Chapter 3: Nothing But Zeroes

"I can tell. You're no hero to me."

Lieutenant Sepia showed the octarian brothers where to gear up. As they walked, she informed them that the team's color would be yellow, which worked out for them since that was already their default color.

Eventually, the lieutenant led Sal and Cal straight to a shack that was much bigger than the others. She must've disliked them or something, since she didn't stick around after. Her parting words were to grab whatever they saw fit and meet her at the edge of the outpost. She didn't explicitly say it, but her tone implied she wanted them to be quick about it.

What she shouldn't have done was leave the two brothers alone in a room with an arsenal of weapons—especially one so chock full of them. There were all types of guns, bombs, specials, and some more stuff. They must've had everything under the sun in the shack.

One look from each other, and Sal knew his brother would have a field day with this.

Sal already had his kit in mind: a standard splat bomb and a regular splattershot. He liked to keep his arsenal simple. His clothing, however, was a different story.

He found a black and yellow patterned raincoat, then paired them with black, yellow-striped leggings that stopped just short of his ankles. To match his fit, he wore a pair of golden sneakers with black rims.

He stuck with the standard cylinder ink tank for ink usage.

On the other hand, Cal found a pair of hydra splatlings. The grin he had was mischievous at worst, malicious at best. He was going to dual-wield them, which should've been impossible, considering hydra splatlings were some of the heaviest weapons on the market. As for his sub-weapon, he was going with the autobomb.

For attire, Cal found a long-sleeved yellow shirt; He wore a bright yellow vest overtop of that. He had the same type of leggings as Sal, except they fully covered his legs. Additionally, he had on yellow water shoes to match the yellow theme they were going for. Of course, he didn't remove his shades.

Unlike Sal, Cal strapped a large rectangular ink tank to his back. Since he was going to dual-wield hydra splatlings, he was going to need every ounce of ink he could muster.

Once both brothers gathered everything, they gave each other another look. Cal was looking to see if Sal still wanted to go through with this, and Sal was just making sure the situation was real and not some vivid dream.

After a moment of staring, they headed out to the edge of the outpost as instructed, finding Lieutenant Sepia leaning against a wall, polishing a scoped E-Liter. Once she noticed them approaching, she stopped what she was doing and pulled out two headphones from seemingly nowhere. Both headphones were different.

Cal received a slim pair of white headphones with triangular ends. Because of his afro, they wouldn't go over his head, so instead, they wrapped around the back of his head and latched onto his ears comfortably.

Sal was given two black cone-shaped headphones, one for each ear. They completely covered his ears, yet, somehow didn't muffle any noises around him.

Lieutenant Sepia let them know that if they were to get split up or if they needed to contact the outpost for any reason, they'd use the headphones. Luckily, there was little questioning to be had—because she wasn't allowing any.

Once that was established, she went straight to explaining the plan. Their goal was to infiltrate a facility called Suction-Cup Lookout and steal the zapfish being held there. The facility wasn't as heavily guarded as all the others, so it would be "easy" and "simple" according to her. Both brothers decided to trust her on that.

She would go on to explain that the enemy had disabled the spawn points scattered throughout the facility, so even if the stakes were low, they had to have their guard on high alert at all times. Sal looked nervous, seeing as there was the possibility he'd have to kill people. Splatting aggressors was one thing. But without a spawn point, there was no coming back from that kind of death...

Before he could get cold feet, the lieutenant ordered both brothers to follow her, making it clear she'd be the one leading the charge. She'd then morph into her swim form and blasted off.

Cal turned to Sal, seeing the nervous expression on his face. "Hey." He'd lightly smack Sal's arm, gaining his attention. He gave him a smirk and a thumbs up. "I'll rock." He raised his other hand and held it towards Sal, forming a fist.

Sal stared at Cal's fist before shaking his head. "I'll roll." He finished, fist-bumping him with the slightest smile.

