Inkopolis
The bustling noise of stores, people and celebration was music and enjoyment to Agent 8's ears. She was quite shy to the new world after defeating Commander Tartar. Those two nice girls, Pearl and Marina, reminded her that she was always welcomed to stop by at the studio. Her reflection peeked while watching the two pop stars talk excessively about the upcoming splatfest, weapons or just what ever food Crusty Sean was offering at the time. Pearl was the first to notice the quiet wallflower octoling and surprisingly waved, Marina was seconds behind to greet her. The pink haired newbie smiled, another offering as a "thanks" to appreciate their kindness. As she turned around, she thought about how the shoes shop restocked, it was splatfest season and they didn't want to miss out on the opportunity. Walking towards the three shops, Agent 8 didn't seem to notice the terrified screams of other inhabitants until the stores were engulfed in flames and destruction. She became horrified, running the opposite direction to safety. The plaza became an uproar of chaos and destruction as the sea creatures scattered to anywhere that was safe.
"Woomy!"
Agent 8 recognized that cry, her friend, Agent 4 was stuck between two poles and some rubble. The octoling ran back to her friend, investigating the damage.
Agent 8 tried to reassure her friend that everything will be okay, struggling to lift one of the poles. The inkling's eyes were filled with desperation and regret. Agent 8 didn't seem to care for anything going on around her, she needed to free Agent 4! Sounds of bombs and explosions were nearing the two which made Agent 8 very anxious and stressed. Her tears flowed, why wasn't it budging? Was she that weak? So many unfavorable thoughts kept swimming in head as well as the fear of being caught in the explosion until she finally got one of the poles off the ground. Agent 4 wiggled out of her way and grabbed Eight's hand to ran towards the grate. She went into squid form with the octo, disappearing inside as they fall deep into the abyss..
MOROCCO
"Looks are all that mate needs, hm?" Harry stared outside the view of the hotel room, Rafe cared very much about image. Though he wasn't an idiot, he too was a treasure hunter. It was a high for him. While the rich kid went out for whatever, Harry stayed in for the day to be lazy and to sleep in.
How he survived Shambala was a mystery even he couldn't solve.
Working for that psychopathic fascist was probably the last straw for the Australian, it even ruined his relationship with Chloe. As if abandoning Drake and her to die wasn't a warning sign to the girl anyways.
Harry had quite enough of feeling guilty, grabbing a coffee pot in his hotel room. The man walked to the sink to fill up the pot. As he set it down on the burner to boil, unusual colors formed, orange with a hue of highlighter pink. He rushed to turn off the stove—was his mind playing games with him? Must have been the medication.
"What the hell?" He seemed confused at the weird colors, maybe he needed to clean it out again.
His eyebrows furrowed, grabbing the metallic and heading back to the sink. Water came down..as well as the weird colors again. Harry flinched and turned the faucet off. The colors were now in the sink, forming some sort of gooey form.
"The fuck is wrong with the water system?" He cursed, waving his pot around.
"Vee!"
Harry screamed in a higher key than usual, throwing the pot at whoever made the noise.
Agent 8 out of reflexes, dodged the coffee pot, her friend also appeared. The two studied their surroundings, a queen sized bed, a coffee table, a rattan chair to accompany it and a 38" television with the news playing.
The fourth hero signalled the 8th to come out of the sink but was stopped by the fidgety human.
Being unable to form words, he just pointed, falling into hysterics at the sight of some weird blob, human squid things. He just kept repeating the same phonics over until Agent 4th spoke up in Inkling.
"Hey!"
"Vee.." Agent 8 stepped into the conversation too. Four turned her attention to the octo.
"Ahns-spoargh?" Four asked. Eight nodded, pointed at the coffee pot on the ground that Harry used.
As confused as he was, Harry could definitely NOT make out what the hell they were saying. However, he could tell when someone was opening a door.
