Like a squid in a candy store

Simon opened their mouth to speak, when their father called from the kitchen. "Simon! Your eggs are done!"

“COMING!” They called back, beginning to walk to the dining room. "You want some? We can make more while the pan's still hot."

"Sure, thanks." He agreed as he followed. They smelled delicious.

"Hey dad, Toda wants some eggs too." Simon said as they took a plate of scrambled eggs and toast.

“Hello Toda.” August Grace said, glancing up briefly before heading for the fridge. “How to you want them?

"Scrambled, please." He said politely.

"Hey Toda!" Jill called from the dining table with a little wave, and a full mouth.

He snorted. "Hey Jill."

"Couldn't you wait three seconds and NOT spew food all over the table?" Simon grumbled as they pulled out a chair.

“No.” Jill said with a shake of her head, then continued quickly. "Judd, I hope Hachi likes coffee..."

“Well, she’ll live, right?” He asked, sitting down.

"Yeah, probably. How are you doing by the way?" She asked, mouth now vacant of egg for the moment.

"I'm doing good." He replied. "Though... still confused as to what's going on. How 'bout you?"

"Good!" Jill said."At least until the others get here and explain... Oh! We'll all be in the same place! I can get a shellfie of the four of us on my phone! I really want that to be my first picture.”

Simon shook their head with a wide smile. "Ever the optimist."

Toda snorted. “I think we could use optimism.”

“See? Someone agrees with me!” She smiled, but then looked up as the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it!” She said, standing and sprinting for the entryway.

Toda leaned to watch her go, watching until finally she came back with Leah, Hachi and… Oz… in tow. They all looked exhausted, and he frowned as he took this all in. “… Where’s… Where’s Bato?”

“Good morning Toda, Simon...” Leah said. “That’s… part of what we’re here about.”

“Bloody ‘ell this place is ‘uge.” Oz commented.

“Tea.” Hachi said. “Please, where’s my tea?”

Jill grimaced. "We... We only have decaf. Do you like Coffee at all?"

She groaned and stepped behind Leah, head in her hands.

Leah instinctively reached out a hand to shield her. "She tried some earlier; she didn't like it."

Jill frowned. "Ahh... Oh! I might have something that could work, hold on..." She jogged over to the fridge, pulling out a long cardboard box of soda. “MOUNTAIN DEW!! MLG!!!!” She raised her phone and rapidly pressed the screen, each time releasing an airhorn sound. “Judd I love this new app.”

Toda snorted, covering his mouth.

“What do those words even mean!?” Hachi asked, her tentacles coiling around her face.

“It’s a kind of soda, famous for having caffeine in it, and for being the smell of gamers.” Jill said, holding out a can. “Drink up!”

Hachi grimaced and passed the can to Leah so she could open it.

"Toda, your eggs." The August said, setting the plate down in front of him.

"Thanks, Mr. Grace." He said, flashing a smile up at him, despite his worry.

“Of course.” He said, then turned to Jill and Simon. "Ok kids, I gotta go. And whatever's going on, I'm probably going to say no. Just for the record."

"Right, because when the cops aren't around, anything's legal!" Jill said.

"... You're not making me feel any better." He sighed, then gave his daughter a quick hug before turning toward the garage. “Nice to meet you in person Leah.”

“It's nice to meet you too." She agreed. “Work?”

“Work.” He agreed. “Wish me luck.” And then he vanished through the door.

"... What is he doing here?" Simon finally asked, pointing at Oz.

Leah sighed. "I offered to let him come with us... I didn't realize it would be an issue with so many people.”

Oz shrugged. "I jus signed up 'cause it sounded like there'd be fightin ta get Bato back."

Toda gagged on his eggs and looked up sharply, coughing. "Get Bato... back? What? Where is he?" He spluttered, feeling fear settling in his stomach.

Leah sighed a bit, "That's what I needed to talk to you kids about..."

Simon grimaced. "Uuugh, Jill pass me one of those dews."

Jill nodded and passed them one, tapping her phone again to play a coin collect noise.

Simon stared. “… Jill. There’s a time. And there’s a place.”

While Toda almost smiled at the noise, he nodded in agreement. “What happened to Bato?”

Leah took a deep breath. "I believe that, a while ago, you kids had talked about joining the Agents? And you decided to hold off on that decision for a while? Well... the day that Orvokki called the news station during that broadcast, he decided things had become too important to wait any longer, and he joined them by himself."

