Sanitized

Chapter 40; Same As Ever

Steven and I stood at the edge of the roof of the hotel building, waiting for the helicopter. Faith and Isaac had left a couple minutes ago on the motorcycle, and Tres and Elliot were downstairs having everything explained to them by Marina, and everyone else had left and gone in their own direction.
"So, are you doing well?" Steven asked me.
"Yeah, I'm doing much better at least." I responded.
"So, Opal, what are we?" Steven asked, bringing up the one subject that we had both been thinking about a little too much.
"I-I don't really know..." I responded awkwardly.
"I don't really either..." he said, putting his hand on my shoulder.
I smiled at him, and he looked at me with sympathetic eyes.
I kissed his cheek, and hugged him.
"Well, what are we going to be about Serenity?" I asked him.
"I really don't know..." Steven said, "Opal, I'm sorry."
"What for?" I asked him curiously.
"For not trusting you..." he said quietly, gripping my hand, "And everything else..."
"Thanks..." I said, hugging him.
"Well, I only bring that up, because
I am sorry
Serenity is part of the reason I didn't trust you"
"I know, that's why I asked what we were going to do about her. You really liked her."
"Yeah..." he said awkwardly, "I didn't really-"
He sighed, and I said, "I know, it's hard to explain."
"Well, anyway. What should we do?" he asked.
"We'll have to find her first, I think we should decide from there." I said.
He nodded and said, "Well, there's our ride."
He pointed to a small helicopter that landed on top of the water.

...

