Hey, everyone. First update of the year, so I hope that everyone enjoyed their holidays and that you're doing well. I'm sorry again for the slow updates, but, we're getting close to the next major events of the story now, and I'm feeling rejuvenated after a holidays break, so, I hope everyone's still onboard, and let's keep the train moving.
Chapter 33: Live on Channel 8
Days Later
The massive, green planet of Axcia had continued to sit still in the uninterrupted silence of the cosmos, forever decaying just as it had been left. No one had been to this planet, no one had gone near it, no one had even looked for it. It wasn't until this particular day that a swarm of big Octarian ships appeared from the darkness, appearing out of thin air with the usual flashes of light that they emerged from.
With their advanced technology based on an improved version of Marina Ida's designs, that had been developed faster than could be imagined, it didn't take long at all for these Octarians to close in on the planet itself. Then, in a similar fashion to what the massive Octarian station had done in the original timeline, they moved to extract many crystals and a large amount of Axcian energy from the planet, doing so as efficiently as quickly as they could. As suddenly as they had arrived, they then left, disappearing into more flashes of light as they promptly jumped straight back to Earth without a single issue.
Such a feat had used nearly the last of the completed Axcian energy the Octarians already had, but as they reemerged into Octo City, they now had more of this energy than they knew what to do with.
Marina-2 was watching from the landing pad balcony that stretched out from Octavio Tower as these ships closed in one at a time and opened up. She watched as each of the ships were emptied, with Octarian scientists carrying in everything they had collected, including crates of dead extracted crystals, and large battery-like energy cells that now contained the extracted energy. Once all of the ships had loaded out, she followed them inside and used her watch to seal the entrance shut.
Lydia, some Eightfolds, and King Octavio, once again in his mobile throne, were watching as they passed them in the hall on their way back toward the lab. "No issues?" Octavio asked.
"No issues reported." Marina-2 replied as she stopped to face him. She double-checked her watch. "My teams completed their quotas and then some. We're officially ahead of schedule."
"Yesss…" He turned his throne, and they headed down toward the lab together. "To think that all this time, it was going to be this easy. That all we needed was the research from your annoying doppelganger. But even then, you've outdone yourselves. Kudos to you for that."
"The future of our society and scientific knowledge have driven me to such, my King. We're now only a few more steps away from achieving a better future."
"See to it, then. I want more results in the coming days." He finished, and she nodded at him before they went their separate ways down the halls.
As Octavio continued on his own way, he was interrupted as one of his own Eightfolds, Eva, followed him. "My King."
"Hm?" He turned his throne ever-so-slightly toward her.
"I don't mean to pester you, and I know that there's been a lot going on, but… I still haven't been able to return to my scheduled break, and-"
"And what? I thought we had you assigned to look after the Tecca anomaly."
"And… no problems have arisen with her."
"Then I trust that you'll keep it that way, until further notice. We'll discuss breaks at a later time… when things are far less hectic, and this rebellion situation is dealt with. You hear me?"
She paused. "…Yes, my King."
"Good." As he continued along as if the conversation never happened, Eva stood where she was, staring blankly ahead for a few moments before she turned around.
Finding some privacy for herself outside in the hall, Eva looked around to make sure she wasn't seen before she stood in a corner and got on her watch. The fact of the matter was… with how busy she had been, she hadn't been home ever since she had first received that anomaly report in the first place, and in turn, hadn't seen her children since they were able to visit her here in the tower. The exhaustion and the deep, sad ache in her gut had only grown and grown, especially in the past few days. She longed to rest… to see them again…
Taking in a breath, she pulled up the communication line on her device and waited for the call to go through. After a few agonizing moments of wondering if they would pick up, she finally heard the familiar voice. "Mommy!"
"My dears." She smiled widely. "How are you?"
"We're ok! We miss you, though…"
"Are you coming home, mommy?" The girl's voice could be heard next.
That single question almost brought Eva to tears, but she kept strong as she sucked in another breath. "Not yet. I've still been very busy, dealing with this rebellion. But I'll be home soon enough. I promise."
"Really promise?"
"Really promise. Have… you two been doing all of your drills?"
As the kids proceeded to talk about their drills and anything else they had been up to, the call suddenly temporarily muted automatically as another Eightfold on another line also called her.
"Tecca. You're needed in wing 8. 3 minutes."
"C-Coming." She swiftly switched the call back to her children, having already missed what they were talking about. "L-Listen, children." She cut them off. "I… have to go."
"Already?" The young boy asked.
"Yes. I… I'm sorry. But I promise you… great things are coming. Such wonderful things. Um… a lot of things may be changing soon… and that's always a little scary… but as long as you keep each other close, and take care of each other, everything will be ok."
