The Reluctant Hero (Splatoon)

Chapter 26

"It's Black Friday every day at the Booyah Base Ultra-Mega-Hyper Sale! Every deal's a doorbuster! If you want to be the FRESHEST squid in Inkopolis, you CANNOT miss this incredible shopportunity!"
—Sunken Scrolls 1:18 (4.3)

Thursday, 11:59 a.m.
Inkopolis

Cole leaned against Sheldon's truck. So much for today's plans. So much for taking a day to catch up and breathe. No rest for the wicked, apparently.

Just one more day, he thought to himself as he scanned the area. The truck was parked on the curb. Sheldon sat inside the cab, keeping watch over Callie in the passenger seat. She put her head back against the headrest, an annoyed expression on her face. The sun sat high in the sky, beating down on Cole's heavy long sleeve jacket and sweaty baseball cap. This particular street, only a couple blocks west of Inkopolis Plaza, was completely deserted, with everyone taking shelter indoors. Word had gotten out about the situation in the Plaza.

This was it. This was the last thing Cole had to do before he could leave all this NSS business behind him. Just five more hostiles. Don't hit the hostage Inklings. Don't get shot. Then he could go get Nat her Super Seanwich. Then he could go home and see his mother and father, see his little brothers Nico and Noddy. He could go back to his normal life, his real life.

He was no crazed killer, Cole reminded himself.

Callie's phone started ringing. She tilted her head up from the seat and looked down at her coat pocket. Both Cole and Sheldon snapped their attention to her.

"It's Octavio," Callie said matter-of-factly.

Cole suddenly had an idea. He reached into the passenger-side window, into Callie's coat pocket, and pulled her phone out.

"Rude," she deadpanned.

He pursed his lips, trying to find the right words. "Agent 1, ma'am, how serious was you about saving innocent lives?" he tried.

She craned her neck to look Cole in the eyes. Callie had the same empty glare that Marie did, and he couldn't get a read on her at all. He really needed to learn how to do that someday.

"You really wanna protect people? Make a difference in the world? Then help me," Cole implored. "Bait Octavio like you mean it. Give me an opening." He opened the cab door, cut the cable ties around Callie's wrists, and handed her the phone.

Sheldon widened his eyes in horror. "Agent 4, what are you doing?"

"Stop her if she tries to warn him," he told the driver. "I'm going in."

"What could I possibly do?" Sheldon protested.

Callie massaged her wrists, took a deep breath, and stared at the ringing phone in her hand for a good moment before pressing the answer button. "Hello, Octavio," she spoke. "Sorry for the silence. I have Agent 3, and we're coming in from the east side, ETA five minutes. Hold tight and tell your snipers to stand down."

Cole began running. This was his opening: Booyah Base, two blocks to the east, five minutes until arrival. There were so many stores and services around him, and all within walking distance of each other too. Inkopolis was a completely different world from his quiet hometown of Razorback Falls, where going anywhere practically required a vehicle. But the city was unusually quiet today, or at least on this particular street where nobody was outside. Cole did his best to stay focused on the job at hand. It really wouldn't help to be distracted right now.

One block to the east. He stopped at the corner—the Plaza was right around the bend. It was now noon. The sun was as high as it would get today, and the skies were blue and cloudless. He checked the street signs one last time to make sure that he wasn't going the wrong way. Cole trusted his sense of direction well enough, but he still didn't want to risk messing everything up.