He sat up straight, almost standing up. "He... What!?"

"He became an agent without us!?" Jill gasped.

"He lied to us!? Went behind our backs!?" Simon demanded, slamming their Mountain dew down and practically turning the unopened can into a ticking time bomb.

Leah winced as she attempted to keep her cool. "He knew you weren't all ready, and he didn't want everyone to go lying to each other. But he decided things had escalated quickly enough that it couldn't wait."

Simon slammed their face into the table and started hitting it with their fist, each time clattering the silverware. "YOU. BACKSTABBING. IDIOT!"

"S-Simon!" Jill stammered. "H-He-"

"I DON'T CARE!!!" They screamed

"YES YOU DO!!! THAT'S WHY YOU'RE SO HURT!!!" Jill snapped, pounding a fist on the table herself.

Leah cringed again. "Simon, please..."

They abruptly stood up and then stormed out of the room. As he watched them go, Toda felt every last bit of appetite leave him. They were hurt, they needed space… but that didn’t mean this reaction hadn’t hurt him too. Hell, hearing that Bato’d gone behind his back… what had happened to the times when they could tell each other everything?

Hachi broke the silence after choking down a sip of soda. "... The one who took him is Onella; She was the one in Marie's head, and she's Orvokki's sister."

Jill blinked. "Does... that mean they're working together?"

"Ha, anythin' but." Oz replied. "Sounds like they might be fightin each otha indirectly."

Leah nodded her agreement. "From what I understand, Orvokki told Bato to meet in the memorial park at midnight last night, but Orvokki never showed up. Instead, it was Onella, and... Agent 2. "

Jill gasped. "... I... I must have ink in my ears. Onella got to 2 again!?"

"No, not exactly." Leah shook her head. "They were exchanging information. When we confronted 2 about it later, she didn't tell us what Onella gave her, but we did find out that the information she gave... was 3's address. 3's been the one watching after Ophelia, but.. now the organization that Onella has on her side took them, as well."

"... So... 2... betrayed the others?! Why!? I-I'm so confused!" Jill clapped one hand over her mouth.

"I don't know why." Leah said, shaking her head slowly. "When we realized 3 was in danger, we ran back to help, but.. it was far too late."

“Is 3 okay?” Jill croaked.

"She's alright; she's been pretty beat up, poor girl, but she's alive." Leah said, looking like she was turning something over.

Toda made himself take a deep breath; He couldn’t wallow in betrayal forever. "Where did they take them?"

"We... don't know for sure," She replied slowly. "2 said they're using a corporation as a cover, and 3 said they took Ophelia away in a SquidForce van. It's not much, but it's our only lead. I did a bit of research, and it seems like the SquidForce headquarters would be a good option; the building is huge, high-security, and of course, not fully open to the public... and if they are involved but not keeping them there, it would be the best place to find out where they are. Stacey's not in any condition to go with us, but... she suggested I ask you three for help."

"... I kept my guest pass from when my mom took me last year?" Jill said slowly. "It... It'll have the wrong date on it, but if we can change that maybe?"

"What if it doesn't work?" Hachi asked.

Jill looked away for a second, then looked back. "They'll detain.. me, I guess? It's my pass, I have to go in... but even if they do detain me, that means I would be actually in the building? That’s something!”

Leah sighed. "... I'm not going to force any of you to help. I hate that I'm even asking you to do this, it's going to be so dangerous, but... we're running out of options, and most likely time."

Toda looked down at the table again, then at the doorway Simon’s fled through, before finally sitting up straighter and looking at Leah. "Bato's my best friend. I'm not just going to sit here if there's something I can do."

"... We'll need Simon... they're so much better at plans.. but..." Jill glanced upstairs.

"No, what we'll need more masks.” Hachi grumbled. “Do you have any left? I know your house got attacked.”

Jill blinked. "Oh, well... I still have that golden one? I think it does actually work, because when I tried to put it on for fun..." She cringed. "And I think we found two in the hall at one point?"

Hachi paused. "... Five then, if the headphones work."

Oz grinned. "Finally, I get ta wear one again!"

"No, you should have the headphones." Hachi teased, tentacles swooping. "I'm gonna need some space on that table."

"WE'RE gonna need space on tha table." Oz corrected, grinning. "I'm tha one who taught ya what ya know, sis. I can do it fasta!!"

"Pfft. I've done several lately, when's the last time you hacked a mask?" Hachi scoffed.

Oz laughed. “It’s on!”

