Wow, it's been weeks, hasn't it? Sorry for the long wait. Online classes were on me and I had lost a friend recently so I was in a bit of shock. I'm sad about it really so I send condolences to her family.

Anyways, I uploaded this chapter but having to flesh out the conversations was pretty hard so enjoy.

Chapter 5:Squidbeak Confidential

The cage was quickly becoming more suffocating by the minute. Bouts of lucidity were escaping them as they choked and coughed. Already on his knees, Hachi watched as the the blurry teal vision of the vicious octoling stood there just to make sure they had absolutely no way out of her trap.

Hachi had to admit it was very odd how there would still be sanitized octolings left. Although he never knew how that happened, he blamed himself for this. The moment he finally found his way out of the facility, he literally didn't have a care in the world. Why the hell would he? He was free and alive. Even if it was for a short while, it still happened.

But now, he had to pay for his ignorance. He was going to have his day. He turned to his comrade who had his sleeve to his face, trying to at least fight it out. He always admired how Hitto never gave up even when they all did.

He faced Dedf1sh through the fog again. Still as stoic as ever. In fact, not stoic, just free of all emotion. She could not see when somebody was in need. She was just doing her job.

But suddenly, she fell.

The hostages were lucky enough to see what had hit her. Before them was a curling bomb that must have swept her off her feet. It was incredibly hard to even make out who threw it but he had an idea just as he saw yellow ink…

But that was also when he passed out.

Squidbeak HQ, 9:05 AM

Hachi woke up to the sound of somebody repeating his name. As his vision was clearing, he saw himself on a bed. There was an oxygen mask on his face and he was still in his hero suit. Hitto was in a similar bed to his left in a similar position but wide awake.

"About time you got up," said Hitto.

Hachi cocked an eyebrow, "Where are we?"

"At Headquarters. We slept here for the night. We were rescued just at the nick of time," said Hitto.

"By who?"

Hitto began to explain, "After Marina heard our call, she sent Maika and Callie for back up. Maika took Dedf1sh down with a curling bomb while Callie destroyed the force field device."

"How did you know that?"

"Callie told me," said Hitto as he looked up into the ceiling just as Arii and Pearl came in.

"You boys just had to go down there without telling us, didn't you?" Arii asked, arms crossed.

"It wasn't anything serious and we didn't want any of you to get worried," said Hachi.

"But we still are," said Pearl, concerned and angry at the same time. "Who knows what could've happened to you if they didn't get there early enough?"

"We admit what we did was reckless but we need to think more of the assault," said Hitto. "Did you get the picture we sent you?"

"Of Dedf1sh? Yeah," said Arii, leaving without another word.

"The hell's up with her?" asked Hitto.

Pearl sunk her hands into her pockets, "No idea. Marina told me she's been like that since after the rescue mission. Anyways, we came here to tell you that you can go. Sitting in a hospital bed can be a real pain after a while."

"Thanks Pearl," said Hachi as the two agents took their oxygen masks off and jumped out of their beds.

"I hope you're both okay now. Everybody's waiting for you outside," Pearl added, escorting them out of the room.

"So how did Maika and Callie find us so quickly?" asked Hitto.

"The same reason why you tried to call them. Hachi's point sensor gave off your coordinates," said Pearl as they walked to the monitor room. "That's at least what I got from Marina."

"Wait but we were dropped off at the wrong place. Is there an explanation for that?" asked Hachi.

"Marina will tell you that," Pearl sighed. "If I tried explaining that to you, my brain would melt."

Sure enough, once they entered the room, the whole team was there on alert upon seeing them. At least, everybody except Arii. However, at this time of day, Hitto and Hachi were the only two in Hero Suits.

"Hachi!" shouted Nana as she trapped him into to a tight hug, making Marie seriously consider if she and Nana had the same definition of the word 'platonic'.

"What were you doing down there? You could've been killed," said Captain Cuttlefish.

"Trust me captain, we didn't have any score to settle. We were just visiting some of Hachi's friends," Hitto explained.

"Still, by the end of the day, you were ambushed," said Marina. "For all we know, there could be other sanitized octolings out there. Not to mention Dedf1sh escaping after you got help."

"And it sure would've been easier if you just told us were you were going and you wouldn't have been the way you were that night," said Inkogen.

