Sanitized

Chapter 12; Gone

Phoenix and I were just then finishing our breakfast Crusty Seanwiches.
Phoenix obviously liked them as much as I did.
I texted Tres:
Opal- Hey Tres. We need to meet up at your house with all of the agents. We need to talk.
Tres- Sounds good. Even the Squid Sisters?
Opal- We'll see. You can bring them with.
Tres- Okay leaving now.
"We have to go back to the apartment. All of the agents need to talk together." I said.
"Okay." Phoenix said.
We walked to the apartment and saw all of the agents inside. Elliot, Steven, Isaac, Tres, Faith, Callie, Marie, Serenity, and Captain.
"Okay so, it's recently been discovered that inklings are being targeted to be sanitized." I said.
"What should we do?" Faith asked.
"We should be fine." Elliot said.
"I don't know. They attacked me and Marina last night with ease." I said.
"Is it even safe for anyone here?" Steven said.
"Well, Phoenix? Who are they targeting?" I asked Phoenix.
"They said they were going to sanitize the Squidbeak agents first." Phoenix said.
"Well then it isn't safe for us..." Tres said.
"Oh yeah. This is Phoenix. A childhood friend of mine." I said.
"Hi!" Phoenix said with a wave.
"Wait you remembered her?" Isaac said.
"I regained some memories of her." I said.
"What should we do about the Octarians attacking us?" Serenity asked.
"If they're only attacking us we should be able to escape Inkopolis without any problems." Elliot said.
"That makes sense. They were probably going to use us to carry out their plan with ease." Steven said.
"We should go into exile for a while to wait and see their next move?!" Tres said, "What about the rest of the people here?!"
"Some of us can stay here and protect Inkopolis, while the rest go into exile. The latter is the one there will be the most of." Steven said.
"I think we should also recruit more agents." Serenity said.
"Good idea." Steven said, smiling at her. I forgot all about that.
"We should only recruit who we trust." Elliot said.
"We can recruit Pearl and Marina." Isaac said.
"I like it." Callie said.
"Sounds good." Marie said.
"Okay, I'll call them on my communications device." Cap said. He pulled out his shellphone.
"Who should stay here?" Serenity asked while Captain was on the phone.
"How about Marina stays here so that she can use her computer skills to actively work on missions." Callie said.
"I can stay back too." Serenity said.
"Do you really want to?" Steven asked. He obviously wanted her to come with him.
"I'll stay here too." Captain said, "Marina and Pearl are also coming."
"Okay, so that means that:
Me, Tres, Faith, Phoenix, Isaac, Elliot, Steven, Pearl, Callie, and Marie, are all going into hiding?" I asked.
"Sounds right." Tres said.
"Where will Serenity stay?" Faith asked.
"She can stay with me, and Marina can too." Captain said.
"They can't stay at Marina and Pearl's because octarians know that that's where they live." Phoenix said.
"Where will we go?" I asked.
"I have another house down in Flounderida." Steven said.
"Of course you do." Tres said.
"Isn't that, like, a day long drive?" Serenity asked.
"Yeah, we need to get as far away as possible. This is why you should come, for your safety." Steven said to Serenity.
"What about Marina's safety?" I said.
It was like I didn't have control over my own words. Steven glared at me for a second and then blushed.
Faith and Isaac giggled.
Marie gave them a cold hard stare and then said to us bluntly, "We should have Serenity stay here because she's skilled in tactics, she'll be able to protect herself, and the others staying, but she isn't as strong as Tres, so if she does get sanitized, she won't  be able to defeat us as easily."
"That sounded like a compliment and- not..." Serenity said.
"We should start packing up. We should leave by the end of the day." Steven said.
This was all so sudden. Only 2 days ago, everything was fine, we met a new friend. We had gone out to do some regular stuff. Then 2 days later, we realize that we are going to be fighting for our lives again. We weren't even close to being finished.
This was only the beginning.
Everyone left, and I walked outside. Serenity followed me.
I started to cry. I knew that I was sensitive, and this was enough to rip me to pieces.
"Hey. Opal? Are you okay?" Serenity asked.
Her long hair swayed to the side, and she sat down next to me.
"I just, wish that I hadn't screwed things up." I said, still in tears.
"Messed what up?"
"It's my fault that I was fighting Tres underground, and if I hadn't been, they wouldn't have known that they could sanitize inklings. I had control, I didn't wear the shades, yet I still did it."
"But then you fought back."
"Yeah, but then, because I hadn't done that sooner, the octarians knew about me, and learned that I was a traitor."
"But you fought for us."
