Author's Note: Apologies for the delays. These past days were...something alright. But hey, no excuses here, just another case of procrastinating & general loss of drive lately...and maybe setting up my own Discord server also does that to you. But here I am now, hoping to make it a bi-monthly. Enjoy.
Ink flew every each way, as the seasoned Agent dodged enemy fire and enemy Splat Bombs chucked every so often. Evan masterfully wove in & out of squid form to attack, refill, & evade enemy attacks, using ruined furniture for cover. The Sanitized pressed the Agent from multiple directions, but none had so much as produced a hit on Evan.
"Damn, these gals don't play around.", Evan muttered to himself, as he chucked a Burst Bomb at an attacking Sanitized, slamming right onto her face. In retaliation, she trained directly her Octo Shot on Evan, aiming directly for the head. Evan morphed to squid to dodge the shots, then quickly morphed back to human to splat the Sanitized Octoling, releasing an anguished digital growl upon splatting, to horror of the captives.
Meanwhile, Callie & Marie planned to sneak out of the presscon stage & out back to their car. They glanced a peak ever so often at the action going on, watching Evan fend 11 Sanitized Octolings all by himself, which is by now, a normal for Evan. Both cousins got a move on and jumped one of the guards, twisting her neck to render her unconscious. Unfortunately, the fighters caught wind of what's going on and made for Callie & Marie.
"Come on, Cal, run!", said Marie. "Let's hide in the car while we wait for Sheldon's drones!", she urged her partner, promptly doing so, running from a group of Sanitized.
"Run, Callie, I got this!", Evan said, as he inked a path to swim in & intercept the Sister's pursuers. Evan's hair then glowed iridescent...a bad sign for his opponents.
"You want some of this!?", he said, as he rose up, and quickly splashed green ink around him, splatting two of his pursuers, and holding back more. As he done so, alternated between humanoid & squid form to reach Callie & Marie's pursuers, chucking a Burst Bomb every odd moment to catch his opponents off-guard.
Meanwhile, Sheldon was frantically trying to start up his drones to undoubtedly send Callie & Marie their weapons without anyone knowing, not even his assistant. He was fidgeting, fighting to keep appearances so as not to alarm his customers.
"Uh, Victoria, can you handle the customers for a while? I got urgent business.", said Sheldon to the violet Inkling.
"How long would you be gone, sir?" enquired the Inkling.
"Just-a-little-while, this-is-very urgent." Sheldon hurriedly said, as he made for the backroom, where he has his remote drone command with him. The apparatus was only known to the NSS, not even Vicky, his long-running assistant for 2 years now, ever since he moved to the Square.
"Go get em, sir!", bade the Inkling assistant. "Seriously, I need a raise..." mumbled the purple Inkling, then faced the line of faithful Octoling & Inkling clientele. "Ammo Knights, what do you need?", she delivered her spiel, as the customer stated his business, the repair of his Kensa Splat Dualies.
Sheldon then got to booting his drones up in silence, loading up Callie's Hero Roller and Marie's Hero Charger unto two drones, the same drones he used to service Four in his Octo Canyon run. Fumbling with the controls, the weapons expert loaded the weapons and let his drones fly off a vent in the stockroom, unnoticed by the Inkopolis populace.
Back at the New Albacore Hotel lobby, the intense firefight raged on, the captives still under control by the Sanitized soldiers, who wielded Blasters, but their shooter brethren were slowly getting outmatched by Evan/Agent 4, who scored another bunch of Splashdown kills, and has splatted half the opposition overall.
"Hang on, I'll clear these invaders!", yelled Evan from behind an upended table, trading shots with two Sanitized soldiers. They matched pellet-for-pellet, managing to hit Evan in the jaw once, chucking a Burst Bomb in retaliation.
"Nobody move and no one gets splatted!", growled a Sanitized Octoling wielding a Splatling, shoving the business end into a terrified anemone. Evan then swam from behind the Octoling and headlocked her, immediately shoving his Hero Shot 2 at his unlucky victim's head and pulled the trigger, splatting her, going up in a digitalized ghost.
"Come on!", Evan urged the captives to run, as he had just splatted the head captor, which earned the ire of the Blaster wielders, gunning for him now. Three more Sanitized barred the exit, wielding Sloshers, forcing Evan to deal with them first.
