#splatoon 8

This is about height

[Read on Ao3!]

Rated: T Relationships: Eight & Four Splatoon 3: Side Order Content Warnings: Unhappy Ending, Graphic Ink-Based Violence, References to Asphyxiation Words: 590

Summary: Intensifying-Harmony.Floor and what resides there. (It's not Four.) (But it looks so much like Four.) (So very… very.. much….)

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The charger clicks uselessly, ink run dry. Eight pushes forward, but the dark ink at their heels seems to suck them further into place.

Only one left now, then that elusive locker key is theirs, and one step closer to getting their memories back.

Armed with what looks nearly exactly like a Splattershot, the enemy surges forward, toward Eight.

(It steps with their left foot first, like Four does.)

Desperate, Eight swings the gun around like a baseball bat, clocking the opponent upside the head.

A glitchy, staticky scream rings out.

The gun clatters to the floor, and the inkling follows suit, knocked over by the weight of Eight’s hit.

Commander Tartar was just an AI in a robotic body. Surely, it could be given a factory reset, right? Or at least, have its code changed?

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ had grabbed the strange android directly from the street because for some reason, he was wandering about late at night. ⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ had no idea why Tartar was just…wandering about, especially since he was supposed to be dead, very dead, but oh well, ⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ supposed! All that mattered was using her knowledge of machines to pacify or reset Tartar.

The code for Tartar was rigid and had a habit of refusing to change during the entire time ⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ was working on them. Hm…it seemed Tartar was aware that someone was trying to change them. Must’ve picked up on it the second ⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ plugged them in. Well…pacifying wasn’t working. Should ⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ really do this?

Her hand hovered over the button as ⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ gave Tartar another glance.

Finally, ⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ sighed and pressed the button.

Judging by how Tartar’s body jerked suddenly and its crank began to spin, it could feel itself being deleted. ⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ flinched back.

Words flashed on the computer screen besides ⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️.

Wait! Stop the reset!

Everest-

My daughter!

She’ll be distraught!

Everything I know.

Humanity’s messenger

GONE!

All the lights flickered as Tartar’s body jerked about and sputtered on the table ⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ set him on. Purple strikes of lighting shot from the android, causing her to duck and cover her head. ⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ curled up with her back to the ceiling to avoid the sparks. Sanitized ink poured from every seam on his body.

I wasn’t ready yet.

You’ll pay…!

YOU’LL PAY, ⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️!!!

You scraps of seafood will all pay if I remember myself!

I’ll make sure of it!

…Intimidation isn’t the right thing to do here…

Just treat Everest well.

Please.

The lights in the house popped and Tartar’s body went dead still. ⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ carefully approached the android…

Just as the cable to the android exploded, giving ⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ one final scare and causing her to cover her ears and flinching back..

The android was completely still, not moving even a gear. Not even when ⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ spun their handle and stepped back.

“...Tartar?” ⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ asked softly and reached her hand out to the android.

The android sputtered and opened its eyes slightly. “...System check. Antivirus on, stabilizers active,” An engine clouded with heat came from the androids back, expelling steam before it tucked back into its back, “Engine on. Sensors…?” The android’s eyes glowed blue and carefully scanned over ⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️’s body.

Admittedly, it sent quite the severe shudder down ⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️’s back. The android brought his hands back and straightened up as if scared that he had hurt her somehow.

“...What is your name?” The android slowly stood up, staring down at ⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️.

“I’m…I’m Marina,” Marina wasn’t super sure about telling the android her name but..this could be a test to see if Tartar had really been reset. The android leaned forward and stared at Marina too closely for comfort. For a moment, Marina could’ve swore she saw anger twist in their eyes.

“...Do I have a name, too…?” It asked suddenly, leaning back with curiosity shining in its eyes.

“...” Marina wasn’t completely sure how to respond to that. She wasn’t the best with names… “Uh…we’ll just call you Operator for now,” Marina nodded.

“Operator…” Operator brought a hand up to his face and felt one of the stickers on his cheek, “Hm..I suppose it’s quite the nice name,” A smile came to Operator’s face as he slowly pushed himself up and off the table.

Then after, they looked around the room, flying into a very sudden panic when they saw how dirty Marina’s workhouse was.

“AH! It’s like you’ve never touched a broom before!” Operator ran to try to find a broom or cleaning supplies of some kind. Marina grabbed Operator’s hand to try to stop him but he only paused to easily shake her off, albeit carefully. He then went back to look for cleaning supplies. The subsequent crashing that erupted in the room caused Marina to start worrying and trying to keep Operator from making too much noise.

