Order Up - Splatoon3 Side Order

Part 6 - "Onwards and Upwards"

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!