Work Text:
Operation Dilema Curator.
Status: Ongoing, preparation stage finished, operation beginning
Mission: Infiltrate a new octarian army base.
Mission Leader: Agent 2.
Status of all current agents:
The Captain: Not fit for field duty. Too old to fight.
Agent 1: Not fit for field duty. Recovering from the hypnoshades.
Agent 2: Fit for field duty.
Agent 3: Not fit for field duty. Recovering from the blended ink and battle with agent 8.
Agent 4: Fit for field duty.
Agent 5: Fit for field duty. Unable to use the princess cannon until fully recovered from the statue battle.
Agent 6: Fit for field duty.
Agent 8: Not fit for field duty. Recovering from the battle with agent 3 and damage done while on the statue.
Operation Plan:
Agent 4 shall infiltrate the facility with Agents 1, 2, 3, and 8 providing information through long range scanning boosted by a chip on 4's suit.
Agent 4 will then gather information about what the octarian army is doing on the surface. Once any information has been retrieved, agent 4 shall be extracted by agent's 5 and 6 on their helicopter, without an escort group.
"Hey! That escort was very important at gettin' Eight back safe!"
Marie sighed as she removed the plan for the latest mission for squidbeak from her old typewriter. This would be the second one she planned after the rescue of Callie a few months back. Gramps gave her the job of commanding the mission to see whether she was ready to take over as the next captain of the splatoon.
Ignoring Pearls various protests and explanations about why the fifty helicopter escort was necessary for defeating commander Tartar.
She tapped Marina to get Pearl to shut up.
"Pearlie, we don't need to fire down my hyperbombs on the base... they wouldn't even scratch the surface of it."
It didn't stop Pearl complaining for a few more minutes as the entire splatoon (except Captain Cuttlefish) got inside the helicopter.
Three looked up at agent Four.
"You know the plan, right?"
Four looked back in mock outrage.
"Of course I do! Get in, sneak around, splat some octarians, and get out!"
Agent three was generally annoyed by Four's... outgoing personality. Too much like she used to be when she first became an agent.
"Do not engage unless you are trapped 4, we don't know how many octarian's are in there or what they're doing. For all we know, they may have made a weapon so deadly, you can't even respawn after getting splatted."
"Sir, yes sir!"
Four walked away looking happy, only looking down again only when no-one else was paying attention.
Feeling ridiculed, she had done less then every other member of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, despite joining a month before agent's Five, Six and Eight.
Five and Six were Off the Hook her favourite band, they were actual celebraties! And Eight saved all inkind with them, before even reaching inside Inkopolis. How was she meant to compete?!
It may have been a bit selfish and stupid, but she wanted some glory for herself for once. Besides, most the other agents were all injured one way or another after the ends of the most recent missions. They really deserved a break from doing all the work.
This would be either some good practise for when the next big threat arose, or be a chance to really prove herself and beat something the others wouldn't be able to face in their current states.
The helicopter opened one of its jump pads.
"Good luck!"
Was the phrase Four heard from the others. It was nice to have some people to say good luck to you before a mission. It always calmed Four's nerves before going in a boss kettle when Marie said good luck.
Marie stopped her for a second as Marina walked up with a small blue rectangle thing.
"Wait. Four, make sure to hold this. It's a modified CQ-80 I made based on the ones Three and Eight used. It'll boost the signal for us, so we'll be able to properly scan the inside of the base, as well as talk to you when you're down there."
"And take this", Marie passed Four a small orange box, "If you're splatted, you can hide in here and we'll be able to get you back to a proper respawn point. It'll also record the battle that splatted you, so you'll know how to face it. It's essentially a more advanced black box."
Four thanked them both and then asked, "Couldn't I just leave the black box on my own?", to Ma Agent 2, she was in enemy territory now. The codenames were there so the octarians couldn't find and splat them in their civilian lives.
"We don't know what will happen if you do, so only do that if you are absolutely sure that we won't be able to retrieve you before the octarians realise you're in there."
"Ok will do!"
