Chapter 21: The Complex of Superiority
"The great and strong will not yield to the weak and feeble. Better change your DNA if you'd like to fight as equals."
"Akikta..."
A voice echoed, calling out Akikta's name from a distance. Who the voice belonged to was a mystery, as he couldn't make out its tone. At the same time, he was too tired to care about who the voice belonged to.
Akikta's body felt warm and fuzzy; He imagined himself nice and snug under a soft, cozy blanket while lying on a bed made from clouds. The thoughts alone made him drift deeper into his slumber... At least, it would if it weren't for the echoing voice still calling out to him.
"Akikta..." it repeated, this time a little louder. Akikta was able to identify the voice as belonging to a female.
The low echoes of the voice slowly turned into a high-pitched ringing noise. He tried to tune out the sounds at first, but it worsened over time, eventually making that impossible.
"Akikta!" The feminine voice shouted, snapping him awake.
Akikta's eyes shot open, only to see a figure standing over him on all fours. He flinched, and his heart skipped a few beats.
After a second, he quickly calmed down, realizing the figure was just Nakji. "Oh, it's just you, Nak." He breathed a sigh of relief
Nakji smiled widely at Akikta's response. "Aki!" She hugged him tightly, causing a surge of pain to shoot through him.
He grunted as the warm, fuzzy feeling was replaced with soreness and discomfort.
After the hug, he sat up, seeing they were on top of a large pile of trash. He wondered how they got there. The last thing he remembered was pushing Marina out of Masu's beam attack.
Before Akikta could process what happened, a light stinging sensation pricked his brain. He winced and raised a hand to rub his head, but he never felt the two connect. Confused, he pulled back, being met with the horrific sight of his missing arm.
Akikta barely held in his vomit as he turned away to avoid getting a good look at his wound.
When he turned, he spotted Callie and Marina standing to the side with heavy frowns. Like Nakji, both of them were heavily bruised. On the bright side, everyone was still alive.
Akikta rubbed his head with his other arm. The memories of what happened moments before he fainted played back in his head like some sick movie. He lost his arm trying to save Marina—talk about irony. He supposed it was karma for severing her tentacle. At least he still had his dominant hand.
Regardless, the throbbing pain coming from his wrapped-up stump made it difficult to focus on any positives. He asked some questions to take his mind off the pain. "How long have I been out... and where are we?" Akikta realized they weren't in the Rejuvenation Center anymore, which was strange.
"F-fifteen minutes," Callie answered the first question. "And I think we're in the bowels..."
Akikta audibly said, "Huh?" after hearing Callie's response. Fifteen minutes, and they were all in the slums of Atlantis? How? What happened? Last he checked, they were somewhat holding their own against the Steel Twins. Did they lose?
The more Akikta thought about it, the more he noticed how badly injured everyone was. Nakji looked the most beaten out of the three—part of her skin didn't even match its usual palish color, taking on a deep shade of blue or purple instead. Marina was missing her weapon and had a nasty bruise on her jaw. Callie was missing both her visor and helmet. And Biggie was...
Akikta looked around, not seeing the Big Shot anywhere. "Where's Biggie?" He looked back to the group. Nakji lowered her head. Callie stared nervously at Marina. Marina was eyeing Akikta, but she didn't say a word. "Guys?" Akikta's concern rose the longer the silence lasted.
"Biggie...didn't make it..." Marina answered somberly, keeping eye contact with Akikta.
"What?" He couldn't understand what Marina was saying until she pointed in the distance.
From the top of their moderately high trash pile, past a few buildings, was a flaming and smoky tower. Akikta only knew it was the Rejuvenation Center because he could still see the charred plus-shaped symbol on its front.
"N-no..." Akikta said in disbelief, staring up at the blazed tower.
"The tower blew up. And Biggie... he saved us all by sacrificing himself." Marina explained, further sending Akikta into a whirlwind of hopelessness and despair.
Their only guide in this godforsaken place was dead, and since Marina's headphones were broken, there was no way to contact the others. With all the twists and turns they made by car, it was unlikely anyone else knew how to get back to the Residential Zone on foot. And that wasn't even the worst part.
With the Rejuvenation Center, his only hope of surviving, gone, Akikta's death was inevitable.
His heartbeat became irregular as the realization crashed down on him like a tsunami. He was going to die, and he hadn't even saved Marie or Inka yet...
As those overwhelming thoughts flooded his brain, a bright red light flashed in his peripheral vision. He turned to see a blinking arrow sign pointing to the side. Akikta's eyes looked over and up, seeing another tower. Said tower was closer than the burning Rejuvenation Center.
