A Tertiary Perspective

Huntsman's Horn

Not even days after agent 8 was cured, Marie found something big. She gathered all the agents, including the unofficial ones.

Shelly and Colt were out cold in the hood of Axel's cloak, and Edge was leaning on his side, exhausted as well. The agents were all wide awake, as was Axel.

"Clearly they aren't used to waking up early." Agent 4 chuckled.

"Eh." Said Axel. "Getting them out of bed was hard enough. I'll tell them whatever they gotta know."

Marie nodded. "Alright Agents. I've spent some time out and about, hunting the source of these sanitized octarians. Agents 1, 5, and 6 were with me. If you look around, only agent 1 is here. This is an issue the people are guaranteed to notice in about 2 hours when Off The Hook is supposed to do their morning routine. So there's no hiding this crisis. Further, Octavio was taken away. His entire snow globe is gone, not just smashed. I can assume the same group that has Pearl and Marina has him as well."

Everyone was speechless.

"Well." Agent 3 said after a while.

"As I thought..." Axel said. "Another crisis."

"We gotta go after them!" Agent 4 said strongly.

"I can't let them suffer whatever is happening to them down there!" Agent 8 said.

"Yes, I understand you're all upset, but we cannot rush into this." Marie said. "Otherwise we invite disaster."

"Just send Axel. Nothing stops him!" Agent 4 said.

"He's not as invincible as he likes us to think." Marie said. Axel rubbed his head.

"So what can we do..." Agent 8 looked sadly at the floor.

"We can plan." Said Marie. "Before we ran into trouble, we did manage to gather some information. Firstly, it's a General TarTar that is causing the issue."

"As expected." Agent 3 said, distastefully.

"Second, they have not obtained any Zapfish, but appear to have some alternative power source they are using for their many machines. I believe Axel can counter the small ones, but I haven't seen anything like the other things." Marie continued.

"Oh boy." Axel said.

Agent 8 flashed back to the bosses she fought in the metro.

"Lastly, they have no way to sanitize new oceanics, but have managed to recreate Octavio's hypnoshades." Marie finished. "I fear I know what to expect..."

"He was a pushover last time, but if he sticks Marina and Pearl on a robot, I can't redo my method of attack..." Axel said.

"So we all need to fight together." Said Callie, speaking up. She was clearly rattled.

"But of course." Said Axel. "I may have one last trick up my sleeve."

"Please, employ it. We will need everything we can get for this." Marie said.

"Its more of a last resort." Axel said. "The humans still have airstrike technology down here. But it will wipe out whatever they fire at."

"That's... Scary." Agent 4 said.

"Should have seen the old weapons." Axel said. "But enough history. We need our plan made."

"Indeed. This is our only shot." Marie said. "If we lose anyone else, we won't have another chance. There's just too many."

The group spent hours laying out ideas, and planning. The situation was grim. Colt woke up later, and joined the conversation. Edge and Shelly stayed sleeping.

Finally, a rough, and highly flawed plan was completed. There was too much unknown for a real plan to be made. But the attack would be a triple push. Callie, Marie, Colt and Shelly would go after the supply lines for the sanitized Oceanics. Meanwhile, agents 3, 4, and 8 would fight through the front lines, and Axel and Edge would try to rescue Marina and Pearl from behind enemy lines.

By now Shelly and Edge were awake, so they knew what they had to do.

"I still don't like it." Edge said. "Metal man does his own thing, so going in basically alone is kind of scary."

"Ouch." Said Axel. "I'll have your back dude. But I need you as well. I can't surprise them alone."

Edge grumbled, but it made sense. Seeing Axel get hammered had scared everyone, and reminded them no one was invincible.

The groups gathered, and prepared to leave.

"I suppose this may be the last time we gather." Axel said. "I don't intend to die, and I expect you to stay safe too. But just in case, it's been a pleasure."

"When did you get so depressing?" Shelly asked. "We are the elites, we will make it out. Every one of us will."

"Good luck to all of you." Agent 3 said.

"The hunt begins..." Marie said.

"And so we go, for a better tomorrow..." Agent 8 whispered. "Please, no one get hurt."

The groups left. Axel and Edge diverted right away to the human camp to grab a hoverboard, and the other agents split up when they got to octo canyon. Everyone had their favorite weapon for the job, and they all were on high alert. If any group failed, the chance of victory would grow slim.

A/N I have to apologise for first the wait for these chapters, and second, how short this chapter was. Only 800 words is an embarrassment to me. However, I was not feeling super motivated, but the finale is upon us. Props to anyone who can guess what the next book is, relating to this book. There's a hint hiding somewhere, look carefully. As for me, I've been stuck with no data or wifi, so I couldn't publish chapters. The same rush here is also on my other current books. Being cut off from my discord has had an effect on my work ethic, but I still tried my best, when I'm lucky to be able to save my work. I also didn't have access to my sketchbook, so I didn't make any progress on the Artbook.