"Good to see you're on time," Marie said as Susan and Anna entered the headquarters. She turned towards Rosa, who sat laid back in a chair. "Alright Rosa, pay up," Marie said and extended her hand. Rosa grunted, rolled her eyes, and pulled out a bundle of cash. Marie took the money, a smug look on her face. Susan leaned up against the wall, while Anna sat down in a chair.

"What's going on?" Susan asked and nodded towards the bundle of cash in Marie's hand.

"Oh, nothing special," Marie answered and put the money in her pocket. "Me and Rosa just made a bet to see if you would arrive on time or not. And as you can see, Rosa lost!"

"Yeah, yeah, piss off," Rosa grunted, and then looked at Susan. "You couldn't have come a little bit later? I was going to buy lunch with that money."

"Hey, don't blame the newbies," Marie tuned in before Susan or Anna could answer. "Blame yourself, it was you who came up with the idea in the first place."

"Yeah, I know," Rosa answered and stretched her back so that she was staring up at the cave ceiling above them. "I was just so certain they'd be late."

"What, because you always are?" Marie responded while rummaging through some drawers. "I remember when you first started, you'd come late almost every time. And you still do, to some extent."

Rosa groaned and closed her eyes. "Not my fault our headquarters are so far away. I'm almost jealous of the new squad, their base will be so much closer."

Susan and Anna exchanged silent looks. They'd been right! They'd be located closer to the city! Marie looked up and put a few papers on the table. "Well, then maybe you should wake up earlier. Then maybe you'd arrive on-time more often."

"Wake up earlier?" Rosa laughed. "Yeah, that ain't happening. Besides, being five or ten minutes late isn't a huge issue."

Marie shrugged and looked towards Susan and Anna. "Welcome to your first day at the job," she said and sat down. "As you can see, we all get along really well."

Susan smiled and decided to sit down next to Anna. "Interesting way to start your first day," she responded. Marie nodded. "If there's anyone likely to scare you away from this job, it's probably me and Rosa," she said and pointed at herself and Rosa. "So, please don't leave because of us, I don't want to look for new candidates."

"Don't worry!" Anna laughed. "We won't be going anywhere!"

"Good to hear," Marie responded and began flipping through some papers. "But anyway, I'm actually kind of surprised you guys came on time. Considering where you live."

"Oh, we just woke a bit earlier than usual," Susan responded. "I wouldn't say I like waking up so early, but we didn't really want to be late on our first day of the job."

"Where do you guys live anyway?" Rosa asked and placed her feet on the table.

"Few blocks from the market," Anna responded. Rosa whistled, her eyes widening. "That's quite the walk. How do you guys get here? By car?"

Susan shook her head in response. "I wish so, but no, we took the bus, then a train, and then walked over here from the northern train station. It's a pain, especially with the traffic."

"Wow, that's quite the trip," Rosa responded. "But you guys are in luck because your new base is closer to the market than this place is!"

"That'll be a relief!" Anna said. "Honestly, I thought my feet were going to fall off."

Marie looked up from her papers, placed them back inside the drawer, and leaned back in her chair. "Alright, enough chit-chat," she said, instantly grabbing the attention of Susan and Anna. "Let me go over what the schedule is today."

Susan listened intently to what she had to say. Marie cleared her throat. "Before I take you guys to your new base, there are some things we need to do first. I want to see how you guys fair up in an actual battle."

Marie checked on her phone and frowned. "Pearl should be here soon with the new recruit. You guys will take a few battle scenarios with them."

"Who's this new recruit anyway?" Rosa asked. "And why didn't they show up yesterday, get it over with?"

"Conflicting schedules," Marie answered. "Pearl has already explained everything to her, she'll be able to jump into this right away."

"Where'd Pearl find them anyway?" Rosa asked again. Marie shrugged in response and stood up. "I think she said she found them while she was spectating turf wars. Apparently, this new recruit is really good."

Rosa scratched her head and frowned. "Turf war?" she asked skeptically. "Are you sure some pleb from Turf War is gonna be up for this? Our kinds of missions are a hell of a lot more different than that."

Marie looked towards the entrance of the cave and answered without looking at Rosa. "Pearl made it sound like she was a lot more capable than that. Besides, should I remind you how you joined? You were just some random kid wandering around Inkopolis Square, with barely any experience in Turf War. And you just decided to follow a strange woman you saw. And yet, you were able to take on an entire army of Octarians."

"Yeah, guess you're right," Rosa answered and looked at Susan and Anna, who had been sitting silently, not daring to interrupt their conversation. "What about you two? You any good at Turf?"

