Chapter 6: Armed and Hostile
The Agents ran all the way back through the landscape of Axcia, back into their temporary home that was the Ray. Callie held onto the still-bleeding Marie to help her walk up the ramp, and Pearl, who was the last one in, hit the button to close the ramp and seal the Ray up. As the alert light flashed and the ramp slowly closed, she flipped the bird to outdoors Axcia one last time before heading up to the cockpit with everyone else.
It wasn't much longer before the Ray made a roaring thunder sound as it soared straight upward, several trails of light streaming from its engines as it flew up and through Axcia's atmosphere. It soon came to rest in the void of space itself, drifting forward as it again fell calm.
As Marina flew the ship, Marie was for once to the side of the room, having to patch up the scratches she sustained. She hissed in pain to herself as she cleaned her wounds.
Callie soon stood up from her own seat and went over to her. She knelt in front of her. "Oh, man… those are gonna scar, aren't they?"
Marie glanced at her before she looked down, sadly sighing.
She sighed as well. "…Maybe you'll meet a guy who actually really likes it?"
Marie just ignored that, getting herself fully patched up before she leaned back.
Marina soon got off the controls as the Ray was allowed to drift lazily through space, away from Axcia. She walked over to look through some of the monitors. "…Ok. So things didn't really work out down there… but, I have another idea."
"...Marina." Marie said as she slowly stood up.
"The Octarians can't hide forever. And I'm not going to deny the possibility that they've been here and have already left-"
"Marina." She interrupted, folding her arms.
"...What?" She looked at her. "Do you have an idea?"
"I do. I think we all do."
"And what's that?"
She sighed. "…We need to start heading back home, Marina."
"Oh, come on…" She turned to fully face her.
"I'm serious. You led us out to a dead end. A dead end with a ravenous shark at the end, mind you. You insisted to us that there was going to be some great power the Octarians were after out here, but you already admitted it yourself. It's a dead planet. With nothing there."
"Hey, that's not fair. We don't know what's going on here yet, I need to investigate further."
"...We're all exhausted, Marina. Pearl almost died, this mission doesn't feel like it's going anywhere, I… we haven't felt fresh air in forever, and… we miss home. I think it's time to pack it up."
"We can't do that yet. Exhaustion is not a good reason right now." She pointed out the window. "The Octarians are out there, and we still need to find them!"
"Marina, wake up! This was a complete goose chase! If the Octarians are still out there, or ever were out there, where are they!? How are we going to find them!? Huh? Their signals went dead and we're in the middle of nowhere!"
"I'm… I'm going to figure it out. We'll run more aggressive scans if we have to."
"...'Rina." Pearl spoke up. "I'm kind of with Marie on this one."
She looked at her. "…Why?"
"Do you think I wanted to meet that Xenomorph thing down there? I love you, but this is getting to be more than what I signed up for."
"...We're in the middle of space. What didn't we sign up for?"
"Marina." Marie continued. "We've tried our best. But it's time now. We shouldn't start risking our lives anymore than we already have."
Marina looked around at them in disbelief. "…So, we took a 3-month trip here, decided to give up, and you just want to go back on the 3-month trip to get back to Earth. So… what? So that this can all be in vain?"
"...At least that way, we can try to see our home again."
She stared at her, and then at the others. "…Callie?"
Callie didn't respond.
"...Great… My own team is turning on me."
"I'm the team leader out here." Marie reminded her. "I let you guide the mission. But not anymore. We need to get back home, as soon as possible. For all we know, we could've been needed back home during these last three months, who knows how things have been going without us? So, with that in mind… my decision is final. We're turning around."
"...Guys… come on." Marina started to grow frustrated. "Just think about this for another moment. What if you're wrong? What if the Octarians get exactly what they want out here, but it becomes too late because we turned our backs to it? Huh? What will we do then?"
But this time, no one responded. No one came to her defense. No one felt the potential stakes deep in their stomach. In fact, Pearl was even going back to her work station to start preparing them to turn around.
"...I'm sorry." Marie finished, before heading to her own seat. Callie was the only one who remained still.
Marina let out a frustrated sigh, before she walked out, climbing down the ladder as she headed back to her own room. Callie watched as she left, before slowly turning to her own work station.
