Dual Fates
A Splatoon Fanfic
By The Impartial Hand
Chapter 7: When all Shell's breaking loose...
Last Chapter TL;DR: Octavio was pissed at 07-34 for failing too many times, so in a bid to regain his master's favour, he attacked 07-35 and Green while the others were away. He won, killing 07-35 and capturing Green, but the combined efforts of Vermillion and Naranja were able to achieve the impossible and restore 07-35 to life.
The Octarian Main Base, the following morning
Like the day before, 07-34 stood in the Intel room of the Octarian headquarters, and like the day before, the feelings he had were vastly different from before.
"07-34. You came before me yesterday inexperienced and full of bravado. Today, you stand before me redeemed. For capturing an agent, and silencing a data leak... Well done. You have more than made up for your previous failures; you have succeeded where Operative Evergreen Failed, and for that, You will be rewarded. No small reward, either; you shall be taking Evergreen's place in command of one of my warships. Go now, prepare. The hour of our long-awaited invasion will soon be upon us."
"Lord Octavio... Thank you for this honour, and thank you even further for allowing me the opportunity to redeem myself. I swear to you, my Lord, my days of failure are long behind me."
07-34 strode confidently out of the room, heading off to interrogate the prisoner once more. Sure, the prisoner had yet to yield anything they did not already know, but 07-34 still had a dozen more methods, intending to pay this Inkling back in spades for what the other agent had done.
Green looked up weakly at the sound of the door to his cell opening. despite all logic, he had hoped to see a friendly face, but was instead met by the cold gaze of 07-34.
"What... do you want? I'm not... going to talk to you, bastard..."
"Perhaps you won't, but frankly, I don't care. Do you even begin to realize just how satisfying beating you is? After all the setbacks you have given us? After the setbacks you've given ME? The only thing more gratifying to me, more than beating you, was killing 07-35; unfortunately, I can only do that once, so beating you some more will have to suffice."
"You should just... kill me, while you still have the chance... Because if I get out of here... you're gonna regret it."
"Oh, please. You're in the middle of our most fortified facility, in the deepest, most heavily guarded part of our territory. How on earth would you EVER escape?
"I have... my way-"
"Oh, please. You have nothing. You have no backup, WE have your leader, and now that 07-35 is dead, you have no intel, either. You lose. Give up."
07-34 punctuated this point by throwing a punch, hitting Green squarely in the jaw. Green said nothing. 07-34 hit him again. Green calmly let a tooth fall out of his mouth, but still said nothing.
"Pah. You take the fun out of this. Oh well, we have many more methods to try. And after that, if you still won't talk... We'll just starve the information out of you."
07-34 left the room, informing the guards to withhold Green's rations until he yielded. With that, he left the facility, the sounds of numerous implements of torture fading as he walked away, heading for the shipyards; he had a new flagship to inspect.
Vermillion's Summer Home, 2 hours later.
While 07-35's condition had stabilized overnight, she still had yet to wake up. Not that the rest of the group had noticed, as they had been running themselves ragged on lookout duty. None of them knew how 07-35 had been found, and so they had been on edge all night, worried about an attack that never came. Vermillion, however, was the one hit the hardest; he blamed himself.
"Vermillion, dude, there was nothing-"
"There was plenty I could have done, Morado! I'm such an IDIOT! I should've known only one person wouldn't be enough, least of all just Green! I should've had someone else stay here with them! It was just OctoNozzle, we could've beaten it with two agents! And now, 07-35 almost died- you know what, I don't need to sugar-coat it with you- She Died, Morado, and Green's gone, and it's MY. FUCKING. FAULT. Here I am, running around pretending I can protect the damn planet and I can't even protect two fucking people!? I-"
Naranja cut him off, stepping out from the corner. "You got her back, Vermillion. Even if you insist you failed, you got her back. And we'll get Green back, too. He's too valuable to them alive, they wouldn't kill him."
"But-"
"Enough of you blaming yourself. It's not helping anyone. Right now, they need leadership. You're the best the have. If you insist you've failed Green and the Octoling, then you need to not fail them as well."
"Naranja, dude, telling him to get a hold of himself isn't-"
"No... No, he's right. Blaming myself doesn't help us right now, regardless of whether or not I'm right. We... we need a plan. Morado- go check on 07-35. Naranja- I need you to get something from a contact of mine. Rosegold Cyan. Tell her it's for the Megalodon contract, she'll know what that means."
The other two Inklings nodded, leaving the room while Vermillion racked his brain, trying to come up with a plan.
