Agent 3 was strong, she was fierce, she was intense. Her friends and her enemies knew this very well. But, there was one thing about Agent 3 that she dare not let even her closest friends know about her.

Agent 3 hated herself.

She didn't hate everything about herself, that would be absurd. She likes the physique she obtained by working with the NSBS, her body was muscular and she looked like she could probably lift the Octobot King if she wanted to. And many of her battle scars painted across her body told a story of daring adventure and death-defying action.

But there was one scar that she held no such feelings towards. There was one scar that, every time she saw it, made her feel like a failure. And the worst part? It was painted right across her face.

7am, Agent 3's apartment

Agent 3's alarm went off, blaring the most annoying sound any cephalopod had ever heard.

3's fist came slamming down on it, aaand now it's smashed to pieces.

"Oh for fucks sake" Three says as she sits up, her vision still blurry from waking up. She stretches her arms out and lets out a loud yawn. "I swear I spend more money on Alarm clocks than I do anything else."

Finally Three climbs out of bed, leaving the horrifying remains of what used to be her alarm clock sitting on her bedside table. She could deal with it later, there was a mission today. Cap'n Cuttlefish had found some information about something called the "Kamabo institute" or was it "Corporation"? Whatever it was, Three didn't care. All she knew was, Cap'n had a lead on something dangerous, and she wasn't gonna sit idly by and let it consume the world.

After a brief shower, mostly to wake up, Three donned her agent outfit and headed towards the meeting place Cap'n had sent to her. Callie and Marie had offered to update her Hero uniform, they had a new jacket design with the reflectors built into it instead of wearing a vest overtop, but truth be told, Agent 3 liked the old duds. Sure, they weren't as "Fresh" but Agent 3 liked them all the same. But those new headphones did tempt her, they looked like they were designed to fit more snuggly against the wearers head, making it less likely for them to fall off. But Three decided to just keep the old look, it's how she defeated DJ Octavio and the Octobot King after all.

"Ah Agent 3! Good to see you again!" The Captain's cheerful voice rings like music to her ears.

"Hello Captain" She lets out a smile. "Good to see you again as well."

"Yes, if only it were under better circumstances" The Captain sighs.

"Hey, we're the New Squidbeak Splatoon, dire situations are like, stopping for coffee for us right?"

That gets the old Captain to chuckle a little.

"Alright alright, well we mustn't waste any time, I've not been able to find out MUCH about Kamabo, but we're heading in to see if the intel I do have is correct."

Agent 3 nods. "Yeah from what you told me, re-animated Octarians and Octolings, not a good look. Hopefully we can put a stop to it."

The captain taps a metal grate with his cane "Right here is where I believe our best entrance is, it's right on the border between Octarian territory and Kamabo's, there should be a way through to the Kamabo side through here."

Agent 3 nods, readies her Hero Shot, and signals for Captain to open the grate. He flips it open with a loud CLANG, then Agent 3 and him jump in.

Agent 3 didn't know entirely what to expect, but after finding out that Marina of Off the Hook (yes 3 liked them, but she'd never tell a soul) was freed from DJ Octavio's mind control using the Squid Sisters "Calamari Inkantation", 3 always kept it ready to play should a mission get too hairy.

What Agent 3 didn't expect was for it to go sideways due to a single Octoling.

The Octoling was FAST, Three would've assumed special ops, if she wasn't busy trying to not die. How was this Octoling so good? And she only had an Octoshot! It's like, a glorified Splattershot at best, Agent 3's Hero Shot was, for lack of a better term, superior.

And here 3 was, nearly covered in Octoling ink, it stung like a motherfucker, but 3 didn't stop fighting. The Octoling was covering terf, making pathways to move, so 3 had to do the same.

Three shot out from behind the box that had made her temporary cover, rolling out a quick bomb shooting her ink across the floor, and submerging to move quickly through it. The bomb had distracted the Octoling, but not for long as she turned to face 3, firing her Octoshot immediately. Three rolled into a backflip to get away from the shots, glancing over to Captain Cuttlefish, who was waiting with other weapons, and subweapons. Then Three got a glorious idea.

She launched into a small superjump, returning to her humanoid state and tossing her phone at the Captain.

"Captain! Calamari Inkantation!"

The Captain nodded, whipped out the set of speakers that Three had insisted on bringing, and blasts the song at full volume.

Now the Octoling was stunned, and here was her chance. She moved as fast as she could, sliding right next to the Octoling, aiming her hero shot directly at her head. But just before she could pull the trigger and Splat her assailant, something else came in, something that made Agent 3's ink curdle.

