Three had been discharged from the hospital about five days ago. When she got home the first thing she did was lay on her own bed and take a nap. Eight is insisting on taking care of Three while her neck heals despite the fact that other than having to turn her entire body to look at something beside her, she's fully functional. She won't be clear for turf wars for another month however, even if her neck brace comes off in about a week. Three was actually grateful that Eight was doing things like making food for the two and picking up the groceries and such, it gave Three time to do some… research.
Eight was gone for the day today, she had set aside some time to hang out with Marina and Pearl, and Three insisted that she follow through with it. Three liked having alone time sometimes, and Eight had prepared plenty of food that Three could easily reheat. Eight had left Three with a kiss before disappearing into the distance off the launchpad. Three went over to her bedside table and pulled open the bottom drawer, picking up the small device that lay inside. Her Employee model CQ-80.
Three sat on the couch, a can of soda on the coffee table, a mindless show on the TV for background noise, and the intent to find out just how involved Kamabo actually was with those sanitized Octolings that had ambushed them. Three guessed that if Zod had engineered the entire thing himself, that he's likely skilled enough to hack some hypnoshades and get sanitized octolings to work for him. But it's also just as possible that he was simply paid off to allow them access to his club. Given the size of Kamabo it's reasonable to expect that they'd have the ability to pay off any damages that might be caused by their involvement.
Three pops open her laptop, and using the cable Marina had made for her, connects the CQ-80 to it. She'd gotten pretty damn good at accessing Kamabo's files in her time surviving in Kamabo's facilities, so she managed to connect to their network rather quickly. Three laughed slightly to herself. Old wireless tech had such a limited range that this would never work, but the walls inside Kamabo were so thick that the wireless signal had to be strong enough to get through, which meant that once it hit the open air, it would go incredibly far. Which was good for her because it meant she didn't have to get near Kamabo to find out the information she needed.
Three digs through the files she can find, at first everything seems exactly as it was when she'd last looked, all the files about sanitization and how to achieve it were right there for her to look at. She had ignored those files before but something nagged at her to download them to her computer, maybe it could help in counteracting it… she starts the download quickly and continues digging, she's looking for either a report about troop movements, or a report of systems compromised.
A troop movement would mean that Kamabo orchestrated the attack, which Three did think was quite possible, but a systems compromised report would mean that someone else gained access to the frequency of the Hypnoshades used on the Sanitized Octolings, which also seemed highly plausible. Three found that it was incredibly difficult to find any file that would match the description of either event however, it seemed like everything was exactly like last time she dug through these files, those reports must be buried somewhere in their system, she's sure of it. She finds the report of Tartar's demise quite easily though, and finds that it seemed his AI was entirely housed within the telephone. Which meant that when Pearl blasted it with her princess canon, he would've most likely been wiped out entirely.
After some digging Three finally finds the files she was looking for, something dated to the same day that she and Eight went on their assignment that saw them being ambushed, and resulted in her having the neck brace that she's currently wearing. She digs through the report for any kind of useful information and finally she finds exactly what she was looking for.
SYSTEM BREACH REPORT
MULTIPLE SANITIZED ELITES COMPROMISED
HYPNOFREQUENCY COMPROMISED
NO ATTEMPT MADE TO RECLAIM COMPROMISED UNITS
ALL UNITS ASSUMED K.I.A.
RESET HYPNOFREQUENCY FOR ALL EXISTING UNITS
NO FURTHER UNITS OR SYSTEMS COMPROMISED
Three smiles and closes her laptop, Kamabo wasn't behind the attack after all. She saved a screenshot of the report and sent it to Marie, along with the datestamp so Marie knew when the report was from. Three figured that now that this was done and over with, she deserved some kind of treat. Which of course, meant now she had to get up from the couch, ugh.
