Chapter 6: Runaway

The young, orange squid hugged her own legs with her little tentacle arms as she stared out the car door, watching the trees and the valleys as they passed. Her eyes were welling with tears, and her young mind was racing about whether she was ever going to see her home in Lishawn County again.

She had none of her own belongings; They had all already been burned down within her house. She no longer had a family, either… they were gone, too. All she had was the clothes on her back, and her own thoughts, as she stared out at the passing world in utter despair. She was young… but she knew now that absolutely everything had changed for her, and she was never getting the old ways back, no matter how badly she wanted them. With that thought, a whimper escaped her mouth as she began crying again.

The ride lasted until it pulled up to the lot of the brick-walled orphanage, with a welcoming garden up front. As the car came to a stop and parked out in the lot, the driver stepped out, walked to the opposite side of the car, and opened the door.

"C'mon." With a friendly smile, he reached his hand in toward her.

She didn't grab it as she undid her own seatbelt and crawled out. The driver, with a sad sigh, led her up toward the building.

Standing on the patio in front of the double-doors was an Inkling woman, with her green blouse, and her flowery skirt, who reached her hand out toward her with her own welcoming smile. "Hello, Jessica. My name is Dana."

Jessica stared at her hand, but did not take it. More tears were falling down her cheeks.

Dana lifted up her skirt partially as she took a knee in front of her. "It's really nice to meet you… I'll be taking you under my care in here, ok? Whatever you need, I'll take care of you."

Hearing her words, Jessica only began crying harder. "I want to go back to Lishawn!"

She sighed. "…I know. I'm sure you want your family back… and your house back… but… just behind these doors, there's another home that's waiting for you. There are so many other kids, just like you, that are in here, too. And we're all here for you."

Jessica desperately shook her head. "I want to go back to Lishawn! I want to go back home right now!" She sobbed.

Dana mustered a small smile in her attempt to comfort her. "…I know. I know." She pulled Jessica into a tight hug.

Jessica kept sobbing horrifically into her chest, now unable to calm down.

"Shh… Shh…" Dana caressed her hair. "It's ok, Jessica… you'll be ok."

She comforted her for a few more minutes before Jessica was ready to even humor the idea of going inside. Dana let her through the doors and into the nice lobby inside, with the brown wood floors, green walls and furniture, and even a roaring fireplace that helped warm everyone up. There was already a few kids in here, running around, or just sitting around on the couches and the floor.

Jessica looked around at all these different kids as Dana, with her hands on her shoulders, guided her down the hall past everyone. The other kids, meanwhile, didn't really pay her any mind, something that didn't really do anything to help Jessica's horrible loneliness she now felt.

"Here you are." Dana finished as she led Jessica into one of the bedrooms in the back of the hall, which was lined with beds by each of the walls. There weren't too many kids in here at the moment, leaving them mostly alone. Dana led her toward what was to be her new bed. "We'll get you clothes, and whatever else you need."

As Jessica looked around at the room, and all of the other beds that she now shared it with, she took notice of the young turquoise Squid, who seemed to be about her age, that was watching her from around the corner with only half of her body peeked out. She was shyly rubbing the wall as they locked eye contact.

Dana followed Jessica's gaze and too noticed the child. "Vanessa." She held her hand out. "Vanessa, come say hi!"

Vanessa ducked behind the corner and ran away. Jessica looked down.

Dana sighed. "Well… never mind that."

"Who was that?" Jessica asked.

"Vanessa. She's been here… a lot longer than you have. We can properly introduce you later. For now…" She patted the bed.

Jessica sat down, resting her tentacles on the bed.

Dana gave her one last smile. "Let us know whenever you need something." She rubbed her shoulder.

Jessica didn't respond as she crawled back against her pillow and curled up, hugging her own legs. She held this position as Dana walked away, and once she was alone… she started crying again.

This couldn't truly be her new home… not forever… right?

Present Day

With tears running down her cheeks, soft, choked whimpers escaping her mouth, and her arms wrapped around her own legs, adult Jessica stared at Dana's decapitated head that was propped up on her bed, and her limp body that laid on the floor to the side, with hyperventilating breaths and wide eyes. The whole situation felt completely surreal, like she had been mentally broken in two. She truly couldn't believe any of it, it was like she was in a bad dream she could wake up from at any second. Yet, before she had time to properly grieve, she had to get back into reality, and the action that waited for her.

