….."
"COD DAMMIT! Why would she do something so unnecessary."
Kal grabbed his Heavy Splatling and Ink tank and headed for the door.
"Where are you going?"
"Back to my house, maybe we can find some clue as to where those Octolings went."
"Alright, i'm with you hold on a sec." Inker said, taking the Hero Shot off the table and concealing it under a jacket.
"Come on, let's hurry."
Kal's house, Inkopolis
"Man, they really did a number on this place…" Inker commented as he saw the state of Kal's house.
The house was a mess.
The Octolings had broken almost every window in the ground floor to enter, not only that but they had been searching for something in Kal's house, so they had taken everything out of place and scattered it everywhere.
The Ink from last night had already vanished without a trace, but everything else was still there.
Kal stepped into his trashed house, there were crunching noises under his feet as he trodded on broken glass.
He had never seen his home in such a state, not even Victoria messed it up this bad.
"Whoa! What happened?" came the voice of a passing neighbour.
"I have no idea, I was at a friend's house yesterday, did you see anything?" Kal asked
"Nope, we were away as well, looks like some kind of burglar broke in or something, you should probably call the police."
"Yeah, i'll do that."
As the neighbour left, Kal toured his damaged home.
The door to his room was still blocked by the desk on the other side, Kal wanted to go inside and retrieve something lighter than the Heavy Splatling but decided not to and returned to the living room.
Books, clothes, plates, and various other things were scattered all over the place.
Kal wondered why the Octolings had taken the time to mess up his house so bad, probably to send a message.
The clothes caught his eye, it was the one that one of the disguised Octolings was wearing when she was splatted by Kal.
They were definitely sold in Inkopolis, the only question is how the Octolings managed to get ahold of it.
Victoria's family album was also among the wreckage, lying open and faced down on the floor.
Kal picked it up and flipped through it, then he gave it to Inker.
"If we are going to tell the IPD about this, we can't have anything related to Victoria sitting in my home."
Inker nodded and the two searched for Victoria's bag, before calling the police.
When they had arrived, Inker had left, taking Victoria's bag and family album with him, Kal stayed to answer questions and claim that he was not present at the time of the break in, which is why he did not call them sooner.
Once they were done talking to Kal, the IPD begun their investigation, while Kal returned to Inker's home.
They didn't find anything that could lead them to Victoria.
"DAMMIT! Why would she go off on her own!"
"Calm down Kal, all we can do now is put our heads together and figure out who the Octarian spy is."
Kal took a deep breath, "Yeah sure, okay, I'm calm, oh I know! Neon did pretty good at finding Victoria back then, she could probably help out, I'm going to the plaza."
Once again Kal left in a hurry, leaving Inker to chase after him.
Inkopolis plaza
Kal ran into Neon as she was looking up at a TV screen, watching the squid sisters annonce the ranked maps for the day.
"Neon!"
"Hmm? Oh hiya Kal, what's going on?"
"Listen I need your help, you were pretty good at detective work a while ago right? Well I need you to help us find the Octarian spy in Inkopolis and fast."
Kal didn't even care if anyone could hear him, luckily nobody paid attention and his voice got lost with the other sounds of the plaza.
Neon looked confused for a moment
"Umm okay, what do you know about this spy?"
Kal thought for a second
What did he find out about Octarian spies?
He did hear Lynn explain that the Octarians liked to seek out influential creatures or those who blended in well.
The spy would also have to have known about Victoria staying with him.
Was that really all? It wasn't much to go off of.
As Kal told all he knew to Neon, Neon thought hard, but she hadn't been present in the past few days so she couldn't think of anything. Being given so little clues didn't help either.
"How am I supposed to find a spy just like that? You know that brain work isn't my strong suit."
"Yeah but you found VIctoria back then?"
"Well back then it was because I was really motivated and I had time. Hey look! Here comes Inker and Sky."
Neon waved to her friends, but Kal was impatient.
"Okay forget about them, can you just please try and help me out here?"
"I'm trying i'm trying, but it's too hard I would need more time, try asking Sky or Inker."
