The Great Escape

Sorry for not updating in a while guys! School has obviously started (and it has been for a while now), so expect late updates here and there. Remember, I actually want to graduate. Anyways, hopefully you are still enjoying the series as much as I am, and hopefully this chapter does make up for the long absence.

Overall Theme: Nasty Majesty, By Off the Hook

Chapter Theme: Deluge Dirge

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers or Splatoon!

Benzo was NOT happy. Actually, that made perfect amount of sense. Albacore Prison was not a place to be happy at. The whole entire estate seemed to scream depression from it's walls. Nothing was clean in this place. The cells were moldy, moist, and had moss growing from the corners. The beds weren't very comfortable, and the blankets were thin as paper. Even the infirmary was disgusting, with the beds being splattered in ink from dying patients. The only place he had seen that was clean were the guard's quarters, which he got to catch a glimpse of before that one Elite shut him out. And now he was confused. Said Elite had taken Natalie and Eight into the room, and when they came out, she just returned them like nothing happened. Soon enough, now all he saw was that specific Elite hanging around him. Actually, she looked new, because whenever he saw her, she seemed to be confused about what to do. He didn't think much of it, but little by little, he started to notice things, simple actions. The Elite would sometimes give him his food, but whenever she did, she would give him some better food. She also always smiled at him, which somehow gave him a sense of calming instead of fear. But one thing always bothered him; what took place in that room that this Elite would all of the sudden be kind to him? He decided to ask Eight, since it's been three days since that happened.

"Hey, Eight? Do you...know her?" Benzo asked in a quiet voice, pointing behind him. There, he saw the Elite helping an Inkling back up after it fell from carrying too much heavy things. The Inkling looked weak, confused, and terrified, but it accepted the help regardless.

"Um, yes? She says she's my friend, and I remember her…"

"Really? Wait, what do you mean 'you remember her'?"

"I-I lost my memory, some time ago. I got some parts back, but only bits and pieces, nothing more." Benzo had sympathy for her. He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, and when she looked up, she smiled.

"She's my friend, Lily. I told her you were my friend, so she would sneak you extra rations."

"Really? Wait, she would risk her life just to do that?"

"Apparently, yeah." Eight answered. Benzo looked around to see Eight wasn't with her friend anymore.

"Hey, where's Natalie?" Eight was confused about his question, when she suddenly remembered that he was referring to Three.

"Um, she's still sleeping."

"Well, she better wake up soon, because they're about to call in another work period." And as if right on que, the speakers on the ceiling activated, and the announcements were made.

"ALL PRISONERS, IT'S WORK PERIOD! THIS TIME, MAYBE YOU CAN SHOW ME THAT YOU ALL AREN'T SO INCOMPETENT!" Eight and Benzo walked over to Three's cell, shaking her awake and hauling her off the bed. They walked among a crowd of Inklings, all of them malnourished and bruised from the treatment here.

"Thanks guys. I don't think I would have woken up until any of you guys came." Three whispered.

"No problemo. We have work period right now."

"Really? Forget it, I'm gonna be of no help." Three said.

"Don't say that, you're at a clear disadvantage Three. I'll do the work, you just watch, okay?"

"Watch? Eight, don't you know I'm blind?"

"Oops, sorry." The trio soon reached outside, where all the guards had prepared their tools. The lead Elite, who the prisoners affectionately called her "Loudmouth", was in the front, her menacing glares terrifying the prisoners that came out.

"Today, you will all have the opportunity to do our jobs. Among you is an Inkling that has been causing us Octarians trouble for the last two years. Agent-3, come forward." This surprised all the Inklings in the prison. Rumor had it that Agent-3 was a badass Inkling that could kill Octarians just by blinking, and so she was their only remaining "hope" they had of being saved. When word spread that Agent-3 was inside the prison as they spoke, all the prisoners were hopeful. And now, they were all about to see who Agent-3 was.

"Agent-3, come forward. NOW!"

"I-I'm here…" Three said weakly. Eight was shocked. Maybe, if Three had kept quiet, they could have stayed hidden. But she knew that was just her conscious lying to her. Three was dragged out of the crowd by two Elites, who had shoved Eight and Benzo aside. When they reached Loudmouth, the Elite punched Three across the face.

"This, is Agent-3. This is your savior. And now what do you think? How do you feel to know your savior is nothing but a blind, crippled Inkling girl that could hardly fend for herself!?" Loudmouth ranted. Three raised her head, and ink was dripping from the corner of her mouth.

