Hani crouched in the shadow of an old air conditioning unit on the roof of the building across the street from Fortress One. The waning moon occasionally peeked out through gaps in the clouds, but overall, the area was dark, lit only by the handful of streetlights that had not winked out.
She watched the crab sentries carefully. Lax though they were, they still had excellent vantage points, and with Fortress One sitting in the valley of a Y-intersection, they had views of the largest avenues of approach. Honestly, a conventional assault on such a position would be difficult and costly. Fortunately, convention wasn't on the cards for tonight.
"Alpha to Delta, sitrep."
Hani tensed up at the sound of Callie's voice. She still wasn't used to hearing her speak in such a serious and direct manner.
"Unchanged. Windows and doors are still cracked or broken. They haven't made any repairs at all. Guards are not changing their positions. Things appear pretty lax; although, there are more lights on inside."
"We'll have to deal with it. We proceed as planned."
"Understood."
The circuit cut and Hani instinctively crouched lower. The crab sentries, if they had detected her transmissions, hadn't reacted. They all doubted that the crabs had such equipment set up, especially in a busy city like Inkopolis with its hundreds of thousands of cell phone calls, wireless signals and so on, but there were some military members among them and Marie refused to be complacent, ordering transmissions kept to a minimum.
Hani switched her comms to those of her Delta scout unit and made a series of clicking noises into her mic. This was followed by multiple series of clicks coming back through the headset built into her Elite scout goggles. Everyone was ready.
Hani picked up her modified charger. It's venom filter had been removed, giving it a slightly higher rate of fire and a bit more potency. It wasn't all that useful against crabs, unless you got a good hit on the eye stalks, but the scope was useful and it had other utilities.
Hani couldn't even see the shot that Marie took but she could see a new glistening line running up and down the back of Fortress One, and she could see the growing numbers of Octolings appearing on the rooftop.
As the octolings assembled, they divided themselves into groups before turning to octopus form and leaping through the grates covering the ventilation ducts. If all was going according to plan, then the rest of Beta company was going through the grates near the bottom of the building. Marie, however, remained on the roof, charger in hand, peering down at the two sentries on the balcony overlooking the intersection below. Hani was wondering how Marie would even take them out quickly by herself when she saw Marie slip her fingers into something. What were they?
Hani checked her watch. Barely a minute to go before things began. At the same time, Gamma Company would simultaneously attack three fortresses on the opposite side of the ward.
A large part of her wished to be there, to be able to watch Agent 3's back, to fight alongside her, even though she knew she didn't deserve it. She yearned to be next to her, even though, just months ago, she feared and despised her with every fibre of her being. She scarcely believed the transformation herself, and yet, whenever she saw or thought of Three, she –.
Hani shook her head. Now was not the time for such thoughts; she needed to be disciplined and focused. The attack was about to begin and it would be more brutal than any battle any of them had ever been in.
Hani watched Marie and the two sentries as the last minutes to 01:00 counted down and she waited for the black pits to open, and spill forth their chaos.
"Another boring night," Cracker muttered. "Why do we bother having so many sentries?"
"You want to end up with a broken leg like the last guy who asked?" Shelk scolded him. "Got his shell cracked too. Inklings are cowards most of the time but not when backed into a corner. When that happens, they do stupid things. Besides, the bosses are worried about Inkopolis Security or even the enforcers getting involved."
Cracker blew a bubble from his mouth. "They won't get involved in something like this; the Consortiums have them hiding under rocks. Besides, with their population issues, they're not going to risk a big fight."
"I did say 'stupid', didn't I?" Shelk clicked his mandibles angrily. "I just wish the bosses weren't taking so long with this weird project of theirs."
"If it means it lets us take the whole city like they say it will, I don't mind waiting a bit."
"Oh, so now you act patient?"
"That's a far off thing." Cracker gestured with his claw to the intersection below. "This is boring and there's nothing happening. How long have we been out here?"
Shelk made an annoyed clicking sound and checked the watch on one of his lower limbs. "It's just turned one O'clock. We've still got –."
Shelk was cut off as he suddenly dropped below Cracker's vision, one of his legs snapping as something heavy dropped on top of him.
Cracker stepped back in surprise, his mandibles gaping wide as he saw the figure standing on top of his friend, a dark puddle forming beneath his inert form. The figure was shrouded in darkness, his crab eyes unable to see well enough to determine what sort of creature it was, but then the creature's glowing golden eyes focused on him, the eyes of a predator.
Less than a second after Shelk's body had cracked to the floor, his attacker leapt off of him and Cracker heard a terrible cracking noise and felt a sharp pain in his chest. He peered down just as the attacker withdrew a spike, mounted to a metal bracket atop the assailant's wrist.
Cracker collapsed to the floor, blood gushing from the new hole in his body and then slipped into darkness.
The air within Fortress One erupted with the sound of ink blasts as crabs suddenly awoke to find their eyes covered and burning terribly; and unable to breathe, their gills blocked or burning with venom-drenched ink.
