Chapter Text
Defeating Tartar hadn't been easy. Agent Eight had to run and run and ride around that statue until her legs hurt, and Pearl had to blow her voice out. It was a struggle, but everyone made it out alive, thank cod. Now they were on the helicopter’s platform, heading back to inkopolis. Cuttlefish was poking at Agent Three, who seemed to still be unconscious.
Eight had mixed feelings about Three. On one hand, she had saved Eight from the blender that was going to kill both her and Cuttlefish. On the other, Three had nearly killed Eight while mind controlled. Though she did have to consider that Three was not in control there. So perhaps her actual feelings on Three were mostly positive. That’s not even mentioning the agent’s appearance. Three was beautiful, in a slightly more masculine way. She had a strong look, muscles almost hidden beneath the long sleeves of her hero suit. Sharp jaw, dark cape, beautiful brown eyes…
Oh! She was looking at Eight. Eight smiled, resting her head on a hand. Three sat up, and Cuttlefish patted her on the head twice. Eight was suddenly distracted by Marina and Pearl tackling her with a hug. She hugged the two back, happy.
Once the helicopter arrived at it’s destination, a mansion (whose mansion?) everyone hopped off, and the crew flying the helis took them to the helipad located elsewhere on the grounds. Eight soon learned that this was Pearl and Marina’s mansion. This was followed by a freak-out on Eight’s part, because she’d never seen such a big house that only housed two people. At least, she thought she hadn’t.
See, Eight had a bit of a problem. She couldn’t remember a thing about her life from before the moment she woke up in the Deepsea Metro. This was a problem for a couple of reasons. First, she didn’t have a name past her number. Second, she obviously had combat experience, as shown by her absolute ease when holding a weapon. That might be concerning, but considering what she knows about inkling culture (very little) they do things called “turf wars” as a sport. Maybe her ease with a weapon will be welcome? It’s all very confusing to Eight. In fact, most everything was very confusing to Eight.
As she zoned back in to the conversation, Pearl was talking about getting Eight a place to stay. Pearl started to suggest that Eight should stay at the mansion. Marina interjected, saying that the two weren’t around enough to make sure Eight was okay. Eight almost objected, but then remembered that her nightmares that she’d had since getting on the Metro most likely won’t let up anytime soon. Having someone with her had been helpful. She had never been alone in the Metro, not even in the stations. Pearl, Marina, and Cuttlefish had always been a call away. She didn’t think she could handle being actually alone, and she didn’t think her CQ-80 would work outside of the Metro.
Three stepped up. She said, quietly, that she’d be willing to house Eight. Marina looked at Three suspiciously. She began to ask a slew of questions about Three’s living arrangements. Three simply nodded or shook her head depending on the question, rarely answering with her voice. It was very clear that she was uncomfortable being interrogated like this, so Eight cleared her throat, causing everyone to turn her way.
“I would be fine staying at Three’s house.”
“Are you sure, Eight?” Pearl asked, “Three did literally try to kill you.” Eight almost backed down at the memory of almost being splatted by Three, but she stood her ground.
“Do you have any other thought?” Eight crossed her arms, and Pearl stared her down for almost a minute before sighing.
“Alright. That’s fine. Rina, any objections?” Marina shook her head. Eight sighed as well and dropped her arms.
“We’ll give you an allowance every month so you don’t have to rely on Three to buy you things.” Marina said,
“Allowance?” Eight wasn’t sure what that was. She understood the exchanging of currency to buy things, she did that in the Metro with CQ points.
“It’s like…” Pearl started, “We give you money, actual money, not whatever you used in the Metro, and you can use it to buy whatever you want. Food, clothes, whatever. It’ll be in a card, like your card you used in the Metro, that you can use to get things. Got it?” Eight nodded. She could do that.
“We’ll give you some cash for today, we can call the bank tomorrow.“ Marina said, moving to go inside and get the money. Pearl followed, asking how much they should give. Cuttlefish smiled under his beard.
“Marina is a nice octoling. Never thought I’d see the day.” Three nodded at Cuttlefish’s statement. The sentiment confused Eight. She knew of the Sanitized octolings that she fought in the Metro, and those made sense in the context, but Marina? Marina had always been nice to her. Eight couldn’t think of any other octolings that she knew.