With the threatening call that she received from Ayesha on Dana's phone, and the approaching KRAKEN trucks just outside, she took her Hero Shot and stood up, walking toward the window. Time had barely passed, but already, she could see KRAKEN soldiers that were navigating Dana's backyard toward her house, pointing their charger lights around as they searched for her. Then, she heard the heavy boots of these soldiers, thudding against the ground as they came in through the broken front door and into the living room.

Jessica rushed toward the bedroom door and backed against the wall just beside it, where she shakily pulled out her own phone. She wasted no time navigating into the private texts she shared with Bridgett, and frantically typed her message, knowing she would understand the code: FLY OCTO FLY, DANA'S PLACE

Seeing the lights from these KRAKEN soldier's charger lights cut through the hallways just outside the bedroom, she slipped the phone back into her pocket and held her Hero Shot out, taking a deep breath. She pulled out a Toxic Mist bomb.

The second a KRAKEN soldier came through the doorway, pointing his gun inside, he screamed as the Toxic Mist bomb that laid on the ground exploded directly into him, consuming him with its cloud. Before he could steady himself, Jessica grabbed his charger with her left hand, yanked it down, and shot her right leg up to kick his head. Although the strike of course did very little against his armor, she left just enough of an opening to reach her own gun forward, aim toward the slight slit between the soldier's helmet and body armor, and unload three shots of ink into his neck to splat him. As he burst and dropped the charger to the floor, Jessica dive-rolled into the hallway as another soldier turned the corner and fired much more lethal, high-pressure ink at her, ripping through the bedroom wall. Just like that, Jessica was alerted to the fact that these people were coming in for the kill. With all of their gear and armor, she couldn't just take all of them on at once. She had to play this smart and forge an escape route.

Angered beyond belief, Jessica pulled out her miniature Bubble wand, which she waved to send three large, orange ink bubbles down the hall toward the next soldier. Not daring to fire his high-pressure ink on them at the risk of bursting them, the soldier watched on as Jessica performed two more dive-roles down the hall, weaving between them, and got into position. Before he could aim and fire at her, she fired her own gun into the bubbles to burst them in massive ink explosions, which knocked him back. He struck the wall and slumped down, leaving a crack in it.

Hearing the windows in the bedroom and guest bathroom shatter down in the west and south sides of the house, and seeing more lights from more soldier's weapons coming from the north, Jessica pulled out three miniature Splash Walls, and threw them down each hall behind her. Upon landing and planting themselves onto the ground, they each grew, stretching from wall-to-wall, and assembled into their proper form, raining down powerful ink and temporarily blocking KRAKEN's access, buying Jessica time.

As the knocked-down soldier tried getting back up, Jessica shoved her foot into his chest to keep him down before she aimed toward the slit in his armor to splat him in the same way. With nowhere to go but north, she rolled into the kitchen next, and then ducked behind a counter to dodge the gunfire from two more northbound soldiers that were in the living room directly nearby. She took the small moment she was given to catch her breath, before she rolled toward the dining table.

As these soldiers turned the corner and aimed behind the counter, the guard in back was thrown off as Jessica unearthed herself and threw a powerful Burst Bomb at his face, stunning him. Then, she kicked the dining table as hard as she could into the front guard, tripping him. Using that slight opening she was given, she used her Squid-form to roll over the table before she aimed to splat them both through their slits before they could straighten themselves. Finally, she slipped away into the living room.

The other soldiers, having gotten past the Splash Walls down the hall, came in and walked to the front of the house to find these splatted agents, with Jessica nowhere to be seen. They were just in time to hear a super jump just outside the front door. Just like that, Jessica had escaped.

Pouring out the front door toward the sound, these soldiers all briefly searched the front yard just to confirm Jessica was gone, before they lowered their chargers.

"Alert the next team!" One soldier shouted as they headed back to their truck. "Tell them to use any means necessary to bring her down!"

As the soldiers climbed back into the trucks, the trucks' alarms went off as they split off into different directions and roared down the neighborhood.

