Agent 38: In The Making

Chapter 13: Fight For Freedom (REMATCH)

Eight collapsed onto the white elevator floor, breathing heavily and quickly. The 6 past levels had thrown everything possible at her, and she'd gone through it all. Sneaky phase, find a weapon phase, sanitization process phase, laser dodging phase, energy core phase, protect the energy core phase, and finally, the elevator.
     She stood up and wiped the teal green ink off herself, then started covering the floor with neon pink as the elevator whirred upwards towards the ladder to freedom. Soon, the whole ground was inked, and she was ready for whatever this place threw at her next.
     Suddenly, the elevator stopped. Eight gripped the Octo Shot tighter. It was quiet.
     Too quiet.
     "Huh? The elevator..." Marina mumbled.
     "It stopped!" Pearl said.
     She bit her lip anxiously and glanced up, only to see the flicker of a shadow atop a high tower.
     Or... the flicker of a cape.
     "Who's up there?" Pearl whispered, voice tight.
     A flicker of a cape, with a 3 in Inklish written on it.
     "That's Agent 3! But..." Marina said.
     A sinking feeling in her chest.
     And then she spotted Cuttlefish, tied upside down to a floating UFO in front of the third Agent.
     "GYAAAAH!" The old squid yelled. "Agent 8? Help meeee! Agent 3's mind was hijacked by that crazy phone!"
     Three swiveled his head to face her, a glob of glowing teal green goo on the right side of his face. His eyes were glowing the same teal green with odd patterns flowing through them, and he had his Hero Shot gripped firmly in one hand. Her eyes went wide when she realized he wasn't himself.
     He whirled around fully, grabbed the Hero Shot with both hands, and plunged toward her, Splashdown at the ready.
     "Oh, SQUIT."
     Agent 8 whirled around and dove the other way, slipping into the ink and hiding behind a tall raised platform. There were two of these, and the other was shorter, so she didn't feel safe around it. As soon as she ran back out, the ink shot her in the face and broke her armor. A second after that, he took out a Curling Bomb Launcher and fired at her, an army of bombs chasing after her (Or as I like to call them, Roombas!). Her armor regenerated and she swam up the taller raised platform. Agent 3 jumped into a Baller and exploded right then and there, leaving him exposed again.
     "How in the world does he have so many stinking specials!?" Eight yelled.
     "It looks like he removed the limiter..." Marina said mournfully.
     She jumped off and fired at him, and finally broke his armor. He stumbled back and dropped to his knees with a pained expression, then super jumped on top of the UFO.
     After a moment, his armor regenerated, and he jumped back out in a Baller again. She shot him into a corner and kept shooting until he exploded, then he dodge rolled out of the way of her ink.
     "What the-" Eight stuttered, swimming back on top of the tall platform. "How is he dodge-rolling!?"
     She jumped off, backed him into a corner, and broke his armor again. Or at least, it would've broken if he hadn't super jumped back onto the UFO. Three pulled out a Sting Ray, aimed it at her, and blasted the laser right at her face. She fell back in shock, but quickly scrambled back to her feet and ran.
     "Agent 3," Eight yelled. "Snap out of it! You're gonna kill me!"
     The Sting Ray finally stopped and she threw a bomb onto the floating saucer. It cracked into his armor and he let out a grunt. She threw another one, and she heard the crack of his armor breaking. Three ducked into the ink for a minute, before jumping back out and right into a Splashdown. It hit her perfectly and she flew across the arena from the impact, armor broken and every part of her body screaming in agony. Eight smashed into the ground and clutched her body in pain. The sounds of footsteps alerted her that she had to move, but Agent 3 snatched her by the neck and held her over the edge before she could.
     "Any last words, 10,008?" He asked, his own voice distorted by the telephone's. Agent 3's eyes were hard as rock as they glowed, but she could've sworn that she saw a somewhat apologetic expression flash across his face.
     "Two of them, actually." She breathed. "Not. Today."
     Eight slung her legs up around his arm and bent it in a way that it wasn't supposed to, and he dropped her with a yell of pain.
     Her eyes went wide, and her hands grabbed at thin air, until her fingertips latched onto the edge of the glass railing.
