In Control and Responsible (Seek x Figure)

17

Seek could only watch as the humans jumped across the objects floating on her, staying unharmed, never missing a landing after a leap from one object to another. She silently cursed how easily things floated on top of her ink. She tried to slap the humans off, but they managed to avoid every hit.

After the humans had all gotten across to the areas of the room they intended to be, they turned wheels that were lit up by that strange blue light.

Seek didn't think much of it until she felt herself draining back into the pipes. It was then when she realized that the situation wasn't just, "Wait here until they inevitably fall and drown.". The humans were actively trying to get rid of her, and they were being successful. Seek wanted to swear, but wasn't capable of it since she couldn't manipulate herself due to her weight.

Once Seek's ink level settled, she tried to up her game a bit. When the humans started trying to jump across her again, she focused on both slapping them, and putting out blobs of ink to catch them. Neither of which seemed to be working very efficiently, but it was hard for Seek to multitask like that. Still, she was trying.

The humans were still turning the wheels without fail, and still dodged every attack Seek gave. It wasn't long before the humans turned one more wheel, and Seek's ink level started going down again. Seek panicked, but couldn't show it. She was afraid she'd drain all the way right then and there.

Once Seek's ink level settled once again and the humans were jumping across the debris for the third time, Seek concentrated on spitting out blobs of her ink. She threw worm looking blobs of her ink out at the humans. Just as one of the humans was about to turn another wheel, Seek managed to hit it, and it died instantly, becoming coated in ink.

Seek couldn't cheer herself on, though, since there were still two more humans that were still getting away. She tried to catch them, but one of them had just turned the last wheel, and Seek was draining out of the dam once again. She hoped she'd get another chance, and tried to keep herself from pouring down the drain. Unfortunately, Seek was going down the drain fast, and before she knew it, she was completely gone.

Since Seek was gone, the last two humans, without mourning the death of their friend, went through a door, then up a ladder to leave the mines. While they were doing that, Seek had rebuilt herself into her regular humanoid form, then was running back to where Figure and the Screeches were.

Figure could hear and feel Seek's heavy footsteps from several rooms away. He knew something must've been wrong if she was running. If Seek was already that close to the end of the mines, which Figure assumed she was, she shouldn't have been running back.

"Corpuscle, they got away. Poured me right down the drain." Seek said quickly when she was close enough to Figure and the Screeches. Seek looked around at them and subconsciously counted all the Screeches again. "I'm gonna go after them. If I'm not back in, say, ten minutes, then come after me."

Before Figure could respond, Seek was gone again. She'd run away far enough that if Figure tried to call out to her, she wouldn't hear. Coincidentally, that's just when Ambush arrived.

"Wow, you've got all of them?" Ambush looked at Figure. Faced Ambush while sitting on the ground, holding the baby Screech. "And an eighth one?" Ambush scratched his head. He was surprised Seek trusted Figure with all her kids.

"Inky is going after them. She said if she's not back in ten minutes, we go after her." Figure repeated what Seek had just told him.

"I've gotta apologize to her... The kids shouldn't be down here." Ambush sighed and felt shameful. Seek had left the Screeches with Ambush, and it was his fault they didn't stay in the hotel. He knew he should've stayed in the hotel with the Screeches instead of trying to pursue the humans.

"Are the others okay?" Figure changed the subject. He heard earlier, from Seek's quarrel with Jeff, that there were apparently wooden crosses that could be used to hurt them.

"Everyone says they're okay. They're hanging out a few rooms back there." Ambush explained and pointed behind him to the pile of rubble left from Seek's fourth chase. "I just came to look for you and Ink. I didn't, uh... Expect to find all of the kids too."

"Kid bit the girl one!" One of the younger Screeches said enthusiastically.

"Yeah, well back at home, I bit one of the dude ones, but I didn't get any praise from that." The oldest Screech complained.

"You don't have any proof of that, Yap, that's why you're not getting praise from it." Another Screech reasoned.

"Mom saw. You can ask her when she gets back." The oldest Screech claimed. Since Seek wasn't around, he couldn't prove it, and that caused the other Screeches to accuse him of lying, and that escalated to a lot of chatter between the Screeches.

The volume of all the Screeches voices together caused the baby Screech to get overwhelmed, then start crying. Figure realized that, then managed to shush the Screech and calm it down. He was surprisingly good at that, and Ambush noticed.

"Ahh, I see why Ink left them with you." Ambush laughed lightheartedly. The Screeches quieted down and looked at Ambush, then at Figure to see what he was talking about. "Have you had a lot of experience with taking care of kids? Or is this a natural thing for you?"

"Well... No, I don't really have much experience." Figure tilted his head, then jumped a little when he heard and felt rumbling in the distance coming from the direction Seek left to. Ambush and all the Screeches heard it too, and looked that direction as well. The Screeches, other than the two oldest, got spooked from it, then hid behind Ambush. When there was no more room behind Ambush, the extra Screeches hid behind Figure.

In the distance, Seek was right behind a massive Grumble that was digging a tunnel up to the surface. She still didn't understand why it was so determined to catch the humans, but it didn't matter. It was getting in her way, and she needed to get rid of it. Seek jumped and hung onto one of its tentacles, and when the Grumble reached the surface, Seek reached up with a massive hand and threw it down onto the Grumble's eye.

Seek then used her ink to cover the Grumble and kill it. Seek coated it in her ink, just like she had done with all the giggles in the nest. Once it was coated and not moving anymore. Seek climbed up its back, then stood on the top of it, just barely catching a glimpse of the humans leaving through large castle doors. She was just slightly too late.

"Dammit!" Seek yelled, then ran up to the closed castle doors. She tried to pull them open, but it didn't work. She looked back to the dead Grumble on the ground, then to the doors. For the millionth time that day, Seek felt like she would cry.

But she was Seek. The one person in the hotel that was supposed to be strong and protect the hotel. The person who was always supposed to know what to do in any situation. The more Seek thought about it, the worse she felt.

Seek felt useless. If she couldn't do her job right, then what was she good for?