I stopped my march to wherever and listened again.
The sound continued—the unmistakable firing of a gun. It was coming from the alley to my left. Yeah, because of course it was an alley.
I sidestepped to the wall and pressed my back against it. I wasn't about to just walk by. I snuck to the corner and peeked around. Another Octoling was there, cornered behind a trash can. He was taller than I was, older, and had a weird… thing going on with his hair. He looked like he could usually hold his own, but he was caught outnumbered and unarmed.
Two hooded figures stood above him, and they weren't the police. They were both pointing Octo Shots at him—not replicas.
"You. Come with us," said one of them. It was a feminine voice. Something about it was off, though. It was monotonous, almost robotic. Even more alarming was that I'd heard a voice exactly like it before. That wasn't an Inkling. Those were the Sanitized from Deepsea.
I'd dealt with these things before, and I wasn't afraid to do it again.
"Hey," I said, stepping out into the open. I turned to them, and the moon behind me cast a shadow on the ground. "10,008 was the last one. I won't allow any exceptions."
I had to stop myself from breaking into a grin. As much as I hated to admit it, I was kind of… fangirling over myself.
As they opened fire at me, I swerved to the side behind another overturned garbage can. The moon shone on their faces, the weird shade of green in clear view. As if I needed another confirmation.
I wasn't dealing with free will, so they were both either pre-programmed or being directly commanded from somewhere.
They both took a different side of the trash can, so I jumped on top of it, barely dodging their bullets of what I hoped was ink.
From the top of the garbage can, I jumped off the other side and kicked it into one of them, putting her between it and the wall. I turned to face the other, who had opened fire off to my side.
I dove for the other and drove her to the ground. I got up, pressing my knee on her chest, and wrenched the Octo Shot from her hand. But I couldn't use it just yet—the lack of an ink tank made that impossible.
With it safely in my hand, I kicked her again in the side and stood up to see her ally running towards me. I lifted the Octo Shot to ram it into her, but then the man they were attacking before charged in and tackled her.
Right after, I left the one I was on, and when I reached the other, I kicked her weapon away, sending it tumbling out into the street.
From behind, the first one struggled to stand up and ran towards me, but then the man just got in front of her and stopped her in her tracks.
This dude was like a wall. He was a lot stronger than he looked. And he already looked above average.
He grabbed her arm and whirled her around, tossing her next to her ally, and I ran out to the street to grab the other weapon before they could get up. Now they were the ones unarmed.
Both of them backed away in the exact same manner at the exact same time. One hissed, and both ran out into the sidewalk, put their hoods back on, and completely ignored me as they super jumped away from the city. Neither I nor the other guy said anything. Only the breeze's quiet whistle made a sound.
I hobbled over to the sidewalk and dropped the weapons as my arms grew weak and my knees buckled. Not from exhaustion—I wasn't tired at all, and the fight was pretty easy. My problem was something else: the Sanitized were coming to the surface.
"A… Are you good?" said the unnaturally buff guy.
"It's nothing," I said. I forced myself to kneel and took the weapons in my hands again. "It should be me asking that question." I avoided eye contact.
"Just peachy. I almost got mugged in an alley." He had an accent I hadn't heard before. Or had I? "Thanks for helpin' me back there. Name's Jacob."
"Sky." I examined the weapons. They both had the signatures of non-replicas: their handles were slightly thinner and the nozzle was larger.
"Sky?"
"Huh?" I turned to look at him. "Yeah, Sky. That's my name. Anyway." I lifted one of the weapons up in the moonlight. "Halfway through it turned to you helping me," I remarked.
"Nothin' big." He pulled me to my feet like I weighed nothing. "I was just walking then out of nowhere, those creepy girls with the blue skin jumped me!" He held up his hands like they were claws. "I could've beat their faces in, but I didn't have a gun to shoot at 'em!"
"Been there before," I said, turning to Inkopolis Square. "C'mon, we'll talk." And by that, I meant I'd listen while he talked. Because it seemed like he'd spill his heart out. I had to know more about the Sanitized, and… I guess, so did the NSS. I took the lead and kept my ears open while he followed behind me. "So do you know why they attacked you?"