Earth
Marie's gut feeling that their help was needed back at home was definitely onto something, as for the underground-dwelling Octarians that plagued the planet, things were in fact going smoothly for them, in spite of the new hurl G2PL19 had caused. They had been fast-tracked, actually, as a team of Octolings was preparing to engage their plan, equipping themselves with armor and weaponry. Even now, they still wore their masks, and would continue do so while the mission was in progress.
One of them was walking with Gideon down the hallways. "We're ready to set out, sir."
"Thank you, Hunter 12. I'm so very proud of you guys." Gideon patted his shoulder as they walked up to 12's team. "You've all done so well! You've adapted very well to the shortened window of time that I've given you… really, give yourselves a pat on the back. The Splatoon is about to find out about our existence… but that's ok. That's what preparation is for."
"And you're sure this isn't too early? It's not too late to delay this if anyone gets cold feet."
"No. No cold feet around here. The last person who did get cold feet, well… he'll get what's coming to him." He patted his arm again. "We need to move quickly before G2PL19 tries to throw a wrench in anything… but don't worry. The poor, poor people of Inkopolis may face some destruction… they may face some difficult times… but it's all a part of the galaxy's alignment. They'll see."
He stared at him. "…Yes, sir." He walked over to join his group. Gideon watched them as they prepared to set out, an excited grin forming on his face.
Splatoon HQ
Sheldon was alone inside the control room, humming to himself as he worked on a new weapon, tinkering around with the machinery at his desk.
The door slid open as Cuttlefish walked in, gripping his cane as he walked up to him. He looked up at the monitors. "…Anything new?"
"Uh…" Sheldon awkwardly dropped some of his things as he slid over to his computer, holding his screwdriver with his mouth. He started typing some notes, as if trying to pretend he had been working on this the whole time, and he spit out the screwdriver to talk. "Agents 3 and 8 failed to get back Agent 4. He's being… a bit of a prick. And, uh…" He pulled up his readings. "The city has been relatively calm… no aftershocks nor earthquakes of any kind in the past few hours. So, uh, good and bad."
"...Suppose it could've been worse." He gripped his cane with both hands. "Can only hope Agent 4 comes to his senses…"
"We can try squidnapping him and making him help us. I mean, that always works."
"...No, Sheldon. If he doesn't want in, we'll have to respect his wishes."
"Whatever…" He slid his chair back to where he was tinkering. "I hope you have a plan without him."
"...Admittedly… not so much a plan as pure faith. But that's enough to keep me going." He turned to him. "Regardless, I'm sure we will figure something out. If things get worse, it will only drive us further."
Sheldon paused as he thought about that. "…That depends on how much worse we're talking…"
Cuttlefish didn't respond, looking back at the monitors. After a few moments, they heard an alarm begin to ring, as a red dot appeared on a monitor that held a map of Inkopolis. He looked over. "…What is that?"
"Uh…" The Horseshoe Crab slid back to his computer, pulling up the map himself. He zoomed in. "We're picking up highly disruptive activity in… Inkopolis Square."
"Disruptive…?" He wobbled over to look over Sheldon's shoulder. Indeed, according to the map, something was happening in the Square. "Are the girls getting this?"
Inkopolis Square
The Square, in the somewhat chilly weather, stood just as proud as ever, with tons of screens surrounding the lot as Deca Tower stood in its usual spot, as if standing guard over the many teenage Inklings that liked to hang out around here. The teenagers were going about their usual business, chatting, shopping, and gearing up at the tower to play some ink battles, as a grinding sound began to slowly catch everyone's attention. They otherwise fell silent, looking around as they wondered what they were hearing. The Square began to rumble a bit, as the tables vibrated. A few Inklings that were eating there stood up in a panic.
A teenage couple, holding hands as they chatted in the center of the Square, were among the confused as they looked around, soon feeling the ground beneath them buckle. They looked down, mere moments before the ground spiked upward, breaking apart the pavement; They screamed as they both ran away, their hands separating before the girl lost her footing, falling down onto her face with a grunt. The small hill in the ground grew larger as the pavement began crumbling further, and the nearby teenagers all panicked and began fleeing the Square, as a drill rose from the ground. As the machine rose up further, it revealed itself to be a metal, fortified tank, which climbed its way through its new hole before settling on the Square's ground like a rampaging bull, sending a wave of dirt and dust around it.
