Captain Cuttlefish and DJ Octavio found themselves in an unfortunate position, surrounded by tens of cultists who were all armed with inkling and octarian weapons and oil-filled ink tanks. The leader of the worshipers, Taupe, looked unfazed by the threat by the two elders. Violet just lay on the floor, upset that he had been kicked out of the cult, all because of his failure to get the egg.
"Two old codgers. Of course you'd be in the way instead of returning to your little board game and letting us work in the shadows. You had to get in our way…" Taupe said flatly as some of the other worshipers began to move into position. DJ Octavio just chuckled. Being in his human form felt like a really nice change, considering how cramped that snow globe was. He would enjoy this fight just for the exercise.
"You struck my entire army with fear years ago. I have a good few bones to pick with you," Octavio stated. Somehow an anonymous cult had filled his former army with fear, but he doubted any of those reformed octarian soldiers of his even had any recollection of the matter anymore.
"Everyone will fight back, no matter what city you attack," Captain Cuttlefish added. They saw Taupe raise his hand, and every one of the worshipers prepared their weapons at once, aside from the ones holding the spotlights to illuminate the area and provide vision. The worshipers planned to deal with the Special Squid Services. Some of the agents had gotten in their way, and they were not going to let it happen again.
"We won't be fighting alone. The world shall be restored by the one we worshipped, and as reward, us humans will rise back to the top like before," Taupe threw his hand down, and just like that, a battle broke loose, and dozens of blasts rung. DJ Octavio rolled his eyes, stomping the side of the table and sending their checkerboard flying. The two elders and the one former cultist took cover, watching the oil splatter and fly all over across the bottom of the table.
"Pinned down and out numbered. Boy, does this bring back memories," Captain Cuttlefish claimed, although the last time he was in this position, he was stuck in a trench with several of his friends, waiting for backup that never arrived.
"I… I can't believe this… I'm going t-to be tossed away in a cell for the rest of m-my life…" Violet was rambling to himself, broken. They could untie him, and he would remain frozen in place. However he did not seem to be talking about jail, as the only crime he may have committed was act like a fool.
"Y'know, if you really want to be useful, you can at least do something right and fight for your freedom," Octavio declared while undoing the bindings from the purple inkling. He presumed the young inkling would do one of two things; either flee for his life or stay and fight against the people who had thrown him under the metaphorical bus over one mistake.
"Darn it…" Captain Cuttlefish groaned. Taupe was gone, as well as a quarter of his troops. Now they were left with an unknown number of cultists shooting at them. Thankfully there did not appear to be many, and this table was able to block the blasts of oil quite fine. Some of the worshipers stopped firing and began to move to change position.
"Alright. It's now or never," Octavio hopped over the table, his feet stomping on the ground as he ran like the wind. None of the inklings or octolings shooting could keep up, their oil splattering on the ground. Captain Cuttlefish began to move out from his hiding spot while the old DJ had their attention. Violet stayed, quivering behind the table. Even with his hands and feet free, he was not able to muster the courage to move. Being treated like a traitor by the people he saw as his family has broken much more than his heart. He had given up so much to join them. His brain was just lost constantly stuck trying to process it all.
One of the cultists was trying to change positions with his splatling gun when DJ Octavio got the jump on him, tackling him from the side. He grabbed him and forced him to lose his grip of the splatling gun.
"Let go, you old fool!" the octoling in the black and white robe demanded. The elder octarian glared, pulling his head back, and then hammering it down at full force. His samurai helmet rung out upon impact with the octoling's skull. It knocked the octoling out instantly, forcing him to let go of the splatling gun. Octavio took the weapon and the oil filled ink tank as well. He squeezed the trigger, beginning to fire the black goo at the other robed figures in his range, hitting several of them with a few shots. One by one, the enemies slipped into unconscious from the oils forced side effects.
