Sky sat in the quiet café with Callie and Marie as they also wore the work uniform and a disguise .
" This was a great idea to have us blend in to avoid those mobs thanks ." Callie said smiling .
"Oh please was my father I'm just flames."
Sky rolled her eyes with Marie as Callie chuckled .
"Anyway the crowds have seemed to die down now and we have to get ready for a concert so we should be leaving soon." Marie stated .
"We can stay for like five more minutes Marie , besides better safe than sorry. I don't want to run into another mob ." Callie retorted.
Marie who didn't want to fight the crowd said " fine, I would like to see how those drinks are made ." She then turned to sky .
" oh yeah sure , flames prepare their usuals."
" okie dokie . " flames replied before getting started .
Ten minutes later there were four drinks . The two Callie and Marie had made with skys direction and the two flames had made by himself . With confidence both Marie and Callie had started drinking the drinks they had made. Two gulps in they had stopped, made a disgusted face and traded flames for his .
" that doesn't make any sense." Marie pondered
"Oh that's cause flames and I have made that drink plenty of times to have it pretty well memorized but you two don't have to worry as we will make you drinks until you get it ." Sky said happy .
"Yo also we like your business so if you learned how to make those drinks you wouldn't come in as often." Flames had added.
The squid sisters laughed . " that's not entirely true , we'd never be able to make them as good as you two . " Marie said with a coy smile .
" plus we would come back here to hang out with you two it would be the least we could do . " Callie added.
" true coming here would be the least we could do for being so helpful ." Marie stated .
" No need to worry, we will always have your backs." Sky said proudly .
" for shizzle." Flames continued.
"Well I'm glad you two are looking out for us but be sure to get each other's back from time to time ."
A laugh track then interrupted sky's dream as she didn't realize she had fallen asleep on her couch . Stirring from her sleep she realized she must have passed out from watching the squids sisters movie marathon after promising herself she'd only watch one . Still with a good amount of time left she got up to get ready for work .
Her morning walk was filled with a lot more thinking then normal . Were dream Callie and Marie right ? Should she be watching flames back and would he watch hers in turn ? If that was the truth then the only thing to would be to listen to him and actually rid herself of the headache she called coworkers . Even tho this sounded like a good idea on paper would buck senior also approve and how would she just fire someone and ruin their livelihood ? Being the instrument to some ones discomfort didn't sit well with her as her footsteps became heavy . Still arriving two hours before opening she saw the lights on again in the café . When she walked in it was just flames cleaning the equipment as buck jr dozed off behind the counter . Sky taking this in she waved to flames and he saluted back .
" is buck senior still here ?"
" yup doing something with the numbers apparently said to tell you to come see him when you got in ."
" oh ok." Sky said with out needing a further explanation.
As soon as she walked into the back office buck senior who didn't look up from the laptop in front of him said .
" Sky take a seat ."
She did as commanded as he continued to chicken type on the keyboard. Several silence seconds passed as only the slow clicks were heard sky looked around as she thought more on her situation what was her next move as manager ? Should she use her new authority to try and make work the best situation for those around her by firing her long time coworkers ?
" Sky , how's command going for you ?" Buck senior asked interrupting her thoughts.
" oh ,umm, good ." She muttered out weakly devoid of eye contact.
"Really ? Well that's good . Do you think you can start ordering the supplies and picking them up for me then ? It would save a lot of money and we could justify that raise of yours better."
"Oh I'm not , ummm good at lifting ."
" well good thing you're surrounded by strong men get three of them to help you or it will take all day and we can't have that ." He said while standing up .
"Three ? " Sky said realizing something .
" yes ,is that a problem ?"
" oh no sir ."
" good just send them off when the café isn't too busy and they should return in two hours with the stuff . Easy and simple . Alright have a good day you know where the phone numbers are." He then left the room quickly .
This was bad sky knew for a fact she didn't have three men to lift the supply's and there was no way she could do much lifting her self.
In the kitchen
Flames sat cleaning another machine lost in thought about why the boss man was rummaging the numbers so much . Maybe there was a clue to figuring out what he was looking for in them , but what ? Flames thoughts were then interrupted by buck seniors loud thunderous clap in his sons ear causing buck jr to jump .
" no sleeping on the clock ."he said coldly , he then turned to flames " flames did you get that paper work filled out ?"
" no sir sorry sir I lost it sir ." Flames shot back quickly .
" one sir will do it . Hmm only military octolings say sir that much . Do you have any past relations to the military."