"Hold up guys, just have to deal with this!", he yelled through the ensuing chaos, the pursuers right up at the media's tail. Evan expertly dealt with the Sloshers, chucking a Burst Bomb at one while he engaged another, skilfully weaving between squid & kid to avoid the sloshes. He then splatted the Sloshers in quick succession, using the Burst Bomb to wear them down.
"Come on guys, get outta here! The PD are by the gates, waiting for you!", he instructed the crowd. "Now, go!", he urged the harried media people, as he faced the pursuers, and made for the parking lot, where he bet Callie & Marie will be.
Meanwhile, in the parking lot, Callie & Marie were taking out the odd Sanitized guard every few odd yards. They snuck quietly by, but when it didn't work, they fought them mano-a-mano, using their CQC training, incapacitating the enemy.
"Callie, the car is nearby, I can see it!", Marie said in whispers, so as to not alarm the invaders, which was hard to do with heels on.
"Good grief.", Callie sighed. "I just hope Sheldon delivers in time.", she said anxiously. The duo continued to slide & slip through the undersides of cars, careful not to unsquid in a conspicuous place for the Sanitized. They slithered slowly in squid form under the cars, avoiding detection from the Sanitized soldiers. They then unsquid near their car, careful not to alarm any outliers.
Meanwhile, Evan continued on with his fight with the Sanitized that had been hounding the media that had been trapped earlier in the hotel lobby. Blaster shots whizzed by him from all sides, as well as the remaining Octo Shots. Blaster shots exploded too close for comfort for the Inkling's liking, which is saying something, as they're fighting in a narrow corridor.
"Haaagh, Blasters... As if I hadn't had enough of those in Tower Control!", he sarcastically muttered as he refilled his ink in the corridor opposite the fire exit. He then chucked a Burst Bomb at a Sanitized's face, catching the full burst in the face, triggering her Sanitized sisters to gun for Evan. The Inkling then made for the back part of the hotel, where the stockyards was. Barriers, ramps, and even the Clam Baskets lay there, waiting to be used. Immediately the Sanitized filed in, poising to swarm the Inkling, weapons trained at him.
"He-he-heh, I can do this all day, girls!", he boasted to the teal-skinned soldiers. Chaos ensued after his statement, Blaster shots whizzing & popping in every direction, aided by the Octo Shots. Evan utilized a run-and-gun tactic, shooting for a few Blaster users, chucking in the odd Burst Bombs to wear down the opponent. Evan then spotted an opportunity, blasting his Hero Shot at the one he Burst Bomb-ed earlier, splatting the Blaster user, prompting her sisters to avenge their fallen. They quickly joined their sister afterwards, Evan using the slow fire rate of the Blasters to his advantage, weaving around the Blaster shots and letting it loose on the two Blaster users, splatting them in quick succession.
"This is Team Bravo, requesting reinforcements!", blared a Sanitized soldier on the OctoShot.
"Reinforcements for a single, puny Inkling!?", blared the commander back at her.
"He has already splatted most of us! We need reinforcements now!" the soldier said urgingly.
"Urghhh. Me & the Dualie Squad will come over there.", she said exasperatedly.
"Thank you Commander, A-16 out!", the soldier said, as she resumed firing at Evan.
Over at Sheldon's, the crab was tracking his drones via a GPS array & via his own drone's cameras, careful not to fly the drones in conspicous places, to avoid suspicious stares from the populace, as per his mandate as a member of the NSS, sworn to keep the organization secret. His phone rang up again, knowing who those would be.
"Hello?", answered the horseshoe crab.
"Sheldon, we're in the car.", Marie stated in a low tone, to avoid alerting guards. "Where are our weapons, crab?", she asked a little tersely.
"Had to fly them out of prying eyes..." Sheldon said.
"Just get them to us, Sheldon. ETA?", asked Marie.
"10 minutes, minimum, 20 max.", Sheldon said. "Hang tight ladies!", he encouraged the duo.
"Your weapons better get here immediately or we'll collar you tight, crab.", she jokingly threatened the crab weapon expert.
"Double time then! Sheldon out!", he replied.
"Alright, Two out.", said Marie, ending the call.
"I hope Evan's doing fine out there...", Callie said nervously.