Susan scratched her head, embarrassed. "Well… It's been a while since I played, but last I remember, I think I was pretty average."

"Now that's a lie if I've ever heard one," Anna said and looked at Susan, an eyebrow raised. "Average? You were really good! How many Turf tourneys did you and your team win again? Twenty?"

Susan could feel ink moving into her cheeks and she looked down at the floor. "Twenty-seven…" she mumbled to herself.

"And what was your splat average again?" Anna continued. Susan sighed before she answered. "Thirty-six splats on average per match…"

"See?" Anna said, looking at Rosa. "Average my ass. She carried her team on every tourney they went to."

"Alright, I get it!" Susan sighed, tired of how Anna was putting a spotlight on her. She'd prefer it if she didn't.

Rosa nodded, looking impressed. "Twenty-seven Turf tourney wins, huh? That's pretty impressive, not gonna lie."

She then looked at Anna, curious. "And you? Were you any good?"

Anna waved her hand. "Nah, not really. I spent most of my time indoors. The only times I came near Turf War were when I was watching Susan or the few times I actually played. And when I did play, well, let's just say I wasn't really good. Could never find the right weapon for me, ya know?"

Rosa raised an eyebrow. "Yet you're pretty decent with a bow?" she said and pointed at Anna's bow that was propped up to the table. Anna stroked the weapon and sighed.

"Yeah, I was interested in archery at the time. Practiced a bit in my free time. However, they were banned in Turf War, so I could never put my archery skills to use. Well, not until after the flood, that is."

"I've heard they're legal now," Marie shot in. She'd been staring at the entrance this entire time and spoke without looking away. Anna looked at her and shrugged.

"Don't have time to play now. Been too busy surviving. Besides, I've only ever used my bow in life or death situations. I don't think that would translate well into friendly Turf matches. I don't want to accidentally shoot someone's arm off."

"Eh, you have a point," Rosa responded and looked at Marie. "What about you? Were you any good?"

"Better than any of you," Marie responded bluntly without looking at them. "Could take on all of you at once."

Rosa shook her head. "Come on, that's a bit of an overstatement, isn't it?"

"Nope," Marie responded blankly.

"I mean, I think it would be a pretty close match, considering that I-"

"Rosa, if you're gonna try and impress our new recruits by flexing your skills in Turf War, let me remind you that you weren't even that good at it to begin with."

"What are you talking about?!" Rosa answered, looking a little offended. I was pretty good, thank you very much! Besides, I wasn't going to flex!"

Marie looked away from the cave entrance for the first time and looked at Rosa with a doubtful look in her eyes. "What about all those times your application to join a team got rejected because no one wanted you on their team?"

"Wow, way to rub it in, granny," Rosa responded. "How'd you find out about that anyway?" she continued, more to herself than Marie. Then she looked back at Susan like she'd just remembered she was there.

"Yeah, you could say I wasn't the best at Turf War," she said with an embarrassed look on her face. "Could never get good at the whole, shoot the ground thing. Besides, I was a lot better at Ranked, so who needs Turf War?"

Susan didn't really know how to respond, so she just shrugged and she, Anna, and Rosa continued to chat about all kinds of things.

After a few minutes, Marie finally moved again. "They're here," she simply said and began walking towards the entrance. Susan looked up and noticed two figures coming out of the tunnel. Now that Marie was out of earshot, Susan leaned over to Rosa and whispered to her.

"Does she always treat you like that?" she asked. Rosa looked at her, clueless.

"Like what?"

"Ya know, talking down on you I guess? Like she did when we were talking about Turf War."

Rosa frowned but then the look of realization spread across her face and she laughed silently.

"Oh, that," she whispered. "You don't have to worry about that, she doesn't mean any harm in it! We diss each other all the time! She's just a bit better at it than I am! Just look at this!"

Rosa raised her voice and called after Marie. "Hey, old hag, those clothes you're wearing! They're garbage!"

"Thanks, yours are as well!" Marie called without looking back. Rosa looked back at Susan and shrugged. "See, no harm done!"

"Huh," Susan responded. "Interesting relationship," she thought and leaned back. She watched as the two figures came closer. One of them was Pearl, wearing a pink hoodie. She waved towards them as they came closer. The other person was a woman Susan was not familiar with.

"I guess that's the new recruit," Rosa echoed Susan's thoughts. The woman looked a little taller than Susan was, and she was wearing a black tank top. Her hair had a purple color, and her skin had a tanned tone to it. Her hair was pretty long, and she had it untied down her back. As she got closer, Susan noticed two dualies hanging by her waist.

