The domes were ablaze with purpose. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, the Octarian population now was once again unified. Octavio had returned from his separation from his own people. He also had happened to bring along some prizes, the coveted Great Zapfish, and rumors of something else. The place was now teeming with work, having already lost plenty of Zapfish to the attacking agent that was becoming impossible to stop. For one Octoling, however, found himself being summoned for a post that was neither related to keeping the Zapfish under watch, nor for the next step in taking over.

What can this be... He thought to himself as he approached a rather menacing door. The fellow had just been sent to Cephalon HQ, and already upon arrival, he was being sent to speak with the top of the chain. His pace faltered as he got closer to the door.

"Halt. Identify yourself." A voice rang out, causing the man to jump. Two Elite guards walked up to him, weapons drawn.

He held up a card, handing it to them. They eyed him as they put the card through the reader. "Darian Dee." They lowered their Octoshots. "You're clear to go in." They nodded, giving him back his card.

He sighed, walking into the room. The first thing that struck out to him was the attention grabbing figure of their leader, Octavio. Behind the old octopus was a few other high ranking Octarians and messengers hurried around, giving their DJ papers to sign and updating him on the current situation with the domes. The moment Darian felt himself fall under their leader's gaze he went down on one knee.

"Rise up, we don't have time for formalities my dude." Octavio encouraged. Despite their current situation, his overall mood had address thanks to no longer confined to the globe that had held him. He waved for the Octoling to follow alongside him as he and a few guards and paper couriers walked along. "I assume you don't know why you are here."

"Correct, I just dropped off my personal gear when I got the summon." He said, quickly walking along to keep up with the leader's quick pace.

"Yes, a guard is what I told the duty managers I needed." Octavio said as he picked up a pair of glasses to try on. "Oh, I like these."

"You want me to be your guard?" He asked as a few of the others around him snickered.

"Not mine..." Octavio said as he gave his guards a look. The paper carriers soon dispersed, leaving the group to enter a cluttered room full of glasses and other equipment.

"How is she?" Octavio asked, looking at the one scientist, a Twintacle in a little lab coat, in the room.

"She's fine, though a little panicked over that call still." He answered.

"It only confirmed that they are coming." Octavio nodded, showing the first sign of somberness in some time. "On the bright side, here's the new guard to replace Travis."

"Ah, excellent!" The Twintacle exclaimed. "I'll show him what to do."

Octavio nodded. "I'll leave you to it then." He said, turning to Darian. Before he left, he did turn to address the Octoling. "And thank you, I expect you to do well at this assignment."

"Y-yes sir." Darian said as Octavio made his way out. He watched the Octobot King leave, standing there until the scientist cleared his throat.

"Come along, I have something to show you and what you are to do." The Octarian said as he walked over to another door, opening it for him.

Darian readjusted his chestplate as he walked over, still trying to process the situation as it was unfolding.

"So is this my new guard?" A feminine voice asked from inside, eyes locking onto the Octoling at the doorway. "Does he know about this?"

The Twintacle looked up at him, giving him a nudge with a tentacle. "Y-yes." Darian spoke, catching onto his silent cue. "Know what?"

The two walked into the room. Soon, he understood what the stranger meant. "You're... an Inkling..." He looked at her tentacles that were tied up in a bow behind her head. She wore normal clothes, her shirt did, however, stop a little bit above her waist to show some hints of a tattoo. Her shades hid her eyes from him. "...Callie of the Squid Sisters." He said as his face went a little red. "I-It's an honor."

The Dancer smiled. "I like this one, better than the last guard you gave me."

"What happened to the last one?" He asked them, gulping. He then realized what was really nagging at him. "Why is she not fighting us, isn't she an enemy?"

"Her previous one died while abandoning post, snuck off to be a thrill seeker." The Twintacle said. "For the second, her sunglasses." He said, reaching a tentacle out to ask for the shades, which Callie handed right to him.

"Sunglasses?"

"Hypnoshades, they don't completely control her, so she has the same general personality as she did back at Inkopolis. However, these ones are specially made to suppress some memories and give her a nudge on our side of thinking." He looks the glasses over. "Even when they are off the effect will still linger for... an untested amount of time."

"You mean you don't know?"

"Well, it works for a small amount of time at the very least." The Twinacle nods at Callie. "Frankly it could be disastrous if we did let her go without for an extended amount of time."

Darian stood there processing the situation. "So... I've been picked to watch over her."

"That and to assist me when I need it!" Callie cheerfully told him.

"Ok..." He looked around. "How are you ok with wearing something that alters your mind?" His gaze turning to the shades. The Octarian just finished inspecting the glasses, holding them out for the squid.

"How are you not seeing that these help me?" She says, leaning in. "Besides, don't you think these make me looks stylish?"

"Well... I mean yes." He said as she seems to bear down on him.