"Hey, are you forgetting? He is NSS. He be the best in the splattlefield, and we both trained him, remember?", reminded Marie.
"He's alone taking on the full invasion force...", said Callie "These Sanitized aren't like anything we heard from Four back then...", quipped Callie.
Meanwhile, on Evan's side of things, the Dualie Squad just joined the battle, dodge rolling into range & engaging him. The Dualie quartet surrounded him in an square, flanking him from all corners.
"Aw, squit, bringing in the big plays, I see.", Evan said, as he stared down the Dualie Squad, dodging immediately when the squad fired at him, rolling away from enemy fire quicker than a Dualie pellet can reach him. He then opened fire on the first Dualie user, chucking a Burst Bomb at her general direction, managing to get an indirect. He was still dealing with the remaining Blaster users, as well as the remaining Octo Shot users. The battle still raged on, multiple shots whizzed every which way they got launched. Evan lined up on the Dualies user, matching her dodge roll with her own.
"I can do that too!", he said, as he let loose a green stream at the Sanitized Octoling, landing all four hits, splatting the enemy. He then inked some more ground for him to swim in, alleviating the pressure laid on by the enemy.
"Hope Cal's alright...", he muttered, as he made for his phone, but decided against it, not now in the middle of a fight, he said. He chucked a Burst Bomb to stave off his enemies from completely surrounding him.
Over at Sheldon's, the horseshoe crab weapon expert is monitoring closely his drones, currently entering the Ink Battle area of New Albacore Hotel.
"Right, to avoid the enemy.", he said, determined to ship the Sisters' weapons as fast as he can possibly do. He came within sight of eight cephalopods held hostage by the Sanitized, weapons seized by their captors.
"My customers!", he said, immediately recognizing some of the cephalopods, including a side-cut female Inkling, who he serviced multiple times on her Jet Squelchers & Pros. Helping them risks the mission, so he passed them by, painful as it was for the crab. He then made a beeline for the parking lot, where Callie & Marie are undoubtedly hiding out, making sure to avoid Sanitized eyes. He then made his way to the silver sedan of Callie, having memorized from top to bottom years running now. The twin drones flew over signage, trees, and above multiple cars. He expertly maneuvered in & out of random things, avoiding detection from Sanitized.
Meanwhile, Evan was still soldiering on with the Sanitized, dealing with multiple targets wielding Blasters, Octo Shots, & Dualies. Shots, both Sanitized & normal shots whizzed raged across the stockyard, painting the stockyard in green & Sanitized cyan. Evan refilled behind some crates, taking in a moment to breathe. He then swam to flank a Blaster user, chucking a Burst Bomb to announce himself, then letting loose of his Hero Shot to finish off the Blaster user, exploding in green ink. All others snarled at the sight of their splatted sister, redirecting firepower at his direction.
Meanwhile, the gals rummaged around their car, and fished out two identical headsets; their Hero Headsets. There was a few spare at the back, but they elected to wait until they had weapons. Both gals put the headset on, and checked the working status.
"One, you copy?", whispered Marie to her mic.
"Loud & clear, Two!", whispered Callie back. "Good to see these still work...", said Callie, relieved.
"We should find Four. Then, we'll liberate the Hotel.", Marie said, with determination. "Also, the Ink Tanks are at the back.", she reminded Callie.
"Yeah, hidden under a fake bottom.", said Callie.
Meanwhile, Evan was engaging in some run & gun with some Sanitized, using his speed advantage against the Blasters, weaving in between squid and kid to confuse his enemies. The Dualies were the ones threatening him the most, with their speed advantage. Using all his techniques learned from the NSS, he evaded Blaster shots with relative ease, handily rolling away, and into a Blaster user's blind spot.
"Sayonara.", he said, as he let loose, emerging from squid form, splatting another of the Blasters. Suddenly, a new voice spoke up. This one isn't like the others, as she had a coat on top of her breastplate and her bottom piece wasn't similar to the other Sanitized. She was dragging a familiar Inkling by the tentacle he knew as...
"Lina! You monsters, what do you want?!", said Evan in grief.
"Surrender your weapons, and help us spread the word of the revolution.", the commander stated. "The time is nigh, to purify this land, to give rise to the superior lifeforms.", she droned on, devoid of emotion.
