1.6 - The Nightmare part 4
The Cephalon sector was not pleasing to the eye. The area appeared to be a dumping ground of sorts, as most of the water was a sickening dark purple. If it wasn't already dangerously polluted by the humans before the disaster, what ever the Octarians were pumping here from the other domes insured that nothing would last long in it, regardless of swimming capabilities. There were a number of steel structures that formed bridges over the toxic purple lake. In the center of these structures was a large circular elevator, which Kirin assumed lead to the old assembly hall that Marina had spoken of.
"Marie, are you seeing this dump?" Kirin asked after he turned the headset receiver back on. As he waited for a response, he exchanged the type-H roller for a chrome covered heavy splatling from the mobile weapons crate the Sheldon had follow him.
"Yes... I am. I don't think I have to say this, but I strongly suggest not falling into that," she responded a few seconds later.
"You don't say.." Kirin started to cross the metal bridges, and headed to the center. "So what's the deal with that armored guy? I know you know who I'm talking about. That's.. an elder race, isn't it?" Marie paused a few moments, before letting out a heavy sigh in response.
"You're right, 4. He is a human. And If I'm right..." Another long pause. "Drake Von Kaufmann. He.. Like Otome, he is one of Callie's best friends... and mine as well," she finished. Kirin paused on hearing another name he had recognized.
"How can you be sure it's him?"
"Because he's the only one who would follow Callie and Otome down here, by himself and likely against what ever the Eden Colonial State's wishes are. Trust me, it's him." Marie leaned back in her chair, holding back tears. Kirin on the other hand, was listening with interest. Apart from the original Agents 3 and 4, and the deceased 5, all the major players from 2 years ago were now on the stage. He reached the center platform a few moments later, and gave the large circular elevator a look over.
"Guess this is the entrance to the assembly hall."
"I can see that, now hold up. I already told you to stay put, and- Yes, Sheldon, we're taking that too. Don't ask why, just load it up!" She said to the horseshoe crab, before returning her attention to the screen. "You did your job, so wait for me to get there." She cut the transmission, not waiting for an answer, as she took the laptop to the large truck that Sheldon had brought to the canyon. It wasn't until she sat down in the passenger seat and opened the laptop back up, did she notice that Kirin had already boarded the elevator. "Agent 4... what the hell are you doing? I told you to wait for me!" She growled in frustration, and signaled for Sheldon to get the truck moving.
"Getting this done. I'm tired of the game," he growled back, and the elevator finished its descent. The old assembly hall looked like one big gravitational anomaly. The large circular stage was flanked by a number of bleachers and stands, all hovering by themselves over the purple death lake. Many Octarians occupied the stands, and had their eyes fixed on Kirin. In the center of the stage, was a large half dome like structure, with its hollow side facing Kirin. And in the center of that half dome, was a black and magenta tentacled Inkling.
"T-that's Callie! We found her! Step on the gas, Sheldon!" Marie jumped out of her seat, only to be knocked back into it by the seat belt.
"Yeah, but... what is she wearing..?" Kirin looked at the girl, who had her back turned to him. Before, when they had seen her on the carrier zeppelin, she was wearing a pink outfit, and was giving off an aura of sadness in her singing. Now she had on what looked like a bastardized and skimpy version of her stage clothes, and her aura was now menacing and dark. Kirin slowly approached her, until she seemed to finally notice him, and raised an arm.
"I thought I told you to stay away." She turned around to face him. The outfit looked just as tacky from the front as it did from the back, and they both noticed the Octopus tattoo on her hip. Worst of all, was the pair of overly large shades that lit up as soon as she started talking. "You leave me no choice, but to rock you!" She raised both her arms up, and the stage rose up, revealing itself as a large robotic craft. From the main chamber, the pilot revealed itself to be the large octopus form of the escaped D.J. Octavio.
"I knew it! I knew it was him! And he rebuilt that damn Octobot, too," Marie hissed.
"Gyahaya, yo! Check it! I Remixed Callie's brain!" He started working the controls, just as he did 2 years ago, and a sickening version of a familiar song started playing. Marie's jaw dropped, and Sheldon had to force himself to not take his eyes of the path as he drove.
"Th-that.. Slob, piece of trash!" She roared.
"Let's get this started with Bomb Rush Blush!" Callie yelled, and started to dance along with the music, using her hands to direct the barrage of splat bombs that Octavio just fired at Kirin. He quickly swam back to avoid the ink explosions from the surprise attack. The monitors all around the assembly hall all switched on to broadcast the battle and Callie's dances. The crowd in the floating stands all began to cheer and hop around in their seats.
