Agent 38: In The Making

Chapter 8: Alone

It had been around 2 days since he left Gabriel on the surface. Alexander had to hurry to make sure that the Octoling didn't starve up there or something. The CQ-80 signature kept getting closer and closer the further down he went. The further down he went, the colder it got, too. There were almost no Octarian encampments this far down- they'd all been moved near the seven levels for the people trying to escape, if there were any.
     It was unsettling to think that all the Sanitized Octarians were made up of 10,007 corpses, and that he was walking among them. Not only were the hallways dark, but the entire... aura of the underground seemed dark, eerie, and somewhat deserted, sending chills down his back every once in a while. What was even more frightening (even though he wouldn't admit it to himself), was that he was completely alone. He hadn't realized that Gabriel made such amazing company. This alone, empty, scared feeling was like nothing he'd ever experienced before, yet had a sense of familiarity to it. It was, to say the least, unsettling.
     Alexander had decided to make his way through the levels instead of taking the shortcut, just in case he had to take that route once he found Sarai. The exhaustion from the trek up probably wouldn't have paired well with going down that shortcut, even though he had cleared it out of any Octarians. So, he'd thought it best to scope out the area. When he got to the first level, though, it was filled with Octarians. Twintacle Octotroopers for the most part, and they were all sanitized. Either a teal green and blue or a black that faded to teal green. Their eyes were better than the Octoling's eyes, though. These were either teal green and then deep blue for pupils, or teal green and dark black for pupils. Still creepy, but a bit better.
     It took him a long time to make his way through it, though, since he got spotted almost every time. It was mostly because the ink that the floor was covered in was a pink that looked exactly like Sarai's, so it wasn't exactly like he had anywhere to step without getting slowed down. First, he had to bust a black and teal Twintacle Octotrooper and a green Octopod, then another Twintacle Octotrooper, all the while dodging Octosniper shots and an Octocommander. He stopped at what seemed to be a checkpoint, adorned with three number eights circling the edges.
     Alexander soon realized it was a horrible idea to stop just as the Octosniper's shot smacked him right in the face, and he fell to the ground, dazed and rubbing the green ink out of his eyes.
     Squit, He thought. That hurt. Ugh, if only I were close enough to that sniper, he'd have been dead yesterday. He quickly scrambled to his feet and jumped over another shot of ink, ran to a moving platform that had cover, and ducked into the ink so the lines of Twintacle Octotroopers on either side wouldn't see him.
     It was a miracle that he still had his Hero Shot with him, or he'd be as dead as the humans. As he made his way through the last level, he caught himself wondering if Sarai had found Cuttlefish. Alexander had seen the old squid being grabbed by a couple more Sanitized Octarians just as he was knocked out, so it was possible that he'd found the Octoling and they were trying to find a way out together.
     This only made him even more anxious, at the thought of an old man and a young Octarian together. He knew that Cuttlefish had fought in the Great Turf War, so he probably wasn't too fond of Octarians to begin with. Alexander sped up, hurrying through the last of that level until he jumped down from a metal platform onto another one, and leapt off that one into the deep darkness, hoping there was ground underneath.

     There was a long, long fall ahead. About four or five minutes of falling is how long it took for him to splash into a puddle of ink that was apparently compatible to his. His feet sank into it, and suddenly, propelled him right out onto a cold, hard surface that seemed to stretch for miles, spiraling up and down and all around throughout the darkness. There seemed to be light coming from under what he was on, so he suspected it could be a roof. As he was running along the wide surface, his left foot thumped a bit too hard, and he fell right through, feeling all the shards of glass cut through his skin and armor. He hit the ground with a grunt.
     "I am not in good shape at all." He mumbled to himself, staggering up and wiping the dust off as he glanced around.
     It looked... like a subway station. There were two sets of train tracks on either side, none of which had a train, and there was a telephone in the middle of the room, bathed in what could've been eerie white sunlight. As he walked towards the telephone seated on the pole, he realized there was a little paper hanging from it. Alexander stared at it for a minute before he realized it was a drawing of him, Hero Shot in hand.
     It read, in bold italic lettering:
Have you seen this boy?
Next to his picture were two little lines, one on his arm and the other on his eye.
He has dark, tan skin and orange eyes.
If you have seen him, please contact Cap'n Cuttlefish and report last known sighting.
     Agent 3's hearts leapt at the sight of the name. Cap'n Cuttlefish! He was alive! And looking for him! He hadn't felt this happy in a long, long time. Alexander stared up at the hole in the ceiling, wondering where the old squid was. It was possible that he was further along the subway than where Agent 3 currently was, so he'd better start looking. He took a moment to look around and get a full, in depth picture of the place in his mind, before scavenging through all the nooks and crannies to see if there was any food around. Thankfully, there was a small vending machine, and he knew a few tricks to get it to dispense something. There was a whole aisle of squid rings in little bags, so he pulled out the one coin that had been in his pockets, and performed the following sequence.
     First, he clicked on the number and letter of the squid rings; A3. Then, he slid the coin in and out of the little slit in rapid succesion, and four little squid ring bags fell into the dispenser, and he pulled them out, pleased. Agent 3 sat down, leaning on the telephone pole, and ate one bag of squid rings. As Agent 2 always used to say, they were "morbidly delicious!".
     Agent 3 then stood up, stuffed the squid ring baggies in his jacket, and super jumped out through the hole to start his search. The sound of a train coming in alerted him to peek out through the hole. The train stopped, and two figures walked out. One hunched over and shaky, the other poised and curvy. Sarai and Cuttlefish. But, just as he was about to jump back down...
     Two cold, firm hands gripped his shoulders, a slimy tentacle wrapped around his mouth, and dragged him into the darkness, kicking and screaming.

Hi! Me again. Sorry that this one was a bit short, couldn't find much else for Three to do in the Central Station. And I know some of the chapters have been coming out rapid-fire, so I'll slow down a bit so you all can read them. Chapter 9, coming soon!
Word count: 1321