It was all in vain of course as her half-asleep girlfriend opened the door as wide as it would go. She looked ungodly tired. Not something you would typically see from Pearl.

“Marina..! What’s going on here? Your other machines didn’t…” Pearl trailed off, seeing Operator (still dressed in their conductor’s outfit and looking exactly like Tartar did) frozen in their tracks with a broom in their metal hands and Marina stood nearby, staring at Pearl. Pearl seemed to wake up rather quickly after that and pulled out one of her dualies and aimed in between Operator’s eyes. Operator tilted their head and waved their hand near the shot, seeing the laser go from their head to their hand when they did, “Oooo…” Pearl’s expression became more worried as she readied to fire.

“Marina, why is the weird shuckass telephone that we definitely destroyed with 8 with the help of my killer wail is still alive…” Pearl didn’t hide the harsh feelings she had towards the android and her hate seeped clearly into her words. Operator didn’t even seem to notice, just tilting his head.

“Uh–..” Marina went to explain before Operator suddenly piped up, “Oh! I jumped ship. I knew I wasn’t going to survive! I…” Operator trailed off, gaining a concerned look on their face, “…that’s not right…” Operator brought a hand to their chin and turned away from Pearl to try to think. “Where did I get that knowledge…?” They stared in space for a moment with a concerned expression.

Operator looked up from the ground. The very second Operator focused back on the room, it flew back into a panic and repeated what it said before as it sped to clean up the workhouse. Pearl nearly shot Operator before Marina made her lower her splat gun. “Stop!” She said sternly and even gave Pearl a hug to make sure her words stuck. Operator stopped for a second before continuing to clean.

Pearl froze before expressing her concern to Marina, asking, no, demanding to know what Tartar was doing there.

“I-...I heard him wandering the streets, Pearlie. I figured he was dead too and thought I was hallucinating him. I’m just as stunned as you are…” Marina explained, “Regardless, I managed to get him knocked out and drug back here. …I gave him a full reset to his personality. Tartar no longer exists. This is Operator,” Marina held Pearl’s shoulders, turning towards Operator and gesturing towards the speeding animatronic.

Operator was still zipping around the room. It was a little stunning to see how fast he was cleaning. He didn’t stay still for even a second.

Within minutes, the entire room was spotless like it had just gotten a deep clean. Operator huffed and wiped their forehead as they leaned against their mop slightly, “Ah, phew..sorry, I hate dirty places!” Operator exclaimed and put the mop away, “Don’t know exactly why but it’s terrible! Always terrible,” Operator put emphasis on ‘Always’. “Now, who wants a smoothie?” Operator spun towards the two with their arms outstretched.

Pearl caught her breath and stared at Operator’s dumb smile. After a moment, she asked, still with a hint of ice in her voice, “...Do you even remember what you tried to do to the entirety of Inkopolis?”

Operator only blepped its strange tongue out of its mouth slightly. It brought a hand to its chin, “Uh…uhm….” Operator hummed and thought. It started messing with its lever, lightly spinning it. The lever always stopped facing up instead of down.

“Nooo? I don’t think I tried anything, no,” Operator tapped their hands together before suddenly continuing, cutting off Marina before she could speak, “Depends though! I also could’ve forgotten! What do you think I tried to do?” Operator asked, leaning closer to Pearl. Pearl stepped back, not hiding her fear whatsoever which confused Operator and worried them at the same time.

“Uh…nothing. Do you know anything about Commander Tartar?” Pearl now asked.

“Oh!” Operator perked up and clapped its hands excitedly, “Oh! I kn-know a few things! He’s not my favorite subject but I suppose I can say a few things about it! They-! Uh…he…” Operator trailed off again, a look of worry coming to its face. “Oh…I..can’t remember. I…suppose I don’t know actually…” Operator’s head went down and its entire top half went mostly limp. It seemed sad that it couldn’t answer Pearl’s question. Marina almost felt bad for Operator but, then again, maybe it not knowing anything about Tartar was beneficial, no way to remember its plans.

After a few moments of stillness, Operator perked back up, folding his hands, “How’s about we talk about something else? Maybe you guys could teach me about the sea life outside? I’ve always wanted to know!!” Operator bounced on his heels slightly, “Sea creatures are awesome!”

Pearl finally relaxed a little. If that didn’t prove that Operator was not Tartar then nothing would. Marina looked at Pearl’s unreadable expression before giving Operator a hand signal to mean ‘One moment’. Marina took Pearl out of the room.