"Prisoners, your orders are clear: you are to punish and beat her as much times as you want. Your only rule is to NOT kill her. There are gardening tools over there for you to use. Anyone found not participating will be splatted on the spot. Your reward will be extra rations." Loudmouth announced. The prisoners had no hesitation. Some grabbed tools. Others grabbed stones. Some just rushed straight at Three. The reward of extra food was just too great. Conditions had been so bad, that some Inklings had even attempted cannibalism just to survive. Three could feel stones being pelted as her. Soon, someone with a shovel slammed it into her knee, and down she went. Tools were slammed against her body as she cried for help.

"EIGHT! EIGHT, PLEASE, HELP ME! SAVE ME!" Three cried. Loudmouth simply laughed hysterically. Other Elites just watched in silence, except for Lily, who couldn't get herself to watch. Eight and Benzo rushed to Three's aide, pulling prisoners off of her. Some angrily fought back in protest, but Eight needed to save Three. In her mind, Three was her hero, and she couldn't just stand there.

"GET OFF OF HER! SHE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG!" Eight screamed. Meanwhile, Lily was begging to Loudmouth to stop the event.

"Please, I'm sure Lord Shockwave would not want us to-"

"Shut up soldier. You do what I say, and I say you are not to intervene." Loudmouth then grabbed a megaphone from one of the other Elite's hands, using it to make her voice even louder.

"Alright, ALRIGHT! I'm bored now, so you can ALL STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING! YOUR REWARD? ONE EXTRA CRUMB OF BREAD, SCUMBAGS! You are all dismissed. It's free time." Loudmouth announced. The Inklings scattered, and now Three laid there, bleeding from wounds. Eight walked over and cradled Three in her arms, trying to help her up. Lily ran over with a stretcher, and both Benzo and Eight hauled Three onto it. Eight held Three's hand, attempting to comfort her. They wheeled her off to the infirmary as the guards all laughed about the scene…

"Three, I'm so sorry...this is all my fault!" Eight sobbed, clinging to her friend's scratched up arm. Ink was being pumped back into Three to try and help her heal. Surrounding her was Benzo and Eight, with Lily leaving to do her guard duties. As Eight sobbed and cried, Benzo rested his hand on her back, trying to comfort her.

"Eight, it wasn't your fault, we tried to pull off as much prisoners as we could. There were just too much. I'm sure Three understands." Agent-3 just nods weakly, before her head slumped, signifying that she was now unconscious. Eight raises her head, her cheeks stained from tears. Benzo wipes the remaining tears from her face, giving her a small smile.

"Hey, uh, I think we should go Eight. We still have more things to do in this prison, and the real work period is next. Don't worry we'll check on Three later, during free time." Benzo said. Eight was reluctant to leave Three. She didn't want to abandon her friend, her hero. Three was in horrible physical condition, and so she felt it was her responsibility to keep Three alive and well. However, Benzo had a good point. If they were late on work period, they could be severely punished, death included. And if Eight happened to die, there wouldn't be anyone there to help Three through the prison…

"Let's go. Bye bye Three…" Eight said solemnly, waving to her friend. In the back of her mind, she knew Three was unconscious and couldn't hear her. However, waving to her friend somehow comforted her slightly as they left the infirmary.

"Stupid! Stupid, stupid, STUPID!" Lily shouted, throwing down her goggles and punching a nearby wall. She winced from the pain, and retracted her hand to find a few bruises on her knuckle. Frustration was all that was on her mind. Lily slumped onto the bed, frustrated. Frustrated about the current events. Frustrated that Inklings and Octarians can't get along. Frustrated about the fact that what the Octarians are doing was just messed up and rotten to the core. She thought about two years ago, she thought about the day she heard those heavenly melodies...the day Agent-3 fought and defeated DJ Octavio. That song, the Calamari Inkantation, had coursed through her veins, and she felt...free. As if chains that were holding her down had snapped. As if a large weight was lifted from her shoulders. She felt free from Octarian society, and so did many others, her sister included. She could remember when all the Octarians retreated back into Octo Valley after DJ Octavio's defeat.

"Sarah, why can't we just leave? Octavio isn't here, and no one would care! We could be free, we could go to the surface world and ENJOY the rest of our lives! No more war, no more depression!" Lily said to her sister.