By now, he knew each tower had a distinct look to differentiate each other. And he knew the one he was looking at right now was the Superiority Complex, where Rick said Inka and Marie were last being held.
If they were there, then he was likely there too.
That scaly, fishy bastard. Akikta's only in this situation because of him. Everything bad that's ever happened to him has been because of Sal!
His feelings of hopelessness and misery were replaced with immense anger and extreme hatred. So much so, that the pain swirling through his body abruptly ceased. He got up weirdly and began marching down the trash pile toward the Superiority Complex.
"Aki?" Nakji called out to him, but he didn't respond. "Aki, what are you doing?"
"I'm going to rescue Marie and Inka." He stated firmly.
"Akikta!" Marina grabbed his arm, gently pulling him back. "That's suicide! We have to find our way back to the others and think of something else..."
Akikta looked over his shoulder, staring at Marina's infinity-shaped pupils. He knew she was worried, but he couldn't just leave Inka and Marie; he had a few good reasons why.
For one, there was no telling how long Marie and Inka had left. They were probably being served up on a silver platter right now, for all he knew.
Secondly, Akikta wasn't sure how much time he had left himself. The elixir Rick gave him could wear off at any second, and he'd only have half an hour of a painful existence left to live. He couldn't risk them wasting more time just to find the Residential Zone and devise a new plan if it'd all be for nothing.
Lastly, there was that whole Boris situation he still had to worry about. He wasn't sure what happened to the Steel Twins, but with an entire tower being engulfed in flames, Sal was likely whipping out the big guns if he hadn't already.
Akikta could see that if they wanted to save Inka and Marie, it was now or never... Or maybe he was just seeing red and wanted an excuse to kill Sal as quickly as possible.
Regardless, he yanked his arm out of Marina's grasp and bolted toward the Superiority Complex, running with a limp. "Aki!" The three girls shouted at him and gave chase. Despite his injuries, he still managed to outrun them.
He busted through a small double door that led into the lower areas of the Superiority Complex, hauling ass through the halls like some madman. He didn't care if he was seen at all. His only concern was finding Inka and Marie, hoping he wasn't too late.
Akikta followed the various signs and symbols pointing to the upper levels of the Superiority Complex, searching for the massive catwalk section that directly led to the cloning chambers.
As he turned a corner, he ran right into something big, bouncing off it and falling flat on his butt. He looked up, seeing a large salmonid towering over him. Akikta furrowed his brows, remembering the others referring to these things as cohocks.
The cohock grumbled in an annoyed manner, pulling out a plus-sized frying pan. Its weapon did not deter Akikta. He stood back up, still brimming with anger. "You're in my way! MOVE!" He yelled with seething hatred, using his only arm to throw a punch directly into the cohock's stomach. His punch landed, but the cohock didn't move an inch. It didn't even flinch. Akikta's fist sunk into the flesh of the creature as if it were a foam pillow. The cohock stared down at him, confused.
Akikta faltered for a moment. I... I put everything I had into that punch... He thought he'd be a lot stronger than he really that weak?
As if realizing what Akikta tried to do, the cohock let out a hefty gurgling laugh. After it got the amusement out of its system, it bashed Akikta across the face with the backside of its pan. He fell to the ground hard, almost getting knocked unconscious. Akikta's vision fizzled in and out, and he swore he was actually seeing stars swirl around him.
The attack quite literally knocked some sense into him, and he finally understood what he was doing was stupid. Really stupid. But it was too late. He had already gotten himself in trouble.
Before he could make any moves, the cohock reared its pan back, about to strike again.
Fortunately for Akikta, Callie arrived just in time, jumping and hitting the cohock with her roller. The cohock stumbled back instead of exploding into a puddle of yellow ink like he had seen happen before so many other times. Ultimately, that ended up being the cohock's fate when Nakji dashed from behind Callie, swiping the large salmonid with her katana and killing it instantly.
Marina grabbed Akikta by the shoulders, hoisting him up onto his feet. "Aki! What are you doing?! You're gonna get yourself killed!" She scolded, letting him lean against her for support as the brimming anger that welled inside him died down, and with it, so too did most of his strength.
Before he could apologize, more salmonids poured into the hall from every direction. Evidently, they heard all the commotion. It didn't take them long to surround the four.
Marina held Akikta close while Callie and Nakji encircled the two of them, keeping them in the center of their little bubble formation. Akikta didn't see this ending well at all. Especially not when a Steelhead came into view.
