A bright light seared into the pupils of the leader. His eyes began to flicker open and he suddenly hissed as he tried to blind the bright light away from his eyes but failed to do so since his hands were restrained with binding metal cuffs. He tried hard to keep himself from fainting again, the world was faint and it spun like a vortex.
He heard low murmurs as he frantically looked around his surroundings. A figure began to approach him as his eyes began to clear.
" Your'e finally awake. You nearly had us worried when you almost cracked open that head of yours," Cap'n said as he eyed the leader with a cooky smile.
The leader glared at the four agents, Cap'n cuttlefish and a nurse that stood off to the side.
"Nghh!" he snarled as he felt the pang of a sharp headache from his head injury.
" Nurse," Marie called, " a little more aloe vera please?"
The nurse quickly shuffled and applied the aloe vera to the leader's wound, he was lucky enough that it didn't need stitching nor it hadn't caused a major concussion.
He flinched as she applied it, it stung quite a bit but she was careful. She then finished applying and Marie thanked her and shooed the nurse off as she quickly bowed before exiting the facility .
The leader's breath was heavy and his voice was hoarse but he was able to let out a soft chuckle, " Heh..it amuses me how caring you folks are for people like me..word goes around that ya' torture prisoners...I could still be wrong though."
" Rumors are quite common. Unless you refuse to cooperate with us, then we can gladly make those rumors true," Agent 4 said as he glared at him.
Coral crossed her arms, " Agent 4, now is not the time to be so cruel." She then approached the leader, " We have no intentions of hurting you..nor your..friends."
The leader's cold stare glanced at Coral, " What is it that you folks want from me then?" he scoffed, " I told you already, I-...," he stopped as he had begun to remember that they somehow knew of his deal with Octavio. He went silent and listened for Coral to continue on and explain.
Coral glanced back at the other agents behind her and continued to speak, " We are only in need of questions that you may hold answers to our sources. I assume that you are aware of the disappearance of the great zapfish and Callie from the squid sisters, no?"
Still angered from the fact that he was so easily captured he shook his body in frustration, " Yes I am aware, but how does kidnapping me have to do with that stupid high pitch singing woman?! I got nothin' that I know about her!!"
Marie almost snapped but Kai's worried quick glance and Cap'n Cuttlefish's stare stopped her from doing so.
Coral sighed, she put the palm of her hand to her cheek as she huffed, " We believe that Callie was taken by Octarian forces. We already have many evidence that tie to that proof. Any information we acquire can lead to what Octavio is up to, none of this should even concern you for that matter.."
The leader sneered, " Well you know nothin' about me for that matter either. And what if I am to refuse to answer any of the questions that you folks may ask?"
"I-I'm sorry, unfortunately refusal will lead to the exile of you and your friends," Coral said as she glanced at Marie who nodded.
The leader gasped, " E-exile??!"
" Why not prison?!?"
Marie stepped forward, her voice was monotone,
" We've recently acquired many atrocious records done by some of your gang members on the behalf of the police in which includes; murder, stealing, and of course betrayal of Inkopolis's fate."
She had her arms behind her back, her hands folded. She glanced down at the leader, " If you do however accept—then that will be..risky per say.. but we are at the point that we would use any chance to continue our rescue."
The four agents then stared at the leader for a reply, but he went quiet . His eyes dropped at the ground beneath his boots as he clenched his fists under the constriction of the metal cuffs.
" Young lad?" Cap'n Cuttlefish questioned.
" Okay.." the leader finally spoke , in a low voice.
He sighed, " Tcht..this is so foolish..but I have no choice either way.."
" Perfect. Then I suppose the deal is sealed," Marie said as Cap'n Cuttlefish nodded.
The leader whimpered, " Y-yeah..whatever just promise.," he begged, " Promise me , that you won't let Octavio find out. Promise me damn it..promise me!!"
" Easy, easy there." Kai said in Octarian to calm the man, he then switched back to Inklish, " I assure you that the promise will be protected if you stay true to answering our questions. Let's begin with why Octavio shouldn't know."
