Splat Force IV: Radicalism; Chapter 3

■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■

W E L C O M E ! ! !

This is Nomad! Hope you all are doing excellent! After an amazing premiere week, I'm back with the third Chapter of Splat Force IV: Radicalism!

Thank you all so much for the last week, I was reminded of how much I love writing these stories. Also, the almost immediate feature on the front page was a shock for sure!

So... the last Chapter was a bit of a shock, especially when it comes to the time jump and regarding Magnus. This Chapter will expand on what was just established last week.

So without further ado, let's get into this!

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

(Chapter Hub)

C H A P T E R  3 : O N E D A Y A T A T I M E

It was six in the morning. The rising sun shined a light into Magnus' room, making it warm. Being cuddled in his arms as his now awake infant daughter. She began to tap his face a little whilst giggling.

Her father wasn't waking up, making her really annoyed, eventually, she smacked him so hard that he finally woke up.

"Ah! I'm awake!"

Magnus exclaimed, making young Mary giggle.

Before long, Magnus was in the kitchen, preparing them breakfast. He cooked Mary some nice warm Porridge. At the same time, he cooked himself egg on toast with beans on the side. He took his meal to the couch and carefully placed Mary's seat next to him. It didn't take long for Mary to make a mess with her napkin.

As he began to eat his breakfast, Magnus turned on the news.

"-more on this story, please visit our website for further information."

The broadcaster said. Magnus had switched on the channel at the one report before the next, a more important one was shared.

"This next story is coming from the ID, Jeremouth Craven will be moved to Stonefish Heights at four o'clock this afternoon. Craven was apprehended by the R.A.I.C only yesterday with help from the Splat Force. Craven is reportedly frightened about his travel, though it is unclear as to why. Splat Force Commander, Magnus Lang had this to share after Craven's arrest yesterday afternoon."

The news then transitioned to a brief interview with Magnus from just after he arrived back at Inkopolis.

"Jeremouth Craven was just one of many individuals we've had to deal with ever since Bolton died. He won't be the last. The Splat Force are massively down in number when compared to the team's prime, but that doesn't mean we'll ever give up on this world."

Suddenly, Magnus' phone started ringing from his room. Magnus put his plate aside and rushed into his room, grabbing his phone and answering.

"Platinum, hey!"

"I'm guessing you saw the news?"

"You bet. What's the plan?"

"I'm working another ten till three shift. Are you half eight to half three?"

"Yup."

Magnus answered.

"Ya know, one of the benefits of bein' a single Dad is not needin' an alarm to wake you up."

Platinum giggled.

"I can imagine. How is she?"

"She's good, she's just eatin' her porridge and-"

Magnus paused as he saw Mary put the whole spoon into her mouth.

"No! Don't put the spoon in your mouth, ya goof!"

Platinum laughed on the phone as Magnus tended to his child, carefully pulling the spoon out of her mouth so as to not hurt her.

"I'll see you at half three?"

"Yeah! Of course!"

Magnus replied as the call came to an end.

"See ya then!"

"Bye!"

Platinum replied before hanging up.

K N O C K , K N O C K ! ! !

Magnus rushed to his front door and opened to see the babysitter.

"Hey Holly!"

"Sorry if I'm a little bit early, got nothing else to do!"

She replied as Magnus allowed her into his apartment.

Magnus chuckled.

"No need to apologize, I was just about to head off. You're usually a few minutes after a leave anyway, so it's nice for a little switch around, ya know?"

"That's true!"

Holly replied as she greeted Mary, gently squishing her chubby cheeks, and making her laugh.

"Hi, beautiful!"

Watching them from across the room, Magnus smiled. If there was anything that would cheer him up in these dark times, it was his daughter. He loved her very much. On top of that, he was thankful for Holly for not only being a great babysitter but also a good friend in general.

Magnus walked into his room and started to get changed into his casual clothes, putting on his dark green buttoned shirt and olive flight jacket alongside loose shorts with leggings. He grabbed his folded work clothes from the corner of his room and put them into his backpack along with his Splat Force gear. He looked down at the gear for a moment before zipping up his backpack.

Upon leaving the building, Magnus was greeted by a soothing, chilly breeze. The floor was littered with orange leaves. Magnus walked down the pathway, greeting anyone who ed by with a smile and a nod, with the occasional fist bump and high-five.

At the end of the pathway was a small charity table. Magnus reached into his pocket and got out his wallet, sparring some cash for the charity worker.