"Excuse me," Captain Cuttlefish said as he snuck up behind another one who had a splat charger. He gave them one hard thwack with his cane to the back of their head, and that seemed to be plenty to knock them out. He picked up the charger, squeezing the trigger before beginning to aim it. The elderly squid set his sights on the ones up high. He fired, hitting them with a big burst of the black goo that drained every ounce of their energy instantly and knocked them flat onto their back.
As fast as the fight started, it seemed to be coming to an end, thanks to the combined efforts of Octavio and Captain Cuttlefish. The old squid was approaching the old octoling so they could rest their old bones once more, until they began to hear the sound of feet hitting the ground running. It sounded like a stampede. They were both horrified to see the army approaching. Armed cultists were everywhere. The sight of at least dozens of black and white robes somewhat scared them.
"Cuttlefish… no matter what happens, I want you to know something," Octavio started, gaining the attention of the elder squid easily.
"Eh? If it's an apology for all the war crimes you caused… well… I don't remember half of them anyway," Captain Cuttlefish did not want to hear any apologies right now or regrets being spoken. He was not going to let this be their last moments of life as long as they could fight. He was going to give it his all. The octarian shook his head, as that was not what he wanted to say.
"Thank you, cuttlefish. We were friends before the great turf wars broke out, and somehow, even after everything I had done, you still treat me like nothing ever happened. Thank you for all of this. If I do die, I can at least die knowing it was with my best friend," DJ Octavio finished. However he had made note that a few of the robed figures had taken Violet somewhere. That purple squid had done nothing to fight back at all.
"Heheh… that's what friends are for," Captain Cuttlefish chuckled as they saw the army approach even close. Once again, it was now or never. They both began to charge up their weapons as the elderly duo readied themselves to put up the best fight their old bodies could muster.
Things were normal for this late hour, at least for the Squid Sisters' apartment. Callie and Marie were slumbering away in their bed. They had both wound up going to bed early after a very long day working in their news room. It was quite a busy day. However, they were then awoken by a very loud crying noise.
"Wuh?" Marie sat up, her cousin already getting up out of concern.
"Bondi's never cried like that before…" Callie said worriedly. Her son never cried that loudly just from waking up in the middle of the night. Normally the squishie would only let out a light whine because of his fear of the darkness. She left their bedroom to go make sure Bondi was alright.
"It's a good thing we went to bed early…" Marie groaned, doubting Bondi would let them get anymore sleep tonight. She let her cousin handle it as she went to the living room. However, she noticed something odd. Judd the Cat was not in his normal place where he slept. The couch was empty. As confusing as it was, she shrugged, thinking he had just went out. However, when the white inkling went to the kitchen to get a drink, she got suspicious.
"…no way…" Marie growled. She noticed some odd things in the kitchen, as if to gain her attention as a distraction. On cue, the pantry door behind her flew open. She dodged it, turning to see a black and white robe wearing octoling. Seeing an octarian without their tentacles was a bit scary to her. They were holding an octoling weapon which looked like their version of a charger, and that same oil filled ink tank rested on his back. The weapon had an odd design to it like it was made from spare parts.
"Perk of being in a high cost apartment. Your only security is on the outside," the non-tentacled octoling chuckled, firing a burst of the black ink. She ducked under it, the oil splattering onto the kitchen wall. She then tackled him, throwing the two of them onto the top of their kitchen table, which shattered his ink tank. The black oil bled all over the table and floor.
"Perk to you being an idiot. You aren't good at planning," Marie retorted with smirk before she punched the octarian in the face. She hit him three more times after that, but before she could do it again, she got shot in the side of the face and across her left arm by another burst of oil, which instantly knocked her unconscious. She slumped onto the floor.
"You sure are an idiot, Octumvia," another robed worshiper stated, coming over to help her octarian comrade.
Shortly after waking up, Callie had went to Bondi's room, heading straight for the crib that the squishie was supposed to be in. Her heart sank when she looked into it. The crib was completely empty, all but the baby zapfish toy that Captain Cuttlefish had made for the squishie as a gift.
