Better Eight Than Never

"That could've gone better..." Bato said, running a hand over his tentacles and casting a brief glare at Hachi.

Hachi took off her mask and shoved it at Bato, then slumped against the wall and slid to the floor.

Bato frowned, then sighed. It be nice, just once, if something went the way they planned it to. Especially when friends lives were in danger. At that thought, he looked around the room, then turned back to Hachi. "Where would they keep Toda?" He demanded.

"I don't care." Hachi muttered, pressing her face against her knees.

He heaved another sigh, then checked the room again. Jill was kneeling down next to Stacey's splatling, head hung low, and Simon was heading over to her... Poor Jill, she'd made a tough call... He shook his head and continued to look. He could see the way they'd come in from... All these tables... the only way he could see to go from here was a door off to the side. "Would that door need your mask?" He asked.

"C-Can't you give me a minute!?" She demanded, sounding on the edge of tears.

"Please Hachi..." Bato continued. "We need to find Toda as soon as possible."

"AT LEAST TRY THAT FUCKING MANUAL DOOR OF YOURS FIRST WHY DON'T YOU!?" Hachi shouted, then began a mixture of coughs and sobs.

Bato's ears pulled back from the ferocity. She had just been left behind... He supposed the outburst wasn't entirely unreasonable... He turned and walked over to the door, steeling himself before trying the handle. It was unlocked. Carefully he pushed open the door, taking a sharp breath when he saw his best friend laying on the floor.

Toda's hands were pulled behind his back and then tied to his ankles in what was undoubtedly an incredibly uncomfortable position, and there were a couple pieces of duct tape covering his mouth. All in all, he didn't look good; his head seemed barren without any sort of hat, leaving the bandages wrapped around his head uncovered, and there was a little ink leaking out of cuts on his cheeks, his knee looked like it was starting to bruise and swell up a bit, and both his right arm and at least some of his leg were wrapped in duct tape. He was looking towards the door as much as he could from his position, expression terrified; but when he saw Bato, his expression changed to one of relief.

"Toda!" Bato said, rushing in and kneeling down, carefully peeling the duct tape off of his mouth.

"B-Bato...!" Toda stammered. "Wh-Where's... I-I heard...?"

"Simon and Jill are here too, they're okay." Bato said quickly, trying to get the tape off of Toda's wrists, but finding it difficult. "Okay wait here, I'll get a knife." He started to get up, then grunted as he was pushed out of the way by Simon.

"Toda!" Simon sniffled. "What did they do to you!? I... I..."

Jill darted in as well, beginning to sob so hard that it was hard to tell what she was saying.

Bato hesitated a moment, then turned and went back into the other room. Where was that knife that Simon had snatched a moment ago...? He found it on the floor not too far away from the door and cringed when he saw it was covered with octoling ink. That must have hurt... He picked a grease-covered rag off of a countertop nearby and tried to clean it off, but made little progress. He soon realized that there was a grove in the blade which ink was flowing into out of the hilt. Oh. So Simon hadn't hit anyone at all? That was sure what it seemed like. Must add some extra sting to the cut. He gave up trying to get it all off, telling himself he'd just have to be careful when cutting off Toda's binds.

When he came back into the doorway, he saw the Grace twins hugging Toda tightly, all three of them crying their eyes out. He felt close to tears himself as he knelt down and began to cut off Toda's binds. "It's okay bud..." He murmured, helping him sit up straight now that the tape was off.