"And Dedf1sh? Why did she attack like that?" asked Hachi.

"We really don't know but it was definitely planned," said Inkogen.

Hitto was astonished. "Excuse me?"

"Earlier this morning, Pearl and I went back to the Metro to have a talk with C.Q. and Iso Padre," Maika explained. "He told us that after you left, his map suddenly went way off track."

"And when I uploaded your map and tracked your point sensor, it located you deep into Line E," said Marina. "Apparently there was an anomaly in the system that rearranged the coordinates for all the terminals in the subway. Once you left the train, everything went back to normal."

"You're kidding, she set us up?" asked Hitto.

Hachi spoke up. "No she cannot have enough sentience to come up with such a plan. The only sensible thing is that she was sent."

"By who? My Princess Cannon turned the Tartar into scrap metal. And he was the guy who made them," said Pearl.

"No, maybe you just destroyed the phone," said Callie.

"That's exactly what I said!"

"Think about it Pearl," Callie began. "When we recorded songs, the producers would always store them in a second flash disc. Y'know, in case the first one gets lost or busted."

"Callie may be on to something there," said Nana. "What if Tartar managed to save himself while you were splatting NILS Statue?"

"That may be possible, but what has he been doing for the last two years?" asked Cuttlefish.

"He's an AI. He could've been making a bunch of plans until he found one that we couldn't foil," said Nana.

"Could he be remaking the Doomsday device?" asked Marie.

Pearl was adamant. "No way. I damaged that cannon beyond repair with only my voice box."

"Only that?" asked Marina with a raised eyebrow.

"Okay you helped too but I was the one who got Tartar personally. If you want, we can go back to the damn statue tonight," Pearl challenged the team.

"It might be a good idea for us to go investigate anyway," said Marina. "Alright Pearl. You and I are going to the NILS Statue tonight to look for answers."

"Let me go with you," said Hachi.

"Yeah! Just the three of us on another mission. Just like the old days. All we need is the Cap to join in," said Pearl.

Marie was the first to intervene. "Actually Pearl, he can't. I need his help in reviewing some documents."

"Aw man. I was really feeling that vibe from back then," Pearl said, downfallen. "Okay, I guess it's just the three of us."

"We're taking the helicopter. Maybe that'll hype you up," Marina suggested.

Pearl sighed. "I already own the helicopter, but I guess it could work…"

"Good. Now for the rest of us, I guess it's just patrol duty," said Marie. "We'll meet later today to assign the locations."

"Then I think we can break up for now. You two need to change and help your friends catch up on what's going on," said Cuttlefish, pointing at the two earlier victims.

The group had slowly dispersed out of the room when Callie was in wonder. They had the meeting but Arii was nowhere to be found. She last saw her leave through the Bay spawn point. She wasn't heard from since. Maybe she was still there. Maybe she needed to air out her problems. Callie was not so sure but she had to see her.

As she jumped into the drain-like passage, she wished it wasn't anything serious.

About fifteen minutes later, all the vigilantes were in their casual attires but were still roaming around the HQ. Of course they had a lot of catching up to do because Inkogen had only a vague idea of who Tartar was. And that vague idea was the fact that he was the only being that actually knew anything valuable about humans. Nana and Maika knew quite a handful but were still unsure of the whole story.

Hachi wished that he never had to. Given the fact he did not want to think of him as much as he did at the moment, it was coming back to him like a fever. It would be hard but he had to tell them everything they needed to know. He was the one who knew Tartar best out of the five.

"So, you ready to tell them?" asked Hitto upon seeing him look into the distance.

Hachi nodded. "Yeah, just back me up when you can."

The octoling turned to the three female agents, all anticipating the missing links to the true series of events.

"Alright, maybe I should've told you this a long time ago but here it is…" Hachi started. "Just two years ago, I escaped the Octarians thanks to Inkantation. Shortly after, I met Hitto and the captain and we had a fight but we were both ambushed in the process."

"We found ourselves in the Metro but we were separated. Unfortunately, Hachi lost his memories from the fall. He and captain met Tartar who made him do a bunch of tests to get to a so called 'promised land" Hitto continued. "Meanwhile I managed to get a CQ-80 to help me find a way out."