“Eight, you look lost.” Cuttlefish was looking at her with concern. Eight waved her hands.
“It’s nothing! It is just, I do not remember any octolings other than myself, Marina, and Sanitized ones. What have you seen to make you think all octolings are bad?” Eight rubbed the back of her head.
“The Great Turf War was fought between octarians and inklings,” Cuttlefish said, and she remembered him mentioning something like that in the chat logs. “The octarians lost the war. They returned many years later to take back the turf. A few years ago, they stole the Great Zapfish from Inkopolis Plaza. Agents One and Two helped Three get it back. Three had to fight… a lot of octolings to get to Octavio.”
The name tickled something big in the back of her mind. Suddenly she felt cold, hungry, and nauseous. She knelt on the ground to stop the world from spinning. Distantly, she realized Pearl and Marina had walked back out with a backpack. There was yelling, and then someone was grabbing her shoulders. She shook them off, but they were stubborn. Someone was speaking to her.
“Breathe, Eight. In, out.” Eight followed the instructions, gulping down air like she was drowning. After a long time, her breaths slowed, and she came back to reality. Marina was kneeling in front of her, and Pearl was hovering behind. Cuttlefish looked neutral. Three looked horrified. Eight looked around, they were still at the mansion. She grounded herself forcefully. Everything was fine.
Once everyone around her calmed down (namely, Pearl and Marina) Eight was allowed to stand. Cuttlefish apologized for triggering her shell shock, whatever that meant. Three also apologized, for some reason. Marina handed her the backpack, which had a change of clothes and some cash in it. The backpack itself was pastel pink and teal green, Marina and Pearl’s colors. It was cute, Eight liked it.
After a while of Pearl and Marina making sure Eight was okay, they allowed Eight to leave. Three started to suggest the subway, but stopped. Eight was glad for it, but how were they going to get all the way to where Three lived?
It was Marina and Pearl to the rescue, as they had a personal chauffeur that they use to get places. The car was black, and it looked very nice. Even Three looked impressed. Eight got in after making sure it was okay with Pearl that she and Three use such a nice car. And it was a nice car. Cloth seats, fancy lights, this car had it all. Eight watched as Three got in equally carefully, and then waved goodbye at Marina and Pearl as the car drove away.
It was an awkward drive, to say the least. Three only spoke to give directions to the driver. Take a left here, go straight there. Eight ended up looking out of the window for most of the drive, but that was entertaining enough.
She saw many inklings as the car moved through Inkopolis. As it turned out, Three lived near Inkopolis Plaza. They had passed by the Square, where Pearl and Marina worked. The Plaza looked to be filled with more young adult inklings, while the Square seemed to be home to more teenagers. In the middle of the Plaza was Inkopolis Tower, with a Great Zapfish wrapped around it. It was quite a sight to see. Three told the driver which building was hers, and they got out there.
It was a gray apartment complex with stairs criss-crossing the front with platforms that had doors along them. Three began to lead Eight up the stairs, but they were stopped by one of Three’s neighbors.
“Hey! What’s with the fancy car? Are you finally bringing a girl home?” The adult-looking inkling squinted at Eight. “She has weird hair.” Eight couldn’t see Three’s face, but her ears turned pink. Then Three almost-shouted at the woman,
“Thank you, Miss Ripley, but this is just a friend.” Honestly, Eight hadn’t heard Three speak so loudly since she met her, and it still wasn’t very loud.
“Okay, okay, geez. Just asking.” Miss Ripley went back to doing whatever she was doing, which looked to be just sitting on her porch. Three led Eight the rest of the way up the stairs, to apartment 24, and they went inside.
The apartment was fairly plain, if a little messy. There were posters on the walls for bands she hadn’t heard of. There was a couch, a kitchenette, and a hallway with a bedroom on the end of it. Three spoke.
“You can have the bed, I’ll sleep on the couch.” Eight was about to object that she could sleep on the couch, but Three was already going to the bedroom to grab a blanket. Eight mentally conceded with a sigh. When Three came back out, she was holding what looked like a warm blanket and a pillow. “Aren’t you tired? You can go to bed if you want.” Eight nodded, it felt like her legs were going to give out. She made her way down the hall and to the bedroom, flopping down on the soft bed and falling asleep.