Tides of Hypnosis

Chapter 8: Focus (Marie)

"You're going to... kill... me?" Callie asked, still very much out of it.

"I'm trying not to, Cal," I said.

Those "hypnoshades," as Octavio called them, seemed to be having a lasting effect on me. I heard the scientist say something about them not implanting false memories, only wiping my recent memory and making me believe Octavio more. So why do I have an urge to kill Callie? Maybe it's because since the shades made me believe him more, I still think that Callie beat me up, so I want revenge. It's insane. If I even lose focus for a second, I'm sure I'll just lash out and kill Callie. Thank God I convinced Agent 4 to guard the door.

"Callie, did they say anything about how your shades worked?" I asked. Any information would be valuable.

"They... said it's a... prototype," Callie moaned. "Something about... complete... personality change."

"So the prototype was a complete brainwash," Marie concluded. "Mine just cleared my mind a bit so they could lie to me."

But while the information could be valuable later, it's not helping me now. I looked over to Agent 4, who was still holding off the Octolings with his dualies. Then I saw a curling bomb slide over to him with an Octoling swimming in its trail.

"4!" I called. "Look out!"

Agent 4 leaped over the incoming Octoling and killed her with a few shots, avoiding the curling bomb in the process. But my worrying about Agent 4 just caused more thoughts of killing Callie to flood my head. I suddenly reached for my charger and aimed it at Callie.

"Marie..." Callie said. "Please... don't..."

Calie's pleading caught the attention of Agent 4, who quickly planted an ink mine in the doorway and dashed over to us. 4 tackled me, knocking the charger out of my hand.

"Just let me kill her!" I cried. 

"Marie, focus!" Agent 4 yelled. "You don't want to kill Callie."

It would be easy to kill her. Just one shot and I'd get my revenge! No! I don't want to kill Callie! She's my cousin, my best friend!

"Marie, that mine's not gonna hold us for very long," 4 said. "You need to focus."

"Yeah..." I said, fighting my negative thoughts. "I know."

Agent 4 went back to the doorway and started killing more Octolings. I crawled back over to Callie, who was now throwing up on the floor.

There are too many Octolings. We'll never get out of here. I'll snap eventually and kill Callie. I need something big to get us out.

Sheldon! I whipped out my phone and called Sheldon, still focusing on not killing Callie.

"Sheldon!" I yelled frantically.

"M-Marie?" he asked, clearly confused. "Callie said you're missing. Wait, is Callie with you?"

"Yeah, but it's not a great situation. We're stuck in a room in some Octarian base. Agent 4 is guarding the doorway and I'm trying to not to kill Callie."

"Kill Callie?! What do you mean you're trying not to kill Callie?!" Sheldon yelled.

After Sheldon said that I could hear an Inkling say something to Sheldon.

"Hey, should I call the police?" he said. "I think the police should know if someone's trying to kill someone."

"Sheldon, are you on speaker?" I asked.

"Yeah," Sheldon said. "Kid, this is none of your business, okay. Now get the heck out of here or I'll Inkstrike your house!"

"What's an Inkstrike?" he said as he left.

"Okay, anyway, can you please explain to me why you're trying not to kill Callie?" Sheldon said.

"I'm still recovering from my hypnosis," I explained. "Callie is too, but she's borderline unconscious."

"Wait, hypnosis?" Sheldon asked. "What did you get yourself into?"

"Yeah, brainwashing," I said. "Mind control."

"I know what it is but ho-"

"I'll explain once we get out of here," I told him. "But we're depending on Agent 4, and this is his first mission, so he's not exactly trained to be fighting hoards of Octolings. So I need to you to send in a Killer Wail to this base. But... I don't know where it is."

"No problem," Sheldon said. "I have a tracker on your Hero Charger for situations like this. I'll get it to you as fast as possible."

"Thanks, Sheldon," I said before hanging up. "Just a little longer 4! We got a Killer Wail coming!"

"What's a Killer Wail?"

"It's basically an ink induced megaphone."

I turned my attention back to Callie, but I let my mind drift for a second, trying to figure out the best way to position the Killer Wail.

"Marie, when is that Kill Wail coming?" Agent 4 asked.

But I didn't respond. I was already shoving Callie up against the wall with my charger aimed at her for a second time.

"Marie?" Agent 4 turned around. "Marie!"

The Octolings took advantage of Agent 4's distractedness and grabbed him. Then they pulled him out of the room, but not before he planted two more ink mines in the doorway. 

Deciding I wanted to torture Callie before I killed her, I threw her across the room and kicked her in the head.

"Ow..." she moaned. "Please... don't... do that."

After beating her up for a minute, I was finally ready to get my revenge. But before I could shoot my charger, Agent 4 stumbled in. A few Octolings tried following him but were killed by the ink mines. 4 put more ink mines down and run over to me. He pinned me down and took my charger away.

"Marie, snap out of it," he said. "Just focus."

"She's almost dead," I said. "I can finish her."

"No Marie," 4 ordered. "Do not kill Callie. She's your cousin, not your enemy. Whatever Octa-"

A Killer Wail suddenly crashed through the ceiling, and Agent 4 got off of me. I took advantage of this and slugged him in the back of the head.

"Marie!" he called out as he hit the floor. 

I ran over to the Killer Wail, activated it, and turned it to Callie. This was it, I could finally do it. NO! Turn that back around Marie! Towards the Octolings! I fought my urges to kill Callie and was able to turn it away from her and to the Octolings. Before I had any chance to move it again, I screamed into it, instantly killing hundreds of Octolings. Afterward, I slumped to the ground and let my breath out. Agent 4 ran over to me.

"You did it, Marie," he said. "You saved us. Let's get out of here."

Back to fighting negative thoughts, I grabbed my charger and Callie's roller and Agent 4 picked up Callie. Together, we dashed out of the room. We ran up the stairs to the main floor and ran past Octavio's room. I looked over at him and he glared at me.

"Get them," he said to the Octolings by him.

They chased after us down the hallway, shooting us with their Octoshots. I put my charger on my back, deciding that a roller would be more efficient while we were running. I flung a wave of ink onto the Octolings, killing a few of them. The remaining two Octolings kept chasing after us, but another wave of ink finished them off. Soon after, we made it out of the base to see Sheldon with his truck waiting for us.

"Get in!" he yelled.

Agent 4 put Callie by me in the back and he jumped into the passenger seat next to Sheldon.

"Try not to kill her, okay?" he said to me.

"Yeah, I'll try."