Things couldn't have gone worse for the trio.

Not only did the enemy know they were coming, but their forces were incredibly strong. Stronger than Sal anticipated. Fortunately, they escaped with their lives. Unfortunately, the lieutenant was not pleased with their performance.

Lieutenant Sepia led them back to where Callie, Marina, and Octavio conversed. "These two are useless." She announced, earning her superiors' attention.

The three turned to look at the octarians; Their eyes noticeably widened in surprise.

"W-What happened?" Callie asked in confusion and concern.

They didn't sustain any life-threatening injuries, luckily enough. But their escape was narrow. Narrow enough to earn them bruises and slightly torn clothes. Cal had even lost one of his hydra splatlings.

"Like I said, these two are useless." The lieutenant repeated.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Useless is a lil' harsh, don't ya think, babe?" Cal said with a small smile.

"Call me babe again, and you won't make it to tomorrow."

"Relax, I was just playin'." He replied nonchalantly, seemingly unbothered by her threat. "But yeah, seriously. I think we did a lot better than anyone else would've."

"This is the first time in a long while everybody we sent has come back..." Marina noted, earning a glare from Octavio.

"I don't understand!" Callie blurted. "What happened to you guys? That was a low-security facility, wasn't it?"

Sal furrowed his brows. "It's not our fault nobody told us how tough the opposition would be!"

"What do you mean..." Callie trailed off, looking at the lieutenant. "Pacifica, you did tell them everything I told you, right?"

"Just the essentials." The lieutenant responded blankly, causing Callie to facepalm herself.

"GRAHAHAHA!" Octavio boomed in laughter. "The lieutenant must really hate you fools!" He pointed at them in absolute delight. Sal didn't understand what was so amusing about the lieutenant hating them. "Guess you really don't know how to pick 'em after all, huh?" Octavio jabbed at Callie, letting Sal know he wasn't really laughing at the brothers.

"S-Shut up!" The pink idol responded childishly.

Marina interrupted their little feud. "Sorry about that, agents. The enemy uses some kind of ultra-resistant armor, so splatting them is nigh-impossible."

"Damn. Really?" Cal raised his hydra splatling. "No wonder they were able to tank a whole cycle of this."

Marina nodded. "It's why they can afford to disable their spawn points."

"Where can we get some of this armor?" Sal questioned.

Marina's face changed into an awkward expression. "Well... we're still trying to figure that out. W-We don't really know where they keep their gear, nor do we know what it's made of."

"Wait, wait, wait. You said this place used to be an Octarian Military complex, right? That means there's an armory around here. So if they control most of it, they must be using whatever's in the armory."

"That's the thing. The armory is in Beaker's Depot. But intel shows that the gear they're using is being imported from somewhere else."

Sal looked dumbfounded. "You mean the enemy is getting support from someone else?"

Marina nodded shamefully. "We don't know who or why, but that seems to be the case."

"Damn." Sal frowned, realizing a bit too late that he joined the wrong side of the civil war.

"If you ask me, this whole operation reeks. Somethin' nefarious is going on behind the scenes. I just know it," Octavio commented.

Honestly, Sal somewhat agreed with Octavio. He wouldn't mention it for now, but the enemy soldiers did look... off. He wasn't sure how. They just did.

"I still don't understand." Callie started, "The skills I saw earlier were that of a true agent! You should've had no trouble..."

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not bad at fighting. Nor is Cal. But it's much easier to fight someone you have a battle with at least twice a week for a year straight. It's not hard to learn and adapt to their moves. Especially if they're too stubborn to change."

Callie looked confused, then shocked, then finally, she appeared sad but understanding. "S-Sorry. I guess that's my fault for not at least giving you guys proper training... I thought for sure you could blow through this with your raw skills alone."

Before Sal could respond, Cal decided to gloat. "Don't get it twisted. Our raw skills could've totally gotten us through. But we've been out of the loop for a while when it comes to proper battles."

