Into the Deep Sea

(Approximately 4 months ago)

"Agent 3" a voice shouted at Tammi, and she whisked her head around. That sounded like Agent 2. All she could see was machinery all around, and the sounds of screaming from the depths below.

"Agent 3! Help me!" It was coming from Agent 1 this time. Tammi swiveled around again, gaze whipping back and forth trying to spot the disguised Squid Sister. What was going on?

"Agent 3! Agent 3!" Cap'n Cuttlefish's voice rang out, and suddenly Tammi's vision went black.

"Agent 3! Can you hear me bucko?" Tammi jerked up, gaze wide eyed. She blinked, trying to reorient herself, when she heard the Cap'n's voice over her ear walkees.

"I hear you, what's up?" Tammi asked, standing up from her spot on the overlook she had set up, down here in the Deep Sea, just outside of the Metro Station. The fog was always so thick here, and with the weird lighting system down here it was always too difficult to tell if it was night or day.

"C'mon down to the base, I have a difficult mission for you," Cap'n Cuttlefish informed her.

"Alright, I'll be there," Tammi replied then turned around to climb down the latter that lead up to her post, where she usually slept. She preferred it up here, as she usually had the space to herself. A mission sounded like just what she needed right now.

Tammi made her way over to the base, and right away her gaze latched onto Agent 8 who was sitting there with the Cap'n. Agent 8 was… odd. He seemed friendly enough, but he was pretty quiet. The male octoling just seemed too… good? He did not seem like he fit in this line of work at all. He was way too sweet.

Memories of her fight with him flooded back to her at the thought of this. He may be really sweet, but he sure is strong. Their fight was a long and grueling one, but he kept on persisting until he finally managed to take her down. When she finally met him, after he had saved all of Inkopolis from Commander TarTar, she was expecting this rough and tough Octoling, but the first thing he did was looked at her and smiled. He even thanked her for saving them from being blended up into a sushi smoothie, before she even bothered to thank him for saving literally everyone.

"Agent 3, I have a mission for you. It looks like it is going to be a pretty difficult one, so I am having you and Agent 8 work together on this one," Tammi's eyes narrowed. She didn't sign up for that.

"I prefer to work alone, you know that Cap," Tammi started, but the Cap'n cut her off.

"You're very stubborn bucko, but I am not giving in this time. Some of the work you will do down here is a lot more dangerous than the work you did in Octo Valley. You are just going to have to learn how to work with others." Cap'n Cuttlefish shook his head.

"Alright," Tammi replied after a few moments hesitation, "what's the mission?"

"In the notes from the abandoned lab that you recovered a few days ago, I learned that our good friend Commander TarTar was one of many experiments. One of the failed ones was buried in the Deep Sea Trench, where a high amount of Sanitized Octarian activity has been noted lately. I need you two to go there and check it out. And if you find that experiment has been active, destroy it. The metro here can take you over to a station where a Deep Sea Sub will take you two down."

"We're on it, Cap'n" Agent 8 spoke for the first time since she got there. He looked determined to get rid of another one of those foul monsters. He gave Tammi a friendly smile, and she just nodded back to him. They were on a mission. After gathering their equipment, the two of them made their way over to the metro.

The silence that clung to the air was odd. Normally Tammi felt perfectly comfortable in silence, but it must have been coming from the newly appointed Agent. He was twiddling his thumbs in his seat across from her. Tammi just started out the window. It wasn't until after boarding the trolley that one of them spoke up.

Tammi and Agent 8 were now sitting next to each other on the trolley. Well, Agent 8 was more on his knees facing the other way out the trolley window, like a little inkling would going through Mahi-Mahi Valley. "Is this your first time on one of these?" she asked him.

Agent 8 suddenly blushed and quickly turned himself around, sitting properly on his seat. "Uh, yeah. There isn't enough power in Octo City or anywhere near it to provide for one of these things," he explained. "Have you been down here to the Trench before?"

Tammi shook her head. "No, most of my work was in Octo Valley before things started to go array in the Deep Sea. Not much of that activity was down here before though," she replied.

Agent 8 nodded. He looked like he wanted to say something more, but an announcement in the trolley that they were about to arrive interrupted him.

The Deep Sea Trench was darker than any place Tammi had ever seen. She fished her head lamp out of her bag and put it over her head, and noticed Agent 8 giving her a questioning look. "Do Inklings eyes not work that well in the dark?" he asked.

"Nope. It sounds like Octolings eyes apparently do though," she noted. Tammi could not help but feel some jealousy there. The Inkling and Octoling species seemed similar in so many ways, but while Inklings had it so well up on the surface, Octolings were superior in some ways. The ability to see well in the dark being one of them. "C'mon, let's get going. The radar says there has been some Sanitized Octarian Activity that way."

Tammi lead as they made their way deeper into the trench. The walk was silent, and they were both on alert for anything that might attack them, but they just didn't see anything. The further they went through, the worse the signal to their radar got. "Great," Tammi grumbled, stuffing the thing back in her bag.

