Chapter 17: A New Deal
The flurry of Octarian ships continuously surrounded the Ray as it was slowly sucked into the larger Octarian station, leaving the Splatoon with absolutely no options of fighting back or resisting. It came to settle in the landing deck just as it did the last time they were brought there.
The Splatoon agents were staring out the Ray's window, watching as an army of Octolings came in and pointed unfamiliar weapons at their ship.
"Leave your weapons behind when you open up." Shadow continued on their radio. "If any weapons are found hidden on you, you will all be blown up."
Marie picked up the radio, speaking into it. "We heard you the last three times, asshole." She lowered it, sighing. "…There's gotta be a way out of this..."
Marina looked at her. "We'll find one. But for now, let's just do what they say. And not get us stranded somewhere this time."
Marie glanced back at her. She didn't like it at all, but after all, she had given these decisions to Marina for a reason. Slowly, she set her charger down.
Pearl and Callie were equally as hesitant, but upon seeing Marina and Marie both do the same, they followed suit.
"You two, stay in here." Marina told them as she and Marie went toward the ladder.
"What? You're going alon-?" Pearl tried to ask.
"I'm not gonna let anyone touch you, Pearlie. Same goes for you, Callie. Stay in here. Tell us on comms if you see anything else." Together with Marie, she climbed down the ladder and out of the cockpit.
Pearl and Callie just looked at each other, incredibly nervous.
Marie and Marina made their way down to the Ray's loading bay, and gave each other reassuring nods before Marina pressed the button to open up the ramp. The alarm sounded as the ramp lowered, revealing the still-masked Shadow and some other armed Octolings by her side, standing just by the Ray's entrance. They all walked up.
Shadow stopped in front of Marina. "…Marina Ida."
Marina just stood still next to Marie. "…You're the one with the code-name Shadow?"
"Yes."
"You're the one behind the Octarian's new mission?"
"That would actually be Gideon Tecca. Admittedly, I'm just another one of his pawns…" She paced slightly. "But out here? Yes. I'm in charge. I can assume the same of you?"
Before Marina could nod, Marie interjected. "I'm in charge."
Marina glanced at her, but said nothing to correct it.
"Hm…" Shadow looked at her. "Fascinating. Agent 2. I know you." She nodded. "They say you're the sassy one. But I don't hear you cracking jokes."
She shrugged. "Get us some lattes and we'll have plenty of time for quick-chat, I can share my best zingers then. We can even catch up on who this Gideon Tecca guy is."
"Hm… How's your grandpa doing back on Earth? You know, assuming his fragile body hasn't given out by now without his own family left to defend him."
Upon hearing that, she just about leaned forward and punched her, but Marina grabbed her arm to stop her.
"What do you want?" Marina asked.
"Simply put, the four of you." Shadow replied. "Rounded up."
"That's not gonna happen." Marie told her.
"You were telling your people before to keep Marina Ida alive." Marina added. "You have me now… no one else needs to be involved."
Shadow tilted her head a bit. Obviously, neither of them could see her face, but her body language spoke volumes. She didn't even seem frustrated at hearing that, she seemed… amused. "You brought them all the way out here… and you think they're not already involved?" Her mood was confirmed when she chuckled. "You're still very immaculate, Marina… but still extremely stubborn. So smart yet so stupid. There are so many different contradictions within your person… but I have to remind you, every agent you brought along on your suicide mission is going to face the same consequences."
"You touch my cousin, and you'll-" Marie started, but was again stopped by Marina.
Shadow again turned to face her. "But your cousin is already Octarian property… is she not?"
"No, she's not." She hissed. "Only in your sickest of dreams."
She nodded. "Gideon warned me about you, and how extremely aggravating you are. But you're not the one in control here, Cuttlefish…"
Marie leaned forward again, but without warning, Shadow suddenly punched her, knocking her out.
Earth
Splatoon HQ
Samantha watched herself in the bathroom mirror as she zipped up her Hero Jacket, taking a moment to pause and stare at it. She held up an older picture of what Dylan looked like in his own copy of the Hero set, comparing it to herself. "…Hm…"
Wanting to get the look just right, she set the photo down and straightened her jacket up, before putting on the boots and the headphones next. Then, she held up her brand new Hero Shot, posing with it. She even held it toward the bathroom mirror, closing one eye as she pretended to shoot herself, imitating little "pew, pow" sounds as she did. She smirked at herself. She didn't know how exactly she was about to perform as an actual, suited agent, but at least she knew she'd look badass while doing it. "Heheheeee…" She bounced the gun up and down and continued mimic-firing around the bathroom, occasionally chuckling some more up until she accidentally tossed one of Sheldon's stronger Splat Bombs. She screamed as it detonated, covering a good portion of the room and herself in ink.
