Chapter Text
The kettle whistled as it took them in, falling deeper and deeper underground. The spinning suddenly started, and they spun faster, and faster…
“I’m gonna be sick,” Sammie groaned, almost being thrown across the floor.
“Might join you on that one-”
The kettle came to an abrupt stop, and they all pushed their heads out to see where in hell they were. Both Agent’s eyes widened as they turned to the stage, observing the purple ink splayed on the ground, the massive robot, who had it’s hands on Callie. Callie. Fuck!
“Callie!” Agent Three cried, hopping up and starting to make a run for the robot, before being stopped by Agent Four.
“Hey!” Sammie called afterwards, motioning for the two girls to follow her, “Agent Three, you can’t just-”
They were stunned silent as a deafening crack! Sounded behind them, making them turn around. A figure emerged through green ink, and as their form came more into focus, everyone except Agent Three bristled. Cassie stood amongst the Kettle, wielding a pair of dualies, and full gear on. Grinning determinedly, she super jumped over to the four of them, immediately hurrying into apologies.
“Shit, Sammie, I’m awful sorry. I didn’t know what was coming out of my mouth, and I made you guys out to be the villains here. No one is, I-” She sighed, holding her hands, “I hope you can forgive me, we’re gonna need all the help we can get to help both of you,”
“Cassie,” She smiled, hugging the girl. She felt a pair of arms wrap around her back, making a chorus of awww ’s grow from the crowd. She quickly pulled away to apologize to Fee and Dot whilst Agent Three helped concoct a plan with Agent Four.
“Alright guys, listen up!”
“Okay, we’re gonna need you to step up there first, since you probably look like more believable Octolings than us, and can speak the language, not that he’ll ask, but just in case. Simply follow his orders,” He spoke with determination, “We don’t know what he’s planning, but just don’t let him put the shades on you, okay? Or any ink, for that matter. You’ll have to change to purple when we arrive, but make a switch attack. Got it?”
“Got it,” They agreed. Weapons had been lying dormant by the edge of the kettle when they arrived, so Fee was armed with an Octo Roller whilst Dot had an E-Liter, and Cassie had brought her own. She smiled reassuringly at Sammie before hurrying off to DJ Octavio’s lair.
“Right,” He started, making sure to give Sammie a better weapon, “You have the Hero Shot there, okay? It doesn’t have any bombs right now, Sheldon must’ve nicked ‘em or something,”
She laughed at that, “That really doesn’t sound like Sheldon,”
He smiled, chuckling as well, “You ready, Four?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be, Three,”
“Oh please, call me Jayden,”
“Well, if we’re gonna be all buddy-buddy about it, Jayden, you can call me Sammie,”
They turned their focus back to the stage, watching the three of them as their tentacles turned to purple, and they took that as their cue. Both of them knowingly nodded at each other, and launched over to the stage. When they arrived, the three Octolings winked at them, before regaining proper stance.
“I told you to leave…”
They both gulped, arming themselves.
“Now you leave me no choice… Prepare yourselves! DJ!”
Rumbling shook through the ground as the robot began to lift. Cheers erupted from the crowd as huge screens behind them burst to life, showing Callie in all her hypnotized glory. The ink beneath their feet quivered as an all-too-familiar face emerged from deep within it, glaring Jayden down. The Zapfish was shaking under the machine as it hovered to life, straining, until being sucked into the robot, both the agents watching in horror as it provided said thing with light and weaponry alike, making them shiver.
“I remixed Callie’s brain, and I finally have what is rightfully mine. Try and stop me if you want, but you’ll only end up killed,”
“Shit, Jayden, we can’t re-gen,”
“The Kettle,” He whispered, “That’s a checkpoint! Remember?”
“Time for the main event!” Callie shouted, and then bombs began to flurry past them as they expertly dodged. The three Octarians came barreling towards them, and as they swung, their hair had a swift ombre from purple to green, and they joined the Agents in shooting down any attacks Callie and Octavio were hurling toward them.
“Wh-”
“Sammie!” Jayden called out, hurrying to what he thought was the Zapfish, but as the Octarians called out just in time, it exploded into his face. He was quick to dodge, but still slightly wounded. He brushed them off, warranting it as nothing, and they continued. DJ Octavio's punches were getting weaker, until he was forced out of the machine, and under Sammie’s will. She shot as much as she could, before he seemed to snap out of it, and hurry back into the safety of the large machine. Cassie and Sammie seemed to be back-to-back, shooting and aiming as hard as they could, chests heaving in synchronization as they felt more and more worn out.
“This is familiar,” Cassie huffed, “Fighting with you,”
“Well, at least,” Sammie sighed, “At least I can tell you - jesus - tell you how good I think your aiming is now,”
They both dove simultaneously as a spinning punch came their way, but were quick to attack it. In the middle of the commotion, a soft but sure whirring sound could be heard from behind them.
“Look!” Jayden cried, “It’s Marie!”
“Marie! It’s us! Agents Three and Four!” Sammie yelped, desperate to get her attention.
“Drop me here,” Marie whispered to Sheldon, flying down to the ground.
“Sammie? Jayden? We thought you died!” She laughed, engulfing them in a hug.
“Three, you’re… The two of you, what… What did they do,” Her voice grew more stone-cold and icy as she turned to face the Octolings, “Watch it!” She cried, diving in the way to protect them, and aimed stealthily at the three of them.