"Dammit, this is why I told you to wait form me!" Marie slammed her fist down on the arm rest out of frustration that he had disobeyed again, as well as the fact that she was forced to watch her younger cousin fight along side their sworn enemy of both the great turf war and the insurrection from 2 years ago. "Look, just try to hold on. Sheldon and I are almost there."
"Well, make it quick!" Kirin grunted, and rushed past a cluster of semi sentient tentacles that had been deployed by the octobot, all trying to grab him as he passed. "Time to do what should have been done years ago!" He ran as close as he could to the floating weapons platform, and eagerly unloaded half of his ink tank onto the craft. However, all of his shots simply bounced off and dissolved, thanks to the cockpit shield that Octavio hadn't forgotten to carry over from the previous version of the ship. Octavio just laughed at his efforts.
"Two battles in two years, and you hipsters still rely on dumb luck." The front of his craft shook, and one of the two giant fists that occupied the left and right sides of the Octobot came flying at him.
"Fist! SHOOT! NOW!" Marie commanded. The fleeing Kirin spun around and raised his type-H splatling, and unloaded about half a charge into the fist, coating it in green. As he watched the fist get redirected and fly back towards the Octobot, he found himself glad that he had brought the high yield, rapid firing weapon over the other type-H models, even if his mobility was reduced. But his boost of confidence was shattered in place of the shield, which protected the cockpit from the impact at the cost of having a drop in power and getting knocked back, causing Callie to stumble.
"Hey! Get it together D.J.! Spicy beets, now!" She pointed at Kirin, and Octavio scoffed.
"Guess you did learn something after all. But can yah dodge this, ink stain?" He saw the fist on the other side prepare to launch, but this time it began to spin rapidly, before flying out at him.
"You can't shoot that back. Dodge!" Sheldon shouted at the communicator, a bit too late since the pellets Kirin fired were sent flying in random directions. Octavio sat back and laughed. He fired the other spinning fist while pulling the first back, causing the green agent to have to weave in and out of the ink he had laid down before hand, watching it get covered little by little from the fists slamming into the ground. As Kirin was occupied, Callie raised her hand to point again, and Octavio hit another switch to cause a shower of ink to spray down from the bottom of the craft.
"Ink Shower! Get out of its path!" The craft lunged forward, and he was forced back into his ink, and weaved to the right to avoid the shower. As soon as he came out, he charged up the splatling to regain some of the ground he lost, since the rain had covered over half of his territory.
"One-two punch!" Callie pointed at him. As Octavio prepared the fists, his eyes went wide when a red light lit up. The right fist fired and spun, which Kirin dodged, but the left fist had jammed. The fist sputtered for a moment, before shooting out without the spin. Seeing his chance, Kirin revved up the splatling and charged forward.
"Got you now!" He unloaded a full charge on the fist, and grinned as it was once again sent back, causing the shield to turn red at critical levels. "Now who's the ink st- ack!" Kirin was suddenly thrown to the ground after feeling an impact at his back.
"What..? You?" Marie shouted.
"Gyahah. Yah took your time, bone boy and race traitor. Now get to work if yah don't want me to fry her brain for good!" He could here Octavio yell. He was flipped on his back, and saw two figures he recognized standing over him. One was the Octoling, Otome, wearing her outdated armor and goggles. The other was the armored gas mask wearing figure from the carrier zeppelin, which Marie claimed was the human known as Drake.
"We told you to stay out of this... if you hadn't interfered, we wouldn't have to do this," Otome said with a low tone.
"What are yah waiting for, ink stain? Splat him, or I'll really turn up the heat on the magenta one," Octavio boomed from the cockpit.
"We're not deaf!" Drake shot back, making Kirin's eyes widen a little.
"Wait... the humans really can speak oceanic.. he... wasn't lying?"
"Sorry to disappoint, but its just a machine doing that," The armored figure responded. "I'd show you.. but.. you forced our hand." They slowly raised their weapons at his head.
"Y-yeah.. no one is coming to save you now..." Otome's voice stuttered.
"It's not like anyone can come down here NOW. Or NOW would be a very last minute save, wouldn't it?" Drake said, as he fumbled with the trigger. At that moment, they could hear a loud roaring sound, that Drake assumed to be an engine, and everyone turned towards the source. "Took your damn time, Ma..rie..?" Behind the gas mask, his expression was about as stunned as when he saw his red partner for the first time.
