"Marie!"

Footsteps were heard booming up the stairs. Before long, a fierce, hard knock braced the door, echoing throughout the room. Marie was sleeping soundly in her bed, having not slept much the night before. She deserved a quick nap. As she heard Callie barging up the stairs, she woke up slightly, and then got up as she heard her yell.

"MA-RIEEEE!"

Marie calmly opened her door, finding Callie, who was covered in spaghetti sauce and water, as well as a few noodles hanging off her head. Her outfit was covered, and she left soaking wet tracks on the ground on her way upstairs. She folded her arms and pouted a bit.

"I messed up the spaghetti again."

Marie sighed, pushing Callie out of the way lightly. Callie shut the door behind her, following Marie back to the kitchen. Downstairs, Marie braced herself for whatever disaster Callie made in her short time of attempting to cook once more. Luckily for her, it was only a minor mess, with some sauce on the floor and a lot of noodles drooping off the counter.

"I accidentally dropped the pot as I went to go dump the water, and I knocked over the sauce in the crossfire.." Callie pouted, picking a noodle up off her head and setting it in the trash can.

"Meh, it's fine. At least the pot isn't damaged like last time." Marie yawned, casually flipping up the noodles back into the pot. She had to step over a bit of the sauce so she could make it to the sink and dump the water.

Callie cleaned herself up, helping Marie mop up the sauce on the ground. "I should've just made hot dogs. Those are easier and require less pots."

"They require only a plate and a microwave, Callie… the fact you usually use a spatula absolutely baffles my mind." Marie sighed and sat on a bar stool. She was typically the only one who cooked in the household, but lately Callie has been trying to make up for getting hypnotized by DJ Octavio. Marie would argue that she's jeopardized more dinners than made them, however…

Callie puffed and folded her arms. "At least I'm TRYING to help! Agent 3 and 4 don't do ''anything'' to help cook!"

Marie gave her an odd look. "That's because 3 and 4 are always out, scouting for Octarians and being productive. It's simply how gender rolls work. The men do hard work, the women support men."

Callie sighed and sat next to Marie. "Gender rolls are bullcrap. I wanna go out and do that too!"

"No one ever said you couldn't," Marie replied, "But whatever..."

Callie brightened up and turned to Marie. "Wait, I can?!"

"I mean, sure, if you want to risk your own life like 3 and 4 do. Or, you can stay here with me so we can help them out and stuff. And whatever else you usually do when you're here." Marie laid her head on the table, still tired from being woken up earlier.

"… Yeah, I guess you're right. Hey, when are they coming back next? They left yesterday to go scout." Callie looked at the calendar, where they marked each day the Agents were gone. 4 was out a lot more than 3 usually was, but this time they went out together. The house was a lot lonelier without the two of them, especially without Cap'n Cuttlefish. No one knew exactly where he went, but rumor spread that he was off on vacation somewhere.

"They said they'd be back today sometime. It's 6 o'clock, so I don't know when, but they haven't lied before."

Callie interjected, "What about that one time when 3 said they'd bring back pizza with pineapple, but there was no pineapple in sight?"

"That was a public service. Not a lie." Marie responded, resting one arm on the table and another at her side. She hadn't planned on coming out here to talk with Callie, but she didn't happen to be doing very much anyways. Plus, recently they hadn't had much of a chance to simply talk.

Callie pouted again and folded her arms. "It's called an opinion, but whatever..."

Callie and Marie, after finishing up cleaning the disaster area that was the kitchen, patiently waited for Agent 3 and 4.

Agent 3 is the slightly older one of the two. He wears his tentacles slick back, and typically a pair of 18k Aviators with a grape-colored jacket and shorts that covers most of his thighs, and pants that went down to his feet. He also runs around in a pair of White Norimaki 750s. He considered himself the mature one, always taking charge when in need. Even then, he doesn't seem to care much about the job anymore, rarely going out and letting 4 go in his stead. He mostly hangs back with Callie and Marie, only occasionally going out to help. He's persistent in his aim with the Hero Shot and Aerospray, although he switches things up often to keep his moveset fresh. He is one to rush or keep things going, since he has a hard time keeping focus at one thing at a time.

Agent 4 is very slightly younger, yet a lot taller and stronger than Agent 3. 4 typically wears his hair sideswept to his right, sporting a black sweater with blue squid pins, and a standard pair of blue jeans. Contrasting 3's shoes, he wears the Black Norimaki 750s. 4 is a passive aggressive guy, usually being the one to misplace his things, or to worry a lot. However, he's a hard worker, putting in tons of effort to stop the reign of Octarians. Seeing him in the square, he would actually seem pretty shady. Unlike 3, 4 keeps to himself a lot more and doesn't speak much to other inklings. 3 is the one who does most of the talking. 4 has most recently been out on the forefront, fighting Octarians in Octo Valley. He's a bit of a completionist as Marie has pointed out, but that just makes him a better agent. While he typically sided with the Aerospray, he also grew to like all the weapons and more ranged ones like the Splattershot Pro.