"Shit!" He muttered, it was Rafe. He needed the two creatures to get out because he was not in the headspace to explain how two little sea things got in here. Picking up the two girls, he pushed them into the closet.
"Just stay in there until I can settle this!" Harry ordered while the protest of two kids filled the room.
Harry scrambled to clean up the mess, Rafe entered with a bag of food.
"Well, you're awake." The trust fund baby noticed, walking to the counter of the kitchen.
"Oh yeah, I was just getting up." Harry smirked. "Wouldn't want to miss the show, love."
"Don't. We're on a business relationship now." Rafe reminded, not even facing him. Harry backed away, eyeing the closet hoping his partner wouldn't enter or go near it.
"Don't be a stranger, Rafe. Thats not what you were screaming on Monday night~" Harry pushed his digit too far, earning a punch to the face.
Pitch black was all the two girls could see, Agent 4 was definitely heated while Agent 8 stared aimlessly at the amount of clothes hung up. Agent 4 was getting very impatient, bending down to see who entered and why they were pushed into here.
"Oonay!" Agent 8 tried on one of the dress shirts and showed it off to Four.
"Neks-choo!" Four playfully smiled, grabbing a dress shirt and unknown stain it with her orange ink. Even though the shirts were incredible large on the two, they kept having fun and laughing.
The american heard faint noises from the closet. Rafe lifted his his head and stared at the closet, Harry's stomach dropped. Harry didn't want to admit but he was a tad bit intimidated by Rafe, knowing what he was capable of. The two met at a bar in Spain, Harry, being the buzzed drunk, felt prideful about his past accomplishments. He even rewrote and left out parts that wouldn't see him in a good light, trying to impress Rafe Adler. Somehow and for some reason, Rafe was intrigued by him and accepted the partnership for a commission. Yet, it's day five and they have gotten nowhere, Harry nor Rafe can even put blame on the Drake Brothers for their unsuccessful development.
"So.." Rafe stared. "What's in the closet, Flynn?"
Goddammit.
"Adler, I-i." Harry tried to reason yet, make up some lie.
"Not the answer I was looking for." Rafe interrupted. "I'm starting to think this partnership isn't living up to the purpose that we originally planned."
"Look. This is gonna sound VERY weird but-" Harry finally explained until the closet burst open of the two girls, wearing the oversized shirts. Agent 8 was on top of Four, eyeing directly at Rafe.
Rafe, standing there, no emotion. He finally moved muscle, closing his eyes putting his hands on his hips.
"Harry." He called out.
Y-yeah...these uh..things appeared out of the sink." The aussie explained.
"I don't care where they came from. Why are they WEARING MY CLOTHES." Rafe raised his voice, Harry flinched. Eight and Four made little inkling octo squeaks to the man raging, cowering and holding each other.
Harry was definitely in a huge mess, staring helplessly at the two small kids.
"Oowuh.." Eight hid her face,her arm disappeared into the shirt. Rafe snapped.
"No no no stop getting that pink shit on it!" He stopped her which made the situation worse than before.
Agent Four started to yell back at the human adult, most likely swearing at him. This is was probably the worst attribute the current hero had, Marie always scold Four about this habit. Rafe became ultimately disgusting at the unknown substance on both of his dress shirts, bright and just distasteful. How dare they, those shirts were quite expensive and made to impress at the auction that was happening the next day.
"Flynn! This is your mess, you FIX it." Rafe was too overwhelmed with two kids.
"God—the 'ell do you want me to do, mate? They don't even speak bloody english!" He argued back, pointing at the two.
"Tell them to leave. Or something, just tell them to go somewhere else!" Rafe shooed him. "And to RETURN the shirts."
Harry just sighed and crouched down.
"Aight chums, hand over the shirts."
The inkling and the octoling seemed to understand the situation and forfeited the shirts in guilt, handing back them all covered in blotched orangish-pink ink. Harry dreaded the fact Rafe was gonna make him scrub them clean for about five days.
