Chapter 8: On the Run

Earth

"Oh my god…" Samantha muttered, hurrying down the sidewalks of Inkopolis. They were passing by the chaos left behind by the earthquake, with occasional police cars, fire trucks, and cracks in the ground all visible to her and Oliver. Instead of seeing any more hostile Octarians, however, they were coming across entirely different armored soldiers: Red KRAKEN officers that patrolled the streets, monitoring city activity after the incident. Her eyes widened and her breathing quickened more and more with everything that she saw. "Oh my god, oh my god…"

Oliver walked beside her, looking around. "Stay calm, please."

"I-I can't. I can't…"

"I am trying to ensure your safety, alright? But I need you to stay calm."

"No… No, not alright, we're not alright… We don't know where Dylan is… I don't know where Dylan is!"

"Are you trying to keep yourself in a negative state of mind?"

"No, I'm having a FUCKING PANIC ATTACK, YOU LOONY!"

In response, he suddenly pulled her aside, into a nearby alleyway, where he shoved her against the wall. She gasped in response.

"Stop panicking!" He hissed in her face. "What can I do? How can I calm you down?"

She blinked at him, surprised. "…A-Are you gonna try to grope me here?"

"What?"

"I mean… I-I'm still a virgin, and I don't think I'm ready for-"

"No, just stop it. Stop panicking. How do you Inklings usually calm down?"

"...Usually, if my meds don't help, I just have to ride it out… and you're really not helping me do that…"

He sighed and loosened his grip on her. "We're going to find your brother. But I need your help."

She stared at him. "…Do you know where he is?"

"I believe so."

"...He's… he's alive… right?"

"Most likely."

"W-What do you mean mos-!?"

"Shhh! Shh!" He hissed again. "We are being hunted by more of those men. They are trying to kill you and take me back. So for the last time, I need you to stay calm and focus!"

She stared at him some more, taking more deep breaths.

"Now." Oliver continued. "I need to see the leader of the New Squidbeak Splatoon. Captain Cuttlefish. You know him, right?"

"...No, I don't think I ever met him."

"Well, I need to find him. I think he and the remainder of the Splatoon are the best shot we have at finding your brother."

She looked at him, feeling just a bit more calm now.

"Can you take me to him? Do you know where to look?" He asked.

"...Maybe." She nodded. "If there's… one good thing I'm good at, it's stalking up the Splatoon when they don't know I'm looking… and I know where their new headquarters is…"

"Ok… good." He let go. "We need to go there, as soon as possible."

"...I'll… I'll try…"

He nodded. "…I'm sorry if I've come across as a bit… hostile. I'm not really used to… this…"

She didn't respond.

"...What's your name?"

She hesitated. "...Samantha…"

He nodded again. "Ok… nice to meet you, Samantha."

"...N-Nice to meet you too, Oliver… uh… thanks for saving me…"

He didn't respond, as they now stared at each other.

Samantha blinked. "…So, do we… shake hands now, or something?"

"Let's just get a move on." He grabbed her shoulder and took her back out of the alleyway, looking around the street. He kept walking, and Samantha followed, still remaining ever-alert. However, they didn't make it far before another red KRAKEN soldier blocked their path. He stopped. "Crap…"

"We've placed the city under lockdown protocol 155383." The soldier told them. "No one's allowed on these streets. You two need to head home. Now."

Oliver gave him an awkward nod. "That's… where we're heading. Thank you."

"Can I see some ID?"

"...Uuumm… Yeah, ok..." He leaned his face forward.

He stared at him. "…Identification. Do you have some?"

He paused, choosing his next words carefully. "Not… on me… uh… do I really need an ID just to walk along here?"

"For today, yes. Please present some form of identification."

He grew nervous. "I… I don't…"

"H-Hey, it's fine…" Samantha interrupted, pulling out her wallet. "He's with me…" She handed him her own ID, which he read.