The door opened as Oliver peeked his head in.
She awkwardly wiped some ink from her face as she noticed him. "…Sorry…"
"...We're going over the plan again, so hurry up." He closed it again.
She let out a long breath as she gave herself one last look in the mirror, grabbed her things, and nervously headed out.
Cuttlefish, Sheldon, Oliver, Daniel, and Cole were all gathered in front of the wall's monitors. Daniel was wearing his own Hero Suit which was mostly identical to Agent 3's (although without the cape), except for the updated Headset, which was now Agent 4's updated design. Meanwhile, Oliver was wearing a brand new Hero set design, mostly made up of full-body black armor and again, Agent 4's Hero Headphones design. The armor definitely appeared to be inspired by Agent 8's Deepsea Metro outfit, except it was much more broad in a masculine way and was designed for Oliver in particular. It almost seemed to be inspired by some of the armor they had seen the male Octarians and KRAKEN personnel wear, but it still managed to retain that general Splatoon motif. Cole, on the other hand, wasn't dressed like an agent at all; he was instead dressed as an Octarian citizen.
"Hey, you guys all look great." Samantha awkwardly smiled at them.
"Cuttlefish and I do have style." Sheldon shrugged. "Alright, one more time?"
Oliver nodded.
He tapped on his keyboard to cycle through the slideshow on the monitors once again. "Our first challenge, of course, is Octo Valley. A lot of it has been sealed off from the surface after Agent 3 first invaded all those years ago, but I managed to piece together the basic route, through… here." The monitors showed the route. "They have more intense protocols for Splatoon invasions set in place, so don't stray from this path. Use Cole to get through. He's being insistent on not fighting, so it will be up to the rest of you three to protect him. Ultimately, just get to the hidden elevator that leads down into Octo Mine, that's your first goal."
"That will be the easy part." Cuttlefish stepped forward as the monitors brought up the Mine maps. "Once you're in the Mine, you're gonna be on your own. Since these are older maps from years ago, we don't know in what ways it could've been updated, or where our Agents could possibly be held there, outside of possible estimations. But that is your primary goal for now. Find them. If what Oliver told us is true, the Agents are likely being held in a cell somewhere, possibly tortured or injured."
Although Oliver maintained his usual poker face as he listened, Daniel and Samantha were both visibly nervous.
"So we find the agents, and then…?" Samantha asked.
"That… will be more situational." Cuttlefish admitted. "If you can do this all in one fell swoop, find out what Gideon and his army is doing, and shut down their operations, that will be the best-case scenario. The mission will be over just like that. But I doubt it will be that easy… Our best option may be going in, getting them, and getting out so that we make further plans as a full team."
Cole stretched a bit. "You have pretty big balls, old man, willing to send in psychopaths and morons for this mission and counting on them to save everyone's skin."
He sighed. "Ignoring your insults, unless my granddaughters come flying back home right this moment, this is the only play we have right now. You're gonna need to accept it."
Sheldon folded his arms. "Still nervous, asshole?"
"I'm just treading carefully and speaking some truth for you, in case you don't know what we're walking into." Cole replied, leaning on the table.
"Shit- that reminds me." He jumped off the desk and pulled a briefcase out from under it. "I did have one idea to potentially make this trip easier for our Inkling agents."
Oliver leaned over. "What is it?"
"Prosthetics. Bit of an older project, but Shella helped us out with completing it." He jumped back up onto the desk and opened it, revealing what looked like make-up and prosthetic tools. Daniel couldn't help but blush a bit when he saw them. "Basically, they can help you look more like Octolings." Sheldon continued. "It's actually super cool, they pretty much work kinda like-"
"Will it look accurate?" Oliver cut him off.
"It'll look… mostly accurate. They'd probably still look a bit odd, but-"
He sighed and stood up straight. "I think our current plan is fine enough. Once we come face-to-face with Tecca… it won't be of much help."