Marie sighed, standing up and trotting towards the stairs. "I'm going to take a nap. Wake me up as soon as 3 and 4 come back." She proceeded up the stairs to her room, leaving Callie sitting at the counter by herself.

Although she didn't want to be the one sitting around waiting for them, it wouldn't be too big of a deal to just wait a little bit longer. They wouldn't take much longer, since 3 likes to be home early. If it was just 4, they would probably be out there all day until every last power egg is collected and they were sure the whole valley was clear.

After Callie had waited what seemed like an eternity, but was really, like, an hour, she heard a knock at the door. Hastily, she ran to the door and swung it open. 4 stepped inside, staying silent, while 3 ran in and gave Callie a bear hug.

"Yo! We're finally back!" 3 exclaimed, lifting Callie up in the air and setting her back down. 4 smiled and waved, then instantly went to the fridge and poured himself a glass of milk, not saying anything.

"Me and Marie were waiting FOREVER for you to come back! What took you so long?!" Callie exclaimed, pushing 3.

"Forever is a bit of an overstatement.." 3 mumbled, checking the clock to see they'd only been gone 8 hours. "Couple of Octolings chased us back to the entrance to the Square. Me and 4 took em' out. Nothing to worry about." 3 explained, unzipping his Hero Hoodie and sliding it off, hanging it up on the coat rack by the door. "4, ya gonna slip outta that thing? It's hot in here."

"Kinda cold to me. And why are we still using code names? Just call me by my name, dude." 4 responded, taking a sip of milk from his glass.

3 sighed. "Whatever, Midnight. Helps keep our location intact, but I guess they can't reach out here anyways."

Midnight yawned and sat down on a bar stool. "I'm going to bed after this. Tomorrow I want to go out and see if any more Octolings are hiding. DJ, you coming with?"

DJ sat down on an adjacent stool. "Nope. I'ma stay back this time. I need to rank up a bit in Rainmaker, and tomorrow is perfect, since it'll be Starfish Mainstage and Humpback Pump Track. The two best stages!"

Midnight rolled his eyes. "I think you're fine, but whatever. I'll be back around the same time tomorrow."

"I'm getting to S+, man. You aren't ever gonna stop me." DJ stretched a bit, still a bit worn out from running around and shooting up a bunch of lone Octarians.

"Pfft. Whatever." Midnight finished off his glass and set it in the sink, heading for his room. "See ya in the morning." He waved and slammed the door behind him.

"Meh. So, Callie, when are you and Marie gonna record your next single? It's been a while, since, ya know.." DJ wondered, as one of the first things he hoped for when they got Callie back was that they'd make new music.

Callie shrugged. "I'm not sure. We don't have any of our old equipment or our studio, since that's back in Inkopolis Plaza and that area almost completely shut down. We might have to start from scratch. I don't think it should be too overly long, though. Give it like, say, a month. We have a song planned, but we just need the equipment to record." She sat at the stool directly next to DJ, brushing against him a bit.

"Bummer. Midnight will be gone for a while, since he'll end up spending all day looking for power eggs and scrolls or whatever. I only barely managed to convince him not to search every single nook and cranny when we just went. What're we gonna do?" DJ asked, figuring Callie would have some idea of what they'd do tomorrow.

"I dunno. We can go out, go to the Galleria, grab something to eat, then you can do your Rainmaker matches… Just, whatever. Why?" Callie answered best she could, since she figured Marie probably had plans for them already and just wasn't in the mood to share.

"Just wondering, is all." DJ put his hands in his shorts pockets, staring at the blank television they had in their living room. Checking the clock, it was only around 8:00 PM, so he could still go out if he wanted. After a moment, he got up and slung on his grape-hoodie. "Hey, I think I'm gonna go out for a bit. Not tired yet."

Callie pouted a bit, jokingly. "Wow, so you're just gonna leave without me?"

DJ sighed. "No, you can come. Don't see why not."

Callie brightened up and went up to her room to throw on a sweater and grab some of her stuff. She came back down a few minutes later, jumping up and down. "Let's go!" She exclaimed before running right out the door.

"Ugh..." DJ sighed and followed her outside. This was gonna be a long night.

Hey! This is my first story on here, and I'm not expecting much, but I hope you enjoy. I'll be publishing more chapters as I get the chance. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more!