The tank fell motionless after this, but the action wasn't over; The top of the tank opened up, and multiple figures came out, all wearing full-body armor that hid their appearance. They spread throughout the Square, pointing their weapons around at the teenagers who hadn't quite escaped yet. The children could only scream in response.
Hunter 12 was among them; He wasn't holding a weapon himself, but he did wear two enhanced gauntlets on both of his hands. He stared down the frightened teenagers. "…Hello, there."
Meanwhile
A ding sound was heard as Bridgett opened the door to her usual sandwich shop, walking inside. She headed up to the cashier.
Antonio, who ran the shop, turned to her. "Ah, Bridgett. Almost didn't think you were coming today."
"Just stopping by for a late lunch." She smiled.
"I'll get your usual, then." He went to start putting a sandwich together.
She nodded and waited, as she turned her attention to the shop's TV that hung off the wall. It usually played ink battle games, but today it was instead on a breaking news broadcast. She squinted up at it.
It was showing an overhead shot of Inkopolis Square, with the tank, the new hole in the ground, and the armed men currently holding the Square as their own ground. Flashing police lights could be seen, but with the source off-screen, unable to reach the Square itself. Her eyes widened a bit.
Antonio soon had the sandwich ready, placing it into a bag. "Alright, Bridgett. Have a good day for me, yeah?" He turned and placed the bag on the counter, where he looked around, seeing that his customer had vanished. He blinked. "…Bridgett?"
In actuality, Bridgett had already fled the store, and was running down the sidewalk toward the Square, desperately reaching to equip her earpiece. As soon as she got it activated, she called the Splatoon's line. "Jess! Meet me at the Square, now!"
"Already on it." Jessica responded.
"Security cam footage shows that they have hostages." Sheldon said. "And they're armored. So, uh… good luck."
"Good luck, agents." Cuttlefish finished more confidently.
Bridgett hung up, performing a quick super jump onto a nearby building. She threw down her backpack and quickly zipped it open, pulling out her Deepsea Metro outfit.
The Schultz Apartment
Dylan was inside the bathroom, running water at the sink as he carefully cleaned up his appearance. He was still thinking a lot about that conversation he had with Bridgett, and it was the direct result of it that he was thinking more and more about doing… something with her. Something nice, to give that new spark to their relationship that it desperately needed. He had shaved and gotten back to combing his hair, while his phone sat on the counter, displaying a list of possible restaurants he could take her to.
He looked at it, starting to scroll through again when he heard Samantha's voice. "Oh my god! Dylan!"
"What!?" Recognizing that panic in her voice, he quickly turned off the water as he rushed out to find her. Samantha was inside their living room, watching the news at Inkopolis Square unfold on their own TV. Dylan paused as he stared at it. "…Oh, god…"
"Are those Octarians? A-Are those Underdogs!?" Samantha panicked.
"...I don't… know…"
"...But you have to do something, right? Don't you have to find out?"
"Me? No, I don't." He replied.
"They have hostages. Kids." She told him, pointing at the TV. "Surely, the great Agent 4 must have some tricks up his sleeves for things like this."
"No, I don't." He repeated, looking at her. "Jessica and Bridgett will take a care of it. I know they will because that's their thing. They take care of everything. They're the reason the city isn't a pile of dust right now, not me." He looked back at the TV. "…I know they can do it…"
She stared at him, before looking back at the TV. Something didn't feel right. She couldn't let both of them sit back like this, not when there were kids, potentially even the whole city, in danger. She put on a brave, if not nervous, face. "…I'm going." She turned to go and find Dylan's old Hero Outfit.
"Absolutely not!" He grabbed her arm.
She looked at him. "We can't just do nothing!"
"The last thing I'll ever do is let you go there and risk your life. We're both staying."
She scoffed. "I am literally the sister of a former secret agent, I can handle it!"
"We'll watch what happens! Jessica and Bridgett will show up any moment!"
