The strange kid ran around Inkopolis. He seemed to be desperately trying to lose us. He became more and more frantic as we chased him.

"Dude… this guy can run…" Leon kept running alongside me.

"I don't think he know where he's going." I watched him make a sharp left.

"Huh? Then maybe we can corner him?" Leon smirked, "Okay go to the right. The way he's running maybe we can block his escape routes. I'll go round on the left."

I nodded and turned to the right. The kid saw me and tried to run the other way. He stopped when he saw Leon and ran back the way he came.

"Good, just as planned. That way should be a dead end."

Leon and I slowly made our way to the strange kid. He slowly backed up to the wall. Leon and I kinda felt bad for him. He looked terrified of us, but before we could say or do anything. Someone fired magenta ink at us, causing us to jump back. An octoling with his tentacles in a sort of mohawk, jumped down between us and the kid. The older boy glared at him then at us with deep blue eyes.

"Ciro…." The strange boy seemed even more tense.

"Hey, who are you guys and what's going on?!" Leon shouted at them, he cautiously took a step in front of me.

Ciro pointed his Octo shot at us, his serious expression didn't change.

Leon took out his roller.

They glared at each other ready to strike. I had no weapon nor way to defend myself so I just brace myself for anything. Leon jumped at him and flicked a vertical splatter of blue ink. Ciro jumped out of the way with his friend and fired at Leon. Leon dove into his ink and charged at him. Ciro dove and evaded Leon's swing and got a shot onto Leon's back. Leon yelped and hissed from the sting of his ink. Leon flicked his roller to send a splatter of ink at Ciro. Ciro jumped back to narrowly avoid it. Ciro suddenly jumped back to the kid as lime green ink nearly splatted him. Char jumped out wearing her agent gear.

Leon froze to avoid hitting her. Ciro seemed surprised to see her. Char seemed hurt and could collapse at any time.

"Agent 3…" Ciro muttered and gripped his octo shot.

"Where did… you take her?" Char staggered towards him.

Ciro tensed up as he grabbed the kid's arm. He tried to run away as he dragged the kid with him.

"Let go! I have to save her" the kid tried to pull away from Ciro's grip.

Ciro suddenly aimed at a storm drain. A white octopus with glowing blue rings crawled out of it.

"A-A-Aria…" the strange boy began to quiver.

"...Depending on what you do right now," Aria turned into her humanoid form, "I can either spare you or kill you both where you stand."

"..." Ciro looked to the side and dropped his Octoshot.

The kid was shaking. Char stood between Aria and Ciro.

"Char!" I caught her before she fell to the ground, "Why are you so beat up?! Char!"

She fainted in my arms.

"What is going on?" I asked anxiously.

"Yeah, about that… Let's go back to the lab first okay?" Aria crossed her arms.

We walked to the lab. I carried Char in my arms. She had wounds and dirt all over her body. I became uneasy just looking at her like this. I wiped some of the dirt from her face. Marigo ran to us when we got back.

"Dylan! Thank goodness! Are you hurt anywhere?!" Marigo knelt down and looked for any wounds on me.

"Mom, I'm fine… but Char is hurt…" I cradled Char.

"She's so beat up because she was trying to defend Maggie and Mary… and you." Aria looked at the strange kid who seemed guilty.

"...You did that for Aliiva?..." Ciro seemed surprised.

"Aliiva?" Marigo asked.

"Yeah… I'm sorry. I didn't stop them sooner…" the kid took off his hat to reveal 'he' was actually a 'she'.

"You could have gotten yourself killed!" Ciro replied.

"And it's right that we force that poor creature to become a deathly supersoldier?"

"And you two are?"

"Ciro is Luscas's top agent. I am Luscas's adviser… Well ex adviser."

"I couldn't… just let them kill you." Ciro sighed.

Aliiva puffed her cheeks and pouted at him.

"I should have done something, sooner."

"You guys were gonna attack our base?!" Leon exclaimed.

"... yes, we gotten intel about a secret project Maggie and Mary… We attacked their lab. Their reactions… I felt horrible. Like taking a baby from their child." Aliiva sat down.

"...We were too late to stop it… They took it away." Ciro sat beside her.


Author's Note

Sorry for the wait. I guess. My partner isn't really helping me write, so it just kinda hard to find motivation to write. Not only that working 60+ hours a week is also a factor. I wanna thank Agent 8, LuisBustossonicfan, and Piston24 for messaging me and supporting me. Not only them but you guys for still reading after 2-3 ish years.

Like before is there anything I should improve or fix? And thank you for reading. I'll get on the next chapter as soon as possible. If I actually get myself to write. It's become like pulling teeth to me. Maybe I'm being too hard on myself. I'll let you decide on that tho. See you next time anyways.