"...Samantha Lynn Schultz?" He read aloud.

"That's me…"

"...And who's this Octoling here?"

"Oliver. He's a friend." She then looked over at him, studying his clothes, which looked very Octarian. "He's… a hipster. Fairly new. To the city, I mean. Didn't really take kindly to our fashion choices up here… b-but I'm trying to help him."

He stared at them, before nodding back and handing Samantha's ID back. He turned to Oliver. "Please make sure you're carrying an ID from now on, sir. We're not letting you down this street again today."

"Yes, sir… thank you, sir…" Oliver nodded, before he held Samantha's shoulder again, and they walked past him. The officer turned and watched them as they left, just in case.

The Octarian Station

The Ray opened up in the station's landing deck, forming a ramp as Callie, Marie, Pearl, and Marina all ran inside, into their loading bay.

"Close the door!" Marina shouted.

Marie ran over and pressed a button, and the ramp began closing, at an unbearably slow pace. She groaned and looked outside, seeing that a team of Octolings were running up to them. The enemies began firing at the ship as they ran to the entrance.

Dualies in hand, Pearl ran over and began firing back at the attackers, holding them off until the ramp closed and the Ray sealed itself. She twirled a dualie. "Alright, so we survived, now what!?"

"We're not out of this yet." Marie responded, before she ran with Marina down the hall to the cockpit's ladder. Marina climbed up first, rushing to the controls.

They all climbed up, with Pearl being the last one in, as they felt the ship shake a bit. Callie ran to a side monitor and checked their status.

"…They're trying to get in! We're taking damage!" She announced.

The ship shook again, and the lights flickered.

"Time to make our exit." Marie sat down at her controls and buckled up, prompting the others to do the same. "Callie, get ready to blow us out of here!"

"Blow us out-…" Callie paused. "…We haven't done that before."

They felt the Ray shake again, harder this time.

"It doesn't matter, we don't have time!" Marie responded.

"...Ok." She nodded and prepared herself, setting up her controls.

"Activating thrusters…" Marina said, pressing a button. Under Marina and Marie's control, the Ray lifted up inside the landing deck, where the Octolings were still trying to break in. They all aimed upward and started firing at the floating ship, as it turned mid-air to face the exit where they were initially sucked in. It hovered there, facing the wall.

"...Now, Callie!" Marie shouted.

Callie pressed some buttons, and the bottom of the Ray opened up. A somewhat small missile came out, at first inactive, and the Octolings all stopped, realizing what they were doing.

"...Move! Get out of here!" An Octoling shouted at her teammates, and they all turned to run.

But they weren't fast enough. The missile activated, a fire erupting from its behind as it separated from the Ray and launched forward. A smoky streak trailed behind it until the weapon struck the wall and detonated in a fiery explosion; A part of the wall was quickly destroyed, and all the Octolings on the deck were suddenly thrown off their feet, vacuumed through the explosion and into the void of space outside.

"Now!" Marie shouted again, as she and Marina thrusted the ship forward. Streaks of light again formed behind the Ray as it launched off, flying through its own explosion as it sped out and away from the station. The Octolings were left behind as the Ray roared past, drifting outward into the void, where their bodies immediately began to freeze.

Callie looked around at her monitors, sighing in relief. "Ok… I think we're good."

Pearl, however, was picking up different results on her own monitors. "…Uh… guys?"

"What?" Callie looked at her.

Outside the Octarian station, as the Ray flew away, many different Octarian ships were starting to come out from the opposite side, flying around the station and toward the Splatoon.

"We have bogeys!" Pearl announced.

"Shit!" Marie swore. "Pearl, I think we need to jump out of here."

"Uh…" She looked at her monitor. "…We're not quite ready for one. It's still charging."

"Damn…" She thought about it. "Callie, can you get them off of us?"

"On it!" Callie turned back to her own controls.

