Kreon had followed the Squid Sisters through the studio complex. She could notice a lot of people still here for this late hour, mostly security but also a few other famous stars here. That the dragon squid noticed was a squid in a business suit from a popular franchise of movies called Squid Attorney, though she assumed they had a bit more of a walk to go.
"Does this Agent 3 guy have a real name?" Kreon chimed in. Calling someone agent and number sounded actually pretty rude, though these two were Agents 1 and 2, so maybe it was just common nicknames between all of them.
"Yeah. His name's Rackley," Marie simply responded as they began to make their way upstairs to the next floor of the studio, where a few janitorial members worked away, greeting the pop stars as they passed by. They arrived to a set of double doors for Set 3-C. There was a red light on beside the door with the words 'Recording in progress'. They were going to be forced to wait out here for the recording to stop before they could go inside to try and recruit Agent 3 to help them.
"How'd you guys meet him anyway? Just co-workers becoming friend's situation?" Kreon tried to start conversation to pass the time, as Marie pulled a nearby small crate over that was full of spare costumes or the fabrics needed to repair clothing. She just closed the lid on it before sitting on it like a chair.
"No, Rackley only started working here about a month after he met us, once the octarians were beaten. It was complete accident that we met him," Callie stated while using her big tentacles as a cushion to rest on. She loved having giant tentacles sometimes, though they did nothing but bring her teasing while growing up.
"He was going to get a soda after a turf war and tripped into the pipe to Octo Valley. Our grandpa greeted him and things went from there. Can't say it was a bad thing though. He is pretty good with a luna blaster," Marie claimed. That blind luck was what got them their biggest asset and strongest warrior against the octarian army. The group had a lot of good times together.
"What got him working here then?" Kreon questioned, not wanting to hear an entire retelling of the war tale. It sounded like a great heroic effort, but she really did not care right now for it. If they had to wait too long, she was going to take the Squid Sisters and go hunting right away. The Squid Sisters looked quite depressed to recall that they were glad to have him working in their studio, but there was something not good that occurred to put him on the path to working here.
"That's a bit complicated… he hasn't really opened up to us about everything, but we can kind of put things together… but he doesn't know everything about his own past, either," Marie stated, letting her cousin help with the explaining. For some reason it seemed to strike a personal string in her heart more than her cousin.
"From what we gathered, he was raised for a few years by his father, but his mother never was around. One day, his dad just vanished and never came back. His grandma found him and adopted him. We have a lot of connections, so when he told us that, we looked into things and he was born from a surrogate mother, because his mother was not able to have any eggs of her own," Callie explained. As if one not knowing their own past was not bad enough, having a confusing family history did not help.
"He's only fifteen, but after the octarians were beaten and we heard him tell us about his family from what he knew, we offered to help fund him some money so he could find out more as thanks… but he turned it down," she continued. Kreon felt confused now. A lot of things could be accomplished with huge amounts of money, probably paying the right private detective or two, and he could have all the information about his family that he would ever want.
"Why? Let me guess, some sort of junk about finding himself?" the dragon squid guessed blindly. She was surprised when they both shook their heads. Even if it was true, they would have done a lot more to convince him otherwise.
"Rackley is fifteen, but he is the type of guy who needs something to dedicate himself to, or else he can't function as well. When we offered that to him, he said that knowing about his real mom, the surrogate. Or the mother and father who abandoned him would do nothing but bring him bad luck and take his attention away from his grandmother," Marie continued. This grandmother of Agent 3's sounded like a lot more of an elder who did her best to raise him.
"I'm guessing when you say function as well, you mean ignore his depression as well?"
"Yeah. He's always had it for some reason. He worked hard to get through it though, and his grandma was sick, so he dedicated himself to taking care of her constantly. One day he went to a turf war after he literally did everything possible in that home. He played with us a lot too. I walked him home, and then we found her in her favorite chair, just motionless," Marie explained. She had the misfortune of stumbling across a dead body of Agent 3's only family. It was quite a shock to see, which was why this topic upset her a little.
"They said she had died from her heart condition during a nap. Rackley walked out of his home that day, and me and Marie gave him some space, but after a week, we couldn't find him anywhere. It took a month before he reappeared. He had no home now, so we let him stay with us and gave him a job at the studio," Callie finished the long story, both of them looking quite saddened from telling everything. Finally, they saw the red light above the door shut off, indicating they were done recording. Kreon smiled gladly, seeming to have barely been phased by this news, having no clue what to expect this Agent 3 to be like.