The leader nodded, " Me and my folks are just the unlucky ones that were brought into this world for many reasons that we do not understand.
We mostly have the same things in common that others outside of Downtown Inkopolis have: nowhere to go."
He nervously tapped his fingers on the armchair that held his hands down,
" Hell...Iv'e even considered them as my family," he paused and confessed ," I'd do anything to protect them..I don't want to loose my family again..we'd never last outside of Inkopolis."
" W-what happened to your..real family..?" Kai asked, he now carried a bit more empathy for the guy.
The leader sighed,
" Octavio ordered his Octarian forces to execute ma and pop when I was just a young fellow.
My mama was a Octoling and my
papa was an Inkling.
Ma was an Elite Octoling in the forces, she was one of the best too. But, when she met my pop, they fell in love and eventually had me as a secret.
They were..wrong though, wrong to believe that they could hide their love. Octarian forces eventually found out and Octavio had them executed.
As for I, I was to train as a soldier but I escaped once I was a teenager."
" And for what reason did Octavio want to work with you again if he knew you were a traitor?" Coral asked with concern.
Marie nodded in agreement, " Yes, that is quite the unusual behavior of Octavio."
He sighed once more, he shuttered as he began to speak again, " In the midst of Octavio's escape from the old base, Octarian forces were somehow able to acquire our secret location in which they contacted me for a deal to be made with me.
He said that he would trade the best of his elite weapons and a bit of wealth to us for an escape route which happened to be through our base.
O-Octavio made it clear that if I were to ever speak of our collaboration..he would murder me and my folks."
" Right then, do you happen to know where he had headed off to?" Marie chimed in.
The leader shook his head, " Yes, I believe it is an area riddled with Octarians. My folks say that it's called Cephalon HQ. I'm not sure but it must take a bit of a trip. I can ask my folks for more information if you'd like as long as you keep the promise up."
Coral nodded, " That would be much of a great help. You know.. you wouldn't be too bad working here as a job?"
The leader smiled but he kindly declined the offer, " As much fun as that sounds, I am sorry but I must decline. I stay true to my oaths to protect my family. We don't live with all the money that we truly want but as long as we're together..we'll be aight."
" I'm sorry but what's your umm.." Agent 4 began but the leader spoke,
" Luciano.., my name is Luciano Ryker."
" Lu-cee-ah-no..," Kai slowly said as he turned his head for approval.
Luciano nodded, " Yes."
Marie brushed her hands, and began to release Luciano from the restraints, " Thank you Luciano for your cooperation. You are free to go—don't..go running around and causing trouble.."
He snickered at Marie's comment, " Heh..I'll try."
She swiftly turned her head towards Agent 4, " Four, please escort Luciano to the metro."
Agent 4 immediately obeyed as he and Luciano exited the facility.
Coral let out a big sigh, " That went better than I thought it would.."
Kai approached Coral by her side, " Agreed. I do feel much of a different view on Luciano now. I was in his shoes too you know?"
She grasped his hand, ignoring what the others would say. " How so?"
He let out a soft chuckle, " Well..not as much of the same situation—but similar. I too felt lost, no where to go. But when I found that there was a better life above..it opened my eyes."
He then hugged Coral to his chest and smiled, " And I found the light, you are my light."
She blushed as she smiled back at him, " I could say the same."
Marie eyed the two but she kept quiet. She would need to tuck herself away in the shed and continue to connect the dots once more.
Author note: ya so imma take a break now. And no, it's not gonna be like a five month break ( most likely a three week-one or two month break ). I'm hoping it doesn't get to two months cus that's too much of a long break for me lol.
Well..I hope you guys have fun playing smash ult. If any of you would like to play, let me know. I am not much of a person who likes to add random people too often but I'll let this pass this time, leave ur friend code below and I'll try to add you in advance. Sorry replies are late as I am a bit busy sometimes.