“So- we can’t just let Operator out of the house, can we?” Pearl started suddenly, “There is no way anyone in Inkopolis is going to take this news well! People will definitely claim that we were pretending to have killed him so that- like- we could be praised as heroes. Pinn especially won’t take it well! In case you forgot, Tartar,” Pearl pointed at the closed door, “Nearly smoothied them and Cuttlefish!” Pearl exclaimed.

Marina looked back at the door, hearing Operator hum patiently inside the room. Who knew if he was listening to all of this, “...You’d be right about that but..perhaps if we’re careful about it, he can be accepted in this world. That’s what caused Tartar to go insane, wasn’t it? Isolation and a hatred for our kind? …If we teach Operator better, Tartar shouldn’t come back and Operator could even teach people about humans.”

“If they even remember those guys.”

“Correct,” Marina responded before slowly opening the door and seeing Operator, ready as ever to talk.

“Hi~!!” Operator excitedly waved.

“Hi. Uhm, Operator,” Marina trailed off before taking a breath, “Do you know about humans?”

Operator let out a huge, loud gasp and couldn’t stop itself from bouncing up and down, its crank spinning, “DO I!?” Operator suddenly shook Marina, causing Pearl to hit its hand off of her shoulder. Operator didn’t seem to care though as Operator began to sputter and gasp out its words, “Humans– well! They lived a good few YEARS a- a- ago! And- And- And!” Operator waved its hands near its face about a little before Marina stood up on her tiptoes and covered its mouth to calm it down some.

Operator giggled uncontrollably, “Sorry- sorry- sorry! Humans are m-my favorite subject!” Operator gently took Marina’s hand and pulled it away from his mouth, “They were truly remarkable! …And really dumb at the same time! It was startling and impressive they got so far actually.” Operator was much calmer now.

Pearl perked up suddenly and now dragged Marina out of the room. Operator looked just a little saddened about Marina being dragged away by her girlfriend. “I just thought of something! Maybe Tar- Operator can go back down to the metro. We’d have to speak to that annoying sea cucumber and catch him up on everything though. He can just introduce himself to people and THEN he can wander about!”

“I suppose so…we’ll have to tell Pinn though. They’ve been going back daily to collect any faded memories from when we had to help them. I’d assume they’d be shaken up to see an android that looks exactly like Tartar standing on the platform…” Marina noted.

***

Marina would be correct as, when the day arrived and the two snuck a very talkative Operator down into the metro (It literally would not stop talking even for a second about anything), Pinn wasn’t very thrilled to see the android. In fact, Pinn actually did shoot Operator unlike Pearl who had just threatened.

Shockingly, they did land those shots, coating Operator’s face in pink ink. Operator’s hands shot to his face to get the ink off of him. Needless to say, he was fairly panicked. Marina rushed forward to force Pinn to point their dualies away from Operator, “He’s not Tartar! I swear he’s not!” Pinn fought with Marina. They shoved Marina's face and tried to shoot at Operator some more. Pearl eventually joined in to grab Pinn’s other arm.

“Marina’s telling the truth, 8! Listen to her for just a moment!” Pearl forced Pinn’s arm to her side just as Marina did the same. Operator’s eyes were filled with fear and tears that resembled sanitized ink started to flood from their eyes. Finally Pinn’s went still, slightly grumbling under their breath. They glared at Operator with nothing short of pure hatred. Their eyes had fear in them as well.

Operator curled up, hands over its head as it claimed the same as Marina, adding that it didn’t even know why Pinn was calling it Tartar. Honestly, who knew that someone who used to be a genocidal maniac could look so…utterly pathetic. Operator sniffled and whimpered for a bit longer before Pinn finally calmed down enough for Marina and Pearl to let them go.

“So who are you then?” Pinn snapped at Operator, causing him to flinch and cover his head more. “I-It’s Operator…” Operator’s voice was filled with tears. Speaking of, the tears started to create a small puddle around him.

The fear in Pinn’s eyes was still present and they still had one of their dualies aimed at Operator just in case. Operator sniffled and slowly got up. “S…sorry…sorry…” Pinn’s glare wouldn’t lighten up even after Marina and Pearl proved multiple times that Operator wasn’t Tartar pretending to be good.

Operator looked down at the puddle he had created and frowned more. When they moved forward, Pinn grew tense and was ready to fire at Operator once more. He stepped back quickly with his hands near his face, ready to block, “I-I just need a mop a-and bucket! The janitor’s closet is…is right behind you…” Operator pointed at the door behind all three of them. Pinn looked over and only murmured an ‘Oh’ and let Operator pass by.

The rest of that visit was spent getting Pinn used to Operator’s new presence and explaining things. It was also spent getting CQ calmed down from the sudden appearance of his undead boss and appointing him the boss of Operator.