"But we already hear so many scary things about the rebellion on the news. Aren't things already changing? The Thinker won't stop talking about it…"
Again, she was almost brought to tears. She wasn't even sure how much longer she could keep lying about all this. "…Everything will be ok… everything will be ok. I promise. I love you. I love you both. I'll see you soon enough. Remember to look after each other until I'm back." She forced herself to end the call, at the same time allowing herself to break into tears.
She stood there another moment, before she wiped her tears and got right back to work.
Just as Eva was busy with her duties, nearly the entirety of the Eightfold Order and the Tartar-Bots were busy with theirs, as many of them combed the entire city for the missing Splatoon fugitives. Tartar-Bots walked the streets in groups, while search hovercars and massive Octoseekers patrolled the sky, shining down spotlights through the night air. Even the sewers were no longer safe as more Tartar-Bots headed down there and assumed their patrols as well.
Waiting for a group of Tartar-Bots to pass, Dylan watched from behind the corner in an alleyway with one eye, until the coast was clear and he could step out. These had certainly been a rough several days for him and his group, but he was still fully in the ring, now disguised in Octarian citizen clothes, with a large leather trench coat, and full Octarian prosthetics. He looked both ways before he crossed the street, snuck into the next building through the lobby, kept his head down, and made his way up to the elevator.
He quickly scanned his wrist against the elevator button, which turned green to accept him. Looking around a last time, he boarded the elevator and allowed it to carry him to the top floor.
It was on the roof of this very building where Oliver, Callie, and Samantha were hiding out under a shade roof, with all of the smuggled tools that they had managed to take for themselves during their last several days in this city. They all had their own Octarian clothes and prosthetics on.
Callie, at the moment, was playing with the ID injector that Oliver had stolen from the medical facility, stabbing it into her wrist where her own Octarian ID was to run diagnostics. A holographic screen emerged from the tool with settings for her to mess with, for which she struggled to navigate the menus. "Ow." She muttered as she accidentally gave herself an electric shock. "Ow!"
Oliver, who was looking through a holographic map of the entire city that protruded from the disc he had placed on the floor, looked over at her. "What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to change my name on this thing. I don't like the one we settled on." She kept playing with the settings, only to give herself another shock. "Ow! Fucker!"
Oliver sighed and moved over to take it from her. "Well, stop it. Those IDs were hard enough to inject."
Samantha, who listened to their brief argument, was mainly spending her time just staring outward at the beauties of this city, leaning over the railing as she did. She had spent a fair amount of time daydreaming what the far future would look like when she was younger, but this… here, in the moment, not in her imagination or even in the form of special effects on a TV, was better than anything she could have imagined. She sighed with wonder.
Dylan came up through the stairs and out to exit door and join them on the roof. He pulled out the bag from his trench coat that he had smuggled. "Food's here."
"Finally." Callie and the others stood up and joined with him to look in the bag, grabbing their food. "Man, how many times are you gonna be my savior, Four?"
He shook his head. "You know I'm just doing my job." He got his own food out last. "We gonna be spending the night here?"
"No." Oliver replied bluntly. "But I think we can rest here another little while."
"Alrighty, then, I'll take that." He sat down as they all relaxed to eat. Oliver kept studying his map as they did.
Samantha hummed happily as they ate. It was pretty much this reality's version of fast food, but didn't feel as cheap as what they were used to, and made for an enjoyable meal, even if it wasn't a lot. "Man-" She briefly spoke with her mouth full; She paused to chew and swallow before she continued. "Gotta say, we've handled the transition to this city pretty damn well if I do say so myself. I mean, isn't it just so cool to discover stuff here?"
The other three all looked around at each other, wondering if she was being serious, before Dylan turned back to her. "You projectile vomited onto me and Callie as soon as you realized where we even were."
Samantha blushed. "…S-…So? You try almost dying and then you see how that makes your stomach feel. Besides… I've recovered just fine." She briefly held her arms out, motioning over herself.
He just sighed and kept eating. They all finished their meal quickly and continued as they were. Oliver, just as before, was still studying his map without break.
"So where are we gonna go from here?" Callie knelt down next to him to look at it as well.
"Might try to head further south and see what's down there." He replied. "It's either that or go further into the center of the city."
"Well, which option is gonna get us closer to finding the other half of our team?" Samantha asked.
Oliver didn't respond, as they all turned and looked outward from the roof to see the center of the city itself. It was clearly marked by the tall Octavio Tower, which thanks to how tall it was, how elevated the island it stood on was, and the bright lights it gave off, was visible from all parts of the city no matter the distance. From where they stood, it was still a fair distance away, but it was at least closer than it was before.
"If they're anywhere, it may just be the center of the city. But there's no way we'll last down there without a plan." Oliver continued.
Samantha stared outward as well. "It's heartbreaking to not know what they've been dealing with in captivity."