Callie's face sunk into sadness even more. "Yeah, I guess I should've expected that. Ever since the gangs started controlling the city, turf war hasn't been a viable thing for months."

Cal raised a brow. "Months? Girl, we ain't participate in a turf war in years."

Callie's face instantly turned from sadness to exaggerated surprise—same as Marina's. "WHAT?!" they both shouted, much to Sal's annoyance.

Cal couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, we always get that response when we tell people."

"You say that so casually!" Callie ran up to Cal, practically encroaching in his personal space—not that he seemed to mind. "Why haven't you been doing turf wars?!"

"Simple. We were banned." Sal admitted, surprising Callie even more.

"B-Banned? How?" she asked in a flabbergasted expression.

Honestly, her reaction was understandable. Since turf war was one of those global sports, it was hard to get banned from it. Especially since they made a lot of exceptions for so many people. Being banned from turf war was a rare case, since if one place banned you, all places had to. Unfortunately, Sal and Cal were such rare cases.

"Well, Cal doesn't not like using his gifts. So he kept doing turf wars with dual splatlings." Sal sighed. "I warned him many times, but he just didn't care. Eventually, they banned him from the sport entirely."

"Oh, don't be like that." Cal grinned, wrapping an arm around Sal's neck. "It's not my fault I was born great! 'Sides, without you, there was no point in participating anymore anyway."

Callie paused, then backed away from the brothers. "Dual...splatlings?"

"That's what I said," Sal confirmed, pushing Cal off him.

"Hm. So that explains why he could carry two hydra splatlings." Lieutenant Sepia mumbled.

Now even Marina was surprised. "H-He was using two hydra splatlings?"

Sal shrugged. "It's his favorite weapon. Gave him a clear advantage during battles, too. It was practically unfair for the enemy team."

Finally, Callie asked the question everyone had probably been wondering. "How is that possible?"

"I wonder that every day." Sal looked at Cal, who responded to everyone's stares by flexing his muscles. He rolled his eyes and looked back to Callie. "He's just really strong. Like, absurdly so. Always has been. If I had to guess, it's cuz of genetics. But I find that hard to believe..."

Cal ruffled Sal's hair, which he didn't approve of. "Hey, don't get down about it, lil' bro. We can't all win the genetic lottery. Besides, you're great too!"

"Great in what way?" Marina questioned. There was another pause in the conversation; She quickly realized how that sounded and scrambled to clarify. "Y-You said you both were banned! So, surely you must have something about you that turf war couldn't allow, right?"

"Oh, right." Sal opened his mouth, about to explain, but suddenly stopped. "Actually, I think it's best if we just show you. Cal."

"Righto." Cal gave him a thumbs up and took a step back.

The group watched intently as Cal got some distance between them while Sal stood completely still. They had no clue what was going on.

After a minute, Cal revved his hydra splatling, charging it up for an attack; Sal changed his ink color from yellow to purple. It took Callie a second to connect the dots. "W-WAIT! WE DON'T HAVE ANY SPAWN POINTS SET UP!" she screamed in fear, but it was too late.

Cal released the charge and a volley of yellow ink shot at Sal. He didn't dodge or block, and all the projectiles hit him square on. However, instead of splatting the next second after, he was still standing tall and proud, slightly drenched in ink, which quickly evaporated off his skin and clothes. Sal would then turn back to Callie, Marina, and Octavio, showing them he was unharmed.

"H-How is that possible?!" Callie repeated, almost sounding like a broken tape record.

"Genetics." Sal shook himself before changing his ink color back to yellow. He'd then holster his splattershot and cross his arms. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out why I wasn't allowed in turf wars."

"But... if you can't be splatted, what was the point of dodging that guy's attacks from earlier? Was it for theatrics?"

Sal raised a brow. "What are you... oh. Well, melee weapons like the inkbrush still hurt. That's why."

