Living Situation || Agent 3 x Agent 8

[18]

Octavio's machine's fist started whirring, and they shot out at them. Tara quickly dodged to the side, but nearly got splatted by Heather. She kicked the enemy Inkling in the face and splatted her.

"Tara, watch out!" Richie yelled. Tara looked up and saw Megan's Splatterscope laser pointed at her. She dodged again to avoid a fatal mistake. Wait, the special limiter! She could...no, she could only do that on her own Hero Shot. As far as she knew, it wasn't possible to remove the limiter on this model.

"It looks like you guys are struggling already!" Ashton said, watching Heather spawn back in. "Maybe we can call this whole thing off if you make a deal with us..."

Richie grunted as some stray purple ink hit him. He brushed it off and quickly splatted Kosi and Marcus trying to flank him. "What kind of deal?" he asked suspiciously.

Octavio activated his shower attack and flew down the middle of the stage, making a fat purple ink road. Tara threw a bomb up at Megan, but she fell back before it could blow her up.

"We'll stop attacking you and let you keep your pathetic lives...IF you hand over the Great Zapfish to me," Octavio drawled. He yelled out in surprise as Tara redirected the two mechanical fists back at him; Ashton nearly lost his balance.

"We're not cowards!" Richie snapped. He grabbed Tara by the waist and pulled her away from Marcus using a Bomb Rush special.

Megan scoffed as she shot dangerously close to the agents' heads. "You say that, yet you're too scared to come up and face me," she taunted.

Large calamari bombs shot out from the DJ machine. Tara quickly destroyed some of them, dodging the ones that exploded into gushers of ink shooting into the sky.

"What the hell?" Heather's voice rang out. "I can't see them!"

Tara smiled with realization. The gushers were providing temporary cover along with the pillars. She made her way towards the voice and splatted the pink Inkling.

Callie noticed something as she ran by. The devices clipped to the back Tara's jacket were a phone and the employee model CQ. They could call for backup! She banged on the glass to get Marie's attention and held up the phone gesture. Her cousin nodded and they tried to get either of the agents' attention.

The purple gushers appeared, and Octavio's fists took their place. Richie's eyes darted about the battlefield as he redirected one of them and tried to avoid the other enemies. A banging sound alerted him and he looked towards the blenders. He didn't have time to fully process it before he was struck by pink ink.

Tara heard the sound of his armor breaking. She tossed a bomb behind her as a distraction and quickly ran over to her boyfriend, picking him up. He turned into his octopus form as she stuffed him inside her shirt so he could still be protected while his armor repaired itself. She ignored the coldness of his tentacles as she dodged various attacks.

She soon heard Richie's armor finishing repairing. She yanked him out and threw him up at Megan. The charger couldn't fire another shot in time before he changed back and splatted her. "Temporary loss of their upper defense!" he cheered, throwing down a bomb at the others. Kosi tripped over her own foot and succumbed to the explosion.

Octavio growled and sent out spinning fists. Richie quickly jumped down from the pillar, to dodge them. "You impudent inksquirts may celebrate now, but we've just gotten started!" he announced, his machine raising upwards more. Another wave of calamari bombs fell down, only a few of them being destroyed this time.

A beeping sound came from behind Richie. He turned to see an Autobomb waddling up to him and ran away. It soon detonated when it could no longer detect him. But he ran right into Marcus.

"Get your ink off me, you stupid Octoling!" he spat, swinging his brush at him. Both of them were dangerously close to the gushers.

Richie's eyes narrowed and kicked out the other male's legs from underneath him. He was then reduced to a splotch of pink. "Ashton! Come back to us!" he pleaded, looking up at his friend.

Ashton glared back down at him, but his gaze shifted to the Squid Sisters. Both girls had the same pleading expression. He felt confused. Should he really be here...?

Tara noticed the hesitation—and a fist heading towards her. A smirk crossed her face as she jumped onto the metallic arm and shot the fist back. As it flew to the machine and into Octavio's face, she lunged at Ashton and shot the headphones off. They clattered to the platform loudly.

"Nooo! The hypnoheadphones!" Octavio shouted in rage. "I really need to get better technology..."

Ashton brought his hands to his head. "Uuuuugh...my ears are ringing," he moaned, massaging them. "What happened...?"

Richie quickly took out the enemies. A small pit of guilt opened up inside his stomach, but he couldn't quite place his finger on why. "Tara! Come break the blenders!" he shouted, running over to them. Callie and Marie looked at him gratefully.

Tara nodded and launched herself at the blenders. But suddenly, something knocked her out and she fell from mid-air. Her body crashed on top of Marie's blender and onto the floor.

"Tara!" Richie cried. He suddenly felt a hostile pair of eyes on him, and he turned to face Megan.

"If you don't want yourself or her to get hurt...I suggest you back away," the pink girl said, her eyes narrowed. The Octoling returned the glare, but retreated reluctantly.

"Hey! You!" Octavio shouted, the machine hovering above her. "This wasn't part of the agreement!"

Megan took her shades off and tossed them into the abyss. "I'll kill her right here and now if you get in my away," she said threateningly. Surprisingly, the king backed off.

Tara opened her eyes weakly. She yelped as Megan's foot pressed onto her stomach, the Splatterscope laser pointed at her forehead.

"Doesn't this feel familiar?" she asked, smiling. Her foot dug in a little harder.

Tara was breathing heavily. She was scared. Her eyes darted to her Hero Shot laying next to her. She reached towards it, but Megan quickly kicked it off the edge too.

"I'm glad you didn't squeal back then, otherwise we might not be here," Megan said. The end of her charger pressed against Tara's forehead. "Just like old times, except you're not crying like a little bitch."

Richie felt anger consume him. He was tempted to punch her right then and there, but he didn't want to risk her making good on her threat. "Why are you doing this?" he demanded instead. He hated seeing his girlfriend so terrified.

Megan laughed and pressed down harder. "Tara was way too cocky. She actually thought she could beat me!" she said, spitting into the aforementioned Inkling's face. "I just had to teach her a lesson so she would never have to run her mouth like that again!"

Tara was crying now. All the memories from that day were coming back.

"Now...you're going to regret ever messing with me and my friends," Megan hissed. "I'll kill you and your stupid octo boyfriend too. And with this ugly ass king by my side, no one will ever mess with me again!"

Octavio scoffed. "Egotistical much?"

Megan smiled. "Any last words, Tara?" she asked, then laughed. "Oh wait, that was a stupid question. You'll die in silence."

"NO!" Richie screamed, forcing himself to run to them.

SPLAT!