Kal shook Neon "I don't have time!" he quieted down again to avoid attracting attention.
"Yesterday those Octolings that attacked us showed up at my house, they were after Victoria, now Victoria's gone! The only way we can find her in time, is if we find out who the spy is!"
"Ohhh! Okay that makes sense." Neon grinned
Kal could tell what she was thinking.
"No, I am not in love with her, I'm just worried for her well being. You said you needed motivation? Well Arcus knows that there are Octolings here and he'll be putting Inkopolis on lockdown again soon."
'Wait Arcus?' Kal realized something.
Neon's eyes widened when she heard the word "lockdown" she didn't want to be stuck without turf wars again.
And even if she did, at least let it happen where there was a lot of fighting needed in Octo Valley.
"Okay I'll try my best!" Neon said, but Kal was too deep in thought.
'Arcus knows Victoria's identity, he's an influential Inkling and he also bolted the moment Lynn mentioned a spy….'
"Hey what's goi-"
Kal left before Sky could finish his sentence.
"Hey! Where are you going now?!" Neon called out to Kal as he ran for the manhole to Octo Valley.
Kal disappeared through the manhole.
Neon turned to Sky and Inker, who had just arrived.
"What's up with him?" Sky asked
"Oh Kal? His girlfriend got captured by the spy or something."
"Oh no, don't tell me he's charging into Octo Valley to find her…."
That got Neon's attention.
"I hadn't thought of that! We should follow him! I bet I'll splat more than any of you!" Neon said excitedly and charged at the manhole with her E-Liter held high.
"Why did you have to mention Octo Valley to Neon…." Inker complained
"Sigh, here we go again." Sky said as he and Inker both went after Neon and Kal.
Cap'n Cuttlefish's shack, Octo Valley
"What do you mean you can't just speak with Arcus?!"
"Arcus has things to do, I can't just call him to come over here."
By the time Neon, Sky and Inker arrived, Kal was already shouting at the Cap'n.
He was really going too far.
"Kal calm down, we are all worried about Victoria but you are being way to hasty, what does Arcus have to do with anything?"
Kal looked at his friends, who did not understand why he was demanding Cap'n Cuttlefish to find Arcus for him.
"Don't you get it? Arcus is the spy, he has to be!"
"What? But that makes no sense! Why would Arcus be an Octarian spy?"
Before Kal could explain his attention turn to the manhole behind Inker and others
For some reason Arcus had shown up.
"Umm is this a bad time?"
"YOU!"
Kal immediately pointed his Heavy Splatling at Arcus.
"What the?" Inker exclaimed
Arcus, shocked, raised his hands.
"Whoa easy there buddy, what's wrong?"
"Don't buddy me! I know you are the spy working for the Octarians! What did you do to Victoria?!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Just yesterday she and I were attacked by Octolings in Inkopolis TWICE! Now she's gone."
"Kal stop that, do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound?" Inker said "Why would Arcus be an Octarian spy?"
"I don't know, but he fits the bill doesn't he? An influential figure who knows that Victoria is an Octoling."
"That isn't nearly enough to prove anything!"
"Yes it is, nobody else knows about Victoria."
"If I thought that Octoling was a threat to national security I would have sent the IPD, not make a deal with the Octarians." Arcus countered
"No, I think you were working for them before all this, how else do you explain the IPD conveniently showing up to block off Octo Valley just after the Vanguard movement passed by?"
"The IPD just got there late!"
"Really? Cause I think you were trying to stop us from helping them, I think the IPD was sent to trap the first wave of the Vanguard movement in Octo Valley. Isn't that why you were so eager to support them?"
Even though he was held at gunpoint, Arcus remained calm.
"I wanted to support them because we needed a cheap army to appease the public."
"Then what about when Lynn came over? You ran the moment she mentioned an Octarian spy because you didn't want to get found out."
"I left because I'm the minister of defense, I'm supposed to be able to stop spies from getting in!"
"Kal stop it, you are pointing a weapon at the minister of defence, do you know how serious of a crime that is?"
"He won't be the minister of defense for long."
This was going nowhere fast
Inker wondered if he would have to subdue Kal with force.
