Maize had spent the next hour trying to just get his body to respond. He was slowly regaining feeling. That forced joyous feeling that medicine had given him was thankfully gone, and his vocal cords were at least starting to get back to normal as well.
"I… I'm going to splat him… so badly…" Maize growled while nibbling on his ropes with his sharp teeth, thankful that the serum had made him unable to feel anything. He was going to keep chewing as long as he could.
"Man… where'd that hipster jerk go?" Onyx groaned, shaking his head sorely. He appeared to be already recovered fully from the serum. It was shocking to Maize, but he could only assume the security guard had gotten a lesser dose than he did.
"He-hey… Onyx! Can you get free?" Maize called out to his wife's second husband. He was quite muscular and he knew that much. Maize doubted Cornell would count on them being to get out anytime soon.
"I think so…" Onyx gritted his teeth as his tentacles struggled to break free of their bindings. It only took a few moments before Maize heard a snap. The black inkling used his tentacles to undo the ropes restraining his hands. It took a minute, but he was finally out of all of the bindings.
"You alright?" Onyx asked while coming over and beginning to free Maize. They both had heard that lunatic's ramblings. Once his bindings had been removed, Agent 3 ripped the ropes off his tentacles, grabbing his cellphone. Trying to stand, he almost fell over instantly. The security chief helped him stay balanced.
"Sorry… I can't feel much…" Maize responded. He was going to have to force his body to work through everything. Not being able to feel anything made it a lot harder to keep control. He approached the next room, Onyx alongside him. They could see the exit there, but this room had caught their attention instantly. There were blueprints lying around everywhere that depicted some odd weapon that looked almost like an oversized megaphone.
"…killer wails…? This is insane," Onyx rubbed his head. Killer wails were a special weapon that would emit a huge wave of sound with the squid's specific ink color. Maize still couldn't see that well without his glasses. He groaned, assuming that he had lost them when Cornell strangled him into unconsciousness at the cheap mall.
"Yeah…" Maize nodded while digging around in his pockets. He pulled out the octoling goggles that Octoronia had given him, thankful that he had not left them at home. He put them on his face and adjusted them. Now his vision for a short range was better. His eyes however noticed something.
"Is that…" Agent 3 gasped. On one of the many tables was the splatterscope that he had cherished for nearly a year as his most prized weapon, and the one he was best with… now in pieces. Broken in half, it looked like the red squid had taken a hammer to it and afterwards dissected every individual piece of it.
"My splatterscope… done for! …I hate my luck," Maize buried his face in his hands, feeling like his luck lately had been against him. Onyx patted his back, having seen him carrying that very weapon back in the Tentatek Building. He knew what it was like to get attached to a weapon and then try to change to a new one. It was jarring, erratic and annoying.
"You can mourn later, but right now we gotta get to the plaza… the Splatfest is starting!" Onyx reminded him that it was getting past five in the evening. Cornell and his goons were going to set their plan into motion if no one got in the way.
"Okay, hold on and I'll follow you," Maize pulled out his cellphone, beginning to dial Marie's number as he and Onyx left the rundown room, going in top speed to try and get to the plaza. When Agent 2 did not answer, Maize tried to dial Callie's number.
"C'mon… pickup! Pickup!" Maize growled in frustration. There was no response. Neither of them were answering their phones. He presumed they had turned them off for the Splatfest since they would be singing for it, and for some reason, even Captain Cuttlefish didn't respond to the attempted phone call. It was driving the teenage squid insane to know he had no one he could call in this emergency, though he looked over and saw Onyx on his cellphone.
"Yeah… yeah! Okay, meet us there and bring some weapons. Thanks," he said before hanging up. Maize was hoping he had requested back up from other security members, but he knew a lot of workers were off whenever Splatfests happened. The two just continued their hurry to get to the main plaza.
In the main plaza, as the sun was beginning to set. Things had just started to get lively. The stage was down and inklings from all around were beginning to crowd the area, yet the stage in the centre was empty. There were two megaphones set up to the side with a microphone in the middle. Behind the megaphones were the Squid Sisters themselves, looking confused.
"Uh, Marie? Wasn't Aero supposed to say something for the opening?" Callie asked after making sure her megaphone was off. Her cousin shrugged while making sure her tentacles were done up right.
"Whatevs. I'm sure it'd just be some promotional junk anyway," Marie did not remotely care for the missing Tentatek Corporation's CEO. Normally the sponsor for each individual Splatfest got a chance to speak freely. Neither of the Squid Sisters could say anything about the Splatfest, since it would come off as biased and them rooting for their own sides, but for once, one of them may be forced to speak up. Agent 1 approached the microphone in the centre. She had no idea what to say, but assumed that the simple route was the best.