"Mothers were in the military but left after I was born other than that none that I can speak of ."Flames lied on a technicality
" well if you were in the military you wouldn't be able to speak of it would you ." Buck senior stated back seeing through him .
" that is true ." Flames replied .
"Hmm you're an illegal aren't you ."
" yeah ."
" ok then don't worry about the paper work , but I need you to do something for me ."
Sky then exited the back room as she heard buck senior say " to minimize cost. Understand ." Flames expression changed to one steadfast blankness like a solider receiving orders ." I copy." Was all sky heard.
Nodding buck senior waved again and left .
Curios sky asked.
"What was that about ?"
"I'm not at liberty to say , however it was an order I was planning on carrying out anyways." Flames said in a unfamiliar tone .
Sky didn't ask any more questions as flames went back to cleaning .
Looking down at the plate flames held the pizza as Eric continued
" and after I graduate law school THEN I'll get hard into the competitive splat scene . I'll Either getting on a team or sponsoring one so I get free tickets to the games and stuff ."
" You should sponsor a building instead . Then you can get in no matter who's playing. That's what I'm going to do when I graduate med school." Erica said proudly .
" wow that would be great if I didn't want to also TRAVEL . I'd get in at the away games and see the world while turfin."
" that's a vacation and I don't know how you're gonna take so many if you're practicing law ."
"Seasonally, it makes sense during the off seasons, I'll work like crazy but when it's on it's on ya know working less until play offs and stuff and that's only if my team makes it far."
"You'll never get there if you don't stop doing that now ."
" doing what ?"
" treating everyday like turfin is in season ."
" everyday turfin IS in season." They all laughed
"So what about you guys ? what are you planning for the future ?" Erica asked .
" I'm not sure yet . All I know is that it's gonna be something to do with war vets . They did a lot for me ya know , also a lot of them are treated unfairly as they get older a lot so I'll probably spend a good amount of time helping them with like working out and housing and making sure they aren't forgotten ."
"Oh my dad is like a war vet flames." raphe had stated
"Really? He must be from the great turf war then ." flames said out loud
" yeah . Wait how's you know that ?" Raphe questioned
" I uhhh-"
"Oh come on raphe everyone knows about the great turf war it's something we learned in school ,it's not like there has been many wars after ." eric interjected
"Actually there's are a couple . We also learn that in school but you weren't paying attention we're you ?" Erica added
"Hey what about you raphe?" Eric said not paying attention to his sister. "What do you wanna do which yourself ?"
"Well I uhhhh ." Raphe said confused .
"It's ok raphe if you don't know yet whatever you do we will you help out ." Erica commented.
"Yeah no matter what we will have your back ." Eric smiled .
Raphe staired at flames as he tried to insert a slice of pizza past the face guard of his helmet . Flames noticing his friends gaze.
" oh yeah for sure as well tho ya know I got you ."
Raphe then smiled.
" well yea for sure then maybe something with children with less ."
"Yooo like helping out at an orphanage I'm mad good with kids, so I'll help you get started ." Flames added.
Raphe then nodded his head furiously fast . " oh yeah me to."
" really ? Cause last time I checked you couldn't stand your little brother ." Erica added under her breath with a knowing smile.
Raphe staired daggers at Erica as she sipped on her soda . Eric smiled and did " hey let's make a vow to help each other get what we want now and forever no matter what we will always have each other's back! How does that sound ? ."
"I'm down for that ." Flames said in agreement .
"Yea for sure even if it is helping raphe have kids with flames ." erica with a toothy grin
Eric then chuckled as raphe coughed and choked on his pizza. Flames laughed pretending to understand the joke .
" I still don't get it ."
Flames said to himself as he now put the clean dishes away .
" Flames." sky said interrupting his thought. "startup machines -"
"One and three . On it ." He responded instantly
Sky smiled while getting the rest of the ingredients for the two drinks.
"Junior can you be at machine number three ? " Sky asked politely .
"On it." He replied with more confidence now thy his father had left .
"I can take number one of you wanna work the till. Then we can rotate ." Flames added
"That sounds like a plan it's just-"
" these two machines don't make every drink. Yes sky I know and Mr. Junior will be with one of us if he has questions ." Flames said after taking the materials from sky .
Sky smiled then went back to the till as she took the next order buck senior was watching from outside across the alleyway . He could see inside thanks to the big windows. He couldn't hear them but could see by how they gestured that they worked together really well and were coaching his son on how to work hard. This made buck senior smile glad that his son would learn the value of hard work from some one even if it wasn't him .
