> Base Pool 3; +2 for sneak attack
> Dice Pool 5
> 0 Successes - 4 for Plot Armor
Max attempted to pin Wade and his bike, but jumping from the bush, his clothes got caught. It wasn't long until he untangled himself, but Wade had already noticed and made some distance.
Already on edge before the inkling popped out of the shrubbery, Wade leapt up with an ungraceful yelp. With one glance, he caught glance of the wielded roller.
...This was an ambush. And he didn't have anything to shoot back with.
What did he have to fight back with? He needed a charger and his splatcharger was with Jax... Best case scenario? If Jax was at the meeting spot, like some weapon dealing saint, his charger could even the odds. Less good case scenario? His zippy, red, two-wheeled getaway was left there.
Wade hesitated then made a dash for it.
> Luck Roll
> 2 Successes (Holy...)
> okay gonna take some time to explain how this happened
> you rolled a 10, then a 10, then a 4
> 7 - 10 is a success; 10 is a reroll on top
> that was a 1/100 chance
Wasting no time, Wade vaulted the tree, past the Inkling assailant to the door. He was about to risk life and limb, pounding on the heavy oak, when who would answer the door but...
Cap'n Cuttlefish?
"Now who's all this gettin' crazy at this time of the night!"
Not a second after the elder Inkling had finished speaking did Max stumble out of the shrubbery, swearing an impressive variety of curses and flusteredly picking leaves out of the folds of his jacket. Noticing his target in the distance, he leapt forward, and, with a heroic point of his Dynamo, shouted, "You're not going anywhere, you-!"
He paused, confused, at the sight of the old Inkling and Wade standing by the door. With a squint, he summed Wade from the ground up, and, seeing that he was unarmed, blankly turned to the emblem on the other's hat.
"Ah! S-sir Cuttlefish!" He stammered, wide-eyed, and saluted, "S-sorry for the noise, sir! I-I'm apprehending that criminal trespassing on your property!"
"Ah!" the Captain replied, looking from Max to Wade. "Is that so?"
His question seemed not to be directed at Max, but instead at Wade, who was standing right in front of him.
Wade stuttered, extremely confused by the sudden change of attitude by the ...masked ...ambusher who just came out of the bushes.
"Apprehend me?" he asked. "Am I not supposed to be here?"
Realizing that wasn't what he wanted to say right off the bat, Wade shook his head and tried to motion he was restarting his sentence for the Captain. "No, I mean, I'm on your property and he came at me, but its not what it sounds like, its..."
Wade he groaned as his words got more rambly. "Jax. This address. Told to meet here. I'm not trespassing," Wade tried to clarify.
"Ah!" the Captain exclaimed, his face brightened. "Then come in, come in! He said he was expectin'! He must've meant a guest. Hoo! Was I surprised when he said that--thought he had a little one on the way so young! But boy was I wrong..."
The captain rambled on, entering further into the house, leaving the two Inklings outside, in the middle of their squabble.
Well... the door was wide open. And, turning his head, Wade saw a bamboozler, yellowed with age, handle tarnished from years of use, mounted on the wall in pride.
Max couldn't see it. Maybe…
Having stood through the other Inkling's conversation in stunned silence, Max finally lowered the Dynamo he was pointing and rested it on his shoulders. "The shell..." he muttered something angrily to himself, his gaze glaring daggers at the Inkling standing by the door, "You're actually Jax's partner...?"
Fixing the bag on his shoulders, he shouted at the Inkling standing in the doorway. "Hey." The antagonism in his voice was unhidden. "Yeah. You. Where'd you hear the name "Jax", huh? And when the shell did you contact him?"
Wade cringed, spooked at the gruff treatment.
"He's a journalist around Inkopolis??" Wade answered, uncomfortable to be put on the spot. "And like, today??"
With a small glance towards the bamboozler inside, Wade mentally told himself to chill. He had an ace up his sleeve, just in case. Getting a bit of a grip, he returned a question to the masked inkling, with a bit of edge in his own voice.
"Why? Some reason you're looking for Jax?" Wade questioned.
Max paused, his antagonistic glare intensifying, and twisted the Dynamo resting on his shoulder. By his movements alone, it was obvious that he was uncomfortable about having the question reflected at him. Still, despite all the anger, he seemed to be holding back, keeping the Dynamo forcefully in place and clenching his other hand steady at his side.
"...Yeah." He muttered, with some resistance, "Maybe I am."
He paused again, as if thinking, and, with a sudden sneer forming on his face, added, "Lemme put it this way: I'm also an acquaintance of his. And as it turns out," he flicked a small piece of paper out of his pocket, "I've got an invitation to this little party, as well."
Wade grasped into the air until he caught the scrap of paper. And it sure looked like the same card he recieved a day or two ago. So... this guy probably wasn't lying.
And so... this was the 'new recruit' Jax mentioned. Conveiently the masked pyscho that tried to jump him from in a bush. The newest squid on 'team conspiracy busters.' Oh boy.
Wade looked over the paper again in a bit, with a nervous look. He stammered, "I... I guess you are."
Looking up to the inling, a bit stand-offishly, a bit cautiously, Wade asked, "So... do you... normally attack people you're going to be working with...? Or am I just special?"
"Tch, you think I was gonna trust some kid skulking around like a fryin' cri-"
He stopped, as if noticing the increasing loudness of his voice, and, closing his eyes with a deep breath, started again. "No. I... thought you might've been someone else. A criminal, or... hmph, well, I'm sure you can guess what I mean."
After another deep breath, he opened his eyes again, returning to the angry glare he had before. "Here's the thing, kid," he added, "In my experience, trusting people by glance alone ends up getting you beaten down - or worse. So if you think I'm gonna give you some warm welcome, you can think again."
Wade gave a shocked, almost offended frown. Wow, super edgey. All like, 'you can't trust anyone!' and... 'don't go with strangers who offer you candy, kid.'
He huffed indignantly. What was with this 'kid' stuff, anyway? He was... at least 14. Which was tweenish... Technically not a kid.
Wade glowered back, but wasn't about to argue age here. At least his own age. He retorted. "I'm sorry, what did I look like to you? A tax collector, maybe? You responsible adult."
Mocking a cough, he tacked on. "Who tripped on a bush while trying to give a warm welcome."
Any control Max had over his anger was broken into a thousand pieces. In a fury, Max slammed the side of his roller into the ground like a hammer, causing the ring of the weapon to echo throughout the area.
"Fryin' talk like that again, ink-speck," he seethed, "Go on. You wanna fryin' try me? Or you gonna yelp like a lost kitten and run scurrying to your little bodyguards. "Oh, maybe Cap'n Cuttlefish'll save me." "Maybe Jax can back me up." You think I didn't notice where you were runnin'? You think I didn't notice what you were tryin' to do? FRYIN' try me, kid."
He snarled. "'Cause see if I don't splatter you across the walls with your friends watching."
Wade flinched, shutting his eyse at the slam of the weapon and the inkling's yelling. But when he looked up again, he shot back a glare like cold steel.
Turning his head straight to the bamboozler on the wall, Wade sprinted over and swiped it off the wall, quickly squidding and starting to synch, then onto his feet again with the bamboozler held ready.
"You know, Jax can show up late for now," Wade said. Guess he was going tankless for this, like a street brawl, but weirdly enough he knew a thing or two about that.
"As they say, I had an older sibling," he said. A sibling that left him all sorts of useless tips about trouble, some that were becoming less useless by the minute. With a wicked grin, Wade spoke, "So I know to how to fight."