The crabs that were able to stand thrashed about, trying to hit whatever was attacking them, but ended up running into and hitting each other instead. The bulk of the octolings quickly retreated back through the doors, vents, and windows they came in from, with a handful staying behind but keeping their distance as the crabs slowly dropped, overcome by the venom or simply from drowning in the ink. Those who somehow managed to recover were quickly set upon, peppered with additional ink shots until they too became still.
Unfortunately, things didn't go exactly according to plan. Just after Splatoon Beta-Two finished their initial attack, a group of crabs burst through a false wall and one of the unfortunate octolings got in the way, crushed against a wall as the rest opened fire, some of them losing limbs in the process. They retreated further and further back, and the squad leader called out "Rolonium!"
Despite the bedlam, someone outside heard her cry and a full roll of rolonium was brought into the room. The crabs thrashed at the octolings, trying to stop the endless barrage of ink, so they weren't able to see the large object coming towards them to then explode in their midst.
Some of them screamed as the powerful burst of ink from the rolonium splashed their eyes and got into their mouths. Slowly, some of them began to collapse and, eventually, the rest followed, overwhelmed by the storm of ink.
Splatoon Alpha-Three was more fortunate, the crabs waiting too long to ambush through the wall. There, the octolings were not distracted by trying to deal with the crabs still standing and were able to get out of the way in time. Their comrades quickly returned and attacked the crabs from all sides, using another bundle of rolonium to help stun and overwhelm them.
Marie wandered outside as Alpha-One tossed more rolonium down a set of stairs leading to the basement. She heard it burst, followed by the screams of dying crustaceans, and the footsteps of Alpha-One descending into the basement to ensure it was cleared out.
Marie grabbed onto a lamppost and leaned against it, feeling faint despite having fought for only a few minutes. Yun'brennen was rearing its ugly head again, but she thought she could still be able to deal with it better than this. The old beast was still dormant for now. She was glad it wasn't something Callie had to deal with.
A short distance away, Scylla and her irregulars were approaching, armed with whatever they could scrape together. Scylla flashed her a greeting and then began to position her people around the perimeter of the building. They would protect the medics and aid station, as well as intercept any crabs that escaped the building.
"What're those?" Scylla asked, eyeing the spikes strapped to Marie's hands.
"A kind of weapon used by our ancestors for fighting crabs," Marie explained. "Most inklings are strong enough to penetrate their fronts with these, but not so much the backs. A hammer would be nice but I needed something quicker."
Scylla stared at her for a good, hard, second. "Can' believe ya' can talk 'bout killin' so easy like. You're ice cold."
Marie pulsed grey. "Sorry for not being your perfect idol."
Scylla let out a laugh. "Sorry? Gods, I think I like ya' more'n ever. I'll take a girl not 'fraid to get 'er 'ands dirty more'n an idol any day."
Marie managed a tired smile. "Thanks, I guess. I admit, always kinda' worried about that in the back of my head throughout my career."
Scylla frowned. "Ya' look worn out. Ya' okay?"
"I'm fine. Just yun'brennen cutting into my stamina, I guess."
Scylla gave her a disapproving glare. "Ya should'n be doin' this if it be that bad."
"Yes we do," Marie replied sharply. "If we can just get through this, if we can get to a place where we can move on, then we can relax a little."
Scylla frowned, not understanding her, but Marie ignored it. Scylla didn't have to understand.
"We found a bunch of crabs hidden behind false walls and hidden panels. Took some casualties. Once they're taken care of, we'll move on to the next fortress."
Scylla looked back at Fortress One. "I guess it's a lot easier when you have some real army types of yar own."
"They are professionals. Let's just hope taking out the rest of the fortresses isn't any more difficult than this."
Gamma-Lead to Gamma-Three, the crabs have been alerted. Exercise caution."
Four tensed as she listened to Three's report through her headset. "Understood. How is resistance at Fortress-Five?"
"Light, but don't assume. Alpha and Beta report crabs hiding behind false walls and coming out of hidden panels. Casualties are higher than expected."
Four winced and gave a silent prayer for the souls of the lost. "Understood, we'll be careful. We should have this fortress clear by Oh-Three-Thirty."
"Good. Let's keep the pace up. Gamma-Lead out."
The circuit closed and Four suddenly felt very alone. Taking the previous fortress had been easy, they had even outnumbered the crabs inside and caught them all napping. Their next target, Fortress-Seven, would be the first real test of her leadership abilities tonight.
She turned around to face Kina, who was waiting anxiously for their orders. The rest of the splatoon was spread up and down the alleyway.
"Alpha and Beta are currently attacking their targets and Gamma-One is hitting Fortress Five. The crabs are alert now so they'll be expecting us when we attack, which means this one won't be easy."
Kina nodded soberly and clutched her octoshot tighter. "How do we proceed?"
"Same plan as before, I think. Take out the sentries first, try to sneak inside." Four peered around the corner into a connecting alleyway, through which she could see Fortress-Seven.
It was a former office building, cylindrical in appearance and four-stories tall, filling the centre of a roundabout. Under normal circumstances, assaulting such a stronghold with a force of less-than fifty would be considered suicidal, but these were not normal circumstances, and Four intended to make them as unusual as possible.