"...And what if shit only gets worse?" She gave him an annoyed look.
He didn't respond, looking back at the TV.
Inkopolis Square
Multiple police and news helicopters flew overhead near the Square, where the armed Octarians were still holding their ground, walking around the area as the teenagers remained huddled by the door of Deca Tower, frozen in fear. A couple of figures stood guard, while others held off grounded police a bit farther out.
Onboard one helicopter, with a powerful Splatling Turret on its underside, the police were preparing their assault upon the mysterious invaders, flying toward the Square. "We have our targets." The pilot said to his comms, before activating the vehicle's speaker. His voice rung out through the area. "This is the IPD! Release the hostages now before somebody gets hurt! This is our only warning!"
The attackers only looked up at them, but otherwise didn't respond.
"...Release the hostages NOW! I repeat, unhand the hostages no-" He was interrupted as the helicopter was struck by some kind of brief flash of green light that emerged from the tank, shattering the glass. The aircraft immediately began spinning out of control.
"Shit!"
"What the hell was that!?" The pilot panicked, trying his hardest to fly them back to a stable position. Against his wishes, the helicopter instead tumbled near the Square, exploding as it struck a building. The teenagers in Deca Tower screamed in response.
"Quiet!" One of their guards replied, pointing a gun at them.
Hunter 12, standing by the tank, shook his head a bit as he watched the smoke rise from the crash site. "Morons…"
A couple more minutes passed as they patrolled the Square, free to do whatever they wanted, before one armored Octoling, who was standing on his own near the corner of the Square, felt something attach to his back. He turned around. "Hm?" The grapple hook that just attached to him then suddenly pulled him up, and he screamed as he was drawn out of sight, his charger falling to the ground.
"What was that?" Some of the other guards pointed their guns over, seeing the dropped weapon. A couple moved to investigate, looking up.
Behind them, on the opposite side of the Square, Jessica landed on a building from a super jump, shaking her head as she returned to her humanoid form, in her complete Agent 3 gear. Perching over the area in a hidden position, she used her goggles to scan the lot, looking around with her thermal-vision mode to locate how many people were present and where they were. She spoke into her earpiece afterward. "I make nine more hostiles. All armed. Splat-proof armor. They have five hostages, at Deca Tower."
"I'm on my way." Bridgett replied in her earpiece.
Jessica continued as she was doing, sneaking along the rooftops as she waited for opportunities to strike. Whenever she saw a lonesome guard, she reached to drag them up with her grapple hook, and then quickly tased them in the barely-exposed spot between their mask and their armor, taking them out before they had a chance to react. She tried reaching for their masks to pull them off and identify her enemies, but they seemed pretty locked on. "…Hm…" She gave up on that and kept doing as she was.
After a few of them had been taken out this way, Bridgett soon fell onto one of the rooftops from a super jump, turning back to her humanoid form and surveying the area. She turned to Jessica. "The hostages should be our main priority."
"Agreed, but there's no getting them out until we take out the guards. We make a wrong move, we'll be putting them in danger." She looked around again. "Our guns are useless, so we're outgunned."
"...We need to get rid of the two closest guards to the hostages, then maybe they can super jump out."
"I can use my grapple hook for that." She gripped it. "We need a distraction to keep the others away. Can you do that?"
She took a deep breath in. "…Ok."
Jessica gave her a nod, and Bridgett stood up straight, before turning to her Octo-form and blasting off toward the middle of the Square, behind the hole the tank had made. She landed in the middle of several of the guards, who all turned to her.
She nodded at them. "Hi."
They all fired at her, to which she did another smaller super jump to dodge, weaving in and out of their attacks. Getting in the middle of them again, she suddenly rose into the air as she activated a splashdown, lunging back down and blasting them with an explosion of pink ink; It wasn't enough to splat them, but was enough to throw them off.
Jessica watched from the rooftop, rolling her eyes a bit. "Not what I meant, but it'll work…" She then got back to work, getting closer to the Tower. While most of the guards remained distracted by Bridgett, she again used her grapple hook to latch onto one of the two men that stood guard by the hostages, dragging him away.