Meanwhile, outside the room, Cobalt, Persimmon, Callie, and Marie were watching their prisoner-turned-ally, unsure of what else to do now that they had determined no attack was yet to come. Each of them was barely holding back a different swirl of emotions, trying to come to terms with the fact that Green had been captured, and possibly killed. It had been so long since they had such a tangible, real loss- and what did they have to show for it? A half-dead Octoling?
Vermillion's Summer Home, That Evening.
"What... did you say that thing is, again?" 07-35 was currently looking at... well, she wasn't sure what exactly it was. It was round, and about the same size as a kettle, but instead of a grate, it had a central reservoir of ink.
"This, my friend, is the key to our time issues. We don't have the time to properly train you... so we're going to cheat. This here is a first-generation respawn pad. They used to need eight of these puppies for a single match of turf war; but by god, they work. The ink in there is a special blend, patches the body right up when you're in there. So, the plan, then, is for me to- and I tried to think of a way to put this lightly- for me to beat the crap out of you until you can at least partially fend me off. Every time you hit your limit, you'll use this-" he slapped the respawn pad "-To get right back at it."
"That's... Er... Certainly a way of training, yes."
"It's the only way we've got right now. Who knows what Octavio's up to if he's sending operatives all the way out here."
"While that may be true, you'll have to pardon my... apprehensiveness towards this particular method of training."
Vermillion shook his head. "Apprehensive or not, it's all we have. You ready?"
07-35 looked at him, still a little nervous "..I gue-" and she was cut off as he punched her in the face, getting right into what would quite possibly be the most gruelling day of training in her life.
Meanwhile, The Octarian Main Base
"Lock every door. Close every vent. Once a room has been cleared of supplies, ensure not even a rat will be able to get into it. DO NOT fall behind. We will NOT be double checking rooms, if you get locked in and starve, that's on you."
The Octarian base was swarming with activity, with everything not nailed down being transported onto Octarian airships. Several of the smaller ships were already in the air, ready to take off, while four airships of a different design were already halfway to Inkopolis, waiting to advance with their... "special" payloads. Finally, front and centre, was Octavio's flagship, The Immortal, flanked by The Vampire and a third ship which, unfortunately, would not be able to join in on the invasion; some mechanical failures had delayed the ship's construction too long.
Inkopolis. 8 am.
The day had just begun, for many, when those in Inkopolis plaza would find a shadow had blotted out the sun. Many Inklings, worried about rain ruining the day's Turf War rotation, turned to check the skies, only to be greeted not be clouds, but airships. Confused, many of them just stood there, staring, while others began calling others to see if their friends saw what they did. Unfortunately, the very few that called the police would be met with a dead line; and as they closed their phones in confusion, massive cargo bay doors in the airships would open, and their payloads would drop- the four great Octoweapons were now falling into the city, and as many other airships began to appear over the horizon, the attack had begun.
Vermillion's Summer Home. 8:05 am.
Morado's phone woke him with a jolt. He checked the number- Carmine. He hated to leave her out of the loop, but he couldn't tell her, either- he was just about to silence the call when Vermillion entered the room, a look of panic on his face. If even Vermillion was panicking- He picked up the phone.
"Morado!? Morado, it's- It's chaos here! There's robots falling from the sky, not to mention Octolings- I don't know what to do! The safe house is gone, it's- it's gone! I-"
Morado's eyes widened, his brain going on autopilot-
"Carmine? Carmine, you've gotta- I know it sound ridiculous, but you have to calm down. Get out of Inkopolis. Get out of Inkopolis, and get as far away as you can, alright? I'll- I'll call you when it's safe. Don't come back unless I call you, okay? Promise me!"
Carmine started to respond when the line went dead. His service was fine, meaning the Octarians had to have taken out the towers in Inkopolis. Vermillio had already left the room, waking the others- by the time he came back, Morado had already gotten in his car, speeding off to Inkopolis alone. He knew where Naranja would be waiting to meet up, and from their, they would make sure Carmine was safe.
Some five minutes after Morado drove off, the rest of the agents were speeding along, racing towards Inkopolis and the Octarian invasion as fast as they dared push their cars; Vermillion, 07-35 and Cobalt in one car, while Callie, Marie, and Persimmon took the other. The drive was tense, quiet, the three agents in one car merely checking their gear in silence, while in the other, Vermillion had one last chat with 07-35.
"...You're gonna need something quick. 07-35 takes too long to say, and since you're not an agent, we can't just use that."
"...Violet. Call-sign Violet. That work?"
"...Isn't that-"
"Yes, it's my call sign from when I was with them. Poetic, no?" She sighed. "I feel like Green will be able to have a good chuckle about that when we rescue him."
"More like confusing. Why would you want to use the call-sign they gave you to fight against-"
"...Maybe that is a little poetic."
Author's note: I live