"Maybe we should go back and map out where this experiment is on the radar, and bring the map with us in there so we have something when we lose signal," Agent 8 suggested. Tammi shook her head.

"We could lose it pretty easily. I say we just go forward." She just wanted to get this done and over with. She didn't like being down here, having to rely on this stupid flashlight for sight.

They went to turn, and suddenly Agent 8 pushed her up against the nearby trench wall. "Be careful!" he mumbled, easing off of her.

"What the heck was that?" she growled at him, but the Octoling wasn't paying attention to her, he was just peeking his head out from the wall.

"There's a building there, and it's heavily guarded. We can't get spotted," Agent 8 replied, low-voiced and quickly. "There must be another way to get in there. I think I remember seeing another path on the radar." he looked around, while Tammi kept watch. There were 2 Octolings, 2 Octocommanders, and 3 OctoBombers. That wasn't too bad. She even had her Hero Charger on her. She could probably sneak around and take most of them out pretty quickly.

"I think we can take them," she told him.

"I don't think we should, they might alert the others," Agent 8 shook his head.

"I bet we can. I can get one of the Octocommanders from here with my Charger."

"I don't want to risk it," Agent 8 told her, and while he was busy checking behind some rocks. She quickly took an OctoCommander, then leaped into combat, quickly dashing by and taking out another.

Agent 8 was quick to follow her, already moving to take care of the two Octolings that were charging at him. She supported by taking aim at the OctoBombers.

One of the OctoBombers had one of those stupid caps that made him randomly speed up, so Tammi quickly pulled her Hero Shot back out and raced forward into combat, aiming for him while Agent 8 took care of the Octolings.

"You just had to go in there!" she heard Agent 8's frustrated groan from behind her, and he quickly joined her, opening the door with the key he got from one of the Octolings.

"Well, it was way faster," she protested. The Octoling just shook his head. For a sweet guy, he sure did have a rude side. She just ignored him and made her way inside. It would be pitch black in here without her light, and she dimmed it down a bit.

They made their way out to a courtyard, with a small shelter in the middle. There were 3 flooders roaming around it, as well as 4 Octolings. "I get the two on the left, and you get the two on the right," Tammi instructed.

"Your the boss, I guess," Agent 8 retorted. Before Tammi could even say anything the Agent was already moving, so she quickly followed after, avoiding the flooders and engaging in battle with the Octolings.

The one Elite Octoling happened to be on her side, and she just narrowly missed being caught by a Flooder while trying to take the Octoling out. With that, she had the key and looked over to see Agent 8 had also defeated his two, and was making his way over to her. Suddenly she saw large teal ring under his feet, with tiny teeth poking out from it. The Octo Maw?

There wasn't time to think, Tammi moved quickly, getting a bomb ready. She leaped up and looked down right as Agent 8 was surrounded by the walls of a smaller version of the Great Octo Maw, who she had fought in her early days of being an agent. Tammi kicked her legs out, holding his jaws open and pulling Agent 8 out, before chucking the bomb down. She barely managed to escape before the beast's jaws clothes and swallowed her whole.

Just as soon as she landed, she heard Agent 8's shout behind her. "Agent 3!" he called, and she looked up to see a flooder coming straight for her. Suddenly, a body collided with hers, as Agent 8 pushed her out of the way. He linked his arm under her, pulling her to him as he aimed his gun at the shelter and shot at some boxes that were there, revealing an opening where they would be safe from the Flooders.

Tammi's heart was racing as Agent 8 let her down. They had both just saved each other's lives. She looked up at him, and he was looking back at her, breathing heavily. "Thank you," they both said at the same time.

"Are you hurt?" he asked her quickly.

"No, I think I'm fine. How about you?" she asked him.

"I'm okay," he nodded. "That was a close call," they both laughed a little, readjusting themselves. Tammi stood up, brushing herself off and looked around. Below them there was a spot for a key. She pushed it in and twisted it, and out popped an elevator which would lead downward. They took it down.

They reached a large room, with lots of crates. On the wall, Tammi noticed a cover over a large air vent, the passageway Agent 8 had been talking about earlier. A sudden guilt filled her, they both wouldn't have nearly gotten killed if they had just taken that passageway all the way down here.

"Let's go out there, slowly. There might be traps," Agent 8 suggested, looking to her hopefully. She nodded, and he seemed relieved. They went out there slowly, and if there were any traps, they didn't activate them. It looks like they at least did something right this time. They made it to a large glass ball in the middle, surrounded by machinery. Inside was what resembled Commander TarTar.

"It looks like it's active, but not fully," Tammi noted.

"We should get rid of it, before it becomes fully active," Agent 8 added, and they both agreed. They looked around for a way to release the glass dome, then Tammi found a large red button.

"This button says terminate. I think this will get rid of it," Tammi pointed it out to him.

"Let's go ahead and do it then." she nodded and went to press the button, then watching the Almost TarTar closely. He started glowing, and she watched curiously.