"Oh the sacrifices I make for chocolate" Three laughs to herself as she stands from the couch and walks over to the kitchen, popping open the freezer and digging around for some kind of sugary snack. She snags out an icecream sandwich and silently celebrates as she unwraps it and tosses the wrapper into the trash bin under her sink. She takes a bite of the sandwich and makes a noise that signifies she's enjoying it, though if someone heard the noise she just made, they might not assume it was due to the consumption of sweets. "I always forget just how much these things fuck"
Three goes back over to the couch and plunks herself down, now done with her laptop and the CQ-80, she puts the both of them on the underside of the coffee table on the small shelf that resides there so they're out of the way and not in direct line of sight should she fall asleep before Eight comes home so Eight won't see them. She turns her attention to the TV and actually starts trying to find something she wants to watch. Eventually she settles on a show that she used to watch when she was younger, cartoons always seemed to calm her mind and that's exactly the kind of thing she needs right now.
She makes a mental note to get some proper food soon, she's not eaten for a few hours aside from the ice cream sandwich she's consuming presently, so she's going to need to eat some actual food before too long. But she doesn't feel super hungry at the moment so she feels okay putting it off for a little while longer. She takes out her phone and checks the time, 2:43pm, Eight likely won't be home for several more hours. Eight and Marina often forgot to keep track of time while they were talking, and Three didn't really mind much. She was happy that Eight had some family here on the surface that she could turn to when she needed to. Three knows how crushing it can feel to not have anyone to turn to and she's glad Eight has a support structure outside of just her.
Three sat her phone on the couch next to her and idly watched the show on the TV, laughing at the bits intended to be laughed at, and just generally enjoying the chance to do some mindless nonsense. Occasionally she'd flip to another channel to see what else was on but she usually wound up back on the same channel as before, watching cartoons. In this moment Three felt somewhat at peace, she only wished two things. That her neck wasn't trapped in the contraption that made it so she couldn't turn her head, and, that Eight was with her and snuggled up under a blanket. Okay maybe Three minds a little that Eight won't be back for ages.
Three tries not to focus on these thoughts for too long however, she knows Eight needs to be able to go out and have her own life. Besides, Three is pretty sure Eight would've had a breakdown if she'd seen the CQ-80, and Three didn't want to cause her partner to deal with that kind of stress if she can avoid it. So Three just, vibes. She watches her show and gets lost in it, and the episode after, and the one after that. It seemed like they were doing a marathon of the entire series today, which was nice, it meant Three could stop flipping through channels and relax a bit. She should really get something to eat soon though, it feels like it's been a while.
Three does not get something to eat, and instead finds herself laying on the couch, it's terrible for her back and with her neck in a brace it's remarkably uncomfortable, however, she's not really focusing on any of that so instead she stares up at the ceiling. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to take a short nap, she'd get something to eat when she woke up for sure. Three lets her eyes fall closed, and sleep takes her quickly, followed very closely by her dreams.
Three is in a place she doesn't quite recognize, it looks something like a train station only it seems like it's been abandoned for years. However despite this, the ground was surprisingly clean, and the lights were all still lit. Three wandered down the platform before realizing something. There's no stairs nor any elevators, she's stuck on this platform. Was this a trap set for her? Was this some kind of trick? Whatever it was, Three had no intentions of staying trapped where she was.
Three is ready to hop off the pad and start running down the tracks when she suddenly hears something… something that chills her to the core. From a few feet behind her, she hears… the ringing of an old telephone. Three freezes dead in her tracks, and slowly she turns to face the noise. Shock and horror fill her soul as she sees, standing right across from her, is the very same Telephone that hijacked her mind nearly two years ago.
"YOU!" Three spits in rage, walking towards the telephone and trying to think of the most efficient way to turn it into a pile of scraps. But as Three approaches, it does something she didn't expect, something which makes her ink curdle. It starts to laugh.