The second guard of course noticed. "What the-?" He pointed his gun upward, but was quickly apprehended by the grapple hook as well, getting pulled away. The teenage hostages screamed as they watched this.
Jessica leapt down in front of them, giving them a reassuring nod. "Get out of here, now. I need you to super jump out. Before they catch you."
They just stared at her, in disbelief.
Before she could press them further, but was instead suddenly dragged away by something before then being thrown through the air, hurdling into the tank in the center of the Square. She groaned as she fell to the ground, and the hostages screamed louder as they watched.
The attacker responsible, Hunter 12, walked over, his gauntlets lighting up with a green energy.
Jessica squinted as she recognized that green hue, taking off her goggles as she sat up. "…So, you guys have found some new toys to play with, huh? Was the Great Zapfish energy too little for you?"
"We've moved beyond the Zapfish." He replied.
"Then stop this. Those kids don't need to be here."
He only responded by clenching his fist, and the green light got more intense as it emitted a powerful sound.
Jessica briefly turned to the hostages again, who were still huddled under the Tower, with no one to guard them. "Get out of here! Super jump! Now!"
Her opponent didn't seem to mind or care when the hostages finally listened to Jessica's order, using their squid forms to blast off away from the Square in super jumps. With them gone, Jessica rolled to her feet and charged at her enemy, engaging him in combat.
Bridgett, meanwhile, was firing off a barrage of Tenta-Missiles in a further attempt to hold back her foes. The pink missiles all flew around the square as they selected their targets, striking them and knocking them back somewhat. But much to her fear, none of her attacks did much, and she was forced to again use her Octo-form to dodge their returning gunfire. Finding herself overwhelmed, she ducked behind the tank, taking the opportunity to see what she had left to use. Before she could even realize that she already used all her specials, the attackers again turned the corner to shoot at her. She used another super jump to dodge.
As this was happening, Jessica was locked in intense combat with her own opponent, having been forced to play much more defensively compared to her usual offensive, sometimes lethal approach. Her attacker was swinging several punches at her, his gauntlets producing zoom sounds with each swing, while Jessica performed several flips and tricks around him to dodge, throwing desperate punches herself whenever she found an opening, even trying to strike him with her small taser.
But she, too, was getting overwhelmed. Memorizing her fight patterns, the hunter was soon able to strike and knock her down, sending her rolling across the ground from the sheer impact of his gloves. Grunting, she quickly sat back up and turned to fire her grapple hook at him, attempting to pull him down; He, however, grabbed the rope mid-air, tugging on it hard enough to pull the gun from Jessica's hand and into his own, where he crushed it and tossed it aside. He walked over.
Jessica suddenly twirled back to her feet, kicking him, before throwing another punch at him. He countered it and grabbed her, wrestling with her.
"You're good." He told her as they came face-to-mask. "Haven't had this much fun in a fight since I sparred with Oswell."
"I've fought Oswell. More of a fair fight with her." She responded.
"Yeah? How'd it work out?"
"Take off the gloves and find out." She replied, before attempting to kick him again to break free. Instead, she actually gave him the exact opening that he needed, and he suddenly back-handed her with his glove. An energy surge erupted in a brief green light as Jessica was sent hurling through the air once again, crashing through the window of the currently empty Solar Flair studio. She rolled across the floor and settled among the broken glass, unconscious, with multiple bleeding cuts on her face and limbs.
Bridgett, still dealing with her own opponents, noticed this as it happened. "Jess!" In the moment she was distracted, she was suddenly knocked aside by a blow to the head, and rolled across the ground herself, as the armored Octolings ganged up on her. She immediately tried to get back up, but they had her now, kicking her to keep her down. She groaned in pain as they stood over her, still trying her absolute hardest to get back up.
One of them slammed his boot on her back, pinning her face-first into the ground, while another pulled a gun on her head. "Stay down."
She grunted and panted, unable to push back against him. She gritted her teeth, accepting her fate. "…If you're so tough, then do it…"
"If only it were that easy…" He then turned his gun away. "Take her."
The other man took his boot off of her, as they moved to cuff her and pick her up. However, they couldn't actually complete the act, before a green squid suddenly came barreling into one of them from a super jump, knocking him down. Blinking, Bridgett looked over curiously.
