City of Liberty                                                                                                                                                                                                 Now

As the police car with Rin and Jackson rolled by, two teenagers watched it. One was a Sea Urchin with spiky, dark purple spikes on his head which acted as hair. His skin was yellow-tan, wore a old Indian vest that was many sizes too big on him, and wore three bracelets: Purple, blue and orange. Next to him was a pink Shrimp in a dark cloak that had to be long to fit his body, as well as dark gloves on each of his hands. The Sea Urchin wore olive pants and olive slip-on shoes. The Sea Urchin leaned over the Shrimp's shoulder. 

"See that, mate?" He breathed, "Thet's what'l happen ta you if'n you let them cops catch you." He pointed at the speeding car, his jewelry jangling as he did so.

"Yes Spyke. I know." The Shrimp rasped back. "Mighty unsafe city in these parts, Spyke. 'Specially with us, the masters, around."

"Ah tode you! Crime ain't a game, mate." Spyke spat on the street next to him. "It's a death sport, it be." As he spoke these words, something caught him out of the corner of his eye. Something purple flew by, and he saw it out of the corner of his eye. He spun around, and pointing at the purple speck in the sky. He heard a distant scream, high pitched, and the shape fell to the ground. "Hey, mate. MATE! Did ya see that?" He ran toward where the shape fell, awkwardly because of his shoes, clearly not made for running.

"'Deed I did, Spyke..." The Shrimp ran after him on his hind legs, with remarkable speed. "...'Deed I did."

Together, they ran. In the process, the passed many houses boarded up, waiting for their final economic fates. They vaulted over fire hydrants, trash cans and Jellyfish, much to their protest. As they ran, the dark sky lit up white, as lightning stretched across the sky in a web. Seconds later, thunder sounded. The boom was so loud, that Spyke thought it was an explosion of some kind, as he did a nose dive into the concrete sidewalk. Realizing his mistake, he got up and dusted himself off. They continued running, until they reached a giant crater. Debris and metal were everywhere, but police had blocked off the area, as there was "DO NOT CROSS" tape in blue and green surrounding the crater. The air smelt strongly of smoke, and a few small patches of burning debris were being ignored as the victims of the explosion were being carried out by officials. There were only two and were still breathing: A female, yellow Sea Anemone and a purple-haired Inkling boy.

Did those kids do this? Thought the Sea Urchin. Damn. He continued running, without looking back. 

Soon, after dodging more people, jellyfish and other obstacles, the Sea Urchin heard a cry of pain up ahead. He turned down an alley lined with two buildings, and saw a huge purple parachute sprawled out on the ground. The Shrimp was already dragging what appeared to be...

"Octoling." Spyke breathed. The Octoling had fallen quite a distance, her eyes were closed. Her mouth was open just a little, revealing teeth filed to a point. Her skin was tan, and her eyes hazel. Her purple tentacles were tied behind her head. She had pink ink covering most of her face, and her nose was clearly broken. Her arm was twisted backwards in an awful way. "I thought they were all dead. Is she..."

"Dead." The Shrimp completed his sentence for him. "... Must have died recently. Her ink is fresh on her face. Must have died about a few minutes ago."

"Minutes-!" Spyke looked shocked. "'ow?" He sank to the ground.

"Falling, by the looks of it. Her 'chute tangled her up as she fell. Must've been what we saw."

"Yeah, I g-" A shot rang out. They froze. "...What da hell was-" Spyke walked back down the alley.

"Down." The Shrimp said, in a calm voice. He looked directly at Jackson, or rather what was behind him.

"Wha-?"

"Git down!" The Shrimp leaped at Jackson, and knocked him down onto the ground as three bullets whizzed over him. They embedded themselves in a crate of wood.

"Wha?! Is this an attack?" Spyke yelled, as he ran to where the bullets had embedded themselves. He yanked one out. "What th-! This's metal! You can't shoot metal! That's nay 'ow guns work!"

"Spyke." The Shrimp said, looking ahead. "We need to go."

"Yeah, jus' let me analyze-"

"No Spyke. We need to go." The Shrimp grabbed his head and turned it to look where he was looking. "RIGHT. NOW."

Where they were looking, what they saw was a dark figure with glowing purple eyes. It was holding a pistol, pointed at them. It was still as a statue, wearing a dark cloak covering it's whole body. Nobody moved. Screams and clanking of machinery, followed by shots could be heard.

"EXCUSE ME!" The figure shouted, still without moving. The gun was still trained on Spyke. "ARE YOU MR. SPYKE?"

Spyke surveyed his surroundings, before looking back at the figure. His face looked confused. "...Yeeeeeeees. Whah?"

"AS YOU CAN SEE-" The figure started, having to shout over the noise. "THIS CITY IS UNDER SIEGE." The figure tucked the pistol into its cloak. The figure walked up Spyke, and spoke in a normal volume. "Assuming you're Mr. Spyke... I guess that makes us colleagues." 

Spyke looked even more confused. "But- You tried ta kill us! And who da hell are you, anyway?"

