Chapter 9: Onward, to Victory

"The future is lookin' bright."

"They're back!" Callie exclaimed, hopping up to her feet with a big smile.

"And they've never looked worse." A gravelly voice commented, it belonging to none other than DJ Octavio. He was present this time, and Sal slowly wished he hadn't been.

Callie pouted at Octavio, but before she could get on him for his negativity, Samuel spoke. "Who is this guy?" He asked, leaning closer to Cal. He spoke lowly, but wasn't exactly whispering.

Sal had forgotten Octavio wasn't here when the Sam twins became agents, so they had yet to be properly introduced.

Samuel was unwise to ask for such information now, especially from Cal of all people. "Oh, that's just Octavio." He answered casually.

As Sal expected, Octavio wasn't pleased by the unprofessional attitude, nor the underwhelming introduction. "It's DJ Octavio to you!" He huffed, turning his mech to face Samuel and Samantha. "You two must be the new agents Callie told me about. I am the leader of the Octarian Army, which means all those octarians over there follow my command." One of his tentacles pointed to the army of octolings posted up at the many tents. "That includes your lieutenant. So if I were you, don't be like Agent 6 and address me with respect."

Callie quickly waved her arms at Octavio. "Stop intimidating my agents! We're supposed to be a team!"

"That doesn't mean your subordinates shouldn't learn some manners!" Octavio looked down at Callie with a grumpy expression.

Callie crossed her arms. "Then instead of trying to pick a fight, just ask them!"

"If it weren't for this team-up, a fight is something they would've already gotten!"

Callie gave Octavio a smug look. "Oh yeah? Remind me how it went for you the last three times you fought our agents?"

Words got caught in Octavio's throat as he stuttered out incomplete sentences. He struggled to think of a good comeback, eventually giving up on a rebuttal.

Instead of responding, he turned to the group and ignored Callie. All she did was giggle in response. "So, let me guess. The incompetence of you agents resulted in yet another failed operation?"

Pacifica shook her head in defense of the team's skills. "The operation was a success, sir." She pulled out the zapfish from cod knows where, presenting it to her superiors.

Callie squealed in delight, unable to contain her excitement. "See! I told you they could get the job done!"

The expression on Octavio's face was unreadable, but it was easy to guess he was surprised.

"We do have one problem, though," Pacifica murmured, handing the zapfish over to Callie.

"What kind of problem?" Octavio said, raising a brow.

"We had a run-in with Kuda."

"Kuda..." Octavio shivered in anger. His tone seethed with malice.

Sal and Cal both caught the 'passionate' reaction Octavio had from just hearing Kuda's name. Only Cal pointed it out. "Right, so this Kuda gal. I hear she's Marinus's second-in-command."

Octavio's head snapped in Cal's direction. "Second-in-command? More like personal servant. To think, she would've been my best." He side-eyed Marina. "Better than even you." Marina glanced elsewhere, avoiding Octavio's gaze.

There was that hint of passive aggression again, aimed directly at Marina. What was the history between those two?

Cal stepped up, redirecting the conversation back to the topic at hand. "So she used to work for you before the whole civil war thing happened?"

"Her and her family. It seems they weren't as hip to my beats as I thought." Octavio lightly banged his wasabi sticks together, creating an odd but catchy rhythm. "If Kuda showed her face at Suction-Cup Outlook of all places, your warehouse heist must've really ticked Marinus off."

Cal flinched. "You knew about that?"

"Callie told me everything. And then some." He rolled his eyes, something Callie unfortunately caught.

"I'm allowed to speak my mind, y'know!" She protested, which Octavio ignored.

"Sir." Pacifica started, "That isn't all." Octavio and Callie gave her a confused look, silently encouraging her to continue. "Kuda used a great octoweapon."

"What?!" Octavio, Callie, and Marina shouted in unison, all going wide-eyed.

Callie was the first to speak. "A great octoweapon? I thought the captain destroyed all of them..."

Pacifica shook her head. "It was an entirely new octoweapon."

Octavio scoffed. "That's impossible! Only I can make those."

"Well, now, it seems somebody here don't like denial all too much!" Samuel said with furrowed brows. "'Cause lemme tell ya, that thing almost squashed us! That octo psycho called it... was what it again?"

