Agent 4, followed by the H4CKER drone, ran into the elevator as fast as they could!
"LET'S GO! That's Floor 29, over and done!"
The two of them shared a very enthusiastic high-five. Neither of them could believe it, but there was just one floor left. They were right here - it was all finally coming to a close!
"How we feeling, Agent 4?" The drone bounced around in the air. Agent 4 threw a their fists into the air to show that they were feeling great!
Since floor 25, they remembered more. Not everything, but more!
Agent 2 was a girl wearing a kimono. She was the one who recruited and trained them in order to save her sister - cousin? Agent 4 couldn't completely remember which one it was, but Agent 2 recruited them to rescue Agent 1 from someplace underground. Agent 1 was responsible for the glitter Agent 4 remembered in their ink, and the snow globe... someone was inside of the snow globe. It acted as a prison, so in reality, they always ended up rambling to a prisoner whenever Agents 1 and 2 were busy speaking with one another in private. They couldn't help but wonder who the prisoner was and if they minded Agent 4's rambling.
"Well, I don't mind your rambling. Even if it's just text to read," H4CKER snickered, "who knows? Maybe you have a track record of befriending shady people."
Agent 4 let out a scratchy, pixelated scoff and rolled their eyes. Again - their soul rolled their eyes. The parallel canon's huge red robotic eyes showed zero emotion.
"Hey, that's a good thing! Okay - say you're being bullied, right? A good person would tell you to turn the shoulder. A bad person such as myself would get back at 'em for you!"
Agent 4 appreciated the sentiment, but for some reason, they didn't like H4CKER calling himself a bad person. Would a bad person spend nearly 10 hours straight to save a stranger?
"Hm... you make a solid point, Agent 4," H4CKER casually replied, "I mean, it doesn't change the fact that I only hacked into this place to steal assets. But uh, wow. Y'know what I just realized?"
They tilted their head. What was it?
"How are we supposed to tell the world that Marina Ida, Inkopolis Square's sweetheart, created a virtual nightmare world and trapped some innocent inkling inside of it? Who's even gonna believe us? We'll probably get like, a million fans defending her with their lives. Not to mention Pearl. Pearl's gonna kill us."
Oh... that's right. Nobody's going to believe the word of two random civilians accusing a beloved pop star of the most unbelievable-sounding atrocities. Wait, what if that's the reason Agent 4 ended up here in the first place? They're a secret agent! What if they were investing Marina?
"Shoot... that actually checks out," H4CKER went quiet. All the evidence they had pointed to Marina being a horrible villain...
"...Maybe you can befriend her, Agent 4."
They stomped their foot solely to show how annoyed they were that H4CKER would make a joke now, and he simply laughed in return.
"Sorry, sorry. Couldn't resist."
Agent 4 tilted their head back and turned away from the drone. The elevator seemed to be going slower than usual... but they knew it was just because they were eager (anxious?) to get their body back - not to mention their memory. And their life.
...Assuming it was possible.
Nonetheless, they couldn't believe this was all finally happening. Maybe they could tell Agent 2 all about their "adventure!" Possibly all the other agents as well - Agent 3, who's name, appearance and entire personality escapes them, and possibly an Agent 5, 6, 7, 8...
They couldn't wait to meet them again.
But just then, out of nowhere, the elevator came to a violent and abrupt stop. Lights blared, as well as a siren, and the entire thing started quaking!
"Ahh!" Agent 4, admittedly, lost their balance and slammed the wall with a BANG.
"Agent 4! Are you good?!" H4CKER frantically asked as they pulled themselves back up. They leaned against the wall, holding themselves stable in a corner, and helplessly looked up at the drone for any kind of explanation for this unwanted interruption!
"Right! Good! Cool! Okay..." H4CKER responded, "so uhh, you probably pieced this together by now, but Marina's back in the system and she's NOT happy we're still here. She's trying to break the elevator and send us straight back to square one so we don't get to the top!"
WHAT?!
Agent 4 looked up at the drone with wide eyes - and this time, even with the parallel canon, that was probably evident. The parallel canon's eyes were huge, actually, but that was not important right now. The fact that they spent THIS long reaching Floor 30 and were now about to lose ALL their progress was important! It was VERY important!!
H4CKER could get it moving again, right?! Right?!
"It'll take too much time! The elevator will crash and burn before I can finish and you'll go down with it!"
CLANG!
The elevator violently rumbled. It was going to fall any second! What could they DO?!
