"This claw has gone insane."
***
Boom.
Off went a single explosive charge at the front entrance of Cephalon HQ—the signal they were waiting for.
Without delay, a horde of DJ Octavio's soldiers stormed the front. Leading the charge was none other than Octavio himself. At least, that's what Cal assumed was happening with all the ruckus going on above them. That was the plan, after all.
Meanwhile, he, the Sam twins, Marina, Callie, Pacifica, and a small squadron of octolings went in from the secret entrance. As Pacifica expected, robotic octolings were waiting for them. But they were ready.
Most of the octolings were armed with the weapon Marina designed to combat the robotic drones, so the enemy was quickly neutralized. From there, Pacifica retraced the group's steps to get to the same area they were ambushed in.
The plan was to rescue Sal, as well as retrieve the remaining zapfish. With Octavio and most of the Octarian Army storming the front to cause a distraction, Cephalon HQ should've been easy for them to navigate through. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
Every hall they turned to seemed to be layered with robotic soldiers. Even if most of the machines were fighting Octavio's group, Marinus seemed to have plenty more to spare.
They were putting all their golden eggs in this mission, so they couldn't afford to fail. As such, Pacifica and her squad fought with a ferocity Team Hardbeak had never seen before. Cal had also joined in, as he still had the one antenna from last time.
The Sam twins followed behind the attackers of their group, as they had no weapons of their own—at least none that could hurt the robotic soldiers. That didn't stop said soldiers from targeting either twin, but fortunately for them, Callie and Marina had their backs.
Marina wielded a specialized splatbrella, using it to shield herself and Samantha from stray ink shots.
Callie, on the other hand, would hold her signature roller vertically, using it to block a majority of the projectiles coming at her and Samuel. For those that got too close, she would just wallop them with the roller.
This balance between offense and defense allowed the group to make steady progress through Cephalon HQ. Eventually, they were exactly where Pacifica wanted them to be.
"This is the place." Cal rushed in, deactivating a drone before slamming them to the ground.
Unlike last time, the place was now crawling with enemy soldiers. The group got into formation, steeling themselves for a long battle.
Then, suddenly, the soldiers stopped. They didn't shut down or anything like that. They just... stopped.
Everyone's confusion only lasted for a few seconds before the sound of static blared out through intercoms laced all around the room. "How interesting." A voice replaced the static, coming from every direction.
Though neither Cal nor the Sam twins knew who was speaking, the mean looks on most of their octoling allies' faces clued them in: Marinus.
"I was wondering when I'd meet an agent from the legendary Splatoon. But to meet so many at once? Why, I'm honored."
"You say that, yet you're nowhere to be found," Samuel noted, eliciting a dark chuckle from Marinus.
"Trust me, little squid. I'm much closer than you think." A horrid screeching noise shrieked from the intercoms, causing most of the group to wince in pain. Perhaps it was a warning not to interrupt him again.
"I admit, I underestimated you agents. You've done more for Octavio's forces in just a few short days than he was able to do for himself in months. Though, I suppose his incompetent lackeys are to blame for that." Pacifica and the other female octolings barred their beaks at his comment.
"Still, out of all the surprises Squidbeak could pull, the one I never expected was you." Most of the drones' heads turned, boring holes into the one and only Marina. "I knew you were in the canyon. But working with the Splatoon? That's new."
"They're my friends!" Marina declared with enthusiasm, the kind Cal had only ever heard in her songs.
"Yes, I suppose they are. But then I'm sure you understand my confusion. After all, you're no stranger to abandoning those in need."
Marina froze. "W-What are you talking about? I would never—"
"What about Octavio? You did it to him. Most importantly, you did it to me."
"I never abandoned you!"
"Physically, no. But mentally, the only one you ever cared about was her. Your precious Pearlie." Marinus growled that last part with anger Cal was all too familiar with. "I was always second fiddle to that inkling. I could try and try and try. But, no matter what I did, she would always overshadow me by simply existing."