"The Octostalker," Sal answered. "One square-shaped head, six square-shaped bodies. And it could fly."

"What..." Callie opened her mouth to speak, but it wasn't her who spoke. It was Marina, looking distraught. "That's... How?"

Everyone turned to her, now visibly concerned. Up until now, she had been quiet and shyly smiling. That shy expression everyone was so familiar with had completely fallen away, morphing into a perplexed look.

"What's wrong, Marina?" Callie asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"T-The Octostalker... did it have green lights?"

Sal noticed Marina's gaze locked onto him, so he nodded.

"Marina?" Octavio said, no longer sounding passive-aggressive. "You know what that thing is?"

A scared look flashed across Marina's face the second all eyes landed on her. It took her a moment to calm down and regain her composure. "It was... a concept I came up with."

"A concept?" Callie blurted. "You're not saying..."

"Yes," Marina admitted with a look of shame. "The Octostalker was one of mine."

"Whoa-ho! You mean you designed that thing?" Cal said, though he sounded more amazed rather than surprised or angry.

"I'm sorry..." Marina frowned, only for Cal to wave his arms around.

"No need to apologize! I thought it was pretty cool."

Samuel slapped the back of Cal's head, eliciting a small yelp from the octoling. "Pretty cool, huh? We forgettin' that thing nearly flattened me?!"

"Why so heated, Sam? I saved you, didn't I?"

Marina raised her hand, stopping the two's bickering before it began. Once she had their attention, she continued. "Agent 5 has every right to be mad. You guys should've never had to fight it. I'm sorry."

Marina was very insistent on the whole thing being her fault. While Sal and a few others wanted to disagree, they also didn't want to invalidate her feelings, so the group stayed silent.

"I don't get it," Octavio grumbled, looking in the distance. "Even if they had the resources to make an octoweapon, there's no way Marinus could recreate one of your design! That drone ain't smart enough."

Marina shook her head. "You're wrong. In fact... he's probably the only one who could." She said with utmost certainty, much to the surprise of Callie and Octavio.

"That's a bold claim, Ms. Ida," Pacifica stated in a neutral tone.

"It's a claim I stand by."

Where is her confidence coming from all of a sudden? Sal raised his eyebrows, a bit taken aback by the usually shy idol.

"Grah!" Octavio grunted, dropping his wasabi sticks and grabbing his bulbous head. "Now we have octoweapons of Marina's making to deal with! That's just great."

"H-Hold on!" Marina stammered, whipping out her laptop from—... Okay, seriously, where was she keeping that? "I only ever had enough free time to design two. The Octostalker was the most offensive of the two, and you guys beat it! So, as far as octoweapons go, they shouldn't be much of a problem."

"Right, but there is still the matter of Kuda." Pacifica reminded. Soon enough, the conversation devolved into a discussion of a game plan between Marina, Pacifica, and Octavio.

After a minute of standing around, Callie stood beside the agents. "Why don't you guys go get some rest? It'll probably be a bit before your next assignment."

Sal nodded along before gesturing for the others to follow.

After a short walk, the group found themselves at an unoccupied table next to an empty tent. Sal figured resting here wouldn't be a problem since none of the tents were designated to a single person. From what he saw, the octolings rotated through them every now and then.

Although Cal was initially beside Sal, he ended up being the last to show, taking a seat beside Samuel across from Sal, which left Samantha sitting beside Sal.

Nobody said anything, but there wasn't complete silence. The numerous conversations ongoing around them kept the quiet away. Sal couldn't make out what any one conversation was about, so he stared blankly at the table, thinking about how he ended up in this predicament.

"So..." Samuel folded his hands together, looking around at the tents. "How long have you guys been doing this?" He questioned, turning to Sal.

Sal shook his head dismissively. "Not long at all."

"So I don't suppose you know if all this is...standard?"

"It seems that way." Sal raised a brow, studying Samuel's unusually timid gaze. "Why are you suddenly so interested? Starting to like it here or something?"

Samuel tapped on the table, seemingly looking through Sal now rather than at him. "Just curious if you think maybe it'd be better to..." Samuel gestured for the four of them to leave.

Sal couldn't help but laugh. "See!" He turned to Cal. "I'm not the only one who thinks we should leave!"

"Come on, Sal! We didn't do that bad."