The figure sighed. "Let me start over. My name is Chloe. Your city is being attacked. I'm here to help."

The Shrimp walked up to Spyke and put a hand on his shoulder. He sneered at Chloe. "Yeah, now who are you?"

"I don't think so, pinky. I already told you who I am, now who are you?" Chloe shot the Shrimp a stern look, and narrowed her glowing eyes. 

Spyke stood between the Shrimp and Chloe, and spaced his hands out between them. "'ey, 'ey, back off. It seems tha we're all on da same side here, so let's ah try ta be nice." He looked at Chloe, who seemed one step away from shooting the Shrimp, and the Shrimp seemed to calculating ways to tackle her. "Wha forces're attacking?"

Chloe sucked in a deep breath, then looked at Spyke in the eye. "...Octarian." She breathed.

"Ha. Ha? Funny joke? Raht?" Spyke laughed nervously. Then his face tuned serious. "Chloe, tha hasn't 'appened fer an unbelievably long time. I mean, da great Octoweapons did kill a lot've us, but ah thought da Octolings were extinct. Dey 'ad no land ta live on!"

"Well, that's not the case, obviously." She pointed to the dead Octoling in the alley, the one that fell a distance. "And unless you want to go stick your head out into the middle of a battle now, I suggest you SHUT UP."

"Why should we listen to you? A coward to scared to show her face!" The Shrimp sneered.

Chloe froze. There were a few beats of silence. Then, Chloe pulled back her hood on her cloak with a gloved hand. It revealed an Inkling girl, with purple eyes and green hair. She looked a few years older than Spyke, her white skin reflecting the little light there was in the alley.

"How do your-"

"My eyes are mutated. That's why they glow."

"Oh."

BLAM! With a devastating sound, a missile slammed into the building to Spyke's left. Debris and pink ink went everywhere, and Chloe dived into Spyke and the Shrimp, pushing them onto the ground to safety. The projectiles flew past the three, missing them. Chloe jumped up and brushed dust off her. 

"Are you okay?" She asked in worried voice. She helped Spyke up, then scanned ahead looking for what could have caused the missile strike. 

"Ah should ask ya da same." Spyke helped the Shrimp up. "Are ya okay?"

Chloe looked at her cloak. Some pink ink had splattered on it, but had no visible wounds. "I- I'm okay, thanks." She looked around, then at Spyke. "We need to go now, if you want to stop this stealth attack."

"How do you know this is a stealth attack?" The Shrimp inquired, leaning toward Chloe. "How about you tell us where you're from."

Chloe, using all her willpower to not kill the Shrimp, growled while glaring at the Shrimp. "If you must know... I work for... The NSA." 

"What the hell is that? Did you just make up that word?"

"Oh!" Spyke exclaimed. "It stands for 'no such agency!' But they're real, and they are a bunch of damn creeps. They monitor everything, are extremely powerful, and if they think they see a criminal who is a threat to them, they assassinate them in a matter of days."

"It stands for the 'National Security Agency'," Chloe stated matter-of-factly, "An agency responsible for the security of everyone in this area." She shot Spyke a stern look. "And I am not her to assassinate and/or kill you."

"Uh oh." Spyke started. "So who're ya? You a cop?"

"No. I am more than that, so I expect some respect. More of it." Suddenly, another explosion sounded, causing the ground to rumble. "Mr. Spyke, we need to go. NOW!" She grabbed his arm, and started running up the wall of the building next to them that wasn't blown up. When they reached the top, Spyke looked at her questioningly.

"How did ya-"

She smiled at him. "Come on Spyke, don't tell me a bright boy such as you has never heard of technology! Now let's move!" 

"Wait! What about my friend?" 

Chloe looked down at the Shrimp on the ground below them. She sighed, and ran back down the wall of the building. The Shrimp was not happy to see her, even when she offered him her hand. He narrowed his eyes to slits and slapped it away.

"I don't need your help. I can run and keep pace with you on the ground just fine, thanks." 

Chloe shrugged, and ran back up the wall. "Mr Spyke, we need to MOVE! Go!" Spyke looked questioningly back at the Shrimp, who was already running around the building to get Chloe in eyesight. Spyke, for the first time, looked at the so-called 'stealth attack' Chloe was talking about. What he saw shocked him, and he stood still.

As far as he could see, purple ink was everywhere. Splattered onto walls, on the citizens lying on the ground and on the wreckage's of defensive vehicles, failing their job to protect citizens. Large, moving machines of metal with some sort of cannon mounted on top patrolled the streets, surrounded by marching, uniformed Octolings with Inkguns. 

"Wha- When did 'is 'appen?" Spyke surveyed his surroundings. 

Chloe walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Spyke, this all happened in about..." She looked up, deep in thought. "... Five and a half minutes. That's why it's called a stealth attack, because they're trying to take their enemies by surprise, so they can make a military base her and I would love to explain it but WE HAVE TO GO NOW!" She took his arm and ran, the Shrimp not far behind on the ground. "...I have a plan to alert the rest of the surrounding cities and drive off the Octovians, but we need three more people to make it work."

"I have a few suggestions."