Rosa stood up, Susan and Anna replicating her. Once Pearl made it over to them, she threw herself in a chair and stretched her back.

"Sorry for being late, traffic was a nightmare," she sighed. Then, she waved her hand towards the new girl.

"By the way, that's our new recruit, I almost forgot to pick her up on my way here."

Everyone looked towards the new girl, who smiled back. Her expression was warm, yet confident and strong. She waved and introduced herself.

"Heya there, I'm Charlotte!" she said. "You can call me Charlie if you want! It's great to be working with you all!"

Marie shook her hand. "Welcome to the New Squidbeak Splatoon! I assume Pearl already explained the basics of what we do here?"

"Yep!" Charlie responded.

"Good, I'm Marie," Marie said. "But in the field, I'm Agent Two."

"Yeah, by the way, I'm such a huge fan!" Charlie answered. "I used to listen to you all the time, in fact, I still do!"

"That's good to hear," Marie said in a weird tone. "But please, don't treat me in some special way. Here, we're all equal."

"Got it!" Charlie nodded and turned towards the others. Rosa walked up to her and extended a hand. "I'm Rosa, aka, Agent Four!"

"Pleasure!" Charlie answered and they shook hands. They held their grip for an unusual amount of time, and it took Susan a few moments to realize that they were seeing who would back down first.

Rosa gritted her teeth as the two of them squeezed each other's hand. Charlie looked confident and didn't appear remotely bothered. Now that she was up close, Susan noticed how muscular she was. She'd thought Rosa was muscular, but she paled in comparison to Charlie. She was willing to bet she could crush boulders with those thighs.

Rosa grunted and let go and laughed slightly. "Not bad!"

Charlie winked. "Not bad yourself!" she said. They fist-bumped each other and Rosa laughed.

"I like this one!"

"Alright you two, calm down," Marie sighed. Her tone made it sound like she was thinking: "Oh cod, now there's two of them."

Marie pointed towards Susan and Anna. "Those two are the other two recruits, Susan and Anna. They'll be your colleagues in the new division. On the field, they're known as Agent Alpha and Agent Omega."

Charlie walked up to Susan and extended a hand. "I look forward to working with you!"

A slight knot formed in Susan's stomach. When she'd shook hands with Rosa for the first time, her hand had been crushed. But if this girl had beat Rosa at her own game, Susan only wondered what her grip was like. Nevertheless, Susan said goodbye to her hand and accepted Charlie's greeting.

"Same goes for me!" she said and they shook hands. Susan had been expecting her hand to be crushed, but Charlie's grip was gentle. However, Susan did not want to know what would happen if she actually started squeezing. Charlie let go and turned to Anna, who winked and extended her hand.

"I'm Anna, your girl in the chair!" she said, and Charlie shook her hand.

"Pleasure!"

Once everyone had made introductions, Marie waited for everyone to quiet down before she kept going.

"Charlie will work here as an agent in the new branch of Squidbeak. On the field, you will know her as Agent Beta. You, along with Susan and Anna, will deal with things inside of Splatsville, while the rest of us deal with things outside of it."

"Yes, ma'am," Charlie said and leaned on the table. "What's the plan for now?"

"Before I show you guys our new headquarters, we want to test you in actual battle. Once Marina shows up with Felicia and Violet, which should be any second now, we'll begin."

Almost on cue, the sound of a car could be heard, and a black and green sports car came driving in on the other side of the cave. Apparently, there was a separate entrance for vehicles. Once the car stopped in front of them, the doors opened and Marina, Felicia, and Violet stepped out.

"Sorry if we're a bit late!" Marina excused herself. "The traffic was—"

"Really bad, I know," Marie interrupted. "We were just getting to know our new recruit."

Charlie introduced herself to the others. She seemed a bit startled when she saw Violet, but the expression disappeared in an instant and they shook hands.

"Now that everyone is here, we'll begin the practice battle," Marie said and looked at her watch. "You'll be doing two battles. One will be up against stationary turrets, but the second will be up against actual opponents."

"And who would that be?" Charlie asked. Marie nodded towards Felica, Rosa, and Violet. "Those three, that should give you an actual challenge."

A small knot formed in Susan's stomach. If they'd be going up against them, she was willing to bet it wouldn't be an easy task. Those three appeared to have gone through hell and back, and she wasn't looking forward to having to face them. She glanced at Anna, who had a worried look in her eye.

"Well, bring it on," Charlie said confidently. How could she sound so calm? Marie chuckled and pointed towards a huddle of buildings on the other side of the cave. "That right there is where we hold practice battles. However, before we begin, we'll give you three some time to prepare. You should find out a strategy, and get to know each other's strengths and weaknesses."