"Lily, we can't just 'leave'. I know that song...changed us, of some sort...but there are still other Octarians that weren't there. Octarians that still abide to the rules of Octarian society. Octarians that would order us to be hunted down and splatted." Sarah replied. She set down her seaweed and goggles neatly beside her Octoshot, before resting on her cot.

"But Sarah, people left already! Like that one engineer...what was her name? Oh yeah, Marina! That was her name! I used to guard her group while they worked on the Flooders…" Lily said, trailing off.

"Lily, sixty five Octarians left Octo Valley, Marina included apparently. Out of those numbers, everyone was brought back here and are waiting for their final day in prison. Only one person wasn't discovered. Now, take those odds and add us in. How long do you think we will remain undiscovered?"

"Sarah, you're an Elite and I'm eligible to be one! Think about it, we could survive way longer than some regular Octoling soldier. We can do it, trust me! I want to go to the surface world, the promise land, I want to go meet the Inklings, be fresh, participate in Turf Wars, everything! I want to show them that we aren't so bad and that maybe peace can be created after the Great Turf War. I want to go meet the Squid Sisters, and Agent-3, and all those people that saved us. I want to go, and I'm sure you do too." Lily argued. Sarah had a sad expression on her face. She looked as if she were hopeless, as if Lily was a child that requested her to do an impossible task.

"Lily, I want to go as much as you do, and you know that. But as much as we want to, we can't. I promise, one day, we will go to the surface. One day, we will go there together. I promise, Lily. I promise…" Sarah said.

That was before Octavio returned. Octavio was back to his old self, stealing the Zapfish again. And then he was defeated, again, this time by someone else. Apparently, Agent-3 had disappeared. But now, the person that came wasn't Octavio. It was someone else, someone that took the promise Sarah gave to her and tore it to shreds before burning it to pitch black ashes. Lily could feel hot tears forming on the corners of her eyes. Soon, they started to fall, like heavy raindrops in a storm. Alone in her room, Lily cried.

"Why? Why did he have to take her away? She just wanted to be happy! She just wanted to enjoy her life! WHY!?" Lily shouted to no one, tears flowing faster. After a few minutes, she stopped. She wiped her tears away, and she stared at the floor. She wished Sarah was here to see Esra. Esra had wanted to go to the surface world, just like Sarah and herself. They planned to go when Octavio was defeated again. But from out of nowhere, Esra disappeared. They couldn't find her, and no one had paid any attention to her. She was just an Octoling trainee too. In everyone else's eyes, she was just a generic trainee that wanted to help the Octarian Army. But in her eyes, Esra was a fantastic friend. Lily wished Sarah was here to see her. She wished she could show Esra her other friend. Then, Lily thought about it. Agent-3 was going to die. No matter how hard Esra will try, Agent-3 will die. Lily had to make sure that didn't happen. So, standing up and wiping the remaining tears from her face, she decided it was time. Time for a prison break…

That night, Three was brought back to her filthy, dark cell, where Eight was waiting happily. Three fell into Eight's embrace, hardly being able to walk due to her recently made wounds. Eight carefully examined Three, trying to see if anything else was wrong with her. She hardly trusted anyone in this prison, especially the doctors who could easily poison or torture Three. She petted the top of Three's head slowly and softly, which Agent-3 thought felt nice.

"Three, are you okay?"

"No...not okay...I'll be okay when I'm out of this prison and in a hospital…"

"I know Three, I know. I'm sorry."

"For what Eight? You didn't do anything…"

"Exactly. I didn't do anything to help you, and now you're in worse condition than before…" Three felt around to try and see where Eight was. Eventually, her hand brushed against Eight's cheek.

"No, you didn't do anything wrong. I'm okay, well, okay as I can be in these conditions. You're a fantastic friend, Eight." Three said. She made a big yawn, before resting her head against Eight's arm and falling asleep. Eight continued to pet the top of Three's head lightly, while staring out into the darkness of the cell. All of the sudden, the cell door opened. The sudden noise startled Eight, and she held the sleeping Inkling closer to her body. She could see light pouring into the dark cell, which slightly blinded her. Eight shielded her eyes from the light, and soon the light was blocked by another figure. She looked over to see it was Lily, goggles and Octoshot in her hands.

"Hey Esra, how are you?"