"Nah, they came outta nowhere."
I handed him one of the Octo Shots without turning around. "Keep this. If that's the case, you can use it against them. Just make sure to change the ink color.
He took the gun and test fired it to his right. "Cool. Thanks. Now what was all that you said about 10,008?"
I changed the subject. "On second thought, maybe we shouldn't go to Inkopolis Square with these things," I said, meaning the weapons. I mentally rerouted to my apartment building. "Have somewhere to go?"
"Pfft, nah," he said, as if living somewhere was a joke to him. "I just got here a few days back. Looking for someone, actually."
He definitely noticed that change in topic, but I hoped he took the hint and wouldn't press it further. "Who was it you needed to find?"
"Relative of mine. We got split up in that Sharktown stuff, but I gotta feeling here's where I need to look."
"And you're homeless unless you find this relative."
"You got it."
I came to a corner. One turn left, and I'd be right on track to my apartment. "I'm going to regret this," I said to myself.
"What was that?"
"Do you want to stay with me, then?" Why, oh, why did you say that, Sky…
"Uh— Oh, no, no, I don't wanna do that to ya. I don't even have a job or anything."
"You can shoot a gun, right?" Of course he could. The Sanitized wouldn't have come after him if he couldn't. "There's this huge sport here, not sure if you've heard of it, but it pays really well. More so if you're good."
He went off on his own tangent—which I assume boiled down to him saying he could shoot—but I was busy trying to convince myself that I only really had a use for a small part of that apartment. There was a lot more space than I needed, and there was no harm in helping out a fellow Octoling. He seemed like a decent guy, anyway.
… I'd still have to lock my door.
"Well, we're here," I said. I opened the door to my apartment building with the card to my room and held the door open for Jacob.
"You're sure about this?" He looked uncomfortable. As any sane person would be.
"Yeah," I said. "Go ahead."
The moment I let him into my apartment, Jacob beelined to the couch and collapsed onto it. Didn't even wish me good night.
At least he didn't snore.
Taking a breath, I went back outside. I considered going right to Cuttlefish to report on the Sanitized but decided against it right then. With the drive in his hands, the other NSS members were likely there too, and I still couldn't work the communicator, anyway.
I leaned against the outside of my door, lost on what to do. I slid to the ground. It hadn't really sunk in yet, but I'd just let some random homeless guy live with me.
Though maybe "homeless" was exaggerating a bit. He was looking for someone he knew.
In either case, I would never just let someone in… typically. But there was something about the guy that told me he was trustworthy.
Down the hallway, the elevator dinged and slid open. Who the heck, at this hour…?
I stood up, and out walked Annie, wearing the exact same thing and holding the exact same cup. "Hey," she said. "Found anything yet?"
What a sight this was. She wasn't supposed to be here. But to be honest, I wasn't really surprised. "No." I shook my head and squinted at her as she walked over to me. "How did you get i— Actually, no. I'm not gonna ask. Bearing witness is a hassle… apparently."
And then, Annie laughed.
I blinked at her. That sound. It wasn't familiar. Unlike everything else she'd done, this… this was new. "I'll hopefully have something by tomorrow," I said, confused yet content all the same. "Did you follow me here?" I asked, "I haven't told you where I live."
"Kinda?" She said. "I was heading to the square when I found you just walking. I kind of tailed you for the last few blocks. Sorry… uh."
So she hadn't seen me with Cuttlefish. Good.
"I couldn't see well, it was pretty dark." She grinned at me. "Who was that guy with you? Boyfriend, or something?"
"No," I said flatly. "Just a neighbor." I didn't feel even the slightest bit attracted to him. Not that I knew what that was like. "Where'd you get that idea?"
"Right…" She winked. "Just jokin'. You up for another battle? Your 'NightFall' works a lot better now that… you know."
"Sure," I said, shrugging. "Go on ahead. I'll catch up." I turned to face the door.
"Make sure to bring your boy—"
"Annie, please—"
I stopped myself. This wasn't worth the effort. "I'll meet you there," Annie said, smiling warmly at me.