"Goodie." She smiled, turning around and hitting him with a tentacle without meaning to. "Sorry!"

"Could you wait in the other room while I give him an overview of his duties?" The tentacles asked.

"I sure can." She nods, heading to the other room. "I don't know what else there is to do..." She muttered to herself, thinking of the call.

"She does like you more than the last one." The Twintacle told Darian. "But anyway, a few things..."

In fifteen minutes the scientist gave an info dump on what Darian would now be required to do. The Octoling would generally serve as Callie's guard, as the title implied. But on the reverse, he was to make sure Callie didn't by too much trouble that if the Hypnoshades ever did fail. He was also to make sure the glasses were put on her head right before she got up, as they were charged during the night. Darian partly thought that his role had some parts where he was a servant, but those concerns were pushed aside from other fish loads of information.

"So is that good, anything you think I need to say again? She is mostly capable of handling herself without you being there for some time."

"Uh, no that's good." Darian said, taking in all the information. "I think I got this."

"Excellent." Twintacle replied, leading him out. Callie got up from the seat that was right next to some desk with some blueprints on it. She took a moment to wipe something away from her face.

"I'll leave you two to whatever she needs, I am called elsewhere." The tentacle said as he walked out of their presence. Callie turned to Darian, looking him over.

"What do we do ma'am?" Darian asked as Callie went over to the same door the scientist left with. Callie paused to look at him.

"Well, you don't have to call me something that fancy, you know my name already." She responded.

"O-oh... sorry Callie..." He said, turning away from her.

"See, that's better! We're becoming friends already." She grinned. "But a name would be nice..."

"Darian." He quickly reported. "Darian Dee."

Callie smiled, sighing as they walked out. "You are better than the last guard I had, he hardly acknowledged me at all."

"Thanks." He said, scratching a tentacle. "Where am I escorting you to anyway?"

"Back to my quarters, and yours by extension." She replied, not skipping a beat. "Usually it's where I practice a performance or something."

"Oh..." Darian fell silent, not sure if he should carry on this conversation or not. Callie picked up on this after a little bit, looking at the Octoling.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, why you ask?" He turned to her.

"You just got quiet." The Squid Sister said, stopping her pace.

He turned to look back at her. "We're just walking, and I'm not much of a good conversation guy."

Callie nodded, leading him to the place that she lived in the dome, and his first impression was mixed when he saw the entrance. "Little sparkly much?" He asked, looking at the entrance. the Door itself had significantly more colorful tape and sparkle than the rest of the base. He couldn't tell if it hurt his eyes or the decorations impressed him.

"Well, There were days when I had a lot of time on my hands." She admitted, thinking back to those days that she just brought back materials to her room. The Squid opened up the door to reveal the inside. At the very least, every surface of any given object had something that either glowed or sparkled. At worst, the object was subjected to being completely covered in something that made it shine.

"Woah..." Darian walked in, taking in the spectacle.

Callie followed behind him, closing the door and flopping onto the bed in the room. She sighed into the cushions.

Darian watched her, he stopped halfway from her bed to a door that was left untouched by the scorches of illuminant color. "They're coming..." She sighed, trying to undo the bow on the back of her head. After a bit of struggling she looked up at the guard. "Can you help me?"

He gulped, walking over to her. Callie got up and turned, allowing him to take a seat next to her to untile her tentacles. After a moment they flopped down from her head, one laying on his lap.

"Thanks..." Callie whispered, turning to him.

He nodded, staying seated. "So... is everything alright?"

"Kinda not, how can you tell?"

"You're getting quiet." He replied, wincing in anticipation of some form of punishment. Instead, he just was rewarded with a sigh.

"Yeah, I failed at trying to get Squidbeak to go away, and now they're at our doorstep." She lifted her glasses to rub her eyes. "I only gave them more motivation to come."

"So? We've held out this long. We just have to keep going or something." He shrugged, trying to suppress his own newfound doubts. He looked up, only to suddenly be greeted by Callie pressing herself against him. "Wha-?"

Callie gave him a kiss, completely flustering the Octoling. "Thanks."

"Uh... you're welcome..." Darian said wide eyed, not expecting that at all. Callie noticed, pulling back.

"Sorry, I guess personal space is something I should work on..." She chuckled sheepishly. Callie glanced up at him. "You can go now, I've just been so..."

"...stressed?" He finished for her.

"Yeah... I just thought..."

Darian looked at her, realization dawning on him the more he thought about it. "You would want to be with an Octarian like me?" He gulped.

"Well, you are nicer than the last guard and pretty cute." Callie smiled, lifting the shades onto her forehead.

"T-thank you..." He smiled nervously as he began to feel a rise. "I... uh..."

"You like me too, don't you?" She giggled, seeing his face turn slightly red.

"I do..."