     "Agent 8, come in!" She heard Cuttlefish yell. "Agent 8, do you copy!? Agent 8!?"
     "I'm here!" She yelled. With a grunt, she pulled herself over the railing and rolled to her Octo Shot, clutching it tightly. Agent 3 was shaking out his arm, and she sped towards him, pink ink flying.
     He dodge-rolled out of the way once more before she leapt into the air with a shriek of fury and smashed her Octo Shot into his face.
     He was blown backward, and when she thought he would ricochet off the glass, he instead smashed right through it and fell over the edge.
     She wasted no time.
     Eight dove for the edge, grabbed a small piece of rope that hung from Cuttlefish, and leaped off the elevator, catching his wrist just before he fell into oblivion.
     Eight let out a sigh of relief that quickly turned into a yell of agony as her muscles stretched further and further apart, and it felt as though gravity would rip them both off.
     "Marina," Eight whispered through gritted teeth. "Lower the elevator!"
     "Got it! Gimme a sec..." She mumbled.
     A minute passed, and she tightened her grip on both the rope and Agent 3's wrist.
     "Take your time!" She yelled sarcastically. "Definitely not losing my grip here or anything!"
     "Sorry!" Marina said apologetically. "Here- I lowered it down a bit. What're you going to do?"
     Eight didn't respond, saving her breath for holding on. She swung her legs back and forth, gaining momentum, and Agent 3 limply swung beneath her. She let go of his wrist just as he was over the glass railing and he rolled to a stop in her ink. Cuttlefish walked out from behind the tall raised platform and beckoned for her to come.
     Eight swung a bit more, let go of the rope, and landed with a thump, immediately collapsing and breathing heavily.
     "You-" She tried to say, pointing at the old squid. "You just - HAD - to get caught by the - mind controlled Agent, didn't you?"
     He laughed. "No time for being mad at me, squiddo. We gotta get moving! The surface awaits."
     "Give me a second," She panted. "Just - let me bask in my bittersweet victory for a minute."
     "Agent 3 is out cold... again." Cuttlefish muttered.
     "Will he attack you if he wakes up?" Pearl asked.
     "The goo is gone, so it's probably fine..." Marina responded.
     Agent 8 stood up, pulled Agent 3's arm across her shoulders, crouched down, then hauled his body over one shoulder. Eight adjusted him so he wouldn't fall if she lost balance, then pointed for Cuttlefish to go up the ladder. And boy, did he go up that ladder. The old squid scrambled quicker than she'd ever seen him move. Eight staggered onto the ladder just as he opened the grate. She felt a burst of warm sunlight on her skin, heating what had been cold for too long, and a gust of cool breeze whipped through her hair.
     Eight desperately made her way up the ladder, like someone who'd been starved for too long and now had food in front of them. Which, to be fair, was also her situation, except she didn't have the food. Cuttlefish grabbed her wrist once she was at the top and helped her out. She then gently layed Agent 3 down on the ground and looked up to see the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.
     Sunlight.
     Wind.
     Fresh air.
     Warmth.
     Civilization!
     As the wind blew through her hair, she heard something over the com on the zipper. Except... It wasn't coming from the zipper on her rubbery shirt. It sounded like a surround sound.
     And then the choppers came into view.
     "Eight..." Pearl said. "EIGHT!"
     She looked up to see Marina and Pearl sitting on one helicopter with a platform hanging beneath it, waving frantically at her. She smiled.
     "We got you!" Pearl cried.
     As they lowered the chopper down to where they were, she wrapped her arms under Three's shoulders and dragged him onto the platform as gently as she could, as to not hurt him anymore than he already was.
     Once they were all loaded on, they started moving towards Inkopolis Square. Towards her new home. Eight smiled at the thought.
     "Phew..." Marina said. "We can breathe easy now."
     And then the NILS Statue emerged.

Wow. Cliffhangers, you gotta love 'em, but you hate 'em at the same time.
Hope you enjoyed! Also sorry some chapters have been coming out at weird times, I usually write when I wake up at 4 A.M. Also, I never thought I'd make it this far into writing, so just bear with me, k?
Word count: 1586