Chapter 18: Chapter 13: Hostile Takeover (III)

X was spending the morning relaxing.

Well. Sort of.

To be more accurate he was still kind of working, but doing something much less stressful - doing a cursory look at Kamabo’s business activities while on the couch. He had realised that Kamabo’s facilities hadn’t had come out of nowhere - someone had to have built them over many years. The materials also had to have come from somewhere. He sincerely doubted it was all the work of the Professor who had created Tartar.

So, as Kamabo’s new CEO, he had requested a full set of records of Kamabo’s business activities, as well as its financial records. What he received was eye-opening.

“Hey, X, whatcha lookin’ at?” Callie asked as she came over to the couch with a mug of coffee. “I thought you were supposed to be relaxing.”

“I’m just reading, Callie,” X chuckled. “Where’s Marie?”

“She’s out shopping, should be back in like an hour,” Callie said, sitting down next to him. “What’s with all the documents?”

“Summaries of Kamabo Corp’s business and financial records,” said X. “I knew Tartar was active for a long time, but Kamabo Corp isn’t new, either, it’s been around for decades. Tartar was using it to build up resources for his grand scheme. They’ve been outsourced by a ton of other businesses over the years. Even now there’s some contracts that are still active - there’s even one with Grizzco. Good thing I took over, I suppose, but the company was still operating as usual even without Tartar at the helm.”

“Huh, so Kamabo was actually legit? Wasn’t expecting that,” Callie blinked.

“Well, Tartar couldn’t build the entire Metro by himself - he needed resources and workers. And to get those, he needed capital. This was long before he started sanitising Octarians. I’m still not sure how he got started, but he was a surprisingly shrewd businessman,” X frowned. “And since he was an AI, he had no incentive to rush, either.”

“Yeesh, for someone who saw us sea creatures as ‘seafood’, he sure was willing to use us as labour,” Callie sighed, leaning against the backrest.

X nodded. “That’s not inconsistent with what we knew of him - he saw everyone as disposable tools for his purposes, and not really people.”

“Yikes,” Callie shivered. “So… Now what? You stop all of that?”

“Actually… Maybe not,” X mused, rubbing his chin. “Some of the people still working for Kamabo might actually like to continue working. And since I’m in charge, I’m going to modify Kamabo’s mission statement… And probably its name. How does ‘Arcadia Corporation’ sound?”

“Sounds good!” Callie smiled, “I didn’t take you for a business guy, X.”

“I don’t think I am, but right now? This is probably the best way to untangle all the knots,” X smiled. “Dissolving the company entirely might not be the best idea - it still has a lot of capital, all of those contacts might be useful, and the company’s resources could be used to do a lot of good. I’ll probably have other people handle most of the day-to-day operations, but in general, I’d like to be able to steer the ship in a better direction.”

“You’re a good guy, X,” Callie smiled. “No wonder Marie likes you. I’m not sure I’d be here if it weren’t for you, either.”

“I’m still surprised that you came out of all of that unscathed. You really should be traumatised by the brainwashing, and yet you’re almost acting like it never happened.”

Callie’s eyes widened, and she sighed, looking down into her mug. “I’m not gonna say it didn’t happen or that I just… Got over it. I still have nightmares about being brainwashed. About what might’ve happened if Octavio got a hold of Marie, too. I just… Don’t want Marie or Gramps to worry about me.”

“That’s not a terribly healthy way of dealing with it, Callie. I get where you’re coming from, but you do need to talk it through with someone,” X frowned. “They’ll understand if you ask them for help. And I’m always here if you need someone to listen.”

Callie giggled. “Thanks, X. You’re gonna be a great boyfriend for Marie.”

X blushed, taken aback, “e-excuse me?! We haven’t even-”

That got Callie howling with laughter. “Dude, you two have it BAD for each other! Last night made it obvious, and I’ve known Marie since forever, I know those looks she gives you! Congratulations, you’re her first big crush since middle school.”

“We… We haven’t even known each other for a month… Heck, I haven’t even been active for a month,” X sighed. “I do like her, she’s smart and has a good head on her shoulders, I like her sense of humour… Sure, she’s kinda bossy, sarcastic and a bit lazy, but she took that leap of faith with activating me. And I’ll always treasure her as a friend just for that.”

“Well, we may be cousins, but Marie and I have always thought of each other as sisters. Seriously, I think our parents knew that would happen too, why else would they give us those names?” Callie chuckled, taking a sip from her coffee. “I think you’ll make her very happy.”

“And why aren’t the both of you fighting over who gets to date me, exactly?” X raised an eyebrow.

“Because she got dibs on you first and I’m already eyeing a couple of cute boys.”