"We've still got our rolonium, right?"
Kina gestured to the two bundles, each being handled by one of the splatoon's squads. Unsaturated, they were generally light and easy to carry, but their sheer size made it impossible to fit them through anything but the widest doors in any of these buildings, but there were alternatives.
Four had a plan, but it would be a gamble, with her life being the bet. She looked with uncertainty over Gamma-Three, the second command she had ever been given but carrying far greater responsibility and greater trust in and from her subordinates.
Biting her lip, Four let out a slow breath. They had trusted her to lead them so far and if she wanted them to trust her, she had to be willing to trust them too.
"I have a plan."
Four tried telling herself over and over to forget how stupid her plan was even as she dashed across the roundabout and towards the front doors. She ignored the scolding voices of Marie and Three in her head as the lookouts shouted out her approach to everyone inside and Four crashed through the front doors.
Four rolled out of the way of a large claw coming down like a hammer. It crashed onto the floor with a bang that shook the room. Four unleashed both her splatlings, shooting them in opposite directions to keep her enemies off balance.
Four… six… ten… Four tried to count them all as she dashed through the rooms, trying to keep her distance from the crabs. She managed to just leap over one of the small crabs coming at her from around a blind corner. She managed to shoot one of his eye stalks as she sailed over him.
She was up to fifteen crabs total. Delta's best estimate for the garrison of Fortress-Seven was twenty, but she was already starting to doubt that. Such a large proportion on the first floor in a building with such a small footprint? No, not likely. There were definitely more than just twenty.
She ran into the centre of the main floor, entering into a tall, cylindrical atrium built into the central core of the building, at the top of which was a circular skylight. A pair of staircases spiraled up the cylindrical walls to reach each of the five floors. Oddly, no sign of an elevator.
Four raced up one of the stairways, crabs from the second floor arriving just a little too late to get in her way. They chattered angrily at her in their click-clack language, but she ignored them and kept running, up and up and up.
Most of the crabs chased her, with some of the slower ones staying behind to guard the front door. There were at least forty of them, nearly as many as her own splatoon had. It made her hope all the stronger that her plan would work, but had she bought enough time yet?
Let's set them off balance a little.
Four tossed a splat bomb over her shoulder. A sheik followed shortly before the bomb exploded, coating the stairway and all the crabs in range of the blast in a layer of ink. They didn't stop pursuing her, of course, but as she neared the fourth floor, she began coating the stairway in ink to slow them down. More crabs coming up from the second set of stairs came to attack her from behind, forcing her up the last stairs to the fifth floor, and again, some of the crabs went up the other set of stairs to cut her off.
Had she managed it? Had she bought enough time?
A deep base splat suddenly penetrated the noise of battle, followed by the staccato thumps of ink weapons firing. The crabs were so focused on her that they didn't notice. That suited Four just fine, she just had to occupy them for a few more seconds.
One crab lunged at her with his claw. She side-stepped out of the way and fired into its gill openings, causing the crab to sputter and cough violently. She immediately jumped away near the top of the stairs to avoid an attack from one of his comrades and coated them and the stairs in her ink. The crabs hissed, bubbled, and clicked angrily, trudging their way up through the ink and mess towards her. A quick look over her shoulder told her that this fight was almost over.
A quartet of octolings carried the bundle of rollonium and four reverted to squid form to slide up to the top of the stairs, allowing the rollonium to be tossed over her. It landed in the midst of the crabs and exploded, sending many of them falling to the bottom of the stairs, where they writhed in venom-soaked ink, trying to escape and to breathe even as the venom entered their bodies and destroyed them from the inside. To Four, it seemed like a slow and cruel way to kill someone, and she had to look away, unable to bear the sight of it, even as the octolings around her blasted them with more ink until the venom did its work and all movement stopped.
Four forced herself to refocus and took a deep breath before addressing her troops. The air was rank with the smell of death and venom-soaked ink.
"There are still a few more on the bottom floor. Let's hurry down there and-."
There was a shriek from down below, followed by a mix of octarian curses and more horrible screams. Four jumped down to the fourth floor and peered over the edge down to the atrium floor. A handful of octolings ran for their lives up one set of stairs, followed closely by the handful of large crabs Four had seen stay behind, and a tide of much smaller crabs scurrying after them, racing up both stairways like a swarm of insects.
Kina ran up next to her, and watched the horrible scene unfold. "Those are the guards I left outside."
Four swallowed hard, her mind racing to try and figure the situation out. If it were just here, she would run and, if possible, try to take the crabs out piecemeal. But she wasn't alone, she had a whole splatoon to look after now.
The Marie in her mind reminded her that a large part of Callie and Marie's plan involved wiping out the crab gangs in Xapheerell Ward completely, if possible, or at least to the point where they weren't a threat, and they had to do it tonight. But wasn't the lives of her Splatoon most important?
"Start setting up barricades! Cover our comrades and coat everything in ink!"