"I have heard about you. Didn't your kind go poof when Eight ran through your clandestine facilities? Destroyed your superweapon?", taunted Evan.
"Yes, those were all true. But as the humans said once, it's just the tip of the iceberg. The Red Fist Revolution is stronger than ever, and will bring TARTAR'S vision to bear.", she stated. "Now, your weapon, before I make work of your friend here.", as she hoisted and pointed an Octo Shot point-blank at the female Inkling's face.
Suddenly, a charger sight trained on one of the Octoling soldiers, and went violently in a burst of green. All in the vicinity whirled around to see who did it, only to see...
"The New Squidbeak Splatoon!", yelled the commander, as she saw Marie in the distance, above some crates. She hoisted her own weapon, quite an unusual one, seemingly a mix between an Inkbrush and an Aerospray. "All available units, ATTACK! ", she commanded the Octolings to go after the lime squid idol, only for some of them to be thwarted by a deadly whack of a roller...
"Callie!", Evan called out, using the confusion to splat some more Sanitized, quickly drawing his Hero Shot, faster than the opposition can react.
"Hey there pretty boy.", she said, planting a kiss on his cheek playfully. "Let's liberate the Hotel, shall we?", she said as she tossed Evan his own headset. "Sheldon said that there are some Turf Wars players held hostage, and guards on every floor. I assume this is one of them hostages, Evan?" she said.
"Ah yes, my friend, Lina", Evan replied. Said Inkling was speechless, never occurring to her that her friend was friends with the Squid Sisters, let alone be the ones to get her out of her predicament.
"Callie?!", was all Lina could say.
"Yes, nice to meet you! Run along, and don't harp on about this encounter OK? It's kind of an under wraps affair, yes?", she said to Lina.
"Understood! Evan, Callie, our other friends and my weapon is still in the Turf War area, held hostage by these extra-creepy Octolings!", she reported to the two.
"We'll get to it.", she assured the side-cut Inkling "Marie", she called her cousin on the headset, "seems like we got a hostage situation.",she reported.
"I assumed as much, One.", Marie responded. "Let's get moving, Agents! ", she beckoned her companions. Evan and Callie braced themselves back-to-back, gripping their weapons tightly. The Octolings surrounded them, hoisting various weapons at them. Both Inklings unleashed thier full fury, Callie rolling, dropping, then whacking the hostiles from behind. Evan let loose once more his Hero Shot, alternating them with his Burst Bombs, which he landed on point at the enemies' faces.
More Sanitized moved in to help, but were whittled down by Marie's sharp aim, bewildering the remaining forces, now torn down to size that Evan & Callie can deal with. The enemy also brought in their own Chargers to stop the rampaging Agents from fully liberating the Hotel.
"Cal, watch out, the enemy Chargers have been deployed!", called out Evan, engaging a Dualie & a Blaster at once.
"I got it!", said Callie, promptly adopting her moves to avoid the cyan lasers that were trained on both boy & girl Inkling.
"Marie! Can you cover for us? We're up to our necks here!", Evan yelled out to his mic piece, while barely dodging another Charger, squaring down with an Octo Shot.
"Come on Four, watcha think I'm doing!?", Marie said, as she lined up another target, a Dualie user, which she splatted flawlessly. "Thank me later, lover boy!", she said, as the target went up in a green burst of ink, producing a digital ghost.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, teacher!", said Evan mockingly, as he pulled a fast splat against his Octo Shot opponent. Suddenly, one of the soldiers sprouted a jet pack they were all too familiar with: the Inkjet. All three Inklings braced themselves & made sure to stay clear of it's blasts.
"Watch out, both of you.", warned Marie, training her sights on the flying nuisance that was bothering Evan & Callie.
"I'm already on it, splat her ass outta commission!", Callie replied, as she whacked another Sanitized soldier, slamming her Hero Roller onto the Blaster user, now trading flicks against Roller-wielding soldiers. "Haha, that all you got!?", as she dodges a vertical flick with ease, sidestepping the lethal slosh.
Marie was chucking Autobombs at everyone who tried to make a beeline for her, putting such plans in disarray for them, before sniping them out of the battle. Evan, meanwhile, protected Callie's flank, while she was engaging the remaining shooters, desperately trying to splat Agent 2 out of commission, to no avail. The sight frustrated the commander, she unbuckled her weapon and joined the fray, hoisting her weapon wildly.
