Order Up - Splatoon3 Side Order

Part 9 - "Order Up"

"Guys?"

"Guys, get up!"

Agent 4 groggily opened their eyes. What happened again...?
They were on their side and collapsed on the ground...

"Hang on, I've got you," Acht said as they walked over to the fallen squid. They knelt down and helped Agent 4 sit up safely.
"You okay? You remember everything, right?" They asked.

Agent 4 looked around.
They were now outside of the Spire of Order, right on the ground. But huge, glitchy chunks of the building were scattered around everywhere...
They looked up -
The Spire was literally broken apart! Well, it was still standing, but pixelated gaps filled the tower as if it had been repeatedly hit by a wrecking ball!

"Agh!" H4CKER, on the other hand, sat up crisscrossed and shook his head, "Geez, my head...what happened?!"
"Smollusk- I mean, 'Order Mk.4' caused the part of the building to crumble. The Pearl Drone was able to soften the blow of my and Marina's fall, but you three weren't so lucky." Acht explained.
H4CKER raised an eyebrow. "What the heck is a Smollusk?"

Agent 4 gasped and looked around - Agent 8 was close by, to their relief -  but they were sprawled out on the ground, and they weren't waking up...

"Eight! Get up, Eight!" The Pearl Drone pleaded as she flew around their head.
"They're out cold..." Marina sighed. She put her head in her hands. "Oh, guys! I'm so, so sorry!"

As usual, Pearl began to comfort Marina, but Agent 4 knew that the only reason Agent 8 had been knocked out cold because they shielded the two squids before Order Mk.4 could hurt them all...

They frowned and stood up before running over to their fallen friend, and then skidded down on their knees by their side. Acht helped H4CKER up before the two of them followed behind. 
Agent 4 shook Agent 8, but got no response. Even unconscious, they looked like they were in pain...
They desperately tried shaking the octoling awake again, but nothing happened.
"I don't think they'll be up any time soon," Acht remarked, crossing their arms.
"What do we do then?! Without Eight, what's the plan?!" Pearl shouted, "should we wait?!"
"We can't wait! Order Mk.4 could seriously hurt all of Inkopolis!" Marina exclaimed. She looked distressed, and Agent 4 couldn't blame her either.
"So, it's settled. We need to make a plan to stop Order a 14th time," Acht stated.

"Huh?!" Agent 4's eyes widened as they looked up at Acht. 14 times?! Order's done this 13 times?! That was crazy! If they defeated it again, would it just come back?!

"Or! Or...and just hear me out here," H4CKER stepped forward, "Agent 8 already saved everyone's souls, and I did a pret-ty good job at rescuing Agent 4..."
"-Rina kicked you out! You couldn't have done all that without me and Eight!" Pearl cut in.
"Maybe I could've if she didn't kick me out. Guess we'll never know," he shrugged, "But anyway, since nobody's trapped in this VR nightmare world anymore, where's the point in fighting that thing? Let's just leave and shut the whole place down."

"No!" Marina cried. She looked up at H4CKER with tears in her eyes. "You don't understand. This place took five years to develop! It wasn't created to do this kind of evil...it was created to save victims of sanitization!"
"Sanitization?" He raised an eyebrow. Now that Agent 4 was back to normal, they remembered what that meant, but Acht ended up explaining before they could.
"Octarians weren't always welcome on the surface. Some of us tried to escape, but we were captured on Mt. Nantai and brought to a place called the Deepsea Metro. Many of us were sanitized. We lost our free will and our sense of self. Myself included," they had no trace of sadness in their voice, but they looked towards the ground as they spoke. "The Memverse was able to bring it all back to me. I remember who I am. If it can save me, it can save the others too. That's why we can't shut this place down."