Kina's barking orders snapped Four out of her thoughts, and she realized that she didn't have time to overthink things. They had a job to do, they were willing to risk their lives. Besides, if they didn't fight here, they risked being ambushed unprepared if they tried to retreat into the alleys. The Three in her mind told her to forget everything else and focus on survival for the time being.
Four grabbed a few octolings who were looking for a way to be useful and set them to creating and then keeping an escape route open. That done, she got back on the radio to call for help.
"Gamma-Three to Gamma-Lead, we're in trouble, we've been ambushed by overwhelming crab forces! Please respond!" Only static answered her.
In that single, dreadful moment, Four knew that Splatoon Gamma-Three was on its own.
Hani clicked her beak, trying again and failing to contact Delta-Six, the scout she had assigned to Splatoon Gamma-Three. All the others had checked in except her and she was well past due for her report. Taking Fortress-Seven should not have taken that long, and even if it was, why were their communications not working?
"Delta Lead. Is there an update regarding Gamma-Three?"
Hani flinched at the sound of Agent 3's voice and had to take a second to calm down before answering.
"I have not been able to raise Gamma-Three or Delta-Six since the attack on Fortress-Seven began. I'm not sure what's happened."
"Then go find out. I'll let Alpha and Beta know then follow with One and Two splatoons."
"Understood. I'll go at once."
Hani switched to her splatoon frequency. "All unoccupied members of Delta Splatoon head to Fortress-Seven. Use extreme caution. Communications have failed and there is an attack in progress."
Hani received acknowledgements and then turned to her command squad. Without a word, they knew what she expected of them, and they all descended from the rooftop onto the street below.
Delta-Six was a girl named Hadly, one of Delta's best scouts thanks to her small size and her excellent eyesight. She still needed training but she had a lot of potential. She dearly hoped that hadn't suddenly been cut short.
Even at a jog and even if they allowed themselves to be careless, it would take them twenty to thirty minutes to get to Fortress-Seven. Would it be enough?
"Sh'd be alm'st there," Miazama said. The trepidation in her voice was still thick, not that Avrika blamed her. Even if she was the guide she was young and had no idea where the enemy might be hiding, and it was clear she was no soldier. Even so, Avrika was glad to have her, even if she only spoke a sometimes incomprehensible dialect of Inklish that Tephilla frequently had to translate.
Tephilla walked beside her, looking even more anxious. She had seemed a bit standoffish at first but the way she remained close to Avrika's side and kept looking up at her was a sign she was used to being around protective authority figures. It was something Avrika had seen before. She wouldn't have been surprised to learn that Latria had been such a girl when she was younger.
"Too many tall buildings," Aishi murmured from behind her. "Could be ambushed from anywhere."
"Imagine what it was like during the Great Turf War," Kalisha said quietly. "Our grandfathers, great-grandfathers, and great-great-grandfathers would have fought through this with a whole army of inklings fighting against them."
"Both of you, hush," Avrika hissed. "Or you'll have an army of crabs fighting against you."
That shut them both up, and let Avrika hear the sounds of battle raging in the near distance, echoing off the walls of the surrounding buildings. Miazama stopped and slid up against one of the walls. Everyone else in the group did likewise.
"We' there," she whispered. "Ya' cun' see the buildin' from 'ere."
Avrika moved cautiously forward and peered around the corner down the short, adjacent alleyway. The tall, cylindrical structure was lit up, negating the advantage in night vision that the inklings and octolings had over the crabs. Fighting in such close quarters couldn't be pleasant either. Judging by the direction of the sound, It seemed as if the attack had already reached the top floor, just judging by the sound, and what a sound it was. With so many clicking and clacking sounds going off, it sounded more like a constant buzzing noise, as if a swarm of angry insects were attacking. She shuddered to think how many crabs must be inside and hoped that whatever force had been sent to take the fortress was enough.
"Never heard a noise like that before," Miazama murmured. She looked unsettled, as if some primal instinct was being triggered. Seeing her and Tephilla so anxious pulled at Avrika's maternal instincts.
"Let's try to get onto the rooftops. We'll be safer–." Avrika cut herself off as a small sound managed to reach her through the cacophony coming from the building. It was close, and it sounded… distressed, in pain, afraid."
"Come with me," she said, but took off running before anyone could acknowledge.
Avrika ran down the alley they had originally been travelling down, looking down every adjacent alley she passed, searching for the source of the noise she had heard. Further away from the battle, her hearing became more reliable, and she soon heard some angrily clicking noises along with some soft crunching.
Avrika skidded to a halt as she came upon the noise in one of the dead end alleys. Between a pair of large dumpsters and facing the end wall was a trio of crabs. On the ground, lying in a growing pool of her own blood, was a small octoling clad in uniform, her goggles lying broken on the ground next to her. In a moment of horrific clarity, Avrika realized that one of the crabs was devouring one of the small girl's legs that had been cut off earlier. She was slowly being eaten alive!
