Avrika sighed pleasantly, feeling the wind on her back tentacles, more moist and refreshing than she was used to. What calm it afforded her was welcome as she struggled to keep her nerves under control.

Octavio had agreed to her choice of an ambush position. An escarpment roughly a few hundred meters from the Inkling's headquarters acted as the border between Inkopolis and Octarian territory. The route between the domes and Inkopolis passed through a place where earth and rock had collapsed to form a small gap just large enough to squeeze a flooder through. She had arrayed her troops in a U-pattern atop the rocks and two on either side of the gulley at the foot of the formations, just in case.

She went from position to position, checking on everyone, making sure they were as ready as they could be. Some had their eyes closed, praying while they clutched some item of significance- sometimes their weapon; while others quietly joked. A few didn't say or do anything. Everyone had their own way of dealing with impending mortality.

Turning her back to her troops, Avrika gently stroked the pendant at her neck and then gave it a firm squeeze. With a soft click, it opened, revealing an image of herself and two beautiful baby octolings, barely a year old.

She blinked back tears that threatened to come spilling forth and firmly shut the pendant closed. She had to remain confident and in control for her troops. Even if the situation seemed hopeless or futile, she had to act like it was possible to win if she yelled at them hard enough.

She glanced at Octavio who was squatting down atop one of the rock formations, tapping his tentacles on the ground impatiently.

"Tch, what's taking them so long?" He grumbled.

While Avrika was in no hurry to face the biggest military threat to their nation, she had to admit that the anticipation of it was getting to her, to all of them. They did seem to be taking their sweet time.

She moved to the opposite edge of their position from Octavio and stood behind an old tree. Carefully manipulating the papillae in her tentacle she triggered the control to activate her communicator and brought it close to her mouth before whispering into it.

"Latria, are you there?"

There was a long pause before her very relieved executive officer answered.

"Yes, I am. It's good to hear you alive, ma'am."

Avrika couldn't help but smile a little. "I'm sure it is. By any chance are you still tracking the enemy agents?"

"Yes ma'am. Actually, they've split up."

Avrika frowned. "Really?"

"Yes. There are two staying with the prisoners they've liberated from a nearby prison facility. At least now we know what they were up to."

Avrika grunted. "And where are the other two?"

"Agent 3 and Agent 4 are heading in your direction, quickly. Where are you exactly?"

"We're on the border escarpment just beyond the enemy headquarters, so I think that puts us just beyond the edge of our sector map."

"Yes," Latria said slowly. "That sounds correct. Ten minutes maximum before they reach you, assuming they don't stop to rest first, but probably less." Another pause. "Are you… going to fight them?"

"Our Lord of War insisted we try to ambush them," Avrika replied darkly. "But, I can understand his logic and at least now we aren't facing all four of them at once, maybe we have a chance. But even in a best case scenario, most of us won't be coming back."

"I see…"

That probably wasn't something an officer was supposed to say, especially not to a subordinate, but when it came to Agent 3, there was no point in denying the inevitable.

"If you don't hear from anyone in an hour, assume we're all dead." She paused then added, "except perhaps Lord Octavio. They seem averse to killing him."

"Understood. I pray we will talk again soon, ma'am."

"I'm sure we will. Out."

Avrika glanced back at Octavio from behind the tree and debated telling him about the news. But no, that would reveal she still had communication with her command centre. Besides, regardless of how many agents came, once they reached a certain point, the ambush would be sprung.

She stroked her pendant again and closed her eyes, beginning to utter a long prayer to the gods for the safety and well-being of her daughters.

One skill Eight had worked hard as a soldier to develop which had not atrophied since coming to Inkopolis was stealth. For a maid, being seen but not heard was not only an asset, but a virtue. Sometimes it was best for a maid to not even be noticed as she went about her duties, and were often overlooked by some. The present situation wasn't all that different.

Eight kept low, sticking to the taller grass to provide as much cover as possible as she crawled to the shelter of a large boulder. However, her caution seemed unnecessary as nobody was even looking in her direction.