It stopped a short distance from the group, and Akikta knew the worst was coming.
With the four of them surrounded, the cephalopods wouldn't be able to move anywhere. All that Steelhead had to do was toss one ink bomb in their direction, and it was over for the two octolings and inkling. They'd die instantly from the explosion, and it'd be his fault.
Dammit! Look at what you've done! You let your feelings get in the way again, and now they're gonna die because of you!
Akikta cursed himself, desperately thinking of something—anything, to save his comrades and sister. But nothing came to mind. It didn't help that there was a leak, causing an irritating, dripping noise to break his concentration.
Wait, something was leaking? But there weren't any nearby pipes...
Akikta turned to the source of the dripping noise, seeing a small puddle forming on the ground a few feet from him. When he noticed it, everyone else seemed to as well. The room deafened immediately, with the only sound being the dripping noise of the liquid. The liquid in question wasn't water or some other mystery fluid. It was ink.
Black ink.
Everyone slowly looked up, seeing the ink dripping from a closed vent on the ceiling. The dripping turned into a continuous stream. It was as if the ink reacted to everyone's gaze.
The black ink splashed onto a few chums that were huddled up together. They didn't even get to shout or fight back as the black ink completely submerged them, conjoining them into a singular blob. The blob wriggled, then went still. After a short delay, the black ink transformed into a familiar figure—Subject 7.
Instinctively, Akikta and his group took a step back. Subject 7 turned and stared directly at him, sending shivers down his spine. He felt Marina shudder, too.
Before Subject 7 could do anything else, the Steelhead inflated a green bomb on top of its head, only to chuck it at the ink demon. The bomb landed near Subject 7, but instead of letting it go off, he expanded and absorbed the bomb into him, growing bigger as a result.
Then, without warning, Subject 7 launched onto the Steelhead, completely bypassing the armored salmonid's defenses.
That fish was as good as gone, and they'd be too if they didn't take advantage of this situation.
"RUN!" Akikta shouted, prompting him and his group to take off. They rushed past the salmonids easily since Subject 7 devouring the Steelhead enamored them.
They didn't get off that easily though, as while most salmonids stayed behind to fight Subject 7, a portion of them broke off to chase the four that ran. Whenever Marina and Akikta lagged behind, Nakji or Callie would move back to deal with the salmonids gaining on them.
The commotion of their fights kept drawing more and more salmonids towards their location, to the point where both Callie and Nakji had to stay behind and deal with them.
Akikta and Marina kept moving forward. After turning a corner, they ran right into a figure, tackling them to the ground. Not again!
Marina quickly got up, but before she could pull Akikta off whoever they ran into, he got a good look at the figure. It was a snatcher.
He fidgeted hard as Marina pulled him up, startled that they ran into another salmonid. However, the snatcher didn't make any aggressive moves. It just stayed on the ground, looking up at the dark duo. Marina tried to pull on Akikta's arm to have them fall back, but he didn't budge. He just stared back.
After a moment of staring, he recognized the snatcher. It was the same one that had given him his translators and immobilizer device! And that meant—"Holy shit! You're Rick's brother!" He said excitedly, happy to have run into a friendly face.
The snatcher tilted their head. "Rick?"
Akikta stammered over his words before finally getting something coherent out. "S-sorry. Risky tinkerer." He clarified, only for Marina to speak up.
"Wait, I understood you!" She pointed out as the snatcher got up.
"Well, of course you did... some of us can speak your language, you know." Rick's brother dusted himself off. "And what are you doing here, human? Brother said you were on your way to the Rejuvenation Center."
Akikta frowned. "The tower exploded."
The snatcher's face perked up in surprise. "So that's what that rumble from earlier was..."
"Yeah, so there's been a change of plans. We're gonna save Inka and Marie right here and right now." Marina's face became more worried than usual. "But we've run into some trouble. Think you could—" Akikta was cut off by a monstrous shriek, followed by the heavy footsteps of Nakji and Callie rounding the corner.
"Bad news, your brother is on his way here right now!" Callie revealed, almost missing the snatcher standing in front of them. Since Marina and Akikta didn't have their guard up, Nakji and Callie took no offensive action against the salmonid.
"That screech... that beast is back, isn't it? I thought it left!" The snatcher turned and waved its fin, gesturing for the group to follow. "Hurry!" was all he said before taking off.