"Well, how much do you wanna show me?" The Dancer asked, practically leaning on his lap.

"You want to do this right now?" Darian asked, looking her in the eyes.

"We might not get a chance to try this again, please just one round at least?" She pleaded. "As long as you like.

"Alright, since you've been nice to me." He said, detaching the tank on his back, setting it down beside the bed.

Callie caught him off guard when he turned back to face her, having used the time to remove her top. She giggled as his eyes widened, scanning her entire top portion. Her breasts had only a bra to shield them from his eyes. "Well? Come on and get to know me."

"Copy." He nodded, any hesitation fled him as he pulled off his gloves. His hands skimmed over her until taking note of the tattoo.

"Well, do you approve?" She asked, sliding a finger down her side.

"Indeed." He answered, planting a kiss on the colored skin before shifting his attention to the piece of clothing that blocked him from her chest. With a nod of encouragement, he reached around back to release the buckle. His reward was the free access to the entirety of her upper body.

Callie grew impatient, pulling down her shades over her eyes before pulling Darrian's shirt and chestplate off. "There, now we're equally ready to go."

"Sure." Darian chuckled as he cupped her breast. "They're kinda smaller than I expected."

"Hmph..." She pouted, leaning back to lie on the bed to let him on top. Her complaint didn't last long as she took a deep breath, Darian had moved his attention to the free nipple that was unattended to. He toyed with it, kissing, licking and nuzzling it until erect

"Where did the guard that looked so unsure about this go?" Callie smiled as she reached her hand up to his cheek. "I'm just here with this fine lover.

"Still here, just surer about this." He said, pulling back. Callie watched eagerly as his hands moved down to her pants. She kicked her shoes off, nodding in approval of his actions.

Darian swiftly pulled her pants and panties clean off, removing what blocked her entrance from his sight. She shivered as he ran his hand down the inside of her leg. "Well, don't just sit there." Callie said, knowing full well that she was being a tad bit impatient.

"For you." He says, pulling himself down to her folds. He watched her, giving her a drawn out lick. Callie shook a little, a whisper of pleasure escaped her lips as he took another lick.

"Come into me..." She insisted, placing a hand on the back of his head. He had no other option but to comply with her demand, not really complaining anyway as his tongue slithered into the entrance. "Yes..." She mouthed as the stress from earlier drowned out in the delight of this sensation.

The Octoling chuckled, causing her to giggle and squirm a little from the vibrations he made. Callie eased her grip on him, allowing some moans to escape.

Callie could have sworn that she was nearing her peak when Darian slipped out from under her. The Inkling was left looking up at him in slight disappointment. "I thought you were liking me?"

"Liking you is one thing..." He said, pulling down his pants to reveal his boner. "...But loving you is another."

Callie grinned, sitting up a little bit. Darian didn't need to wait for permission to bury his shaft into her, working himself into her more and more.

"Yes..." Callie moaned, falling limply back onto the bed. Darian moved himself over her, bringing the two nose to nose for a moment.

"Well, here's a little present for you." He grins, sliding his shaft to fully enjoy the freedom he has been given inside of Callie. She gripped the sheets, steadying herself against his drives into her.

They kept going, time didn't matter for them as they kept at it. "Are you really ready?" Darian asked, picking up speed.

"Yes!" The squid nearly cheers, wrapping her arms and two tentacles around his body.

He nodded, suddenly stopping when he reached his high. It was mere moments after his orgasmic high that Callie had her climax. Callie fell limp on the bed, closing her eyes as her fluids flowed out.

He was about to pull out when Callie stopped him. "Again..." She pleaded, not letting go.

"Repeat that."

"Again!" She insisted, now with more authority in her tone. Darian obligated, once more plunging into her depths. He didn't let down either, carrying on as much as before. He placed his hands back over her chests, working to maximize the reaction from Callie.

"Oh yes..." She groaned, barely keeping herself from swaying out of her skin. She felt him come in one last time, milt seeping its way into her body. She could only imagine what it looked like as his charge covered her insides. Her expression softened as she looked down at her guard.

Darian sighed, pulling out to lie down next to his new lover. "Well, now's there's no excuse for me not say I love you."

"I agree." Callie smiled, pulling the glasses off her face to look at him directly.

The two snuggled up with each other, happy that they had this time to bond together. Darian thought of something right there and then, a new doubt unrelated to the Octarian grand plan occurred to him. "Callie."

"Mm hm?" She asked, looking to him.

"What will we do if you're taken back, or worse?"

"I... I'm not sure." Callie sighed, feeling the weight of his words. After a moment she came to a decision. "I promise you this, if we do lose, I'll at least come back to see you. I don't have to care about anything else here."

"Even if they take your hypnoshades?"

"If they snatch these, I'll still come back for you." She smiled, donning her sunglasses again. "Deep down I know it."