The others fell silent as their thoughts went back to their loved ones on the other half of the team and what they may have been dealing with. The last they had all seen, they had been arrested by the Tartar-Bots, and they had heard absolutely nothing about them since.
"So… let's think." Dylan spoke up. "If there's anywhere we can go in this city, to find even a hint of where they might be… where would that be?"
The others all looked around at each other as they thought about it, but no one was coming up with any good ideas.
"Maybe the library again?" Oliver replied.
"I doubt their whereabouts would be shown on any public records." Callie responded.
"Yeah, with how little we've heard, they could held up in some super secret Area 51 shit." Samantha added.
"Really not helping, Sam." Dylan replied.
A moment later, they all looked outward again as, in massive holographic images that shot up from multiple parts of the city, the next Thinker broadcast came on. Just as they did with each of the broadcasts they could see, they stood in their current spot and watched from a distance.
The Thinker was going on about his usual rebellion rambles in his opening monologue, and as the agents watched, an idea started to click together in Callie's head.
"If they think we're a part of some kind of rebellion… then they probably think the other half of the team is too, right?" Callie said out loud.
"I mean… yeah, maybe." Dylan replied. "If that's the designation they give to Inklings around here."
"Well, this Thinker guy does seem pretty up-to-date with what's even been going on… he could have higher-up knowledge. He might even know where the others are, and what's being done to them."
"But they've never shown up on any broadcasts."
"Four, I used to run the news back in my day. There were news we knew about and weren't allowed to broadcast. I mean, yeah, it's just a thought, but… we have to look somewhere, don't we?"
As Oliver put more of his own thoughts into it, he suddenly turned back to his map. "She may be onto something. I was looking at the studio, where those broadcasts come from."
The others followed behind him as he knelt down toward his map and scrolled through to find it. Soon enough, he scrolled in on the Channel 8 Studio a fair distance away.
"There are multiple specialized antennas there that connect to the rest of the city, according to this." Oliver continued. "It's the biggest studio in the city, with I imagine lots of data flowing in and out. If there's anywhere we could find that data that isn't a complete death trap, it may be there."
"But… that'd require going into public." Samantha replied. "At a place that broadcasts on television, no less. That'd be huge exposure for us."
Oliver sighed. "I don't know what to do about the broadcasts… but if we're going to do anything more than nothing, we'll likely have to go into public eventually, either way. Everything we do is already a risk."
They all looked at each other, growing steadily nervous. Indeed, none of them really wanted to go, but… there were also no objections, or other ideas.
"Is it settled, then?" Oliver asked.
Dylan sighed. "Let's play this careful and see what we can shake loose, I guess. With all of our fingers crossed."
He nodded and picked up the disc, closing the map. "Let's get moving, then."
Octavio Tower
It wasn't before long that the labs had practically been turned into an Axcian crystal factory, with several scientists working with their new resources to synthesize more crystals.
Marina-2, of course, was overseeing much of this work, her hands behind her back as always as she walked down the labs and studied the progress of the different work stations… with a slow grin forming on her face as she did. She didn't even care about the growing exhaustion that many of her workers were showing; In fact, if she saw someone working slowly or even attempting to slack off outside of their assigned breaks, she snapped at them and threatened them into getting back to work.
Lydia was sitting in her own corner and watching as many of these scientists did their work, turning to see as Eva opened the door and walked in once again. They made eye contact as Eva stepped toward her.
"How is everything going here?" She asked.
Lydia gave another look around as she stood up with her. "About as well as I imagined."
They looked around at the different work stations as they walked past. They couldn't see a single person on break as everyone worked to perfect their ongoing projects related to these crystals.
"Things are moving pretty quickly, now." Lydia continued. "Are things usually like this here?"
"Not quite like this, no." Eva admitted. "The desperation shown by Marina and the King is… unprecedented."
"Well, I've spent half my life around labcoats like these." She paused. "My father was a hard worker as well, you know. Too much so."
"He sounds like he was an excellent man." She nodded. "I would've been pleased to meet him."
"If only he hadn't thrown his life away like he did, then."
"I, uh… I've noticed that you've felt more content here." She said as they stopped and found a place to stand. "Is that true?"
Lydia side-eyed her. "…It might be fair to say I've adapted."
"That's good. I'm happy for you." She smiled lightly. "I'm just sorry it couldn't have been during more peaceful times."
Again, Lydia's gaze went outward. "…I've seldom known peace. So, trust me when I say, this isn't that much of a change of pace after all."
Eva nodded and looked down.
"What about you?" She faced her fully. "Are you content?"
"O-Of course." She looked back at her, nodding.
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
Lydia stared at her. She knew something had changed with Eva… ever since they had last heard Marina-2's plans to enhance the Octarian form. Even if she hadn't known her for long, she could tell she was lying. Although she considered saying something more on the matter, she simply dropped the stare and turned away.