"Good." Eight answered back. Lily walked over and saw that Agent-3 had fallen asleep in the Octoling's arms.

"How's Agent-3?"

"She's...sort of okay. Did you come to say good night?"

"Well, that and I have a plan." Eight tilted her head slightly to the right in confusion. Seeing that the younger Octoling was confused, Lily expanded on the idea.

"I have a plan to break you guys out. It's risky, and if it fails, I could be looking at both public humiliation and execution. But I'm positive we can do this."

"Will you come with us?" Eight asked, hope in her eyes. She wanted to show her friend all the things on the surface. Turf Wars, fresh clothing and trends, he wanted to show her everything. Lily stared down toward the ground, holding her left arm with her right in unease.

"Look, Esra. I want to go, I really do. But I have a job here, and if I stay, maybe I can find a way to overthrow Shockwave. But promise me something: promise me that you will remember me." Eight nodded, and although she was disappointed to hear Lily will not be following them to Inkopolis, she somehow she still found a reason to be happy.

"I will Lily. Thank you." Lily nodded and left for the door. She turned back to face Eight, who smiled, and Lily returned the smile before closing and locking the cell door behind her. Lily walked over to Benzo's cell, unlocking it with her key card and opening the door. When she peered inside, she could see the Inkling snoring away quietly in his sleep.

"Aw, he looks so adorable." Lily said. She then shook the idea out of her head. She didn't really like this Inkling, did she? Sure, she was nice to him and helped him, but she didn't like like him, did she? Lily just buried the idea in the back of her mind while she walked over to the sleeping Inkling. She shook him awake, which he responded with some tired whimpers of protest before opening his eyes and getting up.

"Huh? Oh it's you. What is it?" Benzo asked, rubbing his eyes.

"I have a plan for you to escape. You'll be following Agent-3 and Esra."

"Who and who? Wait, oh, you mean Natalie and Eight?"

"Uh, sure. Tell them to gather at the entrance of the cafeteria during work period." Lily explained carefully.

"Okay, sure, why not." Lily turned to leave when she felt Benzo grab her hand. His hand was cold and clammy, probably because this cell was cold too. At night, the blankets weren't very comfortable and were quite thin, so it did little to keep the prisoners warm.

"Thanks for being kind to me. Could I ask why you are doing this?" Lily turned back to face him. His face showed that he was tired, telling from the bags that started to form under his eyes.

"I wanted to go to the surface with my sister. Everyday, I dreamt of what life was like up there. Now, she's dead. I don't want Esra to lose Agent-3 like I did my sister. Agent-3 seems like a really nice person, and I don't want Esra to lose someone close to her."

"That's very nice. Okay, I'll tell them tomorrow. Gotta go to bed, I'm tired…" Benzo muttered as he turned and stumbled towards the small cot that was housed in the cell. Benzo swore he could hear the Elite whisper "good night" in her soft voice before she left, closing the door and locking it.

The next day started like normal. The prisoners were forced out of bed, and now came the work period. Lily was already up and ready. Her position as of right now was getting everyone awake. Everything seemed normal except several Elites crowded around one particular cell. Lily's expression turned to one of horror as she realized what was going on. The Chief Octarian Doctor and Scientist, Dr. Pacific, was inside the cell. Lily only then realized that Agent-3 was about to go through another "appointment". Several Inkling prisoners have already gone through these "appointments" ever since the prison was established by Shockwave. Appointments ranged from brutal torture to unethical experiments. Two Elites held two chains, both attached to Inkling prisoners that have been driven insane. They growled, foam formed at the corners of their mouth, and their eyes twitched unnaturally. They also smelled horrible. They were so insane, these Inklings were more primal and animalistic now rather than civilized. Lily peeked into the room to see Eight holding Three close to her while she was kicking at the guards and rabid Inklings.

"Grrrrrr…" a rabid Inkling growled at Eight before pouncing on her. It tried to claw and bite her, and managed to scratch her cheek. The Elite holding the leash laughed.

"I see my new pet likes you. Don't worry if he tears you to shreds, it only means he wants to play." the Elite said to Eight as the Inkling bit down on Eight's shoulder.

"Agent-8, I suggest you let us take Agent-3 here. She is scheduled for another appointment, and I'd hate to be behind on said schedule. It's very tight, managing through which prisoners can stay alive for a few more days and which need to die." the Doctor said, a devilish grin on his face. He suddenly felt a tug on his shoulder, and turned to see one of the newer Elites that had been transferred here. She looked young and inexperienced, but was an Elite nonetheless.