"Thank you. Now run along." He finished. Agent Four and Eight stared at each other and walked away, out of the hotel room.
"A—gn...t..8"
Buzzing noises were vibrating in Eight's pants pocket, she reached for the communicator that was gifted to her from down below. Four was highly interested since she never saw it before.
"Oohyay!" She piped in delight, she was getting a signal from somewhere and a voice she could sorta recognized. Four's eyes lit up in delight.
"Fewibby!" The inkling cheered. They must have been close!
"Ah god that quite an experience." Harry chuckled. Rafe didn't say a word, grabbing his dirty shirts and sniffing them.
"This is squid ink." He was really confused. "Gross."
"You can get out squid ink, right?" Harry asked.
"Of course you can. But I don't seem to understand why they would have squid ink on them." Rafe added. "Something is not adding up."
Eight and Four were walking down the hallway, in awe at the lavish hotel setting. They were on the 35th floor, so it would take awhile. They didn't have their weapons or bombs, so they couldn't just swim down the hotel. It would have saved alot of time though. The two stopped at an elevator, they knew what it was, but it was bigger than the average ones back in Inkopolis. Overwhelmed by the numerous buttons of this 55-floor hotel, Agent 4 just pushed a button to trigger the elevator doors.
"I know this scum is here."
Four and Eight turned to find the source of the voice. Immediately, Eight's communicator went off the same time, returning with another broken message.
"EIG—HT...CO—E..IN"
She tried to respond with greetings, even Four joined in.
"EI_HT...AGE...NT..FOUR...BZZT."
The communicator didn't speak up again. Agent 8 became confused, shaking her CQ, slapping it to see if there was more. After the failed effort, voices became heard, including that of a very strong slavic accent.
" is surely gonna be surprised to see me at his doorstep."
The voice belong to a very defined, tall bald man. He touted around a several wounds and scars, heavy built and a face that tells several stories of struggle.
Eight and Four didn't know what to do, the aura was very off. Four rapidly pounded the elevator to open. It was taking too damn long! As the doors opened, the man turned the corner. The two girls faces became white. He was very scary and huge.
The man walked into the elevator with the girls, silence filled the atmosphere. Eight and Four didn't say anything, they even forgot to press a button to descend.
Eight felt the horrid aura from the man, sadistic, macabre vibes she was receiving. It made her very uneasy and on the edge. Four could feel the same but knew what to do if a problem arose.
"Little kids shouldn't stray away from their family." He spoke up, the accent was very rough as it came.
The two squiddos didn't say a peep, probably for the best right now.
However, Eight's communicator sent another loud broken up message. Four and her began sweating, they didn't want to piss off the big bald man at this moment.
"PA!" She cupped the speaker silently, chills sent down her whole stature.
"Lazarević, sir." Draza, the tan skinned man that was stationed next to him spoke to him.
"Go ahead, Draza." He gave the greenlight.
Four replayed the name over in her head, Lazarević...
DING
The three men (one of them was just a soldier that Lazarević hired) stepped out of the elevator. Draza seemed to drop a shiny object out of his back pocket. It emulated as a gold coin. Four immediately noticed, swiping it before they could notice with their backs turned.
"Harry Flynn is in this hotel, after I deal with him and his mysterious friend, we can discuss the treasure." Lazarević assured Draza.
"Besides, you already know what will happen to this hotel right after."
"Meaning..?"
Lazarević leaned in a little too close, his devilish smirk took up Draza's vision. He mimicked an explosion sound with his mouth, leaning back to laugh.
Four kept watching, staring at the treasure. Eight questioned the treasure in her hand, Four shushed her to keep eavesdropping.