"Lets get out of here." Marina said, as she worked with Marie to speed up the ship. The Ray sped up on its escape, as the Octarian ships behind it began to catch up. A yellow laser suddenly erupted from one of the ships and passed the Ray.

"WOAH!" Callie screamed in surprise.

Marie's face grimaced as more lasers began to arrive, and she immediately began flying the ship in a more defensive manner, swerving the ship around to dodge the attacks. The Octarian ships remained directly on their tail, chasing and attacking them to their best ability.

Marie briefly looked behind her. "Callie, why aren't you firing back!?"

"Sorry!" Callie activated the weapons system. After getting her controls set up, she turned the Ray's weapon systems behind them, firing their own lasers upon the enemies.

The Octarian ships quickly moved to dodge their attacks, trying to keep up with the Ray's speed and slow it down with their own fire. Most of these Octarian ships were small and red, but there was a specific, larger one that seemed to be leading the pack, that was more purple to match the colors of the station itself. Onboard, it was piloted by none other than Shadow, her head still hidden underneath her black mask.

"Take out their engines." She spoke into her radio. "We need them alive."

In response, the Octolings on the other ships began speeding up toward the Ray, to fly past and in front of them. The farther ones began taking U-turns to turn back to the Ray, beginning to fire toward the engines on its wings. Under Marie and Marina's control, the Ray dived downward to dodge, dodging another barrage of lasers. Failing to lose their chasers, the Ray suddenly stopped in its tracks, allowing some of the Octarian ships to pass them. This time, they were prepared, and the Ray's wings suddenly opened up. Multiple Tenta Missile-like projectiles came flying out, splitting up and flying towards their targets.

One of the Octolings on her own ship watched them, confused. "…What are-" To their very brief surprise, they weren't actual Tenta Missiles, but rather actual missiles that exploded upon touching their targets, destroying the ships. One by one, several of the surrounding Octarian ships were destroyed as the Ray spun again, turning back on its escape route.

"Woohoo!" Callie cheered victoriously, pumping her fists up. "Oh, man, when we get home, remind me to give Sheldon lots of thankful hugs and kisses."

Pearl checked her monitors. "Don't celebrate yet, that's not all of them."

On her own ship, Shadow watched in disbelief as she watched the carnage; The HUD inside her mask was detailing everything to her, highlighting the remains of the Octolings that were now floating among the wreckage, marking them as DECEASED. She groaned in disappointment, before launching her own ship after the Ray. She leaned forward in her seat. "Take out that ship now." She growled.

The other Octarian ships continued their pursuit of the Ray, beginning to fire at it more aggressively. Callie turned to fire against Shadow's ship; However, Shadow was careful, and her reflexes were pristine. She expertly dodged the attacks, before a somewhat large laser was fired in return, which managed to accurately strike the Ray's left wing before Marie and Marina had a chance to react. In an instant, their left wing was disintegrated, and the Ray shook violently.

Inside the cockpit, the Splatoon members all shook in their seats as the ship jolted. "Shit!" Marie swore again.

Hearing an alarm, Pearl looked at another one of her monitors, where she saw an update on the ships condition, which was flashing red at her. "We lost the left wing! That's multiple of our engines!"

"...Then we'll have to work with what we have left." Marina pressed a button, and the Ray's right wing folded inward, disappearing into the main body of the ship. She pressed some more buttons, and the Ray sped up again.

"Persistent…" Shadow muttered as she pressed a few buttons herself, and she, along with the other Octarians, followed after them. She continued firing at the Splatoon, this time aiming for their engines in the back.

With their decreased mobility, the Ray was now far less able to dodge swiftly, and the ship rumbled violently as they were rained down upon with lasers, in spite of Callie's attempts to fire back.

After a moment, Callie's monitor turned red and then shut down. "W-What?" She blinked, before desperately playing with her buttons. She started mashing them for a moment, before slamming her fist down. "Our weapons system are down!"