"Right, right, it was an optional thing, anyway…" He awkwardly closed it back up and set it down. "I'll keep it around for future circumstances, though." He patted it.
Cuttlefish looked at the time. "Well, prosthetics or not… it's getting to be about time."
A hush fell over the room. Deep down, no one felt truly ready for this.
Cuttlefish looked around at everyone. "…Is everyone about ready?"
They looked around at each other. Samantha briefly locked eye-contact with everyone except for Daniel. When no one else responded, Oliver gave him a silent nod.
"Alright. Go ahead and take the elevator."
The agents all looked over, hesitating one more moment. Oliver put his hand on Samantha's shoulder, giving her the strength to start walking, and she ended up leading the pack as they walked over. Cuttlefish and Sheldon followed from a distance, and Sheldon leapt up onto the table that was closest to the back of the room.
"…Remember that we'll have your backs for as long as we can." Cuttlefish reminded them.
"Thank you, Captain." Oliver nodded at him.
"And, Oliver?" Sheldon said.
He looked at him. "What?"
He stood proudly and saluted at him, something he had only ever done for Cuttlefish and Marie before. "Good luck."
He couldn't help but smile slightly as he nodded in return. "Thanks, Sheldon." He then followed the others into the elevator.
They watched on as Oliver pressed the up button, and the elevator doors closed.
The Ray
Marie only ever awoke again when she felt Shadow aggressively kick her leg. She gasped as her head shot up.
"Wake up." Shadow commanded before she stepped away.
She looked around. They were in the Ray's cockpit once again; She was leaned against the wall with her hands cuffed together, next to Marina who was in a similar position. She had a strong headache, but that didn't stop her from looking across the room, noticing Callie and Pearl in similar positions against the opposite wall. "…C-Callie… Callie!"
Shadow suddenly rushed back to her and kicked her in the stomach. She leaned forward and groaned in pain.
"I-I'm fine, Marie…" Callie assured her.
"A-Actually, I'd say that depends on your definition of fi-" Pearl tried to say.
"The more unwanted words I hear, the more Ms. Cuttlefish gets it." Shadow kicked Marie in the stomach again. "And believe me. There's only so much she'd be able to take."
"Fuck you, you bitch…" Marie gritted her teeth. "I'm not gonna give you anything…"
She kicked her yet again. "I'll time it, then."
She groaned. "…A-Anger issues, much?"
She kicked her once more, before drawing her blade, leaning down to tease her with it. "You disgusting Inkling… way in over your head…"
Marie just returned a brave but angry glare, ready for whatever torture methods she might use.
"...Oh, god, Marie…" Callie was anxiously tearing up at the sight.
Shadow waved the blade in front of her face. "Not scared at all?" She rubbed the blade along her cheek.
Marie didn't respond, retaining the glare to her best ability.
She stared back, getting frustrated. "…Maybe you'll hold up better than I thought." She stood up. "But don't be mistaken… everyone has a weakness of some kind." She then walked over to Callie.
Seeing that, she immediately began struggling. "N-No…"
Callie watched with pure fear in her eyes as Shadow teased her with the blade next.
Shadow suddenly chuckled upon seeing her face. "Aw, this one's a little pussycat…" She leaned down and rubbed the blade against her cheek in the same way. "She's like Li'l Judd. So cute."
Callie whimpered and leaned away as she felt the blade.
"Don't touch her!" Marie commanded.
"Hey, leave her alone!" Pearl added.
"Can't just let her go now, look at her." Shadow replied. "She'll break easily." She then softly cut her cheek, drawing some ink. Callie gave a louder whimper as she closed her eyes tightly and turned away as far as possible.
Marie and Pearl were both getting extremely restless as they watched, powerlessly. "YOU FUCKER, DON'T TOUCH HER!" Marie shouted.
"I'LL KILL YOU, YOU FUCKING BITCH!" Pearl tried kicking at her to no avail.
However, Shadow didn't stop. She only got more intense, starting to make the cut longer and deeper. Callie started sobbing, whimpering in pain.
Marie started crying in return. "I'LL HELP YOU! I'LL DO WHATEVER, JUST DON'T TOUCH HER!"
Upon hearing that, Shadow looked at her, pausing. Callie stopped, still crying. Marie sighed in relief.
