Agent 38: In The Making

Chapter 41: Injuries

It had only been about 5 hours after she'd been cleaned up when Callie rushed into the (real) Cuttlefish Cabin and demanded Aaron and Gabriel go with her somewhere.
     Eight limped off the stool she'd been sitting on. "Wait, wait, where are you going? What's wrong?"
     Callie shook her head. "Y-you'll see."
     Shivers ran through her veins, and she narrowed her eyes. "Where's Three?"
     "Let's go, guys." Callie said, completely ignoring her question. She grabbed Gabriel and Aaron by the wrist and turned to leave.
     "No, no, no, wait." Gabriel wrestled his hand away. "How can you still love him? How can you even still care for him? Alex tried to kill you! Twice!"
     Eight felt a flare of temper burst in her hearts. "It wasn't his fault!" She shouted, throwing her hands in the air. "He was being controlled! None of it was his fault, none of it!"
     Gabriel paused. With a sigh, he turned and left behind Callie and Aaron. Eight sat back down with a frustrated huff. She leaned back on the wall, closed her eyes, and started humming the Inkantation. This was a technique she used to try and calm herself down, which usually worked. As the heavenly melody looped over and over in her head, her thoughts drifted into a neverending spiral of worry.
     Where had all the Sanitized Octolings come from? How had they gotten here so swiftly? Did they have a secret tunnel they could go through to get into the Square? Was Tartar still in Three? How had it gained control over him so easily? Where was he right now? What was he doing? Was he alright? And so on, and so on.
     The minutes slid into hours and her eyelids felt heavier and heavier. As her eyes drifted shut, she caught herself wondering what would happen to Three if his guilt and anger and sadness got the better of him. A sudden burst of determination flushed out her laziness, and she had the drive to get up and go looking for him.
     Eight opened her eyes and glanced back at her injured leg. No, stay behind. That's the sensible thing to do. You're in no shape to go looking for Three.
     She settled back onto her seat in silence. Every second that ticked by was another moment wasted, another moment without knowing whether Three or Gabriel or Callie or Marie or Aaron was safe or not.
     Eventually, there was an odd thumping noise outside, which she'd recognized as the manhole grate opening and closing. Her hearts basically jumped at the sound of it. That meant they were back! She didn't have to be alone and worried out of her mind! That also meant they probably found Three, so she could get to see him again.
     Eight staggered off the stool and limped towards the door, one hand on the wall to keep her balance. Just as she reached to grab the pair of crutches Aaron had given her, someone outside screamed her name.
     "Eight!" Screamed Gabriel's voice. "Get out here!"
     She instantly opened the door and ran (well, tried to run) outside.
     Callie and Marie were behind Gabriel and Aaron, and they were trying to pick up a dirty figure that lay wasted on the floor. Her breath caught in her throat. Eight took a few steps closer and realized with a horrible jolt that it was Three.
     He looked completely beaten. There were scratches, gashes, scrapes and bruises all over his body, including his face. His left eye was black and his nose was bleeding, and a small part of his tentacles had been cut off. He wasn't moving. Eight couldn't even tell if he was breathing or not.
     With a cry, she ran towards them, setting off sparks of pain in her leg. She slid down on her knees next to them as her eyes began to flood with tears.
     "No, no, no, no, no," She whispered with a little hiccup. Eight gently cupped Three's face, trying to rub off the little smears of green ink. She looked up at the others. "I-is he...?"
     Marie bent down on her knees as well and put two fingers on a small part of his neck. "No, but he will be soon if we don't get him to a hospital."
     "Are you sure that's the right thing to do?" Aaron chimed in. "It could risk revealing the Splatoon. We could cause a worldwide panic if we're not careful."
     "That's the only thing we can do!" Callie piped up. "We can't let him die!"
     "I agree." Gabriel said. "Plus, we need all the help we can get if we're going to try and take down the sanitized Empire. There's no way we can triumph with only eigh- I mean, seven of us." He said, cutting himself off with a glance at Three. "There's gotta be more people in the world that would volunteer to help."
     "I dunno..." Aaron said. "We took down a good part of the Empire ourselves with only four of us. Now that there'd be three more, I think we'd succeed with a good strategy."