Her maternal instincts, already kindled, suddenly exploded, fueled by a hateful fury, into a raging firestorm that completely overwhelmed her soul. Her legs moved without conscious thought, her eyes blazing and fixated on the crab in the centre lowering a claw to snip off the poor girl's only remaining leg. It stopped and turned around at the sound of Avrika's footfalls. It's eyes widened in shock and horror barely a second before the metallic soul of Avrika's boot slammed into its face.
The impact of Avrika's flying kick splintered some of the crab's mandibles, but its true impact came later, as Avrika had timed the full extent of her kick to coincide with the crab's impact with the brick wall, crushing its face between it and the force of her now fully extended foot, crushing the crab's head.
Avrika landed with her legs spread to avoid stepping on the poor girl she was trying to save. In a single motion, she grabbed the crab she'd just killed (stopping it from landing on the girl also), and spun, swinging the now deceased crab into one of it's comrades, sending it sprawling onto the ground.
Avrika heard another loud cry as Miazama ran in. The third crab had been focused on Avrika, and so hadn't known the inkling was coming until she landed on his shoulders with both her feet and kicked, pushing him very hard into the concrete ground, fracturing its shell. She then leapt away as Kalisha and Aishi followed up, pumping their octoguns to empty as they fired continuously onto the still living crabs. They bubbled and thrashed weakly but their injuries hastened the effects of the venom and they soon succumbed.
As the fury in Avrika's veins slowly abated, she turned her attention to the unfortunate girl bleeding onto the ground.
Both arms had been severed just beyond the shoulders, she had only one leg, and even that leg was missing its foot. All her tentacles had been snipped off too. Tears of pain and terror streamed from her face, her eyes were those of a child desperately crying for her mother.
Avrika hastily removed the gag in the girl's mouth. She coughed and gasped, before croaking a hopeful, "Mother?"
"Try not to talk," Avrika told her hastily. She was becoming delirious. "You're losing blood and we have to try and stop the bleeding."
The girl coughed again. "I didn't tell them anything, Mother. I… I was brave, wasn't I?"
So they were torturing her for information. Makes sense but how could anyone take it this far? Scum, devils, curse them! But there was no curse she could think of suitable for something so terrible, and doubted even the precursor languages possessed one.
"Are you proud of me, Mother?" The girl was sniffling now and hiccuping. "Did I do good? Was I a good daughter?"
Avrika felt her heart breaking into pieces, and just for a moment, she imagined the faces of her own daughters overlaid that of the poor girl bleeding out below her.
"You are good, you are good. You'll pull through this, you won't die. You don't have to be afraid."
The girl smiled tiredly, her eyes staring up blankly. "I'm not afraid to die, Mother. I… I was only ever afraid of letting… letting you down…"
She was slipping away, her eyelids becoming heavy. Avrika's mind flooded with panic. She was losing her. They wouldn't be able to stop the bleeding fast enough at this rate. In addition to her lost limbs, she had cuts all over her body and who knew how long she had been bleeding out. Through all that panic however, her maternal instincts cut through it all and gave her a single solution with the highest probability of success.
"She is a small girl, it might be…" Avrika turned to Kalisha and Aishi, who were desperately trying to help stop the bleeding.
"Take all her clothes off."
The two girls stopped and stared at her aghast. Understandable. Transforming would only worsen the situation, but Avrika only needed her to do it briefly, but there was no time to explain.
"Do it now!" She yelled, finally spurring them into quick action. And then she began to strip herself, removing her short cloak and top.
"What are you doing?" Tephilla asked with a horrified look.
"I don't have time to explain," Avrika snapped. "Just watch and make sure nobody comes and attacks us!"
Despite being nearly naked she barely felt the cold, her body hot and a trickle of ink running down her back. Avrika knelt down next to the bleeding girl, and leaned in close to her.
"Baby, listen, Mother needs you to transform to octopus form right now. Hurry!"
Although somewhat delirious and her response delayed by almost two full seconds, the girl did as she was told, transforming into a barely held together facsimile of an octopus.
Avrika quickly picked her up and then, bracing herself, forced her into her mouth and down her throat. She had never actually done this, so she was only just barely sure of what she should do, relying almost entirely on instinct to guide her actions, she finally swallowed her.
Opening her eyes, she saw the other four staring at her. Kalisha and Aishi had looks of shock and disbelief, while Miazama, and especially Tephilla had expressions of surprise and admiration.
Suddenly, the girl reverted back to her octoling form, causing Avrika's abdominal area to suddenly expand and stretch exponentially. The force and shift in weight caused Avrika to fall forward. Fortunately, she was caught by her two escorts before she could hit the ground.
"You put her in your ink sac," Tephilla said, breathlessly.
"I'm right impressed," Miazama added. "Heard that's real 'ard tah do with someone that big."
Avrika managed a weak smile, suddenly feeling tired. "Well, I've laid eggs so perhaps it's easier for me."
"Wait," Kalisha said. "What just happened?"
"I put her in my ink sac," Avrika explained. "My ink will slow the bleeding, cauterize her wounds, and help them heal faster. With as much damage as she's suffered, it was the most reliable way to save her that I could think of."