Hachi continued. "The tests were rage inducing and life threatening. He even had a bomb strapped to my back. Apart from Captain, C.Q., Pearl and Marina to walk me through, I only had myself to rely on and I could only hope I could actually get up here."

The octoling hesitated as Nana sported a perturbed look. Maika was already tearing up. Inkogen was worried but seemed to be the most calm about the news.

"Eventually, I did do everything he wanted me to," he sighed. "I even got him these four thangs that he said would help me leave. "

He held all he could to avoid another episode narrating this part. "Turns out… i-it was all to make a blender to… to kill us…"

Maika had lost it and ended up sobbing on Inkogen's shoulder. Nana was trying to hide her tears. Hachi looked down.

"But Hitto saved us just in time. He destroyed the blender but passed out in the process," said the eighth agent. "The ordeal was far from over though."

The octoling nodded to Hitto, "As Hachi went to find the exit, I was brainwashed by Tartar and he made me tie up the captain and kill him."

"Wait, kill?" asked Nana.

"After the rescue, my CQ-80 was no longer tethered to Kamabo's respawn software. So my life was literally on the line from there," Hachi explained. "and I still had a lot to do before our fight."

"But you did pull through. You're with us now," said Inkogen, probably trying to relieve them of the burden of explaining the whole thing.

"Yeah you're right. We did escape and meet Pearl and Marina. But Tartar was in the middle of operating the device to end the world. I only had three minutes to disable its charging power. Pearl's Princess Cannon finished it off when he tried to fire anyway," said Hitto, finally concluding the story.

"Or at least we think," said Hachi.

Maika had mustered the strength to speak up, albeit shakily, "So… who is T-Tartar?"

"He said he was an AI created by a professor to pass on human knowledge when they went extinct," Hachi replied. "He deemed us unworthy for our apparent ignorance and wanted to sanitize us to 'fix' it."

"If he's destroyed then where does Dedf1sh come in?" asked Nana.

"She is another sanitized octoling I only know vaguely about. She plays music all over the metro and that ambush was the first time I met her in person. We can assume she got there the same way we did but I don't get why Tartar made her a DJ instead of just a random soldier," Hachi believed.

"What makes it harder is how she fighting now," Hitto added.

"Maybe she needed extra training," said Inkogen. "Or just a trigger should something happen."

"No. Tartar claimed his creations were perfect. So why would he expect her to be trained?" asked Hitto.

"Maybe if there was a malfunction in her sanitization process. That way, she wouldn't be suited for battle," said Maika.

"True, but why would he keep her in that case?" asked Nana.

Maika shrugged, "I dunno."

"Look the point is, there is a sanitized there and we don't know where she came from or why she's attacking," said Hachi.

"But there could be a reason," said Hitto, alerting everyone else. "Hachi, you said that Dedf1sh could not have the will to attack unless somebody told her to. And we only know one person with the authority to do that."

"Wait Hitto, you mean…"

"You may be right Eight. Tartar is back…"

Callie was searching through the city. To be safe, she wore her shades and had foundation over her beauty mark should fans see her walk by. Tugging her marvin over her bangs, she looked around for the green haired octoling.

She knew she wouldn't be buying anything given how she abruptly left so she ran straight for the Aro-Mist Café. She could see Arii just through the window. She sped for the entrance and hoped for the best.

Just being there at the window, she was idly tapping her finger against the caramel shake on her table. Arii was blankly looking at it and it was still full.

"Excuse me Miss," Callie turned to see Cypress and Vanil at the register.

"Welcome to Aro-Mist Café. May I take your order?" asked Vanil the sea bunny.

No matter the situation, Callie couldn't miss the opportunity of getting a snack.

"Yeah. Can I get the Jelly Burger?" she asked.

"Isn't it a little early for that?" asked Vanil.

"I'm blogging…"

"Huh, you sound familiar. Have we met somewhere?" Asked Cypress as her tried to look through the shades on her face.

Callie looked back. "Uhhhhhhh…no?"

"Nah, it's alright. We see a lot of people here. Maybe we're mistaking you for someone else," said Vanil.

Callie caught glimpse of Arii's table again. "I can understand."

"Do you know that girl?" asked Cypress. "She's been acting kinda down since she got here. I think it's been ten minutes now."