"Thank you, Magnus!"

"Anytime Bill, you keep doin' what you're doin'!"

Magnus replied. The pair of them shook hands and smiled at one another before Magnus walked away to the crossing, now assisting an old woman.

"Wait for it."

A couple of cars ed by quickly. Magnus pressed the traffic light buttons. When the lights went red, Magnus patted the woman on the back and helped her across the road. The moment the reached the end, the woman turned to him.

"Thank you, young man!"

The old woman said before kissing him on the cheek. Magnus warmly smiled at the woman, before waving goodbye.

Not long later, he was on a Subway Train scrolling through social media. Of course, there were the usual headlines that had been going around recently, such as the tenth anniversary of the end of Bolton's reign along with music releases and movie and TV reviews.

"Here's a breakdown of the latest episode of-"

"Ten years ago, we finally came out vic-"

"Sirens Flow has announced a brand new-"

"The Bayside Quartet will be competing against-"

"Is Magnus Lang single?"

The last video was of a young teenage girl asking the question, to which Magnus swiped because not only was he a lot older than her, but he wasn't into females.

After his travel, Magnus exited the train and headed up the stairs, back into the city of colors. He walked down the street, continuing to greet people who glanced at him until he arrived at his workplace called the Cirrina Café.

The floors were shiny and the wools were painted brown. The building was lit up by large lights on the roof and the front windows. There were comfortable tables on each side of the building. The back middle was where the till was. The till had glass windows showing off shortbread and delicious cake.

Magnus walked to the till and was greeted by an Inkling with long blue hair who wore a black shirt with a light brown apron and a black hat.

"Hey, Eila! I guess I'm with you for the day!"

"Seems like it!"

Eila responded before pointing to the door at the back of the room.

"Go and get changed, hero."

Magnus went to the backroom. It was a small storage place with shelves and full boxes. There were also coat hangers for any jackets and backpacks. Magnus got changed into his work clothes, which were the same worn by Eila, only for a male body.

Once he was done, he met with his worker.

"Anyone come in yet?"

"Other than morning joggers and hungover idiots, not really."

Eila replied as the front door opened.

"Wanna take this one?"

"Sure thing!"

Magnus accepted before turning to the customer.

"Hello! How can I help?"

Together, the pair of them tackled each and every customer. For most of them, they poured out warm drinks for them. For some, it was coffee, for others, it was tea, and for the ones with great taste, it was hot chocolate.

After each hour, either one of them checked the clock on the wall to see the time. They both counted down the time they had left until the end of the shift. Whilst serving warm drinks, they also dished out the occasional slice of fudge cake and shortbread, as well as cookies and muffins.

Eventually, they reached mid-day. Both of them called a break. They each grabbed something for themselves, making sure to pay for it, though they had an employee discount.

They sat opposite each other outside by the bins, Eila having a coffee and Magnus having shortbread.

"You gonna be attending that big move then?"

"I kinda have to, otherwise, they'd be less protection from Craven."

Magnus replied before bringing up something from the day before.

"Wanna know somethin' weird?"

"Uhh... sure?"

"When he was taken away, he mentioned somethin' ' his death warrant. I got no idea what that could mean."

Magnus replied, puzzled as he took a bite out of his shortbread.

"Do you all those killings a couple of years back?"

Eila asked.

"You know, the ones where the cured were getting killed off one by one by this assassin killer?"

"Assassin and killer are the same thing, but yeah. Why?"

"What if he's scared of that?"

Magnus thought about it for a moment. It seemed plausible.

"Maybe... I'm pretty sure me and Emily beat that assassin back in Splatsvile."

He said before going into it.

"It was about three years after we took down Fisk, and we had last fought this assassin back when we defeated Fisk. Anyway, the pair of us were at Splatsvile to protect this Firefly Squid and her husband. We took the fight outside the city. She and I worked together to fight him. He was fast and brutal. The pair of us needed a lot of medical treatment after the fight. Emily and I lured him to a cabin and a few soldiers from the R.A.I.C placed the Bombs and blew it up with him inside. We checked back with the couple, and they were okay. I haven't heard anythin' about any assassin ever since."

"So, your crazy assassin... is dead?"

"Allegedly. We weren't allowed to see the body."

Magnus answered.

"If he is dead, then Craven doesn't have anythin' to worry about."

"Yeah, pretty much!"

Eila replied before shifting topics.

"Anyway, how's your dating life? Any man cross your path recently?"

