Three slowly made her way toward the trio without making much noise. They seemed to be discussing something, though the topic wasn't very clear from her position. She simply talked, interrupting whatever they were talking about to make them aware of her presence.
"Didn't know I would have needed to carry someone in today's mission." She said, with a slightly mocking tone. Typical of her.
The Three of them turned to look in her direction.
"Well, finally you've shown up Agent 3. We've been waiting for you for quite a while now." Marie said, clearly pissed by the Agent's comment. Also typical of Marie to get nervous over having to wait for long times, and over the dumbest things or jokes. ESPECIALLY if they came from Three.
"Sorry Granny, didn't know you also had dementia, because I'm just in time. The captain told me to be here at 5 pm, and would you look at that." She pointed to a clock on her side, pinned on a wall, which somehow still seemed to be working, (hard to tell how in such a place). The clock struck exactly 5 pm.
"Just in time. Heh."
Marie's right eye started twitching from the anger. Agent 3 really knew how to get on her nerves. The two of them would always tease each other. They had been doing that since the very beginning, the very first day Agent 3 had joined the Squidbeak Splatoon. It had almost become some weird routine, by that point. What's even funnier is that Three's relationship with Callie was the exact opposite. They were quite close to each other, and they would get on well, too.
Speaking of Callie, she tried to intervene to cool down the waters between the two.
"Aw come on, Marie! Agent 3 was just joking, no need to take it so personally..." Marie simply crossed her arms, turning her glance away and pouting, so that she didn't have to look at the smirk that had just formed on Three's face. That damn, smug of confidence and pride that was splatted on her face, whenever she got the chance to roast her.
"Anyway, we've been told to come here earlier than you, because Gramps had...something to discuss about with Mrs. Long Face over here!" Callie continued, giggling at the brilliant name she had just come up with.
"I still have no idea how Gramps found out about...that." Marie just groaned.
The Captain immediately smirked at the statement.
"Young ladies, you should know that you can't hide stuff from your ol' grandpa. I might be old, but my intuition is still perfectly fine! And don't you underestimate my intelligence, too! There was a reason why I was picked as the lead of the Squidbeak Splatoon during the Great turf War!" Captain Cuttlefish really had a lot of pride, and if there was one thing Three had figured out during the years, was that he was very defensive about it. And for an old squid, he still had very decent fighting skills, too.
"What was it about?" Three asked, intrigued. If the captain wanted to talk with them alone, it had to be something important. Something top secret. And she didn't like the idea of her Captain hiding stuff from her. Marie, however, tried to immediately divert the attention.
"You were not invited to join our conversation, so stay out of-"
"Marie wants to ado-" Callie tried to reveal the secret, but ended up being slapped on the mouth by her cousin. Marie groaned, frowning, as Callie massaged her hurting lips.
"Right, whatever i...guess. So, anyway. What's the plan today cap." Three questioned, crossing her arms, ready to receive orders.
"Well, Agent Three. I am aware that you do not like this place. Therefore, I thought that having extra assistance would have helped us clear the remaining stations quicker. If everything goes the way I planned it to go, we should have all the stations free from the last Sanitized Octarian Forces this very day." He stated, while looking at a paper he had prepared hours prior, with all his notes about the plan.
"Neat!" Exclaimed Callie, in excitement. "It's been a while since I got to use my roller!"
"I guess it will be a fine charger training," Marie added.
"Damn, granny's gonna put her hands on a weapon after ages again!" Three joked, smugging.
"Oh you'll be the next target if you don't shut up, Agent 3." The idol warned, rolling her eyes, slightly smirking too, however. She had to admit that was a good one. And it was true, it had been ages since she had used her charger properly.
The captain put the paper away and looked at the three agents.
"Very well, Agent 1 and 2, you will clear up Line H and G. Agent 3, you will clear Line A and D. I'll be communicating with you through your headphones, so heads up for any warning I give!" He commanded. And if there was a thing the captain was good at, it was definitely leading his team.
"On it." Without adding anything else, Three sprinted off to the closest stations, in line A. Callie and Marie nodded to each other and headed to their assigned stations.
"That should be the last of 'em, cap." Three announced proudly, finishing off an Octo Sniper.
"Well done, Agent 3. Your colleagues are also almost done with their part of the stations, so you can come back now. Once we're all here, we can leave and hopefully never come back." Cuttlefish congratulated himself with her.
"Hah, I've completed two lines myself and they didn't even manage one yet? Guess I am that good." Jessica pointed out, flexing herself.
"I'll remember you that those are their first stations. You took the exact same time to complete yours the first time we've done this, if not more. So there is not much to bully yourself about." Cuttlefish answered, laughing a bit. When it came to his nieces, Craig was very protective. And he also knew how to put Jessica in her place. Three rolled her eyes at the statement, despite knowing that he was right.
"...Bah, whatever caps." She cut off, quickly. She was about to put her loyal Hero Shot on her back, when the Captain's voice screamed into her headphones, almost making her def.
"AGENT 3! BEHIND YOU!"
Caught off guard, Three was sent flying on a wall, hit by what seemed to be a roller. The impact hurt her, but she still managed to get up to look at whoever had been bold enough to challenge her. To her surprise, it was...another Octoling. Another sanitized Octoling.
"WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS!? WHY IS THERE MORE OF THEM!?" Three couldn't hold back her anger upon the sight, as she screamed, her voice echoing in the empty station.