“So… Axl and Zero,” X smirked. The blush on her face told him everything he needed to know. “Yep, knew it.”

“Well, it’s not like I know them at all, so we’ll see, but I mean… Axl’s cute, and Zero is just so handsome,” said Callie as she squirmed in place, taking another sip.

“Fair enough. I’ve only had a couple of opportunities to talk to him, and he’s a nice guy when he’s not being driven insane by a virus,” X said. “Good thing we nipped that one in the bud, who knows what might’ve happened otherwise.”

“I get what you mean, nevermind Zero’s on our side now, so that’s nice. Another strong robot to help us with anything that comes our way!” Callie grinned. “I think at this point, once Zero is finished, the New Squidbeak Splatoon will be unstoppable!”

“I dunno. Ethan and Ayane aren’t that confident, hence the training regimen they’re planning for the junior members,” X mused.

“I mean… Those kids probably should enjoy their victory, but I totally get it. Gotta stay at the top of their game, after all,” Callie nodded. “You should check up on them.”

“Maybe once they’re done with school. Gives me plenty of time to figure out a long-term business plan…”

❖

After a fairly normal day at school, it was decided the junior agents would indeed make a day out of going to the gym. Or at least the afternoon. Either way, Iris very much insisted on it.

Their destination, as recommended, was ‘Steel Massimo’s’, a location close to the Square. It was a fairly large gym, with people of various species as patrons, and all of their memberships were easily paid for. They apparently collectively had quite a lot of cash to spare, because of a recent Salmon Run. Iris had decided to make a note of asking for the details about that particular story later.

“Thank you very much, Mr. Massimo,” Iris bowed politely, before she begun her stretches.

Massimo laughed heartily. He was a big crocodile, which had concerned Iris at first but it turned out he was a rather friendly person. She simply couldn’t sense any kind of bloodlust from him. He had a tank top and gym shorts on. “It’s no problem, little missy. It’s nice to see you young folks dedicating yourselves to this.”

“Geez, you’ve got a lot of equipment,” Artemis observed, as she joined in on the stretching, along with the rest of the group. “How long have you been in the business?”

“Quite a while, actually. This place used to be my mentor’s, before he retired. Now I just try my best to live up to his example,” Massimo smiled. “Knock yourselves out, kids. Well, not literally, but you get what I mean. But seriously, do exercise safely, please.”

“Understandings,” Iris said with a thumbs up, as they finished stretching. She spied a specific set of weights some feet away. “Artemis, I believe we should work on your arms. I will spot you.”

“What are you, my personal trainer or something?” Artemis chuckled, but she complied, laying down as Iris set up the weights. She decided to go light, they could scale up based on how challenging it was for her. Karlene started spotting for Hinata with a second set of weights as well.

The boys were looking to try the treadmills instead - Axl had said something about them needing to work on their running.

Artemis groaned as she began carefully lifting the weights. So far this set didn’t seem to give her a lot of trouble. Iris knew she was far from opposed to this, it’s just that she simply wasn’t used to making it part of her regular routine. As far as Iris was concerned, Artemis seemed to be in need of a regular routine to begin with. “So far so good. You’re doing great, Artemis.”

“Thanks,” Artemis replied with a strained chuckle. “Hey… Can I talk to the Colonel for a bit? I think she’d appreciate just having a nice conversation for once.”

Iris was dumbfounded by this suggestion. It had never occurred to her that anyone would actually want to talk to her other personality, but here Artemis was, doing just that. Maybe it was a good idea? Just keeping the Colonel bottled up for everything aside from mostly battles was probably not healthy.

The Colonel took over. “I do not see why that would be a problem. What do you want to know?”

“Oh, cool. You’re pretty scary when you want to be, you know that?”

The Colonel chuckled. “I am simply doing my job as a competent superior officer. As far as I am concerned, you are simply just another Private - no offence. We simply have been doing this much longer than you have.”

“Right, raised to be a child soldier, like that’s not in any way screwed up,” Artemis noted. “Not that it’s your fault or anything…”

“No, I understand. Octarians are raised to be soldiers comparatively young compared to Inklings,” said the Colonel.

“Still… How different are you compared to her? Is it just an attitude thing, or…?”

“The Princess is a peace-loving soul. She finds the prospect of hurting people to be agonising. I am the honourable warrior who shoulders that burden in her stead.”

That caused Artemis to pause, as she kept lifting. “Yeah, I can see why. I’m not stranger to killing other creatures, but… The idea of hurting other people, even when they can just respawn, is way harder to stomach.”

“You are a huntress, correct?” The Colonel asked.