Magnus took a deep breath and smiled.

"Well... I'm still single, haha!"

He chuckled before thinking about his entire dating life.

"I haven't been in a relationship for a hot minute, so I'm afraid not."

"Oh, that's okay! I'm sure you'll-"

"Find someone soon? I'm kinda tired of that one!"

Magnus joked.

"My exs' are either in a different country, have great responsibilities now, or in the case of one of them... dead. So, my datin' life has always been an adventure. I should write a book about it."

"You really should!"

She giggled.

"You know, there is a regular here that lovingly stares at you whenever you're working. He's male too!"

"That guy? Rupert?"

"Yeah, Rupert Neary."

"I'll... I don't know, I'm not currently in the datin' scene right now, but I'll keep him in mind."

Magnus said. Eila gave him a cheeky smirk before taking a sip from her coffee.

M E A N W H I L E W I T H P L A T I N U M . . .

"I'm sorry, but this is not the right size for me."

A brunette woman told Platinum.

Outside of her Splat Force duties, Platinum now worked at the Fresh Styles establishment at the Inkopolis Mall. She didn't have very long left in her shift.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Do you want me to look for a different size?"

"If you can, that would be great!"

"Sure thing!"

Platinum said as she took the dress off of the woman and walked out of the changing room and into the main store.

The main store wasn't very big. The till was on the left wall ahead of the hallway to the changing rooms. The floor was a purple carpet the walls were a bright green. All around the store were shelves and hangers that had a variety of different clothes ranging from simple shirts to hoodies

She found the pile in which the dark blue dress had come from and started to unfold each one, making sure to check the size tag. Eventually, she found the right one.

Platinum returned to the woman and showed off the dress.

"Try this. Same dress, different size!"

"Thank you! Sorry for the trouble!"

The woman said before heading into the changing rooms.

"No problem, I'll just be out here if needed!"

Platinum replied as she waited before the hallway. The hallway and the changing rooms had white kitchen-like tiles as flooring and white walls. Around the corner at the end of the hallway and to the left were a row of cubicles for changing.

Moments later, the woman walked back out, holding the dress in her arms.

"It fits perfectly!"

"Excellent! Would you like to pay through cash or card?"

"I'll do it through card, please!"

"Come with me, please."

Platinum said as she took the woman to the till. Using a card reader, the customer managed to pay for the outfit successfully. Platinum smiled at her before the customer thanked her and left with her dress.

"Have a great day!"

Platinum tapped the till with her palms to the beat of the Wet Floor song that was playing quietly on the speakers. She started humming to the beat before her alarm suddenly went off, signaling the end of her shift.

She opened her backpack that had been resting behind the till with her. She put on a camouflage red hoodie over her black work shirt and blue jeans. She glanced back into her bag, seeing her Splat Force gear. With her shift now done, it was time for her second, and arguably, main job.

After landing from a super jump, Platinum arrived at the Splat Force base. Inside she went. Over the past decade, the base had undergone a makeover. Of course, the location of the stationary remained mostly the same, only now with a large glass display of the male and female Splat Force suits and more training equipment. The place was less dirty and polished up. The middle of the room had a smooth red carpet with yellow outlines.

The biggest change was on the left wall from the entrance. On the wall were photos of the greatest fighters from the Splat Force, including Alyssa Frida, Frederick Evans, all of the Splat Force Majors, Drift Evans, and Ami Stewart. In addition, there is a long plaque with the names of every single member of the Splat Force both past and present, honoring those gained and those lost along the way.

Platinum began to bring out the training equipment, which included a training dummy, a punching bag attached to a chain, a wing chun wooden dummy, along with some heavy weights.

With all this equipment at hand, Platinum began a long workout session. She practiced her punches on her punching bag, letting out the occasional grunt and yell as her knuckles began to hurt. Once done punching, she moved on to her training dummy, focusing on her kicks and her chocks, with her strangling the dummy now and then whilst growling.

In between her practices, Platinum focused on her physical health by doing a long series of push-ups, sit-ups, weight-lighting, and yoga stretches. It was also whilst doing her workouts that she took off her hoodie and wrapped out around her waist.

After her workouts, and after a very brief fight with her wing chun wooden dummy, Platinum had a huge drink from her bottle and walked over to her mother's old desk at the back of the room. Even after a decade, it remained almost untouched.

Platinum looked at an old family photo of her along with her father and her late mother. Seeing her mother made her smile, but one glance at her father brought down the smile, turning it into a frown.