Steven and I were on top of the roof where I had seen Phoenix after I had lost my memories.
"I think you know your way around here a little, right?" Steven asked me.
"Yeah, a little. I remember a bit from when I was younger, and a bit from when I was last here with Tres." I said, opening my phone, "Marina guessed that this is where Serenity would be, considering that this is where they sanitize inktolings."
"Do you really think that Serenity openly chose to join the Octarian menace?" Steven asked.
"I would like to think the best of her too, but all the signs are currently pointed to yes." I said, grabbing my octobrush from Steven.
Steven sighed and said, "Yeah, but there has to be a reason."
"Just like there has to be for every conflict, but currently, I'm pretty sure she's fighting for whatever cause the Octarians are fighting for, rather than be forced to." I said with a shrug.
Steven nodded and took his Clash Blaster out of his ink backpack.
"Ready?" he asked me.
I nodded and began walking for the door, when Steven stopped me and said, "Wait for a second, Opal."
"What?" I asked him, confused.
He ran up to me and kissed my cheek.
"Now you can go." he said.
I laughed at this, and opened the door and began to sprint down the stairs.
No guards.
Weird.
Steven and I made it to the bottom of the steps, and began to sneak through the hallways.
Still, no guards.
"Where are all the soldiers?" I whispered.
"I don't know." Steven whispered back.
We still stayed vigilant, and held our weapons at ready as we traveled to the room where Tres and I had seen the army of inktolings.
Steven and I found it, and opened the keypad and typed in the code.
The doors opened, revealing a thousands of sanitized soldiers, who held their heads down, and eyes closed, all holding human guns in their arms.
Steven and I silently walked through the room, and up onto a platform, hidden from the view of the soldiers, where Steven and I watched the doors slide open.
Steven and I watched in awe as Serenity and a tall octoling with a short ponytail walked in behind the soldiers.
The octoling girl had pale as white skin, piercing blue eyes, black tentacles pulled into a shoulder length ponytail, and was wearing an octoling uniform, which consisted of a metal crop top with belt straps, a black mini skirt, and black knee-high boots with a metal heel.
Serenity looked the same as ever, long twirled tentacles swept to the side, alluring red eyes, light skin, but tentacles were black, and she was wearing the octoling uniform.
"We need to talk to her." I whispered to Steven.
"Really? With everyone else here?" he whispered back.
"Well, yeah, I don't think we'll be able to talk to her without them." I whispered.
"Okay, if you say so." Steven whispered.
We were hidden up in the 50 foot high ceiling, kneeling on one of the boards in the open framed room.
I jumped down from the board, and onto the ground below me, right in front of Serenity and the octoling girl.
Steven followed, and landed to the right of me.
The octoling girl held out a spear and aimed it at us.
"At ease, Pandora." Serenity said to the octoling girl. The girl lowered her spear and held it at her side.
"What are you doing here?" Steven asked her.
"Opal and Steven, my favorite agents, I believe the better question is, what are you doing here?" Serenity asked us.
I held my octobrush at my side, and Steven held his clash blaster at ready.
"We came here for you." Steven said.
"Ah, thank you, but I would like to hear the answer from Opal please." Serenity said.
"I just gave you it though." Steven said.
"I feel like Opal's answer would be different."
"I really don't think it'll be that-"
"What are you doing here, Opal?"
"We are here to um-" I began.
"Go on." Serenity said.
"To find out why you're helping the Octarians." I said quietly.
"Ah, the million seanwhich ticket question." Serenity said.
"Do you want me to handle them?" the octoling girl said with a thick accent, to Serenity, holding out her spear.
"No, I've got this. Oh, this is Pandora, guys." Serenity said to Steven and I, "She's basically one of the main leaders here. She's even got a British accent. Isn't that cool? Pandora, this is Opal and Steven."
"How do you know what accent she has?" Steven asked her, confusedly.
"I've studied up on my human history." Serenity began, looking at her nails, "Besides, it's important for this job."
"What job?" Steven asked her.
"The one that you came to ask me why I was doing it." Serenity said.
"What exactly do you do at this," Steven did finger quotes, "Job?"
"Well, some of my friends are out there sanitizing people, some are creating the technology, and some are sanitized people that fight against anyone that opposes."
"What do you do in this job?" Steven asked her condescendingly.
"Find what I need." Serenity said.
"What do you mean by that?" Steven asked, putting his hand by his ink gun.
"Part of the job is assembling pieces." Serenity said nonchalantly.
"What?" Steven muttered under his breath, "Pieces of what?"
"The conversion machine." Serenity said.
"What?" Steven said.
"I've already said too much. Pandora?" Serenity said.
Pandora held her spear to Steven's neck.
"Stay here, Pandora. Opal, you come with me." Serenity instructed.
Steven stood there, and mouthed, "go."
So I followed Serenity down the halls into what seemed like an office.
"Here, sit." Serenity said, pulling out a chair for me to sit in.
I reluctantly sat in the chair, and Serenity sat across from me.
"Well, you've certainly stayed quiet." Serenity said.
"Sorry." I mumbled.
"No, it's no problem, really. Like the hair." Serenity said to me.
"Thanks?" I said quietly.
"Well, let's get to the point here. I want you to help us, Opal" Serenity said.
"Well, I'd have to know what and who i'm helping first." I said.
"And that will be dealt with, as long as you trust me." Serenity said, "Opal, do you trust me? Be honest."
Why would I? This girl had been fighting us, and all the sudden, she's asking for my help? She had confused me, driven me mad. Honestly! Why would I? But something in my mind told me that I should.
"Yes." I answered.
"Really? I'm surprised. Well, I guess I must tell you the little stuff first." Serenity said.
"Why are you trusting me? I could be lying." I said.
"Because you don't lie, Opal." Serenity said, a little too knowingly.
"You obviously know that you have a spy within the Squidbeak Splatoon, correct?" Serenity asked.
"What?" I said.
"You had to have known that I wasn't alone." Serenity said, "But because you obviously don't know who it is, I don't need to tell you. No point in that right?" Serenity said.
"Why wouldn't you-"
"Save the questions for later. You and I both know that you're going to be able to easily escape. We are forming some sort of ancient world, the ability to basically bring us back in time. A restart button. And we need you to build it."
"Why me?" I asked.
"Because you're a trustworthy mechanical-knowing octoling that I am willing to save." Serenity said, not lifting her eyes from the folder she was skimming through.
"What do you mean by that?" I asked her.
"You build and work for us, we spare you." she said, with a shrug.
"What? You're going to kill me if I don't?" I asked her, standing up and pressing my hands on the desk in between us.
"Defeat is inevitable, but defeat doesn't necessarily mean death." Serenity said, still engulfed in the folder.
"What about my friends?" I asked.
"Oh, Opal. You need to let loose. Half of your friends are on my side right now, and some of them just know their fates." Serenity said.
"You're going to kill some of them?!" I asked.
"No, like I said, defeat is inevitable, but it doesn't necessarily mean death, Opal." Serenity said.
"What are you going to do to them?"
"You'll figure it out."
"I need to talk to Steven, please." I said, beginning to walk out of the room.
"Oh, Opal, I wouldn't do that." Serenity said.
"What? Why?" I asked.
"I never said you can't, I just mean that you might not want to." Serenity said in a sing-songy voice.
"Why?"
"Go ahead, be my guest. You'll figure it out for yourself." Serenity said.
So I walked out of the room, bothered by what she had just said.
"What'll happen?" I thought to myself.
I walked back into the room, and saw Pandora and Steven farther away from each other.
Pandora didn't have her spear to his neck anymore, but still held it at a stance, while Steven looked up at the ceiling bored.
"Steven!" I said, running up to him.
"Oh hey, Opal ." Steven said.
"What's wrong?" I asked him.
"Nothing." Steven said.
"That seems like sarcasm, but why would you be saying that sarcastically?" I asked him, confused.
"Why didn't you tell me, Opal?" Steven asked.
"Tell you what?" I asked.
"I think you know what." he said, turning away from me, and crossing his arms.
"What do you mean?" I asked him, with sincerity.
"I don't know if I trust you, for real this time. Why didn't you tell me?!"
"Steven, I have no idea what you're talking about!" I said.
"Opal, we'll have to discuss it later." he said.
"Uh, okay... I have to talk to you about something important." I said.
"Can it wait until later? I don't really know if I trust you anymore." Steven said.
And just like that, my heart broke in two again.
"Well, then I guess it's already been discussed as much as it needs to be." I said, before turning around, and running back to Serenity's office.
I opened the door calmly and sat down in the chair.
"So, was anything different?" Serenity asked me expectantly.
"Not from what I could tell." I said.
Serenity was right when she said that I don't lie.