The first thing I did when I woke up was open the curtains and look outside. It was the middle of the night. I groaned into my palm. Guess this was my life now. Condemned to an eternity of a horrible sleep schedule.
But, there were more pressing matters. Everything that had happened recently—Annie, and now that Turf War bout from earlier—there had to be something behind it. I'd never looked into my past before. I'd never wanted to. There was never a way to do it without putting myself in the open, anyway. But now…
I reached down to my nightstand and opened it. Inside was the assortment of everything I owned. Which amounted to practically nothing.
The first thing in there was the box of Mem Cakes. They… technically let me remember things? But they weren't anything concrete, only phrases and feelings I couldn't easily describe. Octarians. Marina. A bunch of Salmonids, for some reason. All too abstract, like a shadow without anything casting it.
I pushed the box aside and found what I was looking for: the "communicator" that Cuttlefish had given me. I wiped the dust off of it. The thing was pretty much a phone but with only the texting and occasional call. But unlike those weird, squid-shaped phones up here, this one was a regular rectangle.
"Okay, how does this work…" I whispered to myself. I hit the power button on the side, and it immediately asked for a scan of a suction cup. Exactly what I expected—no two are alike unless they're on the same head. Wait, when did he get a scan of my…?
I held it up to my head, and the screen gave off a dim flash and unlocked. It even looked like regular texting. I typed something up, then stopped. My finger hovered over the send button.
Was I seriously using this? I had cut ties with the NSS long ago and never thought about contacting them again until... Not technically yesterday.
I grit my teeth and sent it.
8
Hey Captain, do you know anything about me from before Deepsea? Like at all?
And not five seconds later…
4
Whoa hold up since when were there eight of us
Many, many Octarian curses were running through my mind. Who was this? Agent 4? Now the rest of the NSS knew?
Before I could bash my head against the wall, the thing started ringing. A huge "C" flashed in the screen's center.
I didn't even do anything, but it went through anyway. A call, or whatever the equivalent was for this thing.
"Agent 8!"
"Wai—" Was that him? "Captain?"
"Don't worry, bucko, Agent 3 already… uh…" There was mumbling on the other end. "Deleted it. Is that the word? And Agent 4 won't blab to anyone. Probably."
"Probably," I murmured back to him. I pushed aside the nagging fear of Agent 4 knowing exactly what I didn't want anyone to know. But at least it was just one more, and not the rest, too.
"What makes ye ask, Agent 8? Deca Tower got ye?"
"I…" The heck did that mean? "I guess?"
He laughed. "Out-ink the rest of them, I see. And by a whole bunch. Heh, I knew ye'd ask someday, Agent 8."
I thought it odd that he'd kept the nickname. I didn't go by "Agent 8" anymore. But stopping him seemed like more effort than it was worth.
"Sorry, I don't know a lick," he said. "But… if ye were a soldier, there'd be records of you on every underground base out there. Those Octarians aren't very wishy-washy with their intel."
"Where would those be?"
"Hm." He stopped, and I turned to lean on the bed. "Closest one to here's the Lab, but we squeezed it dry long ago. Another in Seadragon Wood, but that ship sank last night!" He laughed again. "Sorry, bucko."
I squinted at nothing in particular. "Could I… Could I come see you?"
The building Annie lived in was pretty close to the center of the city. Deca Tower was in view less than a dozen blocks away.
I was here for one thing: the flash drive. But the problem was that it wasn't my flash drive. It was Annie's.
…Nope, still nothing new to remember.
I tried the handle to the front door, and it was locked. Go figure.
My other options. Call her? But I didn't have her number just yet. Break in?
Now that was more like it.
Annie's apartment was on the fourth floor. Not too high up, considering other things I'd had to climb.
The neighboring building was shorter, its roof at about the height I needed. A staircase ran along its side but didn't quite reach ground level. I jumped up onto a dumpster, keeping it as soundless as possible, then hooked my hand onto the bottom stair and pulled myself up.
I couldn't see as many stars as I climbed the staircase… for some reason. But I wasn't concerned. They'd be back. They always came back. At the top, the moon came into view. It was a bit larger than it was the day before, almost imperceptibly so.
The window into the hallway was ajar and could easily fit me, but there was quite the distance between myself and it. I'd have to jump, but it was nothing I couldn't make.
