GIVEN ANSWER: neither

Take a closer look... Don't look at all... Despite me telling myself that we had to interact with it somehow, I was struggling to make a choice. Why does it sound like there are so many voices in my head telling me to do both?

As a mini tug-of-war occurred in my mind, Vian's ears twitched slightly. "Um... do you guys hear that?" He patted me on the shoulder as he looked around the room cautiously. Next to him, GG was mimicking his movements as well. "Sounds like... Uhhhhhh, footsteps?"

Footsteps?!

"Guys, we gotta hide!" I warned them in a whispery tone, which nearly caused their slightly hunched figures to tumbled on me. They were right; the sound of pitters and patters was getting closer and in a place where there was a hunter, that was NOT a good sign.

GG motioned us to head back to the tunnel that we came out of, since there was absolutely nothing we could use to hide in that intersectional room. As we slowly backed away into the tunnel that brought us here, our voices softened to murmurs and whispers, our eyes glued to the scenery of the torch-lit room before us. As we waited in anticipation, I saw the spiral staircase that we were just next to earlier shift slightly... It vibrated it its place, as if some force was being exerted on it.

No way... Someone's definitely coming!

As our hands clasped over all of our mouths, the three of us watched as a dark-hooded figure made its way up those stairs, their every step lasting for ages. As their body fully emerged from the ground, I could see a long black cloak laying on their shoulders, a cloak that looked... surprisingly as tall as any of us. What?

"They're the same height as us!" GG frantically whispered, trying to keep his voice to the lowest that he could. Vian turned to him in slight annoyance. "Shhh!! Keep it down!" He tried to silence the pink inkling, though I could hear traces of worry in his voice too.

Meanwhile, the figure, now off the stairs, slowly walked towards the right, away from us but close to the weird tile that we saw on the ground. As he took only one step away from the staircase, he knelt down and raised a limb towards the tile, though from what I could see, it did not look like flesh... Wait, are my eyes deceiving me? Do I see... a shine?

The figure did not hesitate to place a hand on the tile, making us all inhale quietly as we waited for what could happen. But to our disappointment, there was only a very small click sound as the tile moved across the air, being picked up by the mysterious figure to reveal a small hole in the ground... a hidden compartment?

"No way..." Vian murmured between his gritted teeth as he watched the person reach down the compartment and, from what I heard, press a small button. As soon as that sound flowed throughout the room, the stairway protruding from the ground began to sink slowly, down into the hole where it came from. The sounds that were associated with it were quiet, mellow, like a silenced splattershot. No one could have heard this in the clubhouse.

Unfortunately, the surprising scene elicited a sharp gasp from my mouth, breaking the silence that took up most of the room. As my hands trembled in anxiety, the figure's face achingly turned towards the tunnel next to us, missing us by quite a bit. It bought GG enough time to lightly pat Vian on the shoulder as he motioned us to go back where we came from, along with a stern face that commanded that we had seen enough.

However, the person before us was faster.

At lightning speed, I could feel someone's hand on my back, making me pant unevenly as I realise that it was NOT Vian's hand. For me to have turned to GG and see him motioning our retreat, that could only mean...

Oh squid.

"AHH!" I finally gasped loudly, trying to jump forward in reflex to the figure coming in contact with me. To my horror, the hooded figure was faster and managed to grab my shoulder with their other hand as they yanked me back towards the intersectional room, back towards the place with all the tunnels. No... if that freaky stairway was how these freaks got into the clubhouse, there was NO way that I wanted to go there...!

In front of me, Vian briefly expressed a look of alarm before he reached out for my outstretched hand, trying to drag me back into the tunnel, back into the Picture Room where at the very least, we knew that the killers do not hurt anyone there. Behind him, GG had a tight grip on Vian's shoulders, supporting him as they both tried to prevent me from being abducted.

"Get your hands off of her, you KILLER!" Vian bellowed, his face full of anger as he continuously tried to pull me back. A tug-of-war was happening in real life now, as both Vian and GG tried their best to prevent the mysterious stranger from squidnapping me. In the midst of it all, I felt hot tears dribble down my face as the reality of right now finally got to me.

I could die, I could die, I could die, I could die, I COULD DIE.

Struggle as I might, I could not break free by myself. The silent person behind me was as tough as a Dynamo Roller; it took two squids to compete with his powerful grip and even then, I could feel Vian's hands slowly loosen their grasp on mine. They were losing... Was I really going to die?

Just when all hope seemed to be lost, I spotted GG whipping off his straw boater hat as he leapt towards me, with Vian leaning to the side to help him make a straight beeline towards me and my captor. Before the captor could react to him, he raised his hard-straw hat in the air and smacked the hooded person's face with it. "He said, GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER!!" He hollered as he concurrently lifted his feet to step on his shoe and pushed him back. This caused the mysterious figure's hands to slip off my shoulders and for me to lurch forward, though I was thankfully caught in Vian's arms. "You okay, Agent 4?" He asked out of concern, to which I repeatedly nodded yes.

Meanwhile, the figure had staggered back into the tunnel interchange room, his hood thrown off his head due to GG's thwack on the face. The perpetrator had stepped into the room with him, readying his hat if he needed another slap in the face. As I trudged into the room with Vian supporting me, I watched as the figure slowly regained an upright position, the features of his face now exposed in the light of the torches around us...

What the hell was I looking at? The figure looked like an inkling, but their face seemed to contain bolts scattered all, even at their ears. Their left eye was a piercing yellow while their right eye, having no pupils at all, blinked and flickered at us. Despite having a blow landed on their face, their expression seemed unfazed, a little too calm for comfort, and was now staring coldly at all of us.

Before I could utter a single sound, Vian beat me to it with a loud gasp of shock. "Fyrus?!"

"What?" was all I could say in my head before the figure turned his head towards me, staring daggers into my soul. From his lips, I could read the words he whispered to himself.

'Why are you here?'

And with no other explanation, the 'inkling' took hastened steps towards a tunnel right behind him, with GG hot on his heels as he entered the tunnel. Just as Vian and I were about to call him back, the man in question came back on his own, a look of confusion on his face.

"He's gone..." He muttered quietly. "I swear, I was this close to grabbing him and then he just... poofed..."

He 'poofed'? Just DISAPPEARED? Could this night get any weirder?! What did I just see?! Who the hell WAS that?! Why did he-

"Agent 4! Snap out of it!" A shake of my shoulders from both inklings managed to jolt me back to reality again as my eyes met with theirs, all full of concern and worry. "Are you okay? Can you say something? Anything?"

~~~~

~ A DECISION TO MAKE ~

(Underlined and bold indicates the final answer determined by my Twitter poll)

Red... robotic eye...

Shining... arms

That was NOT Fyrus...!

( ... )

(Note: There was a tie in the voting... again.)