The inklings helped her stand back up, then helped her dress again, the skirt proving a bit difficult thanks to her enlarged abdomen.
"We need to get out of here," Aishi said. "You're vulnerable now."
"No." Avrika steadied herself on Tephilla's shoulder. "The attack on that fortress is in trouble. If things were going well, these crabs wouldn't be interrogating a prisoner so close by. They've probably been cut off. We need to help them somehow."
"What are we supposed to do?" Miazama asked. "There's got to be an army of crabs in that building from the sound of it. Trust me, I've seen big groups of crabs and I've never heard anything as bad as that."
"Then we need to give them a way out, or at least a second place to retreat to. Come on, we have to hurry."
Gamma-Three opened fire as soon as the horde of small crabs reached the fourth floor, peppering them and coating the floor around them with ink to slow them down, allowing the octolings fleeing the bottom floor to make it through the nearest barricade safely. Despite the storm of ink falling on them, however, the crabs kept on coming.
It reminded Four of the Salmonids she had faced during the occasional Salmon Run she'd been able to do, the way they would just come on relentlessly, no matter how much you shot at them or how many of them died. These crabs were about the same size as the chums as well, and walked on their many legs instead of just two, giving them a lower stance, greater stability and speed; and their claws gleamed with metal, turning their pinchers into deadly scissors.
They also made a sound that was far more unsettling. They sounded like a swarm of angry insects with their chatter and the noise of their chitinous legs scraping along the floor. They bubbled and hissed as they crashed into the barricades like a wave and receded briefly before ramming and scratching the barricade again.
The barricade was just made out of odd bits of furniture or broken wall sections that had been erected on the stairway. Their position allowed gunners on the fifth floor to shoot down at the crabs from above, free from retaliation, but the high angle meant it was much more difficult to hit their weak spots.
The little crabs scrambled and climbed up onto each other, trying to get over the hastily erected barricade. Whenever one reached the top, it would be blasted with ink or struck with the butt of an octoshot to knock it back over.
"This isn't going to work," Four realized. Although Gamma-Three had stemmed the tide for now, there was a living carpet of crabs on the stairways trying to get at them. Even if they could hold them off, they would all probably dehydrate before they would have enough ink to kill so many.
Kina was at the other set of barricades, shouting commands and encouragement to her troops as they used everything from their guns to chair legs to try and keep the crabs from getting over the top. But with the pile of dead crabs swelling in front of the barricade, it was getting easier and easier for them to reach the top, making it a losing battle.
"Agent 4."
Four turned and saw one of the troops she'd sent to secure an escape route motioning her over. Four ran to her and the octoling pointed down at the ground outside. Four peered through the window and down at the ground. Dread filled her.
Outside, there were at least a hundred more of the small crabs. These ones didn't chitter and clamber about like the ones inside, these ones seemed quite calm and relaxed. Odd. Unfortunately, it meant that they were completely cut off and trapped, even worse than she'd feared.
Four thought hard. They might be able to hold out on the roof, hopefully long enough for help to arrive, but there was no way of knowing for sure, and it was possible, even likely, that the crabs would have another trick up their sleeve to deal with that situation.
"What do we do?" One of the octolings asked nobody in particular.
Four was honestly not sure. There were options but all of them carried a lot of risk and would likely result in losses. Her job was to get every one of her splatoon out. That's what they were counting on her to do. But she didn't know how to do it."
The street was only two lanes wide, honestly not too much distance, and the crabs were fairly spread out. If they could get to the ground safely and fast enough, they could fight off the crabs long enough to get away.
Only for us to get jumped from somewhere else. They probably have more reinforcements headed in this direction so we could get caught out in the open easily.
It seemed like there were no good solutions. If they stayed, they were dead, if they left they would probably still be dead. But perhaps taking a chance was the only choice they had.
Suddenly, a pair of splat bombs landed in the midst of the road scattering the crabs there. Two ink streams began firing from the opposite side of the street, causing further confusion.
"COME ON!"
Four looked down and saw….
"Ambassador! What's she doing here?"
There was no time to think about that. They needed to get out of there.
Four turned back inside. The crabs were almost over the faltering barricade, the one at the other end had already fallen, and the crabs were slowly making their way up the stairs onto the fifth floor.
"Kina!" She waved her second in command over. Kina hurried to her, her professional face faltering, on the edge of panic.
"I'm going to go down and keep our way out open. You make sure everyone else gets out. I'm not leaving until you leave so you'd better make it. Understood?"
"Ah… uh, yes, yes Ma'am!"
Four hopped into the window frame and looked down. The two octolings spreading ink were being advanced on rapidly by the crabs. Others stayed, expecting them to somehow make their way down. Four was about to make them regret it.
"Follow me!" And with those words said, Four leapt from the window.
As she fell, she noticed the line of ink her troops had shot down the side of the building. Good, that should make it easier for the wounded to get down. She transformed into squid form and landed safely in the puddle of ink below.
The crabs surrounded the area where she landed and poked and prodded the ink aggressively. They completely failed to notice her when she emerged behind them.