“Well, I was a huntress in training back home,” Artemis chuckled.

“Curious. I did not picture you as one when we first met.”

“Well, I didn’t picture you as an adorable badass who looks cute in gym clothes, but hey, a lot of people aren’t what they seem at first glance, ya know?”

That comment was enough to shock Iris into taking over again. “C-Cute?! I’m not cute… Or adorable…”

“You get way too hung up on that,” said Karlene. “You’re adorable and you should embrace that. Seriously. Also, I think Artemis also means another meaning to the word ‘cute’ when she was commenting on your outfit.”

Iris was trying to figure out what exactly she meant. It didn’t take long for her to figure it out, and her face was beet red. “Artemis… Do you actually think I look…”

Artemis also looked rather flushed. “I mean… I’d be lying if I said no. Your gym clothes really work well with your curves and your muscles. And speaking of your curves, you have a figure that I am way too jealous of, I’ll tell you that much. You’re beautiful, don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.”

Iris was on the verge of a panic attack. Nobody had ever actually called her beautiful before. But the Colonel reminded her in her thoughts, why are you getting so hung up over a compliment? Are you that distrustful of the opinions of your friends?

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“T-Thank you… Nobody’s ever called me cute… Or adorable… Or beautiful…”

“Is sexy another thing nobody’s called you before?” Artemis teased.

Iris was now completely red. “W-WHAT?!”

“Geez, Iris… If I wasn’t lifting these weights right now I’d give you another hug,” Artemis sighed. “You’re way too easy to tease.”

“No I’m not shaddap,” said Iris, still utterly flustered, but she couldn’t help but make a small smile.

Just as Artemis was done and put her weights on the rack, Iris spotted Ayane and Ethan coming out of the changing rooms. “Oh!”

“Oh, hey, Ayane, Ethan, we weren’t expecting you to show,” Karlene said, with a wave.

“Artemis texted us what you guys were doing, so we decided to hang with you guys as well, I guess,” said Ayane, her attention drawn to Massimo. “Hey, big guy, it’s been a while.”

Massimo seemed to immediately recognise them, and came over to give them both fist-bumps, “oh, yo, I haven’t seen you two for weeks.”

“We were busy with something big,” Ethan chuckled. “That’s pretty much done and dusted now.”

Iris blinked. With their gym clothes, it was much more obvious how toned Ethan and Ayane’s muscles were, it was fairly obvious they worked out regularly as well.

“I’ll go check in on the boys, you see how the girls are doing,” Ayane said, walking over to where the boys were exercising.

“Can do,” Ethan chuckled, walking over to the girls, “having fun?”

“I guess. This is definitely kinda new for me, though,” Artemis said as she stood up. “You go here regularly too?”

“Yeah, after Octo Valley,” Ethan nodded. “Your muscles will probably ache a bit afterwards, but trust me, you’ll be thankful for it later if you keep it up.”

“Sounds good - ‘no pain, no gain’,” Artemis grinned as she and Ethan gave each other a fist-bump as well. She then turned to Iris, “hey, Iris, it’s your turn on the weights.”

“Oh, right!” Iris added a couple more rings to the weight, and laid down, as Ethan went behind her to spot her.

It felt so good to do this with friends.

❖

“Come on, guys, keep it up!” Axl panted, as he jogged on the treadmill.

He figured the first thing they could focus on today was their legs - being able to move quickly was essential in ink battles, after all.

“Why do I need to do this? I’m a Charger main!” Orion groaned, as he tried to keep pace on his treadmill.

“Take it from another Charger main, strong legs are more essential than you think,” Ayane remarked as she came over. “Being quick on your feet when while aiming can be the difference between nailing your target or getting nailed first.”

“She can dodge-roll with a Charger, too, so she knows from experience!” Axl chuckled.

“That’s actually possible?!” Liam asked.

“Dualies roll because it’s way easier for that kind of weapon,” Ayane said, as she got on a treadmill as well. “There’s no special trick to it. It’s just a matter of practice. You’re all gonna have to learn how to dodge with both a regular shot weapon and your main, it’ll give you an edge in a fight. Or, in short, git gud, scrubs.”

“Oh boy,” Orion gulped.

“Holy shell, Ayane, you’re ripped,” Koji chuckled.

“Two years of working out and missions does that to you,” Ayane said. “Your training next week is going to be more gruelling than this, so brace yourselves.”

Axl gave Ayane a look-over. He had to admit, she was quite well-toned. No wonder she was so tough.

“It’s Ori who needs the exercise the most, but I guess Koji and I need to work out more often, we’ve been kinda slacking off on that lately,” Liam sighed.