After landing from her super-jump, Jessica ran down the street until she saw the familiar, cheap black car that shined its headlights toward her as it sped into the neighborhood. Jessica skidded to a stop and held her hands out, and the car swerved as it braked, skidding across the ground until it came to a stop.

From the driver's seat, Bridgett frantically leaned over the passenger seat and shoved the passenger door open. "Get in!"

Jessica leapt into the open seat, and the wheels grinded roughly against the pavement as Bridgett moved to make a U-turn. Jessica slammed the door shut just before they swerved onto a couple random front yards, driving through their trash cans and fences, until Bridgett was able to correct them onto the proper road. Driving way over the speed limit, Bridgett raced out of the neighborhood, again swerved as they came onto the next road, and raced into traffic.

With the distant KRAKEN sirens that followed them, and the distant whir of helicopter blades that they could now hear within the air, Jessica panted heavily as she worked to catch her breath, while Bridgett gripped her steering wheel tightly, staring outward at the road.

"What the hell happened!?" Bridgett shouted.

"Sanitized Octolings showed up and attacked Keller's office. Then KRAKEN showed up and tried to kill me." Jessica could barely speak clearly. She again broke down into tears as she struggled to say her next sentence: "They… they killed…"

Bridgett glanced at her, not needing any more words to understand. She didn't just sympathize with her, she related heavily with her, and knew exactly what she had to have been feeling. With her left hand still tightly gripping the wheel, she reached her right hand to grab Jessica's left, tenderly and empathically squeezing it. "Jess, I'm so sorry."

Just as they sped through the next intersection, another car that was driving on the perpendicular street suddenly struck their hull, and their car spun, with its hull briefly tilting into the air before they grinded to an aggressive stop. Jessica, without her seatbelt on, hurled into Bridgett's shoulder. The car that struck them swerved to a stop as well, and as other cars came onto the scene, they were forced to swerve to dodge the crash site. In a massive chain reaction, they all crashed into each other, completely clogging up traffic.

Groaning in pain, Jessica awkwardly crawled back into her own seat as they both looked around at the cracked windows.

Bridgett was on the verge of hyperventilating, turning her shoulder to look her over. "Are you ok!?"

Jessica looked out toward the car that had struck them, seeing that it was… a police car. And, more police cars, with their sirens on, were closing in on the scene. Just like that, several police officers were climbing out, and without warning, they aimed their weapons.

"GET DOWN!" Jessica yanked Bridgett's shoulder downward, and they both ducked as their car was showered with lethal, high-pressure ink from different directions. The car's shell largely protected them from the gunfire, but their windows shattered, spraying broken glass all over them and the seats.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Raising her head as little as she could, Bridgett shakily grabbed the wheel again, shifted into reverse, and slammed her foot on the pedal. Their car slammed backward into one of these 'police officers', crushing him against his police car as it aggressively shoved its way through.

Backing into a new opening, Bridgett shifted back into drive, swerved the car, and sped onto the perpendicular street. As they did, they slammed into a second 'officer', who was sent flying into a nearby windshield. They scraped and shoved along a couple more cars as they escaped back onto the open road, away from the gunfire.

As they raced along, they saw more incoming police cars up ahead, closing in fast on them.

"Hold on!" As they rapidly closed in on the next intersection, Bridgett swerved onto the next perpendicular street, cutting through the sidewalk corner as they did. The police cars, violently swerving as well, managed to cut through and continued chasing them from closely behind.

Some cars swerved out of the way as Bridgett, with the police cars in tow, rapidly navigated through traffic, speeding past each of the cars in their way.

The police, far less caring about the public civilians around them, continued their aggressive chase. One 'police officer', sliding down his window, leaned out through the door and aimed his high-pressure Splattershot, again opening fire upon them.

Bridgett and Jessica both ducked down, narrowly avoiding the lethal ink spray, as other startled drivers on the street started braking or bumping into each other.

As a couple of these cars swerved and spiraled out of control, Bridgett's eyes widened as, before their eyes, another massive car crash began to erupt in a chain reaction, especially as one of these cars tried dodging into the opposite lane. One of these cars that were driving toward them, a massive freight truck, skidded out of control as it too tried to dodge.