"Yes? What is it?"

"A new message from Shockwave. He says to cancel all 'appointments' with Agent-3."

"And why is that?"

"He didn't give a reason, he just said to do it our he will send the Seacons down." Dr. Pacific just rolled his eyes, his grin replaced with a frown of disappointment.

"Very well."

"EVERYONE, OUT TO THE PRISON YARD!" Loudmouth shouted, and all the guards and prisoners did as told. Lily rushed towards Eight, hugging her and Three.

"Esra, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just got bit on the shoulder and arm." Eight said, wincing in pain when she moved to get up.

"Guys, meet Benzo at the cafeteria. Do not go to work period." Lily told them before running off. Lily ran down the halls, passing guards along the way. The guards ignored her. Everyone did. It was good, because in a place like this, attention was something you didn't want. Lily ran until she reached her destination: the Shelter room. This was where they kept the "pets" as the guards dubbed them: Inkling prisoners driven insane by the torturous conditions of the prison. Again, Albacore wasn't for the faint of heart. Almost every day a fight broke out or someone was found dead. There were only ten Inklings in the shelter, all of them clawing at Lily through the cages they were held in. She walked into another room, where she locked the door behind herself. She then turned to see a large red button beneath a shield of glass. She took her Octoshot and smashed the glass, slamming the button in the process. Suddenly, all cage doors were opened and the savage Inklings ran out of the room. Two Octoling guards were walking by when they saw the Inklings approaching. They did their best to shoot them, but when the stampede of barbaric Inklings got close they were torn to shreds. Ink splattered everywhere, staining the floor and walls of the hallway as the Inklings killed unaware guards. Soon, the sprinkler systems were activated and soon the hallway floors were covered in Octarian ink. Lily left the room and hurried out towards the cafeteria…

Eight helped Three to the cafeteria, where they saw Benzo waiting. He was leaned against a wall, tapping his foot and humming a song, which as she got closer, Eight recognized the song as Calamari Inkantation. He soon looked up to see the two girls, and he got up and walked towards them.

"Hey guys, looks like you knew where to go."

"Yeah, Lily told us." Eight said.

"Lily...is she coming with us?" Benzo asked. Then, as if right on cue, the sprinklers outside the cafeteria start to activate, and the hallways outside are drenched in Octarian ink. Lily then comes rushing into the cafeteria, tracking ink onto the floor. Her face had some droplets of ink on it from the sprinklers.

"Sorry I'm late. Okay, everyone come closer." Lily said, motioning them to come to her. They do and she pulls out a device and touches Three and Benzo with it. Their ink color is soon changed from blue and green to the pink that Eight and Lily have.

"This device just changes your ink color. Now, you won't have to worry about the sprinklers splatting you. Now right behind me, but only in squid forms, got it?" Lily ordered, and all three did as told. As Lily ran through the hallways, the three swam behind her feet. Lily opens a door leading outside, where she starts to shoot the ground with her Octoshot, making a path toward the gate that leads outside the prison. Two Octocommanders stood at the entrance, and they soon approached Lily.

"Where are you going?" one of them asks in Octarian. Both Three and Benzo had no idea what they were saying, since they didn't speak Octarian. However, Eight knew what they were saying, and so did Lily.

"Uh, I was called to an urgent mission. I need to leave now!" Lily demanded. The second Octocommander peered behind Lily to see the trail of ink she had created.

"What's with the ink trail? The Squee-Gs just cleaned this part of the prison!" the second one asked.

"Again, my mission is urgent and it would be faster if I swam there."

"Why don't you just tell a transport vehicle where you need to go?" the first Octocommander asked. Lily knew exactly why: the transport vehicles had no way of sneaking in the three prisoners she brought. If she took a vehicle, she would be caught within seconds and be incarcerated. Of course, she could never tell these two what she was really doing.

"No one was there. As you can see, chaos is happening inside the prison. Besides, I'm an ELITE! I outrank you and I am more loyal to the Octarian army than any of you will ever be. Now move you single tentacled abominations or I'll shove those Splatlings up your-"

"Okay okay, you may leave." the first Octocommander blurted out quickly. The second one radioed the Octoseekers to make a path and allow Lily through. Lily swam through the ink alongside the other three. After a few minutes of shooting to make a path and swimming, they were soon out of range of the prison. Everyone got out of the ink path, taking a break from all the swimming.