Four swam onto the jump pad and was launched into a gap they had previously decided to use as her entry point.
"I'm in."
"Woohoo! Good job Four!"
Two quickly clamped her cousins jaw shut before she would talk so much the guards in the base would shoot down the helicopter and leave Four stranded.
"What she meant to say was, 'Well done on the successful landing, begin reconnaissance of the base."
"Roger."
Agent Four began quietly moving down the corridors of the base until she stood infront of a lift that was locked shut.
"Uh, Two, Six. Could you hack this?"
Six's response was quick after the sound of a keyboard being tapped absurdly fast.
"Done!"
"Ok, heading further into the base now."
Marina had hacked into the camera inside the lift and the agents all watched as Four descended further into the base.
Eight began to shiver unconciously as she looked around at the large familiar looking lift.
"That looks like Kamambo..."
Pearl put her arm around Eights shoulders.
"Don't worry kiddo, Four'll be fine. We got rid of Kamambo co and the Telephone when you got to the surface remember?"
Eight was still nervous.
Three on the other hand just got bored. She had already been on plenty of infiltration missions and she knew Four would escape anything the octarians threw at her, even if she had to remind her to keep at least a sliver of caution around them.
Besides, staying awake meant she could feel when her sanitised scars were acting up. Easier to nap and let them heal a bit more.
"Wake me when Four finds something interesting."
"Will do!", responded Callie. As Four exited the lift and began exploring the new level.
Marina continued monitering the computer systems. It was even harder for her to crack the encryption here than it was in Kamambo Co. The octarians must have gotten some more skilled programmers to do this. Still she was breaking the encryptions on the area's Four had been at bit by bit.
Though she had yet to find any useful data to tell them what the octarian army was building or doing here.
Callie began playing rock, paper, scissors with Eight and Pearl when she wasn't using the CQ-80 to try to chat to Four.
Marie continued giving directions to Four as she got deeper and deeper into the base.
To her it felt like old times, even though the last time she did missions she led with Four on the ground, was less than a month ago.
Even though she tried to stay serious, she couldn't help the sarcastic comment every few minutes. If she wanted to be the next captain, she supposed she would have to cut down on those.
As Four reached the fifth floor of the compled she said out loud into the CQ-80.
"How large even is this place?"
"We don't know, hopefully by the time you get back here Four, we'll know." Came the response from Two. Ah squiff it, Four knew that the octarian's already knew who the real identities of One and Two were.
"Wait."
Four saw the outline of an octarian trooper in the shadows ahead in the hallway.
"I see an octarian."
"Yeah, we see it too Four. It's a bit blurry on our end though, can you see if it has any buddies?"
As far as Four could see there weren't any.
She told Marie, "Nope, can't see any backup for this octo."
"Okay, you can splat this one. As long as you do it, quietly."
Four sighed. She could be quiet, if she wanted. She took out her hero dualies and attached the CQ-80 to a velcro strap, not that secure but it shouldn't come off unless something really bad hits her.
As she dodged forwards twice and splatted the octarian, she didn't notice the floor giving way in time to jump off.
"What? Four are you okay? Four!"
...
"...Ugh, yeah. Seems the octarians were a bit more prepared then we were expecting."
She turned the CQ-80 back on after it had turned off on it's own. The voices of the splatoon sounded a lot more
She was in a long corridor with a bunch of weird furry octarians. Just like the one she just splatted.
"I'm going to stay away from these things."
Marie responded sounding urgent, "What things Four? The camera's busted on the CQ-80."
Marina added, "The encryption down here's even worse here. And now the transceiver part is broken so it's even harder for me to hack. You're going to have to be our eyes the old-fashioned way."
"Ok, they're furry now. I'm not going to touch them because it looks weird. Whatever it is, I think it's what they're developing here."
Four continued forward splatting the octarians with ease, passing through door after door as the radio part of the CQ-80 continued to gain static.
Suddenly as she was crossing a hallway missing a ceiling and floor, a panel pushed her into the air and down into a large hallway.
"...Fo...ur...a...o...k...Four?...are...you okay!"