Eva again looked down as they now stood in silence, before she looked around at some of the working scientists around them. She had indeed been very stressed out in the last few days, and… perhaps just felt a bit uneasy about the new direction things had been going in. That was all, wasn't it? She knew in the end, things were going to work out, she just had to be patient and trust the process.
"Well, let's pray that the rebellion will soon be taken care of, these projects will go smoothly, and things will return even somewhat to normalcy." She finally spoke up. "We have some bright days ahead of us, I'm sure of it. Then, perhaps you and I will be able to… spend more time away from here. As a family."
Lydia again side-eyed her, thinking that over. She did figure that she would like to see Eva's children again. "…Perhaps." She nodded.
She smiled slightly as they stopped and stood before where one of these crystals had been placed. It was sitting within the machine it had been placed in, occasionally letting out visible electric bolts. They both stared at it, in silence, for what felt like several moments.
"...It's beautiful." Lydia eventually spoke.
Eva glanced at her.
She did as well. "Isn't it?"
She looked back at the crystal. Her mind had plenty of contradicting thoughts on how she even felt about this magnificent object… and her eyes in turn held a million different emotions. "…Yes." Is all she could say. It wasn't wrong, after all… she felt like she could stare into it for hours… like it was calling to her.
Feeling an uncomfortable lump in her throat, she turned toward Lydia one last time. "I'll… be seeing you, Lydia."
She turned to stare back at her, in that moment trying to study her eyes. "Of course."
As Eva turned to walk away, Lydia gave one last glance at the crystal before she walked in the opposite direction.
Before Eva could leave the area, however, she stopped as she heard some unusual sputtering sounds coming from the same device. Curious, she slowly turned back toward it. At the moment, seemingly at random, it was as if the crystal began to freak out, letting off more bursts of electricity that drew sparks from the device it sat in. Squinting, she walked back toward it, where she looked around, wondering if another scientist was seeing this same thing. Not even Lydia was paying attention. She looked back into the crystal, thinking.
The room had almost seemed to fall into a hush, as a deep whisper echoed in the back of Eva's head.
"Touch it."
She blinked and quickly threw that thought away. Whatever this device was doing with the crystal, it was probably just turned up too high, she realized. She reached her hand toward the knob, but slowed considerably when that nagging thought returned.
"Touch it." The command almost felt like it was coming from the crystal itself, hissing at her from its slot.
Pausing her hand for one more second, she reached to touch the device's dial and turn down the power. As soon as the dial was touched, a burst of electricity from the crystal struck her hand. She gasped and immediately stepped back. Her eyes widened.
Everyone else in the room looked around as the lights around them briefly flickered. Lydia and some scientists looked around until their eye was caught by the crystal, glowing somewhat intensely where it sat. They ran over.
Eva was on the floor by the opposite table, holding her hand and trembling violently.
"Eva?" Lydia knelt toward her and grabbed her shoulder. "Eva?" She shook her.
Eva gasped as she looked at her, eyes wide and building with tears.
"What happened?"
It took a moment for Eva to respond as she gulped. "…D-Did you see that? Did you see that?"
She shook her head. "See what?"
As her mind caught up to her, Eva looked around and again swallowed. She shook her head. "…N-Nothing… nothing."
Lydia stared at her, slowly catching on. She remembered what had happened to herself when she last touched one of these crystals… and what it made her see… Did Eva touch it as well?
Moments passed as Eva slowly got back on her feet and started to walk out. Her legs were still horribly shaky and weak, prompting Lydia to help her.
"Do you need anything?" Lydia asked.
"Let go of me." She replied sorely.
She paused and did so, standing there as she watched Eva walk out.
Eva gave one last terrified look around the room, as if checking to see what was real and what wasn't, before she turned the corner and walked away, as quickly as she could.
Lydia squinted as she watched this. What did Eva see?
The Next Evening
"It's time once again for a special Saturday night, right here in Octo City, live on Channel 8! With celebrity guests, including Oscar Mollusc, Victor Hanson, and musical guests such as The Octalades, The Koopa Smoothas, and Mashup! Now, get ready for your host, the smartest one of them all: The THINKER!"
The deep voice finished its announcement over the accompanying jazz music, as the stage lights around the big auditorium came to center on the purple curtain, from which the Thinker, in all of his glory with his large purple coat on, stepped out onto the stage. He laughed dramatically as he held his hands up toward his screaming fans in the auditorium, taking big, exciting steps across the stage. He started dancing somewhat as the spotlights continued to shine on him, moonwalking backwards to the delight of the crowd.
"HA HA HA!" He once again straightened himself and held his arms up toward the crowd. "What a night! What a night! Welcome back to Thinking Saturdays, my beautiful friends! Hahahahahahaha! Mwa! Mwa!" He kissed his hands and blew big kisses toward the crowd. In response, some of the girls in the crowd screamed.