"No, no, no-!" Bridgett violently swerved to dodge as the truck's trailer skidded onto their lane. They briefly grinded against it in an explosion of sparks and just narrowly made it out of its destructive path; As it collapsed entirely, a massive fireball erupted, halting the police cars and all other traffic behind them.

Seizing the opportunity, Bridgett swerved onto the next street upon reaching the next intersection.

Jessica tried taking slower breaths. Even with the chase halted, she could still hear helicopter blades in the sky, that were still closing in. Here on the eastern edge of the city, with everyone that was currently onto them and no idea who they could trust, she knew they was no retreating to their apartment, or maybe even Splatoon HQ, anymore; They had to run away, as far as possible. "Where's the fastest route out of here?"

"Down on 14th, I'm already heading there." Bridgett replied.

Confirming Bridgett's words, they soon arrived at the city exit on 14th, and took the road that led toward the forest, taking them into eastern Inkadia.

They were met with minimal resistance as the raced down the road, finally escaping into the much more quiet woods as they continued east. It seemed more and more that they were in the clear, but regardless, Bridgett didn't really slow down, leaving Jessica to stare on at all of the trees that were rapidly passing them. Even as she tried not to cry too much in front of her own girlfriend, that last sight she had of Dana was now seared into her brain forever, and all of the memories she had of her throughout her life were now tainted. It was truly a terrible feeling… that could very well compete with that horrifying day in her childhood that had already changed everything.

And Dana's killers… those sanitized Octolings… where had they even come from? What did they want with her? No… she knew what they wanted. They were here for revenge. To uproot her life. She had a terrible feeling that Dana's death was only the beginning of their plan…

As if on cue, Bridgett glanced over into the rearview mirror as three motorcycles, with their own headlights that alerted them to their presence, closed in on them. "The hell?"

Jessica could barely look back before one of the sanitized Octolings that were now chasing them rose her own high-pressure charger and opened fire on their car. Once again, their car was sprayed, forcing them to duck down.

"Shit!" Bridgett started frantically swaying the car from side to side, while keeping them on the road.

Out of these three Octolings, none of them bothered to wear helmets, and they were still wearing their typical Octarian armor. Jessica looked to the side as one of these Octolings drove up to their side before slamming into them, successfully grabbing onto the car door. "HAHA!" She announced herself as she pulled herself inside, leaving her motorcycle to crash and fall behind.

Before Jessica could kick her out, the Octoling successfully brought her knife down on her, stabbing her just below her Hero Jacket in her hip. She didn't get it in too deep, but it penetrated her flesh all the same, and went in at an angle.

"AHH!" Jessica screamed as she pushed at her to keep the knife from going any deeper.

As a second Octoling tried pulling up on Bridgett's window as well, Bridgett thought to instead swerve the car into her, briefly knocking her off course.

"AHHH!" Jessica screamed again as the sudden movement only caused the knife to tear through her.

"HAHAHA!" The Octoling laughed maniacally in her face, even as Jessica desperately shoved her arm off of her and yanked her hair.

Bridgett pulled out her Octo Shot and tried firing at the Octoling's head, only to realize their resistance to being splatted the same way Jessica did.

After a moment of aggressive wrestling, in which the Octoling again tried to grab the knife that was sticking out of Jessica, Jessica leaned back and rose her legs into the Octoling's chest with all of her might, sending her hurling through the windshield. More glass sprayed everywhere as the Octoling rolled over the hood, and then sank under the car; The car bounced as the wheels rolled over her, leaving her rolling across the street as a bleeding pulp. She was run over a second time as one of the following Octolings collided with her; Said Octoling swerved to a stop to avoid crashing, and stared on at the speeding truck. Two more Octolings on similar motorcycles, just arriving on the scene, sped past her in pursuit of the car.

Sitting up, Jessica lifted up her Hero Jacket to examine her knife wound. Although she initially wanted to leave the knife in to stow the bleeding, she was also aware of the bizarre biology of these sanitized Octolings, and grew fearful of the bacteria, or even poison, that may be on it. She sucked in her breath as she gripped the knife handle. "Hnggh! Hnggh!" She slowly and carefully pulled it out, gushing her ink onto her lap. "AGHH!"