"I-I need to rest...so tired…" Three muttered as she fell on her butt, before laying on the ground, resting. After a few minutes of panting and catching their breaths, Lily prepared to leave.

"Goodbye Esra. I gotta go back to the prison."

"B-b-but Lily, you can stay with us! Come with us, please!"

"I'm sorry Esra. I promise I'll come one day. Just not today, okay? I promise I'll come join you in the Promise Land." Lily raised her hand and stuck out her pinky. Eight, although saddened her friend won't be joining them, wrapped her pinkie around Lily's.

"Promise?" Eight asked.

"Promise." Lily responded, and Eight hugged her before they parted ways, with Lily swimming back to the prison and the rest of the group running to freedom…

Lily sat back down on her bed, tired and exhausted from today. Today was intense, with so many things that could have gone wrong. But nothing did go wrong, and so now all the uneasy feelings replaced with hope. Maybe Esra can get her other agent friends and defeat the Octarian Army once again. However, Agent-3 has wounds that might never fully heal, and she was one of their best agents. But no matter what, Lily did promise Esra she would come join them in Inkopolis. Just then, she heard a knock on her door. Lily opened it to see Dr. Pacific.

"Good news Lily. Shockwave has decided to promote you to Commandant of Albacore Prison for your bravery against the disaster."

"R-r-really? Wait, what?" Lily was confused.

"Yes, a group of barbaric, savage Inklings had escaped their cages. We believe one of the prisoners did it to try and start a prison break, but because you activated the sprinkler systems, most of the Inklings that escaped their cages were killed and it prevented any Inkling prisoners from escaping as well. Luckily, we only had a few guard casualties, but that's where all the good ends. Agent-3 and Agent-8 are missing. We believe they were the ones that let those animalistic squids out."

"O-oh right. I really didn't think I needed to be promoted…"

"How does it feel? How does it feel to have a big honor like this?" the Doctor asked. She didn't know. Being the Commandant meant she was in charge of the prison. It also meant there were only a very few amount that were above her status. But being in charge of a prison like this meant everyone hated you, especially the prisoners.

"It feels...good."

"I'm glad to hear. Oh, and thank you for telling me that Shockwave wanted me to cancel all appointments. If I hadn't known, I would've been splatted once he heard about it." the Doctor told her. Lily couldn't tell him it was a lie. She would be discovered as a traitor. And being a traitor meant near endless torture and eventually painful death.

"That's great to know. Good night." Lily said as she closed the door. She wanted to rest on her bed, however, she soon heard a knock, coming from the ventilation grate on the ceiling. She looked up, but the grate soon fell and someone landed on top of her.

"OW!" Lily shouted as the person fell on her. She found herself sprawled on the floor, with someone on her back.

"S-sorry, I didn't know whether it would hold my weight or not. It was kinda rusty, so…" Lily turned to see Benzo on top of her. He immediately got up so she could stand.

"Hey." Benzo said, waving to her timidly.

"Hi. I thought you escaped, what happened?" Benzo looked down onto the ground, as if he was a little kid that was in trouble.

"I-I-I couldn't just leave you in this prison. You were just so kind to me, giving me extra rations behind the guard's back, making sure I was okay...I just thought you would be so lonely here." Lily was surprised. Sure, she was nice to him because Esra told her that he was a friend, but she didn't expect him to care about her.

"Oh, um...thanks? I really don't know how to respond to this…"

"Just say 'thank you for getting me promoted'."

"What!?"
"How did you think it happened?"

"Well, I just thought maybe someone saw me running in the halls and assumed I was trying to stop the disaster…"

"Well, after I followed you back, I snuck off and went to the outside prison yard where all the prisoners were waiting. I purposely started talking about you, saying how heroic you were trying to activate the sprinklers. Of course, the prisoner thought everything I was saying was bull carp, but right next to us were two Elites. I talked loudly enough for them to hear, and they must've told Loudmouth, who was the current Commandant." Benzo explained.

"Wait, Loudmouth was the Commandant?"

"Yeah, wasn't it obvious?" Benzo asked.

