The shorter tentacled Squid sister got up, seeing that it was now about noon for the day. Rubbing her eyes, she began to grumble to herself. "I need to stop basing my life off my contest themes." She took a deep breath in. "Or is it the other way around?
She got up, blinking as she threw the sheets off of her. She stumbled over to the mirror, throwing a mild look of indifference at her reflection. "Hello fabulous."
Marie went off to do her morning routine of applying makeup, picking her outfit that she'd wear offset, and silently appreciating the fact that Callie learned to tie up her tentacles without help several years ago. During this, the thoughts of Pat, Loorea, and this current situation crept back to remind her of why she didn't get as much sleep last night.
The Squid Sister walked to her phone's place on the headboard, picking it up to check on what was new. She was first alerted to a text, out of all things. She looked down at the device, reading the response that Kat had given her a few hours ago.
Any smile that might have been on her face was now given no chance to what she had just read. "That little..." She turned, walking to the door as she punched in the numbers of her two fellow agents.
An hour later, the three squids meet up at a corner, eyeing a building. Callie gave a glance to her fellow two agents, letting out a sigh. "Are we ready?"
"Yeah, I outta slap him." The second said, shuffling with her charger. The Inkling then moved her hand to shift her mask. "These few days have been just so wonderful."
"I'm ready 1." Kathleen held her Hero Shot with a heavy grip. "Should we go in now?"
"The Professor said that this Octoling wasn't too violent, but didn't seem interested in being a friend." Marie said. "I say we should give the place a good look around first.
"Come on, this isn't going to be happening by itself." Agent 1 walked to the door, roller casually slung over her shoulder. The two followed her, bracing themselves for who would answer.
There was something heard from the other side, sounding startled as it made it's way to the door. The three backed up, tightening their grips on their gear by pure instinct. "Who's there?" Kathleen asked, trying not to draw too much attention, fully knowing that this was midday where anyone could see them if the worse happened.
"Kathleen Inka, you're just like your father." The Professor opened the door. "Please ladies, come in." Allowing their entry, he stepped back.
"How is he?" Callie asked, leaving her roller at the rack.
"He has recovered rather well." Inko nodded with a pleased look. "He's taken a bit longer to get to what I assume his health normally should be, but he has taken the symptoms better than most."
"Good to hear." Callie followed the others, noticing them stop in the living room, she had to slide her glasses down to make sure her sight was right.
"Yes, I think his kind is a bit more durable, while in trade not as resilient a-" Inko's ramble was cut off by accidentally bumping into the second agent. "...sorry?"
"How are you here?"
"Your kind isn't the only one who obtain a way to respawn someone." Amber said from her seat, looking back at the stunned agents. She looked on edge thanks to the frown she gave, the goggles hiding the shiftiness in her eyes. She was trying her best to look as if she was sitting casually. "Besides, we flew."
"Why are you here then?" Kathleen asked, holding her weapon up. "Don't pretend we don't recognize you."
"It's fine." Pat sighed from where he sat, leaning in his seat. He sipped the mug as he leaned on his other arm. The blueshot was gone from his eyes, and now all that held him back was the lack of sleep. "She helped us."
"Us? Well, where is Loorea?" Marie asked, noticing the Vinkling was absent from the room.
"Um, she's busy in the other room." Inko responded, staying back from the tension flying between the groups.
Kathleen huffed, not pressing down that line of questions any farther. The Elite stood up, pausing when she saw Marie begin to ready her charger, hiding the laser by pressing the tip against the ground. "Easy easy." She gave a triumphant smile, opening up her two holsters. She carefully set her Octoshot down on the center table, sliding it to the middle.
"What are you doing?" Kat inquired as Amber slid her goggles down to hang around her neck.
"Trying to show you that I'm not here to pick fights." Amber simply responded, establishing eye contact with her. "My reasons for doing what I am are straightforward really."
"Like what?" Marie asked, not letting her guard down.
"Working to stop what we are fighting for to still matter, and more."
"That's cryptic and suspicious," Marie said, glaring at the Octo intensely.
"Let her explain." The human frowned, holding his leaning hand to his head.
"Yes, it's a bit hard when I'm being threatened to death." Amber snarked.
Kathleen paused, thinking for a moment before mimicking what she had just done by putting the Hero Shot down. "Fine."
Marie stood her ground. "Letting you talking is a mistake. What kind of Octoling sucker would want to work with us?"
"The kind who's not just playing the short term game!" Amber growled back. "Figures, I'm surprised you've listened this much."
"Oh sorry, in case you didn't get the memo your leader is in a snowglobe thanks to Three here." The Dancer said.
Kathleen crossed her arms. "Sorry, but this hasn't been the best of chats."
Amber frowned. "So that's no?"
Marie raised her charger. "You've threatened our kind and his life, are involved in an organization that is planning another war on Inkopolis, and you expect us to just chat like nothing has happened?"
"Well I don't need you, I could just go to the domes and rally my kind." Amber declared, growing more irritated as this went on. Pat facepalmed at her choice of words.
"That'd be a mistake." The second agent said, taking aim. Inko, Kathleen, Patton, and Callie froze, seeing how this was going south.
"Marie stop." Pat gulped, slightly sweating as he glanced at Amber and then to the way to the hall.
"No no no, if she wants to force me to leave then she should understand that I play all my cards." Amber reached in her second holster, pulling out the Uzi as she aimed the barrel at Patton's head. She bared her beak at Marie, eyes ablaze. "Do it and watch a demonstration on ancient tech."
Patton leaned his head back from the barrel as much as he could, silent and gripping the chair he was on tightly.
Marie kept still, despite the protests that came from Callie. Kathleen was now regretting putting her weapon down, yet she could tell that grabbing it would make things worse. "Do it and you have nothing to bargain with."
