Agent 38: In The Making

Chapter 4: Lost

Agent 3 had been walking for a long time. It might've been days, could've been a week by now, he didn't know. During his trek, he'd picked up a ripped, torn piece of cloth that had the number 3 on it in Inklish. He was wearing it mostly because it was extremely cold here, and because it had a hood, and he liked hoodies, so he wore it, because why not?
     He pulled the hood over his head and shoved his hands in his pockets, shivering. It had never been this frigid back in the Plaza. Why was it so freezing down here?
     Because you're underground, squidiot. He thought. It's bound to be colder.
     He turned a dark corner, his stomach grumbling and his mouth praying for the inky liquid that once replenished it. At the end of this hallway was a heavy-looking door that slanted off of it's hinges a little. It had no windows, was made of wood, and was roughly painted over in white. Alex crept closer towards it, pulling his hands out of his pockets and making fists with them. The dim light didn't exactly help him see, so he couldn't tell whether the door was cracked open or not. Just to be sure, though, he jammed his hand into the space where the door would be open, and sure enough, it was. Three hauled the door open just enough for him to slide through and closed it behind him.
     He took a moment for his eyes to adjust, since it was pitch black, and then realized something.
     This might've been a hospital at some point. Hospital beds with the sheets flung off lay scattered across the room. Pouches of the same teal green ink hung from poles, with long tubes running into a needle at the end. Syringes with that same ink were littered across the white tile floor as well; some half squeezed out, others empty, others so full that they were leaking. There was a Sanitized Octarian in the middle of the room, leaning over a bed, a half full syringe in a slimy tentacle that seemed to be coming from her back. There seemed to be an unconscious Octoling on the bed, but this one seemed normal. He had a mohawk curl, and wore the same things that Sarai had worn.
     The Octarian seemed to be lowering down the syringe, and he realized that she was going to sanitize the one in the bed. Alex crept towards the Sanitized Octoling, and with a swift move, he hooked his foot behind the girl's neck and forced her to the floor. The syringe rolled to his feet and he picked it up, curious. Agent 3 wasn't exactly the type of guy to look at something and immediately know what it was, so he just threw it against the wall and it shattered to a million pieces.  He grabbed the Sanitized girl by the neck and pinned her against the wall, fuming.
     She stared at him for a second, before finally opening her mouth to speak. Her face showed no emotion at all, and it was almost as though she was completely lifeless.
     "What are you?" The Octoling asked, an odd robotic edge to her voice. "Ah, yes. An Inkling. Long have I waited to see one of your race." Said the girl, answering her own question.
     "What are you?" He questioned.
     "I am a Sanitized Octarian, a loyal soldier in Commander Tartar's army." She responded.
     "Who is... Commander Tartar?" Three asked.
     "Commander Tartar is an extremely intelligent A.I. construct created by a brilliant professor 12,000 years ago," She answered.
     "What does Tartar want with Inklings and Octolings?"
     "Commander Tartar has only one purpose in his elongated life: to destroy the world and start anew. He is disgusted by both of the dominant races that swarm the Earth and has created a sludge of supreme DNA, from which the ultimate lifeform will emerge."
     "How did he make this DNA?" He asked.
     "We are in an underground test facility operated by the Kamabo Co. Here, we use test subjects from all over the world and send them on a quest to the promised land, which is the surface. However, Tartar brilliantly tricks these test subjects into playing into their own destruction. He tells them that they are to finish 80 trials to collect their memories and gather the four Thangs, which are actually parts of a giant blender. After the test subject has gathered these Thangs, they are to bring them to Tartar and he will assemble them. Then, the test subject idiotically steps inside and is blended into this sludge."
     His eyes went wide in horror. "How many test subjects have there been so far?" Three asked, not entirely sure that he wanted to know.
     "10,007."
     His hearts stopped. All three of them. 10,007 lives lost? No matter how cold he seemed at times, there was always a part of him that cared for the world. That part of him was forged in the fire of what he liked to call "Agenthood".
     The girl interrupted his horrified thoughts. "There is a test subject on our grounds now. She is the 10,008th Octoling to have entered the facility."
     His ink ran cold. Octoling? She? That could be Sarai. And even if it wasn't, he was determined to find her an put an end to this treachurous process. He glanced back at the normal Octarian, who was looking around hazily.
     "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my test subject-" the girl said, now trying to force his hand away from her neck. He threw her across the room and she crashed into boxes and barrels of supplies. Agent 3 ran over to the Octoling, who looked at up at him and started screaming, trying to flail out of the bed. The boy rolled off the bed, onto the floor, and immediately started to try and scramble away from him.
     "Who are you?" He asked, a look of confusion and fear plastered on his face. "Where am I?"
     "I'm Alexander." He said, trying to look nonthreatening. "And I have no idea where we are."
     "But- aren't you working with them?" He asked, confusion taking over his face.
     "Who's 'them'?"
     "The green and blue Octolings!"
     "Dude, do I look like a Sanitized Octarian to you?" He asked. Maybe he did have to change his ink color. Green seemed to be extremely unsettling in this case. But blue seemed too downcast, and yellow seemed too cheerful. And every other color sucked.
     "N-no... but there's always a chance." He said.
     "What's your name?" Alex asked.
     "Gabriel..." He mumbled. "Brother to Commander Sarai..."
     He froze, eyes wide. "You're Sarai's brother?"
     "You know my sister?" Gabriel said, standing up to meet his eyes. "How?"
     Gabriel's eyes were a deep grayish maroon color, nowhere near the beautiful opal eyes that Sarai had. His mohawk curl was the same pink that his sister's tentacles were, and his facial features look very similar to Sarai's (Except that all Octolings look fairly similar...).
     "Um..." He thought back to the fight, and then the rescue, and then the hole in the floor. "Long story. But I know her, and I know she's in trouble, and I know we need to save her."
     "We?" Gabriel asked. "When did this become a we problem? She's my sister, so I'm going to save her."
     "With me." He said. "You're going alone, with me."
     "Alex, just stay here!" He said. "Why are you risking your life for her?"
     "Bud, you were just laying in a bed, about to become one of those sanitized freaks before I threw her into a wall." He pointed at the Octarian, who was still stuck in the boxes of supplies. "You needed rescuing, and so did your sis, and now we need to rescue her again. So shut up and let me come with you or I'm strapping you to the wall until I come back."
     Gabriel pointed his middle finger at him, but thankfully didn't argue.
     "And I'm risking my life for her because I've never met a kind Octoling." He mumbled in reply.
     "Ohhhhhhh," Gabriel muttered, a sly smile creasing his face. "I see where this is going. You like my sister!"

Ooooooooh he done did it now!
Wanna see where this is going?
Find out! Chapter 5, coming in hot!
Word count: 1406