"When I fought with you guys I put you in danger. When I try to help, I may do my best, but I attract more enemies!" I started to bawl.
I had only just now realized how true that this was, and had only been trying to come up with a reason for why I was crying.
She probably thought I was a wimp.
"Hey, hey, you did what you could." She tried to calm me. She hugged me.
"Then, when I do, I drag you- g-guys alo-ng w-with m-me." I started to cry more.
"You don't drag us with you, we follow you, because we care."
"B-but y-you g-guys f-follow m-me be-because y-you t-take p-pity o-on m-me." I cried.
"Why would we? You're the same as us. You are an absolute equal, don't worry, we like you because you're you."
"B-but-"
"No buts, only yeses."
I nodded and giggled with teary eyes.
"Now you should pack up your stuff, so you can go with the others." Serenity said sweetly.
"Okay. I hope you stay safe."
I hugged her. I felt her face get warm, she wasn't expecting me to hug her.
That's what I like about everyone. They are happily surprised when I hug them. Everyone's faces always get warm with happiness.
I walked back inside and grabbed my octo shaped suitcase. I put all of my belongings inside. I watched Faith put the little she had inside a backpack. Tres put tons of stuff inside. I grabbed all of our personal belongings and supplies. I just wanted there to be no sign that we were ever here, so if someone broke in:
1: if they were a burglar they couldn't steal anything
2: if they were Octarian they wouldn't figure anything out
I grabbed my stuff and looked outside. It was raining now. I took off my hero suit and put on a hothouse hoodie, black fish fry bandana, and a pair of hunter high tops. Faith put on a baseball tee, baseball cap, and zapatrops. Tres put on a blue hoodie and t shirt, hooked headphones, and punk blacks. Phoenix put on the outfit she had on earlier, and Serenity put on a lime green striped t, a striped beanie, and custom hiking boots. When Steven and the rest of everyone, Steven had on a purple hoodie, an urchins cap, and punk blues. Elliot had on a camo hoodie, fakes contacts, and black hi tops. Isaac had on green zapatrons, a navy blue t, and studio headphones. Callie had on her hoodie and pink sweater. Marie had on designer headphones, a grey jacket, and banana creams. Marina had on her regular bandana and shoes, but with a teal striped t. Pearl had on her regular casual outfit, with a long hoodie, but with no crown.
"Okay, let's head out." Steven said.
We all grabbed our suitcases and piled them into the back of Steven's car. It was very cramped. Faith sat next to Elliot and Pearl, Steven sat next to Isaac, and I sat next to Tres and Callie. Marie and Phoenix were hanging out in the trunk. I mean come on. We had enough seats for everyone except one, we kind of had to. Steven was driving, and me, Tres, and Callie were in the backseat. I put in some headphones and slowly lulled to sleep. The car started to move.
I had never been out of Inkopolis before, what was it like?
I looked out the window after I woke up from a 3 hour nap. Everyone in the car was silent.
We were all scared. I didn't want to leave Inkopolis, and I didn't want to live this life anymore.
I just wanted to be normal.
Normal people didn't even know that they were normal, compared to the others.
I wished that we could all just live in Inkopolis in peace. If there was ever a time.
Pearl and Faith started talking, and Elliot with them.
Tres looked at me and gave me a smile of pity. She knew how I felt. I started to play FlyOctoFly.
I looked back at Tres and she said, "I'm kind of hungry."
I giggled and said, "me too..."
"Hey Steven! Can we grab some food?" Tres asked.
"Sounds good." Steven said.
"Where are we at this point?" Isaac asked.
"We are about one sixth of the way there." Steven said.
"You must have done a lot of math to figure that out." Tres said.
"Where should we stop?" Steven asked.
"McDolphins! McDolphins!" Pearl yelled.
"Isn't their food kind of unhealthy?" Marie asked.
"I heard that they make their chiton nuggets out of copepod antennae." Elliot said.
"Probably just an internet lie." Callie said.
"Should we head to the next exit and get some?" Isaac asked.
"Yes! I want a McFishy!" I said.
"Everyone in?" Steven asked.
"Sure." Elliot said.
"Sounds yummy!" Faith said.
"Yum!" Phoenix said.
"Okay." Marie said.
"You know I'm in!" Pearl said.
"Let's do this!" Callie said.
Okay, McDolphins it is." Steven said.
We stopped at the drive through and went on with our day. It was 1:00 in the afternoon. Steven turned on the radio.
He started playing Ebb and Flow.
Everyone started singing along.
Uh woah oh oh woah oh oh oh!
We all listened to the next song for hours and even listened to the Squid Sisters.
I think that I was going to be fine after all. Things would be safe. I would be wrong.