Lieutenant Sepia scoffed. "You two have these gifts, and yet you still can't handle a few soldiers?"

"We must have very different definitions of a few," Sal shot back. "And hold on, aren't you the one who left out the part where our enemies are basically un-splattable?"

"I told you to keep your guard up at all times. That should've been a sufficient enough warning."

"Well, it wasn't!"

Cal grabbed Sal's shoulder, silently telling him to calm down. "Yeah, I'll admit, that wasn't our best performance. But even if we did know about that ultra-resistant ink stuff, it's not like our synergy would've been any better."

"Your synergy?" Callie said questioningly.

"Yeah, y'know. Harmonized teamwork and all that jazz. We can't really perform well with Ms. Sepia cuz she's hard to jibe with. No offense."

"Offense taken." The lieutenant sneered.

Callie butted in before Sepia could say anything more. "Are you saying if you had people to match your synergy, your skills would be better than they are now?"

"Oh, shell yeah. You should've seen me and Sal back when we were with the twins. We actually rocked. It was magical!"

"Now when you say the twins, are you referring to the—"

"The Sam twins. Yes. Yes, he is." Sal finished, though he didn't sound happy mentioning them. Everyone turned to him upon hearing the sour tone in his voice. Cal remained quiet on the subject, but it was too late. He had already brought them up. Sal grumbled to himself, knowing the others would need some context now. "They were our Salmon Run partners, once upon a time."

Callie looked perturbed. "You guys did salmon runs?"

"Uh, yeah!" Cal cheered. "And we were the best at it. Those salmonid hordes stood no chance! With the twins by our side, we would've easily became the top runners."

"So what happened?" Marina asked curiously.

Sal huffed. "What happened is they lied to us. Then left the crew."

Sound drowned out from the immediate area; everyone fell quiet.

Marina frowned heavily and avoided eye contact. "Sorry for asking..."

Sal realized his tone sounded a lot angrier than he intended. "Don't be. If we're gonna make this whole agent thing work, it's probably best you guys know these things..." He sighed. "Besides, it's not like things would've been different if the twins stayed. A few months after they left the team, the salmonids stopped showing up."

Callie perked up. "Oooh. I heard about that. They finished migrating, right?"

"So we've been told. And ever since that happened, runners like us have struggled to make a living. We probably could've gotten by on just scraps, even now. But then Urus came in and shot our careers in the head."

"Urus?" Octavio boomed. "That's a dumb name. What fool would ever call themselves that?"

"Oh, I've heard of him," Marina replied, taking out a laptop from...wait, where was she keeping that?

"Urus? Isn't he the guy who runs that robotics company?" Callie tapped her chin quizzically. "What was it called again..."

"Oct. Co Facilities," Marina answered, whipping her laptop around to show everyone all the public information available on Urus and his company. "Apparently, he used to be an explorer and frequently traveled around, but recently settled in Inkopolis. He's got big plans to help the city!"

"Ha!" Sal couldn't help but laugh at Marina's optimism, much to her confusion.

"D-Did I say something funny?"

"You did." Sal placed his hands on his hips. "If you really think Urus is gonna help the city, then you must be dumber than you look."

Everyone, even the lieutenant, was taken aback by how offensive Sal was being.

"Whoa, Sal, I think—" Sal raised his hand to stop Cal.

"And I'll tell you why." He stepped closer to Marina, who slowly put her laptop down.

"When the salmonids became less frequent, bigshot Urus came in as Grizzco's new CEO. People like me were naïve enough to believe he'd turn things around. Wanna know what he really did? He rebranded the whole company into Oct. Co Facilities and told us there wasn't a need for salmon runners anymore. After that, he brought in his autonomous workforce and kicked employees like us to the curb!"