"Wait..." Jill said. “Wait wait, back up, ‘sis?’”

"'alf sis." Oz said. "Then 'gain, almost every sibling in tha dome's a 'alf sibling."

“The more you knooowwwwww~” Jill mused. “I’ll go get those masks.”

“I can try to talk to Simon.” Toda said. “… I don’t know how much I can help but...”

“You’ll be a big help, trust me.” Jill beamed. “Come on, they’re probably in their room.” She said, then lead the way through the house, and he followed on wary feet.

He stopped in front of Simon’s door, hand hovering up has he hesitated to knock. Judd, was this the third time now he'd come up to their door to say something when they were having a bad time? Was this just going to be a thing? Likely, as long as things were going poorly. There was no end in sight for the hard times. He took a deep breath, then finally knocked. "Simon?"

There was a long pause before they replied, voice choked up with tears. “Come in.”

Toda hesitated for a moment at that tone, but then stepped inside. There Simon was sitting on the foot of their bed, gripping the handle of their roller. They looked up at him with piercing inkshot eyes; they must have been having even more trouble than he thought. “Hey...” He whispered, cringing as he closed the door behind him; yeah, great start there.

"... Hey." They mumbled, looking away.

He hesitated, glancing down at the floor, then back to them. "... Do you want to talk about it?"

They sniffled and grabbed a tissue to blow their nose. "... I'm so FURIOUS with him... but... I want to make sure he lives long enough for me to yell at him for it."

He smiled ever so slightly and walked over to sit next to them at the foot of their bed. "I'm not too happy with him either... I understand why he did it, but... we've never kept something like this from each other before… But I'm not going to let him possibly die just for that. Leah needs our help... He needs our help."

"Yeah." They agreed. "We're going to get him back." They paused a long moment, then glanced at him. "So who do we have to beat up to get him back? Orvokki?"

"No, Onella. The other one... who may still be water." Toda explained with a shudder. "And an organization she has working for her that might possibly be involved with SquidForce."

Simon froze. " My mom works for squidforce… do you think she’s in trouble?”

His ears drooped. “I don’t know.

“... Of course. Of course, everything has to just keep getting worse and worse.” They muttered. “What are we going to do to get him back? Send an army of lawyers and inspectors?"

"... I don't know...” He said, wishing he had better information. “They've already taken Bato and Ophelia, they probably don't care much about keeping things legal... they could probably make those people look the other way if they wanted to." He hesitated, then said slowly, "I guess we... might have to pick up where the law leaves off."

Simon looked up abruptly, then glanced at a poster on their wall before looking back at him. “You watch Leverage?”

He gave a sheepish smile. “I saw your poster and wondered what it was, it’s so good.”

“I know right?” They smirked, but then went back to a more solemn expression. “But this wouldn’t be the first illegal thing we've done to save a member of the squad." They paused a little bit, then stood up. "I might not be that far off with the inspector thing. We have a toolbox... we might be able to fit some people in it if we put in a fake bottom."

He nodded slowly. "And... Jill said something about an old guest pass that she had?"

"She still has that? Wow." They leaned on their roller for a second. "It's out of date though... but... if we could get that to work, we might be able to get three people in. Three people is enough to take down security... IF we know the layout."

He nodded slowly, "I... guess we'll have to do some research? Unless Leah already has..."

They grimaced. "This is a battle we're going to have a hard time winning... but, we can do it. We have to.”

"We have to." He agreed.

They gave a sigh and stood up, offering him a hand. “Let’s go.”

He took their help and stood, being met with a kiss on the cheek. “Aww, Simon.” He smiled, although then the weight of what they were about to do hit him like a truck. They were about to, once again, get mixed up in something dangerous... would they all be lucky enough to walk out of it again? Or... he felt tears start to sting his eyes, and he hugged them close, and they hugged him back, holding each other for a solid minute.

“… We need to get going.” They said finally, pulling away, then after a moment’s hesitation, they booped him on the nose.

“What-- hey!” He said, bursting out laughing.

“There’s my Toda...” They smiled softly. “Let’s get downstairs.” They turned, stepping out of their room.

He hesitated for a long moment, taking a deep breath to chase away the lingering fears he had before following them downstairs to the kitchen.

They arrived just in time to see Hachi put an octoling mask down into a pile of other masks next to her. "Done!"

"No!" Oz exclaimed. "Well I'm better at codin' than you!”

