CHOSEN ANSWER: Save Callie

"I'm so sorry, Skul," I muttered a heartfelt apology under my breath as I ran over to the left door, gripping tightly on its handle. Agent 3 and I shared eye contact for a split second before we both yanked the door in unison.

"8?! What are you doing?!" Agent 4 cried out, her face aghast at the fact that I had practically betrayed Skul.

"Agent 8, I am SO sorry for verbally accusing you, I swear that I really am and I'm really sorry, but PLEASE LET ME OUT OF HERE!!" With a heavy sin on my conscience, I ignored the orange inkling's cries for help as I continued to pull the door handle of Callie's trap.

"Come on, you stupid rusty door, OPEN!" Agent 3 grumbled as she threw all of her strength into pulling it open. I had to admit that it was relatively difficult too, but thankfully, as if our pleas had been answered, the door gave out, letting out a rusty creak as it swung open. On the other side, Callie's mouth was agape as her exit was finally open.

"Callie! Come on!" I instructed her to move while I hurried over to Agent 4's side, hoping and praying that I could still be able to save Skul. As the water gushing sound got louder, my heart palpitated vigorously. That did not stop me from yanking at Skul's door with the same amount of force, however.

Unfortunately, I was too preoccupied with the loud beating of my heart to hear yet another mechanical sound. As sooon as it passed, Agent 4's incessant pulling on the door handle became futile. "Grrrr.... It's locked now! It won't budge!" She fumed, kicking the door in frustration.

"Are you saying that Skul's going to-" I have yet to finish my sentence before I finally heard the water being released from the tank, a gigantic waterfall echoing throughout the room, all accompanied by Skul's panicked cries of help.

"AHHHHHH!!! GUYS NOOOOOO!!! HELP MEEEEEE!!!"

Merely seconds later, his voice distorts and becomes a spluttering mess as the vicious waves of water drowned him. Our only confirmation was a tiny trickle of water slowly seeping out of the right door, with tiny specks of orange ink mixed into it.

"Oh my god..." Callie gasped, her face as pale as a sheet not only from her near-death experience, but also from the spectacle before us.

First Daniel, then JayMoji, now Skul... exactly how many times will I fail to save anyone tonight?

"We need to get out of here," Agent 3 declared, placing a strong, firm hand on my shoulder. "We'll talk later in the Picture Room,"