Sure he might be his best friend, but this was a ranking politician he was threatening.
Neon stepped forward and put a hand on Kal's shoulder.
"Kal, you are doing the exact same thing I did with Victoria three months ago."
Kal flashed back to that day, when Neon burst into his house and tried to splat Victoria.
He remembered that scene way too clearly and sure enough it was reflected here.
Only he wasn't pointing a weapon at someone over something as trivial as turf wars!
"No i'm not, I'm not trying to splat him, I just want to know where Victoria is."
"And how would he know? You don't really think he's the spy do you?"
"Who else could it be but him? He is the only one who knows about Victoria and Lynn said that spies are usually those good at blending in or an influential person."
"Maybe, but then how do you explain the coming lockdown as well as bailing Inker and I out of jail?"
"I bet he's waiting till after the Octolings slip out to lock down Inkopolis."
Neon looked at Arcus, expecting him to respond.
"Actually no, the lockdown is happening now, I just came to make sure Cuttlefish didn't have any agents in Octo Valley."
Neon looked back at Kal as if to say "you see"
Kal lowered his Splatling a bit
"Yeah no, not buying it."
"Kal stop it, I know you want to find Victoria, but this is going nowhere, the spy clearly isn't Arcus so just put down the splatling and we'll find VIctoria together."
In truth Kal was already convinced that it wasn't Arcus, but he had no other leads, so he kept on accusing on the off chance that it really was Arcus.
But Neon was right, he was making the same mistake she did, acting too hastily and jumping to conclusions.
Kal silently lowered his weapon.
"Ya see Arcus? Someone like you shouldn't be going around without bodyguards." Cuttlefish joked
Kal ignored the old squid "But if it isn't Arcus, then who could it be? There is nobody else that knows about Victoria."
"Really? Maybe there is someone like me, who put the pieces together and figured it out." Neon suggested.
"I don't think so, so far nobody has been able to tell Victoria's real identity and I never told anyone. Did any of you tell someone?"
Neon, Sky and Inker all shook their heads.
Kal threw his Heavy Splatling down in frustration
"DAMMIT! Who could it be!? ARGH!"
Arcus, despite being falsely accused still stood by and watched.
As did Inker and Sky.
Neon however stood by Kal.
"Come on, don't give up yet, did you really tell no one about Victoria? Not even your family?"
"No of course not, I never even mentioned knowing an Octo- ..."
Kal went silent, he had an epiphany
He didn't tell anyone about Victoria….
But he did tell someone else about an Octoling….
That someone had also recently become an influential Inkling, who's very existence helped create the Vanguard movement and start protests for an Inkopolis army, yet she was also able to blend in well since she wasn't someone important like Arcus.
"No."
Kal buried his face in his hands.
He didn't want to believe it.
'After what the Octarians did to her, there was no way she could be the spy, it's just not possible.'
But the Inkling he had in mind fit Lynn's description.
That Inkling also knew that he had an Octoling friend.
It also explained why they were attacked by Octolings twice in a day and why the Octolings had messed up his house.
They didn't know Victoria by name, but after mentioning an Octoling helping out Inker at Melanin prison, it wasn't hard to put two and two together.
As Kal crouched on the ground with his face buried in his hand, Neon walked closer and poked him.
"Hey hey, you figured it out didn't you?"
Kal stood back up, visibly shocked.
He didn't look at anyone, his eyes stared off into nothing and his hands trembled.
"I think I know who the spy is…."
"Oh that's great! Good job! Now why do you look like you've seen a ghost?" Neon gave Kal a hearty slap on the back, before tilting her head in confusion.
Kal looked up, slowly he uttered the words that he himself didn't want to believe.
"It's the girl we rescued from Octo Valley, Lila Fields."
"Hmm? But didn't her family create the Vanguard movement?" Sky asked
"Yeah but that's the thing, the Octarians had been trying to provoke us into attacking them before, the Vanguard movement was doing the same thing. Besides, remember how Lila was not in the cells at Melanin prison? Who knows what was done to her at that time."
Inker, Sky and Neon exchanged glances.