Shadow suddenly stabbed the wall directly next to Callie's head, causing her to scream, before she withdrew the blade and stood up straight.
"What do you want?" Marie asked, on the verge of hyperventilating.
"Your alliance and your ship."
She was trying her hardest to control her breathing, but was largely unable to. "You want a pedicure, too?"
"Gideon Tecca laid out a complete plan that we are only one part of. To complete it, we are all to head back to Axcia. One of the final pieces of the puzzle rests there."
"For the crystal's energy?" Marina finally spoke up. "It's a dead end, the planet clearly died out."
She again chuckled. "On the surface. Sure. But the power we need lies deep below. Still begging to be mined. Energy powerful enough to, as they say, unravel the universe itself."
"The universe itself?" Marie asked. "What does that even me-"
"Time, Ms. Cuttlefish. With Axcia's root energy, we will gain the ability to puncture the space-time continuum. Or, at least… that's how Gideon put it."
That deep, haunting feeling fell over Marie as she stared at her, wide-eyed. "…Is that what you've been after this whole time? You don't just want power or the surface world, you want… to change time? You're… you're completely insa-"
She clenched her fist. "I thought the same, but this isn't my mission to decide. I'm just here to do my part. And now, so are you."
Marina shook her head. "Puncturing the space-time continuum is far too dangerous, you could- you could break reality. Entirely. You could destroy everything."
"That may be true with the smaller, more unstable energies we have back on Earth… but with Axcia's more stable root energy… and your help, Ms. Ida…" She leaned toward her. "We're going to solve that."
She shook her head. "No… No, I won't be a part of this. I won't help you."
She chuckled yet again. "You're already a part of this, Ms. Ida… ever since you built this ship and carried all of your friends with you into the cosmos. And if you betray us again… if you so much as argue… I know your weaknesses." She then turned to Marie. "Both of you."
Shadow was right, Marie realized. Neither one of them were going to let Callie or Pearl get hurt.
Shadow looked back at Marie. "…So… do we have a deal?"
Marie and Marina looked at each other. There was no good way out of this, at least not right now. Marina gulped and turned back to her. "…If we do… no one's going to get hurt."
She gave a slight shrug in return. "Fine." She stood up, turning to the other soldiers. "Get them up."
Marie and the others watched as the soldiers walked up to grab them.
Earth
To avoid any KRAKEN personnel or even Octarians that were hunting them down in the city, the Splatoon agents, alongside Cole, were forced to sneak along to Inkopolis Plaza before they dove into the manhole and finally made their way into Octo Valley. The sun was beginning to set as they of course surfaced by Cap'n Cuttlefish's old decaying shack that largely went unused these days, carrying their equipment with them.
Cole gave one look around. "…Never thought I'd be back here again."
"I did…" Oliver admitted.
He looked back at the agents as Daniel came up the manhole last. "Right… I guess all three of you have been here at one point, huh?"
"Well, I saw the Canyon. Not this place." Samantha commented. "And… I don't think Daniel has been here, either."
"No, I have." Daniel replied.
"What? When?"
"Er… it was just briefly… when I was technically Agent 9. You know… when I was a double agent."
Cole smirked. "A mole in the Splatoon, huh?"
He sighed. "It's in the past, alright? I'm here for different reasons now."
"Let's not start arguing." Oliver pressed forward, slowly followed by the others.
As they walked further from the entrance and made their way to other more active sectors, it became more clear that the Valley surface was more fortified these days than ever, especially in comparison to when Agent 3 invaded, and was guarded by plenty of Octotroopers and Octobombers that flew overhead.
Getting closer to their intended entrance into the domes themselves, the Agents were forced to duck down behind cover and take a rest as they waited for a better opening. Oliver took the opportunity to double-check his map. "We're just about there…" He spoke quietly.
Samantha just waited patiently, looked over some of the guards, up until they heard helicopter-like noises above them. She looked up. "What the fuck?"
They all transformed and hid in a nearby bush as an entire flying Octoseeker passed over them, shining its light down on the ground, scanning the area intently. Once they were again clear, the agents transformed back, resuming their previous positions.
Samantha took a deep breath. "Man, this is getting scary already…"
"This is gonna be tight." Oliver warned.
Daniel gripped his gun. "I can take out the guards… they won't see me coming."