"Gah, we gotta get back It's going to explode!" Agent 8 shouted at her. The crates might be able to protect them.

"Quick! The crates!" she ordered, and they quickly dashed to them to take cover behind them. She was just caught at the edge of the blast radius, but luckily she was just hit by enemy ink. If she was closer, it would surely be worse.

"That was a close one," Agent 8 laughed. "You all good?"

"Yeah, just have my entire back covered in that gross TarTar goop," Tammi chuckled, giving him a smile, and Agent 8 returned it. You know, he really wasn't half bad, he was just looking out for them earlier.

Here, I brought a sweatshirt, in case it was going to be cold. You can se it so you don't have to wear that stuff around while we head back," he told her, digging into his own bag and pulling out his sweatshirt.

"Are you sure? You might need it," Tammi asked.

"I'll be fine, Octolings don't get cold," Agent 8 replied, handing the sweatshirt off to her while he dug in his bag for something else.

"Wait, but you just said you brought it in case it got cold?" she questioned him, looking at him very confused. He blushed suddenly and let out an awkward laugh, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah? I guess I did just say that," he gave a weak smile, before looking back down at his bag. Suddenly, Tammi realized why he had the sweatshirt. It wasn't for him, it was for her. He brought it in case she got cold. This whole time Agent 8 has been nothing but kind and caring to her, and she put him in needless danger twice, and actually thought he was rude. A wave of guilt washed over her, but some warmth did as well, knowing he cared.

"Well thank you," she replied, removing her Agent Vest and suit and pulling the sweatshirt over. He glanced up at her while she was still pulling the sweatshirt down and blushed, quickly turning down again.

"Sorry, sorry," he repeated. Tammi blinked. She was wearing a cropped under top, not like he saw much. Tammi watched as he was fiddling with his radar, trying to get the signal to tune in. She kneeled down beside him.

"Agent 8, the Cap'n says you don't remember much, but do you remember your name?" Tammi asked him. He looked over at her, wide eyed. Slowly, he nodded.

"I've been slowly remembering more. My name's Junius, but others used to call me Juni," Juni looked back down at his work.

"Well, thank you for everything, Juni. My name's Tammi, by the way."

The two fended the rest of the sanitized octarians away, cleaning out the old building and seeing if they could find anything of use. All they found was more notes, so hey collected them and made there way back to the trolley.

Tammi sat there, heavy lidded and trying to stay awake, when Juni's voice alerted her. "Tammi, earlier I noticed a scar, going down your torso, what's that from?" Her gaze met his, and suddenly she found herself unable to speak. She didn't know how to tell him about it. He noticed her weariness, "Uh, you don't have tot tell me if you don't want. I can tell you about mine though, if that makes you feel more comfortable. It's okay if you don't want to tell me about yours." Juni had scars?

Juni held out his arms, and she could see them there, scars encircling his arm, closer to his wrist, and some near his inner elbows, where his vital ink veins are. "I have some on my ankles too. You see when you and I first fought, my ink was that dark blue color because I had just escaped a Sanitization Lab. I don't remember why I was there, just that I was, and I needed to get out. I somehow managed to break free of my binds, and the IVs that were slowly taking over me. They left a lot of small scars though."

That would explain why Junius didn't have a very fine memory. He was in the process of being sanitized. He must have not completed enough of the process, because when they fought there was no evidence of it then. He did seem a little crazy at that time though. He had just told her about something that was so deep to him. Maybe she could tell him what happened to her too.

"I had no idea you were a victim of Sanitization. That must have been awful. And here I am running head first into these old labs and sanitization buildings with you, not even realizing it could bring on bad memories for you, or make you worry about being captured again. I'm sorry, Juni," Tammi whispered. She breathed. "My story is somewhat similar. When I was a little squid, I liked to run off a lot on my own. ONe day while visiting Inkopolis Plaza for the first time, while it was still being built up, I discovered this sewer, which I now know leads to Octo Valley. I ended up being captured by Octarians, and I think one of them was this scientist or something. I remember her saying something about wanting to do experiments on me, and then it was black after that. When I woke up, I was in the hospital with my parents there beside me, telling me I was going to be okay. They said I would always have the scar, but nothing was wrong besides that. Still though, after that I was absolutely terrified of octarians and octolings. That's the reason why I even accepted the Cap'n's offer to be an agent in the first place, because I wanted to get over my fear. It feels ridiculous now, admitting to that."

Juni looked at her, and gave her a reassuring smile. "But it's not ridiculous. You had a scary experience that traumatized you. It's okay. I am sorry that something like that happened to you. It makes me so frustrated knowing that there are awful members of my kind."

"There's awful members of every species though," Tammi told him. "You don't need to feel guilty about yours at all, because you are a good man. And I look forward to working with you in the future."

"I look forward to it too," Juni chuckled. "If this day was any example of how crazy are missions are going to go, I'm sure they are going to be quite the adventure."