CrownGamer's Splatoon OC Lore: The Agent Archives

Chapter 14: Maya's Last Hours

SIX OUT OF EIGHT WEEKS LEFT FOR MONICA TO CAPTURE THE AGENTS

The sun rose over Inkopolis City Regional Hospital and gently peeked into Room 345. Its rays warmed the sleeping bodies of Autumn, Jewel, and Derek. Derek was in his hospital bed, with his arm in its cast gently resting by his side. Jewel had fallen asleep in a chair, her head and tentacles hanging over the back of the chair. Autumn was curled up on a small couch, her head resting on her hands. The building shook gently, the windows rattling. Slowly, the Inklings cracked their eyes open, disoriented. An alarm went off somewhere in the lobby. The building shook some more and gave a not-so-gentle ending shake before everything became still again. Medical staff went to work as our heroes sat up in confusion.

"What's going on?" Derek asked a jellyfish nurse who passed by the doorway.

"There appears to have been a minor earthquake," explained the jellyfish, who pressed a switch on the wall that shut off the alarm. "We're not sure where though. Doesn't appear to have been severe enough to cause any battles to shut down."

"We just had the last one like, what, a week ago?" Jewel said her friends.

"I didn't think earthquakes were this common," Autumn declared.

"They're not," Derek replied. "I have a theory it's because of the Octolings' dome expansion. The closer they dig to the surface, the worse the earthquake."

"A valid theory," came Sheldon's voice as the horseshoe crab entered with a stack of to-go boxes and his laptop.

"Sheldon!" happily exclaimed the three Inklings. Autumn sniffed the sweet scent in the air.

"Did you bring donuts?" she asked excitedly.

"I did," Sheldon said, setting down the boxes and his laptop at the foot of Derek's bed, "as well as all of your other favorite delicious and very unhealthy breakfast foods from Crusty Sean's."

"I don't think your laptop is edible," Jewel teased as she took her box, pointing at the laptop. Sheldon looked at it as he handed Autumn a box.

"That...I brought for a different reason," he said. "The Squid Sisters finally got all of the files unencrypted yesterday after they dropped us off at here at the hospital." The Inklings looked at Sheldon's serious expression, and the mood changed that morning. "They didn't look through all of it themselves, but figured, since Derek's kind of out of commission as of right now, you three could look through them together. And...they wanted me there with you in case you found something...upsetting."

"Oh, so the food is here for emotional comfort-slash-bribing us to do their work," Derek said with an unamused look as Sheldon handed him his box.

"Oh, no, the food's here because hospital food sucks."

"That makes more sense." Jewel and Autumn pushed the couch over to the bed and Sheldon pulled up a chair. With his uninjured arm, Derek pulled over his bedside table, and Sheldon placed the laptop on it and opened it up. The horseshoe crab typed in his password.

"What is Downton Crabbey and why are you a fan of it?" Autumn asked, commenting on his password. Sheldon looked at her awkwardly.

"I don't have to answer that," he replied, quickly inserting the USB drive and opening up the files before any more questions could be asked about his favorite TV historical drama.

"I thought there'd be...more," Jewel said as she squinted at the screen.

"I guess Maya just got everything she thought was important," Derek said. Sheldon opened and scrolled through a few of them. Nothing of major importance seemed to be in those.