"Not to me, no. So, she got…"

"Demoted. At least that's what I'm guessing, because you can't have TWO people being Commandants. It just wouldn't make sense." Benzo explained, which Lily agreed. Now she had a bigger problem: Loudmouth liked her job, constantly jeering and mocking the Inkling prisoners. Now that she was demoted back to some regular old officer, Loudmouth would definitely want to splat the person that got her demoted in the first place.

"Well, thank you Benzo." Lily said. She then escorted him back to his cell. Her Octoshot was poking his back, making him slightly uncomfortable.

"Hey, can you stop poking me with your gun?"

"Well, I have to make this look realistic." Lily argued. Once they got to his cell, all the guards were escorting prisoners back. It was starting to get dark, so everyone was going to bed. Benzo walked over to his bed where he laid down, yawning.

"Welp, see you tomorrow, 'Commandant'." Benzo said to her before he closed his eyes. Almost after a few minutes, he had fallen fast asleep, snoring quietly away as he did so. Lily walked over to him, leaned over and pecked him on the forehead.

"Good night." Lily whispered quietly, before walking away and out of the cell…

Later…

"I'm telling you, she's the one that helped Agent-3 and Agent-8 escape. I'm positive!" Loudmouth said to someone on a large screen. It was Snaptrap, who was in a Inkling holomatter avatar. He had his tentacles pulled back into a ponytail, an old hairstyle that Inklings used.

"Pfft, and what evidence do you have of this?"

"I saw her kiss one of the prisoners good night." Snaptrap tried not to laugh. He held back his laughter at the amusing piece of "evidence" the Octarian found. In the background, the other Seacons were, unlike their leader, dying of hysterical laughter.

"Ugh, whatever. Since we don't have any 'clear' evidence of your claim, she won't be demoted or searched. I can't just listen to what everyone says. Goodbye, Loudmouth."

"WHAT!? I SWEAR, I SAW HER IN HIS CELL, GIVING HIM A-"

"I said goodbye, end of discussion Loudmouth." Snaptrap said before the screen went to black.

"ARGH, THAT'S NOT MY NAME!" Loudmouth flipped a table, all of the contents on top being spilled onto the floor. She then grabbed a chair and smashed the screen with it, the glass shattering and caving in.

"When I get my hands on her, I will kill Lily. I will find a way to get her discovered, and then I will kill her myself." Loudmouth muttered in hatred. She then stomped out of the room angrily, glaring at any guards that walked past her.

Eight helped Three walk as they trekked away from the unforgiving walls of Albacore Prison. It's been a few hours since Lily had helped them escape that nasty place, and night was beginning to fall. Eight found a tree and helped Three walk over to it, where the Inkling sat down, leaning against the tree. Eight sat right across from her, and gave her friend a smile. She knew Agent-3 couldn't see her smile, but she liked to think it still gave Three a sense of security. A sense that everything was going to be okay.

"Where are we?" Three asked. Eight looked around, but nothing seemed familiar. Just some rocks and grass, and some trees dotting the land. They were out in the open, and if the Octarians started to search, they could probably find the two if they didn't start moving again.

"I don't know." Eight answered honestly. Three sighed heavily.

"This sucks. I'm blind now, which means I can't fight, which means I can't be an agent, so now I'm basically out of the job. And I'm sure those Octarians will be searching every part of Octo Valley and Octo Canyon to find us. I'm gonna hold you back, and then we will die…" Three started to trail off. The things she was saying were starting to make Eight upset and sorry for her.

"No, you won't hold me back. You never did and you never are. And when this is over, I'll help you find something else you can do. I promise, okay?"

"F-fine." Then, something dawned on Three.

"Oh no, I can't play Turf War if I'm blind…" Three muttered in horror. Half of Eight wanted to hug her friend and tell her everything will be alright, but the other half shot down the idea, telling her it was stupid and that Three didn't like things like that. Before she could make a decision, she was hit over the head, hard, making her yelp in pain before she fell. She could feel her body fall to the ground, and all she could see was Three looking left and right and asking her what was wrong. She wanted to tell Three what happened, and she reached her hand towards the Inkling. But behind her were several Octolings, and Eight watched as they all lunged and grabbed her before she fell unconscious...

Huh, no references! As you can see, this chapter mostly focused on what happens in the prison. The next chapter will show what everyone else is doing and will lead up to the ending here. And then they'll try to kick Shockwave's shiny metal butt back to Cybertron. Hopefully you guys will stay with me until the end, but until now, we must wait until I update this story again! Bye guys, and stay tuned!