With her attention torn between Jessica's injury and the next two approaching Octolings, Bridgett frantically shot her gaze between the backseat mirror on which she could see Jessica, the rearview mirror with the Octolings, and the road ahead. Then, her attention was pulled entirely as she heard the passenger door open. She looked over. "Jess!?"

"Keep driving!" After briefly holding her wound to slow the bleeding, Jessica took her Hero Shot in her left hand, and moved her ink-drenched hand to grab the pull-out handle on the car roof just above the door. She turned and aimed her weapon toward the rear of the car, opening fire on the pursuing Octolings.

As the Octolings retaliated with their own high-pressure ink, all while not slowing down, Jessica would briefly duck back to avoid being shot, and then leaned back out to continue her attack. She tried throwing Autobombs, regular Splat Bombs, and a few mini-Tenta Missiles that flew through the air and honed on their targets, only to find that nothing worked as the Octolings dodged each of them. As they got close once again, Jessica was forced to permanently duck back into the car, where she again grasped her wound.

Just as they started to see no real way out of this one, more high-pressure gunshots rang through the air, and the green Octolings abruptly slowed down. Then, one of these Octolings, losing her balance, crashed altogether, rolling across the ground.

"What-?" Bridgett again stared into the rearview mirror as they saw a third, silhouetted figure that was approaching on their own motorcycle as he fired at the Octolings, before ducking off the road and disappearing into the trees. The Octolings, in response, stopped and turned around. Bridgett squinted in confusion. "Who- Who was that?"

Jessica stared into her own rearview mirror, before she simply leaned back and grunted, having no answer. "Mm, mm…" She briefly moved her hand as she looked down to see how much ink she was losing.

"Oh my g-" Bridgett just about hit the brakes as she saw all of the ink that had pooled onto Jessica's lap.

"Keep driving, please, just keep driving." Jessica gritted her teeth. "I'll be ok."

Bridgett stared at her in concern, before putting her eyes back on the road.

With that, they drove off into the darkness and the silence of the night as they continued eastward, fleeing Inkadia to no particular destination.

Back in Inkopolis

Just like that, the city had once again been turned upside down, now shaken by the aftermath of the sudden attack on Keller's office building. Not only that, but the intense manhunt was now on all throughout the city, as the police and KRAKEN hunted down not only the green Octolings that started the attack, but Agent 3, 8, and the Executioner. Red KRAKEN helicopters combed the city from above, while their trucks searched the streets below, placing several different areas under lockdown.

In the chaos, Jessica and Bridgett's apartment was already being combed by KRAKEN soldiers, who had broken the lock to the front door before coming in and tearing through absolutely everything they could, leaving no stone upturned. They flipped furniture, lifted mattresses, emptied drawers and cabinets, and even searched through the sex toy collection that was stored in the closet. To their fury, however, they weren't quite finding anything they were looking for.

One soldier reared his head. "General."

The, tall, bald Inkling man, with special KRAKEN emblems emboldened on both of his armor's shoulders, who also happened to be the only member here who didn't wear a helmet, stepped forward with his signature glare.

"There's no Splatoon gear here. They must've already cleared it out." The soldier told him.

"Not even any address, passcodes, anything?" The general's rough, growly voice returned.

"Nothing. Nothing useful, anyway."

The general growled as he turned and looked the apartment over. "Grab everything and load it up anyway. I don't care if it's furniture or if it's a pretty little strap-on dildo that smells like pussy. This shit's all our property now." He then turned toward the door and walked out. "And someone get me a goddamn update on the Senator."

Tenta-General Hospital

If there was one area that had been particularly affected by the night's chaos, it was the emergency room at the hospital that was closest to Keller's office, where all of the injured and the poisoned had been gathered. KRAKEN soldiers had overtaken the normal hospital security's jobs to stand guard around the room, while the nurses here were all in an absolute frenzy as they rushed from patient to patient. Some of the patients, still under the horrifying effects of the Zodiac gas, were screaming and thrashing until the nurses were forced to restrain them to their bed, where they continued to violently wrestle with their bonds, and tried reaching out for any nurses that dared come near them.