"T-the hell is that?" Otome pointed. "Is that... a flying... truck..?"
"Looks like it.. so that's what Sheldon was working on at the motor pool last year... how the hell did he make a truck fly?" Drake and Otome both lowered their weapons, and Kirin slowly slid into his ink.
"Agent 4, I'm here!" Marie called out, and climbed from the passenger side of the cab, and onto the roof. The older squid cousin was now wearing her stage outfit. Once on the roof, she pulled out her outdated Type-H charger. It lacked the save charge function of Kirin's model, but had been modded for extra range that she intended to make full use of.
"Great, now hipster number 2 is here. Screw it, I'll fry ya'll myself." Octavio fired another fist where Kirin was. Drake and Otome dove out of the way, and Kirin, who had already changed to squid form, swam backwards in the trail he managed to make while the two were distracted by the flying truck Marie had rode in with. The fist slammed into the ground where he had just been a second ago, and the other fist was starting to spin for a shot at the spot Kirin had retreated to.
"I don't think so, king slob." Marie fired a fully charge shot at the spinning fist. It hit dead center, and several sparks shot out, causing an electrical short. The fist stopped spinning, and Octavio slammed one of his large tentacles on the panel to clear the jam. When it finally cooperated with him, it shot out as a normal fist.
"Oh shi- You little!" Octavio was practically steaming at seeing the fist slowly fly towards Kirin, who was already back in his normal form, splatling at the ready. When the fist was in range, he unloaded a charge of pellets, and easily sent it flying back, causing it to hit the shield again. The Octobot was knocked back, as the shield was now flashing red at breaking point. Callie was waving her arms wildly, trying not to fall off the top.
"Callie! It's me! Your cousin!" Marie called out to her over the trucks bullhorn.
"W-what the heck, D.J.? Get it together!" She yelped, and swept her hand across her field of vision, signalling the former Octarian general to fire a volley of suction bombs across the field, making Kirin run across the center stage as Drake and Otome took cover.
"Callie... don't you recognize me? Snap out of it already!" Marie pleaded. Callie just ignored her, and continued her command dance that was being blown up on the large screens for the rest of the crowd to view. "Callie..." Marie bit her lip, and tightened her grip on the charger. "Sheldon, get me closer."
"You got it! Hang on up there!" He called, as Marie slipped something into the charger's firing chamber that was similar to a Guardian Corps tampering capsule.
"I didn't want to have to do this.. but I'm getting my cousin back." She raised the charger and took aim, the laser moving towards Callie's head.
...
"Lieutenant! Lieutenant, wake up!" Brandon could hear a voice shouting at him, and he slowly regained his consciousness. His vision was still a little blurry when he opened his eyes, and he could see Takeshi standing over him. "Guys, he's awake.!"
"Uhhhh.. what happened," Brandon groaned.
"Dude, we thought you were dead." He reached his hand out, and Brandon took it. Takeshi slowly pulled him into a sitting position.
"We're still picking up the pieces, but it looks like the tunnel collapsed. Crushed the engine car, and killed the driver instantly," Reggie said, who was rubbing his bruised ankle. "And.. uh.. Brandon?" He looked at him with a very serious expression, which quickly unnerved the young Lieutenant. "Justin didn't make it."
"W-what!?" Brandon quickly looked behind him, and sure enough, the team medic was lying motionless on the floor. A steel bar was sticking out of his neck, and a pool of blood had formed under him. The bar had broken from a part of the roof that had caved in, due to being smashed with a large chunk of debris from the tunnel collapse. "Oh.. son of a Bitch!" Brandon put a hand to his already throbbing head.
"Tell me about it," Reggie sighed. This would be a severe blow to the team. While they had gained a fair amount of medical personell from the Technodyne facility two years ago, Justin was still the only one with combat experience, from not only the raider wars of 2018 A.D. but also the battle of 2019 O.S.C. Not to mention a friend to all members of 1st squad.
"It's not right.." Matt grumbled while looking out the window.
"I know, Matt.." Brandon got to his feet with Reggie's help, and moved over to one of the benches, then activated his radio. "This is... Lieutenant Finn. All squad leaders sound off." Several seconds went by, and replies started coming in by the other team leaders.
"Second squad, all here," said seconds team leader.
"Third squad reporting. Decker is down, and Garrison is badly wounded. We need evac, sir!"
"Fourth squad, half the team is injured, but no casualties. Where is the damn medic?"
"Fifth squad, We lost Vasquez, but every one else is standing."