" I wonder how they will handle the next challenge ."
Sky then finished making the last drink after the lunch rush and sighed relieved. As the café sat still flames leaned against a wall while buck sat on a bucket .
" break time ."
"Yeah nothing left but to collect our selfs for round two ."
"Collect?" Sky asked realizing something ." We have to get some supplies …." She said.
"Okie dokie. Junior watch the place sky let's go get it ."
"Ok don't take too long ." Buck jr said while making himself some soda.
"Wait flames, Mr. Buck said we'd need three people and I can't lift that much so -"
"So like everything , you and I will handle it . Come on ."
Flames then took off his apron and headed outside . Buck jr took out his cell phone and started playing a game and waved bye .
After fifteen minutes of walking the arrived to a warehouse near the dock. Flames with no inhabitations walked straight in through the doc doors . Sky confused followed him in but with less confidence . This was obvious to the employees looked over at them . Flames waved at them and kept stepping confidently and the employees waved back while redirecting their attention . When sky saw this she stepped faster and made sure to stay near him . Flames then walked over to the most important room and opened the door . Inside sat an octoling doing paper work. looking up he saw flames and sky who timidly walked in . Confused he asked
" Can I help you ?"
" Yeah hi I'm kingendlessflames this is Saravky and we are with the BB. We are here picking up some supply's. We where wondering if you could help us out" Flames said politely.
"Uh sure do you have a invoice ?" The octoling asked as he took out a black clip board.
Flames turned to sky as she opened the binder she was carrying with her giving him the proper paper work . After being handed the papers he looked at it and said " Tell the boys on the doc that you have order 4577 and they'll load your truck for you ."
"Oh we ain't got a truck . Wait how much is it ?" Flames asked the room .
The octoling looked over it and answered ."six crates."
"Alright let's go see what these crates look like." Flames said leaving .
" hey wait , did you …. Serve ?"
"Yeah . Why?" Flames voice changed to a cold serious tone .
"I was wondering if you've heard about the C- unit after they disappeared ."
Flames visibly recoiled. "What's your name?"
"My name is Omar."
"Then you're looking for a short quite girl named Melissa. You helped her escape the breeder camp."
"Yes. How'd you -?"
" After a little adventure of our own she went to live with her sick mom in the underground dome . I don't know if she went back to the army I just helped her get back to the city ."
"But she's alive ?"
"She's the only one of us to make it out alive ."
"I'm sorry make it out of what exactly ?!"
Flames scratched his neck .
" Hell."
There was then a silence in the little office .
" Well thank you ."
"Hey, I shouldn't have to tell you don't mention it ."
He smiled as sky and flames walked out .
At they dock flames watched them bring out the six crates . With each one being the size of a large dog flames only continued to smile .
" I thought we were going to have a problem ." He then chuckled as he lifted four out of the six . "Hey you can we borrow your dolly?"
Still in shock of how flames effortlessly lifted the boxes . The workers were silent .
"Here take this one." The octoling from the desk had said as he rolled over a nice red dolly to sky even loading the boxes on it for her .
" oh thank you Mr. Omar ."
"No thank you ."
As he waved bye sky could see the vacation request now on his clip board . As she inspected it closer she could see that the request was for himself and had reason under family emergency . During her inspection she tunneled vision on the paper work and couldn't see the black car that had Parked at the warehouse across the way . If she had seen it she would have known buck senior was watching them.
Several minutes had passed as they walked back to the café. Sky was becoming fatigued . Flames noticed this and asked
"Yo sky you good ?"
" unfortunately no ." She said stopping the dolly.
Flames looked and only expected as much as her face was beet red and her breathing became heavy. Flames looked at his watch and said .
"We still got like fifteen minutes ." Flames said turning to the direction of the café.
Sky confused looked up at him confused .
" oh yeah right I was thinking we could hit this lick in like 30 to 45 minutes . Here sit down . " flames said as he grabbed sky and lead her to a near by bench . "Just chill here I'll be right back to check on you the café is like five minutes away ."
" it's ten….minutes away." Sky corrected .
