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"You measly scrap of seafood! You'll pay for this!"
"Wha- Telephone! What are you doing to Agent 3!?"
"Number 10,008, why are you associating with these superfluous nobodies ?"
" GYAAAAH !"
"Cap! What happened? Answer!"
~ ~ ~
Cuttlefish, as frail as he might look, managed to get back onto his feet. The telephone had thrown him to the far wall- or rather, multiple sanitized tentacles had done the deed, seemingly bending to the telephone's will.
Cap looked to the side, only getting a few seconds to panic over the now destroyed radio laying in pieces on the track; nearby was his hat that'd been thrown off him in the process.
A few wheezy coughs spilled out of him, having to curl in on himself at the motion. He managed to stay standing, refusing to let his guard down. He wasn't called Captain for nothing. When his crew is in danger, he's up for a fight. His brow furrowed. No squid left behind!
Speaking of crew, Agent 3 was currently still unconscious. Though rather than ragdolled on the ground, he was now limply held in the grip of an oversized tentacle, wrapped solidly around his arms and chest. His head hung in shadow, lights glaring down on the back of his hair. Cap didn't like how close he was kept to the telephone.
"What's the big deal?" His voice echoed through the station. He stood firm and unwavering. As best one could after being thrown across a room, at least.
In an unnaturally organic motion the telephone turned to Cuttlefish, the sanitized tentacles mimicking it. All eyes on the captain.
"Don't bother, you crustacean abomination. You and your kind are incapable of understanding what truly matters." Its voice screeched out, making him flinch at the terrible noise.
Bored of the old man's presence, the telephone turned back to 3. In the tentacle's grip he had begun to wake, head struggling to raise against the fatigue he felt. Quick to notice the literal bind he was in, the fatigue wore off in place of panic. What the shell-
The telephone somehow managed to look displeased, the sanitized tentacle wrapping just a tad tighter in unison. It hadn't calculated him regaining consciousness so soon.
"How inconvenient," it muttered in garbled noise. 10,008's betrayal was forcing its hand. "...No matter."
In no state to squid jump, Captain had been struggling to climb back up the train track ledge. Arms against the floor and halfway pulled up, he froze and watched as the sanitized tentacle curled around 3. The end of it loomed behind his head, just barely at the edge of the agent's vision.
"3! Put him down- oomph!" Cuttlefish had reached a hand out in desperation, making himself lose balance and fall back to the tracks below. He had to scramble to his feet, regaining that front row seat.
His yell only struck fear in 3, who was doing his best to keep an eye on his captor behind him. With little knowledge of what's happening, no gun, no way to move…sue him if he wasn't feeling so brave right now.
That left him with no way to react to the sudden burning sensation that was slowly growing along where he was held. To his horror a blue-green liquid had begun oozing from the similarly colored tentacle, slowly drenching a ring around him, the acidity reaching him through his uniform.
With the pain came a sound. It didn't reach his ears as soundwaves usually would; rather, it was like...someone whispering from within his thoughts. It was annoying- being a noise he couldn't just shake off- but it helped to distract from the rising discomfort, at the very least.
Yet it wasn't enough, like a voice from behind a wall, muffled and thin. The fire grew around his arms and body. He was no longer blissfully distracted.
With his pained squirming he gained a better look at the unnerving tentacle, now covered in the acidic substance. It motioned as if it noticed him noticing it, like it had a mind of its own. It reared back, and 3's stomach sank like a stone.
Cuttlefish's yell of protest went unheard as the blood roared through 3's ears. He shouldn't have looked back.
The tentacle slammed down against the side of 3's head, forcefully covering his ear and eye. Luckily he had a quick enough reaction time to tightly screw shut. It wouldn't make much difference in the long run, unfortunately. His reaction to the turquoise slime was near instant.
A broken scream rang out, echoing down the tunnels. He was hysterical, violently thrashing in an unsuccessful attempt to get away, to make it stop, please cod make it stop.
The sight and sound broke the Captain's heart, and all he could do was watch in horror. His hands balled into fists, unable to look away.
It burns. Please. Please stop, it burns-
The awful noise turned to loud sobs. 3 could only gaze around wildly with his uncovered eye, occasionally passing over the damned telephone. It watched him intently, metallic expression unreadable.
3's frantic, desperate thoughts continued. Between them sang a second chorus, one that wasn't his own. It was the whispers from before.
Please, please-
They grew louder than they had been before. Their words danced along his skin; all the wants, the emotions, the unorganized thoughts of thousands of strangers gone unheard. They spoke to him- at him- and he listened, drinking in the music.
It soothed the fire that burned his skin, his eye, his hair- as long as he listened to that music, he was okay.
What felt like an eternity to him had only been a couple minutes to the fully conscious. Cuttlefish watched with deep concern as 3 grew silent and disturbingly limp in the binds. The agent's face was hidden from his view, exacerbating his need to make sure he was okay.
"..." Small chitters and ticks came from the telephone as it thought to itself, watching 3's dramatic display. On its silent command the tentacle slowly brought 3 down to the ground, cautiously unfurling.
The slime it had secreted now stuck to the side of 3's face. The agent waved very subtly back and forth, with a relaxed expression gazing straight ahead. A few stray tears rolled down his cheek from his unaffected eye.
"...3? Agent 3, snap out of it!" Captain tried to call him again, now that he was freed. His concern turned disturbed as the only reaction he got was the turn of 3's head, staring through him with a blank stare, before looking back. Cap's expression fell.
"Excellent." The telephone crackled once more. Every sanitized tentacle retreated, leaving random holes littering every surface. " Inkling . Come here."
Beyond what Cuttlefish and the telephone could see, 3 heard the music grow louder, more fearful. The telephone's words only registered through the voices mimicking it.
"It speaks to us."
"Fear it. Fear it."
"It knows what's right."
"Do not fail."
3's music overlapped itself, growing chaotic and disorderly. His distraction was failing, the fire, the fire burns their body, please no more-
The onlookers watched as 3 clawed at his forehead, falling to his knees and trembling visibly. His mouth was open in a silent scream, before his teeth clenched tightly together. His eyes remained wide and blank, staring at the ground.
Listen. Listen to the music.
He accepted the words, and the melody returned harmonious as ever. The pain ebbed away once more as he got to his feet. His movements were becoming more natural as he fell back into the rhythm of the whispers.
With every step towards the telephone he grew more confident.
"We are powerful."
"It made us so."
"We were weak alone."
"Show you the way."
3 stood fearlessly in front of the broken telephone. The music flowed through his veins. The slime stung his skin. He looked up at their creator with blind determination.
"A perfect specimen. One that listens ." The telephone made a screeching noise akin to a laugh, and 3 did not flinch. It looked to Cuttlefish, and he followed its gaze.
"We depart soon; the new world is upon us." It looked to Cuttlefish, and the agent followed its gaze. "Take him. And get rid of that pest ; they have disrupted my work for long enough."
3 stepped forward as Cap took a step back. The voices cheered him on. Effortlessly his special was prepared, hair glowing brighter than the biomass slowly eating away at him.
"3...please, you have to fight it!" Cuttlefish opened his arms in pleading, but it would be of no use. From the train platform, Agent 3 looked down at his mentor with absent disdain.
After a quick splashdown and some rope tying, 3 ascended with their new Commander to the surface, Cuttlefish in tow. 3 had picked up the old man's hat and brushed it off, now smushing it onto his head with a sarcastic smile.
They had a rogue test subject to take care of.