Chapter 13

Sarah's POV

"Marie, are you okay!?" I was panicking.

"I'm fine," She responded. "But they've got me pinned. I just need to figure out whe-"

She was cut off by more charger shots and Cass laughing like an idiot.

"I gotta get to her!" I said.

"Aren't you still recovering though?" Sheldon worriedly asked.

"Y-yeah, my nose still stings a little, my muscles are a bit tense, and my gut still hurts, but I can't sit here and to nothing!" I told him.

He took a moment to think about it.

"You'll need a weapon." He stated.

Sheldon grabbed a Herobrush and set it in the enhancithingy.

"I'll send it your way when it's ready." He told me. "For now, you'll have to make use of the Hero Shot."

I nodded, grabbed my agent uniform and headset from the cabin, and headed toward the kettle.

I got to the other side and followed the ink trails Marie made. I could see Marie hiding behind a wall with Cass and a couple of Octolings firing at her. I knew just what to use…

I pulled out the Tenta Missles. They never saw it coming. Well, of course the only one to notice was Cass, who swam away like a coward.

"Agent 4?" Marie was surprised. "I appreciate the assistance, but what are you doing here? You're still recovering."

"I couldn't just do nothing." I told her. "And it looked like you needed help."

Marie nodded in agreement, but then motioned me to get down. We both took cover as more charger shots were flying our way. It was that Octarian that splatted Otis. I couldn't tell where the shots were coming from since every time I looked around the corner, another blast was sent my way.

"Okay Marie, what's the plan?" I asked.

She took a pause, clearly trying to think of one.

"You have a plan, right?" I needed to know.

She then looked at me.

"Cass still has 4.5 in a bottle." Marie told me. "I'll provide cover fire, you go after Cass."

I nodded in agreement. She inked a trail on one side; I inked a trail on the other. She then motioned me to switch sides with her. I went through her ink trail as she fired in the direction the shots were coming from. A few enemy charger shots went in my direction, but I got away just in time. Now where was that sea-witch? If it was anything like last time, I should probably check near the Mini Zapfish.

After a short while, there was only one Mini Zapfish to go. As I got closer, it didn't take long for Cass to jump out and start shooting at me. I took cover.

"You left Marie to fight Sharp all by herself?" Cass taunted. "I thought you cared about her."

"So far, Agent 2 is one of the best charger users I've ever seen." I yelled back.

"Marie's one of the best," she admitted. "But Sharp IS the best."

I was pretty sure she was just trying to get to me, so I ignored that comment.

"Give Otis back!" I told her.

"Not until he tells us what you agents have done with the Octobosses." She replied.

"We didn't do anything!" I yelled. "Now give him back!"

"I really hate liars, you know." The hypocrite said. "And that lie was almost as pathetic as you are."

I started firing back, but she was dodging my shots. Suddenly, a sharp pain hit my stomach. Not now. This is the worst time. I could tell she noticed and used the opportunity to run up and smack me in the face with her Dualie. Before I knew it, I was on the ground, her foot pinned me down.

"Oh Cod, you're such a pathetic runt!" She taunted me. "I could tell after our first encounter that you're a weak, incompetent runt who needs your sibling to bail you out of trouble!"

I just shot her the best look of defiance I could muster while struggling to get up.

"Let me tell you how this is gonna go." She started. "You and your brother will be coming with me, I'll hand you two over to Octavio, and he'll be so amazed by me, that he'll give me everything I deserve."

"Now," She pulled out an empty bottle and pointed a Duelie at my head. "Any last words?"

I then saw something flying behind her.

"Yeah, Herobrush!" I grinned.

Suddenly Cass got smacked in the back of the head by one of Sheldon's drones carrying a weapon case. As she fell over, I jumped back up as a Herobrush landed in my hands. Cass got back up and started firing, but her shots were easy to dodge. She tried swimming away, but I was faster running on a brush than she was at swimming. I swerved in front of her and cut her off. She jumped up and aimed her Dualies, but I smacked her with my brush, sending her flying right into the Zapfish container. The force of her impact broke the glass. Then, there she was, on the ground with me standing as the victor.

She looked up, her goggles having fallen off.

"Please don't splat me…" She begged. "I'll do anything…"

Here comes the groveling…

"Give Otis back and I might consider it." That was a lie. I'd splat her anyway.

Her eyes were darting around, clearly trying to find a way out of this. She then pulled the Otis in a Bottle out.

"Catch!" She threw the bottle in the air.

I jumped up and caught it as she grabbed the Zapfish and bolted.

"Oh no you don't!" I quickly put my brush down and ran after her.

It took no time at all to catch up to her and smack her down.

"Oh come on!" She whined. "Why does this keep happening?"

"Wow, that Elite you were with the first time was a nightmare," I pointed out. "But you aren't much harder than the Average Octoling soldier."

"Shut up…" She mumbled.

"Shut up…" She said louder this time.

"How'd you even become an Elite?" I asked her.

"I said shut up!" She said even louder that time. She was shaking a bit. She couldn't look me in the eye.

"Aaww, is Li'l Cassie about to Cwyyyy?" I taunted her.

"Shut up!" She yelled. "Don't you ever call me that!"

I was actually a little startled by her reaction.

"I…will not be looked down on by you!" She hissed. "Just who the shell do you think you are?"

I just stood there, watching.

"I know that look..." She's just rambling at this point. "You think you're better than me? Well you're not! I'm an Elite! You know what that means? It means I'm a high class soldier! It means I'm better than you! It means I'm one of the best, so don't you dare look at me like that!

"Geez," I was getting tired of her. "What's your problem?"

"My problem is you always treating me like a joke!"

I just stood there looking at her as she was catching her breath.

"What?" I was confused. "I only met you, like, yesterday. Who are you talking about?"

Her eyes were darting around again. It looked like she didn't know what to do.

"Ummm…" I wasn't sure what to do now either.

"Just splat me and get it over with…" She said.

I picked up the Zapfish and looked at her. She was just sat there, staring at me.

"Well?" She was getting impatient.

"Well what?" I asked.

"Aren't you gonna splat me?" she wondered.

"Nah, not feeling it." I told her.

She just stared at me, confused.

"Oh, thanks for being nice enough to give me my brother back!" I said.

"…Just get out of here…" She grumbled.

I waved her goodbye as she just sat there.

Now to find Marie.

I walked back to where I last saw Marie to find the entire area covered in ink of two colors. I looked around to find Marie standing in the open, looking around with a confused look on her face. She then turned to see me.

"What just happened?" she asked.

Before I could answer, my legs finally gave out. I collapsed to the ground as Marie rushed over to my help me up.