Emerging into his humanoid form was Dylan, in his own Agent 4 Hero Outfit, which currently looked like he hadn't worn it in quite a while. He gripped his Hero Shot. "Hey, Bridge." He was about to help her up, but instead was forced to dodge as the armored men turned to fire at him. On top of having not completely recovered from his injuries, he was especially rusty and was not at his A-game, but to him, it didn't matter. He was fully determined to help his girlfriend.
While they were distracted, Bridgett sat up, finding that they had only placed the cuffs on one of her hands. A few of the men turned back to her, but she suddenly kicked one of their knees, before getting back up and using the cuffs to try and choke him from behind. From there, she used him as a shield against the second guard, who shot some kind of green taser gun at her. It instead electrocuted his ally, even through his armor, and he twitched violently in front of Bridgett before she let him go. He pointed his taser at her again, but she suddenly morphed into her Octo-form and super-jumped directly into him, knocking him down. She rolled over him and reached to pull his taser from him, before shooting him with it. He writhed in his position before slipping unconscious.
She then turned to help Dylan, seeing that he was struggling against a few of the enemies himself, before she suddenly felt a painful, powerful strike from an unseen force, dropping the weapon as she was sent rolling across the ground. She soon stopped and settled on the ground, letting out a dazed groan. Blinking and shaking her head, she looked over, seeing that Hunter 12 was walking toward her. His gauntlets lit up a bit as he closed his fists. She groaned again, both out of frustration and pain, as she started getting up.
He quickly closed in on her, swinging at her, but she morphed into her Octo-form to dodge, twirling around him. Slowly making her way over to where the taser had landed, she rolled over to grab it, and shot it at him. He moved his hand up to block it, and the shot hit his gauntlet, making it sputter and short out rather than tase him directly. He swung more at her until she managed to tase the second gauntlet, shorting it out as well. She aimed at his face and again pulled the trigger, but only found that it had run out. She groaned as she tossed it aside, before he desperately struck her again, knocking her back down.
She rubbed her head, groaning, as she mustered her strength to get back onto her knee and resume a fighting stance. This time, however, she found that her opponent was just… gone. He had walked away and hidden somewhere. She looked around, confused, but regardless let herself relax briefly when she saw no enemies around her, panting.
"Bridge!" She heard Dylan shout from the direction of the tank. She looked over as he limped up to her, hugging her tightly. "Are you ok!?"
"Y-Yeah… yeah…" She hugged him back, enjoying his presence. Panting some more, she soon broke off. "W-Where'd everybody go…?"
"I don't know… they just gave up and left…" He looked around.
She felt his chest. "My god, I'm so happy to see you… you couldn't have had better timing…"
He nodded a bit. "I'm happy to see you too… but there's no way this is over ye-" He realized he spoke too soon as they suddenly felt the Earth begin to violently rumble beneath them.
They both looked down; the enemy's initial plan seemed to have failed, but the agents hadn't yet considered a backup plan. They looked over, seeing that the shaking seemed especially bad at Deca Tower. The hostages had been evacuated, and the Great Zapfish wasn't around, but what came next?
As the world around them shook, large cracks in the Square's ground started to open up. One opened up down the middle of the Square where they were standing, forcing them to separate.
Bridgett was almost thrown off her feet. "D-Dylan!" She unsuccessfully reached her hand out toward him.
"Bridgett!" He did the same.
The cracks started to run up the sides of Deca Tower, breaking it open and shutting down the screens. The familiar but bizarre green light shot out from inside the tower, and the cracks only got more intense until the shaking finally stopped. Bridgett and Dylan both regained their balance as they stared up at it.
An eerie silence fell over them for a moment, filled only with the nearby police and fire sirens that had already been on the whole time.
"D-Dylan!" Bridgett shouted again, panicking.
"Bridge! We've gotta grab Three and get outta-" He was interrupted as the shaking returned, stronger this time.
The top of the tower suddenly burst open in a green explosion, which began running down, tearing apart the building and its screens from the inside. She screamed as they backed up, but they were unable to do much as its shockwave engulfed the Square.