"Marinus... Is... Is that what this is about?"
"It's always been about her, hasn't it? When I disappeared, it was just a minor inconvenience."
"T-That's not true! I was so worried. I had no idea what happened to you!"
"Really? Then I guess you partnering with the Splatoon after all this time was to find me and not Pearl, right?" Marina's mouth hung agape, but no words came out. After a moment, she closed her lips, looking down shamefully. "I thought so."
Suddenly, mechanical whirring echoed from above, growing louder and louder with each passing second. Cal looked up, seeing the same robotic claw that snatched Sal away.
"As much as I enjoyed this little chat, I think it's about time we say goodbye." The claw stopped descending, hanging above the center of the floor. "To the octarians that follow Octavio, know you could've lived a life free of conflict had only you joined me. And to the Splatoon, thank you for being quite the challenge. You were as entertaining as you were annoying."
The claw pointed to the group, and the drones started moving again. "Terminate them," Marinus ordered, and every soldier opened fire.
The group scattered to avoid the brunt of incoming ink.
A portion of the octarians stayed back to help Callie and Marina protect the Sam twins, while the other portion, which included Pacifica and Cal, ran around to make quick work of the amassing robots. But no matter how many they took down, a hundred more seemed to take their place.
For Sal's sake, Cal could last for weeks. But the mounting pressure gradually grew for the others. It was only a matter of time before they caved in from the unrelenting assault.
As Cal thought of what to do next, some yellow liquid shot out from the claw, hitting one of their octoling allies in the arm and leg.
They yelped in surprise, but beyond that, seemed fine. At least, that appeared to be the case until their movements became sluggish. Moments later, they collapsed, dropped their weapon. "I-I can't feel my limbs!" They cried out, unable to pry themselves off the floor.
Two robotic octolings closed in on the downed octarian. Before they got the chance to splat her, Cal moved in, deactivating one with his antenna while punching the other directly into the ground. Before it could get back up, he grabbed the machine by the leg, tossing it into the wave of approaching robots.
"Watch out!" The octoling he just saved shouted, alerting him to a yellow stream of liquid heading straight for his face. He narrowly dodged the shot, watching it land on the floor with an audible plop. It had a thicker consistency than ink, making Cal doubt it was ink at all.
"Be careful!" Marina called out, earning Cal's attention. "The Octoclaw can eject a numbing toxin from any one of its fingers!"
So that's what that was. Cal processed, looking back at the claw. It would've been great if Marina had warned them about that before one of their own was hit... Oh well.
He picked up the downed octarian and effortlessly threw her over his shoulders before rushing back to where the defensive team was. The whole way back, the Octoclaw took aim and shot the paralyzing yellow goo at him. It only stopped once he was out of range.
"Thought that thing would never stop." Cal huffed, placing the numbed ally in the center of their little defensive formation. "How long will this last?" He asked, turning to Marina, whose open splatbrella was getting pelted with ink.
"I-It varies, but it looks like she's been grazed, so the numbing effect should only last for a few minutes."
On the bright side, they weren't down a soldier indefinitely. Still, with that octoweapon in play, it was going to make things difficult.
"I expected your second octoweapon to be more defensive," Cal commented, noting how it didn't seem oriented for battle. That's when he noticed the singular green eye on the back of its hand staring right at them.
"It was never meant for combat. At least, not of this caliber. It was supposed to be a simple security measure... Marinus must've tweaked the design a bit."
Cal could see that, seeing how it acted as a support to the main army.
It shot at any octarians that got too close; while being paralyzed wasn't exactly lethal on its own, when surrounded by an army of murderous robots, the outcome wasn't exactly looking good for whoever it hit.
That Octoclaw was a problem. A problem that had to go.
"Hey, Sam." He called out, catching the inkling's attention. "Hold this." He tossed the antenna-shaped weapon at him.