The hotel lobby was huge, a grand chandelier was in center above the two teenagers. A mixture of luxury and lights made Eight have a migraine, she wasn't use to the artificial light unlike the natural light the octo first saw when she finally got out of the deep sea. Four put the treasure away, immediately looking at the gift shop that was in their direction. The inkling tugged at Eight, showing her all the hats on display. This peeked high interest in the octoling, already encouraging to enjoy themselves until the CQ can get a good signal.
"Requesting a room under John Smith is the oldest trick in the book." Lazarević wasn't too pleased at how dumb Harry was, he never really had any hope in that egotistical joker.
"It's a death wish."
"Draza, the treasure." Lavarevic ordered his right hand man.
"Yes—SIR?" Draza felt his pockets, all of them including his vest pockets. He lost the treasure, Lazarević was getting quite impatient, not being impressed at the performative confusion.
But Draza wasn't stupid.
"Those kids!" He pointed at Eight and Four, the orange haired hero turned to the yelling and met with an angry man.
"AH-EE!" Eight exclaimed. They ran to find the elevator, but only one and the men were closest to that elevator. New plan, the stairs. However Four got a better idea and went into squid form, only, she didn't realize there was absolute no ink anywhere. Eight didn't waste any minute and just ran, carrying Four in her squid form.
"Draza." Lazarević spoke while crossing his arms. "I trust you to get the treasure back, no?"
Draza was a bit upset and overreacting compared to his boss's chill overtone.
"Yes Sir!" He responded, saluting him. It was now or never, his chance to prove the upmost loyalty to Lazarević, grabbing his silencer and the other soldier to the stairs. While the lobby was accompanied with little to no people, Lazarević knew how to hide within the public eye. He ditched the uniforms, only wearing casual clothes to throw people off, including his enemies.
Four felt bad, having Eight carry her as she took up the challenge on the stairs. Yet Eight couldn't give up, she didn't know how far or close those scary men were.
Finally an elevator, Eight dashed to press the button, catching her breath. She looked to her right and left, watching and waiting to see if she should stay or run. Four left squid form to aid in looking, a hero shot or a bomb would be super useful now.
The doors of the elevator opened pretty fast this time, the two rushed in. Unfortunately the numbers looked foreign to the girls, Four took it upon herself to press 35. Any where to get away from the men. Just before the doors closed, Draza appeared but was bit too far to catch up.
"Dammit!" Draza shouted, he signaled to keep trekking up at the soldier. "Go go go!"
Anxiety overwhelmed Eight, her body felt foreign and her breaths were getting heavy. Four noticed and comforted her, holding her hand. She was worried about the people they met, why were they so scary? Where were they? Is everyone at Inkopolis okay? So many questions flooding her train of thought. She hated feeling weak and hopeless. However Four to her, took much more iniative and wasn't afraid.
Barely made it to Floor 20. The wait was grueling. Four examined the coin, real gold. She remembered the bald guy was talking about Harry Flynn, the man they first met at the hotel room.
Floor 28
The shouts of men came close to the elevator, Eight became worried. Four held her hand to let her know that it was gonna be okay. She noticed the ceiling there was an elevator hatch, asking for assistance from Eight to hold her up. She pushed it up, giving as much force that she could. Four climbed onto the top, extending her hand to Eight. The pink octoling accepted and help boost her own self up. Dim and weird didn't even put enough words to describe how it looked inside the elevator working area. They even notice that the elevator below them stopped, Four could see the heads of Draza and the soldier aiming their weapons inside.
"This is—" Draza came to a complete stop. Entering the elevator, and noticing the ceiling tile missing, he knew and looked up to smile at the girls. Draza was about to climb up as the ceiling tile fell on his hand, squishing it in-between. Four observed another cart going up, grabbing Eight and jumping to it, a very risky move on her part.
"Veemo!" Eight was estatic at the adrenaline she received by this situation, however it wasn't over. The two fell into the elevator, noticing it stopped at floor 35. Even though Four couldn't make out the numbers she phonetically remembers how "35" sounded by the elevator announcer.