They couldn't really deny Kal's theory.
Kal turned to Arcus "I'm sorry for threatening you like that, but I need you to do me a favor, can you find out where Lila is? And also, lock down Inkopolis so that no one can leave."
Arcus nodded "The lockdown was about to start anyways, but maybe you should leave this to the IPD."
"No, I don't want anyone else finding out about Victoria, please, I know its alot to ask, but keep this secret." Kal begged
"Well alright, It's not like I can talk about what happened here in public, but I still need some sort of story for the press."
"You can't just keep this a secret?"
"Not all of it, I'll send a team of officers I can trust to keep a secret and make some arrests after you get your Octoling friend back."
"Thanks, I'm really sorry about the confusion."
"Don't worry about it, if it had happened in public you would have been arrested on the spot, but we can keep what happens here a secret."
Everyone returned to Inkopolis, Cap'n Cuttlefish went to bunk with Callie and Marie again, while Arcus set to work.
Inkopolis
A few minutes later, Kal, Neon, Sky and Inker got a call from Arcus.
"Apparently Wister, Mauve and Laven Fields all haven't used their squid-phones ever since going to Octo valley, but Lila's phone is still on, i'll send you the address."
As Lila's address popped up in Kal's phone, Sky immediately began searching for directions.
Arcus had more to say.
"It seems that you were right, Lila's recent text messages have all been from someone using detective Vert's number, instructing her to do things and saying that it would be appreciated. You guys have half an hour before my team moves on the house."
Fields family household, Inkopolis.
In the basement of the house stood seven Octolings and an Inkling.
All of them wore Inkling clothes.
But only one was tied to a chair.
The other six paced about impatiently.
Another one came running in.
"Bad news, Inkopolis is being put on lockdown, we'll have to lay low for a while before taking Holter back for trial."
The other Octolings grumbled, but they had no other choice but to wait.
"Why are we even taking the traitor back for trial? Just have Lila splat her and be done with it." One complained
"The Acting Leader said she wanted Holter alive, she is not to be executed until after she is questioned by the Elites." A black tentacled Octoling replied
She seemed to be leading the group here, she was also probably an Elite Octoling who wasn't wearing any seaweed to blend in with the Inklings.
Victoria said nothing, quietly listening to the Octolings discuss their plans for her.
She looked at the little Inkling sitting in the corner.
'The would have never expected a victim of the Octarians to be working for them.' Victoria thought
After all the Inkling looked really young and innocent.
Also she was scarred all over.
Everything about her screamed victim.
Too bad.
There was a knock on the door, which startled the Octolings as there was no reason for anyone to visit them.
"We are going to get caught." one paranoid Octoling muttered
"We are not getting caught." the Elite Octoling replied, she then turned to Lila and with a smile she said.
"Lila, if you answer the door and drive away whoever is there, it would be much appreciated."
Lila immediately stood up and skipped her way upstairs.
"What did you do to her?" Victoria asked
"That's none of your business." the Elite Octoling replied.
"Last time I checked, she was being used as bait for Agent 3, so why is it that she's helping you so eagerly?"
"You want to know? Why don't you go ask your fellow traitor, the disavowed Captain Vale, now would someone gag her?"
An Octoling immediately gagged Victoria.
Meanwhile upstairs, Lila greeted Kal and the others at the door.
"Kal! What a surprise! What are you doing here?"
"Hi Lila, actually we wanted to talk to Laven about the Vanguard movement, is he here?"
Lila's mind went blank, she couldn't recall where Laven went.
"Sorry but he hasn't been around recently."
"Didn't he make it back from Octo Valley?"
Once again Lila could not remember, but she believed that Laven had to be alive somewhere, probably with her parents too.
"Yes he did."
Or did she just want to believe that?
"Then where is he?"
She was there when it all went down
"I-I don't know…."
'No I saw nothing.'
"Well alright then, give me a call when he gets back."
"Sure! Bye!"
Lila closed the door, then skipped downstairs again.
"Are they gone?"
"Yep!"
"Good girl."
The paranoid Octoling breathed a sigh of relief, while another laughed.