After another moment, the Thinker fell a bit more calm. "Yes, yes, yes, indeed we have quite a night ready for you, and I, the Thinker, am now here to deliver. I know there have been lots of concerns about what is going on- I'll admit it, these are highly stressful times- but that's just why Thinking Saturdays are so special. Nothing can deny us a good time on these nights. We're all here to have a good time, so let's have one!" He again held his arms out dramatically to more applause.
With another laugh, he stepped backward, continuing on with his opening monologues.
It was just outside the studio that a big crowd was gathering, covering the area with lots of flashing lights as multiple hovercars came down to drop people off. In one of these cars was either Oscar Mollusc or Victor Hanson, who himself wearing a large fancy robe, held his hands out toward the crowd as he stepped out and into view.
Oliver, Callie, and the Schultz siblings were watching from somewhat of a distance as they watched this celebrity go into the crowd for autographs.
"So cool…" Samantha droned as she looked around.
Callie leaned in toward Oliver. "Yeah, I don't think this is going to work."
"So, what, do we play the waiting game for the crowd to go away, or…?" Dylan asked.
Oliver sighed as he thought over their options. "We can look for other entryways, maybe a back entrance? …We've come this far, I think we should at least look around and see what we're dealing with."
"That guy's like famous, right?" Samantha suddenly asked as she stared ahead at the celebrity in the crowd. "Wow, do you think he's cool? Has he starred in movies before? Can we meet him?"
Dylan squinted at her, somewhat confused. "…You're literally standing next to a Squid Sister."
As Samantha stopped responding out of embarrassment, Oliver sighed. "Come on, let's look around. We have an opportunity to blend in, but don't act suspicious and stay out of people's direct line of sight if you can."
Dylan and Callie both nodded as they split up into pairs, looking around the block.
Samantha walked with Callie, feeling her own face somewhat. "Hey, my prosthetics still look totally convincing, right?" She whispered to her.
"Yeah, you look great." Callie patted her back as they walked. After a moment, she suddenly pulled out her roller handle from her coat. "Hey, uh, can you hold onto this for a minute? Just a bit… heavy…"
"Oh, sure." She took it, then rubbed it a bit as she realized she was holding Agent 1's very own weapon. "Woah…"
The two pairs continued on their search, largely pretending to be a part of the crowd as more people started to head into the studio itself, following the celebrity inside.
Although Callie had tried to stick close to Samantha as they got somewhat closer to the studio, keeping her head down, there was something about all the flashing lights and extreme sounds in the area that were getting to her head. As she started to feel some sensory overload, that same old dizzy feeling returned to her, and her own breath echoed through her head as she reached up to rub her forehead. Along with the usual anxiety that this feeling gave her, this time, she also felt a bit annoyed. She hadn't felt this in a little while… but the effect still wasn't done with her? Was… she just going to keep feeling this way for the rest of her life?
As panic started to come over her, she looked around for Samantha, realizing she was no longer by her side. Her eyes widened. "Sam?" She looked around. "Sam?"
"Excuse me, miss-" She heard a voice right before she bumped into someone.
"W-What?" She backed up, realizing she was now face-to-face with two Octoling men, in fancy leather suits. She stood there like a frozen statue with her eyes wide. Did she just blow her cover? They could clearly see her.
"Why are you heading this way when the studio is that way?" One of the men pointed toward the building.
She gulped. "S-Sorry… I was just… looking around to see if uh… I could see someone famous here."
They both smiled at her, but something about them both felt… extremely off… like they weren't really smiling at all. "Well, why don't you come along and you can see our celebrity guests for the evening?" They lightly turned her around.
"O-Oh, nonononono, I'm perfectly fine, just... walking around by myself."
"It's really no problem." They chuckled. "Everyone deserves a chance to see the Thinker on Thinking Saturdays." They kept leading her along to the studio. "If you'll just come this way."
She awkwardly walked along with them, now internally panicking. She had totally screwed up, didn't she?
From their own places, the other agents had all noticed as Callie was led into the studio among the crowd. "Uh oh." Dylan said as they watched. "Where are they taking her?"
Oliver patted his arm somewhat. "She may need help, come on."
From there, while still trying not to draw attention to themselves, the three of them blended into the crowd and snuck into the studio through the front entrance to follow her. The hallways they walked into were extravagant, with blindingly-purple walls that reflected the Thinker's color scheme, along with plenty of lights, decorative posters, and tons of holographic screens at nearly every corner that displayed the current Thinker broadcast, as if they wanted everyone to see it. It felt a lot like they had wandered into some kind of trippy funhouse.
"Ohhh, no…" Samantha felt particularly uncomfortable as she looked around at first, but Callie was already gone from sight. "Callie? Callie?" She hissed as she navigated the crowds.