“That doesn’t apply to this situation!” Hachi said. “Look, I have this pile of masks done, you did one!”

“Gah!” He swooped his tentacles.

"Simon!" Jill exclaimed, cutting off the conversation.

"Leah, how much do you know about engineering?" Simon cut right to the chase, giving Jill a high five as they passed her.

Leah grimaced. "Ah... not very much, I'm afraid. Why?"

"We might have a way in if we have some kind of inspector come in, smuggling in someone else. You're the only one old enough to play the inspector. All you'll need to know is enough to fake it till you make it." Simon said. “We have a toolbox which is big enough it might be able to fit Hachi in it.”

"So, 'Achi gets to go in? Why?" Oz grimaced.

"Hachi knows tech." Simon explained.

"'ey!! so do I!!!" He protested.

"I trust Hachi more than I trust YOU." They snarled.

“Well I don’t exactly trust your attitude.” Hachi huffed.

“Kids, kids...” Leah sighed. “Alright… I’m an inspector. I’m making sure the supports are up to code."

“Perfect.” Simon said. "Do you have any ID that's not a driver's license on you?"

"Ah... let me see," Leah reached into her pocket for her wallet.

"Jill, go get the toolbox.” Simon said immediately afterward, causing Toda to smile. They were already doing so much better. "Oh, and a clipboard." They added. "Yeah. a clipboard. Everyone gets nervous when someone starts to write something down on a clipboard while they're still talking."

"Good thinking," Toda grinned, watching as Jill sprinted off. “Anything I can do?”

“I should have a squidforce lanyard in my closet.” They said. “We’ll need that to hold Leah’s ID.”

"On it." He nodded, turning and running for Simon’s room, though he hesitated as he reached the doorway, carefully stepping inside. It was always weird going into someone’s room when they weren’t there; it was like you were visiting their life or personality without… the person. He shook his head and crossed to the closet, quickly flipping through their pretty shirts until he found the lanyard on the back wall. Perfect.

When he left the room, he almost ran into Jill “Whoa! Hey.”

“Hey Toda!” Jill beamed. “Simon’s giving me a workout. First a toolbox, which weighs like thirty pounds, and now an orange vest I haven’t worn in years.”

“A vest? Why?” He asked.

She winked. “Same reason 3 does; you can walk anywhere in a high-vis vest.”

“Ahhh.” He nodded. “Good luck!” He said, beginning to head back downstairs to the kitchen. “Hey Simon, got it!”

“Thanks.” Simon said as they took it, put Leah’s idea on it, and handed it her. "Ok, there’s shiny tape in that drawer over there."

"... As much as I love watching people fetch random items, can we have a little more info as to what we're going to do?" Hachi asked, then sighed and grabbed the tape when Simon pointed.

"Leah's going to sneak you in to get a map and to do something to break down the security. Pop a side door, anything. I can't get much more without that map. Those masks will let us keep in contact, right?"

Both Hachi and Oz nodded.

"Right. We have four of them, one for each of us, not including Leah, who shouldn’t have one if we want her disguise to be flawless. Last thing we need is someone accidentally bumping her and feeling metal. Hachi, since you'll be with Leah, and you're information retrieval, you take the best one.”

“And these headphones?” She asked. “They’re giving me great signal.”

“Sure.” They said. “If it makes you happy.”

“Yesss.” She said, then handed a mask out to them, and then Toda. “Try them on, fit them, what have you.”

Toda nodded his thanks and slipped the mask on, not really sure what to expect, the one time he'd tried putting on a mask, it was one he'd hit with a hammer. He saw… something flash across the screen before being able to look at the world through them, but he just saw these weird splotches everywhere. That wasn’t how Bato had described wearing a mask to him… He’d said there was… text. He covered the front of the mask with his hand, and then sure enough the darkness of his hand allowed him to see bright letters which he was sure didn’t blend into the background if he could just flipping see color. He couldn’t walk around with a hand over his eyes! How could he fix this?

“Ey!” Oz called to him. “It can’t be tha dirty!”

“What?” He asked, lowering his hand. Oh, no that’s not it I… I just can’t… I can’t read the screen it’s… the text is just too bright I...”

"Tha can't be right, I worked on tha one myself, it was workin’ jus fine.” Oz scowled. "Ya jus ain’t used ta it.”

"It's not the mask." He replied, a little testily, pulling the mask off of his head and looking at Oz, "I have Monochromacy. I can't see color. Whatever color the text is, it's too bright for me to read."