Eight recalled how her old instructors would have a fit they set up in a position with nobody watching behind them. You always had to have someone watching your six-o'clock. These troops had tunnel-visioned entirely on the oncoming agents. Then again, considering who was coming, perhaps they were so scared that whatever might come up behind them seemed miniscule by comparison.

By now, Eight better understood why Three had so often called herself a monster. She was seeing it first hand here, some of the more subtle effects of the terror she instilled. It was sobering.

Eight managed to make it behind the cover of the boulder and sit herself down before the NSS communicator pressed against the side of her head buzzed and Captain Cuttlefish's voice came through.

"Agent 8, Agent 3 and Agent 4 are on their way to you, be there in a few minutes. Hold out until then.

Eight gritted her teeth. "But I have to attack first and spoil the ambush before the ambush springs on them."

"Are you not able to communicate with them?"

"Not so far. Maybe the ground is in the way."

"Damn octos must have taken out the relay transmitter," Cuttlefish cursed. "I'll see what I can do. Just sit tight, Agent 8."

But Eight would not, could not sit tight. If she was going to save these octolings and Three and Four, she would have to act well before they arrived. If a few minutes was all she had before they arrived, then she had only seconds to being her attack.

Camouflaging herself again, Eight peeked around the corner of the boulder. Octavio was on the far side of the ambush from her. The officer she had seen earlier was walking to a position on the left, her weapon in hand. And it was she that adopted the rear-guard position.

Smod Eight cursed. This just got much more difficult. She had been hoping to hit Octavio's side first, hopefully bringing him down enough to affect morale and hopefully get them to surrender, unlikely as that seemed. Now, she would have to attack the left side, starting with the officer.

Eight's hearts hammered, her whole body was starting to shake as adrenaline pumped through her system. She couldn't wait anymore, she had to act. For the first time since the battle against Tartar, she made a quick prayer to Heaven and then moved.

As Eight burst from hiding the officer had her head down, staring at the pendant dangling from her neck, silver standing out against the black of her uniform. It allowed Eight to close the distance and by the time the officer looked up and noticed her, Eight's octoshot was already chugging.

The officer let out a cry just before she seemed to burst in a splash of magenta. Startled, the other soldiers turned, only for a splat bomb to land between two of them. They cried out too but failed to get away before it exploded, taking them both out.

"It's her!" Octavio bellowed. "The traitor. Get her!"

Even as Octavio spoke, Eight took out a fourth soldier and then a fifth before they finally began moving against her, their ambush forgotten in the face of this new threat.

One of them was careless, running ahead of the rest and allowing Eight to face her one on one. It was a common enough mistake that even those who only played turf war recognized it.

Eight was able to dodge her attacks and managed two shots to the face before the rest of her shots splatted the opposing octoling, but she was forced to scramble away as the rest attacked her together.

This leaves seven. I can do this. I can do it. I just need time. Her opponents, however, were not interested in giving her that time. Their expressions were masks of anger and confusion. Octavio bounced after them, waving his tentacles angrily and shouting.

Two of the other octolings threw splat bombs, not directly at her, but to the sides, trying to keep her restricted to a narrow lane of movement. A standard tactic but an effective one, unfortunately, they were not able to get close enough to capitalize on that. Although they tried to rush her, Eight was too fast for them, and she was gaining distance.

Eight inked a trail ahead of her and dove inside, trying to recover as much ink as she could on the move. More splatbombs were lobbed in her direction but they fell just short.

Eight sent one of her own back, forcing the octolings to scatter, which slowed them down. Even as she threw the splatbomb, Eight changed direction and made a beeline for one of the octolings on the right.

The other octoling's eyes widened in surprise and she fired, but too early. Eight was able to dodge around the shots and fired straight into her. She heard the terrified scream before she went splat, a haunting sound, and then whirled to her next opponent.

This one was more clever, and clearly more angry. She charged directly at Eight and lobbed one splatbomb to her right, forcing Eight to dodge left, right into the path of her weapon.

Eight ducked and dove forward, taking at least one hit to her chest before she rose up and sent her palm right into her opponent's chin. She heard the clack of a beak slamming together and then felt a blast to her bare midsection as her opponent fired wildly in an attempt to ward her away, unable to aim.

