Agent 38: In The Making

Chapter 30: Trial By Fire

"EIGHT, LOOK OUT-" She heard Three yell. Eight turned to see her boyfriend lunging for her with terrified green eyes, before a small click was heard just beyond the door, and the cafeteria exploded. Shards of metal, glass, and splinters of wood flew everywhere, though Eight took most of the impact. Fire erupted almost instantly along the walls and wooden tables, and conscious Octarians instantly stampeded to the back. She tried to stand up, to move, to do anything, but it felt like an entire wildfire had spread along her body. Eight collapsed onto the hot floor, burns scorching along her legs, arms, and belly, and quickly lapsed into unconsciousness from the agony.
     Eight's eyes drifted open to the utter pain she'd collapsed to. It had eased quite a bit, but still felt awful in every way. A blurry figure cradled her head in their arms, trying to tend to her wounds. As the ringing in her ears gently ceased and her vision went sharp again, she realized it was Callie, tears streaked down her somewhat rosy cheeks. Eight shuffled around, trying to see the source of the orange-red light that lit the room, and Callie instantly looked down. Her eyes widened, a smile creased her lips, and her eyes welled with tears.
     "Oh my gosh!" The pink Squid Sister squeaked, shaking. "You're alive! Thank the blessed mother of pearls! Here- don't move. I need to get you some medical attention." Callie shuffled out from behind Eight and stood up. "Hey, is there a medic here!? Your Commander needs instant medical attention!! HEY-!"
     Eight reached for her ankle and wrapped her hand around it. Callie looked down with a puzzled look on her face. "W-where's T-three?" She croaked pathetically, trying to strengthen her voice. Eight sat up a little, realizing that the orange light was a blaze of fire that roared vengefully just beyond her curled legs. She gasped, face whitening. "I-is he-?"
     Callie tracked her gaze to the fire and nodded slowly, her face looking as though she was answering a difficult question, like she couldn't figure out the answer. "Yes, Three's in there, along with Four, Gabriel, and M-Marie." Her voice faltered when she said her cousin's name, like she was trying to keep from crying. "But they're not dead! They're fighting the sanitized Octolings." Callie added at Eight's quickly panicking face. It didn't help. Eight broke into a cold sweat at the word 'Sanitized', and nausea appeared in her stomach. 
     "I need to help him," She rasped, trying to stand up. "The last time he fought me, it didn't go well- he might not be ready for fake, intelligent Octarians-"
     A shriek of primal rage echoed from the blaze.
     "Nuh-uh, no you don't!" Callie wisped. "You've got burns all over, and unlike Agent 3, you can't make them all disappear like a starfish does with cut off legs!"
     She froze. They hadn't told the Splatoon about Three's side effects yet, for fear that they'd fire him or something. Now that they knew... Well, it might not go well for the both of them.
     Callie's eyes hardened to suspicious, ice cold stones. "So you did know. Why didn't you tell us?"
     Eight said nothing, ashamed. She looked back up to the fire with misting eyes, wondering. "I didn't say anything because he didn't want me to. I would've had he not told me not to."
     "Marie is going to seriously kick his butt when they get out of there. We're going to-"
     Another scream came from the fire and Gabriel dove out, two sanitized Octolings right behind him. Eight gasped, pushing off the wall to stand up and tried to run for him, but Callie pushed her back. "He'll be fine," She soothed. "He's a good fighter. We wouldn't have made him an Agent if he wasn't." Callie swiveled her head to say another thing to Eight, but she was already gone, tackling one of the Octolings threatening her brother. Eight rammed into one of the Octolings, knocking it to the ground. She tackled it with untamed ferocity, Gabriel gaping at her as she punched and jabbed and rolled around with the Octoling. It pinned her to the floor with a grim smile of recognition.
     "Ah, 10,008." It said with a hint of glee in its voice. Eight's eyes widened in horror as terrifying flashbacks lurched back into her mind, ones she usually kept buried. "I've waited patiently to see you again. And now that I've finally got yo-"