"Again yeah, these octarians really like launching people down with panels from the floor."
The CQ-80 was on the floor and facing Agent Four. The camera had miracously started working again and the entire splatoon saw a Four that look worse for wear.
"...Fo..ur...ret....reat...now!" Was what Four heard as Marie and Three yelled into their radio.
"No. I can complete the mission and get out in a few minutes. I'm fine."
As she said that the CQ-80 blew up, leaving her with no way to contact the splatoon. And the splatoons only of knowing if she was not splatted, was an inbuilt sensor in her new hero suit.
"Four? Four?! Dang it, the CQ-80's destroyed. Is Four alive?", asked Marie.
Marina said, "The sensor that should send a signal if the hero suit is breached to the point of Four being splatted hasn't gone off, so she should be alive."
"I guess we have to wait and see where Four ends up. Five, Six do you think you're ready for a retrieval mission?"
Pearl just looked at Marie. "Marie, we joined because I have equipment and Marina can hack stuff. We aren't exactly on the same level as the rest of you guys on combat."
Marina looked judgingly at Pearl. "I was in the octarian army remember? I know how to fight."
"'Rina, you were an engineer who never did any actual fighting. Every time we do training with Four she always splats us both before we even see her. We are not on the same level as the others yet."
As Four continued exploring the hallway until she found a bizarre looking computer. Then she noticed the logo on it. Grizzco.
The company she worked at on her off time for gear and bonuses. The company Marina and Pearl worked for too, (at least for a time). She needed to warn the others that Grizzco was a front for a new octarian army, or at least working with them.
As she continued walking, she entered a large circular arena.
She was suddenly pushed across the arena by some sort of clawed hand, as she when she stood up she felt her back begin to bleed.
Four span round, shooting at a large furry octopus. The fur seemed to absorb her ink and allowed it to fire streams of ink back at her.
It then smacked her several times with a clawed hand racking her back further and her arms, head and legs, forcing ink to flow out her wounds.
Yet she still kept fighting, managing to blow up one on its clawed hands.
As the two fought, she realised that she may not survive this fight.
She hoped that she would survive the drop out the arena, as she began to run towards it.
But as she reached the edge the beast slashed her legs, forcing her to the ground.
She felt... fur growing in her wounds and a voice in her head telling her not to fight the beasts or the furry octarians anymore.
This was what Grizzco was developing, some sort of mind control hair.
She had to escape. To warn everyone else.
Better hope it works.
As she pulled her self off the edge, she touched the black box, hoping it would keep her alive inside it long enough to be respawned.
The splatoon had watched in horror as they saw the suit get damaged so heavily, that it appeared multiple octo-snipers were shooting her at once.
And when she hit the wall and got splatted, she felt herself be pulled within the blackbox, which fell down into the chasm outside the arena. And then into a sewage system.
And as the signal that showed that agent four had been splatted was seen, the splatoon stood in silence.
Marie thought this was her fault, the mission was planned entirely by her. She had failed to ask Marina to check that hallway. Maybe they'd know about the pitfall and Four would have lived.
And she was the reason Four was an agent in the first place, because she didn't want to leave her life as a celebrity behind to go find her sister.
The blackbox drifted through the sewers, until it reached a river into the splatlands. Where it got caught on some reeds. After several hours, without knowing where she was, Four barely remembered what she was told to do.
What was she even doing anyway? She remembered she was called Four last time someone spoke to her, but she felt like she had another name.
She was meant to let herself out right?
That's what Marie told her to do. That's right, she, Four couldn't leave her friends waiting.
The release was agonising, so much of Fours body had been torn apart by the beasts claws and the hairy infection, that the box had to look further back to repair Fours body.
And as it did so, it repressed some of Fours memories. After all it was a machine designed to store and repair things. It was easier to create a repaired thing without possibly painful memories.
What if Four ended up believing the splatoon had left her to die, some memory loss was inevitible. In particular she had truely forgotton what she had done on that mission, only remembering the beast fight.
