After another long walk, Maize was tired, ready to fall asleep on anything soft he could lay eyes on. The jellyfish inhabitants of Inkopolis did not help, either. He had finally made it all the way to Mudskipper Street. This area didn't seem like anything, nothing noteworthy that made it stick out. He saw one of the side entrances.
"Please let the dangerous rumours be wrong," Maize mentally hoped. He had heard so many scary tales about this club that was hard to get into. The stories ranged from dangerous knife juggling and heavy gambling. Others said that this was a luxurious secret restaurant that only the freshest of people had access to. The young inkling wondered if the squid sisters had any knowledge of this place, but he didn't want to bother them with a phone call at this late hour.
Maize had walked to the back of the building. The yellow tentacle haired boy could see a good few dumpsters stationed here, but the main draw was right before him; the only back door to any of the buildings, and it looked heavy and made of metal.
"Well… I guess the worst thing that can happen is that I lose my last 500 coins," he joked to himself, but it did not help cheer himself up. He knocked on the door a couple of times and waited. The inkling saw a slit in the door open, unveiling a pair of all too scary eyes.
"Proof of membership," a deep voice requested. Maize rummaged through his pockets, pulling out the golden trinket that had a sand dollar imprinted on it. He presenting it to the pair of eyes. The slit in the door shut, and he heard a creak. The door was now open. Standing before the young inkling was another squid who looked his age, holding a voice changer. It was just a door guard doing his job intimidating anyone who came, in case anyone was up to any mischief.
"Welcome to Sand Heights. Enjoy your stay," the inkling happily said before closing the door behind the two of them. Maize was a little in awe, seeing this place and the many other inklings around here. There were two floors to this club. The people were relaxing here or doing their own thing.
"Hey, uh… can you tell me if there's a squid here named Cobalt?" Maize asked the door guard. The other inkling scratched his head, pointing to a long counter where some inklings were enjoying food.
"The chef should know. He knows everyone here," the guard stated before holding his hand out.
"Also, I'm going to need your weapon. We can't have any splatting inside. Things could get real messy if it starts," the door guard added. Maize groaned in reply. He hated giving his splatterscope to anyone, but he had to. He removed it from his back, reluctantly handing it over. The guard went over to safely stash it away. The yellow squid made his way over to the counter. Everyone here seemed really friendly.
"Hey there, squidster. What are you hungry for?" the worker behind the counter asked. He appeared to be a slightly older inkling, who was wearing an apron and standing in front of a refrigerator, getting a couple of sodas out for others.
"Sorry, but I'm not hungry… well, actually if you can make a sandwich to go, I'd be thankful, but I'm looking for someone named Cobalt," Maize inquired, hoping this chef would be able to give him some information where this missing inkling was. The chef was getting out the ingredients to make the sandwich, twirling his knife around.
"Cobalt? Yeah, he's here. He's been staying upstairs for a while in Room 3. Why'd you ask? Is he in trouble?" the chef wanted to know if they had been housing a fugitive. Hearing that Auburn's brother was here felt like an immense relief on the yellow squid's mind.
"No, but save my sandwich for me. I'll be leaving soon," Maize declared before running off toward the stairwell, bumping and crashing through other inklings before climbing upstairs. The wooden steps creaked and rattled under his quick feet. The teenage inkling was surprised by how many squids were here, considering how hard it was to get a membership, or at least it was for him to. He still hoped that Captain Cuttlefish would pay him back handsomely for this.
Upstairs was a lot less active than downstairs. The inklings around here were playing games on their electronics or trying to rest up. This club seemed alright, but it didn't seem like anything special thus far. Finally, the yellow inkling made it to Room 3.
"Hey! Cobalt, are you in?" Maize knocked on the door while calling to the other inkling's name. He felt like he was about to fall asleep. He had lost so much energy running back and forth repeatedly, but he was beginning to notice other squids' eyes watching him. He tried to be subtle, but something did not feel right. The yellow inkling saw the door open. Standing before him was an inkling with light pink eyes and light blue tentacles for hair that were quite short in length, and a blank black shirt worn on his body.
"Who're you?" the inkling responded. It was safe to assume that he was indeed Cobalt.
"I'm Maize. Mind if I step inside?" Maize introduced himself. Cobalt tapped his foot for a second. The blue squid stepped aside, the yellow inkling wanting to get away from the not so subtle eyes that were on them.
"So what brings you to my humbly horrible abode, Maize?" Cobalt asked. The room looked tiny. The only thing decent in size was the bed that appeared to not have been tidied up in a long time.