"... Okay,"

~~~~~

"You're back!" VicVillon alerted the rest of the group to our return, with Agent 4 bringing Callie in and Agent 3 supporting me. Truth be told, as we walked back to the Picture Room, my knees were wobbly and I found it very hard to walk in a straight line. It did not take Agent 3 too long to realise that I needed support.

Both mentally and psychologically.

"Agent 8, are you okay?" Viantastic immediately asked as he surveyed the appearance of my face.

"Vian, I would suggest not bothering her right now," Agent 4 came to my rescue as she and Callie both walked up to him. Soon, everyone else left, Etcesona, Sagaci, VicVillon and Gabriel all came up to us, worried and apprehensive.

Gabriel was the first to realise that something was amiss. "Guys, are you okay? And... where's Skul?"

"Yeah, um, about that," Agent 4 scratched her head. "I don't know where to start-"

"He's dead," I found myself involuntarily spatting out the truth, the guilt of everything that has happened tonight finally overwhelming me. "I... I swear, I had NO choice, it was either him or Callie, and-and there was this tank, water and, and a room split apart, they were s-stuck and I swear I had NO CHOICE, I just-!"

"Woah woah, calm down, 8," VicVillon stopped me mid-sentence as she walked over to pat me on the shoulder. "Maybe you want to sit down?"

"What actually happened, guys?" Etcesona proceeded to ask my other agent friends as well as Callie of what had occurred.

"There was... there was this room," Callie began. "Skul and I, we were trapped there and-and there was a tank filling up with water, about to be tipped over and we soon realised that not only were our doors locked, but if we didn't get out, we'd both be dead,"

"There was a glass wall separating them, and we tried to save both of them, we really did!" Agent 4 continued, holding up her hands in defense. "At the last moment, the doors seemed to be too tightly shut for one of us to open, so 8 went to help 3 and then... Skul's door just... locked,"

Agent 3 shook her head somberly. "There was nothing we could do," was all she could say before she slipped her headphones back on her head, silently refusing to take any other questions about the incident.

To say that the Picture Room was quiet, was an understatement. It seemed that the truth was still sinking in to everyone. As my eyes swept across the room, I could see Callie desperately holding back tears as Etcesona patted her back soothingly, Gabriel placing his hands on his head, his face full of shock and Viantastic pacing back and forth as he muttered: "That is so sick,"

"I know, right?" VicVillon agreed. "Trying to force someone to determine another person's fate? Exactly what kind of monster are we dealing with?"

"I'll tell you who," Etcesona declared, a ferocious look in his eyes. "We're dealing with a damn psychopath, in this cursed house, who's just-just a maniac-! And we-!" He lost his gusto after a while as his eyes dropped to the floor. "We're not even close to finding out who this bastard is,"

"You mean who this group of bastards are," Viantastic gently corrected him as he stopped pacing, turning to me. "More importantly, Agent 8, are you going to be okay? I'm really concerned now, I bet we all are,"

I gave out a weak chuckle. "What does it look like?" I meekly spoke, startling them only for a little while before I began to really lose my composure. "I don't know why we're here or why everyone's dying like this, I don't know what kind of trend we're looking at for these murderers who think they know everything about us-" As the thunder crashed, I continued speaking hysterically with no signs of stopping. "I don't know why we're trapped here with no method of escape, I don't know WHY I had to make such a-such a HORRIBLE choice and letting Skul die back there even if he was being aggressive to me, I don't know what I was doing-!!"

As I spoke, I began to pace around the room, finally stopping and staring at Skul's portrait which now had a blood red cross over it, sending a wave of shivers down my back. "And now, because I can't seem to do anything right, THREE people are GONE. Daniel is buried alive, JayMoji is taken out and by my own hands, Skul has drowned-!"

"Agent 8!" Sagaci, who has been silent throughout my whole spiel, finally spoke, her voice full of confidence and determination. She began to take a few steps towards me as she spoke. "Listen, I know you're stressed out and scared and guilty, but you need to know that NONE of our friends' deaths are your fault. We know who is really behind this, some sick people who are watching us, and they have nothing to do with you, I'm certain of it," She reassured me, even though her voice was slightly cracking out of sadness, the loss of Skul weighing her down a little.

"She's right," Viantastic nodded his head before continuing. "Besides, you saved Sagaci, remember? You stopped her and grabbed her before she drowned in the ocean outside,"

"We know you're trying hard, all of you are," VicVillon gave me a warm smile. "We're all equally freaked out right now, but we need you back with us 8, please,"

I breathed in a few deep breaths, trying to clear my mind. The night had been so crazy, so... chaotic. It was really getting to my head, especially after we lost so many people.

Meanwhile, Agent 4 approached Callie. "Now that I think about it, you, Skul and Sagaci were about to tell us something in the dining room, weren't you?"

Callie's eyes lit up as she remembered. "Oh, yes! We wanted to tell you guys about something we recently observed, but 8 kept telling us to keep quiet. Why was that?"

As an attempt to help calm me down, Agent 4 continued to explain. "The thing is, we found another note from our captors, and what they said was-"