KRAKEN and Inkopolis Police Department personnel were gathered inside, where the General had met with Captain Hertz and was heading toward where Keller was situated. With one pull of the green-blue curtain that Keller was hidden behind, the nurse stepped aside to show them Keller's condition: Screaming and thrashing bloody-murder against his own bed just like the others. They all stared on, bewildered at the sight of this normal, respected man having been reduced to a screaming, zombie-like monster. Hertz blinked and looked down, putting his hands on his hips.

"And not a single asshole here knows what infected them?" The general asked, facing the nurse.

The nurse shook her head in terror, avoiding eye contact.

He looked back at Keller, clenching his jaw. Keller could pull through on this, right? This wasn't a death sentence, right?

As the moments passed, they all looked over as one particular patient, a few feet to their right, suddenly started convulsing violently as if he had entered a seizure, with his heart-rate frantically speeding up. They all walked over as the nearby nurses went to manually restrain him with their arms, but they were too late; The monitor flatlined, and the patient let out a few more twitches before he went still, jaw wide open and his lifeless eyes locked on the ceiling.

"What the hell happened?" Hertz asked.

One of the nurses gulped before she turned to them. "The adrenaline just keeps building and building until… they can't take it anymore and their heart stops. W-We've tried everything to counter it, but so far, it's uncontrollable and unpredictable… it's been happening faster on some and slower on others."

They all stared on in terror, unsure of how they could possibly respond.

The general smacked his lips. "What a god-damn mess." He turned toward the emergency room exit along with the KRAKEN soldiers that were accompanying him. "I want those Splatoon fucks found now! We're gonna send more troops out toward the east, as far as they can go, and see if they can find them out there!"

As they all walked out, just outside in the hall, they all stopped as they heard Johnson's voice behind them.

"General!" Johnson was shoving his way past some hospital personnel. "This wasn't Agent 3!"

He turned toward him. "What did you say?"

Johnson, with his face absolutely drenched in sweat, finally shoved his way past another nurse as he came up. "I know how it sounds-" He was interrupted as his phone started ringing, and he looked down to pull it out and peek at it. Seeing it was just Rosalyn who was calling him for maybe the 5th time now, he of course swiftly decided he was far too busy to talk to her right now, and hung up. He slipped it back in his pocket and turned back to the general. "-But Agent 3 wasn't involved with this. You have to cancel the manhunt."

"She was at Keller's office when the attack happened and she was seen with the Executioner. Who the hell are you, anyway?"

"I know how it looks, but Agent 3 can't have been working with the Executioner. There's gotta be-"

"Johnson, dammit!" The next person to walk up and interrupt them was Hertz, who grabbed his shoulder. "I told you to drop it."

"No, not until we know what's going on."

"Someone explain to me who the hell you are!" The general shouted.

"This is my Lieutenant Grant Johnson." Hertz replied as he turned back to Johnson. "Johnson, this is General Kurt Abbott, head of KRAKEN. We're supposed to treat him with respect and leave him to his duties, you hear me?"

"Agent 3 didn't start the attack, nor was she involved, I promise you, if anything, she was trying to stop it!" Johnson continued desperately without even taking a breath.

"Johnson." Abbott suddenly interrupted. "Yeah, I actually do know you. You were the one who led the arrests of the Splatoon in that first leak incident years ago. Before KRAKEN even existed." He looked him up and down, chuckling to himself. "Look how far from grace you've fallen."

Johnson stepped forward. "General, please, you have to hear me out-"

"You listen to me, you dumb fuck." He leaned his head forward, glaring daggers into his soul. "This is a matter of Inkadian, hell, worldwide security. New green people just showed up, and now, a whole bunch of Inkadian officials, including Senator Keller, are in that emergency room right there." He pointed. "Screaming like they've all collectively lost their goddamn minds. People are dead, and more are gonna die. I don't care what crush you developed on Agent 3. She and the Executioner were both there. The Executioner was there before the attack even started. Not only that, it connects directly to the incidents with the Hodgson Syndicate dumbasses who also went nuts, and the mercs who killed Senator Garrett. Which, may I remind you, Agent 3 was also involved in."