"Yeah, I know her. I'll just be going there," said Callie as she gave Vanil the money for the order.

"Okay then. Here's your burger," said Cypress as he placed the tray on the table.

Callie thanked the culinary duo as she made for Arii's table. She didn't seem to notice her until she saw the tray land miraculously before her. Arii looked up to see the idol wave with her iconic smile.

"Hey Ar!" said Callie.

Arii jumped. "Cal, what are you doing here? People could recognize you!" She whispered.

"Nah, I can handle it," Callie shrugged off. "But I've been looking for you. Why did you leave?"

"There's no need for you to worry about that," said Arii as she sipped her drink.

"Judging by the fact that's the first time you've drank that Caramel shake, I have every right to worry about it," said Callie.

Arii looked away. "You don't know it was my first."

"I should know. I can still see the two marshmallows. Nobody is sane enough to leave them like that."

"Says the person eating a jelly burger at nine in the morning."

"Say that when you actually drink a shake you paid for."

"Maybe I wasn't hungry?"

"Then why would you come here?" asked Callie victoriously taking a bite from her burger.

Arii realized she lost this one. "I just needed to think."

"You can tell me anything. What's wrong?" asked Callie.

"I-I don't think I want to talk about it.."

"Hey, we've know each other for a while now," said Callie. "I won't tell anybody. I promise."

"It's not that. It's just that, I don't think I can manage to."

"We've been through a lot. You can do it, you'll feel better if you do."

Arii went back to her shake. Callie felt that no matter what she said she couldn't get it out of her.

Unless she could show her there's nothing to fear. She didn't want to do this but given her advice, she had to.

"Okay, what if I told you my secret then you tell me yours?" the inkling suggested.

Arii furrowed her eyebrows. "You really think that's gonna work on me?"

"Arii, I only want to help you. So either you keep wallowing there or you let me help you," Callie insisted.

"Ugh fine. But can we please do it somewhere else?" Arii asked. "This place is too noisy."

Callie smiled, "As long as you finish your food fast enough."

Octo Valley, 10:00 AM

The five agents were at the very edge of the cabin yard watching the distant world ahead. Maika asked Marie for permission to go there as long as they didn't mess with her things.

"Thanks for bringing us here Maika. We really needed some fresh air," said Nana.

"It's the least I can do. She knew we needed some time before an actual mission comes in," said Maika.

"What do you mean?" asked Inkogen.

"I told her our theory about Tartar and she wanted us to prepare for a five-man mission to investigate," Maika answered. "Figures given how Tartar is a big threat."

Hitto threw his arms up. "Welp, this was calming while it lasted…"

"No no. We can still relax here. We're not doing it today, right? We may still have until tomorrow," Inkogen reminded the team.

"Inkogen, Maika just said Tartar is a serious issue," said Nana. "We should be making a plan."

"No, Nana, we need to unwind. A lot has happened and we have to be psychologically prepared," the hareling argued.

Nana rolled her eyes. "Sure. Let's all sit back and let the crazed phone find a way to finish us all."

"I understand what you mean but we don't want anybody to have any panic attacks, would we?"

"And we also need to be on our toes if we want to find and stop Tartar."

"Guys, couldn't you argue about this somewhere else?" asked a stern Hitto as he pointed to his left.

As the two bantering girls followed, they realized their bickering drove Hachi to the end of the balcony and he had been silently standing there since.

"Oh," said Inkogen ashamed. "We're sorry,"

"We didn't know he was listening," said Nana.

Hitto crossed his arms. "It was loud enough for him to. Just make sure nobody who can be triggered is nearby next time, will you?"

Maika turned to the lone octoling on the other side of the cabin. She felt the need to be the one to talk to him. After all, she told herself, she started it. So as she left the other three she walked up to Hachi. His head was rested on a hand and he was staring blankly ahead.

"Sorry for what I did there," she said.

Hachi smiled sadly. "I'm not mad. You meant business. I… just have to think a bit,"

"Power egg for your thoughts?" Maika asked.

He sighed. "If he's back, do you think he'd be coming for me?"

"What?"

"Think about it Mai. I'm the man he'd obviously begin with. I destroyed the statue," Hachi elaborated.