The front door to the base creaked. Platinum picked up the Splat Bomb that laid on the desk and threw it at the front door, only for it to be caught by Magnus, who threw it in the air and caught it again.

"Not the greetin' I was expectin'!"

"I am so sorry, Magnus, I panicked!"

Platinum exclaimed, running around the desk and approaching her ally with an apologetic look on her face.

Magnus smirked.

"I wouldn't worry about it! It happens!"

He chuckled before looking at all of the equipment.

"I see you kept yourself busy."

"Yeah! I brought the whole gang out!"

Platinum replied with a cute smile.

"They all seem happy to be beaten up."

"Ya think?"

Magnus said, still carrying that smirk as he walked to the equipment and began to tidy it all away.

"I think they'd be in pain because of how much we beat them up."

"Training equipment doesn't have feelings, Magnus!"

"You don't know that!"

Magnus replied as he finished tidying away. Once done, he walked to his ally and brought up the more important topic of discussion.

"Craven's move is in half an hour. I suggest we get ready."

"Do you think the police will allow us?"

Platinum asked.

"They worked long and hard to get rid of the R.A.I.C, so I can't imagine them wanting to-"

"Do you think that'll stop us?"

Magnus asked confidentiality whilst getting out of his causal clothes and putting on his Splat Force gear.

"We've interfered with much bigger situations. Must I remind you of how the Splat Force even started?"

"You make a good point..."

Platinum replied with a playful eye-roll as she too began to get changed into her gear.

3 0 M I N U T E S L A T E R . . .

Both Magnus and Platinum landed from a super-jump outside of the police station. They were greeted by one of the officers on the job.

"O-Oh! Splat Force! We... I wasn't expecting you!"

"Sorry for the jump there, officer, but we feel as if you lot are needin' our help."

Magnus greeted.

"Oh... right."

The officer responded, sounding weirdly nervous.

"We can... handle this ourselves, o-okay?"

Platinum stepped forward.

"Oh no, we'll help!"

She said before walking past the stumbling officer. Magnus caught up to her.

As the pair of them walked to the van that held Craven, the officer tapped a com in his left ear.

"Boss, we've got a situation..."

Upon entering the van, the two Splat Force were greeted with a loud snarl from Craven.

"Splat Force! Are you here for the funeral?"

Platinum groaned, already fed up with Craven.

"Ugh! You're not even dead yet!"

Magnus and Platinum sat on Craven's right and left respectively on the right side of the van. Opposite them were three officers, all with weapons. Strange, an operation like this wouldn't need all these precautions.

Before long, all four vans were secured and the journey began. Craven's van was on the front to the right, with one behind and two to the right. Everything was going normal and smoothly at first. The officers remained quiet and still, as did Magnus and Platinum, but Craven was unnerved the whole time.

Eventually, they reached a four-way crossing. Even as the traffic lights turned green, the vans didn't move. Magnus and Platinum were confused. They wondered why they had stopped.

"Can you check the driver, Platinum?"

"Sure."

She responded. She opened the back doors next to her and walked to the driver's door. She looked through the window and saw that the driver was dead. His throat had been slit up. She rushed back to Magnus.

"The driver's dead! Someone killed him!"

"No..."

Magnus gasped.

All of a sudden, the officer opposite Craven loaded his Splattershot and aimed it at him.

"For Liberation..."

He whispered. Magnus quickly caught on to his activity.

B A N G ! ! !

Magnus pointed the gun upwards before it could fire at Craven. Platinum jumped into the van and shut the doors behind her as she and Magnus began to wrestle with the officers.

S L A M , S L A M ! ! !

Magnus elbowed the middle officer in the face, knocking him out before moving on to the other one opposite him, giving him a bunch in the nose.

S L A M , S L A M , S L A M ! ! !

Platinum took care of her officer by punching him in the face three times, taking him out of the equation. Magnus began to go through the middle officer's pockets, trying to find anything leading to his identity. Eventually, he found his wallet in his breast pocket.

He rummaged through fake IDs until he stumbled across a very old one.

"Platinum, look."

He requested before holding up an old Fisk Industries employee card.

"One of Fisk's former men."

"I thought you guys took him down?"

Platinum asked.

B A N G , B A N G , B A N G ! ! !

Bullets were sprayed at the van. Magnus, Platinum, and Craven ducked, though the latter of them got shot in the knee, making him scream in pain. Magnus and Platinum looked at each other, already devising a plan.