The more they looked around and the more people they saw, the more it seemed that everyone in this building were just crazy Thinker superfans, carrying tons of his merchandise, audibly quoting him, and occasionally even straight-up cosplaying as him. Even Dylan and Oliver started to feel uncomfortable as they looked around. Everything felt so corporate, and artificial, like none of the people here were even real individuals. It felt more like the people here were just brainwashed zombies, where everyone was smiling, and everyone was admiring the man who ran the studio.
Dylan took in a deep breath. "Ok, now that we're in crazytown, where could Callie have gone from here?"
Oliver was looking around in all directions. "She could've gone anywhere, so let's not lose focus."
The three of them continued on, searching anywhere they could for even small clues on what they were looking for. After a few minutes, their search brought them into the auditorium with the Thinker's set itself, where the Thinker, in the flesh, was still in one of his monologues before his large, live audience.
"But I digress." They could now see and hear the Thinker himself as he continued on. "Ever since the world watched the horrific serial murders done by none other than Ayesha herself, our strength as a society has only grown deeper. We are all a part of this great city… and we are all bound by its rules. It's as simple as that, my friends, simple as that. I don't want a single one of you to ever forget that."
The agents were listening in passing as they continued on their search, until a few moments later, something really caught their attention.
"Speaking of following our rules!" The Thinker shouted. "I have a very special surprise for you, and it's something a bit different than what we typically do on our show… but I believe you will all have fun just the same. I want you all to play close attention to this, and never forget about it. With glory to the Octarians, I am so HAPPY to present to you, our next celebrity guest… one of the New Squidbeak Splatoon's very own rebellion fugitives!"
The crowd erupted into applause as, on the Thinker's stage, the curtains opened up to reveal an absolutely mortified Callie, trembling slightly as she stood there with the same suited Octolings at either side, holding her arms.
"Oh, shit!" Dylan swore as he and Oliver turned to see this in better detail on the closest screen.
They watched as the two Octolings shoved Callie forward and into the guest chair that sat across from the Thinker.
"Ah! Easy." Callie groaned as she rubbed her arm.
"Welcome!" The Thinker exclaimed as he sat in his own larger seat. "Welcome, my dear guest! Tell me, how are you feeling today?"
"Uhhhhhhhh…" Callie looked around as the studio fell into silence, awaiting her answer.
"No need to be shy, no need to be shy, this night is all about you, after all! I get that you're excited to be here, but we all want real answers! We certainly don't like to be left hanging!" He and the audience both laughed. The audience laughed for another moment until the Thinker rose his hand to shush them, turning back to Callie. "Tell me again, how are you feeling today?"
It took Callie another solid moment to react. "…G-… Great. I'm great. Totally great. E-… Excited to be here."
The crowd exploded into cheers again, until the Thinker again had them shushed.
"I'm so so so glad to hear it, my new friend." The Thinker smiled. "Let me tell you, I've been dreaming about doing such an interview my whole life, I may just be your biggest fan!"
"R-Really?"
"Really!" He shouted as the crowd cheered once more. This time, he ignored them. "You are a great hero and all that, aren't you? Isn't that what you'd like to believe?"
She gulped and again looked over the crowd. "Yeah, uh, yeah, uh…" She sank down somewhat. "Is… that what you'd label me as?"
"Not at all!" He then suddenly laughed, in chorus with the audience. This time, the audience's extremely loud laughing went on uncomfortably long, to the point that it was almost deafening. Callie darted her eyes around as everyone just kept laughing and laughing, all directly at her.
"...Hehehehehe…" Callie muttered weakly as she sank down further.
A good several seconds passed before the Thinker again had them shushed. "My new friend. Let's turn the tone to something a bit more serious, if that's quite alright with you." He looked her dead in the eye. "Do you enjoy doing what you're doing?"
"Uhhhhh…" Callie again thought over her words. "Not at the moment."
"What about when you did… this!" He turned and pointed behind them as, at that moment, holographic footage of her and Oliver in the medical facility came on. "When you and your mysterious Octoling friend broke into one of our most proud facilities and committed such horrible acts, were you enjoying yourself then?"
"Uhhh… n-n-not particularly, no. C-Can't say any of this has been particularly… enjoyable."
"Really?" He leaned forward somewhat. "Not even when you committed a murder?"
"M-Murder?"
"Murder!" He and the crowd suddenly shouted at her in perfect sync.
"I've… I-I've never murdered anyone before… I-I'm not like that."
"Really now? Now why would you lie to us about that?"
"I-I'm not lying, I-I really haven't ever committed a m-"
"Are you telling me that you have never murdered this man?" Next, the hologram behind them brought up images of the doctor she and Oliver had previously encountered and questioned at the medical facility. Not only did they show his normal identification image, they also showed much more graphic images of his corpse and death records.
Callie's jaw dropped as she saw this, and her hearts sank.