"Not yet, you'll set off the alarms." He took another look around. "But be ready just in case."
They prepared their weapons, and the sky darkened ever more as they began slowly inching along whenever they could, avoiding guards and staying out of eye-shot of any overhead watchers, figuring out their patrol routes and taking cover wherever they could. Samantha jumped at little noises that told her they might've been caught, but they all remained just fine, and Oliver occasionally gave her reassuring nods as they made their way through.
Cole leaned over a wall, peeking out at their destinations. They waited a few more moments, before… "…We got an opening." He announced.
They continued sneaking along with complete determination, dodging another overhead Octoseeker as they did, until they finally dove into the kettle. From there, it didn't take them long to emerge down in the dome itself, into the entrance hallway. Oliver immediately pointed his weapon down the hall.
Samantha was next in. "O-Oh my god… we did it!" She half-whispered.
"That was only the surface…" He reminded her.
"R-Right…" She pointed her weapon as well as Daniel and Cole came in next.
Oliver looked at Cole as he walked up. "Lead the way."
Cole, who seemed more calm about the situation now, pointed his light down the hall as they began making their way through.
As they snuck along, Cole looked at him. "…Hey… You were talking before about these… crystals that are down here, right?" He whispered.
"That's right." He whispered back.
"...What exactly are they… capable of?"
"It's doesn't matter, we're going to be putting a stop to them."
"I'm just curious what exactly we're… up against."
He sighed. "…I don't even know how to explain it… I've seen them… teleport things… I've seen them disintegrate people… I think they even might've given one person a glimpse into the future. Somehow."
Cole didn't respond to that, looking forward. Samantha and Daniel also remained silent, particularly confused as they listened to him talk.
"...At the end of the day, all that matters… is that they're extremely dangerous." Oliver finished. "They're not worth keeping around."
Cole nodded a bit. "…Just thought I'd ask." He replied as they kept moving forward.
Daniel looked at Samantha, and she only gave an extremely brief glance in return before they both followed.
The Octarian Station
The Octolings were all still holding the Ray's Splatoon agents at gunpoint as, in single-file line, the four of them walked down the Ray's ramp and into the station's loading bay, each of them still cuffed.
Pearl walked directly behind Callie. "…You ok, Cal?" She asked her.
Callie's cut in her cheek was still there, with the resulting ink dried up on her face. "F-Fine, I think…"
"Stop talking." One of the Octolings told them.
Marie was meanwhile walking with Marina. She looked around, before leaning slightly toward Marina in front of her. "Please tell me you're working out some kind of escape plan in your head…" She whispered.
"I'm trying, Marie…" Marina whispered back.
She sighed and kept looking around, trying to look as non-suspicious as possible. "…How the hell did they even know how to find us?"
"I don't know…"
"Did they tag us or something?"
"I don't know… just, please, let me figure this out."
She sighed and straightened her posture as they walked. Shadow led them down through multiple halls, up until she led them into a more isolated room entirely. Marie looked around as they entered, quickly recognizing it to be a make-shift prison; the cells inside were made almost entirely out of strong glass, and inside a few of them, were a few of the elephant-like alien scientists from the Safe Zone.
Marina noticed them as well. "…You took hostages?" She spoke up toward Shadow.
"They're here for the same reason you are, Ms. Ida." Shadow replied. "They have a grand purpose, just like the rest of us."
Pearl huffed. "Bitch, the only grand purpose you have is getting your ass kick-" She grunted as, of course, the Octoling guards went to hit her.
"Speak up again, Pearl, we don't exactly have a use for you in particular right now."
She coughed. "Oh, puhh-LEASE! You kill me, and 'Rina's not gonna do shit for y-" She was punched again.
"For fuck's sake, throw the annoying Inklings away already." She stepped aside. "We'll be travelling back to Axcia soon enough. In the meantime, get comfortable."
Marie grunted as, along with Pearl and Callie, she was grabbed and thrown into her own cell.
Pearl fell down to the floor, but quickly got up again. "RrraaaAAAA-!" She attempted to charge out, but was cut off as the cell door was slammed in her face. She put her hands on the glass. "Fuck! 'Rina!"
Marina was the only one who wasn't being thrown into her own cell, but she still looked extremely distressed. She said something to her, but the sound was completely blocked off by the cell walls.