Eight remained stoic and raised her own octoshot, finishing her opponent off with a second-long burst.

Eight quickly wiped the hostile ink from her midriff. Without clothes to soak into and keep it there, its effects would quickly pass. For now, she had bigger worries.

The other octolings had recovered and were trying to cut off her escape. Already there were splatbombs arching towards her. Without time to think, she jumped up and ran.

The splat bomb detonated in her wake and she managed to outpace the octolings trying to cut her off. She had just made it. She could do this. There were only a handful left. She could-.

Something hard and fast, struck the back of her left leg. She heard a sickening crack and it gave out beneath her. She fell to the ground and tumbled to a stop. Only then did she feel the intense pain in her left leg. She gritted her teeth to bite back a cry and tried to rise, only for a large black boot to crash into her chest and slam her back onto the hard ground.

She hit her head and she saw nothing but starts for a second before her eyes refocused and she gazed up into the barrel of an octoshot pointing right between her eyes, mere centimeters away.

The other octolings surrounded her, all pointing their weapons. One ripped her octoshot away.

Octavio bounced into view, juggling a jagged rock in one tentacle. "This is what traitors get. When you turn your back on the people, you get no mercy."

Eight uttered a cough and glared back at Octavio. "I never once turned my back on the people, I turned my back on you. Didn't you notice I was using non-lethal ink."

"Changes nothing," he growled and stopped juggling the rock and raised it.

"I'm sure I don't need to tell you the penalty for treason."

The octoling on top of Eight stepped away and let her octoshot fall. It allowed Eight to rise slightly, propping herself up onto her elbows. Her mind whirled, trying to figure out a way out of this situation as she glared up at her former leader.

Then, just past Octavio's large head, she saw it coming down towards her. Death itself.

Three heard the sounds of battle before she even rounded the last rubble pile before they reached the escarpment. She saw bursts of ink over the lip, shouts of octese and cries of fright and surprise that echoed past them.

"Something's gone wrong!" Four said, alarmed.

"We have to hurry," Three said, and turned her jog into a full on sprint.

Whatever ambush the Octarian had intended to spring, it was gone now. They all revealed their positions as they stood and faced the foe behind them, ignoring the two agents completely, perhaps even unaware of their impending arrival.

"Should we super jump?" Four panted.

"Not yet. Still too far. We'll do it last."

The octolings all vanished from view, running away from the escarpment and back towards Cuttlefish Cabin. That meant Eight was retreating, and if she was retreating then she was still alive.

They could still hear the sounds of ink weapons going off, frightened cries and Octavio's angry bellowing when they ran through the gully between the two rock formations and climbed up the escarpment. They could see the fight nearby and finally caught sight of Eight as she charged back towards the octolings when most of them scattered to avoid a splat bomb and the others ran too far ahead.

"She's doing good," Four said. "All that turf war is really… working out."

"Save your breath," Three chided. "And get ready."

They saw Eight take two hits as she went into melee range with one opponent. Four uttered a small squeak as multiple splat bombs were sent her way. Three felt a wave of relief when Eight managed to avoid them all. It looked like she was going to make it out of an attempted encirclement.

She heard Four gasp and Three noticed what Octavio was doing just in time to see him hurl a large rock towards Eight in a flat arc. Three felt a punch to the gut when she saw it smack into Eight's leg and sending her tumbling to the ground.

"Push it!" Three said. "And get ready to jump!"

Her feet ponded the hard ground and she constantly judged and rejudged the distance as Eight was surrounded and Octavio loomed over her. Knowing Octavio, he would monologue first before trying to kill her. That bought them just a bit of time. Hopefully, enough.

Neither of them spoke, yet they both transformed at the same time, filling their squid form mantles full to bursting with ink, and then pushed it out nearly as hard as they could.

Three watched the ground fall away from her and then stop as she reached the top of her arc. Octavio was now holding another strone up in the air. It looked like he was going to bring it down upon Eight.

No! Three wouldn't let that happen; she couldn't. Not after they were finally coming to understand each other, not after all they went through just to get this far!