"Err… welcome, inklings! I hope you all are ready! Tentatek has helped a lot with the last four Splatfests in a row, and with this that record will be five! Know that no matter what team you fight for, remember the one thing you're all here to do! It's not just to win! It's also to have fun!" Callie exclaimed the first chain of words that would come to mind. These words seemed to do the perfect job. The plaza erupted into cheers. The crowds of applauding inklings were wearing their team shirts. Callie felt relieved to know her speech worked out. She always had trouble adjusting to the difference from speaking to a camera for thousands of fans, that being in front of a majority of them felt like instant stage fright.
"Without further ado, let the Splatfest, Cars vs Planes, begin!" Marie added through the megaphone, having turned it on, much to the surprise of her cousin's ears. Callie got back into position. A lot of the crowd was heading into the Plaza Tower to begin the fights for their respective sides. The music was starting to kick in when the two began to sync up to their movements. But, on the nearby rooftops, a few squids were at work, hiding in the darkness where no one, not even the Squid Sisters, could see them.
"Yes, my comrades. Keep up the good work," Cornell hummed. He was on one knee, watching the Splatfest begin from above. There were two rooftops across from each other. On both roofs were a couple of inklings who were setting up the very killer wails that they had gotten prepared, angling them down toward the plaza. If both of them were to fire their sound waves, who knows how many would be splattered. And the huge damage after that even.
"Sir, Cornell, can I please receive another one of your payments?" one of the inklings requested, looking almost ready to beg. The teenage squid was holding his arm in pain. There was a long scar running down it. The red squid tilted his head, rolling his eyes. He reached into his trench coat and pulled out another syringe of the serum that had three units worth of the medicine within it. He carried plenty of the drug on himself.
"You are a very loyal worker, but I warned you not to get addicted. When you don't have any for a day, you will suffer unwanted symptoms," Cornell handed over the syringe. He wasn't happy when talking about the side effects of this drug, but he knew this was going to happen no matter what he did.
"So-sorry, sir… but it hurts too much…" his worker looked upset as he injected his arm with one unit of the three in the syringe. Once that was done, he removed it, appearing to calm down fast, pocketing the rest of the medicine. The single unit had taken away the pain in his arm and relaxed him.
"Make sure the killer wails get fully charged, and if we need more time, get the hidden workers in the crowd to stir up a fuss," Cornell stood up. The sound of the Squid Sisters' music was filling the air. He began to walk across the rooftop, heading toward the other side.
"I have to prepare the grand finale. And remember; once this is done, you and your co-workers will gain enough serum that you will never feel pain again," Cornell reminded his servant who saluted in response. The boss continued walking away across the rooftops like they were a shortcut.
Maize and Onyx were nearing the plaza. The sound of the music almost echoed through the streets, and everyone they passed looked extremely happy. The yellow inkling was grateful that the medicine he had been forcibly injected with was wearing off faster due to the exercise.
"Please tell me you have a plan?" Maize asked the black inkling as they were beginning to get closer to the plaza entrance. They could see a white van that seemed eerily idle in comparison to any of the other vehicles around.
"Nope. I was hoping you had that covered," Onyx shook his head. The yellow squid swore his body wanted to just collapse and make him sleep through this nightmare.
"Making plans is not my forte…" Maize admitted shamefully. He had been forced to act faster than he liked to lately. Plans were brushed away half the time, and right now was no different. The Splatfest was going to be devastated in a matter of time, which meant a very severe time limit for them. The chief of security banged on the side of the white van, seeing the side door open widely.
"Hello sir, we brought the weapons you requested," one of two oddly similar looking inklings said. Maize thought the dress code for security officers was really strict in the Tentatek Corporation. The other squid pulled out a case, handing it over and then resting two ink tanks out for them. Maize grabbed the yellow ink tank and tossed it over his shoulder.
"Do you have any chargers in here?" Maize quirked while resting the case down and opening it. Sadly, all there was inside were two weapons. One was an oversized paint brush he knew as the Octobrush. The other was a yellow and black weapon he recognized as the Hero Shot Replica, a basic splatting weapon for all ranged fighting.
"Sorry, the boss said grab the best weapons we had available, and that was all we had," the security guard apologized, Onyx picking up the hero shot repica and preparing it with an ink tank full of the black ink on his back. Maize took the octobrush. He hated fighting in close range, but he knew how when it came right down to it. He mainly hated it, because he was better at fighting from afar. The yellow inkling quickly hooked it up to his ink tank. When ready, the small group of four began to head into the plaza. Onyx and his three security guards were following Maize ahead. The yellow squid saw the plaza ahead. Callie and Marie were dancing on stage with a fair share of inklings mimicking their moves. Maize could see the killer wails on the roofs, being aimed to behind the stage. But everyone else was mistaking them as speakers.
"Onyx! Take your crew and go left! I'll handle the right killer wail! Stop them, no matter what!" Maize ordered. That was his immediate plan. Onyx nodded, mostly worried over Aero's safety since neither of them had heard from her since all of this had begun. The group had scattered to get to the rooftops as fast as they could. Maize didn't care what he had to do. He was going to protect Callie Marie and every other inkling, no matter what.