"What? What'd you say!? 'RINA!" She hit the glass. "FUCK! FUCK YOU! YOU BUNCHA EIGHT-TENTACLED COMMUNIST JACKASSES! YOU BITCH-ASS GREEN-CRYSTAL-FUCKING…"
Pearl kept screaming continuously in her cell, but her voice remained heard by no one but herself as Marie and Callie recomposed themselves in their own cells.
Noticing that they were in cells directly next to each other, Marie pressed herself up against the glass. "Callie! You ok!?"
Callie pressed herself against the other side, desperately trying to reach for her. She also shouted something at her, but of course, it went unheard.
She started crying as she moved her hand over Callie's. "I'm sorry… I'm so, so sorry! We're gonna get out of this! I promise we're gonna get out of this!" She shouted regardless, desperate for her to hear it somehow.
Marina just watched on for a moment as the agents suffered alone in their cells, completely unable to do anything. Marie glanced over at her just in time to see as she was then escorted out of the room by Shadow and the other soldiers. Her hand that was near Callie's clenched tightly into a fist as she watched.
Octo Valley
The next dome that the Splatoon agents had soon managed to infiltrate was just as guarded as the Valley's surface was, with the different hallways lined with a fair amount of Octotroopers. It was thus a slow process of getting the agents through to where they needed to go, which was more of a maze-like environment compared to other domes.
Luckily for them, Cole had been here before. He would constantly look around before he gave the others nods. "This way." He pressed on.
Samantha stayed close to Oliver as they snuck along, while Daniel followed from more of a slight distance, his trigger finger twitching as they passed more Octarians. The entire dome seemed to be a laboratory, with lots of experimental technology that Samantha hadn't seen before. As they made their way into a more isolated room, she looked over some of it as they walked by, especially curious and confused.
The others, however, did recognize some of it; a lot of these projects resembled some of the Underdogs' old nanotechnology weaponry, although in a lesser form due to Octo Valley's limited resources.
Oliver looked around to make sure that they, at the moment, were alone. "…Got some of Mia Harper's designs here…" He whispered. "Looks like they found a new home."
Cole picked a couple of the devices up. "Not super functional, though."
"Of course not, the real deal technology is gonna be in the mine."
Daniel took one look around at some of the familiar technology, the usual buzzing sound starting to build up in his ears as he saw them. He closed his eyes and took a breath, grabbing onto a solid tube as he leaned against the wall.
Samantha noticed. Although she continued to avoid eye contact with him at all costs, she couldn't help but look in his general direction in concern. "…Daniel?"
He shook his head. "I'm fine… just shaking off memories…"
Cole was briefly looking at one of the remotes in the room that had the capabilities to disable weapons, but he set it down. "Right… better get a move on before he goes nuts."
Oliver pointed his weapon as they moved along. Daniel took a moment before he followed last.
From there, it didn't take them long to arrive at their next destination: the sliding door that led into the restricted areas in the dome, which was just the first thing blocking their path toward the Mine's entrance.
Oliver nodded. "Cole…"
Cole cleared his throat and stepped forward, leaning down so that his eye met the retinal scanner. The agents watched in anxious silence as, ultimately, the scanner light turned green, and the sliding door opened for them.
"Oh, shit… that actually worked." Samantha thought aloud.
But at that moment, an uncomfortable feeling fell over Oliver. It was the feeling that this was… a bit too easy so far. Ultimately, he didn't linger on these thoughts, instead turning back to the other agents. "Come on…" He pointed his gun forward and walked in.
These hallways were even darker and lonelier than the ones they passed through previously, and as a result, they were met with minimal opposition as they simply walked up toward where the entrance was supposed to be. When they arrived, however, they were met with nothing but an empty hallway, with nothing but the gray, cold walls to accompany them. Daniel and Samantha looked around, confused.
Cole and Oliver, however, knew better. Oliver looked around, before he walked up to the wall where he knew the elevator to be, running his hands along it. Again, the other agents watched anxiously as he searched for any kind of hidden entrance, but only another minute passed before-
The halls were suddenly filled with some flashing lights and the loud sounds of a blaring alarm. Samantha and Daniel both covered their ears; While Samantha was frightened, Daniel straight-up growled loudly and doubled over, trying his best to mute his ears.
