Patton's reaction to the swarm was more collected than before. While he had not expected anything like the terrifying horde before him, he had begun to adapt to this new world. The Salmonids incoming had been a twist, one the group knew was unnatural. In all of Inkling history, there had never been a report of Salmonids attacking areas outside of their own nesting grounds or holding grudges for more than a few hours. The approaching mob approached with a strategic ease to them, as if this was thought out beforehand.
"They say that the Salmonids were into fighting, but I never knew they planned out their approach." Callie mused.
"Perhaps it's a welcome party." Pat thought out loud.
The swarm was bearing down on the trio as they braced for a fight. Callie and Marie prepared their ink weapons as Pat stood there with an amused look on his face. He held his umbrella slung over his back as if he was some mob boss as the searched for an easy way out of this situation. The horde looked bigger than it was as the majority of the fish being Chums and Smallfry, with several Cohocks taking to the rear of the pack. They were obviously not here to play a musical.
Callie acted first, slamming her roller down on the fish moving around their left flank. Patton and Marie broke from their positions, the agent firing shots while Pat struck several Salmonids with his umbrella.
"Boink!" Patton cried connecting the body of his umbrella to the side of a Cohock. Fighting had never been his specialty, yet he still managed to make his umbrella into an exceptional tool of pain. "Boink Boink!"
Callie and Marie proceeded fighting with the style they were accustomed to, inking the ground while taking out as many of the creatures as possible. Patton moved to be sure the Salmonids stayed clear of his cave. He was certain if one had gotten in they would trash all that he had to call his.
"So these are the things that chased you down?" Pat asked while fending off more of the oncoming Salmonids.
"Yeah, but there's something different with the way these are attacking," Marie answered. "these seem to be far more organized than before."
They continued fending off the Salmonids as more and more began showing up. The fish regrouping here and there when their numbers were getting low, a rather different approach than the usual full on assault they were known for.
"This way!" Callie Shouted as she broke a hole through a weak section in the circling Salmonid mob.
Pat and Marie followed her as they both took a few more shots at several fish.
"Fore!" Pat cried as he smacked a Smallfry that was attempting to sneak up on him. They ran from the swarm toward a river leading out to the ocean. Callie and Marie instinctively super jumped across the 50 yard river as Pat watched. Turning, they soon realized there was one less of them who crossed the river.
"Keep going!" Patton shouted as he ran down his side of the river.
"What about the horde behind you?" Callie cried as they kept up the other side of the river.
"I'd ask you about those things over there!" He response while keeping ahead of the swarm.
The two Cousins turned to look for what he was referencing. Emerging out of the water were two Grillers, both were trained on the agents as they began their approach.
"Flooders!" Callie squealed. Marie, on the other hand, took a closer look before running, noting this was a different design than the Octarian counterpart. It seemed to be more of a "thrown together piece of scrap" than the military juggernaut. Both made their run using tactics they commonly used evading Flooders, using every trick they had to keep ahead.
I * I * I * I
Patton kept ahead of the Salmonids by a slight margin. If he slipped up he would be overtaken by the swarm, but he knew he was running out of land. The look of his pursuers was not of one that showed much friendship. Looking back from the mob he realized he was walking over the ledge. At this point the rock structure stood well over the water. Backing off the ledge he realized that he was actually being herded into a dead end. So this is how it goes then. Looking down he saw a fall that he wouldn't be in the condition to dare jump into. Various rocks littered the rapids this section of the river below. The Hollywood in him wanted to dare try, yet he knew that in reality, it would never work out.
Turning he saw a Cohock raise a pan about to strike him. Dodging the blow he stepped back dropping his umbrella as he pulled out a timer, he strapped the device to his wrist, knowing how this was going to play out. He looked up just in time to see the pan come down onto him just as he started the timer.
SLAM!
I * I * I * I
Callie and Marie continued their run from the Grillers, as they proved to be just as persistent as the Octarian Flooders. Whenever one of them tried to take a strike on one the other would either block or shift to avoid the shot.
"When did they get the technology to build this?" Marie observed. Trying to get a shot in on the obvious tail sticking out the back.
"I don't know," Callie finally got a hit on the tail, revealing more vulnerable fish parts. "Quick! Now!"
Marie and Callie worked to take out the first griller, taking it down. The noticed several golden eggs dropped from the wreckage of the downed Griller. While Callie took interest in the eggs that dropped, Marie moved around to fire at the other Griller's tail.