Three's mantle turned a volcanic red, her eyes blazed with the fury of a young star. She would not let Octavio or anyone else do this. She wouldn't let someone else she loved be taken away from her, not again.

Three brought out another splat bomb and gently tossed it to her left side to land among the octolings to Octavio's left. Four, on her right, would take the octolings on the other side. Octavio now occupied her entire vision and focus. He grew rapidly in her vision as the ground rose up to meet her. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, but it was too late.

Three landed feet first onto his head. Her shoes sank into his soft flesh and there was a horrible squelching sound as her weight and momentum powered her feet further until he erupted in a huge burst of dark-purple ink.

Half a second later, her splatbomb landed and Three jumped to cover Eight as it went off, taking out the octolings on that side.

Four landed at the same time, her own splatbomb going off before she finished the rest with her dualies barely a second later. And then, everything was quiet.

Three picked herself up and looked down at Eight even as she tried to catch her breath. The octoling's chest rose and fell with deep, heavy breaths. Her midriff was stained purple and her left leg was bent at an unnatural angle.

Three looked around for any signs of further activity and then set her hero shot down.

"You're leg is broken," she told her. "I need to set it. Four, find me a splint!"

Four, still panting, looked around frantically. "What am I supposed to use?"

"Anything straight and strong enough to keep her leg straight. Move it, before they wake up!"

Four hurried off to find something while Three set about trying to set Eight's leg.

Eight hissed in pain as Three carefully twisted the leg back into position.

"Feels like the cartilage should set back just fine," she said. "It broke but it didn't tear."

Eight nodded, teeth clenched until Three finished and they were left waiting for Four's splint.

"What did you mean when you said 'before they wake up?'"

Three flashed blue. "Well, Four and I flushed our tanks and switched to turf-war ink. I figured you were trying to stop the invaders without killing them so I didn't want to-."

Three was cut off as Eight grabbed her by the collar and yanked her in, planting a firm, searing kiss on her lips.

In her mind, fireworks exploded against a background of black nothingness. Her tiredness was forgotten, her mission, her problems, her immediate surroundings, all of it was gone in that instant. Seconds felt like hours, and Three found herself savouring the feeling of Hachiko's lips on hers.

They both parted with a gasp and Three found herself panting again. Eight still held onto her jacket, and lightly pressed their foreheads together.

"You're my hero," she whispered breathlessly.

Three was stunned and bewildered. Unconsciously, she brought her fingers up to her lips and touched them. Had she just had her first kiss? With Eight?

She finally looked into Eight's eyes. They didn't turn away, and the amber in them glittered like the sea on a bright summer's day. Her cheeks were dark blue and Three suspected her's were too.

She swallowed hard, not sure what she should say or do.

"Ahem."

Both girls turned to see Four standing off to the side, holding the barrel of one of the octoshots in her hand, a smug, face-splitting grin on her face.

"I think I found something we can use for a splint."

Three coughed a few times and hurriedly accepted the barrel then fished out her medical kit. Four helped her, keeping the leg steady while Three wrapped it up, her grin never fading. Honestly, the barrel was a bit short, but it would do for now.

Just as they finished, Captain Cuttlefish's voice crackled over their headsets.

"Agent 3," he began, sounding quite out of patience. "Do happen to know why Marina is here, at our headquarters, with a bunch of Octos, all armed?"

That finally caused Four's grin to leave; although, she was still smiling.

Three pulsed blue. "I'm sure Callie or Marie will be able to explain, sir. If you could send them here to help deal Eight and with these other prisoners, it would be appreciated."

"More prisoners? What is with my agents today?"

"Careful Cap'n," Four said. "People who don't know you might misunderstand."

"Don't be cheeky with me, girl, you two aren't out of hot water either."

Four grimaced and Three sighed, rising. "I'm going to go back to the ambush point. The ones Eight took out will be rising soon." She handed Eight back her octoshot. "You stay here until Work Detail gets here."

"I can go," Four insisted. "You should stay here with Eight." She looked at Three with that smug, knowing-all grin, and Three glared hooks at her even while the back of her neck flushed. Without answering the upstart, she just turned and jogged away.

After she left Eight smiled and shook her head. "I think I am beginning to understand her more now."