"They just said that Daniel was wrong," I interjected, finally regaining my voice. "And that made me feel really paranoid, I just felt like our enemies were in the exact same room as us and well... that kind of compelled me to quieten you guys down,"

"Understandably so," Callie sympathized. "At first, I was really wondering if you were hiding something really important from us, but since you saved me, I guess I can put those worries to rest,"

*CallieMacN will remember this.

"What were you going to tell us, though?" Agent 3 prodded, anticipating an answer. As I recalled that the Picture Room was also not soundproof, meaning that the killer could still hear us, Sagaci came up with a solution.

"Guys," She whispered to us, covering her mouth slightly as she crouched down a little. "Just in case the killer can hear us, let's whisper from now on, okay?"

Soon enough, we all followed her actions in pursuit, forming a little circle of inklings and octolings huddled together in the room. "So what did you find out?" Agent 3 asked again, getting a straight answer from Callie. "When we were considering who were getting killed in the house, we realised that while their sub counts were far apart, there was still one thing in common between them,"

"What was it?" I asked, tilting my head.

"Queen, Fyrus, Daniel and Jay..." Sagaci heaved a heavy breath as she delivered the equally heavy stinger. "They were all from team chaos,"

"WHAT?!" Agent 4 burst out loudly, cueing everyone to hiss at her to keep quiet. As she calmed down again, Etcesona turned to Callie and Sagaci. "What are you talking about?"

"We're talking about the last Splatfest," Sagaci explained. "Chaos versus Order, right? Amongst all of us here tonight, some of us were on team chaos and some of us were on team order, and so far, only those on chaos have been killed! Only Vic, Etce and I were on team order for the FinalFest,"

"Wait, but wasn't Queen, Skul and even Callie fighting for both sides?" Viantastic pointed out, making me feel awfully confused and too befuddled to ask before Gabriel answered him. "But then there was this picture, the one that DeltaStorm wanted to draw! He asked for all the splatubers to indicate which team they're on, and Queen said chaos!"

"But then, there's you and Skul, Callie," VicVillon slowly spoke next, connecting some pieces together. "Could it be... that you were both placed in that trap because you never actually chose a side?"

At that, everyone started at her, surprised and shocked at the revelation, which amazingly made sense... As she sensed the many eyes on her, VicVillon held out her hands in self-defense. "I-I swear that just came out of nowhere-!"

"It makes so much sense though!" Agent 4 remarked, placing a hand on her forehead. "This whole theory could also explain how Vic and Sagaci were not hunted next after Fyrus, even though they had small channels, and how Daniel was killed instead!"

"And how we're involved in this too... and why Queen was stalked..." Agent 3 realised with widened eyes. "But what about Etce? You were team order, weren't you? Why were you stalked?"

"I think... It was because Rockenberg was there," Etce deduced in horror. "Rockenberg was on team chaos. These guys weren't stalking me, they were keeping their eyes on Rocken! Those blasted-!"

"Shhhhh...!" Sagaci whispered again, a pointer finger placed on her lips. As she turned back to us, her voice became deadly serious. "By the way, 3, you mentioned that our theory explains how you all are involved, how?"

"Because we were in the FinalFest too!" I answered her. "Agent 3 and I were on team order, and Agent 4 was on team chaos!"

"Holy squids," Viantastic gasped, his green eyes sparkling with realization. "So... that's why we were all invited. Because we were, or we knew someone, from team chaos,"

"But why? Why invite us all here?" VicVillon pulled out the million cash question, which got my memories jogging back to when Queen died. Agent 3 had found a note, a creepy note that easily had set the mood for the whole night...

"Agent 3, do you remember that note that we got from Queen's crime scene?" I asked her hurriedly, receiving a solid nod and the rustling sound of her digging through her pockets as she produced the same note as before. I scanned through its text carefully...

"Those who oppose us and our ways shall perish. We will claim our lost victory."

"Guys, look," I held out the note for everyone to see. "This message... it makes so much more sense now that we know some people are targeting people from team chaos; these people who are stalking us and killing us off one by one? They're from team order! They want to 'reclaim' their lost victory from the final Splatfest!"

Callie gasped. "That's it then! That's the reason why we are all here! They want to take out everyone from chaos!"

"But why invite us then?" VicVillon could not help but inquire. "Why bother inviting those people who were on the same side as them during that Splatfest?"

Etcesona gritted his teeth. "Honestly, we've seen them do some pretty messed up stuff tonight," He declared, furious. "I would not be surprised if they invited us to watch our dear friends die,"

As the room became silent for a few seconds, Agent 4 broke it with simple yet bone-chilling words. "Well, at any rate, our safest assumption and our best lead is that whoever was on team chaos is likely the next person to be murdered," She began as her face turned grim. "With Callie saved from that last trap it leaves us with Vian, GG and... myself,"

As thunder crashed outside once more, I could not help but let out a truthful yet terrifying statement.

"Well, as morbid as it sounds, at least we know who's next,"

- E N D of C h a p t e r 2 -