The ink that began to flood the area was… revolting. It didn't look or feel natural. It made Agent 3, the stoic, never failing, always badass Agent, nearly vomit on the spot. It acted somewhat like ink but the smell was horrid, and it had this faint glow like it was almost alive. Fortunately it seemed there wasn't enough to splat her and she was able to ink the ground around her so she would be safe from it.

Then she turned, and the Octoling was gone, and worse yet, so was the Captain.

"Fuck" she said, trying to find out what happened. Then her shoe clacks against something on the ground, she looks down to inspect what she hit. It looked like a… pair of sunglasses?

Wait, that's what all the Octolings 3 has ever fought were always wearing, could that be how DJ Octavio kept control of his army? Well at least the Octolings, the Octarians seemed pretty content to just fire at any Inkling who got near without those shades.

Agent 3 sighed, maybe there was hope for that Octoling, and maybe hope for the Captain as well.

The more Agent 3 found out about Kamabo, the more Agent 3 wished she hadn't woken up that day.

She had, however, somehow managed to steal a bit of their tech. It was advanced, made almost no sense, and yet was stupidly easy to use. Agent 3 was able to use her, what was it called? CQ-80 to find her way around the entire facility.

But one thing 3 absolutely hated, was every single enemy she faced. They all looked like they were sapped of any life except their knowledge of fighting. Any Octoling she came across looked nearly lifeless, kind of like how 3 would look if she stayed up all night instead of sleeping, but multiplied by like, six years.

3 had found out, thanks to the CQ-80 she stole, that everything here had been "Sanitized" - Cleansed of free will, and made to live a life of nothing but slavery. 3 assumed that these Octolings were well beyond even the help of the Calamari Inkantation, magic a song as it may be, the Octolings under DJ Octavio were merely brainwashed, not… cleansed.

Agent 3 didn't know how long she was there, but she was beginning to worry as she'd heard nothing from the Captain, and it felt like it had been days, maybe weeks, maybe months. Agent 3 had all but lost track of time, never getting more than a few moments to rest before needing to keep moving, there were patrols everywhere.

Then, a glimmer of hope, and a slight cause for concern. Her CQ-80 lit up with a distress signal! And she wasn't far!

Agent 3 hoped she had time, she slid down the nearest ledge, and towards the source of the signal, man it was down FAR. Agent 3 didn't see much, but she did see the Captain, he was with another figure she couldn't make out at the speed she was going, but what she could make out wa- JESUS FUCK IS THAT A GIANT ASS BLENDER?

She didn't even bother trying to slow down, all she did was angle herself towards it before she reached the end of the slope she was sliding down, and now she was free-falling towards a glass pane that was between her and the blender. Maybe at this speed she could knock it over and save the Captain, gods know Callie and Marie would never speak to her again if she let their grandfather turn into a smoothie.

Well it worked, but the last thing Agent 3 saw was a telephone swinging at her face, and then black.

She didn't know what happened next.

When next Agent 3 was conscious, she couldn't see anything, her body felt like it was moving against her will, and there was a searing pain across her face. She wanted to do nothing else but scream. Gods it felt like her face was on fire, but worse.

Then suddenly, the pain was gone, Agent 3 could see the vague figure of someone but their body just shut down, Three was surprised the pain didn't cause her to just have a heart attack and die.

When Agent 3 woke again, her first thought was "Wow it's windy"

Her next thought was "Oh hey there's an Octoling looking at me, kinda cute when they're not trying to kill me."
And then her thought was "Agent 3 what the fuck is wrong with you"

Then the Octoling smiled at her.

Agent 3 couldn't help but blush a little. What had once been her adversary was now… standing next to her, smiling at her, and… oh my gods her eyes are beautiful.

"Ah Agent 3!" The Captain beconned her. "Welcome back!"

Agent 3 smiled up at the old man. "Hey Cap'n, what happened? My head hurts, and… is that a statue covered in ink?"

"It's a long story, but to make it short, this here Octoling just saved the world. Agent 3, I'd like you to officially meet Agent 8 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon."

Agent 3 looks over at Agent 8, while 3 did have some apprehensions about letting an Octoling into the agency, if they saved the world then that made her alright in 3's eyes.

Speaking of eyes.

"F-fuck, what's wrong with my eye? It hurts like hell and I can barely see out of it!"

"Oh dear, I was afraid of that. You had a bit of that nasty goop on your face, made you attack poor Agent 8 over there! I'm glad she was able to shoot it off you!"

Agent 3's pupils shrink.

"Th-the ink… I-I was sanitized?"

"Get some rest Agent 3, the mission is over for now. I'll call you up should anything happen"

Agent 3 did not get any rest.