Four giggled. "I always thought she was pretty masculine but she's actually really girly on the inside. It's cute."

"Yes," Eight agreed. "Very cute."

Avrika blinked her eyes open and saw grass like a miniature forest of blades in front of her face. She groaned, feeling the side of her head as she slowly sat up.

She took a few seconds to collect herself and then checked her immediate surroundings. Parts of the ground were stained with ink, some of it already disappearing under the heat of the sun and exposure to the air. She saw one other octoling nearby lying unconscious on stone.

Then she remembered the ambush, or rather, how the ambushers themselves were ambushed. She had been looking down at her pendant when-." Her hand went flat against her chest. Her pendant was gone!

Her weary body filled with panic and she began searching for it frantically.

That's right. She had been looking down on it when she had found herself getting shot at. And then… nothing. She had been splatted. It wasn't something Octarians liked to experience often. Octolings, unlike the octotroopers and their manufactured ilk, could get splatted and survive, but only with weak ink, usually training ink. But why would someone ambush her with training ink?

She kept searching, feeling around in the grass and wondered how far it could have gotten from the force of her splatting.

Her eyes spotted something glinting a few meters away. Her hearts soared when she recognized it as her pendant. She hurriedly crawled towards it and reached out… only for another hand to pluck it away from her and lift it up.

She looked up angrily, ready to bite the head off the one who dared touch her pendant… and then her hearts stopped as a pair of hard, red eyes stared down at her, on a face framed by long green tentacles. She was staring into the eyes of the demon herself.

Avrika felt suddenly helpless, but her life didn't flash before her eyes, it had already done that just a short while ago. Instead, she thought about how she was about to die, and how her daughters would react should they find out what happened.

She had gone out, attacked the enemy HQ, but left it intact. She'd freed Octavio, only for him to probably be dead or captured again if the demon was here; she had tried to set up and ambush for the agents, only to get ambushed herself. She was a failure, a disaster of a warrior. Suddenly, all the pride she felt in being picked to breed thanks to her hard work and warrior prowess went up in smoke.

Her failure would stain the lives of her children, creating a prejudice against them that might ensure neither reproduced, egg layers or no.

Tears fell down her cheeks and she looked up at the demon, wondering why she was taking so long to kill her. She found the demon looking at her now open pendant, gazing down at what lay within.

Breath seemed to leave Avrika's body, wondering if she had somehow just cursed her children by letting the demon see their pictures. She wanted to snatch the pendant away and cover it with her body. The demon could pull it out of her cold dead hands!

The demon closed the pendant gently and then extended it towards her. Avrika blinked in surprise and frowned at it, wondering if it was some kind of trick. Even so, her hand instinctively reached out and gently plucked the pendant from the inkling's grasp. A huge feeling of relief filled her as she held the pendant against her chest. Her babies were safely with her again.

She looked back up at the inkling who was looking back at her, but her eyes weren't quite the fearsome orbs of death they had been before. Was it only her imagination. The inkling then motioned for her to stand and she obeyed. She wasn't going to kill her?

"Why?"

The demon looked past her before she answered in a voice so soft and so beautiful, that Avrika would have thought it an angel speaking instead.

"Because I'm not a monster." She then motioned Avrika towards a tree and went to wake up another trooper who was just coming back to consciousness, not nearly as gentle as she had been with her.

I guess even inklings respect mothers. She thought.

She looped the pendant over her neck again and then leaned back against the trunk of the tree, exhausted.

Author's Notes:

I like to think this chapter helped show Three and Eight's growth, not just as a couple but individually as well. They've had their struggles but now they can look towards the future.

I wanted to show that Octavio did have some competence left and give some reason about why the Octarians ever followed him to begin with. I hope I managed to accomplish that at least a little bit. I didn't want to deviate too much from what we see in-game.

I know some of you will find the fact they used non-lethal ink against Avrika's squads to be something of a cop-out; however, I like to think I have proven that the inkling agents are capable of using lethal force already and that their restraint against Avrika's troops has more to do with Eight and less to do purely with altruism. That and Three didn't want Eight mad at her ;)