The ship rumbled more as the Octarian attackers surrounded it, firing a barrage of non-lethal attacks at them that slowly tore away at the ship. Subsequently, a few of their remaining engines were now shutting down, and they lost more and more of their controls.

Marie's eyes widened as she noticed her controls were no longer working, and some of their power was beginning to shut down as well. Multiple monitors in the room began turning off, including Pearl's.

"We're blind!" Pearl panicked.

Marie, feeling a sinking feeling in her stomach, looked outside just in time to see the Octarians land their finishing blow upon the Ray. One of the ships let itself crash into its side, shaking the Ray one last time and sending it off course. Callie screamed, and the four of them all held their seats tightly as the ship spun away, now hurdling through space like a small, lonely asteroid that was doomed to float alone in the endless void of space forever. They all stared out the window, the stars around them spinning around them in a loop. Marie gulped as she watched, in disbelief.

The Octarian ships all closed in on the broken Ray once again, and one of the ships launched a large anchor-like hook at them, which attached itself to their hull. The ship tugged on the Ray, slowing it down and pulling it in their direction. From their window, the Splatoon watched as all of the Octarian ships lined up, floating in place as they held them at gunpoint. Shadow's purple ship was in the center of them, retaining its superiority.

"...We need to get out of here." Marie unbuckled herself and stood up.

The others did as well. "How?" Pearl asked.

"We need to jump. Now."

"The next jump isn't charged yet." Marina told her. "Doing one prematurely could just damage the Ray further and drain our power."

"A risk we'll have to take." She went over to the side monitors, pressing some buttons to redirect the ship's power.

"Where are we gonna jump to?" Callie asked. "We'll just strand ourselves!"

"We'd have to perform space-walks just to repair our ship again." Marina continued.

"It doesn't matter, we're already stranded and they're pulling us back in!" Marie pointed out the window, where the Octarians were indeed grappling them toward them.

Pearl, meanwhile, was looking at a different monitor with a cosmic map on it. "…Ok… With our current charge, we should be able to perform an emergency jump… here." She pointed. "It says it's the nearest… safe zone?"

"Safe zone?" Callie asked.

"...That'll do, enter in the coordinates!" Marie walked over to the jump button. Pearl nodded and did so.

Marina, however, grabbed Marie's arm. "Marie, think about this!"

"The enemy is going to capture us. And I'm not surrendering us to them. I'd rather surrender us to the void of space where we have even a small fighting chance if we can avoid giving them what they need."

"Coordinates are set!" Pearl announced.

"...Marie…" Marina was going to talk more sense into her, but it was too late. Marie pressed the button.

On Shadow's ship, Shadow herself was watching carefully as her team dragged in the damaged Ray, but again, it seemed the Splatoon was going to escape. The space around the Ray suddenly began to distort and corrupt, a bit less violently compared to a normal jump. She merely watched as the Ray slowly built up energy, and soon disappeared into a brief bright light, leaving behind the cut-off rope. She stared ahead, slowly leaning back. As anger slowly overtook her, she suddenly slammed her fist down on her controls.

Earth

Underground, directly beneath the city of Inkopolis, the remnants of Marina's unfinished Shifty Station had seen better days; The few remaining structures seemed even more shaken and damaged by the earthquake, and everything was dimly lit.

Making their way down into the station, Oliver pointed a flashlight around, as Samantha silently followed him. "…This is the Splatoon base?" He asked her.

"More like a cover for it. It's an unfinished Shifty Station." Samantha responded. "You know, for the old Splatfests? Pretty sure Marina built it back when she and Pearl were still Off the Hook… but it went unused, and she started using it for other stuff."

He looked at her. "What's a Splatfest?"

"...You don't…" She blinked. "…Are you serious?"

He just nodded.

"Wow… uh… I guess the Octarians don't really tell you about things like that."

"No, they don't."

"Um… if you don't mind me asking… how long exactly were you down in… you know?"

"...I'm still trying to figure that out." He looked ahead and kept walking.