"The day that you broke into that facility, our own loyal Octarians had the place checked out, and they found this man, a Doctor, a husband, and a father, dead." The Thinker continued. "Murdered, under such horrific acts of violence. Tell me: Why did he have to die? What did he do to deserve such a fate!?"
"I-I never even touched him!" She screamed. "I never even wished him harm!"
"If you're going to pretend to never have wished him harm… then why were you there in that facility that night? What force on Earth could have possibly driven you to such horrifying lengths against our society? Tell me, what exactly was your motivation?"
Giving up on even responding, Callie started to dart her eyes around the room, looking for any way out of this.
"We have to help her." Oliver said as he kept walking.
Dylan followed him, looking around. "What do we do? We can't just make a scene."
"Then we'll find who runs this show and take them out."
Callie turned to watch them as they disappeared from the crowd, sighing nervously.
"Did you hear me?" The Thinker continued, leaning forward. "Tell me, please, what exactly was your motivation?"
Callie glanced at him, then looked back out at the crowd where Samantha was standing. They briefly made eye-contact.
"You're just done talking then, huh?" The Thinker continued. He and his audience once again broke down into unusual laughter.
Callie just nervously cleared her throat.
"Well, I wouldn't worry, my friends!" He turned to his audience. "We Octarians have ways of making bad people talk! Don't we?"
The audience cheered, while Callie gulped and sunk down somewhat. What did he mean by that?
"In fact…" He continued. "Here it comes now!" He held his hand out.
Samantha, a bit confused, looked around as he noticed a scary amount of Tartar-Bots that were starting to come into the room. As her eyes widened, she stepped away. Callie's own eyes widened as the machines came into view, looking around.
"Indeed, justice is sweet!" The Thinker cheered. "This is the beginning of the end for all of the rebellion, for the Inkling menace who look at themselves as heroes! They will forever rue this day, the day in which we've shown them their place!"
As Samantha and Callie again made eye contact, they both knew without words that there was now no way of getting out this without a fight. Almost without thinking, Samantha ran through the crowd, pulled out Callie's roller handle, and threw it at the stage. "Callie!"
The Thinker and the audience both watched in the moment as Callie stood up and caught it out of the air, quickly pressing the button to reveal the actual weapon, as the spinning roller popped out into view. She then frantically pressed the button to make it spin like a piston.
"You maniacal MONST-" The Thinker stood up in a rage, but he was too slow to react as Callie slashed at him, splatting him in one movement, right there on live television. She looked back out toward the audience.
Within the next second, chaos erupted as lasers from the Tartar-Bot spears were sent flying all around the room in an attempt to take the two fugitives out, just as the two of them ducked behind cover.
Samantha shakily pulled out her gun and cocked it, briefly peeking out to double-check the whereabouts of the Bots. It was to her dismay that she saw not only Tartar-Bots, but audience members were now looking for them as well. She backed up and started looking for another way out of this area to get to the others, where some more flamboyantly-dressed people were coming down the hallway.
"Stop!" She heard them command as she opened fire on them, splatting a couple of them before she again ducked behind cover. She waited another moment before she repeated that process, running from cover to cover as she fired at more incoming targets.
Amid the chaos, Oliver and Dylan were at that moment breaking their way into the backroom where, on several screens on the wall, crew-members were managing and overseeing the broadcast behind the scenes. The several crew-members in here instantly turned toward them, and two of them even pulled out electric batons that glowed yellow as they were activated. These two rushed to swing at Oliver, who was dangerously close to them, but he responded by dodging and then kicking one of them, grabbing and holding him. He turned and kicked the swivel chair by the desk, knocking it into the other attacker to incapacitate him, before he took the first guy and slammed his head into the desk, knocking him unconsious.
Dylan used his gun to fire upon the others in the room, but swiftly turned as gunfire coming from the doorway nearly struck him, and he turned to his Squid-form to dodge and take cover. Multiple guards and even audience members that had followed them in, with their own guns and electric batons, rushed in to find him, before he re-emerged and fired upon them as well, splatting them before he was again forced to dodge and take cover.
Oliver took one of these electric batons for himself and used them to take on the others in this room, swinging at and electrocuting some of them, getting them out of the way. It was during their brutal battle that one after the other, the two turned to notice as Samantha came in from the same entrance, splatting a couple enemies before she again took cover besides Dylan, and Callie came in from the rear entrance, using her roller to assist Oliver. From there, working as a team, it wasn't long before the four of them cleared out the room, with Callie pulling the last move in which she spun her roller to take out the last two enemies at once.
They all looked around at each other, panting, before Oliver moved to take control of the computers. He looked up at the screens, where it was still showing footage of the studio just outside of this room, showing clearly that more people were still coming for them. Dylan joined with him as they figured out the controls together, and they got the doors to the room slammed shut.