Samuel caught it, giving it a confused look before eyeing Cal. "What are you about to do?"
Cal smirked, rolling up his sleeves. "Just gonna give that octoweapon there a little hand." Samuel groaned, instantly regretting he ever asked. Callie couldn't help but stifle back a laugh. "Be right back."
"Cal, wait!" Samantha said, but before she could warn—or worse, talk some sense into him—he dashed out into the fray, sprinting right at the Octoclaw.
Of course, the robotic soldiers fired at him when he rushed in, but he wasn't about to let them hit him so easily.
He jumped into the air, planting his foot hard into the head of one robot. Then, with a short huff, he planted his other foot onto another one's head. Before the robots knew it, he was running on top of them. Most fired ink at him, but he easily dodged their attacks.
As he ran atop the sea of robots, the Octoclaw took aim at Cal, shooting out its paralyzing yellow liquid. He smirked, making a huge jump to the side to avoid the attack. He landed on another robot's head, continuing his run on the row of machines.
This was the reason he hadn't super-jumped to the Octoclaw. If he had, it would've just tracked his trajectory and hit him dead-on. But this way, he could make his way to the octoweapon while avoiding its numbing liquid.
Each time the Octoclaw shot, Cal would pivot and dodge. The robots, being none the wiser to his tactic, would always be there to catch him. This continued until he got close enough to jump onto the Octoclaw.
He latched onto the back of the claw's wrist, watching as the pupil of its green eye dilated. It shook and spazzed, trying everything to get Cal off, but he refused to let go.
Normally, he was against using his strength on those weaker, even if they were the aggressor. However, seeing as these were machines, no real harm would be done if he went all out. Besides, they took his brother. He had no reason to hold back.
"This one's for Sal." Cal punched the Octoclaw straight in its eye at full force. His arm went right through the machine, shattering the glass that encased its eye. The eye went from green to black, only to shudder weakly. Then, its fingers fell limp.
Confused, Cal looked it over, seeing it was shutting down. He hadn't taken a zapfish from it, so why was it turning off? Maybe it didn't have a zapfish? Well, actually, that would explain why the energy-reading device didn't go off when the Octoclaw appeared out of nowhere the first time. Still, he would've never guessed the eye was acting as its power source.
"Huh." Cal's plan was to take away its sight before ripping it apart, but it seemed like that wasn't necessary. Lucky him.
Suddenly, he felt his back get pelted with ink, which hurt like carp. He winced before climbing up the claw a short distance, then looked back down at the army of robotic octolings.
"Right..." He was so engrossed with taking out the octoweapon that he forgot there was still a whole legion of machines to deal with. Taking them down looked to be much harder than taking out the Octoclaw.
Cal frowned, watching as the machines seemed to multiply like shrimp. No matter how many they destroyed, they would just keep coming. "How are we gonna beat these things?"
That's when he noticed it. Some of the machines below were still shooting at him, but their ink couldn't reach. He was too far up the Octoclaw's arm. Had they been regular octolings, they would've just super-jumped to him. But they're machines. They can't super-jump at all!
Everyone has been so busy trying to get around the robots' invulnerability, nobody bothered to exploit their biggest weakness: their mobility, or rather, lack thereof.
"Maybe we don't have to beat them..." Cal looked up at the imposing darkness, thinking if the claw descended, it must've come from somewhere. Of course, there was the chance there was nothing but a ceiling waiting through the darkness. It was a gamble on if they'd outright escape the onslaught of robotic soldiers, but at the very least, he and his group wouldn't be under fire.
"Hey!" He hollered, waving at the others. "Climb up!" He pointed upward, hoping they could hear him.
Fortunately, they could, as moments after he shouted, portions of the offensive and defensive group began super-jumping to the Octoclaw and making their way up its arm. Cal didn't start climbing until he saw the Sam twins, idols, and lieutenant super-jump to the claw.
Once they were accounted for, he began his ascent. "Let's see if it's my lucky day."