"You see, there is nothing to be afraid of, it's probably some friend of Lila's brother, right Lila?"
"Yep! His friend, my friend too, he's also her friend!" Lila pointed at Victoria
The Octolings exchanged glances
As for Victoria she was surprised 'Kal?'
Lila stopped, noticing that the Octolings started to look funny.
"Keep going." One of them told Lila
"Also a friend of Agent 3, not good friends with Bogs though."
A few of the Octolings started to panic
"You see! We are getting caught!"
"We are not getting caught, umm Lila, Agent 3 wasn't there was he?"
"Yes he was, with Kal and two other fresh squids!"
The lack of a name for the two fresh squids made it even worse for the Octolings, who assumed they were Agents 1&2.
"The whole New Squidbeak Splatoon is on to us! We are screwed!" one Octoling yelled
"Shut up! Shut up! Stop being such a jinx, hurry up and knock on wood." Another tried to calm down the first.
A third crouched in a fetal position
"I don't wanna be caught, I don't wanna be sent to an Inkling jail, I don't wanna be violated by Inkling criminals."
The toll of operating in foreign land, far away from home was already starting to show.
"Okay okay, everyone just calm down, we will find a way out of this and go back to the Valley."
"Yes, right okay, I'm calm" An Octoling said while taking deep breaths.
"Good, all we have to do is keep blending in with the Vanguard movement until the lockdown is over, it will be easy." an Octoling sat while patting a panicky one on the back.
They didn't know that Kal, Neon, Inker and Sky were still there.
After Lila had left, they listened hard, hoping to hear anything important.
And they did.
Kal knocked on the door again, behind him, Inker and Neon transformed into squid form.
Kal and Sky picked the two up, ready to toss them into the house as soon as the door opened again.
Kal would follow afterwards, while Sky waited for Arcus' IPD team.
Back inside the house, a few of the Octolings were gripped with fear when they heard the knocking again.
A more calm one went with Lila to take a look.
The Octoling hid behind the door, then nodded at Lila.
Lila opened the door to peek outside, but before she could say anything something blue and green were tossed inside.
Inker and Neon quickly popped back up and splatted the Octoling, while Lila looked on, confused.
Kal entered shortly and closed the door, leaving Sky outside.
"Lila, what's going on? Why are there Octolings in your home?" Inker asked
"Did you hear that? That sounded like Agent 3! He's here!" someone said
"Lila! It would be much appreciated if you get back down here!"
Lila immediately ran back to the basement
Inker, Kal and Neon followed, covering turf on their way down.
They saw Victoria tied up, with six other Octolings pointing weapons at them.
Lila stood by their side, holding an Aerospray.
Inker observed the Octolings, he noticed that three of them were shaking, probably out of fear.
He didn't want to splat anyone if he didn't need to.
"Inkopolis is on lockdown, and the IPD are on their way here, just hand over Victoria and nobody needs to get splatted." Inker said
The Octolings that looked nervous seemed ready to give up.
The other ones however, weren't.
"Lila, if you could point your weapon at Victoria it would be much appreciated, oh and if any of us gets splatted then pull the trigger too." The Elite Octoling said
Lila compiled immediately, her aerospray was pointed at Victoria.
If the Elite Octoling was to be believed, she would splat her if they tried to splat any of the Octolings.
Now it was the Elite Octoling's turn to make demands.
"We will return to Octo Valley, with the traitor and Lila, let us through."
The group groups continued their stand off.
"Lila, why are you helping them?" Kal asked
"Huh?" Lila sounded confused
"Lila, what happened to Laven and the rest of your family?"
"I can't remember."
"Hey Lila, it would be appreciated if you stop talking." The Octoling closest to her snapped
"Don't listen to her Lila, why are you threatening Victoria? What did she ever do to you?"
No response.
"Lila?"
"Looks like she doesn't want to talk to you anymore, now step aside before she decides to shoot your friend."
Lila still said nothing, but Kal noticed something.
Her jaw was moving, as if she wanted to talk, but could not.
'What was going on here?'