"Okay! Okay okay okay! Don't- don't panic! I got this, I promise!" H4CKER shouted. The drone flew upwards and used its Stingray special to bust the emergency trapdoor open from the inside, then flew back downwards.
"Grab on and hold tight, Agent 4! I promised to get you out of here, and I'm not gonna leave this stupid simulation until I do!"
Agent 4 looked up at him and then nodded. There was no time to hesitate! They leapt up and grabbed the drone with one hand.
"We're headed to Floor 30!"
It was slow, as Agent 4's parallel canon was... heavy, but the H4CKER Drone flew upwards and carried them along with it just in time for the elevator beneath them to break down and plummet down the Spire of Order!
"Whoa! Just uhh, don't look down!"
They quickly nodded. But just when they thought they were safe, they would both quickly be proved wrong.
Several PRL Security Drones flew up the elevator shaft, locking on to the H4CKER Drone!
"Shoot! Shoot shoot shoot!" he shouted, "I mean that literally! Shoot, Agent 4!"
Agent 4 quickly took their Order Shot in their free hand and fired away. They outranged the security bots, but that only meant they'd have to shoot them down before they got too close - otherwise they'd be splatted!
First there were three - then five - then TEN - and soon, they had an entire swarm from below! Agent 4 tried their best to shoot them down, but they were much faster than the H4CKER Drone in this state. The two of them would be overwhelmed very soon, and by very soon, they meant now. Agent 4 completely froze as a beeping noise emitted from their weapon. They were out of ink!
"I got you! Just hold on and try not to let go if things get slippery!"
the H4CKER Drone shot out an Ink Storm - and if it got on Agent 4's hand, they might slip! Just to make sure, they grabbed on tighter. They would not be falling today, despite it being risky.
But it was the only option they had. The security bots below began to slow down as they were caught in the storm, a few even breaking under the ink drops. It bought enough time for Agent 4's weapon to automatically reload, and sure enough, they started shooting again as soon as the storm ended!
"Wait, your special!" H4CKER shouted as Agent 4's aura lit up, "The trizooka is PERFECT! It'll knock them down AND give us a boost! Let 'er rip, Agent 4!"
They didn't have to be told twice! The weight of the trizooka pulled them downwards, but it didn't matter in the long run - with each shot, the H4CKER Drone was propelled higher and higher!
"YEAH, BABY! See the light!? We're almost there!" He cheered, "Go on, Agent 4! Shoot like there's no tomorrow!"
Agent 4 kept their finger on the trigger, raining down their entire ink tank just in time for them to FINALLY reach the top! The H4CKER drone rose up to Floor 30, carried them over the solid floor, and they were finally standing on two legs yet again!
"WE DID IT! WOOOO!!" H4CKER exclaimed as the drone did several flips in the air. Agent 4 couldn't help but jump around themself! They were absolutely hyped! They MADE it! Against all odds, they DID it!
The two of them rushed towards one another and did a high five.
"TEAM FOUR FOR THE WIN!! YEAH!!"
"Hey!"
"Huh?!" H4CKER gasped. The two of them faced the other side of the room - standing there was Marina, in the flesh - and she wasn't alone.
"Nooo! We made it THIS far!" He shouted, "AT LEAST TELL ME YOU CAN HEAR ME THIS TIME!"
"I warned you to stay out of the memverse, and you're still here. Do you really think I'll let you stay and mess with my hard work?!" Marina scolded with her hands on her hips.
"She still can't hear me!? WHY?!" H4CKER shouted.
"And anyone who messes with 'Rina's hard work messes with US, too!" A pink drone declared with a very blatant attitude. It looked exactly like the security bots, except this one had sparkly eyes and... could talk. Maybe it was being controlled like H4CKER's? Agent 4 didn't know by who, but H4CKER could very easily tell it was Pearl.
"Yeah. This isn't really cool, whoever you are," a... strangely green octoling shrugged. They must be new.
"C'mon, Agent 8! Let's show this creep who's the BOSS!" Pearl shouted - but her words took both members of Team Four off guard.
"Agent 8?!" H4CKER blurted.
Agent 4 watched with wide eyes. An octoling, dressed in the same outfit they were, came out from behind the others.
"Agent 4! Do you know them?!"
And upon seeing their face, they instantly recognized who it was.
Another member of the Squidbeak Splatoon, their roommate, and their good friend, Agent 8, staring them down with their Octo Shot in hand.
From that stare, they knew they'd show no mercy.