Four started by smashing the nearest crab on the head with an axe kick, dropping it instantly. She then fired into the rest with both splatlings even as she darted among them, kicking and jumping on them.
Octolings began to fall around her seconds later, forming a perimeter as they fired into all of the crabs within range.
The crabs initially attacked quite vigorously, but because of how spread out they were, they came in piecemeal, making it relatively easy for Gamma-Three to overwhelm them. Just as they fell back to form up and concentrate their numbers, Kina finally landed.
"That's everyone!" She shouted.
"Good. Everyone, move over there." She indicated the direction the splatbombs had come from. The two octolings that had been shooting were still there, warding off the small crabs trying to approach them and being backed towards an old shop.
Gamma-Three moved quickly together, the wounded supported by twos and threes, as they took advantage of the respite they'd been given by the crab's temporary withdrawal.
Tephilla was holding open the door of the shop for them from inside. Four took position next to the door and urged her splatoon inside, helping Kalisha and Aishi keep them at bay. Once everyone was through, Four hurried inside to find the ambassador. She did find her, sitting on the dirty old floor, back against the sales counter… and with a terribly swollen abdomen.
Four looked at Tephilla. "What happened?"
"Heilstasi. We found an octoling being tortured in the alleys and she was badly hurt so…"
"Never mind that now," the ambassador said wearily. "We have bigger problems." Taking a second to catch her breath, she said, "I originally wanted to get you out so that we could all escape, but it seems we've been cut off by reinforcements. We had to hide in this building to stay out of sight but we couldn't just leave you so we at least tried to get you out of that building and into a more defensible position."
Four looked around the room. It looked like an abandoned hardware store, with a lot of product still hanging from the walls or on shelves. Kina was already taking a small group into the back room to investigate it. They would have to get people onto the roof to stop the crabs from getting anyone up there.
"Okay, I guess it buys us more time, but where's Mia?"
"I sent her to get help. She's the only one who could go, since she's the guide. One person should be able to get around the reinforcements. Or, at the very least, it's no more dangerous than staying here."
Four bit her lip. She hoped the ambassador was right. Mia's last foray into Xapheerell Ward hadn't gone very well.
Around them, many of the octolings had gathered, the wounded set carefully on the floor. They all looked at the ambassador with a mix of awe and reverence. Four understood. Heilstasi, the act of putting someone into your ink sac, was one of the most motherly things a female could do. She hadn't known octolings could also do it, and Octolings held a special reverence for mothers in their society.
"Octolings! Come out!" Came a chittering voice in rough Inklish. It had to be the crabs outside, at least the local commander.
Kina arrived from the back room and met Four's eyes. She looked uncertain and hesitant, but at least she didn't look desperate and panicked. Around her, however, the octolings looked more resolute. Of course they would, there was a mother there. Octarians would never allow harm to come to one of their rare and precious child-bearers.
"Give up!" The crab called out again. "Give up and you'll actually live to see the sunrise."
Four glared out towards the front of the shop. With the windows boarded up she couldn't see outside, but she could imagine the crab standing there, proud, confident of victory. He had every reason to be confident, of course. He had numbers, he probably had them surrounded, and this was basically their territory.
But we don't have to win, we just have to delay.
Four took a deep breath and slowly set her splatlings down before kneeling in front of the ambassador and then prostrated. She had to do something, whatever she could to give her splatoon hope. They had the determination to fight, they just needed the confidence that it would matter.
"Honored mother," she said, speaking Octese. "Will you give this humble child your blessing?"
A hush fell over the room and the other octolings began to kneel, joining her in her plea.
Four didn't know what expression the ambassador had, but she placed a gentle hand on Four's mantle and said, "Of course you have it. I give it to all of you. Lead us to ultimate victory, Splatoon Commander."
Four stood, feeling the sudden energy now filling the room. It was positivity, motivation, and hope. That was what they needed most right now.
"Well don't just sit around," Four hissed at them. "Get the mother and wounded somewhere safer; and start blocking those windows. We can't count on flimy plywood to stop the crabs!"
The octolings jumped to work, a trio helping the laden takenam up to her feet and escorting her to the back room. The rest helped the wounded or began pushing the shelves in front of the windows.
Four unzipped her reflective jacket and tossed it onto the counter. She did the same with her shirt, leaving her with just her short undertop. Then, she picked up one of the hammers hanging from the wall and walked to the door.
"What are you doing?" Kalisha asked.
"I'm going to see if I can buy us some time," she said. "Don't let any of those crabs through the door." Without waiting for a reply, she walked out, the hammer hidden behind her.
The crabs had surrounded the building, scores of the little ones bubbled and clicked aggressively at her but stayed put. Four fixed her gaze on the large crab standing in front of the other large crabs. His long, thin limbs made him appear to be a giant spider crab, one of the largest species. He clacked one of his claws in her direction and his mandibles clicked before he spoke again.
"I guess I shouldn't be surprised an inkling was leading these octolings, but if your government didn't care about us killing a matron they're not going to care about you. Even them promising to do something about that last inkling we killed is just an ink cloud." He chittered with amusement. "Face it, your time is past, inkling. The age of the arthropods is dawning."