"You didn't do it alone. Pearl and Marina had you back. Not to mention Hitto saving you at the as minute," Maika added.

"And before that? The only reason he brainwashed Hitto was to get rid of me," the octoling added. "He's capable of doing it again."

Maika put a hand on his shoulder. "But you're capable of fighting back. Right?"

"It won't be easy."

"Nothing's easy."

He lightened up."You think I can really do it?"

"You have us. We can do it."

Hachi shrugged the hand off. "Maika, you know that can't always happen. What if something happens and we won't be together?"

"Then make sure we're there in spirit!" Maika thought up.

Hachi rode an eyebrow. "How?"

"I'll show you," said Maika. "Give me your phone."

"Why?"

Maika just continued to boredly look at him. This wouldn't go anywhere if he kept asking questions.

"Fine," and Hachi placed the phone in her hand.

Suddenly she pulled him towards the others.

"Hey guys! Let's have a selfie!" she shouted.

"That's a bit random, isn't it?" asked Hitto.

"Hachi doesn't wanna be alone so we're making sure he's not," said Maika, setting up the phone camera.

"He's right. We don't have to do this," Hachi desperately agreed.

"Actually, that sounds great!" said Inkogen. "And I always wanted to use this selfie stick!"

"Inkogen, why do you conveniently have that?" asked Nana.

"Don't you all do that?" asked the hareling feeling singled out.

"That's perfect!" said Maika, taking the stick. "Now let's group up agents!"

"Hachi, you're the tallest. You can stand there," said Nana.

"Okay, then you stand on this rock," said Hachi pointing to his left.

"R-really?" said Nana, realizing how close they'd be.

"It's either that or you stand next to Hitto."

"Okay. I'll stand on the rock," said Nana, promptly doing so.

From there, Hitto stood in front of Nana. The rock was large enough for Maika to stand on it too. Inkogen stood in front of Maika which meant the inkling's face was now wedged between her big antennae.

"Okay everybody, smile for the camera," said Maika. "Woomy!"

"Quuvi!"

"Oomi!"

"Veemo!"

"Ngyes!"

And the lens snapped.

"Now you'll never be alone," said Maika, showing the photo.

"I appreciate your efforts Mai but how is a picture gonna do that?" asked Hachi.

"I don't know myself. That's for you to find out. See you at the bay!"

And with mouth agape, he watched as the inkling skipped to the spawn point and left.

Subject fully recovered. Disabling repair software.

Stopping Track #16. Inputting Track #0.

Subject now responsive.

Subject 101, I am in disbelief

That such a simple task gave you grief

How can a pitiful thing be done?

That forced you to be up and gone?

You were outnumbered?

Hmm...

He was always outnumbered.

Yet he managed to get past me

I can't allow such a perfect being

To be overwhelmed by him

Although I'm not surprisede he wasn't so grim

Stopping Track #0. Inputting Track #2.

I will forgive you for now, don't tire

After all, it was only a sad backfire

However, I won't let you fail me again

Next time, don't be overwhelmed by him and his friends

I will upgrade your weapon and dress

With new items for your defense

As I send you, be lucky you're still active

Otherwise, my plan would forever be negative

Now, they will be stupid enough

To return here eventually, thinking they're tough

You will do what I commanded you to

Only this time, do it well

And you will not fail

You are too perfect to fail

End Chapter

Okay, I got a few reviews for the story and I would like to respond to them down here.

Hmmmm: Hi Lee Sheet, so glad to find someone that appreciates Squeaky's work, I too had a fic but Is too shy to post it.

Don't worry. This is a place of imagination. I'm sure people would love to see it. I'm a shy person too but I try to muster the courage to do these things. I didn't think so many people would read this story in the first week.

Hmmmm: Glad you add in the details of Riva's crush, although in my fic lumi has a romantic partner instead.

Good stuff anyways, keep going :)

I try to keep to the source material and include several characters from the project.

If you want your review to be replied to here just put one there. I can't guarantee that they will all be put up immediately but I'll try to reply here.

Cypress and Vanil are the vendors of Aro-Mist Café: an inkling and a sea bunny respectively. I' m also reupdating some chapters to change some things. The overall plot remains intact however.

Thanks for reading. See you next time!