Axl looked over at Orion, who was a bit more strained, but not by a lot. “How’re you holding up, Ori?”

“I-I’m fine,” Orion panted. “Just not used to this, is all… But I said I’d commit to it, so…”

“Hey, if it’s getting too much, we can stop-“

“It’s fine! It’s kinda outside my comfort zone, yeah, but I think I can get used to it.”

“Well, don’t push things too far, everything in moderation,” Axl smiled. “If you need help with anything, I’m here.”

“T-Thanks, Axl,” said Orion, panting, his face red. Axl wasn’t really sure why, though…

❖

Somewhere in an underground bunker, a stasis capsule hissed as it automatically opened.

The robot inside groaned as he sat up. He was active after over a week of no communication from the main unit. That meant something had gone terribly wrong.

He climbed out of the capsule, his hand going through his black hair. Having a proper body was… Interesting. He could get used to it, for sure. And this would be an excellent body - well-rounded and with plenty of in-built combat experience. He had to thank Wily’s digital senility for allowing him to abscond with some of his more precious robots as a backup plan.

He went to a nearby terminal, activating it and accessing the most recent files. While the main unit would only backup memories roughly once a day, there were still various other sources of data he could access to assess what had happened. Ideally, the two test subjects should’ve been blended in preparation for the plan to go ahead. That did not happen.

It didn’t take him long to fully understand what had gone wrong. The blue robot and the agents interfering. They made it all the way to the surface with the test subjects. The NILS Statue was a failure. And then Wily had stabbed him in the back, only for Gamma to fail as well. Not terribly surprising that Wily would betray him and then fail, but it was disappointing.

And then he discovered that the blue robot had taken over his company in the intervening period. Then again, it’s not like X knew what was actually going on behind the scenes, so taking control was a natural next step, but still. He had access to some of Kamabo’s resources stashed away, and while he couldn’t immediately retake control of the company, he’d have to deal with X anyway.

“Well, time for the backup plan, then,” he mused, as he activated the three other stasis capsules in the room. “Wakey wakey, gentlemen, he have work to do.”

The first to step out was a robot in golden armor, brandishing a high-tech spear, known as Enker. Enker stared at him. “What are you doing awake before us?”

“Something’s gone terribly wrong. We need to get started on getting Kamabo back on track and dealing with the annoyances who derailed the plan,” he said.

“I don’t recall taking orders from you, Quint, nor did Wily give you that authority,” Enker snapped.

Ah. That’s what this body’s name was. They weren’t aware of the backup plan yet.

“Yeah, what’re you doing, being all high and mighty all of a sudden?” Snorted Punk, the red robot covered in spikes. His armour was constructed to allow him to easily roll into a ball.

“That’s not Quint,” said Ballade, a tall, bluish-purple robot. “The way he talks is different. I think I know what’s going on… Commander Tartar, you took Quint’s body, didn’t you?”

Tartar chuckled, as he walked over to the green helmet with the yellow ‘V’ on it, “very perceptive, Ballade. Yes, I borrowed his body as a backup in case my main unit was destroyed. Besides, your master is dead. Dr. Wily went down with Gamma.”

“Wait, what?! You’re fibbin’! Wily doesn’t die, even when he’s killed!” Punk blinked.

“See for yourself, gentlemen,” Tartar said, gesturing to the terminal. “It turns out Dr. Light’s final creation interfered and made a mess of everything. He’s now taken over Kamabo Corp, and I want it back.”

“That is a problem,” Enker frowned. “Then I suppose we have no other choice but to avenge our creator. I don’t like it, but I will defer to your orders until then.”

Punk took a look at the footage, and growled. “Feh… So there’s a new Mega Man in town, huh? He seems pretty tough. Let’s really show him why it ain’t a good idea to mess with us Wily bots!”

“I just want to test my mettle against him,” Ballade remarked, arms crossed. “The original Mega Man was a worthy foe indeed.”

“Excellent, so glad we have come to an understanding,” Tartar smiled, putting the helmet on. “But directly confronting X would likely be a dreadful mistake, especially since Zero has switched sides as well. We will need time to prepare - to upgrade our capabilities to give us a fighting chance, and also to provide us the best conditions to engage him.”

“You mean luring him into a trap,” Enker said.

“I’m so glad you catch on quickly,” Tartar grinned. “Yes… He will pay dearly for preventing the realisation of the Professor’s perfect world. And I intend to make him pay in the most painful way imaginable. Enker, go wake up the Genesis Unit.”

“As you command,” Enker said as he walked away.

Tartar looked at the screen, seeing X, Zero and both their Inkling and Octoling companions. “Yes… They will all pay.”

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