Oliver backed up as the wall's hidden entrance opened up, and multiple armed, masked Octolings on the other side were unveiled, immediately pointing their weapons at them. "Don't move!" They commanded.
Oliver held his hands up in surrender, eyes wide. The four of them looked around as more armed Octolings came up from other directions, also holding them at gunpoint.
At that moment, Gideon stepped forward from behind the masked Octolings, grinning like he was seeing a good friend again. He held his arms out. "G2PL19! So nice to see you again!"
Oliver stared at him, doing plenty of thinking. There was no way they'd know they were coming this easily. Coming to one conclusion, he turned back toward Daniel. "What did you do…?"
Daniel stared back, frightened. "I-I didn't-"
"What did you do!?" He shouted.
"Wasn't him, homes." Cole interrupted. They all looked at him as he walked over to join Gideon's side. "Was just me."
Oliver stared at him, his eyes immediately filled with intense anger. "…Why?"
He did a slight shrugging motion. "I told you multiple times you guys were walking into a suicide mission… and when you mentioned the crystals? Heh… I kinda just couldn't help myself."
Gideon took another step forward. "Did you really ally yourself with the Splatoon, 19? Are these their reinforcements? What are they-" He paused as he recognized Samantha. "Agent 4's sister? Really? You brought Agent 4's sister along? And-" Then, he looked at Daniel. "Agent 3's- Oh my stars, is that Hugh Ward's Executioner!?" He laughed. "You convinced Hugh Ward's Executioner to come help his poor sister!? Oh my-" He laughed again, shaking his hands. "The irony. The irony!"
Oliver said nothing, instead searching the room for any possible means of escape. Seeing only one option, he suddenly pulled out the metal tube, the same one he previously used to save Samantha, and pressed the button to make it grow. He prepared to slam it down, but as he slowed down in his attempt to get Samantha and Daniel down with him, one of the swifter Octolings managed to shoot his arm; He screamed as the tube promptly fell from his hand, instead shrinking down to its prior state as it rolled along the ground. One of the soldiers picked it up.
Seeing this, Gideon recollected himself and stepped closer toward him. "Hm… I'm extremely happy that you chose to return home, G2PL19. Just not sure I like the way you chose to do it…"
Oliver was holding his arm, glaring at him. "...Where's Bridgett? Is she still alive?"
Samantha eyes were, again, welling up with tears of pure fear. "…W-…What about Dylan!? Where is he!?"
"We'll get to that, we'll get to all that." Gideon nodded. "I'm sure this will all make for another fantastic family reunion. But let's not rush this." He smirked down at Oliver. "…Let's take this downstairs, shall we?"
"You horrible-" Oliver was interrupted as the soldiers came to grab them.
Samantha screamed, while Daniel grunted. "DON'T TOUCH ME!" He commanded with a whiny, child-like tone.
Oliver maintained his eye contact with Gideon as he was pulled toward the secret entrance. "You're gonna regret this, you horrible man…"
Gideon replied with another twisted smirk and a slight giggle as he watched them get pulled. "Oh, I'm sure I will."
The alarms that were activated also sounded down in the mine itself as the many soldiers and Octotroopers grabbed their weapons and followed protocol for such an event. Bridgett was in the process of walking down the halls, looking for Gideon when she heard the alarms and looked up. She looked in multiple directions, watching as the Octarians around her were sent into a flurry. At that moment, however, a haunting realization fell over her. Everything was about to get a lot worse. "Oh, no…" She looked down toward where the prison was, thinking.
Of course, the alarms and the confusion had actually given Dylan the exact opening he needed. Down in the tunnels, where the alarms couldn't even be heard, Jessica was still in her cell, kicking her feet in the same bored manner as she always did. She wasn't even doing much thinking at all at this point, instead staring up at the ceiling with an almost dead expression… at least, until she heard some commotion outside. Confused, she sat up.
She heard noises of Octotroopers, struggling, and then, splatting, before finally, Dylan opened up the cell door and leaned in. He gave a brief glance around the cell. "Hey, Three… am I late?"
She sighed in relief and cracked her neck as she stood up. "Better late than never."
"Good enough. Here. We've got a better fighting chance and an escape route this time." He tossed her an Octo Shot, which she grabbed out of the air and immediately cocked. Pumped up for action and ready to release her pent-up anger, she followed him as they rushed out of the cell.