"Agent 3 was fighting those mercs-" Johnson tried continuing.

Hertz suddenly pulled his left shoulder backward. "Johnson, step off it, now."

"No!" He pulled off, and pointed his finger directly into Abbott's chest. "You can't just start such an extreme manhunt throughout the entire city and beyond when we don't even know the whole story!"

"I don't give a fuck." Abbott replied as he slapped his hand away, with his wide, angry glare growing more and more intense by the second. "Shit like this is exactly why KRAKEN was formed. Because you dumbass police people weren't doing the job properly before. Now why don't you listen to your own Captain there and shut the fuck up before you give me an excuse to pull out my taser?"

Johnson glared right back at him, hesitating, before he took a few steps back.

"I get any more behavior like this out of you, and you'll be hearing a report about it directly written by me. You won't have a job after that." Abbott finished before he turned and continued on his way.

Johnson sighed, staring onward.

"What the hell was that?" Hertz angrily turned to face him. "What has gotten into you? Agent 3 gets involved smack-dab in the middle of another national incident, and works with the Executioner, and you defend her?" He pointed behind him. "That is the head of KRAKEN that you just talked down to! Now when do you think I'm gonna hear the end of that, huh?"

"Our focus should be on those new green people that just showed up-" Johnson tried to argue.

"Our focus should be on these vigilantes! The ones who are always getting directly involved in these incidents! That used to be your mindset… so what happened to that old Johnson, huh?"

Johnson paused, staring at him as he thought over his next words.

Hertz growled to himself, as he turned around to walk after Abbott.

"If I remember correctly…" Johnson suddenly called out to him. "Back then, the police actually had a say in what happened in this city. Back then, the police actually mattered. What happened to that old police force, huh?"

Hertz turned back to him, grimacing. Did his own officer seriously just talk back to him? "Excuse me?" He hissed with a poisonous, threatening tone.

Johnson stepped toward him. "Ever since the Underdogs incident happened, ever since KRAKEN formed, the police has been doing nothing but sitting around, with our thumbs up our asses, and staring on as the city falls to pieces around us. These KRAKEN guys don't even have protocols like ours… they don't even issue warrants! They're authoritarian! They're a constant gun over the head of every Inkadian citizen all at once! Richter himself might have been right… When do you think the system became so corrupt, Hertz? And who exactly has flipped the entire system on its head like this? Because I know you've been sucking their dick as well. The government, the police force, all of it has changed! All of it is being manipulated! If anything… Agent 3 and the Splatoon are the only ones who are doing any good anymore."

"The Splatoon and Agent 3's batshit insane brother are the reason we've gotten this low!" Hertz exploded. "Wake the hell back up! Sure, I don't deny that things have been particularly tense these past couple years. But it's because we've all collectively been living in fear of another space station randomly falling from the sky and blowing our city to kingdom come! Or another nanotech weapon that could be weaponized to tear the entire city down, just like that! And just today, we've had another incident! How long have you been sucking the Splatoon's clits, huh, Johnson? Because I don't think you're still the Johnson I know."

Johnson glared back at him. "I'm exactly the same Johnson you've always known, Hertz. I just slowly woke up enough to realize how broken our system is."

"If that's how you look at it… fine. That pretty little Detective who's been running the Executioner case would be happy to take your Lieutenant position, I'm sure." He took a step back. "Give me your badge and gun. I'm done putting up with your shit."

Johnson felt his hearts sink as Hertz simply glared at him.

"Now!" Hertz commanded, holding his hand out.

With his hearts racing, Johnson looked down at the badge that was hung off his neck at chest-level. Just like that, his life as it was… all of his work life that he had built, through all the promotions, pain, stress, and ink… was over. He slowly yanked the badge up from around his neck, and spent another second staring at it. Yet… even if deep down, he knew this was probably the right choice. And even if it wasn't… perhaps it was just inevitable, ever since he first had his world-view changed, and had subsequently started his rocky alliance with Jessica. After one more moment, he slapped the badge onto Hertz's hand. Then, he pulled out his Splattershot and handed it over as well.

Hertz turned around and walked away. With a new blank, almost dead-inside gaze, Johnson fought back tears as he slowly turned around, and walked in the opposite direction.