Agent 38: In The Making

Chapter 27: Secrets

     Three's fever persisted for another day before finally going away. One day filled with fever dreams, chills, exhaustion, and one hyper-worried girlfriend. Eight had been bustling around the apartment, getting anything he needed before he even said it.
     It had been slightly unsettling when Eight said the Squidbeak Splatoon expected them to get together, especially since they kept that secret hidden very well, for fear that they'd be judgemental about it. However, they hadn't told the Splatoon about the side effects either. Only Four knew about their relationship and his condition. Three didn't exactly trust the peppy Inkling, mostly because he was an absolute blabbermouth. One time, Four had called him "Three" around close friends instead of his actual name. They'd asked their best bud what he meant by it, and Four proceeded to spill that entire can of beans. It was rather annoying.
     What was also annoying was that every Agent got an emergency text from Callie and Marie the day before. It read:

Marie:
     Hello Agents. Sorry to disturb whatever the shell you're all up to, but we have news.

Callie:
     And it's pretty good, too!

Marie:
     Eight suggested that we head to the underground domes and put on a concert, Calamari Inkantation style. That way we'd be freeing all the Octarians for good, so Octavio would never be able to gain control of them again. We've made a solid plan for it and will be meeting up tomorrow morning.

Callie:
     After that, you will all have one week to train for our journey to the domes. Got that, Agents?

                                                                      Aaron:
Yass bishes lets get hyped! Were gonna go save some octolings in a week!

     That was how it went. Not much fun. So, Eight and Three had gone out in hopes to get some fresh new gear.
     Three opened the door and gave a little mocking bow to Eight as she walked out. She rolled her eyes with a smile as a gust of wind blew through the air. It smelled of distant rain showers and wet gravel. He quickly got his umbrella and left the apartment, just a step behind Eight. They decided to play Salmon Run, since they both still needed some money to pay rent on the apartment themselves. As the couple walked, hand in hand, people noticed and started shooting disgusted glares. They either contained utter disgust, disapproval, or disappointment. And at this point, everyone knew him for the side effects, and they all knew Eight because she was always with him. Three didn't know if he should be mad at her or at society for staining his once stone-cold, ruthless reputation.
     Soon enough, a group of Inklings came walking over. He gently nudged Eight's shoulder to get her attention, and her eyes narrowed when she saw the Inklings.
     Three held her hand firmly, determined to not give in to society.
     "Hey, Octo!" Said one of them. She had deep purple hair, almost indigo, and wore the, by FAR, friendliest, sassiest expression he'd ever seen. "You speak Inklish?"
     Eight seemed almost astonished at how kind her voice was. "Yes. Why?"
     "Oh." She said, whipping her head to smile at her group. "I just wanted to know so that I could talk squit about you to my group, and know you wouldn't understand." She sneered.
     He was about to tell her off when Eight pushed him back and gave the girl a venomous glare.
     "Well, at least I know I can talk squit about you and you'll understand, maybe then the fact I'm literally just a different species will compute with your thick head." Eight said with a slim smile. The group behind Indigo Hair laughed and snickered. "Now, we really don't want any trouble, so could you just leave us alone?"
     The small group agreeably backed away, pulling Indigo Hair along with them. Three heard her mutter something furiously as they walked into Grizz's shack. His small wooden figure twitched towards them, dim light flickering.
     "Right on time, Alexander." Grizz said. "I've got work for you. Who's this?"
     The wooden bear twitched towards Eight's direction.
     "Oh, um..." He stuttered, blushing. Three didn't know if Grizz could see, given the fact he didn't have eyes, but he really hoped he couldn't. "This is Sarai. She's my girlfriend."
     "Good to know." Grizz said. "There's a boat heading out now, if you wanna get on it. I'd say you look like a great little worker, I don't think you need training. Now go get me some golden eggs!"
     They both nodded in agreement and ran out the back door in hopes to catch the boat in time. It was just about to head out until Three started running a bit faster, a bit steadier, his long legs taking at least two foot strides as he sprinted. He felt the glow creeping into his eyes, but didn't bother slowing down. After at least a few seconds, he smacked the boat in hopes to get someone's attention, and the manager instantly scrambled to the back to see who'd vandalized the hunk of metal. The manager shot him and (A rather breathless) Eight a glassy-eyed glare, but still let them on with the rest of the team, which consisted of two male Inklings who instantly yelped in excitement when they saw him and Eight.
     Even though he was the "hacker", they all still adored Sarai because of her combat skills in almost every type of fighting. They'd dueled for fun sometimes, and he'd learned to never, ever, NEVER get on her bad side. She was great at fist-to-fist fighting, ink-based weapon fighting, even non ink-based weapon fighting! She also knew almost every pressure point in the body, Inkling and Octoling, and used it to her advantage whenever she saw fit. Eight was, by far, the most amazing person he'd ever met.
     And that's why Three loved her to death. She'd said she loved him because of how great he was at everything, how adorable he was, and how she really felt like she could be comfortable around him.
     As the boat sailed towards Marooner's Bay, they both quickly changed into the worker's attire and sifted through the four Grizzco weapons, listing each and every pro and con about it and debating which one they'd want. Eight said she wanted the Grizzco Blaster, because of it's unique firing rate and outstanding ink consumption. He'd, as a Charger main, gone for the Grizzco Charger because of it's amazingly quick charge and out-of-this-world range, even though it only had six shots before you had to refill your ink tank again.
     "ALL GRIZZCO EMPLOYEES, ROLL OUT!" Shrieked the manager with a rough voice. "WE'VE GOT A HIGH NUMBER OF BOSS SALMON ON THE RADAR, SO KEEP YOUR GUARD UP!"
     Three and Eight ran to the bridge to meet up with the two Inklings, whose names were Tyler and Bear. They each snatched a weapon and super jumped off the rocking boat, landing in a puddle of orange ink with a loud splash. They all stayed in the ink for a second, passing around their weapons until they each had the one they wanted, and swam back out.
     Eight tapped him on the shoulder. "How does this work?"
     "Kill anything that doesn't look like an Inkling or an Octoling," Three explained quickly. "Call one of us for help if you see a weird looking enemy."
     "Ok. Got it. Basically kill everything that you can, right?" Eight asked.
     He nodded.
     "READY?" Yelled the manager from the boat, speakers emphasizing his scratchy voice. "GO!"
     Hordes of Salmonid erupted from the water, each with a frying pan in hand. At least 20 Chum, a few Smallfry, and 1 or 2 Cohocks. The team of four advanced ruthlessly on the googly-eyed stampede, killing anything that dared get in the way. The Smallfry were quickly splatted by Eight's blaster, each Cohock killed by Three's charger, and every Chum murdered by the other two. Suddenly, two little balls of red and yellow emerged from the water, quickly moving towards him, leaving a trail of green ink. The first bobbing bait stopped just beneath him, and a Maw surged out of the water with untamed ferocity. Before it could snap its jaws around Three, he stood on its teeth and propelled into the air, swiveled the Charger downwards, and quickly shot three columns of ink at it.
     The Maw was quickly splatted, and the other one was about to swallow Eight. Since his girlfriend was a quick learner, she mimicked what he'd done to the first one and triumphed over the second Maw. Three gave her a quick high five as they retrieved the Golden Eggs and slid them into the egg basket.
     And then the Scrappers swam out of the water.

Sorry for the delay. It's that time of the month, school is being a bully, and I have writers block. So, once again, sorry.
Word count: 1500