I backed up, ran, and flew off the side. Barely slipping through the window, I dove inside and landed. I smirked as I stood up.
412, 414, 416. Aha, there. 418. I knocked on the door. "Annie?" I called. "Sorry for leaving like that earlier, I just didn't want those guys to start asking questions."
She opened the door, wearing the same thing that she wore earlier during the Turf War. In her other hand was a cup of purified water. "How did you—" She shook her head. "Actually, no, I'm not going to ask. Bearing witness is a hassle."
I started to laugh but quickly shut myself up.
"I don't blame you for bailing," Annie continued. "I kinda escaped from them right behind you for the same reason." She grinned. "Guess we both have our secrets. You're here for something, right?" She asked. "Nobody comes here at this unholy hour unless they're asking for something."
"Yeah," I said. "Can I borrow that flash drive? I'll try to see if I can find more on it."
She reached into her back pocket with her other hand. "Here," she said, tossing it to me. "Keep it. I already copied it all to my computer anyway. But if you find anything, I get to see it, too."
"Yeah, yeah." I swiped it and turned to go. "Thanks, and see you."
She shut the door as I left. I checked my surroundings again—coast was clear. Same situation out the window. I jumped out.
That… felt foreign. What a character, this Annie was, to get me to laugh. I rubbed my eyes with my palms. Annie, Annie, Annie. Who was this girl?
I pushed the thought aside, I'd been there before, and it didn't take me anywhere. I stuffed the drive in the pocket and aimed for the nearest jump point to Cuttlefish's house. Which just so happened to be Inkopolis Plaza.
There was once a perfectly round basin in the middle of Inkopolis Plaza. Apparently, it was the result of one of Octavio's schemes. And the one in question was to steal a piece of the road.
This incident was what sparked the move to Inkopolis Square.
As for the missing piece of road, it had been returned to its place. Taken back after Akash Octrope's defeat above Sharktown. This reparation, however, did nothing to bring any foot traffic back to the plaza, especially at this time at night. All of it was in the square, now.
The walk to Cuttlefish's house was uneventful. I couldn't even see most of the sky—too many buildings and trees got in the way. And when I arrived, I noticed the house was… very bland. Which I should have expected, given his position. I compared the address with the one he sent me and yes, it was the right place. If things were as he said, he'd just gotten home. I rang the doorbell.
The doorbell. I hadn't touched one since waking up in Deepsea yet still knew what that thing by the door handle was. I must've seen one before, then. If I were lucky, this flash drive would tell me where. No, actually, I wasn't after anything that specific.
The door opened, and Cuttlefish squinted at me in the darkness. He really liked that tracksuit, huh?
"Ahoy, Agent 8! Come in!" he yelled. "What was it ye needed to show me?"
"This." I, not coming in, extracted the flash drive from my pocket. "Got it from the tunnel that sank the forest yesterday. Half of the stuff in here's encrypted, though."
He pressed his glasses closer to his eyes and peered at the object as if I were trying to pawn it off. "I don't have anything this can attach to, bucko."
"Y— you don't." I closed my hand. "Do you know someone who does?"
"Ah… Maybe. Come back tomorrow. I'll tell ye what we find." And with that, he took it from me and shut the door.
Literally five seconds later, the communicator started vibrating.
C
do you still have that computer thingy those flashy things go in
Well, at least he was getting faster at typing.
I pivoted and hit the doorbell again. "Don't tell them where you got it," I said. "Except for maybe Agent 3, I think he's fine. Also, about Agent 4—"
"Don't worry," he interrupted, opening the door again. "Agents 1 and 2 were busy. Only Agent 4 saw that before Agent 3 deleted it. And then I told her not to peep."
Her. So Agent 4 was a girl, too. "Alright. Thanks again." I turned around again as the door shut. The communicator went off again, but I ignored it. I could check the rest when I got back.
I sighed. Well, the weather was nice, at least. Walking the whole way back wouldn't hurt. I shuffled on the sidewalk, giving the dead silent suburbs some sound. These places at night were creepier than they should have been. The sporadic lights, the houses spaced seemingly randomly. And there was nobody around.
A bit more, then downtown appeared. Here, a few stray cars drove through. Occasional suspicious individuals, just like me. More lights, but they were a bit hit-or-miss in coverage.
I rounded a corner, then heard the sound of gunfire.
Writing Cuttlefish dialogue is kinda hard hehe