"W-What now?" Samantha asked, trembling.
"We hold them off and figure out a way out of here." Oliver replied as he kept working at the controls, figuring out what he was even working with.
Dylan turned to Callie and Samantha. "You ok?"
Callie, who was staring at the floor with a somewhat vacant expression, didn't respond as she glanced at him.
They only had another moment to figure out the controls before finally, with a much deadlier presence than any Octoling could ever have, multiple Tartar-Bots smashed their way into the room through one of the doors, redirecting their attention. They had only another second to dodge and take cover from their lasers that they fired. Oliver pressed the button to charge up his baton just as more Bots came in through the other side of the room, forcing them out of cover and into action.
Dylan and Samantha opened fire as Oliver and Callie tried rushing them, dodging their spear strikes and retaliating with their own weapons, but in this more restricting room, none of them could do much as the Tartar-Bots took them out, one-by-one with ease. Oliver and Callie had been knocked toward the wall, where they slid down unconscious, and the Schultz siblings were left groaning in pain as the bots simply tanked their fire, came up to them, and grabbed them.
Dylan fell down first as the Tartar-Bot struck him, to which Samantha's eyes widened. "D-Dylan!" She looked up at her own attacker in complete fear before she too saw the Bot's arm swiftly move toward her, and everything went blank.
The crowd outside the Channel 8 studio had dispersed, and the lot was instead occupied with several Tartar-Bot and even Eightfold Order forces, along with the flashing lights that were given off by touched-down Goldships and militarized Hovertrucks that near-completely covered the street. The personnel here all frantically moved about their business as they turned this area into a complete crime scene so that they could study every single detail about what had happened here.
The Thinker, having recovered from being splatted, was seated in the back of one of these Hovertrucks, holding his head as he was, ironically, pestered for information by some Eightfolds. He and the others turned to notice as the Splatoon agents, with their arms tied together by energy bonds and all Octarian prosthetics ripped off their faces, revealing their true Inkling selves, were led out of the studio by multiple Tartar-Bots.
Samantha and Callie both winced and sighed as the area's flashing lights met their eyes, as they walked in a single-file line out of the studio, shoved along by the Bots. Oliver just stared straight ahead, with a vacant, defeated expression on his face.
"Yes, there they are, the criminals!" The Thinker pointed at them. "The menaces! Kill them! KILL THEM WHERE THEY STAND!" He was pulled back by an Eightfold.
The agents ignored him as a single female Eightfold walked up to them, facing the Tartar-Bots that held them. "We have special orders for this one." She told them. "The Eightfold will be taking these fugitives directly to King Octavio himself."
A couple of the Tartar-Bots looked at each other, confused. "We have no such directive change."
She raised her arm, changing some settings on her watch. "Do you plan on ignoring a direct order, then?"
They paused, apparently running through the entire thought process in their heads, before they nodded. "Understood."
Oliver stared ahead at the Eightfold woman, squinting slightly. Something about her face seemed… familiar… but he had little time to question it as they were handed off to the Eightfold Order, and placed in the back of one of their Hovertrucks toward the back of the lot. They were aggressively shoved into their seats before they were locked inside, alone and in silence.
With their backs against the walls, they all sat still, each of them feeling the grave pressure of what was going to come next.
"...I'm sorry." Oliver announced to them. "This was a mistake, we shouldn't have come here."
Dylan shook his head. "We all made the choice… as a team."
Samantha just looked down, nervously tearing up.
He sighed. "All we can do now, is… face what happens next. Together. Right?"
Pausing, Oliver nodded in agreement. Maybe… he was going to be reunited with Bridgett once again this way. "…Right. Right."
As the rest of them accepted their fates and leaned back, Callie looked to the side, vaguely hearing some sounds from outside. She squinted. It sounded like… tasing. Then, someone grunting as they collapsed to the floor.
Dylan noticed her weird stare. "What?"
"Something's wrong." Callie replied.
At that moment, the driver's seat door opened as a single Eightfold, the same woman from before, hurriedly got inside, locked it up, and moved to frantically start the truck. She was panting a bit, as if in a panic.
"W-What's going on?" Samantha asked, confused.
Oliver squinted. Even he could tell this wasn't normal. "Who are you?"
"My name is Eva." She returned in a hurry as she started the truck. She then gazed through the barred window from the front of the truck to the back, looking at all of them. "I'm here to help you. I promise."
"Help us? Do you even kn-"
"Oliver Tecca, Dylan and Samantha Schultz, and Callie Cuttlefish. I know all four of you." She turned back to the controls. She got the Hovertruck in the air and on the move.
The four of them fell silent, a bit dumbfounded. "…O…k." Dylan replied. "But… how? Why? Where'd you even come from?"
She sighed. "Look, I'm here to help, but it will be on one condition."
"What?"
She looked back at them. "You need to help me protect my children."