"Ah…" She followed, falling silent for a moment as she thought about what he just said. "…Wait… Pardon?"

At this point, Oliver ignored her as they searched the construction site. "How do we find the Splatoon?"

"Down this way." She led him down the site, toward another room. As they exited the main portion of the construction site, they now found themselves by a structure that was closed with a metal door and a keypad.

Oliver walked over and tried opening the door, but found no door handle, and no way to unlock it besides the keypad. He groaned. "…Great… We need an actual Splatoon agent to get in, I'm guessing."

"No." Samantha shook her head. He looked at her, and she grinned a bit. "I may not be a Splatoon agent, but I'm still resourceful. 'Scuse me."

Oliver stepped aside, and Samantha went up to the keypad. She thought to herself for a moment, before carefully entering the code. After a moment, the keypad turned green, and they heard the door unlocking. She mouthed a "Yes" and pumped her fist before backing up.

"How did you do that?" He asked her.

"Eh, Dylan was never very good at the whole secret agent thing." She grinned.

After a moment, the door finally slid open, and Oliver was about to step in, before finding a Bamboozler cane directly in his face.

"Slow down there, bucko." Cap'n Cuttlefish was on the other side of the door, holding him at gunpoint.

Oliver sighed, slowly holding his hands up. "…You must be Captain Craig Cuttlefish."

"And who are you? How'd you unlock the door?"

"Don't ask me…" He motioned over to Samantha, who awkwardly smiled and gave a slight wave.

"By golly…" Upon recognizing her, he slowly lowered his cane. "Ms. Schultz?"

Moments Later

Splatoon HQ

The monitors on the walls continued to detail as much up-to-date information on the news and the city's current state as possible, as Cuttlefish awkwardly wobbled back and forth in a pace, gripping his cane tightly. Sheldon stood on a table, his hands politely behind his back, while Oliver stood with Samantha, awkwardly watching them.

"...How the hell did you get the passcode?" Cuttlefish asked Samantha after a moment of deep thought.

"Uh, that last time I was here when Dylan was injured, and no one let me in, I did catch a glimpse of the code being typed in. I just memorized it." She responded casually.

Sheldon chuckled. "Well, aren't you sneaky?"

"Yeah, I mean, look. Nobody ever believes me, but I do have a bit of a gift for espionage. I think. Remember Octo Canyon? Remember the photographs I took? Your precious Agent 4 was never very subtle."

Cuttlefish sighed, remembering the previous fiasco. He stopped pacing and faced them. "…And who's the Octo?"

"Oliver." He spoke up. "I came for your help."

"Our help?" He sighed. "Right now, it feels like we're the ones in need of help."

"...Yes, I suppose we do need each other."

"It's nice to have a name, but we'll need more information than that."

He sighed. "…You know those men who attacked Inkopolis Square?"

"How can we not?"

"It's an Octarian group that I've defected from."

"...From where? What settlement?"

"None that you know. They come from deep below ground, where they found a new energy source."

"...The crystals?" Sheldon asked. "The energy source underground, are they crystals? The green ones?"

"...Yes. I'm sure you've felt its effects."

Cuttlefish and Sheldon both looked at each other, catching on.

Samantha, however, was less interested with this information than she was with finding her brother. She looked around. "…Is… Is Dylan here?"

Cuttlefish looked back at her. "…No…"

"Agents 3, 4, and 8 are all MIA. Disappeared in the explosion." Sheldon elaborated. "It's… looking less and less like they made it out…"

Her eyes widened a bit and she looked down, starting to tear up. Cuttlefish sighed and looked down as well, gripping his cane.

"...I assure you." Oliver broke the silence. "They're still alive."

They all looked at him, and Cuttlefish stepped forward. "How do you know?"

"Because that was the plan. Come up here, make some noise to draw the Splatoon's attention, take the one you call Agent 8. Then take care of any loose ends. They targeted Samantha, but I got her out."