"Kal, we may need to let them go…" Inker whispered "Unless we splat Lila I don't see a way to save Victoria."
Inker didn't want to splat Lila
Neither did Kal
They weren't too sure about Neon though, but she had been holding herself back the whole time, so she probably wouldn't splat Lila either.
'Come on! Think! What can we do here?' Kal thought hard
Lila was the only one who could splat Victoria, since the Octolings all shared the same ink colour.
But how could they get Lila away from Victoria if she was obeying the Elite Octoling's command?
The Octolings started to move, two of them untied Victoria from her chair.
"Move it."
They walked towards Kal, Inker and Neon.
Inker backed up slowly, along with Kal, Neon hesitated for a bit, but followed along.
"Lila, stay with us, it will be much appreciated." One of the Octolings said.
Lila, who hadn't been moving until then, immediately followed along.
Once again Kal noticed Lila seem to hesitate.
It was almost as if she didn't want to follow along.
Kal wondered why she was acting like that.
'Maybe Laven was captured by the Octarians? Actually that wouldn't make sense, we heard about the spy before the Vanguard movement went to Octo Valley.'
There was one other theory.
'Arcus said that Lila had been getting messages telling her to do things which would be appreciated. The invitations I got from the Vanguard movement also said that joining would be much appreciated, finally Lynn mentioned bribes and brainwashing.
Brainwashing!"
"Lila, keep your weapon trained on Victoria, it will be much appreciated." the Elite Octoling said again.
"No Lila, it would be much appreciated if you stopped aiming at Victoria."
"What did you just say?!" the Elite Octoling exclaimed.
In the meantime Lila had stopped pointing her Aerospray at Victoria.
No, rather it looked like she was fighting herself, she hadn't completely lowered her weapon, but appeared to be trying to do so.
However the Elite Octoling immediately had her weapon aimed at Lila.
If they couldn't hurt Victoria, then they would have to use Lila as a hostage.
"Congratulations on figuring out how we were controlling this little one, it's a shame we didn't have more time to implant a more effective form of brainwashing, now let us pass." the Elite ordered
"Dammit, that didn't help at all!"Kal murmured
He along with Neon and Inker took another step back, all while keeping their weapons trained on the Octolings.
Neon was holding her E-Liter in an odd way, with her hand covering the barrel.
This was because she was completely fine with splatting an Elite Octoling and she was also perfectly confident in her aim.
Her hand was blocking the aiming laser her E-Liter would have made while charging.
'She has no idea what's coming'
Neon moved her hand and the laser appeared perfectly on the Elite, who reacted by pulling her trigger.
Of course it was too late, Neon's E-Liter splatted the Elite Octoling in one hit, while the Elite's Octoshot only did some damage to Lila, who yelped and fell to the floor.
The other Octolings went into a panic, some fired at Inker and the others while another fired at Lila.
Inker made sure to splat that one first, before switching to squid form and swimming away.
Good thing they covered some turf while coming here.
Kal fired a barrage of Ink from his Heavy Splatling, while Neon picked off another Octoling.
The remaining Octolings surrendered in no time.
They dropped their weapons.
"Okay okay we give up!"
Kal, Inker and Neon relaxed
But Lila stood back up
As if she was in a trance, she wadded towards Victoria with her Aerospray
She had an order to complete.
"No Lila stop, it would be appreciated if you stop!"
Lila halted just as she raised her Aerospray.
Once again it seemed like she was fighting herself.
"I c-can't, I want to but I can't" Lila struggled
"Lila, it would be much appreciated if you lowered your weapon."
Lila's arm shook violently
"I'm trying, I'm trying."
She tried to stop it, but could not.
Kal wasn't sure what would happen now,how else could he stop Lila, who seemed to be puppeted by the Octarians.
"Don't give up, what if it was Laven standing in front of you!"
Lila's eyes widened
"What?"
Yet she was already moving her hand.
"No! Nonononono stop!" Lila panicked
"No, what am I doing? Why am I doing this? Where did Laven go? I need help!"
Lila's struggle intensified, she shook violently, then went quiet.
It was probably too much to have a lot of conflicting orders.