"Maybe," Four said, wracking her mind for something to say, something tough sounding, like in the movies. "Or maybe our golden age hasn't dawned yet. You might be getting ahead of yourself."
The crab bubbled angrily at her. "You inklings always think you're special, chosen by the gods. If you're so special, then why are you suffering so hard right now even though you've been at peace for so long. You're barely reproducing right now. It seems more like the gods have lost interest in you."
"I'm sure you'd like to think that," Four said. "But you haven't gotten us yet, and there's still plenty of time for our populations to bounce back."
"You'd have to breed like insects to make that happen," the crab bubbled. "And I don't see that happening. Even your own people don't."
"People can change."
"Not you. We're all tired of your high and mighty attitude, inkling. Many of the other species are too. We're just putting you back where you belong."
Four narrowed her eyes, even as the other crabs chattered mockingly at her. This crab was acting awfully confident. And then she realized, he didn't know about the other fortresses falling. They only knew about the ones in this area being attacked, which was why so many reinforcements had come here. They didn't know there might be help coming, otherwise he wouldn't be acting so confident.
Four had to bite her lip to keep from smiling and rubbed her thumb along the handle of the hammer behind her back. She just had to keep him talking as long as possible."
"And where is that?"
"Out of our way."
Four gripped the hammer tightly, sensing that the talk had already about reached its conclusion. "And that's why you attacked the Octarians? You were afraid they'd get in your way? Afraid they'd take over instead?"
"Afraid? No, we just gave them a fair warning what would happen if they got in the way."
"You had to murder someone just to send a warning?" Four realized after she said that she might be something of a hypocrite given how many she had killed tonight alone, but they hadn't been innocent.
"For the one of us who were murdered first!" The crab snapped.
"They attacked a bunch of kids who just happened to be walking through. It's not like you own the city."
"We own this part of it! And soon, we will own the whole thing."
Four's eyes narrowed, her mantle turning a dark red. "Not going to happen."
The crab bubbled. "You really think you can win this fight?"
"Yes."
The crab was stunned for a moment, bewildered even as he looked again at the forces arrayed around himself. "You're crazy."
Four grinned. "Yeah, maybe I am."
Four launched herself toward the crab, covering the dozen metres between them in bare seconds. Some of the small crabs tried to get in her way, but she simply stepped on them, forcing them to the ground as she went by.
The large crab raised his claw, ready to swat her away, but by now Four had been fighting the crabs enough to read some of their movements, and this crab was telegraphing his intentions clearly.
Four ducked under his swiping claw and rolled to his side before grabbing onto one of his lower arms and leaping onto his back. She knew he would try to grab or swing at her to get her off, so as she landed she swung the hammer down between his eyestalks with all her might.
There was a sickening, wet crack and fragments of shell flew everywhere, one hitting Four in the cheek, narrowly missing her eye. The crab jerked and staggered drunkenly. Four struck him again, bringing down another powerful hammerblow, this time causing a large splurt of warm, blue blood to splash her, and the crab finally fell.
The small crabs, having surrounded her, swarmed, forcing her to leap up into the air, but she hadn't just run out into the midst of a large force of crabs mindlessly, she'd left an escape route.
Below, a line of dark ink traced the path she had taken to the large crab, deposited from her funnel, exposed thanks to the removal of her shirt. Switching to squid form, she dove into it and swam back towards the hardware store.
The crabs stabbed at the line of ink the whole way, but they were too slow, and before they knew it, she was back inside the store.
"Barricade the door and get ready!" She said, pleased to see that her troops had not been idle while she'd been away. She'd bought as much time as she could by herself. It was going to be a fight from here on out.
"Ma'am! Something's happening!"
Four went over to Kalisha, who was pointing through the small porthole window in the front door. Four propped herself up and peered through it. The crabs weren't attacking?
The small crabs were gathering tightly around the larger crabs, all of whom were carrying large silver canisters that began blowing a green-orange smoke over the smaller crabs, and Four had a terrible epiphany.
That smoke was why those little crabs had been so mindless and violent earlier. It was some kind of drug.
"Everyone brace yourselves! Grab whatever you can use for a melee weapon! Hammers, rakes, shovels, whatever! Don't let anything get through to the mother!"
Determination set into the faces of her troops. Yes, no octarian would fail to give their life for a mother if necessary. Right now, that meant much more than her status as an ambassador.
Four wanted to go check on her but there was no time. She could already hear the crabs buzzing. As she retrieved her dual splatlings and put her shirt and jacket back on, she prayed silently.
I really need you right now. Please hurry, Elvi-ro.
Author's Notes:
Heilstasi is an inkling term that describes the action of a female inkling placing an injured inkling into their ink sac. Only female inklings are capable of this thanks to their larger bodies, larger ink sacs and their nutreae. I did allude to this possibility in an earlier story in the series and now I finally get to use it.
Also, thank you to everyone who has been leaving comments and to everyone else who has been reading. I very much appreciate it.