"Eight?" Sheldon asked. "…Why her?"

"That's another thing I need to figure out."

Cuttlefish sighed and sat in a chair, again looking downward. "…It was a trap and we fell for it…"

"You did…" He nodded a bit. "…It… may be my fault… I'm a target as well. For escaping. And I fear that might've caused them to speed up their plans. I myself am a loose end in a plan that never should've been. But as it stands, this entire city is in danger. The world, in fact."

"Yeah, well, what else is new?" Sheldon huffed.

"Rest assured, I came here with my own plan. But I need your help. And if you want to save your Agents, you'll need my help as well."

Cuttlefish stood up again. "…How do we know we can trust you?"

"I-I trust him." Samantha announced, awkwardly raising her hand. They looked at her. "…H-He saved my life, sir."

He stared at her, thinking it over for a moment, before looking back at Oliver. "…What's your plan?"

"Getting down there and shutting down their operations." Oliver responded.

"Well, yeah, that's the obvious end goal, but what's your plan, doofus?" Sheldon said.

"...The Underdogs." He reached into his pouch to pull out the notes he had collected, and he reached to set them on the table for anyone to view. "It involves the Underdogs. Because after their own failed attempt to destroy Inkopolis, many of their remnants instead came to be recruited by a man named Gideon Tecca. You know him?"

Cuttlefish and Sheldon both went over to take a glance at the notes. After looking them over a moment, they looked at each other, a bit relieved just to finally have some answers. Cuttlefish turned back to Oliver. "…No, but it's nice to put some kind of name to the enemy."

"Yes, Gideon Tecca is behind all of this. He and Hugh Ward have had ties in the past… but to learn more about that, I need the help of the Underdogs' former leader."

Sheldon rolled his eyes. "Uh… dude?"

"...I think your clock is a bit off there, bucko." Cuttlefish told him. "Hugh Ward has been dead for almost a year. Jessica already killed him."

"No, no, not him." Oliver responded. "I'm fully aware he's dead. I'm referring to his Inkling replacement. Agent 3's brother."

They all then fell silent, staring at him as they processed what he just said, as if daring him to actually say the name.

"Daniel Murdock." He finished.

Cosmic "Safe Zone"

A distortion effect once again began to take hold of a small, empty portion of the vast void of space, corrupting the visuals of the stars behind it, before the thundering flash briefly appeared, leaving behind the damaged Ray. As it lightly drifted forward, the cosmos behind it again fell calm.

Inside the cockpit, several sparks were launching out from the walls and their equipment, and more of the monitors and lights shut down as the power faltered further.

Marina looked around, eyes wide. She looked directly at Marie. "…W-Why would you do that?"

Marie let go of the jump button. "…Sometimes, we have to make in-the-moment decisions." She looked at her. "You know that."

Marina stared at her, her expression appearing quite infuriated.

"Those Octarians inside that station explicitly mentioned a desire to capture you. Do you want to find out what would've happened if they did capture you?"

"No, no, I… I don't know…"

Marie kept staring at her, while Pearl tried to check their cosmic map again. More sparks suddenly erupted from behind its monitor, and its screen went black. She flinched and covered her face as she backed off.

"...Uh…" Callie looked around, seeing the destruction. "…Now what?"

Everyone looked around at each other, but no one said anything. Marina folded her arms and looked down.

"...Are we stranded?"

Marie looked at her, before becoming distracted by a colorful, mainly purple tint that was shining off of Callie. Confused, she looked around at the others, noticing the same tint on them, and on the walls. At this point, Marina and Pearl were both staring out the front window, jaws dropped. Callie followed their gaze, and her eyes widened. Squinting a bit, Marie turned to face the window as well.

"...Uh…" She slowly walked up to get a better look, and the others followed. The tint, with hints of blue, green, red, and other bright colors only started to intensify, illuminating their faces and the Ray itself. They all stared in amazement.