"Lady Luck shone down on the Inklings, and historians today agree that the Inklings' victory over the Octarians was mostly due to their superior number of limbs."
—Sunken Scrolls 1:14 (3.5)
Monday, 7:19 a.m.
Inkopolis
The agents took the rest of Sunday afternoon to plan, prepare, and review. They spent the night at Sheldon's apartment, a twenty-minute walk from the Square, and reviewed their plans again the next morning.
According to Marie's decrypted documents, three Octolings were aiming to break into two department stores and an indoor bike park sometime between 10 and 11 p.m. They wanted to steal the Zapfish that powered the places' backup generators. Two would meet one coming from the other direction at the corner of 16th Street and 214th Avenue, the heart of The Reef, before they would split up to do their dirty work. Due to ongoing renovations, the whole block was closed to the public. Cole could simply walk in at night when nobody was around to stop him. His job was to lie in wait at the corner of 17th and 214th to cut off escape routes. Marie, on the other hand, planned to climb onto the roof of a store on 17th Street, where she had clear sight lines to all locations of interest. Her job was to initiate the surprise attack.
They would take no chances tonight. If Marie could tag all three from her position, then Cole and Sheldon would round up the tranquilized Octolings, pick up Marie on 212th Avenue, and take everyone out to the shack for a round of interrogations. If Marie missed any, then Cole would simply shoot whoever was still standing. The goal was to keep it quick and quiet.
Marie stood up and stretched. "Let's go get breakfast," she said. "I need a break from all this serious stuff."
Cole glanced at a clock on the wall. "Still early. Should we wait for Sheldon?"
"Oh, Sheldon is already at the shop. He always opens Ammo Knights at dawn."
They exited the apartment, walked to the Square, and sat down at an outdoor cafe. The seating area had several small tables for two, a few already filled with other Inklings chowing down on breakfast pastries. The morning skies were overcast, with the sun peeking through only occasionally.
"Won't anyone recognize you, Agent 2?" asked Cole between sips of coffee. Both agents had traded their black uniforms for street clothes.
"Not a big deal," she answered. "Most people are too busy doing their own thing. And it's been a while since I've written, sung, or performed anything, actually. I wouldn't be surprised if nobody noticed me."
Cole looked at the senior operative across from him. With her ponytail, striped T-shirt, and sweatpants, Marie looked like an ordinary civilian. But after having seen her in action, Cole knew better than that. "You're a pretty crazy pop star," he said. "And I mean that in a good way. You talked about disposing of bodies after interrogations like nothing. You ain't afraid a gettin' your hands dirty. You're tougher than nails. Yet you also do music and go on TV. That's something else."
"It's my job," Marie answered, giving him a smirk. "And being famous is not as hard as you think. Turns out, decent singing ability plus some auto-tune goes a long way. Most of it is just luck, anyhow."
"I could never do it."
"Don't sell yourself short," Marie said. She paused to add a packet of sugar to her cup of coffee. "You've got a steady hand, you're level-headed, and you work on an oyster farm, right? That's pretty cool. Tell me more about that."
"I, uh, there's not much to say. My family raises oysters. They're gentle creatures and they give us meat, shells, and pearls."
"How big is your farm?"
"Medium-sized, I guess."
"You ever try any other kinds of work?"
"Like, work for money? Nah."
"Why not?"
Cole paused to think for a moment before responding. "Never needed to. Raising oysters is satisfying work, and we earn more than enough to get by. I'm happy staying by my family's side and keeping the farm running after Mom and Dad are too old."
Marie nodded. "Wise words, coming from an eighteen-year-old." She looked down at her cup and swirled the liquid around. "You know, you're pretty mature for someone your age."
"Really, now? I think it's just 'cause I'm quiet. I guess I am the big brother at home, though."
"Aren't you skipping school, Cole? It is Monday now."
Cole laughed. "No, I dropped out a while ago. You don't need a high school education to raise oysters."
"Gotcha."
A waitress came by with their food. Marie had ordered a croissant. Cole went to work on a stack of pancakes.
"Did you and Natalie go to the same school?" asked Marie, watching Cole cut six syrup-drenched pancakes at once.
"Yeah," he answered. "Nat was a genius. She graduated when she was, like, thirteen or fourteen. Ran varsity track and kept up with the bigger kids, too."
"Dang, so she moved out right after graduation, huh?"
"Yeah."
"She also grew up on a farm, right?"
"No, her parents run a hardware store."
"Gotcha."
A brief silence followed as Cole shoved the first forkful of pancake into his mouth.
"So, what's your plan after all of this, Cole?" asked Marie. "Will you head back to Razorback Falls? You could continue working with us. I'll save you an official position if you'd ever consider joining us for real."
Cole swallowed. "No," he said, stabbing at another bite with his fork. "I'll help you until we find your cousin, but after that, I'm going home."
Marie added another pack of sugar to her coffee and nodded. "That's fair," she said.
"You know, you never did clarify your terms," said Cole. "Said you wanted my help, but you never said how much. You call me Agent 4, but am I, uh, officially affiliated? I don't have the kind of training y'all do, and I'd probably get in the way after your real agents come back. Or I could done get killed. My family back home still thinks I'm running around asking for Nat at hospitals."
Marie frowned. "I suppose you're right. I'm sorry about rushing everything. I was honestly getting desperate last week, but you came along at the perfect time." She propped her face against her left hand, elbow on the table, and lowered her voice. "How about this? Don't worry about any of that for the rest of today. I need your one-hundred percent tonight, but we'll talk business afterward. Terms, compensation, all that."
"I didn't mean I wanted money or anything," Cole said with a shrug. "I just wanna know exactly what you expect out of me." Honestly, he was hoping to just get Nat out alive and not die himself. The excitement from doing this secret, investigative field work was payment enough.
Marie nibbled at her croissant, staring at the rapidly diminishing stack of pancakes in front of Cole. "It's funny," she said. "We recruited Natalie the same way, with Gramps befriending her out of the blue. She didn't get any proper training until way later, and had to learn a lot while out in the field."
"Was she also immediately thrust into life or death situations?"
"Oh, yes," Marie responded. "Callie and I were really upset about it at the time. I mean, Captain dragged a kid into our business. Natalie could have died a million times over, ratted us out, messed things up..." Marie sighed. "In retrospect, I criminally underestimated them both. Cap had a good eye, and Nat took everything like a champ, eventually rising to become the captain's right-hand agent, his ace in the hole. She's apparently a genius athlete, after all."
"Ha, and she never told me any of this." said Cole, adding a pack of sugar to his own coffee. "Always just said she was playin' paintball."
"You two seem pretty close. I assume you're good friends?"
"Well, yeah, we was like family. She used to live next door. We was in the same grade for a while, too. She'd help me with homework, and I'd beat up anyone who made fun of her size."
"Cute," teased Marie. "I'm kind of glad to hear that Natalie has someone to worry about her. She never talks about her private life at work."
"What's she like?"
Marie raised an eyebrow. "You mean on the job?"
"Yeah," Cole clarified.
"Hm, kind of like you. Serious, responsive, and confident. She has good intuition, despite her young age. A little feisty, too, sometimes."
"You two friends?"
"I suppose. We work side-by-side, but we don't talk that much. She's closer to the captain."
"I see," Cole said, finishing his food.
As the agents paid for their meal and walked back to the apartment, thick clouds rolled in and blanketed the sky with a layer of dark grey. As they double-checked their equipment and geared themselves up with beanies, face masks, black jackets, and long pants, the rain began to pour, continuing to fall until the evening. By 9 p.m., it had subsided into a light drizzle, and the agents moved out.
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