"Just tell us when you're ready," Marina said. "Oh, and Anna, before I forget, I need to give you something."

Anna looked at her, confused. "What?"

Marina reached into a small crate under the table and pulled out some sort of device. "Considering that you'll be the tech girl of this division, I thought I'd give you something suited for your job," she said and handed Anna the device. It had a small screen on it, with several buttons to press.

"What is this?" Anna asked and examined the device.

"You strap it on your wrist, like this," Marina answered and extended her own arm. Susan only now realized that Marina had a similar gadget strapped to her.

"It allows you to do all sorts of things! Perform scans, receive orders, hack in all sorts of places, call in support, along with many other possibilities!"

Anna's eyes widened as she examined the screen. "Really?!" she asked, dumbfounded.

"Yep!" Marina answered and winked. "Designed by yours truly!"

Anna strapped the device to her arm and bowed her head. "Thank you, this will be a great help!"

Marina smiled and shook her head. "No need to thank me, this is part of your job!"

"In any case, the three of you should come up with a strategy," Marie said. "And now that you have a new tool to work with, maybe you can design your strategy around that."

"On it," Charlie said and looked at Susan and Anna. "Come on, let's go somewhere quieter."

Susan nodded and stood up, followed by Anna, who was busy examining her screen. When they'd walked further away from the others, Charlie turned to look at them.

"So, how'd you end up here?"

Susan shrugged and looked at Anna. "According to Marie, she's been keeping tabs on us for a while now," she answered. "And then a few days ago, she offered us a job."

"Is that so?" Charlie stroked her own chin, thinking. "How'd she find you? Turf war, or something else?"

"We're scavengers," Susan answered. "Apparently, she said she was impressed by our skills."

"Scavengers, eh?" Charlie nodded. "I know a guy who's a scavenger, and he's one of the toughest guys I know."

Susan shrugged. She felt a bit embarrassed. "Well, that's how we ended up here. What about you?"

"Pearl found me through Turf War. I don't know what caught her attention, but she kept an eye on me for a while. She also told me she was impressed by some of my MMA matches."

"You're in MMA?" Susan asked.

"MMA, parkour, all sorts of things," Charlie answered. Her answer did not surprise Susan, considering how athletic she appeared.

"Anyway," Charlie continued. "What weapons do you guys use? I can see that you use a charger, but what about you, Anna?"

"Anna here uses a bow," Susan answered and pointed at Anna, who was still busy examining her new device.

"A bow, huh?" Charlie scratched her head. "That might be a problem."

"How is that a problem?" Anna spoke for the first time in a while.

"Well, as you can see, I specialize in dualies," Charlie continued. "Now, that's not a problem, the problem is that we have two long-range weapons and one short-range weapon. Not a very good combo. If you guys get into trouble, it'll be difficult for me to fall back and help you."

"Yeah, you have a point," Susan murmured and rubbed her neck.

"Well, since me and Susan are long-range, we'll be able to help you from afar if you get into trouble," Anna said, thinking. "And if either of us gets into trouble, the other can help. I think we'd be able to take care of ourselves on our own, especially Susan."

"Oh really?" Charlie asked and looked at Susan. "You a good shot?"

Before Susan could answer, however, she was cut off by Anna, much to Susan's embarrassment. "Better than good!"

"We'll see about that," Charlie mumbled and bent down to pick up a small rock off the ground. Realizing what she was about to do, Susan unstrapped her charger. Charlie rose back up and threw the stone high into the air. Susan took aim and fired. The ink from her charger collided with the rock and it flew out of sight. Charlie nodded, looking impressed.

"Now that's what I call a good shot!" she said and patted Susan on the shoulder. Susan blushed and looked down. "It's nothing, but thanks."

"So, is that the plan?" Charlie asked. "I go in close and personal and you guys provide support from afar. And if either of you gets into trouble, you help each other. That sound good?"

"No objections here," Anna said. She then pointed at the device strapped to her wrist. "Plus, with this thing, we might be able to do some other stuff."

"Yeah, I was about to bring that up," Charlie said. "We'll have to see what we're up against before we plan any further."

"Got it!" Susan said. "So, should we head back?"

"Yeah!" Anna said. "Let's do this!"

Susan hadn't felt this kind of excitement since all the way back when she played Turf War with her team. This competitive feeling that rushed through her veins. A feeling she'd missed so dearly.

"This will be a cakewalk!" Charlie said. "We can do this!"

"Yeah!" Susan answered. "Let's go!"

Excited, the three of them turned back and walked back to the others. Nothing could stop the new division of the New Squidbeak Splatoon.