Three and Eight instantly recognize the figures that dropped in, sanitized octoling elites. The club occupants scream in terror and quickly run off and clear out, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire of the inevitable brawl that is coming. Three pulls a small disc out of her pocket and throws it at the window behind Zod, it latches on and the lights on it quickly create a circle before flashing three times. With a loud POP the pane of glass shatters, Zod stands out of the way and almost gestures for them to run past him as Three and Eight leap through it into action.
"The game has changed, Agents of the Splatoon!" Zod announces from the now shattered window to his office as he laughs maniacally at the chaotic scene before him. He wasn't trying to find the source of the signal at all, he was merely stalling to get them caught in this trap that had been set for them. Whether he orchestrated it himself or only allowed it to be played out didn't matter at this moment, it was time for Three and Eight to act.
Three dodges a swing from an OctoBrush and grabs the Octoling Elite by the strap of their ink tank, quickly elbowing them in the face and sliding the ink tank off of them. She dumps the contents of sanitized ink on the ground and straps the tank to her back, reaching under the skirt of her dress and pulling out a set of dualies that were strapped to her legs. The ink tank quickly begins filling with Orange ink as Three throws down a table to use as cover, ducking behind it quickly.
Eight dodges a barrage of shots from an OctoShot and sweeps the legs out from her assailant, stealing their ink tank and doing the same as Three. Eight grabs the discarded OctoBrush from the Octoling Three defeated and quickly it becomes coated with her ink, which she shifted to orange as to not accidentally harm Three. Eight rolls out of the way of a roller swing and finds herself behind the same table Three knocked over for cover.
"Well, this is certainly more eventful than I expected." Eight says to Three as splashes of sanitized ink impact the table they're ducked behind.
"I told you to bring a weapon!" Three smirks before dodge rolling out from behind the table and taking a few shots before quickly rolling back to cover. "It seems more are coming, we're not going to be able to hold out for too long, and I don't think there's a spawnpoint near enough to sync to."
"We've got this, don't worry." Eight smiles reassuringly, tossing a splat bomb over the table into the group of Sanitized Octolings that are attacking them.
A Sanitized Octoling rounds the table with a roller, ready to strike but their form explodes into ink quickly as Eight slaps them with her brush several times before they can swing down, and their roller clatters against the ground. Eight quickly kicks it aside and looks over at Three who's just dispatched another Octoling, their weapon clattering against the ground as their form explodes into ink. Three kicks the weapon aside and ducks to avoid a shot from another Octoling before using one of her arms to push the attacker's weapon away from her and the other to aim a dualie right at the attackers head, pulling the trigger and causing them to explode into ink as well.
Three once again rolls out from cover and this time she charges towards the attackers, using her the dodgeroll's her dualies give her to great effect. A roller swings down towards her and she quickly rolls to their left and points the dualies at the attacker, spraying the ink at them until they become another ink stain on the ground. She doesn't get a break however as they don't seem to stop coming, she dodges a shot from an OctoShot and throws a splat bomb to divide the attackers. Eight uses the opening to take out several of the Sanitized Octolings while Three takes care of the other group that split due to the bomb. But quickly they're overwhelmed, nearly surrounded and running out of ink in their ink tanks. They are back to back and doing their best to protect each other from the attackers.
Just when it seemed that they had no escape, and hope seemed to have run out, the lights flicker and dim, and a dynamo roller comes crashing down in the middle of the group of sanitized Octolings attempting to subdue Three and Eight. They retain their defensive stance just in case this new person is hostile towards them as well, but are at least thankful to not be the center of attention for the Sanitized Octolings anymore.
Zod, who's been watching the whole fight from his office notices the new figure and frowns, quickly turning and walking deeper into the office away from the shattered window as to hopefully not be noticed by the person who's just showed up to assist Three and Eight. Fortunately for him, their attention seems to be on the Sanitized Octolings on the club floor rather than his dumbass.
"HRRAAAAA!" The distinctly female voice shouts as the roller swings aggressively, once to the left as the ink coated portion splats several Octolings while the metal cap on the end sends one flying into the opposite wall. Then it quickly swings right and does the same once again, causing the rest of the Sanitized Octolings to take a strategic retreat to a safe distance as to not be hit by the roller at point blank range.
Now that they're no longer surrounded, Three and Eight get a better look at the person who's come to save them, and they instantly realize that it's Callie. She's got a fire in her eyes that they've never seen before, but all the same, they're thankful she's here.
"To the window!" Callie commands as she swings her roller like a bat into a Sanitized Octoling that thought charging at her was a good idea. Callie throws out a splat bomb and swings her roller down, the explosion and the strike creating an opening for them to all get to the window through.
