Pat stood up to survey the nightlight in front of him. His eyes adjusting from the long drag through the inky pipes. He tried to wipe the ink out of his eyes until he realized that his eyes were clear of the gunk. He blinked his eyes taking in the sights of the city.
"Welcome to Inkopolis!" Callie grinned. "This is the place we live."
Patton looked around, taking in his surroundings of the back alley they were in. He sat down by a stack of boxes as be took several breaths. He had no idea how he should respond to this situation he was in.
"Oh, so now what?"
Marie thought about what to answer. They had planned to get him back, but they forgot about what they were going to do when he was found. "I think we could try having you stay here for a bit."
"Aren't you trying to keep me hidden. We are gonna get caught here." He glanced nervously.
"Relax, we can't afford to take you back to the shack. You're safer here in the city where those Octarians won't dare come knocking." Marie responded taking off her mask.
Patton took this with a grain of salt. "Where else are you gonna drag me." He muttered as he looked up at the setting sun. "I rode out the apocalypse just for this."
The five of them waited there in silence. Loorea went over to Pat and sat down next to him. Callie motioned to her cousin, indicating that they had a half-hour until they had to go live. Agent 3 tried to break the silence, but her efforts were to no avail. Ten minutes later Marie spoke up.
"We have something to do, you'll see us real quick." She spoke while slinging her charger over her shoulder. "Should we meet up at the studio, or find something else?
"How about Angler Avenue?" Agent 3 suggested. The cousins thought this over and nodded their approval.
Callie waved goodbye frantically as her cousin began to drag her to the studio. Pat chuckled at the cartoon-ish scene, as he hadn't had much a chance to find humor in anything the past few days. "We'll catch up and decide what to do latter!" Callie cried.
He turned to Loorea, who had a polite and nervous smile on her face. It didn't help that the markings of her "mask" made her look constantly afraid. He couldn't shake the thought that she reminded him of the BLF's poster child "So what do you plan to do now?" He asked her.
She looked up to him. "I don't know what to do, I-I'm not familiar with this city or where I'm going."
"Well, I can assure you, you aren't the only one..." He trailed off at the end, not knowing if he should say something more or not.
"I kinda owe you."
"For what?"
"For pulling me out when you could have left me behind." Loorea shrugged, looking down. "No one's done something for me before."
The three fell silent again as Loorea nervously shifted. She had never been around people, and knowing that she was in the presence of an ancient didn't help.
"We should get going before the second evening rush." Agent 3 cleared her throat. "It's always busy with turf players then."
"Sounds fair." Pat meandered over with Loorea close behind. "So I know things were kinda rushed earlier, but I don't think I got your name."
"Oh, I'm Kathleen." She replied. "If we hurry, we'll catch the broadcast at Sush's corner."
"Broadcast? What's that about." Loorea asked.
"You'll see, and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised." Kathleen responded with a wink. The three walked down the empty road. Patton took note of how similar the city was to the cities back before he went under. While the area they were in lacked any pedestrians at the moment, the place had a feel of life of its own. They walked next to a store that specialized in electronics. The window held several TVs that played ads for various ink weapons and other everyday items. Pat could make out what was being said, yet when he tried to make out what somewhat the items were, but he couldn't read a thing on the screen.
He sighed as he turned to look if they were being watched. Right after he turned Kathleen tapped his shoulder to gain his attention. Looking back to the screens she was pointing at his jaw nearly dropped. There was no way he could hide the shock on his face.
"Hold on to your tentacles, it's Inkopolis news time!"
I * I * I * I
The disgraced Elite made her way to one of the exits made to be used by manned vehicles. She knew the garage would be all but abandoned due to most of their resources were now being used for initiating the experiment. She wanted to leave without much interaction with anyone. She had used her time given to prepare herself and gathering what she would need. She now had a hefty pack on her back and some extra pieces of gear on her person. That gear included her standard Octoshot, Splat Bombs, Tank, Squee-G, and other objects.
Amber left the main dome with her mind centered on only one task: Seeking and locating her new target. She had an idea of where the squids would hide Pat, so she decided that she would begin there. Traveling to the city was a foreign idea to most Octarians, Amber included. That made Inkopolis the perfect place to hide him. She swore to herself that she would complete her job.
She had been a part of the project since it started, securing a foothold in what she believed could topple the Inklings claim to the land. She had been taught about the Great Turf War since she was able to speak. Learning of what little bit of land the octopi had compared to the squids demanded justice.
Unknown to Amber the Director was watching her leave through a monitor in her office. The Octoling sighed, mulling over her decision to send the Elite out. Amber was one of the best and most fit for her assignments, yet she wanted to initiate the end goal way before they could even poke it with a stick. On top of that, the Elite's insistence of involving the ancient had grown thin: The idea had merit, but it was both a drag on resources and became a liability that the Director was sure would come back to them. After some consideration she sent Amber out as a way to kill two birds with one stone.
The Director walked out of her office. Her personal guards flanked her as she made her way to the lower levels. One thing they did learn from the experience earlier was that now they had to hurry this project before the Inklings did something to ruin everything.
She passed a paper to one of the overseers that walked out of the evaluator. "I trust you came make these happen in due time, correct?"
"Yes ma'am." The Twintacle replied. "The second wave of prototypes are already nearly finished, and I believe the lines are nearly complete."
"Good, I want to see the progress myself." She replied. "Spread this word to the others."
The elevator closed taking the Director and her escorts down to the floors below. The project had been running smoothly, and will continue to as long as she was concerned.