"The mighty Agent Three, revered for her combat ability and feared for her efficiency at taking out Octarians. I must say you would have made an excellent test subject." Tartar's voice rings, every word bouncing around inside of Three's head and making her dizzy. "It's a shame you had to corrupt 10,008, she would've improved my sanitization compound with her fighting knowledge, but you had to go and unlock the rest of her memories… now she's only fit to be a foot soldier for my uprising."
A door opens behind Tartar, and Three hears another voice call out to her, this time however, it's Eight's voice, and it sounds like she's in distress. Three's eyes widen in horror and she freezes for a moment, she can't quite believe what she's hearing, she doesn't want to believe what she's hearing, but once again Eight's voice calls out.
"Three! Please! I'm trapped! Please help me!" Eight's voice cries in pain, Three can hear the panic in her words and she runs past Tartar through the now open door, the room is dark but she can see if she focuses, but looking around she can't see Eight anywhere. She's panicking and trying to find her lover before anything bad can happen to her.
"Eight?! Eight I'm here! Where are you?!" Three calls out in a panic, scanning the room frantically for her lover. She keeps looking across the room, the walls seem barren, the room seems intentionally poorly lit, like it was designed to make her struggle to see what was going on.
"Th-Three… I-I'm so sorry…" Eight's voice calls from just below where Three is looking. Three tilts her head down to the source of her voice and… oh, oh no, oh gods please no. Three's voice is whimpering and wavering, each word sounds like it struggles to escape her lips.
Three covers her mouth in shock as she looks at the sight in front of her, Eight is laid on the ground, her clothes tattered and torn, and there's various tubes going into her arms and her legs. Each tube glowed with pulsating teal ink flowing through it… directly into Eight's body, her sclera are already turning black, and her skin has turned teal. The spots on her body where the tubes connected looked burned and in pain. Eight's hands were trembling, she struggles to reach up to Three but her arms don't have the strength to reach all the way. Eight looks at Three with a pained expression, and tears running down her cheeks.
"Th-Three… please… RUN." Eight says, Three can see her last moments of free will fading, Three can't run, she can't bring herself to leave Eight behind like this… She kneels down next to Eight, tears filling her eyes. If she loses Eight like this, she's going out too, she knows she can't bring herself to fire on Eight once she is under Tartar's control, she simply accepts what's going to happen to her because she's staying where she is.
"Eight… I-I'm so sorry… I failed you…" Three wraps her arms around Eight and begins to sob, how could this have happened? How could she have let this happen? She can't believe what's happening, but she can't bring herself to leave Eight's side, she wants to at least give Eight some kind of comfort in her last moments, it's what she deserves.
Three then hears Eight's voice again, only this time it sounds distant, she feels her body shake and a slight pain in her neck, she feels a light panic set in before suddenly...
Three sits up quickly and lets out a loud gasp, she's panting hard and her clothes are practically drenched with sweat. She looks over to her side and she sees… Eight… Alive and well, and definitely not sanitized. Three doesn't even think, she just grabs Eight and pulls her into a tight hug, her eyes still leaking tears from her nightmare.
"Oh Eight… I-I thought I lost you…" Three presses her head into Eight's shoulder, staining her shirt slightly with tears, though Eight doesn't mind. Eight can tell that Three's dream was horrific and she's more than content to help ease her girlfriend's mind now that it's over.
"Shhh, you're okay my love, I'm okay, I'm right here, I love you." Eight reassures Three, drawing circles on the Inkling's back with her fingers. She can feel Three's hearts slowly stop racing and being beating at a more normal rate, once Three was no longer in a state of panic, Eight gently scoops her into her arms and makes her way towards the bedroom.
The time was 1:27am, Three was carried to bed by her girlfriend, who made sure to get her a change of clothes, and a kiss on the head. Three's mind was put at ease, however Three struggled to sleep that night, fear of what her mind might show her kept her awake, but at least now, Eight was by her side if she needed her. Eventually Three does fall asleep once again, and no more nightmares befall her that night.