"Take defensive positions while I report and get our orders. Out." Brandon ended the radio call when he confirmed the status with the force. Three men were dead and a dozen or so were injured.
"By the way, I already called the station we left from. They're sending the maintenance trolley," Reggie said.
"That's good, let's-" He paused, and that's when Brandon noticed that something was missing. "Wait.. where are the twins?" As if waiting for the question, Kenny came running in through the back door of the car they were in.
"My sister! Where is my sister!" He came to a halt in front of Brandon with a panicked look on his face.
"Easy, kid. She's right over... there...?" Matt turned to where the other rookie had been a few minutes ago, but both her and all of her equipment had vanished. "She... was right there."
"Alright, how did none of you not notice Tricia leaving the car?" Brandon demanded to know. They all looked away, until Reggie called from the part of the car that had been torn up by the debris.
"Uhh, Lieutenant? You'd better look at this." Reggie said, and pointed to a large hole in the side of the car. It was big enough to fit through, and a piece of blue cloth had been caught on one of the edges that looked like part of an Edef uniform. "It.. might be possible she went through here... or was taken."
"W-what? Who took my sister?" Kenny demanded, and with out waiting for an answer, went through the whole that only he, Tricia, or one of the Oceanics would be able to fit through with out getting cut.
"Private, get back here!" Brandon yelled, but got no response as Kenny headed towards the backside of the train. He quickly turned, and with Reggie and Takeshi, started running through the train. As they passed through the cars, they saw the Oceanic forces in disarray. Some of them were throwing accusations of sabotage at each other, while others were trying to take defensive positions, trying to figure out if they were under attack or not. When they got to the front car, they noticed that Kelly had gathered a squad of Octolings and several Inklings at the rear door, and they quickly went to her.
"Oh, thank goodness. You're okay. I heard you took a bad hit," The elite Octoling captain said when she noticed them.
"A-ah, yeah. I'm fine now though," he nodded. "But no time for that. Two of my men are in the tunnel, and I need to get them back, now!"
"Well, you're timing is perfect. I was about to take a squad out to scout the tunnels. One of the regulars reported seeing something in the shadows, and we can search for your boys at the same time. You with us, Bran- er Lieutenant Finn?"
"Brandon is fine. And sure. I don't know what your men think they saw, but safety in numbers," Brandon responded, and Kelly smiled a little.
"Alright, then move it out, you lot!" Kelly shouted to the Octolings and Inklings after opening the back door. They all piled out, with Brandon's team following in the rear.
"And now to figure out what the hell is going on with the Becker siblings."
...
Time seemed to stand still in the underground assembly hall. The squid boy, human male and Octoling girl stood frozen, as they watched a green stream of ink exit the barrel of Marie's charger. Even D.J. Octavio was shocked to see the older cousin fire the stream that was now headed towards Callie's head at breakneck speed. A mere second later, the shot hit Callie's face, who let out a shriek of surprise and pain.
"D-did.. Marie.. just.." The first one to come out of the trance was the human. The shot should have killed or at least incapacitated her, but he watched as Callie was simply knocked back some, hitting her head on the back of the Octobot's half dome.
"No- look!" Otome pointed, and everyone followed her gaze to see that the Large shades had been sent flying. They bounced several times, then slid off the back of the center stage, falling into the corrupted purple water below.
"Callie! Stop this! You are not Octarian!" Marie shouted over the loud speaker. However, Callie was not responding. She merely groaned, and stood in place.
"Gyaaah! Damn you, Agent 2! Too bad for you, it won't be that easy." Octavio turned up a dial on his control console, causing the hypnotic music to go full blast in an attempt to prevent her from regaining her senses. Callie once again resumed the corrupt dance, but her movements were sluggish and was no longer sending out hand signals. Marie signaled Sheldon to switch the truck's loud speaker output to the music player that she prepared before hand. A new version of her own single, Tide Goes Out, was being played as loudly as the corrupted bomb rush blush that Octavio was playing from the craft.
"Tch! Annoying fly! Boneboy, shoot that truck down, or you know what happens!" Octavio commanded, while adjusting to the fact that he was having to compensate for the fact that Callie was no longer giving him logistical support and had to assume full control of the robot again.
"As if you would let us forget," Drake grumbled. He turned away from the Octobot and raised the Marksman M14k, and pointed at it Marie. He breathed in deep, and squeezed the trigger. A bullet went straight towards the green and white squid standing on top of the flying truck. The round shot right over her left shoulder, a place she had already been shot once in the past.