"But we didn't do all that good either." Sal countered, leaning back in his seat.

"But we got the zapfish! That matters, doesn't it?"

Samuel sighed. "Are we forgetting I almost died?" Everyone turned, seeing his usual gusto was gone. Replaced with a look of... regret? "You're too strong for your own good, Cal. And Sal don't have to worry about ranged attacks, or even explosions! But me and Sammy? We ain't like y'all. If things had gone differently, I might not be here right now..."

The group fell silent once more, but it didn't last half as long, thanks to Sal. "See, Cal? I told you we weren't cut out for this agent nonsense. Now we've gone and gotten our friends involved." He grabbed his splattershot, placing it on the table. "Let's cut our losses while we still can."

Samantha and Samuel looked at each other before they also began shoveling for their weapons. While the Sam twins did that, Sal worked to fish out his sub-weapons.

Cal was the only one not in motion, and after a minute of just sitting there, he suddenly spoke. "But it's because of this that we even got our friends back." Everyone stopped moving, now staring at Cal. "Besides, didn't you feel it? That rush? The type of thrill you only get from fighting something overwhelming? Just like when we fought those hordes of salmonids!"

"Yeah, but we weren't fighting salmonids this time." Samuel reminded.

"So?"

"So? Are you even hearin' yourself, Cal? This agent work is dangerous!"

"Those jobs Mr. Wale had you do were also dangerous, weren't they?"

"Y-Yeah, but that's different!"

"Different how?"

"Well, for starters, Mr. Wale didn't throw us into any job he thought we couldn't handle. Sure, they were risky at times, but it was nothing like fighting a great octoweapon! Shell, that thing was way outta our league!"

"Maybe. But we won, didn't we?" Samuel froze, unable to argue against Cal's point. "Come on, guys! Don't tell me you didn't get that giddy feeling when we beat that thing."

Samantha murmured something under her breath, causing everyone to look in her direction. When she noticed everyone's gazes on her, she spoke up. "It did feel kinda cool... beating that octoweapon and all."

"See!" Cal stood up. "We can do this. Together, as a team. Just like we always have. In fact, I'm fired up to go back out there right now!"

"Hold your seahorses." Sal interrupted. "We can't just go back out there again. We wouldn't know where to strike."

Cal pushed his glasses up with a smirk. "Actually, I overheard a few lovely ladies talk about some activity in a place called Beaker's Depot. My hunch tells me a zapfish with our name will be there."

"We don't even know what Beaker's Depot looks like!"

"Why'd you think I swiped this?" Cal pulled out a little scroll, which Sal assumed was a map of some kind. Considering his word choice, there's only one place he could've gotten it from.

"Are you crazy? You can't just steal stuff from Octavio's troops!" Sal whisper-yelled, not wanting the octolings nearby to hear what Cal had done.

"Stealing? No, no. I'm just borrowing!"

Sal let out a frustrated sigh. "So what? You just want to go to Beaker's Depot and snag the zapfish there?"

"Exactly!"

"Without the lieutenant?"

"If we tell the lieutenant, she'll probably say no. They'll want to make plans. If we go now, we can catch the enemy by surprise! They wouldn't expect us to hit another one of their facilities so soon after tussling with an octoweapon."

Somehow, every time Sal didn't want it to be the case, Cal made the most valid arguments. The enemy was probably expecting the group to recuperate. That would give them time to set up a counter offense... but if they struck now, they might have the best possible chance at getting that depot's zapfish.

Sal stayed quiet, same as Samantha and Samuel. The Sam twins gave each other a contemplated look as if they were telepathically communicating with each other. The two reached a conclusion before Sal did, turning to look at him. Now it all fell on him on what they'd do.

"I mean..." Cal spoke up, not letting Sal finish his thoughts. "I'm sure Callie would be ecstatic that her four agents took the initiative. Think of the look she'd have on her face when we come back with a zapfish! But... if you're fine with Pacifica bossing us around all the time, then—"

"Screw it." Sal interrupted, grabbing his splattershot off the table. He knew what Cal was doing, and it had worked.

Cal also knew it worked, evident by the shit-eating grin forming on his face once more. "Then it's settled!" He turned away, pointing in the distance. "Let's move out. Onward, to victory!"