"A little help?" Marie snapped as she unloaded her charger into the Griller's exposed tail. Callie turned to Marie as a pair of Snatchers came to take the eggs. Concentrating on the machine both of them took it down within a minute of fighting. Standing back to observe their destruction, Callie again noticed the golden eggs that were now next to the destroyed machine.
"What is this?" She walked to pick up one of the eggs.
"Looks like some egg of sorts." Marie observed as Callie passed it to her. "But how did these relatively barbaric creatures learn to build these... discount Flooders?"
"We should take this back to gramps a..." Callie paused, looking up.
"And what?" The singer asked.
"Where is Patton?"
Both of the agents looked at the other, realizing they had forgotten the reason they had returned to this area. Running back to the point they had crossed the river they searched the area from top to bottom. After a half hour of searching they had only found the umbrella he had been using earlier. Leaving, they took the umbrella and the egg back to the shack. Unknown to them they were being watched by several Salmonids and the same figure from before.
"Not bad." The figure noted. The entirety of the fight was in full view of the elevated position they were in. Opening the communicator again, the figure reported in. " Poly-8, reporting in after the experiment."
"Acknowledged, report." The distorted voice responded.
"The experiment was a success, the Salmonids proved that they can carry out both out orders and are capable of retaining the strategy we put into them. They figured out how to take out the Grillers, but it's nothing we can't handle."
"Good, did you get the target."
"Affirmative, we have it." The figure looks over to Patton, who is still unconscious. "I was expecting less from this though."
"Good, bring it back to base along with the rest of the experiments. We need to make sure there are no flaws with the plan
"Copy." The figure got up and turned to the Cohock holding Patton. "Bring it and clean up the mess." The Salmonid nodded and began following the orders along with the others.
I * I * I * I
The agents of Squidbeak returned to Cuttlefish's shack to bear the bad news of earlier. They returned much quicker than Cuttlefish expected, as he had planned for them to be out the entire day. They quickly came up to the shack to give him the news.
"They took him!" Callie panicked. They had been running the entire trip, and the exhaustion had caught up to them.
"What took who?" Cuttlefish asked, having been interrupted of his midday meal.
"The Salmonids." Marie gasped as she ripped the mask off her face. "They attacked, unlike any way I've ever seen. We were separated, and they took him."
"You did nothing to harm them did ya? Cuttlefish inquired. "They don't just attack for nothing."
"They came to attack from nothing, they just showed up without attacking headon like normal." Marie replied, catching her breath. "They had a strategy in mind."
"That's... unusual..." Cuttlefish hadn't an answer for this, this was completely unexpected.
"Callie, but we also found this, it was dropped by one of their Flooder-like machines." She held out the Golden egg she had been carrying.
Octavio looked over from his globe, taking interest in what she had just said. "What did you say?"
"What do you care." Marie snarked.
"Hold on agent." Cuttlefish cut her off, genuinely curious. "What do you mean?"
"There was an idea..."
I * I * I * I
Someone must not pay the electric bill... Flashed through Patton's as he woke up. The second being Ow, my head. The room he was in was rather dark, his eyes adjusting to see what was happening. That, or I have a lousy host. Looking down at his wrist he saw the timer at 1:26, the amount of time he had since right before he was knocked out. Trying to move he realized he was strapped down on some vertical table. Hiding his panic he looked around the room. Taking in all his surroundings. He noticed his Trenchcoat, Satchels, Canteen, and several random pieces of stuff he had in his pockets. Behind him was a machine monster tearing his vitals, several of the instruments resembled that out of human hospitals.
He's shuddered as he turned to his left, noticing the board full of some X-Rays, results from several tests of which he did not want to know, and live surveillance of Patton's cave. There were also notes scattered around in the local language that Pat couldn't decider. Looking at the X-Ray photos he noticed all the enhancements within his body that his uncle had put in, a grim reminder of worse times.
Patton turned as he heard footsteps outside the door. After what sounded like a very complicated lock system being deactivated the door opened to reveal the shadow of one of his captures. A light switch was flicked and the room slowly filled with light. As his eyes adjusted he noticed that the figure before him perfectly matched the description of an Elite Octoling that Cuttlefish gave him.
She walked up to him, face to face. Taking off the goggles, he first noticed how her eyes were piercing, as if the look was capable of bringing down a mountain. She had on the standard Octoling gear plus several unusual tools and tech around her belt.
"Huh, I thought you were a fighter with those scars." She mused. "But I guess there's always more beneath the surface, Am I right Patton?"
Pat looked forward, trying to hide his surprise with a bored look, one that did not work at all.
