Once the pattern of footsteps behind him ceased, and he had winded around several abandoned buildings, he began slowing down to a more reasonable pace, heading out towards the main path. Once he reached it, he emerged from the ink, looking to his left and recalling this being the way to the second zapfish's containment area. He decided if they really had respawned, they would be deeper in the underground, so he continued in that direction. He refrained from picturing what would happen if he got caught; he was all by himself, and he wasn't exactly acquainted with the stolen heroshot.
After a long time of walking, passing both the area with the pillars and the room with the cameras, which he went into and attempted to activate but failed – if only Mask were there – he reached the place where they had rescued the second zapfish. He came to a stop near the edge, between two buildings, and peered across the overhang. Luckily for him, he was right on time. Beside the still-empty zapfish cage, all three inklings stumbled along in a straight line; Army stood in front, Mask in the middle, while Skull was at the back. They were so in sync with one another that it was creepy to watch. Although they were heading towards Aloha, it didn't appear they had seen him yet. He stared at Skull's hero charger nervously; one hit was all it would take for him to be splatted, and then he might never find them again. Not to mention, he could only assume Army still had that knife, and the others might have their own.
Clutching onto hope, he skidded down to them, aiming his heroshot. Their neon cyan eyes shot straight to him, each slowly tossing their weapons in their arms, taking up offensive stances. They froze like that for a few seconds; no one moved, no one said anything. Then, the silence was broken.
"Alohaaa. Come with usss." He was shocked to hear Mask speak. It was only the second time he had heard one of them use their voice, although it didn't exactly sound like them. It was clear someone was speaking through them.
Determined, he gestured his heroshot at them, trying to be intimidating. "No! Come with me!"
The three of them paused. Then, Mask raised his roller over his head, Army aiming his heroshot as Skull's charger beam centered on his chest. Feeling more prepared than last time, he dodged to the side the best he could – heroshots weren't dualies, after all – avoiding the wave of ink that fell where he had been standing. He stood shakily, his wound continuing to ache, as he watched their bright eyes track his movements. He remembered how they seemed to enter a state of confusion when he started talking to them. If it would help them fight this hive-mind, he figured it was worth another shot.
"Wow, you guys really have to work on your aim." He dodged to the side again as Army attempted to shoot him; as he came to a stop, he saw that his mouth had opened slightly wider, as if he was thinking about what he said. He tried again. "I'm not surprised by your lack of skill, Army. I've always been better than you."
He could have sworn he heard him huff impatiently; he froze for a moment, surprised, because it sounded exactly like how he used to react when he'd annoy him. He snapped back into focusing when Mask slammed down his roller, a barrage of ink splattering across the concrete straight towards him. A few drops hit his shoes, and he jumped backwards, fearful, as he saw his figure gliding through the path. He dodged to the side several more times. "That's not gonna work, Mask! I know you too well!" The sanitized inkling emerged from the substance, jumping out and attempting to crush him, following where he had heard his voice. But Aloha had already moved yet again, jumping to the other side of the ink trail. As his roller hit the pavement, he growled in frustration, glaring at him from under his mask, eyes piercing the protective cover. In short, it was terrifying; however, he felt like he was making progress. Riling them up seemed to work last time, so he would do what he did best: be an annoying asshole.
