The Reluctant Hero (Splatoon)

Chapter 5

"Music heads are still buzzing over that legendary underground show two years ago. Anyone lucky enough to catch DJ Octavio's opening set and the Squid Sisters headlining had their minds blown and their lives changed that night."
—Sunken Scrolls 2:2 (1.2)

Saturday, 12:30 p.m.
Cuttlefish Cabin

They stopped at the foot of a mountain, on the other end of the tunnel. Next to them was a small shack. It was a strange-looking hovel, shoddily constructed, yet heavily decorated. The thin, wooden walls held up an uneven roof of misaligned planks, all painted the same shade of salmon pink. A rusty satellite dish poked out from the top, partially covered in rubble that had fallen down from the surrounding mountainside. Some unlit paper lanterns hung from the awning. They were a recent addition; they looked new and clean, while the rest of the shack was worn out and covered with a visible layer of grime. The walls themselves were adorned with a geometric window pattern despite being completely solid and windowless. A bench built into the front wall was covered by a bright green tarp, under which sat some newspapers and empty snack wrappers.

Marie seemed to tug on one of the lanterns—Cole didn't quite catch exactly what she did—to reveal a black panel in a side wall. She placed her hand on the panel, and it visibly reacted with several red flashes.

For several seconds, nothing happened. Then, the wall of the shack folded into itself, revealing concrete stairs leading downward.

"Come on," Marie said, waving him inside.

Against his better judgment, Cole followed her in. They were quite a ways from Inkopolis by now. He had already come this far—what was the worst that could happen? If this Marie had really wanted to do something to him, she could have done so at any time, instead of bothering to keep up a story. It was a fairly consistent story, too. He didn't like the snooty way she talked to him, but Marie had been very open with her answers. And besides, he was curious about this little cabin in the middle of nowhere.

On the inside, Marie hit a few buttons, closing the wall behind them. The stairs went down to a heavy-looking steel door. Marie punched a code into a keypad, and whirring electric motors unlocked the door with a click. She turned the handle and led Cole into a rectangular room with concrete walls. It smelled slightly musky. A large metal desk with a desktop computer was pushed into the corner, covered with papers. Several monitors mounted on the wall above the desk sat inactive, except for one that displayed a camera feed of the outside. On the other side of the room were a torn-up couch, a refrigerator, a closed door, and a round table with several chairs. Straight ahead was an open doorway to another room full of equipment.

Marie walked over to the cluttered desk, selecting a few items and laying them out on the round table. Cole peered at the papers cautiously, reading their titles. They had none. Rather, they appeared to be various reports. The abstract of the first one mentioned an "Agent 3" and something about surveillance and Octarians. He picked up the other three, flipping through an expenses report detailing the costs of a seabound operation, a folder full of Zapfish photos and machinery diagrams, and something that looked like the transcript of an interview.

On closer inspection, it wasn't an interview, but an interrogation. A set of interrogators labeled one to three prodded some "D" with questions about the Octarians' uses for the Zapfish, their operations in various locations, and their motivations. Cole had never had the patience to read lengthy texts, so he put it down immediately. He also didn't care to find out what the interrogators did to D.

While Cole skimmed through the other folders, Marie moved into the equipment room, coming back with a small black suitcase. She popped it open on the table. Inside was a headset, flashlight, binoculars, camera, and an ID card with Natalie's picture and a fake name. Marie then lifted the bottom of the suitcase out, revealing lockpicks, a pocket knife, and a gun.