"Auburn asked me to find you. I don't know if you've noticed, but you've been missing for about a week," Maize explained. Cobalt looked slightly amused hearing that, rubbing his jaw.
"I didn't think Aubby would get someone else to hunt me down. Sorry, but I can't go," Cobalt shook his head, clearly aware of his own status as a missing squid. He was hiding something. However, Maize did not come all the way here to leave empty handed. It was time to start pressuring the conversation.
"And why can't you go?" he asked. The blue squid sighed, starting to sound gradually more annoyed.
"Because I don't want to. Why should I go back to my home just to fight?" Cobalt retorted. There was that hesitation again now. Maize knew that the two siblings were lying to him. Agent 3 had the best angle to approach this set in his head. Captain Cuttlefish had taught him the art of interrogation, but that was for octolings they captured if they ever had to. Thankfully that never occurred.
"Sorry, but I don't believe you'd live here for a week over a fight about a splatfest… at least not of your own will. You have the worst room of this club, and every inkling around watches your door carefully," Maize began his elaboration, trying to logically get through this, hoping it would not end with security tossing him out. He actually was starting to like this club a little. Being called a liar seemed to strike a nerve in the other inkling.
"Why should I tell you anything? You're just some random squid with your head out of the turf," Cobalt requested, uninterested in continuing the conversation. He was talking to someone who was nearly a complete stranger to him, after all.
"I don't know a thing about you, you got that right. But I've done a lot to come find you. I spent four hours walking between places and spent 60,000 coins to just get a membership here. The least you can do is offer me the truth so I can help you and your sister," Maize irritatingly retorted. He had done so much just to help these two and he barely knew them. It felt great to be helpful, but the yellow inkling was not of much use if he got kept in the dark. The truth needed to be revealed. The blue inkling was shocked enough by this, and he went silent for a moment.
"Wow… you did all this for us? Just… who are you?" Cobalt said, astonished. Someone who barely knew them did so much for them. The yellow tentacle haired boy had already told him his name, but did not see any harm in repeating himself.
"I'm Maize, agent for Special Squid Services. We do everything we can to help out whoever we can!" Maize proudly exclaimed, giving a thumbs up. He made up the tagline on the spot, but it sounded fitting. Cobalt swore that this line alone sounded like a military group, but he nodded, giving the first smile the yellow inkling had seen from him.
"Alright, well… I didn't leave because we argued about splatfest. We argued because of our uncle. He left us a large amount of coins for us in his will, and Auburn wanted to donate it all to charity. But I wanted to give it to our aunt so she could keep living on her own," Cobalt started off by telling the truth behind what had caused the argument. It was not what Maize expected.
"After I went out, I wanted to go clear my head, so I went to have a turf battle. We wound up on Camp Triggerfish. The owner of this club claimed she had evidence that I cheated the win. I had to work here if I didn't want to get reported to officials," Cobalt described what had happened to him, claiming that he was set up, but was too afraid of being reported to take that risk. Maize felt a cold chill run down his spine at the mere mention of officials. They were rarely seen, but they did not take any cheating or shady antics lightly in turf wars. The judge of turf wars recorded everything from the color of each team's paints to the names of everyone on both teams, and to whoever were the victors. The yellow inkling had met the officials once before. He never wanted to again after that encounter.
"Why would the owner need a worker, though? Every squid here looks like they'd volunteer to become members," Maize quirked. The light blue squid shook his head. He had no idea.
"She's in the basement. I did get a copy of that match from Judd, but I have no idea what to do with it," Cobalt claimed, pulling out a piece of paper and turning it over to the yellow inkling. He took it, looking it over the match results. Cobalt's team were using pink for their team color, and the enemy were using green. There was a little too much information here. Maize pocketed it, hoping he could use this sooner or later.
"You relax. I'll make sure things are fine, but I want you to promise me something," Maize said. Cobalt raised an eyebrow.
"What?" the blue inkling chirped.
"I want you to find some way to deal with this inheritance problem, without fighting. Sound good?" the yellow inkling requested, while adjusting his glasses. Cobalt nodded happily.
"You got it! …I don't like hurting Auburn, and I need to get out of here to make it up to her," the light blue squid agreed happily, hearing a chuckled from his hero in this dark hour.
"Right… well pack your things. Next time you see me, you'll be out of here," Maize reassured before he left the room. He began to mentally ponder what had been going on with himself. He had been acting more confident and brave for others ever since Captain Cuttlefish had set up that website. He wondered if this really was because of the feeling of helping others. Right now, Maize had to find some way to get Cobalt his freedom to reunite him with his sister.