Sal turned to Callie, who flinched at his gaze. "So now here we are. Unemployed, and fighting in a civil war for a paycheck." That sentence made him recall what she said back at the apartment. "You told me you needed heroes. Well, guess what? Heroes don't fight for money. They fight for the greater good. And they don't fight for the greater good to better their own situation, or because they have no choice. They choose to do it because it's right." He looked down. "Like I told you earlier... I'm not a hero. I'm just another nobody." Silence followed once again, deafening the surrounding area.

Suddenly, Sal looked up. "Y'know what? This is stupid. We were never cut out for this. Why did I even entertain the idea...we're useless, after all." He said that last part while glancing at the lieutenant, then turned to his brother. "Come on, Cal, let's—"

"Wait!" Callie shouted, reaching a hand out to him. After gaining his attention, she continued. "So what if you're not helping us out of the kindness of your hearts? That doesn't change the fact you came this far! Most people wouldn't have even heard me out. Or warn me to get out of the city because of how dangerous it is." She balled her gloved hands into fists, giving Sal a determined look. "You may not see yourself as a hero in your eyes. But your actions make you a somebody in mine!"

To say Sal was shocked by her words would be an understatement. He was speechless.

Octavio interrupted the moment before Sal had a chance to process Callie's words. "Nice speech, squirt. But the fact still stands that these two will need training if they're gonna continue bein' agents."

"What?! Didn't you hear them? They haven't been in a turf war in years! With that kinda rust we're working with, getting them properly trained would take time. Time we don't have!"

"Well, if they can't handle Suction-Cup Lookout, they can't handle any of the other outposts. So what are you gonna do about it?"

Callie looked down in thought, then turned back to Sal. "Do you think the twins would help us?"

Sal jolted at her question. "Huh? What kind of question is that? Of course not!"

"But you four were close! There's gotta be something left of your friendship, right?"

"I highly doubt it." Sal crossed his arms. "Even if they wanted to help, they couldn't. Mr. Wale owns them."

"Mr. Wale?" Lieutenant Sepia chimed. "As in Sark Wale? The crime boss?"

Sal nodded. "Yep. That Mr. Wale."

Callie awkwardly asked, "Who's Mr. Wale?"

"Oh, no one special. Just a whale shark who's notoriously big in the underworld. Figuratively and literally." Sal said almost sarcastically. "Don't know what those idiots did, but they're stuck paying off debt to him. They're practically his slaves."

Callie stayed silent for a second, only to pipe back up with renewed vigor. "But if we got those two to join us, your performance would improve, right?"

"Let me put it to ya this way. If the twins were on our team, your civil war problem would be handled within the week," Cal answered.

"I find that incredibly hard to believe," Sepia commented.

"Then it's settled. We'll get them back!" Callie declared.

Sal's face dropped. "I'm sorry. Did you not hear the part where Mr. Wale owns them?"

"I did."

"What about the part where he's a big crime boss?"

"I also heard that."

"Then you should know taking them by force is out of the question! You guys might have this army, but he has one too, y'know! We shouldn't make another enemy."

"Who said anything about using force?" Sal furrowed his brows in confusion. Callie elaborated. "We'll speak to Mr. Wale personally and negotiate the twins' freedom. That way, they'll feel morally obligated to help us in return!"

"That's...not a tactic I expected someone like you to come up with."

"But it'd work, right?"

"Well, yeah. Assuming you have anything Mr. Wale doesn't already have."

"Trust me, I can be very persuasive."

"Hmph. Negotiating with a shark? Good luck with that." Octavio commented, then moved away from the group. Surprisingly, Sepia stayed with the others.

Sal paused, unsure how to respond to Callie's eagerness to speak with a notably dangerous crime boss. She took his silence as permission to proceed with the idea. "Now that we have that settled, do either of you know where we can find Mr. Wale?"

"We do," Cal answered swiftly.

"W- Cal!" Sal looked at his brother, who smiled mischievously.

"Great! What are we waiting for? Let's get to it," Callie cheered.

The two brothers glanced at each other once more. Sal looked concerned, whereas Cal appeared confident.