So by repressing her memories from quite a bit before inkopolis, before she had known who Off the Hook were, as they were the first agents Four knew the existence of. All measures to prevent further damage were taken, well, not all. It inadvertantly caused further damage, but it was a machine devoid of true emotion or logic, incapable of understanding Inkling's truely.
So agent four forgot everything, even who she was.
Operation: Dilema Curator
Status: Ended. Total Failure
Status of Agents on Mission:
Agent 1: Unharmed
Agent 2: Unharmed
Agent 3: Unharmed
Agent 4: MIA... likely KIA
Agent 5: Unharmed
Agent 6: Unharmed
Agent 8: Unharmed
Events: Four recons up to the fifth floor where when attacking a furry octarian, a pit-trap drops her down to the sixth floor and the CQ-80 is damaged.
Four continues recon, attacking furry octarians as she goes. A second spring-trap launches her to the seventh floor where communication is lost entirely.
She is later heavily attacked by something and splatted.
The black box has yet to be detected by Pearl's helicopter fleet.
Marie was crying slightly as she finished her report. The agent she had personally picked and trained, dead because of her.
No matter how much the others tried to tell her otherwise, she knew the truth.
They were then all later called to the hideout, and gramps announced that since he had failed to be there to help his agent, he was stepping down and retiring as the captain of Squidbeak.
"...as the most experienced one of you all at my job, I am promoting Agent Two to captain."
"No."
Gramps looked suprised to Marie. "What do you mean Marie, you're the best one for this job."
"Four was my Agent. I found her, I trained her. And I should have been more cautious in my planning. I am not fit to be captain."
Cuttlefish looked sadly down at the ground. "Very well Agent Two, I can't force you to take this role. Agent One, I assume you do not wish to be captain either."
"Nah... Gramps... I helped rope Four into this job by putting on those dumb shades."
"Agent Three, could you be captain."
Three was shocked, she was always fighting in the field, she couldn't be captain. Specially when she couldn't be there to help the newbie. But...
"...if no-one else wants to be captain, then I guess I'll be."
David's head hurt, where was he and why couldn't he remember the last several years of his life?
He needed to get back to civilisation, stat.
A little thing nudged its head against him. It was a baby salmonid.
"Aw, hey little buddy, you know where you family is?"
It shook it's cute little head. He saw what looked like a station in the distance, about five kilometre's away.
"Neither do I, little buddy. Let's go and find a place to stay."
It did a little chirp, which David assumed meant yes.
He didn't know why, but he didn't like the idea of people seing his body, so he grabbed a piece of plastic he saw on the shore-side and began heading towards the station.
Finally it had happened, they had detected the black-box and where heading to collect it and Four on foot from a nearby station. The captain hoped this would make Marie stop feeling guilty and allow her to go back to being agent 3.
They saw an inkling wrapped in a plastic cloak, followed by a tame-looking smallfry.
The captain called out to them. "Have you seen an Inkling emerge from an orange box back where you came from?"
The inkling responded. "Nah, just got done with giving this little guy a walk. You know where the nearest city is?"
"Thanks! Splatsville is the city east on that railway."
The inkling thanked them and continued on their way.
They found the black box.
"See Marie? Four'll be in there safe and sound."
And as the captain walked up and checked the box, she realised Four wasn't in it.
Looking at it's data, it sunk in to them all that Four was well and truely dead.
They rode the train back to inkopolis in silence. The base in the splatlands became their new target, it would have to be destroyed at all costs if it killed an agent like Four.
They built a new hideout in the splatlands, to stage operations to bring down that octarian splinter faction.
David was glad those people didn't question him any further, no-one knew who he was and he really didn't want to have to go through the process of registering who he was until he could turf again.
Splatsville seems pretty fun, so he would probably stay there for at least a while.
Status of the members of the New Squidbeak Splatoon:
Cuttlefish: Retired
Captain: RFA
Agent 1: RFA
Agent 2: RFA
Agent 3: N/A, now the captain.
Agent 4: KIA
Agent 5: RFA
Agent 6: RFA
Agent 7: N/A
Agent 8: RFA