Lila had passed out
The remaining Octolings had given up
And Victoria was safe.
It was over
Inker and Kal freed Victoria, who immediately asked "How did you manage to find me?"
Kal scratched his head shyly "It's a long story."
"No it isn't" Neon chimed in "This morning he wa-"
Kal jumped on Neon and covered her mouth, only letting bit of her story flow out
"Mmph panic mmmmp Arcus mmmmmph crazy" Neon said as she wrested to get Kal's hand off.
Inker and Victoria laughed
"Well regardless, thanks for rescuing me." Victoria said
"Hey no problem!" Kal said, finally letting go of Neon.
"You should have seen how insane he went when you were gone!" Neon laughed
Kal glared at Neon
"Anyways!" Inker interrupted "The IPD are coming soon, so we should leave now."
Kal nodded "Yeah right, we can't let them find out you yet" he said to Victoria
Victoria looked around for something to hide her Octarian tentacles.
The Octolings all had some kind of Inkling headgear that was large enough, she settled on a Bobble hat.
As they prepared to leave Kal glanced at Lila again.
She was unconscious.
"What should we do about Lila?" he asked
"She was brainwashed, I don't think there is much we can do." Victoria replied
"Can't you do something about it?"
"I'm not an Elite Octoling, there isn't much I can do."
Kal looked at the unconscious Lila, 'why did she pass out like that?'
Back in Melanin prison, she was an innocent little girl, Kal had even promised to protect her, because someone that young should never be left to die in Octo Valley.
But by the time they got to Lila, she must have already been brainwashed.
Who would do such a thing to a young girl like her?
"It doesn't feel right leaving her behind like this."
"Kal, the IPD will be here soon, they'll take her to a hospital."
Kal paused again.
"Well okay."
Inker, Kal, Neon, Sky and Victoria left just as Arcus' IPD team arrived.
From a distance, Kal watched as an ambulance arrived, presumably to pick up Lila.
He would need to visit her soon.
After all, they needed to know what happened to the Vanguard movement.
"RRRRRRR"
Everyone's attention turned to Kal, or rather his stomach
"Ohh right, I skipped breakfast."
"Hey I know, let's all go to that sushi place that you took Victoria too!" Neon suggested
"Yeah sure…. WAIT A SEC! Were you eavesdropping on me?!"
"I just happened to pass by, what? Did you think I would interrupt your date?"
"It wasn't a date!"
'Neon was as carefree as always' Victoria thought 'But why does it feel like I just casually got friendzoned?'
Cephalic Hospital, Inkopolis
That night Lila tossed and turned on her hospital bed.
There were bits of memories she didn't want to see, bits that she couldn't shake.
'It would be much appreciated, if you could get the others to take revenge.'
'No'
'The Inkopolis government isn't doing anything, so will take action ourselves. We ask everyone who had seen the brutality of the Octarians to join together, we shall become vanguards of a great campaign and punish the Octarians for their actions. If you could spread this message to everyone you know, it would be much appreciated.'
'No'
'If you can bring your Vanguard friends to Octo Valley, it would be very much appreciated.'
'We would appreciate it if you can guide them to the rig.'
'No! No no no no! That never happened no!'
'We would appreciate it if you brought us back as guests.'
What had she done?
Lila tossed, turned and cried
There was some really disturbing memories.
Creating the Vanguard movement
Going with them to Octo Valley
Blank
'Nothing happened after that, I just came back with a few Octolings that's all.'
Lila kept telling herself that.
Even though she knew what had really happened
She didn't want to bring her family to Octo valley, but for some reason she did the opposite.
As if she was a backseat driver and somebody else was moving her body.
What happened after that?
She led them into an ambush and watched as they were all splatted one by one.
Her father Wister blasted by an Octostriker.
Her mother Mauve splatted by Octotroopers.
Her dear brother Laven, brought to his knees and shot by Octolings.
Lila shook those images out of her head
'No that didn't happen, they never went to Octo valley, they just haven't come home in a while!'
'Yes that's it, yes they are lost, I have to find them!'
'Find them!'
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