I * I * I * I
The Inklings and human sat on a bench talking. The cousins had changed to more casual clothes that still hid who they were. They had also found a Bobble Hat lying around to attempt hiding his hair and eyes. Callie and Marie explained to Pat and Loorea their situation of being both agents and pop stars. Pat had gotten over his shock of seeing them on the television. The conversation was reaching its end when Callie decided that they had to find a place for Patton and Loorea to stay.
"Are you sure certain you could get away with storing me somewhere? I'd hate to be a burden on any of you." He asked fully knowing that other options were hard to come by with his predicament.
"Don't worry, there's this small place down the street that's out of the way that is fairly good for the price. Marie and I rented a place there until she made us get kicked out." Callie assured him.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. People just don't understand how to hold a civil conversation." The singer retorted.
"I think you'll be fine there. Kathleen, Loorea and I will get an apartment, you two can wait here." Callie said, encouraging Loorea to go with her and Kathleen.
"What?" Pat had raised an eyebrow at this proposition. The two still felt slightly uneasy about the other. Marie had improved though, shrugging with a look of uninterest. "I have some things I want to know still anyway."
"I want the both of you alive and in one piece when we come back." Callie chimed. The three of them walked to a small apartment building down the road leaving Patton and Marie on the bench. They both watched them leave, with Pat one of them could have traded places with the other.
"Relax, I'm not gonna bite. Meat past the expiration date is not with worth anything." The Squid Sister winked. "But I still don't understand you."
"What more do you want?" Patton asked. He had no idea where this was going. He had given up trying to wear the hat comfortably and just let it slide down across his face.
"You risked your life to help that girl you had just meet. She sticks to you like she's known you for a limited long time, but we know that isn't the case." Marie laid out her observations.
Patton considered this. "I mean, I helped her out, and now she feels like she indebted to me for some reason."
"No, I mean why did you help her, you two haven't known each other for a full day yet." She paused. "Unless you two were busy in that dome."
"Excuse me?"
"Oh, nothing." She taunted. "I didn't stop to think if your kind had stories of a stranger and a girl, just so happy to ac-."
"Don't finish that." Pat cut her off.
Marie relented, going back to the point she was making. "You'll be fine, I'll be easier to get her into things here, but a human appearing..."
"Things could burn over." Pat finished for her. He shuddered at the thought of being found.
"Yes, but we could learn so much." Marie assured him.
Pat sighed, trying to think of how exactly he wanted to say this statement without a talk of their old war. "It's strange how both of the main races here want to be friends with a dead man walking, but you can't get along with one another."
"You know how history complicates that, and we can't trust that they won't backstab us."
"My county did it fine with the Japanese after the Second World War." He muttered before changing the subject. "I still don't get how you deal with your extreme double lives. It sounds like it would work fine for fictional characters, but for stars?"
"It's not that bad as it was. Months ago before Kathleen was designated Agent 3, we did all the work while trying to manage our schedule. Then we realized that rerunning some of our clips worked well, no one had noticed yet." Marie replied. "Looks like they're done." Indicating to a head beckoning them that belonged to the other cousin.
"Grand, I thought the latest ones at the shopping centers were a wait." Pat looked over, expecting some response. "No?"
"I get it, just not something we make jokes about here." She responded.
Pat sighed. "Figures all my material is outdated."
They quickly made their way over to the building. They Inkling behind the desk was too busy flipping through a magazine to notice the human quickly move in and up the stairs. The room they had selected was the average sized room for the building. Pat took note of the windows in their room that lead straight to the roof of the next building over. The place had recently been cleaned the day before. By Inkling standards, it was small, but Pat and Loorea were fine with what the place had.
"Sorry, but this apartment was not really meant to have a lot of room." Kathleen stated.
"Oh, this is fine by its own right." Pat assured her as he inspected the place. He looked around as he dropped his bags and canteen next to a sofa. "I've heard stories of worse."
"This should be a good place for you to hang low until we figure out what to do next. It's self contained living, so you shouldn't worry about staff poking around unless you bother the neighbors." Callie paused.
Pat shrugged. "What is there to do? I'm stuck hanging low or completely removing myself from all that lives." He sat down next to bags. "How hard would it be to take me back?" He pondered.
"We can't do that. We have no idea what they're doing. For all we know the Octarians could of taken all that was in your cave." Marie pointed out. Pat considered this in his I internal debate.
"We can decide what to do later, here's our number if something dire happens." Callie gave a slip of paper to Loorea.
"Where are you going?" Loorea asked.
"Just going on with our lives. Besides, it's getting late." Marie answered. It was indeed getting latter. "We hate to go, but some fans get really inquisitive when you let your guard down." With that, Marie and Kathleen walked out while Callie did stay back lolling enough to give a "Stay Fresh!" before leaving.
Pat and Loorea stayed in the apartment for awhile. They had nothing on them, save for Patton's bags, so unpacking was an unnecessary thing to do. Loorea sat down next to Pat on the couch. They sat in awkward silence for awhile.
"I rode out the end just so I can be thrown through this." He pondered. "Was it worth it?"
Outside Callie, Marie, and Kathleen made their way down the street. Kathleen looked at the duo who gave her a reassuring smile. They went down silently toward the square until they broke off to go their own ways. Kathleen went back to where she had her apartment in the city while Callie went to the Octo Valley grate to update their grandfather in the situation. Marie made her way they the studio, not bothering to head to their apartment that night. There were things she had to do there to get ready for the next day.
I * I * I * I
Time had passed and Pat was lying down on the sofa in the apartment. He gave the bedroom to Loorea knowing he could do the couch just fine. He sat there pondering what he was to do now. The deal with this whole project ordeal was much for him to take in. His thoughts lead him to do something he never gave into willingly.
He slept.