"But he's kind of famous in his own way. Ever since he got this job, he's been more dedicated than we've ever seen him," Marie claimed. Kreon was even more unsure what to expect from him now. She kept that straight face, needing them to help prove Alizarin innocent. Kreon followed them inside, her mind beginning to wander. She was starting to question what happened to her mind. One day she hated the red squid and his best friend. Now she was out to save one from being put away for life and another from losing their best friend. She had no care for the money anymore either.
"Excuse me," Kreon heard someone passing by in a costume, appearing to be an over sized isopod monster. She could see a lot of costumes, and others appearing to be sleeping in the studio's back area.
"Hey, director! Where's Rackley?" Callie questioned, seeing the familiar man in a baseball cap and leather jacket with a beard. The older squid chuckled, pointing behind him to the set on the other side of the wall.
"The Crescent Black Squid Ranger is just on stage. Go on ahead. We're done for the night. Take care, ladies," the director for this area bid them goodnight and continued on his way, a few cameramen following behind him, all wishing to go get some rest before they worked more the next day. The Squid Sisters let Kreon go ahead. She walked onto the set, where there appeared to be nothing but one big area set up to look like a throne room for a dark emperor.
"Wuh?" Kreon stepped back in surprise, seeing someone appear before her, their white boot stomping the ground. He stood there in a completely black costume that had white lines running up from the shoes to the shoulders in weird patterns, and a helmet that had a black visor shaped like an upside down crescent moon. He had a purple cape flowing behind him and a weird fancy looking luna blaster on his side. It was like he had appeared out of nowhere. The dragon squid felt the need to attack him with her inkbrush.
"You entered the wrong lair," the costumed person spoke, pulling their luna blaster off their side and aiming for the then frozen Kreon. Luna blasters were a popular weapon. Most of the time they could instantly splatter anyone. They hit directly, and even if the shot misses, an indirect attack still hurt.
"I'm the Crescent Black Squid Ranger, defender of justice! What are you doing here?" the person in the helmet questioned. Marie though walked up and took the helmet off the person's head, revealing an inkling with blue tentacles with an orange tinge at the end, tied up into a ponytail that ran down his back halfway after release from the helmet.
"Aw, Marie! Come on!" he cried.
"Agent 3! She's not a new actor. You can practice your corrupted hero role later since you've worked too much today. Kreon, this is Rackley, leader of the squid rangers. Rackley, this is Kreon, a friend to a friend of our friend," Callie introduced them to one another. Kreon groaned, rubbing her head. She knew that costume looked familiar. The squid rangers were a very popular new superhero show about seven squids that got special powers from across the galaxies and the cosmos that they used to fight evil with. It was a good show, definitely more appealing to kids, but the dragon squid hated knowing that Agent 3 was the Black Crescent Squid Ranger, because she felt like that ranger's acting was far too serious. Treating each scene greatly at least was nice, but doing it too well made it scary.
"Oh. It's nice to meet you, Kreon… Callie, Marie, what is it you two need? I figured you'd both be long gone to bed by now," he had to admit his curiosity. He loved playing the main squid ranger. It made him feel very important, and he dedicated every last ounce of emotion and energy to acting out that very role.
"Our friend got set up and is in deep sea trouble! We need to find a briefcase full of money that has been stolen to hopefully help prove him innocent. Can you help us with finding it?" Callie asked, she and Kreon expressing how badly they wanted the help. He scratched his tentacle with his free hand, his helmet under his arm after he had got it back from the white inkling.
"I don't know… no offense, Kreon, my best friends trust you, so that means I trust you too, but I'd like to get a few more scenes in before I turn in for the night," Rackley apologized. He was somehow planning to record even more scenes and acting to train and practice without the director being remotely near. Kreon was ready to speak up when the Squid Sisters got in front of their friend, having an idea in mind.
"Pleaaaase, Rackley?" the two cousins said in unison, putting on their best upset expressions they could muster. Rackley gulped in surprise, not wanting to make them sad. He hated seeing the Squid Sisters depressed or saddened. They were great at acting, even better than him. They had even appeared on his show a few times.
"We really can't do this alone…" Callie claimed, keeping up the fake teary eyes.
"Aren't you a great defender of justice? It'd be horrible for you to ignore a squid in danger…" Marie added with a quivering lip. He put his hands up, motioning them to calm down.
"Al-alright! Just because I love you two… What can I do to help?" Rackley agreed. The two cousins instantly stopped their act, and they let Kreon begin explaining everything, aware that they had to go over the plan before they got to work. It was already midnight, but they had plenty of energy left in them to burn. Rackley especially looked ready to do anything.
"Don't any of you worry… I won't let your friend be locked away."