Three and Eight look at the window and spot something they hadn't expected, they spot Marie standing on what looks to be the deck of a helicopter, like the one that Pearl and Marina arrived in to save Eight when she escaped the Metro. Marie throws a similar disk onto the window to the one Three had thrown on the one in Zod's office previously, and within moments the glass pane has shattered, and Marie is providing cover fire with her charger. Zod himself is now nowhere to be seen, he must have ran and hid like a coward.
Quickly, Three and Eight make their way towards the window. Three fires several shots at any Sanitized Octolings that attempt to intercept them, with Callie following close behind providing cover for them to make their escape. High pressure ink whizzes past them as Marie takes out several targets with her charger allowing them a clear path to the window. Three takes a few shots to the side to keep any approaching Octolings from getting too close, and Eight swings her brush to do the same from her side, they're near the window now and almost home free.
But it doesn't go according to plan.
A Sanitized Octoling that was thought to be dispatched manages to throw a splat bomb at the group, it clangs against the window beside the opening that was made and Three turns to the noise just in time for it to explode in her face. Three shrieks in pain as she grabs her eyes, her dualies clattering on the ground and losing her footing. Instead of getting on the helicopter, she trips on the ledge by the window and smacks her head on the platform of the helicopter, causing her to fall unconscious and slip through the gap between the window and the helicopter platform, straight towards the ground far below the club.
Eight's eyes widen in horror, but she quickly replaces her fear with determination. She discards her OctoBrush and Ink Tank, leaping onto the helicopter platform and grabbing a parachute off the wall before leaping out the other side without a word, diving after her lover in a desperate attempt to save her life. Marie doesn't even get the chance to try and stop her as by the time she realizes what's happening, Eight is already plunging head first towards Three.
The wind causes Eight's tentacles to flap wildly, but fortunately her longest ones are tied behind her head so they don't get in the way of her seeing Three as she dives towards her. Eight slips her arms through the straps of the parachute pack, connecting the buckles around her waist and torso, tightening them down as firm as she can while she falls through the sky towards Three's limp body. Fortunately Three's unconscious status has her in a position where she's providing plenty of drag so Eight can catch up to her, hopefully with enough time to pull the chute once she has. The distance between the two of them is closing rapidly and Eight stretches out her arms, ready to grab on to Three once she reaches her.
"GOTCHA!" Eight announces as she finally catches up with Three and wraps her arms around her. She holds Three tightly but quickly realizes she's not going to be able to physically hold on to Three AND pull the cords to her parachute. Fortunately however, there's some extra carabiners on the shoulder straps of the parachute pack and as the ground becomes larger and larger, Eight quickly tries to get them connected to the contact points on Three's ink tank. Finally with two clicks, and some tightening down of the screws used to keep the carabiner's from opening by accident, they're in. "I'm sorry, this might hurt."
Eight pulls the cords on her shoulders and the parachute comes out, their descent quickly and suddenly reduced in velocity greatly. Three's head reacts violently to the sudden change in speed and Eight winces slightly in response, Three's likely going to have some horrible whiplash after this. But she will be ALIVE and given what seemed like was going to happen, Eight will be more than happy to help Three recover from anything she gets as a result of her saving her life.
Finally, they're approaching the ground, maybe still a little too fast, but slowly enough that they'll live. Eight does her best to slow them down but she can only do so much, and they crash into the unforgiving pavement and slide along it for several meters before finally coming to a stop. Eight pulls the release and the chute comes disconnected from her pack, and she simply wraps her arms around Three, holding her closely. She presses her fingers to Three's neck and checks for a pulse and lets out a sigh of relief when she feels it, as well as the gentle rise and fall of Three's chest as she breathes.
"Oh thank the gods. You're going to be okay my dear, I've got you." Eight kisses Three's forehead and chokes back a sob, she can hardly believe that she'd almost lost her. But fortunately, thanks to her quick thinking, she'd managed to keep her alive.
Soon the helicopter lands beside them and Marie runs out, helping get Eight to her feet as they carry Three to the helicopter to get her some medical attention as quick as they can. They disconnect Three from the carabiners that connect her to Eight's parachute pack and the ink tank and parachute pack are both discarded as they lead Three on to the helicopter platform. Callie is already on the phone with the hospital that the Splatoon has a deal with, telling them to expect an emergency patient on the helicopter pad.
Three wakes slightly, looking at Eight as she's carried to the aircraft, she mumbles something under her breath that Eight can't hear, but she needed to say it anyways, before falling unconscious once again.
Eight feels that Three just told her something important, but not being able to clarify what was said before Three passed out means she won't get to find out any time soon. She simply presses another kiss to Three's forehead and takes hold of her hand, hoping that there's nothing major wrong with her partner after that nearly deadly fall.
The words Three spoke that Eight couldn't hear?
"I love you."