     "Guys, we have to talk about this later," Eight said. "He needs help."
     "We have to call an ambulance," Marie said. "But we can't move from here."
     "I don't care if a few people know about this place," Eight bristled with ferocious authority. "I'm not losing Three."
     Marie nodded. "I'll call an ambulance. Callie, get our disguises. Aaron, Gabriel, try and mask this place up a bit. Get to work!" The Squid Sister crouched down next to her and touched her shoulder. "You stay with him and make sure he's ok."
     Marie stood up and ran into the Cabin with Callie, while Aaron and her brother quickly took off. Eight looked back down at Three and started checking his injuries
     The wounds on his face weren't too bad. There was a small gash on his jaw that led up a little towards his cheek, and a small cut on his lip. His nose had stopped bleeding, leaving crusted ink on his face, but his left eye was still a deep purple that was almost black. Eight blinked back tears.
     Did he do this to himself? She thought with a wrenching twist in her stomach. Or...
     She looked up and spotted Callie. "Where did you find him?" Eight called.
     "We found him in an alley not too far from your apartment," Callie responded, walking over. The Inkling sat down next to her. "I was calling his name, over and over, until I heard footsteps coming towards me. I counted about 4 of them. I hid in one of the shadows to avoid being spotted, but I caught a good glimpse of them as they walked by. They were talking about a guy that they'd seen before while trying to 'rough up his Octoling'. I think they were talking about you."
     A fresh burst of outrage suddenly pumped through her veins. How DARE THEY! Eight had to find them and punish them.
     She had to let them know you couldn't hurt the ones she loved and get away with it!
     But... Eight looked down at Three.
     If I hurt them back... they'd be justified to hurting me or him again. It'd be an endless cycle of vengeance.
     Three wouldn't want that.
     I wouldn't want that. Look at me, becoming a monster over this. I have a right to be mad, but I have to let it go. I can't hold onto something that already happened. There are things I can control and things I can't, and this is one of those things that I can't.
     Let it go.
     Eight took a slow, deep breath and let it out again. Callie touched her shoulder with a gentle smile.
     "He'd want you here with him," She assured her. "Three loves you more than anything. Just... be here for him, since he kind of won't let us."
     Eight nodded, and Callie pulled her into a hug.
     "He'll be ok," Callie whispered. "He's the mighty Agent 3, remember?"
     Eight let out a half-choked laugh. "I know."
     Soon, a faint sound started to echo from the manhole. An odd sort of siren, kind of. It sounded like someone saying veemo, but more amplified.
     A moment later, about five Inklings popped through the manhole, cautiously lifting the grate to peer around. They spotted the group, then they spotted her, and then their eyes finally landed on Three, and they all gasped. Four of them climbed out of the manhole and one of them (who was, surprisingly, and Octoling) called down, "Get the stretcher, Aurora!"
     They rushed forward and swiftly scrambled around Three, asking loads of questions.
     "What happened to him?" Asked one.
     "What's his name?" Questioned another.
     "How long has he been unconcious?" Blurted the third.
     "How long has it been since these wounds?" Said the fourth.
     "That's enough!" Marie said. She stepped in front of Eight and pulled off her face mask (*cough cough* covid *cough cough*) with an authoritative expression. "He's hurt and we have to get him to a hospital, or he'll die."
     "Marie!" They all nearly screamed in unison.
     The Octoling walked over. "I understand your concern, but we need to know these things."
     "He was attacked," Eight said. "His name is Alexander, and we don't know how long he's been unconscious or how long since he got these wounds, but what we do know is that he needs medical attention immediately."
     They all nodded, and two more Octolings came out through the manhole, carrying two thick bamboo sticks with a sturdy looking cloth suspended in the middle of the sticks. They slid Three onto the stretcher and carried him away.
     Eight stood up and stepped forward to follow them, but Marie grabbed her shoulder and shook her head sadly.
     Eight turned, heartsbroken, and watched as they carried Three away, along with her happiness.

I maybe just maybe might use @coopertyler's idea. If you wanna know what it is, go back to chapter 40 and read the comments section. SQUIDMAS IS CLOSE LETS GET READY BOIS
Word count: 1688