“No! No, hey, let’s maybe, uh, not do that, huh?” Sammie chuckled, lowering the charger from Cassie’s face, “Marie, they helped us, and we can help them. The Zapfish is ours and theirs, they need it as much as us-”
“Are we done here?” The DJ spoke, growing irritated, “Because I have land I want to take back, alright?”
“Give me back Callie!” Her grip shook on the charger, “Sheldon, get me back up,”
“What-”
“Don’t worry, I have a plan,” She winked, shooting off into the air. She was quick to aim the charger at Callie, and before anyone could question her, the shades were blown off as quick as a flash.
“No! What have you done?!” He cried, watching as his precious shades came clattering to the ground. Callie seemed to stir, swaying and rubbing her temple.
“I got her! Sheldon, I need to get closer!”
“No! Marie, you need to be careful!” Sammie cried, trying to reach her over the noise. She saw, out of the corner of her eye, Jayden had begun to grow tired. His arms were quivering and he couldn’t stay upright, making Sammie panic.
“Jayden?” She hurried over to him, helping him stand, “Are you okay?”
“I-I’ll be fine,” He smiled, “I just-” He seemed to still, a rather violent shiver making him jerk in Sammie’s arms, and then he fell limp. Her heart stopped, watching as his body simply slumped over.
“J-Jayden?!”
“Sammie! Watch out!” She turned to see a fist come hurtling towards her, and ducked, shooting at it the best she could with one hand. Her vision had grown blurry with tears, and she bit her lip in order not to cry. But, she was snapped out of it as she felt him move, and suddenly his fist collided with her jaw, sending her stumbling backwards. Cassie helped her get back up, checking her for harm as Sammie simply watched as he emerged from the ink, his right eye submerged in green, as the substance slackened down his face, running like tears.
“W-What is…”
“Sammie!” Marie called from higher, with Callie next to her, “Me and the Octolings will take care of DJ Octavio! You can help-” And before she could finish, where both the agents were standing suddenly broke from the rest of the stage. Cassie jumped back, attempting to bring Sammie with her, who was trying to grasp Jayden, but he shot at the octoling, making her fall back, loosening her grasp on Sammie’s arm. It lowered at a high speed, sending both Jayden and herself hurrying down to the ground. She could hear distressed cries from above as they fell further and further, and watched as their faces grew smaller in size. Luckily, her weapon had come down with her as she fell, so she attempted to super jump back up to them. But, her attempts were quickly shut down as Jayden pushed her to the ground, and Jesus, is she going to keep getting pinned here or what?!
She struggled against his grip, locking her teeth together as she put more and more strength into pushing him. He seemed to have doubled in muscle, as he was easily able to keep her down. They kept falling as they pushed against each other, waiting for the inevitable death to come onto them.
“Wh-What are you-” She grunted, “D-Doing- Three, p-please, we need to-” He pushed her down further somehow, making her yelp. Her head was firmly planted against the ground now, pushing into the cold concrete. All she could focus on, however, were his eyes. Both had turned green now, glaring at her with such anger, it made her feel nauseous. He wasn’t speaking, only gritting his teeth and pushing with force. She was going to die. They were too far away from the kettle. As she looked to her left, she watched the city rush past them, watched as it’s flurry of lights began to blend together, and she began to feel a resistance building. It’s a familiar high, but not quite like the special attack. In fact, it was so much more. It sent a dizzying rush to her head as she squeezed her eyes shut, suddenly feeling very hot. Her skin began to crawl as she was able to push him, oh my God, she was pushing him! He was underneath her now, looking surprised as she pinned him down, and slowly brought up her gun from behind her. Her tentacles were alight, and she couldn’t control any of what she was doing, matching his power. He kicked her into the air, able to get up. She couldn’t tell what was going on, hearing the familiar ping! of a special attack, and was barely able to move out of the way as a splashdown rained upon her. Her eyes were still aglow, as were his, as they fought it out. She shot at him as he dodged out of the way of nearly every shot, and then she managed to trap him again, under her knees. And with one harrowing shot, the green ink was gone, and he was back to normal, both eyes white this time. The feeling wore off, leaving her weak as the ground approached closer and- How high even was this thing?
“Sammie!” A familiar voice called, and she looked through bleary eyes to see each Octoling and both the fucking Squid Sisters on the truck Marie arrived on, all leaning out to help.
“Go! Super Jump down, grab them both, and get back up!” Marie hollered, sending Cassie and Fee down to retrieve them.
“Cass-”
“I’ve got you, hon, you’re okay. You’re gonna be okay,” Her tone was warm and reassuring as she gently hoisted Sammie into her arms, smiling down at her.
“Got him!” Fee yelled, following Cassie up as Sammie held on for dear life to her Octoling form. When they got back up to the vehicle, Cassie carefully laid Sammie and Jayden down, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
“I-Is… ‘S he gon’ b’ okay?” Her words were impossibly slurred as she looked over to where Jayden lay, with Marie laying a hand on his forehead, “I… I didn’t mean t’ kill ‘im, I jus-”
“You didn’t,” Marie smiled over to her, “He’s perfectly fine. Just out cold,”
Sammie sighed, leaning back into Cassie’s arms. They heard a massive crash, assuming that was the piece of land they were on., “We got the DJ,” Marie chuckled.
“Yeah! And you came all this way to help me, Sammie, I’m…” Callie smiled, sending her a sympathetic glance, “I’m thankful, I really am,”
She smiled, “‘S nothin’, ‘S m’ job,”
“Okay! Homeward bound!”