Silence fell abruptly, broken only when Jill strode into the room. “I have my vest and my old guest… pass, what happened?”

“… I can’t read the mask text.” Toda mumbled.

“Oh.” Jill said, ears drooping.

He swallowed, then set the mask on the table. “Leah can use it, because I sure can’t...”

Hachi swooped in and scooped it up, slipping it on her head in one smooth motion. “Hang on.”

“I… uh...” He was left speechless. What was she doing?

“… Jill, hon, I can put the stripes on that vest.” Leah said. “Someone needs to edit that guest pass to look in-date, just in case.”

“On it.” Simon agreed. “Jill, Oz, empty a space for Hachi to hide in the tool box.”

And with that everyone silently got back to work, just leaving him to watch Hachi intently fiddling with the mask.

After a few minutes she held the mask back out to him without a word. He hesitated, and then took it, this time greeted by light text outlined by a two pixel thick black border, causing it to pop. “… Thanks. That’s so much better.” He gave a faint smile at her, not sure what else to say.

She looked up at him, then slipped on her mask, a message appearing on his screen.

8: That was big, wasn't it?

He blinked, then frowned slightly as he tried to figure out how to reply. It took him a minute or two, but he got it.

T: Yeah, it was. It's not something I tell a lot of people.

8: It feels big. 8: Having to actually tell someone rather then them just knowing.

T: People just know down there? T: that someone’s colorblind?

8: it's public data on your mask. Everyone knows you're... Different. 8: Leg missing, part of your brains removed… anything that makes you different or… ‘odd’.

T: That's gotta suck... Especially the way your kind seems to act about that sort of thing.

8: Yeah, I guess it does. I grew up with it though... 8: When it comes up up here, everybody's so... Nice about it? 8: It throws me off. 8: I'm beginning to wonder if you people would think I'm different at all. If I'm just overreacting.

T: You're... "different" too? T: Oh, yeah, I guess Ophelia did mention it before she... yeah.

8: I thought I brought it up around you before... Maybe it just didn't stick. 8: Maybe that proves my point exactly.

T: Oh. Maybe you did? I honestly don't remember. T: ... If you don't mind my asking... what is it?

8: ... Bato didn't understand the name when I told him... But... 8: Basically I taste things more than eight times stronger than they are.

T: Oh. T: So... like a supertaster?

8: You have a word for that? 8: A short one? 8: I'm a super?

T: Yeah, you are!

He heard her take a small gasp, like she was getting choked up.

8: Nobody’s ever said something like that before. 8: To me at least

T: Aw, I know how that feels.

8: Do people treat you differently?

T: Yeah, they do.

8: I’m sorry.

T: Me too.

8: I’ve also got alien tentacle syndrome. 8: Sometimes I can’t control my tentacles, they just act without me thinking about it. 8: That feels good to say.

T: I guess it is a bit… cathartic?

8: Yeah, that word.

He felt Simon tap his shoulder, and he glanced up, looking Simon in the eye as they stood next to him.

"Hey, you ok? You've been quiet." They whispered, concern heavy in their voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He whispered back. “Me and Hachi are just making sure the text works.”

They nodded. “Well, I got Jill her guest pass, the vest is… okay, and there should be enough room for Hachi now in the toolbox.”

“So what’s left to do?” Jill asked.

Oz cleared his throat. “So ‘ow ‘bout cloakin’ them masks so ya don’t look like ‘robots’ as tha news puts it?”

“Oh no, it took a while to teach Bato how to do that...” Hachi sighed.

“We can do it in the car, can’t we?” Leah asked, putting on the vest. “I’ll get us to squidforce.”

“Sounds good.” Simon nodded.

"For Bato and a tyrant queen!" Jill hollered, raising a fist up high.

“For Bato and OPHELIA.” Oz corrected, then sighed. “Yah, yah a tyrant.”

"For Bato." Toda said, trying not to be amused.

"For Bato." Leah echoed.

"F-For Bato..." Hachi squeaked, then took a sip of mountain dew and gagged.

“For Bato.” Simon said. “Now let’s go steal a friend.”

Toda smiled at the leverage reference… then took a moment to message Hachi one more time.

T: It makes so much more sense why you don’t like soda now.

8: Ya think?

Bato, Toda and Leah are Knitter’s characters.

Hachi, Oswald, Stacey, Ophelia, Simon, Jill, and August are Shuckle’s characters.

Splatoon and the squid sisters belong to Nintendo.

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