The group followed close behind, running through halls, up flights of stairs, and even through smaller rooms. They ignored any salmonid they encountered, as they couldn't risk slowing down and letting Subject 7 catch them.
Akikta didn't know where Rick's brother was leading them, but he noticed that the further they went, the more the lights dimmed. In addition, the number of salmonids they came across decreased, eventually reaching zero. If he had to guess, they were probably going to a secluded area of the Superiority Complex.
After some time, everyone started hearing heavy smacks echo down the halls. They were rapid and sounded like something wet smashing the floor. The heavy smacks, which Akikta recognized as footsteps, were faint at first. This caused the group to run faster, but it was no use. No matter how fast they ran, the wet footsteps gradually grew louder and louder, before finally sounding like they were right behind them.
Akikta looked over his shoulder to see Subject 7 at the end of the hall, charging at them on all fours like some kind of lizard.
Nakji saw where Akikta's eyes were glued and grunted. "Keep running, Aki! I'll hold him off."
Akikta snapped his head to Nakji, wide-eyed. "What?! Are you crazy? Your ink will only strengthen him!"
"Maybe, but I can at least slow him down."
Before Akikta could protest, Callie responded. "If you're gonna slow him down, I'll help!"
"Nakji, Callie! Just keep running!" Akikta demanded.
Instead, they both turned around in unison, now holding their ground against his brother. Usually, he'd turn right with them, but the adrenaline pumping through his veins and the fear induced in his heart kept his legs from stopping.
Even if he couldn't stop running, he looked over his shoulder to watch the two's standoff; To his surprise, when Subject 7 reached them, he didn't devour them. Instead, he smacked both of them out of the way with ease and continued forward.
Akikta immediately put two and two together, pushing Marina away from him. She yelped and fell to the side, and just like he thought, Subject 7 completely ignored her.
It seemed the ink demon attacked the salmonids only because they struck first. The only target Subject 7 wanted was Akikta.
"Rick's brother! Move!" He shouted, causing the snatcher to move to the side. Akikta hobbled past him, turning yet another corner and finding a single room down the hall labeled 'splicing chamber 2015.'
Akikta busted through the door. As he ran into the square-shaped room, he noticed half of it was separated by a thick glass wall with a single metal door in the center of the divider.
Before the glass was a sciency-looking room; to the left were strange pads and devices, and to the right were computer screens and terminals. On the other side of the glass, through the metal door, was a blank white room, similar to the one Akikta had first found Subject 7 in. To his dismay, the white room was a dead-end.
Akikta looked behind him to see how far Subject 7 was—he was right on top of him.
Unfathomable fear jolted through Akikta's entire body like a shock of electricity. Then, to his utter horror, he tripped.
That trip ended up being a blessing in disguise, as at the same time he fell, Subject 7 leaped forward, missing Akikta and tumbling through the metal door into the blank white room.
It was hard for Akikta to get back up since he was missing an arm. Luckily, he didn't have to, as Rick's brother rushed in and slammed a red button next to the metal door. Soon after, the door sealed shut, trapping Subject 7.
Subject 7 recovered and ran to the metal door, pounding on it and the glass wall. Akikta jumped at each bang, crawling backward to get away from his brother.
There was terrible power behind each strike, but nothing happened no matter how hard Subject 7 smashed his inky self against the door and wall. The door didn't bend or dent, and the glass didn't even crack. Whatever the stuff was made of, it was practically indestructible.
Subject 7 must've realized this, as eventually, he stopped trying to break everything down. The two brothers locked eyes with each other, staring at one another for a long moment. Then the others came in. When they did, Subject 7 moved to the back of the white room into the shadows. Only his eyes were visible now.
"Aki, are you ok?!" Nakji kneeled to him, though Akikta made no attempts to get up.
He stared at the two white dots beaming in the darkness for a few seconds longer before responding. "Y-yeah. I'm fine..." He sighed, feeling his heartbeat slow to a normal rate. How he hadn't experienced a heart attack yet was beyond him.
Akikta looked back at the entrance of the room. "We weren't followed, were we?"
Callie shook her head. "Your bro was the only one following us. I don't think the other salmonids know where we are." She put her roller up, letting it lean against the gray wall on the side. She'd then look at the white dots in the darkness. "That's creepy..." Callie moved her arms to hug herself.
Rick's brother then moved over to the door, barricading it with a brown desk that was in the corner of the room. "I think it's best if we stay here for now. The others will likely be looking for you, human."
Akikta nodded before lying down on his back. "Yeah, sure... I could use the breather..."