"Ugh.. I do not have time for this." Marie brought her charger to bare again, and lined up the laser with the human she called friend. Before he could get off another shot, she let the stream fly, and hit him in the left arm. Drake yelped from impact, and could feel his arm go numb. He accidentally discharged another shot, which struck the door where Sheldon was sitting, almost causing him to lose control. Seeing the human stunned, Kirin raised and charged up his splatling.
"Guess that's my cue." He quickly started approaching the human, intending to knock him out of the fight for good.
"I would guess again, boy." A voice snarled as a burst of purple crossed his path, causing him to skid to a halt. Kirin cursed himself for forgetting about the Octoling, who now had her weapon pointed at him again. "You've done enough damage as it is. I don't know whow you are or why Marie got you involved, but I won't have you endangering people I care about more than you already have!" Otome gritted her teeth and pulled the trigger, this time aiming at him. Kirin was barely able to avoid the next wave of ink pellets by changing into his squid form.
"Coming through, fossil lover!" Rather than swim back, Kirin swam between her legs in the small trail that hadn't been covered by Octavio's previous attack. An action that angered the Octoling, as she had to jump away, or risk the agent reverting in a place that would be very disadvantageous for her. Once he was clear, he reformed to bipedal, and ran between a volley of suction bombs that Octavio launched wildly around the stage, which cut Otome off from chasing him.
"Alright, that's it. Ya'll ready to for a pounding?" Octavio locked on to Kirin with the fist, and it started to spin in the launcher.
On the other side of the stage platform, Drake had rolled to the side to avoid a second shot from Marie, who was showing signs of desperation, since her cousin was still partially under Octavio's control. He didn't want to shoot at her, but as long as Octavio was holding Callie, he had no choice. He started to line up another shot, but he noticed that a fist was getting ready to fire out of the corner of his eye. "I hope the kid is as good as you trust him to be." Drake lowered his weapon, and used it to point at the fist, trying to send a signal to Marie.
"I see. So that's how it is." Most people would have ignored the signal, and took the shot, putting down the traitor and enemy that was standing between family members. But in the two years she had known him, she had formed a trusting bond with the human that was once thought to be long dead. She simply nodded, and with out hesitating, fired a charged stream at the spinning fist, just as it was being launched. The spinning mechanism jammed, and the fist was deployed in its normal state.
"Oh, come on! Y'all freaking getting lucky- shit!" Octavio didn't have time to react, as the already waiting Kirin had unloaded on the fist. He sent it back to its owner, just as Otome tackled him from behind. He looked up from under the female that was holding him down, and saw the fist slam into the cock pit. The shield finally collapsed from the strain, and caused the Octobot to shut down entirely, including the warped music that was keeping Callie under his mental conditioning. She stopped her frenzied movements, and stood there looking confused.
"H-huh... what... where..." She slowly put a hand on her head, as now all eyes were on her.
"Callie... it's your cousin! Remember!" Marie shouted.
"I... I.." she looked around after regaining her balance. "M-Marie..? Drake... Otome..? Why... am I.. what's going on?" She looked down at the outfit she was wearing, and her eyes went wide. "O-oh no... I remember now... it.. it wasn't a nightmare."
"That doesn't matter anymore. Callie.. come to me." Marie smiled at her cousin. Callie let out the first smile she had in a while, and nodded.
"I will!" She changed forms into a squid, and started to build pressure.
"Gyaa? You get your squid butt back here, you little-" Octavio reached out a large tentacle to grab her, but she managed to squid jump away, landing on the top of the truck next to Marie.
"Glad you're back, Cal." Marie wasted no time in pulling her into a hug, once Callie had reformed. She then handed her a bundle, which contained Callie's half of their stage outfits.
"Thank you, Marie. Me too." Callie hugged her cousin back, and would have continued doing so for quite some time, if not for the situation she was in. She took the bundle, and turned away from the battle taking place. Marie yelled at Sheldon to switch to the last track that was on the music player, and another new version of their songs started to play. This time it was Calamari incantation, the same song that had distracted Octavio two years prior, and lead to his defeat at the hands of Levin and Shara.
"Curse you, squid sisters! I was so damn close, yo!" Octavio hit the restart switch on the control panel, and the Octobot started regaining power. Seeing this, the human locked eyes with his Octoling companion, who was still restraining Kirin. The two nodded at each other, and Drake turned to raise his rifle, pointing it at the large male Octopus, while Otome climbed off of Kirin.