"Lose us and everyone dies." Amber responded, fiercely glaring the group down. She felt like she was burning inside, doing her best not to show any weakness or doubt to those before her. "I've thought this exact moment out and you can't afford to lose either of us."
"What makes you think you'll get what you want?"
"My winning ticket." Amber let a smile slide out as one more entered the room. "Her."
Loorea had entered the room, finished cleaning herself off. She eyed the situation, shakily holding the N-ZAP in her hands. Marie dropped her guard for just a moment before refocusing on Amber. "Loorea, it's ok we're just... aggressively negotiating."
"Pick one." Amber grunted. "Do you want both of us to die or not to?"
"There is a better way to work this out." Patton insisted, sitting there frozen.
Loorea took a breath, taking aim at the Octoling. Amber in turn sighed. "Come on, you're better than that. One goes down then..." She let the releasing click of the safety finish the sentence for her.
The Vinkling glanced at Marie, taking a heavy breath. "Can't we-"
"No, we can't." Her voice wavered, suddenly realizing how much she was now on the spot. She looked the Vinkling over, nearly swearing that her eyes were changing.
Loorea felt sick, a familiar feeling coming down on her as she pointed her weapon at Marie. The agents were taken back as she did this, surprised as Amber internally did a sigh of relief.
"Everyone stop." Pat stood up, tire and impatience in his eyes. Amber stepped back, still aiming for his head. "This is stupid, you're both dragging this on for more than it's worth." Patton stepped forward, blocking Marie's shot to Amber. "Why don't we start again?"
Callie and Kathleen held their breaths, watching as Marie glanced at the human, the Octoling Elite behind him and Loorea, who was shaking with an unsettling look growing on her face. She sighed, lowering her weapon and cutting off the charge. "Alright, she can stay... for now."
"Good, now would you give us a moment?" Patton said, grabbing Amber's hand as he practically dragged her into the kitchen. Amber, surprised, grabbed her main weapon from the table as she was pulled away. "The heck was that?" He demanded once they stopped.
"What was what?" Amber asked him, placing the Uzi and Octoshot back where they belonged.
"Holding my life like it's some bargaining chip." Pat's frown deepened. "You go from not shooting me in order to both save me and take a shot at her, to willingly ready to shoot."
"You forget that I'm not just going to put my efforts into bringing you back to waste." She pointed, slightly smiling. "I have more investment in you than you think, remember?"
"So you mean that was just a show?" He asked, slightly gulping.
She sighed, staring at him almost coldly. "I have investment in you."
"Alright." Pat turned to the kitchen, raising his hands. "How about you think and leave the explanations closed to interpretation while we're at it?"
"I get it, gotta be careful with words and all." Amber said softly as they walked back to the room.
Upon entering, Patton looked around and saw that everyone had sat down, Inko nervously being the only exception as he stood in an attempt to appear as the collected host of the party. Marie and Kathleen looked up from the seats on the couch they occupied, both their weapons down yet within arm's reach. Callie sat next to Loorea. The Squid Sister was trying to figure out what was bothering Loorea beyond what had just happened. She did, however, manage to stay silent about the state of her dress.
"It's ok Loorea, you were just trying to do what you thought was right. You don't need to worry."
"But I almost... did-"
"But you didn't shoot at anyone." Callie insisted.
"It's not that..." Loorea mumbled, curling up in her tentacles like a blanket.
"Um." Patton coughed, causing all but Loorea to look up. "So this is where I guess we talk it all out then?"
"Go on." Marie muttered, locking her eyes on Amber.
"Well, this is going to be quite the conversation." Patton sat down. "She knows more."
"Right." Amber stood by where Pat sat. "I'll start off by confirming and debunking several observations you've probably made. "First the obvious, yes our dome has been experimenting and making use of the Salmonids."
"How come you're doing this when your leader forbade it?" Callie asked.
Amber would have shot back in annoyance if she wasn't laughing. "Because that old sneeze, while having a good idea, failed. Besides, not every dome followed him in his attempt or his rule."
"So you're more or less independent." Marie observed. "In taking these fish you want to take our city."
"No, you don't know how the domes work." Amber snorted at her lack of insight. "Each one has their own leader, with loose ties to one another." Her gaze darkened. "But no, apparently that was never the plan."
"Apparently they want to take the fish and enhance... train them to take over and screw us all over." Patton said.
"No one wins then." Marie glared at Amber. "Both our of kinds go."
"Exactly why my stance has shifted genius." Amber rolled her eyes.
"Can we not?" Callie asked. "Pat and Marie's lines are bad enough."
"Right anyway there was this map that was shown to me. She saw it to." Pat pointed his thumb to Amber. "They want to move a select few over to there once this place is..."
"Ruined, forgotten, the stomping ground of the Salmonids." Amber finished for him. "And if we want to keep this going then we need to take my dome down."
"So we take the Zapfish and watch it all go to ruin." Kathleen responded, almost indifferent. "This is another simple job."
"Not so simple." Inko spoke up, walking to the kitchen. "There is a way past that now."
Amber looked up at him annoyed. "What do you know?"
"I just so happen to have a client who was curious to this particular thing." Inko came back with the golden egg he had been inspecting for the past few days.
"That looks like the one I showed to G-our leader." Callie and Marie shared a look.
"You got that how?" Amber asked him quickly.
"A client contacted me, wanting to know what I could find out about this." He said, smiling. "This could solve everything that's not working with our kinds."
"It would take far much more than one single egg though." Amber responded.
"What do you mean?" Patton asked the two of them, cutting this exchange short."
"These eggs are power, the exact power that we fight over."