"Platinum, take the wheel! I'll hold them off."

Magnus instructed.

"On it!"

Platinum replied. The pair of them stood up facing the back door. Platinum grabbed her duellies from the side of her utility belt before charging out guns blazing.

B A N G , B A N G , B A N G ! ! !

B A N G , B A N G , B A N G ! ! !

Platinum and the disguised former employees open fire at each other, with the former making sure to hit them in non-lethal places such as their arms and their legs, something to make them stop fighting. As she was busy with them, Magnus ran around to the front and was greeted by another officer.

S L A M ! ! !

The officer managed to get a good jab at Magnus' face. Magnus fell back, managing to catch himself before rising again. The two of them began to trade blows with each other. Eventually, the officer managed to pin Magnus against the wall of the Van and began to choke him. Before he could get far, Platinum swooped in and kicked him out of the way, taking out the officer.

"Thanks!"

Magnus replied as Platinum handed him her duellies.

"Cover me!"

Platinum told him as she climbed into the driver's seat, putting aside the driver's dead body. Magnus climbed on top of the van and shot down at those who fired at him.

B A N G , B A N G ! ! !

B A N G , B A N G , B A N G ! ! !

B A N G , B A N G , B A N G ! ! !

He ducked a couple of shots before getting up and firing back at them. Eventually, Platinum got the van to start driving. Two of the vans drove after them. One of the officers reached into his com.

"Boss, the Splat Force are getting away."

Meanwhile, in an unknown dark room, a figure was staring at a large computer screening that showed security footage of the route in which the vans were going. The figure spoke back to him.

"Fall back. I'll bring in the big guy!"

He said before pressing a separate button, connecting to another com.

"Soldier... your time is now."

B A N G , B A N G ! ! !

Back with the Splat Force, Magnus was shooting down at the vans, aiming for the wheels, all whilst avoiding gunshots himself. Platinum reached the end of another road, turning right quickly at the four-way crossing, which happened to give Magnus the right angle to shoot.

B A N G ! ! !

He shot one of the wheels, knocking the men off-course. He still had one van left. Seeing as the road ahead of them was long, Magnus reached into his pocket and pulled out a Sunction Bomb. He lunged it at the van. The men quickly stopped the vehicle and escaped in a flash.

B O O M ! ! !

With the van exploding, the team was all set and free, or so they thought...

"Nice one, Magnus!"

Platinum exclaimed as she turned another corner, this time to the left.

Magnus let out a small laugh of joy as they turned the corner. However, that small moment of joy was struck from both of them. Platinum looked ahead and saw a mysterious figure in the middle of the road.

"You're seeing this too, right?"

Magnus' eyes widened, immediately recognizing the figure. The figure had shoulder-length grey hair with a mini-bun at the very back. He was wearing a full body of black and grey armor. His robotic left arm was completely exposed. He wore a black face mask, concealing his identity. His eyes were white with blue pupils.

The figure stepped forward, the figure pointed a weapon at the van. A visor came out from his mask and covered his eyes, helping him aim his disc-launcher. The disc was fired and was attached to underneath the van.

B O O M ! ! !

The van went flying forward. Magnus flew off of the van and landed on the road face-first, leaving him was cuts on his face. Platinum managed to crash through the window just in time as the van landed upside-down. She was unconscious.

Though his vision was blurry, Magnus barely managed to make out the figure going to the back of the van and pulling it open with his metal arm. Magnus faded. He then awoke to see Craven on the ground before the figure, praying for his life.

"NO! NO! PLEASE! I DON'T WANT TO-"

S L A S H ! ! !

A sharp blade emerged from the wrist of the metal arm. Craven's wrist was sliced open. Magnus faded. When he awoke once more, the figure was gone, and Craven was dead. The blood from his neck was in a puddle on the floor as the police and the R.A.I.C rushed to the scene.

The last thing Magnus heard were police sirens and Craven's final words, the latter of which echoed in his head as he and Platinum were taken in by paramedics.

T O  B E  C O N T I N U E D . . .

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

T H X  F O R  R E A D I N G ! ! !

Thx for reading the third Chapter of Splat Force IV: Radicalism! It appears that there is a new threat among us... with the rise of this new enemy, what do you think the team will do next? If you ask me, there is only one very clear solution, and you'll have to wait and see what it is, so stay tuned for that! Until next time, stay safe out there! ^^

■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■

#CuratorReview