The effects of the explosion weren't just felt in the Square; Rather, its shockwave was enough to shake the entire city, swaying each and every building as it rumbled through the streets. On the ground, civilians everywhere noticed as the ground beneath them shook violently, worse than they had felt yet, bouncing cars and forming some cracks in the ground.
Samantha was still in her apartment as she nervously watched the news, which had already cut off at this point. She was caught off guard as the room jolted violently, shutting down the power and knocking nearly everything down. Nearly thrown off her feet, she screamed loudly as the shaking persisted, and she morphed into her Squid-form to hide under the couch, curling up as the shaking rocked her.
The shaking reached all the way to Splatoon HQ, where Cuttlefish and Sheldon were still working on getting as many updates on the situation as they could when the shaking struck them. Sheldon screamed and hid in his shell, while Cuttlefish was thrown off his feet, dropping his cane as the monitors around them shook violently, powering down.
A moment later, after the city rode out the quake, it was left in panic, as fire, smoke, and alarms rose up from its view, while the Square itself was left covered in smoke.
Amidst the chaos, a large, red KRAKEN truck finally plowed its way up to the Square, busting past a couple cars as it drove up as quickly as possible. It came to a stop just outside the area, and multiple armed KRAKEN soldiers exited as they moved in, pointing their guns in all directions.
But they were far too late. The Square had already been left in a smoky, almost apocalyptic state, with Deca Tower destroyed and crumbled where it once stood. The tank and all of the armored Octolings that came with it were now gone, and even Agents 8, 4, and 3 were nowhere to be found.
"...All clear!" One of them shouted.
As the KRAKEN soldiers started investigated the place, there was one last Octoling who rushed up, but stopped as he watched them from a slight distance, away from the Square. Oliver's eyes widened as he stared down the senseless destruction before him, the realization dawning over him that he was far, far too late… Gideon had already enacted his plan. Was… this his fault? Did he act too hastily?
Recovering from his shock after a moment, he backed up, before morphing to his Octo-form and super jumping away.
The Ray
The ship was floating harmlessly through the void of space, now back on its three-month route, away from Axcia and toward Earth.
Pearl and Marie were inside the cockpit, eating some canned food as they sat idly about, in relaxed positions. Marie, however, was barely touching hers, and was instead staring out the window toward the stars.
Pearl noticed, licking her spoon. "…You having an existential crisis, staring out into the void like that?"
"...Nah… I'm used to it…" She replied.
"So what's on your mind, girl?" She leaned over.
"...A lot of things are on my mind." She admitted, leaning back. "I guess I just… I miss home, but… I'm also worried about Marina."
"What for?"
"Just… does she seem a little… obsessed with this mission to you?"
She nodded a bit. "Mmmm… yeah… she kinda does, yeah." She looked around, making triple sure that Marina wasn't around to hear. "…Yeah, I have to say it. She's very obsessed."
"Has she said anything to you since we called it off?"
"Nah. But… she'll come around. I know it. It's just how she rolls. You know? Nothing to be worried about."
"Hm… I suppose so…" She looked back down at her food, continuing to eat. She sighed, still unable to think about… anything else, really.
After a moment, Callie suddenly rushed in. "Guys!"
"W-What?" Marie swiveled her seat toward her, sitting up. "What happened?"
"We just got another signal."
"A signal? Octarian?"
"I think so. I-It just came out of nowhere from Axcia, it was almost like it was…"
"...Like it was… what?"
They were interrupted yet again as the ship's alarm activated, alerting them as it entered jump mode.
She looked around, setting down her food as she turned back to her controls. "W-What's happening?"
"Uh…" Pearl turned to her controls as well, checking up on the ship's status. "We're entering a jump."
"What?"
"I said we're entering a jump!"
"But that's impossible, we're not ready for another one right now. No one even…" She frantically started pressing buttons, trying to shut it down. "Help me turn it off, now!"
"I-I'm trying!" She frantically played with her controls. The ship, however, was already preparing to teleport.
They all looked around, seeing the distortion effect begin to form around them, letting them know it was too late. "…Son of a bi-!" Marie swore just as the ship disappeared into a bright light, teleporting away.