"I know you're burning with questions, but we have so many other things to talk about. So how about you tell me what I want, and I'll do something nice for you."
Patton took those words with plenty of doubt. But decided to try to make the best of this situation. "If that's the case, do you mind unhooking me from this table? My neck feels itchy..."
She paused, that can be arranged, but there would be one thing we would need to do first."
"Like what?" Pat chuckled nervously. He already knew that he wouldn't like this deal.
"Talk. We need to know everything about you and what you know, and some other stuff you won't understand."
"So if I don't wanna talk?"
"Oh, it would be a shame to lose the world's greatest historical find." She turned to the door. "But I suppose we can settle for less."
"So you want to do an interrogation then?" Pat paused, that explains the one way mirror to my right."
The Octoling smiled. "You are clever, aren't you?" She walked up to him, putting her hand on his cheek. "You must be to be the last surviving member of your race."
"Flattering, what do you want?" Patton wasn't amused.
"Right, let's get down to it." She smiled. "That pod within that cave is nothing like that of which we have seen. How does it work?"
"No idea, that pod was very experimental when I found it, and I only tried to use it when I realized I had no other way to survive the ruined world." Patton thought back to before he sealed himself. "It has something to do with stopping the body's functions and preserving it until it starts them back up again."
"How is it powered?
"Patton thought. "Something, something, through the console."
"And that door, it leads to something, what is it?" She said leaning against the wall
"It's called the Box." Patton considered his words. "I... don't know what it is or how to open the door..." He froze when he saw the Octoling pull out a knife. "Or what that knife of yours is for."
"I didn't become an elite for not paying attention. So don't try to pull that one over me. What is this Box." She gritted as she pressed the knife against his neck.
"You forget this is an interrogation, my interrogation. So if death is offered on the table, die first. That is unless you really see value in keeping me alive." Pat smirked, calling her bluff had been all too easy for him. "So do it."
"Oh, we'll keep you around for a little bit more. We still need some things from you..."
I * I * I * I
"The plan was never meant to brought up again."
The old octopus had just finished his explanation of what the agents had just come across. With a lot of interruptions he explained the supposedly abandoned project "BlackFin". The sole purpose was to try to make the Salmonids that had become a pest to the kettles bordering the shore become a workforce for the Octarians. The idea was turned down due to the failure of several attempts by several scientists that had ideas too big for what the project was meant and capable of achieving. Octavio finally ordered the project to dissolve, but not before several military leaders and scientist made it into their pet projects.
"So what group was it that managed to get at the Salmonids?" Marie asked, she was the only one who took notes during Octavio's explanation.
"If I were you I'd start patrolling the kettles by the shore. But if you let m-."
"Nice try sucker, but I know where that's going." Marie said as she chucked a rock at the globe, watching as it bounced off. "We should get going."
"Not at this time, you've heard the stories of innocent fishersquid who stayed out too long. Besides, you both need to have a break and to your other job."
Before they could say anything he dismissed the cousins as he turned. "I'll be waiting when you return.
Watching them leave, Cuttlefish turned to Octavio. "How successful was this plan?"
"It was a success making them obey, but when it came to learning they couldn't do a thing in most official trials." He paused. "But now if that has gotten that far, who knows what someone could make them do."
Cuttlefish turned to the golden egg Callie had left. He knew just who could find out what it is and the uses for it off any. But that could wait.
I * I * I * I
As far as interrogations go, that wasn't bad. At least, that's what Pat thought he was herded out of the room by several Octotroopers and Octolings. Then again, it was his first interrogation he had ever been a part of. They had at least given him back his coat when he asked, which he then proceeded to quickly put it on to cover his scars he hated so much. As they turned the corner Patton found out where he was going to be held. Their idea of his cell was less prison-like and more solitary-confinement-inside-a-hotel-room. Looking around there were two rooms with a bed, a desk, chair, TV (why, he didn't know), and a bathroom. Turning around he saw the Elite standing there twirling her goggles in one hand.
"This seems to be less of a cell and more...guest room." Pat observed.
"This is meant to be for special visitors or something, but we're out of room if you know what I mean." She paused. "Also, you're not just any random prisoner."
She left, leaving Patton alone to explore the rooms. The place was what it was a face value, a room meant to hold some important person while they visited. Looking at his watch, he realized how late it had become as he went to rest. The softness of the bed had been something he couldn't quite just get accustomed to, he had adapted to less comfortable sleeping environments. About two hours later he finally found himself drifting to sleep. Right before that, he clicked on his timer as he began his descent into slumber.