"What if, we go my way?" Harry discussed the possibility with Rafe. The ex-con groaned.
"No! Flynn, we are not doing your way! Do you want a fucking cut or NOT?" Rafe raged at his plan, if Harry's job was to annoy him, he deserves a raise.
"Look I did it with Nate, got the treasure in no time."
"You also back stabbed him. Are you gonna do that with me?" Rafe posed a question.
"Of course not because I actually like you." Harry gave his rebuttal. "I guess a little TOO much~"
"You're disgusting." Rafe got up to pour another drink from the red wine bottle.
Desperate knocks came to the door, Rafe had his hand on his gun. Making alot of enemies warrants some sort of security.
"You made sure no one would interfere right? No bitter exes, no old bosses?" Rafe scolded Harry.
"Love, I got this room under a fake name." Harry said.
"God you're useless." Rafe opened the door a bit which was a big mistake. One squid and one octopus charged at him, warning him in their languages.
"You GUYS?" Harry spat out his drink, jumping out his chair.
"The hell are you guys doing back?" Rafe exclaimed at the two, Four was tugging at his shirt while Octo kept warning Harry.
"Woomy!" Four held up an amulet, Rafe focused on it.
"Where did you.." he studied the treasure.
"Holy shit is that.." Harry walked over. Four was still in an anxious mood.
"Avery's Treasure." Rafe scoffed in disbelief. "One step closer."
"Where did you find that?" Harry asked the squid kid before realizing the explanation would sound like a fish tank. "Nevermind just show us where."
Four became hesitant and didn't move.
"Uh oh, did I say something offensive?" Harry asked Rafe, he didn't have enough time with Flynn's carelessness.
"Knock it off, if she doesn't want to show us, then she won't." Rafe said.
Eight pointed to the hall, where Draza was. She remembered who he was.
Draza didn't seemed to notice until the door slammed shut. Pointing his gun to that direction.
Eight was now breathing heavily like she was in the elevator.
"The hell is with these two?" Rafe noticed the sudden change compared to earlier where they had his shirts.
"What's taking so long Draza?" Lazarević asked over the walkie talkie. Draza grabbed the walkie talkie and answered back.
"Found the girls, I'm sure of it." He answered.
"Time is ticking. Finish this inconvenience so we can find Flynn!" His boss grew super impatient.
Draza put his radio away, focusing on the door.
"I found you! Just return that coin!" Draza ordered.
Harry looked up and recognize the voice.
Eight covered her eyes. "Vee..."
"Draza." Harry's eyes widened. No fucking way." Draza? He was supposed to be dead, he died in a train explosion. He witnessed the rage induced tantrum Lazarević started after receiving the news.
"Shit. Shit. SHIT!" Harry paced back and forth.
"I'm gonna count to 3!" Draza continued.
1...
"Flynn, explain?" Adler asked.
2...
"Remember when you asked if anyone followed us?" Harry winced as he was talking to prepare for the shitstorm ahead.
Rafe became irate.
3...
The door swung open, revealing the man himself.
"You shouldn't get so trigger happy, mate. You might lose your head again." Harry pulled out his own gun and aimed it at Draza just before he was about to open fire.
The high ranking officer smirked and cracked a smile, killing two birds with one stone.
"And who is this? A bitter ex?" Rafe questioned.
Harry shrugged. "I guess you can call him that. However, this man is supposed to be six feet deep."
"Once the fool, always the fool." Draza taunted. "Lazarević left you to die for a good reason."
"That crazy bloke was out of control for Shambala." Harry glared.
"Was?"
Oh shit. That voice, was Flynn being played? Was this a never-ending weird dream turned into a nightmare? No, this was real, in his dreams Rafe seemed much nicer and the weird little sea creature kids didn't exist. Also Rafe was wearing a maid su—
Draza looked behind him, standing to the left to let Lazarević in.
"Shambala will always be on my mind, Flynn." Lazarević reminded.