Flames only smiled as he picked back up his four boxes and walked off . Sky watched him leave and noticed his speed was faster than earlier . As he rounded the corner she laid on the bench . The concern of cleanliness outweighed by the beating of her chest . She knew her heart would be a problem as soon as buck senior gave her this job. Being of colossal squid descent her hearts had grew larger than they had space for even in her ink base body so normal physical activity was hard on her . As she caught her breath she stood up to look at the crates .Opening it she could see that fruits were pretty fresh and packed expertly. The label on the top of the inside was very useful . She thought to herself as she's read the list of its content . What was at the bottom scared her . A warning label stating 80lb, 36kg lift with caution . As she thought of how many and how fast flames had walked away she didn't have long to think about this when flames had appeared next to her.
"I'll Never get why no one understands. You have to unpack the box where you want the contents to go." Flames said while moving her off the crate and closing it. He then started rolling the dolly off and asked. " You good enough to walk?"
"Ye…Yes." Sky said as Flames kept moving.
They then entered the Café Buck Jr. Severed up a couple of drinks in their absents. Looking up and seeing that they were now both back he waved.
" So, guys how'd it go?" he asked.
" Light work baby, but you already know how we do." Flames said with confidence.
Sky didn't say much as They all unpacked the boxes loading up the freezer. Eventually the three Goons came in. Seeing this no one paid them any mind. The numbers were already ran and the last thing left to do was to clean. Also no buck senior visits weren't a surprise so they all waited patiently for him to come. Flames washed the windows outside the building and thought about war. His hands twitched as he saw his fellow soldiers die around him repeatedly thrown into impossible odds. He grew angry as he knew that the men in charge of him knew that the soldiers they sent in were going to die.
"Excuse me , Flames." Buck senior had said standing away from him.
Flames looked back to him and smiled then back to the window he was continued cleaning it. " Hello sir."
"Good Evenning. How are you ?"
Flames was confused by this line of questioning. He hadn't known buck senior for a full week but he knew that he didn't waste much time with small talk. -Dude was straight business. No chit chat just click clack- Flames thought to himself.
"Good. Just finishing up the outside windows. Everyone's inside if you need to talk to them. "
" No. I was hoping to talk with you for a second."
" About what sir?"
"well, about me. Let me ask you a question. Do you know why im not allowed to respawn?"
"Criminal activities for aiding a criminal." Flames said while still cleaning the window.
" True the report says she was a criminal. She told me she used to be the head charge for a breeder facility?"
Flames paused. "Hmm." he then continued to clean the window. Head charges deserting from the army was rare but after being tasked with silencing the life's of the impure baby's they mostly took their own life's. They had many other jobs that flames didn't exactly know but them going insane was a common and big enough thing that rumors made its way around the army to his ear. "A Head charge is a huge responsibility."
"Yeah, She didn't like to talk much about it but the pain could still be displayed on her face. It goes without saying that delivering bad news isnt something that you'd like to do to those closest to you . Probably why she tried to spare us from her past but I still would have appreciated the honesty more. You understand?"
" Yes. I'm sorry does this have something to do with our conversation earlier?"
"Yes." Buck senior said as he staired into the café. Flames looked back to him as his silence unnerved him." If sky doesn't pull the trigger well then I guess I need who ever has her back to do it. Just like how you helped her with the order. Each one of those boxes I order to be super heavy how'd you carry them so effortlessly?"
Flames then remembered how when you lead a unit they ask you to carry all of the squad mates under you across an obstacle course. This was supposed to show problem solving as normal squad leaders would either opt for carrying one through at a time or moving them one by one through a single obstacle . He was insane and did it three times holding all three of his teammates. He remember his friend and second in command who was massive and probably weighed three of those crates alone and he remembered the determination to do it when told his unit would most likely fail there.
"Practice. " Flames said not wanting to explain.
"I see." Buck Senior said not pushing the issue.
They slipped into a familiar silence until flames asked.
"The head charge she wasn't a criminal. What happened to her?"
"I'm sorry but im not sure she was detained like us and we never saw her again. So she's probably still locked away in jail somewhere." he said while shrugging.
"if she's lucky." Flames added coldly knowing how unforgiving older inkopolis policies were for octarians
"Indeed."
"Hey since we are just talking so cordially. Why'd you help her?"
" I had no reason not to so why not?"
"Well you liked being able to respawn didn't you? Plus don't get me wrong but most inklings your age aren't exactly friends with octarians."
" That's Valid. It wasn't as much as me as it was my late wife who decided we should help her out and I couldn't bring myself to say no to her."
"Do you regret it?"
Buck senior took a look back to flames. Then back inside to his son. " Regrets weighs more than those crates and I'm too frail of an old man to be carrying that around." Buck SR. says solemnly as he stares at his son.