"...I...I have...no idea." It looked as if her boss was as clueless as she was.
Without thinking twice, Three grabbed her weapon and prepared herself for the inevitable fight. She quickly and flawlessly dodged a vertical swing from the enemy's roller. She then moved to the side and started running toward her opponent. The sanitized octoling tried to swing at her, but the attack had failed as Three slid under the weapon, the distance between the two being almost null. Concerned, the octoling tried to step back to keep her distance, seeing that she wasn't able to hit Three with how fast she was, but the Agent prevented her from doing so. She kicked her in the chest, and the Octoling fell to the ground with a loud bump.
While falling, she had also lost grip on the roller, leaving her weaponless, which during a fight meant being almost defenseless. She tried to grab it again, but the Agent had the higher ground, and quickly blocked her attempt stepping on her arm and kicking with violence the weapon further away.
Jessica quickly disarmed her opponent, so she no longer had any reason to continue the fight. One quick splat and the whole problem would have been solved. But something in her ticked. She started feeling so many emotions at the same time and became unable to control herself. With how much had happened to her in a single day, she simply wasn't able to stop herself. She reached her enemy's neck, with both of her hands.
And she started choking her, blinded by her hate towards Kamabo, the Telephone, the sanitized Octolings...everything about that stupid metro. She couldn't explain to herself why she was doing that. It was nothing like her, to want to see others suffer.
As the Octoling was about to run out of the last bit of oxygen she had left, Three was abruptly pulled away by 2 figures.
"NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING, LET ME GO!" She yelled. A hand reached her mouth, blocking her from talking. It was Marie. With Callie, too. The Captain had told them to get to where Jessica was as quickly as possible before things could get worse. Three watched, and slowly calmed down, as the Octoling fainted. Shortly after, Cap'n'Cuttlefish arrived too. And his look was just pure concern and disappointment towards Three. Maybe slight fear, too.
"Agent Three...what has gotten into you? What was that for?"
Three growled, still nervous, but back to her senses. She could still feel the adrenaline running in her veins. Neither she knew what had happened there.
"That bastard deserved it." She answered, coldly. No, that was not what she actually wanted to say...Cod, why did she have to make everything so much harder?
"Agent 3..." Said Callie, shocked. "I...we...we didn't even recognize you...you were almost acting like you were possessed..." Callie's voice was filled with terror upon what she had just witnessed. Three bit her upper lip, looking down. She had exaggerated. And she despised herself for that.
"...I just hate them all. It's their fault if my face is like this now. And if all of these people are no longer themselves." Three reached her scar with her hand. She hated it so much. She wanted it off. But she was aware that it would have never been gone.
"I think this goes way further than what you are saying, Agent 3. Since the very first moment you entered the metro, I've noticed something was off with you. You seemed stressed, upset maybe? Has something happened? Have you been sleeping recently, you look horribly tired." Marie said, confronting her, but not really with anger. She seemed much calmer and more reasonable than when she had first seen her.
Deep down, she cared for Jessica, too. She'd fight her often, that was undeniable, but she had never hated her. And she could tell that something was just not right with her, but she also knew that Three's pride would probably, as usual, not allow her to confess the truth.
Admittedly Three looked like a Zombie, she hadn't been sleeping properly for too long and the consequences started to make her job harder. On top of that, the fight she previously had just made her even more short tempered.
The anger progressively turned into guilt, emerging overbearingly. It was only then that she managed to see that her stress, her fight with Four, her anger towards Kamabo, her lack of sleep, everything had taken such a toll on her that she couldn't find any other way to vent it all out...the poor Octoling fell victim into it.
Silence dropped in the station. The only noises that could be heard were their breathing, and the occasional water dripping from the roof.
"...I've been sleeping for 2 hours every day, so what?" Jessica confessed. Marie was surprised to see her actually admit that. And it was worrying to her that she had been sleeping for so little.
"Agent 3." Stated the captain, very firmly. Three got slightly scared. She had never heard the captain talk to her like that. It felt somewhat threatening, very threatening.
"I want you to take two months off this job. And we are not discussing it. I've been thinking about this for a while now...I was going to tell you after this mission anyway. You've just given me confirmation that you need this."
Jessica felt as her whole body started to fall into an endless void. She widened her eyes and opened her mouth, in complete shock.
"What...what the...are you firing me!?" She screamed, anger once again kicking in.
"If you want to see it that way, yes, I am. Temporarily."
"BUT YOU CANNOT DO THAT! YOU KNOW THAT-"
"No, enough, Three. Gramps is right." Marie stopped her before she could even finish her sentence. "Me, Callie, Four, Eight, if anything happens WE can take care of it. You are going to take a break. You have to relax, get some ACTUAL sleep and let all this stress in you leave. You can't work like this."
"BULLSHIT, I-"
"Sorry, Agent 3..." Callie's voice was just sorrowful. But she just had to agree with Marie and Craig, it was the best thing for Three.
Unable to think of anything else, Three just threw her Gun and Headset on the ground, miraculously not shattering them into pieces.
"It's enough. Fine, if you want things to be this way, be it...you do you. I don't care anymore." Three just felt torn apart at that point, with no strength to argue further. Her voice was simply gloomy, she desperately tried to hold back tears.
"If you don't want me, you could have just told me."
"Agent 3..." Craig called out for her, sighing.
Three turned her back on the trio and walked away, without saying anything else.