Chapter 17
Otis's POV
Cass is creative, I'll give her that. Five Stingrays pointed at us at once in a widespread pattern. We would've been splatted had she factored in the fact that she was standing atop an inkable wall.
"How could you miss?!" We heard her yell. "Where even are they?!"
"Right here!" Sarah yelled as if on cue as we jumped up from the wall and started splatting her cronies.
"Nope!" She yelled as she dived over the side past us down the stage.
As Sarah splatted the last Octoling, I turned to chase Cass down.
We covered most of the previous area, so she was struggling to get through. She had to ink a path while all we had to do was swim down. We saw her pass that distraught sniper from before, still trying to put his weapon back together.
"Sharp, do something!" She ordered.
It was like she didn't even exist the way he ignored her. She cursed at him some more before running off again up the other side. It wasn't long before we finally caught up.
Cass's POV
I got tackled to the ground, that Otis guy had me pinned to the ground in enemy ink with one of my arms behind my back.
"What do you want with me?!" I demanded to know. "If this is going where I think it's going, I will scream!"
"Sarah, now!" He called.
What? The runt?
"What're yo-" I was cut off by that runt hitting my head.
"Ow! The shell?!" I said, my head in pain.
She then hit my head again.
"Agh! Stop that!" I was getting angry now.
"T-That was supposed to knock you out." She said.
"Well, you're bad at it!" I pointed out.
"Well, knocking her out is out of the question." Her brother concluded as he pulled me up, still with an arm behind my back. "You're coming with us."
They then forced me to the kettle's entrance.
"Sharp, you mute bastard! Stop being useless and help me!" I called out to no avail.
Back In Octo Canyon…Sarah's
We got back to the outside of Slimeskin Garrison where Marie was waiting for us. Cass was still flipping out as we tied her up. Otis then removed her goggles.
"Let me go!" Cass yelled.
"Not until after you tell us what we want to know." Marie asserted.
"Make me!" Cass shot back.
"Alright then," Marie pulled out a tablet. "Let me just pull out my top secret Octarian Dossier and see what juicy secrets I can find on your file."
"Y-you're bluffing!" Cass assumed.
"Apparently you were put on a Sector Commander's personal squad almost two years ago. Impressive." She read off the file. "That would explain why you keep getting these Zapfish assignments despite constantly failing."
Sh-Shut up!" Cass shouted.
"Now, I think it's time you answered some questions." Marie started.
"What could you possibly ask me?" Cass asked.
"First of all, what's Octavio up to?" Marie asked.
"Go splat yourself!" Cass spat.
"Apparently these past few days weren't your first time failing to guard Zapfish…" Marie read some more. "You also struggled to advance due to a lack in combat skills."
"Stop it!" Cass hissed.
"Oooo…" Marie continued. "Apparently your crush during basic training was-"
"Alright, Alright!" Cass gave up. "What do you want?"
Cass seemed dead inside.
"As I said, what's Octavio been up to?" Marie repeated.
"He's…planning to attack your city." Cass said.
"We knew that." Marie pointed out. "What else?"
"I'm exactly sure since he's been spending most of his time prepping for his next concert." Cass explained.
"Concert?" I asked.
"Yeah, their leader is also a DJ." Marie explained. "He's obsessed with music and wasabi."
Weird.
"Yeah, and he's really going all out." Cass continued. "He rebuilt the Octobot King, got a co-star, set up a stadium for it, and stole some statues and road pavement for the stadium. He's even training some backup dancers/singers to enhance the performances (not sure why I wasn't invited though…I can sing)."
He's really obsessed with this, isn't he?
"So what happened to the other agents?" I asked.
"I don't know much." Cass replied. "Just that there's some Inkling held up somewhere in Slimeskin."
"Could be Callie." Otis Suggested.
"Or 3.5." I added.
"Can I go now?" Cass was getting impatient.
"Do you know where that Inkling might be?" Marie asked.
"Maybe," Cass said. "But there's no way you can get in without getting splatted. Elites only."
"Well, we have an Elite right here." I noted.
"Ooohh, no!" Cass got angry again. "There's no way I'm helping you get in."
"I think you agents would be surprised to hear who her crush was…" Marie grinned.
"Do you realize what they'd do to me if I helped you out?" Cass said.
"She even wrote haiku about him…" Marie continued.
"They'd probably splat me on sight!" Cass started panicking.
"Her crush during basic training waaaaaasss…" Marie was building suspense.
"Don't!" Cass begged.
"Octo Samurai!" Marie revealed. "Or as she wrote in her haiku, Octo senpai."
Cass had her head down. She said nothing. She was dead inside. She was properly embarrassed and for once, I felt a little bad for her.
"That would explain why she asked me what happened to him first thing before mentioning the toaster." Otis pointed out.
"Okay…" We heard her say.
"What?" I asked.
"I'll help…" She said, defeated. "Just…don't read anything else on that file."
"Alright." Marie agreed, turning the tablet off. "Now how do we get into wherever that Inkling's being held?"
"L-like I said, only Elites can get in." Cass explained. "And they won't let me in if they see two Inkling agents following me."
"Maybe you can pretend you captured us." I suggested.
"That won't work." Cass said. "By now they'll have trouble believing I caught both of you myself and Sharp probably took his broken charger back to base with news that I've been captured."
"Well, then we're in a pickle." Marie sighed.
We took a minute to think about how we'd get there.
"What if…" Otis broke the silence.
"You have an idea, 4.5? Marie asked.
"It's dumb, but what if we had disguises?" He suggested.
There was a brief pause.
"That might work." Marie admitted.
"Tell me you aren't serious." Cass sighed. "You two look nothing like Octolings."
"Well, we could change our hair colors to Octoling red." I pointed out. "And if we wear some of those goggles or fancy shades, we could avoid the eye mask confusion. We'd just have to keep out distance and not draw attention."
"Well then it's settled." Marie concluded.
"Yeah!" I cheered.
"Let's do it!" Otis cheered as well.
"Uuuugghh…" Cass groaned.
Got another story follower. Thanks to TDPIvy for being interested in the story. I'm glad you like it.