     She punched it hard in the jaw.
     Eight kicked the Octoling away with a grin. "I don't understand why villains always feel the need to say an evil monologue before attacking. Just fight, for Cod's sake!" Eight angled her body so that she could shove it by the sternum, and charged towards the Octoling while it was still recovering. She shoved it so hard that it staggered back into the fire with a shriek and disintegrated to ash and flames within a few seconds. Eight whirled to held Gabriel, but he'd already splatted the one that was attacking him along with the few guarding the door. After a moment, Aaron sprinted out of the fire, Marie sauntering behind him, quickly helped her brother, while Eight stood and watched, waiting for Three to dive out as well.
     After all the Sanitized Octarians had been defeated and the normal, freed Octolings had been gathered and evacuated, Eight sat against the door, waiting for her love to walk out of the dimming fire, victorious. She waited for him to stride out and sweep her into a fierce hug and tell her how scared he'd been and how much he'd worried for her and kiss her like it was the first time and then get mad at her for no apparent reason. Four sat next to her for the first minute before he said he'd had to go take care of a few of the Octolings. As she sat, her worry grew more and more, until she started to doze off after 5 minutes.
     Woosh, went the fire. BOOM! 
      Three's color ink flew everywhere and Eight recognized the sound as a splashdown. The fire instantly settled, showered by his green ink, and Three stood in the middle of it all, breathing heavy. She clasped her hands to her mouth as tears stung at her eyes and sprinted towards him. He turned at the sound of her footsteps and his eyes welled up too. They were their original, warm, fiery orange instead of the creepy teal green that they usually glowed. Three bundled her into a tight hug, his strong, comforting arms wrapping around her.
     "You scared me half to death, Eight!" He yelled, an odd tone of relief and fury in his voice.
     "YOU were scared!?" She countered, her face a teary mess. "YOU were in a FIRE for at LEAST 10 minutes! I WAS TERRIFIED! Don't you ever do that again!"
     "Well," Said a calm, cool voice. The couple turned to see a grumpy-looking Marie glaring at them, the rest of the Agents behind her. "Looks like these two Agents have some explaining to do." Her eyes narrowed as she glowered at Three. "Especially Agent 3."
     Oh, crud. Eight thought. This can't end well.
     *Around 2 hours later...*
     All the Octolings have been evacuated and were now crammed into the Slimeskin Garrison while Gabriel and Aaron and Callie talked to them about basic Inkling tradition and how to act once let out into the Square. Meanwhile, Marie and Cuttlefish pulled Three and Eight into the Cuttlefish Cabin to have a firm, menacing talk with the couple about lies. Well, menacing for Eight. Three never took Marie or Cuttlefish as menacing, or ominous, or even remotely scary. They took Three first, and him and Marie had a serious shouting match while she and Cuttlefish waited outside, having a staring contest for no apparent reason. Their words and insults were muffled by the Cabin's walls, and the whooshing wind was no help, carrying out their voices into the wide expanse of nothing. After almost ten minutes of voices, Three stormed out, the glow flickering in his eyes, and dove into the manhole that led to Inkopolis Square. Marie stepped out and beckoned her inside with an unreadable face.
     Eight walked in and was almost instantly blasted with warmth and the faint scent of ocean breeze. She hadn't been inside the Cuttlefish Cabin many times, and only now did she notice all it's beautiful features. A small fridge sat in the corner, decorated with pictures of Cuttlefish- young and old- playing with Callie and Marie, either as children, teens, or as they were now. Several hundred souvenirs littered the countertops, each probably from a Squid Sisters concert, and small candles flickered atop a few tables. Marie patted one of the pillows and Eight sat down on it, right next to her. Marie turned her head to face her, sighed, and finally spoke.
     "My first question;" She said. "WHY."

 I am so so so so so sorry that this chapter took so long. School started and I'm going insane. Sorry. Word count: 1530