"Bondi?!" Callie said in fear before she heard the door slam shut. Standing there against the wall was someone in a black and white robe, holding Bondi in his left arm. The squishie looked terrified and upset. Only at first glance, Callie's eyes blazed in fury.
"Let him go!" Callie demanded, taking one step toward him when she saw him pull out a Tentatek splattershot and aim it at the squishie. She instantly froze in place.
"I don't want to hurt a squishie… so save us some trouble and toss this on yourself," the worshiper tossed reached for one of his pockets, pulling out a zip tie which was a cheaper alternative to handcuffs, but they worked quite well. He threw it toward Callie, who then caught it.
"Alright… just don't hurt him…" Callie begged as she slipped the loop of the zip tie onto both of her wrists, and she bit the top part with her teeth and pulled hard, the zip tie pulling her wrists together and binding them tightly. She looked ready to break down into tears from seeing her son in grave danger. The cultist approached her, handing Bondi to his mother. The squishie was very happy to be back in his mother's arms. Callie did her best to hush him, despite the situation. One thing that the black inkling did know was how to break a zip tie. Captain Cuttlefish had taught her and her cousin how to escape multiple types of bindings, but she was going to obey whatever the robed figure commanded, as long as her family was in danger.
"Sorry… come with me," the cultist requested. At least he was being nice, like he did not want to cause any harm to them. Callie followed him down the hall. She was horrified to see Marie unconscious and being restrained as well by the other two robed figures, one of who looked like they were still in pain from the beating he received from the white inkling.
"You! What are your agent numbers?" the girl in the black and white robes demanded. Callie bit her lip, trying to stay calm.
"Hey, lay off'em. We're only here to capture them, not hurt them," the robed figure who had apprehended Callie and Bondi demanded the other one to relax.
"We-we're Agents 1 and 2…" Callie answered, not wanting anymore fighting. She just wanted Marie and Bondi to be safe. She was worried about her grandfather, too. She had no idea what to imagine was occurring to all of their close friends.
"Well, that's three out of five… just two more to go…" the girl in the cloak sounded cheery as she pulled out a notepad and chalking that up.
"Speaking of which, can you tell us where Agents 3 and 5 are?" she requested casually. Callie did not know how to respond, but she was aware that if Maize and ECO were not captured, that meant that Octoronia had been the one apprehended as well. The robed figures seemed to know of only the first five of the agents.
"I-I don't know where Agent 5 is, if she wasn't with her sister! Agent 3 is probably at home asleep…" Callie answered truthfully. She was well aware of what she was doing, but she had no choice but to speak. If the agents all were gathered by these cultists, then they could all come up with a plan on what to do.
"We already searched Agent 3's home, and that turned up nothing..." the octoling in robes spoke up. At least they weren't the typical scary cult. They were more talkative than anything. In fact, they had an odd three stooges atmosphere about them, like these three cultists were great friends.
"Yes, but somehow, that moron figured out the way to hatch the egg. Now we're in trouble with our leader, if we don't find our savior, the Abraliopsis Morsisii!" the girl in the cloak exclaimed before stomping out, leaving the other two goons behind to handle things. Callie kept Bondi close to her chest while the squishie was crying once again. The octoling in robes picked up the unconscious Marie, having cleaned off the oil from her, but she still was out cold.
"Sorry, but… we're going to have to take you to our facility to make sure you agents do not get in the way," the friendly cult member said. Callie was more focused on what the one who had stormed out said. It was something about the abraliopsis morsisii. She had no clue what that was, and if it was what the cultists were worshipping, then she was confused by what they were all planning to do. All Callie could do was hope that the agents who weren't captured yet could rescue them all. If the cultists' plans were to succeed, it would be impossible for any of them to save Inkopolis and Mollusk Metropolis.