"Was wondering when you were gonna get off me, big red. Not that I mind a little roughhousing."
"Trust me, you are going to pay for that comment later," Otome barked back. "But now we got work to do." She turned her attention to Octavio. "This is for what you did to my best friend!" She growled, and charged towards the Octobot, unloading her ink with her octoshot while Drake started putting rounds into the cockpit. Unfortunately, the restart had managed to bring the shield back up, and both the bullets and ink pellets simply bounced off.
"Gyayah. Later suckers! I'mma be back, and ya'll gonna wish you let me win here!" The octobot started to raise into the air.
"Ah, hell. He's getting away!" Drake complained, as he swapped out a magazine for the one he had just emptied.
"Not on my watch! Not after what he put us through!" Otome took an orb like object out of one of her pockets, and tossed it at the Octobot. It hit the craft's front side, latching on. "Agent! Shoot that orb!"
"What ever you say, big red." Kirin quickly charged up the splatling before the craft could go out of range. As soon as the charge was full, he unloaded at the front of the craft, but due to the size of the target, most of the shots missed.
"He's still getting away! If you're gonna do something, do it now!" Drake yelled, still firing shots at Octavio.
"I would have thought you lot would have learned to not rush people by now," Kirin yelled back, and used the last of his charge to strike the orb. It came to life, and revealed itself to be an ink rail. The now green rail extended, and moved downward to where Kirin and Otome were standing.
"There's your ride up. If you wanna kick his ass, now's your chance. Just give him some payback for us," Otome said, giving him a stern look after raising her goggles. Kirin stepped towards the line, but before he could get on, he saw the mobile weapons crate fly overhead. He instantly gained some respect for Sheldon's ability to fly both it and the truck at the same time.
"Wait, you're gonna need more firepower than that!" The crab said over the communicator. The crate popped over to reveal a large fish shaped weapon. One that was larger than any other field weapon carried by inklings. Kirin fished it out of the container and approached the rail.
"Been wanting to try out a rainmaker." He turned towards the Octoling, who was now standing with the human. "It won't be for you, but you can be sure I'll kick his ass. Trust me, he's at the top of the list." With out waiting for a response, he hopped on the rail, and was propelled towards the octobot that was circling above, using the rainmaker as a balance.
"Well, there he goes. Think he can pull it off?" Drake asked.
"I'd hope so, after all the trouble he gave us," Otome sighed in response. "I guess all we can do now is-"
"Hey! Hey! Over here!" The duo turned around to see Callie waving at them, who had somehow managed to change her outfit when no one was looking, including what was left of the Octarian audience.
"Get on, and we'll give you a lift," Marie called over the loudspeaker, while Sheldon lowered the truck to be level with the edge of the stage platform. The two glanced at each other and nodded. They took off running to where the truck was hovering, and took a flying leap over the pitfall of polluted water, landing on the roof of the truck where the squid sisters were. Sheldon quickly put the truck in gear, and rose it up, being careful not to knock the others off the roof. Drake opened his mouth to say something to Marie, but was blindsided by Callie, who pulled him into a tight hug.
"Drake... Thank you." She leaned against the human, which almost caused him to lose his balance, and he put his arms around her in return. "Thank you for not abandoning me.. And you too, Otome." She glanced up at the Octoling, who for the first time since the whole ordeal started, smiled.
"Of course, Callie."
"I think I get the gist of what happened, but I expect the full version of the story when we get back. Though I thank you two as well." Marie bowed to them.
"We kind of expected that. Now, shall we go make sure the new guy doesn't screw up?" Drake asked, and the group all nodded in agreement.
"You heard him, sheldon. Step on the gas, and get after Octavio!" Marie commanded.
"You got it, Marie! Hang on to your lunch!" Sheldon sped the flying truck off, to catch up with the green agent, who was tailing the circling Octobot on the inkrail, rainmaker at the ready. As they caught up, Callie and Marie restarted their updated version of Calamari Inkantation, and danced a long with it, partially to distract Octavio, and partially to help keep Callie from relapsing into being influenced by any effects of the hypno-shades still in her system. While the makeshift performance had just started, Agent 4 and Octavio both exchanged the first blows of his last stand.
Authors Notes: Surprised no one caught the fact that a piece of Marie's Dialogue had been hijacked by Neptune in the last chapter. Anyway, this one was a real pain to write, so sorry if it sucks. Also, with the way things are going, either the next chapter or the one after may be delayed for a month or so. Which is annoying, since arc 1 is nearing completion. Either way, Story's delayed.