"PESKY SUB-SPECIES FILTH!", she bellowed, as she swiped her own version of the Inkbrush, which has somehow had an Aerospray attached to it's other end, something that all three Inklings noticed.
"Marie...are you seeing this?", Callie said to Marie via radio.
"Still working on believing sis.", Marie said, hiding the bewilderment by shooting down more enemies, finally splatting the Inkjet wielder, who was unluckily, outta ink-fuel.
"Guys, how about we eliminate the rest of this gaggle and regroup?", said Evan, feeling the exhaustion from several hours of intense fighting, which he did solo.
"Three of us may not cut it, this ain't like Octavio's forces.", said Callie, squashing her Roller at another Roller user.
"These guys got the whole Hotel hostage!", Marie said, while sniping another Roller user. "Let's meet up at Callie's car and get the squit outta here!", she yelled, splatting an Octo Shot too close for comfort. Callie rolled away from her enemies, inking a generously wide path for her to swim to the front of Marie's position, while Evan cleared her flanks of stragglers, Callie occasionally helping with a flick that catches the soldiers off guard.
They soon began the escape, Marie guarded by Callie up front, while Evan covers her back, the male Inkling running around backwards a bit often, squidding often to top off, chucking a Burst Bomb before doing so. A shot grazed Callie, but it was a small deal, as she lined up a vertical to the face of the offender, while Marie splatted another one upfront trying to take advantage of the situation.
The trio alternated between swimming and shooting, hiding in cars occasionally once they reached the car park.
"Hew, good thing ink only lasts for five minutes or so...", said Callie, gripping her Roller.
"Ours does, I dunno about them...", trailed of Marie, peeking from behind an abandoned van to set her aim up at the soldiers, who were scouring the vehicles for the three Agents. Suddenly, emerging from a spot at the top of the van was the commander herself, Inkbrush poised to slam on the Inklings.
"There you are, filthy Agents.", she said menacingly.
"Wanna test swings, hun?", Callie said, sizing up the commander.
"Ah yes...Agent 1. The former popstar.", she mocked the black/magenta Inkling. "Octavio told me about you.", she said mockingly to Callie.
"What about it?", Callie defiantly stared down the commander, Roller held tight.
"You may be an Agent, but you sure are a dull one.", said the commander. "Perhaps Sanitization can help with that.", she continued, as she readied a strike on Callie.
"Squitch please.", Callie said, as she sideswiped the strike. "Go on without me, I'll finish them off!", she called out to the rest of her party, when a drone appeared with a familiar can...
"A canned special!", Marie said, as the drone shot off a can. "Wonder what this is...", she wondered, only for Evan to answer her question.
"Hehe. Payback time, squitches.", Evan said, as he sprouted two huge square packs that were very familiar...the Tenta Missiles, which was carrying the Agent color now too. "GET SOME!", he yelled as he unleashed his full wrath at the Sanitized, forcing them to scatter.
"I had made a prototype improvement for these big boys!", squeaked the voice of Sheldon into the party's headphones, mildly surprising them. "Now, it can spit up to four missiles per person, but at the cost of impact!", he loudly explained to the Agents, who were beginning to make a run for the car.
"Nice job Sheldon, clutch out there!", said Evan, gunning down a pursuing soldier.
"You won't get away with this you filthy sub-par excuses for life!", the commander yelled, as she switched to gun mode, rattling off fast shots.
"Hun, just put...", Callie said, as she landed a hit on the commander, "... that down.", as she smirked upon the fleeing ghost of the commander, off undoubtedly to where the Spawn Pad was deployed.
The rest of the run was peaceful, relief washing over them when they reached Callie's Silverfish Arrow, turning on the A/C. They then drove off immediately, Evan opening his window to splat some stragglers, the rest slammed by Callie's car, driving off the Hotel, to regroup with Sheldon and plan on how to liberate New Albacore Hotel.
Damn, this gonna be intense! And Sheldon coming in real clutch bois! Also, another Splatuber cameo, and maybe could be a recurring one: Vicvillon! And naturally as Sheldon's assistant! That'd be all, see y'all next chapter!
JG Catfish.